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Fatal Phantom: Ghost Butterfly Chapter 2

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It was an eerie, cold sight, like nothing they'd ever seen before. The sky was a dark, subdued indigo, nothing like the bright sky of the human world or the ghost zone. Clouds drifted slowly in front of the moon, not a single star shining. The sight of the village itself gave the boys shivers, just as dark and lifeless as a graveyard. The only light being from dimly lit paper lanterns and torches, which did little more than cast shadows against the old buildings. The air was cold and heavy, cold like a chill winter morning, yet there was no mist upon their breath, nor chills against their skin.

The pair stared in silence, neither sure what to say next. Words didn't need to be exchanged between them to know how frightened each other was. Phantom's words had set the scene a bit it too well, it did indeed look like a lost village, trapped in time. But just where was this village?

Fenton finally broke the silence, the only real question he could form, "W-what do you mean? 'The lost village between our worlds'?"

"Exactly how it sounds," Phantom turned back to him, "a village from long ago, it lies in neither the ghost zone nor human world. More like a 'limbo realm' than anything else."

"How do you know about it?" the raven-haired teen stammered again, wrapping his arms around himself, trying to keep what seemed to be imaginary cold away from his body.

"You've been away from home for a year, I learned a few things about the ghost zone while you were away. I don't know all the details, just that this is a place that technically doesn't even exist," the ghost teen returned his gaze back to the village.

Fenton turned and faced the path they'd taken, "Can't we just turn around and go back?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Phantom scratched his chin, "I heard that once you enter the 'limbo realm', there's no escape. But that's all I've heard, it could probably just be some made-up garbage the other ghosts said to scare me."

"So shouldn't we at least try to go--" his words were cut off as he watched the darkness and mist envelop the path, as if reading his mind about trying to escape. Another chill ran down his body, seeing their only possibility of any escape being swallowed up.

"Guess not," Phantom said as he looked over his shoulder, half-heartedly making a joke out of the situation. He turned his attention back toward the village, sighed and stepped forward.

"Wait!" Fenton shouted a bit too loudly, "Where are you going?"

"If we can't go out that way, the only way is to keep moving forward," the silver-haired teen smirked over his shoulder, "unless you want to stay here by yourself ... "

"No way!" he shouted again and launched himself toward Phantom, gripping his arm as a scared toddler would with its mother.

"Calm down," Phantom growled, "it's not that bad."

"Speak for yourself! You're the one with ghost powers, I lost them when we separated, so of course I'm gonna be scared!"

Phantom sighed, "I heard that ghosts lose their powers here too, so I guess we're stuck in the same boat." He felt his counterpart shaking against him, and decided to shut his mouth before he said something he shouldn't.

They walked through the gateway and down what looked like Main Street, that ran down the center of town. All the buildings and houses looked the same, and it would be easy to get lost if you weren't paying attention. The only sound they heard were their footsteps on the smooth, yet worn stone road, being amplified and echoing against the walls.

Fenton released his friend's arm as they continued, still terrified by the sight that surrounded them, yet didn't want them to be tripping over each other as they walked. But he stayed close, just in arm's length in case something decided to jump out and yell 'boo'. The thought was slightly funny, but this was not the place to joke around, not in how serious the situation was.

As they came to one building, the shadow of a figure walked passed a light behind a door. Fenton jumped and let out a squeak of fear, both boys stopped and watched the light. The raven-haired teen started to shake slightly, but then felt a comforting hand placed on his shoulder.

"There's nothing to worry about," Phantom said, "You've got me looking out for you," he added smugly.

Fenton relaxed a bit and placed his hand over the hand on his shoulder. Phantom walked passed him, but the hand on his shoulder remained, as if from someone else. The teen gasped and spun around, but no one was there. He looked up and down the street, but nothing. Was his mind playing tricks on him?

"Hey, Fenton," his counterpart tried to get his attention, "you coming?" he examined the sliding door to see if it was unlocked.

"Wait!" Fenton gasped and gripped the hem of his shirt, "You're not seriously going in there, are you?!"

