Hiya! Hope you all had a good Christmas. We certainly did.

Freddy: Can I take off the Santa hat yet?

Angie: No.

Me: It matches well with your Christmas sweater.

Freddy! IT'S NOT A FING CHRISTMAS SWEATER!!!

Me: Whatever. Anyway enjoy my Christmas gift to you all. This chapter! And I expect a gift from each of you, a review! So read, enjoy, and review!

Disclaimer: You know nothing's happened to me yet, I think I'll keep ignoring this.

Freddy: (whispering) Someone report her.

Me: Don't make me tie you up with giftwrap!

Chapter 14: I Declare War

Freddy stalked along the catwalks quietly, staring down at his terrified new prey. The girl looked to be about twelve, and had curly dark brown hair that was currently pulled back in a loose tail. She was frantically glancing around with wide, frightened blue eyes. Freddy smirked and ran his glove daggers along the railing, resulting in the high metal on metal screech that was his signature sound. The girl leapt nearly ten feet in the air and began to run. Freddy grinned evilly. The chase was on.

Freddy gleefully chased the girl around the catwalks, slowly herding her toward a dead end. He wasn't worried about Kim showing up, he knew that she was currently hunting for Kristen and he wasn't betting on her finding the young Dream Master for several hours at least, if she found her at all. Becoming bored with scaring the girl out of her wits, Freddy dreamwalked so he was standing in front of her. The girl backpedaled with a startled squawk, throwing her arms instinctively in front of her face. Freddy raised his glove, then brought it down swiftly, aiming for the girl's upraised arms.

Kim literally stepped out of no where behind the girl and threw out her arm, effectively blocking his shot. She threw her other arm around the girl and glared at Freddy, who glared right back at her. How the hell had she known the girl was here at all, much less where? She had been searching for Kristen. After a swift mental check of the furnace room Freddy let out a roar of rage and struck out again, a shot witch Kim once again blocked with her bare forearm. He snarled, his rage increasing at his failure to hurt the girl. He noticed that Kim was panting, as if she had run here. Kristen must have told her, Kristen would have known the girl was here.

He angrily stepped back to get better aim, but Kim used the instant to dreamwalk the girl away. Freddy screamed and instantly began searching for them, knowing that they wouldn't leave the plant. Kim would want to keep him in sight at all times.

Kim dragged the girl through the plant, dreamwalking through several different sections before coming to rest in the upper recesses of the catwalks. She then released her death-grip on the girl's shoulder and turned her around.

"I thought everyone in Springwood is on Hypnocil. What happened?" she asked the girl.

The girl numbly shook her head, staring down at the floor. Kim sighed.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Christine," the girl said quietly.

"I'm Kim, nice to meet you. Wish the circumstances were better though," Kim answered, trying to get the girl to laugh.

Christine did look up then, and a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. It fast disappeared however at the suddenly intense look on Kim's face. She gripped Christine under the chin as the girl tried to turn her head away and traced the outline of a vivid bruise on her cheek.

"Where did you get this?" she asked, her voice suddenly hard. Christine shook her head, her eyes going wide.

"I…fell," she said quietly.

"Oh really? Is that why this mark is shaped like a hand?" Kim asked. Christine flushed and tried to duck her head. Kim's hand was still firmly under her chin however, and she was now carefully examining the rest of the girl's appearance. There were dark circles under her eyes, evidence that she hadn't been sleeping recently. Her pajamas were ratty, and becoming a bit too small for her. Kim tugged up one of the sleeves and found obvious evidence of other bruises.

"Christine why haven't you taken any hypnocil lately?" she asked gently.

Tears blurred the girl's eyes, but she blinked them back. "I have," she tried miserably.

"No you haven't. You haven't slept in days, and you're covered in bruises Chris, why?"

"My foster dad," Christine finally confessed quietly. "He spends his money on alcohol and lottery tickets. He never wanted me, he doesn't care what happens to me. And when he gets drunk, well…" She trailed off, but Kim could fill in the blanks. "He's not going to buy hypnocil for me. It'll just be a waste of good money," Christine continued bitterly. Kim nodded, biting her lip and thinking.

"What's your address?" she finally asked.

"Huh?"

"Your address. Where do you live?"

"1016 Maple Ave. Why?" Christine asked.

Kim smiled. "Because I'm getting you out of Springwood," she said quietly. Try not to go to sleep until I get there, okay?"

