He had never slept well. Not until now.
Before this, he had slept fitfully, his rest plagued by the white faces of the misled and the dead, his dreams haunted by the things he had done on the word of an angel.
Tonight—or this morning, he didn't know the time—was different, his torment displaced by the cleansing burn of clashing limbs, livid red hair and a smile that understood. He had watched her reach out with an open hand. He had felt himself relax. His heart had lifted at the sight of her mouth moving to say something.
He had heard a bang. Felt something kick through his chest, and he was falling face first into swallowing darkness—
He woke up with tears in his eyes. Stone surrounded him on all sides but for his front. The girl in the purple pyjamas raised her eyebrows at him, and beside her—
"It's alright!" the gate guard told him, her hand wrapping on his, anchoring him as panic threatened to overwhelm him. "You're safe now. You're safe now. Breathe. Breathe…"
He hadn't known he had any tears left in him, not until now.
Before long, they were walking together barefoot on a beach towards a rocky, forest-topped promontory that speared up and out into the Mediterranean Sea.
"Gibraltar?" He repeated the word, glancing sidelong at her.
"Mhm!" Meiling hummed as she came to a halt, the sun setting behind her. "I troubled Miss Remilia to fashion you a couple of fortunes! There's trouble brewing on the continent, so I used my not-inconsiderable influence to have her drop you off here."
He slowed to a stop, turning to watch her stoop for a stone, speechless.
Meiling was happy to speak for both of them. "They know English here, but not Russian."
"Or Chinese," Sergei replied, feeling a smile tug at his features as Meiling chuckled.
"Right." She sighed, tossing him something. "Catch?"
He barely caught it, the pouch jingling as his hands held it to his chest. He drew the string and opened it, his eyes widening when he saw the contents.
"Funds for you to get started, compliments of the mistress, as well as the chief maid."
Sergei looked up from the purse. "She is chief maid now?"
Meiling scrunched her nose and smiled as she faced the sea, raising one of the stones. "Not officially," she bulleted the first pebble into the water, "but it's going to happen."
"She is in good hands, then," Sergei decided, his attention returning to the coins, skating them together in his palm. "This is a lot."
"Oh! Good," Meiling exhaled, tossing another stone up and catching it, gauging the steady waters. "I was a little worried we were going in with too little."
"What do I do?" Sergei asked.
"Buy a house, maybe?" Meiling said blithely. "Invest it, buy a commission?" I wouldn't worry about it, we'll find out together—"
"No, just—" Sergei struggled with the words as Meiling looked his way, sensing that same anxious energy from weeks ago burning off of him.
"I have done a lot of wrong. Hurt many. I do not… I do not know what to do with… this," Sergei managed, his arms opening a little to indicate more than just the purse in his hands.
Meiling pursed her lips, her mind going back to a time when she had been every bit as pained as the Russian before her.
"If you don't know what else to do, I would start by doing good," Meiling decided.
Sergei smiled uncertainly back, watching as Meiling turned and sent that second pebble skipping once, twice, three times before vanishing into the sea.
"Walk with me. Let's talk about this."
Remilia had finished dressing herself, pushing the last of the little wooden buttons through the holed placket of her dress top. She turned the hand-carved facing so she could look down at the glaring boar carved into the material and how its tusks chased the button's perimeter.
"Are you decent, Mistress?" Sakuya asked beyond the door.
"Mhm," Remilia hummed, splaying her fingers over the button. The door handle clicked in response, the creak of the door pausing. The chief maid had noticed the action.
"For good luck," Remilia admitted. "I thought I would wear them." She looked up and saw that familiar reserved smile on Sakuya's face.
"I think he would have liked that." Sakuya said.
"Do you?" Remilia asked, the red of her eyes putting the warm colours of her master bedroom into shade. Sakuya's smile widened, as though timed or perhaps prompted.
"But of course."
As Sakuya made final checks over Remilia's appearance, she quizzed her.
"What is the first rule?" Sakuya asked.
Remilia watched Sakuya fuss over her from the silverless mirror. A nice easy one, she thought as she said, "Listen, listen, listen to your guest. What they say holds the key to your conversations and negotiations."
"What are the three P's?" Sakuya asked as she brushed Remilia's hair.
Remilia spoke as she was gently tugged by the brush. "Parroting, profiling and posture."
"Interested people…" Sakuya said, letting the sentence hang as she brought Remilia's ribboned hat over.
"...Are interesting people. A curious mind draws in others and encourages them to open up to you." Remilia finished.
"The tenth rule?" Sakuya asked.
"Hostility breeds stupidity. Smile, that you may both be smarter for it," Remilia repeated.
"The twelfth rule?" Sakuya said with a self-satisfied tone. Remilia blinked.
"Ah… respect the other party. Even opposition can be partnered with?"
"No, that's the eleventh rule," Sakuya said softly.
Remilia frowned. "Something… about tone and inflection, I would guess?"
