I stood at attention as a pair of angry, intense eyes stared up at me, judging me critically. The pair of eyes that I once loathed had me sweating profusely. I don't think I've ever seen this kind of stare coming from Lady Remilia before. I thought she had given me death stares before, but this stare had me paralyzed from neck down. The reason for her to stare at me in such a way should be obvious. Once I had told her that I had managed to retrieve the second glowing nail only to have it stolen from me by a pair of fairies did her anger swell. At first she was delighted to hear that I got another nail, only for her hopes to be crushed when I told her that I had lost the nail to a couple of fairies of all things. Maybe if I had lost the nail to a more powerful type of youkai would she be more understanding. But fairies? I could understand her utter disappointment with me. Though I sort of put some blame on my master. If only I had known how to fly would I have been able to catch the thieves. The development of my powers has gone too slow and this incident has proven that. I needed this kick in the ass to fully realize that.
Still staring up at me with those forceful eyes, Remilia continued to not say anything as if she was trying to strangle me with her death stare. I couldn't take the silence and I was desperate for her to move her eyes elsewhere so I decided to speak up.
"Look… I can go on for hours telling you how sorry I am for losing the nail, but I'm not fully to blame here," I said.
"So you are going to pass the blame? Just as I expected," Remilia said with a sneer.
"It's true though. I need to get stronger and fast, but the pace that my current development has been going isn't anywhere near as fast as it should be," I said desperately.
"You cannot become all powerful overnight, my childe. You do have a great power in you, but it must be developed slowly in order for it to not overwhelm you," she stated.
"Shouldn't learning how to fly been a top priority? If I could have flown, I would have caught the ones that stole the nail."
My disgruntled master sighed. "You just figured out how to hone some of your magical power not long ago."
"So now is the time for me to learn how to fly, right?"
"It is time, yes, but flying is not like going for a stroll," she said.
"I can do it. I cannot possibly be any more motivated to learn how to finally fly," I said with great enthusiasm.
Lady Remilia's stare loosened up some. "You are eager and I like that, but you also need to be cautious when moving forward," she said. "You also need to develop more spell cards of your own in order to defend yourself better. That and learning to fly will be your main focus in the coming days. You MUST retrieve that nail from those two fairies as soon as possible. I demand it."
"That makes me wonder… Why does it have to be me? Couldn't you send either Sakuya or Meiling or both to go retake the nail? They could definitely get the job done," I said.
Remilia shook her head. "This task is yours and yours alone," she stated.
"But-"
"But nothing. Do as I say or there won't be any fun to be had anymore," she said.
"Oh, don't go threatening me with the 'no sex' treatment. I'll get it done without that kind of motivation," I said, my face feeling a little warm.
Remilia gave me a rather seductive little smirk. "I'm sure you will, my pet," she said before turning to take her leave. But before she took another step, she turned back to face me. "Go to Patchouli. She'll help rectify any possible problems with your ability to harness your power before getting into the full development of your spell cards."
"Will do," I answered. We parted ways towards our respective destinations.
Some time passed as I spent a good portion of the night with Patchouli and a 'guest' in the form of Marisa. I thanked Marisa from the bottom of my heart for helping me escape Eientei and secretly offered not to stand in her way whenever she wanted to enter Voile uninvited. Not forever, of course, but for a good chunk of time. It was the only thing I could think of to offer her as thanks. She wanted me to help her 'borrow' books from the library, but I couldn't go that far and she thankfully understood. Marisa turned out to be a valuable ally, an ally that I was determined to keep. I wanted to thank Mokou for her help as well the next time I saw her. She too proved to be a great, though sudden, ally. I needed to thank Nazrin as well, now that I thought about it, though I still needed her to find the third nail for me. Maybe I should give her a good tumble. God knows she needs it with her attitude.
I sat at a table while Patchouli and Marisa worked on a small experiment. I sat with my face on the table, exhausted from what I created. A number of spell cards is what I made and that was the source of my exhaustion. I even tested some on Marisa. After pooling so much magical energy into those cards, I was already ready for bed, but I still had training to do with Patchouli once she and Marisa were done doing their thing. I felt mightily accomplished having made my own spell cards and I was anxious to learn more, but damn was I tired. I actually wanted to start learning how to fly from Meiling, but that had to wait until our schedules coincide with one another. I had my weapons ready for war, I just needed the mobility in the sky.
