Part 21: HIM and Grim
The daughter of Death laid shaking on the ground, looking upwards to her father. Everything had happened so quickly. Her body was still in shock, her brain needing a moment to process that she was still alive.
"D-dad?"
Junior didn't look back at her, keeping his eyes on HIM. "Are you alright, MJ?"
She was slow to respond. "Ye-yeah. I…I think so."
"Good, because when we get home you're grounded like a rubber lightning rod for sneaking out." His voice wasn't angry or joking. He was what he knew she needed him to be right now: Strong.
A minute passed and MJ slowly wobbled to her feet. She ran over to her father and grabbed onto him, clutching tightly to his leg as she buried her face in his robe, hiding the tears that pushed themselves out of her eyes. She was trembling.
Junior placed his hand on her back to comfort her and hold her close.
Jacob stirred and got up, his hand over his head as he got used to his body's soreness. "Mr…Mr. Reaper?"
"Hello, Jacob. How's your mother?" Junior asked casually.
"She's…she's fine." He answered. "She's got a concert lined up next month in Anti-Fairy World."
"I wonder if Chi would like to go to that…" Junior pondered for a minute. "Been a while since we last went out…"
HIM was getting impatient. "Are you ignoring me?"
"Yes. Now Jacob, when is that concert scheduled for? I want to make sure I don't already have anything planned before I bring it up with her."
HIM's eye twitched a little. "You know, I ruined a good chunk of you and your family's lives and did so out my own pocket. The least you could do is say hi."
Junior stared at the demon. "Well, I suppose I should. After all, seeing you again is kind of a relief."
"Relief?"
"Yeah. When Mephisto said someone survived the bomb I was afraid it was someone important. So thanks for setting me at ease."
"Ohh! Is this the part where we exchange witty banter?" HIM chuckled. "Shame you got here when you did. If you'd arrived a minute later, I'm sure my son would have made your daughter look plenty hilarious enough to qualify."
MJ clutched her father a little tighter and Jacob's head sloped down in shame of what he'd almost done.
"Jacob, get behind me." Junior said, snapping the boy back up. Jacob looked up at the tall skeleton, surprised at this offer of protection.
"R-really?"
"Now, Jacob." Junior reinforced. Jacob stopped hesitating and ran behind him. MJ took a quick glimpse of him before hiding her face back into her father's robe.
"You're being awfully nice to the person who was just trying to eat your kid." HIM commented. "Though I suppose you don't have much other choice. After all, you and I know full well why I wanted someone from Hunson's line to bear my child."
Jacob looked down a little in shame again, which did not go unnoticed by Junior.
"I've met Marceline a few times, Kare." Junior said. "I wouldn't say we're good friends or anything, but I know her well enough to know that you're not her type."
"One could make the argument that with my natural red hue I'm exactly her type." He commented.
"Maybe back when you didn't look like an expired tomato." Junior said. "But even then I doubt she'd have ever willingly let you get that close."
"They said the same thing about Blossom back in the day." HIM pointed out. Junior glared at him. "Heh. But you're right. Even when she was younger Marceline never liked me. Sure, I was evil like her father but I suppose children tend to make distinctions between evil for the sake of chaos and evil for the sake of evil and I guess being raised by Hunson caused her to favor the former. Even years later there was no way she'd ever agree to have my child…
Him started showing more teeth in his smile. "…Unless, of course, I used an old tried and true method. The same one you used to force your wife into marrying you I believe."
"What?" MJ looked up at her father. He said nothing.
"I made a deal with her. And Junior? I have you to thank for that."
Junior grimaced internally.
"Though Marcy and her dear old dad have issues, she's a good girl who would do anything to protect him. So when you started taking over realms and it looked like Hunson and his realm were next on the chopping block, when I asked her to bear my child, she agreed to do it on one condition: that I do everything in my power to protect him from you." HIM chuckled a bit more. "Shame that in her time of fear for her father she didn't realize how safe from you he already is, but I didn't see the need to tell her that. And so, the deal was made.
"Congratulations, Junior, you now have another name you can add to the list of people whose lives you've ruined. You can put her down right after Minnie, Mimi, and Chi." HIM scrolled mentally through the list. "You're not very kind to the women in your life, are you?"
"Bring your neck a little closer. Maybe I can even out the ratio." Junior said.
"Ohh, good one."
