Flandre landed with a resounding thud, landing on her feet clumsily. The impact of her landing causes dirt to go flying in all directions, making a small crater where she had landed. Flandre looked around herself, taking in her surroundings. She found herself within a forest with no other people in sight.
"Meiling! Where are yooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuu!?" Flandre called, with her only response being birds chirping happily nearby. "Me-Meiling? Are you there!?" There was no sign of the gatekeeper at all, "Meiling…Where are you…?"
Hearing no response from the missing gatekeeper, Flandre walked away from the small crater she had created to search for her friend. There was a dirt path nearby within this dense forest, in the distance she could see a tall mountain poking up from the top of the forest as she made her way along the path. She called for her friend as she traveled down the path, but unfortunately continued to hear nothing but leaves rustling in the wind. But she continued to call for her despite her lack of success, shouting as loudly as she could, but yet she heard no response still. As time passed and search not going any better than it had when she started, the small vampire began to lose hope of ever being reunited with her lost friend. The skies began to turn into a dark grey color, as if to emulate exactly how she felt. It would begin to rain at any moment now.
"Gyah!" cries Meiling as she plummets to the ground, her velocity being too great to stop herself in mid-air. Miraculously she lands on her feet gracefully. Sticking the landing perfectly.
Meiling sighed in relief, being almost unscathed from her ordeal with the keystones that was caused by Suika.
"Phew…That was a close one…I thought I was a goner for sure…" she mutters to herself as she catches her breath. "Are you alright there Flandre?" Meiling asks, but finds that her vampire friend did not land alongside her. "Flandre! Are you there!? If you can hear me, say something!" nothing but silence could be heard.
"Oh man…this is bad…where'd she go…?" Meiling asks herself nervously as she frantically looks around her surroundings for her absent traveling companion.
Meiling recognized the area she was at as the foot of Youkai Mountain, where all the Tengu and Kappas called home. There was a large waterfall visible from the area Meiling stood; the large city the Tengu resided in could also be seen. If Meiling looked closely enough, she could also make out a small Shinto shrine that was situated near the summit of the mountain. She recognized the shrine as the home to Gensokyo's new green haired miko and her two goddesses who had moved to the land of illusions from the outside world a year or so ago.
"Flandre! It's me, Meiling! You know, good ol' China! Please, if you can hear me say something, anything!" Meiling called once again, but yet again her calls proved to be unsuccessful. "Dang it…" Meiling mutters in her frustration. She looked up towards the sky and noticed that the sky was becoming a bleak grey color. It would begin to rain at any moment now.
"Hey you there, what are you doing!?" a strict sounding voice bellowed at Meiling, causing her to jump up in surprise. Meiling looked towards the mountain and found that a white haired woman was marching right to her.
"Huh?"
"No outsiders are allowed to trespass upon Youkai Mountain! Please turn back at once ma'am." The woman said with a strict tone, but her voice oddly didn't sound as hostile as her message sounded. She stood right in the middle of the mountain's path, impeding anyway to scale the mountain by foot.
This white haired stranger wore a white sleeveless shirt, with detached sleeves on her arms, not unlike Gensokyo's two resident incident-solving mikos. She had a long black skirt with a red border at the bottom that had little leaf like patterns in it. On her head she wore a red tokin hat, a hat that many Tengu choose as their head wear of choice. She also had wolf-like ears poking out from her head, along with a wolf tail come out from her the back of her skirt. Her intimidating stance was increased by the large blade and shield she held in hands.
"Whoa now…I'm not trying to trespass on your big bad mountain here…" Meiling puts her arms between herself and the fierce looking guard defensively.
The white-wolf tengu squinted her eyes at Meiling in suspicion, "Then why have you come here, and why are you yelling so loudly? It isn't safe for outsiders to be scaling Youkai Mountain."
"I uh…rode a rock here." The wolf youkai raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Okay, okay, I know that sounds a little weird, but its true!"
"I suppose I've heard odder tales..." The wolf girl slightly lowers her guard.
