Begins With A Single Step

The gunshot echoes in the silence of the park, and he’s falling before he even feels it.

When he lands, his heart has stopped beating.

When he opens his eyes, a woman is standing over him, and she is smiling. She’s beautiful and dark, dressed in all black, but there is no mockery on her face, like the homunculus who stabbed him earlier. Her eyes are bright and genuine. “Ready to go?” she asks, and her voice is warm and soothing. A silver necklace hangs from her neck, swinging in the gentle breeze.

He stands up, even though he shouldn’t be able to. “Go where?” he asks. He dusts off his jacket, more out of habit than anything else.

She holds out a pale hand, and he can see that the skin there is soft and smooth. “To the Sunless Lands, of course.” Her smile is wry and small, but still warm, and it would be so easy to trust it, so easy to just go with her.

At his feet is a photograph of his family. He and Gracia and Elysia all smiling for the camera. They look happy, and he’s glad that they were that, at least one time in their lives. But that’s not enough. He can hear Roy yelling his name on the other end of the phone, and there’s a pang in his chest, a painful, twisting feeling. “I want to stay,” he tells her. “I want to stay for them.” He wants to walk Elysia down the aisle. He wants to see Gracia’s hair turn gray. He wants to serve under Roy when he becomes Fuhrer. He won’t be around see it, and the thought fills him with longing, bittersweet.

She shakes her head, her unruly black hair moving with it. “You can’t stay, though.” Her smile turns a little sad and regretful. “You have to come with me.”

“It wasn’t enough,” he says, though it sounds hollow. “It wasn’t enough time.”

“It was more than you think,” she says, gently, and it’s genuinely comforting. “You were happy. That’s tons more than lots of people get.”

He nods. “It is, isn’t it?” He looks up, and sees that the stars are shining. “They’re beautiful,” he says.

She laughs, and it sounds girlish and sweet. “Yeah. I’ve taken a few of them in my day. Some of them are pretty cool.”

She must have seen the incredulous look on his face, because she laughs again. “I’m Death, silly. And even stars die.” He smiles wryly at that, even chuckles.

There’s a moment where neither of them says anything.

“Where are we going?” he asks, breaking the silence, because he’s stopped looking back. There’s a future to think of.

She raises an eyebrow, and her eyes dance with gentle teasing. “You’ll see when we get there.”

There’s the thrill of adventure, in her words, the thrill of something new and undiscovered. He thinks that maybe this won’t be so bad after all.

Her hand is still outstretched.

He takes it.

And they leave.

FIN.