A Single Element Stories [Rating Varies]

[AWA1997]

The Snap (Part 3/3) [PG-13] [Violence] [Suicide] (NW)

Spoiler:

Madeline returned to the underworld, feeling nice and relaxed after her spa day, but as she walked down to the bedroom she shared with Death, something felt off. As she opened the door, she saw Death sitting on the bed with his back to her, wearing a hat that Madeline had given him because it was identical to her own except color, hers being white and his black. As he heard the door, he looked up and Madeline saw that he had obviously been crying, and probably had been for a while. “I’m sorry Madeline...” he held out their child. “I’m so sorry, Life tripped, and I tried to catch him and.... I’m sorry...”

Madeline took the child and began rocking his body, the mute Mage singing a silent lullaby to the baby. Death hugged her tightly, continuing to apologize and cry into her shoulder. As he cried and she sang, her eyes grew foggy, a grey film covering them. By the time she was done singing, her eyes were completely coated in the silver haze.

She laid the child down, reached over, and began strangling Death. Death was completely caught off guard and had to fight hard to get her off of him. “What the hell, Madeline?” he asked. She ignored his question, reaching over and grabbing a scythe. Death summoned his own and began using it to block her. “I know I messed up, but why are you trying to kill me?” She again ignored his question, her next swing knocking his scythe from his hands.

As she swung again, he ducked out of the way, but the scythe cut clean through his hat. As Madeline saw the hat, the first gift she had given him when they got together, fall to the ground, ruined, the madness began to fade from her eyes and she fell to her knees, clutching her head. She looked up at Death, tears in her eyes.

Death got down on her level, hugging her before looking into her eyes, the grey coming back slowly. “What’s wrong, Madeline? What happened?” Madeline shook her head, but kept her hands in place, as if letting go would cause her to lose it again. ‘I don’t know.’ she mouthed. ‘But it’s eating away at my mind.’ “You’ve started to come back, do you think you can fight it off?” She shook her head again. ‘No, it’s too strong. I don’t want to hurt you, Death. Please, stop me.’ Now it was Death’s turn to shake his head. “I can’t. You’re too strong for me to subdue, and I can’t kill you.” ‘Please, Death. I can’t stand it. You would be doing me a favor. I wouldn’t be able to handle it if I hurt you.’ She screamed as the madness began accelerating. ‘Hurry.’

Death began crying even harder and hugged Madeline tight. “I love you.” he said quietly before using his death-volts to kill her. There was an audible, sharp intake of breath, and a weight fell upon Death’s shoulders. He held her body close and continued to sob uncontrollably over her, repeating “I love you” and “I’m sorry” several times each.

After about 10 minutes, Death heard a knock on the door. He laid Madeline’s body on the bed, placing Maddox in her arms before getting up to answer the door. “Look, I’m sorry, I’m in no mood-“ he stopped mid-sentence as he opened the door to find Madeline and Maddox on the other side.

Death immediately rushed out and hugged her. She rubbed his back. “It’s ok, Death.” she said, her words coming out slowly and deliberately, as she focused on trying to speak for the first time. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt him, and I know you didn’t want to hurt me.” She kissed him lightly.

“I still feel bad. If I was just more careful, you’d both still be alive.” “Well, look on the bright side, now you can hear my voice.” Death chuckled a little. “Yeah, it’s a bit strange, actually.” “D-do you not like my voice?” “Oh, no, it’s nothing like that. Your voice is as beautiful as you are, it’s just unusual for me to hear you is all.” Madeline giggled. “Thanks. For the record, it feels weird, too.”

Madeline smiled and handed Death the ghost baby. “But, also on the bright side, now you can really help me raise Maddox. I know it’s not the same since we’re both ghosts now, but it’s something, right?” “Yeah, I just wish you would’ve been able to experience life as a mother, and that he’d be able to experience life in general.” “Well not all wishes come true, we just have to work with what we got.” A smell wafted up from the baby. “For your first lesson, you get to learn to change a diaper.” she added. “Ok, but then we work on setting up the funeral for you and Maddox.” Death said. “This is... going to be hard on Life, especially after I blew up at her earlier. I can’t even imagine what losing her daughter like this after that fight will do to her mentally.” Madeline nodded. “I’ll try to talk to her next time I’m able.”