Reaper

The list went on. Ever changing, always the length of a single page of parchment paper. Sometimes names were crossed out when the soul should've been reaped, but hadn't due to some other unforseen action or event arising that stopped him from finding them on time. If he found their souls, they'd be reaped. But for the most part that never happened. Him not reaping a soul only happened a few times, though, so he wasn't worried about it. Othertimes the last name of the person was unknown, which made finding them a little harder. But oh well. There was a reason he wasn't the only reaper, after all.

There was this one name that he always had at the very end of his list. It was faded with age and now barely readable, though it was from the start anyway with how the text of the name looked as though someone kept picking up the pen/pencil at times while writing a letter. But regardless he knew it by heart from the time he'd spent stared at it, never able to find the soul in question.

And the odd thing is that none of the other reapers of souls who'd suffered violent deaths had the name. Usually the list was shared between them all, which is why it changed constantly. Since souls were nearly always being reaped somewhere, in one universe or another.

But not this one.

Geno

He'd never been able to find this 'Geno' anywhere he went. No matter who he asked, how hard he tried, how long he searched in every small corner of a universe, he'd never found the soul. Not once. It was as though the name had been printed on, but the parchment had forgotten to remove it when the soul was reaped by someone else. It was so strange and over time he'd forgotten about it. Sometimes he'd look at the name in confusion when he'd momentarily forget that it'd been there for years.

...

Or perhaps millennia?

He honestly had no idea. Oh the joys of being an immortal god of death. He had no idea how long it'd been for pretty much anything. It certainly didn't help that most universes experienced 'resets' and he'd often have to repeat the reaping of the souls there. It was such a pain...

Ah well. It was his job. If he slacked off on it, he'd likely be stripped of any reputation he had. That, and worlds would be filled with vengeful spirits. Especially in those universes that experienced near total destruction at the hands of one or multiple humans.

But it was still such a pain in his side.

If he had the option, he'd curl up in a small corner of an unknown universe somewhere and sleep for generations upon generations. Heh. But he couldn't afford to do that. So he pushed on and on, growing ever more tired as time wore on. Ever going forward but never quite going back. Not like he wished it would, anyway. If that happened things would go back to the simple times before universes started experiencing resets, where names wouldn't disappear and then reappear moments later as that world reset.

But that was impossible, unfortunately.

And so he merely pressed on.

And if he remembered, he'd look for the soul of this Geno whenever he had free time. In hopes of finding it and finally ridding his paper of Needing to be Reaped Souls of it. If only for his own sanity at it escaping him this long. It was annoying. Though he was curious as to what sort of soul it was. Since it was most likely a human soul, possibly stuck in some sort of limbo like brain-dead people on life support.

Technically their souls had been reaped at that point... But they were stuck in this sort of grey area, where technically they were alive just... Not in the sense most people would think, due to no brain function. The souls could go back, of course. But most opted not to.

Understandable in his opinion. If he had the option of dying (He could, mind you. Ironically. But most other reapers wouldn't dare get rid of one of their own.) and being in peace he'd certainly take it. Who wouldn't? Probably someone out there, he just likely wouldn't ever completely understand why they thought that way.

And...
He...
Pressed...
On...
Years upon years went by...
Sometimes he'd fake getting ill to just go sit somewhere and watch the sun set, the stars go by, and then the sun rise. But he never did totally slack on his job. Not any more then it took him to get over being ill, anyway. Sometimes only a day or two. Once he went a week. But not again after that one time. It wasn't worth the complaining from other reapers about being a bit over worked due to having to also do extra reaping thanks to him being out.

During one of his faked illness trips he visited one of the universes that most reapers had deemed stuck in a loop. For this one never stopped resetting, always doing so at some point. He didn't know why he decided to go to it, but it was fairly peaceful. Mostly. Dust was everywhere thanks to him having to reaps dozens upon dozens of souls. It was one of those universes. Only, this one hadn't stopped. Usually they all did at some point. Even if it was literal eons afterward.

