Title : Water and Fire

Rating : T

Disclaimer : I do not own Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees and none of the characters that may appear in this story, neither the movies they're from.

Freddy was pissed.

Pissed wasn't even enough to describe how he felt, he was furious, boiling with anger, terrifying.

Anyone who would have faced him at this moment would be scared for life. He was running as fast as he could in the dirt, mud splattering everywhere, a hand on his fedora hat to prevent it from falling in the dirty mess. His lungs were burning but he didn't feel it, he was focused on something way more important than himself. He felt his ankle twist painfully but didn't stop running. Someone could have chopped his feet off he wouldn't have stopped running. He felt as though there was blood in his throat and his shoes were on fire. He nearly tripped several time but never stopped running.

When he finally reached the lake he had to stop himself from killing the teenagers standing around it. It wouldn't help anyone to do this. So he pushed them and jumped into the water. It was cool, but compared to the hot weather it was freezing. He closed his eyes and shivered. The jump in the lake had left him breathless. He calmed down and started swimming.

He was beginning to be nervous. He wondered if he wouldn't drown too. He focused on swimming and getting the struggling teen back on the ground. He had to succeed. He would succeed. Failing was not in his plans. He grabbed the boy by the collar of his shirt and prevented him from going underwater. But he was a quite heavy kid, rather tall for his age, and Freddy knew he wouldn't have enough strenght to save the boy and himself. Although he had no hope, he tried his best. He felt like his lungs had popped. His ankle hurt. He was cold, his soaked clothes were heavy, and the teen didn't stop moving. The more he was swimming, the further the ground seemed.

The teens that were there earlier had ran away, of course. Freddy tried not to get too angry, because he knew it would only make him more tired.

He swallowed water and coughed it up, he felt like throwing up, he couldn't see anything anymore, and he felt his grip loosen on the kid's shirt. He didn't believe in any kind of force upon the human kind, but he prayed not to die. He didn't want to die this way. He didn't want to die at all.

His legs were getting tired. He choked on water at every breath. He knew he didn't swim well and must have looked like a drowning watermelon.

A very, very elegant drowning watermelon.

He wondered if his heart was going to stop, because it beat awkwardly. He hoped it didn't, because if it did he would be in trouble. He couldn't think straight at the moment.

He breathed again when he felt something hard under his feet. The ground. Finally. He shook the kid gently and he seemed to understand he could walk now.

They both came out of the water and Freddy let himself fall face on the ground, panting. He felt like fainting and throwing up at the same time. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the sun. He was soaked and cold. He just wanted to curl up in his bed and never come out, ibernate until the end of time. It was a good plan.

He turned around to look at the kid he just saved. His name was Jason, he was 14, and he had Freddy's hat in his hands. "My hat !" Jason laughed ("he giggled", thought Freddy) and placed the fedora on his saviour's head. It was soaked too but Freddy didn't care, he got his hat back. Without Jason it would probably be at the bottom of the lake ; but without him Freddy wouldn't have jumped in the water.

Jason seemed cold. He had stayed in the lake longer than Freddy and he was exhausted after struggling so much. The older man noticed it and proposed : "Hey, let's go back to your home, okay ?" Jason approved with a nod.

On their way back home, they spotted someone running toward them. As it was getting dark, they couldn't see who it was. But as the person was getting closer, they recognized them.

It was Jason's mother. Of course. Freddy should have expected it. She had eyes everywhere, and if anything happened to her son she was the first to know it. "Mrs Voorhees !" Freddy called. He hoped she didn't worry too much, poor woman, she was the sweetest person he ever met and was like a mother to him.

He never had a mother, only an abusive step-father. The only moments of the year that he actually enjoyed were the holidays. When he was 11 his father sent him to the camp for the first time, and he met Mrs Voorhees and Jason. He considered the Voorhees family like his own, and they gladly adopted him.

When he turned 18 he ran away from home and got a job at the camp. He had to look after all the teens, and especially after Jason. Other kids always bullied him, and Freddy defended him, so no one really liked him.

