I tried to write a black comedy, but it didn't come out very well in my opinion. But it wasn't going to waste a draft. And I have a couple of more serious story ideas for Groundhog Day, but I'll make do with this crack fic for now.
Any feedback would be appreciated and I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fatal Frame or its characters.
XXX №49
There were two twins standing by the gates of Torii.
Two sisters who looked anywhere but at each other. For they didn't need to.
Not because their bonds were so strong that they could always know each other's thoughts.
No, it wasn't like they were one person in two bodies.
It was just that the Amakura sisters experienced only two emotions during that time.
Irritation and anger.
"Oh, Dear Older Sister, how would you like me to break our promise this time? Shall I give you into slavery to those priests? Or make your doll and try to escape with it? At least she's quiet unlike you," Mio Amakura asked with fake concern.
"Oh, can you do it? You got caught the last time you tried to escape, because you were in such a hurry to escape that you fell asleep on the road! I still remember your snoring when we were thrown into the Abyss," replied Mayu cheerfully.
"I was planning the perfect escape route. This time, all I did was watch the ghosts move around the village grounds. You weren't the one waiting for those peasants to deign to run down the road!"
Mayu still gave her sister a puzzled look. "Why? Fine with me, limping on one leg, but we've already established that you don't care about me now. Mio has always been physically stronger. You have to be faster than all the ghosts here, otherwise why did you need those ballet lessons?"
"Oh, not everyone can get as fat and gluttonous as you do, Sister," smiled Mio with the most insincere smile possible, "but what I really wanted was to find a way out of the village WHEN YOUR HAND HASN'T GETTING ME OUT OF THE CORNER!"
Mayu recoiled at the sudden scream. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"She doesn't understand," grinned Mio. "Like I didn't hear you laugh when those men caught me."
"Maybe that's because you shouldn't have kicked me in the Hellish Abyss like I was a sack of potatoes!" yelled the older twin at the younger one. Both sisters' eyes burned with hatred for each other. And you would not think that once the very thought of getting angry with each other was akin to a serious crime for them.
"So you didn't like going down into the Abyss? How about falling down the slope!" said Mio in an exasperated voice, grabbing Maya by the throat and starting to push her sister toward the slope.
The girl's eyes widened with fear and, desperately groping for air with her throat, she wheezed. "Don't... have to... off the slope..." But to this plea the younger sister only smiled even wider.
"So you should be glad. After all, that's how high you should have fallen that day if you wanted to die so badly, hee hee hee," Mio began laughing hysterically as she and her twin approached the slope. And so having reached the precipice, there was only one thing left for her to do.
Happily push Maya down the slope.
She never thought that the sight of her sister falling to her certain death could be so beautiful.
But it wasn't.
After all, she was flying down with her.
Because Mayu held Mio's leg in a grip strong enough to carry her down with her.
All that remained was an agonizingly long wait for the landing.
Well, maybe she'd be lucky and they'd die quickly enough without experiencing the agony of their molten insides.
There were two twins standing by the gates of Torii.
Mayu looked at her sister not just with anger, but disappointment that she had dared to abuse the most important moment of their lives, no matter how sick and wrong (Which to her meant: happy and beautiful) it was.
Mio only sighed.
The fall had not been painless.
"You know, Sister, I don't know what pisses me off more: you or that every death of mine in this village must be accompanied by such pain.
Curse the time loops!
Loop №50.
Loop №56
"Move, I want to be a butterfly," said Mio, laying down on the altar.
Mayu only raised an eyebrow at that. "Since when did you change your mind about the ritual?"
"Since I realized the alternative," snapped the younger twin, but seeing that her sister was still standing still, the girl groaned. "I honestly want to be as far away from you as possible, that's all."
Mayu shrugged and pulled her arms around her younger sister's neck, not really expecting anything to come of it.
Mio cheered.
Yes, the noose would prevent her from escaping the village and she would still end up back at the gates of Torii.
