Aria of Gensokyo

[TwilightsCall]

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!

After an awfully extensive hiatus (has it really been 4 months since I finished Rise?!), I have decided to dust off the old brain, warm up my fingers, and start trying to be creative again.  So, where do I begin....

Firstly, to give you a bit of an intro into what this is going to be, this story is likely to be a very different kind of story than my last one, for better or for worse.  While Rise of the Evening Star was very much focused on the big players and heavy hitters of Gensokyo, Aria of Gensokyo is going to take a look at the world of Gensokyo from the other side - the bottom end of the totem pole, if you will.  That doesn't mean I'm going to exclude specific characters because of some perceived power level, but they probably aren't going to feature as prominently as they did in my other story.

As for the actual plot, I'm not going to give too much away, but a little taste should be fine.  Since Rise of the Evening Star neatly covered the Touhou Fanfic Cliche of "super strong baddie comes in and beats everyone always,"  I figured I should move on to the next one in the book: "Innocent and irrelevant person randomly finds themself in Gensokyo and has to cope."  Though, as you'll see fairly quickly, I've put a bit of a twist on it, hopefully making it a little less stale

Anyways, as much as I love the opportunity to blog, I'll get on with the story.  I've turned off my Writer's Insecurity, I've accepted the fact I'll never really like the beginning of a story I make, and I'm punching through my procrastination and posting my words as they are.  Thanks for coming by and reading, and I hope you enjoy this adventure as much as I do!



Prologue: World of Glass



The girl opened her eyes slowly.

The view in front of her was stunning.  She was standing, though on what she couldn?t tell.  Everything else around her was a deep sky blue, and like the sky, large, fluffy clouds floated gently past.  None came close enough that she could touch them, and there wasn?t even a breeze to push them along, but still they floated slowly past her.

The girl looked around, trying to spot any kind of landmark.  Despite the fact that it was as bright as noon, the sun was nowhere to be seen.  Likewise, whether she looked down or up, there was no ground anywhere in sight.  It was as if she had awoken in a world that had nothing but a sky and clouds.  And, of course, her.

Despite the fact that open sky stretched forward as far as she could see, she couldn?t help but feel like the world was too?small.  There were no walls, there wasn?t even a floor, and yet she couldn?t shake the feeling that she was closed up in a tight space.

Slowly and carefully, since she couldn?t see what she was standing on, she inched her feet around in a circle, turning to face the other way.  Once she had turned around completely, she raised her eyes away from her feet and stumbled back, startled.

While the world behind her stretched out endlessly in the form of a clear blue sky dotted with clouds, the direction she was now facing was completely different.  Separated by some invisible boundary, only a few steps forward from the girl the scenery changed drastically.  There was no gentle blue sky, no fluffy white clouds.  Instead, an oppressive blackness stretched out seemingly forever.

There was nothing within the blackness that she could see.  It was as if there was a massive cloud of black fog hanging there motionless, so she couldn?t discern anything on the other side.  And though it looked somewhat scary, she understood that it wasn?t something to be afraid of.  She had no idea why she thought that, but the more she looked into that infinite darkness, the calmer she felt.  Yes, it was dark, and at first menacing.  But it wasn?t a bad darkness, it wasn?t wrong.  It felt completely natural to her, even more so than the blue sky she was standing in.

As she quickly calmed down after her initial shock, she noticed that she could see something in the darkness.  It was a reflection, of who she could only assume was herself, as if the only thing separating her from the inky blackness was a thin wall of glass.

Staring back at her from the glass was a young woman, looking just young enough to not quite be considered an adult yet.  She had wavy blonde hair, reaching down just past her shoulders, and was wearing a rather plain looking dress over a rather plain looking shirt.  She wasn?t entirely sure where the clothes came from, but it wasn?t important.

As she raised a hand to stroke her hair idly, she froze.  Her right hand was definitely touching her hair, but the reflection of her hadn?t moved.  Somewhat concerned, she looked more carefully at the reflection of herself, this time noticing the eyes.

The reflection?s expression was calm, impassive.  The eyes, however, held something else ? a sense of depth, of profundity ? and most disconcerting of all, a sense of disapproval.

?Who?are you??  The girl spoke tentatively, unsure if she really wanted to hear the answer to the question.  Truth be told, what she really wanted to do was run away, but as before, the paradoxical feeling of being trapped despite having a seemingly endless space behind her rooted her down.

The reflection folded her arms, her judgemental gaze now clearly showing in her expression.  ?You know this isn?t going to work, right??

The girl paused, confused.  What wasn?t going to work?  Even as she thought this, she replied instinctively.  ?Won?t know until we try, will we??  The sudden and almost involuntary response confused her even further.

?You?re not ready for this,? the reflection replied.  ?Didn?t you think maybe there was a reason I?ve been waiting so long??

The girl took a deep breath.  She didn?t really know what the conversation was about, but for some reason she was instinctively answering. ?I?m not going to put this off because of your paranoia.?

The reflection sighed, shaking her head.  ?It?s not ?paranoia.?  You?re not ready.  You?re not finished.  Just looking at that tiny fragment you?re in should be enough to prove you can?t do this yet.?

