Te fact that I'm driving my childhood heroes straight into hell is proof that I'm crazy. Don't worry though, they'll return to the real world only a little worse for wear. I do not own MegaMan X or Silent Hill. They are owned, respectively, by Capcom and Konami. I have not played any of the Silent Hill games, but by reading online guides, plot analysis, finding maps, and reading Fanfiction I think I have a half baked idea of what Silent Hill is like. I know that in reality I have no idea what its like however. To understand something, one must experience it first hand. Unfortunately, as much as I would like to experience Silent Hill for myself, I cannot. I don't own the music that I've chosen for the opening and closing.

Opening: Polaris, by Jimmy Eat World

CHaPteR oNE; return to sender

He was in the hall again. The blood splattered hall that did nothing to quell his foreboding. His feet moved without permission, dragging him toward the wooden stair case and eventually down them. He knew what was going to happen, and he knew there wasn't a thing he could do to stop it. He stepped into the basement as the entire house caught on fire, sparked by his entrance to the room. Iris was there, being held by something evil that was shaped like him. She called out his name and reached for his hand, begging for rescue, but the green hued saber in the shadow's hand silenced her. Irises head slowly rolled off of her destroyed body, bouncing once on the hard cement floor. Her cold, lifeless eyes seemed to scream out to him as the shadow laughed. His temper flared, and he dashed toward the shadow to take his revenge. Unfortunately, that's when the building above collapsed and crushed him…

"Hey Zero, snap out of it. The briefings started."

The crimson hunter slowly opened his eyes. Beside him, MegaMan X and Axl were trying to quietly wake him as their assignments were handed out. Zero quickly snapped to attention as his name was called out.

"Maverick Hunter Zero!"

"Sir?"

"You've got the week off, as do Hunters MegaMan X, Axl, Dash Hendrix, Issen Kaze…" The Spotter in charge continued to rattle off the names of off duty hunters. Zero began to ignore her and started to think about his vacation time. Axl smiled at the announcement of his time off. He'd been planning on taking a small road trip via Ride Chaser, and this day seemed like as good as any. X simply sighed. As much as he disliked fighting, it was better than doing nothing while Mavericks were still trying to maim the innocent people of the world. As the briefing finished, Zero trudged back to his quarters in search of rest. As he entered the room, he reflexively reached out to flip the light switch on. He froze when he saw Iris's coolant coated body lying in his capsule.

"Oh God…" He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the horrid sight. It followed into his mind however, showing itself over and over in a cruel slide show.

"Zero? What's wrong Zero?" X nudged him gently, causing the hunter to quickly turn around out of shock. He let out a startled cry as he fell backwards and accidentally flicked the light switch on. X was instantly by his friend's side, trying to help him to his feet. "Zero! You okay?"

The reploid shook his head. "No X, I'm not…" He looked over to his capsule. The body was gone.

"Do… you wanna talk about it?"

"For the billionth time, no X. It's nothing."

The blue clad hunter shook his head. "Zero, whatever it is, it's driving you insane. You can't sleep, you hardly eat, and everyone is starting to notice how you nod off in the middle of missions. You're putting yourself at risk, and I don't like it! Zero, come on. I'm your best friend! You can tell me…"

Zero sighed in defeat. X wouldn't let up until he told him anyway, so he might as well get it over and done with now. "Fine. Every time I go to sleep, I see this blood covered hallway. I follow it to the end and the entire place goes up in flames as I go down a set of stairs. When I get all the way down, something that looks like me is holding Iris. She begs me to help her and the thing cuts her head off. That's it, okay? You happy now?!"

X lowered his head. After the crimson hunter had returned from the grave for the second time, a few of his memories had been a bit scrambled. He had hoped that Zero had forgotten the Repliforce incident, but fate wasn't that kind. "Zero… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…"

"Ah, its okay X. I know everyone is worried about me, but it'll go away in time. I'm sure of it."

X smiled slightly. "Yeah, but still… Iris was the one thing that you had besides the Maverick Hunters. When she died… I was kinda scared that you would quit." He laughed, thinking back on his over reactions to Zero's depressed behavior. "But that's not the Zero I know. My only concern is, why now? You could have had these dreams of yours earlier on, like in the last three uprisings…"

"Yeah, that's got me bothered too X. Ah, whatever. I'll take a nap before I think about it anymore."

X grimaced at that. "You sure you'll be okay? I mean, you might have that nightmare again."

Zero ignored X's facial expression and walked over to his personal capsule. "Thanks X, but even if I do, I'll just…" It was then that Zero noticed the envelope placed inside of his capsule. "Oh great. X, come check this out. Another fan letter from who knows where."

