Prologue: Desires of the Seasons
It was silent. The Saigyou Ayakashi laid bare as ever as the ghosts dance around the endless stairs leading up to it. From her porch Yuyuko gave a sigh as she watched the ethereal butterflies in her garden flutter gently near its branches. A longing still filled her restless soul. She knows it must be suppressed. The Saigyou Ayakashi must never bloom, and yet, she wishes so much for the forbidden desires to be fulfilled.
"Yuyuko-sama," a voice from behind greeted her, "are you alright?"
"Huh…" Yuyuko turned to her half-ghost gardener with a weak but playful smile, "oh Youmu. Just wondering what buttermilk tastes like."
"Excuse me?"
"I heard it from somewhere I can't recall. Milk made from butterflies I think. But I don't think you can milk them, they're too small," she said laughing at herself.
Though Youmu knows how sporadic her master can be, she knows what really lies in her heart. The Saigyou Ayakashi… she wants to see it bloom. However it cannot, for it will cause not only destruction in Gensokyo, but to her as well. The last time they tried it, they almost caused an eternal winter and almost resurrected the body that lies beneath the youkai cherry tree… her master's. Nothing good would come of it.
"I wonder where Yukari put my melons," Yuyuko suddenly blurted out as she stood up and entered the house, "I was saving them for a special occasion."
Youmu watched her master wistfully drift behind the paper screen doors. Her gaze then fell on the tree.
"Perhaps… there might be a way," she thought to herself.
Outside this dark world in the land of Oooo, a lone fiery figure was walking away from the melting ice mountains. She was walking aimlessly for hours, lost in confusion and doubts. She was visibly despairing and grieving, yet she seems to be holding in a lot of aggression. Her body was sparking and flickering wildly.
"Why, why…" she was muttering to herself, almost crying. She wanted to release everything she was kindling inside, but she did not want that incident happening again. Extreme passion made her unstable and almost melt right through the Earth's crust and down to the core. The emotions she was feeling were very alien to her. Who knows if they would cause her to flare up if she would let them all go? Even burning down acres of woodland did not seem to dissipate them.
The Flame Princess sighed as she held her head high, too stern, too afraid to look back. How she wished that Finn did not do what he did. How she wished that she could just forget everything that had happened and go back to the way things were before. But she knew things would never be the same; she knew that she could not face her boyfriend in the same light no matter just how hard he explains his side of the story. What he did just cut her too deep in her psyche.
A sharp noise from the distance snapped her out of her cloud of thought. It sounded unnatural and something not from this world. She formed balls of fire in her hands, ready for assault.
"Who's there?!" she firmly stood her ground.
A bright flash then went off at a distance. Before she could react, an otherworldly force sliced through the landscape at light speed, dragging Flame Princess into a dark rift in space-time. She tumbled through a dark vortex, and then everything went black.
Meanwhile, in a rose garden of a castle lit by a red moon, the current head of the Alucard family was enjoying tea whilst watching the events of Kagutsuchi play in her eyes. Though she was fulfilling her job as an Observer, she was visibly very bored for she has witnessed these events unfold countless times before. There were slight variations for each time loop, but they all ended the same. She yawned after sipping her tea.
"Rachel-sama, here are your freshly baked scones for the day," her gray-haired butler arrived with a tray of pastries, "I hope it is all to your liking."
Rachel blinked then looked at her most trusted servant with a small smile, "Thank you Valkenhyne."
The wind howled around the table, sending a storm of rose petals in the air. Despite that, all is calm in Rachel's little world… a little to calm, for her though. She wished that she could do just something, anything really, to alleviate her boredom. Sure she could go to Kagutsuchi and pull a little bit of strings and bend the causality a bit, but as she always said to herself, she is a mere audience in this play. She could comment and push the actors to a scene from the banister, but she cannot fully immerse herself in the show.
She sighed as she bit into the scone and continued her duties. However, as she started observing again, glimpses of other worlds flood her vision. They were very brief, lasting only a second, but very clear.
