Gustave

A mortal heart with fragile beat, Stood trembling at the Reaper's feet; And Death did speak in tones of night, "Come take my scythe; become the blight."

The scythe, it sang a song so dire, Of bone-cold graves and pyre's fire; Its blade gleamed sharp, a crescent moon, That carved the silence of the tomb.

With trembling hands, the human took, The weapon wrought in life's forsook; Its heft was light, its shadow vast, It severed ties with all their past.

No longer bound by flesh or creed, Their heart beat slow, then ceased to need; Their veins ran black, their breath grew still, They walked beneath Death's iron will.

Prologue

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Acceptance Letter.

“Oh dear,” Gustave said, standing outside his office window. The cane struck the polished floor with a hollow tap. His lips curled into an amused grin. “This is rather... unusual.”

Unusual was quite the understatement.

A human. In front of Reapers Academy. They caused quite a stir when they had manifested in front of the academy entrance. Reapers were trained to notice mortals around them. So it wasn’t surprising that the uproar started instantly. Thankfully, Gustave noticed before it got worse. Not that a little commotion isn’t satisfying to watch. Drama was a constant companion to his role at the academy—a perk of working with a bunch of young reapers constantly testing the limits of their own power and restraint. What was new, however, was the cause of today’s uproar. A mortal. Standing right there, in the middle of the academy entrance like some kind of lost tourist who’d wandered into an otherworldly death institution by mistake. He didn’t trust that one of the students wouldn’t just... reap the mortals soul before he even had a chance to see what was going on.

Outside his office window, Gustave squinted as if the sight before him was playing tricks on his eyes. “So they just... appeared?” Gustave asked, his fingers drumming a rhythm against the top.

“Yes sir.” The voice behind him barely registered above the nerves as he delivered his report. He kept his head lowered but couldn’t stop fiddling with the edge of his cloak. Kneeling on one knee on his velvet rug, was the reaper assistant. With that mop of short ginger curls and those red curling ram horns that begged to be poked for fun. His black cloak, standard reaper uniform for his dimension. He looked out of place in Gustave’s lavish office.

The principal didn’t have a dreary office. He could never. His office was as lavish as his attire. Walls lined up with golden-framed portraits of Gustave himself stared down from every wall, either riding a dragon or mid battle. Every corner was full of things he had acquired—rare artifacts, golden trinkets from dead civilizations, an entire shelf dedicated to books that looked too pristine to have ever been opened. A plush velvet rug in the middle. The office was big enough to be an entire first story. Tucked away was a massive bed just for himself. Gustave lived in this academy he built with his own magic.

The reaper assistant was staring at him. He was... from one of those dimensions. Where reapers had more animal-like features. Funny dimension. He really should visit it more. “They are currently wandering cluelessly. We have surveillance set up every side and ready to reap the soul–”

“No.” Gustave’s interrupted.

The assistant blinked, head snapping up slightly before quickly remembering his place and lowering it again. Still, wide amber eyes betrayed his confusion. “Pardon?”

“I said cancel the orders,” Gustave repeated with a growing grin. He leaned forward slightly looking out the window. “Let them live.”

“But... they are human—”

“I don’t care.” Gustave hums the words out. “I’m feeling... inspired today,” he drawled, almost absentmindedly as he reached for some antique paperweight on his desk—a marble phoenix with ruby-encrusted eyes. He rolled it between his fingers as if contemplating something far more exciting. “Let’s see what happens when they live. Perhaps they’re just what I needed. Some entertainment.” He watched the mortal outside with an excitable curiosity. “This place has been rather boring recently.”

He could almost feel their spirit string, still active and pulsing. This was the most interesting development in eons. He could almost hear the staff room gossiping about this. Gustave planned on joining them after everything was resolved. Just as he was about to comment on the assistants nerves, the reaper was already rising and making his way out. Gustave turned halfway, hands still resting on his cane as the reaper excused himself quietly and slipped outside. The door quietly shut behind him. Gustave’s grin spread slowly—like ivy creeping up an old wall—as he set down the phoenix paperweight and folded his hands together in front of him.

Interesting. Gustave thought with a chuckle. Then with his hat tipped lower to cover his glinting eyes, he made his way towards the exit as well. You’ve certainly made an entrance Mortal.

Time to make his own.

__

The doors to the grand Reaper Academy opened with a heavy toll of the bell. A gust of wind carrying his black cloak and billowing it dramatically behind him. The air was thick with suspense and– on Gustaves part– excitement. He couldn’t see his students or faculty, but felt them pressed against the glass. Trying to catch a glimpse of what he’d do to this mortal. How would he reap their soul? A dramatic gaping hole in the ground devouring them? Or would it be a simple slice of his scythe? It was the excitement before a reaping that always made Gustave proud to be born a reaper. Proud that the only thing he had to look forward to was building his academy and finding new ways to reap souls more efficiently.

Gustave moved like a shadow given life. His scythe glinted even in the dim twilight that seemed to hover around the Academy grounds. His chest rose as he took in a sharp inhale through pursed lips, the sound like the ominous whine of wind slicing through a narrow chasm. Then, he swung. The scythe arced in a deliberate motion, almost like splitting the very fabric of reality. Where the blade passed, a deep black fissure tore into existence, bringing forth clouds of thick smoke. It crept outward with an insidious hunger, swallowing the front of the Academy in seconds until all vision was obscured.

