Chapter 26: Anima

His screaming stopped, and there he lied with his mouth wide open. Eyes wide open. Cybil comfortingly sat next to him, putting a gentle hand under the back of his head so he would sit up. His body complied.

"Adrian, it's okay," Cybil put one hand over his forehead and began wiping away the mixture of cold sweat and dirty water. Adrian sputtered; he was frozen to the officer's touch, which scared her to the point where she thought he was dying. Truth be told, however, he was far from it. And when he looked around, only one thing came to mind.

"My baby..."

Adrian fought Cybil's soft clutches to get to his feet. Cybil could do nothing in return but help him up. He staggered for the open doorway that led out to the main hotel room, but his legs buckled fast. Cybil raced over and kept her friend balanced, to which he nodded in gratitude.

"She's okay," Cybil pointed into the room, "she's on the bed there."

Adrian tried moving forward and Cybil held him to make sure he was okay. He raised a hand, insisting he was fine and she let go. He took deep breaths and managed to steady himself while staggering to where his daughter lay unharmed, curled up in the confinement of the soft, baby blue colored blanket. Ade picked her up, and for the first time in a long while, he could bring himself to smile naturally.

"H- hi, love," he stammered. He never held a baby before, nor did he realize how good it felt to know that he gave life to something so beautiful. It made him feel important. A purpose to go on, something that the revelation he had just a minute beforehand hadn't offered.

Her blue eyes shimmered up at him lovingly as her lips formed a wide smile. She obviously seemed at the very least, a tad bit confused as to who the person holding her was, but his friendly smile soothed her.

"I'm your daddy," he nervously continued. Cybil stood across the room in silence, letting Adrian enjoy seeing his daughter for the first time. He at least deserved that one moment, and she would let him have it in peace. For now, she would just sit and catch her breath.

Cybil ran her hands underneath the cold water of the bathroom sink. She splashed droplets over her face in refreshment. When she grabbed the towel near her to dry herself off, she glanced at the door across the room- which seemingly had no place being there. It was a rusty red color, far from the harmless pale yellow of the rest of the washroom. And at the foot of it, lay a small piece of paper. Morbid curiousity led her to pick it up and read.

Brookhaven Hospital Patient Records:

6/23/04 - Adrian Weber

Injury: A deep incision over the patient's lower abdomen. Patient claims to have inflicted the wound in a recent cooking accident, but scar line is too curved and fading to match patient's story. Wound seems to have been inflicted months, maybe even years ago.

Further inspection has led me to believe that Mr. Weber has become sick over the neglection of taking care of the wound at a sooner time. I have given the patient an injection of WC and have requested that he come in at a later date (preferably two to three weeks) for another shot to help kill the infection of the wound.

-Dr. Marcos Dremora

At the bottom of the paper was a smaller message, written in faded blue ink.

Patient looks familiar. Must remind myself to talk with him when he comes back.

Cybil slowly- very slowly- stuck her head out the open bathroom door and at the man holding his child. Her eyes then trained themselves on the red door behind her. Then the broken glass scattered around her. She tried to think as hard as she could as to where Brookhaven Hospital was located. As far as she remembered, that was in South Vale. She never went there before. For all she knew...

'Oh my God.'

Cybil tried to shake the thoughts out of her head, but she couldn't.

'No. He couldn't possibly... there's just no way he could.. people can't still be...'

The worst part about it though, was that it all made sense.

"Adrian.." Ade was still busy with the infant child, now singing softly to her. That was, until he heard Cybil call him, and he turned around. "Adrian, we have to talk."

He placed the child down on the cot next to him, and looked out at the officer across from him. The expression on his face wasn't an eager one. "Talk?" Cybil nodded in agreement, and the way she looked at him did not seem to be a look of happiness.

"Wait here, daddy will be back in a couple minutes, promise."

Adrian kissed his palm and brought it ever so softly to Mia's forehead. Ade then turned and disappeared from his daughter's sight, into the bathroom where Cybil awaited patiently. When she was face to face with him, however, she held the medical paper out towards him. "Read it."

He slowly took the paper and pushed his wet black hair out of his eyes to read it. When he seemed to be finished, Adrian shook his head subtly. "This isn't right."

Cybil furrowed an eyebrow. "Why not?"