"No. It's good to be mindful of how a thing is said, but no, that's not the twelfth rule."
Remilia swallowed, searching Sakuya's eyes using the mirror. "If you'd afford me a moment?" Remilia asked, separating from Sakuya as she trotted to her desk to consult the manual, feeling her cheeks grow hot as the chief maid chuckled behind her. She hesitated when her hands reached the book, reverence throttling her urgency. This was the master copy. She opened the cover slowly and turned the pages, careful not to dog-ear or tear the paper. Her red nail ran along the heading of the twelfth chapter, seeing how the handwriting had changed. Taken over by the co-author and written after that grim night in London.
"'Humanity can be found in the monstrous, and monsters move amongst men. Both must be reckoned with, and both can be dealt with.'" Remilia read the rule slowly, a wistfulness pulling at her. "Well put, Sakuya. I feel he would have approved of the wording."
"You are sure?" Sakuya asked, her voice rising, the bond telling Remilia she was worried she had caused offence.
"I am," Remilia said firmly, turning back to the mirror, seeing the pensiveness there. She was grateful to watch Sakuya go to her back, draping her arms around her, though the gesture was tainted.
She was still under her thrall, she was almost certain of it. Jared had been angry at her for establishing herself as Sakuya's master, and so too had Sakuya.
Had she gone and written over a part of what made her who she was?
"You are not to blame," Sakuya told her.
Remilia tensed. "Are you content to be with us, still?"
She saw the placid expression on the silver-haired girl's face, feeling strangely hollow when she heard her practised reply. "Of course, Mistress."
"...Right," Remilia managed, "that's what I thought you'd say."
She took in a breath before blowing out a drawn-out exhale. "Right! I'd say I'm ready, don't you?"
"Indeed," Sakuya said quietly. "Let us go show them who you are."
Ran resisted the urge to pace about the entrance hall, her fingers still resting on the sleeve that hid her letter. Even now, she contemplated withholding it; personal errands shouldn't be mixed with business. Besides, what if she did not reciprocate an interest in re-establishing a connection?
What if she laughed at her?
Don't be silly, Ran told herself, her ears nevertheless lying back at the thought. Compartmentalise. This is a mission. No getting tied up in—
"Well, look who it is," said a flat, monotone voice.
She recognised the voice instantly.
"Ah! Konbanwa, Miss Patchouli!" Ran exclaimed, genuine excitement sweetening her voice as she laid eyes on Patchouli Knowledge.
"You can ditch the friends-catching-up routine," came the jarring reply from beneath Patchouli's cold, purple eyes.
"I beg your pardon?" Ran asked, hoping her smile hid her shock as her ears went low.
"Beg all you like," Patchouli grated out as she advanced, "but you shan't have that from me."
Ran knew it was pointless to feign ignorance over what this was about. "You are upset about my extended surveillance over the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Miss Patchouli, I… it was all for your benefit, and for Miss Remilia—"
"Is that why you didn't tell me? Why you resorted to base espionage?" Patchouli fired back.
"...I… Mistress Yukari would not have trusted a report from someone with a bias in favour of Mistress Remilia," Ran chose to say.
"You had no confidence in my ability to be objective about Remilia? You didn't think to at least write to me? You just skipped all that in favour of watching us through your network of shikigami that you planted in our home?" Patchouli asked.
"Miss Patchouli, I'm sorry. I clearly misjudged the situation," Ran managed, the weight of the letter in her sleeve suddenly heavier. She went to retrieve it.
"Keep your hands where I can see them," Patchouli snapped the words out. Ran winced at their sharpness, her eyes asking for one last appeal before she hid away her emotions. The shikigami's hands lowered, fisting in the fabric of her tabard before smoothing out.
"Are we interrupting something?" came another voice from within the hall. Ran's yellow-eyed gaze dragged away from Patchouli's scowl to see the rest of the mansion residents approaching, with Remilia at their head.
"Just correcting a spy's perspective," Patchouli said coolly.
"Oh! Good," Remilia said blithely. "It looked to me like you were chastising one of our guests without due cause."
Patchouli's expression did not soften right away, her gaze still latched on Ran. "Suffer her if you like, Remilia. Just know that with the recent addition to our staff, we're no longer beholden to her or her master—not anymore."
"Spiffing," Remilia said emphatically, said in such a way to sound like 'now leave us'.
"Spiffing," Flandre repeated her elder sister as she failed to read the room, her ears lifting in surprise as Meiling's hand casually dropped over her mouth.
Patchouli took the hint with little apparent grace, turning from Ran and storming out past the other residents.
"Well, I do apologise for the brusqueness of my friend. Welcome, Ran Yakumo. When shall we be expecting your master?"
"She's already here," Ran said tonelessly, hearing the weakness in her own delivery and standing a little straighter for it.
"What? Meiling?" Remilia asked, throwing an annoyed glance behind her.
