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

Chapter 6

Terra's fingers drummed on the door. "Anyone home?" he shouted.

It was a good thing no one was, as the closed door supported his entire body right now – not that he was expecting anyone to open it. He'd knocked on dozens of door, shouted several times, even tested a few knobs. It didn't seem like anyone lived here, and he was beginning to doubt his memories of a scream.

He moved on. He had yet to find any trace of Aqua. Or anyone. Really, finding a breathing person would be nice around now.

The flashlight's beam swept over the ground, revealing nothing. Terra still wasn't quite sure what had happened to the blood and rust of before, but hey, he wasn't complaining. If he could take a step forwards without worrying that something was underfoot, that was fine with him.

He tapped on another door, and then passed that by. Did anyone even live here? He'd seen a few pictures of supposed residents, but had yet to meet any. However, the odd footprint had been preserved in the carpet, and the apartment building seemed too neatly furnished and clean to be abandoned. Still, the apparent emptiness worried him.

Another empty room. The wall shook as Terra punched it. Plaster crumbled around his fist, but he found himself lacking guilt as his head fell to rest against the wall. Eyes closed, he struggled to calm himself. Was there a scream, or was there not a scream? Was he, or was he not insane? And where in the world were Aqua and Ven?

With a tremendous effort, he straightened up and went to the next door. He didn't like being separated from either of them. He liked it when they were close, where he could glance over his shoulder and know they were okay. He was the oldest, the strongest. Like the alpha-male of a pack, he was always at the head where he could keep an eye out for any danger on the horizon. Now those eyes were occupied with searching for a hint of his friends, and the beating of his heart instead sounded like a clock ticking down to some unforeseeable doom.

He dragged his feet down the hall to the next room. All right, this was it. If no one had come to see what the racket was about, he was going to assume that the apartment was, indeed, empty. Yes, that meant he had just wasted all of this time screaming at a nonexistent crowd. Fabulous.

He didn't bother to check the next door. Instead, he strode past it towards the stairs, fully intent on leaving. But his ears picked up the slightest sound; so soft and quiet, like a smothered gasp. Terra stiffened. His fingers flexed, itching to summon his keyblade. He ignored the urge, taking careful steps forwards. One of the doors had creaked open on its own, and it beckoned him.

"Hello?" His voice echoed. He raised a hand, still unsure whether to proceed, and almost shut the door instead. However, the second his knuckles brushed the wood, the door sprung open with a bang, rousing dust from its resting place. Terra hovered in the doorway as it settled, staring into the darkness.

Well, the door was open now, and it wasn't his fault. Surely, he couldn't be blamed for being a little curious (although he was sure Aqua would have something to say). The hair on his arms stood on end as he crossed the threshold; it felt like he was some burglar reaching towards his prize, excited and terrified that some magic would raise the alarm. But there was no alarm here, only the sound of his breathing and the light of his flashlight.

It was dark. Terra went forth cautiously, as deliberate in his movements as a man tiptoeing around a sleeping bear. As far as he could see, the place was plain. There were no fancy decorations, nor any pictures. The walls were blank save for the occasional stain; the floor, bare.

Static met his ears. Drawn to the noise, Terra found himself crossing into another room. This one, unlike the rest, was dimly lit in a blue hue that only seemed to make the shadows grow darker. An armchair sat in the middle, much-used guessing by the wear he saw. Directly in front of it was a television. Although the only thing the screen displayed were grey and white flickers, Terra stared, entranced. He hadn't seen one of these since he'd left his home for the Land of Departure, and then only when he had snuck into the rich areas. Bright lights continued to pop in his vision after he wrenched his gaze away.

A faint reflection caught his attention. He hadn't noticed when he first walked in, but there was a coffee table at the foot of the armchair. He wasn't quite sure what the objects atop of it were, but the way they gleamed told him enough: valuable. Of course, stealing was not on the agenda, and gold and silver were worthless to him when he paid in munny.

He picked up one of the objects anyways. He wasn't going to keep it, honestly. Besides, he had little use for a watch and lazily, he rolled it between his fingers.

There was a thump. It was a sound similar to one of those times where Ven ran straight into a wall. Despite the impossibility of that event, Terra found his pulse quickening. The watch dropped from his hand, clanging upon the glass table as he made his way back to the entrance. The change was immediately noticeable; the hall closet's door had opened, and a lump slumped against the opposing wall. A lump that was warm to the touch.

Even before Terra shone the flashlight upon it, he knew exactly what he'd find. The anticipation made the shock a little easier to bear, though he still flinched as the light revealed a man. This body, thankfully, was in better shape than the first. The only visible wound was a slash to the neck, where the blood had long stopped flowing and hardened in a grisly frame. The path extended from there to the man's shoulder and down his chest, soaking his crisp white shirt. The eyes were still open; in death, they were fixed upon a knife that was embedded handle-up in the floor.

