Friday, August 13, 2010

The Story of a Past Scarlet 10

A/N:
This chapter doesn’t contain much blood, so do enjoy. Also note that although I am trying my best to follow ZUN’s story for the SDM, he is vague with details, and thus, I’m filling the vague gaps with what I believe happened. Also note that as stated on the first chapter, this fiction’s only link to my Sukima series are at the very beginning and very end. They link to Chapter 8 Paradise Sukima, but that’s about it. Reviews and comments are appreciated and thank you for reading. Do enjoy.

Night at the Hakurei Shrine, where Remilia and Sakuya patiently wait for Reimu’s return. Though Sakuya lies on her back while looking up at the ceiling and calmly saying “such a peaceful place”, Remilia paces around the shrine and looks to the sky whenever she can, eager to see Reimu return with good news. Sakuya suddenly feels the uneasiness her mistress is feeling, so she springs up and sits up straight, regaining her elegance in an instant. Remilia continues staring to the sky and says “she’s taking too long.” Sakuya calmly replies “my lady, give her some time. It’s the young mistress after all. Still, for miss Flandre to ignore my orders, even though she’s so afraid of me.” Remilia quickly turns her head to look at Sakuya with worry behind her stern eyes, feeling her stomach churn with worry for her sister, then says “she’s going to get herself sealed.” Sakuya stares back at Remilia with confusion, then Remilia continues her pacing, looking at the floor as she says “that girl changed MY fate, Sakuya. It’s supposed to be the other way around. Who is to say she won’t change Flandre’s fate too! She’s going to seal my sister, and it’s all because I’m-“ Sakuya grabs Remilia when she passes by and sits her on her lap, and although she expected her mistress to struggle, she is surprised when Remilia calms down and relaxes instead. Sakuya takes the chance to embrace Remilia, then says “my lady, though I hate to admit it, I think we should trust miss Reimu. I believe everything will be alright, and when she comes back, she’ll kick us out and send us back to miss Flandre.” Remilia slightly flaps her wings and bends her head back to look at Sakuya with confusion in her eyes, then says “Sakuya, if you’re wrong, you owe me a four-layer cake, and I don’t CARE if it’s late!” Sakuya chuckles and smiles, then says “alright. When miss Reimu returns, I’ll bake a large cake for you and miss Flandre.” Remilia narrows her right eye and asks “are you making fun of me?” Sakuya’s face turns a little pink as she chuckles again and continues to smile, then says “never, my lady.”

Meanwhile, at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, inside the great hallway, Meiling and the fairy maids work hard and as fast as they can to cover the hole Flandre’s bullets made on the wall, so they can prevent her possible escape. Patchouli and Koakuma keep them safe, using all their concentration on creating a protective barrier that protects them all from Flandre’s insane barrage. Further ahead of them, Marisa and Reimu move with speed and precision as they avoid the insane barrage of blue shards being sent by Flandre, who continues to laugh and cry and repeat “play more! Let’s play some more until you break.” She’s moving so fast and so unevenly, Reimu’s talismans and needles constantly crash with Marisa’s sparks and laser beams, though the recoil caused by the explosion slows Flandre down a bit. Reimu seems very focused, and remains eerily quiet as she attacks, while Marisa seems a little more lose and relaxed, even smiling after she is grazed on the face by the burning shards. Flandre finally slows down enough for Reimu to surround and strike her with amulets and talismans that fly from her yin-yang orbs, paralyzing her momentarily. Taking a well-earned moment of respite, Marisa smiles and says “oi, Reimu. This girl knows how to play, ze.” Reimu cracks as smile and chuckles, then says “yeah. She does. Best be ready, ‘cuz here she comes again.” The talismans and Amulets slowly fall off Flandre’s torso, who starts to giggle again as she slowly regains her mobility, and after the last amulet falls off, she flies high to the ceiling and wipes the dried tears from her cheeks. She looks down to Marisa and Reimu with an innocent smile, then says “I’ve never met anyone that could play with me for so long without breaking apart. Let’s play some more! Please, don’t break too soon! I really want to play more!” Reimu sweats as she sheepishly smiles and nervously says “don’t worry little girl. Just go ahead and tire yourself out already.” Flandre gasps with a wide smile on her face and nods while saying “ok then!” She pulls a spell card from under her hat and eagerly says “here, here, look at this one! Forbidden Barrage, Catadioptric!” Flandre shoots powerful dense blue orbs followed by a massive barrage of smaller, yet still powerful blue orbs against the ceiling of the hall. The orbs bounce off, breaking a bit of the roof after bouncing off, then head toward Marisa and Reimu. Marisa is all the way to the right, and only needs to dodge the scattered orbs that head her way, while Reimu is on the left and has to dodge the main attack, the trailing orbs, and the scattered orbs left behind, though she’s so focused, she makes dodging all that look easy. Flandre laughs as she prepares the next wave and shoots six bullet barrages that bounce against the right wall and head toward Reimu to the left, leaving Marisa to deal with the scattered orbs again while Reimu deals with the main attack. Flandre giggles as she says “red and white sis is good at this!”, then shoots three more barrages straight at Reimu, making her dodge the attack twice after they bounce off the floor. Marisa stares at Flandre for a moment, and noticing she’s placed all her attention on Reimu, she thinks it’s her chance, so she quietly pulls a spell card and softly says “Magic Sign, Stardust Reverie”, then aims her right hand at Flandre, surrounds it in blue magic, then releases large multi-colored stars at the vampire. Just before the stars hit, Flandre turns to a bat and avoids the attack while firing three set of orbs to the ceiling and two more to the walls to the left and right. Marisa gasps, thinking she missed a good chance, and when Flandre turns her attention to the witch, Reimu shouts “Spirit Sign, Fantasy Orb!” Flandre smiles wickedly at Marisa, and just before Reimu’s colorful elemental orbs connect, she turns to a bat and manages to avoid Reimu’s attack, which make the orbs follow after Marisa, who takes quick evasive action and flies all over the room, running away from Reimu’s orbs and dodging Flandre’s next wave of attack, which seems faster and more destructive after they break down an whole wall. As she unleashes another wave of attack immediately after another, she smiles wickedly and says “nice try, but I’m not going to fall for-“ Flandre and her attacks stop, and when the little vampire looks behind herself, she finds she has four amulets stuck to her back, burning through her vest again, though slipping away before getting to her skin. Flandre turns her surprised face back to Marisa and Reimu as the maiden regroups with her friend and calls off her spell, then smiles and says “that was sneaky... but I liked it! Come, we play more!” Reimu and Marisa look at each other, then Marisa asks “how much longer do we go on?” Reimu stares seriously at Flandre for a moment before replying “not long now. Just hold on a little longer.”

Flandre starts to fly fast and erratically, making her an impossible target, then starts firing thin blue beams all around herself, except on front of herself. She aims one hand at Marisa and the other at Reimu, then fires a thin blue beam straight at each of them, while the other beams turn to shards and rain down on the girls. Reimu and Marisa fly forward with haste, trying to reach Flandre, but the little vampire continues to fly erratically, shooting her beams and shards, and flies backward to avoid getting too close to the girls. She giggles and says “nah-ah~ You can’t tag me this time~!” Reimu grunts after getting grazed on the left shoulder, but ignores the pain and the blood, and continues chasing after Flandre. Marisa shouts “how long is this darned hallway?” Reimu keeps quiet and concentrated on chasing Flandre while avoiding her attack, then suddenly stops, so Marisa follows her example and stops too. Flandre continues to fly backward, unaware of the wall behind her, then crashes through it as though she’s just gone through paper. Marisa and Reimu wince at the sight, but then gasp when Flandre peeks her head through the hall, asking “aww, why did you stop?” Marisa shakes her head to shake off her shock, then smiles and says “you’re pretty strong, little girl.” Flandre flies back to the grand hallway, frowns and sniffles, then giggles for a moment, then says “th-that’s why... That’s why everything breaks when I play.” Reimu smiles and says “well, we haven’t broken, have we?” Flandre looks at Reimu, then at Marisa, rubs her eyes, then smiles and says “y-yeah. You’re right. You’re still here! Th-that means we can play some more!” Flandre notices Marisa is holding a hand watch by its chain and swings it left and right while raisin her hand toward Flandre. The little blonde vampire stares at Marisa and the watch, then asks “what are you doing?” Marisa asks “aren’t you getting tired?” Flandre giggles and says “no. Those tricks don’t work on me anyway. But now you reminded me of my next spell! Here you go~” Reimu glares at Marisa and grunts as she says “way to go.” Marisa sweats and shrugs, then says “it was an accident!” Flandre pulls a spell card from under her hat again, then asks “c-can I ask you something?” Reimu and Marisa look up at Flandre’s worried and innocent face as she looks away, as though in shame, then Marisa says “go ahead.” Flandre twists her arms around her twisted black rod and asks “after you’ve broken, will you come play with me again?” Reimu and Marisa sweat while smiling sheepishly, then Marisa whispers “gee, she didn’t get it before.” Reimu simply smiles back at Flandre and says “w-well, we’ll decide after we finish playing, ok?” Flandre smirks and says “deal! Now, Forbidden Barrage, Counter Clock!” Marisa and Reimu yelp when they are suddenly forced to move along two large beams made into crosses; one moves clockwise and the other counterclockwise, and while they move along with the clockwise beam, Marisa says “well, this isn’t so bad.” Flandre giggles, flies to the ceiling, then says “that’s because I haven’t done THIS!” Flandre joins her arms and cups her hands and fingers, then fires a rain of red bullets on Marisa and Reimu, and although they fall in straight lines, Flandre wills the orbs to sway a bit. Reimu and Marisa are overwhelmed, but they continue to fly through the small gaps while taking care the moving beams don’t touch them. The beams disappears and reappear again in a different position, then move around the area while spinning slowly and Flandre continues her bullet shower, stopping only for very brief moments. At first, Marisa has some trouble, but after the third reappearance of the beams, she dodges nimbly through the bullets while almost dancing with the beams in the air. Reimu dances around the air since the spell starts, even allowing the beams to get close to her while she sways around the bullets. Marisa is suddenly grazed by a bullet on the neck and loses her concentration after flinching, then screams out loud when the moving beam cuts through her shoe and burns her bare skin. Reimu gasps and shouts “Marisa, stay focu- ARGH!” After getting distracted, Reimu is struck by the new beam on the back, burning her vest and shirt away and touching her skin, but manages to move away before it cuts her in half, though gets struck on her right elbow by one of the orbs. Flandre begins to giggle again, her face twisting as she watches the girls get hit by her attack, then thinks “they’ll break soon, just like the rest, Flandre. I can see it. They are afraid of me, just like onee-chan. No matter, no matter. Let’s just continue the game and look inside of them when they break... just like... N-no... I didn’t mean to!” Flandre suddenly starts to laugh as tears fall from her eyes to the floor below, though because the beams and bullets, what’s left of the floor and walls are just pieces of lumber, broken parts of what used to be columns, and the ground beneath the mansion exposed. Reimu notice’s Flandre’s state and takes advantage of her distraction, then pulls a spell card from her pocket and shouts “Divine Spirit, Fantasy Seal!” Ten elemental orbs of fire, water, wind, lightning and earth surround Reimu, cutting through Flandre’s bullets and cleaning a good chunk of air space for her and Marisa to be safe in, then the orbs fly straight to the distracted vampire. When Flandre notices Reimu’s attack, it’s already too late, and the elemental orbs striker her hard, making her scream out in pain as they burn her skin, though don’t kill her. Flandre’s spell is cancelled, but Reimu’s attack continues for a bit longer, making Flandre scream out “I’m breaking~!”, then stops, allowing Flandre to fall to the ground and recover from the pain. Marisa approaches Reimu and asks “you ok? You took a beating there.” Reimu rubs her back and says “I’m fine, but that hurt though. What about you?” Marisa looks at her foot, then says “it’ll heal.”

While Reimu and Marisa check up on each other, Flandre shivers on the ground as she struggles to get back up, pushing herself up with her arms, crying as her skin feels as though it’s been burned by acid. Her hat has a hole on it that’s letting her hair escape through, her vest is singed and the right half of it is missing, the strap of her pink undershirt is broken, and her little skirt is in complete tatters. She then remembers Remilia’s straight face and her sister’s voice telling her “Flan, you are a Scarlet. Be strong, but remember that you are also a lady, so you need to be more delicate. Now stand up... and stop crying!” Flandre gulps and nods, then says “onee-chan is right. I must not cry... It’s all part of the game, right?” At present, Flandre rises to the air with a playful smile, so silent, Reimu and Marisa don’t notice her until after she giggles and shoots blue beams and shards at them as fast as she can, while moving erratically around. Marisa and Reimu shriek when they notice the beams and shards and immediately split up to dodge through the relentless attack. Reimu fires her needles, amulets and talismans, but misses every single shot, yet continues to attack. Flandre laughs and says in sing-song “you can’t hit me~” Marisa focuses her magical orbs in front of herself, but doesn’t shoot and simply continues to dodge as best as she can. Reimu looks calm and collected as she sways through the bullets and shoots her talismans, saying “you’re enjoying yourself too much, little girl.” Flandre giggles and replies “just like onee-chan used to say to me!”, then proceeds to attack Reimu a little more aggressively than Marisa. The black and white witch takes advantage of Flandre’s distraction and fires a focused laser beam that turns thicker the closer the pushes her orbs together, and strikes Flandre’s abdomen with it, tearing off the lower part of her vest and singing a bit of her pink undershirt. Flandre screams and scrunches, getting hit on her thigh, just as the beam stops, then Reimu looks at Marisa and flips her thumb up, quietly acknowledging the help. Flandre opens her left eye to make sure the attack stopped, then flies higher to the ceiling and pulls a spell card from her pocket, then looks seriously at the two humans. Marisa asks “what? Are you done?” Flandre takes the spell card with her right hand and stares at it as she says “well, this is it. You will break when I use this spell. Please, come back and play when you get fixed, alright?” Before Reimu or Marisa can reply, Flandre shouts “Secret Barrage, And Then There Will Be None?”

