Chapter Text
His head was pounding, echoing his heartbeat in the places the shape had dug his fingers into his skull. He groaned and twisted in place, lifting his head from a tacky puddle of blood on the floor. He managed to get himself up into a sitting position, shuffle back until he was against the wall, but he could barely think through the pounding of his head. He could taste his own blood. The next time he saw that fucker he was laying out bear traps everywhere. Lord knows that sorry fuck couldn’t remember to watch where he was stepping to save his life.
The sound of wood creaking outside his shed let him know he had a visitor. God he hoped it wasn’t any of the kids, he couldn’t deal with teenagers right now. Susie would visit often enough when she realized he would chase Freddy off if need be. Julie would show up with her more often than not. At one point they showed up with Joey, the guy saying some shit about him being worried about the girls being alone with a man like him.
He called bullshit on that when the four of them stayed with him and Philip when their territory ended up next to Freddy and the Clown. He would have found it comical had they not shown up with most of them crying and Julie lacking a finger. Oddly enough Susie had been the only one with a straight face, carefully caring for Julie's hand as the finger grew back (courtesy of the entity).
Philip had made it clear they could always find him if they needed help, and seeing as Philip had been glued to his side for almost as long as they had both been here that help extended to him.
“Evan.” Thank fuck it was Philip.
“in here,” Aw hell, he sounded like shit. He coughed, and felt the glob of blood bubble out of his chest down his front.
“Oh..” Philip sounded less shocked and more confused by Evan's state of being. He didn’t speak as he moved about his shed, getting a bucket before slipping out the back to get water from the spigot. He came back with a sloshing bucket and an armful of towels. He didn’t say a word as he carefully pulled off Evans mask and began to wipe away the blood around his mouth and dried to the side of his head.
He was gentle, cold water cooling the fever of pain and warm slender hands chasing away aches. He sighed into the sensation, letting himself just feel the gentle warmth and care that Philip gave so easily to a monster like him.
“What happened?” The words were soft, nearly hypnotic, Evan peeled oven eyes he didn’t remember closing and looked into the concerned white and black eyes right in front of him. He felt himself heave a sigh as anger left him with nothing but exhausted confusion.
“The shape happened.” He moved at Philips direction to allow Philip to clean his shoulder and chest. “Fucker got to switch sides after beating the shit out of Freddy.” not to say the fucker didn’t deserve it. when he came back screeching about how the Shape killed him because of the blonde chick that had shown up around the same time as the Shape.
Philip had stopped all movement.
“He switched sides?”
“Yeah,” he turned his head to face Philip, “He fixed a generator before he proceeded to crush my head like a fucking grape. ”
“He switched sides? ”
Evan stopped. really took in Philip for a moment before something in his chest gave way. He reached up with his least bloody hand and let it rest against Philips cheek. He let his thumb gently caress the skin under his glowing eyes and could feel his heart melt just a little as those eyes fluttered shut.
This was an intimacy he never allowed himself before, when his father was alive and he felt like he had the weight of the world crushing him to death.
“Yes, he killed Freddy and the entity turned him into a survivor.” Philip leaned forward, forehead meeting his own, softly breathing his air.
“We can switch sides?” his voice sounded broken, heart wrenchingly choked with emotion that left him whispering. “We don’t have to keep doing this?”
something like fear dropped into his gut.
“Hey,” now his voice was shaking. “What’s going on in that noggin of your’s?”
Philip's eyes were far away for a moment, before he pulled away. Evan didn’t pull him back, letting him slide through his fingers. He had vowed to himself that this would be the one thing he could be soft with.
“Where are you going?” Philip was pulling away walking towards the door, tension so tightly wound in his body that Evan wondered if this was how he moved in trials.
“I just… want to talk to Freddy.”
oh shit . “Philip?” he hauled himself up, head spinning as his vision blurred. “Philip don’t…” he could see his door open as he walked away. Grunting in frustration he slammed a fist into his wall and forced himself forward. “Philip!”
He wasn’t going to just leave him here.
like hell.
He stumbled after Philips' shadow, using spite as his fuel.
This place was hell. As far as Phillip was concerned this was the hell he was relegated to for taking a life. All of those on this side of the fog were killers to some degree. The teens had killed only one person, and he had only made the choice to kill once despite having been used to kill so many, and yet they were sorted into the same place as those who have killed hundreds over and over again.
This was his own personal hell.
But Even made it a little bit better.
