Thursday, August 20, 2009

Another Misplaced Sukima P-8

Having finally managed to open a gate to Makai, Reimu, Sanae, Renko, Marisa, Yuki, Kyo and Sakuya all go inside the high-speed gate and into Makai, however, at that very same moment, Ail learned how to open a gap back to Gensokyo, opening it where the sealed gate was. In doing so, both ends reacted in a violent manner, causing the permanent re-opening to Makai. Although some of the Gensokyo party arrived at Makai, Ail, Maribel, Sanae and Renko managed to get entangled in a mess of their own, but they never came out of either end of the gate.

At Makai, tension was high. Yumeko had her daggers at hand, glaring at Reimu while keeping her lady Shinki safely behind her. Beside them were Mai and Luize, who didn't want to fight, but were ready to defend Shinki with their lives if they had to. Sakuya and Marisa both stand by Reimu's side, waiting for anyone to make the first move, while Yuki just waves casually at Mai, shouting a casual "hi~!" but stays behind the girls from Gensokyo along with Kyo, who didn't have a clue about the situation. Both Shinki and Reimu were the only ones there completely relaxed and ready to negotiate. Shinki places her hand on Yumeko's shoulder and says "relax, they're not here to fight." then looks at Luize and Mai, who gladly lower their defenses. Yumeko, being so overprotective, wouldn't lower her guard. That's when Reimu grabs Marisa and Sakuya by their shoulder and says "calm down, you two. Lower your weapons, and Marisa, stop pointing that thing at them." Marisa says "aww~! I though things were going to get fun!" as she places her Hakkero under her hat. Sakuya elegantly puts her daggers away, then stands up straight, keeping an eye on Yumeko. Shinki pats Yumeko on the shoulder again and says "Yumeko, your turn, child." Yumeko growls softly, but calms down and the daggers in her hand vanish into thin air. Reimu walks closer to them and extends her hand to Shinki. Shinki smiles and gladly accepts, bowing her head a little, accepting to shake Reimu's hand. Yumeko takes a deep breath and says "you should be honored my lady accepted your peace gesture!" Reimu sweats and was about to reply, but Shinki says to her in a reprehensible tone "Yumeko. Please, don't be rude to our guests. I am sure they came here looking for the two humans..." Shinki turns her sight to Reimu's and smiles saying "...am I right?" Reimu lightly smiles back and nods.

After everyone calmed down, Yuki runs to Mai, jumps on her and gives her a big hug and saying "Mai~!!! I missed you, sis! Did you miss me!?" Mai looked a little annoyed, and would not reply. Yuki lets go of her and starts to sob. Mai sighs and says "yeah... I missed you. A little..." Yuki smiles widely and hugs her again, giggling. After letting her go again, Mai looks at Yuki and asks "and what's with that get-up?" For a moment, Yuki looked confused, so Luize points at the apron and the pink bow. Yuki looks at her self and says "ah, yes... well people out there were confusing me with THAT girl over there" then points at Marisa. Marisa clenches her fist and waves it at Yuki shouting "HEY! You should be grateful others confused you with someone as beautiful as me!" Reimu Scoffs, and Sakuya quietly giggles. Marisa turns to them and shouts "you're just jealous!!!" Yuki takes a deep breath and continues "like I was saying, I had Alice make me this apron, but miss copy-cat over there copied my idea." Marisa was getting angry, but Reimu grabbed her from behind, locking her arms in place so she couldn't pull out her Hakkero. Yuki smiles and waves at Marisa, then says "so I placed this frilly ribbon on my hat, and that did the trick, apparently." Shinki, after realizing what Yuki had said, she trembles a little and asks "Yuki? Did you say Alice? How is she?" Yuki smiles and says "she's a little stuffy, but she's ok." Reimu knew something was up with Shinki, but kept quiet about it, then releases Marisa, who immediately puffs her cheeks as she quietly grumbles and sits under a tree. Yuki stretches her arms above her head and says "well now that I'm home, I won't be needing this..." she pulls off the frilly pink ribbon, revealing her old white one behind it "...or this!" she pulls out the apron with a loud ripping sound. Everyone stares at her quietly, Yumeko looking angry. Yuki looks back at them puzzled and asks "what!?" Sara laughs and points at Yuki. Yuki looks at herself and realizes she had ripped her skirt off. With a "whoops" she covers her front. Kyo, who was quiet all this time, was behind them, covering his eyes, shouting "did that idiot cover herself yet!?" Yuki blushes beet red, then Marisa shouts "HEY~! Those are MY DRAWERS!!! What the hell are you doing with MY drawers!?" Yuki shrugs and says "you and I wear the same size. Relax, I left mine back at your house. You can keep them!" Marisa couldn't take it anymore. She gets on her broom and shouts "I'm gonna GET YOU!" as she started chasing Yuki. Then Yuki starts flying away as fast as she could and crying "come on~! Those were my best pair, and I'm giving them to you!" Yumeko slaps her forehead, grunting and saying "she's such a child."

