The version I envisioned while writing this was the Japanese production with Yu Shirota as Death and Yuta Furukawa as Prince Rudolf. I've only seen about ten minutes of the production, but what I saw was absolutely incredible and gave me inspiration for the story.
Mayerling, 1889
Rudolf held the cold gun his old friend had handed to him in his trembling hands. He tried his best to still them, staring at the object that would soon end his life.
How had it come to this?
He swallowed thickly and attempted to calm his raging nerves. With all the pain and hopelessness he felt, it should be easy to do this. But he found he was still afraid.
The young man turned and kissed the friend who had never failed him before. He had always been there for him when everyone else had left him on his own.
His friend pulled away. As Rudolf looked into his eyes, he felt himself resigned even further to what he was about to do.
He raised the gun to his temple.
"NO!"
His arm was forced up just as he fired the shot.
It took a moment for Rudolf to realize that he was not dead. He could hear ragged breathing in his ear that he knew was not his own.
Someone had his arm pointed towards the sky and firmly held the back of his head with the other hand.
Slowly, his arm came down. The person holding him gently took the gun out of his hand and tossed it away from him.
When the person pulled away, it immediately confirmed his suspicions.
He knew this face all too well.
"Oh, Rudolf…" she said as she reached to gently caress the side of his face. "I should've known…" She turned to look at his friend. "How could you?" she asked softly but accusatorially.
"You know him?" Rudolf asked in surprise.
She turned back to look at him. "Death comes to everyone. Only those who choose to can see him."
Rudolf supposed he had always known there was something supernatural about his old friend, and he had had his suspicions for the longest time, but actually hearing it spoken out loud made his stomach flip.
"When did you see him?" he asked her.
"When my mother died," she answered. "That was the first time…"
