Death, death and Susan

Author's notes: This is how it all ends because I think it couldn't end differently.

Teatime led Susan out of the castle and into the city. The roads were empty, probably because the people were still in the bars, but for an occasional stray dog running after some cat. Susan stopped and looked at him not knowing what to do. It was not long ago when she thought she had to get him out and send him back to wherever he came from after she sent him there initially. Now she just thought the moonlight made his hair look a bit silvery, which was not really a useful thing in that situation.

She mentally kicked herself and opened her mouth to say something when he hugged her and kissed her running his fingers through her hair that, to her annoyance, didn't present him with the slightest difficulty. Still not thinking, Susan put her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Eventually they seemed to wander in a small dark alley where noone could see them.

When they broke apart to breathe Susan took a few steps away from him and suddenly she realized what had happened that night with Lobsang and then with Teatime. It all seemed so strange, so untrue. She looked at Teatime who was trying to figure out what was suddenly the matter and she felt the urge to hold him and caress his cheek.

"What the hell's wrong with me?" she asked herself aloud as he drew closer and hugged her.

"It's probably the same thing that's wrong with me" Jonathan answered as he kissed her softly.

Susan glared at him. Obviously there were many more things wrong with him that there were with her but right now she had to deal with just this one.

"But… Teatime… we hate each other."

"I know" he said and kissed her again.

He did know they hated each other. Somehow a part of him had started having some other feelings towards Susan and it was the same with her too but none of them would dare say it. Teatime however felt he wanted to say that her eyes sparkled and they were very nice.

"So what are we doing?" she asked breaking their kiss again.

"We're kissing. Well, at least I'm trying to kiss you and you are asking me questions. Oh, and it's Te-ah-tim-eh."

"I can see we are kissing. Thank you very much…" she uttered with a hint of irony within her annoyance.

"I can see that too!" they heard a voice behind them.

"Lobsang!" Susan cried as she turned around.

If one would list uncomfortable situations followed by long pauses this would definitely be one of the top ones. Susan knew that she should probably say something but "this isn't what you think it is" was too cliché. Besides this was exactly what Lobsang thought it was.

"Lobsang, I think we should talk."

"I think so too, Susan. Shall we go somewhere to be alone?"

"You are not going to be alone with her" Teatime hissed and threw a knife towards him.

Lobsang stopped time before the dagger hit him and moved one step aside. The dagger hit the wall.

"You have to find a better way to kill your time. This might take quite a while."

Teatime was ready to say something when Susan stopped him.

"It won't. I have already made my decision. You tried to ask me something before, Lobsang. Well the answer is no."

Teatime grinned and Susan gave him a Look.

"Don't think that's because of you" she told him to make him stop grinning. "I just can't do this."

"So you choose the mad assassin?"

"I…" Susan tried to say when a man made the worst and probably last mistake of his life and entered the alley.

Teatme threw another knife to kill the man and once again Lobsang stopped time, this time only affecting the dagger and the man. In the man's lifetimer the last drop of sand froze in midair.

"You would have killed him" he told the assassin.

"Indeed. I couldn't have him interrupt out little conversation here."

"And you thought of avoiding interruption by killing him?" asked Susan even if she already knew the answer.

"So be it" said Lobsang smiling ironically and unfroze time.

The last drop of sand fell as the dagger found the man's heart. Death appeared holding his scythe and an empty hourglass.

"SUSAN? LOBSANG? MR. TE-AH-TIM-EH?"

"Oh, that's just great!" said Susan looking at all three of them.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE? I THOUGH YOU WERE AT A BALL SUSAN."

"Actually Susan was just about to say what she felt about this assassin here."

"WAS SHE?"

"My name is Te-ah-tim-eh."

"I don't care" Lobsang snapped at the assassin.

At this point Teatime pulled out a third knife and tried to throw it at Lobsang who again stopped time but this time picked the knife and threw it back. Susan jumped in front of Teatime. She saw the knife coming at her and reaching her body. Her dress changed to black, like when she was Death. With a quick move she turned and held Teatime very hard as they both fell on their knees. For some moments they just looked at each other's eyes trying to understand what had happened.

"Susan?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you do that?"

"I just couldn't let you die again" she said, her voice ready to shatter to pieces.

Teatime smiled. He looked down at his chest and removed the dagger. It had gone through her. Exactly like the poker had gone through Death. He gave her a very sweet and tender kiss, then buried his face in her chest and breathed slowly. The scythe appeared in her hands. She had a soul to pick and she knew who it was. She didn't want to.

"You are going to be all right" she said trying to reassure herself more than him.

"Please don't lie to me. I feel so cold."

Susan tried to rub his arms and his back to make him feel warmer but it wouldn't work.

"Jonathan…"

There are moments when there's so much to say but there's no time and even if there was you wouldn't know which words to use. Fortunately, in some cases there's no need for words. One look in the other's eyes is more than enough to tell you everything without using any words at all. He looked in her eyes and saw they were not sparkling like before. They were trembling, if eyes could tremble.

"I'm sorry Susan."

"What for?"

"Everything."

