Kuroshitsuji © Yana Toboso
OCs © reaper-of-lost-souls
A/N: I'm sorry this took longer than expected! I was going to actually make it even longer, but I felt the need to just stop it here, since this part goes on for a while. I'm sorry that my updates are getting shorter. My finals are next week and I'm getting ready for them, but the main reason is because my assignments have been due this week and last week so I was trying to cram everything in.
On a different note, my laptop is on the frits and I may have to stop writing this story for a while. For some reason, my computer won't turn to the log-in section and let me in to at least SAVE my files, so that's my problem. Hopefully I can get it fixed, but if not then that's why I won't be online and answering questions as much as I would like. At my house, we only have one working laptop and that's being used between three people. If I have to use it, then it'll be four! So we'll just see how this goes. I don't know… but I hope to be back on a computer and writing this story asap! And as always, enjoy this next chapter!
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Sophie felt someone stroking her hair and she let out a little sneeze, rolling over in the bed she was sleeping in before slowly opening her eyes. She looked over in shock, noticing a bright being standing beside her bed. "Pulchra puella? Sophia?... Tu vigilans?" It asked, Sophie having to blink for a few seconds until she realized who it was.
"P-papa?... Papa!" she gasped, practically jumping out of bed and grabbing him in a hug.
"Sophia, pulchra puella…" he cooed, rocking her back and forth as she gripped tightly to his clothes. Then she let go, looking at him fully.
He was wearing a white robe with a black cape draped over his shoulders and pinned together by a worn out Roman pin. He had a piece of robe tied around his waist, shimmering in gold with seven black pieces of rope interwoven into the gold rope and losing some of its luster. She looked up, noticing his short maroon hair and bright green and yellow eyes, and she smiled as she ran a hand through his hair. "W-what's going on papa?" she asked, slowly getting out of bed.
"Don't you know?" he said, Sophie looking at him with confusion on her face. "Today is November 25, your birthday from what I recall," he smiled to her.
"It is?" she said, scratching the back of her head, "Oh I guess so… I usually don't celebrate though."
"Well today you will be," he said, helping her out of the bed.
"Why are you even here?" she asked, looking sternly at him, "Shouldn't you be dead or something like that?"
He chuckled as he brushed his fingers through her matted auburn hair. "Yes I still am," he said simply as he set her down on his lap. "You remember learning about ba from Shezmu?" he asked, rocking her back and forth on his lap.
"Yes," she sighed, "so you're not really here then… geeze…" she frowned. "Then why have you come back from the dead?"
"For you," he said as he kissed her cheek. "You lost your powers, right? Well do you want them back?"
Sophie turned to him, giving him a slight nod, "Maybe… I don't know… Why? What's the catch?"
He chuckled yet again, keeping a firm hold around her waist. "Well I'm offering you a solution. If you take an oath and become a God of Death as I have been for a couple thousand years, then your powers will come back to you."
She narrowed her eyes, getting out of his grasp and standing up next to the bed. "I-I don't know… Undertaker!" she yelled, leaving the room in a dash and running into the living room.
The Undertaker looked up from his paperwork, his hat set down on the couch and his black-rimmed glasses on his face. "Yes little maide –" he paused, noticing the presence that stood at the door as Sophie ran into the room and hid behind his chair. A smile crept upon his face as he set his pen down and wrapped a protective arm around Sophie's shoulder. "The Dark Centurion… it's good to see you again," he smiled, his face not stressing his usual Cheshire cat grin.
"Undertaker," he said solemnly, before a smirk showed up on his face. "So you are the one taking care of Sophia… gratias."
"Non opus gratias," he replied, looking over at Sophie as she looked with interest on the situation. "What's the matter Sophia?"
"H-he…" she began as she pointed an accusing finger towards the glowing man at the door, "Papa is asking me to go with him to regain my powers. I don't see why he is though."
The Undertaker blinked in confusion, noticing how she narrowed her eyes at him. "Well do you want to regainyour powers?"
"Huh?" she thought aloud, looking over at him. "But –"
"If you don't want to regain your powers as a God of Death then don't go with him, but if you want to stay a human then stay here with me. That's up to you Sophia," he told her, looking over at the man to have him give her more of an explanation.
"Look Sophia," he said, rubbing the back of his short hair, "I know this is sudden, actually everything you have had to go through is rather sudden. I'm sorry that I couldn't be there for your mother, but I'm here for you now. Let me help." He let out a sigh, noticing the confused look on her face. "You don't have to choose to regain your powers right now. You can have the rest of the day, how about that?"
Sophie blinked at him before letting out an identical sigh as he did. "Will you tell me what's going on first? What I have to do and etcetera? Because I don't want to go do something I don't want to… even if you're my father," finished, the last words she said coming out in a whisper.
"Okay that sounds like a deal," he said, walking into the room and sitting down on the couch.
He patted the cushion next to him, Sophie looking over at the Undertaker for reassurance. "Well go on. No one is stopping you," he said simply, brushing a finger through her hair before letting her go. She smiled to him, walking over to the couch and sitting next to her biological father.
The man wore a frown on his face, noticing the affection his daughter was giving the Undertaker. Then he sighed, looking over at Sophie as she sat down. "I guess I should start at the beginning," he thought to himself, setting Undertaker's hat onto a nearby table before getting back to the subject at hand. "Do you remember anything that I taught you before?"
"Ummm…" she thought, rubbing the back of her head, "I don't know… that was years ago and after losing the memories for so long I –"
"Well that's fine," he smiled to her, "I'll just go over the material quickly." Then he sat there, staring off into space before beginning his speech. "I am the Centurion Maurus from the family of Serbus. I lived two thousand years in the past as a human in the Roman army. After I died I was given the duty of becoming a God of Death, which wasn't a big deal to me," he chuckled to himself, before letting a sigh escape his lips. "Over the years I learned something about us, Sophia, that we hold the soul of a powerful being. I don't know if you know this, but do you know why my name is Serbus?" he asked her.
"No," she said simply, letting a yawn escape her lips. "Why?"
"Serbus comes from two Latin words, sergio and erebus. Sergio means a servant and erebus is derived from the Greek word Erebos, which means darkness. So from the point I was born I was a servant of the darkness," he stated, a smile soon coming to his face. "I know you have to know about this, you know that we have different powers then other Death Gods, right?"
"Right," she responded, looking at him with interest as he went on.