Hesitantly, she looked around.  True enough, as paradoxical as it was, the endless expanse of sky behind her seemed?small.  Too small.  In sharp contrast, the great blackness in front of her was absolutely massive, easily ten times the size of the space she now occupied.  In size alone, they were completely incomparable.

This time, however, she didn?t need to rely on an instinctive answer.  This time, she had a strong conviction of how to respond. ?This space is mine.  It doesn?t need to be big.?

The reflection sighed again, letting her arms drop to her sides.  ?You?re completely missing the point.?

The girl smiled.  ?That?s okay.  I?ll have plenty of time to figure it out.?

The reflection?s expression twitched.  Emotions crossed her face too quickly for the girl to make them out.  Her expression soon settled on one of concern.  ?You?re making a big mistake.? Her voice was little more than a whisper as she spoke, and the girl was taken aback by the sudden change in attitude.

?I appreciate your concern,? she replied after a long pause, ?but it isn?t necessary.  I can take care of myself just fine.?
The reflection pinched the bridge of her nose, making a vexed expression.  ?The reason we?re having this conversation is because you can?t!?

The girl bore a defiant smile.  ?Just watch me.?

The reflection groaned and hung her head, leaning against the wall of glass that separated the two of them.  After a few moments, she looked up at the girl again, her expression of concern replaced with something closer to fear.

?You realize it?s not just you, right??

?If you?re afraid of something happening to you because of me, why don?t you just stop me yourself??  the girl replied, half for the sake of being confrontational and half because she was actually curious why the reflection would argue so vehemently, yet not raise a hand to stop her.

?That?s not what I meant,? the reflection spoke with a frustrated tinge to her voice. ?It won?t end with just you, or just the two of us getting hurt.  Not even the two of us dying.  Everyone around you?and I mean everyone, will be in danger.?

A long pause followed as the girl mulled over the reflection?s words.  ?I?ll be careful,? the girl said finally, her voice barely more than a whisper.

The reflection groaned again.  ?Why won?t you just listen to me?  Even if you don?t care about anyone else, you should at least care about yourself!?

The girl stood quietly, her previous confidence gone.  She knew instinctively that she would be a danger to everyone around her, that she had no right to put strangers through that.  That everything the girl in the reflection had said was true.  But even so?

??I can?t stay here.  If I stay in this tiny, cramped up space any longer, I feel like I?ll suffocate.  I need to get out.  That?s all.?  The girl still spoke in barely more than a whisper, but her voice was brimming with emotion.  The reflection?s face was once again overtaken by a storm of emotion, before finally settling on resignation.

?Fine.  Do what you want.  It?s not like I can stop you anyways.?  The reflection turned and made to walk away, but she stopped at the last second.  Looking over her shoulder, the girl could see little more than her eyes as she spoke.  ?Just don?t come running to me when everything falls through.?

With that, the girl in the reflection stepped into the darkness and vanished.

The girl stood, now alone, staring into the darkness beyond the glass wall.  Her heart was overflowing with emotions she didn?t recognize, feelings that weren?t her own.  She didn?t understand where they came from, or why they were coming to her, but the longer she thought about them, the more natural they felt for her.

This tiny, cramped up space was like torture.  No matter how large it looked, it still felt chokingly small, and the longer she spent here the more claustrophobic she became.  She needed to get out of this place, no matter what.

?no matter what?

She knew leaving this place would put others in danger.  And she definitely didn?t want to do that.  But as she stood frozen with indecision, her growing claustrophobia began to eat at her.  She was going to go crazy if she had to stay here any longer. 

The girl shook her head violently and slapped her cheeks before spinning on her heel.  She didn?t want to put anyone in danger, but she couldn?t stay here.  So there was only one option.  She would just have to resolve herself to take responsibility for whatever happened because of her.
Because even taking her own life would be better than staying here for even a second longer.

The girl resolutely stepped forwards, away from the wall of glass separating her from the darkness, and that false reflection.  After two steps, the world around her began to brighten and glow.  Without shutting her eyes, without even squinting, she held her gaze straight forward as the world around her was dissolved into a blinding light.


----------------------


As the girl vanished into the light, a pair of eyes watched her go, concealed within the darkness.

She had no form, no name, and barely even a sense of self, so the best she could manage to do was to manifest as a reflection of someone else.  Even so, she struggled to warn the girl across the glass, fought with everything she had to protect her from the real world.  But it had been all for naught.  She hadn?t been able to convince her, so the girl left, to a place where even the girl in the reflection couldn?t help her.

She felt like she had given up too soon.  And in a way, she wished she could do the same.  To be free of this internal prison, to drink in the sights of the real world.  But in the same way it was dangerous for the girl on the other side of the glass to go out, so it was for her.  Perhaps it was her desire to leave that gave birth to that tiny pocket of light, allowing that girl to be born.

But even if deep down that was what she really wanted, she knew she couldn?t.  She wasn?t ready.  She was incomplete.  True, she might be able to survive in the real world for a few days, maybe even a year or more.  But it wouldn?t last forever, and when it ended, it would be catastrophic.

