Chapter Text
Techno is, like many other Grim Reapers he works alongside, forever bound to his duties as a ferryman of death. Saying no to Mother Death’s request is a big no no, and no matter the circumstances, Techno always, always, has to fulfill his duty, no matter how long it takes him. Just a tiny downside of being a Grim Reaper, really. But hey, those arduous tasks that took him forever were often compensated with generous servings of Mother Death’s freshly baked pastries, straight out of her oven and piping hot, and Grim Reapers usually have quite the sweet tooth.
A Grim Reaper’s duties are not all that difficult. The morbid part where humans die, most often to the hands of other humans and diseases happen naturally on their own, and the Grim Reaper just needs to clean up the aftermath, reaping souls and sending them down to the afterlife where Mother Death resides. It’s simple. Not complicated. But, it’s often easier said than done.
Time and time again, Techno would run into the most stubborn and vengeful of souls, harbouring a deep grudge towards those who have wronged them. And Techno would suffer the brunt of their rage as they yelled and screamed and screeched straight into Techno’s ear, rendering him deaf for a couple of seconds, digging their sharp and rough nails into his skin, shrieking for revenge. Those were often the absolute worst to deal with, and Techno had to find a way to shut them up and force them into the gate which would send them spiraling down towards the afterlife. Stuffing them past the gilded gold pillars of the gate worked most of the time, but there would be some souls which would evade Techno’s scythe and hands with the dexterity of a lizard, as slippery as salamanders. And then they would rampage across the earth, hollering at the top of their non-existent lungs, and Techno had to give chase.
Those pastries better be fucking masterchef level . But of course, Mother Death never failed to deliver, and Techno would always be thankful for being able to continue on as a Grim Reaper because goddamn, her pastries are delectable.
And then sometimes there would be sad souls. Scratch that, sad wasn’t a word deep enough to describe those souls. Mopey and lugubrious were much better words. Souls that mourned for their own passing and their inability to return home. Sometimes their pain would rub off on Techno and he would feel his heartstrings being tugged on lightly, allowing bits of sympathy to seep through, but as soon as those souls opened their mouths to wail, those feelings would evaporate instantly. They, like very very angry souls, would never ever shut up, and their constant wailing and mourning only served to irritate Techno beyond levels he never wished to reach. He would forcibly stuff them into the gate and call it a day, feeling a dull throb on his temples from all the noise pollution.
Sometimes, forcing souls into the gate by grabbing the thin wisp at the end of the white blob that was their body and stuffing them into the tiny space of the gate was not a very good idea. They would complain to Mother Death, and Mother Death would then give Techno an earful, lecturing him about how he must treat souls kindly and nicely, blabbering on about how it’s their job to make souls of the dead feel more welcome to the afterlife, and asserting her dominance as the deity Techno served and how her words are always final.
Screw that. Techno has no time, nor patience, to deal with enraged and depressed souls.
It was a day like any other. The moon set, the sun rose, and a new day began. Grim Reaper Techno was weathered down to the core, fatigued from chasing a particular mischievous soul who thought it would be funny to chase after a rabbit prancing across the grasslands that stretched as far as Techno’s human eyes could see. And Techno, being the kind that would like to conserve as much energy as possible because exerting too much energy is pointless, found himself doing the exact opposite of what he always did and running across the grass, shaking his fist angrily as he yelled at the top of his lungs.
“You little bugger! Come back here right now!”
But his warning didn’t do much to help his cause. If anything, it only made the soul more eager to toy around with Techno as it increased its speed, zooming over the hills and speeding past blooming flowers at such insane speeds, a couple of petals were torn off the flowers along the way. The soul had scooped up the rabbit in its ghost-like hands, cradling it dear to its chest. Faint laughter echoed all around Techno, innocent and reminiscent of children playing underneath the golden rays of sunlight. Techno huffed, continuing to move at a steady pace, never letting the wandering soul leave his sight. He would catch up eventually. It’s only a matter of time.
And a few seconds later, the soul slowed down remarkably, ceasing its zooming and speeding across the grass. It seemed to have grown aware of what state it was in and the importance of Techno’s scythe, the one which had split the soul apart from the body it stayed in. It came to a halt completely, stopping just shy of the rocky cliff hanging in front of it and staring out at the grassy lands blankly, still holding the rabbit which was content to lie in the ghostly arms. Huffing and panting, Techno bent down to catch his breath, both hands on his knees as the metallic chains of his scythe clinked with every movement he made, blade gleaming fiercely underneath the sunlight. With all the air knocked out from his lungs, Techno dropped onto the grass, exhaling heavily before he turned to look at the soul that he had been chasing. Even though it’s just a blob of white with no facial expressions whatsoever, Techno could feel the sadness oozing out of the soul as the puzzle pieces started to fall into place. It was dead, through and through, and the Grim Reaper was here to send it to the afterlife.
