The Story of a Past Scarlet 6

A/N:
This story contains bloody scenes, so if you’re not fond of these, please hit the back button. Also note that although I am trying to write this as close to ZUN’s main story for the SDM cast, he is vague with details and I am filling a lot with what I think might have happened, ESPECIALLY this chapter. There is very little detail, other than “it happened” from ZUN, so most of it is what I think happened during this time. What I’m trying to say is, you may disregard this if you like. It’s for entertainment after all. Thank you for reading, and please leave a comment or review.

After having her fate changed, and her life given meaning by the same monsters she so despised, Sakuya Izayoi has now decided to devote her life to her mistress, Remilia Scarlet, a vampire. Using her time and space manipulation, she has successfully brought back the brightness that once was Remilia’s home; keeping order amongst the fairy maids, making sure everything is to her mistress’ satisfaction, and although still not perfect, she has managed to make everything, even meals, more presentable for Remilia, and every day seems to get better at it. The mistress of the mansion cannot deny her happiness. She has a new family in the form of servants, a family that loves her, regardless of who she is, or her childish behavior, which has been surfacing more and more ever since Sakuya started working for her. Breaking teacups to get Sakuya’s attention, making all her servants perform ridiculous duties, like having Patchouli try to tend the gardens, while having Sakuya try her hand at Magic, and Meiling doing Sakuya’s chores, amongst other childish requests. Though bothersome, they all feel a certain degree of happiness from seeing their mistress’ satisfied face, and for seven months, everything is at peace, though one thing still remains unsolved inside the mansion, and that is Flandre. Though Sakuya has attempted to reason with her behind her mistress’ back, Flandre’s madness will not yield, though, the little blonde vampire won’t attack Sakuya at all. She has also been getting some visits from Meiling, who above all, seems more curious about Flandre after every visit. Outside the mansion, one spring night, Remilia, having given up from ever leaving the land of Gensokyo, has declared herself the Queen of the Night, and although it seems the other vampires are just going along with this, she is sorely wrong, and thanks to her selfish declaration, deadly battles have been taking place amongst her kind, though at the moment, it remains as a small scale incident, with no real repercussions. Remilia is well aware of what she has caused, but doesn’t really care, and she feels that as long as they don’t attack her, everything will be fine. All of that changes in the course of one new moon’s night, when one of the vampires from the forest on the other side of the shores of the now healed Misty Lake, tries to invade Remilia’s mansion the moment Meiling leaves the gates in order to rest. The fairy maids on the first floor corridor chase after the pale vampire, who wears a simple pair of black pants, as he runs from door to door, using his inhuman speed to avoid being hit by their tiny bulets even once. He is intercepted by Remilia and Sakuya, who stand at the end of one of the longest, windowed corridors, and with a confident smile, he snarls and says “well, will you look at that! The brat and her dog! This is perfect.” After the fairy maids leave, Sakuya takes one step forward and with a threatening tone of voice, she says “this is the last chance I will give you to leave this mansion alive.” The vampire laughs heartily, then shouts “the dog speaks! Well, I guess this so-called Queen of the Night isn’t so useless after all, if she can teach YOU something!” Remilia grabs Sakuya’s shoulder, then signals her to back away, her eyes glowing bright red along with her maid’s, their anger showing through. The vampire laughs again, then points at Remilia and says “I don’t know who the hell gave you the right to call yourself ‘Queen of the Night’, but that all ends here and now! I’ll rip your heart out and eat it in front of everyone, and THEN I’ll be the indisputable KING of the Night!” As he laughs, he doesn’t notice Remilia has already ripped his wings off, torn his shoulders and abdomen with her claws, and before he realizes this, she runs her scarlet spear right through his heart. His body explodes so violently, his blood splatters all over the corridor, completely staining Remilia’s dress, from top to bottom, including her hat. Sakuya snarls and says “these disgusting peasants think they can beat my lady. How pathetic these smelly creatures are.” Remilia scoffs and says “and they run around so freely around these lands, this... Gensokyo.” Sakuya stares out with window with grimace and says “it’s a pity we can’t move the mansion away from this disgusting world.” Remilia hisses and growls, then says “I don’t know why fate keeps us here, Sakuya, but complaining about it won’t solve a thing. Anyway, as long as they keep outside-“ Sakuya cuts off her mistress, saying “but this peon already entered my lady’s mansion. It disgust me to think how many more could enter. Maybe we should station-“ This time it’s Remilia who cuts Sakuya off, angrily saying “no! I won’t risk her failure. Don’t worry, Sakuya. When it comes down to it, I will show all these fools who the real Queen of the Night is, even if I have to kill ever last one of them.” Sakuya bows and says “you’d be doing a great favor to this world, my lady.” Remilia smiles, then walks to her maid, ignoring the fairies that have started cleaning the corridor, then says “come, Sakuya. I need to get cleaned up and changed. These clothes are starting to stink.” Sakuya bows and says “as you wish, my lady”, then immediately walks beside her mistress down the corridor.

