Reapers

Chapter 60: Mourning a Lost Friend

Roman was pacing around in his living room, nervously waiting for something. It has been an hour since Virgil left and so far he's gotten nothing. He was told to stay, and the last time he didn't Virgil got hurt so he had to stay. Still... with how the purple reaper left it made him nervous.

Was Sal hurt? Did Virgil get hurt again? Were they going to be okay? What even happened?

Just when Roman thought he couldn't take it anymore and was about to leave to find them, Remus popped his head through the door of the apartment.

"Oh thank god you're here," he said before turning to someone on the other side of the door. "He's here!"

"Remus, what-?" Roman tried to ask, but stopped himself when Janus walked in with Virgil in his arms. His heart dropped when he saw Virgil's hair was pitch black, not a star to be seen. He ran over as fast as he could, seeing that the purple reaper wasn't awake. "Virgil! What happened?!"

"We don't know," his brother answered.

"Remus-" Janus tried to say.

"No, I'm going to look for Sal-"

"Remus! She's gone!"

Roman felt his blood freeze. "What...?"

Janus sighed, walking over to the couch and setting Virgil down. Roman finally saw the bandage wrapped around his arm and the tears on the shoulders of his cloak. Janus pulled Virgil's cloak over him like a blanket and fixed Virgil's hair so it was out of his face. "We... we got an alert on our phones," he explained. "One for a shadow. I left my meeting early to help, but when I got there..."

"I got there at the same time as him. Virgil was there and the fight was clearly over but well," Remus sighed painfully. He summoned Sal's phone and her pistols. "Virgil couldn't speak and all we found were these."

"Sal... Where is Sal?" Roman asked, not wanting to believe what he was being told.

"She's gone. Judging by Virgil's reaction, she became a shadow and..." Janus didn't want to finish the sentence. It hurt too much.

"Oh gods..." If Janus and Remus got there when the fight was over, that means Virgil had to fight her by himself. He was the one who... oh no...

Roman looked over to Virgil, feeling tears well up in his eyes. It felt like his heart was being torn apart. Sal was gone, she wasn't coming back.

"It's not fair," Remus growled. "I shouldn't have let her go."

"This isn't your fault," Janus told her. "You didn't let her go, I did."

"I helped her convince you to let her tail Ren! If I hadn't- If we had just waited another day then-" Remus blinked the tears out of his eyes, a few slipping down his cheeks. "Then- Oh forget it!"

He set the phone and gun down on the coffee table, storming towards the door. "Remus!" Janus called.

"No, I'm going hunting. I'll kill every fucking phantom I see. Don't follow me." He went through the door as Janus sighed.

Roman sat down on the couch by Virgil's feet, staring at what Remus had placed on the coffee table. The whole room was filled to the rim with tension so thick that it choked him.

"S-Sal she... she was following Ren?"

Janus nodded, fighting back his own tears. "Yeah..."

"And you didn't see Ren at all?"

"No, I haven't gone looking for her either."

Roman frowned, his eyes still unseeing. He squeezed his hands into fists. "What if Sal saw something? What if she was caught?"

Janus finally looked over to him. "You think Ren did this?"

"If Sal turned into a shadow, why wasn't Ren at the fight? Where did she go?"

The yellow reaper grabbed Sal's phone, typing in every combination that Sal would use as a password. When it finally opened, the first thing he did was open the camera app. "If there's no proof in here then I really hope you're wrong." He clicked on the files and the first thing he saw was a video.

Roman stood up again and looked over Janus's shoulder to watch as he clicked play. It started out with Sal walking towards an alleyway, and then she looked over the corner with her phone. Ren's back was turned to them, but they could see in clear view the summoning paper. They watched her spread some blood against the paper, and several phantoms came out.

Ren turned to her, and for a split second Roman and Janus could see her gaze land on Sal and the phone. She pulled her bow off her shoulder and Sal jumped back, ending the video.

Almost instantly Roman wished he hadn't seen it. He didn't think about how bad it would hurt to see his friend's last moments. Somehow the room was filled with even more tension, and he didn't dare break the silence.

Janus did with a sigh as he turned off the phone, dropping his arm. "I think that's proof enough. I can't believe I let this happen."

"Oh Sal..." Roman whined, putting a hand to his chest as he heart threatened to fall apart. More tears came to his eyes as it finally hit him. She faded in a horrible way, and she wasn't going to come back.

"Stay with Virgil, I'm going to find Ren." Janus turned to leave, but Roman tried to grab his arm. Unfortunately it went through, however Janus stopped anyway.

"Wait! You can't do that alone, at least wait until Remus comes back. If you go alone, then you'll be the next to fade. Besides..." Roman turned to Virgil. "I don't think you should be gone by the time he wakes up."

Janus groaned, rubbing his eyes. "Virgil just can't catch a break, can he?"

"Please stay? At least until Remus comes back."

The yellow reaper looked up to Roman, seeing how broken the human was over this. He crossed over the veil and pulled him into a hug, making Roman tense up before hugging back. Both found it very hard to keep their tears back now, Janus let his tears slide out quietly as Roman broke down into sobs.

It was a horrible thing, fading. A second death with no do-overs. It leaves the world a little emptier, a soul being torn away from their family.