Ignoring the skirt-less Yuki and the angry Marisa, Shinki and Reimu walk through the recently revived forest, talking about the situation. "So they opened that gap at the same time we opened the gate? Well, it's now permanently reopened." says Reimu casually. Shinki stops to admire one of the trees and says "yes. He just woke up this morning, shouting with excitement about going back home. You know, you have really wonderful friends there... although a bit strange." Reimu lets out half a smile and says "you want to go and see Alice, I assume?" Shinki turns to face Reimu in shock, thinking "how did she know?" then places her hands on her chest and says "yes... I'd like that, if it's..." Reimu scratches the back of her head while saying "as long as you demons don't start invading Gensokyo again, you may come and visit." Shinki was overwhelmed and hugged Reimu in an impulse. Reimu, of course, was surprised and blushing, she asks "hey... what's the deal here?" Shinki backs away with a smile, blushing a little and saying "err... sorry, I don't know what came over me." Reimu then sighs and says "well, I'm sure Ail and Maribel are back home waiting for us so... wait. I though Sanae and Renko were headed here along with us." Shinki gasps and says "oh, right before you came in, we heard Ail shouting." Reimu looks back and narrows her eyes and says "dammit... I hope they're alright."

Back at the gate, Yumeko and Sakuya were having a small conversation. "So short skirts like that are mandatory to your mistress?" asks Yumeko. Sakuya gracefully bows her head a little and says "I don't mind. It keeps me quite cool during summer. What about you? Such a long skirt must be torture during the hot summer days." Yumeko smiles and says "not at all. Lady Shinki always keeps the temperatures here very comfortable, so we don't need to worry about climate changes." Both maids giggle then turn their faces away from each other. Yumeko thinks "short skirts like that are a disgrace to refined women everywhere" while at the same time Sakuya thinks "long skirts only look good on old hags anyway!" They turn to face each other again with a smile then Sakuya asks "clothes aside, my job is pretty tough. Having to clean, fix things, prepare meals, make sure everything runs smoothly... waking up the mistress during the evenings. It's really tiring, but I can stop time and finish everything in an instant, and I can even make the space inside the mansion change in size, so I guess it's a little easier on me that way." Yumeko giggles and says "my what a surprise. I do the same thing, except my lady Shinki wakes herself up early in the morning, and she sometimes prepares her meals herself. She's the prefect lady." Sakuya gets a bit annoyed and says "well, my Lady Remilia is kind and sweet and goes to bed early, and she even dresses herself... sometimes." Yumeko smiles and says "my lady Shinki takes care of herself quite well, AND she's very polite and kind to others as well. She... she might not need me after all... *sob*" Sakuya smirks and says "well my mistress depends on me a lot too, so... so you might say I have not time for myself, even though I can stop time around me... *sob*" Both maids look at each other and try to smile at each other, but end up hugging each other and crying, Yumeko saying "My lady Shinki doesn't need me~!" and Sakuya shouting "My lady Remilia's going to be the end of me~!"

