Eyes closed. Just for one, fleeting moment, he saw it. He saw a world where there were extensions of pain, suffering, and fear. He saw a world where the constant and cold drizzle ceased to cut through the never-ending darkness. He saw a world where there was an existence away from Silent Hill.

But the window was slammed closed as the sirens had gone off. Any opportunity at revealing more information of the unknown realm had slipped away; the Marked Man would need to return to his books again. Opening his eyes, he gazed around the darkened library, ignoring the presence next to him. That was the one thing he rather enjoyed about the library – it stayed the same. It was a constant. It was outside of the influence of the sirens and lower monsters, and thus the books were intact and able to be read. The library was perhaps the place he spent his time the most, especially as of late.

Pyramid Head shifted, also taking in his surroundings. He rarely came in the library, and had only done so twice before. Once, when he was merely wandering about Silent Hill, waiting for the sirens to meet James. The other time was with Invidia, when the plan was first introduced to him. He had to admit – the Marked Man had certainly collected enough information to make the plan plausible. Now, the difficult part was executing it, to go through with everything necessary to try to achieve what was still a long shot.

"What will you do now, Invidia?" he asked, his deep and rough voice nearly shattering the silence. Inside the library, there were no sounds of the drizzle, and certainly not of the lesser monsters. He watched as the smaller "fear" continued to look about, then uncertainly lowered his cowl, revealing a shock of black locks that reached near his chin.

"For now, I will continue as I have before. I will retrieve information, and try to use this library as a gateway. I only need to find out how." The Marked Man's tone seemed almost disappointed, but it was only subtle. It certainly lacked the usual hostility. To Pyramid Head, it seemed that "Iny" was falling into a spiral of obsession laced with a hopeless cause. But, he knew the fear was stubborn enough to rather put up a fight trying than to simply sit around pretending. "We will escape," Invidia said with finality, moving away towards the shelves of books.

Pyramid Head said nothing, but merely turned and left the library. It was not his domain – he was merely a temporary guest.

We.

Will.

Escape.

Those three words ran through his mind over and over, and on his return to Alchemilla, he mulled over every aspect of those same three words. We. The Marked Man meant to get them out of there, despite his hatred of the other. Will. He would rather face her than to fail, it seemed. Escape. That word alone made Silent Hill seem like an endless trap, something that sucked in despair and morphed it into something much worse. Pyramid Head laughed underneath his helmet – had all of those books given Iny such rebellious thoughts? After all, if it wasn't for the books, then he would've probably never yearned for a different existence, one as a human, a mortal man. Pyramid Head admitted – he found this quite amusing, a digression from the monotony of tormenting James, trying to make him realize his true crime.

The low chuckle abruptly stopped – but the Marked Man meant to get both James and Dante involved. He meant to use them in some way that no one else could see, to get out of Silent Hill and alter their fates.

He had to ask himself: were monsters ever meant to change and repent?