Another Misplaced Sukima P-9

After realizing that Sanae and Renko were missing, Reimu called back the entire Makai search party and headed back into Gensokyo, and upon arriving back at Gensokyo she realizes that Sanae, Renko, Ail and Maribel were missing, and there wasn't a clue to point to their unknown destination. A bright light covers the area where the new gate to Makai opened, but nobody could see what was causing it. Ail, Sanae, Renko and Maribel wake up in a dead dark world, where even the Sun was just a mere shadow. Soon they discovered they were actually inside Gensokyo, and after an unexpected meeting with the goddesses from the Moriya Shrine, they discovered they were in the future, however, how far into the future, they could only guess.

Flying above the crater that used to be former human village, Ail, Sanae, and Maribel, who held Renko in her arms, were hoping to find something that will lead them back to their own time, however they decided to land on the crater that replaced the village to rest for a moment and think. Ail pulls, from inside his pockets, a peach, and an apple and offers them to the girls. He looks at them and laughs, saying "don't worry, these one aren't cursed. I picked them myself, from that forest we revived at Makai." He smiles as Sanae picks the fruits, and using her own gohei with incredible skill, she cuts them in four equal pieces each. Ail looks astonished at Sanae's skill with that gohei and says "I'm glad I'm on your side." Sanae giggles and says "just a little trick I picked up from lady Kanako. Want a bite?" She offers a piece of apple to him, but he waves his hand and says "please, don't mind me... I'm not hungry at all." Maribel bites off a piece of peach, then says "mister Ail, that's the same thing you said to me in Makai when we were lost..." Renko asks "what happened after?" Maribel smiles and says "he collapsed out of exhaustion right in front of me and miss Sara." Sanae looks at her in disbelief and says "you don't have to sound so cheerful about it." Ail laughs and says "I'm serious. I don't know why, but I don't feel the need for food." For a moment, the three girls stood quietly staring at him, then he gets a little agitated and says "just eat already..!" The girls react by stepping back a little. Ail bows his head and says "I'm sorry. Err, I just want to go home already, and I'm a little worried. The only place we haven't tried visiting is the Scarlet Devil Mansion. I don't know what we'll find in there, so I want you at your best, in case of anything." Sanae kept staring at him with a piece of apple in her mouth, still unable to bite down as she looked worriedly at Ail. Ail places his hands on her shoulder and says "I swear, I'm alright. Please, eat." He backs away while smiling at them. All three felt better when he smiled for some reason, so they eat their fruit and immediately lift off, heading straight to the Scarlet Mansion.

Upon arriving at the mansion, the first thing they notice is half the mansion had collapsed, and the basement seems to have caved in. Ail signals the girls to wait as he opens the creaky door. He looks inside, but it was too dark to see, so she uses one of his barriers and turns it into a ball on his hand, generating enough light to see. He signals the girls to head inside and says "stay on your guard and whatever happens don't get separated." First thing they notice when they enter was the missing stairs to the second floor, and a great portion of the second floor itself was missing. The carpets, floors and walls were stained in blood. Everything was covered in dust, and inside, the darkness seems to take over everything, including the four human's hearts. Ail signals them to fly to the floor above, and silently, they all fly above, Maribel carrying Renko and landing softly on the aged carpeting. Immediately after landing, a door slowly creaks open. Ail extends his arm and hands Sanae the light orb he had made with his own energy. He makes a smaller one and goes to explore a head after he whispers "I'll check it out. Follow when I signal." Ail slowly approaches the door and peeks inside. He turns around and signals the others to follow, but right after that, a pair of red eyes tower above him accompanied by a loud hiss. Ail turns around, but receives a large blast straight at his face, sending him back to the first floor. Sanae shouts "AIL!" and immediately follows, Renko and Maribel behind her. Sanae shakes Ail, who had fallen to the ground sitting unconscious, bleeding through a small cut on his forehead. "Ail, please wake up!" shouts Sanae, but the towering red eyes were upon her. She turns around and grabs her gohei, waves it and blows the dark figure away. She pulls out a spell card from her pocket on her skirt and shouts "Esoterica - Gray Thaumaturgy" A pair of Star, one blue and one white, materialize, then split into 10 more, then they disperse, sending countless shot toward the dark figure, who simply shoots really large energy balls at the smaller shots, blasting them long before they reached, then continues to sent a barrage of those large shots at Sanae. Sanae quickly materializes two more stars, these one red in color and uses them to block the unfriendly fire.

