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Life stared at the flower in her hand. She twirled it, idly.

She sat in an old tree, bag full of supplies resting on her shoulder, her head leaned against the tree bark. She inhaled, slowly. The forest smelled of pine cones. The sun fell below the horizon, leaving the sky a lovely purple. It was slowly fading into dark blue--the last of light would soon fade, at least until day came again. In that moment, Life could feel a slight chill coming on--there was still a bit of cold left from winter, but the warmth of spring was slowly taking hold.

Frowning, she looked back down at the flower. It was a bright yellow. Petals sprang from its brown, fuzzy center, reminding her of the sun. She brushed one hand against the ends of the flower--if one looked closely, they could see the tips beginning to turn brown. The most beautiful of things die the quickest.

Wind blew. Her hair swooshed to the side, strands sticking to her face. Sighing, she let go of the stem, letting the flower float away. There was no reason to keep it around just to watch it die, she supposed.

Night was coming. It was going to get colder. She unzipped her tan bag and wrapped a warm, black blanket around herself. She'd had many warm things left over from winter, but she'd sold most of them, considering spring was now here. The only warm things she had left now were her blanket, a pair of mittens, and an itchy scarf.

I've been reduced to so little, she thought, idly. I was the sun that everything revolved around, and now I'm just another creature struggling to survive. Is this what I'm always going to be?

She huffed, fists balling slightly. A long time ago, she'd lost count. She'd lost count of how many days, months, years, and centuries she'd spent as a human--another component in the food chain. Admittedly, even in that moment, she wondered why she bothered pining over something long gone. Had she not resigned herself to her fate long ago?

'No use in crying over spilled milk,' as the humans liked to say.

There was nothing she could do, and that was the truth of it. Sitting in the tree, Life knew this, and a small part of her wanted to be angry, but the rest was too exhausted. The world was cruel--perhaps it was her fault for making it that way.

Her eyes closed. Minutes passed. The forest stirred around her, and she listened. Birds whistled, leaves would shudder when the wind blew, and every now and then a squirrel would squeak. She loved the sound of life, because it made her proud. She created birds, trees, leaves, and squirrels. Everything owed its existence to her, and nothing ever forgot that.

At some point, in the midst of the quiet hum of nature, Life heard footsteps.

Her eyes flicked open and she looked around, quickly. She hadn't been expecting company.

Alfonso's slim hand stretched down to scratch his canine companion between the ears. The wolf beside him, long black fur flapping in the breeze, let out a low growl and arched her head into his touch.

Shoe had done a wonderful thing in leading Alfonso here. The dying rays of the sun left just enough light for him to make out the figure in the tree, and from Shoe's anxious behavior, Alfonso had a feeling he knew what kind of figure it was--a spirit.

The grass crunched beneath his boots. Alfonso wished for a way to minimize the sound his footsteps made, but that wasn't his main concern: his main concern was somehow figuring out just who it was he was about to confront. Beside him, Shoe howled softly, arching her head towards the quickly lowering sun and dark eyes already seeking out the twinkling stars. Her ears twitched, and a paw was lifted to indicate the human's general direction. Shoe nudged the back of Alfonso's knee with her snout to try and get him to move faster.

"Patience, my dear, patience," Alfonso murmured, tugging at the tip of Shoe's ear. She wrenched her head away from him, growling. "You're so on-edge today, aren't you? Do you need a nap?"

Annoyed, Shoe trotted ahead and paused at the tree, circling it, her snout tilted in the air as she sniffed the human curiously. She scratched at the tree trunk, gazing in expectancy at Alfonso.

Parading around earth with nothing to do but collect souls got so boring sometimes. Alfonso much preferred spending time with the souls he already had. But his partner, his beloved little girl Shoe, only behaved in such an erratic manner when something particularly exciting was happening. Alfonso could only guess what kind of delectable creature she'd stumbled upon.

He made his way to the foot of the tree and glanced up at the girl in its branches, waving. He would work his magic after setting up a conversation; there was no need to suddenly blurt out, "Hi, so what entity of death are you? My wolf-spirit sidekick can smell your funky soul."

"A lovely evening, isn't it, dearie?"