Reimu and Marisa watch as Flandre get surrounded by a blue orb, then disappears into the orb and moves around while releasing two slow sets of blue orb strings all over. Though it’s slow, it’s very powerful, it’s power demonstrated when one of the orbs touches the ceiling, explodes loudly, and leaves a large hole. Reimu and Marisa gasp as they look at each other, then Reimu sits on Marisa’s broom, then they begin to dodge the bullets. Just as another blue orb appears and starts shooting bullets, Flandre thinks “this is that same spell. I really liked her, and she liked me a lot too. She loved playing with me... but...” Marisa and Reimu get cornered and fear they are about to die, but a small gap appears right between the string of bullets, so they take their chance and fly through it, letting the orbs explode on the wall instead, the wall turning to dust in an instant. Two more blue orbs appear and start shooting more blue orbs strings, and following after Reimu and Marisa. While this happens, Flandre thinks “she was strong... though not as strong as Meiling. Still, while she was there, guarding the whole mansion by herself, I always felt so safe. And every time she came to play with me after her shift, it always made me so happy.” Reimu and Marisa manage to fly under three of the tracking orbs and let them strike the wall to the clock tower, completely eliminating the wall separating it from the grand hallway. The blue orbs all vanish, and after Marisa asks “is it over?”, all around them, red orbs form and threaten to constrict them. Reimu and Marisa shriek and split up, then Reimu shouts “keep focused and watch your back!” Marisa shouts back “I got it, I got it! Concentrate on yourself!” The red orbs constrict in the center of the attack and spread about, destroying the remaining walls and leaving that entire area exposed to the outside, so Reimu takes the moment of respite, grabs a purple charm with green letters from one of her pockets, quickly prays in an ancient tongue, then releases the charm to the air. From it, large blue beams forms a rectangle that expands and covers all around the battle area, creating a powerful holy barrier that prevents escape and further damage to the mansion. Marisa growls and asks “why didn’t you use that before?” Reimu replies “later! Just dodge those!” Blue orbs form up and threaten to trap the girls as they move in a straight line and seem to turn to a net as they get closer to the center, but Reimu and Marisa manage to dodge these with ease and soon find themselves dodging a set of yellow orbs that, like the red ones, threaten to constrict them. As they dodge these, the blue orbs explode on Reimu’s barrier, but it holds, and as this happens, Flandre thinks “she knew so much and taught me and onee-chan so many things. Ah, but Meiling looks better in that outfit... heh-heh.” Green orbs form up next and they move like the blue ones, though faster, forming a dangerous net as they close up in the center, and before these orbs are gone, more red orbs form up. Marisa shouts “it’s getting faster!” Reimu shouts back “I know, just move!” Just as the green orbs impact Reimu’s barrier and the red orbs constrict in the center, the blue orbs appear again, making Reimu and Marisa shriek again. As they continue to dodge, Flandre thinks “she came to my room in the basement... and made it so lively. I’ve always been down there, though... thanks to her, I was able to come out whenever I wanted to. Too bad mom and dad didn’t get the chance to see.” By now, Reimu and Marisa are overwhelmed as each barrage starts long before the other is halfway through, and added to the explosions on the divine walls, the girls find themselves dodging in a very tiny space. As they dodge this barrage, Flandre thinks “and then it happened. One day I used this very same spell by accident... and she broke... She called for me, she called of onee-chan... and then she broke. I called out for her, but she didn’t respond! Onee-chan came. She was scare of me now, I could see it in her eyes. I cried... I am sorry for what I did, but after she broke she never came back. But Sakuya fixed all my broken dolls, so I don’t get it. Why didn’t they fix her? What happened?” By now, Reimu and Marisa, though focused on carefully dodging through the immense barrage of colorful bullets, feel tired and worried they might get hit, then the attack stops, the spell card times out and Flandre reappears right in front of them with a longing face. She looks at the girls and says “you... you didn’t break.” Reimu and Marisa land on the ground and hold themselves with her hands on their knees, then Reimu replies excited and out of breath “I... told you! We won’t break!” Flandre smiles at them, this time looking more natural and tender, then says “but... every time I used this spell, they all broke. Why didn’t you break? This... is... incredible.” Flandre starts to laugh, and although exhausted, a spell card materializes right in front of her face, glowing light blue. Reimu glares at Flandre and says “Marisa, we got her on the ropes. We just need to survive this and it’s over!” Marisa tips her hat and stares bravely at Flandre, then nods and says “aye. After this, I’m going home and taking a nice long bath.” Reimu chuckles and says “I think I’ll have tea and cookies while I take mine.” Marisa smiles at Reimu and says “showoff.”

Flandre grabs hold of her newly created spell card and continues to smile naturally as she looks at Marisa and Reimu, then says “thanks for playing with me. Now I just have to win and it’ll be a perfect day. I win, and you’ll stay with me forever.” Reimu smirks and says “you have to beat us first if you want to win.” Marisa chuckles and adds “not that we’ll make it easy, ze.” Flandre smirks with excitement in her eyes, then excitedly shouts “Q.E.D. Ripples of 495 Years!” The area turns darker as Flandre summons great power to her, then circular bands of energy form around Flandre, turning to shards after spreading around. Marisa and Reimu dodge this first barrage with ease, but the next barrage comes from five bands. As this happens, Flandre thinks “all those years stuck in that room... it’s NOT fair! I mean... I-it’s not like it’s onee-chan’s fault, but I wanna play sometimes!” The bands intensify in power, size and numbers, and the gaps between shards become thinner, giving Reimu and Marisa a harder time as they squeeze through. Flandre laughs as she thinks “so dark, so quiet... it’s terrible! I should lock onee-chan in a dark room like that too! But... it’s not her fault. I mean, I do tend to break things and people.” The bands become more numerous and spread around faster, and the gaps between the bullets is so narrow, Reimu and Marisa can’t help but get grazed. Both girls are amazed that the bullets, though intense in power, only vanish when they touch Reimu’s barrier. Reimu shouts “Marisa, get ready! Use everything you have and more if you can!” Marisa pulls her Hakkero from under her hat and smirks, then says “after you, miss maiden.” While the girls plot, Flandre thinks “I’ve done so many terrible things, I deserve to be in that room, but... They were all accidents, I swear!” Flandre remembers Remilia looking at her with a stern face, yet she can see the fear in her sister’s eyes as she says “Flan, you need to learn control! If you can’t learn how to control those powers of yours I can’t let you out of your room. I’m not doing this because I like it Flan, I’m doing this to protect our servants. You don’t want to break them, do you?” The present Flandre shakes her head and shouts “no! I don’t wanna break them!”, and the bands become more intense. Reimu shouts “Marisa, now or never!” Marisa flies straight to Flandre and aims her Hakkero, saying “I’m just building up some lovely drama, my dear friend.” The Hakkero starts to shake after Marisa speaks, but Flandre can’t notice this. The little vampire is caught inside her own mind as she thinks “I was let outside more and more, and the more I learned to control myself, the more I could go out. I even got a pet for being such a good girl... but... then they came. They came and broke everything! I... I had to break them too! I broke them, and I broke my pet, and...” Flandre starts to cry, causing Marisa to hesitate, but Reimu edges Marisa on, shouting “DO IT, YOU IDIOT!” Marisa snaps out the shock, then shouts “Magicannon, Final Spark!” Though Flandre turns to a bat and avoids the attack, Marisa’s beam breaks Flandre’s attack with ease. As she flies to avoid the powerful beam, she thinks “but then, after all that, these two came. They won’t break, and they have been playing with me for so long! Are they really human?” Reimu takes advantage and hides under Marisa’s beam, then, after it stops, she flies behind Flandre as she turns back to human. Marisa stares at Flandre with fright, knowing it’s all over as more bands appear next to her, above and below her, plus Flandre so close to her. As the little vampire reaches for Marisa, she thinks “I almost got this one. Will she break? Do I really want her to break? No... I want her to stay with me, so we can play all the time! I want them both to stay with me! I have to win!” The bands stop moving and disappear, Flandre opens her eyes wide with surprise, then floats slowly back to the ground, revealing Reimu behind her with her gohei on her right hand and smiling at Marisa. The witch takes a very deep breath of air and sighs, then says “I swear, I thought I was done for!” Reimu giggles and says “and we won.”

Marisa and Reimu float down to meet with Flandre, and as they do so, Marisa asks “so~, are we done?” Flandre manages to spring on to her knees and cries “no way, I can’t believe it! I lost!” Reimu winks and waves her finger at Flandre, then says with a smile “see, this is the power of those who believe in gods.” Flandre growls and says “don’t think we’re done. Take THIS!” Flandre lifts her left arm and points it at the girl, but nothing happens. Flandre sobs and says “aww, I’m so exhausted I can’t even shoot smoke!” Reimu smiles and asks “so, are you satisfied?” Flandre smiles, though showing a bit of disappointment in her eyes, then says “yes, I’m satisfied, but I’m pretty much alone again.” Marisa smirks and says “oh, so are you going to hang yourself?” Flandre looks at Marisa with curiosity and asks “what? Why?” Marisa closes her eyes and sings “He went out and hanged himself... and then there were none.” Flandre stares at Marisa with curiosity and asks “you know it? Where did you hear that song?” Marisa smiles and says “it’s a famous rhyme.” Flandre scowls and says “I thought you were the last Indian.” Marisa blinks twice and says “that last spell card made you invisible.” Flandre suddenly sings “she died by the bullet, and then there were none.” Marisa smiles and says “mmm, sorry, but I’m really good at dodging.” Flandre shrugs and says “well that’s fine. I can’t die if I hang myself anyway.” Marisa replies “A hanged corpse is not a pleasant sight. Why don’t you do like in the real song?” Flandre stares at Marisa with curiosity as the witch sings “she got married, and then there were none.” Flandre asks “with who?” Marisa replies “I’ll introduce you to a certain shrine maiden.” Reimu smacks Marisa on the head and angrily says “don’t teach her to be a pervert like you.” Flandre giggles, then looks at Reimu and asks “can I come visit you?” Reimu smiles nervously as a drop of sweat falls down the back of her messed hair and says “please, don’t come to the shrine. I’ll come visit you instead, so you won’t be so lonely, ok?” Flandre nods and says “and I wanted to go visit and take some cake and tea as thanks.” Reimu continues to smile nervously as she says “don’t bring your kind of food to a human’s place. Now be a good girl, go home quietly and go to sleep.” Flandre giggles and says “but I am home.” Reimu pats Flandre’s head and says “so you don’t need to go home. Fitting for a bad girl... Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s another bad girl I left in the shrine and need to take care of.” Flandre smiles and asks “who do you mean?” Reimu smirks and says “you and your sister.” Flandre looks away, as though understanding what Reimu just said. Reimu raises her hand and the holy barrier she created disappears, allowing Meiling, Patchouli, Koakuma, and the fairy maids to rush in. Meiling grabs the exhausted Flandre and bows at Reimu, saying “thanks for your help”, then prepares to leave immediately, but before she does, Flandre says “wait.” Meiling and Reimu stare at her, then Flandre manages to drop her head to look at both Reimu and Marisa from Meiling’s arms, then says “do you really promise to come see me?” Reimu smiles naturally and nods, saying “whenever I come visit, I’ll come and see you. That’s a promise.” Marisa nervously looks around, trying to keep her eyes away from Flandre’s, then says “er, maybe... if I remember. I mean, I’m such a busy girl and all.” Flandre sighs and smiles, then says “fine, I get it.” Meiling nods to Reimu, glances at Marisa, then makes her way back to the basement with Flandre, while the fairy maids and Patchouli begin the reconstruction of the destroyed hallway, and Reimu and Marisa fly away back to their homes. After the long walk to the basement, Flandre falls asleep on Meiling’s hand, so the gate guard quietly makes her way to Flandre’s room and gently places Flandre on the bed, covering her with her blanket and brushing her forehead with her fingers. Meiling smiles, then thinks “maybe I should come and visit her too”, then takes off Flandre’s broken hat and walks out of the room.

At the Hakurei Shrine, Remilia paces in and out of the shrine with her hands behind her back and flapping her wings occasionally. Sakuya sits peacefully next to the table, nibbling down on the last cookie form the tray, then stops and says “my lady, here she comes.” Remilia expands her wings and smile wide as sparkles shine through her expectant eyes as she looks outside to the night sky toward the direction of her mansion. Shortly after, she sees Reimu flying just above the trees and landing softly in front of the shrine’s entrance, so she rushes to the maiden and excitedly asks “what happened?” Reimu pats Remilia’s head and in a kind, yet strict tone, she says “you should really pay more attention to your sister!” Remilia gasps and starts to cry “no~ You had to seal her, didn’t you?” Reimu sighs and face palms, then says “relax, she’s fine. She should be in her room again... though your mansion is a complete mess.” Remilia twitches, and her wings stand stiff after hearing that, but Reimu places her hands on the vampire’s shoulder and looks at her with understanding helping her relax. Remilia stares back at the maiden for a moment, then Reimu suddenly says “you have the right to be afraid of her, but she really needs you. We managed to open up a door for her, but she needs you now, Remilia. You need to get her back yourself. Nobody else can do that for you.” Remilia blushes with embarrassment after knowing Reimu figured out about her fear of her own sister. She looks to the ground to her right, then nods and softly says “I’ll give it another try.” Reimu shakes Remilia violently and bends down to look straight into her eyes, then says “listen to me, the door is open, but only you can get her out of there! Do you understand... Remilia?” Sakuya stands next to Remilia, who stares straight into Reimu’s eyes as though in a trance, but doesn’t respond. Reimu lets Remilia go, then says “well, you better get going now. The mess is incredible after all.” Sakuya places a hand on Remilia’s right shoulder, then says “we appreciate everything you have done for us, miss Reimu.” Reimu just looks lazily at the two as they bow, then sighs and says “just make sure not to cause any more trouble.”

