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alchemist_aliceTitle: Heaven Wouldn't Have You and Hell Spat You Out
Fandom: Blood Blockade Battlefront & Silent Hill
Characters/Pairings: William Macbeth, Mary Macbeth & Pyramid Head
Rating: M
Challenge: All Alternatives
Table/Prompt: Customizable Table 12 - Horror
Notes: As this is a fusion of sorts with the Silent Hill fandom, there are standard warnings for extreme violence, gore, and character death. There are also spoilers for Season 1 of Blood Blockade Battlefront.
It still happens.
Not as often, of course, but it lingers just out of sight and awaits that moment where he starts feeling survivor's guilt clawing at him from the pit of his stomach. He'll be sweeping the backroom of Dianne's Diner and see something that reminds him of his dead twin, Mary, and the karmic wheels begin to turn again. He hears the telltale heartbeat thudding in his ears and he has to count backwards from a hundred until it stops, and if it doesn't stop...
That's when his Punisher comes for him.
Being an esper and a caster, Will possesses abilities that can warp the realities of those around him but since Hellsalem's Lot is such a transitional landscape as it is, no one takes notice when these nightmarish delusions of his descend into reality. He declares that he needs a break as he rushes past his boss and his co-worker, Vivian, reassuring the latter with a clumsy smile that he's late for a date or some such to explain his hurrying.
As he runs further down the block and sheds his apron, he moves closer and closer towards the Alterworld side of the city where the fog is thicker. Despair warned him not to go too far into enemy territory, but when the Darkness overtakes his mind and uses his powers against him to manifest the Nightmare World, he doesn't want his friends or loved ones anywhere near him.
It's his guilt, after all, so why should they have to pay for the sins he committed?
Huma and Beyodnian alike stop to stare as he sprints down the splintered sidewalk, curious or in fear of whatever invisible enemy may be pursuing him and some even start to clear the area. Hellsalem's Lot is full of unknown and unseen terrors, so most of its seasoned survivors and residents know to flee when they see another dashing down the street in fear of their lives being taken.
"I'm sorry," Will breathes as the air around him starts to shift and color peels away from the ground beneath him. "I'm sorry, please, stop it..."
The guilt heeds him not and the landscape continues to change, morphing as the fog swirls in around him thicker by the minutes. He hears the pained shrieks of his mother as the flame consumes her, the roar of anguish his father gives just before sacrificing himself, and then the gunshot.
Mary.
The heartbeat pulsates so loudly overhead that it's like thunder in the skies. Will claps his hands over his ears and screams, quickening his pace. The world around him is already dark and mechanical-looking, a manifestation of his fear and loathing, and as he reaches the bottomless pit that lies just beneath the boughs of Yggdrasil Station, he hears a different sound.
Metal scrapes along the concrete and footsteps heavier than the heartbeat thump in time with the thunderous chorus just over Will's head. His sneakers skid to a stop and he clenches his fists, turning slightly to glance over his shoulder.
Garbed in the skins of who knew how many guilty victims before Will, the executor lumbers towards him with a large blade in hand that's wide enough to cleave an entire building in two. It possesses no face or visible features aside from bulging masses of muscle on its arms and some of its exposed legs beneath the apron of skins it wears. A large mask or hat in the shape of an oblong, crooked pyramid serves to obscure its head and face, but Will can feel its gaze burning a hole through him as it careens towards him.
"Stay back!" he warns, raising a shaky hand. "I-I'll fire this time!"
As if all the telekinetic energy has gone out of his body, Will fails to summon the strength and mental clarity required to properly harness his powers as a caster, and thus he is forced to flee, as he always does, from the monstrosity come to dole out punishment.
Only a few other citizens have been trapped in the Nightmare World along with Will this time, but as he's running, he sees a man stray too close to Pyramid Head's path and his insides suddenly drop. Doesn't he see how the landscape has drastically changed or care that this enormous creature dragging a hulking blade behind is in his path?
"Run!" he warns the man, receiving a scoff in turn. "Don't get too close! He'll --"
Pyramid Head doesn't discriminate when it comes to a potential victim, Will knows, and seeing as all have committed some crime or another in its eyes, it wastes no time seizing the man as he tries to pass him on the sidewalk. Terror strikes all at once when the man realizes that Pyramid Head isn't some benign Beyondian wandering the streets, a sight common in this part of the city, but a thing of murderous intent as it lifts him off the ground by grasping his head with one hand.
"Stop," Will pleads with Pyramid Head, knowing full well he's speaking to stone. "Please, stop! Stop it!"
It turns towards Will and cocks its head at an angle, relishing in the pain as he grasps a hunk of the man's skin and with one clean jerk, skins him alive. Flesh and sinew strip away from some of his bones and Will's stomach lurches, vomit exiting his mouth a little as he doubles over on the sidewalk, covered in a spray of fresh gore.
Pyramid Head doesn't stop there. It drops the man's body but hangs on to the flesh it tore away from him, continuing with its slow and steady pursuit of the person it really came for. Will wipes his mouth with the back of his sleeve and saliva mingles with the bile in his throat, and he can't help dry heaving as he staggers along the sidewalk once more.
