Tired, exhausted, worn down, and just plain old beat, I flew my way home from Yukari's place. I made sure to fly low, hoping not to attract any attention. I had two of the gleaming nails and one was already back at the mansion for a total of three nails. The moment I get these two nails back home, it would be finished. I would have beaten that dark dream and what it foretold. No one evil would be able to get their hands on the nails, green-haired or otherwise. I couldn't wait to present the nails to Lady Remilia. I could only imagine what the look on her face will be like when the glow of the nails' shine upon her beautiful face. I was certain to get my reward from her and damn did I ever need it. It's been too long, damn it.
It was a long flight, but I did manage to find my way home with no further incidents. I touched down in front of the main gate where Meiling was standing guard per usual. Without a single word, I embraced her and lifted her off her feet and twirled her around. She didn't understand my joy, but I explained to her what I was carrying with me and then she understood. She was very happy for me and congratulated me full-heartedly. With only a brief chat, I went inside the mansion and immediately went looking for Remilia. I realized what time it was. It was in the middle of the day where Remilia would still be sleeping. It wouldn't be another couple hours or so before she would be waking up. Knowing that, it didn't stop me from heading to her room. I was going to wake her ass up now and not a minute later. She won't care once she sees the two glowing nails in my hands. So, I went straight to her room and barged in.
There she was, sleeping peacefully in bed. She was wearing a once-piece to bed. Her blankets were thrown off to the side. Must have gotten too warm. I sneaked my way towards her then crawled into her bed. I got on top of her. I wore a shit-eating grin as I stared down at her sleeping form. Surprised I didn't wake her yet. She must be in a deep sleep. So with my chance given, I leaned down and kissed her up and down the length of her neck. She moaned in her sleep from the soft kisses I was giving her. With my right hand, I glided it down the side of her waist. With my left hand, I gently held her chin. I then went in for the kill and placed my lips upon hers. With a long kiss given, her eye lids quivered before slowly opening half way. She looked up at me for a moment, not realizing who she was looking at. She then realized and her eyes opened the rest of the way. She then narrowed her eyes at me.
"What were you doing to me?" she asked.
My grin widened. "Oh, nothing. Just trying to get your body worked up," I gleefully said.
"I'll give you the count of zero to get off me before I knee you in the gonads," she said irritably.
"Before you do that, check this out," I said. I then pulled out the two glowing nails that I'd been carrying. I proudly presented them to Remilia. With the glow of the nails shining upon her face, her expression changed to that of wonder and amazement. "They're ours now, Remilia. No one can ever use them against us. I promised you that I'd get them all and that I did."
"You…! You didn't just get the one… but the third one as well. I… I must admit that I'm a bit speechless at the moment. I was confident you'd get them… but so soon?" she said disjointedly. Her lips formed into a smile. "You did well, my childe. You have developed so well."
My joy was beyond its limits, but I did have some aggravating questions for my master. I glared down at her as my expression tightened up. "Milady… Did you know the nature of these nails? If so, why didn't you tell me?" I asked sternly.
Her eyes went off to the side as her happy demeanor changed. She seemed reluctant to answer my question at first, but she did speak up eventually. "I did… I said nothing about their nature because I was afraid that would deter you from collecting them," she said then her eyes met mine again. "I take it you had a run in with that Youkai Sage, didn't you?"
I nodded. "Yes. She told me a couple things that I think you should have told me long ago. What is this thing about me being able to control people's fates? Is it true I have such an ability and does that mean you do as well?" I said.
Remilia looked uncomfortable with my questions. I got off atop of Remilia so she may sit up in bed. I sat there and patiently waited for her to answer.
"My methods to help you grow may not be the best of methods, but I do think it's the best method available to me," she started. "To let you learn on your own with some help, I thought you would never become overwhelmed with your powers and responsibilities. We vampires are powerful beings, but that power comes at a cost. So easily can it destroy us from within. I've seen it happen so many times in my long life that it makes me sick just thinking about it. The last thing I want is for my first and only childe to be destroyed by his own powers. I told you nothing so that you may slowly gain such dangerous knowledge bit by bit. Knowing what you do now, does it scare you?"