Kyo was sitting by the gate, grumbling angrily and thinking "after all this, he didn't need my help. I could have gone back for Luna, but no... I chose to help my friend, when he didn't NEED any help. This is just great!" Just then, Sara walks close to him, then sits next to him and asks "why the long face?" Kyo sighs and says "I think I made the wrong choice, but it's not like I can go back in time and fix it." Sara gets a bit closer and says "I see. What choice was that?" Kyo places his left hand under his cheek and rests his head on it and says "a choice between a friend or a... another friend." Sara, sounding a little flirty now says "friends forgive friends, you know that? Just calm yourself down and you'll be fine." Kyo realizes that by now, Sara's face was just inches away from his. He blushes and springs up, then says "err... I better go find Reimu and ask her what to do now. Err.. see you, thanks for the advice. Bye." Without realizing it, he flies away pretending to go look for Reimu. Sara swoons and smiles as Kyo flies away, but just then Luize comes from behind a large stone and says "I saw all that." Sara gets the shock of her life, springing to her feet in a second, her face turning blue and stuttering "L-L-Luize.. umm... err, I was just... g-g-giving advice... that's all, heh heh!" Luize smirks and says "of all the creatures you could get a crush on... you get on on that human. Well, he is hot!" Sara recovers herself and glares at Luize after she finished her sentence, Luize glaring back. Both chuckle then Sara says "don't even think about it. I have a better shot at him than you do, sister." Luize replies "think again, young lady! I have a much better chance than you ever will." Both stare at each other, sending sparks through their eyes that explode when they meet through mid-air.

Meanwhile, Marisa and Mai chase Yuki, who somehow managed to put her skirt back on while flying away from the other two. "Come on, you guys! I am innocent, I tell you!" shouts Yuki. Mai shouts back "just stop already!" Marisa then says "I'm gonna get you!" Yuki stops flying away, and very suddenly, she launches an arch of fireballs at Mai and Marisa. Both swerve, avoiding the fireballs, then continue chasing her. Marisa sniffs around and then notices Mai's hair was on fire. "Hey... Mai, was it? You're hair's on fire" calmly said Marisa. Mai complains "hey, have the decency to remember my name please... wait, what?" Marisa points at her and once again, in a very calm tone she says "your hair's on fire." Mai pats her hair and realizes the fire was spreading. She yelps and dives down to the lake below, screaming as she did. She she comes back up after just a few seconds, she had a fish biting her butt, and another on her foot. Marisa stops chasing Yuki to help out Mai, knocking the fish away. "Thanks... I owe you one." says Mai, as she recovers from the shock. Marisa smiles and says "no problem... but don't forget. You owe me one, ze." Mai whimpers at the though of what she has possibly gotten herself into. From behind, Kyo comes flying by casually, having escaped Sara. Marisa stares at him for a while, which annoys Kyo. "What!? Do I have something in my face?" Marisa continues to stare, then Mai, sounding annoyed says "hey... what's the matter with you now?" Marisa shakes her head a little then says "I didn't know you could fly!" Kyo looks back at her suspiciously and says "fly? What are you talk-" Suddenly Kyo realizes he's flying. He panics and grabs hold of Marisa's broom shouting "AAHH, don't let me fall!!!" Mai calmly says "you two obviously never used a power amplifier, am I right?" Kyo thinks for a moment "power amplifier?" then says "Oh yeah, the belt I won off Agava!" Mai smiles and says "ahh, so you just got that, huh? Well I won't tell you how to use it, but I can tell you now that your power will increase beyond it's limitations, and by the looks of this one..." she inspects the amplifier more closely "...it's already been treated and filtered, so there won't be any side-effects." Mai smile once more as she backs away, holding her arms behind her back and giggling. Marisa then says "Kyo, you cheater... Can I borrow it?" "NO" immediately responds Kyo. Yuki gets closer to them and says "what, no more chasing?" Marisa wraps her arm around Yuki's neck, knocks her hat off and starts pressing her fist on her head, twisting it as she did. "This is for switching my drawers without asking!"

