Hey guys! Holy crap! It's been a while! And before you ask, I'm alive. I made the ridiculous thought that this quarantine would in ways allow me a little extra time with my stories and stuff. Instead, the infamous disease that gave corona a run for the money, writer's block, hit me like an 18-wheeler truck! If you've been hit writer's block, you'll know how it felt. Definitely a lot of fun to deal with.

So what did I end up doing to try to fuel my inspiration, well, if you've stuck around in following me for a while or just simply stumbled across a few of my stories, the inspirations for my stories come from some of the oddest places. Such as, the inspiration for What It Means to Be Fearless came from a few episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine. Similar case happened here, the inspiration for later chapters in this story ended up fueling up from reading a plethora of Batman fanfictions, mostly relating to one particular Batman rogue who's similar to Freddy, Scarecrow. Funny that I mentioned that because if you didn't know, Robert Englund who was Freddy Krueger voiced Scarecrow in Injustice 2 game, pretty hella cool for him to voice two characters with fear in their MOs.

And I'm so sorry for not having the revised first chapter up yet. It isn't ready yet, but then again, I learn to never make promises on these things.

...

Donald straightened his posture as Doug quickly changed seats to sit next to Faith who scooted to her left to allow him enough room. He did it so that Donald could have a better look at Doug himself and Faith who were about to give Donald informative things concerning Freddy Krueger and the Hypnocil. After that, Donald gave the siblings his absolute undivided attention.

"Concerning the Hypnocil," began Faith. "It's got a bit of a history. Apparently in 1987, it was used as some kind of experimental drug to suppress dreams. Years later in 2005, some kids tried to get it from Westin Hills, where our mother works at now, even though the Hypnocil wasn't approved by the FDA. However, things get crazier from here."

Donald widened his eyes by a sliver in surprise, but he kept quiet, deciding not to say anything until he was sure that the two were finished talking about the Hypnocil. Truthfully, he was somewhat intrigued, but he had a feeling things would take a big turn.

"We looked further into the information," said Doug. "Apparently, as of this year, the FDA status of the Hypnocil has been pretty quiet. Some rumors went around concerning it on whether it isn't approved still but Westin Hills will still give it or it is approved with several conditions in place. I personally don't want to think of the alternatives if any of those possible cases aren't true."

Silence followed for about a moment before Donald reacted. He stiffened in his seat, tensed his muscles, then inhaled sharply, finding it difficult at first to process the information. Hearing this greatly worried him, actually, it terrified him. However, he tried his hardest to keep himself composed, though it baffled him that he reacted in such a way to what the Knights told him, and they weren't even lying. He hung his head down, still trying to process the information.

"Oh gosh," he muttered more so to himself than to the siblings, but he didn't know that the siblings did hear him.

— — — — —

After finishing up with helping her aunt Paige with a few things around the house, Mallory Payne had got on her bed and had been lying there for about fifteen minutes in deep thought. She still remembered hearing the panic in her best friend's voice in the phone call hours ago, the younger girl blaming herself for telling her about Freddy Krueger.

Mallory herself felt bad for Faith, but decided that with that information she already knew, she could try to help Faith. Or what Faith liked to put it, Mallory would be like her "Oracle" or something like that, Mallory chucked that on the many times her best friend played the Batman Arkham saga, the thought making her chuckle. She made sure she'd gladly take this honor once again, only it was a much greater threat than the many pretend scenarios that the two along with their siblings and Doug's best friend did.

The auburn-haired teen contemplated on either scanning the information she found on the 1428 Elm Street house and then sending it to the Knight siblings through email or simply taking pictures of the information on her phone then send them through a few text messages. She knew that she could've figured more of it herself, but with so little knowledge she had of this Freddy guy and the fact that thinking this critically wasn't her strongest point, that was why she left the rest of it for the Knight siblings.

There was one catch though. While her aunt was vaguely aware of the mysterious deaths and who was behind it, the rest of her family didn't know about it. Remembering how adamant Faith was in not letting the information spread about Freddy, Mallory didn't tell the rest of her family about it, especially her older sister Marianne. It was lot to ask from Faith, telling the seventeen-year old to keep her mouth shut of the situation, but Mallory made sure to keep that promise.

