Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction ❯ Heaven on Earth ❯ The Ties of Human Flesh ( Chapter 1 )

Oh my Goddess and all its related characters are the property of Kosuke Fujishima. I swear I'm not making any money or any other profit out of this fan work of fiction.

 

The character making a special appearance in this chapter belongs to Maxwell Atoms and Cartoon Network. Hey, it can seem weird now, but there is a rationale behind all of this. Trust me, Onegai…

Any similarity with any real events, and living or dead persons is sheer coincidence.

And although the lemon parts won't start just yet… No one under the age of 18 should be reading this. Is that understood? Okay? Fine.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1: The Ties of Human Flesh.

 

 

 

Sometimes, time seems to freeze when leading you to a point you don't want to go to. Then, you have no choice but to stare in impotence as the events unfold around you, merrily leading you to disaster, while the shock envelops your body in an icy embrace, and you know you will have no choice to take it and hope to come out of it as best as you can.

 

Remember; it happened when you stumbled into Grandmother's favorite prized jar, and saw it tettering on the edge of its table for a split second before falling down to shatter with a final musical cry of breaking. It happened when you were in that fight and saw the meaty fist swinging towards you, finding yourself unable to move out of its way in time.

 

To Keiichi Morisato, it happened when he noticed the car's brakes failing that Sunday, much to his surprise; they always were as careful as anyone could be with the vehicles' maintenance, and kept them in perfect shape for each test, for each race. He had made sure of its state himself, that morning.

 

What could have failed? Later, when thinking about it, he could find no explanation for it, other than her not being there. She always, since he had met her, had been his good luck charm; and much more than that, of course, but she… she was his main, and most often only, link to good fortune. Thinking back about it, it was no surprise that, without her around that day, his accumulated back luck caught up with him. It was only logical, in a perverse, twisted kind of way.

 

His last thoughts were precisely of her as he saw himself careening helplessly towards the curve, in shock for half a second, and then reacting by trying to spin the control wheel in the opposite direction, making a final stubborn attempt to change course, gritting his teeth, ignoring the gasps and screams from the public. The prototype's wheels screamed in loud protests screeching against the track, all in vain; seconds later, the vehicle flew out of the way, and again, the law of the frozen horrid moment was in effect as the audience watched in horror the car suspended in the air for a split instant, before plummeting down like a dead weight, out of the circuit, out of the competition, out of luck. Leaving broken protective barriers behind, and falling down the hill's flank with a long whistling of the air around it.

 

Elsewhere:

 

“And so, it is done” a black-clad figure sighed while standing up, extending a hand to a side, a trusty weapon and tool flying to it obeying to a single, simple mental command. “A cycle is finished yet again. Work to do. Just like always”.

 

 

Back to Japan:

 

“KEIICHI-SAN!!” A horrified female scream was heard over the commotion, as the young woman of unbelievable beauty ran entering the circuit, followed by her two sisters. She had known it for that whole day, since she awakened, something bad was in the air. Something wrong, something that she couldn't pinpoint, exactly, but even so, she felt it, disturbing her.

 

Then Mara had distracted them while on their way to go see the competition. Of course, even if the rules stated he couldn't have a copilot this time, she still wanted to be there at his side, hopefully to see him win, like the last three times. However, the demoness had appeared in their way with a new plan against them; Urd had grumbled it was a specially lame plan this time after beating her out of the way, dusting her hands. Mara was getting sloppier and sloppier with time and with each failed try.

 

However, when they arrived to the place, nothing could prepare them for what they found.

 

“KEIICHIIII-SAAAAN!!!” she cried out desperately, rushing towards the crash site, tears flooding her big blue eyes in a salty flood of desperation. “KEIICHI-SAN, HOLD ON! KEIICHI-SAN!!”. Her voice was strangled, out of control, a pained continued yelp of pain burning through her throat, as she struggled free of Urd and Tamiya's grip to dangerously approach the burning wreckage, shaking them off with amazing ease.

 

She was about to cast a spell to put the flames out, not caring at all if she was watched or not, when those four men quickly took care of the fire with extintors. With a few sonorous sobs, Belldandy closed in into the car's broken remains zooming past everyone, madly looking for him. Her trembling hands explored the vehicle's insides before finding his right hand and squeezing it with a gasp. She couldn't feel the life in it. It was still warm, naturally, but then, watching at his vacant expression, feeling his chest unmoving, devoid of any breathing, of a heartbeat, made her to panic again. She was still moving her mouth incoherently, her eyes fully opened and her hands trembling to no end, when Chihiro pulled her back to safety, allowing the men to carry him out of the crash, as carefully as they could, hoping they could save him.