Adrian replied in confident triumph. "I went to Alchemilla hospital, not Brookhaven. Remember?"

'He had a point...'

Cybil nodded in acceptance, but something told her that wasn't the end of it. "Wait."

Adrian stared at Cybil in disbelief. He wondered how she had the audacity to keep him from his child, even though she was more than likely on to something he didn't want her on to. "What is it?"

"Well, are you sure you went to Alchemilla instead of Brookhaven? Or you don't remember?"

Good question- enough to make Adrian falter in his reply. "I... I don't know."

"Please," Cybil said not all that pleadingly, "yes or no. Just give me a yes or no answer. Did you go to Alchemilla Hospital?"

Adrian knew he was in trouble when he had to actually think about the answer to the question. 'Thanks, Cybil, I really needed this...'

"Then I did." Adrian nodded finally in a distinctive manner.

"How sure are you?"

The nod faded as quick as it came, and there returned the puzzled look on Ade's face. "I, uh.." he trailed off in defeat. Cybil sighed; she knew all too well what Adrian's silence had meant.

"That woman... she isn't real, is she?"

Adrian's eyes bugged at the question. "Are you kidding? You can't decide that after seeing her for yourself?"

"I don't know," Cybil shrugged, "I haven't exactly gotten a look at her face without it being pitch black or without her hair in the way."

"You didn't see her when she attacked you and held you up here?"

"She attacked me from behind," Cybil stated plainly, "me being dazed and confused afterwards didn't help my vision one bit, either, Adrian." Ade looked ready to explode in a fit of rage and frustration. She just had to be kidding...

"That's a load of flaky bullshit and you know it."

"Adrian..." Cybil looked to penetrate Ade's eyes with her own, but he resisted and turned away. "You killed her, didn't you?" Cybil waited anxiously for an answer. Any answer at all.

"No." Adrian shook his head and turned slightly in Cybil's direction, although his eyes were directed on the floor. "I don't know what I did." The conversation was going nowhere, and fast. Cybil had to think of some way to salvage any information that would help.

"Adrian please," she placed a hand on his shoulder, "tell the truth."

That moment, he had abruptly turned and put both of his hands on her shoulders, shaking her slightly. It was the first time she ever truly felt threatened by him. "Don't you get it yet? I don't remember the fucking truth!" At that remark, Adrian raced out of the bathroom and to his daughter that waited quietly on the bed just outside.

"I'll be right back, okay, sweetheart? Daddy's got to do something real quick." He gently placed his hand over her forehead, stroking the small amount of hair on her scalp. Cybil heard his comment, and stood in the bathroom doorway watching him- making sure he did not run from her. Instead, Adrian turned and walked right back to her. She stood in his way, and did not budge. "Cybil, move."

"Why?"

Adrian cracked the knuckles of his right hand. "I'm putting an end to this right now. Something you've failed to do." He brushed hard past her, and Cybil whirled as a result- half from the force, and half from shock.

"What is your problem? If you've done nothing wrong, why do you have to go on? Why do you have to do anything?"

Adrian walked to the large red door at the end of the bathroom. At his feet, was the pistol that Raven dropped. Adrian picked it up. "Shut up, Cybil. Just... just shut up." He turned and gawked at the police officer. "I could've killed you but I didnt, I didn't do that! What more do I need to do, to prove to you that I'm not a killer?" Cybil stared in dumbfoundedness. All she could muster in reply was a waver of her arms. That was all the incentive Adrian needed to turn and push the red door open. Only darkness greeted him in return. Cybil wanted to say something- anything- but she didn't have the strength to do so. When she was able to at least open her mouth, Adrian was already gone.

When the crimson colored door slammed shut behind him, Adrian immediately regretted his decision. He couldn't see a thing. Nothing at all. All he could do was feel- feel the floor underneath him begin to move. Loud, mechanical noises echoed throughout the area; and they signaled the slow, goosebump inducing drop that had begun. 'Goddammit... what now?'

Adrian groped around frantically to try and find a wall or anything inanimate near him. His hands came up with nothing. The sounds on the other hand, only became more and more apparent as the ride downward progressed. Cogwheels tainted with oil and dust turned in painstakingly loud revolutions. That made the feeling that something would leap out and attack him all the more possible. And Adrian still could not see a thing. Not until the worn out elevator reached its destination and halted.

