You did it, Izaya.
The voice of a little girl echoed all around Izaya. He couldn't see anything, couldn't feel anything—not even the ground under his feet. All he could do was hear.
Congratulations. You're here. You made it all the way here.
Your reward...is the truth.
Did you see? That Alessa was a good little girl?
Izaya heard something. A dull hum that began to grow in octave. At the same time, an image began to form before him. The only thing he could truly see. The noise became louder and louder until Izaya could make it out clearly. Chanting. Many little girls chanting.
"Burn the witch! Burn the witch!"
Even though nobody looked at her that way.
A group of Caucasian elementary girls, all wearing the same dark blue uniform, stood in a circle. They were surrounding another girl. The one Izaya had been chasing this whole time. Her black hair and dark eyes were all too familiar to him.
Little Alessa. She looked around the crowd with a gaze of fear, breathing hard as if she didn't understand what was going on and why they were all doing this. For a moment, the girls that surrounded her shifted. For just a blink of a second, the little girls changed to the demented Gray Children that attacked Izaya in the maze of alleyways, with their twisted faces and sharpened, elongated fingertips.
"Burn the witch!"
Their parents told them she was bad.
"Burn the witch!"
She didn't have a father like they did.
Alessa looked all around herself until finally deciding to push through the crowd. She shoved two girls out of the way and ran. The girls pursued, still screaming and waving their fists with every word.
Alessa ran down the hall as fast as her little legs could take her. She made it to the girls bathroom, where she shoved the door open, rushed inside, and closed the door. She pressed herself against it to keep anyone from coming in.
However, Alessa wasn't alone in the bathroom. A man, a janitor, was in the bathroom mopping the floor. He looked up at her; she looked at him.
Alessa was alone in the world.
The man stared at her, a small smile creeping across his face. He rested his hands on top of his mop, then his chin on top of his hands. There was a sickening, predatory glint in his eyes. Izaya saw his name tag on his body suit. Colin. The moment he registered that, the man's form shifted as quick as a blink. His suit became torn so it only held on one shoulder. His hair vanished, his skin turned ashen. Around his wrists and eyes was barbed wire.
You know what can happen to little girls when they're left alone.
Alessa's scream tore through the air. Izaya didn't see what happened. But he didn't need to. The implication was there. He understood what that animal of a man did to the poor girl.
Everything faded to white before a new image appeared. A women with lovely orange hair in a white dress was standing in front of the last stall in the very bathroom Izaya saw a moment ago. The same stall Izaya had heard someone crying when he himself visited there before. She patted on the bathroom door.
"It's okay." She said in a soothing voice. "It's me. Come on."
The bathroom stall opened slowly. She put a tender hand forward and gripped Alessa's shaking hand.
Even her mother couldn't help.
Izaya didn't even recognize that woman as Dahlia Gillespie until he heard that. The ragged woman with gray hair always hunched over did not look like this beautiful red-head with proper posture.
Alessa wrapped her arms around her mother, crying softly into her white attire.
Even though she loved her baby.
"Help me..." Alessa sobbed. "Mommy, help me."
Dahlia's gaze was conflicted. She truly wanted to help but she didn't know what to do as she just hugged her daughter and rocked her back and forth soothingly.
The group of girls that had heckled Alessa into the bathroom stood crowding within the door. Some of them looked remorseful as they asked her what happened while looking up at a woman with curly brown hair that was hiked up in a bun. The woman in a dark blue dress shooed them out and closed the door, locking it so the three of them were alone.
But the rest of the family didn't love Alessa.
They were just like the others.
Made her scared.
"We know." The women with brown hair said. "Even the children know that your daughter...Why won't you just name the father?"
Dahlia didn't answer, didn't even look at the woman.
The woman came closer, looking down in disappointment before looking up again at Dahlia with a cold expression.
"You brought sin amongst us."
She looked down at Alessa.
"The faithful must gather in judgment," She looked back at Dahlia, "For we were called to purify this filth."
"What does she mean, Mommy?" Alessa looked up at Dahlia.
Dahlia hugged her closer.
"You're weak, my dear sister." The woman reached out and brushed Dahlia's hair out of the way, tucking it behind her ear so she had no excuse not to look at him. "You always were. But trust us, Dahlia. Have faith in our virtue. We will restore innocence."
