A/N: Hello, I'm back and better than ever! :D So this is sort of an ice breaker story, my first one in ages, in order to get some practice in with writing. This story is horror, romance, and comedy. I've only seen the Umineko anime (and I'm still working through the first arc in the game) so I don't know if what I write will necessarily fit with the canon universe, so think of it as AU. Also, the Latin may be wrong. I used Google Translate, and we all know how reliable that is...

Oh, some important notes! Italics = things that happen in the future. Bold = dates, this signals a new diary entry. Underlined = something written in different handwriting.

In the year 1995, on a certain dock in Japan, a fisherman had seen a bottle floating in the water. Inside was the following story, it seemed to be a diary of some sort, and the handwriting was difficult to make out. It seemed like someone had recorded an event that had occurred, partially before the event in question and partially after. Interestingly, the handwriting and writing style both change for certain words and phrases, the language even changes at some points. Whether this actually happened or not, no one has been able to confirm… Could it be a prank? Perhaps. But there's no way anyone could be sure, it seemed far too strange to be fabricated… As they say, "truth is stranger than fiction".

Day 1, October 6, 1986

"A beautiful island retreat is JUST what we needed! Oh, don't you think it's lovely?" Meiko's blonde hair was flowing in the slight breeze, and a childish smile played at the corners of her lips. Her eyes were closed and she spun around to face me, grabbing my hands. "Oh, it's so marvelous here, Mel!"

"Er… Yeah, yes, it's lovely, but… Well, you do realize that we're only here because our ship crashed, right?" I scratched the back of my head awkwardly. I know she's optimistic, but that's a little…

"Don't sweat the small stuff, silly!" She giggled quietly. "Hm… You're right, though…" She fell silent, eyes downcast. I felt kinda bad, seeing her like that and knowing that it was my fault. I sighed in resignation.

"Well… If we find shelter and food, then we can make a vacation out of it!" I smiled and patted her head gently, she looked up with a teasing smile on her face, purple eyes shimmering in the light. Agh, when did she get so beautiful? No no, this is no time for that sort of thinking. First off, shelter! Clouds are gathering in the sky, and it could be a signal for really REALLY bad weather on the way.

I glanced and her and she grinned at me, hand in hand we headed further inland.

I think it was around 3 hours later, but it's impossible to be sure, when something of note happened…

Meiko had wandered off into the foliage, and I stuck to searching in a small sand clearing. After searching for what seemed like ages, I came across a path obscured by trees and other plants, it looked really old and fairly unused. "Mei, look at this. I think I found something!"

I heard a slight squeal and the sound like something had fallen, shortly after she emerged from the dense foliage with sticks and leaves in her hair. Part of her dress had been torn in the fall, and she giggled slightly. "Um… I tripped. Oops! So what did you find?"

I stifled a laugh at her adorable clumsiness after ascertaining that she was alright, and looked from her to the slightly obscured path, "Check it out, it's a path! We should follow it."

Her eyes widened, "Oh my, where in the world do you think it leads? Ooh we certainly must find out, come on slowpoke!" She gripped my hand and pulled me along, soon we broke into a run together. She was smiling and I was laughing, her good mood was contagious and the adrenaline from running was exhilarating!

We had spent quite a while on the island, at least that's how it seemed, and I was beginning to get a feeling of excitement. As long as we could find enough food to last a while and shelter, we could live here forever! No one telling us what to do, and we could relax and lounge around or just explore! And perhaps we could populate this island, too… Agh no! I'm not having those thoughts about her, no! This is serious! Stop it brain, that's not the right head! Ah… *ahem* anyways, it's quite an interesting feeling that's brought out in me by this island. A slight sense of foreboding accompanied by the promise of adventure, excitement, and peace.

…Was I really looking forward to living away from civilization? It would be difficult, inconvenient, and hard work! It was hard for me to think this through logically, something in the air here made me feel drunk with anticipation and longing for all sorts of adventures, mysteries to solve, and places to explore.

Yet I also felt a strange sense of insecurity, like something very bad would happen in the near future… There was… Silence. Uneasy silence. Not even a sound of seagulls crying out in the skies, which deepened that feeling. I brushed it off as a result of the bad weather, they must be really in tune to that sort of thing. Birds can sense weather patterns, so that must've been why they were quiet.

