Translations will be written in [italic]. If I made a mistake in my translations, please let me know.

Noel held her hand tightly as she laid in the hospital bed gasping for air. Her family surrounded us and sobbed as the priest read prayers from the bible in Spanish.

I lightly placed my hand on her shoulder, "Señora Echeverria ¿Estás lista para ir?" [Mrs. Echeverria, are you ready to go?]

She looked up at me and smiled as she attempted to breathe, "¿Cuánto mas podemos esperar?" [How much longer can we wait?]

I pulled my sleeve up to expose my watch, "Diez minutos." [Ten minutes.]

She nodded and looked toward the door where her daughter was on the phone, "Esperaremos entonces." [We'll wait then.]

Noel lowered his head slightly, "Are you in any pain ma'am?"

He became confused when she didn't respond to him and looked up at me questioning if he said something wrong. I pointed at my language choker and watched as embarrassment washed over his face once he realized that he, once again, put the choker on backwards. As he fixed the language choker, I heard movement from the door and turned around to see Mrs. Echeverria's daughter hung up the phone with a distraught look.

She walked to her mother and kissed her on the forehead, causing my and Noel's bodies to waver as she moved through us, "Lo siento mamá, no creo que él venga." [I'm sorry mom, I don't think he's coming.]

She held a hand up to her daughter's face, "No lo estés. Está bien." [Don't be. Its okay.]

After fixing the choker, Noel placed his other hand over hers, "¿Tiene algún dolor, señora?" [Are you in any pain ma'am?]

She lowered her hand, placed it over her heart and took a deep breath, "No."

Noel smiled softly, "Eso es bueno. Vuelvo enseguida, si le parece bien, señora." [That's good. I'll be right back if that's okay with you, miss.]

She hesitantly let go of his hand, "Por supuesto." [Of course]

He removed his hands and stood upright. I shot him a questioning look as he moved the middle piece of the choker to the side of his neck, "I have a feeling her son is near here. I want to run and check to see if we have enough time before we have to take her. Maybe you can stall if we run out of time before I come back?"

I sighed and checked my watch, "We have five minutes left. Hurry up and run, I'll do my best."

Without saying anything else, he ran out of the hospital room and to the stairs. I hope he can find him.

"Tu hijo es tan dulce." [Your son is so sweet.]

I smiled at her, "Lo es, gracias." [He is, thank you.]

She smiled and looked toward the door again, "Me recuerda al mío cuando tenía esa edad." [Reminds me of my own when he was that age.]

Her breathing became hollow and slower, causing her to gasp more and more as the priest finished reading his verse. I quickly checked my watch and noticed that her time finished. No, no, no!

I slowly pushed my hands into her chest, feeling as they passed through flesh, muscles, and bones. I grabbed her heart and began to massage it, forcing it to continue pumping.

She grasped my arm and panted, "¿Qué. Están. Haciendo?" [What. Are. You. Doing?]

Where the hell is he? I glanced toward the window to see Noel running down the hall pushing a man to the room.

"Lo siento señora, pero alguien viene a verla." [I'm sorry ma'am but there's someone coming to see you.]

She looked toward the door just as her son was pushed in and fell to the side of her hospital bed, out of breath. He grabbed her hand and placed his forehead on the back of her hand, tears streaming down as he muttered his apologies.

She used her other hand and ran her fingers through his hair, "Está bien. Ambos nos equivocamos al ignorar los problemas entre nosotros. Me tengo que ir pero quiero que sepas que te amo." [It's okay. We both were wrong for ignoring the issues in-between us. I have to go but I want you to know that I love you.]

Her son threw his body over hers and held her close, causing my arm to flicker and miss a beat.

He cried out as the monitor beeped in monotone loudly, "Te amo, mama." [I love you, mom.]

Her soul appeared behind me and patted my shoulder as she walked toward Noel, "Es hora de ir." [It's time to go.]

Once we reached the van, Noel helped her into the backseat and made sure the others were comfortable, "¿Todos listos para ir?" [Everyone ready to go?]

They all yelled to him, "¡Sí!" [Yes!]

He closed the door and jumped into the passenger seat, "¡Vamos!" [Let's go!]

As I began to drive toward the purgatory gates, Noel went through roll call to make sure we got everyone. Four souls for me and six for him. Every soul we grabbed today was someone who was ready and waiting for death to come to them. The thought that one day they'll disappear didn't frighten them one bit because they knew nothing could hurt worse than continuing on in pain and watching their loved ones cry over them everyday.

I'm not sure if my kids had to watch me as I passed on because for some reason that part of their memory string is completely gone. I don't know if I died in a hospital like Mrs. Echeverria or at home like Mr. Sosa, all I could hope was that they're no longer in pain and that my death wasn't traumatic for them.

"V! Are you listening to me? Your phone won't stop ringing," Noel poked my arm roughly, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Who is it?"

"It's Ace," he responded nervously, passing me the phone.

"Why is she call- Oh shit!"

I fumbled to answer my phone and gulped roughly, "Ace, I am so sorry! I promise you that I am on my way." Checking the GPS, it read that we were ten minutes away from the gates.

"V, I needed you here at ten-thirty on the dot. Not whatever time you decide," her tone was laced with annoyance, causing me to shift in the seat uncomfortably.

"Yes, I completely understand Ace. I deeply apologize but I can still make it on time if you just give me a couple more minutes."

She gave a loud and long sigh, "You are so lucky to have me. Fine! If you get to the parking lot in less than 10 minutes, you can still go on this ride-along. You won't have any time to go over and get familiar with everything in the arsenal like I wanted you to nor do you have time to make your own plan so we'll go with whatever plan I make up. I'll fill you in if you get here on time."

