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Description
For the worst kind of pain, healing can only come from catharsis.

But there's a risk: by facing the SOURCE of one's agony, one can become stronger...or their suffering will become so much terribly worse, it could defeat them.

One thing or the other is about to happen to Cheryl Mason.
---

RESIDENT EVIL X SILENT HILL: JUDGMENT DAY

written by Charles W.S.,
inspired by Ygure

Chapter 54:

"NIGHTMARE THEATER"

Cheryl Mason hardly felt the tears that began to flow down her cheeks as she stared at the petrified and immobile form of the damned Dahlia Gillespie, summoned here by Reeve Meyers to impede her and everyone with her.

Because of her unique mystic senses, she knew and there was NO doubt. This. Was. Dahlia. Cheryl completely hated it, but she could feel all of the agony and emotion the one who bore her onto Earth was experiencing...it was all so beyond terrible, Dahlia wasn't even capable of cognizant thought. Her soul was endlessly screaming within this petrified form; the girl from Silent Hill understood that the bitch could hardly be aware of anything else...she wouldn't even have been able to register that Cheryl was here.

But the hazel eyes of the haunted blonde were wide and wet...that understanding was no consolation at all to the girl because she was horribly aware of what she was staring at. Slowly, very slowly, Cheryl recovered from her shock seeing Dahlia...and she managed to say to the ashen form: "Nurse Lisa did say Meyers was summoning others from Hell. He brought you here through the gateway in the same way he did Pyramid Head and Jack Krauser. He..." She swallowed damp air. "...he must have thought you'd have an affect on me..."

Suddenly, her legs felt so damn weak, they couldn't support her anymore...she nearly dropped to her knees on the steel grating before this ashen form. Cheryl finally moaned with quiet, terminal anguish, "And he was right." Not far behind her, Rebecca Chambers would have given ANYTHING to support her lover, but instead she quietly urged everyone to stay back. With pure and true love guiding her, she knew that some things weren't up to her...or anyone else...

...and sometimes there were battles those we love have to fight alone.

Cheryl had no idea how long she could only look at her greatest tormentor from her first life as Alessa Gillespie...it did feel like a virtual eternity as she stared at the petrified sight. As she wept hot, pain-filled tears, she managed to speak to the thing... "I tried to wish every memory of you out of me as I was reborn...but I couldn't. They all came back to me when I was last in Silent Hill. E...e-ever since I recalled everything from two lives...when I thought of my memories of you...I understood there was always one constant, Dahlia. One thing that defined you from the very beginning.

"You were never happy.

"Some of us...e-even I've known happiness, at least in small doses...but you never could. You weren't able to find any real joy in life...all you could do was be so goddamn bitter about living in a world that wasn't the way you wanted it to be. I'm completely sure that you were so joyless, you hated to see anyone around you feeling happiness...especially the people who had no idea what you were and what you served."

Cheryl's head bowed a little as she was forced to look back on her memories of the woman who bore her into the world...really face them. "When you understood how gifted you were, you thought you'd have the power to change everything to suit you. So you invested all of yourself into your worthless God and prayed endlessly you'd be worthy of her. But...you were never gifted enough. You might have been the leader of your hellish church, but you couldn't get everything you wanted.

"That must have frustrated you...it infuriated you, didn't it."

Cheryl's eyes closed as her face looked further to the wet grated street...her posture looked like the weight of everything was pressing down upon her...the sight of the girl truly dismayed those who had gotten to know Cheryl, and Rebecca? The pixie was really praying. She had never prayed so hard in her entire life for anyone or anything than she did at that moment for her lover.

Cheryl continued in a tone that became so devoid of hope, so completely lost in her own misery: "And then I came along...you gave birth to me. You never told me who my father was. I still have no idea, except that he was a member of your 'church'. He was part of The Order. I've always wondered about him. Did he leave when he found out when you were pregnant? Maybe it was just because he realized you were so cold and you could only care for God? Or maybe he left, but it wasn't his choice? Maybe...you made him one of your many sacrifices??

"I have no idea.

"All I had was you, Dahlia. I simply wanted you to love me..." Cheryl's voice cracked as she managed to say, "...I just...I needed you to be my mother. That was all."

The girl managed to lift a trembling hand to her face as she wept copiously...she really struggled within herself as she wiped at her tortured brow and then ran those fingers through her blonde hair, so wet from the rain now.

"But almost from the start..." Cheryl's voice began to shift...it couldn't be perceived at first, but there was something building in time with her inner struggle. "...you...you resented me for being a burden to you. And then, when you realized I was gifted in...in all of the ways you weren't...you hated me, right?" The girl from Silent Hill was really fighting within herself, struggling to gain the strength to face all of those old terrible wounds, all of the abuse and disdain and so much worse she suffered because of Dahlia. Her voice deepened into an angry snarl. "Every time I tried to ask for your help and advice, I know I annoyed you. You honestly didn't care when I tried to say I love you. A-and I never realized...that what mattered to you was whether I'd be of use to you or not. Just like your faith in God, all you cared about was what YOU would get out of having to tolerate me."

Close by Rebecca, Regina was watching...her eyes were hard...yet the redhead was really beginning to smile as she heard that building power in Cheryl's voice. She had been a child of sadness, too. She knew the righteous rage of the girl from Silent Hill too damn well.

Cheryl blinked furiously as she stared at the grated street...she didn't care as rainwater gently dripped from her hair as she said with steadily building volume, "I did blame myself for all of it. I thought you didn't love me because there was something wrong with me." She slowly looked up, and yes, the anger in her eyes toward the ashen image in front of her held a fury that COULD shake the world if she dared to. Cheryl growled, "In all of those times you abused me, and during those dead times that were even worse when you ignored me and acted like I didn't even exist, I thought that was all my fault." She shook her head as she knelt there. "You made me feel like nothing, Dahlia.

