Reimu Hakurei grumbled to herself as she walked up the staircase in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She knew that Marisa would use her appearance to cover up her own secret incursion to the library, but she'd had plans to visit anyway - Remilia had been acting odd ever since she returned from wherever she had been visiting. Only if someone requested an event would the mansion host one, whereas before it had been a rare week without some kind of party being held. Even if it was something as simple as a change in temperament, she needed to know, so she could keep a closer watch on the youkai farther from the village, to make sure they didn't expand their conflicts into something she would have to interfere with. So now she was visiting Remilia, and she was walking up the ridiculously long staircase because Marisa had asked her to take her time. She paused at the landing and looked up at the many flights she had yet to go and sighed.
"You could just fly, you know." Reimu jumped at the voice behind her and turned to look. Remilia was floating there, just out of arm's reach, her normally animate face relaxed and expressionless. "Or are you just practicing on a different set of stairs than you normally do?" The childish face tilted to the side, curious, and Reimu shook her head.
"I simply felt like taking my time, Remilia. I came to talk with you." Remilia nodded and drifted past her, beckoning for the shrine maiden to follow. "You've been acting a little odd, these past weeks, and I didn't know if I should keep a closer eye on youkai politics, since you usually help keep that from getting excessive."
"Yukari sleeps, Yuuka has her garden, Aya has her journalism. Even a youkai needs to have a focus once it lives long enough, or it goes mad. Madder, perhaps. But the parties are their own kind of stress for me, and I simply felt like taking a break." Reimu frowned at that. The parties were Remilia's focus? She hadn't been active in Gensokyo until the Incident, though …. "In any event, you don't need to worry that youkai politics will bother you. Since you're here, however, why don't we have a chat, some tea? We can discuss the weather …."
Reimu sat back in her chair and frowned at the board between her and Remilia. Despite her promise to avoid use of her fate-manipulating abilities, the diminutive vampire had managed to defeat her in all five of the prior games and was winning this one. She glanced up at the quiet laugh and leaned forward, her fingers steepled in front of her face to keep a smile from breaking out.
"You're quick to grasp the game, yes, but I've been playing some form of it for over four hundred years. It's not a game your intuition will help you with." I suppose it doesn't help that I keep forgetting which pieces move which ways, Reimu thought, then looked up to see Remilia scowling ferociously over her shoulder. She turned to see Patchouli floating into the room, her expression nervous and apologetic.
"Remi - Remilia, I'm sorry for interrupting, but there was a development in the search." Reimu, looking back at Remilia, saw the crimson eyes begin to glow. "I was … contacted, by an entity that claims to have some information."
"An entity? That contacted you, offering a deal?" Patchouli nodded apprehensively, and Reimu saw a change settle over Remilia - her features seemed to become sharper, fiercer, her eyes narrowed, and she no longer seemed childish, only short, slender, and sinister. Her hand flicked as she left her chair, and Reimu threw herself out the opposite side as a warning instinct screamed at her. The air screamed before she landed, and the chairs flew to the side as well. She rolled to her feet, but Remilia was gone, a trail of destruction marking her path. Reimu frowned as Patchouli drifted over - the chessboard had been locked to the table, and the pieces to the board, by some of Remilia's magic. The magician smiled sheepishly.
"I'm sorry. If I'd thought she would react so energetically, I would have prepared something. I expected her to politely excuse herself, instruct me to see if you needed anything, and leave." Reimu followed her out of the sitting room and into the hall. The door was ruined, shattered into innumerable pieces, there were several craters in the walls and floor, and anything that was unsecured - including any of the doors that had been unlocked - were strewn about and thrown open. Reimu frowned and shifted uncomfortably.
"What did she do, exactly?" Patchouli sighed as they flew along the path, and Reimu's frown deepened when they saw the ruined fairy maids at the foot of the staircase. They would recover, of course, but ….
"She increased her speed. Tripled it, probably, judging by how well she controlled her movements. She could double that, too, but she can barely maneuver if she flies that fast. She'd have gone through the walls if she tried it." Reimu shook her head and increased her own speed, following Remilia's path to the library, hoping Marisa hadn't done anything stupid.
"… I suppose I shouldn't have worried." Marisa leaned against a wall of the magical prison that trapped her, a transparent red cube. Patchouli was speaking to Sakuya some distance away, occasionally sending a glare toward Marisa. The magician grinned happily at Reimu and shrugged - she didn't seem to be able to hear anything from outside. "I hope Marisa isn't the culprit behind the 'communication' you received," she said to Patchouli as the magician floated over.
