Whee, haven't been feeling that good while writing in a while. That was fun~
Here's some proposed background music
- Episode 2 Another: Darkside -
The young woman let out a pained gasp as she opened her eyes.
She didn't know how she had gotten here, and her body was aching.
High abover her she saw a small light.
'The... sky?'The gears of her mind started turning again, faster and faster as she made out her situation and her memory returned.
'Did I... fall down?'She recalled flying over the lands of the Art Atelier, with no specific goal.
'Then... light...'Was she attacked? That was the only explanation she had for the light she had seen before something hit her and she had plummeted down towards the ground.
For all she knew, it had probably been danmaku, but it didn't matter right now.
'Where...'She moved her arms and legs. They hurt tremendously, but nothing seemed to be broken.
Slowly, the woman picked herself off the ground and stood up.
She looked around. This was no place she had ever seen before, but then again she didn't come to AAA very often either.
Still, the architecture...
'This looks ancient... forgotten...'As she thought those words, she woman's eyes suddenly became more lively.
'Could it be?'She looked up to the hole far above her.
It was rather small.
Getting shot down while flying around randomly in a way that sent her right down here?
The chances for that happening without some higher plan were nigh-impossible.
'Have you... finally called me?'The woman spotted an exit from the room she was in and quickly made her way through it, ignoring the pain in her body.
As expected, she must have had fallen right into an ancient part of AAA, possibly even older than the big chasm that divided it from its literary counterpart, the Scarlet Library.
'This is... the ancient ruins of the Community Fanworks? I didn't know they still existed. Didn't the mods erase them?'Passing by empty bookshelves, broken canvases and cans of paint that had almost turned to stone by now she made her way deeper and deeper into the Fanworks.
She didn't know where she was heading, she didn't even know what she was expecting.
But this couldn't be a coincidence.
Maybe this was the day she had been waiting for so long.
'There's a chance. A lot was lost back when the chasm occurred. Maybe there was something about.... her.'The woman didn't care that her clothes got ripped and her pink hair turned grey from dust.
She forced her way deeper and deeper until she finally reached what she immediately recognized had been her destination.
'This is...'Before her was a round room lit by glowing stones on the walls.
An white altar in the middle of the room designated the place as a shrine.
And there, towering above anyone who entered the shrine and watching over them with a calming smile was a statue of its deity.
The pink-haired woman stumbled a few steps into the room, her eyes glued to the statue.
Her mouth hung open at the splendor of it and her eyes started to get moist.
Then she broke down and sunk to her knees, sobbing and shedding tears, overwhelmed by the atmosphere of the shrine.
'Rin... finally... I found you...'She cried with joy for a while before she got back to her feet, the pain forgotten, her body filled with energy once more, just as she usually was.
For the first time since she came down here, she spoke.
"Good afternoon, Rin~"
Her voice echoed through the shrine, turning its already melodious sound into a choir.
"I've been searching for you... so long... it's been so long...", her eyes shimmered with tears again.
"They told me you didn't exist. But I believed you did~. They forgot you existed. But I remembered~. They made jokes about you. But I honored you and praised your splendor~. That someone would have made such a wonderful shrine for you, Rin, who would have thought, ehehehe~."
The woman walked over to the altar and placed her hands on it.
"Speak to me, Rin. Speak to me, and tell me what you wish from me. Tell me what I need to do to spread your name all around MotK!", she shouted into the room, her words resounding numerously from the walls.
Silence.
The woman's shoulders dropped a bit and she hung her head.
Of course, what had she expected.
Even if someone had built a shrine, that didn't bring Rin into existance.
After all, she still was only a fragment, barely more than a name written in an ancient language amongst many others who gained physical form in the distant lands of Gensokyo.
The woman sighed, ready to turn her back on the statue and search for a way back to the surface.
She would come back to the shrine from time to time, she vowed to herself, but there was nothing here for her now.
Then, a small sound disturbed the silence.
An almost inaudible rustling, as if a feather had fallen from above and softly landed
She turned her head, and her eyes grew wide.
There, on the altar that had just now been empty, lay a single piece of paper.
A page from a book, words and illustrations packed tightly on it.
The woman turned around again, her hand shaking as she stretched it towards the page.
Carefully she grabbed it and lifted it up to see what was written on it.
She gasped.
"This is..."
"Moerin!"
The woman jumped in surprise.
She looked around, searching for the voice that had called out her name.
But there was noone around.
She was alone down here, in a place long forgotten by the people of the world above.
Noone in their right mind would come down here.
'Though that condition doesn't exactly apply to the majority here.', Moerin thought to herself.
"Moerin! I have waited long. Finally you have come to find me, my dear!", the mysterious voice rang out once more.
This time the woman found the source.
The voice was coming directly from the big statue of the forgotten girl she loved so much.
"Rin? Is that you? Is that really you, my goddess?", Moerin asked in excitement. "How can this be... all this time I have waited... and now suddenly..."
"Your love for me has awakened me from my slumber, Moerin. Only one in whom the tilde runs strong could achieve that.", the soothing voice responded.
Moerin beamed with joy and sunk to one knee, bowing her head before the statue.
"My goddess, my mistress~ Finally you have come to me~ Tell me, what should I do?"
"Moerin, please do not bow your head. Stand up strong and proud. Right now, noone besides you could perceive me, as they deny my existence. But together, we can spread my name across the land and show those heathens my might."
Moerin's face was flushed as she listened to those words that sounded incredibly sweet in her ears.
