thekusabishat | Fic: He Had No Choice

From prompt Fatal Frame, Ryokan, poor harvests. Posted here for length again.
Ryokan's last resort as the village crumbles around him.

Ryokan Kurosawa sighed heavily. Being the head of Minakami Village had taken its toll on him lately. One man was responsible for the fate of an entire village; when life was good, they showered him with praise, but when times were hard, like now, they weren't so warm. He knew they muttered to each other about him, when he wasn't around - whilst working in the fields, mending clothes, fetching water from the well... In hushed tones, they would trade stories of their hardships, questioning their leader's relative inaction. The Osaka family, who kept watch over the village, reported these conversations to him.

The Tachibana twins' ritual had failed. The Hellish Abyss was already rumbling before this occurred, but the tremors it emitted had begun to shake the earth on which their small village was situated with a greater force than Ryokan – or anyone else in the village - could remember. Small amounts of the cursed darkness within began to spill out, bringing with them disease and death. Almost all of the season's crops had died, and what meagre quantities remained could barely sustain the villagers. The residents began to fall ill, dying at a much greater rate than was natural, though many lives were also claimed by starvation.

The village was barely surviving as it was - Ryokan knew this. It was why he had to make the hardest decision of his life: his own daughters must participate in the forbidden ritual. As a father - a human being, too - it pained him, to think that he would have to lose a daughter. It was the only option left, however, and it was his duty as the head of the Kurosawa house and of the village to offer up a pair of twins in sacrifice. He had to put his own feelings aside, for the good of all: the life of one child for the lives of countless others. It made perfect sense, and yet none at all.

There is no other choice.

Ryokan knew that the girls would not go through with the ritual easily. Sae would be willing, perhaps, but Yae was a different matter. His oldest daughter was just as strongly opinionated and stubborn as he had been at her age, when he was informed that it was his turn to "save" the village.

As a boy, Ryokan had insisted that, no matter what, he would do nothing to harm his brother, even if it meant that the village and its inhabitants would be lost. His father had called him a disgrace to the family, and the elders had gasped and muttered amongst themselves how selfish he was, and that he should be honoured to be involved in such a prestigious event.

“How can I possibly kill my own brother!?” he had protested.

But I had no choice.

Then there was Ryokan's younger brother: much like Sae, he was quiet and softly spoken, and Ryokan sensed that he would go along with anything as long as he could be with his brother. In the end, Ryokan had lacked the courage to try to escape. His prematurely snow-white hair served as a testament to what had occurred in that underground place of which no one dared speak.

The memories still haunted him, and the thought of his own child having to live through that, if she didn't simply go mad afterwards, left the feeling of icy cold water in the pit of his stomach. Ryokan was also worried that Yae was even more headstrong than he, and that she might even try to escape... in which case it would his duty to prevent her from doing so, whatever the cost may be.

I would have no choice...

The Kurosawa family master had hoped that she would calm in time, but Yae remained defiant. If the twins were planning something they had hidden it well; the servants whom Ryokan had instructed to keep a close eye on the girls had reported nothing of real interest. Yae and Sae were said to be spending a lot of time with their friend, Itsuki Tachibana, though. Even though his ritual was a failure, perhaps he would be able to make Yae see sense. Ryokan doubted that Itsuki would convince either girl outright to go through with it, but maybe he could change their minds – if they realised the full implications of forsaking the village, leaving their best friend to die, maybe they might be persuaded to perform the ritual.

Some weeks later, the Kurosawa twins' purification was complete at last. A folklorist named Makabe had come to visit, and with very good timing. A Kusabi had been Ryokan's last desperate attempt to calm the churning within the Abyss. The sacrifice had not gone as well as he had hoped; it was certain now, there was no way around it.

The ritual drew near. Yae and Sae had hardly spoken a word to their father since Makabe's ritual, seemingly disgusted at what he had done. Ryokan didn't blame them, and felt exactly the same way.

But I had no choice.

Ryokan Kurosawa looked up in confusion as a servant hurried into his room.

"Excuse me, master, but... it's your daughters, Miss Yae and Miss Sae. They... they're gone!" he blurted, panic in his face. "If they don't perform the ritual, we'll all..."

Ryokan raised his hand, indicating that he wanted silence. "Form a search party using every healthy man we have. There isn't much time. Go!"

The servant bowed quickly and hurried out of the room. Ryokan sighed, resting his head on his fists, elbows propped up on the low desk.

“Yae... why are you running? There's nothing we can do; this must continue.”

You have no choice...