"So, what's the problem?" William questioned the nurse, his arms crossed as a sign of irritation. Irritated that it was taking so long to figure out what was wrong with Grell… irritation caused by the fact that no one here seemed to be competent in his mind… and he was even more irritated by the silver-haired man holding Grell's hand, whispering his name quietly, telling Grell to wake up. As if coaxing the stubborn red-head would do any good….
"We're working on it, the doctor will be in here soon." And with that, the nurse turned and left the room.
William frowned and turned around to look at the bed where Undertaker was still clinging to Grell's hand. Undertaker smiled wistfully, hoping Grell would wake up. Actually, he was pretty convinced Grell would wake up… probably because he didn't want to face the fact that Grell was dying before his eyes.
William hesitantly walked over to him, touching the older man's shoulder. "You should get some rest…."
Undertaker glanced up, blinking with surprise for a moment. "Why?"
"Because we require sleep…" William felt a bit discomforted under the gaze, wondering what was off about it.
"I will be fine. Why do you care?"
"Multiple reasons… respect… worry…"
"Terrific." Undertaker looked back at Grell, squeezing the red-head's hand lightly. "But I'm not going anywhere until we figure out what is wrong."
"I was actually talking about after we talk to the doctor, but alright." William resumed his steady pacing again, and Undertaker kept mumbling to himself.
After what felt like an hour to the two (but was more around 10 minutes), a doctor walked in. Tall, sturdily built, she smiled warmly at the two of them. "Hello, I'm Dr. Parsley-"
"Parsley?" Undertaker cackled a bit, wearing a lopsided grin, and William sighed.
"I'm William T. Spears, and that's…." William stared at Undertaker, and the woman just shrugged.
"I know who you two are. And I know you guys wanted answers on what is wrong with that patient there." She motioned to Grell, and William nodded quickly.
"Yes, we did." William spoke up first as he looked at Undertaker, but the man only seemed to be trying to suppress giggles, so Will continued. "So, can you tell us?"
"Well… the thing is, we can't be certain. We've tried to look it up, and we've narrowed it down to a single possibility."
"Yes?!" William was getting antsy now, and he tapped his foot a bit. He wanted to know right now, but the time this woman was taking to explain everything was getting on his nerves. Besides, he could take whatever news it was. … I can take it, can't I? I couldn't be that bad… maybe he was just a bit sick… reapers couldn't get into comas, right? Besides, people could wake up from comas. And he was pretty sure Grell didn't have the thorns… God forbid if Grell did have them…
The Doctor sighed. "Simply put; Mr. Sutcliff is dying. The funny thing is that he is aging like a human. But it seems to only have recently kicked in-"
"What?" William stared at her in utter confusion, but his interruption only earned him a glare from the Doctor.
"As I said, Mr. Sutcliff is dying from a natural way that kills humans; old age. He will slowly deteriorate. I think whatever caused this was dormant in a way. Which only brings into question where it came from-"
"Dr. Parsley?" A nurse stuck her head in the door. "You were called in the other room."
"Got it Martha. Excuse me…" The Doctor quickly left, leaving William standing there baffled.
"Well…. That explains a bit. But as she said, how did this happen… Undertaker?" William frowned at the other man, who had gone quiet after giggling. He was sitting there, still holding Grell's hand, but a frown on his face. It sent shivers up William's spine to see such an unpleasant look on the man's face, and his discomfort only increased when Undertaker slowly looked at William.
"… I did this."
"… What?"
"I did this." Undertaker stared at William, his expression distant yet filled with silent anguish.
"Um…." William guessed that the man was undergoing some sort of break-down, which only made him more uneasy. Will wasn't that great at comforting and reassuring others… but he had a feeling that if this 'legendary man' had a nervous breakdown, everyone would regret it.
"I'm pretty sure it isn't-"
"It is…"
"You're probably just feeling… guilt. Or you're full of worry… feeling a lot of pressure right now…"
"You don't get it, Spears. I did this. I know that because… I sort of failed… to…" His voice drifted off, and he avoided William's gaze, but Will only pressed further.
"Failed to do what?"
