Authors Note: Hello everyone, as you all may have noticed, Claudia has gone on quite an emotional journey. And you have obviously noticed there are no canon characters present so far. Well I have a bad habit of making my stories long and informative so the world of the dead I portray makes some sort of sense.
Well you will be happy to know (I hope...) that the next chapter after this one will have or canon characters here on out :) I'm very excited for Claudia to meet our friends who we adore so very much. Whelp! Hope you enjoy this long one I whipped up. I hope you enjoy the story, and I apologize for my long writing (especially the lack of canon charcters so far I know thats why people read fanfictions lol).

Wonder

To say I was disappointed was a serious understatement. I emotionally felt many things after discovering the truth of how the newspaper company got their news from the land of the living. It was a waste of time to come all the way out here when I easily could have asked the hundreds of spiders that littered the corners of my home and the bar. Not that I knew spiders spoke since today. I don't know about you but I think I've done enough learning for one day.

I came upon a decayed wooden sign that gave a variety of directions to different cemeteries to choose from, I ignored the options and took the left path way that would take me home to St. Mary's. Shoving my hands into my jacket pockets I sighed and looked at my red shoes take turns going forward. What am I supposed to do now? To have that hope of avenging my own death being taken away left me in a worse state then before. There was truly no hope in such a gloomy place. No hope of peace, dreams to follow, family to love, and even love itself. I was stupid to take life for granted, because I missed it so much. I missed everything I had and everything I could have had. My possible dreams of singing on Broadway and finding a handsome and caring boyfriend who also shared my interest and having a family of my own. Poof. Gone. All of it taken away.

It wasn't long until I started walking past the masses of dead grey trees where an opening was beginning to form. Just as expected, within a few hours of walking through the scary woods of the dead, I saw my cemetery. As I continued to walk closer to the black gates I noticed someone was standing on the other side with his hands in his coat pockets, watching me arrive. At first I was confused as to who it was but then remembered it was Smith who lent me the cross to ward off any possibly threats.

"Ah she returns! For a while there I thought you ran off with my relic." He joked.

I nodded un-phased, "Got nowhere better to go." I stepped into the cemetery after he opened the gate for me. Quickly as to avoid a conversation, I pulled the cross off myself and handed it over to Smith, "Thanks for lending it. See you around."

"Woah hold up, that's it? No tales of adventure to share over a drink you promised?"

My fist tightened as I tried to control my temper, "Look I'm in no mood right now. I'll let you know when it's a good time but right now I need to be alone."

"Well that's no good. You have all the time in death to be alone. Never thought you were one to break promises." He shrugged as he put on the necklace and tucked it away.

I groaned, "My visit wasn't pleasant so it made me a very un-pleasant person to be around right now. Do you really want to have a drink with someone who will possibly bite your head off?" I said with annoyed.

Smith pursed his blue lips and slightly nodded, "Well my shift just ended so I rather do anything then nothing."

I was about to scream when I remembered my common curtesy, this dude helped me out before and it was fair to repay him with just this drink. Besides I think I need it anyway. "Fine. Let's go." I sighed as started walking towards the Nail n' coffin.

Smith suddenly grabbed my arm and I spun around instantly, "What?"

"I actually have a better place we can go. You probably wouldn't want to go there if your pals are going to bark up your tree hm?" Smith released me instead of walking down the road that lead into the city of graves and shops he went left into an alley that lead us further down the outskirts of the cemetery where the oldest graves lived. I've never actually been here before but I knew the general layout of the place from when I saw it above ground. Smith lead me through winding paths of cement and stacks of old wooden coffins that seemed heavily outdated from my time and we came up a set of stairs that went down. I went down slowly, not sure if I should be worried, and saw that the stairs lead to an underground hallway lit up with flickering red and green lights.

"Welcome to the Morgue." He grinned creepily over his shoulder, making me want to swallow nervously.

