Hello :)
This is my first crossover fanfic. A challenge issued by FirstChakraUser. So this is dedicated to them. Some parts will be told in Sasuke's POV, while other parts will be written generally. Please enjoy. :)
Disclaimer: Alan Wake belongs to Remedy, and Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I don't own either, but I adore them both.
Two Sides of the Same Coin
Chapter One – It Began With A Dream
'Nightmares exist outside of logic, and there's little fun to be had in explanations. They're antithetical to the poetry of fear. In a horror story, the victim keeps asking why, but there can be no explanation, and there shouldn't be one. The unanswered mystery is what stays with us the longest, and is what we'll remember in the end' – Stephen King.
My name is Sasuke Uchiha… I'm a writer.
I've always had a very active imagination. But this one dream I had, it really unsettled me. It was weird, crazy, even by my standards. So, as cliché as it sounds, it all began with a dream. Following a typical nightmare pattern, it was nightfall. Fog settled close to the ground as I sped to reach my destination – a lighthouse – for some reason that eluded me. I know it was urgent. I was speeding along a coastal road, traveling through a tunnel… and I saw him too late.
Pulling over, I ran up to the hitchhiker sprawled out on the road. Checking his vital signs, my heart lurched when I realized that there were none. I don't know what hit me harder: The guilt that I'd killed someone, or the thought that I might not see her again. I was convinced that they'd lock me up, and I'd never see Sakura again.
Suddenly, the headlights on my car switched off. I turned back, startled. But that wasn't the worst part. When I looked back down, the hitchhiker's body had disappeared. Scrambling to my feet, I looked around anxiously. My eyes were wide, and my heart beat like a jackhammer.
What was going on?
The shock was still setting in, and he was finding it difficult to stay on his feet. Sasuke stepped forward, slowly settling into a walk, and building up into a jog. Sasuke glanced out to the side, and noticed a tall building with bright lighting. The lighthouse. He still had to reach the lighthouse.
Stepping out onto a wooden walkway, Sasuke happened to turn around. There back at his car, was a black mass. Human in shape. With his heart in his throat, Sasuke realized it was the hitchhiker. Surrounded by pulsating darkness, the hitchhiker wielded an axe. In a heartbeat, he was in front of Sasuke.
With no way to defend himself, Sasuke turned and ran. The hitchhiker was slow, and Sasuke maintained a steady lead. Running, Sasuke jumped off the edge of the walkway and continued running. Approaching a gate, he stopped abruptly when the hitchhiker appeared in front of him.
"You reached your deadline…" He growled. The hitchhiker sounded inhuman, his voice fluctuating in tone with every word. It was demonic, to say the least.
After dodging his swinging axe attacks a few times, the hitchhiker laughed ominously and disappeared. It was then that Sasuke realized something. That hitchhiker was a character from a story that Sasuke had been writing. Continuing forward, Sasuke broke into a sprint for the closest light source. In his dream induced realization he figured that light was the safest place from his attacker.
"How does it feel to die at the hands of your own creation?" The hitchhiker appeared once again behind Sasuke.
Sasuke's heart thudded in response. Suddenly the hitchhiker was engulfed by this tornado of shadows. The tornado gave chase, and Sasuke ran for all he was worth. Lights shattered as Sasuke reached them, and he swerved to avoid the falling broken glass. Reaching a bridge, Sasuke stepped cautiously out and continued forward, although he was only jogging now.
"This way! This way!" A man standing on the other side of the bridge called out, waving his arms. Sasuke hesitated, but obliged.
"Hurry!" He shouted again, and Sasuke ran up to him, panting. As soon as Sasuke stepped off the bridge, it collapsed. Sasuke watched it as it fell, and turned back to the stranger.
"Mr. Uchiha, don't you remember? It's me, Kankuro Sabaku", the man looked fearful and panic stricken. Sasuke gave him a blank stare. He had never seen this Kankuro man before. How did he know him?
"Quickly, there's no time to lose! Get inside", Kankuro pointed to the small cabin next to them, and Sasuke nodded, running towards the small dully lit building. Kankuro turned around, wielding a gun and preparing to protect himself against the shadow, still pursuing Sasuke.