Behind Sanae, Renko and Maribel try to wake up Ail. "Come on, mister Ail, wake UP!" shouts Maribel, as Renko shakes him lightly and says "we need your help now!" Ail groans and immediately places his hand on his forehead saying "augh... my head!" Maribel desperately shouts "mister Ail! Miss Sanae needs you!" Just then, an explosion rattles the ground, making Ail spring up in surprise. When he looks in front, Sanae was barely able to hold on for much longer. He was about to attack when he suddenly starts shouting "only one creature is capable of such destruction with so little effort, am I right Flanny!?" Sanae's spell card times out, but at that very moment the opposing fire stops completely, then a woman shouts "of all the NICKNAMES! Only one human would dare call me that with a smile in his face! Ail!" Sanae looks with her eyes widely open at Ail and says "Ail? What's going on here!?" The woman's voice says "I'm so sorry, I though you were more vampire hunters! And honestly, I really needed to restock on some supplies too." Ail gets next to Sanae, then Maribel and Renko get closer too as the woman walks closer to them. She was wearing a tattered long red cloth with an old rope as a belt. Her long blond hair was a little dirty, and her vampiric red eyes revealed great exhaustion. She exclaims "Ail... big brother? How can this be!?" Ail walks toward her and hugs her saying "Flandre, I'm so glad to see a familiar face at last!" The other three girls looked a little confused, so Ail turns around and says "don't you recognize Flandre? Oh, that's right. You didn't come here as often as I did." Ail gets a good look at Flandre and says "wow, Flandre, you've grown up a lot, I see." Flandre smiles and says "oh, it's been so long since I heard someone actually talk to me. Come, come. We have much to talk about." Ail and Flandre start to fly to the second floor, but the other three girls were still in complete shock. Flandre turns around and says "come, please, come. I promise, I'm not gonna hurt you." then continues to the next floor. Sanae gulps and says "come on... Might as well follow them."

On the second floor, Flandre had turned one of the guest rooms into a small dinning room. From that room forward, the rest of the mansion was well lit and clean, although it was still going through decay and looked as though it would soon collapse. Flandre sits on the main chair of the long table and says "I'm so sorry I can't offer anything to eat or drink." Ail says "it's ok Flandre. Please, can you tell us what happened here? Why is Gensokyo in this state? What caused this destruction!? And how come you look so much older than I remember you!?" Flandre looks back at him with half a smile and says "if you weren't so cute, I'd throttle you." Ail suddenly realizes what he said. He sweats and bows his head, saying "ah... sorry I wasn't thinking!" Flandre giggles and says "that's ok. As for your questions... I have one of my own. How are you even alive at all? You even look as young as they day you disappeared! All of you!" Renko breaks her silence and says "we manage to somehow travel through time when we went through the gate to Makai and ended up here, in what we could call... our future." Ail was surprised that Renko answered so quickly, but just turns to Flandre and nods. Flandre then says "I see. So Patchy was right after all." They all look at Flandre a bit puzzled, so Flandre says "yes. From what I could understand, mixing the three energies at the same time, DURING the opening of the gate, caused a distortion inside the gate itself, sending you through time itself. Patchy used really complicated words, so I didn't understand much." Ail thinks for a moment then says "meaning that without Yukari... we are stuck her after all." He gets really depressed along with the others. Sanae tried to say something, but quickly closed her mouth and kept quiet. Flandre kept looking at all of them, tangles her fingers between each other in front of her face and says "now I didn't say that, did I?" They lift their heads to look at Flandre as she says "you must first know, it's been exactly 3245 years since you disappeared. Reimu and Marisa blamed themselves for trying to help you, and things were never the same." Ail gasps, then Renko says in surprise "3000 years!? But... that's impossible! The stars, they haven't even moved THAT much! Even some buildings... if it really was that long, nothing would even be-" "This entire planet hasn't moved an inch for two thousand years." interrupted Flandre. She smiles and says "let me tell you the story..."

