Fatal Frame Parthenon Claim, 8/10

[estinose]

Title: Wedding Vows
Prompt: New Lands
Muse: Hinasaki Miku
Fandom: Fatal Frame/Zero
Length: 923
Summary: Kirie gets married. Nobody dares interrupt.
Disclaimer: Mafuyu, Kirie, Miku, and everyone else belong to Tecmo.
Notes: Part 8 of a Fatal Frame AU.


"Mafuyu, what are you *thinking*?" Miku exclaimed quietly, so that Kirie couldn't hear. They were standing on the porch of the Cherry Atrium, semi-obscured from Kirie.

"The happier she is... the easier she can keep the Malice from absorbing us, and maybe it'll be easier for the next person to free all of us." Mafuyu closed his eyes. Looking at him, Miku could well believe that he wanted to save all of them; he was that kind of person. "She destroyed the Camera, but there might be more like it out there."

Miku thought of the parts of the Holy Mirror she'd collected on her way to save Mafuyu. "Or if they get the Holy Mirror together... but I only had four of the five parts when she... when she...."

She remembered arriving in the chamber and Kirie actually smiling at her as she grabbed her. It reminded her creepily of Mr. Munakata, who kept telling her not to be afraid even as he was trying to kill her. A lot of the ghosts were interested in shaking her to death just to get her to help them.

Kirie hadn't let Miku slip out of her grasp, no matter how much Miku had struggled. She'd somehow known that it was the end, that she was going to haunt the place like everybody else had.

"Is anybody else here conscious?" she asked.

Mafuyu shook his head. "You, me, and Kirie." He sighed. "She killed Yuu.. you remember him. He was trying to find us and she killed him for it."

She remembered Yuu well. "Then we're the only ones that can end this."

"Us and somebody else." He gave her a smile. "But let's go do this before Kirie gets worried."

Indeed, the ghost was frowning. "What took you so long?"

"Big brother was explaining how much he missed me and how he hoped that I'd be happy with his marriage to you," Miku said, thinking fast. "And we were trying to figure out the vows."

"We thought about a Western ceremony," Mafuyu said, "But you wouldn't probably know what that was, and I thought you'd had enough of ceremonies anyway."

"Yes," Kirie said, sounding mollified. "You two think so much of my happiness...."

"Let's stand below the tree," Mafuyu said, taking Kirie's hands. "There's no priest here, but...."

So, they did. Miku looked up at the woman hanging from the tree, and thought of how she'd rather not see her brother getting married to a murderous ghost, no matter what his intentions. His kindness would probably get him killed, or permanently destroyed.


"We don't need a priest," Kirie said simply.

"I wouldn't want any of them here anyway," Miku said, thinking of how awful they'd been to fight. She gazed upon the grave of the one in the atrium, who seemed the kindest of the lot.

"Nor would I," Kirie said approvingly. "Mafuyu?"

"Kirie," he said, and Miku hoped he knew what to say. "I knew something was pulling me here. I thought it was Mr. Takamine, but it turns out it was you. I didn't know until I came here of what I was missing, but you filled in that part of my life." He looked down at her face. "I'll be with you, for I was born to come here, to forsake my search for new lands in order to be in your arms."

Miku wondered how much of that was genunine and how much of that was his folklore studies and making things up.

"And Mafuyu," Kirie said, looking up at him, "You came back for me, even as they tried to separate us forever." She was smiling. "I will protect you and Miku forever."

Miku thought she should say something. "You're married now?" It came out far less confident than she wished.

"Thank you, Miku." Kirie let go of Mafuyu's hands. "We're truly a family now."

"Kirie," Mafuyu said, "The reason I wanted to say my vows here... this is my great-grandmother, in the tree."

Kirie looked up at the woman, and Miku had to look at her too. "This is our great-grandmother, Mafuyu?" She remembered fighting the woman, running around the grounds to get a good shot. She'd been tough and hadn't gone down easily. To think that she was their great-grandmother was amazing....

Mafuyu was nodding. "Munakata Yae, our great-grandmother. Great-grandfather's here, too. He found the Blinding Mask and opened the tunnel...."

"He was trying to comfort me when he was throttling me to death," Miku said. It made a certain amount of sense, though maybe he would have done that to anyone.

"So, we unite my family and yours properly at last." Kirie was satisfied. "Someday you will be able to avenge my pain as I do, but in the meantime, we are together and have our kin around us."

"We should try to awaken the other ghosts," Miku said. She didn't know who Mafuyu had mentioned before Kirie had gotten impatient. "I'd like to get to know my great-grandparents, and if we could get those children awake, we could enjoy them being around too...."

Kirie was beaming. The thing attached to her was writhing - in agony or ectasy, Miku wasn't sure. "I made the right decision, bringing you both to this state," she said. "Together, we'll do it. We'll have family that cares for us."

Miku just hoped that she was making the right choice. If there were more awake, the more they could help end Kirie's curse.

It just might take some time.