AN: I do not own Silent Hill nor do I own Kingdom Hearts. Konami, Disney, and Square Enix hold all copyrights.

The idea behind this was something that originated with A Style All My Own, and the outline was co-written with her for a movie we were going to create. I've adapted that and expanded it into this. Multi-chaptered, though I can't tell you how long it's going to be.

Up slightly early ( or six days late, depending on how to look at it ) because I'm lazy and don't feel like doing it tomorrow.

Ethos Soku Rockbell: Thank you for the lovely review!

"I'm going alone."

"We're going with you."

"That… defeats the purpose of going alone."

"It's not safe out there!"

The circular argument had been going on ever since the three had shambled out of the hospital, panic nipping at their heels. The gate that had previously been wired off was pulled open and they had barreled through without question. Rusted grates replaced the streets and they found themselves boxed in a maze, edges lined high with razor wire and glinting eyes. Kairi was on the verge of hysterics as they clattered through, every door rattling locked and every turn exposing a new snarling monster. It was only at the very end that they discovered a door hanging off its hinges, creaking in the wind like a yawning maw.

Riku had felt nervous darting in, feeling like the unsuspecting fly walking right into the venus fly trap, but Kairi and Sora darted in without a moment's hesitation. He followed and the door shut behind them, clicking in place as Sora locked it.

Deputy Harris is presenting a free informational session on motorcycle safety this Friday at 2 pm. Anyone looking to get their license or anyone who already has one is recommend to come and learn a few tips to get safe on the road!

He snorted and dropped the flyer, feeling that it was oddly ironic that they were hiding in an abandoned police station. At least… Riku hoped it was abandoned. Dust was layered over the chairs and the counter, indicating that no one had been here for quite a while, but there were smudges on the floor where something might have been shuffling along. One of the dogs, perhaps?

Which was where the conversation had started. "One of us needs to go and get help," he started and Kairi glanced up at him, blue eyes wide and nervous. She had slumped back in one of the plastic chairs, shifting to get comfortable, and Sora had disappeared to try to find a first-aid kit to bandage up the wound on her stomach. "If we stay here too long something bad, really bad, is going to wind up happening to all of us and then we're never going to get out of here."

She nodded and he smiled, thinking okay, this is great, but as Sora started back to the lobby Kairi suddenly shook her head. "You can't go off by yourself," she argued, moving again and wincing as she accidentally caused the gash to pull open. "We still don't know where Roxas is-"

"Exactly!" Riku cut her off, throwing his hands up in the air, and Sora cut between them to kneel in front of Kairi. Placing a plastic kit on the floor, he flipped it open and began to take out a brown bottle filled with hydrogen peroxide, some cotton swabs, and a roll of gauze with medical tape. "He's out there all alone and lost. Someone needs to find him and the only way we're going to do that is if we go out there and get some help. You think we should just stay in here where we're safe and let him stay out there on his own?"

"No, I don't. I- ah!" It wasn't so much a shout as a sudden gasp from pain. Kairi curled back, arms dropping down to cover her stomach, as Sora tried to dab some of the antiseptic solution on the wound. The end result was his hand getting pinned between her arm and her side as she pulled away, mouth contorted in a grimace. "That hurts!"

"But you're going to wind up with an infection if I don't take care of it," he retorted, using his other hand to force her hands up. "It'll stop burning when all the infection is gone and then, when it scabs over, nothing bad will wind up trapped in the wound."

"See?" Riku said, jabbing his finger toward the girl while she recoiled and sulked in the chair. "This is why you're staying and I'm going. There isn't any room for discussion, Kairi. You're not in any shape to be out there where all… things are."

She glared back at him, teeth set on edge as she mulled over a retort, but before Kairi could work her mind around something suitably scathing Sora interjected. "I could always go with Riku," he said mildly, dabbing at her wound again before tearing off a section of gauze and holding it to the wound. Keeping one hand pressed there he deftly picked up the medical tape with the other, using his teeth to tear off strips to tap it down.

Riku gaped as Kairi smirked. "Yeah Riku, Sora could go with you," she said, the barest hint of a sneer highlighting her features.
"A… and if he does, you'll be left here all alone!" Riku protested. "Remember the last time that happened, you being by yourself? I seem to recall that it did not go well. Is that really what you want to repeat?"

