Another Misplaced Sukima P-14

And so, Sakuya is still healing, Agava has infiltrated the mansion and has Flandre convinced she's her friend, and although Ail and Patchouli know of this, they are letting things roll as they are. Reimu still has very bad feelings when thinking about Budou, but she's trying to ignore it, seeing as Budou has no powers of her own... or so she thinks. Alice is trying to think of a way to have Yuki forgive her harsh words, and Aya, having found something out thanks to Momiji's sudden report, gets angry and asks Luna to come along with her, alone. Yorihime is excitedly waiting for Ail to come and take her back home, but it seems Eirin doesn't want her to go.

Ail and Budou land at the Hakurei Shrine, after having visited the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Once there, Reimu greets them, sounding almost annoyed. "Hey... something else happen?" Ail gets a little surprised and asks "whoa... bad night?" Reimu holds her forehead and says "bad morning." Ail sighs and says "then maybe it's better I don't tell you." Reimu sighs and says "go ahead. Might as well get it over with." Ail hesitates then says "Agava is with Flandre right now. We have to be vigilant. Anything could happen at any moment now." Reimu growls lowly and then says "great... What a SPLENDID timing." Ail looks worriedly at Reimu and says "look, Reimu. If you want to sit this one out-" As Ail and Reimu were talking, Budou stares curiously at Reimu, as if studying her. She walks quietly toward Reimu, stands next to her then signals her with her little hand to get closer. Ail looks on with wonder and asks "Budou? What's the matter?" Budou gently places her index finger on Reimu's forehead and gently passes her finger from one side of her forehead to the other, then to the other again, then places the palm of her left hand on the center of Reimu's forehead. It glows green. Reimu feels a bit warm and then suddenly, she springs up and says "WOW~! I feel so RELIEVED!" Reimu smiles and starts to humm, then Budou says "someone played a prank on my Hakurei sis, so I cleaned the dark out." Ail was amazed and asks "Bu-Budou, what are you talking about?" Reimu pauses, then looks at Budou and asks "what kind of power is that?" Budou looks a little worried and asks "did... I do something bad?" She was about to cry when Ail says "no, no, it's not that. You did really good. It's just, I didn't know you could do that." Reimu then asks "Budou? What did you see in me?" Budou thinks for a moment and says "there was this blue thing sending a really bad light to your heart, so I turned it into good light." She smiles almost angelically as she says this. Reimu looks at her with awe, and so does Ail. Both congratulate her, making her smile and giggle. Maribel wakes up and asks "oh my, mister Ail, miss Reimu, little Budou. Good morning." Budou smiles and raises her hands as she shouts with glee "cute kitty~!" Maribel smiles and wiggles her ears as she says "as adorable as ever, you cute little Budou, you."

After happily serving and eating breakfast, Reimu sits with Budou on her lap while drinking some tea and watching Mima and Renko sweep the last of the autumn leaves. "You know, it would be just as good if you helped up a little!" complains Renko. Reimu smiles and says "but you're both doing such a wonderful job. I wouldn't want to get in the way now. Right?" Budou giggles and says "ri~ght!" Mima sobs and says "no fair! She gets to play with Budou while I get to sweep rotten old leaves!" Still smiling, Reimu replies "well, you got to keep Maribel all to yourself last night." Meanwhile, inside the shrine, Ail and Maribel were talking about getting Yorihime back home. "...and so, I need your help again. It's pretty simple, really." says Ail. Maribel gulps and replies "but... you don't think we'll go inside one of those portals by force again? And end up somewhere else?" Ail sighs and says "well, now that I understand what's going on, I can safely say that won't happen. Don't worry, nothing bad will happen this time." Maribel thinks about it for a moment then says "ok, I'll help, but if we get sucked into another strange land, I'm gonna hold you responsible!" Ail chuckles and says "alright. Well, whenever you're ready, we'll head to Entei." Back outside, Renko and Mima switched from sweeping leaves to sword-fighting with their brooms. Reimu was feeling too happy to care, and dreamily cheers on.

