Death and the Lady

Truly, child, why do you cause us so much trouble? Death asked as he lowered his tall form into a chair that stood beside the bed.

Lily smiled, but the dull throbbing in her leg was getting steadily worse. She just wanted to sleep for a year and then maybe for another ten.

“I’m an eventful person.”

Death grunted as he lifted his hands and flexed his bony fingers. He seemed to focus on a point several inches inside Lily’s body and his gaze bore into her.

Keep still, this is very delicate, he intoned and reached out.

Before Lily could scream his hands disappeared inside her body and he jerked his hands upwards. Lily’s world became a wild spiralling of images and colours. When it suddenly settled down she looked around wildly.

Death was looking up at her now and she frowned. She looked around wildly and tried to move, but her body felt heavy and unresponsive.

“What’s going on?” she asked and stopped at the strange echo that her voice had.

Lily looked down and nearly screamed. Below her was herself, seemingly asleep and looking very peaceful. Only the black patches that covered her arm seemed out of place.

She noticed the thin blue tether that linked her with her body and noticed the flickering outline around her, for want of a better word, self. She also noticed several slashing lines across her ‘body’ and a knotted mass that covered her bad leg.

Death reached out and seemed to weave his hands around the ragged stub where her shoulder used to be, bony hands working deftly to weave the shattered tendrils of her soul back into place.

It wasn’t as gruesome a task as she’d expected it to be, even though the arm took shape as Death wove her soul back into place. The ragged edges were covered in soul blue and seemed to grow as his hands wove through them.

The task seemed to be over far more quickly than she’d expected and Death moved his hands strangely. There was another jarring moment and Lily opened her eyes, feeling confused, disorientated and more than a little nauseous. Death sat back and regarded her over his steeped fingers.

Lily rolled over and put a hand over her mouth. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

Death grinned. Yes, having one’s soul pulled from the body can be a very unpleasant experience.

“Unpleasant is not a word I’d use,” she said and gasped as pain filled her body.

The nurse hurried closer, arms laden with bandages and other supplies. She gave Lily a sharp look.

“Back again?” she asked as she started bandaging Lily’s wounded arm.

The arm itself didn’t look much better, still blotched black and, even though it ached now, this was hardly an improvement.

“I just can’t stay away,” Lily managed through gritted teeth. “Why does it hurt so much?”

The arm is repairing itself. It will take some time for the flesh to restore. Take some rest for a while.

“But my family, time resumed when you came through. They saw you.”

They will remember very little. Humans do not see me unless they are required to, and the Reapers would have dealt with the situation after our departure. Fear not, your family will be unharmed.

“What about the Clerics?”

The younger ones were returned to their citadel. Stephen Rush and Johannes Eisenberg are being kept here until the Reapers decide what must be done with them.

Death got to his feet and walked towards the door, but Lily called out to him, making him pause in the doorway.

“Thank you,” she said sincerely, “for coming to save me today.”

Death’s featureless skull bore a strange expression for a moment. You are truly strange, child.

Lily put her head on one side. “Why do you say that?”

I have never been thanked for saving a life.

Lily grinned. “Get used to it.”

Lily walked along the chalk white path that led through the glossy black grass. She’d walked these paths so many times in recent months that her feet barely needed instructions from her brain anymore. It didn’t feel so long ago since she’d met Helandel under the tree here.

Her arm was still in a sling, even though it’s been two Death-days since the attack. Her arm was still blotched black, but they were shading towards green now, like old bruises.

As she walked the large Memorial Wall came into view. The massive structure bore the names of previous Reapers, both fallen and retired. Sadly, there were more fallen Reapers than retired ones. Helandel had a plaque all to himself on a smaller wall that stood parallel to the massive one., one reserved for retired Reapers who stayed in the Domain.

She walked along the wall to the figure that sat against it, head buried in his arms and his shoulders hunched. She sat down next to the figure and leaned her head back against the wall, breathing a sigh.

“Bells told me that I would find you here,” she said and Ryo lifted his head.

“I don’t want to talk to you right now,” he growled and she nodded.

“My dad was the one who killed Sara, wasn’t he?” she asked and Ryo turned his head away. “Tell me a little about her.”

After a long silence Ryo leaned back against the wall. “Sara was a wonderful person, always laughing and happy,” he said and stared up at the white sky that was dotted with black stars. “She was small and so fragile looking, with ash-blond hair and glasses thicker than mine.” He smiled at the memory. “She always insisted on wearing contact lenses because she said that they made her look less nerdy. Contacts don’t do well here, the air is too dry for them.”

“She sounds nice,” Lily said and Ryo nodded, smiling to himself.

