1988: Crimson Butterfly
One day a girl by the name of Mayu ran carelessly through a valley. For some reason her leg was hurting and she did not know why, but she tried to hide the fact. "Mayu! Slow down!" A similar voice called as she heard leaves crumple from the forest behind her. She turned to see her sister Mio running after her. She was apparently her twin. "Mayu, you need to stop running off on your own. I told you that!"
"I'm sorry Sis." Suddenly a force stabbed through her leg and she dropped to the ground. Mio screamed and knelt down with her sister.
"Mayu are you alright?"
Mio extended her hand to assist her sister, but Mayu pushed her hand away. "I'm fine Sister." She stood back up and hopped in place to show her sister that she was alright.
"Well… okay then." Mio looked around apparently to see where they were. "It should be around here somewhere." Mio and Mayu were looking for their childhood play spot that they haven't visited for years. Mayu had no idea where they should go so she just looked at the scenery. A swarm of butterflies flew past her and her sister. But there was one butterfly that really caught her eye. A beautiful one that practically had neo colors that seemed like it glowed in the midday sun. Despite her age she went ahead and tried to catch it, leaving her sister behind. Mio heard her sister run into the woods and quickly tried to catch up to her.
It seemed like forever Mio chased after her sister and Mayu never even gave her a chance to catch up. Mayu made it through the other side of the forest just to be stopped by an extended hand that grabbed her wrist, taking her a while to realize that it was her sister. The two sisters paused for a moment and froze in their position until they took the chance to look at there surroundings. They were in a village that seemed to have been abandoned years ago. There was a huge mansion in the middle surrounded by cottages that made it seem like they were a barrier for the mansion. Mayu took Mio's hand and they walked towards some of the outside houses. They looked in each one, but sadly no one was there and it seemed like they were there forever trying to find out where they were. Finally they made the decision to ask someone in the mansion for directions back to town. Mayu paused and yanked her sister's hand to stop her from going any further. "Mio, what if no one lives here either? We'd just be wasting our time if it's empty."
"This is the last house Mayu. If there's no one here we'll…" Mio was unsure about her decision on entering the house. The house gave out a strange aura that made even the plants not want to live there. She looked at the mansion and notice that there was a light that was flickering on and off on the top floor. "Mayu look! There is someone up there!"
'I'm not sure about this.' She thought as Mio pulled her to come in with her. The front door creaked as Mio pushed it open and the faint smell of dust and sake blew on their faces as the air tried to escape the demonic house. Mayu held onto her sister's shoulders, trying to erase the fear that was coursing through her head. The door closed silently behind them and it didn't make a sound like it originally did when it was opened. The mansion was unusually dark like they thought it was from outside and the place seemed newer than it appeared. Maybe someone has been living here.
"Sis, are you sure you saw a light flicker in this house? It doesn't even look like anyone lives here." Mayu pushed herself closer to her sister as they walked deeper into the house.
"I-I'm sure I saw a light. We just have to look around." Mayu again took Mio's hand and they proceeded down the hall. After about 10 minutes they wandered into a room that gave out a faint green light that made it seem like it was a room for sorcery. They noticed there was an object sitting on a stool by a lamp. A doll with a white party dress was sitting by the object and was facing them. It made it seem like it was staring at them. Mayu and Mio walked over to the object and the doll. The lamp gave off a light bright enough to distinguish the object to be an antique camera. Mio picked it up an examined it. To both of them, it seemed like they've seen the camera somewhere before, though they thought it was very unlikely. So they wouldn't seem rude, they left the camera there and continued there exploration.
Mio felt empty for some reason and she thought it was because she felt cold, but it took her a while to realize that her sister was gone. "Mayu? Where are you?" For a minute she thought that she just ran off, but she knew it wasn't the case since she knew that she was scared. Mio ran through the halls quickly, but quietly so she wouldn't make an utter disturbance. After an hour of searching she decided to take a break and she sat in a chair in one of the living rooms. She rested her elbow on the table beside her and searched for breath. She never realized how big the mansion was. It was a whole lot bigger than it looked. She called for her sister one more time and stopped. "Where is she? Now I'm having regrets about coming here."
