Warning for a few swear words, and mentions of war, death and natural disasters.
If you looked at Matthew, and having been told he was either Life or Death, you could have been forgiven for choosing Death. His quiet manner and pale complexion seemed to typify the cool silence of Death, and not to mention he wouldn't have looked out of place with a scythe.
However, he wasn't Death. That job fell to Alfred.
Who looked like the personification of Life itself - bouncy and lively, with almost yellow hair and a perma-grin, he was all that most people would have said about life.
But it made sense to him, and to Matthew - the newly dead often required consoling, and since Alfred was so much better at that than Matthew, he was chosen as Death. Life was much more complicated: while there were moments of overwhelming joy, all too often, there was much sadness in the world, and all the extremes made Life into a fairly solemn character, albeit one who could summon a smile at will, even when neither he, nor anyone else, felt much like it.
He had hated his job for the longest time.
After all, only dead people, since they were spirits too, could see other spirits. Since the dawn of time, he had ruled over Life. But very, very few living creatures could see him, and if they could, they tended to deny his existence once they knew they were the only one to see him.
This led to a rather lonely life for Life.
Until one day, when he had been trying to warn someone of their impending doom. There wasn't really any way of telling, but Matthew could feel a minuscule part of him begin to shrivel if someone was near to death, until it was sucked away. Since the person was travelling fast in a car, he guessed how it would end.
Soon enough, it did.
The man slammed into the back of someone who pulled into the outer lane not realising he was there. Dead instantly. With a few others, and Matthew felt that familiar tug as a soul left his care.
Then a man appeared.
Matthew's eyes widened. He knew instantly that this was his complete opposite, and yet something akin to his soulmate.
Of course, Life had seen too many dramas about love and finding the 'one' to actually speak to Death.
As he turned away, he ignored the ice cold burning in his supposedly non-existent heart.
Matthew discovered, after that incident, that he could see Death at the site of any fatalities. Thus, he began to stray around intensive care units, and road junctions, hoping for a glimpse of Death in all his beauty.
He wondered why it had taken him so long to work this out, since he was sure that he had observed millions of deaths in his time 'alive'.
Their first words followed a man dying of a heart attack. Well, the man wasn't even dead yet, he was currently trying to smile through excruciating pain. Death then, was obviously here early. He seemed to be looking for something, while Matthew just poked his head around the corner of the office, wondering when the rest of them would notice. Soon, they did, but it was too late. By the time the ambulance reached the doors of the office, he was on his last legs, and he died before the paramedics came into the room. Attempts at resuscitation failed, and so Matthew expected Death to walk him through the gates to the beyond.
Death paused. He then created an apparition, which to Matthew looked like a blob of shadowy glop, but supposed it looked like something to the dead man, as he smiled sadly and followed the apparition. Life narrowed his eyes, and furrowed his eyebrows, confused to this action. Death only tended to do that if lots of people were dying, and as far as he knew, no one else here was dying.
"So, Life, why do you always hide?" Death turned to him as he sat, peeping like a small child in an adult's world, and Matthew's eyes shot open, fear creeping into the echelons of his mind.
He ran. Dismissing the weight of shame on him, he didn't notice sad blue eyes follow him as he swept through walls.
It was a long time before he gathered any courage to watch Death again. Years maybe, although he'd probably deny it.
Matthew knew his actions were risky, walking the barren wastelands of a war-zone. He wanted to save someone today, use his long rusty powers, preventing one more death from seeping into the pool of others, ease the overbearing sorrow and misery this place held.
He found one soldier: dying, alone. He knelt next to her, and held her blood soaked body, smiling slightly as the soldier gasped.
"Live." He whispered in the woman's ear, and injected a modicum of his power into her. A punctured lung, several broken bones, also slow decay of the mind. A touch of warmth swam through the soldier, and her injuries began to heal.
"Please get medical help, they'll be here for you shortly. Live. He wants to propose." His words were not said, but projected into the mind of the woman, as if they were her own thoughts.
He saw some figures on the crest of the hill, searching for survivors, so he used a frisson of his energy to make her lift her hand with tired, aching bones, and stood. She would live, for another day at least.
He stood back, allowing the figures to surround her, support her weight on a shoulder and limp towards the camp. Tears made their way down his face, but he smiled.
"You shouldn't have done that." A voice stated clearly, unemotionally, and Matthew twirled around, smile wiped out. "It's against the code."
"O-Oh shut up. If I can s-show even one the stupidity of war, or twenty, they might tell others. Maybe I can help with all this needless manslaughter." Life turned back to the receding humans, and wiped his eyes. Why did using his power hurt so much, mentally?
"You don't want to see me?" Death sounded mildly affronted, and Matthew dismissed it. Death, he knew, had people to talk too. Death was not lonely.
