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Thanatos watched her everyday from his throne. Everyday, endlessly, he stared into the pools of spirits which served as his mirror. The Angel of Death needed neither sleep nor sustenance. He needed only to fulfill his soul by staring into the silvery mirror.

"She's so... beautiful..." he muttered.

Serene, his closest servant materialized beside him, but he hardly noticed. He leaned closer to the shifting mirror. Serene surveyed her master with pale eyes. Like most spirits of the dead, her body was colorless and transparent, but her association with Thanatos had given her a more solid form. She was nearly solid as her master, save for the edges of her being, which drifted like death's shifting mists.

"Who, master?"

"Her name is Hannah Anthony. She is the most lovely, graceful, beautiful creature that I have ever seen. Her eyes are clearer and more colorful than jewels, her skin is like snow, and her lips are two petals of a rose. Her hair is darker than the night sky."

Serene stirred a bit. Though death had stolen her vibrancy, her beauty was still apparent in her semi-solid form. She had looked quite like Thanotos' love.

"Very good, master." she said, fighting back jealousy. Spirits generally lost their individuality after death. Thanotos had restored hers.

"She is going to die tomorrow."

"Master?" Serene couldn't help staring into his mirror. Hannah Anthony was not due to die for many, many more years.

"She is going to die tomorrow, on her wedding day. At the dawn, she will die, by a warm wind, with the scent of roses."

"Master?"

"Dawn comes in a few hours. Serene, you will arrange her death."

"Me, my lord?"

"Yes. You. Go. And take this. It will allow you the wind. But be careful. Any mortal can see you." Thanatos threw Serene a pendant, with a fiery gem glowing in its center. Serene hung it around her neck. To her amazement, she returned to the form she held in life. The black hair she once wore so proudly hung down to her knees. Her skin was as fair and her lips as red as her master's love. Her eyes were not blue, but vivid green. Besides that, she could have outmatched that Hannah Anthony in beauty, but her master was staring rapt into the mirror.

"Yes, milord."

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A husky dawn hung just over the horizon. On a breath of wind, Serene appeared by the window of a quaint cabin. Serene recognized it as the one Hannah Anthony lived in. Serene alighted on an open window, enjoying the movement of muscles under her skin. The beauty of actual movement. She would never have done this in her life, as the Lady of Hameliel, but in death, she was Thanatos' servant. Would the Angel of Death's servant not be more devious? The chains of life were all but destroyed after death.

Hannah lay on her bed, blissfully asleep. Serene felt the pangs of jealousy again. She was beautiful, this Hannah Anthony. She had the same beauty that Serene had lost and would never recover. The amulet only restored her so far. The color she had in death paled to the vibrancy of life.

Serene bent down over Hannah's sweet face, breathing the scent of roses into her hair. She watched as Hannah's breath slowed and then stopped. Her spirit rose from her body in a wisp of mist. Her master should be receiving her spirit soon.

There was a knock on the door.

"Hannah, love! I'm coming in!"

Hannah's betrothed entered. A gallant and bold young man, his beauty befitting his bride's. Golden hair and twinkling blue eyes, his face fell as he caught sight of Serene standing over his love's body.

"Wh--What happened? Hannah! What happened to Hannah?" he cried. He rushed over to her bed and embraced her corpse, hoping to feel her breathe. He sobbed as he felt the stillness. "You! What happened?"

"Your love has been claimed as the lover of Thanatos, the Angel of Death." she whispered. "But her death was not the true death. Rescue her from his clutches, and she shall be yours."

Serene could stand it no more. She returned to death, and cried.

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Thanatos was once a human. But he had dared defy the gods, and was stripped of his form and given the underworld to rule. But unlike his subjects, he was very much alive. True, his body was more of a shell, frozen from the effects of time, but his mind was still intact and unable to fade and forget like the spirits. It tore him apart, this dull and dreadful world. Shifting shades of gray and black, not a bit of color or interest anywhere. Thanatos was bored, regretful, and going mad.

He looked similar to how he had before his brazen act of hubris. Dark haired, dark eyed, and handsome, as he had known all too well. But the years without light had paled his olive skin, and the everlasting whiplashes on his back had long since ran out of blood and began bleeding the stuff of death.

But now the craving for life was about to be satisfied. Hannah Anthony would soon be by his side. He would give her the pendant, and she would retain her beauty. He would no longer be alone.

"Now where is that pendant?"

Thanatos searched the clutter beside his throne. He unearthed several swords, skulls, various bones. A peculiar dagger caught his eye.

The Death Whisper. Thanatos knew it as the treasure of an evil warlord who had vainly brought it with him after his death. It was smithed of shadows. About a foot long total, the blade's spine was jaggedly sharp. An intense curse radiated in front of it. Curious, Thanatos gently cut his palm.

Immediately he felt his body chill. The shadows in the corner of his vision roared and took hideous forms, but when he turned to them, they disappeared. The spirits of the dead, who shifted around him began to howl. The whiplashes whose pain he had long since learned to ignore began to throb, and then pierce.

"Enough!" he bellowed. The pain eased away, the spirits silenced, and the semi-warmth of death returned. Like most curses, this one ceased when its curser ordered it to halt. Thanatos was intrigued.

"I think I shall keep this one with me. Back to the pendant. Serene--"

Thanatos cut himself off as he realized he had sent Serene with the pendant. How silly. He had forgotten. Well she would be back soon enough. She had always been faithful. Dully, he wondered how he had found her. Likely he had met her when he had still cared about the spirits. When was that? One, two thousand years ago?