Five days later, after the mansion is fully restored once again, Reimu comes and visits, wanting to read something in Patchouli’s library as well, and keeping her promise, she goes and visits Flandre, who smiles innocently at the sight of the maiden, glad to receive a simple “hello, how are you?” That same day, Meiling secretly visits Flandre, though this time, unlike the times before, she’s visiting out of concern, rather than just curiosity. On later days, during one of Marisa’s visits, Flandre exits her room without Remilia’s permission and hunts down the witch to simply scare her to death and give her a hug, then go back to her room with a satisfied smile. Though grateful she’s survived various encounters like that with Flandre, she’s already admitted she rather not meet with the little sister. Remilia has hesitantly and secretly been visiting her sister again, though as time passes, she been doing so more openly, even staging a dangerous incident with a meteor, so that Flandre could save the mansion. After Reimu’s interference, life at the mansion has gotten better and better as the years go by, and Reimu herself has kept her promise to Flandre, always visiting her whenever she visits the mansion, regardless of what she’s doing, opening that door from the madness little by little, allowing Remilia to see more of her real sister with each visit.

AT PRESENT TIME
Remilia and Flandre sit side by side on the little sister’s bed, the room a little more illuminated thanks to the extra set of recently lit lamps installed by Sakuya and Meiling. Remilia smiles and says “yeah, so many things happened. At first, I thought living here in Gensokyo was a curse. But after so many things happened I came to realize the blessing of coming to this place.” Flandre giggles and says “to think you were scared of me, onee-sama... but I don’t blame you. I did try to kill you back then.” Remilia sweats and says “er, just don’t go crazy on me again, ok.” Flandre giggles and nods as she says “ok.” Remilia’s smile suddenly turns to a frown as she looks to the floor and says “I don’t want to lose you again, Flan. When you left me when you did, I thought I was going to destroy myself. Flandre, please, don’t scare me like that again. Losing you for a second time might have brought me to madness.” Flandre’s eyes hide under shadow as she nods, and after she looks down to the floor she asks “do you remember them? Mom and dad?” Remilia sighs and honestly says “no... not anymore. But don’t worry about that, Flan. Now it’s our time. We don’t need to worry about the past anymore. What happened, happened, and what’s important is I got you back, and you have learned to control your powers.” Flandre extends her arms and gives her sister a powerful hug, cracking her bones as she squeezes her, then Remilia grunts “well, at least to some degree...” Flandre lets Remilia go and says “oops. Sorry onee-sama.” Remilia rubs her back as she straightens herself again while still sitting on the bed, then the two sister stay quiet and stare at their feet handing form the bed. Remilia breaks the silence when she suddenly looks at Flandre and says “hey, Flan, I’m curious.” Flandre looks at Remilia with curiosity, then Remilia asks “I’ve only seen you chase after Marisa and give her those powerful hugs and you’re always so happy when you see her. Tell me, why did you call Reimu ‘mom’, and not chase after Marisa, as I thought you would?” Flandre blushes and says “well... Red and white sis kept her promise, onee-sama. She came to visit me every time she came by, and even to this day, when she comes here, she stops by for a moment to check on me.” Remilia stares at Flandre with surprise and says to herself “so that’s what she was doing.” Flandre continues “I like Marisa, but she doesn’t like me that much. But I have to admit, I love hunting her down and messing with her.” Remilia and Flandre stare at each other for a moment, then start to laugh heartily, remembering how often Marisa ended up with a sore back after her encounters with Flandre, or the terrorized face she makes whenever Flandre jumps at her to give her a good hug-tackle. Remilia suddenly sighs, then says “you know, things changed a bit when Patchy came along, but it was after Sakuya came that things really changed around here.” Flandre smiles and chuckles, then asks “but why must she be so strict? Really, she scares me to this day!” Remilia responds in a matter-of-factly tone, raising her hand and saying “she wants to make you a lady, Flan.” Flandre’s lips wriggle after she hears that, then Remilia suddenly looks surprised and stares at the back of her right hand. A dim glow from under her skin reveals the symbol of a hand watch. Remilia gasps and jumps out of the bead, heading straight to the silver door as she says “Sakuya’s in danger, Flan!” Flandre stays on her bed and watches as her sister leaves the door open after running out. Remilia comes back to the room and lifts her hand to Flandre, saying “come on Flan! When Sakuya’s in danger, it must be something big! Will you help me? Flan?” Flandre Stares at Remilia’s hand without showing any expression at all, frightening Remilia a bit, then suddenly giggles, jumps from her bed and grabs Remilia’s hand. As the two vampire sisters rush to the foyer, Flandre says “I’ll be with onee-sama from now on, so you don’t have to worry!” Remilia smiles and says “I am very glad to hear that Flan. I may not seem to care, but I really do. It makes me very happy to be with my entire family once more.”

The End

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Game dialogue by ZUN (credit to the translators as well)
AUG 14 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.
And here, finally, the end of the back story. Although I did try to go as canonically accurate as possible, I did add a few things from what I think may have happened. Yes, I know that to some of you, these look like what some doujin depict as the SDM’s back story too, and yes, I used some mental images from those to create a few of the scenes, however I did this by myself, and honestly, I only remember brief parts of said doujins. For example, Remilia’s pledge to Reimu sounds the same as the one used in Fli-Flop’s manga, but that’s because she really did use those words when asking Reimu for that full-powered battle. To this date, Remilia keeps her word to Reimu, and being the vampire she is, she’s going to keep to her word. As for Flandre, it was after Reimu dealt with her that the little destructive vampire opened up a bit more. Sadly, Flandre is still not fully recovered in canon, and that’s a real shame, seeing as she has so many fans, and so much potential for future games (IMO). Then again, it’s not as bad as the PC-98 characters people love so much, like Mima, Yuki and Shinki (three of my favorites). Anyway, thank you very much for reading and leaving so many reviews/comments, and I am very glad to know you enjoyed reading these. Of course, comments/reviews are still welcome. Oh yes, do have fun playing Fairy Wars. Hope is not TOO hair-splitting frustrating. Anyway, thanks again for reading, take care, and see you on my next project.
Confession time:
I know I said the ONLY thing connecting this to my Sukima series was the very beginning and very end, right? Well there are two things I used, and will use, from the series and spin-offs. First, the black book titled “Ancient Arcane Spells”, is the same book Marisa finds at the end of the fourth chapter of the “Flashback of the Ages” spin-off, though in there, it’s changed its name to “Ancient Arcane Spells of the Sirians”. There is also the nekomata called “Azzhara” (which is pronounced “Atz-hara”). I’ll be using this character in a future project. Guess that’s it. You all take care.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Story of a Past Scarlet 9

A/N:
This chapter contains no bloody scenes, so do enjoy yourselves. Also note that although I am going as canonically accurate as possible to what ZUN’s SDM story goes, he is vague, and I’m filling in those vague gaps with what I believe happened. Also note this is the first part of the final chapter, and although I thought I could finish it already, I learned it was better to split it in the end. Comments/reviews are welcome, though you may save them for the next chapter if you like. Thank you for reading, and enjoy.

Five days have passed since the incident with the scarlet mist was solved, and Remilia was forced to open her eyes to a wonderful reality of her current life that seemed to escape her often. It’s late noon at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and Marisa flies above the gates with a confident smirk on her face, saying to herself “I’ve been visiting too often during the day, and they all seem annoyed, so maybe a night visit won’t make them so mad, ze.” As she flies over the gates, she notices Meiling is missing from her post. She finds this odd, but shrugs it off and continues her way. She tries the second floor balcony’s doors, but they are locked, then she tries the main entrance, but it’s also locked. The east entrance, and even the western entrance, all the doors appear to be locked tight. Frustrated, Marisa stomps the ground next to the red flowerbed, and angrily says “grr, what’s with all the door today? It’s as if they were expecting me! How annoying.” Marisa scratches the left side of her head and looks around, thinking “come to think of it, I haven’t seen a single fairy at all, not out here or through the windows... Could they be avoiding me? Nah, those fairies aren’t that smart.” Marisa looks to the clock tower and smiles, remembering there is a door there. As she flies over, she says to herself “well, if it’s closed, I’m going to blast it open.” She lands next to the door and quickly turns the brand new elegant gold handle, and smiles wide when she hears it click open. Chuckling, she says to herself “alright, let’s brighten their evening, ze!” Meanwhile, Remilia and Sakuya arrive at the Hakurei Shrine and land halfway up the stairs. Sakuya holds Remilia’s parasol and covers her mistress from the bit of sun left, and looking curiously at Remilia, she asks “my lady, if this is urgent, why don’t we just fly over?” Remilia smiles and calmly says “it’s alright Sakuya, just admire the scenery.” They quietly make their way up the stairs, and when they finally reach the top, Sakuya gasps in amazement. She looks around and admires the lonely donation box across the courtyard after the gates, in front of what looks like a small extension of a large shrine. With awe in her voice, Sakuya says “well, this place is actually bigger than I thought it’d be.” From the left side of the shrine, Reimu shouts “I heard that!” Remilia and Sakuya quickly make their way to Reimu, only to find her stretching her right arm and yawning loudly, slightly covering her mouth with her left hand, making it look as though she’s about to eat it whole. Reimu looks with her bored eyes at Remilia and Sakuya, and sounding annoyed, she asks “what are you doing here?” Remilia stares back at Reimu with desperate and urgent eyes, so the maiden looks back more serious, snapping out of her boredom before nodding and asking “it’s that important, huh?” Moments later, Remilia, Sakuya and Reimu sit by the small table at the Shrine’s living room, with green tea in front of each, and some cookies on a plate in the center of the table. Remilia, sounding a bit sad, suddenly says “I wouldn’t bother you if it wasn’t crucially necessary, Reimu. I told you about her, and what happened, and... well.” Remilia is ashamed to admit she is afraid of her own little sister, and noticing this, Sakuya says “she won’t listen to us, so we thought that maybe you could persuade her to go back to her room.” Reimu doesn’t hide her annoyance, growling before saying “you’re all just a lot of trouble. Fine, I’ll go. I’ll set her straight!” Reimu stands up, ready to fly over to the mansion, but Remilia places her hand on the maidens elbow to get her attention, and with a worried face she gently rubs Reimu’s sleeve and says “please, Reimu, don’t be too hard on her. She’s just a little girl, and she doesn’t fully understand what she’s doing.” Reimu stares into Remilia’s worried eyes and sighs, understanding Remilia’s plight, then says “fine, but I think some trouncing is in order. Don’t worry, I won’t get too carried away.” With that, Reimu flies away, while Sakuya and Remilia stay at the shrine, Sakuya eating the surprisingly tasty cookies, and Remilia staring with longing glassy eyes toward Reimu, thinking “Flan... Please Flan, be good. Don’t give her a reason to seal you. I don’t want you to go.”

Reimu arrives to the mansion’s front gates later that evening, when the sun is just about ready to set, and immediately takes notice of Meiling’s absence. As she rummages through her pocket, she thinks “so Meiling is already gone. She wasn’t kidding. I better hurry before she decides to go outside.” Pulling out a golden key from her pocket, Reimu opens the front door and immediately locks it again after entering and closing the door behind herself. Meanwhile, inside a very dark corner of the mansion, two red dots shine through the dark shadows, and the creepy voice of a little girl comes through, singing “Ten little indian boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine...” Meanwhile, Reimu begins her search at the mansion’s dining room, only slightly aware of the danger she is really in, and as she continues her search, the little girl’s voice seems to echo as she sings “Nine little indian boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight...” Reimu continues her search, going to the first floor, saying to herself “this is so annoying. And where are those fairy maids? I tell you, this house is so darn creepy and silent without them around.” There is a loud clang coming from the floor below that catches Reimu’s full attention, and as she hurriedly flies down, the little girl’s voice continues her song “Eight little indian boys traveling in Devon; One said he'd stay there and then there were seven~... Hehehe~” Reimu reaches the basement and goes straight into Patchouli’s library, whispering “Patchouli~ Are you in here?” Reimu hears some rummaging coming from a few bookshelves in front, so she decides to fly up to make as little noise as possible. She sees something moving about the dark floor of the library as the little girl’s voice sings “Seven little indian boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves and then there were six... Tee-hee.” Reimu drops down and grabs the moving person, making her scream out loud and drop many books all over the floor. When she gets a better look, she gets annoyed and exclaims “Marisa, what the hell are you doing here? Don’t you know it’s dangerous now?” Marisa holds her beating chest, taking calming breaths as she looks back while trembling, and after recovering she gulps and says “Reimu! Y-y-you scared me!” Reimu is about to strike Marisa on the head, but a sudden bump from nearby startles both girls, then Reimu asks “what was that?” Marisa shrugs and says “I don’t know. I’ve been hearing many things while in here. Must be some weird and useless defense by Patchouli or something.” Reimu asks “have you seen anyone at all?” Marisa rubs her chin while in thought, then says “actually, I’ve only seen you.” There is another loud bump that gets both girls’ attention, so Reimu takes flight and says “you’re coming with me, no questions!” Marisa covers her disappointed eyes with her hat, grabs her broom, and as she flies away she says “gee, just when I was having so much fun.” As the girls make their way farther inside the increasingly dark basement, the little girl’s voice sings “Six little indian boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five...” Reimu and Marisa arrive to a room with a forced-open thick metal door, and immediately they notice the broken toys, destroyed furniture, and a mirror that seems to be intact inside the room. Marisa looks around and comments “whoa, Sakuya must not come here often, ze.” Reimu grabs one of the toys from the floor and looks at the large cuts where the stuffing comes out, then notices the seemingly intact mirror. She gets closer and notices some dried blood on the golden base behind it, then realizes there is a bit more trickling down the already dried bloodstain. She stares seriously at the blood and then backs away, hurriedly saying “Marisa, OUT!” Marisa knows that tone and runs out, then she and Reimu fly away from the basement as fast as they can. Behind the mirror, a pair of glowing red eyes stare toward the door, and immediately chases after the girls. As they fly back to the first floor, the little girl’s voice sings more excitedly “Five little indian boys going in for law, hahaha~; One got in Chancery and then there were four...” Reimu and Marisa reach the grand hallway and immediately notice how dark it is,, even with the little bit of light that comes through the window, causing the carpet to look more blue than red. Reimu feels a presence and with a stern voice, she says “something’s coming!” Marisa and Reimu look all around, but it’s so dark they can barely see what’s up ahead, unaware they are being watched by a pair of bright red eyes that hide high above on the dark ceiling.

