An Act of Death [William T. Spears x Reader]

07 The Clock

Ronald Knox kicked off his shoes, tossing his keys on the table as he collapsed onto the sofa. It had been one hell of a night with the ladies from General Affairs, and he was ready to sleep off the champagne. However, it wasn’t two seconds after he closed his eyes that he heard a thud and an awfully familiar voice coming from the spare room where he thought ______ would still sleeping at such an early hour.

“Stop squirming!”

    “Grell! Get off me!”.

“I’ll be quick, I promise~”

    “I don’t want to do this anymore!”

“Don’t chicken out now, _____.”

    “You’ve done this before, right?”

“What kind of question is that? Now stop moving around.”

Ronald’s jaw dropped. He was not hearing this right now. There was no way he was hearing this right now. He leapt to his feet, making for the door.

    “Wait! I said-- OW OW OW OW OW!!!”

“It’s in~!”

Ronald nearly broke down the door, screaming in horror. “GRELL-SENPAI WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO ______?!”

“Piercing her ears.” Grell replied nonchalantly, still pinning _____ to the futon.

Ronald was bewildered. “What?”

“I said I’m piercing her ears.” Grell repeated, getting annoyed. “What are you so worked up about?”

______ was indeed being held against her will, but was in a very different situation then the conclusion he had jumped to. She was squirming under the redhead, hitting his sides in a futile attempt to get him to move. Sure enough, her ear was an angry shade of red, fitted with a sparkling new earring. Ronald was in disbelief. “You… got your ear pierced…”

She finally pushed the other off of her, rubbing the sensitive spot with a whine. “Yeah. Grell thought he knew how to do it properly...”

“Stop whining! I’d get mine pierced in a heartbeat if I could.” Grell said, crossing his arms. “The dresscode is seriously unfair!”

Ronald thought of something, seeing how bothered _____ looked. “It shouldn’t hurt that much… Did you try numbing it with ice first?”

Their expressions went blank. “... Ice?”

* * *

“Alright. Hold still for a sec.”

After the whole ordeal with Grell, ______ had finally calmed down enough to let Ronald finish the other side. He leaned in closer, squinting his eyes in concentration. She could smell traces of alcohol on his breath, a reminder that he’d just gotten back from a party with some coworkers. In the week it had been since she started crashing at his place, he had gone out nearly every night. It seemed like it would be exhausting to have such a lifestyle, but it seemed to be the norm for Knox. She tried not to let the fact that he was drinking sway her confidence in him.

“I’ll pierce it on three.” He said, and she could just barely feel the needle pressing to the skin after he removed the ice. “One--”

She winced as she felt the needle poke through. “That wasn’t on three!”

“If I did it on three you would’ve tensed up.” Ronald said, replacing the needle with an earring. He stepped back to admire his work. “How’s that?”

She got up and walked over to the mirror, twisting about in front of it with a smile. “Thanks, Ronald.”

“Its ‘Thanks Senpai’!”

“Thanks Senpai.” She said, rolling her eyes. Because of how much he was doing for her lately, she felt like she should at the very least do this.

He grinned at her, enjoying the title as if late. When he checked his watch, however, the grin vanished. “Shite. My shift is in half an hour.”

“Have you gotten any sleep in the past few days?” ______ asked.

“Not really, but William will have my neck if I ask for another day off.” Ronald said, stretching. “I guess I’m heading out again."

“Wait! I’ll cover for you.” She said, running around him to block the doorway. 

He shook his head and looked at her with a frown. “You don’t have to do that. It's my own fault for going out."

“No, I’m serious. I’m tired of sitting around anyways.”

He might've argued more if he didn't look like he was about to keel over. With a yawn and a stretch, he caved. “Alright. Thanks, ______. I mean it."

* * *

"I didn't schedule you until this afternoon." William said the moment ______ walked into his office, without looking up from the papers in front of him. 

“I want to cover for Ronald today.” She said right away. While it seemed like a sound plan to her, she wasn’t certain at all how William would react. After all, he was the one who carefully planned out the schedules. 

He narrowed his eyes. She couldn’t tell if he was irritated at her or at the paper in front of him. “Knox was out all night, wasn’t he?”

She nodded, feeling meek. Maybe she should’ve just let Ronald drag his feet to work. 

“It’s not your responsibility to take double shifts for a coworker, even if you feel indebted to him.” William said. 

She decided to try speaking his language. “He looked like he was about to collapse from exhaustion. If he came in today, he might’ve just made mistakes.”

