Remilia awoke in a patch of grass, moaning from the aggravating pounding in both her head and in her chest. Though the pain was immense, she sat herself up, her muscles screaming out their objections every inch of the way. Her vision was blurred, but it soon passed. The first thing that came to her mind was that of Cthulhu and she quickly started looking around for the beast only to find that she was no longer in the nightmare city.
"Another hallucination?" She immediately thought.
She pushed herself up onto her weakened legs, studying the land around her. She was quick in figuring out it was Gensokyo she was in and all seemed normal, all except for some sickening feeling she had in the pit of her stomach. She thought she could throw up at any second and was prepared to do so, but nothing came up.
With her stomach twisting itself into a knot, she walked around as she cautiously searched for any signs of someone or something. She wasn't expecting to find anyone who could provide any useful information, already convinced she was stuck in some kind of illusion, but she really had nothing else she could do.
The land around her seemed pretty normal. It was cold like it would be for the winter season and the wind was blowing around fallen leaves left by the now bare trees. It was a full moon out, Remilia's favorite kind of night, and the twinkling stars were a beautiful sight.
Remilia felt no dangerous presence, but damn her if she would let herself feel relaxed for even a second when she was sure something evil was out there. Now if only she could find that supposed evil, she could destroy it and break out of the illusion. In the meantime, she would replay the events that happened when she declared her last spell card in her head. It was all still a little fuzzy, but she did remember being surrounded by mindless humans in a burning city with a sky of fire after unleashing her last attack. She figured that was just a hallucination. Hoped that was just a hallucination.
After only a few minutes of walking, Remilia came to a lake; Misty Lake. She was surprised to see that no mist was present, allowing a rare look across the lake all the way to her mansion. The only thing that bothered her was that her mansion could not be seen. If anything, the clock tower should be visible somewhere in the horizon even from where she was at. With a single nervous droplet of sweat running down her face, she put her tired body into flight.
Being fatigued from her ongoing battle with Cthulhu forced her to fly slowly and take her time, time she thought she didn't have.
After a flight made grueling by her impatience, Remilia landed on the other side of the lake where her mansion sat. Or at least where it should have sat.
She looked around confused at what once was her mansion. All that remained now was the foundation it had sat upon with mounds of broken red brick scattered about. She knew it was all just an illusion, but she couldn't help but shed a tear at what was once her beautiful home she has lived in for such a long time.
She made her way into the ruins of her mansion, eyes scanning everything without pause and ears listening to every sound. She treaded lightly, prepared for some horrific thing to pop out from one of the mounds of brick, but no such thing came.
What she did come to see was a motionless hand sticking out of one of the mounds. She rushed to it and grabbed and pulled it out, along with the body it was attached to.
"Meiling?!" Remilia gasped in surprise upon seeing her Gate Guard.
She was disturbed to see that Meiling's body had been gruesomely mangled. Severe injuries from bruises to cuts and gashes were present all over her body. Her dead eyes showed that her life was long gone now. Whatever had happened to her mansion, she was sure that Meiling had gone down fighting and did not live to see the mansion destroyed, as she would expect from the Gate Guard she personally chose for the job.
With a shaking hand and a pained heart, Remilia pulled down the Gate Keeper's eyelids over her lightless eyes.
The sudden trembling of the ground beneath Remilia's feet nearly sent her falling down on top of the dead youkai, but she remained steady. She bid her Gate Guard farewell and continued exploring the ruins.
The trembling persisted as Remilia searched. She came upon another body that lay on its back in a pool of blood. This time it was that of Reimu. Ignoring the blood, Remilia fell to her knees beside the corpse of the Shrine Maiden.
"Oh, Reimu…" She said sorrowfully.
It both angered and pained her greatly to see one of the so very few humans she had ever found interesting, an incredibly powerful one at that, as nothing but a bloodied corpse.
"This is not real…" Remilia told herself as she clenched the priestess's hand once then forced herself to leave the Maiden's side.
She ended up finding a pocket watch on the ground not too far from Reimu's body that she nearly stepped on. She picked it up and studied it. It was crushed and covered in blood, but even in its poor shape, it was obvious that it belonged to her Chief Maid, Sakuya. She clenched the pocket watch as her anger flared up then stuffed it in her dress pocket.
"Damn monster… Trying to demoralize me by showing me these kinds of illusions, are you? Well it is not going to work. I am still ready to fight you. As long as my heart still beats… I will fight you." Remilia said in a quiet and stern voice.
She felt it then, a dark presence that drove her to her knees, clenching her chest from a burning pain in her heart that flowed throughout her veins. She growled angrily as she forced herself back to her feet despite the scorching pain.
Remilia struggled to walk, but she pushed herself to follow where the dark presence was coming from. Not too far it was, she felt. It already felt like the presence was on top of her, strangling her with nothing but its sheer existence.
She forced herself into a fast walking speed, her legs screaming at her the more she pushed them. The more pain she felt in her heart the closer she knew she was getting to whatever evil entity that was present within the ruins.
After only a minute of walking, Remilia was shocked to find not one, but two terrible beings.