And it was here that he experienced one of those 'resets' firsthand. And it TERRIFIED him. It was like someone had thrown an anchor into his soul and violently yanked it into a space that wasn't where he'd just been, but wasn't where he was at the start either. It left him clutching at his chest while trying to steady rising panic that he wasn't just betrayed and reaped by another reaper.

And it was here, in a space void of anything but inking blackness, that he met that faded name on his paper.

After recovering from feeling as though his soul had been jerked out of his body, the reaper had wandered the blank dark space in curiosity. He could feel hundreds, thousands, possibly millions or more of fragments of souls in the space. It was a bit unsettling, especially considering that the souls weren't reaped and dead but nor were they alive and... Humming was always the best word for him to use to describe what alive souls felt like. At least, to him, personally. It was like they were in a sort of limbo not caused by a reaper.

Of the only three that weren't like that, one was foggy, like it wasn't there but it was, one was clearly there and just couldn't leave and the last felt... Half alive. Like they were hanging on by a thread of life. Or by the DETERMINATION(DT) to do something. To finish something. It felt like... A human soul that refused to be reaped. Well. He'd do his job. Finish it off.

The familiar feeling of his scythe's handle in his hands was soothing in the sea of inky darkness. A rope to guide him home of sorts. He gripped it in the gentle tight-enough-to-be-controlled-but-loose-enough-to-be-able-to-swing-it-in-combat-if-needed way he always did as he came upon a... Somewhat strange scene.

A glitched out looking white and red Sans, at least the reaper thought he was, a semi-glitched looking Frisk, and a normal looking Sans. Though as he walked closer he witnessed the last of which disappear and felt a faint tug at his soul like before. This time, however, it didn't drag him with it. He blinked and then stepped into view. His black cloak billowing around his feet in an invisible wind. For the moment he left his sockets dark. He just wanted to get this over with and be on his way.

He probably terrified the Frisk, with the way they let out a squeak and ran behind the white and red Sans. Oh well. He'd deal with them eventually, he was sure. He stopped about two feet from the pair, a bit curious as to why the Sans seemed to be protecting the Frisk. Since by the looks of the red slash mark across his chest, he'd gone through one of those runs that ended in a repeated loop of dust and death for years.

The reaper watched as the other Sans' eye lit up in a duel toned red and blue, shifting to better guard the kid. Not that he cared. It wasn't the kid he was after, afterall. The kid wasn't anywhere close to death. The other Sans, however? Now his soul was certainly ready to be reaped. But it was what the kid called him that made the reaper's cyan blue left eye light up and cast, what he thought would be, an eerie glow across his face.

"Geno, huh? Man, have you been a total thorn in my side to find." he said in a voice that would forever sound darker then most Sanses' voices, an unsettling grin splitting his face. The name had haunted him for longer then he cared to remember. And here was the owner. Right in front of him! Practically delivered on a platter made of the finest silver! It was perfect!

...

And yet...

Some small pinprick of a sound buried in the depths of his soul, a sound only he'd hear, rang. Begging him not to go through with what was already happening. But it was too late for that. The world around them flickered faintly black and white and the other skeleton had enough sense to send the kid flying out of the way of the battle box as it appeared around them.

The reaper didn't know why he protected them, considering it looked as though he'd been killed by them at some point, but oh well. He didn't care right now. He tightened his grip on his scythe oh so slightly and then took a swing. And missed. Typical of a Sans to be so adapt at dodging, when most didn't have very many Hit Points. Oh well. It'd make things interesting at the least. Nevermind the duel toned blue and red eye light and the clearly high DT levels.

He took a step back as his first strike ended, cloak billowing around him in an invisible wind and he still had the unsettling grin on his face, and the battle started. And with it his grin faded into a look of concentration.

Slowly at first, each getting a feel for the other's attacks, and then so fast that the Frisk watching on the sidelines couldn't believe their eyes. The white bones flying at each other in every which way, at varying lengths and thicknesses, combined with the reaper's close-range scythe swipes and Geno's blasters firing at every chance they got... It scared them. Who knew any Sans had this much power? Or did all of them?

