chapter ten ─ the new deal

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MORRIGAN HESITATED FOR A WHILE LONGER, lingering in the Lockwood mansion till she had entirely calmed down. She had seen a lot of death in her three centuries and had learned how to not let it get to her. Lin's death was harder to process, but after a few hours of crying and being consoled by Alan, Morrigan was able to put her grief and sorrow into a box and lock it away.

It was around this time that Klaus also returned to the Lockwood mansion. Judging by the bloodied handkerchief that he was holding when he came into the room, he had left to blow off some steam after killing his father. She didn't know how long this was going to take, so she wanted to say goodbye to him before she left.

"How are you?" he asked her.

"Can't say it's anything good," she answered, standing up.

"I'm sorry about your friend."

"Thank you. He was more like a father to me, but still, thank you. It seems that both of us lost our fathers tonight. Even if only one of us actually wanted to..."

"I-"

"Nik, don't worry. I don't blame you. If anything, you avenged Lin's death when I couldn't when you killed your father."

Klaus looked down, a small smile on his face from knowing that she didn't hate him or blame him in any way. There was a beat of silence between them.

"Look, I have to go and... claim my new position. Lin never... he never got a chance to explain the process to me, so I don't know how long it'll take. I wanted to say goodbye properly."

"Not for forever, I hope."

"Of course not," she promised. "I'm in charge now, so the way I see it, I can see you as much as I like. Once I get the hang of the job, of course."

"Of course."

"But, if you need anything before you hear from me... you've got my number. I'll do whatever I can to help out."

"Thank you, Morrigan."

The two friends hugged for a moment before she stepped back and then around Klaus, heading for the front door. Instead of walking out the door, she used the doorway to step into the World Between.

Only, that's not where she found herself.

Instead, she found herself in a white, vaguely defined room. There was a door on one side of the room and Morrigan began heading for it, thinking that this was how she started whatever process it was to become the Grim Reaper.

"Leaving so soon?"

Morrigan turned, feeling more than a little shocked by the sound of that voice. On the other side of the room, standing there like everything was normal, was none other than Lin himself. Tears welled up in her eyes as she stared at him.

"Lin?" she asked hesitantly.

"Not quite," he answered. "I am a manifestation of this room, a guide to inform you of the process to becoming the Grim Reaper. This form was chosen as it would be the most calming to you."

"He's not really here?" she asked. Fake-Lin shook his head. "Can you- do you know where he ended up? After he died, that is."

He smiled at her. "I do. He chose Elysium, one of the Greek afterlives."

"Good. That's good. He'll be happy there." Morrigan took a deep breath to calm herself. "Alright, so... how does this go, then?"

"You will have three trials," Fake-Lin explained. "Each will need to be completed in order to complete the next. These trials will test your determination, your intelligence and your knowledge. What you have learned from your mentor."

Fake-Lin gestured towards the door and Morrigan started heading for it again with him trailing behind her. He opened the door for her and on the other side, she recognized the World Between. Before she could step through, she hesitated, looking back towards Fake-Lin.

"What if I fail?"

"I suppose we'll see. Such a thing has not happened yet."

That was equal parts reassuring and not reassuring. Morrigan decided that hesitating wouldn't do her much good so she stepped out of the door and into the World Between.

She found herself squinting against the sudden darkness compared to the brightness of the white room. As her eyes adjusted, she took in her surroundings. There was dirt that slowly transitioned into dark sand beneath her feet as it lead to dark waters. As she looked around even further, Morrigan discovered that it was the River of Lost Souls that she was standing in front of.

Morrigan carefully approached the bank of the river and looked into the murky waters. She didn't understand why she was there.

"This is your first trial."

The blonde whirled around to see Fake-Lin standing a few steps away from her.

"What am I meant to do?" she asked.

"On the bottom of the river you will find obsidian. You must claim a piece of it."

"I have to go into the River of Lost Souls? Isn't that deadly?" she questioned.

"Not to Reapers."

"Then why didn't I know that? Why was I taught that it was deadly if it wasn't to me?"

