Cross-Posted from my entry of the same name on FFN and AO3.
Nothing... this duty has yielded nothing but anguish for every soul which found its way to him. His heart no longer felt for their grief, but a particular exception did catch his eye. Perhaps, this could finally be it... his chance to bend the system.
Quite the intriguing privilege for those of the material plane, yet it had been wasted on beings like the ones of humanity. They held a rather profound sense of duty and honor… but they were such fickle creatures regardless. No matter how far they played out their insignificant lives, they would simply perish from the pitiable consequences of human nature.
…And he dealt in passing along each and every one of those same beings.
Their souls would only pass on and reincarnate into a new cycle.
…Another existence of despair and futility.
But it was his duty, in spite of how it perpetuated such a hopeless world of people.
Though, he was beyond it… he followed that routine, but he was beyond it…
During his contemplation on that matter, the ominous entity had been standing within the shifting mist of a boundless void. As his mind was set on those thoughts, he perks up from sensing another presence before him, the arrival of another soul.
Yet another victim to this pointless loop of misery…
It was a young woman… a petite girl who possessed brown eyes and blonde hair. As the girl looked at the surrounding expanse from perplexity, the reaper regards her appearance.
“Your time in life has ended. Now… you must pass.”
She freezes up from hearing those chilling words be uttered to her, but she still turns her sight over toward the looming figure who was shrouded in a flowing cloak before her.
“None can escape a fate such as this… That is all.”
At those solemn words, she almost locks into place on the spot, just staring at him say that.
Hm… no response at all. So, another silent one. Not that uncommon. Most souls would either reject the deity or accept him in kind.
But quite a few… like this one, remained speechless throughout the encounter. Perhaps broken from realizing the gravity of their demise.
As he held his keen sight on the girl standing before him, she collapses onto her knees, still not uttering any kind of sound.
Seems he must drag another one along, but it would be a simple task. He begins walking toward the girl who was hanging her head. She lays motionless, unmoving in the face of death itself.
He soon comes to a stop before her so that he could kneel down in front of her, and he sets his fingers to her chin. As she shivered from that brief contact, he lifts her face back up. But when her features came into view, he realizes what her case might have been.
Her eyes… her round eyes. They were… void of any light or will to live. Beyond just pain, this spirit was hollow. Quite fascinating of a sight. Such a pure and honest soul… broken and overcome by sorrow till the end.
How pitiable for a being like her, but…
No one but himself… likely just like her life prior. If he was so above it all, maybe…
The reaper straightens himself back up, resolved in his deliberation on that, and he extends his hand down toward the quiet girl.
She freezes up at that gesture from him, staring off at his offer. The girl continues remaining paralyzed from a mixture of terror and wonderment.
But… she soon reaches out for the limb, trembling due to her shambled form. And when her fingers came into contact with his, she flinches at truly feeling him, but she goes through on it.
His hand was as cold as the abyss… but it was more than she had ever been given before.
A dreadful air had been present throughout the confines of his domain, stretching from the central room of the immense structure. Within that chamber, a robed figure was lounging on a throne at the top of a staircase, his crimson eyes locked on the large windows before him.
As the quiet man had monitored what was beyond those panes, watching countless sparkles of light shifting around in that bottomless space, his chin had been resting on his fist. The hood of his dark cloak had also been pulled away from his head, revealing his messy, brown hair.
Decade after decade, century after century… his duty had become tedious.
But, the past several years for him had been rather… interesting.
In the next few moments, the hem of his robe begins swaying from a sudden wind picking up in his throne room. As the swirling wind began intensifying around him, he feels a wicked smirk come to his face at that, noticing the gale concentrate itself near the base of the stairs.
The black winds of that tempest then scatter away in an instant, unveiling a mysterious figure who was clad in a uniform of red and black. It was a young woman… a rather familiar girl who bore a chilling grin across her face, in spite of the blood which stained her body and garbs.
As the yellowish glow from outside shined off of the black roses on her silky, blonde hair, the girl begins stepping up toward the man on the throne, licking at the blood near her lips. She soon reaches the robed man, not bothered at all by him witnessing her messy state.
Before he could utter anything to her, she sets herself down on the pant leg of his lap, knowing he would not object to such a brazen act. As she laid her head against his shoulder, he wraps an arm around her lithe waist, pulling her closer toward his torso.
He sets his other hand to her chin, lifting her face toward seeing his own, “Did you enjoy your trip, Philei?”
As he gazed into her round, orange eyes, she gives a little smirk to his question, “Oh, Zhn…”
She leans in toward his ear at that, removing his hand from her face, “...Every last second of it.”
When she opened her small hand in response, a myriad of ethereal spheres emerge from her palm. As she giggled from whispering that, he gives a quick wave of his hand, making each and every one of those orbs vanish from their presence.
As numerous ripples dotted the space beyond the room, he takes her chin into his hand, running his fingers across her soft skin, “So… how did it go, my dear?”
She stifles another giggle from him asking that, a light blush on her cheeks, “Hm, it was pure bliss. So many people to find, so much blood to spill. And especially for today…”
When she let that excited giggle break out, he raises an eyebrow at her, “Found more of those girls? From Yasogami?”
She gives him a twisted smile at that curiosity of his, “They were taking quite the… dangerous route back home… I just couldn’t resist the opportunity.”
She looks down at her bloodied hands, feeling them shake from excitement at the mere thought of that, “They were practically begging for it. I… tore them limb from limb. It felt so good ripping out one of their throats while all of the others watched.”
As he stared at her showing that elation from committing such an atrocity, she stuffs a hand into her lap, relishing in that memory for all of its worth, “Their terrified screams… the looks on their faces… I could’ve indulged in them forever.”
When she gave her words on that event, he pulls her back into a close embrace, calming her down from that sadistic fervor. She almost gasps from the intimate contact, but she feels herself relax from his arms being wrapped around her in the silence of that grand chamber.
He returns his gaze to her own in the lull of that discussion, seeing her expression become flushed due to their proximity, “Splendid work… always a pleasure knowing your results.”
When he gave her a warm smile in light of that remark, she returns the smile in kind, “Of course… anything for my savior.”
As the light of the souls beyond the room illuminated them, he then wraps an arm around her neck, pulling her into a passionate kiss. She wraps her own arms around his neck as she enjoyed the deepness of that act, feeling her blush grow darker from the heated exchange.
During that period, he sets a hand onto the back of her head, keeping her locked there in the session of warmth between them. They soon part from their kiss, huffing in the aftermath.
When they steadied their breaths from that, she rests her head back on his shoulder, “You are mine… and I am yours, my dear.”
Yes… and it would be as such to no end for those beings of death in that world. Quite the delight for the deity… and his angel.
Well, this kinda came out of nowhere... and now I feel conflicted about it. I did just do my 'perfect happy ending' story for Zen and Rei, and I immediately follow it up with a 'dark and edgy' AU which is basically a weird inverse of that same Good Ending. Now I feel 100% more trashy as a writer.
But regardless, I did make this as a sort of Evil Beginning in relation to that Good Ending. It basically comes down to 'What if Zhn was as heartless and malevolent as Chronos instead of being its benevolent human counterpart?'. And as he got fed up with doing his work, what would also happen to Niko when she eventually meets him upon her death in the year of 1999.
And this is the result, Zhn keeping her as his own personal item who could keep him company and vent her frustrations on the people she resents. And for those of you wondering, those 'Yasogami Girls' were not any of the P4 girls since that part would have occurred at some point during the mid-2000s.