At Entei, Mystia visits Yorihime very early in the morning. They talk for a while, Mystia trying to convince Yorihime to buy some more eels, even though she had already bought two boxed meals already. Eirin comes out of her room and immediately asks "Is he here yet?" Yorihime smiles at Eirin, but immediately notices Eirin's sad expression. She gets up and gets close to her saying "Eirin? Are you alright?" Reisen gets out of her room, then heads to the kitchen as she says "oh, good morning everyone. I'll make us some breakfast. Anything special you might... want? Master?" Eirin looks at Yorihime and asks "do you really have to go so soon?" Mystia gasps and asks "wait, why? Already?" Yorihime chuckles and says "Eirin, Mystia... I miss my sister very much, and I am very certain she misses me. Eirin, you know what will happen if I stay longer than I should, right?" Eirin sighs and nods and says "I guess you're right. Yorihime turns to Mystia and says "Mystia, I don't want you to feel sad, alright. I want you all to be happy for me. I get to go back home! Besides... I can come visit whenever I want, right?" Eirin nods as she wipes a tear from under her left eye, and Mystia looks down to her knees and says "I guess so..." Yorihime wraps her arm around Eirin's neck and pulls her down to sit with her, then wraps her other arm around Mystia and says "then smile for me, ok? No tears and no frowning. And if you behave, I'll bring Toyohime with me, and maybe a couple of souvenirs." Both Eirin and Mystia smile and laugh. Eirin then says "fine, I won't feel sad, but you gotta keep your promise, alright?" Mystia adds "and don't forget about me when you come back to visit, or I'll get mad." Reisen looks at them all smiling like that, then thinks "just a few days ago they looked so bitter. Specially lady Yorihime, but look at them now. Ah, it's so refreshing to see them smile like that." As she thinks all this, breakfast catches fire. Reisen wakes up from her thoughts and realizes this, panics, but manages to turn off the fire before it was too late, for both herself and breakfast. Eirin looks on from the living room with a smile and in a sweet tone of voice says "Udonge~. Careful not to burn anything or I'll have to punish you~!" Reisen shivers, but forces a smile as she nervously says "n-of course not, master! Everything is fine, see?" As she serves some rice on to the bowls she thinks "lucky Tewi isn't awake, or she'd take advantage of this."

Moments after breakfast, Ail, Budou and Maribel arrive at Entei from one of Ail's gaps. Immediately after arriving, Yorihime springs up and says "you kept your word!" Ail smiles and asks "so you ready to go home?" Yorihime closes her eyes for a moment and suddenly remembers her first days while in Gensokyo, remembering how she though they were planning to invade the moon, then how miserable and alone she though she was. She opens her eyes and smiles, then turns to Eirin, Mystia and Reisen, gets closer and says "well, I'm going home now." Eirin says "don't forget to come visit soon." Mystia immediately adds "don't forget about me so quickly either!" Yorihime giggles and says "don't worry. I'll come back soon, and Mystia, I promise never to forget about you. Udonge, you be good now." Reisen flicks a tear off her right eye as she nods. Suddenly they were all hugging each other. Ail turns around and sniffles. Budou looks at him curiously, so Ail says "ah, it's nothing. Got something in my eye." Maribel whispers "that's just so sweet~!" After finishing their group-hug, Yorihime walks toward Ail and nods. She looks at Maribel and asks "is she the friend you spoke of?" Ail nods and says "without her, this would be almost impossible to do right now." Yorihime then looks toward Budou. She smiles as Budou hides behind Ail and asks "and who is this little one over here?" Ail smiles and says "this is Budou. A young youkai I'm looking after. Go ahead Budou. Say hi to Yorihime." Yorihime kneels down and extends her hand while smiling. Budou slowly gets closer and says "h-hi... l-lady Yorihime." Yorihime pats her on the head as soon as she was in range and says "you're really cute." then gets back up, sighs and says "ok, I'm ready." Ail nods and signals Maribel to get closer. "Just like in Makai." says Ail. Maribel nods and says "right!" She grabs hold of Ail's arm and starts summoning energy to herself without firing any bullets. Quickly, Ail aims his hand toward Yorihime, then a gap opens. Inside the gap, Yorihime could see the moon capital. She smiles and just before she heads inside, she turns around again, waves at Eirin and the others, then turns around and jumps inside the gap. Once she passes through, she turns around once more to look at Eirin, then the gap closes off. Ail takes a deep breath and says "that... was... hard."

