"Talking in Japanese."
"Not talking in Japanese."
'Thinking in any language.'
Disclaimer: I don't own Touhou, I don't own 40K.
Also, there is a high probability to alteration to Touhou canon for both purposes of (a lack of) authorial knowledge and story, if you don't like that you can go. Or get drunk if you wish to emulate Zun.
Intrusion of the Dark Stars
Chapter 3: Foreshocks
"LADY YUYUKO!"
The instant following Yuyuko's collapse was near pandemonium. Youmu, with a cry of distress, immediately tried to dash forward and catch her mistress, but tripped over Sanae causing both to crash into Mokou and end up in a pile on the floor. Keine, who was the closest to Yuyuko, also tried to grab her but the phantom had gone incorporeal and simply fell through the school teacher's arms. Reimu, exasperated from having one crisis after another thrown at her, leapt to a hasty conclusion that precluded malevolent forces and yelled at either Suika and Marisa, nobody was sure exactly which, about spiking food. Suika, also exasperated that everything was so abnormal today, shouted back while Marisa was too busy trying to untangle Sanae, Youmu, and Mokou to notice.
Patchouli, in the mean time, calmly skirted the chaos and reached Keine, who was kneeling over the prone body of Yuyuko. The ghost princess had not passed through the floor, but apparently remained intangible at attempts to touch her if Keine's failing efforts at propping her up were any indication. Patchouli drew Keine's attention and shook her head, turning back to the rest just in time for Youmu to struggle back to her feet and, not even bothering to apologize to Sanae and Mokou, crossed the final distance to the one she was sworn to serve.
"Lady Yuyuko!" Youmu shouted again, this time with slightly less distress. The swordswoman fell to her knees beside the princess and, thanks to the younger girl's half-ghost nature, was able to grab her hand, "Answer me! What happened?"
"I don't think she can answer you." Patchouli said quietly, studying the ghost's unmoving form. "It seems she has fallen into something of a comatose state."
"That's impossible!" Youmu shouted, her worry driving her towards hysteria. "Yuyuko's a ghost! You can't-I mean it isn't-it shouldn't be…"
"I thought so too." Patchouli furrowed her eyebrows in study. "But the timing can leave no other conclusion."
Further into the shrine's interior Marisa and Mokou finally got back on to their feet. The latter was prevented from shouting something angry by a stern look from Keine. For their part, Reimu and Suika had stopped yelling to listen to Patchouli. The Hakurei Priestess studied Yuyuko hard for a moment, "You mean, what's happened earlier that changed the border?"
"Precisely. That event earlier must have been a physical side effect of whatever has altered the Hakurei Border and disabled Yuyuko. It is possible that it has had further changes then what we have observed here and…" Patchouli looked at the shrine's new wall style, "Not all of those changes have occurred yet."
"Wait…" Marisa spoke-up, "What do you mean?"
"Yuyuko collapsed several minutes after the sky event while the shrine, and the border, presumably changed during or immediately after it. Either another event that was not noticeable occurred afterwards or there was a delay for this particular mechanism to kick in." The librarian gave them all an ominous look, "So there may be more effects to come."
Reimu sighed "Is that what we are referring to all this instead of incidents? Events and effects? Isn't that all kind of… euphemistic?"
"Whatever is happening certainly falls outside the bounds of regular incidents." Patchouli paused and then nodded to herself, as if she had just managed to convince herself of what she said.
"But…" Everybody's attention was brought back to Youmu. The poor girl still held to the unconscious princess's hand, tears glistening at the edge of her eyes. Her voice was low and pleading, "Please, tell me we can do something… anything to help Lady Yuyuko."
For the first time so far, Patchouli's tone changed slightly, taking on more empathy. The stoic wasn't good at showing her emotions, but everybody there knew her well enough to notice the change. "I'm afraid we have fallen outside the realm of both my experience and my study. I would guess that our best move would be to take Yuyuko to the Eientei clinic, Eirin…"
Mokou bristled at the name of both the mansion and its head doctor but kept silent, letting Patchouli finish.
"... would be the most likely to diagnose this condition." The librarian glanced over at Reimu, "And I would think Yukari would like to know about her friend's condition."
"If you think I can, or will, hide this from her…" the Priestess rolled her eyes, "Well, then you are not living up to your last name."
"Alright." Youmu said, slinging Yuyuko's arm over her shoulder. The barely visible form of her ghost half moved around to take the other limb. Marisa suddenly started moving forward, an encouraging smile on her face.
"I'll come with you, run interference on any dumb fairy who tries to take a shot." She glanced at the unmoving form of Yuyuko and then back at the bodyguard, giving the latter a look of sincerity. "And don't worry! Yuyuko will be fine, you know that better than anyone else."
"I suppose I'll help you there too." Mokou said, rising to her feet, "I know some shortcuts through the bamboo forest." Not that the phoenix girl would ever be let in there unless Kaguya was bored and wanted another immortal death match. Although, another opportunity to kill the outcast princess would actually be nice…
Youmu gave an uncertain smile, still very concerned over the ghost in her arms but grateful at the assistance. "Thank you."
"Good luck," Sanae said from in front of the shrine a few moments later.
"I'll inform Yukari!" Reimu called out after the three took off.
There was a moments silence as the four left, the two shrine maidens, the librarian, the schoolteacher, and the party-Oni, watched the group go, then Reimu turned to Patchouli. "Alright, now do you know anything about the obvious perpetrators?"
"The beings that attacked the village." Keine unnecessarily supplied, only drawing a semi-annoyed 'I-don't-need-reminding' look from Patchouli.
"Yes, well they are the most likely ones to be behind all this. In fact, this might have something to do with why they took many villagers captive and… killed those fairies."
"What? How would that work?" Sanae asked.
Patchouli hesitated, clearly disturbed by the information she was about to share. "I… I assume you are familiar with the concept of blood rituals and human sacrifices?"
Keine and Reimu went pale, while Sanae took a bit longer to catch on, "Yes I know of such things but what… oh… oh gods."
Keine gulped, clearly horrified and nauseous at the prospect, but a piece of reasoning rebelled against it. "But… but magic doesn't work that way! The runic templates and transfer of mana-"
"Magic in Gensokyo doesn't work that way." Patchouli pointed towards the shrine gate to emphasize her point. "It seems logical that these beings are using a radically different system to achieve the desired events."