She heard footsteps slowly coming her way and thought it was her sister. She turned around to face the dark hallway the footsteps were coming from, but no one entered the room. "Mayu?" The footsteps stopped as Mio stood up from her seat. She held her hand to her chest as she tried to see through the thick darkness, but sadly it was not her sister and she wasn't sure if she'd see her sister for as long as they'll be in this house.
Suddenly she felt a slight breeze blowing on her shoulder that smelled of blood and a type of drug that she could not identify. She froze, afraid of what she might see behind her. She turned slowly to see a faint figure of a person that had no skin, just muscle. Mio screamed and started to run out of the room as the ghost started after her. She managed to return to the room where she and her sister found the camera. She tripped and slammed into the wall next to the stool where the doll and camera sat. The air was knocked out of her and her vision turned blurry. She grabbed the camera to try and defend herself since she read in a magazine that they disappear when they're in light. She couldn't find the flash anywhere. The camera was so old that she didn't know which button is which. The ghost was right in front of her and she tried to block it by putting the camera in front of her and started pressing buttons, but the ghost snatched it out of her hands and grabbed her arm. Her arm started to burn as she let go of the camera. It fell forcefully to the floor and when it did it made a blinding light that frightened the ghost. It let go of her wrist and ran off leaving the frightened girl to suffer from the burn on her wrist. She looked at it and noticed how big the burn was. An 'R' shaped burn with a few lines was burnt into her skin that would surly leave a scar. Mio tried to ignore the pain and picked up the old camera that was lying helplessly on the floor. She knew now where the flash was and started to carry the camera with her…
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Mio continued to walk around the mansion for some old documents or a light to help her understand the hellish prison she was in. She found a room with a whole library of books and saw something glowing on the desk. She walked closer to it and noticed it was a band with a jewel attached to it. It wasn't glowing, but she really liked it so she put it on her leg. There was a huge document folder beside where the band was and she opened it to read it's contents. The first page was wrinkled from water being splashed on it and she couldn't make out most of the words. She managed to make out one word, "Ritual…" 'That doesn't help any.' She thought as she closed the book and started out of the study. Mio felt cold again, but not like before. This time it was a sort of stabbing, bitter coldness that surrounded a curtain area of the house. It manly came from a room on the second floor of the mansion. She paused thinking it might not be the best thing to do. But despite her fear, she opened it anyway, but to her amazement the room looked completely normal and the inside of the room felt no different than the other parts of the house. Then why was it so cold outside? Suddenly she heard crying coming from behind her. She turned to see a female ghost wearing a red kimono. Her hair was a long, beautiful brown and her face was covered by her sleeves. It was a soft weep that any man would fall in love with and if she spoke, she was sure it would be beautiful too. Mio stepped closer to the lady and tried to speak to her, to ask if she was alright, but she couldn't release the words the way she wanted them to. "Are-are you okay?"
The girl gasped and looked back at her speaker. Mio clinched her chest and tried to hold herself back just in case she might be evil. "Wh-who are you?" She stuttered between each word as she slowly revealed her face. Her eyes were covered by a blood-stained, white cloth and her left cheek had a scar on it. I jumped as I saw the gruesome scene. 'What happened to her?' Blood ran down her face where her eyes were supposed to be. Mio shivered as she stepped back a little. "Are-are you-,"
"Why do you hesitate?"
"Um…?"
"Why are you so shaken?" She stood up and wiped some of the blood off of her face. "This is just a mark, a curse…" She covered one of her eyes with her palm.
Mio tried to calm down as she walked towards the blind maiden. She extended her hand and felt her hand that was placed against her eye. "Beautiful," It didn't seem like a curse to her, nor did it feel like a sin. Sin… why did that word feel so familiar to her?
The maiden used her free hand to grasp Mio's. "Thank you, why are you here?"
"I lost my sister in here and I'm trying to find her." Her sister, for some reason, was only a distant memory to her now, though she was on top of her priority list.
"I see,"
'That's ironic…'
"So you are looking for your sister." Mio nodded, her hand still in the blind maiden's. "Foolish girl,"
"Huh?"
"You need to leave now. A curse will be put upon you if you don't hurry."
"W-what do you mean? What happened to this place?"
"This place was cursed long ago, from a failed ritual."
'A ritual? Like in that document!'
