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!

3. The Glass Projector

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 Three

The Glass Projector

"As she shatters glass,

I cannot help but feel sorry,

And feeling sorry cannot help"

Underneath me is a silk material. I run my fingers over it gently. My eyes are opened about half way. I can see nothing above. There is not even a hint of light where the surface should be. I miss the stars. I miss the golden crescent moon. I miss humanity. The warmer air is only a slight draft. It feels sort of chilly around me most of the time. I hear the tumbling of rocks. They must have been left over from when I fell. They sound like harmful pebbles. I few hit my forehead and left knee. I do not immediately move. I am sore and exhausted. I guess I should say what I've kept inside for so long. I guess I should, but I don't know if I want to. "Miaka, Miaka… Miaka, where are you?" I can hear the whispers of a younger girl. Am I Miaka? Last I checked I'm still…

"YOU LIAR!" Some woman screams.

I quickly lean up. I look around, but everything is black. I cannot see anything. The silk that I am on must be a blanket or a large coat, or something. I am not too sure. I feel around it, hoping it will help in anyway. It seems normal until my hand moves into a puddle on the ground. The material is lying over it. I sniff the liquid. It's blood, fresh blood. I flip out, violently wiping it off on myself and the silk object. My nose wrinkles at the thought of having a stranger's fluid on me. I can hear the echo of the woman's screaming over and over again. I forget about the blood and I begin to move forward. My hands are out in front of me incase there is a wall or anything. I'm so lost!

My feet scuff on the floor. I assume I am walking on stone. The warm draft leaves. There is nothing to feel but the chill. I shiver up and down my spine as I continue through this apparent nonexistence. I wonder if I am even alive. This whole dark space just feels like an empty void within my own body. If I am actually not deceased, then I must be having one dull dream. Shouldn't there be shirtless guys, millions of dollars, or even dancing pandas? Hell, I'd settle for a dream about watching paint dry; just enough of this black emptiness already!

My right foot kicks an object on the ground. It rolls for a few seconds. I get down on all fours and search for it. My hands bump into it and it rolls once more, but I quickly grab it. My face beams with excitement. It's a flashlight! How convenient! I push the small button at the end of it. It shines very brightly and it casts widely. However, not much to my surprise the place is still dark and empty. The floor and the walls are basically rock. The ceiling isn't visible, even with the flashlight. I walk more to see if there is anything ahead. I soon come to an opening in the wall.

Before I step through a shadow moves in front of me. I jerk back and shine the light around. There is a set of stairs leading up, but nothing else. I look on the stairs after I hear some footsteps. Dust is being kicked up on the obviously old and deserted steps. I can't see anybody. My pulse races as I move in closer. When I am standing at the bottom of the staircase a ghostly woman appears ascending it. She's a thin, almost skeletal figure with long, black hair and a red bathrobe on. She is barefoot and seems awful sad and upset. It freaks me out as I can hear her groaning and moping. I can only watch motionlessly. I don't know what to do! Before she reaches the top she looks back at me. Suddenly her sorrow twists into anger. The pasty woman glares her brown eyes in a sheer way of telling me to run. I can take a hint. I side-step my way from the stairs and back to the opening in the stone wall. She mutters a few words and starts to follow me. Her hands slide down the railing and she looks over it at me while she starts to glide down. I panic and run back into the empty room.

Her loud mutters are right over my shoulder. I pick up my speed as fast as it'll go. My fate, once again, is clear to me. I, however and once more again, cheat it by convenience. Near the bloody, silky material I had been lying on (which in the light shows to be a silver kimono) is a Camera Obscura. I continue running and lean down to pick it up. I drop my flashlight in the process, but that doesn't matter at the moment. I jump and in mid-air I turn and snap a few photos. The ghostly woman is repelled and screams in pain. I take two more pictures before she disperses into glittery specs. The flashlight on the ground faces in the direction where she vanishes. She has dropped something, I notice. I drape the Camera Obscura over my neck via neck strap and I kneel down to see what she left behind. It's a Blue Crystal. That is not all, though. An orb is resting next to it. I pick it all up. I pocket the new items and I hold the flashlight close to me. I owe the Camera Obscura my life!