Nearly falling to sleep at the table, I was woken up by a loud pop sound. I snapped to my feet at attention, looking around for the source of the noise. I found it to simply have been Patchouli and Marisa and their little experiment with chemicals. It looked like one of their bottles broke and whatever fluid it contained had spilled on the table. The two girls looked disappointed.
"Well, that didn't work at all," Marisa said grudgingly.
"I'm determined to make it work," Patchouli said with a huff.
"If Alice was here, she'd tell ya to not even bother," Marisa commented.
"Well, she's not here to stop me now is she?" Patchouli said, annoyed.
"Now you're just being a child," Marisa said.
"What are you even trying to do?" I asked as I sat back down.
"It's none of your concern," Patchouli said to my own annoyance. "Shouldn't you be studying something instead of just sitting there?"
"Now, don't get mad at me just because your experiment failed," I said.
"I gotta agree," Marisa said in my defense. I smiled at her and she smiled back.
Patchouli took a breather before speaking again. "Sorry. I'm just frustrated is all," she said.
"It's cool," I said.
"But you should be studying," she insisted.
"Can't you teach me how to fly? I see you more often than Meiling," I said, feeling anxious.
"I don't feel like going outside," the bookworm blatantly said.
"Why not do it in here?" Marisa chimed in.
I thought for a moment and remembered just how big the library was. It wasn't called the Great Library for nothing. I looked up toward the ceiling and noticed once again just how high the ceiling went up. It was high up there alright. Plenty of room to fly around in. Marisa's idea was becoming quite idealistic to me.
"She's right!" I said excitedly. "Koakuma could even teach me if you're too lazy to."
"Lazy?" Patchouli said, annoyed once more.
"Why don't I help you out, buddy?" Marisa said with a cheerful smile.
"Would you? But, you already helped me out quite a bit. I'd hate to ask for more," I said.
"Ah, don't worry about it, big guy. It'll be fun!" Marisa said.
Patchouli sighed. "It's your grave if you accept," she said.
"Of course I accept. I need to learn how to fly and fast," I said as I quickly stood out of my chair.
"Oh, this is going to be so much fun," Marisa said as she greedily rubbed her hands together. I didn't really know what she had in store for me, but I was excited. The second nail would be mine once again at this rate. If only I knew…
Marisa's method of teaching turned out to not be very forgiving at all. Her method was simple, but awful. All she would do is fly me up high on her broom, fly me at high speeds then push me off, claiming that I would 'feel it' and start flying on my own. Now what the hell is that? Feel it? I had no idea what she was going on about. So… What happened each time I was thrown from the broom is what you would expect. I'd fall at high speeds screaming my lungs out as I flew through the air, crashing either into the marble floor or bouncing off one of the many large bookcases THEN smashing into the floor. We did this several times and not at any point did I 'feel it'. Not even Patchouli would give me a better hint as to what I was supposed to do. I think she was enjoying watching me fall from the sky over and over again. I eventually grew tired of it.
I flew through the air once again before slamming into the side of a bookcase, bouncing off of it and crashing into the floor. I hit the floor face first and skid a long distance across it before coming to a stop. I laid there on my stomach and moaned in pain. What had I accomplished falling from the sky several times over and over again? Nothing, but bruises all over my body. All I really gained was the determination to beat Marisa's ass into the ground. And when she landed next to me, I moved to do just that, but my pained body decided against it. I just laid there and continued to groan.
Marisa nudged me with her foot. "Come on, bud. Get up! You'll be flying on your own in no time if we keep this up," she said, no ounce of remorse heard in her voice.
"I hate you…" I said breathlessly.
"Now, what would possess you to say that?" she asked.
I pushed myself off the floor then slowly stood up. I glared down at Marisa. "We're not getting anywhere doing this your way," I said. I then took notice of my shirt. It had been torn! Sakuya was not going to like this when she finds me. "God damn it, I ended up ruining my uniform!"
