Rin here. So for this one, I've always wondered what a game of Silent Hill 1 would be like for the boys. We have Akira Yamaoka's dissonant industrial music, the absolute mindfuck that is Silent Hill, and the general creepiness of the setting along with clunky controls. As psychological horror, this should be one hell of a trip for them.

Also am considering Silent Hill 2 for later, as that plot and its symbolism can really get the boys talking.

As a side note, seems like this chapter decided it needed to run long for full effect, so it's a bit of a slow burn. Hope it works. =)

"This…this was a bad idea."

"No shit. You just thought that?"

"It was kinda funny at first. The controls and all…"

"I swear, Kyo. Next time one of your friends hand you a game, refuse."

"But it didn't look that –"

"You're hiding next to the couch, Kyo."

"You have your face behind the cushion, Yagami."

Iori didn't have a retort to that, because it was true. He did have his face behind the cushion like some little kid watching a horror movie. That was what this game was – an interactive horror movie. Except it was worse. Much worse. He could deal with gore and jump scares – those got boring after a while. But this? This game was pure unadulterated deep-in-your-bones terror, with darkness, blood, and rust hiding the unknown (that creeped him out the most) and the music wasn't helping.

"What the fuck is that sound? Is that even music?"

"It's something," he said, unsure what to even call it. "Think it's closer to your genre, Kyo."

"Rock doesn't have that…ugh. It sounds…"

"Yeah." He left it at that. While the controls were initially funny – Harry Mason moved like a tank (not that any of them knew anything about tanks – that was Ikari team) – it became less funny once they entered combat. Iori, who was neck deep into trying to stay alive, hated the fact that he couldn't simply plow through the myriad of enemies the game threw at him.

He also really, really hated the radio.

When Kyo had mentioned Silent Hill, some sixth sense in Iori told him that the name boded ill. It just didn't sound right. There was an inherent creepiness to it. Reading the summary on the box only confirmed this. He'd asked his rival – sometimes gaming partner (it was weird) – if he'd tried playing it first. The brunet shook his head, said something about getting through it together, and then started up the game. Iori let him have the controller, alarm bells going off in his head.

While the intro cutscene started off tame enough – Iori still didn't like the fact that Mason got into a car accident in Silent Hill in the first place – it became obvious that the town was fucking off. Mason's daughter, Cheryl, was no longer with him and the place was foggy (was that snow?). Kyo had said, "Let's just find her." If it was that easy, there'd be no game. As Mason ran down the empty streets, the sky (no, the area) around them began to darken.

Iori kept his eyes fixed on the television screen, foreboding twisting deep in his gut.

Then, the fucking air siren went off in the background.

"Is that…" His rival stood for a moment and went towards the surround sound speakers. Listened closely. "That's an air siren, Yagami."

"No shit."

"It's…it's slightly different. Kinda creepy."

"I think that's the point."

Kyo had returned, sitting back onto his cushion and looking a bit uneasy. "Uh…what's it for?"

"Continue and we'll find out."

So they did. They found out. Kyo had let out a startled "Sonovabitch!" and Iori went wide-eyed, unable to keep the words "Goddamn" locked behind his teeth. As the siren went on, Silent Hill got darker and darker and things happened that didn't make any logical sense. Rusted (or was that blood?) wire fencing, mangled corpses in gurneys, a bloody body on the wire fence, and then out of the fucking goddamn blue, children with knives going straight for Mason.

Kyo freaked. Iori couldn't even make fun of him for that.

Mason had no weapons.

The children got Mason. They watched him crumple to the pavement.

He'd expected an instant "Game Over".

However, that was only the beginning. Mason wasn't dead, there were other people in Silent Hill (a cop named Cybil), and then the game began in earnest in an abandoned café. Iori held out his hand for the controller, seeing his long-time rival actually on edge. Kyo Kusanagi had faced down Orochi, NESTS, and Ash Crimson with much arrogance, anger, and bravado; yet, this game was already doing a number on him.

Iori felt that it was going to do the same to him.

"Give it to me. Take a break."

He ended up regretting those words not long after.

He found the goddamn fucking radio in the café when he tried to leave. That led to enemy encounter number two, of which he couldn't escape from. The radio emitted static – static! – as the swooping bird-like demon (whatever the hell it was) made it its goal to kill Mason. Not only was it trying to kill Mason but it had made its grand entrance by smashing through the goddamn window just as Iori was investigating the radio's jittery sound.

