"Waaaaaaaa~! P-please Miss Sakuya, don't fire me!" Meiling said, sobbing uncontrollably.
"For the last time Meiling, we're not firing you!" Sakuya shouted, trying so hard to get her words through the gatekeeper's head.
"What? You're not? Really?" Meiling said, her voice brimming with hope and relief.
"No. However, since you are such a terrible gate keeper,"
Meiling gave a nervous chuckle, as she was twiddling her fingers.
"Lady Remilia and I feel as though you are due for a…different job within the mansion. So as of know, we are relocating you to role inside the mansion." Sakuya said a matter-of-factly.
Meiling felt relieved that she didn't have to leave, but she wondered, was she really a bad gatekeeper? Did she honestly doze off that much on duty?
"YES, YOU DO!" Sakuya roared. Meiling jumped back a bit in shock.
"Wha- How did you know what I was thinking!? Oh! Is Miss Sakuya really a psychic?"
"Ugh, no, I'm not. It's fairly easy to tell what you're thinking Meiling." She said as she rubbed her temples, trying to calm her ever-growing headache.
"But Miss Sakuya, if I'm not the gate keeper, who will keep intruders from sneaking into the mansion?"
"In all honesty Meiling, Lady Remilia and I believe a scarecrow would be a more effective gate keeper."
Meiling started to sob again.
"You're so mean, Miss Sakuya!"
"I'm not joking. I literally placed an order for it yesterday."
"What!?"
"It's true. Now get off my leg already, damnit!"
Finding a new role for Meiling within the mansion was surprisingly difficult. Sakuya and other maids handled all the cleaning without effort. Adding Meiling may have resulted in her just creating more of mess instead. She thought she could try her hand at being a chef instead. She studied recipes really hard, learned all the ins and outs of the culinary arts. She was excited to serve dinner to everyone that following night, showing how much she has learned.
Everyone got food poisoning.
After several naggings from Sakuya, Meiling was completely stumped as to what she could do.
"This is proving to be very difficult for all of us Meiling." Sakuya said sternly.
"Miss Sakuya, I'm sure I could give the cooking thing another shot." She said with newfound confidence.
"No, no, no! Er, I mean…that won't be necessary, Meiling." Remilia said, entering the room, now recovered after all the vomiting.
"Miss Remilia?" Meiling said.
"I believe I've found a suitable role for you within the mansion." Remilia said with a proud grin.
"You have, my Lady?" Sakuya inquired.
"Indeed. Meiling, you'll be working the library with Patchouli!"
"Eh? The library?" Meiling asked.
"My Lady, thought I am not one to question your judgment, what makes you so sure Meiling would be of help to Miss Patchouli?" Sakuya asked.
"Simple! Patchouli needs some company! It must get so lonely in there." Remilia said haughtily.
Though she spoke no words, Sakuya's expression was one of 'Are you serious?'. Meiling however, was beaming with excitement.
"Oh! I can do that! Keeping Miss Patchouli company should be easy!"
"Excellent. Now go, Meiling." Remilia said.
"Right away!" Meiling said as she saluted her. She then proceeded to make a mad dash for the library.
"Truly I am an expert when it comes to problem solving. Wouldn't you agree Sakuya?"
"Huh? Oh, yes, Lady Remilia. Truly, you are an expert…"
Though she had been inside the library before, Meiling always muttered 'wow' when ever she entered. True to it's name, it was filled with books as far as the eyes could. Some of the book cases looked as though they stretched on forever. Though, that could have been a result of Patchouli's magic.
Speaking of the purple haired bookworm, Meiling finally managed to find her in all of the countless pieces of literature.
"Hello Miss Patchouli!" Meiling said warmly.
Patchouli poked her head away from what she was reading as soon as she heard her voice.
"Meiling? What are you doing here?" Patchouli asked. "…You're haven't made another meal have you?" Patchouli said, this time with a tone of dread in her voice.
"Oh no, nothing like that. As of now, my new role in the mansion is to keep you company!"
"What?" was all Patchouli managed to say.
Meiling just stood there smiling.
"On second thought, forget it. Anyway, I don't need any company. I'm perfectly content with my books."
"Oh come on, Miss Patchouli! There must be something I could do for you!" Meiling said.
Ordinarily, Patchouli would have shot down her plea with a simple 'No', but this time was different. Part of her actually liked the idea of Meiling keeping her company. Despite what she said earlier, the library could be a very lonely place.
"Alright. You can stay. And stop being so formal. Just call me 'Patchouli' Besides, I guess I could find something for you to do around the library."