"What? Another one already? Jeez, you're more popular than I am!" X slowly shook his head in dismay. "It's got to be the hair, Zero. You need to cut that pony tail off if you want them to leave you alone."

Zero mocked shock and clutched the blonde length of hair. "There's no way in hell that I'd ever cut it! Guess I'll just have to suffer the consequences." With a smirk, he released his pony tail and punched the open button on his capsule. The slight hiss of pressurized gasses being expelled from it accompanied the rising fiberglass cover. Still smirking, he picked up the envelope. "Shall we see who wrote me this time?"

"Sure. Maybe it's that hunter from the 7th unit again. Remember her last letter?"

Zero laughed heartily. "Oh yeah! The one where she called us soul mates, and told me that we should meet at Konami Burger in the dead of night, slip away and make out passionately until the break of dawn?"

"Yup! She should have actually written your name in the letter. I still can't believe Douglass fell for that and went out there to meet her!"

There was a moment of silence before the two were overtaken by hysterics. They were still doubled over in laughter when Axl entered the room. He simply stared at the two friends as they tried and failed to calm themselves.

"Hey you two, what's so funny?"

After a moment of biting his tongue, Zero found that he was able to speak again. "Hey Axl… We were just remembering that last fan letter I got."

"Oh yeah! That was awesome. We should really do that more often!" The youthful hunter laughed shortly before noticing the envelope in Zero's hand. "I take it you've got another one?"

"Yeah, and I was just about to open it too."

"Well, open it already!"

Axl came in closer to inspect the white envelope, as did X. Out of curiosity Zero turned it over in his hands to check if there was a return address on the back. To his surprise, there were words in blood red ink on the back instead of the usual blank white.

"Return to sender? What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

X smiled and shrugged his blue padded shoulders. "Maybe whoever left it in your capsule wants it returned by you in person."

"Maybe." Zero shrugged as well and flipped the envelope over. Inserting a finger into the tab, he quickly ripped through the glue that sealed it closed and pulled out the letter. As he unfolded the letter, a flower fell out that X stooped to pick up.

"The heck? It's a dried Iris…"

Axl and Zero gave him a questioning look. "A dried Iris?"

"Yeah. I spent a little time learning about plant life when I was first activated. Flowers can be dried out for a number of uses. Girls mostly use dried flowers for perfume and stuff like that."

"Oh. Okay…" Axl scratched the back of his helmet, surprised that X knew stuff like that. "Anyway, what does the letter say Zero?"

Clearing his throat, Zero began reading the letter aloud. "Dear Zero, -well, that throws fooling Douglass again out the window- I've missed you? That's a little different. Normally they start professing love in the first sentence."

"Maybe it's a Reploid we've rescued in the past?" X nodded, urging Zero to continue.

"Yeah, you're probably right." He returned his attention to the letter. "Ever since you left me, I've been waiting for you at Silent Hill. It's lonely here, but everyone is really nice to me since I'm new. Would you come and visit me? I know it's out of the blue, but I feel like I need to see you. Everyone here would love to meet you after everything I've told them. Bring X if you can, because I'm sure they'd like him to come too. Love…"

Zero stopped in mid-sentence. The 'color' drained from his face as he partially crushed the letter in his hand and began to shake violently.

"Zero?! What's wrong? Oh crap!" X lunged to catch the red armored hero as he shut down from shock. The letter slowly drifted to the floor as X and Axl tried to revive their friend. At the very bottom of the letter, the name Iris resided.

When Zero woke up, he was in the repair bay under the watchful eye of Life Saver.

"Ugh…" He rolled his head to the right to get the lights out of his eyes as they recalibrated themselves. Slowly, he brought himself up into a sitting position as he took in his surroundings.

"Welcome back to the conscious world Zero." Life Saver smiled happily as he approached the dazed Reploid. "You gonna to live?"

"Shouldn't you know Life Saver?" Zero bit out the physician's name with a note of sarcasm in his voice. He heaved a sigh before truly answering him. "Yeah, I'll live. Where's X?"

"He's in the command center with Axl and Alia, trying to analyze that letter you were reading when you shut down."

"Thanks. I'll see you later."

Before the good doctor could protest, Zero dashed out of the room and headed for the elevator. He quickly pushed the button labeled 'CC' and waited for the lift to start moving. When it did, he quickly shut his eyes as his internal systems fully recalibrated themselves. When he opened them, he wished he hadn't. The elevator was suddenly drenched with a red liquid. Zero had a pretty good idea what it was, though he hoped it wasn't. He instantly shut his eyes again, forcing the nightmarish vision away. He opened his eyes again when the elevator reached the appropriate level and dinged as the doors opened. Stepping out into the large command center, he waved to Signas and Alia.

