Reapers

Chapter 56: Wakey Wakey! Get up Bitch

CW: discussion of injuries

"Why isn't he waking up?" Roman asked. It had been four days since the night they were attacked, and Virgil had been taken out of the jar for two of those days. Roman had been too scared to go to work, instead he decided to use his sick days.

"How bad were his injuries?" Sal asked.

Roman ran his hands through his hair as he closed his eyes. "His arms got scratched, I don't know how bad though. He was grabbed and squeezed by the phantom before he was thrown down onto the street pretty far from me. Then the phantom smashed its fist on his chest, breaking his scythe in two as he tried to block it."

"Were his lungs pierced by his ribs?"

"I-I think? He said something about his lungs when he woke up the first time. Is-is he going to be okay?"

Sal put her hand on Roman's arm. "He's probably just taking his time to make sure he comes back at his best. He won't want you to worry, I promise he's going to be okay."

"His arms were infected, Janus took care of it but what if he was still infected?"

"Even if he was, being in this state heals infections. Reapers can only go into this state when we're on the verge of fading, so if he was able to go back into an orb after he woke up the first time that means he needed to. Maybe his injuries were worse than we thought?"

"What?" Roman whimpered. Was Virgil still in pain? Will he be okay? How badly was he hurt because of Roman?

"He's going to be okay! Don't think about what happened, just focus on now. How has your sword training been?"

Roman hugged himself. "I don't know. I still remember what Virgil taught Romulus, and I've been going over those lessons, but it would be easier with Virgil here himself."

"Why don't we go over it together?"

"O-okay." Roman sat down on the couch and closed his eyes. After a few seconds he was able to step out of his body. It had been taking him longer to relax himself.

"Alright, first step, summon your gladius." Sal told him.

"How are we going to go over it together if you don't have a weapon that would be appropriate for sword training?"

The pink reaper bit her thumbnail in thought. "Oh! You still have that dagger?" Roman nodded. "I can fight with that!"

"Oh! Right!" Roman quickly summoned his gladius, then his dagger. Sal had taught him how to put them in his dimension pocket, and to pull them out again, though sometimes it takes a few tries.

He handed her the dagger before they both got into a fighting stance. Sal made the first move and tried to stab him, but Roman moved on pure instinct and disarmed her quickly. Both of them blinked in surprise as soon as it happened.

"Guess your soul never forgot how to do that," Sal laughed.

"Yeah, I-I guess," Roman sheepishly agreed. "I hope Virgil will be happy about that."

"I'm sure he will be, but you need to stop worrying about him!" Sal poked his shoulder harshly.

"Aren't you worried?"

The pink reaper faltered. "Yeah, of course I am. But this isn't the first time this has happened, and I doubt it'll be the last. He woke up okay last time, though earlier than he should have. We couldn't convince him to rest more, though it wasn't like we had a lot of energy or time to do that."

"I just wish he would wake up so I can actually hold him again."

"You want to see him okay again, I know. But there's nothing we can do but protect him while he's like this. We need to be patient."

Roman looked over to see her foot was quietly tapping on the floor and she was tapping her fingers on her thumb on one hand as she stared at the orb of light on the couch. "You're getting impatient too, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I really am. Last time he was hurt worse, and he only took three days. Why isn't he waking up?"

The living reaper sighed, sending his sword away. "Why don't you keep that dagger? It's a quiet weapon so maybe you can tail Ren with it?"

Her eyes lit up. "That's actually a good idea! I'll tell Janus about it! Now we can actually find out if Ren is the one summoning phantoms!"

"Once Virgil wakes up, please don't leave us defenseless."

"Damn," Sal snapped her fingers as she cursed sarcastically, "there goes my plans of putting you and Virgil in grave danger!"

"Oh shut up," Roman laughed slightly.

"I have never shut up once in my afterlife." She poked Roman's cheek, making him laugh more as he swatted her hand away.

"Now I know that's an exaggeration. I'm sure you've been shocked into silence at least once in the centuries you've been doing this."

"Nuh uh! I don't get shocked into silence! I go straight to shouting!"

"Maybe you shouldn't be the spy then, you'll give away your position immediately!"

"No, Remus would though. I'll last longer than him!"

"I bet he wouldn't even last a day."

"See! He's not even the spy and you already made a bet! Janus was right!"

Roman laughed even more, not noticing the strange glow behind him until Sal gasped in shock. She spun him around and shouted, "Look!"

He saw the white orb changed back into Virgil just in time, the purple reaper falling onto the couch once again.

"Virgil!" He didn't even have time to take everything in before Roman practically threw himself onto him, pulling him into a bone crushing hug. The red reaper pulled back enough to hold his face. "Are you okay? How are your ribs- How are your lungs?!"

"Woah, calm down," Virgil told him, his voice the normal volume it usually was and not a pained, raspy whisper. "I'm okay, I'm all healed."

Roman found relieved tears in his eyes as he hugged Virgil again. "Good, you better not do anything like that again!"

Virgil hugged him back, letting him bury his face into the crook of his neck. "Don't worry, it'll be a long time before I let anything like that happen to me." He closed his eyes as he leaned in closer to Roman. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you that the whole white orb thing was something we do. I tried to after I was hurt, but I couldn't."

"Yeah you asshole!" Roman pulled away with a frown, but the tears in his eyes showed just how worried he was. "Janus and Remus had to explain it to me! Is there anything else that I should know?"

"N-nothing that comes to mind." Virgil shrunk back a bit. "Are you okay? Were you hurt?"

"I'm fine now that you're here. As long as you're safe, I'm happy."

Virgil smiled, taking Roman's hand and bringing it to his lips. "Good, I'm glad."