Chapter 1: Silence
A stiff, frigid breeze blew through a cracked window, dropping the temperature of the room. It was enough to wake the lone sleeper of the room, her old and matted blanket having no hope of keeping her warm. Shion sat up, shivering, looking around. The barren room was devoid of all comforts. Only two ragged blankets were in the room. The rest was old, cold wooden floor and rotting walls. Another breeze squeezed into the room, a sign of the coming winter. The faint light entering the room told her the sun had barely risen. She sighed, looking at the discarded blanket to her left.
Jo'on must be up already…
Shion stood and rolled up the blankets and tossed them against the wall. As she grabbed the door's handle and pulled, it came free in her hand. Unfazed, she stuck her finger into the hole and pulled, the door grinding on the floor. She walked into the 'living area and kitchen', really a big empty room with a rusty tap that didn't work, two old cushions and decaying cuburts. The room was visibly dusty, the specks dancing around the chilly room. Shion looked around. No Jo'on.
"Hmm...Jo'on? Are you here?" Shion asked the silent room, already knowing the answer.
It was odd though that she didn't leave a note or even a trace. Herself and Tenshi had found this empty, abandoned home and the celestial suggested making it her home while she waited of Jo'on to return from whatever that holy woman was putting her through. It was a good idea, better than living under a tree or begging Hakurei to let her stay awhile longer. And although the house has started to...deteriorate since she moved in, it kept the rain out. Expect under the windows. And the cold was less severe. But still, Jo'on was only back four days. A lot calmer and appearing to be more responsible, somewhat. Oh…
"Maybe she went to apologise to some of the humans she took money from. Or steal from the village elder. Either is likely." Shion whispered to herself.
Wherever she was, it wasn't here. May as well go find her. And if she can't, maybe find Tenshi. And she can't find either, she'll come home.
Shion, with a bit of effort, pried the warped front door open and exited the house, the ground cold on her bare feet. The rotting home sat alone on an empty part of Genskoyo's plain, an overground, disused farm plot to the left of it. The path to it was little more than a dirt trail that grass had yet to claim. The village was only a short 10 minute walk away. Undeterred by the cold air and ground, Shion started walking. The morning sun did little to warm the land, the orb barely risen above the horizon in the sky. Alone, Shion wandered along the path, eventually coming to more used portion of road, used to get to the Misty lake and the Scarlet Devil mansion. As Shion walked, she noticed that the landed seemed, very quiet. Although early, she expected to hear the occasional bird, or see a fairy or two floating around. They seem to love throwing stones at the house whenever she tried to sleep. But there was nothing. It was deathly quiet. Shion didn't really mind though. It was, pleasant in a way.
After a quiet few minutes, Shion came to the outskirts of the village. A large surrounding farmland, barren due to the recent harvest. As such, Shion didn't expect to see many farmers around, mostly a few humans toiling away at the stacked crops. But...there was no one. Not a human in sight. Shion stopped and glanced around. The few homes around looked like they were still locked up, as though the inhabitants had yet to rise. Continuing on, Shion reached the village entrance, a wooden fence cutting it off most of the village from the outside, a heavy wooden gate blocking her way forward. And there were no guards. Now that was unusual.
"Huh? Where is everyone?" Shion looked around again.
The humans always had guards on the entrances, with the gate open so the guards could question anyone. And yet…
"Hello? Is anyone there?" Shion called out.
Silence. No sound at all. Confused, Shion floated up to the top of the fence, looking over it. The village, usually starting to become lively at this hour, was empty. Not a soul. She flew over the gate and landed in the village.
This was...not normal.
Shion hastened her pace, wandering over to a shop by the entrance, finding it locked. She moved to the eatery next door, pushing aside the curtain acting as a door. The inside was dark and vacant, the stools not even set out. She backed out and ran down the central road. Everywhere was locked or empty. Something felt, wrong. She stopped at the schoolhouse and stuck her head into the school yard. Still nothing. This was going from odd to a bit worrying. Shion turned around and flew into the air. Pure. Silence. It was as if everyone just, vanished. Nothing on her way here. No one working outside. And the village was devoid of life. Shion landed and inhaled. Okay, someone must be around. As Shion closed her eyes to think, she heard something. It sounded like someone yelling. Shion turned towards it and started to move in its direction. It sounded panicked.
As Shion approached it, she started to make out words.
"...HELLO!?...one there...!?...answer...!"
She spotted movement as she rounded a corner, seeing something running into a building. It's a lone marked building, a sign with 'Suzunaan' painted in bold symbols above a curtain that was acting as a door. The buildings to either side locked up and plain. Shion walked over to it and stopped as she heard crying.
"Mother, Father, Akyuu...where are you…? Where is everyone?" a young sounding girl whispered through quiet sobs.
Shion grabbed the curtain and pulled it open, bells hanging from it making a soft jiggle. The girl, who was kneeling at a low table, suddenly whipped around, her face brightening instantly.
"Oh gods, someone!" she cried as she rushed over and latched onto Shion "Finally! I was so scared! I woke up and no one was home and when I went out the village was empty! No guards or shopkeepers and Akyuu's house was locked up and empty and I thought I was all a-a-aloooooone!"
"W-Woah…! Careful." Shion warned as she stumbled back from the sudden force of the girl grabbing her.
"S-Sorry. I'm just so happy that there's someone else apart from me here." the girl released her and backed away, smiling "I don't think I've seen you before. My name is Kosuzu Motoori. Book keeper of Suzunaan." Kosuzu bowed.
