Between Life and Death

The Gift of Life Part 3

●LIFE●

Life stared, horrified, down at Death's unconscious figure. His complexion was ghostly pale, and his breathing was uneven, coming and going in short gasps.

But at least he was alive.

"What have you done?" Life demanded in a cold rage, whirling around to face Karma with a sneer upon her face.

"It's not what I did, it's what you did," Karma countered. "I told you that if you agreed to cooperate with me, I would stop. However, you refused, so I 'took it too far,' just like I promised."

Guilt washed over Life as she stared at Death again. Was it really my fault? Did I not act fast enough? I'm always hurting him. It's always my fault. "Okay, fine," Life said, nearly spitting the words out of her mouth, as though they were poisonous. "I'll do what you want. I agree to your terms, Karma."

"Life, no!" Mercy cried, and Karma silenced her with a glare.

"Learn your place, filthy lesser goddess. You may speak when I allow it. Death may have given you a place in his realm, an air of importance, but here, you're no better than dirt." Karma grinned again. "Let me kindly remind all of you that I have full control on Death's powers." He turned to Life. "Life, I will release you from your cage. Once I do, I advise that you don't attack me, lest you want something worse to happen to your... lover. From there, you will do whatever I say, no matter what." Karma laughed wickedly. He raised an arm, and the cage around Life and Death rose with it. Life timidly stepped out, and as soon as she was well beyond the radius of the cage, it dropped down once again, trapping Death inside.

"Stand next to me," Karma ordered, eyes glinting with pleasure when Life, silently and obediently, stood next to him. Standing that close to him disgusted her, but she shoved her own feelings and needs aside and instead thought of the immense suffering Death had to go through, letting that one thought drive her forward. Life made eye contact with Truth, who was now gripping the bars of her cage, and nodded. I'm counting on you.

"Now, Life, I want you to take my hand. We will be able to join powers from this connection."

A look of disgust formed on her face, and Karma must have noticed it, for he said, "Well, there are other ways we can join our powers, if holding hands isn't good enough," with a smirk and suggestive tone.

Life huffed and turned away. "Fine." She reached out and found Karma's hand, which was cold and covered in calluses. He gripped her hand tightly, and when she tugged a little to test Karma's strength against her own, she found it unrelenting. It was as though there were an iron cuff around her hand, binding her to Karma. She could feel the ring that contained Death's powers around Karma's finger, and she grit her teeth in anger at feeling something so soothing and familiar tied to something as cold and foreign as he.

"Alright, now that we've done that, I want you to channel your power to your right hand, and imagine it mingling with Death's powers. I'll finish it from there," Karma said smugly.

Sighing, Life did as Karma said, channelling her powers to her right hand. She felt Death's power thrumming in Karma's own hand, stemming from the ring like a vine. Her power didn't need any urging - it immediately began to intertwine with Death's powers, like stirring in white paint with black until it was all a big mixture of gray. Longing struck her heart as she remembered Death's comforting arms wrapped around her protectively. Determination ran through her veins to take him home, and she released a shuddering breath. Making eye contact with Truth again, Life nodded the smallest bit. Time to go home.

A strange, white light began to pulse around Karma and Life's hands, and the room filled with a comforting warmth, like that of a fireplace on a cold evening. Karma lifted his right hand towards the ceiling, and closed his eyes and he tilted his head upwards. Karma's death grip around Life's hand grew tighter to the point that it began to throb slightly. Hurry, Mercy, Life prayed.