Sometimes, when I was bored or lonely, I would check out my mother's cinematic record from the library. She was a great woman, and she lived a full life. If being a reaper had taught me anything, it was that even if someone's dead, they're not gone; if you work hard enough you might be able to meet them on the other side. I had always wondered why they hadn't let me take Ciel's record from the library – I never guessed it was because he was still alive. I tried to focus on my work.
As I was getting ready to leave my apartment, I heard a knock at the door. I opened it to see Chad, a reaper who was in my class, standing in the doorway, a shy smile on his face.
"Hey Chad," I greeted him. "What is it?"
"Hey Lizzie," he replied. "I was just wondering if... maybe you'd like to go out for coffee or something? With me?"
"I'd love to," I answered him, "but I was about to leave for a last-minute assignment in Bristol. Sorry."
"Oh, no, it's ok, I just... I mean, I'd figured you would be busy; they work us so hard... I'll ask again later maybe. Good luck on that assignment. I'll uh... I'll see you later."
"Chad Phillips and Elizabeth Midford," William Spears had told the almost-graduated shinigami. "For your final exam, you are tasked with evaluating the soul of Michael Seaton. His details can be found in the brief here," he tapped the file folder on his desk. "Determine whether or not he deserves to continue living, and collect his soul on the date specified if he does not. A vital part of becoming a collector of souls to to realize what it is to want to live. I feel this assignment will provide that. Be careful; this one will not come quietly. Souls that have something to live for will fight back, and if you're not careful, you'll be destroyed."
Alexis Miller. Aged: 26. A single mother with two kids aged ten and eight – this one would not come quietly, that's for certain. Funny, those were the exact words Will used when he assigned my final exam. Souls that have something to live for will fight back, and if you're not careful, you'll be destroyed. It's the first thing they teach you. Alexis's children will surely struggle without her. Tragic, yes, but Death does not play favorites.
I stood dismally on the roof of an apartment building, watching her as she walked home, two overstuffed grocery bags in her arms. Any minute now. She glanced up in my direction suddenly and spotted me, staring confused at why a teenage girl like me was watching her from a building. Our eyes met, and I tried to apologize somberly with my eyes. Suddenly a bright red ar speeded around a corner and crashed into Alexis, driving away just as quickly. No one even saw it happen, and if they did, it was already too late: I leaped into action and began collection. Her cinematic record sprung out in hundreds of tendrils to stop me. Dodging one heading straight for my neck, I cut two others trying to wind around my legs. I landed, making a wide slash and taking down several more. Her mangled body struggled desperately on the ground, her voice choked by blood, silently begging for life. I felt cruel for doing this, but I had no choice. I'd never be able to convince headquarters to let her survive. I wanted to see my mother again.
I had to admit, this was my hardest assignment in a while. I must've been a bit out of touch, because she managed to catch my arm – the one holding my deathscythe, so I couldn't cut myself free. I tried to pull my backup scythe (a small pair of scissors) out of my inside jacket pocket, but then another tendril grabbed that wrist too and pulled it away. I shouted. I felt her memories touch my mind, and I lost sight of the world. I saw her boyfriend leaving her without explanation after finding out she was pregnant. Her parents wanted almost nothing to do with her after that. She found another boyfriend, but he was an angry drinker, and she didn't want him to father her soon to be two children. She lived on her own. She worked as hard as she could. I even saw her memories of the future. Her son had a football game tonight she couldn't miss. The daughter needed a new dress and a gift for a friend's birthday party tomorrow. She couldn't afford to die; not right now. I felt my identity fade, absorbing into her memories. She had to life for her children, and as I began to disappear, all I could think about was Ciel.
Suddenly I fell hard, and blacked out.
As I woke up, I half expected to see Chad, the partner I had on my final exam. Instead, I was looking up at the smirking face of a demon with an eye patch.
"Honestly Lizzie, that's what you get for trying to do this on your own," Chad told me, helping me up. I shook my head a bit, trying to remember where I was. "Seriously, they wouldn't make you have a partner for the final exam if you could pass it on your own." That's right; the exam. I'd almost been consumed by the man's memories. "I might not even be there the next time to save you," he smirked. I would've punched him, but I noticed another tendril had wrapped itself around his leg. I severed it with a quick slash of my training scythe.
"Honestly, Chad," I remarked snidely. "And I probably won't even be there to save you the next time."
"Honestly Lizzie," Ciel smirked, offering me his hand. "You must've been doing this for at least 200 years – and you can't even kill a single human?" I smacked his hand away from me and stood up on my own. The record was gone, and Ciel was holding my deathscythe. "I even had to clean up after you. How embarrassing." I kicked him in face, took my death scythe back, and used it to force him to the ground.
"What did you do?!" I insisted, dreading the thought of having to fill out the papers to report a missing soul; not to mention how embarrassing that would be.
"I collected the soul with that," he tried to explain quickly. "At least, I think I did. She's not attacking you any more, and I promise I didn't eat her, so..." I checked the scythe and the ledgers, and he seemed to be telling the truth; still, I didn't trust him.
"Even if you didn't, I still should kill you. What were you thinking, interfering like that?"
"I was thinking 'I'd better save Lizzie before she dies.' That's the last time I'm ever doing that. Did it ever cross your mind that maybe I still care about you?" I let go of him and turned around.
"Tch. You never cared about me." I started to walk away.
"That's not true, Lizzie," he argued. "Lizzie, you know that's not true!"
"Then why did you lie to me?!" I shouted, whirling around at him again. "How could you do that to me?! I loved you; I thought we would spend our whole lives together and you had sold yours already and you never told me!"
"Lizzie, please –"
"And then you lie about being dead – you completely lied – how could you hurt me like that, when you knew how much it would hurt?! Why wouldn't you tell me? And then you show up here, and save me, and start acting all rude, and embarrassing me, and you try to tell me you still care? Demons only care about their next meal, and you're no different!"
"Lizzie, you don't understand –"
"No, you don't understand! You don't understand that I've spent my entire afterlife trying to move on so I could try to find you; I've worked so hard not to mess this up, and I've spent all this time wondering about where you went to and if you missed me, and you've been running around this whole time, messing up my job and jacking around with Sebastian –"
"Alright, first of all, there is nothing between me and Sebastian! Why does everyone think that... but will you just listen to me?! You're always like this, you get something in your head, or you start crying, and I can't get a word in edgewise."
"Hmph."
"Anyways, I'm sorry I told you I was dead; it seemed like a good idea at the time. But I was human; I did know how to love you once. Sebastian can't say that. Actually, most demons can't say that. But it's like... I don't know... I can't remember how it felt. I can't remember how to love you anymore. I forgot how it works." I didn't look at him. He was actually starting to act more like his old self again, and I was afraid that was all it was: acting. I was afraid of falling for it. "And don't talk about demons only caring about food when you've never been hungry in your life. I'm starving. I can't take contracts, I can't scavenge without getting murdered by one of you lot, and Sebastian won't even feed himself; he was starving when I met him centuries ago, and he hasn't eaten anything since... I'm surprised he can even move."
"Hm," I murmured. "Tell you what, demons at least honor deals, right? The whole "contract" thing? So I'll give you a deal: I'll give you my business card, and you never tell anyone about this ever. How's that sound?"
"And if I break our little 'deal?'" he smirked back.
"Then I'll kill you," I promised darkly. He smiled again, that ugly, demonic smile that didn't belong on his face, and made his reply:
"I think we can call it a deal, then."