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thelatechrisfreemanContent Warnings: child death and sexual abuse (behind the cut), non-consensual surgical intervention
In 1928, David Freeman married Rebecca Troop.
Two years later, they welcomed their first child -- a son they named Frederick Freeman. That child was soon joined by a younger brother, Christopher "Kit" Freeman, in 1932. For a time, this family was happy.
This would not last. Freddy and Kit lost both parents during the 1938 New England Hurricane, and were thereafter separated to each live with one of their grandfathers. Freddy went to their paternal grandfather, Jacob Freeman, and Christopher was taken in by their maternal grandfather, Daniel Troop.
In 1942, Kit and his Gran'pa Daniel were sailing aboard a merchant ship when a German U-boat attacked. After the ship sank, the U-boat surfaced and machine-gunned the survivors. A U.S. destroyer soon appeared, engaging the U-boat in battle and finishing it off with depth charges. When the bodies were hauled aboard, in a bid to find survivors, the sailors realized that the young boy among them had very recently bled out. One commented that had they been but two minutes earlier, they could have saved him.
In the afterlife, Daniel Troop was allowed to pass into... whatever lies beyond death. But as it turns out, Christopher was not supposed to be there. He should have lived for another seventy-five years before dying! After "two million years of perfect service", Mr. Keeper -- who apparently kept the lists of those due to die -- had made a mistake.
In fact, it was Freddy Freeman who was due to die -- and hadn't. In compensation, Mr. Keeper granted Kit his mortal body back, with the ability to turn incorporeal by saying the word "Eternity!" Using that word of power, Kit could also summon any figure from history or mythology to help by using their knowledge and abilities. (These powers were dependent on the presence of Mr. Keeper, who became a mentor to the young superhero. And Mr. Keeper could limit Kit's powers if he so chose.)
For a long time, Kit avoided seeing his elder brother -- knowing that Freddy would feel guilty that Kit had died in his place. But eventually, Freddy recognized him despite the superhero identity of Kid Eternity, and the brothers were happily reunited.
(Freddy had his own superpowers by this time, but that is another tale... the tale of Captain Marvel Junior...)
That is how it happened in one world. And I told you that so I could tell you this....
Decades and decades after that deal was struck, the universe changed. The multiverse changed. Thanks to the destruction wrought by the Anti-Monitor, what had once been infinite worlds of possibility was reduced to merely five. Five ravaged versions of the universe, with countless dead.
And then the disparate parts of those worlds were merged together into a single world. History was rewritten, stretched and trimmed and altered to fit all those pasts into a single whole.
Cohesive, yes, but entirely coherent? No.
Nearly fifty years on from making the deal with Mr. Keeper for his powers, Kid Eternity learned some harsh truths about his own history.
The man who took him to sea on a merchant vessel? Not his maternal grandfather, but a sexual predator with sick desires toward young boys.
What Kit's child self had thought were the gates of Heaven? An entrance to Hell, where the old captain's soul belonged, prettied up to look like a child's concept of heaven... and all this to ensnare an innocent soul in the plots of Hell and the Lords of Chaos.
The heroes and historical notables that Kit summoned up with his magical word -- "Eternity!" -- were not the actual souls or even a construct built from his conception of them, but demons masquerading as what Kit wanted to see.
And kindly, wise old Mr. Keeper? While he might have some true fondness for his charge, his real appearance was nothing like the face he'd presented for so long. He was a twisted demon of Hell like all the rest who'd manipulated Kid Eternity.
Oh, but being machine-gunned by Nazis? That was still true.
Did he even have a brother? Was what he remembered of his life, before the death of his parents, just another comforting lie to shield himself? These things, Kit was never brave enough to find out. He remained allied with the Lords of Chaos, seeing no other option. And this state of affairs continued until Kid Eternity was among the many agents, both of Order and Chaos, killed by the sorcerer Mordru.
When Brother Blood (Sebastian Blood IX) threw open the door between life and death, he trapped Kid Eternity in the threshold to keep that door open. It allowed Brother Blood to command a massive horde of demons to wreak havoc in Los Angeles. The Teen Titans members Beast Boy and Raven released Kid Eternity from his chains, and Kit retaliated against his former captor -- calling up the eight past Brothers Blood to murder their descendant.
With the shifting of his allegiance to the Lords of Order, Kid Eternity's powers were limited in scope. Now, he truly could call upon the souls of the dead, but only one soul at a time, and for a mere 66 seconds. He had to get careful and creative with the use of his summons.
But allying with the Teen Titans put a target on Kit's back. He was kidnapped by another enemy -- the Calculator, Noah Kuttler -- then imprisoned and forced to repeatedly summon the spirit of the Calculator's late son, Marvin White. This overtaxed his powers and Kit was eventually unable to summon Marvin at all. In a rage, the Calculator lashed out violently... and this ended in another death for Kid Eternity.
The universe... the multiverse... the omniverse... it all changed yet again. Kid Eternity as he was... perhaps that person endured somewhere else, perhaps the echoes of his history would touch this new universe constructed once more from the fragments of others.
