Chapter Text
Rudo took a few steps onto the trashed polluted ground, holding onto his weapon with his gloved hands behind his back as they swayed with his body. Taking walks through no-man’s land was always the albino’s favorite pastime, especially when there were no nosy people around, letting him roam freely and look through the trash. He hated it when there were mortals around during these walks, they always woke up the trash beasts.
He was now walking through a twisted and narrow path with his black cloak blowing slightly in the ominous wind, his steps silent and airy, almost like he wasn’t stepping onto the ground at all.
The young boy thought that day was going to be a quieter one, but he was sadly wrong. Rudo could practically feel the ground vibrating from the large, beat-up jeep speeding through the same path he was walking on.
Rudo stopped for a moment to look behind him, seeing the car get closer to him by the second. It was blasting music that he could hear through the car’s windows and held 4 people, two in the front, one in the backseat, and one in the trunk.
With an annoyed groan, he saw who was in the driver’s seat as the car was coming straight towards him. Enjin, that damn cleaner who got on his nerves more than Regito’s teasing and his job combined. Glaring at the car while making no intention of moving, the car drove straight through the young boy like he wasn’t even there(aura farming). Rudo turned to watch the car speed away for a moment before continuing to walk the same way the car went.
Rudo was familiar with the large group as he had many customers with the said cleaners' logo, but the organization never failed to bother him on his days off. He knew it wasn’t on purpose because nobody could see him nor sense him (unless he wanted them to, of course.), but it was still annoying that the cleaners always tried to clean up trash beasts when he was supposed to be relaxing.
With a small grumble, the reaper-in-training followed far behind the group with little to no interest. Once he finally caught up with the now-parked car, he saw the cleaners scramble out of the car because of the large trash beasts awakening from their unbearably loud music. The white-haired boy sighed before jumping up onto the car’s roof, sitting down while tracing the metal ring around his glove mindlessly.
If these cleaners were going to bother him, he might as well get a little show on the side. He watched the fight with laziness, keeping track of every beast defeated by each person.
Zanka Nijiku had defeated around 13 with that stick of his. Rudo remembered paying him a visit while he was in that well, he was still surprised that he hadn’t taken the turdface’s soul right then and there, but he himself was full of surprises. Rudo hummed quietly as he saw the older boy use his stick to swing at 3 beasts.
Riyo Reaper had killed 14 with the help of her jinki and the supporter Gris Rubion. Rudo didn’t know much about this Gris person, but he had seen the giver many times in the past. It wasn’t because of her misfortune, but because the number of times Rudo came to take a soul that died due to her hands. Or he should say her gun.
The last person who was fighting was Enjin, who was mostly a mystery to Rudo. The red-eyed immortal never liked mysteries, which was why Enjin was his least favorite cleaner (it’s not like he had an actual favorite, he didn’t like any mortals.). All the albino boy knew was that those tattoos were covering something, and that he always picked up strays.
With his legs swaying slightly, Rudo watched the biggest trash beast rip parts from its own body, making an army of smaller beasts while staying a large size. The boy watched as the cleaners broke off into sections, leaving his least favorite cleaner to fend off against the large monster. With a tiny grumble from trash blocking his view, he got down from the car soundlessly and calmly walked over to watch Enjin fight. He barely got to see the umbrella carrier fight, so he wasn’t going to miss this.
On his very short walk, he noticed Riyo looking his way, her sharp, yet calm eyes looking in his direction. Rudo hummed quietly to himself as he saw her gaze focus back on the battle in front of her.
Rudo sat down on a pile of trash, studying every move the older cleaner made. This Enjin guy fought with confidence, too much confidence. His movement was fluid with very little Rudo could make comments or tweaks about, but said ‘fluid motion’ was dulled with laziness and a cocky attitude.
It almost pissed him off whenever he got high in the air to slam his umbreaker down by the sharp point. If Rudo were a trash beast, he’d teach this guy a lesson himself, but he was stuck being the embodiment of death. Rudo let out a small huff of air, shoving the blunt end of his scythe into the mountain of trash so he could lean his back against it.