"What monsters would use such a system that has that kind of ritual as a requirement?" Reimu asked, also clearly disturbed.
"Who says that the ritual is a requirement for the system? It may just be specific for the ritual or needed to achieve truly powerful effects… after all, how many spells do you know can knock out someone like Yuyuko? How many spells that can alter Yukari and yours work on the border?"
Reimu bit her lower lip and looked away instead of responding.
"Speaking of which," Sanae said, trying desperately to veer away from the subject of ritualistic killing, "Where is Yukari? You said she would be along shortly, Reimu."
Reimu frowned, she was expecting the gap Youkai to appear any second now, but then she had been expecting that for a while now. There was no way Yukari could have missed this… event. It was so huge and crossed into her territory so much that there was no way she could have missed it even if she was in the dead middle of her winter slumber. "I am really going to have to go looking for her after this meeting and give her an earful."
"You have never been able to find her house bef-" Sanae was silenced by a glare from her fellow priestess, Reimu had never liked losing much and disliked being reminded even more so.
"Yes, well…Whoever the perpetrators are, they can't be left alone." Patchouli glanced at Keine, "The creature's words, while vague, clearly indicates some kind of plan by these beings to achieve… well, even if it isn't the destruction of Gensokyo, I cannot imagine that we would like the outcome."
"But…" Reimu hesitated, she was a stubborn girl and so hesitant to admit her own faults, but reality was reality and even she gave ground when everything pointed in one direction. "But we found the offenders of every previous incident through my intuition, which isn't telling me anything." The priestess paused, and then added slightly sardonic, "Except that something really bad is happening of course."
"I know." Patchouli said, "We will have to organize a large-scale search, both human and Youkai."
"That will take time," Keine pointed out, "And we don't know how much time we have."
"Which means we must act quickly."
Reimu nodded, the plan was the best they had. "Alright then. Keine, you'll have to make arrangements with the villagers. Patchouli, inform Remilia on everything and on this plan. Sanae, you report to both Kanako and the Mountain Council. Suika, could you go with Sanae and head to the underground to inform the Satori's? We'll need as many people on board as we can get. I'll try to find Yukari, because we need to know what has happened to the border and how to fix it. Come to me tomorrow as soon as you all can. Any questions?" There was a long silence before Reimu realized that not only were there no questions, all three individuals in front of her were giving her an odd look. "What?"
"Erm…" Keine said, "It's just… you have never been so… so…"
"Leaderish?" Suika suggested. Keine shrugged in response. Reimu blinked, not understanding exactly what the two were saying.
"We had best get going then." Patchouli said before the Hakurei Shrine Maiden could ask for clarification.
"Yes," Sanae began to float off the ground, "I will also visit Aya and find out what that is all about."
"That should wait." Keine also took off, "We need to get things moving as quickly as possible."
"But-"
"She's right." Reimu interrupted her Moriya counterpart, "Yes, Aya is a friend… although she doesn't always feel like it, but the entirety of Gensokyo may be at stake. We have to prepare."
Sanae reluctantly conceded the point. After saying farewell for the day, the schoolteacher, the librarian, and the Moriya priestess left for their respective homes. Reimu didn't leave immediately; instead she walked to the shrine gate and looked over Gensokyo.
Yes, this could all be at stake and yes, she would save it. Whoever was perpetrating this evil had to be stopped or all of Gensokyo could suffer.
As she took off, the Hakurei Shrine Maiden had no idea that she had massively underestimated what was at risk.
E
Pactus
E
"Are you stupid?" Mokou bellowed at the Inaba guarding the entrance to Eientei. The little runt had told them flat out that no-one was being allowed into or out of Eientei and had remained defiant despite Youmu's pleading. Mokou jabbed a finger at the unconscious Yuyuko being held bridal style by her bodyguard. "Do you know who that is? That's the Hakugyokurou Princess! There is something wrong with her and Eirin might know what!"
"The Master has ordered no non-resident be let in." The Inaba was infuriatingly haughty and Mokou was seriously contemplating torching the little rabbit right there and then, "And even if things were normal, I wouldn't let you in."
"This isn't about me!" Mokou yelled, "This is about those two! Let me see Eirin!"
"If you think I will call the master out because you want me too…" The Inaba abruptly realized there was something glowing on the edge of its peripheral vision; she turned and found herself staring into a very powerful magical object, held by Marisa. "W-what are you doing?"
The witch gave a cheeky grin as she aimed the mini-hakkero reactor at the Inaba… and the wall into Eientei behind it. "Simple, either you can let us in or I can create a way in and give you a spark like you will never forget. So what will it be?"
The Inaba paled, on the one hand she knew she was facing imminent laserization and on the other it knew, given the way she had heard the order communicated, that Eirin would be pissed if she violated orders. Fortunately she was saved as the entrance door slid open and Tewi, the head of the Inabas, stormed out.
"You!" She shouted at the door guard, "What is going on here?"
"Erm… Tei, these three want to get inside and see the master because of the phantom there and because the phoenix-girl was with them and because of the master's orders-"
In the time the rabbit had begun to spill out her explanation, Tewi had looked at the line-up and evaluated the situation. "Let them in."
The Inaba stood there for a moment before answering, "Eh? But… the master-"
"I will deal with Eirin…" Tewi paused for a moment, "Or maybe I'll get Reisen to do it. Anyways, let the witch and the ghosts in." She looked at Mokou, "If any of the Inaba saw you inside right now-"
"I get it…" Mokou said, her temper dying down. The immortal didn't have anything against Tewi or, indeed, any of the rabbits. It was Kaguya and, to a lesser extent, Eirin that she had the vendetta against. "I'll wait here."
Marisa and Youmu, the latter still supporting the unconscious Yuyuko, were ushered in.
"You're acting unusual today, Tei." Marisa said once they were inside. She had built up a good rapport with Tewi, those who knew the two figured it was a sly trickster thing.
"Everybody here is acting bizarre today, so it isn't that out of the ordinary." Tewi sounded frustrated, which both Youmu and Marisa knew was indeed unusual, as she led them towards the clinic. "Reisen is wandering around in a confused daze, Eirin has sealed herself in her room, and the princess is trying to break in and get Eirin to tell her why."
