Fyora slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the sky overhead. There was an endless sheet of dark clouds that spanned across the sky. She pushed herself up off the ground and shook her head. "Ow," she said as she put her palm up to her forehead. "What a night..." She looked up and saw that she was sitting on a huge boulder in the middle of a deserted plain. Long, dark green grass flowed like waves in the gusty wind. Her hair blew into her face as she stood up from her resting point on the rock to survey her surroundings. All she could see, as far as the eyes can see, was the field and the clouds... nothing else.

She felt a chill on her legs and looked down at an ensemble she didn't even remember owning. She was dressing in a long, flowing black dress with a wide satin sash wrapped around her waist. Her sleeves were long and puffy, and the rest of the dress was very loosely fitted. Ignoring what she was wearing, she looked out again, but nothing had changed. She and the rock were the only things for miles.

Fyora put her hands on her hips. "Where am I?" she asked aloud. "Wait a minute," she pondered. "Aren't I dead? I'm pretty sure I am... but what is this place? It's neither comforting nor alarming, so I can't tell whether this is the kingdom above... or the other place."

"Well, dear, you're certainly not in heaven," came a voice. It was rather odd though, for she could not tell which direction she was coming from. It was simply a voice, distinguishable as neither a man's nor a woman's, neither soft nor loud, neither near nor far away. "Where do you believe you deserve to be?" it asked.

Fyora thought for a moment before coming up with her heart's true answer. "I have committed many sins in the years I was living. I deserve to spend an eternity in hell."

"You're the first one in a thousand years to admit it," the voice said. "You're an honest soul, I'll give you that."

"Who are you?" Fyora questioned. "And where am I?"

"Why? Don't you know yet? I'll give you a hint..."

Suddenly, the earth beneath Fyora began to tremble. She fell on her hands and knees as not to be knocked over. The shaking grew even more violent as a gigantic fault cracked it's way across the field. The once grassy plain disappeared beneath a sea of boiling red lava. She gasped held on as best she could to the rock as the molten rock began to swallow the boulder she stood upon. "Stop!" she cried. At once, the lava calmed and evaporated and her small refuge was not claimed after all.

Fyora's breath became faster, "Sweet Jesus," she said softly. "Am I in Hell?"

"Try purgatory," the voice sounded once again.

"Purgatory?" Fyora echoed. "Do you mean I'm not dead?"

"Well, not exactly," the voice explained. "Allow me to introduce myself..." There was another sudden gust of wind and a man appeared before her. He stood nearly a foot taller than her in an AC~DC t-shirt and faded blue jeans. He took Fyora's hand and helped her to her feet. She was just looking at him with an confused look on her face. "I am the Devil," he stated.

"The Devil?" Fyora sounded, as she didn't believe him. "Sure, whatever you say... If you're the Devil, then where are your horns? What about your goat legs? Why don't you have a tail?"

"Don't always believe what you see. I'm actually the embodiment of evil, your depiction of what I could look like. I've chosen the form of the guy you had a crush on in he 7th grade... Speaking of which, have you ever seen the movie 'Bedazzled?'" he asked.

Fyora immediately shut up. "Oh yeah, I forgot," she said sheepishly. "You can come in any form. Never mind then... can I call you Lucifer? I've always liked that name."

"Call me whatever you want, I'm not here for small talk," he said seriously. "I'm here to settle a bit of business."

"Business?" she asked reluctantly. "What kind of business?"

"You already know," he said and moved closer into her terrified face. "Okay," he said slowly. "Here's the deal. Technically, you're not completely dead, very close, but not there just yet. You're heart stopped for a while but that's it. Now, I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say you belong in hell, correct?"

"Sure, why not," Fyora said as she swung her arms from side to side. "After all that's happened, I'm willing to believe anything."

"You're not being honest," he said. "There are some that think you should be damned. Others think you have a pure enough heart to get to heaven. It's not really my choice or anybody else's... it's yours. You have the power to walk into the darkness or the light."

"I've heard this a million times," Fyora replied.

"Well then, you know all about it," he paused for a minute or so. "But tell me something, what's the most important thing on earth to you? Was there anything or anyone worth living for back there?"