We came upon an eerie black door that was made of heavy iron and he knocked an odd combination, making the door open. We stepped inside and I was surprised with what I saw. The place was a bar that resembled a morgue perfectly. There were tables where corpse woman dressed in hospital gowns lied on and men were taking body shots off of them. The bar was lit in the disgusting hospital green lighting and fog was overflowing from the counter. There was a woman dressed like a slutty nurse with a knife in her head walking around offering shots of arsenic and painkillers turned into a drink. What disturbed me the most was the wall in the back of the room where storage doors were built to put in dead bodies and I saw two corpses, a nurse and a man, climb onto a table together with the woman on top and the two were pushed into the wall and locked in.

Oh my god I was taken to a creepy dead orgy fest! I screamed in my head.

"Hey Claud. Over here." Smith said.

I turned around to see Smith walking up some steps and opening a sheer red curtain that made a cozy little booth be more private. I didn't know what to do or say.

Before I could answer Smith laughed, "Nothing weird, promise. Just somewhere private." He said over the loud music.

I sighed and marched up the stairs, avoiding a drunken dead girl that had a purple bruise around her neck, and walked past the sheer curtains. I slid into the round booth and watched Smith do the same but thankfully kept his distance.

"So you come here often? I've never heard of such a place." I said.

Smith laughed, "Every now and then. It's a change from the usual Nail n' my god damn head that's for sure." He gestured to a nurse to come over and give her drink orders for the both of us. After she left he continued, "I haven't been here that long but it already feels like an eternity. It drive me fuckin nuts." He sighed.

"It's only been a month for me and I don't know how I'm going to continue on. I mean, what do you do down here when you have nothing going for you and you know who killed you but the living doesn't?"

The nurse returned with a tray of eight small glasses and laid them out on the table. After she left Smith took three glasses and passed the other three to me. They were three types of shots apparently, and each had different colors. One was blue, the other red, and the last was yellow.

"What is this?"

"Ever heard of NFPA?" He asked with a smug grin.

"The chemical hazards? Yeah?"

Smith put the yellow shot in my hands and he picked up his own, "It's a triangle of deadly chemicals sweetheart. One chart at a time yeah?" He winked as he downed his shot and I nearly dropped my glass when I saw his eyeballs roll around in his skull before returning to its normal position, "Agh, that's the stuff." He said in a huskier voice.

I looked at my shot then back up at Smith who seemed just fine if not a bit dazed from his intake. What was I afraid of? I couldn't die again so nothing bad should happen…right?

"Huh…don't pussy out Claudia." I muttered to myself and threw my head back along with the yellow shot. As soon as the liquid went down my throat I nearly fell out of my seat as my vision was morphed into a series of colors and swirls almost like a kaleidoscope. My head began to burn and my hands tingled as the strange sensation of blood rushing coursed throughout my arms. It was almost scary feeling my body move like it used to when I was alive. Even though I had been alive for 24 years before death it felt so foreign to me. As quickly as the strange sensation took hold of me it just as easily let me go and I was dead again, as in I felt absolutely nothing.

"Wow…that was crazy." My voice sounded huskier as well, as if I had sung nonstop for hours.

Smith nodded as he passed me the blue shot next, "So tell me about this whole killer getting away thing. Something to do with going to Spring Grove?"

I leaned back in my seat and shrugged as I swirled the glass of blue liquid inside, "Yeah but it's nothing important. I thought something was possible but I was too idiotic to realize it's impossible."

"What was it?" Smith pressed on.

I rolled my eyes, "Drop it Smith. It's stupid that's all."

"Well while we are drinking away some dangerous lab chemicals we can dish all the idiotic things we hate about death hm?" Smith smirked as he downed his blue shot and this time his eyes rolled and his hair began to stand up making me gape in awe.

After he recovered he groaned and slammed his glass upside down, "So?" he squeaked.