"We're inside a police station and we can lock the door. What exactly are you expecting to happen to me in here?"

"We can lock the door only because it was unlocked when we got here," Riku said, feeling the sensation of frustration growing inside of him. It wasn't that Kairi was trying to be irritating – oh, no, she never needed to work at that – but it was just that she was so damn stubborn. Always one of the boys, always just as good as them. Ever since Sora had decided to leave her back on the islands instead of-

He froze, hands pressed to the side of his head as the thought rewound and backtracked in his mind. Kairi stared at him curiously, head tilting to the side as Riku turned away slightly. Ever since who left her on the islands? Roxas, Roxas had left her there after he found her… she had been part of him. He, Riku, had found her body floating through the darkness, but Roxas had been keeping her heart safe.

"Riku?" He shook his head.

"Kairi, I'm going by myself." Annoyance flashed over her expression and she leaned forward, held back in her chair only by Sora's hand, but Riku barely batted an eye in response. "I'm sorry, but you're just going to be too much of a liability out there hurt like that and I don't feel comfortable leaving you alone. I need Sora to watch over you which means I need to do this alone. If there was any other way…"

"There's always another way," she mumbled and Sora sighed as he started packing the medical supplies away.

"Yeah, probably, but Riku has some good reasoning," he said. Twisting about, Sora smiled up at him and Riku returned the expression reluctantly. "Here, I picked this up before we left that room." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the small cellphone and handed it to the silver-haired man. "Do you still have yours, Kairi?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah…" Glancing down, she slid her legs around to unsnap the black bag that was attached to her side. Inside was the phone, the cover scratched, and behind it Riku could make out the edges of a folded slip of paper. "The battery's pretty low so it's off right now and I don't want to leave it on all the time but I guess we could try turning it on every hour and calling each other."

Riku nodded. "So now you don't have to worry about the invisible fog monster getting me," he teased. She rolled her eyes, going to close the bag, and he pointed. "What's on the paper?"

"Huh?" Kairi's fingers curled around the underside of the bag, eyes glancing in before her brows slowly knit together. Sora shifted and pulled himself up into the chair next to her and Riku stepped closer as she pulled it out. "Feels like a photograph…"

She unfolded it and Riku felt sick. They were standing together, arms slung around each other's shoulders, Riku still clad in the maroon gown of his graduating class, and Kairi was flashing a peace sign while grinning ear-to-ear. Graduation. Roxas was supposed to be there, Roxas was supposed to be in the middle-

He snatched it from her, fingers digging into the glossy surface. "Hey!" Kairi cried out, reaching to take it back from him. "Didn't your mother teach you manners?"

"… this picture is wrong," Riku mumbled, flipping it over to examine the back. In tiny red letters ( was it blood? ) the words 'What happened three years ago?' were written, the question mark dripping down the length of the photo. "This isn't… Roxas was there Kairi. He, here, hold on."

Shoving the picture back into her waiting hands he fumbled with his own pockets. Kairi and Sora exchanged a look as he pulled out the map and the photograph that had been lying on the table earlier. "See, this is…"

"… a blank picture." Sora finished. Riku could only stare dumbly at the white image glaring mockingly back at him. "And that's supposed to…?"

"No… Sora, I showed this to you earlier. Remember? You asked me what, you, it was so you would know what they looked like."

Sora and Kairi both laughed as Riku felt like someone had just ripped the ground out from under him. "Why would I need to know what they look like, Riku?" the brunet asked inquisitively. "I grew up on the Islands too."

The streets were a constant shifting beast, a world wrapped in a cocoon of fog. Along the fringes he could make out where the illusion flickered and faded, blood-rusted iron yawning and baring fangs of wire and decay. Beasts flicked in and out; faceless towering monstrosities that left a trail of quaking earth turned into naked, faceless monsters that darted just behind his feet to nip at his heels.

It wasn't just the streets. It was the entire goddamned world that was shifting around him, and Riku no longer knew where to turn to find a handhold. His memories no longer matched with reality and he would believe that, he would accept that, only it was changing every moment. Fear had driven him out of the station, the same fear that made him wonder if they would even know who he was when he returned.

