Adrian was surprised just how well things have turned out since Dr. Peters' "failure to return". He chuckled a bit as he watched the doctors brace themselves for a resurgence of torture, only to be confused that Dr. Peters did not return. They gave it a couple of days, thinking he was trying to milk his vacation, but when they received no word from him, they decided to investigate his office for clues. Of course they wouldn't find anything since he and Lucifer burned the notebooks and Adrian sealed the passageway so no one else would ever use it again. He even filled each and every hole in the building from both sides to be safe. Despite a thorough investigation of his office, the doctors could not find anything that could lead to his whereabouts. Adrian notified the Board of the missing doctor and they spread the news to the entire Association, hoping someone could find him. Various American sects claimed they saw him last, but even they couldn't pinpoint his current location.
After a week with no answers, the Board declared Dr. Peters as Missing in Action and delegated Adrian the role of appointing a new head doctor. He didn't think he was qualified for such a task, but they argued that he knew the doctors better than anyone since he worked with them for half a year. He decided to have the doctors vote for who they believed was the most qualified for the role and despite a close election, they decided on one who not only employed the longest, but was also well-liked by everyone. Adrian informed the Board of their decision and they officially gave him the title of Head Doctor of the rehabilitation center. The doctors celebrated by having a party in the once-abandoned mess hall and even rehired the fired chef to provide catering. Adrian and Lilliana helped him in the kitchen, but he couldn't help but feel happy that the doctors were finally allowed to feel safe and happy in their work and not dread waking up every day.
No one was happier about Dr. Peters' disappearance than Lilliana. After all, he was the main person authorizing those barbaric treatments and with him gone, there was no chance that they would force her or any other future patient to undergo them. He didn't tell her that he had a hand in his disappearance to preserve his innocence and reveled in her happiness that she was never able to be expressed freely until now. A genuine smile was cemented onto her face and Adrian had not seen her red eyes since Dr. Peters left. She was even treating the doctors with kindness and apologized for her past behavior. She knew a lot of them wouldn't forgive her right away, but to her surprise, they returned her apology with their own; their fear of losing their jobs prevented them from shielding her from abuse. It was a touching display of forgiveness and Adrian was proud to see her take such a step.
Free from the watchful doctor's eye, he could finally undergo Lilliana's treatment the way he wanted to initially. Yes, he was able to lax rules and remove restraints, but he was still limited on the types of conversations he could have with her. They feared her longing for the past would prevent her from seeking a future with the Reaper Association. Now, he can ask her about her past and she can answer freely, though was still mindful of the doctors watching on the observation floor. He was able to learn a lot from her, especially since she was raised with such a different viewpoint, not simply because she was raised by demons, but because she had to navigate that demonic world as a Reaper. They never tried to pretend that she wasn't a Reaper, but at the same time, she wasn't ostracized for it. They were curious about her and would push her limits to see what made the two species so different, which wasn't much other than the hunger for souls or demonic powers.
As the year was slowly closing, Adrian had to find a way to showcase Lilliana's rehabilitation, but wanted her input to see if she had some insecurities they needed to address. The most logical thing would be for her to retake this year's Reaper final exam, but if Adrian had to watch her, that would put a lot of added pressure on the pair that could hinder their own success. However, bringing up the past exam brought unsavory memories and her eyes turned red for the first time in a long time.
"You know they'll ask those two fucking Reapers to pair up with me if I take the exam again," she said as she crossed her arms.
"That would be unusual since they already passed their exam," Adrian tried to argue, taken aback by her eyes.
"No thanks to me," she grumbled.
"I argue that you gave them bonus marks," he tried to joke, but it only angered her more.
"Don't start taking their side now," she threatened.
"I'm not taking any sides. I understand your frustrations with them, but you have to look past them. After all, you will work with them once this is all over."
"Don't remind me," she said with rolled eyes as she looked away from him. "I'm not going to forgive them, so why don't they just transfer me to another sect?"
"The London sect has devoted a lot of time to you and they fear transferring you to a less-educated sect would let you slip through the cracks."
"Even now?"
