Amaranthine

"WOULD YOU WANT TO BE IMMORTAL?"

I looked at Dio in surprise. We'd simply been browsing the shelves in the library. Dio was looking for law books, handing any he liked over to me. We'd just been making small talk until then, so his question seemed to come out of nowhere. "What makes you ask that?"

"I was just wondering what it would be like to live forever," he said.

I hummed. "I see. I wouldn't want to be immortal," I said with complete certainty. "If you can't die, then you're not really living."

"I see," Dio said. "No risk, no reward . . ." He jumped down from the ladder and handed me a book to hold. I placed it on the table with the other books he'd chosen and followed Dio as he rolled the library ladder several paces down the bookcase. "I would want to become immortal," he said. "Humans are weak. Immortality is closer to perfection. I wouldn't grow old or die. I would be powerful, stronger than anyone else."

"You'd still be human minus the fact that you live forever and can't die," I pointed out. "And humans are humans because of their nature, not because of their mortality." Although mortality is certainly something that dictates human nature.

"True." Dio hummed. "How about a vampire then? I wouldn't mind being a vampire. I wonder what kind of powers I would have."

"Vampires don't exist."

"Well neither do immortals." Dio shot back. Ouch, I'm right here. "No need to point out all the flaws in my hypothetical questions."

I chuckled. "Sorry, Dio," I said. "Let's say vampires exist and you become one. You'd still die in the sunlight, right? Doesn't that make you not immortal?"

"Well, yes. I'd avoid the sun, obviously."

"You would spend the rest of your life avoiding the sun?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Dio snorted. "Of course." He said as if it was obvious. "I could certainly live a lifetime of darkness. It's fair if I'm living forever."

I frowned. "Would you really be ok like that?"

"Of course," he said. "Besides, imagine all the power I'd have."

I frowned. Power, he said. What power did I have? Immortality was dragging me along on an endless path, yet Dio could talk of being stronger than anyone else. He would be ok living a lifetime of darkness while everyone else bathed in life's light; he would be alright if the things that gave others joy only brought him pain. I wondered what would happen if our roles were switched. Perhaps he would have been much better at being immortal than I was. Perhaps my own condition would only be a dream to me. A foolish dream like Dio's. A human dream.

"Freya?" Dio frowned. "What's wrong?" He looked down at me from the ladder with a concerned frown.

"Nothing, I'm fine." I said, snapping out of it. I shouldn't be letting something like this get to me. It was just a simple question. Everyone wonders if their life could be something more. He doesn't know what it's like being immortal. For all he knows, people like me don't exist. I shouldn't be so upset. But I couldn't help it. It was strange to me that some people would want this kind of existence. Eternal life wasn't nearly as fun as it was in theory.

"I was just wondering about immortality too," I said dismissively.

Dio didn't look like he believed me, surveying me with a suspicious frown. "You're acting a bit strange," he said. "Is there something important you want to tell me?"

I shook my head. "It's nothing," I said.

Dio seemed skeptical. He climbed down the ladder and stood in front of me, surveying me with a frown. "You just seem . . . upset. I thought Hyde might have something to do with it."