Death rolled her eyes and leaned back.

“Still as much of an idiot as always, I see. And don’t call me darling, you weirdo.”

I grinned and slowly pushed myself up from the soft cushions of the couch I was laying on.

“Hmmm, so does this mean I died? But we’re not at your place….”

Indeed, I was back in the usual pavilion of Fate’s, not the room I returned to whenever I died, which was Death’s office. Fate popped into my field of vision, a grin on her face as she handed me a cup of juice.

“That’s because you’re not dead, we were just having some snacks together when you fell unconscious. Dee-chan wanted to ridicule how stupid you were, so she decided to stay and wait for you to wake up~”

Death, or Dee for short, nodded, a smirk on her face.

“Your overly sensitive ear drums were badly damaged by the natural noise of the city just because you refused to wake up. I can’t wait to see how you explain this one to your mortal friends~”

Groaning, I slumped back onto couch and stared up at the sparkling white ceiling of the pavilion.

“Ah, sometimes I surprise even myself with the new ways I find to embarrass myself….Well, at least I didn’t die, there are a lot more things I’ve planned to do in this world…..Fufuuuu”

Poking a finger into my forehead, Death smirked down at me.

“Nice try, there’s no way I’m letting this drop so easily. You know, the mortals were wondering if you were attacked by a sound spell, they were confused because even though you had previously been in the capital for a bit, any enemies you had wouldn’t have been able recognize you in your….Kekekekeke, Puppy form~”

She snapped her fingers and my field of view changed in a flash. I growled unhappily as Dee’s slim white hands lifted my small furry form into the air. My growl died off as she held me close and started to stroke my fur.

“Really, you’re just too cute in this form, your furs so soft too…...I’ll definitely revive this body as my pet once you finally die….”

Oooh, this is the closest Death has ever let me get to her….her petting technique is really good too…...Mnnnnn, it’s not making me feel nauseous at all, so nice…...Ah, but even though her necromancer side is cute, I don’t want anything, even one of my old bodies, to become a new rival for Dee’s attention…...I already have enough trouble as it is! Note to self, when I die in this world, make sure the entire body is completely destroyed!

Eh!? The belly!? No one’s tried to pet there….Ahhhhhhhhh, Heaven…...have I finally broke past your gates like I’ve been trying for years? So g-gooooooddddd, more please…..I couldn’t move an inch even if I want too…...Mnnnnn, so warm and nice…...soft…….

“Ah, Felix, where are you going!?”

………

Warmth wound itself around me once more, my being morphing back into it’s original form. I opened my eye to stare into soft light instead of darkness, fully in control of my body this time.

“Who are you? What were you talking about last time!? What have I forgotten? Why did you bring me here again? I was finally getting some attention from Death!”

I received no answer.

I felt my eyes shut and my anger washed away under a new wave of warmth. It filled every inch my body and I unwillingly felt myself begin to drift into sleep….Hmm, but can you really fall asleep when you’re already technically sleeping?

Caught up in the interesting question, my mind resisted the pull of sleep for a moment, but the darkness soon rose up through my mind once again and I drifted away into the mortal dreamscape of sleep.

…………

‘It’ watched the hovering form of the ‘Key’ for a moment, making sure the consciousness was properly unaware and dreaming, before gently drawing the ‘Key’ closer. Sometimes it knew the answers to the questions the ‘Key’ asked, other times they were gone, scattered once more amongst the existence of ‘everything’. More was beginning to stay though, ‘It’s’ mind gathering together in preparation of ‘The End’, it’s ‘Body’ growing weary as the ‘Mind’ sharpened. Last time, ‘It’ had gathered enough to send a warning to the ‘Key’, but now ‘It’ couldn’t remember why. It had something to do with the current ‘Cycle’, yes…… ‘It’ had tried something new…..for the ‘Key’, yes, because the ‘Key’ was in pain…….and the ‘Key’ was ‘It’s’ only…..friend….

“Yes…..because the ‘Key’ pays the biggest price…...for ‘Me’......I wanted to give the ‘Key’.......peace….for a bit...”

Yes, that must be why things seemed…...off. The ‘Key’ had never lived through a cycle in this ‘state’ before….there was no need to worry. Everything was fine.

…………..

Dee stared down in surprise at her now empty hands, Felix had just…..vanished. Fate sighed and plopped down beside her on the couch, unconcerned.

“Ara, that happens sometimes, Felix’s mind is quite bizarre, as you’d expect. I can’t ever get a good grasp on it, so when I sometimes bring it to this realm, it can slip away at any moment….He seemed to be really enjoying himself at the moment so it’s a bit strange...but I think even Felix doesn’t completely understands what’s going on inside his head……...It certainly has been like that for me lately…..”