"The Board can be quite stubborn once they have made up their minds," he sighed with shrugged shoulders.
She looked at him with uncertainty as she said, "Do you think they'll accept me as I am when I'm done with rehabilitation?"
"I surely hope so. You've worked so hard to play by their rules and for them to turn their back on you would be the worst insult."
"But wouldn't I still be labeled as a Rogue Reaper because of my association with demons?"
"I'm fighting with the Board to remove that label from you, but it's been a battle. If you were to be labeled a Rogue Reaper, you would be treated like a threat that needs to be constantly supervised to make sure you don't fall out of line and swiftly punish you if you did. I want you to remain as autonomous as possible when you get out of here. You deserve no less."
Her eyes turned green by his comment and she smiled softly. "I really hope you succeed in that. It would be nice to work with you on collections without a watchful eye lingering over us."
"Well, to be honest, I don't do much collection these days. It got so boring doing the same job for centuries."
"Then why should I be excited to take on the job?" she inquired with a teasing smile.
"Because you'll finally be out of this building and free to move around to your pleasure. Quotas can be demanding, but you'll have plenty of downtime to explore the human world to your liking."
"I can't wait," she said, but when she looked up toward the observation floor, her eyes turned red again and her smile quickly faded. He was surprised to see her act this way, especially since they were on happy terms just seconds earlier.
"Is something wrong?" he asked. He couldn't risk using his demonic eyesight while people were watching.
"What the hell is he doing here?" she gritted through her teeth.
"Who?" Adrian asked.
She took a breath before saying, "William." Her tone wanted to put a curse on his name.
"I overheard that he is being promoted to supervisor, if he hasn't been promoted already. Apparently, he'll be your boss after rehabilitation."
He regretted saying those words as she quickly got out of her seat and grabbed the table, cracking it with her grip. "I have to take orders from that bastard?!"
"I'm afraid saying the truth might cause a fight," he said calmly, even as more cracks appeared on the table.
"Why did you keep this from me?!" she yelled.
"I wanted you to learn forgiveness before letting you know. You have come so far, but why is it so hard to forgive those two Reapers?"
"Because they are the reason why I'm still here."
"And if it wasn't for them, we would have never met," Adrian argued. That seemed to calm her down slightly as she released her grip on the table and sat back down. "Like it or not, you will have to work with them in a civilized manner. We can't have you lunging at them every time they cross your path."
"They can handle themselves," she grumbled.
Adrian sighed in frustration. They have come so far in her rehabilitation, but this was a barrier she could not overcome. In his eyes, William and Grell's sins were far less egregious compared to the doctors and even the Board, but she had such deep hatred for them for a reason he couldn't fully understand. Though, he might have a slight suspicion that some of that hatred might be directed to one person more than the other.
He looked at the clock in the room and said, "Is it mealtime already? Time has been flying by lately." He got up from his seat and she followed, happy to leave the room. "You go on ahead and save me a spot at the mess hall. There's something I need to do."
"O-Ok?" she questioned with a head tilt before the two left the room, but he turned down a hallway. He hoped he could catch him before he left.
In a brief amount of time, he reached the hallway that led to the observation floor and sure enough, he saw William speaking with other Head Reapers as they headed out. "Greetings, fellow Reapers," he said with an inviting smile and wave. Though, all of them were surprised to see him there and some even flinched.
"Hello, Mr. Crevan," one of the Head Reapers responded, trying to mask his earlier startle. "I thought you were heading to the mess hall. Should you be leaving Ms. Kiliamo alone?"
"I let her wander the halls on her own all the time," Adrian said with a chuckle. "If it's not too much trouble, I would like to speak to with Mr. Spears in private."
"O-Of course," the Head Reaper said before they quickly walked past Adrian, leaving the young Reaper behind. William took a breath to calm his nerves, but kept an emotionless mask that hid his fears.
"I heard you were being promoted to supervisor. Congratulations," he said to break the ice.
"Thank you," he responded curtly. He was taking the emotionless part of Reaper conduct to heart.
"When do you officially get promoted?"
"A month before her rehabilitation ends. They want to make sure I know the ropes before she enters my jurisdiction."
