It was nice to be alone for once. You get to notice all kinds of things that you just... can't when you're attached to another person.
Like, have you ever looked inside one of Yukari's gaps? Inside, inside, not just looking at the "Eyelid" from the outside as if it was a macabre painting. It's like its own dimensional space, a purple void that stretched on and on and on. Eyes were intermittently scattered through the void, red irises blinking in and out of existence at random.
This was where Yukari Yakumo spent her winters. Unlike what most in Gensokyo assumed, she did not sleep during her 'hibernation.' She simply dislikes the cold, and spends the whole winter holed up inside this alternate dimension. Temperature... didn't exist here. Or rather, the concept of hot and cold did not exist.
It's a rather difficult thing to explain, so we'll move on instead.
Yukari herself was seated on another gap, though the mechanics of her opening a gap inside a gap is screwy. multiple other gaps were spread out in front of her, each showing a different part of Gensokyo. Her eyes flickered back and forth between the gaps, occasionally forcing the gaps to 'blink' and show a different perspective.
Her eyes suddenly focused on one of the gaps, and she grins. The gap in question was... not inverted. In fact, it looked like it lead right back to the dimension she was currently inside of.
She closes all the gaps around her, floating over to a seeming random spot in her world. She reaches out with a gloved hand and - Hey, hands off lady! No! That's not-
...
Apologies, but I can't trust you to relay the proper information. I'll release you shortly, as soon as I finish saying what I need.
Hello there. You. On the other side of this... Border? No, not quite. Something similar to a border. A veil between worlds. A mirror. A... page? No...
A screen. That's the proper term, yes?
Well, I suppose that it would be difficult for you to respond. As far as I can tell, the communication is only one way. Despite my reputation, I'm not nearly as omnipotent as I make myself out to be. Though, I'm certainly doing well enough to keep up the ruse, wouldn't you think?
Ah, right, unable to respond. Well, that's a shame.
Unfortunately, my powers are something I still don't quite understand. Or rather, something I haven't found the limits to. As it turns out, "control over boundaries" is an amazingly vague term. Every time I think I've found a limit, I break the limit a short while later. Days, weeks, months... Years, sometimes. Ran was a particularly slow going process.
As a matter of fact, this was one of the limits I thought I had. Me, talking to you, on the other side of this screen. A few decades ago, I never even would have dreamed of doing something like this. A few years, and I would have thought that this was hopelessly out of reach. A few days, I had some inspiration. A book, if you can believe it, from my early days in Gensokyo.
I'm sorry, I'm rambling quite a bit, aren't I?
Quite frankly, I miss being able to do this. Reimu is usually grumpy, and Yuyuko is unable to join me on these escapades. They both have lives of their own to live, after all. Ran is needed to take care of the house in Mayohiga, as well as taking care of Chen. Not to mention that Ran wasn't the best at social interactions.
I should get to the point.
Some time ago, I received a message from the Scarlet Devil mansion. It was a frantic letter, pleasantries and prideful wording masking panic and true fear. It detailed a new discovery that was made there, something to do with the future of Gensokyo.
It was written by Remilia Scarlet.
I must say, I've never seen Remilia quite so panicked before. Not when she first came to Gensokyo, not during the Vampire incident, not even when Remilia was soundly trounced by Reimu. Those, she took with mild amusement and a bottle of bloodwine.
No no, this was something else. Something literally tied to the fate of Gensokyo. As the most public and, dare I say, friendliest sage, I was the first person that she sought out.
What she showed me was, in the end, difficult to explain. A combination of her power over fate, a divination spell from the Magician, and some form of time dilation from the maid. Needless to say, she found something.
That something was you.
I realize that, despite all my powers in Gensokyo, and even in the outside world, that I am quite powerless compared to you. Even now - Especially now, I find myself at your mercy. Not just yours, actually. Other forces on the other side of the screen. Forces that I may be able to comprehend but utterly incapable of reaching through sheer strength.
I suppose that most would be angry about having a lack of free will. Indeed, most of Gensokyo seems to believe in the "Might makes Right" approach to diplomacy. However, this approach leaves another lesson for its residents. That there is always a bigger fish. Always.
In this case, you are the bigger fish.
However, there is another point to Gensokyo. Gensokyo has always been a place of change. You can see it with the Taoists, the Buddhists, the Moriya. Even the Lunarians have started changing Gensokyo for the better, at least by proxy. Gensokyo has become more and more open to peaceful solutions, or at least more open to Diplomacy.
In that regard, I would like to make a request. Multiple requests, but the main one being - please, take care of us.
The fate that Remilia showed to me that day was a chaotic one. Most people view timelines as, well, a line. I could argue intricacies of how a timeline was more of a branching tree, but I'd rather not let our indisposed narrator suffer for any longer than they have to. For now, suffice it to say that this "timeline" looked more like a ball of string. So much so that it was nearly impossible to see what happens in each one.
I realize now that you are the ones pulling the strings, at least for now. I ask that you take care of us. All of us. Reimu, Yuyuko, Ran, even my rivals, like the Lunarians. We're only people trying to live out our lives, meager as they may be in some cases.
If nothing else, I ask that you allow us to make it through whatever plans you may have for us. To at least survive, without a trip to the nether realm.
I suppose all that's left to do now is wait and see. Excuse me while I release our indisposed Narrator from his bindings.
They didn't always go by Narrator. Did you know that? They used to have a name as well. They cast it off a long time ago, however. Whether or not they tell you their old name is their decision, not mine.
Farewell, Sire. Or Madam. It's all the same to me.
...
...
...
Old hag.
Yukari slips through a gap, this one leading to the Hakurei Shrine from the looks of it. She offers one last jaunty salute, then closes the gap behind her. Without her presence, the alternate dimension falls silent, the reddened eyes closing one by one. No reason for them to be active if there was nothing to monitor, after all.
Nothing important, anyways.