"People aren't supposed to go into the river. While the water itself is harmful to you, the souls within can be. And not to mention the obsidian at the bottom is the only thing that can kill a Reaper."

"Right." Morrigan looked at the water and then back at Fake-Lin. "So I just have to go in and grab my piece of obsidian and that's it?"

"Your first trial would conclude when you successfully come out of the water with the piece of obsidian."

"Alright, then."

Morrigan stripped off her jacket and dropped it to the ground, stepping out of her shoes and then pulling off her socks. She stepped up to the edge of the water and tried to flinch as it washed over her toes. She swallowed and let out a breath before she started wading in.

About three feet into the water, when it was still only coming up to about her shins, the ground suddenly dropped off. It was impossible to tell with the darkness of the water, just how deep it truly went, but Morrigan suspected that it was very, very deep.

Running a hand through her hair, Morrigan sighed before she took a few steps back. She took a deep breath in and then dove down into the water. She kept swimming downwards as she blinked open her eyes so they could begin to adjust, hoping that she wouldn't have to go down too far. She only had a limited supply of air, after all.

As she kept swimming, she felt something brush her leg and she startled, a few bubbles escaping her mouth and making her curse. She shook her head of the thoughts of the souls in the water with her and just kept swimming downwards. She needed to complete her trial.

When she finally touched the bottom of the river, she found that the whole thing was almost coated in obsidian. She had thought that it would be like rocks, pieces of it that she could pick up and be on her way to her next trial.

Of course it had to be more complicated.

Morrigan ran her hands along the obsidian carefully, hoping to find some kind of edge that she could exploit to get her piece or something. She had just found a small crack when something grabbed her wrist.

She startled again, more air bubbles escaping as she looked over to see a soul. His face was horribly mutilated but anger was still clear in his expression. He tugged on her arm, clearly intending to drown her and Morrigan was forced to use her abilities to shove him away.

Immediately, she turned back to find where the crack was but after only seconds of looking, she felt her chest tightening. She was running out of air. Between her two scares and not knowing how deep she'd have to go, she was dangerously low on air.

Morrigan repositioned herself and used the bottom of the river to kick off of, sending her up through the water. She kept kicking as she went, using the momentum she'd gained. As she started to slow, the small cliff she'd dove off of appeared and she grabbed it, pulling herself up and out of the water.

With near desperation, she sucked in air, panting as she knelt there on the bank on her hands and knees. She took deep breaths, getting in all the air she possibly could.

A moment passed before she sat back. She had to think of an actual plan. Going in blind was not going to fly a second time.

She had to get a piece of obsidian when the bottom of the river was entirely made of it. But there were cracks. Though she still didn't know how deep it went or how thick the layer of obsidian was. Just because she'd found a crack didn't mean that she'd actually be able to pry it up. She would need something to break a piece off of the floor with.

Her belt, she realized. The buckle was hard and she could even use the corners if she needed a narrower or sharper edge. She quickly undid her belt and pulled it from the loops of her jeans before she wrapped it around her wrist.

Morrigan stood to her feet once more and positioned herself for another dive. Once she was in the water, she swam down to the bottom before she unwrapped her belt from her wrist. She felt along for another crack, positioning her belt once she found one. She hit the belt buckle against that crack again and again and again until a piece of obsidian broke off.

She reached out for it and as soon as she clasped her hand around it, a gush of air shot out from the spot where she'd broken the piece from, sending Morrigan upwards quickly until she broke the surface of the river once more.

Taking deep breaths once again, Morrigan began to swim over to the shore, pulling herself out of the water and then wading back to where she'd left her clothes and where Fake-Lin was still standing.

"Congratulations," he told her.

"Thanks..."

She looked down at the piece of obsidian in her hand. For all the work she'd done, it was hard to believe that all she got for it was a small piece of black rock.

"Are you ready for your next trial?" Fake-Lin asked.

"I'm soaking wet," she protested. "How am I supposed to complete any more trials while I'm dripping with every step?"

