Never Alone
Authors note: In Silent Hill 4 it was mentioned in one of the documents in Wish House that Alessa visited the same orphanage that Walter lived in, could they have known each other? This will sum it up if they did, Silent Hill belongs to Konami.
He wasn't with her physically but she could feel his presence enter the fog enshrouded town; Alessa had never truly left Silent Hill those many years ago when Harry Mason had defeated the incubus and taken the reincarnation, that once had been Cheryl, away from the town. The part of Alessa that was still innocent left with the child in his arms, but the side that wanted nothing more than revenge by use of the towns unholy powers remained in her broken down home; a ghost that was real to the touch. She had never wanted the powers she had for they were the reason she was picked on, ridiculed and feared, a monster in the eyes of the town's inhabitants. Her mother Dahlia only saw a sacrifice in the young girl, to bring an unholy god back to their earthly realm; she never imagined the backfire that was Alessa's wrath. Throughout her entire child hood she felt sad and alone, almost hollow inside. If it were not for the company of one boy who recognised her pain, she was sure she would have just curled up in a ball and awaited her painful demise.
'You were the only one who understood me, and now it seems your life has been taken too...Walter.' she could feel him wandering around the streets as if she were right there with him and soon enough he would find her, or at least that's what she was hoping. The man in the dirtied raincoat limped along, clutching his stomach that continued to spill his life fluids yet he didn't feel weak. The last thing he remembered was falling backwards after Henry Townshend had shot him fatally in the gut; he saw the light above him and called out for his mother with what little voice remained before darkness consumed his vision. Never did he expect to open his eyes again but what puzzled him more was his location; the fog, the old buildings all seemed so familiar but he just couldn't remember from where. He still thought that by some miracle he'd survived but that was far from the truth.
"I've been here before...it was so long ago. During my time in the orphanage, we were right near the town of...of..." the words seemed out of reach in the farthest part of his mind and just as he was about to grasp them, the quick tapping of nails along concrete came and went in various directions through the thick fog, their owner yet to be seen. Walter stood stiff as a board reaching into his coat to pull out his trusty revolver, his fingers touching over the inner fabric and nothing more. The town would not allow the souls of the fallen to carry weapons it seemed and his expression, which usually held an eerie smile, turned sour fast.
"It must have fallen out when I collapsed on the ground." his rage was seething beneath his passive appearance, with no weapon in hand he felt somewhat helpless and he hated it. Without a warning he was knocked forward from a creature that pounced from behind, horrible demonic growls escaping the beast as it tore at Walter's collar with yellowing canines. Quickly the serial killer glanced back to get a look at the offender, the image of a large skinned dog is what his eyes met. He freed a hand from beneath himself and punched it hard in the side of the head the dog letting go soon after with a yelp. Walter panted hard not from fear, which any normal person would have felt just by the sight of the monster, but from the need to survive. Since offence wasn't an option he turned heel and ran down the street the dog quickly recovering and tailing after its prey. He ducked into an ally where a set of rusted garbage cans provided the perfect cover; the dog stopped at the entrance way, sniffing the air for Walter's scent but the damp fog erased it. Growling in irritation it scampered off into the fog in search of new prey, once its footsteps vanished the blonde man came out of hiding with a puzzled look on his face.
"I've never seen that monster before, just where the hell am I?" he had always known his dogs were the sniffers, characterized by their putrid green flesh and long red tongues; these new dogs could only have been made by someone else's fears but the question was who?
"If I want to get rid of these beasts I'll have to kill the source, then I can get back to reviving mother." It was as if death hadn't fazed his motivations at all the need to see his mother, room 302, still his number one priority. The loud screech of metal broke the eerie silence, causing Walter to wince slightly. He only got the chance to hear a deep, metallic groan before an impossibly strong hand wrapped itself around his throat. He could feel himself being lifted off the ground, his feet flailing madly to try and break free. Through the immense pain he felt he managed to get an eye open, the sight of the man with a large red pyramid for a head enough to make his heart jump. Xuchilbara was the executioner of lost days and it was his job to punish those who had committed sins; Walter had killed dozens of people in the past for his needed sacraments and that didn't settle well with the red god. He was violently slammed to the ground by Pyramid Heads strong arm, falling unconscious only moments after contact. The executioner lifted his great knife up to cut the serial killer in half like a chicken but a feminine voice had him freezing in place.
