Shizuo groaned as he opened his groggy eyes.
Orange.
He was lying in something orange. And soft. And plastic.
He sat up and looked around.
He was lying in an orange life raft. But he wasn't in water. He was in the middle of a road, a mountain face on his right and a cliff on his left. The sky was a foggy gray, no rays of sunlight piercing through any of the clouds while snow was falling from them.
Where?
He was on a plane, wasn't he?
He tried to remember what had happened.
He took a nap on the plane. When he woke, he found out Izaya had made him into a racoon. They washed it off while Izaya told him about where they were going.
Then he saw Alessa and...
Shizuo's eyes widened in horror.
"Izaya?!"
He looked around desperately but the raven wasn't anywhere in sight.
'Oh, god did he...'
His hand brushed against something solid and he looked down to see...
Izaya's cellphone.
One of Izaya's cellphone!
So he did make it. He must have been lying by Shizuo and when he got up, it slipped out of his pocket—
Wait, why would he leave?
Unless...
He's sleepwalking again?
Shiuzo started to fall into a panic as he grabbed the phone and stood. He ran over to the cliffside and looked over the edge. He couldn't see the bottom and he could see that it was definitely deep. If Izaya fell off this...
'No.' He shook his head wildly. 'No no no. Izaya's alive somewhere. He's alive, I know it!'
Although he had no proof, he refused to believe Izaya was dead. He absolutely refused!
The only person who's allowed to kill Orihara Izaya is Heiwajima Shizuo! No one else! No other monster will rob him of what was rightfully his!
With that unwavering determination, Shizuo turned back to the raft. He looked down one way then the other.
Having no clue which led where, he chose to go west and ran.
'Izaya, be safe. I'm coming for you.'
Izaya felt bleary as he opened his eyes. He cringed as he saw bright orange around him. He groggily turned on his back and folded his arm over his eyes.
Why was it so bright? The plane had dimming lights, didn't it? So why aren't they dimming...
Izaya shot up with a gasp.
The plane crashed!
He was dead—
Wait, no he wasn't. He was breathing. He was alive. And sitting in an orange life raft in the middle of a cliffside highway. A fog hung over the mountains, snow falling from the sky.
'Snow? But it's not cold.'
Izaya held out his hand and three snowflakes landed in his hand. They didn't dematerialize to his touch so he closed his hand over them and opened it.
'Ash...It's raining ashes...'
He looked around.
'Then is this...Silent Hill?'
He looked around again, looked for burning buildings and distorted creatures. But there was nothing. No bright colors but the raft he sat in. Evything else was monochrome. Void of life.
Void of any form of a blond bartender.
Izaya stood.
"Shizu-chan?" He called.
There was no answer.
"SHIZU-CHAN!" He yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth.
His call echoed off the rocks for a good minute before falling silent.
And there was no reply.
'Why would he leave without me? Did he go looking for help and he didn't want to wake me? Was he even here to begin with? Did he land somewhere else? Did he even make it at all?'
"Dammit—hm?"
His eyes caught sight of something red on the moutain face. He ran over and his eyes widened.
'Shizu-chan's bow tie.'
And under the bow tie was an arrow scrawled in the rock pointed east.
'He went that way. Why'd he go without me?'
Izaya clenched his teeth as he stuffed the bow tie in his pocket. He walked back to the raft and pulled out a yellow flip phone. He opened it before pulling out another blue phone. He quickly transferred the contents over to the other phone, then went about putting his blue cellphone's number in it.
Then he put the now empty-but-one-contact phone in the raft.
'Just in case we miss each other.'
He then turned and ran east.
'Dammit, dead end.' Shizuo thought, swallowing down his anxiety as he stood at the end of the road—literally. The road was destroyed, torn away to nothing but an empty canyon. He could see the road continue on the other side, as if a giant monster had trudged through.
Shizuo looked down the canyon, hoping not to see a raven-haired man but expecting it. When he couldn't find any trace, he turned and ran back to the raft.
The raven still wasn't there.
'Dammit.'
He looked around. He could at least leave Izaya something so he knew where he went. But there was no writing material around.
So he ran over to the cliff face and grabbed a rock. He took at least five minutes scrawling an arrow pointing east. He sighed heavily and loosened his bow tie. He hung it on the rock so Izaya would know who it was that made the arrow. Then he turned and ran down the street.
"SHIZU-CHAN~!" Izaya yelled, the name bouncing off the walls of the building.
He was in a town. Not burning and destroyed like in his dreams. But definitely run-down. And abandoned. He hadn't seen a single soul the whole way there. No monsters and no people. The houses looked like people hadn't attended to them in years. A thick layer of ash caked the windows, blocking the view of the inside and all the cars were either stuck or squished. The concrete stuck up in sporadic clumps, long cracks leading this way and that.
Izaya looked around, hoping to spot a blond head down an alleyway.
"SHI~ZU~CHA~N~!"
'Where could he have gone?!'
Izaya's cheeks puffed in frustration to no reply before he expelled it out in a heavy sigh.
He turned to a window and began writing in the ashes.
Shizu-chan, it's Izaya. If you got the phone I left, call me. If you see this and don't have the phone, go back to the raft, I left it there.
He rubbed his index and thumb together to get the ashes off.
'I wrote it in kanji so if any American's see it, they shouldn't be able to read it. I doubt anyone in West Virginia has studied up or even been to Japan.'