"You two might be next if you don't leave immediately!" The blind maiden disappeared and left an item in her hand. Mio looked closely at it (do to the lack of light in the room) and noticed it was a key with a Chinese character, which stood for 'twin', engraved in it. She took it and attached it to the band around her thigh.
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Mio finally was able to locate the stairs, but sadly there was a step missing and if you didn't make it to the other side, evil spirits that dwelled down under the staircase would kill you in an instant. Mio looked down at all of the ghost thinking how unlucky they all were, how miserable they must be down there.
Mio made the decision to try and jump over to the other side of the staircase. Her decision wasn't one of the smartest, but it was the most effective and she was willing to give it a shot. Mio examined the stairs just to make sure she wouldn't trip and fall in the pits of hell of the house. She stepped back a few steps and ran as fast as she could. She leaped and managed to get half of her body over to the other side, but part of her was hanging down on it's way to hell. Ghost started grabbing for her as Mio tried her hardest to climb back up. One ghost managed to grab her leg as she shook her leg in a desperate attempt to get the thing off of her leg. Mio suddenly remembered the camera and started taking pictures of it. One of them couldn't stand the light and let go, scrapping her leg in the process. The other disappeared into the camera's film. Mio gathered the rest of her strength and climbed up the rest of the stairs. She examined the huge, demonic cut in her leg as blood kept oozing out. Mio was in excruciating pain and couldn't contain herself and let out a big 'yelp' as she started limping to another room.
She managed to find a bathroom and thankfully there was a first aid kit in the cabinet and she managed to clean most of the blood on her leg. She carefully raped a bandage around her cut and let it sit for a second. She stood up and walked towards the sink. There was a mirror in front of it and Mio took the chance to look at herself. Though she wasn't as pale as the ghosts in the house, she was very pale and looked like she was about to collapse in a few seconds. Suddenly the bathroom and all of it's surroundings grew dark as multiple footsteps were heard around the room. Mio walked backwards until she reached the wall behind her and she froze. The stomping kept getting louder and louder until they completely stopped. Mio stayed frozen. Then the lights flickered back on and at least six ghosts were standing right in front of her! Mio screamed as one of the ghost pushed her back into the wall, knocking out her hair. The cut from her leg opened again and started to form a pool of blood around her. Two ghosts grabbed her by the arm (her tattooed arm) and her arm immediately started to burn. The seeping pain was too much for her to bear and she again started to scream. One of the ghosts that were holding on to her arm let her go and started out the door as if she was of no use to her anymore. The man with cuts all over his body let her go to and walked out as the rest followed. Mio dropped to the ground as she tried to withstand the pain she was cursed to go through. A faint 'Help us…' was whispered as the ghost completely disappeared.
Mio's eyes were paler as she was beginning to pass out. With the last of her strength she walked to a room that had a bed and she quietly closed the door. She wobbled as she walked and she fell onto the bed as soon as she reached it. Before she completely gave in she took a look at her arm and the letters 'E' and 'P' were now engraved on her arm. 'What… what word are they trying to spell out for me? 'R.E.P'? What does it stand for? She fainted…
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Dream…
It's been a while since Mio has ever had a dream and she wasn't very fond of this dream much either. It's raining? There was no sound in her dream, but she could feel how heavy the rain was. She wasn't in the house, but she was in the village where she and her sister arrived. It was a bit blurry, but she could see a faint image of her sister a few blocks away from her. Mio had no face though she mouthed out the words. 'Mayu! It's me Mayu!' She made it to her sister and placed her hand on her shoulder. She spun her around to see the face of her sister, but she was covered in blood and had a both evil and sorry expression on her face. 'Why didn't you come save me?' She said. 'You didn't come to my rescue like you said you would.' Tears ran down her face as her tattooed arm began to burn again. No matter how hard she tried, she could not return to the present day, the real world. The visions were too powerful and it almost seemed like it was reality. A force went through her which caused her to wake up. The pain from her arm was disappearing, but it was still painful.
