Hello, My Name is Death

Shuddering breaths filled the darkened room as wood flooring creaked and the wind sighed outside. Hesitant feet stepped up onto the chair placed before them, and braided rope slid across bare skin, straining as it was tightened.

There were no words, no goodbyes, nothing said; no timely intervention, no last-minute change of mind.

The chair clattered to the floor, and the rope went taut.

Sneakered feet kicked at the air for a few moments, and then went still.

A minute went by. Two. Three. Seven.

After what seemed like an eternity, a soft glow filled the room, pouring out of the body hanging in the middle of it. A young woman materialized next to it, gasping for air she no longer needed, on her hands and knees as she hacked and fought for it.

An ethereal wind stirred high, brushing past her face and blowing her hair into her vision. She stopped coughing, then held the long, straight black strands in her hands, eyes wide as she marveled.

"I have to say, you look much better this way. Very pretty!" said a voice to her left, startling her bolt upright as she searched for its source. Leaning against her bedroom wall was another young woman, in a white hoodie and dark blue jeans, one flat-soled shoe kicked up against the doorframe to her closet. Silver hair outlined her face, messy in a way that only effort could produce, and the silver eyes set in her pale, heart-shaped face were kind, her blackened lips curled softly in a sad smile. Around her sat a corona of light that lit her as bright as day.

"W-who are you?" the first one tried to shout, her hand flashing to her throat as she coughed, bruised as it was.

The silver-haired girl's smile grew a bit less sad. She pointed at her chest, and a nametag appeared there.


"I'm Death. I've come to see you over to the afterlife." she said chipperly, before her face fell. "Though I really wish we were having this meeting much… much later." she went on, sighing. "Not that I can say I blame you."

"I… they…" the dark-haired one said, at a loss for words. Tears formed in her eyes, and streaked down cheeks that did not physically exist. "They didn't understand… They hurt me for telling them the truth, for trying to be… me!" she said, sobbing.

Strong, slender arms wrapped around her, and Death embraced her. "I know… I saw. I don't understand how mortals can be so cruel to someone like you. I knew from the moment you were born that you were not meant for that form... how can they not see it?" Death said, stroking the girl's back.

"You- you knew?" the dark haired one said, leaning back minutely from the embrace. Death nodded, pulling away.

"I did."

"Then why-"

"I wish it was within my power. To help you, before you come to meet me." Death said, her gaze flitting off to the side. "I have had… enthusiastic discussions with those who do have that power. Gaia, Terra, Hera, Mut, Parvati… all of them in charge of placing souls in the correct bodies, and all of them seemingly too busy to do so consistently." she said, bitterly. She was silent for a moment, before looking up at her charge with a brilliant smile.

"But, once you're in my domain, I'm free to set things right! It's… well, it's nothing more than a consolation, but…" she said, waving her hand at the distinctly male body hanging from the rafter. "At least you won't spend eternity stuck like that."

The dark-haired girl looked at it, then down at her own dark-skinned hands once more. "Do you… have a mirror?" she asked softly.

"Of a sort. Souls can't be seen in normal mirrors… but this is my domain!" Death said, and with a wave of her hand produced a body-length mirror wrought of iron, with a reflection more perfect than any mortal could ever produce. The dark-haired girl let her hands drop to her sides as she stepped towards it, lips parted in shock, her eyes wide. One hand rose to touch her reflection in the mirror, while the other felt cheekbones and a jawline that were new to her, and simply felt right.

"Oh my God." she whispered to herself.

"Told you you were pretty!" Death said happily.

The dark-haired beauty looked on in wonder for a moment longer, before tearing her gaze away from her reflection. She tendered a soft smile to the Reaper who'd come to take her away. "Thank you… thank you more than I know how to say."

Death smiled back, reaching up to squeeze her shoulder. "I do all I can. Are you… well, are you ready to go see what awaits on the other side? I've got it on good authority that you're going somewhere nice." she said.

Her charge drew a deep breath and looked back at the body she'd left behind. When she looked back, there was acceptance and determination in her eyes. "Yes, I think so."

Death beamed, and took her hand.

"I do have one question though, if-if you don't mind, that is."

Death looked back up at her and quirked a single silver eyebrow. "Go ahead!"

"Why'd you hug me? I didn't picture Death as a hugger… or a girl… or a cute girl…"

Death blushed lightly. "Well, they don't call it 'Death's embrace' for no reason, y'know. I started doing it once I figured out that people generally appreciate a nice hug after they, you know, die. I figured you could probably use one."

Her charge considered for a moment, and then nodded. "That was a good idea, I think."

"Thank you!" Death said, beaming, then turned and raised her hand. A great black scythe appeared from the ether, and she gripped it tightly.

"That's more of what I was expecting."

"That's, like, the one thing most depictions of me get right." Death acknowledged, opening a rift in the air with a single gentle swing.

"I'm also kind-of surprised you don't talk in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS." she teased Death, voice raising into a commanding shout on the words in question.