'Do not kill this one Xuchilbara. Bring him to me and I will deal with him.' The distance voice disappeared quickly but Pyramid Heal complied nonetheless, dragging his knife behind him before grabbing Walters's ankle and dragging him across the ground in the same manner. The two vanished into the blanket of fog, the only indication of their existence being the screech of the great knife scraping on the concrete. Half an hour passed and Alessa sat patiently on the arm of a dirtied old couch, watching Pyramid Head's captive continue to rest in his unconscious state. She had shoed the red god away once Walter was brought into the abandoned house that she claimed as her own, wanting to spend some time alone with her long forgotten friend.
'Walter, do you even remember me?' she knew he couldn't hear her thoughts but it was more a question to herself anyways; she wondered how she even remembered him after all this time, their brief but special encounters taking place thirty, almost forty years ago.
The clouds were gray and dull almost matching the way young Alessa Gillespie felt inside. Her mother was taking her to the orphanage known as Wish House so she could mingle with the children while she conducted her religious business with the caretakers. The woods near Silent Hill were not the place Alessa spent a lot of time in but they were a nice change from the grey buildings and concrete of her home town. Dahlia knocked on the wooden door while her daughter glanced all around, her usual bored and sad expression adorning her young features. After a minute one of the members of four S opened the door, a smile gracing their face when they saw who it was.
"Ms. Gillespie it's a pleasure to see you again, I assume you're here to discuss the special 'ritual' that will be taking place?" the older woman merely nodded. The caretaker looked down at Alessa after saying this, hate for the little girl burning in his eyes but as soon as she glanced up he backed up slightly in fear; the entire town hated her for her special powers but feared what she'd do to them if she was angered.
"Don't worry Fredric, she won't be a bother." Dahlia roughly nudged her daughter into the building receiving a somewhat hurt glance from the child. Alessa loved her mother but the religious nut only saw her offspring as the key to something bigger; her special powers made the others ostracise her but her mother really only needed them for one thing which was yet to be revealed to the child.
"Alessa go mingle with the other children, mommy has business to take care of." The church goer turned her back to her daughter to follow the man named Fredric upstairs where all the towns' scriptures were held. Alessa glanced around the room at the other children; some of them were playing in small groups quietly, others in pairs but they didn't act the way most young children did. They were quiet and skittish almost like they were afraid of suffering the consequences of innocent play. The young girl sighed, heading over to an empty corner of the large room to sit by herself; she knew there was no point in trying to make a friend because they all hated her before they even got a chance to know her, the only one who actually befriended her was another girl named Claudia Wolf who she went to church with, but half the time she never knew what she was talking about, rambling on about some sort of 'eternal paradise'. Finding the atmosphere not at all stimulating she put her head on her folded arms to take a small nap, unaware of the pair of eyes that had been watching her ever since she came in.
A boy, two years younger than seven year old Alessa, with a striped shirt and bowl cut keeping his golden locks neat and tidy watched her isolate herself from the others. He could tell she was sad and lonely like she didn't have a friend in the world just like him. Following what his heart told him, he got up and plodded shyly over to the corner his small form coming to a stop in front of hers.
"Um hello." He said his voice soft and nervous. Slowly Alessa looked up at the newcomer her expression unwavering.
"I didn't mean to bug you, it's just you looked kind of lonely. My names Walter Sullivan." His little hands fiddled with one another but his large innocent eyes remained completely focused on her.
"Why'd you come over here, did they dare you or something? You do know what I'm capable of don't you?" Alessa finally said only receiving an honest shake of the head from the younger boy.
"I don't know much about anyone in this town, I wasn't really born here. My true home was south Ashfield." Hearing this burned a small spark of interest in Alessa, if he'd never known about her powers than he didn't fear her; maybe, just maybe she could have a true friendship.
"In that case I should tell you my name, its Alessa Gillespie."
"Nice to meet you Alessa, do you want to play together?" his reply was what appeared to be a small smile something the girl hadn't done in a long time. Walter clenched his tiny hands in excitement before hurrying over to fetch his crayons and drawing pad, bringing them quickly back to his new acquaintance.
"I like drawing can you draw?"
"Yes very well actually." Walter tore her off a sheet and handed her some of the colourful crayons and they both began scribbling things their little imaginations conjured up, just enjoying the comfortable silence.
"That lady you came in with was your mother right? What's she like?" he asked out of curiosity seeing as he never had the chance of meeting his mother, being abandoned at birth.
"She's a little strange sometimes, especially when she talks about 'ceremonies' and the town's culture but I still love her. After all she's the only one in this place who cares about me." She said adding the final touches to her picture.
