Belle looked at Barron with a worried expression on her face. He looked angrily at Rower, trying to get rid of the water that had soaked his cotton body. Rower started to move the boat when Belle remembered,

"Wait, he cannot leave yet."

"Why not?" questioned Rower, the boat had begun to move forward and Belle walked to the back of the boat.

"That is because he has not bonded with either of us. He still has his scent and the reapers will easily find him," replied Belle, "Turn the boat back!" If they were to leave Barron as he was right now, that would only end up with him being rabbitnapped to end up back in the high tower. All the effort they had put so far would turn out to be in vain.

Before Rower could start moving his boat towards the bank of the river, a shadow moved behind the tree which both Belle and Greed noticed, "You damn fool! I will one day drown you in this very water!" The rabbit raised its hand in anger at Rower to hear another tear because of the stretch.

"Barron behind you!" shouted Belle but Barron waved his hand.

"Yes, I know you will be right behind me, Belle. You are the only person I can count on. All these fuckers are always threatening me and throwing me into the water. You-"

"NO! Behind you! Drop me there," Belle turned to ask Rower's help.

"AHHHH!" screamed Barron as a scythe moved right in front of him.

"You sure?" asked the Grim reaper who was holding the staff.

"Do you have any better idea?" she asked him. Obviously, Greed was least bothered to help Barron right now because of the continuous antics. All Barron had to do was make a bond with someone in the mortal or in the dead world. The fourth Grim was so prideful that he had not cared about it. Because of his negligence, Belle and the others were paying for it.

"Guilt is not going to be happy when he finds you left the boat," pointed Rower. Seeing her persistence, Rower sighed. "Well witness is right here for my defence," the Grim said by raising his hand and snapping his fingers to have Belle out of the boat to end up near the bank of the river.

The water that she had fallen into wasn't a clean one. Earlier when they were on the other side, she had cleared the water and before asking Rower to get her to where Barron was she didn't realise how dirty the river actually until she was deep in it. Swimming closer to the land, she climbed up and placed her hand down on the ground and made the reaper freeze who was trying to catch hold of Barron.

Barron who had pulled out his scythe stared at the death reaper who turned to a statue. Moving his own scythe, he swung it in his hand before hitting the reaper's head that plopped into the river of the dead. The next thing he did was pushing the reaper into the river.

"Aren't I awesome, Belle?" asked Barron, squeezing his ears which had dropped down on the sides of his head because of the amount of water that had it soaked.

"There are more reapers coming from the forest," warned Rower and Belle turned to look at Barron. Picking him in her hand, she said,

"I need you to create a bond right now!" With Barron in his rabbit form, and if his scent mixed up, the death reapers would take hours to add up on who he truly was. This would buy the fourth Grim time.

"But I want to create a bond with Ophelia!" Barron's ears finally moved up.

"You cannot create bonds with the floating bodies in here. It would never work," informed Rower, bringing his staff forward, he placed his boney head above the staff to support himself.

Barron looked upset by this, "You can create it once we bring her back to life but right now you need someone. We don't have time," Belle tried to make him to understand. They truly didn't have time and the rabbit was sad.

"Fine. I will take you as my master. Wait a minute, do you think Lucas will be mad if I created an irreversible bond with you?" Barron cackled at the thought. More than him having two long ears, it looked as if he had two horns on his head. Barron then jumped down from Belle's arms. Bending down, Belle placed both her hands on Barron's shoulders which was the rabbit shoulders before she started to whisper spells, "Wait how are you going to draw blood from me?" asked the rabbit.

"You don't have to worry about that. I will bond it with the soul," Belle convinced him and with a single snap of her fingers, the wind around them moved away as if creating a wave across the forest. The surface of the river moved, shaking the boat where Rower and Greed stood.

Rower looked at Belle and the abilities she had come to harness in such a short period of time, "Winston is not going to be happy when he finds who has his bone."

When Belle was done creating a bond with Barron, the rabbit moved its arm close to its face, sniffing it before he asked, "How do I smell?" he tapped his feet on the ground, waiting for her to answer. With the bond now formed, Belle could feel his presence more than she had felt before.

"Like meadow," answered Belle and Barron beamed.

"I knew I always smelt amazing but thanks, Belle," Barron answered. When Belle and Barron turned to look at the boat, ready to jump back, the boat was missing.

The river that was moving before because of the wave now looked still and unmoving. Where was the boat? Where was Rower and Greed?

"Did they turn invisible?" asked Belle because she hadn't heard the boat move or Rower pushing the paddle-like scythe of his.

What the hell just happened? She didn't have a ride anymore and she was stuck on the land, not that she was interested in taking a dive in the water.

Before they had time to process, Belle and Barron had death reapers who approached them with scythes in their hands. Oh dear lord, thought Belle to herself. Deep breath, she said to calm herself before realising she didn't have lungs or heart right now.

"What is going on in here?" asked one of the three reapers who sniffed the air and then at them, "Did you catch hold of the new death reapers?"

Belle shook her head to a no. The death reaper who questioned looked at her suspiciously and then its sight fell on the rabbit who stood next to her.

"What kind of creature is this?" asked the reaper.

Another reaper who stood next to him, said, "Looks like the soft thing that you see in the mortal world. The one that hops."

"Ugh, mortal world. So many things hop. The air smells like the new reapers were right here," said the first one who questioned her, sniffing the air again and moving around them. Belle was so glad that they had created a bond. It was not just Barron who would be caught but also Belle as she had turned to a brand new reaper.

"Did you see any new reaper walking by in here?" asked one of the death reapers.

"I saw no one. I was looking at this thing here," answered Belle to the reaper who huffed.

"What are we going to do?! I want that damn Grim in my hands. He must be powerful to escape from the high tower," soon they started the chatter and the other said,

"It is why he has such a high bounty!" said another.

After some more discussions, the reapers left as if they didn't care about Belle nor the strange creature that was standing on its legs, "I have turned famous!" exclaimed Barron in a whisper.

"Not for good reasons," Belle shook her head and then looked around, "We need to find that timekeeper and also see where Rower and Greed disappeared with the boat."

With that both Belle and Barron left the bank of the river, walking into the forest in search of the timekeeper. On their way, Belle heard the sounds of owls hooting and the crows cawing. This forest was much darker than the other forest where she had died before.

"Do you know how the timekeeper looks like?" asked Belle to Barron as they walked in the shadows.

"Just like any other reaper. Dark, dirty robes, skeleton body," Barron started to describe, "With no eyes, just bones. But don't worry, I will be able to identify her," said the rabbit, "When she takes the mortal form, she's really fat. Short blonde hair, a very shrill voice and if she's speaking right now I would be able to identify. It is very whiny and-ow!"

Someone threw something at Barron. Once and then twice but Barron didn't stop talking, "She can be very irritating-"

"Who the fuck are you calling irritating?!" A reaper jumped down from the tree, the reaper's whisper slightly feminine.

Belle's eyes widened and then turned to look at Barron who had a grin on his face. Seemed like Barron was good when it came to finding the timekeeper.

In the meantime, Lucas swam out of the river, getting back to the land of the living after meeting some of the creatures on his way who he had to get rid of. Once he was alone, he pulled out the parchments that he had stolen and took it near a burning lantern,

"Now who has the book."