Hello again.
First I must give my thanks to all who reviewed the prologue. They really made my day to see just how highly people thought of my work. Thanks to you I will continue to pour more effort into this and try and make it all the better for those reading.
As for the Terminator reference made by BlueShift5, this is correct. Terminator was a major influence in this and it will become more apparent as time goes by. The other large influence I drew on was the large number of Naruto-gets-betrayed-by-Konoha-and-swears-revenge type fanfics out there. As such themes like prejudice, racism, stupidity and small-mindedness, vanity, greed and above all arrogance will play a very heavy role. There will also be many crossovers from different shows incorporated into the plot, most of them negative, so you'll see a lot of cameos.
Now on another more sombre note I feel I should pay respect to those affected by or who have lost loved ones in the floods. I live in the south-east of Brisbane well away from the flooded areas, but when I look on the TV and see the amount of devastation in and around the river, it shocks me deeply, with much worse in places like Toowomba, Maryborough, Gympie, and many others up and down the coast. I can't imagine the recovery being anything less than a monumental task, particularly when three quarters of the state has been declared a disaster zone and the state and national budget is already stretched like a wire. But then again, we are Queenslanders after all. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
Anyway thanks again for your reviews. Please keep em coming, they make me smile.
Here then is the first real chapter and the beginning of our story.
Mandy of the Night.
In The Beginning.
"FOR DE LOVE OF ALL DAT IS EVIL GET OUT!"
"But I want it, yes!"
Grim felt as if his head would surely explode as he continued to rant and rave at Fred, who was still trying vainly to get his grubby fingers back on Horrors Hand. It had only been two weeks after the fight against Boogie had been resolved when Fred had taken the hand with disturbing ease out of Grim's trunk. After enduring the agony of running out of nachos, Fred had managed to take power over it and attacked Endsville. Needless to say it didn't quite work out as he had planned, not that he was capable of planning.
"I DON'T CARE!" Grim continued to scream. Sometimes he swore stupidity was something far worse to suffer through than tyrannical domination and fear. "YOU'VE ALREADY KILLED HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE IN THAT LAST RAMPAGE, AND YOU'RE NOT DOING IT AGAIN!"
"But-"
"I SAID NO!"
"But-"
"NO!"
"But-"
"NO!"
"Yes."
"NO!"
"But-"
"Oh for de love of…" Grim threw his hands up in the air exasperated, turning around to move back into Billy's house, a few feet away from the ever eager Fred.
"So you'll give me the hand?" Fred asked hopefully, rising up on the tips of his pads with his greedy hands clutched together expectantly.
"No."
Grim summoned his scythe, the deep black of the shaft reflecting the light of the mid morning sun as it shone through the doorway. The cursed steel blade held a dull surface yet was razor sharp, tough and hard, able to cut down almost any threat posed by mortal or demon. All up the reaping tool and weapon had enough supernatural energy in it to level several city blocks.
"Yes!"
"Whatever."
Aiming the scythe next to the dim-witted demon Grim opened a glowing green portal to the underworld, shoving the fat green elephantine creature back into it.
With Fred out of the picture for now he managed a slight sigh of relief, once more turning around to head back inside the house, shutting the door behind him as the green glow outside rapidly faded into nothing. Gliding across the carpet he entered into the living room, making his way dourly over to the old green couch where his two masters sat.
Billy and Mandy, the two wholly contradictory eight year old children with whom he shared a love-loathe relationship, more the latter by a great degree. Billy, a stupid and blissfully ignorant young boy, light-hearted, happy, and hyperactive enough to jump-start the sun and make it shine through thick clouds. And then there was Mandy, the ruthless, domineering, logically-minded girl who possessed a will and resolve strong enough to see her through any hardship. Currently they didn't seem to care about his presence, Mandy watching the screen as she sat on the left while Billy sat on the far right. Looking on the two with plain dislike Grim sat down in the middle between them while they simply ignored his return, their eyes fixed on the boxy old television set opposite, a box of pizza each sitting on their laps.
"Fred's gone. He'll be back soon enough." Grim muttered. "Stupid elephant."
I gotta hand it to him, I didn't know he had it in him." Mandy spoke up, a slice of pizza held in her right hand. "How many did he kill again?"