Now fiddling with a broken doll next to him, he suddenly sees a spray of red from far away. Looking up from the doll lazily to see Enjin impaled with a stop sign. The sight almost made him wince.
Almost.
Rudo focused his hearing on the cleaner, hearing his rapid heartbeat become slower by the second. The albino boy stood up and grabbed his scythe, walking down over to him with big steps out of boredom.
Rudo was standing by Enjin’s side now, noticing the ground below them painted a deep red, much like his eyes. The rusty stop sign seemed to hit his stomach, Rudo guessed from the amount of blood seeping into his clothes.
Enjin squirmed and fought against the stop sign before failing, muttering curses under his breath that Rudo couldn’t hear very well. He tried to use the umbreaker to stand back up, but the metal pole stabbed right through him and was now dug deep in the ground, keeping Enjin pinned down.
Rudo looked down at the older (younger?) man with a blank stare, watching him choke out blood and saliva on his lip. With a small grumble, he decided to make himself visible to Enjin, tapping his shoulder with a gloved hand that was probably unnoticed by the cleaner.
“You should stop moving, it’s gonna’ make it more painful, ya know.” Rudo started with a blunt voice, watching Enjin turn his head weakly. Man did he look rough. His eyes were bloodshot red and his blonde hair was sticking to his forehead from sweat and blood.
The air around the two had suddenly changed, the cold wind from no-man’s land suddenly vanished, leaving the space around them completely still and suffocating with microscopic fragments of crystal-like particles floating around. Rudo never minded when this had happened, it was just the effect that was left whenever he tried to talk with any mortal being. It was a bit annoying to be talking to a group of people though.
“W-who the hell are you…?” Enjin managed to crack out through his gridded teeth, trying to control his shallow breathing but coughing more blood out in failure. Rudo carefully watched Enjin take in his changed surroundings, looking up at the trash beast frozen in place. There was a void surrounding them, but it was almost like the two had a lantern to illuminate just their close surroundings.
Rudo ignored Enjin’s weak questioning, spinning his scythe in his hands a few times, and slammed it down against the ground. Rudo could see the cleaner look visibly confused before his face paled with realization. If the scythe wasn’t obvious enough, Rudo’s black cloak and a jar full of souls tied around his hip make it clear that he was the Grim Reaper. He might as well just wear a pin that said ‘I’m coming to take your soul!’ from how painfully obvious it was.
“W-wait! Hold on, kid! I still got business to do, don’t steal my soul yet!? I thought the grim reaper was a skeleton…” Enjin rasped out in panic before choking out the last part, trying to lean away from the boy but failing as he let out a groan of pain, clutching his side with little strength he had left.
Rudo couldn’t tell what the man was thinking, well he could but where’s the fun in that? Rudo could tell his reasons for wanting to stay alive were for his teammates and not for any other selfish reason, so he decided he’d MAYBE spare his soul. Only if he offered the right thing.
“What do I get out of it?” Rudo grumbled out, his grip lazy on his scythe as he looked down at the wide-eyed Enjin. Rudo had all of the time in the world, Enjin also had a good amount of time left, especially since he had to take his soul to become fully dead and time moved at an unbearable slow speed whenever Rudo made a peep of sound.
“Uhnm…. I-…” Enjin completely blanked. Or that’s what Rudo saw. The albino could tell he was panicking, he could practically hear the gears in his head overheating from moving too fast.
“Candy…?” Enjin hesitatingly muttered out in a weak voice, his arms failing to hold himself up now as his shoulders quivered from pain
Candy…
The single word made Rudo feel like he was just blessed by an angel, trying to keep calm and not get his hopes up too much. Rudo’s red eyes were widened and now staring dead at Enjin with burning seriousness. Just the thought of getting his hands on a sweet treat made him want to go completely feral and act crazy.
“Hm, you got a deal.” Rudo huffed, trying to sound nonchalant but just sounding like he was holding back a cheer.
Rudo wasn’t the best at holding back his excitement when it came to sweets. Even after all of the times he tried to practice his poker face, the mere mention of the sugary food made him want to jump in the air like a teenage girl.
