A/N: Sorry it took a while to update again~! I got a touch of writers block and I don't much like the title of this chapter, but it seemed to suit it pretty ok. Hoping to get a little closer to making things around Eric and Alan a bit darker. Eric is starting to get desperate and Alan is still getting worse and worse. Your reviews have been very lovely and I appreciate every last one of them~! Oh yes and I want to clarify there is a time skip here. Between chapters fifteen and sixteen is a gap of a year and a half, just to let y'all know.
"Oi, Red! Boss wants to know why you ain't made any progress on that investigation of yours?" Francis pounded on the door frame of Grell's office, none too thrilled about having to wander around the red room. "Seriously, if ya don't got a progress report, the boss'll have both my head and yers,"
"Shut up! Here's your stupid reports, now go away~!" Francis stepped back as Grell shoved the papers into his arms and slammed the door in his face. Francis sighed and started organising them the best he could. Alan cocked his head when he saw Francis struggling and dashed over to help him.
"My god, Francis, what on earth is this mess?"
"Sutcliff. Mr. Spears wanted an updated progress report on that thing he's investigating and he just...threw all of this at me! Didn't even bother to say which is which," He sighed and dumped them onto an empty desk, sifting through them with Alan. There was a whole mess of other things aside from the reports which were poorly done and only had the bare minimum filled out. "Jeez, how does he still have a job? The man hardly does any paperwork..." He sighed and pulled a love letter out of the mess, giggling a little.
"Francis, that's rude. Mr. Sutcliff is still very emotional about his break-up with Mr. Spears," Alan pushed up his glasses and sifted through again, finding a few of the progress reports and sighing. "My my, how long has he been on this investigation? There's at least six here! You're only supposed to fill out one every six weeks...how long has he been on this case exactly?" He sighed and cringed when he found another love letter, crumbling it up and quickly throwing it to the side. "...Disgusting..."
"Hey! Watch where you throw these things, huh?" Both looked behind and saw Ronald smiling at them, opening the paper with an eyebrow raised. "Wow, I guess Grell is still after the boss, huh?" He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, folding the paper up and walking off to William's office.
"Oh Ronald!" He stopped and turned to see Alan hurrying after him. "If you're going to see Mr. Spears then take these with you?" He handed over the progress reports pulled out from the pile , smiling a little. "I know it's none of my business but...you two aren't..."
"I wish, but he' so damn hard to figure out...Like one second, he's g-"
"Ah! Don't tell me! I don't want to know what sort of horrible things you two do! Just take those to Mr. Spears!" Ronald blinked as Alan shoved the papers into his arms and hurried off, blushing madly.
"Mr. Slingby...why on earth are you carrying a ring of passkeys?" Alan pointed to a small ring loaded with a mass of skeleton keys, some very plain and others extremely elaborate. He had to do something to pay the older reaper back for letting him rest there until he found his own flat. He'd moved out of his old flat because of the dirt and shabbiness but had nowhere else to go. Luckily, Eric still held true to his offer that the younger brunette could stay with him until he found a nice place. Now if only it wasn't such a mess.
"Hm? Oh, that. They're good luck charms, the really old rusted one on there was filched off of the first demon I dealt with. Although...that's a story for another time," He shook his hair out of his eyes and went back to the kitchen, testing something or other and cringing. "Ugh, too much salt..." Alan blinked and continued looking through the keyring, examining each one like it was a specimen under a microscope.
"Gotta be at least a hundred keys here..." he stopped when he came to a gold key with a very fancy skull at the top. He glanced to the kitchen for a moment before slipping it off of the ring and examining it properly. It was old for sure, but very well taken care of. The gold was still shining like new, the skull pattern at the top was made up of multiple swirls and twists and turns. There were so many patterns that it was impossible to find an opening on it, except at the top for it to slip onto a ring. That would explain why it was a little heavy then, wouldn't it? He turned it over and saw the same amount of swirls and flourishes, following them down onto a small bit of engraving all down the shaft. He turned It over again and noticed something flash on the front of the bit. He shifted it away from the light and noticed two small rubies in the eye sockets. How did he miss those the first time he looked at it? He twirled it around in his hands again and jumped a little when eric whistled right by his ear.
"Didn't you hear me, Humphries? I've been talking to you for the last minute or so!" Alan stared at him and had to avoid laughing when he saw Eric's hair was a complete mess from ruffling and pulling at it so much. Was he having that much trouble with cooking?
"I...no...sorry. What had you said?" He looked away and set the key next to the rest, rubbing his arms a little.
