Le Val, at night, was a beautiful thing. The empty streets and suppressed quiet cast a spell over the daunting cliffs and expansive beaches. Soft glowing lights lazed gently away from sparsely placed lanterns, and overhead the wraith-like stars and moon bathed the walls of the city in gentle blue. Nestled along the coast of mighty France; it was one of a kind, both elegant and quaint.

Surrounded by midnight, Edmond sat on his porch and watched the flickering of a lighthouse in the distance. As the bulb within the tower completed massive rotations, it winked over an otherwise indiscernible sea, for the blackened water melted seamlessly with sky.

He tapped his fingers against his arm, absentmindedly mimicking the distant rhythm of the beacon, and counted the sound of distant waves washing up and down the shore.

Albert had left this afternoon; gone back to his hotel. Edmond had promised to receive him once more this evening, for they had much to discuss. However, the young man had yet to return, and Edmond's instinct to vanish had filled him with every passing hour. After all, 'by the way, I'm a vampire' was not easily softened.

"You know you don't have to tell him." Gankutsuou murmured sleepily. "He'd never notice."

It was a tempting notion, but most likely unwise, "Lying to Albert has accomplished nothing thus far, I doubt it would profit anything besides prolonging this foolishness."

The demon chuckled, which took considerable effort. "True, he's very persistent."

"He misunderstands my character." Edmond brushed away a spot of dust on the sleeve of his coat, "Our values don't align – the sooner he sees this the better."

"Then tell him you're not interested. Why go to the trouble?"

It took him a long time to answer, during which a spat of wind disturbed the stillness, chilling him slightly. "It's worth the trouble."

Gankutsuou snickered and Edmond laughed at himself, the equivalent of raising his hands in surrender. "Alright, I'll admit, it's nice to be cared for, but we both know love is only an illusion, a construct to explain physiological urges and mental attachment. I learned not to believe in love years ago."

The demon shrugged; or rather, Edmond perceived the mental image of such action. "So you say, but I've always believed in love."

"Come again?"

"Well naturally – otherwise why would I seek out hosts consumed by hate and revenge? Those who love freely are difficult to control, but hate is easy to twist."

Images of a spider eyed, tall, and violently colored creature standing in line for the latest's romance novel seemed wrong, very wrong. Even more wrong was the notion that said creature was openly divulging his manipulative tactics, things he had jealously guarded in the past. "How extraordinarily unlike you, don't you tend to play such things pretty close to the chest?"

"I think we're past such games. Death took all the fun out of this arrangement. I'm here to solve a philosophical problem. At this point, controlling you won't help me reach the answer any faster. Besides, I'm tired."

A single cynical snort escaped from Edmond, and he stood, entering his home. "So, in the spirit of revealing motivations, tell me: why exactly do you want a body?"

"None of your business." He grinned.

"Well, that's more like it. You had me worried. But I wonder... The two of us have fumbled along, without direction, for the last seven years. We're no closer to resolving anything than we've ever been. We need to visit death. I feel as if we are getting nowhere and about to make the same mistakes. Do you know if there is a way to contact him, or would it be more correct?"

Gankutsuou grinned, attention immediately returning. "You mean besides killing someone or dying ourselves? Yes, of course you do. Well, it's rather easy. If you sleep, I'll take you."

"Fine, I don't think Albert is coming tonight, so let's use the time for something productive."

0-0-0-0

Haydee's robes were a brilliant splash of elegant color, as always. The patterns of blooming plants and little birds enriched her beauty in a kind of regal gaudiness that somehow flattered her small and petite frame.

Despite her obvious agitation, she brushed a dainty pale hand through the strands of long tidy hair by her shoulders, and smiled comfortingly at Albert across the room. They were on her ship, and she had traveled all the way from Janina due to Baptistin's last report.

"So, Edmond still lives." Her voice, always radiant, failed to hide her feelings on that matter, excitement, fear, and hurt.

Albert continued stirring his tea, having yet to lift or drink from the cup.

The famous harp of the princess sat across the room on a decorative pillow. She had played it upon his arrival, filling the room with reassuring, but empty sounds.

"You know," she toyed with the pendant about her neck, the light flashed deeply and refracted as the angle of the stone changed, "part of my heart praised Gankutsuou for keeping our beloved Count alive, and part of me hated him for the way he grew colder. He asked me, once, if I thought he was a terrible man. There was once a time he felt remorse, in the beginning, but the more he gave himself to revenge and hate, the more the human soul faded and the demon grew."

Albert withdrew his hand, and the spoon eventually stopped twirling within the cup.

"Albert, we must not be naïve. If Edmond is alive, Gankutsuou lives as well. No human could come back from the dead. In fact, I would not be surprised if Gankutsuou is all that lives within Edmond's body now."

"With all due respect, your highness," Albert asserted, though meekly, and with reserve, "I have spent some time with him, and I'm certain it was not Gankutsuou."

