I know that I can find the fire in your eyes.

@ Jaguar's Heart
After Nature left, Time was left with Death, attempting to figure out what to do. "You done yet?" She asked after a few minutes. Both of his hands were nice and bloody. "Because you're sort of hurting yourself..." She trailed off, having figured out what to do. "And how are you going to protect Fate like that? Besides, if you keep doing this and Chaos keeps putting you in bad situations, I think we both know what Fate will continue to do... Whether you want her to or not. Do you really want that?"

---

Fate, in a bad mood to begin with, cursed Chaos up one side and down the other before she settled with scowling at him. While she saw what was outside the window, she hardly glanced at the threads. No matter what offices this guy was replacing, he couldn't reach the place where threads were kept. She couldn't even do that much while stuck here. "I'm not choosing either. This isn't real. And even if it was, you're out of your territory. You wouldn't be able to stop me from saving both or letting them die or whatever I decided to do." At least, she assumed that was the case. She had the feeling that while he seemed able to control them, he couldn't control their abilities.

@ beautiful monotony
Death snarled and turned on her, glaring at Time, "What good am I anyway?" He growled, "I haven't been able to protect anyone since Chaos brought us here."

Chaos shrugged, "It's your choice, but whichever thread you touch first will stay and the other immediately leaves. And while the threads aren't real... my control over those lives are." He flicked his fingers and both machines at the patients sides beeped as the hearts stopped beating before the hearts continued to pump, "So chose."

@ Jaguar's Heart
Time frowned, considering. "Then do something different," she finally said simply. "Nature and I agree we have to do something about Chaos, but obviously, physically attacking the guy just doesn't work. So figure something else out. Just remember you're less than useless dead, kay?"

Fate clenched her fists. Obviously doing nothing was not an option where Chaos was concerned. Attempting to read the threads was an effort in futility, especially since she couldn't read the threads of other offices. There was no way for her to know whether Death was really in danger. "No," she finally said, turning to Chaos. "I won't choose. And honestly, I would rather die than end another's life." Besides, the threads were already written. The only unwritten threads would be those of people not yet born, in the distant future. She couldn't run interference from here and it would play out on its own anyway, unless Chaos actually could do something... "I refuse to take part in your tests, so leave me alone."

@ beautiful monotony
Death continued to glare at Time, then sighed and shook his head, "Like what? We can't kill him - he can control us... so how are we supposed to do this?"

"Then Death will die. And so will that little girl." Chaos tilted his head as he studied Fate, "Do you not love him as much as the others say you do? Or is it because you just don't care about anyone? And what has that little girl done to you? All she wanted in life was to live a happy life with her family... and now she's dying. You could change so many things, Fate, yet you choose not to..."

@ Jaguar's Heart
Time shrugged. "Find his weaknesses?" She suggested. At least he wasn't hitting things anymore, and was calming down... She thought...

Fate pressed her lips together in a tight line. "It's better for the entire world if it's all left alone. Things mess up and get tied in knots and become worse. Your existence is proof of that, Chaos. An apocalypse was supposed to happen and I couldn't sit by and let it so I did something. Look where it got everyone. No, I'm not playing God with the universe. My most important job is to protect the threads and keep things running smoothly." she would destroy Chaos if he killed Death though... Or die trying.

@ beautiful monotony
Death began to pace, shaking his head as he ignored the pain in his body, "What weakness? None of us are powerful enough to defeat him... and at this rate he's going to kill one or all of us at some point..."

Chaos shrugged, "You might worry about changing fate... but I'm not. Let's just say that Fate and Death... both relatively healthy when I brought them here. I say relatively healthy only because Death was pretty physically damaged.... but the little girl was fine." He grinned, "So.. .choose. Or they both die."

@ Jaguar's Heart
"How the hell am I supposed to know his weakness?" Time grumbled, shaking her head. "And he might not kill anyone..." But that didn't even sound convincing to her own ears.

"Goddammit, no! You aren't killing either of them!" She was so frustrated that she was beginning to feel like Death in that she wanted to hit something. Or someone... "Just tell me what you really want already!"