“Whenever she got really happy or just really silly she’d do this weird little dance.” He chuckled. “And she loved reading. Sometimes she’d forget to sleep if she got a new book. And she loved children, which is why she became Kenny’s Benefactor. He was her first Charge.”

Lily smiled warmly as she pictured the laughing young woman that enchanted Ryo so much. He still had a lot of warmth in his voice when he spoke about her and it warmed her heart, and also broke it.

Suddenly Ryo lowered his head. “Why is it always you?” he asked harshly, his voice turning cold and hard.

Lily blinked at the sudden change. “Sorry?” she asked and Ryo pushed her over and pinned her to the ground, hands pressing harshly into her shoulders.

“Why is it always you who gets saved? Does being a Master Reaper make you so much different from us?”

Ryo’s words were harsh and hurt, anger coloured his features and his eyes were hard and cold and there were tears on his cheeks. Lily stared up at him in horror.

“Master always comes to help you, what makes you so special?” he spat.

Lily stared at him, understanding dawning. Her one arm was useless, unable to move, but she reached up and put her other hand over one of Ryo’s.

“Have you ever tried calling out to him for help?” she asked softly and she felt Ryo jerk.

“Call out to him?” he asked and she smiled.

“Why don’t you just ask? Helandel told me that not too long ago. Ask and you shall receive.”

Ryo sat back and Lily sat up, pulling at her sling until her arm was comfortable again. He stared at her as she smiled at him.

“All you do is ask?” he asked and she nodded.

“Death will always come for his Reapers, we are like his children. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Master or not.”

“We don’t view the Master like you do.”

Lily shrugged. “Then maybe you should start to. We’re like a family, we Reapers. Death will help us if we ask for it. We’re not alone out there.”

“Sorry about pressing you down like that,” he muttered and Lily shrugged.

“I get it, you’re angry and frustrated and want someone to take it out on,” Lily said and winked, “don’t think you’ll be able to get away with it a second time, benefactor or not.”

Ryo smiled. “Sara would have liked you. I didn’t think that there could ever be another girl to take her place, another girl that I could love. But you-”

“Stop,” Lily said as she held up a hand an inch from his face. “Leave that thought right there. Don’t say anything you’ll regret later on.”

“I won’t regret this.”

“Humour me,” she said as she got to her feet, “but now I’ve got to go.”

“Where to?”

“I have an appointment with a certain Cleric.”

“Your father?”

Lily made a face. “Hell no, I don’t want anything to do with him. I want to beat the living daylights out of Haji.”

Lily was walking down the stairs to the lowest level of the building where the detainment units were kept. These weren’t cells as such, more like rooms that the inhabitant couldn’t readily leave.

There were rarely people kept in here and were not often used. Stephen and Haji were being kept in these for the time being, until the Reapers decided what should be done with them.

Lily stopped on the very last stair when she heard voices and frowned. She hadn’t expected any of the Reapers to come down here and visit the detainees. She froze when she recognised the voices.

“...doing here, old man?” Stephen growled.

“Can I not come and visit my own son?” Helandel asked and Lily put a hand over her mouth in shock.

“I don’t want to see you.”

There was a shift and rustle of clothing and the groan Helandel always let out when he sat down. Lily edged to the door and peered around it. Helandel was seated in front of the door of the room in which Stephen was being held.

“Your brash actions just lost you the only advocate you could have had here, you know,” Helandel said.

“I don’t need your help, old fossil,” Stephen growled.

Helandel shook his head. “I’m not talking about myself, boy. I’m talking about your daughter.”

“What?”

“Your daughter, my granddaughter, is a very powerful Reaper, even more so than me if she could learn to control her abilities. People listen to her, you know. All the younger Reapers look to her for guidance. Had you not alienated her she could have helped you a great deal.”

“Why are you saying this to me?”

“Because I want you to understand what it is you threw away in your jealous fit. I know why you left her and Rose, you know. You were jealous of your own daughter, a six-year-old child.”

“Shut up, old man. You don’t know anything.”

“You’ve always wanted power, you’ve always craved it. The power of a Reaper enchanted you no end, but Death never came to you, never extended that invitation to you. You saw the power your daughter wielded, heard her talk to the ghosts of those not Reaped. You thought Death had come for her, didn’t you?”

“I told you to shut up, old man.”

“You Clerics know nothing about the Reapers!” Helandel shouted angrily. “Do you even know how a Reaper is made?”

“Death kills you.”

“We need to die. That is why Death never came for you, stupid boy. Death doesn’t choose anyone who still has sand to run; the first prerequisite to becoming a Reaper is to die. Death approaches possible candidates then and tests them in the Limbo between life and death. If they are found worthy he overturns their hourglasses and makes them something between human and Death.”

“You’re monsters.”

