Epoch of Ephemeral Incandescence VI

"Just do me a one favor. Make sure that the watch is in safe hands once you leave," Flandre uttered, stepped away from Sakuya and headed to the open door where Junko and Renko were waiting for her.

"I'll give you my word," Sakuya said and smiled a bit while looking at Flandre who just peeked behind herself and nodded a little while cracking a slight smile herself too. Sakuya looked how Flandre walked through the door and stepped into the nightly Gensokyo that opened before their eyes. Sakuya followed her couple steps so that she could lean against the doorway while looking outside. She watched and smirked a little as Flandre, Junko and Renko were discussing where to head. Once Flandre was sure where they were and where they needed to head they started walking into the silent dark of the night but before they disappeared into the depths of the forest she saw how Flandre stopped for a second and glanced over her shoulder. Sakuya wasn't sure if Flandre could see it but she cracked a gentle smile nonetheless. Flandre then turned her head away again and continued her walk. Sakuya then lifted her hand and made a gentle wave at Flandre when she wasn't looking. After this she stood straight up again and dag out the watch from her pocket. She opened her palm before her eyes and stared at the silver surface of the pocket watch Flandre had given her and told to keep safe. That little thing. Flandre had claimed that that small sliver-glistening watch was the cause of all that was going on now.

"To the safe hands... I'm sorry but it's you who needs to hold onto this. My hands are not the right ones," Sakuya uttered as she flipped her palm and watched the watch fall from her hand and hit the ground with a soft clink. She stared at it for a moment before taking a few steps backwards away from the doorway.

"I'm sorry," Sakuya uttered as she watched the door slide shut. Immediately as it did she winced. The pain forced her hand onto her stomach and to hold her open wound. She glanced down at her hand and saw the blood still dripping down her fingers. It had taken all her will power just to keep herself composed for this long. She couldn't bare the thought of seeing Flandre's face after she'd learn that she wouldn't actually be okay. Sakuya backed away a couple more clumsy steps before she grabbed a hold onto a guard rail near the console of her ship. She leaned against it for a minute. She looked around herself. The world around her was starting to look fuzzy and the colours didn't seem right. She slowly let herself sit down to the floor while supporting herself against the guard rail. As her butt touched the floor she let her hand fall from the railing and leaned her head backwards. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Just how long had it been since the last time she could have just sat down and relaxed? She let the breath she took flow out and as it did she cracked a slight smile and chuckled a bit.

"Oh, hunter, my dear hunter, just look at what you've gotten yourself into now," Sakuya uttered as she swiped her forehead clean from sweat with her non-bloodied hand. She looked around herself in that room that looked a lot smaller than it had before. Or maybe it was just Sakuya's head starting to feel light from the bloodloss.

"You just had to be so stubborn. You knew that looking for your people is useless. They're all dead, and look at you now... not so different any more," Sakuya uttered and chuckled again as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"You wasted your life, you know that? Wasted...," Sakuya uttered as her lip quivered a little and she looked straight forward.

"Imagine what you could have done. You could have been free. Free to explore, to experience, to see and feel," Sakuya exclaimed as she once again grabbed the guard rail she was leaning against and pulled herself upright. She then started stumbling towards the console.

"I could have enjoyed the Firefall festivals of Rigel. Seen the sand castles of Lurdian 6. The Eye of Chronos. All that and more you just threw away and for WHAT!?" Sakuya whimpered as she slammed her hands onto the panel of her ship's console.

"I could have been SO MUCH MORE," She yelled and punched the console as the tears rolling down her cheeks wet the smooth metal surface. She wiped her face again and looked down.

"But do I really regret that?" Sakuya uttered as she looked at her reflection seen on the smooth metal surface.

"Aye, a little bit, but would I want to change any of those moments? Of course not," She uttered and cracked a slight smile. She then lifted her gaze from the panel and looked around herself. The ship around her was silent except for a slight humming that could only be heard if someone concentrated enough. The white surfaces looked pristine with only few bloodstains Sakuya had left behind dotting the white. She then looked back at the control panel and patted it slightly.

"Thanks for always being there for me," Sakuya uttered as she patted the metal surface the sounds of those pats echoing ever so slightly. One more tear emerged from the corner of her eye.

"Care to do a one more trip? For old times sake?" Sakuya asked like waiting a response. She then closed her eyes and sighed while cracking a slight and knowing smile.

"I knew you'd be up for it. You always are," Sakuya uttered and the tear that rolled down her cheek fell from her chin. She then perked up and straightened herself up. She took few light steps backwards and asked out loud, "SO, the whole of time and space is our playground! Where do you want to go!? Anywhere at any time!" Sakuya span around couple times while announcing this like a show of the lifetime was about to begin. She spread her arms as she continued.

"We could go and see the Quasars of Altaha. Or go and witness the crowning of the emperor Tahu Cahn the First, the first ruler of the first ever galactic empire. Or how about the blue firefalls of Pifit 6B before they blew up along with their parent star?" Sakuya yelled running with light steps from across the room and back again finally stopping before the control panel again and going silent. Shen then grabbed the guard rail gently and sighed a little.

"Yeah, I know. All them would be breathtaking. But... haven't we seen enough breath taking things already?" Sakuya asked and glanced upwards like waiting for a response. She then straightened herself up again and approached the control panel.

"No. I think we're in a need of a decent rest and I think a good place for that," Sakuya uttered as she sluggishly started pressing the buttons on the panel and flipping switches. After a moment the ships engines started moaning again as they took off. Sakuya watched as a monitor showed the date and time where they were headed. Berlin, 6th of December, 1839. Sakuya watched as the date stopped to this exact number and listened as a familiar low and hollow bang announced that they had arrived to their destination. Sakuya sighed deeply and turned back towards the control panel and let her hand slide across it collecting some dust. She then flipped a couple more switches and then stopped and leaned against the panel.

"Okay, this... this is where we finally have to say goodbye. I know you'd still have a lots of travels to which you'd want to take me or someone else with but...," Sakuya stopped with a hiccup as she tried to hold back tears.

"I think the years have caught up with me finally," Sakuya finished her sentenced and patted the control panel once. She then backed away a few steps from it and sighed again. Then without saying a word she grabbed a scarf that was hanging near the control panel. She brought it closer to her face and examined it.

"I guess this is where I got you as well," She uttered as she flung it around her neck and started approaching the main door of the ship. Near the door there was a switch. Larger than the other. Sakuya walked up to it and reached for it but before her fingers could curl around it she stopped and turned around to look at the control panel for the one final time.

"You've been a good boy. Just do me one last favor, would you. Don't weep for me. Rest now," Sakuya said as a gentle smile grew onto her lips before disappearing just as quickly. She then grabbed the switch and with a one swift pull jerked it down. With that the whole room went dark. The low hum of the machines stopped and Sakuya was left in utter darkness. Luckily the switch was just next to the door so she could just take couple steps and reach for the doorframe. After a few seconds of fumbling around she finally found the edge of the door and with her own two hands she pulled the sliding door open just enough that she could slip through. As she pushed her figure through the small opening she could feel the crisp winter air hitting her straight into her face as she made her way out. The snow crunched ever so slightly as she stumbled few steps forward after getting through the door. She however didn't let herself get too excited about the familiar scenery as she turned around to look at the tree she had just emerged from. She grabbed the edge of the door and pushed it shut again creating an image of a perfectly normal looking oak tree. Sakuya patted its surface once and stared as snow started immediately piling onto the coarse bark as wind lifted puffs of snow from the ground and the snow falling from the heavens conjoined into it. Sakuya then lifted her gaze from her ship and looked around. She was in a park. It was dark. The skies above were clouded by heavy clouds that covered everything with snow. From behind the trees she could see few dots of light dotting the distance and giving her some guidance as to where she was. Couple meters away from her there was a path with less snow than where she was standing. With crunching steps she made her way to the path, tucked her hands into the pockets of her coat and buried her face deeper into the warmth of the scarf.

After a moment of walking along the beaten path Sakuya started to remember where she actually was. During the summer this park would be green like the deepest forest. She remembered how she had actually trained there to become the vampire hunter she became. She had trailed people to see if she would be noticed and to improve her stealth. She remembered all the confused and rather disturbed faces the people made every time they realized they were being followed. She had enjoyed that. Now though there weren't any people to be seen on the trail. It was late evening during the winter and people would rather stay inside than thread the frozen park trails. Well except those that couldn't stay inside. Sakuya stopped as she spotted a homeless man laying on a bench covered with many layers of sewn-together clothes and blankets. He was visibly on a verge of hypothermia as he shuddered under his covers. Sakuya stopped and watched him for a moment. She did not recognize his face. On the other hand, she didn't even expect to.

The man then glanced up and looked at Sakuya for a moment.

"You... you too, got stuck outside in this... ac-accursed weather?" The man asked through clattering teeth.

"I guess you could say that," Sakuya responded after pulling her scarf a little away from her mouth. The man looked down again.

"Well, I-I pray that you may see the sunrise," The man responded and pulled the covers tighter around him.

"Likewise," Sakuya muttered and pulled the scarf back over her mouth as she continued her walk towards the edge of the park where the lights of the city were starting to shine brighter. The wind was starting to pick up as she neared the edge of the park. She had to cover her face partially with her hands just so that snow wouldn't be blown into her eyes.

The park was surrounded by relatively quiet streets lit by street lamps and the light coming from the windows of the houses along the street. Sakuya's form could be seen emerging from the dark park, wading over the snowy bank of the street. She stopped there to look around herself for a moment. The feeling was nostalgic to say the least. Seeing all the buildings and streets she had grown up around. Even if that had been nearly 200 years ago she still remembered vividly as she ran down the street to buy something sweet from the bakery once her daily training was complete. Sakuya was homeschooled by her foster parents. They taught her the same things the kids in school would learn but put also heavy emphasis on religion and gymnastics. Sakuya's foster parents were a religious bunch. Maybe even fanatics, but good people nonetheless. And loving too. Sakuya didn't have too many bad memories about them. But what the other people would find weird and even concerning was that their goal was to raise Sakuya as a slayer of unholy creatures. Vampires to be specific. As a kid she did not question them. She trusted her parents' judgement and thought that whatever they told her must've been for the best. And in a way she still felt that. The world around them had been much more scarier than many other people had believed and when Sakuya finally got her first taste of real monster hunting she knew that her parents' teachings had not been just ramblings of couple of religious fanatics. She couldn't help but to feel thankful for them, even now when all her memories had been restored.

Sakuya made her way down the street towards the corner she remembered where the bakery was. If she remembered correctly the bakery was owned by an old gentleman and should be in the same place even now. Sakuya rounded couple of corners and was pleasantly surprised to see that her memory hadn't betrayed her. There it was, the bakery, just as she remembered. There was no light seeping through the large window next to the door because it was already closed this late into the evening but it was still heartwarming to see it up and running. The bakery however quickly disappeared into the passing scenery as she rounded yet another corner. Before her eyes opened yet another street. This one had few people walking along its both sides. There were few businesses still open so that could explain why people were out.

One older gentleman walked towards Sakuya on the sidewalk. Sakuya was about to ignore him as he raised his hat and was going to greet her when he suddenly stopped and looked rather shocked.

"Oh my, miss, are you hurt?" The man asked and stared at the clearly still wet bloodstain on Sakuya's jacket. Sakuya stopped, looked at the man and then glanced down at her wound. After a second she glanced back up and let out a chuckle.

"Oh, no need to worry mister. I am just a maid running errands. I seem to have forgotten to take time to clean my clothes before I left the household," Sakuya said with upbeat and cheerful tone and look on her face. The man looked at Sakuya for a moment and became visibly relieved after he heard Sakuya's explanation.

"Oh, well, glad to hear you're okay. Sorry to have bothered you. Have a good evening miss," The man responded, tipped his hat and continued along the sidewalk.

"Have a good evening too, sir," Sakuya chirped, smiled and waved as the man passed her. Her smile however faded away as the man could no longer see her face. She looked how the man walked closer to the junction and then disappeared behind the corner. The wind howled as Sakuya stood still, still staring at the corner behind which the man had just disappeared. She then slowly brought her hand to her wound, touched it and then brought her hand before her eyes. A drop of blood fell from her finger tip. Her wound had started to bleed again. She did not have much time if she intended to reach the place she had initially wanted to visit. She then hastily swiped her hand to the snowy wall of a house next to her, tucked her hands into her pockets and got moving again. She couldn't stop for sightseeing, even though she would have loved to.

Sakuya made her way through the snowy streets. The snow was starting to pile up to the sides of the streets and the already small amount of people was starting to near zero. Sakuya wasn't sure but she guessed that it was starting to near midnight. She picked up her pace as she rounded yet another corner to a much darker street with no streetlights. It was still somewhat maintained though since most of the snow had been cleared. She took few long and hasty steps before she slowed down her pace to a crawl. She nearly stopped as she started looking around herself. The street she was in was more like just a narrow alley between the buildings that split up further up.

"How... uncanny," Sakuya muttered as she slowly crept towards the T-junction the allye made. She took her hand out from her pocket and let it slide on the rough surface of the wall next to her as she neared the junction. Upon reaching it she stopped and looked first to her left. The properly light up street opened up couple dozen meters from her in that direction. In the opposite direction to the right the alley continued deeper into the maze of buildings. Sakuya stared at the dark alleyway for a moment before taking a step toward its direction. She would have kept on walking if she hadn't suddenly felt a sharp pain from her stomach. She flinched and had to stop. Sakuya held her stomach and groaned a little. The bloodstain on her jacket had started to drip onto the snow. She only took a one look at it before she continued walking again. She knew it wouldn't be long way anymore.

The lights of the streetlamps disappeared as she rounded yet another corner and started power walking. The pain was getting worse. She was going with borrowed time at this point. She would have started running at that point had she not rounded one last corner. It was there where she stopped. The alley before her eyes was dark. The only light that poured into the alley came from the dim moonlight that barely made its way through the thick clouds up in the sky. The buildings all around kept the wind away and let the snow fall in peace.

Sakuya let out an audible sigh as she took a careful step forward. There were couple piles of trash lining the street. It wasn't really used for more than that. Homeless people would also sometime make their shelters here. Now however it was completely deserted. Just like she remembered it had been in this exact night. There was one other alleyway conjoining this one and once Sakuya reached that one she stopped. That alley was just as dark as this one but Sakuya wasn't interested in that. What she kept her eyes on were the footprints on the snow that led away from the alley into the one she was currently in. The footprints seemed to be made by someone who had been in a hurry because snow was thrown all around. There were even bloodstains on the snow as well. Sakuya let her eyes follow the direction the footprints led to. She then instinctually started following them. She very well knew what had caused the prints but there was a certain gap in her memory. A gap that she very well knew the reason to.

She started taking weak and careful steps to the direction where the footprints went. She knew she wouldn't have to walk for long and indeed just after couple steps a bundle of clothes came into view. Sakuya looked at it for a moment, finally cracking a slight smile and continuing walking toward it. Upon reaching the bundle she stopped and leaned against the brick wall of a building and let herself slide down until she was sitting in the cold snow. She glanced at the pile again and brought her hand over to it. She then lifted a piece of clothing a little to reveal a sleeping face a of an infant baby. Sakuya couldn't help but to chuckle.

"Did I really look that chubby?" Sakuya uttered as she picked up the bundle and the baby. She brought them to her lap and started wrapping the clothes more properly and tightly around the baby so it wouldn't freeze to death. While doing so she saw a sliver pocket watch falling from the pile of clothes. She stared at it for a moment. She then sighed, smiled, picked it up and put it around the baby's neck. Once she was done with the clothes she untied the scarf from around her neck and tied it around the clothes wrapped around the baby so the bundle would stay tight. She looked at the face of the baby again. Even though it was cold and she had wrapped the baby in clothes it was still sleeping. Sakuya couldn't help but to chuckle again as she took the bundle and put it back to where she had picked it up in the first place. She then closed her eyes, enhanced her posture a little and sighed deeply.

"You had a rough evening?" Sakuya asked while opening her right eye to glance at the soundly sleeping face.

"Yeah, I've had one too. Life sure kicked us good, didn't it," Sakuya said and chuckled. She sighed again blissfully.

"You know. I wanted to come back here and meet you myself as my last trip. Brings me comfort to know that I'm going to rest beside my own kinsman," Sakuya said with almost hushed tone.

"Yeah, I didn't find any. Not sure if I even expected to in the first place," Sakuya continued and opened her eyes fully to look at the baby.

"It's funny how life works. You may not understand it yet but I assure you're in for a one hell of a ride. Remember to enjoy every bit of it," Sakuya said and cracked a gentle smile.

"I know, I know, it's easy to say it like this with hindsight but trust me, I wouldn't say this if I hadn't enjoyed it myself," Sakuya continued and shook her head a little. She stopped for a moment. Glanced up to the dark sky and watched as the snow fell. She took a deep breath again as one snowflake fell onto her nose. She coughed a little due to the pain from her wound. She glanced back at the baby.

"I guess, what I'm trying to say is that don't be afraid. You'll get to experience so many wonderful and scary things. You'll get to experience life at its fullest. And if we're lucky, that life doesn't even have to end here. If Flandre manages to fix it all then maybe you don't ever even have to experience this," Sakuya said and caressed the baby's cheek a little. She then felt her hand growing cold and then going limp. She watched as it fell to the pile of snow. Sakuya sighed.

"Just do me one favor. Don't wear those green ribbons, they look ridiculous. Deal?" Sakuya said and cracked a playful smile again.

"I'm going to sleep now. I'm tired, so tired," Sakuya finally said after a moment of silence and with that she closed her eyes again and let herself fall over into the pile of snow with a peaceful look on her face. It became very quiet all of a sudden. The baby had not woken up during that time nor had it woken up now. It was still sleeping soundly in its cloth pundle. The wind wasn't howling in the alleys nor disturbing the falling snow as it slowly but surely started to cover Sakuya's body. The silence was only broken by the distant echo of church bells announcing the arrival of midnight. And then, suddenly, an echo of two pairs of hasty footsteps coming from an alley.

A moment followed an heated conversation became also audible within the crunching of snow under the steps.

"I told you before and you did not listen. I knew that we should not have visited the Adlers. Those people are most uncivilized," A woman's voice echoed from the walls of the alley as the voices grew closer.

"Ada, Ada, calm down. Mrs. Adler only overreacted, that's all," A man's voice responded with much calmer tone than the woman's voice.

"And look where that led. I swear that woman will someday get it. Throwing out her own guests into a winter night," The woman huffed with audible outrage in her voice.

"Yes, yes, it was very rude of her. It's a shame that she's married to our priest," The man replied as they rounded a corner and entered the alley. The woman then stopped, turned on her heels and looked at her husband.

"That woman has no right to talk to me like that. It's not my fault I cannot bear a child," The woman almost exclaimed, her voice echoing on the brick walls of the houses around them.

"Yes, yes, just calm down, you're waking everyone up," The husband uttered while holding his wife from her shoulders. The wife looked at her husband for a moment and then pulled him into a hug. The husband hugged her tightly and caressed her hair. He wiped it clean from the falling snow and while doing so happened to glance up from her wife's hair. The husband froze. Couple seconds passed until his wife noticed.

"What is it Erwin?" The wife asked through couple sniffles. She looked at her husband but he just hushed her and let go of her. The husband stared at the unmoving figure of a body just couple meters away from them leaning against a wall. They had been in such a hurry that they hadn't noticed Sakuya's corpse. The husband took a couple careful steps closer. The snow had already covered the bloodstains so he had no idea if Sakuya was alive or not. As he did this his wife turned around too and covered her mouth upon seeing the body.

"Oh, god, is- is that...?" The wife managed to stammer out as her husband touched the body ever so gently with his foot. Sakuya's corpse budged a little but after a couple of seconds with no response the husband took a hat from on top of his head.

"Poor soul," The husband uttered and looked at Sakuya's corpse. His wife walked carefully beside him and looked at Sakuya too.

"Oh my word, what could have happened to her?" The wife asked with shivering and hushed voice. The husband caressed her hair.

"Probably froze to death. December nights can be brutal. May she rest in peace," The husband responded calmly and pulled his wife into a hug again.

"Let's just go home already," The wife said with her face pressed against her husbands jacket. The husband nodded silently and was just about to pull his wife with him so they could leave when they heard a sudden noise. The high pitched and sleepy cry of a child. A baby to be precise. Both of them stopped on their tracks and glanced at Sakuya's corpse again. They had not noticed the partially snow covered lump of clothes before but now when it twitched a little it caught their eye. The wife, without wasting a second rushed to the lump to inspect it. Her husband followed couple steps behind. The wife swiped the snow off the clothes and lifted the pile tied with the scarf up. The somewhat awake face of a baby greeted her as she looked at it.

"Oh my god, Erwin, it's a baby. This woman had a baby with her," The wife almost exclaimed as she looked at the sleepy face of a pale looking baby.

"What? Is it alive? Healthy?" The husband asked visibly surprised by what his wife had said. It would be a difficult for an adult to survive outside in a weather like this, let alone a baby. To him it was truly an amazement that the child was still alive.

"Let me see it," The husband said and rushed to his wife who turned toward him with the baby in her arms. The husband glanced down to look at the face looking up at him from the pile of clothes. He touched the baby's cheek gently.

"What a healthy little guy. And not a single scratch on them. Truly a miracle," The husband said, his face turning into a joyful smile.

"Erwin, what should we do? This child mother is dead," The wife asked with concerned tone and look on her face. The husband looked at his wife and then at Sakuya's corpse beside him. The snow was starting to pile heavily onto her.

"She... was probably a prostitute. *sigh No matter. She'd probably want that her child to be safe. We could offer her that kindness," The husband uttered with thoughtful look on her face while looking at Sakuya's snow covered body.

"A- are you saying we should keep the baby?" The wife asked with almost astonished look on her face.

"Well we cannot leave it here for heaven's sake. Besides, if she was homeless or even a prostitute I doubt she has any family or friends who would be willing to take care of her child," The husband responded while his wife looked at him wide-eyed until a tear appeared into the corner of her eye. He pulled her into a hug again.

"Come on, let's go home already. It's getting cold," The husband said and without saying another word he wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulder and they started making their way out of the alley leaving it once again in silence. The snow kept falling even though the clouds covering the sky were starting rip apart letting the star and moonlight descend upon the white ground making the snow glisten like a sea of pearls. And had the husband or the wife glanced back before leaving they could have caught a glimpse of the smile that had formed onto Sakuya's lips. Blissful and peaceful smile that got soon covered by snow as well before her form finally slumped all the way to the ground with a soft thump.

"First step to freedom, filled with fright

Second step to freedom and no sign of light

Third step to freedom, and one gets brave

On the fourth step away you exit the grave

Fifth step and you're almost halfway there

Sixth step from the first but there's no light anywhere

Seventh step and one gets anxious

On the eighth fear returns but one has to stay tenacious

Ninth step and you're almost there with no hurdles

Until you realize, you've been walking in circles," These were the words a passer-by could have heard a small figure uttering. But it was not like there were any passers-bys in this gods-forsaken wasteland. Here one was left completely alone with their thoughts. A terrible fate especially if one has become enemies with their own thoughts. And if that were the case, then the only company you had was the sound of your own footsteps and the rustling of junk beneath them. No wind would come to cool down your sweaty face. No shadows would rise to shield you from the gaze of the pitch black orb up in the sky.

"Has it gotten larger again?" The feverish voice asked as it escaped its source with just enough volume to be a whisper. A question that would not get an answer. For I would not give her that delight.

Flandre was treading across the open fields of junk in a sluggish pace. Each step looking like it would be the heaviest burden imaginable. Flandre's clothes were damp with sweat. Her dress was torn and slightly blackened. She had lost her mob cap and ascot. The shirt she was wearing had lost its left sleeve, the shoes she had been wearing had literally worn off from her and she was now walking with her bare feet. But the most pre-eminent thing she had lost was her willpower. She did not feel like saving the world anymore. She did not feel like she was on a important mission. And what she felt the least was that her actions had carried any significance. So what else was left there to just keep on walking? She had been doing that for this long, and stopping had brought her no comfort, so why not just keep on going and wait till the world or she would just end. It was a no brainer really. The flowers had already showed her the way, the only thing she had to do was follow. Indeed, the flowers she had found from the corpse of that walker gods know how long ago and from the edge of that sink hole she had emerged from when escaping Mitori's facility weren't the only ones she had found. Every now and then she would come across yet another flower rising from the trash and junk, defying the common sense and logic. And each time Flandre had come across one of these flowers she had plucked it and attached it to her wreath on top of her head. After Flandre had lost her mob cap she had replaced that with a wreath that she had weaved from the flowers she had plucked. It was a colourful sight. Some flowers had withered and fallen off but it was no problem because the amount of flowers she came across was so high that she would never run out of replacements.

In fact the amount of flowers had risen so high that every time she picked up a new one she could already see the next one easily. And it was always just one. The flowers never grew together. Every single one grew separately. She never even stopped to think where they had come from. Every time she came across one she simply bent down and picked it up without thinking about it further. These flowers in a way reminded her of home. She remembered the garden Meiling had tended. All the roses and orchids of different colours. The smell they emitted each spring was almost nauseatingly sweet. Flowers also weren't the only thing growing in that garden. They also had numerous vegetables and herbs growing there. Sakuya always had plenty of ingredients for her cookings from that garden. Not that Flandre and her sister ate vegetables. Fairy maids were the ones to eat them. Flandre could vividly remember how in some rare moonlit nights she could see even Patchouli taking walks amongst the flowers. She was probably collecting herbs for her research. She was always accompanied by Koakuma. Flandre had sometimes wondered how Patchouli and Remilia had come to know each other so well that her sister let her stay in the mansion and even gave her the whole library for personal use.

Memories are like drugs. They can carry you into a sweet state of ecstacy with no worries or cares about the present. They can form a barrier between you and the reality. But like drugs memories also have a trap one can fall into. Overindulge and you may find yourself in a trip that's not so easy to wake up from. And the more you take the less of an effect they will have. Flandre had gone through these memories for so many times that even the bad trip didn't catch her off guard. When the image of all that she had grown around caught on fire she simply closed her eyes as tightly as she could and looked away. She didn't dare to look. Not that it would be a gruesome sight. Of course the flowers igniting and turning into ash was a sad sight but what she hated was how it reminded her of why she was here. It reminded her of everyone else who had stayed behind. Who were waiting for her to fix it all. There wouldn't be any fixing. Flandre knew that all too well. They were all waiting for nothing. She had given up. Maybe the others had as well. Maybe Gensokyo was no more. Yeah. That was probably the case. It had been so long since she left that there was no other choice.

"Find time," That's what Flandre's reflection had told her before she had gotten rid of it. Or so she had thought. Indeed the voice may have left but now in silence the reflection's words tormented her even worse than when she still heard it. She wanted it to go away. She wanted it to stop. For it made her to doubt herself. Doubt whether she actually had failed. Doubt if she still should continue. Flandre covered her ears, shut her eyes and shook her head violently.

"Leave me alone, I don't want you! I don't need you," Flandre screamed her voice accompanied only by the crunches the junk made beneath her feet. But the thoughts aren't that easy to quench. They would not leave Flandre's mind.

"LEAVE ME," She screamed finally freeing her hands from her ears. With fire cloaking her fingers she started thrashing about, clawing and punching the ground, throwing junk everywhere. She then lifted up a large piece of metal plate. Probably from a large boat from the outside world. She sank her claws into it and with powerful crunch ripped it in half. With the two pieces of metal hanging from her claws she let out another desperate scream. The pieces of metal started melting around her fingers, turning into a glowing pudding as they trickled down to the ground like syrup. The ground below Flandre's feet hissed as everything that could catch fire, did catch fire.

Flandre stood in the middle of the flaming pillar as the ground under her feet started to turn more into liquid than solid. She actually sunk ankle deep into that mush before her lungs finally ran out of breath and the scream died down to a whimper. And with that the fire extinguished to just petty flickers. The metal started to cool down and the embers started to turn black again. Flandre brought her hands to her chest. They were smoking a little. It hurt. She then pulled her legs out from that already solidifying mass and waded across the puddle of molten metal she had created. Stepping out from the puddle, her feet were scorched black, even glowing a little with pieces of charred skin chipping of like snowflakes on each step.

"Just leave me be. Let me rest," Flandre whimpered as she hugged her hands tightly onto her body. It hurt for sure but she would heal. She always did. This wasn't the first time she had thrown a temper to get rid of that sound and she knew that most likely it wouldn't be the last one. But it mattered not for before her there was yet another flower. Flandre stopped to look at it then knelt down to pick it up, her charred fingers cracking as she wrapped them around the flower and plucked it. As she had melted the metal and ignited the ground the wreath on top of her hair had burned and turned to ash leaving her hair blackened by it. Flandre simply pushed it into her hair and had the voice within her head ceased she would have let out a blissful sigh but it did not. Instead it kept repeating the same sentences.

"Find time, grasp it," Flandre bit her teeth as she continued her walk. She then stopped. The voice urged her to keep trying just as it had the whole time. And no matter how long she had walked it had not stopped. So what if she did. Flandre thought about this for a second with messy thoughts and then sat down with a blank look on her face. She would not take another step, she would silence the voice by force. There would be no hope for the voice getting through.

And so she sat and waited. The voice persisted but so did she. She would not stand up. The heat from the puddle of molten metal bothered Flandre at first but it didn't take long till it hardened and cooled down. As the puddle cooled down Flandre started looking around herself. The scenery around her was open like always. There were only three small hills in her field of vision and it didn't take long till she started searching for more points of interest. Of course there was a flower in the distance. She could never miss them. At first she was tempted to make her way to it and pick it up but she managed to control herself and stay put. Flandre forcefully looked away from the flower and tried to find something else to focus onto. She was about to turn around and look behind herself to try to find something to look at. But before she could turn around fully she remembered what she would see. That damned black sphere. She hated seeing it. She hated it. She didn't even know which she hated more. That voice or the sphere. And she didn't want to start comparing so she turned back towards the original way she had headed to.

Thus far she had tried to silence the voice by finding points of interest but even if she hadn't paid attention to it it had not given in. So now when there was no longer any more stimulus to focus onto she decided to just curl up and try to sleep. Maybe resting could help. She was feeling sleepy anyway. So without any further ado she simply lied down and closed her eyes. At first she was just breathing calmly and waiting for herself to just fall asleep. The voice was also there but she tried to not pay it any attention. But it came progressively more difficult with every passing moment. Each time she felt like she could be sleepy enough to fall asleep the voice would suddenly return waking her and forcing her to think about something else.

She tried everything. Any possible thing she could come up with to try to distract her from the voice but as a result she always got herself further from sleep so eventually she had to accept the fact that sleeping wasn't going to be an option for her at least before she would get rid of the voice.

"Fine! You wanna do this the hard way!? Let's see how long you can keep it up," Flandre yelled and stood up. She turned around on the spot and took a good, long glance at the sphere that was now before her eyes.

"I'm going home," Flandre uttered and started walking at the direction of the sphere no matter how much it irritated her. She had decided that she hated the voice more. She was done with it all. She would make her way back to the exact spot where she had appeared to this world and return to Gensokyo. Or whatever was now in its place. She wanted away from there. Away from the voice and especially away from the sphere. And had she not thought this way she wouldn't have noticed that the voice had vanished. She had walked barely for couple minutes and the voice was gone. Of course the sphere was still there but it alone wasn't nearly as bad as it and the voice together. Flandre stopped and grasped her cheeks. A delighted smile fell onto her face upon the realization that the voice had gone silent.

"I did it, I got rid of it," Flandre gabbled as she caressed her own cheeks. She let out a slight giggle as she took couple light hops with her charred feet with even more ash falling off them. She ran a short distance before stopping.

"I'll return home, I'll show that voice that I'll return home," Flandre enthused as she started taking brisk steps toward the way she had come from.

"When I get home I'll tell them how crazy this all was. Patchouli will surely be interested. Maybe she'll write a book about it. But first I must ask Sakuya what's for dinner, I'm starving," Flandre mumbled as she hopped forward. Her pace was near running speed but in just couple seconds it slowed down to a walking speed that started further slowing down to a mere snail's pace.

"I- I'll tell them... E- everyone. They won't believe all the madness I've seen. It was just unbelievable. I mean... why did I even come here?" Flandre uttered as she stopped still grinning almost compulsively. She looked down at the junk filled ground and slowly brought her hand to her head.

"Why... did I come here?" Flandre repeated and let her fingers run through her unkept strands of hair. Flandre brought her hand before her eyes. Her fingers were charred grey and black from the tantrum she threw before and they were further covered by the soot and ash from her hair.

"Why...," Flandre uttered as she turned and twisted her hand before her face. It was black, very black. And it reminded her of why she was here. She diverted her eyes from her hand and looked up. In the sky there was the black sphere, ever glowing, ever looming over her.

"It has gotten bigger again," Flandre uttered and tilted her head a little as she stared at it unblinking.

"I don't like it, I don't like it at all, I want it gone," She continued in an almost trance-like state. She stood there completely unmoving and who knows how longs she would have stayed there if a sudden voice wouldn't have snapped her out from it.

"Find time," That was all it took to snap her out of it and oh boy it surely did. Had someone seen her they would have seen how her pupils shrunk to tiny black dots surrounded by her red irises. Like the sphere in the sky. The blank look on her face turned into anguished grimace as she bit her teeth together with such ferocity that one of them cracked a little. But she did not move yet. Yet. She painstakingly slowly turned her face toward the hem of her dress where there was the small pocket. Her joints and muscles cracked as she turned her head and finally stopped to stare. If stare could kill, that stare would have made every homicide ever commited to look like a joke. She finally opened her mouth to a scream, and scream she did. She screamed the whole time she brought her hand to her pocket and pulled out the watch, dangling it from the still glistening chain attached to its shell.

As her lungs ran out of air the scream stopped leaving only the watch hanging before her eyes. She brought it up so that it dangled in front of the black sphere in the sky.

"Find time, eh?" Flandre hissed while staring at the silver casing of the watch.

"Well I found it. And do you wanna know what I'm about to do to you precious time?" Flandre uttered and a foul grin fell onto her face. With a lightning fast flick of her wrist she let go of the chain and catched the watch from the air. She stared at it, her grin ever so wide as her fingers curled around the watch. She could hear the squeaks and cracks as she started to apply pressure and the already cracked cover of the watch started to bend even more. She mover her middle finger so that it was pressing the center of the cover, applying more pressure to it.

