Konichiwa minna-san! Hey, I assume you all know that thing called Real Life? Yeah, well it gave me a BIG bite on the ass and I've been recuperating in the hospital.
Freddy: sigh if only…. is pegged by random airborne object
Kim: anyway, my laptop died (I kid you not, my hard drive wiped my files and just DIED) So it took all summer to see my cousin to fix that because Best Buy wanted my arm, my leg, and a signed promissory note on my firstborn child to fix it. And THEN I moved into college and have since been learning to work around my schedule. So… yeah…I missed you guys?
Erik: -- gathering dust in the corner

Kim: … oh here's the next chapter, go away already!

Disclaimer: You DON'T want to bother me right now, you really don't…

Chapter 26: Alice in Dreamland

I must be out of my mind, Kim thought to herself, glancing around. It took all her self-control not to bristle and hiss like Samara, trotting loyally by her feet, was doing with reckless abandon. The back alley streets through which she wandered in Dreamworld were nothing like she had anticipated. They were worse. The ground was covered by a solid layer of filth that couldn't be less than four inches thick, the air was so rank with the odor of smoke, piss, and decay that Kim was forced to breathe through her mouth in an effort to control her gagging. And there are people who say that dreams aren't real. Those people can bite my ass, Kim thought sourly, leaping lightly over a puddle of what she fervently hoped was water.

She didn't recall the back alley in which Taryn had made her final stand against Freddy being quite so labyrinthine and finding her way was becoming highly annoying. But just as she was beginning to seriously consider giving up and trying someone else, if only for the fact that she was fast becoming ill, something caught her eye at the end of the alley she was currently navigating. A black cat stood on a crate, swishing it's tail back and forth lazily, staring straight at her with mismatched blue and gold eyes in a half white face.

"Mrow?" Kim blinked and glanced down at the scraggly gray cat twined through her ankles. She glanced back up again, half expecting the black cat to be gone but it was still there, still staring at her expectantly. Cautiously, used to Freddy's tricks, she approached the cat until she was standing in front of the crate it was perched on. He, now that she was so close to it the cat gave off a distinct male aura, blinked once, slowly. He leaped off the crate and darted the rest of the way down the alley and turned to state pointedly at her. After a few seconds in which she stood in stunned shock, Kim followed the cat to the end of the alley. As she came level with him, the cat ran off again, Samara close on his heels. Kim followed the cats, noting that the black one turned every so often to make sure she was keeping up.

It's official, I have lost my mind. Kim thought as she ran. I'd better put up some posters; maybe someone will find it and give it back to me.

The cat began to slow after a while and came to a stop in a narrow backend alley that opened on the far left into yet another alley. But Kim finally recognized where she was. Amazed, she turned to stare at the cat.

"Call me insane for taking directions from a cat, but damn you are one smart animal. If you're even an animal. Are you?" The cat blinked, seeming to grin smugly in the dark. Then without further ado he darted back up the way he had led them, leaving Kim and Samara, who "mrrowwwed" in farewell after him, alone in the alley.

"That was… strange," Kim muttered to Samara, raking her fingers through her ponytail. "Helpful, but incredibly strange."

Shaking her head, Kim turned and walked the rest of the way down the alley and turned the corner, weapons in hand. There were several bums lying around or smoking or leering at the newcomer; they lined the wall down the alley. Keeping her weapons at the ready (and visible) Kim walked down the alley, eyes peeled for Taryn. It didn't take long to find her, moaning on the ground with her arms around her chest. Said arms were covered with enflamed red marks, as if she had numerous infected injection marks, and considering Freddy had killed her by overdosing her on drugs that was most likely the case.

"Samara, keep watch," Kim instructed and her cat obligingly turned to carefully monitor the alley's other occupants. Kim, meanwhile, knelt down in front of Taryn, gently placing a hand on the girl's shoulder and shaking.

"Taryn? Taryn, my name is Kim. I want to help you get out of here. Taryn, can you hear me?"

