A black cab parked on the curb momentarily, allowing a pair of bare feet to step out. A blonde girl remained in the cab long enough to pay the fare before joining the other, looking up at the tall building. The concrete felt strange beneath Constance's feet, but the thought of shoes felt foreign to her. She hadn't worn them in months and had no intention of starting then, despite wearing the rest of Geraldine's clothes so they could slip past the HELLSING guards. The Midford girl apparently had quite a way with words and convinced them that Constance was one of the Midford children staying at the Hellsing estate temporarily. Turns out, Constance did need her, but never in her life did she expect that another student at Warwick had some familiarity with the supernatural world. Psychics can be wrong, too.

"This is it." Geraldine said. "Are you sure that they're here?"

"Definitely." the other girl replied. "He's up there, at least. Since this is Ciel's building, my guess is that he's up there, too."

"Let's get to it, then." the Midford girl said while swinging her bag over her shoulder. She then started heading for the front door, much to the shock of the other. Quickly, Constance moved to stop her, hoping they would take a more stealthy approach, but it was too late. Geraldine had already opened the door and walked inside.

"What are you doing?!" demanded the psychic in a hushed tone. "We can't let them catch us!"

"Why not? I can just cut them down."

"Can you take on a gun with your sword?"

"A gun?!" Geraldine gawked. "Just what kind of person is your brother?!"

"The worst kind of person you can only imagine in your darkest of nightmares! Have you even killed a person before?!"

"No, but it doesn't seem hard."

"...We're doomed." Constance let out with a heavy sigh. "We shouldn't have come here."

"It's too late for that now. We're here. There's no going back." Unzipping her bag, the Midford girl pulled out a sheathed sword before tossing the bag to the side. "All I have to do is get you to him, right? Then you and Uncle Ciel will handle the rest."

"Uncle?"

"Well, I'm more like his first cousin three times removed, but he's more like an uncle. Doesn't matter. Let's just go." Geraldine seemed a bit more rash than usual, but Constance had no concept of her usual personality. This was the Midford's first great leap into danger. Many of those related to the Phantomhives had one eventually. All of her direct relatives, save for her mother and eldest brother, Peter, and all of the Hellsings. Revy passed on stories about their friends' first leap into the unknown, making her wonder if she was going to have hers one day. On this particular day, however, she had the feeling that it would be soon. Knowing that it was dangerous, she was hesitant. She wasn't at all like her usual confident self. These were real bad guys with real weapons and the intent to kill. She was just a teenage girl. She had to be on her guard, but her nerves were getting to her.

She ducked behind candy and toy displays, beckoning the other to follow her. She looked ridiculous, considering that nothing seemed out of the ordinary just yet. For all she knew, she was just some weird kid who's too old to be playing pretend. As she and the other girl progressed, the two began to wonder if their suspicions were unfounded. Slowly, Geraldine stood up and began walking toward the front desk.

"Hello?" she asked despite seeing no one. Standing on the tips of her toes, she peeked over the large structure and furrowed her brow. "What's-?"

In that moment, Geraldine did something that was very uncharacteristic of her. Eyes widened, she took a step back and looked at the ground. She covered her mouth in anticipation of the vomit that threatened to come up at the sight. Yes, Geraldine had seen many things that most teenage girls could only dream of, but never in her life had she seen a dead body outside of television before. Not a fake one either, this was real. She could smell the iron from the blood on the floor, pooling around the head of a woman in a FUNTOM uniform that was typical of front desk ladies. Rather, what was left of it.

"What's up with you?" Constance asked before taking a look for herself. Much to the shock of the other, she didn't appear ill in the slightest. "She's dead. She can't hurt you."

Geraldine's eyes widened slightly at the knowledge that to Constance, this was no big deal. Surely, Constance was just an ordinary schoolgirl like her, yes? Yet, she was unfazed. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she was at HELLSING. Come to think of it, Geraldine never asked why she was there. All she really knew about her was that she needed to kill some guy named "David." Obviously, the Midford was missing something. While Constance was once an ordinary student at Warwick, her eyes looked a lot like those of a soldier.

"Do you even know where you're going?" questioned the blonde. "Where is this guy, anyway?"

There was a pause while Constance thought, prompting the other to answer for her. "You don't know, do you?" Crouching down, Geraldine leaned back against the desk and sat down with a sigh. "Fantastic."

"We go up." the other said, pointing at the ceiling. "Knowing him, he'll want to be as high as possible."

"Why's that?"

"His ego is big enough to fill this whole building. If he stays down here, he'll drown in it." With that, Constance began to walk away, prompting the other girl to quickly stand up and join her.

