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~~Ben~~

I frowned as I stared at the phone. Dil was supposed to be back. He should have been back yesterday but he wasn't. But I wasn't completely freaking out because Dil did send a text to me explaining that he had met up with a friend of his and would be back the next day (which was today) and by 'friend' I figured Dil must have meant a fuck-buddy; not that I could judge, given my own promiscuity. Hell, I did have a drunken one night stand with that girl from Toby's party... Lanie wasn't it? For some reason her face just stuck in my mind... mostly because I possibly didn't use a condom in our little drunken fling. But she couldn't be pregnant, could she? She was likely on the pill so there had to be no chance... even if she wasn't, there was those morning after pill things right? Shaking my head I looked at my phone again. I wonder just who this 'friend' was? An off-campus student? My mind started to make a list of all the classmates I knew who lived off-campus, then narrowed it down to the male students that I knew were either gay or bisexual.

I quickly ruled out Toby since he and Dil, while friendly, never slept together like ever, so he wouldn't go over there. I tried to narrow it down further, but couldn't pin anyone in particular so I figured it was from that club Dil sometimes went to. Blue Dragon Club I think it's name was. I had actually followed him there once out of curiosity as to where he was going dressed up so sexy-like. I remembered how he was dressed when he came back so late; made it obvious he had went to the club while me and Hope were fighting those Shadows and reaping that girl (that memory still drepressed me a bit...as awesome as having literal super-powers were and how much fun it was mowing down random Shadows were, the actual reaping part of being a Reaper was easily my least favorite part of the job), which wasn't that much of a big deal. He must have hooked up with some guy at the club, which was why he came back late. Maybe that was where he was?

Shaking my head, I sighed and put my phone away and stared at the ceiling. I was laying on the bed in our room, bored out of my mind. I know I could probably do some training for basketball or ask Hope for some more Reaper Training, but I just had no motivation to do either. I could maybe hang with Howie and maybe do some weight-lifting, but didn't feel like doing that either. I sighed again and rolled over onto my side and was tempted to fall back asleep until Suzaku popped up to bug me. 'What do you want?' I asked him annoyed, really wanting to go back to sleep. We didn't have school today as classes were still cancelled after the bombing incidents and would probably be so for the rest of the week so I had precious little time with Dil not being here. And we hadn't been called on another mission since with all of the Reaper's still dealing with the aftermath of the bombings and probably wouldn't be back on until Monday at the latest, since I doubted we would have school tomorrow which was Friday.

"You are being lazy! You can sense DIl's spiritual energy, so why don't you try and find him? You know, just check up on him and stuff?" I sat up and glared at the annoying bird. There were several reasons why I wasn't going to chase after Dil; reasons that I would expect he would know since he was literally in my head and all. The fact I even had to explain it at all was amazing.

'There are plenty of reasons! First of all, it's none of my business what he does out of school. He's his own person and it's not like he's going to be in danger from some average joe... I mean even if he got jumped, what threat can they realistically pose to him? He has super-strength and super-speed even without going into his powers! He could fry them in an instant if he had to. Plus with all the Reapers running around the city, the chance of him running into some Shadow trouble is slim to none.' I said in a calm manner before continuing on with the more obvious reason why I couldn't just go running after him. 'Also, do you know how fucking stalkerish it would be if I did that? What if he caught me? He'd be pissed if he found I was invading his privacy so blatantly. We agreed that once we both became sexually active that we would never snoop into the others' private affairs. He's with a guy and will undoubtedly be back tonight at the latest.'

Suzaku just shrugged his wings and flew around a bit. "That Bull Reaper with the prosthetic arm was something wasn't' he? I never thought a Reaper could actually lose a limb...did you? I just figured it would be something that healing could fix," he muttered as he continued to float around. I nodded, actually agreeing with him, though like I had said earlier that I had never thought about the possibility of losing a limb; it's just not something that crossed my mind. "Puts things in perspective doesn't it? Until I saw it, I never thought about just how truly dangerous our job is." I could only nod, once again agreeing.