Taryn raised glazed, unfocused eyes to Kim's face, then she jerked her head around to stare wide-eyed down the street just as Kim heard Samara's warning hiss and turned her head as well. She swore violently as she saw all the bums and druggies she had passed on her way down the alley proceeding towards her and Taryn. Not having time to be gentle Kim hit Taryn hard with one hand, sending a forced burst of energy with the blow. Taryn blinked slowly, clear eyes taking in the situation.

"Can you stand?" Kim asked quickly. She cut Taryn off as the girl started to speak. "Look I'll explain later, but I need help. I can't fight everyone off on my own!"

Shakily, Taryn clambered to her feet, drawing two switchblades from her belt as she tried to assess the situation. As the first few men reached them Kim ducked the initial blows and took down the first guy while Taryn, the more experienced streetfighter, dealt with the next two. But as the next few stepped up, one grinned and pulled out a syringe. Taryn let out a bloodcurdling scream when she saw it and fell back against the wall, arms over her head, yelling for all she was worth. Syringe-man went down under Kim's quick strike, but Taryn refused to rejoin the fight, crying with her arms over her head.

"So I guess I can expect no help from you?" Kim called over to Taryn, trying desperately to rouse the girl to no avail. Grimacing, she plunged back into the fight with new vigor, now having to fight for both her and Taryn. Samara was doing her best to protect her mistress, leaping and biting and scratching and trying to draw as much attention as she could away from Kim. It worked to a point, but it still left too many men for Kim to deal with all at once while also trying to protect Taryn. And Dreamworld given experience was no measure to real world fighting experience.

Kim hissed in pain and surprise as one fighter scoured a bloody line down her arm with a broken bottle. She retaliated by slicing open his neck the next chance she got, but another simply took his place. After only a few minutes Kim was cut, bruised, and tiring fast. After another few minutes she stepped back to evade a blow and her foot slid out from under her. She tried to catch herself but several of her attackers took advantage of her moment of distraction and the next thing Kim knew she was flat on her back with her vision blurring. She registered the descending knife in time to close her eyes, but not in time to block it. But her ears registered the sound of the knife skittering away and someone was hauling her to her feet.

"It's not nice to pick on girls you know," someone said from in front of her. Kim opened her eyes in time to see someone karate chop one of her attackers on the neck just as another went down under a punch from whoever it was that had picked her up. Kim dove back into the fight with renewed vigor, witnessing from the corner of her eye with a grin as Samara mauled the face of someone to her right in her hissing, spitting, furry fury. With the new additions the street thugs that had been giving Kim and the distraught Taryn such a hard time were easily taken down, their corpses vanishing almost before they hit the floor so that the fighting ground was clear when the remaining combatants turned to face each other.

"You okay?" the guy who picked her up asked.

Kim started to nod, then took a better look at him and at the boy in martial arts getup beside him. She swore in surprise as she recognized Dan and Rick.

"How did you two get here?" she shrilled in confusion. She hadn't rescued either one of them yet and thus far none of Freddy's other victims had been able to break themselves out of their Dreamland prisons. How had they-? But the two boys were grinning and Rick raised a hand of greeting, staring at a point just over Kim's shoulder. Turning, wondering just how many more surprises she could take in one night, Kim saw a woman with reddish brown hair standing just to the side of Taryn.

"Alice," Kim breathed in recognition. The Dream Master smiled quietly.

"So you're Kim, I take it?" she asked, holding out a hand. Kim took it, nodding, still confused.

"What are you doing here? I thought you left Springwood years ago."

"I did," Alice agreed. "Me, my father, and Jacob. I didn't want my son growing up in that town, not after what happened."

"So why are you here now?" Kim asked, still confused.

"Kristen contacted me," Alice explained, a sad smile on her face. "She told me what was going on, how Freddy still held all the souls of his victims trapped, how you were going around trying to free everyone, how you're protecting that girl."

"She asked you to help me," Kim guessed. Alice nodded.

"I couldn't say no. Many of those still here in this hell were my friends." She looked over Kim's shoulder at Dan and Rick, who were messing around in the street, wrestling and trying to put each other in headlocks, laughing all the while. Alice sighed. "My boyfriend, my brother. They were still here and I never knew."