"I want people to stop killing over land and money. It's worthless." Matthew felt Death behind him shake his head, and he took his chance to run, towards the camp where he might save others. The final sentence in the conversation came as a line of black fire in his mind, the presence of Death.
"I'm Alfred, by the way."
And I'm Matthew, he spoke to the empty field, knowing Alfred had already left.
He dived to the bottom of the ocean, relishing the weight of water on his body and the darkness when he could pretend he didn't exist.
He hated natural disasters.
Alfred would be working too hard to see him or talk to him, and the death toll rose and rose. The code permitted a certain amount of leeway, taking account for the number of deaths he had seen and wished to prevent, but not outright resurrection. He could do it, but he couldn't think for days. He could feel thousands of tugs on his soul, more than usual - famine, a volcano and landslides slipped whole sections of his mind away.
He closed his eyes and pretended to drown, finding himself floating on the surface later, staring at the stars.
He hugged the girl from behind, sending encouraging messages through his mind to hers as she wept. Winds swept past them, and he solidified himself slightly to feel the chill on his tears. Eventually, she stepped away from the edge, and turned back, not smiling but a little better. A while later, Matthew saw her step out of the lobby and into the awaiting arms of her girlfriend. He prayed for their souls.
For once, it was Alfred who remained quiet, watching the scene with warm eyes. Even though he felt a soul slip away from him again, he couldn't help but be touched by Life's determination to help.
Shaking his head, he sighed and turned to leave, catching the mental comment as he stepped through the barrier.
And my name is Matthew.
Alfred cursed as he stumbled, and quirked an eyebrow at the jump in his chest.
Life watched over the peaceful release of another soul, taken by pneumonia. There was too many problems, and it would have been similar to resurrection to save her. It was her time and she knew it too, smiling even through her last rasping coughs. Her family was there, holding her hand until the end.
She sighed softly and looked at him, in the same breath that she went.
"Are you death?" Matthew, with his arms crossed, shook his head and nodded to the opening gate.
"Nope, he is. Have you had a nice life?" She pondered for a moment.
"Yes. I have. It wasn't without sorrow, but I suppose no life is. Thank you for looking after me." She took the hand of the apparition that Alfred had silently created, and walked through the gate with it.
Life and Death held each other's gazes. Purple on sky blue, and both felt their breath come up short, painful constrictions of throats, until the spell was broken as Alfred stepped forward.
"Do you know, I'm not just here for deaths...?"
"Hm?" Alfred placed his hands on Matthew's shoulders once he was close enough, and pressed their foreheads together. Life nearly gasped at the proximity and the frisson of warmth.
"At birth, I give souls back to you. Let's meet again under less sorrowful atmospheres." Death leaned further forward to press a kiss to Life's lips, before disappearing.
Matthew wondered why he felt so cold.
Life was there for the birth of Leanne Andrews in a maternity unit in England. Some might have called her blessed, and while Matthew wasn't a fortune teller or able to read the future, he sensed she would be important.
True to form, Alfred was there too, leading a soul from the gate to Matthew, who adorned her with a kiss on her forehead to erase her memories of her previous life and afterlife, and gently pushed her soul into the body of the baby just born. The child had been alive in the womb, but without soul: without personality. Life knew that souls managed this process for every birth around the world - they did it relatively on their own, with a hint of an apparition to guide them, but he rarely did this in person.
He smiled, unable to contain the rivulets from falling, as the mother held Leanne with care and love. Matthew noticed that Alfred too was crying, and hesitantly stepped over to hold him.
Life and Death watched, together, as Leanne took her first breaths in her new body, beginning to wail as the nurse took her to weigh her and check her vitals. It only abated once she was returned to her mother, who also looked all too happy to have her back.
Alfred and Matthew's hands wound together.
Life had been busier than ever, managing the births and deaths of millions that now existed over the earth. Death had also been busy too, but their schedules had not collided in decades. Matthew, after the first year, had thrown himself even more into the work of Life. It wasn't really as if he needed to do all this, but it was better and gave him more hope if he did.
Chiefly though, he did it for two reasons: to ease the pain of existing as he began to save people even knowing he shouldn't, and to try and see Alfred. He figured the more he worked, the more chance he would have of seeing Death, and reconciling in the time spent apart.
But a century went past, and the living population boomed, so Matthew guessed Alfred was busy not in the living world, but in his realm - creating souls for all the new bodies that were being born. For decades at a time, Life felt not even a whisper of Death's presence in his world, and when he did, Alfred was gone by the time he got there.
Saving people was a dual edged sword, and he knew he had to stop - he had a permanent ache all over that never went, yet he couldn't refrain. He blamed it on the medicines that so many lived. Life would hang around hospitals, and in plenty of operations and patients, would aid the process.
