Silent Hill fic 'Your Dark God' (3/3)
The finale! (I think...this fic has too much potential to leave as is)
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Pyramid Head's POV
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Well now, this was an interesting turn of events.
He didn't truly need the mirror in order to keep the doorway in sight, but it had warned him at the same time that he had heard Eddie's heartbeat. Taking a moment, he had breathed deep, savoring the familiar sickly sweet smell of sweat and metallic tang of the gun. The man was carrying a weapon on him, probably planning to use it.
So, he thought he could sneak up on him.
Eddie was being a brave little puppy. For selfish reasons, obviously.
'ARE YOU REMEMBERING THE BULLY'S WHO PICKED ON YOU, EDDIE?' He thought with perverse pleasure as he easily tracked Eddie's movements without turning his head. 'DOES SEEING ME SOMEHOW RECALL YOUR FEAR AND YOUR PAIN? YOU THINK YOU CAN USE ME AS A SCAPEGOAT FOR YOUR ANGER?'
'TRY ME.' He dared, soundlessly pulling a pair of dark blue pants out of one of the wood cubicles on the wall. Dismissing Eddie for the moment, he tried to figure out if they would fit James. It wasn't like he knew the man's size or anything. Stepping back mentally, he briefly shaped his hands in the air in front of him, recalling the width of James' hips and the heaviness of his thighs when under the weight of his palms. This pair would work. James would have to go without socks or underwear, or simply come down himself to get such materials. He was only bringing James new clothing because he had caused the sullied and disgusting state of his previous attire.
Hearing a hanger fall to the floor from behind and to the left, he smirked and muffled private laughter as he listened to Eddie trying to soundlessly approach him from behind. Like an elephant trying to hide behind a blade of grass. His hands twisted the material of the pants until the fabric curled tight and he moved inaudibly in Eddie's direction.
Time to play.
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Eddie's POV
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'Where the hell did he go?'
Eddie was sure that the man had been standing right there. The last time he had checked, the stranger had still had his back to him and was standing with a pair of jeans within his grasp. Eddie's palm was sweaty and the handgun slipped around in his grip, the chunky blonde man pulling it out from the waist of his shorts.
Where was he?
Eddie ducked behind another clothing rack. There was only a little bit of light that expanded into the store. The clothing racks rose above him, shielding his position but also masking wherever the stranger had gone. The room was eerily quiet, nothing stirring and everything around him still.
Something fell to the floor ahead of him, and he quickly leveled his gun in the direction of the sound, arms shaking as the sound came closer.
A small clear globe with little twists of quartz sprayed through the interior, some sort of display item, rolled past his line of vision. It thumped mindlessly into the wall, clinking softly from the dull contact.
Eddie rose a little further up from his crouch, tracing the direction where the globe had come from.
The clothing rack at his back shook violently and something fell past his face.
Eddie gagged as something tight wrapped around his neck several times. He was lifted up off the ground, legs and feet dangling above the floor and his gun fell as he scrabbled at the noose that was choking him. His fingernails dug into the jean fabric, wheezing and coughing as he was lifted until he was hanging in front and above the coat rack with his legs kicking uselessly through the air.
Something within his neck was bending and snapping.
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Laura's POV
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"Eddddiiieeee!!!" Laura yelled down the street, stomping her foot angrily on the pavement. "Hey fatso, where did you go?!" She demanded loudly.
'You dummy!' She thought angrily, 'I don't know what I was thinking when I came up with the idea that you could help me.' Eddie was a lot older than she was, but SHE was the one having to look out after him. It wasn't like he could take care of himself. All he knew how to do was stuff his face with cold pizza.
And now he had disappeared down another corner. Hunkering around for food like he hadn't just eaten an hour ago. He was probably lost!
On the other side of the street, Laura heard something crashing around within one of the stores that's front door was busted open. A blob of shadows rocked and smashed around wildly from within, Laura squinting as she peered through the dirty windows trying to make out the dark forms.
"Eddie? Is that you?" She called out, taking several steps in the store's direction. "You better not have broken that door, you dummy!"
More crashes from within, and Laura realized that Eddie might be in there stealing or something. Eddie was going to get them in a lot of trouble if someone saw him doing that! It had been bad enough already when they had broken into the Bowling Alley and he had spent the entire time choking down slice after slice of cold pizza.
"Eddie! Stop fooling around. You're going to get us in trouble!" Her warning was apparently ignored since Eddie did not immediately appear from the store. Something large crashed to the ground inside the store with a warning creak of shattering glass.
Rushing to the door and darting inside Laura was getting ready to yell at Eddie and give him a piece of her mind when she screeched to a halt. Her eyes widened impossibly huge as she took in what was happening in front of her.
She had been right. Eddie WAS in the store.
But so was that man from before, the one that had been dragging James.
He was standing on one side of a clothing rack and Eddie on the other. His massive form stood tall enough that he was easily reaching over the top of the clothing rack. The muscles in his long arms bulging and holding fast. Eddie wasn't standing, though. He was up in the air being strangled by the thick fabric within the man's hands, legs kicking and his tongue sticking out from between blue lips. Somehow, the stranger had reached long arms over the top of the rack reached down and lifted Eddie up by the neck, and was using the jeans as a makeshift noose. While strangling Eddie from behind, his arms didn't show a sign of trembling or fatigue from holding the man all the way up in the air.
"..Eddie?" Laura stuttered fearfully, body frozen in place by the sight of the heavy man suffocating. It was sickly entrancing to watch flesh bulging and nerves popping along the edges of the skin while flesh sported little dots of red and black and blue bruises darkened and rose to the surface.
The man's arms strained and pulled tight and Laura looked on and listened in incomprehension as Eddie's face suddenly bulged and his eyes bugged out of their sockets.
**SNAP**
Eddie's legs stopped kicking like a puppet's strings being cut his arms falling slowly from digging into the material gouging into his thick neck. One of the man's hands loosened and let go of one end of the noose and Eddie slipped free and crumbled onto the ground on his stomach. His face was mashed into the floor from the fall.
'His neck isn't supposed to bend like that…' Laura privately analyzed the angle of Eddie's neck with surprising calm, but her mouth shaped her distress and terror.
Eddie's killer circled partway around the farthest side of the clothing rack. With a large black boot, he nudged the body onto its back, giving it a small kick as if to make sure that the body was going to stay where it had fallen. The stranger stepped the rest of the way around the clothing rack and came to stand and face Laura. She felt remarkably small and helpless underneath the bright blue gaze.
"J-James?.." She stuttered, peering up in confusion and fear.
The stranger smiled at her question, tilting his head to the side hair slithering and snaking across his face to outline the sharp grin. The dark smile of a wolf.
It was a nightmare version of James. He bore the same facial features and hair color, but the body was wrong and so was the attire he wore. And James couldn't possibly lift someone as heavy as Eddie let alone strangle and snap his neck in mid-air.
Whoever the man was he suddenly darted forward, mimicking a striking beast even though he stopped well out of arm's length from the little girl with that cruel smile still painted across his lips.
Laura screamed shrilly, shielding her face and making a mad dash for the door. Thin legs ate up the distance as she ran, never looking back as she fled from the stranger that wore a familiar face.
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Pyramid Head's POV
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He hadn't even come remotely close to her, but the little girl had screamed like a frightened rabbit and fled in the face of his staged wrath.
A soft sound of amusement echoed through the store as he watched the small figure disappear down the street.
He looked down on the floor at the cooling body, and then at the rumpled jeans still held within one of his hands. The two other items had stayed on his shoulders throughout the struggle. Snapping the jeans in the air with a loud crack he examined it to make certain there was no damage, finding himself remotely surprised that the clothing had suffered little from being used as a makeshift weapon.
Hmmmm. One could do amazing things with their hands if they really wanted to.
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The warmth of the water that fell from the showerhead began to pull the aches and pains right out of his body. Heavy torrents of the flow had long ago washed away the grime and dried fluids, his hair darkened to a burnt gold shade from the wetness.
It had been a little difficult to remove his pants and underwear when the shower had soak them clear through, but he had managed to shuck them off with a wet sound of peeling fabric. His shoes and socks had been harder, but he had finally gotten them free and tossed them out of the range of the water and drains, and hopefully they would be completely dry pretty soon.
Pyramid Head had been gone for an easy half an hour, leaving James to soak and wash away the evidence of his time in the Wood Side Apartments and that hellish box down below the Hospital.
Two days. That had to have been how long he had been down there.
Felt like years.
While down there a small part of him had begun to shrivel and die, like a plant being torn away from the warm hand of the sun. His legs were having a difficult time of trying not to tremble and shake so badly even though the warm water was helping with sore muscles.
The soap had been a blessing. James had used it until only a crescent sliver remained after rubbing and scrubbing at every inch of his skin until it was pink from the constant treatment. He had used the last of it by creating thick patches of suds and using it to clean his hair. Dirty and rust brown water collected underneath him and slid down the drain.
The waterfall of warmth and cleanness had swiftly made him drowsy, the effort to clean himself surprisingly taxing and he felt so tired near the end of washing all the grime off of him. His eyelids drooped and shot open as he tried to stay awake, lacking in sleep after only managing brief restless naps while he had been imprisoned.
He raised his head at the familiar tread of boots, looking up in surprise as Pyramid Head came into the large space with three pieces of clothing draped over one of his shoulders.
Pyramid Head indicated with a hand for James to rise, but he hesitated his face flushed as he tried to cover his nakedness. "You…" He coughed, his voice still rough and making it difficult to speak. "…You need to look away."
The statement did not move the demon. If anything, he seemed confused by that request since his head tilted partially to the side as if questioning why James would point out the obviousness of his lack of dress.
'Well, he doesn't seem to get the concept of subtlety.' James noticed.
Trying to ignore the flare of heat across his face James rose slowly and carefully to his feet gripping the handles and turning them until the water flow ceased abruptly. Using his hands to shield his privates, he turned to face Pyramid Head.
He yelped as the clothing was thrown almost directly in his face, barely catching them before they fell. He huddled the mass of fabric against him.
"I get the hint." He mumbled under his breath.
