Author's Note: This is going to be a bit longer one, so feel free to skip it, if you don't want to hear my ramblings. As the first part, I'd like to thank everybody for kind words about my story. I'm happy to see that you're enjoying my story, when I first posted this story, I expected it to get buried down without much attention by much superior stories, but it turned out to be vice versa! So once again, thank you! For the second part, I apologize that this chapter took long time to write, I was dealing with stuff IRL, so I didn't really have time to write anything, it eased up for now, so updates might be faster, but I don't promise anything. This chapter might also look all over the place, because I kept getting side-tracked during writing. But I hope that it's readable. I once again appreciate any review/criticism, so without further ado, please enjoy.
-I'm sure you have a lot of questions, so please sit down, and I'll answer them to the best of my abilities.
Flandre beckoned to her table.
Reimu and Rumia both sat down at the table, however Sakuya decided to stand next to her mistress.
This was it. She could finally get answers that she was seeking since arriving here.
Where was she exactly? What happened here?
Where's Remilia? What happened to her?
Who were these people that looked like cyborgs?
How did they know that she needed help?
Reimu, of course, had more questions, but she prioritized the most important ones.
-What happened here? Are we in the Outside World?
Blonde vampire chuckled.
-Getting straight to the point, are we? I actually expected for you to ask some minor things like "Where's everybody else?", but it's good to see that you're taking this seriously.
Flandre folded her hands and leaned forward.
-You're correct. We are in the Outside World. After you had disappeared one year ago, there was nobody left to maintain the Hakurei Barrier, Marisa tried to find you and that gap youkai, but there was no trace of both of you. The barrier shattered shortly after, causing Gensokyo and Outside World to connect, however since the connection was unstable, many of the locations from Gensokyo ended up in random places in the Outside World. Destruction of barrier also caused for both youkai and humans to be weakened. Danmaku and flight disappeared. Some lesser youkai also lost their powers, the Youkai of Darkness can confirm that fact here.
Reimu looked at Rumia.
Smaller girl nodded meekly.
That did certainly explain a lot of things, but there was one thing that didn't add up. Her disappearance for one straight year. She just arrived here, an hour ago, so how was she missing for the whole year?
Flandre unfolded her hands.
-Now let me ask you a question, Reimu. Are you back to repair your mistake?
She looked uneasily at the blonde vampire.
-I can't. I can't use my powers anymore. I'm not sure what you mean by me missing for the whole year. I got dragged here literally an hour ago, and I'm not even sure who did it or how I ended up here. One moment, I'm sitting at the shrine and the next one, I'm falling from the sky into this place.
Reimu noticed that Flandre had a shocked expression on her face after she said that, even normally stoic Sakuya which was standing next to her, flinched.
After a moment of silence, the blonde vampire looked at the shrine maiden.
-You can't use your powers? Is there a way for you to restore them?
Reimu straightened up.
-Yukari knows more about Hakurei God than me. If we could find her, then she might have idea how I can get them back.
Flandre grimaced.
-This does really complicate our situation. We haven't been able to find Yakumo ever since the shattering of the barrier. Sakuya even checked her home, but she couldn't find anybody there, not even her shikigami. You also mentioned that you got dragged here? It seems that this is even more complicated than we thought.
Not even her shikigami? Reimu recalls Yukari disappearing for quite some time before, but she always remembers that Ran and Chen could be found at her residence waiting for their master.
-We will have to plan our next move, but first, do you have any other questions, you'd like to ask?
She was curious about the fate of Remilia, so that would be good next question.
-Where's Remilia?
Sakuya flinched at mention of her, but she didn't say anything.
-I expected this question. After all, this is Mansion of the Scarlet Devil, so where's the Devil herself? To answer your question, I'm not quite sure myself. Six months after your disappearance, she came to my room and stated that I shall be the mistress of the mansion now and told me to take good care of the residents here. I tried to question her, but she left the room without word. She left the mansion and didn't return to this day. She also didn't say anything to anybody else. Not even to Sakuya. Such troublesome older sister, leaving everything to her younger sister.
-I'm sure she has her reasons, Lady Flandre.
Sakuya stated expressionlessly.
-I don't doubt that, Sakuya. However, she could open up to her family a bit more, instead of leaving with such secrecy.
Sakuya didn't have an answer to that.
Blonde vampire looked at Reimu.
-Any more questions?
The shrine maiden was about to ask her next question, but a meek voice interrupted her.
-Umm. I have one question. Do you know what happened to Mystia Lorelei or Wriggle Nightbug?
Reimu looked in the direction of the voice, and it turned to be Rumia. She had a frightened but determined expression, she must have been scared to even talk without permission in front of such a powerful person as Flandre.
The shrine maiden doesn't blame her, if she didn't know better about the blonde vampire then she would be absolutely horrified of a vampire that can absolutely annihilate you with just a thought.
Flandre looked at Rumia and noticed her scared expression, she then gently smiled in order to reassure the smaller youkai that she won't harm her.
