What If: My Second Life

CHAPTER 13: A Dance With Death

Again? I woke up AGAIN with pains! What is with this? I'm so si- Wait... It's still nighttime.. I look over at the clock and see that it's exactly 3:33AM. I blinked and raised a brow, remembering that in ghost folklore, this was the 'witching hour.' I looked next to me to see a sleeping Vinyl and I leaned down to kiss the top of her head. I clutched my chest again as it started to hurt. “What in Equestria is going on?” I whispered to myself.

I looked up and instantly froze. What I saw would make any grown man cry and whimper. But I used to be a fucking hardcore Heavy Metal fan before. Skulls all over my room with posters of stabbings and killings. It was some spooky shit. But what I saw just made me stop and stare. It was a glowing see through body of a pony handing from chains. It was decapitated and dried blood was matted to the neck hole. It looked to be a Pegasus pony from the holes that the wings had left when they were ripped off. The body swung back and fourth a bit and then stopped. I then looked to my side and saw a chair rocking back and fourth.

I slowly got up and asked quietly. “Hello? Is anypony there?” The chair instantly stopped and a black mist formed. It looked up with red eyes and chuckled. I went wide eyed and froze again. My mouth was dry from fear and my pits were starting to sweat. “A-Are you..Death?” The figure slowly nodded and stood up, slowly floating over to me. It stopped right in front of my face and looked me up and down.

“Yooouuu arrre a strooong ooonee...” It's soft raspy voice told me. Death circled around me and then back in front of me. “Hooowww dooo yoooou knoooow thaat yooou arrre reaaady tooo goooo?” I narrowed my eyes and clenched my fists tight.

“Because I knew those pains were my ribs just going deeper into my lungs...” Death just looked into my eyes and I looked back. I couldn't believe this was happening! I was staring down Death. I moved forward and Death FLINTCHED. “What's the matter? Scared?”

“Yeeesss....IIII ammmm scaaaaaared.... Thaaat yoooou arrre noooot scaaared...” Death kept looking in my eyes with it's red flaring eyes. They mesmerized me for a bit but I snapped out of it.

“It's because I've been in the face of death many times before, but not in this fashion. I don't think It's my time to go though..” I smirked and reached out to grab the sleeve of Death. I feel instant pain shoot through my arm but I just smirked. “So, that touch of death is just phooie huh?” I asked with a small chuckle. I remembered reading something in one of Twilight's books. Overcome Death in an encounter, and you become Death itself. But then, I thought to myself. Would I get to see my lover and friends again? I looked back to a still sleeping Vinyl and bit my lower lip. I released Death who pulled back from me and looked at me, surprised. “I don't want to be death. Though I know of the perks, I know of the consequences. I learned that becoming death would mean eternal death for the incarnate him/herself.” Death chuckled.

“Yoooouuu diiiid yoooour homework...” Another cackle and a float into the face. “Yooour a smarrrt kiiid.... Yoooouuu liiiive... Juuust remembeeerrrr.... Iiiii'llll beee waaatchiiiing...” With those final words, Death slowly faded away with an evil laugh. I looked up to see the ghost corpse was gone and the pain in my chest subsided. I smirked to myself. I did do my homework, for once.

How did I know this was going to happen? When I remembered that this is new for ponies and I might get hurt or either die along the way. In this world, I read that death will come to you, and you have a chance to become Death itself if strong enough. Pros, eternal life, the Devil's right hand man... The cons, never get to see family again, had to kill loved ones when their time came. I don't like that one bit. That's not me. I'm no killer.

I sighed and crawled back into bed, wrapping my arms around Vinyl who whimpered slightly in her sleep. I snuggled her close to my body and she turned to bury her face in my chest. I sighed and kissed her forehead, slowly falling into an uneasy sleep.

I opened my eyes to find myself in the dark. I did a 360 and saw nothing but black. “Death? Is this one of your ways of keeping an eye on me?” A cackle came from the blackness.

“Iiiiit iiiiisss... Yooouu arrre verrry smarrt booooyy...” I folded my arms and Death appeared next to me in the dark mist again, this time, with a scythe. Death grabbed it's hood and pulled it down, revealing the skull and the red fiery eyes. I looked into his eyes and smirked again.

