It was officially Thursday, the 26th of March. For a certain little girl who had been hiding behind the curtains in Remilia Scarlet's study for more than an hour, this was no ordinary day; it was her 500th birthday. While Flandre Scarlet was quite emotionally moved when she witnessed the death of Ran Yakumo only a few minutes ago, she couldn't help but feel excitement for finally reaching the age of half a millennium.
"Happy birthday to me!" she sang softly to herself. Even though Patchouli had taken away Ran's corpse and Chen's fainted body from the study with the help of Eirin, Flandre wanted to make sure that nobody would find her at all on the chance that anyone would return to the room. Still clutching the weapon Laevatein in one hand, she grabbed the curtains surrounding her (which were as scarlet as everything else in the aptly named mansion) and wrapped them tightly around the middle her body. It wasn't quite an invisibility cloak, but for Flandre's purposes, it would work just as well as one.
While one might initially view Flandre's precautions to hide herself as a bit paranoid, they were actually quite justified by the fact that the door to the study opened after just a few more seconds. The mistress of the mansion, accompanied by her ever-faithful maid, strolled into the room and took a seat in her comfortable chair. She stared at Sakuya with a smug expression in her crimson eyes.
"Well, well, Sakuya," Remilia began with her signature tone of charisma and allure, "it would seem as though midnight has come and gone, and I'm still alive. How wonderful, isn't it?"
Sakuya tried to smile back at her mistress, but she found that her mouth simply refused to comply. "Indeed, my lady. Thank the gods you didn't die." Her gaze shifted uncomfortably to the right. "Still… it's not as if a price wasn't paid for the sparing of your life."
Remilia's satisfied smile faltered slightly, and she stroked her right wing with her left index finger and thumb thoughtfully. "Yes, that's right, Sakuya. Remind me to formally give my condolences to Yukari and Chen when they awaken, all right?" She stretched her arms above her head and yawned casually. "Anyway, now that the assassination attempt has been foiled, what do you suppose we do now? Reisen's still at large, and Koakuma's apparently still out going to meet with her associates."
"Well, I…" Sakuya began. After her first two words, however, her sentence began to taper off. Being the official perfect and elegant maid of the mansion, Sakuya knew that she was expected to always keep a pristine image, especially when in front of her mistress, but as the idea of Ran sacrificing herself in order to keep Remilia safe just minutes ago played out in her head, she couldn't help but lose her train of thought. Realizing that a subconscious expression of disgust was growing on her face from her mistress's relative indifference about Ran's death, she quickly brought her left arm up to conceal it, but Remilia was too busy thinking to herself to notice it in any event.
"Yes? What do you think, Sakuya?" Remilia asked.
"…Never mind, my lady." Sakuya sighed and brought her hands down to rest on the desk. Being a knife-wielding master of battling as a side occupation to being a maid, she knew that she had been trained to use her abilities to defeat enemies in overwhelming displays of power and skill, not to think intently about intellectual and philosophical ideas, for that was Patchouli's expertise.
She began to wonder why the topic about thinking had crossed her mind at all; although Sakuya had always subconsciously wondered about whether or not she had chosen the optimal path of fate in her life as most people do, she had never dwelled on the idea for more than a few seconds at a time. After all, it was her duty to serve Remilia Scarlet eternally, and it would be pointless to think about another way of life at this moment. The destiny that fate had provided for her was a permanent one that she was locked into; it was one which she knew deep down inside she would be serving for the rest of her existence in Gensokyo. It wasn't clear to her whether Remilia's ability of fate manipulation had led her into this lifestyle or if it was simply what she was meant to do, but she knew that attempting to say "Miss Remilia, I quit!" would be an impossible task.
Was she happy living the life she had chosen or had been chosen for her? Sakuya couldn't formulate a definite answer to that question. As she gazed at the light-blue-haired girl whose crimson eyes had watched over her for many years, she had trouble imagining a life that was different than the one she was living right now. While there were some things Remilia would say or do that Sakuya hated, it would be a lie to say that she did not love her mistress. In fact, though she would never admit it, she had grown to have affection for all of the Scarlet Devil Mansion inhabitants: the clumsy yet loveable Meiling; the quiet, stolid, and thoughtful Patchouli; the sweet, adorable, and destructive Flandre; and, of course, Remilia. She may yearn for a position in life that is less subservient in nature or one that allows her more freedom, but, Sakuya concluded, her life was not by any means a bad one.
"Sakuya?" Remilia called out, a look of slight worry crossing her eyes as she noticed her maid bearing a dazed expression. "Are you feeling all right?"
Sakuya instantly snapped herself out of the state of contemplation she was in and rubbed her eyes softly. "Of course, my lady; I have to admit, I'm just a bit tired out from these happenings."
Remilia smiled sympathetically and extended her wings behind her. "I'm not surprised. This is the usual time when humans are in bed. If you'd like to, please feel free to call it a night; Patchouli, China, and I can handle the rest of the incident."
"That's very kind of you, my lady," Sakuya replied gratefully while bringing her head downward to form a bow. "I'll certainly be awake early next morning to handle whatever may happen." In addition to getting a chance to rest, this opportunity gave Sakuya more time to contemplate the thoughts that had suddenly ingrained themselves in her mind, and she was quite happy for that.
As the maid began to walk through the doorway of the study into the hallway, she felt her foot lightly brush against a piece of paper that had placed itself on the carpet beneath the doorframe. With natural curiosity, she bent down to pick up the document and brought it to her eyes.
"Hm?" Remilia murmured interestedly, leaning forward from her chair to look at the paper herself. "What's that you have there, Sakuya?"
"This is…" Sakuya answered slowly while scanning the contents of the document thoroughly with her eyes, her back still turned to Remilia, "…a deed?"
