Fatal Frame: The Endless Defacement

by Dharknia

1st per POV. FF 1, 2, and 3 A girl must survive the horrors and terrors of a much larger and more dangerous village and its own reason for destruction. New and old spirits make their way into a haunting plot of rituals and deaths. COMPLETE!

2. Pass Me By

Disclaimer

Please read: I do not rightfully own the Fatal Frame title or its trademarks. This is only a fan fiction story. It is slightly based on the second Fatal Frame, but includes my own characters, locations, and certain items. Any mentioned subjects that are Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly characters, locations, and certain items are owned by TECMO and used for fan fiction purposes only.

Fatal Frame

The Endless Defacement

Chapter Two

Pass Me By

"My hand slips from the rope,

The passing way is only a memory,

And the memory passes away"

My eyesight returns in time to catch a glimpse of someone's face approaching mine. Their lips move, but I can hear only murmurs and distant echoes of the woman's laughter. I put my hands to my face. Something is still wet on them. I grumble and try to push the stranger's face from me. I think it is still that spirit trying to kill me. This is different, though. I can feel someone's rough stubble on their cheeks. This is a man before me, a human! I can still barely see, but I lean up and hug him. He chuckles and says that I do not need to thank him. My sight starts to clear up. I'm almost afraid to find he is my imagination, too. I don't want to be alone anymore.

"Are you… Are you real?" I start to poke his nose.

He places my finger away from his face. "I am."

This man is not the speaker I heard earlier from the ledge. That was a young man, and this guy is much older. His hair is long and silver. He is wearing it in a samurai-style braid. His large clothing makes me actually think he is a samurai. The cloak is off-white in color with a large red belt around his waist. The man's pants wore like the cloak did: loose, baggy. They are the same off-white color. He has brown sandals on. His toes look blistered and sore. I do not see a sword in his hand. I can see a camera. His blue eyes focus on my eyes. He has seemed alright at first, but now he is becoming uneasy. Is it something he sees in me?

"What is your name?" He asks of me.

I bury my face in my palms. They are still wet, but I chose not to look at them. I'm too scared to. What if they're bloody again? My memories pain me too much here. I find myself ignoring the man. He repeats the question to me numerous times. I cannot think of the answer. What is my name? Good question. I think I laugh in my head, but I soon find the giggles exiting my lips. I look up. I am about to explain why I am here. I will apologize for laughing and not answering him sooner. I am and I will, but I can't. The man is not before me anymore. There is a different guy. He wears a priest's purple robe and long hat. He carries a staff in his right arm. There is a jewel at the handle of it. It's so pretty. I admire its color. Oh, it's like my eyes! I reach out to touch it, but the priest turns around. He starts to walk away. His spirit moves through a stone wall. "We have moved to a safer place, away from the gates and the red water… Your sister wants to see you… We will await it… await it like disease…"

"WAIT!" I shout.

I get to my feet without realizing the priest is gone. I run to the stone wall and start to punch and kick it. 'I want to come! I want to know who I am!' I scream over and over again. I try to scratch the stones loose in hopes I will be able to break down the wall and follow him. The samurai-like man stands behind me. He slowly touches my shoulder. I lean against the wall in anger and frustration. Why am I loosing my mind? The man sighs. I think it is because he saw it, too. He doesn't tell me he did, but he does tell me something else. It is helpful, but it also makes me wonder about other things. He starts by clearing his throat. I slide down the wall. I land on the ground and do not immediately face him. He kneels next to me. I slightly turn my head to him. I brush the stone wall with my left hand.

"I'm crazy…" I whimper.

He smirks. "You're not. I just don't see how you knew about the passageway."

"You mean…?" I glance back at the wall.

"My name's Dagan Murrioko." He shakes my hand. "I'm an investigator for a newspaper. My team and I are surveying the village."

Dagan helps me to my feet. I brush myself off. He goes over to the left end of the wall and pulls extremely hard. The wall becomes a door! A sick rush of a mold and mildew smell escapes. It feels very damp and moist as I stand outside of it. I can only imagine what is must be like down inside. I can hear hammering and some conversation. Dagan ensures that it is his team working on the passageway. I ask him about the village and the rumors that I heard. He nods and agrees that he has heard them, too. He admits that it is reckless to be messing with such a dangerous and mysterious place as the village, but he cannot resist. Many people claim, as he goes on to tell me, that even though the valley is flooded, the area (forest included) remains as dry as ever. Dagan gathered his comrades together to check it out for themselves. After investigating the village in its entirety they found an underground tunnel.

I cross my arms and rub them. It is freezing. "No one was hurt?"

Dagan tenses. "A few… they were careless…" He harshly mumbles.

"They built a new village…" I find myself aimlessly walking down into the tunnel. "… So they can wait for it…"

He follows after me. "Are you sure? I mean the tunnel collapsed, but we're breaking through. Is the real village waiting for us on the other side? How do you know?"

