Death's Embrace

"He's dead! He's dead! He's DEAD!" Bridget wailed as she slumped against the wall of the hotel Drear and I had brought her to. "Why couldn't I save him!? Why didn't I see this happening!?" she stared at me.

"How long is she going to keep this up?" Drear glared at her as I returned my attention to bandaging his arm up. We hadn't escaped from Shymal completely unharmed after all...

"Cut her some slack!" I glared at Drear.

"You know what," he leaned down so his face was inches from mine.

"No, what?" I met him stare for stare.

"Sam's dead!" Bridget shrieked and we all fell silent.

"Finally." Drear muttered. "Now about the staff..."

"Drear!" I shot him a look as I bent down beside Bridget. "Bridget? Can you hear me?"

"She wasn't in a coma, Lea!" Drear plopped down on the bed irritably.

"W-who are you again?" Bridget's dark eyes met mine.

"I'm Lea and this is Drear." I waved my hand at Drear absently.

"Lea?" Bridget looked up at me in wonder. "So you're the girl I'm supposed to replace?"

"Huh?" Drear and I both frowned in confusion.

"No one is replacing her!" Drear's arms were wrapped around me suddenly. I was surprised at how quickly he got over his little snit with me.

Bridget only shrugged, "Do you think I could go outside for a minute?"

"No." Drear was glaring at her now, clearly offended by the idea of me being replaced. I was sort of glad that upset him...

"You can't keep me here." Bridget pushed passed us and walked to the door.

"Tell us where the staff is first." Drear called after her as she opened the door.

"Phoenix, Arizona." she cast a dark look at him then walked out, slamming the door behind her.

"I don't like her." Drear growled. "No one is replacing you." he tightened his grip on me.

"Glad I mean something to you after all." I grumbled and tried to pull away from him.

"Of course you mean something to me!" Drear twirled me back into him and laughed slightly, kissing my cheek. "Don't think for a moment you don't!"

"Well, you were acting funny..."

"So were you..."

"So I guess we're both to blame?"

"I'm sorry." we both said at the same time and laughed, but the solemn atmosphere following Sam's death slowed our laughter.

"What should we do about her?" Drear scooped me up and plopped me on the bed, then turned to face the door.

"She'll come back when she's ready." I sighed and searched for the remote. "Shymal is too busy with his own wounds to come after us just yet. You did some nice damage, love."

"I guess." Drear stood as if he were still guarding me from the perceived threat of Bridget. He suddenly turned and crawled over me, lying down at my side so we could watch TV together. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, Drear and Bridget were shouting at each other.

I opened my eyes to find myself in the middle of the bed. Drear was on the right and Bridget was on the left.

"It's not my fault! That's how it's going to play out!" Bridget was shouting.

"You're mistaken then!" Drear shouted back.

"I am not! I've been a seer almost as long as you've been Death!" she pointed her finger accusingly.

"What's going on? Would you stop shouting?" I mumbled as I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

"She thinks she is meant to take over your job as Life!" Drear growled, flexing his hands angrily.

"Maybe she is." I shrugged and got to my feet. I pulled on my coat and searched around for my shoes.

"What!?" Drear stared at me in shock. He seemed almost hurt that this didn't upset me.

"Let's go talk, Bridget." I muttered sleepily and shuffled towards the door.

"Lea-" Drear began.

"We'll be fine!" I called back as Bridget and I walked out the door. It slammed behind us in a gust of wind. Our room was on an outside hallway on the second floor. We now faced a parking lot bordered with autumn trees that rustled in the chilly night wind.

"Are you mad?" Bridget asked me quietly after some minutes of leaning over the rail together to scan the stars in the dark sky.

"No, but I probably should be sort of upset. I'm not though." I shook my head, tracing Orion's Belt with my eyes.

"It's just that I saw you relinquishing your position as Life to me."

"Do you know why?"

"Paul finds you. I can't see if you live or die though. I don't suppose you can see your fate either?" she glanced at me hopefully.