"Two hundred and twenty five in total, including de ones dat died in hospital later." Grim remarked off headedly as if it were mere statistics of no real relevance. It came as no surprise to his masters however seeing as they'd long since grown accustomed to such carnage. Billy had a saving stupidity that kept him detached from it all, unable to properly grasp and understand what was happening, while Mandy simply watched on with either angered satisfaction or all round apathy.
The aforementioned incident with Fred had occurred when the chubby, mindless green demon had simply waltzed on in during the night, opened up Grim's trunk, and taken Horrors Hand. In a move that surprised all who knew of the bumbling fool he immediately embarked on a brutal rampage throughout downtown Endsville. By the end of it several blocks of Endsville's shady central business district had been devastated, which wasn't particularly out of the ordinary for the three in any manner of the word. They had managed to stop him by bribing him with a bowlful of frozen yogurt. For a moment Mandy had held the bronze hand for herself, and had wondered if perhaps she should continue the rampage against the seedy lowlifes who worked there, but ultimately decided against it. There wasn't any plan behind it and it would very likely fail to achieve anything in the end. There were just too many targets worldwide for it to have any real effect. Fred for some reason or another somehow figured that it would be nice to go on another rampage again, thus why he had showed up eagre to get the hand back.
That event had occurred six months ago, and all the damage done to the city had long since been repaired, while the people who were lost were mostly forgotten by their peers. Prior to and after Fred's rampage the city had faced devastation of far greater magnitude on several occasions, including the attacks by the Martian Reaper, the lunar werewolves and Velma Green and her huge spider army. Finally, coming several months after the last of the major struggles they'd faced, came the long prepared attack of Bun Bun and his army of mutant sweets, prompting the formation of the group Underfist.
In the days after they had put an end to Bun Bun and his candy demons, everything had reverted back to its prior state as it usually did. Mandy had stepped down from her position of power calmly, aware that it wasn't the right time for a takeover, with the builders getting to work rapidly in repairing the damage and clearing away the rubble. Underfist continued for another few days, fighting threats to the earth here and there, until they simply became bored with the whole thing and in the end simply drifted apart without a word yesterday.
Thus here they sat now, Grim, Billy and Mandy lounging back on the couch, with a pizza each for breakfast at ten o'clock on a Sunday morning, one week after the attack. An odd feeling of calm and triumph seemed to brighten the day for the three. Billy smiled and grinned without any particular reason while Mandy held a somewhat more relaxed persona. It could almost be said that she was laid-back. To her it had felt like their last struggle had been the last of their long round of troubles, as if after fighting through so much in what was almost a year of owning Grim that they had somehow finally come out the other side. A part of her felt free. It was like the constant weight of wondering when the next danger was going to come from had suddenly been lifted. If she didn't know better she would have thought Billy felt the same way, judging by the slightly more care-free state he was in currently. Perhaps he did on some level, or perhaps it was the effect of her own relaxed state. All up she discarded the notion and returned herself to the box in front of them, taking a bite from her pizza.
Billy turned his gaze from the television down towards the comic book in his left hand, a slice of pizza in his right. He was blissfully reading away on part three of Man Eating Comics. This morning when he had risen and said hello to the sun, giving the glass a slobbery kiss in the process, he had felt as if everything seemed to be bright and cheerful following their last and hardest struggle. Not that his jarred mind could really comprehend the reason for his good mood, he just accepted it without question, giggling loudly as he read over a page that showed a devastated landscape much like Endsville a few days prior. Neither he nor anyone else thought it unusual anymore that after facing such destruction just a week ago there was now little evidence of any damage to buildings, property and such, bar the grieving family members.
Grim really didn't care much for grievers; their wails of grief didn't matter to him anymore after hearing them for so many millennia, simply fading into the background as he reaped the souls whose time had come. Billy's ignorance to the reality of the world gave him a strange 'whatever' attitude to the pain of others, one he was yet to figure out, simply because he couldn't quite think that far. Mandy was halfway between approval of their suffering and simply not caring. After all, why should she care about how much pain and grief the nefarious fools suffered, be it at her hand or someone else's? They weren't her, nor were they connected to her, so in reality they didn't affect her at all. Besides, she knew it was human nature to be wicked and corrupt and conceited, thus she didn't particularly feel any sympathy for them. As far as she was concerned they deserved it for their lazy and corrupt natures, but at this moment in her relaxed state she wasn't particularly concerned by what people did to their brothers and sisters.
