november 24, 2019.  

Serena tossed and turned in her sleep feeling restless. Just as she awoke while turning she fell off of the sofa. Embracing for the fall, it never came. Serena didn't realized she had closed her eyes shut and opened them a moment later. She glanced around her setting and realized she was in the Underworld. More specifically, she was in the half-dark and half-light Goddess of Nightmares' room, Melinoe.

"Ah, Reaper V, so good of you to visit me."

Melinoe's voice greeted the grim reaper as Reaper Serena stood and faced the goddess whom was eating a pomegranate.

"Melinoe, a pleasure to be here in your highness presence."

She cast a smile while trying to not be blinded by Melinoe's shimmering golden dress white muttering the last part.

"Even though I had no idea I was coming here in the first."

The goddess chuckled before offering the eaten fruit towards the reaper.

"Pomegrante?"

"Are you planning to hold me captive afterwards?"

"No. Unless you want to, Cupid Reaper."

"No thanks."

Melione chuckled again as she set aside the fruit, grabbed some documents, and glided over to the reaper to hand over the two gray files.

"Oh? You're handing out assignments, too?"

"Well, not of my own choosing, but I needed some other things to do besides help my parents rule the Underworld."

"I see."

"That's beside the point. The point for you, Reaper V, is that you've dealt with these two people from earlier and so it's just proper to assigned the two of them to you."

Grim Reaper Serena's brows furrowed as she opened the files to skim the contents. The first one was for the wandering spirit, Patricia Good. The other was of her friend, Courtney Park. She cast Melinoe a puzzled look as the goddess spoke.

"Patricia Good's soul is ready whenever the deal you made with her for her friend, Courtney Park, is complete."

"I see."

"Is that all you're going to respond with, darling?"

"I mean, yeah. Not sure what you want me to say."

Melinoe wasn't amused and Grim Reaper Serena thought of something.

"Okay, so what do you have to do with this soul seeking job?"

Melinoe smirked a wicked smile.

"I bring nightmares and fear, my darling. When I walk the earth a trail of ghostly figures trail after me releasing cries of anguish, regrets, fears, and all relations in their wake."

Grim Reaper Serena still had no idea where she was going with this.

"Darling, I'm doing this so that you will be able to enter Courtney Park's dreams to wake her. If she does not, then her soul will unfortunately be claimed by the Infernal Realm and Patricia's foolishness will be for naught."

"Oh."

Melinoe eyed her. The grim reaper shot her a small smile.

"Um, I mean, uh, that's horrible if that were to happen. Since I'm being assigned to them despite Patricia's soul having been roaming for a while now, correct?"

"Yes, Patricia's soul can be fetched once her wish is complete. Unless, the wish is unable to be fulfilled her end of the bargain is still intact."

"But...?"

"Courtney's in-between life and death with her own will to maintain on this seesaw she set herself upon. Courtney Park wants to be free, but she won't allow herself as she's undediced. I need you to help her choose to live again or died. Either way is fine."

Grim Reaper Serena eyed her.

"Okay, fine. Alive on your end."

"Okay, but how do I do that?"

"As of right now, you'll need to wake her from her slumber."

"You want me to give her a kiss?"

Melinoe chuckled.

"Perhaps, but you're not her True Love's Kiss, so it won't work."

"Oh. So then, how I am supposed to enter her dreams?"

"You're already a dream walker, darling. Have you not known that?"

"No, Melinoe, I have not."

The goddess sighed exasperately and Grim Reaper Serena wondered if she should have just kept to herself.

"Anyways, you wouldn't want my sleeping dust as they're for nightmares and that's not what you want for Courtney Park. Hmm, I would suggest for you to visit Morpheus or Niorun. Actually, go see Breksta. She's fitting for the situation. Yes, darling. Breksta."

Before the reaper could ask where she could locate Breksta, she was swooshed away. The grim reaper found herself in Breskta's room in another part of the Underworld.

"Hello, Reaper V. Having fun?"

Breksta chuckled while playing with a pouch of her sleeping dream dust.

"Not really."

The grim reaper grumbled a bit, but glanced at the goddess.

"Um, Mel-"

Breksta interrupted her while tossing the pouch of dream dust towards her. Grim Reaper Serena caught the small bag.

"She already informed me of you quest, but there you go, my love. If you need more, then just send Nerok to fetch more for you. I love that little guy and I hardly ever give away my dust to anyone unless necessary."

"Alright, thank you. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome.:

"Um, so why am I tasked with doing this?"

"Because you're the lovely Cupid Reaper."

"That doesn't really answer anything though."

"Hmm, I guess you'll be left as a mysterious creature now, won't you?"

Grim Reaper Serena really should've just kept shut as Breskta chuckled.

"I'm just joking, love. Us immortals really have nothing else to do except make the situation as light-hearted as possible."

"Right. Anyways, do I go about this like a cupid would do or that of a grim reaper?"

"More like a cupid than a grim reaper since you want to wake her from her slumber and not pulled her further into deep sleep. Sprinkle a bit over the dreamer, the subconscious of the dreamer will take over, and you just need to observe that it doesn't go into Nightmare Mode. Hmm, I would say, the best time is just before midnight."

"How can I tell if it's nearing Nightmare Mode or not?"

"It isn't peaceful witnessing them squirm."

"Oh, okay, thank you, Breskta."

"No problem, my love. Anything else?"

"Does the magic depend on how much is use or not?"

