Dream On Dreamer

Welcome to the Jungle (Guns 'n' Roses)

Maggie wasn’t really aware she was holding her breath as Lori stared at Freddy, who stared right back. It was a little disconcerting; the silence, she meant. Lori nibbled on her lip as she visually examined the man in front of her, taking into consideration what she thought and what her mother told her. Finally, she spoke.

“You’re my grandpa?” she asked. Freddy nodded. “…But you’re not old!”

The breath Maggie was holding was let loose in what sounded like something between a sigh and a laugh. Freddy blinked and shifted his eyes toward Angelia.

“…Yeah…” he said, scratching the back of his head. “…This…isn’t what I NORMALLY look like, Lori.”

“What DO you ‘normally’ look like?” Lori asked, intrigued. Freddy looked at Maggie.

“…Maybe another time, baby,” he said. He stood up and walked over to Lori, who drew back ever-so-slightly. Freddy kept an arm’s length distance from her and knelt down on the ground to take a look at her. “…This is the first time I’ve ever clearly seen you,” he said pensively. “…You’ve always been a bright shadow, all the other times…”

“…I’ve only FELT you,” Lori replied. “I’ve never SEEN you.” She hugged her doll tighter. “…Why is that?” Freddy gave her a smile.

“Because you’re so far away,” he replied. “I have a very limited jurisdiction, and it’s only because of what we talked about that I can even SENSE you.” He reached over and smoothed out her blonde hair, and Lori grew less tense. “…But no matter how far away you are, you know that I’ll always protect you, right?”

Lori nibbled her lip again and nodded. “…Even if I am a kid?”

Freddy tensed up a little. “…What?” he asked. Lori turned to her mother, who REALLY had the sudden urge to say something like ‘oh, would you look at the time, we have to go’.

“…Mom…told me about you,” she said shyly, like she was afraid to incur his wrath. “About your…” She searched for a proper word. “…Job.”

Was it her imagination, or did her grandfather’s eyes just flash red?

“…Ah,” Freddy said, his voice strangely even. He sighed and petted the top of her head. “…Yes, Lori,” he said with finality. “I’ll protect you. You’re my grandbaby. I’d NEVER hurt you, understand?”

Lori nodded, still only 90% convinced of his words.

“Right.” Freddy stood up, facing Maggie. “The two of you coming into my realm at such a...” He checked his watch. “…Strange hour is a surprise. Is something wrong?”

“You might say that.” Maggie hugged Lori from behind. “…You might have noticed that something is stalking Lori. I think that it’s—“

“Another dream demon,” Angelia finished, pushing off from the wall she was leaning against. “We thought as much. Freddy’s unique situation isn’t as exclusive as most think. After all, there’s never just ONE uber-violent, black-souled person at a time in the world. I’m sure I can get some answers from the Bosses.”

Freddy, who was looking a bit peeved at Angelia’s description of his person in front of Lori, scowled. “What do you mean?” he asked. Angelia rolled her eyes.

“YOU may not have a casual relationship with Leader, Deep, and Raspy,” she said, examining her blades, “but I DO.” She turned to Lori and held out her hand. “I think your mom and grandpa need to talk alone. I’ll fill you in. Come on.”

Lori stared at Angelia’s hand apprehensively, then took it. Maggie made a move to intervene, but Freddy put his hand on her shoulder. “She wont hurt her,” he reassured. Maggie sighed and watched Angelia lead Lori through a very out-of-place door and vanish. She sighed and sat down on the desk chair.

“Shit,” she swore, rubbing her sore temples with her fingers.

“Took the word right out of my mouth,” Freddy growled. Maggie looked up in time to see Freddy’s youthful appearance dissolve into his ‘Demon’ form. She shuddered, not really very fond of the form. Freddy crossed his arms, tapping his blade agitatedly. “I cant believe you!” he sudden shouted, making Maggie jump. “I try so FUCKING hard to bond with Lori, and you have to tell her about me!?”

“What did you expect me to do, FREDDY!?” Maggie shouted back. “I couldn’t explain things clearly unless I told her EVERYTHING!” Freddy bared his sharpened teeth at her.

“EVERY-thing?” he pressed. Maggie nodded.

“Everything,” she repeated. “Back to when you were still alive.”

Freddy let out a feral growl and slammed his fist into the metal wall, creating a dent in it. “WHY DON’T YOU JUST TELL HER THAT I’M A GODDAMN LIAR WHILE YOU’RE AT IT!?” he screamed. “If you weren’t my daughter, I’d KILL you!”

“Didn’t stop you LAST time!” Maggie shot back, crossing her own arms. “No, I didn’t make you out to be a saint, but I DID reassure her that you would NEVER hurt her. Don’t I get brownie points for THAT!?”

“Not even enough to buy a stick of fucking gum!” Freddy growled. He leaned his head against the wall. “Fan-FUCKING-tastic. My granddaughter knows I’m a murderer and is afraid of me, another Demon is after her in her dreams, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. Great. Fuckin’ aye.”

Maggie sighed and sat back down at the desk as he ranted to himself. Great, she thought. Now he’s putting her on the guilt train. Freddy finally calmed down enough to sit down on his bed and stare angrily at the floor. “…Did she describe what the Demon looked like?” he finally asked. Maggie nodded, happy to be back on task.

“She said it looked like a vampire,” she said. “White skin, black eyes, and four fangs; two on the upper jaw, two on the lower. That was all she could say.” Freddy tapped his knives against his head.

“…Doesn’t ring a bell,” he muttered to himself. “I’ve met two other Dream Demons while I was in Hell…but they were from other countries. This one has to be a newer one like me…less than 75 years…” He growled to himself. “…Your best bet would be getting out of that jurisdiction.”

