A History in Scarlet (or: Jane Writes Niche Touhou Fanfic)

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• Salix Babylonika

  2014-11-30 22:14:18 edited 2014-12-01 10:39:32

  https://i.imgur.com/IoGc2jA.jpg

  Chapter II: Like The Nails of The Cross

  
  

  Baron Udo had never been a particularly devout man, a fact he now cursed as he knelt in the small chapel appended to his castle. He had been praying more in the past day and a half than he had in the entire previous 30-odd years of his life, he supposed God thought little of him. It was the first time he'd used the chapel for more than a few minutes since his beloved wife had died, but before he could indulge in any further self-loathing, he heard a knock at the door.
  
  "Sir! The Bishop is here."
  
  Thank God. Udo had no idea how the man had managed to travel all the way from Rome to his castle in less than a day, but this was a time to be thankful for miracles, not question them. 

  
  

  Not long later, Udo found himself in his daughters' bedroom. The Bishop sat next to them, examining their wounds. The girls sat in silence.

  
  

  "Girls, could you leave the room please? Your father and I have much to discuss." Remilia nodded, and reverently, fearfully, the two left the room in silence. Udo sat himself upon the bed.

  
  

  "I am afraid there may be little I can do." Not the words he wanted to hear.

  
  

  "I...." the bishop took a deep breath, stroking a frizzy beard greyed by age, and, presumably, wisdom. He cleared his throat.

  
  

  "I have never seen the symptoms spread this quickly. Paling of the skin and hair, sharpening of the teeth and fingernails, fading of the reflection and shadow, intolerance of garlic, holy water, and sunlight....Understand, Sir Baron, though my experience with such matters is as thorough as any mere man's can be, I do have my limits....My best guess is that the fiend that bit your children was extremely hungry--starving even--in the past, I have observed that those bitten by better fed vampires turn more slowly." He sighed.

  
  

  "I wish there was more I could do, but there is only one kindness left to us now." The bishop searched his robes, and produced a small silver rod, sharp on one end. No. No. Don't say it. Anything but that.

  
  

  Udo could feel his hands shaking, and made no effort to stop it, even as the bishop handed him the stake. "I cannot do this for you. They are your children. Lay them to rest, Udo."
  
  "No...." He expected to shout, what left his lips was barely a whisper. His hands were still shaking, half in rage, half in fear.
  
  The Bishop sighed again.

  
  

  "My son." The bishop began, in a calm, even, Mass tone. "Your options are to mercifully end their lives before they become creatures of darkness, or curse them to an eternity as Satan's children. To become like that thing that attacked them in the first place. Do you really want that?" The bishop folded his hands. "I will pray for you. The Lord will forgive your sin, you are saving them, Udo." Another sigh, could the man do nothing else?! "I will stay the night. If you do not lay them to rest by morning, If you can not, I will do it myself. But it is easier this way....I have done this before. It is easier to forgive yourself than another."

  
  

  Finally, he rose.

  
  

  "I will leave you to your grief, Udo, but you know what you must do." Without another word, the bishop exited the room. Upon entering the hall, he did not notice the two small figures crouching near the door.

  
  

  Udo, meanwhile, became the third and final member of the d'Aix family to cry that day. 
• Salix Babylonika

  2014-12-02 05:14:21

  https://i.imgur.com/IoGc2jA.jpg

  Chapter III: Septette For Dead Princess

  
  

  That night, two silhouettes dropped from a rope made of bedsheets out of a castle window, and onto the cool grass below. The silhouettes breathed lightly as they hit the ground, wetting their feet as it had started to drizzle.

  
  

  "Where are we gonna go?" The smaller of the two chirped.
  
  

  "We'll find somewhere, Flan. Somewhere far away, somewhere they'll never find us."

  
  

  Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of metal. The guards.

  
  

  "Remi, do you-" "Yes, stay close Flan, we--" 
  
  "There they are!"

  
  

  God damn it all.

  
  

  "Run, Flan!"

  
  

  The two silhouettes bolted. In the same direction, but without any real sense of direction, it was not long before they were face to face with a pair of trained pikemen, and....

  
  

  "Now girls." That bishop again, hands folded in prayer again.

  
  

  "I understand that you are scared. Death is a harrowing prospect, but The Lord loves you, and it is important that we send you to him before it is too late....Your father could not see that, but, we hope that you will be more understanding."

  
  

  The priest drew a silver spike.

  
  

  "This won't hurt, I promise."

  
  

  "Big Sis..."
  
  "Stay behind me, Flan."

  
  

  The younger d'Aix sister did as instructed.

  
  

  "Your virtue is apparent, and it is a genuine shame that it will never fully bloom. You could've made an excellent woman of the cloth." The bishop advanced, brandishing the stake solemnly.
  
  "I am very sorry, but this is for your own go--"

  
  "PISS. OFF!" 

  
  

  Remilia's head was spinning, everything felt hot and seemed to be moving in slow motion. She was keenly aware of just how loud she'd just shouted, even her own ears were ringing. No, that was her whole head, where was all this pressure coming from?! She felt like she was going to explode! Her eyes, clenched shut until mere moments ago, popped open.

