Grace & Silver

Chapter 7

Lost & Faith Dream

Disclaimer: Konami wants to kill me for using Silent Hill, Takahashi wants to kill me for using her characters, and all my readers want to kill me for writing this. This is just for fun, please don’t sue.

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“Ryoga!” Nabiki whispered hoarsely. “What are you doing here?” The question was superficial, as Nabiki knew what an amazingly stupid question that was.

“I dunno,” The Eternally Lost Boy said as he looked around in the faintly misty scenery. “I was heading down to the dojo to stand next to Ranma and then I’m looking at that Opera House. You know, the one they show every time on TV when someone mentions Australia. Now I’m here, I find you and you try to hit me with that bat.” Ryoga glared slightly at Nabiki, causing her to favor him with the closest thing to a defiant look she could with her current temperament. “Anyways, why are you here Nabiki? This doesn’t look like Nerima.”

“It isn’t, you’re in America.” Nabiki looked away from Ryoga so he couldn’t see the haunted expression on her face. “Ryoga, you haven’t been back to Nerima since the wedding, have you?”

“No, why? Did Ranma do something to Akane?” Ryoga asked with an almost knowing yet agitated tone.

Nabiki almost barked with laughter. After all that she had gone through, experiencing this blast of typical Neriman behavior felt so refreshing. The fact that Akane was the only person Ranma HADN’T done anything to was also humorous to her.

“Did I say something funny?” Ryoga asked confused out of his growing anger.

Nabiki wiped the amused expression off her face. “No, just…” She paused as she debated if she should tell Ryoga what was going on. One look into his confused, innocent face was enough to rule her to silence. “Ryoga, I’m glad you’re here. I’m a little…” She couldn’t help but go into giggles again. “I’m a little lost.” Oh the God of Irony was in rare form today. “Can you help me get out of here?”

“Umm, sure. But Nabiki, I don’t know where here is exactly.”

“It doesn’t matter.” She paused, thinking for a moment, considering something, “Give me three of your bandannas.” Ryoga quickly complied and untied three of his bandannas from his forehead. Nabiki tied one around her wrist, one around Ryoga’s and the last one she used to connect the other two to form a crude type of handcuff. “This is so you don’t end up wandering off without me. Now, let’s get out of here.”

Ryoga nodded, though extremely confused at this point. However, with Nabiki acting and looking like she had just been tormented by the most sadistic of captures, he thought it better not to ask too many questions at this point. As he turned down the street and started to walk, the mercenary girl fell in step beside him, her eyes closed.

Five minutes later, Nabiki opened her eyes expecting to see that opera house that goes along with every mention of Australia or some other landmark that showed that they had traveled countless miles away from her present nightmare. She was sorely disappointed. They had gone three blocks at most.

“Neely’s Bar…” Ryoga sounded out the words slowly above the door of the long closed bar.

Nabiki could feel that prickly feeling on the back of her neck and unintelligible half-whispers were audible to her. “Ryoga…let’s go inside. I’m cold,” she pleaded; the chilly air having nothing to do with the shivers running through her.

“Alright,” Ryoga agreed, before he tried the door. The lock was jammed, keeping the door from allowing them ease of entry. Ryoga decided to give the door a little shove and the lock, along with a good part of the door, broke off.

Neely’s bar had long since been emptied. Newspapers coated the floor and the windows, while the remains of a squatter’s camp was scattered in one corner. As Ryoga scrounged behind the old bar Nabiki stared at the newspapers plastered over the back window. “I will not.” She whispered softly.

“Hmm?” Ryoga looked at the direction Nabiki was staring. “Did you say something? Oh.” Someone had written a message on the newspaper in black spray paint. It was sadly beyond his ability to translate. “Nabiki, what does it say?”

“Oh…nothing. It’s just gibberish and graffiti; some kids must have done it.” Nabiki quickly turned towards Ryoga, pretending not to be unnerved by the ‘graffiti’, “Did you find anything?”

“Umm yeah, here” Ryoga held out a small red box to Nabiki, knowing what it was, but not really knowing what to do with it. The label on the box said that within there were 15 9mm bullets. Nabiki wasted no time adding it to her duffle bag, earning her a peculiar look from her company.

“Alright let’s see if we can get out of here.” She retied her wrist to his, regaining that slight sense of security that his presence wasn’t going to vanish from her suddenly.

Nabiki took one last look at the writing as they left Neely’s Bar. In black spray paint someone had written a message exclusively for her.

‘NABIKI TENDOU WILL DIE ALONE.’

