Devil's Deal

I own no rights to The Grim adventures of Billy and Mandy or The Powerpuff Girls, nor am I affiliated with Grim Tales or PPGD by Bleedman.

Blossom stretched her arms as she retired into her home for the night. It had been a very long day at work, and with the several monsters she had to fight off during it, it was going to feel amazing just to finally sit back and relax.

She took out a rag and wiped some of the remaining slime of her glasses, commenting to herself for fortunate they were that her husband invented self-repairing glasses when he was just a child.

As she sighed contentedly and considered simply ordering out tonight, her super-hearing detected movement coming from the other room. Dexter wasn't due back for at least another hour and they weren't expecting anyone else.

Blossom tensed herself. Someone had broken into their home, meaning that they were either very, very stupid or that they felt they had nothing to fear against two of Megaville's greatest heroes. The implications of the latter alone caused the Powerpuff to make sure she had her guard up when she entered the room.

There was indeed an intruder, and this intruder had made no moves to hide himself. He was sitting in plain view from the doorway, kicking back in a chair with his feet up on the table, arms crossed behind his head. He smiled a sharp toothy grin when she entered the room. He'd been waiting for her.

"Hello, Blossom." The demon known to many simply as HIM greeted. "How've you been?"

Blossom placed her glasses into her pocket as her increasing glowing pink eyes glared at the red devil. "Get out of my house, Kare."

"Oh, come now…is that any way to talk to an old friend?" He mocked.

The Powerpuff's eyes now showed no pupil as the pink light glowed its brightest, begging to be released. "Last warning."

She and her sister had fought against the evils of HIM for years before now and if there was one thing she'd learned from all of it, it was that you should never give him a chance to open his mouth. When he talks, people hurt. Badly.

Unfortunately, HIM had been at this for much longer than she had and knew many ways to get people to let him talk.

"Now, now, Blossom, you know how this works. When the evil and dashing villain appears before the hero, it tends to mean that they are about to do something terrible. That they are about to create a problem solely to see if the hero can stop it or die trying. If you shut me up now, you'll never know what I've done or am planning on doing and you'll be unable to save all the people I'm going to potentially harm. And you can't let that happen..." He said with a sneer.

Their eyes were locked as the demon dared the heroine to make a move. After several minutes of internal debate, Blossom finally clenched her fist tightly and powered down her eyes. "Fine…what are you planning?" She said in reluctant anger.

HIM took his arms out from behind his head and set them down on the table, his claws placed against each other as though he was intertwining his fingers.

"Sorry, but I'm a bit of a rambler. It's a problem I've always had. I can never just jump straight to the point." He said, clearly enjoying the power he had over her at the moment.

Blossom continued to glare at him, making mental notes to herself on how many walls she was going to kick him through when they were done.

HIM chuckled a bit. "Well, Blossom, to put a long story as short as I'm willing to make it, I've been going through a lot of events and changes over the past few weeks…"

"Yeah, I heard about how Mandy kicked you to the curb." She interrupted harshly.

HIM closed his eyes for a moment as his eyebrow twitched and his claw trembled in rage at the mention of that name. "Bubbles?" He asked.

"Bubbles." Blossom confirmed, smiling over the fact that he got put down for once.

Once he composed himself he began talking again. "Yes, well, all of that and more got me thinking: I'm not as young as I used to be. A lot of the evil I usually commit, it just doesn't do it for me anymore. I can feel my biological clock slipping away…"

He swooned playfully in pretend sadness. Blossom's expression showed she was not amused.

"…And so as I reflected over my life, you know what I realized that I've really truly desired after all this time?" He asked her.

"A new pair of thigh-high boots?"

"No, I'm good on that one. Stole some from your closet when I got here. You can be quite the naughty girl with your husband." He smirked.

"Get on with it!" She yelled, her patience at an end.

"You see, I realized what I have long desired is a child to call my own. An heir, so to speak, that I can mold in my own image. And I can think of no better person to have that child with than you, Blossom."

Blossom was stunned into silence, this revelation being something she never would have even considered coming out of the demon's mouth. She then snorted loudly as she tried to suppress a laugh. It failed and soon she was laughing loud and long at the top of her lungs, unable to stop.

