I got much better reception for The Evil Within than I was ever expecting. Ergo, here I am, doing more for one of my favorite game series. I didn't expect this one to be this long, but I started and it kept going. I'm not going to complain, this fandom needs more works.

To those reading What Comes After, I'm planning a little more to that.

Enjoy.

At this point, Sebastian was fairly sure he was the world's leading expert on having his face slammed into the ground.

First Ruvik, then Stefano, followed up by Theodore, and now Myra. Just for once, Sebastian wished a trip into STEM wouldn't involve going up against psychotic wackos. Scratch that, he would prefer to never see STEM ever again.

Forcing himself back to his feet yet again, Sebastian hissed under his breath when white hot pain shot through most of his body. His arms and legs were still mobile, so no broken bones there at least. Fingers were just as moveable.

Sebastian's chest was a whole different story. Whereas it hurt like hell before, it was a whole new level of agony now. He suspected a couple of bruised, maybe fractured, ribs but he'd gone way past that now. A couple were definitely broken now, breathing difficult but not impossible.

Blinking away the pain induced dizziness, Sebastian found himself on the edge of a wide field of snow. That was certainly a first for his STEM adventure, but it didn't matter when Sebastian's eyes saw what was at the top of the huge hill before him.

The old Castellanos house. It was quite the distance away, but the place was burned into Sebastian's mind. Even from here he could recognize the structure that had been almost literally burned into his brain. Of course, this was where Myra would take Lily for safekeeping.

Where else would a little girl feel safest?

Making his way through the snow, Sebastian forced himself to put one foot in front of the other. Even as his body screamed in agony and exhaustion, he pushed himself. After everything he'd been through, Lily was right there at the top of the hill.

Not just Lily, but Myra too. The entire world that Sebastian thought had turned to ash was at last within reach. All he had left to do was get there. On last trek and this hell could come to an end once and for all.

Sebastian's mind certainly thought so, but his body had other ideas.

Sebastian failed to see it until it was too late. Hidden beneath the powdery substance he walked upon was a small stone, no bigger than a basketball. It was no Haunted, no Lost, no trained Mobius agent, and certainly no psychopath, but it was able to do what no other had done throughout both Beacon and Union.

Defeat Sebastian Castellanos.

Had he been in any better shape, Sebastian would have stubbed his toe, cursed, and stepped over the accursed thing, but not this time. This time, Sebastian tripped and fell flat on his face. The snow may not have been real, but it certainly tasted real when he got a mouthful of the stuff. Spitting out some of the frozen water, Sebastian forced himself to roll over onto his back.

Sebastian lay there, feeling the icy chill of the snow seeping into his very bones. The sky above him an empty expanse of blank white. The collapsing STEM system probably couldn't even make a fake sky anymore.

His breath had become ragged, each one sending bolts of pure torment through Sebastian's whole abdomen. There wasn't a square inch of Sebastian that wasn't in total pain. Nothing was broken still, but that damn rock had likely twisted his ankle, adding to the ever-growing pile of failing out body parts.

Every time Sebastian tried to sit up, he would only fall back down. Try as he might, Sebastian just couldn't force himself to stand back up. His body had finally reached that terrible milestone where raw determination couldn't carry him any further, no amount of stubbornness or drive would magically revive him.

Sebastian could just rest for a moment. The thought crossed his mind for a whole two seconds before being mentally shot down. Lily was at last within reach, but Union was falling apart with each passing minute. While Myra was utterly devoted to shielding Lily, Sebastian was terrified of the lengths his wife would go to keep her safe.

Far too often in his detective career, Sebastian had seen the things a person would do to the very person they were protecting, all in the name of 'it's for their own good'.

No, even with her beloved mother watching over her, Lily was simply not safe in her presence.

A fact Sebastian was going to take care of personally if his damn body would just move!

"What? Miss your nap, old timer?" Sebastian had his eyes closed as he focused on making himself move, but he knew the speakers voice all the same. Short time having known her notwithstanding.

