James looked both terrified and enraged as the woman stepped out and smirked at him.

Heather reached for Rebecca, and pulled her back. "There's something wrong with that woman, she's not right..." Rebecca though, ignored her and focused on James, who was wavering.

Jill narrowed her eyes. "What does she mean, James? I thought your wife died in hospital from some sickness?"

"I-" James stumbled back from Maria, from the group, his hands over his eyes. "No, I mean, yes, I mean…"

"Oh, stop stalling, James Darling, and just tell them the truth…before things get worse for you." The woman crossed her arms and as she surveyed the group, Heather broke out in a cold sweat. Something was definitely not right with this Maria woman.

James was still stumbling over his words, before finally shouting out. "She-she was dying! She was dying, and she was in pain, and I couldn't do anything! The doctors wouldn't help, they'd just give her some pill that would do nothing, and she was dying, wasting away, and…" James sobbed, and Heather understood.

"You…You killed her, so she wouldn't suffer anymore, didn't you?" She asked, and he nodded, his hands still on his face.

"But the doctors, they must have been able to do something! How could you?" Rebecca asked, horrified and accusatory.

James shook his head, moving further from the group. "No, they couldn't do anything. I would get calls late at night, early in the morning, asking me to come in because she was on her death bed. There were days when she was lucid, days when she could eat, and then there were days where I stayed with her night and day as she started to fade, machines and pumps attached to her. I couldn't stand it, watching Mary fade. I had to do it."

"Oh, bullshit James. We both know that's not true." Maria crooned, waving her hands in Heather and Chris's directions. A shudder worked through Heathers bones, and she found herself unable to move anything but her eyes.

"You hated Mary, right? I mean, why else would I be here?" Maria continued as James kept backing away, until he encountered a wall.

"Because my guilt created-" He started, but Maria cut him off.

"LIAR! You didn't create me, I created myself!" She yelled, swiping at him and leaving several deep scratches in his face. "I created myself to make you suffer, James. Accept it. I was never your creation."

"No." James ducked away from Maria, now moving closer to the other three. "I don't know what you're doing, why you're still here, but I have to stop you before you hurt someone."

"Oh, and how are you going to stop me, James? Conjure up some nice triangle helmeted people to stab me? No, I think I'll just go and destroy everyone you've met here so far. These three, then the ones in this motel you keep talking about. It shouldn't be hard to find them." Maria said, taking a step towards Chris. "I mean, that will hurt you, and then maybe you'll fucking remember and accept what you did."

Heather could hear Chris and Jill both growling obviously pissed that they couldn't move or do anything, but she stayed focused on James and Maria.

"No, I won't let you," James said, "You can't hurt these people, and I most definitely will not let you harm Laura. I promised Mary I would take care of her, and I won't break that promise!"

He bent down and grabbed a table leg that someone had broken, and brandished it at Maria. He still had his gun, but Heather figured that he was too caught up to remember having it.

"You are completely delusional!" Maria screamed at James, who started to step away, but instead held his ground. "You have no need to take care of that brat anymore, you never did. Just hurry and accept it, you're like me."

James shook his head. "What are you talking about?! I'm nothing like you!" He cried, moving to hit Maria with the leg.

"YES YOU ARE!" Screamed Maria. "YOU ARE DEAD! YOU'VE BEEN DEAD FOR YEARS! ACCEPT IT!"

Everything went silent, and Maria heaved for breath she didn't need, before James whispered something. "What did you just say?" She growled.

"I…I'm dead? But how? Why? What about Laura?" James didn't seem to understand what was going on, and Heather could relate. She was sure none of the others understood either, but she couldn't be sure.

"You," Maria sneered at James. "Drove your car into the lake, and drowned. You couldn't stand to live after you remembered what you did to your precious Mary. But then you had to feel a sudden pang of guilt, because your stupid wife had left you a letter that you dutifully read, asking you to watch that girl, and you'd left her alone instead. So you manifested yourself so you could help that brat, and so you could pretend you were doing something good again. Of course, you couldn't leave, and you started draining yourself to shield her from the town, hunger, everything…I almost didn't find you, you were so weak." Maria smiled, a twisted thing on her face, before turning and reaching towards Chris.

James barely took the time to register what Maria had told him, barely any time to comprehend or think, before springing forwards and grabbing her as her fingers touched Chris' nose. As he pulled her away from them and started scrapping with her, Chris and Heather managed to break out of Maria's hold, and they dragged Rebecca and Jill to a safe distance.

"Come on, we have to help him," Heather said, but Chris shook his head.

"I don't think we have to," Chris said, pointing. "Look, I think James has everything under control."

Both James and Maria were starting to become less and less solid, James' coat falling through him to the floor and he pulled Maria back through the destroyed table. His gun fell too, at the last minute, and he turned to them.

"Take care of Laura, okay?" He asked, before grabbing Maria as tightly as possible and fading away with her as she screeched and tried to get away.

"SHE'S AT THE CHURCH SHE WILL KILL YOU ALL!" was the only thing she managed to coherently yell amidst curses, before fading with James and leaving nothing behind.

Suddenly, everything was moving again, from the dust motes in the air to Jill taking deep, heaving breaths.

