Shun

I was doing nothing short of forcing myself to walk back to Murucho's; I was so worn out, that I wasn't entirely sure how I was still able to stand. When I left the subway, the sun was starting to set behind the towering buildings around me, and I had a good idea that it would be right at dark when I got back to Murucho's.

Already, I was bracing myself for their worried and concerned looks, despite the fact that I had told them not to worry. Finally, I made it back to Murucho's; I had never been happier to see the massive building in my life. I walked through the front door and navigated my way up to the floor that I was staying on with the others; there was no way that I could have planned for what happened next.

I reached the sitting area, and found the others sitting around and talking idly. Nothing about this picture stood out to me, but it was Dan's sudden change in his expression that made me realize not all was well within the group. Julie cut off her conversation with Runo and said with a smile, "Oh, there you are, Shun. We thought you would have been back here with Dan, but he said that he lost track of you in a crowd."

Confused, I turned and looked at Dan, wondering what Julie was talking about and whether or not she had finally lost her mind. He quickly sat up from his seat on the sofa and said, "Man, glad to see you again. Hey, we need to talk out in the hall."

I was only getting more and more confused. What were they talking about? Have I missed something? I was certain that I had left Murucho's by myself, not with Dan. Then, I started to catch onto a scheme and followed Dan out into the hall. He shut the door to the sitting room. "What in the world are you guys talking about? You didn't leave with me," I said sternly.

Dan then turned around, a look of hostility blazing in his eyes. "What is your problem!" he demanded. "My problem? I'm not the one yelling," I retort, quickly growing aggravated. Dan started to pace back and forth in the hall. "Why in the world were you in that subway station? You could have been shot by the maniac."

I was about to call him insane, when I finally registered what he had just said. He knew where I was and what happened today. "You…..You followed me!" I shouted, appauled that he had completely disregarded my privacy. Dan folded his arms over his chest.

"I followed you to make sure you didn't get hurt again, but by the looks of what happened today, I think you're doing nothing but looking for trouble. I mean, who in the world sits around in a train station for four hours! If I didn't know any better, I would think that you knew that shooting was going to happen…Tell me you didn't."

His stone cold gaze didn't leave me, and they weren't going to until I gave him his answer. To keep my cover, I laughed humorlessly and told him harshly, "No. How would I even know that was going to happen? I was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Now, if you don't mind, I'm tired and would like to get some peace and quiet without you yelling in my ear."

I didn't like fighting with Dan, but he was treading on thin ice with me, and trying my ever last nerve of patience. He did not need to know about what I had been doing on my 'outings' in the city. He would either deem me crazy or brain damaged from the wreck, or if he believed me, he may have seen me as some kind of demon or monster.

Quite frankly, I preferred not knowing what the outcome would be if I spilled my secret. So, it was for the best if it stayed between me and the other Reapers; the only ones that should even know about this kind of world. Dan let out a heavy sigh and said coldly, "Fine. Do whatever you want. I'm tired of looking out for you."

Somehow, those words got to me, but I wasn't about to show it. Instead, I closed my eyes and brushed past him and went through the sitting room, ignoring the stares from the others.

Dan

I never told the others what went on today; as far as they were concerned, they thought that I had gone on a walk with Shun today and lost sight of him. They knew nothing about us being at the shooting and such. Alice was the only one that knew that I had followed Shun without his knowledge, but even I didn't inform her about today's horrid events.

Shun stormed past me and cut through the sitting room so he could go to his room. When he walked by, I felt like I was getting much more than a cold shoulder; I was getting an entire glacier dumped on me. So stubborn, I thought to myself.

Sighing, I recomposed myself and cooled down my anger before going back to the others. Their eyes locked on me, all of them looking lost and confused. Julie was the first to speak when she asked, "Are you and Shun fighting again? I thought you two were past that."

Runo was sitting next to her, legs crossed over each other and arms folded. "He probably said something to tick Shun off again, like always," she said smartly. Cutting her a curt look, I said, "I'm not in the mood for that, Runo." She picked up on the seriousness in my voice, realizing that this wasn't one of mine and Shun's regular disagreements.

"I think I'm going to go for a walk and cool down some," I told them as I turned around and left the sitting area. None of them stopped me, which I wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad thing. Maybe they wanted to stay out of my way, afraid that I'd go off on them.

Or, they might have seen it as something that I needed to keep my head on my shoulders. I stepped out in the cool night air and started to walk down the empty sidewalks.

Shun

I slammed the door to my room closed, rattling pictures that hung on the wall. Anger was still tangled up inside of me, trying to find someway to escape before I completely lost it. "How could he just think he had a right to follow me without my permission?" I asked to nobody.

My anger wasn't so much from the fact that he had tagged along with me knowing, but it was more out of the fear of how much he had seen back at the station. I knew for a fact that he saw the shooting, and he knew I was there, but what had he seen after that?

Did he see me vanish out of my cloak, or perhaps afterwards when I was sitting on the floor and talking to Death and Grim? By the way he was talking during our confrontation, he didn't seem to know about anything other than I was at the shooting.

But that didn't mean that Dan just didn't want to bring it up yet. Thinking that some water would cool me down, I stepped into my bathroom and turned on the water faucet. Water rushed out and into the sink. I caught some in my hands and splashed it on my face; it didn't do anything for my anger, but it did wash away some of my consuming fatigue.