"Pop goes the clock," Flandre chirped with a sinister tone as she pressed through the cover splitting it in half. The hinge mechanism of the cover broke as a result as well sending the two halves of the cover flying each to its own direction revealing the still intact and functioning face of the clock. Tick tock. Nothing more was required to calm Flandre's rage as quickly as it had appeared. Flandre was petrified and had her fingers not been curled around the watch it would have surely slipped from her hand. The sound the clock seemed to hypnotize Flandre in an instant. Or was it the moving arms? I'm not entirely sure. But what I am sure is that Flandre was absolutely mesmerized by it. She brought it closer to her face, seemingly to inspect it more. Her forehead was starting to glisten with sweat and it was clear that she was losing her balance as she started to wobble never letting her eyes leave the face of the clock.

After a couple shaky steps she lost her balance and fell to her back but even still her gaze was locked to the watch. As her back smacked to the ground the watch finally fell from her hand accompanied with with the sound of the junk clunking under her and flower petals flying everywhere like bees from a hive. Flandre's eyes darted lazily around as she looked at all the petals dancing around. It was funny, yet suffocating. Like a fever dream. It was something akin to that moment just seconds ago from waking up from a deep sleep. The sounds of the world around Flandre were muffled. The clinks the clock made as it rolled on the ground for a second were distant and when those stopped it became quiet except for Flandre's own heartbeat that felt like it was pounding Flandre's skull from the inside.

Flandre stared as the petals that had been dancing before her eyes for a quite some time for now where finally starting to fall back towards the ground and Flandre herself started to regain her senses. The first one to come back at her at its full was the touch. She felt her back ache a little from the fall and all the junk she was laying on.

"Wha...," Was all Flandre could utter as she brought her hands to her face to rub her eyes. She was still dizzy. As she brought her hand to her face she felt around. It felt like large amounts of chords were rising from the ground. She grabbed a bunch and yanked them from the ground and brought them to her face. When she saw what she was holding she had to rub her eyes again with her other hand just to be sure she wasn't dreaming. She was holding a bunch of a flowers. It was then when the madness of that situation was starting to hit her. She quickly felt around for watch she had dropped. She finally found it right beside her head. She grabbed it and brought it before her eyes. The face of the clock was now revealed when the cover had split and fallen off. She stared at it as the fragile arm indicating passing seconds made its way around the face while making that soft tick tock sound. With her trembling free hand she started to search for a possible hand hold to help push herself up from the ground. Her eyes were fixated on the clock the whole time. Something had happened when she had snapped the cover. She was still feeling weak but soon got herself up. And when she finally looked away from the clock at her surroundings she almost dropped the clock again. She was still sitting on the open field but it was no longer barren wasteland. Flandre quickly pushed herself to her feet to look take a good look around her. It was the same everywhere. Everything was covered in flowers. Every square meter was so thickly covered that not a piece of junk could be seen under them. Yet she could feel that the ground had not changed. She could still feel the junk with her feet with each step she took as she spun around.

"What...," Was all Flandre could squeeze out from herself as she gazed at the colourful fields under the black and red sky. She then glanced up just to make sure and sure enough there it still was, the black sphere.

"Di- did I travel in time? ...No, it didn't feel the same. Then what... where did all these flowers come from?" Flandre uttered with a mere whisper as she gawked at all the flowers sprouting from the junk around her.

"Find time?" Flandre then uttered herself and quickly glanced around herself.

"Is this what you wanted to show me!? A bunch of flowers!? Is this is!?" Flandre yelled trying to see if the voice would respond but her screams were only met with silence. Not a peep came from the voice she had heard earlier.

"The world around is just an illusion. This... it's probably not real. I'm just losing my mind for good," Flandre uttered after a short pause. She then glanced at the watch in her hand. Just a moment ago she had wanted to destroy it but now all the anger she had felt had disappeared and was replaced with confusion. She did not feel like destroying the watch was the right call of action so instead she put it back into her pocket.

At no point had Flandre expected that anything like this could happen. She had been so focused on just getting rid of the voice that she had forgotten everything else. Like the fact that this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. But Flandre had already forgotten of her first encounter with the voice in that cavern. She was now too focused onto the strange scenery around her to even begin to remember. Flandre started to walk across the field of flowers. Not knowing what she should do or even expect. When she had made her way across the waste all this time the only comfort she had had was that she knew what to expect. She knew all too well what would come from around every hill. It was all unchanging. But now all that little comfort was pushed aside. A brief thought even crept into the back of her mind that hoped that the voice would still be there to reassure her that this was all just figments of her madness. But the voice was silent and wouldn't return no matter how Flandre called out to it. She was starting to doubt. She was starting to doubt if this was the reality or the flowerless waste from before.

Flandre treaded carefully across the field. Her senses were all perked for the first time in ages. She wasn't sure if she should believe what she was seeing or assume that this was all hallucination. What she should even think if this all turned out to be true? She wasn't feeling very heroic even she suddenly found herself on a field of flowers. Was this just a scheme of that voice? To trick her into continuing the useless struggle against... whatever she had even struggled against. It was just a so faint memory that it didn't really even matter anymore.

"Oh... yeah, the end of the world. Don't really feel like saving the day if that's what you're trying to trick me into," Flandre mumbled while making her way thought the sea of flowers. But she wasn't going to lie, it was rather pretty. She wondered if meiling would like to see this as well, she was a gardener in the end.

"I bet she would just rather sleep than try to take care of all these flowers. But she would enjoy looking at this, there's no doubt. Yuuka on the other hand... she would definitely love this sight," Flandre thought to herself after reaching a crest of a tiny hill and looking around herself. A slight breeze would make the scenery absolutely perfect. To see all the flowers sway in the wind would be beautiful, not to mention that it could ease that uncomfortable heat that was all around. Flandre swiped some sweat from her forehead and was about to continue when she saw something in the distance that caught her attention. On a crest of another hill there was something tall. Much taller than the flowers around it. When looked this far it was hard to tell what it was but it looked something like a person. Flandre got goosebumps. She had not seen another living thing in a really long time. She was excited, intrigued and nervous. Who was this person and what they were doing just standing on top of a hill. Flandre needed to find out. Flandre took flight. She hadn't done this since exiting Mitori's underground facility so it took her a second to balance herself. She didn't care if she would scare the person away by flying at them. She just wanted to see if they were real or not. The flowers below Flandre swayed as she passed by them. The person on the hill had not moved an inch so Flandre thought that they must have not seen her yet. She yearned for someone to talk to, so when she reached the base of that hill and started heading towards its top and saw what it really was she couldn't help but to just land in disappointment.

"A sunflower...?" Flandre uttered in disappointment and slight confusion. From afar she had thought that the tall frame and the large blossom of a sunflower had been a person. And in all honesty one could easily confuse the two from that distance. Flandre sighed deeply. She had been so excited to see a living person after so long that to find out it was just a tall flower was a massive disappointment. Nevertheless Flandre still decided to take a closer look at it for all the good it would do. At least it was still there and not just a mirage.

As she closed up on the sunflower she could see that it was really tall, taller than her at least. The blossom was facing away from her which somewhat intrigued her. She had read from some book... Or did she hear it from Meiling? She couldn't really remember but the thing she remembered was that sunflowers are supposed to face the sun. And the closest thing to a sun there was was that black sphere up in the sky. So the fact that the flower wasn't facing that sphere intrigued Flandre. What it was facing then?

Upon reaching the flower Flandre started to inspect it. It was healthy and sturdy like the ones she had seen in the garden of the sun. She poked its stem. It swayed a little and then stopped. She could see the tips of the yellow petals from behind the flower so Flandre decided to take a look at its blossom from the front side. Flandre made her way to the other side of the flower with couple quick steps and gazed up towards the blossom. A wave of goosebumps washed over her and she nearly fell to her butt when she saw that the face of the sunflower was in fact... her face. Or it was. She swore it had been her face on that flower for a split second when she had looked at it. Flandre felt suddenly really uncomfortable. She stared at the black center of the blossom and the yellow petals surrounding it. Behind it there was the the black sphere. The two resembled each other too much. Flandre suddenly felt really small. As if the flower was sizing her up.

"What are you looking at? I- I haven't done anything to you," Flandre grunted sheepishly as her gaze fell from the the blossom toward the ground. She felt like a kid that had just been caught doing something bad and was about to receive a punishment.

"Stupid flower," Flandre muttered under her breath. She then turned away from the flower to look where to go next but when she did she got the urge to just turn around and walk back. In the direction the sunflower was facing there was a surprisingly deep valley. Deep, as in surrounded by couple tiny hills but when compared to everything else Flandre had seen so far this was rather deep. But the depth of the valley wasn't the main cause for Flandre's surprise. The main cause was the fact that it was full, and I mean packed to the brim with sunflowers. Every last square meter was absolutely full of those sun flowers, each taller than the last one and facing to the center of the valley.

"Yeah, miss me with this sunflower crap," Flandre said with a nervous laughter and started backing away from the valley her earlier curiosity caught up with her again. The sunflowers face the sun, and now when there was no sun and the closest thing to it didn't attract any attention from the flowers Flandre couldn't help but to think that there was something strange going on in the center of that valley. She glanced behind herself, There opened up endless fields of all other kinds of flowers. She could turn back here, but then again the mystery of thee sun flowers bothered her. And besides, what would she even lose if she checked things out. If it was something dangerous then so be it. At this point losing one's own life really wasn't Flandre's biggest concern. Hell, it would almost be akin to a blessing.

"*sight Well, let's check it out then," Flandre uttered and started taking determined steps toward the center of the valley. The sun flowers took over everything almost immediately as she started descending down the hill so she really had no way of seeing what was in front of her past half a meter. She only knew she was heading to the right direction by heading down hill and looking where all the flowers were facing.

As she made her way down and the hill and the hill was starting to get less and less steep she started to get more and more anxious. It was like stage fright. Looking around herself she only saw the silent flowers all facing the same direction. It was eerie not knowing when she would emerge in the center. She was expecting to find some kind of object or a structure from the middle so when she saw a sudden opening in front of her she stopped in surprise. From on top of the hill the valley had been so thickly crowded with flowers that such a opening would have been impossible to notice and by the looks of things it was large. 10 meters across tops. Flandre stared at the opening through the stems of the flowers. She was under a meter away from the edge of that opening but it was still hard to see anything. And as a contrary it would have been next to impossible to spot her as well. Flandre made a nervous swallow and crept closer to the edge of the opening. She squinted her eyes. There was something in the middle of the opening. Something coloured in red. Flandre's curiosity was starting to overpower her fears as she pushed ever closer to the edge of the opening until she was basically pushing her face out from the thicket of flowers. It was only then when she could get a proper look at what was in front of her and when she did she was not going to believe her eyes. Right there in front of her, in the middle of the opening was Yuuka, sitting with her eyes closed and something resting on her lap.

Yuuka was wearing a red plaid skirt and a waistcoat of the same colour and pattern over a plain white shirt with a yellow bow tied around her neck. She used to have shoulder length green hair but now she had long hair almost reaching ground as she sat there. Flandre had not seen her with a hair like that before. She also didn't seem to have her signature pink parasol with her.

Flandre stared with her eyes wide open at the unexpected sight before her eyes. She had not expected to see a living person let alone someone she knew. The fear was starting to subside with the sight of a familiar face and Flandre squeezed herself out from the thicket of sun flowers. Yuuka didn't open her eyes.

"Yuuka, of course. That explains all the flowers. But why is she here?" Flandre thought to herself as she walked closer to Yuuka who was still not reacting to Flandre's presence. After walking a couple meters closer to her Flandre finally saw what she was holding on her lap. It was a scythe with a heavily curved tip. Flandre looked at it and tilted her head. She had never seen Yuuka with a such weapon nor had she ever seen a scythe like that at all. Flandre was about to take a step closer but stopped before she could. It just didn't seem right. Something felt off about this.

"This... this is just a figment of my imagination... I'm probably hallucinating in some hole," Flandre muttered half aloud. She was expecting to suddenly wake up from somewhere but nothing changed. Yuuka sat still in her place and the flowers stood quietly all around.

"But if this is not just a trick of my mind... then why does it feel so wrong?" Flandre uttered. She then finally took a step toward Yuuka and leaned a little closer. She definitely seemed real. And the fact that she wasn't responding to Flandre's presence in any way could be explained easily. She could be in some kind of trance. Yuuka really wasn't a spiritual type but it was an option. Then there was the weapon. That really didn't bother her either. She hadn't seen this weapon ever before but then again she didn't no Yuuka too well either. She could very well have a scythe and she had just not see it before.

Flandre pondered the situation. She was sure that something was off but she just couldn't wrap her finger around it. Maybe she should take a look around a little better. Maybe it wasn't Yuuka that was putting her off. With this in mind Flandre leaned back again and all at once every hair at the back of her neck stood up at once. There was the distinct slight warm and wet feeling of an exhale against the back of her neck. Flandre span around instinctually just in time to see the tip of the very same scythe she had just seen on Yuuka's lap approaching her neck. Her panicked clumsiness saved Flandre's life. As she span around she tripped on her own feet and fell backwards towards Yuuka sitting behind her, the blade of the scythe missing her face just slightly, cutting away few strands of hair as it went. Flandre was expecting to have a soft landing onto yuuka's lap but instead felt only the hard rubbish covered ground under her back as she smacked onto the ground. A cloud of flower petals exploded from under her into every direction. Flandre's breathing was starting to quicken. A state of panic was settling in. She shot up from the ground as quickly as she could only to see just a brief glimpse how a figured clothed in red twirled around with the scythe in their hands before sinking it into the ground leaving not even an inch of the blade above ground. With a powerful jerk they then ripped it off again conjuring a massive pillar of energy with it that shot toward Flandre, lifting junk and rubble everywhere as it boomed towards her. Flandre dashed away and saw how the wave of energy cut its way through the field of flowers behind her before it hit the hillside and blew up almost half of it. Flandre sat there breathing heavily until a metallic woosh snapped her out of it again. Flandre conjured a small fireball and blew it up onto her own feet launching herself away with the help of the shockwave. Mid air, she turned around and the scythe cleaving through the fire like it was solid and behind the flames came forth the now very awake face of Yuuka. Flandre landed and stared at her but Yuuka did not stop. She came after Flandre with purposeful leaps and readied her scythe again.

Flandre dodged the first slash coming from her left. Yuuka span around and tried again. Flandre managed to duck under it and felt the flow of air the blade left in its wake. Flandre stood straight and just barely dashed to safety as Yuuka returned the blade from the right now. Flandre watched in terrified awe how Yuuka moved together with the scythe spinning a halfway around and then bringing the scythe down with a wide arc over her head. Flandre managed to step aside. During this shirt step Flandre's eyes met with Yuuka's. She knew what Yuuka was capable of and wouldn't hesitate to use her power but the hateful spark she saw in her eye was something she had never seen before. It was also enough to telegraph Yuuka's next move. Yuuka ripped the scythe from the ground again with the tip of its blade aimed at Flandre's face. This time however Flandre was quick enough to summon her Lävatein and parry Yuuka's attack with a swipe of her own. A metallic clang could be heard as they were both forced to back away a little. This gave time for Flandre to catch her breath. She stared at Yuuka with bewildered look on her face who in turn returned with a hateful one. Flandre then carefully peeked over her shoulder to look at the spot where she had initially seen Yuuka sit. Now there was only a pile of petals.

"A decoy...," Flandre thought to herself as she turned her attention back to Yuuka who was seemingly preparing for another attack.

"Yuuka, wait, it's me, Flandre," Flandre managed to yelp before Yuuka lunged at her again. Flandre managed to keep Yuuka's scythe away from her neck with her Lävatein. Yuuka stopped and turned around.

"Finally," was all she uttered before she started taking long steps toward Flandre. Flandre didn't understand. Why was she doing this? She wanted to stop and ask her but she only had time for either one. She decided to stop her for asking her didn't seem too wise of a choice at the moment. Yuuka readied herself and Flandre did the same. Then with a rapid dash towards Flandre Yuuka unleashed a flurry of attacks, slicing relentlessly from any and all directions she could. Sparks flew with each individual attack as Flandre did her best to evade and block Yuuka's scythe. She even tried to throw in an attack herself but that turned out as a big mistake as Yuuka just caught Flandre's Lävatein with the tip of her scythe and with a powerful overhead swipe tossed Flandre into the thicket of sunflowers.

Flandre rolled through the flowers finally stopping near where the slope of the small valley started. She held her head but got up quickly in fear that Yuuka was coming for her. She quickly glanced at the direction of the small opening. To her surprise Yuuka was still standing there with her scythe now hovering in the air and spinning rapidly in front of her. Yuuka was just standing there in a wide stance and her left side facing Flandre. At first Flandre was puzzled but a the position of Yuuka's hands and the fain glow coming from them told her that she wasn't out of danger. Flandre made the split second decision to dive down as Yuuka extended her arms toward the scythe spinning in the air and blinding light overwhelmed Flandre's eyes.

For the next couple of seconds the only thing Flandre could hear and feel were the roar and the heat of Yuuka's master spark. Flandre braced herself while laying on the ground the beam missing her just barely. In fear Flandre decided to crawl away. And as Yuuka's beam started to die down Flandre vanished into the thicket next to her. Yuuka did not see her doing this as the beam was also blocking her vision and as the beam faded away, to Yuuka's annoyance, it only revealed charred hillside and flowers turned to ash. She grabbed her scythe from the air and looked around herself. The valley had fallen silent.

"Reveal yourself, fiend," Yuuka roared. Flandre was laying completely motionless amids all of the sunflowers. Yuuka had calmed down enough that she at least didn't attack blindly but if Flandre were to answer that would give off her position and Yuuka would surely attack. But she still wanted to know why Yuuka was here and why was she raging against her. Flandre released three copies of herself in bat forms as quietly as she could and put them to crawl to different spots in the thicket. Meanwhile Yuuka had started to scour the edges of the sunflower thicket. Flandre could see Yuuka's feet passing in front of her as she held her breath as to not give her position away. But luckily Flandre's clones had managed to scamper far away enough that she could finally use them to draw Yuuka's attention.

"Yuuka, please stop, I just want to talk," The first copy yelled from the other side of the opening. Yuuka's attention immediately was turned to the source of the voice.

"I just want to know why you're here," The clone continued. Yuuka did not speak at first, just walked toward the voice. She then stopped and sank the scythe into the ground behind herself but she did not attack yet.

"I am here to end you," Yuuka answered with a whisper before pulling her scythe from the ground and releasing the same kind of wave of energy as before. The flowers were torn to shreds and the rubble on the ground was obliterated as the pillar-like wave made its way through the thicket finally exploding to the hillside.

"There goes the first one, shit," Flandre thought to herself while monitoring the situation from the relative safety of her hiding spot. Now it was the turn of the next clone.

"What have I done? Please, tell me, there has to be some kind of a misunderstanding! Just please stop," The next clone whimpered from the thicket near where Yuuka was currently standing. Yuuka's face was snapped toward the source of the voice yet again.

"I don't care for your pleas or what you have done, or anything. But what I do care about is putting an end to you before you doom us all," Yuuka responded calmly but her face, raging with hatred, betrayed her calm tone.

"What are you talking about? Please, that's not me! I'm trying to...," Flandre yelled through her clone before she stopped. She had already buried the thoughts of putting an end to all of this and saving Gensokyo. But now when Yuuka confronted her she suddenly wasn't too sure if she truly had. She looked in fear as Yuuka charged her scythe and sliced through the thicket. Flandre only had one clone left.

"The doom... hmmm," Flandre thought to herself after a moment. Yuuka had not mentioned even once that she had any other motivations to do this other than to, for some reason, stop her. Which led her to believe that she was not with me, Rumia, Mitori. Yuuka's hatred had been channeled purely toward her.

"How do you know that it is I who will bring forth the doom? We... we've never even met," Flandre asked through her final clone, watching as Yuuka's attention turned towards her voice again.

"The visions... they're the only thing I have... the only thing I need. I honestly don't even care anymore who is to blame and who isn't but seeing what was done to my poor Elly while constantly having the same recurring dream of you...," Yuuka uttered before she yet again sliced into the thicket, cutting the flowers gracefully yet violently. Flandre felt the final clone being destroyed. She was on her own again. She had hoped that Yuuka would tell more before attacking. She was currently contemplating on what to do next when all the hair on the back of her neck stood up. Yuuka turned around and stared Flandre straight in the eye. She had through that she had been hidden but Yuuka's stare was certain.

"I saw you every night. Standing on top of a flaming monument with only starless sky behind you. I saw your smile as the world around you crumbled," Yuuka said while staring Flandre dead in her eyes through the flowers. Flandre stood up slowly from the ground and looked how Yuuka's eyes followed her movement.

"The purpose of those visions I did not know. But as the severity of Elly's condition dawned on me, I sealed her into her own weapon so I could at least carry her with me and let her have vengeance," Yuuka said as Flandre stepped out from the thicket as hiding was no use anymore.

"Yuuka, you've been mislead! It wasn't me! I haven't done anything to Elly, I know who did it to her and they've been dealt with. Release her from that scythe and you'll see for yourself, Elly is back to normal," Flandre begged as she approached Yuuka ever so slightly.

"Bah! I'd like to hear you say that after you've held her in your hands. Every second I clutch the handle of this scythe I hear her cries and screams. But I'll admit one thing, after all the time I had spent here I started doubting. Whether I had mislead myself all this time. What if all the visions I had seen were just because of my grief? All that however faded away the second I saw you. At that point I knew that it had all been real. And I won't let my nor Elly's struggles to be in vain," Yuuka growled with monotonic tone. Flandre had stopped to listen. It made no sense. Why would Yuuka have those visions. She did remember how I had explained how the fractions of other shattered realities could emerge in other creating otherwise unexplainable and strange occurrences. But it still made no sense. If I and the others had planned all this to always work in our favor how could we let something like this slip past? How could we let someone as dangerous as Yuuka to get involved with the possibility of her getting ahold of their plans? Unless of course... she couldn't.

"It's all just an illusion...," Flandre mumbled, repeating what her reflection had told her over and over and over again to the point of pure madness. Flandre could see herself repeating the same lines as Yuuka. In her grief and desperation she had failed to see the obvious. The obvious reality that the reality was just an illusion. And without time that illusion is never ending. She and Yuuka, both had been playing our game this whole time.

The shock of realization nearly petrified Flandre. She didn't even realize how her hand instinctively reached for her pocket and the silver watch within. She was feeling dizzy. The world around seemed ethereal. From her pocket she finally found the chain. Her fingers followed that chain until she reached the watch within. It was as if breeze hit her face suddenly. She felt like a jolt of electricity pierced her body the moment she touched the watch. She realized her eyes were shut tight and no matter how hard she tried she could not get them to open. Her other hand was still holding the watch in her pocket so she brought her other hand onto her face and nearly ripped her eyelids open. I knew what she'd see next. The anticipation was killing me so very much that I couldn't help myself and let out a laughter. She heard this laughter. She heard me for the very first time in a long, long time.

Flandre stared in horror as for a split second she Yuuka frozen in place as she had tried to attack Flandre. A wrathful scream was locked onto her face with the tip of the scythe only centimeters away from her neck. But the true horror was what was all around Yuuka. I. Dozens upon dozens of versions of me. All staring at her, all laughing. The endless field of flowers around her and Yuuka was also not so endless anymore. There were just couple tiny flowers next to their feet with few withered ones on the ground. Flandre could feel her heart starting to race. The versions of me all staring at her was a haunting moment. A true testimony of what I had told her.

"Koishi...," Flandre whispered my name as she backed away a step and then looked at Yuuka again. It wasn't hard for her to piece things together from there.

"Of course...," She sighed while staring at Yuuka and the versions of me surrounding her. She knew what was to come next. Both Yuuka and Flandre had been dancing to our tune for so long that there was no backing off now. It would be a dance off for either one of them. At first Flandre looked at us. I was sure she was going to beg for stopping it right there. But against my expectations I was not disappointed.

With her free hand she formed a flaming aura from which she pulled her Lävatein. She had not yet fully given up it seemed. She gave us a one final death stare, one that we've gotten so used to already, before turning her attention back to Yuuka. She could have finished her off right there and there and to be honest I was almost expecting that as she swung her blade toward Yuuka. But at the very last second she must have let go of the watch as their weapons collided in a spectacular fashion leaving Yuuka a little dazed as her attack had been blocked and Flandre was back on her feet. Flandre took a quick look at her surroundings. The flowers were back and everything looked just like before she had touched the watch. She then focused onto Yuuka again. She had regained her balance and was ready to attack again but before she could Flandre put her sword away and yelled, "Yuuka, you've been tricked, we've both been tricked! This is just an illusion! You've been fooled into fighting me!"

"So you say. Yet I can see your mouth oozing with deceit," Yuuka responded and pointed her scythe at Flandre.

"Killing me changes nothing. It won't fix the world or Elly. It is Koishi who you should hate. She is responsible of your visions. She's responsible why you're stuck here," Flandre insisted trying desperately to avoid the conflict even if she already knew it was for naught.

"At this point I don't care anymore. Be it as it may I only want finality, in any shape or form. So, let me give you your absolution," Yuuka uttered coldly and readied herself.

"I'm sorry," Flandre responded and took ahold of her blade with both of her hands. My excitement was overflowing once I finally saw Yuuka lunging at Flandre. The two blades collided with a burst of sparks and flame. It was followed immediately by a second one. For an ordinary eye it looked like it had been choreographed. Their movement was so smooth. Yuuka's reactions to Flandre's blocks were graceful. As their blades collided she simply switched directions and span to slash her form the other side. These however were easy ones to block and Flandre knew it. So when Yuuka leapt into the air Flandre was ready and followed her in an instant. Yuuka made few slices in the air leaving few visible scars into it that soon ignited shooting beams at Flandre. Flandre on the other hand followed Yuuka keeping keen eye on her movement. The she dodged the beams with easy while holding her sword as far back as she could like dragging it behind herself. It was leaving a visible, fiery line of bullets in the air that all soon burst into life heading into Yuuka's direction. She did not even blink. Yuuka simply turned her back and with a large overarching swipe of her scythe released a wave of energy at Flandre that swept its way through her bullets.

The reaction speed of a youkai can be incredible. That which for human eye was an instant was still manageable for Flandre as the wave of energy cleaved few strands of Flandre's hair off. She had bent back like in limbo to dodge the wave and was now holding her Lävatein with both of her hands again. As the wave passed over her she straightened herself up again and with all her force threw her sword at Yuuka. Yuuka almost seemed surprised at this but she still refused to back off as she blocked the flying blade with a swipe of her own. With a bang the Lävatein was sent spinning backwards and Yuuka was staggered a little by the recoil. Flandre on the other hand had readied herself just for this opening. She grabbed the whirling Lävatein from the air and with the momentum it had span around applying all the strength she could into her swing. The sound when the black blade connected with Yuuka's body was something akin to a lightning strike. Yuuka slammed into the ground by the force of the blow almost immediately after. Flandre on the other hand stayed in the air for a second just to see if Yuuka would get up. And to be honest when she did it was surprise to no one.

Flandre sighed a little before she took a tighter grip onto the Lävatein again and swiped the air few times. The blade left lines of fire in its wake and when Flandre suddenly started charging at Yuuka the lines started raining down flaming projectiles. Flandre prepared herself for the impact as she was nearing Yuuka with her weapon firmly pointed at her. Their weapons collided yet again with a bang and Flandre was thrown backwards. She landed onto her feet slided on the ground couple meters before stopping. The fiery projectiles rained down all around them yet none managed to hit Yuuka.

Yuuka swiped the corner of her mouth before locking eyes with Flandre again. There was a visible scar going down to her chin and continuing all the way down to her waist. Flandre's strike had hit its mark perfectly yet yuuka showed no signs of stopping. The flowers around them started catching fire from Flandre's bullets, each creating a small smouldering circle that started to spread rapidly until almost all of the flowers around them were burning. If it had not been a battle situation one would have most certainly stopped to gaze at the view. It was rather spectacular. Yuuka however did not seem to appreciate the sight as she took a hold of her sight with both of her hands. Flandre prepared for Yuuka's incoming attack but was surprised when Yuuka, instead of coming at her lunged to her side. Flandre looked at her confused until she realized that Yuuka hadn't even meant to strike her. Yuuka had left a slightly glowing line into the air when she had dashed, presumably with her scythe. Flandre made the split second decision to jump, just in time as the line suddenly fired a beam just as wide as it was. But now when she was in the air she was more vulnerable and Yuuka new this well enough.

Flandre had not even started to fall back down when Yuuka was already coming for her. Flandre saw her and prepared for a strike but instead of straight up slash Yuuka went for an uppercut which Flandre had not anticipated. She however managed to get the Lävatein between Yuuka's scythe and herself. She could feel how the scythe grabbed herself with it as Yuuka flung it over herself and into the ground with such force that some of the flames around them were snuffed out.

Flandre was gasping for air as she felt Yuuka ripping up her scythe again and preparing for another strike. Even though Flandre had managed to somewhat block Yuuka's attack the tip of her scythe had still managed to eat its way into Flandre's side. And as Yuuka ripped it off she felt how it cut more of her flesh on its way out. Had she had any air in her lungs Flandre would have probably yelled but now she could only cough as Yuuka lifted her scythe and readied to slam it back down. The edge of the blade glimmered in the glow emitted by that black sphere as Yuuka tried to split Flandre's head. Flandre however was quick enough to move her upper body aside in time. Yuuka was unimpressed. She lifted the scythe yet again and struck down with a similar attack but Flandre dodged again. Yuuka was getting impatient. With annoyed growl she stepped onto Flandre's chest trying to prevent her from dodging. Flandre on the other hand grabbed Yuuka's ankle trying to get her off herself. Her nails were digging into Yuuka's foot as she lifted her weapon ready to finally end the battle.

"Die," Yuuka yelled just before striking but it was then when Flandre finally glanced up toward Yuuka. Without saying a word she grabbed her Lävatein from beside her and thrust it upwards as Yuuka was bringing down her scythe.

Because Flandre was wielding a sword she had greater reach than Yuuka with her scythe. So just before Yuuka's scythe reached Flandre's forehead the tip of Flandre's blade found Yuuka's eye and pierced it. Yuuka's reaction was immediate. The scythe fell from her hand and she reached for her face with both of her hands while crying out in pain. This gave Flandre a chance to back away a little and catch her breath.

Flandre stared at Yuuka. She was just groaning there and clutching the left side of her face where Flandre had hit her. It brought an unpleasant memory of Mitori into her mind. And to be frank she didn't even want to do this. Yuuka did not deserve this. It was we who deserved that blow not Yuuka. But there was nothing Flandre could do about it now. A small thought in the back of her mind tried to get her into thinking that she could have prevented this. That she was responsible but now she knew better than to listen to that thought. She knew that both she and Yuuka had been forced into this situation and it could only end in two way. The only thing Flandre could do was to make sure that neither of those options involve deaths.

"I'm sorry," Flandre simply uttered while looking at Yuuka and how her blood was seeping through her fingers. She did not react to Flandre's comment although she knew she was furious, raging at her. But now the only thing she really could do that she thought was right was to just leave. She finally understood that she had not actually wanted to give up the fight against the ending of the world. She had just forgotten why she fought. With this in mind Flandre turned around, let her Lävatein disappear in flames and started walking away from Yuuka.

"Don't worry, I'll avenge you... and Elly," Flandre uttered and made a one final glance toward Yuuka. Flandre could feel herself getting goosebumps when she realized that Yuuka was no longer where she had last seen her. It was as if the time slowed down when she made a hasty turn around to see where she had gone.

Yuuka had dashed after Flandre when she had turned her back and was now charging at her again from her right. She was so close already in fact that Flandre could clearly see the damage she had dealt to her face. There was a deep wound going all the way from her cheek to her forehead. There was no absolutely nothing left of her left eye anymore. It was just blood, tissue and pieces of broken bone. The only thing more distracting than Yuuka's face was her scythe yet again pointed at Flandre's neck. This time much closer than Flandre felt comfortable. Yuuka was too close already for Flandre to try to summon her Lävatein again and block the attack. She also wasn't sure if she should dodge for Yuuka could simply just attack again. She had the clear upper hand. The only thing Flandre had time for was to slid her hand into her pocket.

Yuuka did not understand the complexity of the events she had been dragged to. Much less what happened next when Flandre simply disappeared from in front of her. She couldn't even get confused when she felt something pulling the scythe from her hands and kicking her to the back of her knee. Yuuka fell onto all fours with no clue what just happened. She was about to stand back up when she felt a foot slamming onto her upper back almost ramming her face first into the ash covered ground. As if all this wasn't already enough she saw the blade of her scythe being brought under her and then pulled up against her throat. Yuuka pulled her head back as far as she could which was not much and certainly not enough as the edge of the scythe was only pressed harder against her throat. At this point it had already started to sink in what had happened but she still had no idea how.

"You... How...?" Yuuka groaned and tried to see Flandre in the corner of her eye but Flandre kept her head still by pressing her harder against the scythe.

"You are not my enemy, and I am not yours. But if you try to prevent me from seeing this through, then you leave me no choice," Flandre said with calm tone. Yuuka could not see her face so she couldn't tell what Flandre was about to do.

"You... You'll die for this," Yuuka groaned and Flandre could feel her trying to squirm her way off from her situation.

"Yeah, been getting that alot. And maybe I end up kicking the bucket. But that won't stop me from trying to save everyone, including you," Flandre continued just as calmly as before.

"Fine then, do it, kill me," Yuuka spat out the words like she had just drank poison. Flandre stood silent for a moment and tilted her head.

"Kill you?" Flandre simply asked while making sure Yuuka could hear the confusion in her voice. She then simply threw the scythe into the ground and gave Yuuka a little tuck with her foot making her fall into the ground in front of her scythe.

"I'm not here to kill. I'm here to stop whoever or whatever is," Flandre said with much more compassionate tone and look on her face that Yuuka could finally see when she glanced over her shoulder.

"I didn't harm Elly. Someone else did, and I'll make sure they'll pay for it. Pay for it all. So, thank you," Flandre continued and turned around. Yuuka looked at her for a moment. After Flandre had taken couple steps Yuuka finally asked, "For what?" Flandre then stopped and turned around.

"For reminding me we fight," Flandre said and made a compassionate smile before turning around again and continuing walking away. She didn't hear Yuuka responding anything. She didn't even hear Yuuka getting up. She just feared that Yuuka would attack her yet again which would leave her with no options than to finish her off before she could do the same to her. Flandre was already fumbling the corner of her pocket ready pull out the watch should she need it but nothing happened. She heard nothing from behind her. This made her hope that Yuuka had given up on attacking her but also worried. Yuuka wasn't the type to stay down. Flandre was just about to turn around and confirm Yuuka was alright when a blast of air hit her in the back.