Somehow Mio was tucked into the bed like a baby in a crib, and she never questioned why. Maybe it was one of the good spirits? Mio sat in the bed for a few more minutes to finish regenerating and rest before she went back out to the pitiful excuse of a peaceful, abandoned house. Her dream was as clear to her as her real life. It kept replaying in her head like a broken record player. Will her vision really happen to her sister? Where is her sister now? Her thoughts somewhat motivated her and she got out of bed just to feel piercing pain in her leg, just remembering she was hurt there. She looked at the mirror in the room to see herself again. She noticed the marks on her arm and wondered if they would ever disappear which was very unlikely. Another letter was burnt into her skin. It was the letter 'E' again and it was still red from being engraved into her skin. Before she left the room she looked around for the camera. It was placed on a table next to a window that was partly opened. She grabbed the camera and swung it across her shoulders. She then looked outside the window. She couldn't say it was bright outside though it wasn't dark either. The view was fascinating to her though it wasn't the best place she wanted to be in. She looked down. 'Will I ever escape from this place? To my home near Lake Victoria?' With her bitter thoughts she walked out of the room leaving most of her regrets behind…
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The crimson light pierced through the darkness as Mio walked around the newly brightened mansion. She continued to search the upstairs to find a way out or any clues on how to. A hard-covered book laid face down in the middle of the floor. She picked it up and it read, "'Premonition of Love'?" What was love exactly? It was a weakness in her eyes, a distraction. She placed it back on the floor and continued her search. She walked into a room full of talismans and carelessly looked around the room. She noticed there was a narrow box with a vertical talisman attached to it in the back of the room. She walked towards it and felt the talisman with her cursed arm (tattooed arm) and it started to glow. Her arm started to glow a visible blue color while the talisman was red. Her arm started to catch on fire as it quickly incased her body. Though it was fire, she felt no pain and it barely seemed that demonic. Mio screamed in fear as she tried to put the flames out.
'How unlucky for you!' A voice called as the door slammed shut and the lights began to flicker. 'You foolish little child, you thought you could touch a talisman that is cursed!? Foolish…' Mio fell to the floor as her camera slid to a corner. She felt a force on her arm as she was forcefully brought to a near by wall. The flames began to fade from her body as she was being hung in the air. She was then dragged to a board where the spirit tied her hands and feet together. The ghost revealed itself to be a man in his thirties and his right eye was covered with a bandage.
Mio couldn't see what was around her before and all of the sounds were just a roaring in her ear. It seemed unreal. She looked up at the man and gasp. 'What's going on!?' She tried to release herself from the ropes of the board, but they were tied too tight and she just couldn't get loose. After a few minutes of struggling she finally gave up and she glared evilly at the man. 'Damn him!'
'My, my, I caught such a beautiful butterfly!'
'Butterfly? Don't sweet talk me you old bastard!'
'But I'm afraid you got trapped in my web. But don't worry, I won't kill you,' He looked back at the closed door. 'But you have to get away from here as fast as you can. It's dangerous here and you might end up getting cursed.'
'Wow, thanks for the warning, but this arm is cursed enough and I never figured out that I might get killed in this place.' She thought sarcastically. "I'm not leaving here without my sister! That's the only reason why I'm still here! If it wasn't for that particular reason I would be out of this hell of a house!" She snapped as she raised her head.
The ghost walked towards her and grabbed her chin. 'Listen, it's too late for your sister. You might as well leave here without her and save your own life instead of the other way around.'
Mio shook her head, "Never! I promised her…I promised." Her eyes started to water. 'Because it was all my fault. What happened when we were kids… it was all my fault. And I promised I'd always protect her and I can't even do that right. Maybe their right, I am a fool…'
'I'm sorry. I guess I can't change your mind. I'll let you go, but the talisman is still coursing throughout your body and it's not quite done yet. You have to finish the talismans curse before you can leave this room or your bound to hell forever.' The ghost started out the door. 'Goodbye.' He disappeared into the door.
Mio hung in agony for a few minutes until her body started to be incased with fire again, but this time it was blue and it actually hurt her. Mio screamed in pain as the fire burned her whole body, her cursed arm especially. The ropes burned along with her body as they completely gave away and she dropped to the ground still on fire. A few painful minutes later, the fire finally stopped and the fifth letter appeared on her arm. It was the letter 'N' and it was probably the most painful letter she would ever get.
