kiss of death
words: 2.9k
warnings: 18+ only, smut, p in v sex, unprotected sex, alternative universe, soulmates, grim reaper!rafe, talk of death, superstitions, reader kind of dies (its explained in the fic)
you swallow deeply as you step into the graveyard. the darkness is creeping into every corner, but you know it's not midnight, not yet.
you feel a pang of guilt as you walk through the rows of graves, briefly glancing at the names to distract your focus from the anxiety filling your chest.
it's an old superstition, but you're beyond desperate.
you stop at the hole in the ground and the temporary headstone, ready for burial tomorrow.
“sorry mr. crawford.” you whisper. you barely knew him, the town psychologist currently kept in the morgue. you could probably use him right now as you move carefully to your knees.
you recite the words from the local town lure, the promise of your true love showing up to kiss you awake at sunrise if you laid in the grave at exactly midnight.
all your other friends have found love, love that is so pure and beautiful it makes your chest ache with jealousy and wanting.
you look at your watch and let out a sigh. five minutes of looking into the grave until the hands of the clock point straight up, five minutes to change and regret your decision.
the minutes tick by but your resolve only grows. you're beyond desperate and the worst thing that could come of it is you spend the night sleeping in a hole under the stars.
you climb down the second the minute hand crawls to the 12 and lay back in the grave, blinking upwards towards the starless night sky, the bright sunlight reflecting off the moon blocking out any other suns.
you close your eyes, trying to ignore the fact that you're exposed to worms and bugs and whatever else happens to be lurking in the graveyard at night. certainly nothing you want to come across.
soulmate. your soulmate. your one true love is worth one night in a grave as you fall into a deep slumber.
--
you can feel the light against your eyelids, but before you can open them, it's blocked out by a shadow.
you gasp as lips are pressed against yours, cold but soft lips. you want to open your eyes but they feel so heavy as you kiss back, hands reaching upwards but you feel nothing, just pressing into the freezing cold air despite it being the middle of summer.
you finally force your eyelids open and you realize who you have been kissing as he pulls away, more of a black figure then a true human form.
“no.” your voice quivers. “no!”
“did you not want your one true love to wake you with a kiss?” he smirks down at you, hovering directly over your body.
“my-my true love is not death.” you thought it was just another superstition, the grim reaper, the one to facilitate your crossing to the other side, but when looking up you know that the mans face that looks back down upon you is nothing but pure and utter death.
“then tell me why i was called to this spot only to find you laying here.” his voice is smooth but deep in tone, not what you expected from the grim reaper as you almost find comfort in his soft words.
“this can't be right.” you look around you, realizing that all light from the rising sun has disappeared, along with the walls of dirt around you, replaced with darkness so thick it's like you could reach out and touch it. “am i?”
you can't make the word out fully. “kind of.” the reaper shrugs.
reality shifts and despite you not changing positions, you can tell in the inky blackness that you're now on your feet.
“come with me.” the grim reapers legs push out from the black mass, appearing and disappearing as he begins to walk, somehow able to find his way, walking with the purpose of a destination that is unseen to you.
“what if i don't want to?” you question, even though your heart is pulling you towards him, telling you to follow and stay close.
“i will give you this option only once.” the reaper turns to you. “you can turn around and walk away, or you may follow me and be with your one true love and rule the underworld as my queen.”
you know your back should be towards the reaper as you begin to walk, but you can't go back to your earthly reality after discovering the grim reaper is just waiting for you to die, for you to take your place.
as you walk alongside the grim reaper, you begin to make out shapes moving through the darkness.
the first one scared you so bad as you whipped your head to the side, trying to make out what appeared to be someone walking the opposite direction.
“what is this place?” you ask, voice quiet, feeling as though you don't want to interrupt the figures pushing through the dark.
“the place between life and death. the farther we walk, the closer we are to death and my-our kingdom.”
“and the people walking the other way?” you turn to look over your shoulder as your feet continue forward.
“some have been revived. by doctors or desperate loved ones. but most made a choice. most got to the final step and realized it wasn't there time.”
“and is it my time?”
“you will not truly be dead.” he states, and you find yourself swaying to walk closer to him, his cold presence comforting as the only thing around you can truly make out. “i will keep you in the state that you are now for as long as you please. you will be in limbo, in status. your earthly body will still be yours.”
