return by death (chapter 135)

Chapter 135

The cosmic horror was caught off guard, it seemed, as Grey watched it struggle to escape. He finally spoke, his voice once again devoid of emotion, like he was a blank being. "This will be our final interaction, The Eternal Maw Y'thural-Zog," much to the shock of both Rachel and the cosmic horror, which wanted to ask why Grey knew its true name. But before it could react, it was transformed—no, it would be more accurate to say it was transmuted into a ball of cosmic horror right in front of Rachel's eyes as Grey then retracted his domain.

"Lets go" Gray, who returned to his human form, spoke in the same distant voice as he didn't even look at Rachel before he opened a rift where they stood. "Gray, wait," Rachel yelled as she jumped after, causing them both to land in a familiar city—London—except it was destroyed. In front of them were familiar figures to Rachel and Gray. Standing before Gray was another Rachel, the same Rachel he first met after escaping the Cult of Blood, the same dark and brooding Rachel he knew, except this Rachel seemed troubled. Next to her were Superman and John Constantine. Constantine was the first to react. "Bollocks," he cursed as they all recognized the white Rachel, who was more concerned with Gray. "Gray," she called as Gray blankly stared into the sky that was .grimson

"My Love," she called out as she reached for his face and turned his head to face her. Her eyes held a great amount of affection but also concern as she spoke again. "Talk to me. What is wrong?" she asked as Gray looked into her eyes. "I… am fine," he finally managed to say, but Rachel was not buying it. "I might not be able to feel your emotions, but I know when something is wrong with the man I love, so talk to me, love. Tell me what is wrong," she said, much to the shock of the alternate Rachel, who, along with Superman and Constantine, watched. Gray looked at his Rachel and spoke. "You… remember that… time potion I made?" he asked as Rachel slowly and lovingly nodded. "Yes. What about it?" she asked patiently. She was concerned yet waiting for Gray to explain without a hint of impatience. "It allowed me to return to 24 hours upon dying," he confessed, much to the shock of the trio behind them as Constantine spoke.

"I would love that potion," he said in his British accent, but Rachel ignored the trio as she spoke. "What abou—" but she stopped herself as she realized what his confession implied. "Gray, how many times have you died?" she asked as she looked at Gray, whose face was numb beyond anything. It looked like the face of a synthetic being, a blank expression Rachel couldn't even dream of sporting. "Speak to me, love," she begged, and Gray finally spoke. "40…" he hesitated as she leaned in closely. "Answer me truthfully," she said, hoping he would listen as he finally finished his sentence. "40… million deaths," he spoke as Rachel's hands dropped. "Oh, holy shit," Constantine cursed as alternate Rachel staggered while Superman frowned. "How could someone endure that much trauma?" he asked himself as Rachel looked at Gray. "I… why didn't you tell me? On any of the deaths?" she asked, and Gray spoke without emotion. "I did, but you would forget every day" he said as he turned his head.

"Gray," she turned his head towards her as she looked at him in the eyes before she said, "Let's find a solution. Perhaps you can come up with a recipe for a potion, something," she said as Gray sighed. "The only thing I thought of was extracting those memories," he said, which Rachel agreed with as she eagerly said, "Let's do that." They both disappeared, reappearing in Pangea. Gray sighed as, without hesitation and without a wand, he performed a charm that was used to take memories out of a wizard's mind, except he did it with a mere gesture. Yes, a mere gesture—no enchantment, no wand, not even using effort to will it into existence. No, he just gestured, and it happened.

What followed next was a stream of memories—streams of it. It was a long, very, very long set of memories that both Rachel and Gray could see. Except this time, Gray would not be affected emotionally. Instead, he would watch it as if it were a movie. "Oh, fucking hell, what just happened?" Much to the relief of Rachel, the Gray she knew and loved was back. She turned her eyes from the memories and looked at his troubled face—yes, troubled. He was displaying emotion as she quickly hugged him, much to Gray's surprise. "Okay, what is wrong?" he asked in a stunned state before quickly hugging her back, not missing the chance.

"Please don't ever lose your emotions, okay?" she said as she leaned out of the hug, but she still held on to him. Gray said, "Okay, I promise," as he gave her that usual idiotic smile he always gave her, which caused Rachel to momentarily hesitate before she leaped in. Locking lips with Gray, who was stunned for a brief moment before he kissed back. For a full minute, they were busy exploring each other's mouths and holding each other, even forgetting to breathe before they separated.

Gray's face and ears were flushed red. "Okay, now I am concerned. What is going on?" he said as he looked at Rachel shyly. "That is it, be yourself, express your emotions," she said as she placed her palm on his cheek, which he leaned into before she quickly got angry. "Why didn't you tell me about the return-by-death potion?" Rachel demanded, much to Gray's shock.

"How did you know?" he asked before they both turned toward the streams of a plethora of memories. "Oh, this is going to take a while to get through, isn't it?" he said as both he and Rachel looked at each other. They both sat down and watched the stream of memories, starting from the first death.

-scene change first death-

After defeating leblanc,gray summoned the TARDIS just as Ambessa and her soldiers appeared. The first thing she saw was LeBlanc, whom she recognized immediately. Her shock was visible before she looked at Grey summoning the TARDIS as he and Rachel entered. She watched in utter shock as she saw the TARDIS create a hole in reality and leave. Before she finally registered what happened, she turned around and said, "I need another bath. Clean up."

Within the observatory, Grey and Rachel were once again having their dinner, which had been spoiled by LeBlanc earlier. As they watched the vast cosmos, they were happy, spending their time together in silence, enjoying each other's presence. Grey was once again smiling at her like he usually did. "What are you smiling at?" she asked with a slight smirk. "There is nothing more rewarding than watching you eat what I cooked," he said, making Rachel narrow her eyes as she gave him a slight smirk. "Not even when you create a new potion?" she asked as he gave her an idiotic smile. "Not even that," he replied. "Really? Because I don't see you doing your victory dance," she said, making Grey reply slyly, "I will do my victory dance when I get a kiss on the lips." Rachel chuckled. "Hmm," she hummed as they continued their dinner. After their meal, they leaned on each other's shoulders, watching the vast cosmos before Rachel fell asleep.

Seeing her fall asleep, Gray smiled as he looked at her face, which just made him smile as he said, "How can someone be so beautiful?" he asked as both current Gray and Rachel smiled. "Awe, do you do this every day?" she asked as current Gray just smiled as the two continued to watch the first death. After Gray watched the sleeping Rachel, he extended his hand and caressed her face before touching her bright cherry-colored lips with his index finger. He sighed, "Just two more years," he said as he picked her up and took her to the bedroom, where he tucked her into bed. He then took out a notebook and sat in the captain's deck while sipping some sleepless potion, a demigod version of it, which was unnecessary as he could stay awake for more than days with sheer will.

However, just as the 24 hours were about to finish, Gray sensed something as he got up and closed his book. "Hm," he frowned as he extended his domain, where quickly, Gray sensed something massive, something ancient, something very, very powerful. The moment it neared his domain, it unleashed some sort of attack that Gray couldn't even react to before it quickly hit his domain, which was quickly shattered. Yes, shattered. His domain of change was shattered, which obviously made Gray vomit blood as he received damage before physical damage. "What the fuck," he cursed as he looked ahead just in time to see the creature's form. Before Gray could even formulate or Rachel could react, he was dead. He didn't know how or why, but he died, only to open his eyes in the captain's deck with his notebook in his hand and an empty vial that held the demigod-grade sleepless potion.

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A/N bet you didn't guess that, anyways, queue the death montage