“Well this is the place....” I sighed to myself, looking at the letter in my hand. “I guess I shouldn’t waste any time standing here.” With another sigh, I raised a hand and knocked on the door to Dean’s house, muttering, “I just hope to God he’s in....”

It wasn’t long until the door opened. Dean was the one who answered thankfully. He looked at me with slight surprise, but returned to a neutral expression, “Sup Jav? Need something?”

I held up the letter with his name on it, “Just delivering this.”

He grabbed the letter, and looked at it, then to me. “What’s this about? Not some weird ass version of a friendship report that Twilight likes to do, is it?”

I shook my head, “It’s from Sarah, actually.”

He looked at me once more with surprise, before looking at it. “Okay, add another thing to my list of unexpected happenings…” He turned to me, “How urgent? Obviously if you were sent, it has to have some sort of reasoning.”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair, “Urgent enough that the events causing it made Death agree that I’m fucking horrible at my job....”

He looked at me silently, before sighing, and patting my shoulder, “If it’s any sort of consolation, I think you’re a damn good… whatever you are. Just a few trip ups here and there, it happens.”

I looked down at him with a deadpanned stare, “My job was to keep Sarah from going completely psychotic.”

He stared at me for a moment. Then facepalmed, “Jesus Christ you are shit at your job.”

“I realized that, thank you for pointing it out.” I took my glasses off and rubbed my eyes, “Just... read the letter, please. I have another to deliver, however I may have to be the one who tells Ardiente your response.”

He nodded, and opened the letter on the spot. His eyes scanned the letter, and he sighed. He nodded, “I see. Alright, I’ll listen. But if I find out that shit went worse, I will find out. I want to help as much as I can. If it means I have stay away…” He shook his head, “Alright… Just…” He looked at me, “Just try to help her get out of this in as few pieces missing as possible, huh?”

“Quite frankly I don’t think I’m the one to deal with this; my previous record of my actual job here being evidence of that.” I shook my head, “Honestly, this is probably something only she could work out. Mary heard Sarah talking about what was causing her to break down, as she was breaking down, and even having previously been a part of her mind, she doesn’t know.” I shrugged, “I doubt anyone else would.”

Dean leaned against the door silently, before sighing once more. “Wait here.” He went into his house, and the sound of rummaging could be heard from inside. A few seconds later, he came back with a bottle. It was a bottle of beer. He held it out to me, “Here. It’s a nice thing to have to calm a guy down.”

“Can’t disagree there.” I took it and twisted the cap off, downing the contents in a second, “Thanks.”

He shrugged, and shook his head, “Don’t… don’t mention it. Look, I’m sorry for how much of a dick I was a while back… just, you can’t just forget the life you’ve lead so quickly, you know? I know it isn’t much of an excuse, but still, I want to apologize.”

I waved a hand, “It’s fine. I was more angry that I hadn’t been the one to kill my sister, to tell you the truth.”

He chuckled slightly, “Yeah… Though I have to tell you something.” He looked at me, “I remember somethin’ from when I did kill her. A… a journal I think.”

I scowled at the thought, “I honestly don’t want to see or know about a single thing from her, even mentioning her death causes me some anger because it forces me to talk about her.”

He shook his head, “No… I think it was important. It was talking about some sort of lord that she was serving…”

“I will tell you this right now,” I said darkly, “don’t bring it up with me. Tell it to someone else, I don’t want another damn thought about that thing anymore.”

He sighed and shook his head, “Fine…” He went back into the house and brought back two more beers. He handed me another, and sat down on a chair on the porch. He opened the beer and drank from it, thinking silently.

I was about to drink mine, when I remembered the letter. Just as I was about to tell him I had to leave, however, I heard Death speak up from behind me.

“Sorry to cut this short, Jav,” he said, “but you’re needed back at Sarah’s house. Something else has come up.”

“What’s happened?” I asked urgently.

“No time,” he said, “and don’t worry about the letter. I’ll find someone else to deliver it.”