“so no one will know what happened to me?” you can tell that your body isn't left in the grave, that you're whole and complete right here, soul included.
“no.” he sounds almost regretful as the blackness ahead of you turns into a swirl of dark grey, making out the rolling hills as you get closer.
“your final choice.” the reaper says, and you don't mention that he already gave you what he claimed to be your final choice before you began walking.
it hits you then. the reaper is in just as new of a position as you are in, and your nerves don't outweigh him.
“what is your choice?” you parrot the question back. “do you want me… to rule with you?”
“i have waited an eternity for you. so long that the memory of how i came to be the reaper is no longer available to me.” the grim reaper pauses for a moment before continuing. “yes. i want you alongside me always.”
you nod and then take a step past what you can tell is the final film, the one separating you from whatever rolling hills of gray grass await.
a weight you didn't realize you were carrying leaves you as the grim reaper steps out next to you, the black mass of his body gone as he appears as a fully realized man, legs and all.
you don't mean to, but you reach out and touch him, seeing if your arms would move through him as they did before during your kiss, but your fingers just press against the soft fabric of his black long sleeved shirt.
“welcome to the underworld.” he says, taking your hand in his and pulling you to continue walking.
you can make out a castle in the distance, and the closer you walk towards it, the warmer the hand in yours gets and the less gray seems to be blotting out the world as the grass turns green beneath your feet.
you gasp the first time you see one, stepping closer to the reaper.
“they won't hurt you.” he clarifies quickly as the large wolf runs past you in the distance, several hills away.
“you control them?” you question.
“yes.” he nods. “and all the wolves on earth as well. they are part of my domain.”
“i thought it was going to be a three headed dog.” you whisper slightly sheepishly as you realize your hand has been intertwined with the grim reaper the entire walk, feeling so natural that you don't question the fingers snug between yours.
“everyone got something partially right.” he says. “the egyptians, the greeks, the christians. they all had pieces.”
“oh.” you don't care to question more, not yet. you're already overloaded with all the information.
you pause as you get to the door of the castle. it's not dead quite like you expected, you can hear voices chattering inside and when you look up you can occasionally see people passing by windows.
“people do what suits them best after death. what would make them most happy. for most, that's reincarnation. for some, that's helping others cross or serving me in other ways. everyone inside this home is dead.”
you like that he calls it a home and a slight smile stretches across your cheeks.
“do not ask them how they died or their life on earth. if they wish to reveal it to you, it will be on their own time.”
“okay.” you nod, looking to the grim reaper, your soulmate. “what should i call you?”
you certainly can't continue to call him the grim reaper, it would just be an upsetting reminder.
“rafe.” he smiles down at you, not the terrifying soulless being you thought he would be. “you may call me rafe.”
--
the tour of the expansive home is long, but you find yourself only half listening as you look at rafe.
his appearance is so different from when you saw him first, he looks less harsh, kinder, more alive.
“are you tired?” he asks as he pushes the doors open to what you assume is the master bedroom. “i know you just awoke but if you need to rest-”
“how does time work here?”
“there's night and day just as there is on earth. it's still morning.” he places a gentle hand on your back, pushing gently to get you to enter the room.
“this is our chamber.” he explains. “you may rest, or bathe, or eat.”
“i…” you look down at your clothes, dirt still covering your pants. “id like to change.”
a maid ushers in, and you try to see if you can get any visual clue that she's passed, but theres nothing as she opens up a cabinet and begins to grab out various jewel toned options.
“i must attend to some business.” rafe says. “ill be back soon.”
you get changed and dismiss the maid, wondering what kind of person chooses to serve like this for all of eternity and actually enjoy it, but you're too distracted with exploring your surroundings to think too hard about it.
you find a sitting room with walls covered in bookshelves, the grand bathroom, and a door that leads to a balcony.
you step out and look over the rolling hills, seeing as they turn to gray the farther away it is from the castle, seemingly encircled completely by the void.
you occasionally see a wolf running, or a figure floating, but you can tell none of them are your reaper. that must be the other helpers he was talking about. despite not being able to see their faces, you know it's not him.
you take a seat on the lush couch on the balcony. they must not have true weather here or it would certainly be ruined by the rain.
before you notice it, now dressed in clean clothes similar to rafes, your eyes are closing and you're falling into a deep sleep.