One of the beings, a crowned figure with a pallid mask and covered in tattered yellow rags, stood perfectly still. He stared silently up into the night sky as the cold wind blew through his tattered cloth.
"Hast-… The King in Yellow?" Remilia said in bemused fear. The dark god was unresponsive to her appearance and continued staring up into the sky.
Where the sight of the Unspeakable One before Remilia frightened her, the being sitting on top of his shoulders filled her with anger. On his shoulders was a young girl with long black hair wearing a black one-piece. She too was staring up into the sky, though looking rather bored. Even in an innocent looking form, it was impossible for Remilia to mistaken the girl for none other than Nyarlathotep herself.
Nyarlathotep let out a disgruntled sigh. "This is such a drag… I was so close too. Now I'm gonna be punished…" She moaned boredly.
"Crawling Chaos!" Remilia shouted for the alien entity.
"Hm?" Nyarlathotep turned her head and when she saw who had called for her a dark grin formed on her face. "Well look at what we have here. It's the annoying little vampire. Still alive, huh?"
"Come down here and fight me. This may be just a dream, but I am going to take some joy in breaking you in two." Remilia said.
The Crawling Chaos let out a dark laugh. "A dream, huh? That's the funny thing about dreams. You see… you can never tell if that is just what they are, a dream, or something else entirely." She said ambiguously.
Remilia scowled. "I do not care about that now fight me!" She demanded.
Nyarlathotep shook her head with a sad smile. "It's too late for that, foolish vampire. It looks like this time… we both lose."
Confusion appeared on Remilia's face. "What do you mean?" She asked.
Nyarlathotep's smile became dark and horrible as she stared into Remilia's scarlet eyes, passed the red glow and into the dark reaches of her mind. "Why don't you just look up and find out?"
Remilia looked up, but it wasn't Nyarlathotep's suggestion that made her look up. It was the sudden feeling of unrelenting horror that had exploded in her heart that did it. She had thought that the feeling she felt when she first saw Cthulhu was the pinnacle of horror, but this feeling proved to be magnitudes more horrible than even the Dead Dreamer was and it wasn't even until she saw what it was in the sky that she knew the true form of absolute horror.
What she saw then was not meant for anyone sane of mind. What she saw then just simply could not be. Even her vampiric mind could not withstand the utter absolution that was destruction before her.
"What… is… that…?" Remilia spoke her final words.
The light trembling of the ground intensified into a full-blown earthquake as she stared up into the sky, watching in complete disbelief as the stars in the sky vanished one by one, watching as something consumed them all in an alien, ravenous hunger.
With the vanishing of the last star came the end of the moon. It crumbled to pieces before her very eyes as black entrails wrapped around it. It was destroyed by the same impossible force that had claimed the stars, by a force that was beyond any comprehension native to the Earth.
And at last the Earth itself was devoured. The sky bled blackness and eerie howls from other dimensions echoed from the unfathomable black blob in the sky. A soul-shattering song played along with the shrieking screams of countless eldritch abominations hidden behind the amorphous blob. This was no nightmare for no nightmare of a sane mind could ever conjure up such a maddening evil. It was almost as if the entire universe was coming apart.
The howling sounds of annihilation shrouded Remilia's ravaged thoughts, but what finally crushed her soul was the opening of a great abominable eye within the black chaos, an eye filled with a swirling, incomprehensible madness, looking down at her with its obliterating stare.
Remilia's mouth opened to scream out in mindless horror, only to have her scream and her mind ripped out of her as the entire world came crashing down all around her until finally only nothingness remained.
Remilia was jolted awake in a panicked sweat, sitting up in a bed with a gasp of fright. The second she sat up, the sudden slap of someone's palm on her forehead forced her back down onto a pillow.
"Ouch!" She cried out.
"Stay lying down, ya idiot." A man said.
Remilia sneered at the man next to her, only to look shocked when she recognized the man to be Max. He was lying next to her, sitting up with his back against the headboard of the bed.
Ignoring Max's order, she sat up while looking around the room she was in to find that it was her bedchambers. It was a refreshing sight for her, but she kept a cautious mindset. She was in one hallucination after another during her grueling confrontation with Cthulhu so she wouldn't be surprised if she was in yet another one.
If she was indeed still trapped in a hallucination, she wondered what horrible thing would come next. It was then such a thing spoke, driving her into a pool of anger and hate. God damn it, nothing drove her more mad than that voice.
"It is alright, Miss Scarlet. You are back to reality and safe in your bedroom now." Another man said.
Remilia twitched from hearing that voice. She had to force herself to turn her head to see where the voice came from. Then she saw him, standing next to her desk the man who had spoken, along with the grin she greatly detested, the grin she despised with every fabric of her soul.
"I must say that was quite a performance, Milady. You not only managed to set your father's soul free, you survived the encounter with the great Cthulhu and were able to disable him in the process. I knew you could do it. Bravo, Miss Scarlet. Bravo." Joseph said joyfully and with the clap of his hands.