Her brow furrowed, and she turned to view the scenery from her window, the train of her silk kimono gracefully rippling as she moved. "How can you be sure? Did he offer any explanation to his miraculous survival?"

"No, but he's been hiding from me, he finally admitted who he was today. We haven't had that much time to. . .follow that up yet."

Bertuccio folded his arms over his chest and widened his stance, looking as powerful and serious as ever. "My lady, if I may interrupt, if Gankutsuou were in control I doubt he'd be living in Le Val. He'd seek out the crowded streets and wealth of a major city. He'd probably be ruling it by now."

"I suppose that it true. Still, we must be cautious. If Edmond is alive, I will not loose him again." Haydee's words contained a bite. "I am sure you all agree."

She returned to the side of the elegant bravura table on which Albert had set his tea. With a hand upon his cheek she coaxed him to look at her. His eyes were swollen and his face red.

The room was larger than one might expect of a parlor on a ship, but perhaps not those belonging to royalty, and despite the comfortable appearance the walls were metal, causing her voice to echo, "When you told me he lived, my heart both did and did not want to believe it, but here we are, and I am glad. Whatever happens Albert, if Edmond lives, I will see to it Gankutsuou does not destroy him again. We must confront the demon."

"My answer is still the same. No. Not without Edmond's permission. And I know you will had me followed, you know where he is, so you don't need me."

Her hand tightened slightly before dropping back to her lap. Her unusual eyes held his with an imperial force, but softened as the seconds passed. Years of ruling Janina had made her tough, but she had not lost the sensitive kindness or gentle demeanor of her youth.

"We must know if Gankutsuo lives, Albert. He could be controlling Edmond, hurting him, changing him, or worse. Who knows what terrible things he is going to do to the people of this city. If the demon lives, nothing good can come of it. I have a friend, well, a consultant really. She deals with issues of the paranormal and is famous all throughout the galaxy. I will ask her to visit me here, and will arrange for Edmond, and you, to meet her without giving my position away. If Gankutusou is there, she will know. I am sure that if any of us tried to take him, the demon would suspect something. Your innocence is our secret weapon. Gankutsuou would never suspect you. If I promise not to confront him, will you help us?"

Overwhelmed by the day's events and eager to return to Edmond, Albert twitched and looked around. Though his eyes fell upon remarkable paintings, some by Janina's most famous artists, as well an impressive assortment of delicate plates and rare trinkets, he saw none of them. His eyes looked to the window, past it, as if trying to perceive a solution in the obscured view.

"I could just ask him."

"He lied to you before, and Gankutsuou certainly would. Gankutsuou may even force him to deceive you, even if he did not wish to, which is my foremost concern. No, I think this is the only way to make sure Edmond is all right.

Eternal dusk and a purple sunset splashed across the murky world of Edmond's dreaming mind.

Astral projection produced, to his surprise, remarkably real and authentic stimulation. As his demon guide heralded a distinct and vociferous sound into a conglomerate of blurring images, he examined his hands. They appeared normal, as if he had entered his dreams physically as well as mentally, and even bore the distinct lines and circular patterns on his fingers and palms.

A bright and fuzzy being, separate from Edmond and his guide, drifted by and through him, leaving a tail of white speckled light, like the tail of a comet. It, the spectral form of another dreamer, whispered nonsense and darted away at alarming speed, not bound to the mortal expectations of space and physical laws. Such beings lacked the awareness that Edmond now possessed. Unlike them, his body felt firm, warm, tangible, and solid.

Even though he sensed a degree of gravity, he ascertained that whatever ground he stood upon did not really exist, and peering down would trick his mind and produce a feeling of free falling panic.

The spider-eyed demon flew to his side and chuckled. "It won't be long now. We have but a little further to travel to ready your mind to meet death. Follow me."

Gankutsuou flew forward. Beneath and behind him a silver path emerged. Edmond willed himself to move and felt his feet connect with silt, sinking in slightly as the rocky grains shifted around his boots.

As they wandered, the empty mists took forms - first shapeless blobs and shimmering lights, and eventually bigger, more consistent patterns, until they took the appearance of rolling gray hills, dotted with ivory shrubbery. Flitting lights transformed into black carrion birds, hovering over prey before striking down and vanishing all together. The branches of nearby trees, white and pearly, seemed too smooth and fragile, as if made of glass, and the birds weightless - like paper.

He tried to focus on them, to see them clearly, but the act of centering his vision caused the hillsides to blur and shirk.

Time ticked by, and he journeyed down the path. It grew colder, harder to feel. As Edmond drew breath it became severe. The particles of water vapor froze within his throat and threatened to cut the vulnerable trachea. He exhaled little clouds, and slowly his hands stiffened. He flexed them, tucking them into pockets at his waist, and a familiar presence began to materialize in the distance.

The surroundings enhanced, growing vivid. Patches of snow covered the peaks of the hills, hiding in shadows. They looked like white giants huddled together, or like the legendary white burial mounds of Scotland.