"Hmm… Honestly, it does. Three nails that were used to crucify a god and the power to manipulate the fate of others? It's mindboggling. How can such things exist in this world? How far could we go with such power? It terrifies me that there is someone out there that wants the glowing nails to use in whatever nefarious scheme they have planned. It makes me want to grow even stronger than I am now so I can counter such power. But what does it take to grow that strong? What do I have to sacrifice?"
"Oh, my dear childe." Remilia placed her hand upon my cheek and softly stroked it in an attempt to ease my mind. "You will understand such things as time passes. But it takes years, hundreds of years to understand such things. In the meantime, you can't let such dark thoughts cloud your mind."
"Easier said than done," I said.
"It truly is," Remilia said with a nod of agreement. "But I know you can do it. I've had faith in you from day one."
"Really?" I said in surprise. "Heh… Even when I was being a total ass?"
"Yes, even then," she said with a smile.
More questions brew in my mind. Questions that I didn't think should be asked, but I ended up asking anyways. "Why?" I asked sullenly. "Why did you choose me? I still don't believe that you simply changed me because you found me dying in the woods. What was the reason? I deserve to know."
Remilia looked deeply into my eyes, her expression tranquil. "Because it was your fate to," she said to my surprise. "As you have asked, I too have the ability to manipulate fate and to see the fate of others in dreams. I dreamed of you. I dreamed of your life and how you lived. A man with no goals, no real destination. Just a lone wanderer searching for something in life. But there was nothing for you in life. It was in death that you would find your real purpose in existence. And that you did."
"You… know who I once was?" I asked, stunned from what I was hearing.
Remilia nodded. "You were such a sad man who did well in hiding it. A man with nothing but his toy, driving the roads to nowhere," she said.
"Speaking of my toy, did you tell Yukari about my motorcycle? I found it at some village full of kappas," I said.
Remilia puffed up her cheeks at me. "You found out about it?" she asked.
"Yeah, when I was looking for the ice fairy," I stated.
"Oh, that was supposed to be a surprise for you. I just thought it would make a nice gift for you if those kappas were able to fix it." She looked awfully disappointed.
"Ah, don't worry about it. I was absolutely surprised to find it. It's not in working order, but on my times off I could go over to that village and put my old mechanic skills to work."
"I can allow that," she said. She then placed her hands on my face, pulled me close to her and kissed me. "I'll admit it… This face of yours also brought me to you. I… found it charming. Looking at it makes me feel… warm."
Again I was surprised with what I was hearing. I wasn't certain what she meant by feeling 'warm', but it did make me wonder a lot. I then took notice of her wings. I looked behind me, both left and right to find nothing.
"Another thought… Why don't I have wings like you? I got the teeth and eyes, but no wings?" I questioned.
"You will get them when you earn them. That's all I'll say about that," she said.
"Hmm…" With everything that I heard, my mind was racing with many thoughts. "Now that we have the nails… What are we going to do with them?" I asked.
"We will simply keep them hidden inside the mansion and keep them safe. Trying to use them for anything could trigger the other residents of Gensokyo. Though, simply having them could pose a problem, but that can be dealt with," she said. "We still need to be on guard for anyone with green-hair. I too have that dark dream, the same as you, though I seem unable to see the outcome of that dream. I assume that's the same for you?"
"Yup, it's always the same. A circle of crosses with people, including you, nailed to them and in the center is someone nailed to a cross using the glowing nails," I informed.
"Yes, the person in the middle would be Reimu," Remilia said.
"Reimu? Why Reimu?" I asked.
"I have a hunch, but I can't be for certain as to why," she said. "I'm going to need you to go inform her of our dream so that she may be on guard. I also wish for you to tell her about us possessing the three nails and try to convince her that we plan on doing nothing with them other than to keep them safe. She may get antsy about us having such powerful artifacts."
"I hope that can wait till later," I said as I leaned in close to Remilia's face and kissed her on her lips.
Soon we were engaging each other in a passionate kiss. Just after a moment, Remilia had stuck her tongue in my mouth and twirled it around my own. We ended up making out for a good while. We parted for a chance to breathe. Her face was flushed and I'm sure mine was as well. I've been waiting for this moment for a long time. I went in to kiss her neck, but that's when she suddenly decided to stop me with a finger to my nose. She pushed me back away from her as she held a disturbed expression. What on earth could be bothering her at such a critical moment?
