FicWad

The two characters involved are:

Death:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_(Sandman)
Blink:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink_(comics) (Origional)

Mentioned:
Husk:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Husk_(comics)
Harvest:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_Covenant

Crossing Over

Clarice is in pain, pure and simple. The blink wave had literally shattered her only to put her back together in a place she did her best not to look at. It isn't Hell she doesn't think. If it was that idiot Harvest would be here. When she opens her eyes though it feels like she is opening her eyes underwater, but instead of water she is floating free in a sea of color. She realizes not long after arriving that she can't breathe and after a few very painful minutes realizes that for some reason here she doesn't need to.

She shuts her eyes and tries to imagine herself anywhere but here. The quiet formless void of what she will come to call limbo for lack of anything else to call it. She gets the feeling that despite not needing to breathe that she is still alive, like something had put her aside for later.

After a period of time she didn't even bother to measure she feels everything around her lurch. Her whole body is hit with pain and for some reason she opens her eyes. Before her is a portal through which she can see a room, quite messy but still a room. Anxious to escape Clarice swims through the color and manages to get one hand through the portal before the portal engulfs her. For one surprised second she is in the air of this new area before landing on her stomach on the floor with a loud thud.

Wincing she curls up clutching her stomach cursing her curiosity before she freezes hearing footsteps. Looking around for somewhere to hide Clarice decides to hide behind a recliner hoping she can sneak out when the person leaves the room.

When Clarice sees the person come into the room she is puzzled. A fairly short lady with odd black hair (that looks like she brushes it once maybe every third day) and black clothes walks by the chair before crashing down in it making the back bonk Clarice on the head. Trying her best to suppress a yelp Clarice winces and tries to ignore the new throbbing in her head.

"I will give you this, whoever you are, getting whacked in the skull is usually enough to make anyone make some noise."

Clarice sighed and crawled out from behind the chair sitting down on the floor amongst all the boxes and for the first time gets a good look at the lady who's apartment she literally crashed into. "Sorry about hiding, but I have no clue where I am and didn't want to startle you." She looks at the lady in the chair noticing right off that she is fairly pale complected and that apart from all the black she wears just one piece of jewelery, an odd cross.

The lady just chuckles and nods. "While I thank you for trying to look out for me it is impossible for anyone to come in here without my knowledge. That being said though this is the first time someone has come here that I don't know. I thought I had meet everyone but I would remember meeting you. Who are you and how did you get here?"

Clarice blinked and shrugged, "I honestly am not sure myself how I managed to come here. I was on a ship fighting a Phalanx called Harvest and I ended up, I think, killing him with my powers. After that I ended up in this...place." Clarice shuddered remembering the formless sea of color she had been in. "I don't know how to describe it other than color as far as the eye could see all mixing and swirling and nothing else. After ages being stuck there something happened, it felt like an earthquake. I opened my eyes and saw a portal that led here and took a chance."

The lady nodded though she still looked quite puzzled. "Well it's obvious you don't belong here. I should know as I meet everyone at least once if not twice. I have a idea of where you came from but I will have to ask someone. Look for now there is nothing you can do and no where to go. I wouldn't suggest opening the door over there as it just leads to another void. There is a shower beyond the kitchen and your outfit will be clean when you come out. I'm going to go check out something."

With that the lady got up and went out the front door leaving a bewildered Clarice wondering what to do. Curious she went up and opened the door to find...nothing. It wasn't black so much as nothing there. Putting her hand out only made it get swallowed by the dark which made her yank it back in quickly and study her hand a few moments before accepting that everything was OK. Clarice shut the door and deciding to play along made her way back to the shower.

Looking out from the void the lady watches as Clarice's curiosity gets the better of her and sighs when she sees her try and touch the darkness. "Well that pretty much seals that deal." Turning around she looks at a row of seven picture frames. Touching the book on the first one she says "Brother Destiny, It's Death. I have a bit of a problem that I suspect you know more about than I do. Will you talk to me?"

A voice from apparently behind the book responds, "Of course sister." With that Death enters her brothers world.

The garden is looking very well kept considering no one ever does any work on it. It in fact keeps itself up to shape which Death always admired. Now only if she could get her apartment to start cleaning itself. She finds Destiny at the center of his garden and smiles in the unchanging serenity of Destiny. Destiny is, as always, holding his book. The Book of Destiny in which every moment of time is written down.