Meiling was curious about what story this wolf girl could have heard that could possibly be stranger than riding a rock to the mountain, but she continued despite the urge to ask her about it. "Anyways, I got separated from a friend of mine in the process…Have you seen her? She's a little girl, blonde, wearing a red dress, ring any bells?"
The white-wolf tengu scratched her chin in thought, "That description sounds…familiar…but no, I haven't seen anyone recently that matches your description. If your friend had climbed the mountain, I would know about it, your friend isn't here."
"Drats…Where could she be…?" Meiling mutters to herself with worry. "Thank you anyways Miss…Uh, sorry I don't believe I caught your name."
"Momiji, Momiji Inubashiri."
"Good to meet you Momiji, I'm Hong Meiling."
"Hmmmm, likewise Miss Meiling. I hope you're reunited with your companion soon. I would assist you in your search, but I must remain at my post and prevent any possible intruders from setting foot upon the mountain." Momiji says with a sense of duty in her demeanor.
"It's alright, I can relate to guard duty. I'm sure I'll be able to find her on my own."
Momiji nods, "I wish you luck."
"Thanks, I'll need it. Thanks for your time Momiji." Meiling departed from the mountain in search for the missing vampire girl, leaving Momiji by her lonesome.
"I swear…I've seen her before somewhere…" Momiji mutters to herself in thought. "Bah, no matter, it's probably just my imagination…" she concluded as she gazes up to the dark skies above. "Hmmmm…Looks like it's going to be a downpour…Sometimes I really hate my job…" she sighs s she continues her patrol around the mountain, dreading the inevitable rain to come.
"Meiling…Where are you…? Are you playing a prank on me? If you are i-it isn't funny!" Flandre cries to no one as she continued her search for Meiling, which was so far a fruitless effort.
The weather had worsened since she had begun her search; the sky had become even darker since she had set out on her task. It was now a much darker and intimidating shade. The once tame weather was also now very windy, blowing Flandre's hair right into her face, to the vampire's annoyance.
"Oh what am I going to do…I…I don't like being alone…I wish you were here China…" Flandre mumbles to herself sadly as she wraps her arms around herself for warmth.
Flandre stopped in her tracks in surprise as a cold droplet of water lands on her and slides down her face. She looks up toward the sky and finds that other water drops have followed after the first, it was now a light rain.
Flandre covered herself from the rain using her arms as a shield as she took shelter under a large tree to wait out the rain. As Flandre sat at the foot of the tree, hugging her legs, gazing at the rain, she wondered why she had to avoid the rain, or running water to be exact. Rain had never bothered her much before besides feeling slightly uncomfortable while being in it. Even her sister didn't seem to dislike the rain that much. Maybe it was just some sort of rule that vampires aren't supposed to cross running water? Thinking of her sister struck the vampire with grief, as thoughts and uncertainties of her sister came rushing back to her.
"I wonder how big sis is doing…is she worried about me? Mad at me for leaving? Does she miss me? Did those moon people lie about what she said…or were they really telling the truth? Does she…Does she really think I'm a monster…?" Flandre asked herself as her eyes filled with tears. She couldn't hold her tears back no matter how hard she tried, and soon began to cry to herself sadly. The loss of her companion and the thoughts of the sister she hasn't seen in so long being too overwhelming for her to bear.
At this point she felt like crawling in a hole and waiting for death that was, until someone approached her.
"Why are you crying?" a voice foreign to Flandre asked, breaking Flandre out from her grief stricken state. She looked up to the voice and found a wavy white haired girl standing in front of her, staring at her with a look of curiosity and mild concern.
She wore a small black sunhat that was tied with a yellow ribbon. She was clothed in a long sleeved yellow shirt, with the sleeves being so long that they went pass her hands. Her shirt had a green collar around the neck, and had diamond-like buttons going down the front of it; she also wore a long green skirt that went down to her knees. Though her most eye catching feature was the two thin blue cords coming out from her back, both of them led to a small blue orb that rested above her chest. Age wise, she looked to be about Flandre's age.
"Wh-What?" Flandre asked as if she hadn't heard the girl's question correctly.
