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.

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