From the gate, Reimu's voice echoes "Marisa, Sakuya, Kyo!" In just minutes, everyone gathers at the gate. Reimu looked concerned as she said "we have to go back, now!" Marisa feels something was wrong with Reimu and asks "Reimu, did something happen?" Reimu looks back at Marisa and says "Both Sanae and Renko never made it through, or didn't you notice?" Marisa gasps and says "you think they got stuck in the gate!?" Sakuya gets closer to Reimu and says "I see. You hope that's the case, don't you?" Kyo shouts "what are we standing here for, let's go!" Without thinking about it, Kyo flies inside the gate. Reimu was very surprised and says "wait, did he just..." "...fly" continued Marisa. "Yeah, I was as surprised as you. Now come on!" and with that, she enters the gate. Sakuya sighs in a very disappointed fashion and says "so much for sight-seeing" then heads inside. Just before Reimu goes inside, Shinki lightly pulls her by the shoulder and looks into her eyes. Reimu says "fine~! You can go inside, but no more traveling agencies!" Shinki smiles and says "thank you." Reimu was just about to enter the gate when she turns her head and says "if you wait for a few days, me or someone of trust will get you to Alice's house, alright?" then she smiles and enters the gate. Yumeko asks "Lady Shinki, you're going into Gensokyo?" Shinki was smiling so much, it looked like her cheeks were about to expand as she said "we get to visit Alice!" Yuki smirks and she places her hand on Mai's shoulder and says "now that we can go in and out of Gensokyo again, I got some wicked awesome things to show you!" Mai sighs and tries to force a smile as she said "I can hardly wait."

When Reimu comes out the gate on Gensokyo's exit, she looks around, but fails to see Ail, Maribel, Sanae, or Renko. Orin, looking as though she was about to cry, grabs Reimu's hands and asks "where is he!? Is he dead?" Reimu closes her eyes and tries to think, then opens them again, and feeling confused and sad she replies "I truly don't know what happened to them this time." Kyo was a bit angry, but he wouldn't show it. He hovers for a moment, then flies away saying "I'm gonna go look for Luna." Sakuya bows, lifting her skirt a little as she did and says "I'm sorry, Reimu, but since I failed my mandate, I must report to my mistress immediately." Reimu turns around and nods, then Sakuya leaves, heading back to the mansion. Nitori was too busy inspecting the reasons as to the machine's explosions to notice what was going on. Mima gets close to Marisa and Reimu and says "it's not your fault. You did what you though was right." Reimu lowers her head and closes her eyes while Marisa looks at Mima and says "but lady Mima, if we hadn't tried, they would be-" Mima pats Marisa on the head and says "don't think like that child. You just wanted to help." Arriving at the scene, Yorihime, Mystia and Eirin come with some cups of tea, offer them to Reimu, Marisa and Orin, who was pacing around with her wheelbarrow, then Eirin says "perhaps we should head back to the shrine, calm down a bit, and think calmly for a moment." Accepting the cup and immediately taking a gulp of tea, Reimu nods and says "yeah, let's go back." Just then, a flash of light startles everyone at the site. All cover their eyes and try to see what was going on, but the light was too bright, so all they could do was wait for it to dim to see what was going on.

Waking up with his face on the ground, Ail groans and tries to get up, but feels heavier for some reason. He decides to stay on the ground a little longer. He looks to his right and sees Renko and Maribel, lying next to him with their eyes closed. He gasps and tries to get up, then realizes that Sanae was lying on top of him with her eyes close as well. He panics and gets up, managing to grab hold of Sanae by her shoulders before she fell down. He shakes her a bit while saying "Sanae... Sanae, are you ok? Wake up!" Sanae start to moan a little, then opens her eyes. "Where... what happened?" Ail sighs with relief and says "I don't know. Let's wake up the others now." When Sanae realizes Ail was holding her, her face turns red, but to her luck, it was too dark for Ail to notice. She stands up as Ail asks "are you sure you're alright? Don't you need to sit down for a bit first?" Sanae shakes her head and says "it's ok, I'll be just fine." Ail turns to Maribel and Renko, shaking them a bit, saying "hey, are you guys alright? Wake up." Renko and Maribel moan a little before waking up. Maribel immediately sits up and looks around. Everything was dark. The sky had only a few visible stars and there was no moon in sight. Purple, gray and black clouds covered most of the skies, there were no live trees, nor animals, and the only sound that could reach them was the sound of some distant wailing and the howling of the dead winds. Just as Renko gets up, Maribel cries "where are we!? This place is so sad. Please, get us out of here mister Ail!" Renko kneels beside her friend and says "shh, shh, it's alright Mary. Ail... err, any ideas?" Ail and Sanae both look grim when Ail says "I can't use my gaps at all. Something's very wrong... this place feels familiar, but at the same time..." Sanae adds "it's too dark here. Maybe we should wait for daytime before we start moving." Renko looks up and says "that's odd..." Maribel says "Renko? What's wrong?" Renko looks confused at Maribel, then back at Ail and Sanae and says "well, from what little I can see of the stars... we're supposed to be on the top of the Youkai Mountain. To be more precise, on the lake at the Moriya shrine." Sanae looks very confused and says "even in this darkness I can tell... this isn't my shrine, or anywhere near it." Renko sighs and says "maybe I'm mistaken. But it's so strange. Even with those few stars in view, I am certain I can pick up our location." Maribel hugs her friend and says "it's ok, Renko. We can all make mistakes. Miss Sanae is right though..." she lets go of Renko "... maybe we should wait for the sun to-" Ail was pointing up above him and says "I'm afraid that it IS daytime. Look." When the three girls look up, they see a brown rock out ins space, sending out very few sparks of fire and barely visible, where the few sparks wouldn't reach..

