This series is a somewhat rewrite of Shakugan no Shana with a character switch. (Along with several other changes) Instead of Yuuji, Keisaku is now the Mystes with the Midnight's lost child and Margery is the flame haze who he fights along side. (So KeisakuxMargery centric)

The tall blonde woman sat cross legged on top of one of the taller skyscraper ledges in town. She rested her left elbow on the green hardcover book she propped up leaned against and her blonde ponytail flowed slowly in rythym with the soft night breeze. The woman looked down with a half-smirk at the night view of the urban city.

"This city..." was all she said, but her companion was quick to finish for her.

"This city, you got that right. All these torches. I sense a powerful Crimson Lord in the city and I think there is another Flame Haze hanging around the outskirts of town. And to top it all off that bastard Lamies is hiding out here." The voice of her companion chuckled.

"He really did a good job luring us to a place he could easily hide. Be as that may... I still get a strange feeling from the city. And not just from the torches, Denizens and Flame Haze. It's dull looking but still..." She paused. "Why do I get the feeling something is going to happen here."

A loud laughter came from the book. "Well with two Flame Haze, A Lord and a Denizen I'm sure they'll be clashes every which way. Luckily we're more than up for a good fight."

"A good fight, huh..?" She repeated, uncharastically disinterested in the topic of battle. "No it's something else about this place that's getting to me. I feel like something big and unexpected is bound to happen here, but not exactly in the climactical fashion we're expecting. But still..." Her twisted smirk dropped as a distant look worked her way into her gaze. She continued to look down from the skyline.

Chapter 1 -

The streets and sidewalks of Misaki city were lightly scattered with cherry blossom petals on that morning. They weren't quite in full bloom yet, which was strange for this time of year. The residential students of the town were much more lively than normal this morning- after all, it was the first day of school. For them the new school year meant new classes, new friends, new teachers... a new beginning; a new chapter.

Keisaku Satou was one student who didn't find any excitement on the first day of school in Misaki City. In fact it was just as uninteresting as any day in that town. It was a city with lots of people yet nothing exciting seemed to happen. It just so happened to be the city his parents left him in, he truly had no personal attachments to the place. Day in and day out nothing changed. But the simple and mundane life in Misaki city could easily be taken for granted in just a few short seconds.

Keisaku slammed his locker door shut and heaved an exhausted sigh "Dude, let's just go home after lunch break. I'm already done with school thing." He complained to his class skipping companion, Eita Tanaka.

Said friend, the taller dark haired one shook his head in amusement "Ahh man, quitting already? Let's at least stay for the first day. If we don't like it we'll have all year to skip as we please." He tried to bargain. Keisaku felt there was an ulterior motive to his friend wanting to stay, but decided not to press the matter.

"Okay, but I'll have to see how motivated I am after lunch before I make any promises."

"Yeah, I know." Eita nodded, closing his own locker door as well. Before heading to class with his friend he briefly glanced to greet a light brown haired schoolmate a few lockers next to him. He stood next to another classmate with black hair and glasses. "Yo." Eita said casually.

The brown haired boy looked bewildered for a moment after Eita's greeting, but seconds later responded. "Oh, Good Morning!" he shouted cheerfully.

Keisaku's eyebrow twitched slightly. The volume of his voice was unnecessary, and not to mention a bit obnoxious. "You don't have to yell…. we can hear you- you know." The boy flinched slightly at his response but Keisaku ignored it and turned towards class.

"Those honor students sure are chirpy in the morning." He commented to Eita.

"How can you tell they're honor students?" His friend asked.

Keisaku shrugged. "Well what other kind of student would be that happy on a school morning?"

When the pair reached their classroom and settled in their seats, two female classmates immediately approached them. First was a short red haired classmate whom they were all too familiar with. Matake Ogata. A friend from middle school. She was eager to approach them, as they were one of the few familiar things to her in the new school environment.

Trailed behind her was a girl with long dark brown hair, which she wore down except for the small pigtails on each side of her head. Keisaku and Eita recognized her as Yukari Hirai, but didn't know much about her besides her name.

"Hey guys, didn't expect you guys to actually show up on time." Ogata teased. "Perhaps this will be your turn around year?"

"I wouldn't count on that..." Keisaku answered as he rested his cheek in his palm.

"Hey Hirai-san, how's it going?" Eita casually greeted the brunette who had yet to take part in the conversation.

Yukari's cheeks flushed a bit after he spoke to her but she was able to force out a smile. "T-tanaka-kun, nice to see you!" She said nervously, but still managed to keep her cheerful attitude.

His classmate's strange reaction briefly caught Keisaku's attention. The blushing… the stuttering. 'That's weird… maybe she has a crush on Tanaka or something?' He assumed. But without any further evidence for the theory, the thought didn't interest him enough to occupy his mind very long.

Before classes started Keisaku noticed a few familiar faces in his homeroom. Two being the friendly boy from earlier that morning and his friend with the glasses. After attendance he learned their names were Sakai Yuji and Ike Hayato. Their childhood friend Makate seemed to be hitting it off well friendship wise with Yoshida Kazumi, the short haired brunette a seat ahead of her. Besides that no one in particular stood out.

