Sakuya was hard at work in the kitchen fixing up a special blend of drinks. The guests of the mansion had decided to have a little party to rest their minds and had proven themselves to be quite demanding of her. Remilia hadn't authorized such a party, but she had figured her master wouldn't have really cared. Either way, she wasn't going to interrupt her and Max just to ask. It was a small party and she certainly didn't have a problem catering to the guests. It was, obviously, her job that she enjoyed doing without much complaint.
She was busy getting out the champagne glasses when suddenly Max stumbled into the kitchen. He tripped over his own two feet and nearly fell face-first into the floor before catching himself on a stool. He was feeling exhausted both mentally and physically after his one-on-one activity with Remilia. The activity itself wasn't what left his muscles feeble. It was the bite of a vampire and it was a lot more draining than he could ever have imagined. Once he got his balance back, he clumsily sat himself on the stool and leaned forward over the counter top. He sat silently, his eyes staring blankly at the surface of the counter.
Sakuya waited for him to say something first, but he remained silent, provoking her to speak first. "You feeling okay there, Max?" she asked.
Max looked up at her with tired eyes then looked back down. "Yeah, I'm good. Got lost getting here is all," he said.
Max was still hurting. Sakuya could easily tell. She walked over to him then pulled the collar of his shirt down with a finger, revealing the bloody teeth marks along with two holes that could easily fit a pair of fangs. Max pulled his shoulder away and fixed his collar while glaring at her.
"Excuse me?" he asked, annoyed.
"I'll get the First Aid," Sakuya said then vanished from sight, reappearing with a small First Aid Kit in hand a second later. She sat it down on the counter, opened it then got to work on cleaning and patching up Max's wounds.
"I'm fine," Max said. He stubbornly resisted when Sakuya tried to remove his shirt to get to all the other deep scratches along his torso, as she expected of him.
"So…" Sakuya said, ignoring his stubbornness and continuing with the first aid. "You must feel proud of yourself."
"I fell down those stupid stairs," Max lied blatantly. Sakuya paused for a second to give him deadpan look. It took a few seconds for him to realize the look she was giving him. "What?"
Sakuya sighed with the slight shrug of her shoulders and continued treating Max. "And here I was thinking you had showed up to brag. You really surprise me sometimes," she said.
"Brag about falling down the stairs?" Max asked, confused.
"Max, these are clearly bite marks of a vampire. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together."
"Whadd'ya want from me? A confession?" Max asked crossly. He winced when Sakuya applied some alcohol to his wound to clean it.
"Was it not what you wanted?"
"Of course it was. I'm the happiest bastard alive right now. Happiest I've ever been in my miserable life."
"Then why doesn't your face match the way you feel?" Sakuya asked. She sighed when she got no answer. "You don't need to tell me anything. It's not any of my business. But I will listen if you need someone to talk to, you know."
Max stared ahead, teeth clicking together as he was torn on the inside by the feeling of helplessness. He took a deep breath and spoke up. "I'm angry. Angry because this planet is going to die and there's not a god damn thing I can do about it."
Sakuya was jarred from hearing such ill news, yet not surprised to hear such a thing given past occurrences with the Horrors. "That's… not a good thing to hear," she said.
"It doesn't mean you people need to die with it, though. It's just… It's just I think that stupid vampire would rather go down swinging than do the smart thing and run."
"Yup." Sakuya nodded with a smile. "That's Milady for you."
Walking by the kitchen entrance was Alice. She stopped when she heard Max's and Sakuya's voices and joined the two of them in the kitchen.
"Hello, Miss Sakuya. Max," she said in greeting.
"Hello, Miss Alice," Sakuya said while Max gave a lazy wave in greeting. "What brings you here?"
"Well…" Alice's cheeks turned pinkish as she pushed herself to say what she never thought she'd ever say until now. "I'm actually here to see Max."
Max turned around on his seat to face Alice. "What ya need?" he asked, curious.
