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'Til I Dance With The Dead	By : TheFairyWithBoots Category: Singers/Bands/Musicians > Iron Maiden Views: 326 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I obviously do not own any of the characters in this story. Story was written out of respect and admiration. This is based off of the song Dance of Death.

Chapter List
- 1-One
- 2-Two
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Janick seemed to be falling farther and farther back into the cave, continuing to be pulled away by some unseen force. He tried to scream, but no sound would come out. He had seen both himself and Steve collapse right next to Bruce and it was at that moment that he was certain that they must be dead. He couldn’t see Steve anymore; he had gone flying off in another direction.
The cave seemed to be an endless abyss. He couldn’t see anything. Everything was black around him. He just kept falling, the image of the shrouded skull with eyes so red and piercing burned into his memory.
There was no hard impact when he stopped falling, all he knew was that the next moment, he found himself lying in a heap on the cave floor. He scrambled to his feet, his eyes darting around in the pitch-black darkness for any sign of Bruce or Steve. The absolute darkness pressed against his eyes, and in a panic, he blindly reached out his hands in front of him to feel for something that he could grab onto.
The floor suddenly seemed to disappear from underneath his feet and what little sense of security he had felt suddenly vanished as he began to freefall. His entire body was numb with terror and he couldn't bring any sound to come out of his mouth. He knew that no one would be able to hear him even if he was to scream.
He had lost track of time and didn't know how long he had been falling. But light suddenly surrounded him, and he had spent so long in the darkness that it was as if someone had set a torch to his eyes. He landed soundlessly on the ground, shielding his eyes with his arm.
Once his eyes adjusted, Janick scrambled to his feet, his eyes darting around to understand where he had just landed. He had to have fallen several miles underneath the cave; he had landed in what appeared to be a long corridor of some sort of dungeon. It had gone eerily silent and for a moment, he thought that he had gone deaf.
He made his way down the corridor. There were several rooms on either side of him in which he somehow thought that Bruce or Steve would be in one of them. He entered the first room on his right only to find that it was some sort of prison cell. The putrid smell of decaying flesh filled his nostrils but there wasn’t a crushing, sinister feeling like he had felt when he had faced The Reaper. Instead, this horrible odor was coming from within the cell. And then he noticed that there was a figure lying on the stone bed. He knew that it couldn’t have been either of his friends but he couldn’t stop himself from taking a few steps closer just to make sure.
The smell of decay became stronger as he realized with a nauseating feeling in his stomach that the figure lying on the bed was a decaying corpse not yet fully decomposed. He felt the sudden urge to vomit but that urge was overcome quickly instead by the shock and horror that he felt when the corpse began to move, sitting up on the stone bed.
Janick slowly backed out of the room with his eyes wide and his mouth open, the contents within his stomach wanting nothing more than to be released. He turned and ran down the corridor when the corpse stood up and he could have sworn that its eyeless gaze was bearing into him.
He ran into the room at the end of the corridor where a bright light was coming from, desperate to get the putrid scent of death out of his nostrils, out of his mouth. He stopped dead in his tracks when the back of Steve’s head was in front of him. Janick gave out a huge sigh of relief - not because he thought they were going to get out of this alive. No, he was certain that they were all going to die down here, or that they already were. But he was relieved that he wasn’t going to have to go through this alone.
“Steve!” he called, walking toward him. Steve didn’t answer. He didn’t even move. He was staring down unblinkingly from the platform at what seemed to be a huge circular room full of people.
Except they weren't people, Janick realized as he stood next to Steve to see what he was starting at. They seemed to be life-sized, mannequin-like…dolls? And they were all standing in a circle, frozen in place in what seemed to be some sort of choreographic number. His brow furrowed as he squinted to get a closer look. Many of the feminine-like figures appeared to be wearing masquerade masks while the masculine figures had the heads of goats, bulls, and other animals. Whether or not they were half-animal or it was some sort of full-head mask, Janick couldn't tell. But he knew that they weren't supposed to be there. He looked over at Steve to find him still unflinching, unmoving. It was like he had turned into a statue.
He waved his hand in front of his face. “Steve? Come on. I don't know what this place is but I don't like it. Let's find Bruce and find a way back up to the surface.” Though he had no idea how they were going to do that. And he didn't want to take the corridor he had just come from for fear of being faced by that undead corpse he had seen in the cell a few minutes ago.
Steve still stared down at the circle of unmoving figures. He didn't acknowledge Janick’s hand waving in front of his face. He just stood as still as the statuesque figures below.