"Perhaps a change of clothes, then," Fake-Lin said, suddenly holding a pile of dark clothing that he passed over to her.

She took the clothes and quickly changed out of her wet clothes in favour of the dry ones. Then she wrung out her hair so it didn't drip all over her new clothes. Once she was finally dressed, Fake-Lin gestured for them to start walking away from the river.

Ahead of them, the landscape turned from the openness of the riverbank and to dark trees. They continued walking until they were in the forest and even then, they didn't stop.

After a few more moments of walking, they stopped ahead of a small clearing.

"In that clearing, on the center platform, is your new scythe. The scythe of the Grim Reaper."

"Okay..." Morrigan said, looking over at it before back at Fake-Lin. "And what's the catch? Just walking up to a platform isn't much of a trial."

"Correct. You must do no harm to the guardian."

"The guardian?"

Fake-Lin gestured for her to look once more at the clearing and she noticed the large hellhound that was slowly circling the platform. She had to get to her new scythe by getting by a hellhound without harming it? Was this a joke? Hellhounds were some of the scariest creatures of the World Between, with dark black fur, blazing red eyes and they were tall enough that their backs came up to about the waist of most people.

"Are you serious?" she questioned Fake-Lin. "That's impossible."

"Is it? How do you think every Grim Reaper before you has claimed their scythe?"

"But–" Morrigan cut herself off and then sighed. "Alright, alright. Fine. Let's try this."

She stepped closer to the clearing, staying behind one of the trees on the border, just watching. She wanted to get a lay of the land, so to speak, instead of just jumping in this time. Getting by a hellhound was a lot trickier than just diving into a river.

The hellhound circled slowly, his pace never faltering. His head turned from side to side, surveying the area around what he was protecting to be sure that no one would come close.

For a moment, watching the hellhound in front of her, Morrigan couldn't help but remember a single memory from when she was a child. There was a time when Lin had a hellhound of his own. But one day he'd come home alone after departing with the hellhound. She hadn't really understood it then, but now she could see the grief on his face. When he'd come home, he found her immediately and picked her up from where she was sitting and placing her in his lap. He'd taken the book she was reading and started reading it to her as he held her. They'd fallen asleep on the couch that day and she'd woken up still on his arms. He was still asleep so she'd wiggled out of his grasp and quietly snuck off to the kitchens, bringing back breakfast for him. She'd thought the happiness on his face was over exaggerated for her benefit. But now she realized the truth of the whole situation.

Blinking back tears from her eyes, Morrigan focused her attention back on her trial. As she watched the hellhound continue walking, she suddenly realized how she was supposed to complete this trial. It wasn't about getting by the hellhound at all.

She had to tame him.

Morrigan knelt down, creeping out from behind the trees until she was directly in the line of sight of the hellhound. He stopped and growled at her, a deep and rumbling sound that caused a shiver of fear to race down her spine. She lowered herself even further and extended a single hand, palm up, towards him.

"It's okay," she said. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Though he seemed skeptical, he stopped growling and slowly padded towards her, stretching forward so that he could sniff her hand. After giving it a thorough sniff and then pulling back, Morrigan smiled and slowly lifted her hand to scratch his head. He seemed to like that, sitting down and leaning further into her hand.

"Yeah, you're a good boy, huh? Just a big, scary, good boy."

She rubbed his ear and he laid down, placing his big head in her lap. This made her smile as she continued to pet him.

"You're gonna be my buddy, aren't you?" she said. "You need a name, though, if you're going to be my buddy. What do you think?"

He didn't answer, simply panted and continued to be pet.

"How about... Cu Sith?" she asked. "What do you think of that name? Do you like it?"

He barked once.

"I'll take that as a yes."

Morrigan stood up and Cu Sith followed suit. She walked up to the platform and was about to pick up her scythe when she noticed something on the blade. There was a piece missing out of it. For a moment, she was confused as to why there would even be a piece missing or how something like that would happen when she realized what the blade was made out of.