"You smell," she said.
"Huh?"
"I said you smell. Go take a bath," she demanded.
"I-but, I…!"
"You heard me. Now go."
"I just got back from flying around and fighting! I need this!"
"What you need is a bath and to go inform Reimu. Don't make me tell you again," she said as she pointed to the door. "We have plenty of time to fool around later. First the important things need to be dealt with."
I looked to her with eyes that begged, but she didn't move an inch. So with a heavy sigh, I did as I was told and headed for the bath. Once I got outside her room, I took a whiff of myself and was not pleased at all. Now I couldn't blame Remilia for kicking me out. Damn, did I need a bath…
With a quick bath taken, I was out the mansion doors and into the sky and on my way to Reimu's shrine in no time flat. It was supposed to be a straight shot there with no concerns, but I ended up running into Aya somehow among the vast skies. The first thing out of her mouth was questions about the people at Eientei and my involvement with them. She already knew that I had stolen from them yet she couldn't resist getting me to say it out loud. I resisted at first, but eventually I yielded and said it out loud for her in order to satisfy her so I could hopefully get a move on. But, no, more questions came pouring out of her mouth about mostly nonsense so I ended up trying to fly away from her. Not really surprised, she was faster than me and obstructed my way to Reimu's place. That's when I got mad enough to pull out a spell card. In response to my desperation, Aya laughed herself to tears.
"You know I don't need this kind of shit right now, right?" I said crossly.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I've seen you fight from the shadows, but there's no way you'd beat me in the sky. On the ground, maybe, but not all the way up here," she said as she struggled to stop laughing.
"Then will you cut me some slack and let me get a move on already? I got important things to do," I said.
The damn girl winked at me. "Tell Aya where you're going and maybe I'll let you off the hook for today," she said.
"Dear Christ…" I said as I pinched the bridge of my nose. "I'm going to Reimu's, alright?"
"Oh! So you are going to try and woo her like you did the gate guard, huh? I hope you don't mind if I come and take pictures like I did with you and Miss Hong."
I sighed. "That's not what I'm…" I fell silent for a moment when what she said registered in my head. I started to fume the instant the realization hit me. "You did what?!" I shouted.
The evil girl grinned. "That's riiiiight, Mister. I got a load of good pictures from every angle possible without you two having any idea it was happening," she said without a hint of shame.
I stared at her stunned for a moment before speaking up. "Wait a minute…" I said as my head started to cool down. "I don't even care."
"Huh? You don't care? Of course you do," Aya said, looking rather flustered suddenly.
"No, I don't. I couldn't care less if you took pictures of me taking a shit. I just can't bring myself to care."
Aya then looked angry. "Oh, come on! You have to care! How else am I supposed to black mail you?" she said. "Well, I can still black mail the gate guard I guess."
"Yeah, I figured that's what you wanted. What for, I won't even bother asking. I'm just going to kill you one of these days. It may not be today or tomorrow, but one of these days," I said half-jokingly.
"Hee hee, I'm always up for a good fight. So I'll look forward to it when you get even better at flying."
I brushed my hand through my hair, got myself pumped and ready to fly off towards my destination. "Alright, we good now? I need to get going," I said anxiously.
"I'm going with you."
"Yeah, and why?"
"Cause escorting you to the priestess's place is the perfect excuse to go there," she said. "I can't just show up for no reason."
"I have this funny feeling that hasn't stopped you before."
"So it's a date!" She flew beside me then wrapped her arms around one of mine. "I'll fly us there since you're obviously too slow. Ready?"
Being nice and close to a cute girl was nice and all, but I was too distracted by the sudden fear that overtook me. "Now, wait a damn minute-"
"And off we go!" Aya shouted then suddenly took off at an insane speed with me in tow.
My lips flapped in the wind as we seem to fly faster and faster. I tried to call out to the tengu to slow down, but my voice went either unheard or ignored. Needless to say, it didn't take us all too long to get to the shrine.
