Reapers

Chapter 52: Everyone is Tired and Sore

"I don't love this," Virgil groaned as he laid on the couch. Roman sat next to him, running a hand through his hair.

"I second that," Sal agreed, laying on the floor despite there being other places for her to sit at.

"I understand, but there isn't anything else we can do," Janus told them, typing on his phone. He was sitting on the other side of the couch, Remus laying in his lap.

"Has Death been able to find anyone to send over?" Roman asked.

"I don't know, I haven't had the time to ask them, that's what I'm doing now."

"I'm so tired," Remus yawned. "I need a nap."

"Then take one while you can." Janus pulled one of his hands away from his phone and put it on Remus's head as the green reaper laid against him.

"That sounds like a good idea." The moment the green reaper closed his eyes, his breathing evened out.

"Holy shit," Sal said, sitting up when she realized Remus managed to fall asleep instantly. "How did he do that?"

"Simple, he doesn't sleep until the last moment," Janus explained. "I don't know how he doesn't show an ounce of fatigue, I envy it."

"He needs to teach me his ways."

"Coffee is a good substitute," Roman said.

"Can I take another vacation?" Virgil asked.

"Even if you weren't joking, my answer would have been no," Janus replied, finally hitting send.

"How do you know I wasn't joking?"

"Because you hate resting when there's work to be done. Now, the reason that we're here. I need someone to tail Ren."

"Woah what? Why?" Sal asked.

"She is the one summoning phantoms!" Virgil shouted. "I knew it!"

"I don't have any proof yet, obviously. That's why I need her to be tailed, of course whoever does it won't be allowed to have their phone so Ren can't figure out she's being tailed. I just don't know who because you Virgil have a very clear dislike of her and there are others who won't take your word for what you see, and Sal's weapon is very loud so if she ends up getting in trouble with a phantom her position will be given away immediately. And it can't be either me or Remus because if we're not together for too long then it'll be suspicious."

"A.K.A. you don't want to separate from him," Sal commented. "He wouldn't either."

"Please, this is more important than neither of us wanting to separate from one another. I would leave my phone with him but should Ren message me and I don't respond fast, it'll be suspicious, and I don't trust Remus to word any message the way I would. If Remus tails her well... you all would be placing bets on how fast he would be caught."

The other three nodded and murmured different agreements.

"So... what if I took a human camera with me and take a video whenever she's doing something suspicious?" Virgil asked.

"That could work, but it would take longer for you to escape if you're about to be caught. You'd have to cross over before heading to some sort of afterlife if you do so, and by then Ren could have caught you. Plus there's no telling if she would even appear on the camera."

"Oh, what if I borrowed Roman's knife? That's a quiet weapon," Sal asked.

Virgil frowned. "I don't like the idea of Roman being unarmed for a day, even if I am near him to protect him."

"You're great at protecting him though! He'll be fine."

"Unless we're attacked by a class four, I can't guarantee that I'll be able to do so. The last one threw me like a fucking ragdoll."

"What?" Roman asked, his hand freezing.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"I don't want you fighting anymore class fours by yourself."

"I said I'm fine! I didn't even get a scar! But that's even more reason for me to make sure you stay armed, so I don't fight alone. Though you will be strictly backup of course."

"So what do we do?" Janus asked.

Virgil sighed, "I have no idea. We could easily lose our phone so she doesn't track us, but she could do the same thing."

"Maybe we should wait for now. If something comes up, we'll do something about it. We can't safely follow her without her getting suspicious, so we just wait," Sal suggested. "And if we end up catching her doing something, then we do. I'll try to keep my work around her in case I can catch her, you know, just randomly bump into her while chasing after phantoms."

"That sounds like our best option for now," Janus agreed. "Just try not to run into her often, and back off when she seems to get suspicious."

"I hate not having any proof," Virgil growled. "If this really is her doing, then she's planning something. She's already threatened me, by threatening Roman, Logan, and Patton."

"And then you threatened her, I know. She told me about it."

"Snitch."

"Aside from that, I agree with you. Whoever is behind these summonings is planning something. Whatever it is, I don't like it." An alarm on Janus's phone went off, though it wasn't one for phantoms. He sighed and turned it off. "We need to get going."

"Did you put a timer on this meeting?" Sal asked.

"We shouldn't spend a lot of time talking, we can't afford to." Janus picked up Remus, trying to keep his head leaning against him. "I'll take him Home so he's not in danger and I can continue to work. He'll be upset, but I don't want to risk anything."

"He's so quiet like that." Sal wrinkled her nose. "I don't like it, it's not natural."

"He isn't," Janus agreed, his voice a bit dreamy. "Be safe you three."

He disappeared as Sal stood up, stretching her back. "Well, see you two around. Don't push yourselves, especially you Virgil."

"I'm going to start fighting everyone that says that."

"Don't push yourself!" Sal repeated in a sing-song voice, skipping to the door.

"Go die!" Virgil shouted.

"Bye Sal!" Roman waved as she went through the door. He sighed and continued to run his hand through Virgil's hair. "Well, we have nothing to do. Guess we should go hunting."

Virgil groaned, "I don't want to get up."

"We both have work to do, come on." Roman tried lifting him up.

"You're not a reaper, you don't have to."

"You're a reaper." The human poked Virgil in the side, making him jump and hold his side.

Roman gasped, "You're ticklish!"

Virgil bolted up, getting off of the couch. "You tickle me and I'll kill you!"

"Like that'll get rid of me." The human grinned evilly. "But at least I got you up. Now, unless you're really not feeling up to it, let's go phantom hunting."