It felt so good, it eased the gap caused by the absence of Alfred and made him feel better for a split second. It was worth it, even for the paralysing pins and needles he got after.
He finally saw Alfred in the accident and emergency unit, where two people had come in from a car crash, severely injured and on the brink of death.
With the pain in his head much higher than the physical pain, he had already saved one of them, leaving the medics to ponder who he had suddenly gotten better, and was setting to work on the second. His work was hardly subtle anymore -Matthew had forgotten the balance.
Suddenly Death was there, and he slapped Matthew forcibly away from the patient.
"So it's you! You idiot! I need these souls, stop saving them!" Alfred shouted at him, using his own powers to begin to shut down the two car crash victims, causing a swirl of medics as they began to panic again.
"No! Let me be! I haven't seen you in a century and now you shout at me?"
"And why do you think that is? I've been creating millions of souls for all the people being born, because I'm not getting enough from the living world! Yeah, older souls are fine, but I need the others! The ones from illness, accidents! You're the one keeping me from seeing you!" Alfred looked furious, while Matthew stood back, wide-eyed and reeling. In his own selfishness, he'd caused a lot of trouble.
The heart monitors went silent, and after a few moments, the medics stopped trying to save them. Alfred's hold was too strong.
"You need to let me have these souls. I can see you more if you save less. I-" As he spoke, Alfred turned around. When he truly looked at Matthew through his own dark ringed dull eyes, he gasped. "You- you're- you're dying! What the fuck have you done, you stupid idiot?! I can barely see you, you- Oh no, you didn't. Please tell me you haven't started using your own life force..." Alfred's voice wavered as shock worked it's way in.
Matthew looked at his hand. Truly, as Alfred had said, he could only just see the outline of his hand, and that was fading too. Pain gripped his body, squeezing his eyes shut and he wobbled on his feet.
"Oh, I suppose I-I have..." He tried an easy tone, but it came out strained.
"Don't give me that shit?! If you die, we all get wiped out, you know that! Matt, don't-!" Alfred jumped forwards as Life fell, and just managed to catch him.
The last thing Matthew registered was Alfred smothering his lips with his own, and a small rebate in the pain as a trickle of black fire started to seep in, filling the spaces.
Where he woke up was all grey. He was on the floor, but it was fairly soft and comfortable so he stayed where he was and stared at the infinite, indefinite grey.
It was a while before he realised his hand was being held. Turning his head, he found Alfred watching him intently, blue eyes smoldering in anger and tiredness.
The next thing he registered was a slap to his cheek.
"You fucking idiot. I should have known it was you. But I knew that the humans have been creating decent remedies and things, so I let it slide... You realise, if you died, the humans would have all died with you?"
Matthew nodded morosely, breaking the gaze, even once he felt Alfred's hand softly caressing his cheek.
"Why did you do it? You must have known..." Death questioned quietly.
"It hurt. N-not seeing you, and the loneliness... Saving people feels good, even if it hurts afterwards. S-sorry..." Life sighed, continuing to avert his gaze as he swept a tear away from it's hiding place. Alfred's eyes widened, then he smiled softly, rubbing a thumb over the patch of skin under a sorrowful purple orb.
"It's- well, it's not fine, but you'll survive. I hope you learned your lesson, and don't scare me like that again."
"I won't. And.. Alfred? How did you save me?"
"I transferred some of my life - I suppose it's death force actually. I want it back when you're well enough!" Alfred grinned, and Matthew felt a surge of warmth and courage flow through him.
"I-I love you, Al. Please stay with me?" Death shifted forwards to press a kiss to Matthew's lips, grinning even more than before.
"Of course. Love you too."
Matthew felt an ever present ache ebb away slightly, becoming more distant.
What did you think? I hope that they were in character, and that I managed to capture a certain melancholic tone? Mostly though, I hope you enjoyed it.
My thoughts were that they have 'extra' life/death force which they can use, and then a force that keeps them alive as spirits. Due to this, they are pretty obvious as a presence, and quite easy to find. Also, if they deplete their own force, it brings down one side of the cycle, which ultimately brings down the whole cycle. So if Alfred died, all the souls in Death would disappear, so the souls from life wouldn't be able to go anywhere. Life and Death are linked anyway.
Also, I went with that souls have a life, an afterlife, then forget it all and start again. If more souls are required than are being cycled, new ones are created by Death. The cycle is mostly self-regulating, as apparitions are subconsciously made to guide souls to where they're supposed to be, but Life and Death sometimes do it themselves. Alfred works more than Matt at the start though, because Life has become a bit disillusioned.
Leanne Andrews is not an OC, it's just a name I plucked out of thin air.
Sorry about the cheesy ending too? Let me know what you think...