Kuroshitsuji © Yana Toboso
OCs © reaper-of-lost-souls
A/N: Hehe. Glad everyone likes things so far. More office drama/bonding moments (plus you learn a bit more about characters) and more boring 'Sophie is recuperating' stuff. TADA! That's what most of this chapter is about ^^ Hope you enjoy it regardless.
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"Hey where's Sophie? She's never –" Alex paused, looking over at the stairs as he heard familiar giggles as Sophie ran up the stairs with a young girl latched on her back. "Sasha!" he laughed, running over to Sophie and scooping the girl up in his broad arms.
"Papa!" Sasha giggled happily as she wrapped her arms around his neck as he swung her around and played with her hair a little.
"I wasn't expecting you so soon!" he chuckled, looking over to see Rose, Alistair, and Jericho walk up the stairs casually behind Sophie. "Hi love," Alex smiled, walking over to Rose and giving her a kiss on the lips. "How was the trip?"
"As great as a boat ride can be," she chuckled, looking down as Alistair left he left his mother's side and casually walked over to Sophie. "Alistair had troubles breathing again," Rose sighed as she watched with concern while Sophie picked him up and poked him on the nose, "but luckily we didn't run out of the pills Sophie made for us. I don't think he would have made it otherwise."
"I see…" he sighed, looking over at Sasha. "Well we have a party planned," Alex smirked as he pecked Sasha on the cheek and she giggled, "but it started thirty minutes ago –"
"A party?" Sophie raised an eyebrow, letting Alistair jump out of her arms and explore around the office floor. "Aw~ that's what you're planning," she chuckled, "but I was here four o'clock sharp. If you don't show up on time then it's not my problem."
"Sorry," Alex chuckled, setting Sasha down as she wiggled away from him to join her brother's escapade around the desks, "but Grell wouldn't let me go to pick you up till everything was done~"
"Now that the secret is out let's get going," Sophie smiled, using her black cloak as a wash cloth as she tried to get rid of the blood all over her. "… Maybe~ I should wash myself off first."
"That's probably best," Alex snickered, grabbing Rose's hand into his as they turned around and head down to the end of the hall. Seeing their parents leave Alistair and Sasha ran after them, jumping up and down with excitement about the new gadgets they found on the desks.
Sophie smiled as she looked over to Jericho, sighing to herself as she walked in the opposite direction and towards the bathrooms. "What a day this is turning out to be," she sighed, her clothes disappearing to reveal the clothes she had walked out in that day. She opened up the door of the bathroom to find no one there, walking over to the sink and turning on the water.
"Are you okay?" Jericho asked as he leaned against the opened door and watched as Sophie cleaned her face with the running lukewarm water.
"Tired," she shrugged, "but I can live. Hey I know this is a bother, but do you think you could get me off of work for a little while longer?" Sophie looked into the mirror and smirked, rubbing her face vigorously to get the caked crimson goo off her face. "If the Engjëll family is around then I know Sasha will want to explore the city and Alistair will want to see the cemetery."
"I don't think that will be a problem," he chuckled, leaving the doorway to walk into the bathroom and wrap his arms around her shoulders. "Take it easy. I don't want you collapsing again."
"I won't," she smiled, turning off the water and giving him a peck on the lips. "Hmmm…" she thought to herself as she wiggled away from his arms and threw the paper towel away, "Does Alex have a place for his family yet?"
"I believe not," Jericho shrugged. "He was planning on having them sleep in his apartment for the night till he found proper housing –"
"That won't do," Sophie huffed as she walked out of the bathroom. "I'll just give them my apartment. I'm not using it anyways and there's enough room for them."
"I don't think Alex will mind," Jericho chuckled as he followed her out of the bathroom and lead her down the hallway to the party.
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"Theodora!" Sophie smiled, giving the light brunette haired shinigami a hug as she walked into a room filled with random party decorations and a few tables full of random food. "Where have you been?"
"Lewis found me and insisted I help set up," she chuckled as she shook her head, "but I don't care… Hey I heard that Jericho and you got hurt recently –"
"It was a scrap with the Leviathan," Sophie shrugged as she grabbed a drink from the table and began to slurp it down, "but it's not a big deal."