Marisa's eyes lit up. "Ooo! Skin! Show me some more, big guy!" she said, giggling in excitement as she tried to tear my shirt more than it already was.
I grabbed her arms. "Stop it, you lunatic," I said. I pushed her away, but my shirt went with her with a loud rip.
She looked at the shirt then looked at me. "Oops."
"Oops?! That's all you have to say?" I asked angrily.
Ignoring my anger, Marisa suddenly had a seductive grin on her face. She ran up to me, placing one hand on my back and one on my abs. "Ah, let's not worry about the shirt. Why don't we relax out here while we're alone? What do you say, hmm?" she asked.
I couldn't believe that she was coming onto me all of a sudden. "What has gotten into you all of a sudden?" I asked.
She smiled up at me with a blushed face. "To be honest… I wanted to take you home with me after we got away from Eientei, but that damn lunar rabbit got in the way," she stated.
I blushed as well. "Well, I don't really know what to say."
"Just say my name over and over again while I ride the hell out of you," she said with a devilish chuckle. She then rammed her hand down my pants and grabbed a hold of my dick before I could even resist.
I jumped in surprise. "Don't grab it!"
"Too late! Hee hee!"
She went to massage it, but I stopped her from moving her hand. "Seriously, as much as I want to, we can't do this," I said.
She looked up at me with a pouty face. "Aww, why not? I know you're not shy. After all, you fucked the gate guard in broad daylight," she said.
"That has nothing to do with this."
"Then there's no stopping me!" Marisa happily announced.
I should be stopping her, but I just couldn't help myself. I honestly wanted it just as badly as she seemed to. I know I told Lady Remilia I wouldn't fool around with anyone outside the mansion, but I just couldn't resist Marisa's insistence. She came on to me strong and that's a weakness of mine. I guess I'm just not good at keeping my word when it comes to sex… I'm going to regret this the moment it's over. I'm sure of it.
Marisa dropped to her knees, her face right in front of my crotch. She seductively licked her lips then went to unzip my pants. I didn't watch any further and decided just to curse myself as I let her do what she wanted, but instead of my pants becoming unzipped, I started to feel fingers tracing my gut. I looked down to see what she was up to.
To my wonder, Marisa was tracing her fingers around my tattoos with a face of what almost looked like terror. I was immediately concerned with what was wrong. I'd say she looked like she saw a ghost, but that just wouldn't work here in Gensokyo.
I placed my hand atop of Marisa's head. "Yo, girl, are you okay?" I asked.
"Turn around," she said.
"What?"
"I said turn around!" she said in a desperate tone.
She was the one to force me to turn around and once I was turned around I started to feel her fingers rigorously moving about all along my back. I had no idea what she was doing, but it felt kind of nice. I didn't mind what she was doing until I remembered that she didn't look in particularly happy with what she was doing. I was worried about what was going on in her head and why she seemed so concerned with my tattoos. Patchouli had once been worried about my tattoos, but that led to a good time. I don't think that was going to happen this time around with Marisa.
"Marisa, are you okay? What's wrong?" I asked, hoping for a clear answer.
I felt her stop and turned around to see her standing back up, her face grave. "Where did you get these tattoos?" Marisa asked.
"I don't know. The person I once was got them when they were alive," I said.
"Damn it…" she said as she bit her thumb nail. She stopped then looked at me in the eyes. "Why would you get such an extravagant tattoo?"
"I like them too, but I wouldn't call them extravagant, Marisa," I said as I checked out the tattoo on my front to my satisfaction.
"Isaac, this tattoo looks like some kind of spell," she said with a serious set of eyes set on me.
I sighed. "Not this again," I moaned. "Patchouli thought so as well and she even tried to break it with a rather fun yet painful ritual."
"Hmm…" Marisa was thinking really hard to herself. Her face then loosened up, now looking as if she was sorry about something. "Damn… I'm real sorry. I'm just not in the mood now. And I even got you worked up…"
This was for the best, despite my slight disappointment. "It's alright. I'm just concerned about you."
"It's just your tattoos remind me of someone I once knew. And it kind of bothers me."