Before the gatekeeper could marshal an excuse, Ran answered, "She awaits you in your drawing room, and requests that you have me thrown out."
Remilia threw up her arms. "Well, let us grant the lady her request! Sakuya, if you would show Miss Ran the door— Oh, but not before giving her a meal for her trouble."
"Oh, don't trouble yourselves on my account—" Ran objected, but Remilia was once more dismissing her concerns. "Pish posh, allow me to show some degree of hospitality."
As Ran was led away to a spare room, she would only realise hours later that the letter in her sleeve was missing.
"The gall on you!" the vampire declared as the door clicked behind her.
Yukari Yakumo had been watching the sunset from one of the mansion's west-facing windows. She turned her head to deliver a condescending glance. "I beg your pardon?"
Remilia only felt the frenzy of butterflies in her stomach intensify. She had thought to open with a joke; now, she wasn't so sure. Perhaps it would be best to apologise. No, plough through, plough through!
"I find your servant unannounced and unheralded in my entrance hall who not only tells me that you are in my house, but I am expected to answer your summons! Is this how it starts? Being displaced from one's own home?" Remilia clucked and tutted, still smiling, her voice thick with melodrama as she clutched her own chest as though wounded.
Yukari stared mutely across the room at her, gauging Remilia's expression as the undead princess willed her to laugh, to play along. You are going to like me if it kills me, gap hag, I swear—
Yukari managed a wistful smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I suppose that was how it started."
Remilia blinked, the tense used throwing her off. Yukari caught her unease. "I trust Ran conducted herself without incident? No insult was given?"
Those last four words took Remilia back to the slopes of Mt. Shiroyama. She felt her good mood evaporate, replaced with a tension in her chest as she recalled the things she had been called and the things she had fired back in retort. Don't mention it, don't mention it, don't mention it.
"Not recently," She decided to say. Yukari looked at her curiously then, and Remilia knew she could dig in and revenge herself. She was better equipped for it. You have more pressing matters than that. "May I ask what you thought of Miss Patchouli's work in mending Olivia De Vere's tongue?"
Yukari's brow lofted. "The human? Yes, it was sufficient. I hope Miss Patchouli does not mind that I made a few alterations."
"A fond hope, I'm afraid," Remilia said as she forced out a chuckle, recalling Patchouli's grumblings. Before Yukari could ask for her meaning, Remilia went on, "You… what was it, 'embedded a spy'?"
Yukari nodded. "That is correct, yes. A shikigami, fashioned to be quite innocuous whilst retaining all the functions of the organ in question. After what occurred in London, I decided it would be prudent to be aware of what wagging tongues might speak of."
Remilia's hand rested on a chair's back. "So Olivia De Vere… Will she be safe?"
Yukari paused to consider her next words. "Ruxandra met her final death on the same night you escaped the city. Her court and her progeny will perish as their holdings are fired years from now by the humans. Their claws will never reach Olivia De Vere."
Remilia was taken aback, though she nodded at last. Despite her lack of need for air, a sigh rolled out of her. "I see."
Yukari searched Remilia's expression, pleasantly surprised by what she found. She knew she could expound, however unnecessary it was for her purposes here. "Ruxandra wished to apologise to you at the end." Yukari decided to say as she approached the table.
Remilia managed an appreciative smile, but said nothing.
Yukari afforded her a moment as she seated herself. "Now, I would put a few questions to you, Miss Remilia."
Remilia's drooping shoulders lifted, her gaze lively now. "Is this in regards to our eligibility to be a part of your project?" she asked as she pulled her chair back.
"This would be in regards to London." Yukari's statement made Remilia pause mid-seating.
"Is that necessary?" Remilia asked quietly.
"Seeing as I tidied up the mess, I feel I am owed an explanation," Yukari replied.
Are you suggesting I was responsible for the 'mess'? Remilia didn't voice her first conceived response, though her hands momentarily clenched beneath the table. "Very well."
Yukari brought her hands together, one on top of the other. "Why did you wage war against those who had dominion over London?"
Remilia's brow twitched, a smile appearing a moment later. "The moment might have been missed by those surveilling me, but I was simply defending myself."
"You took a blade to their master."
"After he cut open Meil— my gatekeeper's face."
"You denied him the opportunity to surrender."
Remilia's hands imitated Yukari's, resting atop one another on the table's surface. "Yes, and I would deny him again. He was a vicious little tyrant who would have one day revenged himself on me."
"You punished him for something he might do?" Yukari remarked stonily.
Remilia's nose wrinkled for an instant before she attempted a cool smile. "Every time there was an opportunity to settle our differences with words, he resorted to violence. I refuse to believe that he would have seen sense and left me and mine alone, had I let him live."
Yukari hummed thoughtfully before her eyes narrowed. "You teased out Miss Morgen's death."