"Well… our power comes from a being… a spirit that was made at the beginning of time." Then he let out a sigh, looking at his hands as he continued speaking. "It took me several hundred years to find out the details about our family. There was this demon, I suppose, but not really a demon and more of an evil spirit or a soul, I guess. This being was trapped in the depths of darkness for all eternity, created by the Almighty to come forth to take and give the breath of life. This being was sick of having to spend eternity in the darkness, so it asked if it could become a soul inside of a human child. The being knew that it would forget everything about itself, turning into a human baby without any security it had in the past, but it didn't matter to this being. Why? Because the being didn't want to be in the darkness but in the light. So, after several long attempts to get out of the darkness, it was freed and was sent into the body of an unborn baby, a baby boy that was named Serbus Maurus. Thus I was born Sophia, my soul actually belonging to an old soul." He smiled to her, running his hands through her long auburn hair. "I feel that I told you about this, or maybe I hadn't. I don't know… but there is more to the story I suppose," he sighed, looking over at the Undertaker before he turned back to his daughter. "I never had any real powers while I was human. I was simply a man, a young man who tried to live life without disobeying the gods. Once I died, however, I learned more from the world and about myself then when I was only human." He looked back over to the wall, trying to collect himself before speaking again. "In all honestly, I still don't believe I am this being that escaped the darkness. You see Sophia; this being was created to be in the darkness. It is a divine being set for a purpose in this world, like Famine and Death. They were all created with a purpose as this being was, perhaps not for good things, but something that must be done in the world."
"So… you are this being or am I?" she asked, her father letting out a chuckle.
"We both are," he said, letting out a sigh. "You have the same soul as I have in myself. That is how you can summon that black mist, how you can take kas and bas without any difficulty. I actually learned this when I died and I saw your broth –" he paused, before letting a chuckle escape his lips. "Well that's something you'll learn later. The important thing is I was sent to this world for the purpose of taking and giving the breath of life to beings that deserve it. Sometimes it was humans and other times it was demons or angels, but that was my job. I didn't become a supposed demon like Shezmu because I was willing to obey that shinigami council and their rules, but as long as it didn't bring me away from what my mission was then I would do as they asked of me." Then he smiled to her, running his hands through her hair yet again. "That's really all I can say about it. It's up to you whether or not you want to go through with this. You are my daughter and I only want what's best for you. If you would rather live a short human life then that's fine by me, but I'm willing to give you the option to change your mind until I have to leave." Then he smiled, "Please do this though. I would like to finally die after being alive for two thousand years and finally be able to rest."
Sophie thought for a second before responding to everything he said. "I'm thankful that you came here from the dead," she began, "but I'm still unsure. It's not a thought of being dead or not, but rather because I don't fit in." She sighed causing her father to frown and the Undertaker to look up curiously from the papers he was signing. "I was born a human, but was ostracized from my family. I grew up with loving people, of course, but after you died I had to find them myself. I couldn't depend on you anymore and it was hard to not have people think I'm crazy for knowing so much about the dead. Then, of course, mom's family didn't like me because I was the offspring of you. I was moved back and forth from being in the nobility with excess time to myself to living out on the streets fending for my own food and back to being a noble. It was hard papa… I felt out of place." She let another sigh escape her lips, "Then I died and became a grim reaper. I thought then I would be able to fit in, seeing as I had powers I didn't quite understand and I was among others that were out of the ordinary too. Then I was greeted as a Serbus instead of by my first name and was teased for being different, again. I learned I was a half-breed and couldn't live up to other people's expectations of me, so I used mom's maiden name instead of my true last name. Now I'm apparently out of a league then other people and I'm always confused and irritated by everything that is unknown. I'm tired papa… I'm just tired," she frowned.
Her father looked into her eyes, seeing her mother's mysterious crystal blue and his eerie shinigami green. He nodded to her, a smile coming to his face. "I understand pulchra puella," he smirked as he brushed through her long hair, "this must be hard for you, but I have your best intentions in mind, okay?"
"Okay papa…" she said, letting a sigh escape her lips. She stood up from the couch and walked over to the Undertaker, wrapping her arms around his waist and setting her head on his shoulder. He smirked, not looking up from his work as she looked over his shoulder and then settled back on his shoulder. "Dad," she began, looking over at her father before back at the Undertaker, "I have a couple of questions for you."
"Hmmm?…" he said, setting his pen down and shifting so he could see her better.
Sophie smiled, letting the Undertaker put his hand on her cheek before he let her continue. "D-do… if I take this vow then can I still stay here?" she asked, her father looking at her with curiosity. "After all you will still my… father, right?" She finished, closing her eyes as she let a sigh escape her lips.
She felt the Undertaker wrap his hands around her waist and then brushed her hair with his hand. "Sophia…" he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek before continuing. "We already made our own promise," he smiled, "and this won't change the fact that I still love you. Besides," he smirked, "I filled out the adoption papers for you as a human and as a shinigami. So they can't legally take you away from me." He cooed into her ear as he kissed her cheek before letting go of her.
She nodded, a smile creeping onto her face. "Gratias tata," she said with a kiss on his cheek. Then she walked over to her biological father, noticing the sad tint in his eyes. "So where are we going?"
"The shinigami realm," he said with a sigh, "there are some things we have to do there."
Sophie nodded to him. "Then let me change," she grinned, leaving the two of them in the room as she ran into the bedroom.
"You're not hurting her, are you?" Maurus asked.
The Undertaker shrugged as he pushed the glasses higher on his face. "Not unless she wants me to," he smirked, the other man rolling his eyes at his comment.
"I… I am sorry about Aya," he sighed before cracking a smile. "Though she's doing fine, just misses being here in this world all the time."
"Of course she does…" the Undertaker said in a lifeless voice.
"Have you found Athena yet?" he asked.
"Not at all," he said, looking up from his paperwork. "There is simply nothing to find of her, not even a cinematic record… as if she vanished off of the face of the earth," he sighed, putting his mind back on his paperwork. "I have come to the conclusion she is never coming back."
Maurus sighed, "I guess in situations like this it is better to move on… or that's what I've been telling Aya." He quickly grinned.
"כן…"he nodded as his eyes stayed on his paperwork.
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Sophie followed her father into the shinigami realm, staying a few feet away from him with her hands in her pockets. She could only find one outfit that she could really fit into: a big gray collared shirt, dark green slacks and a black belt, a black trench coat that fit her like a glove, and black boots similar to the Undertaker's but a tad smaller. She had her auburn hair in a pony tail, tied with a black ribbon somewhat hidden under a brown newsboy cap. She couldn't help but skip a bit as she walked with her biological father, happy that the Undertaker kept her old clothes. Still, she refused to put on her glasses when her father asked, her father understanding that she couldn't see out of them had kept the smile on her face. "So what are we doing now?" she asked, her father stopping slightly as she caught up with him.
"Now that it's almost 8am and the office will be open. We're going to have you sign some forms," he said, continuing towards the tall white buildings.
"What forms?" she asked, her father stopping with a smirk on his face.