For a moment, everything seems to settle down, but then Reimu looks to the corridor ahead, her eyes having gotten accustomed to the darkness, then shouts “Marisa, get ready!” Right after Reimu finishes her sentence, a large number of frightened fairies fly straight at them, shouting “get her! Don’t let her escape. Someone get the little mistress to her room!” Marisa and Reimu find themselves dodging intense attacks from the fairies, and without question, they both sooth back with all they’ve got. Marisa exclaims “whoa, what’s with these fairies?” Reimu shouts “geez, all this opposition, just because of that girl?” The fairies that escape Marisa and Reimu continue to fly away, as though terrorized by something else, while the dead and knocked out ones lie silently on the carpet. Agitated, Marisa shouts “what the hell is going on, Reimu?” A familiar voice says “back again?” Marisa looks in front and sees Patchouli flying up in front of her, then asks “you? Are you causing all of this?” Patchouli looks at Reimu and bows her head, then says “please do not interfere.” Marisa smirks and says “so you’re still sore about me kicking your butt last time, huh?” A vein pulsates on Patchouli’s forehead as she calmly says “today I feel great, so I thought it’s a good opportunity to show you my newest and best spells!” Marisa pulls out a spell card from under her hat and with a confident smirk, she says “I’m in the mood to beat you again, so sure.” Patchouli immediately opens her book, and from its pages a spell card float out, then she loudly says “Moon Sign, Silent Selene!” Beams of blue light and white sparks fly from underneath Patchouli and rain down on Marisa, who yawns and asks “is that all?”, then starts swaying through the beams and sparks. Patchouli growls softly when she realizes there’s a green spark headed straight to her face, so she closes her book and raises her hand, cancelling her spell and allowing Marisa to capture the spell card in order to protect herself with a small bubble. Marisa smirks, but Patchouli immediately opens her book again and reveals another spell card, then loudly shouts “Sun Sign, Royal Flare~!” Marisa opens her eyes wide as she exclaims “whoa, a solar spell in the night!” From the center between Marisa and Patchouli, a small sun forms up, illuminating the grand hallway enough for Reimu to catch a quick glimpse of Flandre, who stares at them from the ceiling before running away from the light. As this happens, Flandre continues her song, singing in a more macabre way “Four little indian boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three-he-he-he~...” Marisa has a hard time dodging the flares that expel from the miniature sun that threaten to burn her and her broom to a crisp. Marisa scoffs, then says “I better end this quick! Magic Sign, Stardust Reverie!” Marisa flies high to the ceiling and aims her broom at Patchouli, and instead of simply shooting her stars at the magician, she places her Hakkero at the brush-end of her broom and surrounds herself with a blue magical aura, then rushes like a shooting star straight at Patchouli, leaving a trail of stars behind her as she crashes against the magician, almost hitting her directly, yet making her spin in the air after capturing her spell card and cancelling the spell. After this happens, Reimu hears the creepy voice of the little girl as she sings “Three little indian boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two~ah-ha-ha...” Reimu looks up and shouts “what was that? Who’s there?”

Marisa and Patchouli ignore Reimu’s shouting and continue their battle. Patchouli summons another spell card form her book, then says with a smile “you’ll be sorry I had to use this! Five Elements Sign, Philosopher’s Stone!” Five stones, blue, red, yellow, purple and green, surround Patchouli, then she and all the stone immediately shoot an insane combination of elemental spell shards at Marisa, covering the entire area with tiny elemental shards of fire, water, metal, wood and earth. Marisa smiles as she calmly sways around the many bullets, though getting grazed by many and losing a few parts of her black vest, then says “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to do better next time. Ritual Sign Orrerie’s Sun” Four magical orbs appear circling around Marisa, red, green, yellow and blue, then Marisa lifts her arm up and points it Patchouli, and a shower of small stars fly straight to the librarian, each star consuming the elemental bullets with ease, and all Patchouli can do is watch in horror as the stars fly past her stones and straight to her. There is a loud explosion and Patchouli’s scream, then the thud from Patchouli’s body hitting the floor. After everything quiets down, Reimu and Marisa continue to fly ahead, Marisa smiling and saying “heh heh, I bet she’ll be trying that again next week.” Reimu looks around with a very serious expression, trying to find that little girl again, then says “keep sharp. She’s here!” As they fly farther inside the hall, Marisa comments “I don’t see anybody”, but then they both hear the girl singing “Two Little indian boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one...” Marisa shivers for a moment and asks “who was that?”, then she and Reimu watch through the windows in the area, as the last bit of sun disappears from sight. The second the sun is gone, Flandre asks “did you call for me?” Marisa sweats and says “no I didn’t.” Flandre reveals herself to the two girls, then says “here I am!” Marisa stares at Flandre, relaxes, then asks “and you are...?” Flandre says “before you ask a person’s name...” Marisa quickly replies “Oh me? I’m Reimu Hakurei. The Shrine Maiden.” Flandre bows her head and says “I am Flandre. A pleasure to meet you, miss Marisa Kirisame. You know, shrine maiden doesn’t really suit you.” Marisa lowers her head and thinks “maybe I should have said nurse” while Reimu laughs out loud. Flandre looks at Reimu and says “ah, miss Reimu... so you’re the one that quarreled with my sister!” Reimu stares at Flandre for a moment and says “you weren’t here last time, were you?” Flandre bends her body a little while leaving her hands behind her back, then smiles and says “oh, I was here. You just couldn’t see me. You see, I was in the basement.” Marisa asks “you were?” Flandre giggles and says “yup! I’ve been living down there for about 495 years. Now let me guess... you two are humans? I’ve only seen humans as drinks, you know.” Reimu smiles sheepishly and says “yes, we are human, but... we are more complicated than tea.” Reimu looks at Marisa, then says “most of us, anyway.” Flandre giggles as Marisa growls at Reimu, then flaps her colorful wings and says “Hey, miss Reimu, I want to come to your shrine with my sister.” Reimu immediately replies “please don’t! Look, why don’t you just go back to your room like a good little girl and-?” Flandre cuts Reimu off and says in a sinister tone “I’ve always wanted to see humans.” Marisa smiles and says “well aren’t you in luck? Here we are, so take a good look.” Flandre doesn’t reply, worrying Reimu, who says “well, now that you’ve seen us, please go to your room.” Flandre’s voice turns even more sinister and crazed as she smiles and says “I want to play with you.” Reimu and Marisa sweat as they look at each other, then Reimu, though feeling very nervous, calmly asks “and what would you like to play?” Flandre replies “danmaku!” Reimu smiles and says “oh, pretty patterns.” Marisa adds “we’re good with those.” Flandre’s eyes glow blood red as she smiles and says “alright then, let’s play!”, summoning the twisted black rock with heart shapes at the tips. Reimu looks at Marisa and notices she is also a little nervous, then says “you take the left, I’ll take the right. If she wants to play, let’s give her a good game!” Marisa nods as she calms down, then says “alright. Let’s play some danmaku with this little monster, then.” Flandre giggles and immediately releases red shards in circle patterns, and the game begins.

Marisa and Reimu find themselves taking baby steps in the air to avoid Flandre’s powerful barrage of danmaku shards that destroy the windows, the ornaments and even burn the carpet. Marisa smiles and says “hey, you’re pretty good. Now look at mine!” Marisa fires a barrage of green sparks that explode on Flandre’s face, making Flandre stop shooting. Marisa smirks, thinking it’s going to be an easy victory, then gasps when she sees Flandre blinking and looking curiously around, trying to figure out what happened to the sparks. Fear takes Marisa as Flandre casually asks “they exploded. Can you send more? I want to take a closer look.” Before the frightened witch answers, Reimu smiles and says “no, I think it’s best if we just move along.” Flandre giggles and pulls a spell card form under her hat and sinisterly says “ok! Here I come! Taboo, Cranberry Trap!” As the spell card activates, Reimu hurriedly says “Marisa, move!” Marisa looks around and says “what, didn’t we say- WHOA!” Marisa immediately moves to the center when the sees a ghostly magical circle move quickly toward her, shooting blue orbs that quickly make their way to the center, along with some lilac orbs form Reimu’s side, all constricting in the center. Reimu and Marisa manage to fly through the small gaps of the bullets, but the attack intensifies and one of the orbs burns Reimu’s knee as it grazes it. Marisa gets annoyed, pulls her Hakkero, then smiles confidently and whispers to it “I love you, and I love your games.” The Hakkero starts to shake a little, then Marisa aims it at Flandre and shouts “Love Colored, Master Spark” Reimu shouts at Marisa to stop, but the massive beam is already flying toward Flandre, consuming the bullets and the little vampire in its massive multi-colored light. Flandre’s spell continues, surprising Marisa, who asks “what just happened?” Reimu points at Flandre, who has taken the form of a bat, then quickly turns back to human, giggles, and says “nice try, but I won’t let you hit me so easily.” One of the orbs grazes Reimu’s waist, and although it doesn’t even come close, it burns through her clothes and down to her skin. Reimu gasps but steels herself so she doesn’t flinch, then pulls needles from both of her skirt’s pocket, and throws them around Flandre. The little vampire stops smiling and her spell ends, just as one of the orbs is about to hit Marisa’s back without her knowing. Flandre suddenly screams “ow, ow, ow~, ouch! Hey, that hurts!” Reimu angrily says “ok, you’ve played enough, now go back to your room!” Flandre smiles wickedly and narrows her eyes as she shakes the needles of her hands and arms, then says “oh, but didn’t I tell you? The game only ends when you BREAK!” Flandre giggles and progresses to laugh manically, sending chills down Reimu’s and Marisa’s spines as she prepares her next spell card. With a very sinister whisper, Flandre says “I want to see all of you. I want to see what’s inside of you. When I break you, I will see! I will see it all!” Worried, Marisa says “Reimu, this girl is creeping me out.” Reimu sighs to calm herself down, then says “you’re not alone.”

Flandre’s smile widens when she hears the rapid beating hearts of the two humans in front of her, so she raises her spell card and excitedly shouts “Taboo, Lavatein!” Both Reimu and Marisa flinch at the sound of the name, both knowing full well the legend of that sword. The tip on Flandre’s black rod is surrounded by a red spark, then the red spark expands to create a massive scarlet sword, which Flandre swings without hesitation. Reimu and Marisa scream as they split up and fly away from that dangerous attack, while Flandre laughs as though she’s having the time of her life. The sword breaks through the inner walls and floors with ease, but something cuts it off when it touches the wall to the outside or ceiling. As they dodge Flandre’s quick attacks, Reimu asks “how come... it won’t break... to the outside.” Marisa quickly replies “Patchouli’s... protections!” Marisa barely dodges Flandre’s next sword swing, yelping when she feels something touch her head. After the attack, she checks herself and feels her hat is singed; rage quickly fills her face as she raises her head to stare angrily at Flandre. The blonde vampire lowers her weapon and looks at Marisa curiously, then asks “why are you looking at me like that?” Blinded by rage, Marisa flies at the same height as Flandre and summons to her two magical orbs. Flandre smiles, thinking it’s all a game, not realizing Marisa is truly angry, then swings her sword form left to right, happily shouting “YEAH! You wanna play with me!” Marisa growls and grumbles “oh yeah, we’re gonna play alright!” Marisa nimbly dodges Flandre’s attacks, and from her orbs, two thin laser beams shoot straight at Flandre, while Marisa lifts her left hand and cups it, then starts shooting many large green sparks from it. The beams go straight, so they fly right past Flandre, but Marisa focuses on hr magic orbs and places them in front of herself, and just as Flandre attempts a downward slash, she is met by two hot and thin laser beams on the face, as well as powerful exploding green sparks to the abdomen. Flandre screams with pain an surprise, then cries “wait, wait! A-ha-how~! That hurts!” Flandre’s spell is cancelled, but Marisa continues to attack, so Reimu jumps on her and shouts “Marisa, it’s ok, you beat her!” Marisa comes back to her senses and stops her attack, then looks at Reimu and asks “huh? Did she give up?” Flandre curls herself into a ball in the air, as she sobs and cries “that... that hurt. I don’t like it. Make it stop.” Reimu and Marisa watch curiously, wondering what is wrong with her, and without warning, Flandre uncurls with a crazed smile on her face and fires a fast and intense barrage of red shards all around her, already holding her next spell card and shouting “Taboo! Four of a Kind!!” Flandre’s body splits to four, then Reimu gasps and says “so THAT’S what was hiding behind the mirror!” All four Flandres smile sinisterly and say “yes, miss Reimu. And Miss Marisa, that hurt, so I’m gonna make you hurt even more!” Marisa can only say “oh shit, this isn’t-“, before all four Flandres shoot at the girls with all they’ve got with scarlet shard bullets. Amongst the explosions and Marisa screams as she flies through the tiny gaps between bullets, then Reimu shouts “Marisa, keep her on you!” Marisa shouts back “WHICH ONE?” Reimu takes the right side of the hallway, while Marisa takes the left and shouts “hey, are you guys blind? My master has better aim, and she’s a spirit!” The real Flandre laughs and asks “oh, so you want me to aim at you?” After saying that, while the other three Flandres shoot the small, but powerful scarlet shards, the real Flandre shoots large blue orbs around herself, aiming most at Marisa, missing her and destroying the rest of the carpet and the floors while one of the copies suddenly shoots large green orbs, then another shoots slow but powerful yellow. Reimu smiles when she spots the real Flandre, then fires her blue amulets from her yin-yang orbs, as well throw some red talismans from her hands, and before the real Flandre knows what happened, two of her clones yelp and vanish, lowering the intensity of the spell and leaving her open to take Reimu’s talismans head-on. As soon as the talismans cling on to her skin, they paralyze her, but keep her floating. Reimu takes the chance, flies to Flandre and smacks her on the back of her hand with her gohei, then captures Flandre’s spell card and completely ends the attack. Marisa takes a few breaths of relief, then says “thanks. I thought she had me there, ze.” Reimu winks and smiles, then says “it’s not over yet.” The talismans burn off Flandre’s skin, allowing her to move and giggle again. Seemingly happy, Flandre smiles and says “more, more! I want to play more!” Without rest, she starts shooting quick blue shards that zip by so fast, both Reimu and Marisa find themselves flying all around to avoid being hit. Flandre giggles loudly and says “come on, let’s make it more fun!”, then intensifies her attack, grazing both Reimu and Marisa with those shards, breaking off pieces of their vests and skirts as they quickly move around and avoid the bullets. Reimu grunts, then says “enough! Marisa, use the laser again!” Flandre suddenly gasps and flinches, then curls to a ball in the air, covering her face as best as she can. When nothing happens, she sees the smiling faces of Reimu and Marisa staring back at her, so she laughs lightly and says “you... heh heh, you tricked me, red and white. Alright then...” Flandre’s voice turns sinister once more as she says “since you like surprises, let me give you one.” She pulls a spell card from her right pocked, then shouts “Taboo, Kagome, Kagome!”

