Content Warning for: off screen major character death, injury, recovery, depression, and grief.

Alternate universes: Aftertale, Reapertale, Error, Ink, and references to various other AUs.

Geno thinks it must be a hallucination at first, the black cat sitting on the far side of the hospital room. He's in and out of consciousness but he's almost certain he's in a hospital and so far as he knows animals aren't allowed in hospitals. Then again the cat is black from tip to tail, so dark it feels like it's sucking in the bright lights of the hospital, a cat shaped shadow cast by nothing, even its nose and eyes are solid black. So he guesses it's just a cat statue or something and dismisses it as unimportant, instead turning his focus to what the doctors and nurses are saying.

That brings him no comfort. He would rather focus on anything other than just how bad the car accident was. Like it was going to be anything else, car on pedestrian accidents are rarely anything but ugly. Geno turns his skull and looks up at the statue again, at least puzzling out what a decorative statue is doing sitting on top of medical equipment in an emergency room is interesting. He thinks it turns its head, an inquisitive tilt like it's trying to figure him out just as much as he's trying to figure it out.

Wait, statues can't move, right? And physical cats definitely don't have empty black eyes. Maybe it's a monster?

"We got ahold of the next of kin, surgery's approved."

"Alright, let's get this show on the road."

The bed starts moving and Geno loses track of the cat, he loses track of pretty much everything as the lights passing overhead just dazzle his sight. A hissing mask is slipped over his mouth and nasal aperture, then the world becomes hazy around the edges. Darkness creeps in and thankfully oblivion keeps him in its grip for a while.

Geno hobbled through the living, carefully maneuvering his crutches through the thankfully wide space. For as much as Error liked having such a big house he sure didn't fill it with a lot of stuff, most of it was just a mess all clustered around Error's beanbag chair in front of the TV. That and the random nicknacks tangled in an array of strings hanging from his ceiling. Why didn't he just keep them on shelves like a normal monster?

"Where're you going?" Error asked from his beanbag.

"Outside, I've been stuck in a hospital for far too long."

"Don't trip and break your other leg."

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up." It took far too much fumbling and struggling, but he finally managed to get the door open and then his injured butt through it. The backyard was unsurprisingly overgrown and pretty much unused looking aside from a hammock strung between two trees in the center. Geno wasn't even going to bother attempting that. He just kind of let himself slowly collapse on the edge of the patio section just around the back door and let out a long sigh.

Moving in with his eccentric shut-in cousin wasn't exactly high on Geno's list of "fun activities I want to do" but it was far better than going back to his own empty house to be alone with that deafening silence. Geno just wasn't ready for that yet.

He'd even missed the funeral.

Geno looked up when movement caught his attention, cautiously emerging from the overgrown grass was a cat shaped shadow. At first Geno thought it was that cat statue that seemed to follow him around the hospital, then he blinked and their bright blue eyes, little pink mouth, and a tuft of white fur on their chest came into focus. He must not have noticed them while the cat was still in the shadow of the grass.

Geno couldn't help smiling as the sleek cat approached, "Well hello there." He held his hand out.

The cat tentatively reached their little nose out and touched his finger tip.

Geno waited a moment, when the cat didn't move or do anything he leaned forward a little and tried giving them a little pet. They seemed a bit surprised or confused at first, then closed their eyes and leaned into the attention. Geno shifted to a more comfortable position and patted the ground next to him.

"Come a little closer, I can hardly reach you all the way over there."

Surprisingly the cat did happily come closer, sitting down right next to Geno and again leaning into the pets. They even started purring, though they seemed surprised at something when that happened before closing their eyes in happy contentment and purring merrily away while Geno gave them chin scratches.

"Well aren't you a friendly little kitty, must have the sweetest owner if you just go up to strangers demanding attention."

The cat's only response was to crawl into Geno's lap and curl up, still purring away. Geno couldn't help laughing, guess he was trapped now.

