Nicolas Notes:

Well now, this seems to be a fast chapter update, eh? Probably my fastest for what's going to be a long while...
Anyhow I would like to thank the people on the review sections, it seems that I caught a handful of big names there.
This the probably the last pre-written chapter on my computer, but don't worry, I still have my giant notebook that contains atleast up to chapter 4 or 5?
Heh, I just need to copy them from the drafts, and hand them to my friend for editing. This Author's rant has gone long enough, see you at the abyss!

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CHAPTER: 1.3: The one who was forgotten

Year 2000

Date unknown

The Outside, Wales, Scarlet Mansion, leaving the Basement.

Rook had just finished setting up the new and reinforced padlock, along with the seal which both the repaired with ease.

Once he was done, he began to walk back towards the exit when a hand grabbed his leg.

Rook raised his eyebrows and found Meiling half conscious with a pained expression on her face, while she kept him in her grip.
Oops, almost forgot about her, he thought, kneeling down to the injured guard.

Meiling tugged for a few moments before her mind could not take it anymore, and passed out into the void of sleep.

Rook cracked a small smile, and then he began to tend to the guard's injuries.
"Looks like I went overboard earlier didn't I? I just broke your collar bone and nose, even though I wasn't trying to hit you hard," a light chuckle escaped his lips, as he examined her damaged areas," but don't worry I'll heal you so stay asleep" His hand began to glow a faint shade of blue and instantly Meiling relaxed.

The good side was that Meiling was no longer injured; bad side was Rook overused his powers past their limits.
Rook felt his muscles stiffen, his mind going numb, and his bones burn as though they were dipped in liquid fire.
Small electrical sparks came out of his arms; he began to cough until he began to cough out blood.
The pain subsided, and then he began to look closely at the blood stained floor, now in a small pool of red.

This is bad, he thought, there's more than last time…

He wiped off the blood on his chin with his forearm, before crouching down to the sleeping guard.
"Do me a favor Meiling, and keep Remilia and Flandre safe. Because if you don't, you know what'll happen."

The guard shuddered in her sleep.

Rook began to walk towards the smaller door at a leisurely pace, and ascended the circular stairs.

He did not even bother using the hidden passages he used earlier the evening, instead he took a stroll around the mansion he built with his own hands, when times were at peace.

But all of that were in the past now.

Long ago this mansion was built for the Scarlet Sisters after they lost their home and their parents.
Rook being acquaintances with their father, was more or less their temporary guardian at that time, decided to build a home made especially for both of them.
After nearly a century into the sister's exile, they came back to the mansion's ruined state and decided to remodel it.
Remilia chose the design, while Rook worked with the construction. Back then, Flandre was still sane and cheerful… Not the monster she is now.

Right now, he was a guest, well he did enter by beating up the mistress of the mansion with her maid, and so does that make him an intruder?
A nagging voice inside Rook's mind told him he was.

Yep, he was a scumbag intruder in the mansion he once built.

But still, all those memories that the residents made here with him, suddenly gone, erased as if it never happened; only him can remember, so that he will be tormented by his conscience, while they cannot.
Rook came to a fork, and glanced at the hall to his right.
Flandre used to fly around these passages, repairing crater holes was annoying every time she wanted to play tag.
He then stared at Remilia's painting in the wall, as she tried to look dignified.
Rook could not resist smiling at the thought of the girl to act maturely in front of strangers.
She seemed childish enough letting her anger take control earlier.

The Mad Queen and the Scarlet King's movements are maneuvered; their positions in the chessboard have not changed.
The Knight of time protecting the king has yet to grow and so she is easily ditched from the game.

The Guardian who acts as the mansion's whole pawns is yet to be honed and positioned.

The Pieces are gathered. But there's one that moves secretly.

Rook stopped in his tracks, and his smile slowly disappeared off his face.
"Then again, the bishop made its move without its king's awareness" said Rook, as he turns around. "And, it's still the enemy player's turn, tell me if I am wrong, Patchouli Knowledge"

He found a girl with what looked like a lavender pajama like clothing wearing a night cap, but over her weird wardrobe style she wore a pale blue cloak, with her long violet hair resting down her front.
She held large black leather bound book at her side, while having her purple eyes wide in shock, as if she's seen a ghost.

Wardrobe change? About time too, thought Rook, trying to contain a sneer being formed in his brain, as he watched Patchouli's expression turn from shock and disbelief to anger and hate.

A grin began to creep on the young man's face, as if mocking the girl in front of him, while she silently stared at him in cold fury.
Ho? This expression is new. I wonder….