The next morning, right after stationing herself in front of the gate, Meiling finds herself fighting off three female vampires, who cover themselves up with dirty and broken clothes they stole from human victims. Landing a powerful punch on the smallest of the three, Meiling destroys that vampire, sending her straight into the water of the lake and right under the sun, then bends her knees and raises her hands, and signals the other two vampires to get closer with her straightened right-hand fingers. The tallest of the three, a brunette, hisses at Meiling and says “don’t get cocky! She was a weakling! You are to deal with ME next!” Before the vampire finishes talking, Meiling stomps the ground under her feet and raises a large stone her own size and kicks it straight at the vampire’s face, just as she finishes her speech. Meiling chases after the flying stone, keeping an eye on the elegant-looking, black haired vampire woman to the left, kicks it up to the sky, and long before the brunette vampire has the chance, she jumps and kick it toward the lake, where she sinks down under the large stone, her body sizzling as though she’s fallen into acid, screaming only for a brief second. Meiling turns around to face the third vampire, who sits on a stump next to the gate, as though waiting for her turn. Meiling walks toward her, scowling as she does, then says “how honorable of you to wait.” The vampire frowns at Meiling, then asks “that brat you have for a master... doesn’t she realize what she’s done?” Meiling narrows her eyes, making her frowning face look fierce, yet confused, then the vampire continues “her selfish declaration has caused an uproar, and all the vampires are fighting for the right of being the real King or Queen of the Night. I’ve lost all my friends thanks to that.” Meiling angrily says “I won’t let you inside, so you can get going.” The vampire laughs, then says “silly girl, don’t you get it? I killed all my friends for the right to challenge your master.” Meiling continues to glare at the vampire as she angrily asks “what kind of stupid vampire are you? Why are you attacking during the day?” The vampire giggles and asks “isn’t it wise to attack your enemy when he, or she, is at its most vulnerable moment?” Meiling replies by asking “isn’t it also wise to attack when you’re at your best?” The vampire smiles, opens her wings, stands up, then says “there’s no reasoning with someone like you, it seems.” Meiling prepares herself again, though this time, instead of standing for attack, she claps her hands together and stands up straight, closing her eyes as though praying. The vampire smiles and says “that crap doesn’t work on me!”, then runs straight at Meiling. The vampire attacks fiercely, but just places her claws on Meiling’s neck and stops. Meiling has her scowling eyes wide open, and with a smirk on her face, she says “sorry, but you’re just too slow.” The vampire smiles as some blood runs out of her mouth and down to her chin, then says “heh, all those deaths for nothing.” Meiling has her fist going right through the vampire’s chest, surrounded in a thick rainbow energy, and as the vampire slowly turns to ashes from her chest and onward, Meiling smiles and says “I guess you’re right about that. Rest in peace now.” After the vampire is no more, and Meiling cleans her bloodied fist with a white towel she had prepared and placed just above where she stands watch. Sakuya approaches her from the garden and asks “are you alright?” Meiling finishes cleaning herself up and hangs her dirty towel on the wall behind her, then says “that was nothing. But they sure are getting more daring, attacking us directly like that.” Sakuya sighs, grabs Meiling’s towel and replaces it with a clean one, then says “such a disgusting land this is. These creatures roam about so freely, and they even dare come here to soil my lady’s mansion with just their mere presence.” Meiling looks at Sakuya with curiosity, then asks “um, Sakuya? Am I disgusting?” Sakuya looks back at Meiling with curiosity and wonder, then says “well... um, no. But you do stink when you get all sweaty.” A sweat drop falls down the back of Meiling’s head as she sheepishly smiles and says “th-that’s why I take my daily baths!” Sakuya chuckles, then asks “but why that sudden question?” Meiling giggles, placing her left hand behind her head, then says “oh, it’s nothing!” Sakuya stares at Meiling for a moment, then simply sighs with a smile and says “alright. Remember to tend to the gardens in an hour”, then leaves to the mansion. Meiling giggles and says “sure, I won’t forget!”, then relaxes as she takes her post once more, crossing her hands behind her back as she thinks “but I like these so-called disgusting lands, miss Sakuya. There’s much beauty in here.”

