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“Sportsy, you- you’ve been actin’ weird ever since we left Fazbender’s.”
Jack smiled slightly, its eyes going towards William. “Oh, have I? Must just be that I’m so excited to be spending time with you, ‘Dave.’” William slunk back slightly from its gaze, fidgeting with his hands at the end of the bed. Jack sighed with a roll of the eyes, resting its head in its hands. “You’re the one that’s been acting weird, you know.”
William shivered slightly, as if he could feel any colder than he always did. “I have?” After half a second of feigned confusion, he gave up, turning to Jack and talking with his hands. “‘s jus’ that—I mean, sure, I always knew ya could put up a fight. I saw how you handled that Candy’s shooter! Not to mention the giant scuttlers…” He cringed at the mention of them, as if haunted. Jack was just surprised he wasn’t used to them by now. Maybe they liked his flesh? Jack did. “‘s just that… Somethin’ about that yellow bear, feels like, ya shouldn’t’ve killed it. Or, uh, no one should’ve been able t’ kill it? I mean, seemed a bit like a God or somethin’. How else would it…” William trailed off, shying away from Jack’s face again.
It clicked its tongue, moving closer to William and gently cupping his cheek just to firmly pull his gaze to it. It looked into his eyes for a moment. It was funny how alike two creatures could be whilst being oh so very different. There was nothing in its eyes, it was sure of that. It always took Jack a vast amount of effort just to imitate the way people feel. But William? Emotion seemed to come so naturally for him. The way his glowing eyes looked at him, lip quivering ever so slightly. He was scared, anyone could see that. Especially someone like Jack.
“...How else would it what? How else would it know your real name is William?” Will tried to flinch away at the name, but Jack squeezed his cheek just a bit tighter, shifting its thumb under his chin in case he tried again. He couldn’t help but grin at Will’s reaction. He was the only one who could so consistently make Jack smile just like this. It felt amazing. “Oh, don’t be afraid, Will.”
William grabbed Jack’s wrist, gently trying to pull it off. “Don’- Don’t call me that, Old Sport. Stupid bear didn’t know nothin’, I–”
Jack laughed in his face, now pressing down on his throat ever so slightly to get him to stop fighting back. “Don’t take me for a fool, William. The name wouldn’t make you react like this if it wasn’t yours.”
He grit his teeth at the treatment, now glaring back into Jack’s eyes. Seems he was finally willing to put up a fight, and that just made Jack so excited. “It isn’t mine, okay?!” He huffed, blowing out air onto Jack’s face defiantly. “Maybe it used’ta be, but it aint anymore. Why does it even matter to you?”
Jack paused briefly, grip faltering. It suddenly had a lot to say. I knew you, back then. Back at Fredbear’s Family Diner. The girl’s name was Dee. She was barely SIX. You killed my sister on her BIRTHDAY. I was the night guard. You pinned her murder on me. You ruined her life. You ruined my brother’s life. You ruined MY life. You’re still ruining everything, years later. I will NEVER forget the name of the man who killed my sister. It opened its mouth, but William could only hear its quiet, slightly raspy breathing. It was too quiet. The room was too small, here with William. He couldn’t ruin this now, he was too far in to get snappy. It didn’t matter anymore. Let it go.
It huffed and let go of him, getting off the bed and grabbing a cigarette, taking it out to the balcony. William sat confused, staring out at it. Jack took a deep breath, sighing in the smoke and resting his arms on the railing, leaning out. It was night, but it didn’t stop Vegas. Hell, if Jack had it its way, it would still be down there gambling. It was sort of peaceful, watching idly as cars passed by. Peaceful enough of a moment that Jack could save it, luckily. It had been needing a moment to save the wonderful progress it had with William. Looking down at the City, it wondered the odds of survival if someone were to be thrown off at this height. …It told itself that it wouldn’t hurt Will too bad this time around. Will was a fun participant in its little game when he was willing. It hardly took Jack any effort at all to have William climbing all over him. But in this timeline, he was so cowardly. Or, rather, he had shown himself to be the coward he always was. Suddenly above murder. Isn’t that funny?
“Jack?”
It almost flinched. William could be so quiet when he wanted to be. It hadn’t even noticed Will mimicking its position with his own cigarette. “Jesus, fuckin–”
“Sorry– Sorry, I can– I’ll go.” William stamped out a perfectly good cigarette and began walking away.
Jack scoffed at his reaction, rolling its eyes before suddenly smiling to itself, grabbing his arm and gently pulling him back. It knew just how to keep him hooked. “No, no, you just surprised me, is all.” It blew out some smoke, keeping the cigarette between its fingers and looking up at the night sky. “I like having you around, you know.”
William’s face brightened, looking to Jack like he just won the lottery. William was always easy to please like that, as if he were nothing more than a dog at its heels begging for the slightest ounce of attention. “Ya do?”
“Of course I do. I wouldn’t be out in Vegas sharing a bed with someone I hate.” Jack pretended to just now notice that William didn’t have a cigarette, sliding its own into his mouth with a lazy grin. “Here, I’m done with mine anyways.”
William froze up in place, probably feeling lucky that he didn’t have any blood to give himself away. “Err– thank–” He coughed, trying to play it off. His smile was painfully wide. “Thank ya, Old Sport.”
Jack hummed, sitting down on the concrete floor just so that it could rest against William’s leg. It pretended not to notice how William abruptly looked away from it when it caught his eyes, expecting that in turn, William would pretend not to notice how Jack was staring at him. So many scars littered his body. Henry could never just finish the fucking job, could he? Maybe that was to Jack’s advantage now. A lot of them looked like they would be fun to reopen. William had been sleeping heavily after going to sleep so late. Maybe…
They sat in silence as William finished his cigarette. He helped Jack up, granting him a softer, more calculated smile than before. Going back inside, Jack sighed, unbuttoning its shirt. “Go to bed without me, I need a shower. And no, you cannot join me.”