Sebastian just brushed it off as his mind playing tricks with his head, so he didn't even bother opening his eyes. Giving the hallucinations attention would just make them worse.

"Seriously? Can you believe this guy?" That same voice seemed to be addressing someone else now. "He's ignoring me, or he's out cold. Which I don't buy, he's pretending."

"Not his fault." A second speaker joined the first, this one every bit as familiar as the first. "Look at what he's been through, would you want to acknowledge us?"

"Yup."

"You're not him, and you do not think like he does."

"Eh, I'm close."

Seeing as how it was apparent neither was going away any time soon, Sebastian gave up and open his eyelids. It took a moment for his sight to refocus and take in what he was seeing.

Sebastian may not be the most technologically orientated person around, but he understood some of the fundamentals of STEM well enough. Such as some of the laws of physics being flexible, and dead meaning dead.

Which was exactly why the two women standing over him couldn't possibly be here.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead." Torres wore that same arrogant smirk when she showed up to blow up O'Neil's device using her explosives. "Knew you were faking it."

"He wasn't faking anything, Esmerelda." Hoffman, on Sebastian's opposite side, sighed. "He doesn't want to bother conversing with us, he feels there's no point."

"What the hell?" Sebastian stared dumbstruck at the two kneeling at his sides. It was them alright, but they did not look like how Sebastian thought he would have remembered them.

Torres resembled almost exactly how Sebastian had left her. Covered in bruises, cuts and various wounds, and equally splattered with fresh blood. The gunshot wound on her stomach, the same one Sebastian accidentally inflicted, was running with the crimson fluid.

The blood of various injuries ran down Torres' body in rivers and dripped from her body, but not one speck stained the pure white snow or Sebastian himself. This was even with Torres leaning directly over his form. Then again, this was STEM. Disappearing blood ranked pretty low on Sebastian's crazy list.

Hoffman was the one that really threw Sebastian for a loop. The first thing Sebastian's gaze caught was that she was missing the Mobius tactical vest. In its place was the same white shirt she wore beneath it, but only partially intact. A large chunk of the garment, mostly around her left side, shoulder, and arm, had been horribly burned, along with the flesh beneath it. Her face had not been spared either, almost a third was marred by severe third-degree burns.

Weirdly enough, Sebastian could see glowing embers still lit, both on her shirt and in her singed hair. Almost as if Hoffman was still inside a fire. Much like the blood coming off of Torres, the snow around Hoffman remained unmarked despite the heat of the small fires coming off her body.

"Guy looks like he's seen a ghost." Torres chuckled, seemingly unaware of how mangled she looked.

"Technically, from where he's lying, we might as well be." Hoffman didn't seem all that perturbed by her own condition either. Both women had to be suffering, but neither gave anything away.

"Details, details." Torres waved a dismissive hand.

"You're dead, both of you." Sebastian looked at both women in turn.

"Maybe I'm a ghost, here to haunt you." Torres proceeded to make a bunch of moans in what Sebastian could only assume was a sad attempt to emulate a ghost.

Sebastian could only stare, his bewilderment growing by the moment.

"Esmerelda." Hoffman pinched the bridge of her nose, her next sigh one of total exasperation. "Sebastian. What we are doesn't matter. Look, you need to get up."

"Listen to the shrink, Sebastian." Torres pointed a thumb at the other woman.

"I am not a…" Hoffman began but cut herself off. "Never mind. That doesn't matter either. Just get back up. Lily is so close, you're almost there."

"And I can't do it." Sebastian was too weary to care anymore, why not talk to figments of his imagination. That also ranked way down on his crazy list. "I can't even stand."

"Well I can fix that." Torres moved an arm beneath Sebastian's and pulled. Last time Sebastian remembered, she'd been able to at least drag him, if not outright carry him, size difference be damned. For whatever reason, she was struggling this time. "Jeeze, did you put on a few tons? Hey, Yuki, give me a hand here?"