Two hours later, while Meiling is taking care of the back of the gardens, and the shade of the trees reaches all the way to the mansion doors, a large shadow runs straight to the mansion without making a single sound. It’s a large and powerful looking male vampire with small white horns on each side of his head, has shiny and smooth-looking black hair tied to a ponytail and wears long brown leather pants held by a thick brown leather belt that crosses his bulk back and chest, holding two large swords on the back, one huge battle axe and a set of knives in the front, but doesn’t wear shoes. He looks around the foyer of the mansion and raises his wings, revealing a large black cat with two tails that bears two exceedingly large fangs, even with its mouth closed. The vampire grabs his cat with one hand and looks around, then says “here we are, Azzhara. Now to find this fake ‘Queen’ and teach her a thing or two.” The cat meows in such a manner that seems it’s warped and echoed, yet calming and soothing. The vampire smiles and chuckles quietly, then says “she should be hiding somewhere underground. Let’s go find her.” The cat purrs softly, rubbing his cheek against his master’s ribs, and like shadows, he and his master move about without making a sound, and moving so fast they both look like blurs. After finding the stairs to the basement, it only takes them minutes to reach the door to Patchouli’s library. The vampire smiles and says “always two doors. These home masters never learn... wah?” After opening one door, the vampire and nekomata quickly realize they are in the library, and inside, Patchouli is practicing a powerful spell that summons a small sun. The vampire grunts and the cat hisses, then they throw the door shut, getting Patchouli’s attention. Worried, Patchouli says “Koa, go check that out!” Koakuma salutes and bravely says “roger. But you owe me for this one. Honestly, I’m suppose to help you with the books only, geez.” The vampire and his nekomata immediately move in further, blending with the shadows as the fairy maids pass by. They can hear the little devil asking the fairies “hey, girls? Did you just slam this door shut?” The fairy maids playfully reply “no, but we did clean the window!” Koakuma grunts, but the vampire and his pet don’t care about this, and take this moment to move along. Finally, they reach the heavy metallic doors to Flandre’s room, and with a smile on his face, the vampire says “she’s here, Azzhara! I can sense her presence!” The cat purrs while showing off his unusually large claws, and sharpens them against the rug, scratching it all the way through to the floor in a second. The vampire grins widely, and without hesitation, he opens the door and immediately calls “so, the little brat that calls herself the Queen of the Night lives in such a disgusting settlement, doesn’t she? Well, don’t fret, little lady. Azzhara and I will rid you of this worldly torment and take over as the true Kings of the night.” The silver door slams shut behind the vampire and his pet, then the girl inside starts to giggle softly, then progresses to an insane laugh that seems to echo all over the room, making the nekomata and vampire hold their ears with their hands. After she stops laughing, Flandre’s eyes glow red, revealing her standing next to her mirror, then sinisterly whispers “I’m sorry, but you got the wrong room. No matter, I’m not mad. I’m very glad you came, you see, I need someone to play with. Oh, and you looks so strong. Look at those muscles of yours. Oh, and what a cute pet. I wish I had one. Can I have it?” The vampire angrily shouts “who the hell are you? Show yourself, little brat!” Flandre playfully whispers “my, how rude, but no matter. It’s making me like you even more.” She giggles and moves around the room, making it seem as though she’s in all four corners. The vampire is furious, unable to locate Flandre’s exact position, then he furiously shouts “show yourself, you freak! Where are you?” Flandre moves so fast that she grabs the vampire’s forearms before he can even see her, then places her glowing red eyes and wicked smile right in front of his face, and rips off his left arm. The nekomata hisses and pounces on Flandre, but the little vampire flaps her hand around so hard, the nekomata is sent flying to the wall, where upon impact, a cracking sound, accompanied by the sound of gushing blood echoes all over the dark room. He screams with rage, then Flandre lets his right arm go, just to clench her right hand at his right knee, making it explode into bits, making his blood splatter all over her crazed face. The vampire winces in pain, but keeps from screaming as he looks at Flandre and asks “what... what kind of creature are you?” Flandre giggles, then sounds sinister and disappointed as she says “aww, what’s the matter? Are those muscles for show?” The vampire tries to move, but another Flandre grabs his wings and rips them off, and with a smile she starts flapping them around, while yet another Flandre places her foot on his forehead. The first Flandre paces left and right, then says “even Meiling is stronger than you. Maybe your muscles are just for show.” She shrugs while looking away, then turns to face him and smiles wickedly as she says “no matter. Let’s just play. Just you and me.” With those words, the other two Flandres, and a third one, all walk straight toward the first Flandre, merging with her in a second, then Flandre’s eyes start glowing red as she widens her smile and gets closer to her playmate. The vampire swings his right arm and manages to cut Flandre’s cheeks, leaving three large gashes on the left side of her face, making her yelp and shriek in pain. Smiling, he pushes himself away from Flandre and says “heh, what a pathetic creature you are. So much power, yet you act like a mere child.” While Flandre continues to hold her face, the vampire manages to stand up on his left leg and pulls a long sword from his back, aiming it at Flandre’s chest. Flandre starts to sob, covering her face with her hands, then raises her head, revealing a maddened smile on her face as she says “you like playing rough, huh?” Upon looking at her face, the vampire feels a cold chill wrap his very spirit, making him drop his sword while Flandre gets closer. The fairy maids outside hear how Flandre laughs manically, her insane laughter accompanied by the sound of ripping flesh and gushing blood, so they immediately run away, calling for Patchouli and Sakuya. Almost an hour later, Sakuya and Remilia stand in front of Flandre’s door. Once inside, the find the floor of her room stained with all the blood from the vampire, some of his bones lying around, as well as his left arm. Sakuya opens her eyes wide with surprise, and when Flandre notices this, her innocent smile vanishes, she yelps, then hides behind her many broken toys. Remilia looks round and says “Sakuya, it seems there was an intruder.” Flandre nervously says “I-I-I’m s-s-sorry, miss Sakuya. H-h-he broke very easy, but he looked strong, and I couldn’t... Please, don’t scold me again!” Sakuya sighs and says “I’ll get right on it, my lady.” Remilia quietly nods, then walks to her sister and says “Flan, it’s alright. Nobody’s mad. Y... you were just playing, right?” Flandre reveals her head from underneath all her dolls to look at Remilia, and nods. While they speak, the stains on the ground, as well as the vampire’s bones, all seem to start disappearing. Remilia and Flandre know Sakuya is stopping time in order to clean the room, so they take it as something normal. Suddenly, Remilia notices the bloodstain on the wall next to the toys and asks “he wasn’t alone, was he?” Flandre shakes her head left and right, then says “I wanted his pet, but it broke too. There’s blood everywhere, isn’t there, onee-chan?” Remilia notices how Flandre is losing her mind again, so she sternly says “FLAN! I’m going to place some locks on your door, so these intruders don’t come bother you again, alright?” Flandre calms down and nods, then asks “will onee-chan come play with me sometime?” Remilia sighs and says “there are too many intruders now, Flan. That will have to wait.” Even though she whines, Flandre still smiles, showing her madness to her sister once more.

