Chapter 9
Born Dead

Gai felt cold and wet, a morning mist enveloping around him as he awoke from a sleep that which he had pursued while being confined to the hospital bed at the Konoha infirmary. The atmosphere around him was different, as well as his resting space; cold, hard and damp, rough in texture and moist to the touch.

His head spun and throbbed with confusion as he lifted himself, his injured hand still wrapped up in medical tape. Everything was silent saved for the low hum of the still wind, a thick fog keeping the area in place while the earth moved at an exhilarating speed.

He was on his stomach, face resting against the cold damp concrete, and clad in the outfit he wore to the hospital. His hand was wrapped up tightly in bandages that he had used in his bathroom. His palm ached with an agonizing throb, the pain shooting through his arm, shoulder and neck.

His mind was fuzzy and his thoughts were blurred, derailed at even the slightest distraction. It was all he could do to manage himself up in a sitting position, his eyes blinded by fuzz and dizziness, the static clearing up to present the view of a foggy alleyway before him. He looked around with a sleepily confused look on his face, an expression given by those who were asked questions that had no sense to them. Though he longed to make sense of the situation he was in, a nagging voice at the back of his head said it was all too much too fast.

He stood, weary and dazed, though his vision was beginning to focus and information of the surrounding area in which he was in was beginning to process in his brain. He took his first wobbly steps, his balance coming slowly but surely as he leaned against the brick walls of the buildings between which he was stationed. Once he emerged from the alley, he looked around, his eyes widened with bewilderment and disbelief.

A silent wind that lifted no weight blew against his face, pale and distorted with a rising panic. Gaining more of himself every second, he rushed out into the empty street, motionless and mundane yet sinister and mocking in a subtle way. His breathing increased, his chest tightening and his lungs straining. His pupils decreased in size as realization slowly crept up his spine and paralyzed him.

This is…

Remnants of memories flooded his mind, the view of the fog-flooded courts between two barricading planks of wood nailed to a window of the school room presenting itself to his mind's eye. Although he wasn't in the courts, he was indeed in the same general region. It was as that which he had always feared. His past was returning to haunt him.

"So you've finally arrived, I see," echoed a smooth voice behind him. He jumped, crying out in the event of being startled. He quickly turned, facing the silhouette of a woman, full grown and nearly his height with the help of high-heeled shoes. She wore a dark grey cloak, the hood up over her head and slightly obscuring her face, "I've been expecting you for quite some time now."

One eye was hidden behind a vast curtain of golden hair with the help of part of the obscuring hood, the other staring at him—though rather gently—with an icy grey iris. Her skin was paled though colored and contained a notable freckle here and there. She was remarkably beautiful, though Gai wasn't truly concerned with that right now.

He struggled to suppress his already-risen panic, telling himself that perhaps his second visit won't be as bad as his first. He was not the only person here, which somewhat relieved him. He was, however, skeptical, unsure and confused by her words. She had been expecting him, though before he had never seen her. In order to expect someone, an acquaintance must be made beforehand, right? Not necessarily, but no questions of his identity have been thrown out, which was just as irritating.

"Expecting me?" He dumbly repeated.

The woman smiled and lifted her chin, "Of course." She took a step forward, causing Gai to take a step back, still unsure and terrified from the sudden realization of his current situation. She blinked and stopped, smiling still, "Pardon me; allow me to introduce myself."

He stared at her with aggravation, his skin dampened by the fog combined with sweat. If there was anything unusual that he took note of, it was the observation of the fog clearing away from her and accumulating around him.

She bowed slightly, "My name is Deborah. Deborah Wolf."

"Gai," he forced out, normally cheery and loud with introductions, though this was an obvious exception.

Deborah chuckled, tilting her head back slightly to the clouded sky, "No need for you to say anything; I already know who you are." Gai frowned, catching the condescending tone in her voice as she spoke. She then looked back at him, looking straight into his eyes, digging violently into his dark irises, "And… I know who you are, as well…"

"What do you want with me? Why did you drag me here?" He snapped, shocking her somewhat. She looked at him, bewildered and somewhat appalled at the rise in his voice. She then smiled gently, bringing her pale hands together, "For a very good and just reason."

"I don't believe you."

"I'm not asking you to believe me."

"Why am I here?"

"Why… to bring forth Paradise!"

"Bring… what…?" Gai's eyes widened, his ears straining against the silent wind. Deborah's eyes widened with excitement, "You have been chosen to bring forth Paradise! To bring forth happiness and cleansing! It is you… who will save us all..."

"Save us all? Who's us?" Gai cried out, anger exploding in his voice.

"Those who came to witness the beginning. They've all come here, here to Silent Hill… to witness it! The grand birthing! The rebirth of paradise… Despoiled by mankind," She said quietly, staring at him with unblinking eyes.

Gai slumped with sorrow, angry and frustrated to the point of tears, "Why me…?"

Deborah turned, her cloak swaying with her movements. She had her back to him, "Remember me… and your true self as well." She then went silent as she walked away, into the thickness of the fog, leaving Gai questioning her words and bewildered, angry and frustrated.

"Wait! No, wait! Don't leave!" Gai shouted after her as she left him there, "Please!"

He sprinted after her as she disappeared into the fog, skidding to a stop as it became too thick for him to see in a matter of seconds. He whimpered, "Don't leave me here…"

He shivered a bit, looking around slowly, the low hum of nothingness ringing in his ears like a tortured moan as it traveled through the sky. He turned from the direction that the woman who named herself Deborah had left and started walking, the fog gradually clearing and revealing the deserted scenery surrounding him. The town, just as he previously remembered, was a ghost town, though it seemed to have been lively once upon a time.

"Sensei…"

Gai's ears perked, his eyes widening, crazed yet unwavering from what could be the source of the sound.

"Sensei…"

He didn't have to think about whose voice it was. Although his sanity repeated over and over that his beloved student had been dead for nearly three years or so, he could never tear himself away from his own delusions and hallucinations, those of which that gave image to the younger boy's apparitional doppelganger.

"Sen…sei..."

The voice he knew so well became warped, deepening in pitch and becoming gurgled, rough and sickly. The words that it spoke weren't words anymore, but hasty growls and snarls, accompanied by loud chokes and snorts. The sounds became louder, coming up from behind. He turned his head, his face pale and void of any sane expression that wasn't fearful. Something was coming, a quadruped of sorts, limping with each stride it took as it tore after him.

His eyes were as wide as they could possibly be. He had pivoted towards it, freezing with human fear as his attacker neared him clumsily. Its body was ripped and broken, bandaged up where it didn't seem to have been infected. Its face was stretched and pulled back over its skull, showing only a network of small teeth and a split tongue, each bloody half hanging out of either side of its open mouth as it ran.

His heart raced as his mind screamed for him to flee. He turned in his place, his eyes wide and mouth calmly shut. His pupils seemed to wander slowly into different directions as he moved, with a portrayal of 'I'm doomed' written in them.

His legs ripped through the fog, his shoed feet padding the concrete as he messily ran, legs outstretching and arms swinging like pendulums of alloy. He ran down the streets, turning random corners in hopes of losing the animal's trail. His attempts to deter it, however, were futile as it kept at his heels with vigorous effort.

He ran to a building, never minding what it was, as long as the door was unlocked. He skittered up the porch, a concrete space just before an ornate wooden door covered in dust with a broken window up at the top. He shook the door knob before opening the door, forcing it wide open before throwing himself inside and slamming it behind him.

Inside it was dark, cold and soundless.

Inside it was dark… So terribly dark…

End of Chapter 9.