Dahlia looked at her with obvious confliction. Izaya could see the cogs turning in her head on what to do. Would this really help her daughter? Would this woman be able to purge the sin of her fatherless child, so she can finally be accepted into the community? Can her baby girl finally be safe if she just trusted her sister?
The mother decided.
In a flash of white, they were no longer in the bathroom of Midwich Elementary School, but on the street looking up at the hotel Izaya had visited before.
They had met many times since the town was built.
Izaya saw a stream of cars come around the corner to take up all the parking spots in front of the hotel.
To restore innocence, and purity.
A man opened the car door and the women with brown hair, wearing a black veil, stepped out.
They had a special place for that.
She turned and waited, in which little Alessa climbed out of the car next. Dahlia, wearing all black and having a black veil over her head as well, stepped out next. Alessa looked around with obvious confusion, looking from the people standing there waiting for her then up at her mother. Dahlia also looked confused, as if she didn't fully understand what she had agreed to. But she stepped forward nonetheless, taking Alessa's hand into her own.
They stepped into the building.
Do you remember the hotel?
Of course, Izaya remembered.
I led you to all these places and you were very good at following all of my clues.
The group walked up to the painting of the witch burning. The woman, this supposed leader, clicked something and the painting opened like a door.
A man separated Alessa from Dahlia, guiding the girl forward to the door behind the painting, while another man gestured for Dahlia to stay back.
"You may leave, Dahlia." The woman said.
Dahlia tilted her head in confusion as she looked at her.
"We fight the sin, not the sinner."
Alessa looked at Dahlia with confusion. The man pushed her forward. That confusion turned to fear as she looked at the door then back at Dahlia.
"Mommy?!" She called.
Alessa was pushed through the door, held tightly by the man.
"MOMMY!" She screamed.
The group of people around Dahlia went through the door after, all the while, Alessa screamed for her mother. Dahlia took a step forward, but the people wouldn't let her pass. They turned to her and nodded, making her take a few steps back towards the way they came from. They wouldn't let her pass.
You wouldn't know how it feels, would you, Izaya? To lose your little girl?
No, Izaya wouldn't know. He wasn't a father, after all. But he could understand.
Dahlia slowly backed away as she took the veil off her head. She stared at them in horror.
"What have I done?" Dahlia voiced. "Oh god!"
Dahlia then turned and ran down the hall.
"Weep not for the demon." The women's voice drew Izaya away from Alessa. His placement was moved and he was no longer in the hall, but in the room behind the painting.
Alessa's scream tore through the air. She was suspended over a pyre that was burning slowly. There weren't even flames on it, as it was just burning hot coals. A slow, torturous burn. Alessa was bound to a metal, circular grate. Izaya could see the grating was shaped to make a certain symbol, but it wasn't the symbol of the church. It was more of a triangle with strange symbols in the center and around the ring.
"Once again, we are locked in a mortal battle."
The crowd stared on with cold expressions as Alessa screamed, wretched, coughed, whimpered, and whined.
They thought they knew how to cast out evil.
"Praise God for our clarity!" The woman called as she raised her hands to the sky.
"Praise God." The crowd repeated.
"Praise the innocent for their sacrifice!"
But you should be careful how you fight evil.
"They give us back our purity!"
"Our purity." The crowd repeated.
The woman looked over Alessa on the pyre. She was charred black from head to toe with terrible burns.
"And our unity."
"Unity."
Your weapons can turn back on you.
Without reason or explanation, one of the chains holding the grate up snapped. Everyone gasped in shock as their eyes widened. The grate, with the little girl still attached to it, swung about. It picked up speed it certainly shouldn't have and swung up then back down. The back of the grate slammed against the pyre, knocking it over and sending coals flying. Said coals flew over to a curtain and immediately caught them on fire. The people of the crowd screamed in fear and shock as they ran away.
The image blinked away again before returning Izaya to the terrible scene of a burnt child. Dahlia rushed into the burning room, followed by a group of policemen. The first thing that greeted her eyes was her daughter, burnt to black and suspended in the air against that terrible grate.
"N-no! No!"