Christine nodded, hope shining in her eyes. "You'll take me out of Springwood?"

Kim nodded. "You can come with me and Angie. I'll take care of you," she promised. No sooner had she said that then they both heard Freddy's cry of triumph. Christine's look of fear said more than words could; Freddy was right behind them. She grabbed Christine's arm and ran, but Freddy always appeared in front of them.

Kim and Christine finally found themselves cornered at a dead end. Kim whipped around, protectively spreading arms trying futilely to hide the girl behind her. She could fight Freddy, he couldn't hurt her. But he could get away from her long enough to hurt Christine. Kim was cornered. It was either fight Freddy or keep running, but either option posed risks and Christine's body was to exhausted for her to wake up on her own. Kim glanced to the side, then seized the girl's arm.

"I'd like to apologize in advance for this," she said, then slammed Christine's arm against the hot pipe. Christine screamed as she felt her skin burn, and the next second she was sitting up on the couch in her living room, her arm clutched to her chest. She blinked a few times, then scurried off to apply medication to her arm and fix herself some hot coffee.

Kim, meanwhile, was still back at the power plant, her arm outstretched and clutching empty air where Christine's arm had been moments before. She and Freddy were staring at each other, absolute hate in both their eyes. Without warning they both flew for each other, Kim's double-bladed daggers suddenly in her hands. With them she effectively blocked Freddy's strikes, and struck back out at him.

"Bitch!" Freddy howled. "You stupid bitch! She was mine!"

"She is not yours," Kim hissed with equal fury. "I'm never going to let you hurt her! I declare war Freddy! Over her and over all the other souls you hold captured!"

They stopped their clash, each panting, each starring at the other with undisguised hate and fury.

"So be it," Freddy hissed. "Let the war begin." He vanished then, presumably off to find Angie and rant.

Kim, however, had another destination in mind. Her mind traveled to Kristen with a pang, she would have to wait till later to talk to the former Dream Master again. Right now there was something else she had to do. She wouldn't be able to just walk into Springwood and adopt Christine, the people would never let anyone go that easily, afraid of what the outside world would find out about their town. Decades of secrets lay buried and they would not risk their being discovered for the life of just one girl, they would just as soon let Freddy kill her, or lock her away in Westin Hills. Kim knew from Freddy vs. Jason that they had gotten rid of any records she would be able to use. In the real world that is, but here in Dreamworld the records were hers for the finding. She walked off on search for any useful records. If the people of Springwood would not hand the girl to her without a fight, by God would she give them a fight!

Angie was restlessly pacing on the bottom floor of the power plant. She wanted desperately to know what was going on in the upper floors, but didn't want to venture up to find out. Freddy appeared in front of her suddenly, in an absolute raging fury. The rage in his eyes caused Angie to back up a step, a tendril of fear creeping up her spine. Freddy looked right at her, sensing that ounce of fear, then turned away. Angie no longer feared for her friend's safety, or the girl's for that matter. But she was in shock. She had shown fear, however slight and Freddy had ignored it. Angie stared after him, her jaw all but dropping to the floor.

"You coming or not?" Freddy snapped, still in a raging temper but not willing to leave Angie behind. Angie almost smiled, and followed after Freddy. They went back to 1428 Elm St. and Angie drew for the rest of the night while Freddy ranted, tearing the living room apart. Angie woke up with Freddy's angry screams still resounding through her head.

She wandered into the kitchen for breakfast and found Kim packing food into a bag, several heavy folders piled on the table.

"Going somewhere?" Angie asked her friend.

"I'm going to Springwood," Kim said curtly.

"Springwood?!" Angie exclaimed.

"Yes. Want to come with?" Kim asked.

"Yeah I want to go! But why are you going now?"

"Get your stuff. I'll explain on the way."

"What's in the folders?" Angie asked before she went to pack a bag.

Kim grinned maliciously. "Enough info to blackmail that town into the next millenium."

Heh heh. I love that last comment. I never did like the way Springwood handled the Freddy situations anyway, tearing into them will be fun. Let me know what you think, reivew! I'll update as soon as I can, after I finish giftwrapping Freddy. The first one to review gets to come visit and bother him without fear of retribution! (We're blindfolding him.) Just don't try to kiss him or Angie will have your head on a Christmas dish before you can blink. Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!!