I gingerly placed my foot onto the stone column and gasped in shock when it crumbled below me. Swearing, I pulled my foot back and looked from the stone I was on to the one a few paces in front of me. As I gazed into the black abyss below me I felt my body begin to shake with fear. Pull yourself together, he won't respect you if you show weakness. Casting my fear aside I fixed my eyes on the next stone and leapt on top of it. I swayed for a few seconds, and my heart stopped in those seconds, before regaining my balance and I couldn't stop the smug grin from spreading across my face. I turned to where my master was standing and gave a low bow of respect before addressing him.

"Okay I passed the test, now what?" I had a sudden surge of adrenaline from the jump and I was ready for the next challenge. My master thought it necessary to test me in my spare time to keep me on my toes and after almost two years of it the tests were becoming easy. My master raised his eyebrows at my obvious confidence and stepped up to the edge of the cavern, twirling his walking cane between his fingers. He leaned over the edge of the rock and seemed to be deep in thought for a moment before a sardonic smile graced his face.

"For your next task…I wish for you to jump" I looked around myself and was confused before coming to the conclusion that he wanted me to return to him.

"You want me to come back? I doubt I'd make a jump that far even with my training" He shook his head slightly before standing straight again.

"I do not wish for you to jump beck to me but rather down there" He pointed his cane into the darkness and I felt the blood in my veins run cold. He must be mad…. I checked his face for any sign of sarcasm or joking but there was none; he was serious. I tried to swallow but found that my mouth was dry.

"But…I'll die if I jump down there…" He turned away from me and began to walk out of the cave, and with a sniff of indifference threw me the sentence that would change my life.

"Perhaps, but I will not teach an apprentice who does not know how to follow orders" I thought about attempting the jump back to safe land and shook it from my thoughts as I realised it would be impossible to make the jump. Looking down once more I imagined how the fall would be and the probability that I would survive. Slim. Very slim. But what other choice did I have? My master was not going to help me and it was my only way off the precarious rock. My mind made up I took a deep breath and shut my eyes before throwing myself into the darkness. The air bit at my skin as I went down but I refused to scream. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. All to quickly I felt earth beneath my body, but I didn't feel pain when I landed. Actually it was quite a soft landing. I slowly opened my eyes and let out a shaky breath when I saw I was outside the cave and sitting before my master. When he saw my confused look he held out his hand and I took it without thought. When I was up he gave me a reassuring smile and I realised what had just happened.

"It was a test?" He nodded.

"I needed to make sure you would obey my command no matter what I tell you to do. While in my care I will not let anything physically harm you, but you must trust me" I thought it over and nodded.

"I do trust you" And I meant it. This man had saved me and took me under his wing when he didn't have to. The least I could do was trust him. He accepted my trust with a very small smile and held out his arm for me to take. When I gave it a wary look the smile fell.

"Take my arm, Vanessa. I hear the call and I believe you can handle the situation" I readied myself for any circumstance and took his arm. With a small gust of wind and a swirl of black vapour we were gone. He always did like to make a dramatic exit even when no-one was around. When we re-appeared beside a hospital cot I let go of his arm and forced a blank expression onto my face. The woman lying in the cot looked very sick (she had dark bags under her eyes, her skin had sunk around her bones and her lips were cracked and bleeding) and it took all I had not to speak to her, to comfort her. But I knew I couldn't do that. We weren't there to tell her everything will be okay. So I kept my mouth shut and waited for my master to make us visible to the woman. With a small tap of his cane to the floor I knew we were visible and the woman turned with wide eyes to us.

"What are you doing in here? Nurse? Nurse!" The woman began to scream which resulted in her coughing a lung up. My master stepped forward and gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I am afraid your time has come, Emily. We are here to guide you into the afterlife" Emily's hands had begun to shake and I really did pity her.

"No…I know who you are! The reaper!" I could tell my master was holding in a frown, all for her sake, and instead held out a hand to Emily.

"I prefer death, if you will. Please take my hand…I wish to end your pain and suffering" As if on cue Emily began coughing again and a small amount of blood dotted the blanket in front of her. She stared it the blood for a moment, I knew she was weighing up her options, before her head snapped up to me.

"You. Tell me one thing. What is it like over there?" I gave her a kind smile, they always asked me this as if I would know the answer.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you that…everyone's afterlife is different no matter which was you go" She nodded absently and examined the blood. When I saw the hope leave her eyes I knew she had made her decision.

"Okay…" She grabbed death's hand and I watched in awe as he pulled her soul from her body. It always amazed me how he could do that and, as his apprentice, I aspired to be able to do that myself. Emily looked down at herself, shock plain on her face, before looking at her corpse and frowning.

"What will happen now?" She sounded scared but that was to be expected; the woman did just die. Death faced her towards me and placed her hand in mine.

"Your body will be found by one of the nurses shortly and you will be announced dead. I am afraid this is it from me but Vanessa will guide you to the afterlife" I held Emily's hand and began walking us both away from the body and towards the light that had appeared behind us. Emily's eyes went wide with awe at the sight of it and I smiled to myself. My master always created the light for the souls to make the transition easier for them. As we reached the light Emily gave one last glance over her shoulder to her body and to death before gripping my hand and walking into the afterlife.

~I hope you enjoyed my first chapter and, of course, I do not own any of labyrinth's original characters. For anyone who watches the show I am basing the character of death off Supernatural's death; which I also do not own~