She met Death along the road. They were hovering to the side as they watched the gathering crowd fuss over a broken cart and a broken boy scattered on the road. He sighed. This was how it was. They'd both be called to the site and wait for the ever fickle Fates to choose. She surprised him this time when she spoke. "Is it you're turn or mine?" They both turn at the sound of the boy's gasp for air. He turns away, slowly passing unnoticed in the crowd. "Yours." He whispered.
It repeats; this cycle over and over. Thousands of different situations, different mortals, but in the end, it's always the same coin toss. Yours or Mine? He wished she'd always win. She's so odd this one. Not at all like fun loving Aphrodite or solemn Artemis. Not even wise Athena comes close to the profound air she gives off with each step she takes. Her eyes are both deep and light. There's nothing simple in her manner or her mind.
She walks with him. They've taken to waiting side by side now. The trenches are deep and the air is thick with smoke and singed with unholy smells. She doesn't turn her head away nor grimace at the soil stained red. She knelt beside one soldier. His scalp caked with dried blood, his arm limp at his side. Her eyes travel to meet his. They're glassed over. "Take him." Her voice is thin, but firm. She turns away quickly and makes no sound as he goes about his work. It isn't until she hears the man's last breath that a single tear falls and is quickly brushed away. "Yours this time." She whispered, vanishing in the chaos. He shakes his head, eyes still focused to the spot that once held her feet. She's an odd one, this goddess called Life.
"What's your name?" she asks. They're walking in Los Angeles now, it's both dark, yet early enough that the hours are still young in the day. They'd taken to meeting, even when they aren't working. He's startled though by her question. She waits, but he can tell his silence has made her uncomfortable. "You don't know?" She shrugged her thin shoulders, her dark curls falling to her back. "I thought I should ask." There's a curious glint in his clear blue eyes, maybe he'll play her game for now. "No one's ever asked to know it." She stopped. "Than." He said, "My name is Than."
A line's been crossed after that.
They stumble through the wreckage in Japan. She walks towards the hollow cries under a fallen building. Their eyes scan the survivors, but settle at the one that's called them both here. She's young, maybe 8, her leg is caught under fallen concrete, with burns all over her skin. Her hearts not too fast and not too slow. It's either one of them. He looks toward her. "Yours." He said. She looks from him to the girl. She closed her eyes and placed a hand so that it hovered a hair from the girl's skin. She withdraws. "No." He retracts, somewhat shocked. He didn't think she could still surprise him after centuries together. "She could live." She looks at him sadly. "She will suffer. It is a cruel fate."
In the end, the Three decide, and the scissors hastily cut her thread. He takes the girl's spirit by the hand ready to take her, when she surprises him again. "May I come?" He leads them both down to the Underworld, the Goddess and the mortal. She holds the soul, cradling the child like a new born baby. This one will not have judgment. The young seldom due. He leads her straight to the fields, where the Goddess bends down and releases her to play with the other spirits. He looks back at her, studying her face. "Why?"
"Because death is sweet." She said, her rosy lips stretched into a thin line. Her eyes drift to the fields of Elysian. "Nowhere in life is peace given so easily."
She's under his skin this Goddess. Hyp taunts him about his newfound obsession. He ignores the jabs his twin makes. After a while Hyp stops and places a firm hand on his shoulder. "This is good for you brother." He's not so sure about that.
He begs a favor, an explanation really from his ruler. Though to be fair, Hades had been more than just a mentor since his birth. In truth, he often acted as a father to him. There's a thin smile at Hades' lips. "It is in our nature, those of us who can see in the dark. It makes us appreciate the light all the more." His eyes drift toward the vacant throne in the room. Than bows his head. "She is not just light. I thought she was at first, though now; I must admit she seems more like both." Hades nodded. He alone can understand it. "They seldom are just one or the other." He looks up and sees the God pensive, a far way look in his eyes. The words stumble out too easily. "How sad for me then to have fallen in love with life."
He will ruin her. This affair they've been playing for millennia is dangerous. Far more than he first believed. It's not a game anymore. "We can't meet like this anymore." She cocks her head. "Why?" He swallows roughly. She does it then, the look that bears into his very core. If he had blood it would surely have stilled at the sight. "Because I am Death. I will rip you to shreds." She gives him a knowing look.
"Go ahead." She taunts, her lips a hair from his ear, "Rip my heart out." She pulls away eyes bright and determined. "I'd love to see you try." His eyes widen. She moves quick, reminding him that while she looks like the beautiful mortals she cares for, she's not something so young and weak. Her lips press against his, and it feels like an eternity in that second before she pulls away. She smiles, all teeth. He realizes then she was never the one in danger.
"I am not some pretty thing to be loved and celebrated." Her voice barely hanging in the air. "I am far more cruel Thanatos. He shivers instinctively as she utters his name, his true name aloud. "I know what I do."
Her gaze is all steel, her stance firm. "So do I." He pulls her toward him, lips hard on hers. She stops, and utters a breath that neither of them need. "Whose turn is it?" He shakes his head. "Yours. Always Yours."