Kyo went "Oh shit!" next to him.

Iori went through his preliminary weapons, a knife and a gun (one found in the café; the other given by the cop) and went for the pistol. The goddamn bird-thing wouldn't stop flying around, taking potshots at him. Mason really wasn't a fighter, which made Iori (who was) quite frustrated. The clunky controls also hampered him and this was only the beginning of the game! Was he going to die right here?

Kyo was silent.

That wasn't good.

Usually, they'd be jibing at each other, making fun of each other's shortcomings but the other man was quiet as the grave. Iori fired off a shot, finally hit the goddamn thing. That was a bad choice of words. Somehow, the game was getting under his skin, too.

After a few more well-placed shots, the creepy and annoyingly lethal thing was dead. He didn't leave the café, yet. Went rummaging around to see if he could find more stuff and he did. A flashlight – why didn't that make him feel better? – a map (there was a fucking map of this cursed town) and some health items. He used one right away. After making sure the café had been picked clean, he went for the doors.

Silent Hill loomed before and around him: darkness, fog, and snow.

He actually shivered.

Began running through the eerie empty streets, the flashlight's beam barely cutting through the fog. The darkness wasn't natural. It just seemed to get darker. Iori pressed his back harder against the couch. Fuck, this was creepy.

Then the radio went off, static the only sound in the silence.

"Fuuuck," he said.

Something went after him in the dark, just beyond the range of his flashlight.

Kyo yelped.

Mason stumbled backward, knocked off balance by whatever the hell that thing was now within the beam of his light.

Iori mashed the controller hard, bringing up his weapons without thinking. His heart pounded. This was a game! He wasn't really in danger!

It didn't matter. He was being attacked by something he didn't know, it was freaking him out – Kyo still fixated on the screen, horrified – he was probably gonna die sooner or later, and this entire town made his skin crawl.

"Yagami – go for the knife!"

The sudden exclamation from Kyo made him jump. Was he going to have a heart attack playing this game? Did he look like Kyo from just a few minutes before?

Knife, knife…right. Right there.

He chose it and Mason had it in his hand. Now if the guy could only use it correctly, instead of moving stiffly. His life depended on it. Iori went in, attempting to stab and slash the freakish monster within his range. The static continued, unceasing. It was driving him mad.

The goddamn radio.

"Yagami! Behind you!"

Son-of-a-fuckin'-bitch what? He whirled – Mason nowhere nearly as fast as he'd like – and heard the demonic sounds first before he saw them. Static – during the second enemy encounter, during this fight, and it dawned on him (he shivered again) what the radio was for. He needed the radio – the game mandated it – because without it, he'd have no warning. He'd be dead several times over. But that meant listening for the static, being apprehensive about hearing the static.

The hell was it with this game?

Unable to fight off so many, Iori did the only thing possible to keep Mason alive.

He found an opening and booked it.

Next to him, Kyo acted like his guidebook. "Yagami, the map. Where are we supposed to go?"

"Fuck if I know!"

"Pull up the map, Yagami."

Iori did the next best thing. He paused the game. Put the controller down.

"What the fuck…who…"

"Team Silent at Konami."

"Which fuckwit genius there thought this was…?"

Kyo shifted. Iori seriously hoped he wasn't leaving him by himself in this dark room with its surround sound, the disturbing and oppressive atmosphere, and the hundred million moments of panic and "What the hell is going on?" still running through his brain. If Kyo had faced down Orochi, so had he – foes that were real, that really did threaten – yet, here he was: experiencing genuine fear because this game unleashed something primal.

He didn't like it.

It meant the team behind the game were fucking geniuses and had to be insane. It was the only logical explanation for something so illogical.

He wanted to pass the controller back to Kyo.

His rival, in the moment it took for him to evaluate these thoughts, had shifted to the side of the couch. It reminded Iori of kids watching scary movies, either hiding behind their hands or putting something more solid in between them and the television. Kyo was doing exactly that right now; Iori grabbed the cushion he'd left behind and did the same, shielding part of his sight from the television screen. Not that it helped much.

The dread still curled tight and cold in his gut.