The blade's edge was jagged, more like a saw than a knife. It resisted his pull, scraping against the wood, forcing out splinters as it fought against him. It only slid halfway out until it stalled completely, but Terra could still see the signs of the knife's role. He left it where it was, trembling slightly from his previous efforts. The interior of the closet - or to be specific, what wasn't inside - demanded his concentration now. The man's clothes, still damp, spoke of a large loss of blood, yet the place the body was purported to be hidden was clean. It was a fact Terra found impossible to accept, unless, of course, it hadn't been the weight of the dead that forced the door open, but a pair of hands. It made sense to him then that someone had waited inside the closet, struck once to great effect, and ran. However, with that explanation, Terra found himself at a loss to explain why he hadn't heard a thing, or why the blood was concentrated only on the man and not his surroundings.

As Terra fell deeper and deeper into thought, the body seemed to fade in front of him. Instead, he saw the same man standing, alive and well, smoothing his shirt with the same dedication that a man polished his medals. Yes, Terra could imagine exactlywhat happened. It was surreal how the vision played in front of him, as if his own thoughts were projected into the air. The man with the white shirt opened his closet, but wait, there was a boy inside. Younger and smaller, yes, but these were forbidden grounds. The man grabbed at him; the boy fought back. They struggled, and then the serrated knife materialized out of thin air. The boy swung, seemingly unaware that it wasn't only his fist flying towards the man's neck. The blade made contact, tore.

His mouth went dry; Terra watched with horror, with the sinking feeling of déjà vu. The man's head rolled to the side, too stunned to express anything but surprise. And another face flashed in place of his, a boyish face with the same expression. The background had never been important to Terra, but now it was filling in. The blackness gave way not to stark apartment walls, but of a wide expanse filled with boxes and crates. Someone behind him shouted words that made sense one moment, then were nonsense the next. And through it all, there was the sound of scraping, like something heavy was being dragged, getting closer and closer . . .

Static broke him out of his trance. A black box from the pocket of the white shirt emitted the noise, similar to the one that had came from the television earlier. The noise continued to intensify. Of its own violation, his arm rose, his hand grabbed.

Just as he held the box up to eye-level, a shriek ripped through the air. Terra cried out, hands flying to cover his ears. His heart stuttered, nearly shocked into stopping. The air changed, and he rolled away just in time for something to fling past him into the wall. The shriek stopped. The creature backed away, snuffling, hypnotising red eyes meeting his. It had a heavyset body, low to the ground with a long whip-like tail behind. It didn't seem dangerous, but when it opened its mouth, that shriek came again, and Terra found himself lashing out. Flames flew from his fingertips. His ears rang as the world elapsed into silence once more.

Great; who knew what kind of things that noise had awoken? Terra leaned against the wall, rubbing his forehead as his headache grew. All he wanted was to find his friends and a nice, warm bed. Maybe a shower, too. He moved away from the wall, groaning as something crunched underfoot. What now?

It looked to be an open wallet. One half sported a name and picture, the other what was now a cracked badge. Terra didn't need to look at the picture to know to whom the wallet belonged to. He crouched down, wiping some dirt so that he could read the name.

The ID read Officer –

His mind shut down.

He crushed the wallet in his fist. Memories battered his mind, flashing in such rapid succession that he couldn't recall anything from them. He swallowed thickly; the wallet dropped to the ground. When he regained control, his hands were shaking.

It's not the same man, he told himself. He literally had to fight his own limbs to get them to move again. His hand jerked towards the wallet, then faltered, then inched forwards. Terra was determined to see that ID, to confirm that this was a man he had never before encountered.

The walls shook. This time, Terra didn't wait for the danger to reveal itself before he summoned his keyblade. He stood, exiting the apartment as the static began anew.

They were easily visible, even in the dark. Their eyes glowed, like an animal's eyes reflecting firelight. He was ready this time, and only grimaced as they howled. They charged, and Terra held Earthshaker steady, only to blink in surprise as they wove their way around him. There they sat, stout heads swinging from side to side, hissing when he even thought about moving towards them.

Their shrieks were no longer constant, that was a relief, though they still came occasionally. It was like chirping of a bird, shouting "I'm here" to all. Despite the fact that one had just attacked him moments before in the apartment, Terra amused himself by rocking back and forth on his heel, grinning as they alternatively hissed and went silent.

But that was enough. If the shrieks didn't bring Aqua running, then she probably wasn't here. And Terra really wanted to get out of this place. He sighed as the creatures blocked his path; well, at least he'd be able to vent a little.

