"Oh no," Theodore let out a jolly laugh. "If that where the case souls would hate us. She definitely takes a different approach to reaping. But I'm sure you've seen that stiff side." Though they hadn't been walking long, his cheeks had already developed a slight flush.
For a reaper Theodore had tanner skin, not the waxy look that many others seemed to have. He was definitely a larger man, and cursed the fact that once dead he couldn't lose any weight. Nor did his stamina seem to ever improve.
"How has the realm been treating you?"
“A little,” he admitted, laughing softly. “She does have that stiffness. Just a little. She’s kind. I’m glad she has been kind. Don’t think I’d be doing too good right now if she hadn’t been.” He murmured, sighing deeply.
“The realm? Other than almost getting eaten by those creatures out there, fine. I feel… like I’m alive but not really, does that make sense? Like I have a second life in some video game. But that second life is granted in another world.”
"It does feel that way a little bit." Theodore smiled. He personally hadn't minded his death. But Jamie was right, it was kind of like a second chance.
"Care if I join you?" The stranger grinned as he approached the two men, his hands tucked behind his back. His eyes landed on Jamie, "ah, it would appear we've crossed paths once again my friend." He had heard their conversation. And boy oh boy was that second chance about to come.
He smiled at Theodore and laughed softly. “Do I sound too much like a dumb kid? Going on about second chances? I’m practically still a kid.” He mused, grinning.
When the stranger spoke, Jamie’s head shot up. “Oh! It’s you again. How are you?” Jamie asked, smiling politely and dipping his head down.
Theodore had been laughing at what Jamie said when he heard the stranger. His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Oh I've been great!" The stranger shoved his hands in his pockets. "I actually just ran into your friend. She was soaking wet, the poor thing. Fell into a river." It was more like got pushed. But they didn't need to know that. His eyes searched Theodore for a death mark- "say, you where shot right Jamie?" His grin melted to a small smile as he pulled a gun from his pocket and held it level with Jamie's death mark. "Care for a second chance?"
“What do you mean she was wet? What hap-“
Jamie froze the second the gun was pulled. Pure panic turned his blood to ice and raced through his veins. He didn’t know what to do, was he really going to die here? Again? By the same fate?
“W-Wait! Don’t shoot! Pl-please, if you want something you can take it… We’ll give it to you willingly, just don’t… don’t kill me again…”
"fun fact, if you die the exact same way twice you get sent back to the realm of the living. Round two has begun." BANG.
Theodore hadn't had time to react before the gun was then turned on him too. Even if his death mark wasn't visible, a gun shot to the head would still take him out for a few hours. "Good luck."
Ember rocked back and forth, tears streaming down her face. She could still feel herself gasping for air, hear her muffled screams as the water held her in its deadly grasp.
The first thing she'd done once back was try and get back to the reapers realm, she'd had no such luck. Next she focused on locating Jamie's body. It had still been in the alley. Once she'd accomplished her goal the panic had set in.
Jamie woke up screaming. He curled into a ball, holding his head as fresh tears streamed down his face. Everything was spinning, blurry, confusing.
He could feel cold ground beneath him, and was vaguely aware of another presence next to him but all he could hear or focus on was the blood pounding in his ears.
When he finally calmed down enough to regain his composure, Jamie slowly uncurled himself and pushed up onto his knees.
This alleyway looked familiar…
"Jamie!" Ember was startled to see him pop to life. She had only come to the body in hopes that a reaper would come looking for her- she waited untill he calmed down to ask any questions. "By the heavens, how did you get here?" Her voice shook with every word.
It was a relief to have someone familiar, but worrisome at the same time.
He touched the spot his death mark had been, shuddering as he looked at his hands. Was that dirt from the ground or was it his blood?
“I-I don’t know. He shot me. That soul… he said something about a round two.” He placed a hand over his heart, taking in a deep breath. “Am I alive?!”
