Now we are here! This chapter's main goals are to tie up two big loose ends from the last chapter (what is Meiling going to say and what became of Judas and Flandre) and lay out the grounds for the next chapter. I believe I did both very well. And Flandre fans fear not! She'll appear again (remember playing SWR?

"Yes," Sakuya asked. "And what?"

Meiling smiled and said "And I quit. There are much more satisfying jobs out there for me to find and try out, and I can't be punished by maids at those other jobs."

The snake youkai Zabi came out from behind the wall, and asked "Then who will guard the gates here, Meiling? You're the best at it, that's why you're my idol."

Meiling approached the snake youkai with the same smile on her face, and placed a hand on Zabi's head. "And it's because you idolize me that I want you to be the one to replace me. I remember a few days after I killed Judas that you came across me in the forest. I was still feeling terrible for letting Flandre die like that because I needed to prove that I was something great, and to be honest I still do feel really bad about it, but you said something that made me realize that it was you who was cut out for this, not me. Do you remember what you said?"

"As clear as day. I told you that no matter how bad somebody felt, for the sake of others they had to keep moving on and never think about their wrongs so that the rights seem that much greater. I told you that everybody has some bad moments and people do die, but it's because of that exact death that life is so valuable."

"That was exactly it, word for word." Meiling took her hat off, and placed it on Zabi's head instead. "Sakuya," she said. "I'm sure you can trust a snake for me?"

"Yes, but…you've been here for so long. Where are you going to go from here? What will you do, how will you make a living?"

"I'm not sure. I'll try a bit of this and some of that, but before anything else, I need to speak with a couple of people at the Hakurei Shrine."

It was his time. After three weeks of waiting after crossing that damn river, it was finally his time to be judged. As Judas looked around, he noticed that it was only himself and the Yama, so he would probably be in for something vicious.

"Judas Nekross," Shikieiki started. "…I don't even know where to start with you. If I spent an entire lecture on every single one of your flaws, we would be in here for years."

"Better cut to the chase then, eh?"

"Not before I at least point out your biggest flaws. You're arrogant, manipulative, selfish, greedy, sadistic, violent, lustful, and most of all you, to my understanding, tried to take over Gensokyo and killed an innocent in the process."

Judas simply smiled at the Yama's harsh words, and impatiently said "Can you just hurry it up? I have some scheming to do and I can't do it while listening to somebody rant about what's wrong with me."

Shikieiki simply stared the necromancer down, and said "Black! I don't even need to look at you to know evil you are, so I sentence you to an eternity in the lowest pits of Hell where you will undergo torture even you can't imagine. You will heal at an amazing rate while there, but only so that you may be maimed even more rapidly with rusty and serrated blades. Furthermore, upon arrival you will be stripped of any and all powers you possess. Now get out of my sight; you sicken me you monster." The Yama was glad to have him out of her courtroom, and looked at the next person to enter. She was small, and appeared to be of roughly ten years of age. She dressed in red, but the thing that caught Shikieiki's eyes were her wings. They looked like some kind of metal, and had various colored prisms hanging from them. "And," the Yama carefully asked, "I assume that you're Flandre Scarlet?"

Flandre happily nodded and asked "Are you playing a game? This room looks fun."

"I'm not playing a game, no. 495 years is a long time and I imagine that your trip along the Sanzu River was long, but I already know all the details from going over Judas's life. You waited patiently in that basement for the day when you would finally be let out to be with your sister, all the while having no clue of what was really happening."

"What was happening down there?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all. For you…White. You'll go to Heaven and will never have to be confined to a basement ever again. There are many other people there, and I'm sure lots of them would be more than happy to play games with you."

"Yay! I don't really get it, but it sounded good!" Flandre happily left, more than eager to meet all these people that would play games with her.

Shikieiki smiled. "It's really rewarding sometimes," she said to herself. "When people like her are given White, they're just so joyous that it makes me happy to simply watch them."

"Shiki-sama," Komachi said behind the judge. "You have a guest."

The Yama nearly jumped out of her shoes at Komachi's sudden arrival, and said "It's not that gap youkai again, is it?"

"No, this one is the girl who killed Judas Nekross, the necromancer you just sent to Hell." Komachi stepped aside to show Hong Meiling standing behind her.

It took some effort to convince Yukari to gap her here, but she did arrive. "Did I miss you give down the verdicts for Flandre Scarlet and Judas Nekross?"

"You just barely missed both. Would you like to know what happened?"

"Yes, please. That's why I'm here."

"Judas will spend eternity in the lowest pits of Hell, and he should feel lucky to deserve even that. All his powers have been removed and rapid regeneration will only serve to bring no breaks at all to unimaginable pain inflicted by rusty serrated blades."