Life stared down at Alfonso, unbelieving.

"A lovely evening, isn't it, dearie?"

She hesitated, heart hammering in her chest. There was so much to say. There was so much she was afraid of saying. This was the child of Death and Xenos, the people who'd sealed her away--was it wise to mention it? Then again, he probably already knew, considering this was even happening.

Was this happening? She felt suffocated all of the sudden.

To say the least, this had hit her out of the blue. She'd spent centuries searching, and one day, as she was sulking in a tree, one of them just walked up to her? Was this some kind of cruel joke?

Life swung her legs over the side of the tree branch. She clenched her fists to hide their trembling. She couldn't describe what she felt. Fear, excitement, hope, or some kind of sick amalgamation of all three. She wasn't sure what she wanted to feel, either. Her mind was swimming, her chest contracting.

Calm yourself, Life hissed internally. You're not a child.

She did realize the irony of that, considering she was in a child's body, but decided not to think about it too much.

After a long, quiet breath, she addressed Alfonso. "You could say that."

"You could say that."

What a simple response. Alfonso glanced down at Shoe to see what she thought; the wolf was distracted with lapping at her front right knee.

Humans were such amusing creatures. Squatting beside Shoe to pet her more efficiently, Alfonso angled his chin up at the young girl in the tree. Subconsciously, his tongue swept across his lips--even if she wasn't a spirit, she was a soul he wouldn't mind adding to his collection.

"You are alone," Alfonso commented. He scratched at Shoe's muzzle, and Shoe stretched, yawning. "Is this intentional, sweetie? Or do you wish for some company in that tree of yours?"

Shoe clawed at the dirt, digging a small hole. She sniffed around in it, nudged an ant with her nose, and rested her muzzle on Alfonso's thigh. He sighed, not for the first time wishing he had some way to communicate with animals. Perhaps his daughter--Shoe's mother, Ludovica--would know what the fluffy creature was trying to tell him.

Would now be a good time to just come out and ask? "Pardon me, I noticed you were a death entity like myself. You want to talk about that?"

Or was it still too soon to make any assumptions? Most of the others were up in their realms, so maybe this wasn't a spirit after all. Well--almost everyone. The only ones who were missing were his half-sister Afterlife and his mother's first partner, Life.

Shoe again dug a small hole, then picked up a pine cone in her teeth, brought it to the hole, and buried it. She looked up at Alfonso, a glint in her eye.

Life. Alfonso felt he had figured out the identity of the individual in the tree--the bringer of life, much like dirt brought life to a pine cone and turned it into a mighty tree, or allowed a small ant to crawl around in the dirt.

But could he be certain? Time would tell; for now, he contented himself with a charming smile aimed at the young girl in the tree, awaiting her answer.

Life bit her lip. She was far too nervous for her own good.

"You are alone," he said. "Is this intentional, sweetie? Or do you wish for some company in that tree of yours?"

She thought. "When you're alone, you have all the time in the world to think."

The wind blew again, and she brushed her tousled hair out of her eyes. She watched the wolf at Alfonso's side. As far as she could tell, it was no normal wolf. It knew her identity at the very least--nuzzling ants, burying pine cones; no ordinary wolf would do that out of nowhere.

Life's eyes narrowed slightly. Now that she thought about it, it was the wolf that lead Alfonso here. As far as Life could tell, that was. Was the wolf simply a tracker, or did the wolf know and did Alfonso not? Perhaps both? Her heart was still beating out of her chest. She was afraid to make any assumptions.

For all she knew, this was a dream. She'd had this kind of dream before--running into another entity, getting her hopes up, and just as they began to interact, she'd wake up.

Part of her was waiting to be disappointed. She clenched her fists even more tightly. No point in stalling with small talk, she supposed. "Who are you, who are you with, and what do you want?"

The first question was meant to throw him off, more than anything.

Another subpar response came from the girl in the tree: "When you're alone, you have all the time in the world to think."

Alfonso observed her pretty face. Something was distinctly off about her mannerisms; sure, she behaved like a normal human for the most part, but Alfonso had the distinct feeling she recognized him. Her eyes were trained on Shoe, who stared back at the girl now that her digging had alerted Alfonso to the possible identity of this individual.

