AN: 11/27/06
Okay, this time this chapter has been completely revised. You have to look carefully, but it's there. Please be kind enough to review...I'm trying to make this fic better than it already is.
Disclaimer: Fatal Frame (a.k.a. Project Zero) is the rightful property of Tecmo. All characters, locations, and plots based on the Fatal Frame series, are all property of Tecmo. So keep the wolves at bay, and let me write again for another day.
Repent
Mio slowly made her way down the weathered stone steps to the Hellish Abyss, the last place any sane person would want to be. Holding the Camera Obscura to her chest, she precariously stepped further into the heart of darkness, the loud tapping of her shoes breaking through the century old silence. She knew full well what dangers lurked in the place that was not spoken about, but she had no choice in the matter. Mayu was down there, and come hell and high water, Mio was determined to get her away from this godforsaken place if it was the last thing she did!
Upon reaching the bottom, she immediately saw a human figure from afar, her form silhouetted by the bright light filtering into the room from the heavens above.
"Mayu!?" she called out to her, but there was no answer. It could have been Sae, and that thought alone made her blood run cold.
Creeping forward with her camera in hand, she moved past the ancient Shinto gates overhead, footsteps echoing off the cave walls. There were many lit candles to the far edges of the cave, their flames waning against the oppressive darkness. Mio could sense the evil in this place, hanging in the air like an invisible cloud, making each breath more difficult than the last.
And then she saw her, standing several paces in front of an altar awash with white moonlight, her head lowered, midnight silk falling away to the floor.
"Mayu," she asked, holding out her arm.
She appeared to be in a trance, for she moved nary a hair. Mio stepped warily closer to her...
"Mayu..."
Mayu lifted her head, slowly, hair shifting over her shoulders as she stared into Mio's eyes, her chocolate brown orbs filled with pain and sorrow.
"We were born for this Mio," Mayu stated, her usually sing-song voice sounding more like a mournful tale. "We always promised each other... that we would be together. But you ran away. Let everyone in the village die."
The elder twin then began to weep, her eyes brimming with tears. "Why did you leave me back then? If we had just done the ritual, none of this would have ever happened... and I would become a butterfly."
Her eyes fixed with Mio's, a mixture of sadness and hatred upon her youthful face. "I would become one with you, Yae. Was that so much to ask for? All I ever wanted was to be with you till the end."
Mio was almost on the verge of crying. "Stop it, Mayu! You aren't being yourself! It's me, Mio, your little sister. You know I would never leave you behind." Tears started to roll down her face as she stepped warily forward. "Please, Mayu... You've got to snap out of it!"
Mayu's lips curled into a grin. Suddenly, the candles near the entrance lit aflame, startling Mio as she spun around. A crimson mist filled the archway, blocking her only escape. "Shall we begin?"
The hairs stood out on Mio's neck at those words. Her voice seemed...tainted.
Mio knew that Mayu was no longer with her, for Sae had taken complete control over her weak mind. If there were another way to get Mayu back, she would have done so already.
But there really was no other choice, she was going to have to hurt her own sister to get to Sae, and it tore at her heart. Mio turned her head slowly, her eyes flowing with tears as she gazed upon Mayu. Her twin looked back with empty eyes, her expression a fraction away from expectancy.
"I'm sorry," Mio whispered, unsure if her sister had heard or not. With the grace of a sloth, she faced her sister, summing up her courage to press on. Then, with a shaky breath, she edged closer to her twin, fear apparent in her steps.
Mayu strode forward at frightening speed with her arms outstretched, her expression as empty as ever, inviting Mio into a deadly embrace. Despite her injury she was within mere feet of Mio in a matter of seconds. Mio jumped at the subzero chill washing over her and cried out, snapping off a shot of Type-60 film by reflex.
Mayu reeled from the impact, screaming an unholy cry of rage as she stumbled back. Mio cringed at the sound, almost certain that her ears were ringing. The translucent image of Sae faded in and out of existence within Mayu, the specter glaring with animosity.
"You!-" the possessed voice spat out.
Upon recovering from the hit, Mayu's mouth opened wide and Malice came pouring out like a river being unleashed.
Mio's vision went completely black and felt her skin turn deathly cold. She couldn't breathe! It felt like the very warmth from her veins was being stolen away. Mio dropped the camera to put her hands around her throat, choking on the very essence that fueled Sae's fury.
The taste of blood filled her mouth, coppery and sickly sweet, like a morbid fruit. She became very sick and fell to floor, writhing in a curled ball. Something inside her body snapped, her eyes wide with horror as her heart stopped beating...