I chuckled, "Well. If you must know, since it's pointless, I thought it would be possible to tell someone above who my killer is so they can arrest him hence avenging my death. So I went to Spring Grove's newspaper publishing since they gathered news from above but ended up learning spiders, maggots, and birds are the only things going up. And the living can't hear them because they are animals and bugs." I raised my glass in the air almost sarcastically, "Cheers to this young and oblivious dead girl." I downed the shot and felt the sensation of blood coursing throughout my arms and this time my stomach as my head began to burn like fire. The flashing colors of red, green, and purple swirled through out my vision and I felt my hair prickled like a balloon being rubbed against your head. Just as quickly as it came, it went and I sighed.

Smith looked at me questionably as he held his glass of the red poison. The one I was sure would fuck me up. "Interesting idea. I'm sure you're not the first to have come up with such an accusation. Definitely not the last." He said.

"Well yippee for me. I'm not the dumbest then."

"Is it really that big of a deal to catch your killer when you're already dead?" Smith asked.

My hand tightened its hold on the glass, "I find it a pretty big fucking deal when I'm down here drinking hazardous chemicals with some guy I just met in an orgy filled hospital themed bar instead of doing chores around my apartment while studying for exams. You DIG mate?" I said angrily.

Smith chuckled humorlessly as his eyes set upon me in an almost predatory gaze, "I bet you would do anything to get back at the one who put you down here hm?" Smith said quietly enough for me alone to hear.

I stared at him for the longest time before nodding, "He took everything from me." I replied in a whisper.

"What if I told you there was a way to go above?" Smith arched his eyebrows as he brought the glass up to his lips but I stopped him by grabbing his hand.

"What are you saying?"

Smith was un-phased, "Did you want to know?"

"Don't mess with me. I've already dealt with enough today I don't need any more bullshit." I said.

Smith chuckled as he set the glass down on the table and gave me his undivided attention, "I have heard once upon a time that the dead had walked the earth for a single night."

"That can't be true. Even if it was it sounds like a tall tale that was shared long ago." I said unhappily. I gotta stop getting my hopes up.

Smith continued, "Ah but that's where your wrong Claudia. It really did happen. It was eras ago in a cemetery overseas where the dead was brought to the land of the living to perform some sort of ceremony I can't honestly say what it was."

"Why not?"

"I guess that part of the tale faded out over time. But the legends stand true."

"Have you been around that long to tell?" I asked.

"Were you listening earlier? I haven't been dead long. But I've communicated with quite a few people who come and go from this cemetery and this particular story has been told more than once to me."

I leaned forward, "So the dead walked the earth a long time ago. Why hasn't it happened again? That seems like the kind of thing I would read about in classes or watching on the news if it happened." I said.

"Do you think the dead would go up just to have a vacation girl? No. It happened once and only once because they went above in the first place. But the possibility is THERE." He insisted.

"Tell me something Smith. What else could you say that would make me believe the possibility of the dead going above based on a story you have heard once or twice? I can make something up on the spot and make it sound believable. I am an actor you know." I sat back in my seat and crossed my arms.

Smith lifted his glass once again but still kept his eyes on me, "I know the man who sent the dead upstairs."

My mouth dropped but before I could speak he downed the red drink and I groaned in frustration as I waited for him to recover from his momentary high. It took a lot longer this time but he finally came to yet I still had to wait for him to be able to speak again.

"So you know who sent the dead above? This whole thing doesn't make any sense." I said in frustration.

Smith coughed before speaking in a husky whisper, "A skeleton man came by here three years ago. He was visiting a cousin who moved here all the way from England and I took him out to see the sights. He told me of the time he went above eras ago and could hardly recall the tale himself. I thought he was pulling my leg but then he started talking about a man who is the ruler of the underworld. Someone you will read about in stories written down here and paintings that will catch your eye if you find them. He's as real as you and me and that's why I believe it."

