Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 231: Death Straight Up

After having an emotional moment together where they chose not to reject Zane and instead strive towards replaceing a cure to his current condition. Zane returned back to Gravestone, and the bunker complex which he and the others lived within.

Needless to say, after suffering a near and total mental breakdown earlier in the day, Zane was in no mood to take part in the festivities that were commonly celebrated after achieving a great victory by the group. Instead, he cleaned himself up and only marginally ate the meal that was prepared for the group in an attempt to maintain some sense of normalcy despite his new condition.

Despite his physical transformation into the very enemy which they sought to destroy, nothing had really changed with Zane, and his lot in life. He was still the leader of Gravestone, and still maintained a familial relationship with Elena and the others.

The only real difference between now and then was a boost in power, and the new voices that plagued Zane's mind. Voices which sought to communicate with him constantly after he voiced his disbelief within their collective hive mind.

But Zane simply ignored them. Instead, he focused on what was in front of him. As if Maya detected that something had killed the mood within the bunker, she clung to Zane more than usual. Choosing to sit on his lap throughout dinner, and refused to leave his side, even until after Zane and the others finally parted ways and went to sleep.

Whether it was her attempts to cheer the man up or not, Maya insisted on clinging to Zane even while he slept. Which he naturally did, not because his body needed to, but out of a need to maintain some connection with humanity, and an attempt to pass the time so he could wake up the next morning, and hopefully awaken from this nightmare that was his newfound reality.

Of course, the moment Zane entered a state of unconsciousness, Maya finally revealed a sense of emotion. It was a satisfied expression on her young face, while she combed Zane's messy hair and spoke with a tone like that of an approving mother. This was despite her young and adorable voice.

"It is about time…"

Though Zane didn't witness it, as he was well into a state of unconsciousness, Maya vanished into thin air the moment after she said this.

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At first, there was utter darkness. Zane had mistakenly believed that because he was now an undead through and through, that he would no longer dream. The once vibrant and unique world that had been his dream space fully disintegrated, leaving nothing but blackness behind.

And then, in the darkness, something appeared. The world that had vanished suddenly reemerged, as lively as it had ever been. There was just one problem. The half of the world that had been enveloped in light was now joined together with its darker half, any semblance of illumination snuffed out by Zane's dead mind.

And in this darkness appeared a woman. But unlike in the past, the mysterious stranger he had come to know was no longer cloaked in a dark robe, one which concealed her face, and other identifiable features. No, she was wearing a black dress, a modest design, but one that still clung to her curvy figure.

The woman smiled as she gazed upon Zane, her blood-red eyes shining with a hint of familiarity, a feeling that Zane felt intimately on a deeply instinctive level. In fact, she looked quite similar to someone he had known, and grown accustomed to. Someone who he believed was currently sleeping by his side.

There was just one distinction, while Maya was a young girl of elementary age. This was a fully grown woman, one old enough to be his mother.

Her hair, while separated into two halves of color, one black as the abyss, and the other as white as the snow. Was not tied into twin tails like the young girl, which clung to Zane, but was long and flowing. Like a monochromatic river, cascading down her gorgeous and mature face.

The moment this woman spoke, Zane connected the dots. She was the mysterious stranger who had always been there to guide him in the past. And this mysterious stranger's name was Death.

"We meet again, my child… You kept me waiting long enough, but I am glad to see that you have fully embraced your better half…"

The words of "my child" instantly resonated in Zane's brain. In the past, whenever this woman would refer to Zane by the term of "my friend" there had been a shift from a word starting with the letter C, to the word friend.

It suddenly made sense to him, all this time, the mysterious stranger who guided him on his journey, a journey to forsake his humanity and embrace the darkness within him. Was Death itself. And she had always wanted to tell him this, but until now had forced herself not to, for reasons that were beyond Zane's understanding.

Zane had many questions for the woman who the Horde Kings collectively referred to as their mother. A woman who promised him answers in the past, but until now had refused to give them. This time, however, he was adamant that she would do so. And because of this, he scoffed, and rolled his eyes, questioning whether or not she really was his mother.

"You're not actually my mother, are you? I mean, that would be absurd!"

This reaction caused the mature beauty to instantly close the distance between them. She pouted as she slapped Zane upside the head, not in a particularly violent or painful manner like in the way which the woman he had previously considered his mother had commonly inflicted upon him.