If there ever was a time to kill Joseph then now would be the time to do it, Remilia thought. His kind attitude he played towards her was aggravating beyond reason. She even went to make a move against him, but it was then she realized the extent of her weak state. Her body ached all over and a migraine tormented her. She felt heavy, so heavy in fact that it was difficult for her to stay sat up in her bed. His death would have to wait just a little bit longer. She needed to get information from him anyways so it wasn't all too disappointing.
Joseph chuckled. "It is not every day an astronomer, a mere boy and a gorgeous vampire make it out of R'lyeh alive." He said.
"Shut the fuck up." Max sneered in disgust at Joseph.
"What… happened?" Remilia asked. Her memory was still shabby at best after using her last spell card. Every time she tried to remember her head would just hurt more.
"You brought a fucking tower on top of the prick." Max said, still looking a little astonished from witnessing the feat Remilia had accomplished.
"That tower nearly crushed you as well, but I was quick in getting to you before it could." Joseph said proudly.
"But that monster… It still lives, correct?" Remilia asked.
"Correct, my dear. But Cthulhu sleeps deep within the ocean once again thanks to you." A condescending chuckle escaped Joseph's lips. "Of course until some fool decides to awaken him again."
One quick twist of his neck would do wonders for her mental wellbeing, Remilia thought.
"What of my sister?" She asked.
"The young Miss sleeps peacefully in her bedroom." Joseph answered. "But we have yet to let your servants know of your return. I thought it best that we waited until you had awoken."
Remilia sighed in relief upon hearing that Flandre was safe and well. She then fell into silence as she started to contemplate all that had happened. She wasn't too far into her thoughts when Max placed his hand on top of her head and forced her to look at him. She glared at him, not at all happy about how freely he touched her.
"The hell you looking upset for? You knocked the bastard right the fuck out all by yourself. I couldn't do jackshit and that useless mother fucker over there was too busy laughing his dick off to be of any help. That's amazing so don't let that thing still being alive bother you at all. Just be happy you freed your dad and that you didn't destroy the world while doing so. Alright?" Max said.
Remilia was very angry with herself for not being able to destroy the alien deity that killed her father, but what Max had said made her rethink her failure. She admitted to herself that she just simply could not beat that monster. She just wasn't ready to at that moment in time and she may never will be. But she felt some pride build up in her because of what she was able to do that her father could not; she survived and she proudly accepted that.
Her attention fell onto Joseph who of course was still wearing his cocky grin. It was amazing to her how that grin managed to piss her off every time she saw it without fail. He grinned at her as if he already knew what she was about to say to him. He acted like he already knew the outcome of her fight with Cthulhu; that is she tried to convince herself that he was only acting. She would love more than anything to crush his faith in his foresight.
"Joseph." She said.
And Joseph chuckled before happily responding, "Yes, Miss Scarlet?"
Remilia moved her hand, the sharp nail on her pointer finger going straight into Max's cheek as she pointed at him.
"O~w!" Max exclaimed as he put his hand right over where his newly formed cut was on his cheek then glared at Remilia. "The hell was that for?"
"Explain this. Right now." Remilia demanded strongly.
Joseph smirked. "Oh, of course. I guess I should explain that." He said then approached Remilia's bed.
"Is it really necessary?" Max mumbled in aggravation.
"Of course it is. You should not even be here in my bed, Max. The grave in my garden is where you should be resting. In matter of fact…" Remilia tried to push Max out of her bed, but he fought back. "Get out of my bed!" She demanded.
"Piss off. I'm as tired as you are so deal with it." Max said defiantly.
Joseph let out a hardy laugh. "Just as I remembered you two. Getting along so well despite one being a vampire and the other a, ahem… human." He said.
"Get on with it." Remilia said while letting some of her anger leak out with her demand.
"Heh… You said he should be resting in that grave you so kindly gave him when the truth is is that he was never there to begin with." Joseph said.
Remilia did not like where his explanation was going. "What do you mean? Be more clear."
"I mean just what I said. Of course his body was in that coffin for a short time, until I found the time to collect it."
Remilia clenched her teeth as she tried to contain her boiling anger, but her anger came out when she shouted, "You defiled his grave?!"
"Well, I would not call it that myself, but yes, that is indeed what I did." Joseph said with a simple smile.
The list of things Joseph had done to piss Remilia off just kept on growing and growing. It was mindboggling to her. At this point she was actually genuinely curious about what else he could possible do to piss her right the hell off.
"It is as I told you before, Milady. When I heard of what you and young Max had done over a year ago… I was surprised and for that I wanted to reward you for it." Joseph said.
"Reward me? How so? You mean by showing up out of the blue when those two things appeared in my mansion? You mean when you refrained from telling me that Flandre had taken off towards that awful city or stealing the medallion from my father's study? Or was it when you pushed me down on my desk just to toy with me? Well? Which is it, Joseph?" Remilia said in intense scorn.
"Just what the fuck did she mean by you pushing her down, eh?" Max asked as his own hatred for Joseph came into view in his expression.
"What I meant by reward I mostly meant reward for the young man here." Joseph said.