The classes themselves were rather uneventful, and like usually he gave them minimal attention. Despite the boring morning, Keisaku allowed his friend to convince him into staying for the afternoon classes. A decision he immediately regretted the minute after lunch ended.

After school had finally ended he decided he would not allow anything to distracting him from getting home. After school he made his way down the streets of Misaki city with the thoughts of a much needed rest in mind as he headed home. But yet, he was interuptted even still.

"S-satou-kun!" A voice called out from behind him. He mentally groaned to whoever it was. He just wanted to get home and he was already halfway there.

A brown haired girl from his class finally caught up to him. She stopped in her tracks, panting after finally being able to reach him.

"Hirai-san?" He question in surprise.

"S-satou!" She looked up and smiled with relief. "I'm so sorry to stop you like this. But I couldn't help but notice you were heading the same way home as me…. and so I thought this would be a good time to talk to you. You see… I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Okay, ask then." He said blankly. He tried to hide the urgency in voice so as not to sound rude.

"R-right… this may sound weird… but it's actually about Tanaka... I know you're his friend and all so-"

"Oh, you like him or something, don't you?" He interrupted, the indifference still in his voice.

Hirai's face blushed, letting him know his guess was correct. "How…did you know?"

Keisaku shrugged. "I found it obvious. But to the point, what did you want to ask about him?"

The cheerful girl fidgeted nervously, she clearly did not see Keisaku's rush to end the conversation as she took her sweet time to respond. "I guess I just wanted to know… if he had a g-girlfriend… or someone's he's interested in!" She choked out.

He swung his bag over his shoulder and smiled. "No. He doesn't. I don't even think he has anyone in mind yet..."

Hirai gave a satisfied and grateful nod. "That's great, thank you Satou-kun!" She smiled. "I'll see you at school tomorrow- Oh, that is if you decide to come." She giggled at her own joke. She quickly gave him a small bow before walking off cheerfully.

He watched his classmate happily skip away for a moment. "So a classmate has a crush on Tanaka. Wonder what he'll think." He thought before continue his way back home. 'But I wonder why she couldn't ask him herself? I think I'd rather hear that directly from the person I like...' Yukari Hirai was still a few paces in front of him, she must live in the the same direction too. Keisaku carefully trailed slightly behind to avoid awkward conversations.

Despite his determination to get home, Keisaku felt he needed to stop for a moment. Something felt off about the air, it felt calm yet… ominous. And it was only seconds later a trails of blue lighted strips spread across the ground going every which way. Before he had a chance to question it or question no one else's reaction to them everything turned a deep red. The sky, the buildings, everything was covered in a red colored scheme.

This time Keisaku did check the reactions of those around them only to find them at an awkward stand still. Not a soul moved. It was like time had stopped for everyone... but him.

"What the hell is this?!"

His thoughts were cut by a trembling at the ground. Out of the dark red shadows a hideous beast came stomping down the streets. It was huge, as tall as some of the buildings. It resembled a human child but clearly demented in someway. It's skin was a greyish purple and it had shark teeth. Next to it was what looked like a sphere of faces from multiple mannequin heads.

As it opened it's mouth, the crowd around him was swept over with a pale white flame. The flames from the fire of each person flowed into the strange creature's mouth. He looked around in both confusion and terror at the site of everyone disappearing around him. Even his fellow classmate Hirai whom he had just spoken with… she had become a victim to the devouring flame.

"Hirai-san!" He called out her name without thinking.

The shout from his voice caught the odd pair's attention as the child-like beast turned to face him.

"What's this? He's moving around inside the seal but he doesn't look like a Flame haze or a Denizen…" The monster questioned.

"That is true…" The doll faced sphere floated over to get a closer look. "Ahh, he's a mystes!" It declared in delight.

Even if Keisaku had the slightest clue of what their words meant, he was too petrified to understand them.

The boy froze in fear as the monster took a step towards him and extended its arm out. It was reaching for him. Keisaku didn't understand what that creature was, what it wanted and why everything was around him was red, but he did know he was in grave danger.

'This is bad… I need to run!' He screamed to himself, but yet his legs didn't listen. The infant monster took another step and reached down, he watched terrified as its giant hand hovered over him. Keisaku covered his head with his arms and let out a scream, the only thing he could do.

But in that moment that he believed he was about to be grabbed, lucked turned out to be in his favor. Just as the hand was just about to reach him a large claw out of no where swiped at the upper arm, completely severing it from the body. Instead of blood, pure white sparks spewed out of the severed limb as the monster screeched in pain.

"Flame Haze!" The smaller monster shouted in alarm. It's last words before being completely swallowed in a marine blue flame

Keisaku looked up when he felt he was somewhat safe. Another giant monster had entered the red arena. This one took the form a purplish-blue werewolf creature with yellow eyes. While it was less disgusting than the child like beast, something about it was more intimidating.

He took a step back as he watched it launch another attack on the monster, sinking it's teeth into it's shoulder. 'Not another one...' he thought. At the very least the monsters seemed to be fighting each other. The first that attempted to devour him couldn't do much more than defend itself against this new beast that appeared. And even then, they seemed to be struggling with doing just that. The child-like monster managed to pry itself away from the grip of the wolf's jaws and took a few steps back.