"Umm, hi. Shion Yorigami. I was going to ask if you had seen my sister, but judging by your crying and joy at seeing me, I doubt you have."
"Yorigami? I've heard that name before…wait, that god that stole half the village's money!"
"Yeah, that's my sister."
"Oh. Umm, well, that incident was a while ago and we have more important things to worry about, he he he…" Kosuzu laughed with a hand wave, clearly uncomfortable.
"I guess you're just a bit unfortunate that I'm the only person to still be around."
"What? No no no, really it's fine! I'm actually glad that someone showed up. I was...terrified I was all alone. So anyone will do, even a…" she trailed off.
"Poverty god and misfortune bank. I make everything I'm involved with worse…" Shion sighed rubbing her arm, a ghostly blue flame leaking off her.
Kosuzu visible locked up before relaxing.
"Well, uhh, everyone's disappeared with seemingly no trace, things can't get any worse! Sooo, it'll be fine." Kosuzu reassured.
"If you say so."
"Now then, umm, we should, uhh think of what to do next. You know, to figure out what happened and all that. Because well, this isn't nor-" Kosuzu turned and walked over to her desk as she talked, tripping on a loose floorboard.
She let out a quiet eep as she fell onto the table, knocking over a vile of ink, ruining a book she had laid out.
"Oh NO!" she grabbed the book, holding it up as black ink ran off the pages, staining through the paper.
"Sorry…" Shion whispered.
"No, it was an accident, I tripped. On a loose board! That wasn't loose a minute ago...it's fine! It wasn't an important book. Well, okay, it was kinda rare but it's fine, more important things to worry about." she placed the ruined book down and sat on a cushion, patting a second one "Come on."
Shion nodded and sat next to her, the young girl letting out a quiet sigh.
"Okay, so. You don't know what's going on?" Shion shook her head. "So neither of us know, great. (Sigh) Great...okay, so..let's start by...talking about what we know Shion. I woke maybe 30 minutes ago and my parents, were not around. So I got ready and went outside. No one was around, which was, uhh, worrying, but maybe everyone was still asleep! That was my reasoning. So I headed straight to Suzunaan and...nobody was here either. I went outside to look around and found no one. At all. So I ran around and...still saw no one. Akyuu wasn't home and all the shops and craftsmen workshops were locked up. So I...started to panic a little." Kosuzu explained as she scratched her cheek.
"Okay. I woke up and Jo'on wasn't home. I thought maybe she came here to either apologise for the money stealing. Or to steal more. Either or. The holy woman's training didn't invoke that great a change in her. So I wandered my way here. There weren't any fairies flying around. Or farmers outside. I was curious, so I flew into the village and looked around. Then I heard you shouting." Shion added.
"So that's what we know. Nothing. Good, good. Now, weeeeee need a plan. Because everyone has, you know, disappeared! If this is an incident, maybe Reimu knows what's happening?"
"What if she disappeared?"
"It's Reimu, she won't be affected by this! She probably just doesn't know anything has happened."
"And if she has disappeared?" Shion stared directly into Kosuzu's eyes.
"We'll...find Marisa!" Kosuzu suggested.
"If she's gone?"
"Sanae?"
"Gone?"
"Miss Yakumo?"
"Gone?"
"Uhh...oh, Aya!"
"Gone?"
"Uh, guh...umm...the door god? Or the hermit? Ehh, the vampires?"
"What if everyone is gone except us?" Shion asked, Kosuzu wilting from the suggestion.
"Come on, don't be so negative! We can't be the only ones here." her voice cracked as she spoke.
"But what if we are?"
"No, stop it. We are not alone! L-Let's go get Reimu." Kosuzu grabbed Shion's hand and dragged her to her feet, pulling her out the door "I always wanted to help solve an incident, but I never thought I'd have time to learn Danmaku. So let's go." she smiled as she released Shion to grab her coat, throwing it on before regrabbing her wrist.
Shion noticed it was forced though. The poor girl was probably scared. Not helped by her depressive remarks. Maybe she should hold her tongue for a bit until she calms down. Probably for the best.
Kosuzu lead her out of the shop and made a beeline for the entrance to the village. But as they went, she seemed to tense up as they passed shop after house of nothingness. So Shion did the only thing she could think of to make the girl feel better. She squeezed her hand. It had the desired effect.
AN: Behold, a new idea I thought of!
Now, I need to talk about somethings.
One, the reason I made this is because, well, I'm very busy currently. The next few EX chapters of A Curse of Blood that I was going to work on are all going to be kinda long. I don't have the time to sit down and write it out like I want to. Even this was written over several days at a time. So when everything slows down, I'll start it again.
Two, the idea for this came from...a very weird place. A year ago or so, I found and read like a chapter of a Hyperdimension Neptunia fanfic that had a character suddenly be unable to see anyone, although they were still there. I thought it was a decent idea. I then forgot about it...until like a week ago. I stopped, thought for a second, then promptly formed this story in my head. Yep...that was the inspiration. Note, this is not what's happening in this story.
Three, I've actually already written the majority of the ending of this story, as well as the second chapter. I know where I'm going with this. Unlike A Curse of Blood. I will admit, until chapter 3 or so of that I had no idea how it was going to end. So, word of advice, think of the ending of a story before posting it.
Four, you may think this is an odd mix of characters. Yeah, it is. That's one of the reasons I chose them.
So, that's about it. This will be very erratic for a while. Hope people find this interesting.
Review, Pm, tell me what you think.
Anyway, enjoy.