"Yuuka?" Flandre asked and spun around to see what she was doing. She was just in time to see Yuuka's knelt figure clutching the scythe disappear right in front of her eyes leaving behind only slightly glimmering sparkles and the scythe that fell to the ground with a clunk.

"Yuuka!?" Flandre now yelled as the gush of wind died down after Yuuka's disappearance. She ran up to the scythe and looked around. She was scanning the ground around her to try to understand what had happened. Yuuka did not even leave a trace behind her. Nothing. Only the scythe, its polished blade glimmering in the dim light of the sphere behind her in the sky. Flandre knelt down before it and picked it up gently. She inspected it. It felt heavy. Too heavy for a weapon its size. It was as if she was holding a person in her hands. No, not just one person, two.

"Did... did you just...?" Flandre mumbled as she inspected the heavy scythe in her hands. She tried to find a reasonable solution to what had just happened but she could only come up with one conclusion.

"You sealed yourself...? So that you could be with Elly?" Flandre asked out loud but the fields of scorched flowers around her stayed silent. Flandre stood up silently, still clutching the scythe. Yuuka had obviously not believed what she had said. In her eyes she had failed. She had failed Elly by not defeating Flandre. Yuuka believed till the end that by defeating Flandre she could put a stop to this all and when she failed to do that she saw nothing else for her than to at least reunite with Elly. But Flandre did not hold this against her. She wasn't going to abandon them here in the middle of nothing.

With this in mind Flandre put down the scythe just a for a moment as she started searching the ground below the flowers turned to ash. Flandre kept rummaging through the junk until she finally found a piece of metal suitable for her purposes. Flandre didn't know what a crowbar was but she didn't care. It would suffice. She heated it up a little so she could bend it a little easier. And with a couple twists and turns she turned the crowbar into something that looked like the number eight but with three loops instead of two. She then carefully threaded her wings through the outermost loops so that the middle one was placed neatly between her wings. She then returned to the scythe and picked it up again. After inspecting it a little she cracked a slight smile.

"I'll show you, both of you that I stand by my words," Flandre said and then carefully put the scythe into her back so that the handle went through the middle loop of her little 'scythe holder' she had created. It wasn't really the most comfortable contraption ever. The scythe wobbled a little and she couldn't move her wings too comfortably. But it would suffice for now. It wasn't like she needed her wings for flying anyway.

With preparations done she turned to look at the dark sphere up in the sky. She glared at it. She had had enough of it and would finally be one step closer to ripping it off the sky. She then gently slid her hand into her pocket until she felt the chain of the watch. She caught it between her fingertips and pulled it out. The silver surface of the watch gleamed and glistened in the glow as Flandre dangeled it in front of her eyes.

"It is about time we see this through," Flandre uttered all determined as she grabbed the chain with both of her hands and carefully hung it around her neck. At first she felt dizzy. The world seemed to start spinning in her eyes. She had to sit down so she wouldn't fall over. She closed her eyes and held her forehead. A slight headache was starting to bother her but as suddenly as it had started it all stopped and she felt normal again. Flandre was letting out a sigh of relief when a slight breeze caressed her hair. She opened her eyes in that instant to see what had happened. And when she did she was not going to believe what she saw.

The last time she touched the watch and saw us she was so focused onto us and Yuuka that she had no time to take in what else was around her other than the couple flowers she saw. How ever now she could take her time to finally let it all sink in. Flandre was no longer sitting in the middle of vast fields of junk. Well she was still sitting in junk but it was far from an open area. She was surrounded by buildings. Huge dilapidated buildings. Larger than she had ever seen or even dreamed about. Flandre glanced at her feet. The ground was no longer completely covered in junk. In fact it was mostly bare with only piles of junk here and there. She was currently sitting on top of one. Flandre stood up and saw that the couple flowers she had seen before were now as charred as the ones she had seen in the field proving to her that what had happened with her and Yuuka was at least partially true.

"What in the world... where am I?" Flandre uttered in awe as she made her way down from the pile onto the bare ground that she had thought she would never again see. The ground was black and mostly cracked.

"Is this... some kind of stone?" Flandre uttered as her still charred bare feet touched the surface of cracked asphalt. She had never seen asphalt before so she didn't know what it was. But she could still see some grass forcing its way through the cracks. Flandre continued walking and looking around herself in amazement. The buildings were huge and glistening in the light that the black sphere cast.

Indeed, even though Flandre's surroundings had completely changed some things still remained true. The sky was still as dark as night, starless and partially covered in faint reddish clouds. The sphere also remained, still looming over the eastern horizon. Flandre could also see no traces of us. In fact she had feared that we would have attacked her the instant she hung the watch around her neck but that wasn't the case. To be honest she didn't see traces of anybody. Flandre had never seen skyscrapers of the outside world this close but she still understood that they were meant for living. So... where were all the people?

Flandre took flight in hopes of getting a better look at her surroundings. Flandre flew along the streets gawking at the shiny glass surfaces of the buildings and the straight lines of black asphalt separating the buildings from each other. The streets were lined will junk. Some apparently left behind by the humans who used to live here. Some fallen off from the dilapidated skyscrapers. Truly, most of the skyscrapers had major visible damage. Some had even collapsed leaving only the base of the building behind. There were even cars just left lying around onto the streets. It was like no one bothered to take anything with them when they left. It was as if everyone just stopped existing.

Flandre was intrigued and a little afraid too. She flew higher aiming at a hole in one of the skyscrapers. She knew that she wasn't here for sightseeing but now when she could finally see the outside world she would use this little moment she had as best as she could. The hole in the building revealed a floor full of worn desks and chairs. Flandre flew closer and landed onto the dusty floor that probably had been white at some point. She stopped there and just stood still for a moment to look around herself. The floor was dark. There were strange things hanging from the ceiling. To Flandre a fluorescent lamp looked like a chandelier of sorts. Some desks and chair had fallen onto the floor. Some were broken, some intact. Most had strange looking objects on them. Flandre walked up to one desk and stared all confused at a computer and a monitor before her. She poked the surface of the monitor making some dust fall off from it.

"What are you? What are any of you?" Flandre muttered as she looked around not really understanding anything she saw. Someone must have built this for a purpose, right? But what purpose would these serve? Flandre kept thinking this while making her way deeper into the dark and dusty building. She then stopped to inspect chair. She knew it was a chair by its shape but it was still oddly fashioned to her eye. It even had wheels. Flandre was bemused. Curious, she sat onto the chair. It was soft though it creaked a lot.

"Is this supposed to be comfortable?" Flandre thought to herself as she leaned back and forth on the chair.

"And what are these wheels for?" She muttered while gazing down at the feet of the chair. Assuming the obvious Flandre kicked the ground a little pushing herself into motion. The chair made its way across the dusty floor wheels creaking a little. Flandre held on until the chair came to a sudden stop as the wheels got stuck onto something on the ground flipping the chair and Flandre over. Flandre stood up from the dusty floor. Swiped her dress relatively clean and looked at the chair.

"Lousy...," She muttered and turned around to see what else she could find. The rest of the floor was basically the same so Flandre did the obvious and found the nearest door leading somewhere else. The door she found led to a dark hallway with many doors along its walls. Some were closed, some open and some missing. Flandre started walking along the corridor glancing left and right as the rooms passed by. Most looked similar as the one she had been in just now while some had considerably smaller rooms beyond them. None of these interested her however because she saw that at the end of the corridor there was also a door. She was most interested as to where that led. Flandre picked up her pace until she finally reached the door. It was as dusty as the others but at least was intact and. After a moment of just looking at the door Flandre reached for the knob. The knob was covered with dust. It may have been clean and shiny at some point but now it was grey and almost gross.

Flandre turned the knob and the door let out a slight click and she could feel the door being open. Flandre pushed it. It must have been long since the door had been used the last time because it creaked and squeaked like a sick rat. When the door was half way open the hinges finally gave in and the door let out a sudden crack as it fell onto the floor lifting an impressive dust cloud as it hit the floor.

Flandre coughed and tried to disperse the dust by waving her hand. Looking at the floor revealed an almost centimeters thick layer of dust on the floor.

"Sakuya would hate this place," Flandre muttered between coughs. She held her hand in front of her mouth and nose as she made her way into the room that had opened behind the door. The room was large but not nearly as large as the one she had entered the first. The walls were also covered with dust but the layer was thin enough to reveal that the walls were made of wood and had couple bookshelves here and there. In the middle of the room there was a large desk with just one larger chair behind it. Flandre walked up to it to take a better look at it. It looked important because it was the only thing that caught her eye in this large room. It reminded of her sister's throne room in a way.

Flandre hopped onto the table and made her way to the other side. She hopped off and landed onto the large chair behind the desk. That chair had wheels as well but at least it was much better cushioned and actually comfortable to sit on.

"I guess this is a throne of some sort. Did important people live here?" Flandre thought to herself as she span around with the chair. As the chair stopped she was once again facing the desk. This time she noticed that there were couple drawers on its sides.

"Can't hurt to take a little look," Flandre muttered and reached for the drawers. She gave the first one she grabbed a little pull but it wouldn't budge. She tried again but still nothing. On her third attempt she gave her pull a little force and with a crack of the breaking of the lock the drawer finally came loose. Stacks of papers were sent flying as the wooden box came flying off its shelve and Flandre lost her grip on it. She glanced behind herself when the sound of breaking glass could be heard. The box of the drawer she had accidentally flung across the room, hit and broken a window behind the chair that she had not paid attention upon entering the room. The view from behind the glass wasn't half bad. Actually Flandre hadn't bothered to look outside at all upon entering the building. She was rather high up so the view was expectedly rather good. Curious, Flandre stood up from the chair and made her way to the window to see how the city looked from the heights. This high up the piles of junk and the abandoned cars just blended in with the cityscape. It must have felt really awesome for the person who used to live here to look outside and see the city all around them. The towering buildings with the streets below. Now some of the buildings had collapsed but it didn't bother Flandre. The view was glorious nonetheless.

She finally diverted her eyes from the buildings to look what else she could see. From behind the rooftops of the skyscrapers she could see something intriguing. A mountain peak. She then remembered that she wasn't even on the highest floor. Just imagining what she could see from the roof made her twitch with excitement. With that she kicked the window to break it completely and dashed out and up toward the top.

It took considerably long time till the dark sphere came into vision when she finally reached the rooftop. It was made of concrete and had walls surrounding it. Flandre reasoned that people must have come often up here to take in the view. There were many antennae, metallic boxes on the roof and a booth with a door, none of which Flandre knew the uses of. She thought that that must have been how humans got up here. That was not what she had come up here for. She could finally take in the view she had come to look at. Under the black sphere opened up vast view of the whole city that continued almost as far as the eye could see. Flandre ran up to the concrete wall just to see better. Skyscrapers were reaching toward the skies each taller than the other. There were regions with smaller buildings as well. And had there been land for more buildings there probably would have been more but alas the sea that came into view behind the skyscrapers stopping the endless spread of the buildings. Flandre was speechless. She had only once seen the buildings and the environment of the outside world after coming to Gensokyo and before that it had been hundreds of years. This was far more awesome than he could have ever imagined. As she kept gazing a cool breeze hit her face. She enjoyed the every second of it.

"This... this is incredible. How on earth could humans build all this. The buildings are humongous! Is it like this everywhere?" Flandre enthused as she gazed from left to right and back. She then finally spotted how slightly to the left of her, where the ocean vanished behind the buildings, mountains started to rise. Flandre's eyes traced the mountainous peaks as they almost surrounded the city she was in. This continued when she had turned almost one hundred and eighty degrees. That was when she saw the mountain peak she had initially seen from the window. She also saw what lied between it and the city.

Only about a kilometer from the building on top of which she stood the city stopped abruptly. Flandre walked back to the other side of the roof to see better to that side. That side of the city had considerably smaller buildings so it was easier to see further. But even if she saw the view clearly her mind couldn't comprehend what she saw. Right where the city ended there was a cliff. A massive cliff. An absolutely mind bogglingly huge cliff. It was as if the ground had collapsed and dropped at least ten kilometers. The cliff led that deep. And it wasn't just a ravine either. Under that cliff opened up vast fields of open fields. Nothing but grey stretched out almost as far as the eye could carry until the same cliff could be seen again far off in the distance rising up again from the earth. It was like a massive bowl. The cliff starting just near the building she was standing on, then circling around the massive bowl from the right before it ended on the other side. On the left the sunken fields continued into the horizon.

It was like an apocalypse. Well, technically it was but this was far more dramatic than the plains of junk she had seen before. ultimately Flandre had to gasp for air as she had been so shocked by the view that she had unknowingly held her breath.

"What happened...," Flandre whispered into the air that quietly blew by. Those fields, even if expansive, weren't empty though. Monolithic mountains rose up from it in ninety degree angles making it look like a giant had shaped tables from solid bedrock. And behind all of that. On top of the cliff where it rose again opposite of her there was the mountain she had initially seen. Taller than any other. Flandre had no idea where she was. The landscape was alien, the architecture was alien, everything was alien, except that mountain.

"I... I've seen that before," Flandre uttered as she stared at the distant, gradual slopes of the mountain rising from the grey ground with its white ice capped wide peak reaching the bottom layer of the thin red clouds above it.

"Fuji," Flandre said out loud. She had seen that mountain in the books many times. Its shape was unmistakable even if one of its slopes was oddly sunken. Flandre was captivated by the sight. It was wonderful yet terrifying. It was something she had never even dreamed of before but to think what kind of forces were at play here to cause this much destruction. Flandre then slowly turned around and sat down leaning against the concrete wall.

"Okay... I... I really need to think. Focus onto the goal. Where do I have to head?" Flandre muttered to herself while glancing around over the wall.

"Here in the city... no it's too claustrophobic," Flandre muttered as she kept eyeing the skyscrapers around her.

"If I were the culprit... I'd want to be in a good vantage point. Not somewhere where I can get cornered. And I'd also want to see well around," Flandre uttered and after this peeked behind herself at the Fuji looming in the distance.

"Arrogant bastards," Flandre grunted. It was blatantly obvious. The mountain was basically screaming at her, "Come get it!" And it was infuriating. She managed to crack a piece of the concrete wall off while glaring at the mountain.

"Hiding on top of a mountain. Never thought anyone could get this far? Good, all the more worth to see the look on your face... before I turn it into mush," Flandre growled and stood up again. She then glanced down at the watch dangling from her neck.

"And after that I'm getting rid of this," She continued before hopping over the wall. The asphalt cracked under her feet as she landed after jumping from the top of the skyscraper. The sound was satisfying to her ear giving her even more confidence. She then stood up without even glancing around herself and started making her way toward the edge of the city where she had seen the cliff begin.

As she made her way toward the edge of the city and the edge she started seeing visible changes in the infrastructure. Not only did the buildings start to shrink in size but the the damage on the buildings and the roads was starting to get much more severe. More and more buildings had very high damage on them, most were missing whole portions such has floors and walls, while more and more had been reduced to just a pile of rubble. Roads on the other hand had the asphalt cracking even more now and completely missing on some bits. There were also many sinkholes that had opened up a long time ago. Some were tiny, some had swallowed whole houses.

"I truly wonder what happened here? Were the humans still here when all the buildings fell apart?" Flandre thought to herself while passing yet another demolished house. Now that she thought about it, if this all had happened suddenly, surely some people would have died here. She however hadn't seen a single body confirming to her that whatever had happened humans had vanished first. Flandre however didn't stay to investigate the situation further. She was nearing the edge of that massive cliff and she really wanted to see the damage up close.

She arrived to the cliff all of a sudden. It was amazing how well the houses and other buildings hid its existence when looked at from ground level. Suddenly the buildings just stopped and the only way forward was down.

Flandre stood on the edge of the cliff. The view was spectacular. She could see dozens, maybe over hundred kilometers into the distance. Looking down revealed the wasteland she would need to cross. The journey wouldn't be too long by flying. But that thought did little to ease her amazement. When one looked down they could see straight wall of stone going down at least ten kilometers until a sudden stop. Then it was dozens upon dozens of kilometers just smooth plains until the same cliff rose again on the other side of the 'bowl'. It was nothing but grey. And that's when it hit Flandre. She hadn't seen anything living since those blades of grass in the cracks of he asphalt. And even those had yellowed and dried down a long time ago. She had not a single living plant, animal or anything akin to that. The world was pretty much dead.

"How long has it been since the last living thing walked here?" Flandre asked from the silent wind that wouldn't answer. The thought of being absolutely alone terrified Flandre. But glancing up at the Mt. Fuji eased up that feeling a little, replacing it with hatred. She wasn't alone. She knew that much. And just standing here wouldn't change anything. And so she took flight. Not towards Fuji though. First she wanted to see what it is like at the bottom of that huge geological bowl.

Flandre floated down for a quite while. It was that deep. Even free falling would have taken a quite while. During her descent Flandre had time to take in the view and also inspect the surface of the cliff from its side. It was rough but a straight ninety degree angle. There were no cliffs or angles. It was as if the ground had just dropped few kilometers without any landslides or anything. Just imagining being at the receiving end of something like that made Flandre thankful that she had not been there when it hit. And the lack of bodies made it seem that no one else had either. Nearing the bottom of the bowl Flandre could start to see remnants of the city that had fallen together with the ground. Clearly human made structures were poking from the ground. All mangled and broken which it was no surprise after a fall like that. But it all seemed oddly clean. No boulders were covering the ruins and all the bits and pieces of the buildings left there were just raising from the ground a little too smoothly. It was when Flandre finally hit the ground that she understood why this was. Her landing lifted a thick dust cloud that made her cough a little. The ground was soft. It was sand. No, not even sand, extremely fine dust was covering everything. So fine in fact that it couldn't even form dunes. It just spread evenly everywhere. No wonder the ruins had sunken so cleanly.

"*cough *cough Wow," Flandre managed to utter between coughs as she kicked the dust a little lifting yet another cloud into the air. Even if her feet were scorched and she could barely feel anything with them she did feel how soft the dust was. If it didn't make it hard to breathe and didn't ruin what was left of her clothes she could have slept on it. But sleep was the last thing on her mind right now as she looked around herself while keeping her hand in front of her mouth and nose. The ascot she lost earlier sure would have come handy now. And now that she could take a closer look at the plains she could see that it was littered with half sunken ruins of the buildings that had fallen with the ground.

"Reminds too much the junk fields to my tastes," Flandre huffed and shivered a little. Even if it was intriguing to see what it looked like at the bottom of this geological bowl Flandre had nothing more to do here. She had a job to do. And on that note she took flight again lifting up yet another cloud of dust again before heading towards the far end of the other side of the bowl. She couldn't see Fuji from here but she still knew very well where to head.

It was like flying across a calm ocean. Ocean that was grey and polluted with floating building parts. And had huge monolithic mountains rising straight up. But other than that it was just fields of dust rising and descending gradually like waves. Flandre wondered what the ocean would look like. She had read in the books that icebergs could be seen floating in cold parts of the ocean. She wondered if these mountains were comparable to those as she flew by one. It took long for her to fly past it fully. It was that huge.

"I should visit the ocean once I'm done here. Maybe even fly across it. I wonder how long that would take," Flandre wondered as she flew across the fields. Flandre closed her eyes for a moment, trying to imagine the sound of waves crashing to the shore. She had only couple times heard this sound and even that was just on the beaches of misty lake so she had no idea what it sounded like to stand on the shores of the real ocean. That however didn't stop her from trying. When she opened her eyes she imagined the grey fields below her as crystal clear blue waters and the pieces of buildings as great fish that swam about as she flew past them. Looking up she saw clear night sky with stars dotting the black veil of the night like droplets of milk on black silk. And the crown jewel of the sky, moon was the pinnacle of it all. It had been so long since she had last seen it that it seemed much bigger than she had remembered. The moon cast a bridge of light across the open ocean, guiding her across it.

"Is this how it feels to be free?" Flandre thought to herself while flying around a huge iceberg that had appeared behind the horizon. She stared at its gleaming surface and her reflection. She wondered if ice could reflect her image. Or what ice even felt like. She had heard it was cold. So the best she could image was a cold crystal. Flandre giggled a little as she let her hand slide across the slippery surface of the crystal clear ice as she flew past it heading toward the horizon illuminated by them moon.

Suddenly the air became hot and dry. Flandre looked down to see steam rising from the ocean and the water boiling. This was odd and felt really real. Flandre stopped her flight and floated in place as she closed her eyes and shook her head trying to break free from her daydream. Upon opening her eyes again she was once again above the desert of dust but there was more to it this time. Below her was a river of lava that was seemingly gushing out from the ground couple hundred meters away from her. The dust around the river was glowing hot and melting into clumps of partially molten rock. She then remembered how truly deep she was. She didn't know it herself but the Earth's crust here was paper thin and magma could easily seep onto the surface. Flandre started moving again slowly, looking at red glowing river below her. She couldn't tell how far it led as the river soon disappeared behind the rolling hills of dust but by the looks of things it was heading toward the open horizon where there was no cliff to be seen. Flandre wondered what could be behind that horizon.

"Hopefully not another lava lake,"Flandre murmured quietly while floating away from the heat before speeding up again.

As Flandre started finally nearing the other side of this huge geological bowl she started to fly up again. She was aiming to the edge of the cliff. Rising up she could once again see far and wide around herself. She even saw that lava river in the distance wriggling its way into distance.

Have you ever stood on top of a hill or on a coast of a sea? If you have then you know the feeling of longing you get while staring at the distance. Your mind is drawn to just imagine what lies beyond that mysterious line separating the earth and sky. Maybe that feeling is drawn from curiosity, maybe from something else. But one thing is for sure. For a person who has spent their whole life in isolation that longing is near irresistible. Flandre's eyes were practically glued onto the view the whole time she was flying up. It might have been just dust and mountains but it was better than nothing. And that's what Flandre was used to, nothing.

Breaking through a thin set of clouds Flandre was nearly at the cliff on the other side of the bowl. The stone of that cliff was dark. Darker than on the other side. And oddly smooth. When she finally laid her feet onto the hard surface of the cliff she finally realized what it was. Solidified lava. She looked around herself. It wasn't just this one spot. It was everywhere. Everything was covered in smooth dark grey stone like storm clouds rolling onto each other. She turned around and looked at the edge of the cliff. It seemed that the lava had flown over the cliff and some had solidified right onto the edge. Flandre then stepped away from the edge and looked at Fuji again that was now rising just before her eyes as a massive monument. It was obvious where all that lava had come from and why one side of Fuji's slope was slumped. This would be the final leg of her journey. She didn't know what to expect to find at the top but she was sure that whatever it may be, it would be the source to all that had happened.

But before Flandre took even a single step more she turned around and looked at the horizon again. On her right the distant fields of dust seemed to stretch on forever. On the opposite side of the bowl she could once again see the city and to her left she could see the mountains surrounding the edge of the bow. She glance again to her right at the horizon.

"Someday... maybe," Flandre uttered and cracked a slight smile. She then looked back at the city above which hung the ominous black sphere. Flandre stared at it for a moment with tilted head as if pondering something.

"Have you gotten bigger?" Flandre asked out loud while staring at the sphere. Of course it didn't answer although how surprising it would have been if it actually did? Flandre just shrugged her shoulders and sighed. She glanced over her shoulder to see the Mt. Fuji looming over her. It would be a rather straight shaft from there.

"Okay, let's get this over with," Flandre said, turned around and started walking towards the mountain before her. She could have flown up but she thought that walking, even if slower was probably the safer option. Remaining unseen for as long as possible could give her an advantage. That was if she wasn't expected.

As the slope of the mountain got steeper the landscape got progressively more and more alien. Solidified lava started to form more and more sharper edges. As if it had splashed and solidified into mid air. The rock beneath her feet, even if her scorched feet themselves didn't feel it, was also quite warm. The mountain was very, very alive. Flandre walked between two of these rock formations. It was eerie. She was expecting them burst into life with a shriek at any moment but they never did. The tapping of Flandre's footsteps echoed amongst the rocks as she made her way upwards. At least her climb was rather easy. The side of the mountain was completely smooth devoid of any sand or pebbles that could hinder one's ascend.

"Reminds me of Makai. Actually, it's all very similar," Flandre huffed as she stepped over a larger boulder on her way and glanced behind her while doing so. The black sphere was looming over the city ruins in the distance casting quite imposing shadows. It was just like she had seen in Makai. Gloomy sun casting the shadows of the city and the fortress within. Flandre had wondered what brought that world into such state. Sariel had told her that it was the corruption they themself had spread after getting stuck in that world but Flandre had never stopped to think what that corruption was. Mainly because she had never had the time to but now when she gave it a little thought it didn't seem too crazy to think that what happened in Makai was similar to what happened here. Flandre turned her head back toward the peak of the mountain and shook it.

"Let's hope it is reversible," Flandre sighed but was suddenly startled by a sudden and deafening crack just beside her. Flandre fell to her side as gasses broke the stone surface and sent rocks flying as the pressures relieved themselves. The air gushing out was hot. Blistering hot. Flandre backed away coughing.

"What was that?" Flandre asked between coughs. The gasses kept gushing out painting the edges of the crack yellow. The earth beneath Flandre rumbled and she feared more of these would start erupting but they didn't. The initial eruption soon died down to a weak gush and the rumbling faded away. Flandre stood up, puzzled and startled by what just happened. She edged carefully closer to the crack that had just appeared onto the ground but she didn't get much closer till the heat became unbearable and the smell too bad. Flandre covered her nose and mouth and backed off. It reeked of rot.

"Better to keep moving," Flandre finally thought to herself after staring at the yellowed crack for a moment.

Further up the mountain the landscape got rougher. The stone structures that before had vaguely resembled persons and perverted figures had no turned into full on rock monuments making the landscape seem absolutely alien. Huge thin overhangs were stretching up and outwards like claws and large riverbed like ravines were scarring the smooth rock. Flandre's progress had slowed down significantly. One would have to fly really high just to avoid all of it and by foot it was taking forever. There were many cliffs she just couldn't climb so she had to either go around or fly over it and she decided to fly in all of the cases. The air was also getting heavier to breathe. That was because the higher she climbed the more she found those cracks from the landscape. Some were large and some were so tiny that she only noticed their existence through sharp pain she felt upon stepping on one. And it was no longer just cracks that were found. Flandre was starting to find puddles of boiling water where the landscape was smooth enough for them to occur. Cyan colored water was bubbling fiercely in these pools that were coated in some greenish-yellowish substance and smelled just as bad as the cracks.

The only body of water Flandre had seen so far in here was the ocean in the distance. Out of all places the slopes of a volcano were the last places she expected to find more. Flandre had stopped next to few particularly large pools of water. Water vapors were rising from their surface as bubbles rose from the small cracks at the bottom of the disgusting looking puddle. She did not dare to go closer because of the smell. There were many pools like this around the area. Flandre wondered where all that water had come from when a sudden rumbling woke her from her thoughts. It was the same as before. Flandre quickly spun around to see if more of those cracks would appear near her but there were none appearing. Flandre was confused for a moment until she heard how the water in the pools started boiling more violently. She was baffled and had no idea what to expect. Flandre leaned closer to take a better look at the boiling puddle. Then a large gas bubble that popped on the surface of the water threw a few droplets of water all around. Flandre freaked out a little by this and backed off just in time before the pond erupted. A massive pillar of boiling hot water shot upwards from the bottom of the puddle. And it wasn't the only one. All around the puddles with boiling water started spewing out geysirs. This was Flandre que to get out of there lest she be caught in the middle of it all when the water starts to pour down. Flandre took flight, covered her head, picked a direction and gunned for it.

Even after all she had gone through Flandre still feared water like nothing else. The first time she had been in the rain when she had saved Marisa had scarred her bad. She made her way through the rocks ravines as fast as she could. And even if she had long since outran the water the geysirs had spewn she was still panicking to get away. The only thought on her mind was that she needed to get higher up. And so that's what she did. With no sense of direction she kept dashing to every direction that seemed to be up until she finally managed hit one of those black rock structures which ultimately sent her crashing back down to the ground. Normally Flandre would have probably taken the structure down with her upon the impact. But surprisingly Flandre didn't even leave a dent to it after she hit it.

For a moment Flandre did nothing but just breathe as she layed on the hard and smooth mountain side. The impact she had had with the rock formation left a wide wound onto her forehead. With a silent groan Flandre brought her hand onto her forehead and when her fingers touched the warm and wet blood that was now starting to pour down her face she came back to. Flandre shot up from the ground flailing all around as if trying to swat away a swarm of bugs. She was dashing back and forth until she suddenly came to a stop. She stood silently in place and brought her hand in front of her eyes.

"It's... it's just blood. I am safe... I'm safe," Flandre sighed in relief and sat tumbling down onto the ground again. Her heart was thumping rapidly. She needed a minute to catch her breath. With a sideways glance she could see the peak of the mountain to her right. It wasn't too long of a stretch anymore. Leaning against her knees Flandre stood up again once she had caught her breath. She couldn't afford to start panicking again. She needed to preserve her strength. She once again started to heading for the mountain top.

To Flandre's delight it seemed that she would soon reach the snow covered level of the mountain and the landscape after that didn't seem too rough. Flandre got more and more excited with each step. She had never touched snow before. Or at least she didn't remember that she would have. Getting to feel what this soft frozen water would feel like excited Flandre so much that her pace grew to a slight jog as the terrain allowed it. Most of the large rock structures were now behind Flandre and the landscape started to open up before her eyes. And yet her jog died down to a walk again. Something was wrong. Snow was supposed to be cold and would melt in warm temperatures. Flandre was not feeling the cold. Sure there was a cool wind all around she was rather high after all but it was not nearly as cold as she had imagined it should be. Nevertheless Flandre kept treading forwards. Maybe she had misunderstood something. Maybe snow could form even in this warm temperatures. That didn't seem too far fetched. Flandre could very well misunderstand something she had no knowledge of.

After passing the last of the stone formations it was now just the smooth plains of snow between her and the mountain peak. She could see a crust of snow right before her covering the black stone in white. Marisa had once described to her that even during a moonless night snow would glimmer and shine like a sea of tiny pearls and diamonds. What Flandre saw before her however didn't look like what she had imagined at all. No glimmer, no shine. A gust of wind then lifted some of that and blew it onto Flandre's face. She coughed. It smelled all wrong.

"What's this? *cough Is this supposed to be snow? Really?" Flandre asked between coughs and started walking again. Something was rotten and as soon as she stepped onto which she had thought to be snow she realized her mistake.

What she was in fact standing on was far from snow. The whole peak of the mountain was actually covered in pure white fine ash. Flandre kicked it around a bit. There was no mistaking it. She might have never seen snow before but she had seen ash and she knew that this was ash. Flandre let out a sigh of disappointment. The peak enveloped in white seemed now much more sad than it first had looked.

Flandre's feet sank deep into the ash with every single step hindering her pace quite bit. But it wasn't going to be long till she reached the top. She was really close already. The ash wasn't a real obstacle. More like an annoyance. It was impossible to get a firm footing anywhere and with every time the wind blew she had to try to cover her nose and mouth. Ash was literally getting everywhere. It didn't take long till her shredded dress was stained white. But it mattered not. She was planning on getting a new one after all this was finished. That one would need to wait though because all this needed to be resolved first. Incidents don't fix themselves just by daydreaming. Flandre knew this and her mind was focused on her goal. Yet, her focus was diverted so easily. A couple meters in front of her were footprints. Flandre stopped dead on her tracks. Footprints. She had not seen anyone else after Yuuka sealed herself.

"Who else is out here?" Flandre thought to herself and quickly looked around herself. Her senses sharpened and she was ready to defend herself should she need to. But it was quiet. Only wind blew lifting ash clouds with it. Flandre eased up a little and walked closer to the footprints. The prints were deformed due to the soft ash. It was impossible to tell to who the footprints belonged to. It could belong to anybody. Only thing she could make out from them was that they were heading to the same direction as she was. Upwards. Though not straight upwards like she was. They were coming a little from her left and heading to her right.

"Who would be scaling a mountain if they didn't have some business here? Friend or a foe? Probably foe," Flandre muttered and stared where the footprints led. Instinctually she started heading to the same direction. She was still heading up so it shouldn't be too much of a hindrance. She knew it was a risk but she was still curious as to who on earth was here with her. She doubted it was the culprit themselves. What business would they have on the slopes? She also couldn't really think that it was one of the accomplices of the culprit. Even if they were scouting the area why would they be just walking around. Didn't seem like too effective method.

"Maybe it is a survivor?" Flandre said half aloud while traversing through the piles of ash. No matter how she thought about it even that didn't make sense.

"What would they be doing here? A ritualistic suicide?" Flandre continued but couldn't think of any more dumb reasons to humor herself when a the destination of the footprints came into a view. They were leading into a large hole in the ground. A cave of sorts. Flandre stared at it silently. The footprints were clearly leading into it but not out.

"Oh great, a trap," Flandre thought to herself and started slowly edging closer. Either she had stumbled onto some weirdo's home or she was about to get ambushed. Either way she still couldn't best her curiosity. It was telling her to take a look. She was only about two meters away from the entrance of the hole and nothing had still come out. She was expecting something to jump out at any given moment. She slowly descended onto all fours and crawled closer ready to bolt if anything came out.

"What am I doing?" Flandre sighed because at this point it was no longer necessary to stay quiet. If there was someone waiting for her they would know already. Flandre was now at the very edge of the hole. Flandre stopped there. Took a deep breath and readied for whatever would ambush her. She then slowly peeked into the hole. Nothing jumped at her. The hole was filled with silence and darkness. She now could see that it was more like a crack on the surface of the mountain rather than a hole. The ash surrounding it just made it seem like that. It got really tight really quickly and was spacious enough for one person only. And it was already taken.

"What the hell?" Flandre managed to utter through the sheer confusion. In that crack there was a person. A person she didn't need to think to recognize. She was staring at herself. In that crack was huddled her. A perfect copy of her. Flandre backed off.

"What's that? How in the...," Flandre mumbled as she fumbled to get on her feet again. Out of all things that could have been in there this was something she had not expected. She had not seen a copy of herself since Flan blew up together with the Scarlet Devil Mansion. In fact she had almost forgot that this was even possible. Others had talked about being able to see their own doppelgangers.

