contest entry #6
Title : Keeping the Border
Pairing : HenWook, a bit of YeWook, QMi, SiHanChul, KangTeuk, EunHae, KyuMin
Subject : Fantasy
Rating : G
Summary: Death learns to appreciate life and even love.
It happened once a year. Always on the same date on the precise night of the Gregorian calendar. It was the one single night where the heavily guarded border between the deemed reality and fantasy was at its weakest. It was the one time where a very thin line would be drawn to ensure those of myths would not invade the mortal world or have human curiosity peek the realms of their unknowingly accurate imagination. It was a night of perfect irony as the human world would decorate their evening in a childish game of costume-donning and playfully enact characters they believe are of fiction. Without knowing that they were anything but fiction. And one very thin line prevented them from finding out so. That very thin line was in the hands of one particular being.
The Grim Reaper was not a solitary of its kind; there were others just like him with the same morbid power. Yet he was unique and set apart from his fellow Reapers because he handled one job and one job only. If his fellow Reapers were common employees of the netherworld at taking lives of humans when their time had come to the end of the line on a daily, nonstop basis, then his single duty was to take one life. One life only. Every single year. On Halloween.
Millenniums ago, a time now more commonly referred to frequently as “once upon a time”, the netherworld and the human world had been one. It had been a peaceful time as creatures of being and humans lived side by side in perfect serenity. Yet time passed, the society developed, human selfishness grew and so did the hunger of the carnivorous. War broke out and created a hell unimaginable by the king of the Underworld himself. Millennia later, a pact was made between the mortal and the immortal; that a border would be drawn between the two worlds to prevent another disaster breaking loose. It was the perfect solution and left both worlds at ease until they found out that at one certain night, when the sun of the humans and the moon of the beings would meet in unison, this border was highly strained and vulnerable. It was the peak moment of power for the beings and thus endangered the barrier of the two worlds. The only way this barrier would be kept in check was for something to feed the mounting hunger of the beings: a human sacrifice.
Hence it became the duty of one Grim Reaper to enter the human world every All Hallows Eve and claim the pure soul of the chosen human. This one single soul would be able to restore the barrier bordering the two worlds and save both worlds from eternal condemnation. There had been only five Reapers who had taken up this job for millenniums, one after the other as a Grim Reaper resigned its duties. That was the only way to end their immortality; by voluntarily giving it up. This Halloween, as it had been for the past two millenniums, was the job of one of the best Grim Reapers known to the netherworld. His name?
Henry.
***
“Damn. You get to go to the human world again. You’re so damn lucky!”
Henry frowned at the remark made by the man whose fangs was prominent enough to indicate that any exposed neck should stay at a distance of at least a thousand miles away. He watched as those dark eyes roamed the Pool of Vision where they could observe the going-ons of the mortals. Henry could never figure out why those eyes-as black and as dead as they should be like any other vampire’s-had more depth to them as though a mystery lay behind the obstructed windows.
“Kyuhyun, why do you like the human world so much? It’s so boring. There’s just…people.”
“Exactly,” Kyuhyun pointed out, smirking. “And where there’s people, there’s fresh blood….”
Henry followed Kyuhyun’s gaze into the Pool of Vision and saw the vampire’s shadowy gaze follow a particular human. He smirked. For the last couple of days, Kyuhyun had been constantly tagging along with him to the Pool and watching that one person. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the tall, lanky human with large, round eyes, a very prominently long nose and that unearthly wide grin which could’ve lit up the Underworld and drive Lucifer insane, had sparked more than just a little interest in the vampire.
“I bet you’d like to taste his blood,” Henry teased.
Kyuhyun shot Henry a sharp glare. “Say that again and I’ll suck you dry.” Despite that comment, he continued observing the Pool.
“His name’s Zhou Mi,” Henry informed, finding an instance where he could look straight into the human’s eyes and therefore, read his life. “He’s Chinese, twenty-three years old, a model, lives alone in an apartment in Shanghai, sings, loves Louis Vuitton, very optimistic and he’s single.” Henry paused to glance at Kyuhyun. “His heart doesn’t seem to be looking for vampires though.”
Kyuhyun scowled. “Reaper’s heart-reading privileges,” he grumbled. “Go to hell, Henry.”
“Nah…it’s boring there,” Henry said nonchalantly.
A series of beeps emitting from somewhere in the folds of Henry’s billowing black cloak cut through their conversation. The Reaper reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a standard, black, square pager. Henry gave a sigh when he read the message on the screen.
“Who knew human technology would be so useful here, huh?”
Both Henry and Kyuhyun turned in the direction of the speaker to see two slightly hairy men walking in their direction in thumping long strides. If any human had seen these two, no one would’ve guessed them for what they really were: werewolves. It wasn’t a full moon and right at that moment, both men looked nothing less than human. Except for the fact that they had a bigger built. And more muscles. And about ten times the raw attraction than humans as they were clothed in nothing but tattered pants that only covered three-quarters of their legs. Henry sometimes wondered why the werewolves were always born with such a strong sense of appeal to humans. He guessed their rugged, hair-always-in-a-spiked-disarray and sharp gazes were to credit for that.
“Why do we even use pagers here? Where do we get the reception?” Henry wondered out loud, frowning.
“Frankie says it’s cheaper and more efficient than using our wailing system. Plus, human technology is so strong it breaks into our world and picks up our wailing system so we can’t afford having people freak out everytime we try to communicate with one another,” the bulkier of the two werewolves explained.
“Which would also explain how we get reception here,” the other werewolf added.
“Frankie’s just cheap,” Henry remarked, rolling his eyes as he stuffed his pager back into a pocket.
“Not for his Angel he ain’t,” the first werewolf said. “Hey Geng, what did he get his Angel for their 25,000 years anniversary?”
The werewolf named Hangeng thought for a while. “Didn’t he buy one of the smaller heavens?”
Kyuhyun snorted. “Heaven for an angel. That’s a no brainer.”
“He doesn’t have brains, remember?” Henry pointed out.
Kyuhyun nodded in thought. “Right. Remind me again how brainless Kangin Frankenstein managed to land himself Angel Teuk as his life partner?”
“He might not have a brain, but he does have a heart, you know,” the first werewolf said.
“Yeah, I know, Siwon. I get why he’d be in love with Angel Teuk, but I don’t get how Angel Teuk managed to fall for him…,” Kyuhyun said, putting a finger to his chin and frowning.
“Because he loves me.”
The two werewolves, Reaper and vampire almost jumped into the Pool of Vision at the sudden intrusion. Moreso when it came in the form of a booming voice packaged in a gigantic, green figure with bolts screwed to his neck, a slightly green tinge to his complexion and a deadly glare. If the werewolves had screamed out attraction, Kangin Frankenstein was the epitome of fear. He wasn’t even a misunderstood Frankenstein, he was just plain, outright scary.
“One more word out of you, Cho Kyuhyun, about me and Teuk and I’ll condemn you to mortality,” Kangin threatened.