"When you disappeared like that, Reimu and Marisa got really depressed, and blamed themselves for this. Their spirits were broken, and things only got from bad to worse, all in one single day." Flandre stretches her arms in front of her, making some loud cracking noises as she did, then continues. "That day, a creature in an armor made of crystal, appeared right on front of Reimu and the others. The woman from the moon tried to fight him, but the knight blasted her in an instant, enraging the nurse. She fought the knight for hours until Marisa and Reimu snapped out of their depression and were able to seal him. However the seal wasn't prefect, but nobody knew until it was too late. That knight came back about a month after, with an entire army or ghouls and demons, all in crystal armors as well. They were tough, but Reimu, Marisa and the goddesses from the second mountain shrine fought them off with ease, however those creatures had weakened the barrier around Gensokyo, and the two goddesses, for no apparent reason, locked themselves inside their shrine, only to come out just days later, attacking everyone and everything that moved. They killed half of the human villagers, and they almost got Marisa too, but somehow Marisa was spared, and Reimu sealed the two goddesses away in their own shrine. But that was just the beginning." Flandre looks at the others and ask "understanding so far?" They all nod, Maribel wiping the tears off her eyes and asking "how can all of that happen so quickly?" Flandre smiles and says "I once heard Patchy saying 'It takes one pebble to bring down a whole mountain.' I didn't understand what she meant back then, but now I do." Ail, looking very glum says "what happened next?" Flandre smiles again and says "this... is when things get interesting..."

"Everything seemed to have settled down and we had peace for about three months. After that, some humans from the outside world started entering through the barrier, but not even Reimu would notice. She and Marisa became very bitter, and were always flying around, preventing anyone or anything from causing trouble... they even went as far as killing or sealing anyone that would repeat an offense. So, by the time anyone noticed the barrier had been breached, it was too late. Humans from the outside brought science and religion into Gensokyo, and were hunting youkai down like ANIMALS!!! Calling us DEMONS and MONSTERS! Some would even torture their victims long before they killed them... it was terrible!" Flandre started to cry so Ail asks "Flandre, it's alright... you can stop if you-" but Flandre raises her hand and says "NO! I promised the ice fairy. She said it was important you knew what happened!" Ail opens his eyes wide and says "the ice fairy? You mean Cirno? Sh-she's alive!?" Flandre wipes her tears and says "like I was saying, those monstrous humans destroyed youkai everywhere. They even managed to kill Yuka, the flower youkai, with a horrible weapon they called 'gun'. The rest of us that were still alive tried to fight back, forming a small army to stop the humans, but it was useless. Their science was far beyond our own magic. After that, Reimu tried to use a very strange spell card, in order to wipe out all the intruding humans, but that gap youkai, Yukari, grabbed Reimu and disappeared with her. We suspected they went into Makai, but the gate was sealed off again that very same day. Marisa went insane when Reimu left like that. She was blasting all humans in sight, and Agava... that monster." Ail and Sanae both perk up when they hear Agava'a name in the story. Sanae asks "what about Agava?" Again, Flandre smiles and says "I was just getting to that."