Fyora looked down. "Lori, she is my best friend... my only real friend. It was through her that I met all of the wonderful people I know today. She was the only one who didn't treat me like a freak. After my previous experiences, it was quite a comfort."

"You know how you died, of course," he mentioned.

"Naturally, how could I forget? It was that fucking Krueger... god damned bastard killed me in my sleep. I thought he'd have no use for me, I thought he'd leave me alone. But that didn't exactly turn out the way I planned."

"Most things don't," he stated. "Especially when Krueger's thrown into the mix. I suspect right now that he's moved onto bigger things. Even as we speak he's probably after that Lori girl you were telling me about."

A sudden look of shock and terror spread across Fyora's face. "No," she said in a whisper. "Not Lori!"

"Most likely," he said coolly, trying to make her freak out.

She felt a sudden pain come into her heart before breaking out into tears and falling to her knees on the boulder. "She's my best friend, he can't do anything to her! I promised her everything would be fine, but I've failed her... I won't let him hurt her! I—" She stifled back her sadness for a split second before looking up at Lucifer. "You..." she said hopefully. "You can help me, right? I mean, you're the ruler of all hell, there must be something you can do!"

"Oh yes, you're right!" he said, raising a finger to his chin. "Come to think of it, there may just be something I can do to save you're friend and spare your own life. After all, I am the Devil."

Fyora smiled, "That's right! Uh... um... tell me what to do, whatever it is that will restore me, I'll do it! I have to get back to my life and protect my friend from that monster." She kneeled at his feet and tugged at his shirt. "Please, I'll do anything!"

"Anything?" he echoed her voice. Unknown to Fyora, Lucifer was ecstatic. His plan to steal her soul was going better than planned. Now that she had resorted to doing anything, it was all too easy for him. "Okay, I'll tell you what," once again he helped her up. "I will bring you back to life so that you can face him in one final showdown. I'm being generous today, so I'll also grant you the gift of immortality... for a short time. You'll have everything you need to fight Krueger plus an invulnerable advantage."

"Oh my god," Fyora said, amazed. "This is too good to be true! This is my second chance, one last time to redeem myself..." The smile from her face disappeared. "Wait a second... what's the catch?"

"Catch?" he laughed out loud. "My dear girl, there is no catch. Consider this opportunity a welcome home present from a good friend!" Fyora cheered and hopped up and down like a maniac before she was stopped by him again. "But..."

"But? What but?" she asked.

"There is one little, tiny favor that you could do for me. All I ask in return is that you pledge your soul to me for all of eternity."

"Uh..." Fyora was dumbfounded. "My soul? Isn't that kind of a big favor?"

"Oh, you don't need it," he said, putting his arm around her. "After all, it's coming here anyway... so why not get something in return? Besides, your soul hardly matters to you if you're immortal."

"I guess you have a point," she agreed with him. She stood in deep thought for a few more moments before snapping her fingers. "All right, I'll do it!"

"Excellent," Lucifer said, being quite pleased with himself. "Then there's nothing left to say. You know what you're supposed to do. But once Krueger is dead, your immortality is taken away and you end up back here. Do we have a deal?" he asked and outstretched his hand to make it official.

Fyora slowly moved her own hand forward and placed it in his. She gently shook it, signifying her pledge. "Deal," she replied.

"Perfect," he hissed as a snake of fire slithered out of his mouth. It slinked down his arm, making the entire area glow with an eerie orange light. Once it reached where their hands met, it drew it's slender head back, and struck forward. It sunk its fangs into Fyora's hand...

She clenched her eyes tight and screamed as a torrent of painful venom engulfed her body and ran through her veins. She felt her body burning and shrieked at the top of her lungs. When she ran out of breath, her screaming stopped and eventually, so did the pain. When she felt nothing more, she opened her eyes.

She was staring up at a long fluorescent light fixture embedded in the ceiling of a white room. As her eyes came into focus, she soon saw other figures standing around her. There were various men and women encircling her, all dressed in smocks and scrubs. One figure was more colorful and stood out from the rest. That was when she saw her again...

She saw Lori...

And it was the single most happy moment of her life.

...To be continued.