Since there were no towels or anything around for him to use to dry off James tried to wring out his hair as best as he could, afterwards sliding on the pants, shirt and jacket. The dampness that remained on his skin caused it to goosebump, but the clothing was soft and just the right size even with him having to go commando underneath the pair of jeans.
His boots and socks were still somewhat damp but James didn't want to go anywhere without some sort of protection. He hadn't missed the shards of glass and other sharp implements scattered through various buildings and floors. Quickly he pulled socks and shoes on, expecting them to be on the move soon and not wanting to have to stumble after the demon while trying to finish dressing.
Pyramid Head awarded James' compliance by not snagging his arm and pulling him along, merely indicating with a jerk of his head for the man to follow him.
James stayed close, not wanting to raise the demon's questionable patience and ire. Moving slowly but staying within sight, he followed Pyramid Head down the stairs to the main floor, at least trusting the demon to lead him past the dangers that the Nurse Demons posed. He was thankful for the railing that ran along with the stairs, using the beams of metal as a crutch all the way down to the first floor while he tried to shake feeling into waking limbs.
Following Pyramid Head out onto the streets was far more difficult, the world outside almost unbearably bright and large after being confined to such a small and dark space. The few times he hesitated Pyramid Head turned slowly back around, just looking in his direction but James quickly moved sensing that he was testing restless waters. But Pyramid Head was determined for him to follow, like this quest was a confirmation to see if James was now more obedient to follow his wordless commands.
It was strange. Well, part of it was. As they walked, the Patient Demons not surprisingly lurched and drew away from Pyramid Head as he strode by, their twisting and stumbling forms almost bowing low to the taller demon as they ducked to avoid him. Not shocking at all for Pyramid Head to be revered and feared, all other beasts acknowledging his presence.
What surprised James was how they reacted to his presence.
Whenever James moved just a step too close by mistake to one of them, the creatures would nearly fall over themselves in their haste to get away. It was very unsettling. Before the demons had stopped at nearly nothing at trying to bring him down, and now they nearly ran away from him in fright. Was it because he was tailing Pyramid Head's shadow? Were they too afraid to attempt attacking the human and possibly drawing the stronger demon's wrath down upon them?
Pyramid Head's pace was casually slow but it allowed James to keep up well enough. Walking was giving his limbs time to stretch and sore muscles to work out any kinks.
Passing through the middle of a four way stop James almost missed the slim female shadow that was hiding partially behind the building's front archway.
"J-J-James? Is that you?"
James stopped in his tracks and wobbled before righting himself, body not quite ready to handle sudden movements. He turned in the direction of the familiar voice, recognizing the short brown hair and the scared face and timid form of the woman from the Cemetery.
"Angela?" James turned, taking a step towards her. "What are you doing here?" He asked. He tilted his head, trying to recall their conversation from the first encounter. It hadn't sounded like she wanted to be anywhere near the town, and yet here she was. "What are you doing in town? Did you find your Mother?" He tried to coax her to speak.
Angela's shoulders were twitching noticeably, staring at James like she had never seen him before. "You're not James. You're one of them." She murmured so low that James almost missed her words.
"What? Angela…" James tried to take another step towards her, but she automatically jumped, leaping back like she had been scalded.
"STAY AWAY!!" She shrieked, shaking her head wildly and pointing an accusing finger at the blond man. "You lied. You lied. Was it some sort of game you were playing, trying to pretend to be someone else?!" Angela demanded loudly.
"What are you talking about?" James shot back, confused as to what had caused the woman to begin acting so strangely. "Angela, it's me, James. I've always been James." He tried to sooth the distressed woman. "Nothing's changed since the last time we talked. You have to believe me."
"YOU LIAR!" Angela fired right back.
"Angela!" James' yelling didn't stop Angela from spinning away and sprinting like a fleeing deer. "Angela! Angela, wait!!" James shouted.
James yelled out it surprise as a strong manacle circled his upper arm and he was spun around, Pyramid Head nearly slamming James up against him. James automatically gripped the tight hand encircling his arm, trying to pull himself free. "I can't leave her! What if she gets hurt?" He demanded.
Pyramid Head tugged James towards him again, wordlessly ordering the man to follow him back down the street and away from the disappearing woman.
James planted his feet flat on the ground and locked his knees into place. He cursed the taller demon as he struggled wildly against the unforgiving grip. He couldn't just leave Angela alone! What if one of the other demons tried to attack her while she was running in a blind panic? He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if something happened to her because of him. "I'm not some toy for you to drag around, you asshole!"
To his advantage, James sensed the other's intentions before the other hand came towards him to try to grapple him closer. Nearly wrenching his shoulder out of its socket he twisted and spun around and somehow managed to yank his arm free. He almost fell flat on his face from being relieved so quickly from the anchoring weight but he was quickly on his feet and running.
The demons up and down the street as he ran after Angela literally dashed around the stalled cars along the sides of the streets and disappeared down the smaller alleys when James appeared from out of the fog. James could just make out the faintest outline of the woman up ahead. "Angela! Angela, wait!"
She was already tiring from the short run, darting down to her left to disappear around the corner of the connecting block.
'If we keep this up, both of us will be flopping on the ground in no time gasping like fish. I can barely breathe from running such a short distance already.' He slapped a hand on the corner of the building and used his momentum to shoot around and down the block after Angela.
He almost ran right into her back, the young woman standing still in front of an open store as if rooted solid to the ground.
"Geez!" He yelped in surprise and jerked back to avoid smashing into her and sending the woman crashing headlong to the ground.
Angela wasn't paying any attention to James. Both hands were clasped over her mouth and her breath hissed fast and sharp from between her fingers. Eyes were wide and locked on something within the store.
"Angela…" James was concerned. She had been so agitated earlier, and how this. What had caused her impromptu mood swing?
James' eyes followed hers, taking in the stained and dirty windows and the single metal and glass door that had been smashed open and into the interior of the store. Clothing racks and displays were lying on their sides or smashed to pieces, clothing hanging half-off their hangers and some left in tangled piles across the floor. One of the piles not that far into the store drew his attention. The shape was wrong.
'Wait..no…that pile isn't just clothing..' James realized in horror, tracing with his eyes the tennis shoes that were connected to thick pale legs and blue knee-length shorts and a striped shirt and baseball cap.
The skin was totally wrong, too bruised and gray to be normal and looking as if it belonged to some sort of plastic doll. And the neck was at a very odd and gross angle. A dry tongue was sticking out from between dark blue lips, neck bright red and spotted black and blue. Flat glassy eyes stared up at the ceiling.
James nearly stumbled over himself in his haste to back away, clapping a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from taking in the reek of a slowly decomposing human body. "oh shit…oh shit, oh shit…"
This wasn't something else. All the other bodies James had seen had been too old and bloody that it had been almost impossible to tell that they had been human. Their skin had been flayed and gore painted thick, and no facial features had been present to determine whether the victims had been male or female. This…this wasn't what he had been expecting.
But why? Why him, and why here? Had the man been looking for supplies or something?
James looked up and found a sign labeling the store as a clothing boutique. The man may have been scrounging for clothing. No, the man's clothes were in decent shape. There was no apparent reason for him to be breaking into a store and-
He paused, hand rising to trace the edge of his open jacket while his eyes remained locked on the store's sign above him. The more the thoughts inside his head began to haunt him, the more ready James was to nearly tear the clothes right off of his body.
Pyramid Head had come back with clothing. Three pieces. He had to have gotten them from somewhere.
'No…it's too much of a coincidence. He had left the hospital. He had been gone long enough. And he did come back with those pieces of clothing…' Had the man been lured inside or had he been at the wrong place at the wrong time? There was no blood present and it didn't seem like Pyramid Head's handiwork, but he couldn't and wouldn't put it past the demon to be able to break a person into many pieces without separating them limb from limb.
"Did you.." James took a deep gulp in order to swallow the thick gorge in his throat and prevent his stomach from heaving, "did you know him, Angela?"
She didn't answer him, her breathing still hard and fast.
"…hey…" James' hand pulled away from the jacket and reached out and lay on her shoulder, hoping the touch would call her back to him.
It worked too well. With a near inhuman shriek she jerked away, hands over her ears as she screamed and cried. "Noooo! Why are you showing me this, James?" She sobbed, turning away from him and running half-stooped over from her continuous cries.
"I didn't…" James' hand still reached out towards her, eyes shifting from the sign above and after her, but stopped on the window. The slide of his reflection across the dirty glass had drawn his attention. He could just make out the barest details of his reflection…but something about it wasn't right. It was too distorted.
Angela and the body lying not that far away faded away. His vision tunneled and centered on the figure in the glass. As if entranced and having fallen under a dark spell James drew closer to the window reaching out and wiping at the grime cleaning the polished glass as best as he could. He looked back at the face that reflected back towards him.
"Oh my god."
He traced the edges of the face, cheeks, and mouth. He kept wiping hard repeatedly to try to clean away the hallucination that reflected across the glass's surface. The glass squeaked and shined brightly, utterly clean. But the face staring back at him kept shifting and changing.
One second he was looking right into his own face and then the features would shift, skin becoming a cool gray with dark blue lips and eyes a flat hollow gaze peering back at him. Just as quickly his features would melt and spin like churning water until his eyes began to tear from trying to focus so hard. And again the features changed, back to his normal features except the tears spilling out from the corners of his eyes were a dark rusty red and the rest of his face was covered in a thin crust of drying blood.
The eyes flared black, pupils and the white of the eyes all a swirling pool of shadows. Hair lengthened and turned pitch black, falling down his to the middle of his back. The mouth parted as if to speak and a viscous flood of fluid poured out. The face grinned back at him with teeth painted gray.
The figure in the glass coughed soundlessly and spat out the fluid. Hair remained the same length but turned a burnished shade of gold. Eyes flickered back to blue pupils. Lean hands slapped against the inside of the reflection as the twin face stared back.
James fell back and away from the horrible sight, rubbing at his own face as if it would wipe away and dispel the frightening image. "I'm losing my mind. I've gone crazy." He moaned softly. "Wh-what's happening to me?"
James didn't stop moving back almost running backwards until the firm heat and weight of another body from directly behind stopped him. He knew who was there without turning.
