Silent Hill Extreme
Chapter 15: The Butterfly
"Welcome to our nightmare, Ichigo"
Both Ichigo and Kisuke ran through a horde of monsters and slashed left and right, tearing parts of the monsters and moving forwards.
Kisuke had little problem, his ability with a katana was top notch, while Ichigo did well enough for his decreasing stamina.
"You've been slacking, my dear student!" Kisuke comments as he side steps the attack of a monster "I did not train you for that! Poor Yoruichi didn't either…"
"Shut up!" Ichigo steps forward and impales a raw shock, pulls out the katana and twists around to bisect a straightjacket "I'm not rusty with a katana!"
"Can't say the same about your spiritual pressure…" Urahara mutters to himself "If I didn't know you so much I would say that you're an imposter…"
At one point, many more monsters came at them, among them, an insane cancer.
Kisuke takes charge as he picks up Ichigo and jumps to the roof of the Fire Station…
"We need to cross to the other side of the town to get to Brookhaven Hospital" Kisuke tells Ichigo "That's where our exit is..:"
"How do you know for sure…?" Ichigo usually trusted Urahara, against his better judgement, but he did. But right now he was really short on time "Karin… is out there with that monster…"
"And you will save her" Kisuke looks at Ichigo seriously "But trust me, this is as much your nightmare as it is mine…"
Ichigo looks at Kisuke for a few seconds before nodding in understanding.
They trek through the roofs with Kisuke's help. As much as Ichigo loathed to admit it, the man made traversing the town easier.
It was not long before they reached the hospital, and already Ichigo looked wary of what's waiting for them inside…
"Last time I was in a hospital, everything froze over and I thought I lost Karin…" Ichigo mutters as he steps forward and opens the door…
The place was clearly thrashed. The walls not only were covered in rusty metal grids, but also the floor as well… Steam poured from the ground and some missing pieces led to a black abyss that housed the unknown.
Ichigo was wary of stepping in such a place, but he had to.
They walk inside and find themselves in the reception area. To the left he could see a hallway and to the right another, though it was blocked by a sturdy looking metal grid.
"We have one way then…" Ichigo walks in the direction of the left corridor. To his left he can see a pair of doors that look like they might be toilets. To the other side he can see what looks like an elevator, though it was blocked and had a symbol painted in blood that Ichigo recognized "The Halo of the Sun…"
"This is the way then…" Kisuke looks at the symbol warily "We need to find a way to use that elevator…"
"Maybe in the upper floor?" Ichigo suggests as he inspects the control panel "Also there seems to be a basement as well…"
Kisuke chuckles at that "Let's try for the basement… it's always the basement"
Ichigo looks annoyed at that, maybe because he knew it was true… He walks to what looks like a fire hose and looks at the emergency evacuation map hung on the wall.
"There's a stairway in the blocked hallway…" He walks around the elevator and sees the stairs… "They're blocked from here as well… From the other stairs there isn't a way to the basement, so we go up from there and walks to the other stair there…"
Ichigo pulls the map and folds it for later. He walks to the left of the stairs and sees the door on the left blocked, but the one on the right was free for them to walk…
"Be on guard, Ichigo" Kisuke warns Ichigo as they open the door into the Examining Room 2. As he opens the door, he had to stop as a wide hole in the ground greeted them "Well, well… I didn't expect that…"
Ichigo looks around and sees that the hole was as wide as the room was… On the adjacent wall there was another door… "It's going to be a long jump…" He mutters as he prepares to jump, only to see Urahara walking in the air and offering a hand.
"Shall we, Ichigo?"
Ichigo grits his teeth at that "It takes the effort out of this…" but he claps hands with the man who helped him make a safe jump.
Now in a new hallway, Ichigo looks to the end of it and sees a few nurses walking to them, not the normal kind, but the monstrous kind.
Ichigo had to give Urahara all the blame for this one…
He runs at them and delivers a series of consecutive slashes that had all of them on the ground quite fast…
"Well done" Urahara says as he walks by Ichigo towards the secondary stairs.
They walk up to the second floor and find it eerily empty…
"Besides those nurses… I find it hard to believe that it's this empty…" Ichigo confers on Urahara "There's always too many monsters to count…"
"Well… maybe this is the calm before the storm…" Urahara theorizes as he comes to a stop in front of a door.
Ichigo looks at the man, seeing him particularly silent and pale "Urahara…?"
Urahara stays silent, examining the door whose plaque still could be read 'M2'. The man slowly opens the door and a bloodied bed in the middle of the room is what greets them "It's as if time hasn't passed here…"
Ichigo's eyes widen at that "This is where you…"
"I remember it clearly" Urahara confesses in a low voice "Something a Soul shouldn't do… with time the memories vanish"
"But you remember…"
"I do…"
Urahara silently stares at the bed for a few minutes before he walks out of the room with Ichigo in tow.
They walk silently until they reach the elevator door of the second floor.
"This one's blocked too…" Ichigo curses as he punches the metal grid.
"I told you, the basement" Urahara motions to the stairway that, in this floor, was accessible "It never fails…"
The walk down the stairs was silent as well, Ichigo much too engrossed on the thought of Urahara's past life.