Admittedly, the girl's bluntness surprised him.

"Who are you, who are you with, and what do you want?"

Her rather harsh tone caught him off-guard. Alfonso blinked twice, smacked his lips, and glanced down at Shoe. Shoe tilted her head, then lowered her muzzle, as if giving him permission to tell the truth.

"You don't like to mess around, I see. I must admit it's a charming feature," Alfonso murmured, rising to his feet. He grinned at the girl in the tree, bowing at the waist. "My name is Alfonso, I am with the entity known as Shoe--" At this, Alfonso patted Shoe's head. "--though if you ask which side I'm with, I am with the entity of Death. And what I would love is for you to answer your own questions, sweet girl. You already knew who I was, didn't you? Now it is your turn to enlighten me. Shoe already knows you aren't a true human soul, and I get the same sense from you, darling."

Shoe growled, flattening her ears, as if to drive in that she knew exactly who she and her grandfather were facing.

"You don't like to mess around, I see. I must admit it's a charming feature," Alfonso murmured. Life didn't like the way he grinned. She couldn't quite tell why, but it unnerved her.

He bowed. "My name is Alfonso, I am with the entity known as Shoe--" he patted the wolf's head, "--though if you ask which side I'm with, I am with the entity of Death. And what I would love is for you to answer your own questions, sweet girl. You already knew who I was, didn't you? Now it is your turn to enlighten me. Shoe already knows you aren't a true human soul, and I get the same sense from you, darling."

The excitement stirring inside of her quickly melted into dread.

So he was with Death. It was a good thing she didn't shout her identity right off the bat, otherwise this already would've taken a very bad turn. She looked between Shoe and Alfonso--if this was a dream, it was probably more along the lines of a nightmare.

"Where's your sister?" Life pressed, avoiding his questions.

Bennie would be on Life's side, wouldn't she? Did Life even have anyone on her side? Her dread grew. She wasn't alone. She couldn't be alone--someone cared if the world died, didn't they?

Life grew antsy. She didn't know what Alfonso wanted. There was no point in seeking her out if she was already helpless. Something in the back of her head was screaming at her to run, but she was admittedly curious--on Death's side or not, this was the first entity she'd ran into in eons. She wasn't going to just run away.

She was safe in her tree, wasn't she?

Most certainly not, she thought.

Alfonso suddenly became aware that it may not have been the brightest idea to just blurt out his identity. But for this girl to know he had a sister; she must be an entity. Bennie wasn't exactly proud of being Alfonso's twin (in fact, she quite liked to deny it. "That bully who takes all the cute girls? Ugh. Hardly a brother of mine," she would say.)

But for this entity to immediately ask about Bennie was unusual. Afterlife didn't even know Bennie, did she? And if Shoe was right beside Alfonso, that really made Life the only plausible choice.

Still, there was no need to jump to conclusions. Besides, Alfonso still had yet to answer her question.

"You know of my sister Bennie?" he asked, tilting his head. Beside him, Shoe's fur bristled. "She is currently up in her realm, spending her days amongst her souls. Though she spends a good amount of time on earth. Searching."

He avoided adding the last part--searching for you. She may not have loved you, but she does love what you stand for. She's a silly girl.

If this was really Life, he would know soon enough. Even with all the evidence stacking, there was no way to be certain.

Shoe paced up to the trunk of the tree and stood on her hind legs, resting her front paws against the bark. She scratched at it, whimpering, as if calling the girl down from her safe tree.

Life scolded herself. She was supposed to be playing this coolly, and she'd already slipped up. If she was smart, she would've pried the fact that he had a sister out of him, and then asked about her. Her nerves were getting to her, and it was only getting worse--she was talking herself into more and more of a panic as the seconds passed.

Shoe scratched at Life's tree, whimpering. Frowning, Life pulled her legs back up onto the branch, and gave Shoe a look that said: I'm not coming down.

Not so surprisingly, animals were one of Life's soft spots--there was no way she could hate, or even dislike, one of her own creations. So naturally, Life felt somewhat attached to Shoe already, despite that she was really just an entity inside a wolf's body. It had crossed her mind that Shoe didn't like Life very much earlier on, but those fuzzy ears and beautiful eyes were too comforting for Life to care.