'His name was Donnie, right? Must have been a damn powerful shadow that took his arm.' I said in a calm voice before getting up. Maybe I should ask Hope for some training. I want to get stronger so I can protect DIl better, so he doesn't have to fight, so he doesn't have to kill Shadow's. I think the revelation of him being able to absorb the souls of the Shadows he slays shook him to his very core.

Getting up, I got a shower and got dressed before sending Hope a text, asking her if she was willing to do some training today. I then texted Howie to ask if he wanted to join in, since having literally just awakening his powers yesterday, I knew he could use some training of his own to be able to use his powers more effectively. Almost instantly I got a text back in Howie's typical horrible grammar, confirming his interest. I then texted Hope, seeing if she was actually willing to do some training with us. I'm sure we could have done some training on our own, but having Hope direct us would help a lot. Though I did wonder how much she knew about Howie's power. Shadow Touched she called him? I still didn't really understand what she meant. 'Souls who retained a bit of the Shadow taint when they were reborn? I thought when he slayed Shadows he cleansed them completely, but sometimes the taint remained?' I was broken from my thoughts when my phone beeped, indicting that I got a text. Quickly I took it out and saw it was from Dil.

'Hey, Ben!

Sorry for not showing yesterday

Was out with a friend.

Will be back Tonight!

Sorry to worry you.

Bye!

~Dil'

I let out a sigh of relief. He was fine. So he would be back tonight, which was a load off my chest. Once again I got another text, this one from Hope confirming that she was up to do some training. She said she'll get a portal and we could train in one of the Reaper training fields in the Reaper City, and to meet up at the dorm entrance in ten minutes. I sent her an affirmative and then texted Howie telling him where to meet up and started on my way to the area. As I was halfway to the elevator, I heard a loud voice bellowing behind me.

"Wait for me!" I turned to see Howie running trying to catch up. Sighing, I stopped and waited for him to catch up. When he did, he caught his breath and turned towards me.

"So, we're going to the Reaper City? What's it like?"

"It's pretty cool. The City is huge, even bigger than NYC. There's a lot of normal people there also, not just Reaper's. I'm sure Hope can explain things better though, so ask her when we see her." I stated as we got into the elevator and pushed the button to go down. Eventually we found ourselves out in front of the Dormitory plaza, the area being a bit crowded as lots of students were on their way out for the day. And since there was no school, everyone was mostly taking some off-campus time. A few were probably going to one of the memorials for the bombing victims going on today. Hopefully if there's any time after training, I'd see if I could grab Dil and the others and see if they would be interested in attending one, to pay our respects and all. I was about to ask Howie before a perky raccoon ran up towards us from the Girls Dorm, followed by a sullen looking rabbit. What was Sunny doing here? Was she going with us?

"Hey, guys! You're early! Sleep well?" Hope asked before looking around confused as if noticing the absence of a certain dark furred kitty. "Where Dil?"

"He's out with a friend. He'll be back tonight. What's Sunny doing here?" I asked confused. "She going to the training area with us? Is that a good idea?" Hope just shrugged and started to explain herself.

"I'm not sure leaving her by herself is a good idea. She and Howie were targeted by Casper and his Shadows once already and I don't want to put her at any further risk. Reapers already have their hands full as it is. We finished sending all of the souls off but now we are desperately trying to search out for any more spirit bombs and Ed is still working on that sensor thing Dil thought up.

"Makes sense," I said with a shrug before turning towards Sunny. "How you doing?" I asked and she just let out a shrug and didn't respond which made me roll my eyes. Of course, why did I even bother trying to talk to her? Didn't stop Howie from trying to talk to her and getting the same reaction. Sighing once again I turned towards Hope and whispered. "So where is the portal going to open up? It's too public here...they would see us disappear."

