A/N:Reviews, commentaries and critics welcome. i don't own Steven universe or A nightmare on Elm Street.
I thank the Beta reader Ivy Rain for helpping out in this story.
after watching ANOES PART 4 this is the kind of sick stuff that freddy would have found funny.
After walking for 20 minutes, more or less, the group of Steven, Connie, Sadie and Amethyst reached Vidalia's house. It was Steven who rang the bell to let them know that they were there. After that they heard some quick steps and opening the door was a very tired looking Vidalia. It was obvious that she had gotten dressed as soon as she walked up in the very early hours of the disappearance of Onion. Her eyes were puffy and her hair looked a little disorderly. She was dressed in her usual denim overalls and in her left hand she was holding her shotgun pointed to the ground as she opened the door. Not even Amethyst had any humor left after seen in what kind of obvious distress her poor old friend was. Breaking the silence Vidalia was the first one to speak.
"Oh Steven, Connie, Amethyst…Sadie, it's good to see you." She said trying to smile.
"We came as soon as we heard." Amethyst was the first to react to her old friend's words. As soon he finished she went and hugged Vidalia.
The group soon followed Amethyst's lead and gave her a group hug. When the hug was finished, Vidalia invited them inside and while they walked and sat in the living room she said.
"Sadie, if you want you can go with Sour Cream. He is up with Buck and Jenny." Vidalia said as she sat on the purple couch with Amethyst by her side. Sadie looked at Connie and Steven and the three of them gave her a non-verbal agreement. It would better to leave the old friends to talk and go see how Sour Cream was; he was after all, the one who found what remained of his brother. As they walked up the stairs they saw the yellow tape in what Connie supposed was Onion's Room. As they neared Sour Cream's room they were a little startled by Jenny who was coming outside.
"Steven? And Sadie and Connie?" Asked Jenny, looking at them sounding surprisingly somber.
"Jenny, umm hello." Said Steven awkwardly after being clearly scared by Jenny. "We wanted to see Sour Cream." Began Steven.
"If it's appropriate." Said Sadie not knowing how to approach the conversation, a kidnapping was kind of a blind point.
"Sure, I was going out to ask for a pizza and something to drink, go ahead and go in Buck and Sour Cream are inside." She said signaling them to enter the room and after they entered she went on her way. Inside there they saw Sour Cream laying in his bed looking straight up, Buck was for his part sitting in a folding chair in a corner and as they entered Buck lifted his eyes and greeted them with a hand gesture, and Sour Cream sat on the bed to make room. Sadie sat at the foot of the bed with her legs dangling, Steven sat there as well, but cross-legged looking at Sour Cream. Connie sat beside Steven. Connie thought that Sour cream was skinny enough that he could just move to the corner and give her a little space.
"So, I guess that you already know?" She said sounding quiet and her voice a little tired.
"Yeah it was this morning." Steven began. "Sadie got the paper with the story and showed it to us when Connie and I returned from our morning routine."
"Morning routine?" Asked Buck, looking at the pair.
"Yeah after my dad died. Amethyst and Pearl are trying to get me into shape." Steven said and attempting a little humor he flexed his arms.
"So, you and Connie worked out this morning?" Buck asked smiling.
"Oh yes. We jogged and then Connie helped me with my weight training." He began.
"I wasn't that much help,Steven." Connie said a little shyly.
"Are you kidding? You helped me with my pushups and chin ups." He began.
"How did Connie help with those?" Asked Sadie curiously, remembering their workout attempt.
"She was in some harness on my back to give me some weight. Then with the chin ups she hugged me to have more weight there too." He said looking at Connie. "She also worked out."
"What did you do?" Sour Cream asked this time.
"Umm mostly body weight. My mother would never let me do weight training at my age." She as she finished, Jenny came back carrying a pitcher and some glasses.
"The pizza will be here in 15 or 20 minutes, but your mom sent you this, fresh lemonade." She said as she served lemonade to everyone. "Oh man, this whole weekend has been horrible." She went to sit on the ground but was stopped by Sour Cream who signaled her to climb on the bed and sit close to him.
"Yes, I was not pleased with this weekend at all!" Buck said.
"Neither were we, especially last night. It was just weird." Steven began to say.
"What do you mean?" Asked Jenny. Buck and Sour Cream leaned forward in interest.
After recounting the events of Connie's school, Sadie's Dream and Steven's dream they eventually told them of the encounter with the man known as Freddy Krueger. Everyone was left in shock. Oddly enough the first one to speak was Buck.
"So,you met him in a dream?" He asked the three of them. "First Steve, then Sadie and now Connie?"
