I would like to thank detrametal for beta-ing this for me and my best friend for helping me with some parts in the beginning, and cupcakes for their constant inspiration. Also, I don't own Darksiders. However, I do own a cat. That's a lie. It's a demon hound from Hell named Odd. And I'm blabbering! Probably stalling. Don't forget to review! Bye!

I woke up sometime later on a pile of hay, wrapped in Death's arms, and naked as a jaybird.

Oh shit…

I remembered ev-er-ry-thing. The way his body pressed against mine. His breath on my ear as he whispered my name, a few other things I'm not gonna mention. And oh, Creator, the feeling! It just felt so… right. I felt like nothing mattered but us, as if I didn't need to be anywhere else but here with Death. My Death. Then reality decided to be a douche and thought it would be a good time to come crashing back down.

Oh shit… We just… I lost… Oh fuck!

I could feel myself start to panic but shoved it back down and forced myself to remain calm. I never used to panic like this. Anyway, once that was done, the next step was to wiggle - with as much dignity as possible - out of Death's arms and not wake him up. After that was to find my clothes in the darkness and, of course, put them on. When all that was done, and the fire possibly relit, then I could have my little freak out.

Okay, slowly. Don't think I can deal with 'im yet.

I tried to slip out of Grim's arms but as soon as I did, they tightened around me. Just like that, I wasn't going nowhere.

"Hope, what are you doing?"

I looked up to see the Reaper gazing down at me with those glowing orange eyes. Pretty much the only thing I could really see in the darkness.

"Grim! You're awake! Damn! I mean… great!"

He buried his face in the crook of my neck, "You didn't answer my question."

Play it cool, Hope. "I was tryin ta get up so I could put some clothes on."

"Why?"

"Seriously? We kinda have an ultimate evil ta stop, don't we? We ain't got time ta be layin 'round here."

I think the Reaper almost sighed, "You're right."

"Damn right I'm right. Now leggo o' me so I can get dressed. And no peekin."

Grim just chuckled but closed his eyes and let me go. I quickly got up and promptly tripped on something and fell flat on my face. Graceful as a panther, I am.

"Hope?"

"I'm good, just cain't see." I groaned.

"I'll-"

"No ya won't! I got this." Summoning a bit of fire to see by, I found that I had tripped on Death's… pants. That meant…

Oh shit…

I didn't really think he was fully clothed but I also didn't think that he was… oh glob… I guess I wasn't really thinking at all. A good thing in some cases.

Untangling my feet from the clothing, I rebuilt the fire from earlier, found my clothes - which were strung everywhere, and finally got dressed and even put my cloak back on. I should've tried to find a blue one. Or red. Red looks good on me. Anyway, I'm chasing mind squirrels.

"Alright, your turn." I told Grim, keeping my focus on the small fire.

Death didn't say anything but I heard rustling as he got up and got dressed as well. Wasn't really that much to put on but hey, who am I to judge a man's clothing choices?

"You're handling this surprisingly well." Death said from somewhere behind me.

I couldn't answer. I could already feel myself shaking and I was biting my finger but not hard enough to draw blood. Not my nail, but my finger. It's a bad habit from before everything. One I'd thought I'd gotten rid of.

"What's wrong?" the Reaper asked when I didn't respond.

"'What's wrong'?!" I yelled, spinning around to face him. "I'll tell ya what's wrong! We just… That was my first… fuck! …That is so the wrong curse ta use here!"

"Calm down, Hope."

"You calm down!" Which was a pretty stupid thing to say since I doubt he could be anymore calm than he already was. "How exactly do ya expect me ta calm down anyway? Take deep breaths? Cause that totally worked the last time! Fuckin shit!" I started pacing then but Grim grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. "Ya ain't helpin here ya know."

He ignored me and instead asked, "Do you regret it?"

Why would I regret it? I mean if was with anyone else then defiantly yes but with Grim… "What? No! It's just-"

"Then there's no reason to panic like this."

So does that mean I should panic a different way? "There's every reason ta panic! I mean, we just… ah fu- no, shit!"

"Hope, calm down."

"You-" I stopped short of yelling for him to calm down again. "Well do you regret it?"

He seemed to think for a moment before answering, "There are many things I have done that I regret. What we did is not one of them."

"Oh… well okay then." Let it not be said that I am articulate.

"Are you calm now?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"You're going to be a handful, aren't you?" Death chuckled.

"Not my fault. But we should probably get going now."

"Probably."

"But we ain't gotta. We could stay. Here. Alone. Fer just a bit longer at least." Wow, what the fuck was wrong with me?

"As much as I want to…" the Reaper smiled, leaning down closer.

"Yeah, we got an ultimate evil ta find and stop and all that." I responded, going to meet him halfway.

"Oh no, don't ruin your alone time because of me. On second thought, please do."

We sprung apart and whipped around to face the unwelcome newcomer. Even in the dim, flickering light of the fire we could see that it was Luci. Great. Just fucking fantastic. He had to show up now of all times. He couldn't wait until the end of time or something?

"Seriously?" I asked him. "C'mon man, we were havin a frikkin moment and ya just ruined it."

"My most sincerest apologies."

"Bullshit. Why're ya here anyways?"

"I was hoping to stop you two but I see that I was too late. It seems I shouldn't have taken so much time harassing demons."

"Ooookay but yeah, just a little bit too late but it's nice ta know ya care."