But that wasn't her plan either.
As Mio had found out a couple of iterations ago, the crimson butterflies were not only distinguished by their status as the best guides in the village (not that they had much competition now that the entire village consisted of evil ghosts... And Itsuki), but also by their… Emissions. Seriously, the younger of the Amakura sisters absolutely did not expect them to leave behind THAT. But this way she could easily get back at Mayu for locking her in the same room with Miyako for the last time, before taking the Camera Obscura for herself.
This is the ghost of a newly graduated student, why is she so sadistic?
These were the thoughts that haunted Mio's fading brain as her body flew straight into the Abyss. But she felt nothing. Maybe it's worth a flick...
Wings?
And just like that, a triumphant crimson butterfly flew out of the pit before Mayu's eyes, and immediately descended on her arm.
Now all that was left was for Mio to get her revenge.
And at that moment the unfortunate butterfly was crushed by Mayu's hand, which sighed in relief, having managed to prevent Mio's relief from coming at her.
"Did she really think I didn't understand the significance of her actions?" whispered the older Amakura twin. "I was a butterfly before her, after all."
Loop №65
The Amakura sisters once again stood at the Abyss.
"You know, it's not fair that only I saw what's inside this pit," the younger sister pronounced, leading her twin to the edge. "You, too, should enjoy this amazing and totally non-threatening sight for your eyes."
Mayu looked into the Abyss.
The souls of the dead in the Abyss looked at her.
Nothing happened.
The twin turned perplexedly to Mio with perfectly healthy eyes. "I give up. What was supposed to happen?"
The younger of the Amakura sisters only recoiled in shock, comparable to when the twins found out that their Uncle Kei was actually making money from his books and not lying to their mother for fear of getting a lecture about finding a "real job". "You... You're crazy... I mean, I've gotten that pretty well in past loops... BUT NOT TO THIS DEEP!" screamed Mio to the whole cave. After that, she started shaking her head desperately. "No, you probably just didn't look deep," after which she lowered the back of Mayu's head to face the pit. "Aren't you terrified of their suffering?"
The older twin shook her head. "We have mocked each other far worse. Oh, I can see our father's face!"
Mio pursed her lips. "My sister lies to me."
"No, I'm not! See for yourself!" Mayu tilted her sister's head down as well as she did hers. But Mio's face froze in fear, and blood began to flow from her eyes.
"AHHHH! It hurts so bad!" screamed Mio covering her eyes with her hands.
She could no longer see how she had accidentally pushed her twin into that damned Abyss.
Loop №73
"Yae! Sae! Why are you standing here? You must run before they catch you!" exclaimed Itsuki Tachibana to the twins, whom he mistook for his longtime girlfriends.
Mio walked over to the window of the warehouse. "Itsuki... I need to ask you something..."
After these words, the twin fell to her knees and babbled. "Please share the rest of your life with my body and soul. Especially with my body!"
What?
There was an awkward silence.
Finally there was an angry whisper.
"Mio, when you suggested we try this... I agreed. I even accepted the fact that you were doing it with Sae... But now you wanted to do it with a man? You unfaithful pervert!" yelled Mayu at her sister.
A forbidden relationship between blood relatives...
It's amazing how taboos fall away when mortal danger collides with complete lack of consequences. Especially in the absence of normal activities.
Mio didn't even dignify the twin with a glance. "I'm sorry, but every time I start to enjoy myself, you yell at me not to leave [cut out censored]. Every damn time. And Sae…" the younger of the sisters shuddered. "She's not gentle at all, not gentle at all..."
Itsuki couldn't figure out what confused him more. The fact that according to "Yae" there are two "Sae" or the way the sisters are so careless about saying such vulgarities.
Mio was still looking at Itsuki. "So you agree?"
Tachibana awkwardly scratched the back of his head, not expecting such a question. Certainly not from "Yae".