I then looked up at the mirror, my wet hair sticking to my face and making me appear to be as furious as I felt. My gaze then fell on my scar, and I felt my anger return. It was all cause of that wreck and deal that I made with Death, that this was happening.

I was losing my grip on everything, and I started to feel that it might have been better if I had just stayed dead. "Would have saved them the burden of worrying about me," I hissed under my breath. My emotions then got the better of me, and I found myself punching my hand into the mirror.

The silver-backed glass shattered and cracked, and I felt a couple of shards stick into my hand. I kept my hand there for a moment, and several trails of blood started to streak down the cracked mirror. Surprisingly, there wasn't that much pain in my hand.

I pulled my arm away from the destroyed mirror, and started to wonder how I would explain this to Murucho. Suddenly, I focused back on my reflection, and saw that a single crack followed a perfect trail over my reflection's scar. I then looked at the other breaks in the glass.

They were all like scars, things that would never go away, no matter what you used to cover them up; you still knew they were there. And this cracked mirror looked how I felt; cracked.

Rogue

I sat on the edge of a windowsill, kicking my feet around in the air. It had been a couple of days since my last redezvous with a human, and I could feel that itch returning to me once again to tell me I was due to mess with lives. Where shall I look tonight?

There were many places I could go and find a new client; bars, clubs, and so forth. But I was starting to grow tired of finding easily manipulated people like that drunk I ran into a few nights ago. I desired more of a challenge, somebody that was a bit more coherent.

I was about to leap from my windowsill, when I saw somebody walking down the sidewalk below. Or, more like stomping along. I smiled slyly. Why look when the best things in life come to you? I unfurled my wings, making my cloak vanish and my pressence known.

Jumping down from the window, I landed beside the young man, startling him. He flinched back and looked me over. Then, his expression turned less apprehensive. "Nice costume. A little late for Halloween though, don't ya think?" he asked, his voice void of almost any humor.

I always found it amusing how humans always thought of me as a man in a costume, and until it was too late, did they discover that I was a being of Death. "Is there something that you desire more than anything in this world?" I crooned and awaited the answer. The brunette cocked an eyebrow and asked, "What are you? Some kind of stalker or something. Listen, I've dealt with enough of those as of lately."

He started to walk away, but I halted his direction of travel by stepping in front of him. "I promise you, I am no stalker. Just…..An observer of the human nature." It was obvious that the boy still had no interest in what I could offer him.

This theory was proven when he said, "I don't want anything other than you to go and trick-or-treat somewhere else." This human is quite stubborn. Maybe I shouldn't have wanted somebody coherent. But there was something about his fight and stubborness that I found amusing.

I had at one point that some people are actually too interesting to kill. Was this possibly one of those people? I certainly took an intrest in him. An idea came to my mind, a way that I could examine this specimen more closely. "What….If you could live as long as you wanted? Nothing could kill you. Would that spark your fancy?" I asked while stroking my chin.

The brunette took a step away from me and said flatly, "You're insane, man. Go back to whatever rock you crawled out from under. I'm not in the mood for anymore mind games tonight." He tried to walk away from me, and once again, I didn't allow this to happen.

"If you knew this wasn't the ramblings of a deranged man, or a joke, would you take up the offer?" I asked. Already, I was preparing myself to accept another decline, and take matters into my own hands. I was going to get what I wanted from this human, and that was to find out more about him. He crossed his arms over his shoulders. "Immortality, huh? I guess that sounds pretty cool, and if I did have that chance, I might take it up. But there's no such thing. Now, I'm leaving."

I allowed the boy to walk past me this time. He didn't seem to noticed the devilish grin on my face. "That's all I wanted to hear," I mused and summoned my scythe. In one fluent motion, the blade swung around and cut into the back of the brunette. He screamed out in a pain.

"Music to my ears," I purred. His body dropped onto the sidewalk, convulsing and screams lurching from his lungs. This was poetry at its finest; the ending, and new beginning of a life. I then cut into the boy one more time. His eyes widened to their fullest extent, and a thin line of blood trickled down the side of his face.

Slowly, his eyes then shut, and his head turned to the side. Now, he was dead and awaiting for my next step. Since he was not meant to die, he had the ability to become a Reaper. But unlike my other clients, I never offered them the chance. This boy, was truly special and lucky compared to the others I had Reaped before him.

I stood over his body, arms crossed over my chest, and I took in the sight. It kind of pained me to bring back somebody that I had Reaped, but what other choice did I have? If I were to examine this human more closely, then this was the only thing I could do.

He would become my student, giving him no choice but to stay near me and learn; if he did not, then the Reaper council would hunt him down and punish him for not taking souls, since he would not know how.

I then knelt down beside his body and said to deaf ears, "You know, word around the city is that Death found himself a new little bloodhound, and that he's teaching him how to Reap souls. Then, he's going to send him after me and have me captured. How hilarious. What makes him think that this one is any different from the others he's sent after me and that I've banished to Hell? So, to mix it up a bit, I guess I could train you as my guard dog and have you go toe-to-toe with Death's new pet, while I finish things with him once and for all. What do you say? Yes? That's wonderful. Now, let's get down to business."

I stood up and ripped open a portal into the realm where the souls of untimely deaths went, so I could turn my latest victim, into a Reaper.

chapter title based off the song Breaking Inside by Shinedown. sorry for not uploading the past few days. didnt feel like it tuesday, had a chiropractor appointment yesterday afternoon, and that's about it. check out my poll please if you have not done so. Read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~