To the reaper, his soul practically sang with joy as the fight drew on, becoming more like a dance then an actual fight. He started using more of his own bone-based attacks as time went on, wanting to see the other jump and dodge and have to quickly teleport out of more tricky spaces. It was a joy. And then he got caught off guard when the other suddenly just stopped, mid attack. He hadn't done much damage, maybe a few scratches but the reaper himself had those as well. So why'd he stop? Had he done more then he thought and he was about to dust?

With that thought, he relaxed a fair bit.

A mistake.

The red and white Sans suddenly teleported and was on top of him, his scythe disappearing in the confusion, a blaster hanging above both of them about ready to fire, leaving only a fraction of a second for the owner of it to get out of the way.

And the reaper laughed. Sure, he could use his own energy to make the bones that made up his body deadly to the touch. But that'd be cheating. And besides, that took up a lot of energy. And he was kinda out of that now that he took notice of what his magic and energy levels were. But that just made him laugh more. The laugh sounding oddly joyous. Coming from a reaper of souls.

It must've made the other Sans, Geno, concerned though. Because he teleported away but before he could fire his blaster, the reaper was up, scythe again in hand, and he teleported himself. Slashing down and cutting through the blaster's skull, watching the white particles of wasted magic rain down around him as he fell towards the ground. And landed lightly on his feet, resting the handle of his scythe against his left shoulder with the actual sharp weapon bit somewhere above his head. He dropped the magic keeping the battlebox in place. The world flickering before he and Geno returned to color for good.

"Welp. That was fun. I'm Sans. Sans the Reaper. But with so many Sanses, I go by Reaper." he introduced himself, a slight smile playing at his mouth. He let his eye light fade back to the double white, instead of just the one cyan. He'd enjoy this conversation, especially judging by the look on Geno's face. Which was a mix of confusion, apprehension, and a faint flicker of what Reaper thought looked like admiration.

He got names and an explanation as to what the void-space was. He found it all quite interesting, honestly, and couldn't help but watch the other skeleton as he spoke, finding it quite cute that he'd make a sort of half waving half flailing motion with his hands when he was gathering his thoughts or trying to find a word that fit better. Other Sans, and even other versions of people who could multi-/universe jump, found companionship in one another often.

At first it was considered strange, there was even an attempt to put those who did in their own void-space universe all together. When it grew to be far more then anyone expected, they'd been returned. Heck, he knew of other versions, older and younger, of himself that'd already fallen in love with another. One of them found a human companion, of all things. One found partnership in a Reaper!Undyne. And the most known had fallen for a SwapReaper!Sans. It was quite the odd thing to see. But it'd been accepted, even if some didn't completely agree that it was okay. Which is probably why Reaper didn't dismiss the possibility that he could be falling for the other, even if they hadn't known one another long.

When the void-space flickered, probably hours later, Reaper stood, not having noticed he'd sat down at one point, and stretched. He said his good-byes and left to return to work. Or go take a nap. One of the two. .... Probably the latter. He felt... ... Very abnormally empty after he left. Like he'd left something behind in the black void-space that he desperately needed. He waved it off as just being in it for so long and went about his business.

However,
The reaper did return. Eventually.
And he went back again after that.
And again.
And again.
And again.
He'd started visiting at least once daily, just to say hello and ask how things were going before leaving. He'd done better in reaping souls, did his job more often, and overall got just a bit happier. When asked he'd shrug and say that he just felt happy.

It was probably his ten thousandth visit after their first meeting that he realized what had happened.
He'd fallen in love with Geno.
He'd fallen head over heels in love with a soul that... That... That. He. Had. To. Reap.
For awhile he stopped visiting, stopped working, stopped talking with pretty much everyone. He'd often find himself at the barrier of many AUs sitting on the cliffside watching the sunset. He was unaware that during his time of not visiting, AfterTale's timeloop had finally stopped and that Geno was no longer stuck in the void-space.

