I'm not dead yet! Nor have I forgotten this story! But now I do know how other authors feel when it comes to wanting to update but not being able to.

Yeah, I deleted the chapters that didn't involve the story itself. So it's shorter, but up to date! :D

Usual crap still applies, don't own, won't own, otherwise I'd be blowing all my money on the first three generations of a Children's Card Game. I'm not putting this in anymore. (Such a pain!)

Welcome to Hell~I mean Fortuna!

Chapter Seventeen-Interview with a Reaper

The first thing Kate did when Shawn and Keeley left the room was take her medication. She often joked about being OCD, but after that more recent experience, she felt that taking the meds was a good idea. Like Keeley, the brunette worked to pack for the road ahead. At some point during the task, she sneezed. After assuring Keeley she was alright, Kate began to make small kits she'd seen off of the Art of Manliness website. One of them contained first-aid supplies, one was a survival kit, a third had an emergency candle, and the last of them had charcloth.

"Keeley, want me to make something for lunch?" She called from the entrance of her room.

"Sure, thanks!" The ebon-haired woman replied. Stretching, Kate finished packing her things into a duffel bag and went into the kitchen. Overall, it took five minutes to make pasta for two. Five more minutes went into brewing tea, and another five were spent cleaning up. Then Keeley and Kate sat down to eat, the medium being teased about Nero and giving as good as she got in regards to Dante. They laughed, talked about the situation a bit, and then Kate said what was really on her mind.

"Truth be told, I'm pretty damn scared Kee." She said, cradling her forehead in her hand. "Being in the dark about all this? Not knowing what's ahead or what to expect...I just hate it!" Keeley smiled softly and put a hand on Kate's shoulder.

"I think we're all scared, Katie." Keeley said gently "But we're going to be okay, I promise. If our theory is correct and we showed up before the fourth game started, then you might get a shot at Nero before Kyrie does!" She teased.

"I'm not going to live that down, am I?" Kate laughed. Grinning, Keeley shook her head, and Kate sighed. "And Vergil called me evil?" They laughed some more over it, left the house, and then parted ways. Keeley was off to the park, while Kate was headed to a place called Bone Dancers.

It looked like any other building, really, if one chose to ignore the elegant gothic-styled sign above the door. The inside of the building looked a lot like where she used to go for Tae-Kwon-Do classes, mirrors on some walls and wooden beams attached to others, but something about it felt off to the young woman as she walked to an unobtrusive area of the main room. Unbeknownst to her, though, she was being watched.

Sitting at a desk across the room was an auburn-haired woman clad in black. She smiled softly, recognizing her as the one. Standing up, she made her way to the brunette who was currently distracted by one of the classes in session.

"Pardon me, miss, but is there any chance that you're Katelyn?" The woman asked politely. Unlike the instance with Nero, this time Kate jumped. "Oh! I'm so sorry, I had no intention of startling you." She apologized. Kate laughed, shaking her head.

"No worries, I had that one coming." The brunette replied. "Yeah, I'm Katelyn. Guess this means you were expecting me?" The older woman giggled, tapping her nose with one finger and pointing at her.

"Got it in one. My name's Aveline, by the way. Aveline Fames." Aveline said, introducing herself. Katelyn smiled politely.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Fames." Kate said. Aveline chuckled and insisted that she call her by her first name.

"Come on, I need to take you to your appointment." She said. Nodding, Katelyn followed Aveline across the floor and to the hallways near the back. They stopped in front of an ebony door with an ashen skull painted on it. Staring into said bone's empty sockets, Kate began to think about Death and the many forms it had taken in her life. For the most part, it was as an anime or video game character, the skull she looked at looking quite like the one Death from Darksiders II wore. The sound of Aveline's voice pulled her from her thoughts.

"Adrian? It's me, Katelyn's here for the scheduled appointment." She said. A rich and familiar voice came from the other side, muffled by the wood of the door.

"She is? Great, send her in!" It said. Turning to Kate once more, Aveline smiled.

"Don't worry, Adrian's a nice guy and he doesn't bite. Ohhh, we're going to have so much fun together, I can hardly wait!" She gushed, hugging the brunette and leaving with a giggle. Kate stared after her for a bit, trying to connect dots she wasn't even sure were there. Aveline, for reasons Kate could only explain as a gut feeling, wasn't what she appeared to be. In the back of her mind, the medium swore that the black-clad woman was Famine. But there was no way that could be right, because the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was nothing more than a myth. Right?

