TITLE: Willing Soul
SUMMARY: The Girls come and go. One has a limp. They never see my sad, wanton gaze. I see the Camera Obscura in thier hands. I used to wield that camera. But I'd been overtaken by that ritual long ago. My Twin... She and I are separated forever now. Please... Take my picture... Ease my suffering with the blinding flash of harsh light from the Camera...
AUTHORESS'S NOTE: Yes, Well, I've been interested in Fatal Frame for a rather long time; The series is nicely tied together, I have to admit, but I like FF2 because of the whole "Crimson Butterfly" thing. Anyway, This IS in first person... so enjoy!
RATING: T
GENRES: Angst, Hurt/comfort
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Fatal Frame!
I look to the ground far beneath me. There are two Twins there, and I want to scream, go back! Leave this place! You have sealed your fates by falling into it's trap! But alas, I cannot. I know it would only frighten them. I know... I was frightened of this place as well when I first came here, too.
I got lost in the woods and ended up in this place with my twin. It was so long ago, I can only remember her name. Her name, and my own name. Kikia was her name. Mine is Kaaza. We had been running from home, running from the abusive parents we shared, running from the pain that followed us in that life.
We ran into an even worse place, full of the Malice, of where they embraced a tradition that forced twins to strangle thier other, younger halves, that made murderers out of children resigned to thier duty from birth. We had not been chosen from birth; but we had still been forced to complete the ritual.
We'd left our notebook scraps all over this place, but I'm afraid the other ghosts have destroyed them, moved them into the dampest, most disgusting spots of filth so they rotted away, in an effort to not warn the outsiders that would be ensnared in this terrible trap too.
All Gods Village was not a holy place. It was a terrible, evil place, where everyone's hands were blood-soaked and the spirits of the damned and tortured roamed without restriction. Where the Fallen Woman, and so many others were to stay until someone broke the curse this place has, the curse of that damn ritual.
My hair is but ghostly white strands, falling down past my waist, curling and floating about without any breeze. I've only looked in a mirror once these past years. I haven't looked in one since. I was horrified at my appearance, and I floated away from the mirror as quickly as I could. My clothes had been shed before I had been forced to do the ritual; Instead I was in a blood-spattered white Kimono, the stained fabric the most disgusting yet primally and terribly beautiful shade I think my dead eyes have ever seen. But then again, this place is void of many colours. That's why I enjoy looking at the Twins.
They're so full of colour; Yet I know Itsuki and many others mistake them for Yae and Sae; The eldest ran away, leaving the youngest to go insane and kill us all after being rejected by the Abyss. Yes, I am the only ghost who dares think or speak of it; that is because I loathe it. It ruined me. It made me kill my Twin. It's why I am trapped here. It's why They're trapped here.
I look to my hands, and I'm frankly surprised the chipped black paint still remains upon the nails. I'm a much more recent addition to the legions of ghosts here. Recent enough to remember life... Recent enough to hate the Abyss before Sae and the Kusabi notice my free-roaming soul and decide to chain me to some kami-forsaken room. But they haven't gotten me yet.
I saw the younger Twin- the limping one- leave her Elder, and my heart dropped. That is what had happened to I and my Twin. She had wandered off, then gotten possessed by Sae. I'd ended up killing her to ease both our pain... Both our misery. After she had been thrown into the Abyss I hadn't gone insane, although I felt guilt. I wandered the halls until I got to the room the newest Twins found the Camera Obscura in; The key to thier survival in a desolate place like this. I'd left the camera there. Right then, I was at mercy to all the revengeful spirits in the Village, and so I ran like a coward, fighting off enemies only I could see, that only I could see coming to kill me.
I'd hidden in a tree trunk. In fact, they had probably passed my gravesite on the way here. I doubt it was more than mouldy bones now, but then again, I have no idea how long it's been since my spirit became trapped within this cursed village. I remember how I had died; hunger and thirst had taken thier toll on me, as well as the lack of rest, and my frail body had shut down system by system... until I was simply not alive anymore. It was a slow, agonizing death, but when my brain had shut down motor functions and my nerve systems had stopped sending signals, it was interesting to look through the eyes of a dying person.
But I have always been morbidly fascinated with that sort of thing.
I looked to the Twins beneath me, I had been following them throughout thier journey. They were resting. Now was my chance; my chance to finally escape this place. I slowly floated down to the floor, and the eldest scrambled in front of the limping one.
"Freeze! Don't you get near Mayu!" She threatened, Camera Obscura hugged to her chest. She lowered it when she spotted the filament; it was blue. I was a friendly ghost.
"I do not want to harm either of you Twins. I... I have come to warn you of what is to come. I am a Remaining." I spoke as loudly as I dared. "I am not under the influence of Sae, I assure you... But I was forced to kill my twin. That's why this mark-" The glowing red mark was there, I knew. Even on my transparent skin... It was there. "-Is here. But I didn't do it simply because the Spirits here had corrupted my soul."
The one named Mio looked to the ground, then back up at me. "You...You did it to end her suffering?"
I gave a sad nod. "She was tortured inside. We had ran into the forest, away from an abusive home, seeking relief from the pain. But we only found this damned place."
The one who limped- Mayu- gasped in horror. "T-That's terrible!"