Then just as quickly as it happened, it all vanished.
Mio gasped for air, feeling the satisfying comfort of the life entering her body again. But this was short lived when the ground began to shake and Sae's hair-raising laughter filled the cavern. Mio quickly righted herself and picked up the camera, checking to see if there was any damage. Satisfied that it was still working, she focused the lens on the evil specter that resided in the middle of the room. Mio noticed that her vision was now replaced by a strange white haze. It was the same with all of her previous encounters with Sae and the Kusabi and it still haunted her to great effect.
A red fog started to spread around Sae as she continued to laugh insanely, engulfing her. Mio tried to get her in the viewfinder but the Camera Obscura seemed to be nullified by the strange mist.
Mio cursed to herself as Sae stopped laughing and charged at her. She saw the viewfinder flash red for an instant but it didn't stay on long enough to be an effective shot. She turned and ran away from the ghost's outstretched hands... only to run into her again as she reappeared not six feet in front of her! Mio tried to dodge out of the way but Sae was just too fast.
Hands of ice enveloped her throat, the numbing cold spreading through her like a cancer, driving all the air out of her lungs.
Sae grinned savagely at the sight of Mio's panic stricken face. "How does it feel, Yae…" she asked in mock innocence, "…to be the one to suffer!?"
Mio felt weaker and weaker by the second, her heart seizing in her chest. It took all of her strength to lift up the camera and flash Sae in the face with it, a brilliant flash lighting up the room.
Sae merely turned her head to one side, reflecting the effect the camera had on her and then brought her face right up to Mio's, cold blue eyes boring hellish icicles into her.
"I would advise you, to not do that again." she said menacingly. With an ease that truly defied her physical limits she lifted Mio off of her feet, using her own weight to choke her. Mio started gagging as Sae's hands crushed her windpipe and dropped the camera to the floor. She reached up in a feeble attempt to break the specter's iron grip, trying desperately to breath. Her skin felt unbearably cold to the touch.
"Sae," she managed, "Why…why are you doing this. What did…I ever do to you?" Clearly annoyed by the question, Sae spun around and hurled her into the adjacent wall. Mio's back slammed into the jagged outcropping and then fell some distance to the hard stone floor on her side. Tears exploded in her eyes and felt her lips almost contort into a cry of pain.
"Why must you be so selfish Yae," she asked. "You; were the reason why I was left behind. You; were the reason why I have been trapped here in this Hell. You; are the reason why I have been waiting for so long, to fulfill our destiny."
Sae walked across the ground towards her, her feet never actually touching the ground. Mio glanced over at the Camera Obscura that was lying just outside her reach.
"So dear sister, do you choose to become one with me..." Sae looked over at the camera lying on the floor and then back to Mio. -"Or…do you choose death instead?"
The psychotic ghost grabbed Mio by the shoulders and put her face close to Mio's again. She twitched uncomfortably under Sae's dreadful stare, her dark blue eyes piercing daggers into her soul. The red mist had completely encircled the two and was now swirling around Mio's body. Burning coals entered her lungs with each breath she took as the coldness of Sae's hand around her throat sent icy tendrils of pain through her.
"Sae…" she choked out, "I…I can help you. Please just listen to me."
The girl loosened her grip somewhat. "Why do you care, Yae?" she replied, sounding confused. "You left me here to rot remember?"
The young teen's life was hanging on a thread. Mio knew that Sae could have killed her countless times already, but she hadn't. She decided to play into the apparition's misguided delusions of her long-lost sister, praying to be spared of Sae's wrath.
Mio shook her head. "You're wrong, Sae. I do care about you." Her hands moved to caress the spirits' in an affectionate gesture. "Why else would I have come all this way to find you?"
"Do not test me," came her simple reply. "I can kill you, Yae..." Her hand tightened around Mio's neck to emphasize the point. "...like I could have many times before."
"But you didn't," Mio reinstated. "You held back. You wanted to..."
"Stop..."
"No one should ever have to endure the pain that you did, Sae" continued Mio, her voice dropping off, "You deserved... a much better life."
Sae's face was beginning to soften, the look of hatred dissipating as she lowered the Amakura twin to the ground. "..Mio?" said the specter in a soft voice.
Mio knew that voice anywhere... "M-Mayu?" she asked softly. "Can you hear me?" Sae started to tremble slightly. Whether it was from anger or grief she could not venture to guess.
"You promised me!" Sae snapped, her resolve breaking down. "You promised that you would stay with me, no matter what!"
