He sees Vitae again 200 years later.

He's honestly surprised- usually it takes around 1,000 or so before he sees another spirit, and that's if he's lucky. 3,000 to 5,000 is more common, if he's being honest.

This was... A pleasent surprise, he decided.

"I remember I used to be like the others," Vitae said randomly that day. "With my opinions on death." Mortem raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?" He asked. "What changed your mind?" Vitae frowned.

"There was a disease going around- a horrible one really, Phlá used to be so much more creative- about... Oh, it was such a long time ago, I don't remember the exact date," Vitae sat down in the grass and gestured for Mortem to do the same. The ancient spirit frowned but did as his counterpart asked.

"Point is, all I could remember was how miserable everyone was with life," Vitae continued, paying no heed that the grass around Mortem was dying in his wake. "It was a horrible time, and people were only happy when they were dying." Mortem frowned.

"It was because they were leaving the pain behind," Life explained. "They left the pain behind and moved on to somewhere better. And it was all thanks to you." He chuckled morbidly, and Death started, unused to hearing such a sound come from the usually bubbly spirit.

"That's one time I'll never forget," he said quietly. "Most people think life brings happiness and death brings sadness... But then, at that time, the two were reversed." Death gave his counterpart a sideways look.

"I guess life isn't all it's cracked up to be then, eh?" He asked, not worried about offending the other. He'd found that the two of them had a bit of a mind-meld- something about them being so dissimilar they were nearly identical, or something like that. Death didn't really understand it.

But he had to admit, it came in handy- he could always tell when Vitae wasn't feeling his best.

"-I'm not perfect," the Spirit of Life ranted another couple hundred years later. "I can't help it if I accidentally cut off the flow of life energy to someone's eyes or ears when they're born. It's not easy, after all. So tedious," he inhaled deeply. "And I can't help it when their chakras are blocked either. But for some reason, everyone associates that with me, even though-"

"-it's not your job?" Mortem finished. He chuckled at the shocked look he recieved. "Don't forget who you're talking to, Vitae. Being blamed for things I can't control is kind of my forte." Life blushed.

"I knew that," he mumbled dejectedly, kicking a stray rock away. Death watched in fascination as moss rapidly formed over the smooth surface where the Spirit of Life's skin had made contact.

He wasn't the only one with this fascination, either, it seemed. He's lost track of how many times he's caught Vitae staring in awe as the plant life around him shriveled up and died- why, he wasn't so sure.

"I just- I never see things die," Life confessed. "Same as you never see the creation of life. It's new, and therefore it captures my interest."

Death snorted. Life was a simple creature, deep down, it seemed.

Then again, he was the same way, so who was he to judge?

(translations:
mortem: death (latin)
vitae: life (latin)
phlá: plague (irish)