The four-letter word by itself was enough to turn the vampire's naturally pale skin tone ashen, and she leapt out from behind her desk toward the paper like a leopard pouncing on its fated victim. "Give it here!" she commanded to Sakuya as she snatched the document out of her hand and allowed her crimson eyes to carefully and thoroughly peruse it themselves. Similarly to the reading of the death threat letter six hours earlier, Remilia's face contorted slightly into several different expressions throughout the course of the examination, and Sakuya simply stood by and observed her mistress's activity, unsure of what to do herself. Flandre decided to venture her head out from behind the curtain to get a better look at the item, though she kept it a within a safe distance of the fabric in case one of the others happened to glance behind her.
At last, Remilia carefully lowered the paper and turned to Sakuya with a bewildered look in her eyes. "Did you actually find this lying on the floor outside my room?" she asked slowly, to which Sakuya nodded profusely. Remilia scowled and paced back and forth along one wall of the study. "That's impossible!" she concluded. "This is the deed to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I always keep it locked away in the archive room of Voile Library, where only I can access. It couldn't have been just sitting on the floor like that!" Remilia rushed back to the spot where the paper had been lying on the floor and studied it closely. "And yet… it was."
"Might it be a forgery?" Sakuya suggested, browsing the document carefully for any imperfect details that could expose a counterfeit nature.
"Looks real to me," Remilia replied. She pointed to the very bottom where a signature was inscribed in an elegant handwriting. "I remember when I first inherited the Scarlet Devil Mansion from my late father; his name was signed on the deed. I know I tell everyone that I'm the daughter of Vlad Dracula, but it's a lie. My real father's name was Antoine Scarlet, the same name signed here. Since only Flandre, you, and I know that, I highly doubt a forgery would be able to get that detail right."
"You did open the archive room briefly last week to let me and Koakuma in for spring cleaning, my lady," Sakuya offered. "Could she have swiped the deed while we were in there?"
Remilia shook her head. "That can't be the case; I was watching both of you very closely during the entire time to make sure that something like this wouldn't happen." Her sanguine irises began to gleam in the dim light of the study as every possible explanation briefly flashed through her mind, and she bit her lip gently in intense concentration. "It's a relief that whoever stole the deed left it here, but it's obvious that they either made copies of it or learned of all the information it describes. I don't like this, Sakuya."
As Remilia resumed her pacing, Sakuya made a quick decision in her head to venture a particular question that had been on her mind during the entire time. "Err, my lady," she cautiously began, "if I may ask, why does the deed to the mansion require such secrecy? I'm sure you wouldn't need it to show proof of ownership in a place like Gensokyo."
The brow on Remilia's forehead furrowed as she carefully scanned the room for anyone who could be listening (Flandre carefully concealed herself as much as possible in the curtain) before grabbing Sakuya by the shoulder and pulling her in closely. "This is something that I have kept to myself and only myself for as long as I can remember. I probably don't have to tell you this, but there are certain things that can never leave this room. You are my maid and closest friend, but the protection of secrets sometimes knows no bounds." She tugged contemplatively on the ribbon atop her hat as a certain silence suddenly came upon the room. Sakuya knew exactly what Remilia was implying in her threat, and she had no doubt that her mistress would make such a thing happen if she had the will to do so.
Remilia pointed to the line on the ancient deed that preceded one spelling out "is/are the owner(s)…". "Do you see it now, Sakuya?"
"Your name is written there… and Flandre's?"
At the mere mention of her name, the young vampire cautiously removed her head from the concealing curtain. Anyone eavesdropping on a conversation would naturally feel quite curious to hear that a very well-guarded secret was being told, but such a secret that directly involved them would become realistically irresistible. It was a similar feeling of curiosity that had compelled Flandre to choose Remilia's study as her first destination with her new-found freedom, and her hunch that following her sister would lead to something interesting had certainly not been a mistake. Although she still wished to maintain her undiscovered state she couldn't resist flapping her prism-adorned wings eagerly a few times.
"Yes, Sakuya, Flandre's name is written there," Remilia agreed, a knowing pain tainting her voice. "Technically speaking, according to the will that my father left long ago, Flandre has the same power and control of the Scarlet Devil Mansion that I do. By the book, she should be sitting right next to me as I sip tea in the late evenings, eat dinner in the dining room, and survey the land we live in when the sun has disappeared from the sky. However, by my orders, she is detained in the basement."
"My lady… do you mean to say that you've been purposely denying Flandre the power of owning and ruling this mansion and its people?" Sakuya decided that the best course of action upon learning Remilia's secret as she had done would be to avoid showing significant feelings of any sort, and the indecision she was feeling within her mind about how to react to the revelation helped make the decision a natural one.
Remilia shifted her glance sideways to avoid having to look at her maid as she responded. "Yes, I suppose that is what it boils down into. You cannot forget that Flandre is an irresponsible child who would run rampant with her powers given such a position, however; I sealed her away in the basement for her own good."
All that Sakuya could respond with was "…I see." It was approximately at that moment when she finally began to see Remilia as a different person: not as a responsible, suave, elegant mistress and sister to Flandre, but as one who would selfishly squander what she had inherited from her father and deny her sibling of it under the guise of doing it for her own good. Watching the guilty image of Remilia, the innocent face of Flandre in her mind, and the deed that sealed such problems between the former two, she thought it strange that she had not come to such a conclusion in the past. Ordinarily Sakuya would not dream of harboring or even generating such feelings about her mistress at all, but the intense thinking she had performed following Ran's death was just the catalyst needed to spark the corresponding reaction.
Flandre was also having a rather difficult time pinpointing her true feelings regarding the revelation, her mind spinning like a slot machine and stopping on a variety of different reactions: rage, denial, sadness, misinterpretation, apathy, and confusion. The voice in her mind narrating each of her thoughts began to become muddled, voicing Remilia as a cruel, uncaring vampire and a thoughtful sister simultaneously. It was all she could do to keep from shredding the curtain into confetti with her Laevatein and attempt to explode her sister right at that very spot. However, this was not the Flandre of years past who would let her emotions control her and destroy potentially anything at a provocation, and she stayed hidden behind the curtain in silence.