HIM's eyebrow twitched some more until she finally had to take a breath.

"Wow! Mandy must have really messed you up!" Blossom said as she wiped a tear from her eye, still in the midst's of her giggling.

"So, will you do it?" HIM asked, rather straightforwardly.

Blossom finally stopped laughing and blinked at him. "Oh…wow, you are actually serious."

"When did I ever say I wasn't?"

Blossom regained a more serious composition. "Mandy did mess you up. You're insane. That's the only possible explanation for why you would ever think I'd have a child with you!"

"Oh, no, Blossom. I'm not crazy at all. You'll have a child with me, and you'll do so willingly."

There was a sinister aura coming off the demon. His very presence and the way he talked caused the Powerpuff to start feeling very nervous. "Wha-…what do you mean?" She asked.

HIM's mouth spread into his twisted smile, having waited for this moment. "Tell me something, Blossom, how many times over the years have you and your sisters thwarted my plans? Hundreds of times? Thousands? I simply know it's been too many to my liking. Though I am the master of Tainted Souls and the lord of sin, you three little girls have used all your power and wit to take me down time and again and send me right back to where I belong. Every time. Congrats. …But every time you defeat me, I always come back later, popping up when you least expect it, right? Even with all your incredible powers, you've never managed to put a permanent stop to me. All you've ever been able to do is react to my evil. Never prevent it."

Blossom stood standing across the table from him. Her arms were crossed and her face remained straight, but slowly a bead of sweat started trailing down her forehead.

"Now, of course you don't have to bear me a child." He continued. "You're too strong for me to physically overpower and you three have built up a good resistance to mind control over the years. I certainly can't force you to do anything. …But that's why I've gathered a list of other candidates, as a backup. None quite as good as you, but they'll get the job done…especially if I pay a visit to all of them. I'm certainly willing to settle for quantity over quality."

Blossom's eyes went wide as the realization of what he implied hit her. "You…!"

"Oh yes. Some of them will certainly be willing to lie with me (I can be quite charismatic when I wish to be). Others…not so much. But then again…they're not as powerful as you…so their cooperation isn't really necessary."

Blossom flew straight across the room at blinding speed, lifting HIM up by his neck several feet off the ground. Her hand burned brightly with raging pink energy. "I will fry you before I ever let you do that!"

HIM continued to smile even as the heroine crushed his windpipe. "Go ahead. You and your sisters have done far worse to me in the past. I might need to retreat to a safe haven for a while, but once I'm recovered I can go on my escapades."

HIM started chuckling as Blossom's eyes burned solid pink.

"You think you'll be able to save them all from me?" He asked. "How much do you know of that happens behind locked doors in this city? Or in China? Africa? Other planets? There are so many to choose from that I hardly know where to start! And even if you save one or two, there are hundreds of others after them, just waiting for me. So many lives to ruin and so many potential children who will never have a life beyond what I give them."

They floated in the air for the longest time, HIM's threat floating there with them. The hand that held the demon's throat trembled. She knew what this was leading towards.

She set HIM back down on the ground. HIM readjusted his suit as Blossom landed in front of him. He could see the anger and despair filling her eyes. It was time to put the final touches on this.

"Here's my proposition for you, Blossom." He said. "You bear my child. Willingly, I might add. Do this and I will swear to never have another, be it by force or by will. I will leave all those I threatened alone and not lay a single claw or other body part upon them in order to cause them to bear my child. Make this deal with me and you'll be the only one."

Blossom said no words. She just gazed at the ground, wanting to wish this terrible reality away.

"Now don't stall, my dear." HIM lifted her chin up to make her look at him. "We both know what you're going to do. You're a hero after all and we both know that a hero will never let another suffer when they can suffer in their place."

He removed his claw from her and her head tilted back down.

HIM sighed. "Oh, very well. I guess you need time to think about this. I'll just take a little stroll until you're ready. Who knows? Maybe I'll find someone who catches my interests even more than you do. Here's hoping!"