Hoffman made a sound under her breath to indicate her displeasure at the shortened version of her name from Torres. Regardless, she took up a position on Sebastian's other arm and added her strength to Torres'.

Between the two women, they should have been able to get Sebastian back on his feet, but the best they got was to get him sitting up. Didn't help that Sebastian couldn't add much of his own muscle, making him essentially dead weight.

"Sebastian, we're here to help you." Hoffman strained as she pulled with all her smaller frame could manage but to no avail. "But you have to want to rise."

"I don't think I can, Hoffman."

"I say we beat him til' he gets the message." Torres cracked her knuckles, the sound abnormally loud and menacing.

"No, Esmerelda." Hoffman scowled. "That would be counterproductive."

"This isn't working, so we need a new solution." Torres shot back.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

Sebastian had been looking back and forth between Torres and Hoffman while they argued, but the moment he heard someone new, his head snapped in that direction. It was yet another familiar person, yet for different reasons.

Hoffman and Torres had been met with first inattention and disbelief, this person was met with something else.

All Sebastian needed was to hear that voice, the same one from so many of his nightmares. That, the tattered white hooded jacket, and a body covered in old charred flesh and various sutures and stitches. The devil himself would have been better to meet.

Sebastian didn't hesitate. He instantly pulled his handgun and fired.

"What the hell, Sebastian?" Torres jumped slightly, having been caught off guard by the quick action.

The bulled had flown right through the man in white's chest, but passed through like he was made of smoke. He looked down at himself, not even affected in the slightest at being shot.

"Nice try." Ruvik's little smile made Sebastian want to punch him into meat paste, or shoot him again. Seeing as how neither was going to be very effective, Sebastian settled for glaring at his old foe. "Don't waste your bullets."

"Shut up." Sebastian snarled.

"Whoa, easy there." Torres patted Sebastian's shoulder, but the ex-detective ignored the gesture and words.

"Look at you." Ruvik slowly stepped closer, so much like he did at Beacon. "Where's that spirit, that fire, you defied me with? Only two types of people give up this easily, the cowards and the weak."

More than a few times, Sebastian had been in this exact situation. He would normally be running for his life, if possible, by now. Either the exhaustion had Sebastian rooted in place, or just not wanting to give the bastard the satisfaction this time.

"I said shut up!" Sebastian jerked his arms free of Torres' and Hoffman's grip and was sitting up on his knees on his own. "You don't know anything."

"Don't I?" Ruvik was full on grinning now, a sight that made Sebastian sick to his stomach. "I've been in your head, Seb. I know you better than you know yourself. And I know you're pathetic."

"Sebastian…" Hoffman began but never got the chance to finish.

"Screw off!" Sebastian's hands clenched into fists. He knew it would be pointless, but that didn't erase the urge to punch Ruvik so hard his dead parents would feel it. "Go back to whatever hole you crawled out of."

"Not until you stop groveling in the dirt like a beast and get up." Ruvik's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I had all the powers of a god, and you, a mortal, cast me down. I refuse to allow you to be bested by any other. You will not shame me like this. Now… RISE!"

Hearing Ruvik's voice was too much for Sebastian, something within him just snapped. Before he even realized he was doing it, Sebastian was swinging a left hook at Ruvik's face. Not that it mattered, he vanished before Sebastian could land the blow.

"Hey, 'bout time!" Torres was cheering and clapping. Next to her, Hoffman was smiling her approval in a much more subdued manner.

At the sound from the other two, Sebastian looked around and found that he was indeed standing again. Not just that, in was just him and the two women. Ruvik was nowhere to be found.

"I'm getting sick of hallucinating." Sebastian rubbed his throbbing temples.

"Could be worse." Torres appeared beside Sebastian and swatted his arm. Again, the appendage was wet with blood but none was left where she touched.

"You still have a job to do Sebastian." Hoffman appeared next, in front of Sebastian instead of next to him. "The only job that matters. Saving Lily."