I nodded; face grave. "That isn't the worst thing though. We attempted to escape; time and time again. We somehow made it to the Earth Bridge that connects the Twin houses... And we found the Camera Obscura. Sae found us and we ran; I let Kikia go up in front of me, and when I emerged from the top of the ladder... She... She'd vanished. I ran all through the village looking for her, ignoring injury and ghost alike so I could find her. Hours later I found her, standing above a sacrificial stone tablet that was in front of the Abyss. You can guess the rest easily. I killed her, then ran from the spot as the spirits did not seem appeased in the least. I ran to the first house by the Shinto gate entrance to this hellish place, and left it in one of the rooms. I then ran, trying to get away from the spirits... And I died. My spirit is trapped here now, and Kikia has joined the Crimson Butterflies in thier aimless fluttering."
The two looked down to the floor.
"I only ask one thing... I do not want to become Sae's brainless puppet. I want you to use the Camera Obscura on me. I want to be in peace."
Mio looked to the camera. "I think it is very painful..." She bit at her lip.
"Nothing is as painful as being a Remaining." I answered smoothly. "If I had been alive... I would have probably wanted you to be my friend."
"Wait... Before you..." She didn't know what to call it, I knew. Suicide was a good word but I'm already dead... "Well...How old were you?"
I felt my eyes sadden more. "My twin and I were merely fourteen when we died."
After Mayu sobbed in shock and Mio gasped, I stood gracefully in the cool air, head held high and face in a smile. "Do it. Release me from this pain... Save me from Sae."
Click. Whirl. Flash. I felt burning pain all over my limbs, everywhere, it sunk into my nonexistant flesh and my spirit energy was sheared from me, bursting into little blue balls only I and the limping Mayu would be able to see without the Camera Obscura.
Click. Whirl. Flash. Ah, the pain. I felt myself grow fainter, and the smile on my face was warmer than I ever remembered it. 'I'm sorry Kikia... I may join you one day. We might be together. Of this, I am not certain, but being trapped in this place without you is unbearable anymore. I may still have my mind... But I am losing it to sadness.'
With every flash I cried out in pain, the smile upon my face. Mio changed it to a higher film. I welcomed the type ninety film, thanking the girl for using something so precious on me, just to end my suffering.
Click. Whirl. Flash. I felt my limbs dissapear inch by inch. I was fading away, into nothing. I would finally have peace. I could finally let go of my conciousness and leave this cursed village.
Click. Whirl. Flash. I tried to ignore Mayu's whimpering and crying as she watched me die slowly. My soul was stronger than mosts had been; that was why I had not fallen under control of the Malice, Sae or the Kusabi.
My hair's ends were no longer, I had faded all the way up to my shoulders, and the mark on my neck was becoming a dark grey, growing less intense with it's glow and colour as the Camera clicked, whirled, and flashed in the night, silent for all but my cries and Sae's insane laughing sobs.
...Click.
Pain coursed through my body, but I deserved it, for bringing Kikia here, for letting her leave my side, for letting us be separated, for killing my sister with my bare two hands on that stone altar in front of the Abyss. I smiled through the pain, knowing I would not go to it. I would simply fade. Perhaps I would be caught in the two Twin's aruas, and be allowed to follow them for the rest of thier lives. Perhaps I would even get something I didn't feel I deserved after watching my sister die of suffocation, my pale hands closing her windpipe.
...Whirl.
I could see Mio's hands redden with the heat emmitting from the Camera Obscura. It was a nasty side effect, but it had to put the energy somewhere. I looked to them both, eyes smiling though watering in pain, my face that of a pained but beautiful wronged young girl who was forced to do terrible things.
"Thank you... Amakura twins."
...Flash.
I faded into nothing, and a picture popped from the Camera. It was of myself, before I had become a Remaining, before I had turned my twin into a crimson butterfly. I had warm but dark hair, my eyes a dark, deep green, my lips curved in a smile as I looked up from the picture, resting in a field of long grass and wildflowers.
"You were a true beauty, Kaaza." My name was imprinted in Kanji on the line beneath the photo. "You're free like the wind."
Mio's words had a ring to them, and I hovered around them before I dropped a glowing green stone, it's glittering depths tinged with lighter green, the colours of my eyes and my twin's, Kikia's, eyes combined into one last thing.
They popped it into the Spirit Radio.
"I'm coming... Kikia. I may not... Reach you... But I am not in danger of Sae and the Kusabi... no... no longer am I frightened... Flutter away, my Crimson Butterfly... My twin... The other half of my soul... Kikia-chan..."
There was a faint "I will, Kaaza-chan..." At the end of the sounds, and I dissolved into delicious nothingness around the Twins, blanketing them in my comfort and strength, strengthening Mio's link to Itsuki.
I am one of the Willing Souls... The ones who give thier eternally damned existance to help nurture those whom need it the most... And in All Gods Village...
These two needed a Willing Soul more than ever.
K.L.K- How was it?
Kaaza- Not bad for your first try at a Fatal Frame fanfic.
K.L.K- (points to readers) That's for them to decide.
Mio- True.
Mayu- (limps over) Anyone want a brownie?
K.L.K- (goes to take one but gets her hand slapped by a spoon)...Oww... Hey, I made those!
Mayu- And you told us to keep them all for the Readers.
K.L.K-...Oh yeah... It's like seven a.m and I'm usually never up around this time... Damn school... Anyway, please review!
