Gensokyo 20XX (Chen's POV)

That night is quite a hazy memory now but I do remember Ran holding us close and Yukari crying. Things were moving so slow and I didn't think it wasn't nightmare, rather I thought it was a trick. It wasn't and Yukari was right, the Outside World does have monsters and they had come to steal Gensokyo from us. When Yukari sent us away, I had a bad feeling that she wasn't going to join us. Whilst Ran held us in her arms, she ran faster than what she could muster and continued to do so until we reached our place of refuge. The cave. We weren't the only ones to be staying there. Many more were to be staying there along with us. We lost Gensokyo and we lost Yukari, too.

Sometimes, for bits of time, Reimu and I would go out to gather food or fresh air, sometimes to relieve ourselves. During those times, I wished Reimu and I could play together but we knew that could attract them. On such few occasions, Rei-rei and I found out that the monsters made these frightening places we later came to call Ausch-veetz or internment camps. From behind those walls and fences, we heard screams that would give us nightmares. The monsters even killed fairies and even Mari and Alice. Reimu seemed to start to lose hope. After awhile, she would sit towards the cave opening and, like a small child, she would reach her arms out, as if trying to grab onto someone but never could. It was those times, we couldn't tell if she saw Yukari's ghost or if she was delerious, though anyone could tell she was reliving something from the past.

For Yukari's sake, we lived and Ran took care of us the best she could. Often, she would take to scolding us when we were out too long and trying to keep our presence secret within the Bamboo forest. Even with people we positively could not stand, we stood by each other and learned how to get along, even Ran and Fleabag learned how to get along. No one wanted to hit each other and we all shared the food. There was no joy and we all looked to each other for comfort but Reimu seemed to seek no one to comfort her but it came to her anyway. At night, Ran would cradle us and reassure us that someday everything will be alright and we will go back to our old lives. Of course, deep down, we knew this would never happen. Whenever we did go out, we found wanted posters, with those slain and those caught. Overtime, the monsters wanted more and need more to power their 'magitek'. More and more of the ones that had yet to be apprehended died. Fate came down like hellfire and our lives were really going to change moreso than what it was.

After awhile, Reimu suggested that we flee Gensokyo but leave her behind. Naturally, we asked, "But how?" She explained that Ran could take form of a human and I could take the form of a regular cat because, in that disguise, they wouldn't know it was us. At first, we refused, Ran saying, "You are like Yukari's child and she told me to take care of you, after all, you are the remaining Hakurei, so how could we leave you?" I was in tears by this point and insisted that we stay together, saying that if she was to stay in Gensokyo, then so were we. They would often go back and forth on the matter but, then, Ran relented. Apparently, Reimu was making this her sacrifice and was sending us away so they won't catch us, too. I transformed into a cat and Ran embraced Reimu one last time and then we fled Gensokyo. That was the last time we had seen Reimu and that was the last time we had seen Gensokyo.

After spending a bit in the streets and in motels and things, Ran and I finally took up residence in an apartment in the poorer and more croweded districts of Tokyo. It was a rather nice apartment and, at least, we had some housing but Rei-rei and Yukari were never far from our minds. As far as we knew, Yukari was killed and Reimu was caught and it was hard not to think of some things. Ran soon took up employment as a cleaning lady and spent whatever money she had earned on food or clothes, sometimes treats. After a few weeks, Reimu finally joined us and we were so happy to see her again. She told us about the note that Yukari had gapped and about what it said. Of course, that meant that Ran now have two girls to feed and will have to work even harder. By this point, she had grown used to going without food and encouraged us to eat as much as we could.

The next night, Ran brought home Flan who had turned human but, because she had gotten a condition, she couldn't go outside. After she had got settled, she started to cry, saying, "I miss Remi, she would have wanted to become human if it meant escaping death." Ran hurried to comfort her and told her that Remi would have wanted her to live and that everything would be alright.

After dinner, Ran tucked us in and made it absolutely clear that there was to be no kicking of the legs or kicking of each other out of bed, no kicking, period. She kissed us all and went about schedule. Once we sure she was asleep, we started a conversation, with me saying, "Once a man asked Ran to marry him, so he could see her face of what she hid under her head and face coverings." Flandre couldn't help but to chuckle a little and she responded, "What did Ran say?" Reimu chimed in, "Yes, what did Ran say?"

"She didn't say anything and hurried away as soon as he tried to remove her veil, though that wasn't without punching him."

"Um, Chen?"

"Yes, Flan?"

"Why does she wear head or face coverings?"

"The same reason as to why you turned human of course and why Reimu dyed her hair, to make sure they don't recognize her as being from Gensokyo."

"But can't Ran transform?"

"Yes, but not permanently, she can only take human form whenever she is around strangers and make herself appear human, aside from her foxlike traits."

"Then why didn't you shapeshift?"

"I can take the form of a cat and Ran often concocts stories as to why my tail is split and they usally goes like this, I got in a terrible accident that split my tail all the way to the base and it healed in two tails. Surprisingly enough, people believed her, no matter how odd the story was."

After awhile, we didn't know if Yukari was gonna come and Reimu, it seemed, was taking ill. Her hair turned white and it didn't need any sort of dying. She got sick a lot and she was always depressed. Once she even coughed up blood. She almost never got out of bed and was usually in the hospital. Sometimes, Ran would sit by her and, other times, she would come home so tired that she couldn't cook or make dinner. Often, we had instant food and what not. I can count how many times she was often in the hospital. The doctors gave her so many different medicines and what nots but it seemed not make her get better. We started to get worried and, then the next time she went to the hospital she stayed there for awhile. Actually, it seemed she was never going to come out and Ran had to tell us that Reimu may not get better, actually, it was likely that circumstances would not permit her to live.

Just when all hope was lost and as we were getting ready to say our final goodbyes to Reimu, Yukari did come and she explained that we can never go home to Gensokyo again because it was gone forever. When we told her about Reimu, she immediately asked to see her and hurried into the hospital room to tell her everything that happened. Hope was restored and Reimu started to get better. She got better enough to come home and we moved to the country to live with Yukari. Of course, being that we had no Gensokyo to return to, we named the Outside world our New Gensokyo. Also, Reimu, Flan, and me get along well and we became more like sisters and we live in our little family in a nice big house in the country.