At the Human Village, a beautiful and friendly woman with blue highlights on her long silver hair, and wearing a long blue dress, accompanied by some of the younger village boys, looks over the large house in the center of the village. All the windows and the front door have been barred with wooden boards, and it even looks like someone attempted to enter the house by force, as well as there are signs that someone tried to burn down the house. Curious, the woman asks “hey, how about this one? It’s large enough. What’s the story behind this one?” All the boys seem to shy away, some even turning their heads away from the woman, making her even more curious. She approaches one of the windows, the one used by the youngsters to peer inside and spy on Patchouli while she read her books or tried her magical experiments. After looking around for a bit, she nods and says “it’s perfect!” The woman gasps and jumps, turning around in the air, after one of the elders places his hand on her shoulder and asks “may I help you?” Placing her right hand on her chest, the woman takes a few gasping breaths before finally saying “you... you scared me there!” The old man blushes while staring at the woman’s brown eyes, then clears his throat and asks “ahem, forgive me, but I was wondering what are you doing here, miss.” One of the boys answer for her, saying “she wants to open a school.” Another boy adds “she wants to teach us history.” The old man rubs his beard while looking at the house’s roof, then says “ah, I see. Miss, I don’t know if you know this, but... this house has a very sad past. One we are most ashamed of.” The woman looks around for a moment, then takes a deep breath, making all the young boys blush as she does. After she exhales and opens her eyes again, says “ah... y-yes, I remember the story now. That poor woman.” The old man sighs and says “so many lives that could have been spared... but the people are just too easily frightened.” Before the woman answers, five winged bodies fly to the air, scattering all around the village, causing a great commotion, and one falls right next to the boys and the woman. It’s a vampire, whose body burns away under the afternoon sun, reaching up with his arm, groaning while saying “I... almost... king!” After his body burns to ashes, around the village, frightened villagers can be heard screaming, watching how the vampires slowly turn to ashes, their skins burning long before their own bones, leaving a fowl smelling burn mark on the ground before finally disappearing. The man looks at the young boys, then says “tomorrow, we’ll form a group. We must inform this to the Hakurei maiden.” The woman smiles and says “oh, please, don’t worry about it. She already knows what’s going on.” The elder rubs his beard while looking at the woman, then asks “h-how would you know, miss?” The woman mumbles nervously for a moment before finally saying “I heard some men working over at the Bamboo Forest speaking about this and saying amongst themselves how, er, tiring those long stairs were.” The elder stares at the woman curiously, then smiles, his smile somehow evident through his thick beard, then says “I see. Well then, I hope she gets to it.” The woman takes a deep breath of relief, then says “alright. As for this house, I’ll start working on it first thing in the morning! I’d like to start my school as soon as possible!” The old man smiles while staring at the boys, then nods and says “it would certainly help our young minds.”

The next morning, at the Shrine on top of the tall mountain at the eastern end of Gensokyo, called the Hakurei Shrine, the maiden of the shrine sweeps the left side of the courtyard, showing her reluctance to doing so as evidently as possible. She suddenly stops her sweeping, places her forearm on her forehead to swipe the sweat off, and comments “phew! This is so annoying. I wish I didn’t have to do this by myself all the time.” Reimu walks under the porch of her shrine in order to admire what little work she’s actually done. She wears a large red ribbon on her now short black hair that reaches just above her shoulder, a red vest and long red skirt she ties closed with a small string to the left side, a red neckerchief adorning her white undershirt, and a pair of long white sleeves that are actually detached from her shirt, leaving her shoulders bare. After resting for a few more minutes, she drops her broom and pulls her gohei from the pocket on her skirt, then glares toward the trees and bushes. A quick gust of wind causes the trees and bushes to rustle, and that’s when Reimu sighs and calmly says “I know you’re there, so come on out, or I’m going in there for you.” The bushes rustle for a moment, then out pop a little girl with short black wavy hair, wearing leaves and flower petals on her body, sitting on the shoulder of a red skinned bald monster with a small broken horn on his forehead. His body is full of cuts and bruises, and the brown cloth he wears around his waist is covered in blood. Reimu stares at the tiny girl on the large youkai’s shoulder and asks “did you get into another territorial fight?” The little girl angrily snarls and says “hey, we came here for help, not to be judged by a lazy person like you.” Reimu mumbles “lazy person”, then says “then state your business and leave. You’re scaring away the visitors.” The two youkai look around in confusion, then the large youkai hums with confusion, while the little youkai girl asks “what visitors?” Reimu twitches and tries to think of something to say, but she is saved when a familiar