Her mind suddenly skipped back to what Alfonso had said. Bennie was searching. Life's first instinct was to ask what Bennie was searching for, but something told her she needed to be more careful. Clearly, asking questions willy nilly was not the right way to approach this.

"Hmm." She closed her eyes, briefly, trying to calm herself down. "What are you doing? Other than talking to me, I mean."

Shoe gave up on her scratching and instead lay down at the foot of the tree. Her gaze switched between Alfonso and the girl in the tree, now more or less confirmed to be Life.

Alfonso stared at Shoe for a moment, then glanced up at the girl just in time to hear her speak.

"What are you doing?" she asked. Alfonso stood straighter, alert. "Other than talking to me, I mean."

At this, Alfonso let out an audible laugh. He took a few steps closer to the tree, kneeling next to Shoe. Shoe rested her had in his lap.

"Searching," he announced. This time, he did add the rest: "For you, at that. Or little ones like you, I suppose. I wonder if my dear Ludovica has any plans to have you mauled by a wild animal? Or perhaps there is something else in store for your cute little body. I imagine my sister would have no troubles working her own magic on you. Either way, it seems the way things are now I'll have complete control over you soon enough."

Shoe actually growled at this. Alfonso chuckled, stroking her fur. Perhaps dropping blatant threats wasn't the best course of action, but Alfonso had never been particularly tactful.

"What are you..." Life trailed off, the urge to run growing stronger. "What are you talking about? It's not like you have any special hold over souls aside from being an entity, right?"

Something about the look in his eyes was disturbing. Life wrapped her fingers around the branch she sat on, tensing up. She wasn't safe on her tree. It wouldn't take much to make her or the tree fall to the ground. She needed out, but she couldn't outrun Alfonso, and certainly not Shoe.

She glanced up, briefly. The tree she sat upon was tall. If she was desperate, she could climb up until she couldn't anymore, but all that would do was corner her.

Her brow furrowed. He'd mentioned someone named Ludovica. Upon not being able recognize the name, Life could only assume they'd had more children after she'd been sealed. It wasn't surprising, but it did worry her--she could run into an entity and not even realize it until it was too late.

Life's grip on the tree grew tighter. As always, she felt helpless.

"Indeed." Alfonso stood, reaching up a hand to touch the girl's ankle. "Not until they reach my realm, that is. Then I have all the control over them I want. Exhilarating, isn't it?"

Beside him, Shoe growled, arching her back. She glared at Life, her fangs bared.

Something similar to hunger was present in Alfonso's gaze--but upon close inspection, perhaps it was more like lust. Whether it was lust for blood or lust for Life was unclear. His hand continued to reach for Life--what he planned on doing if he caught her was unclear, but it was certain whatever it was would be very unpleasant.

A twig snapped to his left.



The same old souls, the same old entities, the same old activities. Bennie could only take so much before she needed a change of pace.

Her supply of souls was dwindling day by day. The earth was losing one human after another, each one being snatched up by one of her greedy family members before Bennie even had a chance to show up. It was why she'd taken to surveying earth personally, and taking advantage of her time to look for where Life had gotten sealed. Sure, having relations with Life hadn't been the most satisfactory experience of her life (Bennie awarded that honor to a sultry hooker she'd picked up after an STD claimed her life; "Gilly", she claimed her name was), but without Life, there was no...well, life. No more sultry hookers, no more cute little souls, no more anything.

Bennie couldn't stand it.

So naturally, when she realized her brother had cornered a poor young soul--a cute, female soul, at that--she absolutely had to step in.

The breeze tossed Bennie's wavy, red hair into her face. She held it away from her eyes with a hand, nails painted red, and focused her sight on where she'd tracked her brother to. Even in the twinkling light of dusk, his white hair seemed to glow.

Bennie's red heel snapped a twig.

"Step away from the little cutie, Alfie. One less soul in your creepy collection won't end the world, but one more might."

"Leave me alone, you--you creep!" Life quickly reached to a higher branch, beginning to pull herself up. The black blanket she'd wrapped around herself dropped to the ground.

Her heart raced. She should've ran as soon as she heard his footsteps.