The tornado rematerialized as the hitchhiker in front of Kankuro, and Sasuke peered out the window. Kankuro ran up to the door and attempted to open it, only to discover it was locked. Sasuke rattled the doorknob, desperate to open the door. Kankuro pounded it with his fists a few times before turning his attention back to the hitchhiker. Sasuke watched on as Kankuro fired the gun, attempting to kill it.
"Die, damn you!" His voice raised with panic as the bullets didn't even so much as make the hitchhiker flinch. The hitchhiker raised his axe above his head and brought it down on Kankuro, earning a scream of pain. Kankuro fell to the floor and the hitchhiker axed him a few times to be sure he was dead. Sasuke gasped and stepped back slightly. The hitchhiker looked up and stared indifferently at Sasuke, sauntering up to the door.
Sasuke looked around the old cabin, searching for anything that could ward off the hitchhiker. The TV in the room switched on by itself, and Sasuke stifled a scream and turned around. On the screen was an eye, piercing blue and filled with murderous intent.
"Die, die, die…" A voice chanted ominously, seemingly coming from every direction. Sasuke's heart was pounding in his chest as he frantically looked around for something, anything, to defend himself with.
The chanting suddenly cut off into hysterical and maniacal cackling and Sasuke's breathing quickened and his eyes widened. He had to get out of there. The entire cabin shuddered and Sasuke screamed. The lights flickered off and a set of moose horns hanging above the door fell. The cabin was now a death trap, and Sasuke struggled to stand steadily and find a way out. The sound of glass shattering and the roar of darkness filled Sasuke's ears and he felt a sharp pain. If he didn't escape, he was going to die.
Suddenly a brilliant light caused Sasuke to flinch and shield his eyes. His head was throbbing, and his vision was blurred, but Sasuke was able to still move, albeit barely.
"Follow the light", a disembodied voice ordered, and Sasuke didn't hesitate to obey. He followed it safely out of the cabin and into the presently calm darkness.
"You are hurt. You should go into the light. You are only safe there", the voice said, and once again the shining light signaled where Sasuke had to go. A streetlight flickered on and Sasuke wasted no time in reaching it. Any safety from the hitchhiker was welcomed. He limped over and bathed in the warm glow of the light, feeling his pain ebb away and vision return clearly.
The blinding light returned and Sasuke looked up to regard it. Obviously it was his ally, and Sasuke realized he had to trust it if it meant he would get out of there alive.
"Well done. I have something important to tell you. It goes like this: For he did not know, that beyond the lake he called home, lies a deeper, darker ocean green, where waves are both wilder, and more serene. To its ports, I've been. To its ports, I've been. Do you understand?" The disembodied voice asked, the light flickering with every word.
"… No", Sasuke replied, regarding the light with eyes wide.
"Follow my light", the voice ordered, shining the light down on the broken stairway. The pieces shuddered and levitated up, forming the stairway that it once was.
"I entered your dream to teach you that the darkness is dangerous. It's sleeping now. When it heard you coming, it woke up. There's no time. I can only show you the most important thing", the voice said, and Sasuke walked down the stairway and looked around.
"This way, there's no time", the disembodied voice ordered, and Sasuke once again followed the light.
"You must follow me now. The hitchhiker has been taken over by the dark presence", the voice said, and its light moved until the hitchhiker appeared from thin air, ready to kill Sasuke.
"You can't hurt him now. The darkness protects him from all harm. Only light can drive the darkness away and make him vulnerable again. Here, take the light", the voice ordered, and Sasuke watched as the light shone on a tree stump, a little black device falling gently from the light above. Sasuke soon realized it to be a flashlight, and he walked up and took it carefully.
"Turn the flashlight toward him, and burn the darkness away", the voice encouraged, and Sasuke obliged. The hitchhiker hadn't attacked yet, most likely because of the light, but flinched in pain when the flashlight's beam made contact, his veil of darkness starting to break away. Sasuke increased the power of the light and the shroud of shadows broke away completely, the hitchhiker raising his arm feebly to shield his eyes.
