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A man sits on the edge of the rooftop of a skyscraper. All of his attire is black. A cloak with a big veil makes only a little part of his face visible, a pale skin almost white in contrast with his attire. He is staring to the below, to the people who are walking on the road.
Suddenly a blue flame appears in front of him, he extends his hand below the flame, his palm and wrist are seen, just as pale as his face with black coloured veins all over it. The blue flame started to burn brighter and in a blink of an eye, it went out. A black card falls on the spirit palm. He looks at the card, some words in red ink are written on it.
The man looks up to the night sky above him. For a while, he just stares to the darkness, eyes look empty. Thin grey smoke starts to appear around him, and when the wind blows, the man suddenly disappears.
∞∞∞
Somewhere in an abandoned road, a car turned upside down, a puff of smoke visible from the car, and sparks of fire started to appear around the car. It’s dark, only the light from the car lamp lightens the surrounding – a single accident. For a while, only the voice of a deflated tire is heard, but not long after that, a painful groan is heard. A woman with messy hair, blood flows from her temple, her face is injured here and there, and hangs upside down in the car. She tries to look around her, but all of her surroundings are blurred, and she could feel nothing but pain all over her body. She tries to reach her seatbelt that has been holding her, but the pain and the weakness she felt hinder her to unbuckle the seatbelt.
In between her struggle, she starts to feel that her vision gets better and when she decides to look around again, she finally could see it, a silhouette of a man standing not far away from his car, the light of car lamp shots at him.
“Help!” the woman starts shouting, her voice sounds hoarse and full of pain, but the man doesn’t give any response to her. And in an instant, a loud noise is heard, and white shining light takes over the woman's vision.
Surprisingly, now the woman standing in front of her car that already exploded with a red flame of fire is blazing in all directions. What happened? The woman asked herself confusedly. A moment ago, she was in pain, trapped inside her car, but now she feels fine and stands outside her car.
“Davika Suwannarat,” a deep and cold voice suddenly called her name. She snaps her head to the voice source. A man with a complete black attire stands behind her, she couldn’t see his face, but she knows it’s the man that he saw earlier, how could he know my name? She thought.
“35 years old,” the man speaks again, his voice is a type that could give you a chill run down to your spine.
“Died from an accident,” upon hearing the words, the woman's eyes widened.
“I… I am dead?” her voice sounds trembling. She immediately turns his head back and forth, looking at her car that is still on fire and the man behind her.
“No, No, I am not dead.. this.. this is only a dream, I am not dead!” the woman starts to yell hysterically.
“You don’t have much time, your spirit starts to fade now,” the man points to the woman’s hands that already change to be transparent.
Upon seeing her transparent hands, the woman gasp, she turns her head again toward the man, “Who.. who are you?” the woman stuttered.
The man slowly raises his face toward the woman. Finally, the woman could see the man’s face, sharp features, his skin is as white as snow, and his eyes are pitch dark, “A Shinigami, I am here to lead you to another realm.”
∞∞∞
That was his sixth time to lead the death soul to another realm since – he doesn’t know actually. He knows about day and night, but somehow, he couldn’t keep up on counting the day. A Shinigami has no sense of time. He also doesn’t have any memory besides every soul that he met, since – a long time ago. But, recently, he has been having this weird feeling, like he forgets something important, really important to him. What is it?
He starts to wonder about many things too. Every soul he met has a name, does he also have a name? Where is his origin? Is he a Shinigami from the very first time he exists? Since when he has been roaming in the life realm? And then, just like now, when there is no order from the Death for him, why does he keep on feeling like he used to do something while he is waiting for the order? What exactly did he used to do before? Why couldn’t he remember anything?
And the most important one, why does he feel like there is something that grips his heart, like there is – sorrow somewhere within himself. And how can he know about sorrow, how can he named ‘it’ as sorrow? Since when he has been feeling it? It should be impossible for a Shinigami to feel this kind of thing, he is not a human, he shouldn’t feel anything, temperature, touch, texture, pain, and also – emotion. He has been repeating all of those questions over and over, but no answer is found until now.
Suddenly, just like before, another blue flame appears in front of him and after a moment a card falls on his hand. Another name, written in red ink. He read the name and a sudden pain rushes to his chest. He groans painfully and holds his chest with his other hand. What is wrong with him? He never feels pain before, how come he feels it now? He kept blinking several times, and after a while, slowly, the pain subsided.
He looks at the card again, after the pain, now the name written on it somehow awakens something inside him. Something that feels warm, something that makes him feel calm and comfortable. All of these weird things never happened to him before. He grips the card, there must be something, he thought. Thin grey smoke starts to envelope him and just like that, he disappears.
