Lying in bed she looked at the ceiling, contemplating if she should get up, fiddling with the pendant, still not believing that she had basically begged him to stay. But she had to admit she hadn't slept that peacefully since last time they slept together. The nightmares weren't as bad as at first, but they still made her feel like she hadn't slept at all sometimes. Worst part was though that when she woke up, she laid across Jack's chest who was reading a book. And if it wasn't for the fact she felt much better she would have crawled under the bed and stayed there.
But she did, in fact she didn't even feel sick anymore even though she had been told it could take days before she got better. Jack had gone to his room the minute she was awake, telling her to just stay in her bedroom just in case and that he would get Jane to come with some breakfast.
Someone knocked on the door and Willow quickly headed towards it but came to a halt when she remembered she shouldn't be near another human.
"Miss Willow I will put the food outside the door with some medicine from Doctor Wilkerson you need to take." she heard Jane say from the other side before hurrying away.
Taking the tray back to bed she wondered if she should ask Jack if she could just explore the island instead of being cooked up in her room instead, now that she felt better.
She quickly finished the breakfast and took the medicine before heading to Jack's room through the balcony and came to a halt in the doorway to Jack's room. Ian sat on a chair beside the bed deftly carving some figurine while Jack lay under the covers with a cloth over his forehead and Luna by his side. For the first time she got a good look at Ian's hands, seeing the roughness and small scars made her remember he said he has been a carpenter.
"Are you okay?" Willow frowned confused as reapers can't get sick, but he looked even worse than she had. Unsure if she should get closer, she stood awkwardly by the balcony door.
"He's sick," Ian scoffed, not looking up from the piece of wood that seemed to be taking the form of a wolf. "The idiot transferred your sickness to himself."
Willow stared at Ian, dumbfounded, before the weight of his words hit her, causing her eyes to widen and her bottom lip to tremble.
"Are you insane? The chronicle clearly state that you're not allowed to heal any injury or sickness unless Death gives you permission! You can get in serious trouble for this!" she exclaimed with worry, walking over to his bedside wondering why he did it. Unlike before she became his pet, he was now only able to heal her by taking the injury or sickness upon himself, which hindered his work and interfered with her path, something that wasn't allowed.
"Yeah, yeah I love you too." Jack said, followed by a fit of coughing.
"Knock that off, this is serious Jack." Willow snarled, putting a hand on his forehead, concerned that he was burning up.
Even if he's already dead doesn't it mean that this isn't concerning, she thought, wondering if reapers could have everlasting effects by anything they transferred to themselves from their pet.
"She's right Jack, you may only get a slap on your hand if Death sees value in keeping you around, But Willow could be sent to the void or killed to keep you away from her." Ian warned while Jack's face drastically changed under Ian's glare.
"I didn't think of that." Jack mumbled averting his eyes, clenching the fabric if the duvet.
"Of course, you didn't, you never do when it comes to her," Ian sighed sliding his fingers through his hair. "And that's the problem. Darlia will kill you for this."
"Jokes on her, I'm already dead," Jack chuckled, but it quickly turned into a cough, making Ian reach for the glass of water while Willow helped Jack into a sitting position, just in case. "Even though it sure as hell doesn't feel like it, by death I haven't missed being sick." He grunted with a hoarse voice after emptying the glass.
Ian furrowed his brow, preparing to say something, but then he stood abruptly, leaving his chair. A few seconds later, there was a knock on Jack's door.
"Master Ian, are you in there?" James called from the other side of the door. "Miss Darlia is waiting for you in her office for your meeting." Ian moved towards the door, running his fingers through his hair with a sigh and straightening his tie. He cast a brief glance back at Willow.
"Keep an eye on him until I get back and don't let anybody get into the room, Jane might try to enter as you're supposed to be the sick one so lock it after me." Willow nodded and hurried over to the door, following his instructions as he vanished, leaving her alone with Jack as she wondered what they should do.
If Jack gets caught, they're fucked, and even Ian who definitely is in Jacks corner won't be able to help. It is clearly stated in the chronicle that this is forbidden without approval and punishment will wary depending on Deaths decision. The chronicles and the fake truth books paint Him in different ways, depending on species, realm and simply interactions making Willow unsure what punishment He would choose. In the chronicles the punishment for different crimes has been all from withholding blood, deaths to almost nonexistent punishment and it isn't defined by the severity of the crime.
Walking back to the bed she pondered about what she could actually do if caught, nobody especially a human had a snowball in Hell's chance to actually get away from a reaper hell-bent on catching you, other than maybe those able to hurt a reaper for a little while.
"You really fucked up you know." Willow sighed as she settled into the chair Ian had occupied earlier, drawing her legs up and resting her chin on her knees. Jack's eyes were dark and glossy, but his gaze remained unwavering from the cave of covers.
"Yeah... I tend to do that a lot for a reaper." he mumbled, tugging the covers up over himself, prompting Luna to meow loudly and leap down from the bed. "I definitely never would have been considered if it hadn't been Ian that picked me up." He whispered from his hideout.
Willow arched an eyebrow and leaned in closer. Jack had rarely spoken about his human life, especially not his death.