Without speaking a word, Patchouli opened her book and summoned surprisingly strong gust, even though the mansion had few windows for the air to enter to begin with.
Her long beautiful violet hair was caught in the wind and looked like it was floating in mid air, while her cloak flew around her.

"So you're going to attack me just because I'm an intruder too, huh?" taunted Rook, the evil grin on his face growing wider, as he stood calmly in the wind with a gale force rank.
"Such a shame that the girl of knowledge, the person I know with an IQ of 4999, suddenly forget a single person?" he continued, enjoying the cold look in the magician's face, "You really live up to your name of 'Knowledge'."

Patchouli's glare intensified and so did the wind, making the portraits shake and the lighting fade.
"Don't suddenly put up nonsense, Rook" she said with obvious disgust in her voice, her eyes narrowed. "I never forget that loathsome face of yours, I'm disappointed that I had believed for so long that I have already eradicated you from my life, didn't seem like you had the guts to crawl your way back here, you damned Chess Piece"
As Patchouli muttered the last two words, four large crystals which had many different colors, materialized out of nowhere behind her.
One crystal was a deep shade of red, while the other was a clear color of blue. Another was had a bright glare of yellow, when the other had the dark ominous glow of green.

"So you do remember, you accursed Magician," Rook said it as if it left a bitter taste on his mouth." Of course we were the only ones who knew what really happened that day, being the ones who caused their amnesia" Rook sneered, as the wind howled past his ears.

"What are you doing here?" snarled the Magician; her voice was similar to that of a sword being drawn. "You understand perfectly well that you are not welcome here, or be near here either."
"Oh nothing just visiting a friend, and catching up with a few others" said Rook in casual tone, putting both of his hands inside his pockets. "I didn't drag myself from that mountain and struggle for centuries to find this mansion, just to see that face of yours"
Patchouli did not seem to be impressed with his words, so she gritted her teeth.
"You did what!" she exclaimed angrily, "Don't you know that by coming in contact with them will trigger their memories, and they'll remember every horrible thing that they were forced to forget?"
She tried to ease herself as her breathing slowly became labored after her outburst, and in a strong firm voice she spoke.
" You have no responsibility whatsoever for Meiling and the two sisters, it is not up to you to decide what is going to happen to them. They are not your daughters"

Rook balled his right hand into a fist, while wearing a deep scowl on his face.
"They're good enough to be one," growled Rook, ignoring the raging winds around him," I already told you about my promise to the previous Head of the Scarlets"
"Your arrogance annoys me" said Patchouli, staring daggers at the boy in front of her.
"Your face irritates me" said Rook, smiling brightly back at the furious Magician, mocking her.

Suddenly, instead of attacking, Patchouli willed the winds to calm, leaving only her crystals to hover behind her.
"Tell me the truth, why did you return? Why didn't you start a new life even after I spared you for what you've done?" she asked, her voice so soft it was barely audible.

Rook's bright smile turned into an insolent one, and shrugged his shoulders.
"To be blunt, I came back to ruin your life just like you ruined mine" he suddenly threw his head backwards and gave out a hearty laugh, "but that wouldn't be any fun if it were something as simple as that. Actually I don't care about you anymore. You also said the reason for my return, yes, no need to act surprised; I'm bringing back what you took from them"

Patchouli's gasp quickly turned into a low hiss, her purple eyes giving off a faint glow.

Rook ignored this and continued, as if nothing happened. "To quote Confucius: A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it; is making another mistake. It was the wrong decision on making them forget for they will never learn from their errors, and risk history repeating itself once more. It wasn't the right thing and you know that. They may have not been able to understand what really happened last time, but surely now they are ready to understand. You can't keep the truth from them forever, Patchouli, they have every right to know and one way or another, fate will see it through that they do"

Rook was forced to dodge to his left as a burning ball of white flames flew past him.
Patchy was pissed, and when she spoke, her voice was trembling in rage.
"I am three seconds away from casting 'Royal Flare' so you better hear this: the truth will destroy them, and they're better off without it! And if your so called history does happen, I'll be there to stop it! Protecting them from anything that will harm them is one of my jobs, and you, you, the person who was responsible for all of this mess have the guts to say that? Bullshit!"

Rook dodge three more fireballs, one flew so close to his shoulder that if his skin had a voice, it would've screamed in protest from the pain.
"If they know, they'll be able to understand! Stop being so out of character and listen to me!" he shouted.