She always thought this was a good way to live. After all why, should she deliberately hold herrself back for the good of the same people who treated her like a disease? If others were miserable, why should she chain herselfself to them and go down with them? She found it so much easier if she disconnected from others, freeing herself to utilise every bit of her passionate hatred inside her, that way she could terrorise and oppress them, to make them suffer the way they deserved to suffer, and not get a stupid guilt trip for it. Some would call such a life devoted to logical, structured darkness to be wrong, but how could it be wrong if darkness had given her so much?
Her choice of lifestyle did however necessitate some personal sacrifices. Mandy knew it was absolutely crucial for her to maintain her strength of will at all times, never to falter to any source of weakness. So far she had forbidden herself to feel openly happiness and contentment. She absolutely refused to allow herself to ever smile, not when there were six billion lying sociopaths and narcissists that hadn't faced her wrath yet. Furthermore she had resolved long ago to never get sentimentally attached to another person, be they family, friend or otherwise. Reliance on others for emotional support was in her logical eyes a weakness, and she would never allow any form of inner weakness to drag her down to their level.
Power was everything to Mandy. Any price to get it was worth paying, as was any sacrifice to keep it worth making. Whatever she needed to do, no matter how deep into the black abyss she needed to go she would do it, without a moments hessitation or a shred of remorse, all for the one thing that set her apart from the rest. Becasue in the end, there was only power.
She picked up the remote, turning up the volume on the television so as to hear it over Billy's giggling. The documentary she had been watching for the last half hour told of the Nazi's brutal invasion and takeover of Europe, from Poland to France where the Blitzkrieg strategy still worked. Mandy already knew the story by heart. Afterwards there came the Battle for Britain, to which they lost, a heavy blow to the pride of the supposedly perfect and pure Aryan race. Hitler and his twisted cohorts were furious, and in his arrogant rage he ordered the invasion of the east.
'That of course didn't work because supplies couldn't keep up with the front, so they ran out of fuel, broke down, and froze solid. Racist idiots.'
Grim sat and watched quietly, remembering many of the battles where he had to reap the thousands of zealous souls which still refused to go, still wanting to fight for one cause or another.
"Bah, Nazis gave me such a headache. It was always with de glory of Germany dis and de so-called superiority of the Aryan race dat." He spat indignantly, grumbling as he folded his skeletal arms across his ribcage. Sparing a glance across to Mandy to see what her reaction would be he noticed her give a short, silent nod of agreement, never taking her dark eyes off the screen.
He raised a non existent eyebrow at the girl. This had come as something of a surprise to him, not least because in his eyes Mandy had always tried to push for the same power as the Fascist's did before her. She was just as merciless and domineering as they were, as proven by her one time mastery of the KND organisation. She stood for the very same ideals of power and dominance and superiority as the Nazi's and their Fascist brethren, didn't she? Out of everything he had experienced from the girl he hadn't expected her of all people to be a hypocrite, to denounce the very thing she herself had coveted for as long as he'd known her. A thin, mocking smile extended across his face as she glanced up across to him, wondering what it was he was smiling about.
"Mandy, you're a lot like dem aren't you?" He mockingly asked, not noticing her eyes suddenly widen. "Heh heh, little Nazi girl wants to take over de world." Grim teased, doing a Roman salute with his right arm while holding his left hand above his jaw to immitate a tiny moustache. "Heil Mandy, heh h… eh… "
Grim trailed off, his sudden mocking humour fleeing him to be replaced by a deep fear. Mandy openly stared at him, her eyes wide and set in a glower that was different to everything he'd seen before from her. Whereas he had faced the scary girl's fury time and again this was anger of a different nature. The intensity and sheer depth of her rage came at him in a flood from deep within the brooding and angry girl. He faltered and fell silent, frozen in his seat as tidal waves of malice eclipsed his suddenly very small figure beneath the shadow of her incensed glower.
"How dare you."
Her words came in a flat, even voice, a chilling stream of deadly intensity, clearly beside herself at what to Grim's terror had turned out to be an incredibly offensive slur to the fiery young girl.
"How dare you compare me to one of them!"
"Uhh… Wait Mandy, I didn't mean you were…" Grim stammered as he tried backing away, raising his bony hands in defence of the enraged girl. "All I'm saying is… Huh?"