Meiko saw me spacing out, staring up into the sky, and she laughed. A smile was tugging at the corner of her lips. After silently approaching me, she rested her head on my shoulder and blew into my ear. I jumped slightly and looked around, shocked out of my trance. "Huh? Huh? What is it?" I turned towards her and chuckled, slightly embarrassed that I had zoned out like that.

"Me~el come on! I'm really intrigued by what's at the end of this path! Let's keep going, we shouldn't be wasting time with those ominous storm clouds rolling in so quickly…" Her voice sounded carefree and innocent, yet there was a tinge of concern that only someone close to her would be able to pick up on. I smiled reassuringly and put my arm around her shoulders. We walked like this all the way to the end of the path, making small talk the whole way. Both of us were worried, but we were trying so hard to mask that for the sake of one another.

Si forte aliquis eorum locutus est, vitari poterat tragoedia.

Coming to the end of the path, we saw a… Well, I have trouble believing it myself! There was a HUUUUUGE mansion at the top of the stairs on the path! We both stared in wonder for a few minutes, before Meiko's eyes lit up. She laughed gently, "Mel… I think we found shelter!" She grinned smugly, playfully teasing me.

"Ahaha, oh hush." I smiled and shook my head, "You say that like I could've known or something." Suddenly, rain started falling lightly. We knew that it would become a downpour soon, so with one glance at each other we made it a game, a race. Whoever got to the door first won, this was an unspoken agreement that our eyes had made when they met.

We took off at the same time, dashing towards the door as fast as we could! She was ahead of me at the beginning, and slowly but surely I overtook her and beat her there by a split second. I pulled the door open and ran inside. She made it inside mere milliseconds after I did, and slammed the door shut. We stood there for a moment, catching our breath and resting. After the boat crashed, it's been one thing after another. We finally had a bit of a break, time to calm down before searching the kitchen for food.

Suddenly, a thought hit me like a train. "Mei… Meiko… Er, do you think someone lives here…?" Her head shot up and she looked at me, realizing for the first time that we might be trespassing.

"U-um… I don't know. Maybe…? But I'm sure they won't mind us staying here until the storm clears, right? They'll let us use their phone to call someone with a boat to pick us up!" She hesitantly smiled, trying to reassure us both. There was uncertainty in her voice.

"Yeah… Yeah, you're right. Definitely! For now, let's see if we can find the kitchen! If anyone lives here, there's bound to be a servant there and… Well, if that's the case, then we can find who the master is and where they are, and then ask if we can stay until the storm clears." I smiled at her, a winning, reassuring smile. One that would, hopefully, ease her sudden fear. She smiled back at me, though it seemed weaker than her usual cheery expression.

We weren't able to find any servants, but oddly enough, there were plates of food on the table in the dining room! The food was cold, but untouched. Someone made enough food for 12 people, but something happened and no one was able to eat it… I grimaced slightly, wondering what could have possibly happened here.

But… At least there's definitely food here, so we can hole up here for a bit and be alright.

There was a phone on the wall in the foyer, and we picked it up, attempting to call the place that we'd rented the boat from. Unfortunately, the phone wasn't working… It's probably just due to the storm.

Meiko looked extremely worried, so I pulled her into a gentle hug. I placed my forehead against hers and smiled softly, "Mei… Don't worry. It'll be alright, I promise. We just have to wait until the storm clears, and then the phone lines should be working again and we can get out of here."

"Mm… Yeah, you're right. It's only for a short time, and we'll be fine! Besides, I'm certain that nothing bad happened to these people! Perhaps they saw the storm on the way and decided to leave quickly, without enough time to clean up!" She smiled brightly, though I could tell she was still worried.

Somnus meus dilectus, in pace suis, Beatrice.

We went upstairs shortly after, arm in arm. She was worried, and I had a sense of foreboding and dread that was slowly filling me. This whole situation was just so strange! As we walked up the staircase, her and I both paused upon seeing a strange portrait. It was of a gorgeous, refined woman of fair hair and eyes of blue. She had a fierce look to her eyes, and wore an elegant black, gold, and red dress. There was a smirk on her face, daring someone, anyone, to just try and oppose her.

Meiko held onto my arm tighter, it seems the picture filled her with the same sense of dread that had suddenly begun to flow through me as well. There was a small epitaph at the bottom of the portrait, and it seemed important so I decided to copy it down into here. (It will be at the end of this entry, since I actually have to get up and go out of the room to copy it. Which right now, quite frankly, is a terrifying thought…)

We hurried up the rest of the stairs, not quite running but damn close to it.