Eirin looked as though she was about to cry, but then she spots Budou and immediately rushes to her with a most curious look, scaring her in the process. In a sweet tone of voice she says "you don't need to be afraid. I'm Eirin. I just want to meet you." Budou trembles while behind Ail. He turns around and kneels to face Budou directly and says "Budou, come on, don't be rude." Budou gulps and says "she... she wants to experiment. She wants to use those needles on me!" Ail smiles and while turning to face Eirin with a dangerous atmosphere around him he says "don't worry about that. As long as I am here, she won't hurt you." When he finishes his sentence, he give Eirin a very dangerous stare and asks "am I right?" Eirin sweats and gulps, then says "er, sure. I just want to say hi, that's all." Budou cautiously gets closer and shakes Eirin's hand while saying "I'm... Budou... m-miss Eirin." Reisen and Mystia get closer, and when Budou looks at them, she smiles almost angelically and says "I'm Budou. What are your names?" Ail was surprised that she is so friendly toward some, and with others, she gets so scared she actually trembles, however he preferred to keep quiet this time and just observe. Reisen kneels down and smiles, saying "hello little one. My name is Reisen Udonge Inaba." Mystia smiles, even though her eyes were full of tears and says "my name is Mystia." Budou stares at Mystia for a moment, then says "don't cry, Mystia. I'll call you sisi if you stop crying." Mystia wipes the tears off and asks "sisi? Why sisi? Why not just sis?" Budou looks at her some more, then jumps and hugs her saying "sisi~!" At first, Mystia was a bit surprised, then giggles and says "alright, alright, fine. I'm sisi." By then, Tewi had woken up and was watching from a distance. Budou looks towards the bush Tewi was hiding behind and says "wow, that is one lucky bush... wait... there's something else..." Suddenly, Budou gasps and shouts "papa Ail! Look out!" Large energy balls fly from behind Tewi, burning her as they pass by, heading straight to Ail. He gets in front of everyone and activates a barrier, then uses the bullet's own momentum, bounces them back, then blasts Kaguya as she hops from under another bush, shouting "ha-HA~! How do you like- Eh? Oh, crap!" *BOOM!* After the smoke clears up, they all look at Kaguya, who was knocked out on the ground. Tewi walks out of the bushes she was hiding from, rubbing her head and saying "oww... that really hurts." Budou giggles and says "lucky rabbit!"

At the Moon Capital, Toyohime walks close to a peach tree and just stares at it. "This is where sis disappeared. I hope she's alright." she thinks as she places her hand on the tree. From behind, a hand grabs her shoulder, making her yelp and back away. As soon as she turns around she sees Yorihime smiling and waving at her, saying "hey sis. I'm home!" Toyohime stares at her sister in awe for a moment, then jumps and shouts "YORIHIME~!!! You're back! And you're ok!" Yorihime catches Toyohime just as she lunges at her, giving her a bone-breaking hug. She hugs back and sounding almost tired, she says "I'm finally back home. Oh, the things I have to tell you!" Toyohime grabs Yorihime by her hand and pulls her as she runs and says "you can tell me ALL about your adventures later. Now we go home and you rest! You must be so tired." Yorihime can't help but smile as her sister excitedly pulls her home while she thinks "so good to be back."

At Alice's house, Mai was just about to leave. "It was nice to see you again, sis." says Mai as she opens the door. Alice smiles, but her mind was still on Yuki. In a low tone she says "Mai, if you see Yuki, please, tell her I'm sorry. And... could you tell her to come back? I wish to apologize to her directly." Mai smiles and says "but sis, wouldn't it be better if you come and visit? Besides, it's been some time since you went home." Alice get's nervous and says "m-m-me? Go back... back to M-M-Makai? But what if Yuki and Shinki are mad? What if they don't want to see me?" Mai places her hand on the left side of her forehead and says "geez, fine. I'll tell her. But you know, I'm sure you're worried about nothing. Yuki's just not the type to hold grudges." She notices Alice was trembling. "Ahh, fine. It was nice seeing you again, sis. Keep an open eye for Lady Shinki. I'm sure she'll be coming by any day now." Alice smiles and waves at Mai as she waves back and closes the door. After flying off on to the air, Mai says "my goodness, she might have grown, but she's such a child. She and Yuki are more alike than I would ever though possible."