Flandre starts clawing the table as she spoke "Agava used Marisa's grief and used her to kill all the humans inside Gensokyo, then she somehow regained her full power and she and Marisa went outside of Gensokyo and started destroying the large stone villages of the humans outside. Kyo and his friend, Luna, tried their best to stop them, but they all disappeared... all but Agava." Ail looks at Flandre directly and asks "Kyo? Kyo tried to stop them?" Flandre nods and continues "but they disappeared shortly after leaving Gensokyo, along with Marisa. Agava was the only one that was left, and right after killing the last human, the encased the whole planet in shadow and claimed it as her own. After that, the planet's yamas all banded together and brought down Agava, about two thousand years ago. Around the time the planet stopped moving and the Sun fizzled out." Flandre stops talking and quietly sobs. Ail asks "Flandre... why are you telling us all of this?" Flandre lifts her head and says "because the ice fairy said I had to!" Ail was surprised then asks "so... did Sakuya and the others die during that war with the humans?" Flandre gasps and says "I... before I tell you anything, promise you'll save onee-sama!" Ail gasps and asks "Remilia's alive too!?" Flandre shouts "PROMISE!!!" All jump on their chairs, then Ail nods slowly and says "er, yeah, I promise." Maribel looks at Flandre and says "please miss Flandre, you should wait a moment before telling us more. You look like you're going to explode." Flandre smiles at Maribel and says "that's so kind... You remind me of Mei-" Flandre lowers her head and says "this is what happened here..."

"Shortly after the religious groups entered Gensokyo, groups of human warriors created a monster hunting guild. A bunch of murderers, cutting the heads off our friends and displaying them on walls, like trophies! I HATE THEM!!!" Ail looks at Flandre with great concern and places his hand on hers. She clings on to his hand and says "I'm sorry. I'll just go on." Ail looks at Flandre with great concern, but allows her to continue. "Those monsters came here more than once. Sakuya fought them off every day, but she was getting exhausted and she never told us! We could have helped her more, but she just kept fighting them off on her own until she reached her limit, and one of those horrible hunters killed her slowly... she screamed so much... onee-sama had just finished dealing with their leader when she was able to get to Sakuya, but it was too late. She has lost so much blood. Sis tried turning her into a vampire, but it was just too late. Remi had her body buried under Me-.. Meiling's flower patch. She was never the same after that!" By now, Flandre was crying uncontrollably. She sniffled and gulped then says "don't stop me! You have to know! Two years after that, The entire guild game here after having killed almost all the other youkai out there, so Patchy came up with a plan to stop them, luring them to the basement, while Remi and I hid on the clock tower. All I remember was a rumble and a loud explosion. When everything quieted down, the basement had collapsed, and everyone inside was dead. Even Patchy, and Koakuma... and the maids..! After that, Reimu disappears like that, and my sister completely lost her mind! All she does now is spend every day inside her room... talking to herself. She thinks Sakuya and the others are still alive in there..." Ail was still holding on to Flandre's hand and asks "what about... Meiling?" Flandre grips Ail's hand tightly. He tried to free himself desperately, but her grip was too strong. He started making noises with his mouth, hoping Flandre would let him go. Unconsciously, she lets him go and says "please... don't hate me. Please" Ail was huffing his hand, so Maribel answers for him "don't worry. Mister Ail can't hate anyone, right?" Ail shakes his hand, and with some tears of pain, he nods and says a pathetic "yeah."

Flandre lowers her head and says "A few days after Reimu sealed that knight for the first time, I let Agava inside. She said she wanted to play, and I was bored, so I let her in... What a fool I was. She went into Patchouli's library when Patchouli went to have dinner and tricked me into reading a strange book. I don't remember what happened after that, but Sakuya told me my eyes turned purple and I started blasting everything for not good reason. I escaped the mansion and headed straight to the Human Village. Meiling was waiting for me there. She tried to talk me out of it, she tried very hard to stop me, but I-" Flandre started to cry again and shouts "I didn't mean to~!" Ail jumps up from his seat and shouts "Flandre, it's ok, you don't have to say it! Just calm down!" Flandre bangs hard on the table and shouts back "I promised the ice fairy! I bit Meiling's neck off!!!" Everyone at the table kept very quiet and only looked down as Flandre continued to cry and saying "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to!" Ail pats Flandre on the back to comfort her. After a few minutes, Flandre calms down and says "nobody told me this, but I have a vague memory of Meiling struggling with me, telling how much she loved me and then... that silence. I used to 'break' things and others and didn't even look back once, but when I saw Meiling like that..." again, silence inside the room. A sudden wind howl turns off the few candles lighting the small dinning room, so Ail creates another barrier to generate light. Flandre gets up and says "It's almost time. Ail, please keep your promise and save my sister!" Ail nods and says "I'll do everything in my power to save Remilia. Take me to her."