"Step away from the little cutie, Alfie. One less soul in your creepy collection won't end the world, but one more might."

Life couldn't hide her trembling now. She had too many questions. There was too much uncertainty, too much surprise, anxiety and danger lurking around for her to know what to do. Why was Bennie here all of the sudden? Was Bennie even on her side? What was going to happen if she wasn't?

She glanced down at Shoe--if she fell off her tree, the wolf would rip her to shreds, for sure. She had a small knife in her bag of supplies, but in a situation like this it wouldn't do her a lick of good. All she could do was... well, nothing. She couldn't do a thing but leave it up to fate, and she hated that.

Maybe Bennie would distract Alfie, and Life could run away before either of them noticed?

No, Shoe would catch Life before she had a chance.

The girl attempted climbing further up the tree, chest feeling tighter and breathing becoming heavier.

Alfonso huffed, stretching his hand to try and reach Life. Why did Bennie always have to step in at the worst time?

"Stay still, honey!" he called, stepping onto Shoe's back to use the wolf as a footstool. Shoe scooted out from under him, and Alfonso tumbled onto his back, letting out a cry. Shoe growled at him, as if to say, "Keep your smelly feet off me and learn how to climb!"

Bennie laughed at him, stepping closer. Alfonso scrambled back to his feet, brushing off his clothes.

"You are hilarious," Bennie announced. "Is this why you take Shoe around? Because you can't climb?"

Shoe howled. Bennie advanced, reaching out to scratch the canine.

Alfonso grumbled something. "Oh, be quiet, you witch. I'd like to see you get her down."

"Okay. Bennie shrugged, leaning against the trunk of the tree. "Is this idiot giving you trouble, babe? Trust me, I can handle him. If he'd bang his own mother and daughter, I doubt he'd take issue with humping his own sister. Not that I'd take an a*s like him to bed even if he begged."

"Hey!" This was why Alfonso hated family reunions. Did Bennie insist on always being so...crude?

Shoe had padded closer to Bennie and now nuzzled her leg affectionately. Bennie ignored her. Disappointed, Shoe returned to Alfonso's side and pawed at the tree trunk.

"What's your name?" Bennie asked. "I'm gonna keep calling you 'honey' and various other pet names until you give me one."

"I already used 'honey'. Pick your own," Alfonso complained, tapping his fingers against the tree trunk.

"No."

This woman was going to drive him mad.

"I'm not telling you my name," Life hissed, continuing to climb. She paused halfway up another branch, however. "...Wait, you did it with your mother and your daughter?"

Come to think of it, he had a daughter?

Life shuddered, then continued to climb. She felt bad for the girl.

As she was reaching up for another branch, one thin but sharp twig cut across her arm. She bit her lip. It stung, but she would be fine. Again, she continued to go further up the tree. As far as she was concerned, higher meant safer.

Until something else terrible happened, of course.

"Why are you here?" She snapped at Bennie, suddenly. "Get out! Go away! What's the point in bothering me, anyway?"

Feisty. That was something Bennie admired in a soul. The poor thing sounded absolutely terrified--no doubt because of Alfonso. Bennie felt the need to make one last jab at her twin before switching her attention to the poor terrified girl.

"He did it with his grandma, too."

Alfonso looked ready to punch her. Bennie laughed, ruffling Shoe's fur.

"But anyways, there's no need to get so on-edge. I'm here to protect you, puddin'. From this creep."

"Well, that's just like you, isn't it?" Alfonso hissed. "Always on the wrong side of the fence."

He was so dramatic. Bennie rolled her eyes. "What are you even talking abou--"

"You are Life, aren't you?"

The question froze Bennie where she stood. Shocked, she looked up at the swiftly-escaping little girl, examining her. Alfonso continued beside her.

"Shoe here has already sniffed out that you are one of the entities. You knew about my sister, so you cannot be Afterlife. And everyone else is still up in their realms. Do you have any idea how long we have all been looking for you, love? You've had us so worried. Worried that you will somehow regain your name and reinstitute what we rightfully took from you, that is."