Before Mallory could get out of bed to sort out the paper she printed earlier that was currently sitting on her desk across from her, she couldn't hold back a yawn, realizing that she was quite tired. Knowing that she would only burn out her brain any further from sorting the papers, she stayed in bed, one thought came to mind.

Perhaps a nap will do? Hell yes, that way I can get this shit sorted out without drooping my head on the papers. I've done that shit too many times with homework. Hilarious.

Mallory quickly positioned herself that made her comfortable before closing her eyes, hoping for a pleasant nap.

However, after a few moments, she heard a crash, like glass shattering on the floor, possibly coming from the kitchen. She shot up awake, now concerned.

"Aunt Paige? Are you okay?" she called.

There was no reply.

"Aunt Paige?" called Mallory, louder than the first.

Once again, there was no reply.

"Dammit!" hissed Mallory under her breath, deciding that whatever happened, she should try to help.

She quickly got out of bed then headed for the door that would lead to the hallway. The one thing she hoped was that her aunt was okay, especially after she heard the sound of glass shattering from her room.

Without hesitation, she opened the door, but instead of it leading to the hall, it led to a large boiler room. She could see steam hissing out of some pipes and the area around her was red. It was unlike anything she'd seen before; it was almost strangely fascinating.

She decided it would be best to venture through, something to find a few clues that could be enough for her to pick up on and then bring them up to Faith. She looked down for a moment as she watched her bare feet taking steps out of the carpet and into the cold metal catwalk before her. Surprised, she looked up, wondering what other unexpected things she would come across on her journey.

— — — — —

"You would think pills like this would've already had a public status on its FDA approval in this day," said Donald, his chin on his fist in deep thought. "Unless if there's a legitimate reason to why they're keeping its approval status hidden from the public, I'm confused to why they would go to such lengths."

"Even I'm finding it hard to really think of any legitimate reason why they would do such a thing," said Doug, leaning back against his seat. "I highly doubt my mother would have any answers on that because she's new to Westin Hills, unless if she asks any of the staff there, but who knows if anyone else there would know? I'm afraid I don't."

He sighed deeply, finding it difficult to wrap his head around everything regarding the Hypnocil. While he knew that anyone having the nightmares would get it in the end, the big mystery of the pill's history that he and Faith discovered several hours ago was enough to catch his eye, and he wondered what this could all mean.

"Who knows if the FDA would ever plan to approve it at all, let alone approve it publicly," said Faith, shrugging.

"Good point," replied Doug, turning to the teen. "However, even with the questions we have about the Hypnocil's status concerning its approval, I'm not willing to cross any territory that isn't ours to cross. Plus, trying to look further into it would be risky, leaving an open window for Freddy to try to use our uncertainty or any of that against us just to make it easier for him to kill us. I refuse to let that happen."

His tone grew more serious than before, enough that neither Donald nor especially Faith could argue back. Faith though also noticed a good hint of agonizing despair in her brother's voice. Every time she heard that kind of worry in his voice, she knew that something was wrong, mostly something outside of the main topic, though still somehow connected with it. She didn't bother asking him what was wrong though, she felt it was unnecessary.

"Oh damn," she gasped at last. "That's pretty scary to think about, but you're not wrong."

"It's best if we focus on mostly Freddy," replied Doug. "If we get too carried away by the whole Hypnocil thing, Freddy won't hesitate to kill us."

The other two nodded in agreement.

"It would be too easy for him to distract us before killing us," added Doug. "I'm not willing to risk that for any of us."

Donald and Faith understood that, nodding again.

"So now what?" asked Donald.

"There's more stuff Faith and I found the other day, you might want to listen," said Doug.

Donald had his full attention to the siblings, wondering what else had to be said about the situation unfolding before him and anyone else he knew. Once he was sure he had his attention on the two, he gave them a nod, gesturing them to continue.

"Freddy told me something that was enough of a clue for Faith and I to try to piece it together," said Doug, slightly quieter this time, hoping that no one nearby heard him. "He basically said the internet is a blessing, which gave me the clue that the internet was part of Freddy's return."

"At this day and age, it's barely a surprise," replied Donald.

"On top of that," chirped up Faith. "When Doug and I were at CVS yesterday, we ran into Jake and Chloe. Jake pulled me aside then mentioned some stuff. He was told by some friends about Freddy who were also told about Freddy by Weston Heights. Jake himself said nothing about if Weston was told about Freddy, which led us to believe that maybe Freddy may have used Weston or something."

