Oogie's Muse (Jack Skellington x Reader)

30 - The Devil's in the Detail

I had to republish the chapter. Part of it wasn't published. I hope you enjoy the added content!

Through the unearthy light lurking in the space untouched by the velvet curtains, which stained (Y/n)'s vision from her tangled position in her bed, she was slowly roused from slumber. Difficult as it was to bat away fatigue, she peeled her eyes open. Only for her vision to be intercepted by blankness and a memory that battled to take control in her subconscious. These same inklings of memory pooled beneath her eyelids each time she blinked in the familiar sight of her bedroom. She furrowed her brows in irritation as her mind unwound the delicate strands of recall.
Bells. A cacophony of bells jingling. The severity of its volume, even as a memory, made her cringe.
What next? She quizzed herself.
Her own skeletal hands, watching the scene from her mind's eye, opened the front door for an unannounced visitor.

Memory returned in under a second.

"Jack!" (Y/n) screamed. Flinging the blankets from her like one would a bandage, she leapt to her feet and stumbled to the door. Limbs betraying her, she staggered around with bones feeling as pliable as rubber. She screamed his name again but she didn't hear him reply and that made her choke with alarm. Was it too late?
The name hit the tip of her tongue just as hands seized her, slipping over her mouth before she could manage another strangled shout. Immediately, she thrashed against the body without care for her own pain.

"It's not polite to shout, little Princess." Whispered a soothing voice, simultaneously summoning warm breath against her clavicle. The hands that seized her released, causing her to lurch on her feet. (Y/n) swung around in a fury with her knuckles posed in a fist, thrusting it into the Grim Reaper's direction. The deity caught her fist in his pale fingers before she could even land the blow.

(Y/n) fumed, "What are you doing here? Where is Jack?"

The Grim Reaper, dressed in his traditional attire with the dark sleeves of his cloak bundled up at his elbows, regarded her with blank eyes. The silk of his robe clumped on the floor and hid his feet and legs, seeming to dissolve his body with the dark wood of the floor. He parted his wan lips in a impassive expression and spoke softly. "Who?" He questioned.
Snarling, (Y/n) shoved the cloaked figure with all the energy she could summon. The deity barely stumbled, but fell gradually and slumped on the mattress - keeping his smouldering gaze trained on the skeleton girl. To her annoyance, his lips curled in amusement while his eyes burned with contrasting intensity. The only thing fazed about him was the lock of onyx that streaked across his forehead, broken apart from the rest of his lucious mane of obsidian. It made her grit her teeth.
"You are a very poor host." Grim chided playfully and wagged his finger. The glare she shot him was met with a look from eyes that contained intelligence paralleled with their ceaseless beauty.
"Oh, alright." Grim lamented, "Women are no fun. Your betrothed was called away to attend to some urget business in town - something about finding another infected monster. He asked me to stay," He added with a silky voice, "and watch after his soon-to-be queen."
Relief filled her leaden heart as she sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. The Reaper saw her subtle change and marked it with a scowl.

"You know that's not what I meant." (Y/n) hissed lowly, each vowel a stinging bee aimed for him - overwhelming irritation clipped her tone. The regal deity rolled his pinprick eyes at the simple question, batting his hand as if waving away a particularly pesky fly.

"You forget, dear thing, that I was invited." Grim said smoothly, "Besides, the last time I checked, this was the owned residence of Jack Skellington, not yours." 
(Y/n) smiled bitterly, "You think you're awfully clever, don't you?"
Grim shrugged, "Who needs to think?"
"Jack is my fiancée; soon I will receive my own title and I'll help run this town." (Y/n) crossed her arms across her chest, raising her chin so that she defiantly glared at the reclining deity, "So, while this is not my house - this is my town. And on its behalf, get out."
A glimmer of pride lifted the edges of her skeletal lips, enough for Grim to notice.