"Zero! It's good to see you up and at 'em again, but shouldn't you be resting?" The reprimand came from Signas, who was sitting at his desk.

"I don't need rest." Zero bit out the words harshly, causing the Hunter General to blanch slightly. "Alia, did you find anything yet?"

Alia looked up from her constant typing. "You mean about the letter? We've confirmed that the hand writing is Iris's by matching it with samples from the reports she submitted while working for the 0th unit's Spotter Division. I've also looked up the town mentioned in the letter, Silent Hill. It's not on any current maps, so I looked it up on some of the older maps from pre-Reploid times. Nothing yet, but I'll keep searching. X and Axl were on their way to grab some coffee for me, so they'll be back in a little bit."

Zero calmed a little and took a seat. "Did you find anything else out about the letter?"

"Um… No, not really. We sent it down to Life Saver for analysis of the ink it used. Still, it's strange that whoever wrote it to you used red ink."

"Yeah…" Zero nodded, letting the silence settle over the room as he thought. 'At least I'm finally getting some information. Still… The writing matched Iris's own? How can that be? Every reploid is given a distinct fingerprint, style of writing, and DNA data so it can't be a copy. Does that mean Iris is alive?! No, it's not possible. I killed her. She died in my arms. I saw the life drain from her eyes! There's no possible way… Could this all have something to do with my dream?' He continued to think as he waited for X and Axl to return. The two entered after a few minutes of waiting and instantly barraged him with questions.

"Hey! Calm down guys, I'm fine!"

"No you're not! You need rest!" X and Axl had shouted the same sentences at exactly the same time, causing them to blink and look at each other. "Who asked you?!"

"Wow. It's scary how you two act so much alike when you think about it."

X roared in disagreement, while Axl just looked confused. The former began to emit a very dangerous feeling aura as he glared daggers into his best friend. "That's ridiculous!"

"Uh, hey guy's?" Alia waved at them from her console, trying to get their attention.

"Well, he acts rashly sometimes like you used to before you matured."

X recoiled in embarrassment. "What?! I've never acted rashly!"

"Oh? How 'bout when you tried to chase down Storm Eagle's flying fortress and got the crap beat out of you by Vile?"

X rapidly opened and closed his mouth, trying to come up with some kind of a response to Zero's example. Unfortunately for X, any comebacks were cut off when Alia finally got their attention by playfully tossing a wad of paper at the blue hunter's head.

"Good. Now that I've got your attention, I've got something on this Silent Hill place." As she spoke, the entire group turned their attention to the big screen monitor where Alia displayed the information. "Evidently, sometime in the later nineteen hundreds, the town of Silent Hill became a ghost town of sorts. The police of Brahms, a nearby town, cut off all access to it after a series of bizarre incidents. No detail is ever really given about what happened, but several tabloid articles claim that the people in the town were abducted by Aliens and mutated into creatures. A few crazy people made it into Silent Hill, only to come out with unbelievable tales of horror or not at all. I've got a list of everyone who went missing if you'd like to hear it."

X shook his head as he turned away from the screen. "No thanks Alia. Do you have its location yet?"

She smiled as X looked at her. "As a matter of fact, I do. It's in North America, the eastern portion of the United States. I'd give you a visual of it, but there's too much electrical interference to pull up anything clear from our satellites."

Axl furrowed his brow. "Electrical interference? Like a lightning storm of some kind?"

"More like a very weak EMP net that covers a wide area. It's messing up our satellites over most of North America, even though it's a relatively small storm. This same storm also makes it almost impossible to safely teleport directly to the city, so the only way to approach it is by Ride Chaser. A few scans revealed that the EMP isn't strong enough to hurt the average Reploid though, so we should be fine."

Signas suddenly stood up. "Hey, who said any of you were going there anyway? For all we know, it could be a trap."

X nodded in agreement. "Signas is right. We have no idea what we're getting ourselves into. There's not enough information to ensure our safety."

Zero was totally against waiting however. He slammed a fist into Alia's console for effect before speaking. "To hell with safety! I want to know who the heck wrote this stupid letter so I can cut their head off and put it on the top of my capsule as a reminder not to screw with my head like this!"

Signas shook his head. "I'm sorry Zero, but I can't let you go there. Just wait until the storm clears up and Alia can check for Mavericks in the general vicinity."