Kyuhyun was anything but worried about the threat. Instead, he glanced wistfully at the Pool of Vision and sighed.
“If only you had that power…,” Kyuhyun said dreamily.
Kangin frowned at the way Kyuhyun had responded to his threat, but the fanged being merely continued to gaze in forlorn at the bright smiling human adorning the pool at his mind’s wish.
“He’s in love,” Hankyung elucidated with a roll of his eyes.
“With a human,” Siwon added.
The two werewolves looked at Kyuhyun then exchanged glances before guffawing in rumbles of laughter. Kyuhyun would’ve menacingly bared his fangs at the two, reminding them that werewolves and vampires were mortal enemies capable of destroying one another if they chose to, but Kyuhyun was known for his wit, not exertion of power. As the two werewolves clutched each other to support their built frames as laughter took over their self-control, Kyuhyun willed another view of the Pool of Vision.
“Oh, look who it is,” Kyuhyun said in a mockingly sweet voice. “Why, if it isn’t that pretty boy human, Kim Heechul….”
It took less than a split second for the werewolves-natural as they were with their quick reflexes and instinctual speed-to end their laughter and dash over to the side of the pool and have the large image of an androgynously beautiful man fill their horizons of vision. Kyuhyun would’ve chuckled to himself in amusement at the werewolves’ singular taste but he satisfied himself with a smirk.
“Hypocrites,” Kyuhyun muttered.
Kangin watched the whole scene dully, rolling his eyes when it ended. If humans even knew what these beings were like at the present time, he doubted fear would be an adjective they would use as a description for them in their narrations and tales. Setting the ridicule of the vampires and werewolves aside, he beckoned Henry over.
“Are you ready for this year’s Halloween?” he asked the black-cloaked Reaper.
Henry gave an exasperated sigh. “How can I not be? I’ve been doing this for two millenniums. I should know what to do by now.”
“Do you know which human it is this time?” Kangin asked.
Henry shook his head. “Shindong just paged me and told me you’d be the one to tell me.”
Kangin nodded and lead Henry back to the Pool of Vision where the two werewolves were still gazing, unblinkingly at the unnaturally feminine human. Their yellow pupils were almost narrowed down to slits, reflective of an animal fixed and intent upon its next prey. Henry expected them to pounce into the pool at any given moment if Kangin hadn’t waved the two off with one of his enormous hands. They both growled in annoyance when the Pool of Vision swirled and changed.
“He’s this Halloween’s sacrifice,” Kangin said, gesturing to the pool where a view of another human had dominated it.
Henry frowned slightly at the face he was observing. The man whose soul he had to take did not look like someone whose time should be cut so short. Those big eyes and prominent cheekbones looked as if they deserved to ravage the world for a few more decades at the least. And that smile; a smile that somehow made Henry clutch his Grim’s scythe blade a force tighter. For once, he was annoyed by the fact that he couldn’t read the heart of the person whose life he had to take away.
“Remember the rules, Henry, you cannot-.”
Henry nodded and cut Kangin off. “Not allowed to prolong his life, not allowed to know his name, not allowed to let anyone know I’m a reaper. Just take his life, take his soul and come back to this hellhole. Got it.”
Kangin smiled, looking more like a wince as the scars on his seemingly paste-and-cut face stretched. “You’ve never failed us thus far, Henry.”
“I won’t this time, either,” he said, sighing. “Alright, I’ll see you guys after I get me a life.” He snorted at the unintended pun as he walked away.
“Henry?”
The Reaper turned back to a very concerned and serious-looking Kangin.
“Remember the rules.”
Henry didn’t know why Kangin was repeating the warning he had already given. Moreover, it was a warning he needn’t have to worry about at all during the two millenniums he had been a Reaper. As he made his way to the gates separating the two worlds and prepared himself to take on the task he’d been assigned to, he began to wonder what consequences breaking those rules might be. Unfortunately, Henry was about to find out the hard way.
***
He wasn’t at a hospital, a battlefield, a refugee camp, a torture house, a prison, or any other place that he had usually visited in his previous duties. Instead, he was at a very vacant, rusty, metal bridge which had all the evidence of it being an old railway. The bridge was creaking over a river shallow enough to see the base where pebbles and rocks adorned in different formations. The harsh wind was blowing into his casual jacket and jeans, trying and failing to penetrate cold into his grey hoodie because Reapers, of course, was immune to nature’s frozen hands. Yet before Henry could even begin wondering why he was in such a place, a soft sob caught his attention. A second later, a petite figure standing on one of the railings of the bridge, precariously swaying as the wind whipped its hand across the earth and eyes set on the shallow waters below, caught Henry’s attention.
He didn’t know what made him do it, he didn’t even know why he did it, but as the person was about to take a step that would plunge his flesh and bones into nothing but broken pieces, Henry sprinted ahead, swiftly grabbed the small figure strongly by the waist and pulled him down to safety onto the abandoned train track. It didn’t matter that the small body had collided with Henry’s and used it as cushioning because the human was too thin and Reapers were void of any worldly pain.
The person now in his arms was shivering uncontrollably, yet Henry knew that it had nothing to do with the chilling air and everything to do with the shaking fear of being so close to death-both the death that he had narrowly escaped and the death that was embracing him. Henry tried to bring the person up to steady themselves, yet his arms were strangely reluctant to remove the security they provided for the fragile figure. They tightened even more when he heard soft, muffled sobs emitting from the figure. Henry slowly sat up to better comfort the person and found himself looking into a very familiar face. In fact, it was the same heart-shaped, high-cheekboned, round-eyed stranger he had seen mere moments ago.
Henry cursed inwardly. He had broken rule number one: do not prolong anyone’s life.
***
It was a café where they both sat, now warm and protected against the early callings of winter during the fall season. Voices were animated, tones were excited and laughter punctured the silent in-betweens. They were the only exceptions. Their silence was confined to a solitude corner out of the way from curious and meddling gazes. Two cups of coffee sat in front of each person as their eyes did anything but meet each other’s.
Henry knew the guy was probably embarrassed at having been caught and prevented against his suicidal act, but that was the least of Henry’s worries. For two millenniums he had been sent to the human world to take lives. Always, these lives would be of people in dire sickness, people dying in war, people executed for their crimes, starvation, violent abuse, and basically any other rational reason for people dying. He was a reaper, yes. He took people’s lives, true. Yet he wasn’t the reason for their death. It would always be some external cause outside of his control. And it would always be unwanted. Yet here, sitting right in front of him, now wrapped tightly in his jacket and still shivering slightly, was a man choosing to walk the path of death. Suicide was a condemned death that even Reapers hated because it would mess with the grand list of people dying. How could a suicide death provide the pure soul needed for the well-being of the border of the two worlds?
“Thank you.”
Henry broke out of his jumbled, confused thoughts and stared at the soft, delicate voice that had spoken. Their gazes still could not meet because the human was still looking determinedly down into his cup as though contemplating whether he could attempt to drown in it. And when he spoke, it was barely more than a whisper. If Henry had been human, he would not have been able to pick up words, let alone sentences.