Hope looked briefly towards her phone and sent a text before looking up. "If that's the case, we can just open a portal in your room. Let's go!" She said as she started walking into the boys dorm with us following behind and as soon as we reached the door I opened it to see a black swirling portal floating in the middle of the room. Pushing everyone inside, I closed the door behind us.

I looked around to see that both Howie and Sunny looked a bit nervous while looking at the portal, which made sense since they have never stepped through one so it would be something to be anxious about.

"You sure this is safe?" Howie asked in a nervous manner. "I mean sure, it's safe for Reapers but is it safe for people like us?"

"It's safe, trust me! Just step through the portal and you'll be fine." I told him before pushing him into the portal. I really wanted to get the training started. Howie protested for a bit before I managed to shove him into the portal, then turning to Sunny and scowling. "Do I need to shove you through as well?" She shook her head quickly and stepped through, leaving just me and Hope in the room. "Go ahead," I told her in a calm voice. "I'm going to leave a note for Dil in case he gets back and wonders where we are okay?" Hope just nodded and entered the portal but leaving it open as I quickly jotted down a note before putting it on Dil's desk. Satisfied with my actions, I turned around and turned towards the portal and entered it, feeling it close behind me as I did.

..

When I entered the other side I saw we were in front of the NARH and in the courtyard I saw Hope and Sunny were both huddled next to Howie who was bent over a waste bin looking a bit ill and green under his fur. 'He must have threw up after entering the portal. I didn't even know that could happen.' Walking up to the trio I waved at them and tapped him on the shoulder.

"You okay, man?" I asked in a slightly concerned voice. He just gave me a shaky thumbs-up while he kept his other paw grasped on the bin in case he was going to throw up again. Looking towards Hope I gave her a curious look which she thankfully understood my question without me having to ask.

"Most people can pass through portals just fine, but sometimes there are people who are more sensitive and get a bit ill when they pass through one. It usually fades after awhile, but plenty of Reapers still have issues when they start field duty for the first time. Thankfully it passes after a few minutes so Howie should be fine." As she said that I noticed the green in Howie's face seemed to fade and he loosened his grip on the bin and sighed and stood up rubbing his stomach.

"I hope you're right... if I get sick everytime I have to step through those things it won't be fun at all." He said while pouting. Once he was completely sure he wasn't going to throw up again, he fully got up and shook his head. "So where's the training area you said you were taking us too? I wanna start as soon as we can. I want to be able to use my powers so I can fight Shadows better. Or at least be able to keep that Casper guy away...he scares the shit out of me." He said with a shudder. I gave a silent nod, though I would never admit it to anyone (Suzaku not withstanding since I can't exactly keep anything from him considering he was in my head) but Casper did scare me shitless. His ability to pop up just about anywhere and the knowledge he possesses? He could probably could kill all of us in our sleep and the sheer amount of power I sensed from him made me nervous.

"Hey Hope, is there a way to keep Shadows away from my room? Casper keeps popping up there, plus he did show up in Howie's room. If you can, is it possible to create a ward or something that would keep him out? I don't like the fact he can just pop in and out anytime he wants. The fact he could just come in and kill us all in our sleep if he really wanted to makes me a bit anxious." I admitted to her quietly. Hope nodded and smiled a bit.

"Oh, yeah there are wards to prevent Shadows from entering areas. I set one up in mine and Sunny's room as soon as I moved in." She explained, ignoring a confused 'what'? from Sunny and kept going. "I never thought about putting one up for you guys, but sure! I'll set one up in both of your rooms when we get back from training." She said with a shrug. "But follow me! I'll show you guys the training area!" She said before walking towards one of the smaller buildings on the other side of the courtyard. We all followed her calmly and as we entered the building we saw a massive arena-like room. We were on the top of the arena, in the stands which were filled with numerous young Reapers, most of them being Furs but a few were human. They were lounging around and talking and relaxing. Some had what looked vaguely like a Starbucks coffee cup (though called Soulbucks from what I could tell from the distance. Even in a land of the dead we couldn't get away from the Starbucks or it's imitations...gotta love capitalism I guess). I was surprised when I saw one of the Furs was Ed, who looked extremely tired as he was holding a cup of the same coffee I had seen the other person hold and he looked drowsy. He must not have gotten a lot of sleep over the past few days. Not just from the Reaping he had to do but from working on that device Dil had thought up.