Remilia's facade gave way to a scowl as the name brought the grisly visage of the water spirit's tenderised face to mind. "What?"
"Once you claimed the upper hand, you did not end the fight right away. Why didn't you?"
"Does it… Does it matter, Miss Yukari?" Remilia asked.
Yukari's golden eyes glared across the table at Remilia as she asked, "Now, are you content to have that be your answer?"
Remilia shifted back an inch, her shoulders almost hunching. "...I lost my temper."
Yukari tilted her head. "And?"
Remilia's lips disappeared, instinct telling her to bite down, Osbourne and Sakuya's training pushing her to maintain the dialogue. Her hands separated. "There's nothing more to it than that. I lost my temper, and I very nearly paid the price."
"And what was that price?"
Remilia blew a sigh out of herself. "I might have lost Sakuya," she said, her red-eyed gaze sinking into the middle distance as she went on. "Though that did not come to pass, I may have lost something of myself."
Yukari lifted her chin, studying the undead girl in front of her before continuing. "What of the humans you slaughtered in the Chateau? The elites of their species?"
Remilia's self-assured smile resurfaced. "Such an act is hardly beneath you and I, surely?"
Yukari lowered her chin, her gaze boring down on Remilia. "What did they do to provoke such an act?"
Remilia raised an eyebrow. "Was my answer not enough?"
Yukari smiled sadly. "It can be, if you feel it is."
Remilia propped an elbow on the table and let her lips perch on the fingers of her closed fist. After mulling over Yukari's words, she spoke up. "They were hurting my friends, and they offended me with their excuses. Did you not hear them?"
Yukari shook her head. "I did not want to pass the barrier magic the Chateau had in place until I knew what to expect, and by that time, your sister was interacting with it with her power. I am not so foolhardy as to brave a barrier on the brink of annihilation."
Remilia went on to recite the conversation she had engaged in with Pembrooke in that dark banquet hall.
"My, sounds like it was serious," Yukari said, her tone suggesting otherwise.
Remilia shrugged. "What can I say? I don't like hypocrites."
Yukari looked puzzled then. "You might argue it was hypocritical of you to admonish the humans. What you did is not so dissimilar to how they spent the lives of the populace."
Remilia gave her a bemused frown. Yukari went on. "In regards to Mister Osbourne? I was able to glimpse what happened in the veteran's hall. Call it cold, but I think it was a pragmatic choice. Very in-keeping with an alleged tactician such as your—"
Yukari had stopped talking, her own shoulders tensing when she saw the look in Remilia's eyes.
Remilia could see that Yukari was wary now, alarmed but battle-ready. That didn't matter to her. Remilia could cross the table inside of a second, invoke Gungnir and rip and claw and tear and hurt her for daring to suggest that Remilia would do that. It would be easy, and it would feel so good.
Remilia shut her eyes, realising her hands had formed into fists. She splayed her hands, her lips curled as she looked to Yukari.
"You think I masterminded… that? That end for him?" Remilia asked, a growl buried beneath her even tone.
Yukari's expression finally softened, if only a little. "So was it chance that led to you entering the Chateau with a human, a source of blood with which to break free?"
Remilia spoke slowly, her glassy eyes searching Yukari's for a hint of mocking scorn. "It was fate and my failure that led to his being there. That was what led to his death."
Yukari nodded almost imperceptibly before her expression became downcast. "I came here armed with preconceptions about you. That has done neither of us credit, Countess Remilia."
Remilia's eyebrows flickered at the admission and the title Yukari addressed her with. They were at a crossroads. Part of her still wanted to cast Yukari out of this place, to put hands on her, to reward ill treatment with vengeance.
"So is this," Remilia said slowly, "what you would call an apology?"
Yukari affected a frown, though that lethargic energy still motivated her. "What I said, was it not sufficient to satisfy your honour?"
Remilia stared her down. "It's a start."
Yukari did not ask the countess to quantify what would be necessary. She felt she already knew.
Remilia pushed her chair back, feeling her choler rise as she herself stood. She smiled into the cold, golden eyes that watched her from across the table. "Are you ready?"
The silence dragged between them as Remilia reached for the service bell.
Meiling's stride picked up into a jog. She had started her walk when she felt the familiar bitter energy of her mistress begin to emit from the drawing room, but when their visitor's aura began to match its intensity, Meiling realised the danger they could all be in. She turned a sharp corner, almost slamming into Patchouli, briefly startling the witch.
"I sensed it too," Patchouli said. No other explanation was necessary. She took flight and joined Meiling in seeking out their mistress. Fire sputtered to life in Patchouli's hands as Meiling prepared to clear the door with a flying dragon kick. The gatekeeper stamped off of the carpet, leapt, turned, her leading leg swinging, extending—
She hit nothing but air. She landed as Patchouli swung to a hovering halt, the two of them seeing that the double doors had suddenly gained distance from them, with Sakuya interposed between them.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Patchouli blurted out.