"Wait… Kaguya is trying to get Eirin to leave her room?" Marisa's view of reality had just gained another chink.
"I know, it's like the world is upside-down or something." The group entered the clinic and Tewi indicated to Youmu to put Yuyuko on the patient bed. "What happened to her, anyways?"
Youmu bit her lower lip as she carefully lowered her charge, "She collapsed after… well… did you see what happened to the sky?"
"Where it turned red? Yeah, Eirin seemed to go little nuts during that thing. She activated some of the short-term defense charms for some reason before sealing herself in her room. It was kind of scary actually."
Marisa and Youmu looked at each other. Things were just getting stranger and stranger.
"Well, you should just wait here. I'll see if I can pry Eirin out with the news that I violated her orders." Tewi's statement caused Youmu to blanch, the latter having a more serious view towards a subordinate's duty to his or her superior.
"So Eirin went a little nuts?" Marisa mused as soon as Tewi was out of ear shot.
"Do you think she knows something?"
"Indubitably." Marisa grinned, trotting out that line in the new language, a habit she had been acquiring much to Reimu's annoyance. Ignoring Youmu's slightly confused look, Marisa continued, "Maybe she is even behind everything."
"What?" Youmu's head whipped around so fast that Marisa thought for a moment it was going to come off, "That… doesn't add up."
"I know," Marisa slouched back, "And it is unlikely, but she knows something about whatever is happening. We'll just have to wait to find out what."
E
Pactus
E
"Yo, Patchy!"
Patchouli nodded in response to the greeting from the Scarlet Devil Mansion's gate guard. Hong Meiling had apparently been doing a little physical training at her post when the Mansion's head librarian returned, given the sweat on her brow. "Hello, China."
"It's Meiling." The red head replied automatically. In actuality, she was used to the nickname, only Sakuya and Flandre ever called her by her real name and even only half-the-time then. "Remilia wants you to report to her as soon as possible, about the meeting and the red sky and stuff."
"I thought she would."
"Yeah," Meiling tilted her head in curiosity, "Something is up, right?"
Patchouli knew what the woman was really asking and also knew that she didn't have the time to go over everything that happened at the meeting. "Yes. You'll find out everything."
"Alright. See ya Patch."
The librarian merely waved in response as she pushed through the gate and moved on to the main doors. Inside the mansion, everything seemed fine. Fairy maids flittered here and there, performing their duties assigned by Sakuya and only pausing to nod respectfully if they noticed Patchy. Patchouli didn't immediately head to the observatory or the covered patio, the most likely places Remilia Scarlet would be, instead she walked to the library.
The mansion was a large place, even more so when one considered it was bigger on the inside, and it would be easy for the majority of visitors to get lost in. Patchouli, however, had lived in the place for centuries and knew the mansion layout as well as any of the other occupants. Finding the library from the entrance could have been done while blindfolded.
Patchouli entered the library to find her assistant, a devil Youkai known as Koakuma, muttering angrily as she rustled through several small stacks of books. Patchouli caught the words 'stupid witch' and 'ruining organization' and internally laughed. Yes, the Librarian found it slightly irksome that Marisa kept stealing her books, but it had become sort of a game between the two and occasionally she did have the good sense to actually return one. Koa, on the other hand, had merely found the witches 'raids' tiresome and irritating, but didn't complain about it to Patchouli because of the latter's fondness for the game.
The magician gave a cough and Koakuma nearly seemed to leap out of her skin, before spinning around and bowing. "My Lady, I am sorry, I did not hear you come in."
"You don't need to apologize for doing your work." The librarian meant it; she loved this library and maintained it dearly. Koakuma made running the place even better, with her more overt enthusiasm towards the books appealing to Patchouli. "But I need you to take care of a vitally important task."
Koa relaxed and gave an eager grin, "Of course!"
"I need as many of the books on the study of human sacrifice and blood rituals as you can find."
The devil blinked, the gears turning quickly in her head as she reasoned everything out. "Is this about the current incident?"
"Well… essentially yes. I don't have time to explain, but this takes top priority."
"I understand! I'll get to it immediately."
"Good. I need to go to talk with Lady Remilia." Patchouli waited for Koakuma's confirmation before heading off. No sooner had the librarian stepped out and shut the doors then she heard a polite cough behind her. Patchouli turned to the silver haired human maid who had appeared as if from thin air behind her.
"My Lady has heard you have returned." Sakuya Izayoi, head maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, "You are going to see her?"
"Yes. There is some essential material I need to study after the discussion, and probably dinner, so I directed my assistant to gather as much of it as she could." Patchouli replied evenly, "Is Remilia at the covered patio?"
"The observatory, actually."
The observatory was actually more like a study, with a few shelves containing Remilia's favorite books in one corner, a simple table with various trinkets in equally varied states of disassembly in another corner, and Remilia Scarlet herself seated at the modest table in the middle. There was a telescope at the window, one of the few in the mansion of significant size, but since it was still daylight, the heavy curtains had been drawn for Remilia's benefit. The Scarlet Devil looked up from a Rubik's Cube obtained from the outside she had been playing with and gave her usual grin. "Patchouli, I heard you were back."
"My apologies for delaying my visit but I wanted some things to be ready after the discussion." The librarian took her seat without waiting for Remilia's indication to do so as she spoke. "Was that unacceptable?"
Sakuya had produced a steaming kettle of tea and cups with their attendant saucers as if from nowhere, although both Patchouli and Remilia knew she had actually frozen time to quickly retrieve them from another room. The maid poured the two their own cups as this preliminary conversation took place.
"No." Remilia shook her head. "It is quite alright. I get the feeling that the next few days are going to be busy for us all. That thing where the sky went red, do you know anything about it?"
"It would be best if I fit that in talking about the meeting at the Shrine."
At this moment Sakuya, the tea finished, broke-in. "With your permission my lady, I would like to attend to some duties."
Remilia waved, an indication of approval, but tossed in a audible statement with the gesture. "I will call you if I need you."
"Of course, my lady." With that Sakuya, and the additional tea sets, seemed to vanish into thin air.
"So, Patchouli." Remilia focused her attention on the chief librarian. "What is going on?"