Ail looks seriously at the others and says "let's stay together and move on, now." Renko despairs and says "but we can barely see. The only reason I can see YOU is because of that bright cloak of yours." Sanae exclaims triumphantly and says "Ah~, I see. We'll use his cloak so we don't get separated." Maribel giggles and says "it's a good thing you two are so smart!" Renko gets shocked, then glooms down and says "she called me dumb. I'm a dummy!" Maribel pats Renko on the back and says "please, calm down Renko. I didn't mean that. I'm sorry~!" Holding hands with Sanae, Ail walks to Maribel and Renko and says "let's stay together now. Don't worry, I know we will find a way out of here... wherever here is." Renko perks up almost immediately and says "alright. Let's go then." Maribel cheers, wiggling her ears and says "yay~! Renko, you're happy again!" As Renko grabs hold of Maribel's hand, who was holding Sanae's free hand, she asks "Mary...? What's with this tail..? And those ears!?"

After walking for what seemed like half and hour, the party of 4 arrive at an old abandoned building site. All that was left of the building were a few pieces of rotten lumber on the center of a stone court, a hole to the right side of the court, and a red column that looked as if it was part some something much bigger, however it was also decayed and looked like an old red stump. "Where are we now?" asks Ail as they enter the stone courtyard. Renko looks to the skies and says "this is so strange... we should be in the Human Village at Gensokyo by now." Sanae looks around and says "this... place is very familiar." Ail nods and says "yeah. Feels like I've been here before." Renko and Maribel go and investigate the old building site as Ail and Sanae continue walking toward the large hole. When they stare down the shallow hole for a moment, they realize they were still holding hands. They look at each other, barely able to see each other. Sanae giggles and gently pulls her hand away, saying "I think we'll be safe now." Ail nervously chuckles and says "y-yeah, you're right, heh heh." As they investigate the hole and it's surroundings, Ail suddenly gasps and says "I... I know this place... but... NO! It can't BE!" Sanae gets worried and places her hand on Ail's shoulder and shouts "what!? What is it!?" Suddenly Maribel screams and starts to cry. Ail's eyes go blank for a moment, then turns around. Sanae and Ail both run toward Maribel and Renko and find Maribel kneeling on the ground, sobbing and crying uncontrollably, while Renko stands next to her, trying to comfort her. Sanae gets closer and asks "what's wrong!? What- Oh no...!" Ail walks closer and says "it seems... this is... or was, the Hakurei Shrine." Ail is unable to hold it in and lets go if his tears as he says the shrine's name. Sanae was beyond fear as she spots one of Reimu's spell cards, stained in old dried up blood, lying on the ground beside half of one of her sleeves.

