A/N: Rose is a YA at the start of this chapter. Sorry I never mentioned her birthday, but I'm getting kind of tired of writing about them.Chapter Twenty One"Darn it!" Rose groaned, as she ambled aimlessly along the streets of Sunset Valley. She had teleported out of the basement at one in the afternoon to attend a drum class. The class had gone on much longer than she'd expected, and she had stopped to grab a bite to eat when she noticed a food truck was parked outside the theater. By the time Rose was done eating, she was ready to head home and get into bed. Only one problem. The remote control for the teleporter was broken. Pressing the button did nothing. Now she had been wandering the streets on her hometown, hoping for a place to spend the night. However, she didn't know anyone in this town, despite living in it all her life (For obvious reasons), and knocking on the door of a complete stranger to ask to spend the night was too intimidating, even for Rose. Exhausted, she slid to the ground, her back against a lamp post examining the broken remote. Rose had a pretty good idea of what was wrong, and could probably fix it if she wasn't so tired. Given her current state, she would probably make a fatal mistake, get electrocuted, and drop dead on the spot.
"Work, dangit!" She yelled, mashing the "Return Home" button, even though she knew it'd do nothing. Just as she was considering a wild pansy bush as a suitable bed for the night, a voice sounded from in from above her. "Are you lost?"
Startled, Rose whipped her head around to see a young man looking down at her. He had shaggy orange hair, blue eyes, and was wearing black jeans with a gray jacket over a pale orange V-neck shirt. "No, I just can't get home The teleporter's broken."
He gave her an odd look. "Uhh... What?"
"Long story short, I live in a basement with no way out except a teleporter pad. That broke down on me."
"Oh. Well if you want, you can stay at my place for the night. We've got an extra bed. My name's Marcus Sampson, by the way."
Rose smiled. "Sure, that's fine." She got up and followed him a few blocks to a modern looking house with a pool.
Inside, she was introduced to a middle-aged man with a buzz cut, and an elderly lady with grey streaks in her black hair. "This is my father, Jeremy Sampson." Marcus told her. "And this-" He said turning to the elderly woman. "Is my fiancee, Tori Kimura." Rose shook her hand, very happy to meet new people, and potential friends. Tori was very nice, although she did have a habit of rattling of useless trivia sometimes. Jeremy didn't say much, just mumbled a sleepy introduction before yawning and heading over to a couch by the flat screen TV and falling asleep.
Rose turned to Marcus. "Why does he sleep on the couch? You've got two bedrooms."
"Well, things used to be really great for him. He had a lot of money, a girlfriend, an awesome job as a Fire Chief, and the biggest house you've ever seen. He was the happiest man alive. Then his luck turned sour. He lost all his money gambling in Bridgeport, his girlfriend left him for a buff, young vampire named Vladmir Something-or-other, and he was fired from his job because he stopped exercising when his girlfriend left him, so he couldn't pay the bills on his big house. Tori and I offered to let him stay here until he got more money to afford a place of his own. He accepted but refused to impose on us by sleeping in the other bedroom. He insisted on sleeping on the couch. So, now we just use it as a guest bedroom."
"Oh. That's sad for him."
"He has been pretty depressed about all this. But he'll manage."
"That's good." But another question was nagging Rose. "Uhm... I hope you don't mind me asking but where's your mother?"
"Dead." Marcus said flatly. "So's my father for that matter. Jeremy took me in when I was two."
"Aw, I'm sorry..." Rose said wishing she hadn't asked.
"It's okay, I hardly remember them at all." He said briskly. "Now, you can stay in the guest room. You can borrow one of Tori's nightgowns, although you may find them somewhat frumpy." He added, with a teasing glint in his eye. Tori stuck her tongue out at him, and walked down the hall towards one of the bedrooms. Once she was gone, he lowered his voice.
"Keep an eye on Tori for me, okay? She's been rather weak and sickly these days... I'm afraid she's going to die." Marcus told her sadly. "I knew Tori was old when I proposed to her, I just love her and want to spend my life with her!"
"I will." Rose promised, trying to ignore the odd feeling-
jealousy? -sparking in the pit of her stomach. She walked down the hall and found a comfortable room, with a double bed, a computer and a dresser in it. Tori was rummaging through the dresser, pulled out a dark green nightgown with tomato vines on it and tossed it to Rose.
"Here you go. It way be a little frumpy in you eyes, though." She said teasingly.
Rose laughed. "No, it's fine." After she changed, they sat on the edge of the bed and talked for hours. Tori wanted to know all about what living in a basement was like, as well as about all her sisters. Eventually, she locked her dark brown eyes with Rose "Marcus told you to look after me, didn't he?"
"Uhm..."
"Honestly the way he acts around me, it's like he thinks I'm going to drop dead any second. Well, goodnight."
"'Night." Rose slipped under the covers, and was asleep in a few minutes, with the happy though of a new best friend in her mind.
Time skip... The next morning, Rose got up and walked into the kitchen. Tori was already there, up and dressed.
"Good morning!" She called to Rose when she spotted her. "Sleep well?"
"Fine, thanks. How about you?"
