Silent Hill

(A/N: It's been such a long time since I last logged on to and I just wanted to re-write my Silent Hill/Avatar fan fiction because my tastes have changed a little since I had first started typing it. Its summer break (Yay!!!) so, hopefully, I can find the time and patience I need to do a good job on this new fan fiction and actually finish it. I love horror and romance, so I've wanted to write a successful fan fiction that I can be happy with for quite a while.  I've rated this fic M for terror. If you've ever played any of the Silent Hill games, then you'd definitely know the reason why. Well, I'm off to write and get started with the story!! - )

Disclaimer: Both Avatar: The Last Airbender and Silent Hill are the wonderful ideas that belong to some other people . . . Unfortunately, I am not one of those people. 

Chapter One: In the beginning . . .

Appa flew through the star speckled sky, carrying a small group of exhausted and stressed kids. For the most part, Aang and Sokka had managed to find sleep while Toph had kept to herself, dozing off and quietly waking back up from time to time due to an occasional odd dream. But no matter the quietness of midnight and the serenity she felt under the moonlit sky, Katara couldn't manage to even keep her eyes closed long enough to doze. Her heart beat at a faster pace than usual, and the fact that Prince Zuko had betrayed his uncle back in Ba Sing Sei was heart wrenching. She thought Prince Zuko had changed . . . What had bothered the waterbender even more was the fact that Aang came so close to losing his life. Having been in the Avatar state, the whole world was at a huge risk to the avatar cycle being wiped from the face of the four nations. Katara couldn't imagine losing not only the Avatar, but one of the best friends that she ever had. Tears stinging her eyes, Katara used her hands to wipe the dampness away. She was in no mood to cry, and when she was little her father had told her that crying didn't change anything. With that, she curled up her knees against her chest and rested her head above them, wanting any bad thoughts to leave her restless mind.

As she sat motionlessly in the silver light, her thoughts had gone from Aang to the moment when she came so close to healing Prince Zuko's scar with the water she had from the oasis that was within the Northern Water Tribe. Katara was close to hating herself for believing that he had actually changed. A chill ran up her spine as she remembered being close enough to feel the warmth of Zuko's breath on her face as she was about to heal his scar. She had trusted him so much in so little time that Katara wanted to cry even more. How could she do such a thing to her friends and family?? Katara was hurt, and it hurt her even more to think that she had acted so foolish in the past. With Prince Zuko's help, Azula had almost successfully killed Aang.

Shifting her position, Katara looked back at the sleeping airbender, who occasionally tossed or muttered something in his sleep with Momo curled up close beside him. She then lifted her gaze towards the moon, whispering a prayer to the moon spirit to keep Aang, Sokka, and Toph safe. With a sigh, the waterbender turned away from the moon to a warm sleeping spot. As much as Katara had to worry about, she understood that sleep was essential for the long journey that the small group had ahead of them.

Just as her sapphire eyes closed, everyone on Appa was violently jerked upward. Katara gasped, coming to her hands and knees as she realized that everyone else was also awake from the surprise.

"What just happened?!" Sokka asked franticly as Aang looked around like Appa had just been shot by a fireball.

Appa grunted loudly, and Katara noticed a few dark figures flying high above them. Aang saw that Katara's attention had turned to the sky. "Katara? What are you . . ."

Everyone shouted as Appa jerked and moaned again, this time much louder. Aang's glider had been knocked overboard and fell down into a dark mass of trees. Momo held tightly to Aang's head as he chirped in fear of being separated from the young monk.

"Sokka, look out!" Katara shouted as one of the figures soared after him, nearly ramming into his head before he ducked just in time.

Toph sighed, "Oh, great! I can't see a thing, and now I have to worry about not being able to defend myself from whatever the heck is attacking us!!!"

The earthbender was cut short as Appa jerked again; trying to scare off whatever was attacking him. Despite the fact that Aang had been trying to help by shooting strong currents of air at the unidentified creatures, they seemed to not be interested in leaving. Even Katara shot the strongest water whips she could manage, but nothing seemed to work.

Soon enough, Appa had lost his energy and could hardly stay airborne. He moaned exhaustedly as Aang had realized that they were falling into the forest beneath them. "Hold on, everyone!!!"