"Wait Signas." Alia suddenly brought up something akin to a weather report that showed a blank representation of North America with a few clouds over it. "From the latest reports, this storm has been going for about a month, and probably won't let up for quite a while. The strange thing is, there haven't been any reports of rain fall since it started. Just lightning and nothing else."

Suddenly, a realization struck Zero. 'A month ago? That's when I started to have that dream…'

Axl frowned. "Something is weird about this whole thing. First a letter from a dead Reploid, then a town that was cut off from the outside world, and now a storm over that same town which hasn't let up for a month but also hasn't dropped any rain."

"It's too weird." Alia agreed. She looked to X, who gave her a questioning glance in return.

Zero shook his head as if to clear away any useless thoughts. "Look, you guy's don't have to come. I planned on going alone anyway."

The room was silent with the exception of the gentle hum of the huge monitors. All eyes were locked on Zero, who gave a half hearted smile.

"What? Someone is after me and me alone. I don't want to endanger you guys."

X sighed. "Your forgetting that the letter also mentioned me, remember? Something about everyone wanting to meet me?"

"Oh. Yeah…" Zero deflated somewhat. "If you want to come, I won't stop you."

"Does that mean I can come?" Axl grinned as he twirled his pistol.

X immediately voiced his disapproval. "No Axl. We need some SA ranked hunters to stay behind and help out."

"X, we've got over fifty SA ranked hunters on standby. Axl, you can do whatever you want." Before Axl could say anything, Zero held up his index finger to silence him. "Within reason of course."

As Axl mocked a pout, Signas spoke once more. "I still haven't given anyone permission to go there."

"Um, sir? They're currently off duty for the next two weeks." Alia smiled sheepishly and blushed before speaking. "And… so am I." She shifted her gaze downward, occasionally glancing at X. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that she wanted to go with him. X didn't notice however.

Signas planted his face in his palms, a sign that he was breaking. "And I suppose you want to used vacation time and a few Ride Chasers to get to Silent Hill."

Zero smiled devilishly. "Only if you'll allow it."

"Yeah right. You'll steal the Ride Chasers and blow the hanger doors off if I don't let you go." Signas laughed humorlessly. He had a terrible feeling about this whole ordeal, but he really had no choice. "Hunters X, Zero, and Axl. You have permission to teleport to the Hunter branch in Nevada and take three Ride Chasers to investigate Silent Hill."

"Thank-you sir." Axl grinned as he and Zero dashed out the door and into the elevator, waiting for X to join them. X, however, was still hesitant.

"Sir, are you sure we're doing the right thing? It could still be a trap, and without the teleportation systems we'd be stranded."

"I know that X. I can't shake the feeling that something's wrong either, but I've got no choice. Zero would go even if I ordered him to stay here, and Axl would be right behind him. You know that. If someone did set a trap for you and Zero, then I hope Axl will be enough back-up for you two."

X sighed heavily. "We'll deal with any complications somehow. We shouldn't be gone for too long if this is just some hoax. See you guys in a few days." X turned to leave, waving over his shoulder as he left.

Alia sighed. He still hadn't noticed that she like him. He hadn't even said goodbye to her personally, and instead he just waved to them. Signas wasn't blind. He knew that she liked X ever since the fifth uprising started, but X was blind to it. For a person that was supposedly the most powerful Reploid in existence, and also the original Reploid to boot, X had his own set of faults including a lack of social knowledge. True, he was one of the most literate Hunters and could probably recite every single work Shakespeare wrote, but he was a klutz at expressing and noticing the feelings of others. It took something drastically out of character to make him notice that something was amiss.

"Alia, go with them."

Alia bolted upright, turning to face her commander. "S-signas?"

"You heard me Alia. I'll probably regret sending you with them, but go. I know you want to follow them, so just go."

"Signas… Uh, thanks, but what about the Hunters? And what am I supposed to do to help them?"

"We've got other spotters Alia, and I don't expect you to do anything. You're supposed to be on vacation, and I know you wanted to go with them so just go before the leave without you!"

"Yes sir." Alia stood up from her seat and saluted him before running for the elevator. She stopped at the door however. "And… thank-you…"

"Your welcome." Signas smiled as she left. "Just come back safely you idiots."

Alia rushed to catch up with X. The hallways rushed past her as she ran at top speed. It would have been faster to use EAS, but she hadn't been equipped with it. Her template normally came without the Emergency Acceleration System because they worked at desk jobs, so equipping it would not be cost effective. Fortunately, Alia's lack of speed allowed Life Savor to catch up with her.

"Alia!" He hailed her, holding a plastic bag in his hands. "Wait up!"

She quickly turned on her heels and faced him. "I don't have much time, Life. X and Zero are about to take off without me."