"You did it. Now the darkness no longer protects him, but it's still inside, controlling him. He can't be saved. He is still a threat, he is still your enemy. Here, take the gun", the voice ordered. Sasuke turned back to the light on the tree stump and watched the gun fall gently much like the flashlight had moments ago. Sasuke hesitated.
"Pick up the revolver", the voice repeated, more urgently. Sasuke picked it up gently and turned it on the hitchhiker.
"Now you'll die", the hitchhiker growled, his voice still fluctuating with every word. He charged, and Sasuke pulled the trigger. The hitchhiker recoiled, pained by the bullet penetrating his unprotected being. A few more bullets were fired, and the hitchhiker let out another cry and dissipated into nothingness, leaving not even so much as a corpse. No evidence he ever existed.
"Good. You've done well", the voice praised, and Sasuke faced the light with the gun trembling in his hands.
"Remember what I've taught you. That it all. I will give you back your dream now", the voice said, and the light soared away and disappeared.
In the nightmare, a terrible darkness was taking over the world. The lighthouse was the last safe place on Earth.
Sasuke watched as the gate opened and he realized that he was on his own to reach the lighthouse now.
"You made me this way, and now I'm gonna kill you…" A demonic voice growled, and another one of the creatures like the hitchhiker before came up from the ground. Sasuke turned the flashlight's beam on him and drove the darkness away. Wielding the gun, he took down this one much like he had the hitchhiker before.
As he continued on his way to the lighthouse, more of the creatures tried to interfere and stop him. Sasuke fought them off, intent on reaching his goal. As one jumped out from behind a bush, Sasuke destroyed the darkness enveloping him and ran to the streetlight ahead while the creature was still dazed.
He jumped of a ledge and landed with only a little bit of difficulty, realizing he was nearly at the lighthouse.
"You're dead, just like me…" This time, three of the creatures rose from the shadows. Sasuke prepared himself, not ready to let anything stop him from reaching his destination. One tried to sneak up on him from the side while he focused on the other two, but Sasuke wasn't stupid. Nor was he slow. In a matter of moments, all three of them were destroyed and Sasuke was clear to keep going.
"DIE!" Another one appeared, shouting his contempt and charging. Sasuke dispelled the darkness and only had to shoot him once before he lost his footing and fell into the abyss behind him. Sasuke heard his roar as he hit the bottom and was eliminated like his brethren before.
As Sasuke crossed the walkway and made it to the other side without harm, he saw that he was so close to the lighthouse and his mind started to go at ease.
"I could keep this up forever!" A demonic voice shouted, and Sasuke turned around only to see the tornado of shadows back once again and making its way to him, everything in its path being destroyed. Sasuke turned tail and ran. Although the flashlight had been effective before, he doubted it was strong enough to take down this enemy.
The darkness hurled barrels and cars at Sasuke, any way to stop him from reaching the lighthouse. Sasuke flinched as one made contact, searing pain spreading all through his body once again. But that wouldn't stop him. No matter what, he had to get there. Resolving to dodge any potential item that could be used as a weapon, Sasuke ran once again.
Being a writer had its upsides. But unfortunately, it also had his downsides. Sasuke's stamina was pretty bad, and he resolved to start working out once this whole ordeal was over.
More large objects were thrown, and a huge barrel missed him by a long shot. Sasuke ran up the stairs and squinted at the bright light seeping through the windows. The lighthouse – his safe haven from the tornado of shadows. He ran up to the door, panting from both fatigue and pain, and opened the door. The darkness banged on the door a few times, but soon gave up and disappeared into the light. Sasuke exhaled in relief and wandered further into the lighthouse. Shadows were cast all along the stone walls, and Sasuke looked up.
Without warning, the lights suddenly switched off and a dark mass fell towards Sasuke. He screamed, and everything went dark. The last thing he registered was a woman's voice, frail and old.
"He's here…"
Alright, first chapter complete. I'm going to have fun writing this. I hope the first chapter turned out okay, and you liked it. Please review and tell me your thoughts! :D