What she had dreamt about for so long, to make Rin's name known in the world, was now announced to become reality by Rin herself.
"Yes, Moerin, it is time to grant me existence. It is time for my Revival... or maybe we should call it my Birth? And you, Moerin, are the one to take the steps necessary to reach this goal! You are the only one I can rely on! Please help me."
"Mistress, you do not need to ask for my help~ How could I deny you that which I have been yearning for all the time? Please, tell me the details~"
"Look at this page in your hand, my dear Moerin. This is a page that will grant you far greater powers than those you possess right now."
The page in Moerin's hands started to glow, a glow that extended towards the woman's hands and then covered her whole body.
"Aah! I can feel it~ I can feel it~ The power is flowing into me~ Ehehehehe~", she laughed as the light grew bright at once and then disappeared.
"I shall grant you more of those pages, Moerin. Now, now you are Magical★Moerin. Use the power of those pages wisely and hand them to those that you trust. Gather around you a circle of followers. Once you have those, capture the Princess."
"Princess?", Moerin asked.
"The one you know as Donut, she had been granted the power that balances this world itself, the power of the Princess. Capture her, for that is the power that shall give birth to me."
"Donut? I see~ Is it okay if I turn her into a Dark Princess after I've caught her? Ufufufufu~"
"As long as her power stays intact, you may do as you wish, my dear Moerin. Now, go and do as I told you. Gather your forces, and rip the Princess from the hands of the Blade of Justice. After that, I shall tell you the next steps of the ritual."
"As you wish! Wait just a bit more, my beloved Rin! Soon I shall embrace you in my arms in a body of flesh and blood, ufufufufufu~"
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"Mistress?"
The voice sounded soft, but concerned.
"Mistress, are you alright?"
Moerin opened her eyes.
She was sitting on the large throne in the main hall of her castle.
"You were laughing in a creepy way in your sleep, Mistress...", the maid that had called out for her said.
'I must have dozed off. Ah, but I don't mind seeing this dream~', Moerin thought to herself.
"I'm okay~ Don't worry, Irmingard~", she smiled at the maid and straightened her posture.
Another maid walked past the throne, carrying a tray with some food on it.
"Ah, going to feed the angel, Xan~? Bite her wings for me, I shall taste them off your lips later~", Moerin giggled.
"I'm no angel!", a voice shouted from the side.
Moerin turned her head to the side.
A large golden birdcage stood there, the inside laid out with cushions and veils made of the finest satin.
Caught inside it, clad in a light white dress that complemented her equally white and fluffy wings, sat Donut, a collar and chain around her neck.
"But you surely look like one, my dear pastry~"
"Let me go!", the girl shouted once more.
"Can't do, sweetie~", Moerin giggled. "After all, I need you so the heroine will come and try to save you~"
"Ruro will beat you senseless, you crazy tilde-bitch...", Donut grumbled as she slumped down.
"Now now, no reason to get insulting~ You have such nice company as well~"
Moerin pointed towards the other person, or being, in the cage.
It was barely the size of a child and clearly humanoid.
However, it sprouted a tail from its behind and two cat-ears from its head, and its behavior matched those traits.
"Gappy, or should I call her Neko-Gappy now? She seems to enjoy herself much more than you do, Princess~"
The small catgirl was happily chasing after a toy that was held into the cage by Ana, another of Moerin's followers.
She was the owner and pilot of the wooden robot, or rather mecha, that had helped in the abduction of Donut.
With her short hair and her boyish clothing and attitude, there were some that called her Anthony rather than Ana, and there were rumors that she was, in fact, actually a guy.
Whenever someone asked about it in Moerin's presence however, giggling was the only answer.
Noone knew the truth except the Mistress of the Tilde and the girl in question herself.
Right now, however, she was smiling happily as she watched Gappy chase after the toy she held and played around without any concerns.
"Why did you even bring her with you? She had just strolled in minutes before you kidnapped me, it's not like she has anything to do with your plan.", Donut frowned.
"Eheheh, let's call it spoils of victory~. She was just too adorable to leave behind, wouldn't you agree~?"
Moerin heard the door of the hall open.
She turned her head and looked at the newcomers.
Two girls had entered and were now kneeling before the throne, their heads bowed.
"Mistress, it is as you predicted.", one of the girls spoke. "The Library is moving, led by the Blade of Justice, or Magical★Samurai Ruro-tan, as she calls herself now. They are about to head out."
Moerin nodded.
"Well then, make sure they enjoy their journey~ That is, if they even make it past you~"
"Yes, Mistress. We shall head out at once."
The girl rose up and her companion followed.
After another bow the two of them left the hall with quick steps.
"Six Blades and The Lost. Are you sure you want to send such valuable allies into battle already?", Irmingard asked.
"I wouldn't want to disappoint Ruro now by sending someone weak, would I~?"
"You have a point, Mistress.", the maid responded.
"So it begins~ Just as you predicted Rin~ Soon, the time will be upon us~"
Moerin rose up from her throne.
"Come, come Librarians and show me your power~! Try to stop the inevitable like the puny bookworms you are, and despair before my might~! Ufufufufufu~"
She giggled, her voice growing louder and louder, echoing through the hall and evolving into loud laughter.
"Ehehehe~ Ahahaha~ Mwahahahahahahahahahahaa~!"
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On a clearing in the woods, the two girls Moerin had sent out stood and waited.
High above them, they could see several people flying towards them.
The girls grinned.
It was time.
