Death and the Lady

Lily was walking back from the cafeteria carrying a knife and apples when she bumped into someone. The apples fell from her hands and rolled away and the knife clattered loudly to the ground. She looked up at the person she’d bumped into and froze.

The woman was taller than any she’d ever seen, pushing well past seven feet. Her hair was electric white and seemed to glow, as were her clothes. Her face was beautiful, but like a diamond. It was all light and reflection and hard, cold beauty. She was as slender as a reed and her dress hung loosely on her frame.

She looked down at Lily. Usually one apologises if one bumps into someone, she said coldly and Lily frowned.

“I would if you weren’t so snooty about it,” she said as she bent to pick up the fallen fruit and knife and the woman’s eyes widened then narrowed.

There was a strange edge to her voice. Not quite the same laden tones of Death, but something electric and alive. It was not part of Reality, but still something that was defined by it.

Slowly Lily got to her feet and looked the apples over carefully, looking for bruises on the bright red skin. Her hands were shaking, they hadn’t stopped shaking since Haji nearly died.

The woman leaned closer, pressing her cold, beautiful face close to Lily’s. Lily got the impression that the face was flickering, showing Lily what she considered as beauty rather than having a real appearance.

You must be the new Master Reaper I have been told about, the woman hissed.

Lily raised an eyebrow. “And you must be Life,” she said and stepped back to look the woman slowly up and down. “Mmm,” she said with an unimpressed tone.

What is wrong? The woman snapped.

Lily shrugged one shoulder. “Nothing, I just thought something.”

Which is?

“I always knew you were a bitch,” she answered and turned to walk away.

She heard Life growl with anger as she walked away from the woman. She walked back to the infirmary and set the knife and apples on the bedside table at Haji’s bed. He smiled at her from his book.

“Are you going to peel those for me?” he asked and Lily kissed him on the cheek.

“Not today. I have a ceremony to attend.”

“Do you have to?”

“Death asked me to attend in Helandel’s place.”

Both of them looked at the bed at the far end of the room where Helandel still lay asleep. Haji took Lily’s hand and squeezed it.

“He’ll be alright,” he said and Lily lowered her gaze.

“I’m not too sure about that.”

“You’ll think of something.”

“How do you know?”

Haji pulled her closer and kissed her tenderly. “You always do, love,” he said and she smiled.

“I have to go. See you soon.”

Lily stood beside Death and watched as Life handed Scarlet the hourglass that represented her returned life. It glittered in white and red and had maple leaves carved into the red wood that housed the twin bulbs. The sand inside was golden and glittered in the strange light of Death’s garden. Lily could clearly make out Scarlet’s real name embossed onto the red wood in silver letters. She almost laughed when she recognised the name. Scarlet was an actress in Reality.

Reapers in their thousands stood in front of them. Many were crying, others were laughing and cheering. Scarlet stood tall and proud, with her red hair and red clothes. It was never hard to miss the red Canadian.

Lily looked at the mass of faces that stood before them. She saw Claire and Nate, standing close together and holding hands. The twins were grinning from ear to ear and whooping loudly. Kenny was sitting on his massive bunny’s shoulder in order to see what was going on. Ryo was leaning against the wall on which Helandel’s plaque stood alone. He looked amused as he watched the twins.

“What happens after this?” Lily asked and Death shrugged.

She listened to the rustle of his robes. It was strange that she could hear such a faint sound over the noise of the crowd. Everything around her seemed hypersensitive since Haji and Claire nearly died. It was like her senses were saying ‘treasure this moment, you’ve seen how quickly it can pass’.

Scarlet will return to Reality and live out her time there.

“How much time was she given?”

Enough.

“That’s not helpful.”

That is the truth, nonetheless.

Lily looked at the hourglass in the Scarlet’s hands. She knew about the Room of Hourglasses, had even been inside a few times while helping Death with his tasks. The hourglasses represented people’s lives. As you watched the hourglasses disappeared and reappeared as old lives ended and new lives began. The hissing of passing time was like the roar of the ocean. Most Reapers avoided the Room of Hourglasses, but to Lily it was like the library.

In the Room there was a separate doorway that led to the Hall of Reapers. There the Reapers’ hourglasses were kept. They were strange things. Slightly larger than the regular hourglasses and the two bulbs were suspended between curling fingers of black wood. There was no sand inside the bulbs, nothing but curling soul blue that never passed through the pinch. Dead Time made solid.

Lily watched as Life bent over and kissed Scarlet’s brow and the Reaper smiled at the crackling being. Everyone erupted into loud cheers and whoops, and the sound almost became a solid thing. Lily swore she could see the air vibrate with the force of the cheering.

Lily thought that she was the only one who thought that Life wasn’t as beautiful as she tried to seem. It was almost like looking at the snowflakes falling and seeing the avalanche tear down a mountainside. It was still beautiful, but not in the same way. She frowned.

That is because you see the world as it truly is, child, not as you want to, Death said softly and she looked up at him.

“How did you know what I was thinking about?” she asked and he grinned down at her.

I have become able to read you, child.