Reaper sighed and stood, taking a deep breath and teleporting to what he thought would be the familiar void. Instead he landed right where he had been, the sun just a little higher in the sky. Odd. He was aiming for that void where Geno was. Not here. He was used to timelines and AUs being set on different timezones, of course. So that certainly wasn't the odd thing.

"Reaper?"
Mentioned skeleton spun around, scythe appearing in hand and immediately going to settle around the other's neck, poised for him to cut towards the right of him and cut off their head. He didn't take surprises well. And he felt as though his soul would break and dust him from the look of total fear and horror on Geno's face, dried tears on his cheekbones. ... Well fudge.

Reaper let his scythe disappear and he stepped back, drawing his cloak around himself out of anxiety as he took in Geno's appearance. He still had the glitch around the one melted eye, so that was the same. As was his mostly all white color palette. But the wound across his chest was gone as was the DT that'd been faintly spilling from his mouth. It was nice seeing him without that.

"Geno..." he said at last, dipping his head faintly in greeting and not meeting the other's gaze.
"R-Reaper..." the other sniffed and when his eyes snapped up to meet his, he was quite alarmed to see fresh tears slip down his cheekbones.
"Wh-Wha- OOF-" Reaper staggered back a step or so as Geno barreled into him, hugging him tightly and properly crying. Having no idea what to really do, he put his cloak around him and hugged him back, lightly rubbing his back trying to help him stop while his mind raced at what the heck was going on.
"D-don't g-go away f-for s-so long..." he finally mumbled against the fabric of the sort of tunic Reaper was wearing. "I missed you... F-felt l-like I was m-missing p-part of my already s-small piece of a-a soul...."
"...Well... No promises... But I'll definitely try not to, alright?" Reaper responded in question after a moment, getting a nod in reply. Geno, however, didn't seem to want to let go. And, honestly, Reaper didn't mind. He could stay there, in the moment of a sort-of kind-of but not really confession, for eternity.

---

Unrelated to lore but smol concepts for a human au or somethin' I dunno:
Reaper or Geno on a sugar high and cackling at every little thing they find amusing like it's the funniest thing they've seen/heard.

Reaper or Geno feeling majorly depressed and going to the other for comfort cuddles. (Bonus points if it's Geno going to Reaper because Reaper has the cloak and can just wrap them both up together burrito style.)

Reaper coming home from a rough day at work and collapsing on the bed and Geno just goes over with a peppermint tea or something and just pops in Reaper's favorite movie/dvd/vhs/game or reads to him from his favorite book to help him de-stress.

Sharing puns when they both can't sleep at two am and then laughing so loud and so much they wake the neighbors and get told off but it was worth it.

Quiet moment spent on the couch just sitting there with coffee/hot cocoa/tea with someone's head on someone's shoulder and the other's head resting against the other's head.

Adopting Goth and Raven and Sorell and Shino and WHOEVER THE HECK ELSE and just CHAOS. ("DAD WHERE'S MY SCARF!?" "I DUNNO RAVEN MAYBE REAPER KNOWS?!" "PAPA. PAPA WHERE'S MY SCARF?!" "IT WAS STAINED I THREW IT IN THE WASH." "*GASP* DAD IT WASN'T STAINED. IT WAS BRAND NEW. IT JUST HAD A COOL LOOKING SPLATTER PATTERN ON THE FABRIC." "WELL IF IT WAS BRAND NEW THEN IT STILL NEEDED TO GET WASHED BECAUSE WHO KNOWS WHO ELSE TRIED IT ON IN THE STORE BEFORE YOU BOUGHT IT." "PAAAAAPAAAAAA STOP BEING SO OVERPROTECTIVE." "MY JOB IS REAPING THE SOULS OF THE DEAD AND DYING. I CAN BE OVERPROTECTIVE WITH MY CHILDREN." "*shuts up at that because there is no real valid argument against it*")

Just frickin' cute moments between the two man.