That's how Error found him some time later, still sitting out on the patio edge with one finger idly rubbing the side of the cat's face as they dozed in Geno's lap. "You've been out here for a really long time."

"I can't help it, I'm trapped."

Error's brows furrowed, "Trapped? What do you mean trapped? Did you actually fall or something?"

"There's a cat in my lap, I can't get up. It's the rule."

Error walked out onto the porch and leaned over to look in Geno's lap. "Huh."

"Friendly little thing, came right up and asked for pets. I wonder which of your neighbors they belong to."

Error shrugged, "I've never seen it before."

"Maybe a new neighbor then?" It hadn't escaped Geno's notice that the cat didn't have a collar, but he'd heard of plenty of people who didn't bother with that so it didn't mean much.

"Doesn't matter. Food's here, come inside and eat."

Geno rolled his eye. Error never cooked and thought apps like door dash were a godsend. Still, Geno was pretty hungry and Error at least always ordered good food. "Alright." He pushed the cat out of his lap, or he tried to. The moment he put his hand on the cat they turned around and started purring and rubbing their face against it. "Uh… ok then. Go on, shoo." He tried pushing the cat, but they just fluidly moved to a different spot in his lap and started rubbing their face against his chest. Right where the slash was.

Geno hissed and tried to lean away, only to grunt as the movement only caused him more pain. Thankfully the cat stopped.

Error stepped closer, "Scat! Damned cat!" He flapped a hand at them, but stopped just short of touching it.

Geno sighed when he saw the way Error hesitated and curled his hand into a fist, must be a bad touch day then. He moved his crutches and started trying to pick himself up, "I'll just stand up, they'll have to move then."

"Here, I'll help." Error held a hand out. Geno looked at it, then up at Error, then at his hand again. Well, okay then. He took Error's hand and let him help pull him up. The cat did finally get the message and jumped down.

"Go on home, cat." Geno waved the cat away before turning and crutching his way back into Error's house. Geno stopped short once inside, the previously fairly empty living room now housed an all too familiar ugly green couch and a beat up little round end table on one end. "Error."

"Hired a moving company, I also had them pick up some of your things too."

"Error!"

"You really think I was going to let you borrow my things until you randomly decided you were ready to go over there? This way you didn't have to go inside and see the place at least."

Geno put a hand up to the good side of his face and groaned. He wanted to scream, he wanted to punch [someone] something, he wanted a lot of things he couldn't have if he were honest [like his baby brother back.]

"Sit down, I ordered pizza." Without another word Error just sauntered off into his kitchen, leaving Geno with the choice of sitting down on his couch or… not, he guesses. It's not like Error has any other furniture for Geno to sit on aside from the bean bag chair, and Geno's pretty sure he couldn't get up from that if he tried. With a sigh he hobbled over to the couch and let himself collapse on it, glaring up at Error's huge TV.

The black cat hopped up onto the couch and put their front paws in Geno's lap.

"What? Where did…?" Geno looked at the back door, which was closed. "How'd you even get in here?"

The cat meowed at Geno and leaned closer.

Error came back in with a plate in each hand, a couple slices of pizza on each. "What the hell? How'd that dirty abomination get in here?"

Geno just shrugged, he had no idea.

"Well get it out! I don't want it crapping on my floor."

"What am I supposed to do? I can't even walk."

Error grumbled to himself as he turned around and headed into the kitchen. Geno absently started petting the cat, just in case they got any ideas about running away and certainly for no other reason. Error came back in without the plates, now with his hands free he started pulling strings from his sockets.

"Okay, furball, time to get out." He flung the strings at the cat.

The cat jumped out of Geno's lap and started furiously chasing the strings across the couch, claws out.

"Damnit! These are weapons, not toys!" He tightened his fist and pulled on the strings.

The cat jumped and twisted, still attacking the moving strings around them.

Geno couldn't help laughing, this was so ridiculous. He sat and watched the cat and Error chase each other around the living room, shreds of chewed on strings strewn about as the cat continued to attack any that got close.

"Try using an actual strategy," Geno encouraged.