"I don't care. I'm just protecting future investments."

"Hope doesn't need protecting from me." Death jumped in, scythes in hand. How sweet.

"In any case, how am I a future investment? I ain't stock ya know."

"You continue to misunderstand. Hope, you aren't the investment but what you were sent here for is. I have plans, human, and your little stunt earlier could have set them back."

"Oh. Well, in that case, yay fer us. Wait a sec, I was sent here ta be-"

"Of course if it did…" he continued, ignoring me, "there are certain actions that can be taken to set things right."

"Do I want to know what those actions include?"

"No, probably not."

"Okay then. Is that all?"

"Do not let this happen again."

Did I ever mention that I don't take orders too well? I think it goes with the queen complex. So as soon as Luci said that, my inner rebel decided to rise up and stick it to the man. The Shadow Man.

I hugged Death, laying my head on his chest and looked over at the entity. Now keep in mind that this is probably the only time you'll hear me say stuff like this. "Dunno if I can do that. You see Grim here. Man's a total hottie. Absolutely irresistible. A total beast, but in the best way. Plus he's Death and that's just totally awesome." I leaned up and pressed a kiss to Death's cheek before whispering "Play along."

To my surprise, he did. He wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in the crook of my neck. "Hope…"

"Grim, stop, that tickles." I giggled.

"My name is Death." He practically growled.

"Fine. Death, stop, that tickles."

In response, he kissed me. A slow, passionate kiss that made me forget we were just trying to annoy Luci.

"Oh dear, we just got dressed." I sighed once we broke apart.

"Enough!"

Just the absolute and irrefutable command in his voice made us freeze.

"Geez, chillax dude. It was just a joke." I tried to laugh it off.

"No matter. Remember my warning from the Drowned Pass, Little Hope. This happens again, I will follow through with it."

"Son of a bitch!" Yeah, I still wasn't too happy bout that. So I summoned a fireball and lobbed it at his face but he dodged it by sinking back into the shadows. So my attack hit the barn wall. Which caught fire. And quickly spread. Fuck.

"Okay… I'll admit that this was my fault." I told Grim.

"Yes, it is." He agreed, putting his mask back on and watching the fire spread all around us. "What warning was he talking about?"

"Uh, is now really the time fer that? We should probably get outta here before we're barbequed."

"That would be preferable." Huh, he dropped it just like that.

"But the door's on fire."

"Summon your demon to break it down."

I looked up at the Reaper, appalled at the very idea, "But the fire could hurt 'im!"

"He's a demon." Grim reminded me, though he really didn't need to.

"Yeah? So?"

"From Hell."

"And your point is..?"

"I'm sure he can withstand the fire."

"If he gets hurt, you're healin 'im."

"He won't get hurt."

I was still a bit skeptical but summoned Mayhem. It seemed he really didn't mind all the fire but he definitely didn't like the small space of the barn. I knelt in front of him, trying not to breathe in too much of the smoke, "Mayhem, I need ya to break down the door, kay? Can ya do that boy?"

The demon snorted and nudged me out of the way before pawing at the dirt floor and charging towards the door. Already weakened by the fire, it crumbled at the impact, letting in sunlight and fresh air. The second fueling the fire.

All three of us rushed outside, trying to cough the smoke from our lungs and suck in as much clean air as we could. I flopped down onto the grass in relief only to spring back up at the sight of Mayhem limping over to me.

"Told you he wouldn't be hurt." Death said, I guess not seeing the limping demon. Which was pretty amazing considering how huge he is. Or maybe he just didn't care.

"Think again Reaper." I told him, taking Mayhem's paw as he lay down beside me. Never noticed it before but his paw is a lot bigger than my head. Huh.

Turns out he had just gotten a splinter when he ran over the broken remains of the door. Feeling smug, I showed the Horseman the piece of wood once I had gotten it out.

"It's a splinter." He stated drolly as Dust came out of nowhere and landed on his shoulder.

"So? Point is, he got hurt when ya said he wouldn't. But, being the good girlfriend I am, I won't hold it against ya."

"Thank you so much." He said with clear sarcasm.

"You're welcome." I smiled at him. "But anyway, we need ta get movin and find the others. Wonder where the Jackass went ta."

"Finding Strife would be a good place to start. He's probably still in the city."

"Oh joy, we get ta visit the city again. I absolutely love the city."

"Are you ever going to stop with the sarcasm?" Grim asked. And they said there were no stupid questions.

"You're one ta talk." I mumbled under my breath before sighing, "There's a very high probability that when I get older- no. No, the sarcasm will never stop."

"Good." He replied and I could practically hear the smile in his voice.

I wonder if he feels like annoying Luci some more. Oh wait, the barn's on fire. Too bad. I thought before shaking it out of my head and getting to my feet. "Well what're we waitin fer? Then end o' the world?" I aksed, brushing the dirt and grass off my shorts. I took a step and suddenly I was falling. And no, I don't mean like "Oh shit, I tripped over my own feet!" I mean "Holy fuck, a hole just opened up beneath me and now I'm falling to my doom. Again." kind of falling.

The last thing I saw before my world completely changed was Death running towards me and Mayhem trying to grab my cloak to stop my descent. He missed. I fell. Oh happy days.

At least they tried. But anyway, it could be a lot worse. But it could also be a lot better. Why does this keep happening to me?

Should probably be more surprised,

Hope

Do it. Ya know ya want to.