"Why does no one else care about you?" He inquired causing Alessa to freeze all of a sudden. Not wanting to reveal her unusual traits and risk losing the attention of the one innocent person the town had, she quickly changed the subject.
"I finished my drawing want to see?" she said quickly, bright eyes and a nod her only answer. She held up the sheet for him to see, his mouth stuck in agape from wonder; scribbled in black crayon against a red background was a monster with a skinny body, crooked neck and flat face with two huge forearms that looked like they were used for bludgeoning others. Alessa felt awkward in the long silence, lowering her creation before explaining.
"Sometimes I have these dreams where these strange monsters follow me in a town clouded by fog and covered in rust and blood, obeying my every command. And I know what you're thinking, I'm a weirdo right?" she felt ashamed of revealing such a stupid dream her frown returning to her face; Walter shook his head causing her to glance back up in surprise.
"It's not stupid, in fact I think it's kind of cool." He replied with a smile, Alessa doing the same and blushing slightly. The stairs that lead to the upper floor creaked; Dahlia now finished her business and ready to leave.
"Alessa it's time to leave." She said bluntly her daughter getting up without a second word. Alessa turned as she left and waved goodbye to her new friend, Walter waving back and at the same time catching Dahlia's attention.
"You're the little boy from Ashfield right? The one who lost his mother?" she asked.
"Y-Yes m'am." He said quietly feeling quit nervous talking to a higher authority.
"What if I told you your mother was still there waiting for you to set her free." At hearing the news that he really did have a mother Walter sat perfectly straight, his little ears listening eagerly. Dahlia said nothing more; instead she reached into her bag and pulled out a thick and old looking book, handing it to the small child.
"When you learn to read, you'll find this ritual will be the key to seeing your mother again." She finished turning and heading out the door and back to Silent Hill. Walter was confused and even though he didn't know how to read the words yet he still felt the need to glance at the title which read 'Twenty one sacraments.' Dahlia had no idea that this one simple book would end up creating a monster.
Months passed by with Dahlia making frequent trips to the orphanage as the time of the sacred ceremony drew near; over the time Walter and Alessa had really began to bond, forming a friendship that the little girl never even dreamed was possible. Small feet ran swiftly over the forest path with quick breaths that matched them. Every once in a while Alessa would glance back over her shoulder to see if she'd lost her pursuer while continuing to head along the path that she knew lead to the one place where she felt safe, Wish House. The wooden door flew open drawing Walters's attention away from the sacraments book that he'd begun to learn to read. Seeing the panicked look on his dear friends face had him rushing over as fast as his little legs could carry him.
"Alessa what's the matter?" his worry was apparent in his small eyes.
"It's my mom, this morning she said the ceremony to revive god was to take place today and...I don't know what she meant but I got a really bad feeling, I just have to get away." Even though she had great powers beyond any mere human, Alessa was still a child and at the moment she was terrified.
"Calm down, I'm sure everything's going to be alright." He tried to reassure but she was so deep in doubt that nothing could pull her out.
"I don't want to go back Walter..." she spoke in a scared tone, quickly wrapping her arms around the smaller child's neck as she knelt to the floor, the other completely stiff from surprise.
"Please help me." She whispered into his neck. Walter felt the crushing weight of helplessness fall on him; he wanted to sooth Alessa's nerves but he was too young and confused to think of a solution fast.
"Walter it's time to go, you need to continue your learning's at out special facility out on the lake." The caretaker said quickly plucking the young boy away from his friend. Everything was happening so fast that it felt like a blur to the youth, and in the midst of it he sat dumbstruck as they carried him away to a place where he'd never see her again.
"Walter!" she called to him but he was already taken out the back of the orphanage and unable to hear her call.
"There you are Alessa, Mrs. Gillespie I found her." Claudia's small voice cut a shock of fear through Alessa's body and she dare not turn around to face them even when their footsteps approached.
"Alessa it is time for the ceremony to begin. Come along." Her mother said with her usual monotone facade. Her form shook as she continued to stare at the floor.
"No I don't want to...I'm scared." Dahlia knew she wouldn't be able to acquire Alessa's much needed power unless she was taken back to their home and the young girl was sacrificed; in order to get her back there she'd have to play the part of the 'caring' mother and guilt the child.
"Honey, mommy only wants to bring you back home so that you can help with a very important ritual. Without your 'special gift' I won't be able to complete it and that would make me sad. Do you like making mommy sad?" she said in her sappiest tone. Alessa looked up, her eyes now filled with tears and shook her head slightly.