But the biggest thing was a very tall grey furred wolf with brown hair. It had been a decade since I saw that face but I knew it from anywhere...a face I hadn't seen since that awful day. I didn't even realize I had started running until I was halfway towards the pair and I felt myself shouting out.

"Uncle Nate!!!" I shouted, which made the wolf jump and turn around before I got to him and threw myself into his arms. "Uncle Nate, you're here! I know Ed told me you were a Reaper, but..." I said as I desperately tried to keep myself from crying. He stood a bit stiff, confused by the sudden action.

"Ben...? What are you doing here?" He asked before he hugged me hard to him. "Either way... I am so glad to see you again. I'm sorry I died when you were young. How is my sister? What about Elise? Was the baby born alright?" He was referring to my cousin Joey...Elise was his wife and she was pregnant with their first child when he died.

"The-They are fine. Elise finished her nursing degree and Joey...your son...he is in 5th grade. Will be in 6th next year. They are doing great. They really miss you though...we all do...grandpa Nelson and grandma Agatha were never the same since you died. Granny passed a few years later and Grandpa Nelson is in a home now. He has alzheimer's so he probably doesn't have much longer. But you're a Reaper? That's so cool! You work for Ed, right? I missed you so much Uncle!" I said as I felt hot tears run down my face. Damnit I was crying after all! Uncle Nate just held me close. Though I couldn't see his face I could tell he was crying a bit as well.

"I'm so sorry that I died on you all. I should have stayed home that day...like Elise had asked me to. Being a Reaper is great but I'll never get to hold my own baby...i'll never forgive myself for leaving my child without a dad." I gave a light snuffle as I tried to stop my tears a bit.

"She actually remarried a few years after you died. His name is Jack and he is an awesome dad! You'd love him! He treats her like gold." I said with a smile which made him smile a wide smile. He looked almost relieved at the news.

"I'm so glad, I was worried she'd never move on. The fact she has met someone who treats her well lifts a great weight of my shoulders... but tell me, why are you a Reaper?" I just laughed and shrugged at that question... after all it was quite a story.

"It's a long story...let's just say this raccoon here," I said pointing towards Hope who looked down embarrassed, "wound up getting me and my Grandpa mixed up so my soul got reaped instead and since my name wasn't on the list I got sent back to the real world while my body stayed in a coma. Dil was staying with me at the time and when we went to the hospital Dil wound up getting attacked by a bunch of Shadows. Needless to say, my powers awoke and I managed to fight them off. So they let me become a Reaper while I continued to live as a mortal... and Hope was basically assigned to keep a watch on me." I let out a deep breath after explaining all that. Uncle Nate just nodded before smiling at Hope.

"I was wondering where you had gotten off to Hope. I hadn't seen you around for awhile. You make a cute raccoon!" He said before becoming somber. "So Benji passed... I'm so sorry buddy, he was a good man." He said while patting me on the back. "What brings you to the arena though if I may ask?" I had gotten so fixated on my Uncle I had actually had forgotten why we came here in the first place. Thankfully Sunny had my back and spoke up.

"We are here to train Mr. Nathan..." She explained calmly, causing him to look at her curiously.

"Ah, but you don't have powers... you a medium? We don't get many of those here." He said before looking towards Howie and gave an odd look. "Ah, and you are Shadow-Touched. I have never met one before...your name is? And what is your name little lady? Please, both of you call me Nate. No need to be so formal." Howie was the one who spoke up this time.