 

“Ke… Kei… K-Keiichi-san…” she sobbed again, sounding like a mortally wounded kitty, as Urd cradled her back into her arms, even as her own eyes also leaked tears out, and a confused Skuld just babbled in fear behind them. “Pl-please, Keiichi-san…” she begged, shuddering with a horror she never had felt before, “… don't leave me…”.

 

 

Elsewhere:

 

When he finally regained consciousness, he found himself floating in the unending peace of a black void, alone. That certainly was a strange place, he thought as he rubbed his pained head with a hand. It was hard to say where were the up and the down there, since there was basically nothing to be seen around as any sort of point of reference. However, Keiichi Morisato was, despite his youth, a man more than used to all sorts of weirdness, so this new situation didn't confuse him so much as it usually did to most mortals.

 

At first, he thought he had to be in outer space, but that reasoning hit a stump when he noticed there were no stars at all in sight, and besides, he would have died of lack of oxygen up there. Not to mention, the last thing he remembered was being in the race; how could he have gone from there to out of Earth's atmosphere? That was ridiculous.

 

He was starting to work on a new theory, and also about to call to Bell for help, when he noticed the void distorting in front of him, warping to herald the apparition of a tall and menacing hooded skeletal figure, all in black, with dead empty eyes on its skull face, and a huge scythe firmly gripped in its bony right hand, hovering there with him. The vision instantly made him to gasp in terror.

 

“GACK!!” he tried to float away, only to find out he wasn't moving due to some reason. “W-what is this?! Whe-where am I?!?”.

 

“Morisato Keiichi?” the fearsome being asked, with a calmed tone and a notorious… Jamaiquian accent? “Dat is your name, isn't it?”.

 

“Huh? Uh… Ah-hah” he had to nod, very quickly, never taking his widened dark eyes off that creature. “W-why do you ask?”.

 

“Welcome!” the figure passed its sharp scythe to its left hand, and used the right one to grip Keiichi's own right hand in a forceful, yet friendly surprise handshake. “I'm de Grim Reaper, and I'll be your guide to Paradise! Pleased to meet you, don't fear, just follow me into de light, blah blah blah, you must know de drill. It's just like in de movies. Now come on wit' me, I'm on a schedule. Gotta go for a special assignment to de Middle East after dis…”.

 

“WHAT?!!” Keiichi did a shocked double take. “No, no, wait a second now! What are you talking about?! Do you really mean I am… dead?!!”.

 

“Like a doorknob” the Reaper nodded. “Done for. Kicked de bucket. Bought de farm. Worm Food. But don't worry, hey, it happens to everyone. You'll get used to it soon enough. It's no big deal, in the end, actually…”.

 

“What do you try to say with that?!?” the Japanese young man protested. “Of course it's a big deal! I can't die yet! I have a whole life ahead, and I can't leave my loved ones behind just like that!”.

 

“Ah, why can't dey ever make dis easy?” the Reaper sighed, tiredly, and pulled an empty hourglass out of his clothes' dark ominous folds. “Now, listen to dis, M'Boy, an' listen carefully, `cause I'll only say it once. See dis?”.

 

“What about it?”.

 

“It's your hourglass. It was full with de golden sand marking de time you had for your life, but it has just ran out of sand. Meanin', your time has come. Dere's nothing you can do about it, I'm afraid. When it comes, it comes. It's better to accept it gracefully and be a good sport `bout it…”.

 

“No… no way…” Keiichi's already expanded eyes grew to plate sizes as he stared at the hourglass with morbid shock. “But… why?! I don't get it…”.

 

“You don't need to get it. Dose things are above human understanding. Now, just be a good boy and follow me; de Elysian Fields are waitin' for you…”.

 

“But… but…”.

 

“No buts” the Reaper shook a finger categorically. “I told you, dat's de law. You're dead, I'm de Death, so you come wit' me, and dat's all”.

 

“But my parents… my sister!” Keiichi begged. “You can't just do this to them!”.

 

“We do it all de time. You think you are de first man to die leaving a family behind? Think again”.