At the base of the tengu's waterfall at the Youkai Mountain, Aya has Luna standing on a very small stone in the middle of the water, right in front of where the water falls to the river. "What's the meaning of this!? You take me away from that doll and Kyo to strand me here? I can swim, you know!?" shouts Luna at Aya, who is flying above her, bearing her black crow wings. Aya smiles and says "oh, I'm so glad to hear that. I asked the kappa to release some underwater creatures, so go ahead and swim all you want. You might only lose two or three limbs." Luna shouts back "you insipid, bird-brained, thick-headed, PERVERT! When I get my hands on you, I'll--" "You'll try to brutally kill me, just like the maid, right?" replies Aya. She looks into Luna's eyes and realizes she doesn't even feel the least bit guilty about Sakuya. Luna smiles a most evil smile as Aya simply stares back at her. "Look around you" says Aya. Luna continues to smile as she looks around. She was surrounded by no less than 10 tengu, including Aya and Momiji. She looks into the water and sees large creatures, some look like snakes, other like giant catfish. She gulps as her smile vanishes and shouts "if you kill me, Kyo will have all your heads!" Aya smiles and says "those of us with power, here in Gensokyo, abide to certain rules. A game, some might call it. We don't kill others just because we don't like them, although admittedly, some accidents might happen against bitter rivals. Still--" By now, Luna was glaring at Aya with murderous intent, and was holding her sword on her left hand. She tightens her grip and grins. Aya notices this and sweeps her fan in the air, generating a gust of wind that throws Luna off balance, forcing her to let go of her sword and hold on to the small rock looking like a cat trying to avoid plunging into the water. Aya chuckles and says "you look good! Think you can hold on for much longer? You try that again and I'll guarantee you'll fall in." Luna grumbles "what do you want from me!?" Aya smiles and says "I'm going to make a deal with you right now. Become my apprentice, and we will postpone your judgment." Luna grumbles loudly "what makes you think I want to become your apprentice?" Aya answers "I don't want to cause Kyo any pain. Become my apprentice and live on in here with Kyo, or die." Luna finally recovers her balance and shouts "WHAT!? All this for that MAID!? You don't even KNOW her like I do! Besides, the battle between us is PERSONAL!" Aya calmly says "it may be personal, and you may know more about her than we do, but she has many friends here now that care about her. It's by their request that we intervene. One more time... become my apprentice and live. Don't, then die." Luna bravely looks on, hoping to find a way out, but she was trapped. The tengu had their weapons ready, the creatures underneath looked hungry. She was trapped. She manages to kneel on the small rock and says "FINE! I'll become your apprentice."

It is now early noon, and Flandre Scarlet has just woken up. She and Agava are playing hide-and-seek, and Agava is 'it'. She walks around the house, hiding behind the shadows every time a fairy maid would come by. She stops for a moment and places her hands on her hip while thinking "well, that little vampire is pretty good at hiding... wait, what the hell am I thinking!? GAH!!! I should be looking for that book, not a little vampire! I can't believe myself. Hmph! I was actually enjoying this." She starts walking to the library, again, hiding every time a fairy maid would come by. While she heads to the library she continues to think about Flandre, and her sudden enjoyment over the silly games. "Was I really having fun with these stupid games? I should be focusing in my task, not on silly games... and yet. Something about playing... maybe it's this body... the charm. I MUST get this out of me. There's GOTTA be a way." As she thinks all this, she continues her way to the library, still hiding every time someone was close. Meiling almost saw her, but she managed to hide well. Finally, she arrives at the library. She opens the door and realizes her search could take time. She looks on with awe at the towers and towers of books and shelves and thinks "I never expected this. Oh man, I was hoping to do this before our game was done, but it seems I'll have to stay here for a while before..." Agava realizes she's feeling excitement over the idea of staying longer and playing some more with Flandre. She bites her lower lip so hard it bleeds as she thinks "dammit all! What is this!?" She grabs hold of her chest and clenches her shirt tightly while thinking "I am a being of shadows! I am hatred made manifest. I can't feel joy, or love, or any of those pathetic and useless emotions, and yet..." She drops her hands and lets them swing in the air as she stands on the doorway, just thinking. She raises her head very suddenly, her blue eyes glowing scarlet for a moment, and thinks "time to get to work!"