The young Amakura twin could see the internal struggle between Mayu and Sae, her twin trying to break free. "Why didn't you just become one with me?" she asked, tears rolling down her porcelain face. "I thought you loved me..."
"We'll be together," Mio replied while bringing her hands around Sae's back. "We will..."
For a sliver of a moment, she saw something in the ghost's eyes, a tiny glimmer that was akin to compassion. Then, Sae narrowed her eyes at Mio. "Liar!" she screeched, wrapping her hands around her neck. "You do not care about me!?" The Malice flared up inside her, drowning the Kurosawa twin in a dark haze. "If you had, you would have saved me from this madness centuries ago!"
Mio was at a loss for words. What could she do? As much as she wanted to help the murderous ghost, she couldn't abandon her own sister. The vile aura that emanated off of Sae made her lungs burn. Mio knew that if she didn't have an answer soon she would die.
"I…don't want to die, Sae..." she said whimpering. "But..."
"That is not what I asked you!" she screamed as she threw the girl away like used trash. Suddenly, out of nowhere, hundreds of human hands appeared in the red mist and raced towards the hapless girl.
"I asked you if you would become mine!" her eyes burned an intense turquoise. Mio barely had time to scream before she was lifted off the floor and tossed with ungodly force across the room. For a fleeting moment, she thought she would fall into the Abyss and closed her eyes. The wind howled in her ears as gravity pulled her back to the Earth.
Surprisingly enough she did not fall into a perpetual freefall. Instead, she crashed into the stone floor, her right side scrapping the stone surface and bounced several times before coming to rest next to the altar, coughing profusely.
"You are trying my patience, Yae. If you wanted to take me away from here, then why did you leave me behind?"
Mio knew what she said was true. Yae had left her behind back then, but it was unjust that Sae was taking her revenge out on her. Blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth as she attempted to regain her footing. "I didn't leave you," she said, holding her injured side.
But the punishment that Sae was putting out was far from over. For the hands now curled into fists and pummeled into her battered body. Despite the fact Sae's laughter once more pierced her virgin ears she felt like she was going deaf. Mio covered her ears and swore that she felt blood on her fingertips.
"Stop it, just stop it," she cried as the blows continued. She was sobbing through the blows as she pleaded to Sae to just end this torture.
"Please, please stop! I'm not the one that you want!"
Sae's laugh continued to rip through her soul as she closed in.
"Why, Yae? Does it make you feel scared and alone," she taunted. "Ha-ha-ha, you were always the one to be scared so easily. It suites you so well, after all..."
Sae raised her hand to her face and snapped her fingers, therefore making the unholy instruments of pain vanish in a cloud of mist.
..."You did run away!"
Blood poured out of Mio's mouth as she lay sprawled on the cold floor, her clothing tattered and torn. She was tired of it all: Tired of the pain of leaving Mayu behind, tired of being haunted by this place, tired of Sae trying to kill her, tired of everything.
"Now, Yae, the time has come, for you to repent all your sins."
Mio felt something cold wrap around her back and thighs and turned her head to see the apparition kneeling before her, her bloodstained kimono giving off a faint glow. Sae's hands moved around her slender frame and lifted her up, with almost no effort.
Mio tried in vain to move, but found it to be no use, her muscles protesting. Her head hung loosely in defeat, the blood rushing to her face.
"Why do you always have to fight, Yae?" Sae scolded. "Even in your disheveled state, you still try to deny your destiny." She shook her head. "How pathetic..." she muttered in disapproval.
Sae lowered her onto the moonlit platform, her eyes lingering on Mio's young yet well proportioned body.
"Let's finish this."
Then slowly, she swung her leg over Mio's waist and lay on top of her, the sudden contact making her body clinch in desire. Mio winced as Sae placed her bloody smooth hands around her neck once more, her breath catching in her throat. The "hands" had appeared once again, and they held her limbs down to keep from moving.
Sae peered down at the frightened young girl between her legs, her ebony bangs falling down over her eyes, and gently, ground her hips against hers. Mio stifled a moan that sought to escape her lips, not wanting to admit what her body was telling her.
Sae grinned deviously, a look of perverted joy brooking across her face and moved down next to the Amakura twin to whisper in her ear.
"Don't worry, I promise it won't hurt… much-"
And then she began to slowly squeeze the life out of her. This was it, thought Mio. Finally, she would be released from the pain. Her eyelids became heavy as the cold consumed her frail body, sleep was quickly drawing near.
"I'm sorry, Mayu," she whispered. "Sorry... that I... couldn't save you." And with that she closed her eyes and waited for that final moment of serenity.
"Together forever… Dear… sister…"
"Stop!"