The girl giggled lightly and restated her question, "I asked, why are you crying? Did you hurt yourself?"
"N-No…"
"Then why are you crying?" The girl asked again, seemingly not caring that she was being drenched by the rain, causing her clothes to cling to her body. "My big sister says that you should tell others about your problems, and my big sister is the smartest person ever! It'll make you feel fuzzy and warm inside if you do!" the girl urged with an eerie cheerfulness. Though Flandre was skeptical about this girl's sister being the "smartest person ever" as she had put it, as she had always been told that Patchouli is the wisest person in Gensokyo. Regardless of her doubts, she felt like she could trust this unusual girl, so she did as she said and confide in her.
"W-Well…I can't find China…a-and I miss my big s-sister…b-but she might th-think I'm a…monster." Flandre struggled to say through her tears.
The unusual girl took a seat next to Flandre under the tree, "A long, long time ago, my big sister told me that what people think of you doesn't define who you are, and that it's your actions that define you! …Or something like that…She used a lot of big words I didn't understand…But anyways the point is that you um…um…oh the point is that just because your big sis thinks you're a big mean monster, doesn't mean you are!" The girl smiled happily at her success of conveying her message. Though as her smile grew, Flandre could have sworn she had saw that orb resting over her chest twitch a little. Just what exactly was that orb anyways?
Despite the girl's oddities, Flandre felt at ease around this girl. Her sadness began to dissipate and turned into the last thing she expected to feel at this moment, she felt happy. Her frown was soon enough replaced by a beaming smile that was full of life.
"Your big sis sounds really, really smart…smarter than my big sis even!"
The girl grew an even larger smile on her face if that were even possible, "Uh-huh! I told you my big sister was the smartest person around!" As she spoke again the orb creaked open a little, revealing a red pupil. "I just wish I listened to big sis when she told me that…" she said sadly, as she did the eye over her chest closed slightly, just enough to cover the pupil of the eye.
"Why? And what's that thingy?" Flandre asked as she pointed to the eyeball over her chest that seemingly couldn't decide on whether to open or close as it kept fidgeting.
"Oh this thingy?" She asked, pointing directly to the eyeball that rested above her upper chest. "It's my third eye! All satori have them, that's what I am! Our third eyes let us do read people's minds and hearts and all that fun stuff! But people always looked at us funny, like we were big monsters; they always had really mean thoughts about us too...People always looked at us so meanly it really hurt my feelings." As she continued her story Flandre noticed that the girl had tears welling up in her eyes, but her voice and expression remained in their usual cheerful mood. She seemed to not notice this as she kept telling her tale.
"When I asked big sister why the world hated us, she said it was because of our third eyes, but she told me that all we needed was one another love and as long as we had that, we could survive anything! But it still hurt, it hurt really badly, it was like someone tore out my heart and ate it for breakfast! That's when I decided to fix the problem! I closed my third eye, and now no one hates me!"
Flandre looked at her in confusion, "Then why did you regret it?"
"Oh! Because I can't feel anything! When a satori closes their third eye, they close their hearts too! So when I closed my heart, I couldn't feel a thing anymore! Not happiness, not anger, not even sadness! Big sister really seemed sad when I did close my eye…But after I did close my eye, I could go anywhere and not worry about people throwing their mean words at me! So that's what I do, I go all over the world! Life was so sweet! It was like eating candy every second of the day! I visited big sister sometimes, she was always happy when I did, but she always looked at me funny... I met them at this funny shrine when I went to go ask its goddess to power up my pets with the power of love! Just like she did with my big sister's pet, Okuu!"
Flandre wasn't entirely sure of what exactly the power of love was, but she let the girl continue her story. "But the goddess wasn't home; there was only a green haired lady and a frog girl. But then I met them…the black and white witch, and the grouchy red and white miko! They played danmaku with me, they were lots of fun! I almost won, but they beat me really bad… After that I felt something I thought I couldn't feel anymore…I felt curious. I didn't understand it at all, so I asked big sister and she told me that my eye had opened a little! She was so happy about it that she cried! And big sister never ever cries! I wanna make big sister so happy, that she cries a river of joy, so I decided I'd get my eye to re-open! That way she'll be really happy!" The girl clapped her hands together as she finished her story happily.