Alice was about to answer him before she was distracted by his uncovered torso. If she ever had to say one nice thing about Max then it would have to be his sex appeal. She hoped she would never have to confess such a thing. She could hardly believe she felt any sort of physical attraction to him as it is. Then she noticed the nasty bite marks on his neck and the presence of scratch marks all over his chest. Some of the cuts still had some wet blood running down them.
"Who did you anger this time?" she asked with hints of concern in her voice.
Sakuya placed her hand atop of Max's head and grinned. "Sleeping with a vampire isn't easy, as he just learned not too long ago," she said.
Alice took a deep breath through her nostrils as she fought to keep unwanted images from coming into existence in her head. "Not what I need to be thinking about right now," she said.
"Whatever. Enough about that," Max said with a slight blush. "You wanted to see me?"
"Oh, yes. I need to take some measurements of you for the plastic arm I'm making for you," Alice said.
"I'm seriously thankful for the gesture, but I'm fine with one arm," Max said sincerely.
"This isn't just for you," Alice said with a stern expression. "Just let me make it for you. Please."
Max sighed grumbly. He didn't understand Alice's insistence, but he didn't feel like arguing and easily gave in. "Go ahead. I don't care."
"Thank you," Alice said with a gentle smile.
The number of people in the kitchen grew with the arrival of Reimu. She put her hands on her hips and looked to Sakuya and Alice. "Was wondering what happened to you two. Didn't know another little get-together was being held in the kitchen," she said lightheartedly. She walked over to where Sakuya had the wineglasses out, patting Max on the wounded shoulder along the way.
Max cringed from the sudden sting of pain. "Ah, shit! It still hurts!"
"Me and Marisa went looking for you," Reimu said to Max as she started filling a wineglass with the beverage Sakuya had made. She partly filled it then quickly took a sip of it, smiling in satisfaction with the taste afterwards. "All we had to do was follow the sounds Remilia was making and we found you easily," she said with a modest smirk before taking another sip of her drink.
"Oh, for the sake of the Prophet…" Max said as his face went red. "This place is so ungodly big you'd think people could get some frikn' privacy."
Reimu raised an eyebrow. "Huh? I was sure you'd be the type who would brag about it. Not get all girly and blush," she commented then finished the rest of her drink off with one gulp.
"Who the hell you calling girly?" Max asked angrily.
Reimu stood herself right in front of Max and studied him. Marisa had talked her into exhaustion about Max's amazingly well-kept figure and she took her word for it. She didn't think she would be all that impressed but here she was, touching every corner of his attractively shaped body with her eyes.
An idea then popped into Reimu's head. "Can you dance?" she suddenly asked of Max.
"Huh?"
"Dance. Like a sexy kind of dance," Reimu said then held her hands up and shook her hips from side to side in a provocative manner to demonstrate.
"No, not really," Max said honestly.
"Ah, bummer…" Reimu said as she snapped her fingers in disappointment, her little fun idea coming apart instantly. "You would of made a fantastic form of entertainment for the party."
Alice chuckled at the notion. "That would have been nice to see," she said. Seconds later, she blushed when she realized what she just said out loud. She quickly tried to correct herself. "Uh, to see the other girls' reaction, I mean…"
"I think you're hot too, doll face," Max said with a smile then got a mild bonk to the head by a flustered Alice.
Reimu placed a hand on Max's shoulder while wearing a fiendish grin on her face. "Well? Gonna at least tell us how it went?"
"About what?" Max asked for clarification.
Reimu sighed at his thick-headedness. "Your little tumble with Remilia," she said as she curled her finger and thumb into a circle then moved her pointer finger in and out of it to make sure Max understood her. She, Sakuya and Alice huddled up closer to Max, all three showing interest in hearing his tale.
Max looked at all of them as if they lost their minds. "What? No! Maybe if you were fellow men then I would," he said. All three girls let out disgruntled groans and sighs at his refusal to share the details of his time with Remilia.
"You suck!" Reimu shouted angrily.
"Loser," Sakuya uttered.
"Didn't really care…" Alice said boredly.
Max felt the sudden need to smack all three, but refrained with the state of his still-injured body in mind. "How about I tell you three something more important?" he said.
Reimu sighed, not really wanting to get onto the subject of alien horrors like she expected Max to be thinking of. "It's about what Yukari came here about, isn't it?" Reimu asked.
