Book 2: The First Fallen Human

I Am All

To say the least, Reaper was furious. Underneath, he was horrified and sickened. This was the stuff Scooter had puked up before her death. DETERMINATION that had the audacity to keep her face and her body. DETERMINATION that had the audacity to hurt and kill people with her face.

His scythe lit up and the creature seemed taken back. "Reaper?" Reaper jumped, having forgotten for a moment that Geno was there. He moved in front of the other. He kept his glowing gaze on the creature. It seemed uncertain. Slowly, glowing bullets began to form around it, spiraling in place. Reaper kept his eyes on them.

He was cold. His SOUL had frozen up. He'd helped Scooter use her magic for the first time. He'd helped her develop it and put it to use. His skeletal hands gripped his scythe harder. "Høw dare yøu use her magic." He stated, his voice shaking with fury. The creature seemed confused once again. Reaper disappeared and the creature's eyes widened.

It dropped into a puddle as the scythe slashed the air where it had just been. Reaper snarled. Geno was shocked himself. He'd never seen the other so angry. He jumped as the puddle soaked itself up as Reaper threw his scythe downwards, barely missing the puddle. He caused glowing blue cracks in the black floor.

Geno shrieked as he felt something against his back. He froze as a red hand reached around and gripped his hands from behind. He could feel the creature behind him. There was a ripping noise and another hand came up, holding the most twisted-looking SOUL Geno had ever seen. It was so odd that he couldn't help but reach out and take it.

The red goo twisted itself around shards of black glass, forming a vague heart shape and proving itself to be mostly hollow. The shape was using Geno as a shield from Reaper, sensing that the black-clothed skeleton had been avoiding touching this one.

SORRY.

Geno jumped at the sudden voice that emitted from the SOUL. It was loud, urgent and breathy. He could feel the thing shaking behind him. Geno blinked as he realized Reaper was facing him. The other had a cold, terrifying look in his eyes. "Yøu better let him gø-"

SORRY... GENO.

"Reaper." Geno interrupted, his brow furrowed. The voice had sent a chill up his spine upon saying his name. Reaper seemed taken back. "Wait." He blinked as he held the SOUL. He pulled away from the creature and turned to face it. He blinked. Its chest was torn open in the middle, no doubt where it had pulled its SOUL from. It seemed uncertain, tipping its head. "What is it you want?"

Be alive.

The response was immediate and took Geno a bit by surprise. Before he could answer, the creature continued.

FEEL alive.

The creature trembled as it stood, blood pooling outwards from it. It raised a hand to its torn open chest.

This. Living, but not alive.

Geno felt that strike something inside of him. He knew EXACTLY what it meant. He was dismayed for a moment before Reaper spoke. "Genø! What døes it want?!" He held his scythe at the ready, still clearly about to attack at the blink of an eye. Reaper paused as Geno turned to him, the beginnings of red tears in his visible eye. "Genø?? Genø, what's wrøng?!" Reaper cried, drifting over to him.

Geno realized that since he was the one holding the SOUL, only he could hear the creature speaking. Reaper seemed dismayed. He stretched out his hands, but immediately drew them back, quickly remembering what would happen if he touched the other. Geno shook his head and raised a hand, wiping his eyes. He turned to look at the creature. He paused. Bloody tears streamed down its own face as it stared at him in confusion.

"It... just wants to be alive, Reaper... What it's feeling... is the same way I feel. It's living... but it isn't truly ALIVE. Except... I WAS alive, at one point... while it lived as a shadow..." Geno explained shakily, to the best of his ability. He turned to the creature. "Right??" The creature stared at him a moment longer before nodding. It had never really realized what it wanted.

Reaper stared at him. "Exactly the øppøsite øf what its øwn øwner wanted..." He murmured, turning to look at it. The creature blinked and seemed defensive again. Geno blinked and looked up at Reaper. Reaper met his gaze and seemed to soften. "As much as I understand..." He turned back to look at it. "I cannøt ignøre the dust arøund its møuth."

The creature blinked. Geno gagged a bit at the thought. "Oh... stars..." He whispered. He jumped as the creature spoke.

Was HUNGRY.

Geno shrieked and released the SOUL, throwing it to the ground. It hit with a metallic clank and laid there for a moment. Then, it slowly began to twitch and scrape its way back to the creature, who knelt down and picked it up. It placed the SOUL back into its open chest. They both flinched as its red skin sealed itself up. "You ate monsters..." Geno whispered.

Reaper moved in front of the other once again. The creature blinked before tipping its head and nodding. Geno gagged again before shaking his head. "Kid... that ain't right... you can't eat monsters." The creature blinked and gave him a look that seemed to scream 'but I already have.'

"My thing is usually 'a life før a life' but, ah, høw many have died by yøur hands?" Reaper asked coldly. He already knew. Far too many had died by this thing's hands for him to even consider sparing it. "Høw many have yøu eaten?" The creature blinked at him.

It seemed to lick its lips and go into a thinking state. Reaper chuckled coldly, getting its attention. "That was a rhetørical questiøn... I knøw what yøu've døne... and I knøw yøu døn't realize høw bad it is." The creature tipped its head once again, confirming Reaper's statement, to Geno's horror. It had no remorse.

Well, it was a being of pure DETERMINATION. Did it know anything other than its own primal urges? Geno stared at it. He felt so conflicted everytime he met its eyes.

Reaper, however, was much less conflicted. "I was put here tø purge the sinners... and my friend..." His eyes lit up dangerously. "Yøu've made the tøp øf Death's list."