You see, before this entire thing happened my life was nothing more but a black hole itself. Sure, I am facing an oblivious and unknown Hell in this place—then again; my world was always such a dark entry in the dairy of life. I was destined to become a depressed liability roaming around with no real goal to accomplish. I have learned to accept it. My role in this world is my only concern right now. When I hear the voices it is more than a scare; it is the call of reality. It's been waiting for me. She's been waiting for me.

On the way up the stairs I stumble across a yellow-covered book. Pink floral designs are all over it, too. It is quite pretty. I pick it up and notice that the pages are worn like they have been soaked in water for years. However, about four pages seem untouched, well untouched from the water at least. There are two bloody fingerprints in the corner of each page. Someone has read this while bleeding.

Yellow Rose Book 1: "Master Tanaka informed me that some researchers have been nosing around. I don't get it. What is he so afraid of that they'll find? I meant one of them. His name's Hatari. He's a really nice guy. He almost hyperventilated when he saw our Shrine. He seemed sort of afraid, too. What's everybody's problem lately?" 1/4 "The Priest came to see Master Tanaka and me today. The Master wouldn't let me stay in the room while they talked, though. The Priest gave me apologetic eyes. It's alright. I listened through the keyhole the best I could. What I heard… is unsettling to say the least… The gate we used to seal the edge of our village off from the forest has collapsed. The researchers claim they had nothing to do with it, that they entered using the main way. I believe them, but Master Tanaka is convinced they are lying. I bet it has something to do with that woman…" 2/4 "Nina woke up screaming last night. She came running to me saying, 'Nanny! Nanny! Nanny, there's a monster under my bed!' I laughed and told her she was hearing things. It wasn't until she dragged me in her room that I heard the whistling wind. The window was closed. 'No, under my bed! Check under my bed!' She yells. I sigh with a smile and knelt down…I… can't even describe what I saw… Maybe I was seeing things… but the woman was staring right at me… The second I ran up and carried Nina off to Master Tanaka, the woman shrieked and threw the bed across the room… but when the Master and his guards ran into Nina's room they found nothing. The bed was in place and the whistling wind was coming from the window… My Lord, please… I can't bear this anymore…" 3/4 "Nina… … she's not like herself anymore… She's angrier and more violent… only not in front of other people… I think she's going to… I think she's going to kill me! Who ever reads this… tell the Master! Nina has been taken over by A--" 4/4

I continue up the stairs with my deepest of thoughts in mind. That poor nanny… I wonder who Master Tanaka is… Wait… I heard his name before. Just where am I? It isn't long into my long travel up the stairs that I start hearing voices. I look up and can see a very extensive way ahead of me. The spiral staircase leads on for miles it seems. I am not the only one heading up, though. A spirit of a little girl with short black hair (red ribbon tied in it) wearing a pink dress with white lace and bare feet is running up the stairs. "Daddy! Daddy, wait for me! Please, wait for me, daddy! Please! Don't let it get me, daddy! Don't let it get me!" I aim the Camera up at her. She doesn't seem harmful. Should I snap a picture? I click it. My heart thumps at the fear that I upset the spirit, but nothing bad happens. She slowly vanishes. I've acquired the 'Ascent' photo (a picture of Nina Tanaka running up the lighthouse, calling for her father to wait. She's afraid of something that chasing her.)

I am so tired of climbing up these stairs. I sit down to rest after a while. I glance down to see my progress when I can see something strange coming. At first it just looks like a red cloud, but in the center of the red cloud is a woman dressed in a dark red kimono. Her long black hair drags behind her on the ground. I can't see her eyes until she stops moving for a second. I gasp and cover my mouth hoping she has no idea that I am here. She slowly moves her head upward. Her hair slides away from her eyes for a moment. They are completely black! The woman laughs and my body burns like I have heard it before. I know her? Who is she? I don't have time for questions, damn it! She's heading my way!

As I struggle to hurry in climbing these stairs I aim the Camera at her and snap a few shots. She only laughs more and seems to speed up. The picture gets weird markings in it. It's not doing anything! I scream for her to leave me alone. I can see a door. Am I about to make it out alive? I sure hope so. I estimate the number of stairs left to go. There might be twenty. I count down. It keeps me from accepting my death at the hands of this red cloudy woman. "I've waited… I've waited…for you… just you… I'm yours!" 19, 18, 17, 16… Oh, shit she's gaining on me! 15, 14, 13… I can feel her breath on my shoulder. 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7… C'mon… so close… so close! Keep away! 6, 5, 4, 3… I can see the brass handle! I reach my hand out. 2… I touch the door knob and I start to turn it… and 1…!

