Chapter Text
“I missed you, dumbass.”
The woman sitting in front of you at the weathered wooden table flashed a smile at you, as bright as the glint in her big dark eyes.
“I know, sweetcheeks,” she answered, before taking a dainty sip from the cup in her hand. “Just as I have my buddy. Nothing quite beats drinking tea with you from eloquent porcelain in a quaint teahouse in the middle of nowhere.”
You really couldn’t have withheld a chuckle at that.
“What can I say, old habits die hard.”
“Smartass”, your friend snickered good-naturedly, smile still on her lips. “Speaking of habits,” she continued, setting her cup carefully onto the fragile saucer with barely a clink. “I see that you still did not catch much rest since last we met.”
“That obvious, hm?”
“If those numerous and utterly unnecessary veins in your eyeballs have anything to go by, sure.”
You could only sigh in defeat. All points of your reasoning and logic have long been discussed and rather well confronted numerous times over. In the end, the truth remained the same, and no amount of stubborness will change that. And you would never contemplate even for an instant to lie to the only friend you have truly known.
“I am afraid...”
Your companion remained silent, forever compassionate gaze leveled on you even as you could not quite lift it from your fingers, unintentionally clutched around your lukewarm camomille tea.
“I’m afraid,” you continued in a hushed whisper after a moment , “that they will be there again. Deep down, I am petrified to wits end that they will succeed in reaping my soul apart shred to shred. Something they came so close to in the waking world, they can accomplish in my own dreams.”
Unbidden memories, voices and screams started to swiftly rise to the upfront of your mind, but were smothered smoothly by the feeling of a warm hand clutching your own across the table.
“Oh, lovie, I know.” Your haunted eyes met hers, a hint of something close to remorse in their own. “Never have I wished so greatly that I could exchange my gift for another, just for a day, and change things. But your dreams and nightmares are your own battlefield, and they are there for a reason. I’m afraid this fight you will need to win in your own mind.”
You wished your sad thoughts away, but the smile on your face still felt crooked as you squeezed your friend’s hand in your own show of compassion.
“Yeah, I’m afraid so too, Death. Haven’t you already learned that the human mind is truly the scariest thing of all? I have.”
In other circumstances, between mere friends or passing acquintances, perhaps, conversation would have been awkward or have wilted entirely after that. But the two of you were so much more in person and together that hours continued to pass by in amiable talk of recent life stories and occasional anecdote.
It was well past twilight and three pots of tea when you have decided that time has come to wrap things up and put the chairs on the table, so to speak.
“Don’t be a stranger,” you cautioned, doning on your cinch waist black trenchcoat. “Wouldn’t want to spend next three years curing yet another disease in order to spend some quality time with my only friend.”
Death of the Endless smile was frankly infactious. “You do not hear me complain, do you?”
“Never,” you affirmed, allowing yourself to be pulled into an encompassing hug.
“I have a feeling though,” sounded the voice near your ear, “that I will see you much sooner that you lay me accountable for.”
“Now this dream, I will not mind coming true.”
The grin upon Death’s lucious lips was her sole response, as you made your way towards the exit. You have already cracked the wooden door open and prepared your foldable umbrella for the horrid downpour outside when a shout behind made you pause.
“Dorothea!”
You already knew what words shall be uttered well before they came.
“Promise me,” pleaded one of the Endless imploringly. “Please promise me you will allow yourself to finally sleep. You may be immortal, but you are still human. Promise me only this, Thea.”
Only a moment’s pause before you made the decision that will lay the path to your inevitable fate.
“I promise, Death. I shall sleep, and dream again.”