Title: Vermilion
Chapter 2: Past Fatalities so Fragile, Yet so Devious
Author: Kora
E-mail: or
Rating: R
Genre: Supernatural/Horror/Action-Adventure/Dark stuff and yeah�some romance-like-things�
Disclaimer: The following a character belong to Wes Craven and I am simply using the characters for my own twisted enjoyment.
Author's Notes:
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It had been, for the most part, a normal day on the Dreamscape.
Or at least, as normal as you could expect from such a place.
Freddy Krueger had had a pretty mediocre time of things. He had scared about at least a dozen kids that day, noting that he would have to go back and actually kill them later. Every now and then it was fun to just scare them, then go back and wrap it all up. After all, what was the fun in just killing them out right each time? No, some he scared and came back for, while others, well, yeah, they just had to die that first time.
He had just finished killing some girl named Melanie. He had thought it rather funny that her name was Melanie and when he was slicing her open it was as easy as slicing a melon.
He knew there was some kind of witty joke in there he could have made to her but before he could think of it, his claws were sticking out through her spine and she was a bit too dead to listen. So he had just played with her corpse for a while, chopping and dicing and having a pretty good time when suddenly he'd felt�odd.
Freddy had paused in the process of removing her arm from her shoulder, cocking his head to one side and frowning. The air seemed strange in the dreamscape all of the sudden. As if charged and he thought he could hear some strange whispering�as if on the wind�
But considering he controlled everything in the Dreamscape, this seemed impossible and he had decided to ignore it. He finally worked Melaine's arm free from her body and played with her hand a bit, forming her fingers into a fist save for her middle finger, which stood straight up.
He proceeded to stick said middle finger up her nose and was laughing at this image when he suddenly caved inward, clutching his stomach. His frown turned into a scowl. What the hell had that been? Then he felt another tug and grunted in pain. It felt almost as if an invisible fishing string had formed behind his bell button and was tugging him.
The string inside him jerked again and he cried out, startled as everything around him seemed to rotate wildly. The next thing he knew he was free falling and he felt terribly cold and then his entire body rammed into something hard and unforgiving.
Freddy wasn't sure how long he had been out, laying on the ground but as he came to he realized bushes surrounded him. Twigs and leaves poking at him, dirt beneath the palms of his hands and he thought he heard voices�
Come along, ladies. Think we've done enough for one night!
Tim, where are we going to go?
Tim?
How about Tara's?
Tara?
Sound good t' me�Ma's not�les' jus' go�
And then the sound of scrabbling feet on pavement. Boots, sneakers�his head was killing him.
He waited a breath or two, his gaze upwards and he noted that the sky looked a little bit more than just strange.
A portal rested high above, swirling with colors and lightning. He looked at that sight, not sure what to make of it before sitting up and pressing a hand to his head. He found his fedora had flown off to one side and he quickly snatched it up, depositing it on his burned, bald scalp.
He blinked a few times and looked around, trying to steady himself. The Nightmare Man was dazed and confused. Where was he? Wherever it was, it was fucking cold.
Cold?
Freddy drew in the night air and saw the pavement, the church in the distance, the tall stone fence he rested next to. The weather became even more stark and he knew he had no control over it�
The Real World? Fuck! Not again! He groaned and flopped back into the bushes, exhausted and pissed. What kid did it this time? He hadn't zoomed in on any kid in particular lately.
Maybe it was those kids�Tim, Tara and the other one. She hadn't said her name. But out of them, Tim sounded the most familiar. Hadn't he dealt with a Tim recently? Cute, poster boy kid? Looked like he could play 'Oliver'? Curly hair and clean features�
Oh and yes, the newest resident to make the mistake of living in 1428 Elm. Freddy remembered now. It was always pleasant to get fresh blood on Elm Street, especially in that house, but this time it had been particularly sweet. It wasn't often he got a boy.
True, he much preferred girls. They were more fun to scare and their screams were so high and shrill. So good. He always had a thing for the whores in that house but a change of pace had been�refreshing.
And there was something annoyingly familiar about that Tim kid in particular. He couldn't quite place his razortipped finger on it, but something�
He got to his feet and brushed himself off. Well, if Tim and his friends had done it, they certainly hadn't stayed around to admire their handiwork. Or to attempt and kill him or kick his ass or whatever.
They were long since gone and this gave Freddy a chance to look around his old digs. It was kind of strange to be alone and in the real world. To actually have a chance to relax in it. And in his beloved Springwood no less.
He immediately recognized the old Presbyterian Church. He hadn't attended, naturally, but he sure as hell had snatched some kids from here. Mostly on Sundays after Bible School. He remembered them singing 'Yes, Jesus Loves Me' with a bit of a chuckle.
Yes, Jesus loved them and Freddy did too. Especially when he got to test a new glove out on one of them. Ah, what it had been like then. Alive and unsuspected. Creeping among Springwood's normal citizens and snatching up their kids to kill, no one the wiser. Not even Loretta nor Katherine had known then and he'd been happy as hell. A loving father and husband by day, a razor-glove-inventing, child killer at night. It had been perfect.
Too perfect. Hence why it had had to end.
He scowled and rubbed at his arms. Even his damn sweater couldn't keep him warm in this weather. Why the hell had he been brought back here? If not to get killed by some kids or by Jason then what? It wasn't that he didn't mind not getting beat on (especially by that Goliath, most-stupid-mistake-he'd-ever-made-Jason) but it was frustrating being here, with old memories and with nothing to do.
He wanted to go back to his Dreamscape, back to his domain. His home. But he couldn't even begin to fathom how to do that. Shit, he didn't even know how the brats had brought him out without first entering the Dreamscape and physically dragging him out. What had they done? Why had they done it? Why was he here?!
The frustration in him was easily boiling over into anger and Freddy really wanted to kill someone when suddenly he heard some muted groans. He raised a brow and slowly turned in the direction of the sound.
His eyes widened and he stepped back, mouth-dropping open to show rotted teeth as he looked at the sight before him. A large swarm of dead bodies were hunched in front of the entrance gate of the graveyard. Their arms stretched out, grabbing wildly at the air and they struggled against the metal bars.
Zombies? In Springwood? What the fuck had those brats been doing?!
Freddy then recognized certain dead faces in the crowd. One of them was a pudgy teenage girl with pigtails. What had her name been? Jospehina? And there, in the back, a tall muscular boy who he could swear was named Samuel�god, hadn�t he killed that kid only like, what? Three weeks ago?
And that's when he realized that these Zombies were all kids he had killed. He stepped back, not quite sure what to do. He had wanted to kill someone but�he had all ready killed these people.
His mouth closed, forming into a tight line. Those kids had done something. They were responsible. They had brought him here and they would just have to send him back. Or they would have to die. Preferably both. He still knew his way around. He would find them.
Of course, matters weren't helped by the fact that he looked much worse off than any living burn victim. Then again, it was nighttime. Most people were probably asleep. No one would notice�
He looked at the portal in the sky, then at the Zombies, and shook his head as he began to walk away. Yeah, no one would notice. For once, Springwood had bigger problems.