Donald widened his eyes in shock as he heard this new information.

"Have you guys concluded anything else or is that all?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Not me," answered Faith. "I've had my head wrapped up in Mandy's death in my Spanish class. It was pretty bad."

She paused then turned to see her brother who was leaning back against his seat, appearing to be in deep thought. After a moment, she turned back to Donald.

"Unless if he's got something," she continued, jabbing a finger in Doug's direction. "A bigger theory than what we mustered up earlier today."

At that moment, Doug looked up then turned to the two, now with a new theory in his mind. He remembered one detail from last night's research, something that he decided was partially overlooked, something that could further explain the clues. He shuddered when the conclusion he made came to light, but knew it was better to tell the truth.

"Guys," he said at last in a solemn tone. "While I think Freddy might confirm things himself, I just had a theory that may explain things."

Donald and Faith turned their attention to Doug, curious as to what he had to say. Faith especially picked up on the familiar grave tone in Doug's voice, the tone was hard to miss in the family.

"What is it?" wondered Faith.

Doug took a deep breath.

"I think there's more to the Freddy using Weston than just that," he said with a nervous edge to his tone. "From the research and trying to piece it up together even during school, I'm starting to think that Freddy may have gone to greater lengths, as in he may have likely been possessed by Freddy which may have played a part in everyone we met here knew about Freddy."

Donald, who had been taking a sip of his soda he and his acquaintances received earlier, nearly choked, but composed himself enough to muster a legitimate reaction. He widened his eyes in shock, not expecting these little theories lead to one big one, one that was sure to bring trouble.

"If your theory ends up being true," said Faith. "Our job of containing Freddy's influence has got our hands more than full."

"Agree," muttered Doug with a tremor in his voice. "We'll just have to really be on our toes if we're going to survive this and encourage anyone else affected to do the same."

Faith closed her eyes, now in deep thought herself. Obviously, her brother made a good point. She didn't hear a word from either young men, so she figured they were both in deep thought. She was now wondering what to say next to carry out the conversation to get further insight on the current dilemma she, her family, and friends were stuck in.

— — — — —

Mallory had no idea what she was in for. She looked around her, other than the pipes that surrounded her, nothing seemed too crazy. She vaguely remembered what her best friend told her, so she kept those points in mind. Her curiosity was at an all-time high, but she tried to tamper it down a bit, too much of what she called "Disney Princess-like wonder" in a situation like this did her little good.

Mallory journeyed down the catwalk when she suddenly heard faint heavy breathing that only grew louder the further down the catwalk she walked. However, she took no acknowledgment of the sound. Although she was sure that she wasn't alone here, she didn't dwell too much into that.

The auburn-haired teen suddenly saw a shadow of what appeared to be a tall figure passing by the pipes to her left. She stopped for a moment then squinted a bit to take a closer inspection, but before she could actually see the shadow, it disappeared from her sight.

"What the hell?" she muttered. "Who's here?"

The only answer she got was the hissing of the steam and low and dark laughter. The laughter startled her, now she was fully sure she wasn't alone. The laughter only got louder as she continued down the catwalk, she began to think that the pathway was never ending.

How big is this damn boiler room?

"Turn around."

Mallory's thoughts were interrupted when she heard a dark and menacing voice. She stopped in her tracks then turned around, curious over who was following her.

Her eyes widened with shock when she saw a tall figure standing a few feet away from her. What she could remember from her small research and Faith's descriptions, she kept these things at the front of her mind as she tried to take a closer inspection of the figure. With his burnt skin, the striped sweater, the hat, and the bladed glove, she mentally pieced everything together and at this rate, she was sure she wasn't safe.

"Shit, Freddy Krueger!" she gasped.

"Yes," replied the figure, his tone remained the same as he raised his bladed hand to her eye level. "Always nice to see some fresh meat, don't you think?"

Mallory shuddered in disgust.

"Hell to the no!" she snapped. "I heard about you. I don't know how the hell I ended up here, but I'll make sure to haul my ass out of here!"

She immediately backed away but much to her horror, Freddy slowly followed her. He stared at her like someone trying to interrogate her, the gleam of anger in his eyes were subtle, but still there.

"Oh, and before you say anything else," continued Mallory, deciding an alternate way to catch Freddy off guard. "Continue your version of torture porn all you like, but I'll make sure your Christmas sweater-wearing ass will be gone so that you can leave my friends alone!"

She gave a mischievous smile, hoping the insults did the trick. Based on the little knowledge she had of him, it was all she could come up with.

Freddy though narrowed his eyes in anger, shocked that someone looking so disposable would have the nerve to insult him like this. His past targets have insulted him, but not like this. As far as he was concerned, he refused to allow such foolishness to defeat him and instead, he rushed to the auburn-haired teen then grabbed her by the throat. The look of horror on her face while she struggled to breathe made him feel a little better, but he was still angry. Provoking Freddy Krueger was a death sentence.

"I suggest you watch your tongue!" he fumed, pointing a bladed finger to her face. "No one ever talks to me like that! Your friend may have been foolish in her mind to let you know about me, but you're even more foolish, insulting me worse than the other piggies I've come across this year. Unlike her and her brother who I've done a save-the-date for, you're as good as dead in a matter of minutes."

"Fuck...you!" gasped Mallory.

The dream demon cocked his head slightly then tightened his grip on the teen's neck.

"Fine," he sneered. "Have it your way, bitch."

Immediately after, he threw Mallory against the catwalk railing. He gave her little time to recover, kicking her in the gut. He was already having his fun with this fresh meat; he would make sure to savor it before he would permanently shut her up. Laughing, he raised his bladed hand high, pointing the ends towards the terrified girl as she tried to get away from him, but he kept sauntering towards her, delighted by her fear.

"I thought you...I thought you were a fucking fairytale...meant to scare teens!" gasped Mallory, still scooting away from Krueger even though he was only getting closer to her.

Freddy's eye twitched in anger as he snatched Mallory by the arm.

"Do fairytales do this?" he asked as he took a quick slash to her arm, causing her to gasp from the pain.

Mallory backed away, seeing her arm bleeding from where it had been cut. Horrified by the side of it, she covered her wound with her other arm.

"Son of a bitch!" she cried, looking up.

She was met with the most horrific smile she'd ever seen on Krueger's face. Not holding back her gasp of horror, she tried to back away from him, but he was faster. He cornered her, leaving her no room to escape.

The seventeen-year old realized that there was only one way out of it, and one that she did multiple times to her family, but never her friends. She remembered first learning about her ability to pull others into her dreams, she especially pulled her older sister in her dreams a lot. Pulling any of her family members already sounded like an idea that could save her life, but there was one problem. Outside of her aunt, no one else in her family knew about Freddy, and given how deadpan Faith and Doug were in supposedly trying to contain this menace. She had never tried to call out Faith, but now, it was now or she would be dead.

"FAITH!" she cried at the top of her lungs. "FAITH! FAITH! FAITH!"

— — — — —

"FAITH!"

Wait, what the hell was that?

Faith stopped dead in her tracks at the booth when she heard an unexpected call of her name.

"FAITH! FAITH! FAITH!"

The teen in question turned away from the young men to pay closer attention.

"FAITH!"

The voice sounded feminine, sounded so similar to the voice of her own best friend, but why would this voice call her name? The closest conclusion she came up with was that it might have been her best friend calling for her. However, the fifteen-year old was somewhat wary, wondering if this was a trap.

Deciding it was better safe than sorry by checking on who was calling for her but with suspicions high, the black-haired teen got under the table then sneaked her way out, careful not to accidentally hit Donald's and Doug's legs. She didn't want to cause suspicion among them as to why she went under the table as a way to leave. As far as she was concerned, she could make no assumptions.

She stood up after she finished squatting her way under the table. Quickly checking the table then seeing Donald and Doug seemingly deep in conversation, she smiled then turned away, scurrying her way out of the diner. While she wasn't sure if the young men she sat with heard these fearful cries, she didn't want to waste time asking.

She made it to the front of the diner then kicked the door open with her dirty sneakers, but instead of being met with the hot summer air and Springwood's other nearby places to the diner, she found herself in a new area, pipes and boilers everywhere around her, the sight of the area around her was red. She recalled this area before, now knowing that she was in danger.