“I know suicide is stupid and I thank you for stopping me and giving me a bit of hope.”
The Reaper had to hold back a laugh at the irony of that sentence. Hope. Right. He was a Reaper and this guy was telling him he had given hope. He couldn’t wait to tell Kyuhyun about this. Henry was so immersed in his own laughter restraint and the image of Kyuhyun when he told the story that he hadn’t realized his company had raised their head ever so slowly and those round eyes locked onto his face. A complacent smile took over his otherwise pale features. He extended a hand out over the table.
“I’m Ryeowook, by the way.”
Henry froze. Rule number two: You cannot know the name of the human you’re assigned to. Broken.
***
Henry didn’t know what would happen now that he had broken two of the three rules set out for him. He was sure he wouldn’t break the third one because Ryeowook would never believe him anyhow. But still, the consequences haunted him and weighed down his gut as he walked through a mildly crowded street with the guy. He interacted with a lot of his so-called “victims” a lot, just because it was the only duty he was assigned to and it only took place once a year so he wanted to make the best out of his one day out of the netherworld and enjoy it before he was confined to another year of boredom and Kyuhyun’s witty sarcasms (not to mention gushes over the Chinese man they had seen in the Pool earlier). But during all his years working to retrieve souls, not once had he broken the rules. Why was it now that he had broken almost all of them?
Despite the concerns for himself, Henry was deeply immersed in the tale he was hearing from Ryeowook and his reasons. He didn’t know why Ryeowook trusted him: a stranger, untested, unknown and malicious in every inhumane way possible. But Henry himself felt a pull towards the guy that he, himself, could not explain. Small gestures like an arm around Ryeowook’s small shoulders and understanding nods and encouraging smiles became his spurt of comfort for the man. He felt like he was reading Ryeowook’s heart through his talk and little movements, even though he couldn’t see into that heart like he could with every other person he passed on the streets.
“…and he died exactly a year ago, on Halloween, because of a traffic accident.”
Ryeowook had been retelling the tale of his lover. A man whom he deeply loved, who would love him back and make promises of their forever. A man who Ryeowook had come to depend on and rely on. A man he had spent almost every waking minute with and would pine away over their seconds apart. A man who created memories Ryeowok would always cherish. A man who meant everything in the world to Ryeowook.
“He was my life. I saw no point in living without him.”
They had stopped at a bench by the park and talked in peace while all around them children and people were walking past, running around, all dressed in different costumes and clothes. Henry always found these portrayals close to comical because they did no justice on what the real beings were. Sure werewolves, vampires, banshees, hags and Frankenstein was as scary as the humans deemed, but they sure weren’t as mindless as humans thought with their stiff actions and gibberish talk. Henry had let Ryeowook use his shoulder to lean against. The affectionate gesture also comforted Henry in a way as he absentmindedly stroked the stray strands of Ryeowook’s hair.
“Wookie!”
Two young men came bounding in their direction, carrying bags of sweets that they dug into as they ran. One was dressed as a mummy, with what looked like toilet paper used as his bandages, while the other gave an eerily accurate portrayal of exactly what Henry was: a Reaper. Henry couldn’t explain the strange feeling he got when this dress-up Reaper approached them with his mummy.
“Aren’t you guys a little old to be asking for candies?” Ryeowook asked, sitting up.
The mummy laughed aloud. “No, no. We’re giving candies, not asking for them, right Hae?”
The dress-up Reaper had been chewing on a licorice stick but now he had his eyes intently gazing upon Henry. Their eyes met and Henry felt chills run down his spine. There was definitely something about this guy that was not what humans would refer to as “normal”. Henry didn’t even think about attempting to read the human’s heart in fear of what he would find.
“Hae?” the mummy repeated, waving a hand in his hand.
“Yeah, right, Hyuk. We’ve been giving them out.” He tore his gaze away from Henry and gave Ryeowook a bright smile that seemed to radiate innocence. “Wookie, you want some caramel almonds? I saw a guy selling some over there.”
Without waiting for an answer, Hae the dress-up Reaper had pulled Ryeowook by the arm and dragged him off into a fountain at the heart of the park where several carts were selling various sweets and snacks. As Ryeowook had run to keep up with his friend, a single, thin piece of object had fluttered out of his pocket. It landed a few inches away from Henry’s foot. He picked it up and felt the stiff yet smooth texture of a photo. Henry fingered the picture before turning it around to see what it was of. Hyuk the mummy, who had taken refuge in the bench next to him, looked over his shoulder and gave a short sigh.
“Ryeowook still can’t let Yesung go, can he?”
It wasn’t the name that made Henry’s entire being freeze. Nor was it the realization that this had been the man Ryeowook was still cherishing and pining for. It was the fact that Henry knew this man. He had been Henry’s victim one Halloween ago.
***
“Thank you for comforting me tonight,” Ryeowook was saying as they continued their walk and the night grew in proportion and intensity.
Henry had a hard time suppressing the guilt, sorrow and unexplainable pain he was feeling at the moment. How was he supposed to take Ryeowook’s soul when something inside of him fought against it? How was he to do his job now that he knew he was the reason Ryeowook wanted to die in the first place? It was one thing for a Reaper to get involved in someone’s death and take their life and soul, but it was another thing to push a human to do a condemned thing such as suicide.
“Ryeowook, you really love Yesung, didn’t you?”
Something within Henry seemed to twitch in pain at having said that sentence. The urge to fight against his duty grew even more.
“Yes, I loved him so much,” Ryeowook answered with a small smile.
Henry frowned slightly at the use of past tense, but shook it off.
“You love him so much you’re willing to die for him.”
Ryeowook gave Henry another smile. “Yes. But when I went looking for death, I never thought it would end up finding me.”
They both stopped in their tracks, in the middle of a quieter part of the now eerily dark park. Henry looked into Ryeowook’s face, lips slightly parted and eyes wide in surprise. His hands were deep in his jean pockets, but Ryeowook’s was clutching the picture of Yesung he had dropped earlier. Ryeowook was not shivering, nor was he even looking the slightest bit frightened. Instead, it was Henry who felt like his knees would give way any moment now.
Rule number three: Your identity as a Reaper can never be revealed.
Broken.
“Donghae told me. He used to be a Reaper before he fell in love with Hyuk and resigned but he can still recognize other ‘non-humans’.” Ryeowook chuckled slightly at the ridicule of this otherwise serious conversation. “And he says you’re not just any Reaper; you take lives only on Halloween for the sake of The Border. Or at least that’s what he said. It’s a lot of information to take in just five minutes of explanation and revelation that there is another world out there….”
Henry was at a loss at how to respond. He remained frozen to the spot, staring in disbelief at how calm Ryeowook was in this situation. He had known Henry was a Reaper and he was still here, standing in an almost isolated place with all the placidness of an untouched pond. How could anyone embrace death so welcomingly when they had spoken of what it meant to live and love?
“You took Yesung last year, didn’t you? We were going to get married right after Halloween, but I guess the other world had other plans for him…. I don’t blame you for doing your job. But I do wish you wouldn’t break my heart twice.”
