I don't own anything relating to Kingdom Hearts or Silent Hill. They belong to Disney/Square Enix and Konami respectively.

I might post the next chapter tomorrow, since not too much happens in this chapter. It's mostly a set-up for Terra and Aqua's part of the story

Chapter 3

She wasn't here.

Fear crept through his bones. First Ven, and now her? Add anything else to worry about, and he was going to go insane. Terra tore through the shed, ripping out the drawers in the desk, disturbing the dust with all the grace of a tornado as he looked for some clue as to where she was. In his panic, he failed to notice that the notebook had vanished, or that the shed seemed very different indeed. Before, the walls had been made of solid wood, sturdy, ready to stand up to the onslaught of whatever lay outside. But in the transformation heralded by the air horns, the wood had turned darker in some places, so that the walls now held a vertically striped pattern like the bars of a cell. Even the door creaked ominously when Terra pushed his way out.

In the rainfall of ash, snow continued to glide across the ground. The cold bit at him, but the heat of his emotions soon drove it off. The sky was gloomy, his surroundings masked by shadows; this town was as barren as a desert, and somewhere his friends stood alone.

He didn't even have that luxury. Terra barely blinked as the steady steps of the soldiers reached him. His gaze remained fixed on the snow at his feet. He was confused, wondering where to go and what to do; he was scared, scared for Aqua and Ven and his ability to find them. And those two emotions only fueled another. The veins on his fists began to pop out, for above all, he was angry; he was furious at himself for losing them, at them for getting lost, at this town for being so confusing, and at the soldiers for presenting a threat.

With his back to them, the soldiers must have thought he would be an easy target. Two of them charged at once, aiming at his legs. Terra spun around, face alight with fury, and swung Earthshaker so hard that the soldiers flew out of sight and crashed against a wall far away. There was a minute hesitation from the rest, almost unnoticeable, but they raised their own bladed arms and attacked. Terra swung his blade in a wide arc, knocking at least three out of the air. He smirked wickedly; at least he could release his rage.

For all intents, he had classified the soldiers into the same group as the heartless, and so he felt no guilt as he tore through them, only a savage pleasure and a growing irritation over the wasted time. If only they would leave! Step by step, Terra battled his way out of the courtyard, the soldiers no match for his years of practice. The way they threw themselves at him was almost sad.

He was in the streets when a scream came from behind him. A female scream. The distraction was enough for a soldier to cut him on the arm, and he swore as he slammed his keyblade upon it. A simple Cure spell took care of the injury, and Terra wrenched his eyes away from the advancing soldiers and back to the apartment. It came from there; he was sure of it. He had already cleared out the courtyard, so it was easy to run back to the building. Manners forgotten, he unlocked the front doors, entered, and relocked them behind him.

There was no light until he clicked the flashlight on. The windows, shielded by metal shutters, didn't even let in enough light for him to see his own body. The flashlight passed over the walls, highlighting the rusty red stains that seemed so common lately. Dust lay in every crack and crevice. A carpet in the center of the room was almost indistinguishable from the mud covering the ground, and Terra had the sensation of breathing in dirt. The room was big, a foyer that branched off into narrow halls and stairs, yet it didn't have a welcoming feel to it. To him, it looked empty; the furniture he found was only a skeleton of what it should be. That troubled him a little - not because he was used to the comparative riches of the Land of Departure – but because that impression was familiar. Terra's neighbourhood, back before he met Master Eraqus, had not been a wealthy one.

Terra went back to windows, intending to peek outside. His fingers slid under the shutters, and he leapt back with a yelp when he made the fantastic discovery that they were sharp. A bead of blood appeared on his ring finger and with a scowl, he wiped it on his pants, the wound too small to bother healing.

His hand came back warm and sticky.

He shone the light on it. Blood dripped from his hand to the floor. He wiped them again, but only succeeded in spreading it to his wrist. Well, he had been injured before . . . but wasn't that on the arm? He hadn't bled that much, had he?

A quick look over confirmed that it wasn't just all over his pants, but on his shirt, his shoes, just about everywhere. The flashlight fell to the ground, its beam seeming to take on a tint of red from all the blood it revealed. He could feel it on his skin, flaking with each twitch. The hair on his head was matted together in clumps. His mind froze as it struggled to register the sheer amount of it all. It was not his blood, it couldn't be, not while he was still conscious.