With a quick swipe of his scythe, Rudo hooked the sign with the curve of his blade and swiftly pulled it out of Enjin. To be honest, Rudo might’ve been making sure Enjin didn’t feel too much pain for their whole conversation. If he wasn’t, Enjin would either be screaming in pain or just passed out fully. Rudo always hated how fragile humans were.
Rudo watched as blood steadily bled out of the gaping hole in Enjin’s stomach, who was just staring down at it with straight horror on his face. His hand was trembling as it moved to hover over a part of his exposed rib cage with disbelief.
“A-ah holly shit…” Enjin weakly breathed out, wondering how this wasn’t hurting as badly as he expected.
“Don’t touch, dumbass..” Rudo replied and crouched down to inspect the wound closely. Rudo sighed and placed a gloved hand against his side that he had left, his hand holding no sign of gentleness as he pushed down onto the open wound. The pain from Rudo’s gray-ish glove made Enjin want to howl, but he bit at the inside of his cheek before he could.
Before Enjin could open his weak mouth to question Rudo’s actions, (who does this janitor think he is? Questioning the grim reaper after said reaper sparred his oh-so important life.) his wounds seemed to slowly shrink on into itself, resembling plastic melting before morphing back to its original hardness.
Rudo quietly watched Enjin’s expression change to emotions he really didn’t care about, removing his hand from the now healed wound before stepping back to look at his work.
“See? Ya fixed now. Back to our deal, be wary on what you do. I’m going to remember what you owe me.” Rudo spoke harshly, his words serious even if what he wanted was something as simple as candy.
Rudo decided he was done with talking, flicking the blood off of his gray gloves before moving to walk away. Rudo looked behind his back at make eye contact with Enjin before walking into the void and away from the trash beast.
the red eyed boy heard the trash beast animate back to life with the strong winds of the deserted land hit Enjin in the face. He watched as the mysterious child walked away before vanishing like dust in the wind, staring in awe for a moment before grabbing umbreaker and moving to fight the trash beast with new and found strength.
‿̩͙⊱༻☂︎༺⊰‿̩͙
ᴱⁿʲⁱⁿ’ˢ ᴾᴼⱽ
It was around 6 days since Enjin’s encounter with that white haired kid that healed his wounds, and he was in a bit of a mood.
He tried telling Riyo, who just giggled in his face, which was not surprising but Enjin didn’t comment on it. He tried telling Zanka, who literally believed anything Enjin said with a little praise in the question, looked at him like he grew two heads. Hell, they even took him to Eisha to see if he was right in the head! The fact that his OWN team thought he went crazy broke his cigarette-loving heart. Well it really didn’t, he was just annoyed and a drama queen.
With a tiny huff from thinking on the past days, Enjin walked through canvas town with his young team members, paying no attention to Riyo who was still teasing him about it.
“I really thought the grim reaper would be a skeleton lookin’ dude… but I guess it’s some melanin-lacking kid, or that’s how Enjin described it.” Riyo giggled to Zanka, who just let out a huff of air and didn’t respond to the slander of their team’s leader, tenderly holding lovely assistaff while looking for a wood polish.
“I’m telling ya the truth! I swear that little thing was coming to take my soul! It even had a jar with souls in it!” Enjin defended himself even though he hadn’t really known what was in that jar tied to the kid’s hip. He had to admit, his claim seemed pretty fishy itself, but it gave an explanation on how he came out the battle unscathed and with a jump in his step while everyone else was bleeding from some hole.
“You both are stupid.” Zanka grumbled as he followed Riyo walk into a candy shop with Enjin following Zanka. It was rare for the three of them to even enter Candy shops like this because they all didn’t care for sweet treats, but Enjin had a mission and a deal that could very much lead to his death.
“Alright gang, I need candy that will please a spiritual being that probably has been living for millions of years. Go look while I.. do my magic.” Enjin told the two while giving them little nudges into the store to fulfill his mission, just wanting to send the two cleaners away while he tried to flirt his way into a friends and family discount with the cashier.
With the usual laugh from Riyo and a groan from Zanka, they started to wander the store in search of the tastiest candies.
