Grace & Silver

Chapter 6

Second Mercy & Second Arrival

Disclaimer: Konami owns Silent Hill, Rumiko Takahashi owns the Nerima Cast, this is just for fun please don’t sue.

Author’s notes: For the person emailing me (and anyone else for that matter) please feel free to draw anything you want from G&S. Just make sure you send me a link.

Anything inspoken in Italics is in English. Everything else is in Japanese.

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Nabiki carefully treaded down the middle of the wide street. Ironically, this was the safest place for her to be; far away from the walls, where those shadow things were and enough room to maneuver around any rug or water balloon monsters. However, if a car came barreling out at the darkness at her…it was best she not think about that possibility.

She had gone one block down the road, when the sound of gunfire shattered the ethereal hiss of the wind. She dropped to the ground immediately, and frantically tried to look around in the darkness where it was coming from.

“GET BACK! GET BACK!!”

A woman’s nearly hysterical voice screamed, and another shot was fired. Nabiki quickly recognized the voice, and got up and rushed to where the sounds were coming from while taking out her own gun.

“That was that American girl Mercy again,” Nabiki muttered to herself, “She must have finished her search in Brookhaven Hospital.” Nabiki found the woman locked in a hopeless conflict with two of those human water balloons and a shadow creature. Even now that Nabiki was there, she hesitated at the odds of both of them stopping all three nightmares.

There were the whispers and emotions again. Nabiki was getting good at recognizing what went with what. Nabiki focused past the tormenting whispers running through her mind, and drew her aim. Her shot hit one of the disturbingly shifting monsters in the shoulder, causing it to reel. Mercy only turned to Nabiki long enough to register her savior, before turned back, and finished it with a heavy blow to the head with her pipe.

Nabiki ran up, and swung her bat at the second one’s head. Unlike her hands or feet, the bat met something very solid, and the impact twisted the demon’s head 180-degrees with the telling sound of vertibre snapped out of alignment. Mercy had developed a great deal more confidence at Nabiki’s arrival, and finished emptying the bullets in her pistol into the shadow thing. The creatures fell to the ground twitching

Even after critically wounding them, Nabiki and Mercy savagely beat down the trio of creatures, not stopping until the things were bloody piles on the ground. In the silence that ensued, broken only by the sound of their erratic breathing, the two women finally acknowledged each other’s presence.

“Thank you. You saved my life,” Mercy extending her hand in gratitude, yet Nabiki swore the other woman’s face was a little puzzled, as she was trying to remember if she had met this person before.

“You are welcome. You are Mercy, correct? We did meet at once in Heaven’s Night.” Nabiki shook the blond woman’s hand, noting that Mercy had also accumulated a rather large collection of bandages as well. That feeling of aggravation this woman gave her started to creep into her mind again.

“Oh yes! Um...” Mercy snapped her fingers in attempted recognition of Nabiki’s name. “Mikki, right?”

“Nabiki.” The Japanese woman corrected in the best dry tone she could muster in her moderate level English. Yes, Nabiki definitely didn’t like this girl.

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Gosunkugi leaned against the tunnel wall out of breath, lamenting how long of a hike this road was into town. Maybe he should have come in from Brahms instead of Ashfield; the road was a lot shorter there, and easier to travel after all. However, that would but him on the wrong side of the lake to where Nabiki was. Not that he cared where that scheming mercenary went; if she wanted to die here, then that was fine by him. The reason he was trying to follow her was that where Nabiki was, her sister was most likely there too, presuming she was still alive. Of course, having another person there to fight off monsters sounded fairly comforting as well.

Getting his stamina back up, he started to head down the road once again. The infamous mist was getting thick now. He fumbled with his map, first in an attempt to unfold it, before realizing that he had no idea where to go. With a groan of irritation, he folded the map back up with even more difficulty than opening it.

BANG!

“What was that?” Gosunkugi said out loud, startled at the sharp noise in the distance.

BANGBANGBANG!

“Gunfire!” The young man felt both a tight fear and sense of elation at the deadly and telling sound; that meant that someone could be alive here. “Maybe it was Nabiki…or Akane.”

He started to run towards the sound, and made it fifteen steps, before his foot hit the edge of the sidewalk causing him to fall hard. His suitcase popped open, scattering most of the contents out all over the street.