HIM took a step forward to be on his way. Blossom stopped him by holding her hand straight out in front of herself, presenting it to HIM.

The demon smiled.

And shook the heroine's hand.

…

HIM re-buttoned his jacket. "Well I must say that was much more enjoyable than I thought it'd be." He said with a wicked grin.

Blossom lay naked under the sheets of the bed HIM had just gotten off. The amount of blanket she used to cover herself would never be enough in her mind.

"I gave you what you wanted. Now leave." She demanded in an almost dead tone, hopelessness having long overtaken her.

"Oh don't be like that, Blossom. You enjoyed that almost as much as I did. Not surprising really. I suppose Poindexter just isn't really up to the task like I am."

Blossom finally let her rage out. The deal was done. He had no more business there.

"LEAVE!" She roared, her eye-beams completely obliterating half the roof of the home. HIM sidestepped it just in time.

"Alright, alright, I'm going." He said as he pretended to back off. "…Never did like pillow talk anyway." HIM placed his pimp hat atop his head as he walked. "I'll be seeing you around. The both of you."

"Oh. And Blossom?" He added "… your husband's home."

The gleam of his sinister grin was the last she saw of him as red sparks spread around his body and he departed back to his realm.

A second later Dexter came running up the stairs, his battle gloves primed and ready.

"Blossom! I just saw the roof explode! Are you alright?!" He exclaimed, looking around at every angle, checking for dangers within the room. It took him a moment to register that she was naked on the bed. It was a moment longer until he noticed how tightly she clenched the sheets to herself and the tears that were slowly running down the shadows of her face.

"Blossom?" Dexter shut down his gloves. His wife said nothing. She just sat still on the bed, an occasional tremble seen.

Dexter walked over to her side of the bed, very worried.

"Blossom, what is it? What's wro-"

He was cut off as Blossom wrapped her arms around his midsection and buried her face into his chest, her loud sobs echoing throughout the room.

…

Dexter sat next to his wife on the bed. Neither had said a word for several minutes since she finished talking.

The scientist finally broke the silence. "…Why you?" He asked, not quite looking at her. She couldn't blame him. "Why you specifically?"

Blossom thought back.

The red monster lay atop the Powerpuff, his eyes glaring down at her flesh like a dog over a bone.

"Now…you might be asking yourself, Why you?" He mocked as he pushed himself down into her. "Well, the answer is a bit long and I'd rather focus on other things. But don't worry…you'll understand someday."

"I don't know…" She responded quietly, her sobs having dried up, leaving her with a very scratching throat.

Dexter went quiet again. His fingers entwined as he pondered.

Blossom couldn't stand the silence. Every moment in it the thought of what she'd done rang throughout her skull.

"Dexter…I'm so sorry…" She said.

"You don't…" Dexter started to say before he had to stop. It felt like something caught in his throat and by the sound of it he was doing his damnedest to suppress his own tears. He took in a deep breath. "…You have nothing to apologize for." He said through a cracking voice. "…What you did…it might have been the most selfless thing I've ever heard of…"

This was not what Blossom wanted to hear. She wanted him to yell. To scream. To rage against her and tell her how stupid and horrible she was for what she'd done. She wanted to be told she was just as bad as how she felt. It was to only way that any of this could make sense.

"…I cheated on you…I let him into our bedroom…I gave him exactly what he wanted and barely put up a fight…" She started to tear up again as the words passed through her lips.

"HIM knew that you wouldn't let innocent people suffer. He lined everything up so you wouldn't have a choice. Blossom, you shouldn't blame yourself for this…"

"Well I do!" She screamed in his face as tears flowed down from her red eyes to her red cheeks. "And so should you! I should have found another way! I should have been able to beat him without it ever coming to this! I should have…I should have…." She buried her face into her hands. Dexter placed a gentle hand on her back to comfort her, though instantly removed it when she nearly jerked away at his touch.

"Blossom…I would never hate you…for this or anything." He said, hating to see the woman he loved in such a shattered state. "…Do you remember when you forgave me for kissing Lala?"

Blossom actually accidentally let out a small laugh. "Dexter, that was one kiss when we were ten!" She said, laughing through her tears at the absurd comparison.

