~ Many Centuries Ago ~

A young girl, no older than nineteen, snuck through her palace corridors. It was always dark down where she lived, even during the day. But she knew now was nighttime and that she should have been sleeping. 

She carefully looked both ways to make sure no one was around to catch her. Once she was absolutely sure the coast was clear, she knocked on the door in front of her, lowering her voice to a soft whisper.

"Death? You up?" She whispered.

"Of course," A thirteen-year-old boy chimed from behind her, causing her to jump slightly and whirl around.

"Wh- what the?! How did you-" She stuttered when he grabbed her hand and shushed her.

"Oh please," He whispered back. "I'm no idiot, Jaydes. I could hear your footsteps from a mile away. Sneaking around, are we?"

She paused, then groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "A little. I just..." She trailed off as Death crossed his arms and smirked.

"You wanna go to the Overthere, don't you," He said, smiling mischievously.

"...Yes," She admitted. "And I know you've got a thing for sneaking into places you don't belong. So can you help me?!"

To this, Death pretended to yawn and stretch his arms, acting as if the idea didn't quite interest him. "You DO know that neither of us are technically supposed to be up there..." He trailed off in a sarcastic tone.

"Quit pretending you care about the rules, Grim Reaper," She scoffed.

Death immediately gasped and slapped his own chest, as if utterly repulsed by being called that. "Hey," He harshly whispered. "That's my FATHER'S name!"

"Whatever. Aren't you going to take his place in a few years?" She asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Well... yeah. But I'm not going to be taking his NAME," The thirteen-year-old clarified. "I'm just kinda taking over his job." A job he never really wanted, but that didn't matter. It was the job he was born to take over.

Just like how Jaydes was born to be queen.

"Whatever. Can you help me?!" The princess begged, grabbing his shoulders.

"Why you wanna go?" Death questioned, raising an eyebrow. Yes, Jaydes had always been a little adventurous, but she also wasn't nearly as much of a rulebreaker as he was.

"Because! I've read stories of a place where the sun shined! I just... want to see it for myself! And I know you do too. So please!" She begged. 

Death paused, then slowly smiled, shrugging as he did.

"A'ight. Consider me intrigued."

Jaydes squealed a high-pitched squeal and let him go, excitedly jumping up in down. He lightly laughed at her excitement, then grabbed her arm and pulled her outside, bringing her over to the train station.

"I don't know how to summon the train yet..." He trailed off. "But I know that it makes its nightly round trips at 12:00 AM, 3:00 AM, and 6:00 AM. It is currently 2:53, so we've got a few minutes before the train comes this way. We can hop onto the back without raising anyone's suspicions. That will give us three hours up there before we have to get back on the train and sneak back into our rooms!" Death explained.

Jaydes couldn't help but be appalled at how he knew all of that. Looked like he had this already planned out. She wondered if he had ever snuck into the Overthere before. But when she asked him, he told her that he hadn't yet because he didn't want to go alone.

So it would be both of their first times.

She loved going on these little adventures with Death. He almost had become like a little brother to her. Yes, he was goofy and he often disregarded rules, but he was also really sweet. He didn't seem fit for the job he would grow up to have.

But then again, neither did she.

As the train came rolling, opening its doors to let off newly deceased souls, Jaydes and Death quickly snuck into the cart on the back. This was mostly a storage section of the train, so there were no passengers and no windows. Perfect, because that meant there were no places for them to be spotted. They swiftly hopped in and shut the train car door behind them, leaving the two in pitch darkness.

Death lightly laughed as he rested against the side of the pitch-black train car, crossing his legs and closing his eyes as the train slowly started rolling. "Ah, Darkness, my old pal," The young teenager sighed. "It's been a while."

"It's literally dark all the time," Jaydes pointed out, sitting down next to him. It was true. Since the Underwhere was so dark, their eyes had actually adjusted fairly well to the darkness. Even in the pitch-black, they could both still somewhat see.

