The Story of a Past Scarlet 4

A/N:
This fiction contains bloody scenes, so if you don’t like those, please hit the back button. Also, although I am trying my best to write the canon back story for the Scarlet Devil Mansion cast, keep in mind that ZUN is vague with his information, and most I have filled with what I believe happened. He loves it when fans do that, doesn’t he? My point is that you may disregard this if you wish. Please review/comment, and thank you for reading.

Even though she’s gained a new servant, Remilia feels distraught at the loss of her sister. Having to ask her to stay in her room forever, to her it feels the same as though having sealed her loving sister for eternity. Though she hides these feelings well from others, she is starting to realize her sister is lost, and to her, there is no way to ever bring her back. Yet she continues, living each day, trying to teach her new guard how to do her job, as well as how to speak. She feels pressure from many sides now, and is starting to leave her mansion a little too often, exploring the land she still hates, and that is no exception on this night; the night she decides to visit the human settlement, that to her great comfort, lies away from her home. She lands on the roof of one of the largest houses in the village’s center in order to watch certain events take place, where various of the villagers are trying to kill one of their own, just because she uses magic. She watches as the woman loses her mind and starts attacking her attackers relentlessly, killing quite a few of them in just minutes. After the woman falls to the ground, ready to take her own life, Remilia reveals herself to her and the villagers, scaring them all away, then extends her hand to the woman, offering a new home and a new life. The woman stares up to Remilia with tears in her eyes, her entire body shaking uncontrollably as she points her hand at herself and readies a spell to kill herself. Remilia smiles and says “you’ll care for my own library, which lies in the basement of my mansion. It’s so large and full of books, it could be called an ‘Eternal Library’. Think about it. Nobody there will ever dare to judge you as long as you have me there. Yes, I would be like your friend, if you want.” The woman starts to whimper as she slowly lowers her hand and calls off her spell, staring into Remilia’s glowing eyes. She trembles violently as she turns around and sees the butcher’s knife that almost took her life, still stuck on her house’s wall, then trembles even more violently as turns her maddened face back to Remilia. Being the impatient vampire that she is, Remilia excitedly urges “take my hand already! Unless you want to go back to that dinky and derelict house. Stay here, surrounded by these fools.” The woman suddenly stops trembling, and in an impulse, she throws her hand at Remilia’s, who grasps it with a smile and glowing red eyes as she says “good. Let’s get going.” Remilia tries to lift the purple-haired woman to her feet, but quickly realizes she can’t stand up on her own just yet, so before the woman falls down, Remilia flies up and grabs the back of her robe, then pulls her up along with herself. As they fly above the market area, Remilia looks down and notices some bread being displayed in a small kiosk, so she swoops down, saying “that’s right, I’m gonna need some human food for you”, and grabbing a lump of bread at the same time she tosses some coins inside an empty cup next to the surprised shop owner. As they fly away, Remilia says “how strange. He still has good bread at this hour. Oh well, it’s better for us, right?” The woman lets out a sob, so Remilia sighs with frustration and says “oh great, another quiet one.” The few villagers and shop keepers in the area look surprised at the woman being carried off by the vampire, and one of the frightened men asks “wa... was that a vampire?” A woman replies “by the gods! She had one of us with her!” The surprised shop keeper, who drops the boxes he was storing for the night, looks up and says “someone get the shrine maiden.” A man with a knife stuck on his shoulder struggles to stand, and taking the other villagers by surprise and with some effort, he manages to say “DON’T! Don’t bother!”, and after getting the attention of the other villagers, he continues “she took... that murderous witch... with her! Let her die... pay for all the lives she took! UGH!” With his last breath, the man falls on his face, cursing the purple-haired woman, and revealing a large chunk of flesh missing from his back, making a total of eight deaths caused by the purple-haired woman’s loss of control. The women and men gasp and scream at the sight of the man as his blood stains the ground in front of a small fruit stand.