"It's a lie. It's not real." He mumbled both to himself and to the demon against his back. "This can't be right…"
He cried out in low pain as a hand clenched tight at the bottom of his skull and propelled him forward, nearly slamming the side of his face into the portion of the window that he had been peering into.
James clenched his eyes tight and tried his best to turn away from the shifting features that peered back at him in the reflecting glass. The face inside the glass turned gray until it appeared to be composed entirely of gray fog, allowing James to see through the unsmiling face and the individual strands of hair. "I don't understand!" He voiced his incomprehension. "I don't know what it is you want me to grasp. I don't know what's going on."
Pyramid Head jerked him back by the back of his skull until he was looking at the full image of himself that included the demon standing up against him. He gave him a rough shake and pointed at their reflection.
And the pieces slowly and terribly began to fit.
In the reflecting glass he was standing there, with his ever-changing features and shifting face. But beside him was another figure dressed in the same butcher's apron and attire that Pyramid Head wore. The stains of old blood that hadn't flaked off of the apron swirled like a large hand was shifting them. The face…
"aaahhh…aa.." He couldn't even voice the words or complete sounds that were screaming inside of his head. James was staring back at two figures reflected in the glass that were near twins of his own. He focused on the taller figure. The hair was too long but it was a perfect match. The face was the same if a little bit sharper. The eyes…the eyes were too feral, too bright. But with both of them standing together, James finally began to understand at least a small percentage of what it was Pyramid Head had been trying to beat and force inside his skull.
Sensing that James was beginning to realize and see the truth the smile that rose upon the taller and darker one's face, his twin, was as beautiful as it was nightmarish with teeth glistening bright and pale white.
'We could literally be twins from birth.' The voice was a dull roar within his head. 'We have the same face. But for what reason is that? It's like he's some sort of shadow, some dark part of me. Or perhaps I'm the one who is the shadow. Is that a hint of what purpose he has?'
Pyramid Head's hand fell from the back of his head. The demon reached for the glass that had trapped their image together, his hand literally pushing through the picture and shattering the glass. A white-covered hand caught a large shard of glass as the pieces tumbled and fell to the floor, the jagged tooth and carved edge dangerously sharp and easily six inches long.
He turned from the further damage he had caused to the storefront, facing James. The smaller man could only stare back up at him in confusion, not comprehending the other's motives.
Without warned Pyramid Head took a step forward and shoved the blade deep into James' stomach.
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Pyramid Head's POV
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James' eyes widened and a burst of blood spilled out from between his lips when the glass blade slid deep into his gut. He felt the tip of the weapon click against one of the vertebrates of James' spine.
The hiss that escaped James' when the weapon slid smoothly back out sounded very similar to a balloon deflating. The blade was slick and completely coated with a dripping film of crimson that seeped between his fingers and down his wrist and forearm.
'LET US SEE IF YOU ARE FINALLY BEGINNING TO REALIZE THE INEVITABLE.'
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The wet sound of the blade sliding out of him nearly made James retch if he wasn't already done coughing up the blood that had suddenly risen and filled his mouth.
James' legs came dangerously close to buckling from the lightning pain that was firing through his body. He clamped both hands over the area that the wound lay, split open, feeling the fluid seeping between the cracks between his fingers down the inside of his shirt and thighs.
"gg…Ggghh.." His chin was soaked and thick droplets of blood beaded along his jaw and fell to the ground. His teeth ached badly from clenching his jaw tight to try to keep more blood from rising up into his mouth. For a brief second he recalled the one face in the glass as the black viscous fluid had been pouring out of from parted lips. A cruel irony that had smiled at him.
'Guess I pissed him off enough that he's through wasting his time with me.' James concluded dully.
His conclusion was proven wrong very quickly. Or Pyramid Head had intentions to prolong James' agony as long as possible when his hands grasped the smaller ones and began to pull them away from the wound. Their hands slipped and slid away and together due to the slick qualities of the fresh blood that had spilled over them.
James grit his teeth until they it felt like they would crack and prepared for a fresh onslaught of pain and more blood as his hands were pulled away from the wound--
--That was no longer bleeding. Nor was it there.
James stared down at the open gap in his shirt and the darkened patches of his shirt and portions of his pants. His hands scrubbed at the spot where the blade had pierced him. He didn't even find a scar to show where the damage had been, the cooling blood over his mouth, chin, and torso the only physical signs of the attack.
"That's impossible." James couldn't believe that he wasn't already half dead from the amount of blood he was certain to have lost. The last of the blood in his mouth burned a metallic copper and he spat the last mouthful out onto the ground.
A clear whistling sound drew his head up and James' head snapped completely to the side from the flat side of Pyramid's palm smashing into his cheek.
The blow almost spun him in a complete circle from the force of flesh meeting flesh. This time his legs couldn't hold him and he dropped onto his hands and knees. Blood poured out of his nose and thick strands trickled and fell from his mouth clinging and seeping onto the pavement. James moaned in agony as he felt his face swelling and his gums pulsing fearing that his teeth had been knocked loose from the strike.
Pyramid Head waited patiently for several minutes as James tried to stop the bleeding, forced to spit several viscous strands out of his mouth and wiping a broad sleeve carefully over the sensitive skin of his nose.
The wound on his stomach had healed much faster, and the bleeding had stopped just as fast. This time, though, the blood flow was slowly trickling to a stop at a more human pace and bruised flesh flared with fever.
His body could somehow heal the damage brought upon it by a weapon.
But not the damage brought down by Pyramid Head's bare hands.
"Oh." He breathed in comprehension. Weapons didn't match the strength of a demon's hands. So, that was it, then.
It was now a proven fact Pyramid Head was the only one allowed and the only one who could harm him. Pyramid Head had taught him a quick and vicious of how fragile he truly was.
His dark twin had the power to control his life or death.
A bitter turn of events. To be punished by 'himself'.
He had gotten what he had wanted for so long. Payment for what he had done to his wife. It was a fair trade.
James was torn between bitter laughter and wretched self-loathing tears.
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Pyramid Head's POV
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And now James finally understood.
James practically collapsed full onto the ground, entire body shaking as he rocked himself and whimpered through the pain of his wounds and the painful truth. The blood from his wounds was being soaked up eagerly by the pavement above. The crimson fluid hissed slightly on contact.
It had been a long and hard trial that could not have been avoided.
The first part had been the easiest, ripping away the shrouds of lies that had cloaked the man's memories and the doubts that had plagued him. He had had to physically shove his way into James and grab it tight. It had twitched and struggled against within his hands, screaming along with James as it was ripped to shreds.
The most difficult part had been to deal with James' continuous efforts to flee and escape. No matter how far he fled, even to the edge of the gates, he had been unsuccessful in his flight. Even if he didn't get close enough to stop James' attempts for freedom, this limbo would twist and alter the trails and paths so that the man would always end up right back where he started. Close to the escape he craved but at the same time, too far away to ever attain it.
Forcing James to submit under the threat of further pain and confinement hadn't been the main method of testing him or his endurance but ultimately it had served its purpose. Humans could endure a great deal of things, but it only took a certain amount of pressure and testing of the kinks that existed in their armor until they eventually cracked under the strain.
The bliss and victory he felt made his head swim with euphoria.
Once again he let the knowledge spin around and around within, his accomplishment enough to make a den of demons howl at the moon. Better than any kill he had ever performed with his Great Knife or hands.
He was tempted to throw his arms and head back to the sky in order to roar and pronounce himself. 'BEHOLD. I HAVE TAKEN THE THRONE OF MY GOD, AND I HAVE BOUND HIM IN THE CHAINS OF MY STRENGTH AND WILL. NO ONE ELSE WILL EVER SET HIM FREE AND I WILL NEVER ALLOW HIM TO LEAVE.'
And he cast down his judgement and might, and the entire world and limbo grew silent.
In the farthest reaches and in the darkest deepest depths he could feel and hear Alessa as she howled her fury that another had risen to equal power.
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Several months later……
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Time slowed for no one. Not even for those who lurked and hunted in Silent Hill.
Pyramid Head had been very busy and focused with constantly reestablishing his presence and force throughout and even beyond the reaches of the gray limbo. He had gone as far as to make his way to Rosewater Park. Watched and waited with the patience of a hunting beast until he finally found her alone and unaware of the trap she had walked into.
Maria.
The copy of Mary.
The woman that had been formed and carried long-dead memories due to James' desires for the return of his wife.
They were both here, in this place due to the power that James was capable of unintentionally wielding. Bringing forth two separate entities both brought from the darkest recesses of his mind. But only one of them had come with a greater deal of power and strength.
It had been a personal pleasure and a small step to deal with a possible future annoyance when he caught the woman in a strangle hold and had bodily dragged her to the nearest body of water. Holding her head and shoulders under the water until she had stopped flailing and bubbles had ceased to rise to the surface.
The look on her face had been priceless. There had been fear, of course. But something inside had risen up from within and had made her face grow ugly as she instinctively recognized Pyramid Head as a natural enemy. She almost snarled like a large feline when his hands closed over her throat, two demons meeting head on and nearly spitting their rage and ready to claw the others to shreds.
Whatever bravery or savagery she may have possessed, nothing saved her. He chuckled at the irony of both Mary and Maria having met their end through suffocation although James had granted Mary a far less painful and more dignified end. James had killed her with his love. Maria had died because she wouldn't back down. But Pyramid Head appreciated the similarities.
Not that James would appreciate the sentiment.
Speaking of that one…Pyramid Head had felt certain enough to leave him alone within the familiar grounds of Brookhaven Hospital. He didn't need to offer the threat of the black box again, James nearly cowering at his feet whenever he caught sight of the familiar prison. On certain days when James was willing… or capable… of speech he would beg and almost grovel at his feet promising to stay where Pyramid Head indicated him to remain.
Slowly over time and through trial and error James had been allowed to wander farther and farther through the town. But he knew the signs for when he was being summoned, and was aware of when he had been gone from the Hospital for too long.
The long months had been trying. Some days James was more consolable and easy to manage during his brief spells of upset and irrationality. Other days he had to be physically strapped down. Over time that would fade.
He could blame James' more recent state due to Alessa's continued interference. She had been able to almost smell James' presence and the humanity that still tainted him. From afar she had let her rage and loathing swirl and grow and tried to seep her influence into James and corrupt him. The effects had nearly turned his mind to mush, but what had been surprising was how strongly Alessa had been hurled back and out of his mind without his demon counterpart having to interfere.