"I told you, didn't I?" he can hear Despair's voice ringing out somewhere around him. "I protected you from this for as long as you let stay by your side, but as soon as you got ride of me, it came for you."
"Shut up," Will rasps as he races along the sidewalk.
"You got selfish, Will," Despair adds, "and because you wanted so desperately to live, your sister saw it in you and sacrificed her life for your own."
"SHUT UP!"
"Just like your parents," whispers Despair. "This is just your punishment."
Pyramid Head looms nearer and nearer with every disdainful word that echoes in Will's ears. The metallic shriek of his blade along the ground becomes unbearable and Will slows to a stop as he nears the end of an alley, trapped. His arms fall to his sides in defeat and he turns to face the demon stalking him, hunting him, and tears sting his eyes but he finds the smallest scrap of courage to face himself.
"I do want to live."
Pyramid Head stop just a few feet away and tilts its head again.
"It cost me everything," he gasps, "but I do want to live."
Rumbling, Pyramid Head drops the skin from his previous victim to lift his massive weapon with both hands, staggering towards Will with it raised high.
"Not for my own sake," Will shouts, tears falling from his eyes as he declares his convictions, "but for those who gave their lives for me and those who rescued me from the monster I became! I live for them!"
As the blade swings down to guillotine him, a blinding flash of light impedes its brutal arc and sends Pyramid Head reeling backwards from the blow. The light takes shape in the form of a humanoid, situated between Will and his tormentor, and it raises a hand.
"I won't let you have him."
With a roar, Pyramid Head starts to peel away from the scenery like old paint chips away from a weathered structure over time, but the process is much speedier and the Nightmare World around Will fades from existence as the fog lifts as well. His protector assumes the form of a butterfly afterwards, power fully spent saving him, and it wafts on the air until it lands in his outstretched palm.
"I'm sorry," he whispers and brings it closer to his cheek, rubbing gently against it. "Forgive me. Please, forgive me."
Something gingerly brushes his bangs aside and caresses his forehead, and he can almost see his twin sister in front of him for a moment, and she puts hers cheek against his as she murmurs into his ear, "I chose this for myself, so there's nothing to forgive."
Will nods and sniffs, rubbing at his eyes as she wills him to stand again. He reaches into his uniform and pulls the cross up out of his collar to hold it, feel its reassuring, smooth surface as he makes the long trek back to the diner. His heart remains heavy, but with so many people supporting him, he thinks with a wry smile, he may just have a slim chance for survival.
Fandom: Blood Blockade Battlefront & Silent Hill
Characters/Pairings: William Macbeth, Mary Macbeth & Pyramid Head
Rating: M
Challenge: All Alternatives
Table/Prompt: Customizable Table 12 - Horror
Notes: As this is a fusion of sorts with the Silent Hill fandom, there are standard warnings for extreme violence, gore, and character death. There are also spoilers for Season 1 of Blood Blockade Battlefront.
It still happens.
Not as often, of course, but it lingers just out of sight and awaits that moment where he starts feeling survivor's guilt clawing at him from the pit of his stomach. He'll be sweeping the backroom of Dianne's Diner and see something that reminds him of his dead twin, Mary, and the karmic wheels begin to turn again. He hears the telltale heartbeat thudding in his ears and he has to count backwards from a hundred until it stops, and if it doesn't stop...
That's when his Punisher comes for him.
Being an esper and a caster, Will possesses abilities that can warp the realities of those around him but since Hellsalem's Lot is such a transitional landscape as it is, no one takes notice when these nightmarish delusions of his descend into reality. He declares that he needs a break as he rushes past his boss and his co-worker, Vivian, reassuring the latter with a clumsy smile that he's late for a date or some such to explain his hurrying.
As he runs further down the block and sheds his apron, he moves closer and closer towards the Alterworld side of the city where the fog is thicker. Despair warned him not to go too far into enemy territory, but when the Darkness overtakes his mind and uses his powers against him to manifest the Nightmare World, he doesn't want his friends or loved ones anywhere near him.
It's his guilt, after all, so why should they have to pay for the sins he committed?
Huma and Beyodnian alike stop to stare as he sprints down the splintered sidewalk, curious or in fear of whatever invisible enemy may be pursuing him and some even start to clear the area. Hellsalem's Lot is full of unknown and unseen terrors, so most of its seasoned survivors and residents know to flee when they see another dashing down the street in fear of their lives being taken.
"I'm sorry," Will breathes as the air around him starts to shift and color peels away from the ground beneath him. "I'm sorry, please, stop it..."
The guilt heeds him not and the landscape continues to change, morphing as the fog swirls in around him thicker by the minutes. He hears the pained shrieks of his mother as the flame consumes her, the roar of anguish his father gives just before sacrificing himself, and then the gunshot.
Mary.