The ivory-branched trees knotted, and textured wood overcame them, crisp against the backdrop of a clear sky. The surfaces alive, as if an unseen force carved into them, diminishing in their glass like appearance.

Eventually his fingers would not bend at will, and his feet felt heavier and pained. His shoes withered away, and wind swept over his flesh and dusted him with stinging snow. The more the world around him lived, the more his own body seemed to age and slow.

Edmond paused and shivered, hugging his arms into his sides tightly, for his pockets had vanished and his pant legs were shortening with each step. His lips parted to call for the demon to halt, but no words escaped. His tongue had grown heavy, and the saliva began to freeze within his mouth.

The bitter of the cold easily cut through any barrier, freezing through his skin and into his stomach, lungs, and bones. He shivered terribly, and dragged his feet forward, only to find that the snow became deeper, covering the plains of the hills, the path, and his now naked form.

Only with the strength of will to push him, he plunged forward. The demon, unburdened by the sensations, did not look back. Still, the snow grew in depth until each step required him to lift his leg high and lurch into the next unbroken bank. His skin was turning a shade of blue, which reminded him terribly of seven years ago. His heart slowed, and his muscles tired. They seemed to rebel against his every move.

A hopelessness filled him, yet he could not speak nor call out. The light ahead gave no warmth, and the trees and shrubs blended with the white of a frozen blanket, creating a bleak and barren picture. He gave up to the ground, drawn up and shivering for whatever warmth his body could generate. He was growing thin, as thin as he had been during the last hellish month in the Chateau D'if.

He closed his eyes tightly, and a whimper caught in his throat.

0-0-0-0

Albert beat on the door of Edmond's house for the third time. It was late, but he had promised to come back. If Baptistin had not insisted, even forced him to meet with Haydee before leaving their hotel room, he would have come much sooner. He bit his lower lip and pounded once more, stepping back to search for any sign of light or life within the windows, but nothing indicated the presence of anything living within.

With a disappointed groan he turned to walk down the path, he would have to return in the morning.

0-0-0-0

Edmond's eyes opened with effort, as he was aware of being lifted. Someone carried him forward, plucking him easily from the ground. He tilted his head back, and found the demon had returned for him, and was carrying him further into the cold. It was an odd act of kindness, abnormally helpful.

The demon's body produced no warmth, nor did it shield him from the aggravating light that fast approached them. Its brightness dissolved into the purple sky, which Edmond could not help but see now that his head hung back, so broken was his strength.

Gankutsuou walked on, and soon Edmond's body could no longer breath. He was only partly aware of the long and terrible journey towards death. When the movement stopped, Edmond's frozen body was laid into a bed of snow at the hem of a long and smoky cloak.

A tingling rattled consciousness into his skin, as the phenomenon of the death, the reaper, looked on him. He possessed an overwhelming presence, and a proclivity for obscurity.

He stood within a wooden boat, the nose of which curved up into the head of a dragon. It was on of many graceful features of the vessel, for interconnecting lines, twisting into knots, decorated the length of the wooden reptile's neck, down along the edges of the stern and upon its rails.

Death leaned on his scythe, grand and proud beside the green painted knots and red coloring of the wood. A bony hip protruded from the distribution of his weight, creating interesting diagonals throughout the folds of his cloak. In his hand he held a large leather bound book, and at his feet rested the all too bright lantern. With the grace of an expert warlord he swung the scythe round and snapped the lantern shut.

"Edmond Dantes, and Gankutsuou. This meeting is a bit early, you know." He tapped on an hourglass hanging from a woven green and black belt.

"He seeks guidance." Gankutsuou nodded down.

"That is not my purpose. I am the collector and the bringer, the only guidance I give is to the next life and death."

Gankutsuou glared with all of his many eyes. "You require that I act against my nature, and are not able to do so yourself?"

"I require nothing of you, only gave you tasks to fulfill before I granted your desire. You alone are unsatisfied with your nature, you alone wish to change it."

"He has traveled the frozen lands, experienced what it is to die in order to ask your help, and you can do nothing?"

"It is not my nature, not impossible." Death snorted.

"Then help! To who else are we to turn?"

"No, I am not a helper."

". . . you just said it was not impossible! So you choose to be difficult and cruel."

"Contumacious as ever, I see. My last interference was with a death, Gankutsuou, you are asking me to interfere with life. I may be capable, but doubt you really need me." Death contended.

"Then we came here for nothing."

"You did, perhaps. You are not ready, but as for Edmond? Well no part of life was lived 'for nothing.' What is death but incentive to appreciate life? What is pain but the means by which we know pleasure, fear but to know peace? All trials have a purpose. If you run from them," he looked pointedly at Edmond, "you learn nothing."

"That's it? Live? That's your advice?"

"Yes, and I am not surprised that the value of living makes no sense to one that never has. Go back now. He has what he needs and all I will give."