"Forms you probably have never heard of," he chuckled, "things as reinstating our position here as shinigamis and etcetera. You'll see once we get there." Then he thought for a second as Sophie looked over at him with curiosity. "After that you will need to fight me so I can see if you're worthy of becoming the next head of the Serbus family here in this world –"
"Wait I have to fight you?" she frowned, rushing up the road slightly before stopping in front of him. "How can I if I only have human powers?"
"You'll have to figure that out for yourself," he smirked, Sophie glaring at him slightly as he held the door for her. "Then, if you want to take on our family responsibilities, take an oath and BAM! Your powers will be back to normal in a matter of hours," he smiled to her.
Sophie let out a sigh, walking next to her father as they walked down the white hallways. There were only a few shinigami walking about, since no one usually clocks into work till 8:30. Sophie noticed, as they walked through the hallway, that a few of the shinigamis were looking at her father shocked. Some shinigamis would even stare at him in wonderment and awe, which made her frown since she hates being stared at anyways. She noticed he grumbled under her breath slightly and she smiled. 'He feels the same way,' she thought to herself as they walked around the bend and walked towards one of the offices. 'I wonder what else we have in common,' she sighed, walking into a room as her father held the door for her.
She looked around and noticed it was a room full of documents, probably containing documents on every shinigami that worked here or ever did with forms for every occasion they could think of. She watched her father walk past her and she followed, walking behind him as they walked into the back of the room. "S…" he said to himself, looking on the shelves for the letter s and then se. Noticing the folder he was looking for, he grabbed it and handed it to Sophie. She looked at it, noticing it was the file of Maurus Serbus. Then he kept looking, a frown coming to his face. "Where's your document Sophia?"
"Probably under I," she said with a shrug, "because I changed my name from Sophia to Ioreta."
"Oh!" he realized, patting her on the head as he walked closer to the front of the room under the shelves that had the letter I. He quickly found her document, handing it to her as he headed to the back of the room again. He walked into the far back beyond the letter Z and past stacks of assorted forms that hadn't been written on. Then he took a random right in the middle of the assorted chaos, coming to a door that was had been locked tight. He took out a key from his pocket, attached to the rope around his waist as he clipped it off, and used it to open the door. Then he switched on a light and walked into the room before Sophie. She stood outside and looked into the room with curiosity. She noticed it was a smaller room then the one she was in, being able to see to the shelf 'Form Z' about twenty shelves away. After a few minutes her father came back out, holding a few forms in his hand. "So…" he said to himself as he set the stacks of paper on top of the stack in Sophie's hand. "I have Forms G-04, G-07, S- 15, S-32 and O- 18… oh I need L-27!" he exclaimed, running to the 'Form L' section and coming back with the form, setting it on the stack. Then he walked out of the room, locking it behind him and letting the set of keys settle down against his side.
Sophie let out a sigh, collecting the papers and taking it with her as they made their way out of the room and back into the hallway. They hastily walked through the halls, eyes turning towards them as they walked past. Sophie pulled her hat over her face, getting annoyed with the stares. "That's the legendary reaper, the Dark Centurion," she could hear them whisper.
"I thought he died!"
"What does centurion mean?" one of them asked, Sophie turning her head to them.
"The word centurion is a military term," she said, her father pausing and turning around once he noticed Sophie had stopped walking. "A centurion is a professional officer in the Roman army. Its common knowledge, so if you don't know it then you're simply ignorant on your history," she huffed, quickly walking away before they could respond.
Her father smirked, giving the group of shinigamis a nod before following after her. "If it were up to me, I'd think you're acting more like the Undertaker," he smirked to himself, Sophie pausing and turning around.
"Is that so~~?" she said, a smirk on her face as she responded. "I don't see it. He's a rather creepy and insanely cheerful guy. I don't think he would lash out at anyone."
"Then you don't really know him," he chuckled, walking past her as Sophie stood there startled. She let out a defeated sigh, following behind Maurus as he walked tall and proud down the hallway. They paused at a lounge, Maurus having Sophie sit down with her stack of papers as he handed her a pen. "Go ahead and fill out those forms. I'm going to go and ask around about a few things," he said simply, walking over to a counter and starting to talk to the secretary behind the screen. Sophie let out a distressed sigh as she grabbed one of the forms, clicking the ballpoint pen as she looked it over.
'Form G-04
Name:
Date of Birth:
Ethnicity:
Inherited skills:
Why should you hold a position as a God of Death?
Talk about your family's background here.
If you were in a life or death situation, would you save yourself or save the soul? Why?
What skills do you hold that would benefit a God of Death?
Recipient Signature:
Parent/Guardian Signature:
DMD Signature:'
Sophie frowned, having to look over the stacks of forms on her father's and her own background they had on file. She grumbled to herself, trying to understand one form from another.
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She glanced over at her father, who was laughing along with the secretary about nonsense really. Sophie let out a satisfied sigh, setting the stack of forms in a neat little pile next to the two light brown folders. She rubbed her eyes, the whole thing taking longer than she had first thought. They were actually getting rather personal: asking about her own background and what she had done in the field, for how long she had known about her role, a list of beings she had known throughout her life and their impact on her, and etcetera. The questions kept going and going and Sophie was getting sick of it. At least she was done!
She stood up, stretching and clicking the pen closed. She rubbed the back of her hat and scratched her head, letting a yawn escape her mouth as she did so. "Now if it isn't the bookworm~" Sophie heard from behind her, turning around swiftly and narrowing her eyes.
"Hello Chaz," she growled under her breath, putting her hands in her pockets.
"I thought the council kicked you out of the academy and killed you already," he smirked, walking towards her.
"Shut up," she hissed under her breath, her hands going into a fist as she glared her one-iris crystal blue and shinigami green eyes at him. "You don't know anything."
"Oh I don't?" he said in a mocking voice. "It's been going around the school how you almost got Alex killed." He smirked, noticing how her anger started to soften at the mention of Alex's name. "He almost contracted the Thorns of Death, right? Well good, that demon needs to be brought down a peg," he said to himself, jumping back slightly when Sophie lunged at him with the ballpoint pen in her hand.
"Why can't you learn to just shut up!" she growled at him, missing his face and kicking him in the shin with her leg.
She aimed the pen back at Chaz's face, being stopped by a firm hand from behind her. "What is going on?" Maurus asked, Chaz's face going wide in shock before he went back into his usual attitude.
"It was all her fault," he said, pointing an accusing finger at Sophie. "She attacked me without a reason. She's becoming unsafe, sir! She should be imprisoned, or better, put to death."
He narrowed his eyes, setting Sophie next to him as he took a step towards Chaz. "You're a disrespectful little boy, you know that? I know why she attacked you and that's your own fault. Perhaps I should have you put to death because of your utter uselessness as a shinigami," he glared at him, Sophie shocked because she never saw this side of her father before.
"Y-yes sir…" he bowed, quickly running away and getting away from them.
"What's his name?" her father asked as he still held a firm hold on the angry tone in his voice.
"Chaz Hoover," she sighed. "He has been at the academy for years, but hasn't really improved his grades till now… and he bullies me whenever he sees me. I'd rather you don't kill him though. He may be a bastard, but he shouldn't be put to death because he's a jerk," she let out another sigh, handing the forms to her father to look at.
He let out a sigh and accepted the paperwork, reading it thoroughly before writing his signature down on each form and adding little details Sophie may have forgotten while filling it out. "Okay…" he said once he finished the forms. "Now come follow me. There's someone I want to see," he winked to her, having Sophie carry all the paperwork as they walked back into the hallways.
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"Mrs. Obki," said a young shinigami, walking into the large office and setting forms down on the elder woman's desk, "I finished the forms you wanted me to do –"
"Did you add the extra expenses from last week?" she asked in an angry tone as she wrote vigorously on different forms and quickly set them to the side once she finished.
"No but –"
"Then redo everything," she said in a huff, handing him the forms quickly and shooing him away from her desk. He gave her a swift bow, quickly running out of the room to get the work finished. The woman let out a sigh, stopping from her work and brushing a finger through her long and dark-brunette hair. She stared at a fly on the wall, letting a yawn escape her lips as she rubbed the back of her head in frustration.
Then the door opened again and she looked back down at her work, picking up her pen as if she was still working diligently. "Madam Obki," her secretary began to say, "There are a young man and woman here to see you."
"I'm not expecting anyone," she said in a huff, looking at her papers and quickly signed something. "Ask them to leave. I don't have time to see unexpected visitors today."
"Not even for an old friend Fiona?" Maurus said, walking past the secretary with a smile on his face.
The elder woman gasped, practically jumping out of her chair. "Dark Centurion!" she yelled, running over to him and bringing him into a tight hug. "Oh my gods, how are you? Aren't you supposed to be dead right now?" she finished, letting go of him and settling down slightly.
"Actually yes," he shrugged, "I am only in this world because of my daughter. Sophia," he called to her, Sophie walking into the room timidly as she held the stack of papers in her hand. "Sophia," he said to her, the woman looking at the shorter shinigami with interest, "this woman is Fiona Obki –"
"Oh just call me the Silver Dove Maurus!" she interrupted him, holding out a hand for Sophie to shake. She smiled, taking the elder woman's hand and shaking her hand. "So you are Sophia Serbus? Oh it's been so long since I last saw you. You were only a little girl when your father brought you into work!"
"R-really?" Sophie said meekly, not recalling any encounter with the elder woman.
She frowned, looking over at her father as she let go of Sophie's hand. "What, she doesn't remember me? Surely she remembers dear Undertaker at least, or are you neglecting to teach the proper things again?"
"She lost her memories Fiona," he let out a sigh, the woman's face suddenly beaming with interest yet again. "You have her under the records of Sophia Ioreta and she's currently at the academy… actually she is supposed to be graduating soon enough, right Sophia?"
"I think so," she shrugged, "but since I haven't been to class for a few weeks and the final exams will be coming up soon… I don't know."
"I see…" she sighed and looking over at Sophie with a nice smile on her face. "That explains why I haven't seen your name show up among these stacks of forms," she grumbled to herself as she remembered all the paperwork she still had to do. "Though I think I've come across your name."
"I have the highest GPA in my class Mrs. Obki," she answered her meekly, "and they want me to graduate asap because of the decline in shinigamis."
"That explains it then," she smiled, "and call me Fiona sweetie. I hate that proper stuff when I'm among friends."
"Okay… Fiona," Sophie smiled to her.
"Now why are you here?" she asked, her attention going back to her father.
"Since I'm dead, I want Sophia to carry on the responsibility I had in this world," Maurus began as the tone of his voice became serious. "Today is her birthday, you see, and she needs to take the oath today or else she'll stay a human for the rest of her life. So we filled out the required forms, though I don't see the point to all these forms," he grumbled.
Fiona chuckled, "Well I don't either. It's rather tedious work to me." Then she turned to Sophie, holding out her hand for the forms. Sophie grabbed the forms from the stack and handed it to her, keeping the two folders in her hand. Fiona looked them over, walking back over to her desk to retrieve a pen. "I didn't know your mother was a human," she said as she looked over at Maurus.
"Yeah well… I just didn't see the need to tell you," he shrugged, "plus I didn't want word going out that I had a child anyways. Having her be half-human would have made it worse for Sophia, that's all."
She nodded in understanding, continuing to read over the forms before signing each one of them under the 'DMD Signature'. "Okay that should do it!" she smiled to them, handing back Maurus the forms as she set her pen down and walked back around her desk. "So when are you going to fight her?"
"Probably at lunch," he said, looking at a clock on her wall as it almost read noon, "or maybe in the afternoon."
"Oh great!" she yelled and slightly startling Sophie. "I'll come and watch, but have her eat something first. I don't want the fighting to be cut short on account of her fainting on us," Fiona and Maurus laughed, while Sophie looked at them with a frown on her face. "Hey cheer up!" she said, pinching her cheeks. "Geeze… you've gotten more serious than from what I remember, like the Undertaker actually," she giggled.
"Exactly what I was thinking," Maurus chuckled, rustling up Sophie's hair as he led her out the door. "Well let's get going. We have to turn in the forms before we can start."
"Sure," Fiona called to him from the door, grabbing her black trench coat and swinging it over her shoulders before following swiftly after them.
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Sophie sat at the table watching her father and the woman she realized to be the Dispatch Management Director of the whole department in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland bickering and laughing over nonsense she couldn't even understand. The other shinigamis in the cafeteria were looking over at them, noticing how the sinister Silver Dove was laughing her head off at a joke her father had just said. Sophie was feeling embarrassed, scrunching down in her seat as she hid her face with her cap and snacked on her food quietly. "She's embarrassed, how cute!" the woman said, giggling slightly as she said it. "Now, my dear, do tell me how you're doing. What have you been up to?"
"Oh just the normal stuff," Sophie shrugged, leaning onto the table as she kept her cap in front of her face. "What would you like to know, specifically?"
"… Everything!" she threw up her arms. "This little boy over here wouldn't tell me about his family!" she poked him in the chest, Maurus letting out a slight 'ow' as he rubbed his irritated chest.
"Okay," she sighed, leaning back in her seat and slipping some tea. "Well I was born in London in a mortuary. From what I remember, papa would come by as much as he could to see us. My mother's name was Baroness Ellen Ioreta, but had run away from her family when they were forcing her to marry. She took up refuge at the mortuary, run by a man I know as Thomas. Ummmm… also I met the Undertaker and –"
"Wait a second!" she quickly stopped her, causing Sophie to flinch back slightly as she was interrupted. "You're telling me that the Undertaker knew you and not me? Centurion!" she growled, punching her father in the shoulder.