"So they expect her to succeed?" Adrian said with a smile.
"It's a possibility, so we have to prepare for such an event," he said as he pushed back his spectacles. Typical Reaper answer.
"And are you prepared to handle her?"
William sighed before saying, "That's why I came here. To be honest, I am dreading her entrance to the Task Force. You're not going to be around to keep her in check, leaving the responsibility on my shoulders. How are you able to control her so well?"
"I don't 'control' her; I treat her like any other Reaper. If anything, she is learning to control herself."
"Self-control, huh? Well, she had plenty of that at the Reaper hospital," he quipped.
"Like I said, she is still learning. Still, there's a lesson she is not grasping completely: forgiveness. She has forgiven the doctors, but for some reason, she holds a strong grudge against you and your partner."
William's eye twitched. "I wouldn't exactly call that cretin 'my partner'. His obsession with me is starting to become a nuisance. But yes, I noticed her opinion of us in the examination room. That will make her chances of success minimal in the Board's eyes."
"And that's what I wanted to talk to you about. We must fix this problem now and I'm afraid there's no way else around it: Lilliana will need exposure therapy."
"Exposure therapy?"
"She will need to see you and Grell for an extended period of time to regulate her anger."
"Do you want us to come to the observation room more often? It's clear she can see through the glass"
"No, I have another idea," Adrian said with a mischievous grin. "But you're not going to like it."
Grell was less-than-pleased to be entering the rehabilitation center, even with his beloved leading the way. All William told him was that Adrian asked them to be involved in Lilliana's next sessions, but did not provide much details other than she had to see them and that they would be protected from her wrath. Still, being told they couldn't bring their Death Scythes didn't sit well with him; he had started becoming reliant on such a powerful weapon.
The new head doctor greeted them in the lobby and led them to the room that Adrian had instructed them to wait for him in. It was a small examination room in comparison to the one that Lilliana was regularly in. The observation window was much smaller and could be seen through without the help of demonic eyesight. To their surprise, there weren't any chairs or a table to sit in, forcing them to stand as they waited for the old Reaper.
"This is an odd place to have a meet-up, don't you think?" Grell said as he leaned against the wall. "It's almost as if he wants us to go crazy by confining us to a small room."
"I doubt the effects of insanity will show that quickly," William said as he stood in the middle of the room.
"Why not meet in the lobby then?" he whined.
"Perhaps her exposure therapy will be held here."
"With her on the other side? Seems backwards to me."
Soon, they heard the doorknob turn and the door swung open slowly, but to their horror, on the other side was not Adrian, but Lilliana, whose eyes instantly turned red at the sight of them. They jumped at the sight of her, especially when she started taking steps toward them with a murderous smirk on her face and they moved back to keep their distance. Grell even let out a shriek when the door slammed shut and Adrian's mischievous grin peered through the glass.
"What is the meaning of this?! I thought you wanted her to only see us?!" Grell yelled before Lilliana lunged at them. They stepped out of the way in panic, but they could only go so far in such a tiny room.
"Well, she does see you, but I have learned early on that the best way to release her anger is through combat. You got an A in practical skill while you were in training, correct, Ms. Sutcliff?" Adrian teased through the glass.
"Did he call me Miss—," Grell was about to say, but felt a punch to the face that sent him to the other side of the room.
"You said you were going to protect us from her wrath!" William exclaimed as he dodged the same attack.
"I am, but she is also insistent that you two can handle yourselves against her. I will make sure she doesn't send either of you to the hospital, but I feel like this is a learning experience for all of you. Besides, you should already know how to subdue her when she gets like this," he insinuated.
"That bastard," Grell said as he picked himself up and barely had a moment to dodge her hands trying to claw his eyes out.
"What's the matter? Too scared to fight back without your weapons?" Lilliana mocked as she continued to go on the offensive. "Or maybe you're hoping a Cinematic Record will slither in to help you out."
"Ms. Kiliamo, please come to your senses," William tried to reason, only to be met with a hand on his throat as she lifted him into the air.