He had killed many, including his father, and while that made a part of him horrified and disgusted, he could also see the remorse Evan carried himself with. Maybe it was born simply from having to live with the consequences of the act, but maybe it was also an understanding that he could have done just about anything else.
That he had options.
Just like Philip had.
They had both chosen wrong, done irrevocable actions, and were being punished for it.
This was his own personal hell. But sometimes he thought it would be just a touch easier if he could have been on the other side of the equation. Being killed rather than being forced to kill innocents.
Apparently, he could be. On the other side, he could be hunted through the dark with allies and sacrifice himself as penance for what he’s done.
All he had to do was kill one nightmare.
He felt a little numb as the fog curled curiously around him, as the dark reached for his shadow. He could hear Evan calling for him but it was faint.
He loved Evan, but he couldn’t live like this without knowing he tried to be different. Tried to be more than a monster .
The fire was ahead, the fog parting for him as others waited for a trial. Like always, Freddy was there, making a nuisance of himself. Though with Huntress it was like trying to annoy a brick wall.
His ears were ringing, a dull ache started in his chest, the fog was trying to pull him away. The Huntress regarded him, but his eyes couldn’t look away from the burnt man.
“Can you fucking believe this shit? That stupid twunk killed me! I hope the entity ripped him apart.” his eyes flickered to him, and he half turned to say something more than likely vulgar.
“Evan?” Anna’s voice was heavy and deep and infused with more confusion than concern. It was enough though. Freddy looked away for a frightful moment, and Philip raised his club and brought it down with the force and intent he had to learn, was forced to learn, during the trials.
Freddy shouted, screamed as claws came out and snarled as he attempted a counter attack. But Philip was already moving, keeping the element of surprise he had made for himself he slammed the head of his former boss into the gut of this foul man and shoved them both into the fire.
He had heard how the fight between him and the Shape had gone, and he wasn’t taking any chances on what was the root cause for the change.
“Mother FUCK-” he brought the club down over his face and watched teeth fly. They stumbled into the campfire, Freddy struggling to get some upper hand that Philip refused to give him.
This was the last time, this could be the last time he ever had to hurt someone ever again. Tears sprung in his eyes as the fire rose around them and he refused to stop even as the sound of Even screaming grazed his consciousness.
He loved him, hadn’t said it, and now he doubted he ever would, but he had to do this.
This wasn’t living, this forced obedience to an entity that only wanted suffering and flesh splayed and measured. With another crack to the nightmares skull the fire surged, blinding him in light and pain. As the fire died, new surroundings greeted him.
A sob lodged itself in his chest as his awareness of the entity trembled in his mind. They were in the middle of a street, tears were streaming down his face, did it work? Was he?
The feeling of knives like claws burying themselves into his gut and pulled, he gagged on the sudden agony as his club fell from his fingers and he tried to press his quickly uncoiling intestines back into his body. He howled in agony before he was shoved onto his back with freddy straddling him. Those blades slashed at his chest, somehow missing his throat.
“You slimy little bitch.” Freddy’s face contorted in rage as he grabbed Philip's face forcing him to make eye contact. “I’m going to have fun with you now, you scrawny piece of shit.” blinded by pain and growing nausea from the wound in his gut he just let tears slide down the sides of his face as he tasted blood and hoped beyond this realm that he wouldn’t have to lift that god awful club again.
To be quite honest, Laurie felt like the entity was punishing her. Springwood was a shit place to end up in because it always brought with it Freddy. Michael could kill him a thousand times but the entity would keep giving him a chance to hurt her again. She let out a shaky breath, steadying what she could of her nerves and bracing for movement.
She took off through the dark, dodging from cover to cover. She knew where the generators were and that was all her narrow focus would let her linger on. She sprinted forward and dove under a car, army crawling until she was as covered as could be.
She had already hit a generator, and was heading to her second. But there was something in the air that had her paranoid. She figured that it was because it was Springwood, that Freddy was hunting her again, that Michael hadn’t been pulled with her. They had barely settled, if you could even call it that. He had been proud of himself, at least she had thought so. He had practically preened when she had told him good job and presented him with dry overalls. He had then allowed Claudette to make pine needle tea. It was glorified hot water and they all knew it, and when she told Michael he had simply nodded and sat patiently in his overalls as Claudette made it, and then brought her a cup. It was incredibly sweet. Went a long way into proving he wasn’t a monster.
But there were monsters about. And she could feel her heartbeat skip as she caught sight of a shadow closer to the building across the street. Everything in her tensed up as her mind bounced around the sharps she had on her. The shadow against the building shifted just enough for her to see Detective Trapp crouched against the wall.