Dahlia called out in anguish as she fell to her knees. Her daughter. Her poor daughter. What had she done? How could she let this happen to her baby girl? How could she have ever trusted her sister for a moment? She should have known something was wrong! She should have known these people couldn't purify sin when her daughter was already pure!
Now you know why Dahlia is broken.
Dahlia sat on the floor, crying and waling in horror and sorrow. Her form blinked. The beautiful woman with red hair and black clothes changed to the hunched over, ragged women in dull gray robes with gray hair. The women Izaya had met in Silent Hill.
A policeman rushed up to Alessa. His eyes spoke volumes how horrified he was. But he stepped up all the same and grabbed the shackles that bound her. They were so hot that they instantly burned his hand, smoke coming off and his flesh sizzling. He pulled away in pain, then forced himself to grab it and quickly pulled it off.
She tried to get help.
"NO!" Dahlia screamed. "NO!"
But she went too late.
The man freed Alessa, the limp girl falling into his arms. Dahlia continued to scream and cry.
"Get her up, boys!" The policeman said. "Get her up now!"
Two cops grabbed Dahlia by her arms and tried to carry her away. Dahlia refused, however, and they ultimately had to drag her out of the burning building.
The man took off his coat and wrapped it around Alessa. He picked the burnt girl up and rushed out of the room quickly.
There were good people in the town. People like you, Izaya.
But Izaya wasn't good. He knew this for a fact. But he couldn't voice that opinion aloud as he just watched the scene unfold before him.
People who like to help.
Alessa grabbed the man's shoulder tightly.
Another blink of light and Izaya wasn't in the hotel anymore. He was back in the hospital, but this time it wasn't destroyed, dark, and decrepit. The halls were white and clean as multiple doctors and nurses carted a bed down the hall. The burnt little girl, Alessa, sat on the bed, gasping hard. There was a nasal cannula around her face to flow air into her nose.
Alessa was so lonely and hurt.
The little girl grabbed the bed sheet in pain, unable to move, unable to speak.
And scared.
The doctor grabbed the sheet underneath her and hoisted her up and over to another bed.
They should have known better than to hurt her so badly.
The nurses and doctors set to work trying to help her.
When you're hurt and scared for so long...
The image shifted again to show a nurse. The bed had a sterilization capsule over it, to keep any form of airborne infection out, so Alessa's injuries didn't get worse. A nurse in a red top and white skirt was disposing of bloodied bandages.
Izaya could hear a mechanical voice in the background. It wasn't from this memory, but from one he had experienced before.
"Even when I change the bandages, the blood and puss just starts oozing through! Why? What is keeping that child alive?"
Was this the women who had said that in the video?
Your fear and pain turn to hate.
The nurse with her long blond hair walked over to the sterilizing capsule of cloth, carting fresh bandages and clean water over.
And the hate starts to change the world.
The woman came around the bed and paused. The flowers that had only been there for a day were all dead, wilted, and dried. How curious? How could they have died so quickly? They had water in their vases still.
Alessa's hate grew and grew, burning inside her.
Alessa's harsh breathing drew the woman's attention once again. She looked over, then decided to draw closer. She leaned down and peaked into the small, plastic rectangular opening meant for doctors to check over their patients without moving the protective covering.
Her hate grew so strong, she even hurt someone who was only curious.
Alessa saw the woman peaking through at her. She glared in pure hatred, wanting to tear those eyes out for looking at her. Her suffering wasn't for anyone's entertainment! She wasn't a freak show to be gazed at!
The woman's eyes widened to that glare and she jolted back. With haste spurred by fear, she rushed away from Alessa and left the room.
That's when I came.
Izaya could see a dark figure walk up from the other side of the sterilization capsule. Her black form was prominent through the white fabric separating Alessa from the world.
The ragged, dirty little girl Izaya had seen many times now peered through the peep hole the nurse had vacated.
I told her it was their turn.
She put her hand up to the white mesh.
I promised.
Alessa raised her hand.
They would all fall into her darkest dreams.
Alessa struggled to reach her charred hand to the one against the fabric. But she forced herself to reach.
As soon as their hands touched, black began to spread through the white mesh like a spider's web. The white was completely taken over in moments. It then spread to the floor, where the ground began to peel away like burnt paper and flew up to the sky. The walls, the curtains, the ceiling all peeled away to become dark and black. The strips began to swirl around the bed at an alarming speed.