Henry looked up, confusion written all over your face.
“You broke my heart when you took Yesung from me, and just when I thought you’d be the one to help me forget him…I find out you’re only here to break my heart again.”
Was this what humans called heartbreak? Was it the feeling of having your insides torn and shredded into uncountable pieces? Was it the feeling of fear that engulfed you entirely knowing you’re about to harm someone you feel with every fiber in your being, you should be protecting? And that excruciatingly painful clutch at a place deep, deep inside you? Was that a heartbreak?
“So can I ask for a painless death?” Ryeowook asked, chuckling slightly. “Donghae said you don’t exactly kill me; you just take my life and soul after some worldly cause harms my body….”
“How can you ask to die so easily?” Henry asked, his voice becoming shrill with anger. “After all that talk about how wonderful it was to be living and fall in love with someone and spend those priceless moments together. How can you not value your life?”
Ryeowook’s smile was now sad. “Yesung is gone. He was my life. I have no more reason to live. Today was probably the only day I ever felt truly calm after his death. Today I even thought that there might be hope for me. Funny how being so close to death can make me realize what I’ve taken for granted.”
Henry fell to his knees and cried in anguish at the unexplainable clench that was clutching his chest at the thought of taking Ryeowook’s life away.
“But you can’t…shouldn’t…you don’t deserve to die….”
“You know that’s not your choice to make, Henry. You know both our worlds are at stake….”
“Ryeowook….”
The pain in his chest built up to such a point that he felt whatever it was would burst out at any given moment. Then two soft, warm, gentle palms touched his cheeks and brought his face up to face a tear-filled, yet nevertheless smiling one. Henry saw those wet eyes flutter close and the face came ever so slowly close to his. The warmth that seeped through him as he felt a soft, sweet, delicate pressure on his lips only wrenched at his painful chest even more. He looked into those dark, crying eyes as Ryeowook pulled away.
“Thank you for showing me that even death values life….”
For the shortest of a second, Henry thought about defying his duties; he thought about completely disregarding the world order that lay in his hands. He just wanted Ryeowook to be alive and happy and possibly move on from his grief. He thought that it was worth the two worlds colliding and the chaotic destruction just so he would be able to give Ryeowook that chance. But what was Ryeowook’s life if the world he lived in would be nothing but disaster.
Ryeowook had been chosen. He was the pure soul to seal the border. And it was up to Henry to make sure that it was done. So with another look into Ryeowook’s deep yet eerily calm eyes as those tears continued to trail down the perfectly fair skin, Henry took his right hand and held it to his side. In an instant, his scythe blade appeared. Ryeowook’s hands were still palming his face and he could feel them dampening from his own tears that had unknowingly streamed down. Ryeowook didn’t even flinch at the sight of the blade and merely smiled serenely at Henry.
“Thank you,” were Ryeowook’s last words.
***
Kyuhyun trailed behind Henry as he strode in an amazingly fast pace towards the Grim Reapers’ headquarters. He was questioning Henry endlessly, but the latter kept his mouth sealed and continued walking. Kyuhyun kept up until Henry reached the head of the Reapers.
“Henry, you broke the rules,” the head stated.
“Yes, I know, Kibum. That’s why I want to resign,” Henry said.
“What?! Are you crazy?! You make one mistake in over two millenniums and you resign?!” Kyuhyun shrieked.
“Kyuhyun, Kangin told Sungmin about your crush with the human named Zhou Mi and I think I heard Sungmin saying something about shapeshifting into a large clove of garlic when he sees you,” Kibum said to the shrieking vampire.
“Damn that brainless git! I gotta find Min.” Kyuhyun cursed, before transforming into a bat and flying off.
Kibum let out a sigh. “Now, Henry-.”
“I’m resigning,” Henry repeated.
Kibum gave Henry a contemplating look. “Now you know the consequences of breaking the rules. If any Reaper breaks them, we get too close to the human, it gives us feelings, and it makes it hard to do the job.”
“I don’t need the sermon. Just let me resign, Kibum,” Henry persisted.
Kibum sighed deeply. “Fine. But you do know that if you reincarnate into a human, you won’t find Ryeowook. He’s gone, Henry. You know yourself how this works.”
“I know,” Henry said, face set, voice determined. “But I want to know what it feels to live. Like Ryeowook did.”
Kibum looked at Henry for a moment before sighing again and stepping to Henry’s side. He led the younger Reaper towards an empty arch at the other end of the place and Henry knew that when he stepped through, there was no coming back. But his will was not wavered.
“I’ll miss you,” Kibum said sadly before Henry took his first step away from his immortality.
***
Henry sat at that bench, exactly as he had years ago. It had been almost forever since he let his Reaper days end and commenced an immortal life. Yet the pain and memory of Ryeowook seemed as fresh as the sweet scent emanating from the fairy floss cart nearby. Life was a blessing, that much he had come to know. Yet during all his years as a mortal, Henry still somewhat felt incomplete. He couldn’t help but feel that despite him knowing that Kibum had been right, he wished Ryeowook was there with him to enjoy life. A tiny part of him had hoped, wished, prayed that there was the slightest chance he would be able to see Ryeowok again. Yet one thing he learned about life was that it continued to go on, despite how much of the past we liked to cherish.
He closed his eyes and leaned back into the bench, his arms spread out as a deep exhale escaped his lips. An additional weight and presence on his right broke him out of his tranquil silence. Henry’s eyes opened and he straightened up quickly, not wanting to discomfort the stranger while he was hogging the public bench. His heart almost stopped when he saw the person beside him. It really was like it had just been yesterday: the soft features, that warm smile, the fragile-looking figure was still the same as Henry had remembered.
Yet there was one difference. And this difference crushed Henry’s heart into unrepairable pieces.
“You’re a Reaper,” Henry stated.
“Yes, I am. And you’re human.”
Henry’s heart clenched at the confirmation. “Ryeowook….”
“I know you resigned to look for me,” Ryeowook said.
“And I found you,” Henry said, fighting back the tears that threatened to stain his face.
“But we’re still different,” Ryeowook stated.
“I know.”
Ryeowook touched Henry’s cheek gently. “Maybe in another life, Henry.”
“Maybe,” Henry nodded, savoring the touch he had yearned for.
“I have a job to do,” Ryeowook said.
“Remember the rules,” Henry said with a chuckle.
Ryeowook smiled and walked away to fulfill his duty. Henry could only watch his retreating back as the sadness dampened his face.
***
Another life. Another beginning. He was back as an immortal. Yet he was no longer assigned to taking lives or souls. He was winged and stayed in the world of whites and lights. He could feel the peace that ruffled through him and warmth him right down to the core. When he opened his eyes, he realized that the warmth was not due to his surroundings. Nor was it due to his new being. A pair of very familiar lips, so sweetly tender, and a pair of deep, sparkling brown eyes, so intoxicating, and a smile to make his heart shine out the darkness of the night was right in front of him. Henry knew his wait had not been in vain.
