Dani’s POV

Aly quickly turns to try to get away but it only takes a single swift step to catch up to her and grab ahold of her collar. 

“Na-ah, where do you think you’re going!”

I turn to Jessica who looks like she’s about to question me for the thousandth time today.

“Thank you Jessica for entertaining her while I was busy.”

Before she could utter a word I tug at the air to open a doorway to the express route, the Dimensional Rift. First I throw Aly in then I head in myself and close the flap behind me. 

Aly steadily gets up, “Hey! What’s the big idea?!” She looks at me with a fierceness that soon fades when she notices where she is. Her dark eyes gawk at the swirly atmosphere of the Rift.

“You’re in the Dimensional Rift. It’s a corridor between territories.” I start walking, “Come along, we’ll talk in my office.”

She reluctantly gets up and follows after thinking to herself for a moment.

We reach the part of the rift that would exit us into our intended destination and I once again force manna into my hand and pull at the swirly void to make our doorway.

As I open the flap I call Aly, “Come on, or you’ll be stuck in here for eternity.”

As we step out of the rift and into my office I signal for her to sit. She flops into the chair but remains silent as I close the flap of the rift. 

“Would you like coffee or tea?” I ask to break the silence. 

When Aly doesn’t answer, I walk around to my desk and take a seat with a heavy sigh. I take a look at her, a real look. My memory from when my father told me about her Time-Table disappearing rings in my mind and I force manna into my eyes to see the truth for myself. Lo and behold, she has noTime-Table. It's completely gone. It’s supposed to stick around after someone dies, frozen with the digits we use to classify and identify individuals, a.k.a a Time-Stamp. It’ll stay until the person goes through their intended gate of Holding.

I could ask what she thought she was doing walking around all of LIMBO without proper authority but I feel like that’ll lead to an unnecessary argument. Our time together should be limited as it is. Let’s just get this over with and I'll send her on her way.  

“So, what is it that you know already?”

Aly finally speaks up and says, “Jessica told me I’ve died… and showed me the file with everything I’ve ever done— which is wrong by the way. Good luck explaining that to your boss.”

Nodding my head I reply, “Ahh, yes. Seeing that might have caused you concern but believe me when I tell you that it was for your best interest.” 

She leans forward, “Wait, you’re the reason why my file makes me look like a bland maniac?!”

“Bland?” I respond, slightly offended by the rude coloration of my handiwork, “How about inconspicuous.”  

“I thought only the Host of the End and the Host of the Beginning had direct access to them?”

“Ms. Shaifer, I AM the Host of the End—” I wave my hands for greater effect, “The great Director, Death.”

“Wait… YOU’RE the Host of the End?”

“Who did you think I was?” I ask, slightly curious.

“I mean, the world believes you’re either some cruel evil dude with a scythe or a mess of a man who’s stuck in perpetual torture…”

I can’t help but to burst out laughing. 

Aly is taken back while I try and fail to control myself.

Wiping away tears I respond, “Oh no, neither of those are me. In fact, the man with the scythe was my father at one point but that ‘mess of a man’ has got to be my brother!! Wait until he hears this! That’s a good one!”

As I calm down I finally get to the point of this conversation. “Well, while you’re here I might as well thank you for doing a number on our operation today. You’ve saved a lot of people.”

There's a twitch in her brow, “You’re congratulating me? For thwarting your operation?”

“Yes. Surprised?”

“Umm, yeah. People down in the land of the living think you revel and party when people die.”

I couldn’t help but to burst out laughing again at the misunderstanding that humans have, “Oh, that's good. No. I nor my Grim party at the thought of people dying. That's not our thing. My company only proceeds to collect the souls of those who have died, both timely and untimely, and send them on their way. We’re like a terminal for the soul. A life saved is good because you’ve just saved us some paperwork. So really, thank you for that. Though my brother might not thank you for it…”

“…okay… so why did you, the great and powerful Host of the End, the great Director Death of the Divine 9—”

“Please just call me Director Death if you’re going to keep springing for a mouthful…”

“...Director Death… have to come talk to me herself? If I’m already ‘dead’ aren’t I supposed to be sent off to those gates?” She asks, pointing to the window behind me where the Gates reside. “Jessica was kind enough to let me think I already have your authority, whatever that is… Does that have something to do with why you had to meet with me?”