"You met Mary and Miss grumpy meanie miko lady? They played danmaku with me too!"
"You know the magician and the grouchy armpit lady too? That explains everything!" the girl exclaimed happily, her eye seemingly twitching in response to her joy.
"Um it…it does…?"
"Of course silly! Your aura is just like the shrine maiden and witches! It makes me feel all curious and it makes me feel…something…I started feeling all warm and fuzzy on my insides when I started talking to you! I think I feel…I think I feel happy!" The girl exclaimed as her eyes almost seemed to glow with joy, along with her third eye which began to open more and more until the eye's red pupil was visible once again. But this time, rather than closing again, it appeared to stay open this time.
"I'm really glad you're happy! China says that when you make other people happy, you'll be really happy too!"
"China? But China isn't a person, it's a place silly! Places can't talk!"
"Not that China! China is my friend's nickname!" Flandre giggles as she explains to the girl. "…I hope she's alright…"
"Whatever happened to her, I'm sure she's okay!" the nameless girl said enthusiastically. "Hey! Why don't I help you find her!" she suggested suddenly.
"You'd do that?"
"Uh-huh! I bet it'll be lots of fun! Like a game of hide and seek! Plus I'm really good at tracking animals!"
"But…China isn't an animal."
"Don't people count as animals too?" Flandre's strange new friend asked quizzically, almost looking surprised that only she classified other people as animals.
"No silly! People are people! Not animals!" Flandre informed.
"Ohhhhhhhh…Alright! Let's go!" Flandre's oddball friend urged, her mind obviously set on finding the red-headed gatekeeper. Getting up from her seat at the tree's foot excitedly, she held out an arm to Flandre with a happy look on her face.
"Right!" Flandre replies, accepting the girl's hand and stood alongside her newfound companion.
"Great, now let's find China um…what's your name?" she asks.
"I'm Flandre Scarlet!" Flandre introduces herself with enthusiasm in her voice.
"Oh, nice to meet you Flanny! My name's Koishi! Koishi Komeiji! I think we'll be the bestest friends ever in the whole wide universe! And the universe is really big!"
"Flllllllaaaaaaaandre! You there!? Come on it's me, good old China!" Meiling called out again for her friend, she had called for her more times than she could be bothered to remember since departing from Youkai Mountain after her encounter with Momiji. Each call had no success in drawing out the little girl, including this one.
Meiling grew more and more worried about the vampire being on her own with each passing moment. Her worries growing since it had begun to rain. Meiling had always worried about the young vampire ever since they had met so long ago, but never has she ever been this worried about her.
As her search continued and her luck not improving in the slightest, Meiling's thoughts drifted back to the day she had first met the vampire…
A few hundred years ago…
"Oh blasts! How can I be lost! Not again!" Meiling cried to herself as she found herself lost once again in the Scarlet Devil Mansion, this time finding herself lost within the mansion's maze-like basement level. Ever since finding employment as the mansion's gatekeeper and part-time maid, she has never been able to find her way through the massive mansion, often times having to ask one of the fairy maids employed at the mansion for directions, which often times felt degrading considering their small amount of intelligence.
When she was asked by the mansion's mistress to bring her little sister's next meal down to her in the mansion's basement, she had no idea what to expect. She's heard several rumors from the other staff members about the mistress's little sister, many of them not at all sounding pleasant.
She had heard from one maid that the younger Scarlet sister was an insane blood-thirsty monster who only lived for the joys of killing all who crossed her path. Another maid believed that she was some of shut-in, and another said that she was an emotionless little girl who killed without hesitation. The most intimidating rumor spread about her being that she was the trigger to the apocalypse, and was sealed in the basement to prevent the world's end.
Meiling sure found it hard to find comfort with the possibility of a highly dangerous person being just a few levels below you. Especially now that she was in the dwelling of said person, alone, where no one be able to assist her…Or hear her screams.