"Oh god…" Rebecca stared at the place where James had been standing with Maria moments before. "He… He was dead? And he was keeping Laura alive by himself? Oh god…Who's going to tell her? She looked like she was really close to him." Rebecca rubbed at her eyes, whipping away any tears before they started rolling down her cheeks. "And I was so angry with him, about his wife! God, I…"

"I need to go back to the hotel." Jill broke in, turning to Chris. "I need to tell Barry and Claire what we found. Or, rather, what we didn't find." She then looked over to Rebecca, who'd walked over and bent down to pick up James' coat and weapon. "And I think I should take Rebecca with me. After what happened to Douglas, and now this, I think she needs to take a break. And I think she'd be better at letting Laura know what happened to James than me. You two will go to that church, right? And check out what 'Maria' said?"

Chris started to object, obviously not wanting their party to deplete to just two, but Rebecca interrupted. "I don't really think I need a break, Jill, but I agree. I'm going to head back to the hotel. Laura needs to know what happened, and…" she trailed off, pale and tired looking.

Jill looked at Chris, silently talking to him, before placing an arm around Rebecca's shoulders and pulling out a map. "Look, we're going back to here, and you and Heather are going to check out that church over there. You're not going to be that far away, and, if you need too, I'm sure you two can run back and grab some backup if you need it. Now, stay safe, okay?"

"Ah…Yeah, you too." Chris placed his hand on Jill's shoulder, before watching her walk off with Rebecca. Heather, on the other hand, was more worried about Maria's weird warning, and who they were going to meet in the church.

"Jesus…this town does not want us sticking together, does it?" Chris sighed, weary. "And I didn't even say we were going to church. But I guess we should now."

"Nope…"Heather replied. "Listen, I think I know who the last person Claudia mentioned is, the one Maria said was at the church that we may or may not be going to."

"Who?"

"Dahlia Gillespie, Alessa's mother. My father first met her in that church, and that's where she tricked him into helping her." Heather sighed. "I really don't want to see her. Claudia was hard enough to face, but Dahlia was different. She hurt both Alessa and the other Cheryl. Not to mention, Silent Hill was always like this, crazy and dangerous, but Dahlia did something, preformed a ritual, and hurt Alessa. And so Alessa changed this town, causing it to become like this."

"Wait, so if Alessa was so powerful, how did her mother stop her?" Chris asked, wanting all the facts before they left.

"My dad. She told him that Alessa was behind everything, and she'd taken Cheryl, when in reality, yes Alessa had influenced the reality of Silent Hill, but she was trying to scare my father away, so he wouldn't help Dahlia. But he listened to Dahlia, and took some kind of talisman with him to wipe out Alessa's circles of power. This allowed Dahlia to remove any hold Alessa had over the town, and then…" Heather stopped talking, not comfortable, really, talking about what had happened to her, before she was Heather.

Chris stood, digesting what Heather'd told him, before nodding. "Ok, she's not to be trusted, and she can probably hurt you if she wanted too. Well, let's get going. We've been standing in here with these bodies too long. I bet Jill and Rebecca have made it back to the motel already!"

Chris started to walk off, and Heather slowly followed. Confronting Claudia had been horrible, but she hadn't really confronted her, it had been Alessa. But Dahlia…She'd done so much to hurt Alessa and Cheryl, and Heather didn't want to confront her.

'At least Chris will be there…but who knows how much help he'll be,' Heather thought as she caught up to Chris. 'I still don't think he realizes what this town is…'

Jill and Rebecca were obviously gone already, but Heather still watched for them as she and Chris walked back to the main part of old Silent Hill. When they reached the streets, she recognized the area as where Harry had crashed when he'd come here with her.

While walking around the different road-blocks, Chris tried to make some conversation. "So…are you worried about Dahlia? I mean, if she can take down Alessa, then she might know what buttons to push for you."

"Maybe… I mean, she died when Dad was fighting their 'god', but it seems like nothing is staying dead this time around, so who knows?" Heather opened the door of K. Gordon's house again, and they passed through it again.

"And we all know who to thank for that," Chris muttered.

"That Wesker guy, right?" Heather sighed, ducking under a very low hanging branch, "I just want to know how the hell he brought them back, and why."

Chris snorted. "You aren't the only one. I would say that it was to try and kill me and my team, but this is too elaborate, even for him."

The chatter dropped off as they neared the church, its bells ringing. With every loud ring, Heather's radio began to spew louder and louder bursts of static, and Chris started pointing out monstrosities prowling in the trees and on the sidewalk beside them.

"…I'm glad we decided to walk in the street," Heather whispered, trying to ignore the tense feeling in her stomach.

"Yeah." Chris replied. "So I'm going to assume Dahlia knows we're coming."

"What gave you that idea?" Heather whispered back, before going quiet. Nothing was attacking them. Yet.

Heather's gaze lingered on Midwitch Elementary School as they passed it by on their way to the church, remembering what it had been like for Alessa there.

She was so caught up in her thoughts, that she didn't notice when they reached the church steps until Chris asked if she was ready to go in.

"N-no, I'm not, to tell the truth," She said after he repeated his question.

"Yeah, I didn't think you would be," said Chris. "But we have to go in. On three, weapons drawn?"

Heather nodded, deciding to pull out her gun, rather than use her sword. Who knew what Dahlia had up her sleeve?

Ready to go, Chris pushed open the door, and they both stepped inside.

A/N: I know, in one of the earlier chapters, that I'd written that James' car was still parked at the rest stop, buuut let's just say that the car manifested itself as a ghost too because of reasons OnO

This chapter is also pretty short (compared to the others) because I have a plan for the rest of the story…and my plan for this one was just James fighting Maria, but that wasn't really long enough to make a whole chapter, and I don't want to mess with my plans. They are pretty good plans. The planniest of plans. Plan-tastic.