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The deal

Summary:

The Endless family was rich and powerful, with the death of their parents, the seven siblings were left in the care of their older brother Destiny. When Destiny returns from a meeting with his lawyers and discovers that his parents have signed a deal with the Gadling family, one of the Endless brothers has to sacrifice for the good of all.

Chapter 1: The agreement between the dead

Chapter Text

Destiny arrived at the Endless residence late in the evening. Meeting with the accountants had been absolutely exhausting, being a big, rich and powerful family was a burden for the current ruler of the family.

When the car stopped, he got out, taking a deep breath of relief to finally be home. The Endless mansion was huge, luxurious and with many servants. All to meet the needs of his heirs.

Destiny's parents were no longer among them, leaving him as the eldest son to take care of the family business. The family was famous and very well connected, his mother was an environmentalist with hippie tendencies who named her children with the most complex names.

Destiny

Death

Dream

Destruction

Desire

Despair

Delirium

Much has been made of the naming of the Endless children, most notably because of the tragic way their parents died leaving the seven children completely alone.

Destiny and Death have teamed up in an endeavor to take care of the youngest, despite the vast majority of them being independent in their particularities. He entered the mansion handing his coat to the servant who bowed to him in respect.

“Are the children already at the dinner table?” he asked earning a smile from the servant, even though some of them were already adults, Destiny called them all children.

“No,” said Death's voice approaching. He stopped, staring at his confused, “I was unsuccessful in gathering them.”

“Not Prodigal?”

“He went out with some friends, said he wanted to see an art exhibition,”- she explained tiredly following her brother towards the dining room, “Delirium was hysterical because I didn't allow her to go to a show with her friends from school.”

“Desire...”

“I have no idea,” she confessed tiredly, “Despair told me she went out with some friends.”

“Despair is at home?”

"Yeah, she's the only one at the dinner table," he explained, and Destiny didn't want to ask that last question, but it was necessary.

“Dream?”

"He didn't leave his room this afternoon, he just took a book from the library and went back there," she said, and Destiny really wished his parents were here.

When the Endless family was complete, they all followed their parents' orders, they were shapelessly different, but they were united. They all ate meals together, talked about their days and talked about their future, together as a family.

“I need to talk to everyone,” he said finally, expressing his mind, “I received a very important proposal, I need to discuss it with all of you.”

“Even with the youngest?”

“Yes,” he insisted taking his cell phone and dialing the head of security, “Mr Martin, I need you to bring my brothers home now. Desire and Destruction. Thanks.”

“Did something happen?” asked Death really worried, Destiny just gave him a significant look, “Desty…”

“The Gadlings have contacted us,” he said finally making the girl's eyes widen, “they… they have a signed agreement, by our parents. I was with our lawyers and accountants, it's legit.”

Death looked slightly confused. The Gadlings were an old family, they had always been family friends, Mrs. Endless and Mrs. Gadling were close friends, so it was only natural that they would do business together, but what Death didn't understand was the nature of trading.

“Why do you need all of us at the dinner table?”

“Because do I need to sacrifice one of you," said the man.

A loud noise of people entering and shouting caught Death's attention as he instructed the servants to set the table.

“This is ridiculous,” shouted Destruction entering the dining room, “my friends were terrified with the team entering the gallery, it was...”

“Unbearable,” said Desire passing him and placing himself on the table next to his twin, “I still have all night, so can you explain to us why me and the woodcutter here were dragged home?”

"Excellent question," said Destruction, crossing his arms. Death just took a deep breath not wanting to go into details. He just motioned for destruction to sit, at that moment two completely different but very similar figures entered the room.

A young blonde woman wearing a ponytail, with huge kitty headphones and punk clothes, and right behind her a young man in baggy black clothes, extremely messy hair wearing thick-rimmed glasses.

Both with no prospects who have ever met the sun in their lives. The youngest sat farther from the center of the table while the eldest sat next to the end.

Dream was the third eldest brother, so he had his place at Destiny's side only to the big protest of the other brothers.

"I see you're all here," Destiny said with satisfaction. Dream just took a deep breath rolling his eyes as most of the table looked bored, “all right, everyone help yourselves, I have business to attend to all of you.”