"Thank you! I wil-" The phone clicked letting me know that the call had ended.

"Fuck!" I screamed as I banged on the wheel and stepped on the gas.

"¡Agárrense todos!" [Hold on tight everyone!] Noel screamed as he grabbed onto the handle above the door causing everyone to do the same.

* * *

I was able to make it to the parking lot of the office in six minutes, quickly jumping out of the van and Noel switching into the driver's seat, taking the ten souls back to the office and to the fourth floor for sorting.

As soon as I exited the van, it was very easy to spot the tall pale woman in all black leaning on top of her car. I ran over to her as fast as I could while waving to get her attention, "Ace! I'm here!"

Not turning around, she began to slowly clap her hands, "Good job! For the most part, it seems like you can listen to instructions. If you're ever late again, I'll make sure you never go on another ride-along again. Remember, I'm only your friend outside of work and do not take advantage of that. Now get in the car, I'm driving while you read these files and listen to me yap some more."

She slid a thick vanilla file across the hood of the car toward me as she got into the driver's seat and slammed the door. I swiftly caught the file and opened the passenger door, hopping into the seat as I held the file close and gently closing the door beside me.

She grabbed her sunglasses from the middle console, hiding her wrinkled green eyes, "Pass me your ID." She demanded, holding her hand out toward me. I do as told as quickly as possible and shuffled through my purse for my work ID.

"Hurry, hurry," she chanted. Once I found it, I passed it to her and she smirked. "Such a cute picture," she said as she started the car.

I cringed at the thought of the picture. It had been taken on my first day of being promoted to a red star and the only person who gave me the time of day to help me was Meek. I remembered the excitement I felt when my old ID scanned and allowed me to press the button to the sixth floor. I also remembered how terrified I was when the elevator doors opened to show a floor covered in the unforgiving color, red. There wasn't a spot without the color splashed onto it. The walls, the floor, the electronics, and even people's clothes were completely infected by it. The only odd colored things were the desks and chairs, those were in black, and me. I was still dressed in all white as if I was back at the beginning rank, this earned me all types of stares and glares as I walked off the elevator.

Pam had quickly welcomed me from behind the front desk and handed me a paper that included my login for the computer, desk number, and a quick guide to how the programs on the computer worked before she proceeded to take calls and type away on her computer. Meek had taken notice of this and devised his plan to help me because at the time, he was working to be promoted to head of janitorial services and helping out the newbie on his assigned floor surely looked good.

He showed me the ins and outs of the red floor, telling me about everyone and explaining the unspoken rules they had. We surprisingly had a good time until he noticed my ID still had me in my all white uniform. He then dragged me to the photo station, despite my begging not to, threw his black jacket over my white clothes and told me to smile.

"V, have you read the files yet? We're near the gate," she snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Uh, sure did," I lied.

I quickly opened the file and began skimming through the numerous papers. Zeke Bianchi was one of the most notorious gang leaders in Jagat but known in purgatory as a nuisance. Each page was filled with explanation after explanation of all the times he cheated death, which was mostly achieved by waving his money, and all the things he's done so far that would affect his judgment, all were horrible.

He's gonna go straight to hell once we catch him. The way he treats others is completely-

"Disgusting, isn't he?" Ace asked.

I slammed the hefty file close, "Absolutely! I don't understand how he's still alive."

She slowly pulled up in front of two giant golden gates as she opened her window. Two tall people wearing gold armor stood in front of the gates, using their long white spears to block the car. These two were known as the Divine Knights, they regulated the reapers who left purgatory to go to Jagat and whoever didn't come back before curfew they hunted down. As far as everyone knew, no reaper has dared to disobey our given curfew so the punishment is still unknown.

The one to the left approached the car, "IDs." The deep voice demanded. Without hesitation and eyes focused on the gats, Ace passed the two IDs.

"You," they pointed their spear at Ace. "Name, rank, and occupation."

Her hand gripped the steering wheel tightly as she clenched her jaw, "Aubry Adams. Black star, reaper."

"You," they shifted the spear to point at me.

"Viviana Maxwell. Red star, reaper."

"Destination?"

"Manhattan, New York," she answered coldly.

"Good luck out there," they passed our IDs to Ace and then walked back to their post at the gate. The two placed their unoccupied hand onto the gates and it began to glow as they pushed it open with ease.

Once Ace drove through the gates, we were engulfed in white. I squinted my eyes and Ace scoffed, "Forgot your sunglasses again?"

"Well I was rushing and didn't have time to stop by my car," I mumbled.

"Heard that and not my problem," her phone began to ring and she glanced at it. "Perfect," she tapped on the screen. "The chart was right, he did die today. You didn't get to see the chart so I'll quickly explain what it is, pay attention. When you input someone's name, you're able to see the names of those close to them and their estimated time of death. A quicker and more up to date file if you will. When you press on a name from that list, you get the same information but about that person. So the list of names and time of death. You also have the option to link any Giva to your phone," she passed me her phone. It lit up with an alert that Bobby Zaccardi had just died with a location and a live video. She pointed at the video of the man lying on the floor covered in blood, "Zeke's right hand, Bobby, just died in a back alley and no one has noticed yet. We're going to use that to our advantage to finally get this motherfucker."

"Was Bobby m-m-"

"Murdered? Yes he was."

Ace continued driving as she explained her plan to finally get Zeke's soul. When we finally got out of the white abyss, we landed in the back parking lot of a convenience store. From there she parked the car and we ran to the alley where we were able to retrieve Bobby's soul and locked him in the back seat of the car. We quickly began to set up his corpse while we went over the plan once more before actually putting it into motion.

・┈・┈・┈・┈・┈・┈・┈・┈・

Preptober is insane and I'm behind. No surprise there

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Till next time ✌🏼💕