SleepWalker

Chapter 16

Darcy sobbed into her hands. The tears kept coming, an endless waterfall.

"Darcy?" She looked up to see Morpheus standing in front of her, the same pale skin, strange eyes and unruly hair. The same mischievous grin across his face.

"Morph!" she jumped on him, wrapping him tightly in her arms as if she was afraid someone might take him away again.

"Ow you're breaking my ribs!" He said. She broke away from the hug and stared at his face, drinking in the familiar lines and planes if her truest friend.

"How did you survive?" She asked, her eyes filling with fresh tears.

"The sword burned away all the evil," He replied. "Last time I checked, I don't exactly qualify as evil."

The hugged each other quietly in the fading sunlight, both simply grateful for the other. They almost didn't notice the woman standing in the shadows. As always, it was Morph who saw her first.

"Death?"

"Hello," she replied. her lips were smiling but her eyes were sad.

"This is Death?" Darcy asked looking her over. "I thought you'd be more..."

"Terrifying?" Death prompted. Darcy nodded.

"Why are you here?" Morph asked, stepping between the two women.

"I've come for her," Death looked at him with a heartbroken look. "I'm sorry."

"No, that's not possible!" He said. "She's still alive. She defeated him."

"I'm not," Darcy said quietly.

They both turned to stare at her.

"I'm sorry Morph," she said. "I died. You killed me." Morpheus looked shell-shocked.

"But then-how?"

"Michael brought her back," Death said. "A temporary extension."

"And now it's over." Darcy looked Morph in the eye, then kissed him softly on the lips.

"It's over Morph," she said. "I'm sorry."

"No," he said shaking his head. "There has to be another way!"

"Well," Death said. "Maybe there is."

Now it was Death's turn to be stared at.

"My power and authority only extends to those in my realms," she said. "You know better than anyone I never give up one of the dead. Not without a price. But for you brother..."

She smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

"Even I cannot touch those who walk in dreams."

"What does she mean?" Darcy asked.

"A way for you to live on," Morph replied. He cupped her face in his hand, tracing her jawline with his thumb.

"There is a way," he said finally. "You know how people in comas and those who have near-death experiences often talk about hat they saw in the 'other side'."

She nodded.

"They don't really go to the afterlife. Instead they enter the Dreamscape."

"So they're really just sleeping?" she asked. "I could do that?"

"You could," Death said. "So long as you never see me again. And someone will have to take care of your body."

"That can be arranged," Morph said with a smile. "So what do you say? Do you want to be a Sleepwalker?"

"Spend eternity with you?" Darcy took a deep breath. "Do you even have to ask?" She gripped his hand in hers, intertwining their fingers.