"Hey cut it out!" he growled back, rubbing his, now, sore arm. "He only knows because he covered me as I went and saw the birth of my only daughter. If it wasn't for that, then he wouldn't know anything like you do Fiona," he grumbled under his breath.
"Okay fine," she rolled her eyes, "I don't see why I can't know. Also having a child grow up in a mortuary all her life? That can't be healthy."
"Well I didn't have a choice," he sighed. "I wasn't going to let my pulchra puella be taken away from her mother, she would have been heartbroken." Then he let a sigh escape his lips, "Plus it's not like I have all the time in the world to be watching a child. Her mother did so it was practical to keep her with Ellen, okay?"
"Alright, alright! Don't have to get all technical," she rolled her eyes. "So continue Sophia. You were saying something about living at the mortuary?'
"Yeah well," Sophie said as she tried to recall where she had left off on, "I didn't really know him till papa died. He died by a demon and –"
"You saw your father die!" she gasped, "How tragic!"
"And mother," Sophie shrugged, "but it's not a big deal –"
"How could you say that? This is your parents we are talking about!" Fiona grumbled under her breath. "Maurus Serbus, you can't be serious with –"
"If I may speak," Sophie said, causing her to close her mouth and keep quiet for a few moments. "Yes I was sad about it, but I got over it. You didn't see me cry for weeks on end about it. If I hadn't lost my memories then I would still be crying about it, but I got over it."
Fiona blinked for a few moments, before a chuckle escaped her lips. "I'm sorry my dear. I didn't let you finish. I'll just listen from now on," she smiled to her, pretending there was a zipper on her lips and zipping them up tight, throwing away the key behind her.
Maurus let out a content sigh, a smile coming to Sophie's face as she tipped her cap up so she could see them better. "Okay… well I was about six when papa died. The Undertaker was there, though I don't really know why, and he told me to go before the other shinigamis got there. That's when he'd visit us, mostly me I think, to see how everyone was doing. He only stayed in the shadows up until that point, but it was comforting to hear that my papa was in a better place through him." Then she grabbed her cup and drank more tea, setting it down on her tray of food before continuing. "Well, then the demon came back after my mom. That is when I unleashed my true potential, but they were too much for me to control. So Thomas sealed them away, but with that I forgot all about the shinigamis and my father… except for a small piece of memory I remember when I was a baby." Then she let a sigh escape her lips as she looked away from them and out a nearby window. "The Undertaker disappeared with those memories, until my mom died. She thought it was time to go back to her family, you see, and she brought me with her to their house in the country. Their family didn't like me though, saying I was nothing but scum from an evil spirit and shouldn't even be alive."
"Oh how terrible," Fiona said, Maurus looking over at her with a raised eyebrow. "Well it is," she grumbled under her breath.
Sophie smiled at her, before going back to looking out the window. "Well I learned more about the noble class through them. Actually I learned how to make a good recipe for sweets from our French chef, who I loved to experiment food with," she chuckled to herself. "Well it had been two years since papa died and I didn't even know he was dead. When we went into London I would wander to the cemetery, hoping papa would come back. Well," she shrugged, "we were at the house and everyone was asleep. Thomas actually came to visit us, saying that he would have stayed at an inn if it hadn't been for the fact that our house was on the way into town. Mom and I were staying up that night, sitting in our music room as she played the piano and I contently listened. She wanted me to get some sheet music of her, so I went off and grabbed some from a room next door. I come back in and…" Sophie paused, her mind trailing off as she remembered what happened. Fiona looked over to Maurus with concern as Maurus looked over at Sophie also with concern on his face. Sophie grabbed her necklace from her shirt, looking at the green gem as she twisted it in her fingers. "That demon was there again," she said under her breath, "and left her to die there. I-I ran over to her and she was already dying, but I didn't know what to do. I started to scream, calling for someone to come, but then a shinigami came and took her away from me. I began to kick at him and demand for my mom back, but that was when Thomas ran into the room and held me down. I think I blacked out at one point as I bit down on the guy's leg and he hit me in the head with the butt of his scythe. When I woke up I was dressed in new clothes and surrounded in a white room, but I hated the white color and ran into the closet…" she paused, looking over to them with a slight smile on her face. "Well my mom's family said it was my entire fault, of course. The only people alive were my uncle and his wife.
"After the funeral they sent me to the orphanage in London, hoping that I would die there and they wouldn't have to worry about me anymore. Around that time Thomas also died, so I had no one anymore. That is… until I met the Undertaker again," she smiled to herself. "I met him at the cemetery as I said goodbye to my mom's grave for the last time. I don't know why, maybe he remembered me, but he adopted me and had me stay with him at the morgue. I lived a somewhat normal life after that, helping around the morgue and living as any other human would. My life was carefree till the demon came back, taking me away from the Undertaker and holding me hostage at my mom's house in the country. For some reason my relatives tried to have me marry him, which I don't know why, but I escaped and made it back to London. I didn't have the energy to make it back to the morgue, so I went to the orphanage and Miss Robin helped me. The orphanage even put some money together so I could get on a boat bound for the Americas, but that was cut short when the demon came back and threatened me. He set the orphanage on fire, and I missed the boat to come back and save them. That's when I unleashed my hidden powers again, cutting down the door with papa's scythe and getting everyone out of the building. Then he grabbed me and dragged me away into the woods, beating me up again and actually stabbing me in the chest. I blacked out at that point, but I woke up with the Undertaker next to me. He tired to heal me, but after a few months I died. That's really it," Sophie shrugged. "The rest of it was I lost my human memories and woke up in the shinigami realm. I trained to be a shinigami and that was that. You can probably find other records on all that stuff if you look it up."
"Wow…" Fiona gasped, pushing back from the table as she sat back in a chair. "For a little girl to have to go through all of that… I'm sorry."
"It's quite alright," Sophie shrugged it off, "I'm fine, really I am –"
"I would hope so," said someone from behind, causing Sophie to jump slightly as he grabbed her cap off of her head.
"Hey!" Sophie yelped, grabbing for her cap as he sat down next to Sophie and Fiona.
He handed back her cap, but took two cupcakes from her tray as he gave it back. "Undertaker!" Fiona smiled, the man letting out a chuckle. She glared at him, shifting the tray closer to Maurus as she grumbled under her breath.
"What are you doing here?" Maurus asked as he grabbed for his drink and slowly drank it down.
"There was paperwork I had to turn in, but then I heard Fiona yelling and had to come in," he smiled contently as he munched on one of the muffins.
"So you heard everything?" Sophie frowned.