At the Youkai mountain, Aya gets Luna back on dry land. "Alright apprentice! My first command to you is to take off that disgusting glove off your left hand." says Aya in a very commanding tone. Luna hides her smirk by looking down to the ground and grumbles "whatever you say... you insipid PARROT!" Luna grabs her sword with her left hand and lunges directly toward Aya, slicing her neck open with her sword... or so she thought. When she gets up with a smile on her face, Luna quickly realizes she only sliced a image left behind by Aya after moving so fast. Luna tries to spot the tengu, but Aya kicks her back hard, making her hit the ground with such impact the leaves on the ground around her flutter three feet away, and her sword flies away from her reach. Aya smiles and says "tsk, tsk, tsk. Apprentices don't attack their masters like that. Now, let's take this blood-stained glove off." Aya forcefully takes Luna's black glove off and says "so it's not really black, just as I suspected. How many have you killed with this, huh? Hundreds? Thousands, perhaps?" Luna growls an tries to hide her exposed hand, as if ashamed of it. Aya chuckles and says "so there is some humanity in you after all. You're ashamed of that hand. Good!" Aya gets off Luna's back and casually walks next to the river and says "well then, you won't be needing this anymore." She tosses the glove on the water, and almost immediately various creatures attacked the glove as if it were a delicacy for them. As Aya looked at the scene, she realizes she was right about the glove. It was stained with so much blood, it looked like a regular black glove. Aya turns to Luna, who continued to lie on the ground, hiding her left hand under her belly. She walks over and says "I'm curious. What was the original color of that glove?" Luna was now trembling, holding back her tears as she glares furiously at Aya from the ground and says "I--I don't remember." Aya fans herself with her maple leaf fan and says "well I guess we can leave it at that. For now, my apprentice, I want you to get up and look at your left hand." Aya sits next to Luna and waits. Luna continues to tremble on the ground, but wouldn't get up. Aya gets annoyed and waves her maple leaf fan at Luna, controlling the gusts of wing to force Luna to stand up and shouts "I gave you an order!" Luna trembles violently and slowly she exposes her hand and looks at it. As she did, her silver eyes widen, her mouth trembles along with her and her tears start flowing uncontrollably. Aya looks at her and asks "what do you see?" Luna continues to stare at her hand and suddenly visions of her first assassinations came to her. Flashback after flashback, killing after killing, men, women, children, animals, elders, villages, then Sakuya's image came to view and says "you're just a common murderer." Luna screams in a panic and grabs her remaining sword. She swings the blade straight on to her left hand, but Aya get up and sends various gusts of wind, blowing away her blade and then shouts "THAT WON'T SOLVE ANYTHING! If you're as strong as you claim you are, you will FACE all those memories head on! All those you have killed will never find rest until you have payed for your crimes, and pay you will. There is no escape now. You are MINE until I deem you worthy of being released, is that clear!?" Luna falls to her knees, unable to take her eyes off her hand while her tears continue to fall on their own. Aya sighs and pats Luna's back and says "come. You need to rest now." Aya helps Luna up as she begins to sob, and as they walk back to the waterfall Luna says "I didn't- I can't... do this." Aya replies to her in a soft tone "of course you can. Come, let's rest now."

Mai finally arrives to Pandemonium and is greeted by Shinki and Yuki at the main hall. "Mai, welcome back home, child. Where have you been?" asks Shinki while hugging Mai. Yuki quietly stands under a window and says "Mai, welcome back. We... missed you." Mai replies "Lady Shinki, I apologize for not saying anything before." Shinki smiles and says "it's alright. The important thing is you're back home safe." Yumeko appears a few feet away from Yuki and smiles as Mai greets her. Suddenly, Mai realizes that Yuki wasn't jumping on her, trying to hug her, trying to get her angry, or calling her 'sis' as she usually did. Mai gets closer to Yuki and asks "Yuki? What's the matter? You're not trying to jump on me, calling me names, or yelling your head off... you're not even smiling, sis." Yuki lowers her head and says "of course not. If I did, I'd be a nuisance, wouldn't I?" A fake smile covers Yuki's face as she raises her head. Mai gets closer and asks "Yuki, why are you acting like this? Ahh, yeah I see. Look Al-" Before Mai could finish what she was saying, Yuki grabs her by the neck and violently pushes her against the wall she was just standing by and angrily says "don't you DARE say another word!" Shinki was surprised, as was Yumeko. Mai was scared beyond words but manages to ask "Yu-Yuki! That hurt! Wh-what's the matter with you!?" Yumeko aims a few daggers toward Yuki shouts "Yuki! Let her go, NOW!" Yuki suddenly realizes what she was doing, gasping with surprise as she lets go of Mai. She backs away and trembles as she says "I-I'm sorry. I-I don't- I'm sorry..." Suddenly she turns around and starts running to her room. Mai takes a few deep breaths and says "my goodness, she took it worse than I thought." Shinki asks "what happened? Did she and Alice had a fight?" Mai looks at Shinki surprised and asks "she didn't tell you?" Yumeko says "no, but we sort of figured something like this had happened." Shinki adds "specially after she called Luize a 'fat hag' just because she mentioned Alice's name. Now poor Luize is eating nothing but vegetables." Mai wasn't sure whether to laugh of be worried. She thinks for a moment and says "I see. I'll tell you what happened. See, it was like this-"