Flandre didn't know what to do. The only doppelganger she had seen of herself before was Flan. Why had she not seen more and why was she suddenly seeing one now.

"How on earth did you end up here? How?" Flandre stuttered as she walked up to the crack again to take a better look at the familiar figure before her. Taking a second glance at her doppelganger Flandre realized that she had not even reacted to her presence. She was huddled in that crack quietly sniffling to herself. Flandre squatted down.

"Hey, how did you get here?" Flandre asked. There was no response. Flandre leaned closer. There was something off about this doppelganger and she couldn't wrap her finger around what it was. Sure she was a lot cleaner and less injured than Flandre. She also had her clothes intact so it was clear that she had gone through much less than Flandre had.

"Just how and why are you here? Are you here for the same reason as I am? To fix the world... or at least something along the lines?" Flandre asked and reached down to touch her doppelganger who finally reacted to her presence. The doppelganger winced when Flandre tried to touch her and curled up even more tightly into a fetal position.

"Wait, of course. You don't have the watch. The world is different to you than it is to me," Flandre exclaimed but fell quiet when she lifted her gaze from the hands of the doppelganger to her face that was now staring back at Flandre. Staring with big scared eyes. Eyes that were...

"Blue? What?" Flandre let out as a whisper. It was then when she realized what exactly was wrong with the doppelganger. She had no wings. Flandre took a moment to process what she was seeing all the while the doppelganger was staring back at her absolutely terrified.

"You... you're me but you're also a... human?" Flandre muttered while trying to make sense of the situation. She was so baffled that she didn't realize when the doppelganger averted her gaze from Flandre's face to the watch that was dangling from her neck.

"Oh my god, if you're just a normal human how on earth have your survived this long? Wait, unless you never even got involved in any of this. You're just a victim... like everybody else. You never had the watch, did you?" Flandre asked and it was then when she realized that her doppelganger was no longer looking directly at her. The doppelganger eyes were glued onto the watch that was dangling from Flandre's neck.

"The watch... can you... can you now see the world like I can?" Flandre asked but the doppelganger stayed quiet. She then suddenly reached out for the watch. Flandre reacted instinctively by grabbing the watch herself and backing off a little. The doppelganger stopped and stared at Flandre again.

"I'm sorry but I need it, I really do," Flandre said with compassionate tone and look on her face. The doppelganger just stared at her for a moment and then diverted her gaze to behind Flandre. She saw the terrified look return to her face as she let out a small whimper. Flandre glanced behind herself and then back at the doppelganger. Flandre put two and two together and thought that her doppelganger, after gazing at the watch, now saw the world as it truly was.

"The world is... whimsical," Flandre uttered as her doppelganger retreated deeper into the crack and covered her head. Flandre looked at her for a moment, stood up and sighed.

"I'm sorry you got dragged into all of this, I really am. If I could, I'd help you but I really cannot do anything for I'm in a hurry myself," Flandre said with compassionate tone and look on her face but the only response she got was a pitiful whimper.

"I'll fix this. You just... stay safe till then," Flandre said before taking a step away from the crack but before she got any further she stopped. In fact she did have something she could give to her doppelganger. Flandre rummaged through her pocket carefully until she finally pulled out a knife wrapped in a green cloth. She still had the silver knife with her that she stole from me. Flandre looked at it and then at her doppelganger. She then stepped toward the crack and knelt down. She carefully placed the knife next to her doppelganger and stood back up again.

"Well I can give you this. I don't know how capable you are but it's at least something to keep yourself safe," Flandre said and cracked a gentle smile. She then turned her gaze upwards toward the peak of the mountain looming over them. She had spent enough time here, it was now time to finally get to the bottom of this all.

Flandre gave a one last glance to her doppelganger who was still huddled, unmoving in that crack before she started walking again toward the peak. But even when she left for the peak a doubt crept into her mind. A doubt that grew stronger with each step. Why had she not seen more of her doppelgangers. If what Rumia and the others had told her was the truth, with each reality breaking the doppelgangers should be pouring in like sand from a broken sack. So if that was the case, where were her doppelgangers. While it was true that she wasn't the original inhabitant of this reality there should have been more than just her. Of course Rumia had been in leagues with the main culprit of this all so her word couldn't be taken as truth by default but Flandre didn't see a reason for her to lie. She had had too many chances to retaliate for her to be just faking it.

"But... she said that those absorbed by their timelines cannot see their doppelgangers because they themselves are every version of themselves," Flandre muttered to herself while taking determined steps uphill.

"But those who were absorbed went mad. And I don't feel mad. Though the mad person is usually the last one to recognize their madness...," Flandre continued and after a short pause shook her head and grunted.

"No, I'm not mad. I'm certain of it. At least I saw one doppelganger of mine and Rumia even returned the absorbed back to normal," Flandre uttered all determined. But even then she couldn't help but to glance over her shoulder at the scythe that she was still carrying with her.

"Yuuka said that Elly had gone mad and stayed that way. So if it wasn't Rumia who caused that... Then who?" Flandre asked out loud and looked around subtly trying to catch even a single glimpse of me. She knew we were watching.

"Koishi... She did something to Yuuka. She manipulated her into thinking that I was the culprit. But she couldn't have been the one to affect Elly. Koishi had not absorbed her own timeline like Rumia had," Flandre muttered. That's all she knew and it wasn't enough to get her any reliable edge. She was still clueless as to what she would find from the top of the mountain. But at this point she really didn't care anymore for she was almost at the edge of the crater already. She had no idea if the culprit already knew of her arrival or not but if by some miracle she still had the element of surprise she was sure as hell going to use it.

Flandre had stopped right onto the brink of the crater. It would be just a quick dash and she would be on the top. If she was going to have the element of surprise she was going to use that chance to end it all for once and for all. With that Flandre summoned her Lävatein and prepared herself. She took a one last glance behind herself. The view was breathtaking. No wonder someone would want to settle here. The slopes of the mountain opened below her to every direction giving way to more mountains after reaching the roots of the mountain. There was also the absolutely massive geological bowl she had crossed. It suddenly seemed much larger this high up. And as a crown jewel to it all there was the city far in the distance with the black sphere looming over it casting imposing shadows.

Flandre nodded as a sign to herself that she had seen enough. There was now nothing standing between her and the main culprit. So with that thought she turned her gaze back toward the ever so close edge of the crater. With both of her hands she grabbed her Lävatein. Took a one last gasp of air before closing her eyes for the briefest of moments. During that moment she felt every second of struggle she had gone through to get this far and for that briefest of moments she felt at peace. She let herself go through every possible emotion for she wouldn't need to be hindered by any of them when she was going to put an end to this.

And with that thought that short yet so painfully long moment came to an end with Flandre finally exhaling, opening her eyes that were dead set on the edge of the crater and lunged for it. With the flaming sword in her hands she dashed over the edge readying the Lävatein to strike the first sign of movement she would see. She followed all this with roar fueled by all the rage she felt toward the person responsible for all of this.

That's why it was so hilarious to see her fell quiet and just float still in her place when she saw nothing. Just the empty crater filled with more ash and rock. Silently we watched as she slowly descended onto the crater's edge and stared at the scenery. The crater was couple hundred meters across until the other edge of the crater hit the horizon behind itself.

"COME FORTH," Flandre screamed at the top of her lungs her voice echoing in the air until the dunes of ash finally quieted it down. Flandre floated there quietly for a moment before her face twisted into a wrathful expression.

"No use hiding," She muttered before she started descending into the crater still ready to swing her weapon at anything she could find. The crater itself was quiet with wind blowing only over it leaving the crater sheltered from the gusts. The terrain was rough with many cliffs on the slopes of the crater and many large rocks offering many possible hiding places. But one thing the crater didn't look like was a base of operations. There were no signs that anything was going on in there. Flandre however was having none of it. She kept descending further into the center of the crater pointing her sword all around. She finally stopped at the very lowest point, in the middle of the crater and just howered there for a moment looking all around.

"Come out you cornered rat," Flandre yelled but was once again but was still met with only silence. After a brief pause Flandre let out a frustrated groan and swung her Lävatein at a nearby rock shattering it to pieces.

"I know you're here, now face me you coward," Flandre yelled and landed onto the soft ash. She started walking around on the bottom of the crater inspecting every single crack and crevice she could find but came empty handed every single time.

"I know they're here, they must be," Flandre muttered to herself with frustration clearly audible on her voice. She was returning back toward the middle of the crater still glancing all around herself but at this point it was clear that she was starting to doubt it herself. Had she come here just for nothing? Had she once again gone off course and just followed her instinct blindly? But if it wasn't here then where? It had to be here. She just had to look for more. Flandre was relatively sure of this. As she reached the center again and leaned against a rock with her other foot.

"HEY!?" She screamed into the air as if expecting to be answered. Shen then turned and sat onto the rock she had been leaning against. She leaned against her knees and rested her head onto her palms.

"They're here. They're just hiding. Maybe too scared to face me. They must be," Flandre muttered to herself trying to reassure herself that she was in the right place and the culprit must just be a coward. To her it made sense, for third party it looked like a clear denial of the possibility that she could have done this for nothing, that the culprit might not be here. Of course I knew. But it wouldn't be fun to end the fun just yet. And so it was time to make our move.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Flandre heard a voice ask. A voice she hadn't heard a in a moment but wasn't too keen on hearing again. It was the ever so irritating voice of the reflection that had been bothering her for so long. Her own voice.

"You again? Go away I don't need you distracting me now," Flandre groaned back after getting startled a little by the voice. At first she had thought that someone else was there but upon realizing that it was just her own voice she calmed down quickly.

"What do you mean? Didn't you just call out for someone? If it wasn't meant for me then who?" The voice asked with a hint of intrigue in it now. Flandre just shook her head. The voice irritated her a great deal as it had for so long. It had almost driven her to the point of insanity.

"You really think that? You really think that I would call out for you out of all people after you pestered me for so long. I was glad to be rid of you," Flandre retorted and held her forehead in irritation.

"Pester? Now that is rude. I only offered you answers to all of this. If you only had listened to what I had to say you wouldn't have had to suffer so much," The voice insisted with oddly soft yet confused tone.

"What you had to say? What you had to say only drew me deeper into the rabbit hole. I would have been fine without you," Flandre spat out and stood up from the rock. She was ready to start thrashing if that's what was required to silence to voice.

"An ungrateful, selfish brat, that's what you are. When will you realize that your own actions are the reason for everyone's suffering!? Have you ever stopped to think what you've done? Ever? I suppose not. Otherwise you would have answered my question from the get go," The voice now retorted with accusatory and really angry tone.

"Now you've done it. I will rip off my ears if that's what it requires to silence you! I don't have to take any of your accusations when you've done nothing but made everyt-," Flandre started screaming furiously but was abruptly cut off by the voice, "Look at me when I ask you one last time, did you count them!" Flandre stopped upon hearing these words. She slowly turned her head to look around.

"W- What?" Was the only thing she managed to utter. Flandre had not even thought that this voice could have a source. A source she finally saw after turning around. On a cliff just behind her was standing she herself. Another carbon copy of her, a doppelganger. Flandre was taken aback by this. In her irritation she had thought that what was talking to her was just the voice in her head again, so seeing that there was now actually someone talking to her in person made her fall silent.

The doppelganger before her eyes wasn't like the one she had seen just before. She had the same exact wings as she did and the same deep-red eyes as she had. It was as if she was looking at her own reflection, although she wasn't as rugged as Flandre.

"You... you're real?" Flandre finally managed to say out loud after the words had been clogging her throat for a good moment. The doppelganger chuckled as if she wasn't believing what she heard.

"Real? Am I real? Really? After finally getting here that's the first thing you ask?" The doppelganger asked as if she heard the funniest joke ever.

"I take that as a yes," Flandre muttered and looked down for a moment before glancing up again at the doppelganger who was now sitting down at that small cliff.

"And I take that your trip here hasn't been kind to you. Well you can only blame yourself for that. I did offer you an option ya'know," She said while resting her elbows on her knees.

"There it is again. You're saying things as if we had met before and I'm not following. Why are you even here?" Flandre asked with honest confusion on her face.

"Wow, am I really that slow? Or isn't it obvious already. We last spoke in the burning mansion. I am Flan, and I'm the one you've been searching for all this time," Flan exclaimed with a slight chuckle. Flandre took a step backwards.

"Impossible," Was the only thing Flandre could utter while staring at Flan who she had thought to be dead all this time.

"Just as unlikely as you standing right there. Sakuya saved you, honorable of her to do that," Flan responded and shrugged her shoulders. Flandre stared at her silently for a moment before taking a step forward and saying, "I'm here because Sakuya saved me, yes. But she also said she had no time to pick you up as well. Everyone said you had blown up together with the library. You shouldn't be here. How did you survive?" Flandre stared intently at Flan who was leaning her left elbon onto her knee and resting her head on top of her palm. At first she didn't show any emotion and Flandre was growing impatient. But then Flan flashed a wide grin and extended her right arm forward. From the palm of her right hand fell a glistening silver object on a chain. It didn't take even a second for Flandre to recognize the watch.

"You shouldn't have that... Where'd you get that!?" Flandre exclaimed with her heart rate starting to increase. Flan flicked the watch back into the grip of her hand and leaned toward Flandre while retaining that grin.

"You gave this thing to Marisa, didn't you," Flan said with amused tone. Flandre was sure her heart skipped a beat. The amount of confusion she had just felt all turned into fear the moment she heard Flan utter Marisa's name.

"Marisa... What did you do to her!?" Flandre cried out but Flan was quick to raise her arm to calm her down before she could do anything rash.

"Don't worry, don't worry, she's alive, at least the latest iteration of her is. Uhhh, how to explain this? You remember when you ended up here, in this timeline? You found yourself from the dungeon with me and Marisa," Flan started to explain while scratching her forehead. Flandre nodded slowly.

"Well that actually happened a little after you gave the watch to Marisa. Well at least for her it happened. You see, our actions here have caused a loop. A loop we have made sure would repeat itself perfectly in every single timeline. And this being no exception. Well perfectly thus far. What you saw when you emerged into this timeline was just one occasion when Marisa ended up there. I had seen her appear countless times before you appeared as well. Before that... well, let's just say Marisa would have needed more than just a couple bandaids," Flan continued explaining to the best of her ability. But this did little to calm Flandre down.

"So those skeletons... You slaughtered her over and over again just for this scheme!?" Flandre snapped with fuming look on her face. After hearing this Flan almost looked shocked and offended, this angered Flandre even more.

"No, I didn't," She responded after a moment of silence.

"What do you think would have gone through my head when after sitting in the dark for hundreds of years a person appears out of thin air? I was terrified. Even more terrified when it happened again, and again, and again. No matter how many times I destroyed this intruder she just came back. It all came to a climax when my sister moved us to Gensokyo and I finally saw this person face to face. Can you imagine the confusion. I had no idea why or even what was going on," Flan continued with much less glee on her expression.

"Even when Marisa appeared yet again together with you I still had no clue what was going on. It was after everyone looked away that I was approached by Koishi. She urged me to dig into the piles of bones that now dotted my room. And from within I found the watch. With Koishi's ability and the watch now in my posession it was easy for her to dump the memories of my earlier incarnations into me now so I could continue the cycle," Flan finished explaining with serious tone and look on her face.

"What cycle," Flandre retorted with her arms akimbo.

"This. Haha! You appearing, me getting the watch, Koishi killing you, the timeline shattering. You see, to be honest I'm technically not Flan you know. I have all her memories and she is the uppermost incarnation of me that I occupy at the moment," Flan responded and stood up from the edge of the cliff. At first Flandre kept staring at her all confused but then it started to click.

"Wait. You're saying that you absorbed your own timeline, our timeline?" Flandre asked when the realization hit her.

"Yes, and before you ask, yes, it was me who messed with Elly. It was necessary because we needed her to be that way before Rumia made her arrival. And technically Koishi didn't give Yuuka false visions. She simply gave her visions of me," Flan said and started walking down around the cliff to Flandre's level. Flandre stared her intently and in disbelief.

"But why? Why do all this? You've betrayed literally everyone. People have died and keep on dying. Have you ever thought about them?" Flandre asked with audible disgust in her tone. Flan stopped to look at her. She then cracked a slight smile.

"Funny, you summarized my reasons in your very question. Why do you think Rumia, Koishi and Mitori joined me? There's something that unites us," Flan responded and sat down again, now onto a rock much closer to Flandre.

"Mitori, you remember her right? In your haste to 'save the day' you never actually stopped to think that maybe it wasn't so straight forward. This led to Mitori being left alone in the world. You had indirectly wiped out her entire kind. On top of that she had gone blind. How much hope do you think a person has in those circumstances. Funny, if you had actually saved her from falling into that pit of molten metal I might have hated you even more now. I think it was better that way. To be laid to rest. She served her purpose faithfully but I'm honest when I say that there was no happy ending for her," Flan said while constantly staring Flandre in the eye. Flandre was disgusted by this but she couldn't do anything else but to stand still and listen.

"Rumia on the other hand, I know her full story. Do you? To be born into the world as an experiment doomed to fail. How do you think it may have felt? When everyone around her shunned her and cast her out from society? Of course she would be hungry for revenge. I managed to direct this hunger to the benefit of my cause because no one else could give her what she desired. A sense of belonging," Flan continued with not even a hint of joy in her tone as she explained the situation to Flandre.

"And Koishi... Koishi. It is ironic you know. Because Koishi, in your original timeline, genuinely tried to help you to the best of her ability. And it was because of that that she turned against you. Well I admit that it was all an... accident of sorts. Koishi had no idea the world would start to crumble and how it would affect her. But it did. And it did because of you," Flan said and pointed her finger at Flandre. Flandre let out a small grunt.

"To be frank she was the one who came up with this plan so technically she was the mastermind behind it. Though her reasons were much more selfish than mine. To live in a world where you already know everything can get unbearably boring," Flan finished with a hint of a grin forming to her face.

"So you destroy this world to create a new one? What about people who live in this world? How would you even imagine to do it? You're delusional," Flandre retorted without wasting a second after Flan had finished what she had to say.

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there. Don't you worry," Flan responded, stood up from the rock she had sat on and started pacing back and forth.

"Think about the world around you. Think about all the events that have happened thus far. Can you, with a straight face, say that this world has been created by a benevolent being?" Flan asked and glanced at Flandre from the corner of her eye.

"Do you think that a being who actually cared would have allowed any of this to happen? Or at the very least would have intervened. You're right, a lot of people have died-," Flan continued but at this point Flandre interrupted.

"By you! You've cast the world array, all those people li-," Flandre spat her words but Flan quickly snapped back at her.

"What about the Lunarians? Or the Kappa? Did I have anything to do with them?" Flan asked with a hateful glare. Flandre fell silent.

"As I was saying. The creator of the reality doesn't care. The God doesn't care whether or not I destroy or spare the world, nor does it care if you save it. Hell, it doesn't matter to him, her or whatever it is that created all of this, because it is already set in stone what will happen! Every reality, every timeline is predefined! There is no free will! Do you think the direction life takes is defined by some accident or fate. All happens because it must," Flan yelled and stopped pacing back and forth.

"W- what do you mean? What do you mean by 'there's no free will'?" Flandre asked in confusion. She didn't understand what Flan was getting at.

"Universe is like a clockwork. Randomness and unpredictability would destroy it! For an example, there is a timeline where we, you, I, Flandre from that reality simply pops the sun from existence the first chance they get. No reasoning, no agenda, nothing," Flan said while making a little explosion movement with her fingers.

"Now, tell me, can you imagine yourself doing that? What kind of series of events could have caused that? That's right, none! Universe is designed that every single possible event must and will happen. There is no free will. You're just predesigned version of yourself forced to do a certain events, like it or not. Had there been free will the universe wouldn't be so cruel place," Flan continued while waving her hands around enthusiastically.

"And how do you think you can fix that? How can you be so sure that you can do any better job?" Flandre asked doubtfully after listening to Flan's rant.

"With this," Flan simply uttered and pulled out a book with a cracked lock hanging from it. A book that Flandre recognized.

"That... that's Alice's grimoire. Where did you get that?" Flandre asked in surprise.

"The watch wasn't the only thing I dag out from Marisa's remains," Flan responded and flipped the book open, turning couple pages.

"This tome, at first seems like just strange scribbles but is in fact the blueprints of our reality. This book contains the actual language of the gods," Flan added with her eyes glued to the pages. Flandre wasn't sure how to respond. She didn't even know whether to believe Flan or to laugh at her.

"And you're claiming you can understand it?" Flandre asked with doubtful tone and look on her face.

"Our plan has been in motion for longer than you can comprehend. Long enough for me to learn things others could only dream of. Of course, Koishi is also a helpful asset" Flan responded, staring Flandre in the eyes and snapping the book shut. Flandre looked at her for a moment. Something didn't add up.

"Hold on. If you're saying that everything is predefined and nothing happens by accident, how come you could bend the events to fit your plan in the first place? It goes against what you just said," Flandre said with a doubtful look on her face. Flan looked at Flandre for a moment before bringing her hand to her face and rubbing her forehead for a moment.

"Didn't I just say that these are the rules of the reality? And what you did with that watch broke the reality. Therefore it broke the rules as well. It was already set in stone that you would do that and that opened up the possibilities for more rule breaking. Especially if one was in the possession of the watch," Flan explained and flicked her watch into view again for a brief moment. Flandre looked at her and nodded with a blank expression.

"Fine. Let's say that this whole operation of your's ends up working. Let's say you manage to create a new world. How would you make it differ from this one?" Flandre asked with a lot more confidence. Flan looked at her for a moment before cracking a grin.

"Glad you asked. You see, the universe will collapse if it isn't contained somehow. There needs to be some set-in-stone rule that prevents it from ripping itself apart. In the universe where we live that rule is that every single possible scenario must and will happen in its own timeline. That prevents the free will from being a thing," Flan started monologuing again. She then stopped and glanced at Flandre to make sure she was still listening. After confirming this she continued.

"While studying the book I came up with an idea. I could allow free will to exist if I forced the universe to exist in short cycles. If the universe was forced to end and then be reborn the same way at the end of each cycle the existence of free will could be allowed," Flan said with thoughtful look on her face while rubbing her chin.

"Short cycles? How short?" Flandre asked. The fact that Flan mentioned 'short' didn't sit right with her. Flan stopped and looked at her.

"I... I'm uncertain. But once I go through with this I will know the answer," Flan responded with a hasty glance toward Flandre.

"You're not even certain? You're willing to destroy everything just so that you can TRY to recreate a universe that might or might not even work!?" Flandre exclaimed. Flan turned her head toward her and gave Flandre a hateful glare.

"It's a chance I'm willing to take. I owe that to everyone. You and I both do," Flan growled between her teeth. Flandre responded with a sarcastic laugh.

"Don't group me with yourself. I have no reason to side with you," Flandre retorted almost laughing. Flan turned to face Flandre.

"Is that so? None at all? Well then I think it's back to square one," Flan said and started heading towards Flandre. After couple of steps she was mere centimeters from her face staring her straight in the eyes.

"Let us start this little conversation from the very beginning. Did. You. Count. Them," Flan asked slowly and loudly. Flandre pushed her away from her face and backed a little herself. She was now looking more irritated than anything else.

"Can you stop that crap!? You kept repeating that sentence way too much back on the wastes! So can you just stop and tell me what the hell do you mean with that!? What the hell was I supposed to count!?" Flandre snapped looking like she was ready to start throwing punches at Flan. Flan on the other hand seemed serious.

"I don't know what crazed hallucinations you've gone through during your trip here. But if you are honest in your claim that you don't know then you have more to think about than I initially thought," Flan uttered with monotone voice.

"Then tell me what's so goddamn important that I should know," Flandre bridled with pissed off tone and look on her face.

"The reason for those 495 years! The reason we deserved to be locked up in there! The reason why we owe the world a better chance! The reason why I can't feel nothing but shame every time I look you or any other version of myself," Flan suddenly yelled with such intensity that Flandre had to back away a step more.

"The exact number of lives we took during that night preceding our imprisonment! How many men died!? How many women!? How many of them were children!?" Flan continued with her face showing nothing but desperate rage.

"W- what?" Flandre managed to ask before Flan once again stepped toward her and continued, "How many burned while you looked them in the eye!? One night it took to prove that we're a monster!"

"Stop it," Flandre stammered with visibly upset look on her face but this only got Flan more excited.

"Oh, so you do remember in the end, don't you! You buried the memory out of shame, or maybe self hatred," Flan continued while approaching Flandre who looked more and more anguished by the second. The burning city I had shown her once again flashing before her eyes. She then closed them in rejection.

"No, those are not my own memories," Flandre cried out as she tried to shook her head to get rid of the memories flooding back into her mind. But Flan wouldn't stop. She grabbed both of Flandre's arms with her own and pulled them away from her ears so that she would listen to her. Flandre opened her eyes only to be met with Flan's staring right back at her.

"Just relax. Let them come back. Embrace the truth, tell me what you remember," Flan said while staring at Flandre intently. She then let go of Flandre's hands and pressed her own hands onto Flandre's temples. Flandre was basically in tears as Flan brought their foreheads together tightly and closed her own eyes.

It took Flandre back, way back. Back before even an idea of the dungeon wasn't a thing. Back to the time when everything was simple. A certain warmth started emanating from all around her. She felt at home. Safe. A picture was starting to form before her eyes. The first thing becoming distinguishable was the fireplace with a handful of logs burning happily and spreading warmth. It was pleasing to watch. One just wanted to approach it and curl up with a blanket in front of it and just fall asleep. From there on more things started to come into view. First the walls and the floor around the fireplace. They all had warm colours. Dark brown wooden surfaces and red furniture giving off a warm and welcome feeling. Soon it wasn't just the vicinity of the fireplace that was in view but the whole room. A room fit for a high class mansion. Large, well decorated and even had a staircase leading up to a second floor with balcony overlooking the room. Flandre knew. It was her home. Her childhood home. Her attention was then drawn to a young girl playing on the balcony. She was wearing a tidy mostly white dress with red trimmings. Her blonde hair was curled and well kept. And on her back were two bat wings happily flopping around as she played with her toys. Nothing more innocent than a child playing.

Soon her attention was starting to shift to what was going on around the girl. A lot of maids and servants she hadn't previously noticed were seemingly rushing back and forth in a hurry. Reminded her of the fairymaids. They always had something to do, cooking, cleaning, whatever their masters had in mind. These servants however weren't fairies. They were humans. Living breathing humans. Once every now and then one of them would approach the girl. Have a few words before the girl's attention was drawn back to her toys. The servants, after waiting for a moment next to her soon gave up and returned to their duties.

A door suddenly opened and from it into the room stepped two people. One man, one woman. Both very clearly important people according to their appearance. The man was dressed in an impressive all black suit with a white dress shirt and a bowtie, while the woman had a pompous purple dress shaped like bell. The girl glanced at their direction and cracked a joyful smile as they walked past her and the woman brushed her hair. She was obviously the mother and man the father. The child watched as they descended down the stairs before returning to her toys. Upon further look it became clear that the both woman and the man as well had bat wings, thought their clothes did a pretty good job at hiding them. The couple was apparently heading for a larger door at the lower level of the room under the balcony.

That's when the focus shifted to a window on the opposite side of the room. One of the maids was looking through it into the crisp autumn night. The moon was almost full and even if the sky was cloudy it managed to shine brightly through the cracks in them. The mansion was surrounded with large yard on the outside without any real fence surrounding the area. There were a lot of trees though that blocked anyone from seeing too far. Most of the leaves had already dropped leaving the trees looking like naked perverse skeletons. The night seemed peaceful but something was wrong. The maid called out for the couple who turned to look at her confused. She signed them to come over. The girl on the balcony only glanced at the maid briefly. She wasn't interested. The royal looking couple came over to the maid who stepped aside from the window while pointing outside. The man took a look. From behind the bare trees there could be seen a light. A light that wasn't supposed to be there and seemed to be moving and getting brighter. The woman seemed concerned and grabbed the man's arm. The man caressed her hair a little with equally concerned look on his face while looking through the window. The man then said something to his wife who nodded quietly and started heading back upstairs. Meanwhile the source of the light had become visible on the outside. It was a mob of people, some of which were carrying torches. That's what was producing the light. The girl on the balcony seemed still unconcerned even if the maids and the servants were all starting to act very nervous and gather around the room. The man then left the window and walked up to the visibly confused and scared servants. He started to talk to them and no sooner did the first bang ring out from the door leading outside. Everyone's attention turned toward it, even the girl's. The woman also turned to look who was at the moment halfway up the stairs. The room fell quiet. Everyone was waiting for what would happen next. Soon there was another bang. The servants were getting jumpy and stressed. There was now starting to be yelling behind the door. Someone was about to force their way inside. The man stepped toward the door and right after there was a third bang and a black head of a large hammer came crashing through the door. That's when the servants went crazy. The room suddenly fell into anarchy and chaos with servants yelling and running back and forth. Not a moment later an axe joined the hammer which split the door in half.

Now there was even more yelling and chaos as the mob from the outside started forcing their way in. The door which was split in half now didn't resist for long as the both halves were kicked aside and the men started to flood in. The men were wielding everything from torches to pitchforks, from swords to bows. The servants were all heading for the doors trying to flee from the scene but with all of them trying to force themselves through tiny doorways it made them an easy target as the men started slashing their way into the house. The man who had stood before the door just now had drawn his own sword and was trying to fend off the attackers with it together with the fire he cast. He however was powerless when the bowmen took aim. The glistening tips of their arrows had a clear target. With a loud THWACK they all fired at once. The man looked in horror as the rain of silver pierced her wife who had tried to get to the upper level and to the girl who was staring the commotion wide eyed. No scream left the woman's mouth as she clung to the railing of the staircase before slumping to the ground, blood starting to stain her dress into a darker shade of purple. But what was not heard from the woman was definitely heard from the man as he screamed his wife's name trying to get to her through the crowd. He however was stopped soon when the second wave of arrows were now fired almost point blank at the man. His ribcage burst open as all the arrows hit their mark and pierced him making his lips fall quiet.

All this happened all the while the girl was still watching from the balcony wide eyed not uttering a single word. Once the man fell the men started focusing on the servants. Some of them managed to put up a considerable fight and armed themselves with the weapons dropped by the attackers. Despite this however it was still very clear as to which way the fight was going to go. Not to mention that the fires the man had cast earlier were starting to spread as they had caught onto furniture and the curtains. Despite all this the girl still sat still and watched. The attackers were now making their way upstairs while chasing a group of maids. It was apparent that the men had not even noticed the girl and the servants had forgotten about her completely. The maids ran past her aiming for the door near her. The men were hot on their heels but few of them happened to notice the tiny figure to their right. The men stopped while the others continued the chase. The girl was with her back turned towards them so it was obvious to the men what she was. They were confused though. They had not expected that there would be a child. One man pondered what should they do. He felt like killing a child was too much. The other two however weren't as merciful. The one who was carrying a spear was already preparing himself to strike the girl who was now turning to face them after hearing them talk. The deep red eyes burrowed into the eyes of them man who was now pointing his spear at her. He the plunged it straight into the girl's chest without hesitating a second longer.

The girl winced. The spear impaled her spilling blood everywhere. The girl however didn't slump down like her mother and father. She simply sat there with the spear in her chest staring into the eyes of the man who had impaled her. In their haste to kill the girl the man had not stopped to think whether or not his weapon could kill the girl. The tip wasn't made of silver so it wasn't able to do much more than to inflict pain. And pain did she feel. The man backed away from the girl upon realizing his mistake. A single tear fell from the girl's wide open eyes as grabbed the railing of the balcony and pulled herself up in one swift motion. Not a moment after standing up the girl grabbed the spear in her chest and let out the most gut wrenching wail the attackers had ever heard. The fighting ceased instantly as everyone held their ears to block off the scream. The girl on the other hand pulled the spear out the same way it had come. The men watched in horror as blood spewed everywhere from the girl's wound. They tried to stumble away while holding their ears but they weren't able to take more than couple steps before the girl let loose on them. The third had enough time to watch as his friends were split in half before he himself met the same fate. The screaming had stopped by now and none of the men below had yet any idea what had happened on the balcony. Had they realized the archers may have had enough time to stop her but as they looked at each other confused they failed to see the girl blazing with hatred charging at them. The spear found the necks of many and those that it didn't were either clawed open or burnt to ashes. The girl let out her full rage and hatred swinging with the spear everywhere without any regard if she hit her own servant or one of the attackers. With her free hand she cast lighting and fire further fueling the already strong fires.

The massacre was short but bloody. Bodies came to almost fully cover the floor and the parts that weren't had almost inch deep of blood. The girl stood victorious in the middle of it all, still holding the spear and breathing heavily. The flames had spread so viciously that the mansion was about to collapse at any second. If there were any other people within they would perish soon as well. The girl's bloodlust however wasn't yet satisfied. It wasn't about revenge anymore either. That had faded almost as soon as she had grabbed the spear. No, she wanted blood and she knew where she would get it. With one swift motion she turned her head toward a wall, pointed her hand at it and blasted the whole wall away sending pieces of burning wood flying everywhere like shooting stars. She took flight and headed out immediately with crazed glare painted upon her face. Not seconds later did most of the mansion collapse behind her into a burning rubble.

A kilometer or two away from the mansion there was a fairly large town from where the men had come from. The streets were wet from the autumn rains and mostly empty. Stone and wooden houses hugged each other tightly with narrow cobblestone and dirt streets snaking their way through the village. Most of the people were sleeping soundly in their homes completely unaware of the danger that was approaching rapidly. Those that were awake and were high up enough could see the glow emitted by the burning mansion. Only few were aware of the plan the men had come up with and even less could believe that what they had tried had gone horribly wrong. What at first was quiet sleeping town was suddenly woken up and turned into chaotic maze when the girl first flew over the town casting hellfire below her that caught onto the wet wood like dry paper. People were starting to wake up one after another and were looking through the windows to see what had happened. For a moment all they could see was a burning trail of houses. Then suddenly another pillar of fire ignited from the sky and started incinerating the town below. It was then when the panic set in completely. Some rushed out in the hopes of putting out the flames. Some fell to the floor and prayed for their life to be spared. Some froze in shock. It was as if the very heavens themselves had decided that now would be the end of the world.