"Don't get so formal with me, William," she threatened as she dug her nails into his neck, enough for him to bleed a bit.
"Get your hands off of my man!" Grell roared as he managed to rip her away from the helpless Reaper. Though, she managed to leave scratch marks on his neck. "Are you all right, my darling?"
"I'm not your 'darling'," he said coldly as he put a hand over his bleeding wounds, which closed up quickly.
"That's right; you're no one's property," she said as she licked the blood off of her fingers. "No one's property except the Association's."
"I must advise against bleeding in that room. She has picked up a demonic habit of using Reaper blood to regain her stamina. You don't want to be fighting her for hours, do you?" Adrian interjected, as if a commentator for a fight.
"Now you tell us," Grell grumbled. "How long do you intend for us to stay here and fight her?"
"However long it takes for her to calm down. When we first met, we fought for hours thanks to her little blood trick, but I still managed to beat her."
"That's not going to be feasible for us. We have soul quotas to fill," William said before bracing for another attack, making sure to not let her nails dig into his skin this time.
"I already informed the Task Force that I would need you two for an extended period of time, so you will stay here for however long it takes for her to tolerate your presence."
"That's going to be impossible," she muttered before striking Grell next, who was getting better at defense now that his initial shock wore off.
"It might take days, but we are not ending our sessions until you spend the majority of the day with your eyes green, Lilliana," he instructed.
She stopped her attack to laugh. "Oh, you two are never going to leave here." William and Grell gulped in fear.
It took a couple of hours for her anger to be quelled, though she felt unsatisfied. Various dents and cracks formed on the wall and floor from the many times she slammed her fellow Reapers against them. William and Grell were slowly going in and out of consciousness from the multiple attacks thrusted onto them and even though they tried to fight back, she had superior fighting skills and countered effectively. Multiple areas of their clothes were stained with small amounts of blood, but they refused to use her blood trick to rejuvenate themselves. Lilliana, on the other hand, looked as if she didn't waste an ounce of energy on them despite doing the majority of the fighting and could spar for longer if they didn't look like they would collapse at any minute.
"That is enough," Adrian said as he entered the room to stop the fight.
"What a shame. I thought I would get a more fulfilling fight from the supposed Reapers who subdued the Demonic Reaper," she mocked as she walked over to him.
"So did I," he said before digging into his pockets for two capsules and handing them to the defeated Reapers. "Here, take one each."
"And this is?" Grell questioned before taking a capsule.
"It's concentrated Reaper blood. I procured it as a precautionary measure in case things ended poorly."
"How kind of you," William said with sarcasm as he took his capsule.
"Though, be warned that once you take it, you will be loopy for a while. It has intoxicating properties if a large quantity is consumed at once," Adrian warned.
"And yet she is fine despite the amount she drank from us," Grell huffed.
"I only drink small amounts at a time," she said with a teasing smirk.
"I have two rooms set up for the two of you to stay in so you can ride out the effects safely. Afterwards, you two will return home only to pack a bag and return back here for a late meal," Adrian continued.
"You're making them stay here?!" Lilliana exclaimed.
"I want them to spend as much time with you as possible and give you enough time to control your anger. Besides, nothing is more eye-opening than living in solidarity."
"Why didn't you ask us to pack a bag before we arrived?" Grell whined.
"I wanted to be optimistic and hoped that she could solve her anger issues in a quick manner, but since her eyes are still red after the fight, it will take longer than I hoped. You may need to pack for multiple days."
"Multiple days?" Grell asked for clarification, hoping he was hearing things.
"Maybe even multiple weeks," Adrian pondered.
Grell was about to slap the older Reaper, but William put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll do whatever is needed to help Ms. Kiliamo. I just hope that it won't be as physical as today's sparring match."
"More like a beat down," Lilliana snickered. Adrian side-eyed her, but that didn't diminish her playful demeanor.
"She'll behave herself from now on. You have my word," Adrian promised. "Now, I'll guide you two to your rooms. There will be a change of clothes if you wish to look more presentable when leaving the facility."