"We should have known a tool of destruction would show up…" It spat in disgust. The monster engulfed itself in a pure white flame, and transformed into a much smaller form. A small orange haired doll flew out of the flames as the larger figure disappeared.

"Hmph. My Master won't let this go over lightly for you, Flame Haze!" It simply huffed, the body vanishing instantly. and dispersing into small flakes of white light.

'It turned into a tiny doll? I wonder if that's what it's original form was or something.' The arena still was bathed in red and ultramarine blue flames scattered around the ground.

The last beast left took a step in the direction of Keisaku, the boy felt his heart stop for second, assuming this one was after him just like the last. It had to be, didn't it? The familiar ultramarine blaze swept over area as the beast disappeared from site. As the flames slowly rose up and disappeared into the air a silhouette of a woman could be made out.

And there she stood as the remaining blue flames dissolved in the air around her. She was a tall, mature looking, if he had to guess she was about early to mid twenties. Her waist length blonde hair was tied up into a ponytail and she wore a purple dress suit with black heels. Oddly, there was a olive green book strapped over her shoulder and she wore it as if it were a purse.

This woman who appeared out of no where turned to face him, staring at him with indifference in her dark blue eyes. Keisaku took this moment to truly take in the sight in front of him. Undeniably, this woman was very beautiful and yet she had an overpowering presence to her. But who was she… and what was she doing here?

On her perspective though, Keisaku Satou looked like random adolescent boy gawking at her, which caused her to frown in annoyance a bit.

"What's a kid like you doing inside the seal?" She spoke up for the first time.

"The… seal?" He only blinked at her question.

"Well you're definitely not a Flame Haze; if you were you'd be a horrible one considering you were almost eaten by a Rinne. And you don't seem to be a Denizen… are you human?" She asked.

'Am I human…? Did she really just ask that? What else would I be? He wondered.

The sound of laughter broke out in the direction on the woman, but in a voice clearly not belonging to her.

"What are you tipsy already, my overlooking heroine Margery Daw? All it takes is a quick glance to see we got ourselves a torch here… A Mystes in fact!" A loud male voice teased.

The blonde woman blinked "A Mystes you say? But even so A Mystes generally can't move inside a seal. There must be something special inside him… and I bet this is what those Rinne were after." A small smile twitched. "If Friagne's Rinne were chasing after it, It makes me curious what kind of Treasure Tool is within it. Now that I've taken a good look, there is something strange about this one."

"Don't tell me you're gonna waste your time on it! Ahahah-" The voice spoke again. It appeared to be coming from the dark green book she had tucked under her arm, as it was cut off when her fists delivered a punch to it's cover.

She let her fist rest on the hardcover for a moment and shut her eyes in irritation. "I'll decide for myself what I waste my time on. Nobody asked you Marco… Let's not forget this thing could easily have Friagne attention."

'It...? Thing...? Why are they talking about me in such a dehumanizing way?'

After taking a moment to collect herself she reopened her eyes and calmly looked to Keisaku again. "Now back to you… by that dumbfounded look on your face, I'm assuming this is your first time in a seal like this?"

"Uh…. so wait, you know what's going on here? The monsters? Time stopping? Everything turning red? You know about all of this?" He asked.

"Ahhh not the questions… I forget how much a pain explaining the crimson world is" She groaned as she rubbed her temples. "Let's just start with introductions shall we? I'm called the Chanter of Elegies, Margery Daw."

"Mar… Margery…" He hesitantly tested out her name. 'I don't think I've seen anyone like her ever before... I'm not sure what it is though.'

"Anyways!" She held up her index finger and allowed a light blue flame to shoot upwards into the air. That instant the red stained world slowly faded to normal. The people on the streets picked up right where they left off as if nothing Keisaku had witnessed happened.

All in all, it was like everything turned back to normal… with one small exception. Now that everyone was moving about again, he noticed a small blue flame wavering in each of their chests.

He quickly turned his attention back to the woman who called herself Margery, she stood on the side of the street watching the crowd skeptically. For a moment he hesitated to call out to her again. She was the only other person who could explain what was happening. Even though Everyone was moving about back to normal again he couldn't help but feel there was something he should still be worried about.

He decided to go for it. "Y-you said you would explain what happened to me?"

Margery Daw seemed to remember he was there once he spoke up. She crossed her arms and smiled. "Yeah, that I did. But first let's make a little deal?" She raised an eyebrow. "You take me somewhere I can get a drink at and I'll tell you all you need know."

I knew the moment the world turned red that things wouldn't be the same anymore. But even at this point I didn't know the true gravity of the situation I was in. I had no idea what I was, the treasure that was kept inside me, and the path those ultramarine flames, blazing with revenge and hatred would take me down. The day we met was the day my world was displaced

I'm starting it off somewhat simillar to Yuji and Shana's story but I do plan for it to take of in a different direction. (after corpse collector it will show more noticable differences) Alsoooo I had Yukari have a crush on Eita instead of Ike because Keisaku has no relations to Ike.

So what do you think so far? Please review~