After Dark

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

AN: Happier ending start. Sorry for leaving it on a cliffy kinda

Matthew blinked awake and groaned. The sun was shining down on him. It bothered his eyes. He huffed and sat up. He looked around and slowly recognized his surroundings. He hadn't been there in centuries. It was the spot where he originally woke up as a reaper.

The Canadian looked over his shoulder. He still had his wings. He noticed he was wearing a normal reaper robe. He quickly pulled his hood up. He was confused. He knew he died, but he clearly wasn't now. He could remember everything. He could remember staying close to Jack after. He watched over him until he woke up from surgery. He didn't remember anything after that until he woke up now. He wasn't sure what was going on.

Matthew jumped as a raven's cry brought him out of his thoughts. The bird landed in front of him and pecked at his fingers. There was a note on its foot. The Canadian reached out and carefully took it from the bird. The raven flew away.

'Don't need flying lessons this time, eh?' It read. He knew the hand writing was Death's. 'Take it slow.'

Matthew set the note and his confusion aside before standing up. He was immediately out of breath. He had to lean against a tree for support. His lungs felt like stiff leather and it was difficult to breathe. It wasn't painful, just hard. His breathing wasn't fixed, but it felt a bit better than before. He definitely understood why Death said to take it slow. He groaned catching his breath.

The Canadian spread his wings. He was happy to see the broken one had been healed. He started to fly. Getting into the air was the difficult part. His lungs didn't want to cooperate. Once he was in the air and caught his breath, he was okay. He was flying with the wind and just glided for the most part. He stayed pretty low, he knew there wasn't as much oxygen higher up.

Matthew debated on going to the pole. He wanted to see Jack and make sure he was okay. He also wanted him to know that he was okay as well. He knew North knew he died, but didn't know if the Guardian had told Jack yet. He decided against it, he knew the winter spirit would be safe at the pole. Death might have something important to tell him as well.

The Canadian landed at Death's door and knocked. He was preoccupied thinking about Jack. The door opened almost immediately and he was pulled into a hug. He hugged back knowing he had definitely scared his keeper.

"It's good to see you, Matthew." Death said pulling back. The Canadian smiled tiredly. He tried to talk back, but nothing came out. His eyebrows furrowed looking up to Death. "Your voice and lungs were the only things we couldn't heal. I'm sorry."

Matthew had a lot of questions, but no way to ask them. The man noticed and waved for him to follow. Walking the short distance only made him slightly out of breath. He leaned against a counter watching Death dig through a drawer. He pulled something out and handed it to him. It was a notebook and pen. He quickly condensed his questions to one. He didn't want to stay long. He needed to see Jack.

'how am i back?' He wrote quickly. It was pretty sloppy and hard to read. He couldn't remember the last time he actually wrote something down. He showed the question to Death.

"You are a reaper again." The man explained. "There weren't any other suitable candidates at the time. We decided on you." Matthew nodded at the information. "The deaths will start to show up slowly like they did when you were first made. A few days and they'll be normal." The Reaper nodded again biting his lip. "There's more, but it's not as important right now. I'll send a raven with a letter. Go home and see your Jack."

Matthew smiled and nodded. He hugged Death again before he left. He told him to take it easy again before he flew. Flying to the pole was more difficult. It was a much longer flight. For part of it he was flying against the wind. He had to land a few times to catch his breath and rest. He didn't want to pass out while flying.

It felt like it took forever to get to the pole. He wasn't exactly sure how to go about going in. He thought about it while he was catching his breath. He decided to try and avoid all the yetis. He didn't know if they knew he died. He wasn't sure how long he'd been gone either. He didn't want to scare the yetis. He knew he would probably be like seeing a ghost to them.

The Reaper quietly pushed through the window onto the rafters. He carefully crept through the rafters towards the medical wing. He had to stop a few times to rest. He finally got there and hopped out of the rafters. There weren't any yetis around and it was quiet. He went straight to the room where he last saw Jack. He slowly opened the door and stepped inside. The room was empty and clean. He guessed they'd moved him or he'd healed enough to leave. The Canadian went to find Lizzy.

Matthew went down one of the halls towards the nurse's station. He skidded to a stop spotting a grey yeti at it. He knew her as Meredith, she had been the doctor that helped Jack. She'd know where he was. He wasn't sure how to approach her. He didn't want to scare her. He sighed and pulled his hood down.

The Reaper huffed and started to walk towards her. He tried to make his footsteps loud enough for her to hear. She seemed very focused on what she was doing. He stood behind her for a moment before tapping her shoulder. Meredith turned around and gave him one look before passing out.

Matthew felt horrible for scaring her so badly. He crouched down next to her to make sure she was okay. He heard footsteps and looked up. Lizzy rounded the corner and stopped in her tracks spotting him. He knew he definitely looked bad crouching next to her downed co-worker. She looked like she'd seen a ghost.

Lizzy threw her clipboard away and charged at him. Matthew was scared at first, but saw she was smiling. She picked him up and pulled him into a bear hug. He spun around with a laugh. He smiled hugging her back. The yeti set him down and scanned him for injuries.

"Matthew, are you okay?" She asked. The Canadian understood yeti, but didn't speak it. He nodded quickly before lightly tapping his throat. "Your throat his injured?" She asked.

Matthew shook his head. Lizzy looked confused for a moment before realizing what he meant. She grabbed Meredith's clipboard and handed it to him along with a pen.

'where is jack kuma and north?' He wrote. He turned the board around and showed her.

"Kuma is with North in his office." Lizzy said. "I don't know where Jack went."

The Reaper was disappointed at that, but wrote another message. 'how long his it been?' He wrote.

"Four days." Lizzy said. Her eyes were sad. "I'm sorry I didn't save you."

'you couldnt have. I was gone before you got there.' Matthew wrote. She stilled looked unsure. 'there wasnt anything you could do.'

"I want to check you over." Lizzy said. "Just to make sure you're okay."

Matthew was about to write again, but Meredith started to wake up. Lizzy noticed as well. She quickly went to help her colleague up.

'ill come back for that later. going to go find Jack.' The Reaper wrote. He left the clip board on the nurse's station before disappearing through a shadow.