voice says “here I am, ze. Sorry I’m late.” Standing next to Reimu is Marisa, a blonde girl with short wavy blonde hair with the left sideburn tied into a braid by a white ribbon, wearing a large black witch’s hat with a white ribbon around it, a black dress with a white apron over it, and a pair of black slip-on shoes. The little youkai face palms herself, then exclaims “look, we came over here to complain about the vampires! They’re causing a mess down by the Misty Lake!” Reimu’s eyes suddenly sharpen after hearing about the lake. Taking notice, the little girl continues “look what they did to my poor friend. And only because ‘we were on the way’.” Reimu concernedly asks “what’s going on over there?” The little girl rubs her chin, thinking for a moment, then says “I don’t know. They’re just fighting amongst themselves all the time, even during the day sometimes, spewing some crap about being kings and queens!” Reimu looks at the two youkai, then sighs, relaxing herself, then says “is that all?” Enraged, the little youkai smacks her fists against her friend’s shoulder and shouts “what do you mean ‘is that all’! You’re the Hakurei maiden! Do something about it already!” Reimu looks seriously at the two youkai and says “look, if I were to go and seal a vampire for being overly territorial, I’d have to seal them all, and that would be a pain!” Marisa smiles and adds “and we all know you are pretty lazy too”, earning a yin-yang orb on her face. Frustrated, the little youkai groans and whispers something at her friend, then sighs and asks “fine, fine. Look, can we stay here while my friend and I recover?” Reimu sweats and asks “so you can try and eat my while I sleep? Forget it.” The little youkai gasps, then smirks and chuckles before saying “sharp. As expected of the maiden of Hakurei. Bah, whatever. Let’s go to the forest. At least those stupid vampires won’t bother us there.” As the youkai leave the shrine through the thick foliage, Marisa gets up from the ground and asks “oi, Reimu, are you sure it’s ok to ignore this?” Reimu flaps her arm in the air and sounding bored and uninterested, she says “if you’re so concerned, go take care of this yourself. Those vampires fight over territory all the time. But...” Marisa stares at Reimu as the maiden holds her own chin, lost in thought, then smirks and says “you’re just being a super-lazy maiden. Admit it!” Reimu snaps out of her thoughts to stare at Marisa and ask “you want to go at it again?” Marisa pulls her Hakkero from under her hat, smiling confidently as she holds her broom close to her face with her other hand, then says “I thought you’d never ask, ze!”

Later, on that very day, just as the sun is about to set, Remilia’s mansion becomes a place of heavy commotion. While Patchouli fights off three vampires that made their way to the dining room, Meiling has her hands full at the gate with five more vampires, though most of them quickly turn against each other, leaving Meiling to deal with just one. Inside the main hall, Sakuya chases another vampire, a female that wears a light, skimpy outfit that barely covers her up. Angry, Sakuya says “you’re not even properly dressed, and you DARE come and challenge my mistress looking like that, you sickening peasant?” The vampire flies around the room as fast as she can, avoiding Sakuya’s daggers from touching her bare feet by mere inches, and with a smile on her face she stops on top of Remilia’s tall chair, touches herself to show her body off, then, in a seductive tone of voice, she says “mmm, I think you’re just jealous of my perfection.” She looks around the room and brazenly rips off the curtains covering the little afternoon sunlight, and though her body sizzles, she continues to smile as she says “the way I dress is my own damned business, little human. As you can see, I am strong enough to kill that vampire mistress of yours. Now, after I feast on your blood, I’ll go ahead and deal with that so-called Queen of the Night. What the-?” After quieting down and taking a better look around herself, she realizes she’s surrounded by too many knives to count, all made out of pure silver. Sakuya smiles at the vampire and says “sorry, but dirty rats like you don’t even deserve to lay eyes on my lady. Good evening.” With those words, the knives fly straight on to the vampire, who falls on her back, pushing all the knives on her back even deeper, and is in so much pain she can barely breathe. Feeling satisfied after watching the vampire’s blood spill all over the floor next to her mistress’ chair, Sakuya turns around with a smile and walks outside, but stops just before touching the door’s handle. Remilia stands next to the fallen vampire, wearing a pink dress and hat, and stares with grimace at the intruding vampire, then says “Sakuya, you don’t turn your back on a vampire until you are sure it’s turning into ASHES!” As she finishes her sentence, the places her foot on the knife that is right on top of the vampire’s heart and pushes it down, using all her might and hatred as she does, making the vampire screech for a second before completely turning into ashes. Sakuya turns around and bows to Remilia, then says “forgive me, my lady, but I thought you would have enjoyed the pleasure of finishing her off yourself.” Remilia’s eyes glow bright red as she stares at her maid, then calmly says “yeah... you’re right. I did enjoy myself there. Now come, Patchouli needs our help.” Sakuya bows once more as Remilia walks closer and extends her hand, grabs her mistress’s hand, then they both disappear in an instant.