"So, I take it you know this guy pretty well?" Geraldine tentatively asked, knowing it had the potential to be a bit of a touchy subject. In truth, she didn't even expect an answer, but got one anyway.

"I guess." It wasn't a lot, but it was something. "You could say that. He used to hang around me all the time."

"Neighbours?"

"No." Constance continued to look ahead as she spoke. "Blood relation."

"If he's family, then why don't you try talking to him? Do you need to kill him?"

"He's not my family and talking to him won't do a damn thing."

Ah. So there was something deeper to this. As curious as Geraldine was, she could see that she wasn't going to get any further information out of the other girl, and trying would only push her away. She couldn't afford that right now. Although Geraldine was confident with a sword, she was admittedly in way over her head. She could use all of the help she could get. So far, things weren't going well.

So, most of the time spent walking was spent in silence. The rest of the building seemed to share that sentiment. That is, until they heard the obnoxious sound of machinery filling the entire hallway. It got louder and louder as they got closer. Geraldine's brow furrowed and her nose wrinkled in disgust at the smell that wafted through the air.

"Ugh, it smells like blood and… what is that? Petrol?" she observed while covering the lower half of her face with her hand. Constance opened her mouth to answer, but stopped as she stepped in something wet. Looking down, she lifted her foot.

"Well, there's blood on the floor, so there's that." she retorted instead. "We should find an alternate route."

"Any ideas as to where?"

"Nope."

"Surely there's a vent or a stairway…" the Midford reckoned, but she was wrong. There was only a dark hallway and the roar of an engine ahead of them. Then, after it sputtered and choked, it eventually went silent, too. Yet, the hallway picked up a completely different noise.

"Oh, buggar me!" a voice called out, followed by the sound of someone yanking on the cord of a lawnmower. Seeing the figure, the two girls ducked into an open office and hid. Geraldine, bold as she was, peered out in order to get a read on the situation.

When she squinted, she could see a man with lightly coloured hair, but she couldn't quite make out the colour due to the sparse amount of light that came in from the windows outside. All that she could see was that he was dressed in black and had somehow decided to bring lawn equipment inside an office building.

"That's great. Just bloody fantastic!" the figure muttered to himself while giving the chord another swift yank. "The bloody thing needs maintenance right in the middle of a job and there's no one around to help me! That's just swell!"

"What's going on?" Constance whispered from behind her accomplice. All she could see was the rather grave expression on her accomplice's face. It did nothing to reassure her. In fact, she was half convinced that this was going to be the end. Looking down, she could see Geraldine's grip tighten on the sheath of her sword. "You're not gonna-"

Too late. Roaring, Geraldine leapt out of the darkness and drew her sword. Baring her teeth, she aimed her weapon right at the figure, only for the man to utter a small "huh?" before stepping out of the way. The poor girl tripped over the leg of someone even less fortunate than she and had to catch herself before she landed face first into a puddle of blood. But she didn't. With a yelp, she found herself stopped just short by a hand gripping her elbow.

"Whoa, little lady! This is no place for kids!" Pausing, the man pulled her upright on her feet. "Well… It's a toy company, so maybe… Still, not in it's current state."

"Huh..." Geraldine did not say this out of curiosity or any kind of deep thought, but rather, as a random noise due to the shock that she was currently in. She could see herself in the reflection of the man's glasses. A pair of green and yellow eyes stared back at her confusedly.

"You might wanna get out of here."

"Can't." The girl shook her head, snapping herself back to reality. Folding her arms, she recovered to the best of her ability and faked her confidence the rest of the way. "My cousin owns his company, and I need to go help him."

"Oh, yeah? A Phantomhive kid, huh? That's… nice."

"You don't seem too thrilled."

"My office has a complicated relationship with him."

"Grim Reaper Dispatch?" the girl questioned, causing the other to straighten his back.

"Right… Phantomhive… You know this stuff… Well, since you know that, you also know that I need to be getting back to work." Turning back to his machine, he grabbed the cable and was about to pull it, when he looked up and squinted. "You alright? You look a bit green."

"That's none of your concern." Geraldine stated. She concealed her discomfort based around the fact that she was surrounded by dead bodies rather well, but it still showed at least a little. Despite being part of the Midford family, which was connected to both the Phantomhive and Hellsing families, and despite her excellent skills with the sword and calm demeanor, she was still a teenaged girl who lead a rather ordinary life. She wasn't thrust into the underworld at a young age. She wasn't a player in any of this nonsense. This was the sort of thing she had only heard about before this. Never before had she seen it with her own eyes. Needless to say, it was jarring. It wasn't something that someone could get used to right away. In fact, with was something that no one should get accustomed to.

"Whatever. I'm afraid I can't stay and chat." the reaper stated before pulling the cable. "I have work to do. I'm behind schedule and this is not helping."