Later that night, Remilia holds the woman while hovering above the gates of her mansion, staring at Meiling as she starts dozing off in front of the gate. Remilia slowly descends, and immediately places the woman on the ground, where she whimpers as she crawls backward and stops when she hits a tree, waking Meiling and getting her full attention. The gate guard frowns and stances ready to attack, saying “intruder!”, but Remilia stands in front of the woman, placing a hand in front of Meiling’s face, and staring back sternly at her servant. Remilia looks around, as though expecting something, then stares at Meiling and says “she is not an intruder. She is a servant... a friend.” Meiling lowers her guard, then stares at the lump of bread on Remilia’s hand with hungry eyes. Remilia sighs as she breaks off a large piece and says “fine, you can have some. Now, girl, what’s your...?” While Meiling happily nibbles on her piece of bread, Remilia turns around and gets surprised at the sight of the woman hiding her face under her knees, curling into a ball while trembling and whimpering. Remilia face palms and asks “you really think we’re going to kill you after I went out of my way to save you twice?” The woman slowly lifts her head, then softly says “I’m... hungry.” Remilia’s lips wriggle after that unexpected answer, then recovers and shrugs while turning around, heading inside her mansion and saying “Meiling, bring her to the dining room”, and as soon as Meiling picks the woman up like a princess with just one arm, while still nibbling on her own piece of bread, Remilia tosses the lump of bread at the woman and continues “you may eat on the way if you like, but it would be more appropriate if you wait until you’re are the dinner table.” Moments later, at the dinner table, the purple haired woman starts eating pieces of bread she picks with her fingers, admiring her surrounding while keeping caution. She starts to realize she’s inside the mansion of a vampire, and that there is a youkai woman of admirable strength standing close to her, and now fear starts taking over her again. Unable to finish her bread, since her stomach starts feeling as though someone’s wrenching it, she observes as a fairy maid flies in with a plate of food for Remilia, paying close attention to the red sauce that adorns the food. Remilia notices the woman’s curious stare and as if knowing what the woman is thinking, she says “yes, you are correct. This is blood. However, it’s not human... and sadly, those spells you used stained the blood of those other humans. A pity, as I truly miss the taste of human blood.” Meiling stares at Remilia with both curiosity and longing, then asks “human... good? Food?” Remilia glares at Meiling and says “don’t you dare touch her! She’s to care for my library! Hmm, wait, now that I think about it, I still don’t know your name, miss.” The woman nervously looks around, trying to keep her nervous eyes away from Meiling, who for some reason continues to stare at her. She looks at Remilia and notices her impatience growing, so the softly and nervously says “my-my name? My name is... P-Patchouli, miss?” Remilia stares at her clean fork for a moment, then looks back at Patchouli and asks “just that, huh? Patchouli? No family name?” Patchouli winces, thinking she made the vampire angry, so she thinks for a bit, takes a deep breath to calm herself down, then says “you, um, may call me Patchouli Knowledge if you want.” Remilia smirks, then lets out a quick laugh, knowing full well this woman has just made up a family name out of the blue, but instead of finding this insulting, she thinks it’s amusing. After staring at Patchouli for a while, Remilia drops her fork and jumps off her chair, then walks toward the still nervous woman and says “well, miss Patchouli ‘Knowledge’, welcome to my mansion. If you were so kind as to accompany me, I’ll immediately take you to your... what?” Remilia notices how Patchouli stares at Meiling, who keeps touching her hat, then her own scarlet hair, as if wanting a hat of her own. Patchouli looks at Remilia, noticing her impatient eyes, knowing full well she just ignored the mistress of the mansion, then softly says “um... I-I’m sorry, but it seems miss, um, Meiling wants a hat too.” Remilia’s eyes glow bright red for a moment, showing the surge of anger that’s just passed through her entire being, so Patchouli hurries and says “I’m sorry, it’s just that I believe it would be prudent to get one for her... to, um... keep her happy... with her working environment... miss Remilia.” Remilia stares sternly at the two girls for a moment, making them both very nervous, then smiles and says “Hmm, you’re already showing me you’re high quality, Patchouli. Fine, I’ll find her something suitable. In the meantime, I want you to come with me to the library... oh, but before that, there is someone you have to meet.”