"I slept well, I'm just a little light headed today."
"Aw, that's too bad." Rose could understand that, she had often felt that way after playing tag with Heather what they were much younger.
"I'm sure It'll go away soon, though. It's nothing to worry about." Tori said.
"Well, that's go-" Rose stopped abruptly, looking in disbelief at Tori. A small gold sparkle was floating near her neck.
No. No, this can't be happening. It can't. It can't! Rose thought in disbelief, as more sparkles began floating around her friend, getting closer to her body. Tears were streaming down Rose's cheeks, she couldn't believe it. Tori was dying right before her eyes. As soon as she found her voice, she screamed as lous as she could. "
MARCUS! MARCUS, GET IN HERE, NOW! A few seconds later, Marcus came tearing into the room, still in his pajamas.
"Rose? What's wro-
NO!" He shouted, as soon as he saw his fiancee. She was floating several inches above the ground, and the golden sparkles surrounded her completely, engulfing her in a bright gold light. When the light cleared, she wasn't human anymore. Instaed, she was a silver ghost, sparkling in silver and gold. Marcus ran towards her tears running down his cheeks as well. "
NO, TORI, DON'T LEAVE ME, PLEASE! But Tori shook her head sadly, keeping her gave fixed on a spot of floor in front of her. Suddenly, the entire room went icy cold. A black cloud billowed up on the spot Tori had been watching, and a black hooded, sinister figure carrying a large scythe rose from it. The Grim Reaper. His gaze was fixed on Tori, and Rose knew he was preparing to harvest his soul. But she wouldn't let him. She didn't care that he was Death himself, all she cared about was having her friend back. Blinded by rage and sadness, she ran forward and stood between Tori's ghost and the Grim Reaper.
"No." She said, in a voice that didn't sound like her own. "No! I won't let you take her soul!"
But Grim didn't care. He had a job to do, and he would fulfill it no matter what. Without even looking at her, he raised his scythe. For a brief, sickening moment, Rose though he was going to impale her with it, but then, without taking is gaze off his prey, he knocked her out of his way with the other side of his scythe. He moved close to Tori, and raised his weapon, and shouted something in a language Rose had never heard. More black smoke appeared on the ground in front of him, and cleared away to reveal an urn made of marble and gold. The Grim Reaper then pointed a skeletal hand at Tori, but he didn't have to speak. Everyone knew what he meant. Tori would enter the urn, and never be with them again.
Suddenly, Marcus streaked past Rose, towards Tori. "Please, Tori don't leave me! I can't live without you! I NEED you!
Tori's ghost turned to look at him. She, too, was crying. But she didn't try to escape from Grim. Instead, she gently wiped the tears of Marcus' eyes and whispered sadly, "I love you." Then, she vanished into a cloud of silver light, which vanished inside her urn.
"
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Marcus cried, falling to his knees. He grabbed Tori's urn and held it close to his chest, more tears replacing the ones Tori had wiped away. His heart felt like it had shattered into a million pieces.
Meanwhile, the Grim Reaper was now looking intently at Rose. Then, in a deep, sinister voice that made her blood run cold, he said "
Even the dead can walk in the mortal world. Beware of a restless soul who seeks revenge." With that, he vanished in the same black cloud that had brought him there.
Rose stood there numbly. Her best friend was dead, she would never see her ever again. She expected the sky to come crashing down on her. How could the world keep going after Tori had died? Barely aware of what she was doing, she walked over to the couch and sat don, her dull blue eyes staring blankly at nothing. Then, she was aware of another person siting next to her. "M-marcus." She stammered, silent tears running don hew pale cheeks. She could see her own sorrow reflected in his face. Then, without warning, she burst into tears and buried her face in Marcus' shoulder, sobbing like a little kid. Crying as much as Rose, Marcus wrapped his arms around her. Encircled by Marcus' strong arms, Rose cried herself sadly to sleep.
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Chapter Notes:
* I mentioned earlier that I had a plan to take care of Tori, and this was it. I killed her off with testingcheats, and I feel really bad about it. I know she's just a bunch of pixels, and she's not even real, but I still feel terrible about killing her for my own selfish purposes.
* Like chapter thirteen, this one is also ridiculously long. Well, I'm sure that makes you guys happy! ^^
* I guess maybe I should have warned you there'd be a death scene. Oopsie. ^^''
* Please, PLEASE tell me if I made any spelling and/ or grammar errors. PLEASE!
* Speaking of spelling and grammar, why do I keep writing "teh" instead "the"?! THIS IS NOT A LOLCAT, DANGIT!
* By the way, I think the Grim Reaper is super cool and awesome, so you'll be seeing a lot more of him in later chapters.
* And yes, the only Churchill in this chapter was Rose but it's
extremely hard to fit all seven of them into the same chapter. ^^''
* Any guesses on who that "Restless soul who seeks revenge" is?
* Chapter Twenty Two will be a continuation of this one, but there'll be mush. I'm not looking forward to writing it...
* Sorry this one's also late. I spent most of my time today reading the first Harry Potter book, as well as half of the second one. ^^
* Tell me what you think of this chapter! Pwease? :3
