Hey guys, this was a concept I thought of when I was scrolling through a bunch of writing prompts one day. I thought it was fun and I enjoyed writing this. If you like it, do leave a review so I can get the memo to continue~ (that is, after mid-terms)

Out of all the Shinigami, all the versions of death, the reaper, whatever your culture or species calls us, I was the one that had to be assigned to this world of all places.

After the strenuous two decades of schooling I did in order to be assigned to a world, I got assigned to the one where I literally wouldn't need to do anything.

It felt like such a waste of my not-really-alive life.

The world I was assigned to had this uncanny ability to have it's underworld flourishing completely separate to it's regular legal life. There were whole families of Underworlders that had their own countries under their rule, it was borderline impressive.

The Mafia, the mob, the triads, the yakuza were just a few to name. The whole world was basically under the rule of two factions that ran completely separately to each other.

The Underworlders would claim territory, protect it and run their own flourishing illegal dealings and businesses. The Government would run the legal economy and deal with politics, national conflicts and international dealings. It was disturbing how flawlessly it seemed to work when in reality, it shouldn't.

I mean come on, there was a whole man-made island made purely for Underworlders. It was the constantly flooded with thieves, gangsters, hitmen, assassins and almost any 'evil' job a regular person could think of.

The flourishing of both the legal and illegal faces of the world didn't manage to prevent poverty completely as it did with solving other world problems. There were still homeless, orphanages and even kids that lived on the streets and alleyways. If they worked hard enough or sold their bodies and/or souls to the Underworlders, they did have a chance to live. But the life they would live had no chance of being a peaceful one.

International wars were the only time both the Underworlders and the Government would associate with each other.

The first time it happened, it shocked her. To see all these stuck-up people shoving away their superstitions and stereotypes to ally together to assert dominance over other territories, it was amusing.

What surprised her the most was this world's knowledge of flame cores and their abilities to access and utilise their soul flames. It was interesting, to say the least, from all the worlds she had visited for training or just for fun, none of them had used their soul flames purely for their own categorised characteristics.

This ability seemed to only extend across the Underworlders though, the Government hadn't seemed to have discovered nor practised the techniques but with crossbreeding and such, the majority of the population had at least dormant flames awakened within them.

With the active nature of their flame cores, Lilith found herself not needing to actually 'reap' their souls so to say. She didn't need to help them pass on since their soul flames would lead them to the afterlife themselves.

It was somewhat lucky for her. There was a point in which their use of soul flames could surpass the threshold of unneeded assistance to needing her to drag them by the hand to the afterlife.

An example of that would be her poor friend Madara, he was currently stuck in a world where they used their flames to the point of morphing their inner powers into other elements. Whenever they died, she was sure that he drop-kicked a few of them in bulk to the afterlife because of how many he needed to manage.

It was definitely amusing though. He was so spiteful of her when she told him how lax her one was.

Though, this 'Vindice' group she had found was not to her liking whatsoever. They seemed well past their natural lives and should have been sent to the afterlife at least decades ago. It was unnerving.

Their flame cores were essentially dead, yet someone had been feeding them with artificial life for quite some time now.

She deemed them worthy of a visit.

The welcome call she received as she took a step into their base was not pleasant. She was instantly assaulted by the nearest officer as they attempted to pin her down and arrest her. As the personification of death for this world, it was much too easy for her to strike them down.

She very much wanted to send their souls on but decided to contact the source of the artificial soul flames before doing so. She wasn't above letting them stay for a while longer if they had a purpose, it was the small things that made bigger entertainment after all.

It was unexpected when a fully bandaged 'baby' stormed out to greet her.

"Who are you and how did you get in here?" He demanded.

She smirked at him, her red eyes glimmering in amusement. Oh, she liked this.

"Hello," she cooed at him, much to his visible displeasure. "My name is Lilith, and you?"

His cautious and intimidating glare never left her form. "Bermuda."

She reached a hand up to the top of her ponytail and ran her fingers through the long black locks. She sighed, "Bermuda,"

"Where are you getting these artificial flames of yours?"

