Story Notes:
If you are wondering about the title, I wrote the entire story with "Sir Whozzawatzit" as the main character's name, and Search + Replace'd it at the end. I couldn't think of a title, so I went with that. This is basically my first story, so I hope you enjoy it.
Heriotza
---
Makatza's howls had died down, but her anguish remained strong. Haritz's breath grew ragged. He reached his hand out and put it on her paw. She blinked out her tears and looked at him. He was speaking again. She couldn't understand the individual words, but she caught the gist. This was farewell.
There was no rain. The black of the night rested silently among the trees. A black robed figure stood there, invisible, but for the impression made upon the hearts of those close to him. It reached down.
Makatza could sense the figure, but it made no difference. She had known he was coming, just not in person. She felt it straighten once more, and turn to leave. In a few moments, she and Haritz would be separated. She closed her eyes.
No! She opened her eyes once again. Hell no! Haritz risked his life to save her! How could she fail to do the same? Standing up, despair forgotten, she rushed after the figure, into the fading void.
---
The void was absolute. This was where thought and comprehension would wither and die. This was where the darkness of sight met the darkness of sin, and was crushed. This was where the light of sight met the light of virtue, and faded to nothing. This was the realm Makatza stepped into.
Her first thought was of infinity. She had thought she had known infinity when she looked into the night sky. But now she understood; the universe could only hold so much. This realm of Death could soak up all of existence without pause. She shut her eyes, closing out the horrible and glorious sight.
She did not have to bear it for long. A wave of peace washed over her, and she opened her eyes. Her surroundings were different now. Although her surroundings still felt strange, she appeared to be in a forest again. In fact, if it weren't for the otherworldly feeling that permeated her being, she would have thought she was back in Ilex, or perhaps had never left. Interestingly enough, the afterlife had classified her and moved her to her own personal afterlife, even as she still lived.
It was a peaceful place. She thought for a while, and realized, she wouldn't mind spending an eternity here. This calmness, these surroundings, would be perfect after having experienced the rapid torrent of life. Compared to those violent rapids, this would be a welcome rest indeed.
But that was for later. She was young enough to still say she hadn't experienced life. Although fleeting, life is where one is defined. Defined by action. Life is where one fights to make an impact. Riding abreast that torrent is where one condenses their eternity of goals into a few meager decades. Right now, she wanted to live, and she wanted to live with Haritz.
---
Being alive, Makatza still had the flame of purpose in her soul. With it, she was able to transcend her own spot in the afterlife. The peace she had felt had calmed her, and hardened her nerves. When she re-entered infinity, she could bear the feeling, and pressed onward. She still didn't know where she was going, but she had no doubt she'd get there.
===
Why must we die?
The answer doesn't matter, has never mattered, and never will matter. Sadness, loneliness, pain and suffering dictate that. It is because the world is as it is that we must die, and it is because the world is as it is that we will question it endlessly. This is the reason Death exists.
A normal, healthy person does not think of the Grim Reaper as comforting. On the contrary, he fears him. But a dying person sees Death as proof that the end has come. The end of life, and pain. There is time to accept, and release, reality. Strange, then, that Death faces such animosity, such hate, from the still living. Even those who accept it as inevitable, even those who recognize it as an end to pain, still ask the question. Why must we die?
Death himself had grown tired of the question, and those who would ask it. He had long since stopped listening to the cries of the living, and confined himself solely to the dead.
---
Makatza sat at the door she knew led to her goal. She still had no idea how to proceed.
Her case was not strong. People died every day, for millions of reasons. Her case was not special, and there was no way to convince Death that it was.
Heck, she didn't even know if she could communicate with him. She was of a different species after all. Although, could Death even speak at all? Surely his clients never had anything to say.
She took a deep breath, and looked at the door again. Once challenge at a time.
She reached her paw out and scratched on the door. She waited for a while, and repeated. Still, no answer. She almost wished she was human, so she could just open the door herself and walk in. She scratched at the door again. Was Death on an 'errand'? Or was he just ignoring her? She kept scratching. Neither would be particularly strange. She assumed he had a lot of work to do. Still scratching.