Sensing an opportunity, the Midford's eyes lit up slightly. "Want me to take a look at it?"

"This is a complex piece of reaping equipment. It is a divine instrument. Mortals can't understand it, especially little girls."

"You have fabric stuck in the blades."

Suddenly, the man looked down while tipping the mower back a ways. "Huh. That doesn't happen, usually..."

"Alright, here's the deal," the Midford began. "I'll maintain your death scythe until the end of your mission, but in return, you have to get us to my uncle."

"Are you seriously making a deal with a grim reaper? Really?"

"Are you seriously a professional who gets some guy's ugly windbreaker stuck in your divine instrument?"

"Snarkier than the blue one, aren't you?" the man observed before holding out a gloved hand. "If it gets me home on time, you've got a deal. Ronald Knox, Reaper Dispatch, London branch."

"Geraldine Midford, secondary school student, Warwick Academy." she said, giving the grim reaper a firm handshake.

All of this went on while Constance uncomfortably looked on from the background. Something about this man gave her a gut feeling, but she couldn't figure out what it was. She watched helplessly as Geraldine made the rather dangerous decision to stick her hands in the blades of the stationary lawnmower and wrestle the fabric out before taking a position somewhere behind Mister Knox.

"Try it now." the Midford instructed and with a swift yank of the chord, the machine roared to life.

"We're in business!" Ronald shouted over the sound of the motor before wheeling his death scythe forward and lowering the blades back down onto the deceased body of what appeared to be a Belmont operative. Once the blades made contact, the hallway filled to the brim with light as for one of the very first times in her life, she let out a yelp. "Oh, yeah! Sorry 'bout that. You might not wanna watch this."

Ronald's words were lost on Geraldine as she was blown away by what she was seeing. Silver strands spilled out of the body and fluttered in the air. Eyes wide, she stared at them as they inched closer. It was like they were alive. Frightened, she inched away, only to find that she couldn't without tripping again. She was trapped.

"Oh, so you can see it? You really are a Phantomhive!" the reaper shouted over the sound of the motor, long forgotten by the Midford. Pulling out a tablet, he began reviewing the luminescent strips of film. "Gotta love the switch to digital. Some old timers like to use the books, though. Don't worry, girlie, I'll have this all cleared out in no time."

"Cinematic record..." Yes, the girl was familiar with the concept, but had never seen it herself before. Supposedly, it was an ability inherited by all of the families that were interconnected with the Phantomhives. Ciel claimed to be able to see them when he was a human boy, as did Elizabeth, and as did Integra, but she hadn't heard anything from her father or brothers before.

She wasn't the only one surprised by his, however. The other was Constance, who stood up slowly and walked out into the light. She hadn't seen a soul reaped before. It was so beautiful, yet so sad. The light covered her and drew her in and raising her hand, a strand of film passed between her fingers. She could see the history of the deceased, all of their struggles and triumphs, the people they care about and who care about them, and everything in between. It was sad. There was so much this person wanted to accomplish, so much that they wanted to do and so much potential, but it was all cut short. This person wasn't controlled by Skullface. They simply wanted to believe in what he was selling and went down the wrong path. The results were grim. How sad. Such a waste.

Tears welled up in the girl's eyes and the colour drained from her face as she looked on. Her limbs grew heavy and she couldn't move. All of these people were this way. Every last one. They weren't exactly alike, but alike in this one aspect. There was no need for them to die.

"Right! Next one." the reaper eventually said once the light vanished. He then wheeled his mower off of the body before moving on to a new one.

"Why?" the girl asked, prompting Ronald's attention. "Why are you doing this?"

"It's my job." The suddenness of the man's answer along with its clarity caught Constance off guard. "Someone has to collect them. That's just what I do. Nothing more to it."

"Why did they have to die? There's no reason for it." the psychic said, taking her turn to surprise.

"Because people die. There is no 'because'. There is no 'why'. It is what it is. Mortal's bodies give out. It happens eventually." Leave it to a grim reaper to be so matter-of-fact about death. Perhaps it was because he knows what happens afterward, taking the fear out of it. "My job is to collect their souls and judge them. Nothing more to it. Interfering is a 'no-no', by the way. I'll get in trouble for that. I have a list and I have to stick to it."

"Like a Santa Claus you don't want to meet." remarked Geraldine, causing Ronald to snap his fingers.

"Right you are, lil missy." he replied, but Constance wasn't content with that. She could see things that other people couldn't, but she couldn't see what lied beyond the mortal coil.

"But… It's… Couldn't they have been saved?" Constance questioned. "Isn't there some kind of exception?"

