What goes on there Stays there
He speaks in an Irish Accent due to me not being able to Write Irish speak. And to all the Dresden fans I'm sorry I can't write Harry Dresden well.
James had just finished taking a soul from his target according to Death and was having a drink at his favorite pub. He had sat down and asked Mac for a pint. He was just about to down a drink when he saw a long gone figure crouch down as he entered the door.
“Dresden, my lad. Long time no see” said O'Leary. “Heard you caught a bad case of death”.
Dresden looked over to O'Leary and responded while looking away “Well I got better. Death didn't want me so he sent me back”. O’Leary looked at him with his eye on the soul and saw a dark blue. “So you got help from the ice queen then? Well not my place to judge”.
Dresden turned and looked at his forehead with a shocked and serious look and spoke shakily “How did you know about that? I haven’t told anyone about that?” O’Leary sighed as he looked at his empty glass and said “I just know things. Anyway hows things now that you’re back? I mean with the apprentice and the former cop?”
Dresden just ordered a drink and looked at the counter enough to make holes while thinking of a response. He had gotten his drink and grabbed, not noticing the frost accumulating on the glass as he brought it to his mouth and chugged it down earning a glare from Mac as he did it. “I’m not going to ask what you do, because that is personal. I just need to know if you are going to tell anyone else about it. Cause I might need to put you on ice if you do.” They both chuckled at the lame joke and just sat there drinking another drink provided by Mac.
O’Leary was about to say something to Harry when Death walked through the front door and messed up all the protections Mac had in place. Mac began to pull a shotgun and Dresden began to cast a spell when O’Leary shouted “Oi! He’s with me. This is my boss so calm down and wait.” He walked up to him and said quietly “Why didn't you just call me? I know you have a cell phone and can use it well.” Death looked at him and said “I did this because the next assignment I’m giving you is too important to be talked about over the phone.”
O’Leary gawked at him and rapidly retorted “New assignment? I just got done with my latest one.” Death looked at him from his envelope and commented “Oh, really? Good, then I don’t have to take you off of it”. O’Leary’s look of shock increased even further when Death said that. “Wait wait wait. In the 30 years I’ve worked for you, not once have you ever taken me off an assignment. You would have just made me do the assignment after wards. It’s that serious then?” Death looked at him with a gaze that would have leveled mountains and quietly said “Yes”.
As O'Leary was processing this Harry walked over and said to Death “Hi there, I'm Harry Dresden. Chicago's only wizard PI. So how did you find O'Leary here”?
“Well I met him as he was getting revenge on his family's killer and made him a deal. He would be able to stop that from happening to some other family if he agreed to work for me.”
Harry looked at him with a straight face and questioned “And just who is your boss? And what kind of demon are you”? At the end of hearing Dresden's statement Death proceeded to laugh so much he became beet red in the face.
“Oh, oh. Thank you for that I haven't laughed that hard in millennium”.
Dresden replied jokingly “What since you fell from the high place”?
When O'Leary heard that after snapping out of his shocked state he laugh nervously and moved Dresden away saying “Dresden? You know how you always deal with some high level beings? Well those guys that nearly kill you are afraid of him” and points back to Death.
Harry at this point is about to laugh when he sees James face and notes the serious look in his eye. “What the hell kind of deal with that demon did you make?”
O'Leary just chuckles and states “Nicodemus is always afraid of that guy and he's not a demon. If you want to know for sure and you think you can handle it I'll tell you.
“Oh come on O'Leary. You and I both know I can handle this. Lay it on me” Dresden said in a joking manner.
“Alright just remember 2 things ok? 1 no one is to ever know who he is or what he does other than you and me” James stated clearly.
“Ok, I can live with that. Whats the second thing to remember?”
“Well then number 2 Don't try to ever, and I mean EVER, look at him with your sight alright. The skin-walker is nothing compared to him.”
Harry said “Oh, no way that he can be that bad. The skin-walker nearly had me crying for my mother. He couldn't be worse than that.”
