Shun

I was finally able to bring myself to sit up, but I was still out of it thanks to what I had just seen. As unbelievable as it was, and as much as I wished that it was all a bad dream, I had witnessed Alice's death. The images were still dancing in my memory, rubbing the salt in the still open wounds that had just been inflicted. How was this going to happen though? How was Alice going to die?

The line of blood that had been trickling down the corner of her mouth, suggested that there was trauma, but I didn't recall seeing any external wounds anywhere on her during the vision. Regardless, who would even think about hurting somebody as sweet and innocent as Alice?

Even the worst of people might be unable to harm a single hair on her. Death was standing next to me, arms still folded over his chest. He sighed and said, "Looks like you're hands are always full with all of these deaths you've been seeing as of late. Oh, well. Might as well get prepared for whenever this job will pop up." My eyes widened and darted into a glare at him.

"I'm not going to take her soul!" I shouted with cold hostility in my voice. Grim tilted his head to the side, then chuckled. "It seems that we finally found out where the little Reaper draws the line," he cackled. Death must have been insane if he thought I was going to take Alice's soul away from her.

There was no way that I'd bring myself to do that to one of my friends, especially one that I cared this much about. I could feel Death's cold and disapproving gaze piercing through me. "You saw her death, which means that you have to be the one to take her soul."

Standing up, I shot a cold look at him. "No. I'm not going to," I said with defiance. Grim's eyes darting back and forth between Death and I. He then backed away and said sheepishly, "I think I'm going to let you two handle this on your own."

Death looked back at me and asked coldly, "Why won't you take this person's soul? Is it because you know them and are friends? Well, you know what? You have to get over that and do the job that you were given, or else suffer the consequences. It's part of being a Reaper, and if you are unable to cut the rope of connections, then punishment will be served. That's how the world works for you now. Get over it."

The harshness in his voice was enough to make me cringe. This guy was serious; he really expected me to take Alice's soul. And he acts like he doesn't even care. It was then, that I saw what my future years may hold for me. I would become like Death; taking more and more souls, and with each one, becoming more and more isolated from the emotional ties that bound me to so many people.

I would stand by, and watch as people that I knew, passed away with time, all while I remained attached to this world to watch how the future plays out. These thoughts never once crossed my mind when Death offered me a wager of eternal life cause I died when I wasn't supposed to.

No matter if I tried to escape this, I would always be Death's shadow. Every step I took, would be shrouded with the cold hand of afterlife. And each person I passed, would be nothing more than another possible job in the future. By the way things were looking, life would lose all of its personal meaning to me. It would just become another thing.

Was this really what I asked for? To become cold and heartless, not caring about anyone or who they once were? Because that's how it appeared to be for Death; he didn't seem to care. Same went for Grim; he even had his own song made for Reaping souls.

How could I have not even thought any of this through? Had the want to continue to live clouded over my judgment that much? Death's voice brought me out of my thoughts.

He said, "When this death's time arrives, you will do as you are supposed to and take the person's soul. Simple as that. If you refuse, then you shall accept the punishment that will be given to you. Understood?"

When I thought about it, I had already taken many souls so far. One more…..Couldn't be that difficult…Right? I nodded my head and mumbled, "I'll try my best."

Dan

I constantly checked the clock on my phone, readying myself for when I was supposed to met up with Rogue again. He had planned for lessons each night until he said otherwise. Again, I checked my phone; I had ten minutes until I was supposed to leave and meet up with him.

I had to admit, I was actually enjoying the job of being a Reaper so far. I had power that hardly anyone else could even begin to fathom; the power over who lives, who dies, and where they go. It was enough to give a person somewhat of a high.

Rogue had mentioned to me that not all Reapers were like him; some of them didn't approve of what he was doing for some reason, and that they didn't Reap souls for the sheer enjoyment of it. Why they didn't do that, I had no clue. It was such a rush, and how none of them had fallen victim to it, was beyond me.

My shades fell lower on the bridge of my nose, and Alice's number caught my eye. Yes, number. She didn't have a high number like the others I had seen. In fact, it appeared to be that her life clock was dropping faster and faster. Her days, were literally numbered. It did bother me somewhat that Alice was going to die soon, but it wasn't my problem; everyone was going to die eventually.

But if it were up to Rogue, they would die sooner, but only those who truly deserved to die, or would not be missed by anyone. Kind of like that homeless man that had been my first Reaped soul. Rogue made the point later on, that nobody would miss the man.

Thus, it did not matter if his life was taken from this world. The minutes on my phone's clock flipped over, finally giving my departure time. I stood up from the sofa that I had been residing on, and told the others, "I have somewhere to go. I'll be back sometime later."

I could feel their eyes follow me as I left the room. It was a given that they were wondering what had been up with me, for I hadn't been putting forth the slightest effort to hide my newly acquired behavior. As I walked out of the lobby, I passed by a butler that I had not seen before.

From behind the paper bags filled with food, he gave me a slight nod and went on his way. I did the same, not questioning where the new employee had come from, and left the mansion. Slipping behind a large building, I slipped on my black cloak, and teleported myself, just as Rogue had taught me to.