He smiled to her, wrapping a hand around her arm and pulling her over so her head lay on his chest. "Yes I did. Though," he said gulping down the muffin, "even if you say you're alright, it's okay to not be. You had your memories lost for so long, and to remember everything all of the sudden… I can understand if you want to take the rest of the semester off and stay with me for a while."
Sophie smiled to him, fixing her cap on her head as she shifted slightly in his chest. "No that's alright. I would rather finish my classes then have to repeat everything another year." She let a sigh escape her lips, closing her eyes as she began to feel sleepy.
"Well then," Maurus said standing up and grabbing his tray, "if we're done here, we better get started."
Sophie nodded, standing up and finishing off a cookie from her plate as she followed Maurus and threw her trash away in the receptacle and set the tray down on a counter. "Oh I'm coming to watch!" Fiona yelled, chasing after them and wrapping an arm around Sophie as they began to leave.
Undertaker chuckled, following behind them, "Don't you have work to do?"
"That can wait!" Fiona smirked. "Besides, I have been working on and on with those forms. It's about time I give some time off," she grumbled under breath. "Are you coming?"
"Sure," the Undertaker said, walking next to Sophie with his hands in his pockets. "I would like to see how my little maiden does anyways," he smirked, grabbing her cap again. She growled at him, leaving Fiona's grasp as she jumped to grab her cap back. The three older shinigamis laughed, the Undertaker rustling up her hair and handing Sophie her cap back.
!#$%^&*()
"Show me what you got," Maurus said, throwing a black sword at Sophie.
She caught it with ease, grabbing the handle with her left hand and swinging it to her side. "And how am I going to do that?" Sophie sighed, putting the sword up to her face as she stared at her father. "I can't use any powers."
"Well that's why I'm here," he smirked, "to bring out your full potential. Besides, Thomas taught you how to fight, right? Use that then." Sophie let another sigh escape her lips, letting the sword come back to her side. "Now the goal is this," Maurus began, holding up a shining object.
Sophie's eyes went wide, noticing how bright it was. "A p-ure soul… why?"
Maurus smirked, putting the soul into a jar and attaching it around the rope around his waist. "Good, you learned something from Shezmu." Then he sighed, "And this will be what you're job will be. You'll figure it out as we go along, but basically you have been trained your whole life, even if you don't remember parts of it, to become a God of Death… and trust me it's quite different than a mere shinigami," he smirked. Then he held his sword up to his face, Sophie imitating him as they stared into each other's eyes with great intensity. "Your job is to take the soul using whatever is necessary. If you can summon a weapon that is great, but for every new weapon you put into play I can add my own weapons into the fight. Now… are you ready?"
Sophie let out a sigh, looking over at the Undertaker. Fiona and the Undertaker were talking amongst themselves as they sat upon a bench, eating their fill of some sweets the Undertaker had under his sleeve. He looked over at her and noticed the terror in her eyes. She looked back at her father as she let another sigh escape her lips. "Whatever is necessary… would that mean killing you also?"
"Yes," he said bluntly, placing the sword to his side. "Now can we get going?"
She turned to him and narrowed her eyes, running at him and striking for his chest. Maurus jumped back slightly, holding his black sword up in defense. "Fine let's go," she smirked, jumping back slightly as he laughed.
"Interesting…" Sophie jumped back at him, Maurus shielding himself from her blows with his sword. "You are going to have to try better than that to defeat me." Sophie grumbled as she backed off slightly to collect herself, unable to find a good opening in which to strike for the small jar containing the soul inside. She really had nothing else up her sleeve, except for the techniques she learned from Thomas. Everything else she needed her shinigami powers, though Grell's techniques could help her… but that was for a scythe and not a sword. Perhaps she could add his teachings still? Sophie ran back at her father, striking as fast as she could and trying to trip him up. She narrowed her eyes at him, her one-iris human blue/green eyes slowly turning to crystal blue and shinigami green eyes. Her techniques began to get faster and she increased her speed, starting to overwhelm her father slightly. He wouldn't let her do so, jumping away from her slightly as she ran at him. Then Maurus used her increased speed against her, grabbing hold of her arms and threw her away from him as she landed on her back. "You will need more then speed Sophia." Then he held up his sword as he concentrated, his shinigami green eyes becoming overwhelmed by the yellow in his eyes. "Now for some offence," he warned her, a black haze coming from his body and creeping its way onto the floor.
Sophie gulped, having read about what her father could do with the haze from the books Shezmu gave her. She was getting worried. "If you lay a scratch on Sophia," the Undertaker said in a huff, causing Maurus to look over at him, "then I won't be able to forgive you."
"She's my daughter Undertaker," Maurus growled back, "and this is something between me and her. I think you've been playing father for too long to remember that she's my daughter and not yours."
"She stopped being your daughter when you died Maurus," he said back to him calmly as he crossed his arms over his chest, "and I adopted her. So techniquelly she's my daughter also –"
He paused as Sophie swung at Maurus, catching him off guard for a second as he stumbled backwards and put his sword back up in defense. "Look," she glared at him, keeping her distance away from the black haze, "you are both of my fathers. One is papa and the other is dad, that's all. If the two of you are going to bicker about something as simple as that then I might as well not have one," she narrowed her eyes.
"Yeah you tell them!" Fiona cheered, the Undertaker and Maurus looking over at Fiona before back at Sophie.
Maurus chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry Sophia. I forgot that you're not a little girl anymore… well," he began, letting the haze build up around him and begin to creep down on the ground towards Sophie, "better start running, human."
Sophie smirked, gripping hold of the sword as tightly as she could as she ran towards him. She had to do some type of sneak attack or else she would be done for. She knew him, at least from what she read from books, that he is very malicious and will do anything to kill her. She slashed at him, Maurus shielding himself with the black haze. Her eyes went wide when it gripped around the sword and threw it to the side. He smirked deviously, the haze beginning to circle around Sophie. She struggled, closing her eyes as she began to get squeezed as a boa snake would do with a small rat. "Come on!" Fiona yelled, "You can do better than that!"
"H-how?" Sophie gasped, her chest starting to ache intensely.
"What do you mean how?" She grumbled, the Undertaker pulling on her shoulder to get her to sit back down. "You're a Serbus, right? Use those skills of yours to win! You had those powers trapped inside of you, right? Well try to unleash them!"
"Is that a good idea?" the Undertaker asked her, while she just chuckled.
"Of course! From what she wrote on her forms, Sophie has been trained to control them. So it shouldn't be a problem… I hope," Fiona shrugged.
Sophie had her eyes closed as they spoke, concentrating on summoning her own black haze. That was the problem; don't they have the same soul or something like that? So how can she summon the haze if it's already there… 'that's it!' Sophie realized, opening her eyes in realization. Her father blinked in confusion, noticing that yellow was beginning to swirl around in her eyes. She cut the haze with her sword, stopping the rest of the haze from reaching her by holding up her hand. "Don't you think it's a bit difficult if we have the same powers and soul?" she said to Maurus, a smirk on her face. Then she rose up her hand to him, the haze going towards Maurus. "I may not be able to summon it right now," Sophie admitted, "but I can definitely control it."
