Caboose smiled to himself as he made his way back to base after dropping Mana-chan and Doppel off at MON HQ. The dates had gone wonderfully, and he'd taken care of all of his girls just like he was supposed to. However...there remained one issue.

Just before dropping them off, he'd asked Doppel why the second letter was so different from the first. Doppel's answer had been...unexpected.

"I only sent one letter."

This had confused Caboose, so he'd ignored it and went about his way, despite Doppel trying to tell him to talk to the others. The others were busy, and he would be fine. After all, he had Freckle with him!

It was as this thought struck him that he noticed a scythe being held to his throat, a gap in the blade perfectly shaped to a neck. "Huh, that's new," he observed as he continued walking, only then noticing the sound of dragging feet behind him. Turning, he saw the girl who was holding the scythe...and the long furrows her feet had left in the pavement from how far he'd dragged her without even realizing.

The girl was rather shapely, wearing an armored corset over a long black coat and white dress. She was also wearing black gloves and thigh-high armored heeled boots...though the heels looked somewhat damaged from being dragged through pavement. Between the heels and the bottom of the dress, Caboose could see blue skin.

"Oh, you're blue!" Caboose declared happily. "Are you a new transfer to my team?"

The girl responded by pulling the scythe from around his neck and gesticulating wildly. It was at this point Caboose realized the girl lacked a head.

"...where is your head?" Caboose asked worriedly.

The girl turned this way and that, holding the hand with the scythe up as though shading eyes despite not having a head to do so with.

"You lost your head?" Caboose gasped in surprise. "That's no good! We need to find your head right away before something bad happens to it! Freckle, jean scan! Find her head!"

[Genetic scan...complete,] Freckle responded quickly. [Additional source of genetic match detected in park.]

"To the park!" Caboose declared as he grabbed the girl by her arm and dashed off for the park. The girl did her best to keep up on foot, but it wasn't long before she was hanging in the air behind him like a shapely windsock.

Following Freckle's directions, it didn't take long for Caboose to find the missing head, hidden in amongst a group of trees at the edge of the park. "Oh, there it is!" Caboose declared excitedly, rushing forward to pick the head up.

"Do not lay your hands on me so lightly," the head declared firmly in a monotone voice.

"Okay," Caboose agreed as he pulled his hands back and examined the head.

The girl's skin was definitely blue, and her hair was pure white and long, with one scythe blade shaped lock that rose up from the center of her forehead to hang in front of her face. Her eyes had black sclera, and golden irises. "I am-" she began.

"Super duper pretty," Caboose interrupted in a melting tone. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. You were saying?"

The head shifted, the hair falling to hide the cheeks. "I am a Dullahan," the head explained. "The guiders of souls, the reapers of death…" The headless body excitedly raced up to the head, picking it up and reattaching it. As soon as the girl was whole, the excitement seemed to fade. "Thank you for looking after my body, and reuniting me."

"No problem!" Caboose replied happily. "I couldn't let a girl wander around headless, or leave her all alone in the dark outside. Are you tired? Cold? Hungry? You could stop by my place until you're ready to head home."

The Dullahan stared at Caboose for a time. "Do you know why the Dullahan appear before mortals?" she asked flatly.

"What's a moral?" Caboose inquired hopefully.

She stared anew, her eye twitching. "The Dullahan appears before mortals who are near death, to collect their soul and take them to the afterlife," she explained firmly. "And I have come for you."

"Oh, okay," Caboose allowed a little sadly. "So...how long do I have?"

The Dullahan blinked, then glanced away uncertainly. "I...do not know," she allowed finally. "Normally I am granted the sight of the hourglasses of those Death comes for...but Death should have claimed you many times, and yet you still live. It is as though Death cannot touch you, as impossible as that is."

"Yeah, I don't get killed a lot," Caboose agreed. "Lots of people are shocked by that. Same with Tucker and the others. But if I'm not going to die soon, why are you here?"

"Your life end is...unknown," she replied awkwardly, doing her best to remain cool and collected. "As such, I am here to ensure when the time comes, you will be taken to the afterlife immediately."

"That's super nice of you!" Caboose replied eagerly.

"...eh?" the girl asked as she took a step back, staring at Caboose in confusion.

"My friend Church died, and then he hung around," Caboose explained happily. "Nobody came and took him...and a lot of stuff happened that made him super sad, and hurt him, and nothing I could do as his best friend could make him feel better. Maybe if someone had been there to collect him, he'd be a lot happier wherever he is. So you're here to make sure I don't go through all that! That makes me really happy! What's your name?"

The Dullahan stared at her 'target' in shock, unsure how to react to a mortal who, apparently, had no fear of Death and welcomed its messenger as a friend. "I...am called Lala in this world," she finally managed to say.

Caboose happily shook her hand. "Really happy to meet you, Lala! I'm Caboose! Come on, I have to introduce you to the other girls, and then I need to get you some food and drink and warm you up! You're super cold!"

As Caboose turned and dragged her towards Blue Base, Lala did her best to hide her blush. Curse this body of mortal flesh, she thought silently. How dare it seek to corrupt my pure deathly spirit with soft emotions? He's not that cute!

Back in Blue Base, Miia began twitching violently, certain that something had happened that was going to be quite upsetting...