The enormous steel gate in front of him opened up and revealed a slight bit of light beyond it. When Adrian left the elevator, the gate dropped down behind him. The only path onward, was the long hallway ahead.

As he pushed forward, he began to take note to how close the walls and the floor were to looking like the same hallway he found himself in inside the church awhile back. But now, what was at the end of the hallway could have been much, much more important. Not liking to dwell on such things, however, Adrian decided to pick up the pace and hurry towards the path's imminent end. But something there caused him to slow down.

Adrian stopped, leaned down, and picked up the piece of paper at his feet. He strained to read the lettering through the small amount of light, but was relatively successful.

Patient: Raven Dremora

Symptoms: Profound disrupt in fundamental attributes such as emotion, speech, word usage, thought and perception. Symptoms have gone as far to include the patient speaking in an array of different accents, the most prominent being British. She mainly supresses the massive emotional trauma through blanked out memories. However, when this trauma forces its way into her mind, she is liable to growing extremely violent. Trauma in question involves her role model committing a murder on her own father. Has also had instances of catatonic behavior and maintains social isolation.

Overall Diagnosis: Schizophrenia

That discovery was more than enough to make Adrian cringe. It reminded him of his own run-in with a shrink. And how terrible that went.

"Why didn't you go to the hospital right away?"

"I don't know."

"Are you able to remember anything about the day you cut yourself?"

"No."

"Has this event slipped your mind by chance, or have you forced it out of your head?"

"I... I don't remember."

"Is this the only occasion which you've failed to remember something?"

"No."

"Is there someone inside you? Telling you to forget these things?"

"I'm not sure."

"Tell me what you think about this memory problem you're having. What you think the cause of it is."

"I dunno. I guess it's almost like I don't want to remember some things. Some things I force to the back of my mind so I make sure I can't think of them anymore. But sometimes I lose control of my thoughts and things get mixed up. I can tell you when me and my girlfriend started going out. I can tell you how I got started in singing. But I can't remember the lyrics of half the songs I sing, nor can I remember when or why me and my girlfriend broke up. I can't tell you things I don't want to remember or feel the need to remember. But sometimes they resurface, all I need is an image that I remotely recall, and bingo. Things get jumbled up. It's tough knowing that I can remember my first crush in the eighth grade, forget it without a trace, and then remember it a day after. I feel like someone up there is toying with me."

The more he thought about that exchange, the more and more recent it turned out to be- far from the time he remembered it taking place in. It was discouraging to know that he had led himself up to this the entire time, and he cursed at himself for being so vulnerable- something he wasn't so used to being.

Then there was Cybil, who turned out to be a hassle more than a help to him. He wasn't at all flattered by her numerous accusations throughout the ordeal- even if one of them could very well have been true. And according to his flashback- it was.

But Adrian had an assuring feeling that whatever the truth was, it would be on the other side of the wooden door just feet out in front of him. This would be it. Whether he was killed or not, he was looking to make sure that the entire situation would end once and for all. Before he stepped to the door, he looked over his newly acquired pistol: a semi-automatic Glock 18, with the standard nine millimeter rounds. Adrian had one clip of bullets remaining that would go well for them, should he have to use them. He prayed that he wouldn't.

Slowly approaching the door, he grasped the doorknob with his right hand and turned, pulling it open slowly. A wailing creak sounded from the movement. Adrian slipped into the next room and quickly flung the door shut behind him.

Another dark room. Not as dark as the elevator, but dark none the less. That didn't last too long, though; a large fire sprouted from the center of the room, caged in a huge circular chasm. And the silhouette of a woman stood just next to it, staring directly at him.

"I had a feeling you'd come here," Raven noted with a mischevious tone of voice.

Adrian marched forward, gun pointed at his enemy. Raven produced a knife from one of the sleeves to her kimono. "No more," Adrian exclaimed angrily. He easily spotted the glimmer of the dagger in her right hand. "Drop the fucking knife, now!"

"Or you'll do what," Raven teased, "shoot me? What about your friend? Isn't she a police officer? She should do that job for you."

"She's not my friend," Adrian softly confessed.

Raven smirked, but if only for a second. The look of happiness faded, and was soon replaced with a cold sneer. Adrian couldn't exactly tell, though- all he could see through the faint amount of light, were faint features. "Of course she's not. If she was your friend, she'd probably be dead right now."