"Goddammit! Are you kidding me?" she grumbled.

"FAITH! FAITH! FAITH!"

The teen in question knew she had no time to waste, though she still had high suspicions. If the one person she dreaded was here, she was certain she would have to be careful, though at the same time, the multitude of encounters she had meant she had at least some idea of what she was getting into, but that didn't mean she knew exactly what to expect.

Without a second thought, she scurried her way through the maze of the boiler room as the continued cries of what sounded like her best friend sounded in her ears.

— — — — —

"Faith!" called Mallory, trying to cower away.

"Foolish bitch!" snarled Freddy as he grabbed Mallory by the collar of her shirt then tossed her to the ground. "Your friend can't save you now. You're just another edition to my kill list and a reason why I'll make your friend suffer. She deserves this suffering."

"FUCK YOU!" screamed Mallory.

Freddy sighed then directed his attention to the scared teenager. He raised his finger knives, readying for the kill then he smiled a twisted smile. He said nothing at first, he had already grown irritated enough of the girl and was ready to end her blabbering mouth. He noticed her cowering, quivering state and he hoped she knew that she was about to die.

"Farewell, sweet child," he said softly.

The girl shut her eyes then without hesitation, Freddy took a swing, but right before he started the kill—

"Move the hell away from her, Krueger!"

Mallory opened her eyes, hearing a female voice in the distance. Freddy on the other hand rested his finger knives then turned to his right see that the person who came from the shadows was the familiar black-haired girl. His expression quickly changed to irritation.

"Oh it's you, dear Faith," he groaned.

Mallory turned, seeing it was her best friend standing there, just six feet away from the ugly man. While she'd been hoping to reunite with her, she didn't expect that this would be it. She watched attentively; Faith had taken a step closer to Freddy.

"You've done enough of hurting my friend," snapped Faith, her voice full of venom. "Back off, Freddy!"

"No! You back the fuck off, bitch!" sneered the dream demon. "You don't even stand a chance against me! I don't even know if you're trying to be brave or being foolish. Either way, you're not fooling me. I know you're afraid of me."

The fifteen-year old scoffed harshly, not entirely in the mood to fool around with Krueger. Ever since her last encounter, she overheard Mandy telling a fellow student about Freddy, she'd witnessed Mandy's death, and now she was dragged into this nightmare only to see that Freddy was about to kill her best friend. It was too much for her to take in one day, and the day wasn't even over yet.

Though in the back of her mind, she was strangely thankful for being pulled into this dream. Maybe it was because she had multiple encounters with Krueger so she had a fair knowledge of what she was getting herself into and being able to utilize it to distract Krueger and help her friend escape, or maybe it was that maybe she would have a golden opportunity to demand answers from Krueger and attempt to see if she was able to pull something out of her dream, specifically a piece of his clothing. She decided it was a mix of both, she was going to make sure Mallory got out of here safe and sound while Faith herself would confront Krueger. If she didn't get what she needed, she wouldn't hesitate to try tonight.

"That's cute," she said nonchalantly as she booted Freddy in the gut, hoping this would temporarily subdue him so that she could have enough time to help her friend out of the dream.

Freddy cried out in surprise, the impact had been harder than he'd expected from anyone, much less a girl who was either attempting to be brave or being foolish. He doubled over, unsurprisingly angry, wanting to immediately attack her but he needed a moment to recover before making a move. However, a sly smile came across his face when a thought came to his mind.

Oh, I'll give Faith credit. She doesn't look like the bitch you want to mess with, but fuck that. She's in my world, my rules!

Faith eyed the dream demon for a moment, pondering before she booted him in the same area, only harder this time for good measure, he fell back on the catwalk. She wasted no time heading to her frightened friend then kneeled beside her, helping her up. She could see that the older teen was also confused.

"What the fuck just happened?" asked Mallory. "That was the bastard that attacked you before?"

"Yes," answered Faith as she led Malloy to a nearby boiler that about a few feet away from where they were. "Did he hurt you?"

Mallory raised her injured and bloodied arm.

"Shit." Faith stopped by the large boiler that was inches away from her and Mallory, feeling its heat that felt even more uncomfortable than most summers in Ohio. "You need to get out of here and get that wound bandaged. Maybe once we see each other in person again and not like this, I'll tell you exactly what you're getting yourself into."