Moments later, Remilia and Patchouli stand in front of Flandre’s silver door, then Remilia says “you are going to meet my sister. Her name is Flandre Scarlet, and she is very dangerous, so whatever you do, stay outside, and let me do the talking.” Patchouli quietly and nervously nods, bowing her body very rapidly, then Remilia slowly opens the door, saying “Flan, I want you to meet our newest servant.” There is no answer from the dark room, so Remilia peeks inside and asks “Flan, are you awake?” Without waiting for the order, Patchouli raises her hand, and a bright orb of light that sits on the palm of her hand illuminates half of the room, revealing Flandre hanging on the ceiling, her eyes completely red as she bares her fangs. Frightened by sight, Patchouli instinctively unleashes her magical bubbles and backs away, just as Flandre swoops down to attack. The bubbles explode on Flandre’s face, making her scream out loud and back away from the door, as far into a corner of the room as she can, even trying to get into her closet. Patchouli’s eyes show the terror in her face; having attacked the mistress’ sister will cost her dear life, but again she is surprised. Instead of getting angry, Remilia stares at Patchouli with awe and says “ah~, although you are weaker than us, you can use water spells. Well Flan, I hope you learned not to attack our servants again.” Flandre whimpers and shouts “onee-sama, you’re mean! Scold her already!” Remilia replies “but you attacked her first.” Flandre starts to sob and says “onee-sama hates me!” Patchouli summons some courage to herself and takes one step inside the dark room, then bows and softly says “I am so sorry, miss. P-please forgive me.” Remilia grabs Patchouli by the back of her robe and pulls her out of the room again while saying “you see, Flan? She apologized. You should follow her example!” Flandre is suddenly standing next to the door, revealing herself under a dim light, then bows and says “I am sorry too. And next time, we play until you break.” With a wide smile and a sinister laugh, Flandre slowly closes her door by herself and says “I’ll be here when you want to play. Just like onee-sama asked.” After the door closes, Patchouli stares at Remilia, and notices a terrible pain hidden deep within her eyes, but she decides to keep quiet about it, thinking she’s already done enough damage as it is. Remilia turns her attention to Patchouli, seemingly calm, then says “come. I’ll take you to the library now.” Walking back toward the basement stairs, it only takes them a couple of minutes before Remilia stops in front of two large doors and says “and here we are. My library.” When Remilia opens those door to the dark library, Patchouli’s eyes open wide as she admires the countless books all over the room. Stack after stack, shelf after shelf, reaching up to the dark ceiling, all filled with books of all sizes and colors. Patchouli enters the room while still looking around with such awe in her face, then she notices Remilia’s stare, drops to her knees out of her overwhelming excitement, then softly asks “a-are you sure? You want this... human to care for such... such magnificent library?” Remilia smirks wickedly and says “not only will you care for it. You will also learn the many spells in these books, and you will instruct me about them, with the outmost of detail. Also...” Remilia gets closer to Patchouli, helping her on to her feet, then whispers “I need your help with two things. First, I need you to find me a very special book. It has a black cover, titled ‘Ancient Arcane Spells’. You are to inform me immediately, should you find it, no matter what.” Patchouli silently nods, then Remilia whispers “the second thing... would be Meiling...”

The morning after, at the Human Village, only the sound of sobbing and crying, as well as mournful chanting fill the atmosphere of the village, replacing the usual busy energy of the humans as they go through their daily lives. Most of the villagers stand around the center of the village, creating a giant circle around eight large coffins that carry the bodies of their murdered comrades. In the center of this circle are the families of the deceased, and the young maiden of the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu Hakurei. She wears her long red pants and long-sleeved white kimono shirt, and her hair looks dark brown, almost black, but the light that shines against it make it look purple. She offers a prayer to the last coffin, then the man next to it, one of Patchouli’s attackers, clenches both fists and his teeth, snarls, then says “after that... WITCH killed my wife, she was taken away by a vampire. Good riddance!” Reimu stares at the man with a reprehensive glare and asks “you speak like that about one of your own?” A woman standing next to one of the first coffins shouts “she was evil! I am still appalled you did nothing to seal her!” Reimu glares back at the woman and says “oh sure, and leave her defenseless to your attacks! Yeah, that’s fair.” A man from the crowd angrily asks “how can you side with that monster?” The young maiden sighs while rubbing her forehead, then says “you are incredible. She never attacked you once before this, then you attack her and cause all of this, you want me to hunt her down because of your mistake, and you just want to leave her to die by the hands of a vampire. A vampire that can easily use her powers against us.” The villagers all look down to the ground, all feeling frustrated when they are unable to find a proper excuse for their actions, then Reimu continues “now I’m gonna have to hunt that vampire down before-“ The young maiden looks up to the sky and notices many youkai flying in the sky, fighting each other while heading toward what looks like giant floating ruins. One of the elders approaches Reimu with concern and says “miss maiden, you better look into this first! It seems dangerous.” Reimu smirks and calls “GENJII~”, then a large round shadow is cast right above Reimu, and to her left lands the old, bearded, large flying turtle, Genjii. As soon as she gets on his back they start flying, then Reimu says “I’ll come and perform the burial ceremony as soon as I solve this incident.” With a smile on her face, Reimu points at the ruins and shouts “let’s go, Genjii! Let’s see what is going on over there!” The villagers stare at Reimu and Genjii as they make their way to the sky, some villagers wondering if the maiden is too excited about the sudden turn of events. After she leaves, a young boy and girl stand in front of the magician’s large house, then kneel down to pray. The other villagers glare at them, then another young girl steps up and shouts “the maiden is right! What we did was terrible! All we did was torture that girl and she never even said a word! We want this to change! We want to live in peace!” While the adult villagers glare at the young boys and girls that offer a small prayer to the large house, a single elder, the one that approached Reimu, smiles and says to himself “we have a bright future ahead of us.”

