Reapers

Chapter 9: Is It Weird to Stalk the Living?

Virgil leaned against his scythe, standing on the building that was across from Roman's apartment. It had finally gotten dark, and it seemed like everyone was starting to go to bed for the night, except for those that don't sleep much at night.

The phantoms didn't seem too active tonight, which Virgil was thankful for. He put a hand over his mouth as he yawned, starting to feel tired. It had been awhile since he had taken a nap, so he should probably find a safe spot to sleep soon. Maybe he could convince Sal to watch over him so phantoms won't attack him while he sleeps.

"Getting tired already? It's only been a few weeks since you've arrived here," Janus asked from behind him, making him jump slightly.

Virgil groaned, turning away from him as he rolled his eyes. "Why does everyone keep greeting me from behind?"

"Cause it's fun!" Remus answered as they walked next to him to the edge of the building. He turned to look at the apartment across the street, seeing Roman's light was still on.

Virgil frowned slightly, he could see some kind of sadness in Remus's eyes. "Do you want to go say hello to him?"

"Absolutely not," Remus laughed slightly, shaking his head. Virgil noted the fear in Remus's voice, anyone else would have missed it but Virgil knew fear. It was kinda part of the job.

"Why not? Sure you can't cross the veil yet, but he can see you now. I'm sure he'll recognize you."

"Oh he will, I know he will. I just... don't want to see him. Why would I want to see my brother? I finally got rid of him. He was in my life when I was alive, I don't need him in my afterlife."

"I don't need to be Mr. Lie detector here to know you don't really feel that way." Virgil nodded towards Janus, who just rolled his eyes with a sigh.

"You wish you could catch lies as easily as I can," he mumbled loud enough for the other two to hear.

"I'm not-" Remus tried to defend himself, only to be interrupted by Virgil.

"I don't care why you're lying, you don't need to tell me why you don't want to see your brother. Seriously, it's fine. We all have our secrets, and I'm not planning on forcing you to say hi to him."

Janus chuckled as Remus growled at them, but didn't reply. "Well, regardless of all of that, do you know what you're going to do about this human?" the yellow reaper asked.

Virgil sighed heavily. "Well, I gave him my number and he's already messaged me with his phone so I know he can. To be honest, I wasn't even sure if he was able to message me since, well, I'm not exactly in the world of the living all of the time. However, I ended up shadowing him all day just in case because he was attacked by a phantom last night."

"He what?!" Remus shouted, grabbed the front of Virgil's cloak.

Virgil was less scared of what Remus could do to him, and more cautious on how to word what he said next so he didn't upset him. "Well- ugh, how do I put this? You remember when Janus said his soul might be loose? Well... it's a lot more than loose now."

"What does that mean?" Janus asked, squinting his eyes slightly.

"He... had an out of body experience. When he was attacked by that phantom, that I destroyed by the way, it pushed him out of his body."

Remus stared at him with a shocked expression, his eyes wide and mouth open. It was an expression Virgil had never seen on him before, it was obvious that he worried about his brother's well being.

"I'm-I'm sorry, can you back that up for a second?" the green reaper asked, getting over his shock. "He did what?"

Virgil pulled himself out of Remus's grip, smoothing his cloak out. "He should be fine, he wasn't attacked by a phantom at all today! And there's been no astral projection either. Besides, he got back into his body easily enough, still being connected to it."

"That doesn't mean he's fine! He was attacked by a phantom once already, he could be attacked again! You need to fix this now!"

"I'm trying to figure out how! I still haven't gotten a date for when I can meet with Death to talk to them about all of this. I already promised Roman that I would, and I always keep my word. I won't let him get hurt until I figure all of this out."

"Certain humans have always been able to see us," Janus explained. "And there have been plenty of humans who can astral project, this is nothing new. I'm sure there's a solution to this, even if we can't find a way to make this human the way he was before."

"Still, I swear to Death if a phantom hurts him I'm going to kill you," Remus threatened Virgil, pointing in his face. "This is your fault after all."

"Okay, none of this is my fault! I was just doing my job! I saw his soul on the stupid application thingy and went to help him cross over! It's not my fault that it was a false alarm."

"First off, application thingy? I get you're thousands of years old, but it's called an app. Second off, I don't know what the fuck you did, but it's obvious you did something to cause this!"

"It's not that big of a deal," Janus cut in. "There's nothing to worry about, right?"

"Well..." Virgil twirled his scythe against the concrete of the roof. "There's one thing that kinda concerned me."

"It just never ends with you, does it?"

"When Roman was pushed out of his body, he had the spirit cord like all humans do when they astral project, a red one. But... it's hard to explain. You know how when we first die we look exactly what we did while living? And our hair and eyes change color the longer we stay?"

"Yes, just get it out!" Remus rushed him.

"Your brother's hair was red and gold, and so were his eyes."

"You mean like a reaper?" Janus asked, it was his turn to have a shocked expression. It was rarer than gold to see that expression on him.

"Well he's alive, I don't think he's a reaper. But yes, that's what it reminded me of. It was not a good red by the way, it was like a cherry red with golden tips, it was really weird."

"Says the kid with the Starry Night for hair," Remus grumbled, trying to use comedy to calm himself down.

"Okay I know for a fact that you would make fun of how he looked if you saw him yourself."

"Oh definitely, I'm just not letting you forget that you look ridiculous yourself."

"Your head looks like grass, you have no room to speak."

"More like weed-!"

Janus sighed loudly, cutting him off, "Well, it's getting late. We should head out so we can continue our jobs so Sal and Ren don't get overwhelmed. You stay in this neighborhood, and keep an eye on Roman in particular."

"I was already planning on it."

"That doesn't mean you get to be lazy, actually deal with any nearby souls or phantoms."

Virgil groaned, "Fine!" Janus shook his head with a small laugh at the purple reaper's antics. Virgil felt his phone vibrate and pulled it out, seeing he got a new notification. "Dang, my meeting with Death is scheduled for Wednesday!"

"That's only in a few days, that's fast," Janus commented. "Well, you are one of their favorites."

"That's only 'cause I'm one of the oldest, I've been doing this for two thousand years after all."

"The beginning of time, you are old," Remus commented.

"Two thousand years ago isn't the beginning of time. We're in the 21st century because two thousand years ago that Jesus guy was born."

"Oh! So you were alive at the same time as Jesus?"

Virgil groaned, leaning his head against the shaft of his scythe. "Just-just leave already. You're giving me a headache."

"Alright, goodbye old man!" Remus grabbed Janus's hand and started pulling him away.

"I'm 28! That's how old I was when I died!" Virgil yelled after him. He sighed as they got out of earshot, unlocking his phone so he could find something to do all night. He yawned again, but he wasn't tired enough to actually fall asleep, so he'll work.