Here I am again! :D

(I actually wanted to upload the chapter tomorrow, but then I decided to upload Chapter 3 here on the same day I uploaded it on AO3.)

Thank you very much for your kind reviews! I am so happy that people actually like my story!

I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Three:

The Countess, Making Deals

"If she could get her advances out of it, she loved making deals."

London, England, United Kingdom ‒ January 1847

As soon as the man had finished speaking, he started to laugh hysterically.

Such a weird person.

Cloudia was staring at him in disbelief due to the words he had just spoken before bursting into laughter.

"'Grim Reaper'?" she repeated sceptically in a slow manner. "The ones with the scythes?"

"Well... Lately, it has become quite popular for Grim Reapers to get a custom scythe which can be in the form of various things. Mostly, they pick special gardening tools," he replied scarily seriously, and Cloudia sighed deeply.

"A lunatic," she murmured. "I really do not have any time to handle that kind of thing." Cloudia turned around and was about to go and find Newman as soon as possible so that she could finally wrap up this case and return to her comfortable townhouse when the man suddenly caught her by the arm.

"Where are you going?" he asked her, his green eyes shining behind his glasses.

I didn't know why, but these eyes... they seemed oddly familiar to me. As if I had seen such a pair of eyes before – a pair of eyes with a strange yellowish green colouring.

I couldn't properly define the odd feeling, which came over me when I looked into his eyes. But somehow, my head started to hurt because of it.

Of course, I dissembled the slowly growing headache.

Cloudia glared at him. "Why should I tell you? This conversation has already reached its conclusion. Go back to the asylum you've escaped from and have a nice day, stranger." She wanted to free herself from his grip, but he held her tightly.

As the Watchdog, she had been trained in different martial arts and taught how to wield weapons. Therefore, while looking slim and fragile, Cloudia was quite strong for a woman and could even fight against a man taller than herself without many difficulties. However, she couldn't free herself from the grip of this man. No matter how much power she put into her attempt to free herself, Cloudia just couldn't move the arm he was holding.

He's ridiculously strong, although he looked like he would fall and break if the wind blew a bit too intensely.

"Let. Me. Go," Cloudia hissed.

He giggled. "You should see your face – all serious."

She sighed.

Never in my life, I had met such an annoying man before.

"Whatever you want from me, tell it to me right now or just stay quiet and let me go," Cloudia demanded.

"Well... you called me a 'lunatic' after I've told you what you wanted to know. I do not like it when other people call me names," the man replied with an amused tone, which didn't really fit together with the words he had just said.

"People who claim to be 'Grim Reapers' cannot be anything but lunatics. Now let me go, or I will not go easy on you." Cloudia scowled at him.

He giggled again. "You always present yourself as omniscient, but in the end, you're just like the others. Unknowing. But because you are such a funny person, Countess, let me give you a special service."

He let go of her arm and stepped back in the blink of an eye. Before Cloudia could react, the man put out a gigantic scythe seemingly out of nowhere – a grin running all over his face.

"Well... even though more and more Reapers decide for a special custom-made Death Scythe, I stuck to the old-fashioned type," the man told her with a wholehearted laugh.

"Judging from the expression on your face, Countess, I would guess that you are, at this very moment, considering to be a lunatic yourself." He grinned widely.

There he was standing – with a Death Scythe in his hands which was covered in bones like a present in ribbons.

I couldn't take off my eyes of this eerie beauty.

"So you have spoken the truth," Cloudia slowly said so that she wouldn't triple on her own words or even stutter. She never stuttered. Also, she never tripled. She was far too graceful and eloquent to allow such things to occur.

"Of course, I did," the man, the Grim Reaper, replied and put back the scythe from wherever he had taken it. "After all, I have no reason to lie to you."

"But you also have no reason to tell me all these things, or even show yourself in front of me too," she remarked, making him giggle again.

"You're right, Countess. I have no reason at all."

I had no idea what I should think of this man – this Grim Reaper with the long silvery grey hair which he kept in a high ponytail, the chartreuse eyes behind his glasses, and the black clothes which were a bit too large for him. This giggling and laughing and grinning Grim Reaper.

Wasn't it ironic that Grim Reapers represented death itself, but the one I faced was gleaming with life?

"Well..." Cloudia started, an idea manifesting in her mind. "As I know it... Grim Reapers possess some special kind of journal..."

"You're right." The Reaper sounded amused due to the fact that she knew that. "The journal you mean is actually the Death Book. It contains the death dates of people. However, it only holds the death dates for the next year. It would be far too big and heavy otherwise. But, a book, containing all death dates of every living person and the dates of the already deceased ones, does exist. This book, however, isn't given out to regular Grim Reapers. It can be found in a highly classified section at our headquarters. Only authorised personnel is allowed to wander around this section.

"There are also different Death Books for various regions. The Welsh Reapers have different ones than the English. And even in-between England there are different Death Books, covering the ones who will pass away in a certain region in the following year," he explained to her. She raised an eyebrow.