"Remember your crimes, Chess piece. You were the one who brought this upon yourself. You ruined it all, all by yourself!" screamed Patchouli, making her breathe heavily." Remember that you were the one who cause Flandre's madness…. I kept moving the mansion place to place, country to country, just so I can keep them away from you, you and your lust for power…. You…. The one who single handedly broke an innocent girl's promise and shattered her heart"

Rook looked as though he was struck, then he put back his arrogant smirk.
"For that very reason I'm trying to repent for my sins" said the boy, his voice filled with hostility.
"No matter what kind of repentance you do, what you did was unforgivable, but pray tell, what makes you think you can do anything now? If they find out, it will break them!" argued the Magician.
"You know that telling them and making them understand is the only way to end this twisted cycle. "
"I can't let you do that. If you do, the entire countryside will be a sea of blood. You will force the two sisters to kill each other! Remember that as their guardian, I won't let you bring harm to both of them! You were the one who turned Flandre into the monster she is now! Remember that it was you who got banished from this household!"

Rook sent her a venomous glare and raised his right hand, which was filled with tendrils of electricity, aiming for Patchouli's heart. "Don't you dare call Flandre a monster," he growled menacingly,"or else I'll blow a hole wide enough for a fairy to fit in you."
This time it was Patchouli turn to smirk. "I'd like to see you try" she taunted, with an air of smugness around her, though she was breathing hard from her shouting.

She sure has a big mouth for a sickly librarian, thought Rook, while keeping his palm aimed at the Magician before him.
Though she did have a point from her rant earlier, his plan risks conflict with both sister and may result doing harm to both, but Rook also has a point to make.
"Way to go on putting the blame on somebody, Magician, and my memory is as clear as yours that I remember that fact very clearly, but have you seen that 'monster' as you call her, lately? Surely not, because you always put up the stupid excuse of being sickly from actually helping Flandre!" roared the boy, the static on his hand became so agitated, that the air suddenly bore a metallic scent of ozone, a signal of a lightning strike, however the static slowly weakened down, yet kept crackling once in a while around his hands.

Rook's glare did not seem to keep itself from intensifying. "She sacrificed quite a lot from when your so called 'solution' was placed to effect. Her own sister barely knows she still exists!" he continued," you know what's funny? Is that she has to succumb to violence, just to get rid of that madness that has built up inside of her, and you do nothing about it! You barely do anything about her! And you were supposed to be her guardian, you were supposed to be curing her, yet you do nothing! She was imprisoned like an animal, with barely any clean clothes to wear, it's true that she can be violent, but if you're willing, you can help her any time you want! Hey, she also told me about another thing, you know? She hasn't seen the sky for so long… She loved the stars, didn't you know that? Of course you wouldn't bother one frikkin bit since you have 'better things to do' or busy with your 'research', while you busy yourself with your petty vices, Remilia tells her own sister that she was to stay in the basement for to keep everyone safe? I know it's a sound reason, but I must say, what useless bull crap if you ask me! You were the only one who could've done something, yet you shut yourself in your stupid library and do nothing, after what? After you finally got sick of your game of whispering into Remilia's ear just to get myself kicked out of the house! After all of those years you still bore a stupid grudge against me! But this is all I have to say, your solution is causing more harm than good… It's unhealthy; it's despicable, and very, very low, just like you"

Patchouli remained silent, her expression full of hate and spite, though her eyes showed an emotion Rook knew all too well; guilt.
She knew that she was at fault too, but her rage kept denying that fact. She could not accept it, which in Rook's point of view, was just plain stupid.

When the Magician did not seem ready to reply, Rook willed his body to become mist once more, only to solidify next to a surprised Patchouli.
The strangest thing was, she did not attempt to attack him, seeing she had four elemental crystals hovering peacefully around her. Probably because Rook was too close, that she knew it was over.

Rook resisted the urge from smacking the Librarian on the head, and said in the calmest voice, yet deadliest voice he can muster.
"Remember that I wasn't the only one who should've been banished," he whispered into Patchouli's ear, " it was by my own will that I left, while you chose to stay, even though you had a hand in that unfortunate event. I left on my own accord, while you stayed and went on with your life as if nothing happened, probably meant that you're really dense. At least I'm doing some real research to fix up my mistakes. You still owe me from covering up for you, and if you're going to say that Remilia won't believe me even if I told her, you'd be surprised on how easy it's going to be for me to convince her"

"You're bluffing, even if you do comeback, I will be reinforcing the memory charms so they will forget this night" snarled the magician.
"No I'm not bluffing and you won't be able to do that spell again, unless you want Remilia to go crazy or Flandre to go crazier than she is" sneered Rook, " I am the ghost of your past misdeeds, and you still have a debt to pay, Magician"

"I will pay you right here, right now. What is it that you want?" she said spitefully.