"My name Is Howard Todd, but everyone calls me Howie. The bunny is named Sunny Fletcher." The big bear said cheerfully. "It's so awesome to meet you!" Howie said grabbing the mans paw and giving it a mighty shake. "But yeah! I just got my powers yesterday so I wanna try and get better at it. We've been having a few issues that I'm sure you're aware of."

"Yes, Ed told me about what's been going on. What, with the NYC Bombings and this mysterious 'Spirit Mafia' that's been harassing you." He said with a frown. "I was on duty at a Mosque that was bombed...it was chaos...45 people died there." He said with a wince. "You were with Ed helping out at the daycare, right Ben?" I just nodded and frowned. I was still livid that those bastards had attacked a daycare...all those children were murdered for nothing. I'll never forgive those monsters. He gave a small smile before turning to Ed. "I think our break is about over... we should get back to work and let them train. Is that okay Eddy?" Ed just sighed as he looked at his cold coffee frowning. He hadn't said much, obviously trying not to fall asleep where he sat but he got up and shook his head.

"Fine... I still need to finish getting that tracker built. I'm so close..." He said with a massive yawn. Uncle Nate gave him a tiny smile and patted his head.

"On second thought? I'm calling you in sick. You need to sleep. You haven't slept in a few days and you need it or else you'll pass out and hurt yourself." He said while easily picking up the tall fennec, much to his protest. "I'll see all of you later! I'm so glad I got to see you again Ben!" He said before walking away with the still protesting Ed over his shoulder. I just let out a laugh. Seems my Uncle hadn't changed that much, even so long after death...that made me glad. Looking towards the others, I shrugged. "So, we gonna start training or not? It's what we came here for, right?" The others nodded and we all stepped into the empty arena. The stands had started to empty as the others seemed to have finished their own breaks and went back to work.

Taking a deep breath, I took out my flute from my pocket and put it to my lips and played the familiar tune and felt my power awaken. I then grabbed my sword and pointed it towards Howie with a manic grin which made him let out an audible gulp. "Come on! You want to train right? Awaken your powers." I kept the same manic grin as I said that. I could see Howie shiver a bit but then took a deep breath and closed his eyes and steeled himself. He stayed like that for a few moments until he opened his eyes and was consumed in a greenish light and when the light faded, he was still standing there but his clothes were different; a brown tunic and black pants and a pair of massive headphones. He was holding what looked like a massive tuning fork. Pretty interesting. Reaper's and Lumiere had more practical weapons. Me having my sword, Hope her staff and Dil his bow and Ed's boomerang... I guess ST's get to be more creative in their weapon choices. I looked around and saw that Sunny had sat herself down on one of the bleachers which made sense, she didn't have any powers.

Hope walked up in the middle of us, acting as a ref I assumed like she did with me and Dil during our own training session. "Okay!" She shouted, catching both of our attention. "This training session will be split up into several 20 minute segments. After each segment we will review how both of you did. That sound fair to you both?" Both me and Howie nodded, causing her to smile. "Okay then!" She said before backing away from us and and giving us the motion to start. Howie was the first to move, swinging his fork and sending out a massive wave of sound. I quickly put my barrier up and blocked it before slashing my sword, sending out an air-slash (albeit one far weaker than what I would usually use. I didn't want to actually hurt him. We were just training after all). He tried to dodge but was too slow and let out a gasp as the air-slash hit him. No cuts or anything but it still must've hurt. He growled out and stabbed his fork into the ground and the ground erupted around me as spikes came up from everywhere. I managed to avoid most of them but I grunted as I got hit by a few, knocking me back and causing me to let out a grunt of pain as I landed.

I quickly got up and sent several bursts of flames towards him. He was knocked back by the flames, them not actually being hot enough to burn him that badly of course. We continued this fight, both of us dodging and me using my barrier to block what I wasn't able to dodge. This continued until our 20 minutes were up. Hope then settled between us smiling and clapping. "Great job boys!" She said before sighing. "Okay, let's review then start again. We have all day after all." Both of us groaned... but we did ask for training so I was game! I wonder how Dil was doing?