"… Failed to reap a soul. Well… you know the death book mark?" William nodded at the question, and Undertaker sighed. "You very well know, of course, that you can, in a way, postpone a person's death when you place it in said person's book and stuff... anyways, years ago, I came across a person, and I placed it in their book….."
"And?" William sighed, feeling yet again irritable, and Undertaker continued quicker.
"Well, that person was scheduled to die at midnight. They would've been killed by a murderer. It wasn't the murderer's time to go yet, and I wasn't interested in killing him anyways. So… I placed a book mark in the book of the person doomed to die. Because of that, that person wouldn't be killed by the murderer, so it just sort of halted the events in a way. That person couldn't die by any 'outside' ways… but he would still die of old age. But he then later became a shinigami, so…"
William stared at Undertaker, an incredulous look on his face. So… it was Grell. He saved Grell. But how does this influence everything now?
"… Alright, I get what you did, but how is that the result of… this?" William pointed to Grell's unconscious body on the hospital bed.
"Because Grell's life was literally paused as a human, and he was supposed to die of old age. But somehow, Grell died anyways, and ended up as a shinigami, a death god. When you become a shinigami, your cinematic record and all traces of it are supposed to be destroyed from when you were a human. Then you get a new one for your new life. But I never removed the book mark of course. So I'm guessing that when the book was destroyed, so was the book mark. Therefore, even though there was no way to actually keep track of Grell dying, he was still going to die. And as I said before, the only way he could die without anyone interfering was of old age."
William nodded a bit to himself, beginning to understand it all but still confused. "Then how did he suddenly start to die?"
"Well, as I said, the records keeping track of his death were destroyed. So, say that Grell became a shinigami 30 years after his original scheduled death. That would mean that, after 30 years of being a shinigami, death would eventual catch up to him and he would… die… but I'm only guessing."
"And you were going to tell me this when?" William stood stoically, now infuriated at the other man. "Were you never going to tell me about this?"
"I didn't think I needed to! I mean, I'm only telling you what I know as facts, and what I'm guessing is happening! I didn't even think this could happen!" Undertaker stared with despair at Grell. "My love… dying… gone…"
William huffed a bit, uncrossing his arms. "Fine, terrific… but I have some questions."
"Yes?"
"How long does Grell have? Can we stop it? How do we stop it? And if the bookmark was placed in his book… then how did Grell die anyways? I mean, he obviously didn't die of old age if he became one of us."
Undertaker looked surprised and turned his head to look at Will. "…"
"… You don't know, do you?"
"Not a clue."
"… Fuck." William didn't normally swear, but he felt that there was a need for it. "… Alright, then I think that it's in our best interests that we figure out how to save him."
"You want to save him?"
"Don't you?"
"Of course I do! I was just wondering why you wanted to…" Undertaker was a bit perplexed. He thought William found Grell irritating, annoying, and just a plain nuisance. But then again…. if William was going to help him save Grell's life, who was he to judge?
"I want to because… because he's my colleague." William turned and headed for the door. "But anyways, I suggest that we get some sleep, and then head to the library."
"Why?"
"Because it's not good to pass out from both exhaustion and worry. And because the library might hold some sort of clue to helping him."
Undertaker watched as William paused in the doorway to look back at him, and he sighed. "That's great, but I'll be fine sleeping here. Just to spend a bit of time with Grell. I'll let the Doctor know you left, and I'll tell her what we may have figured out."
William watched him with an unreadable expression before he nodded and left, and Undertaker turned to look at the red-head, reaching out to touch his cheek.
I saved you once, Grell, I can do it again.
William headed home, knowing he probably wouldn't get any sleep. But what he needed most of all was some time alone.
I know I can look in the library for some stuff… maybe check the archives… damn, there is so many questions still…
William ran a hand through his hair as he left the hospital building, thinking about the other guy. He was honestly worried that Undertaker was going to break down….
As he continued to walk away, he then remembered the uneasy feeling he had when he looked at him. … He wasn't smiling. He wasn't smiling….
Perhaps a sign of bad omen?
And once again, a pretty successful chapter! Pleaaaseeee let me know how this is people, even if it's just a one worded message or review or whatever… I do write for you guys! ^-^"
A big thanks to princessariellover876 and The Shadow Summoner for taking the time to review!
Any mistakes? Let me know!