The end of a Reaper, a new life?

The night was colder than usual, and for once, Taxtm felt the bite of the chill really hurt, as he stood in the old, yet familiar rusty abandoned warehouse where the records of his actions were kept. He held a paintbrush in one hand, and the pallate for his paint in the other. Around him, paintings, drawings, and sketches, were everywhere. In most of these, the subject was someone covered in claw and bite marks, and blood. All of this, every painting, sketch, and piece of work in the warehouse, was a constant reminder of what he was, what he'd become, and what he did on most nights. He was a Contractor, but more than that, he was one of the few Reapers out there. Not that it was because of his skill, no doubt. What skill was there to acting like an animal? It wasn't skill, just mainly instinct and luck that saved his tail-end all the time when he'd gone up against Contractors with REAL power. There were others who could bend time and space, control the elements, and bend the world to their will. It made Taxtm thankful to be alive still after all of those such beings that he'd had to go up against in his duty.

The canvas in front of him was already covered in paint, though he'd just started on the picture. Luckely, this was one of the good ones. These pictures, they were his price to pay for becoming an animal. When he went wolf, depending on the time he spent like that, his pictures varied from crude drawings, to what he would almost call masterpieces, if he didn't know the true horror behind many of them. All that murdering of other contractors, it made his stomach upset just thinking about it. Maybe Hei and Shadow could do that stuff no problem, but they didn't have to stare their actions in the face every time they did their job. Why was it they couldn't understand?!? Rational? Contractors weren't supposed to feel emotion, so why was is that he could? Taxtm remembered every bit of what he'd done, and he felt emotion, unlike the others, and he was sick of it! All of it! He was tired of the murder, the mayhem and chaos that came with being a Reaper. He wanted to be able to enjoy his abilty, and paint more scenes like the one he had in front of him.

The navy sky in the picture was breathtaking, almost as much so as the actual sky, even if it had been fake back when he'd seen it on the trip that night. It had been his first time away in a long time, and he'd used that time to go overseas, to Scandinavia, and just relax for a week or so. Most of that time, he'd been running around as a wolf, trying to get the most enjoyment that he could out of it while his vacation lasted. The fruits of that trip were now being painted in front of him. He still remembered the night in the picture. It was his last night there, before coming back. His brush flew across the canvas, filling in the outline of the small lake from his mind's eye. The trees, the stars, everything about that night was fresh in his memory, like he was still there, staring at the night sky. That had been the most peaceful night he'd had in a long time, but also the most bittersweet, since he'd known that he'd have to return the following day. But, it was also the night when he'd decided what he would do upon his return: He'd throw his title as Reaper on the ground, and walk away, hopefully to live a normal (well, somewhat normal) life, where he could enjoy himself, rather than killing.

All he needed to do was break that news to Hei and the others... that was where the trouble would be. It wasn't like they would let him leave so easily, would they? He didn't really know, but in the past, when he'd thought outloud about it, they hadn't exactly supported the idea.

The cold of the warehouse air-conditioning, mixed with the chill of the already cold night, finally drove Taxtm to the point where he decided to take a break to warm up by the heater on the opposite side of the buiding. The room needed to stay cold though, to preserve his works, so he could always see them, and remember what it was he was trying to avoid losing himself to. As he walked around the canvas, his foot caught something, and he tripped, falling over, as well as knocking down whatever it was he had tripped on. He looked back to see what it was, and recognized it right off the bat. It was a large corkboard where he pinned up his smaller sketches, as well as a few photos. One in particular always stood out though. It was the one at the top right side of the board, the one photo that he hated to see more than any other picture he'd made, but the one that he'd never let himself get rid of. The picture was of his bedroom, and covering the wall over his bed, was the smeered paint of his first picture, his first nightmarish hell of a picture.