His body stiffened under the sudden flare of killer intent and several of the bandaged forms surrounded her in a silent threat.

"Who are you?" He hissed out.

She stood casually and glanced over the state of her perfectly manicured red nails, "You may know me as 'Death'." She glanced at him with a playful look and a smirk inching its way onto her face. "I have come to seek the reason for all these long-passed souls being fed artificial life."

He cocked his head at her, his eyes would be narrowing in suspicion if she could see them, "And what do you intend on doing with that information?" he questioned.

She simply smiled, "I will be sending them on if your reasons aren't worthy, of course. That is my job after all."

The child raised a hand to wave off his subordinates that were prepared to attack her. The borderline suffocating nature of her own flames was intimidating, he knew that not even all of them combined would be able to wipe out this woman.

"A man named Checker Face forced our bodies into this situation. We are the survivors of the Arcobaleno."

She frowned and pursed her lips, "I don't like the sound of that… Tell me about these 'Arcobaleno', Bermuda. I will leave your puppets alone for the time being…"

"…but do not expect me to leave you alone forever, I find you all quite…. fascinating."

The information provided by the Vindice was revealing and most amusing. This Checker Face person had assumed the role of the guardian of the world-holding treasures and had been using Underworlders as batteries for them for centuries.

She wondered whether the man was the reason the world-holders were pacifiers. If so, she'd love to be his friend because that idea was genius and hilariously sadistic. It was great.

She would pay the man a visit eventually. Not now but rather another time.

Bermuda had revealed the Vindice as ex-Arcobaleno, the survivors of the stripping of their world-holders. She wondered who the current Arcobaleno were…

She could wait, that was an adventure for another day. Hm… actually, maybe she'd pay a visit to old Talbot before she went off to Checker Face.

Talbot was a famous wandering engineer, known to Shinigami from world to world and even widely known to those in the Shinigami Realm. She was informed before she set off to this world that Talbot had decided to settle in this Realm.

Lucky her.

The woman located the old engineer quickly with her somewhat in-built soul finder and slipped into his house through the window. She plonked her body onto the couch.

Talbot spared the woman a brief glance before turning back to his current project. "What brings you here today, young Shinigami?"

She sat up in her seat, "I'm pretty fucking old, Talbot. But, I'm here to inquire about the world-holders and stuff since there's not much soul sending for me to do here."

The old man slowly raised his gaze to her, "The 'world-holders' as you know it is known as the Trinisette here. It's formed of three sets of seven objects, two sets of rings, one set of pacifiers."

She gave him a dry look, "Why are there so many of them?"

He hummed, "I would not know, my dear. The two sets of rings are known as the Vongola and Mare rings, they are passed down as heirlooms through two Italian Mafia famiglias."

She leaned over the back of the couch and rested her chin on her forearms. An interested smile stretched across her face, "Oh~?"

"Yes," he confirmed, "The Vongola and Giglio Nero famiglias. The founder of the Giglio Neros was of the same species as the man known as Checker Face, they are seemingly a superior race to humans that never appear to age."

A contemplative look bloomed on her face, "Hmm… the Vindice looked rather upset at how they were used as batteries. You think you can magic something up that'll substitute for that?"

"Why, of course, my dear. To think you would ever doubt my capabilities, I will contact you with how you can help me later on."

"Oh right, okay."

Lilith had unintentionally sealed her fate into a Talbot-produced contract. She didn't regret it though, it was for the good of the soul population. The less Arcobaleno, the less Arcobaleno-Vindice zombies and the less excess dead souls left in the Earth Realm.

"So what should I do to relieve my boredom while I wait?"

He sent her a toothy smile but with his lack of a full set of normal teeth, it was really unnerving to witness. He raised a hand and shooed her off, "Go integrate yourself into the Underworld. Perhaps make a name for yourself and become a hitwoman. Having connections will make resource finding significantly easier."

She blinked at him, "Okay."