"Y-you made me feel like less than nothing. Oh...realizing this was you...that nearly crushed me. I...I felt like I was in a compactor and I thought my heart was gonna explode." Her despairing words made Elza and many of the other survivors weep openly with true empathy for the haunted, tortured girl. Cybil and Douglas and Alex and Elle, for all they knew, in spite of how much they loved her...even they couldn't have known until now how much pain she had suffered. Only Rebecca knew, and her soul was so hopeful as she did feel the building strength in her beloved's voice. The pixie's hopes were confirmed in only a moment...

...as Cheryl slowly, shakily began to rise before the ashen image of Dahlia. The girl snarled, "That feeling has passed, Dahlia. I really wish you had been my mother...I never would have asked for anything but your love...but you never had any love to give. You weren't my mother. You couldn't be my mother. Sure, you carried me for nine months, but that doesn't mean a thing. You simply happened to be there when I was born.

"And it doesn't matter to me who my father was when I was Alessa. It really doesn't. Because my father is Harry Mason." Cheryl paused briefly to take a deep breath, trying desperately to calm herself, and that meant very little...but thinking of her dad did. "My father was motivated by what he knew to be right and good, Dahlia. He loved me...he gave his all to be my parent in every way you weren't capable of giving, because you couldn't give shit!

"Oh, dad was as different from you as night from day.

"You couldn't understand how different...but maybe I can explain it." Cheryl swallowed thickly. "I...I remember this one day. I was in middle school and I...I got myself in trouble..."

--2--

Her father Harry Mason was there to pick her up in front of the school like always in that old blue Ford. He'd been notified by the principal earlier what happened, and that was why he did not look as happy as he usually did when he came to bring his daughter home. Harry had been told Cheryl started a fight. His girl hadn't ever gone out of her way to be a social person, and you must know as well as anyone that school could be (socially and metaphorically speaking) a DMZ depending on who you were. Another girl was giving her trouble...the kind of catty trouble girls often lapsed into causing...and Cheryl took offense and gave a LOT more than she received. No permanent damage was done...heck, the other girl didn't even have to spend a minute in the clinic...but the principal was a strict disciplinarian who was sorely tempted to suspend Cheryl from school for this incident.

Harry assured him that wouldn't be necessary. He'd talk to his girl.

Cheryl came out of the front doors of the school, and she never remembered feeling so afraid before as she looked at her father waiting for her. He was angry. And he was right to be. As she approached, Harry opened the big front passenger door for her, like always, but didn't say a word. The girl couldn't say anything before she got in the car. Harry climbed in on the opposite side behind the wheel.

Things got tense. Fast.

Cheryl looked down at her lap and tried to say quietly, "D-dad..."

Harry gazed through the windshield and asked quietly, "Why did you start a fight?" The question was so mild, yet FELT so loud.

"Janice was giving me trouble again."

He stared at her. "What did I tell you before?"

"To ignore her...and she'd leave me alone. You said most bullies do that."

Harry sighed. "Yeah. Most do. What did she say this time?"

"She...she started insulting you." Harry got a glimpse of the anger Cheryl felt when she spoke of that regrettable moment. "She always wanted to give me crap just 'cause she could. I never cared about that. I never cared about what she thought 'cause...cause you told me that the loudest people are the ones we shouldn't listen to."

"That's right."

The girl trembled a little as she snarled, "She called you a loser writer nobody cares about. And...and she said I was gonna be a loser, too. I didn't care what she called me...but when she said that about you, it got me so angry."

For a long moment, Harry was silent as he considered his girl...

...and he finally said, "There's a lot of things you need to learn from this, Cheryl. First, you need to ignore Janice. Treat her like white noise. I don't know why she's fixed on you, you never did anything to provoke her...hell. Kids often don't need a good reason to be provoked. You sure didn't."

She still couldn't look at her father. "But she was badmouthing you, dad."

"Have you ever thought that she wanted a reaction out of you? Some of the worst kids I've ever known either want to make you angry or scared. They'll get a rise out of other kids just for attention...or intimidate just to get somebody's lunch money. Janice wanted your attention and maybe everybody else's and put a spotlight on herself for some reason."

Harry smiled a bit...and found the strength to joke, "She definitely got your attention." Cheryl couldn't even imagine finding that funny because she was so overwhelmed with worry. So deathly afraid she failed her father, the most important man in her life. Harry lost his smile fast. "But you didn't have to get so angry, and you didn't have to do that for me, Cheryl.

"There can..." The father became very quiet for a moment. Cheryl looked to Harry, and the man was staring into space as he sat behind the wheel. The father was recalling something, something the daughter really had to wonder about at the time. Then, Harry's eyes looked...haunted by something. Cheryl Mason as she was in the present recalled that memory from over 15 years ago, and could really see it in a new context...

...when Harry referred to things he couldn't talk about as he remembered Silent Hill: "...there can be times you will have to do things. Things that may go against your nature, but if it's for your own sake or someone else's, you will know when they're things you have to do. What did I tell you about The Golden Rule, Cheryl?"

The daughter immediately answered softly, "Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you."

Harry nodded as he stared into space. "The Golden Rule is a perfect exchange, Cheryl...it creates a true balance between people. You live life by giving the same amount of respect and love to others that you'd want to be given.

"Not everyone obeys The Golden Rule, though. Some can't. Some would never want to. Some...can only be bullies who care about what they can take. And how much they can control." Cheryl knew as she remembered. He was thinking of Dahlia.

Harry looked upon his child then...his eyes weren't so haunted now as he looked upon Cheryl warmly. "There's..." He stopped himself. Cheryl as she was now understood there had been so many things he kept from her because the writer wanted his daughter to live her life with a clean slate ever since she was reborn in 1983. So the girl from Silent Hill wouldn't be as haunted by the memory of that town as he was. In the present she thought sadly, I'm so sorry we were both denied that, dad.

Harry managed to continue: "What's just as important is something else I taught you: if someone wants something, they've got to work for it. They've got to earn it. Nothing in life can be handed to us. If you want anything -- like to write a book -- nobody's going to do that for you. You know that old saying, 'we reap what we sow'?" Cheryl nodded. "Nothing will grow in a garden unless you sow the seed...put work into caring for what grows...and then you can reap what your efforts give you.

