§ 1

“‘L'Ankou est un vieil homme un peu voûté, aux longs cheveux blancs, très grand et d'une extrême maigreur. Il est vêtu d'une veste noire à longues basques et de braies nouées au-dessus du genou. Il porte également un feutre noir à larges bords qui masque une grande partie de son visage particulièrement hideux. Un visage sans nez, une bouche grimaçante qui s'étire d'une oreille à l'autre. À la place des yeux, deux trous noirs au fond desquels brûlent deux petites chandelles blanches.’ Seriously, I'm neither old, nor do I wear a black jacket, long white hair." The Ankou ran his fingers along the braids on top of his head until his slender fingers reached the bun that contained the rest of the waist-long and thin hair. "A wide-brimmed black hat 'that hides much of his hideous face.' Do I have a hideous face, Death?" 

Well, you have a nose and the grimacing mouth that stretches from one ear to another? I definitely don't see that one. What was it? 'À la place des yeux, deux trous noir...' Instead of eyes, two black holes— the Ankou felt cold breath ghosting over his lips —You have crisp black orbs that seem to be endless. I'm still amazed the light is even reflected in them. 

Sehun put the book away the priest left for him at the doorstep of the graveyard chapel. The scythe moved slightly in his hold, the breeze pressing against the metal, while he adjusted his seat on the crumbling pillar three metres above the ground. "They'll demolish the graveyard to make room for a new factory. Where am I supposed to watch over the souls of the deceased?" 

You could always travel with me.

"This is the only parish of the old world where I can still be. Only the priest is left that believes," said Sehun, blowing a stray strand of hair out of his face. 

Ankou, you're the last one left in the perimeter of the new world. Until the old borders of India. 

"I was the last death five years ago. Now explain to me how no-one was even killed in the last five years. I can't collect the souls of androids and the government is picking everything and everyone apart these days."

That's because the humans found ways to uphold infinite immortality. 

"Death, you know how dumb 'infinite immortality' sounds?" 

Sehun, I keep you close because you're dear to me. Sehun shivered when an invisible and cold palm pressed down on his scar where is heart, his android heart, was supposed to be, before scavengers murdered him after the New Year's Eve mass at the old chapel. 

"But aren't'am an android? 

Ankou, your heart might have been mechanical, but your soul was human. 

Feeling Death vanish, the Ankou stared towards the deserted city that was supposed to be the new capital of the New World. 

A sudden gust of wind took the Ankou off guard and he had almost tipped backwards, if he hadn’t launched the scythe forwards, using the inner dull side to get a grip on one of the crumbling pillars. Hanging upside-down, the silver cross dangling against his lips, legs crossed around the pillar he was sitting on and the scythe as another method of stabilisation, he stared upside down at Death: Death in his human representation.

The other stared suspiciously at Sehun, his lips set in a hard line and unmoving, and he began to communicate with the Ankou. Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?

“That’s the only reason you came back? I thought you might genuinely miss me for once.” Being dead meant that Sehun’s body was missing blood and therefore, also a heartbeat, which meant, in consequence, there was no blood rushing to his head.

I asked you first.

“And I answered your inquiry with a more important one.”

Ankou! Death moved closer to Sehun, three metres above the ground. From the ground, a scornful snort sounded, followed by another even more scornful sounding neigh.

“See, my horse agrees with me.” The Ankou’s companion neighed again while shaking its head, the white and braided mane shaking. Its mechanical joints and hinges slid back into their original positions with a lot of sounds and a passing android was jumping after the noise level normalised and everything was dead silent again. Some stray metal plates slid back over each other, the throat back to looking smooth. But there was still one plate that refused to overlap another one at the crest. 

Why don’t you oil it?