They scattered as he swung, though they came back with teeth bared. Terra stopped their attacks easily, but was too slow on the counter to actually get rid of them. It was a stalemate of sorts, with every step he gained being countered by one he took back. He was getting a little pissed off now.

It was only when he noticed a pattern that apprehension started to kick in. They weren't attacking, but delaying, holding him in place. But for what?

Something cold brushed the back of his neck.

Unlike the others, this creature (more of a monster, really) was hard to discern. All he could see was that it was standing at the end of the hallway behind him, that it was bigger than him and filled the entire hall. What little light there was outlined a slanted head, like the slopes of a pyramid. Behind that, Terra knew, were eyes that were fixed upon him, nothing else. And as Terra met the unseen stare of this thing, utter fear took over.

He swung Earthshaker so hard and so fast that his shoulders ached. But it got the job done; Terra hurtled down the hall. The body in the apartment, the creatures, his friends were forgotten as he ran. All he was aware of was that he had to get away.

Behind, the monster with a pyramid-shaped head didn't move.

Terra hurdled down the stairs, taking the steps three at a time. He burst into the main entrance, this time failing to keep his balance as he tried to tackle those stairs, too.

"Have something to hide?"

He whipped around, searching for the voice's source. At last, he felt inside his pocket and picked out the black box that had been on the man's body. He frowned; he didn't remember dropping it in his pocket. Eraqus had told him never to take things from other worlds that weren't a gift. He must have put it there though; why else would he have it?

He heard something from the floor above him. It was a scraping sound, like that which came from the laborious sharpening of a sword. Then the mystery was forgotten as instinct demanded his immediate departure.

It was even colder outside than before. Terra rubbed his hands together, steam rising from his mouth. Desperately, he checked the shed again, but Aqua wasn't anywhere to be found.

The shed walls shielded him from the wind, but Terra felt no difference in the icy chill sweeping up his spine. He collapsed at the desk, head in his hands. This was a disaster. How on earth had he messed up a simple mission so easily?

"Ventus," he snorted, but his curse was half-hearted. He couldn't help but think of this as his fault, that along the way, there had been some warning he had missed or some precaution he had forgotten. Had he slept too deeply yesterday, so that he wouldn't have woken up in time if they had been attacked? Too far away to notice if anything went amiss, maybe? The possibilities were giving him a massive headache.

"Terra?"

That was Ven. Terra jumped, throwing the shed doors open. "Ven!" he shouted into the fog.

"Where are you?"

"Right here. Don't move! I'll come find you!"

"Terra? Terra, is that you? I'm really freaked out, right now!"

"Don't move; I'm coming to you!"

Ven's voice crackled. It wasn't a natural sound and almost at once, Terra knew why.

"Ven," he said into the black box, "what do you see?"

"A building, a big one." Terra's heart deflated as he received confirmation that Ven's voice came from the box and not from somewhere close by. "It's a clinic: Ridge-something." There were a few moments of silence before Ven spoke again. "You and Aqua are coming to get me?"he asked timidly.

"Yes," he grunted, "I'm coming. Just stay put."

"What about Aqua?" Terra swore and evidently, Ven heard. "What did you say?" he said."Aqua's there, right? Terra, where is she; I want to talk to her!"

"We got separated," he admitted, "but after I come get you, we'll go find her. Understand, Ven?"

Ven didn't answer. Terra didn't think much of it, figuring that Ven was trying to think of some way to convince Terra to look for Aqua first (like that was going to happen; he was worried about her, but she could take care of herself more than Ven could). The box continued to pop with the occasional static. It was reassuring, letting Terra know that connection with Ven was still there. Unconsciously, his left hand cradled his Wayfinder as he studied the map. The closest thing he could find matching Ven's description was the clinic, which happily, wasn't too far away.

One down, one to go, he thought as he folded the map up and put it away.

The box crackled as he took his first steps into the street. The wind howled around him, stirring up snow in a giant cloud. Strangely, none of it actually came near him; his face remained untouched. It was like being trapped in a protective bubble. As if to make up for it, the sounds from the box became louder, and more and more ominous.

"Ven, what's going on there?"

The groan of metal. Then what came from the box was not Ven, but an explosion. Though its source was tiny, the commotion saturated the air. Timber was snapping, metal screeching, Terra heard it all.

And the sound of air sirens.

"Ven!" he hollered.

"Terr-"

And nothing. Not even static.

"No!" Terra shook the box, nearly squeezing it in half. "Ven!"

Nothing.

Terra didn't even bother to recheck the map. Fear guided him, sending him barreling down roads with no concerns of what beasts lay in the shadows. He was going to save Ven, and let the gods help whoever got in his way.