Disclaimer: I do not own Touhou or its affiliates. Image is Yukari Yakumo of Touhou Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, game made by Team Shanghai and Twilight Frontier. Under ZUN copyright rules, it is believed that usage is permitted as long as properly attributed.

The Unknown Paradise

It was a warm day when Yukari Yakumo felt death creep for her. Or rather, when death knocked on the front door and found nobody able to answer. Or rather, when Komachi kicked the door open rather forcefully.

"Heyo Yukari!" The shinigami cheerfully greeted upon entering the youkai's room. On Yukari's part, she did nothing but turn her head back to the single window of her lonely bedroom, a room entirely blank and empty. "How have you been? Haven't heard from you in the last decade or so!"

She was faking the tone, Yukari could tell, but the youkai of Gensokyo knew better than to call Komachi out on that. There was a good reason for it after all; Komachi didn't want to think about her own encroaching death that would soon follow after the reaping of Yukari's soul. "Hello Komachi. I'm sorry for not having saved you from the Yama's lectures these past few years."

Here, the red haired woman flinched and turned her head. What...? Yukari thought about it for a second before realizing with a soft gasp. "Oh...oh."

"Yeah, since not as many souls are coming...Eiki's been reassigned a few years ago. The ministry reckoned that...I could finish the job alone and gave me the role. I'm basically the acting god of death right now for...here." Komachi choked briefly, trying to keep going as her scythe trembled in her shaking hands. "They...they didn't even give her a chance to say goodbye one last time. Last I heard from her, she's actually becoming quite a big star in the courts."

"I...I see." Yukari fell silent, sighing as she felt yet another soul slip through her grasp, another part of Gensokyo now gone forever. A quick check confirmed it; as of now, Yukari Yakumo and Komachi Onozuka were the last residents- and memories- of the Eastern Wonderland. "Well, much like everybody else, at least she has a better future past us."

"Ye-ah-ah. It's just...it's just..." Komachi shut her eyes and clenched her fists, trying so hard not to break down. In the end though, a few heartbeats later, she failed and the grim reaper bawled. "I don't want to let go! All these wonderful memories, all of this amazing fun, all of this-! Why are you so goddamn calm?! Don't you miss them, you gap hag-!"

"Komachi!" Yukari barked, shocking the sobbing woman out of her self-centered misery. "You know as well as I do that...yes. I miss them everyday." The blonde lowered her face until her hair bangs shadowed her face, so as to avoid letting Komachi see her own tears.

A torrent of memories poured forth as Yukari finally let loose her heart, allowing the youkai to freely sob and cry at the fleeting dream that was the paradise from an advancing world. She couldn't help but dig up certain scenes in her mind to laugh and cry about, remembering every incident, every moment with such acute detail for such a carefree protector. They flew by her mind, the bittersweet memoirs of her beloved Gensokyo.

Reimu, Marisa, and Alice all shouting and chasing at Yukari when she stole their collective lunches to eat for herself.

Remilia and Flandre, both sisters united as one as they aimed to punish the hag who disturbed their daytime slumber whilst the rest of the Scarlet Devil Mansion looked on in mild amusement.

Mokou and Kaguya brawling, with gaps protecting the forest and the onlookers from Eientei and villagers inside from the dangerous fight to the death.

Yuyuko and Youmu both enjoying the winter weather together with the golden haired woman in the Netherworld as ghosts played for them.

Satori enjoying the company of her two pets as the oni and the youkai of gaps competed in drinking.

Aya and her tengu friends all trying to grab the elusive blonde as she snapped photos of them all trying to bargain with Nitori for some of that camo technology.

Sanae and her goddesses being welcomed into this world for the first time, the first outsiders with faith in the unknown.

Tenshi brat and her exasperated guardian causing much ruckus for the land, but both being stopped by Yukari herself as she looked at them with a very angry smile.

Cirno and her fairy friends all having a game of tag whilst the youkai meddled via gaping them all around.

Komachi being lectured by the yama after the blonde gapped Eiki to catch the red head napping on the job.

Yuuka and her servants all simply welcoming the gap hag for tea.

The Taoists and Buddhists arguing with each other over what they thought the mightiest youkai in Gensokyo religiously believed in (the answer was none of the above).

Ran teaching Chen about how to properly cook a fish while Yukari sneakily ate said meat.

Yukari murmured to herself as the line of memories slowly came to an end, each of the persons leaving Gensokyo in their own way. "I...I think that that's what makes dreams so beautiful. They're fleeting, so you can appreciate their beauty for the brief second they exist.

"A dream will turn into a nightmare if it goes on too long. And so, like everything we do, we should at least give a proper farewell. Komachi." The heaviness of her bones suddenly weighed on Yukari as she slowly got out of bed for the first time in a year, her form frail from the effort of keeping the dream alive for just a few more decades. Just enough time for everybody to move on. "I think...I think that your break time is up."

"It is," The shinigami mournfully placed a hand on Yukari's shoulder. "I...for what it's worth, I loved Gensokyo. I wished we could have just live in that single moment forever."

"Single moment...?" The blonde thought about it before a final image surfaced in her mind, and as she felt death's scythe finally take her soul, Yukari smiled at that final memory.

The flower viewing picnic everybody had attended. How fitting.

O O O

"Huh?" Maribel Hearn looked behind her, eyes blinking rapidly as she stopped on the crest of a bridge. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Renko Usami impatiently asked as she paused in her stride for her friend. "I don't see anything."

"I...it must be nothing. It's just, for a second, I thought I smelled flowers."

"Of course you would, it's flower-viewing season! Now c'mon, we're going to be late meeting with our informant!"

"Oh-h right! Let's go!" Together, the two girls ran off into the busy city of Tokyo, unfazed by the slightest of the faintest of sighs from the people around them.

They didn't notice the three ladies reading in the library, two blonde and one with purple hair.

They didn't notice a serious-faced black haired woman arguing ferociously with a light-purpled haired woman with a cheekier expression.

They didn't notice the two young sisters sipping tea as a white haired woman held up an umbrella to shade them from the sun.

They didn't notice the blue haired child laughing as she played tag with her friends in the streets.

They didn't notice the purple haired woman fanning herself casually as a white haired woman served her snacks.

They didn't notice the magenta haired mind-reader looking carefully into a crystal ball whilst petting a raven and a cat at the same time.

They didn't notice the green haired woman glancing after both Renko and Maribel and then following them closely with a curious expression.

They didn't notice the red haired shinigami looking wistfully from a boat going under the bridge that the two had just crossed. "You know Yukari," Komachi Onozoka muttered as she finally felt Gensokyo die and her powers as the ferryman of the Sanzu River fade away, "You could've told me at least about the future of Gensokyo."

Which there is none of course, but Gensokyo is, and always will be, a part of the world. And, as Reimu and Yukari ran to meet their next adventure together, they would always have friends behind them. Even if they didn't know, Komachi and the other residents of the Gensokyo would follow them, chasing after that fleeting dream of paradise. After all, what good is beauty if no work was put into finding it?

A/N: I normally don't write fanfictions of characters in the series, but I was inspired by the songs of Touhou to do so. Specifically, SWR Darkening Dusk. This just reminds me of my own ambitions for my own characters in the series, a hope that one day, somebody would write the same way about my characters much like this. Depending on feedback, maybe I'll write more, but no new ideas as of now.

Anyway, thank you for reading and please leave a review. All are appreciated.