"So it was Ian who was your reaper?"
"Yeah, it is common that a reaper or two mostly pick up everyone from the same bloodline, and since Ian is basically part of mine, him being the reaper made sense in this case." he pulled the covers back so she could see the top of his messy dark hair, while she wondered if that meant Jack had picked up others from her bloodline before he said. "Under a visit to my grandma the house caught on fire in the middle of the night, and I woke up too late to save anyone than my little sister. When I went back into the house to get my grandma I got trapped, and well the next thing you know Ian is there ready to lead us to Heaven or Hell. My grandma decides to plead my case, begging for Ian to let me live but as that isn't an option Ian decided to take a chance on me and taking me to Death and plead my case. Surprisingly Death agreed and turned me."
For a while Willow just sat there thinking over what Jack said, it was hard at times remembering that Jack isn't just some weird human with insane powers due to how he act. For her it was easy to still see the humanity in the reapers, even the old ones like Darlia and Ian, making it hard to know that one day Jack may lose it. Darlia wrote the same in the chronicle about reapers as Jack said but added the fact is that many reapers lose it due to most never really interact with humans outside of their job, other than those with companions that then get some of the humanity back they have lost or keep it. That human's make them regain or keep their humanity, which makes many reapers take the easy way out and not have companions so they don't have to live on the island.
Then another thought hit her.
"I'm sorry to hear about your grandma, it was brave of you to run back in to safe her." She couldn't help but be amazed over his bravery, as she fiddled with the pendant. "Were you...Were you the one who reaped my dad?" She almost didn't want to hear his answer as he averted his eyes. If the same reapers usually reap the same bloodline wouldn't that mean that Jack reaped her dad, considering he was the one who tried to reap Peter?
"No, no that was another reaper, I never got to meet Ludvig."
Willow shivered slightly upon hearing her dad's name. It had been so long since she had heard someone say it, and it felt strange to hear Jack mention him, as if he knew him. Of course, she understood why he knew of him. The room fell silent, only broken by Jack's persistent coughing.
"Is there anything I can do? Get you some more water? See if I can get Jane to get some soup?" she mumbled reaching over to drench the cloth again in the small basin on the nightstand.
He let out a soft chuckle as he sat up and leaned against the wooden headboard looking at her with dark eyes.
"I may like to eat, but I don't exactly get anything out of it."
Fiddling with the pendant, Willow took a deep breath and climbed onto the bed. She pulled the white t-shirt away from her shoulder. With the marks he had left on her neck, people gaze fall even more on her neck than they already did cause of the collar.
"Please hurry up, I don't need Ian to see this." she mumbled as he hadn't moved an inch and just stared at her neck. Even though something clearly was wrong considering they reacted like they did, didn't mean Ian would understand that it wasn't cause of love, and they were already in enough trouble with him curing her.
"Oh no no no! You guys are already in enough trouble as it is" someone said as she got pulled back and Willow looks at Ian who stared down at her with narrow eyes. "Get some warm clothes from your room, we are leaving." He urged her toward the balcony while assisting Jack to the edge of the bed, then disappeared into his closet.
"Where are we going?" Jack frowned confused.
"I told Darlia that Willow was getting sicker and that I was concerned for the safety of the other humans so she allowed me to take you two away from the mansion and to the cabin in the mountains where she would not be contagious. That way nobody will know what you did." Ian yelled from the closet.
Jack and Willow exchanged puzzled glances.
"Cabin?" Willow asked as Ian emerged from the closet with a black bag.
"Yes cabin, it predates the mansion, but have been maintained and was renovated a couple of years before your arrival as I still like to go there." he explained, tossing the bag onto the bed. He then helped Jack up and gestured for Willow. "Pack a bag before Darlia decide to check up on you."
Willow rushed to her room, packing the bag as her thoughts drifted to how different her life would have been if John had never entered their lives. She might have been returning from school right about now, doing her homework while waiting for Peter to come back from football practice and her mom from work. Instead, she was preparing to hide in a cabin, all because Jack had decided to heal her from a unearthly sickness, potentially putting both of them in danger.
She quickly pulled on a blue sweater over her white t-shirt, then located some black hiking boots and a bag in the closet. Willow began tossing clothes and necessities into the bag, her mind racing. Should she leave a note for Fahima and the others, assuring them that she would be fine just in case? Grabbing a piece of paper and a pencil, she quickly wrote a note explaining their sudden departure, expressing that she would be okay and would see them soon. Folding the note, she wrote 'Jane' on the outside, hoping that Jane would deliver it to the others.
"You ready?" Ian voice snapped her from her thoughts.
Turning around she saw Ian with Jack's arm yanked over one shoulder and the bag in the other. Nodding, she quickly grabbed her bag and reached for Ian outstretched hand, but Jack took it instead. Both looked at him for a second before Ian shrugged and seconds after, they landed at the edge of a small snowy valley in the mountains. There, a cabin with a wooden-columned porch nestled among the ruins of others like it. A shed stood against one side of the cabin, and despite its age, it appeared to be well-kept and even equipped with relatively modern amenities, as evidenced by an antenna on the roof.