An hour passed, and another. She had decided that if he wouldn't open the door, then, she would just scratch a hole in it and go in herself.
Thankfully, she didn't need to. Five hours after she had begun scratching, the door to the house opened.
---
Death paced a bit back and forth. The Mightyena sat there, staring at him.
"I have work to do, you know that." he said.
The Mightyena sat and stared.
"I can't just leave you in here. Look what you did to my door. I don't want you destroying everything else in here while I'm gone."
She cocked her head a little bit, as if she didn't understand.
"Whatever it is you want from me, you won't get."
More staring. Death grabbed his scythe.
"You see this doggie? I could kill you with this."
She stared at the scythe for a while, with a thoughtful expression on her face. She looked back at him, with very clear expression on her face. He understood it at once. It was saying to him "If you could, you would. Since you haven't, you won't".
He dropped it. She was right. His job wasn't that of a murderer. He was a guide. The scythe was mostly for appearance.
"What is it you want?"
The Mightyena cocked her head again, as if to ask, "You don't know?".
Again, she was right. He had only ever had anyone come to him for one purpose.
"You want someone alive again. You and a million others."
More staring.
"You can't expect me to do anything about it. Even if I wanted to, I can't."
The Mightyena cocked her head again.
"Well, the body is dead. There's nothing I can do about that. Even if I put the soul back in it would still be a corpse. Maybe if he had just died, I could have done something about it."
Finally, the Mightyena looked interested. She barked, twice.
"What?"
She walked in a circle for a moment, then, seemed to have an idea. She started gesturing, as well as she could.
First, she put her nose to her chest. Then, she dropped down, and played dead. She opened her eyes, and stood up slowly.
"I really wish I had some idea of what you just tried to say." Death said.
The wolf Pokemon was unperturbed. She started repeating her actions. Nose to the chest, and then looked up at Death.
"You? Something about you?"
She shook her head. Repeated it again.
"Someone close to you?"
She barked, then walked up, and pointed her nose at him.
"Me?"
Head shake
"Someone... Dead? The person who died?"
This time she barked. She went on to the next part. She lied down, and opened her eyes and stood up.
"What, bring him back alive? I told you, no. I can't do that"
She shook her head, and barked. Repeated the action. Suddenly, he understood what she meant.
"No."
---
Makatza and Death settled into a bit of a routine. Makatza would sit while Death went about his business, and Makatza would bark once whenever he dropped by his house.
In her eyes, the routine was fine. She wanted to get somewhere with it, for sure, but it seemed like it was working. Mostly because it did not seem to be working for Death.
For the first few days, Death put up with the barking. After that, he started trying to get rid of her. He threw her outside, and at least there the barking was muffled. A day or so passed, and she had a doggy door, scratched through the wood of his door.
Death tried a number of times to put her back into various afterlives, which, at first, worked for a little while. She became quite the expert at finding her way back, however, and soon, it didn't seem to matter if he threw her out or not, she would be back before he knew it.
He tried once putting her back in the living world. Things went normally for a few minutes, until he went to collect the soul of a Rattata, which was firmly clamped between the jaws of a very familiar Mightyena.
He was stuck with her.
---
Time passed. Makatza waited.
Death had begun to respect her. No others who had ever come to beg him had ever had such patience, or resolve. For the first time thousands of years, he pondered the question. "Why must we die?"
---
Makatza sat in front of Death once more. She looked at him, waiting for him to say something. Finally, he spoke.
"Why do I exist?"
She stared at him. This certainly wasn't what she was expecting!
"You made me ask myself again. Why must death exist? In life, meaning is discovered, existence means something. Meaning, value, happiness. But death is just a holding place. A bookshelf of finished stories, never to be read again. What purpose is there in that?"
He paused again, staring at her.