Pairing : HenWook, a bit of YeWook, QMi, SiHanChul, KangTeuk, EunHae, KyuMin
Subject : Fantasy
Rating : G
Summary: Death learns to appreciate life and even love.
It happened once a year. Always on the same date on the precise night of the Gregorian calendar. It was the one single night where the heavily guarded border between the deemed reality and fantasy was at its weakest. It was the one time where a very thin line would be drawn to ensure those of myths would not invade the mortal world or have human curiosity peek the realms of their unknowingly accurate imagination. It was a night of perfect irony as the human world would decorate their evening in a childish game of costume-donning and playfully enact characters they believe are of fiction. Without knowing that they were anything but fiction. And one very thin line prevented them from finding out so. That very thin line was in the hands of one particular being.
The Grim Reaper was not a solitary of its kind; there were others just like him with the same morbid power. Yet he was unique and set apart from his fellow Reapers because he handled one job and one job only. If his fellow Reapers were common employees of the netherworld at taking lives of humans when their time had come to the end of the line on a daily, nonstop basis, then his single duty was to take one life. One life only. Every single year. On Halloween.
Millenniums ago, a time now more commonly referred to frequently as “once upon a time”, the netherworld and the human world had been one. It had been a peaceful time as creatures of being and humans lived side by side in perfect serenity. Yet time passed, the society developed, human selfishness grew and so did the hunger of the carnivorous. War broke out and created a hell unimaginable by the king of the Underworld himself. Millennia later, a pact was made between the mortal and the immortal; that a border would be drawn between the two worlds to prevent another disaster breaking loose. It was the perfect solution and left both worlds at ease until they found out that at one certain night, when the sun of the humans and the moon of the beings would meet in unison, this border was highly strained and vulnerable. It was the peak moment of power for the beings and thus endangered the barrier of the two worlds. The only way this barrier would be kept in check was for something to feed the mounting hunger of the beings: a human sacrifice.
Hence it became the duty of one Grim Reaper to enter the human world every All Hallows Eve and claim the pure soul of the chosen human. This one single soul would be able to restore the barrier bordering the two worlds and save both worlds from eternal condemnation. There had been only five Reapers who had taken up this job for millenniums, one after the other as a Grim Reaper resigned its duties. That was the only way to end their immortality; by voluntarily giving it up. This Halloween, as it had been for the past two millenniums, was the job of one of the best Grim Reapers known to the netherworld. His name?
Henry.
***
“Damn. You get to go to the human world again. You’re so damn lucky!”
Henry frowned at the remark made by the man whose fangs was prominent enough to indicate that any exposed neck should stay at a distance of at least a thousand miles away. He watched as those dark eyes roamed the Pool of Vision where they could observe the going-ons of the mortals. Henry could never figure out why those eyes-as black and as dead as they should be like any other vampire’s-had more depth to them as though a mystery lay behind the obstructed windows.
“Kyuhyun, why do you like the human world so much? It’s so boring. There’s just…people.”
“Exactly,” Kyuhyun pointed out, smirking. “And where there’s people, there’s fresh blood….”
Henry followed Kyuhyun’s gaze into the Pool of Vision and saw the vampire’s shadowy gaze follow a particular human. He smirked. For the last couple of days, Kyuhyun had been constantly tagging along with him to the Pool and watching that one person. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the tall, lanky human with large, round eyes, a very prominently long nose and that unearthly wide grin which could’ve lit up the Underworld and drive Lucifer insane, had sparked more than just a little interest in the vampire.
“I bet you’d like to taste his blood,” Henry teased.
Kyuhyun shot Henry a sharp glare. “Say that again and I’ll suck you dry.” Despite that comment, he continued observing the Pool.
“His name’s Zhou Mi,” Henry informed, finding an instance where he could look straight into the human’s eyes and therefore, read his life. “He’s Chinese, twenty-three years old, a model, lives alone in an apartment in Shanghai, sings, loves Louis Vuitton, very optimistic and he’s single.” Henry paused to glance at Kyuhyun. “His heart doesn’t seem to be looking for vampires though.”
Kyuhyun scowled. “Reaper’s heart-reading privileges,” he grumbled. “Go to hell, Henry.”
“Nah…it’s boring there,” Henry said nonchalantly.
A series of beeps emitting from somewhere in the folds of Henry’s billowing black cloak cut through their conversation. The Reaper reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a standard, black, square pager. Henry gave a sigh when he read the message on the screen.
“Who knew human technology would be so useful here, huh?”
Both Henry and Kyuhyun turned in the direction of the speaker to see two slightly hairy men walking in their direction in thumping long strides. If any human had seen these two, no one would’ve guessed them for what they really were: werewolves. It wasn’t a full moon and right at that moment, both men looked nothing less than human. Except for the fact that they had a bigger built. And more muscles. And about ten times the raw attraction than humans as they were clothed in nothing but tattered pants that only covered three-quarters of their legs. Henry sometimes wondered why the werewolves were always born with such a strong sense of appeal to humans. He guessed their rugged, hair-always-in-a-spiked-disarray and sharp gazes were to credit for that.
“Why do we even use pagers here? Where do we get the reception?” Henry wondered out loud, frowning.
“Frankie says it’s cheaper and more efficient than using our wailing system. Plus, human technology is so strong it breaks into our world and picks up our wailing system so we can’t afford having people freak out everytime we try to communicate with one another,” the bulkier of the two werewolves explained.
“Which would also explain how we get reception here,” the other werewolf added.
“Frankie’s just cheap,” Henry remarked, rolling his eyes as he stuffed his pager back into a pocket.
“Not for his Angel he ain’t,” the first werewolf said. “Hey Geng, what did he get his Angel for their 25,000 years anniversary?”
The werewolf named Hangeng thought for a while. “Didn’t he buy one of the smaller heavens?”
Kyuhyun snorted. “Heaven for an angel. That’s a no brainer.”
“He doesn’t have brains, remember?” Henry pointed out.
Kyuhyun nodded in thought. “Right. Remind me again how brainless Kangin Frankenstein managed to land himself Angel Teuk as his life partner?”
“He might not have a brain, but he does have a heart, you know,” the first werewolf said.
“Yeah, I know, Siwon. I get why he’d be in love with Angel Teuk, but I don’t get how Angel Teuk managed to fall for him…,” Kyuhyun said, putting a finger to his chin and frowning.
“Because he loves me.”
The two werewolves, Reaper and vampire almost jumped into the Pool of Vision at the sudden intrusion. Moreso when it came in the form of a booming voice packaged in a gigantic, green figure with bolts screwed to his neck, a slightly green tinge to his complexion and a deadly glare. If the werewolves had screamed out attraction, Kangin Frankenstein was the epitome of fear. He wasn’t even a misunderstood Frankenstein, he was just plain, outright scary.
“One more word out of you, Cho Kyuhyun, about me and Teuk and I’ll condemn you to mortality,” Kangin threatened.
Kyuhyun was anything but worried about the threat. Instead, he glanced wistfully at the Pool of Vision and sighed.
