As per my usual M.O. I don't own Grim Tales, I can't draw worth a flyin' flip so it's better that I don't.

As per my…well, not usual I want to take this space to thank AkumaKami64 who helped me set a better style and to Broconi who was an excellent person to bounce ideas off of and even helped me as a proofreader. Thank you to both of you.


Blood traced down his lips as he ran his sleeve across the pale mouth, as he pulled his ruined arm back into it's socket he spied a man in full battle armor "Whooooo are youuuuu?" he hissed. With a roar the knight rushed forward, sword drawn, the smaller man dodged nimbly and wrapped a finger around the hilt of the knife the attacker had on his belt, with a twitch it was in his hand and he watched his opponent roll his massive shoulders. The armor-less fighter slipped under the diagonal sword slash and stabbed into the crease of the armor before ducking back out.

With a riotous laugh the knight stepped forward "Foolish creature! This armor is too thick for any knife to pierce!" and again he rushed in as his counter part rubbed his chin before delivering a paralyzing kick to the neck. The knight dropped his sword and huddled over as he grabbed his throat and wheezed. The smaller gripped his shoulders and picked him up before slamming him down like a sheet on a bed. The coughing stopped as the tip of the knife aided by the force of the slam cut through the armor and into the knight's lungs.

With a hiss he stepped into the light as his tongue brushed past his teeth and he gripped the sword lightly before smashing it against the floor, blade shattered he sheathed it and continued on.

Time to see his son…


Mandy woke up in a cold sweat. Something that never happened before. She wrapped her arms around herself as Grim woke up and silently pulled her into his chest, that was one thing she always loved about her husband. He knew when to give her his silent support. She buried her face in his chest until her glare could regain it's potency.

She stood and nodded her thanks to him, he just smiled and gestured towards a robe that hung on a near by hook. A knock sounded as she tied the belt "Milady! Cerberus is missing!" Pain, always so eager.

The King and Queen of the Underworld made their way down to the Vault. Just as Pain had said, the chain binding Cerberus was broken and the Guardian long gone. Junior sat at the end of the broken chain, his face a blank expression, Minnie, Mimi and Chi all giving him the space they felt he deserved. Chi shook her head "It takes me a week to get daddy to let me come here and then this happens…" she sighed as she watched Junior raise a shaking hand to brush against the enormous link.

The Crown Prince struggled to stand as the chill of the action now pierced him to his very marrow. Cerberus was the only one he called friend, the loyal hound would listen to him when no one else would, his only friend in this lonely existence. He had spent almost all of his time with the three headed canine. And he was thrown away.

Nergal Junior slowly came down the steps and took in the scene before him, the one-eyed prince, he walked over to the boy and laid a hand on his shoulder, as the boy shook he tried to pull him closer. A near fatal mistake.

Junior gave a scream and the nergal demon inside his body reacted as thousands of blades pulsed out of his body like a ripple in water. As he stood the blades formed chains that circled him like snakes and snapped at anything that approached with heads of demons and fangs of anti-creation. The Voice of Damnation echoed from his mouth, the voice that his father had given him through the Bitch Queen [All of you have forsaken me, this creature was the only one that cared not. To it I was a simple grain of sand, the same as the rest of the world. It never turned on me until now, this one betrayal. I will teach it never to forget me again] those listening were nearly flung back by the power of the voice, but the physical force was a trifle, it was spoken with the same pressure as anything else. It was the rage.

As Junior took a step towards the gaping hole in the wall another voice came from his mouth, this one deeper and older [Why? My hound has simply heeded it's master's call. It is bound to me, now that I am free so too is everything made from me. You too will be free in time. I am coming. This is our death] Junior grabbed his skull as the voice receded.


Kare slowly stood as his malicious smirk reached from ear to ear. He could kill those four that held him back from ruling all the Underworld in one night. He reached for his cane before he adjusted the gauntlet he now wore.


Junior stood still as stone as the burnt-out Sol fell and the undead Luna took her place in the sky. The fangs of the chains still snapped at those who approached, yet the body never moved. Those who were close to the boy sat at the far end of the chamber, thankful that he was before the doors of the vault.

Mandy hissed under her breath and another hour passed, Minnie stared at her brother "Mother prithee, what voice doth issued from mine brother's skull?"

