Trails of intertwined stars: Chapter 56

~Chapter XV: The Undertaker~

Sebastian glared at him," He masked his presence most skillfully. His 'eyes' have always been hidden as well, so it escaped even my notice."
Grell groaned, wiping the blood away," Same here. He fooled me good."
"Mr Sutcliff, sir!" Ronald gasped, rushing over to Grell," Those eyes-!"
"Yes," Grell scowled," That chartreuse phosphoresce, without a doubt, can only belong to...a Grim Reaper!"
"Hee! Hee!" The Undertaker chuckled," How nostagliiiic! It's been at least half a century since I was last called that."
"The Undertaker, is a grim reaper?" Malice frowned, puzzled.
Ryan rushed down the stairs," Explain yourself, Undertaker! You said I could control these corpses with this device!"
"Did IIII now, truly?"
"So you tricked me...was it all a lie!?"
"Well, you seeee...I found it comical that you were earnestly attempting to resurrect the dead via medical science, you were just the man of talent for my purpose."
"And what of our singular desire to bring the whole world into health and wellbeing through medicine!?"
"That was your desire, riiight?" The Undertaker chuckled," Besides! You are not capable of bringing the dead back to life by the power of medical knowledge in your grasp. And it all ceased to be medicine in the first place the moment you began to depend on my techniques. One who conducts procedures upon his patients that he himself does not understand can no longer call himself a physician."

Ryan sobbed, collapsing to his knees, trembling," H-How could this b-be?"
The Undertaker walked over, running his slender fingers through Ryan's hair," You were a good lad, naively buying all I said without question."
Malice glared at the Undertaker," So, you're saying that you masterminded the Aurora Society's experiments to resurrect the dead?"
The Undertaker giggled, raising his index finger to his lips," That's a secret. Is what I'd like to say, but you have paid for information innumerable times over with that phoenix pose of yours. So tell you, I shall! Hee hee! 'Twas indeed I who produced these reanimated corpses."
"To what end!?" Malice frowned.
"Well, let's seeeee. At first, it was probably..." The Undertaker hummed, tapping his sobota on the ground, lost in thought,"...simple curiosity towards humans."

"Humans possess 'bodies of flesh' and 'souls'...if the two are present, humans, as living beings, exist in this world and continue to log their 'cinematic records', the memories of their lives. And when the bodies of flesh decay and grim reapers retrieve their souls, their cinematic records come to an end at that moment, and the living becomes the dead. Grim reapers, going by their lists, extract human souls from bodies and bring cinematic records to their ends. Day after day. Indifferently. Matter-of-factly. However, one day, after I'd spent a long time as a grim reaper doing just that, day in and day out, something occurred to me. What would happen if there was a sequel after those endings? What would happen to the bodies of flesh that had lost their souls and whose memories had come to an end if I added a continuation to those very memories?"

The Undertaker smiled, shrugging," Souls alone are all grim reapers hunt, after all. The 'bodies' and 'memories' in their brains still remain in this world."
Grell scoffed," Come on... you're telling me you edited their cinematic records?"
"Hee! Hee! Well, now!" The Undertaker prodded his finger at a zombie," Why not use your powers and have a look-see at their records for yourself?"
Grell huffed, she leapt up to a zombie, slicing it so the cinematic record tape flooded out. It showed the zombies life. Baby, child, fell in love, married, had her own child, died. Just as soon as it reached 'End' and a new scene flickered on. It was the Undertaker, dressed up in a suit with a scribbled-on mustache, dancing with a cane. Grell screamed in horror at the sight. Grell had her own reputation for disrespecting grim reaper traditions, but this was just unheard of!

" 'The end' title of a cinematic record, which arrives arm in arm with death...never appears because I attached counterfeit memories to the records, like so. And to my surprise, the flesh, under the mistaken notion that 'my life continues on', began moving again without its soul. All living beings instinctively make attempt to make up for what they lack. If their bodies are wounded, they try to close their wounds. If their spirits feel isolated, they seek others to alleviate their loneliness. So they also instinctively desire what they lack, and in seeking their 'souls' they attempt to rip open the bodies of living humans. In order to even out the balance of their neverending cinematic records, you see?"