Everyone shouted in horror as they fell down into total darkness, coming to a rough landing. The strange calls of the creatures that had attacked Appa echoed throughout the atmosphere as they left. They seemed to not be interested in flying anywhere near the forest, fortunately for the gang as they lied askew on the surface of the dense terrain of tall grass. Toph coughed, eventually coming to her feet with a sense of being safer since she could feel the cool earth against her feet once more. Aang and Sokka had both risen to their feet as well, panting hard from the scare. Even Momo had quickly collected himself, scurrying to the safety of the inside of Aang's shirt as Aang swiped the dirt from his clothes. The only one not active at all was Katara. A hard blow to her head had left her in a comatose state, and everyone had soon discovered that she was in need of help. Even Appa had a feeling that something was wrong and immediately felt that it was his fault for giving up. Sokka knelt beside his sister, remembering that it was his job to protect her while their father wasn't there for them because of the war. Examining the large cut on the side of Katara's head, Sokka felt terrible. As both he and Toph stayed by Katara's side, Aang had left to collect some water and perhaps return with an idea of a town they could rest and restock at the following day.

As bright light pierced through a lush canopy of trees, Katara's eyes fluttered open to a terrible pain in her head. Her hand automatically reached for the source of all the pain, only to find that it was a deep cut stained with blood. She moaned as she strained to lift her head so that she could sit up to get an idea of what had happened and if everyone was okay. Her blue eyes immediately noticed her brother, sitting nervously next to her as he caught a disturbing sight of the cut Katara had received.

"How do you feel?" He asked in a quiet voice, not wanting to wake up Toph, who was sleeping nearby. He felt stupid for asking such an obvious question. Without a doubt, Katara was in intense pain.

"Not so good . . ." Katara mumbled, bringing a hand to the cut on her head again.

"I can't believe I didn't think fast enough to grab you before Appa had actually started to fall! You probably wouldn't have been thrown so far. . ." Sokka sighed, looking down at the golden-green grass that was illuminated by the light coming in through the surface of the forest.

Katara shook her head with a smile on her face, placing her other hand on his shoulder. "Sokka, this isn't your fault! This isn't anyone's fault --- what happened last night was just bad luck. That's all. Besides, it's just a cut."

As much as Sokka felt like his sister's wound was his responsibility, he had to admit that she was right. The night that they had just gone through was definitely one of the worst. Katara was probably right about it all just being bad luck.

He nodded. "Aang went out to get some water for you and see if Momo could find a nearby town. I kinda worried about him, though. He's been out all night."

Katara looked behind her brother, seeing that Aang was walking towards them with water, glad that he was safe. Momo flew from his shoulder to Katara's side, rubbing affectionately against her in order to make her smile. He chirped in joy to see that it worked, and Aang felt better that his friend smiled the way she did, even with a painful cut. He placed a sack full of water in front of her. "Katara, I'm so glad you're awake!" Aang cheered quietly as her pulled her into a gentle hug.

"I'm just glad that you guys are okay." Katara answered happily after Aang let go of her to sit on the opposite side of Sokka.

She remembered her prayer and realized that the moon spirit, Yue, had heard her prayer and had protected her friends and her brother from harm. Katara didn't understand why she had been unfortunate enough to bang her head, but as far as she knew, Yue had protected her from death, which was definitely a much worse fate.

"I thought this would help since you have healing powers . . ." Aang said, looking at the water her brought for her. "Oh, and Momo found a town not too far from here! We should be able to get there today if everyone feels ready to leave soon. I think that Appa's still sleeping . . ."

The three chuckled as they turned to see that Aang's prediction had been correct, Appa snoring loudly enough to awaken Toph from her beauty sleep.

"Well, at least Toph's awake now!" Sokka said after he watched her sit up like a zombie, causing Aang to laugh.

"Thanks a lot, Appa." Toph groaned, stretching out her arms as a way of welcoming the morning.

Katara reached her dark hand into the sack of water. The cool, soothing liquid flowing evenly over her hand caused it to glow bright, neon blue creating somewhat of a water glove. The waterbender closed her eyes, hoping that her powers were strong enough to heal a wound so deep. She had never tried before, but she had discovered in the past that her powers always perfectly healed external wounds such as small cuts and burns. Katara didn't know what she could do for a larger, more serious wound, but she decided it was worth a try.

The water surrounding her hand felt so relieving against the cut. Sokka and Aang watched as Katara made an attempt to recover in hopes that she was successful. After moments ticked by, Katara hesitantly removed her hand from her skin. Sokka sighed reluctantly and Aang smiled cheerfully as they noticed her head no longer bared the cut she had received from the previous night.

"It worked, Katara!!!" Aang answered excitedly.

After everyone had awoken and had readied themselves for a trip to the town that Momo had discovered over night, they all decided that it would be best to just walk there instead of riding Appa. Despite the fact that the flying bison had gotten enough sleep, he was still weak from trying to fight off those strange creatures that had attacked him. Sokka had somehow managed to keep track of the map that they had all been relying on for their entire journey so far, staring at it with a confused look stretched across his face.