There were so many things in this "everything". Not exactly what one would expect from an assassin for he did not regret any of the things he'd done regarding his job. What he was truly sorry for was that he couldn't stay, that he couldn't be with Susan as he had planned. Ok, maybe he was also a bit sorry for the way he'd treated her at some occasions but just a little bit. He saw some tears trying to gather in her eyes.

"Please don't cry. I don't like crying people. They are so very tedious."

Of course nothing would make him feel differently about her but he couldn't say that. "That is just so typical of him" Susan thought. Of course Teatime was Teatime and she wouldn't expect him to change even in the very end.

"I'm not crying. I never cry."

Yes. She never did. But now he could clearly see the tears in her eyes and that made him realise this was the end. Maybe he had his chance to be with her and he'd missed it. He felt his strength leaving his body as he fell on her completely and she had to turn him and place his head gently on her lap. He managed to gather all that was left to tell her the truth. It was important that she knew.

"You know, you didn't say what you felt about me."

There was a faint smile for a couple of seconds and Susan held him tighter. That was true. But could she?

"I just want you to know I love you" he whispered. "I've never loved anyone before. It feels so warm."

"Jonathan please hold on" was all she managed to say. There were no more words left.

He held her face with his hand that was now getting colder and smiled weakly. His eyes closed slowly and seconds later his hand fell motionless on his body.

"No… Jonathan? JONATHAN! NO!"

She held Teatime as tight as she could and buried her face in his golden curls. She never cried. Maybe this was a good time to start. No. She wouldn't cry. She tried to breathe even if she felt she was suffocating. She whispered something in his ear although she knew he couldn't hear it any more. Suddenly, Susan turned and gave Lobsang a Look full of rage. How could he kill her assassin? Death took some steps closer as Teatime's body started disappearing.

"What's happening?" Susan asked with a trembling voice.

"HE WAS JUST A SPIRIT THAT HAD MATERIALISED. IT WAS HIS SPIRIT THAT JUST DIED."

"But…" she tried to form a sentence in vain and held her scythe with one hand.

"HE IS NOT COMPLETELY GONE. IT IS JUST THAT HE CAN NOT COME BACK NOW."

"You can't just take him away from me!"

"I KNOW. THIS IS SOMETHING YOU HAVE TO DO."

"What?"

Death raised his hand and pointed somewhere behind her. Susan turned and saw a Teatime-shaped shadow made of smoke. Mechanically she raised the scythe and waved it making the shadow disappear. She dropped the scythe but it never hit the ground. It vanished along with her black dress and she was again wearing the red and black dress she wore at the ball. She remained still, staring at the wall where the shadow was seconds ago.

"Excuse me, but what's going to happen to me?" the spirit of the man asked.

He thought it was fit not to say anything during the past events but he was after all dead and he had no desire to waste his afterlife in a dark alley with three strangers.

"OH, I'M SORRY. THERE YOU GO" said Death and waved his scythe. The man disappeared. When he turned to see Susan, she was gone.

"She… disappeared. Just like that."

"IT WAS TO BE EXPECTED."

"Maybe I should follow her."

"I BELIEVE THAT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA."

Lobsang decided to follow Death's advice and left. He figured he would have to apologise to Susan at some point although he did not feel sorry at all he'd gotten rid of the assassin.

…………………

In a place where there are no dimensions one can not have a floor, or a ceiling, or walls. But one can have an extremely irritated assassin with mismatched eyes pacing up and down, metaphorically always, the non-existent floor. Death appeared out of nowhere. In reality he had just come from a certain dark alley in Sto Lat but it was all the same to the assassin.

"What is this place?"

"I WILL BE ASKING THE QUESTIONS NOW MR. TE-AH-TIM-EH."

Teatime gave him a blank stare.

"WHY DID MY GRANDDAUGHTER TRIED TO PROTECT YOU?"

"I think because she has feelings for me."

Deep down Teatime wished he was sure about this. Susan hadn't said anything when he told her he loved her. He would of course have been sure if he knew what she'd whispered in his ear.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?"

"Nothing."

"YOU TOLD HER YOU LOVED HER."

"So?"

"DO YOU?"

"I don't have to answer that. Not to you at least."

Teatime though for a while.

"I want Susan back. Can you take me to her?"

"NO. I CAN NOT DISTORT THE COSMIC BALANCE."

"Hmm… It doesn't matter anyway. I'll find a way to go back myself."

"WHY?"

"Because she's Susan. My Susan. And I'll always find ways to go back to her. Always."

Teatime meant it. If someone knew him he would have absolutely no doubt about this. He would go back eventually. In the meantime Death had a job to do so he left the assassin alone in the non-dimensional space and went to pick his next soul.

But before that he had to make a stop. He found Susan up on the cliff where her parents had died. She was not crying. She was just staring at the sky without really looking at it holding a black rose. The wind was blowing her hair making them hit her face but she didn't mind.

"He will find a way to come back" she said without turning to face her grandfather.

Belief is a very powerful thing. They seemed to know it already. Death nodded.

The first light of the new day chased the last shadows of the night away. Up on a certain cliff there was a black rose floating in the air. It landed next to a wheel that seemed to have been the only thing left from a carriage that had crashed too long ago.

THE END