Death snorted. "Please, that's not my schtick, that's-" she said, and without even raising her voice projected it in such a way that dogs a half-kilometer away wakened and turned to face in the direction her voice came from; cats stopped and stood stock still, staring at the same point; the birds stopped chirping and the crickets stopped cricketing. All went silent. "MY BROTHER, DEATH, WHO OVERSEES UNIVERSE 142." she said, and coughed. "Murder on your vocal cords, that. Oh! By the way, what's your name gonna be from now on, anyway?"

"What?" her charge asked, rubbing at her ears.

"Your name! You can't well use your old one, now. Nobody calls a girl Martin." Death said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. She tapped her head. "I'd know. I've met them all."

The girl formerly known as Martin paused and thought for a moment. "You know, I thought my grandma had a pretty name - Elizabeth. Always went by-"

"Betty. Yeah, she was a wonderful lady." Death said, smiling. "She's waiting for you, y'know."

"I'll go by Beth, then." she said with a firm nod.

Death squeezed Beth's hand. "I like it. And now, for the last great adventure, to a far, green country under a swift sunrise." Beth squeezed back, and the two of them stepped through the rift, together.

--

Death appeared elsewhere, in an office made of smoke and marble, sometime later. Her grin faded and fell, and her fingers massaged her temples. She could feel a godly migraine coming on. A flick of her fingers encased a copy of the memory of taking Beth from the world in an orb of lightning and glass. She held it dearly in her hands for a moment, drawing breath after breath to calm herself down, before she set the memory gingerly on an orichalcum shelf. Her hand pulled away from the memory, and five more orbs appeared in her palm, shrinking from baseball sized to marbles in her grip.

"What's up, Prime?" asked a girl who looked like a carbon-copy of herself, who was leaning against her own desk, a memory clasped in her hands.

"Just finished cleaning up another one of Hera's messes, Secunda." Death said, exasperated and angry. "She and the others are gods of creation. One would think they could bother putting people in the bodies they frigging belong in! They claim to be perfect, but, what, ninety-eight percent accurate?- would be grounds for firing in mortal work circles!"

Secunda winced. "Yeah. We all hate those." she said feelingly.

"I'm going to go throw things at them." Death said, shaking the memories.

"Didn't work last time." Secunda said, eyebrow arched.

"Yeah, well, I've gotta keep trying until they stop screwing up, because I'm tired of having my heart broken, seeing all those people hurting for absolutely no good reason, and no fault of their own." Death said, and stalked out of the office.

Secunda watched her go, and picked up a mug of ambrosia whose ceramic side read "Best Assistant, M-MCMXCIX", and drank deeply. "Lovely."

--

"HERA!"

THONK.

A memory ball the size of a basketball bowled into the Goddess at somewhere just short of mach twenty-five and knocked her out of her throne.

"GAIA!"

THWACK.

Another sent the Earth Goddess head over heels. Three more thuds announced the imminent arrival of Death Herself as she stalked into the antechamber the Goddesses of Motherhood and Creation did their business from. The Goddesses picked themselves up off the floor, glaring at the comparatively tiny Goddess of Death.

"What is the meaning of-"

"Same as it always frigging is!" Death said, stamping her foot angrily. "Pay! More! Attention!" A snap of her fingers cracked the memory balls, subsuming the Goddesses in her memory. "I am tired of this crap!"

It took them a moment to reply, having to finish it before being able to speak.

"Our work is difficult, Death! If you would only bring their reproduction rates down, make them stop going at it like vermin-"

"Talk to Aphrodite about that!" Death said. "Or maybe, juuuust maybe, you spend less time prettying yourselves up all day and rushing your soul creation in the last hour so you get it right!" she shouted, voice rising to a near-shriek as she stormed off the way she'd come.

She made her way back to her office, grumbling the entire way, feeling only marginally mollified by her memory-ball assault on the sources of her current heartache.

When she returned, three more carbon-copies of herself were clustered around Secunda, their animated talking stopped only when Death appeared once more, sitting heavily in her chair.

"Hey Tert, Quad, Annie…" Death said, suddenly tired. Which shouldn't be something a Goddess feels, she thought.

"Hey Prime! You look beat." Tertia said, sidling over to hug Death. "Wanna go back to Elysium for the rest of the cycle?"

Death shook her head, then tilted it, humming. "I probably should. One more soul, though… there's always someone."

"Alright, Prime!" Tertia said, smiling broadly at her. "We'll pick up the slack til you get in tomorrow once you're finished. Death smiled at her, and laid her head on top of hers.

"You girls are seriously the best idea I ever had." she said, smiling fondly and ruffling Tertia's hair as she pulled away. Tertia skipped off to her own desk, and Death held up a screen of quicksilver and moonlight.

"Let's see… who needs me most?"

[] The Flag-Draped Coffin
[] On Life Support
[] Speed Kills
[] Losing Fight
[] At Peace

--

QM/N: Welcome to Hello, My Name is Death! This is an original setting, full of all sorts of wonderful fantastical elements drawn from basically everywhere in mythology. It will at times be dark, but rest assured, Death finds it to be her duty to make people feel better.

This quest will be almost purely narrative - read, I will be doing few if any dice rolls for anything.

Reserved!

As part of an earlier deal, here's fanart of death: