[A/N] Hello again! I decided to publish this very long one shot, based off Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly. I wrote this in the summer, and I never published it. So, enjoy! I do not own anything.
[P.S.] If you like Resident Evil, then you should read and review my one shot of Resident Evil called "Revenge". I am currently writing the prequel to that now. I'm currently on the third chapter. I'll probably publish the first two tomorrow. So, look out for that! :)
"The Ritual"
I look at the swirling water as the frogs leap from lily pad to lily pad. They look happy. They look like they're having fun. I feel a warm, vibrant hand touch my shoulder. "Sae, let's go!" My twin sister, Yae, was always so happy, and cheery for some odd reason. I never understood why. When I was little, my parents tried explaining to me that she had a mental illness, and that's why she's like the way she is now. I haven't seen or heard from my parents in over five years. I'm starting to believe that they've died. I get up from the cold rock that I was sitting on, and Yae is still screaming her head off for me to come. "I'll be there in a minute, Yae, calm the heck down!"
I don't know why she wanted my attention, but from the sounds of her screams, it sounded important. I walk into the scraggy, old cabin that Yae and I have called our home for a few months now. I don't exactly know how we got to where we are today. All I vaguely remember is some kind of plane crash. I recollect people bloody, mothers crying, babies crying louder, and people screaming for help. I don't quite know how we even survived, for that matter. The cabin has two main rooms with a third small room, and that's the bathroom. The first main room is the living room, which has a country feel to it, which a bear rug, a traditional western flooring and wallpaper. The other is a worn-out bedroom, which contains four small wooden beds, and they each have a hand-woven quilt used as a comforter. I've always liked that, it was always warm and cuddly. "Sae, this way! Out here! Hurry!" Yae was calling to me for something. All I could hear was her giggles and laughs echoing throughout the cabin.
The other villagers started gathering around Yae as I walked out of our cabin. Yae was dancing around, doing her "traditional" dance called "Yae-Way". She always does that dance whenever she feels like it's a good day. She basically twirls around in a circle, spins 180 degrees around, and ends it with a blow kiss. She does the same routine at least twenty times until I have to stop her. I'm not actually what you would call the dancing type. When Yae and I were little, Yae would always dance on top of tables, couches, anything that has some type of levitation off of the ground. I look up at the sun. It's bright, yellow. A new morning awakens.
I get up, make my bed, and when I look up- Yae wasn't in her bed. "Where is she?" I said to myself lightly, but loud enough so that someone could of heard me say it. I walk out of the cabin, and Yae is no where to be found. I ask some of the villagers but they don't know anything about Sae's "disappearance", which is what I started naming it after a few conversations with people. People just kept saying: "Oh, Yae?", "I haven't seen her.", and in infamous, "She's dead." Yae couldn't be dead, right? There is this "dump" where we put all of the items in our cabanas in which we don't use anymore, so I decided to look there since sometimes Yae feels the need to search around to find things to put in our cabana. I find her, crying, and the guardian of the village, who looks out for all of us, Akoro, was kneeling with Yae, wiping all of her tears away. "Sae, Sae Kurosawa, no?" He said with a deep, depressed look on his face. "Y-Yes. Why is Yae crying?" I run to Yae and held her with her head held securely in my arms. "Stop doing this. Stop making haste." He said as he pushed me away from Yae. "W-What do you mean by 'making haste'?" I said, as I was getting prepared to cry.
"The ritual will be starting soon, that's why Yae is flustered. If you continue to cry out and yell, I will take you far away from this village." "No, I will not. She's my sister, for God's sake! You're the one who is making her upset!" I balled out with fury. I didn't want him upsetting Yae anymore. I grabbed Yae's hand and preceded to walk back to our cabin. As we were walking back, I noticed Itsuki and Mutsuki being pushed into this cabin in the back of the village. Akoro and the other villagers have consistently told us not to go back into that cabin, as "back things would happen." I've always been curious about it. Akoro started to grab Yae's hand and start to pull her towards that back cabin. "Please, come. The Ritual is about to begin!" I didn't know what the Ritual was. I have always heard the other villagers talking about it, and I've never seemed to get the gist of what they're perspective of it was. As he was dragging both of us to that rear cabin, I felt as thought it was time to ask him about The Ritual.
