"I didn't expect to see you here," Life said, voice soft and as beautiful as the flowers blooming around her.

"Sure you didn't. Why are you here?" Death moved his scythe, leveling it out in front of me.

"Can't I say hi to my little brother?" Life ran a hand through her hair. "Honestly, you think so poorly of me." She slipped something into a passerby's bag.

Death didn't respond. He stared down Life. His hand shook. I wanted to ask about it. I wanted to ask him why she upset him like this, why he had his scythe leveled out in front of me, but staying standing took all of my strength.

Life sighed, closing her eyes. "I really wish you would talk to me. It would make everything so much easier." She raised her arm, twirling something shiny around her finger. She flung it through the air. Metal struck metal as Death parried. Life's weapon whizzed an inch in front of my face and stuck into the wall.

"Kid, don't touch that," Death said, rushing forward. His cloak flared behind him as he leapt into the air. "And don't let her hit you!"

I nodded and moved away from the bench, picking my scythe up. Acid burned the back of my throat as every movement shot searing pain through my stomach. I looked at the fight laid out in front of me, head spinning as I tried to keep track of the exchange of blows. Neither side landed an attack, but Life had the upper hand. Her attacks blurred through the air at frightening speeds, leaving Death only able to defend himself. Life hadn't turned her attention to me, something I was grateful for. I could barely walk, dodging would be impossible.

The area filled with the scent of decay and flowers, as plants went through their entire life cycle in a matter of minutes; nobody on the street seemed to notice or care.

"You've gotten faster," Life said, balancing on top of a light pole, a frown marring her ethereal features. "I wonder..." Her eyes locked onto me.

I swallowed. One of her bladed discs sliced towards me. I dropped to the ground, feeling it pass above my head.

"At least my hair's already short," I groaned and picked myself up, only to find myself the focus of Life's attacks. She flung disc after disc at me, leaping from position to position, making it hard for Death to attack her.

Gritting my teeth, I dodged. I leapt from side to side, ducking behind whatever cover could be offered by my surroundings. One of the larger trees offered complete cover, and I found myself hunkered behind it with my hand pressed to my stomach. Wetness seeped through my shirt and my cloak, leaving my palm cold.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere drinking lemonade?" Death yelled.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere killing kids?!"

"Well, shouldn't you be somewhere being Oprah but with kids?!"

Life didn't respond. If it wasn't for the searing pain across my back, I would have thought she left.

"Kid, you okay?"

"What was that?"

"Her weapons can pass through living objects, so don't hide behind trees."

"You couldn't have told me this earlier?!" I yelled, forcing myself to my feet and swaying as everything went dark.

"It slipped my mind. Just be happy it went that way and not the other."

I tightened my grip on my scythe and raised it. I needed to help Death. Life had the advantage when it came to speed and power, but Death had me. I wouldn't be able to do much, my injuries made sure of that. But I could distract her long enough for Death to do something.

"Hey, Life?" My voice wavered. "If people have Life-Alert do you get a notification when they fall?"

She didn't completely ignore me. She threw a weapon at me.

"It was a legitimate question," I grumbled. I placed the end of my scythe on the ground and leaned my weight on it, eyes almost shut. The wood sank into the soft earth, stopping when it hit a rock.

The previously calm air whipped into a frenzy, my hood blowing off. The muted noises of the world surrounded me at full volume. It assaulted my ears, causing my grip to tighten until my knuckles were white. I let go of my scythe and fell to the ground, hands clasped over my ears. Tears spilled down my cheeks.

The sound and wind vanished, leaving the area enveloped in a quiet calm. I slowly removed my hands and sat up.

Life stood across from Death, both of them with their weapons ready, but with Death looking exhausted. They didn't move. When Death's scythe lowered, Life surged forward. Every move she made was one ahead of Death. She backed him up, weapons boxing him in until his feet hit dirt. The moment both feet were off concrete, Life's eyes glowed and vines sprouted. They coiled around Death, binding his legs together and climbing up his body to form a cocoon. He struggled, but the vines had already encased his scythe.

"Death!" I struggled to stand; once I did, I stumbled closer.

"Stay out of this," Life said. "This is none of your buisness."

My eyes caught the glint of metal as her weapons headed for me. My eyes widened and I threw my arms out to protect myself. Light and shadowy fire poured from my arms, shooting towards the flying objects which were thrown back at Life. She held her hands out and caught them, before slicing them through the air and disappearing in a burst of light and bubbles.

I looked at my arms, at the light coiled like ribbon around my right, and at the shadowy fire forming long claws on my left. After a moment, it absorbed into my skin.

"Okay, so this is new," I said.

"Kid, can you help? Please? I'm pretty sure this is poison ivy and I really hope it isn't."

I grabbed my scythe from where it stood and hurried the best I could. I covered my mouth and nose with one arm and sliced through the vines. As they fell away from Death, I looked up at him.

"Couldn't you have killed them yourself? You're Death."

"I'm well aware of that fact. And no I couldn't. She grew these to imprison me," he said, kneeling to prod a piece. "They're not alive, not really."

"That's not poison ivy."

"What?"

"It's not poison ivy. I think it's morning glories." My vision darkened and I shook my head to clear it.

Death frowned and looked up at me. "Do you know what you did?"

"Almost passed out?"

He shook his head and stood up. He brushed off his cloak. "Kid, that stuff with your arms, that's Heaven's Grace and Hell's Fury."

"Oh, cool. Can we go home?"

"We need to reap some more people. I really didn't want to do this until you had more practice, but after that she's going to find the nearest group of women and be like 'And you get a baby, and you get a baby.' It's not going to be a fun time." A gentle green glow settled over me before disappearing.

I nodded and pulled up my hood. I hoped he would have taken the rest of this 'day' off, but I was going to have to suck it up.

"Here's your list. Now just run and you'll see what I did." He disappeared.

Running would have been easy compared to dodging bladed circles, but, again, I was injured. I shook my head. It was going to hurt and I was going to wish I had ran track, but I had to suck it up. My feet hit the pavement. When the world around me began to blur, I stopped and everything ground to a halt. People weren't moving, cars barely moved, and if I wanted to I could have plucked a fly out of the air.

"Whoa." I turned in a circle to see if everything was the same. It was. I took a step forward and flinched backward as everything jolted back to life. People made gestures at drivers who nearly hit them as the cars sped down the road and turned out of sight, and the fly buzzed around a lady who was trying to enjoy a meal.

I shook my head and ran towards the first person on my list, arm once again around my stomach. Once I finished the list, in a record one minute forty-three seconds, I slouched against a wall, my breath coming out in ragged gasps.

"Death," I called. "I'm finished."

He appeared a second later. "Look at that you- okay, you look like crap."

"Thanks, I know."

"Sit down."

I slid down the wall, all of my weight resting on my left shoulder. Death knelt in front of me. He stared at me. Out of nowhere, his eyes widened. 

"I forgot she hit you. Can you stand?" he asked.

"Probably not."

He sighed. "I need you to try, kid."

A pained groan left my throat, escaping through closed lips, as I pushed my shoulder off of the wall. I stood slowly, covering my mouth with my free hand as nausea overwhelmed me. I tried to take a step forward. I stumbled. My vision, which had been swimming since I started running, went black. I felt my body hit the floor, and after that I felt nothing.

Chapter: 1,585

Book: 13,679

Happy New Year's Eve! Hope you liked the chapter. It didn't have a lot of humor but I kinda like this chapter

And uh, guys remember you can give me constructive criticism if you want

See yah