Blackhearted

Introductions

Earlier days

Grim slashed wildly with her scythe, knowing her foe could not be beaten, could never be beaten. There was a ringing, an incessant high-pitched sound that tightened around her brow and blurred her vision even before she was kicked to the ground.

Once, she had thought of herself as a monster. This creature showed her how wrong she had been. Gashadokuro, an amalgamation of the unburied who had withered away from starvation or been slain in battle. Perhaps another less familiar with forms of the undead would have assumed it to be merely a giant risen from its grave, but the Reaper knew better. Giants did not have eyes staring out from their bones. Giants did not have skeletal hands reaching out from their stomachs, grasping and clutching until something was finally caught and drawn in. Giants did not have flickering forms that split into a thousand bodies crushed together before reforming into one horrifying abomination.

She screamed, her blade hacking at a neck as thick as a tree trunk. She screamed, though no sound could drown out the ringing in her head. She screamed, bracing herself as she was lifted into the air, knowing the fate of anyone unfortunate enough to be caught by the gashadokuro.

Then the ground seemed to collapse beneath them, and Grim crashed back into earth, scrambling to her feet as she saw the monster be dragged down by a thousand shadowy hands.

"Thank you, darling," she said, not quite managing to keep her voice from shaking. "I didn't mean to lose my head there."

Pitch scoffed, making the skeletal beast disappear into his lair with a flick of his wrist. "And what are you thanking me for? Saving your nonexistent life?"

She frowned. "Forgive me trying for levity after nearly getting my head bitten off. I know that couldn't have killed me, but I rather prefer keeping my head attached to my neck. Anyway, what do you want with that crime against nature? If you really want a pet, I'd suggest starting out with a dog. You could borrow one of my grims for a bit if you like, see if you're ready for the responsibility."

Pitch shrugged. "I prefer being the source of fear around here. I'll likely release the thing into some remote forest, or maybe the bottom of the sea. There's enough leviathans in the ocean depths as is; one more shouldn't cause too much of a stir."

"Mm. Aren't you the philanthropist."

"Well, some rather dubious counsel of mine once recommended I protect my territory if I wished to keep it."

Grim threw back her head and laughed.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Earliest days

Grim crept around the caverns, staring up at the cages that hung empty from the ceiling. An impulse seized her, and she climbed into one, tracing her fingers over the metalwork surrounding her.

There was a loud clang as the cage door swung shut, and Grim flinched.

"What did you think was going to happen?" a dry voice asked her.

She looked up to see the shadow man staring through the cage bars, eyes glinting gold.

"What were these meant for?" she asked.

"Catching pesky intruders," he snarked. "Good to see they're still functioning properly."

"And what do you do with pesky intruders? Suck their blood? Because there might be an issue here if that's the case."

He wrinkled his nose. "Please. I'm the Boogeyman, not a vampire."

"I was actually thinking more along the lines of a spider."