Rook drew away, and pulled a large violet envelope, with an eye for a stamp at the top right corner. There was no name of the sender, but there was an address of the Scarlet Mansion written in a neat loopy hand writing. Patchouli reluctantly took it and began to read the letter inside.

Once he saw Patchouli reading, Rook began to speak again, this time in a business type of manner.
"This world is changing and is proving unsafe for most supernatural beings, your safe spots are being depleted dramatically, and there is almost no safe place left for the Scarlet Devil and for her sister to reside much longer. Seeing you in your current state, their safety cannot be guaranteed anymore. So I bought you an invitation."

The Magician's eyes grew wide. "Th- this is!-"
"An invitation to the Scarlet Devil from the Creator of Gensokyo itself." Interrupted Rook, which earned him a glare, but he ignored it and went on, "Now, back to your situation, you're starting to be afraid, because you're running out of rabbit holes to hide Remilia, so to remedy that, you start pouring into your books, tomes, scrolls, and other whatnot for portal, am I right? Let me take another guess then, this last few months you have been researching feverishly about 'other worlds' that you and this mansion can safely live in without exposing both of the Scarlets to harm, right? And one of the worlds that you've come across is Gensokyo, but dismissed the idea when knowing the only of travelling there, hmm?" finished Rook, with an odd smile on his face.

Patchouli tried her best to remain calm and composed.
"You," she said coldly, "how do you know that?"

Rook only shrugged. "You're like an open book, which just confirmed one of my theories on what you were planning"

The Librarian gritted her teeth.
"You've been there?" she asked filled with spite and disgust, while Rook put on a mockingly bright smile.
"Actually I live there now." he replied cheerily, but then his face turned into a playful smirk,"Now; I'm going to offer you a choice. Go there and be safe or stay and die. The best birthday give I can give to Flandre is her own safety."

Patchouli had her jaw open, looking utterly speechless. Her eyes trailed down to the letter, which had the signature: Yukari Yakumo.
Then her eyes glanced up at Rook who had a triumphant smile on his face.

"I believe it's a checkmate" he drew another object from his pant pocket, only to reveal a small phial filled with violet liquid. He uncapped the phial and the liquid instantly turned to smoke and began to hover before Rook, who watched as it slowly turned back into a liquid state. When the formation was done, Rook was facing an eight foot tall rip between realities, filled with thousands of golden eyes, which seemed to stare into The Librarian's very soul.

Rook turned back to face her and said. "Tend to Remilia's wounds and the maid's, I might've hit them too hard. I'm leaving, but not for good. I'll be returning and when I do, I'll make them remember when they're ready"

Patchouli only stood there frozen, not by fear or shock, but of amazement. How she despised herself for having such a feeling, when it was not the right time.
He's definitely come far, she thought with great envy. What if Rook was more powerful than her now? What if he was much better? What if he will succeed? No, she cannot let him. She will never let him win.

She was about to crumple the paper, and throw it into Rook's arrogant face, but for some reason, she was not able to muster the courage to do it. Those eyes had a bad vibe about them.
She didn't realize when Rook was speaking to her again.

"Don't give a quick reply" he said with one foot inside the gap, "Say hi to Koakuma for me. Good bye for now, Magician"
He dove in, leaving the flabbergasted Librarian behind, as she finally found her voice. "Damned Chess Piece"…

Eyy! Here already? As expected from a short chapter...

Now to the tradition of pointing out my possible mistakes!First! is the grammar! I wasn't very satisfied with it and may have done some mistakes here and there, but don't we writers do that all the time? *Sigh* Not an excuse for proper etiquette, I have to master the thing.
Second! you may find the connotations with a tiny gap with the letters inside them.
Third! I have to break my habit of single line sentences.
Fourth! Plot holes, plot holes everywhere, well at least on my point of view, I don't know about you guys.Fifth and the last. Some parts of this chapter may have been a tad been confusing.

Now that's over with, time to shine!
Seems like there's some history of bad blood with the One week magician and our hero(?), eh? Writing Patchouli has been difficult, with her asthma and various ailments, but wasn't she quite lively this chapter? We leave the Scarlet Mansion for now and proceed with the Prologue Arc-Thing. P.A.T. for short! And watch how Rook plans for his next attempt for the mansion! This will be probably a chance to introduce his relations from some of those in Gensokyo.

Now to end this author's note, I hope that you guys are going to be with me for the next chapter. Bye~!

Is that so~?

P.S. Get outta of mah house! one more thing, I'm keeping the "Select Difficulty" sign above for the lulz, I'll do whatever I want thank you very much!