Death's Daughter First Draft

So bear with me, this was written in like 20 minutes so..... yeah. It's a story idea I'm playing around with, I may or may not continue writing this.

Everyone thinks they could cheat death at some time in their short lives. Some try and find ways to do it. They try to find the Fountain of Youth, they try and make a Philosopher’s Stone, but alas all attempts at immortality is a failure. No one can cheat death, no one.

But there is a tale of someone not cheating death, no they embraced it with open arms and instead of fighting the Grim Reaper, they gave him something. They gave him a child.

~~~~~

It was in the dead of winter, a young woman sat in the fetal position in an alleyway. The woman was shivering violently, a tattered dress and shawl being her only source of warmth. Her once pretty blonde curls lay tangled around her face, her face gaunt and green eyes sunken. A racking cough made her tip over as the force of her cough was to much for her body to bear. She cried out as the cold unforgiving cobblestone crashed into her side. She turned her body so her spine hit the cold stone, her head bashing into the sharp corner of a piece of stone. Warm blood trickled from a wound at her temple

The reason she had turned her body so was to protect the tiny bundle in her arms. Inside the bundle lay a babe, a small child not even six months old with a shock of blonde hair and wide green eyes that matched the woman’s. The baby opened her eyes and let out a wail as she felt her rough woolen blanket come undone and the biting cold invaded her only source of warmth. The woman immediately sat up, wiping her hair from her face as she rewrapped the blanket around her tiny child.

“N-n-no.. shhhh…. Hu-hush my little Pearl, hush it’s alright. Mother is here...” The woman shakily cooed to her infant daughter. As the babe’s cries lessened, she shifted her bare feet under her and held the tiny girl close to her chest. She shivered so violently she could barely sit up straight and her fingers and toes were turning blue. She knew he would come for her soon, the Grim Reaper. She could only hope that he would be kind and grant her last wish.

As if on command, as the woman’s vision faded slowly into black; there was a swirling of darkness before her and the Grim Reaper himself stepped from the shadows.

As the stories had always said, he was tall and swathed in a tattered black cloak. His face was cloaked in darkness but the empty sockets of his eyes glowed a soft red. He held his scythe in his right hand, the large curved blade glittering in the flickering light of the street lamps. He didn't say anything; just simply extended a hand towards the woman.

The woman shakily put her free hand under her body and pushed, leaning heavily against the brick wall behind her. She clutched the baby to her chest as she struggled to stay upright. As she opened her mouth, her vision swimming with spots, she held the bundle out to the Reaper.

“Please.” She croaked, “Please take my child, raise her.” She broke into a fit of coughing but didn't falter.

~~~~~

For the first time ever in history, the Reaper recoiled. He withdrew his hand, gliding back from the woman a pace. The woman’s eyes were weak, her whole body trembling but she continued to hold the small child out to the cloaked personification of Death.

Why did this woman hand such a thing to him? With all of the knowledge that Death possessed, he hadn’t the slightest idea. Everyone had a fear of death so why didn’t she?

Death’s thoughts were broken by the small cries of the baby. Bright green eyes filled with tears and they bore into Death’s own empty eyes. Hesitation made Death pause. He had taken the souls of many, countless infants like this one so why did he hesitate?

“A question for another time.” Death thought to himself as he came to his decision.

He reached out and took the babe in one cold, pale hand, cradling the small child in his large cloak. The woman smiled as he raised his massive scythe,

“Thy time has come to an end, pure light hast thou brought to this dark world. I give thee passage to the realm of souls to be fairly judged and put to rest.” His voice seemed both quiet and loud at the same time. The Reaper’s words rang into the silence, the words being followed with the hiss of his Scythe slicing through the air.

It hit the woman, passing through her as if she were a mirage. She let her tears fall, the smile still ever present.

“Thank you Lord Death.” She whispered and closed her eyes as her skin turned gray, her body crumbling and dissolving into the air as ashy dust. Nothing physical was left of the woman, only a glowing white orb that pulsed with light once before disappearing.

The Grim Reaper was left with the baby that had stopped crying. He looked down to the child as she stared up at him with fascination. He leaned down, letting a single breath of air escape his lips and pass over the child. He watched as her hair turned a glimmering silver and her eyes turned a deep blood red.

The baby seemed undisturbed by this change, instead reaching up to the Reaper and touching his face with tiny hands. They caught on the edge of his cloak and the baby girl gurgled happily, showing the Reaper a toothless grin. For the first time in a millennia, the Reaper let a smile curl his lips as he turned and with the child, disappear into the shadows.