"Like what?" Error asked sarcastically.

"Like using the strings to lure the cat out the door?"

"Wow, that's actually a good idea."

"Yeah, I have those once in a while."

Error actually did as Geno suggested and used his strings to lure the cat over to the back, door, opened it, then dangled a string on the porch just outside the door. The cat crouched down, butt wriggling, then darted out the door. Error slammed the door shut, then locked it for good measure.

"Ugh, finally!" Error huffed in a way that was probably supposed to be exasperated but honestly sounded more smugly pleased with himself.

"Wonder how they got in? I'm pretty sure the door was closed."

"Maybe it snuck in while we weren't looking?"

They both shrugged, unsure what else it could be.

"So, about that pizza."

Error gave an exaggerated sigh, "I bet it's cold now, ugh."

Geno was mildly surprised to find Error's guest room was fully furnished without bringing any of his things over. Oh his clothes were there, a couple bags left sitting against a wall for him to unpack, but the bed, dresser, and end table by the bed were all unfamiliar. It was honestly kind of a relief.

Geno hobbled over to sit on the bed and started peeling off his clothes, he was exhausted and didn't even want to bother digging through his things to find something to sleep in, his borrowed shirt would have to be enough.

Something landed on the bed next to him.

Geno looked down to find the black cat cuddling up to him. "What on earth? How'd you even get in here?" He started petting the cat and was rewarded with a rumbling purr.

There was a knock on the closed door. Before Geno could respond it opened a crack and Error peeked in, "Everything ok in… what's the dirty furball doing in here?"

Geno shrugged, "I have no idea. Maybe they came through the window?"

"It's closed."

Geno shrugged again, "Guess they're really good at sneaking around."

"It can sneak right back out then." Error reached for his eye sockets.

"Not here, not now. I'm tired and just want to sleep."

Error made a noise of disgust, "If it craps anywhere you're cleaning it up."

"Fine, whatever." Geno didn't care at this point, he was just so tired. He laid down and even pulled the blanket up over himself. Error huffed one last time, but turned out the light and shut the door, leaving Geno to drift off to sleep with the cat curled up next to him purring away.

When Geno woke the sun was already up, filling the room with bright light. He sat up and stretched, only then noticing the cat was gone. Geno could only guess they'd gotten out whatever way they'd gotten in and finally gone home.

"Ruru!"

"Gah!" Error's voice glitched as he scrambled backwards over his bean bag chair and away from Ink. "Get away from me!"

"Aw, but Ruru!"

"No!"

Ink pouted, but the pout dropped right off his face when he turned and spotted Geno sitting on the couch, mysterious black cat in his lap.

"Dumb squid, always sneaking in here, almost as bad as that darn cat! How'd you even get in?"

"Hello Geno! I'd heard you were staying here for a while, how're you doing?"

Geno shrugged, "Ok I guess."

"And who's this little guy?" Ink bent over to get a better look at the cat lounging across Geno's lap.

"Neighbor's cat, we think. They don't have a collar."

"The dirty abomination keeps sneaking in and out whenever it wants."

Ink just laughed, "That's pretty funny. Think they'll let me pet them?" He reached forward, but before his fingers reached the soft looking fur he stopped and pulled back. "Huh."

"You feel it too?"

"Feel what?" Geno asked in confusion, looking back and forth between Error and his… friend?

"Like touching the cat would be bad," Ink said slowly, as if he was parsing every word as he spoke it.

Error looked relieved, "I thought it was just me."

"You're both being weird," Geno grumbled as he went back to petting the cat, who started purring quite loudly and flipped so they were belly up.

"Oh look, they have a white spot on their chest!" Ink declared happily.

Error rolled his eye pips and picked his latest crochet project back up.

"Yeah, it's the only white spot on him," Geno said as he started running a hand over the cat's belly.

Ink leaned in close, squinted, and turned his head like a confused dog. "It kind of looks like a dragon head? Or maybe a dog?"

"It's just a spot," Geno said with a small chuckle.