Once we had reached the shrine, Aya came to a sudden stop, releasing me in the process. I, of course, continued flying forward. Unable to stop myself in time, I ended up crashing into the front doors of the shrine, breaking through them. I hit the floor and rolled until I hit a wall. Thankfully I didn't break through it. I was already quite aware of the damage I already had done to the place and that didn't set me up well with the owner I'm sure. Rubbing my sore head, I sat up and remained sitting until my vision stopped spinning. Once my vision was back to normal, I looked around the room and instantly found myself to not be alone. Right in front of me stood Reimu! Just the girl I needed to talk with. First I needed to apologize for breaking her front door. I would have then and there, but I was distracted by the fact that she was standing in nothing but a set of white underwear. My damn eyes went on autopilot and looked her up and down before settling on her pair of small, but subtle breasts. She had a nice white skin color I tell you what. I then looked to her face and all I had staring back at me was a pissed off lady. Her face was burning red.
And I just burst out laughing. "Well, fuck this situation, am I right?" I said. My laughter ended as soon as the flat of her foot struck my face.
After being kicked, I sat silently staring at a wall while Reimu finished changing into her uniform behind me. I wanted to apologize to her for the sudden drop in, but she demanded that I remain silent. I was sweating in fearful anticipation to what else she might do to me for seeing her near-complete nude body. I was really hoping that one kick was enough for her. God I hope it was…
"You can turn around now," I suddenly heard. So with permission granted I stood up and turned around to face Reimu.
I nearly dropped to my knees in front of her. "Look, I'm very sorry about that. I didn't-"
"Mean to, yes, I get it." Reimu said with a huff. Her face was flushed. She was obviously still very much embarrassed (too embarrassed to even look me in the eyes) and who could blame her? "Not only did you break my shrine doors, but you… saw me…" She held her arms across her chest as if to hide them further.
"I can explain," I said in haste.
She finally looked to me while holding an angry expression. "Can you?" she said, clearly not believing me.
"It was this tengu named Aya's fault," I said stressfully.
Reimu said nothing in reply and just rolled her eyes. She then looked towards her broken doors leading to the outside. "Well? Get in here," she said.
And that's when Aya came walking in like she owned the place. "Excuse the intrusion," she dared to say with a smile. "Hello there, dear Reimu. Sorry to drop by like this, but I was just escorting this young man here."
"Bull, fucking, shit," I said angrily.
"It looks like he got a little too eager to see you and came plowing in without regard to what you might be doing," Aya said with the most bullshit chuckle I have ever heard.
"One day, Aya. One day…" I reminded her.
Reimu stomped her foot to get us to shut up. "I don't care. Just forget it ever happened," she said then turned to me. "You understand? Just forget everything you saw!"
"I will!" I exclaimed in fright. Now we know that's not going to happen, but I'll make the honest effort to.
Suddenly, I felt strange. My eye lids became awfully heavy and my legs quivered underneath me. My mind went fuzzy and I broke out into a cold sweat. I reached a hand up to my forehead, but even they were too heavy to lift. My entire body felt like they had weights attached to them. That's when I realized I was hit with ton of fatigue. I went to say something to the two girls, but I lost my balance and fell over, my vision going dark before I hit the floor.
The sound of burning fire had come to my ears. The cackling sounds nudged my eyes open. I found myself in that dark place again, the dream. The crosses aligned in a circle once again. Every single cross had a person nailed to it, but this time they were… burning. That's when the sounds of tortured screams hit me. My mind quaked with pain and agony from the noise. I moaned in anguish with those that burned, relief from the suffering nowhere in sight. In the center of a circle of crosses was another cross and to this cross was nailed Reimu, just as Remilia had said. She did not burn like the others, but her sorrowful cries were clear inside my head even among the screams. My body was stunned from the horrible cries, but I managed to force myself through them and towards Reimu. I felt that I had failed everyone, all accept for this one girl. If I could just save this one girl then maybe I could die with some solace.
The nails used to nail the poor girl to the cross glowed a divine light, but the mesmerizing light did not stop me from grabbing one in an attempt to rip it out. But the moment my hand touched the gleaming nail, my hand, no, my entire arm ignited in white fire, disintegrating them in an instant. I backed away from the cross, holding the stump that was once my arm screaming from the intense pain I had just experienced. I expected my arm to return to me thanks to my vampiric powers, but those powers seemed to have failed me that moment.