“Why don’t you tell me why you’re here? Miss me already?” Sehun puckered his lips. A shiver crawled along his spine when Death delicately placed the tips of his fingers on his nape and pushed him back into a sitting position without so much force, and Sehun felt like floating. But Death’s hand didn’t stop there and after he sat upright, the cold travelled from behind to his exposed chest, resting on the scar. Sehun, slightly uncomfortable, revolved his head around, staring right ahead into Death’s deep orbs. “Maybe I wanted to impress you with my strong physic and me not looking haggard and hideous like the Ankou was portrayed because he was always wearing the ugly wide hat and people usually died seeing him and given the fact—you know, in the night are all cats grey—maybe they just thought he’s ugly?”

Child, you’re rambling. But I appreciate your efforts, it has been some time since I saw some delectable skin—

“You what?!” Sehun was scandalised and his horse down the pillar mirrored his incredulousness. He jumped down the pillar, slapping one hand and arm over his chest, hiding his s and, with an outstretched arm, held the scythe towards Death’s throat. “That’s ual harassment at the workplace!”

Aren’t you the one seducing me, meeting up with me half-? Death, in all-white with that handsome half-smirk, was always a treat Sehun enjoyed, who didn’t see Death materialised very often, or at least not in his preferred appearance for Sehun.

“If I hadn’t lost my heart, it would have skipped a beat and blood would dust my cheeks pink,” Sehun stated offhandedly towards his horse, who nuzzled the side of his face. He let go of his chest and ran a thumb along the crest to flatten the intractable plate. Refusing to yield, he offered Death his scythe, who took it. Burying his hands in his companion’s mane, he took some well-aimed momentum and jumped on the horse’s back. Once he sat on the back, he pressed down on the plate with both palms, his horse pressing against his movement until the plate creakily slid back into place. Feeling a tap on his back, Sehun revolved his head; Death was extending his hydraulic canister to its owner. “Thanks.” Oiling the crest, he jumped back down and stared up at Death on the cart, a hand on his hip.

Yeah, I miss that, your blush was always a delight back when you were alive, Death mentioned when he already sat on the rider’s seat, patting the seat next to him. Sehun decided to ignore the statement and fastened the horse’s bridles before pulling himself up on the cart.

“I don’t know about you, but there’s supposed to be a sandstorm tonight and I still do breath, even without heart.” Sehun’s voice turned muffled when he dragged his black hoodie and tank top over his head, revealing a dust mask without an additional air filter and goggles from the open load area. The mask dangled from his neck and he strapped the goggles around his head. “I mean, did you ever have sand in your buttcrack? The gets everywhere.”

Is that why you already wore boots and jeans throughout the day? Waving his hand in front of his eyes, he let his eyes disappear.

“Can’t you just wear goggles? The creeps me out.” Sehun shuddered and turned away, loosening the reins and giving his horse an ‘ on y va’. 

We need to go two parishes over, there’s a lot for me to harvest tonight. You can help.

“Which banlieue is it?”

I guess back in the day its name was Saint-Denis?

Sehun made an affirmative noise. Having Death on board was quite nice since the latter liked to keep a somewhat low profile, the whole cart was invisible and people and cars could pass through, but they felt the weird energy and atmosphere they passed by and heads turned a lot.

“Do I want to know why we’re going? And what if one of my parishes is in it?”

I made sure you’re the last one, Oh Sehun. It was an ominous answer and Sehun was now sure Death was involved in him not being freed from his task. Too many people lived in the commune he was at. And he knows for sure that people died throughout those five years. He saw them. He saw Death collect their souls. I reduced your parish to the expanse of the inner ten hectares around the chapel, child. No one lives in this parish anymore, you were the last. I’m the lone sovereign over life and death, not some phantasm called God, Sehun. You belong to me and I will do everything that it stays this way. There’s a lot I never told you and I don’t know if you want to know or if you’ll hate me afterwards, but it can’t be undone. Sehun never had heard Death say so much and it frightened him. The voice wasn’t the one he was used to; it was the one from twelve years ago, at his parents’ grave, the one so unidentifiable, so chilling that your blood clogged in your veins upon hearing it, the one that tied up your throat. He gripped the reins harder, concentrating on his horse when he felt Death look at him even with his eyes gone.