Izaya put an arm over his eyes as his whole world went white. Everything fell quiet.
Now, Izaya, we must talk.
Izaya heard gentle sobbing. Slowly, he brought his arm down to look. He was in the hospital room of Alessa Gillespie. However, it was no longer the bright white and clean room he had seen before. Everything was black, decrepit, and destroyed. The only thing that wasn't dirty was the woman crying in the corner. She had blond hair, a red top, red heels, and a white skirt. It was the nurse that had gazed at Alessa.
Izaya looked at her, tilting his head in confusion. She didn't look monstrous at all, despite being here with in Alessa's room. Slowly, he walked over to her. When he was close enough to reach out and touch her shoulder, she swiftly turned and walked away, keeping her back to Izaya the entire time. She walked around the bed to the other side of the room, where she sat down on a chair facing the corner. She sobbed still.
Izaya stared at her curiously.
'She's not like the other monsters, so why is she here?'
"Lisa doesn't like to be looked at."
A male voice made Izaya jump. It came from above him, so he quickly looked around. He spotted a black cat on top of a broken part of the wall. Said broken part was jutted out to make a kind of shelf. The black cat with blood red eyes looked down at him.
"She's very shy, after all." The cat said.
Izaya tilted his head in confusion. He had seen a lot of things in Silent Hill, but a talking cat hadn't been one of them.
From the broken ceiling dropped another cat. This one Izaya recognized. It was the creme-colored cat that scared him in the school bathroom. Izaya was confused to see that here.
Then, with no warning at all, the two cats began to shift. Their fur and skin peeled away like burnt paper, swirling around them and blocking them from Izaya's sight. The burnt scraps formed what looked like two human figures—much, much bigger than the cats that had been there—before attaching themselves to said person. Once it was said and done, sitting on the broken wall were two people.
One was a man that Izaya recognized. Young features of a 19-year-old Japanese boy. Blond hair. Red eyes. A pair of glasses. Dressed like a bartender with a white scarf and a white messenger bag over his shoulder.
Izaya's eyes widened to see the person he had put a bullet in not all that long ago.
"You...How are you...?"
"Obviously, Tsuki was a test." The other person said. "Alessa had to make sure Shizuo wouldn't gum up the works, after all."
Izaya looked at the other person. This one also caught him by surprise because it was like looking in a mirror. This man had the same face as Izaya. His eyes were red instead of brown, however, and his hair was longer, but he looked just like Izaya—right down to his attire. The only difference was his coat had red fur-trimming instead of tinted.
"Hello, little brother." The man said with a glare of hate and a sneer on his face.
Izaya tilted his head in further confusion.
"Oh, did Mom and Dad never tell you?" The man leaned back on his arms, crossing his legs as he glared down at Izaya. "We were supposed to be born together, as twins, but you decided you wanted life all for yourself and took it from me. I was born a stillborn while you got to breathe air."
"...I don't recall anyone ever telling me that, no."
"Heh, ain't that funny?" The man glared with pure hatred before looking to the side. "Nice to know I was fucking forgotten."
"If that was the case, why are you here in Silent Hill?"
He glared right back, that glare becoming increasingly cold. "Alessa brought me here. Once she knew you were her chosen savior, she wanted some insurance to make sure things went well for you. I don't get to breathe still, but at least I'm alive."
'You're not alive if you can't breathe.' Izaya decided not to say that aloud.
Instead, he looked at Tsukishima. "And you? Were you a twin of Shizuo's or something?"
The blond opened his mouth, but the other man answered. "No, Alessa sicced one of her dogs on Shizuo and tore a chunk of his flesh out. She then made Tsukishima from that flesh. He was literally born yesterday, heh."
The man chuckled at his own joke. Izaya didn't see what was so funny.
"U-um..." Tsuki started, "I'm um, sorry for hitting you so much be-before. Um, I had to ma-make it convincing. N-no hard feelings?"
Izaya just glared. Tsuki shrunk under that gaze. The other man glowered at Izaya before putting his arm around Tsuki and smiling. "You did fine. No need to apologize to this prude."
