Sanders Sides One Shots

Life And Death

A/N Major Character Death and Hospitals mentioned. Based of this Tumblr post. https://starrykid.tumblr.com/post/158876039964/prinxietyhell-starrykid

They were two sides of the same coin. They were light and dark. They were life and death. They were very different but more alike than one might imagine, by some cruel twist of fate they were in love with each, but they believed the other to hate them.

Life was regal in everything he did. Whenever he bestowed a soul into a creature he did it in the most dramatic way. On the other hand, death was blunter with what he did, whenever he took a soul he simply asked for it to take his hand and gently escorted it to the afterlife. 

The first time they saw each other was an accident. Life was bestowing a soul into a newborn child and death was asking for the mother's hand. 

"Hello, I am Life, giver of souls, but you may call me Roman," the regal man said after giving the child a soul.

"I'm Death," was the mildly annoyed response.

"I've heard of you. You take what I give!" Roman said critical, he wasn't angry he just didn't like it.

"Well it is my job and nothing can live forever," Death said as a means of explanation, though he didn't understand why. 

"WAIT, what are you doing here?!?" Roman said when it dawned on him that death wouldn't be there unless someone was dying, "You can't take the child I just gave it a soul," he continued. 

"Not the child," was all he said before turning to the mother and asking, "May I have your hand,"

The woman gave Death her hand. She died. It was not painful, it was her time and so it was a comfort. She kissed her child on the head and was lead away by Death. 

Before the woman and Death were out of sight Life yelled, "What's your name?" Death just smiled and continued to walk away, leading the woman her afterlife. 

Their next meeting was no accident. Life had been searching for Death, wanting to at least know his name, but as time passed Roman wanted to know more and more about the strange man he met all those years ago. 

This time Roman was actively searching for places where one might die when he finally saw him walking down the hospital corridor. Death looked different from the last time they had crossed paths, he still had the same aura around him, but his face was the same as someone who rarely smiled anymore, someone had seen too much and bore the pain by themselves. 

"We meet again, " Roman yelled like he didn't just spend years looking for him.

"Huh?" was the clearly confused response as Death turned around to face Roman. 

Roman hesitate, in all of his carefully crafted daydreams about this moment, he never thought that Death might not recognize him. "It's me Roman, well you might remember me as Life. You do remember me right?" he said somewhat nervous, not really knowing what to do in this situation. 

"Oh yeah, you," Death said not really caring. He had a job to do. He had no choice, but to do it.

"Yeah me, can I uh...join you on your task?" Roman said this was not a part of the plan, but he wanted to spend more time with Death before he slipped from Roman's grasp once again. 

"umm...sure, I guess?" was the unsure answer. He didn't want to do this so why would Roman want to?  He blinked a few times and wondered when he started referring to Life as Roman. It was true that he thought of the brighter man a few time, but he never thought they'd meet again or that he would have a chance to even talk to him. 

Together they walked down the hall, it was a strange sight a man dressed in a white with a red sash walking next to a man dressed in entirely black. They had the same hair and eye color, both were of similar stature even though Roman held himself in a much more confident than Death, who slouched and stared at the floor. 

They entered the room and a young man was lying in the bed, tubes coming out of him and a crying man at his bedside. Death slowly walked up to the man in the bed and touched his forehead.

Everything went still and not a sound could be heard. 

The man in the bed opened his eyes and looked around the still frozen room. His eyes settled on the man in the bed and tear began to well in his eyes as he stroked the man's face and said, "I'm so. I'm so very sorry love,"

Death broke the moment by asking, "May I have your hand,"

As if he hadn't noticed the other men in the room he jumped. He then looked at the crying man to Death and quietly answered, "Yes you may," 

Death to the man's hand and he died. He then began to slowly lead the man away and once again Roman yelled, "Wait, what's your name?"

This time Death answered, "Anx, you can call me Anx,"

"Anx," Roman repeated under his breath, a smile making its way to his face. 

Their third meeting was the one in each of their hearts broke. Anx was looking for Roman, hoping to talk to him and maybe make a friend. He found him in the woods bestowing a soul unto a deer.

"Hey, what ya doing?" Anx asked startling the other causing him to almost drop the soul.

"Watch it!" Roman yelled without really thinking about it. 

"Oh, sorry, I'll just go," Anx whispered before sprinting away deeper into the woods. His own mind turning against him as he thought, "What have I done I'm such a mess up. He hates me now,"

That night as Roman thought about the encounter earlier that day he had the exact same thought. 

It took Roman a few days before he sought out Anx, wanting to apologize for yelling at him. He hoped that the darker one wouldn't be too mad at him, this job was lonely and he longed for someone to talk to especially someone who drew him in like Anx did. 

What he saw when he opened the door broke his heart. Anx was just lying in the dark room, crying. 

"I did this. This is my fault," was the first thought he had. He rushed to the crying figure, hoping that he wasn't too late, hoping that Anx was ok. 

The other slowly lifted his head, as if it was a hassle to do even that small task. Roman had to hold back tears when he noticed how sickly Anx looked, he was pale and his eyes, oh the eyes were sunken in. Death, who Roman referred to as Anx in his heart, looked like a corpse.

"Please be ok," Roman whispered as he lifted Anx up and took him out of the dark room, so he could get a proper look. 

It was even worse in the light. His veins shone from beneath his skin, his breathing was so shallow that for a moment Roman was unsure that Anx was even breathing, and the worse part was that he was still sobbing, even though he looked dead he was still crying. 

Anx gathered the strength to say, "I'm sorry I couldn't get to know you better," The years of watching people die, some in the most horrific ways finally finished wearing him down to his core.

Anx took his own hand. He stopped crying.