E
PACTUS
E
On weekend nights, the Garden of the Sun was a rather popular place for Youkai to gather. Parties were held, drink flowed freely, and the supernatural creatures danced the night away to music played by the Prism River Sisters. Those nights were the one time the resident of the Garden, Yuuka Kazami, was hospitable, the one night she let intruders freely move about the sunflower fields that gave the Garden its name… or so most Youkai thought.
It wasn't a weekend night right now and the only Youkai that could be seen about was a few bored fairies and a one Wriggle Nightbug. Wriggle was unlike most in Gensokyo in that she was not afraid of Yuuka. That was not because Wriggle was powerful enough to stand-up to the ancient being, because she wasn't, but because she had learned that it wasn't trespassing that ticked Yuuka off… it was the touching of her flowers.
Sure there were other things that could get Yuuka in a maiming and/or killing mood, insulting her was a good one for instance, but it was kind of obvious that since Yuuka was a Youkai who primarily controlled plants she would naturally care a lot about flowers. At least, Wriggle thought it was obvious, her fellow Youkai just thought she was crazy. Because of this understanding, a kind-of bond developed, with Wriggle running errands for Yuuka by picking up gardening supplies.
"Miss Yuuka?" Wriggle called. She didn't shout the name, Yuuka didn't like that. It was curious: Yuuka was always tending to the garden at this time, but Wriggle couldn't find her. "Are you here?"
No answer, like the last three times. A gentle breeze gave a momentary reprieve from the afternoon heat, causing the sunflowers to wave gently around the insect Youkai. With a sigh, Wriggle made her way to the center of the garden… to the actual cottage Yuuka lived in. There she paused, even during the weekend festivals Yuuka came down on those who entered her house without express permission and Wriggle was no exception. She had still been inside a few times, at Yuuka's invitation of course, and thought it looked comfy.
Maybe she should knock? Wriggle didn't know if that would upset Yuuka; she mostly worked all this out through trial and error. Well, didn't hurt to try... with a deep breath, Wriggle landed at the doorway and rapped her knuckles gently on the wood.
Nothing. Wriggle knocked louder, still nothing, she sighed and began to turn away when something caught her eye. The edges of a liquid, largely dry, had crept out from under the door. Kneeling down, Wriggle brushed her finger over the liquid and licked the digit. As a Youkai, and an Insect Youkai in particular, she had a far more refined sense of taste then humans. She immediately identified the chemical: it was tea… sugared tea, the kind Yuuka liked. But why was it dribbling under the-
Wriggle flung the door open. It was a new-style one that swung on its hinges rather than slide and she made sure not to swing it too hard, Yuuka would get angry at that. The sight inside brought her up short. Lying a few feet from the door, in a dry pool of tea, was the shattered remnants of a set of cups and pots, partially covered by an upside-down tray and just beyond the tray was the collapsed form of…
"YUUKA!" Wriggle scream was loud enough to startle the fairies hanging around the edge of the field.
E
PACTUS
E
"What is taking them." Marisa mumbled impatiently. The witch had read the latest magazines and taken the nice picture on the clinic wall which hadn't been there the last time she visited, the two actions pretty much exhausting the means Marisa kept herself entertained. Now the magician was dangerously bored and getting irritated: where was Eirin and why wasn't she here to help Yuyuko?
"I hope she gets here soon." Youmu had pulled her seat over to the bed Yuyuko now lay on and hadn't moved an iota since. The concern the swordswoman felt was even more apparent in her voice then on her face.
The clinic door opened and both occupants turned in expectation only to see Reisen, apparently looking rather haggard, enter the room with a small briefcase.
"My master apologizes," The moon Inaba said, "But she cannot come to treat Lady Yuyuko right now. I have been told to do so in her stead."
"But… what if you…"
Reisen blocked Youmu's protest quickly, maintaining the formality she always seemed to show to everyone. "I am fully capable of diagnosing any problem. If I find it is beyond my ability to treat, then I will contact my master."
"Right…" Marisa said as Reisen pulled the end of what looked like one of those blood pressure-thingy's out of the case. "What is up with Eirin anyways? Tei told us she has been acting rather weird today."
Reisen frowned as she pulled out some kind of electronic gizmo, attached to the 'blood pressure-thingy' by the cord.
"I don't know. She was arguing with the princess when she ordered me to come here. All I know is that this morning, during the lecture and paperwork session, she abruptly stopped talking, zoned out, and then ordered me to close down the clinic."
"And…?"
"And she hasn't said much since." Reisen tentatively wrapped the pressure pads around the unconscious Yuyuko's wrist before pushing a button on whatever gizmo that was. Marisa guessed it was some kind of magic-enhanced technology for it to work on ghosts… or something.
"And you don't find any of this bizarre?" Marisa scratched the side of her head.
"My master has her reasons for acting this way, I am sure." Such a typical answer from Reisen, always studious and respectful of her superiors.
"Apparently it has something to do with the past." The new voice made everyone jump. Kaguya Houraisan, Lunar Princess, moved through the room with the same amount of grace she liked to show almost everywhere.
"What of the past?" Youmu asked.
Kaguya sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in a non-apparent warding of stress. "Eirin… has always been a mystery, even too me. She has existed as long as I can remember and as long as any person on the moon had remembered. Awhile ago, she confided in me that her own memory is… incomplete."
"What, she got amnesia at some point?" Marisa made a punching motion into her hand, "She got hit on the head?"
Kaguya gave a lazy grin, "I doubt you could make Eirin forget anything with a simple smack on the head. No, according her, it's more like a large chunk has been… sealed away. Even that Satori, the one able to sneak around using people's subconscious, has not been able to see it. According to her, everything over, oh… five thousand years ago gets blurry and then peters out altogether."
Youmu cupped her chin in thought, "So what does that have to do with her reaction with everything just now?"
"She's afraid." Marisa's voice held the tone of sudden understanding. "Something from within that memory seal recognizes what is going on and Eirin is reacting through that. Even if she doesn't consciously know what is going on… she has an inkling at the edge of her mind and it's something that scares her witless."
"Exactly what she said to me…" Kaguya paused, "Or near enough."
A buzz drew everyone's attention back to the machine strapped to Yuyuko's wrist. Reisen looked down at the instrumentation and frowned. "Odd…"
"What? Do you know what is wrong?" Marisa asked.
