Chapter Text
Somewhere in the distant future, Gensokyo...
The world as we know it has come to an end. An insurmountable incident has completely destroyed the fantasy paradise. Not even the sages or the greatest incident resolvers or the denizens of Gensokyo could do anything. The outside world and moon have also fallen, many are missing or lost, and the end is near.
From an outsider's perspective the physical may be in tact, but for any organism capable of senses, especially those with capability for intelligence, it is as if you are in the midst of a volcano exploding as you're on its peak. It is said that those in accidents or trained fighters can see and feel milliseconds as if they were hours, and they lose control of their senses. Although there is no imminent physical danger, the situation for those remaining could be described as similar.
It's a rainy day in Gensokyo. However, there are no youkai or fairies out to enjoy it, or humans to grovel in. Those who remained indoors could survive the longest, and after the event horizon, direction became meaningless as well.
There were a group of western-style youkai in a mansion near a certain lake who were quite fond of staying indoors. There would lay the last bastion of hope for restoring normalicy.
The mansion was decrepet. The head maid had never returned after trying to save the incident, and the remaining fairy maids were unable to fulfill their duties properly. The head mistress ordered all left to stay indoors, not allowing them to leave the room after a certain point. This paranoia would prove to be effective. Several figures were around a large table. There was no food, however youkai don't need to eat much.
The figures, totalling around eleven sat quietly. Their clothes resembled the rest of the mansion: dirtied, worn and bleached. This did not matter as due to the incident, sight and touch were nearly extinct. Eventually, one of the figures started talking.
"Remilia, are you aware of why we have come here?" asked one of them. The voice, while being damaged and raspy, attempted to retain a cool and collected attitude.
Remilia did not immediately respond.
"I'm aware of depression from this, but we need a response. Cut the selfishness for one moment." Retorded another voice. The figure here sat in a chair seperate from the rest of the mansion.
After a long pause, Remilia caved in. "...My ability can't do anything. Neither can Patchy and Flandre. I've told and shown you multiple times. Are you here to recruit me into a final suicide cult?" The voice was quite dry.
"No, there's no need for that." A relatively healthy yet stern, deep voice retorted. "If we wanted to kill you, we would have done it already. This will be a final solution." she slammed on the desk.
Another figure, whos feet were on the table, added on in another relatively healthy voice. "There's no need for formality at this time. All of you have always pissed me off with your vagueness, just talk!" A girl next to her smirked.
"Fine. If nobody else can say anything of use, I will. There's a last stand for resolving the incident, but it needs a sacrifice. Only you are eligible. We want you to volunteer." Said yet another voice. This voice was damaged, yet still passionate.
There was silence at the table yet again. Eventually, a new voice spoke up, after a barrage of coughs.
"Get to the point. How lethal is it? There's no time left to mess around." said a deep voice. "Ahh, Miss Patchouli. You shouldn't talk now, you'll undo your meds!" The voice next to her said, still somewhat healthy.
The more healthy voice came up again. "The sacrifices made have not been in vain. We know that the masterminds behind this incident have done all this to create their own world. This is the world they have been basing in and possibly trying to terraform, but we lack much information..."
"So then why not send yourself?!" Blared a new voice. "You or Mokou. Hell, even the princess could do it without much issue. Or one of you other sages. I understand Patchy, but I could go too. The mistress is in no shape to do it..."
"Meiling..." Remilia started, but didn't finish.
"It's due to temperament." Said the sage known as Okina. "All worlds have a unique quality to them. In this world, their version of magic is temperament. If yours doesn't line up, you'll be as good as dead somewhere down the line. Remilia is the only one who fits.
Meiling made a face. Patchouli looked away. Remilia stared blankly at the table, head in hands. Then, a new voice spoke out.
"What about me?" Said a younger, lighter voice. It was Flandre, who was possibly least affected by the incident. "Since we're blood related, I should have a similar temperament to my sister, right?"
"You were very useful to me dealing with the incident with the beast leader. However, you're not yet mature or experienced enough to fight on your own. Even if your temperament lined up, you would be destroyed instantly." Okina sighed.
"No, let her go." Remilia instantly retorted. "I'll do even worse."
"She's unworthy." Yukari shot down. "For starters, we don't even know where she'll be dropped off..." Flandre made an angry face.
"There's something that's been bothering me this whole time." Remilia said as she rose from her seat. "How exactly will this help resolve the incident? Is there some magical item or whatever that's gonna solve everyone?!" She angrily added.
"This is supposedly the home and base of operations of the main mastermind. Remilia, if you can beat her, we can bring everything back to normal." Kasen tried to say enthusiastically. Once again, there was silence in the room. Remilia didn't want to say anything.
After a long pause, Flandre finally said "Open up the gate." Everyone turned to her confused. "It's obvious sis isn't gonna go, so I'll do it. Even if my ability doesn't work, I'm still a vampire.
"You're too weak!" Yukari again stated. However, this time Flandre would not take it. "You're just saying that, but you're out of options! You lot are probably too scared to go. Who cares about temperament! Three of you are immortal! Remi's just a shell of herself now, and Meiling obviously just wants to spend the rest of her days here. That's not how I want to go, so at least give me a try. It's not like I could do worse than HER!" Flandre pointed at Remilia. Remilia looked dissapointed, but nodded in agreement after a long minute.
