Slave to the True Death

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Grim Tales. If I did, this would be on the SNAFU website.

Lord Razer- Glad you like it. Hope it remains interesting.

bubbajack- Well, I hope you stay hungry for this fic!

Cf96- Thanks.

nightmaster000- Yeah, Killing off Grim was kind of a requirement for this fic to work how I want it to. Sad, but true. May the old bastard of a skeleton rest in peace!

Kenju- (grins wickedly) Glad you approve. And thank you for giving me the motivation to publish this peice or it might have never seen the light of day. But yes, I have a thing for BDSM fics, and that includes devoted/willing slaves. The key to writing a good slave is making it believable. Unless it's a role playing, or 'real world persona is a mask' scenario, than the slave's personality should be similar to the their regular/free personality.

As for doing the impossbile? Kenju, I do that on a regular basis- I'm the guy who writes the shit that hasn't been done.

Onto Nergal's personality, that's how he's suppose to seem. Why? Because that's how I picture the Nergal of Mythology, which is where Sharur comes from- as someone pointed out, it's his brother's weapon. As for the story, you'll probably figure it out eventually. As for the Jam Cup? Just read, you'll understand.

The Guest- Oh, so I'm not the only one who researhes mythologies! Figures its the anonymous reviewer though.

detrametal- It's what I do. Hope you enjoy this and the rest of my works.

eternal nothingness- Thanks!

Regular speak

Thoughts and Emotions talking to person outside mind

Demonic or Animalistic speak

Demonic or Animalistic Thoughts

Beta: Dragon Wizard 91

"So, what did Nergal want?" Junior asked knowingly as he entered his mother's bedroom, seeing her looking over a map while sitting on her royal bed.

Mandy didn't react to his entry or his sudden question. It was a fairly normal occurrence at this point, "Good afternoon to you too, Master," She said evenly and dryly as she glanced up at him, raising an eyebrow at a small wooden bowl in his right hand, "Nergal agreed to an alliance but only if you get him a weapon. He also knows that you are my Master and seems to have an idea about WHAT you are," Mandy answered dutifully.

"Ahh, he wants Sharur then?" Junior guessed, rubbing his bone chin, almost as if he expected this.

"...Are you a reincarnated god or something, Master?" Mandy questioned, sounding a bit annoyed at the prospect.

"No, Mother, this is my first life, undead or not, I assure you," Junior answered uncaringly as he moved to sit by his slave and mother, looking at the map she was holding, "Can't decide on whether or not to conquer the Deserts of Duat?" He asked, recognizing the map enough to know what it was.

"Yes, Osiris has been rather silent on my presence in the underworld, as have most of the Egyptians," Mandy answered with a hum, "Master, what's so important about this Sharur weapon?" She added idly.

"It belonged to his brother, Ninurta." Junior explained simply, still looking over the map intently.

"Brother?" Mandy asked, actually looking a bit surprised. She hadn't known Nergal had any siblings. With how the demon wanted friendship and family, it seemed odd that he had any relatives.

"Nergal is a god, of sorts. I'm sure you looked him up a few times. Humans get a lot of things wrong about other realms, Mother, but the general ideas are usually right in some way or another," Junior answered, waving off her confusion, "And don't worry about Osiris, Ra and Isis are the real big issues amongst those guys. Still, they won't mind us taking the edge of the desert as long as we stop about a quarter way through, so the hidden temples, cities, and the like remain undisturbed," Junior explained. Duat was one of the physically largest realms of the afterlives. The outer rim was a harsh desert that had a lot of tribes and resources hidden in it. However, the Egyptian gods mostly only cared about what lied past the outer rim desert. It was more fertile and more like a paradise closer to the middle, much like Egypt on the Nile in ancient times, when the river was the only source of life in the unforgiving sands.

"So, Desert Storm is a go?" Mandy quipped with a small smirk.

"That was a horrible joke...and yes, yes it is," Junior answered, shaking his head in amusement.

"So, where is this Sharur than, Master?" Mandy asked curiously.

"That's the tricky part. The weapon has a mind of its own and can turn into a winged lion. Meaning it can go anywhere it wants, or is told to," Junior answered as he held up his wooden bowl, "Good thing I brought my Jam Cup," He said with a smirk as he held it proudly.

"Jam cup?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow as Junior crossed his legs and sat the bowl on his lap.

"I need your hand and a knife," Junior said without giving an answer.

Mandy, knowing where this was going, nodded as she leaned over to pull a knife from under her mattress. Without pause or worry, she slashed her palm before holding it over the bowl, "So, why blood, in this case Master?" She asked, wondering what this thing was.

"This is the Cup of Jamshid, a scrying device used by Persian rulers in the distant past," He answered as he rolled the blood in the bowl from side to side.

"...Might I ask how you came across such a thing, Master?" Mandy asked, looking at the object in interest now.

"No, you may not," Junior said simply.

Mandy just nodded at the rebuke, "Apologies for prying, Master," She said solemnly, bowing her head towards the child skeleton in apology.

Junior chuckled as he patted her head in forgiveness, "You don't need to apologize, Mother. There are just a lot of things I won't explain for a while," He explained, "As for why blood? They say it needs the elixir of immortality to work, and that is correct. However, some things work as a substitute. Like the blood of a mortal that the Grim Reaper granted immortality to," Junior explained as he tilted the bowl back and forth to stir the blood.

"The fact that I'm the acting Grim Reaper now doesn't affect that, Master?" Mandy questioned, expecting that to be an issue.

"No. You're not a real reaper, even if you hold the scythe," Junior explained, making a face as he stared into the bowl, "The down side of this is that blood doesn't flow as easily as water, so the image is tinted and not as clear," He commented to himself.

"Would urine work better?" Mandy asked with a straight face.