Geez, she was so bored she was taking suggestions from old men. Long ago were the days she took orders from no one but herself.

She slipped out of the window and out into the woods that surrounded his small sanctuary.

Time to wreck some bitches.

…

She sighed to herself.

What exactly had she expected when she took up this job? Fun? Excitement? Thrill?

Yes. She had somewhat expected at least one of these to be fulfilled. But alas, no. Her life was still rather boring.

Lilith had decided on Sicily, Italy to be her new home base since she discovered that it was known as the origin of the Italian Mafia and since the Vongola and Gigi-something Nero were Italian Mafia famiglias she thought it was a good idea.

The first hit she took was actually from Mafia Land but her target was here in Sicily. The guy was unbelievably weak, she somewhat felt bad for killing him because he seemed so incapable of doing anything so bad that he was worth getting assassinated for.

Maybe he was associated with someone eviler.

Ugh, it frustrated her how easily she took people out. Perhaps she should handicap herself…

Well, she abandoned her scythe and left it in the Shinigami Realm already so that was out of the question. Maybe she could learn how to use a gun? Hitmen used guns.

Y'know what? That sounds good.

Lilith ventured through the streets of Sicily to look for some sort of dodgy bar or shop. As she had discovered, most Underworlders gathered information from brokers, bartenders or shop keepers.

She strolled casually into a familiar bar that she had gone to before.

The middle-aged bartender gave her a suggestive look as she walked up to the bar.

"Ah, my sweet. It's wonderful to see you back, how may help such a fine specimen such as you?"

Her lips slipped into a seductive smirk and she leaned over the counter. The split at the top of her black dress shirt shifting down slightly revealing the smallest hint of cleavage. By his reaction, she didn't even need to expose more than was socially acceptable. He was so easy it was funny.

"It's delightful to see you as well. I'm… looking for a good gun dealer, you see."

The man moved closer to her, his hand moving to stroke her cheek gently, "I think I know of a good dealer for something a little more se-"

The other bartender, who looks to be in his late-twenties, cut the middle-aged man off with an intimidatingly charming smile. He had long silver hair that fell over his left eye, he gave off a very powerful and strict aura. Oh, he seemed like a good fight indeed.

The man glanced at her and smiled at her kindly, she pulled back and blinked at him slightly confused at the situation and trying to correct all her observations of him.

The older bartender whom she was trying to get some free information out of grumbled under his breath and moved onto the next customer. He was clearly unhappy with his co-worker for stopping him from potentially getting laid. Not that she would actually sleep with such a man, he was neither attractive physically nor personality-wise.

"How can I help you, young lady." The younger man asked politely. She gave him an apologetic look, "Sorry, I was looking for a shop for sidearms."

He looked her up and down with a contemplative look, he hummed. "Are you new in the business?"

She gave him a suspicious look but complied with his questioning. "…Yes, I'm looking to learn to use a gun because my current weapons are much too suited to me."

He paused for a moment and amusement lingered in his eyes, "I… see. That's very interesting, usually, it's the other way around but we can work with that."

She leaned her elbow on the counter and rested her chin in her palm. "We?"

The man smirked, "Indeed, it would prove to benefit us both. My boss is looking to hire a freelancer anyhow, in exchange for your services we could teach you how to wield a sidearm."

She narrowed her eyes at him playfully. How suspicious and dangerous, she loved it.

Her expression morphed into one of delight and satisfaction to which he smiled back at her equally as satisfied.

The next thing she knew, she was following the strange man to wherever he was taking her without a care in the world.

She didn't even know his nam- oh. She didn't know his name.

"So…" she trailed off, successfully catching his attention. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and raised an eyebrow in question. "Exactly, what's your name again?"

He smiled, clearly amused. "I am known as Dante, I serve as the Cloud for the Vongola Ottavo."

Lilith blinked, well shit. She didn't think it'd be that easy to get ins with the Vongola. Well… once again, lucky her.

Reading her expressions, he continued, "I suppose you recognise the famiglia name?"

