Grim AU Fanfic: La Noche in the Hanok Mansion
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, @opotakuism / @jknerd !
This is a gift for Maki~! I know how much she loves these two so I
The two characters here are Head Reaper Sado and Calavera Catrina from our AU, Grima Adventures of Billie & Manny~ (Sado belongs to Maki and Catrina belongs to me~)
Without any mother delays, enjoy~! (Also found in DA~)
The Underworld is quiet and desolate as the evening is coming to an end for the night to come. As every one of its inhabitants is either in or on their way inside their homes. They know about the dangerous creatures that roamed the night. The reapers, the main employees of Underworld Reapers INC, are relaxing in their homes. Since the beginning of last year, they have been through a lot of stress and work. Naturally, considering the “wave” has ended, they finally got to relax before the next one.
Marzanna is cooking Guryev porridge for her grandchildren in her home. Tuoni is drinking vodka as he’s reading an epic poem with his wife, Tuonetar. The Guédé family is having a family gathering in Baron Samedi’s house. Morrigan is making a quilt depicting a Gaelic legend. Saint Juste and Geneviève are watching a children’s movie, which is chosen by the latter. Anubis is writing down moody poems. Thanatos is playing an electric rock guitar. Degei is building a small dura, a Fijian canoe. Ala is cooking some dundu, fried yam chips, as Eshu is searching for their favorite soap opera. Azrael is listening to ballad rock while cleaning his scythe. Dhumavati is weaving a winnowing basket. Count Radu is simply sleeping after drinking some blood liquor. Bolormaa is feeding her hell horse in the stable in her ranch. Kimbe is sleeping on her hammock. Thulani is in his garage, adjusting his motorcycle’s exhaust pipes to blow fire out. Rosalice is dancing to samba with her subordinates at a house party. It seems like the reapers are taking their sweet time for the night.
However, not everyone is outside enjoying the night.
The Head Reaper is currently in an office in his home, which is a traditional Korean-style mansion. His name is Sado, who was the Crown Prince of the Korean Joseon Dynasty that never got to sit on the throne. Instead, he was sentenced to death by his own father, Yeongji, to starvation in a rice chest for his schizophrenic killings against his subjects. Since he’s at home, he doesn’t have to wear his standard semi-formal hanbok. Sado is currently wearing a black see-through night-hanbok.
Because of him being the Head Reaper, he has to make sure that the deaths are in order and the souls are placed where they should be. He had already sent his secretary to Underworld Reaper INC to collect very important documents. Sado hopes that she gets here on time before the night comes.
As if on cue, he hears a knock on his door. Sensing no danger, Sado commanded his servant to open the doors and bring the person here. As Sado waits, he starts looking at the North American, seeing that the trend of deaths starting to go down. The Head Reaper hopes at least the thread goes down, meaning Grima would get some rest.
He sees his secretary and Vice Chief reaper La Calavera Catrina walking in and kneeling in front of him. Her black hair is braided up into a bun with a black sombrero decorated with marigolds and candles. She wears a black pueblo dress that has colorful flower embroidery. Her shoes are black flats with marigold embroidery. She still has her sugar skull makeup.
“Good evening, Head Reaper Sado…~” Catrina greeted in her Mexican accent. “I have your documents from the office…~”
“Ah, thank you, Ms. Calavera…” Sado allows her to come in. Catrina is holding a satchel containing Sado’s documents. They have information on the World’s life expectancy, separated by nation, and it needs to be updated. This is adding more work into the already worked Head Reaper. Catrina sees Sado clearly. She blushes as she sees his bare chest.
“Since you have gotten the documents, I will be going now…~” She said hurriedly, turning away from her superior. “Wait…” He halted her. “What is it, Reaper Sado…?” The Mexican Reaper inquired. “Stay here, Catrina… It’s safer for you to stay…” Sado suggested. This surprised her as her superior offered her to stay overnight. The younger reaper then questioned him, “Can’t you teleport me home…?”
“My teleportation is limited to where the other reapers currently are… Since you are here, I can’t teleport you back to your home…” He explained. Catrina is touched by his concern for her safety. “Ohhh… Is there really space for me…?”
“Yes… I have several guest rooms… Enough space for you to spend the night…” Sade assured her. “Great…~ Fortunately, I have brought my sleepwear and a few blooming tea flowers with me…~” She mused. “Blooming tea flowers…?” While he understands why Catrina has brought in her sleepwear, considering that she and the other reapers had to work overnight several times since the past year, he is confused about the “blooming tea flowers”.