"So, what is this "Ritual" anyway?" It took him a while to respond. "It is called The Crimson Sacrifice Ritual. Two twins in the village become Twin Shrine Maidens, the older, stronger twin strangles the younger, weaker twin and the older becomes a Remaining. The body of the younger is thrown into the Hellish Abyss to satisfy it. If the Ritual fails, however, the Hellish Abyss is not happy and it begins the Repentance, which is when the disturbed soul and the Kusabi wreck havoc onto the villagers." I've heard about the Hellish Abyss. My dad was talking about it when we were younger, and Yae asked him what it was. He told us that is was a dark place where people are "no longer living." Now that I know what the ritual is, the pieces of this mysterious puzzle are beginning to come together. "Wait, twins? Why twins?" "It's just the way it has been, Now let's go!" Akoro said while squishing Yae's hand tightly. Akoro led us into the cabin, and it was a lot larger then it looks. All of the villagers were lined up in a straight line up the right and left sides of the cabin, and in the center was a large pit and Itsuki and Mutsuki were in front of the pit. The villagers led us to our spots in the line, with me standing of the left side and Yae standing on the right side, and Akoro stood in the center with Itsuki and Mutsuki. "Come now! Let us begin the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual!"
After Akoro had said that, all of the villagers started singing this chanting song, like they've done this before. It was very, very strange. Then, all of a sudden, the song stopped, and they brought out a rope. "The Ritual, as much as it is wonderful, and beautiful, it seems as we have failed." Akoro said as him and all of the villagers went into a weepy state. Ghosts fill the air. They thrash their wooden staffs on the cold, hard floor in unison. They keep shouting, "The Repentance was going to begin." I did not know nor did I understand why the Ritual "fails", or why there would be a "Repentance."
••••••••••••••
I awoke to the drone of the villagers screaming. I quickly get up, and begin to go outside to see what was causing all of this commotion. Th sky, as I have known it was blue, it was black, and cold. The sun, was vanished. I see Akoro weeping in the distance so I go over to him and comfort him. He told me that the Hellish Abyss was not pleased with Mutuski's soul and how it was sacrificed, and that's why there would be a Repentance. "But, where's Itsuki, then?" I asked in a firm voice. I loved Itsuki. Love him like a brother that I never had. Yae and I would talk to him every day. I haven't seen him in a while, actually. I wonder where he is. "My beautiful Sae, so loving, so….peaceful." Akoro said as he was leaning on his side. "You and Yae will have to complete the Ritual next. Become one. Become…..one." Akoro had fell to the floor, dead. I started crying, for hope. "Yae? Yae?" I scream in discontent.
Being so focused on Akoro, I hadn't realized that I haven't seen Yae in a while. It was too late. We were going to have to preform that Ritual. We were going to have to "become one", whatever that means. I go in search to find Yae and Itsuki, and to tell you the truth, I'm not really that much liking Yae running away from me. I pass the bridge that separates the village from the lake. I have found Itsuki, looking precisely at the lake, and the frogs, the sublime waters, just like I was not too long ago. I run to him, and ask him a very important question that needed to be answered. "Sae, The Repentance is starting, and I just don't know what to do, I-" "I just spoke to Akoro, and he told me that Yae and I have to complete the Ritual next, and then, he..died." I could tell he wasn't happy. Who could blame him?
"It's…..coming." He said strangely. "What's starting?" He wouldn't answer me. I don't think I needed his answer, because I think I already knew what was going to start. The air was beginning to become gloomy. I didn't like it. Itsuki ran into his cabin and shut and locked the door. I could sense that he was…..hiding something. Something he knew that I didn't. What was it exactly? I don't know, but I want to find out. I stormed into our cabin, determined to find the answers I needed before this Repentance was scheduled to begin. I could feel the brisk air coming into the cabin, brushing on my face. Yae sat down with me because I had to let her know what was going on.
"Yae, I need to tell you what Akoro told me so you're informed about what is going to happen." "What's wrong?" Yae, said with a puzzled look on her face. I know that she wanted to know what was going on, but it was so hard to tell her because I saw what they had to put Itsuki and Mutsuki through, and I didn't want that to happen to us. I love my sister, and with all of this "become one" matter, I don't know what was happening. "Basically, you know what Itsuki and Mutsuki had got put through, right? Well, we are going to have to do that next since we are the only twins in the village. So, after this "Repentance" that's supposed to begin tomorrow, we're going to have to preform this Crimson Sacrifice Ritual." She was acting as if she already knew about it, and was fine with it. "Come, Sae, Yae, now!" Itsuki called out. We darted out of our cabin door and were blown away at what we were visioning with our eyes. Ghosts, everywhere. Dark, gloomy sky.
Is this the "Kusabi" that Akoro was telling me about? The ghosts were terrorizing everyone. No one could even see them. But I could. So could Yae. I wonder why. It seemed like Itsuki culled see them too. I saw Mutsuki. He was leading, I guess you can decipher. He was leading the Kusabi. The Repentance was beginning.