To prove his point Harry was about to open his second sight at Death when James smacked him in the face.
“NO! You want to know who he is? He is Death. You know they guy with the scythe and robe” James said seriously.
“Wow Death seems to be eating well nowadays. Probably got more souls in his diet.” Dresden mockingly stated
James just slowly shook his head and said “Okay if you want proof, the deal I made? It was because I had died killing the killer and so Death offered me a choice. Be one of his and help make sure what happened to me didn't happen to others or go to Hell for killing a man. So I took his deal. That was in 1982 over in Ireland. In the past thirty year I have seen some things that even you would cringe at. If you want even more proof look at me through the second sight.”
Harry just sighed at his choices and then lifted his second sight. The important thing to remember about the second sight is that you can never unsee what you see there. If it is something beautiful, then you will be in awe and grandeur of it for life. If it is horrible, as it had been for most times with Dresden, you would stay awake at night with those memories fresh in mind until the day you die. He looked upon James and saw not a persons corporeal form but a mass of soul from which form took shape. He saw a bright burning shard of power he recognized and then saw black stains. He dropped his second sight and said “Okay then. Why do you have a shard of Titania's power”?
James just looked at him and said “I did her a favor and called in on it and she gave me the smallest of slivers of her soul.”
“Wait wait wait. You can take energy from other peoples souls”? Dresden asked in awe.
“Yes. And I don't just take it. I suck it into myself. Because souls are what keep me alive. And if you are wondering about the black on my soul then you see what my soul looks like now instead of the time I made the deal” James said with sadness.
Dresden looked at him and said “I wonder why you never seemed to age. Also why don't those guns you carry ever jam since you use magic?
“Ah, but that is the secret along with my bosses identity. I don't age because I don't want to. And my guns don't jam because 1 I don't use magic and 2 even if I did they are part of my soul and thus couldn't jam even if magic was so thick you could cut it with a knife” James quietly stated.
Harry was about to ask another question when Death finally moved in and said “Can I have my worker back now? I do need him to do his job.”
Harry looked at him with a hint of fear and said “Yeah, go ahead. By the way, Hows my dad doing”?
Death looked at O'Leary in shock and said “So I see he told you who I am. Well now. You should know that you are the second mortal living to know that fact right now. And you should feel honored considering James has never told this to anyone before. Now, since you asked nicely unlike others, your father is in heaven getting some time with your mother. Now if you will excuse us we need to go.”
“Wait, who is the second mortal to know who you are?”
Death smiled and stated “Oh that's easy. He's right behind you.” Death and O'Leary then walked out of the front door hearing Dresden say “But the only one behind me is...”
Death lead James to an alley and said “Well are you ready to go?”
“Oh come on I didn't even get a chance to replenish my mags and clean my guns” James said complaining.
Death snapped his fingers and James noticed his guns were sparkling and his short pockets felt heavier as the empty mags he had placed there from the earlier fight were refilled. Death then said hurriedly “Okay now are you ready to go”?
James told Death “Yep. I am now. So where am I going?”
Death just smiled and waved his hand goodbye. James suddenly felt a sucking motion near his abdomen and was taken to the Universe of his new assignment. He fell from about 2 feet off the ground and landed with a THWUMP. He groaned and heard Death say in his head “You need to head north from where you are now. It will take about 2 days to get there and I give you leave to suck the souls out of creatures that can't talk and aren't sentient to keep your energy up.”
James said to himself “Oh joy. He doesn't want to tell me what I'm looking for but he will send me on a blind duck hunt. This is gonna be fun alright.” He then walked north but noticed something out of the ordinary. There was a town with ponies nearby the forest he was in. There was also a small yellow pony near him being flown around by insects. It seemed to have wings but he though he was seeing things. The forest had a thick canopy yet it was just too bright, and too colorful. He didn't question it though and just kept walking. He noticed a pack of creatures following them but paid them no mind. He continued to walk and noticed the sun going down.
