Hello, friends of Reddit! For the past month, I've been quietly working on a Takamori fanfic inspired by Calliope's songs and various Twitter artists' artwork. I finally finished the last chapter of the series. Please feel free to read it if you have the time and interest~

Title: Death's Eternal Life
Rating: G
Chapters: 8
Word Count: 20162
https://archiveofourown.org/works/27399463

The following is an excerpt from the series.

A soft sigh escaped past Calli’s lips despite herself as she withdrew her hand down to her side once more. While she knew that it was her work, she longed for the night to end. Then, she could go see her sensei. Perhaps they had more work for her to do. Or a new skill to learn. Even learning music, a hobby that her sensei has pushed her into doing for her own understanding of human culture, sounded quite pleasant at that moment.

As Calli thought about the new song she had thought of the previous few days, she found her heart heavy and the sounds of her music stuck in her throat. Even though it had given her so much life before, she felt … too tired to even hum it.

Oh, what a night it was to make the reaper’s apprentice feel tired and long for the feeling of life. Even as she mustered a small smile for the new soul that appeared, she found her own words empty and cold.

What a cursed night indeed.

As she came back to her post, Calliope closed her eyes for a moment to compose herself. She tried to ignore the feeling of loneliness to no avail. She tried to forget about the warmth of the last soul she had escorted to no success. And now, even all the lyrics to her song felt foreign to her, as if it was meant for someone else that she had no hope of ever reaching.

A bright light would put her on alert, making her stand up straight with her scythe in hand. As it subsided, a figure with the hue of sunshine would be left standing there. Her eyes which matched the apprentice’s hair would find themselves only locked on one thing in the vast Underworld.

Calliope would take a moment before she stepped forward, a firm expression on her face as her scythe spun once in her hand. The figure was hardly a dead soul delivered here. Either she was a human who had wandered in by their own foolishness or it was a spirit of a malicious being.

“Who are you? Do you have a death wish?”

Those words were calm yet with an edge to them. Being an apprentice was hardly an excuse to not learn how to properly reap souls and send them to their proper place. In fact, she should hardly even let this creature answer her. And yet …

“I want to marry you.”

While not many things can catch a well-trained, vigilant apprentice off-guard, Calli found herself hesitating for a moment. Even as she caught herself and stiffened her grip on her scythe, she found herself unpunished for her lapse in caution. She frowned for a moment, running the strange girl’s words through her mind once more before making a face of incredulity.

“Huh? You are aware that you’re in the Underworld right?”

The girl blinked, her magenta eyes seeming to shimmer even in the darkness of the Underworld. She looked around for a moment as if finally noticing where she was for the first time. After seeming to think for a short moment, she looked back to Calli with a bright smile.

“I don’t care! Because I’m a Phoenix!”