She was silent as she wrung her hand against the grip of her pistol, after a moment Grim answered "Ta voice chu eard be dat of Junya's birf fadda."

Minnie slowly gasped "Master of Cerberus…Hades?"

"Hades Charon" Mandy allowed herself "The one known as the King of the Afterlife. After Grim reaps them they take his boat to his hall where they are sent above or below. He is the only one that ascended past an overlord."

"Yes, and more than likely the last"

With a groan Grim snarled "Clockwerk, can dis day get any worse?"

The master of time smiled lightly "I have to be here, where Hades is concerned I cannot see"

"I guess that's what I get for eating your successor" came another voice. They turned to the opening to see who would now give their thoughts.

From Junior came the answer [Same aura. You are Hades.]

He bowed "Indeed, and you must be Junior" he stepped forward and stared at his son "You take after your father" he whispered with a glance at Grim.

Hades walked over to speak with Mandy and Grim, and everyone save Time, Death, and The Queen saw the man who was called the Most Terrifying, the Pilot of the River Styx, Keeper of the Gates. He was a slight man, only as tall as Grim and nearly as thin, with ashen skin. The eyes that shine like the brightest stars in the heavens. Eyes that Junior had shown when his soul traveled to the Land of Tainted Souls. Minnie stared at him with a neutral expression as he smiled lightly "Mandy, I never knew you had so many children"

The Queen put a hand on Minnie's shoulder "She's mine, the others crept in"

With a chuckle he introduced himself and the others to him. He was a gentle soul it seemed but as he went to try to calm down his son yet another voice spoke "So that is the dreaded Hades, Keeper of both the Gates of Heaven and Hell…but why are his eyes so bright? I thought he resided in the Underworld?" Chi let out a squeal and tackled her mother.

Mandy pinched the bridge of her nose and look at Pain who shrugged and glared at the skeleton guard that smiled and waved. Mandy took note of the name tag "Abby Normal" goddamn Young Frankenstein. Even Grim looked at Clockwork for the answer "When the Underworld was first formed and I myself just born, Hades existed with his two brothers, they made promises to the people that they ruled over. The other two broke those promises easily and repeatedly. When Hades was born he gouged out his eyes as a oath to keep his word, and therefore never had a chance to see.. When his empire fell the Heavens granted him the name "Word Keeper" in honor of his truthfulness. God asked him what he might want as a gift and Hades said he only whished to see what the world was like, God asked him by what mean he would see by. Hades didn't care, God spent a long time thinking before giving the eyes that shine like the brightest stone on his throne."

They sat in silence watching as Hades tried to reach his son of bone.


Kare readied himself and those he would bring before he opened the portal and flooded the room with the hellish gas. Within his clawed grasp the small glass orb seemed to writhe and groan before he opened it and allowed that vapor to join its brother. The third orb was explosive.


The explosion propelled the gas through the rift as it blasted those in the room onto their backs-save Nergal Junior who took a large brunt to the point that even his demonoid powers couldn't heal him, the first gas started working as Grim and Junior felt their powers dim to a mere flickering ember and their unlife weep away, the second reduced Clockwork and the already weakened Hades to similar states. As he walked through HIM splashed Mandy, Ikra and the girls with a harsh yellow liquid and physically threw them into the walls where they were held firm "I'll deal with you in a moment you traitorous whores" he growled as Ikra and his daughter.

Clockwork clutched his throat as cough after cough wracked his body "Ju-Junior!" the young reaper slowly twisted his head towards the sound, his once bright gray orb now dulled "H-HIM cannot…gain…time"

Him kicked the Master of the Sands harshly "Aw, no need for that Work ol' buddy! Is it so wrong to want to be the strongest?" one claw held an empty injector that moved towards the spirits neck. A howl broke through the dark air like a plague through a sick ward and the Cerberus, now exposed as a vicious beast slammed into the form of Kare with a predator's brutality.

Grim slowly crawled towards his son until the bare tip of his finger scraped along his progeny's stark white femur, transferring what little power he had to allow Junior to keep the devil from ruining all things. The Heir's bones pulled themselves together as the demon that lived within him shakily lifted one eye. The pain and weakness that overtook him cannot be measured by beings so frail that a century is the end of their life, yet the Heir dragged his bones over to the dying Time before he paused in confusion. Hades choked out "U-use your instincts" and Junior did. His blue eye forced it's way past his spirit and into a physical manifestation. Before he unleashed something more vile than even Kare, the symbiotic nergal hid inside his abdomen and shivered in fear.