Junior glanced over to Jacob, who was standing close behind him, though doing his best not to get too close to MJ, fearing what HIM might cause him to do again.
"So you forced Marceline to give you a child just like you did with Blossom, all just so you'd have someone to carry on your stupid war with my family. I get that. But why offer MJ a deal too? Why risk getting my attention? Like you did."
"Well…tradition, for starters." HIM casually picked his nose. 'I mean, I kidnapped Mandy's daughter. Might as well kidnap yours. See if we can get a thing going."
Junior's stare was of half-closed eyes, showing his non-amusement in great detail.
"But mainly I figured it'd be a good idea to hedge my bets." He continued. "I mean, have you seen the timeline of your family? It's almost like watching an implosion. Seems like the only time anyone in your family ever stays dead is when another member takes them out! Well…except for the ones I got." He said smugly. "I'd like to think your mother got the idea for that E-bomb after I caused her miscarriage. Low, I know, but honestly, did anyone really want Dan Phantom's brats running around?"
"Still mad that my mother wouldn't let you into her pants, Kare?"
"Laugh it up, Junior. I imagine you'd have been just as big a whore as her if our war had left you with any good women after it. Instead you're just stuck with the carpet-munching weeaboo. Though I suppose she did have a thing for my daughter, so it's not like you had to worry about high standards with her."
Junior scowled, causing HIM to start giggling. "Ooh, there's that scary face your mother was so well known for! On you it looks adorable! Like a little boy trying to fill his mother's panties. Speaking of which, where did you send the bitch off to? Super Hell? The void of infinite sorrows? Or do you keep her chained up in one of the castle dungeons for the nights where the wife just can't satisfy you?"
Junior was silent for a moment before lifting his hand up and pointing at Him. HIM looked at it in confusion before green energy blasted from the Reaper's finger and cut through the demon's left arm. It didn't faze him in the least as it fell to the ground and his green irradiated blood started to drip, some making a small hiss when they hit the cold floor.
"That bomb really did a number on you." Junior said.
"Yeah. Thankfully most of my nerves went dead on the spot. All I can really feel now is the burning. Again, almost an apt metaphor for your mother's life."
"Are whore and bitch the only two words you know when describing my mother?"
"You kids still use strumpet these days?"
"No."
"Damn."
Junior felt a tug on his robe. He looked down at his daughter.
"Dad, can we please leave?" She begged. She was shaking badly and her eyes reflected her fear of the demon as she pleaded. "…Please?"
Junior took a second but made his decision easily. She'd been through enough.
"Jacob, come on. We're leaving."
"Y-yes sir." The young demon vampire said as the Reaper and his daughter were about to turn.
"You're really just going to leave?" HIM asked. "You're not even going to try and cut off my head?"
"Under any other circumstance I would, but in this case, I think the alternative is better." Junior answered. "It seems all that activity has accelerated your condition. It seems to be eating away at you much faster now and I bet it hurts like a bitch (cutting off your arm probably didn't help neither). You probably won't last more than a hour."
The blisters and boils on the demon were a brighter green and oozing quite a bit more than before. "So you're just going to leave me here to rot until my soul burns away completely?"
"You're not worth my time anymore." The Reaper stated. "An apt metaphor for your life, I believe."
"Oh, come now Junior, aren't you even curious about how I survived for all these years?"
"Is it because the universe can never let me be too happy?" Junior asked rhetorically.
"Close."
HIM took in a deep breath and then started hacking ferociously. He kept at it until something finally worked its way up into his throat. He then vomited up, from his suddenly wide jaw, two children. Two ghost children to be exact. A boy and a girl, both with greenish skin and white hair. As bad as Him's condition was, these two had it much worse, with whole portions of their bodies completely eaten away by their poisoning, with the rest of them glowing a sickly green. Junior didn't recognize either of the children but there was something familiar about them.
Once he was done coughing out the rest of his bile, HIM wiped his mouth on his sleeve and put his claws on the shoulders of both the children.
"Junior, I'd like you to meet Manny and Daniela Phantom, your long lost little brother and sister."
MJ and Jacob's eyes went wide with horror. "Oh God…" was all they could utter. Junior stayed silent as he looked at the decaying ghosts.