 

“But… my… my girlfriend…”.

 

“Eh, perhaps you'll be reunited someday” the Reaper shrugged. “What can I do? I'm only doin' my job here, Boy. Don't try sob stories wit' me; I'm too sued to them, and besides, I can't change things because of `em”.

 

“But…” Keiichi repeated once again, trying to look at where he supposed down was, trying to get at least a glimpse of an Earth that didn't show anywhere. “She will suffer so much… Belldandy…” he painfully sighed, feeling his heart breaking inside of his chest.

 

Then the Reaper paused. Now it was his turn to look shocked.

 

“Wha… what did you just say?” he muttered, his mouth hanging open wide with surprise. “Belldandy?”.

 

“Yes…” Keiichi wiped a tear out of his left eye's corners. “She is… the woman I love…”.

 

“Belldandy?!” the Reaper repeated, freaking out, somehow sweating profusely even though he had no skin at all. “Lady Belldandy?! De goddess?! Sister to Lady Urd and Lady Skuld??!”.

 

“The same” Keiichi gave him a suddenly curious look, and paused. “But of course… you know her, don't you? You have to… she's a goddess, after all…”.

 

“SWEET MOTHER OF MARLEY, NO!!” The Reaper shouted, placing both hands on his own head. “So you are *dat* Morisato Keiichi?! Lady Belldandy's boyfriend!? Oh, no! Why me! Why me, why, why?!” he repeated time and time again, bonking himself on the head with the scythe like a madman.

 

“What do you mean with `that' Morisato Keiichi?” Keiichi asked, utterly confused. “How many Keiichi Morisatos are there in Japan?”.

 

“You'd be amazed to learn how many…” the Death moaned while stopping to hurt himself, and slumped his shoulders down. “Lady Belldandy's boyfriend… Dat changes it all…”.

 

“How much do you know about me?” the human asked, somewhat intrigued.

 

“Eh, you don't get to make a goddess to fall in love wit' you, help to stop de Lord of Terror, and even attract Lady Hild's attention without gettin' to be known between us” the Reaper observed. “Blast it, if Lady Belldandy learns I harvested your life, she'll never talk to me again… an' Lady Urd will roast me alive…”.

 

Keiichi looked hopeful again. “So… can you help me to go back, after all?” he tentatively asked.

 

“It ain't as easy as that, Mr. Morisato” the Reaper pointed out, now with more respect towards him. “De rules are still dere; no matter how much of a favorite of Heaven you're, you still have to follow `em, an' de same goes for me. However, dere is one thing we might try…”.

 

“What?”.

 

“Borrowed Time” the Reaper replied. “I can borrow you some time to fix your matters on Earth, and try to look for a way outta your death, but I regret to say it can't be too much time. Otherwise…”.

 

“How long?” Keiichi urged, cutting Death's words short.

 

“Three years, tops” the Reaper answered. “An' be grateful; I usually do dis only in de greatest exceptions an' emergencies. I'll let it happen in dis case because you're a friend of de Norns…”.

 

He pulled a small bag full of golden sand out of somewhere, and used a part of it to refill Keiichi's hourglass to a point. “Dere. You have three years, an' I'm bein' generous here. Very generous. Do de most out of `em. An' tell Lady Belldandy Grim said `Hi'”.

 

“Uhhh… right…” Keiichi sweatdropped and gulped down.

 

“An' be careful while you're at it” Grim warned tensely. “People living on Borrowed Time is often hounded by factors of doom an' death… Watch your back, an' try not to die before you run out of dat time I'm lendin' you. Understood?”.

 

“Yes, sir!”.

 

“Good boy. I didn't expect anythin' less from Lady Belldandy's boyfriend. Now just close your eyes, and you'll be sent back…”.

 

 

Japan:

 

“Hey!!” Tamiya's voice called out again, but this time in loud relief, as the huge man checked on Keiichi's pulse once more, the ambulance sirens howling in approach. “I feel it now! He's alive! HE'S ALIVE!!”.

 

Slowly, painfully, Morisato struggled to open his eyes, feeling the pain spreading through his whole body, and his heart beating again, even if irregularly. He saw Belldandy, breaking free from Urd's arms to run to him again, her beautiful eyes full with tears, followed closely by the other two goodesses in his life, and tried to smile for them.

 

He was back. And even feeling so bad, it felt really good.

 

 

Next: Human Condition.