"But I-I feel bad, Roppi-san." Tsuki looked up at him. "Do-don't you feel bad for trying to kill Sh-Shizuo-san?"
Izaya's eyes widened. 'He did what?'
"It's not like I was actually going to kill him." 'Roppi' shrugged. "Just had to push him far enough to want to kill me. Being Izaya's replacement behind Pyramid Child's rampage and the bullshit."
Izaya jolted. "Pyramid Child?"
The man looked down at him and sneered.
"No, no, wait!" The informant turned his full attention to the two. "What do you mean Pyramid Child? And being my replacement?"
Roppi smiled from ear to ear. "I don't know. I don't think I have permission to tell you."
"You may tell him."
Izaya jolted to the voice of a littler girl next to him. He looked down to see Alessa, the dark apparition of Alessa he had been following.
He looked back up at Roppi. He wasn't smiling anymore as he looked openly annoyed. He then scoffed loudly with a roll of his eyes.
"Fine."
The man pushed off the shelf and dropped down in front of Izaya. The informant took a reflexive step back, but went no further. The man glowered at him with prominent animosity as he wrapped his arm around Izaya's back and pulled him close.
Their lips met. Izaya was repulsed and tried to pull away, however, he didn't get to as he was transported. He was no longer in the destroyed hospital room. He didn't fully know where he was, but he was certainly in a building. The darkness had arrived, surrounding them with rain and grated floors. The ceiling didn't exist in this building as it had been destroyed by the darkness.
A woman sat under a desk, hiding. She looked utterly terrified as she had her hands over her own mouth to keep herself from screaming. Her breathing was coming out harshly and her whole form was trembling.
Farther within the building, a man's scream rang out. It was abruptly cut off, followed closely by something heavy falling to the floor. The woman barely kept herself from screaming as tears streaked her cheeks.
Two things could be heard next. The thundering yet slow footfalls of someone heavy walking around, and the sound of metal dragging against metal. Izaya didn't need to see to know who it was. A moment later, Red Pyramid came into the doorway. Izaya reflexively took a step back, ready to run at any moment. However, Red Pyramid didn't even 'look' at him. Instead, he turned his giant head around the room slowly.
'This has to be a memory...' Izaya registered.
He walked in. The woman held her breath so she couldn't scream. Slowly, the pyramid head sauntered across the room. He stood by his desk and picked up his giant sword. Izaya was certain he would bring it down on the desk, but he didn't. Instead, he swung it at the wall, where he embedded it in, so it wouldn't go anywhere. There was a small pause. For a moment, the woman heard nothing.
Then an arm reached under the table and grabbed her by the throat. She screamed as she struggled but no amount of strength was going to outmatch Red Pyramid. He lifted her off the floor and raised her up with one hand. He then grabbed the chest of her clothes. In one single swoop, he tore the dress down her body, leaving her in nothing but her socks and shoes. He threw the clothes to the side.
He then tossed her on top of the desk. Izaya's eyes widened.
'Wait. He's not seriously going to—'
The woman screamed, flailed, and kicked. The pyramid head still held her by the throat but he quickly put himself between her sprawled legs.
'No way. These monsters don't have sexual appetite! They—'
The woman screamed in terror, but thankfully, Izaya didn't have to see anything unfold. The vision changed within that second.
Now, the woman was in a hospital room. The door was sealed off with broken rubble, so she couldn't escape. She looked around herself, still stark naked and terrified.
"He-hello?"
There was no reply.
She stood up, hugging herself and walked over to the broken doorway.
"Hello?! Is anyone there?!"
No response.
"Please, someone, let me out!"
Time passed in the blink of an eye for this women. Soon, her belly became swollen with obvious pregnancy. This random women would know the pain of child birth—and she would know the pain of birthing a monster.
Soon the time came for her to deliver this baby. She lied on a dirty hospital bed, screaming and crying as contractions held her. Between her sprawled legs was the woman Izaya had saw earlier. The nurse, Lisa. And now, Izaya saw why she was so shy. Her eyes were white, rolled into the back of her skull so she couldn't see anything. Her tears were that of blood as they streamed down her cheeks, down her chest to stain the white blouse she wore under her red shirt. All around her eyes were the obvious marks of darkness, crawling away from her eyes to make a spiderweb-like design. Alessa had truly punished her for her simple gaze.