But rather in a way that conveyed love and discipline. Her voice was filled with outrage, and at the same time affection as she tried to explain Zane's mysterious origins to him.

"Of course I'm your mother! Your actual biological mother, the one who gave birth to you! It's true what you heard in your youth. Your father was already married to the woman who raised you when he fell in love with me. It was a time where I was dreadfully bored and decided to walk among the living in a form which they could see as a way to entertain myself.

Unfortunately, when that bastard realized what I really was, it terrified him. And as a result, he stole you away from me and hid you from me! I mean, can you believe the nerve of that man? Stealing Death's only child away from her!

Needless to say, I made him pay for his transgressions against me, against us! But by the time I finally found him, you were already nearing adolescence. Naturally, I made him and that wretched family of his pay dearly for taking you from me!

I wanted to reveal myself to you the moment I found you, but you would have never believed me if I told you who I was. So I concocted all of this as a way for us to reunite. The system was created for your benefit, as a way to help you survive, and to help you become what you were always meant to be….

But there were other reasons for its creations. Reasons I won't get into right now. What matters most is that you and I have finally been reunited! The way it was always meant to be!"

What Zane heard from this woman, a woman who was death, and who proclaimed to be his mother. Would have been considered utter madness had he dared to speak such nonsense aloud prior to the end of the world.

But now… Now he didn't know what to think… At the very least, what Death claimed explained a lot about his childhood, and the way his family had always treated him. The woman who raised him had often bitched about how their family had never had any problems until he was born.

His father had never been a drunk, nor a lecher like he eventually turned out to be. A fate which would ultimately prove to be his demise, and would cause their family to spiral into chaos and death. No doubt after replaceing out that his lover was quite literally death herself, it caused some severe psychological issues to the man.

Psychological issues that could not be healed, because he had chosen to raise the offspring between him and death. But who could he tell such a fantastical story to? Who would believe him? They'd lock him away if he dared reveal the truth of Zane's birth. And thus the man turned to hedonism to numb the pain.

Though the woman who raised Zane had never said that she was the one who gave birth to him, he had always assumed this was the case. Perhaps this had all been a misunderstanding on his part.

The woman who raised him was not his mother. The woman he murdered was his adoptive mother, the wife of his father, and because of this, she had always hated him because of his origins. Origins which she was not fully aware of herself.

It would certainly explain her cruelty towards him, and the indifference which she treated him with prior to the tragedy that befell her family. But there was something off about this woman in front of him who claimed to be his actual mother. She looked way too familiar.

And as she approached Zane, in an attempt to give him a proper hug, like a doting mother should. He rejected her offer, shoving her away, before inquiring what exactly her relation was to the little girl he had adopted. A little girl who had questionable origins, and appeared in his life at a very convenient time.

"I don't understand… I mean, certainly what you claim fills many gaps in my understanding about my past. But if you are who you say you are and are what you say you are. Then what is your relation to Maya? It's no coincidence that you and she share common resemblance, is it?"

Death cocked her brow at Zane before giggling like a schoolgirl. But it wasn't just her voice, which heightened in pitch, exerting an aura of youthful innocence. Rather, her entire figure changed from that of an adult woman into the young girl Zane had long since grown accustomed to as his adopted daughter.

Prior to this moment, he had always assumed Maya was mute, but when she finally deigned it necessary to speak to Zane, he could instantly tell exactly who Maya really was, who she had always been. She was Death… straight up…. The first words she had elected to say to him conveyed exactly this sentiment.

"I'm sorry for deceiving you, but I grew impatient waiting for you to reach this point…. So I decided to take this form to stick by your side until you became the man you were always meant to be…. Do you hate me, Zane?"

Zane stood in silence for what seemed to him like a lifetime. Almost as if he had been petrified by the very sight of Death transform into the young girl who he had thought of as his own daughter. And yet she stood there with him, staring at the man with a curious expression on her adorable little face.

Eventually Maya sighed and shook her head, before finally turning back into her mature form, becoming an adult once more, while clutching Zane's head to her breast and assuring him that the world was not coming to an end, simply because his limited understanding of it had been turned upside down.

"Shhhh… There, there my son…. Everything is fine now… Now that mommy is here…"