I know he is just doing his job, but I am offended at his questions. I feel possessed. I do not understand what is happening to me. As I go down the stairs slowly I can remember being here before. I feel like there is someone inside of me who knows this place so well, someone who has come here to wait for it, too. Who is she? Is she actually me? I no longer wear my ripped denims or my filthy tank top. I wear a gorgeous dress, one for queens! The seams are golden and the material is purple silk. My hair is done up in a fancy weave of jewelry and flowers. My shoes are golden sandals. I have my hands cuffed in each other. My ears are decorated with gold rings. My face is plastered in white make-up. My lips are ruby red. My eyes are coated in dark blue rimmed with black. I look ready for a festival. I am beautiful! Things change as I reach the bottom of the steps. Blood starts to seep down the tunnel walls. Villagers are crawling on the ground below my feet. The path is not wide. I step over them and sometimes on them. They miss limbs and the blood flows like a river! Why am I walking past them? I should do something! As I enter a new darkness I look at my hands. The Villagers' blood cakes them. I killed them. I killed every last one of them.

"NO!" I snap back to my denim jeans and filthy tank top. I am standing in the dark, but torches are lit around me. The tunnel is wider. Dagan's workers have changed it. I am on my knees and I look at my hands. They feel like they are covered in their blood, but they aren't. Why do I keep imagining things like this? Did I really kill them? Dagan seems only slightly concerned. The hammering stops. 'Everything is alright.' I can hear Dagan's voice. The hammering and chiseling of the workers return. Dagan pulls me to my feet. He whispers for me to move on. I take a few more steps. I start to regain my composure. My nerves burn at the thought of these 'memories.' Who am I?

(Bunk)

There is a small dugout where they rest. Four brown boxes are set against the wall to act as seating. A longer one is in the middle with a white cloth over it. A bowl of soup is placed before me by Dagan. He now hands me a small spoon and a short glass of water. A flickering lamp is next to my meal. I can see maps and blueprints for the construction of the tunnel on the ground. They are unraveled and have black marker circling areas and labeling team members at their locations. A pile of dirty clothes and bloody bandages are stocked in the left corner. Various tools are also near the corner. I see hammers, nails, picks, and more. I believe there are a few sacks of dirt and rock that must have gotten in the way. I notice these loaded black garbage bags just near the entrance. The 'door' is a hole in the tunnel with a white sheet covering it.

"Did you take my picture earlier?" I ask Dagan after he seats himself across from me.

He shrugs. "Only sort of… you see, this is not just any ordinary camera." He places it in front of me next to my bowl of soup.

I take two spoonfuls while eyeing it over. "What's so special about it?"

"It has exorcism abilities. You never heard of the Camera Obscura?"

"Yes, I have once. I had no idea you carried it." I sip some water.

Dagan is rather excited about telling me. "Dr. Aso is such a brilliant man, dead or alive. He created the Camera Obscura to capture what the naked eye cannot see! It has the capability of repenting ghosts with a few well-placed snapshots! This was not all he made, however. Dr. Aso found a way of getting into the minds of the spirits. He found that ghosts left behind their memories in forms of beautiful and rare stones. He created the Spirit Stone Radio so he could hear these memories for himself!"

I am very amazed at what he tells me. "You own this, too?"

"Yes, I have a Spirit Stone Radio. A new scientist has been able to duplicate Dr. Aso's work. My entire team has a Camera Obscura for safety and every digging site has a Radio. It costs a lot of money, but luckily Dr. Nei is on my side." He winks at me.

"Have you heard anything… about killings?"

Dagan glares up at me. "Actually… we have located three stones. One of them mentions some. The other two we believe are from travelers who stumbled across the passageway in hopes of finding the village. They named it the New Lost Village. You… You never gave me your name…"

My insides perk. I feel uplifted and greatly hopeful. I may get my answers soon! "Can I hear them, please!"

He raises an eyebrow at me, but he does not object. "Yumi has them."

(Location 2, 'Firewall')

From the bunk we travel to the left and down a busy tunnel where diggers are feverishly trying to recover hidden places and items. Dagan leads me straight until we come to a three-way parting. He takes me to the left and past what sounds like running water underneath my feet in a certain spot. The second I step on the area of the water my heart pounds as heavy as the hammers do and I can see my lower half as the kimono-dressed queen that I was when I first arrived. It leaves after I am no longer over it. Dagan does not seem to pay attention. Maybe he didn't see? We keep heading straight. When another three-way parting comes he turns right. A few more bunks and Location 1 are dug out on the left side of the tunnel's walls. Location 1 (or 'Waterway') is covered up by a black cloak. Is he hiding something in there? We reach Location 2 (or 'Firewall') just after passing Waterway.

I am expecting to see something impressive in Firewall, but there are only two small boxes as seats and one long box with a white cloak as a coffee table. A Spirit Stone Radio (resembling a blocky, modern radio with dials and a place to insert a stone) is resting on the 'coffee table.' A young girl, about fifteen or sixteen, stands near it. She has a black pouch (carrying the stones?) on her tan tool belt. She also has hammers, rulers, wrenches, and such in a larger pouch. Her shorts are denim and look like they were once jeans, but torn to their present state. The young girl's shoes are large and durable working boots. Her shirt is a navy vest. A Camera Obscura hangs around her neck. She has brown eyes and short, blonde hair. I notice her ears are pierced the whole way around them. She salutes upon seeing Dagan.