"Am I just reading the map upside down, or is this forest not on the map??" Sokka asked, causing everyone besides Toph to walk up next to him and examine the map for themselves.

"What? That doesn't make sense . . ." Aang muttered as he looked all over the map for any sign of the forest that they were in.

"We should be fine if we keep going straight. That's the direction that Momo went when he found the town we're looking for, right?" Katara asked Aang as his eyes still scanned over the map Sokka was holding.

"I'm pretty sure it was. I just wish that this place was on the map, just to be safe." Aang sighed. Turning away to look ahead of him, he noticed that the large cluster of trees seemed to get smaller. It made him feel a teeny bit better that even though they might not find the town, they would at least be out of the forest.

Sokka's stomach growled loudly, alerting the whole group that this was not a very good time at all to be lost.

"Uh-oh . . ." Toph joked, Sokka already pouting.

As Aang, Sokka, and Toph talked and laughed ahead of her, Katara walked slowly and soon started to linger behind. For some reason, she couldn't stop thinking about what happened in Ba Sing Sei. She kept replaying thoughts what had happened just a few days ago, and about how much she hated Zuko at the moment. Katara paused for a moment.

Is this really how I feel? She asked herself, feeling confused.

At the same time, a part of her wanted to like Prince Zuko. She wanted to heal his scar . . .

"Katara, are you coming??? You're gonna get left behind!" Aang shouted back to her. Everyone stopped to let her catch up.

Sitting in the cold and uncomfortable cell that Azula had placed him in, Iroh was alone with so much on his mind about Prince Zuko. He hadn't spoken to his nephew once since he had been so hurtfully betrayed, despite the fact that Prince Zuko had been sneaking food to his uncle for the past few days. Iroh thought of how he had cried when the day of his son's birthday came around, and he felt that his heart had been broken too deeply to even shed a tear, no matter how much it hurt. No matter what, Iroh would never stop loving Zuko. He was a son to him, and if it meant he had to accept that Zuko chose a new path for his life, he was willing to. But that didn't mean that Iroh wasn't deeply disappointed and shocked by his nephew's actions. Azula had somehow managed to get inside Zuko's head, tricking him into believing that he would truly be accepted into the Firenation once again as the Prince and someday as the Firelord he was born to become.

Closing his eyes, he could only hope that Prince Zuko would come to his senses and realize that in reality, he would never be accepted by his father. It was too much to imagine what Zuko's mother would think of him now, fighting for the capture of the Avatar by his sister's side.

Trying to take his mind off of Azula, Iroh began to sing the same song he had sung for Lu Ten on his birthday, slowly and quietly.

Zuko had stood near the entrance of the dungeon in which his uncle was being held, on his way to bring Uncle Iroh another tray of food when he heard a familiar song.

His heart sank, and Prince Zuko turned away, feeling lost and pulled in two different directions.

Katara hummed to herself as the group of wandering children made their way through the brightly lit forest. As they walked onward, flowers like panda lilies and golden poppies began to speckle the ground in cute little clusters. Katara smiled as she walked through the flowers. Despite the fact that she had so much on her mind before, Katara began to try as hard as she could to cheer up. She had noticed that whenever she was in a good mood, they all were, especially Aang.

"Hey, look at that. . ." Aang pointed straight ahead of him in between a few smaller trees.

"What is it, Aang?" Toph asked curiously, making Katara snap back from her thoughts about being happy for her friends.

"That's it!" Aang cheered, seeing a town in the distance. Momo flew ahead of the group, excited about finally being away from the thick dense area of trees to a more open surrounding.

Sokka moaned hungrily, already thinking about stuffing his face with some food, his stomach growling like it had earlier. Even Toph was happy to finally be in town. She was ready to get a good rest after sleeping on the ground all night long. Slipping through the final trees that separated the town from the forest, the gang had made it, fortunately without getting lost after all. They all examined the town stretched out in front of them, with houses, shops, and what looked like a large hotel to the farthest edge of town judging by a sign that displayed an advertisement for it. Katara seemed to be the only one to notice the tall, creepy sign that stood eerily in front of the first shop to the left.

Welcome to Silent Hill

At an instant, pain shot through the area where Katara's cut had been, causing her to gasp and grab her head.

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Katara blinked and looked up at the face of her brother. "Katara?"

The waterbender shook her head. "That was so strange . . . It almost felt like the cut reappeared!" Katara explained to Sokka.

"I think you need some rest, Katara." Sokka answered as he yawned.

