Summary

There isn't REALLY an overarching plot here, but there were a couple entwined events that resulted in many, many lives being ruined because two guys were dumbasses. The two guys in question being Khazael and Michael, both reapers who became close partners after they found they were both.... Outcasts is a strong word, but both were fairly unpopular and often avoided due to the clinical condition of being Obnoxious Twats. But that was fine because they were bffs for centuries and had fun, caused trouble, probably actually did their jobs sometimes and reaped souls, and etc etc.

Sometime along the way, however, Michael started becoming withdrawn and nihilistic but either wouldn't answer or would change the topic any time Khazael tried to ask him what was going on. At a loss of what else to do, Khazael tried his best to cheer him up whenever he noticed him being particularly moody. What didn't help this whatsoever was that Khazael suddenly vanished one day without warning, leaving Michael to stew in his Bad Time alone with the bonus that he thought Khazael had finally gotten sick of him and ditched.

Khazael's disappearance had not been intentional, however. During a reaping in what he would later admit (to himself and himself only) was kiiiinda of a weird location and set up, he was tricked and captured by a group of mortals who had formed an organization in the name of protection against the various immortals of the world that kept picking them off and finally fighting back. That was a long sentence. Anyway, they had been searching for ways to empower themselves and had a new plan that required the ability to work with souls. Khazael did not actually care about any of that because mortals were always dying and reincarnating (that's their THING) so it didn't really seem like a big deal, but considering their determination was strong enough to stage an elaborate suicide to draw him there in the first place, he was curious how this group of crazies would all turn out. This was, shockingly, not a good idea. Everyone is shocked by this.

While his initial failed attempt to escape had been more inconvenient than anything, it occurred to him he should, idk, perhaps start taking this a little more seriously after they managed to sever a small piece of his soul for their experiments. Since he was still trapped, Khazael just watched as the organization discovered how to use his soul fragment to steal the souls from others and absorb those souls and, more importantly, the powers they held. The organization grew rapidly after that and it wasn't until [indeterminate span of time] passed that Khazael finally found an opening and escaped. It was a testament to how cool and popular Khazael was that no one really noticed he had been missing.

Except for one guy, of course! When Khazael finally found Michael again, he was cold and dismissive, which was only exasperated by Khazael refusing to elaborate about where he'd been and just brushing it off as no big deal lol he just gets busy sometimes!!! (No he does not). Michael did not believe his awesome cover story for some reason and they got into a massive fight as Khazael only doubled down on Not Wanting To Talk About It and in the end they went separate ways.

An indeterminate but overall short time period after that, Khazael got summoned by high ranking reaper officials back to the goddess of death's domain. He thought he was fearing the worst by thinking he was being connected to the soul stealing mortals, but it turns out there's worse fears than that! Despite it practically being nigh impossible on the principle of being, y'know, immortals, Michael had been wiped out of existence with not even a soul left for the usual reincarnation. Turns out Michael had been having his own little experiment (?) while Khazael had been locked away and broke one of the biggest reaper taboos, namely prolonging the life of someone who had been meant to die.

Xaidela Liann was a normal mortal who wasn't supposed to be alive. Originally, she was marked to die when she tried to help a passed out man named Kryn who panicked and stabbed her, but Michael, invisible at the time, stopped his hand. And so, Xai successfully helped the man who was eternally grateful and promised to return the favor someday instead of Xai dying and Kryn spiraling irrevocably downward. Over the years, the Natural Order tried to correct this mistake, but every single time Michael intervened. This continued for a few years until the events started looking like something out of Final Destination and Michael was eventually forced to reveal himself to Xai and explain what he had done after a particularly close call. He was way too invested to abandon her now and promised to find a way to circumvent her death altogether, which Xai didn't reeeeally have a choice but to go along with since she didn't especially feel like dying.