William scoffed, letting go of Jack’s hand and feigning offence. “I wasn’t gonna ask somethin’ stupid like that. Jus’... don’t take too long.”
Jack tried not to smile more. It wanted so badly to tease William, but it had bigger things to get to. “Oh, relax, I’ll be here when you wake up in the morning, dumbass. Night.” It went to the bathroom, turning it on. It briefly wondered how William managed to get a half-decent hotel room before deciding it was probably some form of “illegal activity” and leaving it at that. It took a fairly brief shower—not like anything could stop its rotting body from smelling like rot anyways. It left the water running as it got out, dressing and stalling on its phone. If William was awake, it’d be… really annoying to deal with.
Of course, it eventually grew impatient. Sure, it had seen William in all sorts of ways before, had seen William take another death. But to actually see him inside and out? That was too good of a treat. It turned off the water, quietly rushing to Will’s side. He wasn’t breathing, so he was probably asleep. William had a weird habit of breathing when awake, even though he didn’t need to. Jack was sure that he didn’t even have lungs at this point. It could always see for itself.
It looked around the room, eventually gathering one of their needles, scissors, and some thread it pulled apart from the window curtain. Probably not good enough for human use, but Will was hardly a human anymore anyways. It sat itself on his lower stomach, feeling once more for breathing. Its sadistic grin came back as it felt nothing, whispering into his ear. “Don’t worry, William. Everything is going to be okay. You’ll come back for me, won’t you?” Jack waited for a moment to see if it would perhaps have any effect on his dreams before getting to work.
It snipped at some stitches that went from William’s shoulder, down to where his heart should be, then to his heart. Slowly pulling it apart, Jack shivered at the sight. Of course, he didn’t have a heart anymore. Henry had taken that long before Jack could get the chance. It thought back to Blackjack, how “he” had seemed so confident that Jack wasn’t trying to follow in Henry’s footsteps. It was right, of course, but that was only because Jack had intended to be so much better. Henry hadn’t had the ability to manipulate time like it did. Jack didn’t have anything left to care about like Henry had. Or, rather, Jack knew how to let the past go. Knew just how to shape William into what it wanted.
It laughed quietly, poking at William’s ribs. They looked just like the kind you could lick clean over dinner. Of course, parts seemed to be missing. Henry must’ve smashed through them to get to the heart. It couldn’t blame him. Jack put its hand into the area where William’s heart would be, staring intently. What it wouldn’t do just to feel it beating in its hands…
It sighed, pulling back William’s bangs. It was almost cute how he tried so hard to cover the scars with them. Still, the stitching came off just as easily as before. It was too dark to see much of anything with how small the wound actually was, so instead, it opted to reach its hand inside. It felt odd slowly poking and prodding. Jack hadn’t dug into many brains before, but it assumed they wouldn’t be so… mushy. It gave it a testing squeeze, William whimpering oh so quietly in his sleep. It chuckled, staring him down. “Bad dream, Will?” Its voice lowered as it squeezed again. “Good.” William would probably die again soon, and then he would of course return to his body before morning. It wondered how much soul such a creature could even lose at this point. It was impressed that he managed to preserve any at all.
Jack hummed curiously. It grabbed its pair of scissors, moving its hand out of the way and plunging it into William’s brain over and over. He twitched at first, but eventually, he faded into nothing. Jack got more violent with the stabs, laughing at William’s lack of response and holding his hair tightly with its bloodied hand, just to keep him in place. Stab. Stab. Stab. It was so… mushy, disgusting. It hesitantly pulled the scissors out, staring at the bits of Will’s brain left behind. Jack sighed, licking the bits off and kissing them into William’s mouth. Easiest way to hide the evidence was the excuse it used, as if blood wasn’t all over itself and Will.
Regardless, it reached back into Will’s brain. It felt more of the weird sensation as it did before, suddenly grinning. “I was right. No wonder you’re so fucking stupid, your brain is all fucked up.” Of course, he was possessing himself at this point. So he’s just naturally a stupid fuck. Still, knowing what exactly had been done to him… it helped pass time.
Eventually, Jack grew bored of this, making half an effort to stitch William back up again. When it went to stitch his chest, it hesitated. He felt and looked so empty without something left to squeeze. And maybe an incentive for Will to come back to his body would help…
Jack took off its shirt, momentarily regretting not trying to find better medical equipment. Too late for that now. It opened the scissors, taking an unneeded deep breath in before it stabbed it into its chest with as much force as it could. It gasped, slowly dragging it down and shaking slightly. Maybe stabbing a piece of metal was a stupid idea considering its history, but it needed to do this. Something about it felt right. Satisfied with the wound it had made, it shakily threw the scissors to the floor. Annoyingly, it still had ribs. There wasn’t exactly a great way to get rid of them and hitting itself repeatedly didn’t work. So instead, it slipped its fingers through what it could. Really regretting tossing those scissors now. The effort would be worth it, perhaps more so than the easy way would’ve been. It felt for its heart for a moment before ripping it out of its place, shuddering at the feeling. Carefully, it squeezed it through its ribcage. Gasping, it placed it into the space where Will’s heart should be.
It had planned to stitch himself and Will back up, but all the effort made it… tired. It lied down on Dave, looking up at his face and gently brushing the hair away from his eyes. It could feel its blood spilling into Dave, but it didn’t really matter, did it? It sighed contently, placing a hand on its still-beating heart. Dave’s heart. So much for trying to be pure evil. Maybe another time, when resting against Dave and letting itself rest didn’t seem so tempting.
As Jack drifted off, it felt comforting arms shift to be around it.