Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Drop Dead Fred or any characters

Big thank you again to my pal Zombierose3 for keeping me motivated. Go check out her awesome stories, you won't regret it!

I am so so sorry for the update time for this chapter, and after all that it's not even that long. Honestly, I have been so lost, and kept coming back to this chapter in an attempt to finish it. It's definitely not as long as I'd hoped, but it's something and I really hope you like it. Any suggestions/feedback are always greatly appreciated!

Thanks everyone! -Broken-Horizons13 x


"Okay Fred, I hope you know that once we begin this process there is no turning back. You must follow our instructions precisely, or else you may face dire consequences. Do you understand this?"

"What sort of consequences?"

"Fred these are consequences we don't decide. If you break any rules, the punishments are out of our hands. If you thought we were the highest magical beings here in Elfurus, you were wrong. And trust me, they're not as delightful as I am. When they punish someone, they PUNISH someone."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Fred I'm serious. Don't even think about trying to get sympathy votes with them. They are ruthless, heartless, and will not put up with any of your 'charming' wit. Just do exactly as they say and you'll be fine. Well, maybe not fine per say. Maybe just less bad…", muttered Hades.

"Okay! I get it. No sympathy. Do as told. It takes more than some ancient magical beings to stop Drop Dead-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!", Hades bellowed.

"Fine!", Fred huffed. "What am I supposed to do now anyway?"

"First you're going to have to see the Kupua yourself. We'll inform them you'll be coming. I believe they'll take over from then on."

"How will I know what time? Or even where I'm supposed to go?"

"Trust me Fred, that won't be a problem. They have their ways of handling things. Just sit tight."

"Cause that's sooo assuring… So now I'm supposed just sit around and what? Wait for Casper the Unfriendly Ghost to give me their time of day whenever it suits them?", Fred griped.

"Goodbye Fred", Hades sighed, and sent Fred back to the Buntz household with a click of his fingers.

"And another thing, I-"

Fred stopped talking and looked around, realising he was back in Natalie's room.

"Those sons of bitches!", Fred cursed, kicking the bed with all his might. "They think they can do whatever they want just because they are some fancy magical dicks."

"Fred!", Natalie ran screaming into the room and breaking Fred free of his angry rant.

"Oh! Hey there Nat, where have you been?", Fred asked nonchalantly.

"Where have YOU been? You've been gone for days! I was worried!"

Days? It only felt like a few hours I was in Elfurus….

"Sorry Nat, official imaginary friend business"

"Is this still about Lizzie? You know she asked me about you while you were gone."

"She did? What did she say?", queried Fred.

"She just asked me if you were still around. I told her you had gone away because you loved her too much."

"Natalie you brat! Why did you tell her that?!", Fred yelled, but this only prompted Natalie to erupt into a fit of laughter.

"I, I didn't! You should see your face though!", she squeaked between giggles.

Sure enough, Fred's face had grown a few shades redder than usual from embarrassment.

"What about my face?", he remarked, turning away hastily. "The only thing you should be worried about now is how much trouble you're about to be in!", spinning around and reaching towards Natalie with a grin, Fred asked, "You're not ticklish are you?"

"No Fred! Please. Don't!", she shrieked, before breaking into another fit of laughter as Fred grasped her sides and began tickling her.

After Fred believed Natalie had learned her lesson, he sat down in the chair, beginning to feel exhaustion creeping up on him.

"Natalie? What's going on up there?", Mickey called out. "You seem to be making an awful lot of noise."

"Nothing Dad. My dolls and teddies are just battling over who will become king of my room. I think Boris will win though."

"Boris?"

"My teddy bear Dad!"

"Oh, of course, my bad. Just a little longer and then I want you to get ready for bed. Okay?"

"Okay Daddy."

"Thanks Sweetie. Tell Boris that I think he'd make a perfect king.", Mickey chuckled.

"Battle for king of the bedroom?", Fred chortled.

"Shush Fred! Would you rather I told him the truth?"

Fred ignored her comment and lent back in the chair, sighing.

"I really am sorry Nat. I had no idea any of this would happen. I pride myself on being a good role model.", Fred said before sniggering. "Okay I can't even say that with a straight face. But I do take my role as an imaginary friend seriously, and I haven't been doing a very good job at being yours."

"Fred, I like having you as my imaginary friend. You make me happy, and you should be happy too. You already told me that you might have to leave, and you also promised you would visit whenever you could.", Natalie said defiantly.

"I know Nat, but still. I failed and I'm sorry okay?"

"Okay Fred. Anyway, I think it's time I went to bed. I'm getting sleepy", Natalie said, her subsequent yawn only cementing her words even further.

Fred nodded in agreement, after checking the clock and seeing that it was almost nine pm. "Goodnight Nat, see you in the morning."

"Night Fred", Natalie replied. "Goodnight Daddy!", she called before pulling back the covers of her bed and laying down.

Maybe I should get some rest, he thought as he slowly shut his eyes.


As the days passed, Fred made the most of whatever time he may have left with Natalie. And boy did they raise some Hell.

They pulled pranks on Mickey, small things, like moving all the clocks an hour forward and laughing as he ran around the house like a headless chicken believing he was late for work, to bigger things like greasing the bottom of the staircase with Vasoline. They took it to a whole new level when they pranked Natalie's next-door neighbor Mrs. Fletcher, with Fred moving objects around to make her believe her house was haunted. Fred was a little worried they may have crossed the line though when he overheard her on the phone to an exorcist the following morning. All in all, Fred knew that as much fun as they were having now he was only delaying the inevitable and eventually he was going to be whisked away back to Elfurus and have to deal with the Kupua. Or those damn Guardians again.

The following morning Fred awoke to the sound of Natalie his ear.

"Fred?! FRED! WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD!", she yelled whilst tugging on his hair. "What are we going to do today? I think Daddy's going to be in his office most of the day doing his boring work stuff. We can make another pie? Or another trap? How about we even sneak outside?"

Fred tried numerous times to interject but Natalie was chattering at such breakneck speed that he couldn't get a word in edgewise.

"Natalie. Nat! Calm down! Can we talk about this once I've gotten up and had my breakfast?"

"You don't eat silly!", giggled Natalie as she ran off down the stairs beckoning Fred to follow her. Fred laughed quietly at her eagerness as he dragged himself out of the comfort of the chair in an effort to chase her down the stairs. As he reached the bottom of the stairs and scanned around for any sign of Natalie, he heard a voice in his head,

"Drop Dead Fred. You are being summoned"

In an instant, Fred was back in Elfurus, but this time instead of reappearing in the courtroom, he was instead in an extravagantly decorated room in a part of Elfurus Fred was unfamiliar with. With garish paintings adorning the walls and hideous wallpaper to match, Fred got vivid flashbacks to one of his early charges who lived with their Grandmother. Lovely lady, but Fred seriously questioned her taste in style. The only thing this room needed was ten cats roaming around and it would be a spitting image. He visually cringed at the thought. Gathering his thoughts, Fred began wandering around the room, searching for any sign that indicated what he should be doing.

"Hello?", Fred called out to the seemingly empty room, "Is there anyone there?"

"Drop Dead Fred. This has been a long time coming", a deep voice loomed through the silence.

"Uh… who's that?"

"We're the Kupua", another voice piped in. "The Guardians have told us all about your 'special situation' and we're here to fix all your mistakes".