It wasn't a very complicated painting, just in black paint against a white wall, but in his mind, the image was in full color to Taxtm. The picture consisted of a man laying in shallow water on a river coastside, the water directly aroud him darker in color than the rest of the water. The reason for that was the blood in the water. The man, like so many others after him, was covered in claw marks and wounds from canine teeth. But the thing that stood out more than the dead man in the picture, was the reflection beside him on the surface of the water. It was Taxtm, the first night he'd activated his ability and become a wolf, and the first time that he'd ever killed anyone in his life. It was the night he became a contractor.

"Ugh... stupid corkboard." He said under his breath as he got to his feet and set it back upright. He walked over to his makeshift coat-rack and grabbed his light jacket from it, making his way over to the heater. He grabbed a nearby box that he'd been using as a chair, and turned on the heater, waiting for it to warm up. The sound of wind blowing in from somewhere drew Taxtm's attention upward to the windows, where he saw one of them had apparently blown open. Shaking his head in annoyance, Taxtm got up and made his way over to and up the ladder leading up into the rafters of the warehouse near the window. It took most of his body weight to turn closed the window, and looking at the sides of it, it was no wonder. The hinges had rusted over a long time ago from a guess. Once the window was closed, Taxtm turned to go back down the ladder, but the window kept bothering him in his head. It was a heavy duty window that was rusted around the hinges... I can't believe the wind opened it like that. He thought. As he got to the bottom of the ladder and walked back to the box-seat though, another thought struck him. As heavy as it was... there's no way just a breeze could have opened it. Especially not with it as old and rusty as it is. The realization of this sent a chill down his spine, and it wasn't from the cold. Suddenly, Taxtm found himself wondering if he was really alone in the warehouse.

Hands clasped together pushed down on Taxtm’s head, Elbows on his shoulders, weight heavy on is back. Shadow’s aloofly, amused voice “One move and your dead.” In the joke did have the stoe cold end of a threat. Turning shadow pulling tax’s head with him he looked at the newest image in taxtm’s gallery. “pretty, pretty. When will you get a woman? That would be interesting images” he chuckled patting tax on the back and realising him of his weight. Shadow stretched, Taxtm was one of the more comfortable reapers to be around. Though, he wasn't usually around others. “you look troubled”.

He crouched down beside the older man, though Taxtm was older in life he was younger in his life as a contractor. Shadow had been one of the first, high up there among April. He had only been young when his powers showed. He and his sisters had been moved slowly losing touch as the more tests were done on them. His sisters had been tested on to the extent that by the time they were let out of Myer and Hilton, they had both become fully fledged dolls. Only just finding them shadow decided that his powers and theirs mingled so well that they could hunt for other contractors and would be contractors. Reapers could always use a doll and in his case with one sister viewing though shadows the other through blood, he had fortune. “tell me tax what’s on your mind?” he looked at the nineteen year old. His grey eye seeing him but not his left, red tinted, blind one. Shadow was tall, with dark tanned skin. He had white hair with black tips. This black and white feature seemed to meld into parts of his apparel as well. Black and white, once again mingling in his stripped t-shirt. His black fingerless gloves and side bag. His faded blue jeans, and black and red mismatched converse. All this was topped off in a dark grey trench coat.

Shadow sat, cross-legged on the cold floor with a sigh. He knew the look on taxtm’s face was that whatever was on his mind was good for neither, Tax or himself. Shadow knew that look well. That look and another one had burned themselves in his memory, like the look of the shame of others in a drug addicts mind. The look of malice laced intent. Many of those he had been tested by held that expression. Each of them had met his or her end, after of course shadow escaped their facilities.

His escape hadn't been that dramatic in his mind but it was the first time he used his powers for himself and not for a fuel of his rage. One place after another had taken him in to run tests, though one place had an intern, the scientists where in a meeting when shadow's next round of drugged sedation. the intern had left before rubbing the boy's throat to insure the pill was swallowed. Spitting out the sleep drug, he sat trying to feel out for his power, almost half an hour later his mind brushed a shadow. Drawing the shadows towards him he drew them in around him. breathing in as the cold took him. Shadow had escaped that night leaving the building in ruins. He was, for the first time since he turned, free.