"Boss…" she frowned, shaking her head by Sophie's words. "Don't do that. I don't know why that creature keeps coming after you all the time, but if it happens again I'm going to get involved even though you told us not to –"
"Don't worry," she chuckled as she held up her hand to Theodora, "Those monsters are as much of your concern as your past is for me. How about you go mingle Dora? Ben was worried sick about you."
"Not as much as I was for him," Dora chuckled back, patting Sophie on the back as she left her at the table. Sophie huffed and grabbed a plate full of food, walking over to a random chair to sit down.
Grabbing a cookie and munching on it, she smiled as she saw a familiar face walk over to her and sit down next to her. "How's the party?" he smiled.
"Okay I guess," she chuckled as she finished the cookie in her hand, "but I didn't think you would be here Marius. What are we here celebrating anyways?"
"You," he chuckled at her question.
"Me?" Sophie huffed. "Why?"
"Your death-day is what Mr. Sutcliff has been saying," Marius shrugged as he grabbed a scone from her plate and began to eat it.
"Oh is that so?" Sophie chuckled to herself as she lounged back in the chair and set the plate and cup in her hands on a nearby table. "… Of course~. I guess Grell is celebrating the day we met… Why are you here anyways? I thought you loathed these types of things."
"I do but –" he paused, looking over at a young shinigami who just walked into the room.
Sophie followed his gaze at the young woman, who greeted a shinigami she knew before walking over to the line of tables to scrounge for food. "Aaaaww~" she chuckled. "Margaret?"
"… Yes," Marius admitted, standing up and giving her a slight bow. "Now if you'll excuse me –"
"Stop being so proper. Go over there and talk to her dummy," she grinned mischievously, shooing him away with her hand. Marius hesitated before taking off, getting a chuckle from Sophie as she looked over at them and she slowly drank down her drink. Sophie turned her gaze over at the family in the corner, who were laughing along with a few other shinigamis as their children ran around the room. She noticed that Veronica had changed her outfit, the new black suit contrasting to her white, sun burnt porcelain skin and light blonde hair. She actually looked like any other shinigami with her double-iris eyes, except for the silver color in her eyes that hadn't changed color from the time she was human. It must have been a side effect to her curse, but she didn't want to think about the details. Sophie had always been worried about Rose, and Rose the same with Sophie, but that's how they became inseparable friends. To think she was the one that caused those two to meet, Sophie chuckled as she looked over at the two beautiful children slowing down and listening to their father's request.
At first glance you would think the daughter was the eldest by how she acts around her brother. Sophie knew that Alistair was really the eldest, since she saw both of them born after all. Only a year and a half later Sasha was born, making her about eight and Alistair almost ten. Sophie never understood why those children loved her so. It could be because she was very popular back in America, but it was probably likely that she was always around them and kept them company if their parents were away. Alistair was a quiet boy. He never liked to make a fuss and would rather read books than run around and cause fights. More than once did he say he wanted to be a mortician then a shinigami, but Sophie made him promise that he could study to be a mortician if he first learned fighting techniques incase anything happened to him. It worked, that's for sure, and the boy can hold himself in a scrimmage if he had to.
Comparing the two children, his little sister was entirely different then her older brother. Sasha loved to fight, running into the worst situations and end up coming home with cuts and bruises all over her body and blood in her long, wavy brunette hair. It was a feature Sophie loved about her, noticing the sparkle in the girl's single-iris gray and shinigami green eyes as she went after annoying pests. Reminded her of an older red-head she knows. Time after time Sophie has heard from Sasha that she wanted to be just like Sophie and hold a title like she does. So Sophie would let Sasha come on some of her less vigorous missions, giving Sasha pointers and sometimes letting her use a death scythe to defend herself. Of course bringing a young, inexperienced child on dangerous missions was against the rules, but in America Sophie could get away with it because of her position in power and that no one would care anyways. Sophie has loved those two Engjëll children ever since Rose was pregnant with them, in turn continuing to think of the whole family as her own. If anything happened to them Sophie would be there to defend them, putting herself in front of them to make sure everyone was safe. That was how Sophie was after all, a very protective God of Death.
