A Sunday afternoon, in the winter gardens of Osaka:
The sun was high in the sky; the snowfall from yesterday had stopped, leaving a beautiful white layer over the city. A large garden had been transformed into a winter wonderland, trees, and bushes now a frosty green and brown.
"Last chance to back out." Lucifer said as he sat overlooking the blanket of white. A wonderment of beauty and serenity, the kind you never really stop to appreciate.
"No, I won't. We've put too much effort into this to just kill him." Eren replied, taking a seat on the bench, next to the blonde-haired reaper.
"You're not going soft on me? The old Eren; whom I adored very much, would have killed the man the moment the opportunity presented itself. A bothersome task, yet you have chosen the easy option, how strange."
"Do you really think that? The Lucifer I know only ever cared about how good looking I am, and my prowess on the battlefield, among other things I won't care to mention." Eren replied. Hands cupped with snow.
"Oh, you're right. I would love you all the same; come here my little dove." Lucifer tried to hug his former protégé and always friend. To which Eren quickly deflected him face first into a pile of snow.
"Oh, how cruel. But I forgive you, how could anyone stay mad at this face?" Lucifer pulled himself from the snow, shaking off the flakes.
"Hmmm..."
"Ah, master, Thanatos is ready for us." Jun arrived, the young man shivering in the winter air despite heavy clothes that would achieve otherwise.
"Good. Let's finish this." Eren began his strut, prompting the two others to follow him. Walking along the white path, the three of them left the garden. Entering an abandoned building just outside the traditional area. The air changed; from cold and crisp, to warm and musty.
"Do you have it?" Thanatos was already waiting in the abandoned lobby of an office. He stood by a table, covered in strange symbols and shapes.
"Yes." Eren placed the duffle bag on the floor, all the collected ingredients inside.
One-by-one he took them out of the bag. Emptying out the vials and bottles into the larger potion. The concoction became a black sludge with each drop. An evil looking mixture.
"Do I ask how you got your sweet soul?" Eren asked. Handing over the final vial to Thanatos.
"We mixed the souls of already dead criminals with a few that I had to kill... Filtering out the remaining essence of their once pure soul..." He trailed off. His face was one of disgust. The man who stood before him now was far different too what Eren first encountered; a humble ramen chief who was nothing but content, a father of two and a husband.
Now, what was in front was a youthful, hair with purple and black, an almost white complexion and deep-set blue eyes. He would sooner pass as a model than a hidden away monster from another realm. Was this his true form? Would Akemi and the kids recognize this new person.
"Drink it." Lucifer passed the large potion to Thanatos, whose hands were shaking at holding the vessel.
The liquid, thick and disgusting looking, one that was sure to taste like the worst thing in the world. The smell of the sludge as bad as it looks, the consistency like that of tar.
"Wait..." Thanatos paused.
"What? Hurry up." Said Eren, wanting to get this over and done with as fast as possible.
"I've invited Akemi and-"
"Oh, so melodramatic, you can show them your new real you." The blonde man cut in. His face showing annoyance. This was a time for action, not theatrics.
"They... They deserve to know the truth." Said Thanatos, taking a deep breath and putting down the potion.
"The truth?" Eren asked curiously.
"Yeah... I've kept a lot from them. They don't even have the slightest clue of my real name, let alone-"
"And if they decide they don't want you? Then what?" Asked the blonde-haired Reaper. His expression showing an almost bored look, but the words had some merit to it. What if Akemi didn't accept this new human Isamu, all his secrets laid bare. A sensible woman would surely go running to the hills.
Akemi might just give him a good ol hiding as well.
"I've already called them." Thanatos added, pulling out a cell phone and showing them a text message. All it said was:
'We need to talk; I'll tell you everything.
Come to the address below.'
"Just drink the dam potion... Shit." Outside; Eren sensed it. With his crows watching Akemi and the kids heading towards the building. Along with 6 officers of the RCU.
"Jun do you have something to hide your face?" He asked the young man, putting on the skull of Malphas.
"No, I don't." Jun said, a little confused by the situation. Eren looked around the abandoned lobby and office.
"Out the back... Stay out of sight."
"Why?"
"The RCU have tagged along." Eren pointed to the windows. The black car pulled up outside and officers of the RCU began to swarm out of it. Akemi was not too far behind, but the look on her face was one of anger. The type of anger to heat up your heart and keep all aspects of winter away.
"I'm sorry master..." Jun looked down. Quickly exiting the scene through the back. He was already known to the RCU, having eyes on him for being connected to the Reaper was not what the two needed.
---
"A fitting place for a black ceremony." Detective Takeshi said, entering the lobby. His black coat was covered in small snowflakes and white puffs escaped with each breath.
"Oi, my man's in trouble I don't want you's stuffing around!" Akemi turned and glared at the captain.
"I assure you Miss Akemi. You did the right thing, contacting the authorities before something could happen to your husband." Captain Shimada came in from behind Takeshi. Aki, Mori, Mai and even Luca. Armed with rifles; more firepower in case of any unknown danger ahead.