Jamie leaned over to grab his bag, which looked like it had been ruffled through as his items were strewn around. “Oh god. I’m alive- these are my things.”
He looked through it quickly, sighing. The only thing that had been stolen from his bag was his phone, but that could be replaced. His wallet wasn’t in his pocket either, but thrown by where his bag had been. He grabbed it, sighing in relief to find his ID and everything else still in it. Except for his gift card for the local coffee shop.
“How did you get here? Are you alive? Why can I see you?” He asked suddenly, turning to look at Ember. He reached out to gently touch her shoulder. “Are you wet? Here,” he pulled his jacket off and offered it to her.
"Shot? Jamie you're not making any sense," Ember watched as he rummaged through his stuff. She didn't know hoe to answer his question. But it would appear that he- and she- where both alive.
"I- someone pushed me in a river." She left out the part about them holding her under. She didn't want to scare him. Ember excepted his offer.
Truth be told she was freezing. "Thank you." She pulled the jacket on. Grateful for something dry, and even though Jamie had been dead the jacket was surprisingly warm.
"What do you mean he Shot you? Do you mean Teddy? And what do you mean round two?"
“Not Teddy no, I don’t know what happened to Teddy. But I know I was shot with a gun. Right here,” he tapped his forehead, right where his death mark had been.
“He was another soul, or I thought so. He said he wasn’t a reaper or a soul. Said he was a friend. But he shot me! The bastard shot me!” He huffed, standing shakily. He leaned against the wall as he tested his balance, taking in a deep breath as he sling his satchel over his shoulders.
“My apartment isn’t far from here, it’s freezing and I feel gross. Also uh… please tell me I’m just covered in water or dirt… I don’t want it to be blood.”
Ember chewed on her lip and stood, lying would be so much easier, but- she zipped the jacket up, and pulled her arms inside. After a few moment of awkwardly tying to peel her wet shirt off while not lifting the jacket to much, she handed the shirt to him. "Use this to wipe it away." She hopped that was confirmation enough. That she wouldn't have to directly tell him.
Though there wasn't any actual wound, at least not one she could see. But considering she had come back soaked, who was to say still having blood all over them wasn't possible?
Jamie took the shirt slowly from her, staring down at it. “Are you sure?” He asked gently, taking a step towards the street. “I wouldn’t want to ruin your shirt….” after giving it a moments thought, Jamie wiped his arms and face off, sighing in relief.
“I’ll buy you a new one… you can borrow a pair of my clothes for now,” he spoke quietly, almost awkwardly. He was extremely confused and the sudden reappearance with the living had shook him to his core.
But he would be strong for right now. After all, he was alive again. Was this a true second chance? Maybe he could try again? Be more careful about it all.
He offered his hand to her, faking a smile. “Come on, it’ll be warmer in an apartment.”
A shirt was the least of Embers worries. She was alive. it had been century's since she'd last walked the land of the living as, well living. As a reaper she didn't need to worry about death. Someone could have literally gutted her, and she'd have been just fine in a few days. As a reaper Ember could be reckless, but now, she was afraid.
Ember nodded her head and took his hand. She forced a smile to her face and hopped the shaking could be passed off as shivers.
“This is… wild.” He murmured softly once she had taken his hand. He lead her out into the street, his eyes lighting up at the familiarity of it all.
They passed the coffee shop Jamie frequented. The smells made his heart jump. They passed the old flower shop, long since gone. It was now a book shop.
Jamie couldn’t help but to feel relieved with it all. He was alive and it felt amazing to be back.
He led them to a nice set of apartments, pulling his keys from his bag. It took him a moment to unlock his door, as he couldn’t focus properly on the lock.
But when he did finally get the door open it revealed a simple apartment layout. The kitchen and living space were joined, simple and small. Two doors against the opposite wall led to the bathroom and bedroom, with respect to each one.
It was surprisingly clean, and Jamie was delighted to see everything was right where he left it.