"Kind of…" Max said.
Max went on to explain to Sakuya, Alice and Reimu what he and Remilia already knew about the coming doom. He was blunt and straight to the point, offering no uplifting comments to the dark reality he spoke of. Not surprisingly, the girls were appalled to hear such ill news. But at the same time it all made sense. They, like many others across Gensokyo, have felt a heavy sense of dread weighing down upon them from high above from the vastness of space. Now they had a name to give to that dreadful feeling: Azathoth.
Sakuya fixed everyone a drink then handed them out. Alice and Reimu took theirs while Max rejected the one offered to him. She sipped her beverage to taste it. The taste was just the way she intended, but it was spoiled due to the dark name that now echoed painfully between her ears.
"Every time I close my eyes, I swear I sometimes see some sort of… eye staring back at me," she said before sipping more of her drink. "It would always force my eyes back open and leave me feeling sick to my stomach."
Alice nodded in understanding. "Same… It used to be those nightmares Max was so kind enough to give me, but… not anymore. Now it feels like something worse is inside that darkness," she said.
"I think it's safe to assume we're all seeing this… Daemon God Sultan, as you put it, Max?" Reimu asked.
"Yeah," Max sadly said. "And no, we cannot stop it. The damn thing is less of a god and more of a raging, mindless abomination cruising through space. The thing shatters worlds and snuffs out stars and can consume more than any black hole in the universe. No amount of divine intervention, let alone your magical girl powers, is going to save this planet from its rage."
"Miss Yukari talked to you didn't she? This is what she wanted to talk to you and Milady about, right?" Sakuya asked.
"Yeah, well, she doesn't have anything that even vaguely resembles a sane plan to stop it so forget about her," Max said.
"I'm not too sure about that," Reimu said as she grabbed a stool, placed it next to Max and sat herself down beside him. "You don't know Yukari like I do. Despite all of her laziness and aggravating secrecy, she can be counted on to always have a plan when no one else does or even when they do. She doesn't always tell someone, but, frankly, if she needs to tell someone her plan then it must not be a very good plan to begin with. So have a little trust in her, okay?"
"Kid, if you want to fill yourself up with false hope because of that dumb woman then go on ahead. That just means more for Azathoth to enjoy destroying," Max said sullenly.
Reimu flicked Max on the tip of his nose. He flinched from the flick and glared at her for it. "I'm no less a kid than you are, sir," she said. "Yukari told me before she left to be ready for anything so all we need to do for now is stay on our toes."
"She's a damn lunatic and you are too for believing in her," Max said crossly.
Reimu sighed. Marisa wasn't kidding about Max's pessimistic attitude, she realized. "Max… You may not believe this, but the tiniest amount of hope can do wonders. Do you know what a small ember can do to a forest? I'll tell you… It can set the entire thing aflame and burn it to the ground. It just needs to be in the right place at the right time. Hope works very much the same way, no matter how small the amount," she said with a warm smile.
Max heard every word Reimu said and he wanted to believe in every single one of them, but he just couldn't. Doom was practically hanging over each of their shoulders right now and to him it just didn't look like it was ever going to go away. It was made harder to believe by the fact that he would be left all alone in the depths of the Yellow Sign Medallion once the great Horror came to end the Earth.
He looked deep into Reimu's eyes. "That's all sweet and fantastic and all, but unlike you, I get to spend the rest of eternity in a god forsaken piece of jewelry when this world is dead and gone. I don't have the luxury to blindly hope for the best," he said.
Reimu sighed and took a sip of her drink. "Then what is your plan then? Do you even have one?"
"Of course I do," Max said. He took Reimu's drink from her hand and finished off the rest in a single go. It took him a moment to swallow his own pride before continuing. "I know a guy who can help you people find somewhere else to live. But I have this gut feeling that the bastard won't help unless Remilia herself asks for it and she's obviously too damn proud and arrogant to do that."
"You're talking about that astronomer. Joseph, right?" Alice asked.
"Yup," Max answered.