Marisa and Reimu move to the center in front of Flandre when they notice the green beams forming a large cage around them. When the beams settle, they turn into green orbs, and seeing this, Flandre sounds disappointed when she asks “aww, what gives? They turned to orbs? Oh well, no matter.” Marisa looks up to Flandre and watches her prepare a dense yellow orb on her right hand and says “heads up!”, just as Flandre releases the dense yellow orb from her hands and throws it between the smaller green orbs, breaking the cage and sending the pieces straight at the girls. Before they can move, another set of green beams creates another cage, trapping them once more, then this time Flandre fires two dense yellow orbs that fall through the newly formed green orbs and break them apart, then the process repeats again, though each time Flandre shoots more yellow orbs. Reimu cautiously grazes through the bullets, taking care not to come across any of the orbs, keeping her concentration on the attack, until she hears Marisa’s scream. Marisa got herself cornered and takes three green orbs to the chest, losing a large chunk of her black vest and the lower part of her white undershirt. The impact knocks her breath right out of her body and causes her to lose balance and almost fall off her broom. Reimu shouts “Marisa, focus!”, helping Marisa steel herself and regain her balance, and prevents herself from falling off. Another cage forms and five more yellow orbs break the green net apart while Flandre giggles and says “yay, I get to see the inside of you! Huh? Hey wait, you’re not broken!” Marisa catches her breath and smiles, then says “I won’t break, little girl.” Marisa holds on to her broom, then brazenly flies through the many flying orbs and goes straight for Flandre. Right when she’s in front of the little vampire, she smiles and reveals her own spell card, then says “surprise... Ritualic Space, Orrerie’s Solar System!” Six orbs, red, blue, yellow, orange, green and purple, surround Marisa for a moment, then Marisa sends them straight at Flandre, who is too impressed to realize she is being attacked, and gets hit by the spell on the face, screaming every time an orb touches and explodes on her head. Marisa flies away, knowing the little vampire is going to be furious, but she and Reimu are surprised when the little vampire starts to laugh. Marisa flies next to Reimu and asks “is she happy?” Reimu shrugs, unable to answer her, then Flandre happily says “WOW, you’re very good! Let’s see how you handle THIS! Taboo, Maze of Love!” Both Marisa and Reimu exclaim “WHOA!”, when they see the immense and intense barrage of blue orbs and the wall of shards that heads their way. Reimu sits on Marisa’s broom, then excitedly says “MOVE!”, them Marisa quickly heads to the large gap between the wall of shards, while avoiding the orbs that make their way through the walls. Reimu exclaims “she’s making a maze! Try to find her and I’ll take care of it!” Marisa nods and smirks, then says “you know, I’m starting to like this game.” Reimu grunts, but sighs and prepares a spell card. The hallway is now a derelict mess; the ornaments are nothing but ashes, the tables are mere lumber, the carpet and floor are gone, and the walls and ornamental pillars are destroyed beyond recognition, and this new attack is making things even worse. Reimu exclaims “hurry up!”, while Marisa maneuvers through the insane curtain of bullets and shouts “hey, this isn’t easy!” Reimu pokes Marisa’s shoulder and points at the center of the attack, then exclaims “there she is! After the next wall, get away!” Marisa nods and looks around for the next gap, but realizes the bullets suddenly changed to brown, and the gap is on the other side of where she thought it would be. Reimu exclaims “she changed directions!” Marisa takes a sudden hard turn, getting grazed by the now red orbs, then sarcastically exclaims “really, I didn’t notice!!” Marisa manages to reach the next opening, but as soon as she’s close again, a barrage of red orbs fly straight to her, so she takes a dive. Reimu takes this as an advantage and lets herself fall off the broom and lands below Flandre, switches the spell card for another from her pocket, then shouts “Divine Arts, Omnidirectional Demon Binding Circle!” The familiar golden pillar rises from below Flandre and burns her skin as it glows brightly. Flandre screams as the white hot flames punish her without signs of stopping, then it stops just as quickly as it started. Marisa rushes to Reimu, to make sure she’s alright, but before either can speak, Flandre starts to laugh manically. Her red vest is in tatters, with its right side almost completely missing, revealing her pink undershirt, yet she just laughs. She suddenly stops laughing, then rushes straight at Reimu and Marisa with a maddened look on her face, saying “you have to break... You have to BREAK! If you don’t break, we must play more! I like that! I like that so much! Don’t break yet!” Marisa grabs Reimu and speeds away on her broom, leaving Flandre to crash on the floor and leave a large crater that goes all the way to the ground below the Mansion. Flandre looks up with that crazed smile, and as she gets up on her feet, she giggle and says “we play more!”

As Flandre flies back up, her voice sounds sinister as she says “I don’t get it, you should be broken! Why won’t you break? You-you have to break, heheh, you HAVE to break! Why won’t you break?” Marisa and Reimu watch as she starts to shiver, then Reimu gasps and says “Marisa, don’t let her spells touch you!” Flandre giggles and sinisterly says “alright then, that means I get to play with you even harder! Yes! I get to play to the fullest with the humans!” Marisa sweats and asks “er, Reimu? Shouldn’t we run?” Reimu whispers “too late, Marisa.” Flandre pulls a spell card form under her hat, then shouts “Forbidden Barrage, Starbow Break!!” A sudden barrage of multi-colored orbs appears from right to left, following Flandre’s hand and insane smile, then they all fly straight at Marisa and Reimu in a completely random pattern. Reimu and Marisa manage to dodge through the attack and flinch at the sound of the loud explosions behind them. Marisa gasps at the sight of the completely destroyed outer wall, then says “Reimu! She broke it!” Reimu shouts “watch out!”, then she and Marisa find themselves dodging through another barrage of random colorful orbs. Reimu looks at Flandre, then back at the destroyed wall, then says “Marisa, whatever happens, she must not get out! Do whatever it takes, she must not get out!” Marisa is about to complain, but she quickly notices the urgency in Reimu’s eyes, so she nods, then says “she will not get out, Reimu. But what should we do?” Before Reimu can answer, she and Marisa find themselves taking evasive maneuvers between barrages and barrages of randomly flying multi-colored orbs before there is a moment of pause. Reimu flies all the way to the right side of the hallway, while Marisa is on the left again. They look at each other, then Marisa shouts “Reimu, use Treasure Sign!” Reimu smirks and says “I’m game.” Marisa flies up to the ceiling, while Reimu takes the offensive and moves between the narrow gaps of the next bullet barrage to get closer to Flandre, throwing her talismans and amulets with such skill, when Flandre moves away to avoid them, the talismans stick to the walls as though they were blades. Reimu is in range, and without wasting any time, she shouts “Treasure Sign, Yin-Yang Orb” One of her yin-yang orbs absorbs her spell card, grows in size, and turns golden, and using that orb, Reimu neutralizes the next barrage of bullets and tries to hit Flandre, but the clever little vampire turns into a bat and manages to flutter away. Reimu’s spell times out and she finds herself trapped between Flandre and her danmaku, and with a wicked and twisted smile on her face, Flandre gets closer to Reimu, reaching out with her left hand, saying “yay, I get to see inside”. From the ceiling, Marisa shouts “Comet, Blazing Star” Marisa flies as fast as a comet and tackles the distracted vampire to the ground, saving Reimu and cancelling the barrage of bullets. Flandre falls to the floor on her back, and everything seems to settled down. Thinking she has attained victory, Marisa raises her right fist and shouts “Yeah! Score a huge win for me!” Reimu stares sternly at Flandre, then says “it’s not over yet.” Marisa looks at Reimu with surprise, then a hammering sound catches her attention. When she turns around, she sees Meiling, Patchouli and a large group of fairies hammering away and working as fast as they can to close the large hole on the wall, all of them with tears on their clothes and some dried bloodstains. Meiling notices Marisa is watching, so she smiles and waves her bandaged left arm, saying “don’t worry, we got this covered. Good luck with the little sister.” Smiling sheepishly as a sweat drop falls behind her hat, Marisa turns to Reimu and says “well, it looks like we’re doing this for free after all... huh?” When she looks at Reimu’s face, she notices a pained look as she stares at Flandre, who is back in the air with a wide and twisted smirk, expanding her arms as she giggles, though evident in her widened and crazed eyes, is her pain. Reimu raises her left hand to Flandre, silently asking the vampire to wait, then asks “what is it, little one? Why are you so intent on ‘breaking’ us? Don’t you see, if we break, we die, and if we die, we can’t play with you, ever again.” Flandre holds her head and grunts, then shakes around as though trying to fight with herself, then raises her crazed face again, this time tears with flowing from her eyes, and they don’t seem to stop. Flandre giggles again, sniffles, then says “everything breaks around me... everything I’ve ever known breaks when I play! Everyone I love dies! Mother, father, Inu...” Flandre stops speaking and starts giggling again, her tears continue to flow though she smiles and starts to laugh, then suddenly shouts “no! I don’t remember! He broke, but he’s fixed! Sakuya fixed it, just like my dolls and my toys! She fixes everything!” Reimu and Marisa can’t help but feel devastated by the sight and by what they have just heard. Flandre speaks through her teeth as she says “everything breaks, everyone dies! If I want to play, I have to know this, or it hurts. Yes, it’s normal! Everything breaks!” Disheartened, Reimu gulps and asks “Marisa?” Marisa turns her frightened and saddened face at Reimu and then both ask at the same time “are you ok with this?” Reimu sighs and says “we have to stop her at least. Maybe if we tire her out.” Marisa hides her eyes under her hat’s brim, then says “agreed. Reimu, let’s play with her.” Reimu nods, then says “we agree then. Let’s give her a good game and show her the truth.” Marisa and Reimu smile and rush to face the laughing vampire again, now aware and knowledgeable of what they are truly up against.

To be concluded...
Characters, Spell Cards and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
EoSD game dialogue by ZUN (credit to the translators as well.)
AUG 12 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.
Well, I decided to split this into two chapter after all. Flandre has too many spell cards to begin with, plus there’s three more from Patchy, and then there’s the time before they met with Flandre, when Reimu was searching for her, which I wanted to make mysterious and scary. Originally, I was going to rush through most of the spell cards and end this quick, but that would RUIN this whole fiction, so I decided to just take it easy and add a few extra details here and there, add more details to Patchouli vs. Marisa (part 2), and end the story on the next chapter. I think I made the right decision there, seeing as I also want both Reimu and Marisa (though canonically, it’s mostly Reimu) to know more of Flandre and the madness that’s keeping herself from self-destruction. Anyway, thank you for reading, and if you want to wait until next chapter to leave a comment/review, it’s alright, though note comments/reviews are very much appreciated. Again, thank you for reading, and see you next chapter.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The Story of a Past Scarlet 8

A/N:
Note that this chapter has some light bloody scenes (yes, even with the spell card rules in effect), so hit that back button if you don’t like them. Also note that I am trying to write things as close as possible to ZUN’s story about the SDM cast, but keep in mind that he is vague, so I will fill those vague gaps with my own ideas of what might have happened. In short, you may disregard this. Also note that I’ve used dialogue from the game again, so remember that ZUN and the translators of the game’s dialogue are to be given credit to in here. Please leave a comment/review, as it will be much appreciated.

Unaware of her servant’s failure to stop Reimu’s advance, Remilia stands on the roof of the clock tower, holding herself by the ornamental metal pike on its top, closing her eyes and smiling as she enjoys the cool wind and the large red full moon. She opens her red eyes and says to herself “really, nights like this is the only reason to live.” The wind stops blowing and Remilia’s smile vanishes for a moment as she looks back through the corner of her eyes, then says to herself “well, it seems Sakuya failed. Tch, of all nights to be getting lazy, really!” Her eyes start to glow bright red when she looks down, then smiles wickedly and says to herself “that’s it, miss intruder, come. Come and meet with your fate that is Remilia Scarlet, the Scarlet Devil, Queen of the Night!” While all of this happens, down at the basement, close to the doors to Patchouli’s Library, behind the locked metal doors, is Flandre Scarlet, who sits on her bed, curling into a ball and holding her knees, listening to the racket occurring outside. She can clearly hear how Sakuya loses her temper so quickly when fighting against the one called Reimu Hakurei, and can hear the low and disappointed tone of voice of the sickly Patchouli as she asks Marisa Kirisame to stop knocking books off their shelves. Flandre’s eyes glow bright as she starts to smile in a most disturbing manner, then says “new humans. I want to see them. I want to play with them... until they break.” She softly giggles to herself, taking notice of how maddened she sounds, making her cry, though she continues to giggle and smile, as she is unable to find herself in the darkness, even though she’s looking so hard. Her maddened giggle echoes all around her room, making her door vibrate and causing the locks outside to loosen up.