"No, there's no way she would know about the entity that contacted me, and she certainly wouldn't be able to fake it. She is certainly fortunate that Remilia decided to trap her, however - she could very well have been killed, or worse, if she met it alone." The magician's eyes narrowed slightly, and she extended a hand to the prison. After a moment's touch, the planes of energy flickered out of existence. "And you will behave yourself. You will not touch any book, and you will be escorted at all times to ensure that you do not. The only reason I'm not being more forceful is because Remilia will probably tell me to consider you a guest, even though you broke in. Now, follow me and be quiet." The magician floated away, and Reimu gave the unremorseful Marisa a baleful look before dragging her along. It was several quiet minutes later when Remilia came into view, diminutive but crackling the air with scarlet power, her wings seeming to be huge claws swept to the side. Before her floated a collection of eyeballs and tentacles, fading in and out of existence, and Marisa stumbled as they entered the range of its power.
"… Yet the fact that you came here to offer the knowledge is telling. You know as well as I that you could not have been informed of the location by another party, so I must search the world of your domain. And since it won't always be that world, your information is of limited value - simply knowing where the location was lowers the value of the information you have."
"Of course," the entity replied. "But, the information is valuable - to you, and … to others? I offer you greater information, and the - withholding of knowledge from your enemies. And a … worthy scholar would pay for even a modest hint." Reimu put her free hand to her head. The entity spoke with a strange cadence and accent, and it accented certain words oddly. She seemed better off than Marisa, who was pale and trembling, but neither Patchouli nor Koakuma - when did she get here? - seemed to be bothered. Patchouli whispered something, and Reimu's headache disappeared and Marisa breathed easier.
"And I am willing to pay - to pay something that is useful, not simply a repository for knowledge. We have had equitable exchanges in the past, and we both know this to be a fair payment. Do not push me, or you will receive nothing, Gardener." The entity laughed.
"Very well, young Devil. I shall take your Galdrabók, and give to you the - secret you desire." Remilia held up her hand, and a small book appeared above it. The entity lashed out with a tentacle, spearing both the book and Remilia's skull. Marisa and Reimu began to lunge forward, but Patchouli's outstretched arm stilled them, and the tentacle withdrew, carrying the book with it. It faded away, the tentacles reeling back into the abscesses of reality from which they protruded, while the eyes simply burst or folded in on themselves, leaving nothing behind.
"… That went well. Patchouli, take Marisa out, will you?" Patchouli bowed, and as she stood she and Marisa vanished. Koakuma flew off, eager to return to her duties - away from the mistress of the mansion. Remilia slowly dropped to the floor, her wings shrinking to their more manageable natural size as she did so, then turned to Reimu. "As your hostess, I should walk you out myself. And, I suppose, answer some of your questions." She strode past Reimu, taking her hand gently and leading her away.
"What was that, and how much of a threat to Gensokyo does it pose?" Remilia laughed, a pure and innocent sound.
"Oh, Reimu! Such a hard worker, always on the job. Hm. A demon, I suppose, or a god. Not much difference where it came from, as I understand it. As for its threat … not much, really. If it could bring its entire power to bear, it could crush Gensokyo easily, but it's too vast - in order to use a majority of its power, it would need to fold our reality into its, or vice versa, and there are blocks in place to prevent that. If it wants to affect this world, it can only do so through an avatar, and I can deal with one of those until the connection can be severed. It isn't without enemies in its own reality, after all, and if it wastes too much energy here it will lose its power base." Remilia shook her head and smoothed her hair. She skipped ahead and turned around, walking backwards to grin at her companion. "So there's no problem!" Reimu nodded.
"But you'll be going there soon, right? You're looking for something, and it's wherever that demon is. That will destabilize the youkai." Remilia shook her head.
"No, it won't - I have safeguards, and no one should even know that I've gone. Perhaps Yukari. But I won't be gone long enough for anyone to take advantage of it anyway." She snapped her fingers and halted. "Actually, on that point, I do have some preparations to make, not least of which will be establishing sight on what I desire. Shall I have Sakuya escort you out, or do you wish to leave the way you entered?" No longer spritely and happy, Remilia now stood stern and authoritative. Reimu sighed. So much for walking me out yourself.
"I'll be fine. I don't think Sakuya would appreciate another interruption of her work, anyway." She turned and walked away. She had some serious thinking to do, and that meant getting back to the shrine. Hopefully Marisa hadn't done anything to her broom this time.