After giving both Sakuya and Flandre time to consider their reactions, albeit the latter unknowingly, Remilia cleared her throat and began to walk toward the open door. "Well, Sakuya, this has been quite an interesting turn of events, no? I have to go to the library immediately to see what has happened to the deed in the archives room, for the perpetrator of this crime must be punished as soon as possible in case word gets out."
"I'll join you," Sakuya answered quickly. In this case, it was an eagerness to avoid letting the vampire out of her sights instead of an eagerness to please her that made Sakuya disregard her plans to sleep and remain by Remilia's side.
As the two shuffled out of the study at last, the window curtain finally was stripped from its bonds at the top of the window by a single slash of the infamous metal weapon, and Flandre emerged into full view from behind it. Her body and facial expressions conveyed no seething rage, only a quiet and passive anger that could manifest itself in any of a rather disturbing selection of ways. Crystal prisms on her wings swaying in motion and Laevatein firmly gripped in her open hand, she also started for the door. "Yeah, Remi, it has been quite an interesting turn of events."
It was in an empty room which radiated an unnatural, sterile white color that all three members of the Yakumo family finally were reunited this evening. It was not the type in which the ceiling, walls, and floor would blend into each other with their shared color, for each face of the room had a slightly different shade of white on them (the ceiling was whiter than the age-scarred floor), but it was still a rather off-putting image for what had likely been a supply room or sleeping quarters in the past. The room was not completely empty; a piece of furniture that resembled a burned coffee table with carbon-colored streaks along the top of its mahogany surface was situated in the center of the room as if it were an example to all unaware beings of the destructive capabilities of Flandre. As Eirin Yagokoro had decided to use the room as a "base of operations" for providing her medical help, she had placed a myriad of different medicines and tools on the table, many of which only she knew the identity and purpose of. Beside the table each of the Yakumos were lying on the floor side by side, none of them unconscious. The youngest one was taking soft, steady breaths in her sleep, the oldest one was breathing irregularly and producing odd gurgling noises from time to time, and the middle one was not breathing at all. Patchouli Knowledge observed each of the three girls in their individual states of rest while remaining completely silent herself before turning to Eirin, ensuring that her usual phlegmatic expression was in place of any one that could convey significant emotion.
"She's going to be all right, isn't she?" Patchouli inquired. The sudden fainting of Chen that occurred moments after Ran's death had greatly bothered the magician, and she feared that she had perhaps accidentally attacked the nekomata with her death spell as well.
"Chen will be just fine," Eirin replied matter-of-factly, not bothering to look up from two vials of liquid that she was mixing together carefully. "Ran dying permanently severed the mental link between her and Chen, so Chen's brain naturally had to shut down for a moment or two to cope with the sudden trauma. Right now, though, she's just sleeping. You know, what people usually do at night instead of trying to take down the schemes of rogue terrorist rabbits?" She chuckled wryly at her remark. "You could wake her up right now if you wanted to, but I'd say you ought to let the poor cat have a little rest after what she just went through."
Patchouli sighed in relief and directed her attention toward the other living youkai in the room. "…And Yukari?"
"Well, that was one hell of an overdose of barbiturates Koakuma gave her. If she were a regular human, Yukari would be lying dead on the ground with one-quarter of the amount she took." Eirin picked up a small, damp, blue washcloth from atop the table and used it to gently wipe the beads of sweat that had formed along the youkai's reddened forehead. "But this is Yukari we're talking about: the near immortal. I'd say she'll be able to get all of the substance out of her body in a few hours." Having finished washing her patient's brow, she took a seat in a brown wooden chair situated at the head of the coffee table and, without anything more to do, laughed ironically. "Man. You think you know your subordinate well, and then in just one day she goes behind your back to force a fox to her death, you know?"
"Only too well, yes." Although Sakuya met her new opinions of Remilia with confusion and indecision and Flandre met hers with a passive rage (something that was often quite more terrifying than an easily-observable fume), Patchouli had no reaction to Koakuma's treachery but a quiet, cold, and callous attitude. As Koakuma had been a devil from Makai in her life before serving the Voile Library, it had taken years to build up a solid trust between her and her mistress. Patchouli often thought it unfair to refuse to trust the seemingly innocent, eager, and hardworking girl devoted to being the best library assistant she could be, for she had never given her mistress any reason to distrust her. As the two bonded throughout the years of living at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Koakuma slowly disproved the idea that a demon familiar is an evil entity that should not be relied on under any circumstances. For her to suddenly throw away this dedication in a single day by supporting a corrupt plot involving the death of the innocent Ran was akin to a slap in the face to Patchouli, and the librarian vowed in that moment that it would be an unforgivable mistake on Koakuma's part if she did not have a miraculous excuse on her hands.
Patchouli knelt down to the ground and patted the sleeping Chen on the head. When she was sure that the pharmacist had her back to her, she let her lips part to form a smile as she held the cat's hand in her own. "I'm so sorry that I had to do that, Chen," she whispered nearly inaudibly to the sleeping nekomata. "But, just as I promised, we will find Reisen and her associates and make them pay, preferably starting with the treacherous assistant of mine who brought us to the point of dilemma in the first place. I won't rest until we do so." Although the whisper was as soft as possible, it carried a certain unshakeable strength of determination that could only come out of witnessing such a situation as she had.
Eirin cleared her throat, and Patchouli immediately dropped Chen's hand from her grasp to look up at a sympathetic and serious expression on the pharmacist's face. "That's quite some admirable dedication you have there, and I'll certainly be willing to help you out on that promise in any way I can, but there's something you should know." She joined Patchouli in kneeling on the off-white floor and motioned toward the sleeping cat. "The youkai known as nekomata can be generally classified as vicious, hostile, and vengeful creatures that aren't above attacking and eating humans on a whim. Obviously, Chen represents a strong exception to the rule… under the care of Ran, that is. Now that she's no longer bound by the ties of a shikigami, it may be impossible to predict her personality. Adorable, aggressive, stolid, depressed; there's really no way to be sure what she'll be like."
