Mahogany eyes looked around his surroundings; he gave a soft grunt as he flop himself down on the ground. Arms wrapped loosely around his neck, he bend forward a bit as he allowed the weight of the person to rest upon him; a soft sigh was heard.

“It’s weird to see you get troubled with your thoughts.” A feminine voice said.

“Hmm? What are you talking about?” The boy said innocently as he gripped the female’s arm.

“Don’t lie to me Akira; I know when you’re troubled.” The girl stated as she unwrap her arms from his neck and stood in front of him.

“Don’t worry about me…I’ll be fine.” He said quietly.

The girl gave a shrug and walk towards a stone hedge with weird markings; her fingers brushed against the small engravings of the stone…fascinated with the strange symbols. The girl’s eyes diverted toward a crimson colored butterfly; she stood up from her crouching position and watch the butterfly moved towards her.

Akira heard the soft crunches of leaves behind him signaling him that his girlfriend was starting to wander away from the area.

“Marri?” He called her name yet no reply came.

He called her name several times, each time he called her name it became more demanding with a hint of worry in his voice. He looked behind him, like he had suspected…Marri wasn’t around.

“Shit…” With that he got up from his sitting position and followed the small trail of crunched up leaves Marri left earlier; as he passed the stone hedge that his girlfriend had examined earlier; everything turn dark, the trees seemed to cluster together around him as he came to a halt. He felt chills running up his spine, as he watches the eerie phenomenon.

“Marri!” He called out again, his voice becoming desperate to finding the girl he care about; it wasn’t like her to not respond or ignore his cries.

He darted forward as he build up a small amount of courage to finding his girlfriend, he isn’t going to stop searching for her until he finds her unless he lost hope in ever finding Marri. He trudge through the woods finding a way or a sign that Marri had pass by, he pause for a moment…he could sense that someone or something was watching his every move, his eyes darted in every direction trying to find a sign of life.

“Hello? Is anybody there?” He asked as he crossed his arms.

He was greeted by dead silence.

“Look if you’re a person, I need help. I need to find my girlfriend and take us out of this place. I need to know if you have seen a girl with black hair, almond-shaped brown eyes, and have pale skin.”

A woman with white kimono appeared in front of him, both her clammy cold hands clutching each side of his shoulders.

“Ryozo…you came. You said you would love me, and only me not anyone else…why did you break your vow?”

Akira stared at the woman, his eyes widening at the creepy sensation filling him as the woman started leaning in. On instinct his feet kicked the ground and started dashing off the other direction, he needed to get Marri and leave the place as soon as possible.

“Ryozo come back! Don’t leave me! Please!” The woman’s voice pleaded.

He didn’t look back; he kept running until he reached a small shrine area which seems to be an entrance to a certain village.

“Marri?” Akira hollered her name as he walked through the entrance.

He felt his foot nearly crushed something as he started to trudge forward towards the village; he examined the object, it was an old fashioned camera with a small manual book next to it. As soon as he touched the camera a memory was forced into his mind.

A man was holding the same camera in his hands

“This is called the camera obscura, it can take pictures of restless spirits and sealed them in a photograph.” The man said as he looked into the viewfinder of the camera obscura and aimed the camera towards a coffin with a pair of arms rising from it.

The man pressed the trigger as the arm came close to his face, a small grunt of pain came from the spirit as a flash was seen and turn to a white ball then exploded into small white particles. The picture of the spirit came out of the camera’s picture slot.

“This camera is too powerful. I must hide this so no one should tamper it.”

Akira gave a small nervous laugh as the flashback ended; instead of grabbing the camera obscura he grabbed the camera’s manual.

“The camera obscura can capture and seal restless spirits. To capture the spirit just point the camera towards the spirit and pressed the trigger button; the spirit won’t automatically be captured until it gives up or if it is weakened. The camera is equipped with 7-film; it is the weakest film to be used on spirits but yet it never runs out. There are powerful films that can be equipped on the camera obscura; Zero-film is the highest, powerful, yet rarest film to be found.” He read out loud.

