Chapter Text
(i)
Freddy met him underneath the downcast shadows projected by the claw-like branches of the tree. The child had noticed him first and, after his initial surprise, Freddy supposed it was to be expected. Milleniums spent lurking amongst the world since the first creatures could dream had dulled his senses to the presence of living, mortal beings. It had taken several long moments for Freddy to register the warmth of a small palm, clasped over the back of his own hand. Even so, Freddy was compelled to stare at the hand, undoubtedly a child’s, for a while longer. Like many of the other cosmic horrors, man had largely forgotten about them, and became unable to perceive their existence. These days, their presence was mostly confined to obscure folklore or the occult.
Curiosity compelled him to follow the arm attached to the small hand on his own with his gaze, and Freddy realized how the child had noticed him. The boy had death looming over him. There could be no other reason other than his grim affinity with such permanence. He was also painfully hideous, having deformities which no boy his age deserved, and if Freddy had concerned himself more with the issues of man, he might have even felt sorry for the child.
“What…” Freddy blinked, his eyes re-focusing on the boy besides him. He hadn’t realized that the boy had started talking. “...Are you doing?”
Freddy stared at the child for a bit longer, before looking back at the board and card set sprawled out before him. It was a simple game he had come up with himself, to fill the days between his periods of sleep. Decades could fly by in his sleep without him realizing, yet he was incapable of permanent rest, and found himself stirring occasionally in between the rise and fall of cities or civilizations. He told the child as much, and the boy’s face contorted into something that Freddy could only assume was a confused frown.
“Can I… try?”
“Kid,” Freddy sat taller, his voice rough and grainy. He raised a hand and, with the tip of his claws, grazed the side of the boy’s face, just barely enough to cut him. He watched the child flinch from the slight sting, but still made no attempt to run or hide from him. In fact, the boy hadn’t so much as taken a single step back since they had begun talking. Freddy was unwittingly intrigued. “Shouldn’t you be afraid of me?” He might not be as deformed as the boy was, but Freddy knew he himself was hardly pleasant to look at.
“N…No,” Then, as if he was worried he had not been convincing enough, the boy gave a further shake of his head. “...You’re nice.”
So shocked he had been by the response, that when the child inquired if he might learn to play the game before him once more, Freddy simply nodded idly and asked him to sit down on the other side of the board. The boy wasn’t any more or any less intelligent than someone his age, but the fact remained he only had the cognitive functions of a young child. Freddy went through the deck and set aside all the advanced cards. He proceeded to walk the child through the most barebones and fundamental version of his game. The boy barely retained any of the rules and had still yet to win a single set by the time the light from the sun had turned orange, but he took such simple joy in the act of being included that Freddy found himself hard pressed to become annoyed by the child’s apparent inability to recall details.
The kid surely had parents, or, at the very least, legal guardians. Deformities or not, he was well groomed enough that it was unlikely he didn’t at least have some form of parental figure taking care of him. “You must be heading home now… Um…” Oh. They had been talking for so long, yet Freddy had only just realized he had not even asked the boy for his name. “May I have your name?”
“Hn,” The boy made a strange noise. “Jason.”
“Then,” Freddy repeated, “You should be going now, Jason.”
Jason appeared to make an effort to stand, but then stopped himself. He leaned towards Freddy, “Can I see you tomorrow?”
Freddy pressed a thumb to his temple. It’s been a while since anyone could perceive him, much less a child. “Why not?”
Jason’s lips contorted- at least, it attempted to- into a smile. Satisfied with the answer, the boy stood, and Freddy watched as he ran back to where he had come from, the shadow of a gallows hanging over him like a ghastly, morbid apparition.
⊱ ━━━━ ⊰
(vi)
The nap had been a mistake. He had been swayed by the allure of drowsiness, and with just a single slip of his consciousness, well over four hundred years had flown by without him even knowing. Freddy mentally berated himself for the lapse in his judgment as he waded around in the waist-deep water, a collection of bones, body parts and the occasional scrap of metal clutched precariously in one arm while his other hand drifted through the water, searching for any remaining pieces that may prove to be salvageable.
At least he had been fortunate enough to stir just in time to witness Jason being ejected and flung directly into the atmosphere of the Earth. Had he woken any later, there might not have been anything left for him to collect. It wouldn’t be the first time Freddy had brought Jason’s soul back from the precipice, but it would be a fruitless exercise if there wasn’t a body for his soul to inhabit. Freddy decided to trudge around in the water for a bit longer. He had witnessed Jason’s body regenerate from all sorts of fatal injuries, but he was still missing the most important piece that facilitated that sort of inhuman recovery.
One of Freddy’s claws snagged onto something, and Freddy pulled it to the surface, hopeful. Its colour was muted, the flesh in a sorry, deteriorated shape, but Freddy recognized the distinct tubes and chambers that made up the organ. He had finally found Jason’s heart. Freddy pressed it and the rest of the miscellaneous body parts close to his chest. With this, Jason’s recovery was all but guaranteed. Now, all that Freddy needed was a safe, concealed location where he could watch over Jason and properly monitor his body as it regenerated itself. Freddy lifted his head and looked around. The area around him appeared strange and disolated, but he would still much rather find somewhere enclosed and protected to observe Jason’s recovery.
As his gaze swept across the landscape, Freddy noted a small indent on the cliffside looming over the lake and moved towards it. Making his way inside, he realized the niche opened further into a moderately sized cavern nestled deeper into the side of the mountain. There remained much to be desired when it came to the lighting, but for his purposes, the enclosure would do just fine. Freddy went over to a side of the chamber and, with great care, began laying down all the separate body parts he had retrieved from the lake. Much of the bones and organs were damaged beyond recognition. Still, Freddy organized their placement according to where he thought they ought to be to the best of his abilities, and gingerly placed Jason’s heart in the center amongst all the bits and pieces when he was done.
Undoubtedly, this was the most injury Jason had ever experienced from his many deaths, and while Freddy wasn’t concerned that the damage would prove too extensive for Jason to recover from, it did hamper Freddy’s ability to properly gauge how long it would take for Jason’s body to regenerate itself, at least to the point where his soul could reasonably reside within it.
Well, no matter. Instances such as these were the reason why Freddy had designed and created his deck of cards to begin with and, with a flick of his fingers, Freddy manifested the board and deck before him. As he checked the scales, laid the cards out and made sure the totems were set up properly, Freddy found himself inexplicably aware of Jason’s presence besides him. The notion itself was ridiculous enough. How could a meager collection of bones and body parts constitute the presence of a person? Even so, memories of his first encounter with Jason found themselves to the forefront of his mind, and Freddy recalls the image of a young boy sitting before him across the board with an almost sense of fondness. Jason had been far from competent at the game, but Freddy wouldn’t have minded playing another set with him.
Not that it was anything other than a fanciful thought, of course. Jason hadn’t been able to perceive him since he was a child. Even during the many years Freddy had observed him, Jason had not once shown any outward indication that he had noticed Freddy’s presence, not since Freddy had pulled Jason’s soul back from the void for the first time.
He returned to his cards with a bitter smile. Regardless of Jason’s awareness of Freddy’s hand in meddling with his mortality, Freddy would not tolerate Jason dying. At least, not permanently. He had made his mind up about that long ago.