"Oh, don't you fucking say it, robed mother fucker." Max said while menacingly pointing at Joseph. "I'm already about to make you eat this fucking necklace so don't you dare say it."
"What? Tell me now." Remilia demanded.
Joseph chuckled, but at any second he was about to break out into heinous laughter. "Since his soul was stuck in limbo in this world, I gave him his body back. I thought that a second chance at life would be a nice reward for pulling a fast one on not one but two Outer Gods." He said.
"You are still not being clear. If his soul never left this world then where was it?"
Joseph said nothing and merely pointed at the medallion that hung around Max's neck.
"Eh?"
Remilia turned her eyes to the medallion, a sliver of cold hitting her once the eerie symbol on the medallion was in her sight. Only then did she finally feel the presence of a human spirit within the medallion.
"Young Max never made it to the next life. He was always there, inside the drawer of your father's desk in that dark room, alone in the cold depths of the King in Yellow's medallion, right where you so uncaringly left him. He is forever bound to it and nothing you do will change that. Next time he dies he goes right back in where he will wait in the dark cold for the King in Yellow to inevitably reclaim what is his." Joseph said then fell into restrained laughter. "Oh, my dear little vampire… Did you honestly think it would be that easy to change this boy's fate? All you managed to do was give him hope only for it to be magnificently crushed by the undeniable reality. In the end it was the Unspeakable One who got the last laugh."
Remilia stared at the medallion then reached out to touch it, feeling its unnatural cold surface, a cold that pierced into her soul. How could she have not realized it before? She had held the medallion before and felt nothing from it; no vile energy, so essence of a soul, nothing. She could only blame the certainty that she had freed Max from the chains of that dreaded spirit. She blamed it for keeping her from realizing the truth. Her faith in her own power had blinded her.
She clenched her teeth in distress when she remembered the Youkai of Gaps, Yukari Yakumo. Yukari and her had fought over who would keep the medallion shortly after Max's death, with Yukari ending up being the one to hold on to it, but even after showing she would not give it up no matter what, she suddenly came by the Scarlet Mansion and gave it to her without any explanation whatsoever. Did she know that Max's soul was trapped inside? And if so then why did she give the medallion to her without saying anything about it? Just what the hell did he intend by doing that?
"If you had his body for the past year then why did you purposely wait until just recently to revive him?" Remilia asked.
"It takes time to revive a human body, Miss Scarlet. You know that as well as I do." Joseph said.
Remilia did not accept that answer. She was convinced that all that Joseph had done so far was for some hidden purpose that he was keeping from her, but what exactly that purpose could be was anyone's guess.
"So it is a good thing you did not have him cremated or I might have needed to give him a suit of armor for a body." Joseph said then burst out into an uncontrolled fit of laughter.
Fed up with Joseph's aggravating laugh, Max jumped out of the bed and approached him with his fists ready. "That's it. You're mine." He fumed.
Joseph ended his laughing then pushed passed Max, grabbed Remilia by the hand and kissed the top of it. "I am afraid I cannot stay any longer, Milady. I must leave you two to your foolish adventures and return to the safety of the Great Library." He released Remilia's hand then bowed to her. "Good luck with that little problem in your library, Miss Scarlet. I am sure Max here will be able to assist you in some way. Good luck and farewell." He said then gave Remilia another bow.
"You can leave, but your teeth stay here, asshole!" Max exclaimed as he swung a fist at Joseph, only for him to miss when Joseph vanished into thin air. He stumbled forward a bit then growled angrily in heated frustration. "God damn prick. I swear to god, I hope that Hunting Hound or whatever the fuck finds him and bites his dick off."
He let out a disgruntled sigh, unsure of what to do with himself now that he got Remilia out of R'lyeh. He still considered himself pretty much a dead man and dead men don't have plans for themselves. The only thing he really wanted to do was to kill Joseph for bringing him back to life and exposing him to the reality of his situation. He had tried once already soon after Joseph revived him in a fit of rage, but the robed man was a slippery bastard with his knowledge in alien magic.
Remilia watched Max quietly as he drifted off into his own thoughts. Max: the young man she had first met when he trespassed on her mansion. What a surprise it was for her when she found it to be a man that had intruded and not the usual suspect. The immense power he possessed was further shock, but his familiar handsome face was even more so. It was so nice to see that face outside of her dreams and memories. She knew it was stupid, but it was that face of his that drew her to him in the first place.
Max had first come to Gensokyo to hide from the Horrors his vile power attracted. He came with an anger and hate towards everything and everyone around him that was born from the war and cruelty he had experienced growing up. With his horrendous power gifted to him by the sleeping Outer God within him, he vented his anger and frustration on the inhabitants of the mystical land. It was only when Remilia herself got involved was she able to chip away at the barrier of stone he had built around his human heart and reveal him to be nothing more than a frustrated and scared boy whose bleak life was made worse when he was thrown into a world of eldritch horror against his will.
All of that anger and frustration was present within him once again with his revival except now he had no supernatural powers to demonstrate his anger. He was a normal human now with only his words to express his frustration for having his peaceful end stolen from him and being told of his doomed circumstance.