"Exactly my point." He said. "We were ten. We were young, dumb, and stupid as all children can be, and even though I acted out of guilt and confusion and lied about it, you still forgave me when you found out, because you understood. When we were ten, you understood. And now, here we are years later, having become older and supposedly wiser. After everything we've gone through together, do you really believe that I'd ever hate you or want you to hate yourself because you made a personal sacrifice to save so many from a monster like HIM?"

Blossom looked at her husband. Neither said anything. She just leaned over onto his chest and he put his arms around her.

"…So what do we do now?" She asked quietly.

Both stayed silent as they weighed their options.

Dexter thought of one, but it was not one he particularly liked. "HIM's deal…the binding condition on you was that you are to give birth to his child. That rules out abortion completely. But once the child is born…"

Dexter went silent again, not wanting to actually say it. Blossom knew what he meant instantly, for her most heart-wrenching reason being that it was something she herself had thought of before.

"…I can't do that, Dexter." She said sadly. "It…it would go against everything I've ever believed in…"

"…I know." Dexter said, holding his wife's hand gently within his own.

They both looked off at nothing in particular. The weight of everything pushing against them.

"I don't know what to do." She said.

"…Whatever we do…." Dexter said, holding her tightly. "…we'll do it together."

"…I love you."

"I love you too."

…

Nine months passed and at their end, Blossom found herself in a Megaville Central hospital bed, holding her newborn baby girl in her arms. Dexter stood close to her, looking down at the small black haired child.

"She's beautiful, Blossom."

Blossom gave him a small smile before looking back down at her daughter, so many bags under her eyes. It was an unusual sight for the former boy genius. He'd seen his wife tank meteors with no trouble and circle the globe at unrealistic speeds without breaking a sweat. To see her in such a weakened state (not that he blamed her, given what he knew about childbirth), it was strange to say the least.

After a while of just the two of them watching the small infant, the nurse came in and told them that Blossom needed to get some rest before she could leave the hospital, given she had a bit of a complicated labor.

As his wife slept Dexter kept watch on her child from the other side of glass that looked into the nursery. He was the only one in the hallway, unsurprising given how late it was.

As the minutes slipped by some of the babies within the room started to cry out of nowhere. Dexter gave one guess as to why and was right, turning his head to the side to see the tall red man siding next to him, also looking into the nursery.

"Tiny little tike, isn't she?" HIM commented. "Can't wait to see what she grows into."

Dexter glared at the demon who had put his wife through so much. "The deal was that Blossom would bear your child. There was never anything in it about us needing to let you have her once she was born."

"You think I want to spend my time changing diapers?" He asked. "No, you and the whore can deal with all that crap. I'll come back for her when she's a bit more ripe for the picking."

HIM snickered, causing Dexter to fully turn to face him. "The most brilliant minds on the planet and the most powerful beings in the universe know that child's lineage. You have made nothing but enemies and Blossom has made nothing but allies. Allies who will use every last bit of their power to keep you away from her."

"Is that supposed to scare me?" HIM remarked.

"No. I am." Dexter stated, suppressing his rage.

HIM let out a single loud laugh. "Ohhh, this oughta be good..." He said, opening his ears to hear how the scientist would respond.

"I am nowhere near as powerful as my wife, nor the majority of her friends. But my rage comes in second only to hers. You have hurt my wife beyond what I ever thought possible and if it takes the rest of my life and beyond I will make you pay. I will use every last IQ of my intellect, every last cell in my brain, until the last neuron fires, I will dedicate everything I have to making sure Blossom and her child never have to fear you ever again. So long as I live you will never lay your hands on either of them." Dexter glared into the demon's eyes.

HIM just chuckled and turned away. "You got that right." Were his final words before he walked down the hallway and disappeared.

Taking a moment to calm himself, Dexter resumed watching the infant Mimi, drawing up schematics in his head for the cybernetic enhancements he'd been thinking of ever since he first saw his wife cry.

…

The knife plunged into the Powerpuff's chest once again.