The girl kept flying back and forth above the city casting fire at everything she saw. Nothing was spared. Soon the screams and the roaring of the flames was equally deafening and only then did the girl land on top of the belltower of the local church. She stood on the roof of the bell tower hanging onto the cross that was at the very top and looked down at the chaos. Her head snapped this way and that as she stared at all the people panicking on the streets. It made her mouth water. Some people probably saw her hanging there and most likely assumed that the Devil himself was upon them. Those that saw her soon saw her take flight again and dash between the houses. The girl had picked her pray. She grabbed an unfortunate woman from the streets and flew higher again. She literally tore her apart mid air. And it did not satisfy her. Her next target was an old man trying to throw water he had managed to find into the ruins of his burning house. The girl dropped onto him breaking his back and killing him instantly. One could say he was fortunate that he wasn't alive to see and feel what she did to him next.

After being done with her new pray the girl lifted her gaze from the bloodied remains of the man to once again look for new target. There were people running back and forth in hysterical states so she had lot's of options to choose from. However there were also people who were still in their right minds and had seen what she had done. And those that saw her didn't see a little girl. Oh no. They saw a winged beast clutching a spear in her hand and devouring a human right before their eyes. And they did not take it kindly. Two men tried to attack her but before they could even get close they got sliced in half by the spear. The girl looked at her 'would-have-been' attackers with an intense glare devoid of any emotion. Her gaze then snapped back at the people running around trying to do something to the raging fires. She had decided that she did not need a separate targets anymore. She would worry about the harvest first, only after that would come the feast. The girl raised her spear and a black fiery weapon formed into her free hand.

From the other side of the town it looked like the buildings were blowing up and for the most part they were. The girl did not hold back. Every slice of her black blade leveled at least one building and with the spear she impaled anyone and everyone who got too close. It was starting to look like some sick rotisserie with old bodies breaking and falling off as new ones were added. But it was still not enough. It was never going to be enough. She would keep carving her way through the town till nothing remained or the sun rose. The houses fell before her no matter what they were made of and every person unlucky enough to cross her path met the same fate. People who hadn't seen what was causing all of this were sure that this was the judgement day and that the end was near. Most of them were corrected the moment they saw the girl busting through a new building carrying her blade and dragging the spear filled with humans and human body parts as some kind of twisted treasure. The girl simply walked along the street with all the people trying their best to run away. All weren't able though. Like a human girl whose legs had been broken. Only thing she could do was to drag herself away as fast as she could and watch as this demon approached her. After reaching the striking distance of the girl the demon simply stopped for a moment and stared at her. Her face showed nothing but fear. It was the face that screamed, "Have mercy!"

There however was no mercy the demon could give, and so after staring for couple seconds the demon raised her spear again and added the girl into her collection. There was no sanity left int that being. She had gone too far to be even called a demon. She was the devil incarnate and there was no stopping her. Or so it seemed until a scream rang out in the air. A scream calling for the name of this devil.

"FLANDRE," That's what it said. The devil did not take a single step more after hearing this. She froze in her place still clutching the spear she had just driven into the girl. She then slowly turned her head around to see a figure standing at the end of the street. The figure had wings like her and was also carrying a spear. This spear was something else though. It was engulfed in flames just like the black blade the devil was carrying.

In that moment the world around the two became meaningless. It was just the two of them. The devil then with a one swift motion yanked her spear from the ground clearing it from the bodies and turned to face the figure at the end of the street. This was to be the pinnacle of her massacre. Or so she thought because even before she could take flight the figure was already charging at her and that's when the memory cut itself and Flandre snapped out of it. With shocked look on her face Flandre pushed Flan away. She looked around herself while breathing heavily to make sure she truly wasn't on the streets of that burning town.

"How did you do that? You shouldn't be able to," Flandre asked with unbelieving tone and look on her face.

"Koishis, they're all around us even now," Flan said and pointed her arm around. Her face was grim as if she had not slept in weeks. Flandre could only assume that by forcefully digging up her memories she had gone through them as well.

"But they're not from my timeline, they shouldn't be able to interact with me," Flandre said with while trying to swipe off the sweat from her forehead.

"True, but they can interact with me as I am from every timeline. But please do tell me what you saw," Flan said and sat down once again to that very same stone she had sar on earlier.

"I don't know. I don't know what went into me. I don't want to know. That's not me, I-," Flandre started to babble in defiance but Flan wasn't satisfied with what she was getting so she cut straight to the point, "THREE THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY TWO! That's how many lives were lost in under an hour because of US! One thousand, three hundred and twenty six of them were men! One thousand, two hundred and three of them women! And nine hundred and forty three of them children! And now ask yourself, DIDN'T WE DESERVE TO BE LOCKED UP OR NOT!?" Flan looked furious. Her face was red and it looked like she was going to start crying if she didn't calm down. Flandre backed away from her after hearing her outburst. She turned away from Flan in shame. What she was saying did have truth behind it.

"I didn't want to...," Flandre managed to whimper while facing away from Flan who seemed to calm down upon hearing this.

"I know... I know, neither did I. We just didn't have a choice, you and I. Our actions were predetermined. We had no say in things," Flan said with her voice suddenly being softer and soothing even.

"And that's why I'm doing this. The world is an evil place, devoid of free will, created by an indifferent entity. But we can set things right. We can offer the world a new chance by creating a new one," Flan continued, stood up and started walking towards Flandre who was still facing away from her.

"Join me. You don't need to feel shame about it. Many have done so before you, maybe more will after you," Flan said and put her hand onto Flandre's shoulder who winced a little upon touch. Flandre was quiet though. Flan's offer was comforting. Like a parent soothing their child. But even the mere thought of that word brought up the image of the girl who had looked at her and silently begged for mercy before she had ended her in coldest of blood. It was the very same face Eve had made when she had almost lost it again. She remembered Eve's family. People who had no obligation nor reason to help her and yet they did. Shared what they had, laughed and cared for each other. It was then when she just started to realize it that the whole time she had thought people were just getting in her way they were actually just caring for her and for the people around her. Just as she was trying to do.

Flan looked as Flandre lifted her hand and placed it onto her's that was still resting on Flandre's shoulder. She then watched as Flandre turned her face toward her. Flandre saw a gentle smile on Flan's face and for a second they just looked at each other. That moment was broken however when Flandre removed Flan's hand from her shoulder.

"I don't believe you," Flandre simply uttered and turned to face her completely. Flan looked surprised as she stared at Flandre's hand that had just rejected her's.

"What?" Flan asked in genuine surprise. Her reaction made Flandre smile a little.

"I said I don't believe you. World isn't as evil as you think. You just don't see it the way the others may. You don't see every small act of kindness when you look down from a mountain. You cannot see people caring for their loved one's, their families, their friends. But even if you don't see it, that doesn't mean it isn't happening right under our noses. A dear friend to me... and you as well said that mathematically good should not even exist in this universe anymore, and even now it still does. To me that's not a sign of that we don't have free will. In fact quite the opposite. To me it seems that people very much have free will and are using it to care and love each other," Flandre said while holding her other arm on her chest as a way to show that she was genuinely believing what she was saying. Flan was staring at Flandre and looked surprised and even dumbfounded. She had fully expected that Flandre would accept her offer.

"So, how about you join me?" Flandre asked and offered her hand for Flan. Flan looked at it silently and then back at Flandre still not changing the look on her face. And to Flandre's surprise she saw Flan lifting her own hand. For a second Flandre was starting to get ecstatic. Was she actually getting through for once? But her excitement wore off quickly when she saw that Flan was not offering her her hand and instead pointed her palm at her. Flandre gulped and lowered her hand. At first she didn't know what Flan was doing but when a small glowing sphere materialized into her palm all of a sudden Flandre's heart skipped a beat. That moment she felt as if something very personal was just ripped from within her. Flandre instinctually backed away one step and stared at Flan in disbelief. Flan then turned her hand palm-side up so that the sphere was almost like resting on her hand. The sphere was pitch black and glowing faintly orange light around itself. Flandre looked paralyzed how Flan's fingers curled up around the sphere.

"Please, don't," Flandre managed to say through her shock. Flan just stared at her coldly.

"I see you've made your choice so you leave me with none," Flan responded which made chills run down Flandre's spine.

"But I'm not heartless," Flan continued opened her palm and revealed it to be empty again. She then pointed her hand to her side instead of Flandre. Flandre watched as Lävatein formed into it in a burst of flames.

"I will still have to kill you though," Flan said and pointed the Lävatein at Flandre. It was strange to see one's own weapon pointed at oneself. But seeing how Flan was not going to blow her up with her ability made Flandre regain her confidence. Flandre summoned her own Lävatein in a similiars burst of fire and grabbed it from the air.

"Likewise," Flandre simply uttered and took a firm grip of her sword with both of her hands. Flan's and Flandre eyes were locked as they started to slowly circle each other, the only sound in the air being the their steps on the ash and the flickers of the flames of their weapons. Flandre had been in many fights but not in like this one before. It made her nervous. Usually she would attack straight away and figure out her enemy that way but now she couldn't afford to do that. As far as she knew Flan was equal to her and if she had truly absorbed her timeline she had no chance of winning in straight forward combat. Flandre thought it was safer option to let Flan do the first move. She needed to be careful.

They had now circled almost a half circle and were on the opposite sides from where they had started. Neither had still made their move. Flandre was starting to get impatient. What was Flan waiting for? Flandre was so focused on her opponent's eyes that she had completely forgotten to pay attention to her feet. There was a small rock sticking out from the ash. She couldn't feel it immediately when she stepped on it because her feet were still badly burned. But when she rested her weight on it she almost tripped over. Flan needed nothing more to move on the offensive. Immediately Flandre was met with a flurry of attacks coming from every direction. It was more than difficult for her to keep herself unscaved. Flan's attack's soon backed Flandre to a wall and with a desperate attempt to back of Flandre blasted the ground between themselves and used this small gap to jump up onto the cliff where she had initially seen Flan.

Flandre was breathing heavily already, not from exhaustion but from surprise. She looked down at her opponent and Flan was looking back at her. This however did not lost as Flan jumped up ready to attack again but this time Flandre was prepared. As Flan was in the air she could not force Flandre to back off. Flandre used this to her advantage and attacked herself. Flan had no difficulties in blocking but by doing so she was pushed back herself. Flandre followed her attack now by summoning a barrage of projectiles followed by waves of fire from her sword. This did the trick as after deflecting couple shots Flan was forced dive down and evade Flandre's barrage. Flandre followed Flan's movements with her attacks but she kept evading them with relative ease. Flandre finally lost visual to Flan after she dove behind a large rock. Flandre stopped shooting and took a firm grip from her blade. She was preparing for a surprise attack. There suddenly was a cut that went through the rock behind which Flan was hiding. Then with a boom the half that was cut loose was thrown at Flandre with incredible speed. One could have thought that the smartest move would have been to either destroy the rock or dodge it but Flandre knew exactly what Flan was doing. So instead of either of those options Flandre lept toward the flying rock and blew it up with a single powerful punch. She had her Lävatein readied and from behind the rock she saw just as what she was expecting. Flan was charging at her right behind the rock. Had she stayed put and dodged or destroyed the rock Flan would have had a free shot at her. Flan had not expected Flandre to charge at her herself so when Flan saw her she was caught off guard. Flandre used this opportunity to strike at her.

As Flan was thrown back Flandre was sure that her hit must have severed a limb or at least disabled one. Flandre landed onto the ground and watched as Flan was gathering herself from the ground after hitting rocks behind her. Flan stood up and stretched her neck a little accompanied with the sound of cracking joints. After that she picked up her blade again and started approaching Flandre. Flan was visibly unharmed even though Flandre was sure her strike must have dealt damage.

"She's like Rumia. She simply recovers any damage dealt," Flandre thought to herself as she prepared to fight again. Flan looked annoyed more than anything as she walked towards Flandre. She then started spinning her Lävatein in her hand creating a threatening image. Flandre stared intently at Flan trying to predict what she was going to do. Flan then suddenly charged her free left hand and cast a large fireball at Flandre. Flandre bent backwards and dodged it easily but just as she was straightening herself up right again she saw that Flan was now throwing her own Lävatein at her. With the skin of her teeth Flandre managed to roll aside as the whirling black blade flew past her leaving a fiery trail behind it. Flandre pushed herself up as fast as she could just in time to see Flan charging at her, her hands clenched into fists. Flan ran right up to Flandre with her fists aimed at Flandre's face. Flan threw the first punch and Flandre deflected it with her Lävatein. Flandre looked surprised as when Flan's hand recoiled sparks went flying. Flan then threw a second punch and Flandre deflected that as well and again sparks flew. Flandre then looked a little closer and realized that Flan's hands were black and a little glossy all the way up to her elbows. Not a moment later Flan continued to throw punches. Flandre kept deflecting them but she knew that it wasn't going to do much. Flan could keep on hitting as Flandre's deflects did no damage to her hands. This however did not last for long as couple seconds later Flandre heard a familiar whirling sound behind her. Flan's Lävatein was returning now. Flandre did the only thing she could and duck down to avoid the blade coming her way again. This move left her completely defenseless though as Flan threw one final punch that hit Flandre square to the side of her head.

Flandre was sent flying and rolling down the hill of ash. Meanwhile Flan caught her blade from the air and took flight. She started slowly following Flandre as she rolled down to the bottom of the crater. Flandre spat out the ash that had gotten into her mouth after finally stopping. She then stood up while holding her temple. She quickly glanced around to see where Flan was. When she finally glanced up and saw Flan flying above her she wasn't sure how hard she had been hit when instead of one she saw four of them. It however did not take long for Flandre to realize what was truly going on.

"Four of a kind...," Flandre muttered while looking up at the Flans. All of them had a crooked grin on their face as they started to surround her. Flandre prepared herself. Four on one didn't seem too good to her. She then came to a conclusion that there was just one way out from that situation for her. She jumped toward one of the Flans not caring if it was a clone or not. She couldn't let herself get surrounded. The one toward she jumped expectedly tried to hit her with its Lävatein but Flandre didn't bother to block. She threw her own Lävatein over her attacker and turned into a bat herself. The attack missed her by miles. Flandre zoomed past her attacker and soon after regained her proper form. She caught her blade from the mid air and turned to look at the group of Flans now staring at her annoyed.

"Two can play this game," Flandre announced and cracked a grin herself. In seconds three more copies of Flandre were surrounding her. The odds were now even. There was a short stare off between the two groups before Flandre took flight together with her three clones and charged. At the moment it didn't really matter whether she was attacking the real Flan or not. She needed to find her first and that was only doable by getting rid of the clones. In the air Flandre made all her clones attack Flan and her clones. She herself picked a target at random and went for it. She took a firm grip from her sword as she charged toward her target who had their eyes glued onto Flandre and preparing for combat. Flandre reached behind her back with her sword and then with all the moment and strength she could muster hit her target as she reached the striking distance. The Flan before her obviously blocked but her attack was heavy enough to knock her back a little, so she went for another strike. This time her strike got redirected and Flan attempted to hit Flandre to her back. Flandre managed to duck in time though and Flan's swing missed. Flandre straightened herself up and now with her opponent completely exposed she impaled her with her blade. Flan winced at this and grabbed Flandre's Lävatein in attempt to pull herself free. Flandre however didn't let this happen and instead charged her weapon and after couple seconds released a large beam from the base of her weapon. Flan was caught in the point blank range and was scorched like a meat in a grill. After couple seconds Flandre's beam died off leaving only a blackened corpse hanging onto her weapon. Flandre pulled her weapon off which left the corpse falling and disintegrating into a cloud of ash before it even hit the ground.

"This was just a clone," Flandre mumbled before diverting her gaze away from the ash cloud blown away by the wind. Two of her own clones were at the moment in an act of ripping apart one of Flan's while one of Flan's or maybe Flan herself was destroying one of Flandre's clones. Two of Flan's clones had been destroyed by now. And one was about to be. Flandre watched as one of her clones held still Flan or her clone while the other clone took her Lävatein and split both of them in half. The Flan that got split in half didn't show any signs of recovery which left only one option left. Flandre moved her gaze toward the last Flan left. The obvious real one. She was at the moment decapitating Flandre's clone which left her with only one clone left. Her clone was about to engage but Flandre stopped it. Flandre flew closer to her own clone and just waited for Flan to be done with her clone. They didn't need to wait long.

Once the head of Flandre's clone rolled on the ground and dissolved together with the body Flan glanced at Flandre and the one clone she had left. Flan glanced around and saw that she was alone now. She then let out a giggle and stretched her arms to her sides in a boasting manner.

"Come on, let's be fair here. It's one on two," Flan called out sarcastically.

"You've never played fair," Flandre said herself and through her clone making sure she wouldn't give away which one of them was real. The smile on Flan's face faded and turned into frown. Flandre then readied herself and her clone did the same. Flan prepared herself as well. Flandre and her clone then suddenly charged at Flan both at once. With the two of them they had Flan pretty much outmatched. Flan managed to block and parry their flurry of strikes but only with great effort. Flandre and her clone just kept their relentless striking one after another.

"Give up already," The other Flandre yelled at Flan. Immediately Flan's eyes narrowed like cat's that was ready to pounce. She had been waiting for anything that would give away which one of them was real. Upon blocking the next attack from the Flandre that had stayed silent she followed immediately with a tackle that sent her off balance and followed with powerful blast of energy which sent her flying further back. The Flandre that had spoken then tried hit Flan who was now open but Flan was fully alert and dodged the attack gracefully. While dodging she grabbed Flandre from her head and with all her force threw her into the ground. She then readied her Lävatein and prepared to split her enemy in two. Flandre however managed to draw her own weapon just in time to block Flan in time. Flan didn't give up though. She fired up her blade fully, that started to look more like a blowtorch than a sword, and started pressing down toward Flandre's neck who was doing all she could to push back.

Meanwhile the Flandre that had got blasted away had recovered and was now heading back towards the battle with full speed. Flan was completely unaware of the fact that the other Flandre was now aiming her sword at her neck, or so they thought. Flan had not forgotten the other Flandre so easily and just as it was starting to look like that the charging Flandre was going to get a clear hit on Flan she released the pressure from on top of the Flandre on the ground, turned around and pointed her Lävatein at her charging enemy. She did not even need to attack, just point. Flandre had no time to react as she rammed face first into Flan's blade and practically split herself in half all byherself. There was only one loud THUD as both halves crashed into ground simultaneously lifting a huge cloud of ash into the air.

"Thought you could deceive me, " Flan uttered out loud and lowered her weapon. She then turned to look at her achievement. Flandre's both halves were laying half submerged in the ash and there was no sign of the one that had been lying on the ash just a moment ago. Flan breathed in triumphantly, taking in her victory. But when she saw the halves that had just crashed into the ground dissolve she almost choked onto her own breath.

"Yeah, I did," Flandre responded before driving her sword into Flan's lower back and all the way up into her head splitting it in the process. Even though Flan's head had literally blown wide open she was still struggling while being impaled. Flandre ignited her sword and started to turn and twist it inside Flan. She was writhing like a worm in a hook. Flandre continued this for over ten seconds but Flan just wouldn't die. She then finally had enough, lifted Flan up into the air with her blade and with a mighty swing sent parts of her flying all around. Flandre looked at the bloody mist above her head and the body parts flying into every direction. In every other scenario this would have been the end to the battle but Flandre knew that this wouldn't be enough to kill Flan. This is why Flandre stayed on her guard and just looked around herself waiting for Flan to attack from some direction again.

"You're wasting everyone's time here," Flandre heard being said from behind her. She turned around instantly, ready to defend herself but Flan wasn't coming to attack her. Flandre saw Flan sitting on a rock with couple body parts laying around her.

"You cannot kill me. You should know that by now," Flan continued and shook her head with a disappointed look on her face.

"Yeah? Well that doesn't stop me from trying," Flandre continued and fire up her weapon but Flan only sighed.

"I will put you out of your misery," Flan uttered barely loud enough for Flandre to hear. She then stood up with her shoes rustling faintly the ash under them. She then conjured her Lävatein but instead of it coming out from a burst of fire there were only faint flickers and embers as the sword materialized and she grabbed it.

"Trust me, this hurts more me than it hurts you, because what else are souls to you than tools," Flan uttered. Flandre looked at her confused but didn't break her stance. Flan then lunged at Flandre with all her strength. Her blade grew thrice its size as Flan charged. Flandre braced herself. Flan struck Flandre's guard with such a force that Flandre was thrown back over a dozen meters. Flandre regained her balance just in time to see Flan coming for her again. Flandre could feel the strength of Flan's strike in her whole body as she blocked her attack. Flandre tried to counter attack but Flan simply struck her blade away and attacked herself. Flandre thought that she had managed well thus far but now it seemed like Flan had conjured some new power.

BANG! Flan struck Flandre's guard. Flandre did her best not to lurch and fall over. BANG! Sparks were flying and Flan just wouldn't stop. Flandre placed her Lävatein sideways in front of her head protecting herself from Flan's next attack. BANG! Flan struck again dropping Flandre to one of her knees. Her attacks were getting more and more reckless and brutal. This however did not leave Flandre with any chance to counter. BANG, BANG, BANG! Flan raged until their weapons finally got caught together. Flandre tried to use this to her advantage and wrench herself free and back off but Flan locked their weapons together even tighter and started to twist. Flandre tried to fight against it but Flan's grip and position made it impossible. Flandre was considering any possibilities to get out from that situation until she heard a crack. Her eyes drifted at her Lävatein where she saw a tiny crack had formed on its surface. Her eyes widened and that's all she could do before blinding light enveloped her and Flan.

A mighty deafening boom could be heard for a moment before tinnitus overtook Flandre's hearing as she was thrown into the air by the force of the explosion. Flandre was blinded and deafened for a moment as she flew across the air finally hitting a couple of rocks that stopped her flight like slap to the face. Flandre fell face first into the ash that filled her nose and mouth. She groaned as she lifted her head from the piles of ash and moved her hands to swipe her face clean. Her eyes had regained their vision somewhat but her ears were still ringing. As she lifted her head she saw the aftermath of what had just happened. The center of the crater had been blown completely clear from ash leaving only the hard dark rock. Most of the ash had been blown away forming a thick cloud making it hard to see anything. Some of it had piled to the edges of the crater. She couldn't see Flan anywhere though. As she tried to swipe the ash off from her face she realized that she was still holding onto something. She moved her hand further away from her face to see what it was. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust but when they did she realized what it was. She was still holding onto the broken off handle of her Lävatein.

"What? N-no, no, no, no...," Flandre muttered and hastily inspected the shard closer. There was no mistaking it. It was a piece of the Lävatein. Or pieces. In fact even the shard she was holding had broken into multiple smaller ones that had cut her hand a little. The shards fell from Flandre's hands as her grip loosened from the shock. Never had she even thought about the possibility that Lävatein wasn't indestructible. Flandre looked at the shards rolling on the ground for a moment before trying the obvious. Resummoning her weapon. She outstretched her hand and did what she always did but nothing happened. Not a even an ember emerged. She tried again. Nothing.

"Come on, please," Flandre uttered and tried for a third time. There was still nothing. Her gaze fell down in despair. She then saw that the shards on the ground were now smouldering for some reason. She then tried to summon Lävatein for the fourth time and saw that when she did the shards started glowing weakly before turning back to coal black. Flandre's hand fell in disbelief. Was this real? Had her weapon truly broken? Could Lävatein truly be destroyed? Flandre started looking around in hopes of spotting more shards that could have been blown around but saw none. Lävatein had been reduced to nothing but dust. The only reason the handle had survived was because her hand had protected it from the blast. Flandre was speechless. What could she do now. She had been in a bad position already and now she was unarmed as well.

"You use people around you like tools, not caring even if they're on a verge of breaking or not," Flandre then heard Flan's voice from above. She gazed upwards and saw Flan hovering above her still holding her own Lävatein which was in perfect condition.

"What did you do!?" Flandre yelled back at her while standing up from the ash. Flan simply looked at her weapon and slided her hand across it.

"Even the strongest of souls break when given no time to recover or rest. I didn't do anything. You simply exhausted your life long companion to the point they couldn't take it anymore. Did you ever stop to think whether they felt anything or not?" Flan asked and glared at Flandre. Flandre shuddered at her words.

"Companion?" Flandre stuttered.

"You, me, Remilia, we were born a twin souls. The other half became us and the other became our weapon. Our safety. Like a twin sibling. Of course they cannot communicate, but they can feel. What do you think they felt in your hands," Flan said with spiteful tone and look on her face. Flandre couldn't help but to look down at the shards still laying on the ground. She knelt down and picked them up. She just looked at the lay on her palm.

"A twin sibling?" Flandre asked out loud not knowing how she should act with this knowledge.

"Not literally. Metaphorically," Flan added with her arms akimbo. Flandre then clenched her hand shut and squeezed the pieces in her hands before putting them into her pocket. She then looked up at Flan who now saw Flandre's teary eyes.

"Oh, so now you're regretful? Maybe should have given those around you a little more thought before you used them like tools. But worry not, I'll make sure you two are reunited soon," Flan growled at Flandre without any remorse in her voice before giving her Lävatein a couple of swings in an intimidating manner. Flandre took a step back at the sight of this. Normally she would have readied herself to combat again but now when she was unarmed she didn't know what to do. So when Flan charged down toward her, her Lävatein kept ready for a finishing blown Flandre crouched down moving her hands onto her head in a desperate attempt to cover herself. She however felt something cold and hard touch her fingers upon doing this. It was the scythe that she still had with her hanging from her self-made weapon holder. Flandre's hand slipped behind her back purely out of instinct. She pulled the scythe off from its holder gracefully swiping it upwards to meet Flan's strike. The scythe was heavy, abnormally heavy, just as she remembered after the first time she picked it up. She had also never used a weapon even remotely resembling a scythe yet when she moved it in her hands it was as if she didn't even need to think. As if it was moved around for her and she only had to go along.

The bang when the two weapons collided was magnificent. The metallic sound echoed in the crater as sparks flew and a shockwave sent Flan back into the air. For the briefest of moments Flandre could see pure shock on Flan's face when she blocked her strike. Flandre too was surprised at her own actions. She looked at the scythe in her hands and then up toward Flan who had recovered her balance.

"Maybe I should have left Yuuka completely out of my plans. It was purely out of irony's sake and to break you. Koishi warned that she could become dangerously fragile cog in our machine. She was right, I give her that," Flan said with dead serious expression on her face. Flandre frowned at her.

"Then it is just appropriate that she get her revenge," Flandre growled and readied herself to fight again. Flan scoffed at this and swung her Lävatein a couple times in her hands. Then without saying a word she charged back down toward Flandre. Flandre did not know how to handle scythe properly to deflect strike but she didn't need to either. As if invisible third hand was guiding her she pulled the scythe backwards and just as Flan was about to hit her she stepped away from Flan's strike catching her from mid air with the scythe and with an explosive force struck her into the ground. The earth shook and rocks were flying everywhere as a result of this blast. Flandre stepped back just in time before Flan charged from the dust cloud Flandre's strike had lifted. Flan swung couple hefty blows at Flandre but the scythe once again guided Flandre's hand and with flowing motion all of the swings were rendered futile. Flan's charge was stopped. Flandre didn't let this opportunity to slip by and moved onto the offensive now herself. Dashing at Flan she spun the scythe around her forcing Flan to block and back off with each sequential strike. Every time the weapons collided both of them could feel a little shockwave and a prickly feeling on their skin. The sparks created by the strikes were almost like little danmaku blasts. Flandre kept on attacking forcing Flan further and further back before Flan finally tried to counter attack. Flandre didn't stop at this and instead of blocking she simply dodged following the movements the scythe guided her to do. Flan and her strike went straight past Flandre who followed by blasting Flan to her back sending her flying face first into the rock. Flandre then let go of the scythe who stayed up in the air levitating. Flandre then started to gather energy and the scythe started to spin in front of her with ever increasing speed. Flan was gathering herself from the ground and grunting as she turned her head back toward Flandre. She picked up her Lävatein, gave it a couple swings and then lunged at Flandre yet again. However by the time Flan did this Flandre had already gathered more than enough energy. She was now simply waiting for Flan to come at her. And come at her she did. Her Lävatein was once again more than three times its size and pointed tip first at Flandre. Flandre however did not step away from this strike and instead finally unleashed all the energy she had gathered by punching toward the spinning scythe before her from which a massive beam erupted. At the first glance it looked like a Master Spark but this one was coloured in all the shades of red.

Upon coming to contact with the tip of the Lävatein the beam was split into four smaller beams. Flan tried to break Flandre's beam by charging forward but the force of the beam was too much for her as Flandre unleashed all the energy she had gathered further increasing the size of the beam. It finally became too much for Flan to handle and the four split beams merged again engulfing Flan in the middle of it all.

As the beam finally wore off Flandre grabbed the scythe from the air again. The ground beneath her feet had cracked. In fact there were large cracks all around the crater. Most likely formed by the massive energies at play. Flandre watched as Flan fell from the sky as a result of the beam she had unleashed. But before she could even touch the ground her form changed from scarred and scorched into one that made it look like she had never even got a wound in her life. She stopped before she touched the ground and floated still in the air looking absolutely furious at Flandre. After a brief stare off Flan pointed her Lävatein up into the sky with a pillar of fire shooting upwards from its tip. Flandre watched as the red clouds started circling above and around the peak of the mountain. It got to the point that it looked like the whole crater was surrounded by a swirling red dome. The ground was trembling so violently that Flandre had to take flight just to keep her balance. And once she did Flan swung the pillar of fire coming from the tip of her blade like a whip at her. Flandre managed to dodge the fiery slash just barely but as the pillar came into contact with the dome of red clouds around them all of it ignited into storm of fire all at once. Flandre looked around herself in awe as the flames started roaring. Flan on the other hand after missing Flandre the first time tried again swinging the fiery whip-like pillar at Flandre again. The scythe in Flandre's hands responded and she instinctively slashed at the impending pillar. A blast of energy surged from the scythe severing the pillar for just long enough that Flandre came unharmed when it passed through her. Flandre then looked at Flan who was already turning the whip back at her. Flandre charged at her before the fiery snake could coil around her yet again. Flandre slashed the scythe at Flan numerous times while charging her way sending more of those energy blasts toward her. All of them hit the base of the fiery pillar Flan was controlling. Flan herself kept waving and whirling the snake-like fire pillar around Flandre. Flandre wasn't sure about it but it looked like with every motion the fiery cyclone got longer and longer.

Flandre was only a short way away from Flan when Flandre felt the scythe in her hands urging her to slow down. Flandre did as the scythe wanted and finally glanced around her briefly. The cyclone Flan wielded had formed almost like a large cage around her. She glanced back at Flan who only cracked a smirk as she pulled back her Lävatein, from which the cyclone was forming, as if finishing a knot. All at once the 'cage' around Flandre started closing in on her. All the possible escape routes closed quickly leaving Flandre trapped in a bubble of fire. The scythe however once again started guiding Flandre's hand, urging her to continue charging again. Flandre felt unsure about that but ended up trusting the scythe's judgement and lunged toward the wall of fire closing in on her. As she did this she started whirling the scythe around her body turning herself into a spinning weapon. As Flandre crashed into the wall of fire the scythe's blade ripped a hole into it for just long enough that Flandre could fit through it without burning her too severely. A bits of her ripped dress caught fire as she came charging through the wall with the scythe aimed perfectly toward Flan's face. Had Flandre been able to look at Flan she could have seen the surprised look on her face as she brought her Lävatein before her head to block Flandre's attack. Sparks flew around again as the scythe punished Flan's Lävatein like a saw. However to Flandre's surprise Flan suddenly pulled the Lävatein away letting Flandre and the scythe rip through her practically cutting her in half. Flandre stopped before she ran into the firestorm that was still raging around the crater and before she could even turn around she felt how she was grabbed from behind and thrown downwards. Flan had regenerated her body and as Flandre had her back turned on her she finally got the opportunity to retaliate. She threw Flandre back at the center of the crater launching a barrage of projectiles at her while she was still in the air. Falling and surprised, Flandre was unable to defend herself properly and few of the projectiles hit her square in the chest and stomach. Flandre hit the bottom of the crater with a crash leaving a dent to the black rock. Flan looked from above waiting for movement. Flandre was disoriented and in pain. She however wasn't going to stay down. So with few grunts of pain she pushed herself up again resting some of her weight onto the scythe she momentarily used to support herself. After regaining her balance Flandre glanced up to see Flan's silhouette against the ragings firestorm, still levitating motionless. Flandre grabbed ahold of the scythe with both of her hands and let it do the talking again. And talk it did. Flandre followed the scythe's lead as it guided her to cut the stone below her feet. The first cut was right before Flandre. Sparks flew as the blade cleaved the black stone leaving a deep scar into it. Flandre repeated this twice once to her left and once to her right. There was now a crude triangle formed around her. She then glanced up at Flan again. She was still looking down at her. She knew Flan couldn't see it but Flan grinned at her nonetheless as she turned her right side toward Flan and lifted her right foot. Flan probably guessed what was coming next as she readied her Lävatein. Flandre on the other hand stomped her foot back into the ground accompanied with a sharp warcry that echoed over the roaring of the firestorm around them. The earth started to shake beneath Flandre's feet as she laid a death stare toward Flan. The cuts made into the rock started to glow in orange briefly before the first spurts of magma spat out from the widening cuts. Soon the glow spread to all of the cracks in the crater all of which started to spew magma. Flan looked around the crater before laying her eyes back onto Flandre. Flandre simply pointed the scythe at Flan silently mere seconds before the whole bottom of the crater erupted in a massive explosion of molten and solid rock. The burst of magma reached so high that it broke a hole into the firestorm raging around the crater. Flan had to protect herself as the smouldering boulders came flying her way. The edges of the crater were showered with bits of lava as the magma spewed out from the initial eruption was starting to fall back down. Flan covered her face with her free hand as she tried to locate Flandre still in the middle of the eruption. It took a while but Flan finally spotted her silhouette in the midst of the boiling hot rock spewing from the ground. And not a moment later Flan saw a how a boulder, three times her size, was cast at her from the raging spring of lava. She blasted it into pieces before it could touch her but from behind it she saw multiple more being flung at her. Flan flew out of the way as the rocks plummeted into the fire storm behind her. This however was not the end of Flandre's rampage. Soon torrents of lava were starting to fly toward Flan. This together with bullets Flandre added to the mix made for a chaotic scene where lava was rushing from the ground, raining back down and thrown all around the crater and Flan didn't come out from it all unscaved. She was hit with multiple rocks, burnt badly multiple times and ultimately forced to land and to just purely defend herself.