At the grand hallway, Sakuya struggles to stand up, sobbing as she thinks what Remilia would say to her for her failure. In her mind, Sakuya sees herself kneeling in the front gates, begging to Remilia, who stands inside, coldly saying “I have no need for useless failures like you. Go, and do whatever you want with the rest of your pathetic life.” Slowly, the door closes in front of Sakuya’s face, and with it, all the light disappears, and Sakuya finds herself wandering through darkness, looking for a purpose in life once more. This vision frightens Sakuya so much, she gets up on her feet, ignoring her own exhaustion, and with a loud war cry she lifts to the air and stops time in order to reach the shrine maiden, before she reaches her mistress.” Up ahead, Reimu is inside the clock tower, and is flying up to the door that will lead her to the roof’s balcony, disregarding the long stairs to the top, and as she flies up, she comes across many magical defenses, as well as stronger fairies. The last two she meets as the very same blue and blonde haired fairies that Remilia had as her first fairy maids. The two of them giggle, then the blue haired one says “stop the intruder!”, while the blonde fairy says “orders from lady Remilia! I win if I shoot more!” Both fairies fire small shards all around themselves, giving Reimu a rough time finding a gap between the relentless attacks from those two and the other six fairies that suddenly pop from the windows. Before long, Reimu manages to graze through the bullets, getting a few tears on her skirt, then fires her amulets straight at the two fairies in front, who shriek just before exploding. After falling all the way to the ground floor, the two fairies slowly get up, and the blue haired one asks “hey, what were we supposed to do?” The blonde one thinks for a moment, then says “clean the dining table! Whoever cleans faster is the winner!” The two fairies try to get up, but the pain in their little bodies prevent them from moving, so the blue haired fairy, with a trembling voice, says “um, let’s rest a bit before we go.” The blonde fairy nods and asks “sure, but why does it hurt so much?” Reimu finally reaches the top where the door to the balcony is, but before she can open it, Sakuya appears right in front of her, looking dreadfully exhausted, panting while holding her chest. Her bonnet looks worn and about to break along with her apron, and she herself looks as though could collapse at any time. After taking in all the air she can, Sakuya still speaks out of breath, saying “I have to make you waste some energy before you meet my mistress, or she might get mad at me.” Reimu sweats, and sounding a bit annoyed, she asks “shouldn’t you be out somewhere else, running some errands?” Using what little strength she has left, Sakuya desperately launches her knives along with some kunai knives, unable to stop time anymore due to her exhaustion. Seemingly annoyed, Reimu sways through the gaps between the many knives, gets closer to Sakuya, then pokes her forehead with her gohei, making her stop the attack. Reimu sighs and says “you are too weak to keep this up, so why don’t you just go and rest?” Sakuya pulls a spell card from her apron and shouts “Conjuring, Eternal Meek!” Sakuya starts throwing knives surrounded by a blue glow in a desperate and rapid manner all over the small room. Reimu is grazed over and over by the blades, losing a good chunk of her red vest and some pieces of her white undershirt, as well as getting many holes on the back of her skirt. Shocked, Reimu exclaims “you psychotic maid, you’re gonna end up killing yourself!”, then flies straight at Sakuya, taking advantage of the gap she left to her right side, then kicks her head and sends her crashing against the wall and falling to the small balcony floor in front of the door to the roof. Reimu sighs, then says “you take it easy now. This will all be over soon.” Sakuya lies with her face on the floor and her right arm hanging over the small balcony’s edge. She whimpers, then whispers “I’m... sorry”, before finally letting herself lose consciousness.

Reimu walks through the door and enters the large balcony on the roof with the large clock tower next to it. She looks around and to the sky, then places her hands on her waist, sighs and asks “isn’t it about time you showed yourself, young lady?” Remilia reveals herself from behind the clock tower and says “I knew it. Humans are useless.” Reimu asks “was that girl really a human?” Remilia asks “are you the murderer?” Reimu smiles and chuckles as she says “don’t worry, one kill doesn’t make me a serial killer.” Though Remilia smiles, her eyes glow bright with anger as she bluntly asks “so what do you want?” Reimu twitches and says “oh that’s right. You and your mist are a bother, so could you please leave this place?” Remilia smiles as she places a hand on her chest, then says “my, jumping to conclusions already, and you don’t even know why. You’re the one in my castle, so you’re the one that should leave!” A sweat drop falls form the back of Reimu’s head as she chuckles, then sounding annoyed, she says “oh, I meant from this world, little girl.” Remilia scoffs and says “you’re hopeless. To think I’m already full. Sakuya was such an excellent maid after all. Those tea and snacks really were something.” Reimu stares at Remilia in disbelief and asks “you sheltered little girl, are you actually strong at all?” Remilia shrugs and says “I’m not sure. I’m not allowed outside often. Sunlight makes me weak.” Reimu’s face turns deadly serious as she stares at Remilia, who slowly descends to the floor in front of the maiden and says “we’ll use five of those stupid spell cards. You’ll become my servant from this night forth.” Reimu smirks and says “oh, you’ll be getting rid of that mist for me before morning comes.” Remilia and Reimu fly to the sky at the same time, as though synchronizing their moves, then point at each other with their right hands and speak at the same time, Reimu saying in an annoyed tone “looks like it’s going to be a long night”, and Remilia excitedly saying “looks like it’s going to be a FUN night!” Reimu and Remilia back away from each other and immediately start attacking, Reimu firing many needles and amulets, while Remilia shoots dense blue and scarlet orbs in a circular pattern from the palm of her hands. Above the clock tower, it looks like there’s a display of fireworks from the two girls locked in battle, their danmaku illuminating the already bright red night sky.

Reimu flies through Remilia’s bullets with ease while throwing her own needles straight at the vampire, all while smiling. Remilia smiles back while still shooting, then says “yes, that’s it, you weakling. Smile while you can.” Right after she finishes her sentence, Remilia feels something smack her forehead, and immediately feels her skin burning up. Her bullets stop while she screams out loud and flies in circles, doing all she can to pull of whatever is burning her forehead, and after Reimu giggles, the pain stops and a blue amulet with red ink falls right off Remilia’s sizzling forehead. Remilia turns her surprised face at Reimu, who giggles again and asks “what? Why are you looking at me like that?” Remilia’s anger suddenly escalates, and in her rage and with raging tears under her glowing eyes, she pulls a spell card from under her hat and clenches is so tight it’s crushed under her hand as she shouts “you little imp, take THIS! Heaven’s Punishment, Star of David!” Regardless of its state, the spell card glows scarlet before disappearing in front of Remilia, who extends her arms and legs and unleashes five glowing orbs that fire five thick scarlet beams that make ten more orbs of light that create 5 more beams each, which create twenty more orbs that fire five beams each. Reimu sweats when she sees she’s trapped inside a large scarlet net, but before she can think of something, the notices how from each of the source orbs, small blue orbs spread out in a circular and crossed formation. Remilia watches with a wicked smile as Reimu seems to despair at the sight of her power, then thinks “yes, little human, despair. Be grateful, though. I am only using a mere fraction of my power. What the-?” To Remilia’s surprise Reimu starts flying so elegantly around and between the bullets and beams, she looks as though she’s gracefully dancing around for mere entertainment as she smile while doing so. Reimu manages to get close to Remilia just as the beams vanish, then strikes Remilia’s head hard with her gohei, cancelling and capturing the spell card. Remilia rubs her head with both hands while Reimu asks “giving up already?” Remilia opens her eyes and looks at the large red moon behind her, then sighs and smiles, and says to herself “calm down Remilia. She’s just a human, and you’re just playing around, so it’s alright.” Reimu has backed away from Remilia and now flies close to the clock, and unable to hear Remilia she angrily asks “hey, what are you mumbling to yourself over there?” Remilia answers by raising both hands and throwing a concentrated scarlet mist at Reimu, and unlike the mist around Gensokyo, this one burns with power. Feeling this power from afar, Reimu gasps and quickly flies away from the mist, keeping an eye on the remaining bits left behind, and even after being careful, she grazes one of the bits of mist with her leg, getting burned by its touch. With a quick yelp, Reimu instinctively grabs hold of her leg in pain and without further thought, she pulls out a spell card and shouts “Spirit Sign, Fantasy Seal!” Unlike with Sakuya, the colorful orbs fly around Reimu this time, and clean the air from Remilia’s mist, then fly straight at the vampire, just as she throws another concentration of mist. Her mist gets swallowed up by the orbs that continue their way to her, so Remilia shrieks and flaps her wings as fast as she can to get away from the orbs, but one of them flies ahead and cuts her off, and all five orbs strike her hard at the same time, burning her with their multi-elemental light. Remilia screams out loud, though more with surprise than pain, and right after Reimu’s attack stops, she pulls a spell card from her left skirt pocket and says “how dare you do that to me! Dark Sign, Scarlet Netherworld!” Remilia surrounds herself with the same burning scarlet mist she was throwing all over before, then it rapidly blows over to Reimu in a spinning manner, giving her a very hard time to avoid being touched. Remilia releases the rest of the mist, making it move in a clockwise and counter clockwise manner, causing Reimu to get burned around her legs and left arm. Remilia laughs and shouts “what’s the matter, too hot for you, miss maiden?” Remilia immediately prepares another cloud of mist, but everything suddenly stops and Remilia stares blankly at the ground without saying a word. When the remaining mist dissipates, Remilia looks at her hands and her abdomen, then notices the needles with charms, one stuck in each hand, and three more in her abdomen. Her eyes glow bright as she growls, and using her energy, she pushes the needles out and away from her body, and sounding seemingly calm, she says “you are becoming a very annoying cockroach, you despicable human.” Reimu smirks and chuckles, then asks “oh my, did I do something wrong?” Remilia sighs and calms down for real, then smiles and says “the night is still young.” Reimu smiles back looking back at Remilia with defiance, then says “just show me what you got, you sheltered vampire.”

Remilia flies high to the air, going even higher than the sharp ornamental pike on top of her clock tower, and swinging each wing unleashes an innumerable barrage of daggers in arcs, though in straight lines. Reimu smiles and positions herself so that the daggers all pass between her, but Remilia is no fool and moves the formation around, yet Reimu simply moves very slightly to avoid being hit. Smiling, yet showing her anger through her glowing eyes, Remilia stops her attack and rummages through her left skirt pocket again, then pulls out another spell card. Reimu shrugs as she watches her prepare her third spell, and before Remilia declares it, she says out loud “I summon thee, Vlad Tepes, to watch as I smite the enemy that stands before us. Witness now as her blood becomes a sacrifice in the name of our own! Curse, Curse of Vlad Tepes!” Daggers surrounded by a scarlet aura fly away from Remilia in an ominous, circular manner, releasing drops of blood that turn to danmaku orbs on their trail. Reimu dodges the daggers with ease, and at first, the orbs are no problem to dodge, but Remilia releases another set of daggers, these moving in a counter-clockwise direction, and the danmaku blood orbs they release move to the sky, instead of the ground. Reimu has no real trouble dodging the bullets and daggers, but she’s finding herself being overwhelmed by the amount of orbs in the sky, and one of them grazes her shoulder, making her yelp, flinch and hold her own shoulder. When she pulls her hand away from her shoulder, she realizes it’s bleeding a little, and this makes her angry, making her two yin-yang orbs fly in rapid circles around her, then both she and the orbs fire countless amulets straight at the vampire. The amulets in front break through a strange aura that surrounds Remilia, and the others stick themselves to her skin, causing her to lose her concentration, and with a loud scream, she drops to the ground. As she falls, the amulets slide from her skin one by one, and right after the last one slides off, she turns into a bat just before touching the floor, then flies above Reimu and showers her with small scarlet shards in an uneven pattern. Reimu tries to attack, but Remilia moves too fast and is too small in her bat form for her amulets or needles to hit, so all she can do is dodge the barrage. Remilia takes her human form again, smiling as she looks down, giving Reimu a chance to attack, but as soon as the amulets get close enough, Remilia turns into a bat again and showers Reimu with dense scarlet orbs in straight and narrow lines, though as she moves around, Reimu has to move accordingly so she doesn’t get hit. Again, Remilia takes her human from and smiles as she says “face it, human. You don’t stand a chance!” Reimu tries her needles again, but Remilia quickly turns into a bat again and continues her attack, this time unleashing a very hot barrage of scarlet fireballs that, although they leave a large gap between the formation, some of the fireballs move out of formation at random. Reimu has had enough, so she pulls out her next spell card and says “Dream Sign, Evil Sealing Circle.” Right after Reimu declares her spell, Remilia turns back to human and asks “what was that?” A blue beam flies from Reimu’s own body and straight to the sky, trapping Remilia in it, making her scream out as her entire skin feels as though is being burned by the very same rays from the sun. After Reimu’s attack ends, Remilia recovers and keeps in the air, noticing her skin is fine, yet still burns. At first, she is in complete shock, but she suddenly starts to laugh and a spell card materializes right in front of her face. She grabs it and while still smiling, she shouts “Scarlet Sign, Scarlet Shoot!” Reimu notices the vampire is on edge, so she smirks and says “well, it looks like you’re tired of me already- WHOA!” Reimu is grazed by a thick scarlet mist that comes accompanied by burning blood drops and dense orbs that almost get her, if it weren’t for her reflexes. Remilia surrounds herself with the mist and the danmaku orbs again, but this time she concentrates the attack on Reimu only. The maiden manages to move away from the attack, but quickly realizes the blood drops linger in the air before disappearing. Enjoying the surprise in Reimu’s face, Remilia surrounds herself with the mist and shouts “yes, fear my power human! This is why I am known as the scarlet devil!” When Remilia releases the attack all around, she realizes Reimu is nowhere to be found. She smiles, thinking she’s attained victory, but senses the shrine maiden is behind herself too late, and Reimu strikes her down with a powerful kick that makes her spin like one of Marisa’s stars before she finally stops, capturing Remilia’s spell in the process. Reimu glares at the vampire, raises her gohei, points it at her, then says “enough of this! You only have one spell left, and I’ve only used two. Stop being such a brat and take this mist away.” Remilia snarls and shouts “NEVER!”, then manages to calm herself and says “I’ve only been toying with you so far, but enough is enough, human.” Remilia pulls a spell card from her right pocket, and with a wicked grin on her face, she says “you humans are all alike, thinking you are so strong. Well, you’re wrong, and once this is over, I’ll have you clean the basement bathroom with a sponge!” Reimu sweats and says “now if you do that, I’ll never finish.” Remilia calms down, thinking she has the maiden intimidated, then casually says “that’s the idea.”