He trailed off again as Mandy turned away from him, appearing to turn her rage away from him, directing it towards the swastika bearing killers on the television. His fear dropped away replaced by curiosity as he watched the girl in wonder, gritting her jaw together, clenching her fists angrily at some unknown source of deep ingrained hatred.
"Grim, listen to me very carefully. You are never, and I mean never, to call me a Nazi again." She ordered him with a tone heavy with anger and unspoken threats. "Nazis are the absolute lowest of the low. They are arrogant and bigoted lowlifes who blindly throw all their faith in the superiority of their people, and are pathetic enough to believe in pathetic prejudices like race, gender and religion. They believe that if someone isn't like them, they are inferior. They are so self-important and so arrogant that they honestly believe that anyone who is in any way different deserves to be enslaved and killed for not being 'perfect' like them. They think that their way is the only way, and anything else is wrong, as if they are the only ones that matter. They think that they have the right to do whatever they want, to take whatever they want, and anyone who tries to protect themselves deserves to die." The anger and venom in her voice was palpable, making the air sticky and heavy with malice and hatred as she spoke. Billy bought his attention away from the comic book to look across to the girl sitting on the other side of the lounge, listening in growing interest as she spoke, an aura of deep darkness and powerful anger hanging around her being.
For Billy, though he had heard her speak words of acid before, and had been on the receiving end of those words many times, he'd never taken any apparent interest in what she was saying. His blissfully optimistic stupidity shielded himself from whatever it was that spurned her fury. This time however something was different, he felt oddly drawn to listen in on what she was saying. He didn't think about why, not that it ever occurred to the ill-witted creature in the first place, he just listened.
"I hate people like that. Hitler and all his cronies and suck-ups, and his millions of diseased followers, they were the very pinnacle of human nature. They were arrogant and stuck-up and thought they were better than everyone else. Besides that Hitler could have spent all the time and effort of killing people who were different on taking over and ruling other countries properly. And even in war he was an overly confident idiot. Who would start a war on three seperate fronts?" Mandy sighed, rubbing the area around her eyes in frustration.
"Look, the only thing those maniacs and I have in common is the desire to dominate the lives of others. There the similarity ends. I know my strengths and weaknesses, I think ahead, I use logic and self-control, I don't think of myself like I'm superior to everyone else, and I don't blindly hate others for being different! And I'm smart enough not to split up my army!" She began to muse over her own memories of the time her own weaknesses had led to her humiliation and defeat.
"I learnt a lot from my failed takeover of the KND. Back then I was overconfident, I overestimated my abilities, and I underestimated my enemies, and that ultimately lead to my defeat. I thought about that a lot afterwards, and I saw where I'd gone wrong. If I had dedicated more effort into securing my control over the minds of my subjects, instilling myself as their comrade and benevolent leader instead of being their overlord, then they might have continued to obey me even after I got found out. Instead I just had to restructure everything in my own image. It was like I wanted to be some kind of to god." She grimaced at the thought, a feeling of anger at herself for her own stupidity and hubris. Even she had made mistakes in her life which she had come to regret, and this was first and foremost in her mind. "And on the other side if they hadn't underestimated me I probably wouldn't have gotten away as easily as I did."
She gave out a sigh, relaxing back into her soft seat. "The difference between me and guys like Hitler is pretty simple. They do what they do because they think they're better than everyone else, because they're small-minded and obsessed with their pride and purity. I do what I do because I'm above that."
Grim was stumped. He really hadn't thought about it that much, but apparently Mandy knew what she was taking about. "You got a point dere."
"Of course I do. It's me after all." She could still be sarcastic and witty though.
The trio were shaken from their thoughts when they heard a knock on the door. Grim looked to the kids, both of which were looking back expectantly.
He sighed. "I'll get it, dough I don't know why I bother."
"Because we own you."
"Because you love us, tee hee!"
As Grim neared the door he could hear the constant mind grating chant of…
"FredFredburger FredFredburger FredFredburger FredFredburger FredFredburger FredFredburger FredFredburger..."
"…"
He grimaced flatly. Upon opening the door he was greeted with a short, curt…
"Yes."
He didn't bother saying anything, simply opening up another portal beneath his pads, immediately sucking him back down, not that he would stay down long. Returning to the couch he came in time to see Mandy tire of the documentary, glaring at the screen as she raised the remot and began to switch through channels. She settled on a British car show. He stayed standing beside the couch beside them, the three watching on as the three poorly dressed presenters rambled away.