She shifted, grabbed a small piece of glass next to her, and tilted it to flash just enough light to get his attention. His head jerked towards her, then a hand flashed out of the shadows and gestured for her to come closer. She moved, lined herself up and rolled out from under the car and jolted up to a sprint. She dashed across the road, nothing but her own gasps in her ears as her legs pumped and pushed her forward.
She ended up in a baseball skid into the bushes, kicking up dirt and leaves. She scrambled back towards the wall and Trapp moved to her side in a gesture that was protective in nature.
“Jeff found something strange.” her eyes sharpened on him.
“Just Jeff?” bad vibes on that, when Michael came through there was only three of them, like the entity could only handle five people in a trial at once. This was telling, but she didn’t know what.
“Yes, come on Laurie, I think you need to see this.” She nodded, and when he turned she stayed on his tail. They wound through the building back out, one generator went off while they were moving, and Trapp finger spelled J to her in their silent answer. Something they had learned from Jane, who once she had decided this wasn’t some kind of deranged T.V. show had started on learning everyone's personal skills, one of her’s was that she was fluent in asl and had insisted on everyone learning fingerspelling so silent communication. Trapp took that more seriously than some of them.
Finally there was something to be seen other than Freddy’s creep village. There was a crumpled pile in the middle of the road. Dark, and being pecked at by birds. She tensed, fear reaching into her gut. She grabs Trapps arm, he doesn’t look at her, just rests a hand on hers for a moment before looking around. Finally he nods, and moves forward. She steels herself as quickly as she can before moving forward and closing the distance between her and the body.
And it was a body, crumpled how it was. Blood had oozed into the concrete below the body and the rags they had worne were tattered. Rags, and a shoulder cape. The gasp ripped from her throat as she leff to a knee in front of the body.
It was the Wraith. Crumpled and cut to shreds. Worse than Michael had been but in the same way. Her breath caught with startled shock.
“He’s alive,” she hissed before moving, pressing against raw meat shoulders and watching as the wraith's head rolled, nearly exposing tendons in his neck flexing for a moment before his head rolled against the concrete.
There were tear streaks in the mud on his face. Barely any injuries on his face, but dark skin peaked out in those stark and tragic lines down his face. She sucked in a breath as she started applying pressure to the gashes on his chest only to feel Trapp gently grabbed her arm.
“There's nothing we can do Laurie.”
“We can make sure he doesn't die in the street.” She snapped back.
His face did a complicated twitch before he kissed a short breath and nodded.
“Keeping me on the straight and narrow huh kid?” he moved and dragged the wraith across his shoulders. She hovered as he dragged him from the street. Watching for the killer, most likely Freddy seeing the injuries that the wraith has gained.
He laid him out next to the school building, on grass rather concrete, half upright supporting his head. Laurie maneuvered his head to look at him, his breathing was faint, his eyes were flicking back and forth behind his eyelids. She reached out to lift one, trying to see if she could wake him from this dangerous sleep. If Freddy really had attacked him, sleeping was the last thing he should be doing.
His face contorted with pain for a split second before a gush of blood squirted her in the face as a gash opened in his chest.
“Fuck!” Trapp shouted before grabbing the back of her shirt and hauling ass away from the unconscious killer. She was stumbling through, feet struggling to put one in front of the other. It didn’t take her long to realize why when she fell and found herself in the basement.
Cement halls and steel tubing, red lights and heavy fog. Dred filled her gut as she quickly put her feet below her and went on high alert. Freddy could bring them here, this dream-like place, but they still got a chance to escape. If they were smart and fast on their feet, they could avoid the worst injuries.
Footsteps behind her told her that wouldn’t be the outcome this time.
She broke into a cold sprint, throwing herself forward and away from the danger behind her, there was a blinding pain in her back that had her shouting in more shock then pain as his claws raked across her back.
“Not getting away this time little girl!” god what a creep. She let the ain fuel her, putting on a burst of speed to try and get away. She dove around a corner, vaulted a broken wall, and was nearly on her way.
Blades cut across her back in nearly the same place. She screamed as her body fell forward, agony ripping through her. Freddy didn’t waist time, he hauled her up and on his shoulder as she struggled to comprehend the pain she was experiencing.
It never got easier, she didn’t know why, but it still hurt so much and was so distracting. Everytime. She tried to move but one of the blades from his stupid nife hand cut into the meat of her thigh and she screamed with the agony off it.
They were going down, steps that swam in her vision as she tried to keep her mouth shut and ignore whatever vile shit Freddy was saying. Then again, she couldn't really hear him over the ringing in her ears. Then again the ringing was fading.