@ beautiful monotony
Death shook his head, then froze, "Where's Nature?" He looked around, "And Fate?" His gaze landed on Time, "I relaly don't want anyone alone while Chaos is here."

"I want you to pick someone to save," Chaos said calmly, flicking his hand so that both died for a few seconds before bringing them back to life, "So choose and choose wisely. Tick, tock, the clock is counting down..."

@ Jaguar's Heart
Time shrugged. "Fate's with Nature," she told Death calmly. She was surprised he hasn't noticed Fate leaving at least. But there was no sense in worrying him by saying that Nature was looking for her and she actually had no idea where either of them were at.

Fate cursed again, loudly, her hands clenching into fists. And that's when she did something she shouldn't have been able to do. She could always see the threads of orhers, even if ah couldn't touch them or read them if they were offi e holders. But what she did was actually a little like suddenly searching out Death's thread and yanking it to hers so that the two almost fused together really. Chaos wouldn't be able to kill Death without killing her as well. "I choose... The girl," she gasped as she stumbled back to lean against the window. It was like floodgates had been opened and she could see Death's entire thread clearly, and she hoped nothing was happening to him either to let him know what was going on before she could explain...

@ beautiful monotony
Death nodded in relief, then froze as he saw Nature jogging toward them. He turned and glared at Time, "He's with Fate?" He snarled, then stalked his way to Nature, "Where's Fate?" He growled.

Nature was trying to catch his breath, "I don't know. I can't find-"

"Damn it!" Death roared as he suddenly began running - limping - the way Nature came when he suddenly froze, his whole being feeling... odd, "Fate!"

Chaos frowned, "What did you do?" He asked. He had no clue what she'd done, but he could feel the change in the air. There was nothing he could do about it though so he nodded, "Alright. The girl is saved." He flicked his wrist and both him and Fate appeared in the room he'd found her, Fate in the same position she'd been in.

@ Jaguar's Heart
Time inwardly groaned at Nature's bad timing, not to mention the fact that he had showed up alone. "Not cool," she said to Nature as she headed over. "I just got him calmed down." She frowned as she saw him suddenly stop. "You okay?" she asked hesitantly.

Fate ignored Chaos' first question, hopping up from the corner she had been sitting in. Well, maybe not quite hopping. Whatever she'd done, since she still wasn't exactly sure of what it was, it had taken a lot of energy. The only thing she knew for certain was that she'd tied herself and Death together.... and one of them couldn't die without the other dying at the same time. "As much as I would love to stay and chat, I need to go find someone now," she said to Chaos, motioning for him to move out of the way. The bad thing about where she had situated herself was that there was really only one possible entrance, and that was also the exit.

@ beautiful monotony
Nature shook his head, "I heard voices, sounded like Chaos and Fate, but when I got to the room no one was there..." He sighed, shaking his head, "Death is going to kill me."

Chaos smiled, "You chose the child, Fate... what makes you think I kept Death alive... and if I did what makes you think he's going to be okay with the fact the you chose his death?" Then he just disappeared.

Death was still running as fast as he could through the halls, screaming for Fate.

@ Jaguar's Heart
"Don't worry, I'm sure Fate will vouch for you whenever we eventually find her, and I will too. Maybe between the two of us, we can keep you alive," Time said. "That failing... he's hurt so he shouldn't be too hard to contain for a bit while you run."

Yeah yeah, whatever. Fate wasn't really concerned about Chaos at the moment, and she made her way out of the room as soon as he disappeared. Once in the hallway, she hesitated on where to go, and then remembered she could see his thread now. A quick look, and she knew where Death was and what he was doing. She headed that way, soon hearing him scream her name, and eventually they nearly barreled into each other. Fate pulled back enough to keep them both from falling over, and then promptly wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. "I need to tell you something," she murmured after a few moments.

@ beautiful monotony
Nature sighed as he accepted his fate, "Come on, let's go see if we can help him find her..." He began leading Time in the direction Death had headed in.

Death had a death grip on Fate as he held her to him. He buried his face in her hair, "I'm sorry." He said before she could continue, "I shouldn't have yelled at you..." he continued to hold her close, "What did you want to tell me?"