The initial force of the eruption didn't last forever though and it soon died down leaving a small lake of lava at the bottom of the crater with only few lava springs spewing more. The terrain of the crater was also scarred beyond recognition. Boulders were torn from the rock and were now dotting the crater creating numerous small islands into the lake of lava. Flandre was standing right in the middle of the crater on top of a little larger island shaped as a triangle. Flan on the other hand was on the edge of the crater after trying to fend of everything Flandre threw at her. She was beaten badly in many times but physically she seemed fine as she always regenerated her body. That didn't mean that she wasn't exhausted though. When Flandre laid her eyes onto Flan again she found her one knee on the ground and breathing heavily. She glanced upwards. The firestorm around the crater was weakening. Flan's power must have been waning.

"This is my chance," Flandre thought to herself and took flight from her island toward Flan. Flan raised her head and watched as Flandre flew over the lake of lava and landed onto its edge and then proceeded to walk toward Flan. Flandre stopped a good distance away from her. She wasn't a fool. She knew well enough to not give Flan an edge. Flan simply stared at Flandre and then briefly spread her arms to her sides like questioning what Flandre was doing.

"Heh, I admit, you bested me in battle. But your strength isn't endless. You can beat me for as long as you want but it wont change a thing. Sooner or later you will tire and I'll finish you off," Flan uttered between heavy breaths.

"I don't have to keep beating you up. I'll simply just have to erase you, even if it means erasing everyone who has joined together with you," Flandre responded without showing any bit of compassion and outstretched her hand toward Flan with her palm open. Flan looked at Flandre with not a single bit of emotion on her face.

"Maybe you shouldn't have given me a chance to defend myself. You missed your chance, but I'm not going to miss mine," Flandre uttered before a orange, glowing, black sphere formed into the middle of her palm. Her fingers made the slightest twitch as she was going to crush it right there and then but stopped before she could even bend them. Flandre's eyes widened and a grin grew onto Flan's face. Even though Flandre was targeting Flan she still felt the very same feeling as when Flan had been the one almost crushing the sphere. As if something had been snatched from inside her. Flandre turned her palm to face up and looked at the sphere that laid there. Flan couldn't hold herself any longer and burst out laughing.

"Oh, you should see the look on your face," Flan almost yelled as she tried to contain her laughter. Flandre simply looked at her in disbelief and in confusion.

"What. Why's the... why does it affect me?" Flandre asked while looking at Flan. Flan finally could stop her laughter.

"Because we're the same, you and I. You're right, destroy me and you'll destroy every iteration of me that has joined me, but it'll also destroy every iteration that hasn't joined me," Flan said and gave Flandre a nasty stare. Goosebumps flooded Flandre's back. She had been just a fist clench away from killing herself.

"Of course, squeezing your fist right then and there would kill me indefinitely, though it would also kill you. But surely the fate of the reality itself is more important to you than your own life... right?" Flan chirped with a disgusting grin on her face. Flandre looked at the orb on her palm. The end was just there but she also knew that no matter how hard she would try she couldn't bring herself to do it. She feared death. The orb then faded away and Flandre's arm fell to her side again. Flan let out a chuckle.

"You don't have the will. Can you even claim with a straight face that you even care of the universe? Perhaps you only care of yourself?" Flan asked with a taunting espression painted all over her face. Flandre's eyes snapped toward Flan and seeing her smile filled her with rage. In a blink of an eye the scythe was once again readied in Flandre's hands.

"DIE," Flandre screamed as she dashed for Flan and plunged the blade into her temple slicing her face in half from the inside. She then pulled the scythe off and started whacking Flan's body into mush limb by limb, piece by piece. She only stopped when there was nothing but bloody mess left and even then when she laid her eyes onto it Flan looked as if she had not been touched. That smile still painted all over her face.

"HYAH," Flandre yelled as she landed one final kick to Flan's chin sending her flying to a rock behind her. Flandre's gaze then fell to the ground. Flan coughed a little while leaning against the rock she had just hit and grinned smugly.

"You cannot destroy me," Flan growled between her teeth while staring at Flandre still standing still. Flan then laughed a little but after hearing Flan's words Flandre lifted her gaze from the ground and looked at Flan again. The look on her face was no longer angry or agonized but almost amazed, surprised even. Flandre then hastily dag through her pocket and pulled out her watch.

"You know what? You're absolutely right. But do you know what I can destroy?" Flandre uttered and looked Flan straight in the eye whose smile had suddenly faded from her face.

"I can still foil your plans," Flandre and turned towards the lava lake behind her. Flan's eyes widened at the sight of this.

"STOP," Flan yelled at Flandre and fumbled to get herself back onto her feet. Flandre stopped onto her tracks, turned her head towards Flan and cracked a smile.

"Stop right now. You don't know what you're doing," Flan continued after finally getting onto her feet again.

"Well, let's find out then," Flandre responded, chuckled playfully and tossed the watch into the lake of lava. Flan watched in horror.

"NO," She screamed and tried to make a dash for the watch while it was still in the air but Flandre simply drove the blade of the scythe into her before she could even get close. Flan coughed blood and looked as the watch splashed into the lava. Flan the slowly turned her gaze toward Flandre who was still holding her with the tip of the scythe.

"You've lost your mind," Flan uttered with intense glare. Flandre didn't respond she simply stared back at her with spiteful look on her face. Flandre was just about to pull the scythe out from Flan's stomach when a sudden boom ripped through the air. Flandre looked around confused as to what it was but once she saw Flan staring to the direction her back was turned she glanced behind herself. A hole had emerged into the firestorm. It was like a passage leading through it and out of the crater. Or rather into it. Both Flan and Flandre watched silently waiting what would happen next when a figure emerged from the other side of the gap. Flandre's eyes widened and she pulled the scythe off from Flan dropping her to the ground.

"No way," Flandre uttered as she looked at the figure with more starting to appear from behind it. It was Renko with her hands spread wide fending of the fire.

"Why you...," Flan groaned from the ground while looking at the same view. Flandre didn't pay any attention at her and took couple steps toward the familiar figures on the other side of the lava lake. The group that emerged from beyond the fire storm had come into view completely. There were Renko, Yukari, Okina, Kasen, Reimu, Marisa, Meiling, Youmu, Remilia, Alice and even Junko. Flandre wasn't going to believe her eyes. It was like angels had descended from the heavens to rescue her.

"Over here," Flandre called out enthusiastically and waved her arms around. It was apparent that her voice was heard as all of their eyes were drawn to her and Flan and the look on their face was just as surprised as it was concerned.

"Why...? Why did you have to bring them here as well? They didn't have to die as well," Flan growled from the ground as she started to get up.

"Yeah, like you're going to be match for them all," Flandre responded without even bothering to look at her.

"They don't know what I or you know. They only know what they have deducted. To them you and I are the same. So no, it won't be just me. It will be you as well," Flan continued and rose to her feet. Flandre glanced at her confused looking before looking back at the group that had just come through the fire. Both of them saw how Yukari, Renko, Kasen and Okina took flight and started approaching them with the rest doing the same, thought only on foot. The look on Flandre's face darkened. Something was not right. The sages stopped a little ways away from the on top of the lava lake and stared and Flan and Flandre.

"What do you make of that? There's two of them," Okina uttered while looking at the other three who all looked dead serious.

"It's Flan! She survived, she didn't die in the mansion! She's the culprit," Flandre called out to the sages who looked at her, seemingly really distrusting.

"We already know who's the culprit and we don't care how many of you there are. We sniffed out your scheme," Yukari responded and stared at Flandre with cold, hateful glare. The look on Flandre's face turned into confused.

"What are you talking about? What did you find? How did you even find me?" Flandre asked while Flan was slowly taking distance from her.

"You turned Marisa into vampire, she has a mental connection to you. You also gave her the watch. Probably thought you'd get her out of the way that way. It backfired rather ironically. Those two aspects combined we simply had to just follow her lead," Kasen replied. Flandre then glanced at Marisa who was approaching together with the rest of the group around the lava lake. The look on her face was as cold as on the faces of sages. Hell, everyone Flandre looked at had the same accusatory stare.

"What confirmed our suspicions were Yuuka's letters to Alice. She was onto you way before any of us had even a hunch. Too bad it seems we were too late for her," Kasen continued after which Flandre's eyes were drawn to the scythe she was holding. She then started to realize how bad it all looked. Her gaze then darted around a little until her eyes met with Flan's again. There was a faint grin on her face before the look on her face returned to serious.

"Looks like she was more use to me than I realized," Flan blurted and gave a slight laugh. Flandre then turned her gaze back to the sages. Meanwhile the rest of the group had made their way around the lava lake from its both sides. They had split into two groups, both of them approaching from their own side of the lake.

"She was deceived! You all were! It was Koishi and Flan, they drew Yuuka into this and used her," Flandre yelled while looking desperately around her.

"The scythe you're carrying, it's Elly's isn't it? I don't think any of us need to think how you obtained it," Yukari simply uttered and stared at Flandre.

"Your plan is being revealed right before our eyes. We see through your lies now," Renko added. There was harshness in her tone that Flandre had not heard before.

"You too?" Flandre whimpered. She was on the verge of tears already.

"We should be the ones asking you that," Okina retorted. Flandre looked at them all. She had thought that she would be saved but instead she was met with only new opposition. She glanced at Flan. She was simply staring back at her. Didn't even break a grin. Flandre glanced back at the sages and the others. The ones who had approached on foot were now pretty much on the same side of the lava like as she and Flan, had stopped and were simply observing. Flandre sighed deeply. There really didn't seem to be any way she could talk her way out of this.

"At least hear me on this one. The watch I gave Marisa. Destroy it! It's the catalyst to this incident. Flan also has one! I destroyed my own. Please, you have to do the same," Flandre begged knowing fully well that her pleas would most likely fall on deaf ears. The sages looked at each other and then at Marisa who glanced back at them.

"Keep it safe," Yukari simply uttered. Marisa nodded silently and then turned her attention back to Flandre.

"No," Flandre exclaimed and took a step forward but as soon as she moved everyone readied themselves. Flandre stopped.

"Well, I did warn you, didn't I," Flandre heard Flan's irritatingly calm voice. She could see her from the corner of her eye. She imagined the stupid grin she probably had. It made her angry. It made her furious. It was all her fault and now even her friends had turned against her. All because of her. She would rip that watch from her even if it was the last things she did. The grip she had on the scythe tightened. She was full of hatred. Hatred towards Flan. That doppelganger who had managed to turn everything in the world against Flandre.

"DIE," Flandre screamed as she suddenly lunged toward Flan with the scythe aimed at her. Finally Flan cracked a grin which further enraged Flandre. She summoned her Lävatein and deflected Flandre's blow. The others were taken aback by Flandre's sudden outburst but as soon as the initial surprise wore off Yukari gave the sign to attack. Junko, Alice and Remilia headed for Flandre while Youmu, Meiling, Marisa and Reimu targeted Flan. Kasen landed and joined the fight on the ground while Yukari and Okina stayed in the air and started raining barrages of projectiles down. Renko flew closer to the battlefield but did not fire anything herself. Flandre had not even gotten a second strike in when she got intercepted by Remilia and the projectiles. Remilia crashed her spear between Flan and Flandre keeping the two apart. Flan was then attacked by Reimu and Youmu. Flandre didn't want to battle Remilia or anyone else. She wanted to get her hands onto Flan.

"Remi, get out of the way. I don't want to fight you," Flandre tried to talk but Remilia was having none of it.

"You'd do well to call me with my real name and respect your elder sister," Remilia simply hissed back and swung her spear at Flandre. The scythe reacted and Flandre deflected the blow but Alice was already joining the fight. Flandre saw with the corner of her eye as she sent out her dolls that immediately headed for Flandre. Flan yelped at this. Remilia then swung at her again. This time Flandre dodged the blow and took flight. She fired a couple quick blasts at the dolls blowing couple of them up and then tried to gain distance to her attackers. Remilia immediately took to the chase but stopped all of a sudden. When Flandre realized this she stopped as well. Something wasn't right and she soon realized what this something was. Suddenly a deafening roars of energy beams zooming by started blasting Flandre's ear drums. Flandre immediately tried to seek for cover from the barrage. She had completely forgotten about Junko who had just waited for the right moment to strike when no one else than Flandre was in her sights.

Flandre tried to out pace Junko's aim by flying and evading her attacks. This however proved fruitless as Junko kept Flandre firmly in her sights. Flandre also couldn't try get close to Junko and try to force her to stop as the rate at which she kept firing at her was just too much. That's why Flandre had to result to only option left for her. She had to get someone else to the line of fire and hope that Junko wouldn't fire at them too. Flandre saw Yukari and Okina still flying and firing at Flan. Flandre thought that trying to get them to the line of fire was the safest for everyone else. She then readied her scythe and made it look like as if she was going to attack. But before she could even get to a realistic striking distance she hit face first some invisible barrier. Flandre nearly fell into the lava as she was quite dazed after the impact. And it took her a moment to realize what she had even hit. After a quick look around herself she saw Renko. She had created a momentary barrier between Flandre and the sages. There was no easy way to get to them even if Flandre seriously had wanted to. This however drew the attention of Yukari and Okina to Flandre. As Flandre was hovering above the lava lake she had mere moments to dash out of the way when Okina and Yukari concentrated their barrage of projectiles at her. To her luck, at least Junko had took the bait and was no longer firing at her as the danger of her projectiles hitting someone else was too high. She was merely observing the scene from the distance ready to fire if the opportunity came.

Flandre had already circled around the whole crater trying to evade and buy herself some time. Trying to attack Flan was out of the question as she was surrounded and Flandre would have no chance to even lay a finger on her. Same went for Marisa. It also didn't help that Yukari and Okina kept raining down magic at her. She was even contemplating fleeing the scene completely just to save herself and hope that the other would somehow take care of Flan but that thought was cut short as Remilia's spear flew right before Flandre's face missing it with mere inches. Flandre stopped on her tracks. Yukari and Okina had stopped firing at her. Remilia was staring at her a short distance away. She had already summoned her spear back. Alice was also approaching her now together with Meiling.

"Quit running, there's nowhere for you to hide," Remilia called out to Flandre staring at her with spite.

"Just stop. I don't want to hurt any of you," Flandre responded but as soon as she finished she saw from the corner of her eye a crimson glow of the lazers Alice's dolls fired at her. Flandre ducked out of the way only to be met face to face with Meiling with her fist aimed right at her face. With no way to run or protect herself Flandre took the full force of the blow to her head and was sent flying toward the edge of the crater. Flandre had never faced Meiling in battle before so the strength of her punch came as a complete shock. She finally crashed and rolled in the piles of ash that had piled onto the edges of the crater previously. It eased her landing but her head ached real bad. As soon as she got up she once again found herself being surrounded by Alice, Meiling and Remilia. It was becoming clear to her that she most likely could not even take three of them in a fight. She had to shake them off her back and focus onto Marisa and Flan.

Flandre took a firm grip onto the scythe and prepared herself as the three approached her. Then suddenly Meiling charged at her. She attempted to kick Flandre but because she was ready Flandre managed to deflect the kick. The ash then was lifted into clouds as Alice joined the fight by firing more lasers at Flandre. She danced out of the way as Meiling too was trying to get more strikes in. With the ash hindering Alice's view Flandre managed to fire couple missiles of fire toward her and even if they weren't going to hit her they managed to get Alice to stop for a brief moment. Meiling though was still all over Flandre who did everything in her power to try and not injure Meiling when ever she parried or deflected her strikes. But the cloud of ash also hindered Flandre's vision and when the crimson glow of Gungnir could be seen it was nearly too late already as Remilia crashed between Flandre and Meiling. Flandre managed to just about jump out of the way and found herself laying from the ground. And before she could even stand up Remilia was already swinging her spear at her. With no way to deflect the strike Flandre rolled out of the way but immediate consecutive strikes followed. Flandre had to just keep rolling back and forth to keep herself from being hit. She finally got out of the immediate danger by kicking herself out of Remlia's immediate range and lifting a large cloud of ash between the two. Flandre was in the air as a crimson barrage came roaring her way from the cloud but as Remilia couldn't see Flandre directly most of her shots missed by miles and the rest were easy to dodge. Flandre wanted to just turn around and head for Marisa but she knew Remilia, Meiling and Alice would just keep coming after her. So instead of running she stood her ground and waited. She didn't need to wait long as Remilia soon charged out from the ash with her spear pointed toward Flandre. Remilia attempted to strike but Flandre deflected the blow easily. Flandre's eyes were drawn to Remilia's spear, Gungnir. If what Flan had said was true then that spear too was its own living thing. Flandre wondered whether or not Remilia knew of this because she really wasn't handling it like it was. Her attacks were wild, savage and brutal in a delicate way. It wasn't just some thrashing around like an unskilled individual would do. It was intentionally heavy, wide-swinging attacks only. To untrained eye it may have looked like Remilia was letting herself become open for attacks after every hit but that was just how she fought. It was a fluke, a bait. She could easily use the weight of her weapon to quickly evade any attacks that were directed at her and retaliate herself. Flandre knew this very well and did not go for any of the supposed openings because they weren't real and she didn't want to hurt Remilia.

"Tell me, is it true, are our weapons living souls!? Do they feel!?" Flandre yelled a question over the sound of the spear and scythe clashing. The serious look on Remilia's face twitched a little. Not in surprised manner but confused.

"The hell are you on about!?" Remilia groaned, now rather annoyed. She didn't know whether Flandre was taking this seriously or not as she had not even tried to strike back and was now asking odd questions from her.

"Flan told me that they're our twin souls! Lävatein mine and Gungnir your's! Is it true!?" Flandre insisted. She wanted to know the truth. Remilia stopped attacking Flandre keeping her distance. Alice was just about to approach but Remilia signed her to not to.

"Has your brain melted? Or have you just finally lost it completely? Why do you even care for something like that?" Remilia asked gritting her teeth. The whole situation annoyed her deeply and greatly.

"Because Lävatein shattered," Flandre uttered and dag out the shards of her destroyed weapon from her pocket. The shards were still warm to touch. Remilia kept an eye on Flandre's every movement but even her eyes seemed to widen upon seeing the shards in Flandre's hand. Remilia's eyes then turned back towards Flandre's and the look on her face grew serious once more.

"In a way it is true, but not completely. They're demons that were bound to us upon birth. So living, for sure, but not born together with us. Hateful beings that were forced unto us and meant to do us harm," Remilia said and stared as Flandre's fingers curled around the shards when she heard Remilia say this.

"She lied...," Flandre simply uttered and stared at her fist with the shards within it. She shook her head. The distant words echoing in her head. 'Stop dancing to their tune.' Flandre needed to stop let Flan getting to her if she ever hoped to succeed in taking her down.

"Of course she did. Just lie after lie after lie, how many of those did you spread yourself? How many of them did you believe yourself? How many do you still believe? Just for how long have you worked together?" Remilia asked slowly raising her spear toward Flandre in an intimidating manner.

"But I really hav-," Flandre tried yell but before she could finish she saw a glint of from the corner of her eye. A group of Alice's dolls were coming right at her from her side. She managed to destroy them all just before they got too close with a one slice of the scythe. But as her back was turned she didn't see Meiling whose foot hit the back of Flandre's head knocking her unconscious for a second and dropping her from the sky. Lucky to Flandre she came to her senses before hitting the ground again so she managed to land on her feet. Remilia, Alice and Meiling were already coming after her. She needed to shake them off right now or else they would just wear her down until she would be too weak to fight. Flandre then glanced up at her attacks while still holding her head and readied her scythe with her other hand.

"I'M NO ONE'S PAWN," Flandre screamed at them, sliced at the ground before her feet and jumped backwards away from the cut. Just before Remilia, Alice and Meiling reached her the cut erupted spewing lava into the sky and creating a deadly wall between them and the rest of the crater. This would stop them for a while. She needed to use this to her advantage. Flandre turned around immediately and headed for the other battle that was raging around Flan. That's also where Marisa was. Flandre didn't care which one of them she would need to target. She just needed to snatch the watch from either one of them and destroy it.

As everyone was focused onto taking out Flan no one seemed to notice that Flandre had managed to evade Remilia, Meiling and Alice. No one but Flan herself. Flan saw Flandre approaching from above and knew what she was up to. Flandre's plan was to get to Marisa as she was in the air and a little ways away from the immediate battle making it easier for her to just fly by and try and grab the watch. Flan however wasn't going to let this happen and forced Marisa to move by first firing a couple weak shots at her direction. This would force Flandre to target Flan instead as Marisa was now a much harder target. Flan kept backing away from her attackers while constantly keeping eye on the approaching Flandre.

"Now I got you," Flan groaned and released a sudden pulse of energy forcing everyone to back away slightly before releasing a pillar of flame right toward Flandre. Fire surged up towards the sky engulfing Flandre completely and burning bright and hot. The look on Flan's face was confident, confident that she had finally gotten Flandre. The look changed however when she realized that the flame did not reach too far. In fact the pillar of fire she was casting was getting shorter. By the time Flan realized what was going on she no longer had time to step aside. Flandre emerged from the middle of the flames with the shards of her Lävatein in her other hand glowing white with all the energy they absorbed. Flan extended her arms trying to grab Flandre but even when she did Flandre still drove her into the ground and plunged the shards she had into Flan's face releasing all the energy she had absorbed from the flames. There was a violent burst of energy as the energy erupted from the shards.

"YOU LIE," Flandre screamed before Flan managed to kick her off from on top of her and regenerated her head.

"You sound surprised, want me to apologize?" Flan simply groaned back while kicking herself away from Flandre. Flandre got up herself too and took flight to chase Flan. The others looking at the scene were surprised but did not stand idly by for long.

"JUST DIE ALREADY," Flandre screamed as she caught up with Flan and started slashing at her. Flan simply deflected her strikes and kept retreating.

"Admit it already! Your efforts are for nothing! I didn't want this, but now your friends will have to die as well, just like you," Flan yelled back at her and started firing projectiles behind her trying to keep Flandre at bay.

"Bah! As if you cared whether people die or not! Your plan will kill everyone nonetheless," Flandre retorted and kept on chasing. Flan however stopped at this. Flandre was so taken aback by this that she almost didn't manage to block the strike that Flan suddenly threw at her knocking her back a fair distance.

"I. Do. Care. More than you could ever imagine. It would have been only merciful if everyone could have gone together with the reality, there wouldn't have been any need for pain or suffering. You took that possibility away from your friends," Flan growled with intense and hateful glare at Flandre who responded with glare equally hateful. She however did not get to continue their staring contest for long though as Flandre felt something grabbing her leg. She only saw a flash of white of Kasen's bandages around her leg before she was suddenly pulled back and thrown into the ground. Flan sighed at the sight. She kept trying to get through to Flandre but she knew it was fruitless. She simply took a deep breath, looked at Reimu, Youmu, Marisa and Junko approaching her and readied herself again.

"One more bloodshed I keep telling myself... But when will it truly end?" Flan whispered to herself and was ready for an attack but started to go restless as her attackers suddenly stopped approaching. It was as if they weren't even looking at her anymore. It was when she saw them back off a little that she realized that something was not right and they indeed were not looking at her anymore. Flan glanced over her shoulder only to see a shadow cast over her. A shadow that could be seen through the weakened but still raging firestorm. She turned around fully just in time to witness how the flames were almost ripped apart like canvas as the shadow came charging through them. The fires were in fact extinguished completely and the winds of the storm were blown to Flan's face forcing her to cover it. A dark figure then emerged from the shadow and as they did a blinding light took over. Flan was no longer covering her face because of the wind but the light. She did this until she felt something hit and pierce her chest. She flinched. Whoever had just broken through the fire storm had impaled her onto something but she still couldn't see with what or even who it was because it was too bright for her eyes to see. Flan could then feel how she was waved around a little and then suddenly thrown down toward the ground. She could feel the weapon being ripped from her chest as she fell to the ground with force. It was then when the brightness of the light started to finally subside giving more accurate form to the figure that had just annihilated the fire storm. The figure was wearing mostly black with golden hair flowing in the air. No one had expected this to happen so it took a moment till everyone realized who it was.

"Rumia?" Kasen was the first one to utter Rumia's name who floated above everyone else and looked down at the battlefield. Flandre too was as surprised as everyone else which in a way saved her because everyone's attention was drawn away from her. Though the one with the most shocked expression was Marisa as even the sight of Rumia sent shivers down her spine. It then became clear to all what the initial bright light had been. Rumia was holding a blade of pure light in her hand with shadowy wisps moving up and down across the blade like fish in water.

"You have no business here. I have already given you a warning not to ever come back," Yukari rumbled at Rumia whose gaze was then drawn to her.

"My business here is my own, though I assure you, it aligns with yours as well," Rumia responded with calm yet serious tone and look on her face.

"I do not care who you're alligned to but I guarantee that if you don't leave immediately I'll make sure you're dealt with all the same," Yukari said with ever more threatening tone. Okina and Kasen moved a little closer to Yukari preparing themselves to encounter a new foe. Marisa and Youmu coupled with few others as well didn't share the threatening demeanor of the sages. They knew first hand how tremendous Rumia was as an opponent so when Yukari threatened to attack her as well they didn't know whether they wanted to comply.

"I don't blame you for your sentiment but I'm here just for her," Rumia said and pointed down toward Flan who had already regenerated the damage Rumia had inflicted upon her.

"I just want to set things right. I will destroy the watch she's carrying and be done with it. Do with her whatever you like," Rumia said with that calm tone. Flandre was listening to what Rumia had to say together with everyone else but saw how the look on Marisa's face twitched a little when Rumia mentioned the watch.

"You were in leagues with her. We have no reason to believe you would be anything else even now," Kasen raised her voice at Rumia who looked back at her.

"You and I both should share the reason to want to destroy her. I know what she had done to all the Oni. I can tell you if you want. Give you some closure," Rumia responded and the tone of her voice turned to almost empathetic.

"What? The Oni? What was done to them?" Kasen exclaimed. Hearing that something had happened to her kin made her sweat.

"Killed. Every single one. She got Mitori to do it," Flandre uttered all of a sudden before Rumia could continue herself. Kasen slowly turned her head toward Flandre with her eyes wide open after hearing what she had said.

"W- what? Who's Mitori?" Kasen could only utter while looking at Flandre who had almost equally horrified look on her face. She remembered vividly what she had seen through the monitor.

"It's true. I'm sorry," Rumia added and shook her head. Kasen then turned to Yukari with panicked look on her face.

"You... You agreed to send them out! Why!? WHY!?" Kasen screamed now in tears. Everyone backed away from Kasen a little bit. No one had ever seen her break down like this. No one had ever even imagined it could even be possible. The look on Yukari's face was shocked as she stared at the teary eyed Kasen. She had to say something but she couldn't muster any words. Kasen't attention was however soon turned toward Flan who was getting herself up from the ground again. Kasen looked at her absolutely furious. Flan glanced back at her, her face showing no compassion whatsoever.

"I'LL KILL YOU," Kasen roared and was about to charge right at Flan but Renko managed to get between and create a barrier preventing Kasen from doing anything reckless. They were all speechless at Kasen's reaction. She was whacking at the boundary trying to get to Flan who stared at her calmly. Her eyes were then drawn to Rumia who was floating above her and the look on her face darkened.

"I always knew you would abandon my cause. But I never held it against you. You had more than done your part so you still had a place in my world. But betraying me like this, that I cannot look over," Flan said while staring up at Rumia. Rumia looked down toward Flan and the look on her face turned to serious again.

"Our relationship was built upon my hatred. I have been simply a tool in an experiment my whole life so realizing that you too had only used me gave me all the reasons to resent you all the same," Rumia responded pointing her sword at Flan.

"But the world hates your very existence. I was going to give you a place in a world that would not hate you. A place where you could belong. Why did you throw that chance away?" Flan asked growing ever more hateful toward Rumia.

"Because I realized that instead of the world not being ready for me, I wasn't ready for the world. While I was thrown into a situation I had no control over, it was through my own actions that I turned everything against me. I wish to right my wrongs, starting with you," Rumia growled and the look on her face intensified. Flan looked at Rumia silently before sighing, looking down and shaking her head.

"They're all in a same sinking ship. And now you decided to join them," Flan uttered just barely loud enough that Rumia heard her.

"At least I can do that knowing that for once in my life I was doing something good for the right reasons," Rumia retorted and glanced at the other still looking motionlessly at the situation before them.

"Right, right. Let's say that you succeed. Let's say you managed to kill me. What then? The singularity will still swallow all, you cannot stop that. And without me the singularity will be all that remains. There will be no new world but there will also be no this world. It will all end," Flan yelled and looked up at Rumia and around herself at the others again.

"Don't you get it!? It cannot be stopped," Flan continued and pointed up. Everyone followed the direction she was pointing at with her eyes. Above them, in the sky there was the black glowing sphere looming over everything.

"Singularity?" Renko uttered. Her eyes widened and a look of horror took over her face. Everyone's attention then turned toward her from the sphere.

"Singularity? What's that?" Okina asked with confused and worried look on her face. Renko's reaction worried them all.

"It... it...," Renko mumbled before finally being able to look away from the sphere. She then looked at Yukari and Okina.

"Renko, what is it?" Yukari asked. She too was starting to get worried.

"Death. There's no escaping it. We're doomed," Renko mumbled with empty and horrified look on her face.

"WHAT!?" Okina exclaimed and backed off a little. She looked around herself. Everyone around them had equally horrified look on their face after hearing what Renko had said. Everyone except Flan and Rumia. Flan was grinning ominously and Rumia was looking up to the skies with serious expression on her face.

"Get a hold of yourself! It is never hopeless," Yukari yelled as she flew to Renko and grabbed her by her shoulders.

"No, it really is. Singularity is a single thing that even I cannot understand. It breaks the very fabric of reality. There's no might in the world to challenge it," Renko uttered with almost spaced out look on her face. Yukari then let go of her and backed away a little. The fear was now starting to even take her over.

Flan on the other hand was pleased with the reaction. Their will was finally starting to break.

"You're finally starting to understand," Flan uttered and put her arms akimbo in a self-confident manner.

"Hopeless or not, I can still make sure you don't live long enough to enjoy your victory," Flan then heard being yelled from above her. She glanced up and saw Rumia all fired up and ready to charge at her. Flan simply growled a little, pulled out her Lävatein and readied herself to fight once again but before either of them could charge at each other they heard Flandre suddenly yelling, "Rumia! Flan's not the only one who has a watch! Marisa has one too!" Rumia stopped upon hearing this. She looked at Flandre with surprised look on her face and then at Marisa who was looking at Flandre with equally shocked look on her face. But before Rumia could do anything Flan roared in fury and charged up toward her.

The crash when Flan and Rumia crossed blades was a wake-up call to everyone else watching the situation. Flandre was never going to get a chance like this again so she sprung up onto her feet before anyone else could do anything to stop her. Marisa was standing only about dozen meters away from her so she made a lunge for it. Only Yukari saw what Flandre was doing but could not get between her and Marisa.

"Stop her," Yukari yelled getting everyone's attention to turn toward her. But by then Flandre had already reached Marisa who looked really startled by her. Marisa brought her wings in front of her in an effort to keep Flandre at bay. Flandre tried to reach for Marisa but Marisa pushed her away with her wings.

"Get away from me," Marisa exclaimed and took flight. Everyone was looking at her and Flandre unsure what to do.

"What are you all gawking!? Go after her," Yukari roared as Flandre charged after Marisa.

"I don't know. Shouldn't we help Rumia to destroy the watches instead of try to hold onto it?" Youmu voiced the doubts that everyone was having. Yukari's gaze snapped at her. There was desperate fury in her eyes.

"She has a point. We should side with Rumia on this. We share the common enemy and I don't know about you but for me at least the enemy of my enemy is my friend," Okina uttered and looked at Yukari with serious look on her face. Yukari stared back at her silently. She didn't know what to say, let alone what to do.

"Those of you who are with me focus everything you have toward Flan," Okina then yelled at everyone below her and headed herself toward Rumia and Flan who were still going at each other in the air. Youmu and Reimu followed Okina's lead but Junko stayed put. Her gaze was fixated onto Renko who was still looking completely out of it. Kasen on the other hand had descended onto the ground and was simply sobbing and clutching her knees like a child. Yukari was floating next to her still staring dumbfounded at the chaos around her.

"Maribel, my dear. We have to do what we must. It's all lost," Renko finally uttered and looked at Yukari who glanced at her confused.

"What are you talking about, Renko?" Yukari asked and looked visibly worried when she looked at Renko who approached her a little bit.

"If it is true, if that thing in the sky is a singularity, then there's no point fighting it. We cannot stop it. But we can still try to save what we can," Renko said with wavering tone while staring Yukari intently into their eyes. Yukari waited for her to continue. Renko was not acting herself which worried Yukari greatly. Junko was still staring at the two herself.

"We must join her," Renko uttered and pointed her finger at Flan who was now battling Rumia, Okina, Youmu and Reimu.

"WHAT!?" Yukari exclaimed. She had never expected to hear Renko out of all people saying something like this.

"You cannot be serious, after all we've done to have an edge against her you propose joining her? Renko, what's gone into you?" Yukari asked with utterly horrified and unbelieving look on her face.

"I'm just trying to save what there is to save. And if a chance of new reality exists I'm willing to fight for that chance," Renko said and offered her hand to Yukari. Yukari recoiled at Renko's words. She couldn't believe her best friend had betrayed everything they had fought for after just being reunited.

"You're out of your mind," Yukari uttered and backed away from Renko. Renko's hand fell to her side and tear rolled onto her cheek when she heard Yukari say this.

"There's no saving this world, so I at least wanted to save you," Renko pleaded with her but Yukari was not going to believe what she was hearing.

"I don't believe in that kind of future. If it is all hopeless the least you could have done is fight for the bitter end," Yukari responded in disgust. The look on Renko's face was shocked. At this point Junko had heard enough however. She took flight and flew next to Yukari. Both her and Renko looked at Junko whose eyes were glued onto Renko.

"I assume there's no question about. No matter what happens, that Flan girl must pay?" Junko asked out loud while staring at Renko who was starting to look more and more hopeless by the minute. Yukari glanced at Junko before uttering only one word, "Yes." Upon hearing this a purple aura surrounded Junko and she prepared herself.

"Well then, go and exact your revenge. Tear those watches apart. I'll save you from the pain of dealing with her," Junko simply uttered. Yukari looked at her surprised but seeing the determination in her eyes made her realize that she meant it hundred percent. Yukari made a quick glance toward Renko and then back at Junko. She made a slight nod without saying a word before disappearing into a gap.

"You know, I never really forgave you," Junko simply uttered once Yukari was gone. Renko looked at her in disbelief and backed away a little bit.