"I didn't know this place still existed." Jack frowned as they headed to the cabin.
"Most doesn't anymore of those on the island, I like to keep this place for myself." Ian replied, helping Jack up onto the porch. A beautifully crafted wooden bench and a matching table adorned the porch, featuring intricate carvings of an apple tree and leaves.
Ian swung open the door, revealing a cozy, open space inside. To the right was the kitchen with an island, and on the left were barn doors that likely led to the bathroom. Across from them, a vintage fireplace sat, flanked by comfortable couches. Every piece of furniture was meticulously crafted from wood, adorned with exquisite designs, from the exposed ceiling beams to the bookshelves filled with carved figurines. A ladder near the kitchen led up to a loft, revealing the end of a panel bed.
"Did you make all this?" Willow whispered in awe as she looked around from the craftsman kitchen to the carvings on the bookshelves.
"When you lived as long as I have, you have a lot of time on your hands," Ian he gently placed Jack on a leather couch adorned with a wood frame featuring flower designs. "And I did work with wood before I died so it comes naturally." He set the bag down on a natural wood table before heading to the kitchen.
Willow placed the bag next to Jack's and settled into a braided branch chair with a white fur throw draped over it, while wondering how long they had to stay here.
"This didn't exactly go as I planned, but hey some alone time isn't that bad." Jack smirked before starting coughing making Willow roll her eyes.
"Maybe lay off on the jokes until you get better." she sighed, fiddling with the pendant actually wondering herself if this was a good idea.
Ian returned with two cups of water and pressed his forehead against Jack's. Concern filled his expression as he noted the persistent fever.
"You still have a fever."
"Is that's why I feel like I'm standing in a pit in Hell?" Jack raised an eyebrow as Ian pulled back with a sigh. He took the fur blanket hanging over the comfy dark chair beside the couch pulling it around Jack before turning to look at Willow.
"There isn't any food so I will come with it soon, but I better head back to the mansion before Darlia decide to pay a visit to see how you're doing." he turned to look at Jack with a stern expression. "And you? Behave."
Jack gave him a half-assed salute before Ian vanished leaving them alone. Willow sat there for a couple of minutes wondering what she should do. Being in the mansion with everyone was one thing, but alone with Jack in a cabin in the mountains was another. Especially when the only thing to keep them entertained was a small television and the books. In any other situation would she not have minded due to the possibility of exploring, but with Jack sick it probably wasn't a good idea.
"I clearly have no survival instinct," She mumbled, more to herself when she realized she wasn't even nervous over being alone with him. Now that she thought about it, she had never really been, making her wonder how she wasn't kidnapped as a child if she's so easy to trust people.
"What?" He frowned from under the blanket.
"Was one of my deaths perhaps dying in a ditch due to trusting the wrong person?" She asked seeing the confusion on his face. "I am supposed to be just a teeny bit nervous over being alone in a cabin with a guy."
Jack's expression grew serious, and his gaze locked onto hers. He assured her firmly but softly, "You don't have to be afraid of me, I would never hurt you. Never."
Something in his tone of voice made her heart beat faster until she pulled herself out of it.
"Let's get you to bed so you can rest." Willow swiftly changed the subject, heading over to him. She extended her hand, helping him up from the couch. However, he leaned heavily against her, almost causing her to stumble, as she didn't expect his full weight. "Jesus you're heavy." she muttered to herself, struggling under his weight as she pulled him towards the ladder.
"Are you calling me fat?" He slurred pulling his head back from her shoulder so he could look at her with glossy amused eyes.
"I aren't calling you light," Willow grunted surprised over him not being cold like usual. He must be really sick she thought concerned and slightly guilty over he did this for her. With great effort, she managed to get him up the ladder and onto the double bed adorned with intricate carvings of an apple tree and a girl beneath it. With a sigh she crashed beside the bed, wondering what she should use her time with, Jack was sick and needed rest. "Do you need anything?" She leaned against the bed.
He shook his head with a grunt before eying her from under the covers with dark eyes.
"food," She got closer to his head and pulled her hair away from her neck, earning a frown. "I'm glad you're this eager to offer yourself to me, but I meant real food... Like sour worms or M&M."
Willow raised a brow as she leaned back and pulled her shirt and sweater back in place.
"That ain't real food." she sighed not even able to tell Ian to bring any. She placed a hand on his forehead, wiping his drenched hair, pondering if anything that helped a human feel better would work for a reaper. But her attempt was interrupted when Jack, with the swiftness of a snake, grabbed her hand, startling her. He released her when he saw her tremble.
"I can't help but wonder if we had met like humans if you would still be this scared of me." Jack mumbled as Willow started to climb down the ladder. Her movements halted at his words, and she poked her head over the edge, making sure she had his full attention.
"I'm not scared of you," she clarified, her voice gentle but resolute. " I'm just scared cause I'm human and my family, my friends and the life I had before is gone and taken over by a supernatural one where a mere cold can kill you." She sighed not sure how to explain it to him. She wasn't afraid of any of the reapers themselves, even though logically she should, she was afraid of what they could do and what was to come.