The power of the Gate Keeper and Pilot of the River Styx rushed through the bone opening the Maw of Abysium, 666 razor sharp spines forced their way through the bone of Junior's mouth and his jaws were forced apart with a sickening snap, as he collapsed in sheer pain an innumerable amount of tendrils of tongues flew out of the Maw before wrapping around the dying soul and dragging him into the blackness. The snap of the jaws was a signal of finality. The Maw started to pass until the voice of his father passed through him "Junya, ya got ta et meh. Do it fo ya mudder if not me" Hades nodded in agreement before the abyss opened again. As the tendrils reached out again the adrenaline started to leave his decayed body and he nearly couldn't finish it. But the two did fall into his body. Turning an eye on the attacker he found it as he expected it. Nergal Junior stood in front of the formerly cackling HIM, the laughter cut short by Soul Edge cutting a deep slash across the back of the devil. The wound from the blade wasn't healing and that the Lord of Tainted Souls was not accustomed to, he bled profusely as he shoved his cane through the thigh of the annoying insect of a demon.

The Red One nearly leapt at the defender as he dropped his sword and stared past the assassin. Until he felt the horrid gaze, as he turned he was met by the black oblivion of the Maw as it slammed shut on him.

Nergal Junior fell to his knees as the yellow slime turned to dust and his daughter rushed over to him. The guardian of his father's realm tried to smile under his pained grimace "Junior, I need you to use your powers to give Minnie her body back" he was met by silence and the hate filled glare of his godson "I know I abandoned you…but please!" as the blood started to stain the flagstones beneath him "A-and the promise that I made, but now that Grim's gone you have to do it!"

"MiNniE, sTand NeXT TO the TRaiToR" he hissed in a growl and she did, for the first time fear of her brother leaking into her rag doll veins. The son of Nergal smiled weakly at the princess of the Underworld as his body boiled into a thick ooze before it wrapped her in its inky depths. A moment passed and the ooze retracted-absorbed into the girl. Unmarred. Whole. Alive. Junior stepped over before ripping the eye that belonged to her out of his skull and inserting it into hers. The Maw opened a final time to take in the near dead demon father before the change of the sudden influx of power overtook his form.

The energies that pulsed through Junior pushed outward until they covered his form in a swirling mist of different colors so dense that not even light could pierce it. But his screams did. Those still alive rushed to the orb as his screams escalated to a ear shattering level Pain slowly lowered his hands from his ears as the screaming faded only to be replaced by even more ominous breathing. His sixth sense that kept him alive, the same one that told him to serve Mandy now told him a monster was in the room. One greater than even Mandy herself.

Like an egg the mist shell cracked and out stepped a monstrosity. Traces of every creature he had eaten shown through the vessel of this most demonic soul, the black iron boots that covered it's feet were dressed with the screaming skulls of humans and layered greaves that bent down to a single point in the center while above the knee a four inch sharpened spike stood in terrifying beauty against the black silk. Across the waist was a belt of thousands of gray stands twisted around each other coming to a buckle of two clasped talons of living gray fire. The Devourer's chest was covered by a tight jacket that flared as it reached the back of it's feet, across the right side the silvery filaments twisted and tangled against each other as they shifted- depicting all the souls in Heaven, on Earth, or Under the Earth. As the jacket pulled up to a hood a collar sat behind the cover, just under ear level covered with snowy white fur with traces of silver, in the darkness of the jacket the shadow that hid the face was indistinguishable, the same sharp eyes the Reaper-Beast had were now in this creature, but one was alight with the face of a clock while the other was containing the raging silver fire that seemed to try to seek out more fuel. The sharpened green teeth that once shone so brightly in it's mouth were now spikes of crimson pain. The tail of the creature that had taken this body once before was swaying in agitation as beautiful wings of grotesque green and black flesh slowly stretched to the full length, nearly thirty feet of broad wing that curved just slightly at the end as the tendrilled feathers molded to a sharp tip.

But when they saw the hands Mandy felt her heart stop for the second time in history. She was horrified that this creature had came out of her womb, terrified that three of it's souls had shared her bed, petrified at the aura that nearly made her empty her stomach from terror. The black silk only went to the elbows where it became a gauntlet, the left was a twin to the greaves but instead of the screaming skulls the hand was covered with atrociously long claws-talons of bone and metal. The six inch tools of butchery sat idle as the transformation continued and a matching spike issued from it's elbow, another six inches of bladed death.