"I see your point, but a promise is a promise, no matter the personality of the one it is bound to." Patchouli slowly pushed against the ground to gain leverage in standing up from her kneeling position, and she nodded promptly to Eirin when she managed to get on her feet. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I was working with Youmu on an operation to track Koakuma, and I lost track of her a little while ago. I should really see what happened with her."
Eirin smiled tactfully and motioned toward the door. "Don't let me slow you down. I'll notify you as soon as either Chen or Yukari wakes up." After Patchouli took her leave, the pharmacist returned to the job she had been working on earlier: mixing liquids together to form any of several possibilities of wondrous medicines. At the moment, only Eirin herself knew what sort of medicine the combination would turn out to be, but it would not stay this way forever.
Although Youkai Mountain was quite a beautiful, picturesque scene of nature to behold during any season of the year, it was considered to be in its prime during the middle of autumn. That was the time of the year in which the forest of maple trees situated throughout the mountain were painted in rich shades of vermilion and when the Aki goddess sisters could often be found frolicking among the season they presented, promising a rich and fruitful harvest to all they encountered. It was during such a time of the year when Reimu and Marisa first set foot on the mountain in hopes of confronting the members of the Moriya shrine at the summit about one and a half years ago. While the two eventually managed to reach the lake at the mountaintop and encountered Sanae, Kanako, and Suwako, their trip had been slowed down by a great number of mountain denizens hoping to scare them away from the place for their own safety. Though the present day was in the early spring and the mountain therefore lacked its autumnal colors and goddesses, many of the same residents who would chase away intruders still remained active. This was likely the primary reason for why Cirno and Daiyousei had climbed into the area of high branches in a maple tree near the base of the mountain, though another very possible reason was a lack of intelligent alternative ideas.
"You see, Dai-chan," Cirno explained, "that rabbit girl said she'd be coming here in about two hours. Since we're here first, we'll be able to get the jump on her. Then we'll beat her up real good and make her tell us where Mystia, Rumia, and Wriggle are! We can then stop them from doing anything stupid like killing vampires. It's a bullet-proof plan, don't you think?"
Daiyousei, who had lodged herself between two sturdy branches of the tree and attempted to hide herself behind the tree trunk, smiled at her friend's eager spirit, but still carried a worried gaze in her eyes. "I like it, but what do we do if Reisen's too strong for us? Or maybe she's going to be with several of her friends."
Cirno snorted scornfully. "You don't need to worry about that. I fought her during the flower incident, and even though I lost pretty bad, I learned all about her fighting style. Besides, it's the two of us together. You have my back, and I have yours, and even a thousand bad guys can't destroy that!"
"Y-yeah, I guess you're right," Daiyousei replied unsurely. "Meiling probably wouldn't be able to attack anyone better than we would, so coming here ourselves shouldn't be such a problem." The distorted giggle of a youkai echoed from far away into the tree, and the green-haired fairy shivered timidly. She didn't like showing her fright to the too-dumb-to-be-scared Cirno, but being as timorous as she was meant that this was a nearly impossible task to undertake.
Cirno looked at the cowering Daiyousei and cocked her head curiously. "What gives, Dai-chan? I told you that fighting Reisen won't be a problem."
"I know," Daiyousei whispered after another distant youkai laugh resounded, "but still, this isn't the nicest, friendliest place to be around, is it? I heard lots of rumors about the youkai living on this mountain being really strong and scary, especially late at night. Wriggle told me about this one time she took a trip here and encountered these super strong and fast tengu who attack first and ask questions later, these kappa with crazy laser and mechanical weapons, and especially this evil, wicked goddess named Hina who lives around the base of the mountain and would spin continuously, spraying concentrated curses towards everyone near her out of malice alone. It's a miracle she was able to leave the mountain alive, and she was here in broad daylight."
Cirno sighed tiredly and placed a hand on Daiyousei's shoulder. "Look, if you're scared of everything here at Youkai Mountain, we're not gonna be able to rescue our friends from Reisen." She then smirked proudly as an idea began to form in her mind. "Tell you what: I'll show you that there's nothing to be afraid of here. Let's call that curse goddess here and completely dominate her in battle, all right?"
Daiyousei's pupils began to dilate in fright. "No, Cirno, I don't think—"
"HINA!" Cirno yelled at the top of her lungs. Although Daiyousei covered her eyes and began to cower, her ice fairy friend hopped out of the maple tree and stood tall on the ground as she waited for her call to be answered.
Sure enough, the dim moonlight from the half-full moon overhead was able to illuminate the shape of an object that was spinning rapidly on the horizon after a few moments. As the shape got closer and closer, Cirno was able to discern more of its features. From what she could see amid the blender-like spinning, the figure was a relatively tall girl wearing a bright, elegant, red dress adorned with plenty of matching ribbons and black cross-laced boots on her feet. Her long, teal hair was tied beneath her chin with a similar ribbon, and a large bow of similar appearance adorned the crown of her head.
"Ah ha!" Cirno shouted triumphantly. "There you are! Prepare to be frozen for eternity, wicked goddess!"
When the girl was within five feet of Cirno, she instantly stopped her pirouette-like twirling and stared straight at the fairy without a hint of dizziness in her eyes. "Ah, you are the one who called for me?" she asked, her voice carrying an honest, polite, and melodious tone to it. As she quickly glanced over Cirno, her lips gently spread into a surprised smile. "You're both fairies, right? It's very rare that two fairies would be calmly standing out in the open at night on Youkai Mountain, purposely trying to draw attention to themselves."
Daiyousei abandoned her attempts to hide in the tree, and she cautiously jumped from the branches to greet Hina as well, albeit in her usual timid manner. "W-why is that?"
Hina spread her arms out on either side and gracefully twirled around once. "This mountain is anything but friendly and hospitable. The technologically advanced kappa and battle-ready tengu aren't fond of outsiders, but both of their species pales in comparison to the frightening gods that live in these forests and one these peaks. You should count yourselves lucky that you decided to call a goddess who means no harm to you, rather than one who would blow you away in a hurricane or let you fall into a fissure in the earth."
"No harm?" Cirno repeated, arching a brow dubiously. "Dai-chan said you were this evil goddess who puts curses on everyone she meets!"
