The men don't say anything, just take aim with their guns and move in sync into the room. I curse under my breath and reach into my pocket for my weapon.
I almost don't move fast enough, one pulls his trigger, sending a glowing orb flying towards me and Jazzy, who is still behind me clinging to my arm for protection. I can hear Tabitha behind us telling them to stop.
I shove my sister a little roughly, so much so that she crashes to the floor. But it's so I have room to pull out my weapon. I push the button to extend the pole, getting it in front of my face to block the weird blue orb before it hits me.
"Who the fuck are you guys?" I growl again as I swing my scythe around a little, warming up. Their gear may be thick and plated looking, but there were always soft spots for my weapon to slice into if need be.
"It doesn't matter who we are, all that matters is we know who you are, Zero."
"Fuck." I glance behind me at Tabitha specifically at the sound of my Reaper name. I wasn't worried about my sister getting a weird obsession with me by knowing my name, it was the one I had saved from death I was convinced needed to be kept from learning my name.
She's staring into my eyes when I look at her, and I feel dread building in my stomach at the way she's watching me. I remembered the first night we had met, she had already been enamored by the way I looked. Then I had to go and save her life. She probably thought I did because I had a crush on her or something, and now this. I had avoided any other humans learning my name this entire time so far, and now the worst possible person to know it, does.
I growl in frustration and turn all the way around. I throw my scythe at the window, so it slices open a portal. Because I have the soul in my pocket, it will take us away from here.
I don't think I'm supposed to bring humans through these, to be honest. But I can't just leave my sister behind. And Tabitha is already running towards it, like she already knows what to do.
I can hear them shooting more and can see the blue orbs smacking into the wall beside me as I grab Jazzy's ankle on my way to the portal. She protests as I drag her through like a ragdoll, but better this than stuck with those guys.
I fling her ahead of me, so she enters the portal first, and I enter last. It will close once I'm through, so it's important she goes ahead.
I steady myself once I land on solid ground, glancing back to make sure the portal is closing. They're running towards it, but they won't make it. It shuts, and I let out a small sigh of relief.
"What the fuck was that?" I demand the second the portal is closed behind me. I look around a little, recognizing the planet we're on. It's Opaine, the world inhabited by none. I guess it made sense this would be the next stop for that woman's soul. It had a tough go around. I pick my weapon up from the ground where it'd landed and push the button to make it small enough for my pocket. I help my sister up once I do and check her for injuries.
"I'm fine." She says, glancing up nervously at me. She looked guilty, and she should be. This was their fault. I had no idea what the hell just happened, but I'd never had to deal with anything like it until these two tracked me down.
"Someone better start talking." I demand, looking between the two girls. Tabitha is sitting on the ground a little way away, her eyes fixed on me. I growl in frustration at the look I can already see forming in her eyes. Now she knew my fucking name. This was all spiraling out of control very quickly.
"Those were the guys we were telling you about before." My sister finally says, her voice shaky. "They're called Portal Hoppers. We didn't know it when we first found them… but… they take people like you." She looks up at me. I tilt my head to the side, confused.
"What do you mean?"
"Reapers. I guess they haven't been in this world for long, only fifty years. They've only captured one of you from here, but they have more from other worlds." I shake my head.
"They have a Reaper from this world? Who?" I flick through my brain, trying to remember the last I'd seen everyone. I grow frustrated when I realize I still haven't even met every Reaper in this world. People never stop dying, so we never get a weekend off to have a team building exercise.
My sister shakes her head. "They wouldn't tell us. They said it's dangerous for humans to know Reaper names, but wouldn't tell us why. They acted like they were good guys for a long time, I swear that's the only reason I told them so much about you." Jazzy leans forward then, her eyes shining with tears.
I tsk, and pull her against my chest again. "I just happened to overhear them talking, and learned they planned on using what I'd told them about you to capture you." I shake my head angrily at my sister's words. "That was a year ago, I think? We've been trying to find you ever since, before those guys did especially." She backs away from me then, wiping at her eyes.
I sigh, and start walking in circles a little. I run my hand through my hair, trying to process what the fuck is happening right now.
Number one: my sister and the girl I saved from dying have been murdering people to try and find me.
Number two: they were doing that because they somehow met a group of people called Portal Hoppers, who were using them to get info on me.
Number three: They wanted info on me so they could kidnap me. If they're called Portal Hoppers, I can only assume they want my weapon, or my blood, or maybe both.
And number four, and kind of most important: they had already had a Reaper from this world, and more from other worlds. I couldn't ignore that.
"I need to talk to someone." I say, nodding and glancing between the two girls. Aster is the only I can think of to go to for help. "First I need to put this soul in a vessel, actually. Then I need to talk to someone. I'm not qualified to deal with all this shit." I grumble as I stomp off towards the woods where I can feel the soul pulling me. "You two stay here, I'll be right back."
I really need a minute to myself.