"I'm sorry, but the thing is..." Itsuki took a deep breath. "I've already accepted a similar offer from Mitsuki. I'm afraid it won't work out between you and me."
Mio's gaze immediately became indifferent, and the smile immediately disappeared from her face. "Yes, you're right. There really is no chance. Sorry to have bothered you." Then the girl turned in the opposite direction.
After standing there in a daze for a few seconds, Mayu limped after her sister.
"And what was that now?" asked Mayu perplexedly after she caught up with Mio.
"It's simple. I'm following our mother's precept, which said one thing," the younger twin looked the older one in the eye. "Never give your first time to an experienced man. Especially if it's someone familiar with Kei. Especially if it's a friend of Kei's."
"That kind of thing sounds extremely hypocritical coming from you."
"Not at all. After all, I haven't given my first time in this noose to anyone here yet. And I don't think I will now."
Sae, dreaming at this moment of being reunited with Yae, sneered.
Loop №89
Mio and Mayu once again approached the Hellish Abyss, where Sae Kurosawa stood before the altar.
"Come on, Yae... Come here..." said the ghost in the bloody kimono.
"Oh, shut up," muttered Mio. "And speak in a normal tone, we know you can do that."
Kurosawa's gaze became more meaningful, and with an irritated sigh, she crossed her arms under her chest. "You're here ahead of schedule," she remarked grudgingly. "Wasn't Kusabi supposed to be guarding the passage here?"
"Mio beat him," Mayu whispered confusedly.
"What?"
"Oh, actually a funny story," smiled Mio, "did you know that the Camera Obscura can literally touch ghosts? And that it's strong enough to pound every dead person in this village without fear?" the younger Amakura closed her eyes in pleasure. "Now I am the most dangerous thing to find in this village."
"So that's how you defeated Kusabi..." said Sae thoughtfully. Then she abruptly realized one thing. "Ah, so that's why I was immediately knocked out of your sister's body when I tried to take possession of her at the Osaka's house!"
"Oh, so it was you? I just thought my sister wanted to lock me in the same room without tapes again, so I preemptively threw the Camera at her. This device really is amazing, isn't it?" replied Mio enthusiastically as Mayu wiped the bruise on her forehead left by the hit.
"Okay, the hell with it," Kurosawa turned the subject over. "Where's Yae?"
"I was just about to talk about that," the younger twin began. "She's not with us."
Sae's eye began to twitch. "Then why the hell did you come here?!"
"She is at the Torii Gate by the slope in front of the village. Look, I understand that in this village all the twins here have a fetish for strangling each other, I don't judge. So let's you can come after her, and strangle each other. You can keep my sister, she obviously won't mind joining in..."
"Hey!"
"...And I can catch my breath, take a breather, and leave the village through that underground passage under the Kureha Shrine. So what do you say?" Mio suggested the spirit.
Sae hesitated, then announced her verdict.
"No."
"Аh?"
"It wasn't me who broke our promise," Kurosawa said proudly. "I didn't do anything wrong and it wasn't my idea to run away. So why should I be the one looking for Yae?"
"So you're never going to do anything to get her back?" asked Mayu unusually calmly.
"Of course. It's Yae who should come back here and beg for forgiveness for leaving me." answered Sae perplexedly as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Mio, would you pass me the Camera Obscura, please?" asked the twin sister in a friendly tone that was completely out of character with the situation.
"Аh? Yes, of course..." handed the younger Amakura's device to the older one, not fully realizing what had happened.
Mayu's face then twisted sharply with rage and she pounced on the ghost with a speed you wouldn't expect to see from a lame girl. "YOU ARE A SHAME FOR ALL YANDERE!" shouted the twin as her camera broke bones in Kurosawa's ghostly body to the accompaniment of inhuman screams.
When it was over, Mio trembled, looking fearfully at her sister splattered with ghostly blood, who was smiling as she stood over the body of what had once been the ghost of Sae Kurosawa.