Alessa was forced to retreat and nurse the wounds she had received from the backlash. She was obviously waiting for another opportunity to strike. They could wait for her to make the first move if she got the chance. Right now, the shift in power and Pyramid Head's rise had altered many things. Demons were now growing in mass as the humans' fears and psychic forces fed their birth. The ones that were being born now were like Pyramid Head, though. They were able to sense their inner potential and they eagerly tested their limits to see what they could accomplish. Events were collapsing and moving fast in the human world and it reflected here. The worlds were changing. Other things, other beasts were rising and clawing their way from the depths and responding to the clash of different powers. These were stronger than their predecessors, capable of being born in a human form but with the wrath of a demon's. Now these few that were growing and becoming aware were right now trying to establish their base of power and make a name for themselves among the worlds. At least one would prove to be a match for the dark female.
Along the edge of his mind, he could sense some of the other worlds and the few demons that called out to him. One in particular caught his attention. The name was familiar, the human one at least. He remembered seeing it somewhere, maybe even in the Cemetery. Whoever it was, his face flickered and broken into many pieces to where he only had the chance to catch sight of long blonde hair and a wicked smile. There was power there. That one had great potential. It would be some time before he rose to carve his way through the world.
While demons rose from the depths, partially due to their own creation and from the influence of the powers seeping past the barrier and from the human world, the humans here were falling and disappearing.
The little human girl that saw Eddie's murder had disappeared. To where Pyramid Head didn't particularly care. The other female, Angela was still around but far too frightened to come anywhere near the other shadows and figures that hovered at the edge of her vision.
There were only a few scraps and pieces of clothing left over as a marker to Eddie's last resting- place. He didn't bother considering which demons had grown hungry enough to deal with the body.
Pyramid Head came to a stop before the doors leading into Brookhaven Hospital, somewhat surprised at how quickly he had covered the distance to the building from where he had last been.
Without regarding any of the other figures lurking close-by he moved through the halls dragging his Great Knife, the loyal weapon a firm weight in his hand and the screech of the blade dragging across the ground almost a low melody to his ears.
Soon he found the doors to where he intended to go. Pushing them open with one hand he strode outside again, this time coming out into the small courtyard and garden nestled within the walls of the building.
There were only a few intact stone seats and benches. Dead vines stretched over the tall windows and up the brick walls. The few trees there were half-dead and pathetically skinny and bore no leaves. Damp soil held little to no life what small amounts of foliage that lived merely being weeds.
The area gave James some peace and an area all to himself. James knelt near the farthest wall with his back to Pyramid Head, but he knew that the demon was there. His hair had lengthened slightly and the wounds on his face and body that Pyramid Head had delivered were long healed and already faded.
By the looks of his clothing, James had been handling the soft soil with his bare hands for some time, sleeves and pale skin stained a soft brown as he dug and planted with fierce determination.
Apparently James had found some life in the soil and was attempting to nurture it to bloom. Pyramid Head moved closer, curious to see what could survive here.
He could make out the sickly stalks of the few flowers that James carefully maneuvered and propped up. The small white petals were barely hanging on, a few already scattered across the man's knees. The plants trembled warningly on their fragile stalks trying to bear the weight of their own bodies.
Pyramid Head noticeably stiffened as he moved closer to James, standing near the edge of a stone bench finally able to fully see what exactly James was working on.
Roses.
Small, white roses.
A low growl rumbled within the helmet, James stilled, and his shoulders stiffened at the dangerous sound.
Pyramid Head felt rage rising up, the kind he had not felt in a long time.
Little pale innocent flowers.
The same kind of flowers that Mary had adored so much.
He was so sick of looking at any reminder of that woman. It was hard enough to keep from literally ripping each scrap and small thread of memory, hanging on tight carrying the trace of the woman, right out of James' head. To have to look upon something that she had loved so dearly, something that James' was coaxing into life with his hands…
He reared the Great Knife above his head and slammed the tip straight down and it was buried deep into the ground with the hilt reaching towards the sky. Moving with speed that others couldn't follow he was at James' side.
James made a small sound of surprise that quickly turned to dismay. He cried out as a large boot smashed down onto the small flowers, grinding a black heel into the ground and smearing the remains of the plants deep and burying them in an impromptu grave.
Pyramid Head whirled away from the damage he had brought down, James falling onto the remains of the plants and trying to repair them, shuffling the dirt around and scrounging to find any of the roots. Pyramid Head moved with an angry air over to the bench sitting down heavily and one hand resting on the hilt of the Great Knife. He made no motion or sound but the helmet looked off into a corner of the courtyard as if ignoring what had just transpired.
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James had to soon admit that his efforts were fruitless. His shoulders drooped and a feeling of remorse filled him as one more reminder of Mary eluded him. He knew he was being very daring and unwise to try to leave a memory of Mary in this place, but if he didn't he felt that the memory of her would fade and fade until it grew too difficult to remember what she looked like.
Maybe it was another form of punishment for him. He had taken her away; what right did he have to keep her here? His crime would always haunt him. He carried it wherever he went.
He was paying every day for it. James was looking at the world around him with different eyes. Seeing things that he had never seen before too horrible to imagine and too beautiful to forget. There was a siren's call that sang to him, whispering of far places similar but with their own brand of darkness. Where the light couldn't pierce the shadows and the demons came out to play.
One in particular had been a repeated call. A man, taller than himself with long hair and handling a blade, wearing the smile of a saint as he painted the world red. Whenever their eyes met the stranger…man….demon…would smile at James, and after hesitating James could help but grin back.
Pyramid Head was aware of the individual as well. He didn't seem to act as if that one was a threat, so James was almost eager for the times that the two would meet. It was invigorating to meet another whether it was another demon or human face. It could get lonely here when he wasn't distracted by other things and the shifts and changes. Like the pain inside of his head….when Alessa…when everything was throbbing and throbbing…hurting…making him want to shred his own skin off with his fingertips…
James sighed, rubbing at his temples. Too many painful thoughts. There was some things best left to rot. It was becoming too trying and challenging to recall certain details. Sometimes he would be consumed by an insane urge to run far away only stopping when Pyramid Head physically held him down or turned him in the direction of one of the few hospital beds with straps for the arms and legs.
A shiver passed through him at even the thought of the bed straps or the lingering unhindered reminder of the black box. James pulled his jacket closer around him searching for a bit of warmth to burn the fear away.
He could remember why it was necessary for him to be bound. That girl…had a name that he didn't wish to speak…She had done something to him, something inside. Burned and scalded her way through his head until he wasn't able to stop screaming. The straps on the bed had kept him from trying to claw his eyes out of their sockets when he kept trying to rip the taint away, try to dig out the festering worms nestling inside of his head where Alessa's presence had touched him.
Pyramid Head had kept him relatively sane. Somehow James had been the one to throw Alessa off, but the effort had left him weak and comatose for some time. He had to be left in the hospital to recover his strength…and to keep himself intact. There had been a danger from the rage and hurt that had burned inside him. It had grown very strong, and James had felt that small spark of life when it had come close to becoming something else. A presence that had hands to deliver its own brand of justice and a mouth to curse its enemies. But Pyramid Head had sensed the oncoming rise of another like himself, and he had struck it down swiftly. Like he had done before, in Room 307, he had shoved a hand deep into James and pulled every last strand of that presence out of him. Hurling it far down into a dark hole to let it die, not wanting to accept the presence of another.
James would have never dreamed of the world he was in now. Of the things that were happening that would have horrified him before but now he just felt numb and strangely separated. Before such things would have horrified his human mind and morals but now he merely looked on in interest and was reaffirming his beliefs and adjusting them as he saw fit.
He didn't have the power that Pyramid Head had but there was a force inside that could bring forth monsters. Pyramid Head kept that at bay, not wanting to share with any brothers or sisters that may come. He was the first, and he planned to be the last.
James wondered what that made him, the things that he could do and see. He wasn't human, obviously. Not really a demon either. Just a vessel, maybe.
'It was beginning to hurt again. His head was hurting. Too much thinking.' He didn't want to think about such things right now. He was tired.
Still shivering and finding no comfort in the circle of his arms James carefully rose to his feet and looked over at the sitting figure. Pyramid Head was obviously growing tired and frustrated with James' moods and infrequent urges and actions, but his patience seemed unending. The wounds and old memories between them still hadn't completely healed and James knew that on occasion he instinctively flinched back at times if Pyramid Head moved too quickly or too close. He knew it would be much longer before he was able to remain in place whenever the demon's rage and rare blood-lust filled the air, even if not directed at James, did not make him flee to a safe haven. It could take years, more than he could think of right off the top of his head.
Making enough noise that Pyramid Head heard him carefully approaching James shuffled close to the other. When the other's head turned towards him slightly acknowledging his closeness James felt secure enough to sit down in front of him. James curled himself with his back to the stone bench and his arm and side pressed along an apron-covered leg. He leaned the side of his head against the solid bone and muscle, eyes falling shut as he willed his body to relax and rest.
Pyramid Head sat very still for a very long time and James felt his eyes growing heavy the warmth of the firm body warming and enclosing him. To his utter surprise, the hand around the hilt of the Great Knife slipped down and long fingers pushed back lengthening strands of long hair. The physical weight dropped to rest in the crook of his neck and shoulder, fingers pressing lightly into his collar.
It was a humbling touch, really. To be touched by the hands that could comfort him just as equally as they could bring him pain he wouldn't be capable of describing in words.
But for the moment, it was something. The small touch of a demon, one that wasn't solely to rend and tear, was more than anyone could hope for or expect in Silent Hill.
Let the worlds change, let the dark gods fight and tear their way to power. It was all right. Because they would still be here. And perhaps one day they would move on to the other worlds and see what they had to offer. Wherever one of them went, the other would ultimately follow.
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the end
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Author's note: Yes, you may have realized the inference of a character from Silent Hill 4. If you did, great, I hope you had fun. ^__^
I know I'm REALLLLLY playing around with the plot and powers to be in Silent Hill. But isn't that the fun of AU's and the joy of writing?