"I can assure you, everything is in hand." Sakuya began to explain, even as Meiling and Patchouli blitzed past her, the doors slamming open as they charged in, too late to protect their mistress as Yukari landed a scoring hit.
"Gah!" Remilia barked as the foil's rubber cap struck her squarely between the shoulders.
"The countess is no more." Yukari quipped, an edge of a smile pulling at her mouth as Remilia batted her tapered blade away.
"Yes, yes, you have the point— What is it?!" Remilia rounded on Patchouli and Meiling, her body dressed in a white fencer's jacket and black pants, her impatient scowl obscured by the wire helmet she wore. Patchouli looked pleasantly surprised, even proud, whilst Meiling looked unreservedly astonished and on the cusp of asking to join in before Sakuya materialised between them.
"Beg your pardon, my mistress," Sakuya apologised in a weary tone, and in the next second the doors were closed, with none of Remilia's servants anywhere to be seen.
"Colourful company you keep," Yukari said.
Remilia felt herself smile before she turned from the door to regard her opponent. "The best," she said, before gesturing to the periphery of the room where suits of equipment stood. "Now, are you sure you don't want a helmet? One is meant to strike for the chest, but accidents do happen."
Yukari played along, hearing a child's haughty caution rather than any veiled threat. "Pass me one of those helmets?"
An underarm throw and another ten seconds, and Yukari's face was screened with the same mesh that Remilia had, her blonde hair streaming down beneath the helmet's collar.
"I'll admit, there's some fun to be had in this," Yukari said with a smile.
"Fun? Bah. This is me taking my revenge," Remilia scoffed playfully, lifting her foil up before lowering it in a salute.
As Yukari gave her a quizzical look, Remilia shrugged, a little bashful. "I may be cross with you, but it's still the done thing, isn't it?"
Yukari smiled genuinely then, copying Remilia's salute. "Right."
Remilia wiggled into a low stance, holding her foil forward. "You were about to tell me for what reason you shut me down."
She sprang forward, her foil arcing up and narrowly rebounding on Yukari's weapon.
"As I was saying"—Yukari spoke as though she was at rest, though her hand was nimbly slicing through the space Remilia had been standing in—"there were a number of considerations. The first reason… my past experiences in observing and dealing with your kind led me to believe there was little point in trying to reach an accord."
Remilia let another needless breath out as she watched her opponent. Yukari had reach over her, but Remilia was faster—
No, she appeared to be slower than Remilia. For all her lethargic movements, it was clear now that the gap youkai moved with an economy of energy, her sword point always getting where it needed to be.
"For shame, Miss Yukari. Though I will confess in your defence," Remilia snarled, bulleting forward, "we are a contentious lot!"
Yukari met Remilia's foil with her own, the two of them shunting together as the metal scraped together. Yukari's eyes widened as she felt an impact at her gut. The two came apart slowly, and Yukari saw the knife that Remilia had bumped her with.
"My, how underhanded!" Yukari said with a smile. Remilia, pleased to have struck Yukari, removed the pommel from the gap youkai's midriff and offered up the weapon to her grip first.
"This is yours, right?" Remilia asked. Yukari took the knife, the glamour of scarlet mansion silver fading away to reveal a shining letter opener chased with copper.
"For all our differences, it was no small thing, what you did for us," Remilia said.
Yukari achieved a wan smile.
"The second reason," Yukari began as she watched Remilia step back to resume her pose, "stems not from my prejudices about your kind, but from concerns of stability."
Remilia began to make a face, but Yukari cut off her rousing protest with a hand. "Not in regards to you, my dear. Gensokyo experiences a troubled peace. It would have been irresponsible of me to expose you and your people to its dangers."
Remilia narrowed her eyes. "Now, is that the case? Or did you perhaps suspect I might bring a spark to whatever volatile situation is there? Perhaps take advantage of the chaos there?"
Yukari shook her head and smiled, as though that might be a simpler, easier explanation. "Given what I know of you, Miss Remilia, I rather doubt you would have exploited the strife in Gensokyo."
"What makes you say that?" Remilia asked.
Yukari raised the point of her blade skyward. "Would you allow me to show you?"
Remilia eased up from her battle stance. "Please," Remilia replied. Yukari obliged, using the point of her foil to open a smile in the air between them. The smile became an eyelid, one that lifted and allowed both of the girls to see into another world, one of untilled earth and burning fields.
Remilia might have mistook it for her homeland if it wasn't for the enormous assembly of bones, and the two women who stood upon it. One was obviously Yukari—a rougher, meaner, wearied Yukari, her white robes aged by fire—whilst the other knelt on the body of the giant's ribcage, panting hard, red eyes glaring from beneath green hair.
"This is Gensokyo?" Remilia heard herself ask.
"Its distant past, yes," Yukari stated simply.
"You cut an imperious figure," Remilia remarked as she took note of the bodies surrounding the giant skeleton.