"Why not?"

"Because we don't know what's in there!"

"Well, I wanna find out," the ghost boy slowly slid the door open, "you can stay out here if you want," he smirked over his shoulder, "all by yourself ..."

Fenton tensed up, weighing his options; go inside and get eaten by some monster, or stay outside and get eaten by some monster. Oh the decisions ...

He gasped as Phantom went in without him, "Hey wait up!" and ran in after him.

But Phantom hadn't gone very far inside, and Fenton ran into his back with a loud thud, "Come on Fenton," he growled again, "don't be such a baby. Geez, it's a wonder you survived being away from home at college without me."

"I was in the human world then!" the scared teen waved his arms above his head, "Not some 'point-of-no-return' horror town!"

The silver-haired teen was about to answer when he saw something move out of the corner of his eye, and turned just in time to see a grey wisp of smoke disappear, "What was that?"

"Stop trying to scare me!!" Fenton clenched his hands to his sides and shouted back.

"Sh!" Phantom hushed him sharply in a quiet tone, "I'm serious, I saw something."

Fenton did as he was told, swallowing hard. It was then he actually looked around the room. It was a wide, rundown room, exposed support beams of rotting wood. Torn curtains and shutters lined the spacious room. A well-worn staircase to one side of the room leading up to the balcony of the second floor, a pair of sliding doors to the other, and a hallway directly in front of them.

Phantom straightened up, putting on a brave face, "Come on, there might be clues or something to help us get out of here," he stepped forward a few paces, then realized Fenton wasn't following.

He turned and saw a look of sheer terror on his friend's face. He had his arms wrapped tightly around himself, his body shaking uncontrollably, his breathing ragged, and his eyes wide and shifting at something unseen in the space in front of him.

"Fenton?" he said quietly, but didn't get a response from him. Phantom walked back to him, "Fenton, what's wro--" he grabbed his shoulders and felt a charge run up his body, his mind started to go fuzzy.

In his head, he saw flashes of visions that seemed like he was staring at an old black and white movie full of static. A woman walking through the halls of a house, fearfully calling for someone, "Where are you?" slowly moving toward a door behind a curtain. A flash of people dressed in old oriental clothing, the house somewhat restored to its original state. Then he heard voices chanting, small bells chiming, and saw a staircase leading underground. A girl in a white kimono stood in the dark, voices continuing their chanting, something repeated about a ritual. The sounds and voices started blending together into one static sound, then silence as a single voice spoke. "I don't want to kill anymore." Then flashes of lightening, screams of terror, darkness and death, and an evil manic laughter all throughout the horror.

Phantom gasped, released Fenton's shoulders and stepped back, his eyes wide and he panted in fear from what he had just seen. Was that a hallucination? A premonition? He didn't know, but he certainly didn't like it, "W-what was that?" he asked absent-mindedly.

The other teen shook his head slowly, "I don't know, but it was so real," he looked up at his friend, "I wanna go home."

The ghost boy hesitantly grabbed his shoulders again, but thankfully didn't see another vision from the contact, "We are gonna find a way home, but we've gotta stick together and keep our heads together."

Fenton sniffed and nodded. They held each others hand and cautiously continued through the house, down the hallway, an old decorative curtain hung in the middle. Phantom slowly brushed it aside and saw another staircase, this one going down. They stepped slowly down each step, which creaked from baring weight it hadn't had to in many years. At the bottom of the steps, the hall forked to left and right, Phantom peeked around the corner on the left to see if it was clear. There was the grey wispy figure he'd caught a glimpse of before, and it vanished through the wall. He didn't want to worry Fenton more than he already was, so he ignored it and continued. Down at the end of the long hallway was a swinging door, lit by a small lantern. The ghost teen led the way, slowly turned the knob and pushed it open.

It looked like an abandoned storage room, stripped of every article it might have contained; needless to say there was nothing of any use. Phantom furrowed his eyebrows and closed the door, "Nothing in there."

