[UNFINISHED]

[theresafireinme]

Who: Roy Mustang and the Reaper
What: Reaper at large
Where: At the Church’s gate
When: After Al’s post
Rating: R, for character’s death
Open: To necromancers necrophiliacs whoever wants to find his body

Comments

[graveyardpunk]

Okay, he could do this. Yuri was a big boy, he could do this. He didn't need quack oracles or gay vampires to help him with this one.

"Uh, the name's Yuri," he said, feeling awkward. He could definitely hear the voice and sense its presence, but he couldn't see anyone around. He'd better not be going crazy.

He flinched at the comment about 'tossing' the body around. Rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, he muttered, "I was just surprised. Didn't mean to, sorry." Please don't haunt him.

Yuri took a deep breath and nodded at the ghost's - Roy's - suggestion. He kneeled down to where the body was and turned his cheek towards the face. He stayed in that position, waiting for any sign of breathing at all.

"I don't feel any breaths or anything," Yuri said. "Makes sense, 'cause then it'd be the body talking to me and not an unseen voice."

He didn't really know how to take a pulse, but decided to try anyway. Straightening his posture, he took off his glove and tried to feel for a beat by holding Roy's wrist. He shook his head; nothing there either.

"Sorry buddy, I think you're pretty dead."

[theresafireinme]

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Yuri," Roy said, trying to make his voice as friendly as possible; the guy was obviously scared and Mustang didn't want him to run off screaming. "It's fine."

He observed cautiously Yuri's actions, believing that he knew what he was doing. Mustang sighted heavily, hearing the diagnosis.

"I would state the obvious, if I said that it's not very well. But then the question is, why am I still here."

[graveyardpunk]

Somehow, hearing the ghost-guy sigh like that made Yuri less anxious. If anything, it just made him feel more sorry for the guy. No one really expected to be killed unless they really wanted to be. And a person who wanted to die probably wouldn't sigh so deeply like that.

The more sorry Yuri felt for someone, the more likely he was gonna end up helping them. Nevermind, who was he kidding? He'd already made his decision to help out.

"Maybe what you should be asking," Yuri said to the body, since he didn't know where else to look, "is what you're gonna do now?" He put his hands on his hips, waiting for an answer.

[theresafireinme]

Roy chuckled at Yuri's last comment - so practical of him.

"To tell the truth, I have no idea." What else he could say? What could do a person who's already dead but still in this world?

"I assume that I'm the next victim of the Church's doings. Quite similar deaths were said to happen before," he stopped here, one single thought never leaving him. "But what is their point in killing us?"

Roy had some possible answers, but he didn't want them to be true.

[graveyardpunk]

Oh yeah, now Yuri remembered. There were those calls for help over the tiny computer things. Friends crying for help because someone they cared about was found dead. And before that, the Church's threat.

So that's what it was. Intimidation. That really pissed him off.

"They wanna try and get us to sell out to the Church, huh? Bring the dead back to life in exchange for souls or whatever." Total bull, but Yuri could see how people would be desperate. In this case, he was probably lucky that he didn't have any loved ones in the City.

Wait a sec.

"Hey," Yuri blurted out. "You got someone who'd be really upset over your death or anything? Someone the Church could try to get to?"

[theresafireinme]

Roy gasped, then swore.

"I know someone who might do something really stupid if he learns that I'm dead." It sounded funny, to admit your own death.

Mustang returned to the thoughts of young alchemist; once, along with his brother, he tried to resurrect their mother. The consequences were horrid; Roy must not let the history repeat.

"He must not get to know that." That was a hard resolution to keep, indeed.

[graveyardpunk]

"Damn." So it looks like the Church picked a good victim. He cocked his head sideways in thought. "It shouldn't be a problem or nothing," Yuri reasoned. "Unless you two live together and he's expecting you home?"

If they weren't, then it'd be no big deal. They'd just keep it hush until they, uh, found a cure or something. For death.

[theresafireinme]

"No, we don't live together." Roy stopped there, hesitating for a moment, thinking the matter over. "But there's still a problem; when I was attacked, I was on my way to his apartment. And he knows that. So there's a possibility that he's expecting me."

He nervously paced, or rather floated, around Yuri and the corpse. Think Mustang, think.

"Hiding the body somewhere is the first thing we should do." It sounded as if he murdered somebody, not had been murdered; it was getting more and more twisted. "About other things we shall worry later."

[graveyardpunk]

Okay, so there's a someone waiting for the dead guy. This someone might do 'something stupid' if he learned Mr. Dead Guy was, well, dead. And more Church members was bad.

Hah. Well, Yuri couldn't really think of anything else. He might as well go along with what Roy was saying.

"Hide the body, right," he said with a grunt as he hooked his arms around the torso. "Sorry, I'm gonna have t'drag ya."

