Ah my mini Goddess!
Gan-chan's dance with Death.
It was as night was drawing in, one late summers eve. Gan-chan was lying in bed, freezing, but dripping with sweat.
Urd was checking his temperature with a thermometer. Skuld and Belldandy sat by their friend's bed. Skuld had nodded off, and Belldandy cradled her sleeping sister's head in her arms.
Urd took the thermometer from Gan-chan's mouth, inspected it, shook her head and placed it in a glass on the bedside table.
She looked over at Belldandy with a sorrowful expression. An expression that Belldandy mirrored, as she looked down solemnly at the sleeping Skuld.
Urd went over and hugged Belldandy. She was trembling and had started to weep.
"I know, Bell" Said her elder sister, tenderly. "It's just his time". She couldn't hide the crack in her voice, as hard as she tried.
"Mmhu" mumbled Belldandy, as Urd released her.
"I think it's time we left. He deserves some privacy" said Urd, sadly. She didn't want to leave, but knew it was probably for the best.
Belldandy nodded, and carried Skuld away to bed.
As Urd made to leave, she spared one final glance at her sleeping friend, before turning out the lights, and closing the door.
As midnight approached, Gan-chan was dreaming. Not his usual pleasant sleep dream, but a nightmare of bizarre circumstances.
He was wandering the dense wooded hills of some far off land. Then, as he walked further, he was rushed by some shadowy figure. The air rush was enough to send him spinning around thrice. And as he steadied himself after falling to the ground, the sight that met his gaze sent him jolting into awakeness in his bed.
He was soaked head to toe with sweat. He looked cautiously around the room, his eyes adjusting quickly to the blackness.
His heart was thumping in his chest. So much so, that he feared he must have had a heart attack. He gulped heavily, and sat still, calming down slightly when his eyes viewed nothing unusual.
"It was just a dream" he told himself. "All just a dream. Nothing can get me now. see? ah." he sighed, lying back.
But it was as he lay back, that he swore he saw something shifting out of the corner of his eye.
And as he turned his head slowly in the direction of the disturbance, he saw towering over his bed, a tall, robed figure. Bearing a cowl and scythe.
SQUEAK, it said.
"No, no. Bu... But, it's not my time..." pleaded Gan-chan.
SQUEAK, said the figure, nodding its hooded head. Poking from the cowl, Gan-chan could see a pointed, bony nose.
A bony paw extended from the robe, taking Gan-chan's, and pulling him gently from bed.
Gan-chan stood, and followed the figure from the room, out of the house, across the temple courtyard, and out into the nearby woods.
After walking what seemed like miles, Gan-chan found the courage to ask "Erm, excuse me. But, where are we going?"
SQUEAK, SQUEAK came the figures response.
"Ah, ok then" replied Gan-chan. Finding himself strangely able to understand the figure.
As they walked a little farther, they reached a clearing. And within that clearing, Gan-chan witnessed a sight un-beheld by any rat and told of.
The shadowy forms of rats, big and small, all dancing in a blazing circle. But in their eyes, Gan-chan could see no life. But if they were dead, then how could they dance?
Gan-chan risked a glance at the figure in the centre of the circle, scared numb at what he saw.
The figure that had led him here, a skeletal rat in black cloak and cowl, beckoned him into the circle. All around him seemed to do likewise. Calling him, motioning him forward. Daring him to join in the dance.
Hesitantly, Gan-chan followed, treading carefully into the blazing ring in which the spectres danced with glee. Yet when he entered, he was shocked to find that the burning ring did not harm him. Even when he was consumed by the blaze, he felt only the hint of heat.
And as he stood within the circle, before the Death of Rats, he felt sensations washing over him that he had never felt before. Even in the presence of the Goddesses.
And it was this that led him to rejoice. To drink, to dance and to laugh, all in the presence of the dead. And as the night flew by, he no longer knew what pain or sorrow was. He became drunk with the rhythm of the dance. The music that seemed to play from the very ether enchanted him to unknown levels. At one point, he swore he saw his very soul defy the confines of his body. Flying above him, laughing and screaming with joy. While his body danced on beneath in the blazing ring.
But when his soul was reunited with its mortal coil, it was then that Gan-chan seemed to snap back to reality. He realised what he was doing. Who he was dancing with. And had a very bad feeling that unless he left soon, sun rise would come, and he would be dragged down with the phantom dancers to spend all eternity dancing with the dead.
It wasn't Gan-chan's idea of eternal bliss. He wanted to go home. To be with his goddess friends. He reflected on them all, as fondly as he had ever done. Their faces flashing before his glazing eyes. He missed Belldandy's beauty, Urd's bountiful features, And Skuld's... well, Skuld. He didn't want to leave them for this. Eternal dance in the blazing ring of Death.
As he deemed on his friends, his lucky break appeared. A fight had broken out between a bunch of undead rats. All eyes shot from the circles centre, and to the rumble unfolding in the flames.
As the Death of Rats moved to resolve the phantom's fight, Gan-chan seized his opportunity to escape with both paws. To the edge of the unwatching crowd, he danced. Until he reached the fire's edge. Once there, he mustered all of his will, and broke free of the blazing ring.
From the infernal music's grasp he broke, and ran. He ran faster than he had ever run before or since. Reaching a speed Gan-chan did not even know he possessed.
