Debts to the Other Side
A The Princess and the Frog fic-let by Jay 2K Winger
Oh, Facilier, you screwed up, didn't you? You thought you had the measure of that froggy girl, but you were wrong. She got the better of you in the end, and now it's time I stepped in once again.
You remember me, don't you, Facilier? I'm the reason why they call you the Shadow Man. I'm the one you made your bargain with, the one who stepped in before the Baron spirited you off to your ever after. You made the deal with me, I gave you a sampling of my power. It's me, Facilier, the real Shadow Man, the dark man in the crossroads, your old friend Kalfu.
You made a deal with me, Facilier, and in so doing, you incurred a debt. You got a second chance and power, but you gave up your freedom to do what you pleased. You got what you wanted, but you lost what you had. Now you had to use what I gave you to find a way to pay me back.
You have a debt to pay, Facilier, and payment is due.
You don't just owe me, Facilier. You owe my kinfolk as well. You took of Father Damballa, him that birthed me and my brother and all my other siblings and kin. You perverted his patron totems by taking those serpents as your servants. His rage at your doing so shook the foundations of Ginen, and oh, how he wept bitter tears about it. He is so very angry with you, Facilier, and oh, yes, he's waiting for you here. He can't wait to get his coils around you.
Oh, and then there's his wife, Ezili Freda. She's most displeased with you, too. Not even getting into that incident with those boys you lured into my dark domain-- mind you, my spirits had fun riding cheval on them and raising all kinds of ruckus, it's just a shame what happened to those poor boys when the mob caught up with them-- Freda's not happy with how you've reminded her of that which makes her weep. All those dreams and wishes of other people you've denied and corrupted, Facilier. Freda's remembered each and every one, and she has a razor ready for every single one of them.
The Baron, now, he's not happy, Facilier. Sure, you appeased him by dressing the part, and you did stir up quite a few parties in his honor in your early days. Back before you developed your reputation, that is. Then the parties started drying up, people started to stay away from you, and you forgot your tributes to the Baron. He was so hoping that your grand scheme would pay off, so he could go out and play, have himself a grand ol' time in your Crescent City. Now it's all gone to pieces, and the Baron, he has a temper on him, oh, yes, indeed.
Shango, of course, let you borrow some of his drums. He did love hearing you and all your little gris-gris servants pound away on them when you were working your magic. He listened when you called down a storm on that sugar baron's rival's plantation, even if it ended up destroying his crop as much his rival's. You borrowed of his power when you "blessed" that rich fellow; of course, he was overly "blessed" and couldn't stop spreading around his seed, but you can't be blamed for how people use your gifts, can you? But now the time's come to pay Shango back for those debts, Facilier. You can hear the drums calling for you now, can't you?
Ah, and of course, there's my brother, Legba. You know the rules, Facilier, you learned 'em well on the knee of Professeur Enseignez, you did. Legba, he's to be invoked with every ritual contacting them here, he controls the boundaries between your world and ours. 'Course, he's not happy you've been using me to do that instead of him, but I can hardly be blamed for what a confused mortal soul does, can I? Still, he's got his right to exact punishment on those who forget the rules, and as much as I hate playing by the rules, even I have to abide by them once in a while, just for the look of the thing. You understand that, don't you, Facilier? Of course you do.
I will give you credit, Facilier, you did very well with that which I gave you. You sowed chaos and trickery and deceit wherever you went, and that's right up my alley. But remember this, Facilier: what goes around, comes around. You've been sending some of those wayward souls on to me, to slake my urges. They've been waiting to pay you back for what you did to them.
Oh, of course you remember them, Facilier. There are so many, I can't list them all. But just to refresh your memory, shall I rattle off a few to jog that gray meat in your skull?
Let's look at those trappers that caught you down in the parish? You remember them, don't you, Facilier? They laid traps to catch gators and frogs and all manner of vermin and varmints, but they laid man-traps, too, just so they could have a little twisted fun with them as they caught, like you. They took a razor to your ears and left you looking like a clip-eared dog. Of course you remember them. You went back and used my power to ruin them. Drove 'em all mad, one by one, you did. Visited them with the malign spirits of my domain and got 'em jumping at their own shadows. One of them took his scattergun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. His brothers didn't fare much better. One of 'em ran out into the bayou and got sent on down the drowned road, chased by the revenants of the other men they'd tortured and butchered before. And the last one, well, you caught him in one of his own man-traps, didn't you? Took your good, sweet time making sure he'd die with full memory of who you were, you did. Guess what, Facilier? They're here waiting for you. They've been sharpening their knives just for you.
Oh! How about Madame Bordelle? She was the whorehouse mistress that turned you out on the streets when you were just a boy. Your mami, she gave birth to you in that house, died in doing it. Ol' Madame sure held a grudge over that, didn't she? 'Course, your mother had been one of her best girls. And then she had to go and take herself off the market by whelping you. Guess Madame blamed you for it. She gave you a home until you were ten years old, and then she shoved you out in the world to sink or swim. You never forgot what she did, did you? You stood and watched as the brothel burned down around her head, and you made sure she was inside, didn't you? She's waiting for you, Facilier, just as you left her in that inferno.
Then there's those Klansmen. Not easy being a poor Creole man with no place called home to hunker down. 'Course, you did wrong by going down the parish way where they run things. (The parish was never a very safe place for you, was it, Facilier?) You were lucky they didn't do worse than they did. Not that lynching's a pleasant way to go, and hey, it wasn't all bad. Weren't for the Klan, we wouldn't have become acquainted, would we, Facilier? You made sure to thank them for it, didn't you? What am I saying? Of course you did. They're here waiting for you. With all those vicious dogs you set on 'em, too. They're so very hungry, Facilier, and they've been whetting their appetite just for you.
You've touched so many lives, Facilier. I could spend all night and all day tomorrow enumerating them all. But now's not the time. It's time you came with us, Facilier. We have all of eternity to remember every life you've touched, every life you've ruined, every bargain you brokered, and every deal you twisted. Like you kept reminding the fat man, Facilier, you have a debt with us here on the Other Side.
Your payment is due, Facilier.
ARE YOU READY?
--
--
--
Afterword: I came up with the basis for this fic-let at work one day, while the movie was playing on one of our demo players. Just thought I'd examine some of the reasons why Dr. Facilier was so scared of his debt being called in. That's it, really. Not much else to say. If I depicted or referenced any Vodoun loa incorrectly, this was not my intention. Consider it creative license for a desired effect.
--Jay 2K Winger