"Oh thank gods," Grell said as he quickly left the room and closed the door behind him, afraid Lilliana would follow him if he didn't. William followed his lead, but made sure to leave the door open so Adrian could exit with him.
"If you don't mind, Lilliana, would you clean up the room?" Adrian requested. Her jovial expression soured, but all she did was click her tongue in protest before leaving the room to find materials and tools. Adrian started walking the other direction and the two Reapers clung close to him in case she wanted to start a second round of fighting. There would be no way for them to fight her back in their condition, not like they could regardless.
Adrian's suspicion was correct: these two got lucky during their exam. He read over the report they gave after the collection of Thomas Wallis' soul and all it said was that they managed to knock her unconscious so they could collect the soul before she could "devour" it. It was no surprise that they were paraded as heroes, but after talking to Lilliana, she got a better understanding about what happened. She actually was the superior fighter and might have escaped if the Cinematic Record didn't pierce her body, imbolizing her. They collected the soul soon after, but the extended exposure to the soul was too much for her and she fell unconscious. The Head Reapers took her away before she woke up and instantly restrained her. As far as the two young Reapers were concerned, she was a monster that rightfully needed to be put away. It was going to be a challenge not just to have her learn how to forgive them, but to also to teach them to see her as a fellow Reaper.
Nearly a week had passed and although Lilliana could be in the same room as them without starting fights, her eyes rarely turned green and if they did, it was very brief. During their sessions, Adrian had them simply be in the room, doing a hobby they enjoy to take their minds off the awkwardness in the room. Of course, the atmosphere never eased, but it taught Lilliana that she could tolerate being in a room with them.
She spent most of her time reading books while William worked on paperwork or read a newspaper from London's human realm to keep in touch with human events and possibly predict future deaths. Grell brought beauty supplies to practice the latest beauty trends, but was careful about not being bare-faced around his beloved. Adrian brought a stack of papers and scribbled through pages, as if grading them like a schoolteacher. They asked what he was working on, but he said it would be a surprise.
Sometimes, Adrian would try to bait them into a conversation, but usually, it would lead to them shutting down or a volatile argument. Today's conversation was no different. He noticed a pattern with the hobbies the three of them chose: Lilliana was reading Pamela, a romance story about a maid falling in love with her master, the headline of William's newspaper was about the royal wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and Grell had procured a pamphlet about beauty trends to attract a husband.
"So, have any of you involved yourselves in romances lately?" Adrian asked, seemingly out of the blue.
"Obviously not," Lilliana said in a confused tone as she looked up from her novel. "You should know that."
"I was mainly addressing the others," he said with an innocent smile.
"I wish, but a certain brooding gentleman won't accept my advances," Grell said as he looked lovingly at William, who only sighed in frustration.
"I don't know where this sick obsession with me started, but I wish you could find someone else to fixate on," he said, never putting down his paper.
"It's not a 'sick obsession'! It's the real deal, darling. I burn only for you and wish that one day you'll see me the same way."
"Don't get your hopes up. At least he's being honest about not liking you," Lilliana quipped, focusing back on the novel.
"Someone's bitter about being dumped," Grell exposed. Adrian's ears perked and he looked up from his papers to observe.
She eyed him angrily as she jeered, "You'd be angry too if the person who claimed he liked you decided to throw you away for being yourself."
William quickly folded his paper and interjected, "Can we drop this subject?"
"I'm afraid not. You have my attention now," Adrian said with folded hands under his chin, enjoying the show. "Lilliana neglected to tell me this."
"I didn't think it was important," she said as she tried to refocus on her novel.
"Clearly it is. You have to provide details. Who liked who? Was there a confession? Was a kiss shared? How far did the relationship go?"
"You're starting to sound like the gossiping housewives I overhear at cafés," Grell pointed out, but pulled his seat closer to the table, setting his beauty supplies and mirror aside to match Adrian's posture. "But I would like details as well."
"You were there!" Lilliana said in anger as she closed her novel with a thud, neglecting to put a bookmark on where she left off.
"But I left you two alone from time to time. That gave you enough time to put your little mitts all over him," he said with jealousy in his voice. She gritted her teeth and prepared herself for a fight, but a disapproving look from Adrian stopped her.