"The plan was to send only the reaper back," He narrowed his eyes at Zero. "Shooting the soul was uncalled for. We could have just fed him to some crawlers if he got in the way."
Zero shrugged, gun still in hand. "I do things my own way, don't like it? Get someone else to do your dirt work." the two men glared at each other, not daring to brake eye contact.
"Get back to the human realm. Kill them both. Think you can do that without messing up?"
Zero grinned.
"Nice place," Ember mumbled. Truth be told she hadn't actually ever been inside someone house before. Houses where strictly off limits. If some died there, they had to find their own way out.
Haunting was always an option, but most souls didn't want that. At least in her experience.
"It's not much. Can't afford a lot. College and stuff." He sighed deeply as he set his items on the small table in the corner, closing the blinds to the window that sat right above it. Jamie wandered into the bedroom and returned with a pair of sweatpants and a shirt for Ember.
"Here, you can use the bathroom." He gestured to the door, looking her up and down in concern. "You're soaked. What happened even?"
"I got pushed in a river." Pushed was the simplest way for Ember to put it. Explaining what had really happened- she wasn't to sure she was ready to relive that moment just yet.
"Thank you, for the clothes." She went to the door he'd pointed at, to go change.
"Pushed… I don't like that, sorry to hear it." He murmured softly, biting his lip. He didn't like running or deep waters. He imagined Ember didn't either.
"Ah, no problem…" Jamie seemed out of it, he was going through his bag again, blinking as he flipped through his notebooks.
Ember quickly changed, grateful to get out of her wet clothes. She turned to the mirror to fix her hair, and noticed the blue coloring from her lips was gone.
Ember clasped a hand over her mouth with a gasp. That confirmed it. She was actually alive again. That explained why she hadn't been able to get back to the reapers realm. Back to her home.
How had this been possible? Second chances where almost unheard of. Sure everyone and again a death was accidental, but it only took a few minutes for everything to get sorted out. Not years.
Ember burst from the bathroom, she needed answers. "Jamie, did the stranger tell you anything? Did they say how this worked?" She wasn't to sure she was making any sense. Heck, even to herself she sounded hysterical.
Jamie jumped when she burst from the bathroom, his notebook falling from his hands. He blushed a deep red as he bent down to pick it back up, hiding away the simple doodles and neat handwriting. “Wh-what? The stranger? I don’t know I wasn’t thinking straight. He said something about this being round two or something and said if you died in the exact same way as before you come back. That’s all I remember.”
Ember froze. His words rung in her ears. died the same way, she couldn't believe it. Didn't want to believe it. "I drowned," she mumbled in disbelief. The blue to her lips suddenly made sense. She hadn't just drowned because of an accident no, someone had killed her that way. That was the only explanation as to how she'd become a reaper.
Ember held a trembling hand to her mouth, she wanted to vomit at the thought.
"And you where shot. He…He shot you and sent you back. But it doesn't make sense. There shouldn't be a loop hole. You die, and that's it. No second chances." She knew she was rambling, but she couldn't help it.
"What…?" He set everything in his hands down and offered them to her as some sort of comfort. "You did…? Thats how you…" He didn't finish the sentence, biting his lip as he watched her carefully.
"I know… I don't understand what's going on either, but calm down a bit. Take a deep breath, okay? We can't figure this out if we panic." He understood her fear though, she had been dead far longer than he had. Jamie was honestly relieved. He hadn't fully accepted that he had died. "Come sit down, I'll make you something warm. Tea? Coffee? Hot chocolate? I have Apple Cider…"
"I- no I don't- I just-" Ember couldn't form her thoughts into words. She gave Jamie a helpless look. She had drowned, and who ever that stranger was had made sure she did a second time.
She took a moment to calm her breathing. He was right. Panicking wouldn't get her any answers. "Coffee, please." She said at last. As a human again she would need sleep eventually, but for now she didn't want it. Sleep would only bring on nightmares.
