Rudy Steiner was a soul I couldn't take into my cold arms. He was a soul so loved, so heavy... He made me wonder why I even bothered with my job.

"How about a kiss, Saumensch?" his words echoed through the girl's head. Her head felt like it would explode as her lips crashed upon his. Even though his lips were both chapped and dry, she wanted this moment to last, to be remembered forever. She looked at him, trying to burn his image into her mind. His lemon colored hair, mixed in with the colors of ash. And then there were those deep blue eyes... those eyes that shined so bright never meant to look at her again. And those lips...

I listened to her cries for the boy as I carried him in my arms. He looked at Leisel crying over his dead body and he threw a tantrum in my arms, desperately trying to leave me, trying to touch Leisel. To hold her, but he could only see.

"Leisel, I love you too!" he shouted but she could never listen to those words, for those words were only he and I could hear.

He talked to himself, saying to himself that he was not dead. That he would be alright. But he just stood there, watching her lips crashing with his... Well, not really his anymore.

"I never felt that kiss..." he whispered quietly to himself. "You snatched me away from her. You stole me. Why..."

I could only watch the tragic scene. I could only watch Leisel try to slap the life back into her love, tears pouring from her eyes. She kept whispering "I love you." Rudy on the other hand could only watch her suffer without him to comfort her. He would've cried along with her, but he did not possess the ability anymore.

It kills me sometimes, how people die.

I commanded the boy to leave with me, for it was useless to stay and linger.

"It's over." I told him, his back facing me, his knees touching the floor, along with his hands.

"It can't be over." he said quietly, voice filled with regret and determination.

"I'm sorry," I told him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He looked at me, his eyes filled with so much emotion. my heart would've ached for him, but I have none. I am Death and nothing else. He put his head back down and stared at the floor.

But then a thought occurred to me... It wouldn't be so bad to bring back one soul... right? I mean, I already have many souls collected...

No. It can't happen. It was totally unacceptable in so many different ways, but my voice had a mind of its own.

"Look, I'll bring you back to life." my voice croaked. I hoped the boy couldn't hear what escaped my lips the moment they escaped from my mind to the mouth.

But his head popped back up. "What?" he said in a small voice, not sure if I was serious.

But I was.

I sighed, "I'll bring you back to life for the girl. You'll have vast time to make up for all the regret and loss," I paused and those eyes looked so full of hope, that he'd have another chance. "But I'm gonna have you back soon. The way you'll leave this world will be the worst for you. You'll leave feeling so much pain. Much more pain than you felt in the bombing." I finished.

The boy didn't even think about the consequences of his actions. He instantly took up my offer and agreed.

"Bring me back." he begged.

"You must not let anyone know about your deal with Death, especially Leisel-"

"Deal."

"As you wish." I finally said as I let his soul go and back into his body.

A/N: Ok ok... I know that this story idea is quite similar to another story on the fandom, but I really wanted to write this out. Anyways, I'm new to this fandom so please be gentle if I get some facts wrong or something.

Anyways, describing Death is pretty hard. I'm not even sure how to describe him. I'm gonna personificate him with body parts such as hands and eyerolling and such. Descrbing Rudy's... ghost was hard too. I mean, he had no knees since it was his corpse and ... Ugh. Death is a confusing topic for me.

Anyways, I just got into the Book Thief and I'm obsessed. I'm surprised that the fandom is so small. Hmph.

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