She turned her gaze to the side of the streets and hummed as she walked casually alongside him. "It was simply a passing comment; I only knew that you were quite the powerful famiglia. In what way, exactly, would asking a freelancer to do your bidding be any better than to do it yourself?"

The cloud's smile only grew in amusement to the point where he looked like he was about to laugh. "You have very strong and condensed flames, young lady, I know someone powerful when I see and feel them. Honestly, we do not require much of your services in terms of hits, our boss was mainly keen on finding another fighting partner."

She flat out snorted at that with no shame, "Sounds like fun."

"Oh, trust me. It'll either be really fun or completely miserable, perhaps both."

Dante held the door open for the woman to walk into the very impressive building before closing it behind him. As they walked through the front doors, a green-haired young woman flew down the halls and towards them with a joyful smile on her face.

She grabbed Lilith's shoulders and her eyes glimmered in excitement, "Dante~! You brought home a girl! And she's pretty toooooo."

Lilith pulled back slightly to make space between her face and the sky's. She was invading her personal bubble way too much and too quickly.

Her cloud rolled his eyes and sighed in fond exasperation, "She's here to fight you for fun."

The woman's smile morphed into a mischievous grin, "Ohoho? You got a feisty one too? I always knew you were a sub, Dante."

He clocked her over the head and walked deeper into the mansion leaving the woman on the floor clutching her head. He knew that giving her a reaction would only encourage her.

Lilith observed the scene in amusement.

I think I'll like it here. She thought as she moved to follow the disappearing form of the resident cloud.

The silver-haired cloud slowed his pace slightly to allow the woman to catch up to him. "Please ignore Daniela's comments, it's rather normal in the household."

She smirked teasingly, "Is that so? I won't judge you for being a sub."

A barely noticeable shade of pink dusted his cheeks which he concealed rather nicely with a look in the opposite direction and a cough into his fist. "I'm not a sub…" he commented under his breath.

Lilith grinned mischievously and Dante sighed in defeat, "I think you'll get along just fine with Daniela."

"I think so too~" She sing-songed.

Dante opened one of the large pair of double doors that greeted them at the end of the hallway and gestured her to enter, which she did but froze when she saw who- more like what was in the chaos-filled excuse of a dining room.

"Hey, it's someone new!" A brunette mini Daniela called out, running towards her with a small stern looking blonde kid trailing behind him. The 6-year-old was covered in everything you would think of when you thought of a dirty child. Mud, flour, cake batter… what had he been doing, baking in the backyard?

With a mansion this extravagant she thought that they'd have cooks or something, at least a kitchen.

She cringed away from the kid when he got close and accidentally backed into a hard chest which she soon realised was Dante's.

The said cloud leaned over her shoulder to scold the boy, Lilith stiffened up slightly as his breath hit her ear. "Timoteo, Coyote. You're both filthy, go clean up before you cause our guest any more discomfort."

Timoteo, as she had recently learned was his name, had the decency to look sheepishly at her and apologise before running off with the storm boy closely trailing him.

She left out a relieved breath and relaxed her shoulders.

"Not good with kids?" Dante enquired, noticeably amused.

She shot him a pointed look, "You're rather talkative for a cloud."

He gave her a polite tilt of the head and a smile, "I'm an inverted cloud, my territory tends to extend over people rather than lands."

She supposed she wasn't surprised with the information; he was rather accepting of talking to people but she couldn't have been sure nor have made the assumption based on the first impression.

Soul sensing was an easy task for her, locating people was like second nature in her line of work but there was no telling difference between standard and inverted flame types within her senses. Perhaps it was something she had to train up but for now, it seemed that she would need to actively analyse their behaviour to determine such.

Daniela chose to walk in at that moment and smirk slyly when she saw how close the two were standing together, "Ohoho-"

"-no." He cut her off and took a slight step back to give the Shinigami some breathing space.

Honestly, she didn't mind being in close proximity to the man, he seemed like a big teddy bear to her to be completely honest. But as a Shinigami, her preferences were probably slightly twisted.