“Very well.” William sighed. He offered her the stack of papers labeled ‘Knox, 9:00AM,’ and looked up. But before he could comment on her falling back into her bad habit of not wearing her glasses, he noticed something else. “... your ears.”

"Grell offered to pierce them for me." She said, striking a pose. “What do you think?"

"Why you would let him, of all people, get near you with a needle is beyond me."

Not that she was expecting a compliment.

* * *

The day went by unexpectedly quickly. The sheer amount of cases she had made the hours fly by, and before she knew it, she was nearing the end of her own night shift. Having collected her last soul of the day: a man who had lived a long and fulfilling life, she allowed herself to take a breather before going back for her final check in. There was a certain euphoria that came after breaking such a sweat.

She felt the air change around her, her content dissipating in an instant. In a sphere around her, she could sense a great many souls. But this one was different. To say that it felt dark was an understatement-- it was void of all things happiness, not to mention fast approaching and horribly familiar. She didn’t hesitate. She drew her death scythe and whirled around, bracing just in time for a blow that could've easily sent her through a brick wall. Flush against her death scythe was a type of blade she’d never seen before-- one that didn’t reflect light, but reflected shadows. The most alarming thing was that as far as she knew, death scythes were supposed to be able to slice through anything. 

How could a demon have a weapon capable of crossing blades with it?

“You mean to kill me this time?” ______ asked, recognizing the fiend immediately as the demon that had attacked her on her first day. He was putting a great deal of might into his dagger, and she was beginning to give under the force. With a burst of all the strength she could muster, she broke the contact and leapt backwards to create some distance. Unfortunately for her, he was not the talkative type. Within seconds, he was on the full offensive, lashing madly at her. As she struggled to dodge each attack, a terrifying reality reached the forefront of her mind: no one was watching over her this time. There was no one to come to her aid if she messed up.

She felt a sharp pain in her arm marking the first blood. He was gaining as much speed as she was losing, and it would be a matter of time before he ended her. She had to think fast and she had to do something before she was done. 

So she took a chance. She leapt back again, this time clear off of the roof and onto the level down. But when she hit the next roof first, she didn’t try to run. She leapt back up, swinging her scythe in a great arc above... and saw crimson. He might be physically faster, but at the mercy of gravity, he couldn’t dodge her so easily. So she repeated the action, forcing the demon to follow her lead. At this point, they were taking turns delivering blows: the demon was nipping at her heels, and ______ was doing her best to stay just out of reach and retaliate when she could.  

By the time they reached the alleyway at ground level, she could tell that the demon was just as handicapped as she was. His mask had slipped off, and she saw serrated teeth and fuschia eyes. She was struggling to catch her breath, now. “You’re not here for the souls… Why are you here?”

“Because I never go back on a deal.” He said simply, and lunged. 

She was too slow to dodge it completely. The blade sunk into her gut, the point so sharp that she could hardly feel it as it pierced her. In a final attempt to take him down with her, she grabbed onto his wrist as tightly as she could, and readied her scythe. His eyes widened, and he kicked her, struggling to get away. But she sunk the curved blade into his chest. They fell to the ground. 

The demon coughed, blood bursting out of his mouth. Her attack had been fatal, but his had just barely missed the mark. She could see the life leaving his eyes, but he was not ready to die quite yet. He still had his hand on his dagger, and was trying desperately to rip into her further. With the last of her energy, she kicked him off of her, and he hit the side of the closest building with a concluding hiss.

Her head fell back onto the concrete. She had won…

Even if ‘winning’ only meant surviving a little longer.

This was not the first time she experienced this kind of physical pain. However, it felt far different than the last time. This time, she was not engulfed in flames, but drowning in her own blood. This time she wasn’t concerned about her brother’s life, but about her own survival. Yet despite these facts, as _____ felt Death looming over her for the second time in her life, she did not fear him.

Truth be told, she never had. 

* * *

“______!”

    ‘What?’

“______? ______?!”

    ‘Is that…?’

“H-honestly… I won’t forgive you if you die.”

    ‘W i l l i a m?’

She opened her eyes and knew immediately that she must be dreaming… or dead. She was certain of this because there was no way that the person above her could possibly be the real William T. Spears. 

“_______? Can you hear me?”

Her voice didn’t sound like her own. “Who are you?”

“What?” He staggered, eyes widening. “It’s me.”

“No...” She said, frantic and dizzy and lost. “You're not.”

.

The William she knew would never be so panicked. 

The William she knew would never let his glasses get so crooked. 

The William she knew would never cry, and especially not for her.