"No look, the narrow end's the snout, and these prongs back here could be horns or maybe ears, and these spots here where it dips in could be eyes. From how big they are though it looks more like a skull with big eye sockets."

"Why are you here, Ink?" Error asked with some impatience.

"Because Geno's here, of course! I came by to see how the both of you were doing with Geno staying in your house."

"We're fine, I put him in the guest room."

"What?! But that's my room!" Ink put a hand to his sternum like he'd just been shot.

Error rolled his eye pips again, "No, it's my guest room and Geno's my guest. Where else would he stay?"

Ink pouted, "But where will I stay?"

"At your house."

Geno snickered at their back and forth. For as much as Error was a self declared hermit he sure had a lot of friends stopping by to check on him and give him company. Just yesterday Blue had brought a whole gaggle of other skeletons along for some sort of club they had all made together, it was so cute.

"So is the cat a boy or a girl?" Ink asked, knocking Geno out of his musing.

Geno just shrugged in response.

Error made a disgusted noise, "Why do you care so much about that dirty cat? Who cares?"

"Well what else am I supposed to ask about? I doubt Geno wants to talk about his brother."

Geno winced at that, he looked down and away.

"Oh my god!" Error stood and wrapped some strings around Ink's wrist, then started dragging him away. "Dumb paint for brains, even I know better than to talk about that right now!"

"What? I said I wasn't going to talk about it!"

"Just get out!"

"But Ruru…"

"He can stay," Geno said suddenly, already shifting to get off the couch. The cat quickly climbed up onto his shoulders. "You came to visit Error, right? You're friends or whatever, go ahead and stay. I'm a bit tired, healing and all that, I'm just gonna take a nap."

"Geno…" Error started.

"It's fine, you don't have to kick your friend out." With that Geno hobbled his way out of the living room and into the guest room, closing the door behind him. The cat jumped from his shoulders to the bed where they turned in circles and meowed up at Geno while he got himself settled in. By the time there was a knock on the door he'd even managed to get laid out on the bed.

"Geno," Error said quietly as he opened the door.

"It's fine," Geno insisted. "I took my meds with lunch, just wake me for dinner so I can take the next round." Geno turned over, his back facing the door.

"... Alright. Have a good nap."

Geno grunted in response.

Then the door quietly closed, leaving Geno alone in the guest room with just the cat, who had curled up next to him. Geno turned a little more, burying his face in the pillow as tears started spilling out of his good eye. He buried his face in the pillow, pressing his whole body down as best he could to stifle the sobs bubbling up from his rib cage. When a skeletal arm wrapped gently around him he barely even noticed.

Geno was sitting outside again, this time on a brand new, cheap, flimsy, plastic chair. He still wasn't up for risking the hammock. Or even trying to crutch through the overgrown grass to get to it. No, the patio was good enough for Geno and his Walmart chair. He kinda wished Error had ordered one of the folding chairs with the drink holders, but Geno was as likely to get himself in and out of one of those as the hammock or Error's bean bag chair. He was just going to have to hold his can of soda like a plebeian, oh well.

A bird came walking up to him.

Geno looked down in confused surprise as a large black bird with black eyes and a long, sharp, black beak came strutting out of the grass and up to him. A crow, Geno thought at first, but it's so big he can't help wondering if maybe it was a raven. He wasn't sure if it was that much of a difference, or even if it would matter if it was. It was weird that it was brave enough to approach him though.

"What do you want? I don't have any food."

The raven croaked at him, then tilted their head like a confused dog.

Geno leaned further back into the chair, he was pretty sure he'd heard stories about ravens and crows that got upset when not given food they thought they were owed. "Go on, go find someone else to beg from, I don't have any food." He made a shooing motion.

The raven crouched, then hopped into the air and gave a couple quick flaps before landing in Geno's lap, taking up nearly the whole thing.

Only Geno's inability to walk kept him in the chair. He put his arm between his face and the bird, "Damnit! I don't have anything!" Did they want his soda?

