Chapter 7

The Promised Visit

It was dark and silent. That's all Alex could tell of his current surroundings. He began walking around the big empty void, hearing his footsteps echo around him. After walking for a little while, he started hearing faint voices.

"Hello?" Alex called out, but he only heard his own echoing voice for a bit.

Alex continued his walk for a little bit more until he heard the faint voices getting louder as continued to walk. They got louder and louder as he went, but then the whispers stopped, leaving nothing except for silence.

Then suddenly he heard familiar angry chattering of a crowd, with a man yelling "There he is, the traitor!"

A woman added "How could he do that after everything his highness did for him!? How horrible!"

"Get him, kill him! He must die in the name of our holy king!" Another man roared.

As the voices of the angry crowd got louder, Alex pleaded "Wait, stop! Please give me a chance to explain!"

The voices of the crowd got more loud and angry until they stopped and then Alex heard ignorant laughter of people. After a while the laughing stopped, making a pause of silence. Then he heard Darvedos next, who said "Evil is forever, boy. It destroys everything, there's no escape."

Suddenly the void got brighter and brighter until it was all white. Alex next heard some familiar and comforting voices.

"You're a strong, dependable young man, son." A man said.

"We love you and you make us so proud." A woman added.

The man agreed "Yup, keep up the work, it does everyone good."

Then an older, wise sounding man spoke next "Metaconception is a powerful force, use it wisely. Also since it is scarcely known, be sure to take it and the lessons you learn from it to heart and teach it to others to create a better future."

Lastly, a friendly voice of an older young man said "For a rookie, you're pretty good."

Waking up right after that, Alex sat up in his bed. All the voices he heard were from his memories, but he tried to ignore them as they reminded him of a truth that he hadn't gotten over yet, being filled with unrest every time he thought of it. Then he remembered the words of his sensei and thought 'I might as well, but I'll need some books to write in. Maybe Patchouli will have and let me have some. Oh yeah, and I suppose I should thank Sakuya and Remilia for the clothes they made for me and visit Flandre like I promised her.'

Alex got out of bed after his thought and started getting dressed.

As time went by, he was once again as usual, eating breakfast with Reimu and Suika at the table, with each having a plate of fried eggs and waffles. When they were done, Alex mentioned to the two girls "I think I'm going to go to the Scarlet Devil Mansion to ask for some books to write in from Patchouli, as well as thank Sakuya and Remilia for the clothes they made for me and visit Flandre too as I told her that I would play with her the next time I visited the mansion."

"Why do you need books like that?" Reimu wondered.

Alex replied "I figured that since I'm the last person of my home dimension who uses metaconception, I should write down all the lessons I learned about it to make a book for people to learn about metaconception so that it's not forgotten. Also, I felt like writing a journal would be self-comforting as I'm still getting used to Gensokyo."

Reimu responded "Alright, but before you go there's something I should tell you. Flandre has this power that allows her to destroy anything, and I do mean ANYTHING. During the years I've known her, Remilia, Sakuya, Patchouli and Meiling have managed to help Flandre get in better control of her power, but she can't always properly harness it, and in battle, Flandre can be sneaky and hyperactive, making her one of the most dangerous fighters in all of Gensokyo."

Alex said "I see, well unless she knows anticonception, my power should be able to handle hers."

Reimu responded "Okay, but keep your guard up. Flandre doesn't mean to destroy anything or anyone outside of battle, but there have been times where she has wrecked things by accident, although thankfully not people. Her unstable power is the reason why Remilia keeps Flandre inside the mansion, which causes Flandre to feel lonely and at times scared that she could hurt or kill someone innocent or close to her by accident. Aside from her shortcomings, Flandre is a playful, sweet, young vampire girl."

Alex agreed "Yes, she's nice."

Then the shrine maiden had a thought and asked "Hey Alex, do you cook?"

"Yes I do." answered Alex.

"Interesting, I should have you cook from time to time." suggested Reimu as she took the bare dishes to the kitchen.

Alex looked at Suika and wondered "Do you cook, Suika?"

Suika paused for a moment before whispering "Can you keep a secret?"

"That depends on what it is." replied Alex.

