Reapers

Chapter 40: Well That's One Way to Fix That Problem

Virgil sighed as he walked through the forest that Death had created in the first afterlife. It was nice and peaceful, just like the one in the living world. He's already ran into several animals, but any time he hears any human voices he makes sure to leave before they could find him. He really didn't want to talk to any at the moment.

He really should make a decision about what he was going to do soon. Death had given him an option to just go to a different part of the world, or return to the same city.

He knew it wasn't fair to Roman to just leave him like that, but he would probably be angry if Virgil ever returns. What a hypocrite, he was upset that Romulus had left him all those years ago and he did the same thing to Roman. The human had every right to be angry at him.

Maybe... maybe he'll return just long enough to explain everything to Roman and then say goodbye. That was more than what Romulus did for him. Why was deciding things so hard?

Virgil jumped when the alarm on his phone went off. He dug it out from his pocket and took a look at what it said. A class four phantom was in the town he was supposed to be stationed at. A class four phantom was in Roman's town.

Well... that changes things.

~~~

Roman's throat tightened in fear when he saw the phantom. He squeezed the handle of his dagger so tight his knuckles turned white. He had just enough time to let out a shaky breath before the phantom jumped down.

Sal jumped onto the roof of a nearby car, pointing her guns at the phantom. She shot at it, shattering the short stare off completely. The phantom raised an arm for cover, roaring in pain before it charged.

The gray reaper jumped off of the car, leaping over the phantom. Roman quickly made his way closer to her, but not too close just in case.

The phantom came to a slow stop. It turned around to face them before roaring again. Sal took this opportunity to shoot it in the mouth, which made it even angrier. Roman could already see the bullet wounds in it's arm closing up. He needs to help out somehow!

He looked around before deciding to jump as high as he could, finding it easier to do so as if he weighed nothing. He grabbed onto a flower box that was hanging outside of a window on the fourth floor of the apartment complex.

Sal only looked up at him for a moment before focusing on the phantom. The blue phantom seemed to take a deep breath and she shot it as much as she could, glad it was impossible for her to run out of bullets.

The phantom spit something pink at her, and she jumped to the side. The saliva splattered against the ground before seeming to dry up and harden. Her eyes widened, then she looked up to see Roman doing something stupid.

He jumped from the flower box and onto the phantom's back, stabbing the dagger into it. The phantom roared in pain, bucking to throw Roman off, but he held onto his dagger tight.

Sal shot it in the eye, making it cover its face for a moment. Roman pulled his dagger off before jumping back, out of reach from it. It roared in pain and tried to swipe at something that wasn't there.

Sal smiled as she looked up to see Roman hanging from a light pole. They were making progress, it was slow but it was progress. Now they just need to move faster.

She continued to shoot at it, her hands going numb at the recoil of the pistols. It roared in pain, before charging at her again. She jumped back, but it grabbed her leg with its giant hand. Sal gasped before she found herself being thrown through the air.

She held her breath and tried to control her fall, reaching for anything, but instead she found herself rolling on the ground to a painful stop.

"Sal!" she heard Roman call, looking up just in time to see a pink spitball coming at her. Luckily it only hit her in the stomach, so her face was uncovered. Unfortunately, she was stuck to the ground.

Roman dropped from the lamp post, hating the painful spikes that went up his legs. He held back a whimper and stood up, ignoring the pain. The phantom moved slowly like a tiger about to pounce on Sal.

"Hey!" he shouted, trying to get it's attention. "Leave her alone!"

He ran towards it, a small part of his mind telling him how stupid this was and that Virgil would freak out if he saw him now. Except he wasn't there, and he wasn't coming, and Roman shouldn't be thinking about that right now.

The phantom turned to him before he could reach it. It swiped at him, but he jumped high, getting used to being able to do so. He landed on it's back again and stabbed it, pulling the dagger out before jumping away.

The phantom roared, turning to face him. He ran to the side, and the phantom pounced to where he was going but he stopped himself in time and ran the other way. This was much harder without Sal.

He turned to see where it was at, only to trip on something and fall to the ground. He had enough time to curse himself out and turn around before the phantom jumped onto him. It's giant hand pushed him into the ground, pushing the air from his lungs.

"Roman!" Sal screamed, seeing his red spirit cord appear for a moment before he hid it again. She struggled to get out, kicking and squirming as she yelled in both fear and frustration. She was too busy struggling to get free that she didn't notice the figure on the roof of the apartment complex.

Roman whimpered in fear and pain as he tried to get free. The phantom opened its mouth and leaned down to eat him, but something fell onto it and it jerked back in pain as it roared. It started moving back as it tried to throw something off from it's back.

A scythe was raised into the air before it fell down on the phantom's head, making it freeze. It fell limp, but before it could even hit the ground it bursted into cinders.

Roman sat up, holding his chest as he watched carefully. He knew that scythe, and when the cinders finally faded he could clearly see Virgil.

The purple reaper looked over to him in worry. His scythe disappeared and he rushed over, holding a hand out for Roman to grab. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Roman grabbed his arm and pulled him down, holding him tight in a hug. He held on as tight as he could as if he would disappear again, tears building in his eyes.

"You're here? You're really here?" he asked, feeling light headed. Was this real?

Virgil frowned in worry as he felt Roman tremble. He hugged him back, feeling guilty tears build up. He should have come back sooner.

"I'm here," he promised. "I'm sorry, Roman. I... I won't leave again. You're safe now."

"Please, please don't leave. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I... Don't go."

"I'm not going to, it's okay. You did nothing wrong, I was the one who was an asshole. I won't leave you again, I promise. Everything's okay."

"Hey that's great and all!" Sal called over. "But can one of you help me?"

Virgil looked over, not letting go of Roman. "What happened to you?"

"I could ask you the same thing. The phantom did this, now can you help me out here?"

"Hold on," he said, turning back to Roman.

Sal rolled her eyes. "Not like I have much of a choice."