Title: Their Own Ghosts
Fandom: Fatal Frame
Rating: G
Length: ~800 words
Content notes: Slightly crackficcy, but otherwise no warnings.
Author notes: This is mostly post-III, but relatively minor characters (the Kiryu twins) from II show up.
Summary: Sometimes ghosts just show up at Rei's house, and she has to deal with them.



"Why do you kill?"

Rei stared down at the twin girl ghosts that were standing in her bedroom, speaking in stereo. She'd developed a tired acceptance of ghosts showing up in her house during the Manor of Sleep incident, and as long as they didn't try to kill her, she wouldn't try to find a working Camera Obscura.

"So, where do you come from?"

"Why do you kill?" the ghosts echoed in duplicate again. She supposed two very small ghosts who didn't attack her in her bedroom were better than having Handmaidens show up in her living room.

"Never mind." She poked her head out the door. "Miku!"

Her live-in assistant ran upstairs. "Yes, Rei?" she asked, and folded her hands at Rei's expression. "What-what happened?"

"Do you recognize these ghosts?" Rei asked, opening the door to her room so that Miku could take a peek.

The twin ghosts shuffled up. "Why do you kill?" they chorused.

"No," Miku said, clutching her hands to her chest. "None of my ghosts were twins. Maybe Mio knows?"

It made sense. She remembered that twins featured in Kei's side of the dreams, though not these twins in particular. "Good idea. It's a good thing today is Sunday." Mio wouldn't be in school. "Could you... stand here and listen to them while I call Kei?" She just wasn't sure that she wanted the ghosts to overhear, though they seemed trapped in a world of their own.

"Oh, okay." Miku stepped forward. "Hi, what's your names?"

"Why do you kill?"

Rei escaped, glad to not have to listen to them, and thinking of ways to apologize to Miku for having to do so.

"Amakura here." Kei's voice was warm, and Rei wished she had time to talk to him.

"Kei?" They were informal around each other, a consequence of being in the Manor. "This is Rei."

"Rei? Something I can help you with? I'm not a folklorist like Yuu, but...."

"You ran across twins when you were in the Manor. Did you run across a pair of very small twins that kept asking why you killed?"

She could almost see him concentrate. "Not myself. What happened?"

"I've got a pair of twins that are doing just that. Miku is currently paying attention to them for me." She definitely owed Miku something for that.

"I do have a working Camera Obscura if you need it." He'd been talking about getting one of them fixed. Just in case.

"I hope I don't." She could hear a voice in the background, Kei's niece Mio. She heard him hesitantly explaining the situation.

"The Kiryu twins," she could hear Mio say, and then she was on the phone. "They were in Minakami Village."

"Do you feel like talking about them?" She was never sure if Mio was ready to talk, and neither was Kei. Mio had talked a little about her time there, but it would take a long time before she could talk about all of it.

"No. But... are they attacking you?"

"No, just standing there," Rei said. "If they were, I'd be calling you from a payphone." Hiding was Kei's specialty, not hers.

"If they do... the doll raises its arms before attacking." After that cryptic note, there was a shuffle, and Kei returned to the line.

"I'll bring the camera, just in case," he said. "I'm leaving Mio here."

"I'm going," Mio said, with a determination that Rei wasn't used to hearing out of her.

"We'll be there soon," Kei promised.

Rei was glad that he'd moved nearby, because he was soon at the door, his niece close behind. "They're upstairs, making accusations at Miku," she said as they changed into house slippers.

It was almost anticlimactic when the Amakuras got upstairs, Rei following close behind. Miku shifted to one side, and Mio took the camera from her uncle, as if these were her ghosts and she'd deal with them.

One picture with Type-07 later, and the twins were gone, much to Rei's relief. Even if they weren't hostile, there were only so many iterations of "Why do you kill?" that she could listen to.

"Thank you," Rei said, and Miku gave the younger woman a smile. "I know you're probably not ready to talk yet, but...."

"No." Mio shook her head. "But they're my ghosts. I have to deal with them."

They all had to deal with their ghosts, Rei realized. Figuratively or literally. This time, it was literal, and as Mio relaxed, Rei wondered if it was exactly what Mio needed. She was the most wounded of all of them, the one that needed the most healing.

Rei just hoped that no more ghosts would show up to help out. At least these had proved harmless.

As Kei wrapped an arm around Mio's shoulders, Rei made up her mind. "I'll make everybody lunch." She owed it to Miku, and to Mio, and to Kei. They all had their own ghosts, but at least they all had each other, and that was what mattered.