Now the shadows he lived and breathed for them. Their coldness, the fact everything was in shades of black white and red. Streaming past him in slow motion. He could take a step and be far away. He loved how distant from the world he felt. Passing in the shadows was one of his powers but all together he would look at it as plain and simply shadow manipulation. The shadows were pierced by light, they seemed like holes and if you stepped in one it cast you out of the shadows.

Sometimes he thought of just escaping into the shadows and never returning to the normal world. Mostly after that was almost what he did after escaping but he made the mistake of stepping out of the darkness. He nearly died, barely 14 and was rushed to the hospital for blood loss. He had been in an alley in London, covered in the blood he had coughed up as his payment. Shadow had to be thankful, somewhere in the mixed drugs he was given he had gained some kind of healing. It worked to heal him faster than most.Take a broken bone, shadow would take only a few days to heal it, judging of course on severity.

Shivering slightly his eyes refocused on Taxtm, he hid his little trip down memory lane, placing his hands near the heater. he smiled at Taxtm, shakily at fist then it grew more sure. He was known as somewhat of a kidder among the other reapers. Jokes hid his true feelings just like his red mask...

Suddenly, Taxtm found himself in a headlock, and without though, he knew what he had to do to get out of it. But, at the last moment before he used his ability, he heard his attacker's voice. “One move and your dead.” The voice had a cold tone to it, but Taxtm was too familiar with the sound to be fooled after hearing it. He instantly relaxed. It was just Shadow. “Pretty, pretty. When will you get a woman? That would be interesting images.” He heard the other Reaper say as he released Taxtm's head from the hold. "Heh... as soon as I find a woman who doesn't run off when she sees her boyfriend suddenly covered in fur, or when she sees pictures like these everywhere at my pad." He replied jokingly as Shadow patted him on the back.

“You look troubled.” Shadow said. "Well no crap, I just had a guy holding me in a headlock." He chuckled under his breath. But, his words didn't really sound true to the humor.

“Tell me Tax, what’s on your mind?” Shadow spoke as he sat on the floor. Taxtm walked over to his box-seat and sat with Shadow by the heater. His light jacket was black, just a basic zip-up hoodie, but it was effective all the same. Underneith, Taxtm was wearing just his normal gray T-shirt, and a pair of jeans held up with a cheap belt. His tennis-shoes were just a plain black. Overall, he looked very plain, expecially next to Shadow, whose tastes in clothes were a little more... unique. Taxtm's black hair was normally short, but having not had a haircut in the previous weeks, it had grown out a bit, and he scratched behind his ears as it they began to itch a little bit from his hair. He'd have to remember to get it cut sometime, before it got long enough to get in his eyes and really bug him.

Shadow sighed, obviously at Taxtm's hesitation to answer, and Taxtm looked up from the ground in the young man's direction. "That obvious, huh?" Taxtm sighed, raising his hands up to the heater, and thinking for a moment on what to say. "I guess... I don't know, you and Hei, you guys never seem to show any kind of real emotion. Nothing we do seems to really bother you. You guys are basic proof that we Contractors are exactly as people who know about us see us. But, why is it I still feel these things? Why do emotions still bother me, when they aren't supposed to? What the hell is wrong with me?" He clenched his as he looked disdainfully back at the pictures that flooded the warehouse. He looked back to Shadow, and tried to calm down a bit, taking a deep breath. "Shadow, I gotta tell you, I don't think I can do this anymore. What we do, I just can't handle it anymore. The price is too great for me. I'm tired of painting people dying because of what I do, even if they do deserve it. I wanna give this life up, and try to maybe start a new life for myself... one that I can actually enjoy a bit."

He ran out of words to say, so Taxtm just sat there on the box, waiting for what Shadow would say. No doubt something about how irrational it was, or how it wasn't going to be so easy to walk away just like that. At least this was Shadow that he was telling first, someone less likely to react badly. Better than one of the others, for sure.