Straightening to attention, Death grabbed one of Fate’s shoulders and tugged her to face her.

“You’ve been having visions as well?”

Fate blinked in surprise at Dee’s sudden intensity.

“I always have visions…...but I’m guessing that’s not what you mean…..”

She shook her head in confirmation.

“One moment I’ll be doing paperwork at my desk or judging a high level soul, the next, I’m somewhere else, as someone who’s me, but not me at the same time…..it’s like what I’d imagine dreaming to be like….”

Fate’s expression turned unusually serious.

“Nnnnnn, I haven’t had anything like that, but I’ll start feeling sleepily and then suddenly wake up with a lapse of time missing where I have no idea what happened…...Ah, and the voice has been a lot more frequent as well….”

Death tilted her head in confusion.

“Voice? You haven’t told me about anything like that before….”

Fate shrugged.

“Eh, it just pops in and tells me to do something sometimes. The result has always been quite interesting so it’s fine~”

….Death scooted a little away from Fate.

“I knew you had a few screws loose, but I didn’t know it was this bad…….Anyways, do you think something is happening?”

Pouting at the swipe at her level of sanity, Fate closed the distance between her and Dee and plopped her head on Death’s lap so she was looking directly up at her face.

“Ara, I don’t know, nothing I’ve seen seems that bad…..Everything has actually been pretty dull lately, well, except for Felix’s current world~......But I guess I should start looking into it….umb, boulb byou leb gob ob my nobse?”

Dee’s fingers tightened on Fate’s nose and pulled.

“Itbah, owb!owb!owb!”

“Get your head off my lap first. Also, you were having blackouts and hearing voices and didn’t think it was important enough to already look into!? You control some major forces, some crazy things could happen during your blackouts.”

In the processing of removing her head from Death’s lap Fate’s face blanched.

“Ah!? You mean I could have missed something interesting during my blackouts!? This is terrible…..”

Dee shoved her head the rest of the way up and then slapped her in the forehead.

“Idiot!!!!!You should be more concerned about mass destruction and the like!!! No wonder you and Felix get along so well…….Well, there hasn’t been any influx of souls, so nothing bad should have happened…..”

Fate flopped over on her back, rubbing her forehead.

“Owwwww! Hey, how can you say Felix and I get together, he always bullies me!”

“Eh? But don’t you enjoy getting bullied?”

“No!”

Dee raised a delicate black eyebrow.

“........Really?”

“........guh…..”

Fate’s shoulder’s slumped slightly.

“I thought so.”

Dee gave a triumphant smirk. Fate shoved a foot against Death’s thigh.

“It’s not like I have any other way to relieve my boredom, whenever I try to turn the tables it just turns out worse for me……...”

Dee gave an uncharacteristic giggle.

“Ah yes, it’s quite amusing to watch~”

Fate snorted.

“Yeah, you can only laugh like that because Felix lets you walk all over him with nothing more than a few complaints, it’s not fair!”

“Hmmm, that true….. You know, he claims he loves me, that’s probably why. But even if so, I’ve made it clear that I don’t want anything to with a weirdo like him….It’s a bit strange I guess….but no matter what I do, I get the feeling that he won’t do anything mean to me?”

Fate sighed sadly.

“Ah, you’re so lucky…….but I suppose I wouldn’t like that guy showing love towards me either…..En, just imagining it gives me chills…..but what happened to make him love you so much?”

Dee shrugged.

“No idea, all of the sudden he just started professing his love for me…...I wouldn’t surprised if even Felix didn’t understand why he holds affection for me…….which may explain why although he clearly has a soft spot for me, I’ve always gotten the feeling that he doesn’t actually want me to return his feeling…...If not for that, I might have………...”

“Ah, yeah…..that seems like it might be right, considering the way Felix’s brain works…...Wanna cookie?”

Dee took one of the sweet shortbread cookies from the plate proffered by Fate.

“En, thanks.”

…………..

Arvid: Boss!.......Boss! Wake up!

Felix: Guh, shut up…..

The throbbing mass of pain that was my head certified that I was no longer sleeping, as much as I wished otherwise right now…….and holding back the urge to sneeze in this state is quite a painful thing to do, though actually sneezing would undoubtable be worse………...but as expected, Dee is probably saying some good things about me, right?..........En, no doubt about it, so the effort on my part is probably worth it…..

Arvid: Boss……

Misty: Yeah, whatever you're thinking, I have a feeling it’s wrong…

Felix: …..