Disclaimer: Touhou belongs to Zun.
A/N: Ahh, and now I'm finally almost caught up with the time line... Finallyyyyy, I feel lonely without Usa getting attention for several chapters! On with the show!
Sunrise, Hakurei Shrine, Mystia's PoV:
"Heave!" I shouted, all of us getting ready to lift. "Hoe...!" The cart was quite heavy, especially when one first gets it off the ground.
Wriggle's face was bright red, from exertion. She was probably only twice as strong as a human, while I was twice as strong as her, and Aya... well, I've never seen her struggle to pick anything up, heavy, or otherwise.
Aya's face showed signs of boredom. The weight, while too much if done alone, was rather easy for her, when split like this.
My face, while not quite as bad as Wriggle's, who was a bit of a wuss, was tinted red.
We would have asked Suika for help, had she not passed out shortly after our group split up for the night. One good way to die, is to disturb a passed out oni... It's also one of the best ways to lose a limb, gain a hole through your body, or plain get torn in half!
We could have asked Tenshi, but she had already rocketed into the sky on that rock of hers, laughing maniachly. I really wonder if she has issues...
We could have asked Reimu, waking her up, had we had a death wish.
In the end, only the three of us were... safe options, when it came to getting this off the property. And dragon help us if we drop the thing. Doing so would not only wake Reimu up, it would disturb the passed out oni as well. ...Thinking about that only made it feel heavier.
After a good while of slowly hauling it towards the stairs, as we couldn't fly without Rumia's help, we finally reached the hard part; the stairs.
"A-Aya... you ge-get the front... You can still fly, right? Keep it... level, so nothing in the... c-cart spills..." My face was starting to grow a brighter red, from the continuous lifting.
Aya nodded, knowing that it would be bad to take longer to respond, as Wriggle looked about ready to pass out. Aya manuvered her side to the front, and began to flap her wings like crazy, just barely managing to keep it it the air, before we began our descent. Who in old hell thought building shrines on elevated locations was a good idea...? The first flaw being to lack of visitors of the human nature... Any human that even tries to make their way from their little village to the shrine was rewarded by way of a swift death. ...Or would that be more the human villages fault, for building so far from the shrine? The Hakurei Shrine was one of the oldest structures in all of Gensokyo, after all.
Once we had finished making our way down the annoyingly long staircase, we sat the cart down, and took a break.
I fell on my butt, panting like I had just run from Yuyuko.
Aya, whose wings weren't nearly as strong as the rest of her, was rubbing her poor wings.
Wriggle simply passed out, causing Aya to worry some. That girl really should work out... I used to be as strong as her, but I had been putting effort into training. It helped that I was constantly being eaten, so I had plenty of motivation.
"You can take it from here, right Mystia?" While I could, it would take a fair bit longer.
"Y-yeah, I can. Taking Wriggle home, I'm guessing?" I had finally finished cooling down from that bit of exertion, and could stand once more, even if my legs felt like jelly.
"Yeah, I doubt she's going to wake up anytime soon." Aya had a point. Wriggle always was rather weak, for a Youkai.
And with that, Aya took off with Wriggle... away from the direction that Wriggle lives.
"Uhh... she lives the other way, doesn't she?" I said loud enough for her Tengu hearing to pick up.
"Ahh, she lives with me now." ...That seems rather sudden, I wonder what could have brought about such a change. Plus, how had she managed to get the other Tengu to agree to it? The Tengu have always been rather... warry of outsiders.
"Well, see you later, Aya." She waved, as she sped off into the distance. My, how I wish I was that fast. Yuyuko would never catch me if I was even half that speed...
And with that, I began to slowly pull my cart down the road. This would be a rather long trek, but it's one I've made a number of times before. After Reimu was made the new shrine maiden, the Shrine was no longer a place to go if one has a death wish. Or, atleast not in the same way. While Reimu will beat the hell out of you, she never seems to seal Youkai, even the more dangerous one. While she did used to seal Youkai, she stopped a number of years ago. And not once has she killed a Youkai, and tossed its body in a fire, killing it for real.
Cirno's house:
I woke to the most tasty thing I had ever eaten in my mouth, what is it? This odd texture... this... Why do I feel sticky all over?
When I opened my eyes, my eyes never stopped opening, and went as wide open as can be. Before me was Cirno, missing a fair bit of her body, covered in bite marks. I... what had I... No... C-cirno...
I touched my lips, and felt exactly what I had had feared. Blood. I had... eaten Cirno. What kind of mon- okay, that's a silly question. What I had done was just... It could never be forgiven.
"Eat."I heard a voice in my mind, which urged me to enjoy this.
"N-no..." The flavor of Cirno was... just lovel- what am I thinking? !
"She's not getting up. Eat her."At that, my eyes began to tear up, and my thoughts drifting towards realization. I would never speak to Cirno again, never hear her voice, hear her laughter, be woken up by those wonderful kisses of hers. I was... a monster, plain and simple. I had eaten my best friend, and there was no turning back now.
I timidly went over to her body, tears rolling down my cheek. What have I done...
"You already know how good she tastes. Eat!" I felt as though my heart would shatter just by what this voice had convinced me to do. I began to rip the flesh from her bones, devouring more and more, untill there was nothing left but bone.
And then the nightmare ended.