He sighed and read over the message for any mistakes.
Then his eyes widened.
In the cleared line of one of the character's, he could see a little girl staring at him in the reflection.
He turned around quickly. The girl spun around and ran.
"Hey! Wait!" He gave chase.
He turned around the corner quickly and spotted her just before she turned a corner to run down another corner. But Izaya saw her. Clear as day, he saw what she looked like.
'That's her. The girl from my dreams. Alessa...'
"Wait, are you Alessa?! Wait for me, please!"
Izaya never broke stride as he ran after her, but no matter how hard his feet pounded against the ground, he couldn't catch up. When he was certain that turning the corner would have her within reach, she would be at the end of the alleyway instead.
"I'm not going to hurt you! Please, wait!"
She ignored him.
'Come on, I'm speaking English for Christ's sake.'
"Wait!"
Izaya wasn't sure how long or how far he chased after the little girl who haunted his dreams. All he knew was that he lost her. Not because he didn't know where she went. But because a loud piercing siren rang out across the area.
Shizuo ran as quickly as he could. His feet slammed against the ground in a repeated rhythm as he continued on his search for Izaya.
He slowed only when he saw a sign coming up out of the haze. He stopped completely to read it and his eyes widened.
Welcome to SILENT HILL
The paint was peeled off here and there but there was no missing the bold yellow words.
'We...made it? How the hell did that happen?'
He looked past the sign to see a town through the gray of the fog.
'That's...Silent Hill?'
Shizuo narrowed his eyes to try and see the town clearer. Then he ruffled his hair to get the snow out of it. It had built up while he was running and now that he was standing still, he could feel it irritating his scalp.
His eyes widened when he pulled his hand away and saw that it was a sooty black.
'Ashes...?'
He brooded over it for only a moment longer then he ran toward the town at full charge. He wanted to call out for Izaya but he kept his mouth shut. If this was Silent Hill then there were those monsters waiting somewhere. Calling out would draw their attention to him, and Izaya if he found him.
As he entered the town, he was aware that there wasn't a soul anywhere. No monsters, humans, not even animals. No birds in the sky or stray cats in the alleys. Not even rats or crickets.
"Hello?" He knocked on a shop door.
When there was no reply, he wiped the ashes off the window and pressed his face close to the glass.
But by the slight pressure, the door creaked open. Shizuo backed away slightly, worried something would jump out at him. When nothing happened, he pushed the door open all the way, the wooden frame creaking with a foreboding sense of dread.
"Um, hello?" He cautiously stepped inside, looking around.
The store was a barber's shop, from what Shizuo could tell. Spinning metal chairs sat in a straight line in front of sinks and mirrors. Products were strewn on the floor and the lights were obviously broken.
And as far as he could tell, there was no one there.
He turned to leave.
But something knocking drew his attention back.
"Hello?" he whispered, his body tensing as the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.
'I don't like this.'
Something knocked again. Then again. And again.
He could pinpoint it to the back closet.
"Is...someone there?"
That was a stupid question. Of course there was someone here.
But the question was:
Is whatever it is a thing or a person?
Shizuo swallowed hard as he tentatively walked over to the closet.
His hand gripped the door knob but he didn't turn it. He clenched his fist tightly, ready to hit whatever came out.
'Okay. One...'
He locked his feet to the ground.
'Two...'
He drew his fist back.
'Three!'
He opeend the door.
And was blinded by a swarm of buzzing flies.
He dropped to the ground, crossing his arms over his face as the insects buzzed about him, swarming out towards the door.
Shizuo didn't open his eyes till the buzzing stopped. When it was finally quiet, he sat up and looked towards the door.
It was pitch black but the closet conveniently distributed a flashlight from its depth. It rolled slowly and stopped against Shizuo's feet.
He picked it up and clicked the button. The light flickered on and off so Shizuo smacked the back and gave it a shake till it's beam was bright as ever.
He put his wrist into the sling on the end before pointing it to the door.
His eyes widened and bile rose in his throat.
There were three dead people in the closet. At least Shizuo thought there were three. He could see three pairs of arms but there were no legs and the torso seemed to be...fused together. As if melted...
Shizuo was sure he was going to puke. There was no rotting smell but the sight alone made him feel queasy. He turned and ran out the door, falling to his knees on the sidewalk. He wretched but nothing came up so he just coughed.
'Oh god. Izaya, please tell me that's not you.' he thought in horror. 'Don't tell me you got iced already.'
But even as he thought, he knew that wasn't the case. Izaya was alive. Somewhere. And he was going to find him.
Shizuo stood and continued on with his search.
But he halted, not even three houses down. There was something written in the ashes on a wide shop window.
It was a message!
A message from Izaya!
If you got the phone I left call me.
"I knew he was alive!" Shizuo called in glee as he dug his hand in his pocket for the phone. He pulled it out and opened it.
'Wait a minute.' Shizuo's eyes widened as he looked back up at the message.
If you see this and don't have the phone, go back to the raft...
'If he had slept-walk then he wouldn't know he left a phone. He left before me? Why didn't he call the phone? Why'd he go without me? How the fuck am I supposed to protect you if you run off, you shitty flea!'
"Dammit, Izaya..." He reached up to loosen his bow tie in irritants.
But soon that was the last thing on his mind as a loud storm-warning siren rang off, echoing around the alleyways.