Sophie smiled to herself at the thought, looking up to see the young Engjëll boy looking up at her with a small smile on his face. "Tired?" she asked him, letting the boy crawl onto the couch and set his head onto her lap.
"Yes Тетушка," he answered, closing his double-iris shinigami green eyes as he curled up on her lap. Sophie smiled and ran a hand through his short, dirty blonde hair, chuckling to herself as she gently rocked back and forth for him. "Ummm… I was wondering something about the human anatomy."
"Yeah?" she responded, grabbing a cracker from her plate and munching on it.
"If a person was cut pieces and their… let's say pancreas was taken, then, when you sew them back up again, should you leave that piece of themselves missing, find it, or replace it?" Alistair asked, shifting on her lap so he could look up at her with curiosity.
"Hmmm…" Sophie thought to herself as she grabbed another piece of food. "Good question Al. If it were me I would probably try to find their missing self first. I would no way in my right mind try to replace their missing organ with another, causing the body I took it from to be missing their own organ. So first find the organ and if you can't find it then just sew them back up and put them in the ground." Then she chuckled to herself, poking his cheek as he closed one eye and flinched. "Why do you ask~?"
"Only wondering," Alistair shrugged as he smiled at her. "When will I get to see the cemetery?"
"In due time," Sophie sighed and shook her head. "Oh! While we're talking, do you want to hear the latest adventure for the month?"
"I do! I do!" they heard from the other side of the room, Sasha running through the crowd and jumping onto the couch beside Alistair. Alistair grumbled as he sat up, rubbing his irritated chest and glaring at his annoying sister.
Sophie chuckled and poked Sasha in the nose, grabbing a cookie and munching on that. "Alright you can hear it too," she grinned, thinking to herself on where she should start. "Let's see… where will I start… Long or short version?"
"Long," the both of them said together, their eyes gleaming with intensity as they looked at Sophie.
"You'll have to give me time to think," she chuckled, "since I never gave a long~~ version… Let's see… It started off with a death threat, which said I was going to die in a few days. Taking every procession I could, I searched for my name in the soul's list and found it on the day the demon described. So I did the only thing I could do is wait patiently for my death, the clock slowing ticking down to my last hour…"
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"Thank you for letting us stay in your apartment," Rose smiled at Sophie, looking down at Sasha as she slept curled up on her lap. "I… Don't put yourself in danger again," she grumbled. "Sasha may think that it's cool, but I don't think it's cool that my жена almost died again."
"Don't be so angry," Sophie chuckled as she continued to run a hand through Alastair's hair before letting out a tired huff. "You know it's not something I can control. By the way, how is that demon you are trying to stay away from?"
"From what I know he's not coming after me," Rose sighed, "but… I'm still worried. About you, about my family… a lot of worrying."
"Ah," Sophie nodded, "well those things happen. I made you a promise years ago to always protect you and your family, and I plan on keeping it, got that?"
"I know," Rose chuckled. "I don't see why a powerful god like yourself would want to use their energy on me, but I'm grateful that you are. Just don't die on me till I'm ready for it."
"Understood," she gave her a salute before grinning to herself. "I have a few more days before I have to get back to work. Do you want me to show you around the city?"
"No," Rose shook her head. "Take that time to rest. If Al and Sasha want to go then I will come with you, but if not then I want to spend some time here."
"Okay," Sophie smiled, grabbing Alastair's small form and shifting him so he was off of her lap. "Well it's about time I get home," she sighed as she stood up and off the couch. "My father is probably having a hissy fit since it's almost midnight."
"Which reminds me," Rose grinned, "you'll have to introduce me to your father. Undertaker correct?"
"That's right," Sophie smiled, leaning into Rose's face and giving her a peck on the cheek. "I'll check up on your guys in a few days if I'm not back in the shinigami realm at that time. Do you have enough pills for Alastair to last you the voyage?"
"Enough to get by," Rose sighed, "but he'll need more soon enough –"
"I need to make more anyways. We'll make a campout alright?" she chuckled, waving to Rose as she walked away from her and over to Grell. "Hey Grell," Sophie called to him as she pulled him slightly as he tried to flirt with William, "thank you for the party. This was unnecessary, but it was fun regardless."