Blast it Jessica! Why did you have to tell her all that!

As I fidget with my clear manna ribbon that I’ve made into a bowtie I carefully consider the words that are about to leave my mouth.  

“Yes, that does have something to do with it, but you don’t need to worry about that.” I say, trying to dodge a cascade of questions.

“But how can I already have it if we’ve never met before?” She asks, making me regret my choice of words.

“Really, you should be focused on your own problems at this point,” I try to steer this conversation.

“Does that mean my birth parents knew you? Did they make a deal with you?”

Gritting my teeth I try to skip this question as well, “Whether or not I did has nothing to do with your current problem—”

She slams her hands on my desk as she jumps up from her chair in persistence, “Are they—”

I turn the room cold with my authority, “You do know it's rude to continue to talk when a Host is talking, right?”

Aly steps back and timidly sits down in her chair, fear gripping her entire being. I relax my authority. 

They’re all fair questions but she can’t know the answer to them yet. 

|| …the end of a millennium… || 

Not now. 

Not when Father is going around looking for her. And, definitely not with the revelation that the herald drops as he goes around the Divine circuit. If everyone takes notice of her now, they may doom us all to a crueler fate.  

When silence engulfs the room my mind finally comes up with what to say. 

“I’m not obliged to give you all the information that you have asked for, but I can give you some. You don’t remember meeting me because you were too young and not only that but you have my pseudo-authority because it’s something your parents and I agreed to.”

She nods slowly as she locks her stare with me, “Does— does that mean…”

“I’m under strict compliance from the deal I made with your parents, Aly. I cannot give you any information about them.”

She looks down, “So they are dead?”

“Oh, heavens no—” I curse my words, knowing that I just spilled something I shouldn't have.

I save the face palm for later and simply act like it was intended information to give. I put my elbows on the desk and make it clear to her, “Because per the contract, I cannot state anything that would endanger you both.”

Her eyes show no change, if any. Satisfied that I’ve nipped this loose end in the bud, I move on to finally helping her.

“I’m prepared to make a deal with you Aly, to bring you back to life and return you to the domain of the dying.” While I don’t know why her Time-Table blinked out, it should reappear if she were to enter back into her body even if she does just become a living corpse. It’s better than the alternative.

She takes a moment to think to herself. 

“No, I actually don’t need your deal…” She declares as she leans over my desk to show me her wrist. She nods for me to grab it.

My cold hands grab her wrist, but she’s just as cold as me and she doesn’t even wince. I don’t even have to wait when the beat of her pulse runs under my fingers.

“I’m very much alive.”

My face couldn't hide the panic I was feeling. I spin my chair around to the grand window behind me overlooking the two gates to further hide my emotions and whisper, Sammy what do I do?

Why does this day keep getting worse!

“Sammy whatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo?”

I swivel back around to face her. “Bringing people back to life that aren’t exactly dead isn’t my area of expertise,” I state matter-of-factly. 

“Then what do we do now? Do I just stay ‘dead’?” she asks with quotation marks.

I sigh so deeply that my breath becomes a visible cold fog. Aly steps back as I stand to get myself ready for the call I have to make. 

Blast it all! I really don’t want to bring him into this…

My mind races for any other alternative than the realization that quickly nags my attention. Slowly but surely I begin to accept the painful truth of the situation. 

I need help.

I turn around and gaze out my wide window, out at the masses of souls that await their new lives. As if mocking me, the Giant Golden Gates finally open and the crowd of millions step forward into their unknown fate of shame, weeping, and pain. Meanwhile, those still standing in front of the Small Silver Gates stay still, waiting patiently for the hour it opens.

With no other option, I make a phone with my hand and put it to my ear. I hold my breath and wait for the soul network to connect. Four rings later I finally hear the other end pick up with a lifeless voice. 

“Hello, Liam, it’s Dani… I need a favor.”

-End of Episode 2-