"I hate people who aren't willing to seek the attention of their loved ones."
Loop №95
"Did you really decide to make a doll to replace me?" Mayu asked her sister, looking melancholy at her awkward attempts to create a new "twin."
They were in the doll room of Kiryu's house. Akane and "Azami" Kiryu were standing behind them, afraid to get too close after Mio had successfully and with extreme cruelty knocked the unfortunate ghost of their father out of the manor.
"Afraid I'll finally stop communicating with you?" grinned Mio. "You don't have to worry, it's only a bomb."
"Ahh, a bomb..." the older Amakura grasped understandingly, before she realized exactly what her twin had said. "Wait, why do you need a bomb? And how do you even know it's supposed to be a bomb? It looks more like an ugly doll."
"Try it yourself," snapped Mio, pointing to the instructions. "As it's written, that's what I do. And I need it to block the passage out of the cave, so no one can chase me later."
Mayu frowned.
"Mio, they're ghosts. They can't leave the village. Besides, they don't care if the passageway is blocked or not. They'll just walk through the barrier."
"They do. You don't." explained the younger twin, looking over the schematics. "Next on the plan is to light gunpowder."
"Light... MIO, WAIT, NOT HERE!"
But Kiryu's House went off anyway, and the Amakura sisters silently vowed never to go near pyrotechnics again.
Loop №135
"Brother Itsuki, help me," hid in Chitose Tachibana's closet. It was all Yae's fault. If she hadn't run away, her brother wouldn't be in trouble. And now it was her fault that the entire village must suffer Repentance. Ugh, how she wished she could tell her everything she thought of her!
Suddenly the closet doors opened and Mio Amakura stood before the little girl's face.
"You-you-you..." Chitose opened and closed her mouth, wanting and afraid to say anything at the same time.
"Shh, it's okay. Your older sister's here," Mio leaned toward her, gently stroking her head.
"Lolicon girl," said Mayu vaguely behind them, watching the whole picture. "So, since it didn't work out with Itsuki, you decided to make up for it through his little sister? I didn't think I'd say this, but you've really become unpleasant to be with."
"Don't worry, I'm not that crazy yet," Mio grinned. "The only thing I'm doing right now is replacing you."
Mayu tilted her head to the side. "Explain."
Mio only took a deep breath. "Ever since that fall from the cliff, of the two of us, I've been the one to fulfill the role of big sister. And even though I don't have to take care of you anymore, I can't just stop being a protector. So instead of continuing to take care of you, Sister, I can find myself a real little sister who will be worth worrying about, walking down the street with her, sleeping in the same bed over nightmares..."
"Still sounds like a lolicon," the older twin replied to the speech.
"Shut up."
Chitose finally pulled herself together and stared angrily at Mio. "GIVE ME BACK MY BROTHER, YAE!"
After the younger of the Amakura sisters recovered from the sonic attack, she looked at the child in surprise. "Yae? But I am Sae. Just look closely. Does Yae have bangs like that?" said Mio with a smile.
Chitose strained her weak eyes. "That's true. But since you're Sae, then behind you..."
"Yae," realizing the position Mio had put her in, cringed with indignation. "That was dirty, even for you."
"Sae" only smirked even wider. "And no one asked you, Yae."
"YES," Chtose seconded, "NO ONE ASKED YOU!"
At that moment, outside the window, the village began to be dramatically emptied of Darkness.
"Repentance? Now?!" exclaimed Mio in surprise. "But Sister hasn't been caught yet!"
"Apparently the Abyss is against your lolicon, too," murmured Mayu.
Chitose whimpered softly and looked frightened at "Sae".
Mio, on the other hand, did the only thing left and covered Chitose with her body just as the Darkness flooded the Tachibana's house.
Loop №242
"You know, I really never tried the simplest but so obvious option," Mio said cheerfully as they approached the passage under Kureha's Shrine.
