Between Life and Death

Break Down Doors Part 2

"Internal or external?" Life asked.

"External. The cuts are pretty deep, so there may be some internal bleeding as a result," the man who had glared at her earlier said, some of his hostility subdued.

"I need to see the injury - that way I know how mend it back together," Life said.

Someone reached over and tugged up the left side of Death's shirt. A vicious cut parallel to his ribs raked up the side of his torso, and the blistered skin around it agreed with Life's suspicion of an infection. "How did this happen?" she whispered to herself. Did I really do this? I don't recall doing this...

As if reading her mind, the man with the quick temper and sharp, angered eyes snapped, "You mean to say you don't remember?"

Truth jabbed him in the ribs and hissed, "Shut up, Fury. Let her work."

Fury ignored Truth and carried on. "It was you who cut him like that - if I'm not mistaken, you were the one he fought to keep you from killing innocent people. You used one of your swords to cut him - he has some more minor ones that you gave him, too. And yet, even though all you did was yell at him and fight him, he still brought you here with strict instructions that we were not to hurt you. You did nothing - nothing - to deserve that, to deserve everything that he has risked bringing you here. If I were him, I would've left you unconscious in the middle of nowhere to rot in pain, just like he is now," Fury bellowed before storming out of the room.

Life's eyes went wide and she, horrified, asked, "Did I really do that?"

Everyone else nodded, and Life shuddered. "I'll do my best to atone for my sins, but for now, I'll start with healing him. If we start to scream, don't stop me - healing will drain my energy and his, so it's likely we'll lose consciousness right after. I'll do it as fast as I can," Life said reassuringly, despite the fact that her hands were shaking.

Taking a deep breath, Life closed her eyes and held her hands over Death's injury, and began healing. Tendrils of soft yellow light snaked out from between Life's fingers and began to poke and prod at the wound, weaving the muscle and skin back together like a needle through fabric. Death's screams began anew, even louder this time, and beads of sweat began to form on Life's forehead, her arms trembling. Truth kneeled down next to Life and placed a steadying hand on Life's shoulder, and Mercy got a cold, wet rag to wipe the sweat off of Life's forehead. For ten painstakingly long minutes, Life continued to mend the wound, slowly pulling and sewing the skin back together. Eventually, Death's screams slowly dwindled to a whispered moan as Life's sweaty brow dried with a glistening sheen until finally, the wound was healed. All that remained was a small scar - a reminder of the atrocity that Life had committed. Breathing heavily, Life smiled, then slumped to the ground in a quiet, blissful darkness.

●DEATH●

Death cracked open an eyelid to see Vengeance flicking his cheek, to which Death growled. Laughing, Vengeance took a step back and said, "Well, I couldn't exactly punch you awake, right? So I thought to myself, 'Flicking his face will have to do.'"

Groaning, Death pushed himself up, pressing a cold hand to his forehead. "Where's Life?"

"She passed out after she finished healing you. She's back in her room - Mercy's looking after her," Vengeance replied with a slight snarl that didn't go unnoticed by Death.

"I'm going to go check on her," Death said, pushing the covers off of him.

Vengeance shook his head. "Bad idea, Death. She should get some time to recover, especially considering we don't know if she'll do something to you again."