Lisa still sobbed as she sat between this woman's sprawled thighs, hands out and ready to deliver a baby. Not long was a child born. It waled and flailed it's little blood-soaked limbs. Even under all that blood, Izaya could see that it's skin was not a normal white. It was certainly ashen to match its monstrous fathers. Lisa lifted the babe up and wiped some of the blood off with a surprisingly clean rag. She then wrapped it up and handed it over to the little girl, Alessa. The child took the baby and held him carefully.
"Ple-please!" The woman on the hospital bed screamed. "Don-don't take my baby! I want my baby!"
Alessa just stared for a moment. Then a small smile crept across her face.
"Now you know," Alessa said, "what it's like to lose a child. Now you know what you put Dahlia through."
The woman stared at Alessa in horror. In the next moment, that horror turned to fear as Red Pyramid stepped out of the shadows. He dragged his giant sword behind him. Lisa and Alessa walked towards the door while the woman scrambled back on the bed until she was cornered against the wall. The rubble moved for Alessa, clearing the doorway.
"N-no! No!" The woman screamed.
Izaya saw Red Pyramid raised his blade.
"NO!"
The woman's call fell away into a scream of terror before the sound of the blade slamming against the floor could be heard.
The vision changed again, and this time, they were back in Alessa's hospital room. The little girl carried the baby over to the torn sterilization capsule and held it out. An adult hand covered in burn scars reached out and touch the baby gently. It was almost a loving touch.
The little girl then put the baby down on the floor. She unraveled the cloth that held him and put a hand over his stomach. Izaya could see the baby's veins become black within his tiny body before the child waled in pain. As more and more darkness poured into him, the baby began to grow and grow until the screaming boy was now seven or eight years old.
She took her hand away and the boy gasped in pain. He then fell completely still, staring at the ground with dull brown eyes. Alessa knelt down so she could see his face. She then placed a hand on his cheek, in which the veins became black once again. The boys' ethnicity changed. He went from Caucasian to Japanese in a single moment. His skin became darker to match that of an Asian's instead of ashen.
Standing before Izaya was not a Japanese boy, looking no different than any other. The boy looked up, his mess of mousy brown hair covering his eyes slightly. He looked up at Alessa.
"Now, remember." The girl said. "you are to protect Izaya at all costs. That is your only purpose, Pyramid Child. Make sure he can get to Silent Hill and bring him to Alessa."
The boy nodded. Alessa stood as she then hugged the boy close. The two disappeared from the room and stood within a house. Izaya could see pictures on the wall of people he recognized. This was the Heiwajima household, only there were no pictures of Shizuo. Only of little Kasuka and his parents.
"I found a good home for you." The girl said, holding the boys hand. "They'll take care of you while you complete your task."
The boy nodded again.
Alessa reached out and touched the wall. Darkness trailed out, creeping across the wall into the home. Ever picture it touched changed to include Shizuo in them. Once it reached Kasuka's bedroom, it crept into his pillow and burrowed into the small child's head. He cringed in his sleep before falling still once again. The same thing happened to his parents.
'Did she input memories of Shizuo into them?'
Once everything was said and done, Alessa took her hand off the wall. The darkness disappeared as if it was never there. She then turned to the boy. Her hand came out to cover his eyes.
"You'll have to forget about me and where you came from." Alessa said. "You'll have to blend into this world until you can return to Silent Hill with Izaya. So forget everything, but remember only this—you must never let Izaya die."
"Never let..." The boy muttered. "Izaya die...I won't let...Izaya...die..."
Izaya felt like someone had grabbed him by the back of his shirt as he was pulled out of the memories. His eyes flared open as he gasped. He stumbled back away from Roppi, panting heavily. He looked at Roppi, then at Alessa, then back at Roppi.
"No, there's no way. Shizu-chan isn't one of you. He's—"
"What, you honestly thought that strength of his was just natural talent?" Roppi crossed his arms and slouched on one hip, looking at Izaya in obvious judgment. "That he just happened to be born that way?"
"But...he-he hates me. He would never protect me—"
Izaya took a step back, in which he bumped into the side of the bed. He looked over his shoulder to only see the lower half of someone's face, scarred by burns. Immediately, Izaya worried that he would be punished for gazing and quickly looked to the floor.