Yet again there was silence at the table. Flandre was losing her patience. "So open this gate already! If none of you have anything to say. Don't drag this on longer for my sister than you have to."
Eirin sighed and said "There's something we have to tell you if you're this insistent. My gate is made through a specialized seal crystal in stasis. As you don't match this world, you won't be an exact fit. There's no stating for sure what exactly could happen. You could lose your memories, your ability, or something else entirely..."
This made Flandre backpedal for a moment. "Am I really sure I want to take that..?" She thought to herself. After some thought, Yukari rose up, and summoned out her shikigami. "I've decided, if you, Flandre Scarlet, can beat me in a fight, I'll allow you to go. Are there any objections?"
Around the room, everyone was looking at them. Nobody disagreed with the two. Flandre summoned her weapon, a strange spear like weapon she nicknamed Lævateinn.
The three walked towards an empty part of the kitchen, away from the others. Flandre gripped her weapon and took her feet off the ground, Yukari did the same. Flandre struck first with an attack, jolting violently towards the sage aiming her weapon at her neck, yet her shikigami Ran had blocked it right in front of her face. Ran started shooting Kunai out of her, while Flandre backed up to have space to dodge them.
Yukari teleported behind Flandre, yet Flandre had turned around and shouted out a spellcard attack. "Taboo: Forbidden Games!" Several clock like objects had summoned themselves around Flandre and were rapidly flying out of her. Yukari was unable to get away fast enough and got clipped by some of them, scratching her cheeks and shoulders. Flandre turned around to try to strike at Ran, but she was not there. Instead, she got hit from the side by a headbutt, and was launched into the wall, creating a large hole going into the next room. Flandre picked herself up and jumped out of the way quickly from a barrage of knives and fireballs that were aiming at her. Flandre embranced herself to summon her own danmaku, shooting rings of energy pellets all around herself. Yukari dodged them and responded with her own spellcard attack. "Magic Eye: Laplace's Demon!" Yukari spread her arms out wide, summoning a large array of eyes around her and Flandre. These eyes would focus in on Flandre and fire high-energy spirit balls at her. Flandre decided to cut the bullet firing and fire another spellcard, announcing "Taboo: Four of a Kind!"
Flandre split herself into four, all indestinguashable from the original, even down to clothing damage. The four quickly dispersed and split into groups of two to single out the sage and her shikigami. Two Flandres were swinging Lævateinn's at Ran, who was just barely managing to block, as Yukari started creating gaps around herself, summoning lasers and shooting more energy bullets to try to divide the two Flandre's rushing towards her. This continued for a moment, however, there is a limit to all spellcards, and a few moments later its duration had run out. Flandre had fused back to one by Yukari, and immediately compensated by releasing another attack. "Forbidden Barrage: Catadioptric!!" Several strands of ultra-high energy bullets, knives, and general debris from the mansion had exploded out of her hand and were coming towards Yukari.
"You're the same as always, Flandre! You focus on overwhelming your opponents immediately with high power, but you don't focus on technique or nuance. That's your weakness!" Yukari created a large gap in front of her, and another one behind Flandre, re-shooting her bullets back at her. Flandre got out of the way quickly, but she still grazed some on her arm, bruising it considerably. Ran immediately noticed the weakness and went to attack Flandre's neck, who had fallen briefly for a moment. Flandre barely managed to catch her hand with her own. Flandre raised her leg and kicked it into the floor, destroying the entire floor under herself and Ran. Flandre used this moment while falling to shoot some of the debris at Yukari, who had dodged it. However, Flandre used this to push herself back into Ran. She grabbed Ran from behind her and manuevered her way behind her, finding one of Okina's backdoors. "That damn sage!" she thought to herself. "Forbidden Barrage: Starbow Break!!" She stabbed her Lævateinn into Ran's Backdoor and used her spellcard energy to thrust herself at Yukari, leaving rainbow danmaku behind her. "What brutishness..!" Yukari thought to herself. She attempted to move out of the way, but was unable to.
There was a makeshift cage of lasers surrounding Yukari, and not only that, they were coming out of her own gaps. "What's this..?" Yukari attempted to create a gap beneath herself, but it was too late. The full force of ran had come crashing into her, and she crashed into the laser wall before her gaps dissipated, causing severe damage for Yukari. "You said something about how I only try to bruteforce my opponent. Did you forget my first spellcard was named Cranberry Trap?" Flandre said proudly. Yukari wiped blood off her face with her face and unsommoned the equally damaged shikigami. "There's one thing you should know about this world... there, the denizens blessed with proper temperaments are capable of fighting with and using abilities much like we can, however, it is not the same as us. They are much more experienced at it than I or any of the other sages could be. This was only a padding test, but you must constantly stay on your toes and use your head." Flandre stepped back for a moment. "Does this mean I passed the test..?" She asked confusedly. Behind her, a gap was opening, with a silently charging beam. "Indeed." Stated Yukari, "You passed." Flandre snapped behind her as she recognized what was going on. "Shit!" she yelled as she instinctively held out her hand.