Jaydes waited in silence for a while, nervously fidgeting with her dress and brushing her long hair out of her face.

"Why are ya anxious?" Death pondered as if he could sense her anxiety.

"I'm not..." Jaydes lied.

To this, Death burst out laughing as if she had just told him the funniest joke ever told. "You don't have to lie to me, princess. I can tell when you're uneasy. What is it?" He laughed.

The princess just rolled her eyes and nudged him away, causing him to fall over onto his side and make a small, 'ow' noise. 

"I don't know..." Jaydes admitted as Death giggled and sat back up. She then brought her knees to her chest and hugged them, looking down and sighing. "I suppose... I've been living in the dark for so long. My place is in the dark. It's where I am meant to be. So... what if I see the light and it's not as good as I thought it would be...?"

Death paused for a moment, sensing her more serious tune. He was never good at being serious. He bit his lip for a moment, then lightly smiled, even though it was almost too dark for her to see. 

"It will be," He promised.

"And that's the other thing," Jaydes continued. "I know that I HAVE to stay in the Underwhere because I'm going to be crowned queen soon... but what if I see the light and don't want to leave? What if I like it better up there?"

Again, Death paused, not sure how to answer.

How should he answer? Because odds were that the Overthere WAS better. After all, it was where the saints went. Where the Nimbis resided.

"Well..." He finally said as the train slowed to a stop. He softly smiled, then grabbed her arm in a reassuring way. "It may be hard to go back into the dark after seeing the light. But even so, I'll still be by your side. We'll come out of the dark together, and we'll go back to the dark together."

She paused, feeling the train slow more and more until it came to a halt, then nervously looked at Death, seeing streams of light shine through the holes and cracks in the train care.

"Through it all?" She asked him.

"Through it all," Death assured, grabbing her hand, then opening the back door. As soon as he did, the light flooded in. Both gods had to shield their eyes. It was SO bright! So bright and so warm!

It took a while for their eyes to adjust, but when it did, they could finally take in all the beauty. The clouds, fluffy. The sun, bright and warm. There was a sense of joy and safety that seemed to fill the land. As if no fear or darkness were present at all. They didn't even have shadows! 

Death beamed at the sight, then hopped off the train, turning and helping Jaydes down as well. They quickly got off the tracks and began to look around, having three hours. Three hours to get back to the station and get home before they got in trouble.

"It's even more beautiful than I imagined it..." Jaydes trailed off, taking a few steps around, feeling her feet sink slightly into the clouds. She lightly giggled, leaning forward and touching some cloud. They were soft and warm. She liked the texture.

"Yo, do you think there are any cute nimbis out here?" Death asked, quickly brushing his hands through his frizzy, messy hair. "Dang it. If I knew we were going to be meeting cuties I would have brought my hat!"

"You haven't even grown into that silly hat yet," Jaydes laughed as Death licked his hands and tried slicking his hair back. "Ew, and quit doing that. It's gross."

"You like it and you know it," Death snorted as Jaydes stuck out her tongue in disgust. He smirked and winked at her, then rubbed his hands together, mischievously looking around, when he heard the sound of nimbis giggling in the distance. He immediately perked up, then rushed over, leaving Jaydes behind.

"Be right back," He called to her. "I'm gonna get myself a girlfriend."

"Wait- huh? Are you serious?! DEATH! DON'T LEAVE ME!" Jaydes called after him, but it was too late. He had just as quickly leaped over a cloud and out of sight.

Jaydes nervously bit her fist then looked around. She had three hours to kill, so she minus well do something, right?

What to do... what to do...

That's when she thought of it. Flowers. She had read somewhere that the Overthere had flowers. Hundreds of thousands of them.

She looked around for any sign of a flower field when she saw a collage of color in the distance. Blue, green, red, pink, purple, yellow, orange, so many colors. She carefully looked around, then slowly walked towards the color.

As she got closer and closer she could see more and more detail. There were different types of flowers. Roses, daisies, buttercups, tulips. So many. But that wasn't all.