"No, I'm not permitted to know everything." I sighed. "Do we at least get the staff?"

"Yes." she whispered.

"Then that's all that matters." I sighed. "How are you holding up?"

"You mean about Sam?" Bridget's voice wavered. "I'll be okay. There are more important things at stake than my emotional well-being right now though. The grieving will- will have to wait for a more suitable time." she nodded firmly as if to convince herself of this, but I saw the pain in her eyes before she looked away. I knew she was hurting terribly.

I shook my head slightly, wishing I could be more like Bridget. She seemed so strong to be able to stand there like that. If it had been me, I would have probably been over that railing and flat on the pavement by now. "Do you know about Drear's sword yet?"

"Yes..." she sounded reluctant.

"And?"

Bridget turned to me, "I think that's how you die- if you die. I'm still not sure, but we're going to get the staff. The sword is going to escape us. You're going to go after it and possibly die for it." She huffed and put her hands over her eyes, "It's all so confusing. I can't see anything clearly around you all! I really hope you don't die..."

"Does Drear get the sword?"

"Yes..."

"Then it'll be worth it."

Bridget stared at me in amazement, "I wish I could be like you."

"Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you." I cast her a sideways look. "Besides, I've always had an obsession with death." An unreadable expression passed over Bridget's face before she laughed slightly at my joke.

The two of us went back in arm in arm to face Drear. When we came in, Drear sat up stiffly and looked from me to Bridget and back. "Well?"

"Well, we're starting off."

"It's five in the morning."

"What better time?" I asked. "We know where the staff is so we should get it as soon as possible."

"Lea-" Drear came up to me and Bridget moved off to the side. "Lea, what's going on?" he cupped my face in his hands. I took his hands in mine.

"What's supposed to be going on." I sighed. "Don't worry. Nothing is going to happen to me." I stood on my toes and kissed him.

"So Bridget was wrong?" Drear frowned. I smiled slightly as I saw Bridget stick her tongue out at Drear's back. Just because she was ancient didn't mean she had to be mature all of the time.

"Yes." I lied and kissed him again. "Don't worry about it. Her Sight was just clouded after her trauma with Sam."

"If you say so." Drear wrapped his arms around me. "You can't leave me. Ever. Okay?"

"Okay, love." I smiled sadly. Bridget and I exchanged grave looks.

___

"Over here!" Bridget yelled. Her voice rang through the empty streets of the city as she ran towards a parking lot. "It's buried here!" she stopped and pointed at the pavement.

"There?" Drear asked in disbelief as we came up arm in arm.

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Bridget shot him a glare. These two really weren't getting along at all.

"Well how are we supposed to get it?" Drear glared back.

"How should I- oh." Bridget smiled at me suddenly. I blinked, then inspiration hit me. I kneeled down and placed my hand upon the spot she had said the staff was, then envisioned time regressing in that single area.

"Damn..." Drear muttered and I smiled slightly as the pavement ceased to exist under the reversed passing of hundreds of years.

"Just a little farther." Bridget squatted down next to me. "There!" I stopped. The tip of a white staff was just poking through the soil.

"Drear, yank it up?" I asked, brushing my hands off.

"Sure." he bent down and gave an almighty heave. The staff came free and he handed it to me. It was really rather exquisite. It was carved with thousands of intricate carvings that would take a person decades to do. The carvings meant different things, but I wasn't quite sure what. I twirled it experimentally in my hands. I had perfect control over it- unnatural control over it... The staff might as well have been an extension of myself.

"Now what?" Bridget placed her hands on her hips and looked around the dark parking lot.

"I don't know." I sighed. "This seemed almost too easy after all that trouble we went through to find you." I glanced at Bridget.

"Ya..." she trailed off as her eyes blanked out in that unreadable expression that meant she was gazing into the future. "I say..." Bridget continued to talk while she was still in her trance, "That we leave quickly. I see Shymal lurking- somewhere."

"I vote we get out of here before Shymal shows up then." Drear muttered. "Where was he?"