"You came here, and by your resolve demanded your way. If you can insist in forging your own life how you wish.... Then I will to. If there is no meaning in Death, then let me dabble in life. I will help you"
===Chapter End Notes:So yes. Feel free to rate this badly if you so desire. Like I said, I didn't like how I did with it very much
Makatza's howls had died down, but her anguish remained strong. Haritz's breath grew ragged. He reached his hand out and put it on her paw. She blinked out her tears and looked at him. He was speaking again. She couldn't understand the individual words, but she caught the gist. This was farewell.
There was no rain. The black of the night rested silently among the trees. A black robed figure stood there, invisible, but for the impression made upon the hearts of those close to him. It reached down.
Makatza could sense the figure, but it made no difference. She had known he was coming, just not in person. She felt it straighten once more, and turn to leave. In a few moments, she and Haritz would be separated. She closed her eyes.
No! She opened her eyes once again. Hell no! Haritz risked his life to save her! How could she fail to do the same? Standing up, despair forgotten, she rushed after the figure, into the fading void.
---
The void was absolute. This was where thought and comprehension would wither and die. This was where the darkness of sight met the darkness of sin, and was crushed. This was where the light of sight met the light of virtue, and faded to nothing. This was the realm Makatza stepped into.
Her first thought was of infinity. She had thought she had known infinity when she looked into the night sky. But now she understood; the universe could only hold so much. This realm of Death could soak up all of existence without pause. She shut her eyes, closing out the horrible and glorious sight.
She did not have to bear it for long. A wave of peace washed over her, and she opened her eyes. Her surroundings were different now. Although her surroundings still felt strange, she appeared to be in a forest again. In fact, if it weren't for the otherworldly feeling that permeated her being, she would have thought she was back in Ilex, or perhaps had never left. Interestingly enough, the afterlife had classified her and moved her to her own personal afterlife, even as she still lived.
It was a peaceful place. She thought for a while, and realized, she wouldn't mind spending an eternity here. This calmness, these surroundings, would be perfect after having experienced the rapid torrent of life. Compared to those violent rapids, this would be a welcome rest indeed.
But that was for later. She was young enough to still say she hadn't experienced life. Although fleeting, life is where one is defined. Defined by action. Life is where one fights to make an impact. Riding abreast that torrent is where one condenses their eternity of goals into a few meager decades. Right now, she wanted to live, and she wanted to live with Haritz.
---
Being alive, Makatza still had the flame of purpose in her soul. With it, she was able to transcend her own spot in the afterlife. The peace she had felt had calmed her, and hardened her nerves. When she re-entered infinity, she could bear the feeling, and pressed onward. She still didn't know where she was going, but she had no doubt she'd get there.
===
Why must we die?
The answer doesn't matter, has never mattered, and never will matter. Sadness, loneliness, pain and suffering dictate that. It is because the world is as it is that we must die, and it is because the world is as it is that we will question it endlessly. This is the reason Death exists.
A normal, healthy person does not think of the Grim Reaper as comforting. On the contrary, he fears him. But a dying person sees Death as proof that the end has come. The end of life, and pain. There is time to accept, and release, reality. Strange, then, that Death faces such animosity, such hate, from the still living. Even those who accept it as inevitable, even those who recognize it as an end to pain, still ask the question. Why must we die?
Death himself had grown tired of the question, and those who would ask it. He had long since stopped listening to the cries of the living, and confined himself solely to the dead.
---
Makatza sat at the door she knew led to her goal. She still had no idea how to proceed.
Her case was not strong. People died every day, for millions of reasons. Her case was not special, and there was no way to convince Death that it was.
Heck, she didn't even know if she could communicate with him. She was of a different species after all. Although, could Death even speak at all? Surely his clients never had anything to say.
She took a deep breath, and looked at the door again. Once challenge at a time.
She reached her paw out and scratched on the door. She waited for a while, and repeated. Still, no answer. She almost wished she was human, so she could just open the door herself and walk in. She scratched at the door again. Was Death on an 'errand'? Or was he just ignoring her? She kept scratching. Neither would be particularly strange. She assumed he had a lot of work to do. Still scratching.
