Category: The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Summary: After several decades, Grim finally pays Mandy a visit. The problem is that the get-together is not for social reasons.

The Reunion

The three room apartment was bitter cold despite the crackling fire that burned in the cozy fireplace. It seemed that the chill of winter simply robbed the flames of their heat before the resident could even feel the warmth even though she was practically sitting in the cinders. Just like many other things in life, this irritated Mandy to no end.

In the prime of her life Mandy had been a practical evil mastermind, always concocting up flawless plans for conquering the world, global domination, and even immortality. But these days, oh, things were so very different. Billy wasn't there to kick around anymore; Grim had returned the Underworld; Jeff and Erwin... Who cared about them? They were gone, too, and it was a stunned moment when Mandy finally realized that, at age sixty-three, she was the only one still frozen in time as the deviant child of Endsville.

Every so often Billy would call, but the conversations went to far when Billy, even more senile than he was as a child, couldn't figure out which end of the telephone receiver he was supposed to speak into. His family had moved away decades ago: Mandy had been in the seventh grade, and he was still in Special Education programs. Billy's folks had found a new dump that apparently had more appeal than Endsville, and the days were lonely when Mandy found herself only able to talk with a bag of bones and some idiot nerd boy.

Speaking of the Reaper, Mandy had cut Grim's contract of eternal friendship at around Graduation time. After the ordeal with Billy's mom and her reaction to seeing the Collector of Souls lurking about her house, Mandy had figured that it was best she not lug Grim off to college with her. Besides, he had pretty much worn out his use. Without the desire to create mischief, or a need to fix Billy's, Grim's power had no more purpose other than for his original line of work.

Mandy had thought that with time to herself she would be able to think. With an unmatched wit and the intelligence that comes from majoring in World Studies the blonde had set to work. Devising a perfect plan that would lead to a mass takeover of nine of the worlds largest governments, the days ticked by, coming and going, fading in and out of oblivion.

Before she knew it Mandy had received a card enclosed with a twenty from an annoyingly cheerful spider wishing her a happy sixtieth.

So, there was no domination, no massive invasions, no immortality; just an old woman who had lost track of the time. Her friends had moved on and simply weren't there to remind her that the clock does, indeed, keep ticking on you no matter how intelligent you are.

"It shouldn't be this cold," the woman muttered suspiciously, so close to the flames that she should have been getting burned by now. A wrinkled and spider-veined hand reached for a pile of ashes at the front of the fireplace; they felt gritty and dry to the touch, but no heat.

Endsville had never been the same since the days of her youth, Mandy admitted to herself. There had been a time when she thought she would be happy if everyone on the face of the earth had just magically vanished. Now she knew better: now, she missed Billy. And Grim. And even that idiot Erwin.

Having been alone for so long, Mandy knew instantly that there was another presence in the room. As quickly as an elderly woman with a damning case of untreated arthritis could, she turned around to face the fool who dared tread upon her meditations.

In her experience with the ethereal, evil, and undead, Mandy had expected to see some sort of demonic being standing behind her. It had to have been a beast that could use a portal and not doors, obviously. Mandy had not expected to see the Grim Reaper.

"You're very perceptive compared to most of my wards. Usually I have to dig a sixty-year-old out of a comatose sleep before they realize I've come."

"It's been a long time, but I can place your stench anywhere, anytime," she sneered, crossing her brittle arms over her chest, the permanent scowl always on her face. Grim hadn't changed, which was to be expected: he'd been there since the dawn of humanity, after all. His black robes still created a seamless void that strained the eyes when merely looked at. It hung on the definite shape of a human skeleton, emphasizing each bone that mad up Grim's body. "You know, it's funny you would show up now. I was just thinking about you."

"Yes. Yes, I know," he replied, Cheshire grin seeming to grow despite the lack of any movement, "I apologize for forgetting the birthday's and Christmas's and New Year's, but in the Underworld you lose track of Earth time so easily. I hadn't realized how much time had flown by."

"It's been almost forty years, Grim," she growled, not bothering to brush the gray-blonde hair away from her face. He instantly jumped to defend himself.

"Look, I'm immortal, all right? Ten years, forty years, a thousand years - it's a blink of the proverbial eye for me. I'm here now."

"Yes, just as you'll be gone in two seconds." Mandy turned back around and gazed back and the cackling fire, still quite angry that she was chilled to the bone even when standing right next to the inferno.

"Mandy."

"My birthday was last month, Grim. You're a little late, but then again so was everyone else. No one came back here. No one ever comes back to Endsville."

"What? ...Oh. No, no, Mandy, you don't understand." Grim pulled down his hood with several bony fingers before approaching Mandy, taking her side and looking at her in an apologetic way. "I'm not here to wish you happy birthday, Mandy. Quite the opposite, really."

Her eyes pierced straight into the empty sockets that she'd become so accustomed to in the earlier days. For a stiff mass of bone and marrow Mandy never did understand how that face could convey emotion, but it did. It was showing sadness. It only took a minute to put together the pieces.

"No," she hissed angrily, stepping back away from him and glaring daggers all along the way. Sure enough, in one of those fleshless hands the infamous scythe was being clutched protectively. "No! You can't be here for that! You're way too early!"

"Actually, no. There was an unscheduled gas leak over at a power plant in Beijing that tied me up for a few hours, so, technically, I'm late."