The girl in the reflection sighed in frustration.  She had tried to stop her, but to no avail.  And if she was honest, she could only benefit from something bad happening to that girl.  If that girl disappeared, she could get rid of that damned light.

But even so, she couldn?t just leave her to die.  There wasn?t much that she could do, but that didn?t mean there was nothing she could do.

Ever so slightly, the girl in the reflection pulled back the darkness ? imperceptibly at first, but eventually it retreated by a few inches.  As she did so, the glass wall trembled slightly, pushed towards her to greedily claim the space she had receded from for the other girl almost instantly.  It wasn?t much, but every bit of space, every bit of power she could lend her would stave off her end.  Maybe that would be enough to save her from herself.

She wondered briefly if the girl could even tell that her space, that her power had grown.  Probably not.  It wasn?t like she had given her much of significance.  Just a few inches.  Not even enough room for a person to stand in.  But it was all she could do.  All she could bear to do.  Now she just had to hope that the girl could handle herself out in the real world.

And, maybe more importantly, that the people she ended up living near could handle her.

The more she thought about it, the more uneasy it made her feel.  But really, there wasn?t much she could do.  She wasn?t even real yet.  It wasn?t her place to interfere, to judge her.  The girl was much braver than her, after all.  She was willing to take that step, to be born.  As much as she knew better, she couldn?t help but feel like she didn?t have the right to tell her what to do when she couldn?t even match her resolve to leave this place.

So all that was left for her to do was to wait.  Watch and wait, and pray.  Pray that the girl would live long enough that she could go out and save her.  Or that someone out there could do it, in the event she didn?t make it in time.

Watch and wait.

[TwilightsCall]

And since it would be a little boring just to post a prologue, here's Chapter 1 as well.


Chapter 1 ? Welcome to Paradise



Aria awoke to the feeling of a gentle breeze on her face.

Without opening her eyes, she took a deep breath and smiled.  The feeling of the wind gently passing by, the sun on her face, the soft earth on her back?there was little better than simply lying there.

Though she felt like she had just awoken from a dream, she found her memory of it puzzlingly blank.  Her smile soon became a light frown as she struggled to drag out any details about what she had just seen.  She remembered being in the sky?and something dark?glass?

Even as these thoughts surfaced in her mind, they disappeared like vapour and were lost.  The more she remembered about the dream, the more she forgot.  Since struggling to remember what had happened just seemed to be making the situation worse, she satisfied herself with shrugging and bringing her arms behind her head as a makeshift pillow.

Slowly, Aria opened her eyes, trying to adjust to the bright light streaming through the gaps in the leaves.  The sound of the wind passing through the trees and the sight of the thin canopy above her showed that she was in a forest.  And as much as she was enjoying it, the forest was no place to be lying around.

Sitting up, she took stock of her surroundings.  She had been lying in a small clearing, barely larger than she was.  As far as she could see, the trees stretched out in every direction, their canopies just thick enough to provide a gentle shade, with odd patches of sunlight scattered throughout as it broke through the leaves.

It was a very simple scene, ordinary in almost every respect.  And yet to her, it seemed to hold a magnificence beyond anything she had ever seen.  As if it was her first time ever seeing a forest.

Aria blinked, her thoughts grinding to a halt.  Had she ever seen a forest before?  Logically speaking, she must have.  It shouldn?t have been possible for her to wake up in the forest unless she fell asleep in the forest.  And yet reaching back, she couldn?t actually remember coming here.  In fact, she couldn?t remember?much of anything.

What had she been doing before she had fallen asleep?  What had she been doing yesterday? What had she been doing last year? She couldn?t find answers to any of these questions.  It was as if her memory had been scrubbed clean.

Panic was quick to set in.  The calm aura the forest had provided her completely shattered as she desperately wracked her brain, trying to remember anything about herself.  Anything about anything.  As her panicked breathing began to get out of control, she clasped her hands to the sides of her head and closed her eyes.

Slowly, she started taking deep, controlled breathes.  She needed to stay calm, and she needed to focus.  If she had really lost her memory, panicking wasn?t going to help her.  She needed to do her best to remember, and if she couldn?t remember anything, she needed to come up with a plan to-

?But I don?t even know what we?re looking for!?  A young voice reached Aria?s ears, clearly shouting, yet far enough away that it was still quiet. Surprised by the sudden change in the quiet of the forest, she opened her eyes and looked off cautiously into the distance, still feeling on edge from her previous panic attack.

?That?s what makes it a game, Sunny.  It wouldn?t be hard if you knew what to find.  It wouldn?t be fun either.?  A second voice called out, slightly closer than the first.  It seemed that whoever it was, they were coming directly towards her.

Aria perked up.  People were coming.  If she was really lucky, they would know who she is.  Even if they didn?t, they would likely be able to help her get to a town or village or something.  Listening hard, she tried to pinpoint where the voices were coming from, and though their idle chatter gave her lots of sound to work with, the sound bouncing from the trees made it difficult to put a finger on their exact whereabouts.