I open the door and feel that I am safe because the red cloud woman is no longer behind me. She has disappeared since the door is open. I smile with relief, but it does not last. A black and white vision pierces my eyes suddenly. I can see flashes between a thriving village and one where the villagers are keeled over dead and bleeding. The houses are torched and burning down. It changes to the pale face of a woman with black eyes. It focuses on her left eye as blood trickles down in a slow pace. While the blood moves down with the pull of gravity, quick flashes appear as a different woman (the one I saw at the bottom of the well when Yumi and Dagan were trying to save me) straddles over someone with a knife in her hand. She keeps stabbing them and stabbing them. I can't see who the person is until the slaughtering woman stands up and casually walks away with blood all over her kimono. The person... it's… it's me! The blood from the eye falls down from a balcony and heads to the village below… Why… Why did she kill me?

"It only hurts… because you never see my face…"

It leaves and I am left on the balcony of a lighthouse. A narrow boardwalk made of wood circles around. I can barely see the houses that surround it below. The village is massive! The dark fog makes it so hard for me to see strong details, but it appears that the houses are made of stone and wood. There are lit torches that line the pathways through the village, and I can see a gigantic bridge past here that leads across a huge river and to what appears like a tower, or a shrine. I move the whole way around the lighthouse to look at everything and I wonder about this place. Is there a way out? Will I die? What has happened here that the people are all gone? Are the ghosts I am seeing real? Am I dreaming? So many questions, but one thing is clear: Dagan, Yumi, and the rest of the team have to be here somewhere. This is where they were headed, right? This might not be so bad. I just have to call out! However, when I do… I only get my echo. Somebody… anybody… please… find me!

There is a ladder that leads down into the village below. It's only a few feet from the door I entered from. I take a few big breaths before descending the ladder. I reach the bottom and see that I am within the boundaries of a wooden fence. It leads out into the pathway of the village. There is a large, black gate to the right. It must be an exit! I try it and am not surprised when it refuses to open. I then hear someone behind me. I turn around and spot a man's spirit. He has short brown hair and wears a white shirt with tan pants and black shoes. I aim the Camera at him and snap a photo. He vanishes at the door to a small house (the first one on the left). He mutters something after he's gone. "I must find my daughter…" I've acquired the 'Searcher' photo (Gerald Hemmingway searches the village for his lost daughter. He is desperate and wants to know that she is safe.)

I cautiously make my way to where he was. The house is like the others: made of wood and stone. There are cloth curtains in the window that sway gently in the soft breeze. I open the door and peek in. It's noisy as it opens all of the way. I can't really see anything, though. There is a raised level to the left of me. It's easily accessible if one goes up two small steps. On the wooden floor is a white rug near a sunken fireplace. There is a set of stairs that lead up and down. Across from the stairs is a wood panel wall. It slides open. Ahead of me is a hallway with a door at the end of it. When I take my first step into the house and close the door behind me I see the man's spirit again. He appears near the wood panel door. He pauses and looks over at me. "I need to find her before it's too late…" I fear that he might attack, so I use my Camera. He turns his head back at the wood panel door and vanishes. I've acquired the 'Turns Head' photo (Gerald Hemmingway glances over thinking it was his daughter that entered the house after him. He continues his search.)

The wooden panel won't open. It's being held shut by something. I shake my head and look back at the hallway. I think I can hear someone calling for help! Is there someone else here besides me? I might not be alone after all! I run to the hallway and try to open the door. It's locked with what looks like an emblem of a two-headed lion near the keyhole. I call out loud for anyone to see if they can hear me. They must because it sounds like someone is yelling on the other side of the door. I can see the shadow of feet underneath. I kneel down and try to look. The person is wearing sandals. I call again, but they don't say much other than things like 'help' and stuff. Is it another ghost? I won't give up hope regardless. I go back to the stairs. I look down, but there is no way I am getting there. It looks like there was a cave-in. I think I can see a book or something, though. I reach out and swipe it up, but it drops down into lower levels. I can't even see it anymore.

