AN: Here's the chapter with Sakuya and Remilia's team!


-Chapter 3-


There is a mansion located next to a lake; a scarlet mansion. Between a lake of glistening white and a forest of verdant green stood a mansion of unyielding scarlet. It should be an awkward sight, but strangely, it's very soothing.

It is said that time stops flowing within this mansion, the Scarlet Devil Mansion. It's not a metaphor.


Sakuya knew that she had to go out, and finish this for her Lady. It was a disturbing development, and there was no point in letting it sit. The Moon Festival was tomorrow, but how would it work if there was no full moon?

"Sakuya. I need you to find out what is causing this."

"I will do my best, My Lady."

The maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion had dressed herself in a much more practical outfit, a dark blue and black dress instead of her normal maid uniform, armed herselves with her knives, Luna Dial, and Spell Cards, and set out to find the culprit of all of this. She'd passed Meiling, the gate guard, and set out across the lake.

Not much had happened. She'd had to deal with the annoying Ice Fairy that lived in the lake not too far from their mansion (which had taken so little time that Sakuya didn't even bother with the Luna Dial), but other than that, she had had no idea where to start. There were no clues, outside of the fact that the moon was not what it appeared to be. It would take her a little bit of time, but she eventually headed back to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

And the first thing Sakuya noticed upon reaching the Mansion gates?

"Meiling, get up," she said, poking the sleeping Chinese Youkai on the shoulder a few times, before entering the Mansion. She didn't bother to check if Meiling even was aware of her trying to wake her.

Her Mistress, Remilia Scarlet herself had her arms crossed and was waiting for her when she came back in. The young-looking woman stood up from her chair, and looked over at Sakuya as the other came back in.

"Have you already managed to do that as I asked?" Remilia asked.

Sakuya wanted to shrink a bit; no, she hadn't accomplished anything. The mild headache she had had since all of this started hadn't helped, either. It was as if a piece of herself had been taken away and her body wasn't happy about it at all.

"I beg your pardon, My Lady, I..."

Remilia sighed upon hearing the words from her maid. Sakuya didn't need to finish her statement; the Vampire knew that it meant that Sakuya had not been able to solve it, which frankly worried her more than anything else. Sakuya was an extremely competent individual, probably more competent than the rest of of her subordinates combined, and the fact that she wasn't able to solve it meant that it had to be big.

Her maid had managed to track down who had stolen spring, after all. Remilia conveniently chose not to acknowledge that Reimu and Marisa had been there as well.

"Get Meiling and come to the library. I have to talk to Patchouli. Maybe she can help."

As the Vampire left the main entrance and went to the library to talk to the asthmatic Magician, Sakuya sighed, and stepped back outside, and tilted her head. It looked like Meiling hadn't woken up since she had slipped past her. Sakuya shook the Youkai a bit harder, causing her to snap awake.

"I'm not sleeping!"

"Of course you weren't, Meiling... in fact, you will never sleep while on duty, right?" Sakuya smiled, a little too cheerfully for Meiling's comfort. Meiling gave a quick nod at that.

"Of course!"

"Anyways, come inside. The Mistress has summoned you." That definitely got Meiling's attention, for usually Remilia was happy to let her stay outside unless Flandre had gotten out of the basement and she needed backup to get the little sister under control and back into the basement.

"Did the little sister escape?" Meiling asked worriedly as she followed Sakuya quickly into the mansion. "I can't hear anything though."

"No, the little sister didn't escape," Sakuya replied, opening the door to the library. "It's something bigger. Surely you would have noticed?"

Unless Meiling had been so busy sleeping outside the mansion that she hadn't noticed that the moon had gone amiss, then Meiling should realize what they were talking about. Luckily, from the dawning comprehension on the red-haired Youkai's face, it looked like she did.

"...Oh. Oh. What can I do, though...?"

"We'll see. Ah, my Lady, Miss Patchouli, we're here." Sakuya and Meiling had entered the most spacious area of the library, with a large table. Remilia, Patchouli, and Koakuma, Patchouli's familiar and assistant, were there as well. To the surprise of neither the maid nor the gate guard, Patchouli had her nose buried in a rather ancient and heavy-looking book on the table.