“-can’t believe that son of a bitch thought he could take me! Michael is one thing, built like a truck that one, but fucking Ojomo? Bitch is a skinny nobody who’s making up the bulk with stupid clothes.” he was complaining, and she was getting her bearings enough to start struggling.
“The wraith? Why did he attack you?” Maybe if she got him talking it would give her the time she needed to scramble out of his arms and get away from him.
“So the little lady speaks, yeah I'm talking about the wraith. Stupid name, he’s nothing but a pussy ass bitch.” Knives bit into her thigh and she had to nearly bite through her lip to stop herself from crying out. “Fucker attacked me even though i did nothing to him. Nothing! I wasn’t even talking about his favorite little victim. Not that I know which one is his. With Michael it was easy, guy dreams about chasing your ass almost every time he sleeps. Ojomo just dreams of the people he’s killed. But in, like, a guilty way. Fucking buzz kill that one.”
She had managed to recover enough to get to one of her sharps, a simple stick that Michael had whittled for her. She raised his, ready to plunge the crude arrow into whatever flesh she could, when she was lifted, hands under her armpits in that dreaded and familiar way before she was hung up like meat on a rack.
She screamed as the metal hook caught under her shoulder blade and her full weight dragged the damn thing up. She thrashed, trying to kick at Freddy as she grabbed the hook trying to relieve the pressure. Freddy stepped back a grin twisting his shitty melted face,
“Would you look at that,” he made a gross kissing noise as she tried to get enough of a grip to pull herself up, “a thing of beauty these hooks, not my usual style but i can get behind a hook. You look so,” she saw a flash of tongue and bared her teeth in response, “appetizing.”
Disgust was running almost as high as her fear and rage. Equal parts of those emotions were what pushed her. She grabbed hold of the hook and pulled with everything she had, kicking her feet uselessly as she lifted for just a second before falling again. She cried out but bloodied hands grabbed againand pulled.
“Well hold on slow down baby we got all night, don’t you want to wait for your friends?”
She spit on him, lobbing a foamy wad of blood at his face that he flinched away. She gripped the hook, she was awake now, she could tell, and she pulled herself up as much as she could before her arms gave out. It was nearly enough, the spidery legs of the entity had arrived, looming and twitching above her.
She got a better grip, and his face twisted in rage and he lashed out at her. She managed to get a foot in his face before the entity decided enough was enough. She screamed at the limbs as they came for her, only stopping with a cut off grunt as it impaled her on its leg. She grabbed it on reflex then, dying in a way that hurt so much but wouldn’t matter, holding on was all she could do.
Coming back from a trial happens in two ways, and it’s based on how you get out. If you escape, run through the gate and escape, you find yourself in the woods and you get to walk back. If you’re killed, sacrificed or morried, you wake up in a puddle of your own blood in the middle of the woods. It's why Michael was so easy to find, and why Laurie knew where to look.
So here she was waking up to pine needles in her hair and blood in her mouth. She groaned, shoving her body over so she could spit out the blood in her mouth with as little effort as possible. She curled in on herself before going limp.
How exhausting . Her shoulder twinged with phantom pains, as bad as it could without the hook actually being in her. She was strung out, too tired to really think or move. So she drifted, the kind of dozing you do when you're feeling too sick to move. That frozen atrophy where you think if you can just hold still enough the pain can’t get to you.
After a time, one she couldn’t quantify, the sound of crunching leaves alerted her to someone approaching. She peeled her eyes open, tired enough that they stung with the need for sleep.
She didn’t recognize the man that was approaching her. Her blurry vision told her he was tall, that his skin was very dark, and that his clothes were tattered. It also told her his eyes glowed with two pinpricks of pale white instead of black pupils.
Adrenaline jolted through her system, jerking her upright despite the phantom pain, likewise he jerked back. Hands raising in the universal signal he was unarmed and didn’t want a fight.
“I- I don’t want to fight you.” His voice was deep, and it startled her hind brain into reading more into what he was saying. “I, please, can I help you?” He was trying to make himself seem small.
She pulled whatever parts of herself outside of this huddle she had made her body into. She was still paralyzed by the pain that was haunting her nerves, and there was still a heavy amount of blood loss that was making her brain fuzzy.
“Don’t-” she was trying so hard to push away, to save herself the pain and get some level of safety . “Get away from-” her head felt like it was full of cotton. Light and unsteady, she started to move upright and that was the wrong call as her vision simply cut-