When you love it all; ships, platonic care, familial love, ooc or in character -ALL THE GOOD STUFF. And the fandom is all about hating one over the other.
Because of his arrogance and underestimation of the balance he served, Amanda sent Nines down on earth with a mission to guard an unborn human.
Ch1 Ch2 Ch3
Chapter 4
When his shadows informed him of an unusual presence at the home of his mission, Fear didn’t expect it to be-
"Footprints?!" The wish gasps a little too close to his ear, as she rises, alarmed, over his shoulder.
Fear's grey eyes narrows, taking the scene in. The mother who very recently started bearing his mission, is going about through her morning routine in the kitchen unaware of his presence, leaving in her wake a trail of black and blue flaming footprints that doesn't seem to fade.
"How is she doing that?" The wish seems fascinated by it.
"She’s not."
"Then who did?"
He crouches, eyeing the small bluish fumes before he extends his hand to investigate it further, it was cold, "Death..." he whispers to himself.
"Why?" The wish asks.
"A warning."
"A warning? About what?"
"Dead man walking,"
"What?"
"It's a human saying..." He pauses, his focus is on the mortal mother, who sits at the dining table with a cup of coffee in her hand, " when one of their condemned prisoners walks to their execution,"
"But she isn't a condemned prisoner," The wish stats confusingly, watching the human’s face for any indication.
The mother looks calm, staring at the rain drops across the window.
"She seems fine," the wish muses.
"Not her..." Although all mortals are prisoners condemned to their death in a way, his mission isn't the mother herself but her unborn offspring.
"Nines are you certain? Maybe it's some kind of a sibling prank thingy, or maybe you are reading so much into this with your super calculative mind, I mean, how can you be sure of this, baby is not yet born—" the wish babbels.
It's the first time in 3 months since he had known her to finally grasp a sense of her fear.
He is prepared for this moment in his mind, now as it unfold before him, he can't help but find it... unsettling.
Fear still feels the flow of sands in the hourglass. He reaches inside his pocket, if his brother went out all the way to warn him, then this is it.
"—and... I'm sorry, what is this?" The wish lookes skeptically at the coin Fear holds in his hand.
"This is a human currency, I believe it is called ...a coin" He mildly mocks her but she seems unaware as her fear fades into confusion, he resumes his explanation, "throughout the ages humans placed... Gifts with their deceased ones, in order to gain Death's blessing, unbeknown to them that my brother has no power beyond. However for all the gifts that are bestowed upon him, the coin... Has been his favorite."
"Ooh, I get it now! With this coin, we are going to bribe him!" She exclaims enthusiastically, and he gives her a side-glance.
"No... to summon him," He flicks the coin into the air with a tinge, the air stills, once it landed back onto his open palm everything around them stops.
"Hello, brother."
***
Death stands before them, hands clasped in-front of him almost as if to show politeness, or simply a pose he is used to perform, he looks like a perfect replica of Nines, or in this case Nines is the perfect replica of him, after all, Fear is but a result of Death.
Death's face remains stoic, his eyes however is quick to spot the feline addition over his brother's shoulder.
"You heeded my warning," Death says, eyes back on his brother as Nines put the coin back in his pocket.
"You weren't subtle about it."
"You were running out of time, brother"
"Were?" Wonder exclaimed.
Death's eyes were back on her again, his head tilted slightly as if trying to see her in a different angle. His eyes seems to gleam of something upon meeting hers, it is not unkind, but it should have made her feel uneasy, it does not.
Unlike Nines’s colorless eyes, Death's had a set of brown ones that gave him a softer edge, less intimidating than his brother's sharp ones, in fact Death seems more approachable, unlike what his name indicates.
Wonder wonders if her ease towards the grim reaper is drawn from her bond with Nines, as he probably feels the same way.
"You said were, does it mean that the baby is now safe?" Wonder asks.
"No, I meant that time is no longer an issue as we speak" Death explains to her, she was confused, should she be thankful or panicking?
"Look," Fear pointed towards the human mother. The footprints still stands, the mother still looking through the window, and the rain is still... perfectly still, it took Wonder few beats to see it.
"You stopped time." Wonder murmurs in awe and Death's posture changes slightly as his hand raises to fix his already perfect looking tie.
"A gift to help me in my purpose, Death is nothing but punctual,"
"Like Nines's shadows."
"Nines?" Death raises an elegant eyebrow at his brother, who looks as calm as ever.
"It's the name I gave him, it's fitting, right?"
"Indeed." Death says, amused
"With the introduction out of the way, maybe you can now tell me what you are warning me about"
"You already know, brother... this is not my first warning, the hourglass you carry is void of any name, I have been watching you bring out the hourglass to check every so often, and I'm curious, what does it make you feel..."
No name hourglass means they will never be born to gain a name, Wonder watches Nines's emotionless face. She didn't notice that the fact that he stares at the hourglass means anything suspicious, she thought he was just entranced by the flow of the sand. Now that Death mentions it, Nines never let her touch the hourglass or stare at it for long enough to notice it has no name
"Did you feel anxious then? What about now? Do you feel... Helpless? Is it bothering you?" Death asks, "talk to me brother, I can help you. We may never have the chance again," his brown eyes looks so deeply humane in their search within Nines's glassy orbs.
Nines keeps quiet, the slight tightening of his jaw is the only indication that he is, infact, not a statue.