I nodded once and set the beer down, saying to Dean as I left, “Sorry, we’ll have to save it for another time.”

“Who’s the letter to?”

“Beth.” Death said as I passed the letter to him. I didn’t hear what was said next, as I was already making my way back to the house. I could have sworn though, that as I passed by Death, I saw him carrying something large.

Beth? Why her? I looked at Death with confusion, “Why’s that?”

He shrugged, “I don’t know. All I know is that Sarah had them written to Celestia, Michael, Beth, and you, Dean. She wouldn’t say what the letters contained, just that it was urgent that their recipients get them.”

“Alright, then what’s in the bag?”

He paused, then shrugged again. He pulled the bag out from under his arm and pulled down a zipper on the front. After it was opened, I saw that Sarah was inside, eyes closed as if she were sleeping.

I stared at it blankly. Very blankly. I don’t know what the fuck any more. “The fuck is this?” I asked him.

“Her vessel.” He said simply, “She had a request that something about it be “fixed”, as she put it.”

“... You know, this is about as peaceful that it will ever be with her in the vicinity, vessel or no.”

“Yes well,” he closed the bag and returned it under his arm, “things are much less peaceful at her home. It seems she is unaccustomed to a body whose mind isn’t as... unorganized as her own, and as a result, is having a slight episode.”

I sighed and facepalmed, “Godfuckingdammit…” I shook my head, “Alright… what do I need to do?”

He handed me the letter, “Simply deliver this to Beth, as soon as you can if possible. I doubt it’s anything too important, but I don’t know for sure, so treat it as if it were.”

I nodded as I tucked the letter into a pocket in my shirt, “Got it. Any idea where she is? I don’t know if she’s still on a mission with Michael or not.”

“She is. I would suggest waiting until they return, which should be soon I assume, given Sarah’s insistence that Michael receive her letter, and that he return to speak with her. When he returns, Beth will surely do so as well.”

I nodded, “Alright.” I looked at Death, “I have to ask you something though…”

“What would that be?”

“Who is the Destroyer?”

He froze, and stared at me with narrowed eyes, “Where did you hear that name?”

I shook my head, “It was a name that I’ve seen in some of the texts I look over. Everything I search up usually leads to a dead end, so I figured maybe you knew.”

“I don’t. Now do not bother me with pointless questions.” He snapped and disappeared.

….He’s hiding something. I can’t exactly try to figure out what… he’ll tear me in half if I went behind his back. I’ll hold off asking for now. I just have to wait for Beth to return.

Contents of the letter to Dean

Dean,

Well, Dean, I suppose I should mention this is a letter from Sarah, though she’s not the one writing it. I, Ardiente, am writing it in her place, as she can’t.

“Hey Dean, just thought I’d give you a bit of an update on my sanity. Mostly just letting you know that I had kind of a little breakdown in the middle of town, and I’m still working on trying to figure out what the flying fuck happened to cause it. Anyway, with that in mind, I’d like to just... ask that you kind of avoid me for a bit. I’m really only comfortable with Ardiente at the moment, Mary too I hope. Other than that, I’m under a whole hell of a lot of stress, and I don’t think it’d be a good idea if I talked to you.

You’re a good- hey Ardiente is friend the right word? Yeah, friend. And I’m grateful for the help you gave me, but I’m not in the best shape, so I’d just try and avoid contacting me for a week or so.”

Ardiente again. Quite honestly, I’d listen to her, even if it seems a bit harsh. I can tell she’s uncomforted by Death’s presence (she keeps looking at him, then at the window, and seems to contemplate jumping out to get away), and she looked ready to break down because of Alexandra just passing by the door.

If I were you, I’d just give her a week, at the least. However if she still seems off after that, I’ll just come by and let you know.

Sincerely,

Sarah Akinson & Ardiente Fragua Next Chapter: As the World Turns- Act I, Pt. III: We all experience things in life Estimated time remaining: 53 Minutes