"That exchange in The Golden Rule has got to be earned, too. You'll only get something from others depending upon what you sow, Cheryl. You've got to earn love and respect the same as the other person has to." He sighed heavily. "But we're all pretty different from each other. Not everybody obeys The Golden Rule in the first place.

"There is a difference when some...someone wants to take something or someone from you, Cheryl. When you're dealing with a bully or some kind of monster -- ha, really thinking about it, they're much the same thing! If someone wants to take from you or control you, if they give you no choice and you've got the ability, then you have to fight.

"It's one thing if someone else starts that fight...then you need to finish it."

Harry's expression hardened a bit as he said firmly, "But when you're the one who starts a fight, you're no better than a bully. You were no better than Janice. You could have chosen to ignore her, but you wanted to make her shut up when you didn't have to." Another long, tense moment passed. "The one good thing about this is, she probably won't risk making you so angry again. But that's the only good thing, Cheryl."

The father frowned heavily as he started the big Ford's engine...he finally told his daughter, "I'm going to take you home, and when I do, I'm going to spank you once. Just once, but it's going to hurt. You did wrong by letting that dumb girl get to you, and I'll want you to remember what you learned today. Are we understood?"

Cheryl nodded deeply and answered meekly, "Yes, sir."

Harry's expression softened then as one of his big, loving hands reached out and warmly stroked into Cheryl's blonde hair. He said much more gently, "After that, I'm going to hug you for a long time as we talk some more. And then I'll take you to get anything you want for dinner tonight. I wouldn't have a damn problem if you wanted nothing but ice cream cake to eat." With a much, much thicker voice, the father told her, "I love you, dear girl, and...all I could ask is you learn and grow to become the best version of yourself. All right?"

With pure relief and love, the daughter said with gratitude, "I love you too, dad." Harry Mason gently pulled away from the curb, carrying his girl with him...

--3--

Now. In Hell on Earth. Cheryl Mason stared at Dahlia as she moaned, "Nurse Lisa asked me if I'm your child...or am I my father's daughter?" She absolutely regretted that the crone's soul was hardly aware of what she was saying, yet didn't mind if the bitch couldn't respond. "You were NEVER my mother. You never took responsibility for me as a parent...you simply put up with me when you didn't want to use me. Harry was my father. He loved me...he respected me...he simply wanted what was best for me and took his responsibility as my parent seriously. Harry tried to teach me all of the right things and help me grow and..."

Her lips were quivering as she tasted the salt of her heavy tears. "...give me all of the things you never, ever could."

Cheryl really began to tremble now with rage as she faced her past and gave expression to all of the ugly shit it made her feel...she kept her focus as she really began to squeeze the brackish puss from the wounds of her soul. "You were counting on all of your abuse and neglect and worse having an affect on me, didn't you? You wanted me to loathe myself...call myself worthless...make myself helpless! You wanted me to drown in self-pity and misery until you waited for the right time...

"...the right time to rape me and plant the embryo of God into my virgin womb." Cheryl's breaths, already full of emotion, began to come at a faster pace as she took a step closer to the ashen image. She snapped, "I was so completely ignorant to think that was all MY fault, that in some way I deserved that. I was totally wrong...because there IS a difference between deserving something and earning something, you BITCH! When people say they deserve one thing or another, they say that out of emotion...and usually because they're looking for something! But earning something is reality, Dahlia. You can't reap a thing if you don't plant the seed and help it grow.

"I could never earn your love no matter what I did...and that wasn't my goddamn fault. All you could care about was yourself, about how much power you could take, what kind of place you'll get sitting at the side of your bitch of a God...and making everything else conform to your dark and twisted view of the way you wanted things to be. All that mattered was what you thought YOU deserved, and that made you such an evil and selfish..." A strangled pause. Cheryl felt like her blood was virtually boiling.

The girl found the strength to giggle very briefly. "You might have been a crone, but you were even more of a child than I was!"

Cheryl stood fully straight as she looked at Dahlia. "That's what makes the test of life so damn difficult...the simple fact we can be so different from each other. I am definitely different from you. We each can't simply depend on our own will and desire to get what we earn...because we're each not alone. You tried to live in the self-contained bubble of your cult separate from everyone except for your followers who were JUST as childish and needy as you were...but that's not the way things work. Often as we make our way, we have to depend on others, and we can only hope they'll give us as much respect as we'll give to them!

"We need to hope we meet those who know The Golden Rule...and that we won't ever run into selfish children like you.

"And at the worst of times..." Cheryl looked behind her at everyone. At Rebecca. Chris. Jill. Leon. Helena. Claire. Sherry. Cybil. Douglas. Regina and Rain. Alex and Elle. All of them. And she told this simple truth: "...at the worst of times, we need to carry each other through when the worst of things happen. Help each other survive. For our own sakes and for what we believe in...and most of all, for those we love." All of their souls lifted to one height or another, especially Rebecca, as they felt her reasonable and benevolent sentiment.

The girl from Silent Hill looked back at Dahlia. "Things have as much power as we give to them. That includes all the pain that came with my memories of you. I should have faced them, learned from them, but instead...I denied them. By denying them, I gave my memories of you too much power. I should have figured that out LONG ago, but it takes time for some of us to grow." Cheryl's chin tilted up as she truly did feel so much lighter as she faced the one who tormented her in the most unspeakable ways. "I should have figured out that YOU were the monster and all of the hell you put me through was because of YOU, not me! Everything you ever did to me was not my fault!

"I'm sure your only regret is that after all the shit you did to me, trying to make me the Mother of your God, you still couldn't get the job done! You got God so pissed with you, she turned you into a roman candle and KILLED you in the dark of Hell!" Cheryl took a few brief heartbeats to consider the ashen image. "And this has been your punishment ever since, huh?

