Is This Fate or Misfortune?

Her Acquaintance, Of Coffins and Skulls

   The Grim Reaper Dispatch was even more bustling than it had been before. Reapers darted frantically down the corridors and the receptions were steadily getting crowded.

You could only assume that this was due to the fact that now everyone knew that the reapers had been found and that most of them were being assigned orders directed to that. The moment that the five of you had returned to the headquarters, William had immediately paced off.

You knew that he was heading to inform his superiors of what you all had found out in Houndsville. By the time you knew it, the corridors and arenas were filled with swarms of reapers. Othello hadn't appeared to welcome you, leading you to assume that he might also be with the superiors.

"Wow." James's voice breath out in awe and you turned to find that he was gazing around the Headquarters bewildered. "I never would have thought that there would be more than one grim reaper. People always referred to him as a single entity, but to think that there would be this many in a place such as this."

"I felt the same way when they first brought me here," you bemusedly stated following his gaze around the layout. "It was a bit overwhelming at first though, with the place being painted in such a bright color it sorta gave me a headache."

"I can see what you mean," he remarked, his eyes trailing after a pair of reapers that were hurrying down the hallway. "Do you have any idea what they might do to me?"

You glanced back at him, noting the unease that shone in his eyes as his gaze locked onto a couple of reapers that were staring at him.

"I don't think you have anything you really need to worry about," you informed him after a couple of minutes. "I'm sure that all they're going to do is ask you a couple questions about what happened to you."

"But after that..." He trailed off seeming as he was trying to collect his thoughts so that he could clearly voice his concern. "They don't really seem very welcoming to any 'outsiders'."

"Nothing is going to happen to you James, so rest assured," you stressed trying to sound certain. Truth be told you had no clue as to what the reapers might do with James after they were done interrogating him. You knew for a fact that they weren't allowed to kill humans so you were confident that he would be okay.

The only other ideas that came to your mind was that they would just let him go, making him swear that he wouldn't tell humanity. That or they somehow had this machine that could erase human memory, but doubt they had something like that. You didn't dare tell James of these though.

William still hadn't returned and you could only wonder just what was taking him so long. Ronald and Grell had been stopped by several other reapers who were more than curious as to what had happened when they were out.

With nothing to do, you sat down in a chair that you had noticed against the wall, gesturing James to do the same. There was no point in having to stand for a while when there was a perfect place to rest.

"Hey James, can you fully explain to me what happened?" You asked him curiously wanting to have a full grasp on what happened. "You don't have to tell me if you don't feel up to it," you reassured him, knowing that the experience was probably traumatizing to him.

"It's okay," he stated with a sigh before laying further back in the chair. "It was a couple months after I had escaped from Houndsville because of your help. I'm sure you read in the letters that things were doing fine since then, I had a place to stay at and a job as well. I always tried to respond to your letters as soon as possible even when I was busy. It was one night that I heard a noise coming from outside the window though I thought nothing of it. It wasn't until later that I woke up tied in the dungeon with those reapers."