Darkness Falls – Chapter 17: Holy Mirror

The woman stood in front of all three of them, a pale ethereal light seeming to bathe her. Long black hair flowed down her back, contrasting with the simple white kimono she wore.  Torn pieces of rope hung from her wrists, and a thick black line marred her neck.

After a moment, Zero realized that it was from rope burn. And the ones around her wrists… it was almost like what Caroline was talking about. But that would mean that Caroline wasn't making it up, that she wasn't being crazy. That there really was something in her dreams. That he had been wrong for doubting her, for hating her. For believing Malice.

That couldn't be true, could it? Because if it was, that meant that everything, everything he had believed and had been told, everything was a lie…?

"Kirie…!" Malice hissed the word, its eyes widen, the pupils dilating to pinpricks. "What… what are you doing here?"

"I'm stopping you. I can't let you do this again, not to them, not to anyone! I can't restore life to those you've already taken but… but I can save them." The woman, Kirie, glared at it, hands balled into fists. "You're going back where you belong!"

Malice hissed and rolled back into itself. "You can't… I won't let you!" Twisting itself, it lunged towards the girl, hands and nails curling into claws, teeth growing and extending into fangs. Shrieking loudly, it was about to tear her apart-

"Mafuyu!" The man, ghost, had pulled himself free of his prison of being trapped in the wall. Seeing Kirie in trouble he had jumped in front of her, taking the brunt of the attack at the last second. "No, not again… Mafuyu…"

Malice's claws sank into Mafuyu's shoulders, shoving him back against Kirie and sending them both tumbling to the ground. "Caroline," he groaned, "Caroline, fix this! It's up to you!"

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Caroline was confused, to say the least. She didn't understand any of what was going on. The it-thing was Malice, she knew that. And she knew who the people were, the ones that were trapped… but who was this woman? And how did Malice know her? Was she important?

The name Kirie sounded familiar, so familiar to her. Her mother, Kiri… Close, but not the same. Grandmother Miku, her great uncle Mafuyu. He had been lost in a mansion, lost when Miku had tried to find him. But she never came back with him.

Legends, stories about her family. None of it made sense, but all of it was connected. She knew it. That was why it was up to her, it was in her blood.

"The camera… the camera pieces were lost, but that wasn't important…" The words seemed to come of their own bidding. Musing out loud, Caroline looked up at Zero, meeting his own confused gaze. "Because it wasn't the camera. It was… the… Mirror… The Mirror!"

Turning towards where Iris was, Caroline stretched up as high as she could. Her fingers barely touched the hanging strands of hair but, throwing all logic to the wind, she wrapped them around her hand and gave a yank.

Huh, looks like I actually can really touch the ghosts.

The brunette stirred, groaning. Getting a firmer grip, Caroline yanked again, harder. This time the reploid ghost's eyes snapped out, a flash of pain momentarily crossing her face. "What… where am I?"

"No time for that. Where's the camera? Did you get the camera?" Iris looked at her oddly, as if the questions she was asking didn't make any sense and there was no reason for her to respond. "Damnit Iris, where is the camera?!"

"…Malice took it."

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It was so odd. He had come here originally to find out what had happened to his mentor. And in the end, even though his sister had pleaded with him to go with her, Mafuyu had stayed. Stayed to be with the girl, the woman who needed him, Kirie.

He had needed to protect her from herself, to keep her from lashing out again at the world around her. It wasn't fair, the situation that she was thrown into, but she needed to do the best she could, no matter how much she hated it.

But in the end he had failed. They both had failed. All of them had failed. Iris was the only one who had paid any attention to the signs and they ignored her because she wasn't a 'real' ghost. She was from the soul of a reploid. And she was the one who was going to pay the highest price for everything.

Mafuyu knew what needed to happen. All of them knew, even Caroline, though she didn't understand it. Though soon she would.

The gate to hell was sealed off by the one who suffered the most. The Rope Shrine Maidens, Kirie, and now…

Iris.

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"Malice has it?!" A feeling of hopelessness washed over Caroline. "What are we supposed to do? We can't just take it from Malice! We're screwed!"

"Why do you need the camera?" Working slowly, Iris was slowly pulling herself out of the wall. She was almost all the way out; one leg was still stuck. Growling under her breath, she grabbed and yanked, sending herself tumbling back onto the floor. "I don't get why the Laws of Physics work on ghosts," she mumbled.

"That doesn't matter!"

"Geeze, all right, all right."  Scowling, Iris pulled herself to her feet. "What do you want? Why do you need the camera?"

"I don't. I need the piece of the Mirror inside of it."

"Why didn't you say so?" Grinning, the ghost pulled a shining shard out from her pocket. "I saved it just in case of an emergency like this… this was what made the camera work, anyways. This inserted into any old camera would have had the same affects. I think. Though there is all that talk about the Camera Obscura-"

"Right right, yeah, okay, enough of that." Snatching the Mirror piece from Iris' hand, Caroline turned and ran back to the center of the room.

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Nothing made sense. The ghosts, the woman, that man, the girl… it was all started to blur together in Zero's mind. The pain from his eye and cheek was slowly becoming agonizing, and the light in the room only came from what was emanated from the ghosts themselves now that his sabre had been put out.

There were footsteps, human footsteps, and by squinting he could barely see Caroline's shape heading towards the middle. There was a small shrine set up there; what could she want with it? Something was glowing in her hand… Malice was shrieking again, and someone was shouting something… whatever was glowing became brighter, brighter, until he couldn't see…

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The Holy Mirror has been restored.

I now need to perform my duty.