"We all really reap what we sow, Dahlia! You wanted power...you wanted control...but this is what you've got because of your childish, stupid evil. I couldn't think of a better fate for you, really. You might as well have been turned into a pillar of salt forever, unmoving and completely powerless." Her worse-than-bloodshot eyes narrowed as she seethed before Dahlia. "The only reason I don't have a damn smile on my face is because I've got so many more things to worry about." Her tone darkened dramatically. "But trust me, I'm smiling on the inside...I'm just sorry you can't feel that.

"I'm sure some holier-than-thou assholes would preach to me that I should turn the other cheek. They'd say, 'But she's your mom, you need to forgive her! You're required to do that or you're a bad person!'" Cheryl snarled bitterly, "Never mind that's arrogant as all Hell to tell me I'm REQUIRED to do a goddamn thing."

Cheryl found the strength to smile then...but only a little, and with no humor at all. She confided to Dahlia, "Years ago, the last time I was in Silent Hill, I had to hide from assholes in a confessional. As I was hiding, this woman came into the other side of the booth. You know what happened? She told me about how she sacrificed HER child...she was just like you, and she asked for my forgiveness." With a steel expression, Cheryl told Dahlia, "I didn't say SHIT.

"I didn't forgive or condemn her. You want to know why?! First, I wasn't responsible for that bitch or the choices she made. Second, I had my own free will, the same as she did when she CHOSE to sacrifice her child. I wasn't REQUIRED by anyone or anything to absolve or condemn her! But most importantly." She stalked a couple of steps closer to Dahlia as she snarled, "I couldn't preside over her like a judge...or a god. I didn't have the right to, and if I really got it in my head to be that arrogant...

"...I wouldn't have been any better than you...and Claudia Wolf...and Reeve Meyers or anyone else who thinks they can give themselves the power to judge everyone else." Her right hand clenched tightly around the shotgun she held in her right hand. "I am tempted to say that I'd love to do something to add to your eternal punishment, but I can't. That's okay...I can live with that...

"...but I choose to never, EVER forgive you."

Cheryl managed to take a deep breath as she felt herself become so much more...lighter than she had ever felt in three lifetimes. "Someone once said living is the best revenge. I really know what that means. By living my life, by pursuing my happiness and treating others in the way I'd want to be, that'll be how I can leave my memories of you and all the agony that comes with them behind. I hope to Heaven that won't take long...that'll depend on me." The girl from Silent Hill then screamed at the ashen image, "ALL I KNOW FOR SURE IS, I WILL LIVE AND GET STRONGER IN SPITE OF YOU!"

Becca, Chris, Jill and everyone behind her felt a multitude of emotions...as this shadowplay approached its end. Cheryl looked down as she frowned and said much more softly, "I need to go now, and I will bring an end to all of this inhuman shit. I will bring an end to your profane Order. I will be free." Her face slowly lifted to look at Dahlia...her hazel eyes became so much harder. "But first..."

In the next moment, Cheryl readied her shotgun in both hands...and she declared, "I'm going to be free of YOU!" THOOM! The girl from Silent Hill fired, and her first shot blasted one of the 'statue's' outstretched hands to pieces. She racked the pump action. THOOM! Cheryl blasted the other arm clean off at the shoulder...the girl began to scream, "Go back to the heart of Hell, Dahlia!"

THOOM! The ashen image's head blasted into a thousand pieces.

"Go back and wallow in your own torment!"

THOOM! The other arm was gone...none of the survivors behind Cheryl expressed sedate reactions, and they were fully in support of the haunted blonde as she continued to rail, "You wanted to use me to ensure your exalted place in Paradise, RIGHT!?!"

THOOM! A huge piece of Dahlia's torso blasted away. "You got the Paradise you wanted, Dahlia! SO ROT IN IT!"

THOOM! "ROT!!" THOOM! "ROT!!!" THOOM!

Cheryl desperately wanted to fire again, yet -- CLICK! She ran out of shells. The girl roared with divine fury at what was left -- and there wasn't much -- of the ashen image: "REAP WHAT YOU SOWED, YOU HEARTLESS BITCH!"

What was left of Dahlia's petrified form...discorporated. Cheryl sensed the condemned's intangible soul get pulled back screaming into the gateway and into the darkest and deepest of holes. Whether the bitch would be given a new eternal physical form or not...Cheryl REALLY didn't care. Either way, Dahlia would remain insignificant and nothing for eternity.

And even as she felt so light she was soaring, Cheryl collapsed to her knees once more as she issued a haunting wail into the oppressive darkness...she wept new tears, ones of pure and unadulterated RELEASE as she really began to live and know the very best and most benign of revenge, and more importantly justice in spite of the memory of Dahlia Gillespie. Everyone was there for her then. Some like her lover Rebecca were crying without shame and restraint...it surprised others that one of the ones weeping was Regina. The operator would never tell them why and out of her own respect and love for Cheryl, she would never tell anyone else how damned proud the redhead was of her.

To one degree or another, they all wanted to hold Cheryl and give her some kind of comfort...but it was all right as Rebecca held her tightly on one side, Elle embraced her with tenderness from behind, and Sherry truly, sweetly nuzzled the haunted girl on her other flank.

Cheryl Mason managed to calm herself...only a little...before she looked ahead of her down the street into the dark...toward their final destination...and she screamed in voice and thought: "REEVE! CAN YOU HEAR ME, YOU BASTARD!?! IF THAT'S THE WORST YOU CAN THROW AT ME...THEN YOU'VE ALREADY LOST!!!"

In City Hall. Reeve Meyers felt and heard her defiance...and grinned because the fools had no idea what they were walking into. He growled, "Oh no, Alessa. That's not all I shall sling at you and your friends."

TO BE CONTINUED
---
Up next...

...I can't say, but things WILL get worse. And you definitely won't be ready!

Now to give credit for the models I used in my art!
XNALara created by Dusan Pavlicek; XPS by Dusan and XNAaraL

Models:

Cybil Bennett by corporacion08!
Rebecca Chambers by !
Cheryl Mason by ! :333
Elle Shepherd and Sherry Birkin by !
Jill Valentine by !
Tears by ! x 100!
Rain by !