I glimpse up stairs to see an upper floor. There are two doors next to the hallway. I ascend the stairs and reach the first door. I head on in. I find myself standing in a pitch black room. I turn the flashlight on and move it around. I believe I am in a cramped storage room. I can see a pile of boxes before me. A few cloth items are sticking out from under loose lids. A Japanese doll made of straw is hanging from the ceiling. A rope is tied around its neck. Her clothes look like mine. Is this village into voodoo or something? I try and make sense of the miniature, straw version of myself. I get a strange sense about it, too. Something isn't right. I start to hear childish giggling around it. In the beam of my flashlight it looks like a figure runs by me. I turn every which way. The shadow almost appears to be running in circles. Soon enough the straw doll falls from the ceiling. I look back at it and I get a face full of ghost! I lift the Camera up, but the dark spirit smacks it out of my hands. It breaks the straps around my neck. I freeze up with my eyes watering in fright. Through the dark mist surrounding the spirit I can see the white face of a young girl. She has short, red hair and blue eyes. She looks so young! She isn't friendly, though. The girl's spirit reaches her hands out and starts to choke me, much like my first ghostly encounter did. I struggle to keep her off of me. I am able to yank her hands from me. I pick up my Camera and run to the other side of the room. She falls to her knees and starts to cry angrily. "Why? Why? Betrayed me… You betrayed me…" I snap a few shots of her. She disperses into a black cloud with an extremely loud scream.

After I catch my breath I look back at the straw doll now on the ground. The rope is loose from its neck. I kneel down and take it from it. I substitute the rope for the broken strap. I then replace the Camera where it should be. I pocket the flashlight at an angle so it can still stick relatively straight out from my pant leg. I can see something shining on the floor where the spirit has been. I pick it up to see it's a Rough Cut Ruby. I leave the cramped storage room.

I move over to the second door. The instant I place my hand on the handle I get the flash of something black and white. It must have been a little boy or something, but it doesn't last more than a second because I back away from the door. I lightly touch it again and I get the same reaction. The third time I try it I do not move back. I get the full fledge image. I don't know what it means, but it is certainly interesting. The black and white images don't flash as much as my first look at them, and they seem a little different than the ones I saw before. A little boy wearing a white shirt and black shorts with brown hair and brown eyes is on his knees next to a small toy box. He's in a room that appears to be mostly white. He pulls out a small toy train and laughs. Someone creeps up behind him. As they step closer the image begins to change. In an instant it looks like the white walls are painted with blood splatter and the little boy is hung from the ceiling with a rope tied around his neck. His arms and legs are severed from his body and twitch on the ground. The toy train is shown to be moving on a circular track at one point in time. It disappears quickly and goes back between the original image and the one with more gore. The switching continues with the eerie grumble of a female and their heavy footsteps. It goes on until the figure has reached the little boy. He turns to them and smiles. He holds up his toy train with laughter. It then skips to an image of the red haired, young girl ripping his arms and legs off. The last image is off the blood I saw earlier rolling slowly down a girl's pale face. When it falls from her cheek and chin the picture cuts to a body rolled up in a blanket falling down a black hole. A girl whispers, "It's me…It's my face…"

My heart pounds as the instant I come to the little boy's spirit appears next to me near the staircase. I snap his photo just before he runs away. "Don't go near her room!" He disappears after he has stepped down two stairs. I've acquired the 'Boy's Warning' photo (Tomoya Okura warns about his sister's room, where he once meant his fate for letting the Master of the Village search it.) I look back at the door ahead of me. It doesn't seem like a bedroom. I open it. It's a large room with a barred window across from the door. I can see trees in the center of a dead garden outside. To the left is a wallpapered wall with faded pink flowers on it. There is also a small dresser in the corner. A shattered blue vase and wilted roses are on it (some on the floor). To my right is a partition screen. I can see someone's shadowy figure through it. I tense in fear that it is the red haired ghost as before. There is nothing else in the room that I can see of. I swallow my pride and step closer. I can hear her talking to herself.

"We were supposed to leave before they found us. I let you down. I let him know. It's my fault. I'll make it up to you. I promise, I will!" She sobs quietly.

I clear my throat abruptly. "H-hello?"

I can see her head perk up. She acts like she's getting up, but I never see her outside of the partition screen. Her shadow isn't there anymore. I walk behind the screen to see a red pillow with knee-imprints on it. There is another one of those yellow books with roses on the cover. I pick it up and read through it. On the corner of the first page is something written in fresh, black ink. It says, 'I found this near the lighthouse!'