The raven started rubbing their head against Geno's ribs while making a kind of cooing sound.

Did the bird want pets?!

Geno tentatively started petting the raven, they shut their eyes in bliss and made more low, croaking cooing sounds.

"Okay, this is really weird." What had been going on lately? It seemed like ever since the accident Geno had been stalked by black… things! He still wasn't sure what that shadow at the hospital had been (probably just a hallucination) but it was still weird. And now that he was thinking back he was pretty sure he'd seen a weird black dog in the hospital parking lot after being discharged. But there was no way a random dog he'd seen once, a neighbor's cat, and this new raven were all connected, right? The cat might be connected to that shadow in the hospital, if it was real at all, but the dog hadn't even approached him and the raven was probably just an animal that got too used to free handouts from people.

"You're not getting any of my soda," Geno said warily.

The raven settled into Geno's lap and made more cooing sounds.

The back door opened and Error stepped out. "What on God's green Earth is THAT?!"

"A raven… I think."

The raven froze up, then looked back at itself.

"What is with you and all black animals lately?"

Geno couldn't help laughing at that, at least he wasn't the only one to notice. "Hey now, the cat has that white spot on his chest."

"It's still weird."

"Oh it's weird alright, but since it only started after I came here I'm blaming you."

"This never happened before you came to live with me either, so clearly it's you attracting them."

"Well I wish I weren't, this is so weird."

"Yeah." They both sat there in silence for a minute, then Error must have gotten bored because he finally seemed to remember why he was out there. "Lunch just arrived, you coming in?"

"Sure, sounds good."

"You're not bringing that thing inside, the cat's bad enough."

"No, yeah, the cat's doing a good job not making a mess, I don't trust a random wild animal." Geno scooted himself to the edge of the chair and picked the raven up, turned them to face out towards the yard, held them cupped in both hands, and gently tossed them. The bird just kind of stayed in Geno's hands. "Uh… fly away? Be free?" Geno tried again, making a sharper upward motion. That seemed to finally do it, the bird had to fly or fall to the ground. They flew! Right back around to land on Geno's shoulder.

"Oh great."

"Seriously, why do they like me so much?"

"How should I know?!"

"I don't know! Just… now what?" Geno was sitting awkwardly leaned half over, the raven trying to find a good grip on his shoulder.

"Maybe if I…" Error approached, a hand out. "Huh, this one too?"

"Really? Don't tell me this one feels dangerous to touch too."

"Yeah, it's got the same aura as the cat."

Geno sighed, he still didn't quite believe that but all of Error's visitors (seriously, how does a shut in have so many friends?) so far have said they feel like touching the cat would be really, really bad. Even the guy who practically exudes bad feelings.

"But let's see if this works." Error grabbed some strings from his eye sockets and looped a few over the raven. The raven squawked in protest, but was quickly bundled up.

"Error, don't hurt them."

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt the stupid abomination." He had the bird tied up and more strings strung from one corner of the house to one corner from where the kitchen hung out, almost like a really long hammock. Then Error gave a sharp tug and the raven was flung high into the air.

Geno had never stood so fast in his life. "Error! They can't fly with their wings tied!"

"Relax." Error made another motion, Geno could see the raven spread their wings. "There, happy? Now let's get inside before it comes back. Or a different animal decides it wants cuddles. Like a skunk or something."

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Geno picked up his crutches (thank goodness they hadn't fallen) and hobbled inside.

Geno was on his computer hard at work when something furry jumped into his lap. "Hey there, kitty cat, haven't seen you in a while." He had been gone for nearly two weeks, the longest time Geno had gone without seeing the black cat.

His only response was to start purring and kneading Geno's lap.

"Yeah, yeah, you want attention." He gave the cat a few pets, let him get settled in, then went back to work. Just like he always did the few times he was around, the cat snuggled in and kept up his purring as he lounged across Geno's lap like it was his property. Geno didn't mind, Error usually stayed holed up in his room while he was working and it left Geno feeling pretty lonely most days. Geno may tend to be pretty introverted but at least at home he had always had…

Well, he didn't anymore so he supposed it didn't really matter. He closed his computer and set it aside. "Move, I'm getting up."