They didn't bleed, I saw them. Heartless don't bleed.

The soldiers had faded. Their bodies had disappeared. When they fell apart, there was nothing within them. But what if . . . for a second, he thought he remembered a pool of blood under one. He snarled and threw that picture aside. No, they didn't bleed. He saw that; he knew that. He wasn't going to let this cast doubt upon his memories.

The floor hissed.

He stumbled away, scanning the ground for any snakes that had slithered by. Of course, it was hard to do that when the flashlight sat on the ground. What he did find though, was that the dirt was bubbling, rising up and fading into thin air with a pop. Rust fell from the walls, curling up like a dying animal. A swinging light cracked as it flickered on and off.

The building groaned. Terra ran forwards and snatched up the flashlight. A shutter impaled the ground right next to his head, and his heart thumped painfully as he dove to the side. The light continued to flicker, showing the world in a series of snapshots. This one featured a rattling chair, the next a chair that had sprouted cushions. The floor seemed steady, but the clattering made him unsure, and he took a wide stance, ready for action.

The light flickered one last time before it went dark.

Silence.

Daylight filtered through the windows. It revealed stones tiles, old, worn around the edges, but clean. The air seemed wispy as his eyes adjusted to the light, picking out outlines first, then details. The carpeted area had a table in the middle, with chairs at two opposing sides. Upon the polished wood surface was a chessboard. The pieces were set up, waiting, and Terra pushed a pawn forwards, fondly remembering his games with Master Eraqus. Terra had never beaten him, but he liked to think that he offered the Mater a challenge.

The shutters were flimsy, almost disintegrating when he lifted them to peek through the window. The fog had returned, smothering the soldiers within it. He could still see the churned-up snow from the path he had taken. Yet there was a piece missing; his course was marked, but there was nothing to indicate that anyone else had been there. Anyone else looking would have thought that he had a fit of some sorts.

He wiped the glass and in doing so, brought his attention back upon his hand. Dirt had snuck its way underneath his nails, however, that was the only taint to be found. He reeled back, studying his other hand, his pants, everything, running outside to be sure. Terra stared at himself in bewilderment; except for the tiny little cut on his finger, he was blood-free. Snow, not ash, gathered on the windowsill as he weighed this startling twist.

The heartless never left bodies, but that didn't mean they didn't leave proof of their existence. Footprints, a dropped weapon, or scratches in the ground may be the only evidence of a traveller's misfortune. But there were traces, always traces. So why had the soldiers left nothing?

Terra stuck a finger through a rip on his shirt. No, not nothing. They had been here. And if he were to go look inside, he might find further proof of that.

He squared his shoulders and entered the apartment for the final time. That had been his intention at least; however, a map on the side of the entrance gave him pause.

"There's how many rooms?!"

Normally, Terra would have thrown his hands up and surrendered. But his memories repeated, fixed on that scream that played in the background of his mind. It was a female scream, and the longer he thought about it, the more and more convinced he became that he knew that voice.

His fingers brushed against the Wayfinder in his pocket, and Terra began his search.

The blue Wayfinder twinkled like a dying star. Aqua herself did not notice, but she shivered nonetheless. Her keyblade lay against the chair as she waited for Terra to arrive. She didn't want to admit it, but she'd had a strange feeling about this town since the moment they'd entered. An oppressive presence surrounded this place, reeking of darkness. Surely though, she and Terra could handle it.

She bit her lip. Ven's abilities were more of a guess at this point as he tended to vary from fight to fight. Sometimes, he was just as talented as she or Terra; sometimes he surpassed them; and sometimes he would take one step and fall flat on his face. It wasn't a comforting thought, not when Aqua could almost taste this town's darkness.

Outside the shed through the open door, dense mist circled her. She frowned. She hadn't heard any wind, but there must have been, for the door couldn't possibly open that quickly on its own. A soft whisper, too low and muffled to understand, brushed past her. She looked around for its source, but there was none. She was alone.

Or maybe not.

"Hello?" Aqua stepped outside, positive that something was out there.