~~Dil~~

"You... want to go to one of the Memorial Services?" Jack asked me curiously as I dried my hair. We had just gotten out of the shower after he had wound up pounding me again for the upteenth time today. No knotting this time though sadly. I gave him a nod while my face was still covered by the towel.

"Yeah, want to support the families. I knew some of the kids since I volunteered at the daycare." I said as I started wiping the rest of my body. "Plus it's just a nice thing to do and we can't exactly have sex all day. We'll have to stop by the school so I can get nicer clothes and then we can go. I'll have to go back after we're done however. While we probably won't have school until Monday, I want to spend some time with Ben." I said as I threw him the towel allowing him to dry off as well.

"If you say so," he muttered sounding a bit mopey. "I think we can indeed have sex all day but you're right, it would be nice to give support to the families. I can drive you to the school and you can get dressed, is that okay?" He asked. I just nodded as I found my clothes and got dressed. In doing so, I spared a glance at his sheathed cock and my ass quivered. He really could use that and it felt amazing. I shook my head and urged my own cock to return to my sheath. Thankfully he didn't notice me staring and got dressed himself and gave me a light kiss. I kissed back and deep down I felt guilty. I knew Jack had deeper feelings toward me but I just didn't and couldn't return them because I was in love with Ben who I was too scared to even bring up the subject. I knew he returned my feelings...I mean I wasn't blind but I didn't want to push things. I didn't want to force Ben into a relationship that he wasn't ready for. Once again I cursed the fact that my ex had moved to California...I missed him. I was sure sure Jack would gladly be my mate if I asked him but I couldn't just lead him on when my heart belonged to another. "You okay?" He asked, noticing that I was deep in thought.

"I'm fine!" I lied, trying to keep my face straight. "Just a lot on my mind is all, don't worry." Jack just gave a small shrug and kissed me again before leaving the bathroom. "Come on! I'll drive you up on my bike, that okay?"

I just gave a small nod as we exited his dorm room. The air was nippy but it was February so naturally it would be a little cold in New York City. Thankfully I had my jacket and Jack handed me a helmet as we reached his bike. We got on it and zoomed to my school. It took a few minutes but we arrived easy enough. The courtyard was so empty as most people were probably out and about throughout the city. Most probably attending one of the many services throughout the city. I swiftly ran up to my room. When I entered, I saw the room was empty and I saw a note on my desk. I picked it up and gave it a glance.

'Hey, Dil.

Howie, Sunny, Hope and I went for training in the Reaper City. I figured you were busy so I didn't want to bother you. Will see you later so have fun man!

-Ben

I gave a sigh and put the letter down. I guess it made sense they would be training. Ben wanted to get stronger and Howie literally just got his powers yesterday. Oh well, maybe tomorrow we could all get some training in. Shrugging, I quickly grabbed my chosen clothes and got dressed. I put on a nice white dress shirt, a black pair of slacks and a simple tie. Checking myself in the mirror, I smiled feeling satisfied. I then ran down back to Jack who gave a whistle which made me blush a bit.

"You look nice!" He said while bending to give me a kiss. "You ready to go? You said you wanted to go to the service for the daycare kids right? Any idea where it's being held?" I nodded and took out my phone and showed him a list of the services and the locations.

"The Daycare service is being held at Salem United Methodist Church on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd...you know where that is?" Jack gave a nod before giving me back my helmet.

"I used to fuck a dude who went to that church...he took to me a service there once. We stopped fucking soon after though." He said with a shrug. He then got onto his bike once again and helped me on the back and we once again were zooming towards the service.

~~Ben~~

Training had lasted for about two hours before we all decided to call it a day. We found ourselves at Willie's deli. We were also joined by my uncle and Ed who looked a bit more awake though still a bit sleepy, obviously having taken a nap while me and Howie were beating the snot out of each other. "So what got you into the R&D department uncle?" I asked Uncle Nate.

