*Author's Note: This is my first fanfic that I've ever written. I've had the idea of this fanfic for awhile 'cuz I feel like the characters in FFIV are ripe for the fanfic picking (ex. Madoka and Misaki, anyone?). Big thanks to the Beyond the Camera's Lens ZeroWiki and cutscene clips on YouTube for refreshing my memory of the game's plot (my goal here was to re-cap a bit of the in-game story and then add my touches to it). Please enjoy, and leave me a comment to let me know how I can improve my writing skills!*

*Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, just my story.

*Special thanks to Tam, who introduced me to the wonderful world of Fatal Frame.

Prologue (Choushiro)

'Once you come here, you don't ever, really, truly leave'. That was sort of the unspoken rule of the folks who lived on Rougetsu Island, and that's how people liked it. Didn't mind it too much myself really, or maybe I never gave it much thought.

I led a pretty average life on the island, for the most part. Made it through public school, graduated high school, and for two years I gave community college a try. But towards the end of my second year it hit me- maybe I just wasn't cut out to be a salary man like they wanted me to be. They wanted a lot of things back then, my parents. But as much as they hated it, they realized around the same time I did- that no one becomes a real big shot around here unless you actually get off this god-forsaken island. As much as I resented the place, I grew up here and nothing can beat familiarity. It was then that I ditched the school-boy-wanna-be-business-man act and tried out for the police force. If I'm not going to leave here, might as well try and help better people's lives. I did just that- two years later, I joined the force at Amakore Bay Police Station. Nothing really major went on in the early days of my career, but I don't regret it one bit.

That was until the You Haibara case came about.

Never knew the guy, but then again no one around here really did either. The Haibaras were a household name around the island, for sure, but no one knew them personally. Shigeto Haibara was the director of Haibara Hospital. He was a real big-shot, and I guess he thought that we all were beneath him (only good for our money) because he and his family pretty much secluded themselves from the rest of us. Some people had a good inkling that something more sinister than medical research was going on behind those closed doors, but no one could quite put their finger on it. I think it was a mixture of fear and the fact that people just didn't want to suspect that the likes of Shigeto Haibara was up to anything less than moral.

Unfortuantely for Shigeto, his son You was less discreet.

The prodigy son became a doctor, (following in Dad's footsteps) but he was soon under investigation after the force suspected him of performing 'experiments' that resulted in the death of some patients. It became a relentless pursuit for this man thereafter, to try and bring him to justice. I swear the smug bastard probably thought that the whole thing was a game to him, and to some regard it was true- this was one hare that this tortoise just couldn't catch. But damnit, fuck this guy and his sick game of tag- I wasn't gonna give up my pursuit, and I swore to myself that I'd be there the day the stupid bastard slipped up. Well, I got my wish, but not in the way I expected. I remember the day I was assigned to the kidnapping that was attached to the You Haibara case like it was yesterday.

That day… That was the day I met her mother…