Then in silence, the servants began to help themselves.

“Nothing for me, I'm not hungry,” said Dream earning an attentive look from Death.

“You didn't have lunch.”

“I didn't do anything in my day that I need a lot of energy, I'm fine,” he said in a tone of who ends conversation.

“His plan is to disappear, leave him without eating,” said Desire smiling, earning a fatal look from Dream.

“Desire is enough!” Destiny asked, signaling the maid to put food on Dream's plate, “You need to gain some weight.”

“For what?” he asked sly, gaining the attention of everyone at the table. Death just dropped the silverware knowing that the little brother wasn't all.

Of everyone at that table, they knew that Dream was the only one who read between the lines, an unusual meeting like this had its hidden purposes.

“Talk at once,” he said bluntly facing Destiny, “you went out to meet with our lawyers and accountants, is there something wrong with the company?”

“How it is?” asked Desire attentively, “I don't want to be poor, Destiny if you...”

“What did the accountants say? Is it about my art collection?”

“Shut up!” Death ordered without taking his eyes from Destiny who seemed uncertain to continue, “speak brother, we are ready, whatever you have to say.”

“Okay,” began Destiny, “we are not poor, before this becomes a commotion, but we are at risk of losing part of our heritage.”

“How?” asked Dream, and Destiny found herself with no choice finally speaking his mind.

“Our parents, they made a very old agreement with the Gadlings,” he began, “in this agreement registered in notary and court, they sign that families must be united through the marriage of their children.”

“WHAT!”

“WHAT A PATRIARCH ATTITUDE!”

“Archaic!”

“Mom always creative.”

“I don't understand the purpose of this.”

“Okay, silence,” Destiny asked earning a murderous look from all the brothers, “what I mean is that... The Gadlings died last month, and only their son Robert took over all the family business, so...”

“Does he want to get married like this?” asked Delirium in shock, “what kind of rich bachelor wants to marry by contract?”

“The type who will lose everything if he doesn't fulfill the agrément,” said Destiny gaining everyone's attention, “it was in the Gadlings' testament that the agreement with the Endless must be respected for the release of all inheritance.”

“What do we have to do with it?” asked Dream completely apathetic, “it's his problem, not ours!”

"So heartwarming," Desire said.

"Brother, have some empathy," said Destruction, but Dream looked more bored than ever.

“Why should I? Handing one of our sisters over to a man they never knew so that he could enjoy the wealth of his dead parents,” he continued remorselessly, “I have no appreciation for any of you, but I don't wish that fate on anyone.”

“The problem Dream, is that this problem is also ours,” said Destiny facing his brother, “the agreement says that if it is not fulfilled and the Gadling fortune is lost, the Endless will take responsibility and half of everything that is ours goes to the hands of Robert Gadling!”

And then chaos formed. The seven brothers started talking at the same time Destiny just stood there, listening to the complaints, the girls looked furious, Desire looked shocked, and the guys were extremely angry.

“Silence!” Destiny ordered managing to reduce the size of the noise on the table, “calm down. First of all, I tried to revoke that agreement, but it was extremely well written, it's out of our hands.”

“Amazing!” said Delirium furiously.

“Second, the Gadling fortune is as great as ours. The addition of Robert Gadling to our family will be of benefit to all.”

“And which of our sisters do you plan to sacrifice to increase our fortune?” asked Dream, absolutely disgusted. And here it was, the moment Destiny had stalled until the last minute fearing the explosion.

“I thought carefully, and let's keep things in order, the elders must sacrifice themselves for the sake of the younger ones,” he said carefully, and everyone turned to Death who seemed shocked by the decision. Even Dream, who showed no emotion other than rancor and disgust, looked heartbroken at the decision.

Destiny took a deep breath ready for what the world was willing to throw at him, then spoke up.

“As head of the family this task is not up to me, so let's pass it on to the next member,” said the businessman, and everyone at the table turned to him in shock. It was half a second when he watched Dream's eyes go from confusion to absolute shock, “Robert Gadling is gay!”