I hoped you enjoyed this journey. It wasn't the best, or the most well-written, but I had fun the entire way.
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Pyramid Head's POV
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Well now, this was an interesting turn of events.
He didn't truly need the mirror in order to keep the doorway in sight, but it had warned him at the same time that he had heard Eddie's heartbeat. Taking a moment, he had breathed deep, savoring the familiar sickly sweet smell of sweat and metallic tang of the gun. The man was carrying a weapon on him, probably planning to use it.
So, he thought he could sneak up on him.
Eddie was being a brave little puppy. For selfish reasons, obviously.
'ARE YOU REMEMBERING THE BULLY'S WHO PICKED ON YOU, EDDIE?' He thought with perverse pleasure as he easily tracked Eddie's movements without turning his head. 'DOES SEEING ME SOMEHOW RECALL YOUR FEAR AND YOUR PAIN? YOU THINK YOU CAN USE ME AS A SCAPEGOAT FOR YOUR ANGER?'
'TRY ME.' He dared, soundlessly pulling a pair of dark blue pants out of one of the wood cubicles on the wall. Dismissing Eddie for the moment, he tried to figure out if they would fit James. It wasn't like he knew the man's size or anything. Stepping back mentally, he briefly shaped his hands in the air in front of him, recalling the width of James' hips and the heaviness of his thighs when under the weight of his palms. This pair would work. James would have to go without socks or underwear, or simply come down himself to get such materials. He was only bringing James new clothing because he had caused the sullied and disgusting state of his previous attire.
Hearing a hanger fall to the floor from behind and to the left, he smirked and muffled private laughter as he listened to Eddie trying to soundlessly approach him from behind. Like an elephant trying to hide behind a blade of grass. His hands twisted the material of the pants until the fabric curled tight and he moved inaudibly in Eddie's direction.
Time to play.
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Eddie's POV
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'Where the hell did he go?'
Eddie was sure that the man had been standing right there. The last time he had checked, the stranger had still had his back to him and was standing with a pair of jeans within his grasp. Eddie's palm was sweaty and the handgun slipped around in his grip, the chunky blonde man pulling it out from the waist of his shorts.
Where was he?
Eddie ducked behind another clothing rack. There was only a little bit of light that expanded into the store. The clothing racks rose above him, shielding his position but also masking wherever the stranger had gone. The room was eerily quiet, nothing stirring and everything around him still.
Something fell to the floor ahead of him, and he quickly leveled his gun in the direction of the sound, arms shaking as the sound came closer.
A small clear globe with little twists of quartz sprayed through the interior, some sort of display item, rolled past his line of vision. It thumped mindlessly into the wall, clinking softly from the dull contact.
Eddie rose a little further up from his crouch, tracing the direction where the globe had come from.
The clothing rack at his back shook violently and something fell past his face.
Eddie gagged as something tight wrapped around his neck several times. He was lifted up off the ground, legs and feet dangling above the floor and his gun fell as he scrabbled at the noose that was choking him. His fingernails dug into the jean fabric, wheezing and coughing as he was lifted until he was hanging in front and above the coat rack with his legs kicking uselessly through the air.
Something within his neck was bending and snapping.
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Laura's POV
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"Eddddiiieeee!!!" Laura yelled down the street, stomping her foot angrily on the pavement. "Hey fatso, where did you go?!" She demanded loudly.
'You dummy!' She thought angrily, 'I don't know what I was thinking when I came up with the idea that you could help me.' Eddie was a lot older than she was, but SHE was the one having to look out after him. It wasn't like he could take care of himself. All he knew how to do was stuff his face with cold pizza.
And now he had disappeared down another corner. Hunkering around for food like he hadn't just eaten an hour ago. He was probably lost!
On the other side of the street, Laura heard something crashing around within one of the stores that's front door was busted open. A blob of shadows rocked and smashed around wildly from within, Laura squinting as she peered through the dirty windows trying to make out the dark forms.
"Eddie? Is that you?" She called out, taking several steps in the store's direction. "You better not have broken that door, you dummy!"
More crashes from within, and Laura realized that Eddie might be in there stealing or something. Eddie was going to get them in a lot of trouble if someone saw him doing that! It had been bad enough already when they had broken into the Bowling Alley and he had spent the entire time choking down slice after slice of cold pizza.
"Eddie! Stop fooling around. You're going to get us in trouble!" Her warning was apparently ignored since Eddie did not immediately appear from the store. Something large crashed to the ground inside the store with a warning creak of shattering glass.
Rushing to the door and darting inside Laura was getting ready to yell at Eddie and give him a piece of her mind when she screeched to a halt. Her eyes widened impossibly huge as she took in what was happening in front of her.
She had been right. Eddie WAS in the store.
But so was that man from before, the one that had been dragging James.
He was standing on one side of a clothing rack and Eddie on the other. His massive form stood tall enough that he was easily reaching over the top of the clothing rack. The muscles in his long arms bulging and holding fast. Eddie wasn't standing, though. He was up in the air being strangled by the thick fabric within the man's hands, legs kicking and his tongue sticking out from between blue lips. Somehow, the stranger had reached long arms over the top of the rack reached down and lifted Eddie up by the neck, and was using the jeans as a makeshift noose. While strangling Eddie from behind, his arms didn't show a sign of trembling or fatigue from holding the man all the way up in the air.
"..Eddie?" Laura stuttered fearfully, body frozen in place by the sight of the heavy man suffocating. It was sickly entrancing to watch flesh bulging and nerves popping along the edges of the skin while flesh sported little dots of red and black and blue bruises darkened and rose to the surface.
The man's arms strained and pulled tight and Laura looked on and listened in incomprehension as Eddie's face suddenly bulged and his eyes bugged out of their sockets.
**SNAP**
Eddie's legs stopped kicking like a puppet's strings being cut his arms falling slowly from digging into the material gouging into his thick neck. One of the man's hands loosened and let go of one end of the noose and Eddie slipped free and crumbled onto the ground on his stomach. His face was mashed into the floor from the fall.
'His neck isn't supposed to bend like that…' Laura privately analyzed the angle of Eddie's neck with surprising calm, but her mouth shaped her distress and terror.
Eddie's killer circled partway around the farthest side of the clothing rack. With a large black boot, he nudged the body onto its back, giving it a small kick as if to make sure that the body was going to stay where it had fallen. The stranger stepped the rest of the way around the clothing rack and came to stand and face Laura. She felt remarkably small and helpless underneath the bright blue gaze.
"J-James?.." She stuttered, peering up in confusion and fear.
The stranger smiled at her question, tilting his head to the side hair slithering and snaking across his face to outline the sharp grin. The dark smile of a wolf.
It was a nightmare version of James. He bore the same facial features and hair color, but the body was wrong and so was the attire he wore. And James couldn't possibly lift someone as heavy as Eddie let alone strangle and snap his neck in mid-air.
Whoever the man was he suddenly darted forward, mimicking a striking beast even though he stopped well out of arm's length from the little girl with that cruel smile still painted across his lips.
Laura screamed shrilly, shielding her face and making a mad dash for the door. Thin legs ate up the distance as she ran, never looking back as she fled from the stranger that wore a familiar face.
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Pyramid Head's POV
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He hadn't even come remotely close to her, but the little girl had screamed like a frightened rabbit and fled in the face of his staged wrath.
A soft sound of amusement echoed through the store as he watched the small figure disappear down the street.
He looked down on the floor at the cooling body, and then at the rumpled jeans still held within one of his hands. The two other items had stayed on his shoulders throughout the struggle. Snapping the jeans in the air with a loud crack he examined it to make certain there was no damage, finding himself remotely surprised that the clothing had suffered little from being used as a makeshift weapon.
Hmmmm. One could do amazing things with their hands if they really wanted to.
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The warmth of the water that fell from the showerhead began to pull the aches and pains right out of his body. Heavy torrents of the flow had long ago washed away the grime and dried fluids, his hair darkened to a burnt gold shade from the wetness.
It had been a little difficult to remove his pants and underwear when the shower had soak them clear through, but he had managed to shuck them off with a wet sound of peeling fabric. His shoes and socks had been harder, but he had finally gotten them free and tossed them out of the range of the water and drains, and hopefully they would be completely dry pretty soon.
Pyramid Head had been gone for an easy half an hour, leaving James to soak and wash away the evidence of his time in the Wood Side Apartments and that hellish box down below the Hospital.
Two days. That had to have been how long he had been down there.
Felt like years.
While down there a small part of him had begun to shrivel and die, like a plant being torn away from the warm hand of the sun. His legs were having a difficult time of trying not to tremble and shake so badly even though the warm water was helping with sore muscles.
The soap had been a blessing. James had used it until only a crescent sliver remained after rubbing and scrubbing at every inch of his skin until it was pink from the constant treatment. He had used the last of it by creating thick patches of suds and using it to clean his hair. Dirty and rust brown water collected underneath him and slid down the drain.
The waterfall of warmth and cleanness had swiftly made him drowsy, the effort to clean himself surprisingly taxing and he felt so tired near the end of washing all the grime off of him. His eyelids drooped and shot open as he tried to stay awake, lacking in sleep after only managing brief restless naps while he had been imprisoned.
He raised his head at the familiar tread of boots, looking up in surprise as Pyramid Head came into the large space with three pieces of clothing draped over one of his shoulders.
Pyramid Head indicated with a hand for James to rise, but he hesitated his face flushed as he tried to cover his nakedness. "You…" He coughed, his voice still rough and making it difficult to speak. "…You need to look away."
The statement did not move the demon. If anything, he seemed confused by that request since his head tilted partially to the side as if questioning why James would point out the obviousness of his lack of dress.
'Well, he doesn't seem to get the concept of subtlety.' James noticed.
Trying to ignore the flare of heat across his face James rose slowly and carefully to his feet gripping the handles and turning them until the water flow ceased abruptly. Using his hands to shield his privates, he turned to face Pyramid Head.
He yelped as the clothing was thrown almost directly in his face, barely catching them before they fell. He huddled the mass of fabric against him.
"I get the hint." He mumbled under his breath.
Since there were no towels or anything around for him to use to dry off James tried to wring out his hair as best as he could, afterwards sliding on the pants, shirt and jacket. The dampness that remained on his skin caused it to goosebump, but the clothing was soft and just the right size even with him having to go commando underneath the pair of jeans.