They head to Remilia's room. It was locked with many different locks and a seal, made with Flandre's own blood. As she opened the locks Flandre says "I never though I would be doing THIS for my own sister. It's a horrible feeling, but I had no choice." Ail pats her on the shoulder, then Sanae pates her back. Flandre closes her eyes and says "I'm so grateful... that I was able to be with others that cared for me one more time." then she suddenly opens the door. Inside the dimly lit room they see torn curtains, ripped carpeting, blood splattered all around the walls, portraits ripped open with claw marks on them, and on the floor, muttering nonsense and the names of Sakuya, Meiling, Patchouli and Reimu, was Remilia, wearing a dirty pink rag over her grown-up body. Her wings had holes on them, her hair was dirtied with old bloodstains, and when she turned around, her eyes were glowing scarlet, and her face looked twisted and perverse. She hissed at the door, then crouches next to some dolls she had made to look like Sakuya and Meiling. She says "Sa-Sakuya, there's an intruder... get him... get them all! Meiling, you stupid gate guard, why did you let them in-!? Shh, shh, don't cry Meiling, I'm sorry. You know I love you too. You just have to do a better job now. Patchy... get Meiling a spell to make her more alert!" Ail looks at the scene with grimace. He hands Flandre the light orb and says "whatever happens, don't come inside."

Ail walks slowly toward Remilia and softly says "Remilia? Remilia Scarlet? It's me. It's Ail. You remember me?" Remilia cackles then starts to cry, hugging herself tightly, then shouts and says "SAKUYA~~! Get this monster AWAY FROM ME~~!" She throws the Sakuya doll at Ail, which just bounces off his chest and falls on the ground, breaking to pieces. Remilia crawls away from Ail, breathing heavily and shouting "NO! Sakuya! Meiling, GET HIM! AVENGE SAKUYA!" She throws the Meiling doll, but it misses and crashes against a wall, shattering to pieces and falling to the ground. Remilia starts to hyper-ventilate and tries to crawl away, but only manages to corners herself. Ail slowly gets closer and extends his hand to her. She screams and calls for help, then swipes her claws at him, cutting the very tip of his finger. Ail backs away a little then says "is this it? This is Remilia Scarlet, the most powerful, charismatic vampire in the world? PATHETIC!" Remilia shivers as she slowly turns her face to Ail, but stops before facing him directly, only looking at him from the corner of her eye. Ail scoffs and says "so WEAK! And here I though you'd always be that charismatic being that would one day lead the world through to prosperity, but now LOOK AT YOU!" Remilia mumbles as she turns her face a little more. Ail shouts "what was that! I can't HEAR you over all that shivering! BAH! How pathetic. You turn to a sniveling coward that can't even keep her OWN sister some company. Why am I even wasting my TIME with you, you pathetic excuse of a living creature!" Flandre runs inside and punches Ail straight on the face and shouts "how can you be so MEAN!?" and from the doorway, Sanae adds "Ail, I'm so disappointed in you. I never knew you were this mean!" Remilia was looking straight forward now and spots her sister's eye. Flandre looks back and asks "onee-sama? Are you ok?" Suddenly, Remilia sees the ghostly figures of Sakuya, Meiling and Patchouli, all staring sadly at her. Sakuya says "my lady, I am so sorry to have caused you so much grief" Meiling sadly says "I failed you, my lady. Please forgive me!" Patchouli says "I sacrifice myself in order to save YOU, and this is how you repay me?" Remilia suddenly shouts "NO! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! I just missed you all so much!" The ghosts continue to look at her sadly, then Remilia scowls and says "I command you to SMILE AT ME! I already apologized to you and I'm gong to show you, I CAN and WILL fix this mansion. NO! I'll build a BETTER MANSION. You'll see the power of CHARISMA that only I posses!" The three ghosts smile and say at the same time "we'll be with you forever, my lady! Let's build the new mansion immediately!" then they vanish, revealing Flandre behind them, looking at her sister with concern.

