“Do you know what the deal is with the requisition for that Harris kid?” Deeth asked in the dispatch office
The clerk looked up at him curiously.
“What’s wrong with it?” the clerk asked
Deeth placed the form on the counter. He began to point at various parts.
“This think has been filled out like a game of Soduku,” he explained, “look, see here, it’s marked urgent but it doesn’t say why.”
The clerk looked at the form closely. It looked like it was filled out in a hurry with many critical parts missing. He took the form over to his computer and entered in the requisition number. The clerk frowned
“Hmm.” he said
“What?” Deeth asked
“According to this we’re not supposed to be taking him, well, not yet anyway.”
Deeth frowned,
“Then why was a given this form?”
“I have no idea,” The clerk replied absent minded, “There’s something wrong with this account.”
“Wrong? How?”
“Dates and requests aren’t matching up. It’s like someone’s trying to claim a soul early for some reason”
“That can’t be right can it?”
“That’s what it looks like here, yep, someone’s trying to do an under the table extraction a very sloppy one to.”
“Why would anybody do that?”
The clerk shrugs.
“You better take this to Bob he’s very antsy about the system being twisted.”
Deeth nodded and headed down the hall.
In his office Bob paced backwards and forwards nervously. In front of him stood Dorth the head reaper.
“I’m confused sir,” Dorth said, “Why do we need to get this kid early?”
“Because.” Bob replied
There was a long awkward pause. Dorth stared at bob curiously.
“Ah . . . sir” he said
“What?” Bob replied
“’Because’ isn’t actually an answer.”
“What do you want from me?” Bob snapped, “A reason?”
“That would help sir.”
“Well just for that you’re not getting one!”
Dorth looked at Bob baffled
“So you want us to get Xander Harris . . . for no reason.”
“Yeah.”
“That doesn’t make any sense sir.”
“Oh, so you want a reason that makes sense now! Is that it?”
Dorth stood silently for a moment.
“Do you want me to come back later sir,” he asked curiously, “probably when you’re less insane?”
“No, no,” Bob replied
He sat down behind his desk and ran his hand through his hair stressfully. The mayor’s going to have his hide if he doesn’t deliver soon.
“Can I be frank sir?”
“Sure.”
“I don’t think the guy upstairs is going to be happy with you if you start pulling peoples souls out willy-nilly.”
Bob thought about it.
“Yeah I suppose your right,” he replied thoughtfully, “how about because I say so?”
Dorth thought about this. He shrugged lightly
“That’ll work. So how many reapers do you want on this?”
“How many can you spare?”
“I think I can get most of them.”
“Good. We need this harries kids soul now or my ass is toast.”
Dorth looked at him curiously again
“I thought we were doing this because you said so.”
“Just go Dorth!”
The head reaper nodded and bolted out of the room. From behind the door Deeth stepped out of his hiding spot slowly.
“Oh dear lord.” He said softly
Back at Sunnydale high the Scooby’s were sitting down to lunch. Buffy noticed that Xander was acting kind of strange.
“You okay Xander,” She asked, “You look as white as a ghost.”
“Yeah as a ghost,” Xander replied in a hurried fashion, “’Cause I’m not one.”
“Good to know.” Buffy replied confused
“I think the excitement of mystery meat day has got to him.” Willow jumped in quickly
“Gotta love the lunch lady and her whacky, zany, ideas.” Xander replied nervously
Xander began to giggle nervously. This made Buffy even more concerned because he only seemed to giggle like that when he was hiding something big.
“Don’t mean to be nosy girl or anything it’s just you seems spooked.” Buffy commented
“But I’m not a spook!” Xander replied hurriedly, “Still alive Xander, see, I have a pulse and everything. Feel it!”
Xander offered his wrist to the slayer but was met by a confused look.
“You feeling okay?” Buffy asked
“’Course I am,” Xander replied, “What do you think death is after me but had to go away to check his paper work?”
This was met by silent stairs all round. Xander thought about his last sentence.
“I gotta go get some air.” He said quickly getting to his feet
Xander was about to leave the room but quickly turned back to the slayer.
“Because I need to, you know, to keep living.”
With that Xander turned and quickly left the room. Buffy turned and looked at Willow in concern
“Has he been going through your medicine cabinet again?” She asked
“He’s just a little down,” Willow replied playing with her lunch
“I don’t think down covers what just happened Will.”
“Well it has been a year since he . . . You know . . . died.”
Suddenly everything slid into place. This explained Xanders strange behaviour just then.
“You think he feels weird about it?” Buffy asked
“How did you feel when you died and came back?” Willow asked
“I little out of place actually. Like I was here but I wasn’t.”
“Think that’s what Xander’s going through.”
Outside Xander stood alone. This whole incident with the reaper had him rattled. It felt so weird that this was happening on the anniversary of the day he was ripped from his body. Suddenly the bell rang. He sighed heavily to himself and turned to head back inside. He jumped back in frighted when he saw a hooded figure standing behind him. Xander screamed.
“Oh, Jeez,” Deeth said pulling back his hood, “Sorry about that.”
“What the hell man!” Xander exclaimed, “Can you stop doing that!”
“Yeah I’ll right myself a note.”
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“What? Oh, right, I came to talk to you,” Deeth explained, “I found out what the problem was with your paperwork.”
“Yeah? And?”
“Umm . . . how can I put this? Are you busy this afternoon?”
Xander looked at him curiously
“Yeah I have this thing I have to go to called school.”
“Do you think they would mind if you skipped it?”
“Yeah they would!”
“Oh,” Death replied, “That might be a problem then. Hey, listen; could you do me a big favour?”
“What is it?” Xander asked
“It’s not much. I just need you to run really, really fast.”
“Huh?”
“I need you to run really, really fast. Like, now”
“Why?”
“Do you want the long version or the short?”
Xander looked at him cautiously. He had only known Deeth for a short while and every time he shows up something bad happens.
“I go for the short.” Xander said
“Okay.”
Deeth took Xander by the shoulder and turned him around. A shocked expression crossed Xanders face as he saw a large army of reapers heading towards him.
“Really, really fast?” Xander asked
“If you can manage.”
“I think I can do that.” Xander replied before he turned and bolted
|
|
|
|
Rave
Barbie Girl (Becca)
biscuit07
Filmtheory (Jim)
Malice (Jess)
MebbtheScribe (MichaelB)
Reset (Allie)
Shay (Marrisa)
somnambulist29 (Shea)
Stephanie Loss
Wendyness (Wendy)
Questions?Contact Us
|
|
All stories on this site have been archived with the authors' consent. Do not copy these stories for your own uses without the express consent of the author themselves. Buffy the Vampire Slayer TM and Angel TM are © UPN, WB, Fox and its related entities. All photos on the site are © UPN, Fox, Warner Bros, and/or their respective owners. No profits are being made by use of these images.
Powered with the assitance of eFiction.
|
|
|