His boots and socks were still somewhat damp but James didn't want to go anywhere without some sort of protection. He hadn't missed the shards of glass and other sharp implements scattered through various buildings and floors. Quickly he pulled socks and shoes on, expecting them to be on the move soon and not wanting to have to stumble after the demon while trying to finish dressing.
Pyramid Head awarded James' compliance by not snagging his arm and pulling him along, merely indicating with a jerk of his head for the man to follow him.
James stayed close, not wanting to raise the demon's questionable patience and ire. Moving slowly but staying within sight, he followed Pyramid Head down the stairs to the main floor, at least trusting the demon to lead him past the dangers that the Nurse Demons posed. He was thankful for the railing that ran along with the stairs, using the beams of metal as a crutch all the way down to the first floor while he tried to shake feeling into waking limbs.
Following Pyramid Head out onto the streets was far more difficult, the world outside almost unbearably bright and large after being confined to such a small and dark space. The few times he hesitated Pyramid Head turned slowly back around, just looking in his direction but James quickly moved sensing that he was testing restless waters. But Pyramid Head was determined for him to follow, like this quest was a confirmation to see if James was now more obedient to follow his wordless commands.
It was strange. Well, part of it was. As they walked, the Patient Demons not surprisingly lurched and drew away from Pyramid Head as he strode by, their twisting and stumbling forms almost bowing low to the taller demon as they ducked to avoid him. Not shocking at all for Pyramid Head to be revered and feared, all other beasts acknowledging his presence.
What surprised James was how they reacted to his presence.
Whenever James moved just a step too close by mistake to one of them, the creatures would nearly fall over themselves in their haste to get away. It was very unsettling. Before the demons had stopped at nearly nothing at trying to bring him down, and now they nearly ran away from him in fright. Was it because he was tailing Pyramid Head's shadow? Were they too afraid to attempt attacking the human and possibly drawing the stronger demon's wrath down upon them?
Pyramid Head's pace was casually slow but it allowed James to keep up well enough. Walking was giving his limbs time to stretch and sore muscles to work out any kinks.
Passing through the middle of a four way stop James almost missed the slim female shadow that was hiding partially behind the building's front archway.
"J-J-James? Is that you?"
James stopped in his tracks and wobbled before righting himself, body not quite ready to handle sudden movements. He turned in the direction of the familiar voice, recognizing the short brown hair and the scared face and timid form of the woman from the Cemetery.
"Angela?" James turned, taking a step towards her. "What are you doing here?" He asked. He tilted his head, trying to recall their conversation from the first encounter. It hadn't sounded like she wanted to be anywhere near the town, and yet here she was. "What are you doing in town? Did you find your Mother?" He tried to coax her to speak.
Angela's shoulders were twitching noticeably, staring at James like she had never seen him before. "You're not James. You're one of them." She murmured so low that James almost missed her words.
"What? Angela…" James tried to take another step towards her, but she automatically jumped, leaping back like she had been scalded.
"STAY AWAY!!" She shrieked, shaking her head wildly and pointing an accusing finger at the blond man. "You lied. You lied. Was it some sort of game you were playing, trying to pretend to be someone else?!" Angela demanded loudly.
"What are you talking about?" James shot back, confused as to what had caused the woman to begin acting so strangely. "Angela, it's me, James. I've always been James." He tried to sooth the distressed woman. "Nothing's changed since the last time we talked. You have to believe me."
"YOU LIAR!" Angela fired right back.
"Angela!" James' yelling didn't stop Angela from spinning away and sprinting like a fleeing deer. "Angela! Angela, wait!!" James shouted.
James yelled out it surprise as a strong manacle circled his upper arm and he was spun around, Pyramid Head nearly slamming James up against him. James automatically gripped the tight hand encircling his arm, trying to pull himself free. "I can't leave her! What if she gets hurt?" He demanded.
Pyramid Head tugged James towards him again, wordlessly ordering the man to follow him back down the street and away from the disappearing woman.
James planted his feet flat on the ground and locked his knees into place. He cursed the taller demon as he struggled wildly against the unforgiving grip. He couldn't just leave Angela alone! What if one of the other demons tried to attack her while she was running in a blind panic? He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if something happened to her because of him. "I'm not some toy for you to drag around, you asshole!"
To his advantage, James sensed the other's intentions before the other hand came towards him to try to grapple him closer. Nearly wrenching his shoulder out of its socket he twisted and spun around and somehow managed to yank his arm free. He almost fell flat on his face from being relieved so quickly from the anchoring weight but he was quickly on his feet and running.
The demons up and down the street as he ran after Angela literally dashed around the stalled cars along the sides of the streets and disappeared down the smaller alleys when James appeared from out of the fog. James could just make out the faintest outline of the woman up ahead. "Angela! Angela, wait!"
She was already tiring from the short run, darting down to her left to disappear around the corner of the connecting block.
'If we keep this up, both of us will be flopping on the ground in no time gasping like fish. I can barely breathe from running such a short distance already.' He slapped a hand on the corner of the building and used his momentum to shoot around and down the block after Angela.
He almost ran right into her back, the young woman standing still in front of an open store as if rooted solid to the ground.
"Geez!" He yelped in surprise and jerked back to avoid smashing into her and sending the woman crashing headlong to the ground.
Angela wasn't paying any attention to James. Both hands were clasped over her mouth and her breath hissed fast and sharp from between her fingers. Eyes were wide and locked on something within the store.
"Angela…" James was concerned. She had been so agitated earlier, and how this. What had caused her impromptu mood swing?
James' eyes followed hers, taking in the stained and dirty windows and the single metal and glass door that had been smashed open and into the interior of the store. Clothing racks and displays were lying on their sides or smashed to pieces, clothing hanging half-off their hangers and some left in tangled piles across the floor. One of the piles not that far into the store drew his attention. The shape was wrong.
'Wait..no…that pile isn't just clothing..' James realized in horror, tracing with his eyes the tennis shoes that were connected to thick pale legs and blue knee-length shorts and a striped shirt and baseball cap.
The skin was totally wrong, too bruised and gray to be normal and looking as if it belonged to some sort of plastic doll. And the neck was at a very odd and gross angle. A dry tongue was sticking out from between dark blue lips, neck bright red and spotted black and blue. Flat glassy eyes stared up at the ceiling.
James nearly stumbled over himself in his haste to back away, clapping a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from taking in the reek of a slowly decomposing human body. "oh shit…oh shit, oh shit…"
This wasn't something else. All the other bodies James had seen had been too old and bloody that it had been almost impossible to tell that they had been human. Their skin had been flayed and gore painted thick, and no facial features had been present to determine whether the victims had been male or female. This…this wasn't what he had been expecting.
But why? Why him, and why here? Had the man been looking for supplies or something?
James looked up and found a sign labeling the store as a clothing boutique. The man may have been scrounging for clothing. No, the man's clothes were in decent shape. There was no apparent reason for him to be breaking into a store and-
He paused, hand rising to trace the edge of his open jacket while his eyes remained locked on the store's sign above him. The more the thoughts inside his head began to haunt him, the more ready James was to nearly tear the clothes right off of his body.
Pyramid Head had come back with clothing. Three pieces. He had to have gotten them from somewhere.
'No…it's too much of a coincidence. He had left the hospital. He had been gone long enough. And he did come back with those pieces of clothing…' Had the man been lured inside or had he been at the wrong place at the wrong time? There was no blood present and it didn't seem like Pyramid Head's handiwork, but he couldn't and wouldn't put it past the demon to be able to break a person into many pieces without separating them limb from limb.
"Did you.." James took a deep gulp in order to swallow the thick gorge in his throat and prevent his stomach from heaving, "did you know him, Angela?"
She didn't answer him, her breathing still hard and fast.
"…hey…" James' hand pulled away from the jacket and reached out and lay on her shoulder, hoping the touch would call her back to him.
It worked too well. With a near inhuman shriek she jerked away, hands over her ears as she screamed and cried. "Noooo! Why are you showing me this, James?" She sobbed, turning away from him and running half-stooped over from her continuous cries.
"I didn't…" James' hand still reached out towards her, eyes shifting from the sign above and after her, but stopped on the window. The slide of his reflection across the dirty glass had drawn his attention. He could just make out the barest details of his reflection…but something about it wasn't right. It was too distorted.
Angela and the body lying not that far away faded away. His vision tunneled and centered on the figure in the glass. As if entranced and having fallen under a dark spell James drew closer to the window reaching out and wiping at the grime cleaning the polished glass as best as he could. He looked back at the face that reflected back towards him.
"Oh my god."
He traced the edges of the face, cheeks, and mouth. He kept wiping hard repeatedly to try to clean away the hallucination that reflected across the glass's surface. The glass squeaked and shined brightly, utterly clean. But the face staring back at him kept shifting and changing.
One second he was looking right into his own face and then the features would shift, skin becoming a cool gray with dark blue lips and eyes a flat hollow gaze peering back at him. Just as quickly his features would melt and spin like churning water until his eyes began to tear from trying to focus so hard. And again the features changed, back to his normal features except the tears spilling out from the corners of his eyes were a dark rusty red and the rest of his face was covered in a thin crust of drying blood.
The eyes flared black, pupils and the white of the eyes all a swirling pool of shadows. Hair lengthened and turned pitch black, falling down his to the middle of his back. The mouth parted as if to speak and a viscous flood of fluid poured out. The face grinned back at him with teeth painted gray.
The figure in the glass coughed soundlessly and spat out the fluid. Hair remained the same length but turned a burnished shade of gold. Eyes flickered back to blue pupils. Lean hands slapped against the inside of the reflection as the twin face stared back.
James fell back and away from the horrible sight, rubbing at his own face as if it would wipe away and dispel the frightening image. "I'm losing my mind. I've gone crazy." He moaned softly. "Wh-what's happening to me?"
James didn't stop moving back almost running backwards until the firm heat and weight of another body from directly behind stopped him. He knew who was there without turning.
"It's a lie. It's not real." He mumbled both to himself and to the demon against his back. "This can't be right…"
He cried out in low pain as a hand clenched tight at the bottom of his skull and propelled him forward, nearly slamming the side of his face into the portion of the window that he had been peering into.
