The Grey Truth

The Grey Truth: Chapter Nine

A couple of hours after making the decision that Josephine would spend the night with Grell, the two had arrived at the red-clad man's apartment. Upon entering, Josephine was surprised to see that, at least the living room, wasn't a cluttered mess as she had thought it would have been. Grell had led her to a red-furnished guestroom, which was very similar to the room she had at William's apartment, the only difference was that everything that was black in the room at Will's apartment was red, and the white of the pillows and sheets beneath the covers was instead black.

"Well, what do you want to do?" Grell questioned after he was sure Josephine was settled.

The girl didn't know what to say. She barely knew herself, not anymore, at least. She didn't know much of her likes or dislikes, her hobbies, nothing. For all she knew, her mind could be the exact opposite of what it had been years ago. After several moments of silence, Grell spoke up.

"I was originally planning to go do some shopping in the living world if you would like to come with. Shops here are all the same, dull and boring," the redhead suggested.

"In the living world? But, according to the Recruit Shinigami Handbook, section seven, page five, paragraph two, recruits are restricted from going into the living world," Josephine said.

"You are so much like my darling William, always following the rules, but the section also states that if a recruit is accompanied by a fully-graduated shinigami, access to the living world is permitted," Grell stated, and Josephine knew she had been beaten with her own card.

About half an hour later, the pair were in the living world, in London. Josephine had changed out of her recruit uniform into something of her own design. The girl was now wearing a white blouse with a rounded collar, a black vest, black pants, black ankle boots, and a black leather cap, a dark green blazer completing the outfit. Grell was in his usual white shirt, black vest and pants, and his red coat slung off his shoulders.

The pair ventured into several of the stores, and after several hours, finding nothing of interest, except for a few dresses that Grell had thought would look wonderful on Josephine, as well as a few for himself (which at purchase, he claimed they were for his wife), the two went back to Grell's apartment, both going into the bedrooms.

After dinner that night, Josephine was sketching in the guestroom when Grell came in. She didn't even look up from her drawing or say anything. The red reaper drew closer, his high-heeled ankle boots clicking with each step. The man leaned against the wall by the desk, catching the girl's attention, causing her to look up from her drawing.

"Will told me to talk to you about your, uh...," Grell began, though he couldn't quite think of how to word the end of his statement.

"I figured," Josephine replied.

"So, you know that both of us did at some point, and mostly why. Could you tell me why you've taken to the blade?" the man asked.

"A number of things have driven me. Stress being the main factor. And then there's the fact I've got no friends to speak of, as well as everyday pressure from my peers, who act nothing like up-and-coming shinigami," the girl answered.

Grell nodded a bit, knowing that this was more information than he and William had gotten in the past. When he looked back at the girl, the redhead knew right away that she was doing her best not to fall asleep. Years of working with Will had allowed Grell to learn to read the most subtle hints of emotion in another's eyes.

"Get some rest, Josephine. We'll have some breakfast in the morning, then I'll take you back to Will's," he said, and left the room with a quiet 'good-night'.

Although her injuries from her parent's attack months ago had healed, and she now knew they couldn't get to her, Josephine still had nightmares. William knew about them, of course, he was the one who would comfort Josephine when she woke up screaming in the middle of the night. But Grell, he didn't know about them. The redhead didn't know that the cold girl would often wake up with tears streaking her pale face. He didn't know that more often than not, Josephine would actually be afraid to go to bed because of her dreams, no matter how tired she was.