Quickly picking himself up, he started to put the various odds and ends back into the luggage. A tarot deck, a red plastic disk with a snake swallowing its tail, a Star of David, a cross, an ankh, and other similar items all went back into his cheap, black, suitcase. Frantically, he rushed through his inventory check, making sure that nothing was missing, before he ran to join up with whoever was shooting down the street.

He stopped abruptly at the suddenly overwhelming sensation; something was missing something, something VERY important. He turned around slowly, looking for the item he knew he desperately needed. He had spotted the item about the same time a meat tenderizer mallet crashed into the side of his head, sending him into blackness.

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“Have you found the husband you were looking for?" Nabiki asked. She had a good idea of what the answer was, but proper etiquette dictated that she ask.

“No, I did not find Jeff.” Nabiki almost winced at how loud the woman was talking to her, once again as if she couldn’t hear her or understand her, “All I found was more of those monster things and this.” Mercy showed Nabiki a key chain with a little plastic figure of that damn rabbit attached, along with a couple of keys. “All that effort for a lousy set of keys; at least I can get into my sister’s house now. I know I’ll find something there.”

Nabiki nodded, and then suddenly something in the back of her skull clicked on the ‘something wrong’ light. “Your sister? Did you not say it was your husband’s sister that lived here?”

Mercy blinked and shook her head. “No, I said MY sister. MY sister lives here.” Her ‘tourist’ accent reached a new level of grating and aggravating, this time complete with pantomime. Her voice also had a sharp edge to it now. “MY sister lives in Silent Hill. You must have heard me wrong.”

“Ah, I am sorry. My English is not perfect.” Nabiki, said smiling apologetically. Internally she was fuming, she was absolutely positive Mercy had said HIS sister.

“Well, that’s okay. I hope you find that boy you’re looking for.” Mercy responded, nodding to Nabiki, before continuing past her down the street.

“Yes, the same to you. Be careful out there.” Nabiki said through gritted teeth.

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“The Seal of Metatron.” The girl in the bloody bridal veil picked up the tea saucer sized disk; studying the red design of a triangle within two circles painted on it. She laughed a little, as she dragged the unconscious boy along with her. “So that’s how you and your family survived. Always thought this was a worthless piece of clay.”

She sighed, looking at the young man over her shoulder. “A shame you had to come here…Hikaru, was it? I would have been more than happy to let you go. After all,” She tossed the disk down a storm drain, turned and gave the wounded boy a sweet smile. “I don’t hate you.”

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It decided to pause a moment for a breath. It had been so long since it had rested, it felt so tired. However nothing would stop it in its goal of revenge, it was all it knew, all consuming. Walking through the mist it saw a person passing by; a very familiar silhouette that belong to someone that it knew well. Its goal was close now; all it had to do now was to kill the one it was supposed to. It approached the girl walking through the dense fog.

“Nabiki?” It put its hand on the girl’s shoulder. .

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Gosunkugi blinked slowly, as he faded back into extremely painful consciousness. His head was throbbing, and he felt something encrusted on the side of his face, presumably blood. His vision was blurred and his mind was trying to catch up to recent events to find out why he was here… wherever 'here' exactly was.

He couldn’t move, and was in an upright position, but his feet weren’t on the floor. A glace down to his chest revealed a few disconcerting answers; he was in a straight jacket, and had been hung on a hook on the wall like some bizarre piece of modern art.

His vision was taking far too long to clear up. That was bad, since it could mean that whatever had hit him had done more damage than he thought.

“One two three four…” Good, he could still talk intelligently. His voice was strained and was just above a whisper, but it was there. This was extremely comforting, as it indicated that if there was any damage, it most likely wasn’t permanent. Now that his physical concerns were put to rest, there were now more urgent questions. Where on Earth was he, and How the Hell could he get out of here?

Two blobs came into focus in front of him, one tall and one wide, the tall one was a light blue blob, the wide one was green and blue. Gosunkugi didn’t know as much English as Nabiki, as she was a grade higher, and didn’t have the disadvantage of a romantic influence distracting her. However, he was able to make out some of what they were saying.

“Poor kid --- no ---- kids teasing ---- laughing----not right Stan.” The wide blue and green blob said to the tall light blue one.