"Really? Who?"
"It's nothing, really…" After a small moment of silence, Marisa put on a bright smile. "I think I'll take my leave for today. Tell Patchouli I went home for me, okay?" she said before hopping on her broom and taking off before I could even say goodbye.
I stood there watching as she disappeared from sight. "Hmm… Strange girl. They'll all strange in their own unique ways," I said with a nod to myself. With that done, I made my way back to the center of Voile.
I did not learn how to fly in the slightest that night, but I did finally make myself some spell cards to defend myself the next time shit goes down. I think I've stated enough already just how badly I needed to learn how to fly, but I guess I just needed to be patient and wait till I got together with Meiling. I know she would be a better teacher than Marisa and getting to fly around outside with her was going to be fun. The rest of the night would be me doing my regular duties, though I was going to get the chance to sleep in so I can get up during the day to be with Meiling. The next day would be the day I finally fly among the clouds. I just know it. I had to be able to gain the ability to fly for Lady Remilia's sake. Those blasted fairies were going to rue the day they decided to take that glowing nail away from me. I was going to make sure of that first hand.
The next day was a cloudy one and I thanked God for it. I don't know if I could have survived trying to fly outside in the sunlight. But the clouds were legion, blocking the sun's blasted rays. It was windy so that would probably hinder me, but I'm sure that was just a mere obstacle for me to overcome in my bid to fly. I couldn't wait to get together with Meiling, but I had a few chores that needed to be done. Thankfully, Sakuya was feeling better and was able to tend to Remilia's early morning needs. She was to sleep while I learned the critical ability to fly. She will be proud of me the next time she wakes up because I will be flying by that time. I'm sure of it.
Once I was finished with my chores, I raced to the outside to meet with Meiling at the gate. Once I got there, I saw her beating on some random youkai that probably tried to break in or something. Once she was done beating him, she picked him up and threw him away from the gate. He hit the ground hard then struggled to get back on his feet. Once he was on his feet, he shook his fist in the air.
"I'll remember this!" he shouted out his anger then ran away like a coward.
I ran to catch up with him and get in a few punches myself, but Meiling stopped me. "He got enough of a pounding, but I'm sure he'll try and break in again at some point. They always do," she said.
"He tried to break in broad daylight?" I asked, confused.
"Well, that is when the resident vampires would be normally sleeping," she said.
"Ah, I get it," I said with a nod.
Meiling brushed off her uniform of stray dust then looked up at me with a wonderful smile. "Are you ready, Isaac?" she asked.
I smiled back. "I thought you'd never ask. Come here, girl," I said then went to embrace her.
Once I drew near, I went to kiss her, but she stopped me with her palm to my forehead. "Ah ha ha, funny," she said with a giggle.
I stepped back to give her space back. "Yeah, I was just joking, heh heh." My smile tensed up. "I'm ready for this. I leave everything to you," I said.
"Don't worry, Isaac. I will do everything that I can to help you fly," she said.
"Man, this is going to be great. I'm so excited," I said, though I'm sure it wasn't needed to be said. I'm sure people could tell just by looking.
Meiling giggled. "That is obvious," she said. Her happy expression changed to that of a tense one. "Okay… This will not be easy. At first, what I'm going to do is fly you above the clouds then release you. What you need to do is stop yourself from falling by releasing a flow of power from within yourself. Not enough to release an energy burst, but one that will catch you midair. Do you understand, Isaac?" she instructed.
I nodded. "I believe so," I ensured. Though I think I understood rather clearly what she was telling me to do, I was still worried about the falling part. "What if I fail to stop myself before hitting the ground?"
"Then you will hit the ground, obviously."
"Oh, god damn it," I sulked.
"I need to let you fall so it creates in your mind a need to stop," she said.
I let out a drawn out sigh. "I guess I understand your logic, but I know for sure I'm not going to get it right the first time," I said.
"It's not like you'll die or anything. You're a vampire after all," she said with a sweet smile.
"Sure…"
"Okay! Let's get to it!"