Maurus held up his hand to stop her, the haze staying neutral between them. "Yes," he responded, "but can you keep control?" Then the haze began to get closer to her and Sophie narrowed her eyes, using all her strength to push it back towards Maurus.
As the two of them struggled to push the black haze towards each other, the force from both sides was beginning to cause a powerful reaction. In the middle the black haze began to glow, the power from both sides causing it to increase in a matter of seconds. Undertaker's eyes went wide and he grabbed Fiona to the ground. Then there was an explosion, filling up the whole room in smoke. The Undertaker grumbled to himself, brushing the rubble off of his body. Fiona burst out of the rubble, obvious irritation on her face. "Oh man!" she grumbled, "this is going to be a lot of paperwork."
They looked up to see Sophie walking around on the roof of the building, shifting quickly and trying to find her opponent. "Come on," the Undertaker said roughly, grabbing Fiona's hand and pulling her out of the training facility.
Sophie looked around in worry, unable to see Maurus at all. He probably disappeared, but where? She noticed the explosion the two of them created was drawing a crowd. As she looked over the side, she was thrown from the building and onto the ground. Sophie landed on her feet with a stumble, turning back at the figure on the top of the building and snarled at him. "I'm not going to hold back," Maurus told her, the black haze forming in his hand once again. "So either give me all you have or die. That's what you want, to die right?"
She blinked in confusion, Maurus hitting a rather sore spot that she didn't want to remember. Yes, she wanted to die. She never liked being an outsider and always having high hopes cast on her shoulders. She just wanted to die and see Haden and her parents. Sophie really didn't like to be a shinigami, but now this was her time to do so. Die or stay alive? She gathered herself again, coughing up some blood into her hand and glaring at him. "That may be so," she said standing up tall and proud, "but I am from the family of Serbus, correct? So it is my duty to stay here in this world and either give or take away the breath of life. I have come to accept that. Even if I don't like the idea, I will do it."
Her father smiled to her, summoning his long scythe with a brown handle and pointed it to her. "Then prove that your worthy for the job." Sophie ran at him, the black sword disappearing from her hands as she evaporated into the black haze. She appeared behind him, striking behind him with her long black scythe. Maurus stopped her blow, holding his scythe up behind him as she snarled at him. She jumped back slightly, the yellow in her eyes almost taken over her eyes. "I'm going to have to step it up, huh?" he said, summoning three hound dogs from the black haze. "Eius devoraret," he ordered, the dogs running at Sophie with full force.
Sophie began to run, running around one of the buildings till she came around the bend to see her father again. She jumped onto a bench, slashing her scythe at the dogs. Two of them went down in an instant, the other dog jumping at her about to rip at her neck. She caught the dog by the top of his mouth with the tip of her scythe, throwing the dog back towards Maurus as she jumped down from the bench. She noticed the Undertaker and Fiona leave the building before she turned back to Maurus. "That's enough!" the Undertaker narrowed his eyes at Maurus, "You don't want to kill her, do you?"
"Maybe," Maurus said, giving him a shrug.
"Please stay out of this," Sophie said, looking over at the Undertaker with a reassuring look on her face before she walked over to Maurus. "Kill me if you'd like. You'll learn that it's harder to take down an injured bear then when it's calm."
He smirked, running at Sophie with his scythe raised. She jumped back, catching the scythe with her own as they were deadlocked in a glare match. A group of shinigmais were beginning to form around the fighting, several familiar faces appearing in a desperate attempt to help. The Undertaker and Fiona hushed them though, because of the forms they signed Sophie and Maurus could do what they were doing. Only until the goal of the fighting had been completed can someone go in and stop them. "It looks like you can't defeat me," he smirked, "so I guess you'll have to stay a human."
"You think so," she smirked, slamming her head against his temple. He jumped back shocked as she grabbed for the jar around his waist and got a firm grip on it.
Maurus' eyes narrowed, taking out a small sword from his other hand and slashing it at her hand. Instantly Sophie let go, her right hand bleeding harshly. "What was that!" he growled.
"I learned it," Sophie smirked as she licked the blood off of her hand, "from my mentor."
He narrowed his eyes, before laughter escaped his lips. "Of course you did," he chuckled. "You're rather ruthless, but that's going to stop here~" he finished, holding his hand up at her as a black haze began to form around his hands. "You better look down Sophia."
Sophie looked down, noticing a black pit had formed under her feet. Her eyes widened, the black haze wrapping around her legs and pulling her down. "Don't send me to hell!" she whimpered, slashing her scythe at the haze.
"Sorry Sophia," he shrugged, "but if you're really a Serbus then you can escape –"
"Maurus that's enough!" the Undertaker yelled at him, anger on his face as he began to run at him.
"Undertaker wait!" Fiona called to him. She was unable to stop him as the Undertaker threw Maurus to the side with the butt of his long silver scythe.
Without anything keeping the black haze there, the haze disappeared around Sophie's legs and she began to fall. "Sophia!" the Undertaker and Maurus yelled as they ran towards the hole in the earth to grab her hand. The Undertaker almost had hold of her, but she slipped through his fingers.
Then he sent death glares towards Maurus. "How could you!" he grabbed his shirt and punched him in the face. "She's your daughter for crying out loud! How could you –"
"Undertaker!" Fiona yelled, pulling him off of Maurus as he coughed up some blood.
"If you hadn't pushed me," Maurus glared, "then she wouldn't have fallen!" The Undertaker's eyes went wide and then he felt guilty, realizing the only thing holding her up was the black haze Maurus had around her legs. "I wasn't going to let her fall…" he frowned, looking at the crowd of shocked shinigamis and then back at the hole he had created in the earth.
!#$%^&*()
Sophie screamed as she fell farther and farther into the abyss, soon being unable to see. In the back of her mind she could sense something, a creature coming after her. She held up her scythe to the creature, letting out a battle cry and slashing at it. The creature let out a cry of pain, Sophie feeling herself slowly becoming engulfed into the darkness. The light above her began to get dimmer and dimmer, the bright light above disappearing from her sights. She cried out, trying to claw her way up at the sky as she fell. "No I can't go back!" she yelled. 'Wait what was that?' Sophie realized, rubbing her eyes in anger. "No… what is this?" she grumbled. "Please let me out!" she yelled as she continued to fall, "I'll be a God of Death, just let me go!" Then all at once she closed her eyes, suddenly falling unconscious as she heard a roar coming from below her.