Lily grinned back at him. “Then I’ll have to renew my mask.”

Helandel will die.

“I know.”

He knew the consequences of returning to Reality without my authorization.

“I know.”

Lily watched as Life stepped back and ran her hand over a blank spot on the wall. A new plaque appeared with Scarlet’s name on it in curling scarlet letters. The ceremony ended. All in all it wasn’t quite as big a thing as Lily had imagined.

Life walked over to her and Death. Lily looked up when Death placed a hand on her shoulder.

Come with us, child, he said and Lily frowned.

“Where to?”

There is something that must be done.

Lily glanced over her shoulder and saw her friends frowning at her as she was guided away from them by Death. Life followed them and she had a nasty smile on her face. They walked through the corridors of Death’s Domain towards the infirmary.

“What are we going to do?” she asked, suddenly scared.

Something that should have been done long ago.

Haji looked up when they entered and frowned. Then his eyes snapped to Life and she saw him reach for his gun. She gave a quick shake of her head and allowed Death to guide her towards an empty bed. Easily he lifted her onto it and stepped back.

“What’s going on?”

Your soul is twisted, Life said as she stepped forward.

There was still that nasty little smile on her face, as though something unpleasant was about to happen to someone who richly deserved it.

“I know,” Lily answered, feeling cold dread fill her.

Death has asked me to heal your soul for you.

Lily blinked. “You… what?” she asked and Death stepped closer.

It will be over soon.

Life reached into Lily’s body and yanked her soul out. Unexpectedly it hurt and Lily screamed. Pain filled her body and she writhed against it. Life smiled as she wove her hands through Lily’s soul. It felt as though she was being filled with hot lead.

Lily saw Haji try to get out of bed, but he stumbled. His body was still too weak from having his own soul yanked. He fell heavily and landed hard. She saw Nate enter the infirmary and drop the books he was carrying. He ran over to his brother and helped him, but Haji’s eyes were locked on Lily.

Life moved her hands again and Lily arched her back as she screamed. Every part of her was filled with pain. It felt as though she was being ripped apart. Tears ran over her cheeks. Below her soul her body was also writhing and jerking in pain. It opened its mouth in an echo of her screams and tears flowed over the pale face.

It felt as though she was dying. When the pain moved and exploded in her leg she suddenly remembered the accident. The building tumbling down, the cries of her friends as they died around her, the pain as the iron bar tore through her leg and the crushing weight of the concrete on her chest.

Lily gasped for breath and inhaled dust and fumes. There was heat around her, and something hot and sticky on her leg. When she tried to move her leg protested so violently that she tried to curl up. She hit her head on the slab of concrete lay above her and more pain exploded around her.

She heard screams and moans, heard her friends voices cry out in agony. Lily gasped for air, but choked on the dust. Something was crushing her chest, she couldn’t move her arms and her leg was useless. Somewhere she heard sirens. She heard the screams rise in pitch and urgency and then heard them peter out, one after the other. She heard the voices of her friends snuffed as the emergency units fought to save them.

“There’s someone here,” a voice called and the slab was lifted off her.

“No,” she cried, “leave me! Save them!”

Lily arched her back and screamed as the iron bar was pulled out of her leg, the serrated iron tearing its way out of her flesh. Hot blood gushed from the gaping wound and soaked into the ground, draining her life with it.

She was thrown even farther back into her childhood, to a time before she wore the mask to protect herself. To the time she’d sworn that she wouldn’t show any pain anymore.

She stood in front of her mother, facing down the man with the knife. She was fourteen and too young to understand the dangers she was facing. The man lashed out and cut her across the chest. Her blood splattered across the sidewalk and the man laughed as she sank to her knees.

He delighted in her tears, laughed when she cried out in pain as he shoved the knife into her arm. She’d been too young to do anything, too young to protect herself or her mother.

She was thrown even further back, back to when her father left. She’d been little more than a child and she watched him leave, watched him turn his back on his family. He’d been a cruel man even then, leaving her mother crying in the doorway as he walked away, knocked his daughter aside as she’d run after him.

Haji stared as Lily screamed, her soul hanging in the air. There were words and sobs and pleading, but it all intermingled into a gut-wrenching, guttural scream that was all pain and suffering.

“Lily!” he yelled and tried to push his younger brother away, but his body was too weak.

Lily curled up again and then fire burst from her. Blue soul fire filled the infirmary and blazed across the beds and ceiling. Life fell away with a scream, hands going up to protect her face. The fire danced around Death where he stood stoically, watching Lily’s soul. The flames tugged at his robes and danced around his skull, but didn’t touch him. It raced towards Haji and Nate, but it didn’t burn them. It danced around them, warm as a summer breeze. Nate reached out and touched a finger to a flickering flame.

“It’s warm,” he laughed and Haji stared at Lily as the fire streamed from her soul.

As he watched he saw the blue scars crawl and fade, saw the twisted mass of her arm and leg dissipate and fade. She was still screaming a long and tortured scream, but the fire was fading. Just as suddenly as it appeared, it was sucked back into her soul and she slammed back into her body.