"No one knew," Kim agreed quietly. "No one knew until I stumbled across Spencer all those months ago." She still remembered that like it was yesterday, struggling inside a video game to free the soul of the boy trapped inside. Her declaration after she succeeded to free all the souls Freddy still held captive. The war they had begun.

Alice turned her attention fully back to Kim. "I left because I knew it would happen again sooner or later. I got Jacob out of town early so he wouldn't grow up a Springwood child, wouldn't grow up vulnerable. I stopped letting myself think about it, I let go of my dreams, tried to be normal. And I succeeded for a while. Until Kristen showed up and explained what I had left behind." Alice's eyes glimmered with apology. "I didn't know I was leaving my fight for someone else to struggle with."

Kim gave her fellow Dream Master a wry grin. "You won your fight. You did what you thought you had to and no one can blame you for that. I certainly don't. I can't even say that I would have done differently because I'm not sure I would have. I certainly took Christine and hightailed it out of Springwood as fast as I could go."

"But you're still here, still fighting," Alice argued. Kim shrugged in response.

"So? You came back didn't you? That has to count for something."

Taryn groaned at that point, effectively ending the discussion. Kim sighed.

"I am really out of my depth with this one," she complained, running frustrated fingers through her hair. But before Alice could say anything Rick walked over and scooped Taryn up like a doll.

"All we have to do is leave this dream plane right? Then her spirit will be free?"

"Theoretically," Kim agreed. "I'm not completely sure how it works."

"Let's just get her out of here," Alice agreed. "The sooner the better."

Kim looked around warily at that point, as if she was expecting something to jump out at them. She waved a hand at the inquisitive looks the others shot her. "Just surprised Freddy hasn't shown up yet. He usually pops out of nowhere after I free someone."

"She's not free yet," Dan pointed out, then turned and began leading the way out of the alley.

III

Angie, meanwhile, was on Elmstreet humming some nameless tune as she walked once more to Freddy's house. She had been with Kim and Christine for just over two weeks and was starting to get restless, eager to be back in Springwood again. She'd leave in the morning, but for now she'd have to settle for Dreamworld.

So the Dreamworld Elmstreet that night saw Angie wearing a lab coat and skipping past the jump roping girls, making a mental note to bring spiked objects next time that she could throw at them, before walking brazenly into 1428, and then stopping dead in her tracks, her jaw dropping. The living room as she remembered it (from just a few nights ago, mind you) was gone. Or more accurately, changed beyond all recall. It now resembled the decrepit waiting room of a doctor's office, the stuffing torn out of the plush chairs, cold metal ones lining the walls, horror magazines scattered over the coffee tables, mildew growing liberally over the cracked tiles.

Okaaayyy, someone wanna tell me WTF! Angie thought fuzzily as she forced her legs to move and carry her through the room into the hall. That also resembled something out of a hospital from hell, tiles falling out, paint peeling and the general look of not being cleaned in well over a decade. The rest of the first floor was much the same, different kinds of rotten doctor's offices in various states of decay. There was everything from a dentist's office to a fully decked surgery room.

With quite a bit of trepidation Angie ascended the stairs to the second level. Here, finally, there was little to no resemblance to anything medical. It looked almost like the normal upstairs to Freddy's house. Well, if one could ever have called it normal to begin with anyway. The only real difference was the pictures on the walls; they now contained several portraits of screaming victims strapped down in the rooms she had seen downstairs.

Well, he IS rather morbid, Angie reasoned. Kinda why I love him in the first place. She looked through the rooms on this level; the bathroom hadn't changed (thankfully, she did NOT want to have to scrub mold and mildew from the shower thank you very much) the storage rooms now housed medical crates and boxes that bore the radiation and poison symbols on the sides. Angie chuckled when she saw those. The bedroom now contained a dilapidated hospital bed, though a king size one. Angie snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. How Freddy had found out about her new fetish already was beyond her, but he had certainly done a killer job, if not gone overboard, at fixing things up based around it.