"You know that's not true." Adrian kept his gun pointed at the woman- he didn't want to converse, so much as just shoot her and get it over with. "I'm not a killer and you know it."

"But that didn't stop you from ending my life, did it?"

"Don't..." Adrian tried to debate, but his plea came out no louder than a whisper.

"It just had to be for the right reason. You killed me to salvage your relationship, but your plan failed. Maybe that's why you couldn't bring yourself to kill your friend upstairs. You know that one way or another, your daughter will probably be dead."

"You shut the fuck up," Adrian yelled, but Raven did nothing of the sort.

"Afterall... look at who she has as a father."

He cocked his pistol. His index finger came close to putting just enough pressure on the trigger to open fire. The weapon shook noisily in his hands. "Am I upsetting you?" Raven made no attempt to run- she stood just where she was, as if hoping he would have the audacity to shoot her. "Did my dispatching of your loved one really have that much of an effect on you? I'm shocked."

The gun trembled all the louder in Ade's more than shaking hands. "You... you killed her." Raven answered with a mere nod of her head. Adrian screamed in disgust. "You killed her, you fuck!" He opened fire.

The first two shots whizzed past their mark by a matter of inches, but the third shot connected- a bullseye, right to Raven's heart. She stumbled backwards, and fell into the lake of fire behind her. She was gone. The dagger she had in her hands had fell just next to the edge of the open pit.

Adrian collapsed to his knees. "You took the last fucking piece of life I had left in my soul!"He put his gun down, leaving his hands free to punch the filthy floor. 'You're no worse than I am.' He punched and punched, until his knuckles drew blood. And that was it.

That was it. He sat there until he could once again find the power in his legs to stand up. When did finally did so, he looked for the door he entered the room from, and found it. Adrian picked up his gun and made his way for the door. When he got to it, he gripped the doorknob and attempted to turn it. It wouldn't.

'You have to be shitting me.' He spun around, looking over the rest of the room around him, before he made a small sigh. 'Probably another door around here someplace.' With that frame of mind, he circled the room and tried to find another door somewhere. As he did, he could have sworn that the lake of fire was beginning to grow taller. He could feel the heat of the embers reach him, even though he was as close to the room's walls as can be. That caused him to glance back at the fire every now and then in between searching for his exit.

Once he became evident of a door near him, he trotted up to it and pulled on it- no go. It was that same moment that he realized it was the same door he tried to open a second ago. "Shit."

The cackling of the flames began to grow unbearably loud. When Adrian turned to keep an eye on them, he saw something shoot out from the fire and into the air. What it was, pushed the boundaries of reality to their very limit. It was Raven- except not the Raven that Adrian had come to know.

Her hands were bound behind her back by chains, but she did not need them. From her shoulder blades emerged wings; wings the pallor and consistency of charcoal. They flapped meticulously, and in consequence they shook free glowing embers- causing them to rain down onto the ground like drops of water. The rest of her skin was as badly burned as the wings, taking the hue of a dark pinkish-grey. The long, flourishing black hair that was the most notable of Raven, was long gone, replaced with a head that was somewhat the shape of Pyramid Head's. And her face... again, not the same Raven that Adrian had once known.

The stench of death and charred flesh spread throughout the room, suffocating Adrian's senses. His gun was swiftly pointed up, and up, until he could truly pinpoint the abomination which hovered dangerously close to the ceiling. A fallen angel, in every definition of the word.

And then, the creature spontaneously caught ablaze. Anima Sola personified.

"You have no soul, Adrian Mason," the real Raven spoke defiantly, in a distinct British accent. "You are a demonic copy of who you used to be. To need such death and destruction to ensue around you for you to understand that, is a disgrace all on its own."

"I'm what you've forced me to be over the torture you've dealt me! I've been sick all this time for a reason!"

"Yes you have," Anima confessed, "but do you really think it was from guilt? You were sick because the cut I gave you got you sick. Because you were too afraid to explain what you did at the hospital."

"No. No. No!"

"I'm sorry," the fallen angel said with grief, "but you must now endure your rightful punishment." Adrian clutched his weapon all the tighter at the sound of the threat. "Or do you need me to take another life? The life of your child would surely be a proper exchange for yours."