This statement caused Hina to laugh. It wasn't the type of evil, psychotic laughter that a twisted mistress of curses would be expected to have, but rather a light, friendly giggling ringing into the night air in her dulcet voice. "My, you are quite mixed up, aren't you? True, my abilities give me complete control over several hundred different curses, but I use them to relieve humans of misfortune, not to give them it. I would never purposely harm someone; that's called being cruel."
"So you're actually a nice lady," Daiyousei mumbled. Her cheeks had begun to turn rosy as she felt the shame of misjudging a goddess so harshly upon her.
"I'd like to think that I am," Hina agreed humbly. "So, the two of you are…"
"Cirno, the most powerful fairy in all of Gensokyo!" the ice fairy proudly proclaimed while striking an equally prideful pose. "And this is Daiyousei, my best friend."
"Hina Kagiyama, Misfortune Goddess of Youkai Mountain," the goddess said while politely holding onto her red dress and bending her knees into a curtsy. "Now that we've gotten our introductions out of the way, what brings you here, may I ask?"
"Reisen the rabbit girl," Daiyousei explained with sufficient confidence, no longer fearful of Hina. "She must have brainwashed our friend Mystia with her lunatic eyes, since Mystia forced our other two friends to join her when Reisen showed up. She's apparently part of some conspiracy to kill all the strong humans and youkai of Gensokyo, and now the rest of our group has joined her in it. Since she said she'll be at Youkai Mountain later tonight, we were going to defeat her here."
"Reisen? I think I've overhead some of the kappa mentioning her in the past, and she certainly doesn't sound like a pushover. Plus, there still are all the rest of the dangers that lurk around here. Quite a dilemma…" Hina spun around slowly on one foot while pensively pondering the situation. "It wouldn't be responsible of me to let two fairies take on such a powerful girl alone without doing something first."
"Hey!" Cirno protested. "We're plenty strong already! We don't need your help."
"Ah!" Hina exclaimed. "That's it. Since I know this area quite well, I could keep an eye out for the rabbit girl until she shows up, and then I could assist you in defeating her and rescuing your friends."
"Didn't I just say that we don't need you to—"
"You'd do that for us?" Daiyousei asked, cutting Cirno's line of pride short. "T-thank you so much, Miss Hina!"
"It's nothing," Hina replied with a humble smile. "Whenever bad things happen on the mountain, I take it upon myself to help out in resolving them." She stretched her legs out in front of her and lightly massaged her feet from within her boots. "You two stay here. I'll continue my nightly walk around the perimeter of Youkai Mountain, and I'll return here if I do happen to find Reisen."
As the curse goddess began to twirl around rapidly again while moving away from the fairies, Cirno frowned and turned to Daiyousei. "You didn't have to accept her offer to help us, Dai-chan."
"I don't see why I shouldn't have," Daiyousei responded. "If she's offering to help us, why not accept her offer? We can use all the help we can get to confront Reisen. She seemed like a really nice woman, anyway."
"Yeah…" Cirno answered, suspicion building in her eyes. "Too nice, maybe. I don't trust her. Let's just make sure to stick together in case anything happens, all right?"
After Daiyousei nodded, the two climbed the same maple tree from before and looked out at the view from atop their perch at the departing spinning girl. While laughter of a youkai again resounded from the mountain, Daiyousei was no longer significantly frightened after her meeting with Hina. This time, however, the laughter was accompanied by the brief disappearance of the half-full moon. While it was too dark for the fairies to see properly, the source of this momentary vanishing of the moon was a billowing of dark clouds that passed by overhead. Using their speed and appearance, a meteorologist could easily determine that these were unusual clouds not caused by water vapor. Cirno and Daiyousei, of course, were not meteorologists, however. They were simply fairies living in a world of unsolved mysteries.
Although each had their own particular reasons, this particular hour of midnight was one in which none of the Scarlet Devil Mansion residents were particularly happy, serene, or pleased. Remilia was shaken up, not by the fact that her life had been spared minutes before in exchange for that of another, but by the continued thirst for blood she had been attempting to ignore and the revelation of her secret regarding the deed. Flandre and Sakuya had both been affected by strange, new, none-too-favorable thoughts regarding the Scarlet Devil and the actions, and neither could feel happy based on this. Patchouli was still recovering from the shock and surprise of having her familiar betray her in such a destructive way, and Koakuma remained worried about being captured even under the protection of Yuuka. Even the fairy maid whom Flandre had forced to assist her could not feel relief as she rushed down the hallways with the knowledge that an incredibly destructive girl was loose in the same building.
There was one exception to this recurring feeling among the residents, however. As the girl strolled down a corridor on the first floor of the mansion toward her bedroom, she was blissfully humming a song and smiling to herself. "I'm the most popular character whose name people forget. Don't call me China! My name is Hong Meiling!" Understandably, the she had no reason to be unhappy at the moment. Being able to stay awake for five hours in a row on duty was a great accomplishment for her, especially on such a day when it was critical to guard the mansion against any intruders. Since she had heard word after relieving her post that Remilia had not been assassinated as the letter at promised, Meiling was sure that she would be praised tomorrow for her excellent work. This, along with the fact that Flandre's birthday would be celebrated the next day, put her into a very cheerful mood as she approached her bedroom.
None of the hallways of the Scarlet Devil Mansion were very well-lit especially in the dead of night, and this one was no exception. Although there were candles lining the tops of the walls, they did little beyond casting wide, flickering shadows on the crimson-carpeted floor. This was not a major problem for most of the residents of the mansion, Meiling included, for being the vampires and youkai they were lent them decent night-vision. The darkness was generally not frightening to those who lived by it, but it did present the problem of amplifying the mystery of every creak, bump, and unidentifiable sound. In the case of this particular moment, Meiling's ears began to catch the sound of a subtle shuffling sound beyond the other side of the western wall.