"The truth is I can cook, just not as well as Reimu can. Back when I started living with her, she wanted me to help making her meals. But I enjoyed Reimu's food more so I sabotaged my own cooking to convince her to do it." Suika confessed.

"Eh!? But that's not fair to Reimu." Alex whispered back.

"But I'm not as good." Suika said.

"Would you like me to help you sometime?" Alex offered.

Suika thought for a moment and replied "Hmmm, cooking is a handy skill to have. Thanks for the offer Alex, let's try sometime."

"What an interesting fact." spoke Reimu angrily with an even more upset face than usual after eavesdropping. "So did you do the same thing during the time you set a part of my house on fire?"

Suika answered "Uh no, I was experimenting with sake to make the food taste better and things kinda got out of hand…"

Reimu replied with an outraged glare and yelled "You used sake to cook!?"

Suika looked at Alex and said "Have a nice day, Alex."

She then dashed off at an incredible speed and Reimu chased after Suika, saying "Get back here you spoiled oni!"

Alex went outside next, seeing Reimu fire some orbs from somewhere in the forest to the left, as he was thinking 'Note to self, don't make Reimu angry.'

Then he flew off for the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

When he went the distance, Alex landed at the entrance with the mansion to his right and the lake to his left. He didn't notice it much on his first visit to the mansion and so he looked at it, observing the water to be clean, clear and sparkling from the light of the sun in the middle of the large lake.

Suddenly he heard a scream above him say "Ah! The doll!"

Alex looked up and saw a doll with green eyes and chestnut colored hair falling right in front of his face, but catching it just before it hit him. He also saw that the doll wore a fancy light blue dress and a small, golden necklace with black polished beads.

A girl then landed across from him, who had short blond hair with a red headband in it, and she wore a blue dress with a pink ribbon tied around her waist, a row of pink strings going up from the waist, white sleeves that covered only her shoulders and a white collar up to the base of her neck where another pink ribbon was.

The girl came up to him and said "Oh thank you. I was delivering the doll to a client here and I accidently dropped it."

Alex handed the doll to the girl, saying "No problem, but if you don't mind me asking, who's the doll for?"

"It's for the sister of the mistress of the mansion here, Flandre Scarlet." informed the girl as she put the doll away in a brown, fabric bag that she carried in her left hand "Do you know them?"

Alex replied "I'm acquainted with them. I'm Alex Archwing, what's your name?"

"Alice Margatroid, puppeteer and doll maker magician. Nice to meet you." answered Alice.

Alex agreed "Likewise."

Alice wondered "So how did you end up meeting them?"

"It's a long story, but I can tell you about it inside." said Alex.

He and Alice then started walking up to the gate until they noticed Meiling. The gatekeeper looked drained, but with her eyes wide open as she made a stressed expression on her face.

"What happened to you, Meiling?" asked Alex with concern.

Meiling explained "Sakuya found out I slept on the job and she gave me a shot from a syringe yesterday that gave me temporary insomnia."

"Ooh!" exclaimed both Alex and Alice out of pity for the gatekeeper.

Meiling continued "Sakuya said it would 'encourage' me to do my job more efficiently. It's actually not too bad, the insomnia will wear off at one in the afternoon. She usually uses her knives to punish me or at times by other means."

Alex responded "What!? That's torture!"

Meiling clarified "No no no! I'm a youkai. Besides, Sakuya would never endanger my life, although her punishments can make me feel uncomfortable."

"Even so, there must be a more reasonable way to handle your sleeping issues. You're a nice person Meiling, you shouldn't be going through the penalties that you get." mentioned Alex.

Meiling became touched by his words and replied "Oh…thank you, that's very thoughtful of you, Alex…But anyway, what brings you here?"

Alex informed "I'm here to ask Patchouli for a favor, as well as thank Sakuya and Remilia for my new clothes and play with Flandre like I promised her I would."

"I see," then Meiling turned to Alice and said "and you're here for the doll delivery, right?"

"Yes I am." answered Alice.

Meiling said "Alright, you may both pass."

Alex and Alice passed through the front gate and into the mansion as Meiling continued her watch.

Once they were at the lobby, Alice asked "Can I come with you, Alex? I don't see any fairy maids around here, so I think I'll tag along with you to see Patchouli and ask her where Remilia is."