James clenched his eyes tight and tried his best to turn away from the shifting features that peered back at him in the reflecting glass. The face inside the glass turned gray until it appeared to be composed entirely of gray fog, allowing James to see through the unsmiling face and the individual strands of hair. "I don't understand!" He voiced his incomprehension. "I don't know what it is you want me to grasp. I don't know what's going on."
Pyramid Head jerked him back by the back of his skull until he was looking at the full image of himself that included the demon standing up against him. He gave him a rough shake and pointed at their reflection.
And the pieces slowly and terribly began to fit.
In the reflecting glass he was standing there, with his ever-changing features and shifting face. But beside him was another figure dressed in the same butcher's apron and attire that Pyramid Head wore. The stains of old blood that hadn't flaked off of the apron swirled like a large hand was shifting them. The face…
"aaahhh…aa.." He couldn't even voice the words or complete sounds that were screaming inside of his head. James was staring back at two figures reflected in the glass that were near twins of his own. He focused on the taller figure. The hair was too long but it was a perfect match. The face was the same if a little bit sharper. The eyes…the eyes were too feral, too bright. But with both of them standing together, James finally began to understand at least a small percentage of what it was Pyramid Head had been trying to beat and force inside his skull.
Sensing that James was beginning to realize and see the truth the smile that rose upon the taller and darker one's face, his twin, was as beautiful as it was nightmarish with teeth glistening bright and pale white.
'We could literally be twins from birth.' The voice was a dull roar within his head. 'We have the same face. But for what reason is that? It's like he's some sort of shadow, some dark part of me. Or perhaps I'm the one who is the shadow. Is that a hint of what purpose he has?'
Pyramid Head's hand fell from the back of his head. The demon reached for the glass that had trapped their image together, his hand literally pushing through the picture and shattering the glass. A white-covered hand caught a large shard of glass as the pieces tumbled and fell to the floor, the jagged tooth and carved edge dangerously sharp and easily six inches long.
He turned from the further damage he had caused to the storefront, facing James. The smaller man could only stare back up at him in confusion, not comprehending the other's motives.
Without warned Pyramid Head took a step forward and shoved the blade deep into James' stomach.
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Pyramid Head's POV
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James' eyes widened and a burst of blood spilled out from between his lips when the glass blade slid deep into his gut. He felt the tip of the weapon click against one of the vertebrates of James' spine.
The hiss that escaped James' when the weapon slid smoothly back out sounded very similar to a balloon deflating. The blade was slick and completely coated with a dripping film of crimson that seeped between his fingers and down his wrist and forearm.
'LET US SEE IF YOU ARE FINALLY BEGINNING TO REALIZE THE INEVITABLE.'
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The wet sound of the blade sliding out of him nearly made James retch if he wasn't already done coughing up the blood that had suddenly risen and filled his mouth.
James' legs came dangerously close to buckling from the lightning pain that was firing through his body. He clamped both hands over the area that the wound lay, split open, feeling the fluid seeping between the cracks between his fingers down the inside of his shirt and thighs.
"gg…Ggghh.." His chin was soaked and thick droplets of blood beaded along his jaw and fell to the ground. His teeth ached badly from clenching his jaw tight to try to keep more blood from rising up into his mouth. For a brief second he recalled the one face in the glass as the black viscous fluid had been pouring out of from parted lips. A cruel irony that had smiled at him.
'Guess I pissed him off enough that he's through wasting his time with me.' James concluded dully.
His conclusion was proven wrong very quickly. Or Pyramid Head had intentions to prolong James' agony as long as possible when his hands grasped the smaller ones and began to pull them away from the wound. Their hands slipped and slid away and together due to the slick qualities of the fresh blood that had spilled over them.
James grit his teeth until they it felt like they would crack and prepared for a fresh onslaught of pain and more blood as his hands were pulled away from the wound--
--That was no longer bleeding. Nor was it there.
James stared down at the open gap in his shirt and the darkened patches of his shirt and portions of his pants. His hands scrubbed at the spot where the blade had pierced him. He didn't even find a scar to show where the damage had been, the cooling blood over his mouth, chin, and torso the only physical signs of the attack.
"That's impossible." James couldn't believe that he wasn't already half dead from the amount of blood he was certain to have lost. The last of the blood in his mouth burned a metallic copper and he spat the last mouthful out onto the ground.
A clear whistling sound drew his head up and James' head snapped completely to the side from the flat side of Pyramid's palm smashing into his cheek.
The blow almost spun him in a complete circle from the force of flesh meeting flesh. This time his legs couldn't hold him and he dropped onto his hands and knees. Blood poured out of his nose and thick strands trickled and fell from his mouth clinging and seeping onto the pavement. James moaned in agony as he felt his face swelling and his gums pulsing fearing that his teeth had been knocked loose from the strike.
Pyramid Head waited patiently for several minutes as James tried to stop the bleeding, forced to spit several viscous strands out of his mouth and wiping a broad sleeve carefully over the sensitive skin of his nose.
The wound on his stomach had healed much faster, and the bleeding had stopped just as fast. This time, though, the blood flow was slowly trickling to a stop at a more human pace and bruised flesh flared with fever.
His body could somehow heal the damage brought upon it by a weapon.
But not the damage brought down by Pyramid Head's bare hands.
"Oh." He breathed in comprehension. Weapons didn't match the strength of a demon's hands. So, that was it, then.
It was now a proven fact Pyramid Head was the only one allowed and the only one who could harm him. Pyramid Head had taught him a quick and vicious of how fragile he truly was.
His dark twin had the power to control his life or death.
A bitter turn of events. To be punished by 'himself'.
He had gotten what he had wanted for so long. Payment for what he had done to his wife. It was a fair trade.
James was torn between bitter laughter and wretched self-loathing tears.
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Pyramid Head's POV
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And now James finally understood.
James practically collapsed full onto the ground, entire body shaking as he rocked himself and whimpered through the pain of his wounds and the painful truth. The blood from his wounds was being soaked up eagerly by the pavement above. The crimson fluid hissed slightly on contact.
It had been a long and hard trial that could not have been avoided.
The first part had been the easiest, ripping away the shrouds of lies that had cloaked the man's memories and the doubts that had plagued him. He had had to physically shove his way into James and grab it tight. It had twitched and struggled against within his hands, screaming along with James as it was ripped to shreds.
The most difficult part had been to deal with James' continuous efforts to flee and escape. No matter how far he fled, even to the edge of the gates, he had been unsuccessful in his flight. Even if he didn't get close enough to stop James' attempts for freedom, this limbo would twist and alter the trails and paths so that the man would always end up right back where he started. Close to the escape he craved but at the same time, too far away to ever attain it.
Forcing James to submit under the threat of further pain and confinement hadn't been the main method of testing him or his endurance but ultimately it had served its purpose. Humans could endure a great deal of things, but it only took a certain amount of pressure and testing of the kinks that existed in their armor until they eventually cracked under the strain.
The bliss and victory he felt made his head swim with euphoria.
Once again he let the knowledge spin around and around within, his accomplishment enough to make a den of demons howl at the moon. Better than any kill he had ever performed with his Great Knife or hands.
He was tempted to throw his arms and head back to the sky in order to roar and pronounce himself. 'BEHOLD. I HAVE TAKEN THE THRONE OF MY GOD, AND I HAVE BOUND HIM IN THE CHAINS OF MY STRENGTH AND WILL. NO ONE ELSE WILL EVER SET HIM FREE AND I WILL NEVER ALLOW HIM TO LEAVE.'
And he cast down his judgement and might, and the entire world and limbo grew silent.
In the farthest reaches and in the darkest deepest depths he could feel and hear Alessa as she howled her fury that another had risen to equal power.
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Several months later……
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Time slowed for no one. Not even for those who lurked and hunted in Silent Hill.
Pyramid Head had been very busy and focused with constantly reestablishing his presence and force throughout and even beyond the reaches of the gray limbo. He had gone as far as to make his way to Rosewater Park. Watched and waited with the patience of a hunting beast until he finally found her alone and unaware of the trap she had walked into.
Maria.
The copy of Mary.
The woman that had been formed and carried long-dead memories due to James' desires for the return of his wife.
They were both here, in this place due to the power that James was capable of unintentionally wielding. Bringing forth two separate entities both brought from the darkest recesses of his mind. But only one of them had come with a greater deal of power and strength.
It had been a personal pleasure and a small step to deal with a possible future annoyance when he caught the woman in a strangle hold and had bodily dragged her to the nearest body of water. Holding her head and shoulders under the water until she had stopped flailing and bubbles had ceased to rise to the surface.
The look on her face had been priceless. There had been fear, of course. But something inside had risen up from within and had made her face grow ugly as she instinctively recognized Pyramid Head as a natural enemy. She almost snarled like a large feline when his hands closed over her throat, two demons meeting head on and nearly spitting their rage and ready to claw the others to shreds.
Whatever bravery or savagery she may have possessed, nothing saved her. He chuckled at the irony of both Mary and Maria having met their end through suffocation although James had granted Mary a far less painful and more dignified end. James had killed her with his love. Maria had died because she wouldn't back down. But Pyramid Head appreciated the similarities.
Not that James would appreciate the sentiment.
Speaking of that one…Pyramid Head had felt certain enough to leave him alone within the familiar grounds of Brookhaven Hospital. He didn't need to offer the threat of the black box again, James nearly cowering at his feet whenever he caught sight of the familiar prison. On certain days when James was willing… or capable… of speech he would beg and almost grovel at his feet promising to stay where Pyramid Head indicated him to remain.
Slowly over time and through trial and error James had been allowed to wander farther and farther through the town. But he knew the signs for when he was being summoned, and was aware of when he had been gone from the Hospital for too long.
The long months had been trying. Some days James was more consolable and easy to manage during his brief spells of upset and irrationality. Other days he had to be physically strapped down. Over time that would fade.
He could blame James' more recent state due to Alessa's continued interference. She had been able to almost smell James' presence and the humanity that still tainted him. From afar she had let her rage and loathing swirl and grow and tried to seep her influence into James and corrupt him. The effects had nearly turned his mind to mush, but what had been surprising was how strongly Alessa had been hurled back and out of his mind without his demon counterpart having to interfere.
