The girl hastily tossed aside the flashlight and rushed forward.
Her small hands nervously patted and inspected Sephirot's arms and body, her tone anxious:
"Sephirot! What happened to your clothes?!"
"So many holes, did you bleed? Where exactly did you go? Did you encounter a really powerful demon? Did that bastard Dante abandon you alone?"
Sephirot looked at the anxious girl before him, a smile touching his eyes.
This was Patty. Sharp words but a soft heart, she was the person in this world who cared most about him, besides Lady and Trish.
Oh, and Dante.
"Stop, stop, stop! Don't touch anymore, if you keep touching I'll have to charge!"
Sephirot grabbed Patty's small hand, "Don't worry, they're all superficial wounds, they've healed long ago."
"Charge?!"
Patty pinched Sephirot's arm hard, as if bristling, "You were picked up by me from beside a trash bin, haven't I seen everywhere? When I hugged you, you were still..."
"Stop, stop, stop!"
Sephirot, hearing her start babbling nonsense again, felt a headache coming, and hurriedly handed her the pizza box in his hand, "Here, the feast you wanted."
"Pizza again?! Can't you have any new ideas?"
Patty's spellcasting was interrupted, she pursed her lips, deftly opened the box, smelling the rich cheese aroma, and her stomach honestly let out a growl.
"Having eaten this since childhood, aren't you tired of it? This kind of flour and cheap cheese junk food..."
Patty muttered while picking up a stretchy slice of pizza: "Hmph, this time I'll reluctantly eat two slices."
Sephirot watched her tightly knit brows finally relax, just about to sigh in relief.
"Sephirot, you were picked up by me, you're my private property."
Patty, chewing pizza, mumbled lecturing, "In the future, all injuries must get my approval, heard that..."
However, before her words finished, her chewing motion suddenly froze.
A little girl wearing a dress, with a clean white complexion, drifted into the Agency from behind Sephirot. Those pure, flawless big eyes were staring directly at the pizza in Patty's hand.
Sephirot seeing this, helplessly held his forehead.
Done.
Only focused on dealing with Patty, forgot to have Alessa return inside.
The next second, a pitch enough to lift the roof screamed from Patty's mouth:
"Sephirot!!!"
"You disappeared for so many days, so you went out to raise a child?!"
Speaking, mist actually welled up in her eyes.
"I'm going to tell Lady and Aunt Trish! Have Aunt Lady blast you to death with a rocket launcher, you heartless scoundrel!"
Sephirot: "???"
...
—--
An hour later.
"Buzz, buzz..."
The electricity bill had already been paid by Sephirot.
The lights were on, but his wallet was also empty; he really wanted to know how his uncle Dante could owe such a huge electricity bill.
The television was turned back on, replaying the evening news.
"...According to this station's report, Elm Street recently witnessed a case of sudden death among teenagers in their sleep. The police have yet to determine the cause..."
"...Multiple self-driving tourists have disappeared in the eastern region. Police are reminding citizens to pay attention to safety..."
Alessa was being held by Patty on the sofa. She clutched a piece of pizza in her hand, nibbling on it slowly.
After living in Silent Hill for so many years, she had never tasted food as delicious as this.
And Patty had completely forgotten the earlier topic about illegitimate children.
Her face overflowed with maternal affection as she looked at the obedient Alessa in her arms, her eyes reddened: "Sephirot, how could those people treat a little girl like this?"
After saying this, she gently patted Alessa's head.
"..."
Sephirot leaning against the table, watching this scene, felt slightly speechless.
Alessa, you are the master of Silent Hill who kills without mercy. How could a little food buy you off so easily?
If I'd known that offering food could trick you, I'd have said so earlier.
Sephirot dragged over a chair, sat backwards leaning against its back, and asked: "Speaking of which, why did you suddenly take leave and come back this time?"
Hearing this, Patty, immersed in maternal affection, paused.
She suddenly became somewhat bashful, her eyes dodging: "Well... it's nothing really, just wanted to come back and see."
Sephirot raised an eyebrow, sizing her up: "Are you having your period these days?"
"You're the one having your period!"
Patty, angered and embarrassed, grabbed the empty pizza box on the table and threw it at Sephirot.
"The school is about to have spring break. This weekend, a few of my classmates and I planned to go on a vacation together."
Patty spoke while daydreaming about the upcoming holiday.
Spring break refers to a specific holiday period around Easter, usually lasting about a week.
For students long suppressed by academics, this not only represents time to rest but also a season of revelry filled with sunshine, beaches, and travel.
Sephirot steadily caught the box and nodded: "I have no money."
"Who's asking for your money?"
Patty glared at him, raising her chin and scoffing, "Even if you worked ten lifetimes, you wouldn't be as rich as me."
This point Sephirot couldn't really argue against.
Patty's background was special, but her experiences were even more bizarre.
Due to family circumstances, she grew up in an orphanage. Because she shared the same name with a wealthy family's heir, that family sought her out to serve as a shield.
Later, the wealthy heir, grateful to her, gave her a large sum of money as compensation.
How much exactly Sephirot didn't know, but when Dante mentioned this matter, he drooled saying: "That money would be enough for me to bathe with pizza in the Agency for ten lifetimes."
"I'm asking you, are you going?"
Patty seemed to have another purpose, continuing on her own: "We'll pass through that very beautiful East Route 9. I heard the scenery there is especially good, and there are many rural legends..."
East Route 9? What kind of bird place is that?
"Sounds great."
Sephirot nodded.
Halfway through forming her smile, Patty froze at his next words.
"No."
He pulled out his phone and started browsing the news.
What's so interesting about a little kid's gathering?
Although his current physical age was a few years younger than Patty, that old-fashioned, weary tone just couldn't be shaken off.
"You!"
Seeing Sephirot refuse so bluntly, Patty's cheeks puffed up angrily. She lowered her head to look at Alessa in her arms, trying to find an ally:
"Alessa, do you want to come with me? It's really fun there. There's sunshine, grass, and lots of yummy food."
Alessa, who had been quietly enjoying her meal, suddenly froze.
She looked up at Patty's expectant face, then glanced across at Sephirot who was scrolling through his phone.
This scene... being handed over from someone close to a stranger, then taken to some place...
She seemed to have experienced it before.
Just like when her mother handed her over to her aunt, and she ended up being sent to the stake.
Yes, Christabella was Alessa's biological mother Dahlia's sister, Alessa's aunt.
It was hard to imagine someone could be so cruel.
"No..."
Alessa's pupils instantly contracted, her face turning pale and cold.
A surge of suppressed dark power suddenly emanated from her petite body.
"Sizzle, sizzle..."
The Agency's lights, which had just lit up, suddenly flickered. The room's temperature plummeted, and faint traces of rust even appeared on the walls.
"Alessa?"
Patty felt this dark aura, like the doll in her arms had suddenly become a demon.
Seeing the flickering lights, Sephirot immediately realized what was happening.
(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.
EVENTS / LORE
Elm Street, teenagers dying in their sleep — The news broadcast in the background is a reference to the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, in which the supernatural killer Freddy Krueger murders victims inside their dreams. The deaths appear as unexplained natural causes to outside observers. This is the story's first hint that the next arc will involve a different horror universe entirely.