Three days later, at the Scarlet Mansion. It’s morning, and Meiling looks happier than ever, hugging a green beret she got from Remilia and Patchouli. She looks at the star on the top and reads the word “dragon” on it. She gasps and smiles, and hugs it again, then places it on her head and stands firm in front of the mansion’s gates, ready to repel any intruder. Meanwhile, inside the mansion, down the basement and deep into the dark library’s center, Patchouli has fallen asleep on the desk with her face buried in a book, but even asleep, something torments her. She groans and whimpers, clenches her eyes, gasps, hyperventilates, softly says “no... it was... and accident.” She starts to moan and move her legs as though trying to run, then wakes up and springs up straight on her chair while screaming “don’t kill me!” Frantically, she looks around and slowly realizes she’s in the mansion’s library, safe and away from the villagers. She notices the sweat running through her face down her neck, then yelps in surprise when a thick brown book falls right in front of her with a loud bang. She looks at the book and reads “spells for to self?”, then looks up and notices a woman with short red hair, two pairs of bat-like wings, one pair on her back and the other on her head, and wearing a small brown cloth to barely cover her body. She glares at Patchouli and whispers “drat, she moved”, before hiding behind a bookshelf, hiding in the darkness before saying “you should read that. It’ll help you with those nightmares of yours.” Patchouli continues to look at where the little demon girl was for a moment, then turns her attention to the book, and indeed, after opening it and going through the pages, she quickly finds a spell for blocking selective memories. She looks back to where the devil was, thinking of asking her where she found that book, yet her strong desire to completely forget her past in the village pulls her back to her book, then quietly reads the spell. After just a few hours, Patchouli memorized the spell and writes a blue magical circle on her own forehead with the help of a small mirror stored inside one of the desk’s drawers. Crying, she looks into the mirror and says to herself “after you do this, Patchouli Knowledge, you will be even more grateful to Remilia. She saved you *sob* and she brought you home. Th-that, and your spells. That is all you need to remember.” After one loud sob, Patchouli points her finger at the magical circle on her forehead, and as soon as she touches it, it starts to glow and spin. She closes her eyes and feels as though her body is being lifted to the air, even though she is still sitting on her chair, and after the circle suddenly vanishes and the spell ends, Patchouli opens her uncaring eyes and looks around again. She feels calm, and somehow happy, and feels a great sense of appreciation for Remilia, yet she can’t remember exactly why. All she knows is that she is home, and now feels eager to find books on elemental spells. Flying around the library, she asks herself “elemental spells... where can I find books on elemental spells?” She finds the little demon woman lounging on one of the shelves, and sounding bored and unamused, she says “I know where they are.” Patchouli flies slowly toward the demon, but keeps her distance so she doesn’t fly away, then asks “can you help me find them?” The demons starts to laugh, and right after she stops, she says “who the hell do you think I am? Some kind of dog or something? I’m a demon! I don’t work for you unless we make a contract, magic girl.” Patchouli thinks for a moment, then says “work? I never mentioned anything about work. I was merely asking if you could show me where they were, that’s all.” The demons flaps her right wing, then says “they’re right below me... some are all the way up on the second floor, and there’s one more on the third.” Patchouli smiles and immediately begins her search, while the demon thinks what just happened, then finally realizes she’s been tricked. Angry, the little demon rolls on her knees and bangs on the shelf, then says “hey! You tricked me!” Patchouli flies up from the shelf a little too close to the demon, scaring her and making her fly away in a hurry, then giggles and says “I’m sorry, but I had to test you. You really know your way around here, huh?” Safely behind another bookshelf, far away from Patchouli, the demon bravely shouts “yeah, I do! What of it?” Patchouli stares at her with those uncaring eyes and light smile, then asks “would you like to forge a contract with me?” Before Patchouli even notices, the little devil is right next to her, saying “well, I guess I could. I mean, I got nothing better to do anyway. Besides...” The demon starts brushing her hands through Patchouli’s face, neck and shoulder, and sounding mischievous, she says “I kinda like you, young lady.” Patchouli stares back at the demon with her cold face, showing no emotion, yet hiding her excitement, then says “alright. Give me a moment so I can make the summoning circle. From there we