Meiling shook away such thoughts and took a deep breath. "Alright Meiling…You just gotta find this little sister's room and get the heck outta here…nothing to it…" she mutters to herself without any sign of confidence in her voice.
She gasped in surprise at the sight of a small figure staring right at her as she crouched behind a wall. Meiling was so surprised by that she almost dropped the food for the young mistress.
"Oh h-hey there…You gave me quite the scare…D-Do you think you think you could help me find my way to the young mistress's room? I'm kinda lost…" Meiling greeted, relief washing over her now that she had found herself with some company.
The small figure remained silent, wordlessly continuing to stare at the gatekeeper with glowing red eyes in her position behind the wall.
"Is something wrong? You can come out now, don't worry I won't harm you!" Meiling crouched down to the little figure's height to help her feel at ease.
The girl hesitated before cautiously coming out from her spot behind the wall and out into the hallway.
This girl was one of the oddest sights Meiling had ever seen before. She had short blonde hair, and was tied in a side tail with a red ribbon. She wore a ragged red vest and skirt, both of which looked like they haven't been washed in years and had several tears in them; the same could be said about the mobcap resting on her head, it was honestly a miracle that it was still in one piece. These features weren't too strange by themselves, but the wing like appendages coming from her back were, if they could even be called wings. The two black rod like wings that had several different colored crystals hanging from them was one of the strangest and most unnatural looking things Meiling had ever seen, yet at the same time, one of the most beautiful.
The girl was such a bizarre sight that Meiling had to force herself not to stare at her, "Well hello there little one, what are you doing down here? You sure don't look like any maid I've seen around here before."
"I'm not a maid silly, I live down here." The girl replies, slightly looking nervous as her eyes shifted back and forth, as if looking for a possible trap.
"You…live here?" Meiling asks in disbelief.
"Uh-huh!" The girl confirms with a nod.
"I've never seen you around the mansion before though…"
"That's cuz big sis told me to stay down here…" the girl says, seemingly growing more and more restless as she begins to fidget in place.
"W-Wait…Y-y-you're mistress Remilia's…l-little sister?"
"You know big sis Remy!?" The girl asks in excitement, "How is she? Does she talk about me? Will she visit soon?" The girl asks excitedly in rapid succession.
Meiling realized just who this little girl was now, causing her face to become pale with fear. This little girl was Flandre Scarlet, the mistress's little sister. Meiling slowly backed away from the little girl in fear of what she would do to her, if the many rumors about her held any truth in them. Causing the little girl's smile to fade and turn into a small frown.
"You…You're…You're scared of me…aren't you?" Flandre asks as she slowly sits down on the hard and cold floor, covering her face with her hands as her eyes filled with tears.
"W-w-what? W-w-what would m-make you think that?"
"I can see it in your eyes…y-you think I'm scary…j-just like everyone else." She says, her voice being muffled by her hands. She was now full out crying, with tears trickling down her face and dripping onto the floor.
Meiling felt a twinge of guilt from the girl's weeping, ignoring her fears; she mustered up all of her courage and spoke. "That isn't true young mistress! Hong Meiling isn't afraid of anything!"
"R-Really?" Flandre asked, looking up to the gatekeeper with tearful eyes.
"O-Of course! I don't find you scary at all! In fact I think you're pretty cute!" Meiling reassures.
"D-Do you promise?" she asks in disbelief, holding her pinky-finger out towards the Chinese gatekeeper.
Meiling took her out stretched pinky finger and wrapped her own around Flandre's with a gentle smile. "I promise."
The little blonde girl's smile vanished and turned into a happy grin, and gave the gatekeeper a back breaking hug, causing Meiling to cringe in pain from her overwhelming strength. But she held back her cries of pain as to not upset the girl again.
Since that day, Meiling continued to visit Flandre. Bringing her meals to her each day, her fears of the Scarlet Devil Mansion's "dirty little secret" now behind her. Each day the gatekeeper would even set aside some of her time during her breaks to keep the little girl company and even played games with her. Despite her fearsome abilities, Meiling eventually felt completely at ease around the younger Scarlet sister.