Suddenly, appearing out of the trees not ten feet away from her, three small fairies walked out into the clearing.

?I don?t see the point in a game where it?s only fun at the end,? the first spoke to the two behind her.  ?I?d rather a game of skill rather than one of luck.?  As she said this, she turned to face forward again, and her eyes locked with Aria?s.

As soon as they did, the three fairies froze.  A few long seconds passed as they stared at each other, before the fairy in the lead finally seemed to realize what she was looking at.  With a collective yelp, the first two?s faces turned shocked?and suddenly all three of them vanished.

Aria sat puzzled.  They had literally just been there not two seconds before, and now they were gone.  Vanished into thin air.  Slowly, she looked around the clearing, trying to see if they had somehow managed to hide somewhere without her noticing, as ridiculous as it sounded.  But try as she might, all evidence pointed to the fact that they had just?disappeared.

Shaking her head, she stood up and dusted herself off.  She had thought it had been a stroke of luck running into someone else so soon, but it seemed to not be the case.  Either way, she had no idea where to go or where she had come from, so at least she could follow where the three fairies had come from.  She supposed it was somewhat unlikely they had come from a village or settlement of any kind, but it was a better lead than just picking a direction at random.

?Geez, that was close!  Why didn?t you warn us, Star?!?  Just before Aria began walking, the voice of one of the fairies popped up again, stopping her in her tracks.  From what she could hear, they should still have been standing exactly where she last saw them, but as she snapped her eyes back, the space was still empty.

?She was practically asleep,? a third voice she hadn?t heard before replied.  ?It?s not like she was going to be able to do anything to us.?

?She?s a youkai! She could probably burn the forest down with a snap of her fingers!  She?d probably eat us in her sleep!?

Were they?invisible?  Tentatively, Aria called out in the direction she had last seen them.

?H-hello? Is someone there??

Another series of yelps sounded.

?L-Luna! Why aren?t we muted?!?

?Wah! I completely forgot!?

?Geez, how do you keep forgetting these things??

?Hey, that?s not fair! I only forgot this time because I was surprised!?

?There?s no point in it if you can only do it when you see the bad guys coming, Luna.?

?That?s not true! I get away with lots of things by muting sound!?

?You also get caught a lot by muting sound!?

?Um?excuse me,? Aria interjected quietly, ?I was wondering if I could ask you for some directions???  She didn?t really know how to broach the matter of holding a conversation with a group of invisible people.

?Gah, we?re still not muted are we??

?Ah! I forgot again!?

Following the last declaration, the clear sound of a palm striking a forehead resounded throughout the clearing.

?Oh, and don?t worry,? Aria said a bit more forcefully, ?Even if I am a youkai, I can?t eat in my sleep, nor can I burn down forests with my fingers.?

A long silence followed, and Aria could do little more than wait.  Finally, just as she was about to give up on the fairies still being there, as if a curtain was being stripped away, they suddenly appeared in front of her again.

The fairy in the lead, with orange hair and blue eyes, had a cautious look on her face.  To her left stood a blonde-haired fairy, her face more flustered, and behind the two of them was a fairy with long black hair, wearing a pensive expression.

?Did you just say, ?even if I?m a youkai??? the first fairy spoke, a hint of disbelief in her voice.

?Well, I have no idea what a youkai is,? Aria replied sheepishly, ?so you would probably know better than me.  But I definitely can?t do any of those terrible things you said, and I?m just looking for help anyways, so??

The three fairies exchanged glances with each other, as if unsure of what to do.

?Sounds like a trap to me,? the second, blonde-haired fairy said.  ?What kind of help would a youkai want from us??

?I agree,? said the first fairy.  ?Too risky.  We should just leave her alone.?

?But?? the third fairy spoke up, her pensive expression turning mischievous, ?what if it?s not??  The other two gave her a confused look, similar to the one Aria was giving her.  ?What if she?s actually a really powerful youkai, and she just doesn?t know it yet??  The fairy stopped, her face now split by a wide grin.  ?Wouldn?t you like to have someone like that in your debt??

The first two fairies thought for a moment before turning back to look at Aria.  As soon as they did so, their faces suddenly began to mirror the third fairy?s mischievous look.

Aria suddenly grew very nervous.  Their words aside, the expressions on the three faces before her told her quite clearly that she was probably better off not getting herself in debt to fairies, let alone these three.

?M-maybe I?ll be okay on my own,? she said, turning to leave in the opposite direction.

?Hey hey hey!? the first fairy said, floating around her to block her way and putting a hand on her shoulder.  ?Not so fast there!  You asked us for help, of course we?ll help you out!  A fairy never goes back on her word, right??

The second fairy floated up, her expression unchanged from before.  ?Plus, you?re the big scary youkai.  What do you have to be afraid of from little fairies like us??

?Relax, relax,? the third fairy said, wearing a gentle smile. ?Don?t mind these two.  My name is Star, and this is Sunny and Luna.  What?s your name??  Despite her much gentler, and much less showman-like tone, Aria?s intuition told her she was just as much in on the game as the other two.  She had to admit she was a good actor, though.