--
you yawn as you wake up, stretching as you realize you'd been moved to the bed at some point.
you sit up suddenly only to come face to face with rafe who is sitting in an armchair moved from the sitting room to the foot of the bed.
“did you move me?”
“yes.” he nods as you blink, looking outside, unable to tell how long you've been asleep. like he's reading your mind, rafe speaks. “it's the next morning. you were exhausted from the journey.”
“did you sleep in the bed with me?”
“i do not need sleep.” rafe answers, jolting you slightly before you remember who you are here with.
“then why have this bed?”
rafe gives you a pointed look as you replay his words in your head. of course it's for you. he's been waiting.
“come.” rafe stands, imposing his tall height again.
you slide out of bed, only then realizing that your clothes have been changed.
“a maid changed you.” he says quickly. “i will escort you to breakfast and as you eat i will finish my work for the day. then we can…”
he trails off like he doesn't know what the options are. “get to know each other.” you offer. “since you're my one true love i suppose we should… go on a date?”
a smile stretches across the reapers face. “yes. a date.”
--
“what is it you'd like to know?” rafe asks as you're sat in the front of the boat, moving slowly down a river that winds through the hills.
it scared you at first, but rafe certainly wouldn't be taking you anywhere where you couldn't come back.
“uh…” there's a million questions you have about life and death, about heaven and hell, but that's not what you truly want to know. “what's your favorite color? do you have to eat? can you sleep even if you don't have to?”
“well…” rafe chuckles. “i love deep blue. i don't have to eat but i can, same with sleeping. and your favorite color?”
“also blue.” you swallow deeply, eyes turning upward as the invisible force keeps the boat moving steadily in the water. “but sky blue. like on a warm summer day.”
you're about to wonder if you'll ever truly see the sky again when you can make out a cloud in the distance.
“i-”
“for you.” rafe says as the color of the sky shifts, matching the exact shade you were thinking of. “everything here can be changed for you.”
the conversation flows naturally, you suppose it should between soulmates. every time rafe smiles, you get butterflies in your stomach, and by the time you're back where the river meets the castle, you have a question brewing on the tip of your tongue.
“can we… can we kiss again?” you need to know what it feels like, if it's the same cold lips despite his hands now feeling warm.
the smile comes back to rafes face, and then it gets closer and closer until he's kissing you, deeply.
you almost instinctively wrap your arms around his shoulders, able to fully touch him now as he kisses you, warm lips gliding against each other's.
you pull yourself closer until you can't get any nearer without climbing onto his lap, which you do next as you cling to him.
you thought your friends talking about the instant connection with their one true love was ridiculous, but you know what is between you and rafe is complete and real and right.
there's a woosh of air and when you pull away, you're still straddling rafe, but now in your bedroom.
“please.” he said softly, and the word comes out a little strange, like he's not used to saying it. “i need you.”
your fingers grasp the bottom of your shirt before you lift and pull it off your body, revealing the bra somehow already in your size that the maid got out after breakfast.
rafes hands stop yours when you go to unclasp it. “let me.” he says.
his hands are large and warm as they undo your bra and push the straps off your shoulders so it falls between the two of you.
“can i-”
“yes.” you answer quickly. “do anything you want to me.”
you take rafes cheeks in your hands as you look in his deep blue eyes. “do everything.”
your reaper transports you again, this time only feet as you're laid on your back, head rested against the pillows as he hovers over top of you.
your clothes as well as rafes are completely gone, and you're both silent, breathing heavily as you admire each other's bodies. if someone would have asked you what your perfect mate looks like, you'd absolutely describe rafe in this state.
“i will spend eternity pleasuring you, but you'll have to forgive me for not being able to wait a moment longer.”
rafes cock lines up with your entrance, and then he's pushing inside, his eyes shutting as he lets out a moan that makes you surge forward to kiss his lips and swallow the sound as his hips glide all the way in, fitting exactly inside of you like he's been your missing part all along.
“you're so- warm.” rafe manages to choke out. “ive never felt warmth like this.”
it makes you sad to think rafe spent so long as the cold and lonely reaper. you pull him into you, pressing your chests together as his hips begin to move, your moans growing and becoming in sync, creating a beautiful chorus even to your own ears.
you don't know what your future will hold. there will no doubt be ups and downs, hard times and great times, but you will face it all together with your reaper, your rafe.
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