"Akemi stand behind us while-"
"I'll lead the way!" She was not having any of it, a scorned wife; would lead the charge into the depths of hell just to give her words of scorn. The very wrath of the gods themselves would not stand in her way. And the same could be said for the officers of the RCU. Standing back and letting her go forward.
"Where is this bastard?" She said, storming up the stairs. Each footstep was more of an earthquake than a stomp.
*Slam*
The door to where Thanatos was at flew open. Lucifer and the Reaper sat by the side as the man himself, Isamu stood to attention at the sudden intrusion.
"Akemi? Thank you for coming. There are things I-"
*Slap*
"What ya think ya doin? Texting me and telling me you need to speak in person. You betta not be leaving me and the kids, or so help me Isamu..." She trailed off, looking at the strange concoction. "Why did ya want to speak in such a shoddy place?"
"Akemi. Please step away from him." Detective Aki ordered. In all her wraith directed toward her husband she failed to even notice the Reaper and the blonde man that sat by the side. The latter was almost falling asleep from boredom. Whilst the other, stared with such an intensity that the RCU officers almost opened fire, but they knew not to provoke the Reaper, not when a civilian was so close.
"Oi, are you the ones that are causing my husband issues?" She glared at them both. Not even flinching at the two beings from beyond.
"Akemi... Their helping me. I'm-"
*Slap*
"Ya go off for days, not telling me anything. Keeping me and the kids worried. Ya better have a good excuse-"
"I'm a Reaper." Thanatos explained. Holding her hands tight together as Akemi prepared to smack her husband once again.
"Yeah, ya told me already, Your former mercenary group."
"No... I'm well, you know the grim reapers? I'm like that; a monster." Said Isamu, eyes of a sapphire blue stared back at her. Slowly she began to see that this was a different mane before her eyes.
"This potion will allow me to be human, So I can be with you and the kids-"
*Slap* *Thwack*
"Are ya lying to me?" An intense stare came from Akemi. Her eyes peering deep into the man before her.
"I've been lying to you ever since we met... But I wanted to tell you the truth. My real name is Thanatos." He replied, hands resting on the hips of Akemi. His expression a mixture of sadness and guilt.
Akemi paused, taking a moment to look at the people who stood by the side. The enormity of it all finally wormed it's way into her mind. A pressure that began to mount within.
"...I'm sorry, Isamu." Akemi said, tears welling up at the edge of her eyes. She retreated past the detectives, leaving Thanatos standing alone in the middle of the room. He took a moment to collect himself, then reached over to the potion.
"You should have just kept your mouth shut. She would have never known the difference."
"Maybe... I… Just don't know anymore."
*Gulp*
A single gulp of the thick, disgusting sludge. The feeling of the liquid was vile. Thick and tar-like. It tasted like a mixture of battery acid, sewerage, and rotten food. It burned the throat and made the skin crawl.
"Hold on. You three are under arrest." Captain Shimada ordered. Pointing at the three reapers in the room. However, they paid no attention to the captain or the officers that pointed guns at them.
Instead, they were focused on Thanatos, who was writhing in pain.
"Ahhh...." Thanatos fell to one knee, potion falling from their hands as they clutched their face.
The black ooze leaked from their mouth, eyes, nose, and ears. Burning the skin and staining the white tiles of the office. The sound of the suffering Reaper filled the room, a wretched cry that echoed through the halls and beyond.
The very soul was being torn apart from itself, ripping, and tearing the essence of a being that should not exist. The agony of the act would drive any normal man mad.
"What's happening to him?" Detective Mori ordered an answer from the two who stood by. Still having his gun trained on Lucifer and the Reaper.
"Ahhhh... *Bleghhhh*... AHHH!"
Thanatos threw up black ooze onto the floor, coughing and wheezing; hands shaking on the cold tile of the floor. He grabbed the potion bottle; coughing up a black viscous liquid into it.
It rolled and moved of its own volition.
'A soul?' Thought Eren, watching as the black liquid slithered around the bottle. The remnants of soul that spent eons in the land of the dead.
"Congratulations Isamu, you are now mortal." Lucifer clapped, taking the bottle and the soul, giving it a little shack.
"Oi blondie. Place that bottle on the ground and place your hands behind your back." Detective Aki said. Gun still raised.
"What for, my dear?" Lucifer asked coyly.
"You are in association with the Reaper. That... thing will be taken in as evidence until we can identify what it is." Aki explained. Slowly stalking her way forward.
"My, my he has told me a bit about you. A tenacious woman, but also very... Stupid. You give blondes everywhere a bad name with such stereotypes." A smile on his face designed to piss anyone off.
"You have three seconds... One-"
"Two..." Lucifer took a step forward.
"Don't do anything stupid or we will open fire-"
"Three..." Another step, the blonde man was now standing before Detective Aki. His eyes staring down, looking at her very soul. The green emeralds of the blonde man seemed to pierce her very being.
*Fwoosh*
Before anyone could react, a black gate appeared. Its abyss sucked all the light and warmth of the room away, replacing it with a feeling of dread and despair.
"Captain..." Detective Mai spoke up. Fear in the tone of her voice. Something was coming through the gate.
A figure in red stepped through; accompanied by two figures in black armour.
"Gabriel..." The Reaper whispered.