The faint clicking of heels echoed down the halls of the Shinigami Library. Grell Sutcliff was on his way to his superior's office for the third time that day, not at all pleased with his extra paperwork. He sighed, finally reaching the solid oak door that read "William T. Spears" in gold letters. Hesitantly, he knocked twice signaling his presence and opened the door, not waiting for approval to enter. Grell crossed over the threshold and into William's office, which was as neat as ever.

The walls were a soft grey and housed a few small degrees and signs. A large wooden desk sat in the middle of the room, filled high with paperwork. There was a black bookshelf to the right of the room that was completely filled with books of all genres. A couch was placed on the left side of the room and a small table with a lamp sat in front of it. And in the middle of all of this was William T. Spears, seated at his desk filling out paperwork per-usual.

Grell closed the behind him and approached William's desk, planting himself in one of the chairs seated in front of the desk. William faltered slightly, but finished his current piece of paperwork before setting it aside and acknowledging Grell's presence.

"Sutcliff," William started. "I am assuming you're here because you've finished your paperwork?"

Grell shifted in his chair and looked down at the papers in his hands. "Yes." Grell replied flatly and handed William the papers, avoiding eye contact. William took the papers and looked at Grell, wondering why he had been acting so very strange lately. Yes, it was very nice that Grell had decided to act like a normal employee and actually do his work, but he had been too quiet and it was concerning William.

William sighed and pushed up his glasses, his eyes glued to Grell, who was now up and walking towards the door. "Grell…" he said a little less strictly.

Grell stopped dead in his tracks at hearing William call him by his first name. He never did that. Not unless something very serious was wrong. Slowly, he turned and faced William, who was still staring at him with just the slightest bit of concern in his eyes.

"We need to talk." William motioned for Grell to take his seat again and leaned back in his chair. Grell nodded silently and made his way back to his seat he had just left, absolutely terrified as to what they needed to talk about. Another demotion? Was he being fired? Grell had spent the last three months behaving himself, what could it possibly be?

Grell pushed his thoughts aside and finally met William's eyes. "Yes..What is it? Have I done something wrong?" Grell asked meekly, not sure what to expect next.

William sighed and shook his head. "No, you haven't done anything wrong. That is what's wrong. Even though I do appreciate you doing your work and behaving, I can tell something is bothering you. Do you care to share with me your feelings?"

"Umm..well.." Grell stuttered. William never acted like he cared. Maybe Grell's plan had worked; maybe he would get what he wanted… "I decided that maybe if I started to behave I would have a better chance with you. I mean, I do all my paperwork, I take all overtime given, I even stopped talking to Sebas-chan." Grell sighed and hung his head. "I just want you to love me, Will. And if that means me acting like a normal human, then I'll do it."

Moments passed before Grell finally raised his head and looked at William, who was now staring off into space. Damn. Grell thought. Maybe I should have kept that to myself and just told him I had a deadly illness. More moments of silence passed before Grell decided to end this torturous visit. He got up and was just about to make his way to the door for the second time that day before he was stopped, once again, by William.

"Grell. I appreciate you behaving, but...But there is something currently going on that is more important than relationships. And since you've been acting so well lately, I've decided to confide in you, this issue. It is extremely confidential, and if anything gets out about it you can be sure we will both be as good as dead." William paused momentarily and grabbed a file that was lying under some disregarded paperwork. "Here," William said as he handed that file to Grell, "Take this and look over it. While you do that, I need you to go to the Undertaker's shop and he will fill you in on any questions you may have that haven't been answered by the information I've given you."

Grell took the file and nodded, extremely curious as to what could possibly be this important. He was delighted to know that Will was finally confiding in him, but the seriousness of the situation was very unbecoming.

William glanced at the clock, realizing it was still mid-afternoon and turned his attention back to Grell. "You have the rest of the day off to look over the file and go to see the Undertaker. Tomorrow, I expect you to be here in my office at exactly 9:30 a.m. for a meeting. Understood?" William pushed up his glasses and looked at Grell expectantly.

"Yes of course, William. I won't let you down, promise." Grell cracked a small smile and turned to leave, taking the file with him. Once he was out of the office and the door was shut tightly behind him, he slumped down, feeling entirely overwhelmed. He sighed, he honestly just wanted to go home and sleep, but he couldn't let William down.

Grell started to make his way out of the office, stopping by his office to grab his beloved coat and hurried on to the mortal realm to visit the Undertaker. On his way, Grell decided to open the file William had given him, not at all expecting what he saw. He stopped dead in his tracks as he read the letter that had been addressed to William from the Head Shinigami's. One paragraph in the letter stood out to Grell though, one of the most important bits in the whole letter.

"We regret to inform you that, after trying to contain the situation, we are unable. It seems that there isn't a cure for whatever this outbreak may be. All we are for certain is three things: there is a disease that is infecting our race, there is not cure to be found and worst of all, we all have it, deep inside us. William…We're all going to die."

Grell re-read the letter over and over and realized what this meant. There was a war starting, a war that no one could stop.