Well this is above and beyond the call of duty where a boyfriend is concerned. Then again, when said boyfriend has dream powers, anything is possible. With a malicious chuckle Angie turned and trotted off to find said boyfriend with dream powers. He was in the house somewhere, she knew that, but she didn't know where, which was the problem. She carefully combed the top floor first, seeing as she was up there already, then went back downstairs and began carefully searching each room there, from the waiting room in the front to each and every doctor's room scattered throughout the rest of the level, to the kitchen (where the fridge, along with normal food, now contained several questionable containers with unknown contents that Angie rather figured were best kept unknown and a pitcher of what looked suspiciously like blood).

What is this, a game of hide and seek? Angie seethed a while later as no trace of the Dream Demon was revealed anywhere in the house. I hate games, where is that bastard? She grumbled, wondering if she should start looking through drawers and cabinets. Then a thought clicked into place and she banished the cabinet idea. She hadn't looked through the basement yet. The basement was what connected the house to the power plant but Angie had a funny feeling that Freddy was currently touching the basement up to match the rest of the house, considering he could dreamwalk the two of them to the power plant whenever he wanted. That, and the fact that there was no real need for him to return to the power plant anymore, not unless some random child forgot to take their nightly hypnocil, a scenario about as likely as Kim abandoning her quest to free all of Freddy's captured souls.

She opened the door and walked down into the basement, fumbling for the light switch, finding it, and then finding out it wouldn't work. She tried to use her limited dream powers to force it to work, but to no avail, the light remained stubbornly either off or broken. After glaring at it in vain for a few moments, Angie continued down the stairs until she felt her feet hit cement instead of wood. But before she could move away from the stairs a hand clamped over her mouth and another wrapped tightly around her waist, pinning her arms to her sides. Without thinking Angie bit the offending hand, which released her immediately and she leapt away while something cursed behind her. She whipped around to face her attacker, eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness, while knowing instinctively who it was.

"Goddamn it Freddy, you trying to give me a fing heart attack!" Angie raged at the Dream Demon who was currently nursing his bitten left hand. She couldn't tell in the darkness whether he was grinning or scowling at her, but then she heard him chuckle.

"Maybe," he spoke quietly, but Angie could hear the sadistic grin in his voice. "But it was certainly fun to watch you jump into the air like a terrified rabbit."

Anige felt around behind her for some random basement junk, which she morphed into something random and heavy and threw it at Freddy's head. She heard him grunt when it connected and mutter something incoherent under his breath.

"Would you mind turning the lights on?" Angie snapped, getting rather sick of standing around in the darkness. Smirking, Freddy complied.

"As you wish."

Angie blinked several times as her eyes adjusted to the dim glow of the lights overhead, then nearly whistled in surprise. The basement had been converted into some kind of dungeon complete with prison cells and torture implements. About a thousand different scenarios raced through Angie's head at that moment and her face mirrored Freddy's sadistic grin.

"I take it you approve," drawled the Dream Demon behind her.

"Where'd you come up with all this?" Angie queried curiously as she began to wander around.

"You," Freddy responded. At her confused glare Freddy elaborated, holding up a book for her to see. "You left this here," he said, waving the book in her face. Angie recognized it as one of the serial murderer books she'd bought recently. "You dog-eared the stories about the cannibal and mad doctor. I thought we could have a little fun with some dream creations while you were here."

Freddy let out his breath in a startled 'oof' as Angie tackled him flat.

"Anyone ever tell you you're the absolute best?" she asked, face an inch from his.

"No, maybe you should," Freddy suggested as he tried and failed to sit up. Smirking at his plight, Angie refused to move, grinning sadistically as she remained seated on his chest.

"So does this place look like this in the real world now or is it limited to Dream World?"

Freddy smirked. "I guess you'll just have to come back and find out," he purred, looking very much like a cat that had figured out how to use a can opener.

Yeah he ain't telling, Angie groused to herself silently. But it might be fun to try and make him anyway.

Needless to say neither of them explored the basement for quite a while. But they did get around to it eventually, Angie gleefully imagining all the fun she could have with some random dreamworld created victims and, oh say, the drill? Then there was always the scalpel or the good old fashioned razor. Oh the possibilities….

Yeah, it was definitely time to head home.

III

The opening music to her Wicked cd roused Kim out of sleep at 9:00 the following morning. Groaning, she slammed her hand on the 'off' button and shoved her pillow over her head.