Techno made no motion to open the gate, sensing that the soul wanted to be in this world for just a little longer, laying its gaze on all the sights and colors it would get to see for the very last time. The two sat side by side, Techno’s right leg propped up and the soul constantly hovering up and down, levitating a few inches off the ground. Eventually, the soul lowered its arms towards the grass, letting the rabbit hop out of its grasp. The two watched in silence as the rabbit scampered off, blinking its ruby eyes and bounding as fast as its little legs could carry it, straight into its own family of rabbits. There were two rabbits much larger than the rest, presumably the parents, and Techno watched as the family departed, chewing on blades of grass as they went.
The soul was in complete despair. Here it was, its life having ended just minutes before, and there the baby rabbit was, its life just having begun. Life and death were always waltzing with each other no matter the circumstances and the godly forces of the universe. It was just the way it was.
“There, there.” Techno murmured quietly, raising one hand to place it on the top of the soul where its head would be, stroking it a little. It felt like he was grasping a cloud with his fingers, something which wasn’t quite tangible but was there. The soul melted into Techno’s touch, silently mourning for its own passing.
The silence dragged on. By then, a couple of minutes had passed, and the soul seemed ready to spiral down to the afterlife. Smiling softly at the soul, Techno pulled out a skull-shaped whistle that always hung around his neck, sucked in a deep breath and blew on the whistle. A clear and crisp note drifted out, piercing through the air and rattling the bones of many other living beings in the area as golden light exploded behind Techno. The soul watched in complete amazement as the two gilded golden pillars started to rise from the earth, scattering dirt and grass alike. The top of the pillars arched into a perfect curve, meeting each other at the very tip, and the shimmering area underneath the curve rippled like the surface of the billowing ocean.
To the soul, it was a magnificent sight, one which would leave a heavy impression on it for the days to come. To Techno, it wasn’t anything fascinating since he had already seen (and summoned) the gate dozens of times, and also because the gate only reached up to his knees and could have passed off as a toy.
“Go on then.” Techno beckoned to the soul with a kind eye smile, patting the top of the gate. The soul seemed rather hesitant, taking a wary step forward before halting and turning to look at Techno again, raising a few questions for the Grim Reaper.
...
“If you do well enough and listen obediently, you might earn another chance at life. But that’s not my decision to make.”
...
“Of course she is. We don’t call her Mother for nothing.”
...
“We do have apple juice, yes, and every kind of food and drinks you could ever imagine. It’s a place of eternal rest, after all.”
The soul seemed satisfied with Techno’s answers. With a radiant shimmer that meant the soul was beaming widely, it took one last look at Techno, uttered a single thank you , before hopping past the golden pillars of the gate and dissipating into nothingness. The gate closed in on itself, the rippling surface going still once more before it disappeared completely.
Techno wiped the sweat off his forehead, sighing a little. It was another soul he had successfully sent off that wasn’t even his duty to begin with. It was easy to piece the story of the child leading up to their death; the child must have been chasing the rabbit through the forest when disaster struck, ending the life of the child. The dead had a strange tendency to chase after whatever they saw seconds before their death, even if it could be the very same force that directly or indirectly contributed to their death, and it was things like this where no one had any explanation for, not even Mother Death.
A tragic story, but there was nothing else Techno could do. He could only ensure that their departure was a comfortable one, and answered whatever lingering questions they might have. It was time to move on, as death waits for no one, towards the souls he was due to actually collect on this spring day. Techno made a mental note to reprimand Tommy for slacking off, since the younger one was the Grim Reaper in charge of sending off the souls of dead children, and hauled himself to his feet, intending to start his journey again.
His feet did not need any guidance, for they walked automatically towards his destination. Techno did not know where he was due to be, only having a hunch feeling of the direction it was in, and kept walking throughout the afternoon for several hours, never needing to stop and rest. The lands grew flatter and flatter as Techno walked, and at one point he had been walking alongside a river that trickled steadily, leading him out of the forest and onto the plains. Grey clouds had converged overhead in the sky, blocking out every ray of sunlight and throwing the world into a dreary state. Unsure if the clouds would break and start to pour, because he was at the mercy of the weather just like any other being, Techno increased his pace, walking briskly and passing by a couple of shrubs that had sprung up from the earth, before his boots crunched on something unnatural.
Techno’s heart skipped a beat as the face of the corpse stared back up at him, face contorted into one of raw panic with their eyes wide open. Forcing himself to peel his eyes away, Techno’s gaze drifted all over the bloody battlefield, where corpses just as ghoulish as the first one piled up in uneven rows, covering the entirety of the plains. Some had their limbs broken in unusual angles, some had been impaled by sharp blades, and some were missing a few body parts. Techno had arrived a couple of hours late to the site mainly because of that child’s soul which kept him occupied, and because of the delay, the air was thick and musty with the stench of death. It made Techno wrinkle up his nose as he stared at the scene before him.
Not a single wisp of wind passed through the gruesome site. It was a bloody site of a war, where greedy and ignorant kings seeking to fulfill their own ambitions pitted humans against humans in a dance to the death. Nothing dared to pass through as though everything in the world was afraid of whatever had transpired in this space.