Akira hesitated for a while before hesitantly picking up the camera obscura, he hopes that the camera comes in handy and did not play a sick joke that played through his mind earlier. He darted forward again as he entered the village.

“Marri I’m coming for you.” He said quietly and journeyed inside the village.

The butterfly flew inside an old abandon house with Marri trailing behind it. The girl seems to be in a trance as she followed the butterfly, she started to gain conscious as the butterfly flew out of her sight.

“Where am I?” She asked herself as she looked around.

“Akira? Where are you?” She asked loudly as she twirled around.

Her eyes widen as she saw a skeleton coated with dry blood hanging from the ceiling, she felt her legs weakened and then her behind crashing onto the floor. Her eyes started to water; she has a huge phobia of skeletons for no apparent reason.

“This is all a dream…” The girl mumbled as she started to loose conscious.

Before her vision became pitch black, a small laugher was heard as a white figure walked towards her.

He entered the closest house; the house had many bookshelves filled with old books and a desk cluttered with papers. He walked towards the desk and picked up the flashlight next to a notebook that has the words “Diary of Hatsune Brianne: Do not read.” His ear perks up at the sound of soft footsteps behind the hallway’s curtain entrance.

“Sorry if I’m intruding, I need to find Marri then we will leave.” Akira said softly as the footsteps ceased.

He took hold of the diary on top of the desk and flipped it opened.

“Dear Diary,

Yae met Ryozo today, a researcher who stumble to town, she seems to be having a small crush on the researcher, since she couldn’t stop talking about him. I feel so neglected when she starts talking to him, like I’m not even there. But her first priority is that she wants to escape this village before the Crimson Ritual that is going to start next month, since she and Sae are chosen to do the ritual. I can’t believe their father would let his daughter push through the ceremony just for the sake of the village, I guess since he is the ceremony master many people look up to him to save the village. Oh! I must go father will be very angry if I don’t head downstairs and cook his meals.”

Akira took hold of the fallen photograph from the diary; he squinted his eyes to get a better look at the old photo, it consist of a girl next to a pair of identical girls, one twin was leaning near a handsome looking male.

‘This must be Yae, she must have been that woman I saw earlier.’ Akira thought as he placed the diary and photograph inside his messenger bag. A hand landed on to his shoulder, he flinched for a while as he watched a teenage girl walked in front of him with a ghostly aura.

“Don’t be afraid Ryozo…it’s just me Hatsune. Yae’s spirit is becoming restless again after seeing you with another girl, she kept watch on you two for a month and a half until she was able to successfully lure you two into this chaotic village. Her spirit rested for a year with her twin, I thought that Yae’s look a like was able to calm both twin’s spirits, but I’m afraid you’ll have to calm your wife’s soul.”

“Huh? Wife? I don’t have a wife, and I’m not yet of age to marry. My name isn’t Ryozo.” Akira stated.

“There’s not much time before Yae pulls out another act on this village you must go! I’ll wait here if ever you need my assistance. You should take a flashlight with you to keep you alert around this dark village, I heard there are restless souls out there ready to tackle an unsuspecting victim until their souls are trapped in this village. Good luck Ryozo.” Hatsune said as she pointed towards a red colored flashlight.

“Thanks Hatsune, and my name isn’t Ryozo! It’s Akira!”

With that Akira left with the camera obscura dangling around his neck and a flashlight in hand.

A/N: I have no idea why I’m getting so addictive to Fatal Frame II: The Crimson Butterfly when I never played the game…*sighs* I’ll head back to trying to type the next chapter of the remaining stories that need to be completed (all Final Fantasy VII stories), gaah! I hate it when I prefer typing original stories than fanfics…not many people read original fiction these days and doesn’t pressure me on how to write the next chapter. Let’s see how this story will turn out to be.