!#$%^&*()
"Stop this!" Fiona growled as she tried to pull apart the two legendary shinigamis from each other. "This isn't going to help her if you two keep bickering!" She narrowed her eyes, letting the Undertaker and Maurus pull apart from each other.
The Undertaker let out a huff, the smile completely gone from his face. "You're right, this isn't getting us anywhere."
"Well maybe if you would let me be the father then I wouldn't have to push her," he grumbled.
"Don't give me that," the Undertaker narrowed his eyes, "I was being a good friend by taking her in. That human wasn't going to stick around and she was forced into the orphanage. Don't you think she needed some hope that she could have comfort, huh? No, you don't seem to think about that stuff, do you. That's the difference between you and Sophia. She actually cares about other people –"
"Oh I don't!" he growled at him. "You just wanted her as a replacement for Aya, didn't you?"
"Don't you bring her into this!" he yelled back, Fiona putting a hand on her nose as she began to get a headache with all the yelling.
"Can't the two of you just shut up –" Fiona stopped, the Undertaker and Maurus jumping back in fright. Out from the crack in the earth came a bright black light, shooting past the Undertaker and hitting Maurus in the stomach. He gasped, and all at once the jar around his side was ripped from the rope. He was thrown into the ground, the being coming to a stop several feet away from them. Everyone gasped, even the Undertaker, as they noticed the being's appearance.
The creature was dressed in a white robe, the robe going down to her ankles. It wore golden sandals, the leather straps wrapping around past her feet and up her legs. It had a rope around its waist, the rope shimmering in gold with seven black pieces of rope interwoven into the gold rope and losing some of its luster. It wore a black cloak, the hood flopping off of its face as it revealed its face. Long-wavy auburn hair glowed blew in the wind behind it with bright crystal blue, shinigami green, and yellow glowing in her eyes. "What the hell!" Sophie gasped, noticing hazy black wings spread out behind her back. It was a third bigger then herself, causing her to be rather intimidating at first glance. "Why do I look like a pansy?"
She stared at Maurus, the Undertaker and Fiona looking over at him with baffled looks. "I ummm…"
"So you have wings?" Sophie blinked in confusion, looking over her shoulder at the wings and feeling them. They felt exactly like the black haze, the haze disappearing in her hands as she felt it between her fingertips.
"No! I mean… that's not from me," he sighed, getting off of the ground and rubbing his sore chest. That blow to the chest actually hurt. "Talk to your mother about that –"
"Mom was an angel," Sophie gasped, "or she was fallen, wasn't she?"
"No she was human," Maurus shrugged, beginning to walk over to her, "just… I don't know. You'll have to ask her about that –"
"Stop," she glared at him sternly, holding her hand up to him with fear in her eyes. "Don't. Touch. Me."
"But –"
"No!" she yelled at him, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I'm sick of the secrets!" she growled at him, her eyes glowing in anger. "I'm sick of them… You think it was easy seeing my father die! I read your human life, Maurus, and you were a lot better off then I was," she huffed. "You may have been left alone, but you didn't see your parents die in cold blood! You didn't have people whom you hold dear hold secrets from you! If you want to know why I want to die," she sighed, "it's because I'm just tired of all this…"
"Come on Sophia," he grumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm trying, I really am. It's not like there's a rule book for these sorts of things, you have to go with your instinct. I noticed you weren't giving me your full potential so I gave you a life and death situation. You want to be angry fine, but I am trying here… are you even listening to me?"
Sophie didn't turn her head to him, instead looking down at the jar in her hand. She popped it open, watching as the soul levitated out of the jar and fell into the palm of her hand. She held it gently, petting it with her thumb as she heard her father's voice. "I am listening…" she answered him, suddenly feeling rather calm, "I just don't see why you can't be the person I knew when I was a child." She smiled to him, turning around as she held the soul in her hand. "Whom told me that I'm not alone and that there are others like me in the world. In reality though, there's not a lot, is there?" She let a sigh escape her lips as she continued to speak. "Only a few are left, right? Beings with a purpose? Shezmu told me all about this father… about how you slowly changed."
"I didn't change –"
"Yes you did," Sophie stopped him. "You're angry more often; the cheerful young man he had met and trained with has almost disappeared. You want to know my theory, you let whatever that power we both have control you. I know it can turn you crazy, but aren't we supposed to fight that?" she cracked another smile. Maurus blinked in confusion as Sophie looked at herself slightly baffled. 'Did I really just say that?' she thought, putting a finger to her lips, 'I didn't… wha…' she looked down at the glowing pure soul in her hand. She watched as it left her hand, creating a bright portal. "What is this?..." Sophie said, walking towards the light.
"Hey wait a minute! Sophia!" Maurus yelled to her, grabbing hold of her hand. "You're not supposed to go –"
"Mom?" she gasped, noticing a bright woman at the other end of the portal.
"Sophia wait –"
"Let me go!" she growled, kicking him and scratching at his hand.
Maurus flinched back at the scratches, letting go of Sophie's hand. She took off in a run, running into the light. The black haze quickly vanished from her body, the wings fading away in the glow. "Wait! Stop!" he yelled to her, but it was too late. He ran as fast as he could but the portal closed on him, not allowing him to follow Sophie.
"Well…" the Undertaker said casually as his hands where crossed, "that was interesting."
!#$%^&*()
A/N: I would have added something at the beginning to tie chapter 21 to 22 together, but it would be too much and very unnecessary. So… yeah I hope to get the next chapter done now, but we'll see since my own laptop isn't working. For anyone I talk to, I'm sorry if I don't answer you right away. It's because of my laptop not working. I could answer your questions while I'm at school and using my school's computers, but I don't want my information stolen. So if I don't answer at days/weeks or something like that, it's because I haven't been able to use my family's laptop ^^ For anyone I talk to an a daily basis, yeah that's my situation.
I was actually working on making the characters how I see them and making them IDs (got the idea from EiseiNoMuzai, so thank you ^^) but now that my laptop isn't working that has stopped… but if I get back into it then maybe you'll see drawings of the characters! I did a colored pencil piece for my art class of Sophie, and an acrylic painting of Grell. Maybe I can post it? We'll see ^^ I hoped you liked this chapter! It was hard to write the fighting and make everything make sense, but I hope I did its justice =D
pulchra puella – Latin – beautiful girl
tu vigilans – Latin – are you awake
gratias – Latin – thanks
non opus gratias – Latin – no need for thanks
tata – Latin – dad
DMD – Dispatch Management Director (I just made that up ^^ if you have a better name for this then suggest it! I may change it if I like it =D) – high standing status of a corporate director or CEO of a shinigami division
Oba – Nigerian – ancient river goddess
Fiona – Scottish/ Irish/Gaelic – the fair one; a vine
Aya – Japanese – beautiful
כן – Hebrew – yes
eius devoraret – Latin – devour her