Silent Hill. Was he being replaced by another here? Was he not worthy enough to bear the mantle of 'Keyblade Warrior' now? The darkness had stained his soul and even the King couldn't scrub him clean. Maybe the worlds had decided that he was a lost cause and a simple rewrite would be for the best.

"No Riku."

It wasn't the voice that caused him to pause. No, hearing someone speak out his name made him want to bolt and run and hide in the nearest open building. What forced him to take a moment and take stock was that the entire scene shifted, fog and concrete replaced by green grass and blue skies. Birds were chirping in the backyard and a light breeze blew through the field, causing the waves of grass to bend and twist.

There was no heat from the sun and the air was haze-rippled, a product of a bad dream.

He turned about slowly, the grass rustling beneath his feet, and stared at the speaker. It was the blond-haired girl, the white dress glowing painfully in the strange light. She smiled and stepped closer, head tilting to the side. "No Riku," she said again, and he bit his lower lip. Her voice, he knew he had heard it before, but from where…?

"Who… who are you? And what's going on here, what's with this town?" Riku demanded, stepping closer. "I just want to find my friend and go home. Why is everything getting so messed up?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered, voice so low he had to strain to hear her. "This is all my fault. If I had been… this never would have happened. I should never have listened to him."

"Listened to who?" The girl glanced down, blue eyes ripe with sorrow, and for a moment Riku wondered what had happened to all the other colors of the rainbow. He was the odd-man out, turquoise and green tinted instead of the brilliant sky shades that everyone else seemed to share. "Look, I can't do anything, I can't make this better if I don't understand what's going on."

She glanced up and something flashed, steel-grey imposed over the sunshine-green, and old blood stained the front of the brilliant dress. "What happened three years ago, Riku?" she asked and he bit his lip, watching as she weaved in and out of the dream atmosphere.

"I saved Kingdom Hearts! I… I gave into the darkness, I was cleansed by the King, I destroyed Xemnas and I did it with Roxas!" he shouted. "I dragged Roxas through the portal that…"

Now he faltered and she smiled, a heavy sigh escaping her lips. "What happened, Riku?" she asked again, gently prodding as his mind ran over the events the led to their return to the Islands.

Kairi's letter. Kairi's letter was a gateway and they used it to go back home. And they were on another island, one hidden in the shadows, and they got their through a portal-

Who made it? He didn't. Someone… memories, images of sounds and colors, were fluttering against his mind and he winced, the tell-tale hammer of a headache starting to pound in his temples. "I don't understand," he hissed, one hand pressed to his forehead as he glared at the demure girl. "We destroyed the Organization. We got home. Why does what happened matter anymore?"

"Because I need you to remember." The blue frizzled into ash around her, red-hot embers nibbling at the edges of the sky that was crumbling to pitch-black behind her. Riku swallowed hard, fear shivering down his spine, and for a moment he swore he saw hell gleaming in her eyes.

"Because," she tried again, voice even and tempered as the sky brightened. "Because you need to understand what's happened. This punishment isn't meant for you."

"Punishment?" The word trembled on his lips as a horrifying realization began to creep up on him. She nodded slowly and he shook his head, taking a step back from her. The surreal glow that surrounded her, hair, dress and skin, made her shimmer and slip out of form as she smiled ever so nicely. "No. No one's done anything wrong. Just let us leave, let all of us leave."

"You need to remember," she said again and the image skipped back to the girl in the white dress. She stepped forward slowly, a slip of paper folded between two fingers as she stretched her hand out toward him. "If you don't remember then nothing will change."

A threat or a promise. Either way, Riku hesitantly took the paper, knowing all-too-well what he was going to see folded up inside. As he pressed it open, fingers rubbing against the creases, the world reverberated and howled as it melted down, foggy streets and rusty fences replacing the sunshine and the fields.

It was a picture. It was the picture, in fact – he knew that if he checked the black photo would be gone from his pocket. He was standing there, smiling, with Sora in the middle and Kairi on his other side. Graduation day again and there was no sign of…

No sign of…

…

Roxas.