She was right; there was a young girl, about Ven's age, kneeling in the courtyard. Black hair fell over her blue eyes as she picked a feather off the ground. She twirled it between her thumb and a finger, eyes rising to the sky. Only then did she appear to notice Aqua's presence, and the girl squeaked as the feather slipped from her grasp.

"I'm not going to hurt you!" Aqua said.

The girl cringed, shrinking into herself. "You're not from around here, are you?" she asked, refusing to meet Aqua's eyes. Instead, Aqua's keyblade was the target of her attention.

Had this child seen a keyblade before? Aqua wanted to know, but she had more important tasks to accomplish. "No, I'm not," she said, "I came here with two of my friends, but we seem to have lost each other in the fog."

"Oh, I saw a strange man earlier, but he's gone now."

"What did he look like?"

The girl shrugged. "Tall. Blue eyes and weird brown hair. He had a weapon like yours."

Aqua didn't know if Terra's hair should be classified as weird, but otherwise the description fit the bill. "Do you know where he went?"

"I . . ."

Her words were lost in a gasp. Startled, Aqua whirled around, Rainfall at the ready. But the girl's eyes were fixed upwards, tracing the path of a black feather as it floated down. The tip grazed her nose, and she leapt back as though she had been shocked.

"He was here," the girl blurted out, "and he checked inside the shed, and then he went that way towards the hospital."

Aqua blinked. It had never occurred to her that Terra might have made it back before she did. That was because she had figured that if he had, he would at least have the courtesy to wait for her (although it was Terra). She supposed it wasn't too likely that Terra thought that while she had asked him to meet her at the shed, he could go ahead to the hospital if she wasn't there.

"Okay, thank you."

The girl hugged herself, looking even more uncomfortable.

Pity built up inside her. "What's your name?" Aqua asked gently.

"Why does it matter?" The reply was surprisingly venomous, especially compared to the quiet ones from before. "I'm not like you; I'm just a puppet."

Aqua searched her brain, but she couldn't think of anything in their conversation that would have led to that. Before she could gather her thoughts, the girl ran off. Aqua called out to her, and was greeted by an eerie silence. She shivered.

A raven watched dolefully as she walked out of the courtyard. According to her map, the hospital was to the west of here. Easy enough. The town didn't seem to be too complicated.

The snow was falling and the wind was blowing, but she found it a rather lovely day. It wasn't cold, not at all. In fact, it felt as though the mist held some warmth within it. Silly, yes, but it didn't change her mind. The town was empty (or maybe she just couldn't see anyone), but there was still that invisible ambience to it; the town was alive. She could only imagine what it would be like when everyone was awake.

Aqua frowned. It was an odd thing to walk into a world so unprepared. Usually, unless it was part of their training, the Master gave them some idea of what to expect. Otherwise, Terra would have had a panic attack when he found himself disguised as a decaying zombie in Halloween Town. However, the only thing that Master had said about this world was that Master Xehanort and his apprentice were reportedly here. If anything, the Master's dismissive attitude suggested that this world had no special features; he hadn't even suggested coming along with Terra and her. No, the Master had originally opted to stay at the Land of Departure with Ven until complications arose and speaking with Yen Sid became necessary. The Master would have made Ven go with him too, but Ven had begged with his big puppy-dog eyes until he was allowed to join his friends.

Maybe Ven should have gone to meet Yen Sid, as then she wouldn't have lost him and Terra like this. She hated being away from them in general, and she especially hated being separated in a place like this. Even without the Master's warnings, the darkness had always unnerved her, and she didn't like to think that either of her friends was at its mercy. She knew that despite his best efforts, darkness lingered in Terra's heart. It had been such a long time since it last flared up, but the paint on the castle's walls did little to hide the damage. Ven, on the other hand, while lacking a dark heart, was just so small. Memories of meeting him swarmed her; he had been mute, barely able to feed himself. Even now when she looked at him, she sometimes saw the helpless child that had been entrusted to her Master's keeping. Ever since then, she had always fostered a protective instinct towards him. Based on how Terra acted, she imagined that he felt the same way.

There was a crash. A garbage can had fallen on its side. Half-concealed by it, a dog searched through the rubbish, tail wagging. A green tinge dyed the dog's scruffy fur, like algae had taken root underneath. Slowly, it backed out of the trash, dragging a bag that it ripped apart with its teeth. There was food inside, and the dog gulped it up.

