To Judge A Soul

Prologue

As the elevator doors slowly began to close, a hand reached out to stop it. This one action captivated Chiyuki. This one action Decim was never supposed to be able to commit because he was incapable of, became possible. It broke the rules of arbiters having human emotion. He could feel no emotion, and yet, he felt love for her.

"Chiyuki...I apologize for the interruption..."

"Decim? It's going to be okay." Chiyuki looked at Decim in surprise, and then smiled. Decim could no longer suppress his love for her. He grabbed her arm and embraced her. Her raven hair swayed with her body as she fell against Decim. Tears of joy filled her magenta eyes and he pulled away after a lingering moment. He gazed into her eyes and then, in that brief moment in time, his lips gently brushed against her own and they shared an intimate moment, that was surely fleeting.

"Chiyuki, I am sorry. I do not wish for you to go, but that would be selfish of me." He shook his white hair and looked at her in a deep regret with his bright bluish-teal colored eyes adorned with the arbiter cross.

"Decim, it'll be okay." Chiyuki put a hand to his cheek and lightly stroked it. She kissed his other cheek and then receded back into the elevator.

"Don't forget me, okay?" She winked at him and chuckled slightly with a heartwarming grin. Decim looked at her with sorrowful eyes and simply replied, "Never." The elevator doors begun to close once more. This time, they were not interrupted.

However, through the sliver that remained between the two, Decim smiled a natural smile, the first Chiyuki had seen. Chiyuki mouthed the words, "I love you" and gave him the biggest, brightest smile with tears streaming down her face; then, she was gone forever. She was sent back to the world to be reincarnated. She was no longer dead, because she would return again to the world, to begin anew.

As Decim struggled to stay strong and to keep his composure, he gazed at the shut door and said, "Farewell." Decim thought of the time he spent with Chiyuki. She changed him, but she also changed everything. Their encounter sent ripples into the arbiter world. Things started to topple out of place, and this happening sent things amiss within the system. However, this might have been for the better. Nona had sensed this change and rebelled against the system. This caused a shift in the way arbiters thought about judging souls. They wondered if the way they had done things before only created darkness within a person. They continued down the road of inquiry, and the outlook was that of stained walls covered with blood, and anguish in the hearts of the enforcers.