∞∞∞
The dark sky starts to lighten, in the far away the day starts to dawn. A man lies down weakly in the middle of a busy road, blood streaming down from his head to the asphalt. Many cars stop around him, ruckus everywhere. He could hear a cry from a woman, keep on thanking him for saving her daughter and begging to God to save him, alternately.
Little did she know, he has been waiting for this moment since 7 years ago. How he feels thankful that finally he is able to leave the life while saving a life of someone precious daughter, and soon he is going to meet his love of life in heaven – or maybe hell, any of it is fine as long as he could be together again with his love. How could he be sure of it? He doesn’t know, he is just sure of it, besides they already made a promise to each other, that even death could not separate them, they will search, they will wait for each other until they meet and in each other arms again.
The man slowly turns his head toward the sun that is rising in the far away. He always likes the sunrise, reminding him of his lover. He used to say that his lover is like the sun, always brightening and cheering him up. And his lover would reply to him that he was his sunflower, always rooted for him like he was the only one that matters, blooms beautifully just for him, that made him always feel thankful to have him in his life.
The thought makes the man smile, but in an instant, the smiles vanish when suddenly he coughs in blood. The wailing from the woman got louder. How he wishes he could calm the woman down, she should feel thankful that his daughter is alive and his wish is granted because of it. But, he has no energy to do it. He just feels too weak, too tired.
For a while he just stares at the distant, toward the sunrise. But suddenly, something – someone blocks his view. He turns his head slowly toward the person, a man in all black cloak and veil stands tall besides him. At first, he can’t see the man’s face, but when finally the man turns his gaze toward him and locks eyes with him, he feels like all the air around him vanishes, his heart that already beats slowly, suddenly beats faster. The face that he has been longing for, he could finally see him again in person – the love of his life.
∞∞∞
Something strange keeps happening, he is now standing beside the body of the soul that he should lead to the death realm. This is the first time that he arrived at the scene, but the soul still attaches to its body. And the most surprising thing that is happening is he feels that the man's eyes could see him. No one, no living life could ever see a Shinigami. So how come this man could see him? Did he mistakenly see it?
Slowly, he crouches down approaching the man closer, he wants to proof it, whether the man could really see him or not. And when the man’s eyes follow his every movement, that is when he knows that the man really could see him.
A warm smile appeared on the man’s face, and he can feel like the time around them suddenly stopped, all the noise around them vanished. For a moment he forgot what he was going to do, he only stared at the man’s face. The man still looks pretty even when blood covers his face here and there.
The man slowly moves his hand reaching for his face, “Mew, you are here,” the man said.
∞∞∞
7 years ago
“What should we do, Lord? He doesn’t want to leave the life realm, and he couldn’t cross to another realm too, somehow something keeps pulling him to the life realm,” a dwarf-like creature with a red cloak keeps on pacing back and forth.
Death hummed in response. After a couple of centuries, finally something interesting is happening. He locks his eyes to the man's eyes. After such a long time, he finally meets a strong and brave soul that dares to look him in the eye.
“ Eimen !!!” suddenly an echo calls Death.
This is getting interesting. “Keep an eye on him. Seikatsu called me, I shall present,” Death said in a cheerful tone. And in a blink of an eye, he disappeared from the border.
“What is it, dear?” Death asked when he appeared in front of the Life.
“Someone keeps on sending his prayers to me, he keeps on begging and crying, his wailing rips my heart apart. I wish to make it stop,” Life feels hopeless, she could feel pain all over her heart. Something that never happened to her in these past couples of centuries.
Please! Save him, please don’t take him. Please! Please don’t take him!
“This, this is the voice, he keeps telling me to not take his love’s life,” tears start to stream down her cheek. “Please, Eimen , I never heard such a strong and painful prayer, please, could we help him?”
Death smiles, the chance finally comes to him. It’s been 10 years since Seikatsu got mad at him, and after those 10 years, finally she calls him, asks him for help. He is cunning, she knows, and she loves him nevertheless, but sometimes she is just too stubborn to forgive him so he won’t let this chance slip away from him.
“I will help you to stop his wailing, but you have to forgive me first. Could you do that, dear?” Death arched his eyebrows to Life.
Life rises from her throne and starts to approach Death. She slid her hands to the Death back, hugging him, and Death instantly replied with a hug.
“Yes, I grant your wish. I forgive you. Now grant my wish, please help me,” the Life murmured on the Death embrace.
“Yes, I will help you – always Seikatsu ,” the Death tightens his embrace to Life.
After that, Death comes back to the border. His steps are lighter now, a smile appeared on his face. All of his servants look at him in shock, but he doesn’t care, he is too happy now to be mad at his servants.