"No… in fact, the equipment is telling me everything is fine."
"FINE?" The normally reserved Youmu seemed to explode after a moments silence, "How can she be fine? She just suddenly collapsed! The only way for Lady Yuyuko to collapse is if something is wrong with her!"
Reisen shrank away from the swordswoman's rage. For a moment Marisa thought Youmu was going to bring out her sword and decapitate the Moon Inaba's head, so she reached for her mini-hakkero reactor. Kaguya apparently was thinking along the same lines and stepped forward but Youmu instead seemed to deflate and burst into incoherent tears.
"Youmu… are you okay?" Marisa asked, leaping to her feet.
"No… I'm not okay." Youmu replied after managing to calm down a little "H-how can I be okay when something is wrong with Lady Yuyuko and we can't find out what? How am I supposed to serve her best when… she… she is like this?"
Quietly, Reisen leaned over and undid the wrapping around Yuyuko's wrist. "Youmu… listen, Yuyuko is okay. As far as we can tell it's like she is asleep."
Youmu stopped crying as she listened to the rabbit with tear streaked eyes, listening quietly.
"All I can suggest is for you to take her home and wait. Lady Yuyuko will wake-up, she has too. Because of her… spiritual situation, there is no other possibility."
Silence.
"Youmu?"
More silence.
"Youmu? Are you-" Marisa began.
"I'm… better. I… guess I'll do what you said." The half-ghost silently got to her feet and, with assistance from her ghost half, hauled the unconscious Yuyuko back over her shoulder. "Thank you for your assistance."
"I will see you out personally." Kaguya said, "It is only proper."
"Sure thing…" Marisa said, before Youmu could reply, "And I'll get you to the Hakugyokurou Gate."
"Alright… alright." Youmu gave an uneasy smile, "Thank you."
E
Pactus
E
The door rabbit, her name had never been mentioned, glared suspiciously at Mokou, who just ignored it. The immortal sighed as she sat on a rock across from the creature, dully poking at the ground with a bamboo stick she had found… somehow.
"So…" Mokou glanced up at the Inaba, "You have a name?"
The rabbit's glare broke into a passing look of confusion before she replied. "Rika."
"Hmm." Mokou casually leaned back to stare at the sky. It was late-afternoon and the sun was noticeably getting towards the horizon, but the sky had not yet started changing into the evening hues. "So… how are things around Eientei?"
"What's it to you?" The Inaba snapped.
"Oh, I can't be curious?" Mokou snapped, sitting back up properly. Really, the paranoia of some of these rabbits…
"You try and kill the princess at nearly every opportunity, why am I supposed to tell you anything?"
"Forget it…" Mokou checked the position of the sun again. Was that Youkai who ran the Fried Eel Cart around? Maybe she could have dinner there.
Her attention was drawn to the door as it slid open and Marisa, Youmu, and Yuyuko emerged. Mokou climbed to her feet and opened her mouth to ask…
"They don't know what's wrong." Youmu replied somberly.
"Oh…" Mokou glanced down, suddenly feeling very awkward. "I'm… sorry."
"It's fine."
"I'll help you out of the forest." Mokou added, more resolutely. She glanced over at Marisa, the witch seemed to look oddly distant. "Everything okay?"
"Eh?" Marisa looked surprise for a moment, then gave her usual grin. "Yeah… I'm just thinking."
She didn't add what she was thinking about. About the revelations involving Eirin, the possibility that she was connected to the threat facing them. Marisa did not mention any of that as the four took off into the air.
E
Pactus
E
"Yes. I'll get China on it first thing tomorrow." Remilia said. The Vampire was in what Koakuma called 'full maturity mode' now, the debriefing of what had happened at the Hakurei Shrine forced her to take these events very seriously.
As one would expect of her, Remilia had a lot of pull with the various Youkai groups that lived near the Scarlet Devil Mansion… those fairy maids didn't just come from nowhere after all. They weren't vassals, properly speaking, but that was a fair approximation of their relationship with the elder of the Scarlet Sisters. So Remilia could call upon them for aid in times of trouble.
"The Hakugyokurou Princess, will she be fine?" Remilia asked.
Patchouli considered the question and shrugged. "The state she was in made it impossible to tell, only Youmu could touch her and she does not have the perquisite knowledge on even Youkai biology, much less…" The Librarian paused as she considered the absurdity of the following pair of words, "Ghost biology. If anyone does, it would be Eirin."
Remilia's façade broke as she burst into that 'noble' laugh she put on for kicks, "Ghost biology… what a oxymoron." She stopped laughing and tilted her head, "It's almost dinner."
Patchouli blinked and looked at the observatory's wall clock to see Remilia was right, of course. Vampire's have an instinctual knowledge of the general time, a necessity from before clocks since they couldn't exactly try and figure it out via the sun and the moon went through its various phases where it was not always visible.
"I suppose this is a good place to adjourn." Remilia glanced over at Patchouli, "Will you be taking dinner in your study?"
"Yes, Koakuma most certainly will have the material I would need and-"
"MILDAY!" Patchouli gave a start and Remilia nearly fell out of her chair as Sakuya came out of nowhere, her voice featured barely constrained panic and a clear sign of distress was in her eyes.
Remilia recomposed herself and gave her chief maid a hard look. "What is it?"
"It's your sister."
Remilia groaned, petulantly planting her head in her face in her hands. "What has Flandre done this time?"
Sakuya shook her head, "That's not it." The maid spoke quickly, her words kept coherent through the discipline Sakuya had installed in herself. "The Little Mistress hasn't done anything but something has happened to her."
Patchouli suddenly had a sinking feeling in her stomach, which of course she didn't show, but before she could respond, Remilia sat up and gave a Sakuya a hard look. "Are you serious?" A moment's pause, Remilia's look melted into surprise. "You're serious."
Another moment's pause as that sank in for the vampire.
"WHAT?" And just like that, Remilia shot out of her chair, flew across the room, and nearly tore the observatory doors off their hinges getting them open, all in the space of four seconds. Sakuya followed after her while Patchouli fumbled a little getting up, by which time they both had vanished down the hall.
Silently cursing her condition, the Librarian flew as quickly as she could without running into anything through the halls, down a series of stair cases, and finally through the big door that marked the entrance into the basement. The room that belonged to the younger of the Scarlet Devil Sister's had its somewhat smaller door wide-open, an eventuality that usually would have raised a different kind of alarm, but not this time.