Flandre was still chasing Marisa near the edges of the crater. Flandre was pleading her to stop and that she only wanted the watch but Marisa wouldn't listen. She kept firing back at Flandre even though Flandre did not return any fire. The last thing she wanted was to hurt Marisa. She just didn't understand why was she so persistent on keeping the watch. Flandre was thinking about ways she could get the watch from her when she suddenly saw Yukari appearing from nowhere in front of them.

"Stop, both of you," Yukari shouted with sharp voice. Marisa and Flandre both stopped at this. Flandre feared that nothing good could come out of this and was readying herself to make a dash for Marisa and the watch if the need be. But Yukari simply stood still and looked at Marisa before outstretching her hand.

"The watch, hand it over, now," Yukari said with stern voice and look on her face. Marisa simply looked at her quietly.

"Yukari, it needs to be destr-," Flandre opened her mouth to speak but Yukari simply raised her hand at her and signed her to be quiet.

"I know. That's what I intend to do. Give it to me, Marisa," Yukari responded and looked back at Marisa with the same serious look but Marisa stayed still and quiet. Flandre looked at her, hopeful that she would finally give away the watch but when Marisa backed away from Yukari Flandre started to realize that something was not right.

"Don't be stupid. Hand it over," Yukari raised her voice at her. Flandre glanced at Yukari now. She was sensing that there was something between the two she did not understand.

"No," Marisa simply answered.

"What? Why?" Flandre asked out loud but she was simply ignored as Yukari opened her mouth to speak again, "Don't make me take it from you. You know full well that I cannot let you hold onto it forever."

"You promised that I could hold onto it and I you would keep me safe if I complied to take lead you to her," Marisa retorted and kept backing away as Yukari started to approach her. Flandre looked at Marisa even more confused.

"What are you two talking about? Safe from what?" Flandre asked again only to be ignored once more.

"Resolving an incident is my utmost priority. But if we live through this the others will demand you come forth with your past fully, I cannot prevent that," Yukari continued and kept closing toward Marisa with her hand outstretched.

"What is going on?" Flandre kept on insisting. Yukari finally glanced at her with that same serious stare.

"Stay out from this," She hissed and looked back at Marisa.

"That's why I cannot give you it," Marisa said and put her hand into her pocket while staring Yukari into her eyes.

"If you do that you will be considered as much of our enemy as that other Flandre! You know damn well that we need that destroyed," Yukari almost yelled at this point. Flandre looked at the two speechless. She didn't understand what they were on about but it didn't look good. She didn't want to hurt Marisa but she absolutely couldn't let her use that watch.

"I'm sorry, but I will," Marisa simply uttered and Flandre could see her fingers fidgeting in her pocket through the fabric.

"NO," Flandre suddenly yelled and shot at Marisa's arm. Marisa yelped and pulled her arm out from her pocket. Flandre and Yukari both saw when Marisa pulled her hand out the watch flew out from the pocket as well. Flandre was just about to fly after it when she felt a sharp pain erupting from her side and then being thrown down from the sky.

"Cease fire," Flandre heard Yukari yelling as she fell. From the corner of her eye she saw Remilia looking at Yukari confused. She must have not known what had just happened and still went after Flandre. Flandre smacked into the ground. Remilia's Gungnir had wounded her severely but she remained conscious even after hitting the ground. With blurry vision Flandre saw how Marisa charged after the watch while Yukari was preoccupied with Remilia. Alice and Meiling too now approached the scene.

The watch hit the ground with a distinct clink and bounced again. Marisa flew toward it and tried to catch it but her fingers missed and simply propelled the watch farther toward the other battle. Okina and the others were trying to pin Flan down but she managed to hold her own even against all of them. Youmu nor Reimu had the strength to risk getting close so both of them had to keep their distance to Flan who kept waving her Lävatein around. Okina too stayed away from Flan's direct reach as she was more effective with projectiles. That left only Rumia who kept hammering at Flan with all her strength which in itself would have probably been enough to take Flan down had it not been for the fact that she could not die. But as they threw all they had at Flan, she simply responded with just enough resistance keep them and bay and instead of attacking she kept her utmost attention at Marisa and Flandre. She was searching for any opportunity to break free from the battle at hand and snatch the watch from Marisa. So when that distinct clink reached Flan's ear she perked up immediately. Her gaze darted around for a while until she spotted the watch and Marisa flying after it. This was the moment she needed to seize. So when Rumia slashed at her the next time she simply danced out of the way and headed for the watch but Youmu was still between her and her goal. Youmu prepared to stop her but Flan did not care what she was planning to do. When Flan reached Youmu's striking distance she struck at Flan jumping backwards herself. Youmu's cut hit Flan square in the face cutting her in half from the head to the crotch. But just as many times before Flan did not even flinch at this. She simply regenerated her left half in an instant and kept charging forward striking Youmu out from her way with a one swipe from her Lävatein.

As Youmu fell from the sky as well the watch was now almost at Flan's reach. It kept rolling down the crater's slopes and Flan prepared to snatch it. But just as her fingers were about graze its surface Flan felt something hitting her back with an immense force. She felt herself being crashed into the ground and then suddenly stopping. Flan roared trying to wrench herself free from what ever had just pinned her to the ground. But she soon realized she wasn't in fact pinned. She saw Rumia's sword protruding from her back impaling her and being thrust into the ground locking her in place. Rumia then rushed past her not taking her sword with her as she rushed after the watch.

"RAAAH," Flan raged as she writhed trying to get free until she finally split her lower body in half ripping herself free and charged after Rumia. Rumia couldn't get to the watch in time so when she heard Flan getting herself free again she had to turn around and protect herself as Flan's blade was swung at her. Rumia had left her blade behind so she had to deflect Flan's strike with her bare hands. Fire shot all around as Rumia deflected Flan's strike one after another each of them wounding her arms. But even if Rumia was unarmed she still managed to stop Flan from getting any closer to the watch. The wounds on her arms kept closing just as fast as Flan could inflict them because Rumia was just like her. Both of them could only indefinitely kill the other as they would regenerate no matter what.

"You made the mistake of trusting me with your power. You cannot defeat me," Rumia uttered as Flan kept whacking at her.

"Don't go thinking I would allow myself being threatened by my own allies. I gave you that power, so I can also take it away," Flan roared in response before slashing directly at Rumia's left hand. It was cut from the middle of the palm taking all the fingers with it except the thumb. Rumia flinched at this but didn't let herself back off even a step. But when Flan swung at her again and she blocked it, she felt more pain than she had felt before when deflecting Flan's strikes. Rumia yelped and finally stumbled back a little. She looked at her left hand. It had still not healed. There was also a deep wound now on her right arm. Flan seized this moment and charged past her. Rumia tried to stop her but only managed to rip a piece of her dress off. But by the time Flan got past Rumia the watch had already been grabbed.

Flan was now set face to face with Marisa who held the watch firmly in her hands. There was a short pause during which no one said anything. Rumia too after recovering and going after Flan stopped to observe the situation with Reimu not too far behind her. Okina had gone to see if Youmu was okay.

Flan finally broke the silence by saying, "You're fond of the watch, are you not? You don't want to part with it." Marisa looked at Flan with nervous look on her face.

"You know, I don't even need it myself. What would you say if I offered you protection in return for keeping that thing unharmed?" Flan continued with odd and calm charm in her voice. Marisa took a step back.

"You think I'm an idiot who can just be bought. Well I'm not, I want nothing to do with you. And if this watch wasn't essential for my own safety I'd have destroyed it myself by now," Marisa retorted with her eyes briefly glancing toward Reimu who stared intently at Marisa with a grim expression on her face. Flan looked at Marisa and the look on her face turned to annoyance. That didn't last however as the look on her face turned back to that calm and slight smile.

"Hmmm, well I could offer you more if you're interested," Flan said as if she was the Devil himself making a deal. But Marisa still didn't warm up to her suggestions.

"You're a sick bastard. You have nothing to offer me," Marisa denied firmly. Flan frowned at this but still kept her cool.

"How about this then?" She asked and pulled something out from her pocket. Rumia and Reimu perked up at this put refrained from attacking when they saw that what Flan took from her pocket was just a folded piece of paper. Everyone looked at this piece confused as Flan offered it to Marisa. Marisa kept her distance not moving so Flan just sighed, unfolded it and showed it to Marisa. She looked at the paper and was visibly surprised at what she saw.

"How'd you get that?" Marisa asked with doubtful tone and look on her face as she started didding through her own pockets until she took out nearly identical piece of paper. She unfolded it too and looked at it. They were the one and the same. A poorly drawn and a little faded picture of two figures holding hands with scribbled text on it, 'Me and mommy, Marisa three years old.'

"I found many things amongst your corpses. This was one of them," Flan said and looked at the picture herself.

"Why'd you keep it? It has no value to you," Marisa asked carefully folding her piece of paper again.

"True, but it has value to you, I assume. That is the only concrete evidence of your real family after all," Flan responded and shrugged her shoulders. Marisa seemed to wince at this a little.

"How do you know about that?" Marisa asked with confused and surprised look on her face.

"I've had and still have eyes and ears everywhere. Even there where you don't. I know things you yourself have long since forgotten," Flan said and grinned a little. Marisa did not know what Flan was referring to as she did not know of Flan's and my relationship.

"Wanna know your own history?" Flan then asked while looking at Marisa from the corner of her eye. Marisa stood quietly not saying a word but she stared at Flan with that certain look on her face that practically screams 'I do even though I shouldn't'.

"I'll take that as a yes then," Flan said, shrugged her shoulders and shook her head a little all the while Junko and Renko were going at each other right above them showering the ground below in flashes of light as Flan sat down before Marisa.

"Now... First of all you're not from Gensokyo," Flan started and looked at Marisa with smug grin on her face.

"It was a quiet evening like any other. Little Marisa was for the first time experimenting with pencils while her mother was outside tending the garden. Once done with your drawing you were really proud of it. So proud that you had to show it to your mother. I'm sure she would have been proud as well had she seen it. Leaving kids unsupervised can be... dangerous you see," Flan continued all the while Marisa looked at her in disbelief.

"As you ran down the path leading to the other side of your house where your mother was tending her garden you simply tripped like kids usually tend to. Too bad your house was on a steep hill meaning that once you started rolling down into the forest there was no stopping you until you hit the bottom," Flan kept on explaining and Marisa was starting to look more and more uncomfortable.

"But once you finally came to a stop you were no longer on your back yard. Your parents looked for you everywhere but you were never found. It was later assumed that you just walked out and a wild animal snatched you, but in reality you were snatched by something much, much more terrifying," Flan continued before stopping briefly with the flashes from the battle above them lighting her face ominously.

"You, Marisa, are a gappie. One of the many snatched into Gensokyo by Yukari. You were never meant to survive even a day here. You were meant to be fed to the youkai. What changed your fate however was the fact that the first person to lay eyes onto this lost little girl was a vengeful spirit, one that you may also know as-," Flan was about to finish what she had to say but before she could Marisa exclaimed, "STOP!" Flan raised her brow at this and grinned a little. Marisa looked thoroughly shocked. Everyone's attention was now turned toward Marisa and were eagerly waiting what would happen next.

"Something else you wanna know or was this enough? I'm not your enemy here. I'm just trying to help you as I see we both could benefit from each other's help," Flan said and shrugged her shoulders. Marisa stared at Flan and backed away another step. Flan stopped and sighed while shaking her head.

"Is there truly no way getting through to you? Any of you? How much convincing do you need to realize that I'm only trying to he-," Flan groaned but stopped when she saw Marisa's eyes briefly glancing to Flan's side and then back at her. Flan turned around just in time to see Reimu trying to smack her with a charm in her hand. Flan ducked out of the way, grabbed Reimu's arm and threw her into the ground. Rumia rushed in to help but without her sword Flan managed to slash her and kick her back. But by the time she did this Reimu had gotten back up and managed attached the charm to Flan's foot.

"GAH," Flan screamed as a loud hissing sound started emanating from her leg and the charm. Flan dropped to one knee as the charm kept eating away at her. Reimu stepped in front of Flan with a new charm already readied in her hand. She looked down at Flan who was holding her leg while the charm started crackling as if it was electrocuting her.

"If we cannot kill you, then I'll just seal you for good. No good being immortal then," Reimu said without a hint of compassion in her tone or her face. Flan glanced up with pained look on her face as Reimu prepared to attach another charm. But then suddenly the look on her face intensified. Flan's foot came flying off with a sickening crack as she tore her own foot off and with the same motion summoned her Lävatein. Reimu tried to back away but before she could not do anything when Flan slashed at her knee and jumped over her with her remaining leg. Reimu dropped herself now onto one knee and before she could even comprehend what had happened the tip of Flan's Lävatein erupted from her chest. Flan had impaled her from behind before she had landed herself.

"NO," Marisa screamed and Reimu's eyes widened as blood started to stain her already red clothing to even darker shade. Reimu's hand instinctively reached for the blade sticking out from her chest but when her fingers touched it there was just a hiss and the smell of burning skin started filling the air. Reimu tried to scream as her hand started to burn away and blood was flowing out from her chest but not a sound came out. Flan already had her leg back and was simply staring at Reimu as she writhed on her blade.

"She chose her own fate! Now it's time for you to choose your own! This is your final chance! And should you follow her lead I promise you will end up all the same," Flan announced with rage painted all across her face. She then pulled the Lävatein out from Reimu's back after which Reimu slumped onto the ground to her side. Everyone stared in shock and silence at Flan, uncertain what to do next. Everyone except Junko, Renko and Kasen. Kasen had stayed quiet and motionless until now. Just sobbing all by herself amidst all the chaos. But now when most of it had stopped Flan's eyes were drawn to her as she had gotten up all of a sudden and was now slowly making her way toward her. Flan stared at her intently and waited what she was going to do.

"You... you are one sick animal," Kasen huffed as she made her way toward Flan who became visibly annoyed by Kasen's words.

"I'm fine with the end of the world if we cannot stop it. Having no world is better than a new one created by you," Kasen continued her face twisted by anger and agony of knowing what had become of her kin.

"Fine, I'll start with you. Don't you worry, you'll be with your friends soon enough," Flan hissed and started approaching Kasen herself. But before she could get her third step toward her Kasen stopped and took ahold of the rock next to her. With a one pull of her arm she broke a large chunk of it off. Flan stopped approaching. Kasen looked her dead in the eyes as she started running toward Flan. Flan prepared herself firing up her Lävatein. But to Flan's surprise Kasen bent her arm she was holding the rock with back and when Flan realized what was to come she could not avoid it anymore. As Kasen charged toward Flan she started taking longer and longer strides until one of her steps cracked the ground below her foot. On that mark she hurled the rock at Flan with all she got cracking the earth below her further and sending shockwaves debri flying everywhere as the sheer force of the air alone caused by Kasen's throw shattered stone all around her. The rock she threw was shattered immediately upon throwing so instead of one large boulder Flan was met with a buckshot of sand coming at her dozens of times faster than the speed of sound.

The shockwave and the debri absolutely wiped Flan out but Kasen was not content. She kept on running toward the point where Flan had stood. The dust cloud Kasen's strike had caused masked Flan as she regenerated her body once more and prepared to face Kasen. When close enough Flan charged out from the dust cloud with the Lävatein aimed at Kasen but she did not back off and instead managed to stagger Flan as Kasen blocked her striked with the wrist cuff on her left hand. She then proceeded to grab Flan with the bandages of her right arm and threw her onto the hillside of the crater.

At this point everyone else was starting to recover from their shock and were about to head after Kasen to help her. All but Marisa. No one's attention was drawn to her and she saw this as her chance to escape. At least she thought that way. Because when she took flight to head away from the battlefield she heard someone yelling, "STOP!" Marisa froze to her place and looked over her shoulder. It was Rumia. She had retrieved her weapon and was now staring at Marisa intently.

"Give me the watch and you may leave. That's all I ask," Rumia uttered with calm but serious tone and look on her face. Marisa stared at her silently, then looked at the watch in her hand and then back at Rumia again.

"No," Marisa said bluntly. The look on Rumia's face darkened.

"I don't want to be your enemy, but I will take it by force if I need to. Don't force me to do it," Rumia responded with much more stern voice. Marisa frowned at this.

"You have been nothing but my enemy for the longest time now. So don't go thinking for a second that I would trust you. Reimu was right about you. Too bad I didn't listen until you killed her," Marisa retorted with much more hate in her tone.

"Listen to yourself. Do you think she would be proud of you if she saw you like this?" Rumia asked pleading Marisa to be reasonable but this seemed to further agitate her.

"SHUT UP! You have no right to talk about her after what you did to her! None!" Marisa screamed back at her with visible hatred on her face. Rumia did not respond. She simply stared silently at Marisa and looked visibly offended.

"On further thought, I'd gladly see you finally biting the dust. The world would be better off without you," Marisa growled at Rumia now fully turned toward her. It no longer seemed she had any intentions of running away. But as soon as she had finished what she had to say Rumia lunged at her out of nowhere. Marisa freaked out and covered herself with her wings. She felt Rumia's blade hitting them and bouncing off.

"I understand how you feel but I cannot let that get in the way of what I must do," Marisa heard Rumia saying. Her voice was calm but there was threatening seriousness in it. Dark and violent. But Marisa had already made her choice. She opened her wings knocking Rumia back a little and attacked herself.

At the same time Yukari had rushed to Reimu who was laying on the ground. She was bleeding and unable to move due to the shock and her injures but she was still conscious. She picked Reimu up and inspected her wounds. It was bad but she could be saved. Okina then approached Yukari she was carrying Youmu on her arms.

"Is she alive?" Okina asked. She was a little out of breath by the looks of things.

"Barely, but we can save her. What about her?" Yukari responded while looking at unresponsive Youmu on Okina's arms.

"Just unconscious, luckily. This all went south really quick," Okina said with serious tone and look on her face. Yukari nodded.

"We need to start evacuating, starting with these two," Yukari added and made a purple line into the air with her free hand. The line then opened into a shape of an eye revealing a gap. Almost immediately after opening it Yukari's shikigami, Ran stepped out with surprised look on her face. Yukari simply stepped forward and gave Reimu to her.

"Miss Yukari, what's going on?" Ran asked utterly perplexed by what she saw. Ran had stayed behind in Gensokyo and was overseeing while Yukari was gone. Yukari then turned her head around and signed Okina to get into the gap.

"Go and get them to safety," Yukari simply commanded. Okina looked at her a little confused.

"What are you saying? I will stay. We need to defeat her," Okina said and nodded toward the battle that was raging at the edge of the crater.

"Yukari, what are you talking about? What is going on over here, where are we?" Ran added and peeked her head outside the gap but Yukari pushed her back into it together with Okina.

"I know we have to stop her and that's why you're going and I will stay. Return to Gensokyo and start evacuating everyone," Yukari said with stern voice. She then turned her attention to Ran who still looked really confused.

"And Ran, while I'm gone you are to take my place as a sage," She added. Ran looked at Yukari surprised. She tried stutter something, "B- but what about...," before Yukari interrupted her, "Just do as I say and it'll all be alright." Ran stared at Yukari silently before making a slight nod. After that Yukari closed the gap with a wave of her hand and sighed deeply. She first glanced behind herself at the others still going at Flan. She then looked up toward Junko and Renko still going at each other. Yukari took a deep breath.

"She's my responsibility. That's why it has to be me," She uttered before taking off and flying toward them.

At the crater's edge Kasen, Alice, Remilia and Meiling were throwing everything they had at Flan. Flan however was defending herself from the onslaught, making it really hard for them to contain her. Flan was constantly looking for an opportunity just to break free and head for Rumia and Marisa who she could see fighting in the distance. Alice however managed to keep her from escaping with her dolls. As Kasen and the others were slowly forcing Flan closer and closer to the crater's edge she was getting more and more frustrated. Every Time someone attacked her she would simply deflect it or dodge it but as soon as she tried to counter someone else would prevent her from attacking and it would just keep on repeating. They were just simply switching in and out way too often for Flan to be able to focus onto anyone. But Flan was patient. She knew her time would come. Soon they would be forcing her to the summit of the crater and there she would have a lot more free space to work with. Alice's dolls would still be a hindrance but they possibly couldn't keep her contained.

Flan parried a couple punches and a kick from Kasen and Meiling. Remilia then charged from behind them with her spear. Flan jumped backwards kicking up some fires to keep her attackers at bay. She was now mere steps away from the crater's edge.

"Look at all of you! What are you all even fighting for? What do you hope to achieve?" Flan taunted her attackers as she backed toward the edge. Kasen lunged at Flan immediately after this and attempted to strike her but Flan simply deflected her blows.

"You think I'm doing this out of some grand desire to just hurt people!? You think this has anything to do with any of you!?" Flan continued her taunting. Remilia and Meiling both fired a couple shots at her but Flan simply jumped out of the way.

"Unlike you, I do care about matters other than what immediately concerns me! The world doesn't revolve around you! You are not always right no matter how right you feel," Flan kept shouting up until she stepped onto the highest point of the crater's slope. At that point she stopped and took a quick glimpse at her side to make sure she was at the top. She then looked back at her attackers and frowned.

"We fight for what we believe in. There is no other truth to it, no right or wrong," Meiling retorted while staring Flan into her eyes.

"Your beliefs are based on a lie! Everything in this worl-," Flan shouted back at her but before she could finish what she had to say she stopped suddenly. Flan's eyes widened and she lifted her hands to her face. She gasped as the air from her lungs was suddenly driven out and she tried to breathe in. The others looked at her confused. Flan's eyes turned toward her side. She was trying to to look behind herself but her muscles wouldn't let her. Remilia approached Flan carefully, ready to strike if this all turned out to be just an act. But before Remilia could get more than couple steps toward Flan she dropped onto one knee revealing a figure behind her. Remilia, Alice, Kasen and Meiling all backed away in shock. Behind Flan was yet another Flandre. At first they thought it was the Flandre that been in the crater with Flan already when they arrived but when they saw that her clothes were all intact they realized that it wasn't her. This Flandre was holding something against Flan's back. Something that looked like a handle. They all looked in shock and confusion as this new Flandre stared at Flan with wide eyes. Eyes that were blue. They then realized that she did not have wings at all. She wasn't a vampire. Flan then dropped completely onto her knees, her hands convulsing compulsively.

"AAAAARGH," Flan finally managed to scream from the bottom of her lungs. Remilia and the other's backed away even further. They did not understand what was going on. The human Flandre seemed to get startled by the scream as well because she let go of the object briefly before grabbing hold onto it once more. That however was enough for Remilia to see clearly that it was a handle of a knife. Flan kept on screaming and the human Flandre then took ahold of the knife with both of her hands and tried to pull it off.

"NO, DON'T," Remilia yelled at her but it was too late. The human Flandre yanked the knife off in an attempt to strike Flan again. When she pulled it off from Flan's back Remilia and the others could clearly see how the silver blade glimmered in the dim light cast by the singularity in the sky and was covered in Flan's blood. The human Flandre tried to plunge the knife back into Flan's back but before she could even start to lower her hands toward her Flan had regained the control over her body. She spun around faster than the human Flandre could realize and smacked her to the side of her head. There was only a sickening crackle as Flan's strike broke her neck. The blade went flying off from human Flandre's hand and it made a faint clink when it hit the ground together with the human Flandre's body.

Flan breathed heavily. Her face was sweaty and furious. But that look changed for the briefest of moments when she laid eyes onto the corpse of the other Flandre. For a moment Flan looked as shocked as everyone else at what she saw. She looked at the corpse. Had she seen who it was she would not have struck. This moment didn't last more than only a second at most. Flan quickly snapped her head back toward the others just in time to see the tip of Remilia's Gungnir before she plunged it into Flan's chest driving her into the ground right beside the human Flandre's corpse. The knife Flan had been struck with was silver. And even if it couldn't kill her it had still weakened considerably and left her dazed.

"Oh my god, is she okay?" Alice finally managed to stutter when Flan was pinned to the ground. Meiling rushed past Remilia and Flan to take a look. She knelt beside the human Flandre and took ahold of her shoulders but before she could even lift her she could tell that she was dead. Her neck was limp and twisted into unnatural angle.

"She's dead," Meiling simply responded and stood up again.

"Who was she even? Why was she here?" Alice continued with shocked look on her face. Flan let out a groan after she heard Alice say this.

"She was me. Just a different version from a different timeline. I didn't mean to kill her," Flan growled from the ground while holding onto the spear that was pinning her to the ground. Everyone looked at her with spiteful expressions. Remilia then twisted the spear causing her to groan in pain as she writhed on the ground.

"How noble of you. You probably didn't intend to kill anyone you have killed," Alice retorted with hateful tone. Flan simply glared at her clearly in rage.

"Come on, take her watch and destroy it while we have her," Meiling interrupted them. Remilia glanced at Meiling briefly and nodded. She then bent down to search for the watch but jumped back when Flan nearly clawed at her face.

"RAAH! HANDS OFF," Flan roared and shot a couple fireballs at them. Remilia and Meiling backed away from her. Flan then tried to rip the spear off from her but she still was too weak to do so. Kasen tried to approach Flan herself but Flan simply started to throw fire at her instead. Flan looked like a writhing ant as she tried to defend herself and get up at the same time.

"Stop unless you want to get hurt yourself," Alice called out to them only to have Flan hurl a fireball at her as well. Luckily she dodged it easily.

"She's right, we need to get that watch but can't while she resists," Meiling said while staring intently at Flan who was thrashing around.

"Wait. Where did that knife go that the other Flandre had? We could use that to paralyze her," Remilia then asked and looked around. Everyone looked at the ground around the human Flandre's corpse but the knife was gone.

"It... it flew here somewhere. I'm sure of it, I saw it," Meiling responded a little confused. She then walked closer to the corpse while trying to keep her distance to Flan to inspect it closer. She kept looking at the ground trying to find the knife.

"It flew somewhere around here. It hit a rock and this is the only one that's protruding from the ash," Meiling continued and knelt down closer to the rock but even then there was no sign of the knife. But there was something.

"Meiling, might wanna find it," Remilia called out to her. Flan was slowly regaining her strength and was trying to release herself. Remilia rushed in to lodge the spear deeper only to be met with projectiles blasted onto her face. Despite this she hold onto the spear. Meiling started to look more frantically. She sank her hands into the ash trying to see if the knife had buried itself but still came empty handed. She started circling around the rock doing the same but she could not find the knife. But there was something she managed to find. As Meiling tried to dig into a pile of untouched looking ash she suddenly stopped. She had thought she had again sunk her hand into ash but in actuality had not. She lifted her hand and pressed it down again. The ash looked like it had not been touched by anyone or anything but when she tried to dig into it her hand didn't touch the surface. What she saw didn't look right to her. She actually had to close her eyes and rub them just to make sure she wasn't seeing things because of stress. And that's when the illusion broke. Before her there was a pile of ash but it wasn't untouched. It had just been made to look that way. In fact there were small footprints in the ash and Meiling had accidentally tried to sink her hand into one of the prints exposing the illusion.

"What the...," Meiling muttered and followed the prints with her eyes. They came from behind the edge of the crater to the rock and seemed go around for a bit before continuing deeper into the crater, although the distance between of the prints increased at this point. As if who ever had made them had started sprinting.

"Meiling!?" Remilia called out but Meiling was too focused onto this mystery to register what was being said. She looked at the direction where the footprints lead and failed to see anything of interest. Until she spotted a red pundle amongst the rocks.

"Oh no," Meiling simply uttered before she sprang up to her feet and started sprinting down into the crater as fast as her legs carried her. Remilia, Kasen and Alice tried to call after her but their shouts fell onto deaf ears.

All this time Flandre had been laying where she crashed after Remilia struck her down from the air. She had been conscious but too weak and badly wounded to keep on fighting. She had had to result to just observe the situation from afar with blurry vision. Slowly but surely though she had started to regain her senses but even now everything looked and felt like she was observing the events behind a thick panel of glass. The sounds felt distant and the visions blurry and distorted. But ultimately she started to feel her strength return enough to allow her to try and stand up again. She looked around herself. She saw flashes of light and colourful figures in the sky. She wondered who they were. She also saw two darker figures in the distance who seemed to battle as well. Flandre stumbled onto her knees and used the scythe to hold herself up.

"Marisa, where Marisa?" Flandre mumbled to herself incoherently. She finally then laid her eyes to the edge of the crater where Remilia, Kasen and Alice were trying to contain Flan. Flandre stared at the scene curiously. She felt as if she needed to get there. She finally got her other leg off her knee so she only had one knee on the ground anymore. But as she stared toward the edge of the crater longer she saw something else as well. Something green approaching her. Approaching her quite fast by the looks of things.

"Who... whose there?" Flandre asked faintly and got up completely. There was a distant echo in the distance. As if someone was calling out for her though the sound was too blurry to make anything out of it. Flandre tried to direct her ear better toward the source of the sound but it was still just a distant yell. The green figure was approaching her all the time. Flandre figured that it must by them calling out to her.

"Wh- what is it?" Flandre muttered and started to take shake steps toward the figure. Her thoughts were still kind of all over the place but she still tried to figure out who was coming toward her. The figure was green. She remembered that someone she knew did wear green. Someone she knew really well. Then a colour red popped into her mind. Red hair. That's it. It must be Meiling coming at her way. But why did she do that, Flandre wondered. Had something happened. Flandre then stopped and looked how the figure approached her. Then another question popped into her mind. Meiling did have green clothes and red hair. But this figure did not have red anywhere on them. Why was that.

At that point Flandre felt that certain sinking feeling in her stomach. Like something was not right at all. She did not yet understand what it was but her subconsciousness was telling her that something was not right. That something may have been the fact that that figure was not Meiling. When Flandre finally could make out my face from the blurry image she saw it already was too late for her to run away. Well not that she could have ran in the first place.

"RAAAH," I roared as I aimed the knife right at Flandre's chest. I saw her eyes widen a little but that was the only reaction I got out of her. I was honestly rather disappointed. I had waited for this moment for so long after all. I could hear and feel the air escape her lungs as I plunged the bloodied knife deep into her chest, all the way to the hilt. Flandre stared down toward the knife's handle with spaced out look on her face. I then pulled the knife out, took ahold of her shoulder with my other hand and struck the knife into her chest once more. Blood was starting to stain her already dirty dress into a darker shade of red. Flandre then finally lifted her gaze from her chest toward me and locked eyes with mine. She let out some vague gurgly noises. She was probably trying to say something but there was nothing that could be made out from it.

After a couple seconds I could start to feel Flandre's limbs get limp and her weight was starting to pull the body down to the ground. I let go of her shoulder and the knife and watched her slump to the ground onto her back. All this time I had waited for her to scream or curse at me, so seeing her fall down so peacefully did not sit right with me. My revenge was not fulfilled. I felt angrier and angrier by the second. She was not gonna get to leave so easily. I was going to hurt her all the way till the end. I caressed one of the cords hanging from my body briefly before I lifted my foot to stomp her. I was however interrupted by a sound of someone approaching. I had believed thus far that the illusion would be enough to hide me but when I turned around to look I saw Meiling charging at me at full speed. I admit I was really surprised and didn't immediately know how to react. So when Meiling leaped at me I only brought my hand in front of my face and turned my head away. Meiling's foot crashed right onto my temple sending me flying over Flandre and rolling on the ground. My head hurt like crazy. I had not gotten used to physical punishment on my body so the kick felt like my head had just exploded.

Meanwhile while I was on the ground trying to recover from the blow Meiling rushed to Flandre who was laying on the ground motionless.

"Young mistress!? Flandre!? Can you hear me!?" Meiling shouted while carefully slapping her to her cheeks. She then grabbed the knife that was still in Flandre's chest and yanked it off. She then slapped Flandre a couple times more.

"Can you hear me!? Please say something," Meiling continued with desperate tone and look on her face. There was a faint breeze over Flandre's lips indicating that she was still alive in body but her unmoving and glossed over eyes didn't indicate that she was there in mind. I could hear a faint whimper from Meiling as she backed slightly away from Flandre.

"She's gone," I spat as the pain in my head started to subside. Meiling turned her head toward me with disbelief in her eyes.

"Why? Why would you do something like this? I thought you were on our side," Meiling said with unbelieving and desperate look on her face. It took everything I had to not burst out laughing completely at this.

"So did she. Too bad you didn't listen to her in time," I cackled as I got myself up. I then glanced to the the edge of the crater. Flan was about to get free from Remilia's hold. On the other side of the crater Rumia and Marisa were still going at each other. Even if Flan could hold her own there was still a risk that Rumia could best Marisa. I couldn't allow that to happen. I looked back at Meiling who was on her knees staring at Flandre's nearly lifeless body.

"Mourn all you want. She got what she deserved. In the end there was no way for you to succeed," I laughed at her. I hated what Flandre had reduced me into. I hated it wholeheartedly. But I still had to admit that I enjoyed the fact that I no longer had to hold the visage of being on their side. I could finally enjoy what I had fought for for so long. I then turned away from her and was about to head toward Marisa and Rumia when I felt a hand grab my shoulder. I winced when I felt how the nails dig into my skin through my shirt. I looked behind myself and saw Meiling glaring at me with a firm grip on my shoulder. I tried to yank myself free but before I could even move I felt burning hot pain erupting from my side. Meiling hit her elbow into my side with all she got. And before I could even react to the pain there was another hit, this time to my stomach as Meiling freed my shoulder and punched my stomach.

"GAAH," It was as if I had yelled, that's how fast the air was driven out my lungs. I fell to my knees and held my stomach but my knees didn't get to reach the ground when Meiling grabbed my hair now and hung me from them. I tried to reach up to do something about it but I could not reach Meiling's hand. She then simply flung me up into the air and into the ground to her other side. There was no air in my lungs that could erupt so there was only the pain and the cracking of my bones. I finally gasped for more air only to immediately cough out blood. Meiling then dragged me up once again and no grabbed my by my throat. I couldn't breathe nor cough as she was squeezing my neck. I kicked her to her stomach but that did not do much. She simply glanced down and grabbed my leg with her free hand and started to twist it. I sunk my nails into Meiling's wrist, that finally seemed to get a reaction out of her but that reaction was only an annoyed glare. She let go of my leg that brought only a momentary relief before she tossed me into the air and roundhouse kicked me right to my throat.

I was sent flying again but I no longer felt pain. My body went completely numb from the shock while I flew over Flandre and finally crashed into the rocks next to her. I hate to admit it but I nearly prayed that Meiling was done with me. Without my ability to control subconsciousness and the help from my other selves I was hardly even a match for her. But as I laid there I could hear her footsteps approaching me again.

