|Dead Heart| Reaper x Reader

Chapter Twenty-Three - Tension

Training with Reaper for the past week or so has been better than expected. Everyday you would follow the routine he had planned out for you, crack a few jokes, and take a long, well deserved break for the evening with your team.

In that short period of time you were already seeing some kind of progress in your strength training, and leagues more in your general conditioning. Your speed and reaction times were something you were particularly proud of in terms of sheer improvement. Arturo had been similar, but with him already being quite fast, his reaction times were the real winner.

The week had fallen away from you like leaves in the wind, ready to be raked back up for the upcoming days.

All in all, Reaper's insane schedule was actually working well for you. But you should've been tipped off when he didn't just watch you exercise, but did it with you, and considering he was on the council. It's not like they let just anyone on it.

Currently, you're almost done with today's workouts. You and Arturo had been able to breeze through them and catch on better than Reaper had originally planned, so he allowed you to follow along with a few of his more advanced techniques with a few pointers.

Sure, Reaper was a dick, but at least he wasn't an asshole.

The man in question had just finished one of his deadlift sets, and loudly cleared his throat like he so often did to get your and Arturo's attention.

Heads shooting to him, you stood from the machine you had previously occupied, waiting for some kind of instruction.

Something about his demeanor was.. Off. and it had been for the entire day. He was always like this when something was weighing on his mind.

Taking a couple steps towards you two in a mismatched huddle, he cracked his knuckles in some kind of preparation.

"You two are doing better than you should be."

He spoke slowly, making sure to enunciate every word into your thick skulls. The way he spoke told you 'doing better' mustn't be up to the mark.

Reaper sighed, scarred hands placed on his hips.

"The council has noticed, and you'll be going on a mission in a few days," His voice was a bit solemn.

Your face morphed into one of confusion, and then shock. You couldn't have been hearing him correctly.

"It's fucking stupid and reckless for you two to be going out at your level."

The last part he said mostly to himself, as he began to pace in front of you two.

Putting together the puzzle pieces struck you like a thunderbolt. Goosebumps were etched into your skin, and your complexion must have lost all the blood it originally held. Going on a mission... now? With how green you are? Even you saw it to be ridiculous.

With some form of vigor, your thumb snaked to your teeth, easily biting away at the nail. Was this some kind of fucked up test? Some suicide mission? You knew very well how dangerous it was to fight others armed, you'd seen it yourself in your months of assasination.

Arturo seemed to have a very different stress response, as you were sweating bullets, he couldn't keep himself from laughing.

"Nah nah, you're pulling our legs, right?" He pleaded more than asked, eyes wide with worry.

"NO!"

Reaper shook the walls with his booming voice, heel striking against the flooring while his eyes swirled tornados.