"Hmm?" Meiling wondered out loud, stopping her walk to examine the wall. The sound she could hear from the other side of it was akin to the quiet scuffling of a mouse traversing the attic during an hour of the night when it believes all others to be asleep. Unfortunately, she noted that the sound was a great deal louder than what a mouse could produce, so the simple explanation would not fit (as it would be a few weeks before the residents of Gensokyo would be introduced to an actual mouse youkai). "Is something there?"
As soon as it was addressed, the entity making the shuffling sound swiftly stopped. When it resumed its scratching noises, it was this time oriented toward the wall itself. Scritch, scritch, scritch. Meiling gulped and felt her stomach contort and approach her throat; any mysterious noises within the wall that sounded eager to escape toward her were unnerving, to say the least. She considered dashing the last few meters toward her bedroom to escape whatever was separated from her by only a few centimeters of plaster and plywood, but then she thought better of it, not wishing to be labeled a gullible coward if it was a prank devised by Remilia.
As the image of Remilia and Sakuya laughing cruelly at her after they found out that she had been frightened by a simple sound flashed through her mind, Meiling gritted her teeth, swallowed her stomach back into its regular position, and formed a threatening fist toward the wall. "Identify yourself, unknown sound in the wall!" It dawned on her that this was a rather silly thing to say out loud out of context a moment after it left her lips, but it was far better to say it than to run away in fright.
The reply Meiling received from her source of fright was a very low, almost inaudible chuckle, followed by more intense scraping on the wall. At this point, the gatekeeper's heart sped up by at least double, or so it seemed. The laugh was quite unlike that which Daiyousei had been unnerved by moments earlier; no weak fairy or youkai could have possibly produced such a low-pitched, haunting sound. Meiling had not met many wolves in her life, but she still noticed that the echoing, phantom-esque resonance resembled that of a wolf's moonlit howl. This was the moment when the gatekeeper's bones could officially be classified as "chilled".
"Hey there, Meiling!" It was very fortunate that youkai did not suffer from heart attacks, for if they did, Meiling likely would have suffered from one at the moment when Flandre snuck behind her, wrapped her arms around her middle in an embrace, and shouted her greeting as loud as possible. As it was, Flandre was very lucky that she did not receive a fist in the face as her friend whirled around backwards at lightning speed to see who had touched her and shouted.
"Flandre?!" Meiling wanted to ask why the young vampire was out of the basement, to wish her a happy birthday, to inquire if she had heard the scratching noise as well, to scold her on sneaking up behind her, to wonder what she was doing now, and about a dozen other things as well. First on the list, however, was catching her breath after being supremely startled. "…" As she did so, she could hear the shuffling sound in the walls leaving that particular spot and drifting further and further away.
"Yup, it's me!" she replied with a delighted grin on her face. "Sorry about scaring you like that; guess I forgot you'd be surprised to see me outside the basement like this."
The sudden transition of observing a frightening howling-like sound in the wall to seeing Flandre's innocently smiling face completely confused Meiling's emotions, and she ultimately decided to laugh ironically after deciding on no better alternative. "H-hi, Flan. Happy 500th birthday."
Flandre beamed, and she tightened the already-strong embrace she had on the gatekeeper, keeping her hold on Laevatein equally steady by pressing it up against her back. "You remembered? Thanks, Meiling!" Moments after, however, she released her grip and frowned worriedly. "That's not important now, though."
"What's going on, Flandre?" Even among the infrequent times when Meiling would be able to visit Flandre in the basement, the young vampire would virtually never frown out of concern or worry, instead usually only pouting cutely.
"Remilia apparently left the basement door unlocked after she came down there this evening, so I naturally took the opportunity to come upstairs for once. While I was eavesdropping on her and Sakuya more than half an hour ago (yeah, I know you say I shouldn't do that kind of thing, but I didn't want to get caught and thrown back in the basement and waste my golden opportunity), I heard them talking about me. Remilia said that the deed to the mansion entitles both me and her to equal ownership, and that I should actually be living as the head of the house instead of being locked up in the basement like a crazy, masked guy who throws chandeliers up at people. In other words, she did this on purpose just to keep all the glory for herself and deny me of what I rightfully deserve."
Meiling shook her head patiently and patted Flandre's. "That has to be a mistake, Flan. I know Lady Remilia can be a bit of a… well… ass sometimes, but I don't think she'd do something as cruel as that."
Flandre grunted in frustration and twirled Laevatein like a baton. "It is true," she insisted. "I was in the same room to witness Remilia telling Sakuya that it was a 'really big secret that nobody else should ever know' and crap like that. If she really locked me up for my own good, she wouldn't act so guilty about admitting that she denied me of all my rights to Sakuya."
Meiling scratched the back of her head and frowned ponderingly. "I don't believe it."
Flandre laughed humorlessly, throwing Laevatein into the air and catching it with her other hand. "I thought that she was a bad person earlier tonight for never letting me outside the basement, but I never imagined that she'd be going against our father's wishes to do it."
Meiling remained dubious of the claim. "Even if this were true, what proof do you have that backs up Remilia's statement? We'd need some solid evidence to do anything with this."
"The deed itself!" Flandre exclaimed impatiently. "The fact that it had my name alongside Remilia's under ownership was enough for her to admit the secret to Sakuya, so I think it's fine evidence. She and Sakuya said they were heading down to the archive room in Voile Library to check if the one found outside the study is the real one."
Meiling stroked her chin as she began to sort out a plan out loud. "If we could swipe the deed from their possession… we could check it out to see if it's indeed valid and you have an equal claim of the mansion as she does. Then, if it is, we could show it to Aya and spread the word about Remilia unrightfully taking control of the mansion from you all over Gensokyo. If that doesn't force Remilia to change what she's done to you, I'm sure a little visit from Shikieiki Yamaxanadu would do the trick… assuming that this isn't a whole misunderstanding, of course."
Flandre jumped up and down excitedly and proceeded to point Laevatein toward the end of the hallway. "Let's do that right now! That fairy maid who helped me is probably going to tell Remilia about my escape as we speak, if she hasn't done it already. We should hurry to make sure I don't get caught and locked away again."