The store was quite sizable for a shop dedicated to candy only, almost looking like a library from the rows of shelved candy in containers and bright packaging. Enjin decided he was bored enough to look around inside the store before he went to talk to lady checking people out.
Enjin lazily walked through the aisle with a shopping basket hooked by umbreaker that was held against his shoulder, stopping to look at some sour candy. Damn, he didn’t even know if the kid with white hair even liked sour candy. A small shiver went down his back from the thought of that kid piercing his heart with the scythe or whatever reapers do when people don’t follow out with the deal correctly. He let out a small sigh before placing the bag of sour candy back on the shelf.
Enjin was pretty deep into the store now, the basket was merely 1/4 full and he struggled to find candy that would please the being who could steal his soul out from wherever his damn soul was.
Enjin looked down at the container full of small colorful gummies shaped like mermaids and other poorly morphed sea related items, noticing the small sign that had ‘no samples!’ In red letters.
Scoffing at the sign, Enjin looked around quickly before snatching a seashell shaped candy from the clear box and popping it in his mouth. He fought to protect thousands of people everyday, he deserved a free sample.
Enjin scanned his surroundings to make sure none of the staff was around and let out a small sigh. It was only some old lady paying him no attention to his right and some kid with piercing red eyes staring dead at him from a foot away.
Wait…
It took Enjin’s mind to process just who was standing right next to him giving off a death glare way longer than intended, way longer than it should have been given that the kid with the soul of jars appeared next to him for god knows how long.
The white haired kid(?) didn’t speak a word but definitely made himself known by the feeling of death lingering around the boy. Enjin stared right back, not knowing what to even do in a situation like this.
The kid seemed to notice him freezing up and held a gloved hand out to the cleaner, his eyes narrowed down slightly with a glare that almost made Enjin flinch.
Enjin thought hard on why he was holding his hand out like he was expecting something. Did he want candy? His jinki? His soul? The cleaner didn’t want to give up either his precious umbrella ever nor his soul in the middle of a candy store, so he settled with the thought of candy.
Enjin carefully took out a few more gummies from the clear box and placed them into the albino’s hand, careful to not make any sudden movements and not accidentally make contact with the kid.
The grim reaper kid looked down at the candy for a moment with an unreadable face before quickly shoving it into his mouth to chew it, even if he didn’t smile, his face clearly showed content with his face relaxing and looking like he just ate the best food he’s ever had in his life. The cleaner watched the kid before getting erupted by a staff member calling out to him, whipping his head around to see an angered lady who had her hands on her hips.
“Excuse me sir, but there’s no free samples. You’re going to have to pay for that.” The woman said with a stern face. “Also, is that your child? Weapons aren’t allowed in here.” The lady, Kat, or at least that’s what it said on the name tag, pointed at the large scythe in the glove wearing kid’s hand, who just gave her a death glare and gripped his scythe tighter. Enjin could tell the kid wasn’t very happy and before he did whatever grim reapers do when they’re angry, Enjin decided to speak up.
“Sorry ma’am, I’ll go check out and get my kid outta here so we won’t be a problem.” Enjin said casually with a click of his tongue, giving the Kathy girl a friendly smile while shoving the sea gummies into the small provided bag. This seems to please the worker enough as she turns to walk away.
Enjin let out a sigh before turning to look back at grim reaper kid, only to see the child gone and a small piece of paper on the floor.
“Huh. Damn kid scares the hell out me…” Enjin muttered with a slightly shaky sigh and looked down at the small piece of paper on the floor, bending down it pick it up with a groan (damn he’s old) and looks over the words. He hopes the handwriting wont be too bad, it definitely can’t be worse to whatever Eisha’s was. (doctor/nurse handwriting curse)
Enjin takes a deep breath before reading the note, hoping it won’t be some kind of message that said he will suffer or something.