"I would have Ran doctor the memory to be less civilised, but I can think of at least two historians who would rail at me for such revisionism."
"You are beholden to them?" Remilia asked, surprised, watching as the Yukari of the past slowly lifted her umbrella.
"Before all this, I walked the path of the tyrant," Yukari said, watching as her old self breathed out, letting her weapon list to one side as she offered the kneeling figure her hand, "and found it a lonely one."
Remilia watched as the kneeling woman glared up at her through green locks for what seemed like an eternity before her hand tentatively lifted to take Yukari by the wrist. As the victor lifted up the loser, Remilia's vantage passed them by, moving up towards the moon, where craters were bitten out of its surface by warring youkai.
"Many of our kind found my change in leadership style to be a sign of weakness, or were disdainful of the coalition that I formed. I had to demonstrate that even we have things to be afraid of," Yukari explained to Remilia as the youkai army routed all around them, pursued by the inexorable Lunarian Defence Corps.
"For a time, the lesson took," Yukari admitted, showing an eagle-eye view of Ran Yakumo and a white-haired woman in a blue tower-hat conducting a tense but collaborative meeting between the humans and a group of diminutive youkai, "and we achieved a degree of self-sustenance, even peace, in Gensokyo. Recently, that peace has been threatened by a challenger."
Yukari punctuated her point by revealing the history school incident to Remilia. As they walked through the school, the vampire gave no outward sign that she was bothered by the pitiable sobbing or the blood-streaked floorboards. "For what possible purpose did this…?" Her words gave away her unease.
"Ultimately?" Yukari's golden eyes slid down to Remilia before returning to the corridor they walked down. "To incite anger in the humans. He and his followers wish to rampage. To eat, fight, kill and retake their place in the Outside World. Despite my warnings, they would treat Gensokyo as a staging area, rather than a place to live."
Remilia listened as she watched as the same woman with the blue-tower hat stormed into the classroom, pausing at the sight of a girl with dark-red eyes and a ribbon in her hair barring the way to a closet where her classmates hid. At her feet was a centipede youkai, bitten and broken open by spikes of solid darkness.
"Whether it's the humans or the youkai that rule the Outside, the invasion will be annihilated, and thoughts will turn to where it came from." Remilia sighed as the pair of them watched as the teacher balled her hands.
"It is nice to talk to someone who appreciates the delicate nature of this predicament," Yukari replied.
"So what will you do about this visionary, this rebel in the making?" Remilia asked. "You cannot force a direct engagement if he is popular enough to rival you. Will you have him killed?"
Yukari's golden eyes lost some of their sheen, her voice growing flatter, but Remilia could hear her heartbeat pick up. "Our enmity is no secret. He has friends in every court, believers in his lies. Even my own servant cannot help but lend him an ear and betray her feelings to him. If his death was ever linked to me, there would be carnage."
Remilia felt a supernatural chill race up her spine as the pieces fell into place. Her widened eyes flitted from the darkness youkai and the teacher to Yukari as the gap youkai smiled. "It is as you said, Miss Remilia. I cannot attack him overtly, nor can he be persuaded to abandon his delusions. I cannot strike through my allies; his friends will know, and move to avenge him. This world will either tear itself apart or be invaded by the Outside, and it will become a place of rock and ash and emptiness."
"Oh, you are evil." The words ran off of Remilia's lips.
Yukari exhaled, amused. "For ensuring the peace? I don't follow."
"You would make an assassin of me," Remilia hissed the word.
Yukari smiled, bemused. "An assassin? My dear Remilia, you are far too lacking in subtlety. No, I would have you reinforce the lesson I've been teaching in a manner that suits you."
"If you knew what war entailed for your people and your world, you would not ask for it, not to do away with one petty rivalry," Remilia growled as she turned on Yukari.
"I have every idea of what a war entails, Countess," Yukari said quickly, facing Remilia now. "It has taken much from me; I recognise its dangers. He is not a mere rival, he runs contrary to the project, and he has the means to destroy it. I would not ask lightly for this. No, this is what you'd call a one-time favour—"
"Oho, no," Remilia barked out. "This is how it starts! One slapping down of an uprising here, one suppression of a coup there and before I know it, I am branded an enforcer, a hatchetman, and believe you me, I have no want for—"
"Would it perhaps calm you to know," Yukari cut in. "That this favour would precede my stepping back from such responsibilities?"
There was a moment's silence. Then outrage.
"What?!" Remilia blurted out, disbelieving.
Yukari frowned down at the vampire. "In the absence of a trained shrine maiden, I have had to assume the responsibilities of maintaining the equilibrium of Gensokyo in addition to my duties in preserving the barrier. I recognise that I have neither the energy nor the… purity of purpose, to do that effectively."
"A 'shrine maiden', that's what you're counting on?" Remilia asked.