"That is some creepy stuff." Jenny said as she took a sip of her lemonade.
"Not even half of it." Sadie then got out her three silver dollars. "Remember my dream? He paid me with these. Three uncirculated dollars. The only damage that they have is a small dent in the edge after they fell to the ground."
"Wow!" Said Sour Cream looking at the coins. "These are recently minted."
"Yeah. You didn't have these when I went to your house?
Asked Jenny
"No, as I told Garnet and Pearl, if I had these before I would already have sold them. I need the money. I meanthe show gigs pay enough for the rent but the extra money for these would be nice." Sadie answered flipping one. The crystal-clear sound it made echoed in the room.
"Still, this Krueger man, or thing, sounds so bizarre. A man that maybe is connected with this kid in Connie's school. And maybe Sadie and Steven." Jenny said, then they heard the doorbell. "Oh, the Pizza is here." All of them began to search for cash when Jenny interrupted them.
"Don't worry, this one is on me." She left to go answer the door. As she was leaving Connie asked where the bathroom was.
"There is a bathroom behind the door at the end of the corridor and a single toilet down under the stairs." Sour Cream told Connie.
Meanwhile, downstairs as soon as they had sat down on the couch Amethyst asked.
"So, do you know what happened?" Amethyst said sounding a little awkward, she simply was not used speaking about tragedies.
"As far as the cops know, it looks like… Onion struggled". She was trying hard to keep her composure. She kept thinking back to the blood and the organs. The cops had told her they'd need forensics which wasn't reassuring at all. "He simply disappeared. We can't find him anywhere. Not even in his private place in his room."
"Private place?" asked Amethyst confused.
"There is this room behind a poster." Vidalia explained. "Like some secret hiding place."
"Oh, I understand." Just then Jenny came down the stairs.
"Miss Yellow, can I borrow your phone." Jenny asked Vidalia. "I want to order a pizza for everyone upstairs."
"Sure. Hey what are you boys going to drink?" She asked standing up.
"Maybe I'll order soda with the pizza." Jenny said as she made her way to the kitchen where the phone was.
"Hey, wait up. I'll make you some lemonade." Vidalia said entering the kitchen behind Jenny. "Hey Amethyst, do you want something?" Vidalia asked to her friend who was sitting on the couch still thinking.
"A sandwich would be good." Amethyst answered back sighing and turning to look at a potted plant to her right. Why this weekend had been to shitty? A couple of moments later Vidalia and Jenny came out of the kitchen. Vidalia was carrying a pitcher in one hand while in the other she was holding a plate with 2 glasses and her sandwich. Jenny went up with other pitcher and some glassed in her hand. As she got her sandwich she turned and asked her Friend.
"Do you suspect someone or?" She began, but Vidalia immediately answered.
"NO! Sorry. I mean, nothing this serious has happened in this town as far as human problems." Vidalia said.
"What do you mean?" Amethyst said. Her sandwich still intact, in a rare time in her life, she was not compelled to eat.
"The only source of problems in this town are gem related." She began but then Amethyst interfered.
"Wow. Are we a problem?"Amethyst began.
"Not you, but your gem stuff kind of attracts some very messed up stuff." Vidalia began.
"Like what?" Amethyst said cold
"The red eye thing for example, the green arm thing and…" Vidalia said trying to say the stuff in a light manner, which seemed to be a mistake.
"Oh, I see. Weare the problem." Amethystsaid crossing her arms.
"You aren't a problem. I don't think of you as a problem." Vidalia said.
"But as the "thing" that attracts the problem here?" She said, now looking Vidalia in the eye. "Just say it. Be honest." She said now turning away and finally taking a bite to the sandwich. She then felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Amethyst. You are my friend. I have known you and the Crystal Gems since before Steven was even born. I don't blame you for what you have to deal with." She said looking at her and smiling. It was that moment when she heard the door ring. "Oh, the pizza!" She said as they heard Jenny walking down the stairs to get the pizza
As Connie went to the bathroom Steven laid down on the bed. This is so comfortable. His feet were dangling on the right side of her head a couple of inches from Sadie. Without realizing it, he started to doze off.
Connie was washing her hands in the sink after she finished using the bathroom. Everything had been so weird, Eric's death, the dream-fight with the Zombies and this Freddy guy. Who was he? What did he want? As she finished washing, she reached over to close the lid on the toilet when she saw something weird. The water was red. She continued to stare. Maybe the pipes are dirty or clogged? She thought another flush might clean it up, but when she flushed the opposite happened. The toilet was filling itself with water. It was an even darker shade of red. How unusual.
