India was truly beautiful, especially this time of year, and if Death was feeling quiet, the Tooth Palace was the perfect place to sit and take it in. Millions of children's memories floated around, memories of bright, happy childhoods. Of dreams and hopes, of far fetched happenings, and they all seemed within grasp for children. They were truly the best part of the human race.
Not to mention the fairies! They were astounding, and it was based off of a bee hive, that Death created the tooth hive. Toothiana, queen of the fairies protected the memories and knew exactly what to do, her little fairies carried out the orders, cause it was impossible to keep up with the growing population of the earth.
Although, as Death thought about it, population was beginning to level off again, so perhaps Tooth could jump into the field again. She hadn't done so in more than 400 years. Thinking over that for a moment, Death watched, the glimmer in her eyes never left, the happiness she had for her role was pure. Death had chosen the right Tooth Fairy.
Just as Death's mind wandered to Cupid, (after all, the Valentine's spirit was acting rather strange lately, and Death was wondering if the spirit was going to go on another spree of beauty on outside instead of in) the fairies began whispering.
"My Queen! Look, it's the Northern Lights!" At the exact same moment, Death and Toothiana looked to the sky, and sure enough, it was a signal from North himself. Wait… Death thought over it again… picking at the cloak on their shoulders… was North a male human. Or… maybe female. There was that big fur coat, and Death could have sworn that was a mortal female trend statement nowadays. Although, there were tattoos, but then again, as women gained more independence they got tattoos too.
Stuck in their musings, Tooth was long gone by the time Death had decided that being at that Guardian meeting would be important. So, standing up, the dark spirit watched the ebb and flow of the small tooth fairies, easily placing a tooth away before heading right back out with some sort of currency.
***ROTG***
As tempting as taking the scenic route to the pole, Death was worried. Pitch had been planning something, and if this was about the Boogeyman, it couldn't have been good. With a sad sigh, Death pictured the view of the mountains they were going to have to forsake over fast travel. With a quick blink, the dark spirit stood right in front of North's globe.
North was running around, driving the Yeti crazy, and the elves didn't know what was happening. Death smiled and bent down, faintly rubbing over the newly designed outfits of the elves. Recently they must have changed to red garments instead of green, possibly to better match with North.
The tooth fairy arrived first, followed by Bunny, then Sandy. All relatively together at the same time.
"Hm. Do you time that out? Like, did you have practice runs?" Death asked, slightly amused. They were getting so set in their ways, Death could predict quite a bit. Deciding to use the brand new camera that Death may have picked up from the malfunctioning bin of North's workshop, they put the camera up to their face and grinned. "Smile."
"There was black sand covering the globe-" North began, and while it was a truly troubling statement, he made a hilarious expression, so Death couldn't help but snatch a picture.
"Perfect. It really captured your beard well in that one." Shaking out the pictures were their favorite part, even if modern day they could print without, Death had a hard time beating that system.
"Wha- what do you mean, 'black sand'?" Bunny was multitasking painting eggs, seeing as Easter was arriving in only a few days, it was crunch time. Speaking of the globe, there was something off about it. Taking that chance, Death ignored the laws of physics and jumped up to the globe, running their hands along the lights of the believers.
"Fear. There is so much fear in their hearts." Mumbling to themself, Death tried to send each light a little more happiness as the inspection continued. The children needed to keep believing. Not only for the Guardians' sake, but the rest of the children.
A loud ringing noise brought Death's attention back to the group, particularly Sandy, who looked very frustrated. He wasn't able to speak… a flaw in the designs of stars if you had to ask Death, but since stars were made without the intent to become a childhood protector, it made it difficult to put in a voice box, especially when you are made of sand.
Following the star's arrow, Death faltered at the appearance of the Man in the Moon, right in the window. In less than a second, which was already too long, Death was gone from he North Pole, and instead teleported back to their home.
In the corner, Death was sobbing. Tears tracked down the pale cheeks, and the spirit tried and failed to hide their face. Death might have been alone, but that didn't extinguish the fear and shame rotting within.
"Death. Why do you follow my spirits around?" It had been a simple question. But Manny hadn't spoken to Death in over a century, and there was just an air of annoyance in the Moon's voice. And, Death had to turn that question inwards. Why? Why would Death surround themselves with people who refuse to look, to see? Why, especially when they have denied the existence of Death, why put up with this torture?
Pulling a yellow and pink blanket to hide the tears, Death forced shaky breaths out. The blanket was so soft, focus on that. Time seemed to stop, or maybe speed up. Did it matter for an immortal? Pushing the cloth against the tears, the spirit recalled the one who gave the blanket to them.
It had been a small girl, a sick one. Even the modern medicine couldn't save her, and she passed. And, she had commented on how cold Death had looked. "Excuse me. But, you need this more than I do." No matter how many memories Death conjured, they were alone. Utterly alone. Death never could find someone else to speak with, humans could only see the reaper when as they passed on. No spirits. None of Death's creations. And for the first time in almost a decade, Death fell asleep.