Sakuya and Remilia were already there at Flandre's bed, as was Meiling who stood a little further away. For once, the younger Scarlet's room walls were normal, but one glance at the small figure laid out on the bed told Patchouli why that was.
"-igned me to inform the Little Mistress and when I first arrived I thought she had just decided to take a nap on the floor." Patchouli apparently arrived just in time to hear the beginning of Meiling's explanation. The Gate Guard's usually friendly and boisterious tone was gone, replaced by one quiet and disciplined. Patchouli knew that was Meiling's means of showing distress, reverting to a more zen-like calm that hid her worry.
The Librarian turned her attention to the others as Meiling continued, first looking at Sakuya who was biting her lower lip… probably unintentionally, some kind of reflex. Remilia simply sat in a hastily produced chair (who produced it, or from where, Patchouli could only guess), her face blank, but accepting the information in a kind of shocked silence. Unusual for her, but then again...
Finally looked at the figure laid out on the bed. Flandre Scarlet's eyes were closed, her face drawn into a bizarrely neutral expression. Just like…
"Patchouli."
The magician started at Remilia's voice. One word and one glance at the elder Vampire was all the Librarian needed to know the question being asked, the fear behind it, and the desperate hope that the apparent was not wrong.
But it was.
"The same…" Patchouli said, "Exactly the same as Lady Yuyuko."
E
Pactus
E
The sun was in its final hour of decline when Momiji Inubarishi, Captain of the Tengu Self-Defense Force, landed at the door of Aya Shameimaru. The Wolf Tengu knew that, as an officer in the TSDF, she should be at the meeting called by the Elder Tengu. She knew that the Moriya Priestess was there, as was one of the two goddesses from the shrine and that signaled an issue of extreme importance.
But Momiji wasn't at the meeting for one simple fact: Aya wasn't there either when she was just as obligated as the TSDF Captain. In fact, during the past two days, Momiji had seen Aya precisely four times: twice going out and twice coming into the Youkai Mountain. Neither time had the crow Tengu tried to cajole Momiji into doing some inane thing or another for the sake of her dubious reporting job. In fact, the last time, right after the bizarre event in the sky, Aya hadn't even stopped to talk to the Wolf Tengu, not even for a brief hello.
Momiji didn't know why that irked her and truthfully, if she had been able to look past her own pride, she didn't know why she was showing up at Aya's door. It was an accusation fervently denied by Momiji (and simply ignored by Aya) that the two were close friends… and as far as the Wolf Tengu was concerned, that was absolutely false! She was just suspicious that Aya was acting so strange. It was suspicious!
Yes, that's the story Momiji had convinced herself of.
"AYA!" The Wolf Tengu shouted as she slid the door to Aya's house open… and too an empty welcoming room.
Well, huh.
Momiji knew Aya was here. She had asked some of Crow Tengu's neighbors on the way here and they had replied that they had seen the reporter enter her house and not leave it. And this was where Aya usually was at this time of day, eating dinner. Either here or…
Momiji went into the study, "Aya! The Elder-"
She came up short. Aya's study was immaculate and the crow Tengu was nowhere to be seen. The files were arranged, the pictures she had taken were in a folders stack, and the desk where she assembled the printing copy of the Bunbunmaru newspaper was clean except for the shredded remains of a photo…
The shredded remains of a photo… Aya never shredded photos. She always kept them, hence why she needed folders for them. Momiji quickly made her way to the desk and in one glance knew it would be futile to try and piece the picture back together. The shredding was too well done, the image in too many tiny pieces.
So, she not in the entrance and not in the study, which left only two more rooms and Momiji doubted that Aya was in the restroom. The wolf was approaching the door to the bedroom when her sensitive ears began to pick up Aya's voice beyond it. The reporter was whispering and Momiji paused to listen.
"… you want?" Unusually, Aya was speaking in the new language and it sounded as if she was pleading with someone. But no other voice replied, "Why do you keep talking to me? What does it mean? What do the numbers mean?"
A moment's pause, then Aya's voice came back, this time growing more and more agitated with every word.
"Listen to me… why won't you listen to me? Don't you know who I am? Be quiet! Answer me! At least leave me along! Shut-up! Shut-up! SHUT-UP!"
The last line was almost a roar and the feeling of a strange burst of magic from within made Momiji instinctively leap away from the door just in time for a small table to burst through it, fly across the room, and embed itself in the opposite wall.
"Err… Aya?" Momiji, shaken by the sudden outburst tentatively, peaked into the room. The reporter was sitting in the center of the room, looking incredibly haggard. Her eyes were bloodshot, her hair frazzled, she was sweating profusely, and looked incredibly tired. At Momiji's voice, the Crow Tengu had glanced up in surprise.
"Momiji?" She said, her voice tired and with a slight rasp. "What… why are you here?"
"An important meeting was called by the Elders. You were supposed to be there." Momiji was surprised to find that she didn't feel angry with Aya. Instead she felt… worried? What? "Are… are you okay? What happened?"
Aya paused and tipped her head to the side, as if she was trying to hear something. Then she gave an exhausted smile, "I am now. Their gone… oh thank the gods, they are gone."
"Who?"
"The voices."
For a moment Momiji wondered if Aya had gone crazy. Granted, crazy for Tengu, and Youkai in general, was very different then crazy for humans, but hearing voices that were not there definitely counted. Even the younger of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, who was the closest to a Youkai's definition of insane, didn't have that. Or at least Momiji didn't think she have it.
Before the Tengu Captain could come up with a reply, Aya continued. "The voices… they were in my head. Started yesterday, at the village after I saw…"
The Crow Tengu suddenly stopped and then strenuously shook her head before she continued.
"I'm not going to talk about it. No. I think… the photo I took, the camera… it interacted somehow. I don't know. All I know is that was when the voices started."
She was rambling, Momiji realized. Well, at least that was in character, although it wasn't the stream of questions combined with leaping to the conclusions to those same questions that most of Aya's ramblings were. Still, the Wolf Tengu came over and took a seat, intent on listening.