  
  

  Why was everything suddenly so....red? It all seemed to be covered in a scarlet mist....

  
  

  "Wh..what trickery is this?"

  
  

  The bishop...this wasn't his doing? He thought it was her doing?

  
  

  Is this me? 
  
  Remilia suddenly felt a lot better. Better than ever, even.

  
  

  "Big Sis...."

  
  

  Remilia glanced back at her sister, or, tried to. Something was blocking the way, something dark and leathery, until suddenly, it moved.

  
  

  Wait a minute.

  
  

  It moved again, and again. She was moving it. It looked like....a bat's wing? It was a bat's wing! 

  
  

  Her wing.

  
  

  "She's fully turned! Pikes! Get them!"

  
  

  Remilia flapped, and the guards stumbled against the sudden burst of wind before they could move. She chuckled at the sight. Had her voice gotten deeper? Were humans always so silly-looking?

  
  

  Why, they didn't seem like any threat at all. She chuckled again. Then a third time. Finally breaking into a full-on cackle.

  
  

  Instinctively, she held out her hand. The red mist seemed to gather, gaining weight as it neared her palm. 

  
  

  "What are you doing? Stop this, girl! Let The Lord cleanse you before it is too late!"

  
  

  Another chuckle! Remilia could hardly help herself.

  
  

  "When you meet your God, Bishop, tell him Remilia of Aix does not need his pity."
  

  
  

  The mist, suddenly very heavy, and unmistakably spear-like, shot through the bishop, punching a wicked, ragged hole through him. He did not live long enough to cry out in pain.

  
  

  The guards, shaken, turned and ran. That night, a devil was born in the South of France, a devil that soon found her head swimming again, and soon after, passed out on the rainsoaked ground.

  
  

  "Big Sis?! Remilia! Remi!"

  
  
• Salix Babylonika

  2014-12-04 05:51:00 edited 2014-12-04 06:18:40

  https://i.imgur.com/IoGc2jA.jpg

  Chapter IV: Intermission

  
  

  The Following Day, Somewhere Away From The Castle

  
  

  Remilia awoke to the sound of soft sobbing, and the feeling of cool rain on her face. She shot up in an instant, before the events of the prior night came flooding back.

  
  

  "Remi?"
  
  "Flan?"

  
  

  Her sister was by her side, and they were beneath a sickly-looking tree, but Remi's mind was more on the former. Her hair had faded from deep red to a very pale orange, her eyes had gone red, but most notably, she now possessed what Remilia could only assume were wings--of a sort--sprouting from her back.

  
  

  "You're okay!" A hug.

  
  

  "Are you alright, Flan?"

  
  

  "Uh-huh!"

  
  

  Well, if she feels fine....

  
  

  "Where are we?"

  
  

  "A field!" Flandre smiled, perhaps just happy her sister had woken up at all.

  
  

  Well she's not wrong. 

  
  

  The place was pretty nondescript. A few scattered trees and then French countryside as far as the eye could see, except-

  
  

  "There's a barn over there."

  
  

  Remilia fingered a small building off in the distance.

  
  

  "If there's a barn," she continued "there's probably a house nearby."

  
  

  "Why do we want a house?"

  
  

  Remi looked at her sister, and then looked down at her nightgown, stained in mud and blood from the prior night.
  
  "Oh." Flandre looked down at her clothes too. "Is this gonna happen a lot?"

  
  

  "I don't know, Flan....but....we can only count on each other now, OK?"
  
  "OK"

  
  

  --

  
  

  End Part 1
• Salix Babylonika

  2014-12-04 19:11:29

  https://i.imgur.com/IoGc2jA.jpg

  Part 2

  
  

  Chapter V: The Devil & Dracula

  
  

  Village of Csejte, Kingdom of Hungary, 1592

  
  

  "This is it, then?"

  
  

  "Mhm~" Remilia had that sly grin fixed to her face again.

  
  

  Truth be told, it kind of bothered Flandre. Her sister was cunning, no doubt, but her self-assuredness would get them into trouble one of these days, it just seemed inevitable.

  
  

  "What is it with these older vampires and dreary castles in the middle of nowhere?"

  
  

  "Hush, Flan" Her sister reprimanded. "This might finally be where we find-"

  
  

  "Someone like us?"

  
  

  Remilia glanced at her sister

  
  

  "Yes. Do you doubt me, Flandre?"

  
  

  "Do you remember the day after we turned? In that field beneath that tree?"
  
  "We fed for the first time that day." Remilia licked her lips, as if savoring the memory.

  
  

  "You told me we could only rely on each other."

  
  

  Remila glanced sideways at her sister again. "Do you really want to be doing that same old routine--go into a village, pretend to be cute little girls, eat when they least expect it, leave--for the rest of eternity, Flandre?"

  
  

  "I suppose not...."

  
  

  "You should trust your elder sister, Flan. I've heard good things about this one. A countess, Erzsébet is her name! If she's really a vampire like us, then...."

  
  

  "Then?"

  
  

  Remilia sighed, and waved her hand dismissively.

  
  

  "You should trust me, Flan, like I said. Come on, we have an appointment with a very important local noble~"