Shun

I didn't stray far from the alley due to the worry that I would miss what was about to happen. To make it not look like I was doing something suspicious, I stayed seated on a bench a faw yards away, and stared at the screen of my phone. As I gazed down at the home screen, my phone lit up to let me know that I was receiving a call.

The caller ID showed Dan's name, and his number underneath. They're probably wondering where I am and if I'm alright, I thought to myself as I rejected the call. Sure, Dan would probably be mad at me for not answering him, but I was positive that he would get over it sooner or later.

Besides, it's not like I can tell them what I'm up to. The streetlamps came to life around me the moment the sun fell behind the horizon. I stood up from the bench and caught a glimpse of something black leaping across the rooftops.

When I saw the black cloak, I knew who it was; Death was going to the alley to meet up with me. I turned and hurried back down the street, and found myself faced with the alley once again. Thanks to the darkness of night, I could hardly see ten feet in front of me, even with the help of the streetlamps.

"Up here," a voice called from above. I looked up and saw Death standing on the edge of a roof. Using my ninja skills, I scaled the wall with ease and joined his side. "I'm here. Now what?" I asked as I gazed down into the black abyss below.

Death crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Now, we wait to see what happens." The two of us had to have sat there on that roof for three hours. Fatigue was starting to get to me, and it took all the fight I had in me to refrain from falling asleep; Death just stood there, as if the late hour wasn't bothering him the least bit.

It probably wasn't. Why would Death sleep? Right when I was about to give into my bodily needs and fall asleep, I heard the clicking of heels on the ground. When I looked down, I saw a woman running down the alley. Through the shadows, I caught a quick glimpse of her face, and immediately recognized her.

"That's her," I blurted out without realizing it. The woman ran into the dead-end of the alley, completely trapped. It's just like my dream. The figure of a man then ran down the alley, and pinned the woman against the brick wall that was keeping her trapped in this place.

A human urge overtook me, and I wanted to go down there and stop what was about to happen. Death held his arm out, stopping me from going to the woman's aid. "No. Let things play out," he told me calmly. I relaxed a bit and stayed put, all while fighting that urge to stop what I knew was about to happen.

I heard the sound of a gun being loaded and cocked, along with the terrified sobs of the soon-to-be victim. The woman was begging the man to have mercy on her, but he only shouted at her. The darkness hid their facial expressions from me, but I had a rough estimate of what they looked like; the man would have an expression of anger, while the woman's face was streaked with tears.

I shut my eyes and braced myself to hear the sound of a gunshot, but it never came. Instead, I heard a gurgling sound, followed by the sound of a body falling onto the ground. The woman's sobs became less frequent. She said with caution, "Jim?"

Confused, I turned to Death for an answer. He remained calm and cool when he said, "Sometimes death is unpredictable. One can never be too sure about who they think is going to die. Here, you might need this soon." Death held out his hand and a black cloak appeared out of thin air.

I stared at it for a moment before taking it from him. Was this really happening? Was I really about to do this? I tossed the cloak on. The black fabric draped down to my feet, hiding almost all of my body. Death lifted the hood of the cloak up and pulled it over my head.

Now, I was completely covered. He stepped back and looked me over. "Nice fit, if I do say so myself," he mused. I raised an eyebrow as I examined myself. "Alright, we got the cloak out of the way. Won't I need….You know….A scythe?" I asked. Death chuckled and told me, "Yes. That might help you out down there. Here, take mine."

His scythe appeared in the palm of his hand, and he tossed the tool at me. I caught it, surprised by the weight that came along with the metal blade. I gazed at my reflection in the razor-sharp blade, wondering how I even remotely looked like I was a Reaper. All I looked like, was some confused and scared kid in a cloak.

Death cleared his throat, grabbing a hold of my attention. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go down there and do your job." I took in a deep breath, and jumped down into the dark alley. Now that I was closer to the scene, I was able to see through the darkness.

The woman was knelt beside the once gun-carrying man; his body now laid on the ground, completely motionless. Why had he died? All of the evidence suggested that the woman would be the one to die tonight, not the man. She was still by the man's side, crying over his body.

I then noticed something that I hadn't when I first saw my vision; the woman was littered with bruises. She's been abused. I turned my attention back to the man, who had to be her abuser. Then why was she crying over him? She should have been happy and relieved that she was finally free of his violent ways.

"Jim, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault," she said between sobs. She was sorry? For what? It wasn't like she did anything to him from what I could tell. There were no wounds or anything on the man's body; no proof that she had caused him any harm. I suddenly felt Death's pressence behind me.

"I'm working on it," I told him without tearing my gaze from the scene. "Alright. If you say so," he mused. "You know what to do, Reaper. So, do it." My hands tightened around the tall handle of the scythe, and I raised the blade up and behind my head, as if getting ready to take a swing at a baseball with a bat.

I shut my eyes tightly, and let the blade arc through the air and cut into the man's side. His soul was torn from the body, and now stood before me. Then, the alley around me and him vanished and I saw images of his life playing like a movie in fast-forward. What's going on? I asked myself.

The man's soul looked around at the images, and I thought I saw a flash of sadness in his eyes. This was his life, and it was literally flashing before his eyes. The images turned from him when he was younger, to more recent memories.

They showed him being abusive and violent to many people; including the woman that he recently tried to kill a moment ago. In my ear, I heard Death's voice say, "This is all of his memories. It shows you how he lived his life, and is a means to help you determine where he goes after death."

From what I could gather, this man had done more bad than good. So, he deserved punishment, right? As the last of his memories vanished, he turned towards me. The expression on his face suggested that he just realized that I was there. "Wh-what's going to h-happen to me?" he studdered.