"That bastard got off easy if you ask me."

"As for Flandre, I literally just now sent her to Heaven a few seconds ago. Don't worry, she's in a better place."

"Is it okay for a vampire to live in Heaven, where nothing blocks the sun?"

"When a Yama sends them, their vampiric weaknesses are lifted."

Meiling smiled brightly, then ran up to Shikieiki and hugged her tightly. "Thank you. I can't begin to describe how much I need to thank you. I was so worried about Flandre and I just needed to know she was alright."

"Yes, she's fine. You should go, though, before I decide to hand down a judgment to you."

"Oh…right, I'm going now." Meiling already did everything she needed to do here, so it was easy to say she was ready to go. Crossing the Sanzu River was a bit of a trip for her, but that was why she had Yukari send her rather than the guide.

Once she stepped back through that gap, she was back at the Hakurei Shrine where Reimu still seemed to be getting over the shock of Meiling quitting her job. Suika, on the other hand, seemed to be taking it very well. "So -hic- how'd it go?"

"Judas is being tortured in the lowest pits of Hell for all eternity with rusty serrated blades."

"Serves him right! He -hic- took your job right out from under your nose!" To make her point clearer, Suika moved one of her fingers across the air beneath her nose. She had entirely forgotten about Flandre, having gotten so unimaginably drunk that night that she could barely remember the fight and her astounding lack of activity in it. "So, -hic- what're you gonna do now?"

"Well, I have no job or home, and no source of income. I better find those first."

"Live here," Suika said loudly.

"Hell no," Reimu said even louder. "I already have one to three freeloaders here at any time of day, and you Yukari and Mima are already more than I'm willing to put up with!"

"Mima -hic- still comes around here?"

"Regretfully, she comes by from time to time and tries to…do whatever."

"Wow…-hic-."

Meiling looked at the oni, and said "Actually, I have an idea." A great, excellent idea.

"Really? What?"

"It sounds kind of cheesy, but an adventure. We'll explore every corner of Gensokyo, the netherworld, Makai, and everywhere else too."

"Even -hic- the human world?"

"Maybe at some point in time, just maybe. I hear they have stronger sake there." If anything, that would get Suika's interest.

"Stronger sake? Then what are -hic- we waiting for!" Suika leapt to her feet and said "Let's go, Meiling!" After saying this, she took down yet another mouthful of sake. An endless gourd of sake had many perks to an oni who loved her alcohol, most of them obvious. "For sake!"

"If that's what you're in this for, than for sake it is." Meiling was about to ask Reimu if she had any spare change to help the two get on their feet, then she remembered that it was usually Reimu asking for spare change for donations. "Come on Suika, let's see what we can find."

"You've -hic got it!" Suika pointed to the door, and said "Let's -hic- go!" Suika ran out the door, not bothering to open it on her way. It wasn't that she wanted to break Reimu's door down or that she disliked the miko so much as that she couldn't tell if it was closed or not in her drunken stupor and excitement.

Meiling turned a bright red at Suika's ramming of Reimu's door. "I-I'll pay for that…as soon as I have some money to pay you with, okay?"

Reimu on the other hand was red in anger. Destroying a whole shrine was bad enough, but destroying just one part was worse to her. It meant she had to see if anybody had a spare door lying around. "Just go," she said. "And do me a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Keep Suika as far away from here as you can."

"Okay, I guess…" Meiling wasn't exactly sure what to say about that request, especially since the oni had just busted through a door like that. Meiling left the shrine, using the oni-shaped hole in the door as her exit. It took more than a fair deal of running, and by the time she caught up to Suika she was already off the grounds of the shrine, but she did catch up before long.

"Which -hic- way do we go?"

Meiling looked around, and pointed to the largest mountain she could see. "To the top of that mountain. We'll go by foot so that there's even more sights to see, and once we get there we'll figure out where to go next." Some people said that the greatest adventures began with a single step. Meiling took that into consideration as the pair of youkai and oni set out toward Youkai Mountain. She had always wanted to go there but never could because of her gatekeeper duties.

Not only that, but this would help her forget about all the bad things that had happened to her recently. Suika knew it too, and even while staggering in a line that could certainly not be called straight, she took down one mouthful after another of sake. After three such mouthfuls, she extended her arm to Meiling, gourd in hand. "Sake?"

"Sure, why not?"

I like this chapter...a lot! Also, I think a know a guy who can help Reimu with her door problem. Anyway, there were some tiny loose ends earlier in the story that involved a fairy and later a nekomata...I think I'll resolve those.