"How do I do that?" wondered the auburn-haired teen.

"Burn yourself against the boiler," replied Faith. "It should be enough to wake yourself up, though you'll definitely need ice afterward. After that, whatever you do, don't fall asleep."

"What about you?" asked Mallory.

Faith sighed, knowing if she tried to tag along with her friend in getting herself out of here, Krueger would get one of them. If he got Mallory, Faith wouldn't forgive herself for it in the same fashion that she still hadn't fully forgiven herself for telling her friend about Freddy. However, if Freddy did get Faith, the latter would at least know what she was getting herself into. However, the whole idea of attempting to escape at the same time as Mallory was a lose-lose situation.

"I'm going to distract Krueger," answered Faith. "Besides, I need answers from him anyway."

Without another word, she directed Mallory to the steaming boiler. Mallory herself was worried for her friend but by the sound of it, Faith knew what she was in for, so Mallory made no effort to argue back.

She watched the black-haired teen walk away before the auburn-haired teen placed her arm on the burning boiler, letting out a cry of pain.

Faith heard the pained sound for only a few seconds, then silence. She stopped then turned behind her, seeing the seventeen-year old was no longer where she was, it told her that she was safe.

Now time to deal with Krueger. This'll be a lot of fun.

The fifteen-year old turned back to her original direction, only to jump back in surprise when she saw the very man who had been haunting her dreams, now standing barely a foot away from her. Even though she felt her blood go cold and the growing rapid heartbeat against her chest, she stayed perfectly still, refusing to entertain the notion that Freddy would play with her terror.

"What the fuck was that?" spluttered Freddy, angry. "I could've had the bitch! Then again, this ain't the first time I've seen something like this happen. One of those times involved the death of one of the unfortunate piggies."

Faith, who hadn't dared to move a single step forward nor backward, stared at him as if he spoke in a language she never knew of. However, she tried to piece exactly how she got here in the first place before she chose to save her friend. The last she remembered, she was sitting in a booth at Crave Inn with her brother and her acquaintance in deep thought over Doug's last statement. The next thing she heard was a call of her name, and then she chose to investigate what happened only to instead of running out into the parking lot, had ended up back in the boiler room. Still though, she wanted clarification.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. "You know how I got here?"

Freddy shoved the teen against a nearby wall then slowly traced his blades across her exposed neck, careful not to slit her throat even if it was tempting. However, he was surprised that she didn't seem fazed by the impact nor did she flinch at him tracing his blades across her neck. He was confused and grew a little agitated that she seemed more content with putting on a brave face, why would she sugarcoat her fear? She wasn't supposed to do that, dammit! She couldn't fool him, he knew she was afraid of him, he just needed her to show she was afraid of him.

"Answer me, asshole! How the heck did I get here in the first place?"

He had almost forgotten her question, but immediately remembered it and then decided that if he was going to answer her, he was going to make it brief. He was slowly but surely making it clear that he didn't want to talk excessively in the way this girl wanted him to. All he wanted to do was to toy with her. He let go of her then began circling around her, but he kept a careful eye at her like a curious doctor examining his patient.

"The little piggy you call your friend called out your name," answered Freddy. "Then I could feel your presence, I knew you were here."

That was it. Faith suspected that he refused to say anything else on how she ended up here in the first place, which did frustrate her. She wasn't exactly as knowledgeable on psychology, specifically the dream aspects of it as her brother was but getting an explanation from him meant having to wake out of the dream. As far as she was concerned, she knew it wasn't as easy as simply getting away. She managed to subdue Freddy temporarily to help her friend escape, but now, it was just her. Freddy was faster than her, always found a way to block her way, he had his own set of rules in the dream world after all. Unless she was shaken out of her trance, she would have to subdue Freddy again to allow her enough time to escape, only this time, she was sure he would do whatever he could to keep her in the dream world, long enough to make her suffer.

Freddy made no hesitation to swing his arm at her, blades ready to take a swipe to her skin. She saw what was coming then managed to barely evade the move, ducking to avoid the near hit.