An hour passed, and another. She had decided that if he wouldn't open the door, then, she would just scratch a hole in it and go in herself.
Thankfully, she didn't need to. Five hours after she had begun scratching, the door to the house opened.
---
Death paced a bit back and forth. The Mightyena sat there, staring at him.
"I have work to do, you know that." he said.
The Mightyena sat and stared.
"I can't just leave you in here. Look what you did to my door. I don't want you destroying everything else in here while I'm gone."
She cocked her head a little bit, as if she didn't understand.
"Whatever it is you want from me, you won't get."
More staring. Death grabbed his scythe.
"You see this doggie? I could kill you with this."
She stared at the scythe for a while, with a thoughtful expression on her face. She looked back at him, with very clear expression on her face. He understood it at once. It was saying to him "If you could, you would. Since you haven't, you won't".
He dropped it. She was right. His job wasn't that of a murderer. He was a guide. The scythe was mostly for appearance.
"What is it you want?"
The Mightyena cocked her head again, as if to ask, "You don't know?".
Again, she was right. He had only ever had anyone come to him for one purpose.
"You want someone alive again. You and a million others."
More staring.
"You can't expect me to do anything about it. Even if I wanted to, I can't."
The Mightyena cocked her head again.
"Well, the body is dead. There's nothing I can do about that. Even if I put the soul back in it would still be a corpse. Maybe if he had just died, I could have done something about it."
Finally, the Mightyena looked interested. She barked, twice.
"What?"
She walked in a circle for a moment, then, seemed to have an idea. She started gesturing, as well as she could.
First, she put her nose to her chest. Then, she dropped down, and played dead. She opened her eyes, and stood up slowly.
"I really wish I had some idea of what you just tried to say." Death said.
The wolf Pokemon was unperturbed. She started repeating her actions. Nose to the chest, and then looked up at Death.
"You? Something about you?"
She shook her head. Repeated it again.
"Someone close to you?"
She barked, then walked up, and pointed her nose at him.
"Me?"
Head shake
"Someone... Dead? The person who died?"
This time she barked. She went on to the next part. She lied down, and opened her eyes and stood up.
"What, bring him back alive? I told you, no. I can't do that"
She shook her head, and barked. Repeated the action. Suddenly, he understood what she meant.
"No."
---
Makatza and Death settled into a bit of a routine. Makatza would sit while Death went about his business, and Makatza would bark once whenever he dropped by his house.
In her eyes, the routine was fine. She wanted to get somewhere with it, for sure, but it seemed like it was working. Mostly because it did not seem to be working for Death.
For the first few days, Death put up with the barking. After that, he started trying to get rid of her. He threw her outside, and at least there the barking was muffled. A day or so passed, and she had a doggy door, scratched through the wood of his door.
Death tried a number of times to put her back into various afterlives, which, at first, worked for a little while. She became quite the expert at finding her way back, however, and soon, it didn't seem to matter if he threw her out or not, she would be back before he knew it.
He tried once putting her back in the living world. Things went normally for a few minutes, until he went to collect the soul of a Rattata, which was firmly clamped between the jaws of a very familiar Mightyena.
He was stuck with her.
---
Time passed. Makatza waited.
Death had begun to respect her. No others who had ever come to beg him had ever had such patience, or resolve. For the first time thousands of years, he pondered the question. "Why must we die?"
---
Makatza sat in front of Death once more. She looked at him, waiting for him to say something. Finally, he spoke.
"Why do I exist?"
She stared at him. This certainly wasn't what she was expecting!
"You made me ask myself again. Why must death exist? In life, meaning is discovered, existence means something. Meaning, value, happiness. But death is just a holding place. A bookshelf of finished stories, never to be read again. What purpose is there in that?"
He paused again, staring at her.
"You came here, and by your resolve demanded your way. If you can insist in forging your own life how you wish.... Then I will to. If there is no meaning in Death, then let me dabble in life. I will help you"
===Chapter End Notes:So yes. Feel free to rate this badly if you so desire. Like I said, I didn't like how I did with it very much