It was dark now. The night was really cold, signaling winter was just days away. Ail and Budou had spent most of the day at the Hakurei shrine right after Ail went home to get a violet robe. Reimu's bad feelings were all gone, and was still feeling very happy. Mima, somehow, managed to take Budou away from Reimu, while Maribel and Renko were having a staring contest for the last dumpling, and Ail was on the shrine's porch, quietly meditating. He suddenly opens his eyes widely and gasps. He rushes to Reimu and says "Reimu, we gotta move, now!" Reimu giggles and says "you know, those black slip-on shoes don't really match that dress. Oh, right, sorry. It's a robe." Ail growls and says "Reimu, I'm serious." Reimu smiles and says "relax. Your bracelet will warn us." From behind comes Marisa saying "oy~ Reimu~! What's with this party? Oh, ail. Nice dress." From Mima's lap, Budou angrily shouts "it's a robe, you meanie!" Ail gets angry and shouts "would you just LISTEN!?" Suddenly everyone got quite, all staring at Ail and then, a loud droplet noise catches everyone's attention.

A little earlier at Patchouli's library, Agava watches as Patchouli piles a few books on her desk, telling Koakuma "hurry up, it's almost time for dinner. I'm famished!" Koakuma flaps the wings on her head rapidly and says "sorry Lady Patchouli. I'll be done in a second!" Agava had spent a long time searching, but the reason she wasn't searching elsewhere now was because Koakuma had grabbed a purple book that had caught Agava's attention in the first place, and Patchouli had is placed under the large pile on her desk. Agava was hiding just behind them, using the shadows to disappear almost entirely. Patchouli was no fool, and knew very well that Agava was there, but she was following Ail's request, and letting her stay there. "Let's go, Koakuma." said Patchouli in a calm voice. Koakuma places the very last book she had on her hand right back on the shelf when Patchouli calls her. She smiles and happily says "co~mi~ng." After waiting for a few minutes after Patchouli and Koakuma left, Agava makes her move. She immediately heads toward the large pile of books, knocking them down and picking up the purple book she was so anxious to get. "Let's see here..." says Agava as she reads the book. She reads in her mind "curses, dark spells, black magic for beginners..." She flips over various pages, then stops when she sees the drawing of what looked like very ancient magic symbols. As she reads the page quietly, she smiles and giggles. She read in her mind "warning! The following spell, when read out-loud, will cause the caster to go in a berserk state. During this state, he or she will search for my twin while dealing with anyone that gets in their way with augmented strength and power. Upon finding my twin, another must grab her before someone else does, as my twin and it's slave will remain motionless after the extraction. Flandre opens up the library doors and sniffs around. She closes the door and says "hey, Agava, you were supposed to come find ME! Why am I the one looking for you!?" Agava giggles some more and says "over here, Flandre! Come look at what I found!." Flandre looks on curiously as she walks toward Agava's voice. She quickly finds her kneeling on the ground and looking at a book. "What you find there?" asks Flandre. Agava smiles and says "come, take a look. It's pretty neat." Flandre gets closer, grabbing the book Agava hands her and looks at the pages. At first she gets nervous and was about to tell Agava she didn't want to read, but Agava felt this and used her new ability to amplify Flandre's curiosity, then says "read it out-loud. It's more fun that way." Flandre smiles and starts reading a weird incantation. Agava feels a small tug in her heart, but quickly suppresses it and smiles. Flandre continues to read "ho-homigane hafutamineko komiko nufeturiza? This is a strange lan-" Suddenly Flandre's body stiffens, she stops talking and drops the book. Her eyes glow purple as her body contorts. Agava got scared, shouting "F-Flandre? Flan? Are you-?" Flandre's body makes a loud cracking sound as it continues to bend in strange ways, then suddenly stops. Agava was worried for Flandre, she could feel as though her heart was being stabbed by a sharp knife. She shivers as she asks "Flandre? Are you ok? ...Flandre?" Suddenly, Flandre flies toward the exit to the library in a straight line, breaking the bookshelves and the door, then continues her way outside.

