Ghost in the Machine (Undertaker x Female Reader)

Interlude in a public house.

"WillLlllLlliiaAAammmMmm! How COULD you?!"

The wailings of the redheaded reaper easily drew the attention of the patrons milling around the establishment, floating over the buzz of early-evening gatherings and the clatter of tableware. William bristled, albeit almost unnoticeably, and growled at Grell across the table. "Sutcliffe, lower your voice; your whining is making people stare."

Grell's cries shrank back down to angry mutterings laced with dramatic sniffles. "I can't believe that you didn't only NOT catch me, but actually tried to dodge out of the way!"

"How was I to expect that he was going to use you as a projectile? Certainly, even if he did manage to grab you and hurl you at me—shame on you for not being quick enough to avoid that—I certainly wasn't going to bother with you when the whole thing was his bid to get away." William tsked as he neatly cut himself a bite of ham. "Of course, shame on me as well for not being able to avoid your legs entirely, or otherwise he might not have been successful."

Grell leaned her jaw on one fist, her elbow upon the table. "Now you hate my limbs, too," she moaned.

"You're being ridiculous. What's done is done and we need to take this chance to maintain our stamina." William pushed Grell's own meal at her across the table. "Eat; you'll need it for all the extra time we'll have to put in."

Grell stabbed a piece of stew meat with her fork. "I have to say, I still empathize with the lady, but she's starting to be a lot of trouble." She chewed vindictively, sulking at her plate. "I was looking forward to carriage rides, gossip, and trading gowns, not ruining my nails."

William sipped at his tea. "I'm not sure what you think our job actually is, Sutcliffe, but she certainly would be as obligated as you are to perform the duties of a reaper, and perhaps even more intensely so in her case."

"Why? I know headquarters was keen on finding her, but she'd be one of many ladies in her department."

"That's just the thing." William set his cup down on its saucer and steepled his fingers in front of himself. He lowered his voice so that Grell had to strain to hear him. "She's one female reaper, but worth at least one hundred of them."

Grell dropped her fork onto the tabletop, a delivery of cut potato interrupted on its way to her open mouth. "Wait...what are you saying? I know who Her Grace is, but how does that make her that skilled?!"

William shook his head. "It doesn't, really. Nobility has nothing to do with what she's capable of. However—" He carefully folded his napkin and placed it on the table. "—it has everything to do with how she came to be a reaper."

• —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– •

My apologies for not updating in a while; I haven't been feeling well and haven't had the energy to put into writing. I'm hoping this will get me going again, and really, this short detour was needed anyway to fill in some blanks about the last chapter (because I'm not a fan of stories who gloss over how someone got out of some predicament or another).

I do have the next part outlined, but since it will certainly be a longer chapter, please stay tuned while I flesh it out into its final form. Thank you for reading!