can forge the contract.” The devil nods, and she and Patchouli fly down to the center of the library, where Remilia’s old magical circle was, but seems to have been cleaned off by now. The demon stands in the center of the room, while Patchouli draws the summoning circle and asks “so, do you have a name?” The demon replies “I used to.” Patchouli smirks white finishing her circle, then says “that’s fine, then. Let’s begin.” Patchouli brushes her lower lip with her thumb, then places her hands on the circle, making it glow brightly and generating a wind that lifts the demon’s cloth up, revealing she’s actually covering herself up quite well. Patchouli starts chanting in a strange dialect for a few minutes, and when the wind becomes a strong gust, she smirks and says “and with this blood sacrifice I bind this demon to me.” The woman suddenly gasps, noticing Patchouli cut her thumb with her teeth, and angrily shouts “hey~ You cheater, you can’t-!” Before she can reach Patchouli, the little demon finds herself unable to move while Patchouli smiles at her and says “but to show you I’m really not that bad, I’ll give you the name of Koakuma.” Struggling, Koakuma asks “wh-what’s... the point... of that... name?” Patchouli smiles lightly and says “it’s cute.” Just like that, the circle vanishes, the summoning and contract binding spell ends, and Koakuma can move again. She rushes to Patchouli and angrily says “you cheating human, look at what you did! Now I’m stuck with you forever!” Patchouli continues to smile lightly, closing her eyes and demonstrating her happiness. Koakuma blushes, gulps, then says “gee, at least you are cute.” Patchouli sighs, then says “then it’s not that bad after all.”

The next night, Remilia walks down to the library to see if her new servant has found the book she’s so eager to find. Upon opening the door, she hears Patchouli saying “alright. Once you find me those, try and find that black one again.” She hears a girl replying “geez, alright already. So bossy.” Patchouli replies “it’s the only thing I asked you to do.” Curious, Remilia takes flight as she hears Meiling saying “what... did that mean... miss Pat... chouli.” Patchouli sighs and says “don’t worry about it. Just concentrate on your pronunciation.” Remilia can see the little demon leave the area with a bored look on her face, wearing a black dress with a long white sleeved shirt underneath. Remilia hurries to Patchouli with a stern look on her face, feeling angry at Patchouli for having a demon as a servant without her permission. When Patchouli takes notice of Remilia, her heart races as her appreciation for her mistress flows out, and with a light smile she says “my lady Remilia, it’s an honor to have you here!” Ignoring Patchouli’s praise, Remilia sternly asks “Patchouli, what is the meaning of this?” Though seemingly uncaring, Patchouli’s eyes show the sudden feeling of disappointment and failure in her heart, fearing she might have done something to offend her mistress. Trying to hold her desire to cry, Patchouli gulps and asks “wha-what seems to be the problem, my lady?” Remilia looks into Patchouli’s eyes and notices her old despair and fear of others has left her, then notices her fear of failure instead. Something inside Remilia urges her to calm down and listen, so she lowers her tone of voice and asks “Patchouli, why is there a devil serving you in the library?” An inexplicable cold feeling takes over Patchouli’s heart as she thinks “oh no, I crossed the line. She’s angry and she’s going to kick me out.” She calms down after gulping, then looks around nervously while saying “um... that is, she knew so much about this vast library, and since I needed some help, I thought you wouldn’t mind if I had a helper, and so...” Remilia sighs as she face palms, then looks toward Meiling with a very light smile and says “it’s alright, then. Just be more prudent and ask me before hiring more hands next time.” Feeling a weight lift off her shoulders, Patchouli quickly bows and says “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again. I-I’ll be more thoughtful of my lady next time.” Remilia gently pats her head and says “well, you seem to be talking a little bit more than a few days ago. Tell me, did something happen?” Patchouli wants to tell her how grateful she is for giving her a home, yet doesn’t really remember why she feels this way, so she just smiles as much as she can, which isn’t that much, then says “I just wish to show my gratitude to you, miss Remilia.” Remilia smiles, feeling proud that one of her servants show such loyalty, then looks at Meiling and asks “and how about her? Think she’ll come through?” Patchouli straightens up and rushes to Meiling and places an open book in front of her and says “try and read that whole page and I’ll be back soon”, then rushes to Remilia and whispers “I need to ask you something.” After they hide behind a bookshelf, Remilia asks “what about Meiling?” Patchouli softly says “well, she seems very tired, and she’s complaining about her back. I did my best to heal her with a spell I found, but it’s as if she’s sleeping on the floor. Does she have a bed?” Casually, Remilia says “well of course, but she always sleeps coiled on the floor next to it.” Patchouli rubs her chin while thinking, then says “I see. Alright, I guess I have something extra to teach her, but she should come around soon, so don’t you worry about her.” Remilia looks away, wanting to say she doesn’t really care, but instead, she looks into Patchouli’s eyes and notices the admiration from her. She doesn’t want to lose her servants faithfulness, so she decides to nod, keeping her opinion about Meiling and her servants to herself.