“We’re humans with a little something extra. Our souls are re-mastered, changed so that we can control certain aspects of time and space in order to do our Duty. Do you understand the gravity of what I am telling you? Had you been patient and waited Death would have eventually come for you as well. You could have become a Reaper. Now you have squandered that opportunity just like you threw away your family.”

“I didn’t throw her away.”

Lily leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. She knew that she shouldn’t be listening to this, but she couldn’t make her feet move.

“We have a very powerful lineage and it is possible that every member of our bloodline could become a Master Reaper. Yet you craved power and turned your back on your family, cast them aside and left. Do you like the power you achieved through the Clerics? Was it worth losing your family?”

Silence fell and Lily glanced around the doorway again. Helandel was still seated in front of the door, and she could see her father’s shape in the doorway. There were no doors in the doorways, but something invisible kept whoever was inside at bay. Stephen was leaning against that barrier, fists pressed to it and glaring at Helandel.

“Yes,” Stephen growled, “it was worth it.”

Lily stifled a gasp as she stepped back and pressed her hand to her mouth. Anger bubbled through her. She heard Helandel sigh.

“Then why did you pale when Lily challenged your fatherhood?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Lily told you that Death has been more of a father to her than you ever were, and you paled when you heard that.”

“You saw?”

“We were watching, preparing to step through after Lily called out to Death. If you are so proud of everything you’ve achieved, why do you regret what you had to cast away?”

There was silence for a long time and then the scrape of a chair as Helandel stood up. He looked at Stephen with an expression of pity on his lined face.

“I have to go now; even I still have a schedule to keep here.”

Helandel turned and walked away from the doorway and turned the corner to see Lily standing there. She looked up at him and he drew her into a tight embrace.

“You needed to hear that,” he whispered to her and she nodded mutely. “You needed to understand why he left and what kind of a man he is. I know your kind heart would have accepted him had he approached you differently.”

“I don’t think so,” Lily murmured and Helandel chuckled.

“If he came carefully, won your trust, gave you an acceptable reason for leaving? My son is very manipulative.”

Lily nodded. She could see the point he was trying to make. Yes, if he’d come carefully, intent on winning her trust then she probably would have forgiven him and followed him. Now she felt cold anger towards the man.

“Now go and see Haji, I know that’s why you came down here.”

“Am I that transparent?” Lily asked as Helandel stood back.

“Just a tad,” he said and walked up the stairs.

Lily stood for a few moments before turning the corner and walking down the hallway towards the units. She paused in front of her father’s and looked at his angry scowl.

“What are you doing here?” he growled and Lily shrugged one shoulder.

“I’ve come to see Haji.”

“Why would that be?”

Lily gave him a cold look. “That is none of your concern. You lost the privilege to know my business when you attacked my family.”

“I didn’t attack them, I attacked you,” Stephen snarled and Lily narrowed her eyes at him.

“But you put them in danger. You sent children out to fight against me, knowing that there was a chance that I’d kill to protect myself. We’re not the monsters, you are.”

She turned to walk away, but froze when Stephen spoke again.

“You’re not even completely human anymore.”

Lily nodded. “That’s true, but in all honesty, I don’t think I ever was.”

With that she turned sharply and walked away. She heard Stephen’s angry roar as she left him behind. Haji was three units down. He was lying on the bed, shoes kicked off and jacket thrown casually over the chair that stood by the desk. His arm was over his eyes and the other rested on his chest. He seemed asleep.

“Wake up, soldier-boy,” Lily said coldly and he looked up at her.

He sat up when he saw her, but he sank back when he saw the cold, burning hate in her eyes. He could barely believe that this was Lily, the gentle girl who’d cried for her fallen friends. The girl he’d held in his arms and soothed her tears.

“You’re okay,” he breathed as he got to his feet.

Her next words froze the smile on his face.

“Yeah, no thanks to you,” she growled and he stopped in his tracks.

“I don’t understand.”

“You’re just like him,” she snapped at him, taking a challenging step forward. “You’re just like my dad. You don’t see that what you do hurts everyone else!”

Anger flared on Haji’s face. “I’m not like him,” he challenged and she gave a sardonic laugh.

“You expect me to believe that? When you just stood and watched as he beat me up and shot me? As he shattered a piece of my soul?”

“I was ordered not to...”

“Yes, you were ordered to do nothing. God, you’re spineless!”

“I can’t disobey...”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Yes, soldier-boy, you can’t disobey a direct order. Don’t you have your own mind? Death often orders me not to do things and do you think I blindly follow him?”

“We’re not like you. The consequences of disobeying direct orders are met with heavy punishment.”

“Then take it like a man! I should have known better.”

This stopped Haji’s anger. “What should you have known?”

