Reaper

Chapter 4- Nox

"Kid" a voice said.
"Wake up." Louder now.
"Wake up, kid." Demanding.
I opened my eyes, finding myself lying in a worn out bed. The man who saved me was sitting on a stool next to me, I could see his face clearly now. It was a rugged face, reminding me of Solid Snake, a character from a video game I once played. He had a lightly shaved beard, increasing his manliness to eleven. His cold, blue eyes seemed to have that same effect on people as my eyes do to others. His eyes seemed to hide under his grey bandana that held up his mullet of dark brown, seemingly crusty due to what seemed to be blood. It was like he used dried blood as hair gel. He laid a hand on my chest as I started to get out of bed. "You haven't healed" is all he said, in his deep, manly voice. He HAD to be Solid Snake. My chest burst out in immense pain all of a sudden, a burning pain, as if a blade was pushed deep in my chest. I looked down at my pain stricken chest to see it was wrapped tightly in bandages. They didn't seem like ordinary bandages though. Markings were littered over the cloth which seemed to glow in an almost pale blue colour, as if jumping out of the cloth. The fabric itself was a light green colour itself, it felt softer, yet however stronger than regular bandages. "Gleave," The man told me, noting my interest in the fabric. "Runes are there to prevent it from exiting."

"What's exiting?" I asked, sitting up in the bed. All of a sudden, the Gleave burst apart, and what seemed like millions of litres of black blood began shooting out of my chest. I was screaming in pain, ever more now, like a fountain was rushing out of me, removing all comfort. The man stood up in an instant, not wasting a second, and forced his palm into my chest, muttering under his breath. I fell back in the bed, as my chest began to heal before my eyes. Within moments, my chest was repaired, and the Gleave fixed, wound tightly 'round my body once again.

"To prevent the Grimm exiting." The man finished. He looked at me curiously.

"It's not often we find young men like you who can move during the Nox." He told me. All these new words went around in my head, Grimm, Gleave, Nox. I'm surprised I half-understand the meaning of these words as much he was surprised at me. The man went back to looking like he didn't care again, a face I had to get used to.

"My name is Xander." He said.

"Toby." I replied. "Toby Hastings."

He resumed his curious face now, obviously his life revolved around these two faces.

"Hastings, huh?" He asked himself. He swiveled around on the stool. I brought up the courage to ask him my questions.

"What was that thing, the thing that killed my sister?" I felt oddly calm about saying this about Melody, she seemed like not much of a deal anymore.

"Reaper." Xander said. "Lucky your sister was there, if not, you'd be dead."

I fought back a small bit of anger now, Melody mattered now.

"What's this 'Nox' that I'm going through?" This made him turn around.

"Best not know at the moment kid." He can't call me kid, I'm not a kid.

"Why not?" I said, talking a little faster now.

"You're not ready for it yet."

"What aren't I ready for?" I feel angry now.

"Accepting what you are." The bitch kept his calm voice, making me angrier.

"What am I then?"

"Nox"

"Nox fucking what?"

No answer.

"What the hell's going on?!"

No answer.

"What's wrong with me?!"

No answer.

"What's fucking wrong with me?!"
No answer.

"Fucking answer me!"

No answer.

"LISTEN TO ME!"

A wave of darkness erupted from my body, the light in the room was engulfed in shadows, no light remained, yet I could see perfectly fine, like I had night-vision or something. The Gleave broke again, and my chest burst apart, blades shooting out from my chest in every angle, skewering everything in sight, including Xander. I realised what I'd done, and the darkness returned back to my chest, the blades evaporating like the Reaper's blood. The gleave fell to the floor, with no use for it anymore. Xander stood in the new light, impaled and bleeding, but recovering at an abnormal rate, wounds evaporating and leaving new skin and bone, restoring the body to it's original state.

"Nox." He said, looking up at me.

"You are the Nox." He pulled a mirror in front of me out of thin air. I looked at my face through it. My veins were easily visible, extending from my eyes. The whites of my eyes had turned black, and the piercing blue remained, like the moon on a dark night.