In the dining room, Patchouli hides herself inside a thick watery bubble, even thicker than the one she used against Sakuya, and while inside it, she uses water and fire spells against the remaining two vampires. One is a thin male who wears a rag to cover his body, and whose only actual strength lies on his speed. The other is a tall, bulky female who wears a black dress fit for a princess, though it’s stained with blood all around it. Patchouli looks at the female and thinks “she’s too strong for simple spells, and I’m just too asphyxiated to cast the one I need. As for this one...” She keeps her unfriendly face on the female vampire, while looking at the more agile vampire zip all over the room and ceiling with the corner of her eyes, then thinks “he’s fast, but pretty weak and stupid. He can help me buy some time.” The female vampire flaps her enormous red wings once, and she’s already reaching the ceiling, and as she looks down at Patchouli, she shouts “don’t get in my way, skinny! This witch is mine!” The speedy vampire hisses and says “bah, you can have the small fry, while I become the King of the Night.” The vampire woman gets annoyed, but she manages to calm herself down and smile as she says “yeah, sure, you do that. Tire her out for me, so your death can have some meaning.” Patchouli lightly smiles while the thin vampire snarls, and after casting three water pillars in a straight line, she loudly says “well, look at that. She’s demeaning you, and in front of such powerful adversary. Then again, she is right, you know. You are pretty weak.” The vampire snarls at Patchouli and says “I’m gonna break that bubble of yours and make you wish you were never born!” Patchouli stares at the vampire with her unfriendly eyes, looking at the pillars of water she set in a straight line, and the still inactive circles next to them, ready to activate on her command. The small vampire sees the traps, but feigns ignorance, and just as he’s about to step above them, Patchouli activates them, making him jump to the left and away from the already active water pillars. Confident, the vampire smiles and says “too slow, witch!” He reaches Patchouli and raises his claws, ready to pop that bubble, then jumps back just as Patchouli activates another water pillar right in front of herself. Rapidly, Patchouli opens her book to summon a powerful gust of wind that sends him flying straight at the large female vampire. He screams and curses at Patchouli, then gets smacked on the back by the female and sent straight toward the line of activated water pillars, where he burns to ashes as he screams out in pain. After he’s gone, Patchouli stares at the female, who chuckles and says “idiots like him don’t deserve to even be here. And brats like your mistress don’t deserve to be called ‘Queen of the Night’.” Patchouli continues to stare at the vampire, but before she can think up another plan, the vampire flies next to her pillars with a wicked grin, then says “plot all you want”, then places her hand on the water, making her skin sizzle, yet doesn’t even flinch, then says “but these weak spells won’t do you any good.” Patchouli scowls, trying to look brave as she thinks “she’s right. Of all the possible bad timings, today’s the worse to be this asphyxiated.” She realizes the vampire is slowly getting closer to her, and with a quick gulp, she opens her book and tries to chant, but the moment she does, she starts coughing so badly her bubble bursts, and all the water pillars on the ground and fireballs in the air die out. The vampire laughs heartily, then says “what a pathetic creature you really are! I thought of drinking your blood, but I might get you asthma, dear. So I’ll just rip you to shreds instead.” Before she can move further, she gasps and opens her eyes wide, then coughs out some blood, then says “I... didn’t even see you.” Remilia hovers right beside the vampire, sticking one of Sakuya’s silver knives in her heart, surrounding it with a curse of her own, then asks “and you thought of challenging me when you couldn’t even see me enter the room? What a weakling.” As the vampire slowly turns to ashes, she asks “is this... the Curse of Vlad?” Remilia nods with a smirk, then the woman says “I see. I guess... you really are...” The vampire turns to ashes before she can finish her sentence, and completely ignoring her, Remilia turns to Patchouli and says “Sakuya, take Patchouli away. It’s time I ended this. I’ll show them all who the true Queen of the Night really is.” Sakuya appears right next to Patchouli, bows to Remilia, and as she helps Patchouli to her feet, she says “I’ll have a bath ready for you, so you may clean off all that fowl smelling blood.” Remilia smiles wickedly, then asks “and how do you know I’ll take my bath?” Sakuya smiles back as wickedly, then says “not even my lady can stand the stench of their disgusting blood.” Sakuya and Remilia stare at each other, their eyes glowing red, then Remilia flies toward the foyer.

It is now a dark night, and on the outer shores of the Misty Lake, vampires of all sizes fight amongst themselves for the right to fly over to Remilia’s mansion and try to defeat her for that coveted title of King or Queen of the Night. The trees, the ground, even the shore of the lake itself are all covered with the vampire’s blood and ashes, and yet more come to fight. By now, many of the youkai that live in the area have left to complain to the Hakurei maiden about the battles and attacks from the raging vampires. Meanwhile, Remilia flies straight out of her mansion, flying above Meiling and the gate, where Meiling cleans the bloody mess left by the vampires she killed. As Remilia continues flying over the lake, ignoring Meiling and her mess, she smirks when she sees the large group of vampires fighting near the shore. She stops and hovers just above the lake’s water and starts to look around, counting a total of 45 vampires in the area, 20 of them fighting amongst themselves, while the other cheer them on. Remilia smiles as they continue to fight, then one by one, all the fighting vampires stop to look at her. One of the males exclaims “that’s the BRAT that calls herself the Queen of the Night!” A female adds “really? This fledgling doesn’t seem capable of changing her own diapers yet.” Another female hisses and adds “let’s stop gawking and just kill her already! Once she’s dead, we can decide who’s the real Queen of the NIGHT!” Right after finishing her sentence, the vampire rushes straight at Remilia, and in the blink of the eyes, Remilia rips her in half with her claws, sending her remains to burn in the lake’s water, then cuts her own forearm and uses her blood to make the largest scarlet spear she’s ever made, dwarfing even herself in size. The vampires all watch in awe, some even start to scream, while others flee for their lives. Remilia laughs manically as she raises the spear, then shouts “FEAR THE POWER OF THE TRUE QUEEN OF THE NIGHT!” She throws her spear with all her might and in a straight line, right between the remaining fighting