Even so, after thinking about it for a short while, she decided that help with ulterior motives was better than no help at all.  Turning to face Star, she gave a light bow.  ?My name is Aria.  Pleased to meet you.?

?Oh, Aria! What a great name!? Sunny said, her voice dripping with exaggeration to the point it almost sounded sarcastic.  ?Why don?t you have a seat right here, Aria.  Why don?t you tell us all about yourself??

Aria hesitantly lowered herself to a seated position, and the fairies quickly aligned themselves in front of her, Sunny sitting in the middle with Luna and Star to either side.

Aria eyed each of them nervously, though for a different reason than before.  ?Actually, I don?t?really know anything about myself other than that.?
The three fairies blinked in unison.  ?What?? Sunny was the first to reply.

?I just woke up in the forest here not too long ago, and I don?t actually remember anything past that??
The fairies watched her with blank looks, before Sunny closed her eyes and started rubbing her temples.  ?Oh boy.?

?This is that amnesia thing, right?? Luna whispered, though still loud enough for Aria to hear it clearly.

?Looks like it,? Sunny said, not bothering to mask a tired sigh.

?I?m not so sure,? Star said, looking at Aria with a frown.  The other two immediately turned to look at her, but Aria was the first to speak.

?What do you mean?  If I don?t remember anything, doesn?t that mean I?ve lost my memory??

?Well, if you didn?t remember anything, how come you still remember how to talk? And how to walk?  And your name??  Star spoke matter-of-factly, but her expression said that she was trying to convince herself as much as the others.

?I?kind of get it, but I kind of don?t get it.?  Luna said, furrowing her eyebrows.  ?Even if she remembers those things, she still forgot mostly everything else, right??

?What if,? Star raised a finger to emphasize her point, ?she never had memories to start with??  A collective ?ooh? sounded from the other two fairies, while Aria frowned.

?That sounds unreasonable,?  she said.

?How would you know it?s unreasonable if you forgot everything?? Star replied with a mischievous smile, prompting another round of ?ooh?s from her compatriots.  When Aria?s only response was to continue frowning, Star returned to her good-natured smile and shrugged.  ?Well, either way, the result is the same.  Even if you used to have memories, there?s nothing you can do but make new ones ?til they come back, right??

?And we?ll be right here to help you, every step of the way!? Sunny said, once again in an exaggerated voice.

?While I appreciate the offer,? Aria said tentatively, ?I?m not sure I?m comfortable writing off the fact that I might have a past??

?Relax, relax,? Sunny said nonchalantly, ?it?s not like you?re throwing it away.  If you can?t remember, what?s the point in worrying about it?  If you have memories, they?ll come back when they come back.  Besides, it?s not like having a bad memory is such a bad thing.  Look at Luna, she can?t even remember my name half the time, and she gets along fine.?

?Hey!? Luna immediately shouted, ?I can remember your name just fine!?

?Oh?? Sunny said, a mischievous grin on her face, ?then what?s your name??

?Sunny Milk!? she replied proudly, prompting Sunny to burst out laughing.  After a moment of confusion, she finally realized what had happened, and angrily swung a fist at Sunny.  Sunny jumped into the air, dodging the punch by a wide margin, all the while still laughing, and in short order Luna was chasing her in circles around the clearing.

Aria watched the two flit around with a raised eyebrow as she suppressed a laugh, while Star shook her head with a chuckle.  ?You can go ahead and ignore those two if you like.  Seriously though, Gensokyo is a pretty rough place to be lost in, and we?d be more than happy to help you out until you get a feel for it.?

Aria tilted her head to the side.  ?Gensokyo?? Ah, that must be the name of this?err?country??

Star chuckled again, but froze as she made to correct her.  ?What even is Gensokyo?? she muttered to herself, stroking her chin with a hand.  She quickly shook it off, however, and was smiling again.  ?Well, it?s a big place.  The humans only have one village, though there are a few youkai ones, so you can think of it as something like a big countryside.?

?I see,? she replied thoughtfully.  ?Well then, if it?s alright with you, I?ll put myself in your care.?

?Naturally,? Star replied with a cheerful smile.  Aria couldn?t help thinking that her acting was really good.

?And if you?re going to fit into Gensokyo,? Sunny said, stopping to hover just a few feet above Star?s head, Luna having apparently given up her chase, ?then there is one important thing that you need to know more than anything else!?

Aria instantly perked up where she was sitting.  Seeing she was paying attention, Sunny?s eyes started to sparkle, but otherwise she said nothing.

?Umm?? Aria said after a long pause, ?what would that be??

A wide, excited grin spread across Sunny?s face as she hovered close enough to whisper into Aria?s ear.

?Why, magic, of course!?



So that's the first little bit.  I feel like the story moves...a little slowly in the first couple chapters or so, but it should pick up some steam rather quickly after that.

If you have any comments, I'd love to hear them!  Right now I'm struggling with deciding my chapter length, so if you have a preference of short chapters like these, or longer (or maybe even shorter?), feel free to let me know.  I'm not sure what kind of length makes for a comfortable reading experience, so if you have an opinion I'm all ears.