"Mmmm… Yes, but they're incredibly rare. If somebody has the potential to better humanity as a whole, then an exception is made and their life is lengthened. It hardly ever happens."

"What if they aren't remarkable? What if they're just… people?"

Pausing from his work, Ronald took a moment to look over his shoulder. "Listen, little lady, I'm not sure what you want me to say. Death is guaranteed. I can kind of understand why mortals are so scared of it, though. What you don't know always is. It's not that bad, though. Trust me. I'm an expert."

Lowering the mower again, the reaper caused the teens to wince again and look away. Yet, he continued to speak. "The universe aligned in just the right way for you to exist. All the materials existed beforehand, but for a brief moment, you existed. Your thoughts, your memories, everything that makes you who you are. Materials that have been around since the dawn of time arranged themselves in just the right way to make you. Death is just those materials being taken back and forming something new."

Neither teens were entirely sure as to how to take this. Both felt a strange mixture of unimaginable horror, but also a strange sense of comfort at the same time. Sincerely, the reaper was trying to be as comforting as he could without breaking the rules. He wasn't a heartless bastard, after all. There was no need to be rude to them, especially since they were just kids. They were kids who were in just the right place at the right time, or the wrong place at the wrong time. Both were born with the ability to see what others could not, so in a way, it was fate. This was especially true for those who were part of the cursed Phantomhive family. For them, death was a reality. It was a fact of life. Well, as far at the Grim Reaper Dispatch Association could tell. It was far more complicated than that, in reality.

But that is how grim reapers themselves understood death. It was their job. It was their divine task and it was vital that it was performed in order to keep things moving. Without grim reapers, life would cease to exist. To them, death wasn't destructive, but rather, an essential step in the cycle of creation.

The Phantomhive's understanding of the concept was more "mortal," however. To them, it was separation from those they loved and who loved them. Alois had died once and described it as being asleep for a few seconds, but he had only dipped his toes into the afterlife before coming back relatively quickly. Furthermore, his soul wasn't collected, so the demons hadn't the slightest clue what that would be like. All they knew was that they absolutely did not want it to happen. Not just for themselves, but for those that they would leave behind.

That was a valid take on it as well. It was a common one. It was also the one that both Constance and Geraldine took, as it was the one that they could understand the easiest. It would be a while before they would get to Ciel, so they would have to endure this further. They couldn't walk out of this. They couldn't walk away. They couldn't unsee what they had seen and they couldn't stop knowing what they knew. All they could do was try to block out what was happening in order to preserve their minds, but there was no going back. The deal was made. The die was cast. All that could be done was to press forward and not look back.


A/N: This ended up taking WAAAAAAAAAAY longer than I wanted. I wanted it to be out in one day, but it took seven instead. The reason why the reapers don't show up that much is that they're hard to write. Same with Sebastian.

I asked my followers on tumblr which reaper they wanted to appear in this chapter, since it doesn't really impact the story if it's different, and Ronald got more votes. It was kind of surprising, if I'm honest. Probably for the best, though...

I hope it won't take so long to post the next one. That was really kind of annoying...

Anyways, I got a question:

"How do you think Ciel has grown the most as a character?" by Guest

He's certainly gotten more comfortable with talking about what's going on in that head of his along with gaining the ability to express affection, but that's kind of obvious. I feel like all of that has to do with his new willingness to form feelings of attachment with other people. That's not just with Jim, either. He's also more attached to Elizabeth, Integra, and all of his friends. In some cases, this drastically improved his relationships with people who were already in his life, and in others, helped him form new attachments. So he's subsequently become more willing to put forth effort and invest time, energy, and labour into maintaining those relationships.

This is important because previously, he would willingly and intentionally push people away if they were in his life already, or simply refuse to allow them too close to him. He put up these emotional barriers in order to protect himself from feelings of loss. This could either be as a result of someone's death, or simply drifting apart, but he felt the need to do this in order to keep himself emotionally and sometimes physically safe from harm. It's far easier to get over someone leaving your life if you weren't attached to them at the start. It's also easier to leave the lives of others if they're not attached to you. This isn't just from him being a demon, although it helped, since people tend to age while he doesn't. It goes back to his childhood. It's so deep that he's had a TON of trouble getting out of the habit.

Now, that deep-rooted fear is still very much a part of him. It's still something that he worries about A LOT. He's terrified of losing what he has and is sometimes worried that it will hurt even more because he's become so invested, now. He can't let go, though. He wants this. He wants to stay close to people, now, and not only continue to have them be a part of his life, but to continue to be part of theirs. He's been taking some steps toward handling his anxiety. Even if it doesn't really look like it.

That was a really good question! I hope that was a satisfactory answer!

Until the next chapter, my duckies~!