Two years pass, and many things have changed for the inhabitants of the mansion. Remilia’s visits to Flandre have diminished, first visiting every three months, then only twice in one year, and this year, on the 8th month, she still hasn’t visited her sister. Meiling, after a whole year, has finally learned to speak fluently and be more thoughtful. On the second year, her skills in the garden have also improved, thanks to Patchouli’s books on channeling energy through tools, and although Patchouli meant for this to be used for defensive purposes, Meiling refuses to use weapons, and only channels her energy through objects when tending to the mansion’s garden. While in the darkness and gloom of her room, Flandre has lost herself, and constantly fights to find herself once more, breaking her toys, claiming all she wants to do is play, an excuse she’s using to make her search more fun for herself. She has also acquired a most peculiar ability only known by Remilia at the time. She has learned how to split her body into four parts, and uses this ability mostly to keep herself some company. Perhaps a desperate attempt to keep herself from completely falling into the precipice of madness. Koakuma has taken a liking to her job, and has settled down, yet she will sometimes play pranks to Patchouli or Meiling, and always keeps away from Remilia, knowing full well that if she makes the mistress mad, it could cost Patchouli her peace, or it could cost her own life. For Remilia, her hatred for Gensokyo hasn’t risen, thanks to Patchouli’s help, but it hasn’t left her either. She still hopes for the day that book can be found, and they can all move somewhere else; somewhere she could really feel at home once more. Although she knows of the human settlement, she hasn’t attacked the village yet, however, some foolish humans, claiming to be explorers, try to enter her mansion, and if they manage to get past Meiling somehow, they disappear without a trace, though the mansion knows full well about their fates. Finally, three nights before the next full moon, Koakuma lounges around one of the darkest and tightest corners of the library, ignoring Patchouli’s calls. She sighs and says to herself “geez, she’s already read through twenty books. Doesn’t she ever want to go to sleep? Huh, w-what?” Meanwhile, Patchouli sits on her desk with her unfriendly eyes, looking around for Koakuma while saying “Koa~, come on, need to finish this volume before I go to sleep.” From the other side of the library, Koakuma bursts to the air, screaming with excitement, and after she stops screaming, she excitedly calls “Patchouli! Miss Patchouli I found it! That book, it’s here, it’s here!” Patchouli’s eyes open wide as she excitedly asks “you mean, the black book of Ancient Arcane Spells lady Remilia was looking for?” Just like that, Patchouli starts to cough violently and drops to the ground, holding her chest while wheezing, trying to take a breath of air. Noticing Patchouli’s state, Koakuma drops the book on the desk and rushes to help the magician out. Finally, after managing to calm her down, and making her drink some water, Koakuma hands Patchouli the book, saying “it was hidden pretty well. I almost couldn’t see it.” Patchouli opens the book, and immediately notices its magical properties. She looks at Koakuma and says “we better find miss Remi, and quick.” As they fly through the mansion corridors, searching for Remilia, Koakuma asks “why is it so important to do this in such a hurry?” Though flying around, Patchouli reads through the first pages of the book while saying “this book has a powerful spell, and will disappear during the daytime. If I am sensing this right, it only appears for one night and disappears at dawn. The magic is chaotic, which means there is no set date for its next appearance.” Koakuma stares at Patchouli for some time, then says “wow, for a human, you are really good with this magical stuff.” Patchouli’s gaze suddenly changes to a sad expression as she looks back at Koakuma, then says “you could say I’m not really that much of a human, yet... I’m not that much of a youkai either.” Noticing the sadness in Patchouli’s eyes, Koakuma says “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-“ Patchouli sets her unfriendly gaze again, signaling the little devil that she is alright, and they simply continue their flight around the mansion.

