Chapter Text
"Now you're the one who's afraid.....cause you're gonna starve."
Pennywise growled at the Denbrough boy who stared at him back, not with fear or hate in his eyes, but with a steely determination to end him. It filled the being wit rage, partly because he knew that the boy was right, he was hungry, hungrier than he'd ever been since arriving on this forsaken planet.
And yet he couldn't make a move to attack any of the seven children in front of him. They had somehow overcome their fears and actually managed to hurt him and beat him down, to the point where he was too weak to do anything.
The Marsh girl handed Bill a metal rod, the same rod she had stabbed through his mouth and he raised it up, ready to finish the job.
For the first time in his life, Pennywise felt the fear of death and briefly wondered if this what all his victims felt as he killed them. That was just a stray thought though, he was not going to let his end be by a couple of children.
Flipping over, he held on to one of the large pipes within the sewer, once again glaring at Bill, who didn't seem jumpy at the slightest, still holding his weapon ready to end the clown.
"He thrusts his fists against the p-post and still insists he sees the g-g-g-g-g-g." He stuttered, a mockery of Bill's own stutter and the tongue twister he says to help with said stutter.
It was petty, but he wanted a win for something. Unfortunately fate didn't seem to let him even have that, as Bill didn't rise to it as he originally hoped the boy would.
The child raised the pipe in the air and was ready to strike at him, but he dropped lower into the pipe. He felt his clown form dissipating and knew he needed to get out of here, it was almost time for his hibernation to begin again.
The creature said one final word to the losers before he let go and fell into the depths below....
"Fear."
He then let go and fell, leaving the Losers Club to escape.
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Pennywise landed with a thud, actually groaning from pain at the impact. Normally something like that would not hurt him, but due to how weak he was from the fight earlier, it was painful.
For a moment he was willing to just lie there and let the sleep take him, knowing that he'd wake up in another 27 years to continue his massacre.
However when he did that, the fight played earlier in his mind, the fact that these kids actually managed to beat him, to bring him down, make HIM small.
HIM?! THE EATER OF WORLDS!!! SMALL?!!!!
The sleep was gone and he forced his clown form to reattach itself together, the cracking his bones as the pieces stitched themselves together hurt, but it only fueled his rage against those brats.
In all his years, no child has ever managed to beat him. Sure there had been some children who managed to evade his attacks, but still they had shown that sweet, wonderous fear.
They were too afraid to challenge him, too afraid to fight back against him. They'd leave and forget all about him and Derry, or even better, grow up and have kids of their own in this town, kids that he can eat.
But these kids, these children had not only gall to stand up to him, but to fight back and actually hurt him. It was insane.
He didn't know why, he didn't believe there was anything special about them, something that needed to be looked out for. Sure they got lucky, managing to hurt him in Neibolt, but that was it and right after the encounter they had broken up!
So why? Why were they together? Why were they able to stand against him?!
He then recalled the final moments of their battle, of Bill Denbrough walking him down as HE cowered like a scared little child.
It was Bill.
He was the one who found him, he was the one who led the children inside his house and he was the one who inspired them to come down here and rescue the girl.
Pennywise knew there was something about that boy, but he didn't know what it was exactly. The boy wasn't easily scared like the others who he could transform into a monster to scare.
Bill had that disgusting stench of hope and bravery radiating off of him, even when he was willing to trade keep him for their lives, the boy was more concerned with them than he was with his own life.
The creature let out a low growl as he roared into the depths, the anger coming back tenfold. He wanted to rip that brat apart limb by limb and make him watch as he devoured his precious little friends one by one.
Oh how he wished the Losers would remain in Derry while he waits out his cycle, so he'd kill them the moment he woke up.
His violent thoughts were cut off by a sound.....the sound of someone walking.
Turning his head to the direction of the sound, Pennywise was met with someone he never thought he would see again.
Georgie Denbrough.
The child has survived all this time, though he was extremely dirty and looking quite thin and pale, but he was alive.
Pennywise noticed that the stump on his right hand, the same hand whose arm he bit off was wrapped in some dirty bandages with some dried up blood on them.
When the boy's eyes landed on the creature they widened in horror, such a overwhelming fear that even Pennywise was taken aback.