Cringing intensely from the pain, I felt a sudden ice cold presence behind me. I already knew what stood behind me. The pain still lingering in both mind and body, I was able to resist the agony enough to calm myself down. I then slowly turned around to face the evil presence. I was expecting to see the green-haired figure in fullness, but no, not this time. The person's face was still blurred from my vision. The evil entity said nothing to me and we seemed to just stare back at each other for some time. After what seemed like forever, a sudden pain struck my stomach before reaching around to my back. It felt like a snake was wrapping itself around me, constricting me with great strength. I struggled to break free from this invisible force as I stared at the dark person.
"I'm not afraid of you anymore. You hear me?! We've already won! You'll never get those nails! So just disappear already! Disappear and never show yourself again!" I yelled out into the dark.
It wasn't long before I was unable to breath. That's also when my vision went dark, the sounds of screaming and crying going silent. The dream came to a close, but not before I was able to give the dark presence the middle finger.
My eyes jolted open all of a sudden. Immediately I could tell that I had been sweating. The dream I just had did a number on me, but it didn't scare me. It can't anymore. It can haunt me for the rest of my undead life, but it'll never cause me fear ever again. I sighed in relief, still happy that the dream ended regardless.
I looked up to see someone looking down at me. It shocked me a little to see someone's face close to mine, but I calmed when I realized it was Reimu. She had such a nice face that it helped cool the shock I was still in from the dream. That's when I realized I was laying down, my head sat resting on her lap.
I made no attempt to move, being content with where I was. So I simply asked a question from where I was. "What happened?"
"You collapsed suddenly. You must have been awfully tired," Reimu said. "Why are you flying around if you were that tired?" She looked genuinely concerned.
"Well… I haven't slept in, like, a day or so. Been roaming around Gensokyo and got into some fights. I guess being a vampire doesn't excuse me from needing to sleep, huh?" I said with a smile.
The girl kindly smiled back. "No it doesn't," she said. She then nudged her leg, signaling me that my time resting on her soft lap had come to an end.
I sat myself up. "Thanks for that."
"It's fine. Just don't make it into a habit," she said.
"I'll try not to, heh." I looked around the room to find that Aya was no longer present.
"I made her leave," Reimu said, reading my mind.
"Oh, thank God…" I sighed in relief.
Reimu stood up and headed off to another room. "I'll get the tea and then you can tell me what brought you here," she said.
"Okey dokey…"
After a certain amount of time, Reimu came back out with a tea set and some tea. I wasn't a tea person but I was slowly becoming one thanks to all the good tea I've been having lately. We each drank our tea as I told her all the information that Lady Remilia wanted me to tell her. She casually listened to what I had to say, not ever looking concerned despite my concerning message. We were both finished with our tea by the time I was done talking.
"I see, I see," Reimu said. "This does concern me quite a bit. Remilia, that little rascal, having such powerful artifacts does make me want to go to her mansion, beat some sense into her and take those artifacts."
"I'm telling you that they are in good hands. Please understand that I only collected them to protect my master and everyone else," I said sternly.
"For some reason, I believe you, Isaac," Reimu said softly. "What truly bothers me is why Yukari gave up her nail to you."
"Why's that?"
"Because she never does something like that unless she has some kind of motive. What that motive could be, I have no idea. Even with my good intuition, I just cannot figure her out," she said.
"Well that's god damn concerning," I said with an obvious troubled look on my face.
Reimu stood up, picked up her tea set and returned it to her little kitchen. She came back out, her eyes glued on me. "If you don't mind, could you please leave, I got work to do."
"The door right? Let me help you," I said anxiously.
"No. I'll be fine, Isaac," she said with a calming smile.
With such a smile on her face, I couldn't bring myself to push her. So with that, I stood up and headed for the exit. Before I stepped outside, I turned to Reimu and smiled. "Thank you, Reimu. Once again, I promise that those nails will be kept safe."
She returned the smile. "I trust you. I don't know why, but I do. Don't betray that trust, got it?"
"I would never," I promised strongly.
With our goodbyes said, I left the shrine. I decided to chill for a moment and simply walked down the stone path, admiring the arches as I went under them. They were actually a captivating sight for sure. From what I had learned here, Reimu's shrine is a Shinto shrine and she a Shinto priestess. I never heard of Shinto before until I came to Gensokyo. It's something I should probably learn more about so I can understand the culture here better. Of course there's that Buddhist lady that I met near the Human Village. Guess I should learn about that also. I've also heard about something about a Taoist priestess. Never heard of a Taoist so there's another thing I need to learn about.