"Let's try that other door," Fenton pointed to another door at the other end of the hall.

Phantom nodded and they headed toward that door, he faintly heard a woman's voice.

"I kept searching for you."

Again, he ignored it for Fenton's sake and kept moving. The door at the other end of the hall was a sliding door, open just ajar. This time, Fenton felt adventurous enough to open it himself, and slid it slowly open, dust sprinkled from the top of the guardrail, and he quickly closed it behind them as they entered.

This room looked like an old guest room, but it appeared as though they had left in a hurry. The furniture was in disarray, crates scattered around the floor, some broken and splintered. If someone was here, maybe they left something behind they could use. Toward the back of the room, a pair of flashlights lay discarded.

"Oh thank god!" Fenton let go of Phantom's hand and rushed forward to pick them up, "Now we can at least see where we're going!" and tossed one of them to his friend.

"Hmm, two flashlights? That's convenient," Phantom said to himself as he examined it and accidentally turned it on in his face, causing him to growl and rub his eyes.

Fenton turned his on, glad that it was still working, though he didn't know how long it had been there. He flashed it around the room to see if there was anything else they could find. He then heard a voice in his head.

"It's too dangerous ... " he heard in the back of his mind.

Cautiously, he shined the light to one corner of the room, something just behind a crate reflected the light. The raven-haired teen got down on his hands and knees and carefully pushed the crate aside. Lying on the floor was an old camera, it was very squared and boxy-looking, the lens folded out like an accordion, a thick scrap looped from two corners--probably to hang around one's neck. It was old and covered in dust, having been left behind years ago. He pushed the crate farther aside to see if he could reach it, when it revealed a slightly smaller, rounder style camera, still nothing high tech like those nowadays, but this one still didn't look from a more recent era.

Phantom peeked over his shoulder, "Two cameras? Now that's too convenient. What do they do?""

"I dunno," Fenton reached for them and picked them up, almost dropping them from the awkward angle. He brushed some of the dust off one and blew the rest away. He rolled it around in his hands and noticed writing on the bottom, which he read aloud to Phantom.

"Camera Obscura."

Phantom rested his hands on his knees as he peeked over his shoulder, "So what does it do?" he repeated.

"I dunno--" he was cut off by a charge through his hands and a vision shown in his mind again.

A man in his late forties stood in front of what looked like a cage or a coffin in the center of a dark room, bound in rope and spell tags and chained from each side of the room to hold it steady and upright. "So, this is the Camera Obscura ... it takes pictures of impossible things." He slowly raised the camera up to his eye as he looked at the coffin, as if waiting for something. Suddenly, hundreds of hands reached from within the coffin and grabbed at him. At that moment, he flashed the camera at it to take its picture, and the hands disappeared with a shriek. The man dropped the camera and stumbled back, "What was that?" his voice echoed. The coffin stood unmoved and untouched, as if the hands had reached through it. "So it's true ... this thing is too dangerous."

Fenton gasped as his vision ended, nearly dropping the camera in his hands.

Phantom stood up and took a step back, "What was that?"

The raven-haired teen studied the camera once more, " I ... I think it takes pictures of 'impossible things' or something like that. It looked like some kind of weapon ... against ghosts or spirits or something."

"Whoa!" Phantom took another step back and held his hands up in self-defense, "Don't point that thing at me, I don't wanna get hurt, I'm a ghost remember?"

Fenton looked down at the other one in his lap, "But why are there two?"

"Probably the same principle with Pokémon cards. Some might be extremely rare, but there isn't just one of each, right?" the ghost boy joked. They studied the cameras a moment longer, then Phantom quickly reached forward and grabbed the one out of Fenton's hands, "Dibs on the big one!"

"Hey!" Fenton leaned back and half-heartedly tried to grab it back, "This isn't a game or anything!"

"Yeah? Well, I still want it," he said smugly and used the hem of his shirt to wipe dust out from around the rim of the lens, "I bet it's more powerful than the other one," he teased as he hung it around his neck.

