Darksiders – Death and Nereza – "Strength and Shadows"
Location: Foster's Park, Near the Corinthian Apartments, Seattle, Washington
January 23th
11:51pm
"It's you," She spoke. "It's really you."
However, Death was, at that moment, taken by shock. He had no idea what to say to her. The thought of saying something if he would ever meet her didn't really cross his mind. But now he was here and so was she. He needed to find some way out of his silence.
"My God," A smile was making its way to her face. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment. I-I can't believe it! You're real!"
She had the accent that every other mortal would have, unlike a sophisticated one that Death himself or any other demon or angel or Old One would have. "Nereza?"
The female smiled warmly at him, her arms still wrapped around her midsection. "In my previous life, that would have been my name. But in this life… it's Melaena. Melaena Sullivan."
"Melaena," He tested it out for himself. "You know me. You know the name 'Nereza'. Am I to understand that…?"
"Yep," She glanced down at her shuffling feet. "I have her features and her memories. I'm pretty sure that spells 'reincarnation'."
He almost didn't catch that last part, "Memories?"
Her bright green eyes held his orange ones. "It's a long story. Why don't you come back to my place? We… have a lot to talk about. Just… don't make any otherworldly noises and wake anyone else up in my apartment building. You're not something everyone sees everyday."
Location: Corinthian Apartments
Death was too busy ogling at the interior of Melaena's spartan and shipshape apartment. He had never seen the inside of a mortal's home, but you don't count the demolished ones he had seen during his time on Earth. If Death didn't stop staring at her apartment, he could accidently bump into something.
Melaena let him in and shut her door without a peep. She led him to the tiny living room, where she put her keys down the coffee table and turned to him, only to find him still gazing at her apartment.
She grinned, slipping her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. "Considering your dark tastes, I'm not surprised you're gawking at my apartment."
Since Death was wearing his signature executioner mask, she could not view anything else rather than his glowing orange eyes. Now, they were pointing directly at her, as she continued to smile sweetly at him.
He took his few, slow steps towards her and despite his threatening demeanor, she did not appear frightened. She did not move an inch. The Nephilim was still in shock, no doubt. She could see that easily in his eyes. But she tried to assure him through her smile.
Death raised his right hand to her cheek, but then held it in the air, suddenly afraid to touch her. However, the strong hold her eyes had over him guaranteed him otherwise, and he gently but cautiously, ran two skeletal-like fingers past her cheek.
Melaena's eyes closed to a shut upon that contact – the contact that she had only felt in her dreams and wanted to actually feel it in real life. Now she has. Instinctively, she used her own hand to hold his. Opening her eyes, she said, "You used to do that sometimes to tell me that you wanted to kiss me."
Death honestly did not know how to feel about that. Especially when she was right. He removed his hand. "What do you know?"
She never took her eyes off him as she spoke. "Just about everything Nereza's been through. I know about you, about War, Strife, Fury, Absalom… I know that you absolutely hate that demon named Lilith. I know that we… we had a son named Hunter."
He tried his best not to wince at that last bit. "But how?"
"Ever since I could remember, I've been having this collection of dreams that at first did not make the slightest of senses. Then I realized that they were telling a story. It took me a while, but after I realized that there were no more new dreams because they kept repeating, I put them together the best I could. Wait here." She instructed, before skipping off into another room which he presumed was her bedroom.
She quickly returned with a thick A4-sized journal, her protective hands around it. "Every little dream, every little detail… I wrote it down. This is my book of memories. It became clear to me that I was someone else in a previous life. And I knew there had to be a good reason why these dreams were happening and why they wouldn't stop – Nereza. She wants something," She said. "She lives in me, Death. I am her. There is a reason why this is happening. I just don't know what." She took a second to ask politely, "Do you know what's happening?"
Death was still mesmerized by the fact that his angel was right in front of him, but unable to be the person she once was. Instead, Melaena simply carried the memories. "No. No, Melaena, I do not."
"Then…" She seemed a tad disappointed. "Why are you here? How did you even know I existed?"
Without a word, he reached up to grasped Nereza's blue amulet around his neck. He could see her mentally slapping herself for not having seen it before.
"Reza's amulet…" She whispered. But her wandering eyes found the mark on the upper right arm of Death. "Whoa. You even got her emblem craved onto your shoulder? Man, that's true love."
"Um…"
"Death," She spoke once again. "Look, I have so many questions to ask. So many things I want to understand. Like why is this happening? Do you know anything? Anything at all?"
The Reaper felt like his bubble had been burst. Here he was hoping to interrogate her, but it appears that she was as clueless as the latter. "Melaena," He began. "I too have several questions of my own. But it appears that we at an impasse. I will gladly tell you anything you want to know."
"If I do the same," She said, predicting it. "Yeah, sure. Seems fair. Since this is happening to you too," But then, she took a quick glance at her watch and sighed epically. "I would like to talk right now, but I need to head to bed. I have work tomorrow. Can you come back tomorrow night?" She questioned, her eyes sparkling at the Pale Rider.
There was no way in hell he was going to miss it. "But of course."
"Am I going to have to guide you form the pond?"
"Um… no need," He said. "I've been provided with the means to connect your home to my own. I would just have to place an entrance here and use it whenever I wish to."
"Oh. Cool," Melaena said. "Okay. How's that room? Think you can place an 'entrance' on one of the walls?" She pointed to the other bedroom she had where she dumped some of her things. It was basically the storeroom she had always wanted.
He nodded. "It's perfect."
"Great! Just one thing: if you're exit and enter through that room… don't land on my Christmas decorations, okay?"