When Geno shifted the cat quickly jumped onto Geno's shoulders and draped himself across like some sort of weird fur capelet.

Geno picked up his cane, grateful his cast was changed for a brace he could kind of walk with. He never thought he'd miss walking of all things!

"Where are you going?" Error asked as they passed in the hall.

"Bed."

"It's a little early, isn't it?"

"Not if I want to shower first, it takes longer with this thing." Geno motioned to his brace.

"Yeah, I guess. You're not taking that dirty abomination with you, are you?"

"Don't be stupid, he's a cat. Cats hate water." Geno went back to limping the rest of the way down the hall. He went to his room first to gather up clothes to change into, "Alright, ride's over. Off you get." He tried shooing the cat off his shoulders.

The cat instead started purring and rubbing his head against Geno's face.

"I'm serious, I'm not taking you into the shower with me." It took some effort to balance himself and use both hands to try pulling the cat off, but he managed it. Unfortunately the cat simply followed him as he limped out of the room. "No."

"Meow."

"No, it's a shower, you're gonna hate it." He tried to keep the cat out as he squeezed into the bathroom, but alas! Between the cane, the brace, and the armful of clean-enough clothes the cat managed to slip past him. He sat proudly on the unused toilet, looking completely smug.

"Fine, but don't expect me to let you out once I turn the shower on." Geno locked the door behind him and set his clothes on the tiny counter space around the sink. Then he started stripping, which was honestly a little weird with a cat staring at him the whole time. He left his clothes in a pile on the floor, then tried to shoo the cat again. "Get out of the way, I need to sit."

Miraculously the cat did move, he jumped onto the counter and sat on Geno's pile of clean clothes.

Geno rolled his eye pip, sat down, and carefully pulled the brace off. From there it was a simple matter to get from his seat outside the shower to his seat inside the shower, in theory anyway. It was such a small distance, he could brace himself on the wall, but he was short and the lip of the tub/shower combo was high enough to make it awkward. When he slipped and nearly toppled over he felt a pair of hands bracing him.

Geno swore and turned around, "I thought I told you…"

No one was there, just the cat back on the toilet lid looking up at him expectantly.

"Huh." Geno's leg twinged, even that had been too long spent upright. He quickly sat down and closed the door. Once the water was turned on he spent a while just sitting in the spray. Had he only imagined it?

Eventually he emerged from the shower into the steam filled room. The cat was still sitting on the toilet lid. When Geno motioned for him to shoo the cat jumped up onto his damp shoulder. Welp! Looked like he was going to have black cat fur stuck to his bones until his next shower. "You're gonna need to move when I put a shirt on."

The cat merely purred and bonked their heads together affectionately.

Geno was right, he did move when he put his shirt on. He moved down to Geno's lap then back up to his shoulders when he pulled his boxers on. By that point he was exhausted and ready to just fall into bed, showers shouldn't be that tiring. They didn't used to be, back when he was healthy they were just relaxing. He missed that, he missed walking, he missed being able to just do things without struggling against his own body like this. And god, he couldn't even just fall into bed like he wanted. No, he had to take the stupid brace off again because he wasn't supposed to sleep with it on! He grumbled to himself as he struggled with all the stupid straps he'd just reapplied.

The cat jumped down from his shoulder the moment Geno was sitting on the bed, curled up next to him and already purring.

"Heh, thanks buddy." He gave the cat a few pets before moving him out of the way and finally flopping over onto his bed. With a flick of his finger he hit the light switch by the door. It was nice to finally have something start to get back to normal, to have enough spare mana to use magic again even if it was only for small things like hitting light switches. The cat burrowed his way under Geno's arm, stretched out right next to his rib cage, still purring with a deep soothing rumble. Between his own exhaustion and the cat's calming presence he was soon out, just like the light he'd turned off mere minutes earlier.