"Yay!" Meiling said as she jumped for joy. "Thank you Patchouli!" Meiling then gave Patchouli a big hug. "I promise I won't ever let you down!"
Meiling strength was a little too much for Patchouli's comfort.
"Let me down! Let me down!" Patchouli said.
"Meiling." Patchouli called out.
"Yes?" Meiling said, eagerly waiting.
"Please return those volumes of books over there in there appropriate shelf." She said as she point to a very large stack of books on a table.
"Understood!" Meiling said. She picked up the books and proceeded to fly towards the various shelves.
"Three…two…one."
"A-achoo!" –SLAM-
Patchouli sighed, as she guessed something would happen.
"You sneezed, didn't you?"
Meiling simply floated. "Um….no?" she said nervously.
"Pick them up!"
"Yes ma'am!" Meiling said as she frantically collected the books.
Despite the incident, Meiling proved to be a very useful assistant to Patchouli. She was very organized and helped her keep stock of her books. Hell, she even placed books Patchouli had yet to read on her table. Who knew she could prove to be so useful? Patchouli may not have believed it at first, but she was right. It was indeed nice to have Meiling around. Days went by and the library seemingly brightened up.
One day, Meiling was organizing a particular shelf, with a clipboard and pencil in hand.
"Let's see, 'Summoning Familiars and You: A Guide To Not Get Eaten' Check. 'Lightning Magic For the Not-So Bright' Check. Aaaaand 'The Wizard's Book to Blowing Up Everything.' Check. I'm all done on my end here Patchouli!"
"Thank you Meiling." Patchouli said with a very rare smile. She then got up, heading for the door. "I'm going to the bathroom Meiling. I'll return in a moment."
"Gotcha!" Meiling said.
With the books in check, Meiling decided it was a good idea to clean up Patchouli's workplace. After about a minute of cleaning, she heard the sound of the door opening. She initially assumed it was Patchouli, but to her surprise, it was the infamous Black-White Witch, Marisa. Meiling quickly hid herself atop one of the books shelves so Marisa would not realize she was there.
"Let's see ze, it must be here somewhere…" Marisa said. Her eyes darted passed the various books until they stopped.
"Ah, found it!" Marisa said as she pulled out a book. "A new addition to my collection!"
Oh no. Meiling thought. Not this time Marisa.
Just as Marisa was about to spring for the exit, she felt a someone tapping on her shoulder.
"Huh?" Marisa asked she turned,
"HIYA!" Meiling shouted as she delivered a swift quick to Marisa. The Witch fell flat on her face.
"Ze…" She muttered in pain, before falling unconscious. Meiling picked up the book that Marisa had tried to run off with.
Before she could read the title, Patchouli entered the room.
"Hey Patchouli!" Meiling said, with a grin on her face.
"Eh? Meiling, why is the Witch rat on the floor?" She said confused.
"Oh, well Marisa tried to steal another book of yours. I managed to stop her though. Here you go." Meiling said, extending out the book.
"Meiling…" Patchouli said. "I-I don't know what to say."
"No worries. Like I said, I wouldn't let you down, remember? Anyway, what was that book she tried to take?"
Patchouli quickly glanced at it. "Ah, this is my new spelltome. Nothing special in particular, just various sorceries, pyromancies, and miracles."
"I see. Well, I'm glad it's still in your possession." Meiling said with a slight chuckle.
Patchouli giggled. She floated herself until she was at leveled height with Meiling and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you again, Meiling." Patchouli whispered.
Meiling's face turned bright red. She touched her cheek. Despite the sudden affection, she smiled.
"Anything for you Patchouli."
"Hey Meiling." Patchouli said.
"Yes, Patchouli? Do you need anything?"
"No thank you. I was actually wondering if you would like to read a story with me." Patchouli was holding a book in her hands.
"Sure. Sounds wonderful." Meiling said, cheery.
Patchouli and Meiling both made their way onto a comfortable couch within the library.
"This is a fairy tale I found. It's about a prince who rescues a princess. Very cliché, I know." Patchouli said as she laughed.
"Once upon a time," Patchouli started. "There was this brave prince, who fought for the affection of the beautiful princess…"
As she continued on with the story, she noticed Meiling had actually fell asleep half way through.
"Typical Meiling." Patchouli said giggling. She carefully placed Meiling's head onto her lap.
"Good night, my sweet prince."
A/N: The world needs more Patchouli x Meiling imo. I mean come on, they'd be so cute together! I also hope someone catches the Dark Souls reference. :3 But enough of my ramblings, I hope you enjoyed the fic. As always, review/critiques are always welcomed!