“If only you had that power…,” Kyuhyun said dreamily.
Kangin frowned at the way Kyuhyun had responded to his threat, but the fanged being merely continued to gaze in forlorn at the bright smiling human adorning the pool at his mind’s wish.
“He’s in love,” Hankyung elucidated with a roll of his eyes.
“With a human,” Siwon added.
The two werewolves looked at Kyuhyun then exchanged glances before guffawing in rumbles of laughter. Kyuhyun would’ve menacingly bared his fangs at the two, reminding them that werewolves and vampires were mortal enemies capable of destroying one another if they chose to, but Kyuhyun was known for his wit, not exertion of power. As the two werewolves clutched each other to support their built frames as laughter took over their self-control, Kyuhyun willed another view of the Pool of Vision.
“Oh, look who it is,” Kyuhyun said in a mockingly sweet voice. “Why, if it isn’t that pretty boy human, Kim Heechul….”
It took less than a split second for the werewolves-natural as they were with their quick reflexes and instinctual speed-to end their laughter and dash over to the side of the pool and have the large image of an androgynously beautiful man fill their horizons of vision. Kyuhyun would’ve chuckled to himself in amusement at the werewolves’ singular taste but he satisfied himself with a smirk.
“Hypocrites,” Kyuhyun muttered.
Kangin watched the whole scene dully, rolling his eyes when it ended. If humans even knew what these beings were like at the present time, he doubted fear would be an adjective they would use as a description for them in their narrations and tales. Setting the ridicule of the vampires and werewolves aside, he beckoned Henry over.
“Are you ready for this year’s Halloween?” he asked the black-cloaked Reaper.
Henry gave an exasperated sigh. “How can I not be? I’ve been doing this for two millenniums. I should know what to do by now.”
“Do you know which human it is this time?” Kangin asked.
Henry shook his head. “Shindong just paged me and told me you’d be the one to tell me.”
Kangin nodded and lead Henry back to the Pool of Vision where the two werewolves were still gazing, unblinkingly at the unnaturally feminine human. Their yellow pupils were almost narrowed down to slits, reflective of an animal fixed and intent upon its next prey. Henry expected them to pounce into the pool at any given moment if Kangin hadn’t waved the two off with one of his enormous hands. They both growled in annoyance when the Pool of Vision swirled and changed.
“He’s this Halloween’s sacrifice,” Kangin said, gesturing to the pool where a view of another human had dominated it.
Henry frowned slightly at the face he was observing. The man whose soul he had to take did not look like someone whose time should be cut so short. Those big eyes and prominent cheekbones looked as if they deserved to ravage the world for a few more decades at the least. And that smile; a smile that somehow made Henry clutch his Grim’s scythe blade a force tighter. For once, he was annoyed by the fact that he couldn’t read the heart of the person whose life he had to take away.
“Remember the rules, Henry, you cannot-.”
Henry nodded and cut Kangin off. “Not allowed to prolong his life, not allowed to know his name, not allowed to let anyone know I’m a reaper. Just take his life, take his soul and come back to this hellhole. Got it.”
Kangin smiled, looking more like a wince as the scars on his seemingly paste-and-cut face stretched. “You’ve never failed us thus far, Henry.”
“I won’t this time, either,” he said, sighing. “Alright, I’ll see you guys after I get me a life.” He snorted at the unintended pun as he walked away.
“Henry?”
The Reaper turned back to a very concerned and serious-looking Kangin.
“Remember the rules.”
Henry didn’t know why Kangin was repeating the warning he had already given. Moreover, it was a warning he needn’t have to worry about at all during the two millenniums he had been a Reaper. As he made his way to the gates separating the two worlds and prepared himself to take on the task he’d been assigned to, he began to wonder what consequences breaking those rules might be. Unfortunately, Henry was about to find out the hard way.
***
He wasn’t at a hospital, a battlefield, a refugee camp, a torture house, a prison, or any other place that he had usually visited in his previous duties. Instead, he was at a very vacant, rusty, metal bridge which had all the evidence of it being an old railway. The bridge was creaking over a river shallow enough to see the base where pebbles and rocks adorned in different formations. The harsh wind was blowing into his casual jacket and jeans, trying and failing to penetrate cold into his grey hoodie because Reapers, of course, was immune to nature’s frozen hands. Yet before Henry could even begin wondering why he was in such a place, a soft sob caught his attention. A second later, a petite figure standing on one of the railings of the bridge, precariously swaying as the wind whipped its hand across the earth and eyes set on the shallow waters below, caught Henry’s attention.
He didn’t know what made him do it, he didn’t even know why he did it, but as the person was about to take a step that would plunge his flesh and bones into nothing but broken pieces, Henry sprinted ahead, swiftly grabbed the small figure strongly by the waist and pulled him down to safety onto the abandoned train track. It didn’t matter that the small body had collided with Henry’s and used it as cushioning because the human was too thin and Reapers were void of any worldly pain.
The person now in his arms was shivering uncontrollably, yet Henry knew that it had nothing to do with the chilling air and everything to do with the shaking fear of being so close to death-both the death that he had narrowly escaped and the death that was embracing him. Henry tried to bring the person up to steady themselves, yet his arms were strangely reluctant to remove the security they provided for the fragile figure. They tightened even more when he heard soft, muffled sobs emitting from the figure. Henry slowly sat up to better comfort the person and found himself looking into a very familiar face. In fact, it was the same heart-shaped, high-cheekboned, round-eyed stranger he had seen mere moments ago.
Henry cursed inwardly. He had broken rule number one: do not prolong anyone’s life.
***
It was a café where they both sat, now warm and protected against the early callings of winter during the fall season. Voices were animated, tones were excited and laughter punctured the silent in-betweens. They were the only exceptions. Their silence was confined to a solitude corner out of the way from curious and meddling gazes. Two cups of coffee sat in front of each person as their eyes did anything but meet each other’s.
Henry knew the guy was probably embarrassed at having been caught and prevented against his suicidal act, but that was the least of Henry’s worries. For two millenniums he had been sent to the human world to take lives. Always, these lives would be of people in dire sickness, people dying in war, people executed for their crimes, starvation, violent abuse, and basically any other rational reason for people dying. He was a reaper, yes. He took people’s lives, true. Yet he wasn’t the reason for their death. It would always be some external cause outside of his control. And it would always be unwanted. Yet here, sitting right in front of him, now wrapped tightly in his jacket and still shivering slightly, was a man choosing to walk the path of death. Suicide was a condemned death that even Reapers hated because it would mess with the grand list of people dying. How could a suicide death provide the pure soul needed for the well-being of the border of the two worlds?
“Thank you.”
Henry broke out of his jumbled, confused thoughts and stared at the soft, delicate voice that had spoken. Their gazes still could not meet because the human was still looking determinedly down into his cup as though contemplating whether he could attempt to drown in it. And when he spoke, it was barely more than a whisper. If Henry had been human, he would not have been able to pick up words, let alone sentences.