Ail smiles as he gets up and says "welcome back, lady Remilia." Flandre turns around and says "what are you talking about!? Are you making fun of my sister now, you-!" "Flandre!" said Remilia in a commanding voice. Flandre turns around with great surprise and asks "Remilia? Onee-sama, is that you?" Smiling, Remilia says "I'm sorry sis. It seems I worried you a lot, but I'm ok now." Flandre start to cry again, then Remilia opens her arms, welcoming her sister to a much needed hug. Ail goes to the door and mockingly says "all she needed was a kick in the butt to see the world in front of her eyes." Maribel cheers and hugs Ail saying "I KNEW IT! You wouldn't be so cruel and mean unless there was a reason!" Sanae lowers her sight and says "I-I'm sorry, I though you were..." Ail smiles and says "don't worry... I though the same thing too."

Outside the mansion, the two vampires and the four humans stand just beyond the gate of the Scarlet Devil mansion. Remilia and Flandre charge up a colossal ball of energy together, then send it straight at the mansion, turning it into ashes, then they turn around and Flandre says "and now, we move forward to our next destination, right sis?" Remilia smiles and says "let's. And let's also make our next mansion BIGGER. Let's show them all our greatness, dear sister." Even in the darkness, seeing the two vampire sisters happy and together again brought much joy to the four humans. Flandre points toward the dried up Misty Lake and says "come with us. The ice fairy is waiting for you." All four look at Flandre and wonder what she meant, but regardless, they follow the vampires as they walk forward, into the empty lake. Ail was about to grab hold of them, but they disappear just as they set foot into the hole that is now the lake. Ail and the others look at each other with surprise, but without hesitation, they follow. When they cross the invisible door they find themselves in a very familiar lake, where there was still water, live trees and animals, sunlight, as bright as they remembered, and to their right, the two vampires, standing directly under the sunlight. Ail gasps and says "WAIT, won't you guys die!?" Both giggle as they start to vanish. Ail and Sanae gasp, while Maribel and Renko scream. Flandre says "don't worry, we'll be just fine. The ice fairy has allowed us into the new world she created. You must go and meet her now. And please, remember everything I told you." Just as they vanish, Remilia says "Ail, thank you very much for bringing me back to my sister." Her voice echoes as they disappear. For some reason, seeing them vanish like that made Ail and the others cry. He wipes the tears off and forces a smile saying "come on. Let's find Cir- I mean, the Ice Fairy." Sanae looks at him puzzled, but quietly follows.

They walk close to the lake's shore and right in front of them, an icy mist forms in the shape of a woman. Slowly, the mist solidifies, revealing a tall and beautiful ice fairy. She had long light blue wavy hair and wore a beautiful blue dress with a light-blue sash around her waist that she also tangled around her arms and her ice wings looked like 6 beautifully polished icicles. She extends her arms and says "Welcome, to the ethereal realm of Gensokyo." Ail adjusts his eyes then exclaims "Cirno!? Is that really you?" The ice fairy giggles and says "yes, it's me, Ail. Please, don't grieve for your friends. Right now, they are in a new world I made to be just like Gensokyo. They're already convincing the others to build them a castle I see." Ail shakes his head in disbelief and says "y-you can see all that from here?" Cirno smiles and says "I hope you all remember what you have seen and heard here today. It is important that you do, so you can prevent all of these terrible things form happening." Renko shouts "wait a minute! If you're so powerful, why didn't you restore this world!?" Cirno frowns and says "even with these powers of mine, I cannot revive something that is dead." Renko gasps and bows her head saying "I-I'm sorry, I said something terrible.. sorry!" Cirno smiles again and says "it's alright. I would have asked the same question, would I be in your position." Ail tries to hide behind the others, but Cirno says "Ail, we have to talk about one more thing before I leave this place." Ail starts sweating and hesitantly, he steps forward.