He continued the game, ran down the streets, found a note scrawled in a childish hand to go to the school. Midwich Elementary School was circled on the map for him. Midwich. That…that didn't sound pleasant. Why were all the names giving him goosebumps?

There was a hospital, too.

Fuck. Hospitals in horror movies never boded well. Did he have to go there later?

"Kyo…hospital's yours."

"Eh…can I pass, Yagami?"

"I'm doing the school. You do the hospital."

The expression on Kyo's face would've been funny any other time, if not for the fact that Iori knew he had the same look. Turning back to the screen, keeping that bone-deep terror as far back in the recesses of his mind as he could, he continued playing. He found a steel pipe (another weapon, which was good) and then found himself going through a puzzle involving keys because Midwich Elementary School wasn't directly accessible.

He hoped this wasn't going to become a pattern.

Once he finished the puzzle and went outside again, the area around him immediately darkened. Tension filled him; he really didn't like this. Pulling up the map, he saw where he was and where the school was located and went running hell-for-leather through the street. His radio crackled – motherfuck! – even as he bolted in the dark while things snarled and swooped in the background. Like hell he was fighting those…things.

Where was the goddamn school?

One more look at the map and he tore through Silent Hill like a man possessed. Was that what this game did to you? He already had Orochi to contend with. He didn't need a fictional town in a video game warping his mind any further. Somewhere in the distance, he thought he heard the siren blaring. Can't be. He must be hearing things.

Oh, that was great. Now he was hearing stuff. He was going mad.

Luckily, he found a save point outside the school. Went for it in a heartbeat.

Then, he entered the school.

As he began exploring Midwich Elementary School (discovered a school map, blood-scrawled papers with cryptic and creepy sayings, eerie paintings, and music that sounded like uncorked insanity), his sense of unease grew and grew. Kyo then said this whole thing was a bad idea, which led to their brief moment of levity (each one of them was hiding) but that moment fled with the onset of the seriously chilling music as he entered the courtyard.

There were enemies there.

Iori really, really, really hated that fucking radio.

"It's those kids again." Kyo sounded terrified. It was a good thing it was just them. This could've been embarrassing – two grown-ass men scared half to death playing a horror game in a dark room with full surround sound on. At night. Because Kyo hadn't done his research and decided they could just get through the game together. Iori didn't think they were even half done. Those were demon children coming straight for him.

To hell with it.

He busted out the steel pipe and beat the bloody life out of them.

He hated the music, the radio (would it just shut the fuck up?), and the fact that killing the demon spawn didn't stop the game from continuing. The school was dark, the hallways were empty, the school bell kept going off (would that stop?), there were more creepy-ass paintings (the hell was wrong with these kids?), and he had another puzzle to solve. Which involved collecting medallions.

Oh good. That sounded fun.

Even getting the medallions was a mindfuck. Somehow, acid was involved for the first one and on the way to getting the second, the game decided that Iori Yagami almost dropping dead from a heart attack was a guaranteed way to keep him playing.

Iori liked cats. Loved them, in fact.

Silent Hill was evil. The first real jump scare that worked on him involved a cat. In a locker. He was wound up so tight that when it happened, he almost threw the controller away from him. He heard Kyo breathing but the other man said nothing. Out of a sheer need to confirm he wasn't alone, he turned around to see his rival by the dim light of the television. Kyo's eyes were the only points of light in the obscuring shadow of his face.

It gave off a distinct eerie effect.

Iori shivered for what was probably the fifth or sixth time tonight.

This game was screwing with his head, making him go mental.

"Did the cat just get eaten?"

Silent Hill was evil. Not only did it scare him with a cat – a cat! – but then his favorite furry feline became a snack for the resident demon children. Kyo hadn't misheard that; Iori heard the cat become chow for some creature beyond the room. Which did nothing to settle the discomfort that was steadily increasing as he continued playing. It was reaching fever pitch and he just wanted to scream.

"Hey, Yagami…you need a break?"

He just wanted to throw the controller. But it felt like the game had taken hold of him; he kept playing, realizing how grim he looked.

His objective was the clock tower. He placed the first medallion, screwed up his courage – that sounded pathetic – went back to the one room with the bloody messages and booked it for the music room. Why was this game so intent on messing with his favorite things? When he got there to solve yet another puzzle involving music notes and a piano to get the second medallion, the piano keys were blood-smeared. He was hitting his tipping point.