Thanks for reading, and see you next time!

[TwilightsCall]

Well this took longer than expected.  Have a chapter 2.



Chapter 2 ? To Reach the Sky



Luna and Star sat off to the side in the clearing while they watched Aria and Sunny ?practice.?  Like Sunny, who was standing just in front of Aria, their faces bore flat, unimpressed expressions.  Though, in Sunny?s case, maybe exasperated was a better word.

Aria, on the other hand, stood directly across from Sunny, and her concentrated frown spoke more of frustration.  She soon looked at Sunny, a mild look of skepticism playing across her eyes.

?So?you three are sure that I?m a youkai??

?Yes, yes, for the last time, yes!? Sunny said, not bothering to keep her tiredness from her voice.

?And?you?re sure that all youkai can fly??  Aria said.

?I was until a little bit ago,? Sunny muttered to herself before shaking her head.  ?Don?t worry about that, just try again.  You can do it.  Just try and tap into your inner youkai powers!?

?How can I tap into something that I don?t even know exists?? Aria said, taking her turn at being exasperated.  A flat look from Sunny prompted her to shake her head and sigh, but she then closed her eyes and tried to focus again.

A long few moments passed, but nothing changed.  She wasn?t particularly surprised.  The only advice she had been given was to think ?fly,? and if something that simple didn?t work the first time, she doubted it would work any time after that.  After a minute or so of nothing, Aria opened her eyes and shook her head.

?That?s it, I quit!? Sunny threw her hands up in the air, ?there?s nothing I can do!  One of you guys deal with this!?  With that, she turned and walked away, plopping herself down beside the other two fairies and crossing her arms with a pout.

?Well,? Luna said, with a thoughtful expression on her face, ?we could always try the natural method.?

Aria perked up.  She had no idea what that was, but anything with the word ?method? in it sounded a lot more promising than what she had been doing so far.

?What?s that?? Star asked, posing the question before Aria could.

Luna gave a big grin.  ?We do it just like a bird teaches its chicks to fly.  We grab her, take her up into the sky, drop her, and see if she figures it out on her own.?

?No!? Aria?s response was instant.  ?Not that!?

Luna kept grinning. ?Why not?? she said, her voice dripping with feigned innocence.  Sunny, too, was now grinning and nodding, while Star just had a pensive expression on her face.

?It?s crazy!  I could be killed!?  Aria still didn?t quite have a good grasp on when these fairies were being serious and when they were joking, but she figured considering the situation, it was better to be safe than sorry.

?Oh, don?t worry, a youkai like you won?t die from a simple fall like that,? Luna waved her concerns off without a second thought.

?Please, Star,? Aria begged, ?tell them that this is ridiculous.  There?s no way a plan like that could work.?  Aria backed away unconsciously as Sunny and Luna started approaching her, grins growing ever wider.

?Of course that?s crazy,? Star said looking up from her thoughts.  ?There?s no way we could just drop you from the sky like that.?  Aria gave a sigh of relief as Star stood up.  Her relief was somewhat tapered, however, by the fact that Sunny and Luna hadn?t backed off.

?Now, let?s try one more time,? Star said, walking over so she was standing directly in front of her, Sunny and Luna on either side of her.  ?Close your eyes, reach deep down, and try to find something.  Anything is fine.  Anything that?ll help you fly.?

Aria nodded, glancing at Sunny and Luna one last time before closing her eyes.   With a deep breath, she tried to calm herself, and directed her focus inwards.

Naturally, like every time before, there was nothing.  Her desire to fly, her desire to use magic, was met with a silent emptiness.  Trying to fight down the now familiar discouragement at having no results, she kept trying.  This time, however, she forgot about flying.  She didn?t need to fly.  She didn?t even want to fly.  All she wanted was to find something, to find that proof that she was a youkai.  Like Star had said, to find anything.

Suddenly, she came up against something solid.  The sudden appearance of that unexpected something almost made her jump ? it was like she had been walking blind and suddenly seen a wall appear two inches from her face.  Aria?s heart finally lifted.  She had found something.  Now, all she had to do was figure out what that something was.

Which was, of course, easier said than done.  She tried probing the ?something? with her mind, but it was a slow and arduous process.  It felt like a barrier of some sort, maybe a wall.  Despite not really having a tactile sensation to go off of, it felt slippery, more like a sheet of glass than something of wood or stone.  She couldn?t get a good feel for what it was, why it was there, or what was behind it, but it was a definite start, and that gave her all the encouragement she needed to keep trying.

Logically she didn?t have any idea what this wall was, but she did have an intuitive sense for it.  Not really what it was, or why it was there, but what it
did.  As far as her instincts said, it was separating herself from?herself.  There was something behind that wall, and she intuitively felt like it was a fundamental part of herself.  Obviously, it was trying to keep her away from it, but for what reason she had no idea.  She didn?t even know if it was strange or not ? for all she knew, it was that way for all youkai.

Aria opened her eyes with a big smile, ready to share the news with the others, but her expression froze on her face the instant her eyes were open.