And I told you that story so that I could tell you this one...
In 1992, NYPD Detective David Freeman and his wife Rebecca welcomed their second child. They already had a son, and were expecting another... but this child was... different. Parts of their body were... ambiguous. The doctors counseled the Freemans that surgical intervention was needed in order to allow young Christopher Freeman a normal life.
The discovery of this later in life drove a wedge between Chris and his parents. Though David and Rebecca did their best to be supportive, they were often frustratingly confused or ignorant when it came to their child's non-binary gender identity. And while Chris still loved zir parents, zie was bitter about the medical interventions that they'd agreed to when Chris was a baby (and also later as a teenager).
Chris went to college to study medicine -- initially intending to work as a surgeon. Their trauma about the non-consensual surgeries in their past eventually stymied that, and Chris switched their education path. Chris then studied criminology, working toward the required degrees to work as a coroner.
David and Chris began to argue about all sorts of things, and sometimes these were inconsequential disagreements. Even after Chris joined the New York City police department alongside their father (and more often used he/him pronouns for work), the two would clash.
It was during one of these sadly regular arguments that something altogether irregular occurred. An SUV pulled up, Chris saw the muzzle of a gun, and then bullets started flying. David tried to protect Chris by tackling him to the sidewalk, but it was no good. Both of them were shot, and both of them were dying.
Just darkness... the warmth spilling out of Chris's body... and then they woke up!
For a moment, zie was in the land of the living, and then suddenly -- zie was in a strange place... a Between kind of place full of the recently dead. Chris was able to escape back into zir body, back to life, but zie harbors a lot of guilt for leaving David behind. (This happened in 2018, when Chris was 26 years old.)
Since returning to life, Chris has various powers related to death and the summoning of dead people. He can call up a specific ghost for 24 hours (which he usually uses to help solve their murders and mysterious deaths in the context of his police coroner job), then they will pass on to the Between and what comes after death.
They are also able to see and hear ghosts that are just present in the area -- sometimes they don't even realize they are talking to a ghost. Chris is still getting used to that.
Chris can also -- still -- speak to ghosts for advice but sometimes she gets overwhelmed by the sheer volume of options this can present.
Mr. Keeper is very different. He often warns Chris to stay away from messing with the recently dead, and seems unable to clue Chris into whatever "rules" Chris is breaking. Perhaps this version of Mr. Keeper is also a former human? Such things are unknown.
So much is unknown... and so the story continues, spiraling on... some parts the same and some so very different...
In 1928, David Freeman married Rebecca Troop.
Two years later, they welcomed their first child -- a son they named Frederick Freeman. That child was soon joined by a younger brother, Christopher "Kit" Freeman, in 1932. For a time, this family was happy.
This would not last. Freddy and Kit lost both parents during the 1938 New England Hurricane, and were thereafter separated to each live with one of their grandfathers. Freddy went to their paternal grandfather, Jacob Freeman, and Christopher was taken in by their maternal grandfather, Daniel Troop.
In 1942, Kit and his Gran'pa Daniel were sailing aboard a merchant ship when a German U-boat attacked. After the ship sank, the U-boat surfaced and machine-gunned the survivors. A U.S. destroyer soon appeared, engaging the U-boat in battle and finishing it off with depth charges. When the bodies were hauled aboard, in a bid to find survivors, the sailors realized that the young boy among them had very recently bled out. One commented that had they been but two minutes earlier, they could have saved him.
In the afterlife, Daniel Troop was allowed to pass into... whatever lies beyond death. But as it turns out, Christopher was not supposed to be there. He should have lived for another seventy-five years before dying! After "two million years of perfect service", Mr. Keeper -- who apparently kept the lists of those due to die -- had made a mistake.
In fact, it was Freddy Freeman who was due to die -- and hadn't. In compensation, Mr. Keeper granted Kit his mortal body back, with the ability to turn incorporeal by saying the word "Eternity!" Using that word of power, Kit could also summon any figure from history or mythology to help by using their knowledge and abilities. (These powers were dependent on the presence of Mr. Keeper, who became a mentor to the young superhero. And Mr. Keeper could limit Kit's powers if he so chose.)
For a long time, Kit avoided seeing his elder brother -- knowing that Freddy would feel guilty that Kit had died in his place. But eventually, Freddy recognized him despite the superhero identity of Kid Eternity, and the brothers were happily reunited.
(Freddy had his own superpowers by this time, but that is another tale... the tale of Captain Marvel Junior...)
That is how it happened in one world. And I told you that so I could tell you this....
Decades and decades after that deal was struck, the universe changed. The multiverse changed. Thanks to the destruction wrought by the Anti-Monitor, what had once been infinite worlds of possibility was reduced to merely five. Five ravaged versions of the universe, with countless dead.
And then the disparate parts of those worlds were merged together into a single world. History was rewritten, stretched and trimmed and altered to fit all those pasts into a single whole.