"That's fine by me." answered Alex.

As they made for their way to the library, Alice looked at Alex as he looked ahead, with Alice thinking about how nice he was and how Alex seemed attractive, making herself blush. Then Alice thought 'What am I doing!? I just met him. Get a hold of yourself Alice.'

After her blush went away, she asked Alex "So how did you get to know everyone here?"

"I'll tell you…" began Alex as he told Alice about his arrival in Gensokyo till once his first visit to the mansion was done.

When he was finished talking, they were inside the library and in front of Patchouli as she was sitting at her desk as usual, reading a book.

Patchouli said after noticing the duo and setting her book on the desk "Hmmm, this is unexpected. What do you both need?"

Alex asked "Do you have some books I can write in, Patchouli? I just need two, one for making a journal and the other to fulfill an oath I made to someone…a long time ago."

Curious, Patchouli questioned "What oath are you talking about?"

"It's a long story and it's not something I feel comfortable talking about." Alex responded.

Patchouli opened a drawer to her left, gave him two books that were in there and said "Here, you can have these books, but please don't rely on me too often. I only lend people books if they really need them, and I'm not fond of my personal reading time being disturbed."

Alex wondered "Oh does that mean that you would like the books on Gensokyo that you gave me back?"

"I rarely do this, but you can keep the books I gave since you're not native to Gensokyo, so that way you can properly learn about it. Besides, I have books that are just as good as the ones that I gave you." mentioned Patchouli.

Alex remarked "Thank you Patchouli."

"No need to thank me, I'm just being properly reasonable." Patchouli replied before turning her attention to Alice and asking her "And what brings you here, Alice?"

Alice told her "I'm just looking for Remilia, do you know where she is?"

Patchouli informed "She's in the ballroom with Flandre, Sakuya and Koakuma the last I heard."

"Ok, thank you." replied Alice.

"Of course." Spoke Patchouli before she went back to looking at a book that she was reading earlier. As for Alex and Alice, they both left the library.

Once they were out of the room, Alex wondered "Where is the ballroom?"

Alice said "I know where it is, follow me."

He followed her all the way back to the lobby and went down an arched hallway across from the front entrance. At the end was a set of doors that they went through and then they both were in a large ballroom. The floor had a black and white checkered pattern on it that was polished, with gray stone pillars along the edges of the room, supporting a square balcony that was halfway up the walls of the room, with the balcony having red carpet and a wood rail guard along the edges. On the ceiling was a large painting portraying angels and demons coming from their spirit dwellings to fight a war, and a chandelier hanging in the center of the ceiling. Near the corners of the room were many wood tables with red tablecloths, surrounded by wood, red cushioned chairs. Lastly, there were four sets of doors on each side of the room and on the balcony above.

Alex and Alice noticed Remilia, Sakuya, Koakuma and Flandre sitting on a table to the right, with a white teacup on a small plate in front of each person. There were also papers to Sakuya's and Koakuma's right, a teapot to Sakuya's left and a brown, open book to Remilia's left.

The two of them made their way to the table, with Remilia and Koakuma noticing them first as Alex and Alice began to approach and Remilia said "Greetings."

Sakuya and Flandre turned their heads to see who was walking over and Alice and Alex came to be between them, with Alex saying "Hi Remilia, how are all of you?"

Remilia replied "We're doing fine, we're just discussing important matters around the mansion, as well as trying to teach Flandre to use her power more properly. So, what brings you here, Alex?"

Alex informed "I came here to get some books to write in from Patchouli since I needed a few, which you can see that I have them being carried in my left arm. Also, I wanted to say thank you for the clothes you made for me."

"But of course, you were in need." spoke Remilia.

Sakuya added "You are surely welcome. If you ever need something from us, we'll help you out."

Koakuma asked "Are the books that we gave you helping?"

"Yes they are, I've read up to a third of each book. They're very informative." answered Alex.

Koakuma said "Really? Glad to hear that."

Remilia turned to Alice and asked "Have you come to deliver the doll?"

Alice responded "Yes, hear it is."

Alice took the doll out of the bag and put it on the table.

"Can it endure?" questioned Remilia further.