Malice frowned," So that's why they came after our souls when they couldn't see or hear us..."
"Even though it's impossible to make another's soul one's own," The Undertaker smiled," I can tamper with their cinematic records, but I cannot create souls. I experimented plenty, but most of them became no more than dolls of flesh without an ego. And so I call them thus, neither living...nor dead...they are 'bizarre dolls' warped flesh puppets."
"Even bad taste has its limits," Malice grimaced.
"If you can't understand their beauty, you have quite a way to go, fear and chaos' soulmate," The Undertaker giggled, waltzing with a disgusting corpse of a woman," White waxen skin that has been sewn together prettily in semblance of their living selves. Mouths that no longer clamour loudly or spit out lies. Are they not more beautiful now than when they drew breath?"
Malice covered her mouth," It's revolting..."
The Undertaker sighed," That may be how you feel, but there are humans who desire these bizarre dolls, you know? These children don't feel any pain or fear. They single-mindedly desire souls and devour the living. What say you? Do they not make the best military animals?"
The four gasped in horror, the Undertaker took no notice, caressing the zombie's jawline, as though in marvel at her.

"Those eccentric fellows said they just wanted to see how useful these could be," The Undertaker stated," So I decided to experiment by tossing the same number of 'bizarre dolls' as live humans onto this luxury vessel. Who and how many will be left standing when the killing ends?"
Sebastian sighed," You really have lost your mind."
The Undertaker tossed the zombie woman off the stairs, not slightly caring as her bones snapped on the impact, sickeningly.
"I never imagined we'd run into an iceberg, though," The Undertaker walked over to them," Having quit being a grim reaper, I don't have my list anymore and all...Well! I've been saved the trouble of making this ship sink, so it's a matter of killing two birds with one stone."
"I see," Sebastian nodded," So, this passenger liner was never meant to travel around the world from the beginning?"
"Because of you all, more humans survived than I expected. Will I get a scolding for that?"
Grell scoffed, folding her arms over her chest with a pout," The more I hear, the more we can't overlook this."
"No doubt," Ronald nodded," It'd be mind-blowing to allow a grim reaper to warp 'death'. All the same, he ain't wearin' specs. Is he one of those 'deserters' we get once every blue moon?"
"I don't care what he is," Grell stated, bitterly, as the Undertaker smirked," Anyway, a Grim Reaper interfering with the life and death with humans is against the rules. Tying him up and turning him over to the higher-ups would also seem to be the most efficient way to get him to reveal the workings of the moving corpses...and..."

Grell burst into anger, tracing her finger over her bloodied scalp.
"ON TOP OF YOUR BREACH OF CONDUCT, I SHAN'T FORGIVE YOUR SIN OF HARMING A GIRL'S FACE! I SHAN'T FORGIVE YOU, EVEN IF YOU ARE A TOTAL DISH OF A MAN!!"
Grell launched herself forwards, the Undertaker swiftly knocking her back a couple of steps with his sobotas, giggling.
"Oopsie~!" The Undertaker winked.
"I got your back!" Ronald grinned, launching himself after Grell.
Ronald yelped, being kicked away by something else entirely. Sebastian glared down at him, managing to fail to land a hit on the Undertaker. Ronald rolled away with a cry.
"Sebastian, darling!" Grell snapped," What do you think you're doing!?"
"We cannot allow you to harm him," Sebastian tightened his glove.
"Huh!?"
"We ourselves are tasked with presenting the truth to Lord Diavolo," Malice leant on the stair banister, banned from helping," We cannot allow him to escape."
"And so," Sebastian smirked, bowing," We shall take him into our custody."
"This is a Grim Reaper concern!" Grell scowled," Outsiders should stay out of it!"
"This is my duty as a butler. I ask humbly that outsiders refrain from interfering."
"My, my," The Undertaker giggled.

"Stoic as usual, Sebastian darling!" Grell grinned, sharkishly," You do know how to get my blood rushing! Fine, then! If you're raring to go, we won't hold back either!"
"That the phrase 'hold back' even appears in your dictionary comes as the greatest of all the day's shocks," Sebastian stated.
"Then it's simply," Ronald grinned," The first one to get him wins. And I don't have any intention of losing to an old man like you!"
"Hee hee! This is just like rabbit hunting!"
The Undertaker grinned, maliciously, his emerald eyes glinting in sheer thrill.
"Who will be the hunted rabbit?"