Parallel Lines- *RAYOR*

Chapter 1

"What's the purpose of people on earth?"

"Have a quarter-life crisis, pay taxes, get old, and get cremated. It's after that that it gets interesting."

Nicco

I had always thought headaches were for old people who complained about back pains, disabled parking sport and the loss of big blankets to wrap over themselves whilst they groaned in armchairs. But I'm not an old person, and my headaches hurt.

"You're not making it up?" asks Levy sceptically. He doesn't believe most of what I say, but then again, I don't give him much reason to.

"No," I say vehemently. "If you had to deal with it, you wouldn't say that."

Levy patiently waits for me to finish my tirade before saying, "If I had to deal with it, I'm pretty sure Mum would believe me."

"She's barely at home anyways," I say. And it isn't a sullen comment. It's just true. Feels like Aster is our 'mother' now.

"She still loves us," says Levy in that stupid 'I'm better than you' voice. "And-"

"I didn't say anything," I interrupt, and don't feel at all bad about it. I shrug. It doesn't bother me, it's just Aster that's bothered. But I like Aster, and I wanna keep on good terms with Blake. So I don't say anything.

"Gabriel's going to come reap with us."

"Why? I don't need a mentor," I say scornfully. At least, I try to be. It comes out sort of like how a bully who tries to make a guy who's a foot taller than him cry, but ends up making him laugh instead.

"We're helping him," says Levy.

"I thought he was just lounging around the palace all day," I say.

"Well, he has to do something," says Levy. "And lounging around in a palace isn't very productive." He laughs at my confused expression.

I'm the dominant twin. I know it. Because Levy is too frightened to cut into my sentences, and he's the one the adults trust. We look the same, but his personality was made from the mould of mine into a weaker version. He'll do anything for me.

And I'm good with it that way.

"Well, Gabriel's gonna have a hard time of it," I say, obviously sarcastic. A knock comes at the door. I look at the clock. Eight. Of course, the clock was only accurate in the Underworld; mostly we use the sun and the stars to tell us how far into the day it is, because it doesn't help at all with the timings of the reaping. "I'll get it," I say, knowing it's Gabriel.

It's not just him. It's him and Blake.

"Blake!" I say happily. I've seen as much of Blake as I have Aster. Aster is away right now. He did a night shift, which annoyed me because I have a fairly good relationship with him. Or as good as I can with my personality, anyway. But he's used to being squashed by Blake.

"Hello, Nicco," says Blake. She knows that it's me from how happy I am at her appearance. I like Blake a lot. You could say that she's my role model, but she doesn't care much to talk with me. Once a girl said that I was good in small doses, but I was too bouncy and bright and happy to tolerate full-time. Everyone who meets Levy likes his quiet personality.

It was then that I see Gabriel. He looked around twelve, but I knew that looks didn't do much, because reapers were frozen at the prime of their self. But still, weariness could wear some of that youth away.

Gabriel looks worried. His dark eyebrows, startling against his pale skin, were drawn together. He has messy dark hair and dark eyes, oddly old for his age. A melancholy sort of beauty, and an aura of quiet power, exacerbated by his wings, which he had inherited from Death himself.