"They were barely noticeable at first, just hovering there at the edge of my conscious. But after the sky, they became louder, more insistent, and…" Hesitation, "Scarier. They always spoke in the new language, always the same voices, always saying the same thing. Apart and alike all at once, it was numbers."
Aya looked at Momiji with no particular expression, just a plain and flat tired glance.
"What did they say?" Momiji finally asked after realizing that Aya wasn't going to continue by herself.
"Numbers."
"Numbers?"
Aya nodded, "A numbers sequence… always the same sequence, always the same numbers. I… I can still remember them. They… mean something, I don't know what. I… I wrote the down there."
She pointed at a spot on the floor and Momiji for the first time noted the carvings. And if the wolf Tengu didn't miss her guess, Aya had carved that into the wood with her nails.
"So… just now… they stopped?"
"Yeah." Aya gave another tired grin. "They were… annoying. And… scary." That admission didn't fit with Aya's personality so much that Momiji just stared. "I began to try and talk to them and, well, I became agitated."
"So… how did you stop them?"
"I… I don't know." Aya fell onto her back, putting an arm over her eyes in exhaustion. "I remember shouting and then… some kind of spell."
"So, are you really okay?"
"Yes. Just… so tired."
"Well." Was all Momiji could say, and then she spent a few moments in quiet thought. Maybe she should add this tidbit to the meeting? She was running late, near inexcusably so, but at least Aya was alright and the connection was obvious. Still, might as well pull some more information out while she could. "Aya, what were the numbers?"
No response.
"Aya?" The Wolf Tengu turned and saw that Aya had fallen asleep on the floor. "Oh."
The Captain glanced around as if there was someone else there to help her before remembering she was alone. Well… Aya had looked pretty worn out. Momiji glanced around, this time carefully, before she carefully picked up the Crow Tengu bridal-style.
As Momiji turned towards Aya's bed, the reporter stirred in her sleep and rubbed her head against the Wolf Tengu's arm. "Mo..mi…"
Momiji almost tripped in surprise. Had Aya tried to say her name in her sleep? No… there was no way Aya could already be dreaming anyways. As she arrived at the bed, the Wolf Tengu noted the notebook, not the one Aya usually used, and lonesome looking pencil left on it. She carefully laid Aya down and grabbed up the two items, before backing away.
Momiji returned to the scratch on the floor and looked at what Aya had scrawled. Sure enough, it was a number sequence written in the New Style. Momiji quickly copied it to the notebook.
4 9 8 6 7-1 41 5-595 2 4 7-514 8 9-6
The wolf Tengu double checked it for confirmation and then tore the written sheet off and folded it to go in her knapsack. She didn't try and analyze it, there were others for that kind of thing and Aya apparently had been unable to puzzle it out. Placing the pen and notebook next to the bed, Momiji gave on last long look at the sleeping Aya before departing the premise.
She was not there several hours later when Aya quite clearly uttered a single sentence in her sleep. "And who is Slaanesh?"
Nobody would ever find out about the smell of incense that temporarily accompanied those words.
E
PACTUS
E
Reimu was angry. Nothing, nadda, zip, no sign of Yukari, no sign of how to find Yukari. Prior to the current incident (she refused to accept Patchouli's terminology), Yukari's home had always been the sole exception to her famed intuition. She couldn't find it, simple as that. It was aggravating, and doubly so because Reimu knew that in this case Yukari should have found her rather than her going to look for Yukari.
Reimu was sorely tempted to when to simply open up with the Danmaku she found Yukari. When her frustration reached its boiling point, she settled for wailing on a group of fairies instead. That had helped some.
The sun was just moving below the horizon when Reimu returned to the Shrine. Landing before the gate in a bad mood, she gave a last "God damn Yukari!" before cresting over the staircase and back to her home.
She got three steps through the gate before the blur of a familiar small Youkai barreled into her.
"CHEEEEEN?" Reimu's exclamation was laced with all of the surprise she felt as she toppled onto her butt. Particularly since the childlike shikigami was usually so shy even to those she knew. But Chen was apparently overcome with something else…
"REIMU! YouhavetohelpLadyYukari! AndRansaidyoucouldfigureout-"
"Chen!" The young nekomata stopped speaking and fell away from Reimu at the call of her master. Ran Yakumo, shikigami of Yukari Yakumo rapidly crossed the shrine grounds. Even in the dark light, Reimu thought something looked off about her.
"Ran! Reimu will help Lady Yukari! Won't she?" Chen's voice was filled with hope and worry that a human child might if traumatized. Ran simply placed a motherly hand atop her shikigami's head which was apparently enough to momentarily calm the younger Youkai.
A second later, Reimu's brain caught up with the events. "Ran? Chen? I've been… somethings happened with Yukari? I was looking for her…"
"She's inside." Ran said, and Reimu immediately noted the exhaustion in her voice. "But… she can't help us."
"What… you… what?" Reimu came up short. Yukari can't help them? Balls! Yukari was the Youkai in Gensokyo! How could she not help with something that so concerned them?
"I should just show you." The nine-tailed Kitsune turned, holding Chen's hand as she moved back to the Shrine, Reimu stared dumbly for a few seconds before following.
Yukari lay on her back in the shrine's front room, so silent and still that only the rise and fall of her chest seemed showed that she was still alive. The blank expression of her face reminded Reimu of Yuyuko's face after she…
No…
"It took me awhile to notice it." Reimu's attention was drawn back to Ran and she cringed. Now that the elder shikigami was in the light, Ran looked like she had aged thirty years… or more accurately, aged into a fifty-year-looking old woman. There was even some grey in her hair! Ignoring Reimu's stare, Ran continued. "Yukari snores. That's what first tipped me off, the lack of snoring. It must have been a few minutes after it stopped before I realized and when I did…"
She looked Reimu straight in the eye and made a hand motion to indicate her body, "Not all of this is because of whatever spell that has been cast on Yukari. I even resorted to danmaku to wake her up. Needless to say, she didn't… and a few minutes later the house began to rot."
"The house?" Reimu asked. Instead of answering, Ran glanced at Chen, who was quietly sitting nearby, apparently trying to distract herself with her tail.
"Go outside for a little bit, Chen."
"Alright." The childish cat girl muttered and Reimu was again struck by the worry in her voice. The younger shikigami slid out the door and Ran turned back to the Shrine Maiden.
