The Fallacy of Broken Hearts

iv. lacy's kind of death

He refused to believe that. Lacy might have just been messing with him, coaxing him to feel, when all he could feel was despair. However, when she appeared back then, his loneliness ebbed away, like the dark sea ahead had calmed down, letting its waves crash exquisitely against the shore, eating it up, consuming its goodness.

But the sea was a sea. An ocean was an ocean. No one could change that, no one could take away its power to drown everything.

And for the first time, he felt something different: Guilt.

How many souls had he taken? How many people had suffered? And most of all, was he really living? Was he really taking pleasure in being the god of death, when he, himself, wasn't part of anything at all?

He evaluated his deathly life and figured out that it was all a repetitive process. He would swing by in the mortal world and look for any other person worth watching of a reducing life and make himself better. Every day, it was the same thing for the last few years, centuries, eons, eras. Nothing ever changed that. Nothing . . .until her.

"Please," the man begged again, crying out. "I know who you are."

"And I know who you are," Thanatos replied.

"Please. Please, at least give me enough time for today. After that, I'm willing to go to hell. Please . . ." The man could barely speak but his voice was desperate, needy, pleading. "This is my one and only last chance to make it better for her. I'm willing to do anything."

To this, Thanatos couldn't help but smile a cruel smile. "You don't know what you're asking for."

Not even Lacy knew the consequences of extending or improving someone's life for a while. It was worse than death itself. It was eternal torture, trying to reprimand for one's mistakes a minute, an hour, a day, a week before the deathly end.

Thanatos could see that the man was rich, so rich he lived a lavish life – even the hospital he was in had a complete equipment of what he wanted, but not what he needed. His money saved his life for a while and yet in the end, he'd still meet his end.

All's fair in the eyes of death.

"I wasted my entire life. I left my family, I ran my own business, I participated in a black market and now I'm paying the price. I am willing to accept something worse than death just as long as I can make things better for my daughter. Please, she's all I have left." The man's eyes were so tired Thanatos could see himself reflecting in it. The healthy body he once had had deflated, leaving frail in its wake.

Thanatos's eyes, on the other hand, sparked with interest. "And what do I get?"

The man closed his eyes and whispered, "You can do whatever you want with my soul."

"Poor man, forgive me, but I do believe that everyone's souls are already mine to begin with. You have nothing else left to gamble with," Thanatos said wickedly, knowing all too-well that the man used to gamble everything he had just to live luxuriously on his own. And here he was, alone and dying.

Unlike Lacy, Thanatos was not in favor of making any deals or even extending anyone's lives. That would be against the Law of Deaths. Even Deaths had their own punishment, but what of Lacy? What kind of retribution did she get after extending lives?

"Fortunately for you, I am a kind death. I will grant you your final wish." Thanatos knew the repercussions, but considering Lacy was the kind of death who fed on people's emotions/feelings, there was a ninety-nine percent of chance she would be lingering around this man's daughter.

Thanatos might have been confused before, but no more. He wouldn't play right in her hands. It was about time he tracked her down and take back his heart. Lacy having a hold on his heart was doing strange things on him, things that was far too unthinkable, making him think that Death could feel, too.