Reapers

Chapter 8: Oh What a Bi-

Roman woke up slowly, everything feeling heavy and sluggish. He breathed deeply, making a dull pain light up in his chest. He hugged himself lazily with one arm, blinking his eyes open.

He tried to think about what had happened the night before, a strange calm in the air. It was shattered the moment he remembered the phantom. He sat up and looked back, seeing the broken glass still on the floor.

He sighed heavily, knowing that it needed to be cleaned up soon. He was attacked by a strange phantom, one that was like a bug. Then that purple reaper had saved him.

Though, he had left his body. The purple reaper explained that he had astral projected, and there was that red thread. It all felt like a dream, and Roman was having a hard time believing any of it was real. Most of yesterday felt fake.

That's when he saw the napkin on the coffee table. He picked it up and read it, quickly grabbing his phone and putting the number in. He couldn't help but smile as he typed in the name. "Virgil, huh?" It was a strange name, but it was nice. A timeless name.

He sent a simple good morning message so the reaper would at least have his number. He didn't even realize reapers had phones. There was still so much he needed to learn, but for now he needs food.

So he got up and made his way to the kitchen. He should still have some cereal left, even if he needs to get more milk. You would think almond milk wouldn't go bad as fast as normal milk, but apparently it does.

Good thing it was the weekend, so he can go grocery shopping. Though... he didn't want to be alone. He didn't want to annoy Virgil, he does have a job after all, so Logan or Patton would be his best choice. They did say they will help him if he needs it, and grocery shopping was a good enough excuse.

He opened his contacts again to message them, but out of curiosity he checked to see if Virgil had responded. He couldn't help but pout when he saw Virgil had read the message, but hadn't bothered to respond. Well, he did seem like that kind of person who would do that.

He shrugged and decided to just message Patton. He'll annoy Virgil later, maybe not too much since he doesn't want a boy who cried wolf situation.

Roman couldn't help but laugh as Patton texted him back almost instantly. He had simply asked if they could go grocery shopping with him, and Patton told him that they'll drive over right away. He was probably going to smother him with concern and help more than he needed to, but at least he'll make him feel safe.

~~~

"I'm glad you called us to help you!" Patton told Roman as they loaded their car, Patton didn't want Roman driving so they picked him up.

"Well, I'm glad you wanted to come," he replied, handing Logan another bag. "But uh, I do promise I'm feeling much better, so you don't need to worry about me."

"I assume you mean your ribs feel better?" Logan asked.

"Yep, it just feels like bruises now."

"And what about those weird visions?"

"Um..." Roman looked off, seeing a phantom sitting on the back of a family car as the parents and kids climbed in. It looked like a short troll with small arms and legs, pointed ears, a big nose and mouth, and closed eyes. After a moment, the car sputtered as if trying to start up. Guess phantoms can affect inanimate objects too. He finally answered Logan, "Yeah, yeah- no. I don't see them so much anymore. I'm fine, seriously."

Logan looked at him skeptical as Patton looked behind him where Roman was looking before. He paled slightly, though neither of his friends noticed.

"Okay! Well, let's get the rest of this food into the car and head home before the ice cream melts," he said, grabbing some more bags and putting them into the car.

"Oh gosh, that's right!" Roman agreed, rushing to grab the bags.

Virgil smiled slightly as he watched from afar, the human was so weird. He had been following him, wanting to keep his work close to Roman in case the human won't be able to call him for some reason while being attacked.

Unfortunately, he can't get too close. He didn't care if Roman saw him, but there's that spirit next to him. Not a soul, but a wind spirit, and a strong one at that since they clearly crossed the veil. Virgil wanted to keep watch of him, just in case.

Nature spirits weren't inherently bad like phantoms, however they're not exactly good spirits either, they're just neutral like the great god Pan himself. So this wind spirit could have good intentions, or bad intentions.

This wind spirit was with Roman when he left the hospital too, was he just living in the land of the living? Was he just friends with Roman? Or was it something else? Virgil didn't want to give away his position until he knew for sure Roman was safe with him.

"Well if it isn't my least favorite reaper," an annoying voice behind him said. The voice itself wasn't a horrible voice, it was just annoying to Virgil since it belonged to her.

"Remind me again what I did to make you hate me so much, Ren?" Virgil asked, not really expecting an answer.

He didn't even have to look back to know she was glaring at him with her piercing white eyes, a black ring around them so it didn't look like she only had a pupil. Her snow-like hair was short and pinned down. She wore a long white cloak that had sleeves, the front button down to her legs where they opened up to show her brown pants.

"What are you doing just sitting here? Shouldn't you be doing your job?"

"I'm sure I've gotten rid of more phantoms than you have today. I've also helped plenty of spirits cross over."

"Doesn't mean you can take a break. The job isn't done until-"

"There are no spirits or phantoms left in the world, I know. Look, I can't be hunting everything down every second of the day, we need to rest or we'll run ourselves to the ground."

Ren growled and summoned her bow, pulling the string back and creating an arrow of light. She let go of the string and the arrow pierced the phantom that was sitting on the family car. The car roared to life and Ren continued to glare at Virgil.

"Doesn't mean you should let the phantoms in front of you go so easily. Honesty, after the great wars you've been just horrible."

"Oh what a shame, I'm so hurt that you think that." The sarcasm was so thick in Virgil's voice he could cut it with his scythe. "Also, the humans call it the world wars."

"Doesn't change the fact that you've been lazier after they happened."

"There's been fewer human deaths since then, their medicine has improved. Besides, there's five reapers in this city, so I have plenty of time in the day to relax."

"There's also been more phantoms since the industrial age!"

"Oh my gods, the industrial age, now that I hated. So much cruelty, and it's still bad in most places"

"After 2,000 years and you've become so lazy. I can't believe you used to be such a great reaper."

"Hey, I'm still a great reaper, thank you very much. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other places to be." Virgil stood up, watching as the car Roman was in started to leave the parking lot. "Thanks for the warm welcome Ren, happy huntings!"