The basement is finally on sight, and Ichigo sighs in relief when he sees that the elevator was functional.
Urahara motions for Ichigo to step inside "Go…"
Ichigo steps inside, but stops seeing that Urahara was not walking inside… "Urahara…?"
"You have your sister to rescue" The man smiles at him "I have another way to get out, but… I have things to do here first. I'll be back in Karakura, I promise that much"
"But!"
"Not buts, Ichigo!" Urahara shouts firmly. Ichigo flinches at seeing Urahara losing his composure for the first time "You have your mission, I have mine… On my way here I did release your father, so find him after everything's over"
Ichigo looks at the man and sighs, knowing there was no doubt in the man's eyes. He could see it, the determination "I'll see you later"
"Yes you will" Urahara tips his hat forward as the elevator closed "I have a feeling this won't be the end for your adventures, Ichigo…"
Inside the elevator, Ichigo looks at the buttons and thinks on what floor to go "The top floor is the only place I haven't been to…" Ichigo mumbles but shakes his head at seeing all the buttons destroyed. He sighs and turns around the elevator and is surprised at seeing the Halo of the Sun painted on the mirror. Tentatively, he reaches out to the symbol and touches it.
The elevator suddenly jerks in place and starts falling down.
Ichigo screams his lungs out at the sudden drop. From the speed of the descent, his body started floating. The lights of the elevator flickered rapidly, until it goes out completely.
Ichigo breathes in and out to calm himself "Okay… things calmed down…" Right then, red lights turned on and Ichigo flinched in surprise… "Don't feeling it here…"
The door of the elevator opens and Ichigo sees a dark hallway. What little he could see from the red light that the elevator provided, was either bloodied, rusted of both.
Ichigo steps outside the elevator and stops upon hearing his steps on the metal grid. The echo from the step was loud and probably far reaching "I have to thread carefully here…"
He walks through the dark hallway, trying his steps each time it got too dark. No matter what he did, Ichigo's hand always gravitated towards the hilt of his katana. His nerves were screaming at him.
His instinct wasn't silent as well…
The hallway was long, it felt like hours since he started walking through it, but each time he looked back he could still see the red light…
It came to the point that Ichigo felt he was not advancing, so with a growl he runs forward to just get away, to escape.
It didn't work. The red light was always there. It might feel strange to most, but to Ichigo this was some kind of sick joke. It was like he couldn't let go of the light… a metaphor for his past.
But he did. He took a step forward. Zangetsu is gone for the rest of his life. He wanted to go back to Karakura Town, to end school and study a career, to live his life…
A click was heard behind Ichigo. He come to a stop and turns to see that the light was no more…
But that was not the end of it. It was all dark now. He could hear a fait tremble coming from where he thinks he came.
"What is going on!?" Ichigo rages as he starts running again in the opposite direction of the trembles.
The trembles turn to quakes and the sound becomes louder.
Screeching rusty metal, gears turning and a distinct sound of…
Ichigo stops at feeling something on his head. He looks up, surprised by whatever it was… He puts his hand on top of his head and feels it again…
"Water?" Suddenly more water drops fell on him and all around. It was as if it was… "It's raining inside here!?"
It was too much. Probably the only thing he hates more than Aizen for what he did to him and his friends, rain.
He keeps going after hearing the quakes getting closer.
The grid floor, despite the holes in it, didn't let water go through, so soon, the hallway got filled with the liquid that mixed with the rust and blood.
In consequence it made Ichigo run slower. It came to the point that he had to slow down, least he exhaust himself.
The oppressing surroundings played bad on Ichigo's head, who had to walk away from whatever was coming and had to trudge through rain water.
Against all probabilities, the rain collected in the hallway till Ichigo was half submerged.
"This is ridiculous…" Ichigo curses as he wades through the water.
Metal bending, screeching and tearing. Those were the sounds that stood apart from the rain. Ichigo chanced at look behind and saw the hallway was trembling and twisting.
It came to the point that he was completely exhausted… He could barely swim and the water was by his head.
"I… can't… Karin!"
The water rose enough to cover him. He couldn't breathe. The quakes now felt like an earthquake.
Everything shakes and in the distance, Ichigo could see something in the darkness.
The creaking of metal comes to a climax as the floor breaks and Ichigo falls down into the darkness… Looking up he sees that he was on a walkway that looked farther and farther.
Ichigo fell and he could see the water drops fall along him. It was kind of surreal, but it was real and he knew it.
This might be his last seconds of life. The fall will end and Ichigo will…
It was a sobering thought.
-SHE-
The Original kept the chant as a low murmur.
This was the way to do what's right. The will of the King is alive once again.
According to the man he possessed, the door would lead to paradise. With the door open to the Soul King's palace, The Original will absorb the Soul King and return to re-join the true one.
The Original starts on the next set of phrases. Unlike the other ones, these started having a visible effect on the world around the gate.
The sky darkened to a pitch black, the water around the island turned murky brown and the tree and grass lit up on fire.
Those who watched these events like Karin and Layla paled at the sudden oppressive feeling that the air had.
