Dusty memories surged from the depths of his mind.
—--
One week ago.
In a dim, cramped guest bedroom, James sat in a chair. Before him lay a woman in the final stages of a terminal illness.
Veins bulged across the woman's body; her face was covered in red sores and ruptured, weeping pustules. Her skin was pitted and scarred, and her hair had fallen out in large clumps.
"I'm so sorry..."
He looked at his dying lover, his eyes filled with an indefinable exhaustion and guilt.
"Cough, cough!"
Hearing his voice, Mary slowly opened her eyes.
She looked at James and forced a faint smile, her voice weak and powerless:
"Don't apologize. I told you... I want to end this pain."
James nodded silently, his hands gripping his knees tightly. "Yes... you said that. But... that's no excuse for what I'm doing."
His expression became incredibly conflicted, his lips trembling for a long time.
Finally, enduring the agony, he looked cautiously at his wife, his voice shaking:
"The truth is... I hate you. I don't want to take care of you anymore..."
"I want my life back."
Lying on the bed, Mary seemed to feel a sense of helpless resignation upon hearing this.
She heaved a deep sigh and looked at James tenderly. There was no blame in her eyes, only heartache. "If that were true..."
"Then why do you look so sad?"
Those words were the final straw.
The psychological defenses James had built up for so long completely collapsed, and he could no longer suppress his tears. He gently took Mary's hand, sobbing uncontrollably. "Mary..."
"It's okay, James."
Mary seemed to have anticipated this day long ago. She interrupted James's burgeoning apologies and self-reproach, slowly pulling out a pre-written letter from beside her.
"Here."
"What is this?"
James asked.
"It's what you've been looking for."
After that, came the scene of the murder from just moments ago.
...
—--
The memories faded, and his consciousness returned to reality.
James slumped in the chair as if all the strength had been drained from his body.
As it turned out, his wife Mary had not died of illness three years ago.
She died just last week.
Smothered to death by his own hands with a pillow.
No wonder Mr. Sephirot had asked him those questions.
A vast, unfillable sense of emptiness instantly swallowed his heart.
He couldn't find the words to describe how he felt, perhaps as if a piece was missing from where his heart should be beating?
Was this the so-called "getting life back on track"?
If this was the price, then this freedom was far too heavy, so heavy that even breathing felt like a crime.
James's eyes were hollow as he subconsciously pulled a brown medicine bottle from his pocket.
White Claudia.
There was a line of small print on the bottle: This should do it. At a special time, in a special place. He had prepared this for himself even before he killed his wife; it was said that as long as he drank it, he would be able to stay with Mary forever.
However, he had buried this fact along with the memory of killing her.
Now, the time to use it had finally come.
James slowly unscrewed the cap, tilted his head back, and raised the bottle.
Whiz!
The faint sound of something cutting through the air rang out, and a small stone struck his wrist with pinpoint accuracy.
"Ugh..."
In his pain, he subconsciously let go of the bottle. It fell, and the liquid spilled all over the ground.
James clutched his reddened hand and looked toward the doorway.
There stood a man in a long red coat leaning against the threshold, tossing a small stone up and down in one hand.
"Mr. James, you're making things very difficult for me by doing this..."
Sephirot was not in good shape right now.
His coat had been slashed with several large gashes by that Iron Spider, revealing the skin beneath, and his face was slightly pale from the drain on his physical strength.
From a distance, he looked like a destitute beggar.
And yet, when he pushed open the door, this scene of "suicide by poison" was what greeted him.
He looked at James's numb, hollow expression, his own heart unmoved. "The commission isn't over yet. If you die, who's going to pay the balance?"
James stared blankly at Sephirot, his emotions recovering slightly as a look of shame crossed his face.
"I... I killed her, Mr. Sephirot. I'm the real monster."
Sephirot pulled Mary's letter from his inner lining, flicked his fingers, and sent it flying out.
"Take a good look for yourself. These are the words Mary left for you."
James looked at the letter that landed in front of him and paused. Eventually, his hands trembling, he picked up the envelope and opened it.
What met his eyes was that familiar sentence.
[James, you promised me that one day you would take me there again, to that special little town, but you never did.]
As his gaze drifted further down, more of that familiar handwriting slowly emerged, much like his own recovered memories.
[I know how much I've made you suffer.]
[I wish I could change it all, but I can't.]
[I lie here waiting for you to come see me... how pathetic and ugly it is.]
...
[The doctors told me I could go home for a few days.]
[I was so happy. I missed you so much.]
[But I was scared, James. I was scared that you wouldn't welcome me home.]
...
[Especially when I learned I was going to die, I was so angry, and I hurt everyone I loved. Especially you.]
[So, if you hate me, I understand. But I want you to know that I will always love you.]
...
[I want you to go on living.]
[Live on.]
[For yourself, and for others.]
[Just as you lived for me.]
[James... you made me happy.]
Mary's gentle voice seemed to cross the boundaries of life, death, time, and space, softly brushing against James's face.
Sephirot watched James's face, which was twitching slightly.
Agony, resentment, anger, helplessness...
Various emotions appeared on his face, mixing together until finally, only a lingering numbness remained.
Ding!
A familiar notification sound finally rang in his mind.
[Main Quest: Letter from Silent Heaven]
[Objective: Find James's wife, Mary]
[Quest Complete. James has faced the truth and found the real Mary in the depths of his heart.]
[Reward: 1000 points credited. Bloodline awakening in progress...]
[Solo Kill - James's Inner Demon: Maria. Reward: 500 points.]
The moment the system prompt appeared, Sephirot felt a searing heat in his heart, as if a drop of molten lava had flowed out from within it.
Thump!
A heartbeat, loud as a war drum, exploded inside him.
The physical strength he had overextended during that earlier brutal battle was fully restored in an instant.
In its place, a violent power filled with a desire for destruction surged from his heart to every part of his body.
A phantom silhouette of a Devil Trigger flickered on the surface of his body; within the shadow, one could see the outlines of demonic armor, powerful limbs, and the silhouette of demonic wings on his back that had yet to unfurl.
The oppressive demonic shadow lasted only an instant before retracting back into Sephirot like a fleeting flash.
"Whew..."
Sephirot let out a long breath of turbid air. This breath carried a hint of heat, causing the air to warp and distort.
Feeling the infinite power within his body, he recalled the battle just now that had left him in such a wretched state.
(Translated by yourtl.app)
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TL NOTES — CROSSOVER GUIDE
The notes below are here to help readers unfamiliar with these universes follow along more easily.
ITEMS / SUBSTANCES
White Claudia — A drug produced from a plant native to the Silent Hill region, referenced throughout Silent Hill 2. In ordinary doses it is hallucinogenic; it is also associated with the town's occult rituals. In the game, James discovers a bottle of it accompanied by a note implying it can be used to "stay with someone who has died", in effect, a means of suicide he had prepared for himself. The detail that he already had it on him before arriving in Silent Hill reveals that he did not come to the town expecting to find Mary alive. On some level, he came to die.