Mrs Voorhees knew she was very lucky to have her sons ; Jason, her biological son and Freddy, the son she chose. They were both kind and never disobeyed ; or if they did they apologised profuselly. She wondered what she had done to the good Lord to get two angels like them. Freddy and Jason, Jason and Freddy ; she loved them to death. Not even in her craziest dreams she would have wished to have them by her side. She knew everything would be alright as long as she had them, and that's why she nearly died of fright when she saw her Jason drowning. Hopefully her Freddy had been here to save him, oh how she loved them ! They were wonderful. She hugged Jason tightly, on the verge of tears, repeating "My son, my baby, my sweetheart...".

Freddy knew she had been way too worried. "Mrs Voorhees, you know I wouldn't have left him there, you know it...
- Oh Freddy, for the love of god, I could have lost you too...!"

She was crying now. Freddy embraced her and tried to comfort her as much as he could. This stress would be her death, for sure.

"But you must be freezing, darlings ! Let's go home and put on warm and dry clothes ! I don't want you to catch a cold !" Freddy took off his orange sweater to put on the red and green one. He liked sweaters. Warm and with long sleeves to hide all the scars made by his step-father and himself. Freddy used to self-harm a lot around 14. He had definitly stopped with the help of his adoptive family, but the scars were still there. And he wasn't proud of them. But his step-father had beaten him so much he didn't feel pain anymore. The only pain that remained was inside of him, and he knew he'd never get rid of it.

The Voorhees house wasn't particulary rich or big, but the people that owned it made it worth more than any expensive mansion. There was a fireplace, and Freddy liked to wander in the forest to find branches for the fire. He sometimes took Jason with him, knowing he couldn't let him do it alone.

Jason had a rare disease that could either be very important autism or any other brain problem. He had always been like this, different. When Freddy met him he didn't speak at all. He taught him to say a few words, some useful sentences and as he was very motivated, Jason learned quickly and could now speak a little, but enough to make sure everyone understood him. He knew he didn't even need to speak with Freddy, his big brother could understand by only looking in his eyes.

Jason's troubles also showed on his body. He had spasms, was defigured and completly hairless. But he was beautiful in the inside. He had a kind soul and was absolutly harmless. He loved contacts with others like hugs. He was pretty huggable. When he met Freddy, he tried to hug him but the older kid refused. He had never been hugged in his life and he thought Jason was going to hurt him. But soon enough he got to know how great being hugged felt.

Freddy was Jason's hero, he admired him, and Freddy knew it. He didn't even feel like a hero ; he was just Freddy, that 19 years old teen with a big nose and always wearing a sweater. Being someone's hero was foreign to him. How could anyone wish to be like him ? Freddy wasn't as strong as Jason seemed to believe. He considered himself weak and pathetic.

He had tried to commit suicide, one time, but when he woke up in hospital with a weeping Mrs Voorhees by his side, he knew he was loved he promised himself not to ever do it again. Freddy had doubts about everything. He didn't even know who he was, if the name he had was only his real name, and who were his real mother and father. He knew if he ever had to get an identity card or a driving licence, he would say his name was Freddy Voorhees. Because the Voorhees family was his family.

He helped Jason to take off his soaked clothes and put on clean ones. Jason ended up with a blue sweater, a gift from Freddy. Talking about gifts, Freddy had to find one for his little brother's birthday. Jason was going to be 15. Maybe he could go to the theater with him, if it didn't bother Mrs Voorhees to drive them to the nearest one.

They liked horror movies.

Freddy wondered if Jason realized he could have died earlier.

"Are you alright Jay ?" The younger boy nodded. "Yeah.
- You were not scared ?
- I was.
- You knew I'd come, didn't you ?
- I knew."

Freddy couldn't help but feel sad. What if he hadn't come ? Would his brother's last thoughts be regrets ? Or anger toward his big brother ? He prefered not to think about it. Losing Jason... It couldn't happen. His Jason was more precious to him than anyone else. He would lose a part of himself if he lost Jason.

His brother and him spent the rest of the day watching TV on the couch, Jason playing with Freddy's brown hair, wearing his fedora on his bald head. They were watching an old movie in black and white with an alien invasion.

"That's just lame" sighed Freddy. "Man, we can see it's not a freaking spaceship ! Who are they trying to convince it is ?
- I wike it, said Jason.
- Well since none of us has ever seen a spaceship, I guess I can't really tell." Jason giggled and rest his head on Freddy's shoulder. "I wuv you." Freddy smiled.

"Yeah, I love you too."

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