"Hmm…" she uttered.
"Something wrong, milady?" Valkenhyne asked.
"Interference from…. somewhere," Rachel's smile grew a bit more. The probabilities… The curiosities…
"Nago, Gii, get up. We're going," she called her two familiars, one is a black cat that was currently in a shape of a chair which Rachel was sitting on, and the other was a very plump pink bat by her side. Both were snoozing soundly until their master's command prompted them awake.
"Huh, wh…," the little bat stirred, "five more minutes, we just got back and…" smack
Rachel hit Gii with Nago who now turned into an umbrella. Gii shot several feet in the air before landing with a thud in some rose bushes.
"Princess," her cat umbrella spoke, "are we going to Kagutsuchi again?"
"No, not this time," Rachel said plainly.
"The interference, milady?" Valkenhyne said.
"Yes, although I think we'll stop over at Kagutsuchi and pick up one of my more loyal slaves. Gii, don't dilly-dally please."
With a swirl of wind and rose petals Rachel vanished in a purple cloud, Gii chasing after them. Valkenhyne once again alone, began to clean up. He looked up into the red moon. A serious look of concern etched on his face.
In another world, in the Kingdom of Arendelle, two sisters finally were free to be in each other's company and actually be sisters. After years of isolation, the two were so joyous to just finally have time to spend together. Elsa, the older one and with ice powers, would freeze the throne room floor and together they would skate to their hearts content. Anna was the younger sister, and she would really slip and slide across the room on all manner of positions: on her feet, on her stomach or upside down.
They were accompanied by a snowman they built when they were children but brought alive by Elsa. He was small and had a snow cloud above his head. His had a jovial expression on his innocent-looking face as he frolicked with the two sisters, occasionally splitting his head from the body so he could be with both at the same time.
Laughter filled the room; something the two never thought would happen in years. Anna was sliding on the slippery floor, doing turns and spins. As expected by Elsa, she was never a good figure skater, and she was quick to catch her as she lost balance and tumbled. They both landed on the snow bank, covering themselves from head to toe with white powder. They both fell on their knees giggling, seeing each other look like a snowman. The two-o'-clock bell then rang.
"Ok, playtime's over," Elsa said simply. She then raised her arms and returned the previous state of the throne room. The snow melted and what was left gathered and formed themselves into a snowflake as big as a person's head. Elsa then waved her arms around and whisked the snowflake into tiny dust which disappeared in the air.
"Aww, why does two-o'clock come so fast," Anna said half pouting.
"Come on Anna," her sister said, "we've been at it four two hours now. And we agreed that by two I have to go back to work. I am the queen, and I've got to finish my duties."
"But I'm technically second-in-command, why can't we do it together?"
"We did. But you got so bored you fell asleep halfway through an emancipation."
"Well doing paperwork isn't exactly that exciting. Where're all the parties and balls and visiting dignitaries? I like planning for those."
"Anna, you know we can't have that every day. We'll be spending too much from the royal treasury. We have to think of our people first."
"Huh, you're right…" Anna sighed, "I just wish we get to spend a little more time together, that's all."
"I wish that to. You can join me if you want. I'll try not to be as annoyed as last time."
"Nah, you go on ahead. Olaf and I will just hang out with Kristoff; see what he's up to."
As the two sisters left the throne room, a servant was quickly rushing towards them. He had a letter in his hand.
"Sorry to disturb you your majesties but this is urgent," he said huffing.
"It's ok," Elsa said, "we just finished and…"
"Here your highness," the servant handed a red envelope to Elsa. It had a golden sun for a seal which Elsa recognized to be the symbol of the Kingdom of Corona. She took the envelope, opened it and began reading the regal letter. Her face dropped and went pale as she finished.
"Wh-what," Anna spoke, "what is it?"
"…flowers never bloomed… snow and ice…" Elsa stuttered, "how could… how…?"