"I don't know." Bridget sighed. "Everything is so clouded around you all. I've never had this much trouble before."

"The question is, where do we go?" Drear looked at the two of us.

"Think we can retake the manor now?" I asked hopefully.

"Not unless Shymal leaves it unguarded- which I doubt he'll do." Drear grumbled.

"We could go to my parents place!' Bridget trilled, then fell quiet. I knew she was thinking about Sam again. Poor thing.

"Sounds like a plan." I nodded.

"More Seers?" Drear muttered and I hit him over the head. He laughed as he picked me up and twirled me around. "I forgot, you're as good as one!"

"Ahh! Put me down, you idiot! You're making me dizzy!" Drear put me back on my feet and chuckled when I stumbled. "Mean!" I stuck my tongue out at him and Bridget laughed softly.

"Let's go." Bridget looked at us with a slight smile.

I held out my hand to her and she took it as the three of us jumped into the void. We reappeared near the light house from earlier. "Now which way?" Drear asked. I could tell he was in an unusually good mood having found the long lost staff. We now were on equal footing with Shymal and Paul. Actually, considering that we were Life and Death- and Shymal was something similar to us while Paul was just demonic meant we had a clear advantage now. Or at least, that's how I saw it. My confidence was slowly starting to come back.

"This way." Bridget led us down the winding streets of the older section of the town. We stopped outside a large, old house that creaked as the wind ran passed. A huge oak tree stood squarely in the front yard, casting shadows over the lawn as it swayed in the breeze. "Here we are."

"I love it." Drear and I both stared at the house. Bridget laughed as she walked up the steps and knocked on the door. No one answered. She cast a worried look back at us.

I looked up at Drear, "You don't think-"

Bridget's scream slashed through the night air. "Bridget!" Drear and I ran up the steps as she was dragged inside.

"Lea, get Bridget out of here and whatever you do- make sure you do not let go of the staff!" Drear yelled at me as we hurtled up the steps and burst through the door into the brightly lit house. We came to a halt and stared.

"Co! You idiot!" Clydia's petite, pale form was yelling from the couch.

"Sorry. I had to." Co laughed as he hugged his daughter.

"You're so weird." Bridget rolled her eyes and hugged him back. "Do you get your kicks out of scaring people?"

"Yep." Co laughed and let her go. It was rather strange thinking that Co and Clydia were Bridget's parents now that I saw them all together. They all looked like college students or something.

"Oh, Lea! Pleasure to see you again, love!" Clydia rose gracefully from the couch and hugged me. "And Drear. Handsome as ever." she stood back and surveyed him. She gave us a wink and turned back to face her husband and daughter. "Where is Sam? I promised that boy some homemade macaroni and cheese when he returned with you."

"You promised him cheesy pasta if he came home with our daughter?" Co stared at her in disbelief.

"Yep." Clydia smiled wickedly.

"There was- an accident." Bridget began quietly then looked to me for help. I sighed, knowing I would have to break the news to the family.

"We tracked Shymal all over the world for the past twenty-four hours. We were working with Sam and some of his buddies, but we split up so we could gain an advantage over Bridget's seer abilities."

Bridget nodded, "Shymal forced me to tell him everything I saw about their movements."

"Right, go on." Co nodded.

"Well, he must have been cloaking her or something." I shrugged. "But we suddenly sensed her in New Zealand and made our way there. Sam and his crew showed up and well-"

"You all were attacked, weren't you." Clydia paled. "And what happened to Sam!?"

"He- Shymal got to him before any of us could do anything." I said quietly.

"Oh, Bridget! I'm so sorry!" Clydia rushed over to comfort her daughter.

"It's fine, Ma. I just want to go to bed now." Bridget muttered. I could see she was barely holding it together.

"Of course." Clydia let her go and watched Bridget's sad figure trudge up the stairs. Co stared after his daughter, unsure of what to do. Clydia suddenly wheeled on us, "Can either of you do anything?"

I looked up at Drear and my heart shattered when he shook his head slowly...