Gensokyo 1.3

The next day

Marisa and I found us flying towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion, or SDM for short. It was the home of an asthmatic Majin, a time-stopping maid, a lazy gate guard, the owner of the mansion, which was a charismatic vampire girl, and the owners psychopathic little sister. Or so Marisa told me. A lovely cast, anyways.

When we flew over a large lake Marisa called out: „Now, look down to see the Misty Lake, the home of the greatest Baka-fairy in Gensokyou, Cirno, da ze! Don't listen to her when she says she's the strongest. The strongest fairy maybe... but really nothing else."

I looked down onto the surface of the Misty Lake, seeing a blue-haired girl with icycle-wings flying over it, seemingly holding a... frozen frog? We continued.

…

Then I saw it. The Mansion. Easily capital 'M'. A giant clock tower in the middle, a huge garden. Said garden made me wonder who had the patience to tend to it.

When we arrived at the gates, there was a red-haired woman dressed in a green Chinese outfit with a beret resting atop her head dozing off on a chair. Say what you want about sleeping at work, but that woman sure was a beauty, if an inefficient guard.

„Should we wake her?", I inquired.

„Nah, it's more fun to watch Sakuya deal with her slacking off again later.", the witch replied with a devious grin: „Oh, I bet they missed me, ze! But really, if you meet a blonde vampire girl with crystal wings and she wants to play, run.", her tone was serious while she conveyed me that message, and if I learned one thing while staying with Marisa, it was that if the black-white herself got serious, the situation was serious. So in response I just nodded.

We arrived at the main gates and Marisa knocked, although I think the Mansion is too big for the knocking to be heard. Surprisingly, the Door was opened.

Standing on the other side of the doorstep, was a stern looking, white-haired woman dressed in a maid-uniform, Izayoi Sakura, who was the chief-maid of the Mansion.

„Oh, miss Marisa. Knocking like a normal person, I see.", Sakuya stepped aside and continued on, probably towards where her mistress was: „It almost got boring, without your constant raids for Miss Patchouli's books."

„Ah well, I missed that, too. But don't worry, it won't be boring for so long again. Now I've got a student, da ze!", Marisa's face started forming her usual grin. I decided to play along a bit.

„Yeah, master taught me many useful things, da ze!", Sakuya immediately stopped dead in her tracks. Nobody moved as my words echoed through the Mansion. I swore that I could hear some books falling in the distance, and somewhere else ahead of us, tea was spilled out. Marisa's grin got bigger.

Finally, Sakuya composed herself: „I... see. Now, if you would please follow me so I can show you the way to mistress Remilia.", Sakuya now took bigger strides.

I guess now mine and Marisa's grins were matching. We almost high-fived.

…

The owner of the Mansion was... Underwhelming. When you think of a vampire, especially a self-proclaimed descendant of Dracula himself, you think of a towering gentleman with black or white hair and a long cape, or of a seductive beauty in an elegant dress that has all the right curves in the right places. Remilia Scarlet... was not really one of these. She had the presence of a dangerous vampire and was incredibly charismatic, yes, but her appearance wasn't really that of a fearsome vampire. Especially when we entered the dining room, Remilia just looked rather decomposed, as if imagining something horrible.

A short while after, Sakuya had served us tea and Remilia had composed herself again.

„So, you're a new addition to Gensokyou, right? Taylor Hebert, I presume you are from an English country, most likely the United States, yes? The last time I've been there was during it's colonization, rather filthy, I must admit. But please, tell me about yourself.", the vampire spoke.

„Well, you know my name. I'm from Brockton bay in New England in the USA, although most likely not the US you know of. It seems that I am from some kind of alternate earth.", I managed to say, thankfully without stuttering.

„Oh, most interesting. Please, do tell me about this alternate Earth you live on."

