Chapter Text
Lady Death always kept a close eye on her angel. Not wishing for his death, but not opposed to it either. She saw how much he lusted for life and adventure and felt it was cruel to damn him to an afterlife of unsaturated wanderlust. So she kissed new life— one, single life and nothing more— into him. The catch was this: when Phil died a final time, he would give his heart to her and spend the rest of eternity as hers.
She waited anxiously for the fated event. There had been several close calls throughout the years which she watched with her heart in her mouth. Lady Death could barely tear her eyes away from her angel but unfortunately being the ruler of the Underworld came with responsibilities that meant she didn’t catch everything.
She was carrying out one of her mind-numbingly boring duties when she heard the call. Her angels’ scream resounded throughout the Underworld, bouncing down the caves and filling the empty atriums. It was so powerful that it sent the caves’ crows into a panicked frenzy and shook the rocks. Lady Death covered her mouth in horror as ancient stalactites trembled and fell, falling into the river of souls underneath.
What had happened to Phil? She rushed to check. Abandoning her task, she dug her hands into her skirt and raised it so she would not trip as she descended the long, spiralling set of stairs to her throne room. It was just typical that this all happened when she was away from her viewing pool. She skidded around a corner into her lair and fell onto her knees before the shallow pool of water.
When Lady Death was not occupied with her responsibilities, she spent all of her time gazing into her viewing pool. It was a large pond of still black water that lay before her throne of skulls. The pond waters were enchanted, allowing her to view the overworld and all the souls that would someday come into her care. More often than not, she used it to keep an eye on her beloved.
She hovered her right hand above the water and started to make slow, circling motions. Despite how her heart pounded with anticipation, magic must be approached with caution, even for powerful beings like herself. She allowed her fingers to relax and carefully dipped the tips of her black nails into the dark water. It sent ripples across the water and colours began to bleed into the darkness.
“Show me Philza.” She commanded. With bated breath, she watched as the colours formed an image in the water, an image that made her heart break.
“Oh, no, no, no.” She gasped. The water showed her angel on the battlefield, clutching a body of Technoblade to his chest. He was pressing the dead man’s limp hand to his cheek desperately, achieving nothing but a bloody hand-print on his fair skin. A dozen arrows stuck out of Technoblade’s body, but somehow he seemed at peace.
Lady Death dipped her fingers into the water, which she then tentatively swirled. Technoblade looked peaceful, but Phil was in agony.
She and Technoblade are the only ones who loved Phil. Now he was all alone on the surface, without a friend in the world. Despite how her heart stung at the sight of those tears, Lady Death’s mind naturally drifted towards how this tragedy could be twisted into something advantageous: for her, and also for her angel.
She quickly got to her feet, sending small waves of water lapsing over the image and washing it away. Lifting her skirts once again, she fled from the throne room.
After a human passed away, their soul drifted out of their body and was instinctually pulled down to the Underworld. They slowly descend to Underworld’s largest atrium until they met the river of souls, where they would stay until the end of time. Technically, it wasn’t impossible to fish a soul out of the river, but it was incredibly difficult. Lady Death grimaced as she looked into the deep river. Souls held no set shape and could easily amalgamate with others, becoming something resembling a pale blue ghost with several mouths and eyes. After souls amalgamated, they could not be pulled apart. They could only grow, becoming larger and larger and erasing the individuality of all those who accidentally were sucked into the mass. She would have to be quick to find Technoblade’s soul before it was drawn in.
Craning her neck, Lady Death looked up from the bottom of the winding staircase to the tall atrium. There was always an ever-flowing stream of souls passing through, ready to rest for eternity. The sheer number of them made it difficult to spot a soul which resembled her angel’s friend.
She’d seen Technoblade many times over the years. He’d stuck by Phil for the longest out of everyone she’d ever seen him with. She found watching the Antarctic Empire very amusing— especially since it brought out a chaotic side of her angel— and was sad to see the two friends part ways. However, they could only last so many years apart and after Phil had raised his son Wilbur and let him leave the nest, they eventually gravitated back to each other as all good friends do.
Lady Death remembered when Phil first mentioned her to Technoblade. They were harvesting potatoes together under the harsh summer sun. Phil was wearing an old straw hat and Lady Death loved the humble farmer look on him. Whenever Phil spoke about her, her cheeks turned red and she couldn’t hold back girlish squeals of delight. And when he said her eyes were like burning coal- she could barely take it! Heart pounding, she’d swiped away the image in the viewing pool and stalked off to compose herself.
After that, there wasn’t a single day Lady Death checked the viewing pool and saw Phil without Technoblade. They were like two peas in a pod, brothers joint at the hip. They fought countless battles together, with Technoblade being the ruthless warrior who would take any pain to protect his friend. Lady Death never could decide if that pleased her or not. All she knew was that she was grateful that her angel had such a loyal friend who could evoke the brightest of sunshine smiles from him.
Saving Technoblade was imperative if she wanted to see that smile again anytime soon.
Her dark eyes scanned the crowd of drifting souls frantically. Technoblade, Technoblade, where are you? New souls generally held the same shape as their human bodies but, as time passed, they lost their form and melted into pale blobs, indistinguishable from all the other souls. She would have to work quick: time worked differently in the Underworld and she had no way of telling how long it had been since Technoblade had died. A day, a week, two weeks? The thought sent her into a frenzied panic.