Sebastian looked to the top of the hill where the house sat, waiting for him. Myra, corrupted by STEM and unable to stop herself, waited as well. The only nightmare worse than Beacon, having to battle his own wife to save his little girl.

"You got this." Torres flashed a thumbs-up. "You don't need anybody's help, you can take her."

"I only made it this far because of help." Sebastian figured he might as well chat with these two hallucinations for a moment, he still needed to find where he dropped his assault rifle. It should have been right where he fell. "Neither of you had to die."

"That's… not true." Hoffman said it so quietly, Sebastian barely heard it.

"What?"

"Sebastian." Hoffman took a deep breath. "Think about it for a moment. Esmerelda told me about The Plan, remember? I also knew what would happen if I managed to survive to the end of this. Say we did it, defeated Theodore, reached Lily and convinced Myra to stand down. We all go back to the real world, and Mobius is wiped out. Think for a moment."

"We would of…" Sebastian trailed off as it dawned on him.

"I have one of those chips too." Hoffman looked away. "It would have been physically impossible to get it out before Kidman had to hit the kill-switch. I was going to die along with Mobius no matter what I did."

"Should probably mention, that's me too." Torres supplied. "I had to keep my chip in or else they would have detected it missing while I was in STEM. If all went well, we may have had a tiny window to yank it out but that wasn't guaranteed. And when the plan went to hell, I was in the same boat as Hoffman."

"Don't you get it, Sebastian?" Hoffman looked Sebastian right in the eye. "We were damned the moment we set foot in Union. If I died getting you to Theodore, then my death had some meaning. Maybe I made up for a few of my sins, too."

"And I made up for… well, you know." Torres, unlike Hoffman, was unable to meet Sebastian's gaze.

Sebastian took in the words and was left unable to respond. He blamed himself for their deaths, but if what they said was true… there was nothing he could have physically done. Like Myra said, "it's like blaming yourself for an earthquake".

"Hey!" Torres mood changed from somber to cheerful. "Look what I found." Scooping up her old weapon from the snow, she looked the item over for a moment before tossing it to Sebastian. "Make sure to kick Mobius in the teeth for us, yeah?"

Sebastian caught the weapon, but when he looked back up, Torres was gone.

"You can do this, Sebastian. Even if we're dead, we still believe in you." When Sebastian turned to follow Hoffman's voice, he discovered that she too was now gone.

Every direction Sebastian looked, there was no sign of either woman. No melted snow, no blood providing a stark contrast to the environment.

The only odd thing that stood out was the imprints in the snow. Where Ruvik stood, there was nothing, the surface was smooth unblemished. Where the women had last been seen, there were visible imprints of a person's feet. Including a spot where the rifle had been pulled from the snow, a spot that was out of reach of Sebastian's own imprints. How was the weapon in his hands if he couldn't reach where it had fallen?

That question, among a few others, Sebastian filed away in his mind to think on later. His old house still sat in the distance, and by extension, his daughter. The fight was not quite over yet.

With a newfound determination, Sebastian resumed his trek up the path.

Bet you never imagine getting an uplifting (I think that's the right word) speech from Ruvik of all people, selfish reasons or no. This was originally only going to feature Torres and Hoffman, but I decided to add him at the last second because he was absent from the game itself.

I actually really liked Hoffman and Torres' characters. It was a good opportunity to give a few friendly faces for Sebastian and maybe some future friends. But do we get that? Nope. Torres was a major case of 'they wasted a perfectly good character', but Hoffman I kinda saw coming. Both for reasons written in this story and because this is Evil Within. I knew she wasn't going to make it to Theodore's fortress. Torres' end came out of left field though, didn't see that one coming.

On a side note, I love doing hallucination scenes, you can discount so many natural laws to make it interesting. But in a world like STEM, one must ask themselves if it's a hallucination, or something else?

As always, reviews are deeply appreciated and the reason I'm still writing Evil Within. Oh, and to my readers of What Comes After- if anyone has suggestions they would like to see, let me know.