"I mean I'm not supposed to die yet! I have at least another twenty years! I'm entitled to it, considering how much of that disgusting granola I had to eat over the years to extend my life span!"

"Mandy," Grim started, feeling a non-existent headache coming on, "Look at your hands." She did so, and was quite stunned at how her skin had tightened and smoothed. The natural color had returned, and no veins poked out prominently anymore. With this young flesh she felt her face, and it, too, felt rejuvenated. Making a quick dash for a mirror on the opposite side of the room, Mandy barely heard Grim explain. "When a human dies they return to the state they were in at the happiest point of their life. For you I believe that was around age ten, when having a moronic sidekick and the Grim Reaper as your personal slave seemed normal to you."

"I'm... I'm short."

"You always were pretty scrawny."

"Pots and kettles, Grim. Pots and kettles."

The fleshless form of Grim glided to a nearby sofa and took refuge on it. Mandy had figured that it had been a typical work day for him and he would be tired. It was a depressing profession he was in, and having to chase down people who refused to die likely took a lot of the Reaper.

"I lied to you before, Mandy."

"What? There was no gas leak in Beijing?" she replied sarcastically, seemingly still interested in her restored youth.

"Not about that," he scoffed. If Grim had eyes they would have been rolling. "I lied to you about not thinking to come back and visit. Yes, time passes quickly in the Underworld, but I knew when your birthday was coming up. I even could have put off some of my work to come visit at Christmas time. It's just... I simply couldn't."

"You don't have to explain yourself, Grim," she said in the quiet, monotonous way that used to make the Reaper cringe, "It wasn't just you. Nobody comes back to this dump for any reason. Well, except to collect the souls of the departed, I suppose."

The bony skull shook slowly. "I knew that your time would be up quickly. Billy's, too. Everything just changed so suddenly, and when you ended my contract of service... I knew things would never be the same. Everyone had moved on, and it was time for this bag of bones to let them move. That's why I didn't return. I had to let go."

"All it took was my death to bring you around."

"Will you knock off the sarcasm, already?" Grim snapped, but Mandy knew better than to take him seriously, "I didn't know that today was going to be your day. Your name just popped up on the roster this morning. Otherwise, I would have given some sort of... notice? Well, it really makes no difference. There really isn't much you can do for a blood clot, I suppose. Besides, the retribution for giving a mortal a warning of death is quite nasty..."

"Woah. Wait a minute," the blonde swung around and stared down the hapless Reaper, "I died from a blood clot? Why?"

"Well, you hardly ever left this apartment," he muttered, clearly not wanting to be the person to explain this to Mandy, "You developed a clot in your legs due to lack of exercise, and it eventually took its toll."

"Of all the most stupid ways to die-!" she shouted, not taking well to having her ego or pride damaged, "Grim, return me back to life so I can shoot myself and die like a normal human being!"

"Oh, as if you were ever a normal human being. Besides, there's no time. We have to go," he said, standing up. Mandy recalled that Grim had always stood a good size over her as a child, but never had he loomed in such a dark fashion; not even when he was threatening to decapitate her out of frustration.

"First, tell me what's going to happen," she asked, not in her typical ordering voice. Despite being pressed for time Grim felt some sort of obligated to explain the basics. It could have been a result of guilt.

"I'll be taking you to Judgment. From there they decide where you go and what happens. An ideal 'good' person will be sent to Euphoria - a Heaven, if you will. A truly evil person is sent to the Underworld, and if the Judgment feels that you were given an 'unfair' life then you're either sent to Limbo or back to earth."

"So, I could be, like, Mandy Incarnate?"

"Only in very rare cases is a soul sent back. Besides, you wouldn't know that you had been incarnated. Since you were such a trickster, however, my guess is that your best chance is Limbo where you will lead a life very similar to that of life on earth. That's the best case scenario."

"And the worst case scenario?" she prodded on, suspicious.

"Worst case, you're condemned to the Underworld and are turned into some sort of hell being: whether it is a zombie or a nymph all depends on the level of evil superiority you had in life. Perhaps you'll be turned into a new being altogether. Look at me: I became the Grim Reaper."

Mandy reeled back from that statement, a new idea springing in her mind. Grim just said he had been turned into what he was, meaning that at some point he had to have been a very alive, very evil person. Interesting.

The awkward silence was interrupted when Grim drew his scythe and slashed it through the air, creating a tear in reality. The rip sufficed as a portal: a mode of transportation that Mandy hadn't traveled by in years.

"Are you ready to go?"

Mandy looked at the swirling green and black of the portal, soothed and frightened by it. Just like in the fairy tales, the Grim Reaper was collecting her soul and taking her away. Just like in the fairy tales...

"Grim, will you stay with me through Judgment?"

He bowed slightly. "I'm not supposed to."

"That's not what I asked," she said, giving him a sideways look. Again, that feeling of obligation overcame the Reaper. A bony hand reached for the young child's palm and grasped it.

"Of course." Grim tugged Mandy's arm, pulling her along in tow. With the two gone the dimensional rift closed, leaving only the empty apartment.

The fire still cracked in the meager fireplace; the snow still rattled the windows. Even the loud music from the residents who lived on the floor above still could be heard in the background. Really, the only thing that had changed since the ordeal was that now the sixty-three-year-old Mandy Smith, sitting comfortably in an overstuffed recliner, was no longer breathing.