Lily rocked and gasped, but didn’t open her eyes. Death stepped closer and reached for the covers when Lily spoke. He glanced back at the young man on the floor and back at Lily.

Easily he reached under her and carried her towards Haji’s bed. As he passed, Haji was lifted into the air and carried back to his bed. Death placed Lily next to Haji and he reached for her, patting her face and looking her over, looking for any injuries. Death stepped back and regarded him solemnly.

Take care of her, he said and turned to walk away.

“You really are like a dad to her,” Haji said and Death paused, but didn’t turn around.

She is like a daughter to me, he admitted and walked over to Life.

Life was touching her burned hands carefully. Lily’s soul fire had seared her pale skin all the way to the elbows.

You deserved her retribution, Death told her and Life drew herself up proudly.

Life is hardly kind, Life said and Death turned away from her.

And you wonder why humans so often wish for my hand, he said as he left.

Haji gathered Lily against him and pressed a kiss against her head. She was cold and pale and lifeless in his arms. He had to press his ear against her chest to hear her heartbeat, faint but steady.

“Is she okay?” Nate asked as he stepped closer.

The younger man was pale and shaking, not the best introduction to be had to the horrors of this life. Haji pressed his face to Lily’s dark hair and breathed her scent. He was shaking, the aftermath of the horror still too fresh.

“I think so,” he said and felt Nate’s hand on his arm.

“Are you okay?”

Haji shook his head. “No,” he admitted and kissed Lily gently on the brow. “Don’t leave me,” he whispered.

Haji woke up and panicked. Lily wasn’t next to him anymore. The infirmary was dark and Nate was gone. He sat up and looked around wildly. He spotted Lily by Helandel’s bed, staring down at the old man with a curiously blank expression on her face.

“Lily?” Haji asked and froze when Inoue burned into existence by her side.

One moment the sword wasn’t there and the next soul fire ripped through the air and the sword was there. Lily reached up and pulled the sword from its sheath. It glittered in the half-light that was cast from the doorway that led to the infirmary.

Haji held his breath as he watched Lily step closer to Helandel and clamber onto the bed. She straddled the old man and lifted the sword over her head.

“Lily!” Haji cried, but Lily ignored him.

The blade flashed blue and glowed, casting the two Master Reapers in an eerie blue glow. Lily was staring down at Helandel as he lay sleeping; his old features already seemed dead.

“Share with me, Inoue,” he heard Lily say and she brought the blade down in the centre of the old man’s chest.

Helandel woke with a gasp and stared up at Lily in horror. Soul fire burst between the two of them and crawled over Lily’s arms and shoulders like a mane. Haji watched as it spiralled around the sword and into Helandel, lighting the man from the inside.

It seemed to take forever before Lily withdrew the sword and clambered off the bed. She sheathed the sword and turned towards the bed. Haji nearly swallowed his tongue when Helandel sat up, alive and well.

The old man looked down at his hands in wonderment, as though he didn’t quite understand what was going on.

“What have you done?” the old man rasped and Lily smiled.

It was her old smile, full of mischief and devilment. Her face lit up and her eyes sparkled. It was the smile Haji had fallen in love with.

“You share my time now,” she said as she dropped her sword.

In an instant it was covered in soul fire and winked out, disappearing into thin air. Helandel stared.

“You’re…”

“Healed. Life wasn’t too kind about it, but it may be because I called her a bitch.”

Helandel shook his head. “When will you ever learn to choose your battles wisely?” he asked and Lily grinned.

“If a battle cannot be won, do not fight it.”

Helandel chuckled. “Sun Tzu, you little minx.”

“You had me read The Art of War, but I know a better, and far more modern, quote.”

“Which is?”

She leaned forward. “I say goodbye to my weakness, so long to the regret and now I see the world through diamond eyes.”

“And what does that mean?”

Lily’s smile turned wolverine. “I’m not weak anymore,” she said and looked up. “I don’t have any regrets now, and I’m stronger for it.”

Haji saw her eyes glitter in the half-light, like diamonds catching the light. Her gaze was hard, but there was still that look in them, the devilment and the mischief. Lily was planning something.

“But I know what we have to do, and I can’t cringe from my responsibilities anymore.”

“What do we do now?”

“We stop Stephen. I will not lose any more friends to him.”

“How do you propose to do that?”

“In whatever way it’s possible.” Lily walked towards Haji.

Close to he could see the change on her face. The weariness was gone from her features, the drawn expression she’d walked around with and the haunted look from her eyes. It was like looking at a new person. He could still hear her screams echo in his mind and he wondered whether he’d ever be able to forget them.

Lily kissed him softly. “I won’t leave you again,” she promised him and he stared down at her. “That’s a promise.”

Haji clung to her, afraid that she’d fade like smoke, afraid that he was dreaming. Lily smiled as she pressed her face against his shoulder and listened to his breathing. She felt his heart hammer against her, knew the terror he felt.

“You’ll have to kill Stephen,” Haji whispered and she nodded.

“I know.”

“But you won’t, will you?”

“We shall see.”