She dug into her pocket and pulled out the piece of obsidian that she had collected from the River of Lost Souls. Looking at it and then to the blade of the scythe, she realized that the missing piece was the exact same size as the piece of obsidian. She laughed to herself at the craziness of that, but placed the piece in the spot of the blade and it clicked into place perfectly. A wave of black energy coursed over the scythe and when it passed, she noticed that it looked as though the blade was all one piece once more. And, running her hand over the blade, her suspicions were confirmed.

Cu Sith nudged her leg and she smiled at him before she finally reached out and grasped the handle of the scythe, picking it up. It fit perfectly in her hand, just as she had expected. Still holding it, she turned around to see Fake-Lin waiting for her near the treeline.

"Congratulations," he told her again.

"Thank you."

"Come, to your final trial."

"Of course..." she said.

She followed Fake-Lin, Cu Sith walking along with her, for a while. They continued walking through the trees until she finally came to yet another break in the trees. This one showed a much larger clearing than before, and was on a bit of a hill. But in the middle, just where the ground started to incline, there was a large set of stone steps that lead up to a platform. There was some kind of pedestal on the platform and she couldn't see what was on it.

"I don't understand," Morrigan said. "I just have to walk up there. What's the trial?"

"The trial will appear as soon as you leave the trees. You must use what you have gained, both your scythe and your hellhound companion, to get to the top of the platform and collect what is there."

"That's it?"

"That is it. Once you are there, you will find a door that will take you home."

"And that's all? I'll be the Grim Reaper?"

"Yes."

"Alright, then."

Morrigan turned towards the steps and started walking towards them with Cu Sith at her side. But as soon as she left the trees, just as Fake-Lin had said, something happened. A horde of demons and lost souls came from just about every direction, all coming for her and all clearly intending to attack.

Ducking under the first blow, Morrigan swung her scythe to kill the demon that had attacked her and continued attacking everything that came for her. At her side, Cu Sith fought the demons and lost souls as well, helping to protect her.

With every kill she made, Morrigan tried to take at least one step towards the stairs. And by the time she was panting and out of breath, with sore arms and surrounded by the bodies of all the demons and lost souls that had tried to attack her, she was standing at the bottom of the stairs, victorious.

After she took a moment to catch her breath and be sure that it was truly over, Morrigan turned and ran up the stairs, eager to have this all done with.

Once reaching the top, she found a large book on the pedestal. Confused for a moment, Morrigan stepped closer to it and ran her hand over the cover, reading the name written there.

The Life of Wilhelmina Mercer.

Morrigan gasped. This was it. This was her past life. The one where she'd known Klaus and Rebekah and their family. This was the life that she had been wanting to know about for nearly her entire life. Immediately, her hand went to the edge of the cover, intending to open it. But then something stopped her.

She couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was. She just couldn't help the feeling that it wasn't the right time, that she wasn't ready. As much as she was tempted to read the entirety of the book and get all the answers that she had been wanting for over three hundred years, there was something holding her back. Something was missing. She just couldn't help the overwhelming feeling that she just wasn't ready.

Instead, Morrigan scooped the book up into her arms. That was when a door appeared on the other side of the pedestal. With Cu Sith at her side, she walked around the pedestal and opened the door, stepping through it.

On the other side, Morrigan found herself standing at the gate of the Reaper home. A smile broke out on her face and a sense of relief washed over her. She got rid of her scythe so that she had at least one hand free and ran to the front door, pushing it open.

There, standing in the foyer, she saw everyone waiting for. All of the people that Lin had chosen as his most important Reapers, the ones he wanted as close as possible, those that had always been Morrigan's family, were there waiting for her. And once they noticed her, smiles broke out on their faces.

They all ran for each other and collided in a giant group hug. Morrigan closed her eyes as tears gathered, feeling comforted by the presence of her family after everything she'd just gone through. She didn't know how long they stood there, simply embracing each other, but she would have stood there for an eternity and been content.

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an. I would like to apologize for how long this took. Despite always having planned for this, figuring out what the trials were going to be were an absolute bitch and then writing it was also really difficult to figure out. But now it's hear and I'm like so proud of it! So I hope you liked it, too!