Disclaimer: I do not own Darker than Black.

This is a more recent addition to my 'random story ideas' that I have a chapter or two written for. I know its not in a very popular fandom, but I figured that I would post it anyway. I have the first two chapters written, so please let me know what you think.

This first chapter in kind of a set up for the rest. This is a 'what if' Hei was able to start over from the very beginning.

Prologue

A Fallen Star

Dying . . . was oddly peaceful.

Hei looked up at the sky through his shattered mask, mind drifting in and out of focus. In the distance he could hear police sirens and crackling fire, but around him it was silent. He was alone.

Really, he was kinda surprised that he'd lasted as long as he had.

The first time he'd faced death, it had peared at him through the face of his beloved younger sister. Terrifying, beautiful, sweet little Xing who, even after becoming a contractor, let him live. That had been the first time, but it certainly hadn't been the last.

Every contracter after that had the same face, the same expression. Death watched him from every corner, both enemy and uncaring allie. The syndicate was its own form of death. They destroyed who he had been, who he was, and reshaped him into the perfect little assassin.

All so that he could protect his sister when she couldn't protect herself.

Death surrounded him on every side. The people he worked with mocked him because he was the only human willing to work among monsters and the contractors couldn't care less what happened to him so long as he did his job and didn't mess it up for them.

Facing death every day . . . it breaks something inside of you. Hei knew that, he knew that the contractors around him could kill him at any moment and no one would care. Not even his own sister.

In the face of this realization, Hei decided that if death was looking at him, then he would look back.

And so the Black Reaper was created.

Contractors had the face of death, and sometimes Hei wanted to destroy every single one of them for what they had done to him and his family. But he couldn't. Because he was human.

The Black Reaper didn't have to be human.

Every time he wore that mask, he let his emotions slip away, his rational mind taking over. In a way, he may as well have been a contractor.

When his targets sought him with the intent to kill, Death looked back at them.

Contractors grew to fear the name of the Black Reaper. Human or not, he didn't hold back. With Bai's life on the line, he couldn't afford to.

And then Brazil happened, and Bai vanished.

The next time Hei saw death, it was in his own reflection, looking back at him with electricity sparking around his fingers.

More than half of his life was spent in the Syndicat. The first half of his time there was spent becoming strong enough to protect his sister, the second half was searching for her and what in the world happened in South America.

Because Bai was gone and Hei was suddenly a contractor.

Then there was tokyo.

Honestly, everything really started in tokyo. His first long term stay in one country, and he uncovered the truth behind the syndicate, what happened to his sister, and how to stop the devastating explosion that happened in Brazil from happening again.

After that, everything was a blur. Running away, hiding, running again. Nowhere was safe. He'd spent more than half of his life taking orders and looking over his shoulder. He didn't know how to be independent of them.

Which is why he was here, actually, bleeding out in a small, dirty alleyway in tokyo and looking up at the clear night sky like it had all of the answers.

It had been a lucky shot, really. The syndicate had been desperate, lately. They didn't care how many people they had to send after him, they just wanted him dead before he tracked them down.

They were right to be afraid.

Hei huffed slightly, not even trying to stifle the bleeding from the hole in his side. One of the contractors today had been a sniper. Usually he didn't have any problems with other contractors, but he hadn't slept in two days. His reactions were sluggish, and no matter how many of them he got rid of they just kept coming.

Honestly, it was a little bit of a relief.

I don't have to run anymore.

And wasn't that a revolutionary thought. He'd been running for so long. From his family, from the government, from himself.

I'm tired.

Hei smiled.

The police sirens were drifting closer, no doubt tracking the trail of destruction he'd left behind. The last contracter that had attacked him was a few rooftops back. Well, at least half of the rooftop. He vaguely recalled there being some kind of explosion, but he didn't really care.

His hands were too numb to move now, and there were spots around his vision.