What the… She grabbed the lid from the back of the toilet tank to check and was interrupted.
"Hey guys, the pizza is here." Jenny said as she walked over to them.
"Hey, Steven." Sadie said playfully giving him a light nudge. Poor guy only got to doze off for a minute. "Pizza is here."
"What? Oh great!" He said wishing that it wasn't square. As he shook himself awake he heard Sour Cream's phone. "What kind did they get? Did you ask?"
"Hmm." Sour Cream said as he picked up his phone and looked at the screen.
"Good old fashion pepperoni pizza." Jenny said as she gave everyone a cartoon plate.
"Is something wrong?" Sadie asked as she got her pizza slice.
"My phone doesn't recognize the number." He showed them the screen that read uknown.
"Let me see." Buck reached out to take the phone. Since he was the last to get his pizza he hadn't started eating yet. "There's a voicemail."
"Let's hear it." Said Jenny.
"Umm,Jenny. It might be private." Steven said.
"Don't worry. Maybe is just publicity or something." Sour Cream said as Jenny put the pizza box on the ground and got in the bed. Buck brought his chair closer to the bed and put the phone in the center to play the message as they began biting at their pizza. One by one they felt something was wrong. Sadie noticed a metallic taste in the sauce; it wasn't just a hint of it either. It was like it was impregnated with the taste. Sour Cream instantly recognized the taste, he just didn't want to believe it. His years of skating had taught him what it taste like. Jenny instantly associated it with the taste that she felt when she pulled out one of her milk teeth. Buck had a similar learning experience as Steven. One by one they began making faces. Some of disgust, some of shock; some of them of horror. They all started spitting their half-chewed food back onto their plates. That's when the message started playing.
"Welcome to Fred's pizza. The only place that is guaranteed Food for the Soul. The special of the day pepperoni with our secret Onion Sauce. Eat up and don't worry, we always have space for one more…slice, don't we?"
After the message finished every one sat there in stunned silence. Suddenly Jenny stood up fast and ran to the garbage can to puke. Sadie barely stopped herself from vomiting right there. Steven took a swig of his lemonade and swished it around like mouthwash. He spit back in his glass, feeling sick. The others followed his example and after every one was more or less calm they looked at the pizza box. Slowly as if in complete synchronization they walked towards it. As they stood there they looked at each other uneasy.
"Who is going to pick it up?" Sadie asked looking the pizza box like an unholy abomination.
"I will do it." Said Steven. He instantly wished that someone would have beaten him to it. As he knelt down he extended his arm, trying to delay the inevitable task of having to touch the box. He was moving very slowly when a drop fell on the box. Steven looked at the drop on the white box, it was red and shined a little then as it dried a little the color darkened. Slowly he looked at the cool kids and then to Sadie who looked at the drop confused. As they sat staring another one fell. Looking slowly up everybody, they saw a spot on the ceiling. It was building up for another drop.
Jenny was about to scream when someone beat her to it. They heard the sound of porcelain breaking. Everybody turned and ran towards the second-floor bathroom at the end of the corridor.
As they heard Jenny close the door, Vidalia turned to look at her friend when she saw something odd. The pot plant that was at the right of Amethyst was withering before her eyes. Amethyst looked at the shocked expression of her friend. She turned to see what had caused it and witnessed the same thing. The plant began to lose its green color and as it turned brown Amethyst knelt on the couch looking at the plant dying in front of them, then it began to smoke a little.
"What the F…" She began when suddenly the plant burst into flames. Thinking fast she drank the whole pitcher and transforming her mouth in a hose she showered the plant putting the fire off. Amethyst turned to Vidalia who was speechless. Then they heard a scream and porcelain breaking.
Sour Cream was the first one to the bathroom door and immediately tried to get it open but found that it was locked. He turned to Buck and nodded. They prepared themselves to ram it when the door suddenly opened and Connie, with tears in her eyes, jumped and ran to Steven and Sadie who hugged her. Amethyst and Vidalia came soon after. Amethyst with her whip in her hands as they turned towards Connie who had begun to babble barely coherent sentences.
"The water…red and…oh God." She began between sobs.
Vidalia looked at the bathroom and saw broken pieces of something on the floor. It was lid from the back of the toilet. Walking there with Amethyst she then looked further inside. She did not scream, she did not say anything. Everybody just saw how her body went limp and Amethyst caught her before she hit her head on the shower. Before they entered the bathroom, she strained to look inside the toilet. When she saw inside she felt genuine horror. She turned towards the teens and looked specifically at Connie and Steve. One look at Connie, who was a nervous wreck, she made her decision.