-We haven't found them. Sakuya always informs me when she finds somebody from Gensokyo here. I'm afraid that they either might be dead, or they have been captured.
Rumia looked saddened at this information, but she nodded and quietly thanked the vampire.
Reimu felt bad for the smaller girl, she recalls that Mystia and Wriggle were her friends back in Gensokyo. She hasn't really lost anybody before, but she knows that it's really painful.
The shrine maiden decided to ask her next question.
-Who are these people that look like cyborgs?
Flandre chuckled at the description.
-These are Gensokyo Military Force. GMF for short. After Gensokyo and Outside World got connected, the government quickly found out and sent soldiers in order to capture youkai and humans. After interrogating a bunch of them, they have learned much about Gensokyo and their residents, so the government decided to create special forces of kind that are tasked with dealing and capturing youkai in order to experiment on them. They have the newest technology available, so that's why they look like "cyborgs" as you have specified.
Reimu does remember one of them saying something about specimens, so he probably meant youkai.
-How did you know that I needed help?
Sakuya looked at the shrine maiden.
-I can answer that. Today, I have received an anonymous message saying that if I come to this location at nighttime, I will find something worth my while. At first, I was skeptical, since it could have been a trap, however I decided to show this to the mistress, and she approved for me to check it out.
Flandre hummed in thought.
-It seems that, this person knew thoroughly that you would arrive here and also knew where you would be exactly. Looks like we have some kind of mastermind working behind the shadows. Now the question is, if they are friendly or an enemy.
That did sound like something that Yukari would do, but she was missing. So who else would do that?
The blonde vampire then looked over at the clock in the dining room.
-I would have preferred for us to discuss our next move today, however it seems that it's getting quite late, so we will continue the conversation tomorrow, for now, Sakuya will prepare supper for us, and then she will show you both to your rooms.
That was a good idea, Reimu was exhausted and hungry after the whole day. Rumia probably would appreciate a good meal after starving for god knows how long.
Sakuya silently bowed and left the room.
As they have been waiting, Reimu was thinking how Flandre have changed, while there are still differences in how they act, she noted that Flandre was almost like Remilia now. She felt bad for her that such responsibility was put on her so quickly, and she had to adapt to it. She didn't really understand Remilia's actions, secrecy wasn't her thing, that's something that Yukari would do.
The shrine maiden's train of thought was broken by Sakuya entering the room with a trolley with food on it.
The maid silently pushed a trolley around the room to put a plate of food for everybody at the table.
Reimu's mouth watered at the sight of the food in front of her. It was a medium rare steak with various vegetables, she rarely if ever ate such extravagant food.
After finishing her task, the maid also sat down at the table with her own plate of food.
-Thank you, Sakuya. Patchy won't be joining us?
Sakuya shook her head.
-I'm afraid not, milady. Lady Patchouli prefers to eat in the library today. I have also delivered Meiling her own portion.
Flandre grimaced.
-Again? Well, I guess that's Patchy for you, always a shut-in. Anyway, if nobody has any objections, then please let us eat.
Everybody then started eating.
Reimu took fork and knife and started cutting the steak and eating it. She preferred using chopsticks, since she usually ate food that didn't require using knife nor fork, so she wasn't really proficient with them, however she was invited often to Remilia's parties, so she knew the basics how to use them.
She noticed that Rumia had trouble using them, so she kept helping herself with fingers. She wasn't really surprised since lesser youkai usually ate like animals, they really didn't care about etiquette.
She looked at Flandre, and she was eating properly like a lady would do, to think that Reimu still remembers how Flandre was struggling with using fork and knife during the parties.
It was no surprise for Reimu that, Sakuya was eating elegantly. She wondered if she taught Flandre how to eat properly.
After eating in a silence for a while, everybody has finished their meal.
-I hope that meal was satisfactory to everybody. I'm sure you're all tired, so Sakuya please show them their rooms.
Sakuya bowed and beckoned for them to follow her.
Reimu and Rumia stood up from the table and went after her.
They left the dining room, then headed back to the main hall, where they ascended to the second floor and started walking through the long corridor.
They soon stopped near one of the rooms.
-This is your room, Reimu. Everything is already prepared inside, so take it easy there. I'll wake you up in the morning.
Reimu nodded and entered her room.
It was fancy like the rest of the mansion, queen-sized bed, mahogany wood furniture, wool carpet, she also noted that there was a door that probably lead to the bathroom.
Taking a shower sounded nice now, considering that she was crawling in sewers not long ago. But she was too exhausted, so she just settled for lying down on the bed.
As she was lying on the bed, she thought of the situation.
She dealt with many incidents before, but this one is something that exceeds even her. Usually, she did take care of everything herself, but this time, she's left at the mercy of her friends. It scared her, that it only took for her to have her powers taken away for her to become useless. If she succeeds in taking care of this incident, then she has to take her training more seriously, so even if this situation repeats, she would be able to do something.
With that thought, she slowly drifted off to sleep.