Michael's attempts had been cut short, however. He and Xai had unknowingly been stalked by the organization who, having lost their first reaper, needed a new one to continue their work. They attacked one night and, with Michael unable to fight back due to the Other reaper taboo against killing mortals prematurely (he still cared about this one, unfortunately), both Michael and Xai were seriously wounded, with Xai especially quickly bleeding out, and he barely managed to escape, though they were quickly catching up. With seconds to decide between Xai dying or risking those fanatical mortals ripping his soul from him (which is impressive considering reapers are like one big soul, but I digress), Michael gave his soul to Xai. Conveniently, this healed her as Michael vanished from existence and her unconscious body moved automatically to cut down several pursuers with a rad scythe she suddenly had and escaped. When she regained consciousness, she was already in custody of other reapers and had zero idea what was going on and was, all things considered, having a real bad time as the other reapers discussed what to do with her since she was part reaper now.

While Khazael had originally been brought in for questioning since he and Michael had been so close, it was quickly obvious that he had no idea about any of it considering he was mildly freaking out once they had filled him in on her story. Just mildly though. Definitely. Desperate to keep the last piece of Michael alive and guilt-ridden from inadvertently causing his death, Khazael volunteered to take Xai off their hands and see if he could train her to be a real reaper since they weren't exactly easy to replace. The others reluctantly agreed after a short debate and Xai's super cool new life as a half-reaper began (she hates it so much) and so did Khazael's attempts to bury any evidence he had been connected to any of this and perhaps also attempts to try to fix things somehow (he hates it so much). Neither of these things are going well!

Characters

Khazael

Irreverent Reaper

Species: Wraith Poogle
Age: Super Old, looks idk 20's somewhere
Height: 5'6"
Pronouns: Any
Sexuality: Pan
Theme: The Bullet -Birdeatsbaby

So the cool thing about no one taking you seriously is that it's incredibly easy to pretend he isn't either. No matter what happens he's been able to laugh it off and snark his way through it, but he is crumbling inside from the guilt and he misses Michael so much it hurts. That's bad for morale though so he will continue acting like nothing is wrong foreverrrr yaaay he's having a good time having no one he can trust or talk to about his problems. Khazael is keeping tabs on the organization where he can and, ideally, he is going to tear that thing down before any of it can be connected to him and he's smited out of existence.

Xaidela Liann

Half-Reaper

Species: Skunk skeith
Age: 22
Height: 5'11"
Pronouns: She/Her
Sexuality: Pan
Theme: Dark Wings -Within Temptation

Xai is getting REAL SICK of having no agency in her life, but, alas, she is too tired and stressed to do anything about it. Between Michael's soul being too powerful for her own to properly absorb causing her to pass out regularly, Khazael's flightiness, and the fact that she hasn't been able to properly summon her scythe since that first night, it's tough to say if this was really an improvement from constantly dodging attempts on her life. She's grateful she's still alive, really, but the knowledge that some freak had been basically spying on her for years and then died for her (???) is messed up and she has not had the time to properly process any of this yet other than She Does Not Like It. Xai even had to drop out of college to deal with this, man, she can't do anything. Still has to waitress though since she needs money, which is nonsense after all that.

Jasonit Quints

Punch Clock Soul Stealer

Species: Darigan xweetok
Age: 21
Height: 5'8"
Pronouns: He/Him
Sexuality: Bi
Theme: The Running Free -Coheed and Cambria

Jace was kidnapped after he witnessed a bizarre murder at a gas station at like, 2 a.m. back when he was a sophomore in college. He would've been killed on the spot but the shock and stress partially awakened his sixth sense, so instead they only almost killed him on the spot to see if he could fully awaken it, as near death experiences are wont to do. It worked, and the murder squad brought him back to the Secret Organization(TM) so he could now be forced to work for them instead of doing something dumb like pursuing his actual interests or ever seeing his family again. His job is to steal souls from anyone with magic powers and bring them back to the organization and was given teleportation and ice magic to help with that. Jace keeps an amiable front and genuinely wants to be a good person (furry), but he's a coward and will sell you to (furry) satan for one corn chip (the corn chip is not being murdered).

