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He appeared uncoratitude "You think I did this for you? In case you haven’t noticed, I enjoy watching you"

I quirked a brow "Enjoy is a bit mild for what you do, huh?"

He hiked those muscular shoulders "It’s late To your roo, I noticed he kept his distance With a sigh, I asked him, "If I’m the weakest of Arcana, why this continued caution aroundof Arcana"

I smiled "I’ll wear you down"

With his eyes emotionless and dark, he said, "You cannot"

Oh, we’ll see Death didn’t know this about me, but I liked the occasional battle of wills

Alone inthe ballet-shoe laces withThe more I was around Death, the more I liked him

For the last eleven months, I’d been terrified of hiain

That night I fell asleep with h the laces and a smile on my face

When my dreams of Death arose, I welcomed them

38

DAY 325 AF

Today, I went al about Jack

39

DAY 355 AF

"Do the dance you performed yesterday," Death commanded with the authority of a man as never denied He had an arm stretched over the back of the sofa, so at home with himself, with his world

"You liked that one, huh?" It’d been one ofpieces Over the last feeeks, I’d pushedmost of the skills I’d lost And Death had been there al each trickle of sweat

As I started to dance, I reflected on my new life Co to be a paradise Here, I could dance, read, and even paint

Courtesy of this man, I now had the supplies for that pasti the walls of my room--because I had a rooht

Scenes of sugarcane fields and verdant forests had begun taking shape, much like my mural at Haven There, in the sunny days pre-Flash, I’d depicted dark clouds over fields Here, in this shadowy apocalypse, I painted sun-dappled landscapes

Just as Lark had told me, I could pad down to the kitchen, and there was always delicious food Apocalyptic delicacies like fresh bread and butter

In the afternoons (hard to call them that, since they were still dark), she and I would watchpopcorn So the attic, which was filled with vintage clothes

I regularly found ivenalone with Death, then said, "I feel like a teapot who’s about to sing ‘Tale as Old as Ti with her because she reminded me of Mel, who’d been like a sister to irl here

Orwas black and white

Bad and good were getting blurred in ame that would make killers of us all; and the man who’d been my standard of Ultimate Evilhad sourced ballet shoes for me

Up was down Doas up

As the storht In his warm study, ould talk into the early hours or sit on his couch before the fire, quietly reading frootten to the part where Odysseus and his men landed on the island of the lotus-eaters Those who ate of the lotus didn’t e

Death had read the story in the original Greek Naturally

He and I weremore and more There was no one else in the world that he could touch, and no one I kneho could discuss history and literature and art with ood way

He’d cohted to teachme in a way I’d never experienced before

I knew he enjoyed e and find his gaze on ht at this minute, as he watchedinto even ht, I’d dreahis hips between hs

Yet if I ever adrow distant If he ever ca, he’d close himself off

It was a constant push/pull with hiured he , at least some of the time, but he hadn’t returned with a new icon, and I’d heard nothing on Arcana Radio Plus, Lark’s laminated player list--the little twit actually did keep it on the fridge door--had had no updates since the Star

Well, other than her scratchingin "The Unclean One" Har

Whenever Death left, I was out of sorts Missing him? I’d ad so deeper for a man like hiret and pine for things that h I’d reestablished contact with Matthew--sparingly--I still felt betrayed by hi away

And by Jack

Whenever Matthew popped into ht he had He washides the monster-- And another time --You must slice yourself when the altar is empty--

I’d asked him about my history with Death His reply? --Better worry about your future Devil is in details-- No explanation for that had been given

Again, I’d instructed Matthew to get Jack soh I’d tried to listen better, I’d grown increasingly exasperated,by The su The only drawback to this sanctuary was Ogen I rarely saw hi across the compound I could have sworn one of his horns was even shorter