vampires, then it explodes violently as soon as it touches the ground, eliminating 16 of the vampires in the area. After everything settles down, Remilia remains hovering just above the water, smiling as she admires what she did. Four more vampires fly out from the bushes to try and ambush her, but to their dismay, she is ready for them. She grabs the first one by his wings and rips them off, letting him fall to the lake below, then throws his wings to blind the second attacker, then grabs her by the neck and places her left hand on her chest, then unleashes a scarlet orbs straight into her heart. The remaining two try to double-team her, but Remilia starts to laugh and surrounds herself in a scarlet mist, trapping the two attackers in a painful fiery mist of scarlet flames, burning them to ashes in just seconds. After they are both dead, Remilia floats toward the shore and approaches one of the most weakened vampire, who is missing his legs and wings. Another vampire tries to ambush her, but she simply cuts her open with her left claw, then rips her bloody heart to shreds before it even hits the ground. Terrified, the wounded vampire whimpers as he gets away from Remilia, dragging himself with his arms, while the others simply watch from behind the bushes. Remilia blinks once, and in a confident and stern tone of voice, she loudly says “don’t you ever forget who the real Queen of the Night is! And if you need more proof, come and get it!” The wounded vampire on the ground manages to sit against a tree, then says “y-you’re not a vampire! You’re a devil! A terrible scarlet devil!” Remilia smiles sinisterly, baring her fangs as she glares with her terrifying and mischievous red eyes at the vampire before her, then says “mmm, I like that. The scarlet devil, Queen of the Night who inhabits the Scarlet Devil Mansion! If someone ever questions me again, it will be the last mistake YOU’LL ever make!” The fallen vampire whimpers at the sight of Remilia, while the others either look away from her, or lowers their heads in shame, none daring to cross Remilia again.

Early on the next morning, after everything settles down, and the remaining vampires leave the area, Reimu arrives to the blood-stained shore, gasping in horror at the staggering amount of blood all over the trees, the ground, and even on the lake’s water. Reimu continues to stare horrorstruck as she slowly descends, hovering just a few inches above the ground so as not to step on all that blood, then looks around some more, using the little light of the rising sun to admire the damage. Severed limbs and wings that slowly turn to ash right before her eyes, and all she can say is “what...? What the hell happened here?” A large fairy, the size of a human child, descends to Reimu’s left and angrily says “see? I told you, you lazy maiden! This was serious, but it seems it settled down at last.” Reimu looks around and seemingly absentminded, she asks “what the hell happened? What’s the meaning of all this?” The fairy yelps and flies away, while Reimu turns around while holding to her gohei defensively when they hear a raspy voice laughing. With his back against the tree he cowered to, the same wounded vampire Remilia spared still lies with his back against the tree, bleeding away while waiting to recover his legs and wings. Crazed, the vampire laughs, then says “the devil. The scarlet devil. We though she was weak. She’s not a vampire, she’s a devil! A devil surrounded by scarlet flames. All hail the devil Queen of the Night!” Reimu approaches the wounded vampire and asks “what are you talking about? What happened here?” The vampire remains silent, and when Reimu takes a better look, he’s unconscious, so the fairy answers for him, excitedly saying “I told you, the vampires were fighting, and they were causing a lot of trouble for us, and they were killing each other, and...” Reimu raises her hand to signal the fairy to quiet down, then says “well, this incident has been solved already... however...” Reimu looks at the fairy with a saddened look, then says “this has gone far enough. All this senseless killing.” The fairy gasps at the sight of the humble maiden, then asks “what do you suppose we should do?” Reimu replies “you leave that to me”, and as she flies away back to the shrine in a hurry, she mumbles “I should have done this right after that last incident in Makai.”

It doesn’t take Reimu long to get back to the shrine, flying as fast as she can, followed by the same fairy that was with her at the lake, as well as countless other little fairies that seem to be very curious about what is going on. Reimu enters the shrine so fast that the sliding doors bounce back after she opens them, while the fairies all stay outside, looking curiously to the inside. Reimu hurries to a large trunk inside a large room that is next to her bathroom, and form inside, the pulls out scrolls and old papers, and finally, a brand new scroll with golden handles, which she grabs with an urgent look on her face, then opens it up just as she sets it on a small table, then grabs a brush, dunks it in ink, then starts writing on it as fast as she can. On the scroll, it reads “The Spell Card Rule. This rule makes it so all spells are made into cards. The users of said spells must declare the name of the spell they give themselves in order to activate it and use it. This will prevent any surprise attacks, although only the caster knows how the spell works, regardless. Each and every spell must be in danmaku formation, which means bullet curtain, or barrage of bullets. This will force the user to have to think up of patterns and formations, and this will allow weak youkai and humans alike a chance to win and survive any attack.” Reimu finishes writing and thinks, then whispers to herself “no, that’s not enough... think Reimu. Ah, I got it.” She continues writing “these rules affect all who live in Gensokyo, regardless of their level of power, even the Hakurei, and though those of the Hakurei clan may remove these rules, it is strongly suggested that they remain, in order to maintain a stable peace in Gensokyo.” Reimu stops writing and reads all that she’s written so far, and with a satisfied and long sigh, she rests the brush and places her hand on the open scroll. The scroll itself starts to shine so brightly, the fairies that are outside the shrine enter it to awe at the sight. The barrier around Gensokyo seems to react to this, and knowing what happened, Reimu looks outside the room toward the fairies in the shrine, then says “I see. So the barrier is reacting, as expected.” After Reimu takes her hand off the scroll, the rules written on them fly to the air, then Reimu grabs a stack of at least 50 papers and slams them on top of the floating letters. With a smile on her face, Reimu looks toward the fairies in the shrine and playfully says “well, little fairies, I got a little game for you.” The fairies stare at Reimu with curiosity, and the biggest amongst them asks “what sort of game?” Reimu shows them the stack of papers and smiles.