After flying all over the mansion for hours, Patchouli and Koakuma regroup at the mansion’s foyer, then Patchouli asks “did you find her?” Koakuma giggles and says “no, but it’s for the best. I forgot what I was supposed to tell her.” Patchouli groans in frustration, then excitedly says “it’s almost dawn! Where could she be?” Meiling suddenly bursts through the front doors, frightening Koakuma and making her fly to the ceiling. Patchouli looks at Meiling and asks “Meiling? You’re still on duty?” Meiling smiles as she rubs her forehead with the back of her dirty left hand, then says “ah, lady Patchouli. I was just taking care of the garden. That flower you asked me to grow is still... umm, what was that word... grow...ing. Yes, still growing!” Patchouli stares at Meiling with those seemingly unfriendly and uncaring eyes and says “you still have some trouble with that word. We’ll need to work on that, but now is not the time. Tell me, do you know where miss Remilia is?” Meiling chuckles and says “she is on the clock tower. Why, is something wrong?” Patchouli looks up and says “Koakuma, get the library ready. I’ll go get the mistress.” Outside the mansion, on the very top of the clock tower, Remilia looks to the night sky as the wind hits her face and makes her hair dance around her, letting it hit her face, feeling soothed by this simple pleasure. Patchouli’s voice reaches her, making her eyes glow red in anger, her peaceful moment ruined by her servant, yet she manages to sound as calm as she says “this better be important, Patchouli.” The magician shows the book, making Remilia gasps with undeniable excitement, even evident in her eyes. Down at the basement corridor, Patchouli says “and if we don’t do this now, we won’t be able to find this book again, you understand? We have to do this before the sun rises!” Remilia grabs hold of Patchouli and starts flying so fast the reach the library in seconds, and the library’s center in the fraction of a second. Koakuma has already prepared the spot in which Remilia will draw the magical circle, and with a smile she says “ready~” Remilia takes the book from Patchouli’s hands and lets herself fall to the floor, being careful not to hurt Patchouli, immediately opening the book and frantically looking through the pages, eager to find that spell again, thinking she can finally go to a new home, more suitable for her and Flandre, and all of their servants. She excitedly shouts “I can’t find it! I can’t find the DAMNED SPELL!” Patchouli shouts “miss Remilia, please, calm down! You’re turning the pages too fast!” Remilia shouts “it’s almost sunrise! We have to do this NOW!” With luck, she stumbles across the page she was looking for and hurries to read the incantation, and just as she places her fingers under the symbols, the sun rises and the book turns into a bright blue light before disappearing right before Remilia’s eyes. Patchouli and Koakuma are afraid of what might happen now. They think Remilia will take her anger out on them; that she will tear their limbs off and kill them both, but to their surprise, all Remilia says is “it... disappeared.” She looks up at Patchouli with empty red eyes, and softly says “it disappeared”, then slowly walks to the library’s entrance, letting her arms and wings hang limp, feeling her feet as heavy as though they are filled with lead. Her heart beats slow, but hard, hurting her every time it beats, as though cold and heavy thorns of ice have set themselves in there. Patchouli and Koakuma looks at each other, feeling relief they weren’t killed, but feeling empty after seeing Remilia’s reaction. Hours later, Patchouli follows Remilia to her room and enters without permission. Remilia sits on her bed, admiring her curtains and holding on to them as though contemplating their removal. When she looks at Patchouli with her empty red eyes, the magician decides to close the door behind her, walk to the bed and sit next to her mistress, take the curtains away from her little, yet dangerous hands, hold them tight, then look at Remilia. The mistress of the Scarlet Mansion suddenly sinks her face in Patchouli’s belly, and all over the corridors of the mansion, her wailing echoes through, even reaching Flandre, who lets a tear escape, even though she continues to smile while staring at the broken mirror in front of herself. Outside the gate, saddened, Meiling lowers her hat as rain starts to fall, mixing the noise of the water droplets fall, and the incessant cries of her mistress.