Geno wasn't sure what woke him. It was dark, just the faint streetlamp light leaking through his blinds. He'd look at the time but there was a shadow on the bed next to him, laying between him and the bedside table.

"Kitty?" Geno slurred out in confusion. He thought the shadow was the cat, except it was too large for that. And lumpy, it looked more like a blanket draped over a pillow, a dark silhouette barely visible against the darkness of the room.

"How strange, it's almost like you can see me," the shadow murmured softly. Something not quite there trailed over Geno's arm.

Geno reached out for the shadow, either to prove it wasn't actually there or to prove to himself he's not hallucinating, he's not sure which.

When his hand touched something thick and soft the shadow suddenly came into focus. They were a skeleton wearing what looked to be a thick, black blanket tied with rope of all things, their sockets wide and empty as they blinked at Geno in shock. "Wait, you really could see me?"

Geno frowned as his sleep-heavy mind finally started to chug along, "Who?"

"You really are something else. Go back to sleep, this is only a dream." They touched Geno, putting a skeletal hand over his good eye socket.

Geno slapped the hand away, feeling more awake as this strange encounter continued. "Who are you? Why are you in my bed?"

The stranger quickly sat up and reached out, helping Geno sit up.

"Back off!" Geno growled, he wasn't so weak and sickly he couldn't sit up by himself, even if he wasn't fully healed yet and still a little sleep addled.

The stranger did back off, sitting cross legged in the air just before the bed, a wide grin on their face. "Amazing, truly amazing." They leaned their face on a fist, the attached elbow resting on a knee. "What are you, I wonder?"

"I asked you first," Geno growled. The shock and surprise of a stranger in his room already wearing off and the pull of sleep was attempting to drag him back down to bed.

"I am Death, little mortal, and you should long ago have fallen into my power."

"Yeah well… I survived the stupid accident and at this point it looks like that's not changing any time soon. So you can just buzz off now, thanks."

Death chuckled, their voice deep and soothing. "No, little mortal, not just the accident. It's true you should have died and refused, but more than that my touch kills whether it's your time or not. Every time you've touched me and not turned to dust has been a surprise, even now it's still a novelty." They reached over and poked Geno in the forehead, he slapped their hand away. They just grinned all the wider, "See? Your friends feel my power when they refuse to touch me, yet you don't even notice. What are you?"

Geno rubbed his face furiously, trying to keep himself awake as well as just to give him a moment to take in what he'd just been told. "You're telling me… that you're that random cat that just showed up?"

"And the raven that visited once, I had forgotten which form I had taken that day."

"And you kept cuddling up to me because…?"

"You're the first living thing I've ever been able to touch without killing!" Death grinned broadly at Geno. "I don't think you realize just how monumental that is. I wonder if my brother can touch you as well?"

"Yeah well, this dream is really weird and all and I'm ready to wake up now." Bone can't exactly be pinched, so Geno gave his own face a small, sharp slap. It stung, but the room didn't change.

"Wow, so mortals really do always call it a dream first."

Geno rubbed his face, the sting already fading. "So if you're really the god of death or whatever-"

"One of them."

"One of them? As in there's more? Are they all called Death?"

"Of course, what else would you call us?"

"A name? Don't you have one?"

Death leaned closer, "You can call me Reaper~"

Geno leaned back, "Ok, Reaper. So… what happened to my brother? Is he… ok? I mean, I know he's… he's dead but like… is he ok?"

Reaper leaned back then, the bright grin now gone from his face. He put his feet down, standing right next to the bed. "Yes, his Soul is safe and sound in the afterlife, though he has not yet found true peace. He's worried about you." He held his hand up to Geno, "Would you like to go see him? I'm sure you both would feel better for it."

Geno hesitated, looking up at Reaper with his one eye socket wide and a voice that was shaky and weak, "Can I?"

"Of course." Reaper smiled at him so gently.

Geno took a deep breath, then put his hand in Reaper's.