Dante moved to lean on the nearby wall as Daniela approached the girl.

She held out a hand for the girl to shake, a bright smile worthy of a sky spread across her face, "Hello, I'm Daniela di Vongola. What's your name?"

Lilith stared at her rather formal introduction, slightly reprimanding herself for forgetting that she was a high standing leader of an Underworld gang.

"Ah, my name is Lilith." She started, reaching out and shaking the woman's hand. "No last name."

The other woman gave her an understanding look and Lilith quickly deduced that the sky had assumed she was an orphan.

"Oh, I'm not an orphan." She quickly remedied. Daniela looked surprised and Dante raised an eyebrow, silently requesting for her to continue.

Lilith didn't really want to. She instantly regretted telling them that and wished she thought of just going with the story. How was she supposed to explain how she was born or what she was?

She was the Shinigami, the Reaper, Death. She knew she needed a story but her brain decided to lag at that moment and she knew that anything normal she'd say would be passed off as a lie.

She took too long to think. She sighed and sent the two a flat look, "I'm Death."

Lilith wished she had a camera to take a photo of Dante's perfect expression of 'flabbergasted' and Daniela's interested look.

The sky blinked at the girl a few times before speaking up. "If that's so, why are you here?"

Lilith's face flushed as the wave of frustration she had at this world flooded her veins in one big swoop. She huffed and stomped slightly, "Because you humans are doing my job for me!" she complained.

Dante snorted behind his hand, his eyes wandering to almost anything but the girl that was glaring holes into him.

Daniela was a Vongola blooded girl, through and through. Even if she didn't have her intuition, she felt like she would've believed the red-eyed girl anyway. Her adorable tantrum was so genuine she couldn't help but believe her.

She did feel a little bad for putting her in her little predicament, but she really did want her ship to sail. And yes, she meant DantexLilith, she thought it was way too adorable to not be true.

A thought popped into Daniela's head, "Hey, Lilith?"

The Shinigami paused her glaring, turned to Daniela and tilted her head in question.

"If you're Death… what flame do you have?"

The girl froze and stared at her hands before morphing her expression into a contemplative look.

"That…is a good question. How do you summon your flames?"

The sky smiled at her earnest question, "We call them Dying will flames as they, as we know it, are the manifestation of our determination. My source is usually to protect, it's different for everyone."

Determination, huh?

The two watched their new found friend struggle over the production of her flames. Her lips pressed together in frustration.

It just wasn't working for her and it kind of hurt her to think that she was incapable of doing such a task that all these humans could do. It was degrading and embarrassing.

Her ears flushed red and she let her hands fall to her sides in defeat.

Daniela sent her a soft smile, "It's okay, it's not easy for everyone. It'll come to you when it's time."

Dante watched as the girl made eye contact with him briefly before adverting her gaze and glancing away. He was honestly surprised at how much she struggled with the task, seeing as how powerful and condensed her flames were, yet he understood that flames came to different people in their own ways and time. He wasn't one to judge.

They both knew she was felt ashamed for being unable to do such a task with a title so great as her own. She looked absolutely crushed.

He sighed.

The tense air was shattered several moments later when a familiar pair of kids came running into the room.

"Hi, Mama!" Timoteo called out, running straight into Daniela's arms.

Lilith breathed out sharply and inched her way into the corner between the wall and a nearby display shelf.

Coyote watched her every move as if observing the enemy. She was a foreign entity that he had never seen before.

Lilith chose to sink into the shadows and leave the happy family to their reunion. They didn't need a failure of a Shinigami there with them anyway.

She let her body weld into the shadows as she ported herself back to the Shinigami Realm for some temporary relief. It's not like the world needed her to maintain them anyway, they had Talbot on top of their flame gene.

She wasn't needed.

Within the depths of her self-deprecating thoughts, Lilith missed the sad look her departure brought to Daniela and frown that bloomed on Dante's face when he watched her leave.

They didn't want her to go.