Author's Note: I strongly encourage you to listen to the song that fueled the whole creation of this fic, 'The Ghost and the Reaper' by The Dark Element, and appreciate the beauty of the sound and parallels in the entire lyrics.

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own neither Kuroshitsuji or The Dark Element song.

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Can a dead person love life again?

It had been so long... he barely even remembered how that felt.

That might have been a reasonable explanation as to why he didn't recognize it at first.

Later, denied it. Why he blamed himself.

And why, in the end, he gained so much and lost so much more.

For all his efforts to ensure Claudia's well being, to ensure she would grow up, live her life against the odds God, or Fate, had decided to bestow on her, were the proof of his love for life. Hers. The life she had in her.

The life she herself was.

Herself.

He did not anticipate it. Expect it. That loving life would change into loving...

Something did change. And it ripped out his heart and crushed it in front of him.

This could not happen.

She deserved to live, to be happy.

He was dead, and being punished for it.

This could not happen.

This could not happen.

This could not happen.

She had to be happy.

He could not be.

Claudia didn't listen.

She picked up the pieces that anguish and guilt had shattered with care and forgiveness. And she placed them all back, now entwined with some of her own and giving them all to him.

It helped him realize that nothing had changed. None of his feelings had changed, just like 136649 had not changed back into Cedric. They simply gained so much more.

Will to be alive and to be free, will to love life.

Not a change, but an evolution.

Cedric did not anticipate it, but now he remembered again. He could not let it be lost.

So unexpected, so unfortunate.

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to be continued

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Dark tale of a dark love
Poetry of poison
The Ghost and The Reaper

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