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Japeth thought about death a lot. It wasn’t that he was suicidal, but when you’ve killed as many people as he had, you started to wonder where they went. Was it just an endless black void of nothingness, or was there some kind of afterlife? Did they get to see their loved ones again, or were they trapped inside their own minds for eternity? His musings usually ended there, but now that he was standing still, the sword poised to sever his head from his body, his mind began to wander. Though not to a question of where he might be going. No, there was only one thing on Japeth’s mind as the blade fell.
Aric. After everything he had been through; every person he had killed; he’d failed. Aric was still dead, and Japeth was about to join him. As blackness consumed him for the last time, all he could think about was a pair of violent, purple eyes.
When he came to, the first thought in Japeth’s mind was; why? His second thought was; guess I’m in hell then. Why else would he have died, only to regain consciousness once again? Of course, there was always a chance that the sword somehow missed, or perhaps changed its mind at the last second and went for Tedros instead? Japeth cracked open an eye, and immediately shut it when he was assaulted by a light so white it burned. Definitely in hell.
Carefully, Japeth wriggled an experimental finger. So far so good. He then tried bending his arm, and found that to be easy as well. After a moment's consideration, eyes still screwed shut, he sat up straight, and then pushed himself to standing. Any aches and pains left over from the tournament were absent, and his body felt bare and exposed. With a jolt of panic, Japeth realised his scims were nowhere to be seen, and he was currently standing in the middle of who knows where, completely naked. Vulnerable. Japeth hated feeling vulnerable.
As soon as he realised this, he attempted calling the small black eels, and as easy as breathing, the comforting weight of scales once again covered his body. Yet this did nothing to stave off his anxiety. If anything, he only felt more confused. If he was in hell, why did he still have his scims? And why was he alone?
Once again, Japeth attempted to open his eyes, but was again attacked by blinding white light. He let out a frustrated growl, and took a cautious step forwards. There was something soft beneath his feet, like a woollen carpet, and he risked a glance downwards. The light wasn’t so extreme when he was staring at the floor, but the sight of fresh, green grass made him shut his eyes again. What was going on? It felt like some kind of trap, and Japeth couldn’t understand why he hadn’t just died as the sword bit into his neck.
Seeing as he was already dead, and nothing could realistically hurt him anymore, Japeth called out, “Hello?”, then jumped as someone replied.
“You can open your eyes now - it won’t be so bright anymore.”
But Japeth was hardly listening. His eyes had flown open as soon as he heard the first word, because that was a voice he would recognise anywhere, a voice he hadn’t heard outside of his dreams in years. “Aric?” He croaked, and would have been embarrassed by the quaver in his voice had his attention not been consumed by the man standing in front of him.
Because Aric was a man now. He had filled out since Japeth last saw him, and there were new scars on his arms that he was certain hadn’t been there before. But his hair was the same as it had always been, if a little longer now, and his eyes… Japeth had dreamed of those eyes almost every night since Aric left him, but his subconscious had never quite managed to capture the glimmer of danger that was now staring right at him, nor the exact violet hue that was slightly too bright to be natural. Even Tedros’ impression hadn’t got Aric quite right, though he had believed it at the time, so starved for any semblance of his best friend. Or maybe he had never really believed it, but instead allowed himself to pretend, just for a moment, that Aric was standing in front of him.
There wasn’t a doubt in Japeth’s mind that this might not be Aric. Everything from the half smile on his face to the way he shifted his weight to the left was perfect, and after staring at him gormlessly for one long moment, Japeth darted forwards.
He knew Aric wasn’t one for comfort or intimacy, but at that moment, all Japeth wanted was to get as close to Aric as possible, breathe in his scent, and hear the pulse of his heart that told him he was alive, alive as-
“Why isn’t your heart beating?” Japeth blurted the words out, nose still pressed against Aric’s neck, breathing in the warmth and metal and danger that was all Aric. He half expected Aric to shove him off, and laugh at him for showing so much emotion, but instead he hugged Japeth tighter. Apparently it wasn’t just his appearance that had changed.
“Because I’m dead, idiot,” Aric said, and it might have been Japeth’s imagination but he sounded… almost fond.
“Right,” Japeth huffed a laugh into Aric’s collar, “I guess I must be dead too then.” He reluctantly extricated himself from Aric’s embrace and took half a step backwards to look around, one arm still wrapped around Aric’s waist. Now that the initial burst of light had faded, he was able to see an endless grassy field stretching into the distance, with nothing else in sight. There wasn’t so much as a whisper of breeze or the slightest hint of another living soul, simply impossibly soft grass and clear blue skies. “Are we in heaven?” He asked, unable to keep the disbelief from his voice.
“You think we got into heaven?” Aric snorted, “After everything we’ve done?”
“Well I sure as hell don’t know how else to explain all this,” Japeth gestured with one arm towards the enormous, pristine landscape. “Seems like heaven to me.”
“We’re not in heaven,” Aric said, “But we’re not in hell either.”
Japeth waited for Aric to continue, but he didn’t say anything else. “So…?” He shot his friend a glare, “Where are we?”
Aric shrugged, “I mean, I don’t know exactly, but I guess you could say it’s the afterlife.” He glanced at Japeth, then fixed his gaze somewhere in the distance as he continued. “I’ve been here a while.”
“Alone?”
Aric smiled and turned back to Japeth. “Not exactly. I’ve been able to see pretty much everything you’ve been up to since I died.”
Japeth’s pale skin flushed. “Oh.” He swallowed. “So you saw me fail.”
With an incredulous laugh, Aric placed one hand on each of Japeth’s shoulders and looked him dead in the eyes. “I saw you give everything to get me back,” He breathed, eyes sparkling with raw, unfiltered emotion. Japeth’s breath caught. “I saw you fight and kill and practically rewrite the laws of magic to try and bring me back. You killed Rhian, for me.”
Japeth took a long breath, almost drowning in the sheer intensity of the feelings in Aric’s eyes, but unable to look away. “Of course I did. You were always the most important thing to me. I think it’s why Rhian hated you so much.”
“Rhian always was a possessive little bastard,” Aric muttered, venomously.
Japeth couldn’t hold back his incredulous laugh. “You’re one to talk! You shoved a dagger in his head because he took one little swing at me.”
“And knocked you unconscious,” Aric growled. “If I hadn’t known you would have been upset if Rhian died, I would have killed the bastard.”
“I know,” Japeth breathed. “Thank you.”
And although it was all wrong, and they were both dead and discussing murders like it was nothing more than gossip, for the first time in years, Japeth felt happy. Content. He looked into Aric’s eyes and saw so much love and adoration that he could hardly draw breath.
And then Aric kissed him and nothing mattered at all, save the feeling of warm lips on his, and a hand around his waist, and the soft, contented sigh that escaped Aric, as though all was right in the world. It was gentle, and gone after only a few seconds, but somehow it meant everything. Japeth had envisioned their first kiss hundreds of times, both before and after Aric’s death, and somehow he had never imagined it being like this. He had pictured tongue and teeth and intensity and passion, but this… this was so much better.
“I love you,” Japeth said, words tumbling out before he could stop them.
Aric smiled, and it was a smile that took Japeth’s breath away and thawed his cold, dead heart at the same time, tinged with the kind of madness that was Aric’s, and Aric’s alone. And then he spoke, and the words were like someone had dripped warm honey into Japeth's belly because it felt so warm; so comforting. “I love you too.”
In an empty field, thousands of miles from crowns and princes, two monsters embraced, and the very air itself seemed to sing with passion.
After months of murder and violence, fighting for a happily ever after that always seemed so out of reach, Japeth finally found peace.
He was finally home.