Later at night, Reimu and Mima arrive at the mansion after Flandre got out. The entrance had been blown to pieces, the gate was completely destroyed, Meiling was nowhere in sight, Remilia was unconscious just inside the mansion, and Patchouli and Koakuma were tending to the fairy maids and Remilia. "Patchouli! What happened?" asks Reimu, sounding very nervous. Reimu and Mima go down as Patchouli says "the little sister! She was with that shadow girl and just blasted anyone that got in her way. Reimu, her powers are doubled! Look what she did to Remi!" Reimu gets closer to Remilia and realized the was missing half of her face, her right leg, and both wings. Reimu gasps and says "dammit... he was right!" Patchouli shouts "AIL!!! I followed his instructions and LOOK at what happened!" Reimu grabs Patchouli by her shoulders and says "listen, we can't tell exactly what's going on. It's very important that these things happen, but I am sure not even Ail knew THIS would happen, or he would have done all he could to prevent this!" Mima shouts "REIMU! What the HELL is going on!?" Reimu backs away and angrily shouts back "I CAN'T SAY! We made a promise and can't say anything. We do need your help. Please just trust me!" Patchouli and Mima look at each other, quietly agree, both sigh and Patchouli asks "will someone die?" Reimu shakes her head and says "that is precisely what he's going to prevent." Patchouli calms down and asks "then why aren't you helping him now?" Reimu calmly replies "since we didn't listen to him... he asked us to come here and help you. Said you would need our help." Reimu looks at Remilia as she slowly recovers the skin around her face and says "and it seems he was right."

At the Human Village, at Ail's request, Keine and some villagers turn as many lights around the market area as they could. When enough lights were on Ail shouts "Keine, protect the villagers!" Keine shouts "FROM WHAT!?" Ail thinks for a moment and says "whatever you do, don't get involved unless there is no other choice!" Keine looks into Ail's eyes and feels his fear, so she quietly nods and starts placing barriers at the houses closest to the market area. Meiling and Marisa arrive on her broom, flying at insanely dangerous speeds while Meiling shouts "EVERYONE HI~DE! RU~N! Run now~!" Marisa stops just in front of Ail and says "I don't know if we can stop her. She took my Final Spark as if it was nothing." Ail says "calm down... just stay behind me and assist as best as you can!" Meiling was standing in the center of the market area in plain sight, right were most of the light was directed. "Meiling!?" shouts Ail. At that very moment a loud explosion rattles the entire village. Flandre stands in front of Meiling and stares at her with those violet eyes, and even though Agava was not with her, she hisses aggressively at Meiling. "Little sister, it's me! It's Meiling, your big sister!" shouts Meiling. Flandre hisses again and swipes her claws, threatening Meiling as the gate guard says "Flan, what's wrong with you?" From the shadows, holding her bleeding left eye, Agava shouts "help her! She's completely out of control! Please, help her!" In that moment, Meiling turns her attention to Agava, so Flandre takes the chance and in a fraction of a second she tackles Meiling to the ground. Meiling struggles, trying to keep Flandre's teeth away from her neck with all her strength, but the spell on Flandre made her twice as strong as she was before, making it almost impossible for Meiling to keep her away. Ail and Marisa were struggling against each other, Ail trying to take the miniature reactor away from her. Marisa shouts "get out of the way, you idiot! She's going to bite her! Ail shouts back "no, you fool. You'll hit Meiling too!"

Meiling continues to push Flandre away, but the little vampire made it harder now, as she starts to chomp wildly, making it impossible to hold her mouth shut. Meiling was getting tired. She could feel her strength waning. She tries one more time to push Flandre away but immediately realized that even though she was pushing back, her arms didn't respond at all. She smiles, accepting her fate, and as Flandre opens her mouth to bite, she says "I love you little sister." Flandre momentarily stops, reacting to Meiling's words, but very suddenly, she bites down hard on Meiling's neck. Meiling yelps in pain and repeats "it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt!" When Ail heard her, his skin turns pale and his eyes go blank. He watches in horror as Flandre opens her mouth a second time, but reacts and immediately places a barrier inside Flandre's mouth. When she realizes she couldn't chomp down, she despairs and starts to roll on the ground. She tires to bite down with such force, she breaks her own jaw. She hisses, unable to scream in pain, then spots Ail. Immediately she lunges at him and grabs his neck, cutting him as she clenches him with her claws. Ail had placed a barrier just under the muscle and grabs hold of both her hands. He struggles but manages to say "nice one... Flanny." Flandre reacts again and loosens her grip, but again, she grasps him tightly. Ail looks to Marisa and says "Master Spark... point blank!" Marisa looks on sadly at the possessed Flandre and says "I'm sorry, little one." She points her Hakkero and unleashes her Master Spark directly on to Flandre as she tightly closes her eyes so she wouldn't see Flandre's face as she did. When it was over, Ail's hands were a little singed, but at least Flandre was weak enough to handle. Marisa pats her head and says "I'm sorry..." Ail smiles and says "she'll be alright." His hands were singed, and his robe was in tatters, but he still managed to protect his arms and what he could of his hands from that point-blank Master Spark.