“---true Edward---devotion---hope---returns---affection---like---beloved Heather” The tall light blue one ‘Stan’ said.

“----going---help---kid?” ‘Edward’ said.

“Certainly---needs---Japanese Girl.” ‘Stan’s’ voice dropped. They were talking about something unpleasant from the tone of their voices. He had also DEFINETLY heard the words ‘Japanese Girl’. These two were talking about a Japanese Girl? Could they be talking about Nabiki? She was the only Japanese girl in the town right now…unless they were talking about…

‘No! Stop right there Gosunkugi!’ The hard voice in his skull told him. ‘You know what happens to anyone who lets this town get to them. They all die or disappear. You’re already in deep trouble, so lets just find a way to get out of here as fast as possible.’

As if on cue the soft voice came back. ‘Now now Hikaru, you can’t give up now. You’re so close to finding her. Can you imagine how happy she’ll be when you’re the big hero to save her? Oh yes Hikaru I can see it now, she’ll be SO grateful she’ll do ANYTHING for you. You ever hear of rescue sex?’

‘You made that term up,’ the harsher voice stated in an unamused tone.

“Stan---kid’s bleeding---nose”

“-See---Edward. -------------do it.”

“----------get started.”

Gosunkugi’s vision snapped back into focus and he instantly wished that he couldn’t see. He was hanging on the wall of a narrow hallway made out of wooden planks, into the eye sockets of two rotting corpses.

The one on the right was clothed in a decaying light blue hospital gown. The reason he was so tall was that his limbs were grotesquely stretched out from their sockets. His body was covered in crooked lacerations, like some one had cut him multiple times over and over again with a dull irregular object.

The other corpse was a fat male; the holes in his blue and green striped shirt showed the colony of maggots that lived within his engorged stomach. His body was full of holes as if someone had fired a shotgun into this man again, and again, and again.

Gosunkugi’s eyes were watering from the smell of rotting flesh. The sounds of flies were going to drive him insane soon. He felt sick and he knew he was going to throw up.

A sound of footsteps echoed about; the sweetest sound in the universe to Gosunkugi’s ears. He tried to turn his head to get a look at, what he sincerely, desperately, fervently, prayed to be his rescuer. He managed to get a glance of someone approaching him, not much else though.

“Help! I’m alive! Please help me! Oh God…” His mind desperately tried to form the English words. “HELP!!! Please help get down!”

The figure came into view; a woman, a Japanese woman, wearing a blood spattered bridal veil. “Nabiki? Is that you? It’s me…Gosunkugi.”

No response.

“Nabiki please! Someone attacked me with…a…hammer.” He got a good view of the girl now as she walked in front of him. She held a cup made of a black stone in her left hand, filled with a white liquid. Tucked under her right arm were two books; one with a red cover, one with a green. Looking down to her waist of her jeans, Gosunkugi saw a meat tenderizer mallet tucked into one of the belt loops.

“W-who are you?” Asked fearfully, obvious to the fact that this wasn’t Nabiki.

The Girl in the Bloody Bridal Veil didn’t respond. She turned to the two corpses and placed the black chalice on the ground along with the red book. She opened the green book and began to read from it.

Gosunkugi may not have had a good grasp on English, however what he was fluent in was a strange hybrid of Celtic, Latin, Ancient Arabic, and the entire works of H.P. Lovecraft. In other words, Hikaru Gosunkugi was completely fluent in the language of the occult. So he was able to translate the arcane words the Girl spoke.

“From the blood of two sinners I create a Holy Servant.” the girl in the bloody bridal veil stated loudly, “From the devotion of Lobsel Vith, and the power of Xuilchibara, I create thee.”

Gosunkugi was far from stupid; obsessive perhaps, but not stupid. He could easily figure out what was happening, and whatever this ‘Holy Servant’ was going to do for this girl, it was NOT going to be good for him. He struggled desperately to escape his constraint, or at the very least get off this damn hook. Sadly he could make no leeway in either attempt, as the girl closed the green book and picked up the red one.

“With the power of the Gluttonous Pig, and the devotion of the Eternal Lover, I create thee as my champion, my servant, my executioner.”