“Seems as though we are equal. Tell me, how did you become death? I could easily overcome you...” A laugh came from Death as it pulled it's hood up again.

“Nooooooonnnee haaasss everrrrr triiiiieeeed beeeffoooore...” I shrugged and looked away.

“Anyway to tell how fast time is flowing while in this dream?” Death held out his hand and a black hourglass formed in his hand with red sand. Death handed the hourglass to me and I looked at it. “Time telling me when it is time for me to wake?” Death nodded and then faded away slowly.

“Yoooouuu mayyyy speeeeed iiiittt uuuuuppp...Juusssst wiiiillll itttt...” Then Death was gone from sight. I looked back the hourglass and closed my eyes, willing the time to go ahead about an hour. I looked back at the glass and it had more grains at the bottom.

“This thing is awesome...” I willed myself to wake and when I opened my eyes, I was back in the real world, shielding my eyes from the sun. “Holy crap... Bright...” Vinyl wasn't in the bed again. I got up and then felt something cold hit my chest. I looked down to see the hourglass around my neck, in a small necklace form. “Now that is cool...” I whispered, smiling at the small glass.

I put on some clean pants and walked out of the room, seeing Vinyl and Coal talking on the couch. I walked over and leaned on the back of the couch. “Morning~” I startled them both and Coal looked up at me from his tea.

“Oh hey there Jace! We were just talking about you... Vinyl said last night you were talking to someone?” My heart stopped and I turned to Vinyl.

“You were awake?” She nodded and had tears in her eyes. Jace came around and sat down next to Vinyl, picking her up and setting her in his lap. He stroked her mane and held her close. “Ohhh, I'm sorry honey...I didn't think you were awake...” She was now sobbing, knowing exactly what happened last night. I stroked her mane and kissed on her cheeks, not caring about the salt. She just sobbed into my chest as I held her. My head rested on hers as she let her emotions spill out. Coal had left to go into the other room to give us some privacy.

After a good five minute cry, Vinyl hiccuped and moved away from my chest. “W-Was that r-really sniff Death?” She looked at me with sad eyes. I HATED those sad eyes! They made me feel guilty! GRRR! I hate being honest around such sweet ponies! I nodded slowly and frowned, seeing the fear in her eyes.

“He...Made me a deal...” I fingered the hourglass on my neck. “This glass is for the time that I sleep. I can use this to make choices now. I can sit and think about whether I live or die...” She froze when she heard 'die.' “Or I can become Death itself. I don't want to die or become Death. All I want is you. This glass is pretty much my own fate. I promise you I'm not leaving you.. I would never do that... Not until the day..I...Die...” I kissed her in between those last words. This got a smile out of her and a warm hug. “Now, may I please have some tea love? I'm really thirsty. I was so scared last night, I got cotton mouth.” She nodded and trotted off to make the tea. I looked down at the hourglass and pulled it of my neck, just staring at it. “Death, I know you can hear me... But.. I want to be able to dream again. Not nightmares...Dreams... I want this one thing...” I saw the grains in the glass turn a pure white and I blinked. “Well...Thank you I guess...”

* * * *

The three were sitting at the dining table, all enjoying breakfast. Coal had some pancakes that had some fruit in them, Jace had a bowl of fruit, and Vinyl had an apple.

After breakfast, I was feeling good about myself. I wanted to get back to working, but I had to put it off for a few. Being a DJ was actually bringing in some good payment. I got tips too from some people. I was really weird to have a gold bit hit your head and land on the DJ table. It's just something that you don't see everyday. But, then my mind started to wander towards that meeting with Death. I had talked to him like he was one of my closest friends. He? Is it a He? I'll call him a he. He didn't look scary. Only weird thing was that on the skull was 666 carved into his bony forehead. I could understand that much of him. I honestly felt like he was one of my goth friends from Earth. Seriously freaky I know but, that's how I really felt! I wasn't intimidated or anything, I've been on this road a million times before. Just, not this particular sidewalk.

Coal snapped in front of my face and I shook my head into consciousness again. “Whaa? Did I space out again?” They both nodded and I sighed. “I'm sorry guys it just that, that meeting with Death made me a new man pretty much. But, I don't know how to live with the fact that Death is right around the corner...” I turned slightly and saw some black around the corner. It faded when the others looked. “*sigh* Literally...” Vinyl had that concerned look on her face again. “I'll be fine Vi it's...Just something I've got to deal with.. I think I may be becoming FRIENDS with Death! Weird I know...” The two just looked at me with a face of utter shock at the statement.

