Work Text:
The Night he cut off his head wasn’t the last the Grim Reaper saw of Jack O’Lantern.
Ten Halloweens later Grim was back in the dingy village of Endsville, doing his job, seeking out the soul of one Irving Hill. The man had slipped on a banana peel and smashed his skull on the way down a set of stone steps. A truly sad yet simultaneously hilarious way to go. At least in Grim’s opinion. But then the soul started screaming about a man with a pumpkin for a head, a hideous glowing face carved into it, laughing maliciously as the poor man tumbled backwards to his doom. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow hadn’t been written yet, so Grim thought the idea of a pumpkin-headed human amusing to say the least. He assured the soul no such creatures existed in the underworld- the demons were far more monstrous and bizarre- and tossed him into a waiting vortex.
Job done, the reaper turned to take his leave. A pumpkin head jumping out and scaring people sounded like nothing more than a silly prank-
The thought finally struck his skull: Pumpkin head. Prank….oh no.
Grim pinched the cartilage where a nose would’ve been.
He’d created a monster.