"I-I'm sorry mommy... I don't want to make you sad." She replied unaware that she was being lied to.
"Then you know what you must do." With that she roughly grabbed her daughters arm, leading her out the front door with Claudia following behind. Alessa felt horrible inside about the situation, she was frightened of the ritual but she didn't want to disappoint her mother; what hit her just as hard was the loneliness she felt when Walter was carried away. Deep down she had a feeling she'd never see him again; neither child knew just what horrors awaited them or how it would affect their futures, all light of their friendship beginning to dull and fade very fast. Both their paths would only hold pain and sorrow.
Snapping back to reality she heard the deep sound of him groaning, his consciousness finally returning to him. Blue eyes blinked open the first thing they saw being the ceiling before wandering from side to side trying to figure out where he had ended up now. Alessa moved slightly on the arm of the couch startling the serial killer slightly although he refused to let it show. Without even asking a question Walter got up and quickly went for the door but was denied his exit when a pink and red fleshy substance sealed the seam; the same was being done to the windows by one mere thought from Alessa. He scowled at the only other person in the room, walking over quickly to stand over her as a form of intimidation but she did not flinch or show any signs of fear which didn't satisfy him at all. His hands gripped her throat and even though she was already dead she found it hard to breath. If she willed it Alessa could destroy him with ease, liquefy his brain just by thinking it, but she had spared him the wrath of Pyramid Head for a reason; she had unfinished business with the blonde psychopath.
"Open the door you wench or I'll see to it that you face an untimely end. My mother is waiting for my return." He growled and Alessa scoffed as best as she could with her larynx being tightened.
"Mothers are liars...deceivers. If your...mom really loved you...why would she abandon you...at birth?" she choked out and after finishing her sentence she felt his grip lighten and finally let go allowing her to rub her tender neck. He seemed to be staring a million miles away, his brain only now thinking logically; all the murders he committed, his own suicide, never truly held a purpose and it hollowed him inside. Her words held truth, something that hadn't been said to him in a long time but what bothered him the most was the fact that this girl knew his name and even his past.
"How do you know me?" he all but whispered. Feeling that he would not lash out anytime soon Alessa scooted closer to the arm of the couch Walter was sitting on.
"You don't remember me at all?" she asked and only got a light shake of the others head, his gaze staring a hole through the floor. Alessa reached down into the crack of the couch her hand coming out seconds later with a crumpled piece of charred paper. She delicately unfolded it and placed it in his lap, his rough and bloodstained hand picking it up seconds after. The yellowed surface still held the image of a monster, which Heather would identify as a closer, coloured in black crayon. Brief flashes of a young girl with a sad and lonely expression flashed in his memory and he held the side of his head to try and sooth the sudden headache. He now remembered her face; her smile which only appeared when they played together, the only piece that was missing was her name.
"Alessa...Gillespie." the words floated past his chapped lips effortlessly and she nodded in recognition, a faint smile dancing on her lips in relief. He glanced at her with a look of disbelief as if he had just seen a ghost and he wasn't too far from the truth.
"If you're here then that must mean this town is Silent Hill but where are all its inhabitants?" He watched Alessa's face turn into a twisted smile of pleasure as she bluntly stated "They're all dead I made sure of that." Walter didn't believe such a malicious tone could come from a girl he once thought to be nothing more than an innocent child but deep down he was even more drawn to her dark side. She only got silence from him which made her believe he was confused so she went into further detail of what took place so long ago.
"You remember the day the caretakers took you to a special facility out on the lake right? well that same day was the time my mother, the crazy religious hag she is, wanted to perform an ancient ritual to summon the towns god and the key to doing that was using me as its 'sacred vessel'. Trapping me in our very home she set the building on fire with me inside, the scorching flames burning me horribly and causing me agony no child should have to endure. When the embers finally faded the hospital staff took my severely burned but still very alive form into the hospital where I would lay in a bed and suffer for seven long years. The reason for this was because the ritual had not gone exactly as they planned; god was inside my womb but I could not deliver it because I was so young, so a staff of personal nurses kept me alive until my powers were at their fullest, that was their biggest mistake. Seven years passed and an outsider named Harry Mason entered the town trying to find his daughter, my innocent half, after he had crashed outside of town. My mother tricked him into summoning god despite me trying to stop it but he righted his wrong soon after by killing the abomination and fleeing with the new incarnation of his child. Since my powers had now been fully unlocked I'm able to unleash the full hell of this town on anyone I feel needs to be punished." She finished telling her tale keeping perfect eye contact with Walter the whole time.
