Title: Sunrise
Fandom: Fatal Frame V: Oracle of the Sodden Raven
Rating: K+
Length: 574
Content notes: Trans/Genderfluid Character.
Author notes: Doubles as a fill for GenPrompt Bingo. \o/
Summary: After the sun sets it always rises.

Houjo Ren rids himself of the last tangible link to Mount Hikami and takes some personal inventory of the lessons learned from those who died on the mountain.

Even after the events at Mount Hikami, the photograph remains. A woman garbed all in white smiles demurely at him, eyes downcast and hooded beneath her shroud, beckoning him beyond the borders of life and death. Even after being purified, Kurosawa Ouse continues to haunt him.

Ren grimaces when he recalls his associate's fate, remembers the tormented spirit they happened upon in the Lost House of Watarai Keiji. His stomach turns and he sees the black box in the middle of the room where a coffee table should be instead, creaking open and inky water spilling out. Kazuya emerges from it in a blur of flailing, crackling limbs and horrid shrieks. He doesn't go for Ren but for Rui instead, grabbing the teen by the throat. Ren's heart is still pounding from the expression of helplessness on Rui's face.

But Rui sleeps soundly on the sofa now, dreaming away with a smile on his face. He murmurs about things sometimes, silly little things like 'Ren, pick up after yourself' or 'Ren, you have a meeting with your publisher, at least try to look decent.' Nightmares still plague his slumber on occasion, and he always pleads to sleep with Ren when they visit him. It's not like Ren ever has the heart to turn the teen down.

The photograph does remind him of one pleasant lesson: the present is all that matters. There will always be Mount Hikami's, All Gods Villages, and Himuro Mansions, but the brief respite that follows these tragedies is meant to be cherished. Life is, as the old adage goes, quite fleeting.

Ren isn't a religious man and Kazuya wasn't much of a friend, but the small shrine tucked in the corner of the study should be enough to appease the dead man. (Rui keeps it especially clean and always supplies the vase with fresh-cut flowers.) Approaching the memorial, Ren bows his head slightly and mutters a word in prayer, glancing across the room at Rui after.

Plucking his lighter from the desk, he holds up the photograph and ignites it. Flames lick the edge of the priestess's wedding gown and crawl along her shoulders, edging closer and closer until they singe her lovely face and consume her entirely. Ren catches a few of the ashes in his palm and mingles them with the hydrangeas Rui left in Kazuya's memorial vase.

"I'm sorry for what happened, and I don't expect forgiveness."

He turns his back on the memorial and walks over to the sofa where Rui is still snoozing away. A smile softens his features as he runs his hand through the teen's short hair. Chuckles tumble from his lips when the boy pushes back on his hand and sighs in his sleep.

"You taught me what was important though, Kazuya." He can't help glancing over his shoulder at the shrine again, smiling back at the smirking man in the picture frame. "Thanks."

"I don't forgive you…" murmurs Rui suddenly in his sleep, startling Ren. A smile also plays on the teen's lips. "But thanks for honoring my memory…Take care…of…Rui…"

Ren inhales sharply and takes a step back, trying to collect himself. He's pissed that Kazuya would possess the person most precious to him just to get a message across, but he's also glad for the closure. After his nerves quit jumping, he returns to his desk and manuscript, glancing up occasionally at his assistant.

"Sweet dreams, Rui…"