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Mio stumbled through the darkened halls passing all sorts of freaky ghosts that she would rather not talk to. She held on to her bruised arm as the camera continuously fell off of her arm. 'Why me?' She thought. Mio still never found out what the key was for that was attached to her band and she really didn't want to think about it quite yet since her pain distracted her from the big picture. Suddenly the lights flickered until they completely burned out and it went pitch black. Mio seemed to not have noticed and she continued to walk through the halls still in a daze.
A huge ghost crept through the halls and it quickly grabbed the girl's throat and slammed her into the wall. She grabbed the hand that was choking her and struggled to get loose. 'Oh no!' The ghost seemed to have no soul and was doing it willingly like he didn't want her there. 'How can that be!?' The ghost held her tighter and Mio's vision started to turn black as she gave up. The camera dropped to the floor. 'This is it for me.' She dropped one of her hands to her side as she completely gave. 'I'm sorry Mayu, but I couldn't… I couldn't keep my promise to you. I just-I just couldn't keep my promise to you…' Suddenly Mio's band started to shine a faint white and the jewel shined a dark blue. The light was too intense for the ghost so he dropped Mio and ran away. Mio was barely alive when she fell to the floor, but the band around her thigh was still glowing and it started surrounding her whole body. Some of the bruises and cuts on her body disappeared, but it didn't take care of most of them to say that she had a complete recovery.
A few minutes later Mio woke up with no disturbances and she felt completely recharged. She seemed to not remember what happened a few minutes ago and she never questioned it. She picked up her camera and left, her band still shining…
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Mio was very hungry and hadn't eaten anything since she came to the mansion. She managed to find a room filled with food, but she wasn't sure if the food was edible, poisonous, or just any good. She decided to give it a shot and tried a plain rice ball. She started to eat it as she sat down in a chair. Surprisingly there was no window in the room and had no door except for the entrance from the other room.
She heard footsteps coming from the hall and she stood up. 'Is it another ghost?' She stepped back as she heard the footsteps getting closer. The steps turned louder, harsher. The figure started to get clearer as it walked out of the darkness and it seemed like she was looking at a mirror image. "Mayu!" Her sister looked the same except her outfit was now white with black trim, her eyes were a pale yellow, and one strand of her hair was blue. 'Wait a minute! What's wrong with her? She looks different.'
Mayu was staring at her with an evil smile. "Hello Sister, it's so nice to see you again."
'What!?' "I-I've been looking for you Sister. For all this time."
"So have I." Mayu took a step forward as Mio took one back. "What's wrong Sister, don't you recognize me?"
Mio clinched her chest as Mayu walked up to her with open arms. "Let's stay here forever."
'No…' The sentence burned into her brain and kept repeating itself over and over again like a broken record player. 'What? 'Let's stay here forever'? No, this is not my sister!' "No, I just want to get my sister and get the hell out of here."
"But I am your sister!"
"No you're not. You might have the same face as her, but you are not my sister. Now give me back my sister so we can go."
'Mayu' started to laugh as she started towards Mio. "Don't you get it 'Little Sister'? You can't leave!" A force went through Mio's arm as she knelt down on the floor. She held on to her arm tightly, trying to make the pain go away. "Don't you get it? You can't leave here until you've preformed your duties." Mayu knelt down in front of her sister and snatched her arm. "You see these marks on your arms? There a curse mark that will never go away until you "repent" for your sins!"
'What sins?' Finally the sixth and final letter appeared on her arm, it was the letter 'T'. 'R.E.P.E.N.T…' "Repent! Oh God!"
"That's right 'Little Sister'! You can not leave here until you've repented for all of your sins."
"I see," 'I've sinned so many times… I finally got a curse from it. What a fool I am to think that I would escape with my sister out of here alive. What a selfish desire…' "I see now. But… if I could just get my sister back, the my curse will be broken. Now give her back." Tears ran down her face as Mayu continued to hold on to her arm.
"Can't you see it? I am your sister! She's right here, physically anyway."
Mio had visions of the girl who possessed Mayu. "Your name… it's Sae?"
"How did you-?"
"I don't know, but… your past, it's full of loneliness."
"My sister… and I, we were close."
"But I never saw your sister."
"Well, I didn't know her for that long, not that much. But yes, we were close. Until we had to do our duty and perform a ritual."
"What ritual?"