“𐌃𐌄𐌀ɽ 𐌄𐌍ɉ𐌉𐌍,
𐌉 ɽ𐌄𐌀𐌋𐌋𐌙 𐌃ꝋ𐌍’𐌕 𐌋𐌉𐌊𐌄 𐌙ꝋ𐌵 𐌉𐌅 𐌙ꝋ𐌵 𐌂𐌀𐌍’𐌕 𐌕𐌄𐌋𐌋. 𐌉’𐌋𐌋 𐌁𐌄 𐌵𐌔𐌉𐌍ɠ 𐌌𐌙 𐌅ɽ𐌄𐌄 𐌕𐌉𐌌𐌄 𐌕ꝋ ɠ𐌄𐌕 𐌌𐌙 𐌄𐌍𐌃 ꝋ𐌅 𐌕𐋅𐌄 𐌃𐌄𐌀𐌋. Ɉ𐌵𐌔𐌕 𐌉𐌍 𐌂𐌀𐌔𐌄 𐌙ꝋ𐌵 𐌃𐌉𐌃𐌍’𐌕 𐌵𐌍𐌃𐌄ɽ𐌔𐌕𐌀𐌍𐌃, 𐌙ꝋ𐌵 𐌀ɠɽ𐌄𐌄𐌃 𐌕ꝋ ɠ𐌉ʋ𐌉𐌍ɠ 𐌌𐌄 𐌂𐌀𐌍𐌃𐌙 𐌅ꝋɽ 𐌀𐌔 𐌋ꝋ𐌍ɠ 𐌀𐌔 𐌙ꝋ𐌵 𐌋𐌉ʋ𐌄𐌃. 𐌉𐌅 𐌙ꝋ𐌵 𐌁ɽ𐌄𐌀𐌊 𐌕𐋅𐌉𐌔 𐌃𐌄𐌀𐌋, 𐌙ꝋ𐌵’𐌋𐌋 𐌔𐌵𐌅𐌅𐌄ɽ 𐌌𐌀ɉꝋɽ 𐌂ꝋ𐌍𐌔𐌄𐌒𐌵𐌄𐌍𐌂𐌄𐌔 𐌅ɽꝋ𐌌 𐌌𐌄. (𐌉’𐌋𐌋 𐌁𐌄𐌀𐌕 𐌙𐌀 𐌵𐌐 𐌀𐌍𐌃 𐌕𐌀𐌊𐌄 𐌵ɽ 𐌔ꝋ𐌵𐌋) 𐌉 ꮤ𐌉𐌋𐌋 𐌁𐌄 𐌁𐌀𐌂𐌊, 𐌙ꝋ𐌵 ɉ𐌵𐌔𐌕 𐌀𐌍𐌍ꝋ𐌙 𐌌𐌄.
𐌐.𐌔: 𐌔𐌕ꝋ𐌐 𐌂𐌀𐌋𐌋𐌉𐌍ɠ 𐌌𐌄 ʋ𐌀ɽ𐌉𐌀𐌕𐌉ꝋ𐌍𐌔 ꝋ𐌅 𐌌𐌙 𐌀𐌐𐌐𐌄𐌀ɽ𐌀𐌍𐌂𐌄, 𐌌𐌀𐌍𐌙 𐌂𐌀𐌋𐌋 𐌌𐌄 Ɽ𐌵𐌃ꝋ.
𐌉’𐌌 𐌀𐌋ꮤ𐌀𐌙𐌔 ꮤ𐌀𐌕𐌂𐋅𐌉𐌍ɠ, Ɽ𐌵𐌃ꝋ”
(Dear Enjin,
I really don’t like you if you can’t tell. I’ll be using my free time to get my end of the deal. Just in case you didn’t understand, You agreed to giving me candy for as long as you lived. If you break this deal, you’ll suffer major consequences from me. (I’ll beat ya up and take ur soul) I will be back, you just annoy me.
P.S: stop calling me variations of my appearance, many call me Rudo.
I’m always watching, Rudo)
Enjin was wrong.
He was dead wrong.
The handwriting looked like he was trying to read paper wrote in the time the watchman series was just made. How the hell was he supposed to read this? Did he need an historian or who the hell does history?
It took him at least 10 minutes to try to read the letter with little success, suddenly feeling a tap on his shoulder. Enjin swore if another stupid cashier was trying to get him to buy more of their shit candy…
It was just Riyo and Zanka with two bags full of candy. Why was he freaking out again?
The bill was going to be high as hell…