Remilia studied the two large, prevalent scars on Max's back; one under each shoulder where her chains had pierced him when he nearly trapped himself with two Outer Gods in another dimension. It was those chains she used to tear him from the Unspeakable One's grasp and pull him out of whatever dimension he had sent them into. She thought that was the end of it, but it would seem that she was wrong. Even from beyond time and space, the King in Yellow was still in Max's shadow.
Max snapped out of his thoughts when he felt eyes on him. He turned around to find Remilia silently staring at him. "What?" He asked harshly.
As much of a bad omen Max's presence was, Remilia could not deny that she was rather happy to see him again. His face was a pleasing sight, more so now than it was when his eyes were red with that evil god's power. His natural brown color was more suited for him, she thought. The first time she saw his eyes brown was moments before his death. They were full of peace at that moment, at peace and at rest. The anger that they had contained had vanished along with the vile energy that had burned within them. But now they were filled with that anger once again just like when they were red.
Max turned away from Remilia with a tired grin. "Heh… Well ain't this a surprise, eh? Didn't think I'd ever see YOU again." He said with a chuckle. "Now don't take this the wrong way… but I was hoping not to ever see you again. At least not in this life… Y'know what I'm say'n?"
Remilia put on a content smile. "A surprise indeed, Max. Though, I would have preferred that you were in the next world as I originally thought you were." She said.
"Yeah me too, but of course, reality still wants to fuck me hard in the ass a few more times. Do I have a sign on my back that says 'bend me over, please and thank you' or something?" Max said jokingly, but with an upset expression.
Remilia let out a disgruntled sigh. She was always appalled with the way Max spoke before his death and that had not changed at all. She wanted to believe he only spoke the way he did out of anger or stress, but unfortunately for her it was practically his normal way of talking. It would appear death had not fixed his coarse language use. At least she might be able to fix it herself this time, along with his other god-awful mannerisms. It would be difficult, but she gladly took the challenge.
"Y'know what would have been better though?" Max asked while giving Remilia an angry look.
Remilia rolled her eyes, anticipating what she knew was eventually going to come: Max's rambling disapproval about her going to R'lyeh. He always liked to voice his opinion about every action she took, nearly all being insulting and negative. She braced herself for the mountain of insults he was about to throw at her. She just hoped it would be a short rambling so they could move on to more important things.
"I'll fucking tell ya what would've been better. You not going to that fucking place, you ignoramus. I mean seriously, was getting lost in The Void that one time not a good enough hint that you should probably stay the fuck away from eldritch locations? Huh?" Max asked without holding back any of his discontent.
Remilia sighed again then fixated her eyes onto Max's. "As you already know, Max, I needed to retrieve my younger sister." She said exasperatingly.
"Keep the dumb bitch on a leash then if she's stupid enough to go to a place like that. I don't care what kind of dream she had. It was a stupid fucking reason to go there and you fucking know it."
"You may insult me all you want, but do not insult my sister." Remilia scowled.
"Ya damn right I'll insult ya." Max said, not backing down from the intense angry glare Remilia was giving him. "Y'know what would've happened if I hadn't shown up? Do you? Take a guess. No, please, go ahead. I'll wait." He said as he folded his arms to wait for Remilia to speak.
Remilia knew what event he was referring to and could have gone on without being reminded about it, but as expected, he wasn't about to let her forget it.
"Yes, I remember. I remember you taking your sweat time in helping me as well." She said. She then shuddered with a contorted face full of disgust from the memory that popped in her head. "You let that man put his… put his… his thing in my mouth." She shuddered again, the vivid memory refusing to leave her mind. She wanted soapy water to wash her mouth out. Lots and lots of soapy water.
Max only looked increasingly pissed from what Remilia said. "What? You thought I wanted that fucker to do that? I couldn't just go all Jet Lee on them, ya dumb fuck. I needed to find out who were carrying guns. I didn't exactly feel like getting my brains blown out so I could spend the rest of my existence in this fucking piece of medal except instead of my last memory being your smiling face, guess what it would have been. That's right. It would have been of you being fucked by all of those bastards in every hole you have. You think I wanted that?" He said loudly.
Remilia sighed as she felt a little less upset with Max and more upset with herself. She didn't think about how he might have been feeling at that moment. It must have been an awfully stressful and scary situation for him as well and not just for her. Either way, she was very thankful he helped her.
"Since you put it that way… I will apologize for my reckless entry into that city." She said.
"Jesus Christ…" Max grumbled as he turned away from Remilia.
He was angry about a lot of things and they all were jumbled up in his mind, leaving him stressed and mentally exhausted. He wanted to say many more things to Remilia but not while his brain was like an ongoing train wreck. Instead he headed for the door.
"Eh? And where are you going?" Remilia asked.
"Leaving. You're back here in this overgrown house of yours so I got no reason to be in Wonderfuckingland anymore."
"And then where will you go? What will you do?" Remilia asked.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe get back to the States and live a normal frik'n life for five god damn minutes. Get a job. Maybe knock a girl up even. I don't fucking know and I don't care…" Max said sullenly, and before Remilia could say anything, stormed out the door.