Meanwhile, at the Forest of Magic, Marisa throws a magic potion bottle to the ground to scare away a beast youkai that wants to enter her house. She smiles at the invading youkai, then says “alright, since you don’t want to leave the easy way...” She pulls her Hakkero from under her hat and points it at the creature, then says “then I’ll just totally blast you to oblivion! TAKE THIS!” Just as she says those words, resonating magical shockwaves fly by the area, affecting even the barrier itself, and her Hakkero coughs out a white cloud of smoke. The youkai snickers, then progresses to laugh at Marisa, whose face turns bright red as she angrily asks “hey, what gives? Where the hell is my spell?” The youkai rolls away on the ground, laughing heartily and forgetting about Marisa and her house. Enraged, her cheeks turning red and steam coming out of her ears, Marisa stomps on the ground and shouts “you better run, you bastard! And stop laughing, or I’ll get you with my broom!” Still aggravated, Marisa grumbles incoherently as she reaches for her broom, and that’s when she feels something thin and light touch her hand. A tiny fairy holding on to a piece of paper manages to land said paper on Marisa’s hands, and with a quick giggle, she flutters away. Marisa reads the piece of paper, and after reading its content she screams out loud “what’s the meaning of this? Reimu~” A few moments later, at the recently renamed Scarlet Devil Mansion, inside the main hall, Remilia sips her tea and eats a perfectly adorned cookie with red jelly on it, then stops moving. Worried, Sakuya looks to her mistress and asks “is something wrong, my lady?” Remilia asks “did you feel that just now, Sakuya?” Sakuya closes her eyes and calmly says “yes. I suddenly felt very tired for a moment.” Remilia takes a sip of her tea, then says “to me it felt like being run over by Flan.” Patchouli enters through the doors and as excitedly as she can, though she still seems calm, she says “Remi, Sakuya, I can’t use my magic spells anymore.” Remilia and Sakuya look at each other, but before they can reply, Meiling comes walking into the room with two familiar fairies. Remilia immediately recognizes them; the blonde and blue haired fairies she tricked into helping her when she first came to Gensokyo. Some unwanted memories come flooding to her mind, and after snarling, she asks “Meiling, what is the meaning of this?” Meiling smiles sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head, then says “these two brought this with them. I thought you might want to thank them personally, my lady.” Remilia continues to snarl angrily, but then takes a calming breath and looks at the paper Meiling is holding in her hand. Remilia signals Meiling to get closer, but Patchouli grabs the paper and reads out loud “This is a notice for all, no exceptions. From this day forth, I, the Hakurei maiden, after a terrible incident, have decided to set the spell cards rule, and they are to be set into effect immediately. Some of you may have noticed you can no longer use your stronger spells at will. Do not be frightened, as it is all part of these rules. From now on, all your spells will be set into cards, and in order to use said spells, you must give them a proper name and declare this name out loud. The rules are a fo-“ Patchouli stops reading when Remilia raises her hand, signaling her to stop, and though her face turns red with rage, she sounds calm as she asks “what is this shit? What the hell is the matter with that stupid maiden?” Sakuya’s eyes glow red, and stay red after the glow dims, then says “my lady, please calm down.” Patchouli sighs, rubbing her own forehead, then says “well, it’s not so bad... but...” Remilia’s eyes glow bright red as she says “yes, I know. I don’t like this. Bring me that paper! I want to read these stupid rules! Meiling!” Remilia raises her head to look at her frightened gate guard, then says “stay here and listen carefully! Then I want you to dress these two fairies and have them clean the dining room corridor!” The two little fairies look at each other curiously, while Meiling nervously salutes Remilia and says “as you wish, my lady!” Remilia signals her servants closer, grabs the paper from Patchouli’s hands, then says “let’s have a look at this. Maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds.” Sakuya, Meiling and Patchouli gather around Remilia, listening with great interest as their mistress reads the Spell Card Rules out loud for them.

To be continued...

Characters and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
AUG 4 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.
This one was a bit troublesome to write, mostly because or real life issues not helping with my musing. Anyway, the other reason it took me so long is because this incident with the vampires... well, ZUN hasn’t really said much about it except that “it happened”. That’s vague, I know, but I guess it’s up to us, the fans, to fill those gaps. He does encourage fans to do stuff like this... from what I’ve heard. Also, the name of that poor nekomata, “Azzhara”, is pronounced “Atz-hara”, for those of you interested. Thank you very much for all your reviews and comments, thank you for reading, and I am very glad to know I am doing alright, even with this style of writing that really isn’t my favorite... but you know what? I’m starting to like it. See you next chapter.