“I will not”, she mumbled to herself one last time, before they left.

Ten more minutes of walking did have more dramatic results than before. They had gone a few miles, on the other side of the lake, but still in the damn town. Nabiki looked at the sign denoting their current position as in the parking lot for Bates’ Motel. It also had a vacancy, as the NO part was unlit. “Ryoga, I’m tired…can we take a short break?” she asked, innocently, though the weariness was apparent in her voice.

“And that’s why I’m okay with your sister marrying Ranma.” Ryoga finished his story that Nabiki hadn’t been listening to in the first place, before he registered her question “Huh? Oh sure. It’s been a while since I’ve stopped to rest, anyhow.”

One broken door later, Nabiki was looking at the typical Spartan room of a motel. Untying herself from Ryoga she dragged one of the stuffed chairs next to the bed. Sitting Ryoga down in the chair she tied the other end of his shackle to the headboard of the bed. “Don’t get any funny ideas Pigboy. This is just to make sure you don’t wander off without me.”

She knew Ryoga could probably break the headboard clean off the wall, but that would make more than enough noise to wake her up. She toyed with the idea of a shower, but the ‘humor’ of being in the Bates’ Motel was not lost on her, and when she turned the shower, rusty almost crimson water that came out of the shower made her feel like passing on it.

Nabiki lay down on the bed, exhausted. She shot Ryoga a look. “You better be here when I wake up, and if you so much as THINK about doing anything perverted…“

“Nabiki!” Ryoga looked mortified and a dribble of red almost came out of his nose. Nabiki smirked, nice to know that even in Hell some things are predictable. She lay back on the bed, beginning to feel lethargy overtake her. She passively looked at the non-descript lamp on the bedside table. She leaned over and opened the drawer within. Two books were within the drawer, neither one happened to be the Christian New Testament. One had a green cover, the other a deep red. The red one had embossed on it the same design that was on the door in the toy store. She quickly shut the drawer, willing herself to dispel the horrors the symbol brought to mind.

“Nabiki? What are you-oh.” Ryoga bent his head in respectful silence as Nabiki rolled out of the bed and got down on her knees by the side. After a murmured prayer that sounded more than slightly pleading, and a few minutes of silence Ryoga looked up and saw that Nabiki had fallen asleep in her position. Ryoga carefully leaned out of his seat, lifted Nabiki and laid her back down on the bed. He shook his head in disbelief as he looked at her bandaged, bruised body.

Nabiki approached the altar, and made the sign of the cross on her chest as she kneeled before the squat stone pulpit. “Father in Heaven, please give me strength. I know I have sinned so many times since I last prayed. It was for a good cause, but I know that is no excuse. So I am here asking for my penance and forgiveness.”

“The is no forgiveness for one like you.” A cold voice said behind her. Nabiki turned around and was staring into the barrel of a gun, and behind it was the girl in the bloody bridal veil, she could see that awful bloody smile beneath it. The girl slowly pulled the hammer back with a loud CLICK.

“Who the Hell are you?” Nabiki, demanded, and if she was to die this moment, she would know the identity of her tormenter. Deftly, she snatched away the veil before the woman could pull away… if she had even ever attempted to do so. Nabiki slowly stood up, mouth agape, as she stared into the face of the one of the few she always thought she could trust. “God, please save me.” She whispered, terrified.

Which God do you want?

Nabiki looked up at where the crucifix was and screamed.

“Nabiki!” Someone was shaking her. She screamed and flailed her arms trying to defend herself. Her attacker let go and leaned into her line of sight. She was back in the motel, with a concerned Ryoga looking upon her.

“I had a nightmare.”

“Yeah, you were screaming and saying these weird words.”

“Huh?”

“It sounded like gibberish. Zoochibaruhh. Something like that.”

“Yeah…gibberish,” Nabiki quipped in a shaky voice. “We’d better get going, I guess.” She undid Ryoga’s makeshift shackle and retied it to her wrist. “Alright, lead on Ryoga.”

Five minutes later they were right back in front of the Medical Center… in the same damn town.

Nabiki bit her lip, as she looked at the entrance to the Silent Hill Medical Center; someone had spray painted something on the double doors. Nabiki nearly felt faint at the recognition of the blue symbol from the books in the motel, and from the puppet show. In the border between the outer and inner circle there was a ring of runes and pictograms. An eye was at the top of the ring. “That can’t be a coincidence.”

“What can’t be?” Ryoga said looking around trying to puzzle out how he had gotten there.