After managing to calm Maribel down, Renko pulls her friend up as Ail says "this... there's no mistake. We are at the Hakurei shrine... but I don't understand! Why is the shrine destroyed?" Sanae adds "and why is everything so dark? Even the sun seems affected by this darkness." Renko, while still holding Maribel up says "maybe... we're in another dimension." Maribel sniffles and tries to speak "mi-mister Ail, m-maybe we d-did something wrong *sob*" Ail thinks for a moment then looks up at the darkened sky and says "only one thing to do for now. Let's find someone... if there IS someone alive, and ask what happened here." Maribel gulps and says "I can't see the barrier anymore." Renko pats her on the head and says "well, without the Hakurei shrine, that's an obvious fact." Maribel shouts "I don't like it! Ail, take us back! I'll shoot and you take us back!" Maribel frees herself from Renko and shoots some small dim heart-like energies at Ail, who ducks down just in time, but this time, not even that helped. No gap opened up. Ail even tried forcing one open, but his energy reacted to Maribel's lingering energy and pushed him back with great force, crashing against an dead tree, tearing it to pieces as he did. Sanae runs to him, calling out his name. Ail rubs his head and groans as he gets up, then realizes that not only the decaying tree was destroyed, but the ground under him cracked. "Are you alright?" asks Sanae, extending her hand to him and says "here, let me help you." Ail smiles as he accepts Sanae's help. Their eyes must have settled to the darkness since they were able to see into each others eyes as Sanae helps him up. They blush when Ail thanks her, but the moment was cut short as the crack created by Ail's impact started to expand, then entire mountain started to tremble. "What the?!" exclaims Ail. Renko shouts "The mountain is collapsing! We need to get out of here!" Without a second to waste, Maribel grabs Renko and starts flying, surprising her friend who asks in shock "Mary!!? You can fly!?" Ail and Sanae lift off into the air just as the ground under them crumbles and collapses. In just a fraction of a minute, the entire mountain turns to pebbles on the ground. Maribel started to cry again, so Ail rushes to her and grabs Renko, so Maribel could stay up, however Sanae still grabbed her in case she fell. With a cracking voice, Ail says "let's look for someone to explain all this." and so, using his light-blue cloak as a beacon, Sanae follows him, carrying Maribel who had completely succumbed to grief."

As they flew, they were able to make out many of Gensokyo's landmarks. The Human Village was reduced to a large crater on the ground. The Bamboo Forest of the Lost looked like an eerie graveyard, and the only remains of Entei was a piece of the gate that marked the entrance to the mansion. The Forest of Magic looked like a petrified forest. Kourindou, Marisa, Alice and Ail's houses were gone from sight, and the Youkai Mountain, once so full of life, was dark and dead now. The waterfall had dried up, ending the river's life as well; the tengu were nowhere in sight, the kappa were also gone, but one thing caught their eyes... the only building in all Gensokyo that was still standing. The Moriya Shrine.

"Look, Ail! It's my shrine!" shouted Sanae. Ail looks back at her and says "let's go see!" They land and are immediately greeted by howling winds. The stone courtyard was a mess, some parts of the floors were broken or missing, the huge logs that once adorned the shrine were now reduced to small decaying stumps on the ground, but the shrine itself looks as it always had, except for one very large charm stuck on the door. Sanae hesitantly gets closer and shouts "l-lady Yasaka!? Lady Moriya? Is anyone here!?" Ail places his hand on her shoulder, then she turns around and says "I know... they may not even be here... but it doesn't hurt to hope, right?" While Ail and Sanae head to the shrine, Renko stays behind with Maribel and watches the small patch of stars visible through the clouds. She studies them cautiously and realizes something. She gasps, startling Maribel. "Renko, what is it!?" asks Maribel, sounding desperate. Renko turns to her friend and says "it's not where... but when..." Maribel gets very confused but Renko ignores her and shouts "Ail, it's not where, but when are we!!" Ail turns around a bit and shouts back "what do you mean by that!?" At that very moment, Sanae breaks the charm sealing the door and opens it. Inside, sitting next to the small table were the pale, ghostly shapes of Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya, glowing an eerie green light around them. Sanae lets out an "uh-oh" that catches Ail's attention, so he looks inside, spotting the ghostly figures. Suwako and Kanako's ghosts turn their sights to Sanae and Ail and begin to wail in a sad tone, but the wailing was hurting Sanae and Ail's ears. The ghosts get up and spin in the air just before lunging toward Ail and Sanae. Both get really pale and immediately run away, both shouting "RU~N!" Maribel and Renko look at them wondering what was going on, until the see the ghosts, flying right behind them. Maribel and Renko look at each other and scream "GHOSTS!" and start to run. Ail grabs Maribel while Sanae grabs Renko and fly away as fast as they could, but Kanako and Suwako's ghosts continued to follow them.

