She was clad all in black from tip to toe. Most was a black so dark that it was nearly impossible to tell shape and form within it. She wore a white porcelain mask with a carmine bow of painted lips. She was unreal. She was real. She was the goddess to whom all must answer.

She was Death.

She was not taking her sibling if Sno could fucking help it.

“You can’t take him,” she argued. “He’s not dead.”

The thing that looked like a woman tilted that unearthly pale mask that could have been her face. “He is close,” she whispered. The spectre of Death never has to shout. It has never needed to. “He lives… only because it is too much bother to die.”

“True,” said Koko, held safe in her arms.

“You’re not helping, baby bro,” said Sno. “We’re fighting for your life, here.”

The man known as Kravitz, lately revealed as a Reaper stood between them. “My Queen. Please. He has paid enough and more than enough for what he has wrought. What would taking him to the Eternal Stockade remedy?”

“He has disrupted the flow of life and death,” she whispered.

“Rearranged,” said Koko. “I rearranged it.”

The white mask turned. Its empty eye holes failed to intimidate. “You. Dare?” she whispered.

“Yeah. You got it wrong, there, birdie.” Only someone who had no emotion could dare talk to the Raven Queen like that. He could not fear because he had no love left. Not for his life, not for anyone else’s. “I rearranged the flow. Like. Weirs, dams, and canals kind’a thing. Listen. Everyone alive still has the chance to donk things up so bad they beef it. Meanwhile, if they look after themselves, they could live as long as an Elf. It’s not immortality. It’s… It’s making everyone’s race the same distance.”

The living shadow moved, and Sno flinched him away. “He’s only thirty. He’s practically a baby! If you take him before he dies, you’re just as bad a criminal as you say he is!” Sno took out her wand. She’d seen what had happened to all the others who tried to use their powers to fight the Raven Queen, but she took it out anyway. If this bitch was going to take Koko, it was going to be over her dead body. “Back. Off.”

“Why’re you even fighting for me?” said Koko. “It’s not like I could ever be happy anyway…”

There was the sound of knitting needles…

Another figure was present in this space. A figure of veils and rainbows and eternally clicking needles that ravelled together the threads of fate. If she had eyes, none could focus on them, yet she saw all.

“Do not snap this thread, Raven. My weave has changed. So many paths are altered. He is the crux.”

Those who were conscious there all said, “What?” in turn. That included the Raven Queen.

“He has forestalled the end of the world. He has reversed the path of the great ruin. We must help this child.”

“What?” said Koko.

The bristle of onyx feathers around the Raven Queen’s collar flattened and the gigantic shadow shrank. “You claim him as yours?”

“I do,” said Istus.

“Then we shall see the echo of the wound in his soul,” whispered the Raven Queen. “We shall see what can be done… to heal it.”

Sno still had her wand aimed at the black figure. “You hurt him, I kill you.”

“You… may certainly try…” She had long, black talons instead of hands. “I will not harm him. I will not take him. You have… my promise.”

Istus said, “I shall keep him safe.”

Of the two, Sno trusted Istus a little more. She lowered her wand, and relaxed her guard on Koko. The kid remained where he was, as apathetic as he had been for five entire years.

Threads sprang out of both Istus’ knitting and Koko’s body. Beautiful things of every hue, in a tangle that was impossible to follow with a mortal eye. Long black talon and elegant finger both traced the knots. A discussion occurred in a language Sno could not comprehend.

They were… bickering? It was certainly an animated huddle. Fingers pointed to one crucial spot, just as Lulu recovered enough to shakily sit up. Istus summoned something that looked almost like a crochet hook and made a few deft moves.

“What’re you doing to my baby brother?”

The threads returned to their origin point. Koko was weeping. “Lulu… Lulu, you’re okay?”

Lulu launched herself at him. “You’re back! You’re back, I can feel it! You’re back…”

“I’m back,” he said. “But… the spell? Did you break it?”

“No,” whispered the Raven Queen. “Your work is intact.”

“All I did was stop the source now that it’s no longer needed,” said Istus. “Mortals. You all think it’s all or nothing with things. Don’t. Remember that you need to stop and breathe.”

Kravitz was murmuring in the Raven Queen’s ear. Or maybe the side of her head. It was hard to tell. “Yes,” she breathed. “You have not had any time for yourself… you may go, though I may call on you if I have need.”

Koko breathed. Shaky, uneven breaths. Loaded with emotion. His mismatched eyes were heavy with tears. His face didn’t know what to do. “Mom… Mama… Mags… Everyone… Is everyone okay?”

Sno almost crushed him in her hug. Lulu was right. He was back. Back to the sensitive, caring, loving kid he had been when he became so upset with mortality that he wanted to change the entire world.

Sno had never been so happy to have that Koko back.

[TAZ Prompts Remaining: 3]

[Be sure to visit internutter (dot) org for details on how to support this artist]