It was at that moment Janick felt a firm grip on his arm, except this wasn't the grip of a human hand. This was cold and deadly. Suddenly it felt as if time itself had been frozen still, and his insides turned to ice. The corpse he had seen back at the cell had appeared between him and Steve, gripping both of their arms in an unbreakable grip. However, the putrid scent of rotting flesh did not fill his nostrils. He couldn't smell, hear, move, or even breathe. All he could do was stare unmovingly, unblinkingly in silent terror.
There was nothing either of them could do to stop the corpse from leading them off of the platform and down to the circle of statuesque figures. When they got closer, Janick discovered with a numbing horror that these were not statues, mannequins, or dolls: they were all bloated corpses.
After positioning them both within the circle, the corpse stepped away to set fire to the pit of coals they were standing on, setting ablaze a circle of fire around the edge so that there would be no escape. Despite the fire, Janick was numb to all feelings except for the unspeakable terror and helplessness that came over him as the ground at the center of the massive circle opened up, and flames blazed upward, blinding him but he was unable to blink.
The Reaper appeared at the center of the circle, looming over the hundreds of corpses in the room, its red and piercing gaze sweeping over all of them. The scythe that was held by its side was streaked with blood and it reached out its hand as if beckoning them closer. And then an eerie chant broke out among the crowd in a language that Janick didn't understand. As if on cue, the crowd resumed its dance number, and he moved with them out of reflex, unable to control his movements.
Spirits seemed to ascend from the pit of fire that The Reaper had ascended from and flew high above them, circling the dance circle. Janick felt the piercing gaze of The Reaper on him, and since he and Steve were the only ones among them that were “alive,” the gaze seemed to be hungry and blood-thirsty.
Janick danced as he had never danced before, jumping and prancing among the lifeless moving figures. It wasn’t like how he was on stage when he had gotten so caught up in the music, that adrenaline had taken over him. This was completely different. At that moment, he felt that he had to keep dancing or else he was going to die. He chanted along with them even though he didn’t understand the words that were coming out of his mouth.
The dance number became faster paced but Janick kept time with them all the same, The Reaper’s gaze never leaving him unless its gaze was shifting toward Steve or a masculine figure with a goat head. Figures that had danced too close to the center were struck down with the scythe and plunged into the fiery depths of hell below. At that moment, Janick realized just what an unholy place this truly was.
He knew that dancing too close to the center would ultimately lead to his doom but he knew that The Reaper wanted him and his gaze was putting him in a deeper trance, beckoning him even closer.
The Reaper must have known that he was trying to resist, and seemed surprised that he was even capable. Its arms raised at the speed of the dance increased along with the chanting. The corpses seemed to grow in number, twirling and flinging their arms in front of his face, their eyes lifeless and full of death. More humanoid figures appeared out of nowhere and animals seemed to join in on the number as well.
As he jumped higher and faster among the undead, Janick was able to gaze over the crowd toward Steve who was also doing his best to keep as far away from the center as possible. More and more corpses were being struck down by The Reaper’s scythe and plunged into the fiery underworld below. But none of those seemed to matter to The Reaper because those were already dead and soulless. The Reaper’s eyes never left him, piercing and full of bloodlust.
Janick caught a glimpse of the masculine figure with a goat head jumping and prancing among the figures. He would recognize those moves from anywhere. It also explained why The Reaper kept his gaze among the three of them; they were the only ones alive.
One of the corpses on the other side of the circle had misstepped, causing one of the undead wolves to attack and begin devouring them, breaking up the dance number. The Reaper took its gaze away and brought its attention to the skirmish, and Janick felt the weight of several of the corpses bump into him, causing him to stumble.
Steve seemed to come flying out of nowhere, dragging the goat-headed man behind him and grabbing Janick firmly by the arm, and running straight through the circle of fire.
The three of them fell face-first on the ground, the goat head mask falling off of Bruce’s head. Neither Steve nor Janick bothered to question why Bruce was naked and wearing a goat head as an unearthly scream sounded from within the circle. They did not dare glance behind them as they scrambled to their feet and ran like hell towards the corridor.
They ran down several corridors and up to several flights of stairs, not sure if this was the right direction or not. They were just determined to get as far away from that hellish circle as they possibly could.
They had become aware of the footsteps advancing on them on the staircase but they did not dare to stop running, knowing that if they did, they would be immediately devoured.
After running for what felt like hours, Steve, Janick, and Bruce stumbled into the cave where they had entered what felt like days ago. They were taken aback by the sight of their unconscious bodies lying beside each other.
Janick found himself lying on the cave floor the next moment, and he immediately gasped, his lungs filled with the damp air around him. Steve scrambled to his feet and Bruce immediately rolled onto his stomach, vomiting on the cave floor.