They flew for a few minutes, still running away from the ghosts when Ail shouts "Sanae, let's get closer to the ground, by the dead trees!" as they fly above the dead Forest of Magic. Sanae nods and follows Ail down, the ghosts following them closely. When they reach the trees, they swerved around to avoid crashing. The trees may have been dead, but they hoped they would still offer some cover. Ail hides behind one tree, Sanae doing the same at the tree adjacent to his. Both hold Maribel and Renko close, hoping the ghosts would just pass them by, however they didn't. Ail peeks around, but doesn't see the ghosts anywhere. "I think we lost them" he calmly said. Sanae sighs and both Maribel and Renko try to stand up straight, but were till to shaken by the whole ordeal to keep on their feet, so they kneel on the ground and Renko shouts "what the hell HAPPENED HERE!?" Ail turns to Renko and asks "what did you mean when you said 'when, not where'?" Renko was about to reply when the two godly ghosts materialize right behind Sanae and Ail, push them back, then get inside Renko and Maribel's bodies. Both girls spring up, Renko shouting "get OUT of my BODY you-!" and Maribel whimpering "ooh, this is NOT good! I got a... eh-?" Suddenly both stay quiet for moment, then close their eyes while still on their feet. Ail and Sanae get up shouting their friends names, when suddenly, Renko opens her eyes. They were glowing the same eerie green glow as the godly ghosts, then when Maribel opens hers, they too were glowing.

Ail shouts "Maribel, Renko!? You two ghosts better get out of there or I'll-!" Suddenly, in Suwako's tone of voice, Maribel says "ugh... it feels weird being in a body again." then Renko, in Kanako's tone of voice says "well at least we can speak to them!" then Suwako adds "ahh, I STILL look younger than you, at least!" Kanako shouts back "you're STILL and ancient froggy fossil, you short hag!" Suwako gets annoyed and says "you wanna fight, you wrinkled snake!" Sanae shouts "STOP THIS FIGHTING AT ONCE!!!" Both girls look down to the ground in shame and say "we're sorry~!" Ail was confused for a moment then says "wait... you possessed them so you could talk to us, am I right?" Suwako says "yeah. Sorry we scared you like that, but seeing Sanae again, after all these long years... Sanae." Kanako sniffles and says "but... you look as young as we remember you. How can that be?" Both Ail and Sanae look really confused. Sanae gets closer and says "Lady Yasaka, what happened?" Kanako and Suwako look at each other and say "you never returned" at the same time. Sanae was still confused, then Ail says "I think you better explain..."

"After you left to look for those humans in Makai, you never came back." said Kanako, sounding almost depressed. Suwako smiles as the touches Sanae's face, saying "warm and kind, just like I remember." Kanako clears her throat and says "as I was saying, when you didn't come back we got really worried, so we went into Makai ourselves, but we couldn't find you. After that, there was this knight in crystal armor terrorizing Gensokyo." Suwako pats Kanako on the head and says "so we tried to help out, but we were too distraught over losing you, and eventually... we..." Kanako sits down and said "we got really depressed, so we locked ourselves in the shrine, hoping to vanish any day, but something happened." Ail waits for them to continue and says "did you cause all this?" Kanako shakes her head and says "but we might as well have. We lost our minds instead of just our bodies and went in a rampage." Suwako points up and says "but I somehow managed to come back to my senses and stopped Kanako, right before she killed Marisa, then I asked Reimu to use whatever means she could to seal us inside the shrine, and very shortly after that..." Kanako continues saying "after that there was a war here. Since we were locked up, we didn't know what was it all about. All I could make out was Agava's energies getting out of control once again, and then years and years of screams and deaths... then suddenly this silence. After that..." Suwako continues "we don't know anything else. We don't even know how long has it been since then." Sanae was crying when she asks "but-but... are you saying this is the future!?" Kanako lowers her head and says "future. That word means nothing now, as you can plainly see." Suwako then says "I see now... oops, we're overstaying our welcome." Kanako shouts "Ail, that cloak, please, let us have it. We don't have much time. These bodies will be destroyed if we stay too long in them!" Ail asks "My cloak?" Suwako hurriedly says "yes, it has godly powers! Please let us have it so we can finally leave this place!" Suddenly both goddesses leave the bodies and turn back to ghosts, wailing and flying around Ail. He pulls his cloak off and hands it to them. Both slip inside it and suddenly, in a big flash, they shoot to the skies, splitting the clouds apart, turning into a bright star.