§ 2

It can’t be undone, Sehun chanted the words like a mantra on his head, mulling over the weight of those words. Death had Sehun literally chained to him; he can’t move on into the afterlife, possibly meeting his parents again, but Death had dropped once that reincarnation is a thing, but the afterlife isn’t. It’s either your soul is in the process of being carried on or you’re alive; or in other cases, depending on the value of the soul, it goes ‘missing’, meaning the soul gets eradicated. There’s no in-between. You either live or you live. No afterlife, no paradise, no hell. Just existence—or nothingness.

Sehun thought that Death had quite the weird concept of that whole soul-thing anyway, but he wasn’t one to argue the Creator and Destroyer of the world. But he still sometimes wondered if some of those old fiction books written in the 20th century had some value or essence in its form.

What are you thinking about? Death hand rested on Sehun’s thigh, his fingers scraping along the inner and worn seam of the thread and the friction sent a shiver up Sehun’s spine, snapping him out of his trance.

“How to get rid of you; you’re making me uncomfortable.” Sehun covered Death’s hand on his thigh with his own, intertwining their fingers before moving Death’s hand to his own lap, while adjusting the reins in his other, not sparing the latter a look, while he manoeuvred his cart down the road.

Do you really think you can get a without blood in your body? Death sounded extremely amused and Sehun could imagine his smug grin without looking at him, a smug grin without the eyes was nothing he could take easy.
“What?” that took an unexpected turn and Sehun was truly at a loss for words. He moved his hand from Death’s grip.

Want to try? Death wouldn’t let go and pulled Sehun closer to himself.

“I’m driving, you insolent brat—” The cart swerved a bit and suddenly stopped and Sehun’s horse abruptly revolved its head around and stared Death straight into his non-existent eyes, but the horse’s eyes were vibrating. This happened before. Sehun felt the temperature changing somehow and ominous energy emitted from the horse—the nuclear core! “And you calm down this second!” He jumped up and bounced over the sulky, almost slipping between cart and mechanic, and with light feet he landed on his horse’s back before jumping down and pulling its snaffle forcefully into the other direction, away from Death’s view. “Calm down, he’s joking, no need to be over protective.” His hand blindly felt for around for a switch hidden under the horse’s mane. Pulling it up, he checked the temperature that already started dropping again. “That’s right, girl, don’t do that to us now, you would only hurt yourself.” He scratched his horse behind the twitching metal ears until it calmed down enough so he could let go of it’s reins.

She’s quite protective of you.

“Given the fact that she can’t even hear the bull you’re sprouting, yes, she is.” Sehun let her nuzzle the junction of his neck while he worriedly glanced at Death who was staring at him just as worried.

I’m sorry. How’s her core upholding? This hit an extremely weak and sore spot in Sehun. This wasn’t the first time his horse’s nuclear core almost overheated because the cooling system wasn’t working efficiently enough.

“Maybe you’re right and I should really reveal myself to a human mechanic. But why have I no ghost horse like I am supposed to have?”

Because they have been found before and they tended to be less responsive and reliable. Remember the stories about the kelpies and don’t get me started on those persistently angry unicorns. But please do, I’m worried about the both of you.

“Thank you,” Sehun couldn’t help himself but smile serenely. Next stop after tonight would be finding a trustworthy human who wouldn’t try to sell out an immortal being since anything was possible with such a government. Death had to kill underlings of his that had fallen into the grasp of such people and he had to burn their bodies so no-one could dissect them. Just because they’re immortal meant they took no harm in this world. Especially when they once had been human like Sehun had been. “But I’ll need money for that.”

The priest has your late parents’ accounts still and you never used a lot of it when you had been on missionary trips. And yes, he still has them, even with you gone.

“You’re kidding me, aren’t you?”

Nope, I’m not. He’s trustworthy. Why would he still care for you, even if you’re dead and he hasn’t seen you since he buried you?