The spirits parted to make way for someone. Thanatos smiled.

"Hannah Anthony. You are as beautiful in death as in life. Please, come sit with me."

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"This is where I leave you. My master shall not be happy if he sees me with you."

Jon panted as he caught up to the spirit. He had struggled much to get this far, and would undoubtedly met his end without Serene's help.

Serene turned to leave, but Jon called to stop her.

"Wait! I have one last question."

"Yes?" she replied, still drifting away.

"Why did you help me?" he called.

Serene faded from sight, but Jon could still hear her voice. "Jealousy. My master once claimed me the same way he has claimed your love. But no man loved me enough to try to steal me back from his clutches. If your Hannah takes even my place as his lowly servant, I will no longer exist to him. I will fade into the mass of spirits that moan piteously for what they have lost in life. Though I will have even lost in death..."

Her voice echoed across the great expanse until even that faded. Jon waited for the last ring to fade before continuing on.

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"Hannah!"

Thanatos jerked his head upward from his sleep. His eyes met a strange sight. A living human stood before him, his eyes bright with emotion.

"Jon!" Hannah ran from her throne to meet her love. Thanatos called out to stop her but she ignored him. "Jon! What are you doing here? You shouldn't have come. I'm dead, Jon. It's--I'm not allowed to leave."

"Hannah, love, you can. You weren't supposed to die yet. He took you before your time."

Hannah embraced him, reunited. But Hannah felt herself being pulled back, away from him.

"Jon!"

"Where are you going, Hannah?"

Thanatos had risen from his throne. The mist from his back had taken the form of great, leathery wings. His eyes blazed in fury.

"She's coming with me!" Jon declared boldly. "You took her from life unfairly, and I will take her back."

"Those who have walked in death cannot return to life." Thanatos responded coldly.

"Your servant could."

"My servant-- Serene!"

Serene materialized behind his throne, head bent. "Yes, master?"

"Did you bring this man here?" he demanded, his voice rising.

"Yes, master."

He slapped her across the face. She skidded back several feet but remained standing. She regained her balance and stared her master in the eyes.

"She is in love with that man. She would never have loved you."

Thanatos roared and threw her to the ground. She rolled down the steps and lay unmoving at the throne's foot.

"Fine. Go with your love." he said spitefully, panting with rage. "But if you turn back, she is mine."

Jon nodded and turned around. "Let's go, Hannah. And I'm sorry, Serene."

Jon had not gone twenty paces before Thanatos pulled out the Death Whisper. He balanced it in his hand. Serene stirred and rose.

Thanatos threw the Death Whisper. Blood flew in a torrent into the colorless air. Hannah screamed.

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The dagger protruded from his back. He grew still as his body chilled. The spirits began to howl and the shadows rose from their beds. But he did not turn around.

"Go, Jon, Hannah." Serene muttered, and fell.

Hannah shivered. She touched Jon's shoulder and pulled the dagger from his back. Another torrent of blood spilled down his shirt. She ripped off the sleeve of her dress and bandaged his wound.

"Don't look back, Jon. Keep going. I'm right behind you." she whispered.

"I... know." he replied. On shaking legs, he began to walk again, spurred on by his love despite the growing pain in his back.

Hannah turned back to see to Serene.

"Why did you...?"

Serene coughed, causing the colorless blood surge from her chest. She lay in a pool of the mist which served as her blood, a gaping hole in her chest. She, too, felt the effects of the Death Whisper now. Her vision darkened. At least the curse would not last long. Her time was at an end, but after the first death, what did this one matter?

"Go. Now! Jon needs you by his side. The Death Whisper's curse will have weakened him. He needs someone to support him. Don't worry about me."

Hannah heard Jon trip and torn, went to help him. Serene nodded and gingerly pulled herself up. From the little she could see, Hannah and Jon were gone. Serene tried to pull herself to the shattered obelisk to her right, but Thanatos had appeared beside her.

He knelt on the ground beside her and propped her up on his knee. He placed a hand on her wound. The pain and hallucinations from the curse faded. Serene stiffened and relaxed.

"Why did you place yourself before the blade?" he muttered. He removed his hand from the wound and it disappeared.

"I was... jealous. You did the same to me, two thousand years ago. You stole me from life, but no one came to rescue me. And then you forgot about me. I became nothing more than a servant. What would happen if I was not even your servant any more?"

"I would be... very, very sad. I'm sorry, Serene. I shelved you aside, and I regret it. Can you forgive me?"

Serene tried her best to smile. "Yes, master."

"Because the ones we lose and find again are the ones we love all the more. You are beautiful, Serene. I should have given you the pendant earlier."

"Yes, master."

"Enough with this 'master'. You did not call me that before." Thanatos paused, watching her. "And I intend to make you mine again. You are more lovely than Hannah. Your eyes are a much prettier shade."


As you can see, this is a story for the Death Whisper. I wrote this on a whim, but decided it a very pleasurable experience. Perhaps I shall write more Gaia-item related shorts.

References in this are: 1) the Death Whisper, obviously. 2) Thanatos means Death in Greek. I believe he was one of Hades' subordinates in traditional Greek Mythology. 3) The Pendant is the demonic Pendant, chosen on a whim. 4) The deal Thanatos had with Jon is based on the other one from some Greek Myth. (Unfortunately I forget which one. Would someone like to enlighten me?) But, as you can see, Thanatos cheated.

Ugh. This was very long, wasn't it? It took me a while to write, actually. Well I appreciate you reading the entire thing.