Shortly after the goddesses disappear, the crystal on Ail's cloak falls from the skies, shinning white now. He looks at it as a tear falls form his cheek, then pockets it. Maribel and Renko were staring toward Ail with a very sad look on them, then he turns around an looks at Sanae. Her eyes were empty as she stared blankly forward, completely lost in her thoughts. Ail gets closer and gently asks "Sanae? Are you-?" Sanae lunges at him and wraps her arms around his neck and started to cry "NO~! Lady Kanako! Lady Suwako! Why!?" She continues to cry uncontrollably on Ail's chest, as Maribel and Renko kneel down, Renko grabbing hold of some dirt and opens her hand, watching as the dirt turns to ash and blows away.

Sanae fell asleep after a few hours, followed by Maribel. Ail had placed a barrier under them that acted just like a bed would. "I never knew I could do that." said Ail as he continues to look around. Renko gets close and says "so what should we do now?" Ail turns to face her and says "well, we know we are in the future, but how far into the future? Kanako and Suwako couldn't tell us in time." Renko looks up as the clouds cover up the bright start that was created by Kanako and Suwako just hours before and says "it could easily be a thousand years at least." Ail looks at her curiously and asks "how can you tell?" Renko looks at him and says "there's a theory that says the planet's axis moves very slowly, and it takes years and years before anyone can notice the change. Since the stars have changed their position so much, I can only assume the theory is correct, and that we are, indeed, a few thousand years into the future of this planet." Ail smiles and says "you simply are amazing. Well we should get moving now." Renko nods and then says "hey, Ail. I'm sorry." Ail looks back at her curiously again then she says "I... that is, when you were lost in Makai with Maribel, I thought..." Ail lowers his head and tries to cover the fury in his eyes and says "you're not the first one to think that about me. Apology accepted..." Renko looked at him with concern so he tells her in a more casual tone "I mean it. It's ok." Renko smiles, and Ail turns around to wake up the others. He shakes Sanae by her shoulder saying "hey... sorry to wake you, but we have to get going." Renko heads to Maribel and wakes her up as well. Sanae sits by the edge of Ails soft bed-like barrier and says "why bother? Why even bother going back. Look at this place! Look at what happened to Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako!" Maribel gets up saying "if this is the future of our home, I rather just stay here..." Ail pulls Sanae up and calls off the barriers. He places his hand on both girls' shoulders and says "listen to me. The future is never set in stone. This place... this is a POSSIBLE future. Sanae, you heard what Suwako and Kanako said. They turned that way because you were not there!" Sanae lifts her sighs in realization of Ail's words. Maribel asks "but what about the rest of Gensokyo?" Ail smiles and says "Well... when we go back home, let's do our best to NEVER let this happen. Remember... the future is NEVER set in stone. Time goes many ways, and it will be up to us to make it go the way we want to... prevent this horrible future from ever becoming a reality." Maribel started to tremble. For a moment, Ail though she was about to start crying, but she lifts her head up with determination in her eyes and says "then let's find a way back to OUR home, in OUR time. I want to make sure something like this never happens. Right?" Renko smiles and pats Maribel on the head, then Ail says "well then, let's look for a way back then."

To be continued...
Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Kyo, Agava and Luna were created by Willie G.R.

AUG 20 2009
written by
Willie G.R.

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