Don't Fear The Reaper

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Matthew and Jack walked back into the globe room where the guardians were still poking around, but now they seem more frantically. Tooth looked up as they entered.

"Where have you been?! We were so worried!" The guardian of memories yelled zipping over.

"Sorry Tooth." Jack apologized running a hand through his hair.

"Are you okay? We heard a scream." North said walking over Sandy and Bunny following behind. North spotted the bandages on Matthew's arms. "What happened?"

"Pitch pushed me into some dream sand." The Reaper said. Sandy quickly apologized, but Matthew shook his head. "It wasn't your fault." Sandy kept insisting it was, but the Reaper tried to convince him it wasn't his fault. "It really wasn't your fault. Pitch got me; you didn't have anything to do with it."

"I'm sorry, this is off topic, but Matthew your eyes are such a pretty colour." Tooth said flying up to him to get a better look. "You're so adorable."

"Thank you?" The blond said a little unsure of himself.

Jack put his arm around Matthew's waist and pulled him close. "Mine." He said jokingly. Tooth laughed and rolled her eyes.

"You seemed to know Pitch pretty well." Bunny commented nose in the air.

"Yep, unfortunately. He steals a couple of souls every so often and makes fearlings out of them. It gets to the point where he's taken to many and I hunt him down and take them back." Matthew shrugged. "His fearlings can't hurt me and the nightmares are pretty weak, so the only real threat is him."

"You don't seem scared of him." North pointed out.

"Not really. I've fought him so many times I've lost count. Even Reapers before me fought Pitch because he stole souls." The Reaper said scratching the back of his head.

"Reapers before?" Sandy signed.

"There's been a couple before me, or at least that's what Death tells me." Matthew said and paused thinking something over. "Death won't tell me anything about them other than their gone back into the reincarnation cycle. Every time I ask he gets a faraway look in his eyes."

"You know Death?" North asked.

Matthew nodded. "We play chess every other week. He tells me what my work load of natural deaths should be and an estimate of everything else."

"How does Pitch get to the souls before you? They go to you automatically?" Tooth asked.

"Most of them do, but the really troubled ones need help. It's hard for me to get to them all, especially the way things are now." The Reaper said looking down. Tooth remembered that night and nodded. "He probably feels their fear, that's how he finds them. He can shadow jump to them before I can get there."

"Maybe you should be better at your job." Bunny said.

Jack growled and took a threatening step forward, but Matthew grabbed his wrist and shook his head. "I wish I could let you see what I have to do in a day. How many gruesome deaths I see play out in my head that I can't do anything to stop?" The Reaper said. His eyes were dull and clouded over. "The number of children that were killed by terrorists or even their own parents. The worst time was during was the world wars. I saw every one of the soldiers, prisoners of war and the people in the Nazi camps deaths. I couldn't get to everyone. So many were lost." He looked at the floor. The Reaper hated thinking about the wars. There were so many times that if Jack wasn't there Matthew would have ended it.

"You see all the deaths?" North asked pity in his eyes. All of the guardians looked concerned for him except Bunny. His face stayed in an annoyed frown.

"Yeah." The Reaper said. "I can push most of them to the back of my mind, but some demand to be seen."

Sandy brought up some dreamsand and looked about ready to sign something when a raven flew into the room out of nowhere. It glided over to Matthew and landed on his shoulder. It had a piece of paper tied to one of its feet. The Reaper took it and read it.

"I'm sorry, I need to go." Matthew said. "Death needs to see me right away."

"Right." North said with a weak smile. Jack brought him in for a kiss before letting him go. "You know the way out."

Matthew waved as he started down to the front entrance of the pole. He was pretty much spaced out walking through the empty halls of the pole. There weren't any yetis or elves running around and it was pretty quiet. The hall was long and barely lit by torches. There were no windows because this side of the pole was built into the side of a glacier.

The Reaper heard loud footsteps behind him. They were loud and he could hear the clicking of claws. He assumed it was a yeti and zoned out again. Matthew didn't pay any more attention to the footsteps until someone grabbed him and pinned him against the wall. The person held his arms above his head and his feet weren't touching the floor.

Matthew yelped trying to get free of his attacker. He kicked at their shins and struggled trying to get his hands free.

"You're not going anywhere." Bunny said tightening his grip on the blond's hands. Matthew's eyes darted around looking for something he could throw at Bunny with his magic, but there were no loose objects around. He looked Bunny right in the eyes. "Not so tough now that there's nobody around."

"Let me go." The Reaper growled.

"No." The guardian of hope spat. "You're not good enough for Jack. I-" Matthew looked around for an escape, but he couldn't find one. Bunny's grip was too strong and his kicks didn't seem to hurt him. The Reaper had to sing. His voice paralyzed whoever it was directed at until he stopped singing. It didn't have to be a particular song or even start at the beginning. He only used it as a last resort, he didn't like using it.

"Voices calling, voices crying. Some are born and some are dying. Alpha and omega's kingdom come." Matthew sang. Bunny loosened his grip enough for him to slip away. He flew up into the rafters still singing. "And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree. The virgins are all trimming their wigs. The whirlwind is in the thorn tree. It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks." Bunny stayed in the same position facing the wall as the Reaper sang. He skipped over a bit of the song, forgetting the lyrics. "The wise men will bow down before the thrown and at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns when the man comes around."

The blond stopped singing and Bunny turned around looking confused before looking up. He spotted Matthew perched in the rafters and looked like he was going to try to climb up.

The Reaper started to sing again not wanting more conflict. "Whoever is unjust, let him be unjust still. Whoever is righteous, let him be righteous still. Whoever is filthy, let him be filthy still. Listen to the words long written down. When the man comes around." Matthew jumped through the rafters still singing making his was to door. He opened it and flew quickly towards Death's place hopping Bunny wouldn't try that again.

AN: The song Matthew sang is 'The Man Comes Around,' by Johnny Cash. I prefer the early take if this song, but the final take is good too.  Put the final take here because no video with the early one works on mobile!