'Mayu' paused for a moment and it seemed like she didn't know what to say. "No more questions." She stood up and walked away as Mio tried her best to follow.
Mio couldn't take it anymore. Seeing ghosts, spirits; it was too much for her! "Give me back my sister." Sae said nothing, "I said give me back my sister, Now!" After a few minutes of silence Mio and Sae made it to a staircase. It led all the way down (practically underground) the mansion. There was a door that opened from the inside, but somehow Sae was able to open it from the outside and we walked in. Sae walked deeper into the room, but Mio paused to see her hellish surroundings. There were bones and talismans everywhere. One of the skulls looked like it was dressed for a wedding, but the clothes were too dirty for her to tell. There were bottles and enchantments on cabinets and it looked like there were two transmutation circles on the ceiling as well as the floor. 'What kinda place is this?' She thought as she started walking again to her twin. Mio ran up to Sae and watched as she opened two twin doors to another room. This time the room literally looked like 'the fiery pits of hell'. Half of the room was solid, but the other half had no floor and flames were incased in it.
"We are here." Sae finally said as she walked to the other end of the room. Suddenly six priests with staffs surround her sister's body and started saying a chant.
"What are you doing to my sister!?" She yelled as she took one step forward. As soon as the chant was finished one priest stood behind her sister as the others stood back. The one priest held up his staff and said another chant, much quicker and repulsive. He pushed towards Mayu's and it looked like two souls were disconnecting. One was her sister and the other one was obviously Sae. "Sister!"
Mayu quickly ran up to Mio and they embraced as they cried tears of joy. "I'm so glad to see you again, Sister!"
'The ritual is almost complete.' Sae muttered as Mayu looked down, her smile faded.
"What's wrong Mayu?"
"Sister…" Mayu took her sister's hands and put them to her throat, "I need you to kill me."
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'What!?' "Mayu how can you say that!? I would never do that!"
"Sister, I'm cursed and I need you to do this for me… and for yourself."
"But I'm the cursed one-!"
"I thought you said you would always protect me…"
"I can't protect you if you're dead!"
"Sister, I can't explain it, but this curse is serious. It doesn't just affect me; it affects anyone around and close to me! Please…" She started to cry as she held on to her sister's hand.
"But Mayu…?"
"For me… for us?"
Mio's eyes turned dull as she tightens her grip on her sister's neck. She could feel the nerves in her neck. Mayu's face turned purple and blue as she lost oxygen. Mayu didn't seem to be affected by it at all, she was the bravest one. Tears ran down Mio's cheeks as she noticed how strong her sister was. Nothing like her… Mio loosened her grip until she gave away completely. Mayu sat on the floor, gasping for oxygen. "I'm sorry… I just couldn't do it."
"Sister…" Mayu looked up at her sister as she started getting color back into her face. Mio walked over to the 'Abyss' and closed her eyes. "What are you doing?! Sister!?"
"I'd rather turn blind than watch my sister die." She turned to face Mayu, "Besides… I'm cursed enough already, it doesn't matter if I'm blind or not. I practically saw you die once, I don't need to see it again, nor do I want to see it in the future. It's better this way…" She knelt down and felt the gravel with her index. 'This is the price I have to pay.' Mio couldn't help herself and looked at the abyss. Seeing all of those tortured souls down there made her sick and she felt more depressed than she already was. Mio fell to the ground covering her eyes. The pain was intense and she couldn't let go of her eyes. 'I'm sorry…'
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Somehow the twin sisters made it out of the mansion alive and they stared at the ocean where the village once was. The Ocean of Thera looked and felt especially beautiful since it covered a place so wicked. Mio felt the bandage on her eyes, imagining what the ocean must look like. Mayu looked at her sister with a dissatisfied look as she also felt the bandage on her sister's eyes. "My sins have not yet have been purified, but soon-soon, I will "repent" for my sins. Will you help me?" Mio felt her cursed arm as Mayu grabbed her hand. She smiled and they started out the woods.
"Let's stay together forever…"
Finally I finished it! Hi, I'm Ignés de Radu and I'm here do some touching last words. Thank you for ready my Fatal Frame story. Though I don't own the game yet, I still know the background of the story. I hope you enjoyed it. Later!
-The writer