••••••••••••••
I'm shaking. Whatever these ghosts are doing, it doesn't look pleasant. It looks terrifying. I don't want to become a ghost. I start to have these flashbacks of childhood memories from my past. I start laughing. Then Itsuki shakes me and awakes me from my trance. "Sae, we have to escape. I don't want to put you through this!" He thrusted my arm and pulls me. I proceed to grab his hand and yank it off me. "What are you talking about, Itsuki, come-" He interrupted me. "Sae, there's no time! You and Yae have to escape!" Why? Why did we have to escape? One of our villagers, Yuna, who wasn't even paying attention to the ghosts and such, came over with other villagers. They preceded to put Itsuki in handcuffs and tug him to the Tacibana cabin. I had no idea why they were doing this. I tried to follow him, but Yuna wouldn't let me. "Sae, stay back. He is inferring with the ritual process and therefore must be put in solitary confinement." Yuna said very sternly as she looked straight in my eyes. I knew she wasn't joking around. Why was this Ritual so important? I still needed answers to the many questions that I have.
Today, I went to see Itsuki. Yuna and Yae had told me earlier not to go there. I don't understand why Yae would tell me not to go. She was very close to him also. I never understood. I went to the Tacibana cabin and the front door was locked with a rusty-looking padlock. I turned around the corner and went into the back and I saw bars, like it was a jail cell. I was worried. I progress to the little rectangular window with four aluminum bars. I search inside the cracks between the bars and Itsuki is no where to be found. Every time someone walks or passes by the Tacibana cabin, I hide under the little wooden love seat that someone threw out. I have not been caught yet. Every time the people who are passing by leave, I go back and check in between the cracks to check if Itsuki had come.
He hadn't. Unless he was in an unseeable place in the room, I could not see him, and I did not want to begin to call his name, because if I did that, people would hear me and come and they would discover me. At last, when day drew to a close, and night had creeped it's way onto the village, it was my chance to call Itsuki to my attention. "Itsuki!" I said in a very hush tone. He did hear me and he did come to the window. "Sae? Is that you? What are you doing here? You must leave before they come and they find you-" I needed to interrupt him to stop him from worrying. "Listen to me, Itsuki. I need answers, and I need them now. If I don't get them now, I'm forever going to be in this deep sea of questions with no answers. Why do we have to perform this Ritual? When do we have to?
Why are you in here? Why did your Ritual fail? Help me, Itsuki!" I need answers, and I was hoping that we would give me the answers that I need. "Twins must preform the Ritual because the villagers believe that twins were split in half at birth and thus when the ritual is performed they become 'one'. You and Yae will perform the Ritual in exactly one year from today, and You and Yae are next in line, unfortunately, because you two are the only twins in the village. I'm in here because I was interfering with the Ritual process. Our Ritual had failed because Mutsuki and I had loved each other too much." "Thank you, Itsuki."
I touched his hand with mine, and I felt a warm glow in my heart. A blue light started to glimmer from Itsuki's hand. He took his hand away and put his head inside a rope. "Goodbye Sae….I…love….you." He was gone. For eternity. •1 Year Later• It has been one year since Itsuki and Mutsuki's Ritual and the day that both of them had tragically died. It is also the day of Yae and I's Ritual, and I am not ready. It is as soon as the night falls. Every one is getting ready, including me and Yae. Yae and I have agreed not to talk to each other until it is time for the Ritual. I am beginning to say my goodbyes. I am afraid. Very afraid. It's not fair.
Why do we have to do this now? All of these thoughts are racing through my mind. What if it fails? What if it is successful? Too many thoughts, so little time. Yae and I hugged, for what would be for the very last time. "Come now, Sae and Yae!" Yuna said as she walks us to the twin houses for a purification ritual and become members of the Futago house and we are dressed as the villagers dressed the dead. It is a very painful experience. I don't want Yae to have to do it, but Yae was no where to be found. "What do we do?" Screamed Yuna to the other villagers, "We're going to have to do the Ritual alone." "But we"ll upset the Hellish Abyss!" A vIllager called out. I was just sitting there in the center of the room in the Futago house, where the other villagers were surrounding me in a circle.
"Yae….don't leave me alone…..She will…..come back…" I thought. She will come back for me, right? The villagers, clanging their staffs and singing the chanting song, led me into the back cabin. I was wearing a white kimono with a red belt. I was afraid. Very afraid. Was I about to face the Ritual alone? Where is Yae? I was hung. They had hung me. What did I do deserve this punishment? One by one, they said their goodbyes. Then they had hung me.
They threw me into the Hellish Abyss, not knowing that a second Repentance was going to begin.
••••••••••••••
The ground was rumbling, villagers screaming, running away from the truth. I float above the Abyss, leading the Kusabi to wreak havoc onto the villagers. It felt good. Getting revenge for what they had put me through. A big, white cloud of trapped souls beam through the back cabin, and create an explosion. Every one died that day. It's what they deserve. I look at all of the rubble, all of the dead bodies. I am a ghost. My goal was to find Yae. Where is she…she will come back. Why did she leave me alone to die? Out of the corner of my eye, I see two twins, one chasing a Crimson Butterfly, and the other chasing after her sister. Why did they come here?
Only fate knows what will happen to them….