I was then dropped off to our usual meeting place; the same stretch of city block that I had Reaped the homeless man on. I found Rogue standing in the middle of the empty street, his bat-like wings expanded to their fullest extent. "I'm here," I said as I started to approach.

Rogue lifted his head up toward the sky and said harshly, "My patience has grown thin now. These lessons have been stretched out as far as they can go, and I'm ready for action." I wasn't sure what he was talking about; he had only spent a full night and a portion of a morning training me on how to be a Reaper.

How could he have already grown annoyed and tired, when I was still eager to learn more? Suddenly, a bad feeling came over me, and it screamed for me to get away. Something, no. Nothing was right about this now.

The high that I had been experiencing from the power, immediately wore off now that my common sense kicked in; this was wrong. I was about to dart off, but Rogue's hand latched onto my shoulder. His nails dug into the muscle, causing me to lose all the fight that had built up inside me from the moment of realization.

"So," he started. "To speed up the process, why don't I just share my powers with you and make you more than ready for the challenge ahead? Yes. That's a wonderful idea."

A wave of pain crashed into my body from my shoulder. I could feel Rogue's power start to flood into me like water, and it was more than I could handle, for I didn't remember anything afterwards.

No One

The shady butler that nobody ever remembered being hired at the Marakura mansion, slipped past the other workers without so much as a question. Holding a bag of groceries, which was nothing more than a cover-up for the real plan, he slipped into the kitchen.

Chefs and servants were running around frantically as they prepared the food for their employers. This was more than an adequate scenario for the mysterious butler's intentions. He walked over to one of the many stoves, and set down his bag of groceries.

As to not gather any attention to himself, he started to act as if he were busy; cutting up carrots and other vegetables. After glancing around for a moment or two, he left his station and caught sight of several glasses of drinks. They were to be served to the dinner guests tonight.

Flagging down a hurried chef, he asked, "Which of these goes to who? I'd be more than welcome to take them out there to our guests and save somebody else the time." The chef pointed to whose drink was whose, but all the new butler cared about, was which one was going to the Marakura's son.

He picked up the platter of drinks, and made his way back over to the place where he had been chopping up vegetables. He set the drinks down and made sure nobody was looking his way. Once he was sure that he wasn't being watched, he reached into the bottom of the paper bag, and pulled out a small package with a white substance inside.

He tore open the package, and dumped the powder into the drink of the Marakura son. Using a knife that was lying nearby, he stirred the drink until the mixture dissolved and was no longer visible. The shady butler tossed away the empty package and took the drinks out to the guests, a snake-like grin plastered on his face, for he had done his job, and the rest would follow.

Runo

A butler finally brought out the drinks that we had so long been waiting for. I received mine, then Julie got hers, then, Alice, and lastly, Murucho. The platter that had been holding the glasses, was now empty, and the butler no longer had a reason to stay with us.

It was strange without Dan's loud presence at the table; it wasn't so much different without Shun cause it would still be quiet. Although, after Alice told us that he had been talking to himself, I wasn't so sure. And even though nobody at the table brought it up, we were all wondering where Shun was.

He had suddenly vanished a while ago, right after Alice informed us that he had been talking to himself. Perhaps he had overheard her telling us, and decided to bolt out of fear. But that didn't sound like Shun. Then again, I doubted that anyone knew what this 'new' Shun was like.

I sipped on my drink; a diet soda. Murucho, at the end of the table, examined his drink closely, and sniffed the liquid. He then groaned and said, "They gave me tea again. I'm so sick of drinking this all the time." I didn't find it fair that Murucho had to have a strict diet because of who he was, while the rest of us had the freedom to eat and drink what was desired.

Alice looked at her glass, then smiled one of her warm smiles. "You can have my soda, Murucho. I haven't touched it yet," she said and offered him her drink. He smiled brightly and exchanged the drinks with her. "Thank you so much, Alice. You're so kind," he said before taking a big gulp of the newly acquired soda.

His facial expression made it look like it was the best thing he had ever tasted. Alice, still smiling, took a sip of Murucho's tea and set the glass back down. The moment the glass touched the table, I saw her eyes grow wide. Her hands began to tremble slightly around the glass.

She then fell out of her chair, body landing on the floor below. None of us wasted a minute to run over to her. Murucho, Julie, and I were all crowded around Alice, panicking and not knowing what to do in order to help our friend. Her limbs were still trembling as if she were having some kind of distorted seizure.

Then, a fine line of blood trickled down the side of her mouth. Kato, carrying a platter of food, walking into the dining hall. At the sight of what was happening, he dropped the plate and ran over to us. He checked Alice's pulse, then shouted, "Somebody call for some help!" Julie and I had taken a couple of steps back, tears pouring from our eyes.

Murucho, his face turned ghostly white, was pacing back and forth. Soon, medics and police showed up and stormed in the mansion. Police were already questioning people, and the medics were trying to see what was happening to our dear friend. And amidst the chaos, I noticed Shun walk into the dining hall.

His eyes widened at the scene before him, as if he had seen a ghost standing in front of us. He stood frozen in that place for a moment, almost like he was debating over something, but his shocked expression never changed. Then, he ran a shaking hand through his hair, and bolted out of the mansion.

unexpected, or not? you decided. well, that's all for now. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~