And so it began. Meiling wrapped her arm around my waist and flew me straight up into the sky. It was a long flight to the height she wanted to drop me. We got so far up that the mansion looked like a small marble. We were above the clouds and it was a beautiful sight. I looked all around me, spotting points of interest off in the distance. I could see all of the Forest of Magic and even the Human Village. That one temple (forgot its name already) Marisa, Suika and I broke into was just barely seeable not far from the village. The Youkai Mountain was another marvel to behold. I could see the Moriya Shrine sitting atop of it. Man, did this make me wish I had a cellphone to take pictures of what I was seeing. I doubt those things exist here in Gensokyo.
In the middle of me aweing over the lands of Gensokyo, Meiling suddenly said "Goodbye!" and released me and the second she did, I started to scream. I watched above me as Meiling quickly fell out of sight. I looked down to see the Scarlet Mansion growing ever closer. The ground too was drawing close. Despite how high Meiling took me up, I think I was about half way down by the time I stopped screaming and remembered what it was that I was supposed to be doing. Once I remembered, I got to work on calming myself and gathering the right amount of power within me. I tried to visualize a catcher's mit catching me. Once I gathered a little bit of power, I released it. To my worry, it didn't stop me. It didn't even slow me down. Was I not releasing enough power? I gave it another try, releasing more energy this time. Failure. I tried again only to fail once more. I tried again only to release a blast of wind out from me. That was obviously too much! I tried to put the energy I was putting out down some, but before I could try again, I struck the ground. Into the ground I went. Was it a painful impact? Oh, hell yes it was. I think I had blacked out for a moment when I crashed into the ground, but I didn't lose consciousness completely because I could feel the pain wracking my entire body. I was in darkness, having been buried into the ground. All I did was moan in agony, the pain too much for me to dig myself out. My mind was muddied from the pain. I didn't snap out of it until I heard Meiling's muffled voice.
"Isaac? Isaac, are you down there?" she asked me. Wasn't the answer obvious?
"No! I'm not down here!" I shouted out.
"Now, now, Isaac. There's no need to be snide," she said.
Meiling started to dig downward which motivated me to start digging myself out as well. I managed to grab hold of her hand and she yanked me out of that pit. I fell to my behind once I was freed. Panting in exhaustion, I looked up at Meiling only for my eyes to fall back down to the ground in disappointment.
"I knew I wouldn't get it right the first time, but I'm still mad about it," I said.
"It's okay, Isaac. No one gets it right the first time," Meiling said in a comforting voice. "I know what you did wrong. You were releasing your energy too quickly. It needs to come out like a slow flowing stream. You should be able to feel your power hugging you lovingly."
I looked up at her, feeling rather annoyed. "Why didn't you say that before?"
Meiling clapped her hands together in front of her. "Sorry, I should have."
Once I had recovered from the brutal fall, we gave it another shot. Up again we went and once we were at the right height, Meiling released me. This time I was calm the second she released me so I had more time to act. I wasn't perfectly calm, but calm enough to keep my mind straight. As I fell, I tried doing what I was instructed to do and let my power flow out from me. I did as I was told, but it wasn't stopping me from falling. Once again, I failed to stop myself and thus I crashed into the ground, buried in a pit again. Meiling helped me out of the pit and scolded me, saying I was letting my power 'spray' out instead of 'flow' out. Sounded kinky to me, but whatever. We tried a third time and this time I was sure to let my energy 'flow' out. Sadly, there was no stopping my free fall back to earth. I hit the ground yet again with great force.
We tried a few more times only to end in failure. I was about to give up, but Meiling pushed me on so on I went. There were a couple more failures, but one attempt proved fruitful. Just when I was about to hit the ground, I had shut my eyes so not to see the inevitable impact with the ground, but this time no such awful impact happened. I opened my eyes to see a shocking sight. I wasn't buried in the ground, but instead I was standing on my feet. I stared in bewilderment, unsure as to what had happened. I was lost in a daze until Meiling had landed beside me and hugged me.
"You did it! You did it, Isaac!" she exclaimed in excitement.
I was snapped out of my daze. "What did I do?" I asked.
"Now, you didn't necessarily stop yourself in midair, but you slowed your fall enough to the point you were able to land softly," Meiling said as she let go of me, a gleaming smile on her face.