Alessa was forced to retreat and nurse the wounds she had received from the backlash. She was obviously waiting for another opportunity to strike. They could wait for her to make the first move if she got the chance. Right now, the shift in power and Pyramid Head's rise had altered many things. Demons were now growing in mass as the humans' fears and psychic forces fed their birth. The ones that were being born now were like Pyramid Head, though. They were able to sense their inner potential and they eagerly tested their limits to see what they could accomplish. Events were collapsing and moving fast in the human world and it reflected here. The worlds were changing. Other things, other beasts were rising and clawing their way from the depths and responding to the clash of different powers. These were stronger than their predecessors, capable of being born in a human form but with the wrath of a demon's. Now these few that were growing and becoming aware were right now trying to establish their base of power and make a name for themselves among the worlds. At least one would prove to be a match for the dark female.
Along the edge of his mind, he could sense some of the other worlds and the few demons that called out to him. One in particular caught his attention. The name was familiar, the human one at least. He remembered seeing it somewhere, maybe even in the Cemetery. Whoever it was, his face flickered and broken into many pieces to where he only had the chance to catch sight of long blonde hair and a wicked smile. There was power there. That one had great potential. It would be some time before he rose to carve his way through the world.
While demons rose from the depths, partially due to their own creation and from the influence of the powers seeping past the barrier and from the human world, the humans here were falling and disappearing.
The little human girl that saw Eddie's murder had disappeared. To where Pyramid Head didn't particularly care. The other female, Angela was still around but far too frightened to come anywhere near the other shadows and figures that hovered at the edge of her vision.
There were only a few scraps and pieces of clothing left over as a marker to Eddie's last resting- place. He didn't bother considering which demons had grown hungry enough to deal with the body.
Pyramid Head came to a stop before the doors leading into Brookhaven Hospital, somewhat surprised at how quickly he had covered the distance to the building from where he had last been.
Without regarding any of the other figures lurking close-by he moved through the halls dragging his Great Knife, the loyal weapon a firm weight in his hand and the screech of the blade dragging across the ground almost a low melody to his ears.
Soon he found the doors to where he intended to go. Pushing them open with one hand he strode outside again, this time coming out into the small courtyard and garden nestled within the walls of the building.
There were only a few intact stone seats and benches. Dead vines stretched over the tall windows and up the brick walls. The few trees there were half-dead and pathetically skinny and bore no leaves. Damp soil held little to no life what small amounts of foliage that lived merely being weeds.
The area gave James some peace and an area all to himself. James knelt near the farthest wall with his back to Pyramid Head, but he knew that the demon was there. His hair had lengthened slightly and the wounds on his face and body that Pyramid Head had delivered were long healed and already faded.
By the looks of his clothing, James had been handling the soft soil with his bare hands for some time, sleeves and pale skin stained a soft brown as he dug and planted with fierce determination.
Apparently James had found some life in the soil and was attempting to nurture it to bloom. Pyramid Head moved closer, curious to see what could survive here.
He could make out the sickly stalks of the few flowers that James carefully maneuvered and propped up. The small white petals were barely hanging on, a few already scattered across the man's knees. The plants trembled warningly on their fragile stalks trying to bear the weight of their own bodies.
Pyramid Head noticeably stiffened as he moved closer to James, standing near the edge of a stone bench finally able to fully see what exactly James was working on.
Roses.
Small, white roses.
A low growl rumbled within the helmet, James stilled, and his shoulders stiffened at the dangerous sound.
Pyramid Head felt rage rising up, the kind he had not felt in a long time.
Little pale innocent flowers.
The same kind of flowers that Mary had adored so much.
He was so sick of looking at any reminder of that woman. It was hard enough to keep from literally ripping each scrap and small thread of memory, hanging on tight carrying the trace of the woman, right out of James' head. To have to look upon something that she had loved so dearly, something that James' was coaxing into life with his hands…
He reared the Great Knife above his head and slammed the tip straight down and it was buried deep into the ground with the hilt reaching towards the sky. Moving with speed that others couldn't follow he was at James' side.
James made a small sound of surprise that quickly turned to dismay. He cried out as a large boot smashed down onto the small flowers, grinding a black heel into the ground and smearing the remains of the plants deep and burying them in an impromptu grave.
Pyramid Head whirled away from the damage he had brought down, James falling onto the remains of the plants and trying to repair them, shuffling the dirt around and scrounging to find any of the roots. Pyramid Head moved with an angry air over to the bench sitting down heavily and one hand resting on the hilt of the Great Knife. He made no motion or sound but the helmet looked off into a corner of the courtyard as if ignoring what had just transpired.
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James had to soon admit that his efforts were fruitless. His shoulders drooped and a feeling of remorse filled him as one more reminder of Mary eluded him. He knew he was being very daring and unwise to try to leave a memory of Mary in this place, but if he didn't he felt that the memory of her would fade and fade until it grew too difficult to remember what she looked like.
Maybe it was another form of punishment for him. He had taken her away; what right did he have to keep her here? His crime would always haunt him. He carried it wherever he went.
He was paying every day for it. James was looking at the world around him with different eyes. Seeing things that he had never seen before too horrible to imagine and too beautiful to forget. There was a siren's call that sang to him, whispering of far places similar but with their own brand of darkness. Where the light couldn't pierce the shadows and the demons came out to play.
One in particular had been a repeated call. A man, taller than himself with long hair and handling a blade, wearing the smile of a saint as he painted the world red. Whenever their eyes met the stranger…man….demon…would smile at James, and after hesitating James could help but grin back.
Pyramid Head was aware of the individual as well. He didn't seem to act as if that one was a threat, so James was almost eager for the times that the two would meet. It was invigorating to meet another whether it was another demon or human face. It could get lonely here when he wasn't distracted by other things and the shifts and changes. Like the pain inside of his head….when Alessa…when everything was throbbing and throbbing…hurting…making him want to shred his own skin off with his fingertips…
James sighed, rubbing at his temples. Too many painful thoughts. There was some things best left to rot. It was becoming too trying and challenging to recall certain details. Sometimes he would be consumed by an insane urge to run far away only stopping when Pyramid Head physically held him down or turned him in the direction of one of the few hospital beds with straps for the arms and legs.
A shiver passed through him at even the thought of the bed straps or the lingering unhindered reminder of the black box. James pulled his jacket closer around him searching for a bit of warmth to burn the fear away.
He could remember why it was necessary for him to be bound. That girl…had a name that he didn't wish to speak…She had done something to him, something inside. Burned and scalded her way through his head until he wasn't able to stop screaming. The straps on the bed had kept him from trying to claw his eyes out of their sockets when he kept trying to rip the taint away, try to dig out the festering worms nestling inside of his head where Alessa's presence had touched him.
Pyramid Head had kept him relatively sane. Somehow James had been the one to throw Alessa off, but the effort had left him weak and comatose for some time. He had to be left in the hospital to recover his strength…and to keep himself intact. There had been a danger from the rage and hurt that had burned inside him. It had grown very strong, and James had felt that small spark of life when it had come close to becoming something else. A presence that had hands to deliver its own brand of justice and a mouth to curse its enemies. But Pyramid Head had sensed the oncoming rise of another like himself, and he had struck it down swiftly. Like he had done before, in Room 307, he had shoved a hand deep into James and pulled every last strand of that presence out of him. Hurling it far down into a dark hole to let it die, not wanting to accept the presence of another.
James would have never dreamed of the world he was in now. Of the things that were happening that would have horrified him before but now he just felt numb and strangely separated. Before such things would have horrified his human mind and morals but now he merely looked on in interest and was reaffirming his beliefs and adjusting them as he saw fit.
He didn't have the power that Pyramid Head had but there was a force inside that could bring forth monsters. Pyramid Head kept that at bay, not wanting to share with any brothers or sisters that may come. He was the first, and he planned to be the last.
James wondered what that made him, the things that he could do and see. He wasn't human, obviously. Not really a demon either. Just a vessel, maybe.
'It was beginning to hurt again. His head was hurting. Too much thinking.' He didn't want to think about such things right now. He was tired.
Still shivering and finding no comfort in the circle of his arms James carefully rose to his feet and looked over at the sitting figure. Pyramid Head was obviously growing tired and frustrated with James' moods and infrequent urges and actions, but his patience seemed unending. The wounds and old memories between them still hadn't completely healed and James knew that on occasion he instinctively flinched back at times if Pyramid Head moved too quickly or too close. He knew it would be much longer before he was able to remain in place whenever the demon's rage and rare blood-lust filled the air, even if not directed at James, did not make him flee to a safe haven. It could take years, more than he could think of right off the top of his head.
Making enough noise that Pyramid Head heard him carefully approaching James shuffled close to the other. When the other's head turned towards him slightly acknowledging his closeness James felt secure enough to sit down in front of him. James curled himself with his back to the stone bench and his arm and side pressed along an apron-covered leg. He leaned the side of his head against the solid bone and muscle, eyes falling shut as he willed his body to relax and rest.
Pyramid Head sat very still for a very long time and James felt his eyes growing heavy the warmth of the firm body warming and enclosing him. To his utter surprise, the hand around the hilt of the Great Knife slipped down and long fingers pushed back lengthening strands of long hair. The physical weight dropped to rest in the crook of his neck and shoulder, fingers pressing lightly into his collar.
It was a humbling touch, really. To be touched by the hands that could comfort him just as equally as they could bring him pain he wouldn't be capable of describing in words.
But for the moment, it was something. The small touch of a demon, one that wasn't solely to rend and tear, was more than anyone could hope for or expect in Silent Hill.
Let the worlds change, let the dark gods fight and tear their way to power. It was all right. Because they would still be here. And perhaps one day they would move on to the other worlds and see what they had to offer. Wherever one of them went, the other would ultimately follow.
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the end
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Author's note: Yes, you may have realized the inference of a character from Silent Hill 4. If you did, great, I hope you had fun. ^__^
I know I'm REALLLLLY playing around with the plot and powers to be in Silent Hill. But isn't that the fun of AU's and the joy of writing?
I hoped you enjoyed this journey. It wasn't the best, or the most well-written, but I had fun the entire way.