Reimu glares at Remilia as she flies up and turns around to face her, the huge red full moon behind the vampire making her look even more menacing, and although the maiden wants to smirk, she suppresses her desire to do so and simply continues to glare in silence, even clenching her teeth. Remilia’s smile widens as her spell card begins to glow, and before declaring it, she asks “tell me, miss shrine maiden, what is your name?” Reimu sternly replies “Reimu Hakurei, from the Hakurei clan, and current shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine that watches over the land of Gensokyo.” Remilia continues to smile as she says “well, miss Reimu, I hope you came prepared to have your fate changed to feet scrubber, because that’s what I’ll have you do for the rest of your miserable life!” Reimu can’t hold herself and smiles, though continues to scowl, which makes Remilia smile back at her in a wicked manner, then takes a deep breath and shouts “Red Magic!” The spell’s name echoes all over the mansion, and immediately, from Remilia’s own body, dense blue orbs spread out in an arc all around her and set blood-colored orbs in their trail. The spell looks slow and very easy to dodge, but something frightens Reimu, making her gasp and try to reach Remilia before the second wave, but it’s too late, and the blood-colored orbs start to move about. Before the second wave is done, Remilia unleashes the third wave, and by now, Reimu is having a hard time dodging through, and is unable to reach Remilia as she unleashes the fourth, fifth and sixth waves in a row. The entire sky looks like one giant blood puddle, and the red moon behind it makes it look even more frightening, and in the middle of all of this is Remilia, whose eyes continue to glow, and her wicked smile continues to shine through. With so many orbs in the sky, Reimu knows it’s just a matter of time before she’s caught, so she takes her chances and makes the desperate move of flying through the many blood-colored orbs. As Reimu maneuvers herself through the orbs, going left and right, up and down, even having to retreat often, Remilia laughs and shouts “yes, yes! Go ahead and touch them already! Your fate is sealed! ...Wait, what-? Wh-why can’t I change her fate? What’s going on?” Remilia’s smile suddenly turns into a shocked frown as she looks at Reimu’s determined face, flying through her bullets with all her speed and not even grazing them. Remilia starts to feel fear, and as Reimu gets closer, she screams “no! Get away from me!” Reimu is finally in range and pulls a spell card from under her right sleeve, then immediately shouts “Treasure Sign, Yin-Yang Orb!” One of Reimu’s yin-yang orbs flies in front of the spell card and absorbs it, then immediately glows bright gold and increases in size. Remilia screams as the orb quickly flies to her, cancelling her own spell to try and cover her face with her arms, and in an instant, the large yin-yang orb sticks to her skin and starts to burn her, consuming her as though it were alive and eating her, burning her with white hot fire, then spitting her out and throwing her back on to the floor, and after Reimu lands in front of her, she slowly gets up, moaning in pain. Looking at Reimu, Remilia thinks “what happened? Why couldn’t I change her fate? This is impossible! I can see it, but I can’t change it! Why?” Reimu rests her gohei on her shoulder and bends over to offer a hand to Remilia, saying “I’ll expect that mist to be gone by morning, oaky?” Remilia is lost inside her mind while looking at Reimu’s face, unaware that she accepted the maiden’s helping hand, thinking “I completely underestimated her! She’s powerful. Much more powerful than this. Remilia, why did you do that? Ugh, why the hell is this happening?” Reimu takes a deep and relaxing breath, her face turns calm and soothing, and even her aura seems to turn so peaceful, it relaxes even Remilia, and as she heads to the door back to the mansion, she says “well, I guess that’s it. Remember to keep your word, you hear?” Reimu is just about to enter the door, but before she touches the knob, Remilia angrily shouts “wait! Let’s have a rematch!” Reimu turns her face to Remilia and her aura immediately starts to change and fill with energy as she asks “what? What are you talking about?” Remilia clenches her fist behind her skirt and says “you only won because I underestimated you and went soft on you! All because of those stupid spell card rules! Fight me properly! Fight me at my FULLEST! Let us both fight at our fullest, Hakurei!” Reimu stares at Remilia and is about to decline, then Remilia suddenly says “let us fight at full power, Reimu. Show to me your power! ...If you win I pledge to you my allegiance! I will help you care for Gensokyo, I will never kill a human, I will even allow you entrance to my mansion.” Reimu quietly stares at Remilia, who continues “your friends will be my friends. Your enemies will become my enemies as well! If you win, I will hold to this pact I’m making here tonight, right now, and will keep it for as long as there is a Hakurei alive in your clan!” Reimu silently stares at Remilia for some time, then suddenly throws a white talisman with black symbols on it at her. The second Remilia touches it, she feels herself recovering all her lost power, then Reimu says “I will not soil our agreement. Let us both fight at full power now. This battle will end when one of us either gives up, or is unable to move.” Remilia’s face turns calm as she looks at Reimu’s resolute face, then nods and flies to the air. Reimu follows afterward, thinking “I don’t know why I’m doing this. Is this fate, or something else? Regardless, I need to get ready... She seems more powerful now. Reimu, focus, and remember, you are the maiden of Hakurei. You cannot allow yourself to lose.” Remilia flies up along with Reimu and thinks “this human is much more powerful than I could have ever though a human could be. She even surpasses my own power. I know this is a losing battle, but there’s something I need to see. Her power is just unbelievable. I need to see it! I have to see I didn’t lose to just any human!” Once in the air, Reimu and Remilia stare at each other as though looking for something inside each others’ eyes. A cold eastern wind passes by them, then both get ready to attack.

Inside Patchouli’s library, Patchouli, Marisa and Koakuma look out the window and watch as Remilia falls to Reimu’s golden yin-yang. Marisa sighs and says “maybe I should have warned that mistress of yours that Reimu just can’t be beat.” Patchouli angrily says “her name is Remilia! Remilia Scarlet! How many times do I have to repeat the name?” Marisa raises her hands defensively and says “alright, alright! Geez, I’m sorry already.” Koakuma looks to the ground next to Patchouli’s feet and asks “well, what’s going to happen now?” Patchouli sighs, then says “I really don’t... wait.” Patchouli raises her head, showing terror in her gaze, frightening Koakuma and Marisa as well. Koakuma asks “what’s the matter lady...? What’s that?” Marisa raises her head and says “I feel something weird.” Patchouli looks outside the window and watches as Remilia and Reimu take flight once more. She starts to shiver and cough, then falls on her knees to the ground. Showing a bit of concern, Koakuma asks “Patchouli, are you alright?” Marisa adds “she’s a very sickly girl.” Patchouli springs from the floor and grabs Marisa by her vest and shouts “HELP ME SPEAD THE PROTECTION, NOW!” Marisa casually says “back away, ze. Why should I help you any-?“ Patchouli presses her forehead on to Marisa’s and sounding very agitated, she says “if you don’t help me now I’m going to release Koakuma’s TRUE form, and I’ll have her do to you so many things, you’ll wish for a quick DEATH long before she is done breaking your spirit!” Marisa’s skin turns pale as she looks at Koakuma’s disturbingly wicked and ominous grin, then looks back at Patchouli, gulps, and says “j-just tell me what to do.” Outside, above the roof’s balcony, Remilia and Reimu continue to stare at each other, while Marisa flies around the mansion as fast as she can, placing books and drawing magical circles around the mansion, while Patchouli stands at the gate and chants as loud as she can, having Meiling hold her on her feet in case she starts coughing again. Reimu and Remilia scream as they suddenly point their hands at each other, and from their hands, a blue and a scarlet beam rush to meet their opponents, only to crash and cause a large spark, just as Patchouli finishes her incantation. The spark alone has enough power to turn the entire mansion to rubble, but Patchouli’s protection weakens it, causing it only to destroy part of the hallway. Marisa exclaims “WOW! What the hell are they thinking?” She flies down to the mansion’s western side and draws a purple magical circle, activating it with haste and giving Patchouli’s own protection more power. With that, she flicks her hat and says “back to the library, ze.”

Remilia and Reimu fly at each other and use both their bodies and magic as powerful weapon, each clash sending large sparks toward the mansion that could destroy it, yet thanks to Patchouli’s and Marisa’s protection, the sparks weaken and bounce to the ground. Remilia smiles and laughs as she backs away from Reimu, then says “take a look at my favorite spell! Divine Spear, Spear of the Gungnir!” Remilia cuts her forearm and uses her blood to summons a spear the same size as the one she used to deal with the other vampires, making herself look tiny next to it. Reimu gasps and shouts “Divine Spirit, Fantasy Seal!” Remilia tosses her gigantic spear straight at Reimu, just as ten large orbs of five colors surround her. The spells crash and cause a powerful magical reaction that makes Patchouli and Meiling fall on their backs, and also cause most of the windows of the mansion in the area to shatter. Reimu’s orbs hold, though five of them are consumed, so she uses the other five to chase after Remilia. The vampire smiles as she flies away from the attack, but the orbs are locked on her and won’t go away, so she flies to Reimu, and just before the first orb touches her foot, she dives and sinks her claws on the maiden’s left calf, making Reimu scream as she flies away, and then Remilia gets hit hard by the one of the five remaining orbs, screaming louder and louder after the rest of the orbs strike one by one, and her screams causes the unconscious Sakuya to moan and attempt to get back up, but she just falls back on the small balcony inside the tall tower. Remilia is still able to fly, but the upper left half of her dress is gone, and her left wing seems is about to turn to ashes. Reimu grabs her calf and places a charm on it to stop the bleeding, then quickly recovers to find Remilia flying far behind her, ready for the next attack. Remilia smiles and says “my name is Remilia Scarlet of the Scarlet clan. I am a descendant of Vlad Tepes! I will not yield to you that easily, Reimu Hakurei of the Hakurei clan!” She pulls out a spell card and shouts “Midnight King, Dracula Cradle!” Reimu pulls out her next spell card from under her sleeve, but before she declares it, she releases as many blue and yellow amulets as she can all around herself, then flies away. Remilia surrounds herself in scarlet energy, then flies down to her mansion and uses a wall to impulse herself back up, using so much power, the wall turns to dust after she bounces off it. Remilia starts to spin around and breaks through Reimu’s amulets like they were mere pieces of paper fluttering in the wind, then heads straight to Reimu, who surrounds her gohei with a blue energy and uses it to bat Remilia’s head and send her elsewhere. Remilia uses the momentum of the impact and wills herself to turn to Reimu once more. Reimu sees the attack coming straight at her again, then shouts “Holy Relic, Yin-Yang Sanctifier Orb!” Both orbs join together and form a massive yin-yang orb ten time Reimu’s own size, and Remilia is out of control and is unable to stop herself. She spins straight into the burning orb of white light and starts to scream loud once more, then stops. At first, Reimu looks down, thinking she’ll see Remilia falling to the ground, but she suddenly gasps and tries to fly upward, but quickly finds herself being struck hard on the abdomen by Remilia’ who regardless of the pain she felt, when through the orb to strike Reimu. Remilia takes advantage of her spinning and swings another claw at Reimu’s right arm, tearing her sleeve off and leaving a bloody gash on her forearm. Reimu screams and manages to free herself from Remilia, who continues falling straight to the roof’s balcony, where she crashes down hard, making a crater on the floor, regardless of the protections. Clenching her teeth from the pain, Reimu uses more charms to stop the blood from flowing out of her arm, then takes many deep breathes before she recovers. Remilia slowly gets back up, then notices Reimu still isn’t ready, so with a wide and wicked grin on her face, she shouts “Divine Spear, Spear of the Gungnir!”, then immediately launches her spear straight at Reimu. The maiden manages to dodge the spear just in time, then spins to dodge another, and another, all of the spears of great size, and all tearing a bit of clothes every time they graze her. Remilia continues her relentless attack, and watches as Reimu dives down, dodging all the spears, then tries to kick her head. Remilia throws herself to the ground to avoid the attack, allowing Reimu to fly over her, then pushes herself back up with her hands and she and Reimu silently glare at each other from across the balcony once again.

Reimu and Remilia pull their spell cards and declare their spells at the same time, Remilia shouting “Divine Spear, Spear of the Gungnir!”, and Reimu shouting “Divine Spirit, Fantasy Seal!” Remilia holds one spear on each hand, each twice her own size, while Reimu summons to her twenty of her five colored elemental orbs, and continues to summon them as she sends one after another at Remilia. Remilia uses her spears to deflect each orb, sending them toward the Lake, causing massive explosions that make it seem as though the lake’s water will get drained through a hole, however, the water just splashes back in place. Reimu, not wanting to cause any harm to the lands, starts throwing each orb away from Remilia so they come from behind when they turn around. Remilia skillfully spins her spears around, jumping around like an acrobat and breaking away each orb, getting closer to Reimu after each jump, then suddenly turns around and lunges her left spear straight to the maiden’s heart, but Reimu uses one of the orbs to protect herself, and pushing the orb with her own hands, she makes sure to keep the spear’s sharp head away from herself, though the intense power being used causes her left sleeve, what little is left of her vest, and her white undershirt to slowly get consumed. Ten orbs fly straight at Remilia from her back, but Remilia is aware, so just as they are about to hit her, she jumps away and lets them hit Reimu instead, causing a powerful explosion that cause the tiles of the floor beneath her feet to rattle. She merges both spears and makes her giant spear once more, then smiles as she stares at the cloud where Reimu was standing. Reimu stands straight, looking back at Remilia with a cold and stern face, and with thirty orbs flying all around her. All the orbs merge into five giant orbs, each twice as large as Reimu herself, and waiting no longer, Remilia launches her spear again. Reimu launches a single orb to contend against Remilia’s giant scarlet spear, both spell crashing against each other and sending out giant sparks that explode violently on the ground, leaving small craters around the outside of the mansion, while the mansion continues to be protected by Patchouli’s and Marisa’s magic protections. Remilia’s spear gets consumed by Reimu’s single orb, then Remilia watches in horror as the other four orbs join in to chase after her. While this happens, Reimu starts to chant and move as though dancing around with her gohei, while Remilia tries to fly away from those orbs. In a desperate attempt to escape, Remilia uses all the strength she can muster to get far away from the homing orbs, pulls out a spell card, then shouts out loud “SCARLET GENSOKYO!” Remilia unleashes massive orbs in circular arcs around herself that leave a large trail of blood-red orbs in their path and sends them all straight at Reimu. The maiden doesn’t notice the attack in time, and by the time she does, she manages to dodge at least two of the six massive orbs headed her way, causing her to scream out loud as the orbs explode on her. Three of Reimu’s own orbs split into eighteen smaller orbs that fly faster than the two remaining giant orbs, and all crash against Remilia’s defenses, clearing a path through the blood red sea of orbs, allowing the two larger orbs to go through to Remilia, who can only gasp and say “oh shit!” As soon as those orbs impact, Remilia screams so loud her scream reaches all the way across the Misty Lake. Reimu’s orbs feel as though the very sun is inside her skin, burning every single part of her body to ashes, yet keeping her alive to endure the pain for what seems like an eternity. After it stops, Remilia falls back to the rooftop’s balcony and crashes on the ground, leaving yet another crater, this one so deep it almost breaks through the floor. Reimu struggles to get back up, only a small piece of her white shirt remains, her left shoe is gone, the lower half of her skirt is gone as well, and blood rushes down her forehead. Remilia has a harder time standing up, her dress is almost completely gone, her undergarments look like worn cloths, her right wing is gone, and her left wing is in ruins, yet she manages to get up. The girls breathe heavily as they look at each other, then smile and chuckle. Without saying another word, each girl pulls a single spell card, as if agreeing on one more spell. Reimu and Remilia slowly waddle toward each other, both exhausted and on their limit, but then they both start running and manage a war cry as they get closer. Once in range, Remilia and Reimu declare their spell cards at the same time, Remilia shouting “Scarlet Devil, Scarlet DEVIL!!”, and Reimu shouting “Divine Arts, Omnidirectional Demon Binding Circle!” Remilia manages to fly in the air, even without her wings, as her familiar scarlet flame cross forms itself around her, while Reimu surrounds herself by an intense golden pillar. Both spells are so gigantic and intense, they illuminate the night all around, and traces of the spells can even be seen all the way back at the Human Village. The two spells crash against each other, causing violent tremors all over the mansion and the lake, causing large waves at the lake that scare the fairies and youkai right out of their homes and the immediate area, away from the Scarlet Mansion and the lake. Reimu grunts as she uses every ounce of strength in her to keep her spell going, but Remilia is already losing her consciousness, and just as she falls into darkness, Reimu’s spell breaks through Remilia’s, making her wake up to the violently painful reality of her loss. As she screams, her mind wanders around, thinking on her past. She sees Meiling, guarding her gate without question, and thinks “I’ve really hated living here so much.” She sees an image of Patchouli supporting her and teaching her about things she wouldn’t be interested in, then thinks “I lost Flan, my life... everything.” She sees Sakuya serving her tea and a beautifully prepared cake, something she missed so much from her home before that massacre, then thinks “but now, at the end, I realize... I had it all again, and maybe... maybe even better than before.” She sees an image of herself being surrounded by her new servants, and a small shadow with odd, but colorful wings, then shouts “I don’t want to die~!” The image of her servants flow through her mind once more as she thinks “I got a new home, new servants... no, a new family. Yes, they truly are like family... but what about Flandre?” Reimu calls off her spell and Remilia falls to the floor, yet to her it feels as though she’s surrounded in darkness and is unaware that the attack had stopped. Right after she falls to the floor, she thinks “Flan, come back to me. I want you to be part of my family again.” A tear escapes her left eye as the image of all her servants, even her fairy maids, and Flandre as well, are all grouped together and welcoming her with open arms, and after seeing this, she thinks “in the end... this land... is...”

