Hello everyone! Long time no see! I am so sorry for the long wait. I have been having some personal issues going on, and I am happy to say that most of them have been resolved. Anyway, here is the new chapter for Fatal Frame VI: Cries of the Children. Enjoy!

Author's Note: Blood and gore.


"Thank you… for freeing us…"

The words echoed in Sumiko's mind. Everything was completely black at first. Light appeared before it was suddenly shut out again. A pattern that alternated between light and dark increased in speed before Sumiko finally woke up. What greeted her view was the charred ceiling above and a faint glow of light in her peripheral vision.

Slowly she sat up, her back and arms covered with dust and soot. Now up, Sumiko saw the parlor doors. She flinched when she saw them, remembering the tidal wave of angry spirits that poured out of the door when it opened, and when Purple Kimono smiled… A shiver went up Sumiko's spine at the memory. The ghost's expression was so evil looking…

Sumiko closed her eyes and shook her head to try and expel the memory from her thoughts. But there was one important aspect of the memory that Sumiko nearly forgot. Amaya and Anthony were there with her when the doors were opened. Opening her eyes, Sumiko noticed that she was alone in the eerily quiet hallway.

"Guys?" Sumiko whispered fearfully. No response was heard. A floorboard creaked, causing Sumiko to jump. Heart racing and temper rising, a flustered Sumiko snarled through gritted teeth, "Guys this isn't funny! Whatever you are doing, please knock it off right now!"

But soon a coherent thought pierced through her fear addled brain. What if there was a ghost in the hallway rather than a living person? Now panicking, Sumiko reached for her Camera Obscura only to find nothing in either direction. The Viewfinder shook as Sumiko's hands trembled. Realizing just how frightened she was, Sumiko lowered the camera and took two deep breaths to try and calm down.

Feeling less rattled, she began to think of what to do next. Looking around, Sumiko decided to try and check all of the rooms upstairs. She did not go through the parlor doors, instinctively knowing that there was a great possibility that her friends were not in that room. The whole orphanage felt different, there was something in the air. It had felt eerie enough when Sumiko had first ventured into it, but now, it felt particularly oppressive and "crowded" in a sense.

As she walked down the hallway towards the room that had the bush clover diary, Sumiko felt as if hundreds of eyes were watching her even though there was nothing there. Her skin prickled with goosebumps and her hair stood up on end, and Sumiko had the feeling that something was going to reach out and grab her at any second. Just as she was approaching the door, it opened. Sumiko stopped walking and stood perfectly still. The door was opening slowly, the creaking of the old hinges singing seemingly throughout the whole building.

"Please be Amaya or Anthony…. Please be Amaya or Anthony…." Sumiko said to herself.

A head with long black hair appeared from the open door, looking first to the left before turning to the right down the hall were Sumiko was. It was Amaya Taniguchi. The young lady's eyes went wide with recognition and relief washed over her worried face.

"Sumiko!" Amaya shouted as she ran from the door towards her friend.

Although overjoyed to see that her friend was okay, Sumiko put her finger up to her lips to alert Amaya to be quiet when she wrapped her arms around her. Amaya began to weep and all Sumiko could do was give her a comforting pat on the back.

"That was so terrifying Sumiko!" Amaya blurted out. "All those screaming faces, that creepy priestess and that girl… It was too much!"

"Well, you did not have to come here…" Sumiko thought, but she pushed the thought away. Although the unexpected arrival of Amaya and Anthony brought some problems with it, Sumiko did feel some comfort knowing that her friends were there with her. It reminded her of when she was with Akio and Shuu at the Watanabe Shrine. But where was Anthony?

When Sumiko asked Amaya this question, she shook her head.

"I have no idea. I was hoping that he would be with you…"

"Let's go find him together, then we can get out of here for the night okay?" Sumiko said gently.

Amaya nodded in agreement. A strange, faint gurgling noise was soon heard down the hall. The gurgling was also joined by a labored inhaling of breath. Shining her flashlight down the hallway, the light caught a figure making its way to the corner. It looked to be a young man, a soldier in fact since he was wearing an Imperial Japanese uniform.

His hands were hovering over his face, obscuring his features. The strangest, and eeriest, feature about the ghost however was that he had large, wet bloodstain fanned out over his chest area like a red bib. Sumiko had a bad feeling about this, and she would soon see why. The ghost turned his face down towards the hall and he lowered his hands. What the two women saw made them do a double take and for their blood to run cold.

The man did not have his lower jaw.