Meiling was standing next to Ail, holding her neck, trying to stop the blood and asks "is... she going to be ok?" Ail nods as he removes the battier from inside her mouth and closes her mouth, helping her mend the broken jaw. As soon as he did, Flandre wakes up. Her eyes were still glowing violet, but before Ail could notice, she unleashes a blast of energy, sending all three around her back, then she flies up and shoots a barrage of massive bullets down to the village. She hisses as she shoots at the houses, but Keine's barriers were holding up. Flandre gets angry, then looks to the school. She stops the barrage and floats toward it, but Meiling flies in front of her and shouts "little sister, stop! I don't want to hurt you!" Flandre stares at Meiling for a moment, then raises her hands and concentrates her energy into a gigantic ball of energy. Meiling smiles again and says "you know I can't survive that." Flandre reacts once more, looking at Meiling with a saddened expression. Marisa was aiming her Hakkero at Flandre from the ground, but Ail signals her to hold on. Meiling continues to smile at Flandre tenderly, then says "Flandre, just stop this now." Flandre tries to talk, saying "ering... ingi... Me-" The massive energy ball vanishes as Flandre grabs her head and shouts "MEILING, NO~! Get out of the way!" Flandre let's go of her head and slowly looks around. "Huh? Wh-what? Where am I?" She looks at Meiling's tender smile and asks "Meiling? Big sister, what's going on?" Meiling takes a sigh of relief and says "little Flan-chan... you're back." Meiling finally succumbs to exhaustion and falls down, but Flandre immediately grabs her arms shouting "Meiling!" Ail and Marisa both take a deep breath and relax as Flandre slowly descends with Meiling safely in her hands.

After landing and placing Meiling softly on the ground, Flandre looks at Ail and Marisa and asks "big brother... Marisa? What happened? Y-your neck..." Ail tries to clean off the blood and says "it's nothing." Marisa smiles and says "let's just take you back home." Flandre looks at Meiling's neck and sees the bite marks adn the blood. She trembles as she ask "who...? D-did I... did I do that?" Marisa immediately says "it's alright. Nobody blames you." Ail calmly tells her "you were under a spell, Flandre. Meiling did all that she could and more to bring you back to us. When she wakes up, you should thank her, ok?" Flandre nods at Ail, then he picks Meiling up, opens a gap to the Scarlet Devil Mansion and says "let's go... Hey, wait a minute. Where's Agava? Her eye was bleeding a lot! She might need help!" Marisa gets a little annoyed and says "aww, let her be. She'll be fine!" Just before the gap closes Ail says "I hope you're right." then Flandre adds "A-Agava is hurt?" Agava looked on, hiding behind the stands as the gap closes and Keine and the villagers walk to the market area and begin repairs on all the damages. She walks away, still holding her eye and thinks "Flandre... I'll miss you."

Meanwhile, Kyo, Medicine and Su-san fly to the Hakurei Shrine. Kyo notices the lights at the village and says "hey, look over there. Must be a party or something." Medicine, sounding annoyed and tired replies "whatever... I'm too tired to care." Kyo sighs and says "me too. Hey, did Luna say anything to you about becoming that reporter's apprentice?" Medicine shakes her head and says "maybe she got tricked. Maybe she's just bored." Kyo shakes his head and says "nah... it might be just another fad." Medicine looks at him curiously and asks "what's a... 'fad'?" They land at the shrine as Kyo says "I'll explain later, and don't worry, I'm sure Reimu won't mind if you stay here tonight." They enter the shrine as Medicine says "I hope so." From outside the shrine Renko can be heard greeting them and saying "Ah, Kyo. Reimu is out at the moment, but she said you could stay in the living room tonight." Suddenly Budou shouts "KYAAA~~!! STRANGERS!!!" Kyo shouts "What the HECK!?" Medicine shouts "what's going on!?" Budou's wings can be heard flapping with force, her silhouette going round and round inside the building. Maribel shouts "Oh dear, little one. Little Budou, calm down. They won't hurt you!" Budou cries out loud "where's papa~!?" Renko shouts "don't worry, these are friends!" Kyo shouts "could SOMEONE tell me what's going on!?" Maribel shouts back "please, no shouting. You're scaring her!" The shouts and commotion went on and on, and from outside, enjoying the entire spectacle, is Rumia. She watches, listens and giggles, then looks with curiosity after a loud crashing sound makes Budou cry some more. She looks at the moon and says "is that so~?"

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

SEP 2 2009
written by
Willie G.R.