"I assume you know what my problem is, do you know who she is?"

Destiny's book opens and the pages begin to flutter before landing on a certain page. "As you know sister I can only tell you so much. Your hunch is correct that the battle between realities is what brought the girl here. Apparently the "brother" of her reality thought her power would be useful and put her "on the shelf" to be used later should he need her. Unfortunately when the barrier was broken and the "brothers" saw each other several tears between the worlds opened and some people crossed over. Clarice Ferguson is her name and she is a humanoid with the power of spatial disruption. Since she is young her power is not refined and in trying to protect her friends she unleashed her power more than she ever had attempted before. The result killed the creature she was fighting and should've killed her as well but she was sent to a pocket dimension to be used later."

Death nods. The "brother" of this reality had done such things as well over the ages, and though she despised it she no longer questions it. "You realize she has touched the void of my domain. She cannot go back after touching death."

Destiny lowers his head "Yes, her fate is now tied to this reality. She will never be able to go back. You must make this reality easy for her. Even though her fate is bound to this reality her powers still can disrupt things."

Death looks at her brother a bit puzzled. "Surely her power couldn't do anything to us?"

"Not to us sister no, but look at what a version of her in one of the many multi-verses of her reality managed to accomplish."

Destiny points to a tear in realities that has manifested in his garden and Death sees Clarice fighting a being checkered in black and white. After hitting the being with a wave of her power her body begins to take on the colors of the other entity ending up a mix of black and white.

"The being she has usurped was a guardian of the balance between order and chaos. She will go on to manipulate the world she came from justifying it in her mind that she is doing good until she undoes the event that brought her there to begin with. While she will release control back to the entity she will end up destroying a world before she does. She has the power, if she harnesses it, to travel anywhere. We will need to keep her on a short leash for a while."

Death nods looking down and feeling quite worried. She knows that Clarice can't harm her or the other endless. But what if she got out?

Clarice stands in the shower relishing in the feeling it gives her. She hasn't FELT anything in...how long? Even if she did ask her strange hostess what year it was here, who's to say that is what the year in her own world is? She is really starting to despise this multi-world stuff. Why can't she just find another portal and go home?

Clarice stops for a second thinking as the water pounds over her body. ~Why can't I make a portal? That one I came through was preceeded by a bad jolt. Could my powers do the same thing?~

Getting over excited Clarice turns and puts a foot out the door making a loud YEEP.

In Destiny's garden Death chuckles to herself having heard the sound. Her brother looks at her with a worried look. "This would be a good time for a chuckle sister if the thought that produced it hadn't been so dire."

Death blinks and lowers her head "She's going to try isn't she?"

Destiny nods, "I think its best if we continue this later before she does permanent damage". Death nods and makes her way back to her realm. Destiny watches her go as the pages flitter in his book, some with wording and some blank.

Clarice, having recovered from the shock of stepping from a hot shower to a cold floor, is drying herself off and trying to figure out how this can work. If she does it right she can make it back to her world and everything will be OK.

As she slips back into her uniform (which now looks brand new) she hears the door to the apartment shut. Cursing under her breath she hears her hostess voice through the door.

"If your done and presentable, I have some food ready for you. You'll need it for what you're planning to do."

Clarice froze. How could she know what she was thinking? Clarice stopped to consider that realistically she didn't know a damn thing about her. As she opened the door she could hear a crowd, though not a live one. She had watched enough TV in her time to know what one sounds like. As Clarice walks into the living room she sees her hostess sitting in her chair again and goes to sit on a couch she hadn't noticed before. Before her was a platter with various sandwiches, PB&J, grilled cheese, butter and jelly an many other types. Smiling at having such a variety of food to eat after going so long with nothing, Clarice reaches for the eternal favorite of PB&J and takes a bite.

Death smiles and watches Clarice. "I'm glad to see in your world PB&J is a favorite, it is here to."

Clarice smiles and nods. She spots a glass of milk and a pitcher of it next to the sandwiches and reaches for the glass. Its then she notices, not only is her hostess not eating she is watching TV. Clarice turns to look and sees a figure VERY well known in her world the Incredible Hulk talking to someone named Lois Lane?

