Setting: Home after encounter with creepy long knives. There is a palpable tension in the air that one encounters from a lack of preparation.

Everyone feels like shit. Tense movements from Conquest and an orange energy that emanates from his body starts to flood over him. He looks as if he's experienced this kind of situation before. Death carries a sad look. I'm guessing she's experiencing some déjà vu as well. War went outside to punch some trees, and Famine spent the last half hour rinsing out his sinuses and mouth. And I'm stuck here trying not to let a few volatile super beings get too pissed off. Sure, I can control their powers, but I'm not so certain that I could hold these guys back from killing each other.

Conquest: More adversaries, more people to defeat, more problems to deal with. (Walks to the stairs and yells upward) "Sarvty, you can stop rinsing out your mouth and sinuses already. You're being loud and wasting wasteful.

Famine: Like you're one to talk. We wasted all this fucking time trying to climb over houses and shit like a bunch of homeless guys trying to find a warm house. Even through all your CAREFUL planning, you still fail at getting us through this.

Conquest: And your nose was unreliable. All this shit about "being able to sense anything" with your senses, fuck out of here. You couldn't sense crap with all the shit you ate before this ma –

Famine: MY SENSES WORKED! Still can't say the same about your tactics. Even while I tried to get us away from the douchebag, he still fucking found us with your slow fucking idea. What the hell did you think was going to hap –?

Conquest: BEST POSSIBLE STRATEGY, which you wouldn't know if I stuck it up your ass and left it in there. You couldn't give a shit about doing the thing that will save all of us, so long as everyone gets hurt you wouldn't mind living. NO ONE HAS TO DIE HUH?

Famine: You wouldn't know how to care about the rest of us. Always going for logistics, fuck logistics. Just cause something's the most efficient route, doesn't mean it's going to be the most satisfactory. So long as you get your results, you wouldn't care if the rest of us jumped off a cliff and died. Everything is so fucking great with your plans. So long as we follow your instructions, one of us is guaranteed to die –

At this point, the both of them must have been really fucking pissed off. Like, Incredible Hulk realizing the Illuminati were responsible for building the spaceship that killed his wife and blew up his planet pissed off. The both of them overrode the Restriction Power Seal I placed on their Level 10 powers and started to form up their battle gear. I caught a glimpse of Conquest and Famine's weapons. A massive steel broadsword 1 and a half times the size of Conquest, and what could be described as a combination of a battle-axe fused with a spear. Conquest wore a knight's armor, with a lion's pelt covering his back. I could tell the pelt also had steel layered on the bottom of it. Famine wore just a cloak over him. I got the feeling his bones were very strong underneath that as he turned fully undead. Unfortunately, if I don't stop them they might nuke the house and anything within 3 miles.

Me: That's fucking enough from the both of you. Shut the fuck up you dumbasses, put your weapons away (you did not have permission to take them out anyways) and actually think about what the fuck just happened. We were observed by someone that was able to bypass the strengths of our party. Invisible clone placeholders that can keep watch and only become visible when the real thing makes an appearance. He outclassed us. It's fucking fine. We'll have those opponents and we have to work towards figuring out a way to beat those opponents.

Conquest: It's not fine. (Tears in his eyes, likely from past memories) It's going to happen again. It's going to happen again. Zylam, Yan, Edgarth, Brin. I can't let it happen again.

Me: What's wrong Conquest? You could tell u –

Conquest: (Interrupting that sentence) NOT RIGHT NOW! … I don't really feel like talking about that. I'll be in the Dining Room.

Conquest walks to the Dining Room and plops down on the first seat entering the room. He looks at his feet dejectedly and ponders how he should get out of his hopeless situation.

Famine went to the Living Room couch. He lied on top of it and stood at the ceiling, possibly pondering how he could fix the situation.

I walked out towards the side door to tell War to come inside when Death grabbed my hand. The touch of her hand chilled me to the bone. I sensed a supernatural sense of dread, that bottomless pit that forms in one's stomach when they face the unknown. But Death hadn't come to take my life, she'd come to have a talk about saving others. I could see tears forming in those piercing eyes of hers as she got me to sit down on the bench near the side door.

Her head rested on my shoulders; a weary ancient being wanted to have a talk. Before I could open my mouth, she began.

Death: Do you know why I'm the only immortal on this team? And do you know the stories of the other members before these three?

She's starting to really tear up at this point. I could feel a volcanic eruption of sadness about to explode all over us. Cautiously, I put my hand around her shoulders. I patted her like a friend listening to one of their friends break up with their boyfriend. Unlike those types, I wasn't looking for romance.

Death: You'll have to talk with the other three about their pasts, but I'll talk about mine.

At this point, she's really starting to cry. I get up for a couple seconds to get some tissues and help her wipe the tears off her face. Sniffling, she continues with her sentence.