"I think so." replied Alice.

Flandre took the doll after getting up from her chair and said "I have a new toy! Thank you, Alice!"

The young vampire girl played with her new toy as she stroked the hair of the doll, played with the limbs of it, and then threw it up into the air a bit and caught it, but the catch caused it to split in half from the waist in the process.

"Aw…" spoke Flandre sadly.

Alice said "Not again! I thought I had made a doll she couldn't break this time!"

Remilia sighed "I'll pay you for your troubles…"

Alex said "Hold on, let me try something."

He approached the two parts of the doll as his right hand glowed, with one part of the doll in each of Flandre's hands. She held the parts in front of Alex, and his power caused the doll to fuse back together. When he was done, Flandre tried breaking the doll again with her ability, but failed.

"Hey, I can't break this anymore." spoke Flandre before she asked Alex "How did you do that?"

Everyone aside from Alex were shocked at what they just witnessed, as they never thought that there was any magic that could completely withstand Flandre's power of destruction.

He then told the girls about how he could use metaconception and how it worked.

"You can actually bend entire concepts? What a mystifying and fascinating magic." Remilia remarked with awe.

"Wait till Patchouli hears about this." Koakuma said.

Flandre asked Alice "Can you and Alex make me more dolls sometime?"

Alice asked Alex "Do you mind? I'll need to visit you once in a while to have you put your magic on the dolls so that they won't be broken by Flandre."

"That's fine by me." said Alex.

"Alright then." spoke Alice.

Flandre replied happily "Oh thank you, thank you! I would like to have five dolls please. That way I can have the same number my sister has. She has so much fun playing with them."

Remilia responded "No Flandre, I do not play with the dolls that Alice gave me, I merely observe how creative they are upon the shelves of my cabinet in my room."

"But I saw you having a pretend tea party in your room with them a few days ago." Flandre mentioned.

Surprised that her sister saw that, Remilia stuttered "Y-You must be mistaken, I-I was just arranging them in… an artistic display and… practicing my acting. Besides, I am the mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, I have no time to play something so trivial."

"Yes you do." Flandre grinned playfully as she teased.

"No I don't." Remilia scoffed.

"Yes you do." "No I don't." "Yes you do." "No I don't." "Yes you do." "No I don't." "Yes you do." "No I don't."

"No you don't." said Flandre.

"Yes I do. Agh!" Remilia yelled after realizing what she said. Then she stated "For the last time, I do not and shall not play with dolls!"

Flandre replied disappointed "…Does that mean we can't play with our dolls together when I have mine? I was looking forward to having a pretend tea party with all of our dolls…"

Remilia said "Well…alright. You are my sister, so I shall entertain you when the time comes." Although Remilia hid the fact that her sister's idea sounded fun.

"Thank you, Remilia!" Flandre spoke happily before thinking 'Hee hee! Oh sister, you should be more honest, there's nothing wrong with expressing that you enjoy fun and games. At least we'll have fun later.'

Even Alex could tell that Remilia was concealing her childish side and he thought 'Hmmm, Remilia is polite and classy, but shy when it comes to her young girl interests and Flandre is playful, silly and nice. How adorable!'

Remilia reached into her pocket to pull out a small blue bag of coins and said "Here's your payment, Alice. Thank you for your services."

Sakuya took the bag and gave it to Alice, who replied "Sure thing." Then she turned to Alex and said "I think I'll be leaving now. Are you coming with?"

"No, I'm going to stay a bit longer. I'm going to play with Flandre like I said I would to her the last time I was here." Reminded Alex.

Flandre responded joyfully "Yay! You remembered!"

Alice recalled that and said "Oh that's right. Well, it was nice meeting you Alex."

"You too, Alice." replied Alex.

Flandre mentioned "Hmmm, Alex and Alice… hee hee, your names' rhyme."

After that, Alice walked out of the door that she entered from.

Koakuma said "I'm going to tell Patchouli about what Alex did just a bit ago."

"That's fine." spoke Remilia.

Koakuma then left the room next.

Afterwards, Alex asked "So what would you like to do, Flandre?"

Flandre said as she thought "Hmmm…I know! Hey Alex, how much do you know about vampires?"