"Yukari… well, I suppose built is the right word, our house inside the Hakurei border. Only me, Chen, those invited, and Yukari can travel between it and Gensokyo via her borders."
"No wonder I could never find it." Reimu turned looked down at Yukari. Unlike Ran, she didn't look aged at all but that face… it was wrong, too neutral just… too neutral.
"The house began to rot," Ran repeated. "Just fall apart." She glanced around at the walls, "these grooves appeared, exactly like the ones on the wall, first. Then they rapidly began to widen and the… wrongness began to seep in."
She looked back at Reimu, "I didn't know what was going on, but something… my nekomata side was screaming at me to get out. So I did… I grabbed Yukari and Chen and fled."
"It happened to Yuyuko too." Reimu suddenly said, "She was here after… well, during a meeting. The sky went red, these grooves appeared… and then she collapsed."
The two just sat there in silence, processing the information. Then Chen cracked the front door open and called. "Ran?"
"Yes, Chen?"
"Where is the moon?"
A second's pause.
"What do you mean, Chen?"
"The moon! There's supposed to be a bendy one but it isn't there." The nekomata slid open the door further as she pursued the question. Reimu knew there was supposed to be a crescent moon tonight and with a sigh at the interruption, she climbed to her feet and walked back into the Shrine's courtyard.
The sky was cloudless, the stars shone brightly, and moonlight consistent with a crescent moon fell and shaped the shadows. Reimu looked into the sky and…
No moon. There was moonlight but there was no moon.
"What…" Reimu barely realized that she was speaking, "What is going on?"
Fin, for now.
'GOT-FIC': In order of appearance
Vampire: Vampires in Gensokyo are very rare and all immigrants from either the outside or other sealed lands. Unlike the story's, they do not haveto drink human blood, garlic is only poisonous if ingested, sunlight is more a big time irritation, and they can deal with wooden stakes and cross running water just fine, thank you very much. Also, Christian crosses are no problem.
Gods (Kami): Gods in Gensokyo are more of the Shinto nature. They are actually more akin to personified aspects of the world that are very in tune with such. Unlike the view in Shinto, however, the gods in Gensokyo require the faith of other sapient creatures in their power and abilities to maintain themselves and their powers. It should be noted that gods are one of the few non-human sapient creatures inside Gensokyo which are not necessarily Youkai. Although there are Youkai who are also gods... it's complicated.
Shikigami: While roughly the Japanese equivalent to the concept of a wizard's familiar in European and American culture, a shikigami in Gensokyo is a servant bound to its master through a contract that extends well into magic. The bound creature, essentially, becomes a kind of de-facto child of his, her, or its master.
Nekomata: A special kind of cat in Japanese mythology that possessed magical properties and a tail that divides as it ages. In Gensokyo, these are (essentially) catgirl Youkai who follow the same path and possess large amounts of magical potential.
Kitsune: Take a Nekomata, replace the cat aspect with a fox aspect, and you've got it.
Modern Human-Youkai Relationships: Over the past several decades, the attitudes between the human and Youkai populations have certainly taken a positive turn. Most Youkai only rarely will attack lone travelling humans and are much more likely to try and play tricks on them or offer to sell them amenities. In turn, humans have gotten used to seeing a single or small group of Youkai come into their villages for the same purposes as humans: shopping, eating, and socializing. That most Youkai have rather short memories for minor offenses and humans have too short lives compared to Youkai certainly speeds the process along. A certain shop keeper has also speculated that the (apparent) improvement in tolerance in the outside world may also be responsible to some degree for this human-Youkai reapproachment.
A/N: I hope I didn't make a mistake in figuring out Shinto concept of gods, otherwise I am going to be very embarrassed for possibly screwing up a probably sensitive culture issue. I don't really know how many Japanese actually read this but… yeah.
Not much in this chapter. It's mostly tying up the previous one, tossing out some plot threads, adding a little foreshadowing, a bunch of character interaction (which may or may not be immensely OOC), and a touch of non-overt shipping. Next chapter actually ties this one up and moves into (one of) the first significant encounter.
On that note, I'm not entirely satisfied with how it turned out. Some parts came together nicely (Patchouli's return for instance) while elsewhere I found myself thinking: 'am I creating plotholes further down the line? Oh god, I hope not.' But fuck it all, it's not like I'm getting paid for this or anything.
You might have noticed that I have changed the scene breaks… that also applies to the previous chapters. If you see the faux-Latin word 'Pactus' in bold between two also bolded capitol-e's… well, that's the scene break. There might be some kind of pretentious meaning behind it. Oh yeah, and author's notes are now going to be exclusively after the glossary, duh.
I suppose I should explain about the canon in this fic. As should be patently obvious, I am breaking with canon in a number of areas, but with good reason. First, I only learned some things as I was already moving along (like that Yukari lives in a village called Mayohiga, which I predictably found out after I had written half the chapter). Secondly, the fact that 99% of Touhou's canon apparently isn't actually canon but fanon!
Even in my short time with the 'franchise' (I don't think that's the right word, but whatever), I have lost count of the Doujinshi artists and fanfic authors who seem to have forgotten, for instance, that Remilia can control fate. And UsuallyDead created a great, if flawed, fanfic while making much more severe changes to canon. If he can get away with such things as taking Reimu and Marisa's ability to fly away, then surely I can get away with much less egregious tweaks?
And that's that very small rant. I suppose next time I'll be explaining my characterization of the canon characters. Speaking of which, you may have noticed that the warp sorcery that has conked out Yukari, Yuuka, Yuyuko, and Flandre didn't affect the goddesses. Is that important? I'm not telling! I'm also not saying what the two last effects the warp spell has caused that I haven't revealed in this chapter.
And ending on a more somber note, please provide as much support as you can for Japan following the catastrophic earthquake and the other catastrophes it left in its wake. In fiction, such disasters make for fascinating, exciting, and even heart wrenching story's but in real life, where actual people are hurt and killed, it is merely a time to mourn the dead and help the living.
EDIT: Someone pointed out to me that the numbers thing is like the recent Call of Duty game (Black Op's). I would like to clarify that I honestly was not thinking about that when I came up with the idea, although in retrospect there was probably some subconscious influencing thing going on there. The numbers in this fic still important though. Also, did some error correction.
Next Chapter: Mountain Guard