"Grim." She spoke up, drawing the servant reaper's attention. "Not that I don't have an idea already but why exactly did you say that about me?"
"Uhh-"
"What were you thinking when you compared me to a Nazi? Be honest." Mandy asked, taking her eyes off the screen to gaze at him. Oddly there was nothing in her tone that seemed threatening or warned of retribution if she didn't like the answer, as if she were just asking out of interest. Why she was interested however remained to be seen.
"… Well…" He paused for thought. If he didn't word this just right he could still incur the little tyrant's wrath. If he left parts out she would easily sense it and pry it out of him. "Uh, well look at the similarities. Fascists want power and world domination, just like you. And they want to tightly control the lives of deir subjects, just like you. From de day we first met you wanted power and greatness, to be feared by people and for them to obey your will. You've always been extremely ambitious, it's plain to see it in yer eyes girl. I mean, I know you're not some stupid bigot like most of dem but still, you do tend to share more similarities than differences." He awaited her reply tensely. Mandy continued to eye him over, showing a noticeable lack of anger or offense, before she turned away, narrowing her eyes in contemplation.
"I thought as much." She answered, surprising him again. "All along you've never looked beyond the surface."
Slumping back in the couch she finished her last piece of her pizza, putting the box on the ground at her feet. She remained quiet in thought as Grim watched and waited on edge. Billy also turned his attention away from the television to face her, all the while she kept her eyes narrowed.
"Alright listen, you guys still don't seem to have figured out how I roll yet, so I'll explain it to you."
Again her two companions listened intently. Billy though, as much as he felt he should listen, could only partly focus on his friend, a good chunk of his attention going to the three British men on the television and the accompanying silver Murcielago.
"You guys remember how I hate humanity right? You remember how I swore that one day I would bring an age of darkness to the world?" She turned to look across to them as they listened, or at least partially. "Did you ever once stop to wonder why?"
Though Billy continued to face the screen before him, his interest caught on this. His eyes flickered away from the screen, staring off as her words drew him back to what she was saying. Mandy faced Grim with a hard scowl as she continued, unaware that Billy had suddenly started to listen in fully.
"I'll tell you why. It's because people like the Nazi's aren't really that much more corrupt or selfish or intolerant or small-minded than the vast majority of people living on the planet now. Just look at Endsville, all these people, almost all of them are lazy and indifferent. They're vain, they're shallow and they don't think about anything that's not about some celebrity. They turn on each other like rabid dogs at the drop of a hat. These wretched people beat and crush everyone around them just for the thrill of it, and then think it's so wrong when someone does it to them. And most of all, they think only of themselves, that they're the only person who matters, that they're so high and mighty and superior to everyone else, regardless of everything they do!"
She kept her eyes locked on Grim, seeing it beginning to sink in, an understanding occurring to him as he listened. In keeping her attention on Grim though she hadn't noticed how Billy had begun to look off blankly in the direction of the opposite wall, a strange wide-eyed visage taking over his features. Turning her gaze away from Grim she ran a hand through her short double spiked hair.
"I'm not the way I am just because I want power. The whole reason I want power and control over people, to bring darkness and suffering on others, is because of what people are really like inside. When times are really tough they hide their real natures under a mask of modesty and camaraderie, and join together to fight for something better. It's when they get through the hard times and they get what they want that they reveal who they really are inside. They lie, and cheat, and back-stab their own friends and family just to prove how much better they are than everyone else. These people beat, and rape, and maim, and kill those who can't fight back, and you know what? No one, ever, cares. That is why I am the way I am."
"… Wow." Spoke Grim, still stunned by the revelation. This was the first time Mandy had ever really opened up and explained how she thought and felt, and why she did as she did, being a merciless figure of power and control. "Mandy, I never knew you'd thought this through like dis. To be honest, I kinda see where you're coming from."
Turning back to the television Mandy and Grim continued to watch the car show, Mandy still rife with unshed anger. Gritting her teeth she realised her hands were clenched into angry claws. Closing her eyes she took a deep sighing breath through her teeth, part of her remembering what she'd learnt back at that shameful anger management class. Gradually it eased away, her fingers relaxing and her heart rate returning to normal. Her relaxed mood from earlier however was now gone, leaving her to face the world she loathed as she usually did, with dry, biting cynicism.