"I am. I would stake my life on her, if I had to," Yukari said forcefully. Remilia thought to scoff, but didn't. Yukari looked determined for once, and that sincerity disarmed her. Eventually, the gap youkai would speak once more. "She is why I am confident that this will be an isolated case; once she is ready, there will be no need for me to meddle in the politics of Gensokyo; only a desire to."
"So she'll be your faithful hound, barking at your behest?" Remilia asked.
"No. She will be an ultimate balancing force, an arbiter that will brook no exceptions. Not from you, nor from me. Neither gods, youkai, devils, nor men will hold sway over her," Yukari said firmly.
For an instant, Remilia's expression softened before she bared her fangs again. "I'll believe that when I see it."
Yukari inclined her head. "You shall. In time, you shall see the truth of my words."
Remilia stared up at the gap youkai, a scowl set on her face before her shoulders gave. "I thought this was an interview to judge our eligibility. You have seen what I have been working at, Yukari. What you ask of me runs contrary to all of this effort I've given—what I'm aspiring towards."
Yukari's eyebrows lifted, seemingly sympathetic. "Respectfully, I disagree. It is this reluctance of yours to resort to violence that makes you all the more eligible for the role I have in store for you. Mister Osbourne prepared you for this, for you to make hard decisions, to give with one hand and take with the other."
"He taught me how to be a noble! To do right—"
"Right by whom, Miss Remilia?" Yukari asked.
Remilia paused.
Yukari loomed over her, her expression cold now. "Your future outside of Gensokyo is uncertain, Miss Remilia. You could roll the dice and try to survive here in this world, running into and from fights until your luck runs out, and even then, you will be transported to Gensokyo eventually, after a war you could have managed has run its bloodsoaked course. Or, you can secure your own place in Gensokyo's history, provide stability for your family and prevent genocide. All you need to do to guarantee that outcome is to slay one belligerent and remind us all that there is still much to fear beyond the barrier."
"This isn't fair," Remilia grated out.
Yukari lowered her head. "If there was any other way, Miss Remilia, I would take it."
"No. No, I don't believe you would," Remilia replied, the strain in her voice lessened as she glared up at Yukari. "Perhaps you have contingencies if I were to say 'no', but this is your best option, isn't it? You remove a demagogue from the equation and make a monster of me."
Yukari lowered her chin. "And I give you a place in Gensokyo's rich tapestry worthy of your stature."
Remilia sneered at that. "Flattery will get you nowhere. What do you get out of this?"
Yukari looked taken aback. "Genuinely, Remilia, I meant that. Your qualities are what's needed to make this plan work."
"Please," Remilia sighed as she turned back towards the portal, "you want a scapegoat, nothing more."
Yukari went quiet as she contemplated her response. As she did so, her gaze rested on the teary-eyed history teacher comforting the darkness youkai. "You are right in that I want an example set, Miss Remilia," she said.
She heard Remilia's footfalls cease and went on, "But I already have a martyr. What I want from you is an ideal. A model youkai that others can look to and strive to emulate."
Remilia's scowl did not fade, her feet locked as she stared at the portal that led back to the mansion. "And what am I to be, then?"
Yukari smiled a secret smile. "You are to be Remilia Scarlet. The young youkai that strives to be better: that's what others can follow… and you'll be the devil that can tame the monstrous and make us fear the night once more."
Remilia's scowl eased as her chest sank.
Yukari turned from the bloodstained classroom, her golden eyes looking after Remilia as she exhaled. "I know that this is no small thing I ask of you, Miss Remilia. I know this plan will briefly make a villain of you. I know all this seems to run counter to what you have worked towards, all that you hoped for. I also know such censure and mistrust will fade with time, and it will pave the way to an age of peace, but that does not ease the numbing pain of being shunned nor the burn of seeing your name tarnished. It will abate. I know what it is I ask of you, Miss Remilia, and I'm asking."
Yukari had left the same way she had arrived—quietly, and on her own terms. Remilia, suddenly keen to reward the efforts of her household, demanded a feast be arranged, and her apparent enthusiasm raced through the fairy workforce like a fire.
Though her mask did slip when she thought she was alone, being weary one moment and agitated the next. Patchouli and Meiling were quick to pick up on her malaise, though Sakuya would be the first to ask about it.
The maid found the Scarlet Devil in the pool room. The room's cream-white walls were painted grey by the dim lamp light. Remilia herself stood at one of the tables, lost in thought and leaning against the billiard cue as though it were a staff.
"I did not know you played, milady." Sakuya said.
"I try not to, for fear of being played," Remilia murmured. The vampire lilted towards the maid, lofting a brow when she saw Sakuya's face. "You're smiling."
"Beg your pardon, milady." Sakuya began.
"Oh, don't." Remilia cut in with a playful growl as she separated from the cue. "My bad mood is my own. No need for you to take it on or give it room."