"I'm glad you liked it!" Grell grinned happily, grabbing Sophie in a bone-crushing hug before letting go and giving her a peck on the cheek. "It was an excuse to throw a party anyways. We don't get enough office parties around here," he whispered low enough for William to not hear.
"Figured," Sophie rolled her eyes, smirking as she swung her hands back and forth with his hands entangled in her own. "I better get back to the Undertaker. I'm already two hours late."
"Oh poo!" he huffed. "That man needs to lighten up."
"Well if you invited him then maybe I wouldn't have this problem," she chuckled lightly.
"But I did," Grell frowned, "and he said he didn't want to go."
"Oh…" Sophie thought to herself before giving him a smile and letting go of his hands. "He never liked social events anyways," she shook her head; "I better go now."
"Alright," he waved, turning back over to William and fawning over him. Sophie chuckled as she watched her mentor flirt, but didn't make any progress, finally making her way out of the party and down the darkened gray hallway.
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"Sorry for being late," Sophie said as she walked in the back door of the morgue and set her bag down close to the entrance. "I was talking to Rose and – Undertaker?" she called, rushing down to the main room and looking in the dark room. She sighed, making her way back through the hallway and looking into every room till she got to the back again. "Where is that man?" she grumbled under her breath. Sighing she put on a coat and walked out the back door, walking down the gravel road and up the hill. She raised an eyebrow when she saw the creeping cloaked man she was looking for, holding a bouquet of flowers in his hand and looking at a tombstone as if he was in a trance. "D-dad?" Sophie frowned, wrapping her arms around his waist and looking at the engraving. "Have you been out here all night?"
"Sophia," Undertaker giggled happily as he turned around and grabbed Sophie in a tight hug. "Where have you been?"
"Sorry," she smiled and nuzzled her head into his chest, "but Rose just got in so we were catching up… Why are you looking at my grave?" she frowned.
"Aw just… thinking~" he giggled again, though Sophie could tell he was forcing it.
The Undertaker flinched as Sophie slowly brought her hand up to his face, parting his bangs so she could see his shinigami green and yellow eyes. "You're sad?" she frowned with worry in her eyes, "but I'm right here dad –"
"I know," he chuckled, "but… that day…"
Sophie blinked in confusion before she realized what he meant, a smile coming to her face as she grabbed him tighter and nuzzled her head in his chest. "I love you," she said simply as she looked up at him and giggled, "and the worst day in my life was when I died. Want to know why?"
"Why?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Because I completely forgot who you were to me," she sighed, "and I wish I never had to forget."
The Undertaker grinned, kissing Sophie on the cheek and chucking as she continued to giggle. "Well~" he grinned as he set the flowers down on her grave and took her hand, "I know I will never forget you." Sophie beamed as she set her head on his arm, looking behind her at the grave and sighing. She quickly noticed the flowers he had set down and smiled, noticing the bouquet of forget-me-not flowers sitting contently on top of the living ground.
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"Hey what are you doing here?" Jericho chuckled, noticing Sophie trudging down the hallway to her office wearing her black cowboy hat and trench coat.
"Why not?" she chuckled, but then shook her head as she opened the door. "There are a few things that need to be taken care of."
"Oh?" he asked, walking into her office from behind and closing the door behind them. "Like~ what?"
"I need to go over to Norway to talk to their Director for the Norwegian Division and the Swedish Division," Sophie shrugged as she grabbed a few papers out from her desk and set them in her messenger bag. "Do you know where Sasha is? I was planning on bringing her along."
"Veronica is in Alexander's office talking with him. You can go ask them if you want," Jericho shrugged.
"Cool," she chuckled, swinging the bag over her shoulder and walking past him to the door. "I haven't quite taught her everything and I want to get it done before the family moves away."
"Ahh~" Jericho nodded, walking behind Sophie as she walked out the door and slammed the door behind her. "… Why do you bother with training them?"
"It's enjoyable and very entertaining," she chuckled delightly as she walked down the hall to Alex's office door. "I don't see a point in learning if I can't pass it on… I think that's something I acquired from my father," she shrugged.
"Which one?" Jericho asked as he held the door for her.
