Silent Hill: Recognition

The Past replied through gritted teeth "c-can't... Order... father..." Haruto grabbed The Past by the colar of his coat and said "who's side are you on? Tell us what you know!" The Past's eyes changed to an unnaturally light green. Suddenly, he tackled Haruto to the ground and was pounding him in the head as he screamed "LET ME GO!!" He shouted "I'm not your prisoner priest!"

Andi brandished his blade, but before he could lunge Amon grabbed his arm and motioned for him to stay put. Amon threw himself between the Past and Haruto to take the blows himself, then caught Past's wrists and held them gently but firmly.

The Past looked the quiet one in the eyes, panting, and simply gave up. He let his head fall against the quiet ones shoulder and cried softly, saying in a soft voice "I can't do this..."

Extremely reluctantly, Andi put his weapon away and knelt next to Amon and the Past. "Can't do what?"

Lynn stood in the doorway keeping watch. For the first time in years, he wished he could connect to others normally. It worried him that he could watch such an emotional scene and feel nothing.

The Past tensed a bit, but replied with a trained response "I am The Orders Deity. Born for the sole purpose of punishing the unworthy... b-born to kill... born to serve... born in a prison..." Suddenly he held his head in pain as Dire Hounds called to eachother "N-No! Make it stop!"

Amon put his arms around the Past and looked at Andi, who sighed and forced himself not to lose his temper. "Look, you're obviously insane and there's not much we can do about that, but whatever else is going on with you, maybe we can help. We will help, if you help us."

The Past stared intently at nothing for a moment before saying "Amon, Andromeda, Haruto, Kaito, Lyn. Five lights, five shadows. Conquer shadow and get the key" He got up and went to a window. He said softly "all I ask is not to be betrayed... I've had enough..."

Andi rolled his eyes. "Conquer shadow," he repeated sarcastically. "This? This is not helpful." Lynn finally joined the conversation. "What are the five shadows?"

The Past turned to the group and pointed at Lynn

"The Dead Man's Apathy. That is your shadow, it can only be faced by you. So far it has eluded me, but I believe your memories will help you find it"

Next, he pointed to Andi.

"The Enslaved Man's Wrath. That is your shadow. It has been following your group for some time now, but only you can make it come out"

Kaito.

"The Youngest Son's Grief. This shadow hides in the church basement. From what I've seen it's passive. But who knows"

Haruto.

"The Eldest Son's Guilt. Yet another shadow that has eluded me. But I can sense a connection between The Two Sons, I just cant find your Guilt"

Amon.

"The Wronged Man's Sorrow. I have only sensed this shadow recently, so I don't know much about it yet"

The Past placed a hand over his right eye and said "If you want I can search for Amon's shadow and try to find out more"

"So I've got a pissed-off shadow following me" Andi snapped. "Suddenly it's all so clear!" Amon half-glared, about as sharp a look as he was capable of. It wasn't remotely intimidating, but it shut Andi up. Lynn nodded at Past. "If this is important, find out more. We can try the church."

The Past nodded and disappeared. Haruto, who had escaped to Kaito earlier, asked "is he serious?"

"How the hell should we know?!" snapped Andi. "He's insane!" "So am I," Lynn pointed out blandly. "What do we have to lose?" Andi shrugged and looked at the others. "He's got a point."

Kaito glared at his brother and smacked him in the back of the head. He got up and said "let's go. I doubt we'll get anywhere just sitting on our asses" Haruto grumbled and rubbed the back of his head as they left.

When they got to the church Kaito asked "did The Past tell us anything about finding this... shadow? Other than it's in the basement?"

"He was useless, actually." Andi rolled his eyes. "I guess it's up to you to figure it out. It's yours after all."

"Thanks buddy" Kaito said sarcastically to the sky. As they entered the church Kaito noted that the blood notes were gone, and the fog from outside had entered the church.

They headed to the basement and found something very frightful: An empty room.

Andi looked around. "Now what? This better not have been a waste of time."

Kaito sighed and looked around. The room was bare, save for two boxes. He looked inside and found a flashlight and... a prayer? he put the prayer away and looked at the flashlight, saying "He called what we have to kill 'shadows' right? Then maybe we just need the right shadow" Haruto took the flashlight and said "worth a shot" He shown the light on Kaito, but nothing happened other than Kaito moving to shield his eyes. Kaito suggested "maybe we need an angle?" Haruto turned the light off, got at a new angle so the shadow would be very tall in the corner, and shown the light. Kaito was caught off-guard and was blinded. He fell back and was about to scold his brother, but his thoughts were distracted by a pitiful sob. He moved slowly so that he was looking behind himself without getting up and saw a cowering shadow in the corner.

The shadow slowly turned to the group and started to growl and groan.

"So..." Andi said conversationally. "You guys have any idea how you kill a shadow?"

Kaito got up and backed away. Remembering what The Past said before about the knife wielding shadows he grabbed the box cutter from his pocket and slashed at the shadow. Sadly, that just pissed it off and made it attack, swiping and biting at Kaito. Haruto tried to shoot it, but that just made it switch targets.

((Letting the others have a chance to react before I bring in The Past))

Amon waited by the exit, and Lynn held back to observe. Andi rushed at the shadow aggressively, but his weapons did no more damage than the others.

Suddenly, a voice rang through the air, singing:


The twins looked to the exit a saw The Past, singing from a book. The shadow approached The Past, hypnotized by the song, and sat at his feet. The next set of lyrics were... a little different.


Kaito sneaked up behind the shadow as The Past sang and readied the box cutter. He stabbed the shadow and with an agonizing scream it melted away in a pool of black blood. The blood spread across the floor, twisting everything into a dark version of what it used to be. When all was changed The Past froze and said "Don't. Move. A muscle... We aren't alone in here"

Amon froze. So did Andi, his eyes darting around warily. Lynn looked around with vague interest, not bothering to limit his movements, and said "We came looking for trouble. Why delay it?"

"Because we have no idea how--" Past was going to reply, but was tackled by The Eldest Sons Grief and being pounded into the ground. The Past cried out in pain as the group heard the bone in his arm break. Kaito went to help, but the shadow leaped back into the darkness before he could be attacked.

The Past got back on his feet and hissed "Oh for f**k's sake. I hate guerrilla warfare"

Andi grabbed Amon and pulled him close, then grabbed Past and swung him around so the three of them were back-to-back. "You know anything about dealing with this one?"

Past cradled his injured arm and said "It likes guerrilla tactics. When it strikes, aim for its legs. That should slow it down enough to get a good shot at its head"