Pointed ears straightened as Aqua walked past. The dog barked, its tail raised high. Its paws were silent, lacking the telltale clicks of claws as it bounded towards her. Aqua smiled, any semblance of caution forgotten as she held a hand out. The dog bypassed it and butted its head against her leg instead, sniffing. In an instant, she saw what may have been the reason why: it had no eyes. There were no sockets, even, just the same skin and fur as everywhere else. Perhaps this dog was born with a strange illness – that could explain the strange colour. However, it seemed incredibly happy for a dying creature and pressed against her when she scratched it behind the ears.

"For a blind dog, you sure seem to get enough food," she commented. She patted it on the side, coming in contact with the lean muscles there.

She petted the dog for a while longer, listening as it practically purred. It was adorable, really, and she knew Ven would be snuggling it if he was here. But that was the entire reason that she and Terra were here, and she had to catch up with Terra before he wandered off somewhere else.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go," she said.

It was silly to apologize to a dog, but it seemed to understand her. The ears drooped, the head cocked to one side as if to ask why. It trailed her down the road, never too far away. At most, it would disappear into the fog for a moment, and then return while licking its lips. Sadly, she realized that it must have had much practice at scavenging, and she resolved to give it some real food before she left the world.

When Aqua reached the end of the road and tried to turn onto another one, the dog started to protest. It grabbed her shorts in its teeth, pulling the other way. It did not gnaw on her fingers when she unlatched its hold, and she gently pushed its muzzle away.

"I have to find my friends."

The dog whimpered and begged. The notes of its cries only grew harsher the further she walked away, until they suddenly dropped pitch.

Though her back was turned, the growl told her everything. In the midst of its flight, the dog's jaws snapped shut on her summoned keyblade. Its weight crashed against her, forcing her back a few steps. A spell was on her lips, intending to freeze the dog in place, but it bounced away too quickly, landing in the middle of the road she had been peacefully traveling along moments before.

She only meant to frighten it, which was why her Fire spell landed short. And frighten it did; the dog's ears went flat, fangs showing as its lips curled back in a snarl. The howl that escaped its throat was not as murderous as she would have expected, and she set her jaw in a grim fashion. The dog paced, eyeing the flames.

It really did have no claws, she observed. That was good for her; there were only the teeth to worry about, then. However, that same thing helped give the dog another advantage: silence.

She didn't see the pack approaching until they stood directly in front of her. Within the time it took her to blink, five other dogs had assembled behind the first. All were eyeless, virtually identical except for a couple that were more yellow than green. They fanned out, stalking closer, and Aqua moved back as to keep the same distance between them. They were poised to attack but chose not to; not because they were wary of her keyblade as she had assumed, but because, she realized shortly after, they were herding her down the very path the first dog had tried to guide her down. Indeed, in the second that she stepped forwards instead of back, the dogs snarled. As Aqua brandished her keyblade, she wondered whether they really were trying to direct her down one road, or prevent her from going down another.

Either case was unacceptable. If there was a chance that either of her friends was at that hospital, she was going. Remembering the first dog's aversion to fire, she lit up the street with flames. The dogs scrambled, dashing this way and that, although they came back in the end. Scattered as they were though, their attacks were quite uncoordinated, and it was easy for her to swing Rainfell and intercept this lunge or another.

She didn't want to hurt them, not when her initial encounter with the first dog was so fresh in her mind. But like starving coyotes, they were relentless. The fire warded them off, but never for long.

That wasn't the only trick she had though. Magic had always been her specialty, and her lips formed the word of a different spell. A flash, and then the dogs' paws were frozen to the ground. In time, the spell would weaken and they would break free, but it would still buy her enough time to either reach the hospital or recharge her magic for another quick freeze.

The dogs tried to move, confused. The ice held fast though, and they could only turn their heads and ears to track her. The last dog she passed glared to the side as if it had a feeling of betrayal. This was the dog she had first met in the street; Aqua wasn't sure how she knew since it was identical to the others of its colouring, but she knew. She paused. The dog raised its head, the anger replaced with what seemed to be a cautious optimism. She looked away.

Long after it was out of sight, she could still hear it howling after her.