Cirno smiles at him and shows him a spell card. Ail looks at it and gasps, then says "Cirno... that's..." Cirno's smile vanishes when she says "I found this many years ago at your house. When Rinnosuke and Reimu saw this, they got very upset and tried to destroy it, however they couldn't. I did not understand why, at first, but now I do. Ail, this spell card you created breaks all the rules Reimu implemented!" Ail says "I know... it was an accident. They day I created it... So many things happened, and it just sort of materialized in my hand." Cirno reprehensibly asks "and did you use it?" Ail quietly nods. Cirno then says "let's not keep the others in the dark. You three, do you know what I have here?" Sanae says "that's the spell card that made Reimu really mad!" Maribel adds "I remember that. Ail crashed to the ground really hard right after using it!" Renko only looked on and asked "what about it?" Cirno says "this spell card is a very powerful one." Ail continues for Cirno, explaining the spell card "It's called 'Light Sign - Within the Jewel's Core'. It makes the user invulnerable to all attacks and unleashes enough energy to power up one-hundred suns, but at a great price." Cirno then says "It uses the life-force of the caster." Renko then says "but if that's the case, shouldn't Ail be-?" Ail nods and says "dead. I don't even remember creating this spell card. It just came to me in very desperate hour, so I unknowingly used it and..." Sanae then says "don't tell me you're-" From behind Cirno, SikiEiki says "no, he's not completely dead. Like Youmu Konpaku, Ail is half human, and half ghost." Cirno smiles as she turns to Siki and says "just one second, I want to tell them." Siki nods then Cirno says "Right before she disappeared, Reimu was going to use this spell card to rid Genskyo of all the intruding humans from the outside, but the gap youkai, Yukari Yakumo, came from behind, pulled her inside one of her gaps and disappeared with her into Makai, sealing the gate in the process. After that, the card came to me, but it was different, so I used it to create the new world in which your two vampire friends now reside and it didn't take my life, to my surprise." Ail was left in awe, his mouth open as he heard the whole story. Sanae walks next to him and says "Ail? Are you alright?"

Siki says "Lady Cirno, please. It's time you went in." Cirno smiles and bows. She turns again into mist, then disappears, leaving Siki and the four humans behind. Siki gets close to Ail and asks "Ail? What did I specifically tell you when I sent you back?" Ail bows his head, closing his eyes and says "to keep that card hidden from all until AFTER I became whole again." Siki glares at him and asks "and did you?" Ail sighs and says "no" then Siki uses her sword, bangs him hard on the top of his head and says "REPENT!" then backs away a little. Sanae kneels beside him as he rubbed his head in pain, saying "now I know how Komachi feels... it's horrible!" Sanae pats him lightly on the head and says "hey, why did you hit him like that?" Siki glares at her and says "he broke a promise to me. He should be thankful that's ALL I did." Ail sits up straight and asks "Siki, why did the goddesses, Flandre and Cirno tell us all that?" Siki says "Isn't it obvious, you meddling time-travelers?" Ail chuckles and says "right, that was a stupid question from my part." Siki glares at all four and says "I'm timeless, so when you go back, I want you ALL to report back to me at the Sanzu River, understand!? No Excuses!" Maribel asks "go back? You mean you can take us back home!?" Siki nods, and just like that, all 5 find themselves inside a tube-like vortex as Siki speaks. "You came to a terrible future, you heard the tales, you know what's going to happen. ALL OF YOU, I send you back to your own time-line, but YOU have to promise me that you will prevent this world from ever reaching such a dark and pitiful end. Did I make myself clear!?" All four nod and say "YES!" at the same time. Siki says "good. Remember, I want you at the Sanzu river after you're back to your own time." Siki starts to vanish as she says "and Ail, bring Reimu with you. We need to talk." Ail gulps, then gets up with Sanae's help, then both walk toward Renko and Maribel. All kneel down as the vortex continues to twirl around them. Ail looks at Sanae, then Renko, then Maribel and says "you heard the yama. All four of us have a very important mission." Maribel smiles and says "so let's make sure we complete it with lots of golden medals, so we can get a perfect, bright future." Renko chuckles and says "I don't know how much help I can be, I'm just a weak human, after all. But that shouldn't stop me from trying, right?" Maribel giggles as her ears twitch and her tail sways while she hugs her friend tightly. Sanae looks at Ail and says "maybe together we can accomplish something even better than 'perfect'. Right Ail?" Ail smiles and nods, then Sanae gets mad and says "and I want a FULL explanation about that spell card, understood mister!?" Ail shivers and salutes Sanae, saying "y-yes m-ma'am" Suddenly, Siki's voice says "welcome back home! Don't forget your promises!" Suddenly, the vortex vanishes, and all four start falling, screaming at the top of their lungs, straight at an ocean of warm light.