"Definitely depends on how much is used with each session. Just a little will get the job done steadily. Whereas if you used more than you should it'll tipped things differently."

"I see. Which means closer to Nightmare Mode, yes?"

"Something like that."

"Okay, well, thank you again."

"You're welcome. Toodles."

And the reaper was swooshed away once more, but back into her own home. She groaned while placing the items onto the table.

"I have no idea how many has not witnessed any of my unexplainable returns when this happens out in public."

Serena sighed and checked the time. it was a little past five in the morning. She walked to her room to sleep again and would worried about the rest of it later. Not more than ten minutes has passed that she found herself free-falling in her sleep. Serena awoke thinking to be in bed, but instead seated in one large comfy chair and in her grim reaper uniform in one of the Grim Reaper Station's conference rooms. She groaned while she flopped her upper body onto the surface of the table to catch a nap before the meeting began. It was short-lived when she felt someone poke her side several times.

"I swear, Kanshu, if it's you then I'm gonna push you in front of the bus again."

Reaper Serena threatened in a muttering tone with her face still against the table and not bothering to check if it was the death watcher or not. She heard a male chuckle and turned to see that it was another reaper, Toop, who had poked her earlier.

"I thought by now you would've figured out that we won't die from such mortal incidents."

Toop propped an elbow on to the table and rested his chin upon it while smiling at Grim Reaper Serena.

"Were you asleep before being summoned?"

"Yes, and quite peacefully might I add." She responded with a yawn as she sat upright.

"How about giving up your triple life and just becoming a full-fledged grim reaper?"

"No, thanks. I'm sti-"

Toop interrupted her while repeating the words that she always gave him as her reasoning.

"-still waiting on my sister."

Toop rolled his eyes.

"I remember, but I still suggest for you to cross over. Your sister, too. Isn't it boring being a human though?"

"Not really. Isn't it boring being an immortal?"

"Not really."

He eyed his fellow grim reaper with a grin.

"But who knows, one day I may end up as a mere mortal."

"I doubt you'll make it as one in the end."

"Wow, that's rude."

Grim Reaper Serena shot him a grin just as Lucifer's booming voice announced his own presence and everyone turned towards the front.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen." Lucifer greeted as he sat at the head of the table upon his throne with a large grin.

He went about their usual discussion and updates before moving on to the last bit of the meeting consisting of assigning the reapers with their missions by Lilith. Grim Reaper Serena hardly received her missions during the meetings as Kanshu always gave them to her at all hours of the day. So Reaper Serena used to wondered why she even had to come to these midnight meetings, but later gave up and just went with it. Still though it got her curious and before she could ask Toop about the subject, Lilith's voice interrupted her.

"Here's our latest user, TianTianYaYa17, on our REAPER CORRESPONDENCE site. The user signed up a few hours ago."

Lilith announced upon Tianya's account profile popping up on the holographic screen for everyone to view.

"She's quite pretty judging by her picture, but in all honestly she's really bland in personality."

There were some murmurs before Lilith continued.

"TianTianYaYa17's real name is Tianya Fang. She's in her thirties and was born on the seventeenth of July. Height, one sixty-eight centimeters. Weight, forty-eight kilograms. She's a blood type O. Her Zodiac signs are the Cancer and the Dragon."

Lilith read out Tianya's basic information before moving on to the real reason.

"This pitiful mortal officially got her heart broken by her scumbag of a cheating boyfriend of four years."

The others began mumbling comments about Tianya's situation while Reaper Serena began to doze off feeling extremely sleepy for some odd reason before Lilith spoke again.

"One very major thing to note about this case is that none of us in Infernal Realm had sent Tianya Fang an invite to access the REAPER CORRESPONDENCE. Yue Lao of the Celestial Realm took pity on this silly woman and decided upon himself to meddle a little bit in her pitiful love life while leaving the rest to the Grim Reaper Station to deal with."

Lilith's gaze looked about the room at the other reapers and death watchers.

"Who would like to take TianTianYaYa17's revenge as their own?"

A lot of hands went up, but Lilith's eyes landed on the sleeping Grim Reaper Serena. Knowing that the Cupid Reaper had already received two assignments earlier, but still believing she needed more a smirk appeared on Lilith's lips as she slammed her hands on the table which sent vibrations in the female's direction to jolt her wide awake.

"Hmm?"

Grim Reaper Serena hummed sleepily while looking about the room casually.

"Congratulations, Reaper V, you have been assigned to TianTianYaYa17's case."

Lilith congratulated while snapping her fingers to make a black file appear in front of the said grim reaper.

"Wait, what?" Reaper Serena stared at the floating file before her.

"Why?"

Before Grim Reaper Serena could protest, Lucifer moved on to the next person and she reluctantly grasped the file into her hand. Toop laughed beside her and she elbowed him, but that barely did anything as he snickered to himself. Just as Grim Reaper Serena was about to make a snarky remark she felt herself forward and she was back in her bed. She felt wonky, but came to her senses. Serena checked the time and saw that it was now seven in the morning. She messaged Mint that she wouldn't be in at all and wished her luck at her gelateria before putting her phone away and saw a carton of classic milk tea on the night stand.

"This is perfect right now."

She happily drank the cool drink before lying on her bed. Serena slowly breathed in and out to calm her heart and mind so she could fall asleep quicker after such an eventful function.  Just as she settled into a rhythm did she become alert when she heard the vibration of her mobile device buzzing. She lazily eyed the item wondering if it was worth it. Serena leaned overd with a groan to grab the cellular