"Don't indulge in their curiosity," William said as he reopened his newspaper. "They can't make us say anything we don't want to disclose."
"Oh, you're trying to keep your little affair a secret. Afraid someone important is going to listen and demote you?' Grell teased.
"I'll remind you that this examination room has no two-way mirror and I'm not the type of person to blabber about people's personal lives," Adrian defended.
"I'd rather not talk about the past," he said through the paper.
"Neither do I," she said as she opened her book and scrambled to find the page she was on.
"Look at that: you two finally agreed on something!" Adrian teased with a giggle. Both of them glared at him, but when they looked at each other, they quickly returned to their reading material with blushing cheeks.
"Well, I need to work on something in my room. Feel free to stay in here or wait in your room for mealtime. I better not hear any fighting while I'm away," Adrian said as he got up from his seat and gathered the stack of papers.
"I'll behave," she said in a bratty tone, but the two other Reapers weren't too confident that she would keep to her word once he left and decided to follow him out.
A couple of hours later, they all met in the mess hall and grabbed a tray of food. They were forced to sit at the same table, but made sure to keep plenty of space between them, though Grell sometimes pushed his luck by being close to William. As they all sat down, Adrian presented them with a book, keeping the title side facing down.
'So you were working on a book this whole time, old man?" Lilliana said as she picked up the book, noting the grin he had on his face. "The Story of . . . ," she recited, but trailed off as she realized what she was looking at.
"The Story of what?" Grell asked as he took a spoonful of his soup, but was ignored.
"There's no way you could have gotten this! He died before he could get it published," she exclaimed.
"That's the beauty of a collected Cinematic Record. You can review them at the library anytime you like," Adrian said, keeping the grin on his face.
"What are you two talking about?" William asked as he pulled the book from her hands. She tried to retrieve it quickly, but they already read the title: The Story of Will the Reaper by Thomas Wallis. They nearly choked on their food.
"Usually a Cinematic Record is only observed once during a collection and we try to speed through the process, avoiding the mundane details of everyday life. However, when they are collected, it is much easier to slow things down and see life through their eyes," Adrian explained as he started eating his food.
"So you wrote down everything he wrote? That must have taken forever," William said, still in shock he managed to bring this dead book back to life.
"Well, I paused on a full page and wrote down the finished product. Though, I have to admit that his writing style was far from ideal and I had to correct some of his misspellings and grammatical errors."
"We did edit his work in his sleep, but I guess you wouldn't have seen that," Lilliana explained.
"He never reviewed his writings, so he never noticed that his words weren't entirely his. But I managed to type up the final draft and bound it to fulfill its destiny as a proper book."
"You didn't need to do all that work for a silly book no one has read," Grell said.
"But the three of you have and it is quite the interesting little tale of love and loss between Will the Reaper and Lilliana the human." The two Reapers blushed, cringing at the memories flooding in their minds.
"I was in the story too," Grell grumbled, feeling a bit left out of the spotlight.
"I made sure to give you a bigger part," Adrian said with a smile. Grell beamed with excitement as he grabbed the book from William, but before he could skim through it, Adrian took it out of his hands. "Hey, what's the big idea?"
"I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I actually wanted William to be the first to read it. After all, he is the title character," he said as he handed the book back to him. William was shocked by his request, but took a closer look at the cover. It clearly looked homemade with the crooked letters and no fancy embroidery or illustrations, but the dedication to the craft was clear.
"Grell can read it first—," he tried to argue, but Adrian's raised eyebrow shut him up. There was no point in arguing with him. He set the book to the side as he continued to eat his food and the rest followed, though an air of awkwardness lingered around them as they ate in silence.
William was reluctant to even open the book, scared that a curse would be placed on him if he did. It haunted him and he was glad it was never published. He couldn't imagine a world where this book had the potential to be a literary classic and follow him for centuries. It was a simple tragic love story: a Reaper fell in love with a woman who was scheduled to die. He tried everything in his power to prevent her death, but was unsuccessful. He pleaded to the Death gods to exchange his life for hers and they granted his wish, but at the cost of her memory of him. He accepted the terms and she resurrected, but somewhere in her heart, despite having no memory of her deathly lover, her love for him lingered.