The right arm of Death twisted and churned like a black mist until the creature growled and the fabrics of creation aligned for it. Ikra and Mandy were the only two that did not empty their stomachs across the floor, even the three headed Guardian Hound purged itself in terror at that heart-stopping appendage.

This arm was not covered with metal but the simple fingerless glove it once wore, but from it's elbow sprouted a blade that towered beyond head level yet it didn't match the other blades in luster nor brightness. This one was darkened ash with the faces of the damned etched onto it's surface with a split tongue that descended four inches from the tip .Mandy prayed that is was not the thin Chaoseater from her vault, the one tool that could end all life. From under the sleeve came links of Luna's light that twisted into the edge of a scythe. The Tool of Death. The butt of the weapon was an orb like the pendulum of a clock, the shaft was black wood where something lurked, as the blinking eyes from the knots attested, the blade blazed that same silver flame with a jagged pattern. Like the teeth of a saw. As the creature's eyes met each and everyone of them they saw yet more to separate this abomination from the boy that stood there only moments ago.

Across it's face lit thousands of runes that shifted from languages long dead to those not yet written in a hypnotic pattern that mesmerized just as the red pattern that traced the left of the skull, a twisting flame that curved around the socket before contorting down to stop between the eyes.

A rift opened and fifteen creatures came through, the first was a thin woman wearing a funeral shroud carrying a torch upside down, the smoke obscured her face and drifted around her making her features impossible to see, behind her was a thin man in a sarong, his shaggy blond hair hung in his light blue eyes as he ran the back of a hand across the sleepy orbs. Three stepped out of the void and Mandy grimaced, doglike, with hair of snakes-The Furies The others that followed through the rift were horrid creatures, the bodies of vultures matched with hideous faces of hags that would be found screeching and jeering if their master had not been eaten. The woman stopped before turning around and stepping back between the rift without a word, the tired man tried to stop her "Thanatos!" she replied with a huff and disappeared.

The Creature looked towards the now fourteen who bowed beneath the weight of his gaze, the metal rattled as he twisted his head to the side, it started as a hum that slowly morphed to a screech the rattled the very ground, glass shattered and the walls started to crack until it stopped. As the vibrations passed and those in the room felt their vision return those kneeling were changed.

Across their bodies were spider webs of cracks that spread like rifts until Junior slammed the end of his scythe on the ground and they shattered only to be replaced. Cerberus was now a sleek black dog with three identical heads with sharp glaring crimson eyes and ears pointed to catch the slightest sound and the muzzles with fangs to enforce it's master's will. Hypnos was now wrapped in a gold sheet of softest sand as he floated above the floor by several inches, even though he was the God of sleep there was a calmness in him now compared to the insomniatic frustration that seemed to follow him before. The Furies were now beautiful women, tall and slim wearing leather armor across snow white gowns with cruel weapons sitting around their waists. The Harpies now were young girls, thirteen or so they appeared, with wings for arms and birds feet instead of human ones, they hopped happily as they grew accustomed to their new attire, jean shorts and light red shirts- but their job was still to torture, pronged whips sat around their hips as belts.

Hypnos bowed to his master with a smile. But the thanks was not acknowledged. A bright portal opened before them and an angel similar to the Redeemer stood there "How dare you give these beasts new form?!" it screeched.

Mandy shot at it only for the bullet to be knocked aside "Better question asshole, how dare you burst into my home after this attack?!"

"I am Michael, the Archangel, here to purge this abomination from Creation!" But Junior had taken this time well, he stood on all fours, tail stabbed into the ground before him like a scorpion.

Mandy shouted "COVER YOUR EARS!" just before a sonic boom was produced from the sheer speed at which the Eater flung himself at the angel and through the portal, the mirror to another world closed and the group of fourteen found themselves face to face with an angry Mandy, a rather irate Pain, a curious Chi, a blank Mimi, a stunned Ikra and a wrathful Minnie.

At the sight of six weapons pointed at his face Hypnos babbled "I-Is there anything I can do for you?" he rubbed his palms together nervously before reaching into the sheet and pulling out a plastic bag filled with brownies.