Description
For the worst kind of pain, healing can only come from catharsis.

But there's a risk: by facing the SOURCE of one's agony, one can become stronger...or their suffering will become so much terribly worse, it could defeat them.

One thing or the other is about to happen to Cheryl Mason.
---

RESIDENT EVIL X SILENT HILL: JUDGMENT DAY

written by Charles W.S.,
inspired by Ygure

Chapter 54:

"NIGHTMARE THEATER"

Cheryl Mason hardly felt the tears that began to flow down her cheeks as she stared at the petrified and immobile form of the damned Dahlia Gillespie, summoned here by Reeve Meyers to impede her and everyone with her.

Because of her unique mystic senses, she knew and there was NO doubt. This. Was. Dahlia. Cheryl completely hated it, but she could feel all of the agony and emotion the one who bore her onto Earth was experiencing...it was all so beyond terrible, Dahlia wasn't even capable of cognizant thought. Her soul was endlessly screaming within this petrified form; the girl from Silent Hill understood that the bitch could hardly be aware of anything else...she wouldn't even have been able to register that Cheryl was here.

But the hazel eyes of the haunted blonde were wide and wet...that understanding was no consolation at all to the girl because she was horribly aware of what she was staring at. Slowly, very slowly, Cheryl recovered from her shock seeing Dahlia...and she managed to say to the ashen form: "Nurse Lisa did say Meyers was summoning others from Hell. He brought you here through the gateway in the same way he did Pyramid Head and Jack Krauser. He..." She swallowed damp air. "...he must have thought you'd have an affect on me..."

Suddenly, her legs felt so damn weak, they couldn't support her anymore...she nearly dropped to her knees on the steel grating before this ashen form. Cheryl finally moaned with quiet, terminal anguish, "And he was right." Not far behind her, Rebecca Chambers would have given ANYTHING to support her lover, but instead she quietly urged everyone to stay back. With pure and true love guiding her, she knew that some things weren't up to her...or anyone else...

...and sometimes there were battles those we love have to fight alone.

Cheryl had no idea how long she could only look at her greatest tormentor from her first life as Alessa Gillespie...it did feel like a virtual eternity as she stared at the petrified sight. As she wept hot, pain-filled tears, she managed to speak to the thing... "I tried to wish every memory of you out of me as I was reborn...but I couldn't. They all came back to me when I was last in Silent Hill. E...e-ever since I recalled everything from two lives...when I thought of my memories of you...I understood there was always one constant, Dahlia. One thing that defined you from the very beginning.

"You were never happy.

"Some of us...e-even I've known happiness, at least in small doses...but you never could. You weren't able to find any real joy in life...all you could do was be so goddamn bitter about living in a world that wasn't the way you wanted it to be. I'm completely sure that you were so joyless, you hated to see anyone around you feeling happiness...especially the people who had no idea what you were and what you served."

Cheryl's head bowed a little as she was forced to look back on her memories of the woman who bore her into the world...really face them. "When you understood how gifted you were, you thought you'd have the power to change everything to suit you. So you invested all of yourself into your worthless God and prayed endlessly you'd be worthy of her. But...you were never gifted enough. You might have been the leader of your hellish church, but you couldn't get everything you wanted.

"That must have frustrated you...it infuriated you, didn't it."

Cheryl's eyes closed as her face looked further to the wet grated street...her posture looked like the weight of everything was pressing down upon her...the sight of the girl truly dismayed those who had gotten to know Cheryl, and Rebecca? The pixie was really praying. She had never prayed so hard in her entire life for anyone or anything than she did at that moment for her lover.

Cheryl continued in a tone that became so devoid of hope, so completely lost in her own misery: "And then I came along...you gave birth to me. You never told me who my father was. I still have no idea, except that he was a member of your 'church'. He was part of The Order. I've always wondered about him. Did he leave when he found out when you were pregnant? Maybe it was just because he realized you were so cold and you could only care for God? Or maybe he left, but it wasn't his choice? Maybe...you made him one of your many sacrifices??

"I have no idea.

"All I had was you, Dahlia. I simply wanted you to love me..." Cheryl's voice cracked as she managed to say, "...I just...I needed you to be my mother. That was all."

The girl managed to lift a trembling hand to her face as she wept copiously...she really struggled within herself as she wiped at her tortured brow and then ran those fingers through her blonde hair, so wet from the rain now.

"But almost from the start..." Cheryl's voice began to shift...it couldn't be perceived at first, but there was something building in time with her inner struggle. "...you...you resented me for being a burden to you. And then, when you realized I was gifted in...in all of the ways you weren't...you hated me, right?" The girl from Silent Hill was really fighting within herself, struggling to gain the strength to face all of those old terrible wounds, all of the abuse and disdain and so much worse she suffered because of Dahlia. Her voice deepened into an angry snarl. "Every time I tried to ask for your help and advice, I know I annoyed you. You honestly didn't care when I tried to say I love you. A-and I never realized...that what mattered to you was whether I'd be of use to you or not. Just like your faith in God, all you cared about was what YOU would get out of having to tolerate me."

Close by Rebecca, Regina was watching...her eyes were hard...yet the redhead was really beginning to smile as she heard that building power in Cheryl's voice. She had been a child of sadness, too. She knew the righteous rage of the girl from Silent Hill too damn well.

Cheryl blinked furiously as she stared at the grated street...she didn't care as rainwater gently dripped from her hair as she said with steadily building volume, "I did blame myself for all of it. I thought you didn't love me because there was something wrong with me." She slowly looked up, and yes, the anger in her eyes toward the ashen image in front of her held a fury that COULD shake the world if she dared to. Cheryl growled, "In all of those times you abused me, and during those dead times that were even worse when you ignored me and acted like I didn't even exist, I thought that was all my fault." She shook her head as she knelt there. "You made me feel like nothing, Dahlia.