Hei blinked slowly, but the spots didn't leave. The stars above him did come into focus for a moment, however, and he let his eyes drift over them for a moment of contemplation.

I wonder which of those stars is mine?

For a second, the stars flickered, and Hei felt like he could see beyond them, to the stars behind the stars, the original lights in the heavens. Hei let a slight smile twitch at the corner of his lips.

I wonder . . . . Hei thought quietly as he closed his eyes, dizziness and blood-loss finally getting to him. What would my life be like, if Xing never became a contractor?

In the sky, a single star flashed across the heavens.

Hei, the feared Shinigami of Death, breathed his last, shuddering breath, and then fell still.

0~o~0

Misaki Kirihara barked out orders as she looked over the scene of devastation laid out before her. There were bodies everywhere, laid among the rubble in twisted imitations of life, faces frozen in fear.

Contractors. Every one of them.

It was a horrifying scene, one that might have made her stomach churn just months ago. Dozens of people dead in a matter of minutes, even if they were contractors. Especially since they were contractors.

Sadly, this scene had become all too common.

Ever since the chaos that had been PANDORA happened, the world had tumbled into chaos. There had been no hiding the existence of contractors after that, nor hiding exactly what PANDORA had planned for them. Contractors had suddenly come out of the woodwork, lashing out at anyone and everything. Many of them fled the country at the first opportunity. Others stayed, becoming more aggressive and bold in their actions as the public slowly turned away from PANDORA.

Even then, mass scenes like this, could only be caused by one man.

BK-201.

Misaki sighed and turned toward one of the officers jogging toward her. "Any sign of him?"

Kono, the officer, shook his head. "Sorry chief. Several of the buildings around here collapsed, and we are having a difficult time digging through the rubble to search. It's possible that one of the contractors had an earthquake power of some sort. We haven't found anyone of his appearance yet.

Misaki frowned and looked back over the chaos again, eyes sad. "I see. Please keep looking. We need to get this cleaned up before any news crews get here."

Kono nodded and hurried off. Misaki tilted her head back and glanced up at the sky. Just a few hours ago, she'd watched a new rain of stars fall from the sky, almost a dozen on them, and knew exactly what it meant. Honestly, she didn't know whether to be relieved or irritated at not finding him with the rest.

The illusive BK-201, a contractor with more mystery surrounding his existence than anyone Misaki had ever known. The man she had come to know as Li.

Her phone rang suddenly and Misaki scowled slightly as she flipped it open and placed it against her ear, eyes still on the stars, specifically one star. She'd memorized its position after bugging her friend Otsuka to show her which one it was. So long as his star stayed up there, she had a hope of finding him again.

Finding him and asking him why.

"Kirihara here," Misaki said briskly, still looking up at the sky.

"Misaki . . ." the voice on the other end was familiar, one that Misaki knew almost as well as her own, except now it was trembling.

Otsuka took in a deep breath to steady herself, her breath crackling over the line. "I know . . . I know how important this is to you so I . . . I had to call. Misaki . . . BK-201's star it's . . . it's about to-"

The phone fell from slack fingers. Misaki's eyes were wide as she stared up at the sky.

And the single star that burned brightly one last time before shooting off toward the west and fading away.

BK-201 was dead.

0~o~0

Dying had been like falling asleep.

Being dead felt a lot like waking up to someone jumping on his bed.

Hei blinked his eyes sluggishly, his body feeling strangely unresponsive and heavy. He stared upward, at the white ceiling stretching over his head before something blocked his vision.

"Finally! You sleepy head! You're supposed to be up before I am!" Bai grinned at him with chubby, childlike cheeps, her eyes sparkling innocently.

No, not Bai.

Xing.

Hei shot up in bed, staring at her.

What in the world is going on?

0~o~0

Well, here you go. What do you all think? I already had this and most of the first chapter written, so I figured I would post it. Check out my profile to vote on which other stories I update/publish next.

(Updated 8/27/2019)