The space where his mandible should have been was a dark, bloody and gory mess. Ragged strips of burned flesh dangled beneath his cheeks, and from the flashlight's beam, Sumiko and Amaya could see the man's exposed trachea, and more horrible gargling could be heard along with his panicked breathing. Sumiko's mouth dropped open, her hand rushing toward it; feeling sick to her stomach. Poor Amaya began descending into hysteria.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! What happened to his face?!"

As if in response to Amaya's frightened words, No Jaw brought his hands up to his face and began making mad gesticulations with them; performing a crude, desperate pantomime in hopes of trying to convey what had happened to him. As the ghost got closer, Sumiko brought out her Camera Obscura. As the two women backed up, they were both oblivious to the other ghost that was making its way out from the room that Amaya was just in. Amaya happened to look over her shoulder when she saw the ghost. It was the same woman that both she and Anthony had encountered when they first entered the orphanage.

Amaya gasped sharply, causing Sumiko to look to see what was behind her. She became pale when she realized that she was cornered by two ghosts in a narrow hallway with someone who did not have a Camera Obscura.

"Oh no…" Sumiko whispered out loud. The situation was very dire indeed.

No Jaw was still about a yard away from the women, but Fingers was closer. But this was true catch-22. The wisest course of action would have involved pushing back Fingers since she was the more imminent threat to both Sumiko and Amaya. But, if Sumiko's back was turned, this could give No Jaw the opportunity to attack her from behind. Making the situation even more precarious, Amaya wasn't equipped with anything to fight ghosts.

Or so Sumiko thought.

A terrified Amaya pressed against Sumiko as Fingers got closer to them, causing both women to stumble slightly into the direction of No Jaw. They both happened to stumble into the moonlight reflected through the window. The light hit the omamori amulet that was tied to Amaya's belt, and the embroidery began to glow. When Fingers' outstretched, mangled hand was about to grab Amaya's face, the amulet's luminescence became blinding. Soon, a nova like light was emitted from the omamori, and it lit up the hallway like a miniature sun.

When the light died down, Sumiko and Amaya opened their eyes to see what the aftermath was. Both of the ghosts were writhing and covering their eyes, moaning with discomfort with desperate choking noises coming from No Jaw. Sumiko and Amaya looked at each other and were astonished by what they saw. They were both now enveloped in what looked like an inky black cloud. When the ghosts regained their composure, they immediately became confused.

No Jaw looked behind him while Fingers looked straight through Sumiko and Amaya. She looked right into Amaya's face, but she did not see her; Amaya's eyes were closed shut and her nose was flared as she tried her best to contain her fear. Sumiko took a risk and she made a step forward towards No Jaw. The mutilated spirit was looked right at her but he did not appear to see her. Looking at the darkness that covered her body, Sumiko remembered the myth behind the founding of the Hibiki-Tsukoyomi Shrine as told by Naeko.

"Tsukoyomi answered the maiden's prayer and he cloaked her with the very darkness of night, hiding her from her pursuers…"

"The moon god's protection…" Sumiko whispered.

Just like in the myth, Sumiko and Amaya were now invisible to the eyes of the ghosts. But for how long? Without missing a beat, Sumiko grabbed her shaken friend and they made a mad dash down the hall, running past No Jaw unseen and unheard. When they made it to the top of the stairs that led down to the foyer, Tsukoyomi's protection began to fade. When they reached the foot of the stairs, the black clouds were completely gone.

As the two women panted, Amaya was the first to speak.

"That…" she panted, "that, was intense!"

"It sure was…" Sumiko huffed. She then looked at Amaya. "Thanks for that by the way."

Amaya cocked her head with bemusement. "For what? What did I do?"

"The omamori." Sumiko replied.

Amaya's eyes widened and she removed the charm from her belt. She looked at it with the kind of awe one gives to a holy relic.

"So that shadow that covered us…" she said, "that was from Tsukoyomi?"

"Looks like it." Sumiko replied, "Gotta go to the shrine tomorrow, or later today," Sumiko corrected herself. She took out her phone and confirmed that she was right; it was 3:15 in the morning, "and pay our respects."

"Sounds like a plan." Amaya replied. Sumiko looked at her friend's face. She looked tired and traumatized, nearly like a shell-shocked war veteran. Sumiko felt bad for her.

If she hadn't gone to the Okamoto Orphanage in the first place, neither Amaya nor Anthony would be stuck in this mess.

Speaking of Anthony…

"Before that," Amaya said, "we need to find Andy…"

"Yeah, I know…" Sumiko said tiredly.

Faint metallic tinkling was heard. Sumiko's blood froze. She looked up towards the mezzanine and saw a familiar figure glaring at both her and Amaya, the Black Priestess. Amaya gasped and she quickly brought out her omamori and held it out in front of her like a Catholic priest would with a crucifix in horror movies. For once, Sumiko was motionless.