"Which is it?" asked Mayu cautiously, expecting another outburst of anger from her younger sister.
And for good reason, for it was at that moment that Mio plopped her twin down on the altar in front of the entrance to the cave.
"All I have to do is let them sacrifice you alone! Just like Sae did in her time!" screamed Mio frantically at her sister as she tried to fight back. But finally Mayu got lucky, and leaving a rather deep scratch on Mio's cheek, the girl let go of her twin, letting her fall to the floor. But the younger Amakura grabbed her right leg almost immediately.
"I see you like that," hissed Mayu angrily. "Go ahead, beat your lame sister! You might even break a leg! Still, by the next loop, we'll be standing at the gate again and clawing at each other's throats. So what's the point of holding back?! We already hate each other, so why pretend that we still mean something to each other?!" the twin screamed, desperately trying to hold back tears of pain.
Strangely enough, Mio let go of her leg. But only because a voice came from behind her.
"Yae! Sae! How dare you try to escape! You must do your duty and perform the Crimson Sacrifice ritual!"
Mio immediately fled behind the door, leaving Mayu alone with Ryokan Kurosawa. He scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"Well, there's no choice. We'll just have to sacrifice you, Sae!"
"But I can hear Mio's footsteps in the cave. They are quite slow. If you hurry, you can catch her!" tried to persuade Mayu to continue the chase.
"It's too late now. She's already far away. We have no other choice."
"But she literally just left! And she's not even in a hurry! Anyone with healthy legs could catch up with her!" the older twin tried to appeal to logic.
"That's enough!" decreed Ryokan. "You will be sacrificed today, Sae, with or without Yae!" And after these words, he grabbed Mayu by the hair and dragged her in the direction of Kurosawa's house.
In desperation, Mayu had only enough time to scream one last time. "MIO, YOU JERK!"
And after that, the older sister at the end of the loop actually repeated Sae's fate. The priests killed her in exactly the same way through hanging.
But what Mayu did not know was that Mio was secretly observing the whole ceremony.
And to her own surprise, the younger Amakura took no joy in it.
Loop №312
Mio drew from memory a plan of the entire village in preparation for another escape.
At that moment the door to the room opened and Mayu walked in. Mio tensed.
"I am in peace," the older twin pronounced, to which the younger girl waved. Since Mayu's hanging, the sisters had tried to avoid each other for the most part. And it had benefited them both. Mio was trying to find her way out of the village, and Mayu...
Frankly, Mio didn't care what she was doing. But in those rare moments when they happened to cross paths, her sister looked...
Lonely? No, that wasn't the word.
Lost.
As if she had no reason to live anymore. Only to exist by inertia.
Mayu sat down, leaning her back against her sister. Like the last time they had come to visit the places of their childhood.
Only now they weren't really sisters. Just companions in misfortune.
"We've been here almost a year, haven't we?" the older of the sisters asked.
Mio shrugged. "I think longer, but honestly, I haven't really counted. There's no point. We're still trapped."
"You still haven't made any progress?" asked Mayu in surprise. "I haven't distracted you from our goal in a long time."
"What progress has there been. I haven't moved from where I was," muttered Mio. "And since when is that our goal? You were happy that we were stuck in the Lost Village, weren't you?"
"That was before we started looking for any excuse to hurt each other," returned Mayu's sneer.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe your sister should be reminded that the first time I refused to perform the ritual, you were the one who strangled me. Or that you lamented in the next loop that you couldn't bring my severed head with you! I may have wanted to cause you more suffering, but it was you who started this cycle of pain and hatred!" Mio, raging with anger inside her, spluttered her arms.
Tears rolled from Mayu's eyes.
"I just didn't want us to end up separated."