"It's a long story. I tried to do the fieldwork and Reaping stuff but I just couldn't handle doing the actual Reaping...It's brutal, especially when it was kids. So I just decided I liked it better behind the scenes. Plus, you seen what happened with Donnie. He lost an arm to the Shadows and I'm quite attached to my limbs...the man has never been the same since he lost it. Just seemed so angry and moody. I sometimes see him sneaking off somewhere but I never follow...have you ever noticed any of that Ed? You worked with him on the Daycare case right?" Ed gave a deep yawn and nodded while rubbing his eyes.

"Yeah, he was on guard duty while I was doing the reaping. He seemed quite cheerey. I just figured he was happy to be back on field duty. But now that you mentioned it...Donnie has been using the portals a lot to various different places and doesn't bring his spirit phone." I frowned at that, what they were describing seemed so different from the bull I had met at the daycare. But then again I didn't really know him from Adam and they've known him for only god knows how long.

"How long has Donnie been a Reaper? Was he born here or was he a mortal before becoming a Reaper?" I then asked. It was Hope who answered.

"He was born here. The Hoffman family is one of the oldest Reaper families. Donnie is actually the oldest of four. He was a Reaper when I was only a child myself and don't you dare ask how long ago that was!" She said catching me before I could ask. I just nodded letting all of that sink in.

"I assume Reapers live a lot longer than humans?" It was Howie that asked this. "You said you guys were working when 9/11 happened so you guys are at least older than Mr. Weber yet you guys look our age."

"You also said Ed was the one who did the Reaping for Dil's grandfather. He was a little kid when his grandpa died. Just how old are you? And don't dodge please. I don't care if it's rude to ask a lady her age." I said firmly. Ed and Hope looked towards each other as if silently debating on just who should answer that question. It seemed Ed was the one who lost the debate as he was the one who spoke up.

"Both Hope and I are about 110 years old. Our families were close so we grew up together. You see, Hope's parents were killed on a mission when we were about 10 and the old head, her grandfather who was the Death Lord before Joshua, took her in and raised her." He said. I gave Hope a surprised look as she had never told me about losing her parents. I guess I didn't know much of anything about my *ugh* 'babysitter'. But then again, did I ever ask about her life? It just never came up in my head to inquire into what she did before she got stuck with me and I kinda felt guilty over that. Hope seemed to notice my look of pity and rolled her eyes and punched me in my arm.

"It was a long time ago, I'm over it." She said in a calm fashion while I rubbed my arm and glared. "Boss did a great job raising me! Or at least I think so." She said with a shrug. "Boss has been in the Reaping business for a very long time." She explained.

"Just how long we talking?" I asked interested. If Hope and Ed were over a 100 years old and looked like teenagers, I had to wonder how old Boss who looked to be in his fifties could be."

"Umm basically he was around to see the founding of the Holy Roman Empire..." Hope said lightly which made me choke on my drink. I didn't know much history but from Dil I had some idea about the HRE...that it was VERY old.

"That would make him..." I began in surprise.

"Over a thousand years old. The former Death Lord, the one before Boss got to see the Pyramids be built." Hope explained cheerfully, laughing at how shocked both me and Howie were. That was a long time to life...an insane amount of time. "Reapers live a lot longer than mortals. That is, if we survive long enough to. Reaping is a dangerous business...you should know that by now and seeing what happened to Donnie is more proof. Just be careful. You almost died once already and you would have been if Dil hadn't awoken his powers..." She said with a frown and sigh. "You are my responsibility after all and if anything happens to you it will be on my head. Plus it'd be a shame to lose someone with so much potential! I've never seen someone progress as fast as you before in training...It's impressive." She said with a small smile which made me blush a tiny bit before shrugging it off.

"I've always been told I adapt to things quickly so it's no big deal. Plus I have to get better so I can protect Dil. I want to be strong enough he doesn't have to fight." I said with a sigh. "You saw how he took the fact he absorbed souls when he killed Shadows... I don't want to put him through that if I can avoid it." I sighed again. "I hope he's doing okay." I said looking at my phone.