But this paralysis was not born from fear, but from, strangely enough, a great sense of self-disappointment. The Black Priestess's one-eyed glare was one of great disapproval rather than malice. For a nearly eternal minute, Sumiko and the ghost stared at each other.

"What do you want…?" Sumiko said after finally finding the words.

The Black Priestess scowled at her. "To fix this…"

"But how?"

"Confront the evil itself in the mirror. Put that poor girl to rest…"

"What?" A confused Sumiko asked.

The ghost began to turn away.

"What do you mean? Who are you?" Sumiko added the last question as an afterthought.

The Black Priestess stopped walking, but she did not even look back as she answered Sumiko, albeit very cryptically.

"Someone from yesterday will guide the way…" she seemed to hesitate with answering the other question.

"A place that has long since faded from memory… A shrine in Tokyo. It was…" the ghost's voice became even more somber, "a crossroads for both the living and the dead…"

And with that, the Black Priestess walked away and disappeared. Sumiko stared at the mezzanine with a dumbfounded look.

"What? What?" She repeated to herself. Why do ghosts always have to speak in riddles? If spirits wanted the living to know or do something, they could at least give them a straight answer!

"Crossroads… Tokyo…"

Sumiko turned around when she heard Amaya speak.

"What did you say?" She asked.

"Tokyo… Crossroads..." Amaya repeated in reverse order. She then furrowed her brow in concentration.

"What's wrong Amaya?" Sumiko asked.

"What that woman said sounds familiar to me." Amaya answered without making eye contact with her friend.

"Really?" A surprised Sumiko asked. "Where did you hear about these "crossroads" in the city?"

"I don't remember right now. It might come back to me later though."

Amaya finally looked at Sumiko. Her eyes went wide and she began screaming, causing Sumiko to jump. A pair of strong, cold hands grabbed Sumiko's shoulders, and when the frightened woman looked behind her, she saw that No Jaw was behind her. The ghost's frightened dark eyes met Sumiko's widened ones and a familiar gargling was heard. It was then Sumiko's turn to scream.

"AAAAAHHHH!"

Amaya backed away with her hands over her mouth. Even though fear had taken over her body, Sumiko's fight or flight response kicked in, and she chose fight. She struggled against No Jaw's grip and she was able to break free pretty easily since the ghost had not anticipated Sumiko struggling against him. When she was finally free, Sumiko saw that No Jaw was not alone. Fingers had materialized by the stairwell and she was walking towards Amaya.

"Amaya look out!" Sumiko shouted.

Amaya looked behind her and she saw Fingers. She let out a scream and backed away towards a window with both her hands gripping the charred walls. Acting quickly, Sumiko pulled out the Camera Obscura and tried to take a picture of Fingers. But just as Sumiko was bringing the Camera up to her face, a powerful shove knocked her down. The Camera Obscura tumbled out of Sumiko's hands as soon as her left side slammed down onto the floorboards.

Thankfully, unlike the last time the Camera had been knocked out of her hands, it was not broken by one of the ghosts. But this silver-lining did little to alleviate the terror this harrowing night just kept throwing at Sumiko. As she tried to stand, No Jaw suddenly appeared by Sumiko, and he soon crouched down to restrain her.

"Collaborating bitch…" Fingers said to Amaya in a voice that seethed with fury. Sumiko did not know which one of Fingers's tones was scarier, her petrified and erratic one or the furious and articulate one she was using now. No Jaw gargled in response to Fingers's comment. Fingers turned her attention from Amaya began making her way to the prostrate Sumiko Yamada with a murderous look in her eyes.

The seemingly forgotten Amaya watched the whole thing unfold from her spot in front of the window. She dug her fingernails into the charred plaster, a hard lump forming in her throat, and tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

"I've got to do something! Sumiko needs me!" Amaya said hysterically to herself. Remembering how her omamori had enshrouded them in a protective shadow, Amaya took out her amulet and held it out in front of her. Seeing that nothing was working caused Amaya to panic even more. Gripping the omamori tightly, Amaya took a deep breath and she charged towards the ghosts screaming.

"Leave my friend alone!" She shrieked.

Without knowing that it would work, Amaya pressed her omamori against No Jaw's back. The sacred moonlight of Tsukuyomi manifested once again, but instead of a protective shadow, a silvery light enveloped both the offending spirits. The light seemed to hurt the ghosts as they both backed off from Sumiko. Finally free, Sumiko quickly grabbed her Camera Obscura and got back up onto her feet. Seeing how both Fingers and Now Jaw were writhing about whilst outlined in a silvery light, another detail from the Hibiki-Tsukuyomi myth came to Sumiko's mind.