"I've read some things about them." informed Alex.

Flandre said "Ok then, I'm going to quiz you."

Alex wondered why she decided to do that, but replied "Alright, go ahead."

"Ok, first question. When do vampires usually sleep?" Flandre asked first.

Alex replied "At night, but that makes me wonder. Why are you and your sister awake during the day?"

"We just trained ourselves to be awake during certain parts of the day since that's when the servants are more active. My big sister does it to make sure the mansion is in order and I do it to have fun with everyone I can who is awake during the day." Flandre explained. "Ok, next question. What are vampires weak against?"

"Let's see…sunlight, water, garlic, silver and baked beans." Answered Alex. "But why are you awake during the day if you're weak against sunlight?"

Flandre said "The mansion's windows have special magic that prevents the sunlight from hurting us. When we go outside during the day, we need to stay in the shade, but the fresh air is very refreshing and it's very colorful during that time outside. Plus when it comes to water, we need to tamper it with some special herbs so that we can clean ourselves with it. Just thought I'd mention that. But you know, I've heard of legends on how there were a small number of vampires that can withstand water and daylight, but the methods have become lost on how to do that. Still…it would be nice to travel outside and swim without worry. But anyway, next question. What are vampires known for?"

Alex replied "They're known to be fast, strong and…are known to drink human blood."

"Does that make you scared of us, Alex?" Remilia questioned him.

Alex responded "Well…you both do what you need to do to stay alive. I'm sure that humans and vampires can co-exist peacefully."

Remilia replied "Huh, usually humans find that scary that we drink human blood and they hate us for that, but you're rather understanding Alex, thank you. Yes, I think humans and vampires can get along just fine too."

Flandre mentioned "We get along well with Sakuya and she's human."

Alex said "She is? It's sometimes hard to tell who's a human and who's a youkai around here."

"You'll be able to tell after a while." spoke Sakuya "Are you done with the tea, master?"

"Yes." Remilia answered simply.

"Alright, I will put everything away." Sakuya stated.

The maid gathered the teapot, cups and plates onto a tray from a nearby table and then Sakuya left through the doors to the right side of the room.

Flandre told Alex "Ok, one last question. Can you catch a vampire, Alex?"

"Is that a general question or a question for me personally?" Alex wondered.

Flandre giggled "It's for you."

Alex informed "Considering what I've read and knowing the speed I have, it's possible."

Flandre set her doll on the table, walked up to him, touched his chest and said "Tag! You're it!"

Flandre jolted out of the room through the doors to the left side with Alex setting down his books on the table and chasing after her at the same incredible speed as they ran through the hallways of the mansion. Remilia was surprised at how fast he was and then thought 'What a strange human, I wonder what other surprises he has up his sleeve. But I suppose either way, he'll have a good effect on Flandre's life.'

Alex played an even game of tag for a little while with Flandre until he decided to go back to the Hakurei Shrine to see how Reimu and Suika were doing and learn more about Gensokyo from the books he had there. He took the books off the table in the ballroom and said his goodbyes to the Scarlet sisters before leaving the mansion.

When he opened the front door to the shrine after arriving, he saw Suika to the left of the table with a defeated look on her face and Reimu to the right with a satisfied smile.

Reimu looked to her left and said "Oh there you are, Alex. Suika was about to make lunch for all of us."

"How'd you convince her to do that?" wondered Alex.

Reimu replied "I just told her that I wouldn't buy her some high quality sake at the village anymore if she doesn't help with the cooking here."

"You're mean." Suika whined at Reimu.

Alex said "Oh, I see."

He just walked into his room with his new books, closing the door behind him as he knew he had much he still had to learn and many things to write down.

-Author's note-

Well, Chapter 7 is finally up, sorry it took so long. For those who didn't know, I had a bad leg injury I got awhile back and I've been dealing with some other stressful issues in my life recently. But I hope you find this chapter satisfying. The next chapter will have Jindor and Selvus attack the Scarlet Devil Mansion and so I think that you'll find the next part of the story very suspenseful. However, I'm not sure when it will be coming out, but I'll have it up as soon as I can. Anyway, feel free to write a review.

See you all next time.

-nostalgic1