The eerie chanting could still be heard, echoing loudly off the cave walls, getting closer to them. They didn’t waste any time getting to their feet and running out of the cave and into the woods. The sun had already risen, the sunlight blinding them after being in darkness for so long despite being heavily shaded by the trees above.
They ran through the woods as fast as they could, never able to shake the feeling that something might be lurking in the tree branches above them. They never stopped running, never dared to glance back at the same behind them to see if they were being followed.
They ran out of the woods and into the marshlands, a wave of relief washing over the three of them when they saw the car in the distance. As they made their way to the car, Janick suddenly remembered that the engine was dead.
Bruce had been running so fast towards the car, he practically threw himself onto the hood, grunting as he rolled off and onto the ground. Steve yelled at him to get up and get inside.
“The car isn’t going to start!” Janick panted, leaning against the car to catch his breath, “The engine died, remember!?”
Bruce looked like he was going to start puking again but got to his feet and lifted the hood. He shook his head. “I don’t think it’s dead, just overheated. Get inside and turn the heat on all the way, that should take the heat away from the engine. And then try starting the car.”
The three of them got into the car and Steve turned the heat on, making the inside of the car unbearably hot. He turned the key in the ignition and the engine immediately sputtered to life. His eyes widened in what seemed to be a mixture of relief and fury.
“You mean we could have done that this entire time!?” he roared.
Janick and Bruce both got into the backseat, rolling the windows down so that they could breathe in the car as Steve began to drive out of the field and back onto the road.
It was much easier to see where they were going in broad daylight. They had been driving for a few hours when they finally made their way back into the city. They felt a rush of relief when they saw the sign to the hotel they were staying at. But none of them could stop the feeling of paranoia that The Reaper would appear before them at any moment.

Steve pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and turned the heat off, practically sticking his head out of the open window so that he could breathe in the fresh air. He heard the back doors open and Bruce was on the ground throwing up again. He got out, wanting to yell at Bruce for going out so far in the first place. But they had all been through such an ordeal, he knew that none of them had the energy. Janick helped Bruce to his feet and they entered the lobby to find Dave, Adrian, and Nicko arguing amongst themselves, looking as if they had not slept all night.
They fell silent when the three of them entered the lobby, their eyes widening as if they had just seen a ghost. It didn’t occur to Steve how they must have looked after almost being dragged down into hell and narrowly escaping.
“WHERE THE BLOODY HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!?” Nicko shouted suddenly, causing several guests in the lobby to shoot them disapproving looks. “And why haven’t you been answering your cell!? We were getting ready to send a search party looking for you!”
“Well, that’s the thing,” Steve said, suddenly aware of how tired he was, “Jan and I were out all night looking for Bruce, the car broke down, and…and…it’s a long story, you won’t believe what happened anyway.”
“Have you been drinking!?” Adrian demanded.
“No, I haven’t been drinking!” Steve said as if that should have been obvious, “I was the one that drove us back here. Bruce was the only one who was drinking, that’s why Jan and I had to go and get him.”
They would not shut up until Steve told them everything that had happened; they demanded to know why they had been gone all night and why they smelled like they had been dug up out of a grave. So he told them. Told them about falling asleep behind the wheel and nearly crashing in the marsh, about the engine overheating, about Bruce disappearing despite being too drunk to walk, about following The Reaper into the cave and having their spirits dragged away from them, about being forced to dance among the undead where souls were being thrown into the fiery underworld below, and narrowly escaping when the wolves began devouring the undead dancers.
Steve realized that this all sounded like some fever dream, and Dave, Adrian, and Nicko were staring at him as if he was off his rocker. They glanced over at Bruce and Janick, Bruce was obviously hungover, but Janick only nodded, confirming everything that Steve was saying. It was obvious that none of them believed them and thought that it was some sort of hallucination after nearly crashing. Steve didn’t care though because they finally left him alone, allowing him to go back to his room to rest.
Steve went back up to the room that he was sharing with Janick to wash the scent of death off of him. After his shower, he laid down on one of the beds, staring up at the ceiling, trying to comprehend everything that had happened.
He began to drift off into a much-needed sleep, not bothered by the sound of Jan fumbling around in the bathroom and the sound of the shower running. As he drifted, he began to wonder how and why The Reaper and all of the other sinister spirits in that godless place had let them go. They could have been reaped and harvested but they had somehow managed to escape.
Despite being safe inside the security of the hotel room and in his bed, Steve’s dreams were plagued with visions of The Reaper and the undead corpses dancing around him endlessly, never allowing him to forget the night that he had danced with the dead.
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'Til I Dance With The Dead