“That, spray painted on the door,” Nabiki pointed, “I’ve seen it before.”

“Nabiki…I don’t see any spray paint,” Ryoga said, trying to hide his growing concern for Nabiki’s mental state.

Nabiki gave Ryoga a look of confusion and irritation, “Right there! That symbol with the circles and…” She shook her head and dismissed it. “Alright let’s try this again.” She chuckled, almost manically and mirthlessly,. “Figures, the one time I want you to get lost you manage to screw it up. How long have we been doing this?” She glanced at her watch. Then another whisper crawled up from the dark place in her mind.

Foundyou!

She stopped dead, and started to breathe heavily. Quickly she unhooked herself from Ryoga. Something was wrong, very… VERY wrong. She had been following Ryoga blindly for fifteen minutes, and they were still in Silent Hill. “Ryoga…” She grabbed his shoulder.

He turned around and gave her a concerned look. “Yeah? I… hey, Nabiki, you look really pale. Maybe we should go back to the motel.”

Cominggettheonemissed

“Ryoga…run. Run as fast as you inhumanly can.” She took the gun out from the back of her jeans where she had stuffed it. It was a small relief too; the movies never mention how uncomfortable it was.

Ryoga stopped short at the sight of the gun. “Nabiki, what are you doing,” he asked, more concerned with the girl than with the thick fog rolling in.

They had found her, she belonged with them, she was part of them; how could they not find her? She had someone else with her, too. She may have the power to refuse God and Her glory, but he, to his great misfortune, didn’t. They would take him and he would learn of God, and then he would belong.

“It doesn’t matter, I said run. Get lost!” Nabiki looked at the confused boy. “Damnit Ryoga, they’re all dead! Akane, Ranma, Akari, everyone!”

“What? What are you talk-AH!” He jumped at the bullet that hit the ground in front of him. “NABIKI HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!”

“Yes, yes I have Ryoga. Now,” She pulled back the hammer and pointed it at him. “Turn around…DO IT!” She had come to realize, she would rather have Ryoga peacefully dead than as ammunition against her.

Terrified, confused, and entirely weary of the deadly weapon in the maddened woman’s hands, Ryoga turned around slowly. He now noticed how dark it was and the thick mist that had formed, as his trained senses and primal instincts warned him of the menacing blackness that threatened to swallow him if he chose to enter.

“Run.”

“But Nabiki...”

“I SAID RUN!” She fired the gun. It grazed his ear causing a small amount of blood to spatter on his face. Nabiki’s hands were too shaking for a steady aim, she had not meant that as a warning shot.

Ryoga took off, more out of self-preservation and instinct than anything else. Nabiki had gone insane; how could everyone be dead? That didn’t make sense, he was with everyone a week ago at the wedding and they were all full of smiles and life, it just wasn’t possible. He had to go back; he had to find out what Nabiki meant. He stopped and turned around, intent on standing by Nabiki, and facing the darkness. When they were both safe, he would have his answers….

As he turned around, he found himself staring down the barrel of a pump action shotgun, held by a man of apparent American nationality. Behind him was a girl in an auburn sleeveless turtleneck sweater and dark green skirt with blonde hair. The man with the shotgun chambered a round, “Say something.”

“Ah…” Ryoga responded, before fainting

“I don’t think he’s one of them, Leon,” the girl stated, rather factually.

From one survival horror, to another.

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Nabiki took a deep breath, and steadied herself as she reloaded her gun. She was alone now, and unless she ran into Mercy again she would probably stay that way. The message from Neely’s Bar came back to her. She was beyond fear and paranoia at this point, focused and angry to the point of fanatical. She may well end up dying somewhere with no friendly face to help her pass on, but…

“I will not die here. YOU HEAR ME YOU GODDAMN TOWN!! THROW WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT AT ME, BUT I WON’T DIE IN THIS BACKWATER, SHODDY, AMERICAN STEREOTYPED, RUIN OF A TOWN!”

She almost expected the Clinic doors to fling open and legions of those water balloon things come charging out. Nothing; just the quiet wind blowing in the black void that surrounded this town, as if it were the sadistic spirits that inhabited it laughing at her in mockery. Almost giving into the urge to sob in an odd but maddened mixture of relief and disappointment, Nabiki entered the clinic.

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Author’s Notes: Like I would give Nabiki an easy out. Review, Comment, flame, I’ll take it all. And WFROSE is the brilliant editor I owe so much to.

Editor’s note: Yeah, I had to add the RE4 scene in, the game ownz me right now