Meeting An End

(Nathan POV)

They say looking into the face of Death, all you can imagine is your life flashing before your eyes, and they would be right as simply being in the presence of this woman causes my very being to feel lethargic and tired, but I knew it was only the effect of her aura thankfully involate is keeping me awake, but it's like standing next to pure and utter emptiness.

But not the emptiness most for the fear but the emptiness that comes after closing your eyes for the last time and finding true peace. I then shake off the feeling as I grab some clothes and put them on as Death simply watches me. 

"I have no idea why you would wish to speak to me, Lady Death, but I assume I must have broken some interdimensional law of some kind?"

This brings a small, knowing smile on her face as she then says, "In all honesty, we enlisted consider creating dimensional law, but with the amount of crises and World Hoppers, it became kind of pointless. But no, you have not broken any laws, and I am not here to harm you. I am simply observing a curiosity about a new oddity in this multiverse. I am not Desire who seeks to harm creation after all."

Her voice was nice, but I knew that this was simply her existence, and as I sat down on the chair in the bathroom, I asked, "Then have you found anything interesting, Lady Death?" She then walked up to me and placed her hand on my face as if searching for something.

"Both yes and no, as while you seem not very different from the rest, what you can do is something else entirely. Do you know that most exorcism rites use the power of the angels? What you did against that demon was something impossible. You asked the world itself to expunge an evil rather than the heavenly host. You would have caught a lot of attention for that, but I granted you a boon and lessened the surge of power from your little battle." She then takes her hands off me as she stands opposite me.

"Such as the cost of desperation, but other than that, why reveal yourself now? On today of all days?" My question is met with a look that seems almost pitiful.

"Do you know what I see in front of me? I see a bow whose string has been pulled so tightly that it is on the edge of snapping. You seek to take the weight of the world on your shoulders, which, while admirable, will lead you to ruin. So I want you to do one thing for me." She then gestures over to the mirror, and I see myself reflected on the other side.

"I don't understand. What exactly should I be seeing?" She then looks almost blank as if waiting to come to some conclusion.

Looking back into the mirror, I see myself on a throne in space, as a man staring back at me, and then as a man standing amidst a ruined city with undiscernible beasts running amok. The visions then fade as I take a breath to which Death is already staring at me with pitch-black eyes.

"Truly remarkable as even without being able to see what you see, your expression says so much. It is a wonder you even still retain an ego under the weight of all those souls. All of them have lived longer than you have been an idea. You know this, and you fear becoming just like them. Broken, lost to desire or fate. She then took my hand, which was shaking slightly, and she looked me in the eyes.

"I may be Death, but I am also the one who is there in every single moment, and while this place may be a mess, it is still worth seeing until the end. So look in the mirror again." 

I then do as she asks. I see myself yet again running from what looks like agents of some kind, and then another vision shows me sitting in a chair with hundreds of men staring right at me as I wear a skull mask.

While a part of me wants to stop watching, I press on and soon see my old self in the mirror. He simply looks at me and then walks out of the mirror as he says, "So how does this work? Do you talk first? I talk first?"

I narrow my eyes as he sits opposite me and continues, "To be honest, I don't know whether or not this is some kind of hallucination or intervention, but if you are me, you know that we are way in over our heads here. And even with these essences, which after a while will make us powerful beings, what will cost us?"

"Everything that we once were. But I can't see another way." My other then simply walks over and places a hand on my shoulder.

"Not yet, but you and I both know that holding ourselves back will simply lead us to explode. We can't use involate to hide under its willpower and mental immunities forever." Sighing to myself, I then looked back and saw Death staring at both of us.

"It's odd seeing two souls so similar yet so different. I cannot understand what you two are saying, but one falls under me and has deluded itself into thinking it is someone else, and the other exists as a mere fragment of what it was. If only you both spoke in Spanish, then this would be the perfect soap opera." her attempts at humor make both of us give her a questioning look.

She simply shrugs as I look to the original and ask, "So what should we do?" He then simply took his hand from my shoulder as he went back into the mirror.

"That's for us to work out, and besides, we have our options, so let's take this one step at a time, yes?" The mirror then returns to normal as I place my hands on my face as Death watches.

"I don't know what you want from me, Lady Death, but if you're here to see whether or not I will bring destruction to this world, you are in the wrong place. I am not enough of an edge lord yet." She then scoffs as she sits down next to me and places a hand on my chest.