“It’s not like I can go just ANYWHERE!” Maggie shot back. “After my track record, I’m stuck in Iowa—THREE states away!”

“I took geography, I know the States,” Freddy growled.

“Don’t be an asshole.”

“Don’t be a smartass!”

“Don’t be an ASS in general!”

Freddy resisted the urge to kill her. Again. Instead, he thought for a moment more, then lifted his head up. “…Just two weeks ago, I managed to kill a kid who forgot to take his Hypnocil in Weston Hills!” he said.

“Congratulations,” Maggie replied dryly. “Do you want a star sticker for EVERY kill?”

“Bitch,” Freddy muttered. “AS I WAS SAYING, while I was in his mind, I found some information—Weston Hills currently has an open slot for a new teen councilor. Perfect!”

Maggie blinked. “…You…want me to move back home?” she asked.

“No, I want you to commute ten hours twice a day,” Freddy shot back. “YES! Move back home, and she’ll be safe! There are plenty of houses for sale.”

“I cant afford a house!” Maggie replied. “I can barely pay the rent on the one I have NOW!” Freddy gave her a conniving grin.

“1428,” was all he said. Maggie stared at him.

“…No,” she said.

“It’s practically FREE!”

“No, no, no!”

“DO YOU WANT TO HELP LORI OR NOT!?”

“FINE!!!” Maggie shot up and threw a tool from his desk at his head. “I’LL MOVE!!! Loretta’s going to be traumatized by kids DYING every week, but FINE!”

Freddy rubbed his head where the tool had hit it and also stood up. “…I’ll cut back,” he said. “Angelia’s talking about cutting me back again after I tried to molest this little bi—.”

“I DON’T need to hear what goes on in your private life!” Maggie snapped. “Jesus FUCKING Christ…!”
__________________________________________________________________________________

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Lori asked Angelia as the older girl poured her some hot chocolate.

“You,” Angelia replied. “They don’t really get along…but they both care about you a lot.” She sat down across from Lori, who looked around.

“Where are we?” she asked. Angelia looked around, too.

“What used to be my house,” she said. “I assume it’s back on the market for sale, since I died about three years ago.”

“…How did you die?” Lori asked, her eyes downcast. Angelia smiled.

“I was killed,” she replied. “Halloween night, three years ago.” She lifted her chin and pulled the high neck of her shirt down to expose a deep scar across her throat. She lifted up the bottom of her shirt to show a similar but much bigger scar across her stomach. Lori blanched and Angelia set her shirt right. “…Your grandfather tried to save me, but he didn’t make it in time.”

Lori nodded sadly. “…I’m sorry,” she said. Angelia poured herself a cup of coffee, smiling.

“I’m…kinda not,” she replied. “I mean, yeah, HOW I died totally sucked, but I get to spend more time here with Freddy.” She leaned back, grinning as she sipped her coffee. “It’s a tough job, being his wrangler, but it’s SO worth it.”

“…Wrangler?”

Angelia smiled more broadly. “…Well, since your mom told you most everything about Freddy as of now,” she said, setting her cup down, “I might as well add on. Freddy had a bad habit of not knowing when to stop ‘doing his job’. So, the same Dream Demons who gave him his power gave me the power to control HIM—to make sure he doesn’t keep overdoing things, and to keep him from getting TOO powerful.”

Lori’s eyes were wide as Angelia told her a bit more to the story. Angelia sighed and tapped her blades against the table. “…Things have been pretty good these past two years,” she continued. “…Aside from the occasional fight, that is…Freddy does NOT like to be told what to do.”

“…Mom said he has a ‘temper’ problem,” Lori put in. Angelia snorted.

“Oh…you have NO idea, kid,” she replied. “Just wait until you see him REALLY angry. I’m sure that if he ever runs into that other Demon that’s been following you, you’ll see just how scary your grandfather can get when he’s protecting people he cares about.”

Lori nodded, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. “…This tastes real,” she remarked. Angelia smiled.

“Because it IS,” she said. “In this dimension, real and dream are basically the same thing, unless you have immunity.” She took another sip of her coffee. “…Unfortunately, even though he wants to, you cant have immunity in the dream world.”

“Why?” Lori asked.

“Because you’re of his blood,” Angelia replied, locking eyes with Lori. “He can do many things, because you share the same blood. That’s how he found you.”

“Don’t tell Mom!” Lori cried. “I promised Grandpa I wouldn’t tell!”

“Don’t worry, I wont,” Angelia replied. “But you understand, that since you share his blood, you’re cursed with no cheat code to his world. Bitchy set, no?”

“Right…” Lori scowled into her hot chocolate. “…I hate this.”

“Hate what?”

“THIS!” Lori held up her hand, which had a cut in it. “Someone’s trying to KILL me, and they’re not even…well…REAL, real!”

Angelia reached over to hold her hand, and ran a finger over the cut, making it close up. “…I know,” she said. “But that’s why you and your mom are here, right? To fix it?” Lori nodded and sighed, folding her arms over the table and putting her head on them.

“…I don’t know why I’m acting like such a baby over this,” she muttered. “For God’s sakes, I’m TWELVE! But I cant help it when I act like such a little kid!”

“Welcome to my world,” Angelia said, sipping coffee. “It’s how your grandfather found me in the first place—I was twenty-one, and he mistook me for a kid.” She grinned. “Happiest mistake of his life, if I do so say myself.”

“Why’s that?” Lori asked.

“….Um, let’s not get into that until you’re older,” Angelia replied, her cheeks turning pink as she sipped her coffee.

“…Do you and my grandpa have sex?”

Angelia spit the coffee all over the table.