"This man, the supposed ruler of the underworld, what makes you believe he's able to weld such a power?" I asked on the edge of my seat.

Smith hiccupped before muttering, "He…is the oldest dead person you will ever find here in the land of the dead. He knows all there is to know about death, up and over, around, and through. He has proven to possess certain powers and I wouldn't doubt he knows how to go above."

"That's incredible…" I gaped in astonishment.

"When the skeleton man told me about him I didn't believe it till I read him up in every book I could find about deaths history. He's in there alright. Centuries, if not eternities, later he is still around. He is deemed the ruler of the underworld and not many corpses down here know of him. He prefers it that way."

A small smile began to grow on my face, "Then…then he could have my answers. Of not going above then maybe how I could move on?" I started to get excited. Another lead on the same day to my possible vengeance! I just had to find this ruler of the underworld and I will either walk away with my answers or reporting Peter to the police.

I turned back to Smith who seems like he was on the verge of passing out, "Smith? Smith!"

"Mmm what?" He hiccupped.

"Smith, what is his name? Tell me his name!"

Smith hiccupped a few times before straightening up, "Elder Gutknecht. His name is Elder Gutknecht."

The name was so ancient, so foreign, it sounded like a beacon of hope all in its own. "Elder Gutknecht…I have to find him. He could have my answers." I looked up at Smith and saw he was out cold. I shook him up a bit and he woke with a jolt.

"Smith, where does he live? Is he somewhere in America?"

Smith cackled drunkenly as he shook his head, "That's a good one. As if it would be that easy. No, no, no little dead girl." Smith lolled his head from side to side before looking me in the eye, "Elder Gutknecht lives in a cemetery somewhere outside England. But no one knows specifically where. He likes to keep to himself and never sees anyone. The last time he was spotted was in the 1700's."

I chewed my lip in worry, "He lives in Europe? But if he hasn't been seen for that long what if he moved someplace else?"

"The dead either stay where their buried or "move on". I'm pretty sure an ancient being such as himself is sticking around his grave cause of some loyal death shit he has going on. So what are you going to do? Travel to Europe and bring back the answers to going above?" Smith sarcastically said.

I looked at my glass of red poison and decided against it. I didn't need to drown my sorrows into this. I have a new lead through Elder Gutknecht and I was going to seek it out, to hell with the cost of my actions. I wasn't going to sit around and be miserable for the rest of my time here. I stood up from the booth and walked around to help Smith sit up right, "Smith I have one more thing to ask."

"Hm?"

"I need to borrow that cross for a while. I need it to get me to Europe safely."

Smith shook his head, "You're actually going to go find him? That's crazy!"

"So is what you just told me but I have no choice. I'm not going to rot away like this. I'm going to get my vengeance and if Elder Gutknecht has a possibility of helping me then I'm going to go find him."

Smith sighed and clumsily yanked the cross over his neck and handed it to my stomach as if it were my hand, "H-here. But when you get back you owe me a real date."

"If I come back with the answers to go above I will date you for a week." I smiled as I took the cross and put it on with a new air to me. I was going to try again and if anyone knew me in life they will know in death that once I set my mind to something it was hard to make me give up.

After leaving Smith at his place to rest in peace for the night, I wrote him a note explaining everything we spoke about in case he forgets when he wakes up. I told him to keep my journey a secret and if everyone began to ask where I was that he should tell them I decided to seek out my grandmother who was buried in the next state over. Of course this was a lie, I never knew either of my grandmothers and wasn't even sure if they were dead or not. But I can't have everyone know what my true intentions are, if they did what if they tried to stop me and bring me back to the cemetery? I have already come this far.