"Y-you made me feel like less than nothing. Oh...realizing this was you...that nearly crushed me. I...I felt like I was in a compactor and I thought my heart was gonna explode." Her despairing words made Elza and many of the other survivors weep openly with true empathy for the haunted, tortured girl. Cybil and Douglas and Alex and Elle, for all they knew, in spite of how much they loved her...even they couldn't have known until now how much pain she had suffered. Only Rebecca knew, and her soul was so hopeful as she did feel the building strength in her beloved's voice. The pixie's hopes were confirmed in only a moment...

...as Cheryl slowly, shakily began to rise before the ashen image of Dahlia. The girl snarled, "That feeling has passed, Dahlia. I really wish you had been my mother...I never would have asked for anything but your love...but you never had any love to give. You weren't my mother. You couldn't be my mother. Sure, you carried me for nine months, but that doesn't mean a thing. You simply happened to be there when I was born.

"And it doesn't matter to me who my father was when I was Alessa. It really doesn't. Because my father is Harry Mason." Cheryl paused briefly to take a deep breath, trying desperately to calm herself, and that meant very little...but thinking of her dad did. "My father was motivated by what he knew to be right and good, Dahlia. He loved me...he gave his all to be my parent in every way you weren't capable of giving, because you couldn't give shit!

"Oh, dad was as different from you as night from day.

"You couldn't understand how different...but maybe I can explain it." Cheryl swallowed thickly. "I...I remember this one day. I was in middle school and I...I got myself in trouble..."

--2--

Her father Harry Mason was there to pick her up in front of the school like always in that old blue Ford. He'd been notified by the principal earlier what happened, and that was why he did not look as happy as he usually did when he came to bring his daughter home. Harry had been told Cheryl started a fight. His girl hadn't ever gone out of her way to be a social person, and you must know as well as anyone that school could be (socially and metaphorically speaking) a DMZ depending on who you were. Another girl was giving her trouble...the kind of catty trouble girls often lapsed into causing...and Cheryl took offense and gave a LOT more than she received. No permanent damage was done...heck, the other girl didn't even have to spend a minute in the clinic...but the principal was a strict disciplinarian who was sorely tempted to suspend Cheryl from school for this incident.

Harry assured him that wouldn't be necessary. He'd talk to his girl.

Cheryl came out of the front doors of the school, and she never remembered feeling so afraid before as she looked at her father waiting for her. He was angry. And he was right to be. As she approached, Harry opened the big front passenger door for her, like always, but didn't say a word. The girl couldn't say anything before she got in the car. Harry climbed in on the opposite side behind the wheel.

Things got tense. Fast.

Cheryl looked down at her lap and tried to say quietly, "D-dad..."

Harry gazed through the windshield and asked quietly, "Why did you start a fight?" The question was so mild, yet FELT so loud.

"Janice was giving me trouble again."

He stared at her. "What did I tell you before?"

"To ignore her...and she'd leave me alone. You said most bullies do that."

Harry sighed. "Yeah. Most do. What did she say this time?"

"She...she started insulting you." Harry got a glimpse of the anger Cheryl felt when she spoke of that regrettable moment. "She always wanted to give me crap just 'cause she could. I never cared about that. I never cared about what she thought 'cause...cause you told me that the loudest people are the ones we shouldn't listen to."

"That's right."

The girl trembled a little as she snarled, "She called you a loser writer nobody cares about. And...and she said I was gonna be a loser, too. I didn't care what she called me...but when she said that about you, it got me so angry."

For a long moment, Harry was silent as he considered his girl...

...and he finally said, "There's a lot of things you need to learn from this, Cheryl. First, you need to ignore Janice. Treat her like white noise. I don't know why she's fixed on you, you never did anything to provoke her...hell. Kids often don't need a good reason to be provoked. You sure didn't."

She still couldn't look at her father. "But she was badmouthing you, dad."

"Have you ever thought that she wanted a reaction out of you? Some of the worst kids I've ever known either want to make you angry or scared. They'll get a rise out of other kids just for attention...or intimidate just to get somebody's lunch money. Janice wanted your attention and maybe everybody else's and put a spotlight on herself for some reason."

Harry smiled a bit...and found the strength to joke, "She definitely got your attention." Cheryl couldn't even imagine finding that funny because she was so overwhelmed with worry. So deathly afraid she failed her father, the most important man in her life. Harry lost his smile fast. "But you didn't have to get so angry, and you didn't have to do that for me, Cheryl.

"There can..." The father became very quiet for a moment. Cheryl looked to Harry, and the man was staring into space as he sat behind the wheel. The father was recalling something, something the daughter really had to wonder about at the time. Then, Harry's eyes looked...haunted by something. Cheryl Mason as she was in the present recalled that memory from over 15 years ago, and could really see it in a new context...

...when Harry referred to things he couldn't talk about as he remembered Silent Hill: "...there can be times you will have to do things. Things that may go against your nature, but if it's for your own sake or someone else's, you will know when they're things you have to do. What did I tell you about The Golden Rule, Cheryl?"

The daughter immediately answered softly, "Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you."

Harry nodded as he stared into space. "The Golden Rule is a perfect exchange, Cheryl...it creates a true balance between people. You live life by giving the same amount of respect and love to others that you'd want to be given.

"Not everyone obeys The Golden Rule, though. Some can't. Some would never want to. Some...can only be bullies who care about what they can take. And how much they can control." Cheryl knew as she remembered. He was thinking of Dahlia.

Harry looked upon his child then...his eyes weren't so haunted now as he looked upon Cheryl warmly. "There's..." He stopped himself. Cheryl as she was now understood there had been so many things he kept from her because the writer wanted his daughter to live her life with a clean slate ever since she was reborn in 1983. So the girl from Silent Hill wouldn't be as haunted by the memory of that town as he was. In the present she thought sadly, I'm so sorry we were both denied that, dad.

Harry managed to continue: "What's just as important is something else I taught you: if someone wants something, they've got to work for it. They've got to earn it. Nothing in life can be handed to us. If you want anything -- like to write a book -- nobody's going to do that for you. You know that old saying, 'we reap what we sow'?" Cheryl nodded. "Nothing will grow in a garden unless you sow the seed...put work into caring for what grows...and then you can reap what your efforts give you.