~~Dil~~

The Memorial service was nice. It was being led by the mother of the fox boy I had seen in the livestream yesterday. She was surrounded by several other parents who had lost children from the daycare bombing. They all looked miserable but I could tell they were all supporting each other as much as they could. I could only imagine the pain they were going through so I was glad they had each other for support. I looked over to look at Jack to see how he was doing and he looked thoroughly moved as he kept on rubbing his eyes with his arm as if trying to stop people from seeing him cry which reminded me so much of what Ben would do. He hated people seeing him cry because he felt it made him feel weak, which was kinda stupid but also endearing. It reminded me of the fact I was basically using him to distract from my feelings for Ben, which made me feel a bit horrible because I knew he felt more for me than I did for him. I should really cut things off for both our sakes but at the same time I did really like him...just not in the way he liked me.

"So..." He whispered a bit as not to distract the memorial service. "Do you want me to drive you back to school when we get done? Much as I want to have you stay over again, you did say you should be heading back to spend time with your friend." I gave him a nod and refocused on the memorial as the lady continued to speak. This went on for another two hours until the last speaker spoke their say and stepped off the stage and the mother went back on stage to thank everyone for coming and said food and refreshments would be served in the next room and there would be a place to give donations to the families to help pay for the funeral.

Both Jack and I made sure to give a nice donation before we left, skipping the drinks and food since I was planning on getting something to eat before he dropped me off but on the way back there a dark portal opened right in front of us. It was far too close to swerve out of the way so he crashed through it and were knocked out as we entered the portal...

I don't know how long I was out but as I came to I found myself in a strange brightly lit room. I shook my head to try and get my eyes focused and rid of the blur. Once my vision cleared I saw that I was in a strange cage-like structure. The first thing that came to my mind was a faraday cage. 'What's going on here?' I thought to myself. Cosmo popped up next to my head and look frazzled.

"We got captured!!! Kidnapped!!!" The little angel-like creature screamed, looking around trying to find a way out. I tried to move in order to help but then I noticed that both arms and legs were chained up... and I was naked. This made me blush and try to cover myself before remembering I was bound. I then tried to break free using my enhanced strength but the things wouldn't budge. Frustrated, I tried to transform into my Lumiere form but it wouldn't manifest.

"Don't bother, there's an anti-magic barrier here. Your magic is useless in there." I heard a somewhat unfamiliar voice say, looking around to see a red robed figure with his hood down. Even though I have never actually seen the snow leopard before I knew exactly who it was.

"Casper!" I cried out, shaking my chains once again to break them. "What's going on!? Where is Jack? What did you do to him? I swear to god if you hurt him!" I threatened before the white furred feline cut me off with a wave of his paw.

"The coyote is fine. I teleported him somewhere else so he'll live. I told my friends not to do any harm to him. They're still in hot water with my boss for the bombing incident. We told them to lay low." He said with a snarl before shaking his head. "Personally I would have killed them all then and there. Attacking that daycare was disgusting..." He seemed to see my surprised face and growled in irritation. "Come on! We may be soulless but we aren't heartless. Even we are opposed to senseless violence." He said before turning around. "You better rest up...you'll be here awhile...you're bait you see?" He said with a smile. "We need Ben, or should I say my boss says we need Ben, and you are the bait. If Ben is even a 10th as protective of you then he'll come rushing in as soon as he finds out where you are."

"No!" I cried out as he left me alone. I struggled until I wore myself out and started crying. I was cold, scared and confused. I hated this...not only was I useless, I was literally being used as bait for them to nab Ben. And who knows what they wanted with him. 'Please Ben...' I quietly prayed to myself. 'Don't come... leave here and be happy... I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you.' With that, I fell into a fitful sleep; my body exhausted from the strain I had put myself through. I just hoped that for once Ben didn't come to save me.