Yellow Rose Book 2: "The Master told me not to worry about Nina. I honestly wish he would not let her play around the lighthouse like she does. It's dangerous there! I know myths and legends are usually just fairy tale folklores, but after what happened in her room a few nights ago I am not so sure. The place is cursed! I know it!" 1/3 "Nina has been complaining of a severe sore throat. I found burns on her like someone has been choking her! I took it up with Master Tanaka, but for some reason he claimed he couldn't see any marks. He thinks I am making this stuff up and putting it in Nina's head! One day he will see it for himself." 2/3 "I don't…" 3/3

I can see the shadow looming over me. I carefully place the book down and then I lift the Camera up. I slyly raise it, ready to twist and shoot. Things don't go too well. I jump forward and twist around, but there is no film left. I start clicking away fearful for my life when I hear a man's laughter. I scream for mercy. I am soon embarrassed. He isn't a ghost at all. He's Dagan! I get to my feet and hug him with all of my might. He expresses relief in the fact that I am still alive. I now proceed to tell him everything I saw and found. I show him the photos that I got, too. He hands me some film for the Camera Obscura. He also picks up the book I just read. A Lion Stack Key falls from the back pages. He hands it to me.

"Dagan, what's going on? Whose house is this?" I ask him.

He reaches behind the partition screen where he had set his knapsack down. He pulls out a small radio. He hands it to me and tells me that his team only owned a few miniature size-Spirit Stone Radios. It's handier and I can carry it with me. Dagan also gives me a leather book with a string tying it closed. It is so old that the binding on it is weak. "This is the Okura house. It belonged to a Four-Priest family; that is, a very revered family that has had four generations of priests. It's a high honor. The last known Okura bloodlines were a widow and her two children: a son and a daughter. The husband died during a religious ceremony. No one ever really knew why. His wife was so grief stricken that she passed away from her intense sorrow. The Master of the Village came one day to try and find the children, but the daughter was missing. He found the son…"

"Dead… the son was dead…" I finish it for him.

"Yes, the son, Tomoya Okura, was killed in a gruesome way. His murder was never solved, but the Village suffered the same fate shortly afterwards."

I remember back on the notes that talk about the researchers that had upset Tanaka so badly. I decide to ask Dagan about it. "Dagan, who were the researchers? Did you know them?"

"I'm not sure, but that's a good question. I can't find any real proof that there ever were any. There are some documents lying around that account for their presence, but that's it. This place is just deserted. My team and I intend on finding out what happened to everyone, though." Dagan is visibly shaken.

I am about to speak again when I hear something from the garden. Dagan and I run to the window and can see across the yard and into another room. It appears to be the red-haired young girl. She's throwing things around and violently thrashing herself into the walls and objects. There's a projector that's playing a film of some sort. I can barely make out what it is showing. It looks like childhood memories of a father, a mother, the little boy and the girl. What might be blood on the film pours over the images. She knocks over the projector smashing it… like it was made of glass… The girl stops and weeps over what she's done. She's bleeding badly and leaves the smearing marks on the wall where the film was playing on. "I want them back… I want them back! I'm sorry… I'm so sorry!" Dagan takes a photo of it. The girl's spirit vanishes, but the mess is still there. He hands me the 'Regrets' photo (Jun Okura weeps over what she has done to her family and herself.)

I look away and down at the book Dagan gave me and the radio. We all have our sad stories…

End

Chapter Three

Any and all reviews welcomed!

I will revise if needed!

Next time: His

Thank you!

Author's Note

Why thank you for saying it is suspenseful as well as frightening. That is exactly what I was going for. lol. Well, to be honest I can't say that I really try anything different other than picture what I want to happen, and then describing it just like it is in my head. I DO try very hard to get the emotion from the character to the reader, though. I feel that is one of the most extremely important things to accomplish. It can be tricky, and I have trouble doing it, but with enough practice it will come as easily as breathing to you! As for something being very scary; that's even more difficult than showing a character's emotions because the reader is reading it. They can't sense it, or hear it, or anything. So, you have to describe the sounds, sights, (etc.) the best you can and just hope that they get the image in their minds. This is what I try to go for. I hope I answered your question!