"This… this is not…" Karin pales and starts breathing heavily, memories of two years ago plaguing her mind "It's just like that time…"
Cheryl decided to come to her senses at that moment. She shook her head and looked around… "This… this is a nightmare…"
Karin shakes her head "No… this is worse… this is Hell"
Just then a visible shockwave of energy explodes from the gate blowing The Original and everyone back.
-SHE-
"ARGH!"
The fall was less life threatening than he thought. At the end of the darkness there was a river, more like a sewer, that broke his fall. Unfortunately, it also broke his right arm.
The currents dragged Ichigo around the sewer, slamming him against the walls.
Another cry of pain escapes his mouth and right when he was about to pass out, the sewers comes to an end and Ichigo lands on the outside world.
Ichigo falls to the water and sinks to the bottom.
His eyes shift between open and close, his senses feel dull and his breathing slows down.
"Karin…" Ichigo's voice comes out muffled by the water… "I'm sorry…"
That's when he notices, through his daze, that he was breathing just fine under water. With some effort, he sits up and looks towards the surface. It was not far…
'Karin needs me… I'm not going to fail her like I did with Yuzu!' Ichigo screams in his mind as he starts swimming to the surface 'I'm not stepping back! No more fear…!'
He swims through all his feelings. The pain, the sorrow, the self-depreciation…
All that didn't matter at the moment… all that mattered was getting back.
'Close…' He sees the surface getting closer… 'So close…!'
Out of instinct, he breathed in when he surfaced…
Ichigo blinks as he sits up… There was no water anymore. His clothes were dry and his things were with him "What the…"
He looks around, seeing that he was in a big atrium that had one way out, a pair of big double doors that belonged to a hospital. The walls were made of metal and the ground was a grid. But that wasn't the thing that caught Ichigo's attention.
It was a cocoon that sat in the middle of the atrium. It looked to be made of white flesh that had roots into the metal grid. It had black veins across it that pulsed every once in a while.
Ichigo became wary of it as soon as it started pulsing faster.
He decides to leave the atrium before whatever was inside decided to come out.
Slowly he made his way to the door, least he disturbs whatever was in the cocoon. He opens the door and comes out into the hallway. It was a hospital from the looks of it, Brookhaven Hospital.
"Is this… the real world?" Ichigo wonders out loud as he walks looking for an exit.
The faint sound of rain pelting on the ground outside caught his attention… Ichigo walks to the window and takes a step back at what he sees…
"It's raining… blood?"
Indeed, globs of red liquid fell from the sky and covered everything in sight. On top of that, Ichigo started hearing tremors once again and this time, coming from the atrium he just came out.
"I don't have time to deal with this!" Ichigo shouts as he runs to another hallway, intent on leaving the hospital, even if it meant bathing in blood.
He comes out to the reception and walks out of the hospital, instantly getting wet with blood.
"This is disgusting…" Ichigo shakes the disgust and walks towards the lakeside "I can't stay here…"
The tremors sound louder this time. He feels the ground shaking and he turns to look to the hospital and flinches at seeing a white flying figure staring at him.
It was a gigantic monster, easily two story tall. It had a sleek tall and thin body, mainly white. From its back came out two large wings that let it fly. Black veins traversed the body of the beast and in the wings, from their base to the outer rim of the wings. On its bottom, there were two long tails that flailed as the monster moved.
Ichigo could take a guess that this monster was a butterfly, but the way that this town knew him… It was something else… something he hated with passion.
Ichigo never fought something so big in this town, but it was time to face his fears…
BREAK
So, another chapter comes and goes.
First we have Urahara and Ichigo trekking through the town to get to Brookhaven Hospital.
Urahara is revealed to have died there and he's been called to a nightmare because he's going through Full Cycle. If you don't know the concept, it basically says that a person who's entrapped by Silent Hill's power, is forever trapped there, or tied, until they learn a lesson or truth they must affront. In SH2 James must learn that he killed his wife in a cyclic manner until he 'learns' his lesson and escapes the town with Laura. Similarly, Heather is in Full Cycle as well, seeing as she never managed to escape due to killing Douglas, at least in this canon.
What entails Urahara's stay in Silent Hill, it's up to discussion as I will not treat it here.
Ichigo then has his last nightmare, the place called 'Nowhere' or 'Unknown'. Hell, he still is there, and has to face one more ghost of his past. If you don't know what the butterfly represents, go binge Bleach a little more.
In essence, he's been escaping from his feelings from the past, and the town brought that to the forefront of his problems.
Half of this chapter is Ichigo escaping, and that is something the character never did. He walks forward, never taking a step back. Ichigo's attitude at the beginning of the story is just that, stepping back.
And that is why he's been called to Silent Hill.
As for Karin, she has her own issues which, again, I will not deepen for the moment.
At the end, comes the butterfly and, in game terms, comes the side boss that lets you get the best ending. If this was a game, Ichigo not facing this monster, and going after The Original, would lead to a bad ending.
Because he never faced his past at all and, in turn, enters Full Cycle.
So, see you soon in the next chapter!
NEXT CHAPTER: The Stain