Lily stepped forward and the barrier over the door let her through. She felt it tingle over her skin as she passed through it, but paid it no heed.

“You think we get off scot-free if we disobey Death?” she snarled into his face.

It almost seemed comical to Haji. Lily actually had to stand on tiptoe in order to snarl at him like that. She was so short against him, small and petite.

Lily punched him hard on the centre of his chest. The blow itself wasn’t hard enough to hurt, but the anger behind it was startling. Another blow landed on his chest and he took a step back.

“I thought I could make you see!” Lily snarled. “I thought I could educate at least one Cleric to how the Reapers really function. But I was just blind,” she snarled, every sentence punctuated with a punch. “I thought I could make you see what we really do, but I guess you’re just like the rest.”

Haji grabbed her fist out of the air and twisted her arm around, making her lose her balance and falling over onto his bed. He pressed her down and she struggled even harder, her position seeming to fuel her anger.

“What the hell is wrong with you men!” she screamed and he looked at her in shock. “Do I look like some marionette you can press down?”

Her other arm was useless in its sling, but this didn’t stop her from kicking and struggling. The motions made the bandages around her arm to loosen and slide away, revealing the black patches that were steadily healing. Haji looked down at them and jumped back.

“What happened to your arm?” he asked and Lily looked down at it.

“Lovely to look at, isn’t it?” she said sarcastically as she pulled the soiled bandages back into place. “That’s what happens to a body when a piece of the soul is shattered, which is what your bullets do, by the way. Death managed to fix my soul, but the flesh has to restore itself on its own.”

“It looks like it started to rot,” Haji said sounding horrified.

“Yes, well. I can tell you that it’s no walk in the park.”

She got up and walked towards the doorway. She fixed a cold glare on him and then paused just before stepped through the barrier.

“Did you know that he’d send those children against me? That he expected me to kill in order to protect myself?” she asked coldly and Haji looked away.

“I thought they were going to be there in case things got too hot to handle for the two of us. Honestly, I didn’t expect him to use them as cannon fodder. Some of those boys I recruited myself.”

“I don’t believe you,” Lily said coldly and Haji threw up his arms in frustration.

“Do I look like the kind of guy who would send kids out to die?” he snapped and she turned to face him.

“Yes, you do.”

With that Lily turned to leave the room, but Haji’s voice stopped her just outside the barrier. She felt it close around her and turned to look at him over her shoulder.

“I’m leaving the Clerics, just so you know,” he said, not meeting her gaze.

Shame radiated from his features and his hands were balled into fists at his sides. Lily narrowed her eyes at him.

“I don’t agree with what’s happening to the Order since your dad took over.”

Lily turned her back on him and started to walk away. “I don’t believe you,” she said over her shoulder and Haji’s fist connected with the barrier that separated her from him.

“Just you watch. I’ll get out of here and I’ll make you believe me!” he snarled and she levelled a cool gaze on him.

“God has given you one face, and you make yourself another,” she said coolly, “you can try.”

“Your arm looks really bad! Are you sure that it doesn’t hurt?” Claire asked as she and the twins hovered around her bed as the nurse changed the soiled bandages.

The bandages were covered in black muck, like the black patches were oozing their way out of her body via her skin. Lily grimaced and then smiled at her friends.

“It doesn’t hurt,” she lied, “but it does itch something crazy.”

“That will be the healing taking place. You’re lucky, you’re one of the few that have come from a fight with a bunch of Clerics with such minor injuries,” the nurse said and Lily made a face at her.

“I wouldn’t call this ‘minor’,” she growled.

The nurse chuckled. “You might not think so, but I’ve seen Reapers come back where the Master couldn’t salvage the soul within the living body. You’re lucky.”

With that she walked away. Lily gave her a nasty glare that made the twins laugh loudly.

“We have to admit that-”

“-being around you is rarely-”

“-boring,” they finished in unison.

Before either Lily or Claire could snap at them Kenny came running into the infirmary, his massive bunny following him. All four of them sat up, looking alert. It was strange to see drawn Reaper weapons in Death’s Domain, and even more rare to see Kenny’s bunny in full size. It’s sharp claws were extended and looked quite menacing as they glinted in the lights.

“What’s wrong?” Lily asked and Kenny leapt into her arms.

Lily moved slowly, putting both arms around Kenny’s shaking body. The movement hurt, but Kenny needed the comfort more than she needed the sling.

“They’ve escaped,” Kenny sobbed into Lily’s chest. “The Clerics have escaped. That man killed Sara!”

Lily froze, her heart sinking as she recalled Haji’s last words to her.

“Just you watch. I’ll I get out of here and I’ll make you believe me!”

“You bastard,” she muttered, “you took my father with you.”