Lois: So Hulk you have been paired up with Superman in you fight, How do you feel about that?

Hulk: Well to be honest, I don't know what to feel. I have heard of him through the Avengers and they all said if we ever met it would be a long, destructive fight. I hope they are wrong, or that the people running this show move us somewhere safe. Once the bell sounds I won't hold back and I suspect he won't either.

Lois:And that, whoever is listening, was the Incredible Hulk. the odds makers have Superman as only a slight favorite in their match up, but time will tell."

Death hit a button on the remote turning the TV off. Clarice looked at her and swallowed what food she has in her mouth before asking "What did you do that for?"

Death looks at her and shrugs, "Because the thought of people betting on which reality will be destroyed makes my stomach turn. The most cosmic event of any age is happening and all they can think to do is gamble? I grant you there is nothing else to do. This one is out of even my hands, but I don't like it."

Clarice looks at her hostess. She had definitely caught her attention with the words "even out of my hands". Deciding there is no better time she asks "Who are you?"

Death smiles. "What is it about people. The never ask who I am unless they have something in their mouth? Are you sure you want to know?"

Clarice gulped. She had to as she needed to swallow to get the food down to answer. As she opens her mouth though something in her mind clicks. ~What if I won't like the answer?~ Stubborn though she asks, setting her food and drink down. "Well it would help to have a name to put to the face."

Death nods and seeing as how the girl had wisely set her meal down decided to satisfy her curiosity. "Well if you must have an answer then, I am this universe's version of Death."

Clarice just blinked. What do you do when someone says that? Not many things train you for an event that would basically run "Hi I'm Death, care some milk and sandwiches?" Clarice laughs at her thought making Death grin at her. "What's so funny?"

Clarice tries to compose herself. "I don't know. I just find it funny to think of Death as so polite. Nothing can prepare you for that."

Death chuckles and nods "Yeah I guess there isn't anything in the handbook about that is there?"

Clarice shakes her head. "So now that the joke is over, who are you?"

Death goes dead calm, which makes Clarice instantly uncomfortable. Why does she get the very sinking feeling that the lady was telling the truth?

Death leans closer staring into the eyes of Clarice. "Listen, I will only say this once. I am the personification of Death in this reality. To come here and embrace my touch is to mean you NEVER leave. Getting the point?"

A cold feeling hits Clarice in he gut. She touched the void outside. It had left her very uncomfortable. "I..I'm not FROM here though. I CAN'T STAY." Clarice jumps up and, fueled by panic and adrenalin, channels all her energy into one spot. A huge BLINK is felt with the wave rippling through the apartment. It's now Death's turn to hold her head as the blast sent her flying into the wall. On instinct she seals the portal Clarice has made before she can enter it. Clarice being ever stubborn jumps at the portal and curses when she bounces off.

Death stands up and winces. When this is all cleared up she is taking a nice bath. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Even if you manage to get back to your world, you died in THIS one. You are now part of this universe."

Clarice turns and stares Death down which makes Death realize the girl has no pupils, just white. Nothing she hasn't seen before but that, the almost tattoo like markings on her face, as well as the lavender color to her skin must have made her a very easy target for cruelty. She can see the power in Clarice, and this frightens her.

"I DON'T WANT THIS WORLD! I WANT MY WORLD. WHY ARE YOU STOPPING ME??!"

Death could see this was going no where fast. She could also tell a temper tantrum when she saw one and went with a corse of action she found very useful in these situations. Stumbling over to Blink she gave her a tight hug.

Clarice stops and for a second is about ready to hit her with a blink wave that would shatter the apartment. Her rage though starts to turn to grief as she realizes, not only is Death correct but that she is trying to help the girl affectionately called Blink to realize you can't always go home again. Clarice sinks to her knees bringing Death down with her and starts to sob loudly. Death for her part closes her eyes (which is a relief) and runs her hand along Clarice's back.

"I'm sorry. I tried to warn you. I won't lie and say it won't hurt, but if it's any consolation your Death did accomplish something."

Clarice sniffs and looks at Death with a puzzled expression. Death smiles and stands up taking Clarice by the hand and leading her to the couch and grabbing the remote. Chuckling she points it at the portal Clarice has summoned.