"I was telling you that if you wanted that gold key so much, then you can have it. Just take very good care of it, huh?" He grabbed the key and turned it around a few times, offering it to the younger man. "It belonged to a priest in the fourteenth century, of course it didn't look like this at that time. He offered his soul to a demon in exchange for saving the people of his village from the plague. Well the demon had no hand in saving the village but he still demanded that his soul be handed over. When he realised what he had done, he panicked, fled the village, and tried like hell to hide from what he'd done. He hid for as long as possible, hiding away in far off farm town or maybe a month before he was caught. Now here's where it gets a bit strange Humphries, so pay attention. When he ran, the priest started praying, every waking moment was spent begging forgiveness from God. He begged for his family to forgive him, the demon to stop chasing him, to be absolved from making a deal with the devil. He even prayed when he slept, he was so desperate. Well when the demon finally found him and tried to take his soul...this warm bright light engulfed them. It was bright enough to light the night sky and alarm the villagers, they were far too terrified to come near the barn that the priest was hiding in." He stopped for a moment and tossed it up in the air, smirking a little when Alan snatched and gave the older brunette a slightly annoyed look.
"Let me guess, this key contains the priest's soul, right? Don't be ridiculous, Mr. Slingby!"
"Don't be so sceptical, it's a true story. The morning after the demon came for the priest, the son of one of the farmers went to the barn to find what had created the light. He didn't find anything at all, everything in the barn had been vaporised, except for this key. It was laying it the middle of the barn, and it was burning hot. Well the kid wrapped it up and took it to show his family and the other villagers. For the longest time they couldn't figure out where it had come from, until they saw what was engraved on the bit. Go on, take a look for yourself," Alan raised an eyebrow but held it up close, shifting to get better light and blinking.
"There's nothing special, just a tiny crucifix..." He blinked and stared at the older man, glancing at it once more then back to Eric. "You're telling me that.."
"Yep. The priest had dropped his lucky key and the demon stepped on it when he made a grab for the man. When that light consumed them it destroyed everything else in that barn, and the priest and demon were sealed inside that key that is laying in your hand. To this day, they remain in there, the priest still begging for absolution from God and the demon still trying to take his soul. There's another part to the story that says if you hold it close to your ear, you can still hear their struggle. Personally though, I've always thought that bit was pure rubbish bu-"
"But you believe that the souls of a priest and a demon are trapped inside of a passkey? What sort of logic is that?" He shook his head and stared down for a moment, glancing back up to see Eric with that smirk still plastered on his face. As much as he wanted to call him out for telling a horrible ghost story, he couldn't help but see if it was true. He swallowed a bit as Eric went back to cooking and put it rigt next to his ear, listening hard for some sort of sound. He furrowed his eyebrows when he only heard silence and sighed, slipping it into his pocket. He'd have to show this to Thomas later and see what he thought.
"so, are you going to tell me about the other hundred or so keys you've got on here?" Eric looked over and adjusted his glasses.
"What's to tell? The others aren't really anything special, just ones I've found in graveyards or churches or taken off of dead and injured demons. They don't really have much of a backstory like that gold one does though," Alan blinked and looked at the ring before setting it back down, shaking his head and returning to cleaning the older man's sitting room.
"You still carry that thing around, dear? I figured you had passed it off as some fancy trinket, not turned it into a bracelet," Alan looked over then down to his wrist. He'd found a gold chain a few years later and kept it wrapped around his wrist at all times.
"It's unique. Gives me some sense of individuality at the Dispatch. Besides, wearing it helps me to think of you if we get split up for collections," He pulled his wrist away from Eric and laid his head on his chest, looking upwards. "Though I've never heard anything coming from it. No noises or anything, then again I still think you're pulling my leg about a demon and priest being trapped inside of it," The blond pouted and tilted his chin up.
"Oh Alan, I'm surprised at you. Do you really think I'd tell you a story like that just for a prank?"
"Well I asked Thomas about it the next day and he said he'd never heard any sort of story like that. And he knows all manner of insane tales like that,"
"Then Thomas hasn't talked to the right people...now get some rest, Allie. We've got a LONG day tomorrow," He shook his hair out of his eyes and pulled the brunette into a sweet kiss before wrapping his arms around him and turning out the light.
Alan curled up next to one of the pillows, turned away from Eric. The blond cracked an eye open and glanced over, smiling a bit before slowly crawling out of bed and slipping his glasses on. He swallowed and slipped over to his wardrobe, grabbing something warmer than his pajamas before slipping out of the room. He sighed as he got dressed and grabbed what he thought was his scythe, only realising it was Alan's when he pulled his boots on.