The heartbeat pulsates so loudly overhead that it's like thunder in the skies. Will claps his hands over his ears and screams, quickening his pace. The world around him is already dark and mechanical-looking, a manifestation of his fear and loathing, and as he reaches the bottomless pit that lies just beneath the boughs of Yggdrasil Station, he hears a different sound.
Metal scrapes along the concrete and footsteps heavier than the heartbeat thump in time with the thunderous chorus just over Will's head. His sneakers skid to a stop and he clenches his fists, turning slightly to glance over his shoulder.
Garbed in the skins of who knew how many guilty victims before Will, the executor lumbers towards him with a large blade in hand that's wide enough to cleave an entire building in two. It possesses no face or visible features aside from bulging masses of muscle on its arms and some of its exposed legs beneath the apron of skins it wears. A large mask or hat in the shape of an oblong, crooked pyramid serves to obscure its head and face, but Will can feel its gaze burning a hole through him as it careens towards him.
"Stay back!" he warns, raising a shaky hand. "I-I'll fire this time!"
As if all the telekinetic energy has gone out of his body, Will fails to summon the strength and mental clarity required to properly harness his powers as a caster, and thus he is forced to flee, as he always does, from the monstrosity come to dole out punishment.
Only a few other citizens have been trapped in the Nightmare World along with Will this time, but as he's running, he sees a man stray too close to Pyramid Head's path and his insides suddenly drop. Doesn't he see how the landscape has drastically changed or care that this enormous creature dragging a hulking blade behind is in his path?
"Run!" he warns the man, receiving a scoff in turn. "Don't get too close! He'll --"
Pyramid Head doesn't discriminate when it comes to a potential victim, Will knows, and seeing as all have committed some crime or another in its eyes, it wastes no time seizing the man as he tries to pass him on the sidewalk. Terror strikes all at once when the man realizes that Pyramid Head isn't some benign Beyondian wandering the streets, a sight common in this part of the city, but a thing of murderous intent as it lifts him off the ground by grasping his head with one hand.
"Stop," Will pleads with Pyramid Head, knowing full well he's speaking to stone. "Please, stop! Stop it!"
It turns towards Will and cocks its head at an angle, relishing in the pain as he grasps a hunk of the man's skin and with one clean jerk, skins him alive. Flesh and sinew strip away from some of his bones and Will's stomach lurches, vomit exiting his mouth a little as he doubles over on the sidewalk, covered in a spray of fresh gore.
Pyramid Head doesn't stop there. It drops the man's body but hangs on to the flesh it tore away from him, continuing with its slow and steady pursuit of the person it really came for. Will wipes his mouth with the back of his sleeve and saliva mingles with the bile in his throat, and he can't help dry heaving as he staggers along the sidewalk once more.
"I told you, didn't I?" he can hear Despair's voice ringing out somewhere around him. "I protected you from this for as long as you let stay by your side, but as soon as you got ride of me, it came for you."
"Shut up," Will rasps as he races along the sidewalk.
"You got selfish, Will," Despair adds, "and because you wanted so desperately to live, your sister saw it in you and sacrificed her life for your own."
"SHUT UP!"
"Just like your parents," whispers Despair. "This is just your punishment."
Pyramid Head looms nearer and nearer with every disdainful word that echoes in Will's ears. The metallic shriek of his blade along the ground becomes unbearable and Will slows to a stop as he nears the end of an alley, trapped. His arms fall to his sides in defeat and he turns to face the demon stalking him, hunting him, and tears sting his eyes but he finds the smallest scrap of courage to face himself.
"I do want to live."
Pyramid Head stop just a few feet away and tilts its head again.
"It cost me everything," he gasps, "but I do want to live."
Rumbling, Pyramid Head drops the skin from his previous victim to lift his massive weapon with both hands, staggering towards Will with it raised high.
"Not for my own sake," Will shouts, tears falling from his eyes as he declares his convictions, "but for those who gave their lives for me and those who rescued me from the monster I became! I live for them!"
As the blade swings down to guillotine him, a blinding flash of light impedes its brutal arc and sends Pyramid Head reeling backwards from the blow. The light takes shape in the form of a humanoid, situated between Will and his tormentor, and it raises a hand.
"I won't let you have him."
With a roar, Pyramid Head starts to peel away from the scenery like old paint chips away from a weathered structure over time, but the process is much speedier and the Nightmare World around Will fades from existence as the fog lifts as well. His protector assumes the form of a butterfly afterwards, power fully spent saving him, and it wafts on the air until it lands in his outstretched palm.
"I'm sorry," he whispers and brings it closer to his cheek, rubbing gently against it. "Forgive me. Please, forgive me."
Something gingerly brushes his bangs aside and caresses his forehead, and he can almost see his twin sister in front of him for a moment, and she puts hers cheek against his as she murmurs into his ear, "I chose this for myself, so there's nothing to forgive."
Will nods and sniffs, rubbing at his eyes as she wills him to stand again. He reaches into his uniform and pulls the cross up out of his collar to hold it, feel its reassuring, smooth surface as he makes the long trek back to the diner. His heart remains heavy, but with so many people supporting him, he thinks with a wry smile, he may just have a slim chance for survival.