The girl lifted the goblet to the two corpses’ lips and poured the white liquid into their parted mouths. In response, something red began to trickle out of the wounds on their bodies. She collected it in the cup, and stirred the two bodies’ blood with the remaining white liquid. She turned to face Gosunkugi, revealing to him a dark smile under that veil. He clamped his lips tightly, unfortunately having seen enough movies in this genre he knew what was coming.

The girl held his nose Gosunkugi’s nose, cutting off his ability to breath. The bound young man began what would probably be the most important and hardest battle in his life; if he took a breath he would be doomed, if he passed out the same result would happen. The only chance he had of saving his soul, of thwarting this girl, of helping Nabiki and Akane, would be to pray that he died.

The girl frowned; realizing the grim determination before her. If she were in the mood, she would have found it admirable that the young man she recalled as a spineless stalker would be willing to forfeit his life just to spite her. He was ready to die, she could see it in his face; if she held his nose long enough he would do it as well. She sighed at the inconvenience, let go of his nose, and waited as he wheezed through his nose to regain his breath.

“You should be honored Hikaru.” the girl said to the boy that was giving her a look of deadly defiance, “You’re going to become one of the strongest people in all of Nerima.” She pulled back the veil, and smiled her blood stained smile as if it were supposed to be consoling.

Gosunkugi stared at the face before him, unable to comprehend the sight before him. The shock of seeing a woman he had always thought beautiful, seeing her face twisted in a grotesque parody of what he had adored.

The speechlessness brought on by the shock began to fade. His dry lips parted just a millimeter, just one millimeter, allowing almost a scant hiss, a minute pulse of his tongue, and his vocal box to report his despair.

“No.”

That bloody, vengeful smile grew wider, as the girl jammed the edge of the goblet into his mouth, nearly cracking his front bottom teeth, and poured all the contents into his mouth. The pain of his teeth nearly knocked loose caused Gosunkugi to give a short cry, allowing her easier access to empty the vile liquid completely from the cup. She nearly slapped her hand over his mouth and nose, ensuring he was unable to expunge the drink she had oh so endearingly prepared for him. Gosunkugi swallowed the vile mixture in his hysterical panic, allowing the salty, coppery taste to fill his mouth, and painfully burn down his throat.

As the deceptively cold substance trickled through his system, Gosunkugi could feel an immense heat building up within him. His blurring vision and the compounding, unbearable heat did nothing to distract from the feeling that something was slowly crawling up from his stomach and over his face. The corpses returned to the blurs that they were when he woke up, and before his vision left him, the two forms across from him uttered one last statement.

“Tu fui ego eris.”

The final thing Hikaru was capable of was to scream as the damning flames consumed his mind, his body, and his soul; the soundless roaring of the hungry fires swallowing up his almost shrill scream, suffocating it as if sucking the oxygen away from his lungs.

Then there was silence.

The girl in the bloody bridal veil waited patiently, as if she had all the time in the world. Slowly, very slowly, the thing on the wall in a Japanese schoolboy uniform that was covered by a straightjacket, looked up at the girl, and smiled, allowing corners of its mouth to crack and drip with blood.

Infinitely satisfied with her work, the girl stepped back, and replaced her veil. She caressed its face, and almost cooed in a loving, endearing tone, “Good morning, how are you feeling?”

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Nabiki screamed at the sudden contact, and spun around swinging the bat. It connected soundly hitting the creature hard with enough force to chip concrete.

“Owww!”

Nabiki paused, not expecting that response, and fully focused on what she hit. The person before her staggered back, holding his head in pain, as stars danced in his eyes, “Who…?”

“Nabiki why did you do that?!” the boy in yellow and black rubbed his head, while glaring at the middle Tendou sister. That really did hurt, and why was she so jumpy; when he touched her she nearly jumped two feet straight up in the air. If he had looked closely at her, he would have noticed the terror in her eyes. That wasn’t necessary now, as he could easily feel it in the crushing hug she wrapped around his torso, sobbing, and thanking the Christian God that he recalled the three Tendou sisters worshipped he was there. However, he forced the peculiarity of the scene from his mind, most concerned with the question he asked almost every other day…

“Where on Earth am I now?”

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Author Notes: Like you didn’t see this coming. WFROSE owns my soul for all of his beta reads, and the input that inspires some of this.