A Final Gentle Wind Blows

By the time I came back to life, which wasn't more than about an hour, the gang had set up a camp on the mountain. Presently, they were lounging about a table and having some hot drinks. There had been negotiations while I was busy in the land of over yonder. Grim and Lady had com to terms about something.

"Nothing is solved yet, I suppose", I asked Sight.

"None yet, boy", he sipped on his hot drink, "But soon."

No on offered me a seat or a drink. Today they were harsher than any other day, not that I'd ever mind. The wind was getting rather strong up here, and I wondered why they were suddenly having a tea party in such a windy location. The kettle rolled off the table by a strong gust of wind and spilled their precious drink but it was readily picked up and a new batch was brewed.

"Lady's finally decided to go at him herself", Sight said after a long silence and a longer sip of his drink.

"Finally?"

"Hmm, boy, you know how we all are. We've all fought against Lady at some point, but not Grim."

"Why not?", I had assumed otherwise.

"Because I didn't let her", Chopper joined in, "And she knows better."

I pondered for a moment.

"Anyways, Chopper-san, why did everyone fight Lady like that?"

"Why does anyone fight? It's a show of strength. To determine who's the strongest and who deserves to sit at the top. We need to know the person who's giving us orders before we take 'em."

"So she's breaking the rules of Valhalla, then...if she's fighting Grim now?", I asked.

"Well, yes. But she's sacrificing the one good decision she made back then--to not fight Grim. You could say she's playing right into Grim's hand but...odds are stacked against us."

"You say it like Grim isn't on of us. Why don't you fight him, Chopper-san? I'm sure you could beat him if you wanted. You made short work of that Azag, didn't you?"

Chopper sighed, his drink had gone cold.

"Who knows, but then we'd have no choice but to follow the rules. W can't be doing that. If I lose, per se, someone else will have to pick up the fight before Lady. even if it's a small chance, we can't risk it."

"Risk what exactly? To be honest with you, I still haven't grasped the rules of Valhalla", I admitted.

"Unless all the Valkyries fall down, Lady won't fight in a duel. It's as simple as that. It sounds conceited but in reality, it bounds Lady. It is a restriction put on her and not on the rest of us. And that restriction is for a greater good, believe me."

"For whose greater good?"

"You'll probably get to witness that."

Seeing as he wasn't going to give me a clear answer, and as I was getting impatient, I ended up asking the woman in question, herself.

"Lady, why didn't you fight Grim in the first place? Are you afraid you'll lose?"

Silence fell all round. I didn't have an answer for all the glares I was getting, so I kept my eyes on Lady.

"Fights that I know I cannot win, I shouldn't fight them", she said without looking at me, "That is indeed what I believe. And I've always played by this rule but that means, there hasn't yet been a fight that I've had to run from."

She looked up, mockingly glaring at me. Then she smirked and her expression softened.

"The collateral damage there would be if I were to go against a god of death is, quite frankly, immeasurable and irreparable. I've wanted to avoid that since the beginning but now that the whole world is at stake, there is no reason I shouldn't do it."

"So you've already figured that out, have you? Then, was there a need for me to go against him and die while I was at it?"

"Oh...well, not a need but I thought I'd like to see that so..."

"At last try to make an excuse!"

"Ah...", she sipped a long sip, "Well, the god of death may have reaped your soul but it's his call to do whatever he wishes with it. In most cases, it is a pain but I knew Grim wouldn't just throw you away even if something did go awry. Of course, I didn't think Sight would forget to give you a basic shield or that you'd drop out so early."

"Just forget it", said I, as I stomped my way away from them all.

It seemed pointless to me all of a sudden. Was there really a way to save everything? Was there even a need? Maybe once in a while, people should accept their circumstances as an act of providence. But then...why did I have a nagging feeling that Grim wasn't just doing this on a whim? It was as if he wanted something. Something bigger than just a chance to combat Lady. I'm sure Chopper thought so too. He had realized something that everyone else was missing. But knowing him, he wouldn't say a thing until all hell broke lose.

"Hey Seraph", Lady came up to me while I was musing alone, "Sulking now?"

I glanced at her once but said nothing.

"More importantly, did you see that girl you were talking about?"

"What?"

"When you died."

"Oh...ah, wait why do you...?"

"Grim said he's keeping you in a safe place with safe people. I can imagine who he was talking about but that little girl...was she there with you?"

"No, err...she wasn't", I answered, "Wait, Lady, is that place...by any chance, is it real? Or did Grim just...?"

"It's real, I'm sure. Grim just let your soul wander to a place it wanted to go to. He didn't create that place himself. I won't ask you who you met there or what that place is like but...I think its a place with all your treasures."

My treasures.

Yeah, she was probably right about that. I couldn't help but smile at that. I felt at peace, hearing her say that. Seeing my face, she had a perplexed look on her own face. She stared emptily at me for a moment before turning away.

A sudden calm seemed to have taken over the mountain. The wind calmed down but it didn't yet know the scale of destruction that was bound to happen there just an hour later.