I really need to put a new cd in there. The opening music to No one Mourns the Wicked is no way to wake up in the morning. Stubbornly refusing to admit that she had to get out of bed yet, Kim stayed where she was, debating whether or not she should simply fall back to sleep again. Last night had been no cakewalk, even after the fight in the alley was over. Taryn, one of the strongest of Freddy's victims, had completely fallen apart during her after death captivity. Though considering half the girl's problem had been forced drug overdose several times a 'day' since her imprisonment Kim really didn't see how it could be possible to blame the girl for completely losing it. That didn't mean that she had to enjoy the time it took to renavigate her way out of the alley labyrinth, this time without the help of that strange black cat, helping carry Taryn most of the way, keeping on guard for any other street bums that had taken to popping out of nowhere every couple of minutes, and then finally stepping out once again onto Elmstreet and trying to revive Taryn. The street fighter had pretty much locked herself in her own mind, believing Kim, Alice, Dan, and Rick to be tricks either that her drug-hazed mind had produced or illusions that Freddy was creating to torture her. It took well over an hour to convince the girl that they were real before she would finally stop fighting Kim's efforts to clear her system of the drugs she had been forced to take. That had taken quite a bit more time to accomplish, simply from the sheer amount that Taryn had running through her system. And then after Taryn's spirit was finally able to accept that she wasn't trapped anymore and go free Kim had to talk with Alice.

Alice had agreed to help in the rescue of the lost souls still under Freddy's lock and key and now it was a matter of dividing up who was going after who. They had agreed to meet the following night so they could come up with a list, considering both were wiped out from the night's exertions at the time. So needless to say, Kim wasn't exactly feeling all that rested. Nevertheless, Samara leaped up on to the bed not two minutes later and began ruthlessly kneading her paws on Kim's back, letting her mistress know that she had spent quite enough time abed and that Samara wanted her breakfast now.

Groaning, Kim finally removed the pillow and staggered to her feet, the triumphant Samara sauntering out of the room as Kim began to make the bed and throw on a random tee shirt and jeans. She ducked into the bathroom to bandage up her arm where the knife had cut her the night before and to apply some medication to a few of the worst bruises. Finally looking at least semi presentable, Kim made her way down to the kitchen, fed the cats, and began making some breakfast for herself, Angie, and Christine. Christine herself wandered into the kitchen a few moments later, yawning, and proceeded to set the table. Kim noticed that she had taken to wearing socks, apparently Angie's mist machine was icing up the entire top floor.

I'm gonna have to talk to her about that, Kim thought to herself. Hurried footsteps on the stairs signaled the arrival of the girl in question. Kim looked up as Angie rushed into the kitchen like a whirlwind on caffeine, grabbed a poptart, chugged some apple juice and raced from the kitchen again. They heard her footsteps retreat upstairs, run around, and them come racing down again. She popped her head into the kitchen, bookbag on her back and wallet in hand.

"Morningheadingback,callyoulater,dropbyagainsoon,bye!" she said in a rush, words practically on top of one another so that it was all but impossible to understand what she had said and then she disappeared, the front door slammed, and they heard a car rev itself to life not seconds later and drive away.

Kim and Christine stood still for several minutes, minds trying to catch up to what their eyes had just seen.

"That was…" Christine was the first to break the silence. Kim looked down as two cold noses pressed against her hand and smirked.

"She'll be back soon, she was in such a rush she forgot Melchaiah."

So I've finally updated. Waits for barrage of rotten food I'll go start working on the next chapter now…
Freddy: evil chuckle And I'll go bother Erik.

Erik: do and die waves lasso threateningly

Angie: He didn't mean you, he meant Kim's new boyfriend.

Kim: humming happily

Freddy: I'm gonna go scare him senseless, he apparently hates anything and everything to do with horror.

Kim: throws a cement brick at Freddy

Freddy: has been around Kim a long time, avoids brick

Erik2: walks in, is pegged by brick XX
Kim: O.O
Freddy: laughing hysterically
Angie: …ummm
Erik: -- why do I put up with you all?
Kim: So, uh, read, review, you all know the drill by now. Uh, I didn't kill him? Did I? Oops?….