Death: I was a little girl in a faraway land. It sounds cliché, but I was born in what is now known as Eastern Europe. My family was a small clan called the Shiams. We were looked down on by other larger clans that were intolerant of our beliefs. They called me the devil for our religious practices, and constantly bullied us by stealing our supplies and throwing rocks at us.

Death: One day, I walked into my house to see my parents hanged by the roof of our house. My younger sister, taken captive into a larger clan to use as a servant and my pet bird had its legs ripped off and wings gutted of feathers. I knew who had done it. It was the three twiddling fuckers from the Garcoms that acted like spoiled brats and generally bullied everyone, especially our clan. So, I bid my time. One day, I got all of them alone, separately. We were at a wedding and got them all to meet at certain locations. I stabbed one to death with the knife that skinned my bird. I got one of them and choked him to death with the same rope that hung my parents. And I killed the last one by bludgeoning him to death with the mace that they used to break the hands of my sister. I was immediately arrested as they knew who it was that would try and kill them. I honestly didn't care. You could ask why I couldn't save my sister, but they sent her off to a faraway land. At that point, I was too far gone and didn't care about anything except my inevitable execution. But the Gatekeeper saved me. He walked through a portal and extended his hand towards me. He appeared before my cell and asked me if I minded being the first of the 4 Horsemen to be created. He promised that if I took the job, I could potentially find answers to what happened to my sister and prevent situations such as these from happening again. At that point, he was the only one in the world who cared about me.

Death: There were other teams before this, other Horsemen. Some are immortals, some are mortal, as they could choose whether to gain an immortal power boost or keep their identities intact. One by one, every Horseman was either killed on missions or retired. New ones always came in and were dealt the same fate. Every single time, I wasn't able to properly keep them from falling apart. I was treated like an outcast just like with my clan. No hurtful words, just distrust towards the Eastern European immortal who doesn't look like she could prove herself useful of anything. I thought the only one I could turn to was the Gatekeeper. But even he was busy with his work and watching over the Planet. Then I found you.

Me: What made me so special, Dea – I mean Thannat? I always noticed you glancing at me inquisitively during class and always lighting up with happiness when you saw me after class.

Death: You were different. You were different because despite your lazy streak, your incompetence in school, and your stubbornness, I saw something underneath that stone-faced exterior I found interesting. Remember the day that we were called into homeroom?

Me: I could remember it like the back of my hand. You all sat next to me and Werran shot daggers at me.

Death: What made me so interested in you was that you were the first person that wanted to include us in anything. You were willing to have us sit next to you guys at lunch. You were willing to introduce us to the rest of your family, even though they weren't here. You were willing to introduce us to your friends and classmates. You were kind to us. You were kind to me. And I found that to be something beautiful.

Me: Let me put this all together. So you had a less than ideal life, joined the Horsemen to prevent catastrophes such as yours from happening to others, end up being rejected and unwanted by other people and your team members, but ended up really liking me because I was the only person who was able to take the time to get to know you as a human being rather than some strange monster.

With that understanding, she hugs my chest, tears flowing like a water fountain. It felt strange, having a couple inches of human flesh be the difference between Death and my life. But I comforted her, at last knowing what her story was and why she felt the way she did. We sat there for 10 minutes, with her head moving up towards my shoulders. We hugged, with me sheepishly comforting her in spite of all that happened. After 3 more minutes, she spoke.

Death: This came out all at once, but you know the reason for my look now. The last thing I want to happen is for the team to splinter again and lose more friends. Because you included us in your activities and study sessions, you guys were my first friends, you know? It made me overjoyed to hang out with you and help you on this mission.

She sniffles and tears up again. I quickly wipe away the tears from her face. She emits a small hopeful smile.

Death: So please, talk with the rest of them, and keep everyone together. I don't want to lose any of you, especially you.

She smiles at me once again, and walks outside to talk to Werran. I walk inside and stop right at the fridge, pondering who to talk to next.

Meanwhile outside, War is talking to Death about the conversation she just had. His superhuman hearing stopped him from continuing to punch trees with his bare hands. He had walked outside the door and was going to enter when he heard the conversation start. He respectfully listened on the porch, and then got up when Death walked outside.

Death: So now you know too. I was honestly expecting you to "accidentally" barge in on us.

War: Look "Thannat," I may be blunt, but I am not rude under any circumstances. I am not that heartless to interrupt the conversation you were having with Pipsqueak lover boy over there. To be honest, I think you two would make a great couple.

Death: No no no no, I don't see him as that. We're only friends. I just appreciate that he cares about me…

War: Sure, sure. Tell yourself what you need to help yourself sleep at night. Come on, let's go inside and listen to Pip talk to the others.