A/N: I want to thank all the beautiful reviewers, if you have questions related to Fatal Frame, please contact me and I'll be glad to help.

Bold letters represent an important word…and if you love to follow up or relate to the story, you'll have to understand them.

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The Tormented

By: Elie

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Hour III:

The Subduing Song

Damn it…this dream would never end. Having a nightmare was never this easy.

Sprawling to sit down, Xiaoyu clutched the camera to her chest and stood up. The first thing she did was check if the camera was fine and aimed it around her.

No doubt of it. She was back again at where she had ended last night…at the Round Window Foyer. And she remembered her fiancé going straight to that hallway in front of her…and to that door.

"I want to see him," she sighed, "But I'm…I…" she didn't want to feel scared because if she really wanted to see Jin, she had no choice but to live in this dream.

This dream, however, was getting more frequent…and she hadn't expected it. And the Tattoo growing at her shoulders was almost covering her whole back…it was of a blue and purple Holly Tree.

Rubbing her nape, which was covered by her untied raven strands, a bit, she continued and walked toward the Bell Hallway, as there were small bells attached to the ropes hanging on the walls.

There was an eerie silence – no gusting of wind, cracking of the doors, morbid humming – except for her high-heeled sandal's footsteps. But all of a sudden, rustling of hay was heard, and craning her neck…she saw another man in white, this time, with a shorter court hat.

He was moaning excellently in that deep, painful voice for an unknown reason. He was walking idly toward her carrying a long staff with a sharp knife at the edge.

Lifting his head up, the man extended a hand. "Help me…" And there, his eyes revealed that he had no irises but an empty void of white.

Fear ripped through her slender form, but summoning the courage to do so, Xiaoyu pulled the camera to her face and snapped a photo out of the man. And to her surprise, the man moaned louder, almost at the top of his lungs…and disappeared.

Xiaoyu stared shockingly at the Camera Obscura in her hands. So, this thing was special after all…whoever invented this maybe had something to do with the whole dream.

In fact, why is it that only she and Jin were the only ones in this dream?

Slightly shivering from what had happened, she slowly turned back at the door in front of her…the very same door where Jin went to.

With excitement rushing to her veins, she placed her hand over the knob…and frowned.

Damn, it's locked.

Xiaoyu gritted her teeth, lowering her head in dismay. She saw two alternate ways again…left and right. The nearest one was at the left, so she decided to go there.

The door creaked open and she saw a normal looking projector which turned on itself…projecting something. There was a short film of four little girls hammering something she nodded.

It was mute until the rolling of the film up to the last part. Curious, she took the old film reel and read the label: Impalement.

"Who took this video anyway?" she asked inwardly, putting the small film inside her pocket. And then, the filament of her camera grew red and she shot the projector with it.

When she spun around to look for an exit, the sight appearing instantly before her almost froze her nerves. And later did she know that the filament was still glowing.

It was a little girl…wearing the same red and white kimono as the girl she had seen in her delusion earlier…but she looked different, and her hair was neatly combed into a tight ponytail with her bangs covering her eyes - her wicked looking eyes.

When she was about to shriek, faint or react in any way, Xiaoyu witnessed how the girl vanished like powder being thrown up in the air. Shuddering, she clutched the camera tighter and stepped back a little, only finding herself in a small alcove with a bookshelf behind the projecting screen.

A book caught her attention. She picked it up and began reading:

Folklore Notes 1 – "I've been researching for long now…and finally, I found the shrine that is hopefully connected to the legend of the "Sleeping Priestess"…some called it the "Tattooed Priestess" because of the blue tattoo that covers the woman's body…Now about the shrine, all I could say is that it's hidden away in the mountains and there're surprisingly no people who come inside. When the snow melts, visitors aren't allowed inside because they carry out a Rite to protect something. A sacred site, maybe. But maybe they do invite men sometimes to preserve the bloodline. And men are called outsiders. It seemed harsh, I thought. But I knew of a Rite that when winter comes, chosen people hide their faces inside the mansion…it seemed to be of a funeral procession. And the Rite is surely connected to the legend."

"No way," she breathed, "No…this isn't true…this is just a dream!"

She ran out of the Projection Room and found herself outside an open corridor. And further right, she could see the door leading to the Hidden Shrine she had gotten into in her delusion. She realized she was standing at the Garden Corridor.

Ting

Snow was falling on the sacred Holly tree and poles with skewered Japanese dolls in them at the middle of the corridor. The filament grew red again, and she moved closer to the tree and took a snap…the picture appeared to be men dressed in white with short court hats.

Before walking away, she glanced suspiciously first at the doll tied up on the Holly and shivered.

Ting

The bell rang two times again…and Xiaoyu's heart leapt. "Jin!"

She looked around frantically for her fiancé. Unfortunately, he was nowhere in sight, and it gave her the insight that he went into the Hidden shrine again. Xiaoyu turned right and walked there.