"I guess so . . . You seem to be a bit tired, yourself."

"Come on, you two. We need to get going so that we can all get rooms in that hotel. I'm dying for a nice, relaxing bed!" Toph groaned, walking ahead of the siblings. Katara and Sokka followed, first making sure that Appa was behind them. Katara looked over her shoulder one last time at the sign, assuming that the pain she had felt was just a strange coincidence.

As they walked, people watched them strangely. Katara was beginning to feel nervous about not thinking of telling Aang to hide the arrow on his head. Aang looked back at her, looking just as unsure as she was nervous. They kept walking, trying the best they could to ignore the strangers that watched them. Katara realized that no one seemed to be happy that the avatar was there. Usually, people cheered and introduced themselves to him. Not these people . . .

"Creepy . . ." Sokka said in a low voice to his sister, who was still searching for at least one smiling face.

Katara began to listen to the humming sound of voices chit-chatting away, music being played near shops, laughter from little kids playfully chasing each other down the dirt street. Looking up to expect a blue, clear sky, Katara was surprised to see that the sky appeared to be stirring up a thunder storm. The sky was a pale grey and the clouds were dark and larger than before. She sighed. Why couldn't today at least be a bright and colorful day? She remembered how the forest had looked when she had first opened her eyes that morning. Everything looked so bright and welcoming. Now, it was all so different.

Making their way through the small crowd of people, the gang had eventually reached the hotel at the far side of town. Katara was relieved to be away from the strangers who seemed to not even care that the Avatar existed.

Everyone went ahead as Aang stayed outside to find a spot for Appa and Momo to stay while he and the others stayed in rooms in the hotel.

Prince Zuko sat quietly in the Earth Kingdom temple, away from his sister, who was perfectly at home in the Earth King's throne. Azula had previously sent out a few men from the Dai Li to find out where the avatar was currently headed, or in her words, where the avatar was "hiding." Azula sat at the throne proudly, a familiar smirk never leaving her face. Zuko didn't know why she had chosen to stare at him --- naturally, this would make anyone uncomfortable, but he had other things on his mind that were more important than his sister's staring habits.

Sneaking food to Uncle Iroh had been a tricky task. Being under the careful watch of his sister, Zuko decided to call his absences "bathroom breaks". Azula was no fool, but fortunately for him, it seemed that she actually believed his lies. She had not planned to starve her uncle, but Zuko knew that Azula put herself first and everyone else last. She only mentioned Iroh when Zuko had started to feel guilty about betraying him, saying that Iroh was the one who had betrayed him instead.

Meanwhile, Ty Lee was doing awkward stretches and being her normal self, which always seemed to bore Mai no matter what crazy flips or turns she performed.

"Azula, aren't we going to start are search for the avatar soon?" Ty Lee asked, deciding to stand right side up after doing a handstand and walking like that for a few moments.

The room they were in was dark, and the only light source was the few wall torches that Azula had lit herself. She never liked bright rooms, she told the others. Mai had agreed with her, causing Ty Lee to roll her eyes at the two girls. She never understood how Mai could be so boring.

Ty Lee noticed Azula's torch lit smirk. "Soon, Ty Lee. Once I get the news about the avatar's whereabouts I was promised, we'll set out for our little hunt."

Zuko sat quietly with no reply to Azula. She had no idea how much guilt he was starting to feel. No matter how hard he tried, Prince Zuko couldn't forget Iroh's voice replaying itself again and again in his mind.

A voice in the back of his thoughts told him that Azula was playing another one of her tricks on him like she had before. He didn't want to believe it, no matter how realistic it sounded to him.

What am I thinking? Zuko asked himself. He felt so close to getting what he'd been striving for all of his life . . .

His fathers love.

Everybody had gotten separate rooms in the hotel, Katara being placed in room 302. Falling backwards on her bed, she sighed in relief. It was nice to have a bed to sleep on for once. Katara's eyes grew heavy, slowly blinking shut. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so comfortable.

Katara didn't know how long they would all be staying in Silent Hill, but she knew that it couldn't be too long. Despite being out in the middle of nowhere, Katara felt that they were never hard to track down behind the eyes of a determined firebender.

Sleep getting the best of her, her thoughts slipped just as the sky seemed to clear, letting the sun warm the surface of her skin as it had many times before, shining brightly through her window.

An hour had drifted by before Katara began to have a strange dream. This time, it didn't consist of Prince Zuko or the war. Not even Aang.

She was surrounded by darkness, and she was cold and terrified. Goosebumps decorated her skin as she shivered, crouching on a damp, hotel floor. She was in some sort of room that looked oddly like her hotel room. As her vision cleared, she noticed that several candles filled the entire bedroom. Who could've done this?