Thinking about all the things I needed to learn about Gensokyo, I ended up near the bottom of the stone steps. I was brought out of myself and back out to the world outside of me when I noticed someone with long, beautiful hair sitting on the last stone step. But I couldn't help but cringe when I noticed the hair's color. Of course it had to be yet another person with green hair. Why is green hair so common here? I couldn't find the answer and just decided to ignore it. So what if she had green hair? I got all three nails and they are safe and sound back at the mansion. Then and there, I was determined to not let green hair bother me anymore. That dark entity in my dreams could no long harm us. Fuck that entity right in the-
"Hello there. Am I in your way by any chance?" the woman said.
The anger I had for green hair suddenly vanished when I heard the person's lovely voice. I went to speak, but I fell silent when my eyes were captured by her's. They were absolutely stunning. Green was there color. Green isn't even my favorite color yet green eyes were perfect for this lady. For her clothe, she wore a purple t-shirt and purple jeans. I was quite surprise to see her wearing something that would come from the Outside World. I even went to question her, but I stumbled across my words like a total moron.
"A-are you b-by an-any cha-chance, um, uh…" Unable to get the full question out, I stood there like an idiot, clenching my fists at my sides in frustration with myself.
The girl, though, let out a charming giggle. "Such a cute boy you are. Are you just not used to talking with girls or am I just that dazzling?" she said as she swayed her sparkling hair.
A small smile escaped from me. Now I was blushing. I could feel it in my cheeks. "Sorry, I'm just… nervous for some reason."
This woman was at a completely different level when it came to beauty. All the girls I've met had their very own unique beauty about them, especially Lady Remilia. But this woman here… she made my heart race like none other could.
"Why don't you sit here next to me? I know that you're a new vampire. That kind of news travels fast here in Gensokyo," she said.
"You're not scared of me?" I asked.
"Fufu, should I be?" she asked with a daring smile.
I shook my head in disappointment with my inability to scare someone with my vampiric looks. "Nah, you shouldn't. Even after these few months, I've still got a lot to learn about being a vampire," I said then hesitantly sat next to the lady. Her presence alone made me quiver.
We sat there quietly for about a minute or two before I grew a pair and asked my question. "So… Do you come from the Outside World?" I asked.
"Hm? What makes you ask that?" she asked.
"Well, you're clothes. Those are definitely from outside of Gensokyo."
She looked down at herself then laughed. God damn it, it was such a cute laugh!
"Oh, I see. Yes, these clothes would make one think as such, huh?" She laughed some more. I couldn't help but smile widely. "Despite the clothes, no, no I do not come from the Outside World," she said.
"Well, they make you look cool," I suddenly complimented without much thought to it.
"Cool? Don't you mean beautiful?" she said with a mischievous grin.
"Both," I said, again without much thought given to what I was saying. I couldn't believe I said that out loud to a woman I just met.
"I thought so," she chuckled.
We sat there together and just bullshitted for a good while. We talked a lot about me and my adventures here in Gensokyo, but not much about her. I'd ask a question about her, but she would goof around it and avoid answering. It was so strange, but I didn't really care. I was just happy to be talking to her.
The feelings I had for this woman grew as we spent time together. I didn't understand these feelings. I have these same feelings already, but they're for Remilia. How could I possibly be love struck with another woman so fast? It baffled me, but I didn't care. I couldn't care. It was like there was something in me blocking the ability for me to care. It was odd for sure. But our time talking had come to a close.
The girl stood up and brushed her rear of dirt. "Sorry, but I need to get going," she said then patted my head. "Thank you for talking with me. I'm sure we will cross paths again at some point."
I stood up too and lent her my hand. She smiled again and happily took my hand. We shook hands and released. "It was great talking with you. Like you said, we'll see each other again." (And I would make damn sure of that) "Be safe."
She giggled. "We sure will."
She went to leave, but that was when I realized something. "Oh, wait!" I shouted and the woman turned around in response. I laughed a little. "We never told each other our names."
The girl looked shocked. "Oh my goodness. You are certainly right. How silly of me to forget," she said.
"I'm Isaac," I told her.
"And you may call me… Mima," the woman answered back.
Mima… A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.