Then again, Kate mused as she turned towards the door, Devil May Cry was just a video game to me and my friends not even a day ago, so who's to say if we're not really facing the Four Horsemen? And then there was the matter of their weapons. The form they took and the color of the light that held them; ashen gray bearing scythes, red light with a sword, and white producing a bow-type weapon, matched with the traditional color and signature item of Death, War, and Pestilence, respectively. Shaking her head to silence any more thoughts, she took a deep breath and pushed open the door with the skull on it, ready to face death himself if that was to be her fate.

Adrian was reclining in his chair, back to the door as she quietly made her way in. He was just staring at a picture frame in his hand and smiling. It was the first picture the four of them had taken together, when they first came to this world. They were all smiling triumphantly, having just finished crafting their Rider's Arms. Chuckling, he set the frame down and turned to face his guest.

"Welcome back to your reality, Kate, we've been waiting for you." He said. "Take a seat, plenty to go around." Nodding, Kate sat in the chair across from him. She wasn't scared, actually, she didn't feel anything but calm as she looked the Pale Rider in the eyes.

"So, I finally meet the man behind the voice." Kate said evenly, on her guard."Hate to say it, but you clearly have the advantage here." Adrain laughed, his raven hair reflecting the light as his golden eyes danced merrily.

"Adrian Finis. But please, just call me Adrian. How are you doing, Katelyn? From what I know, you had to kill someone recently, and I speak from experience when I say that it's never an easy thing to do. Or to deal with afterwards. Unless you're a basket case, but we both know you aren't." He replied, showing concern near the end, then trying to tease her to ease the pain. Kate shrugged.

"Had to be done, right? Haven't lost my sanity over it yet, so I'd say I'm doing alright. What about you?" She replied, keeping the conversation civil by default. Adrian smiled knowingly at her.

"Well, for the most part I'm relieved. You don't know how much it means to me, knowing that the weapons I worked so hard on are in the hands of someone decent." He chuckled, nodding at her. "Would you be so kind as to let me see them? I haven't held my scythes in years..." Kate looked at him skeptically, wondering if this was his version of a mongolian intelligence test. "No, this isn't a Mongolian Intelligence Test." He said, making Kate snicker,

"And you can read my mind. Of course." She muttered, unsurprised. "So tell me: are you who I think you are?" Adrian smirked, leaning forward on his desk.

"I don't quite know, I've been told that I am many things to many people. So tell me, dear Katelyn, what do you think I am?" He challenged. The feeling that she'd gotten the first time she took up her scythes returned to her in waves as her fists clenched.

"You, Adrain Finis, are Death. The Grim Reaper, the thirteenth card of the Major Arcana, the Pale Horseman of the Apocalypse, as well as their Leader." Kate said with an unexpected certainty in her voice. Leaning back in his seat, Adrian laughed, grinning with a wink as he tapped his nose and pointed at her.

"Got it in one!" He said. "But to everyone else, I'm the guy who runs the studio where Aveline...Famine...is teaching you eastern-style dance." He explained as Aveline's parting words echoed in her mind. Kate smiled.

"She ain't the only one looking forward to it." She said. Nodding, Adrian procured a Grimoire and three bags from under his desk. One red, one white, and one gray.

"Something for you to study from as my agent, complete with space for you to doodle or write out ideas to your heart's content, and some outfits for the three of you, courtesy of us. Now that we've gotten over that part, do you have any questions for me?" He said, his newly named agent accepting the gifts politely. They spoke of a few things involving what was expected of her and why agents like her were needed, and then it came to the biggest thing on her mind.

"So...if I'm your agent, Shawn is War's, and Keeley is Pestilence's, then who is the agent of Famine?"

That's it for these guys, the villains will be introduced next! Sorry again for the very VERY delayed update, but life's been...well, life. Trying (and failing miserably) to find a job, recently became a Beta Reader here on FF, am working on two stories for two others, my brother moved out so not the bandwidth is MINE to hog, the list goes on. To make things worse, I've gotten to another stuck point in writing this where I'm just spinning my wheels. Thinking about looking up a Beta Reader for myself now. xD

Anyways, please review and like and fav, I miss hearing from you guys!