"Don't be afraid." The little girl Alessa said. "She won't hurt you. She needs your help."
Izaya looked at her. Then looked at the person in the bed properly.
"Who is she?" Izaya asked.
"She is Alessa."
Izaya looked back at the little girl. "Then who are you?"
"...I...have many names." She smiled softly. "Right now, I'm the dark part of Alessa."
"You...so you two set everything up for me?" Izaya looked at the woman in the bed then at the little girl. "You put Shizuo in Ikebukuro so that he and I would eventually meet. Is he the reason I had nightmares all my life? Has he been plaguing me with the darkness?"
"No." The little girl shook her head. "That was all me. Shizuo forgot more than he should have. He took to his new life with a family too well and began living like a human. But he remembered that he was drawn to you. He remembered he had to be with you even if he didn't want to."
'...Maybe he subconsciously knew that Alessa was evil, and that's why he didn't trust me when we first met, because of my connection to Alessa. Or maybe...'
"You made it very hard to draw you into Silent Hill when you started taking those pills to stop you from dreaming." Alessa said. "Shizuo couldn't bring you to Silent Hill unless you stopped taking them, so the longer you consumed them, the longer Shizuo couldn't fulfill his life's purpose."
'So it was a self-conscious hatred of me.'
Izaya glowered before shaking his head. "I have so many questions. So many...Shizuo didn't take me to Silent Hill. I took him here and we've been separated this whole time. He hasn't protect me at all. How is he even fulfilling his life purpose like this? And what was that about being my replacement?"
He glared at Roppi.
Roppi chuckled as he sneered. "Alessa needed to make sure that Shizuo didn't actually want to kill you. Over the years, you two really developed a rivalry and we were wondering if Mr. Pyramid Head's wrath was more prominent than his will to protect you. So, basically, I tried to kill Shizuo to piss him off enough to want to kill me. Since I look like you, if he could kill me regardless, then obviously he wasn't suited to be your protector anymore."
Izaya glared.
"But it's fine. He passed. He didn't kill me, so he's still a Pyramid Head through and through."
"He got lost along the way." Alessa said. "When he returned to Silent Hill, he should have remembered everything, but it seems as if that's not the case. He still thinks he's human, and still thinks he can leave now that he's here."
Izaya looked at her. "We're going to get out of here, aren't we? Don't tell me you brought us here just to kill us."
"No. Like I said, we need your help, Izaya. After you help us, you have my permission the leave Silent Hill."
Izaya was quiet for a moment. He looked back at the Alessa in the bed, then the little girl Alessa. He then turned and gave his full attention to the Alessa in the bed.
"I'm listening."
The woman smiled. However, it was the Dark Alessa behind him that spoke.
"Now, the dream of this life must end." She said. "And so too must the dreamers within it. For over 30 years, they lied to their own souls. For 30 years, they denied their own fate. But now is the end of days. And I. Am. The reaper."
"What do you want?"
"All we ask for is satisfaction."
"Satisfaction?"
"Revenge."
"Isn't this whole place revenge enough? You've been torturing them for so long, why don't you—"
"Did you not hear her?" Roppi's interrupted. "It's time to end this. Let them burn in real Hell and give Alessa the right to rest. She's been alive for 30 years, living off of Darkness and hate. Once her revenge is satisfied, she can finally die in peace."
Izaya looked over his shoulder at him. Then looked back at the woman in the bed. "Why do you need me?"
"There blind conviction repels me from their church." Dark Alessa said. "I cannot enter while they deny their fate, but you can."
"You want me to let you into their sanctuary?"
The Alessa in the bed nodded slowly.
Izaya clenched his teeth. "Why me? Why don't you ask Dahlia or anyone else outside of Silent Hill? That cop who saved you might do it. But I...we all know I am not a good person. I do bad things to good people all for a laugh. I am not innocent. I am not righteous or good. So why bring me here to save you?"
"You chose."
Izaya's eyes widened.
"You chose to help us."
"What...do you mean?"