Remilia didn't want Max to leave, at least not yet. She wanted to bring up the two Horrors that had shown up in her mansion, but she knew that would be the final nail on the coffin that would drive him off for good. It was understandable that he wouldn't want anything to do with the Horrors. He hated eldritch horrors more than she did so she wouldn't get mad at him for it, but she was in need of help and she knew Max had the amount of knowledge about eldritch horrors that could provide her that help. For Patchouli's sake, she needed to get him to stay, but how?
Remilia clenched at her blankets. "Damn it…"
She sat in her bed contemplating about whether or not she should chase after Max and about how she would convince him to stay if she did. Forcing him was impossible; he was far too stubborn for such a primitive method of persuasion and she wouldn't be able to bring herself to do so regardless. She had no clue on what to do. Her mind was blank.
She was about to give up and try to figure out how to solve her Horror problem by herself until she felt Max's presence. He had not gone far. He was actually standing just outside her bedroom doors. She wondered what he was doing and simply waited patiently.
As she had hoped, Max walked back into the room.
Max sighed. "Look, Remilia, I'm sorry for yelling at ya. I didn't mean to." He said while avoiding making eye contact with Remilia.
"Now this is a surprise." Remilia thought. When Max remained silent for too long she said, "Well? Go on."
"Uh, yeah… Look, I'm just tired and mad with everything that had happened, alright? First the prick reviving me and giving me the wonderful news about my situation and then that whole shebang in R'lyeh."
A giggle escaped Remilia. "Well, this is indeed a surprise. It would seem you have matured a little. I happily accept your apology."
"Yeah, well I had a lot of time to think alone." Max said sourly.
Remilia nodded. "I believe you do have all the reason to be angry with me for leaving you in that medallion. I apologize for not realizing your predicament sooner."
"Oh, come on. I don't blame you for that at all. How the hell were you supposed to know I was stuck in this thing? Hell, I didn't even know. I thought I was in Hell where I belonged."
"Hmm… It would seem we have a lot of work ahead of ourselves in regards to breaking the chains that still bind you to that medallion. I will do what I can to help you."
"Oh, for the love of…" Max muttered as he rolled his eyes at Remilia. "Yeah, I'm not even going to bother arguing with you about how retarded of an idea that is. You want to screw with this thing then be my guest. Just don't come crying to me if you end up having your mind blown to pieces, got it?"
"How else do you expect to be freed from it then?"
"I don't, ya numskull."
Remilia was flabbergasted by what she was hearing and glared at Max. "Do not tell me you have already given up on breaking out of that Outer God's hold."
"No, you idiot. I haven't given up. I just don't fucking care. And you shouldn't either." Max spat.
"What? Of course I care."
"Why?" Max asked with a sudden sternness in his voice.
"Eh… Well…"
Remilia averted her eyes from the intent look Max now had and fell silent as she thought to herself for a moment. She didn't really have a precise answer to his question and needed to actually think about it for a few seconds. There were a couple of reasons she cared, some that she thought should have already been obvious to Max, and others that were a little more complicated.
"Well… Well, if you honestly need to know my own reason then it is because I do not think you deserve to be left imprisoned in that medallion." She said. "After all, you nearly doomed yourself with those two Outer Gods in order to seal them in another dimension and keep the world safe from them."
"A~nd I would still be trapped with them if a certain stupid vampire didn't nearly ruin everything by saving me." Max said harshly.
Remilia huffed at his apparent ungratefulness. "So I should have left you with them is what you are telling me? Left you with them to do not even God knows what to you?"
"Honestly? Yes. Yes, that is exactly what you should've done. You had no frik'n reason to do what you did. It was fucking stupid and could have royally fucked up everything." Max said solemnly.
He spoke some truth, Remilia thought. She wasn't thinking at all about the consequences when she launched her chains of red magic into the portal to pull him out. The possibility of accidently pulling out one of the Outer Gods, or whatever else that might have dwelled in that other dimension, didn't cross her mind during the time it all happened. It was all done in spur of the moment.
"Well, regardless whether or not what I did was a good idea… I did not expect you to be so unappreciative about it. Guess I should have left you with them then, if that would have made you happier." Remilia said then looked away with a huff.
Max let out a drawn out sigh of frustration. "No, damn it. That ain't it. Look… I am REALLY thankful that you saved me. Trust me on that. I'm just saying it wasn't exactly a smart idea and you shouldn't have risked yourself by doing it. But seriously… Thanks for that." He said with a look of sincerity.
With her arms crossed in front of her and with one leg over another, Remilia glanced at Max with an expression of dissatisfaction. "Hmph… No, I don't believe you really are all that thankful to me. If you were then you would not be complaining about what could have happened and instead focus on what did happen."
She made it sound like she was uncertain with Max's thankfulness, not that she truly doubted it. Of course he was grateful for being saved by her. Who wouldn't want to be saved by the Scarlet Devil herself? She just wanted to get him to thank her more and possibly not just with words. She hoped to milk his gratefulness a little just for a bit fun.