I made it to my grave without being spotted by anyone I knew and went inside. Locking the front door, I ran upstairs to my room and pulled out a small red backpack from my closet. The perks that came with being dead, I didn't have to worry about having enough money to eat. I'm pretty sure I don't need a change of clothes but I'm bringing a few garments just in case something comes up. The doubloons and gold I collected over time was put into a glass jar and hidden within the pockets of a faded pink trench coat I had bought from a boutique. After I was satisfied with what I packed I zipped up my bag and tossed it over my shoulders. I have no idea how I'm going to hitch hike all the way to Europe but I'm dead so time was on my side. I walked down the stairs and went over in my mind what I might possibly need but couldn't think of anything of value. I should be good, right? As I walked down the hallway the photo of my family all together caught my attention. I turned back and starred at the sight of my living breathing parents and brother huddled together and smiling. Rosy cheeks and beating hearts…I missed that. I missed THEM. I swear if I can go above Peter is going to PAY. I grabbed the photo off the wall and stuffed the frame in my backpack before marching out of my dingy grave and locking it up. I didn't even look back as I walked down the street towards the alley ways that would keep me out of sight so no one could spot me leaving.

Three underground days later

"All aboard! Leaving Cleveland station in 5 minutes! No exceptions!" A conductor with half his body chopped off and wheeling around on a plank with wheels announced on an intercom. The stations were bustling with dead people of all shapes, sizes, and deaths. The deaths were more obvious than anything else I noticed. When living in a cemetery you grow accustomed to the people you meet and how "normal" they are, living in a nice grave, hanging out at the bar, maybe work a random job or two, then go back home. But out here I have never seen so many gruesome or weird deaths! At one point I saw a man leaning over to haul his luggage out of a compartment and when he stood back up his head was shrunk and tied like a voodoo doll! And that was only one of the stranger things I've seen since coming all the way out here. I looked down at my ticket and saw that I was in compartment 5 and was quickly running to find it before the train started pulling out. I dodged many people who were walking in my direction and nearly ran into a family of skeletons. I'd be damned if I made a skeleton family fall to pieces and miss my train because I had to help put them back together.

"All aboard!" The man announced and the trains whistle began to blow for the last time.

"No!" I freaked. I ran even faster, trying to find the number 5 compartment and started to see the train slowly move forward. I can't miss the train! This was the last train I had to take before reaching New York and I am not walking all that way! Finally, within my reach, I saw the compartment that said number 5 and I booked it to leap onto the stairs. The train, however, began to run a little faster and made it harder for me to catch up. I didn't have breath to run out of but that didn't mean I wasn't fast enough to catch this train! Shit!

"Heave-HO!"

"WHAT!?" I was suddenly yanked in the air by the back collar of my jacket and pulled onto the moving platform of the train. I turned to see a heavy set man with a more purplish face then blue and he was chuckling down at me, "Nearly missed the train now did we?"

"Uh, yeah, thanks. I would have made it but I got held up at the ticket booth."

"Well lucky for you to make it in the nick of time. Well come on in. wouldn't want you falling off out here. We stop for nothing." We walked inside the train and the man took my ticket, clipping it, then handing it back to me. "You find yourself a seat and relax now missy. We will be getting to New York within a few hours."

"Thank you sir." I nodded as I walked down the aisle to find an open seat. The train wasn't very crowded so I was able to snag an empty seat by the window. I sighed and set my back pack beside me and gazed out the window as the station and Lake View cemetery began to fade away in the distance.

On the first day I started my travels I didn't know where to go and was at a lost. Instead of heading to Spring Grove I took a different route to another cemetery outside Columbus where I met a woman who told me about the underworld train stations. To say the least, I was baffled that there was other means of transportation down here than just walking. She told me trains were never always around and it took eras after the first train was invented in the world above to be brought down here to the land of the dead. Maybe someday cars will be a norm around here, if they haven't already been brought down here, that way I can get myself a means of transportation. On the second day I had made my way to Cleveland on a train from a cemetery in Charleston, West Virginia, and had traveled all day. This was the last train I would need to take to New York and from there I would take a boat all the way to Europe and was sure that journey would take a very long time. Time may be different but traveling oceans is never a short trip.

