The hollow king shoved a door into place. It settled crooked, and he slammed a fist against it until it fit better.
As he nodded, Abraham came up from beside him and nailed in the hinges. "Looking forward to a stiff drink after this work?" He asked.
The hollow king didn't say anything, but nodded slowly.
"Me too," Abraham smiled. "Nothing like relaxing with something strong after manual labor."
The two of them seemed to be in agreement, and slowly settled into working together in silence.
Azrail kept finding himself near others, but no one seemed to stick around. Once he started to talk about his past, people just seemed to disappear.
"You hungry?" Will asked.
Azrail kept his eyes focused on the floor as he continued to sweep. Will had just walked in, and was holding a half eaten plate of food.
"Just because you're hungry, doesn't mean you should eat." Azrail said.
"Huh," Will nodded before he took a bite from an apple slice covered in a strange pink glaze. "I always thought it was good to listen to your body. Like, don't they sat that you should drink water when you feel thirsty?"
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Azrail paused and leaned on his broom. With his eyes closed he let out a sigh. "There is some truth to that. Problem is, a body can be fooled. It can be tricked into wanting more than necessary. To feeling pain that isn't actually there."
"Huh, I suppose? I don't really know." Will said before he pushed a fork full of orange slime into his mouth.
"Well, let me tell you a story. When I had rebelled against the government, they were corrupt and using me as essentially a state sanctioned hitman." Azrail paused and let out a dnall chuckle. "Actually, there were a lot of problems. It's almost hard to believe I was blind to it for so long."
Will seemed to be listening intently as he continued to quietly eat the food on his plate.
"Anyway, my story. Well, I was a free agent, but of course they didn't like that. So they sent one if my old coworkers after me. Of course, even if I hadn't turned on them, this would've been my fate eventually. They don't like leaving loose ends, you see. My fate since I first worked for them was to have another killer sent to finish me off." Azrail explained as he continued to lean on his broom.
"Too bad for me, they sent a...new kind of killer after me. She wasn't just any old human, but actually an android. An experiment with half of her humanity ripped out and replaced with mechanical bits." Azrail almost seemed to smile as he reminisced; like looking back on his old life brought him some joy. "I didn't find that out until she caught up to me. I had left in a hurry and didn't have much on me. I was hungry, thirsty, and now a woman in all black stood in my path."
"Was she pretty?" Will asked.
Azrail paused and seemed to mull over his question for a bit. "You know. I actually can't remember...but I'd assume she was. After all, her body was paid for by...wealthy men in the government. It wouldn't make sense to make her ugly."
"Huh. Interesting. I'd think you'd remember the look of someone who was hunting you down." Will added. "I mean, I know I would."
Azrail smiled and turned towards Will. "She wasn't the first, nor the last. She was just the first one sent by the government...now, where was I?"
"She was just confronting you." Will reminded him.
"Ah yes, of course." Azrail nodded. "Now, I'd been trained to handle pain, but the technology she had was something else. My nerves thought I was being torn to shreds with nothing more than a glancing blow..."
Azrail continued to ramble on with his story. The entire time, Will listened carefully. He only interrupted to clarify something, or to make a small comment on the situation.
Up in the rafters above, the smiling man looked down at the two of them. Silent, and smiling as always, he just stared from the background. He seemed more interested in the interactions between the two of them, than the actual story Azrail was telling.