Max growled out of his annoyance with Remilia. "Then don't believe me then. Not my problem." He said uncaringly, though he was hurt on the inside from her apparent rejection of his thanks.
His sour expression lifted a little when he said, "Truth is I probably shouldn't have pulled my little stunt either. Ya remember how bad I was at making extra-dimensional portals? That was an ass pull I did that could have made that Tunguska Incident look like a fucking fireworks show. Except it would've been with a little less fire and a little more Horrors." He chuckled a little at some memories. "Man, what a stupid idea that was. Dumb luck is what saved this world."
"Don't say that. What you did was very novel." Remilia assured.
Max laughed at her comment. "Hardly. To be completely honest… Halfway through with that brilliant plan of mine, I thought it was a bad idea."
"It was novel so have a little pride in what you did." Remilia urged.
"Well I don't think it was."
"That is because you are an idiot." Remilia stated with a sigh then moved to get out of her bed so she could stretch her legs and wings a little, but when she tried to stand, her legs instantly gave out and she fell face-first to the floor with a thud. "Oof! Arg… Damn it all!" She cursed loudly.
"Moronic vampire…" Max mumbled quietly as he went to help Remilia.
"I heard that, you jackass!" Remilia shouted, now angrily frustrated.
She swatted Max's hand away when he tried to help her up then began pushing against the floor with her hands. Quickly she found her arms to be in just as bad of shape as her legs were. Her muscles felt heavy and rubbery, but regardless, she stubbornly continued her struggle to get herself up to her feet, grunting and growling angrily the entire time.
Max was holding in a laugh as he watched Remilia. He gave her several seconds to get up herself before offering some help again.
"Need help?" He asked flatly.
Remilia tried to ignore him, but she knew she wasn't going to get anywhere at the rate she was going. So with a sigh of defeat, she held her hand out to him.
Max grinned then grabbed a hold of the hand held out to him. With a rough pull, he easily lifted Remilia's light body up and sat her down on the edge of the bed.
"Ouch! You hurt me, you buffoon!" Remilia loudly complained.
"Want me to rub it for ya? I can do the rest of your body too if ya like." Max suggested with a smug grin, earning only an angry growl of rejection from Remilia.
"Anyways…" Remilia said as she began massaging her leg muscles to help loosen them up some. "What will you do now that you live again? Will you be leaving Gensokyo to go back to where you once lived?"
"Heh…" Max sat himself down next to Remilia with a somewhat melancholic expression on his face. "Who am I kidding…? I wouldn't know what the hell to do once I left. I'd probably just end up in jail or shot or somth'n…." He said with a depressing sigh following.
Remilia chuckled. "Well then it should be easy for you to accept my offer to stay here. You did assist me in getting my sister back so it is the least I could do." She said with a cheerful smile.
"No." Max said bluntly as he stood up.
Remilia instantly gawked from the unexpected rejection. "N-No? What do you mean no?" She asked as she became a little flustered.
"It was nice seeing you again, Remilia, but I'm not staying in this world. Everyone besides you thinks I'm still dead and gone and it will stay that way." Max said as headed for the door. "Goodbye, Remilia."
Remilia quickly but carefully got off her bed. "Wait! Wait, don't just leave so suddenly!" She exclaimed.
"Goodbye, Remilia." Max said louder, obviously ignoring her calls to wait.
"At least wait until I can get you a change of attire. That outfit is atrocious and you won't be protected outside from the winter wind."
Max looked down at himself. His torso was bare and his battle-torn robes hung loosely on his waist. He simply shrugged without much care for his current appearance.
"I'll live." He said plainly then turned back around to face Remilia and smirked. "You should worry about your own clothes." He chuckled.
Remilia looked down at herself. She was appalled to see that she was still in her dress that was ripped to shreds from her fights in R'lyeh. It was barely hanging onto her waist. In fact, it didn't stay there for much longer and promptly fell to her feet, exposing her womanhood.
"Whoa!" Max exclaimed as his face went red and his gaze instantly went straight up to the ceiling to avoid stealing a glimpse of Remilia's pussy.
Remilia hastily reached down and grabbed her ragged dress and pulled them back up to her waist, now with a beating red face of embarrassment. She grinded her teeth and glared intensely and angrily at Max.
"You rotten pig…" She scowled as she tied her raggedy dress to her waist to keep it from falling a second time. "You already saw me in that city did you not? Must you take advantage of me every chance you get?"
Max faced Remilia again once it was safe to. "I didn't see anything other than your small tits so calm the fuck down." He said.
Remilia huffed and turned her red face away from Max and instantly got to work burying the embarrassing mishap.
She looked to her bed only to see a curious sight. Underneath the blankets was a lump that appeared to be moving. With a raised eyebrow, she faced Max and pointed at the moving lump.
"Max… What is that?" She asked hesitantly and a second after she asked, a groan was heard from the lump.
"Oh, her. Forgot about her. Uh, it's that other blond that was with you. Can't remember her name." Max said.