"Yumi, at ease…!" He jokes with her.

She sighs of relief. "You scared me!" Her voice is slightly squeaky, soft, and childlike.

I lower my head. "May I hear the stones?"

Yumi nods. "Sure, you seem to have Dagan's permission!" She smiles and removes the black pouch from her belt. "All three are here."

I take it from her. "Thank you."

(Spirit Stone Radio)

Pink Crystal: Man's Voice (Static, warped, sounds worried): "I see the darkness… alone with the children…Thousands of priests gather…… The rain is red like she's back… Don't look near… the…lighthouse… Blood in the well of… the old… village…It's here, too… … needing… refuge… at last…I will… die…"

Blue Gem: Boy Child's Voice (Less static, warped, laughter, crying): "I found her… hiding in…the basement … of my house… Cuts and scabs…on her… I offered her a band aid… She hit me on the face… It burns… It burns… like… a… candle… She ran away and she stays now… … … … in… … the… … lighthouse…It's where we like to keep her… Alone… where she can wallow in pity and sorrow… Drowning… in the redness…"

Blood Red Rock: Woman's Voice (Hardly any static, less warped, upset): "Blood! Their blood…! It's like washing windows… Cleaning the village…! Killing the others… and… …… … … Their deaths… make me… yours… I'm yours… I'M YOURS! I am… yours… as you walk away… I am yours and you leave me here… Don't go, Miaka… Don't go… I found…your… doll in… in our place… Come back… Come back! Come back and see me, sister… Come back… Come back and… (warped to a demonic voice) kill me, sister… (Loud scream)"

"This… is intense…" I whisper out loud.

"DAGAN! WE BROKE THROUGH!" A worker shouts.

(End of Passage)

We ran out of Firewall. Dagan and Yumi lead me to the left and keep running. I see three workers ahead of us. They look filthy from all their work. They are dressed in rags. The tunnel gets narrower and narrower as we proceed straight ahead. It is also getting darker and the cold air returns. The draft is almost unbearable. I step on a few holes that are covered with wooden planks. The sound I make when I do alarms me. Someone is being choked? We continue in the same direction until the path takes a sharp right and then another. After the second right it jerks to the left. We run straight once more. I can see what looks like the bottom of a well. Dim light shines down. Workers have used ropes to gain access above. The ones that are on the surface help the others to climb up. There is a long line of Dagan's team awaiting their chance for fresh air. They are quickly being pulled up, though. Dagan and Yumi are before me still. Yumi smiles at me and whispers, 'Can you believe it!' Dagan turns to me and whispers something as well, 'It's our turn. We'll help you up.'

After the workers have made it to the top they drop down three more ropes for Dagan, Yumi, and me. They climb up without hesitation. The creak of the ropes makes me cringe. I stand at the bottom of the well and watch them reach the surface. The night sky is lit up with glorious stars and a crescent gold moon. The air feels warmer. Most people will take that as a blessing, but it worries me. If it is different up there, then I will not find my answers. Dagan starts to hold the rope that I am to use. Yumi signals for me to hurry up. She says it is safe. Why not? I slowly touch the rope. I grasp it. Something isn't right. The rope… it feels like flesh… I let go. 'What's wrong?' Dagan asks. I shake my head in confusion. I don't know! "Don't go, Miaka…" A woman's spirit is behind me. I turn to look at her. Ah, her face—it's warped! I can see her silver kimono is splattered in bright blood and a few tissues of flesh. I turn back to the rope, but it is now a thorny vine. What the hell! "Don't leave me… Don't leave me behind, Miaka…I am yours… I am yours now…" I feel her strangle me. Dagan and Yumi scream for me. They start taking pictures, but there is little affect. The spirit keeps on hurting me. I cannot breathe! Suddenly… (Crash) The bottom of the well caves in.

I fall forever it seems. There is only me here. The world around me is dark. I try to relax and look comfortable. I am accepting my fate again. Maybe that is why I feel right here. Or maybe it is because I am getting these strange memories again that are playing like black and white films in my head. I see… … Roses growing in a graveyard, the trees are still bare, a dead bird is resting in a large meadow and the wind blows its feathers about… a young girl (face not shown, dressed in a silver kimono, black hair) picks it up and cuffs it in her palms… She whispers an indistinct message and opens her hands… the bird shakes itself and flies off… A woman cries… "Free her from her cage… she may be able to breathe again… Miaka, it is only you who can put a smile on Mika's face…" I feel myself drifting off. I feel myself letting go. I feel myself… becoming free.

End

Chapter Two

Any and all reviews welcomed!

I will revise if needed!

Next time: The Glass Projector

Thank you!

Author's Note

The identity of the three voices on the stones are somewhat revealed within the next few chapters. You will encounter the spirits of these voices. Can you guess which one belongs to which stone?