Fenton sighed and dusted off the remaining camera in his hands, the bottom of this one read 'Camera Obscura 2', another neck strap attached for convenience, and looked like it could fold up from an average size into a pocket sized form, easier to carry. Maybe it was a prototype or new version? Bigger isn't always better. If they were some kind of weapon, they'd definitely need them. But who left them behind? He turned a knob on it to make sure it still worked, it made a buzzing sound as it turned on.

Suddenly, they heard slow moving footsteps walking down the hall. Fenton jumped to his feet and grabbed Phantom's arm, more for comfort than support. The footsteps came closer and closer, then stopped right outside the door. There was a pause, then a scratching sound against the door, as if someone, or something, was trying to get in.

Fenton shook in fear, but Phantom kept his composure. He was used to fighting all sorts of enemies, and didn't scare easily. He unwrapped the other teen's hands from around his arm and tiptoed toward the door. Fenton whimpered as he left contact, but the ghost boy turned around and held a finger to his lips in a 'shush' manner. The camera in Fenton's hands started to vibrate, and he held it to his face in feeble self-defense.

Phantom reached a slightly trembling hand toward the edge of the door, paused, then opened it a crack. The grey figure of a woman gazed calmly, yet menacingly through the crack, her eyes slightly covered by her long black hair. Phantom gasped and jumped back. Fenton was so startled, that out of reflex he hit the button to take a picture. The woman moaned, small bright orbs from her form were sucked into the camera lens, and she disappeared.

Unfortunately, Phantom was caught in the crossfire, he cried out sharply as his some of his own life force was zapped into the camera as well. He fell forward slightly, catching himself on the edge of the door and gripped his head groaning. Fenton gasped, dropped the camera and rushed toward his friend.

"Oh my gosh!" he grabbed his shoulders to help the ghost teen steady his feet, "Are you okay? I'm so--"

Phantom turned to him angrily, "I told you not to point that thing at me!" and pushed Fenton, still rubbing his head, "If that thing really does destroy or exorcize or whatever it does to ghosts, it could kill me!"

The raven-haired teen stared at him in shock, a huge wave of guilt overcame him. He twiddled his fingers and looked down at his feet, "I'm sorry Phantom ... I didn't mean to hurt you ... I just got so scared and I just ... it just ... " he stumbled for the words.

Phantom rubbed his head and stared at his friend for a few more moments, "It's okay, it wasn't your fault, just please don't do that again."

Fenton hung his head in shame, "I'm sorry, I won't do it again," he looked back up at his silver-haired friend, "But are you okay?"

Phantom shook his head and straightened up, "Yeah, just a little dizzy is all. We'd probably better get out of here. If that camera did that kind of damage to me, then that ghost is probably still around."

Fenton gasped and looked around fearfully, "Y-yeah, let's go," he ran back, pick up the camera, and grabbed Phantom's hand.

The ghost teen looked down at his hand and laughed lightly, "You're such a pansy sometimes."
~~ NOT PITCH PEARL!! ~~

Chapter 2, trying to move this along, got a lot to cover before we get to the good stuff. And for those die-hard Fatal Frame fans, I know I'm not following the plot exactly, that's the point.

**I changed the descriptions of the cameras, trying to make them a bit more like the cameras in the PS2 and Xbox versions. PS2 (Phantom's) [link] ... and Xbox (Fenton's) [link]

*Most fanart depicts Phantom having the brown camera and Fenton with the black since the black tends to blend in with Phantom's outfit, but you can decide which one you think they should have. ;p

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Next Chapter: [link]
Chapter 1: [link]

Chapter card done by :iconkvalificatsia:

Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly/Project Zero: Crimson Butterfly (c) Tecmo
Danny Phantom (c) Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon
© 2012 - 2024 SpazSenpai
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IcyFlamePower's avatar
Wait is this going to be one of those DannyxDanny fanfics? That's what I'm seeing. The issue I have with it is that he is technically falling in love with himself? That's a bit vain if you ask me xD