Meiling smiled and began to walk in the same direction. "Let's go, then, Flandre."
"Just a minute." The vampire looked behind her shoulder at the gatekeeper and tilted her head curiously. "Why are you doing this for me, exactly? I know that Sakuya and Remilia aren't very nice to you as you work, apparently. If we fail, I'll just be locked away and maybe punished, but you'll probably get killed or raped or something like that! Not really worth the risk, I think."
Meiling sighed heavily and looked Flandre in her crimson eyes. "You're my friend, Flan. Possibly the only true one I have living here. If you've truly been denied such an extraordinary privilege by your sister, I can't stand by with a good conscience and know that I didn't at least attempt to help you overcome this. Besides…" Her gaze drifted into the starry sky that could be seen out of the window opposite them in the hallway. "I've never been incredibly happy working day in and day out. If I took part in such a scheme like this one, it could give me the excuse to leave the guard post for good and pursue something I really like in life."
"You mean leaving the mansion? B-but you can't do that, Meiling. Who would I have if you did that?" The watering eyes of the vampire showed that she did not like this prospect at all.
Meiling chuckled cheerfully and wiped away the dripping fluid from Flandre's eyes. "Don't worry about that, Flan; we can figure something out. But, anyway, that's a discussion for another time. Right now, we should probably get moving so we can take a look at that deed your sister is putting away."
Flandre nodded determinedly. "Let's go! For great justice!" The tall, Chinese gatekeeper picked up the short, blonde vampire and placed her on her shoulders, letting her prism-adorned wings flutter in excitement. Flandre pointed the mythical weapon Laevatein in the right direction, and off they were, ready to face whatever they would face.
When Youmu had finally reached the entrance to the Forest of Magic where she had the misfortune to be captured by Yuuka, it was silent. There might have been the occasional fluttering of a passing fairy's wings or the sound of a wild animal attempting to capture prey, but there was nothing to produce a great amount of sound (except for Yuyuko's hungry demands over the communication, of course). Likewise, when Yuyuko finally reached the clump of bushes in which Youmu had been hiding only a short while before and caught site of the old, rickety antiques shop situated just within the borders of the thick forest, she could hear little noise to signal anything out of the ordinary.
"Well, here we are!" she announced to herself. It was almost like a contagious disease for some of the more eccentric beings in Gensokyo to talk to themselves while out on an adventure, and Yuyuko was not going to break the mold. "Now, where could that naughty little girl have gone?" As the ghost princess wandered around the bushes a few times, she let out a small cry of surprise as her foot sunk into a bit of slightly depressed ground. Removing her foot from the hole, she bent down to observe it. "Looks a little like…" She grabbed one of the two white, formless ghosts always surrounding her and compared it to the shape of the gap. Although her ghosts were a great deal thinner than the hole, they still maintained a suitable resemblance and allowed her to notice the shape of… "The Myon marshmallow!" The connection made, Yuyuko bent down further onto the ground and began to scan the surrounding area for more clues.
When Youmu said that her mistress picked the worst times to act like an airhead, she made a fairly valid claim, seeing as it was essentially what had led her to being captured by Yuuka. The statement's consequences weren't limited to Youmu herself, however. While Yuyuko could be quite clever when she wished to, the moments when she did not wish to were often the ones in which it would have been best for her to do so. An obvious solution to the problem would be to simply never don the ditzy personality, but Yuyuko was far too laidback and carefree to do that. Being the victim of problems caused by this lifestyle time and again, Youmu was dreading the day when Yuyuko's personality would backfire upon her.
From the melody and tone alone, it would have seemed as though it was an innocent, albeit engaging song. The pitch of every note was impeccable, the highest ones on the treble clef were also adorned with trills, and both elevating and descending strings of notes were accompanied by the appropriate and subtle crescendos and diminuendos. Although there were no words to the song, it was a melody that seemed as though lyrics would only taint it. Yuyuko was likely the furthest of anyone from being a philistine, and so she was not about to close her ears to such a song.
"Oh, is that the song of the night sparrow again?" It had been almost exactly four and half years since the ghost princess had embarked on a journey to investigate Eientei with Youmu, but her memory kept the song that Mystia Lorelei had sung on that day fresh in her mind. Unlike the fairly rough and mistake-ridden song that had been recited back then, however, this particular one was sung eloquently and almost flawlessly, the way one who has practiced for such a length of time would be expected to perform.
Indeed, as Yuyuko was still scanning the ground for more indentations that would bring about a clue, she was not looking in the direction of the dark Forest of Magic and thus could not see the approach of the night sparrow. While Mystia still sang in the same elegant and beautiful style, her grey eyes, which were staring daggers at the hunched over image of the ghost, were evidence of her true attitude. Had Yuyuko been thinking logically, she would have unleashed any of her mighty spell card attacks to easily scare the bird away, but she instead decided to enjoy the song and continue what she was doing.
The usual formula of battle for a weak and dimwitted youkai would be to instantly unleash a weak attack upon ambushing the opponent and then using whatever spell card is in disposal. This is not what Mystia had in mind on this particular night, however, as she soared through the night air with Yuyuko's left ear as her exact target. As she got within five feet of the target, Mystia let her feet touch the ground again and folded up her wings, but still sang her song. Slowly sauntering toward the ghost's ear like a lion approaching a wounded gazelle, she let a smirk spread across her lips as she gradually lowered the volume of her singing to little more than a whisper. At the distance where she stopped, she was able to kneel onto the ground and nearly touch Yuyuko's ear with her mouth. From her, it was only a matter of singing her bewitching song until the inevitable would happen.
By the time Yuyuko realized that she had made a mistake in letting Mystia be, it was far too late for anything to be done. Ghosts are naturally more resistant to the effects of the night sparrow's song, but listening for an extended period of time and at a distance of approximately two inches would override their resistance and let them be fully susceptible to the side effects, including confusion, slight memory loss, possible insanity, and, in this particular ghost's case, sleep. Feeling Mystia's soft breath gently carrying each note of the cursed song into her ears as her consciousness quickly left her, Yuyuko had only time to quietly murmur "Oh dear…" before all turned black.
