Reapers

Chapter 11: The Kinda Good News, and the Bad News

"My ribs don't hurt anymore, I promise," Roman told Logan over the phone as he made his way up to his apartment.

"Just because they don't hurt doesn't mean you can be careless," Logan reminded him. "They're not fully healed, even if they stopped hurting."

"It's been three weeks!" Roman pulled out his apartment keys.

"And the doctor said it would take four to five weeks to heal completely. You need to be careful!"

"Don't you have any papers you need to be grading, teach?"

"Roman..."

"Yeah, yeah, I promise I'll be careful. It's just an audition! I'm not going to do anything crazy! Yet..."

"You're going to be the death of me."

"If I'm the reason you die, you're allowed to haunt me."

"Ghosts aren't real," Roman heard Logan sigh heavily.

He unlocked and opened his door, "I beg to- oh my gods!" He jumped back when he saw Virgil sitting on his couch. The reaper waved at him, smiling slightly despite his knee bouncing nervously.

"Are you alright?" Logan asked, concern filling his voice.

"Y-yeah, I just... Big spider in my apartment." Roman held a hand to his chest to calm his heart. "Look, I'll be fine I promise, so don't worry. I'll talk to you later, don't spend all night working."

"Good bye then, Roman."

"Bye." Roman hung up on Logan, closing the door before looking back up at Virgil. "Maybe text before coming to my apartment next time? Nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Survive a car crash, die from a little scare, kinda a stretch but a possibility," Virgil joked.

"How did you even get in here? The door is locked!"

"I have my ways." The purple reaper shrugged.

Roman sighed, "Well, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"What?" Virgil looked at him like he was crazy.

"It's-it's an old saying- How did you not know that? You're like a million years old! Surely you've heard humans say it before?"

"First off, I'm 28. I stopped aging two thousand years ago. Don't ask how that works, just don't."

"Okay, that raises several questions but for later. Did you find a way to fix... me?" Roman gestured vaguely to himself.

"I mean, that's the main reason I'm here right now." Roman smiled as hope filled him. "The veil can't be fixed."

His smile dropped and disappointment and fear quickly replaced the hope. "But you said-"

"I know! I know I promised and I'm really, really sorry for breaking the promise."

Roman ran his hands through his hair, starting to pace. "So what? I'm going to be forever hunted by phantoms? Forever in danger?"

"Look, I can't fix the veil but I can help you. I talked to Death, and they told me to help you get stronger. Spirit wise, I mean. They said you have a strong soul, and encouraged me to help you explore astral projecting."

"I'm... confused..." Roman walked over and sat on the reclining chair.

"I'm going to teach you how to fight phantoms." Virgil pulled out the dagger that Death gave him. "They told me to give you this."

Roman reached out and grabbed it, surprised that he was able to touch it in the first place. "What is it?"

"It's what reapers first fought with, before we learned to create our own weapons. Regular humans shouldn't be able to see it, and it can't hurt humans either. At least, that's what I've heard from the rumors."

"So you've never used one yourself?"

"As I said, I've only been around for two thousand years. And that might seem like a long time to you, and it has been long, but I wasn't there at the beginning of civilization."

"Right, cause two thousand years ago was when Jesus was born, it was when Rome was at its height."

Virgil couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, it-it was pretty big back then, huh?" At least Roman was smarter than his brother.

"Wait, so were you created by Death back then?"

"No, I-I used to be alive. Be human, I mean. Reapers are human souls that are recruited by Death, or work for them anyway. It has to be voluntary, it's hard to explain."

"Wait, are you the poet Vergilus?"

Virgil couldn't help but laugh at that, making Roman blush from embarrassment. Well, that and because it was a handsome laugh- wait no it's just a nice laugh.

The reaper calmed himself down enough to answer, "No, no but I was named after him. I was a legionary, a high ranking roman officer. I worked under King Augustus, well more specifically I worked for one of his sons before I died."

"Oh... do you- do you miss your family?"

The smile fell off of Virgil's face, and Roman felt guilty as he got a sad look. "I didn't have a family by the time I died. My father died in battle, and my mother... well she died when I was younger." Virgil's voice was really quiet as he said that last part. "I never had any siblings. But there are some people I miss."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

The reaper just shrugged. "It's fine, but moving on to more important matters. You need to learn to astral project on command. It'll be easier to learn to fight so you don't end up destroying your things by accident."

"Uh... how do I do that?"

Virgil put his hand under his chin. "You know, I don't know. I never thought about it."

"Could-could you maybe just... pull me out?"

"I could try." Virgil got up and walked over. Roman held his hand out to him, and Virgil tried to grab it but their hands went through each other. "Okay, that won't work."

"Uh... oh! Try to grab onto the dagger's handle! We could use it as an anchor since we can both touch it!"

"Wow, Prince has brains."

"Okay, rude."

Virgil smirked as he rolled his eyes. Roman held up the dagger in his fist, Virgil grabbed the handle and pulled back. Surprisingly enough, Roman's soul actually did leave his body, Virgil wasn't entirely sure it would work.

Roman looked back to see his body had fallen against the recliner, fast asleep. His body wasn't holding the bone dagger, instead it was in his spirit hand.

"Well look at that, lollipop," Virgil chuckled lightly. "It actually worked."

"Lollipop?" He turned to the reaper, his turn to have a confused look.

"Your hair just reminds me so much of cherry lollipops. They're my favorite."

"I prefer grape." Roman winked.

"You're horrible at flirting."

The human pouted slightly. "Like 'lollipop' doesn't sound like flirting."

Virgil rolled his eyes before getting into a fighting stance, not bothering to summon his scythe. He won't need it. "Okay, just remember, I was a high ranking roman officer. I'm not going to make your training easy."

Roman sighed, gripping his dagger tight. "Oh boy."

"Correct response. Let's get started."