Tristan could feel her hand still holding his. However, he couldn't see it. "Where are we?"

Her voice emerged from the blackness. "Nowhere...right now."

"Oh..." Tristan sniffed the environment around him. He could usually identify a place by its scent. This place had no scent. He wasn't sure if it was because it was literally nowhere or if it was because his actual nose was still with the rest of him, back in the hospital. He could see hear and feel things. It would make sense if he could use his other senses, as well.

"Don't worry. We're going somewhere."

There was silence for a moment. "Who are you? I know you're not just any old person."

Tristan heard her sweet laugh. "No. I'm not a person. I'm someone that everyone meets eventually."

"Who?" he insisted. "I want a name."

"Oh, Tristan. Kids these days... You sure you really want to know?"

A pin point of light emerged in the darkness. It seemed at the same time right in front of his face and thousands of miles away. Maybe he was imagining it.

"All right, then." She sighed. "I'm Death."

"I thought I wasn't dead!" Tristan exclaimed, his voice cracking slightly.

"For the last time, you're not. I have some special duties besides a posthumous escort. You'd be amazed how many people just wander away from their bodies." Her hand squeezed a bit. "I can't let you people just go around like that. It's too dangerous. I'm lucky that I found you when I did. I've had some people missing for years."

The light was bigger now, and it was growing rapidly, like the light of an approaching train. It was so bright....

"We're almost there, kid. Hold on."

The light erupted and engulfed them, surrounding them in blinding brilliance. Tristan covered his eyes in pain and held his fingers there until the stinging faded away. He wondered if he had been permanently blinded.

He felt a hand on his face. "Hey, it's okay. You can look now." Trisan opened his eyes to see Death's pale face. "Sorry," she apologized. "I guess I should have warned you about that."

Death turned away from him to let him take in the scenery all at once. Even though it wasn't incredibly amazing in any way, it was like nothing Tristan had ever seen. The thing that confused the boy most was the sky's lack of a sun. The strangely grayish shy was illuminated, but by what?

The girl, even though Tristan now knew that she wasn't really a human, stood with him in the middle of a large meadow, nothing but sky, clouds, and grass for miles. She was still holding his hand. "This is it?" he asked.

"Well, yes and no." She led him through some of the grasses, which came up to nearly chest height on him. "The sunless lands aren't as much a place as a state of mind. You obviously haven't had much time to build up in your mind of what the afterlife is like. As a result, it looks a little...plain."

Tristan nodded, getting close to understanding.

"I'm not sure how I could explain it. It's just different for everyone."

He stared at the horizon, wondering if maybe there were more interesting places just beyond it. "This is Heaven?"

"Hmm...that's a toughie. You see," Death said, crouching down so that they were eye-to-eye, "it has many different names. Some people would call it Heaven. Some call it Valhalla. Nirvana. Elysium. Summerlands. There are too many names to, well, name."

"Oh..." Tristan looked around. "Is there anybody else here?"

Death almost laughed. "More people than you can possibly imagine! In fact, most aren't people. Not as you picture them, anyway. Humans aren't the only ones who die, you know."

Tristan grunted slightly. "It's kind of...boring...."

"I grant you that," she replied. "But it doesn't have to be." A large orange ball appeared in her hand. "Here." She threw it to him. He caught it. "Nice catch."

"A ball?" He studied it, even sniffing it a few times for good measure.

"Throw it into the air."

"Huh?" He looked up at her, a lock of dark hair falling into his eyes.

"Throw it into the air," she repeated. "Go on."

"Okay..." Tristan tossed it into the air and caught a huge diamond, the size of his fist. It shimmered and sparkled in his fingers. "What?"

"You see, in this place, you can do anything," she explained briefly.

Tristan stared at the diamond in his hands, his eyes beginning to take on the same sparkle. "Really...?"

Death grinned. "Yeah. Really."

His tan face became serious. "There must be a Hell. If there's a Heaven, that is."

Death suddenly looked uncomfortable. "There is, but I don't think you wanna see it. You're a little young."

Tristan smiled it off. "Let me try." He closed his eyes and pointed a finger out to the side. Blue daffodils began to sprout from the ground beside him. He smiled when he saw them. "I did that?"

"You sure did." Death placed a hand on his shoulder. "This can be a wonderful place, Tristan."

"Wow." Tristan imagined all the wonderful things he could do and make here. He could make it just like his house. Even better. It could be a perfect world except...he wouldn't have his parents or anyone there to share it with him. There were certainly others somewhere, if he could only find them.... "If I want, I can stay here, can't I?" He looked up at her questioningly.

"If you want..." Her face became solemn. "Tristan, what do you want?"

The boy shook his head. "I still don't know. What about Mom and Dad?"

"They'd be sad for a while." She saw the concerned look in Tristan's eyes. "Do you want to go somewhere else to talk about it?"

He lowered his head slightly in agreement. "Yeah, okay."

Death promptly took both of Tristan's hands. "Let's go back to my place."

Copyright Diana Marsh, 2000 (Death and all Sandman characters are the creations of Neil Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg and trademarks of DC Comics and Vertigo. This is a labor of love, and no money is being made off of it. Yadda, yadda, yadda...)