"Confused as to where their desired victim had gone to, Tsukuyomi in turn cursed the men to glow like the moon."

Bringing the Camera up to her face, Sumiko saw to her amazement that the Viewfinder was now glowing red on both Fingers and No Jaw. She took the Double Zero Shot. Both ghosts were pushed back screaming in agony. So the omamori had two powers: the first being able to cloak its owner and their allies in a shadow that made them invisible to ghosts, and the second enveloped hostile spirits with a bright light that would greatly weaken them. Undoubtedly these powers were only temporary too, but Sumiko made sure to make the best of that limited time.

Fingers had been pushed back too far to be struck again, but No Jaw was still close enough to take another blast from the Camera Obscura. The second attack did the trick. No Jaw grabbed his face and writhed about, a series of pained, hollow sounding gasps echoed out of his exposed throat before he finally disappeared. Sumiko was relieved that No Jaw had gone down first. He was a bigger threat than Fingers, not to mention being the most disturbing looking ghost.

Now, if only Fingers could come into range. The ghost glared at Sumiko as she began to slowly move around Sumiko out of range. Sumiko followed Fingers, hoping that the ghost would make the first move. The silver aura around Fingers began to waver a little, and Sumiko began feeling anxious. This anxiety caused her to move towards Fingers hoping to get a closer shot.

But with each step Sumiko took, Fingers backed away until she had actually phased through the wall. A shadow darted across the windows from outside the orphanage and Sumiko's eyes quickly, and fearfully, traced the movement. Amaya backed away into the corner when she saw the shadow cut through the moonlight that wafted through the windows. As her friend continued her fearful search, Amaya felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. A chill came over her, which was then followed by a strange, uncomfortable prickling sensation.

Amaya suddenly stumbled forward and she grabbed the bannister with her left hand to stop her fall. Her fingers clenched the charred wood fiercely, and her right hand, as if it had gotten a mind of its own, began wiggling and bending its fingers.

"Am I… am I getting possessed?!" Amaya thought.

She soon found her body to be straightening itself up and her right foot moved forward, soon followed by the left. Amaya tried to resist, causing her gait to become stiff and twitchy. She looked up towards Sumiko and tried to call out her name. But no sound came forth, only silence, and her eyes rolled up until only the whites looked out onto the foyer. Thankfully for both women, the floorboards were creaky.

Sumiko turned around and she saw her friend's marionette like movements. Memories of Akio Toshimoto's possession by the Skinless Man four years before flashed within Sumiko's mind. The feeling of strong hands being wrapped around her throat all came back to Sumiko. As Amaya moved closer to her, Sumiko, without even realizing it, backed away suddenly. But this was where the similarities between Akio and Amaya's possessions ended.

Rather than remain in Amaya's body like the Skinless Man did when he was possessing Akio at the Watanabe Shrine, Fingers phased out of her host's body and lunged at Sumiko. Fight or flight response kicking in, Sumiko chose to fight once more, and she quickly brought the Camera Obscura up to her face. Although the weakening silver light was gone, the Zero Shot that hit Fingers was enough to finish her. The ghost let out a shrill screech of pain and she hugged herself before finally disappearing. So much for No Jaw being the bigger threat!

Sumiko breathed a sigh of relief after she brought the Camera away from her face. The feeling of her fingers twitching against her chest made Sumiko realize that her hands were trembling. She then heard weeping. Sumiko looked up and saw that Amaya was standing with her head down and her hand up to her face. Concerned for her frazzled friend, Sumiko immediately went to be by Amaya's side.

Sumiko laid a gentle hand on Amaya's left shoulder.

"Are you okay Amaya?" Sumiko asked gingerly.

Amaya tensed up and shook her head hard. Sumiko felt bad for her friend. If only she had ignored Purple Kimono's summons to the Okamoto Orphanage, both Amaya and Anthony would be safe, sound, and not traumatized. Speaking of Anthony, he was still missing. Neither woman had heard so much as a muffled scream coming from anywhere within the orphanage.

An idea came to Sumiko. She gently gripped both of Amaya's shoulders and spoke her name with enough firmness to get the lachrymose girl's attention.

"Amaya, look at me." Sumiko said.

Amaya looked up. Her face was red and puffy, her eyes swollen. With her friend's attention, Sumiko began her pep talk.

"I know you're scared. I'm scared too. This place is awful and I want to leave just as badly as you do. However, we cannot leave without Anthony…"

Being reminded that her boyfriend was still missing seemed to jolt Amaya from her frazzled state. She looked up from the floor, her eyes were red, puffy and full of worry.