She rushed up the stairs, calling out the name of the fallen friend. The new souls drifted down blankly, ready to rest eternally. Before a soul was consumed by the river, it still retained the wounds which killed it. If a soul showed no signs of trauma, Lady Death understood that meant they’d passed naturally. Now her eyes were on the lookout for a soul bombarded with arrows.
“Techno-” She was halfway through calling his name when she saw the soul. There he was! Limply floating down to the river, unfazed by the dozens of arrows burrowed in his back. As all new souls did, he wore not the clothes he died in, but a flowing white robe. With his long pink hair flowing out behind him, Lady Death thought he looked quite beautiful. She snapped herself out of the thought. There was no time to admire him! He was dangerously close to the water!
Running faster than she ever had in the past thousand years, she hurdled down to the bottom of the stairs. She had to be careful not to fall into the river of souls. The effect it would have on her was unknown, but she wasn’t about to take any chances. She leaned against the stone barrier and stretched out a hand to her target. He was ever so slightly out of reach!
Gritting her teeth, Lady Death stood on her tiptoes and stretched out again. Come on… come on… gotcha! The tips of her fingers brushed against Technoblade’s hand. That tiny touch was all he needed to snap out of his trance. The souls around him continued to drift down, but he stayed in place, taking in his surroundings, eyes with shock.
“Technoblade!” Lady Death called out. Recognition flickered behind his pink eyes and he tentatively took her outstretched hand. He moved in the air effortlessly and was pulled towards her.
“What- is this Olympus?” He asked breathily. Lady Death snickered and shook her head. The poor man was confused.
“Quite the opposite, dear. Welcome to the Underworld.”
-
There was so much Lady Death wanted to ask Techno. She had questions about Phil, about life on the surface, questions about everything! It got lonely down here with only passing souls and crows for company. Hooray, she’d be lonely no more! But she knew that right now Techno needed to rest.
She brought him to her throne room and led him to the throne of skulls. He sat down on it cautiously and inspected his hands. They were see-through, but he was still able to touch things and be touched. Lady Death placed a loving hand on his head and chuckled at his confusion.
With a quirked brow, he said, “You’re Lady Death, aren’t you?”
“You remembered.” She gasped fondly. She was worried that Techno wouldn’t remember when Phil mentioned her all those years ago in the potato fields. She waited for Techno to smile, but it didn’t come. Instead, he ducked his head and stared at the still pond pensively.
“That means I’m dead.” Techno sounded totally glum, “I thought- I thought I had the gods’ favour. Technoblade never dies. This is just… embarrassin’. I should just fade away.”
Lady Death’s eyebrows quivered as she thought this through. Techno didn't want to go back? But he needed to! How else would she see her smiling angel again?
Lady Death thinks it over and decides that she should play this game carefully. She said, “Hey, don’t say that. I need you to go back. Phil needs you.”
That caught his attention. He took Lady Death’s hand and stumbled down to the viewing pool with her. She commanded it to show Phil and the water obeyed.
“Phil.” Techno gasped. He stumbled into the water, falling onto his hands and knees. It sent waves across the image of his friend’s face, which was crumpled and red from crying. Lady Death looked at the scene sadly, wishing more than ever that she could hold her angel and press a kiss to his head. Phil seemed to be lying on his bed and was clutching a blood-stained helmet to his chest as sobs shook his body. Techno slumped over and his back (still littered with arrows) began to shake similarly.
“He- Phil.” He sounded completely broken. He reached out and tried to touch Phil’s face, but his fingers fell straight through. He turned back to Lady Death and said, “I was tryin’ to protect him. I had no idea this would happen.”
Lady Death smiled softly. “I fear that without you, my angel won’t see much point in living any longer.”
Techno scrambled to kneel before her. The swift movement washed away the pool’s image of Phil. The soul bowed so low his hair fell into the water.
“Please,” He begged, “This was the last thing I ever wanted. You gotta send me back. He- he needs me. I need to tell him it’s okay.”
Lady Death’s smile transformed into something sly.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible.” She said with a faux sigh, “I’ve barely recovered from giving Phil that final life all those years ago. I can send you back, but only for a few hours at most. I don’t have enough power for anything more than that.”
Techno looked up at her with eyes filled with determination. He nodded sharply. Lady Death flicked her dark hair over her shoulder and crouched down on her haunches in front of the soul. Carefully, she cupped Techno’s cheeks and pressed a chaste kiss to his forehead.
As soon as her lips met him, golden energy began to spread through his form. It was easily the brightest light the Underworld had seen in thousands of years. As soon as the process started, it stopped. After his entire body was gold, he looked at Lady Death with his mouth agape.
“Tell Phil that Lady Death waits impatiently.” She said, then blew a kiss to the man. That’s all the pressure needed to destroy Technoblade’s golden form, turning him into minuscule shards of heavenly light. Each piece fell down into the viewing pool and dissolved in the water quickly.
Lady Death put her hands on her hips and sighed. Well, that was quite the adventure. She hoped that it would be an advantageous one. Reviving a being does take a lot of energy, that was no lie. But the thought of soon seeing her beloved again filled her with glee that more than made up for the energy spent reanimating Technoblade.