"Yagami, take a break. I'll get some beer."

Beer. Lights on. Outside. Away from this fucking room with this fucking game.

That was what he wanted.

"Let me get into the clock tower."

Complete that objective at least. Maybe that'll finish the school? Then Kyo could take over while he took a smoke break. Kyo could get started on the next destination. If it was the hospital, so much the better. Iori would just watch.

There was a cryptic poem in the music room to solve the puzzle. Once Iori figured it out, the medallion was his and he ran through Midwich Elementary School to reach the clock tower. But even placing the second medallion wasn't enough. He wasn't done yet.

What had he missed?

"Uh, Yagami. Wasn't there a third note in that room?"

"There was?"

"Yeah. Something about heat and a hungry beast."

Right. There was a third note. He'd completely forgotten about it in his desperate attempt to finish this goddamn place. So back he went and it still left him confused. He'd been running through the school like a madman. Where else hadn't he gone?

He voiced this concern to Kyo. His rival thought for a minute, asked him to pull up the school map again, and then studied the rooms. The brunet wrinkled his brow, marked off where he'd been on his fingers and then stopped.

"Two places, Yagami. The roof and the basement."

Motherfucking…there was a basement? Iori really wanted to stop. Now. Of course there was a basement. It was a horror game. They all had basements. Or attics. Or creepy-ass places where sane people didn't wander alone.

"Son-of-a…"

"Yeah."

"I'm getting a beer after I'm done with this fucking place."

"So, you're going –"

"To the basement."

If it was him, he'd be flying down and out of the basement as if pursued by a hoard of demons – Silent Hill, though, was demonic in of itself – but Mason didn't run fast enough and it drove Iori nearly insane just getting there. The basement growled (wait, what the hell?) when he activated the machine down there and then he was out of there, hoping that that was it.

He made it to the clock tower in record time, not that anyone was keeping count.

The music was discordant, loud, unsettling.

Not good.

He was finally able to enter the clock tower. Saw a ladder going down. What? He thought the clock tower went up. Why was it going in reverse?

His stomach flipped. He felt it sink, as if weighted with stones.

Shit. This wasn't over, was it?

"Why…?"

So it wasn't just him. Kyo had noticed it, too.

There was only one action and one direction left for him to take. He went down the ladder. Saw himself descend and hit bottom.

He heard the siren.

"Oh motherfucking…"

"Uh, Yagami…last time we heard the siren..."

"I know," he said, suddenly dreading the next part. "The place changed, didn't it?"

That was in the beginning. That had freaked Kyo out. It was why Iori had volunteered to take his place, not liking the expression on the other fighter's face. He wondered what he looked like now. Probably the same.

One more ladder. This one went up. At least that made sense.

But what came after didn't and Mason said as much, realizing he was in a different dimension. It looked like the school's courtyard but the courtyard didn't have a huge fucking occult symbol right in the goddamn center. Iori felt the hairs rise on the nape of his neck. Oh shit…this was so much worse than what Kyo experienced in the first few minutes of the game. Was he able to go on?

His mind was made up for him the moment the music started.

Sharp, dissonant, screams of some demonic beast interspersed between the mangled chords of a piano or harpsichord. It drove hellish musical shards into his ears, wrecked the innermost parts of his soul that howled against it.

No. Fuck no. He was done.

He shoved the controller into Kyo's hands. Saw Kyo drop it and bolt for the light switch.

The lights went on. The music kept playing.

Iori paused the game. Shuddered. Motherfucking goddamn hell.

"Beer. Now. No, goddammit – wait for me!"

He was not going to be left in this room alone. Not with this game. Not with the absolute sensation of everything going wrong. Midwich Elementary School could go fuck itself, because Iori was done. If Kyo wanted to play, his rival was free to do so.

He followed Kyo out, not even bothering to close the door. He didn't want to get left behind.

He'd never been so creeped out in his life. He shuddered again.

Motherfucking hell.

"So which friend of yours told you this was a great game?"

His rival gulped down his beer, looking as spooked as he felt. "Not someone you know. A family friend. Loves his video games."

"Lemme guess…he's into horror?"

"He just told me it's a great game. That's all I knew, Yagami."

"You didn't even bother to check."