"You wouldn't believe the effort that went into obtaining these two." HIM chuckled. "I'd originally planned on throwing them in your mother's face if I ever got the chance. But then she dropped that bomb on me and then you killed her, so that idea went out the window. But they still proved useful. Turns out that they made nice little meat shields for me, soaking up a majority of the damage that would have otherwise ended me. I've kept them close to my heart ever since. Literally."
Jacob's eyes pounded in his head at the sick act before him. "You-…you're a monster!"
"Oh, now is that any way to talk in front of children, child? Which reminds me! Manny, Daniela, say hello to your niece and her friend."
The two ghost children just stared with vacant dead eyes. These spirits were nothing hollow shells that never had the chance to be filled.
"I said say hi!" HIM started shaking them, letting their heads bob back and forth like their necks were both snapped. Still, they did nothing.
"Dad! Make him stop!" MJ cried. Even with all the stories she'd heard, all the foul creatures that she'd been warned existed, she never could have imagined that there could exist a man so…unrelentingly cruel.
Junior just stared straight at Him. "You expecting to get a reaction out of me?" He asked. "Hoping I'll lose all my senses because of what you've done to them? Sorry to disappoint but I already know how much of an Abomination you are." HIM stopped shaking the children. "I never met them, Kare. Hell, I didn't even know my mother had been expecting until I heard you killed them. To me, they're just another thing I'm glad you get to burn for."
HIM scowled and took his hands off the children, who now just floated there, their expressions still vacant. "You're right. What was I thinking? I should have known you were too heartless to care."
With nothing left to say, Junior lifted the scythe up to tear open a portal home.
"…Minnie had the same reaction when I showed them to her, after all."
Junior stopped. "...What?"
HIM looked at the Reaper. "You know, back during the war, when she first left home to…ohhhh…that's right. The left eye gives you her heart. Not her memories." Him's smile returned, a tad wider than before.
"…Dad?" MJ tried to get his attention. She knew they had to get out of there. It was a bad idea to let Him keep talking. "Dad?!"
"She was so obsessed with hurting you back then, Junior." HIM said, Junior ignoring his daughter. "And someone had to show her how to use the Devil's Essence properly. And who better than me? But even though the thought of you two beating each other to bloody pulps exited me to no end, I don't do anything for free. Thankfully, we were both civilized people and worked out a deal that benefited us both. She wanted the pleasure of punishing you for betraying her, so to get me to help her, she gave me pleasure in return."
The hand that gripped Junior's scythe trembled, with him doing everything in his power not to explode with rage.
"Oh…I'm sorry, Junior…" HIM smirked. "Were you under the impression that you were her first?"
Quicker than half a second later and the Reaper was across the room, the blade of the scythe just barely an inch above the devil's skull. The only thing that kept the enraged Junior from burying it into him was the two ghost children, pushing against the staff of the weapon and keeping it from going anything further.
HIM's smile never wavered. "You seem a tad nettled. Was it something I said?"
Junior held his hand up at the three.
"Die!"
Energy exploded from his hand and took out the entire cell, the wall, and everything behind it for several rooms. When he put his hand down there wasn't even a corpse left. But not because he got them.
He turned his head sharply to the side of the room, where the two ghost children lifted HIM up from the floor, where their intangibility saved them from the blast.
"You're not much of a family man, are you, Junior?" HIM mocked. "Such a terrible brother that you're willing to cut through your own siblings just to get to me."
Junior dove at them. The Phantom children together unleashed a massive Ghostly Wail. The Ecto-burns on their bodies glowed brighter, making it clear that using this ability accelerated their degeneration.
Junior did not care. He unleashed his own Ghostly Wail, cutting through theirs' with ease and knocking them back into the wall.
With HIM's slaves no longer protecting him Junior grabbed the demon by the throat, lifting the scythe up high to end this.
"…And such a terrible father that you'd leave your own daughter completely unprotected in a place like this."
Junior's eyes went wide and he turned around. He saw MJ and Jacob watching him as they stood near the door, right where he left them.
And then he saw the bright yellow triangle standing directly behind them.
"Hi Junior!" Bill yelled.
Bill grabbed MJ.
"Bye Junior!"
Bill then teleported away with her.
"NO!" Junior tried to catch them before they disappeared, but it was too late.
HIM, now free from Junior's grip, slowly stood back up.
"Well, would you look at that? I've got a hostage now!"
Junior's glowing green eyes looked almost blazingly red as he glared at the demon.
HIM nearly burst out laughing.
"This is fun, huh?"