“FRIENDS?! With DEATH?! Are you bucking INSANE?!” Coal remarked, standing up. “You can't be FRIENDS with DEATH! Death draws you in, gets you close, accepts you. And what do you do? You ACCEPT Death and then you DIE.” This was too much for Vinyl and she got up to leave.

I looked up at Coal and stood up. “How many times have you had a near death experience hmm?” Coal stopped, just staring at me with a serious look on his face. “EXACTLY. NONE. I've had so many that I know that Death is willing to be my friend. He doesn't need to be my fucking BOYFRIEND or anything Coal!” I was now in Coal's face. Coal was trying to keep from punching me right in the jaw. “Now tell me, who's life is this?” I asked, jabbing and singer into Coal's ribs.

“Mine...” Came the meek response. Jace nodded and pushed Coal away from him. He walked out of the room, following Vinyl. He walked around the house, looking for her, eventually finding her curled on the bed. Jace walked in and sat next to her.

“Hey...” I said to her in a soothing voice. “I'm not mad Vi... It's... Just really hard to deal with some of this stuff right now. Having that meeting with Death was just something that happened fast in my life. I'm not going anywhere I swear.” Vinyl looked up at me, no emotions. She just, put her head in my lap and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep. I stroked her mane and sighed, laying my head on the pillow. “Make this one quick Death...” I said softly as I fell asleep.

I was awake. On a beach. Wait, what? A beach? I looked down and saw myself in swimming trunks. “The hell?” I looked over to see Vinyl sun bathing right next to me. She picked up a bottle of sun-tan lotion and shook it a bit.

“Wanna lather up my back there Jaceyy~” She added in a wink.

My first response was, “HELL YES!” Then I thought and stopped in my tracks. I raised a brow and then Vinyl scowled at me.

“Oh for goodness sake...Yeah, It's Death... Woopdie fucking doo...” I went wide eyed.

“Well slap my titties and call me Sally... You talk like her too!”

“Well no shit! I've been trapped in that dark manifestation for thousands of years.. You've released me and I took form of your lover... Is that so wrong?”

“On many levels! You can't just do that!”

Death sighed and rolled his/her eyes. He was still formed as Vinyl but the eyes were black instead of red now. “Fine, fine... Your dream is almost over. An hour is a short amount of time like you wanted. I was going to have you oil up your lover's back but, that will have to wait for another time..” He/she raised his/her hoof and it turned into a skeletal hand. He snapped the fingers and I was awake. I looked down to see Vinyl now with her eyes open. She was looking up at me, blinking.

“Something happen while I was out?” I asked, a little concerned why she was doing this. Then I saw the expression. 'Bedroom eyes.' I didn't want that to happen this fast! “Whoaaa Vi... Slow down there girl.. I'm not ready fo-” Snickering, great, another tease.

“Haha! Your so gullible..” She leaned up and kissed me on the lips. “Your friend has some news for you.. Go see him downstairs.. I'll stay up here and rest some more. I've been wayyy to emotional.” I nodded and gave her one last kiss before standing up and walking downstairs. Coal was fully dressed now. Last time I saw him, he was just in his underwear and a t-shirt.

“Well, I got some news for ya Jace..” I stopped and looked at him. “I moved over to the Apple's residence to stay there now. Since I'm gonna be working there, I have to stay close to the work. It will be time consuming to get back and fourth to visit you though.”

“Oh that's fine. We'll just meet at the park. It's about half way right?” Coal nodded and smiled a little.

“Well, looks like we got a new hangout. Oh and, hit on AJ some more man. Be strong, be yourself. Your definitely capable enough to get that mare!” Coal blushed a little and looked down.

“Thanks Jace. Your a good friend. Sorry about this morning.”

“Water under the bridge my friend.” The two had a MAN hug session and then went off to go explore the town, hoping to get all this crap off my mind.

Author's Note: Yeah, I had to do something to have people worry. I feel like an ass for doing it, but it is my story. I was actually thinking to have Jace become Death but then I thought to myself, what would I do?