"Then I'll make this brief. The letter was written in human and Reploid blood."

"What?! That's just sick!"

Life Saver shook his head. "I know. I found human DNA and the chemical composition of a common coolant used in machines, the life blood of Reploids. There's no mistaking it. Tell Zero to punch out the sick freak that did this for me. Oh, and give the letter to him. Since it says return to sender, it might be important somehow that he brings it with him."

"Okay Life Saver. Thanks!" Alia grabbed the bag that held the letter and ran for the nearest transporter station. Life Saver smiled as he turned around and returned to his lab, whistling on they way.

'Maybe she'll finally be able to tell X that she like him…'

X straddled his Ride Chaser and started its engine. The roar of its powerful motor filled the hanger's massive void, and was soon joined by Zero and Axl's own Ride Chasers. The desert flats outside of the hanger beckoned them to get moving, and they would happily oblige. X was about to pull his Chaser out of the hanger when he heard his name called.

"Huh?" The blue bomber turned his head toward the source of the voice, which turned out to be Alia. She ran up to him and hunched over instantly, breathing in and out deeply in an attempt to cool her systems off. Her face was flushed as well, as the coolant in her 'veins' rushed about her body. "Alia, are you okay?"

"Yeah… I-I'm fine. Life Saver wants me to give you guys the letter." She held it out for him to accept. Her face slowly returned to its normal color, as did her breathing patterns. "X, that letter was written in blood from both humans and Reploids…"

"Don't tell me we've got a psychopath on our hands…"

"I didn't believe it either when Life Saver told me, but...

"He's too good to mistake it for anything else. Whoever did this… is just as heartless as Sigma! Killing both humans and Reploids just to screw with Zero's head…"

"I know X… and… and that's why I'm coming with you."

"What?!" Zero and Axl yelled the question at the top of their lungs, causing X to fall off his Ride Chaser in surprise.

"X, are you okay?!" Alia rushed around the bike and offered him a hand, which he gratefully accepted.

"Thanks Alia… Are you sure about this? I don't want you to get hurt…"

Alia shook her head. "X, Signas told me to go with you. For what exactly I don't know, but still…"

"If you're sure about it Alia…"

"X, if it makes you feel better, I'll stay near the Ride Chasers and let you guy's handle everything once we get there."

"Well, okay. These bikes are only meant to seat one, so I'll have the mechanics here prep another Ride Chaser." Turning from her, he put a hand up to the side of his mouth to try and amplify his voice. "Hey Frank! We need another Ride Chaser!"

The Reploid mechanic turned his head. "No can do X! Signas said three Ride Chasers, and that's all you're getting!"

"But we just got another person in our group! What are we going to do?"

"Have her ride behind you, dofus!" With that, Frank walked out of the hanger and locked the door behind him.

Alia huffed in annoyance. "What's his problem?"

X laughed. "Oh, we just interrupted his nap earlier."

"Oh, is that all? From the way he acted, it seemed like you had pulled the same stunt on him like you did to Douglass last week!" She giggled, but lowered her gaze slightly when he looked straight at her. "Oh well. I don't really know how to drive a Ride Chaser anyway."

"Um… That's okay. You can ride with anyone you like, right Zero?" X had turned his head toward his comrade's last position, only to find that they had already left. "Guys?"

"Uh… I-it's alright X. I'd prefer to ride with you anyway." She turned her head away to try and hide the blush that now decorated her cheeks.

"Uh, are you sure? I'm not the best of drivers, and I can go pretty fast sometimes. Are you sure you want to ride with me?"

"Yeah. You're the only one I really trust on these things." Alia smiled, tilting her head slightly and winking at him. Her blush was still there, albeit barely.

"Okay then." X mounted the Ride Chaser again and motioned for her to sit behind him. "Just be sure and hold on tight."

Alia slid her legs over the bike, wrapped her arms around X's waist and pulled herself close to his back, causing the mighty blue bomber to turn a shade of red as her chest pushed into him. "Don't worry about me X. I'm a big girl."

'You didn't have to tell me that. I think I already knew it…' With his face still the color of Zero's armor, X gunned the Ride Chaser out of the hanger. He could barely see Axl and Zero in the distance. Catching up would take a lot of speed... "Hang on, Alia!"

Not understanding completely, Alia yelped as the afterburners kicked in. She pulled herself into X's back for the rest of the trip, making him blush even harder.

closing: Here is gone by the Goo Goo Dolls (Gutterflower album)

Yeah... The first chapter is slow. I'll have the next chapter out in a few days, but that's because I'm already finished with it and half of the third chapter.