“I know suicide is stupid and I thank you for stopping me and giving me a bit of hope.”
The Reaper had to hold back a laugh at the irony of that sentence. Hope. Right. He was a Reaper and this guy was telling him he had given hope. He couldn’t wait to tell Kyuhyun about this. Henry was so immersed in his own laughter restraint and the image of Kyuhyun when he told the story that he hadn’t realized his company had raised their head ever so slowly and those round eyes locked onto his face. A complacent smile took over his otherwise pale features. He extended a hand out over the table.
“I’m Ryeowook, by the way.”
Henry froze. Rule number two: You cannot know the name of the human you’re assigned to. Broken.
***
Henry didn’t know what would happen now that he had broken two of the three rules set out for him. He was sure he wouldn’t break the third one because Ryeowook would never believe him anyhow. But still, the consequences haunted him and weighed down his gut as he walked through a mildly crowded street with the guy. He interacted with a lot of his so-called “victims” a lot, just because it was the only duty he was assigned to and it only took place once a year so he wanted to make the best out of his one day out of the netherworld and enjoy it before he was confined to another year of boredom and Kyuhyun’s witty sarcasms (not to mention gushes over the Chinese man they had seen in the Pool earlier). But during all his years working to retrieve souls, not once had he broken the rules. Why was it now that he had broken almost all of them?
Despite the concerns for himself, Henry was deeply immersed in the tale he was hearing from Ryeowook and his reasons. He didn’t know why Ryeowook trusted him: a stranger, untested, unknown and malicious in every inhumane way possible. But Henry himself felt a pull towards the guy that he, himself, could not explain. Small gestures like an arm around Ryeowook’s small shoulders and understanding nods and encouraging smiles became his spurt of comfort for the man. He felt like he was reading Ryeowook’s heart through his talk and little movements, even though he couldn’t see into that heart like he could with every other person he passed on the streets.
“…and he died exactly a year ago, on Halloween, because of a traffic accident.”
Ryeowook had been retelling the tale of his lover. A man whom he deeply loved, who would love him back and make promises of their forever. A man who Ryeowook had come to depend on and rely on. A man he had spent almost every waking minute with and would pine away over their seconds apart. A man who created memories Ryeowok would always cherish. A man who meant everything in the world to Ryeowook.
“He was my life. I saw no point in living without him.”
They had stopped at a bench by the park and talked in peace while all around them children and people were walking past, running around, all dressed in different costumes and clothes. Henry always found these portrayals close to comical because they did no justice on what the real beings were. Sure werewolves, vampires, banshees, hags and Frankenstein was as scary as the humans deemed, but they sure weren’t as mindless as humans thought with their stiff actions and gibberish talk. Henry had let Ryeowook use his shoulder to lean against. The affectionate gesture also comforted Henry in a way as he absentmindedly stroked the stray strands of Ryeowook’s hair.
“Wookie!”
Two young men came bounding in their direction, carrying bags of sweets that they dug into as they ran. One was dressed as a mummy, with what looked like toilet paper used as his bandages, while the other gave an eerily accurate portrayal of exactly what Henry was: a Reaper. Henry couldn’t explain the strange feeling he got when this dress-up Reaper approached them with his mummy.
“Aren’t you guys a little old to be asking for candies?” Ryeowook asked, sitting up.
The mummy laughed aloud. “No, no. We’re giving candies, not asking for them, right Hae?”
The dress-up Reaper had been chewing on a licorice stick but now he had his eyes intently gazing upon Henry. Their eyes met and Henry felt chills run down his spine. There was definitely something about this guy that was not what humans would refer to as “normal”. Henry didn’t even think about attempting to read the human’s heart in fear of what he would find.
“Hae?” the mummy repeated, waving a hand in his hand.
“Yeah, right, Hyuk. We’ve been giving them out.” He tore his gaze away from Henry and gave Ryeowook a bright smile that seemed to radiate innocence. “Wookie, you want some caramel almonds? I saw a guy selling some over there.”
Without waiting for an answer, Hae the dress-up Reaper had pulled Ryeowook by the arm and dragged him off into a fountain at the heart of the park where several carts were selling various sweets and snacks. As Ryeowook had run to keep up with his friend, a single, thin piece of object had fluttered out of his pocket. It landed a few inches away from Henry’s foot. He picked it up and felt the stiff yet smooth texture of a photo. Henry fingered the picture before turning it around to see what it was of. Hyuk the mummy, who had taken refuge in the bench next to him, looked over his shoulder and gave a short sigh.
“Ryeowook still can’t let Yesung go, can he?”
It wasn’t the name that made Henry’s entire being freeze. Nor was it the realization that this had been the man Ryeowook was still cherishing and pining for. It was the fact that Henry knew this man. He had been Henry’s victim one Halloween ago.
***
“Thank you for comforting me tonight,” Ryeowook was saying as they continued their walk and the night grew in proportion and intensity.
Henry had a hard time suppressing the guilt, sorrow and unexplainable pain he was feeling at the moment. How was he supposed to take Ryeowook’s soul when something inside of him fought against it? How was he to do his job now that he knew he was the reason Ryeowook wanted to die in the first place? It was one thing for a Reaper to get involved in someone’s death and take their life and soul, but it was another thing to push a human to do a condemned thing such as suicide.
“Ryeowook, you really love Yesung, didn’t you?”
Something within Henry seemed to twitch in pain at having said that sentence. The urge to fight against his duty grew even more.
“Yes, I loved him so much,” Ryeowook answered with a small smile.
Henry frowned slightly at the use of past tense, but shook it off.
“You love him so much you’re willing to die for him.”
Ryeowook gave Henry another smile. “Yes. But when I went looking for death, I never thought it would end up finding me.”
They both stopped in their tracks, in the middle of a quieter part of the now eerily dark park. Henry looked into Ryeowook’s face, lips slightly parted and eyes wide in surprise. His hands were deep in his jean pockets, but Ryeowook’s was clutching the picture of Yesung he had dropped earlier. Ryeowook was not shivering, nor was he even looking the slightest bit frightened. Instead, it was Henry who felt like his knees would give way any moment now.
Rule number three: Your identity as a Reaper can never be revealed.
Broken.
“Donghae told me. He used to be a Reaper before he fell in love with Hyuk and resigned but he can still recognize other ‘non-humans’.” Ryeowook chuckled slightly at the ridicule of this otherwise serious conversation. “And he says you’re not just any Reaper; you take lives only on Halloween for the sake of The Border. Or at least that’s what he said. It’s a lot of information to take in just five minutes of explanation and revelation that there is another world out there….”
Henry was at a loss at how to respond. He remained frozen to the spot, staring in disbelief at how calm Ryeowook was in this situation. He had known Henry was a Reaper and he was still here, standing in an almost isolated place with all the placidness of an untouched pond. How could anyone embrace death so welcomingly when they had spoken of what it meant to live and love?
“You took Yesung last year, didn’t you? We were going to get married right after Halloween, but I guess the other world had other plans for him…. I don’t blame you for doing your job. But I do wish you wouldn’t break my heart twice.”