It wasn't until now that Remilia remembered the human witch that had accompanied her to R'lyeh. She instantly felt guilt for forgetting about her.
"Marisa!" She exclaimed.
"Yeah, her." Max said boredly. "Me and that dickhead found her flailing around like crazy. The dumb bitch had went off the deep end and started shooting shit at us. I had to deck her one to get her to stop."
Remilia walked over to the other side of the bed, grabbed the blankets then yanked them off, revealing Marisa curled up in a ball and mumbling in her sleep. She wasted no time in shaking the sleeping witch awake.
"Hold the phone. Let me leave before you wake her up." Max said.
"Max, you won't be able to get out of my mansion without someone seeing you and if they do without a proper explanation, it will most certainly cause a panic." Remilia stated as she continued to shake Marisa. "Wake up, Marisa! Wake up!"
"Fu~ck, you're right. Shit…" Max said despondently. He quickly started to scan the room for a window to leave from, only to find one that was far out of reach of him. "Oh, what the fuck? Why is that all the way up there?!" He complained loudly.
"You weren't thinking of jumping out a window, were you? We are on the third floor, you dummy." Remilia said.
"Bitch, I'll try!" Max shouted his determination.
With her patience dried up, Remilia slapped the sleeping witch across the face, forcing the girl from her sleep.
Marisa's eyes slowly opened. She sat up, groaning from the stinging pain on her right cheek and from the beating pain from her badly bruised nose.
She rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes then said, "Huh? Wha-What was that just now, da ze?" She mumbled.
"Marisa, are you alright? How are you feeling?" Remilia asked.
Marisa blinked several times to clear her vision. When Remilia came into sight she went wide-eyed. "Remilia? Holy shit! It's you!" She shouted in great relief then jumped out of the bed and snatched Remilia in a hug.
She tightly squeezed the vampire, feeling much relief from seeing her in one piece. Her head was throbbing in pain from her horrific encounter with what she thought was the King in Yellow, but what she had yet to realize was that it was nothing more than a hallucination brought on by the effects of the evil city on her weakened mind.
"Uhg! Calm down, girl!" Remilia ordered while Marisa squeezed the air out of her.
Marisa released Remilia. She placed her hands on the vampire's shoulders and looked into her eyes with worry in her own eyes. "What happened, ze? I went look'n for ya when that huge boulder took you out. I looked everywhere, but instead of you I found… I found…"
She clenched her trembling teeth, not wanting to say what she had found. It was bad enough that Flandre had run off. Telling Remilia that the Unspeakable One had returned was something she wanted to avoid at all cost, but she had to know.
"I found that guy… That… That thing… That thing in yellow." Marisa said as tears began to show as the terrible memories of the Unspeakable One resurfaced in her mind.
Max sighed, feeling a little pity for Marisa. "No you didn't. That was pretty much just a bad dream." He said.
Marisa went wide-eyed in shock from hearing the voice of a man behind her; a familiar voice to boot. She quickly turned around to see who it was that spoke and when she did, her pupils shrank and her face became filled with confused fear.
"Oh gosh…" She said weakly. "Oh gosh. Oh gosh! Oh gosh!" She yelled as she started to panic.
"Calm down, Marisa. What you saw in that city was probably just a hallucination, but Max here is not. Sit down and let me explai-"
"Oh gosh, we're dead, ze!" Marisa screamed the conclusion she came up with on her own. "I got us killed! I killed us! Damn it! Shit!"
Remilia and Max both face-palmed.
"No, you dumb girl. Just shut up and listen." Remilia said as she grew irritated with the witch. She tried to settle the girl down until she suddenly wrapped her arms around her again and buried her face in her chest. "Goodness gracious, Marisa, will you please calm down. We are not dead. I assure you."
"I can't believe I got myself killed without a fight, da ze!" Marisa sobbed loudly. She then looked up at Remilia, her eyes sparkling from her flowing tears. "Do you have any idea what this means, da ze? It means I gotta return all the things I borrowed! Do you have any idea how long that'll take? I haven't even finished all those books I got from Patchy or Alice!" She whined. "God damn it, ze! Damn it all to hell. Damn it all to- Holy snack attack!"
Marisa jumped up in surprise when Max suddenly came up behind her and tightly squeezed one of her butt-cheeks. She quickly turned around to face her assaulter, face beat red and flustered to the core.
"There, now calm that ass of yours down and shut up." Max ordered.
"Oh gosh, the ghost of Max has come to have his way with my pure soul!" Marisa cried out in excited fear.
"I will if you don't quiet the hell down." Max threatened.
"That is not his ghost, you ignorant child. That is him. He is alive." Remilia said.
"Huh? Buh-Buh -But how? He's supposed to be dead. I know. I saw his good looking corpse." Marisa said with a tense bewildered look all over her face.
Remilia grabbed Marisa by the hand and sat her down on the edge of the bed.
"If you would calm down for five minutes then I could explain." Remilia said.
Marisa curiously looked at Max then back at Remilia. With a nervous sigh, she nodded her head and listened to Remilia's explanation.