“They are a special kind of teabag from Tlālōcān…~ Mictēcacihuātl gave me plenty of these when I had to work overtime…~” She explained to her superior. “I have gotten a few for you…~ You should try the Chamomile ones…~ They help you to sleep better at night…~” Sado is a bit surprised at the offer. He still took the blooming tea flowers and gave his gratitude.
“Please take Ms. Calavera to the guest room…” He commanded his servant, who led the Vice Chief to one of the mansion’s guest rooms. Seeing her leaving for the guest room, Sado starts to look at the documents. He starts calculating the life expectancy of several nations, which several have gotten lower. Calculating the new life expectancy is necessary and it would help him and the other reaper to be ready for the coming year. He is hoping that the rate of deaths would be lower this year than last.
After an hour, The Head Reaper is feeling tired, more so than before. It appears that he should go to sleep for tomorrow. Though, he wants to make sure that nothing is causing his subordinate. Sado goes to the guest room to see if Catrina is comfortable. This is actually the very first time that he has guests staying overnight.
Then he sees her in front of the bathroom mirror.
Catrina has removed the sugar skull makeup from her face, revealing her smooth and ghostly pallor face. She wears a lacy black short nightgown. Her black hair is undone, showing her long, flowing, wavy hair, reaching to her lower back.
Sado quietly left the room and rested his back on the wall. Suddenly, he felt his face getting heated and his heart beating fast. He hadn’t felt this way since his time alive. Sado decided that he should take a warm bath to get rid of the strange feeling. Maybe with some tea.
Later in the guest room, Catrina lies down on the bed. ‘Rather dull here…’ She thinks. The environment of the mansion does lack color and any sort of expression. She thought there would be some sort of art in this place but so far, there is none. Her room is starting to get cold, causing the Mexican Reaper to wrap herself in blankets. Despite being in the Underworld and associated with the dead, Catrina usually kept herself warm as she is always surrounded by candles.
The cold starts to become unbearable.
She gets up from the bed and heads towards Sado’s room, hoping that he would have a solution to it.
It’s slowly getting cold in the mansion. Sado is used to the cold since his death. Considering that he has spent his final days in a rice chest during the scorching summer heat, he finds this to be rather preferable. Suddenly, there’s a knock on his door, confusing Sado. He walks to the door to see Catrina, who is slightly shivering. “Ms. Calavera, what do you need…?” He queried. Catrina looks around from his chest to make eye contact. “Well… I was just asking if you can turn on the heat in your mansion… It is starting to get cold…” She wondered.
“Apologizes for that but the mansion does not have any sort of heat… I believe it won’t be necessary considering what we are…” Sado replied to her. Catrina couldn’t sleep during the cold. There is always warmth in every reapers’ home when she visits them. Even her marigolds in her garden have warmth, mostly because they were offerings.
Then she thought of a solution to it. However, it is rather… unorthodox.
“Uhhh… If it is okay with you, can I… sleep with you…?” She asked meekly. Sado raised an eyebrow at her request. “I’m sorry…?” He was puzzled. Catrina slightly blushes in embarrassment as she repeats her questions. A part of herself immediately regrets asking him this but repeats it anyway. “C-can I sleep… with you tonight…? It’s only for warmth…”
Sado sighs then acquiesced, “Alright…” His answer perks up Catrina but she reminds herself to not look excited. “Thank you…~” She responded as she went to his bed. Sado sits on the other side of the bed. It has been a very long time since he shared the same with another person, let alone a woman. As he lay down, he felt a strange yet usual feeling coming from her.
Suddenly, Catrina felt a hand on her arm. It felt unusually cold. She immediately can tell it is Sado’s. She felt a bit of a pulse coming from him. This is unusual to any other reaper or monster in the Underworld as they see Sado is a cold-blooded, heartless, remorseless entity.
Catrina, however, is the only one to see through that exterior.
The two begin to hold together as they drift into a slumber. As they do, they start to feel something from each other. It’s been a long time since Sado has felt such warmth. The last time was that he held his son, Jeongjo, for the final time before his death sentence. Instinctively, he held her closer to him, which caused Catrina to be closer to his chest, and started to hear his heart beating.
It is faint and slow but she can hear it. It is soothing her like a lullaby. This is the sound she misses dearly for a century. By hearing his heart beating, she knows that Sado isn’t a heartless being. While he is terrifying, he is not a monster. He is someone who was alive, who had ambitions, who had a family, who had been happy at one point.
Sado held her closer to him as Catrina did the same to him. The two reapers began to feel the weight of sleepiness.