Ting

What is it now? She was getting pissed of the vicious tingle of that infamous bell, and she ignored it. But when she was about to pass by another open space, she saw another girl walk in deeper into that space, only with a shoulder length hair.

Xiaoyu breathed angrily. What was she supposed to do? Go to that door leading to that Hidden shrine, or pursue the girl for god knows what? Her senses, however, told her to follow the girl.

She angrily did so, discreetly as she could. "I don't give a damn anymore…"

All she wanted was to see Jin again before waking up from this mad nightmare. And she reached the dead end…completely losing track of the girl.

"Where did she go now?" Xiaoyu bit her lip, and in a baffled state, kicked her right foot behind…right at the miniature door behind her back.

Slightly taken aback, she kneeled down and pushed the door open. It won't budge. She sat down in exasperation, pulling her own hair angrily.

The filament was glowing red all along, and she stared at it in wonder. Suddenly, her eyes snapped and she crawled away from the door to get a good shot of it.

Then the picture appeared to be at a different location, with a familiar girl hammering something onto a wall filled with hammered dolls. Hey, everything did look familiar.

"So, is there a curse to this door or something? What does this picture mean?" Xiaoyu shook her head more vigorously…and then, an idea struck her mind.

…

A few hours later, Xiaoyu arrived back at the miniature door weary, and a bit collapsing.

She was exhausted finding her way back to the Hearth Room and up the stairs into the small peep-hole where she saw that gruesome hammering girl and quickly took a photo of her.

Then, like in a split second, an image of a skewered doll appeared and vanished…easily indicating that the curse had finally subsided.

Xiaoyu, like a limp old dog, fell on her chest and did nothing but crawl toward the small door and opened it.

The first thing she saw in her hazy vision was crimson…the walls looked crimson. Blood. Red. Elegant. And then…there was a familiar figure standing, his back toward her. He seemed to be talking…to the shoulder length haired girl.

Xiaoyu dragged herself in, a bit surprised that none of them noticed her. So, she listened to the conversation.

"I'm not going to help you…you're a man," the girl said, "You're going to get caught, and I don't want to get involved…just like Amane!"

"Amane? What are you talking about? I just want to find the girl with a long black hair and – "

"What do you want from the Priestess anyway? Is your name…Kaname? Are you Amane's brother?" the girl asked.

The figure stepped back a little. Xiaoyu realized who it was, but she was too exhausted to shout or move. Jin…

"I don't understand what you're saying…what's a Priestess anyway? Who's Amane?" Jin sighed, "Look, I'm just looking for a girl…and she isn't dead, like me."

The girl grimaced. "I don't want to hear excuses! I don't want to help you and that's that!" She vanished right before their eyes.

Jin sighed and turned around. What he saw surprised him.

"Xiaoyu!" he reached down to her and held her in his arms. She felt so warm. How long had it been when he had cradled her like this.

"Jin," Xiaoyu smiled for the first time since, "Finally…I found you,"

"Are you okay? You look so tired," Jin sounded worried, "What did you do?"

Xiaoyu shook her head and nuzzled deeper onto Jin's cold chest. He was cold, but she felt warm to him. She tilted her head up, not bothering to reply to his question, and closed her eyes.

Jin didn't bother to question her any further as he was too frustrated by his own problems in this mansion. Right now, they just had to live the moment.

He leaned down, parted her lips with his cold ones, and applied a deep, soft kiss…and then everything went like a blur to Xiaoyu.

…

For the first time, her eyelids fluttered open in a gentle way. And to her disbelief, her lips felt cold as ice. Their kiss was true, maybe?

Smiling, she closed her eyes again, hoping that they'd be back to where they'd left off.

But this wasn't the end of a happy, contented, ever-after…

Xiaoyu shrieked. She craned her neck and saw the Holly Tattoo of blue and purple had partially covered her back. It felt that the pain was cutting through, ripping off her flesh and then smearing it with newly burnt embers.

Her door slammed open and it was Asuka.

"Xiaoyu!" Asuka ran up to her bed and held her close. "Shh…it's just a nightmare,"

The pain subsided. Xiaoyu's eyes widened. "H-how did you know?"

Asuka smiled nervously. "Uh…I just do,"

"Asuka, do you want to tell me something?" Xiaoyu asked.

Asuka got up to her feet and walked toward the door. "Well yes…it's the pictures you wanted me to research at. Just get dressed and take it from me downstairs."

When she closed the door, she couldn't help but shrug heavily. "My head hurts…"

She walked down the stairs and sat back on the couch, taking her coffee as she watched the rain from the window in front of her.

"It's been raining a lot since," she sipped from her cup, "I don't want to dream that dream again…"

TBC

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A/N: Yes, all the people appearing inside the mansion are FREAKING GHOSTS. But they can kill…and if you die in the dream, you'll disappear in real life. That's in Fatal Frame 3. Now please be kind and review…