"He's my friend! Why would I…you know what? Nevermind."

Iori drank his beer, also not bothering with holding back. After that under-the-skin crawling sensation, getting a bit drunk would help. He'd need a few more cans to do it, but he had all night. The school had changed and he wasn't ready to go back in there and see what happened to the surroundings. He was going to have nightmares tonight; if Orochi wanted to join, he'd gladly tell the god to fuck off and leave him alone.

"Are you going back in there?"

Kyo looked at him and hesitated. Took another drink of his beer.

That determined it, didn't it?

"Only if you come back with me."

"I'm not playing. I'm done."

"I know. Saw your face in there. Didn't know you got frightened that badly, Yagami."

"It's not…" He gestured in frustration, unable to phrase exactly what unnerved him about the game as a whole. "I can face up to gods, to megalomaniacs. To assholes bigger than myself. But that? That thing…that town…it's screwing with me, Kyo. Things don't make sense."

"Like the ladder going down instead of up."

"Or the siren."

Across from him, Kyo shuddered. "You left me in a bad spot."

"Can't take it anymore."

"We're not getting to the hospital, are we?"

"See if you can finish the school." He finished his beer and ditched the can in the wastebasket. Reached for another can to take back with him to the room. He needed some liquid courage tonight. "I'll be taking a few of these. You mind?"

"Take the whole goddamn bunch if you need to, Yagami. Save some for me as well."

Iori took a few more. Marked out three for Kyo.

Perhaps playing drunk was the only way to make it through Midwich Elementary School.

He got a bit buzzed but that didn't make things better. Kyo was still hiding against the side of the couch and Iori had repositioned himself. He was now behind the couch, half his head out to see the screen with its nightmare school. The farther he got from the television, the safer he felt. Of course, with the surround sound, he couldn't escape it entirely. The sounds, the music – the goddamn notes of insanity – played around him. The radio emitted static.

Kyo cursed. Loudly.

"The gun, Kyo! Use the gun!"

There were still demon children around. The floors and walls were steel grates, rusted and bloody wire, misshapen and stained wood and it was so very dark. Mason's flashlight only illuminated within a certain distance and even watching, Iori tensed. Kyo switched to the gun and began firing wildly, having not played since the beginning.

Iori knew that fear. Did he know it.

"Aim at them. Aim…there. Do it again."

Kyo did. Swore under his breath.

"Watch your ammo. We're limited."

"How'd you play for so long?"

"Dunno." It was the truth. "Felt like I couldn't stop."

"Until you did." The last demon child in the hallway fell in a pool of blood. For extra measure, Mason kicked them in the head. Kyo had been observing him earlier. "Until you did, Yagami. It feel like this?"

"Close enough."

Midwich Elementary School was like some extreme torture chamber. Everywhere was barbed wire and blood. Everything was decayed or mutilated. There were bodies hanging from the walls. The girls and boys bathrooms teleported Kyo around, as if things weren't creepy enough. Iori dug furrows into the floor with his nails. Why was this place so fucked up? Why did the siren have to go off when he was in the school?

Kyo was right. He'd left him in the worst place possible.

This was the hellish take on the school. Could they be done with it already?

"Fucking hate this," his rival said, voice taut. "You doing okay over there, Yagami?"

"Haven't left yet, have I?"

"Not a word of this to anyone."

"Don't need to tell me twice. It's embarrassing." Hell, if any of their acquaintances or friends (in Kyo's case) saw them like this, they'd never hear the end of it. Iori Yagami and Kyo Kusanagi, the two biggest badasses in the fighting circuit, cowering like children in the dark. "Your friend Nikaido will never shut up."

"He's not speaking to me after that Jenga incident."

"That was his fault."

"You nearly set his hair on fire."

"He almost fried my balls. Guess which one I consider the bigger loss?"

"Heh." It was the only time Kyo smirked during this entire night but as Iori watched, that slipped and was replaced by immediate horror. "Yagami, you hear that?"

"Yes." Why did the game have to go out of its way to include a voice clip of the little girl – Cheryl, wasn't it? – begging her father for help? In the abandoned nightmare dimension school, that was the worst place for it with the utter isolation; Iori felt goosebumps ripple throughout his entire body. This Team Silent had done their work too well.

Next to him, Kyo played with a look in his eyes Iori was familiar with.