I was amazed by what I had heard. I was so close to giving up for the day, but, thanks to Meiling's instructions, I managed to accomplish the simple task of slowing my fall. I know it sounded small, but it was a big deal for me.
I held a fist of victory in the air with my head hung low. "Yes…"
Meiling nodded a few times. "Now we just need you to perfect that ability to slow, and eventually stop, yourself," she said.
Feeling rather exhausted, I let out a sigh. "I can't believe it took that long and that much effort just to slow myself down. Flying really isn't an easy thing after all. You girls make it seem like such a natural thing to do," I said.
"We all started where you are at, Isaac," she said
"Well then, let's keep at it," I said, to Meiling's delight. I wasn't going to learn how to fly in a day, that was for certain, but I was determined to learn no matter how long it would take.
We continued on with my training and eventually I was able to slow myself consistently, even from the very beginning of the fall, until I was finally able to stop and float in midair. The relief I felt was unimaginable. It took a lot out of me and eventually we had to stop so I could go to bed and rest. The next day I did the same thing: Worked a little during the night only to go to bed early to wake up during the morning so I could train with Meiling. That day was the second step in learning how to fly. It was all about moving around slowly in the air. That proved to be much easier than the first step in flying. I managed to get that perfected to the point I was speeding up little by little as I moved around. I got to the point that I was able to fly straight up into the sky almost as fast as Meiling could. Again, we spent all morning just practicing until it was time for me to hit the sack. The next day was the third step and that proved to be a bigger challenge than the first step.
The third step was all about flying fast and making sudden turns. Meiling had us flying above Misty Lake this time around. My job was to fly towards the lake at an angle only to shoot straight back up before hitting the lake. As you could have expected, I failed several times and crashed into the lake. It was much better than hitting ground, that's for sure. Made me wonder why Meiling didn't have us above Misty Lake during the first step of training… It took all morning for me to get it right. After that, the next day and the fourth step of training came.
The fourth step was a big one – chasing other flyers. Meiling had me chasing her throughout the vast skies of Gensokyo. That's all we did. It was the most tiring step of the training yet. But, God, did I love it. Flying at high speeds through the clouds, making sudden turns and stops just to keep on the heels of Meiling was a rush I had not had since my days on the roads of the Outside World. I felt so incredibly alive. There was no explaining how intense the experience was. We did just this for a few days until I was, at long last, able to catch Meiling. My blood flowed with great excitement from the accomplishment.
Though, Meiling insisted that I train with her more, I felt ready to take on the world. I had to go see my master and tell her of my ability to fly. When I met up with her somewhere in the mansion and told her, she acted less than enthused, but I know she was happy. She couldn't fool me this time.
Lady Remilia sat at her table with a mirror on it, fiddling with some adornments she was putting on her dress and in her hair. She always looks beautiful, but she was always trying to enhance that beauty in some way. It wasn't needed I thought, but she was free to do whatever she wanted.
"That's nice to hear," Remilia started after hearing of my accomplishment. "But I don't see that nail in your hand."
"Don't you worry," I said. "I'll be getting that nail back real soon."
"Good." Remilia finished placing an ornament on the center of her shirt then finished up by placing her cap on her head. She stood up out of her seat and faced me. "Like I said before… This task is yours and yours alone. You yourself need to find that nail and bring it back to me."
"You won't even give me a hint on where I could even find those two fairies?" I asked, distraught.
"I will not and neither will anyone here in the mansion. Figure out where they are yourself. Put that brain of yours to work," she said.
"You can be cruel sometimes," I stated.
"I'm not being cruel. I need you to be self-reliant," she said.
"I understand, I guess," I said.
"Good," she said. She then grabbed hold of my tie and pulled me down to her level. She placed her lips awfully close to mine before speaking. "I'm sure you already know… Retrieving that nail will come with a reward. You know that, don't you?"
My face must have been a deep red at that point. "Of course!" I said excitedly.
"Good," she said before teasingly licking the tip of my nose and releasing me. She turned and headed for the door to leave. "I want that nail."
I bowed to her as she left. "You will have it, my master," I said
The hunt was on.