Adrian could take no more verbal attacks. He squinted through the dark, took proper aim, and fired the pistol at Anima Sola. The bullet tore through her right wing, but no blood flowed. All that trickled from the wound, was ashes. None the less, it was still enough for the fiery being to swoop down in attack. Like a shooting star, it tore a path towards the human, who just barely dove to the left and out of its way. A strike from the burning body would surely have meant a near instant death.

He took a moment to collect himself, before he tried to spot the dancing flames once more. He became aware of them yards away, circling to make another pass at him. While Anima made her turn, Adrian fired again. Three shots, and each one plugged into the monster's body. More ashes poured onto what was quickly becoming a battlefield. The angel seemed generally unaffected by the flecks of grey that surrounded the bullet holes, and she made her way back in Adrian's direction with a much more slow, methodical pace. Adrian took the opportunity to continue firing. Two more bullets struck the flying anomaly- but she kept coming.

'This is no good,' Adrian thought with discouragement, 'I'm gonna run out of ammo.' It made him wish he brought his shotgun with him- two shells and all.

Still, he did not let up on the Glock's trigger. Another bullet punctured the left wing. Another tore into her chest. Adrian backed up a few steps to buy himself some distance, but Anima Sola was gaining on him. And that caused him to count each and every bullet he anticipated left in the weapon's chamber.

'Seven.'

Anima let out an ear-piercing scream and swooped in on him again. Adrian- caught off guard- inadvertently fell onto his back, and the fallen angel flew just over him as a result. Adrian swiveled on the ground and fired once more- the bullet went wide.

'Six.'

The monster circled smoothly around for another attack. She seemed to be at ease, as if she knew just as well as Adrian that once he was out of ammo, he would be in a world of trouble. He had no room to waste any other bullets by missing entirely, and he was perfectly aware of that. He took a deep breath, slightly more patient than before to get off a shot this time. BLAM! The slug pierced Anima's right shoulder. Another loud shriek, and the creature sped over Adrian's head. As it did, Adrian felt a drop of something hit his forehead. He reached up and got the liquid on his finger to give it a good look- blood.

'Five.'

Adrian couldn't help but think of the line Arnold Schwarzenegger uttered in the famous movie Predator at that moment, as out of place as it was.

'If it bleeds, I can kill it.'

Adrian smiled inside, and pivoted around to trail the creature, watching it circle him like a vulture, until it slowly approached once again. Another bullet fired, and it struck Anima in the chest. More ash.

'Four.'

He took a deep breath and awaited to take another shot, but took too long doing so. Anima Sola sped up yet again, and again took Adrian by surprise. He tried to glide out of the way, but the flames managed to come in contact with his right arm. He tumbled to the ground and howled in pain. His gun skittered across the floor, out of his sight. Adrian was defenseless.

Ade tried to console his arm and gently grab it with his hand but it was scalding to the touch, preventing him from doing such a thing. He could feel the heat of the flames on the monster just over him, but he didn't quit. He crawled slowly toward the fiery pit, and there he saw what he was looking for. Inside, he smiled.

Adrian reached his hands around himself, feeling for something on the floor. Luckily for him, it meant he could not see the sickening display before him. Anima lifted her tied hands up over her head, and brought them down in front of her with a sickening snap of bone. The clawed fingers reached out for him, whether their intent was to choke the life out of him or slash his throat, he wasn't sure. But he was sure he wasn't going to let either action take place. "Do you see now, Adrian? You can't escape your punishment. You must die."

As soon as the word 'die' was mumbled, Adrian whirled onto his back- dagger in hand.

"Yes," he murmured with a smile. "I see."

At that, he plunged the blade into the side of Anima Sola's head. Blood flowed freely, and flowed everywhere. "But I won't die here. Not for you, you stinking bitch!" Anima screamed out in tremendous amounts of pain. The flames around her slowly began to decrease until they were non-existent, before finally, she flopped over. Dead. Really dead.

Adrian sighed and let go of his grip on the knife to bring his burnt arm to his chest. 'I beat you,' Adrian thought in triumph, 'I beat you, I finished this.'

However, as much as his days in Silent Hill seemed to be over, he still had one more obstacle to overcome- how would he be able to explain to Cybil what he had done? And after he did, what would be in store for him then?