"Just in time, Sakuya. Patchouli has found a spell that we could use. I'm sure she understands it better than I do..." Remilia said. If there was one that she was willing to admit that someone else was better at, it was Patchouli and the contents of the books she spent all her time with. To consider otherwise was a huge insult to the magician.

Patchouli beamed at the praise, picking the book up with little effort and depositing it in Koakuma's hands so that the familiar was now bearing the weight. Koakuma herself stumbled a bit, nearly collapsing from the weight of the book, but Patchouli ignored this, instead flipping back a few pages from where she had been.

"Right. The light's a bit dim, but it will do. The pages describe an ancient Lunarian-based spell that is capable of doing much, such as this right here," the librarian said, pointing to a few diagrams. Upon glancing over at the diagrams curiously, Sakuya's eyes widened. Was it... really possible to do that, even with Lunarian magic?

"The main problem is that it takes a tremendous amount of magical energy, which is why we needed all of us present to be here," Patchouli continued, gesturing to herself, Koakuma, Remilia, Sakuya, and Meiling.

"Except Flandre," Remilia interjected.

"Sorry Remi... Though she's got a lot of power and would probably be able to handle the magical strain of the spell singlehandedly, Flan is too uncontrollable. There has to be a lot of control for this spell," Patchouli said. Neither Sakuya nor Meiling disputed Patchouli's pet names for the Mistress and her sister; Remilia had made it clear a long time ago that Patchouli could call them whatever she wanted.

"I know, I was just stating the obvious. Please go on." Remilia waved her hand, not phased in the least.

"Anyways... the Fairy maids have so little power that even all of them combined wouldn't equal a fragment of Koakuma's, but the five of us here have sufficient power. Plus, this particular spell can be augmented with control over time." Here, Patchouli stopped and looked at Sakuya. "Specifically, your ability to control the Luna Dial."

"My Luna Dial?" Sakuya pulled what appeared to be an old-fashioned silver pocket watch out of her pocket, and looked at it. It was capable of temporarily stopping time, slowing it down, and speeding it up, and Sakuya definitely abused that ability quite a bit. With the uselessness of the Fairy maids, how else would she get anything done? The rumor that she did the entire mansion's cleaning and chores was not a rumor at all.

"Exactly. With the five of us and your controlling the Luna Dial, we have a decent chance of success," Remilia said. "And then I'll go out and solve this incident myself. It will be nightfall, after all."

The thought of Remilia being out alone by herself sent a stab of worry through Sakuya's heart, but she didn't say anything at the moment. There really wasn't much she could do if Remilia ordered her to stay home. She hoped it wouldn't come to that; the last thing she wanted was for her to go out by herself, without any of them to aid her.

"Time is wasting, even with Sakuya slowing it down right now." Upon hearing that, Sakuya started; it never failed to surprise her when Remilia casually stated when she was using her abilities. "Patchouli, can we begin the spell?"

Patchouli checked several pieces of parchment, and nodded. "Now is a good time to start. Sakuya, make sure to have your Luna Dial out and active throughout the process. Meiling, wake up, I noticed you falling asleep. Everyone in the positions marked here."

The others shuffled to the positions that Patchouli pointed them at, Sakuya pulling out the Luna Dial and messing with the settings. She didn't know where it had come from, but it was hers and only responded to her; no one else could use it even if they stole it. And for that, Sakuya was thankful, considering she didn't have to hide the fact she had it. Soon enough, all of them were in position.

Remilia Scarlet the Scarlet Devil, Sakuya Izayoi the Chief Maid, Patchouli Knowledge the Elemental Magician, Meiling Hong the Chinese Gatekeeper, and Koakuma Knowledge the Makaian Familiar began.

The night froze.


-Chapter 3 End-


AN: Not much to say about this chapter. Flandre was left out for obvious reasons - huge magical power, lack of control.