To this day, Meiling still wasn't sure how the innocent little girl she knows could have received such a fearsome reputation around the mansion. In fact, most of the mansion staff today still fears her. It was a sad day for the gatekeeper when she was moved to full-time guard duty, making her time with the vampire scarce, but she still managed to set time aside each week for the girl, making living in the dark and dank basement more bearable.
Meiling was snapped out of her recollection of the past by two childish voices shouting her name in unison. "Flandre? Flandre, is that you?" Meiling shouted back, but before a reply could be uttered, Meiling was tackled by the tiny vampire. The force of the tackle, sending the two to the ground, as Flandre hugged the gatekeeper tightly.
"Meiling! Meiling! I'm so happy I found you Meiling!" Flandre cries, her voice being muffled by Meiling's chest.
"I'm glad I found you too Flandre! I was worried sick!" Meiling replies happily. Meiling then noticed the strange onlooker nearby them; an odd grey haired girl wearing a black sunhat was watching them happily with a happy smile. "Um…Hello there…who are you?" Meiling asks the girl as she got up from the ground along with Flandre.
"Hi! I'm Koishi! I'm a friend of Flanny's!" Koishi states cheerfully.
"Yeah! Koishi helped me find you!" Flandre added, looking up to her gatekeeper friend.
"Well then Miss Koishi, thank you for your help, I truly appreciate it!" Meiling thanks, giving her a humble bow.
Koishi giggles at the action, "You're really funny! Flan was right about you!"
"Uh…Thanks? Anyways, what will you be doing now Miss Koishi?" Meiling asks the small satori.
"I dunno…" Koishi puts a finger on her chin in thought as she looks to the sky, as if she'd find her answer in the sky above. "I think…I think I'll join you and Flan-Flan on your adventure thingy she told me about!" Koishi answers happily to Meiling's question.
"Really!?" Flandre asks in utter excitement.
"Uh-Huh!" Koishi nods. "I dunno why but I like you! Being with you makes me feel like I have butterflies in my stomach! I wanna feel like this all the time!" she says as she hugs herself for emphasis. "So can I? Pretty please?" Koishi pleads to Meiling on her knees.
"Oh can she China!? Pretty please!?" Flandre joins, pleading along with Koishi in unison on their knees.
Meiling soon found herself being bombarded by with pleads for the satori to join the group by both of the little girls. The pair's cute pleading voices and their large puppy-eyed expressions on their faces soon became too much for Meiling to handle. "Oh alright! I don't see why not…"
"Oh thank you China!" they cried in unison as the two both hugged Meiling at once, causing her to cringe in pain from their combined strength.
"Yeah, yeah…don't mention it…But if we're going to have another mouth to feed, we'd better go back to the human village and pick up some more food…" Meiling sighs to herself at the thought of how much of her hard earned money would go down the drain to cover the expenses. "Well, come on you two, let's get a move on…"
"Yes China!" the two said in unison once again.
"I really hope you two won't be doing that the entire time…" Meiling mumbles to herself as she headed off towards the human village with both her young vampire friend and her new satori friend in tow.
Author's Note: Hello, thank you for reading the latest chapter of this story, I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry for the long wait for this one, I've been having a hard time with writing lately...But I am glad that I got this posted.
I've actually been looking forward to writing this one, as it introduces our third protagonist to the story, Koishi. She's actually my second favorite extra boss in the series, my favorite being the main character of this story. My only main problem with her is that she was really hard for me to write for, with her being emotionless and all. So I tried giving her a more care-free and curious personality, I think it worked out pretty well.
I'm sorry to say, but chapters will be most likely coming in even slower than usual, as school starts for me pretty soon...It's pretty depressing to say the least. xP But I'll keep on chipping away at these chapters until this story meets it's completion!
Oh, just to say...I got lazy on my proof reading for this chapter, so if you see any mistakes, feel free to yell at me about it and I'll fix it right up.