As the ghost's body began to fall backwards from the unconsciousness of its host, Mystia positioned herself behind it to receive it. She opened her arms widely and wrapped them around Yuyuko's middle, mocking the girl with a giggle as she held the false-loving embrace. "Oh, Yuyuko," she laughed, "you have no idea how long I've been waiting for this moment!"
Mystia released her sardonic gesture of affection and dropped Yuyuko onto the ground, purposely choosing a particular area that was muddy from a shallow pool of water. The brown sludge splashed onto the ghost's pale blue kimono and created a filthy film on it, but the sparrow could certainly care less about keeping her victim's clothes clean. She instead bore a grin of pure excitement at finally achieving a goal she had been aiming for.
"Oh, it would seem as though I'm rather peckish at the moment," Mystia announced to the ghost with a voice that could not have dripped more sarcasm from it. "Would it be too much of a bother if I could have you for a midnight snack?"
"Of course not, my friend!" Mystia answered her own question using a low-pitched voice to imitate Yuyuko's. "By all means, eat as much of me as your little tummy desires!"
"Well, if you're sure…" Mystia placed one of her long-fingered hands on the upper section of Yuyuko's right arm, and placed her other one on the forearm section of the same arm. Taking a deep breath beforehand to summon all her strength, the sparrow proceeded to twist her two hands in opposite directions with as much force as she possibly could.
For the sake of averting such a gruesome concept, it was fortunate that Mystia was acting out against one who was a spirit instead of a physical entity. As Yuyuko had no actual bones or muscles in her apparition, the removal of her forearm from the arm came with no sounds of bodily cracking, and no blood was released when the forearm finally was set free from its connecting elbow. This was hardly important to Mystia, however, and she picked up the pale, severed arm and held it high above her head triumphantly as if it were a well-earned trophy.
Wasting no further time, the night sparrow held onto the forearm by its hand with her left hand and chomped directly into the area just below the point of separation. "Mmm… this is…" she started with a mouth full of spirit flesh, feeling it all over with her tongue, "horrible! Blech!" Mystia spat the mouthful of Yuyuko's arm onto the ground and stomped on it until it was well-hidden in the dirt. "Who would have thought that such a gluttonous beast would taste so disgusting?" She carelessly threw the remaining portion of the arm onto its sleeping owner, and it rolled off of her body into the thick mud.
As she stared down at the sleeping ghost who was covered in mud and had one portion of one arm dropped beside her, Mystia crossed her arms and smiled in satisfaction. She then brought one arm up to her hat and gently patted it, feeling the shape of a familiar and beloved object hidden beneath the brown fabric. In Mystia's opinion, the safest place in the world to hide something near and dear to her heart would be directly above her head, shielded from harsh elements of the world by the hat.
"You see?" she said. "Peoples' limbs come off that easily! I won't have any trouble doing it again." She opened her eyes as widely as she possibly could; they were like empty black holes that told so little and yet so much at the same time. "And when I do find the one who did this to you, she'll get to experience it all over her entire body!"
The satisfied and determined night sparrow, having completed her business with Yuyuko for now, proceeded to nonchalantly return to the air and soar off into the dark Forest of Magic. While she did this, she sang the same bewitching song that had ensnared Yuyuko for all to hear.
[A/N]: Welcome back to the story, all! I certainly didn't intend to take that long to write this, but I guess I'm just a lazy guy who loves plugging away at something little by little. The school year is nearing completion, so I should likely be able to write updates more quickly during the summer.
I have to say, despite the time it's taken me to write it, this has been my favorite chapter so far, if only because so much happens! In fact, I had to delay one scene until the next chapter just because this one would be absurdly longer than the rest if it were still in. Since Act I and the first six chapters it contained were an exposition and the beginning of the rising action, this chapter and the next one are the point at which things really start to heat up. As a side note, this is also when the story disembarks from its relatively positive mood and takes on a darker tone. That means that you should probably reconsider reading this story if you want a happy tale of rainbows and happiness and stuff. If the kind of arm-biting action (pun intended) you see here is what you're after, however… enjoy! The next chapter will mark the introduction of my single favorite character of the entire series. Can you guess who it will be? (It's not the one my username is referring to; I like Utsuho a lot, but she's behind two others in the list of my favorites).
I noticed that this chapter seems to have a recurring theme of making assumptions. Flandre and Sakuya assume that Remilia's intentions for denying her sister equal share of the mansion are purely selfish, Daiyousei assumes that Hina can be trusted, Hina assumes that the fairies are telling the truth, Meiling assumes that Flandre's ideas are correct although she still seeks to acquire proof before making a rash decision, and Mystia assumed that… well… Yuyuko was going to taste better than she does. In moments were this is not enough time to thoroughly investigate a matter, it's sometimes inevitable that assumptions will be made. We will have to see, however, whose assumptions turn out to be fruitful and whose turn out to be horrible mistakes.
If you remember back in Chapter 4's notes, I mentioned that it was Mystia's egotistical attitude that would make the large difference between her and Cirno when deciding which side to be on for the plot. Well… I lied. It wasn't too obvious from back then, but our poor little night sparrow has been rather insane from the very beginning. Cirno passed it off as just "being a jerk", but she probably shouldn't have. A certain ghost would have possibly had an intact arm now if she had done something back then.
On an ending note, see if you can spot the subtle reference to Hisoutensoku. I know that it's a bit of an anachronism since this story takes place between Subterranean Animism and Undefined Fantastic Object, but I still felt like it fit well. Here's a hint: it deals with something that actually didn't make it into the game.
In the upcoming chapters, we shall see how Flandre and Meiling decide to handle the problem with the deed, what brought this bit of insanity to Mystia, the success or failure of Cirno and Daiyousei's search to find Reisen and rescue their friends with Hina, what happens to Youmu while being captured by Yuuka, how Yuyuko reacts to losing part of her arm, and both the answers to many questions and the additions of further questions. Look forward to it!