He pushed another can of beer towards Kyo.

The brunet reached for it, opened it, and downed a few swallows. Iori didn't know Kyo's alcohol tolerance but he hoped it fuzzed out the sharp edges of horror for him. He went for his fourth can and finished half of it in one go.

Best thing would be for him to pass out entirely. But that would leave him in the room alone if Kyo didn't notice or got drunk off his ass and left. With the music playing. Leaving him with his nightmares in Silent fucking goddamn Hill.

"Ugh. A puzzle."

"Yeah." That fourth can hit him right where he needed it. Okay. He could do this. "Game fucking loves those. Have fun running around."

"Hate these walls. It…ugh."

"Take another drink, Kyo. Sounds like you need it."

"We'll both be drunk after this."

"I'm okay with that." Iori peered over the couch as his rival tapped buttons, guiding Mason around the decrepit school. Even the outdoors in this place was scary. Was that bench smeared with blood? Iori knew there was no way in hell he was walking home tonight. He was going to sleep here, if there was a place safe for the last heir of the Yagami clan in the Kusanagi home. Definitely not in this room. Maybe there was a living room?

"Hey, this seems familiar. Didn't you do keys last time?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Huh."

Iori finished his fourth can. Planted his face against the back of the couch. "Lemme know when you're done with the puzzle."

"You're mumbling, Yagami. Can't hear you."

He did a one-finger salute but knew Kyo wouldn't see it. At least it made him feel better.

The speakers in the room continued their assault on his ears. Hellish music to suit a hellish environment. Somewhere to his left, he heard the other fighter shout even as the chaotic audio darkened. Iori guessed demon children. He wasn't looking until Kyo told him the puzzle was done. The less creepy images seared into his mind, the better.

He kept hearing gunshots. Kyo needed to get more ammo at the rate he was using them.

After some time – some clinking and clanking (was that also running water?) – his rival tapped him on the shoulder. Even with all the alcohol in him, Iori still leapt half out of his skin at the mere touch; he swore the sudden scream came from him. Kyo had pushed himself backward, hands up in the air with the controller still gripped in his left.

"Whoa! Chill there, Yagami. Just wanted to let you know puzzle's done."

"Should've just told me." At this rate, he was going to have a heart attack.

"You had your face buried in the couch. You still awake there?"

"If I wasn't, you just scared me awake." Iori told himself to calm down, to settle the jangled nerves even the beer wasn't able to smooth away. It was the audio. He knew it was. He must've looked wild-eyed because Kyo was still in that placating mode, unsure of whether to continue. It wasn't like he was going to Riot or anything; Orochi was quiet. Silent Hill was doing a good job taking over, driving him nuts in the process.

"There's some stuff to read. Maybe you can help me figure them out?"

"Another puzzle?"

"I don't think so." His rival dropped his hands and tilted his head towards the television. "Mind helping me out?"

Now that he'd nearly had his ghost driven out of him, Iori peeked over the top of the couch at the excerpt on the screen. Speaking of ghosts… "Poltergeists…fear…nightmares. Ha." He was still able to read the text and put the pieces together. He wasn't drunk enough. "Energy with physical effects. Girls. Well fuck."

"You think…?"

"That little girl's bad news."

"Pass me another beer, Yagami."

"Your last one, Kyo. This one's mine." That was his last can as well. Number five? To hell with it. He opened it and chugged it. Tossed the can aside – maybe they'd pick it up later. "So we're getting some background, huh?"

"Looks like that's not the only bit of reading we have."

"Huh?"

"Look." His rival took a gulp of beer, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and tapped at one of the buttons on the controller. "I'm in another part of the library. There's a story in this book."

Perhaps the fifth can did the trick. His mind was a bit fuzzy. "Hunter and lizard?"

Kyo read the excerpt out loud to him. Something about a hunter, a giant lizard (not Godzilla, wherever that thought came from), and shooting the creature point-blank in the mouth with an arrow. The part of Iori's brain that was still functional spun that story around until it clicked. This wasn't just a random part of a book in the library. This was...

"Huh…when did you last save?"

"Just a few minutes ago. Why?"

"That…" His mind was getting scrambled. "That sounds like advice, Kyo. You may…you may need to use it."

"You mean –"

"A giant lizard. Get ready. I think…boss fight."