Flandre's ability is to destroy absolutely anything. By changing the 'eye' of an object in her hand and squeezing it shut, she can remove it from existence, which is what she did here. "While your ability remains as usual here, there's no guarantee it'll be the same out there. Be cautious." Yukari lectured. Flandre felt somewhat annoyed she was able to have the last laugh somehow despite losing.
The two went back to the dining room. The sages looked around at each other. Eirin stood up first. "Well, I'm not sure you've passed, but I shall let you try anyways. I shall pass on the rest of what we know now." Flandre nodded, however, the realization of what she was getting herself into was starting to kick in. She had seldom left the mansion, let alone explored another dimension.
Eirin continued, "While Gensokyo almost certainly exists here, from what we have so far, we can't find it. Your task is to find where this realm's Gensokyo is and to defeat the mastermind." Eirin took out a walkie-talkie like device. "We've developed a special tool for communication, however, you should only use it in a dire emergency or when you've completed your mission, as it is quite unstable. Do you understand?" Flandre nodded again. The rest of the table sat in silence. Okina decided to break the silence, stating "Remember that time for us doesn't pass much while you're out, so you don't have to worry about any of that. Just focus on yourself." This made Flandre feel a little more relieved, but worry was still boiling up in her.
"It's too late to back out now, isn't it?" she thought to herself. "It's fine, though. I'll just use my ability if someone gets in my way." Remilia got out of her seat and went to squeeze Flandre's shoulder. The two looked at each other. "I'm sure you'll do fine." Remilia said. The members of the Scarlet Devil Mansion gave slight smiles.
"I think I'm ready to go." Flandre told the sages. She walked up to Eirin and took the device. The sages looked at each other, with Yukari saying "I shall bring the gate." She created a gap in the air and dissapeared into it. The rest of the Scarlet Devil Mansion members surrounded Flandre to encourage her, while the remaining sages started talking. "Are you sure about this?" Kasen said. "I was hoping Remilia would be able to snap back into it once she went through..."
"I'm not entirely certain myself." Okina responded, "Flandre has a habit of not taking fights seriously. In addition, I'm not sure how her ability will be retained once she passes through the gate."
Yukari returned through a new gap. "Your concerns are valid. After all, she is still relatively a child." She had the gate floating behind her. It was a rather large mechanism, about the height of a grown man in a rectangular shape, with a large metal box-like appendage to the side. "It may just be because I'm in a good mood, however, but I'm optimistic for her."
Yukari set down the device, and Okina shouted out "Patchouli, Meiling. Come on up." The two walked over to the machine, with Koakuma following behind. "You'll have to use some of your magic and qi on this to get it going. I hope you don't mind." Eirin instructed.
The three started to immediately power the machine with their magic. As it was turning on Eirin explained "This was created through a special type of stabilized seal crystal we were able to get a hold of. It contains the DNA of one of those involved in the creation of this incident, but it's just barely enough to create a miracle like this." In the machine's gate started to form a blue-purpleish swirl. The other members came up to observe.
"Flandre, you can step into the gate now." Instructed Okina. Everyone's eyes were on Flandre, who looked very mixed. Flandre slowly began to walk towards the gate. Remilia suddenly ran to hug Flandre, whispering in her ear "you can do this. Go." Flandre paused and nodded, and returned the hug. Everyone else also started to cheer her on. As she approached the gate, the ground suddenly started to shake. Everyone was confused, and started to ask what was happening. Gensokyo had not had an earthquake in quite some time, and those who would cause them would have been too affected by the incident to cause any such trouble. Suddenly, a huge rift was forming across the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
Yukari had shouted out "This isn't an earthquake! The fabric of reality is starting to break apart!" The shaking got more intense as the bounded field widened, revealing a sort of starry interior. "Flandre, get inside the gate and resolve the incident!" Yukari shouted. Flandre, however, was too stunned and scared to hear. "This is... is this the incident too? I never heard of this before." She thought to herself. She took a step back. The rift had seperated Flandre from the rest of the people there. She could only see Remilia trying to fly out of the way through the growing crack, which had started to create a tree-like structure of branches. In Flandre's mind it resembled a mandlebrot set.
The shaking and growing of the rifts got more and more intense, and as did Flandre's emotions overcome her sense of logic. She leaped to grab her sister in desperation, however, her hand had gotten encased in a newly formed branch of the rift. Yukari, seeing this, used her ability to overlap her own gap onto the space's gap, however, she did not know what this would do. It turned out to make her consume an incredible amount of energy to get Flandre's hand out of the gap. As she was struggling, Remilia, trying to fly away, saw Flandre's struggling. Yukari managed to seperate the rift's gap for an instantaneous moment as the mansion shifted backwards towards the gate. Flandre was about to fall directly into the gate as she saw Remilia's lips say one last thing.
"Do it."
Flandre fell into the gate which powered off immediately and fell backwards. The mansion's roof burst into it, destroying the floor beneath it and creating a pile of rubble on the bottom of the mansion where it was destroyed. The others scattered to get as far from the rift as possible. In their minds, they knew that Flandre was truly the last stand they had.