"And I just wanted to be with you forever," Mio replied firmly. "And look where that got us." The girl clasped her hands to her chest. "We're as obsessed with anger and despair as the rest of the souls here. I realize I can't leave you here and I have to take you with me. But I don't want that at all anymore! You are a monster, Sister, and worse than any evil spirit in this village. Even Sae was only a victim of the local faith, but you... You went on with a full understanding of the pain it brings me. I hate you!" the twin exclaimed in a heartbeat, after which her voice became quieter. "I kept wondering how my sister really felt, how I could understand her. I hoped that someday she would be able to tell me directly what she really thinks about everything. But now that I really know how you feel and what you've been thinking all this time... And you still do, even now... It hurts, Mayu. I gave everything I could, but it wasn't enough for you. And those wounds you left behind... I'm not sure they will heal. So I'd rather continue to be in the dark than like this."
Mayu took a deep breath. "Do you want a straight answer, Mio? There isn't one anymore. Before, from the moment I realized that we were different people, all my thoughts were only about you and the fact that you would one day leave me. And even then, when, after the first ritual, I found myself back in front of the village with you... I was really happy, because we could have been together forever, even if it was in hell. But it pissed me off that you kept looking for a way out despite my wishes. And then you began to be angry with me in return. And we continued until we were strangers to each other, even though we couldn't run away from each other." Mayu straddled her legs and pressed them against her body. "Now, after that skirmish in the sanctuary, I no longer care what happens to us. I didn't have much of a plan for my life before, but now? All I want is just to end this nightmare. I'd rather live in constant anxiety and fear for the future than live like this."
The two twins, whose bonds had been severed by their selfish desires, were able, for the first time in a long time, to say honestly to each other everything that was on their hearts. Only now it made no sense. They were no longer soul mates, just jaded girls. They should have laughed at the sad irony, but they had neither the strength nor the desire to do so.
Finally Mayu stood up. "We haven't had a peaceful death here yet, have we?"
Mio nodded her head. "It was always either us killing each other or something killing us."
"Wait here, I'll be right back," pronounced Mayu as she left the room.
After a while, the younger twin smelled something burning, and smoke began to fill the building. At that moment, the older of the Amakura sisters went back inside while the fire was burning behind her.
"Since when did death by burning become peaceful?" asked Mio the girl.
"Don't ruin the moment," responded Mayu nonchalantly, sitting back down with her twin.
The sisters waited for the fire to reach them as well.
"You know," Mio began, "maybe I don't hate you that much after all."
Mayu smiled. "I guess I still like you, too. So let's leave this village together."
"Yeah," Mio smiled back.
In their last moment, the sisters held each other's hands.
On Mio's shoulders rested his sister's hands.
"We used to play here all the time..."
The twin glanced at Maya, nodding at her. "How's your leg? Does it hurt?"
"A little, but... I'm fine." she replied, sitting down with her back to her sister on the same rock near the stream.
For a second the older sister saw a scarlet butterfly.
"Mio?"
"Yes?"
Mayu shook her head. "Um, never mind..."
Each of the twins sank into memories of their childhood.
Finally Mio decided to ask about that day. "Mayu, about that time back then..." turned her head toward her sister. For a second an anxious thought flashed through her mind that her twin would not be there, but her older sister continued to sit beside her.
"Mmm, what do you mean?" Mayu looked at Mio incomprehensibly.
Mio smiled. "Forget it, never mind."
In that moment, both twins just realized one thing.
Everything was going to be okay now.
Omake(?)
At the chess table sat two Gothic lolitas, whose faces expressed utter apathy.
"Disgusting game," said Myola Vanderbilt in a hollow voice. "I haven't experienced such boredom in a hundred years."
"Maybe we shouldn't have taken Bernkastel's suggestion at face value?" asked Mayushi Kawagiri in the same tone.
"What's the use? Right now the only thing left for us to do is to get back at her. How about replacing Mamoru Akasaka's piece on her favorite game board with Uncle Kei?"
"That sounds like fun. I think we should talk to Lambdadelta."
Disclaimer №2: I don't own Umineko or its characters.