???Now!??? The voice of three fairies shouting filled the clearing, and Sunny, Luna, and Star dove towards Aria in unison, the three fairies now surrounding her.

Aria had no time to do any more than scream as three pairs of hands grabbed her and carried her up into the air.  And up, and up, and up.  In seconds, they had left the tops of the trees behind, and the three made no signs of slowing.  Desperately, Aria reached out and grabbed at the two closest to her arms, which happened to be Sunny and Luna, all the while the three fairies laughed hysterically.

Eventually the fairies slowed their ascent and came to a stop, the trees below small enough to look like little more than blades of grass.  As their laughter wound down, Aria gave up on screaming and focused herself on holding on to Sunny and Luna as hard as possible.

With a contented sigh, Star spoke up, a bright expression on her face.  ?Oh, don?t worry Aria, we aren?t going to actually drop you.  We?re just holding you up so you can get a feel for being in the sky, you know??

Aria eyed her suspiciously, but otherwise said nothing.

?You feel that?? Sunny said, a hint of laughter still in her voice, ?the feeling of the wind rushing around you?  Of being suspended in the air, of weightlessness? That is what you need to fly! That feeling of complete freedom!?

Aria took a couple deep breaths to relax herself.  It seemed they were telling the truth, and the fairies even repositioned themselves so that they were holding her up in an almost-standing position.  Her composure somewhat restored, she finally really took a look around.

They were high up.  They were really high up.  But, despite her fear of being dropped from hundreds of feet in the air, she wasn?t particularly afraid of heights.  As long as she could trust that the three wouldn?t let go of her, she could actually enjoy the view.

She couldn?t quite get a grasp of the feeling of freedom that the three of them were describing, what with them being the only things keeping her airborne, but the view did excite her a little bit.  The feeling of the wind rushing by, the broad, sweeping view of the countryside, the freedom to go anywhere she wanted.  All that and more was something these three, and apparently everyone in Gensokyo from the way they talked, took for granted.  And someday, maybe even soon, she would be able to experience that for herself.  Actually, that reminded her?

?So before you guys had grabbed me, I actually got something,? Aria said, somewhat proudly, and somewhat accusingly.  The looks of surprise she got back from the three fairies made the proud part swell a little.

??really?? Star said, ?That whole pep talk thing was supposed to just be a distraction, but?if you got something out of it, I suppose that?s good.?

?Well, it?s not much,? Aria admitted, ?and I don?t really know what it is.  But I can definitely feel something??  Aria paused for a moment, delving back into her mind, and sure enough the huge wall was right where she had last felt it. 

?In that case,? Sunny said with a big smile, ?it looks like you found your magic!?  Aria frowned.  She was about to ask if it was supposed to feel like something was blocking her off from this supposed magic of hers, but before she could, Star spoke again.

?And I suppose that means you don?t need us anymore.?  Aria froze again as she looked at Star, and saw the beginning of that telltale mischievous grin.

Having let her guard down, she had relaxed her grip on Sunny and Luna, and before she could clue in to what was going on and fix her grip, the three fairies flew off in opposite directions, easily slipping out of her hands.

This time, Aria couldn?t even bother to bring herself to scream as she began her unfortunately hasty descent.


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After letting Aria fall, the three fairies gathered back together in the air, laughing.

?I?m honestly surprised that worked so well,? Star said, a triumphant look on her face.

?It?s not like she has any reason to believe you would lie to her,? Luna said, almost accusatorily.  ?Bet you?ll have a hard time earning her trust now though!?

?It?ll be worth it,? Sunny said, a satisfied grin on her face.  ?She?ll fly back up here any moment now, and be laughing just like us.?

The three of them looked down at Aria as she continued to fall, waiting for that magical moment when her falling turned to flight.  As she continued to plummet, Luna hesitantly broke the quiet that had descended.

?Hey, uh?I just thought of something bad.?  The other two looked at her curiously.  ?What if?fairy magic is different from youkai magic??

Star blinked.  ?What do you mean??

?Well,? Luna said, her voice growing ever so slightly more concerned, ?we all knew how to fly as soon as we were born, right?  She obviously doesn?t, so maybe youkai actually do need to be taught how to fly and stuff.?

?W-well?she did say she found her magic, right??

?No, you said she found her magic.  Not only do we not know if that?s what she found, she probably doesn?t know either.?

At that, the three fairies? faces, having been growing more and more concerned as the discussion progressed, began to grow pale.

?Youkai are pretty much the same as fairies though, right?? Sunny said, a hint of desperation in her voice.

?Except that they don?t come back when they die,? Star replied matter-of-factly.

With that, the three fairies? concern was replaced by fear.  Looking down, hoping against hope, they checked to see if Aria was flying yet, but she was still falling just as fast as before.

Without a word, the three panicking fairies broke into the equivalent of a midair sprint, chasing the falling Aria with everything they had.


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Aria kept falling.

The first few seconds after they had dropped her, she had been too preoccupied with being surprised and angry to put much thought towards anything else.  As she had picked up speed, she rapidly realized that her only way out was to actually fly, so she followed the only lead she had ? that strange wall in her mind.