"That exchange in The Golden Rule has got to be earned, too. You'll only get something from others depending upon what you sow, Cheryl. You've got to earn love and respect the same as the other person has to." He sighed heavily. "But we're all pretty different from each other. Not everybody obeys The Golden Rule in the first place.

"There is a difference when some...someone wants to take something or someone from you, Cheryl. When you're dealing with a bully or some kind of monster -- ha, really thinking about it, they're much the same thing! If someone wants to take from you or control you, if they give you no choice and you've got the ability, then you have to fight.

"It's one thing if someone else starts that fight...then you need to finish it."

Harry's expression hardened a bit as he said firmly, "But when you're the one who starts a fight, you're no better than a bully. You were no better than Janice. You could have chosen to ignore her, but you wanted to make her shut up when you didn't have to." Another long, tense moment passed. "The one good thing about this is, she probably won't risk making you so angry again. But that's the only good thing, Cheryl."

The father frowned heavily as he started the big Ford's engine...he finally told his daughter, "I'm going to take you home, and when I do, I'm going to spank you once. Just once, but it's going to hurt. You did wrong by letting that dumb girl get to you, and I'll want you to remember what you learned today. Are we understood?"

Cheryl nodded deeply and answered meekly, "Yes, sir."

Harry's expression softened then as one of his big, loving hands reached out and warmly stroked into Cheryl's blonde hair. He said much more gently, "After that, I'm going to hug you for a long time as we talk some more. And then I'll take you to get anything you want for dinner tonight. I wouldn't have a damn problem if you wanted nothing but ice cream cake to eat." With a much, much thicker voice, the father told her, "I love you, dear girl, and...all I could ask is you learn and grow to become the best version of yourself. All right?"

With pure relief and love, the daughter said with gratitude, "I love you too, dad." Harry Mason gently pulled away from the curb, carrying his girl with him...

--3--

Now. In Hell on Earth. Cheryl Mason stared at Dahlia as she moaned, "Nurse Lisa asked me if I'm your child...or am I my father's daughter?" She absolutely regretted that the crone's soul was hardly aware of what she was saying, yet didn't mind if the bitch couldn't respond. "You were NEVER my mother. You never took responsibility for me as a parent...you simply put up with me when you didn't want to use me. Harry was my father. He loved me...he respected me...he simply wanted what was best for me and took his responsibility as my parent seriously. Harry tried to teach me all of the right things and help me grow and..."

Her lips were quivering as she tasted the salt of her heavy tears. "...give me all of the things you never, ever could."

Cheryl really began to tremble now with rage as she faced her past and gave expression to all of the ugly shit it made her feel...she kept her focus as she really began to squeeze the brackish puss from the wounds of her soul. "You were counting on all of your abuse and neglect and worse having an affect on me, didn't you? You wanted me to loathe myself...call myself worthless...make myself helpless! You wanted me to drown in self-pity and misery until you waited for the right time...

"...the right time to rape me and plant the embryo of God into my virgin womb." Cheryl's breaths, already full of emotion, began to come at a faster pace as she took a step closer to the ashen image. She snapped, "I was so completely ignorant to think that was all MY fault, that in some way I deserved that. I was totally wrong...because there IS a difference between deserving something and earning something, you BITCH! When people say they deserve one thing or another, they say that out of emotion...and usually because they're looking for something! But earning something is reality, Dahlia. You can't reap a thing if you don't plant the seed and help it grow.

"I could never earn your love no matter what I did...and that wasn't my goddamn fault. All you could care about was yourself, about how much power you could take, what kind of place you'll get sitting at the side of your bitch of a God...and making everything else conform to your dark and twisted view of the way you wanted things to be. All that mattered was what you thought YOU deserved, and that made you such an evil and selfish..." A strangled pause. Cheryl felt like her blood was virtually boiling.

The girl found the strength to giggle very briefly. "You might have been a crone, but you were even more of a child than I was!"

Cheryl stood fully straight as she looked at Dahlia. "That's what makes the test of life so damn difficult...the simple fact we can be so different from each other. I am definitely different from you. We each can't simply depend on our own will and desire to get what we earn...because we're each not alone. You tried to live in the self-contained bubble of your cult separate from everyone except for your followers who were JUST as childish and needy as you were...but that's not the way things work. Often as we make our way, we have to depend on others, and we can only hope they'll give us as much respect as we'll give to them!

"We need to hope we meet those who know The Golden Rule...and that we won't ever run into selfish children like you.

"And at the worst of times..." Cheryl looked behind her at everyone. At Rebecca. Chris. Jill. Leon. Helena. Claire. Sherry. Cybil. Douglas. Regina and Rain. Alex and Elle. All of them. And she told this simple truth: "...at the worst of times, we need to carry each other through when the worst of things happen. Help each other survive. For our own sakes and for what we believe in...and most of all, for those we love." All of their souls lifted to one height or another, especially Rebecca, as they felt her reasonable and benevolent sentiment.

The girl from Silent Hill looked back at Dahlia. "Things have as much power as we give to them. That includes all the pain that came with my memories of you. I should have faced them, learned from them, but instead...I denied them. By denying them, I gave my memories of you too much power. I should have figured that out LONG ago, but it takes time for some of us to grow." Cheryl's chin tilted up as she truly did feel so much lighter as she faced the one who tormented her in the most unspeakable ways. "I should have figured out that YOU were the monster and all of the hell you put me through was because of YOU, not me! Everything you ever did to me was not my fault!

"I'm sure your only regret is that after all the shit you did to me, trying to make me the Mother of your God, you still couldn't get the job done! You got God so pissed with you, she turned you into a roman candle and KILLED you in the dark of Hell!" Cheryl took a few brief heartbeats to consider the ashen image. "And this has been your punishment ever since, huh?