"I sent those dreams out to many people. Many children, many adults, many parents, hoping to find someone who could help us. But all of them turned away from us. They chose to save themselves in those dreams and let me die. You...were the only one who didn't. Even though you were a child too, that first dream you had, you chose to save me instead of yourself. You died to save me. And every dream thereafter, you saved me. You never tried to change the course of the dream, never decided to see if you lived instead of died if the dreams would end. At the base of it all, you chose us."
Izaya fell quiet.
"Has that changed now that you know the truth?"
Izaya stared at the women in the bed. This poor little girl who grew up in Silent Hill all because of some fanatic witch burners. She was entitled to her hatred. She was entitled to make these people suffer. And after all this, after all the things Izaya had been put through, he couldn't bring himself to blame her either.
"No. It hasn't."
The woman smiled.
"I chose to protect you in my dreams. I chose to come to Silent Hill. And I chose to follow you throughout this hell without a care for anyone else."
Izaya leaned down so he could make eye contact with the women. Alessa looked at him with bloodshot eyes.
"I'm with you, to the end."
Her smile only grew, looking gentle for a moment as true happiness glowed in those blue orbs.
Izaya then looked back at Dark Alessa.
"What about Shizuo?" Izaya asked. "He's in the church right now. I don't want him to get caught up in this."
"He already is." Roppi said. "Christabella's going to burn him."
Izaya jolted. "What?!"
"Christabella has found a new vessel for The God." Dark Alessa said. "Shizuo's body will become the Incubator, as they tried to do with Alessa."
"Wait...wait, what?" Izaya turned to her fully. "What do you mean Incubator? What about God?"
"These people are truly fanatics." Roppi said as he shifted back. He sat down on the desk, holding onto the edge of it as he kicked his feet slightly. "They're more than just a group of modern day witch burners. They're doing this for a purpose—to bring their God on Earth. Supposedly, if this God comes down to Earth, he'll start the apocalypse, rid the world of all its sinful people and make a Paradise thereafter. They believe all humans are born in sin and filth, and the only way to save them is to follow their faith and cleanse the flesh from their bodies—thus the witch burning's."
"They told Dahlia that Alessa was bad because she didn't have a father." Dark Alessa said. "And I'm sure that is still all Dahlia knows. But in truth, there was something special about Alessa. Strange things have always happened around Alessa when she was angry, scared or sad. Christabella saw it and so decided to burn Alessa. You saw it too, didn't you?"
"...The chain breaking during Alessa's burning. The dead flowers in the hospital room."
Dark Alessa nodded. "Little, strange things like that had been happening all of Alessa's life and Christabella noticed. She made it so Alessa was isolated from her classmates, so she would have no one to turn to but her mother."
"And then she backed them into a corner." Roppi growled, glowering. "She set this whole shitty situation up for years just so Dahlia will be at her wits end on how to help her daughter."
"Burning Alessa was a test to see if she was strong enough to hold The God." Dark Alessa continued. "If she could survive the trial by fire, they would make her the Incubator. Things didn't go their way though. They didn't think Alessa was that strong, to escape them. And because I arrived, they were sent to their own personal Hell instead."
"And now they're going to do the same to Shizuo-san." Tsuki said, not a stutter to be had. "To see if he can survive the trial by fire and become the Incubator."
"If they can do that, they'll be free from Alessa's curse without their punishment." Roppi added.
Izaya looked at all of them one by one.
'We don't have much time then, do we?'
He then looked at Dark Alessa. "Just tell me what I need to do."
She smiled. "Tell them the truth."
She then held her arms out for a hug. Izaya looked at her, hesitated for a moment, then walked over. He went into her arms, in which she wrapped them around his waist quickly and with a vice grip. He hugged her back as his hands began to shake.
With seconds, Izaya felt something cold and dark fill him up. He looked down to see Alessa's form disappearing, seeping into his very flesh. The cold and dark spread further and further up his body as Alessa became more and more one with him. His whole body began to shudder. He gasped and grabbed the back of Alessa's shirt tightly.
This was wrong. His body was trying to fight it. His very soul was trying to fight it. His head felt like it was bleeding as his eyes rolled back into his skull. Once Alessa's form had disappeared inside of him, he tilted his head back and just held his own shirt. He groaned, gasped and jolted until he fell to his knees. His veins were burning, his skin was as cold as ice.
'For Alessa...'