Sakuya nodded gratefully, her hands held together at her waist. "I am here to help in whatever capacity I can, milady."
Remilia brought the cue to bear, lazily aiming it at the stack of brightly painted ivory balls sitting on the mint-green felt of the pool table. "I would bend your ear, if you can keep a secret." She tossed a glance to the maid, who made a visual show of zipping her own mouth shut. The display made Remilia smile before she made her thrust, sent the balls scattering, and told Sakuya the details of the deal that had been offered.
She had sunk the fifth ball into a pocket when she had finished her explanation, awkwardly leaning on the table as she aimed for a sixth.
"You're concerned the gap youkai might betray you?" Sakuya asked, coaxing a snort from Remilia as she sent that ball into a pocket.
"Not particularly. No, that is not why I'm… conflicted," the undead princess said as she repositioned and took aim once more.
"You're reluctant about this from a point of ethics, rather than politics?" Sakuya asked.
The seventh ball missed the pocket, bounced off of the point of the table's cushion and back into the centre of the table. "Sort of… Would you tell me there's nothing Faustian in this?" Remilia asked as she straightened up and looked to the maid. She was reassured to see a thoughtfulness in Sakuya's expression before she replied.
"Nothing immediately apparent, no. To clarify… is that where your concern lies, milady? That you will suffer in the long term, or that your principles are at stake?"
Remilia winced at the wording. "I don't feel like I have all the facts—and all this has been an effort to do away with that part of me, that monster that revels in—"
"Miss Remilia," Sakuya said, her voice suddenly alive and losing its monotone dullness, "I must protest." Already, she regretted her tone, her eyes widening, recalling what happened to those that spoke out of turn.
But that didn't happen. The red-eyed girl just blinked up at her, visibly thrown. Pleased, even.
"Well, elucidate me?" Remilia asked.
Sakuya bowed her head, grateful. "Your pardon. I just… I cannot speak for Remilia the monster, but if that's the same Remilia that rescued me, that displayed such ferocious loyalty to me and the others… I wouldn't try to remove that part of you. Not for anything."
Remilia made a breathless sigh, her mouth opening to protest—but she didn't, finally smiling. "As my chief maid demands. Do not bow any lower! You're fine, you're fine."
Sakuya's smile eased as dawning recognition on her face. "You're still determined to have me as your chief maid."
Remilia shrugged, the smile coming easily. "Maybe."
Sakuya smiled back before her gaze lifted, thinking on the problem. "Well… we can always walk away. Or, we can verify Yukari's statements, go along with her plan… and renegotiate the deal once you have achieved a position of strength."
Remilia smiled, hearing it again. "Jared Osbourne of Avalon Lane would say it is a bad thing to renegotiate, though, surely?"
Sakuya opened her hands before closing them again. "Jared wanted to arm you and to guide you with his knowledge, not control you. Yes, changing the terms could be construed as a betrayal, but you decide for us all, and I am supremely confident that you will make the right choice."
Remilia nodded, reassured. "I am touched by your faith in me," she inclined her head in a respectful nod, "and I can't help noticing your word choice, are you no longer… undetermined, about having me as your mistress?"
"No," Sakuya said softly and certainly.
Remilia stared up at her warily, pausing for a moment. "And this is what you want? Truly? You don't need this?"
Sakuya's smile widened. "Ah," she hummed, "you're concerned about the manner of my servitude?"
Remilia managed a shrug and a nod. Sakuya chuckled. "Of course, I felt obligated in the past to approach you, after you fed me your blood. After you stopped feeding me, you gave me time to think on it, and honestly, I want nothing more than to be here."
"Really?"
Sakuya's smile came close to exasperated. "Thanks to you, I live in a flying, magical house. I have seen places and met people I never would have known in ten of my lifetimes. I'm surrounded by good people. You have rescued me from death and given me so much life. Now, Mistress, if I would ask you to stop looking for reasons for us to part ways…"
Remilia's fearful hope grew as Sakuya seemed to bow, only then realising the maid was going down on one knee as she continued, "I have no reason or right to make you wait any longer. It is with a joyous heart that I'd—"
"Hold on," Remilia peeped, her hand planting on Sakuya's shoulder. "Wait just a moment."
Sakuya was equal parts bemused and amused, her smile broadening when Remilia plainly took a few seconds to look around the room, taking in the gentle lighting, the bright colours of the painted ivory and the pastel accents of the room itself, burning this moment in this quiet, warm room into her mind. At last, she admitted, "I was rather picturing this to be more ceremonial, you know? To honour you— Guh. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
Sakuya laughed as the vampire wiped her own tears away before finishing her pledge. "I would serve you, Remilia. You. From this day until the end."
"And I would have you accompany me, Sakuya." Remilia sniffled, feeling herself well up when she saw Sakuya's face. "Forever and ever."
Sakuya saw the hug coming from a mile away, wrapping her arms around the vampire as she came in for a cuddle.