"We all really reap what we sow, Dahlia! You wanted power...you wanted control...but this is what you've got because of your childish, stupid evil. I couldn't think of a better fate for you, really. You might as well have been turned into a pillar of salt forever, unmoving and completely powerless." Her worse-than-bloodshot eyes narrowed as she seethed before Dahlia. "The only reason I don't have a damn smile on my face is because I've got so many more things to worry about." Her tone darkened dramatically. "But trust me, I'm smiling on the inside...I'm just sorry you can't feel that.

"I'm sure some holier-than-thou assholes would preach to me that I should turn the other cheek. They'd say, 'But she's your mom, you need to forgive her! You're required to do that or you're a bad person!'" Cheryl snarled bitterly, "Never mind that's arrogant as all Hell to tell me I'm REQUIRED to do a goddamn thing."

Cheryl found the strength to smile then...but only a little, and with no humor at all. She confided to Dahlia, "Years ago, the last time I was in Silent Hill, I had to hide from assholes in a confessional. As I was hiding, this woman came into the other side of the booth. You know what happened? She told me about how she sacrificed HER child...she was just like you, and she asked for my forgiveness." With a steel expression, Cheryl told Dahlia, "I didn't say SHIT.

"I didn't forgive or condemn her. You want to know why?! First, I wasn't responsible for that bitch or the choices she made. Second, I had my own free will, the same as she did when she CHOSE to sacrifice her child. I wasn't REQUIRED by anyone or anything to absolve or condemn her! But most importantly." She stalked a couple of steps closer to Dahlia as she snarled, "I couldn't preside over her like a judge...or a god. I didn't have the right to, and if I really got it in my head to be that arrogant...

"...I wouldn't have been any better than you...and Claudia Wolf...and Reeve Meyers or anyone else who thinks they can give themselves the power to judge everyone else." Her right hand clenched tightly around the shotgun she held in her right hand. "I am tempted to say that I'd love to do something to add to your eternal punishment, but I can't. That's okay...I can live with that...

"...but I choose to never, EVER forgive you."

Cheryl managed to take a deep breath as she felt herself become so much more...lighter than she had ever felt in three lifetimes. "Someone once said living is the best revenge. I really know what that means. By living my life, by pursuing my happiness and treating others in the way I'd want to be, that'll be how I can leave my memories of you and all the agony that comes with them behind. I hope to Heaven that won't take long...that'll depend on me." The girl from Silent Hill then screamed at the ashen image, "ALL I KNOW FOR SURE IS, I WILL LIVE AND GET STRONGER IN SPITE OF YOU!"

Becca, Chris, Jill and everyone behind her felt a multitude of emotions...as this shadowplay approached its end. Cheryl looked down as she frowned and said much more softly, "I need to go now, and I will bring an end to all of this inhuman shit. I will bring an end to your profane Order. I will be free." Her face slowly lifted to look at Dahlia...her hazel eyes became so much harder. "But first..."

In the next moment, Cheryl readied her shotgun in both hands...and she declared, "I'm going to be free of YOU!" THOOM! The girl from Silent Hill fired, and her first shot blasted one of the 'statue's' outstretched hands to pieces. She racked the pump action. THOOM! Cheryl blasted the other arm clean off at the shoulder...the girl began to scream, "Go back to the heart of Hell, Dahlia!"

THOOM! The ashen image's head blasted into a thousand pieces.

"Go back and wallow in your own torment!"

THOOM! The other arm was gone...none of the survivors behind Cheryl expressed sedate reactions, and they were fully in support of the haunted blonde as she continued to rail, "You wanted to use me to ensure your exalted place in Paradise, RIGHT!?!"

THOOM! A huge piece of Dahlia's torso blasted away. "You got the Paradise you wanted, Dahlia! SO ROT IN IT!"

THOOM! "ROT!!" THOOM! "ROT!!!" THOOM!

Cheryl desperately wanted to fire again, yet -- CLICK! She ran out of shells. The girl roared with divine fury at what was left -- and there wasn't much -- of the ashen image: "REAP WHAT YOU SOWED, YOU HEARTLESS BITCH!"

What was left of Dahlia's petrified form...discorporated. Cheryl sensed the condemned's intangible soul get pulled back screaming into the gateway and into the darkest and deepest of holes. Whether the bitch would be given a new eternal physical form or not...Cheryl REALLY didn't care. Either way, Dahlia would remain insignificant and nothing for eternity.

And even as she felt so light she was soaring, Cheryl collapsed to her knees once more as she issued a haunting wail into the oppressive darkness...she wept new tears, ones of pure and unadulterated RELEASE as she really began to live and know the very best and most benign of revenge, and more importantly justice in spite of the memory of Dahlia Gillespie. Everyone was there for her then. Some like her lover Rebecca were crying without shame and restraint...it surprised others that one of the ones weeping was Regina. The operator would never tell them why and out of her own respect and love for Cheryl, she would never tell anyone else how damned proud the redhead was of her.

To one degree or another, they all wanted to hold Cheryl and give her some kind of comfort...but it was all right as Rebecca held her tightly on one side, Elle embraced her with tenderness from behind, and Sherry truly, sweetly nuzzled the haunted girl on her other flank.

Cheryl Mason managed to calm herself...only a little...before she looked ahead of her down the street into the dark...toward their final destination...and she screamed in voice and thought: "REEVE! CAN YOU HEAR ME, YOU BASTARD!?! IF THAT'S THE WORST YOU CAN THROW AT ME...THEN YOU'VE ALREADY LOST!!!"

In City Hall. Reeve Meyers felt and heard her defiance...and grinned because the fools had no idea what they were walking into. He growled, "Oh no, Alessa. That's not all I shall sling at you and your friends."

TO BE CONTINUED
---
Up next...

...I can't say, but things WILL get worse. And you definitely won't be ready!

Now to give credit for the models I used in my art!
XNALara created by Dusan Pavlicek; XPS by Dusan and XNAaraL

Models:

Cybil Bennett by corporacion08!
Rebecca Chambers by !
Cheryl Mason by ! :333
Elle Shepherd and Sherry Birkin by !
Jill Valentine by !
Tears by ! x 100!
Rain by !