Freddy, who saw this maneuver, didn't hold back a chuckle. The little piggy before him amused greatly with how she was attempting to evade him. As far as he was concerned, he would make sure he would make difficult for her to evade him easily, especially since he knew today wasn't the day he chose to officially kill her, much to his own chagrin. He had to take on other methods to toy with her mind. However, he noted that with every encounter she had with him, she seemed to slowly but surely build her own ground and seemingly become bolder with her actions.

"Think you're so clever?" he taunted. "You can certainly try, but this isn't the video games you like to play. In this game, I'm the one who wins."

"Gee, I would've guessed," replied Faith sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

The dream demon snarled in indignation, though he already knew that she was playing an act. Even though he didn't like to admit it, he saw that she was smarter than most of his victims...apart from the select few. He didn't want to give her too much credit, knowing that she truly was afraid of him, he just needed her to let that fear out again.

"Don't get smart with me!" he fumed, raising his blades just above the teen's head level. "And stop hiding your fear! You're actually starting to piss me off when you do it. I want to devour your fear! That's how I remain in power!"

Faith nearly gagged in disgust.

"That's disgusting! Also, I'm sorry for refusing to entertain the notion of giving into you. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not interested in being toyed around by you."

Freddy chortled as he stroked a strand of Faith's hair, more than a little amused at her firmness. She shuttered at the sensation, causing him to laugh again, it was clear to both of them that he was enjoying any form of fear he could get out of her.

She gave a quick glance to the ground beneath her, suddenly an idea rang in her head, one that she had to be sneaky to snag a piece of the pant leg to test the theory that she and Doug came up with. She figured it would be a fifty-fifty chance on getting said pant leg, but she was willing to try. She just needed to wait for the right moment to act.

"Does it look like I give a shit?" snapped Freddy, the irritation growing in his tone.

He didn't wait for an answer, instead charging for the little piggy before him. She ducked down in a valiant attempt to dodge him, the sight of her success at her dodge was well much to his chagrin.

The teen dropped her knees to the ground then used one hand to grab the end of the dream demon's pant leg and the other to grab the hem of his sweater, all without him looking. Smirking to herself, she was ready to put the theory proposed to the test. If she succeeded, she would be more than pleased, especially given that she be that much closer to ending Krueger's reign of terror.

Freddy tried to walk away from Faith to give himself enough distance to try to subdue her, but instead, he could feel someone trying to pull his sweater and his pant leg. Fuming, he turned his head behind him to see exactly what he was feeling, the bitch was trying to out-maneuver him, something he refused to allow.

Without a sense of hesitation, he dragged her by the arm like she weighed nothing then tossed her against the pipes barely three feet away from him. He didn't hold back a sadistic smile as he watched her hard landing onto the catwalk after hitting the pipes, he was taking deep interest in her pain.

"Poor little Faith," he chortled. "Poor little- "

"Do me one favor by shutting the hell up!" snapped Faith as she slowly sat up, trying to shake off the pain she was hit with after the monster before her threw her against the pipes.

Freddy raised his finger-bladed hand in position to strike in anger as he sauntered towards her, but she managed to quickly scoot away from him.

Her eyes were wide with panic, but she quickly turned to look behind her for a nearby pipe, particularly one that was hot enough to wake her up. She hated that this was how it had she had to wake herself up, but if she didn't, she was sure that Freddy wouldn't hesitate going without adding another bloody corpse to his kill count earlier than his specific date.

A few seconds later, she stopped at one large boiler, noticing the steam hissing out of it. The sight of it made her smile, but if one could see her face, it was a strained smile, knowing the pain that would follow in escaping Freddy's hellish nightmare. Much to her horror, she saw that Freddy's "ready to strike" arm position remained the same, it was obvious to her that he was to be deliberate in torturing her.

"We'll see about that, bitch!" snarled Freddy.

Barely a second later, he swung his arm, intending to strike at the girl.

She was faster, placing her arm on the boiler, what followed was the burning sensation. She didn't scream, but she knew the burn that would appear would need ice. She hissed ridiculous euphemisms for curse words but the words themselves didn't hinder the tone in her voice, obviously etched with pain as she quickly disappeared from her spot.

The dream demon saw the teen disappear from the dream world too late when his exaggerated movement caused him to fall on the catwalk. He quickly got himself back up, his eyes darted at the spot where Faith was in anger.

"God dammit!" he roared, kicking the ground. "I had the bitch where I wanted her!"