"Papa," she smirked, walking into the room and giving a wave to two shinigamis sitting behind the desk. "Hey Alex and Rose," Sophie smiled. "If Sasha was up for it, I was going to bring her with me on a mission for today."
"Oh?" Rose responded, moving her head off of Alex's shoulder as she thought. "We sent the Дети to the library this morning. You can go there if you want."
"Great thanks," she smiled, giving them another wave and walked past Jericho as she made her way back to the stairs and began walking down.
"… Hmmm…" Alex thought to himself as he looked over at Jericho. "What exactly is she doing today? I thought she was still recovering."
"Going to Norway for the day," Jericho shrugged. "Why? I don't know, but it's alright with you that she's taking Sasha with her?"
"With Sophie we know Sasha is in capable hands," Alex chuckled as he grabbed his coffee mug and slowly drank down the hot liquid. "We trust her just as much as I trust Julia, Jericho. If she's taking Sasha then it's not a hard mission. Probably will only involve… less than a hundred demons?" he shrugged before letting out a hearty chuckle.
"Alright," Jericho nodded as he began to walk out the door. "Have your paperwork turned into me by this afternoon. I want to get done by five today."
"Can do!" Alex saluted, laughing to himself as Jericho walked out of the office and closed the door behind him.
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"Have you seen two pesky kids running around here?" Sophie asked one of the librarians behind a desk.
"Oh yes," she smiled. "They wandered over to the history section."
"Okay thanks," Sophie smiled and waved to her, walking down the marbled hallway and clanking her black boots against the hard floor. Turning a few corners she made her way to the other end of the library, finding Alistair and Sasha with a tower of books next to them as they read.
"This is boring!" Sasha eventually said, slamming her face into the book she was reading and mumbling to herself. "This book is stupid."
"It's not stupid," Alistair sighed, "just inaccurate – Oh Тетушка!" he smiled once he noticed Sophie was making her way towards them.
Sasha lifted up her head excitedly at Alistair's words, happy to see her aunt again. "Hello guys," Sophie smiled, walking around the table and looking over the books they were reading. "What books are you reading there?"
"Something about the History of the London Shinigamis, but it's outdated," Alistair frowned to himself.
"Ah," Sophie nodded in understanding as she grabbed the book he was reading and looked at the cover. "I see… they print out new editions, but don't update the information."
"Why are you here Тетушка?" Alistair decided to ask. "After telling us the story of the Fallen Angel, Jamal Kafziel Janiel, shouldn't you be resting or something?"
"I have some things to take care of today," Sophie shrugged, "and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to Norway –"
"Oh I do!" Sasha jumped out of her seat excitedly. "Will we be fighting demons again? Can I use the zweihänder this time?"
"Sure," Sophie chuckled, "but be careful with it. It's starting to get old."
"Oh I will!" Sasha jumped out of her seat, jumping up and down at her request being answered.
"Do you want to come too Al?" Sophie decided to ask.
"No," he shook his head, "I just want to get back to reading."
"Okay," Sophie nodded as she took out a piece of paper and wrote down several books with serial numbers next to the titles. "Then go and find these books to read. They should be accurate in detail then those books you have and a few of them you may like," she smiled. Alistair nodded and grabbed the paper from her hands, looking at the titles as Sophie grabbed Sasha's hand. "Come now," she sighed as she moved the hat from her head, "I'll be late if we don't leave."
"Okay," Sasha nodded knowingly, gripping hold of Sophie's hand as they disappeared in a black haze.
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A/N: Heh. Yeah that's probably where I'm going to end it for the day. Let me just say I'm getting tired of writing this story (not saying I'm going to stop posting chapters and stop writing. No! Just want to have another story to think about for a while) so instead of writing an OC story I'm beginning to write a Grell and Undertaker story. Yep more fanfiction! Though I haven't seen this idea of mine posted so we'll see if anyone likes it. I'll write a few chapters and see from there if I should continue it… but yeah I just want to write something else for a bit. It'll probably be shorter XD That's for sure! (and don't worry about my frequent chapters. I'm still 9 chapters ahead!) So I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!
Zweihänder – German "two hander", two-handed sword primarily used in the Renaissance