The main problem with this story was not the subject matter, but the characters themselves. It was clear the author was influenced by their initial encounter during the beginning of their investigation when William was a little too loose-lipped about being Grim Reapers. Although they kept their presence hidden since then, it was enough for him to write an entire story about them. Lilliana was probably only cast as the love interest simply because she was the only female in the trio, but it was too coincidental at the time. William kept it secret from the Association, but the two had hidden fondness for each other and only confessed the night before the collection date.
His conflicting emotions for her was the only reason why he couldn't fight back when she revealed her true nature. He couldn't accept the idea that she lied about her infatuation for him to bring his guard down, steal the soul, and possibly escape. He felt manipulated and it led to his decision to villainize her. Now, he was forced to make peace with her, but he didn't realize this would be just as challenging for him as it was for her.
He took a deep breath as he got up from the bed and walked out of his room, making sure to be quiet since it was the middle of the night and the last thing he wanted to do was waking the sleeping red beast next door. He had some trouble finding the correct hallway, but when he found Adrian's room, he knew he was heading in the right direction. William peaked in, hoping to find the old Reaper sleeping, and to his relief, he appeared to be. He passed by quietly, unaware of a single eye watching him.
He saw a candle-lit room close by and knew it had to be Lilliana's room. He made sure to be extra quiet since she had heightened senses and clung close to the wall to avoid detection, but he froze in place when he heard a voice. "If you're trying to sneak up on me, you're not good at it," she announced through the
"I guess nothing gets past you," he said in defeat as he walked in front of the door so she could see him through the window, but made sure to leave space between them so she couldn't reach out to grab him.
She walked up to the door with an annoyed expression on her face. "Reminds you of the first day we met, huh?" she mused.
"Except we are more honest about ourselves now," he answered.
"Not for you. You want to pretend that nothing happened between us. Are you afraid you'll get punished for falling for the Demonic Reaper?" she argued in a serious tone, which contrasted from her usual playful taunts.
"Why does everyone believe I fell in love with you? Yes, I had a crush on you, but that does not equate to love," he rebutted.
"Thomas would disagree. Did you even read the book before coming here?"
"I couldn't bring myself to do it."
"Of course not. You're just the perfect Reaper puppet that will do the Association's bidding for the smallest reward. It must be so nice to be seen so highly by your peers. I remember a time when you promised me that you'd tell everyone I wasn't a monster when the exam was over. That was clearly a lie."
"I made that promise before I knew the truth," he said, trying to keep a strong head.
"What truth did you learn? They told you from the very beginning who I was and to keep your guard up," she questioned.
"I learned that everything I thought I knew about you was a lie. Your kind nature was manufactured. Your obedience to the Association was easily undone with blood. Your feelings for me were molded to blind me from seeing the monster underneath," he lashed out, letting his emotions on the matter slip to the forefront.
Her eyes widened in shock. "You thought I was faking the entire time?"
"Am I wrong?" he accused. Although he tried to hide it, he could feel tears creeping into his eyes.
She opened her mouth in disbelief, unsure of what to say next. "When I was mind-washed, I could have been ordered to do anything and do so with a smile. But for you . . . I was never ordered to like you. In fact, I was told that romances were not a normal part of Reaper society. Imagine my surprise when I first saw you and my heart started to flutter."
"Wait . . . ," he tried to say, but was too lost in his thoughts to speak.
"Did you really think I was capable of emotional manipulation when my own mind was manipulated against my will?"
"I couldn't be sure," he confessed, feeling a bit guilty for his earlier accusation.
"My confession to you that night was me finally accepting those feelings and making them known. I'll admit that Thomas' story made me believe what we had was 'love', but I was hoping that, regardless of the title, you felt the same way towards me . . . and you did. You even kissed me," she said, but her voice was cracking from the tears she was suppressing. "I don't even have to ask you if your attraction toward me was real. The answer was clear to me when you threw me into this place as punishment for breaking your heart."