He is now standing in front of the man again, “What is your name?” Death asked.
“Mew.”
“Why don’t you want to cross to another realm? You are dead though,” Death asked again.
“I can’t leave him, I don’t want to leave him,” Mew sounds so sad and hopeless.
“You know, there is a rule that all entities have to follow, if you don’t want to cross to another realm, your soul will cease to exist,” the Death explained to him.
“No, No, I don’t want to disappear, please, please help me. I just couldn’t leave him, please” Mew begs.
Such a strong bond they have , Death thought.
Death sighed, “You know, it’s been a long time since I witnessed such a strong bond between humans,” Death pauses for a moment. He looks at the distant and continues his speech, “It’s not only because you don’t want it, but someone in the life realm keeps begging to Seikatsu to not take you away, his prayer also holds you to cross to another realm,” upon Death explanation, Mew’s eyes got teary. Gulf! He knew Gulf wouldn’t and couldn’t let him go. They couldn’t live without each other.
“And because I was in a good mood, and somehow in some way you helped me too, I will grant your wish,” the Death turns to Mew. He locks eyes again with Mew, “I couldn’t give back your life, it’s beyond my power, but I could make you stay in the life realm without your soul ceasing to exist. And when the time comes, if Fate allows it, you will be together again with your love. Will you take the chance?”
A smile finally appeared on Mew’s face, he feels hope appeared within himself. “Yes, I will take the chance,” Mew answers sternly.
Present time
In an instant, a bunch of memories overwhelms Mew’s mind. He remembers his name before he is a Shinigami, he remembers his Gulf. He remembers that he used to follow Gulf everywhere every time he didn’t get the order from the Death. He remembers that he used to talk with Gulf even though Gulf could never hear him. He remembers how Gulf was suffering because he lost Mew. He remembers how painful Gulf's voice called his name when he was yearning for Mew. Until someday, everything just stopped, Mew suddenly forgot Gulf, he never followed Gulf anymore, he just – suddenly forgot everything. But now, he finally remembers everything. Suddenly, all of his black attire is gone. Mew’s attire changes into white color and his black veins are also gone, he gets back his original form.
Gulf still lies down in front of him, with the smile that he still loves to see, “Gulf,” the name rolled from Mew’s mouth, a name that he had forgotten yet he missed so much. Mew touches Gulf’s cheek with his hand.
“Mew, you are here,” Gulf is crying right now, and between his cries, once in a while he coughs in blood.
It hurts Mew to see his love in this state, but he knows in a moment, all of the suffering will stop, Gulf will be free. “Yes, I am here, Baby. I am here, I am here to pick you up.”
An ambulance finally arrived at the scene. The paramedic rushes to Gulf. They check on Gulf’s pulse, but can’t feel any beat. They take out a portable defibrillator and start to shock Gulf, but after a couple of times, Gulf still doesn’t give any reaction. One of the paramedics shakes his head weakly, gesturing that Gulf is already dead. The crowd gasps and the woman that keep on crying just now hug her daughter tighter while crying her heart out. Besides Gulf’s body, Mew and Gulf’s spirit have been witnessing all those moments.
“Are you ready?” Mew asked while reaching for Gulf’s hand.
Gulf takes Mew hands, holds him tight for a moment and then he nods.
A bright light suddenly illuminates them, “Do you know the way, Mew?” Gulf asks, his bambi eyes are sparkling.
“Of course, I was a Shinigami before,” Mew answered while smirking to Gulf.
“Really? The one that leads them who are dead to another realm?” Gulf looks excited and it makes Mew chuckles. Even after seven years, Gulf is still a curious cat. While they keep on chatting, their body starts to float and then fly to the light.
Today, life is gone, but at the same time, two souls freed themselves from their sorrow. And the universe couldn’t be happier for them. The sky looks bright, birds’ chirps could be heard, and the breeze blows peacefully.
∞∞∞
Death tightens his embrace toward Life and puts his head in Life’s shoulder.
“How could you do it?” the Life caress the Death’s arms while looking at the couple that are now standing in front of the gate of another realm. Finally, after 7 years, they could be together again. She still can remember the pain she felt when she heard the begs and the wailing from 7 years ago.
“I just turned him into a Shinigami, so he still could stay in the life realm, so the wailing of his lover stopped bothering you,” Death pause for a while, “But the rest of it, is the Fate’s job,” simultaneously Death and Life smiles when they see the couple step inside into the another realm.
First, the Death and the Life fall for their love, and after such a long time, the Fate couldn’t help herself to also fall for their love. So, she grants their wish to reunite, to be back together in each other's arms.