Reapers

Chapter 26: Virgil has Abandonment Issues, Roman's an Idiot

CW: blood, gore, death, near death

Sal spun her hand gun around, cooling it after having shot a particularly big phantom down. Nothing she couldn't handle, of course. She was walking away from the fight when she saw a figure jumping rooftops, a familiar scythe in his hands.

She smiled and started to follow the hooded figure, catching up quickly as he slashed at another nearby phantom. She landed on the roof behind him as he prayed, but frowned when she saw his hood was up.

"Heya, Virge!" she called, racing up to him. She froze when he turned to face her, his hair so dark it was almost black and the number of stars in his hair so low she could count them on her hands. Worse yet his eyes and nose were red, the black makeup he wore under his eyes smudged by tears.

He turned away from her and rubbed his eyes, croaking a small, "Hey."

"Oh... oh no..." Sal reached out to touch his shoulder but stopped. If he wanted contact for comfort then he had to be the one to touch her first, after Romulus Sal and Janus quickly learned how to help him in these situations. "What happened?"

"Nothing, I'm just being stupid," Virgil sniffed.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't... I'm not sure."

"You shouldn't bottle it up, that didn't help you last time."

"Gods why is this exactly like what happened last time?" Virgil mostly mumbled it to himself, but Sal heard it.

Her heart dropped and she couldn't hold it back anymore, pulling him into a hug. He didn't hug her back but leaned against her, more stars fading from his hair.

"He's so much like him," Virgil whined, trying to keep from crying.

"Who?" Sal tried to rub his back comfortingly.

"Roman, he reminds me so much of Romulus. What if he really is him, reincarnated?"

"Then that's a good thing! Isn't it? That means you've been reunited with him, isn't that what you wanted?"

Tears welled up in Virgil's eyes. "I really hope he's not Romulus."

Sal faltered. "Why not? Don't you love him?"

Virgil leaned further into Sal's shoulder. "I don't know. I'm scared. If he is Romulus then that means he'll leave me again."

"Why would he? Did... What did Roman say?"

Virgil shook his head. "He said he'll never leave my side. Romulus promised the same thing, and then he left. I don't want Roman to leave, he's going to be the same I know it!"

Sal held him tighter. "You don't know that. Even if Roman is Romulus reincarnated, they're still two different people, they just have the same soul. They'll make different decisions. Roman might decide to stay forever."

"Why would he? Romulus and I were together for thousands of years and he still left me. He never even told me why. What reason would Roman have to stay with me if the man who loved me left?"

"Not everyone is the same-"

"Then why does Roman act just like him! He's said the same things that Romulus said to me, he's cocky but strong willed, and so caring! He's too much like Romulus, why wouldn't he leave me?!" Virgil stilled for a moment, burying himself closer to Sal. "Of course he would, everyone does eventually."

Sal pulled away, holding Virgil by his shoulders, hating that his hair was now pitch black. "Hey! I can't speak for Roman, and I can't tell you why Romulus left you, but I know for a fact that I'll never leave you. We might end up being in different countries, different continents even! But I'm always one call away, and I'll come running if you ever need me."