It couldn't be true. He couldn't be telling the truth. Life had been sealed for--well, Bennie didn't even know how long at this point. Was this really the entity that had fathered Bennie's only son? More importantly, was this the entity in charge of saving souls?

She was scared to assume. She was nervous about trusting her brother--if this was a prank, it was a nasty one.

So Bennie waited, watching the girl for a reaction.

"Ohoho, so the cat's out of the bag, is it?" Life replied, sneering. She tightened her grip on the branch above her, pulling herself up. "Whatever. I don't care. I don't care anymore, so there's no reason to bother me. You hear that? I've given up! Everything can rot away and die--I won't stop you!"

Another branch scraped her arm. She scowled, climbing onto the next branch. She was about to reach for the next, but she stopped, eyes narrowing. "No. No, you know what?"

She clenched her fists, turning and glaring at the two. "I do care. I'll always care, and I'll always keep trying to find a way to come back and spite you all. I'm never going to stop, and you're never going to stop me. I will always and forever be disgusted by your indifference to human souls, the pain they go through, and the beauty of their existence."

Life paused again, but the things that she'd been feeling over all of the years she'd spent sealed suddenly burst out of her. "How--how could you even be so cruel? So uncaring? How could you sit and watch as everything died? Do you enjoy watching daughters watch their mothers bleed out, or their brothers slowly die of disease? Do you enjoy watching children forget how to smile? Are you sadists?"

Sadists. Bennie didn't think she was one. Was she? Was she just like her brother in the end? She sided with Life, yes, but why was that? Just so she could capture and steal more souls?

No. Bennie wouldn't let herself get wrapped up in the "why". She'd found Life, and now she was going to protect Life.

She opened her mouth to respond, but Alfonso's carefree, irritatingly aloof laugh cut her off.

"So it is you. I knew it. I'm sure my dear mother will love knowing we've tracked you down."

Bennie bit her lip, ignoring the taste of the lipstick. Did she even really want to get involved?

"You have lost, my dear," Alfonso continued. "Why do you not just give up quietly?"

This isn't right. Bennie wanted to keep her souls, and for that, she needed Life. Did it matter if her motives were petty and selfish?

"Just come down, love, and surrender--"

"Shove it up your a*s and shut up, Alfie."



This woman was insufferable.

Bennie always had to act so high-and-mighty. So above it all. So "perfect".

But she was just as bad as Alfonso himself, wasn't she? He hated that self-righteous attitude of hers.

Bennie pulled out a pipe from behind her ear, then fished a lighter from a small bag and lit it. She placed the pipe in her mouth, paused, and blew out a steady puff of smoke before speaking again.

"'Surrender'? Hasn't she done that already? You're so full of it, Alfie, she's sealed in a cute little body already. It isn't like she can do anything."

Alfonso frowned. Shoe cocked her head, looking between the three other entities.

"You say that, but--"

"But? But what? But she's still able to use her power? What a load of bull, the humans get closer to extinction every day." Bennie reached up a hand towards Life, and Alfonso resisted the urge to sic Shoe on her and let Ludovica handle the rest. "Life, sweetcheeks, I've been lookin' for you. You haven't been abandoned. I want these humans preserved, and we can't do that without you. Wanna come down and discuss a plan over dinner?"

Unbelievable. As if Bennie wasn't bad enough before, now she had the nerve to ask Life on a date? (Ignoring the fact that Alfonso had already made his intentions for the young girl very clear.)

"I promise, I'll keep you safe," Bennie continued. Alfonso's hands clenched by his sides. "I've been on your side since the beginning. Even if your sex was kinda weak."

Leave it to Bennie, Alfonso thought, to make me wish entities could die.

"I'm not coming down just so I can be mauled by a wolf," Life replied, frowning. "How do I know you're not lying, anyway? For all I know, this is a trap. And even if it isn't, how many entities are there now? How many are on Death's side? How would you 'keep me safe'?"

She opened her mouth to continue, but stopped halfway through her first word.

There was no point in talking.

The chances they were actually listening to her were low. Life needn't waste her breath. So she sat down on her current tree branch, placed one hand on the bark for support, and used the other to pull her supply bag into her lap. (She'd had it slung across her shoulder as she was climbing.)

