Brook X GN Reader || I'm The Grim Reaper

Chapter 60

"Deer, rabbit... It's unfortunate you have decided to defend a reaper who takes the lives of innocent people," You grimaced at the use of your nickname from her. "I won't strip you of your powers, but I will be keeping an eye on you. To put it simply, it is my job to keep things in order. And that Red Reaper poses a catastrophic danger to the waking world." "Oh, fuck off!" You sighed dramatically, pushing against Scarlet and ducking so that the demon didn't stab you in the face.

There were footsteps in the distance as Chase sprinted towards the location of the incident, throwing himself in front of Scarlet.

Bernadette paused with her hand in the air, watching Chase with wide eyes. "You... Why are you standing in front of them?" "Because if you want to hurt her, you'll have to hurt me too," Chase said simply, not budging from his position in front of Scarlet's demon.

"Yes, I can see that. That wasn't my question. Why. Are you. Standing in front of them?"

"Because she's my friend. And if you want to hurt her, you have to hurt me." You swallowed hard, glancing at Brook. "No, no! You're not understanding! That reaper! The Red one! You understand she has no control over her demon?! And because of this, she has killed innocent people, and will continue to do so. It's in front of you - she has no control right now. You're telling me someone like you excuses those actions?!"

Chase glared. "And?" You grinned. Bernadette snapped her fingers in a huff. The wings and shards around you all shattered. Scarlet seemed to start to come back. "Thanks..." Chase muttered. "I'm not done with her. This is just... An unforeseen circumstance." She insisted. She brought her wings out and around her, vanishing just as she had appeared. Chase looked at where she had previously been with wide eyes.

"That worked?" Scarlet groaned and Chase called out her name. Brook stood in front of her as she bent down and painted, looking unimpressed. You leaned on him, holding out your injured arm. "I can't shoot my bow now," you whined. "It's not permanent, dipshit." Brook muttered, nudging you off of him, but you didn't budge.

"You pieces of shit, you pushed her too hard!" Chase shouted at you both. Scarlet interrupted him. "Chase! It's fine." She took another moment to catch her breath. "Brook... Deer..." Scarlet reached up, fisting Brook's shirt in her hands aggressively and pulling him forward slightly. "I was barely conscious. I heard everything. Why... did you two protect me?" You bit the inside of your cheek, crossing your arms as Brook gave her an unnerving look. "Who cares. You're fine. Isn't that all that should matter to you?"

"I want to know... If I can start to trust you." He looked uncomfortable. "I don't know why we stepped in, okay?" He insisted. "I just felt like it'd be stupid if you went back to Hell like a week after we decided to start working with you." Scarlet lifted her head to look at you. You shrugged. "I did because he did," You motioned with your thumb to Brook, who crossed his arms.

"Alright... But can I-" "No, you can't trust us." He looked to the side. Scarlet took a moment, letting go of Brook's shirt and standing straight up.

There was a long pause of silence as she looked at both of you, and you chewed on the inside of your cheek. "Thank you." She said, finally. You smiled at her as pink dusted Brook's cheeks and he refused to make eye contact with her.

"Whatever. Fuck you. I'm never helping you again."

"W-W-What! You piece of shit!"

You laughed. "You two actually get along really well, huh..." Chase commented.

You grabbed Brook's gloved hand, holding it up with yours. "What he meant to say was, you're welcome. You can count on us, no matter what he says," You added, glancing at Brook with a sly smile. His face flushed even more.

"Listen, we have bigger things to worry about." He said, swatting your hand away as you tried your best to hold on to his. Eventually, he did get it off, turning away from all of you. He turned back after a few seconds, his flush completely died down. "You said you were conscious... So you heard, right? The whole stripping you of your reaper abilities thing?"

You snapped back to what Bernadette had said. "Just so you know, I didn't have the slightest clue that Angels could do that. That was actually the first time I've even seen an Angel, so I'm just as in the dark as you. I'd love to ignore it, but we seem to have gotten ourselves involved as well by defending you." He stuck a hand in his pockets. "At the very least, we know that she has to win against us for some reason to take your powers. All the more motivation for you to hurry up and control your demon." "H-Hold on. I think we're done with demon training for today." Chase cut in.

He rushed a hand through his hair again. "This Angel stuff is extremely important, so we can walk and talk... But we have about seven hours before midnight, so we need to get moving. You three need a sinner, and our job is gonna be a bit harder now that I and Scarlet can't afford to screw up, due to my mom working on Case X. Fortunately there are quite a few sinners, more specifically murderers, who are living on the outskirts of town. They are the safest targets. They require no questioning and are in semi-isolated locations. And who knows, maybe if you both keep delivering unmistakable sinners to Hell and prove you're doing your job, the Angel situation might resolve itself. A problem just going away would be really convenient right about now, honestly..."

"It won't just go away," You cut in. Chase raised an eyebrow and you took a deep breath. "I've met her before. In the same situation, I didn't have control of my demon." You looked to Brook. "It was when... well, because of our... falling out." You mumbled. "Her name is Bernadette, and she's very persistent. I know she wasn't supposed to be down here without orders from God, and as far as I know, he's been absent for quite some time..." You thought, quietly. "She only stopped because I got control of my demon and nearly killed her, but she's improved quite a bit..."

"You never told me any of that," Brook commented as you started walking away. You turned to look at an isolated area, thinking you saw something orange and black but deciding not to comment on it. Probably a cat. "We only saw each other once every like, 3 years after that. and We fought every time, it's not like we were sharing intel." Brook sighed. "Whatever. Do you know anything else?" You shook your head. "Not really. But it won't go away for a while unless she's sure and we can get someone to give her a good talking to. To make sure she stops doing it since Scarlet should have control by then." They all nodded, considering this as the topic changed. Scarlet and Chase started talking about a game they played as you and Brook walked a ways behind them in silence.

"You could have told me that before. That you almost went back," He muttered, looking at the floor with determined eyes. "Would you have cared?" No response. "I don't think you ever stopped to think about my side of the story, however mature you used to be, or are now." You continued. "And I know you've probably been waiting for an apology, but I don't regret anything about what happened with you at all. I only wish I'd done it to her sooner," You confessed, kicking a large pebble. In his silence, you glanced up at him. He was watching you with intense eyes.

You both slowed in your steps as Scarlet and Chase kept walking. "I don't want an apology," Brook said sharply, catching you by surprise. "I'm over it. It was stupid of me to be mad at you, anyway. I guess I was just..." He stopped speaking and you nudged him with your elbow. He looked back to the floor. "I don't know the word. Mad that you didn't tell me yourself? That I heard it from Satan?" You shrugged.

"He made me a reaper to mess with us. Told you to mess with us." You walked in silence again. "Can I ask you a question?" You inquired to him. "What."

"How long have you been over it?"

"A few decades ago... I think,"

"Then why have you still been acting the same way as before, just more civil?"

He didn't reply. "It became normal." "Bullshit, there's more to it," He shrugged, smirking.

"I'll tell you someday,"

Yay, backstoryyyy! Hope you liked this chapter. I had fun writing it! This is also when Liam overheard them since I didn't show it since the reader wasn't there. If something happened that was important and the reader wasn't there to witness it, I'll just give a recap at the end of the chapter because man, I'm tired of writing the entire plot to keep it interesting. Screw that. I have Deer and Brook constantly in the story to do that now!

Words: 1590