"Andy Bear…" whimpered Amaya. "My Andy Bear…"

"Yes. We need to find Anthony." Sumiko repeated. She squeezed Amaya's shoulders, hoping that it would help her resolve climb like a thermostat on a hot day. Amaya did not say anything.

Instead she nodded. This gesture pleased Sumiko; she was especially happy when she noticed that her friend had stopped crying.

"Okay." Sumiko began, "Let's go."

Since the two women had been up on the second floor earlier and had not heard or seen a trace of Anthony (hard to say due to Sumiko and Amaya fleeing from No Jaw and Fingers). But if Anthony had been up there, Sumiko was sure that she would be hearing something from Anthony trying to get both her and his girlfriend's attention. The fact that Sumiko and Amaya weren't hearing anything at all was alarming in itself. Making it even worse, the first floor hallways had both Kazuo and Angelica's ghosts. What was already turning out to be a long night had apparently grown even longer.

Taking a deep breath, Sumiko took the lead towards the door beneath the mezzanine with Amaya following behind.

Meanwhile…

It was pitch black where he was. Cold too. The place reeked of dust and mildew. No light, no clean air, no warmth, Anthony wasn't sure if this was a nightmare or hell itself. Making it even worse, Anthony could not move.

"Is this sleep paralysis?" Anthony thought to himself. But if it was, then he would be looking at the thin canvas of his tent at the campground rather than pure darkness. It was then when Anthony felt a hand touch his head. The hand was colder than the air of the abyss Anthony was trapped in, and he flinched from both fear and the sharpness of the chill.

But instead of doing harm, the hand began to gently stroke Anthony's head. The rubbing motion eased Anthony's fear. It reminded him of his childhood when his mother would rub his head whenever he would lay down beside her on the couch or when it was bedtime and he did not go to sleep right away after a story had been read to him.

"There, there son." A gentle voice resounded. "No need to be afraid anymore. Mother's here to chase all your fears away…"

"Mom?" Anthony spoke aloud. He then woke up. Instead of a bleak dungeon with a floor covered with soiled straw, Anthony found himself in a cozy bedroom. He was laying on top of a quilted blanket, and sunlight shined through a window and lit up the whole room.

The aroma of decrepitude had disappeared. In it's place was the fresh scent of a tepid breeze that carried with it the faint fragrance of lilac. There was a woman sitting by his bedside in a rocking chair. She had greying dark brown hair that was tied in a bun, wore spectacles, and had a heavy figure. The woman also wore a cross necklace on a thin gold chain.

The woman was smiling as she rubbed Anthony.

"What the-?" Anthony began, his tone thick with bemusement.

The woman brought a finger up to her lips and made a shush sound.

"Hush now my dear." She said. "You are home now."

"Home?" Anthony said. This wasn't his bedroom. This one was austerely quaint. Anthony's actual room had dark blue walls that were covered with posters, a desk with a pc, keyboard, and mouse; and a bed with a dark grey comforter and white sheets.

This room was wallpapered, had a dresser with a weathered baseball and glove, a nightstand with a lamp, and a rug on the floor. Before a now risen Anthony could protest, the woman put her hands on both his back and chest, and began helping him to lie back down.

"Don't get up so soon dear." The woman said sweetly. "It's early yet, and your brother will not come home til later. Just rest now. I'll wake you when he returns…"

"But I don't have a brother…" Anthony's thoughts began to fade away as a pleasant sedate feeling overcame him. He suddenly felt the urge to sleep. As the woman rubbed his head, Anthony's fading consciousness was still aware that the "mother" was still talking.

"Oh I can't wait… Both my boys home safe and sound. Ellen will be so happy to see her Uncle Richard again after so long. We will all be happy when Ellis comes home again… Oh I can't wait for us to be a family again!"


Long one huh? No Jaw was inspired by a story told by a Japanese WWII veteran on a National Geographic documentary that used to be on Netflix: The Lost Ships of Guadalcanal (circa 1994 I think). The man had fought in one of the mainland battles against the American Army on the Solomon Islands. During the fight, he had been shot in the jaw by a shotgun. He dug shell out of his jawbone with his own fingers. Thankfully, the shotgun had been fired from a considerable distance, giving him a relatively minimum injury (he looked perfectly normal in the documentary).

If the shotgun had been fired at a closer range however, the solider would have most likely ended up like No Jaw...

And now, Anthony is in the clutches of a ghost! Keep your eye out for the next chapter. Thanks for reading and please review! :)