"The worst part is that it probably would," Junior answered, smirking as the image started to form, "Now, where is that old smasher?" he asked himself, leaning to the side a bit so his mother could look into it as well.

"Is that...Aku city?" Mandy asked, seeing what looked like buildings with sharp and jagged edges.

"I don't think so. If it was underwater, I'd think it was R'lyeh ...Hmmm, didn't Aku start constructing another city before I was born?" Junior asked, looking to his mother for confirmation.

"Hmmmm, I do recall something like that. If I remember correctly, he abandoned it for some reason after he "woke something up that was too annoying to deal with" in his own words. I never paid it much mind because it was on the complete other side of the Underworld," Mandy commented, looking thoughtful, "I'll have to look into that, Master."

"See that you do," Junior ordered before looking thoughtful. He shrugged before lifting the blood-filled cup to his mouth and drinking its contents, getting a blank stare from his mother, "What? I had to do something with the blood and I know how hard blood is to get out of the carpets and sheets," He explained, licking his teeth for a moment, "Besides, your blood tastes sweet...that sounded less perverted in my head," He added, sounding amused at the end.

"I'm sure it did, Master." Mandy said, suppressing a smirk, "So, should I make the weapon a priority, Master?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, take care of the deserts first. Nergal didn't put a time stamp on that deal of his, just a requirement. Besides, you might find some of those old flying boats in Duat, or who knows what else," Junior answered as he kicked himself off the bed, "Also, if you run into Seth? Go for it," He added as he headed to the door.

"Master?" Mandy asked, confused.

"You'll know what I mean when you meet him," Junior answered wryly as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

"...It's times like this I really doubt he hasn't had a past life," Mandy said evenly as she looked back at her map, a few dozen battle plans racing through her mind.

Meanwhile

Lord Pain, also known as Charles, watched as Grim Junior made his way from his mother's room. Lord Pain had known there was something odd about Junior from the moment he saw him, years ago. At first, he thought Junior was just intelligent from taking after his mother, like Grim Senior had thought. But there was also something weird about the way his mistress acted, looking at the infant skeleton like it had spoken or arching an eyebrow randomly.

Then, for no apparent reason, Mandy had struck down the King of the Underworld. It had shocked Pain, the suddenness of it, how out of character it was for Mandy. Nothing significant had happened prior to that that would warrant her disposing of the Grim Reaper and taking his place. Then the collar appeared and it became clear the great Mandy was naught but a servant to another force. And it didn't take long for Pain to realize who her Master was.

"Just say it Pain, I'd rather not have you staring at me with that confused and conflicted look of yours for another five years," Junior said evenly as he stood beside Pain. They were both facing opposite directions and neither moved to look at the other.

"Forgive me, young Master, but you still confuse me," Charles said in deflection.

"Charles," Junior said in annoyance.

The guard captain paused before sighing, "Why exactly did you have Lord Grim killed?" He asked, curious and confused. They never told him that Junior gave the order. They didn't need to.

"I couldn't allow a False Death to reign any longer," Junior answered with a sigh, "Please don't do anything stupid. Mother's grown accustomed to you working for her and Minnie would miss you," Junior requested before walking off.

"...Young Master, you are an odder child than your mother ever was," Charles muttered to himself as he headed off as well, still confused.

Within her room, Mandy released her grip on her scythe as she heard her captain and her master part ways. She had been wary of everyone under her command for a while after she accepted that she was Junior's slave. Wary in case they decided to turn against her because she had a master now. Or worse, attack her Master in a misguided attempt to free her. She'd kill anyone that harmed her master, slowly.

She had been...cautious the first time she left him alone to deal with things in the empire, but...her master had proven he was more than capable of surviving without her around for a bit. She knew not what her master was, really, but didn't care in the end. If he deemed her unworthy of that knowledge, as curious as she was, she'd accept it. Still, that order earlier regarding Seth was confusing. She shrugged, trusting his judgment for now. Besides, she might not run into the Egyptian Desert God...while conquering the desert of the Egyptian Gods...yeah, it suddenly sunk in how inevitable their meeting was, 'Still, Go for it? What does that mean?' Mandy wondered curiously, 'Maybe he's been talking to Clockwork?'

Meanwhile

Cerberus growled with all three heads as he heard approaching footsteps, disturbing his nap. He instantly started whimpering and lowering his heads in defeat as he saw that it was the Master of his Mistress, "Easy boy, you're not in trouble," Junior informed calmly, patting the snout of the middle head, "Cerberus, I'm going to need your help with something," Junior informed with a small smile.

"Vat's dat?" The Scooby head asked curiously.

"A family reunion," Junior answered with a smirk.

End of Chapter

Well, there's another chapter. It's a bit short, but this felt like the right place to stop. As you can all see, Junior, while a kid, is unnaturally mature and wise. And he has plenty of plans for the future, adapting with every new situation and making it seem as if he saw it coming all along- which he might have. I actually had the conversation between him and Pain longer, but this short, vague answer felt a lot better to Junior's character than a longer explanation. Mandy, again, is still Mandy, slave or no slave. Meanwhile, Junior is already onto another plan of his that involves Cerberus while his slave-mother obeys her orders.

And yes, many, MANY mythologies will be found in this story.

QTP: Will Mandy conquer the Deserts of Duat? Will the Egyptian gods retaliate? Why did Aku abandon the failed city? What happened to Nergal's brother, Ninurta? How did Junior get his 'Jam Cup' and why doesn't he want Mandy to know? What did Junior mean by 'Go for it' if Mandy meets Seth? What did Junior mean by a Grim being a 'False Death', and that the Grim Reaper isn't Death? Will Charles 'do something stupid'? Has Junior been talking with Clockwork? And what is this 'family reunion' he needs Cerberus's help with?