Between Life and Death

Truth Be Told Part 3

Truth tossed a glare at Vengeance, but Life nodded. "We really should. The sooner we get out of here, the better."

Truth sighed. "While that's true, how are we supposed to get out? Last time, the only reason we were able to get away was because Death sacrificed himself. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I don't want to leave anyone behind this time. I don't want to have to do this whole charade again."

Justice nodded thoughtfully. "Definitely. I think our first priority is getting Death's powers back. I'm pretty sure the powers are being held in the ring Karma was sporting quite proudly today. It was swirling with shadows, and I didn't see the ring last time we were here."

"I think it's safe to assume that the powers are being held in the ring," Time agreed.

"Do we just break the ring to give back Death's powers?" Life asked, and Mercy nodded.

"You guys are wasting your time. How do you expect to get the ring off of Karma's finger?" Fury interjected. "It's unrealistic. Just give up already - it's hopeless. I'm already trying to figure out how to get a nice potted plant in my cage. You know, spruce things up a bit. Maybe Karma will be nice to me once he gets to learn of my charismatic charm."

The whole court, Life included, glared at Fury. "No need to be so sour, Fury. Besides, the plant would die from your lack of charismatic charm," Truth said. "If you have a real contribution to make, then feel free to share, but if all you're going to do is complain, then we don't want to hear it."

"Fine," Fury grumbled, and he crossed his arms and turned away as the rest of the court snickered.

"Hey, to be honest, Fury brought up a good point," Vengeance said. "How are we going to get the ring?"

The court fell silent, deep in thought, when Mercy spoke up. "I can neutralize him."

Truth gave Mercy a sideways glance. "Are you sure? We know it drains a lot of your energy," Truth said, but Mercy nodded.

"I insist. If it means helping Death, I'm down for it. I usually don't do anything in these rescue missions anyway - I want to help this time."

"Alright. How long do you think you can hold up?" Justice asked, and Mercy shrugged.

"It depends on how much energy I have to begin with. If I'm at full energy, I can neutralize someone for about ten minutes," Mercy replied.

"Now that we have a way to get the ring, we should figure out how we're going to get out of these cages," Time said. "It's not like we can teleport out of them, either - I think Karma enchanted the cages so that our teleportation is rendered useless. Is there any way we can break out? Any tricks up sleeves?"

"Life's swords should be able to do it," Death said, and everyone jumped.

"When did you wake up?" Life asked.

"Just now. All I heard was Time's question."

"Death, you're sure you're okay?" Truth asked.

"I guess. Why do you ask?" Death asked.

"Well, did you see how Life tried to cut her way out of the cage with her swords and how it didn't work?" Truth asked, and Death nodded.

"Of course. However, the strength of the bars stems from Karma. If he's distracted, the bars will weaken. While I was here, I remember trying to break out with my scythe. It didn't work the first time, but when I scared him, I was able to cut through the bars like butter. The magic is only kept up while Karma is focused on keeping it strong," he explained.

"Oh... I guess there's that, too," Truth said sheepishly.

"If we can find a way to distract Karma, Life will be able to cut through the bars of the cage. From here, she can free the rest of you, and get the ring. He'll be guarding it closely, but he can't win seven against one. Once the ring has been shattered, hopefully I'll regain my powers along with my strength, and we'll be able to escape from here."

"It's a pretty bad plan," he admitted, "but it's all we have. What do we have to lose?"

Murmurs of agreement floated around all except for Fury who murmured, "Our lives." 

Everyone ignored him as Life looked at Death and smiled. "Well done, fearless leader."

Smiling weakly, Death said, "Thanks. It means a lot when someone outside of my court compliments me." A small groan escaped from his mouth as he tried to sit up, but Life gently pushed him back down.

"You're still weak, Death. Rest up," she cooed, cupping his cheek with her hand.

Too drained to say anything, Death merely grunted in response before sliding back down. Life felt her heart soften as she saw how weak Death really was, then a pang of guilt when she realized that it was her fault. She turned away from Death's questioning look, knowing that her emotions were clearly written in her eyes, choosing to hide them before he could ask. Even as she stared at the blank walls of the chamber, guilt relentlessly stabbed her already aching chest over and over again, reminding her that everything that had happened over the past few weeks had been her fault.

Her killing the Guardian felt like a lifetime ago, when in reality it had only been about a month. So much had happened since then, and her world had been shattered and remade countless times. One thing had stayed constant, however - Death. For the whole month, Death had always been there for her - he was the one who took care of her after she killed the Guardian, he was the one who comforted her when guilt began eating away at her, and he was the one who was willing to risk everything to save her.

When she looked at Death, who was sleeping now, she felt her resolve harden as the memories of how Death took care of her flashed through her mind. As she ran a hand through Death's hair, she decided that she would do anything to make sure that Death got home safely, just as he had done for her. She was ready to do whatever it took to get Death home. It was her turn to play the hero.