"If you were burned that bad then that must mean you're dead." He stated and she shrugged at the comment.
"In a way yes but that's alright because so are you." He furrowed his brows in denial unwilling to believe he was gone.
"I haven't died I'm just wounded." She lifted the bottom of his undershirt to reveal the nasty hole where the bullet had hit, blood still making its way out in drops.
"No human could survive a wound like that."
"Human? I'd be lucky if I could be called that; I'm more monster than human now." Walter knew what crimes he'd committed and he never felt guilty for them, save for the one murder of the twins. He felt the warmth of her smaller hand rest on top of his her eyes looking with compassion in his darkened orbs.
"It's not your fault you became what you are. Society steered you in the wrong direction, I know what they did to you Walter I can feel it. They beat you, yelled at you, and left you alone in the dark..." Everything she said was true and the more that was revealed caused his fists to clench so tight that he cut his palms with his nails. She felt his tension and decided it was best to stop there leaving his side to stand in front of the couch.
"I'll show you what a real monster looks like." Her whisper could only barely be heard by his ears and in curiosity he looked up. Even though she was technically dead, Alessa had been allowed to grow over the last thirty years and was now twenty almost making it to Walters' age of twenty four. Without a word she let he dress slide off the floor and with nothing to hide what was underneath she revealed to him everything on her bare body. Her burn wounds were almost all gone save for a few mangled patches in odd areas but it had taking a very long time to heal her delicate body. Walter only stared causing Alessa to feel slightly uncomfortable, her hands held close to her chest.
"I know what suffering and pain I caused but they deserved it, after all they seared my flesh and turned me into this...hideous creature." Deep down she hated what she'd become but her thirst for revenge was so strong that it overpowered any other weak emotion. Her eyes shut tight as she tried to compose herself, her ears never picking up the sound of the couch springs creaking. Rough skin caressed the side of her cheek when his fingers slid past, brushing her long dark locks off her shoulder.
"There is no hideous creature here, only a fallen angel." He spoke softly in a manner he never thought was possible from a personality as sinister as his. She was overwhelmed with buried emotions that all resurfaced at once, her arms extended to hug him but stalled and pulled back, still worried that he'd turn violent again at any moment. Instead he did another type of unpredictable action, pulling her quickly into a tender embrace that left her stunned. Both hands held her back rubbing small circles that soothed the burn patches still marring her flesh, his chin finding its resting place on her small shoulder. Finally realising that this wasn't just another good dream Alessa slid her arms inside his jacket and underneath his shirt to give him the same loving gesture. Both beings had felt nothing but pain since their childhood and yet in each other's company they felt as though they had never been alone. Walter felt he owed her a peek at what he had grown into since she had so willingly done so herself. He slipped her arms off his waist and took his shirt and jacket off quicker than she'd expected, not slowing down at all when it came to the rest of his garments.
Alessa by this point in time was very knowledgeable of the male anatomy, especially after witnessing Pyramid Head's off duty activities, but there was something different about seeing it on her friend that made her stomach almost shiver. Both companions headed over to the couch to get more comfortable, Walter spreading himself along the length of it with Alessa blanketed his larger for afterwards. A soft and much needed kiss joined the two tainted souls, their love that had be so wrongfully turned down now finding a place in each other's hearts. Out in the streets the old air raid Siren sounded as Alessa summoned the otherworld to carry them both away from the tortures only the real world held for them. The darkness consumed everything fast and the floors and walls turned into rusted wires and fleshy mounds that only the dark girls mind could conjure up. As the flesh crawled over the furniture and bonded with their own flesh, Walter felt no fear with Alessa cradling his head against her bosom.
"You'll never be alone again Walter." She soothed stroking his grimy locks and delivering one final kiss as the environment consumed them entirely. They were both already dead but now Walter Sullivan's murderous spirit would work alongside Alessa's to turn the town into a whole new kind of hell for any wanderer, lost soul or sinner who dared enter. Silent Hill once tortured them but now it would do their unholy bidding; childhood friends reunited by death.
Holy shitake mushrooms that was one hell of a long one shot. Something different for once I didn't add smut this time (although I'm sure at the end I had you going a bit ^_^.) Walter/Alessa was definitely a challenge for creating a plot but I think I did okay but that truly depends on your opinions, so feel free to review.