He paused, trying to figure out where to hide the body. "Uh, there's a park near here," he suggested. "Maybe we can stick the body in a tree and hope nothing gets to it?" Or that it doesn't fall.

"Oh yeah, we could put it in one of the abandoned houses, maybe. One with a bed."

[theresafireinme]

Roy shuddered at the thought of various bug that could be found near trees and were likely to prey on corpses. No way.

"No, the park is a bad idea." Mustang spoke, emphasising words. "I don't want to be eaten by insects."

He turned towards houses visible in the distance. That might be a good idea; no one would rather pay a visit them.

"But the houses aren't half bad. Let's go." For a brief second Roy thought that the old habit of ordering around never left him.

[graveyardpunk]

Insects? This guy was afraid of some bugs? Yuri had slept in the parks plenty of times and never got threatened by any bugs! Maybe a rat ot two, but that was it. Then again, he wasn't a corpse, so maybe Roy was right to be worried.

"All right," Yuri drawled in response to Roy's command. Yuri began hefting the (kinda tall) body towards the neighborhood. "Let's get you to a house, dead man!"

Easier said than done. After minutes of dragging the body through the streets, around a park, and to the nearest house, Yuri was about ready to just drop the body on the ground. But he wasn't about to incite the wrath of a ghost, so he went ahead into the house and pushed his load onto a bed in one of the rooms.

He sighed in relief. "This good enough? Or do you want me to tuck you in, too?"

[theresafireinme]

Roy followed Yuri to the house. To say that he was thankful to the man for carrying his body was definitely not enough.

He watched as his companion struggled to drag the corpse inside the building, to the bedroom and into the bed. It was definitely sweet of him, though Mustang considered all that treatments an exaggeriation - considering that the one treated was a dead body.

"No, I don't think that would be necessary since I'm already out cold, to say at least." Roy chuckled, giving the young man an amused look. "Any ideas now? A parting or you wish to keep me company for some more?"

To be honest, he hoped for the second one. Though he wouldn't admit that.

[graveyardpunk]

"Unless you're sick of me," Yuri replied to the voice, "I'm not goin' anywhere."

He said it with such determination, he even impressed himself. Of course, that meant that he might be in for the long haul. But who cared? He was complaining about being bored just a while ago, so this was definitely better than that. For him at least, maybe not for the dead guy.

Yuri Volte Hyuga: Speaker for the Dead. That would sound neat if it didn't send shivers up his spine.

"Uh, what now?" Yuri rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I mean, we gotta deal with that guy you were talking about earlier. And how to make you not-dead, if it can happen."

[theresafireinme]

Roy smiled at the determination audible in man's voice. Subconsciously he thought that his companion would be a great material for a man of military; that was a rather bitter realization, somehow.

Yet there was another pressing matter troubling him - Alphonse. Or rather a way of announcing the boy his... current state.

"First one is more important. About the second, those who are dead cannot be brought back to life." There was no bitterness in his voice.

Mustang begun to subconsciously pace around the room. "The way of informing him should be subtle enough to not to provoke him into doing anything stupid. So, then we should convey the information via phone or something. But then we would have no control over his reaction. If we want such control, then the option is, like, inviting him here for tea. The drawback is, while in shock he might do something none of us would be fond of. Ah, and by the way, his name is Alphonse Elric."

[graveyardpunk]

"Hey, come on," Yuri said. "I'm sure there's a way to make things back the way they were. This is a weird place, after all." He was just trying to be positive, really. The only way of reviving the dead that Yuri knew of was with the Book of the Dead, but that was only if you wanted to come back as a vengeful demon. Anyone who tried to use the book would only be disappointed.

He would know.

Yuri was just about to offer his own suggestion about dealing with "Alphonse" when he heard a beeping sound from the corner of the room. Turning, he saw that there was a computer on a sort of office desk. The sight of the thing didn't surprise him, since he knew that those sort of computers were in these rooms, but what did was how it was showing a message from a certain someone.

"I ain't gonna ask how this turned on," Yuri said as he walked closer to the device to look at the screen, "but I think this is your 'Alphonse'. He's already noticed you're missing."

Sitting at the seat, he got his fingers ready to poke at the keys. "I'm gonna go ahead and reply. We're gonna meet this kid, that way if he freaks out I can at least wrestle him down or something."

Yuri got to typing.

[theresafireinme]

Roy only chuckled. It might seem that Yuri was a helpless optimist yet his word didn't lack any logic. This was indeed a weird place.

Mustang eyed the man who was toying with the computer-thing. He couldn't say that he was happy about Alphonse's discovery; but what he could expect from such a bright boy that he was?

"Reply him then." He fought himself to not to add a 'be careful' comment; such repetition would be an insult to his companions intelligence.

Now, he could only wait.