"That's good to hear, Max, but how do you expect any of us to change that stubborn vampire's mind?" Reimu asked.
"Well…" Max shifted around in his seat as he thought how to answer Reimu. "Can't one of you try and convince her to get the hell out of here while she still can?"
"Pfft…" All three girls nearly broke out into a laugh from hearing Max's absurd suggestion.
"I tried convincing that damn nightwalker that you were a threat since this entire thing began," Alice said. "Guess how far I've gotten in that endeavor."
"I learned long ago not to even bother," Sakuya said.
"I usually just beat her up whenever she does something that annoys me, but things are different this time around," Reimu said.
"So you people aren't even going to try surviving this?" Max asked in disbelief. Once he realized the girls were serious, his shoulders drooped and he sighed at what he considered insanity. "That's just great…"
"That's not it at all," Alice said. "As hard as it is to admit, we're just as terrified as you are. Abandoning our home is just not as easy as you seem to think it is."
"She's right, you know," Reimu said.
Max sighed when he realized that there wasn't going to be any running from the looming shadow. "Aww, shit…" he said despondently then sat his forehead on the counter top.
Reimu rubbed Max's back in an attempt to comfort him. "Try to have some faith in those who live not just here in Gensokyo but here on the entire Earth," she said.
Max lifted his head to speak. "I couldn't care less about the planet. I just want to spend the rest of my cursed existence in this medallion knowing that stupid vampire didn't get herself killed by some equally stupid Horror. Is that too much to ask for?" he said tiredly then sat his head back down on the counter.
Sakuya, Alice and Reimu all raised an eyebrow as they looked at one another. In unison, an expression of surprise appeared on all three of their faces as they came to a realization.
Reimu quickly hid her surprise behind a bright smile. She then gave Max a good pat on the shoulder and got out of her seat. "Guess Marisa's suspicions were right. You really do have feelings for Remilia," she said.
Max's head flung up. "And what is that supposed to me?" he asked irritably.
Sakuya sighed in defeat. "Not looking forward to telling Meiling she was right…"
Alice sighed as well as her already shattered original vision of Max came tumbling down completely. "You really do have a heart under that pig-headedness… I liked it better when I thought you were a violent asshole," she said.
"I still am!" Max exclaimed as he franticly stood up. He faced Alice. "I still want to feel these tits of yours," he said and instantly got a jab straight to the nose by Alice. His head bounced back on his shoulder from the blow. "Gaah! I think you broke it!"
Alice folded her arms in front of her and huffed. "I don't see why you're getting worked up over it. It's nothing to be ashamed about," she said.
Smiling in content, Reimu walked in front of Max, grabbed his hand and shook it. "I wanted to thank you for looking out for my best friend. It means a lot to me and I'll forgive you for throwing that cell door at me in return," she said then took her leave from the kitchen.
Max tried to remember what Reimu was talking about, but failed. Alice stood in front of him and took his hand and shook it as well. She held a stern expression as she gripped his hand firmly.
"I forgive you," Alice said. Max's eyes widened, shocked from the rather sudden declaration he thought he would never hear from the puppeteer. "I wanted to try and give you your arm back to show my forgiveness because I couldn't say it out loud before, but… now I can," she said. She smiled at Max and repeated, "I forgive you." With her forgiveness given and a weight lifted from her heart, she left the kitchen feeling lighter than ever.
Sakuya realized she was late in bringing the guests their drinks and quickly got back to work. She looked to Max and said, "You better get back to Lady Remilia's bedchambers before she wakes up. She'll be angry if her love pillow isn't there by her side."
Sakuya's words never reached Max's ears as he stood in silence, lost in the confines of his own thoughts. He was happy to hear Alice's words of forgiveness, more happy than he thought he would feel about such a simple, yet significant, gesture. He just wondered if he really deserved those kind words. But whether he did or didn't was a moot point. It was the conclusion the girls jumped to about his feelings for Remilia that really lost him. He never did understand his own feelings for the vampire and certainly didn't expect the girls to either. And it was during the act of trying to understand those feelings that the weakened stone wall he had desperately tried to maintain around his soft heart for so long was delivered its final blow.