Three days later
It’s finally the night of the full moon, when Remilia is at her strongest. At the dinner table, extra lamps have been lit as Remilia, Patchouli and Meiling have their meal. It’s the first time Meiling has been allowed on the mistress’ table, and feels very nervous about it, so she tries her best to act as civilized as she can, even taking miniature bites of food every time she scoops something form her place. Remilia stares at her and says “Meiling, relax. I know you’re starving, so eat already.” She turns to her right and asks “are you sure it’s alright for you to be eating this stuff, Patchy?” Patchouli looks quite content after taking a bite of her meat, and after chewing and gulping down, she nods and says “yes miss Re... er, I mean, Remi. This food will no longer affect me in a negative manner. And thank you for having me at your table.” Remilia smiles and proudly says “well, having dinner alone is so boring anyway. I thought it was time for a change.” Meiling is finally taking larger bites of food, yet remains a bit nervous, while Remilia looks at her through the corner of her eyes, feeling as though she is looking, not at a servant, but as a member of her own family, yet she reminds herself that they are all just servants, even though she admits to herself that they are special. Patchouli suddenly remembers something, and after gulping down the bit of tea in her mouth, she asks “Remi, are you really sure you don’t want to read more about the Hakurei?” Remilia flaps her hand in the air and says “forget it. They are just humans. And besides, we haven’t done anything wrong.” Patchouli sighs, then says “well, alright, but I strongly suggest you at least have another look at the records. They are your family’s own records after all.” Remilia scoffs and says “that’s boring. I rather do something more interesting with my time.” The girls continue their dinner in peace, unaware that they are being watched from a distance. A figure sits on a tree branch with a clear view of the dining room window. The person scoffs and watches as the three girls get off their chairs and head their separate ways after some light chatter. A sinister sigh reveals the figure to be a woman, who jumps off the branch and rushes toward the gate. She is too late, as Meiling exits the mansion and promptly returns to her post. The woman growls with frustration, but continues to move forward. The mysterious woman reveals herself to Meiling, covering herself with a brown makeshift cloak, and only a red scarf can be seen escaping from under this person’s hood. With blue eyes, she looks straight at Meiling and says “get out of the way before I have to hurt you.” Meiling’s normal peaceful face turns furious at the sight of the intruder, and after she stances ready for a fight, she angrily says “I can’t let you through these gates! Please leave now or I will have to kill you!” The woman reveals a pair of large knives under the cloak’s long sleeves, then rushes straight at Meiling, who only has the time to cover her face before the cut.

To be continued...
Characters and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
JUL 28 2010
Written by
Willie G.R.

A/N:
Note that this story has been and will be used as base for anything concerning the SDM's cast history on my stories, unless noted otherwise.
What can I say? I believe that once Patchouli settles into the Scarlet Devil Mansion, everything starts to lighten up a little, though not enough. Not yet at least. And Koa; what did you think of my idea on how she was recruited? Anyway, this chapter was a little easier for me to write. I’m getting more used to writing like this, and I think it’s good. It has allowed me to see how far I can go to convey emotions through writing. Also, take notice that by my understanding, when Remilia recruits Patchouli, Reimu is going through the “Phantasmagoria of Dim Dream” story, which is the reason she won’t go after Remilia or Patchouli after that incident in the village. Also, by the end of this chapter, Reimu is already done with the events of Mystic Square. I’m sure some of you know where this is going. Anyway, I want to thank you for reviewing and letting me know how I’m doing. It helps me know if, and where I may need improvement, and it also makes me very happy to know my work is being enjoyed. Please keep leaving reviews/comment. See you next chapter, if the spirits will allow, and take care.