„Well, for one there was an event, about thirty-something years ago. A 'golden man' with superpowers emerged, Scion, and went on to be a superhero. After he had arrived, many people across the world began to develop these kind of powers, too. We call those people Capes. Most use these gifts for doing what they please, although there are organizations that bring order to society with the help of superpowered individuals, like the Protectorate. After a while, the first Endbringer attacked. Superpowered monsters out for destruction. Behemoth, able to control heat, radiation, and so on. Leviathan, able to call upon the powers of the ocean, using these to sink Island and parts of continents. The Simurgh, the most fearsome of them. A powerful psychic and the only true telepath in my world. She is able to mark her victims and turn them into sleeper agents she subtly controls. They attack every three months or so.", I summed up the recent history of my world for our host.

„Very intriguing, indeed. And what do you think of those capes? I assume you want to be one yourself, don't you?"

„I did. I wanted to be a hero and do good with my powers, like the Triumvirate, the greatest heroes, after Scion of course. But when my best friend betrayed me, tortured me and nobody would listen I think I lost every bit of trust in authorities. And honestly? I don't think I need superpowers after everything Marisa taught me."

The Scarlet Devil turned to my mentor: „So you are her teacher? What is your reason?"

„That's right, ze! And no reason, really. I just wanted her to be good enough to keep herself safe, here in Gensokyou. Then I made an interesting discovery that persuaded me to continue."

„And that reason is?"

„I'm not tellin' you, da ze.", Marisa answered with a taunting grin.

That kinda seemed to break Remilia's composure and charisma. She almost looked like she'd throw a temper tantrum until she regained control of herself.

„But you'll show me, of course. And not only me. Most of Gensokyou will find out. Soon."

„That's right, da ze!", Marisa and I grinned.

„Well, now that we're already here, and without breaking in, let's go to the library borrow some books, ze!", Marisa rushed out of the room. I looked at her retreating. Then I turned to Remilia.

„When she says borrowing she means stealing, right?"

„...Yes. And I don't even know if she herself believes it's just borrowing. Although 'they get it back when I die' certainly applies in Gensokyou.", she answered over her intertwined fingers.

„Well, anyways, thank you for the tea and for being such a nice host. I hope to visit again.", I stated with a smile: „Alright then... I'm just going to follow her before I get lost"

„...You do that. And farewell."

...

Later, when we were home again, I mentally celebrated. We were able to borrow some books from the library that would help us with our studies. Maybe we'll be able to piece together a way to create a better spark or some other move.

After my celebration I went into the kitchen to help prepare dinner, after which we'd be working on our projects. I was happy. I'd finally found my place, where I could help and joke around and play and just enjoy my life. I don't think I could have stranded in a better place.

Sure, I originally did want to be a cape, a hero, but capes only had their one power-package. I had MAGIC, DA ZE! … I did it again, didn't I. Well, whatever. As long as it made me happy.

But I did miss dad. He was probably worried sick or just assumed I died or ran away. And once he found out about bullies, he'd probably blame himself. Poor dad. But that was the reason why I needed to go back.

Well, I couldn't go back without Yukari.

We ate at a small low-table in Marisas stora-... living room. The fire was crackling next to us and it was comfortably warm.

„So, what did ya' think about the vampire? Got quite te presence, eh?"

„Well, I really didn't expect her to have the body of a child, ze.", as soon as I realized what words left my mouth, I blushed and pulled my hands in front of my mouth. Marisa laughed.

„HA, looks like I'm rubbing of on you, da ze! You blushing like that looks cute, 'tough.", Marisa grinned while her eyes twinkled in the light emitted from the fire.

„I-... I do not...", I pouted. Trying to get back to eating.

„Whatever, Tays. Hey, maybe we should visit the Sanzu river tomorrow. Winter isn't really the best season, but I'm sure it still looks wonderful. And maybe we can talk to the Yama. She might have ideas how you should handle the situation in you world. Might even be able to send you back."

„Already back... but i've grown to like this place.", I frowned a little. I really didn't want to go back already. And somehow I felt like I just betrayed my dad.

A/N: So, 1.3 is out. Thank you very much for any comments/etc. so far. I hope Remilia and Sakuya weren't too OOC. Th nest chapter might take a few days to release since I like to have one in reserve and am still writing on 1.4, although it is almost finished. Thank you for reading.

-Azralan