"Come on, let's get out of here. Fred won't be gone long." Grim droned gesturing to the kids to come. "We'll go to de ice cream place, my treat. Maybe dat'll cool you down."
Shrugging she took the empty pizza box and sat it on the lounge beside her, taking Billy's from his lap and stacking it on top before she rose to her feet. Without concerning herself with the boy she stepped past Billy as he continued to sit, staring off blankly away from the television.
"Come on Billy, let's go." Mandy ordered the boy, only to get no response. "… Billy?"
Billy didn't hear her in his trance-like state. Unknown to his partners his mind was currently working at a blistering rate at which it had never done before, the violent reaction speeding up faster and faster with every second that passed. He had listened to every single one of Mandy's words, taking them all in, digesting them, and working them into his mind. Her powerful, passionate words had acted like a key, fitting into and opening a lock which had lay dormant in his brain since he was born. Deep in the recesses of his mind a door opened to something previously unknown to him. His mind was in a state of revolution and upheaval as he continued to calculate and debate furiously through the now open door at what she had said. For the first time in his life the great rusted gears inside his head creaked and groaned before they finally ground slowly into life, turning against each other growing faster with each second, faster, faster, faster-
"Billy!"
Shaking his head he looked up to where Grim and Mandy stood looking down at him.
"Wake up stupid, we're going out for ice cream!" She barked, seeing the boy return to whatever form of sanity inhabited his skull, a happy smile breaking out across his face. The growing momentum within his mind broke off, the frenzied thoughts slowing down as he sank back into his state of blissful idiocy.
"Some say that when he exhales argon comes out..."
"Ooh! Ooh ice cream!" Billy bounced to his feet as he looked eagerly at her and the reaper.
"And that both his hearts have variable valve timing…"
"Sure whatever, now let's go." Grim spoke lazily.
"All we know is, he's called the St-" Mandy seized the remote, shutting off the proverbial trough of silliness they ate from. She and Billy followed their property out through the front door.
"Mom we're going out for ice cream. Be back once the green demon thingy isn't knocking on the door." Billy called out throughout the house.
"Okay sweetheart." Gladys called back from a few rooms away.
Mandy closed the door and waited for Gladys' voice inside. "Three, two, one…"
"Wait what? Green demon?" They heard Gladys screech to which Billy giggled as he always did.
Without wasting anymore of their Sunday morning the three walked across the lawn, off down the street, passing Fred on their way. He didn't seem to notice them as he turned off the footpath towards the door to Billy's house. As they walked off towards the shops they heard the sound of continuous doorknocking, followed by the annoying chant of…
"FredFredburger FredFredburger FredFredburger FredFredburger FredFredburger FredFredburger FredFredburger…"
The group ignored the demon as he pounded on the door. Gladys was most likely cowering in terror of the monster, hoping against all hope that it would go away of its own accord. They all knew this to be more than unlikely, Fred being too stupid to know when, or indeed how to quit. Billy raced on ahead of the group, thundering ahead on his stubby little legs, flailing his arms around as he careened down the street. From the outside no trace of the sudden spark of thought could be discerned from the bumbling idiot, the revolutionary turmoil in his brain having quietened down to nothing.
The door however remained open, and there was no shutting it.
"Billy slow down." Mandy called out to him half-heartedly, knowing it was useless. "Don't forget you're allergic to anything pointy or edgy."
Alas it was only another few seconds before a howl of pain was heard coming from ahead. She rolled her eyes skywards as they continued, picking up Billy from the footpath where he lay, a vertical line pressed into his nose and face from where he had hit the edge of the mail box. Hauling him to his feet she batted the sides of his face with her hands, earning a big cheesy grin as he shook off the shock to his system, before he set himself hurtling off down the street again.
'Ugh, there's no saving him.' Mandy thought to herself as she watched him barrel down towards a street light currently in his way, all the while he flayed his arms about as he usually did.
Then a curious thing happened. Shortly before he reached the hard metal pole Billy veered off sharply to the right, swerving around it to then continue on running down the street as if nothing had happened, avoiding the pole altogether. Mandy raised an eyebrow in interest, before she tossed the notion out of her head a second later, her and Grim continuing on after him. Billy waved his arms about like wings as he ran around ahead of them, completely ignorant in his happy smiling bliss as he giggled and flitted on down the street.
One day he would destroy worlds.