I looked ahead when I heard a small commotion at the front of the train. A women with bouncy blonde curls and wearing a red dress was being rather snarky with a man trying to sell her magazines with the latest gossip from the world above. Of course, I learned awhile back that there were people who were sleazy in life and continue to be in death, such as selling fake articles about celebrity gossip in the world above they couldn't possibly get. Unless they knew this Elder Gutknecht man then I call bull shit. The girl scoffed in the man's face then strutted down the aisles, not even looking at the people who starred at her. I had to admit, she was rather pretty with her tight red dress and fur coat draped glamorously over her slender shoulders. Before I knew it she sat across from me and sighed in annoyance.

"The nerve of men. Claiming a women to be dumb enough to fall for such a childish trick just because it involves fashion magazines." She huffed as she pulled out a long golden pipe that looked like it could afford my apartments rent in life. She lit it and smoke began to float along her head, making her look like a dream in a cloud.

"I suppose I should offer you one hm?" still not looking at me the beautiful women held out another pipe from her purse to me.

"Oh no thank you." I quickly said.

"Suit yourself." She put it back and gazed out the window. I noticed her eyes were the prettiest shade of blue even though they were faded by death.

"Um, I'm Claudia." I said nervously for some reason. The women had an intimidating aura and I wasn't sure if she was going to greet me as well or bite my head off.

She didn't even look my way, "Sierra. Pleasure." She took a drag from the pipe but since she had no air the smoke slowly came out of her nose as if the inside of her head had a fire starting.

"Are you on your way to New York as well?" I asked.

"Yes. Where else would you want to be?" She snorted as if it were obvious.

"What do you mean?"

"Death can be so tragically…" she struggled to find a word.

"Sad?"

"Boring. Quite boring actually." She shook her head as she pulled out a tube of red nail polish and began to paint her left hand. "I'm guessing you're new to the dead."

"Is it obvious?" I asked.

"Anyone who has ridden the underworld trains knows to never be late instead of running the platform like a lunatic. Also the way you look at every dead person as if they came out of a horror movie. News flash, we would all be in a horror movie looking the way we do." She glanced my way before returning to her subtle brush strokes over her rotted finger nails.

I nodded as I looked back to the window and she continued speaking, "I have been dead for quite some time and moving to New York was the best decision I have ever made. Why on earth should fine women such as ourselves rot away in a boring grave in a boring cemetery for eternity when there's a bustling city of life in death?" She waved her dead hand to help the red paint dry then proceeded to her other hand.

"I'm only going to catch a boat to Europe." I said.

"Now that is interesting. Do tell." She still didn't look up. I wasn't sure if she was serious or sarcastic. I continued anyway.

"I'm looking for someone and am not sure if I will find him. But I've got nothing else to keep me going and I will always wonder if I don't."

"Is he a lover or something?" Sierra said.

"What? No, no, you could say I'm doing research and he is the key to confirming my theories." I said.

Sierra pursed her lips, "You're quite the actress. I almost believed you."

"But I'm not lying-"

"The truth can be bent indeed. You did it quite well. You should come out and audition for Broadway before you go on your little boat ride."

"Now listen here I….did you say Broadway?" I said.

Sierra finished painting her other hand and she looked up with an arched eyebrow, "That's what I said. Broadway is in New York City. Even in the land of the dead, the world of theatre does not perish."

"You're an actress?" I gasped.

"One of the leading female roles in this year's production of Jekyll and Hyde. I had the last two days off and was visiting my wretched mother in Cleveland. It's always such a pleasure when parents die before you but then you get down here and there they are. Waiting. Waiting to nag you to hell." She rolled her eyes in annoyance.

I ignored the strange scenario, "I had no idea that Broadway was brought down here to the land of the dead. That's…that's…"

"A dream perhaps? Yes it is. Especially for us young ladies who lived for the stage but was cut from that too soon." She suddenly yanked my hand away and started painting my finger nails red as well. It was strange how comfortable she became with me but I did enjoy the girl talk.