"I'm never coming down," Life declared, taking a loaf of bread out of her bag and beginning to nibble at it.

Bennie frowned; of course Life didn't believe her. Bennie hadn't given her any reason to believe Bennie was on Life's side. Maybe she could make up for it with honesty.

"There are nine more besides what you see here," Bennie related. Alfonso elbowed her to shut her up, but she responded by socking him in the gut and continued. "Myself, Alfonso, yourself, Shoe, Ludovica, Death, Afterlife--who goes by Cherry Blossom now--Malin, Niven, Maria, Xenos, Ingris, and, of course, uh...what did we call our son again? Calvin or something? Yeah, him, he's there too."

"You can't even remember your kid's name...?" Alfonso sighed. "Kayin."

"At least I didn't have a baby with mine," Bennie shot out.

"Why do you insist on bringing that up...? What bearing does that have on the present conversation?"

Bennie ignored him. "Those of us on Death's side? ...Most of them. The only ones of us who still support you are me, the kid, and Malin. The rest are either neutral or they want everything dead."

"Rightly so," Alfonso interrupted. "We are in charge of death, in case you've forgotten."

"You know what'd be real helpful right now? If you took the stick out of your a*s and shoved it down your throat instead."

Shoe made a sound that was probably something close to a laugh. Bennie petted her ear. Alfonso crossed his arms.

Ludovica trotted through the forest, the grass crunching under her feet.

She marveled at the sound. Grass was itchy, dirty, smelled weird, and was a sickly shade of green. Aside from the occasional patch of dry dirt, it was everywhere. She was doing everyone a favor by stepping on it and the ants that scavenged for food, pathetically.

The girl took a deep breath. Fresh air was toxic. She hated it.

In fact, she hated forests. The only reason she was there was because she wanted to see her daughter, Shoe. It'd been too long until she hugged the wolf, and Ludovica always worried--Alfonso was dangerous. Ludovica hated him with all of her heart. To this day, she still wondered why Shoe stuck around him, but she wasn't going to make her daughter leave if she wanted to stay.

"...shoved it down your throat instead."

Ludovica raised an eyebrow. It seemed as though someone had gotten here before her, though she couldn't imagine why.

"Nine?" A young girl's voice prompted. Ludovica shuddered, figuring it could only belong to her father's next target. "You're even hornier than I remember. But it's nice to know there are at least a few of you on my side--unless you're lying, of course, which I'm sure you are."

"Lying about what?" Ludovica asked innocently, stepping into the small clearing. She brushed a delicate hand through her light pink hair, then waved to Shoe, her face a mask of content. "Oh, and hello."

Beside Alfonso, Bennie laughed, digging her heel into the dirt. Alfonso resisted the growing urge to take the heel and stab her with it. She opened her mouth as if to respond to Life, but a new voice cut her off.

"Lying about what?" Alfonso recognized the voice, but before he even had time to go greet it, Shoe had left his side and raced to the newcomer, letting out a call. "Oh, and hello."

Alfonso glanced over his shoulder and swiftly recognized Ludovica. Shoe had already run to her mother's side, and now paced around her excitedly, whining. The charming smile returned to Alfonso's lips, and he went to greet his daughter. Behind him, he heard Bennie continuing the conversation with Life.

"Lying? Hardly. Why would I lie to you, sugar?" There was a pause. "Oh yeah, and it's nice to see you're back, Ludo. Come to finally chop off your dad's busy dick for a trophy?"

"My daughter has class, unlike you," Alfonso shot back. Truly, there were no words to describe how annoyed he always was with Bennie--it was as if his sister existed to make him furious. "Ludo, sweetheart. It's good to see you again. Were you lonely up in your realm, sweetie?"

Shoe grabbed Ludovica's skirt in her jaw and tugged, releasing a single bark.

Ludovica laughed lightly, kneeling down and running her fingers through Shoe's fur. She scratched the places she knew she loved, feeling the warmth of Shoe's fur on her hands. In this disgusting, worthless, dying sh*thole called a world, Ludovica found the only things worth anything were her children. They were her light, her sun, her everything. She didn't want to live if she had to live without them.