Reimu sits on the floor next to Remilia, holding herself up with her arms as she takes long, recuperating breaths. The clock tower’s door suddenly bursts open, and Sakuya slowly makes her way to her mistress, throwing herself on her knees and sliding next to the vampire, weakly exclaiming “mistress Remilia!” She looks at Reimu and snarls, then says “I’m going to kill you for this!” Reimu manages to lift her arm, making Sakuya stop speaking, and speaking out of breath, she manages to say “she’s... alive. Gee, what... an annoying... little human you... you are.” From behind Reimu, Marisa’s terrorized voice reaches the maiden as she shouts “Reimu, you crazy, blockheaded fool, what the hell happened? I though you beat her already! What gives? What’s the big idea?” Marisa kneels down and wraps Reimu’s arm around her neck, helping Reimu up as she says “calm down. I’m just tired. You don’t need to shout.” Marisa readies her broom, where she already has a small sack with books tied to it, so she can take Reimu back home, but before she can sit her friend on it, Remilia manages to weakly says “wait.” Reimu and Marisa lift their heads to Remilia, who rests on Sakuya’s hands. Remilia raises her arm to Reimu, signaling she wants to get closer, so Sakuya walks closer to the maiden and the witch. Remilia struggles to lift her hand to Reimu’s forehead, then swipes some blood from her, then places it on her own lips, but doesn’t drink it. She smiles at Reimu and says “The pact... is sealed. And... thank... you.” With that, Remilia finally falls unconscious on Sakuya’s arms, smiling like she did when she was living in the hidden misty land she used to call her home. Marisa looks curiously at Reimu, then back at Remilia, unaware of what happened, then shrugs and says “whatever. Let’s get you home, Reimu. We need to treat those gashes and get you some clothes. You’re a maiden after all! Being all shameless like that!” With that, Marisa sits Reimu and herself on the broom, letting her friend rest on her shoulder as she lifts off and flies back to the shrine, shouting “and don’t forget about the mist!” Sakuya looks at her mistress, smiling as she lies on her hands, then sighs and softly says “let’s go inside, my lady.” As Sakuya slowly makes her way back inside, Meiling reaches she roof and runs straight at the girls, wrapping Sakuya’s arm around her own neck and helping her and their mistress back inside.

2 Days Later
At the Scarlet Devil Mansion, after having rested well and recovered from her battle with Reimu, Remilia has called her servants for a very important meeting inside the main hall. The last one to arrive to the room is Meiling, who nervously enters the room. She walks through the fairies and stands between Sakuya and Patchouli, both looking as nervous as Meiling herself. When they are all ready, Remilia raises her head from her large seat, then all the chattering fairies quiet down. Remilia stares at all of them, placing particular attention on Meiling, Patchouli and Sakuya, and their depressed and fearful faces, black shadows cast over their eyes. She gets off her chair and looks at them sternly, then says “we go beat, and quite badly, by no more than two humans!” Raising her voice at the end of her sentence, all the servants, including the fairy maids, all lower their faces, as though trying to bury them from their shame. Remilia smiles, then sighs and says “but I’m not mad. You all gave it your all, just as I’d expect from anyone that lives inside this mansion!” Everyone raises their heads and start looking at each other in surprise, Sakuya revealing her blue eyes to the rest. Remilia continues “however, it is clear you all need to work a little harder so something like this doesn’t happen again. Even with this spell card rule, we should be able to fend off ANY intruder! I want you all to train harder until you all improve those skills you already posses. I hope I have made myself clear!” All the servants smile at Remilia, all happy to know they aren’t being kicked out, shunned, or punished, then they all salute Remilia and say “yes’ my lady Remilia” at the same time. Remilia smiles and softly says “good. Now, there is something very important you all need to know.” Sakuya asks “is it about that shrine maiden, my lady?” Remilia smiles proudly and says “very good, Sakuya. You see, from now on, she is your ally and friend. She and ALL her friends are welcome inside this mansion. We are to also help her take care of this land, OUR home, to the best of our abilities.” Patchouli asks “well, that sounds easy enough, but Remi... what exactly happened?” Remilia smiles proudly once more, then says “I want you all in the best shape you can get, and that includes you, Patchy. It would be quite terrible if something were to happen to you, to any of you. After all...” Remilia looks at her servants through the corner of her eyes and with a bright smile she tries to hide, then says “this place just wouldn’t be home without you.” Everyone, from Sakuya to the two little blonde and blue haired fairies, smile brightly after hearing Remilia say those words. Remilia recovers her stern face, then loudly says “well, get going. Do your chores and start working on improving yourselves! Make me proud!” The servants leave the room with bright smiles on their faces, except for Sakuya, who stays behind and waits for the others to leave before bowing to the ground and placing her head on the carpet, saying “I’m so sorry, my lady! I’ll do my best to improve, to be able to serve and protect you, should something like this ever happen again!” Without turning around, and sounding very stern, Remilia says “Sakuya, I’m going to visit the shrine. Please watch over the mansion while I’m gone.” Sakuya slowly gets back up and watches as Remilia exits the door behind her, but before she leaves, she says “there’s nothing to forgive, Sakuya. I already told you, you all did your best. I am just glad to see you are all alive and well.” Remilia closes the door behind her, leaving Sakuya with a bright smile on her face and sniffling as she stands up, allowing her tears of joy escape her eyes as she thinks “in the end, I owe her so much. Even now, after my failure, I am still allowed to serve her. Some might call her a devil, but to me, she’s an angel in disguise.” Sakuya sighs, looks around, and immediately starts with her cleaning duties by dusting the small ornamental table by the room’s entrance.

At the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu sweeps some leaves from the left side of the courtyard, then stops to swipe the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve. The only thing she can hear is the sound of the cicadas and leaves blowing in the wind on her deserted shrine, relaxing herself to the point of falling asleep while holding her broom, but quickly wakes up when she hears a very familiar voice at the gate of her shrine. Remilia lands quietly on the shrine grounds, looks around, then says “boy, this place sure is empty.” Reimu gets a bit annoyed at her comment, then says “that’s none of your business! And what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be turning to ashes because of the sun or something?” Remilia holds a parasol above her head as she smiles at Reimu and says “no, I said sunlight weakens me.” Reimu gets annoyed again and rushes to Remilia, then asks “wait a minute, how the hell can you be here?” Remilia smiles and replies “as long as I have my parasol, I can go wherever I want. It’s pretty convenient.” Steam blows out of Reimu’s ears as she wraps her arm around Remilia’s neck and pulls her parasol away, angrily asking “if it’s so convenient, why the hell did you spread that annoying mist for?” Remilia gasps as she tries to reach for her parasol, and shouts “wait, Reimu! Direct sunlight can kill me!” Reimu tightens her arm and speaks through her teeth as she says “well, how about just a little bit of sunlight. You are sickeningly pale!” Remilia shouts “no~ I’ll turn to ashes before I can get tanned!” Reimu grunts “that’s not a problem!” Remilia cries “but if I turn to ashes and you breathe them in, you’ll become immortal!” Reimu immediately lets Remilia go, smiles, then says “heh, that would be bad, wouldn’t it. But maybe I’ll just extend my life if I breathe in a little.” Remilia grabs her parasol from Reimu’s hand and covers herself with it once more, then says “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Reimu smiles, sighs, then says “yeah, I guess you’re right. Whatever, I’ll make some tea.” Remilia asks “uu, do you have any red tea?” Reimu smiles sheepishly as a sweat drop falls from the back of her head, then says “er, I don’t think I have that kind of tea here.” Remilia sighs and shrugs, then says “I guess I can try it without the red stuff...”

Later that day, at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Marisa stands on the railed edge of the well-shaded second floor balcony, admiring the garden below. She looks back and says “this place is boring.” Sakuya calmly replies “you’re the one that keeps coming over. Why don’t you just go home?” Marisa smiles and says “I don’t wanna.” Marisa stares at Sakuya for a moment, then asks “hey, I’m a guest her, so where’s my tea and snack?” Sakuya sighs and says “please go home.” Marisa ignores Sakuya and asks “hey, where’s Remilia?” Patchouli suddenly speaks from behind Marisa, making the black and white witch shriek and jump in place, as she says “Remi’s been going outside more often now.” Sakuya adds “and she seems different. She seems to be at peace.” Patchouli stares at Sakuya and says “you seem somewhat different as well. You seem more calm and joyous.” Sakuya giggles after placing a cup full of red tea and a piece of cake on the balcony’s table, then says “well, seeing my lady so happy makes me feel very happy too.” Patchouli stares at Sakuya and thinks “so these are the effects of the pact.” Marisa takes a sip form her tea and asks “hey, why is this so red?” Sakuya replies “that tea is special. I used a very rare leaf that can only be-“ Marisa cuts Sakuya’s explanation as she asks “yeah yeah, what’s in this cake?” Sakuya smiles and says “It’s very special, and my mistress’ favorite. I used a very special flower that grow from the bamboo.” Marisa asks “are you trying to poison me?” Sakuya replies “you should be thankful. These flowers take fifty years to bloom, but with my powers of time manipulation, I can make them bloom instantly.” Unimpressed, Marisa says “yeah, yeah, whatever.” Remilia flies from outside to the balcony and angrily says “HEY, stop drinking my tea and eating my snacks!” Patchouli casually says “welcome back, Remi.” Sakuya smiles and says “don’t worry my lady, I’ve made plenty. It has your favorite leaf, and I added that flower you like so much to the cake.” Like a child, Remilia extend her arms, drops her parasol on the floor, and gleefully exclaims “yay! My favorite!” Marisa stares at her tea with suspicion and asks “you poisoned me, didn’t you?” Sakuya smiles and says “there’s no reason to do that yet.” Maris sweats and stars at Sakuya in disbelief, but shrugs and drinks her tea without question. Down at the basement, Flandre can hear Marisa’s voice all the way inside her room. She sits with her back against the wall, hugging her knees as she sways back and forth, softly giggling to herself. She can hear Patchouli angrily calling out to Marisa, then says “that human is back... that Marisa. I... I want to meet her. I want to play with that human!” At first, she starts to giggle in a disturbing manner, but quiets down and starts sobbing. She splits herself up into 3 more selves, and one of them bends down to pate her back and say “it’s ok Flandre. You’ll play with her, you’ll see. We will all play with her.”

To be continued...

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Some dialogue was taken from the EoSD game, so I give credit to ZUN and the translators of said dialogues for those.
AUG 11 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.
Geez, I really wanted to finish this story in this chapter so I could start working on my next Sukima. I am quite eager to start working on it. Alas, the events with Remilia are long and quite epic, really. Well, at least our vampire has most of her life back, though, she’s had it back for a while, but just didn’t notice it. Really, it sometimes take a hard push for us to see that which we already have. It’s sad to realize the value of that which we had after its gone, so it’s important to keep a weathered eye open and enjoy all that surrounds us. Next chapter is the Extra Stage, where Reimu and Marisa meet with the sister of the Scarlet Devil. I guess after what Reimu went through when fighting Remilia that second time, it lets us know she’ll be fine against Flandre (after all, the spell card rules are in effect when she meets that cute and destructive vampire). As for Marisa... Nah, I’ll reserve my comments until after the chapter.
Seriously though, after writing this, I feel more respect toward both Reimu and Remilia. They both fought hard and with honor, but honestly, that human is something, isn’t she? It’s not every day you contend against a vampire and live to tell the tale! Ah well, thank you very much for reading, and know that I truly appreciate it when you leave your comments/reviews. Makes me very glad to know my work is liked, so please keep leaving your comments/reviews. Until next chapter, take care!