Harphy

Experimental Assassin

Species: Stealthy Eyrie
Age: 27ish
Height: 6'0"
Pronouns: She/Her
Sexuality: Bi
Theme: Survive -Lacuna Coil

Harphy is an experiment developed by the organization and has advanced senses, physical abilities, and healing abilities. She's normally used as an assassin and as "clean up" for any traitors or anyone who is snooping a little close and could use some friendly silencing, though she's been hired out before for extra money as well. She barely has any sense of self and has a stab first, stab second, and if anyone's still alive maybe start asking questions policy. She's been slowly improving after reconnecting with the other experiment she was developed with and the scientist who created them and genuinely cared about them, but she's still bitter about them escaping together and (unintentionally) leaving her behind. Bitter and angry are the two emotions she's great at, actually. Also stabby if that counts as an emotion (and it should).

Ephriel

Purgatory Reaper

Species: Halloween mynci
Age: Looks late 20's/early 30's??
Height: 6'0"
Pronouns: He/Him
Sexuality: Bi
Theme: x

Maecenas mollis pulvinar turpis. Donec molestie purus nibh, non pulvinar nisi sodales sit amet. Donec lacinia luctus ante sed porttitor. Quisque fringilla sapien eget lorem dictum semper. Vivamus mollis lorem feugiat justo pharetra, non pretium mi malesuada. Vivamus leo felis, elementum a cursus facilisis, fringilla at augue. Sed dui magna, finibus non purus eget, eleifend euismod lorem. Curabitur neque elit, condimentum a turpis et, blandit finibus ligula. Vivamus ut nisl tincidunt, iaculis ante sit amet, ornare nunc. Suspendisse finibus suscipit dui, non semper risus euismod eu. Donec in varius tellus. Vivamus non interdum lorem, eu consectetur turpis. Quisque imperdiet blandit massa.

Lumiryn

Rookie Purgatory Reaper

Species: Snow korbat
Age: Very young for a reaper, looks early 20's
Height: 5'2"
Pronouns: She/Her
Sexuality: Pan
Theme: x

Maecenas mollis pulvinar turpis. Donec molestie purus nibh, non pulvinar nisi sodales sit amet. Donec lacinia luctus ante sed porttitor. Quisque fringilla sapien eget lorem dictum semper. Vivamus mollis lorem feugiat justo pharetra, non pretium mi malesuada. Vivamus leo felis, elementum a cursus facilisis, fringilla at augue. Sed dui magna, finibus non purus eget, eleifend euismod lorem. Curabitur neque elit, condimentum a turpis et, blandit finibus ligula. Vivamus ut nisl tincidunt, iaculis ante sit amet, ornare nunc. Suspendisse finibus suscipit dui, non semper risus euismod eu. Donec in varius tellus. Vivamus non interdum lorem, eu consectetur turpis. Quisque imperdiet blandit massa.

Michael

Erased Reaper

Species: Green Zafara
Age: Dead
Height: 6'3"
Pronouns: He/They
Sexuality: Gay
Theme: Troublemaker -Shayfer James

Maecenas mollis pulvinar turpis. Donec molestie purus nibh, non pulvinar nisi sodales sit amet. Donec lacinia luctus ante sed porttitor. Quisque fringilla sapien eget lorem dictum semper. Vivamus mollis lorem feugiat justo pharetra, non pretium mi malesuada. Vivamus leo felis, elementum a cursus facilisis, fringilla at augue. Sed dui magna, finibus non purus eget, eleifend euismod lorem. Curabitur neque elit, condimentum a turpis et, blandit finibus ligula. Vivamus ut nisl tincidunt, iaculis ante sit amet, ornare nunc. Suspendisse finibus suscipit dui, non semper risus euismod eu. Donec in varius tellus. Vivamus non interdum lorem, eu consectetur turpis. Quisque imperdiet blandit massa.

Art