Why exactly did he tell me all this? Wouldn't it have been enough to say "The journals you mean are called 'Death Books' and contain the death dates of people"? Or did he fear that I would ask him all these things sooner or later, and only talked about this matter so extensively to avoid getting bombarded with questions?

He was indeed odd.

"So you're telling me that the one you have is all about the dying people in London and surroundings?" Cloudia questioned in the end.

"Exactly. And most of the cases I have to investigate are in the book because of you," the Grim Reaper pointed at her with his long index finger.

"As the Queen's Watchdog, you leave quite a pile of bodies behind you, Countess. However, even if the book contains the causes of people's deaths, it doesn't include the murderer, or even the location, or the reason why they've died due to that cause. So, I have a rule: Always stick to the Countess first." The Reaper chuckled.

Now, it was her turn to grin as her idea was beginning to get a shape.

"Well, Mr Grim Reaper," Cloudia began. "When you have to follow or watch me anyway – why don't you accompany me?"

He blinked at her in shock, which amused her because he had never displayed such an expression in front of her before.

"You could stay by my side while I do my work so that you can be certain that the people, whose souls you have to collect, will really be my victims or not. It would make your job a lot easier, don't you agree with me on that?" she continued. The light illuminated her face when she put on a mischievous smile.

"Also, you could tell me the names of the ones who will die, making my work easier too. We could help each other in an absolutely fantastic way."

"I don't think that it will work, Countess," the Grim Reaper said, his face suddenly deadly serious. "Reapers aren't allowed to interfere with life and death."

"But you do not interfere with life and death at all!" Cloudia replied. "You don't have to save someone; you don't have to kill someone. All you have to do is to collect souls. Therefore, you would just do what is expected of you anyway. Collect souls.

"And if you had truly followed me while I was executing my duty as the Queen's Watchdog, you should be well aware of the fact that I would never save any of my prey. If you agree on this deal, you would just tell me, if the name of my current suspect is listed in the book so I wouldn't have to waste time on other possible suspects. Of course, I would still have to collect evidence which I could present the Queen. Then, I would kill the culprit, and you can collect their soul. I wouldn't save him or her, you should know that, Mr Grim Reaper. So everything will be fine.

"You could help me with my work. I could help you with yours. And none of us would break any of the rules of the Grim Reapers. None of us would ever interfere with the contents of the Death Book."

She stepped closer to him. He was a bit over a head taller than she, but Cloudia still managed to look dignified while looking up at him to gaze directly into his face. "I may be wrong, but from what I have seen of you in the last few minutes, I would guess that you cherish a good laugh? Also, didn't you say that the Death Books do not contain the reasons for people's deaths? And wouldn't it be fun to participate in my investigation rather than only observing it? You would even find out the reasons for their deaths.

"Another reason why a contract between us would be beneficial: I may be mistaken, but isn't it part of a Grim Reaper's work not only to collect souls but to judge them too? And wouldn't it help you a lot to see for yourself what kind of person the one was whose soul you have to collect?"

Concluding, Cloudia gave him a wide grin.

The Grim Reaper was silent for a moment which genuinely surprised and pleased her at once. "I have a question," he said after a while. "What if the name of one of your relatives appears in the book? Or of a friend?"

"I wouldn't save them too," Cloudia answered without hesitation, her voice steady and serious. "The death dates in your book seem quite definite to me so that I couldn't do anything anyway. I see no reason to try something utterly hopeless or pointless. It would just waste time which I simply do not have."

The Grim Reaper actually seemed to consider her suggestion, and Cloudia smiled even wider at this thought.

How wonderful it would be if I had him by my side! Everything would be easier! And I wouldn't get bored while executing the Queen's will as I would finally have someone to talk to during the investigations!

Also, I wondered, how much fun would it be to extend my act on one more person? Fooling society even more?

Besides... whatever he had said, he had to have a reason why he had shown himself in front of me.

And I was curious to find out what this reason was.

"I agree on the deal," the Reaper declared after a few moments of silence. Cloudia curtsied in front of him, her smile shining as bright as the full moon over their heads.

"Thank you. Then you are now my colleague, and I am yours. So, I guess that you could finally tell me your name, or do you prefer me calling you 'Mr Grim Reaper' until Doomsday knocks on the door? Or, perhaps, could all Reapers be nameless?" she wanted to know.

He looked away, the contours of his face were lit up by the silver light, making his somehow distressed facial expression even more obvious.

"My name is... Cedric K. Rossdale," he answered her in a whisper.

Cloudia held out her hand with a wicked grin. "Very well. So the deal is done, Cedric K. Rossdale."

Cedric took her gloved hand and smiled. "Very well, the deal is done, Cloudia Phantomhive."

Puh. I rewrote this chapter like a million times. The first version was very short, so I had to expand it. And the whole concept of their deal was hard to write without making it sound (too) ridiculous. But I am actually happy how this chapter turned out in the end!

The next chapters will be way longer, by the way! :D

Until next week!