Work Text:
They only moved at night, the grim reapers. For centuries, the workers in other departments have speculated why they do so. Some argue it’s just for the sake of aesthetics — they deal with death, and are almost always clad in black, it only makes sense that they slink around in darkness — and others speculate that there’s another reason. A particularly dark theory that had been going around in Momo’s workplaces — Guardian Angels HQ — was that grim reapers only moved during nighttime because their dark aura would contaminate any type of life in the daytime. They would shroud everything in darkness and misery, so to speak.
In Momo’s opinion, it was a ridiculous rumour. Her coworkers called her biased, because they knew how she had been close to a few grim reapers in her lifetime, and before the new policy was introduced. The policy being: members working in opposing departments could not interfere with each other’s lives. It had something to do with morals and different policies regarding the situations each department had to deal with. For example, a self-control manager could never mix with a Splurger (a highly coveted position where you could basically force your assigned human to use as much money as they could) without it ending in absolute chaos. It made sense, but it also made things excessively more difficult for Momo and Kyouka.
Scratch that, Momo knew that it was a ridiculous rumour; that the grim reapers contaminated any form of positivity with their so-called dark aura. She knew it from first-hand experience. Momo was a Guardian Angel, making sure that her wards weren’t harmed and didn’t make terrible decisions, and her whole being was made of pure light. No joke, she had a faint halo above her head.
Kyouka on the other hand was a grim reaper, specifically, a grim reaper that was tasked with calming down angry or revengeful souls that couldn’t accept their fate. Positions from the Devil’s Department (an exaggerated name in Momo’s opinion) were given to beings that demonstrated enough strength, proving that they would be capable of carrying out their jobs without letting personal feelings or fears get in the way. They weren’t dark souls by any means.
They would talk at the hidden nook behind their buildings, backs pressed against the walls, standing a few metres apart as to not get caught. Momo would talk about all the good she did, and Kyouka would solemnly recount all the angry souls she witnessed that day. Kids who were angry that they died so young, people that were killed by pure accident, and of course, people who wanted to go back and kill whoever caused their deaths. She didn’t know how Kyouka could remain so… soft after all the things she was going through on a daily basis.
Her profession meant nothing to Momo, and Momo was tired of people in her department reducing the grim reaper’s — and the myriad of other individuals tjat worked alongside Kyouka — to their jobs. The way her coworkers talked about the Devil’s Department made her want to scream. It wasn’t like they were the ones killing the humans; they were simply guiding the lost souls to a better afterlife, to peace. Well of course, there was the department that dedicated their work hours to punishing criminals and other sorts of horrible people but they were still doing good things.
“They’re trouble, you better stay away from them.”
“They’ll suck all of the brightness out of you, didn’t you hear?”
“They only think about death. It’s disturbing.”
Momo always wanted to say, “That’s only because you see them hard at work.”
There was so much more to them.
Kyouka smiled like the sun, and her presence was the farthest from darkness. She felt like autumn; the calm ambience, the changing colours of trees, the hot tea you would nurse in your hands. Kyouka liked music, guitars, and adopting the souls of stray cats that never managed to find their way to the cat afterlife (yes, that was a real thing). She liked watching over up-and-coming musicians on Earth, and loved her work; “I love helping people, and I know this isn’t the most traditional way of helping but it still is,” she would say. She loved her friends, even if their constant screaming hurt her ears, and she liked Momo.
Momo didn’t like the darkness. One, because she hated it being associated with someone like Kyouka, who was like sunshine in her life, where sunshine literally did not exist. Two, because she was sick and tired of always having to love Kyouka in the darkness because of stupid policies and rumours.
Her kisses felt like honey, and she smelled like cinnamon, brown sugar, and old books.
“They’re weird. You’ll end up just like them if you hang out with them again.”
Watching her made Momo miss the life she didn’t even remember anymore. She knew that if the two were still alive, they would find each other, somehow. There could be an ocean between them, but Momo knew that she would cross without hesitation. For her.
“Disgusting. Imagine telling people that they were dead as your job. Imagine being that cruel.”
Momo watches her coworkers dive deeper into the darkness of theories, while she lounges next to brightness. If only they knew.
“Maybe it’s better if they don’t,” Kyouka would joke.
“So I can have you all to myself?”
“Yea.”