'Til When Will We Part? (Reaper!Sans X Geno!Sans)

TW3P Part 5

-Le Amazing Timeskip #2-

Reaper liked to slack off in his work, but when it came to riotous souls he had to step in. Death just didn't have the strength or heart to bring them down himself. One day, he came back to the underworld carrying a nearly broken soul and covered in wounds. His wounds leaked pure darkness and no one in the underworld could accelerate their healing. Death tried to take the soul off of Reaper's hands, but he refused to give it up.

"Don't touch it, Papyrus! It's still full of hate even now. Let me sleep for a few minutes and I'll destroy it permanently."

"Destroy it?" Death looked hesitant, but he saw his brother's wounded state and nodded, lending an arm for support. "Alright, brother. I understand."

Geno watched from the sidelines, afraid to interfere and make things worse, but the sight of Reaper injured made his bones feel cold.

Death rested reaper against a soft stone where he laid for a few minutes. Once he had his breath back, he put some strength into his hand and squeezed down on the soul. It fought back visciously. Death covered his ears and even Geno thought for a moment he could hear it screaming. More little gashes traced up Reaper's skeletal arm, darkness leaking out. Finally, the hate-filled soul shattered and was gone, and Reaper dropped his arm in exhaustion. Death and Geno immediately came to his side.

"Brother! Are you alright?!"

"Those wounds look bad. Are you hurt?"

Reaper let out a small chuckle, his eyes half closed. "I'll be fine after a good nap. The most a mortal can do is hurt me; I won't die from something like this. And Geno," the wounded death managed a small smirk, "I don't really want to hear that from you." 

Reaper reached out weakly and pointed at Geno's ribs. The long gash there was spilling red blood and staining his clothes like always. Death also looked over in concern.

"Sans is right. You've been here for a few weeks now but your injuries haven't healed at all. Don't they hurt?"

Geno looked down and gently put a hand on his sternum. He laughed weakly, "This? It's nothing for you two to worry about. I'm more worried about you, Reaper."

"This will heal in a day or two," Reaper grinned, his eyes sagging shut. "I'm just gonna sleep, okay?" He started to snore lightly, and Death stood up. 

"Well, I'm going to go out and work so nothing will interfere with brother's recovery."

Geno looked at his slightly worried smile and nodded. "I'll stay here and keep an eye on him."

"Thank you, Geno." He started to leave, then hesitated. "Geno... are you really alright? Your wounds are serious, aren't they? I can barely feel your life force."

The sudden questioning made Geno wince. "If I'm honest, it hurts... a lot. But I won't die, so don't worry."

"If you say so." Death walked off, muttering to himself, "Honestly, the two of you..."

Now alone with a sleeping Reaper, Geno looked down at him. The gashes on his body were strange, the way the poured out black smoke instead of blood or magic. Reaper looked like a monster, and he was a Sans, but he was also a god made from darkness, so his body worked in ways that were mysterious to Geno.

The mortal skeleton felt a strange tightness in his fractured soul and tentatively held Reaper's hand. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he thought his friend's body relaxed somewhat. Is this helping? Geno wondered. He held the death god's hand for a minute longer, but his cheekbones started to flush red. Soon he was too embarrassed to continue and tried to let go, but Reaper's hand tightened on his when it loosened.

Geno's sockets widened in surprise and he forcefully pulled away, plunging both hands between his femurs while he knelt tensely on the ground. Wait, what am I so embarrassed about? He glanced over at Reaper's slightly pained sleeping face, and all the other expressions he'd made flashed through his mind's eye, lingering on his look of gentle encouragement when helping troubled souls. Geno soon found his face flushing red again and he quickly whipped his skull to look in the other direction. Any other direction.

He started to calm down just a little bit and his body stopped being so tense. The mortal slouched and clutched his shirt over his sternum, watching the glowing blue river with confusion. What the hell am I feeling?