Slowly opening his eyes, the feminine red haired reaper let his eyes focus on the clock that hung on the wall. Sitting up quickly, he went into a panic, having realized he had overslept drastically. Climbing from bed, he took in deep breaths, soon realizing he had stood up way to fast. Grabbing on to the wall, he waited for the wave of dizziness to pass. It was something he was becoming more and more familiar with. After a few moments, he hurried into the small bathroom connected to his apartment. Due to him being the lowest rank possible for a Shinigami, he stayed in one of the smallest apartments as at himself in the mirror for a moment, he let out an exasperated sigh, before turning to switch on the shower. Stripping himself of his clothes, Grell shakily stepped into the warm shower, letting it fall on his head, and down his shoulders.

He wasn't sure how long he spent in the shower, but he knew it had to be quite awhile when he realized the water went cold, and heard pounding at his door. Quickly switching the water off, he hurried to get dry, and then got dressed, adding on extra layers due to being cold. It was summer time in England, and not even cold, but lately he noticed that he was mostly always cold. After pulling on his clothes, he tiredly made his way over to his door, and pulled it open, only to receive a smack from his one and only superior.

Usually the annoying red head would have just whined and rubbed his cheek, but something was wrong, and William quickly caught on when Grell actually fell to the ground. For a moment he almost got worried, but then decided whatever it was, he didn't care. Glaring down, he adjusted his famed glasses. "Get up Sutcliff, you are extremely late for work, and I am not going to do overtime because of you."

Slightly nodding his head, the red head slowly pulled himself to his feet, staying quiet mostly. "Y-Yes sir…" Turning, he hurried passed the dark haired Shinigami, trying his best not to cry. Leaving the office, Grell quickly made his way from that realm, wanting to get as far away from William as possible. He knew very well he was much to weak to work, but continued to tell himself that he could do it, and that he needed to.

Pulling out his little book, he flipped through it, seeing that he only needed to collect one soul, and it seemed to be of a kid who had a contract with a demon. He'd never heard of the kid, and was a bit shocked that there was another young boy other than Alois or Ciel that had a contract with a demon. Of course this worried him. Chances were, he would end up having to fight the demon, and by no means did he have the strength for that.

Walking slowly, he headed toward where the book stated the boy would be, a almost permanent frown gracing his face. If people actually paid attention, and cared for him, they would have noticed something was wrong. But of course no one did. Shivering slightly, the crimson Shinigami continued to move forward, his eyes cast downward, his arms tightly wrapped around himself.

Time seemed to drag on forever, but finally, Grell found himself standing near the frozen ocean where the boy was meant to fall in and drown. Looking at his pocket watch, he noticed he was right on time, and that the incident would happen at any moment. Keeping out of sight, he watched closely, soon spotting the young boy. Waiting, he watched as the boy slipped on the ice, and fell into the frozen ocean. It was quite disturbing, but it really didn't bother Grell. This was what he did for living. Without death, he wouldn't exist. The thought sounded almost appealing to the red head. Sometimes he wished he had never existed. He was by far the worst Shinigami ever to exist. All his coworkers made fun of him, beat him, mocked him. It was much like a bullied kid in high school, but he was a grown adult, and the other reapers sometimes would seriously injure him.

Moving forward, Grell went for the boy, almost falling due to dizziness. Before he could make it, he felt a strong hand wrap around his neck. It was quite painful, and almost immediately cut off all airflow to his lungs. But before it was cut off, Grell was overwhelmed by the terrible stench the demon had. Never before had he been so sickened by the way a demon smelt.

Struggling weakly, Grell tried to summon forth his death scythe, but found it was impossible to do so. He just didn't have the strength, or energy to do so.

Grinning, the demon kept his grip on Grell's neck, and dragged him down to the icy ocean. Once there, he left the poor red head in place of the child, soon speaking a few words. "No reaper is going to take the soul that belongs to me." Turning, he made his way off with the boy, leaving Grell to fend for himself in the freezing, icy water.

Only seconds passed, and Grell quickly came to realize something was terribly wrong. Normally cold water didn't affect a reaper, save for being annoying. But right now, for Grell, it was agonizing. He could hardly move, and it was slowly causing him to slip into an unconscious state. Well, he soon did, and was quickly swept under by the current.

Due to his weak condition, the red haired reaper was in mortal danger. Yes, shinigami were immortal, but only in a sense. It by no means meant that they could just do what they wanted. They had to make sure to rest, and eat. Not as much as a human of course, but they still needed to. And Grell hadn't been eating, nor had he been resting much. And because of this, the freezing water was slowly zapping the fragile life from him.

We could end the story there, seeing as no one at all cares for Grell. But that would just be lying. There is one person who was quite fond of the red head. And by some miracle, he was in the area at the time. If Grell had been awake, he would have seen the flash of black and gray, the arms hidden by sleeves that now cradled him, or the out of place frown that graced the face of his savior. But sadly, he was unconscious, and now barely breathing.