Georgie tried to make a run for it, but even in his weakened state, Pennywise caught up to him, grabbing the child by the back of his neck and lifting him in the air.
"Hiya Georgie~~" It sang, almost mockingly at the child.
Pennywise recalled when he first encountered Georgie, how after biting off his hand, he took the boy into the sewer with the intent of eating the rest of him. But something happened, Pennywise didn't know what exactly, it felt like the boy was being protected by something else, someone else. Someone who Pennywise felt a deep seated anger for, even worse than Billy.
The child has managed to escape and ran off into the sewers and somehow Pennnywise couldn't find him. He had given up after awhile, after all a child, injured like that wouldn't live long down here.
"Let me go!" The boy sobbed as he tried to hit Pennywise with his one arm.
"Tsk, Tsk." The clown tutted, "Is that anyway to treat an old friend?" Pennywise asked, getting in close and making sure to show Georgie those sharp teeth.
That proved to be a mistake though, as George managed to get in a solid punch on his eye. Now normally a hit like that would do nothing to him, but because of his weakened and hungered state, the clown grabbed his eye in pain, dropping Georgie.
The boy quickly got up and instantly tried to run back down a tunnel, when he heard Pennywise call out to him, "Wait!"
George knew it was stupid, but he actually did wait, turning around to face the creature. Any pretense of being nice was dropped as the clown sneered at him, "Your brother was here you know." It spoke.
Georgie's eyes widened, "Billy....he was....here?"
Pennywise nodded, "Yes, it's thanks to him that I'm even in this state." He finished with a growl once again.
Georgie shifted a bit on his feet, "Then.....where is he now?"
Pennywise sensed it, the faint hope in his voice, the hope that his big brother would come to find him. Gods above, these humans could be so gross......but he saw an opportunity.
Pennywise could eat George now and get one quick meal in before he goes to bed......but that would be too quick. See Pennywise wanted to make Billy suffer for going against him and sure he could use his powers too shape shift into Georgie once again, but like before, Bill had a keen ability to see through his illusions.
Well....who needs illusions when you have the real thing.
"Oh billy......he's gone." Pennywise grinned at the child.
Georgie's face fell, the terror coming back again, "No! You're lying! Billy would never leave me behind!"
Pennywise laughed, cruel and mocking, "Oh my dear boy, he didn't come here for you! He came here to try and kill me! He wanted nothing to do with you."
He could see Georgie holding back tears, the boy was trying not to break down, it would be admirable, if it wasn't so pathetic.
"No....Bill's gonna find me....I know he is." Georgie muttered still clinging on to that faint hope of not being abandoned.
"Oh Georgie, Billy never loved you. You were an annoyance to him, with you being gone he could finally hang out with his friends, make some new ones and even find love. All things he couldn't do cause he had to watch over you." It sang once again, walking around Georgie, taking delight in how the child would flinch whenever he even attempted to try to touch him.
"Did you know he lied to you?" Pennywise whispered, coming close to the boy's ear.
"H-Huh?" Georgie hiccuped.
"That day he made your boat.....he wasn't sick you know." Pennywise revealed, "He just didn't want to play with you."
"T-That's not true!" Georgie denied it again, tears falling down his cheeks.
"Oh Georgie, I'm a lot of things......but I'm no liar." He smirked cruelly at the child.
Georgie collapsed to his knees as he bawled, everything Pennywise said, finally getting to him.
Pennywise was openly drooling now, god how he wanted to devour this boy right here right now, but he had to think of the bigger picture here.
He couldn't just leave Georgie how he is now, the boy would still age and grow up though and an adult Georgie wouldn't work for what he had in mind.
Lifting the boy up once again, who was too upset to even bother fighting back, Pennywise opened his mouth exposing his sharp rows of teeth and more importantly.....the deadlights.
Georgie's eyes glazed over as he began to float in his arms and eventually float in the air.
The boy was stuck there, frozen in time while the world would continue to spin. The Losers would grow old and he would remain a simply six year old child.
Pennywise would enjoy that day, the day when the Losers returned, no doubt wanting to finish what they started here. And when that day would come......oh the bloodshed would be glorious.
For now though....he would wait, he needed a good nap after what happened here. The clown let out a sadistic giggle as he drifted off to sleep.