●LIFE●
For the next few days, Life slipped in and out of consciousness, and was under the constant care of Mercy. Truth would occasionally join Mercy, lightening the mood. Death never stopped by. Whether Life was thankful or disappointed, she didn't know.
About a week after the battle with Death, Life had regained most of her strength and could walk around, though still with some pain. She still had no idea where she was, however, and neither Truth nor Mercy would tell her.
A few days later, Truth came bursting into the room, startling Mercy.
"Mercy, it's Death!" she cried. "He's not doing well, and he's in a lot of pain!"
Mercy whipped around to face Truth, her playful and carefree demeanor thrown out the window, suddenly focused with her eyes narrowed, calculating. "I don't have healing powers, but I'll see what I can do. Do you know the source of the pain?" she asked urgently but calmly.
"It's his side," Truth said. "We have to get going! Hurry!"
Truth and Mercy were about to hurry to their friend when Life got out of her bed and said, "I want to go."
Both Truth and Mercy looked at her in disbelief. "You guys may not have healing powers, but I do. I can help Death," Life explained. "Please, take me with you. I want to help him after everything he's done."
Truth said nothing, but Mercy nodded curtly. "Follow us."
The trio walked at a brisk pace, turning down hallways and passing by hurried servants carrying an assortment of foods and cleaning supplies. What worried Life the most were the ones carrying away bloodied rags. They had to get to Death quickly before it was too late.
They finally stopped in front of a door with a beautiful carving etched into the worn wood. Truth opened it to reveal a bed surrounded by four other people Life didn't recognize, and when the door opened, they didn't even turn around. Suddenly, Life heard an earth-shattering scream she assumed belonged to Death, and it was the sound of pain that drove her forward.
"Excuse me!" she called out. "Let me through!"
A man turned around and glared at her. "What business do you have here, Life? You here to cheer over Death's death? At what you've managed to accomplish?"
Life glared back at the man with equal intensity. "No, I'm here to heal him." Ignore him. I won't get anything done if I let guilt cloud my judgement.
The whole room went silent except for Death's moan of pain. Another person turned around and looked at her with curiosity. "I don't think she has ill intent. Let's let her through. It's not like we have many options left."
Everyone quietly shuffled out of the way, their angered faces soon replaced with worried expressions. As she began walking towards him, she heard a man whisper, "Kill him and you'll have the Court of Death wanting your head." Life shivered at the threat, but kept walking.
When she reached Death, he looked up at her with glazed eyes, silver glinting at the corners. "Why are you here?" he croaked, right before he screamed again, clutching his side.
"Shh," Life whispered, "be quiet. I'm here to help you. Now, stay still - it might hurt, but it will be over soon."
"Thank you," Death managed, squeezing his eyes shut.
"Could someone tell me where he is injured?" Life asked the crowd circling around her like seagulls would with a fishing boat.
"It's his side," Mercy responded.
"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."
Death rolled his eyes. "Thanks for your concern, but I'm not an idiot, Vengeance, and I know she's not going to kill me. I just want to thank her for healing me - I never got to properly do so," Death said, getting out of the bed. He was about to leave the room when he realized he had no shirt on. Vengeance grinned at the redness creeping up Death's cheeks.
"Planning to show off your abs?" Vengeance teased, raising an eyebrow.
"Shut up, Vengeance. I was unconscious - how was I supposed to know I didn't have a shirt on? Wipe that grin off your face and get me a shirt or something," Death snapped back, waving his hands in the air.
Vengeance put his hands up in mock surrender, though his grin remained plastered on his mischievous face. "Okay, okay. Be right back."
As soon as Vengeance left the room with another quirked eyebrow and snicker, Death found a mirror to examine his newly born scar. "Wow," he whispered aloud, his voice echoing around the barren room as he ran his finger along the thin, unnoticeable, white line. "Life really patched it up."
He had begun doing some stretches, his joints popping, when he noticed a few smaller scars running down his arm. Alarmed, he checked his other one. Seeing even more healed cuts and scratches, he swore. Life had not only healed the major wound, but she had also healed the minor ones. No wonder she was so drained, Death thought as he clenched his jaw. The extra healing Life did for him did not go without gratitude, but it left him worried about her health.
When Vengeance gave Death a pale blue shirt, Death, feeling a new sense of urgency, quickly slipped on the soft cloth, then left for Life's room. Once he was standing outside her door, Death took a moment to think about what he was going to say, nervously smoothed down his shirt a bit more along with his hair, then knocked.
"Come on in," Life's voice responded. He noticed the weak rasp that edged her voice, her pain heard clearly as she groaned softly.
Taking a deep breath, Death opened the door. Life was still in bed, and was drinking some tea with Mercy. Death caught Mercy's eye, silently portraying he wanted to speak with Life alone. Getting the message, Mercy nodded, then left the room with a small knowing smile at Death, shutting the door behind her. A faint blush crept up on Death's face as he realized he was now alone in Life's room wearing nothing but a loose pair of pants and a tight shirt that Vengeance, no doubt, choose on purpose. He might as well have not been wearing a shirt at all. Damn it, Vengeance.
"Hey," Death said, looking anywhere but at Life, who had also forgotten her usual milky robes for a less modest nightgown.
"Hey," Life said back, the corner of her mouth lifting in a slight smile at Death's obvious discomfort.
"I, uh, never got to thank you for healing me, so thanks, for... that," Death said, running a hand through his hair nervously, heat crawling up his neck and over his ears.
Life's smile got wiped off her face, and her voice shook with anger as she said, "You knew you were injured the whole time, didn't you?"
Death, shocked at her sudden anger, could only nod.
"And, even though you were losing a lot of blood, waltzing around this place in constant pain, you took the time and energy to teleport me back here."
Death nodded again, unsure of where she was going.
"Then, I asked you if you were hurt, and you said it was nothing."
"Life, what are you getting at?" Death asked softly.
Ignoring his question, Life continued on furiously. "You would've died if I hadn't healed you, you know that? You would've died because of what I did - because of my idiocy and childishness!"
Death had begun to say something, his mouth already open like a fish gasping for air, but fell dead silent.
"You would've died," Life repeated with more intensity. "You would've died, Death!" she yelled, tears spilling from her eyes. "You would've died because of me, and then, you had the nerve to lie to me about being okay, but I knew. I knew, and when I asked you about it, you lied to me again! Why?" she asked, voice breaking as she desperately wiped her eyes. "Why?"
"I didn't want you worrying about me, Life. You have to take care of yourself before you can take care of others," Death replied.
"You're telling me to take care of myself? If you had been taking proper care of yourself, your wound wouldn't have gotten infected!" The tears began flowing more freely, and, holding her face in her hands, Life began to sob.
Hearing Life's sobs, Death felt something crack inside of him. As though he were a puppet on a string, he walked up to Life and hugged her until her sobbing quieted, her head nestled in the crook of his arm. Once she had stopped, he whispered into her ear, "I know you healed all of my minor cuts. Thank you."
After that, he pulled out of the hug, smiled shyly at Life, then left the room.