It had been a while... since he had died like this. Reaper floated through darkness, a cacophony of all the souls he'd reaped whispering around him as they waited to be granted entrance to their respective afterlife or reincarnation He was in purgatory, the limbo between all afterlives. Whether they believed it or not, all souls came here to get judged. Reaper supposed it didn't matter what Multiverse he was in - it was all the same. Of course, being death itself, he didn't have to stay here. There were places where the dead fell through the cracks. 'Ghosts' the mortals called them. Reaper slipped out of purgatory to become a ghost, at least for now. He had to check on Error and Exist. It was truly soul breaking to see his mate, bundled up into his cloak, clutching their whimpering child tight as he cried and mourned over Reaper's death, refusing food from the king. Reaper frowned, not liking how this was going, but there was nothing he could do. Not right now, the way he was. All he could do was watch and hope that Error ate soon. He wanted his love to thrive while he waited.

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There was no concept of time when you're dead. Reaper didn't know how much time had passed as he went between the mortal realm and purgatory. He did know that Error was wearing his cloak religiously, wherever he went. It was going to be embarrassing in the long run, but if it got Error to go out of the room, eat, work, sell. Live. It didn't matter to Reaper. Exist was fussing in her crib while Error slept. The hour was late, he guessed. He never knew if Exist would see the dead like he could or if she would have the death touch. But Reaper tried regardless to quiet her so Error could sleep. And quiet down she did, blinking up at Reaper as he looked down at her in return. Then she smiled at him and held out her little grey arms. "ma-ma!" A hand flew to his chest, and Reaper broke out into a giddy smile. It seemed he got his answer... and he was just present for her first words. It was a win in his book. "yeah, sweetie, that's me... i'm mama..." He leaned down to kiss her precious little skull.

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He was almost there in the line. He was so very close that leaving was risky, but he'd risk anything to see Error again. It seemed, Error had moved out of the castle with Exist. He'd gotten enough money to buy a little cottage in town, near the woods where Reaper died. Exist was learning to crawl and Encre visited often to watch her while Error worked. Sometimes Jasper came too, to play with her. She played with Reaper, more often then not, babbling to him and speaking to him in broken sentences. When nobody was watching, they played hand games like paddicake and peekaboo. Reaper was personally glad that Error had chosen a spot near the woods. It was close to the castle if Error and Exist ever got attacked again. Reaper said goodbye to Exist, when he felt it was his time and he was quick to shoot back to purgatory. There wasn't that many souls left in front of him. He was right on time. One soul shuffled into the light, before another did the same. And another. Then, finally, after thousands of souls, it was his turn. Reaper stepped into the light.

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