I bit my lower lip and swung the scythe. The blade cut into the ground, tearing a portal open. Flames rose up and grabbed the man's soul and drug him down into the pit. The hole then closed, and the alley returned around me. A sick feeling was left in my stomach after what had just happened, but I had no choice.

As Death had told me before, I would decide whether a soul went to Heaven or Hell. And looking back on all that that man had done, he did not deserve the better of the two. The woman was still kneeling over her dead husband's body, crying even harder now.

I lowered my hood down to hide more of my face; I was completely and utterly ashamed of what I had just done. "You have no reason to hide," Death told me from behind. "He got what was coming to him." He joined my side, gazing down at the woman and man's body.

"He died from a pre-existing heart condition. Strange how it picked this exact moment to kick in and take his life. But, death works in mysterious ways." Death mused his last sentence, wearing a sly grin afterwards. He then swung his cloak up, making the fabric engulf both me and him.

When the cloak lowered down, I found that we were standing outside of Murucho's mansion. I stared up at the massive structure, then turned back to Death. He was looking up at it as well, as if pondering how such a thing could exist. It then dawned on me that I still held his scythe.

"Um, I think this is your's," I said while handing it back to him. Death grinned and pushed the bladed weapon back at me. I stared at him, confused as to why he wouldn't take his scythe back. "You keep it, Reaper. I've been meaning to try out a new scythe of my creation now."

He raised his hand out into the air, and a black mist started to take shape into a long, bladed weapon. When the mist vanished, it left behind a new scythe. The blade was longer, curving into a wicked claw. The handle, was blood red, and looked kind of like a cross between vines and veins.

They ran their wicked, finger-like apendages onto the blade, making it appear like they were what was holding the thing together. Overall, it held a terrifying beauty behind it, but not like his previous scythe, which was now mine. His old one, was simplistic and held a different form of intimidation.

This one, was meant to look fearsome, and that it did. "You like it? It's one of my own design. Completely mine alone," he said with pride. He then turned back to me and said calmly, "Take care of my old scythe, will you? I'm sure you will. Don't forget to take off your cloak before going inside. Now, I must bid you farewell for now."

He threw his cloak up and vanished. I stood outside of Murucho's for a while longer, then decided to go inside. But right when I was about to take off the cloak and step through the front doors, I heard a snickering from across the street. Slowly, Grim emerged from the darkness.

"I just adore Death's new toy. Don't you, little Reaper?" he asked with a cackle. Not sure what to say, I only nodded as a response. Grim ran across the street and joined me at my side. Immediately, I caught a whiff of his stinch. Grim suddenly began to smile madly.

"I'm so proud of you, little Reaper. Taking your first soul. It's truly a special occasion for you!" I took a step back and said with caution, "Listen, I don't know what your problem is, but I would like it if you left me alone." Grim pretended to act flattered and chuckled.

"That's another thing I like about you, little Reaper. You have plenty of fire where your soul used to be. That alone is so hard to come by these days." He hissed his words that ended with 's' into my ear, making me flinch away from him. This only made him cackle with more laughter.

Grim suddenly went from standing in front of me, to being at my right side without me so much as seeing his movements. He lifted his hand and pulled my hair out from in front of my eye like he had the first time I met him. I tried to slap his hand away again, but he stopped me by grabbing onto my wrist.

"Ha! I've learned how you react, little Reaper!" I stared at him, a shiver going up my arm from my wrist that he was holding onto. His eyes narrowed at me, and his voice changed from ragged to smooth as silk. "Now, if you hide that scar anymore, then I'm sorry for what I might do to you," he practically purred. "Your scar is just too pretty to hide from this world. Why do you insist to keep it hidden?"

I didn't realize that I was shivering until now. Was I cold? No, I felt fine. Maybe it was because of Grim's threat that he just made if I continued to hide my scar. What would he do to me if I continued to keep my face hidden? I made a decision then and there, not to find out.

"I-I…..Don't k-know," I studdered out to answer his question. Grim ran one of his long fingernails down my scar and said, "Now knowing isn't a good enough reason to keep this away from the world. Would you hide the Mona Lisa without a reason? No. I didn't think so," he whispered.

I was afraid to move from my spot. What would this lunatic do if I did? Grim then released his hold on me, and I felt like ice around me began to thaw the moment his hand let go of my wrist. I stepped back, feeling awkward and confused now.

Grim gave me a devilish smile and said, "You like that, little Reaper? I made sure you weren't going to fight back against me while I tried to get my point across, so I used my powers to imobilize you. You should see your face, little Reaper!"

His smooth voice went back to one that belonged to a person that needed to be in a mental institute. Grim began to walk away, never turning around to face his back to me. He wiggled a finger and said in a playful tone, "Remember, little Reaper. Don't hide your scar, or else!"

He then turned around and started to skip down the street until he vanished into the shadows. I didn't have to hear him to know that he was singing his little song. "Reap their souls. Reap their souls. Where they go, only I will know." I took in a shaky breath, and repositioned my hair to how it had been before I started to hide my eye.

I cared less about the appearance of my right eye. Now, I was more scared about what Grim would do to me if I didn't do as he said. Once that was done, I took off my cloak and dematerialized the scythe that Death had given to me.

How I knew how to do that, I wasn't entirely sure, but at this point, I no longer cared. I took in a deep breath and went inside of the mansion like I was about to do before Grim had interrupted me.

Chapter title based off the song Frozen by Within Temptation. aye, i had a long day. doctor appointment, then i went to FINALLY take my permit test and i passed! woo! even though i missed six questions, and you can't miss more than six, or else you fail. so, i just did squeeze by. X) read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~