"Damn it, Slingby...what would your mentor say...? No wait, nevermind..." He shuddered at the thought of his mentor and set the staff back quickly, grabbing his saw and his lucky key ring before hurrying out and into London. The occasional thoughts of his mentor made him pause and cringe. What would that crazy old bugger say about him now? What would he say about Alan? Better yet...
"What would he say if he knew what I was doing...?" He sighed and looked out from the rooftop again, keeping an eye out for someone who could meet what he needed. He swallowed hard and stood as a young girl came running down the alley, crying and bumping into everything. "What the...?" She couldn't be more than thirteen, must have been abandoned. He narrowed his eyes as he watched her, curling up against the corner of the alley and crying, begging to no one in particular for forgiveness.
"Momma...Please Momma...forgive me for running away...! I'm so sorry for everything..." The blond shook his head as she trailed off, hopping off the roof and in front of her. She stopped rambling and stared at him, shaking like a leaf. "W-who are you? Are you...with him? He's going to kill me! Please! Please save me, I'm begging you!" She began sobbing again and clinged to Eric's legs, begging through her sobs. The reaper shook his head and nudged her off of him, kneeling down to her level.
"Relax Miss...I can help you, but it might hurt. Just calm down and close your eyes, huh?" She swallowed hard and wiped her eyes, staring at him silently. "Trust me, miss. I can help you..."
"W-will you take me back to my Momma? I'm terribly sorry for running away, I hadn't meant to! I was just so in love with that gardner and he said we'd be together forever until...Mister please!" He looked out towards the alley and shuddered, glancing back to the girl. He couldn't do this, this girl was too young, too terrified, far too innocent...He looked back when she started coughing heavily, a few drops of blood landing on her hand. She grabbed her chest and stared up at him, gasping for air. There really was no way he could do this, she was...she was just like Alan. Innocent and dying, crying out in the darkness, grasping at straws for hoe that kept falling further and further away. He heard the rev of something off in the distance, it had to be a death scythe, one of the night workers for sure. She coughed and gasped again and Eric stood straight up, lifting his saw.
"Please forgive me, Alan..." He clenched his eyes shut and brought the scythe down against her, stepping back when she went limp and swallowing hard, leaning against the grimy bricks. "God forgive me..."
"I think you've fallen a little too far for Him to help you, reaper. Not even the Devil himself would accept you," The blond looked up and around for the source of the voice, holding his saw up and ready to attack at any point.
"Who said that? Where are you? Come on, show yourself!" He glanced back at the girl and ran out of the alley, still looking in every direction for the source of the voice.
"You're getting desperate aren't you? You know it's coming, don't you? Everyone can see it...your precious Alan is going to die soon. You won't collect the souls in time, reaper. Don't deny it, accept it and let him pass..."
"Don't you dare say his name. I'll do anything I can to save him! I'll show you. I'll do anything it takes to save him!" He glared and stopped when a demon whistled from the rooftops, kneeling to stare right at him.
"Don't delude yourself, Eric Slingby. You waited too long to start saving him. Nobody can collect 1000 souls in five years. No matter how good they are. You'll go mad with guilt before then," The demon had a point there, he'd been losing sleep for the past year, waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Crying out in his sleep, begging to someone, anyone to stop the screaming. Nightmares of blood and terror, the look on Alan's face if he knew what he'd been doing, the faces of people he'd murdered all to save one person.
"You make one more comment about what I'm doing and I will end you! Do you understand me? You don't know the first thing about me, or him, or anyone that we care about! I'll fight you, you hear me?" He dashed up onto the rooftop and looked around, panting and half-blind with fury. He was gone, the damned coward was gone! "Where are you, you bastard?" He snarled and started shaking, stopping when he saw the girl he'd just killed staring at him.
"You lied to me, Mister...you said you'd save me...why did you lie to me? I trusted you with my life, Mr. Slingby!" He stared at the hallucination and went wide eyed when it turned from the girl to Alan, stepping back as the apparition came toward him, still asking why. He swallowed hard and stepped away from it, slowly backing up until he hit the edge of the building, looking down quickly and dropping his scythe over the edge, slipping a little himself.
"Please! I didn't mean anything wrong by it! I never wanted it to be like this...I just wanted to save him...I can't lose him now...I love him!" He blinked when the apparition vanished and collapsed on the roof, landing on his hands and knees, panting and sobbing. "Please forgive me..."