"Yagami, you drunk already?"

"'Bout time." It only took five cans. "You got anything…bow…arrow?"

The weapons and items menu pulled up with Kyo cycling through all the weapons. The knife, the gun, the steel pipe, a shotgun…no bow or arrow, but… "Nothing like that, Yagami. You see anything?"

"If a giant motherfucking lizard…what…"

"I see you have no problem swearing while drunk."

"Oh haha. Fuck off. Kyo, you have a shotgun."

"It's not a bow or arrow –"

"Doesn't need to be." The top of the couch was nice and soft. Iori rested the edge of his cheek against it, still keeping the screen within line of sight. "Most powerful weapon. Use it."

"If you say so."

"I…I know so. Go find the boss."

That was easier said than done. Kyo paused the game a few times, finished his last can of beer, and continued wrecking the shit out of demon children. Iori watched, the alcohol finally taking effect on him, so he observed Kyo's progress through half-lidded eyes, tuning out the background audio. Maybe he could do this; it all depended on Kyo, who was swearing furiously under his breath. Silent Hill had a different effect on the Kusanagi heir.

Kyo was afraid but he was pissed.

"Save, Kyo. Get more ammo."

Both of which happened shortly after. His rival was retreading his steps in this inverse nightmare world, and Iori knew where he had to head next.

"Basement, Kyo."

"Thought you were drunk."

"Are you?" It'd explain a lot about Kyo's sudden bravado. "You're cocksure."

"You're still hiding behind the couch."

"Yeah," Iori said, words slurring a bit. "You're fucking drunk."

It also explained a lot about what happened next, because Iori sure as hell didn't see that coming. Miracle of miracles – fucking lot in this place – Kyo actually found the basement and the boss, which was some monstrous lizard. Of course he forgot to equip the fucking shotgun. Iori actually surfaced above the couch, almost flopping over it in an attempt to get his rival's attention. "Kyo! Kyo!"

"The fuck you doing, Yagami?"

"Shotgun…get the…oh hell…"

Kyo blinked, paused the game, blinked again and then went back into the game.

"You…drunk…menu…shotgun…oh fuck…"

His rival was drunk, had probably forgotten how to…what was it again? Get the shotgun? "Shotgun, Kyo. Give it to the…fucking Godzilla."

"What?"

This was too funny. Iori fell over the couch, laughing.

"Oookkaaay. You okay there, Yagami?"

"Godzilla's gonna eat you!"

"Yagami, what…fucking shit what?"

"Hahaha! It ate you!"

The expression on the other fighter's face was too funny for Iori to not bust out laughing again. So when Kyo actually hurled the controller right at the console (rebooting the entire game), it startled Iori for the briefest second before he began howling again. Part of his mind – that smallest sliver that still retained coherent thought – put it together. He pointed at the pissed off brunet, too amused and drunk to care about how upset Kyo was.

"Kyo Kusanagi just ragequit!"

"You sound like a goddamn baby, Yagami."

"Ragequit!"

"Oh for fucking…Yagami, you need to go to sleep. You're drunk."

"So are you!"

A heavy sigh from above. "Not one word, Yagami."

Iori yelped as Kyo hauled him off the couch, pushing him towards the entrance. "I'll put you in the guest room. If you wake anyone up, it'll be me."

"Sleep?"

Another sigh from behind him. "This was a really bad idea."

Iori didn't remember much from last night after a certain point besides Silent Hill, library, and something about a fucking shotgun. It also didn't help that he had a hangover – those were rare – which pounded behind his eyes and felt as if he had barbed wire through his brain. Kyo looked better than him but mentioned that he was drunk off his ass last night and had woken him up after screaming about Silent Hill and the goddamn demon children in his sleep.

That reminded Iori about why he avoided drinking until drunk.

He blamed it all on the game. That wasn't a game. That was some demonic entity.

Kyo mentioned again that not a word of this was to go out.

Iori was quick to agree.

And if Kyo decided he wanted to play another horror game like this, he was on his own. Iori didn't do good with horror. He'd served his time on this one. If Kyo even so much as suggested another game (apparently Silent Hill was a series), Iori was going to toast the console, the game, the game box, or just get drunk again.

Hell, maybe he'd set Kyo on fire.

That would be more fun.