There was someone there, gathering flowers in the light of the sun. He was... a young boy. He looked to be about Jaydes' age. 

And right away... the moment she saw him she knew...

It was him. He was the one. She didn't know how or why... but something about seeing him there, all alone against the sky... She slowly smiled, then walked up to him, through the field of flowers that he was gathering.

".... Come home with me?" She asked, picking up a simple tulip and holding it out to him.

The boy gasped upon realizing he was not alone and quickly whirled around, his eyes widening as he saw her.

"W-Who are you?!" He stuttered. His voice was soft and quiet. He seemed rather timid.

"The one who's gonna marry you," Jaydes smiled, kneeling down so she was at his level, still holding the tulip out to him. "I'm Jaydes..."

"Umm... are you always like this?" The boy nervously muttered, shying away.

To this, Jaydes just shrugged.

"... I-I'm Grambi," The boy breathed, still shying away.

"Grambi... your name is like a melody," Jaydes beamed.

"Uh, T-Thanks...?" Grambi murmured, slowly standing up and brushing himself off, setting down the baskets of flowers he had collected.

Jaydes beamed back, then looked to the flower in her hand and set it in one of the baskets filled with the other flowers that Grambi had collected. Grambi nervously laughed, not quite sure what to say to her now. She kinda just... stood there, eagerly staring at him.

"What are you doing....?" Grambi nervously muttered, frowning at her.

"Nothing, nothing," Jaydes assured, tilting her head to the side. "I'm just... looking at you."

"Okay..." Grambi nervously trailed off, waving in a shy manner. "Well... bye?"

He then turned to go, when Jaydes suddenly grabbed his hand, preventing him from leaving. "Wait!" She begged. "Please."

He seemed to freeze, not sure what the heck she was doing. What was happening?! Was she going to kidnap him?!

"Uh, o-okay," Grambi muttered, his voice shaking slightly.

"I don't mean to scare you. It's just... looking at you... it's like... it's like..." She trailed off, before lightly laughing to herself. "It's hard for words to describe."

"It's like....?" Grambi nervously pressed.

"It's like... the world is a song, and looking at you just gave me the melody," Jaydes breathed, slowly letting go of his arm. She waited a moment, then giggled and hit her own head. "I'm sorry for being all weird. You probably don't care about-"

"W-what's the melody?" Grambi interrupted, seeming less afraid now and almost curious.

"Huh?" Jaydes asked.

"T-The melody. How does it go...?" Grambi clarified, cocking his head to the side.

Jaydes paused, then lightly smiled, picking up the flower she had set down and holding it up in front of herself, looking at it almost longingly. 

"It... it goes like this," She said, gently closing her eyes, and smiling as she sang the tune.

"La la la la la la la..." She softly sang, smiling to herself as she did so, feeling the warmness all around her. "La la la la la la la...."

Grambi's eyes slowly softened upon hearing the beautiful melody she sang. He gently tilted his head to the side, looking at her in awe as she continued. "La la la la la la la..." She breathed. "La la la la la la-"

And suddenly, the flower in her hand light up, becoming not just one solid color, but a blend of all of them, overlapping and mixing with one another.

"How... how'd you do that?" Grambi asked in awe as Jaydes opened her eyes and looked down at the flower, somewhat shocked.

"I... don't know," She admitted with a soft smile. "I guess I just... thought of you and sang from the heart-"

"JAYDES! IT'S 5:51! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Death called from the distance, causing Jaydes to immediately hunch over, not wanting to go back. How could time go by so fast?! That could not have been three hours!

"Sorry," She breathed, handing the flower to Grambi and turning to go. "I-I gotta go home."

"Wait, Jaydes!" Grambi called as she ran off, causing her to stop and look back at him.

He looked down at the flower briefly, then smiled and looked back up at her. "You'll come back?"

She paused, then nodded. 

"Yes." She said. "I'll come back."