Authoress' Notes: Thank you to Licht Sieger for e-mailing me! Here's the continuation you suggested. I'm sorry it took me so long… but so many things happened…

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Mio nor Itsuki, nor anything from Fatal Frame. They belong to Tecmo!

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It's Alright
by psychedelic aya

She opened her eyes, the world a mere blur to her. Figures came in a haze, shaped like dots in a painting.

Mio Amakura blinked, focusing her vision.

Once.

Twice.

Where was she again?

Moaning, she sat up, ignoring the tremendous pain she felt stinging her whole body. Her head ached like a thousand needles pierced through it. By impulse, she put a dainty hand over the aching part, trying to soothe her migraine.

Her world suddenly blinked black, then a fuzzy gray, then color again. But her eyes were wide open the whole time.

And then, all of a sudden, the pain was gone.

"…What…?" Her own voice seemed foreign to her, as if it had a soft echo she couldn't decipher. But still she knew it was her own. Then, in just above a whisper, "What… happened?"

She stared at her hands—touching them, caressing them. Her whole body was unscathed, as flawless and perfect as before. She admired her own figure, staring at her skin and feeling its smoothness.

But somehow, she felt like this was all wrong.

She stared at her hands with disbelief, trying to recall what she had done before this. There was this feeling of incompleteness inside her, as if a part of her memory had been torn away.

"…Mayu…?" She called out in a shaky voice, the absence of her sister troubling her. What happened? Why wasn't her twin around? Why was she alone here in the forest?

Her hands, as if having a will of it own, suddenly grasped her neck.

And then she remembered.

"…I am… a Remaining…"

Her eyes immediately averted above her, gazing at the heavens. In panic, she searched for anything that had significance. Then she saw it. The cliff she had jumped from.

She had committed suicide.

(That jump was high, so high—for a moment I only thought I was flying—)

Mio gasped, staring at her hands again. She was expecting to see some sort of ghostly formation of her body: transparent hands, the ability to pass through walls, and maybe even the ability to fly. But instead, she saw herself like she always was.

Her confusion welled up inside her, eating her consciousness. She couldn't understand anything. If she was dead, why did she seem alive?

Her palm rested on the forest floor, supporting her weight. But then, the moment her skin came in contact with the ground, she immediately withdrew it.

The soil was wet—and then later, she realized… it was her own pool of blood.

By impulse, she stood up, her mouth slightly open in surprise, her eyes wide. She took an intake of breath, her hand covering her mouth.

Her eyes set gaze on where she laid, and there she saw the red liquid that had stained the forest floor and the jagged rocks.

And her body. Her mangled, maimed, bloody body.

The emotions welled inside her. She was dead—she was sure of it.

"N-no…" She backed away slowly, unable to accept reality. She grasped her head with both hands. "No, no, no!" Denying, refusing. She shouted her anger to the empty atmosphere. "T-this isn't happening!" And with indescribable feelings inside her, she ran.

Her rapid footsteps pressed soundly to the grass and leaves on the ground as she sprinted blindly to nowhere (againagainagain to nowhere), hoping to find some answers. Or at least someone to give her answers.

But then again—in death, you were always alone.

The tears ran hotly through her face, freely cascading down her cheeks. Occasionally she would waver, and in a cracked whisper, "N-no… n-no…"

…Until she couldn't take it anymore.

"NOOO!"

At that moment, her shout echoed throughout the forest.

And at the same time, someone held her by the shoulders.

"Mio!"

She could feel her whole body being shaken, as if being awakened. She didn't know who the person was—but his voice seemed awfully familiar. And so without another thought, without even seeing who the person was—she cried in his arms.

Itsuki Tachibana held the shivering girl in his arms, his eyes softening. He knew he held her great thanks since she saved the whole village from the darkness.

…She saved him from the darkness.

"Mio…" He called out again, and somehow he knew that she did not realize who he really was. He tried to comfort her. "Shhh… Mio… stop crying…" How he called her by a different name was also a mystery to him, but somehow he knew that she wasn't Yae nor Sae—he knew the moment she had killed her sister, the moment she had fulfilled the sacrifice. Yae wouldn't have done such a thing because she was too afraid.

She muffled against him, her tears unstoppable. Then, in a soft whisper, she said, "I'm so sorry Mayu…" Another sniffle. "I'm so sorry… I didn't know what I was doing…"

His eyes widened as she spoke, realizing that even in death, she was still suffering.

"Mio…" He murmured, and she just cried some more. He hugged her tighter, trying to cease her tears. "It's going to be okay, Mio... I'll stay with you."

She seemed to be surprised at first, as if only then realizing that she was crying in the arms of a total stranger. She tried to pull away, but found that she couldn't. Her hazel eyes abruptly looked up, only to meet amethyst ones. She gasped a little, wondering just what she was doing in the arms of a ghost. "Itsuki…?"

He nodded. "Mio," he said again, wiping her tears away.

Not Yae or anyone else—"You know who I am?"

He smiled, for the first time since. It was such a beautiful smile—endearing, loving, and perfect—Mio felt all her fears be taken away.

"Thank you."

(We're both suicides and we'll never reach heaven but it probably won't matter 'til it will, won't it?)

And so she was dead.

(And so it's alright.)

But, at least,

(Because, at least—)

At least at least at least—

(We're together.)

She was not alone.

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Authoress' Notes: Yeah, that sucked even more than the first chapter. Hmmm.

Smile, someone up there loves you.

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