Upon reaching the top, there was a hallway with doors all along it on both sides. We decided to check the first one we came to on the right, and it was a bedroom! Oh thank god, maybe we can get some rest! "Alright Meiko, do you like this room?"

She looked at me, surprised. "Eh? Ah, yeah alright. This room is lovely, I'm certainly okay with staying in this room together."

"Huh?" I chuckled nervously, "Oh no, not sharing a room. I mean… Well, just for yourself. There's… There's only one bed." I wasn't sure I could hold myself back, even under such strange circumstances Mei was still the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. It's hard enough to resist her as is, but I know she would never see me as a man. We grew up together, after all!

"If it's room you're worried about, the bed *is* a double…" She smiled shyly and I felt my face heating up, "A-anyways, I'm kind of scared and I don't want to be alone right now in this creepy house…" She pouted slightly, looking down.

Oh, is that all? Okay… If it's just because she's afraid, then we can share a room. "Hm… Okay, don't you worry. I'll keep you safe! I'll sleep on the floor, so you'll be safe from me, too." I grinned at her and gave her a thumbs up, trying to crack a joke at my own expense. She giggled and smiled at me.

"Please don't worry about that, it's cold and we should share our warmth tonight! Don't you think so, too?" He face was flushed a light red. Wait… Wait she couldn't be…

…

"A-ah, yeah. Okay, yeah, I mean it's not like there isn't enough room on the bed that… we'd be sharing…" Cuddling with Meiko? Ah, for a few moments I had honestly believed that this nightmare had become a perfect dream.

She started looking around the room and I heard her let out a small gasp, "Oh? What could this be…?" I walked towards her and saw that she had an envelope in her hand. Upon opening it we found a letter and a key… We looked at each other in confusion, the mood from earlier had been lost and replaced with an ominous one.

The letter read:

"Greetings to you, unexpected guests Mel and Meiko. I do hope that you will enjoy your stay to the fullest! The key which I have given you leads to a certain room on the first floor, but the game would be ruined if I told you which one. There is a riddle in this mansion, a mystery, and I would like ir if you attempted to solve it. Do your best now, the price of failure is death. I wish you the best of luck! ~The Golden Witch, Beatrice"

Meiko and I exchanged worried glances as a heavy silence filled the air around us. The tension could be cut with a knife. Death? And who is this "Beatrice" person? Even now as I lay awake in bed, I ponder over what horrific discoveries we made earlier in the day…

I… I should write it all down, probably… Though the things I've seen haunt me, and I know that in my dreams I'll see this scene over and over.

So… The key went to what seemed to be the servant's quarters, a part of the first floor of the mansion. Upon opening the door, we were immediately hit with a strong stench. It was disgusting, like rotting flesh or something. "…That's pleasant." I noted sarcastically, trying to keep some conversation going.

"Ah… Sure, if that's something that you're into I suppose it's not too bad." She tried to crack a joke and we both laughed halfheartedly. The situation was bizarre and terrifying, we were unsure of what to do or say but talking was more comfortable than the overbearing silence.

I only saw it because I was watching the ground…

The sight caused me to stumble backwards, "Meiko, be careful! No, wait, you should leave, let… Let me handle this!" I turned around and tried to push her out of the room in a panic, I didn't want her to see the blood on the floor or the severed hand that rested in a puddle of the warm, red liquid. I wanted to spare her the fear, the gruesome images that will forever be burned into my brain.

Startled, she grabbed me by the shoulders and her violet eyes stared into mine, "What is it, what happened? Is everything alright?"

"NO! No, it's not alright! We have to get out of here, right now. G-go, try and find a weapon! We'll both go, it's dangerous to go alone so I can't leave you on your own." I started to walk out of the room and tried to take her with me, but she stood in her spot.

"Mel… What's gotten into you? What did you see?" She was about to turn around when I stopped her.

"Please… Please just don't look. You shouldn't have to see that…" I fell to my knees, suddenly feeling weak and shaky. Probably from the shock. She looked at me, concern written all over her face. She knelt down as well and placed a hand on my cheek.

"If you don't want me to look, then I won't. Don't worry." She smiled a bright smile, her gentle eyes soothing me and putting my mind at ease more than her words.