Blossom lay bleeding on the ground, in tremendous pain and doing nothing to fight back. Her attacker….it was the one person she would never fight back against. Mimi, her beloved daughter. The child who now held the knife into her.

Her mind could not believe that her daughter was doing this.

"No…it's not Mimi who's doing this…" She reminded herself. HIM, the demon who stood watching the bloodbath with a smile on his face, he'd done something to her. He'd exposed her to something, something so evil and foul that she could feel it from several feet away as the demon kept them apart. She saw the pain and horror that overwhelmed her daughter's eyes until they finally changed to a blank stare, as though she had self-destructed herself so she'd no longer feel anything. HIM then handed her the knife and thus led to here.

Mimi stabbed her mother again, the Powerpuff's enhanced resilience being the only reason she wasn't dead yet. She coughed up more blood as she fell into the rubble. The city lay in ruins around her. Did HIM have it destroyed solely to get his claws on her or did he simply just decide it was time to collect?

Tears welled in Blossom's eyes. It was now that she finally understood why he'd chosen her. It was never about the power their child could be born with. It was never about placing his child in a key position within Megaville's hero network.

He'd done it because he knew she'd raise her well. He did it because even though Mimi was demon spawn and the product of a deal obviously meant to hurt her, Blossom would still love the child. She would never hate the child for what she was or what she could be. She would think of her solely as her daughter and nothing less. She would give her as best a life as she possibly could and never stop loving her.

This is what HIM wanted, because he knew how much it would hurt when he took all that away from her.

He had torn Mimi's innocence from her with a smile. He laughed at the child's screams of agony. And when she finally broke, the deal the demon had made with the Powerpuff all those years ago had finally born fruit. He let Blossom raise a pure and innocent child so that he could destroy her entire life.

Mimi jabbed the knife in again.

HIM laughed the entire time. This was his greatest victory. The city of hope and heroes was gone. The woman he hated was bleeding out before him. And a once pure child was now ready to be remade in his image.

Evil had won. Good was dead.

But Blossom believed otherwise.

She could see some of the small tears flowing from her daughter's blank eyes as she stabbed her. Her child was still in there. She was in pain and crying out for someone to help her, but deep down within, Mimi was still there.

Blossom wanted to hug her. To tell her it would alright. But she was so cold. She'd lost too much blood and couldn't move properly.

Jeff the spider stood behind HIM, covering his eyes, unable to take what was going on. HIM said that he needed a nanny for the daughter he'd reclaimed. He'd chosen Jeff because he would do anything just to keep Mimi safe, even work for him.

Blossom was grateful for the spider. Mimi was broken, but he'd do whatever he could to pick up the pieces. He'd do what he could to heal her until her daughter could come back out.

HIM declared this the end of the era of heroes. Blossom knew this was not over. The good with her daughter still remained. Someday she'd be free of him. Someday she'll be saved.

Someday…

The knife went in a final time.

Author's notes: Hey, thanks for reading this story. I'm not sure how well it turned out but I just wanted to get it out there and see. I really like Bleedman's work, especially Grim Tales. One question that is raised while reading it is how exactly did HIM get Blossom to bear his child? This whole thing is basically just my theory on how it could have happened. It's basically the same thing as an invulnerable hero taking shots for their team (like Superman in Justice League), every hit they take is one they don't have to.

And when the hero is presented with a choice of: you can let all these people you don't know suffer or you can suffer for them, the majority of the time they'd choose the latter if there was truly no other option. And it's certainly a deal that an evil bastard like HIM would present to someone he'd want to make suffer.

I'm doubting that this is how it actually happened in the comic, as the reasons for why Blossom would have HIM's child will probably be more connected with the Grim family. And the flashbacks in Grim Tales never say for sure if Blossom and Dexter are still together in the future, just that he's there for Mimi. And while I like the idea of Dexter turning himself into a cyborg so that he may better protect Blossom and Mimi, I think it's more likely that he was just in an accident and had to become a cyborg to save his life.

Basically I'm not sure what to think of this story so please do post a review telling me what you thought of it. What you liked, what you didn't like, what could be better, anything, because I always enjoy reading feedback.

Thank you!