She tried everything she could.  She tried pulling at it, pushing at it, scratching at it, breaking it, climbing over it.  Nothing she did ? and it was quite difficult to do since she had to deal with falling hundreds of feet per second as she did so ? seemed to have any effect.  The wall in her mind just stood their silent, unresponsive to her desperate attempts.

Her constant failure, in tandem with her rapidly approaching deadline, quickly wore through what little composure Aria had left.  Desperately, she continued going at the wall in her mind with everything she had, in every way she could imagine, but it replied with only an uncaring silence.

She had no reason to believe it would even be useful, but with no other leads, it was her only hope.  And, for whatever reason, she couldn?t make it happen.  As the ground rapidly rushed up to meet her, fear took over, and she instinctively squeezed her eyes shut and covered her head with her hands.  Actions she knew were futile, but what other choice did she have?

And in those final few seconds, it finally struck her.  She was going to die.

A tiny flash of a memory snapped into her mind, of her reflection warning her about the outside world.  Saying she wouldn?t survive.

She had been right.  She hadn?t even been awake for a day, and she was going to die.  Just like that, without ever getting to experience what it meant to be alive.

What it meant to eat and drink.

What it meant to enjoy the rain.

What it meant to see a village.

?what it meant to fly.

Aria squeezed her eyes shut tighter.  She knew it was only going to be a matter of moments, and that made her scream.  A combination of fear of her impending death, frustration at being unable to do anything to save herself, despair at never having gotten a chance to live, Aria just emptied her heart and screamed at the top of her lungs, the sound of her voice straining to overcome the rushing of the wind.

All I wanted?

Aria forced her eyes open, though she could barely see through the combination of her own tears and the wind stinging her eyes.

?was to fly?!!!

As she came frighteningly close to the ground, impact no more than a split second away, she squeezed her eyes shut and screamed again.

But this time, in response to her cry, was a single tiny sound.  A sound she could feel echo through her body, that should have been barely audible, yet easily overcame the roaring wind and her own voice.

The sound of glass cracking.


-------------------------------------------------------


Sunny, Luna, and Star all flew faster than they had ever thought possible.  They were gaining on the falling Aria, but it was becoming rapidly apparent that they weren?t going to make it in time.

Each one of them felt a sense of panic, growing monstrously, pangs of tremendous guilt already beginning to overtake them.  Sure, a fall like that would hurt, but it wouldn?t do any serious damage to a normal youkai.

But Aria wasn?t a normal youkai.  She had no idea how to use magic.  She couldn?t even fly, which already set her apart from every other non-human person ? and even some humans ? in Gensokyo. She knew nothing, and had trusted them completely, and they had dropped her from the sky without a second thought.

To borrow Luna?s previous example, it?s like they had happened across a baby bird with no wings, and pushed it out of the nest to see if it could fly anyways.

Aria continued to fall as the three fairies watched on, helpless to do anything about her predicament despite it being entirely their fault.  Only another fifty feet and she would hit the ground.  They were now close enough that they could hear Aria scream, but it was far too late for them to do anything now.

Ten feet.  Just as the three fairies were about to give up, with only hundredths of a second until she hit the ground?something changed.

It took only a split second, a fraction of time imperceptibly small, but something in the air changed.  The three of them felt it at once, the feeling of something wrong.  As connected to nature as fairies were, they could feel nature itself, in its own very clear and direct way, telling them one thing.

Run.

Without an instant of hesitation, Sunny, Luna, and Star split from their pursuit in three separate directions, instinctively trying to get as far from Aria as possible.  Before they could even move far enough for Aria to leave their field of vision, a massive explosion tore through the air.

A small glimpse of a burst of violet-purple blackness around Aria was the last thing any of them saw before the shockwave of the blast sent them hurtling away into the sky.  It only lasted a moment, like a single wave pushing them backwards before moving on, but it was enough to send them careening off into the sky uncontrollably.  After a few seconds, they were able to regain control of themselves, and immediately turned to look back at what had happened.

Surrounding the spot where Aria had been was a roughly ball-shaped cloud of purplish-black smoke, which was even now quickly dissipating.  More alarming, however, was the forest around it.

It had made sense that such a powerful shockwave had sent them flying ? they were already in the air, and a fairy didn?t weigh that much ? but even the trees around the purple smoke had been blasted away.  What had once been a dense stand of trees was now a twenty foot wide clearing, trees torn from the ground and thrown deeper into the forest, their roots and the small plants around them completely obliterated.

Natural black smoke and massive charred spots abounded, but there didn?t seem to be any actual fire.  That made one good thing about what had just happened.

Half terrified, half in awe of what had just happened, the three fairies slowly flew back towards each other, keeping an eye on the spot where the explosion at originated ? the black sphere where Aria had been.

The thick, unnatural smoke was growing thin, rising into the air and dissipating, and after a few seconds of silently watching, they could see Aria, curled up in a ball, eyes shut tight and arms covering her head.

?and she was hovering, safely, barely three feet above the ground.