"I didn't . . . ," he tried to argue, but stopped himself when he watched tears slip down her face. She kept her angry expression, but the pain on her face was apparent. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for abandoning you because of my confusion. Grim Reapers are supposed to be neutral beings that don't let emotions dictate their actions. But then you came along and I thought I was broken for allowing you to mess with my feelings as strongly as you did. The easiest way for me to deal with the aftermath was to cast you aside and suppress any emotions I had for you, both good and bad."
"And I hated you for it. I felt that your fondness for me was transactional; I had to be the perfect Reaper for you to feel that way for me and when I wasn't, you threw me away. No one was going to fully accept me for who I really am, so why not play up the part that was forced upon me?"
"Then are you really being yourself if you are playing a part?" William asked, watching as her angry expression softened a bit. "I guess I'm guilty of that too. I'm getting promoted to supervisor because I played by the rules. I think it's about time we both let go of our masks."
"The difference between your mask and mine is that I can't take mine off. They won't see me as anything else but a threat."
"Then let me help change that," he said as he walked closer to the door. "This time, I'll keep to my word and tell everyone that you aren't a monster, but you have to convince them as well."
"What makes you so sure that they'll be able to accept me even after rehabilitation?"
"Because there are people like Mr. Crevan who are doing everything in their power to help you succeed. You've come so far and I'd hate to see it all for naught," he encouraged. To his surprise, her eyes turned green as she wiped any remaining streams off her cheeks.
"You better keep to your word or I might beat you down again," she said with a playful smile. He softly smiled, relieved that they could talk this out and that he came out of this alive.
"Well, it's pretty late and I'm sure you want to sleep. Goodnight, Lilliana," William said as he tried to leave her side.
"Wait a second," she said as she opened the door to her room, which startled him.
"Y-You could have opened your door at any time?" he said with a shaky voice.
"You didn't think that Adrian locked me in my room every night, did you?" she asked, but his silence answered her question. "If I did get angry enough to kill you, you would have had a few seconds to run," she teased.
"That's not very reassuring," he said.
"It's the truth and we're finally being honest with each other. Speaking of which, after all this time, do you still have feelings for me?"
He was taken aback by her question, but responded coldly, "No, I do not."
"I figured as much," she said before she approached him and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "Neither do I. Goodnight, William."
He blushed as he awkwardly left her side and she kept an eye on him. Though, when he walked past Adrian's room, William nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the elder Reaper's grin by the door. "Naughty naughty, Willy boy. Quite scandalous to sneak into a girl's room in the middle of the night. If you played your cards right, you could have gotten lucky," he teased followed by a giggle.
"Th-That's not why I-I came here," he stammered. He could hear Lilliana chuckle and his cheeks burned even hotter.
"Don't mind the pervert down the hall," she joked as she finally closed the door to her room. William scurried out of the hallway and Adrian lingered at the door with a satisfied smile. Perhaps tomorrow will prove to be a fruitful day.
And it was. Grell was the most shocked to see her green eyes as she entered the examination room. He had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but not only did she have green eyes, but she seemed happy to be in the room. Adrian kept quiet about last night's conversation, curious to see if either of them would bring it up, but neither of them did, even when Grell pried on her demeanor. All she said was that she finally learned to control her anger. For the rest of the day, her eyes remained green and Adrian declared that her exposure therapy had finished and William and Grell were free to leave the rehabilitation center.
Grell was quick to leave the examination room to pack his bag, but Adrian had some words of encouragement for William. "The Board made the right choice appointing you the role of supervisor. Try not to disappoint them."
"I won't," he said as he left the room, hiding his internal glee.
Adrian turned to Lilliana and said, "I'm proud of you."
She blushed as she said, "For not killing them?"
"Yes, but also for overcoming the last hurdle of your rehabilitation. All that's left is to show the Board your progress."
"And how do you plan on doing that?"
"I'll let you know after I speak with the Board. I have an idea, but I'm not sure they are going to like it."
What does Adrian have planned? Will Lilliana become a full Reaper? Will the Board be able to accept her? Reviews are appreciated!