I nodded in reply, standing up and offering my hand to her. "U-um… Wait out here, alright? I want to search the room a bit more… I'll tell you what I find, I promise." She just smiled at me and left the room, standing outside the door where I could still keep an eye on her.

At the time, it was nearly impossible for me to stay composed… I soon found the body that the hand had belonged to, and it was, unsurprisingly, lifeless. I think it was one of the younger servants, his clothes were covered in blood and a sickly stench of death surrounded him. His stomach had been crudely torn open, and his face had been bashed in to the point where it was hard to tell that this person was even human…

There were 5 other bodies in the room, but I'll spare the details… They were all in a similar state. The first body along with four others were all servants, and the sixth body had been burned. It was impossible to tell the gender or age… It was just a charred mess…

The smell of death had filled this room, and I sunk to my knees once more. "H-how could someone do this… How fucked up would they have to be to… To…" I couldn't finish my sentence.

Primo vespere, ut offerrent holocausta per clavem sex electi.

After I regained a bit of my composure, I headed out to where Meiko was. I closed and locked the door, and walked back to the room in silence. She followed me, curious and concerned. Once inside I collapsed on the bed. "M… Mei… There were six people in there, all…" I couldn't get the words to leave my mouth, but she seemed to understand.

She put her hand over her mouth and her eyes widened, shocked. She looked at me, knowing why I had asked her to leave and why I was so shaken.

A few hours later, she had managed to calm me down and we were both chatting happily. Neither of us wanted to remember, we wanted to pretend that there was nothing strange about this. At some point, our words became quieter, calmer, more seductive.

Perhaps we just needed a distraction, perhaps we knew we might not have much longer, perhaps we had merely waited too long as we both had secretly desired one another… But before either of us really knew it, our clothes were scattered on the floor and I had her body beneath me as I sucked and nibbled on every inch of her skin that my mouth could reach.

Her moans and gasps filled the empty room with beautiful music, and that night we enjoyed everything we had to offer one another. Our bodies met and connected in the most magnificent way, and feelings overflowed from deep parts of us that we hadn't known or felt before.

The physical sensations were pleasant, but the emotional connection that I felt when my body combined with hers was indescribably amazing. I felt a rush of joy, love, and a special kind of connection that I had never felt with anyone else. I didn't want to let her go, even hours later when we had both had plenty. I held her close, felt the curve of her body against mine and took in the scent of her. This woman, lovely Meiko, is someone I'll never let go of for as long as I live.

Eheh… Perhaps I shouldn't describe much of this, I still have to go copy down the epitaph now. After that, I'm off to bed… It's been a long day, filled with terror… Yet it ended so well. I wonder what's in store tomorrow. I don't think I want to know…

The epitaph reads:

"Behold the sweetfish river running through my beloved hometown.
You who seek the Golden Land, follow its path downstream in search of the key

As you travel down it, you will see a village.
In that village, look for the shore the two will tell you of.
There sleeps the key to the Golden Land.

The one who obtains the key must then travel to the Golden Land in accordance with these rules
On the first twilight, offer the six chosen by the key as sacrifices.
On the second twilight, those who remain shall tear apart the two who are close.
On the third twilight, those who remain shall praise my noble name.
On the fourth twilight, gouge the head and kill.
On the fifth twilight, gouge the chest and kill.
On the sixth twilight, gouge the stomach and kill.
On the seventh twilight, gouge the knee and kill.
On the eighth twilight, gouge the leg and kill.
On the ninth twilight, the witch shall revive, and none shall be left alive.
On the tenth twilight, the journey shall end, and you shall reach the capital where the gold dwells

The witch will praise the wise, and should bestow four treasures.
One shall be, all the gold from the Golden Land.
One shall be, the resurrection of the souls of all the dead.
One shall be, even the resurrection of the lost love.
One shall be, to put the witch to sleep for all time.

Sleep peacefully, my most beloved witch, Beatrice."

A/N: I wasn't planning on this being multi-chaptered, but I'm already at nearly 4,000 words and I don't want to write much more today. So! Sorry it was a bit rushed, but there's chapter 1! :D What will happen to these two lovebirds? Will they solve the mystery and survive, will they be torn from one another, or will they be killed together by the mysterious island of Rokkenjima? Nfufu~ I suppose you'll just have to keep reading to find out, huh? Please review if you have any constructive criticism or just general commentary!