Well time sure fly's by when you have nothing to think about but whats up ahead. James thought to himself. He stopped for the night by a small tree in the forest and was about to go to sleep when they attacked. From what O'Leary could see they were basically bundles of twigs somehow held together to look like wolves. He didn't think, he just reacted. He took out the one leaping towards him with 2 bullets to the head in the dame spot. He then followed up by putting three rounds in-between the eyes of the one behind him and continued to keep attacking with his guns until the clicked dry. The wolves heard it and saw the look on his face and attacked before he could reload. This caused O'Leary to do something he didn't like: using his flames in a fight. When they launched from all around him he used his sentient flame ability. This caused the wolves to go through him and get burned and run into by the others.
Seeing this the wolves wisely decided there was easier prey. As they left James ate the souls of the 2 wolves he killed for dinner and climbed a tree to catch a few winks. In his dreams James saw the death of his family again and woke in a cold sweat because of it. Sensing he wasn't going to fall back asleep anytime soon he hid the bodies of the wolves and continued to walk north and after a few more run-ins with the local wild-life they learned not to come near him if they wanted to live.
He then came upon a sound of sniveling quietly. He went to investigate and saw a small mint green blob on the ground. H walked over and quietly said "Are you alright little one"? The green blob became startled by him and ran away crying. He just silently followed the blob wherever it went. After this happened about 5 times the blob asked in a girly voice "Aren't you gonna eat me"? O'Leary burst out with a laugh which made the blob actually stay still while standing. He could see now that it was a very small horse or pony even. After the chuckle he had he said "No why would i eat something as small and adorable as you. Now why are you out here alone in this forest"? The little blob said "Hey I'm not little. I'm a nearly grown filly. Thanks for saying I'm adorable though. And my names Lyra. Whats yours" she asked intuitively.
James, not one for not introducing himself told Lyra "My names is James O'Leary. And I'm a human". Lyra responded with a crinkled face "What's a human"? James had now confirmed that there were no other humans here in this universe. But that didn't seem quite right. He felt a nudge in the back of his mind to ignore that and did so. "Well I am. And so are some of my friends. I'm special though. Unlike most others i can do this" and snapped his fingers producing a small flame on his index finger. Lyra asked in awe "Can I learn to do that"? James shook his head and said "No, I don't think so. But tell you what, how about if I walk you out of this place and back to your home? That way you wont be scared anymore". Lyra shouted back "I'm not scared... I'm just lost. But okay I'll walk with you. Thanks".
So they walked back towards the town James had seen and after awhile it came into sight again. By the time that had happened Lyra had been asleep in James's arms for 3/4th's of the way. He shook her gently to wake her. When she was awake he told her "That was fun. I hope we cant talk again sometime lass. Well I've got to be off. Can you find your way from here" he asked Lyra. She responded "Yeah I'd like that. Bye James" and waved as he walked on again.
From there he just kept on walking until in the distance he saw a giant stone construction. He then proceeded to sprint towards it and saw more details as he got closer. He finally stopped about 50 yards off from the building though.
Something just didn't feel right so he sat down and waited. When nothing came after a few hours he shrugged it off until her came to the gate itself. Noticing the writing upon it he couldn't translate it but knew what language it was anyway due to him being in Ireland. James announced to Death "Alright then. I'm here and the door is closed how do you suggest I get in?”
Death seemed to smirk at this but since James couldn't see him he couldn't truly tell. Death uttered a few words he couldn't decipher but the door seemed to open far enough to open. Death quietly said “Be careful in there James. What I need you to do is look for Wraith weapons in there.” James stood there a second wondering how bad it was going to be since Death was telling him to be careful. He shook off the doubt and walked in to hear a giant SLAM as the door closed by itself behind him. He didn't even focus as he walked just trying to feel out where the weapons were when he was attacked from behind. He was going to react but didn't have this guys speed. He felt a sucking sensation from his guns. He looked down and saw he was being sucked into his weapons themselves. As he was being sucked in the last thing he heard was a small chuckle from his assailant.