She can see them! Those are...were...her teammates! They are fighting someone who looks like an extra from a Star Wars movie. "They do their best to become a team, to honor you sacrifice to keep them alive. What would happen if you would walk in and say "Oh hi guys". They would have questioned you on why you didn't return sooner? What was it like? and so on."

Clarice looks at Death a bit confused. "So that is happening now?

Death shakes her head "No this happened about a year ago. You haven't been away for to long overall, though things have been turned upside down with the battle and all."

Clarice nods wanting to ask but not wanting to know. "Would you like to see what your friends are up to?" Clarice closed her eyes and lowered her head. "Would it be stupid to say I don't know? I mean yeah it would be cool to see that everyone is OK, but what if..."

Death had heard this one MANY times. There were people Clarice cared for in that team, some maybe more than others. It's hard to move on, and even harder to see that others have.

"Well is there anyone that you would be worried about? We could always check on them first."

Clarice shakes her head and turns the portal off making it shrink into a dot and poof, similar to how a TV shuts down. "There is one person who stands out, the only one to try and stop me from going after Harvest. But she has probably forgotten me."

Death nods. "Did you know her enough to love her? Or did that part happen in between there and here?"

Clarice's eyes water as she shuts them trying to ignore the feeling that has hit her stomach. She cannot remember much from that except Paige's cry to try and stop her. She sounded desperate to stop Blink, but why? She barely knew her. And what would prevent her from just being nasty to her later?

Clarice lowers her head to her hands and tried to gan her composure, rather ineffectively. Death leans over and takes Clarice in her arms trying to comfort the young girl. She knows this will be hard for Clarice, even more so because she can never again be with the person she loves. Or can she?

Death moves her hand under Clarice's chin lifting her face up. "Do you honestly love her?"

Clarice stops to think on this. she knows this is a VERY big question, or Death wouldn't ask it. After a moment she nods. "I believe so. But what good does that do? I seriously doubt she is a lesbian, she oogles boys to much."

Death laughs. she hadn't heard that phrase before. "Oogles huh?"

Clarice grins understanding the reason now for the laughter and wipes a tear from her eye. "Oh yeah, She has all the makings of a bad flirt. She is just the opposite of me in that respect."

Death looks at her a bit puzzled. "How can you say that. You realize you were about to break the laws of two universes to get back to her. I would say that is a definite see what you like attitude."

Clarice hadn't thought of it like that. She smiles and turns her head giving Death a unexpected kiss on the cheek. "Thanks."

"For what?" Death asks trying to pretend the kiss didn't catch her off guard. One thing in Death's line of work is that usually getting kissed is not something people want to do to her when they find out their time is up.

"For helping me see it's OK. Besides, Paige has to die sometime, and maybe then I can see her again."

Death felt a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Did everything she had told Clarice just go in one ear and out the other? "Clarice...You know she can't come here. Not unless I take her."

Clarice was determined to be stubborn though. "But she would be dead! How would me gong to her in one Death realm to another hurt anything?"

Death sighed. "For one thing you don't know WHERE she will end up. Suppose she ends up in Hell? Could you stand to see her then? Would you be selfish enough to want to see or hold her knowing that you are giving her hope she will probably not be able to hold onto? Or what if she goes to Heaven? Knowing how you feel and knowing that this version of you cannot be with her permanently could end up perverting that Heaven. Could you do that to her?"

The truth was finally out in front of her. Death or life as far as her universe was concerned Clarice was gone.

"I'm sorry." Clarice says.

Before Death can respond Clarice has turned and grabbed her head. A jolt of fear runs through Death remembering the power this girl has before she gets locked in a very tight kiss. Putting her hands on Clarice's she moves them from her waist to her hips and hugs the young girl. She knows the kiss isn't for her, its the one she would give Paige, if she could. Death doesn't mind though, she has been given "the last kiss" before too. It is one of her favorite moments.

Destiny watches the pages as they come back to normal, all he pages full of life and secrets from around the universe. Reading on he knows what the outcomes will be and makes his necessary preparations. As he walks he sees the last page with Death and Blink Hugging on the couch and holding hands as they watch the events unfold on Death's TV.