Except... the lone knight which stood in the middle of it all.
Techno squinted at the lone knight, trying to get a better visual. He was clad in a suit of armor, minus the headpiece, thinner than the rest yet more grim looking due to the entirety of it being black in color with gold accents, standing over a small pile of corpses and nudging them with his foot. His sword had been driven through and into the earth, and he made no motion of attempting to retrieve it.
It was strange how foreign this lone knight looked. And the more Techno stared, studying this lone knight with great interest, the more clear it became that this lone knight was much more special than the rest. He exuded the aura of a commander, more dominant than any other plain soldier Techno had seen, and his armor was just much more fancier looking than the rest.
And it suddenly hit Techno; he couldn’t feel the presence of any souls.
“Impossible.” Techno uttered to himself, dazed, as he turned his head left and right. As much as he dreaded admitting it, since it could only mean that something had gone horribly wrong somewhere, there was not a single soul in sight. Techno shuffled towards a nearby corpse and turned it over, ignoring the ghastly expressions as he inspected the corpse for any signs of tampering. There was a faint gash across the chest, revealing the murky void, and Techno knew it could not have been inflicted by humans.
Someone ripped out the souls. But who?
“ Hey !”
As far as Techno knew, he was the only Grim Reaper assigned to this area by Mother Death. None of the Grim Reapers would ever take it an extra mile to complete the jobs of other Grim Reapers simply because chasing after souls was too tiring. Techno’s head was starting to spin as he tried to comprehend the situation.
“Hey you! Pink hair guy!”
Techno’s head snapped up, jaw falling open as he realised the lone knight was staring right at him, jumping up and down and waving his arms around like a lunatic. Baffled, Techno slowly raised a finger to point at himself, wondering if the lone knight was referring to him.
“Yes you, Pinky! What are you doing here?”
Techno scoffed at the nickname. Pinky . He might have hair that was dyed a striking shade of pink, a stark contrast to the torn black robes he wore whenever he was doing Grim Reaper stuff, and he could only blame Wilbur for that. He was about to retort sarcastically when another realisation hit him in the face.
The lone knight was looking straight at him. Living humans could never stare straight at Grim Reapers, simply because they were often blissfully unaware of Grim Reapers’ presence as though they were just another person they were passing by on the street. No human had ever looked at a Grim Reaper, much less struck up a conversation with them.
The lone knight had looked straight at Techno and was talking to him, something only the dead could do. But he didn’t look at all that dead in Techno’s eyes, cheeks sporting a healthy shade of pink and raven eyes looking bright and lively. If he wasn’t dead or alive, then what was he?
Nothing was making sense to Techno. Rubbing his temples tiredly, Techno wandered towards the lone knight, brandishing his scythe to reap any other souls that might have been left behind. “I’m here to collect souls.” Techno deadpanned, deciding that he was too tired to hide his identity from the lone knight. The faster he got things done and over with, the sooner he could go home and sleep.
“Oh!” The lone knight grinned happily, before he patted his tummy and let out a monstrous burp. “Sorry, but I ate all of them.” And as if he was trying to prove his point, the lone knight opened his mouth as wide as he could, giving Techno a fabulous view of his pearly whites and the occasional white wisps that drifted up and down his throat. Techno could also faintly hear a cacophony of voices coming from the lone knight’s mouth and without a doubt, it was the voices of all the souls from the corpses lingering about by their feet.
“You did what ?” Techno let out a frustrated grunt. It was the first time, in Grim Reaper history, that there was someone who had the power to consume souls. Eating souls was practically unheard of. And Techno just so happened to be the Grim Reaper that encountered this particular person.
“I ate them!” The lone knight proclaimed loudly, beaming widely as though he was proud of this outstanding achievement. “It was like an all-you-can-eat buffet, except I wiped out the entirety of the buffet and now I’m too full to even move.”
Another burp, and a lick on the lips.
“To be honest, I didn’t mean to eat them.” The lone knight shrugged, oblivious to Techno’s glaring as he pranced around his sword like a little lamb. “But they were making a lot of noise in the dead bodies, so I got annoyed and I ate them. Slurped them up like noodles.” The lone knight made a slurping noise, pursuing his lips out. “Serves them right.” He cackled, before plopping down onto a nearby rock and staring up at Techno who looked mildly peeved.
“What’s your name?” Techno asked, sticking the handle of his scythe into the ground and letting it stand upright. The lone knight seemed baffled at the sudden change of topic, but gave Techno his name anyways. “The name’s Sapnap. What about you?”
“Techno.” Techno muttered, before leaning in towards Sapnap and beckoning for the knight to open his mouth. Confusion multiplied, Sapnap did as he was told and opened his mouth up wide. “ Wha a weid nam. Ism sdill gona caw yew hinky- (What a weird name. I’m still gonna call you pinky-)”
Techno raised a finger, and jabbed it straight into Sapnap’s mouth. He needs those souls and he’ll get it at any cost, even if it means sticking his fingers down Sapnap’s throat and forcing Sapnap to vomit them out.