Back at Gensokyo's present, Reimu adjusts her eyes to looks at the bright light that had appeared right in front of them just moments ago. When the light vanishes again, everyone there spot a knight in a crystal colored armor, laughing and saying "now, this world will be MINE!" Reimu pulls out some charms and her gohei, but before she did anything else, another bright flash blinds all, then four loud screams, and a grunt from the knight. Reimu looks again, then exclaim "Ail, Sanae, Renko, Maribel!?" The four humans had fallen on top of the knight and all rub their heads and groan for a moment, then Ail says "it's the knight, GET HIM!!!" All four get up and piece by piece, they pull the knight armor off whiles creaming angrily at him, revealing a shaggy-looking man with a bag over his head and a wimpy voice, trembling and saying "is it getting cold in here!?" Ail shouts "YUKARI!" Yukari opens a gap right above the shaggy man, then Ail, Sanae, Renko and Maribel kick him at the same time, sending him inside the gap by force. Reimu, Marisa, Mima, Orin, Yorihime, Eirin, Mystia and Nitori all looks at the four humans in awe. They notice this, so they all raise their hands and say "hey" at the same time. Suddenly all, but Yorihime and Eirin, surround the four humans, giving them a big hug and celebrating their return home. After the hugs and greetings were done, Reimu grabs Ail by the ear and says "you and I need to have a SEROUS TALK, mister!" Ail whimpers then gasps and says "WAIT, Reimu we have to go to the Sanzu River right now!" Reimu shouts "oh, no, you're not escaping me that easy!" Sanae then says "but you have to come too. The girl with the golden sword said so!" Maribel then adds "hurry, or the world will die!" Reimu shouts "WHAT!? What are you all talking about!" Before she got her answers, Ail grabs her by her arms and says "we'll explain on the way!" then Maribel grabs Renko and flies along Ail, then Sanae says "please, wait for us, ok?" then lifts off into the air. Marisa gets a little mad then says "like HELL I will" and gets on her broom. Mima passes her hand by the broom, making Marisa fall down. When Marisa gets up growling and shouting "what was that for, ZE!" Mima calmly says "respect their wishes. Let's head to the shrine." She pats Marisa on the head and walks toward the shrine. Yukari gets into her gap, then Orin, Nitori, Mystia, Yorihime and Eirin all walk behind Mima. Marisa holds her hat down and says "fine, but I hope to get a full explanation after all of this!" then runs to catch up to the others.

From the gate of Makai, Yuki and Mai enter to Gensokyo. They notice the others leaving so they quietly hide behind some trees. After the others were out of sight, Yuki chuckles and says "this is gonna be fun. Let's go Mai. You'll LOVE messing with Alice, I promise!" Mai sighs and says "whatever. Just don't cause too much trouble." Yuki wraps her arm around Mai's neck and says "don't be so mean. Besides, I'm a perfect lady. I would never cause any trouble." Mai then says "good. I wouldn't want Lady Shinki to find out we came here without permission and make her mad at us." Yuki giggles and says "aww, you worry too much."

To be continued...
Characters and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Kyo, Agava, Luna and the "Light Sign - Within the Jewel's Core" spell card were created by Willie G.R. (any similarities are strictly coincidental)

AUG 21 2009
written by
Willie G.R.