Her father, not so much. Even to this day, it made her sick to act sweet in front of him, but she was true to who she pretended to be. No one in her family knew of her true demeanor, and she was going to keep it that way. "A little bit. I came out to see you and Shoe, really. It's a pleasure to see you here though, Aunt Bennie."

"There are many reasons to lie," the girl in the tree said to Bennie. She ran her eyes over Ludovica, looking somewhat curious, but mostly skeptical. "So this is Ludo--... ah, what was it? I can't remember."

Ludovica glanced at the girl. "Ludovica. It's nice to meet you."

"I'm sure," the girl replied, somewhat dryly. She took a bite of the bread in her hands.

Well, you're a pleasant little sh*t, aren't you? Ludovica thought, internally frowning. She did sense a lot of squirrels around, so if she really wanted to, she could sic an army of them on the girl and be done with her right off the bat.

But if she did that, her father and Bennie would ask why, and that would be tiring, so she decided she'd hold back. At least, until the opportunity came. Nothing was better than watching a human scream as wild animals tore into their flesh, after all.

No matter how unbearable it was to deal with Life and Bennie, at least Alfonso could always count on Ludovica for support. He took a step towards her, reaching down to scratch at Shoe's chin. Shoe swerved away from his hand, leaning into Ludovica's touch. If she had been trapped in a cat instead of a wolf, Alfonso was sure she would be purring.

Bennie hummed behind him, and Alfonso avoided looking at her. She'd probably just annoy him in the end.

"I'm glad you came," Alfonso murmured.

"Gross," Bennie called.

Alfonso glared at her. "To visit, Bennie.

"Hey, you should have been more clear. Not my fault you like to get around." Bennie winked to Life, and Alfonso again had to convince himself not to tackle her.

"As you can see, my company here is less than ideal."

Shoe growled at him.

"Aside from you, of course, my pet."

Shoe seemed satisfied. She returned to nuzzling her muzzle into Ludovica's side.

"Oh right. You have never met Life before have you? This is...er, her, I suppose." Alfonso gestured to Life in her tree. Bennie, suddenly alert, moved as if to somehow block Life from Ludovica's sight.

This is Life?

Ludovica moved to see Life, careful to keep her expression blank. She looked the girl over, up and down. With plain black hair and a disgustingly normal face, she was hiding up in her tree, like any scared animal would.

"Life," Ludovica muttered, the name suddenly sounding weird on her lips. Something was lacking. There used to be power in that word, but looking at the real Life for the first time, it had faded. "Life."

Ludovica continued to run her hand through Shoe's fur. In complete honesty, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to be feeling--pity? Indifference? Disgust? Maybe there was nothing to feel, but everyone talked so much about Life and Death. Ludovica briefly remembered when she'd first met Death--she felt suffocated. The air around her felt dead, the woman's eyes pierced Ludovica's skin. Her very presence commanded so much fear and respect.

Naturally, Ludovica had always held Life to the same standard, expecting the same powerful feeling. But looking at her then, in that moment, there was nothing more than a little girl trapped in a tree.




It wasn't silly that Life was slowly starting to trust Bennie, was it? She glanced between Bennie and Ludovica, frowning.

Trust was a strong word.

But the more time went on, the more Life believed her. Bennie had named all of the entities--supposedly--and specifically pointed out the ones on Life's side. Making up specifics on the fly was difficult, and that Bennie mentioned Ludovica, who was here now, proved she wasn't just making names up.

Life bit her lip, nervously. She could still be lying, though. This could've easily been a setup. They could have planned this, they could be conspiring, secretly. They just wanted a way to lure her out, to gain her trust.

But why?

She paused. There was no point in going to all the trouble of gaining her trust if they could just shake her out of the tree. One of them could've broken the branch she sat on, started throwing pebbles, anything.

And there was something about the way Bennie stood now that comforted Life. For a moment, she believed she wasn't alone. She was hopeful. She wanted to believe she could save everything she'd worked so hard to create and nurture.

Life held her breath. Hope was invigorating. It was what separated life from death--Life from Death--and she'd almost forgotten what it felt like. Desperately wanting to cling to it, she addressed Bennie. "Alright, you said you'd keep me safe. How am I going to get out of this tree safely? Or this forest, for that matter?"