@ Jaguar's Heart
It didn't take Time and Nature all that long to find Death, who had actually found Fate. Time frowned. "Jeez, how do they go from screaming at each other to this?" she asked Nature. "That's just... not right."

"Well, I yelled back, so I'm sorry too...." Then she sighed and pulled back, which wasn't easy with the grip Death had. "Well, what I need to tell you... you might want to sit down. I'm really not sure how you're going to take this as a whole."

@ beautiful monotony
Nature shook his head, "I have no clue," He whispered to her as they stopped far enough away from the other couple that they couldn't hear what was being said, "Talk about a love-hate relationship..."

Death pulled back a little as well and frowned at her, "Why?" He demanded, "What did Chaos do to you?" His eyes hardened and he snarled, "I swear, if he touched you I'm going to kill him."

@ Jaguar's Heart
Time snorted a little. "In the extreme," she agreed. "Well... as entertaining as it is to watch them all day, you wanna go do something else?" she asked Nature.

Fate shook her head. "No, it's more of something that I did," she told Death. She went on to explain what happened then, and what she had done, not to mention that she wasn't entirely sure about what she'd done. "So, I suppose that's how I saved both you and the girl, if either of you were ever in any danger. Chaos doesn't know what happened, I don't think, considering how calm he was and that he expects you to be pissed that I didn't choose you."

@ beautiful monotony
Nature sighed, turning to Time, "Yeah, sure. As long as it means we don't run into Chaos. I really don't want to have to deal with that." He grinned at Time, "What would you like to do?"

Death frowned, shaking his head, "Whoa. Wait a second... what?" He stared at her in confusion before sighing, "What did Chaos do? Fate, I wasn't in a hospital bed or dying. I was in this hall talking to Time." His hands were still bloody as he framed her face, but he didn't notice that, "What the hell are you talking about?"

@ Jaguar's Heart
Time shrugged. "I dunno. I'm sure we can find something though. There seems to be a million rooms in this place. There's got to be somewhere that has something fun to do," she pointed out. Or they could all be old, dusty rooms, but she hoped that wasn't the case.

Fate sighed a little as Death asked her to explain again. Maybe she had gone too fast... "Okay, I was angry so I went off to be on my own. You know I do that, already. Well, Chaos showed up, saying something about how he thought my relationship with you was stronger or something like that. So anyway, he suddenly moved us to this room that had a window, and on the other side were two hospital beds and people hooked up to life support. There was you, alone, and this little girl surrounded by her family. He showed me two threads and told me to pick one. The other would die. I refused, but after a while, I think he started getting impatient. I wasn't sure if he could actually kill you or not, or if there was actually a little girl or anything, but because I didn't know, I acted like it was all real. I couldn't just let you die, but I couldn't let the little girl get killed either. And I just sort of... well, I don't know. It was like I took your thread, and fused it with mine or something. The only thing I know for certain about that is that if Chaos wants to kill either of us now, he would have to kill both or it wouldn't work. The only other thing I know is that now I can see your thread. But after that, I chose the girl, Chaos made some comment I didn't really listen to, and then I came to find you." Okay, so maybe she had started talking fast again, but hopefully he would understand this time.

@ beautiful monotony
Time looked around, "I don't know," he said, sounding very skeptical, "I think they're just abandoned rooms... but letls check them out anyway." He took her hand and began leading her through the halls, randomly opening door and looking into them. So far they were just... boring rooms. It caused him to sigh and turn to Time, "So... skepticism wins, I guess, because they seem to be bor-" He froze at the next room, eyes going wide, "A pin ball machine!"

Deaht shook his head, "Fate, none of that really happened." he pulled her into his arms, holding her close, "I guess I should be more angry about you linking our threads, but right now I'm just happy that you're alive." He buried his face in her hair, taking in a deep breath, one filled with her scent, "And I would have never been upset with you for choosing a child over me," he whispered, holding her even closer now, "That child had the rest of her life to live... I would have probably made the same choice." and it killed him to know that, because nothing in his life mattered more than Fate... but he had a weakness for children.