Henry looked up, confusion written all over your face.
“You broke my heart when you took Yesung from me, and just when I thought you’d be the one to help me forget him…I find out you’re only here to break my heart again.”
Was this what humans called heartbreak? Was it the feeling of having your insides torn and shredded into uncountable pieces? Was it the feeling of fear that engulfed you entirely knowing you’re about to harm someone you feel with every fiber in your being, you should be protecting? And that excruciatingly painful clutch at a place deep, deep inside you? Was that a heartbreak?
“So can I ask for a painless death?” Ryeowook asked, chuckling slightly. “Donghae said you don’t exactly kill me; you just take my life and soul after some worldly cause harms my body….”
“How can you ask to die so easily?” Henry asked, his voice becoming shrill with anger. “After all that talk about how wonderful it was to be living and fall in love with someone and spend those priceless moments together. How can you not value your life?”
Ryeowook’s smile was now sad. “Yesung is gone. He was my life. I have no more reason to live. Today was probably the only day I ever felt truly calm after his death. Today I even thought that there might be hope for me. Funny how being so close to death can make me realize what I’ve taken for granted.”
Henry fell to his knees and cried in anguish at the unexplainable clench that was clutching his chest at the thought of taking Ryeowook’s life away.
“But you can’t…shouldn’t…you don’t deserve to die….”
“You know that’s not your choice to make, Henry. You know both our worlds are at stake….”
“Ryeowook….”
The pain in his chest built up to such a point that he felt whatever it was would burst out at any given moment. Then two soft, warm, gentle palms touched his cheeks and brought his face up to face a tear-filled, yet nevertheless smiling one. Henry saw those wet eyes flutter close and the face came ever so slowly close to his. The warmth that seeped through him as he felt a soft, sweet, delicate pressure on his lips only wrenched at his painful chest even more. He looked into those dark, crying eyes as Ryeowook pulled away.
“Thank you for showing me that even death values life….”
For the shortest of a second, Henry thought about defying his duties; he thought about completely disregarding the world order that lay in his hands. He just wanted Ryeowook to be alive and happy and possibly move on from his grief. He thought that it was worth the two worlds colliding and the chaotic destruction just so he would be able to give Ryeowook that chance. But what was Ryeowook’s life if the world he lived in would be nothing but disaster.
Ryeowook had been chosen. He was the pure soul to seal the border. And it was up to Henry to make sure that it was done. So with another look into Ryeowook’s deep yet eerily calm eyes as those tears continued to trail down the perfectly fair skin, Henry took his right hand and held it to his side. In an instant, his scythe blade appeared. Ryeowook’s hands were still palming his face and he could feel them dampening from his own tears that had unknowingly streamed down. Ryeowook didn’t even flinch at the sight of the blade and merely smiled serenely at Henry.
“Thank you,” were Ryeowook’s last words.
***
Kyuhyun trailed behind Henry as he strode in an amazingly fast pace towards the Grim Reapers’ headquarters. He was questioning Henry endlessly, but the latter kept his mouth sealed and continued walking. Kyuhyun kept up until Henry reached the head of the Reapers.
“Henry, you broke the rules,” the head stated.
“Yes, I know, Kibum. That’s why I want to resign,” Henry said.
“What?! Are you crazy?! You make one mistake in over two millenniums and you resign?!” Kyuhyun shrieked.
“Kyuhyun, Kangin told Sungmin about your crush with the human named Zhou Mi and I think I heard Sungmin saying something about shapeshifting into a large clove of garlic when he sees you,” Kibum said to the shrieking vampire.
“Damn that brainless git! I gotta find Min.” Kyuhyun cursed, before transforming into a bat and flying off.
Kibum let out a sigh. “Now, Henry-.”
“I’m resigning,” Henry repeated.
Kibum gave Henry a contemplating look. “Now you know the consequences of breaking the rules. If any Reaper breaks them, we get too close to the human, it gives us feelings, and it makes it hard to do the job.”
“I don’t need the sermon. Just let me resign, Kibum,” Henry persisted.
Kibum sighed deeply. “Fine. But you do know that if you reincarnate into a human, you won’t find Ryeowook. He’s gone, Henry. You know yourself how this works.”
“I know,” Henry said, face set, voice determined. “But I want to know what it feels to live. Like Ryeowook did.”
Kibum looked at Henry for a moment before sighing again and stepping to Henry’s side. He led the younger Reaper towards an empty arch at the other end of the place and Henry knew that when he stepped through, there was no coming back. But his will was not wavered.
“I’ll miss you,” Kibum said sadly before Henry took his first step away from his immortality.
***
Henry sat at that bench, exactly as he had years ago. It had been almost forever since he let his Reaper days end and commenced an immortal life. Yet the pain and memory of Ryeowook seemed as fresh as the sweet scent emanating from the fairy floss cart nearby. Life was a blessing, that much he had come to know. Yet during all his years as a mortal, Henry still somewhat felt incomplete. He couldn’t help but feel that despite him knowing that Kibum had been right, he wished Ryeowook was there with him to enjoy life. A tiny part of him had hoped, wished, prayed that there was the slightest chance he would be able to see Ryeowok again. Yet one thing he learned about life was that it continued to go on, despite how much of the past we liked to cherish.
He closed his eyes and leaned back into the bench, his arms spread out as a deep exhale escaped his lips. An additional weight and presence on his right broke him out of his tranquil silence. Henry’s eyes opened and he straightened up quickly, not wanting to discomfort the stranger while he was hogging the public bench. His heart almost stopped when he saw the person beside him. It really was like it had just been yesterday: the soft features, that warm smile, the fragile-looking figure was still the same as Henry had remembered.
Yet there was one difference. And this difference crushed Henry’s heart into unrepairable pieces.
“You’re a Reaper,” Henry stated.
“Yes, I am. And you’re human.”
Henry’s heart clenched at the confirmation. “Ryeowook….”
“I know you resigned to look for me,” Ryeowook said.
“And I found you,” Henry said, fighting back the tears that threatened to stain his face.
“But we’re still different,” Ryeowook stated.
“I know.”
Ryeowook touched Henry’s cheek gently. “Maybe in another life, Henry.”
“Maybe,” Henry nodded, savoring the touch he had yearned for.
“I have a job to do,” Ryeowook said.
“Remember the rules,” Henry said with a chuckle.
Ryeowook smiled and walked away to fulfill his duty. Henry could only watch his retreating back as the sadness dampened his face.
***
Another life. Another beginning. He was back as an immortal. Yet he was no longer assigned to taking lives or souls. He was winged and stayed in the world of whites and lights. He could feel the peace that ruffled through him and warmth him right down to the core. When he opened his eyes, he realized that the warmth was not due to his surroundings. Nor was it due to his new being. A pair of very familiar lips, so sweetly tender, and a pair of deep, sparkling brown eyes, so intoxicating, and a smile to make his heart shine out the darkness of the night was right in front of him. Henry knew his wait had not been in vain.