The Onyx Reapers

(I’m guessing there are cellphones? Possibly?)

Floyd shifted as a buzzing noise reached his ears. Light was barely showing through a window in Ace’s bedroom, and he exhaled softly, just wanting to curl back up with Ace and fall asleep. But that annoying buzzing sound kept going and he sat himself up a tad, reaching over to grab his phone from Ace’s bedside table. He frowned softly, looking at the screen. There were around 15 missed calls from Nick. He called his older brother back.

“What could you possibly want this early in the morning?” He hissed quietly. But his expression fell when Nick was frantically yelling at him.

Floyd got out of the bed quickly, throwing on his clothes as fast as he could. “I have to go,” he said quickly, not sure if Ace was awake or not as he jogged out of the bedroom.

(Bit of a flashback)

Floyd had sprinted back home, pushing threw a small crowd of people that had gathered outside of his home. He had run straight into the basement where the gruesome sight was. Cassie. His Cassie. A gun in her hand, and a bullet in her head, dead on the concrete floor. He had sunk to his knees, a scream rising in his throat. But nothing came out. He couldn’t force anything out. He just sat there, holding his older sister, sobbing softly.

She couldn’t have killed herself. She wouldn’t have done that. She was so happy, if anything was wrong, him or Nick would have known. Someone could have staged it. Shot her and made it look like a suicide. But who would want to kill Cassie?
~
(And back to the present)

Floyd was sat in his room, eyes stinging from the constant crying. His clothes were still stained with her blood. Nick had pleaded with him to get cleaned up, but he couldn’t. He didn’t feel anything, just numbness. If he hadn’t gone to the castle, if he had stayed, she might still be alive. He hugged one of her pillows closer to his chest, more tears flowing down his cheeks.

(Lmao, I told you it would be tragic)

There was a soft knock on the door, and Nick let himself in, sitting down on the edge of the bed. The two were silent for a moment before Nick spoke up. “It couldn’t have been a suicide.”

Floyd nodded, wiping his eyes. “That’s what I thought,” he stammered. “Cassie would have never done that.”

“Who would want to hurt her? The only person I can think of would be…” Nick trailed off towards the end, but the brothers were both thinking the same name. Ryan.

Nick had gotten up then, walking to the castle, having ignored Floyd’s protests. He stormed into he castle, heading down to the training area. Ryan was there practicing, and he smiled when he saw Nick. “Nicolas , how’s it-“ Ryan was cut off by a sharp grunt when Nick struck him. Nick quickly had Ryan on the floor, causing a few of the other men in the room to begin shouting.

“You fucking bastard!” Nick yelled, choking Ryan with his hands. “I know you killed her!”

Nick heard the familiar voice, loosening his grip on Ryan. He got up, but not before hissing a threat in the man’s face. “This man is a monster, he committed murder!” Nick shouted, pointing accusingly at Ryan, who was coughing and breathing sharply.

“M-Murder?!” Ryan stammered. “I didn’t kill anyone!”

“You lying bastard!” Nick shouted, seeming ready to attack Ryan again before he was grabbed roughly by two other reapers. He turned to Ace, fury in his hazel eyes. “He killed her! He shot Cassie, and made it look like a suicide! He deserves for me to fucking shoot him too!”

“Cassie is dead?” Ryan said, eyes wide in shock, which seemed to only anger Nick further.

Nick’s fists were still clenched in anger, even when Ace hugged him. “I came home early this morning and I found her. Floyd was supposed to be there. He was supposed to stay home last night. I called him so many times, and he finally came home” he said, eyes stinging with tears.

Nick scoffed softly, turning his head away as he wiped his eyes. “He’s at home, locked away in his bedroom. Barely speaking, so good luck with that,” he muttered in response, pulling away from the hug. Without another word he walked off, towards where the lab had been to tell Cassie’s co-workers about what happened.

Floyd still hadn’t changed out of the bloody clothes. He didn’t know what he was feeling. His body felt stiff and numb, but he also couldn’t stop trembling. Why did this have to happen, why now? Things were supposed to get better. When he got the General position, he promised Cassie that he would make enough money to provide for them. He promised that she wouldn’t have sleepless nights from staying at the lab so late every night. He promised to protect her. He.. He failed. What kind of brother was he?

Floyd faintly heard Ace’s voice when he spoke, but the sounds made him feel like he was underwater. He didn’t look at the young king, burying his face in Cassie’s pillow instead. He inhaled slowly, taking in the vanilla/lilac scent of it. It smelled so nice right there and then, just like Cassie.

More tears dripped down his cheeks, and he wasn’t sure how he could have been crying so long. But he felt like he just saw her body, even though it had been two to three hours ago. He could still picture it in gruesome detail, and it felt plastered to the inside of his eyes.

Floyd leaned slightly against Ace as he did so, hands now being the only part of his body that held a noticeable tremble. It was all his fault. He was supposed to be home, but he was at the castle with Ace all night instead. That made him selfish, didn’t it? If he had been at the house, he could have stopped who did it. But whoever did kill her seemed to know that no one would have been at the house with her. His mind ran over the people he knew, trying to think of someone. Anyone.

“Did Nick get arrested?” He asked, speaking for the first time. His voice was soft and scratchy. He had been finally able to scream earlier, and he had done so until his throat felt raw.

Floyd bit his lower lip as he considered Ace’s offer for a moment. It would be better to stay there, he knew he would have sat in the same spot for days on end if no one had dragged him away from it. He would go, but he would take some of Cassie’s things with him.

He tasted blood and stopped biting his lower lip, it having split. He nodded slowly, sniffling as he sat up a bit.

Floyd nodded his head slowly, still hugging the pillow as he stood, letting his hands slip from Ace’s. He stepped into his closet, eyes searching the clothes for what he might want to take.

“It’s fine,” Floyd murmured back in the same tone as before. He looked down at the pillow in his arms and hesitantly set it back down on the bed before going back into his closet. He grabbed a duffel bag and stuffed random clothing items into it before coming back.

Floyd was eventually finished, walking over to Ace. “I’m ready,” he murmured, looking down at Ace, eyes still slightly puffy and red.

Floyd gave a nod in agreement, but his mind whispered the opposite. How could things get better? His sister was dead. Murdered, most likely. Was he supposed to just get over something like that so quickly? He kept his mouth shut, though, allowing Ace to lead him to the castle.

Ace was expecting Floyd to sleep somewhere alone? Like hell he was. The last time he left someone alone, it lead to death.

“Yours,” he mumbled, looking down at his shoes.