After blinking several times, Katara noticed that in the dim light of the room, the walls were covered in blood and rust. Her head heart, but only enough to feel as if her sinuses had been irritated and the aches and pains were just lingering. There was a girl standing in front of her, covered in bloody clothes that were old and torn.

"Who are you??" Katara asked, wondering why everything was so bloody as she spoke.

The girl didn't answer. Instead, she pointed behind Katara.

The candles in the room flickered as the waterbender heard something approaching her from behind. She had no idea what it was, but Katara felt too horrified to turn around and look.

Whatever was approaching her sounded like a small child crying, and Katara instantly felt somewhat relieved.

"A little boy???" Katara wondered aloud as the girl pointing disappeared without her noticing.

The boy wiped the tears from his eyes with one hand while the other rested naturally at his side. Katara knelt down in front of him.

"Are you okay?" Katara felt that she probably wouldn't get an answer this time either. Everything in this dream was just so strange . . .

To her surprise, the little boy sniffled as he answered. "My mommy won't wake up."

Katara didn't understand what a woman and her son would be doing in a place like this, but she wasn't going to leave the boy all alone.

"Is she hurt?" Katara asked, watching the boy as he began to fidget with something in his pocket.

"No. Mommy is just sleeping." The boy looked up at Katara's face. As soon as their eyes met, Katara cried out in pain due to a terrible headache that seemed to emit from the boy.

Katara knelt even further to the floor, her head in her hands. The little boy watched, enjoying the scene. The floor around Katara began to darken, growing more and more gruesome to look at.

"Her name is Alessa --- Alessa Gillespie."

Katara's heart pounded.

What is happening to me?!

Strangely enough, her headache disappeared for the boy was gone. Opening her eyes, Katara was back where she was before she had fallen asleep, safely in her normal hotel room.

She shot up from the warmth of her bed instantly, checking the walls. To her relief, there was no blood or rust. Instead, she felt something in her hand. Katara picked up a small doll that was blood-stained --- just how she had expected her walls to be. It smiled eerily, sending a frightening sensation throughout Katara's body. She didn't feel safe anymore.

Katara threw the doll to the floor, scared and confused. She was at a loss for words and wondered how on earth the doll had ended up in her hand.

This time, she couldn't think of an excuse to calm her down.

Remembering the boy from her dream, Katara stared at the doll nervously.

Her name is Alessa --- Alessa Gillespie.

Katara began to wonder if going to Silent Hill was ever a good idea in the first place. Too frightened to move, she cradled her legs against her chest, just as she did the night before.

Due to her fear of having another nightmare, Katara didn't sleep that night. Instead, she had practiced her waterbending outside where Appa and Momo were left to sleep. Katara used the water Aang had gotten in the forest until early sunrise. Her motions weren't as swift and fluid as they usually were. Katara's hands shook, and her mind clouded. Her nightmare haunted her, only because of its strangeness and the fact that she found a doll covered with blood in her hand --- she believed it to have somehow been from her dream.

The waterbender wondered why she would dream about two people that she had never met before. She didn't understand her headaches, either. Katara couldn't find reasonable answers.

"How am I going to explain this to everyone?" Katara asked herself. Perhaps she would just show them the doll, and explain to them that she didn't feel safe anymore.

Would they think I was just overreacting?

Feeling exhausted, Katara directed the water back into her canteen that she had placed it in before the she had left with the others on their trip to Silent Hill.

"Katara? What are you doing outside so early?" A friendly voice asked.

Turning on heel, Katara quickly ran to Aang and pulled him into a huge hug.

"I don't know where to start. . ." Katara said quietly, Aang's face scrunched up in confusion.

Stepping back, Katara looked at her friend, who felt concerned for her.

"What happened, Katara?" Aang asked.

"Aang, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but you have to believe me." Katara started, hoping that Aang would take her seriously.

"You can talk to me about anything. Please tell me what happened!"

"Well . . . I think that room my room is haunted." Katara answered quietly.

(A/N: There wasn't much Zutara I could put in my first chapter, but since I'm a HUGE Zutara shipper, there will certainly be a lot more as the story progresses. There is also the fact that I have to keep everyone true to their characters. I didn't plan for the first chapter to be scary yet --- my next chapter will be the beginning of the "terror" that makes up Silent Hill. (o) Yay!!! I'll be introducing a few monsters that tend to be the scariest part of Silent Hill . . . Mwahahahah!!! lol, Band does things to ya.  I just joined my school's band in January. Well, I should get started on my next chapter!)

TTFN