Disclaimer: All characters…
This is a Gaiman crossover. Tom captures Death. ;) First part of a small series of drabbles on the subject.
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Luna recognized the woman instantly.
It had been years but Luna had a fond memory of her.
When she came to take her mother, she had allowed Luna to accompany them to the world's end. She had even had a cup of tea with Luna before she went to collect the others—the countless others.
Now, Death was bound in a chair, cords of silver and apple branches wrapped around her. Her head hung to the side in a trance, in a never-ever sleep.
"Did she think I would allow it? Did she think I would accept it?"
"Tom, I can't see you in the shadows," she began, softly, searching the nooks of the room for her husband. It appeared as if the room had been torn to pieces by St. Elmo's fire or a batch of Brazilian Gadzooks.
"I told you death was primarily about acceptance, that we give her power. And look at her now."
Luna followed his voice, searching the emptiness with her hands like a blind woman, and found him at last. She touched his arm, and felt the warmth of his skin. Despite her good feelings towards Death, she felt relief wash over her like a flood.
"I thought—I thought you had taken…precautions against…her embrace. Why did she come for you?"
He was silent for a moment, and she drifted closer, wrapping her arms around him.
"I poisoned myself. I know the exact formula that would allow me to take a step into her realm." he admitted. "To lure her here within my grasp."
"This wasn't necessary," Luna told him, sharply, and glanced pityingly at the broken figure in the center of the circle. "You've brought her here to be your trophy, not to protect your life."
"Oh, it wasn't for my life. I am immune from her touch. That is why she is in her present position."
His face was battered, bruised. Within the circle in the center of the room, the circle drawn in ash and blood, it was clear there had been a struggle.
She stood in awe of his ambition and in horror of the implications. "All this, for a trophy."
"More like a ward against our separation." Luna froze, and he wrapped his arms around her.
"Till Death do we apart, after all," he whispered into her ear. He kissed her deeply, and it took no thought to kiss him back.
Death looked on with despair and sagged against her bonds.
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Author notes: Yep, I think Death's relatives are going to be upset. ;) And what will Luna do, I wonder?