Mutual Friends of Death (Undertaker Romance)

An Intriguing Explanation

A/N Enjoy!

To say Undertaker was nervous was a bit of an understatement. He was downright scared when he saw the furious demon waiting for him, enough so, that he had to consciously prevent himself from summoning his death scythe. He tried not to let it show too much, however, by placing a small smile on his face. This was a mistake as it only served to annoy Raduriel further. Her eyes began to glow slightly as silver smoke curled around her fists. She glared at him and growled.

"You had better start explaining things quickly, Undertaker. What was Sebastian talking about?" Undertaker let out a nervous chuckle and clasped his hands together.

~Now, now, Raduriel. Please, calm down a little bit. I'm sure it's not as bad as what you think.~ His decision to not start explaining immediately was a bad one, indeed. She quickly slammed him into the wall and held him there with one hand. Her eyes glowed a little brighter as the gold faded completely into silver. She held up a hand and placed it close enough for him to be able to see, through the fog surrounding it, that razor sharp claws had replaced her human-like nails. His eyes flicked from her claws back to her face in time to see her canines slowly elongate into fangs and the rest of her teeth sharpen as well. He swallowed before speaking in a non-threatening manner.

~Please, Raduriel. I promise I will answer your questions as soon as I find the words to do so. I just ask that you release me and stop making me think that my life is in danger.~ She glared at him for a few moments more before taking a few steps back along with a couple deep breaths. Her appearance returned to normal, though he noticed a bit of silver remained in her eyes to warn him that her anger was still simmering below the surface. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow before motioning with her hand for him to get on with his explanation for her patience was wearing thin. He scratched his head as he searched for words.

~I should probably start by asking for you to hold your questions until after I've finished my story. I'm rather sure you'll probably have questions since, from what I understand, you don't remember having any sort of interaction with me before your servant, Mastema I believe, led you here.~ She slowly nodded when he paused to make sure she agreed with his request. He then continued speaking.

~When you entered my shop for the very first time, you were alone and rather confused. Your appearance was different as well. You had come into my shop in order to seek shelter from the storm. You were soaked to the bone and shivering, so I took you in. As I was showing you the place, however, you fainted. I panicked a little bit, but I took care of you. Luckily I have quite a bit of experience from getting my guests ready for their biggest days, so I was able to change you into dry clothes with my eyes closed. I figured you would not wish for a stranger to see you in such a vulnerable state without your permission, and found that I was correct a few days later once you finally woke again. You were rather upset with me until I explained that I hadn't seen anything. Since I didn't have any clothes suitable for you to wear, I asked a friend of mine to take you shopping. During your little trip, the two of you encountered Sebastian. Apparently, you did not recognize him, but it did trigger something because your eyes changed color.~ She opened her mouth to interrupt him, a bit of confusion showing on her face, but he raised a hand to stop her.

~I'm sorry, but I would like to finish before you ask your questions.~ She nodded and sat down on the bed. He noticed that her eyes were once again fully gold, which caused him to relax a little more. She watched him intently as he continued his story.

~Soon after, two of your... servants, I believe?, arrived. One attempted to help you by using magic on your mind while the other did not really do anything useful as far as I know. The one mentioned that you had some sort of mental block that caused you to lose your memories. Apparently, she was able to remove most of it, but some of it simply moved to cover the memories of your time here. It was agreed upon that telling you all of this right away, or simply having you wake up here would be rather startling, so I let them take you back to wherever you all live under the condition that your servant would find some way to introduce you to me once again. That is why she brought you here that one day.~ He nodded a few times before grinning a little uneasily in Raduriel's direction and motioning to her with his hands.

~That is what the butler was talking about.~ She nodded a few times as she thought over the story. Her face showed a bit of confusion when she asked her first question.

"I believe you mentioned that I looked different when I first arrived at your door. What did I look like and how did my eyes change after my first encounter with Sebastian?" Undertaker scratched the back of his head as he thought of all the differences between Amelia and the woman before him.

~Let's see... You were a couple inches shorter, your hair was a pure white and also quite a bit shorter. It framed your jawline as the longest. Um... your eyes were violet. You looked almost frail, and you were rather skittish. Except for a few instances. There were a couple of times where it was clear no one should stand in your way. Yet even though you were a bit childlike in appearance, your presence... you seemed much older and wise.~ Her face became more and more pale as he described her appearance. He tilted his head and his grin faded into a look of concern.

~Are you alright, Raduriel?~ She seemed a little surprised by his question and quickly looked up at him before looking back down towards the floor. She looked incredibly confused.

"I just... I don't understand. Why? Why would I be in that form?" She muttered something under her breath that he could not hear as silver smoke slowly engulfed her. He took a few steps towards her, worried about her condition, but the smoke soon faded. It dissipated to reveal the Amelia he recognized. She opened her eyes and saw his expression of complete recognition and knew for certain that this was the form he had described. Only one trait was different.

~Your eyes, they are still gold.~ She slowly nodded and turned her face to the side.

"I know. It is difficult to change the color of one's eyes since they are the main trait that shows what we truly are. Which makes it all the more confusing for my eyes to have been that color." Her voice became so quiet that he almost missed what she said next.

"To have been the way they once were." She stood quickly and returned to the appearance he had become used to seeing recently, the silver smoke covering her only briefly. He tilted his head to the side.

~Does that happen every time you use magic?~ She turned back towards him.

"Does what?"

~The silver smoke. Does that appear every time you use magic?~ She thought for a few moments.

"It appears upon or around whatever I'm using my magic on, yes."

~Then, why is yours silver? The other demons, your servants, had black smoke surround them when they disappeared.~ She shook her head and waved his question away.

"That does not matter at this time. Thank you for explaining, Undertaker. I do appreciate it, but I feel I must go. I need to talk to the others and figure out exactly what is going on." He nodded slowly, not wanting to push his luck too much farther than what he already had today.

~Alright, we shall discuss your payment on a later date. I wish you luck, Lady Raduriel.~ She blinked a few times, unused to him using her title before she shook her head and disappeared. He sighed and rubbed his face as he moved to sit down on the bed.

~That woman is going to be the death of me. Either she's going to kill me herself, or the stress that follows her will.~