Cohesive, yes, but entirely coherent? No.
Nearly fifty years on from making the deal with Mr. Keeper for his powers, Kid Eternity learned some harsh truths about his own history.
The man who took him to sea on a merchant vessel? Not his maternal grandfather, but a sexual predator with sick desires toward young boys.
What Kit's child self had thought were the gates of Heaven? An entrance to Hell, where the old captain's soul belonged, prettied up to look like a child's concept of heaven... and all this to ensnare an innocent soul in the plots of Hell and the Lords of Chaos.
The heroes and historical notables that Kit summoned up with his magical word -- "Eternity!" -- were not the actual souls or even a construct built from his conception of them, but demons masquerading as what Kit wanted to see.
And kindly, wise old Mr. Keeper? While he might have some true fondness for his charge, his real appearance was nothing like the face he'd presented for so long. He was a twisted demon of Hell like all the rest who'd manipulated Kid Eternity.
Oh, but being machine-gunned by Nazis? That was still true.
Did he even have a brother? Was what he remembered of his life, before the death of his parents, just another comforting lie to shield himself? These things, Kit was never brave enough to find out. He remained allied with the Lords of Chaos, seeing no other option. And this state of affairs continued until Kid Eternity was among the many agents, both of Order and Chaos, killed by the sorcerer Mordru.
When Brother Blood (Sebastian Blood IX) threw open the door between life and death, he trapped Kid Eternity in the threshold to keep that door open. It allowed Brother Blood to command a massive horde of demons to wreak havoc in Los Angeles. The Teen Titans members Beast Boy and Raven released Kid Eternity from his chains, and Kit retaliated against his former captor -- calling up the eight past Brothers Blood to murder their descendant.
With the shifting of his allegiance to the Lords of Order, Kid Eternity's powers were limited in scope. Now, he truly could call upon the souls of the dead, but only one soul at a time, and for a mere 66 seconds. He had to get careful and creative with the use of his summons.
But allying with the Teen Titans put a target on Kit's back. He was kidnapped by another enemy -- the Calculator, Noah Kuttler -- then imprisoned and forced to repeatedly summon the spirit of the Calculator's late son, Marvin White. This overtaxed his powers and Kit was eventually unable to summon Marvin at all. In a rage, the Calculator lashed out violently... and this ended in another death for Kid Eternity.
The universe... the multiverse... the omniverse... it all changed yet again. Kid Eternity as he was... perhaps that person endured somewhere else, perhaps the echoes of his history would touch this new universe constructed once more from the fragments of others.
And I told you that story so that I could tell you this one...
In 1992, NYPD Detective David Freeman and his wife Rebecca welcomed their second child. They already had a son, and were expecting another... but this child was... different. Parts of their body were... ambiguous. The doctors counseled the Freemans that surgical intervention was needed in order to allow young Christopher Freeman a normal life.
The discovery of this later in life drove a wedge between Chris and his parents. Though David and Rebecca did their best to be supportive, they were often frustratingly confused or ignorant when it came to their child's non-binary gender identity. And while Chris still loved zir parents, zie was bitter about the medical interventions that they'd agreed to when Chris was a baby (and also later as a teenager).
Chris went to college to study medicine -- initially intending to work as a surgeon. Their trauma about the non-consensual surgeries in their past eventually stymied that, and Chris switched their education path. Chris then studied criminology, working toward the required degrees to work as a coroner.
David and Chris began to argue about all sorts of things, and sometimes these were inconsequential disagreements. Even after Chris joined the New York City police department alongside their father (and more often used he/him pronouns for work), the two would clash.
It was during one of these sadly regular arguments that something altogether irregular occurred. An SUV pulled up, Chris saw the muzzle of a gun, and then bullets started flying. David tried to protect Chris by tackling him to the sidewalk, but it was no good. Both of them were shot, and both of them were dying.
Just darkness... the warmth spilling out of Chris's body... and then they woke up!
For a moment, zie was in the land of the living, and then suddenly -- zie was in a strange place... a Between kind of place full of the recently dead. Chris was able to escape back into zir body, back to life, but zie harbors a lot of guilt for leaving David behind. (This happened in 2018, when Chris was 26 years old.)
Since returning to life, Chris has various powers related to death and the summoning of dead people. He can call up a specific ghost for 24 hours (which he usually uses to help solve their murders and mysterious deaths in the context of his police coroner job), then they will pass on to the Between and what comes after death.
They are also able to see and hear ghosts that are just present in the area -- sometimes they don't even realize they are talking to a ghost. Chris is still getting used to that.
Chris can also -- still -- speak to ghosts for advice but sometimes she gets overwhelmed by the sheer volume of options this can present.
Mr. Keeper is very different. He often warns Chris to stay away from messing with the recently dead, and seems unable to clue Chris into whatever "rules" Chris is breaking. Perhaps this version of Mr. Keeper is also a former human? Such things are unknown.
So much is unknown... and so the story continues, spiraling on... some parts the same and some so very different...