I then see pure Darkness exit out of my being and form in her hand, which she crushed. After that, I felt much lighter, and as I gave her a questioning look, she explained, "Whatever being you met when you arrived touched you with its Darkness. It's why you never felt light since you came here, and as Death, everything must be in balance for the universe to work. It's why the light and Dark Multiverse exist as well. The dark is the creation of the unknown, and the light is the acceptance that all things must come to an end. But I have seen enough for now." 

She then stands up, grabs me with her ghostly white hands, and pulls me in.

"You may have once been an existence outside of this Multiverse, but now you have been marked by me, and I tend to take my duty very seriously, so don't die before I can take you with me, alright?" The smile she is showing should be terrifying, yet I see utter and complete beauty.

I wonder if this is how Deadpool feels looking at his version of Death as I finally feel at peace and bow to her while saying, "I thank you for your advice, Lady Death, and it would be my honor to have my soul guarded by you for all eternity."

"It almost sounds like you wish to wed me, Anomaly? I did not know you held such arrogance." She said with some annoyance, but it was amused and not meaningful.

"Well, it is always the duty of the junior to court death, after all." This comment confuses her, which makes me actually laugh, and then I begin to cry as my lost memories return to me, and I mourn a life that I lost and one that I may never return to. 

Death simply places a hand on my back as I let it all out. It wasn't too long, but it was long enough as I then calmed down and breathed in.

"Thank you for this. I apologize for showing something unsightly before you." Death merely smiles with an understanding look in her eyes.

"As I said before, I had borne witness to the last moments of quadrillions of beings, most of whom try to avoid Death or run away from it, yet you seem to accept it. It's nice, in a way. And trust me, there is no weakness in admitting what was lost. I must now go as I need to eat my favorite foods before my day as a mortal is up." After she says this, I then perk up slightly as I ask.

"Do you want me to cook for you? I imagine that if you're able to stop time, then you can also teleport us somewhere else." She then raises her brows, snaps her fingers, and brings us to a restaurant in what looks like Paris with a fully loaded kitchen; she sits down and gestured for me to begin.

While I wasn't an amazing cook, thanks to Archer's card, I was soon flying through the kitchen using my black-like tendrils to Aid in the cooking process. After an hour of cooking, I made a shepherd's pie with a side of quiche and buttermilk biscuits which seemed almost to sparkle as Death looks on with interest.

After making the final preparations, I laid all the food on the table as I waited for her to eat it. After grabbing some silverware, she takes a bite and eats a single part of it, and after stopping slightly, she immediately proceeds to devour all of it, within seconds as I say nothing even though I wish to say many things about this image.

And so after she had finished eating seconds, thirds, and fourths, she finally seemed satisfied as she sighed in contentment and said, "Well, Anomaly, you have earned your keep and a small reward."

She then teleports us back onto the plane, and time resumes as she pats me on the head like a child, to which she asks, 'What did you expect more? It is going to take much more than that to catch my interest anomaly. But I will be watching your career with great interest. Goodbye, Nathan, and remember, try not to take the weight for too long lest I meet you much earlier than you would like."

I give her a small nod as she fades into the shadows, and Cheshire comes into the shower room with her weapons drawn, but seeing no one, she looks at me as I say, "I was practicing vocal impressions in the mirror. So I apologize if you thought otherwise."

She then sheathes her weapons and says, "Well, if you like talking to yourself, do it outside as I need to use the shower." 

I then nod and leave the room and sit back on the floor of the plane and begin to meditate; as I breathe in and out, I feel much lighter than before as I begin to feel a bit more balanced, but whatever Death did was only the first step.

If I were to compare it to anything, it would be like her unlocking my meridians to begin cultivation, but I have to do the rest. I could still feel the pull of the dark and the experiences of my templates still growing, yet I knew this was only the beginning. And I may have gained a rather dangerous watcher.

Putting that aside, I looked at my assimilation progress:

[Sheev Palpatine (Star Wars Legends): 18%]

[Alex Mercer (Prototype 1&2) 48%]

[Emiya (Archer) (Fate): 23%]

Good progress, and I assume Archer's increased more because I met a concept similar to Archer with Alaya, which I will always accept. 

As I felt my increased strength thanks to having more biomass, I combed through the memories of those I devoured as I tried to triangulate information, and since I devoured over thirty people, I will have to take some time with this.

But I have over ten hours to meditate, so I have the time.

In fact, I have all the time in the world now.