The reaper vanished, absorbed into the smog. Then came his voice.

"Hello, Mortal."

The voice came from behind the mortal. His towering frame leaned in with a casual ease and a grin so wide it nearly split his face. The faint sound of boots creaking against stone. A glimmer of sharp teeth behind a self-satisfied grin. He winked. And then, as quickly as he'd come, he disappeared again. Perching on the enormous scythe as though it were an old armchair. His body draped lazily across its haft. His boots dangled over the curve of the blade while his elbows rested on his bent knees. The hat came off with a touch of flourish. He brushed it against his chest with an exaggerated motion as if greeting a reputable guest. The grin widened.

“Do you know where you are?” He pretended to dust his hat off. Then rested it on his lap. Gustave tilted his chin deliberately downward with that same toothy smile. One eyebrow arced high above the other.

Gustave leaned forward then, his long coat draping in sharp folds like spilled ink. He reached out—a deliberate motion, slow enough to be unsettling. His hand hovered under their chin, not quite touching, just close enough for to feel the faint whisper of cold that emanated from him. He tilted their face up, his fingers still a ghostly inch from making contact.

"Gustave Fontenont," he introduced with a low chuckle, his accent curling around the syllables of his name like smoke curling through cracks. He let it linger before continuing, "You are quite far from home."

He leaned closer still, his grin sharpening at the edges.

"Very far away."

Gustave leaned back, the smirk on his lips curving deeper as his hand retracted just as quickly as it had lunged out. The gleaming black scythe vanished into the void as though it had never existed at all, dissolving with a faint hiss into the ether. His boots landed soundlessly against the floor. Without giving the mortal a chance to even process what had just happened, he threw his arms open dramatically. A golden light gleamed faintly in his pupils, serpentine slits drinking in the image of his visitor like a starving wolf appraising its meal.

“Oh, come on now. Don’t look so stricken. Or maybe do—it suits you, in a way,” Gustave murmured, more to himself than to his new audience. His lips pulled into a slow, wicked grin, flashing teeth. His palms turned skyward.

“You are at Reaper Academy!” His voice rang out like a a theater performer nailing the climactic line of a scene. He paused, milking the moment before continuing, his golden eyes narrowed into slits.

“And you...” His fingers tightened around the polished ebony handle of his cane, claws barely grazing its surface as his hands settled over it. Then came that unsettling tongue movement—a quick, snakelike dart past his lips, tasting the mortal’s fear that clung to the air like humidity after a storm.

“You are the exact things we love to reap.”

Everything went silent. Then the principal laughed again.“Kidding! I’m kidding. Well...not entirely,” he admitted, his laughter tapering into a conspiratorial chuckle. He tapped the tip of his cane against the floor once—a sharp sound that drew attention back to him as he started to pace. That earned a wink over his shoulder, casual as anything. He pivoted smoothly again on his cane, turning to face away from them. His lips split into a grin wide enough to be unsettling—not in its pleasantness, but in its sincerity. Gustave was genuinely amused.

“I should just reap your soul here and now. Let bygones be bygones, clean sweep the whole mess...”

He paused deliberately, letting the suggestion settle heavily like frost creeping along stone.

“But I am incredibly bored.”

With an audible swish, Gustave’s scythe materialized again in his grasp as if responding to his whims, curving ominously like a predator’s talon. He let it roll across his gloved knuckles before catching it mid-spin with casual ease. Then, with an unnecessary flourish, he brought it downward to rest at his side—a gleaming symbol of unspoken threat.

“So let me be the first to congratulate you...”

The grin widened further, if possible, golden irises gleaming as his scythe swiped lazily through the thickened air.

“Our first-ever human reaper.” Somewhere behind the grand doors of the academy, Gustave could practically feel the collective gasp rippling through the unseen crowd of students. Oh, the outrage. The delicious, inevitable chaos. They’d hate this decision; of course they would. Mortals were little more than vermin to reapers—a fragile thing not worthy of sharing their space, let alone their title. But that’s what made it so exhilarating. He was breaking rules he hadn’t even known existed until this very moment—and didn’t that make things just a little more interesting?

“They’re going to hate you, by the way,” he added offhandedly, resting the blade of the scythe against his shoulder with casual ease. His golden gaze raked over the mortal once more, as though assessing their worth—or lack thereof.

“They’ll try to kill you. Reap your soul at every turn. Every. Single. Turn.”

And then, as if already imagining the bloody ballet that would undoubtedly ensue, his grin stretched impossibly wider. He tapped the side of his scythe thoughtfully, golden eyes alight with cruel amusement.

“But if you survive...” Gustave’s voice dropped to a near whisper. “Well. That would be fun to watch.” He turned again, gesturing the mortal forward lazily with the same slow rotation of his cane. The mortal would follow, or have their soul be reaped without a struggle. Which he hoped not, because that would be so dreary.

“Well then. Don’t just stand there like some lost sheep. The chaos won’t start itself.” Oh yes, Gustave wanted this human as a student.