"Everybody out." She said as she carried Vidalia towards the door.
"What's there?" Said Sour Cream asked, walking towards the bathroom.
"None of your business." Amethyst said. We can't let them see it.
"Just let me in." He said walking towards the door. "This is my house."
"Yeah well you can't." Amethyst said as she leapt out of the bathroom with Vidalia. She placed her on the floor, took out her whip and closed the door. "Just call the cops!" She said looking at Sour Cream, daring him to get closer to the door. Everybody turned and looked at one another and after a little bit Sadie said.
"Sour Cream. Please, for Connie. We've had enough for today." Sadie said hugging Connie.
Sighing Sour Cream turned and signaled everyone to go downstairs. He stood there and before joining them he turned a final time towards Amethyst and bending down to carry her mother downstairs he asked.
"It's about my brother, eh purple?" He said giving a last glance that Amethyst did not return.
After a half hour the cops arrived at the house. Connie was calm now but she just stared to the front, her eyes unfocused. Steven felt lost. He had never dealt with a situation remotely similar, no matter how dangerous it was they always returned home remembering it as an adventure. This feels more like a nightmare.
All of them watched as one police officer came down with the pizza inside a clear plastic bag. Other one came down with something inside a darker one and he could hearclear sounds of officers working in Sour Cream's room. Sour Cream was talking with an officer explaining the pizza incident and giving them his cell phone where the voice message was still there.
Everybody shuddered when they heard it again, all except Connie who looked confused. This was her first time hearing it and now her face finally showed a different expression, realization. Steven also caught on. He turned to Sadie and he saw her face change from horror to shock. As the officers left the house and Vidalia came back to her senses and went with Amethyst to the garage,Steventook this moment to speak up.
"I know who called you." Steven said feeling fear but determined.
"We know who it was." Sadie added raising her glare.
"You know who was the one who killed Onion? My brother?" Sour Cream asked, barely containing his anger. "Then why did you not say something before?"
"We were too shocked by the "pizza", Cream." Sadie said. "Besides, I just remembered the voice after I heard it again."
"Girl, if you know who it is, just spill it!" Jenny interjected. "And Sour Cream cut her some slack, she is trying to help."
"It was Freddy." Connie said in a calm yet audible voice.
"What?" Said Jenny and Sour Cream at the same time.
"Freddy Krueger." Connie said looking up
"The man from your dreams?" Buck asked looking at the three: Sadie, Steven and Connie.
"It was the same voice." Steven said.
"Yes, it was him." Sadie corroborated. "We know what he sounds like and that was his voice.
"Let's say that is true." Sour Cream said. "What does that mean?"
"A dream…" -Buck began but was cut short by Jenny.
"This is not a dream!" She began but Connie stopped her.
"He is onto something." Connie said looking at Buck. "What were you going to say?"
"What if he works in dreams?" He said hunched over, hands close to his face.
"Like some sort of dream ghost or dream wizard?" Sadie asked.
"Yes." He said cryptic. "Your coins…they transcended the metaphysical realm into the real."
"Onion was asleep when he disappeared." Sour Cream said, rubbing his chin.
"I fell asleep in front of the TV." Sadie said.
"We were asleep when we helped Sadie and saw him together." Said Connie holding Steven's hand.
Jenny began to feel uncomfortable. Wasn't Gunga asleep when she…no it can't be. Jenny just hugged herself and turned. Sour Cream noticed this and hugged her.
"Even Eric was asleep when he died." Connie said slapping her forehead.
"If my memory isn't too screwy…this Freddy guy told you where he was from." Sour Cream said.
"Springwood." Sadie, Steven and Connie said together.
"Hey, isn't that the place where Garnet and Pearl went?" Jenny asked.
"Yes." Said the voice of Amethyst, at her side was Vidalia who was looking so old and tired.
"Tell me everything that you know." Vidalia said, looking at them
"MOM! How much did you hear?" Sour Cream asked surprised.
"Enough to believe you. Now, tell me what you know about this Krueger man." She said.
"We've just scratched the surface." Buck said.
"Yeah. After Garnet and Pearl come back we will know more." Steven said as the rest walked to the garage and came back with her shot gun.
"Then let's go to your house, I need answers." She said with no room for any objections.
"They said that maybe they would be back tomorrow. Maybe." Amethyst said but stopped after the death glare she received from Vidalia.
"Then I will wait the whole night if necessary." She said.
Sour Cream looked on while Steven stood and walked, soon follow by Sadie and Connie. Looking towards Buck he just silently walked with them. Without a word he took Jenny's hand and soon they were following them to Steven's house…to wait for the truth.