Wonder interrupts, "this doesn't make sense, the baby has no emotions yet, if it dies, then it won't be out of fear and the mission will be over before it even begun,"
Death's brows slightly frown, a mild sadness washes over his features for a split second before he regains the same emotionless mask that seems to run in the family as he turns to Wonder.
"Now that would be a waste of time, even for me," the last thing Death says before he pulls himself to the side, pulling a coin out of no where and starts flipping it flawlessly between his hands.
The ting of the coin was so loud in the quietness of the room, time was back, Wonder can now hear the rain drops again, like a fast paced clock ticking and it is disquieting.
"What are we going to do now?" Wonder speaks into Nines's mind, feeling the urge to keep her conversation private from Death.
Nines strides towards the woman, "What we should have done all along," he says, crouching before the human, "prove my brother wrong," Nines stares straight into the human's eyes as one of his shadows snakes up her body, slowly but securely rounding her.
***
The mortal's fears lay bare in front of him, all her nightmares, all her insecurities clashing and turning within her like the tides of a dark bottomless ocean whirling in a storm of her emotions. She appears exceptionally calm but he can see beyond.
She fears the future, she fears regret, she thinks she is not ready, the baby was not planned and her whole life is nothing but cautious steps towards progress, she is a thinker and this is a mistake she needs to undo.
Fear pulls back from the mortal, as he stands taller, his cold eyes downcast on the deep thinking woman.
"She will kill her offspring.." Fear states to the wish who was patiently quiet.
"Why would she do that?" The wish asks in disbelief.
"Fear..." He opens his palm creating a new shadow, letting it join the one which rounds the mortal, as it starts to squeeze her gently, coming up to her ears, it starts whispering to her in tongues.
"Are you... Doubling her fears?"
"No, I'm adding a new one"
"I'm sorry, but how can this help in anyway?"
Fear glances at the wish, thinking seriously about not answering her, but she seemed scared rather than questioning his abilities, he decided against it, "Nothing is better to counter fear but another fear," he turns his eyes back to the woman who takes a sip from her coffee unwillingly listening to the shadows over both her ears, "soon, she will imagine what her life will be like if she remains childless, she fears it will be empty, she is growing older each day, better now than later."
"Will it... be enough?" The wish murmurs in his head and in all truth, Fear doesn't know the answer, he doesn't reply.
The shadows squeeze the human harder, even if he was able to help her now, these shadows will engulf her in too much darkness and it will ruin her for another time.
"Why don't you let your new partner help?" Death's voice broke from behind, he plays his coin between his fingers expertly.
Fear looks at the wish weighting the idea in his mind.
"No, I tried before, it didn't go well," the wish says with a shrug.
"Yes, the human girl Yuki, I know, I was there," Death says, he continues flipping the coin but his eyes seems unfocused, "despite it's title, great doses of painkillers will make a human spasm in pain for hours before their time come, some even lasts days in torment," he stares at nothing for a moment pause before he looks at the wish, "too much is what killed Yuki."
Too much brightness, too much darkness, Fear understands the point his brother is so not subtly trying to make. He turns to the wish.
"Nines, are you sure, I may—" The wish starts to murmur again.
"If this is the end for you too, I would find in unfair if I don't let you try for yourself." Fear speaks to the wish, drawing an end to their private communication.
The wish seems unsure for a moment, the coin Death flips tings louder, no doubt reminding her of the running time, she jumps over the human's lap, cautiously reaching her paw into the snaking shadow, emitting few dots of light that spread inside the shadows like veins.
The whispers stop and the wish quickly pulls her paw out, jumping away from the human as the human rises, towards her phone, trailing more footprints.
Fear sees her fears fading as her mind is clearer now to take the decision, she searches for the doctor contact number, her finger swipes through contacts before it hovers over one contact and she pauses.
It is then that his shadow’s whispers resume, different in tone and within a perfect harmony with the wish's aspirations mild music.
Fear stands next to the mother, curious to know what she saw that gives her a pause.
It was her mother's contact number. Years after she had passed and she still keeps her contact saved, as if one day, somehow she will call her and annoy her about her most embarrassing childhood stories.
She loved her mother, she imagines that if her mother was still alive she would have been over the moon about the baby, talking nonstop about her plans to be the perfect grandmother her grandchild would want.
She loves her mother so much, the human wonders if her unborn baby would love her the same, and yet before it even tries to show her anything she would betray it's love by being selfish, her mother was never selfish with her.
The human wipes her tears away, putting the phone down, she laughs ironically about how everything have turned now.
"I warn you, I'm told I'm gonna be a very weird mother," the human speaks to her barely visible stomach as she descends to the floor laughing and wiping her tears.
The wish stands before her in awe, Fear looks around to see the footprints disappear into thin air.
"I had eight brothers before you, none of them has reached this point, none of them were given a test by Fate and none of them were able to understand the balance they served," Death speaks to Fear, standing beside him with a smile on his face, "I'm proud of you brother, I think it's time for you to check your hourglass, for today you have saved a life."
Fear pulls the hourglass and sure enough he saw the name carved deep in the wooden base of the hourglass, it says "Gavin Reed"
Y/N: When an impossible coin trick is done successfully, a handsome softie Death will appear. Its a well known fact heheheh. There will be no pairing in this story, I plan to blow up your mind as hard as I can with this story, I hope the name Gavin Reed made u shoooock. Also maintaining a present tense through out the whole thing turned out to be harder than I thought, please point out any grammatical mistake, my English is still improving.Thank you ^^