"You're an actress?" She said.

"Yes, I also sing. I was hoping to land auditions for big production in my life before my-"

"Inevitable demise?"

"Yeah that. How did you go?" I asked, hoping I didn't reach a touchy subject.

"It was quite the scandal. I cheated on my boyfriend with his friend, he found out and demanded I choose him or the other. Of course I chose neither. I wanted to move to New York in life and didn't have time to be shackled to a man and be a house wife. I guess they thought it was ok to murder me and throw my body into the woods for the animals if I wasn't going to choose."

"My god…" I said.

"I know. Moronic scumbags is what they are. But that's alright. They are cozied up in a jail cell for the past 44 years and it will be 45 this year." She made a devious smile with her red lips and for a moment I wanted to imitate her glamour.

"What of you." She demanded more the asked.

"Nothing…scandalous like you. I was mugged in a parking lot by some dude I had the same class with but never spoke to. He took my truck and purse after stabbing me three times with a dollar store switch blade."

"I figured as much by that shiny little thing in your stomach." She glanced down at my stomach where the blade protruded. "Yup. There's the battle scars." I joked.

"I don't like men if you noticed. They are disgusting."

"Well not all of them are." I said.

"Of course not all. But in the real world? Forget about it. I can't even dress the way I want without having some jerk follow me home." She rolled her eyes as she finished painting both of my hands.

I nodded, "Well…at least you're beautiful." I joked.

Sierra chuckled and looked up at me with her full attention, "Oh honey, beautiful things don't ask for attention."

She just got cooler.

Least to say, we had a nice conversation where I learned a lot about New York having a majority of sacred grounds and upscale graves to rent and live in. Even more so about Broadway and how Sierra moved away from her home grave and has been an actress since the 1960's. Within the next few hours we arrived in New York City.

"Thank you for taking me to the docks. I wouldn't have been able to find them myself. New York is the biggest cemetery I have ever been to." I said as Sierra and I walked down the board walk where a large building stood at the end where I could buy a boat ticket to England. When we arrived I was in awe with the scared grounds we rode into. The city of New York itself wasn't entirely a cemetery, but like Smith said, if there were enough dead people around in one place it would become sacred grounds. New York was a BIG one.

"You're sure you don't wanna stick around for a while? We can check out Broadway."

It pained me to shake my head, "I can't. Not now anyways, I really have to go to Europe and find this man. He can have the answers to questions I've been seeking for a long time now."

Sierra puffed her pipe as she adjusted her fur coat, "Yeah, yeah, self-discovery and what not."

"Sure let's go with that." I muttered as we walked up to the ticketing building. "Well it was amazing meeting you and learning a lot more about New York. Especially Broadway for the dead."

Sierra nodded, "When you're done with this little adventure of yours you should come see me perform in Jekyll and Hyde."

I smiled, "I'd like that." Gripping my back pack I turned around and walked into the building, not looking back. Even if this whole journey was a waste at least I know now that there was something here to fall back on. Maybe I did have a shot at starting over again what with New York being relatively the same in the land of the dead as it was for the living. But I couldn't stop. I had to know if there was a way to go above, my vengeance was so close.

After an hour or so waiting in line and paying a good chunk of what was left of my doubloons and gold, I was sitting on a large decayed ship setting sail for Europe. Some of the sailor's walking around deck had mentioned this journey to take about three weeks of crossing the ocean. I heard it was dangerous for the sea was haunted with lost souls who never found peace. I had to make sure to stay far away from the edge of the ship so I wouldn't risk falling in. All in all, I was relieved I was finally on my way to England. A part of me was excited to see it for the first time, even though I would be seeing it in death, but I wouldn't forget why I was going.

I will find Elder Gutknecht. And I will go to the land of the living.