But from the scene, he had to race. Otherwise, the phantoms might pursue him. Dragging him down to eternal dance in Hell. Never to see the ones he loved again.
No. no, he told himself. He would escape. On the distant horizon, the sun seemed to rise. And still, Gan-chan ran on. The woods seemed to go on for eternity, but he did not dare to even glance behind. Afraid of sighting the dancing, blazing horde.
But eventually, he ran into the temple yard. And still, he dared not stop. He ran across the yard, leapt into the house, bolted through the halls, and into Urd's room.
Without thought, he dived straight into her bed. Caring little for the consequences. As he cowered beneath the sheets, his attention was filled by the sumptuous figure of Urd, who had been woken by Gan-chan's crashing intrusion of her bed. She was angry and confused, until she saw the look of abject terror on Gan-chan's wasted, ghostly white face.
"Gan-chan? What the Hell happened to you? You look like you've just seen a ghost!".
"AAAAHHHGGG!" shouted Gan-can, bolting up in his bed. He was pouring with sweat, and was no longer remotely cold. In fact, he was burning hot, and was seeing all in red.
The entire room seemed to spin as he sat in the morning gloom. He closed his eyes, and kept them closed while lying back in bed, and waiting ten seconds to calm himself.
When he opened his eyes again, all was dark and still, as it was before his terrifying ordeal. Gan-chan exhaled at this thought, and blessed his Goddesses that it had all just been some demented dream.
Suddenly, as he was getting settled, he heard a scratching at the door. Followed by a subtle, but clear sound of rats squeaking.
"Oh, no. No, no, no!" He yelled, and bolted for the door. But as he burst into the morning air, he was met not by the Death or Rats, or the spectres of his dream.
After flying through the air, he landed in the arms of Skuld, who was surrounded by all his rat friends and relatives.
"Gan-chan." Skuld chimed, surprised. "We were just coming to see you. We didn't expect you to be up at such an early time. Or... at all, really." She smirked, guiltily.
Rather than waste any more of his precious time, he simply grabbed Skuld in his arms, and twirled her around, much to the young goddesses surprise and joy. When he finally put her down, she blushed as he shot off to find Belldandy and Urd.
When he found Urd watching TV in the living room, he dived at her, forgetting the events of that morning. She was shocked, but glad to see her friend looking better.
Skuld ran through from the kitchen along with Belldandy, and the four friends embraced. "I missed you all so much!" yelled Gan-chan, overcome with joy. "I never thought I'd see you again".
They all just laughed, and Urd said "We all knew you'd pull through! You always do." tears of joy welling in her eyes.
Then, suddenly, a vision of the nightmare flashed before Gan-chan's eyes. He stopped laughing and stood statue still. A chill ran down his neck and back, as his friends looked curiously at him.
He turned around, slowly, sensing something behind him. And to his horror, he saw the bony figure from his dream. Or, was it just a dream? he asked himself.
But rather than take him away to the land beyond, the Death of Rats simply nodded at Gan-chan, said SQUEAK, SQUEAK, and waved to him, before disappearing through the kitchen wall.
Gan-chan smiled and waved back, feeling grateful for the second chance he had received, and turned back to his three best friends.
He was slightly surprised to find his friends staring glassy-eyed at the spot where the Death of Rats had been standing. "Did, eh... Did I just see a... skeleton rat?" asked Urd, shakily.
"I... I think so" said Belldandy, uncertainly.
"I didn't know Rats had an embodiment for Death" stammered Skuld, frightened.
"Oh, yes" said Gan-chan, in a matter-of-factly tone. "He's very big in the rat world, don't you know. And I believe the old rat saying, is that if he appears to you before your rightful time, it is an impending sign of good fortune".
"But" started Urd "We all thought it WAS your time".
"Well, sometimes Death sees fit to grant us a second chance, if we have something worth living for". said Gan-chan, expecting what the response would be.
"But, what could you possibly have worth living for" asked Urd, teasingly.
Gan-chan didn't even have to think about it. "Well, there's always... I don't know, You guys. Without you, I think my life really would be meaningless".
All three Goddesses smiled broadly, and shouted in unison "Oh, Gan-chan!" and diving on top of him.
In another part of the city, at an abandoned arcade building, Mara was still fast asleep on a cushion. Then all of a sudden, she realized she felt freezing. She tried to snuggle into her covers, but it did nothing to subside the cold.
Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw an unfamiliar shadow across the wall. She sat up to see what the Hell it was, and shouted "Look, Hild. I don't care if it is you screwing around. It's my day off! So just shove off, and leave me be!".
But he figure advanced, and as it emerged from the shadows, Mara could see that it was not Hild. But something far more terrifying.
The fright she got sent her flying out of bed, and hitting the wall behind her, stopping her escape. She tried to summon a force field to defend herself, but found she was powerless.
The thing got closer, a glint in its glowing red eyes and on its small but malicious looking scythe. SQUEAK SQUEAK, it cackled at Mara, and hoisted its scythe above its bony head.
"No! No, please" Mara begged, as it closed in on her.
Towering over Mara's shaking form, the Death of Rats cackled still, and swung its tiny scythe downward.
"Aaaaggghhh!" was all Mara had time to scream, before silence befell the room.