"Fine, if she kills me at least she wont threaten Flan nor Marisa," I thought to myself. At this point whether I lived or not was irrelevant. I had done my part.

"You're the lowest scum I have ever seen," I could hear Meiling hissing as she approached. I tried to grin at her but my muscles would not have any of it. Her hatred for me was what I wanted. It would direct all her attention to me while Flan would rip apart her group piece by piece. My joy, however was unfortunately short lived. As Meiling's steps approached me I suddenly heard something else as well and Meiling stopped immediately too. It was a faint whimper coming from Flandre's direction.

"M- Meiling? You... you there?" I could hear the faint voice escaping from Flandre's lips. Meiling immediately turned her head toward her and rushed to the injured Flandre. She knelt beside her and took ahold of her hand.

"Yes, I'm here, I'm here. How do you feel?" Meiling nearly shouted after hearing Flandre's voice. Flandre eyes were still all glossed over and lifeless but she was conscious as she could talk again. I simply growled at this. It annoyed me greatly that she was still holding onto the last threads of life. I wanted her dead already.

"I... I screwed up... screwed up really bad," Flandre responded to Meiling with weak and breathy voice. Meiling simply took a tighter hold onto Flandre's hand.

"No, no, you did great. Sorry that we didn't believe you. We should have done so from the get go," Meiling said apologetically. Meiling could see a really weak smile forming onto Flandre's face as she opened her mouth again.

"You... you really hurt... that kick, you know," Flandre said which made Meiling laugh a little as she wiped her eyes from tears that were starting to form.

"Sorry about that," Meiling responded with a bittersweet smile on her face. She then saw how Flandre's eyes moved slowly to her direction and they made eye contact.

"Don't be... Just take care of Flan for me, please," Flandre said and cracked a smile herself. Meiling perked up at this. She had nearly forgotten about Flan.

"But how do we do that without you?" Meiling asked and squeezed Flandre's hand even tighter. Flandre chuckled a little.

"You don't need me. Never did. Just destroy the watches. She doesn't seem to want that to happen," Flandre replied. At this point I tried to interrupt them but all I could get out was an incoherent gurgle. Meiling glanced at me with hatred before looking back at Flandre.

"You know, I always thought that I would go out in violence. That my final moments would be filled with pain. I guess I always thought that I deserved that," Flandre then uttered and looked around herself a little.

"Don't say that," Meiling interrupted her briefly before Flandre continued.

"Heh, but now when I'm here it doesn't feel all too bad. I feel no pain nor do I feel any guilt over what I've done. I feel at peace, just fine. Maybe I am ready to die," Flandre said with calm tone and a slight smile on her face.

"Die? We're not going to let you die. We will get you out from here alive," Meiling insisted and shook Flandre's hand gently. Flandre however raised her other hand and put it over Meiling's. Meiling looked at Flandre.

"I got stabbed with that knife. You know what it does to me," Flandre tried to calm Meiling down by remaining calm herself but Meiling wasn't going to give up.

"I don't believe you, maybe the knife didn't hit you fatally. Maybe you can survive, " She kept on insisting while holding onto Flandre's hand. But Flandre simply huffed playfully and shook her head a little.

"You know it doesn't work like that," Flandre said and smiled gently at Meiling. Meiling looked clueless, she didn't know what she should do or how to react. There was a loud boom then behind them. Both of them looked at the direction of the sound and saw that Flan had broken free again. Meiling looked back at Flandre who was staring at the battle with concerned look on her face. She then let go of Flandre's hand.

"Go, help them. Destroy the watches. That's the only thing that matters," Flandre said and turned her gaze back toward Meiling. But Meiling simply shook her head and grabbed Flandre below her shoulders and tried to lift her up.

"What are you doing!? Stop! You're wasting your time," Flandre exclaimed and tried to get Meiling to let go of her. But Meiling did not comply.

"Not a chance. I'm getting you out of here. Maybe Patchouli knows how to treat you," Meiling responded and yanked Flandre hard off the ground but Flandre resisted and tried to wrench Meiling's hands off from her.

"If you don't manage to destroy the watches there is nowhere for us to go! It is literally all or nothing and I don't want you to sacrifice everything for my sake so foolishly," Flandre almost screamed and finally managed to escape Meiling's grip. Flandre expected to see sad or defeated expression on Meiling's face but when she looked at her again she was confused to find that the look on Meiling's face was that of a complete surprise. Meiling then approached Flandre again and touched the spots where I had stabbed her.

"How did you have that much strength left? When a vampire is wounded with silver they either die or suffer great loss of power for a long time," Meiling asked and at that point Flandre lifted her head from the ground to look as well.

"I... I don't know. I actually feel rather good to be honest," Flandre responded and she too was starting to realize that how she felt did not go one in one with how she should have felt. She was stabbed twice and before that wounded severely by Gungnir. She should not have had any strength to even move in her, and yet she could get herself off from Meiling's grip. Meiling then put her fingers through the holes that I had made into Flandre's shirt to feel the wounds on her body. Flandre was almost startled when Meiling suddenly however pulled them off with complete shock on her face. Meiling looked at her hand.

"What is it? What's going on?" Flandre asked with more and more confused and maybe even scared tone and look on her face. Meiling then looked at Flandre.

"There are no stab wounds," She simply uttered and started examining the holes in Flandre's clothes further.

"What? That cannot be, she stabbed me, I felt it," Flandre responded with completely unbelieving tone. What Meiling was saying did not make any sense at all.

"It is true. There's no blood, no wound, not even a scar on your skin. Feel for yourself," Meiling said as she kept examining Flandre's body. Completely baffled by this Flandre sat up carefully. She did not feel dizzy or weak. In fact she didn't remember when was the last time she had felt this healthy. At this point I too was absolutely confused. I was just silently listening what the two were saying and it made no sense to me. Flandre was supposed to be dead by now. It didn't add up. How could there be no injuries on her if I just stabbed her?

Flandre carefully moved her hands across her body. There were no stab wounds, no spots on her body that hurt. Even the wound caused by the Gungnir had disappeared. Flandre looked at Meiling with utter confusion. Meiling returned the same look.

"What...? How...? Why...?" Flandre could only utter as she pushed herself up onto her feet. Her feet carried her with no problem. In fact she felt like she could run around the world. Flandre jumped a little to confirm that her feet were okay.

"Flandre, I know this might sound crazy but... I think you regenerated... like Flan does. Even your hair is tidy," Meiling said. At first Flandre looked at her with unbelieving look on her face but that look faded when she looked at her hands and feet. The burns from earlier had disappeared as well. She then grabbed a tuft of hair and brought it before her face. It was shiny and clean. Like she had just washed it. Her clothes were still ripped and dirty though. Only her body was fine again. Meiling's words echoed in Flandre's mind.

"But... how can that be possible? I haven't... you know... absorbed any timelines. I don't even know how one could do that," Flandre insisted with baffled look on her face. Meiling couldn't answer to her question. She didn't know either so she just shrugged. Flandre then silently glanced at the ground around her feet and picked up the scythe laying next to her. She ran her fingers across its wooden handle. Now when her fingers weren't scorched black she could finally feel how smooth it was. She looked at Meiling again.

"I guess it's not yet time for me to rest?" Flandre asked and her lips were starting to curl up into a smile. Meiling grinned back at her, approached her and hugged her tightly. The hug wasn't long though as Meiling let go of her and backed off again with a serious look on her face. She stared to her right. She glared at me with hate.

"What should we do with her?" Meiling asked and I could hear the anger in her tone. Flandre looked at me too but did not share the hate Meiling had toward me.

"Leave her, she's not worth our time. Besides I don't think she can pose us any threat anymore," Flandre uttered calmly. It made my blood boil. Meiling looked at Flandre and nodded silently. Flandre's eyes however were already drawn elsewhere. Flan was free again and was wreaking havoc around her.

"Come on, we still have work to do," Flandre then uttered, her tone much darker than it had been before. Meiling turned around to see the chaos ensuing.

"You have a plan?" Meiling asked while staring at the battle they were soon heading into. Flan simply shook her head without looking at Meiling.

"We simply have to snatch the watch from her. Nothing more, nothing less," Flandre uttered before rising from the ground. She stared at the Flan in the distance intently while caressing the scythe in her hand.

"Sounds simple enough. Let's go save the reality then," Meiling said and glanced at Flandre. Flandre looked back at her and gave her a slight nod before dashing toward the battle herself. Just a moment ago she had thought that she was as good as dead but now she more than ready to continue fighting. She did not know how or why it was, all she know that she had gotten a second chance and she was not going to waste it. Only thing in her mind at the moment was Flan and just Flan. She saw Kasen, Remilia and Alice only briefly as she charged past them. They did not realize what it was that just flew past them toward Flan and neither did Flan herself when she saw something approaching her just fraction of a second before Flandre crashed into her. Only when they were falling from the sky did Flan recognize Flandre as she held onto her and dragged her down with her. Before Flan could even recover from her surprise she was smacked into the ground shattering the rock surface of the crater's side and plunging her into boiling hot magma as it splashed everywhere as a result of the crash.

Flandre watched from the air above the crash site whether Flan would rise back up or not. The answer to that was obvious though and Flan did not keep her waiting for long as a magma suddenly surged up in a pillar revealing Flan in the middle of it as the molten rock fell back down. Flandre glared at her as the lava rained down from the sky like snow. Flan was covered in stone that slowly chipped off from her body revealing an unharmed figure within. Flan stared back at Flandre with rather calm expression. Flandre did not care what was going on in her mind and she was just about to charge at Flan again but stopped herself when she realized that Flan no longer was wielding just her Lävatein. In her right hand was the Lävatein like before but in her left hand there was Remilia's Gungnir. Flandre then quickly glanced behind her at the shocked and surprised faces of Alice, Remilia and Kasen staring back at her from the edge of the crater. When she laid her eyes onto Remilia she saw that she was truly unarmed.

"And here I was hoping I had already seen the last of you," Flandre then heard Flan huff. She turned to look at her again and saw her shaking here head in an annoyed manner.

"And I guess I have you to thank for that?" Flandre asked with sarcastic and serious tone. Flan simply looked at her and tilted her head a little before sighing.

"No matter. I will just take care of you now so you don't have to see what I will do to your friends," Flan growled back at her and readied herself pointing her weapons at Flandre. She however just stared back at Flan unflinching. Then without uttering a single word she raised her hands to her sides and while doing so ever so slightly signed her to come get her with her fingers.

"What you waiting for then?" Flandre uttered without breaking the eye contact. Flan roared and charged at her. With the Gungnir pointed at Flandre. Flandre felt how the scythe reacted to this which filled her with certainty that she can do this. She prepared herself as Flan flew toward her. Flan pulled the Gungnir back and then swung it at Flandre. Flandre turned to face the spear and bent backwards as it was about to hit. But as the spear missed her Flan aimed the Lävatein right at Flandre using the spears momentum to launch herself toward her. Flandre however was expecting this and the scythe in her hands moved accordingly. Flandre dodged Flan's thrust and caught her blade with the scythe. She then proceeded to thrash her around in the air before pulling Flan really close to her and detaching the scythe from her Lävatein.

Flandre tried to grab the watch from Flan by ripping a piece from her dress but before she could even lay a finger on her Flan released a burst of fire separating the two. This disoriented Flandre a little but she recovered quickly. This was just in time for her to react to two sudden torrents lava surging toward her from the ground. Flandre dashed out of the way just in time before the two crashed into each other right where she had just been. After recovering her balance again she turned her attention back toward Flan who was staring back at her from the distance pointing her Lävatein at her. There were then two more explosions followed by two more torrents of lava coming at her way. Flandre however noticed that Kasen, Remilia and Alice were heading toward Flan again. She noticed this just as the torrents switched directions and turned toward them now. Flandre made the split second decision to fire at the torrents before they hit anyone.

The torrents exploded scattering lava everywhere in a bright burst. Flandre backed away from it all hoping that Remilia, Kasen and Alice weren't harmed by the scattered bits of lava. She couldn't see well because of the molten rock falling from the sky but as she started to regain her visual to Flan she saw that Kasen had managed to get to her and had managed to trap Flan's left hand with her chain. She however couldn't get closer as Flan still had her right hand free in which she held her Lävatein. Flandre saw her chance and charged the scythe in her hands. She then headed toward Flan who struggled against Kasen. Either didn't seem to notice her. Flandre then pulled the scythe back and after holding it there and preparing herself for a moment released the energy she had gathered in the scythe in a spectacular bolt of lightning right at Flan. At that point Flan's attention was turned toward Flandre as lightning she fired boomed like thunder. Flan pointed her Lävatein at Flandre's direction, ready to block the lighting but the lighting suddenly scattered before it hit Flan as if it had hit something in the air. Flandre looked at this surprised before glancing around herself quickly. Her eyes finally saw Renko floating far above her looking down at her with her her hand pointed between her and Flan. Flandre looked at her with disbelief. She had been completely unaware of what had happened between Renko and Yukari earlier. She did not understand what was going on and why Renko had protected Flan from her attack but she was broken from her shock soon when a gap opened right behind Renko from which Meiling came roaring at her with her foot aimed right at the back of her head. Renko turned around almost in an instant creating a barrier now between her and Meiling. Meiling hit the barrier, not even denting it and jumped back using the the barrier as a platform. There was then a sudden flash and a barrage of bullets surrounded Renko in explosions and smoke as it hit her. Flandre's eyes turned toward the source of this barrage where she saw Junko firing at Renko. Flandre was confused and awestruck at the same time when she saw this. It had caught her completely off guard and so she didn't realize that the barrier between her and Flan had disappeared the moment Renko's attention was diverted away from her. Flandre then suddenly felt something hitting her side hard knocking her from the sky.

As she fell and came back to her senses she saw Kasen falling right beside her. Flan had gotten free from Kasen's grip and had thrown her at her. Flandre saw Flan standing right where she had last seen her right before she released an onslaught of projectiles and lasers at them. Flandre quickly glanced at Kasen before turning toward her completely and releasing a blast of energy at her sending her and Kasen flying to different directions away from the immediate range of Flan's barrage. And as expected Flan kept her aim at Flandre.

Flandre hit the ground, rolling for a short while before she kicked herself onto her feet again just in time before Flan's projectiles hit her. She managed to block the ones coming right at her with a couple quick slashes from the scythe. The ground beneath Flandre's feet shook and boomed as the projectiles rained down all around her lifting up a cloud of dust.

"COME ON! I'M NOT SATISFIED YET," Flan roared while looking down at where Flandre had landed. She was almost holding her breath as she waited for Flandre's next move, and she wasn't kept waiting for long. The dust cloud was scattered all of a sudden in a ball of fire from which Flandre flew upwards toward Flan. Flan grinned at this.

On her way up toward Flan again Flandre started slashing the scythe toward Flan sending energy waves at her. Flan dodged them with ease before Flandre reached her. The two locked eyes for the briefest moment as Flandre zoomed past her upwards. To Flan's surprise she did not try to attack her while flying past her so she just turned to look up after Flandre flew by her. Flandre continued flying upwards for a moment more before stopping a good distance above Flan. Flan was ready to strike but Flandre did not charge at her and instead floated still above her. Flan looked at her slightly irritated and confused but before she could do anything else Flandre suddenly outstretched her hands to her sides as if she was lifting something heavy. Flan stared at her and waited to see what would happen. But instead of seeing anything, she heard.

Flan glanced down after hearing a deafening boom and crash from below her. The ground below cracked and shattered as a pillar of magma suddenly broke its way to the surface and surged upwards toward her. Flan's eyes widened at this and she dashed out of the way as the pillar of glowing hot molten rock shot up toward the skies. It rose past Flandre who had conjured it in the first place. It was so close to her that she could have touched it had she wanted to. Flandre took the scythe into her hands again and plunged the tip into the lava. The pillar of molten rock reacted all of a sudden as if it came alive. The upwards stream of lava started bending and coiling like a snake as Flandre moved the scythe around.

Meiling, Alice and Kasen looked at this showcase of power in awe and started backing away just so that they themselves wouldn't be caught in it. The monstrosity Flandre had conjured up was taking almost half the airspace above the crater by now and most of its surface was literally falling apart. Junko, Yukari and Renko didn't back down however. They kept fighting in the air even it was literally raining molten rock up and down the same time. The scene was so chaotic in fact that from where Meiling, Alice and Kasen looked at the situation they couldn't see Marisa and Rumia on the other side of the crater. As the battle against Flan had started to heat up again Marisa had tried to make her getaway but Rumia had managed to keep her on her toes preventing her from escaping but at the same time she had been unable to overpower her as Marisa was a vampire and could match Rumia's strength in both physical and magical combat. For them it was a battle of endurance that neither could afford to lose.

Flan looked around herself in amused awe. Flandre was finally giving her everything to the battle and it truly showed. Flan stared as Flandre guided the pillar of lava through the air. The two locked eyes again as Flandre slashed the scythe through the air sending the lava roaring toward Flan. It was like a dragon was surging down from the sky right at her. The tip of the pillar crashed into the ground below breaking the already cracked surface of the crater even further and sending pieces of rock and lava flying upwards like comets through the air. Flandre searched for Flan with her vision to see if she had hit her mark. It had been impossible for her to see her once she sent the tip of the pillar her way. She didn't have to search for her long though as large glowing hot rock suddenly whirled past her head. Flandre immediately turned to look where the rock had come from only to see Flan hovering in the air surrounded by huge chunks of rock that had just flown up after the crash. Flandre stared at her waiting for her to make her move. She could feel the wind picking up as Flan cracked a grin.

Flandre watched as Flan pointed both Gungnir and Lävatein at her. The chunks of rock beside her reacted as if they were alive. All of them suddenly flew toward Flandre like missiles through the air. Flandre responded with a few movements from the scythe that brought the snake of molten rock back to life. The air grew scorching hot as it coiled itself around Flandre to protect her from the barrage Flan sent her way. The rocks crashed into the molten rock splashing lava all around. Some slipped through the gaps in Flandre's defence but none hit Flandre's directly.

As the barrage died down Flandre uncoiled the fiery hot rock from around her as quickly as she could to see where Flan was. She needed to have a visual on her as often as possible to even hope to break her defence. Flandre's eyes darted around for a moment before she saw Flan again. She had flown a little to Flandre's right after she had protected herself from Flan's barrage. This time however Flan did not have mere rocks to throw at Flandre. Flandre stopped and stared at Flan who was floating still in her place with her weapons outstretched to her sides absorbing all the energy from her surroundings. She was gathering so much energy that it was creating flowing tethers all around her that made her glow in all the shades of crimson.

Flandre knew she couldn't just sit there gawking at this. She needed to act now when Flan still wasn't ready to unleash her attack. Flandre acted immediately, with a few moves with the scythe she aroused the still raging pillar of molten rock around her and gathered it all beside her. This would be the truest test to see which one of them was more determined to destroy the other. Flan and Flandre stared each other in the eyes as both prepared to annihilate their opponent. Flandre kept on weaving the scythe around gathering all of the boiling rock snake to her side. All this time she kept keen eye on Flan. She needed to be fast. If she didn't beat Flan to it she needed to at least match her in power and Flandre didn't want to take that risk.

When Looked from afar it looked like a there was a massive dragon and a ball of fire hovering above the crater. Had humans been there to see it most of them wouldn't have believed their eyes. But the most breathtaking part was just about to begin when Flandre had readied herself fully. This could very well be the chance for her to end this once and for all. She just had to obliterate Flan and the watch would go up in smoke with her. It wouldn't matter whether Flan would regenerate or not, the watch would be gone at that point. So without wasting any more time Flandre let out an ear piercing battle cry as she sent her glowing monster right toward Flan and charged at her herself as well. Flan was still gathering power. It seemed as if Flandre had beaten her to it. She simply stared at her with furious wide-eyed look as Flandre charged through the air toward her, completely enveloped by her own attack.

The air boomed and the clouds crackled with energy above them as Flandre was about to hit Flan who was still floating still. All this time Flan had not even flinched and was standing her ground even if Flandre was charging at her. It was true, Flandre had been the first one to release her attack but Flan was not beaten just yet. With enraged, furious look on her face Flan brought her weapons closer to each other in front of her while staring at Flandre coming her way. She then suddenly pulled her weapons back.

"DIE," Flan screamed before slamming Lävatein and Gungnir together before her. First there was a deafening metallic clang, then a brief spark right before all the energy she had gathered erupted all at once from the tips of her blade in a massive crimson beam. It crashed into and completely enveloped Flandre and her attack just as it was about to hit Flan. The collision created a shockwave that knocked everyone still standing from their feet. Even Yukari, Junko and Renko were cast down from the sky. Flan had managed to fire her attack before Flandre hit her, but she had not stopped her. To the outside it looked as if Flan's beam had completely enveloped and consumed Flandre but it had been merely just split and spread as it hit Flandre's charge.

The collision of Flan's beam and Flandre's surge of molten rock released so much energy that as Flandre kept pushing closer to Flan their attacks started merging into a blindingly bright spray of plasma. It was no longer two attacks trying to overpower the other. It was just a one chaotic blazing ball of matter and energy converting into plasma. The air temperature was rising kilometers away from the crater, and in the crater itself it was borderline unbearable. To think anyone could still be alive in that ball was a wishful thinking but no one could know for sure until that ball would burst and scatter. And burst it did.

It had been just under ten seconds since Flandre's and Flan's attacks merged together, although it had felt like minutes when the whole thing erupted in a massive explosion sending plasma flying everywhere and partially leveling the edges of the crater. It created a second shockwave that knocked anyone who had gotten back onto their feet down again with ease. Everyone were covering their eyes and ears while simultaneously trying to seek shelter from scorching shover that was now raining down from the sky. But plasma wasn't the only thing falling from the sky. As the first ones dared to look up again they could see a tiny dot falling down toward the earth. From the earth it was impossible to say for sure what or who it was but it didn't take a genius to guess. But which one of them it was? That was impossible to guess.

Indeed there was only one visible object falling from the skies but that was only because Flan and Flandre were both at each other's' throats. Neither had been taken out by the blast and the reason was visible only on closer inspection. Both of their skin was hardened black. It had been enough to completely shield them from any and all damage. Flandre had simply launched herself through the ball of plasma to Flan and when she had crashed into her it had interrupted Flan's spell and caused the explosion. Both of them were now falling down to the earth. Flandre was trying to wrestle the watch somehow from Flan and Flan was trying to wrench herself free. Both of them were unsuccessful however as they both kept their skins in hardened states and therefore neither could hurt the other.

As they kept falling toward the ground everyone below was starting to realize what was happening. None of them could do anything to stop their free fall however in the fear of accidentally helping the opposing side. So all of them just stood there gawking as Flan and Flandre plummeted down from the sky, crashing into the earth with a force created a sizeable dent onto the rock. A dust cloud followed after they crashed temporarily hiding them from the eyes of anyone trying to see what was going on but the dust cloud settled quickly. Flan and Flandre were briefly separated by the force of the impact but before Flan could take any distance to Flandre she had already lunged toward her and grabbed her again. It was then when the others finally saw their opportunity to charge in to help Flandre but they didn't get far.

"Please, don't," Renko pleaded while conjuring up a barrier between them and Flandre and Flan. Yukari who had just been stopped by the barrier turned her head and looked at Renko with disbelief in her eyes.

"Our friendship meant a lot to me, but not this much," Yukari uttered while shaking her head with a disappointed look on her face.

"I'm sorry that I don't share in your thoughts," Renko simply responded with a quiet and desperate tone. Without uttering a single word Yukari released a barrage of bullets toward her former friend with Junko, Alice, Meiling and Kasen following her lead. Renko simply covered her face as the bullets struck her and everything around her completely obliterating her body. But they knew Renko would be back, she would always come back. They just had to keep her from interfering in the fight. They put their faith in Flandre, faith that she could take care of Flan alone.

Flan and Flandre were still locked to each other and wrestling on the ground. Flandre did everything she could to get to the watch and Flan did equally much to keep her away from it. Flandre clawed, hit and ripped at her with all she got but Flan regenerated the damage as fast as Flandre could inflict it.

"GIVE UP ALREADY," Flandre screamed while whacking at Flan's face and trying to rip her arm off at the same time. Flan on the other hand was trying to kick Flandre off from her while covering the watch with both of her hands.

"NEVER! YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME, NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY," Flan screamed back at her while trying to shake her off. Flandre however was having none of it and kept on pounding Flan's face not caring what she had to say. This continued for a while until Flan finally managed to get her own feet between Flandre's and with that she was able to kick her over herself. But Flandre just wouldn't let go. She clinged to Flan's hair as she was thrown over her and smacked behind her onto her back. Flan was quick to roll around and push herself onto her feet but all this time Flandre was holding onto her head and as Flan got up so did Flandre. She was practically hanging from Flan as she thrashed about to shake her off. But Flandre's grip was iron. She finally managed to plant her feet firmly on the ground again and managed to stop Flan's flailing. She then took even tighter grip around her waist and started squeezing. She tried to break Flan's back to immobilize her, even if just for a moment. Flan on the other hand grabbed Flandre's throat and tried to either strangle her or break her neck.

There was just never going to be an end for their fight. Neither could overpower the other without outside help. Neither of them had any weapons either. The scythe, Lävatein and Gungnir, all had been blown away in the blast in the sky. Gods know how far and where they were blasted. But that still didn't mean Flan couldn't resummon her blade which meant that should she break free from Flandre's grasp there would be no chance for her to stop her anymore. Flandre knew this very and tried her very hardest to just immobilize her, even for a moment.

She was giving it all her strength, willpower and attention so when Gungnir suddenly came bursting through Flan's chest and into Flandre's impaling them both. It took Flandre a whole three seconds to even notice it.

"GAAAH," Flan screamed and let go of Flandre's throat who was slowly coming back to reality. She looked in shock at the blood that was gushing out from between them and at Flan who was bent back and groaning in pain. Flandre too was starting to feel the pain at that point. She looked down and saw the spear engulfed in pink flames coming out from Flan's chest and entering her own. Panicked Flandre kicked Flan to free herself from the spear. The tip had not dag too deep into her so it was easy for her to detach herself and in doing so she kicked Flan backwards deeper into the spear's handle.

Flandre stumbled back and fall to her butt as she looked at the scene surprised. Flan was thrashing about trying to free herself but she was kept firmly in place by the Gungnir. Gungnir that in turn was held by Remilia. Flandre stared at her in shock. She had completely forgot about her in the heat of the battle. So much so that she had not thought about the possibility of her resummoning her spear once it was blasted from Flan's hands. Flandre held her chest with astonished look on her face as she watched how Remilia struggled to keep the squirming and screaming Flan in place. With Remilia being behind Flan and she being impaled by her spear there was no way for Flan to attack her. Remilia growled as she lifted Flan into the air and smashed her down again. This managed to immobilize Flan for short moment. Remilia then lifted her gaze from the impaled Flan and looked at Flandre with furious look on her face.

"What are you staring at!? GET THE WATCH NOW," She practically screamed which snapped Flandre out from her little trance. She shot up at once and rushed to Flan who was still regenerating the damage onto her body. Flandre grabbed her dress hastily and ripped a piece of fabric off from it. This piece was the outside layer of her pocket. In the heat of the moment the watch was flung out into the air. Flandre's eye were set onto the silver glint of its shining case. She reached out for it with her free hand. The chain attached to the watch curled around Flandre's finger allowing her to catch it. But before she could do anything else she felt another hand grabbing her and clinging to the watch as well.

Flan was mutilated, bloodied and still impaled by Remilia's Gungnir but she had fully regenerated her hand and reached out to grab the watch herself. The two locked eyes. Flan was probably trying to scream something but all that came out was just incoherent gurgles as Remilia kept twisting the spear preventing her from regaining her form. In her haste to take the watch away from Flan Flandre yanked with all she got, kicking Flan's body at the same time. Flandre lurched backwards as the hand ripped off from the mush that used to be Flan. It was still clinging to the watch though and the very next second Flan's body regenerated straight from the hand itself. She looked absolutely furious. She stared Flandre dead in her eyes as they stumbled into the ground, both still firmly clinging to the watch. Flandre could not let this slip away so as a way to keep the watch from falling into Flan's hands again she hardened, not just the skin on her hand but all of it, the muscles the bone, everything, creating an iron-hard cage for it. The two rolled on the ground, Flan trying to get the watch back and Flandre trying to kick her away.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU'RE DESTROYING US ALL," Flan screamed while trying to pry Flandre's finger off from the watch. Flandre didn't bother to respond. She focused onto getting away from Flan. Remilia too saw the severity of the situation and rushed to help Flandre. She lept at the two driving her spear into Flan's side. Flan yelped a little but did not yield and simply held onto Flandre's hands.

But while they were battling over the watch and Yukari was battling Renko with the others, there was still a third battle. Battle over the watch Marisa had. Because unbeknownst to anyone else Rumia and Marisa were still going at each other. The blast caused by Flan and Flandre had merely slowed the two down and as they had gotten up again both charged into each other's throats. Marisa was no longer even attempting to escape. She was simply battling completely fueled by her hatred and want for revenge toward Rumia. Rumia on the other hand cared little for Marisa's agenda toward her. She was only after the watch she was carrying. But getting that was easier said than done. While Rumia was tenacious and could over power Marisa if given a chance Marisa was able to keep her at bay for she was much more adept in ranged combat.

Marisa practically rained magic down onto Rumia while she attempted to get closer to her. Rumia had only a handful of ranged attack at her disposal and not one of them was powerful enough so she decided to save her strength till she got closer. The two were slashing and dashing through the jagged and scarred landscape of the crater, Rumia giving chase to Marisa who directed an endless barrage of projectiles at her.

"Too bad you didn't finish me off back then during that night! I'm sure you'd have loved that," Marisa taunted Rumia as they flew through the cracks and crevices of the crater completely oblivious as to what was happening on the other side of it.

"You're not the Marisa I fought back then! When everyone else wanted me gone you showed me compassion, don't think I've forgotten," Rumia retorted still trying to get Marisa to stand down even if she knew it was to no avail.

"That compassion dried out as soon as you directed your hatred toward Reimu and her family! You wanted nothing but revenge and you took it upon them," Marisa continued trying to enrage Rumia but she managed to keep her calm.

"Then can you say that you're any better!? Still not letting go of the past!? Can you even say you ever were a friend to her!? Or were you just masking it as such while you used her!?" Rumia yelled back at her which got Marisa to visibly snap.

"ENOUGH," She screamed as she summoned a swarm of shooting stars all aimed at Rumia. All of them blazed brightly as they flew past her and toward Rumia who did her best to avoid them all. The fiery balls smacked into the ground blowing up spectacularly one after another dotting the landscape with more glowing rock. Rumia kept on charging toward Marisa through the blazing barrage using all the cover she could find and avoiding the projectiles that didn't hit the landscape she was trying to use to shield herself.

There was one crevice that went partially underground creating an arch of stone. Rumia dove down into it in hopes of using it to protect herself from Marisa's projectiles but as she dove into it Marisa saw her chance. There was just one way in and one way out from the crevice and once she saw Rumia dashing into it she halted her barrage and charged up a spell. Only couple seconds later Rumia emerged from the other end of the crevice and by then Marisa was already ready and there was nowhere for Rumia to hide or run. Marisa released a brief, bright and powerful laser that hit Rumia blasting her back into the crack and bringing the stone arch down with her. Rumia let out a cry of pain that was audible only faintly under the sound of explosion and then the rock cracking and crashing into the crevice onto her. Marisa stopped at this. She watched in silence for a moment at the rubble filled crevice. But she did not laugh or celebrate. Not yet. She knew this would not stop Rumia. It would only slow her down and she had to seize this moment if she wanted to be done with her for once and for all.

Without missing a beat Marisa flew down and descended onto the ground a little ways off from the crevice so that she would have a clear view over it. She knew how she could beat her. She finally had her where she needed to. Marisa breathed in, rolled her shoulder and then extended her right arm toward the crevice with her left arm clutching the wrist of her right arm. She knew only one spell that had managed to severely weaken Rumia. This time she would not just weaken her. Marisa concentrated as she stared at the crevice, energy was starting to form an unstable black and purple spark onto her palm. She remembered the first time she had used Dark Spark against Rumia. It was almost poetic that this would be the last. And she wanted her to witness it herself.

Marisa's senses perked up when she saw the rubble in the crevice move a little. She readied herself to fire whenever she needed to. The rubble shifted again and this time Rumia's hand broke through. Marisa watched how soon after Rumia's other hand as well bust through the rubble. It was still missing its four fingers. Couple seconds later Rumia's head came into view and it barely took more time for her to dig herself free completely. She was dirty and a little out of breath. Marisa looked at her. Her blast had just bloodied a piece of skin on Rumia's stomach.

"I bet this is going to hurt a bit more," Marisa mumbled to herself. Rumia heard this and her head snapped instantly toward Marisa. Marisa saw a slight shift on the look on Rumia's face when she saw what Marisa doing. She froze and just watched. Marisa finally cracked a smiled after seeing this reaction.

"Well, here we are, back where it all started," Marisa uttered coldly while staring at Rumia. At first Rumia did not respond, she just stared back but after a moment she opened her mouth, "Stop clinging to the past. Everyone else has moved on, except you. Just give me the watch and we can still both come out from this alive." Marisa stared at Rumia for a moment before cracking yet another grin. She then let go of her right arm's wrist and dag out the watch with her left hand. She glanced at it briefly and then back at Rumia.

"This what you want, eh? Well too bad, it stays with me. You'd probably use it to betray us immediately anyway," Marisa spat her words and closed her fingers around her watch while pressing it tightly against her chest.

"Us? Look at yourself, you're the one who has betrayed us! And for what!? Your own inability to live with yourself, with your mistakes! Learn from them! Don't nurture your hatred, let go of it!" Rumia insisted but the look on Marisa's face only darkened after hearing this.

"I will... Just gotta tie up the loose ends before I do, that's all," Marisa uttered with pure malice in her tone. At that point Rumia knew it. It was no longer Marisa talking, it was someone else, and there was no use trying to reason with them. She was too far gone. Rumia let her gaze fall down to the rubble beneath, like a prisoner getting ready for execution, but just for a moment. Her head snapped back up lightning fast and her right arm pulled out the sword of light from the rubble with pebbles flying everywhere.

"AAAAAH," Rumia cried out as she kicked herself from the ground and toward Marisa with her sword aimed right at her. And then... darkness. Marisa released the energy she had gathered without missing a beat. The beam of darkness surged from her palm engulfing both her and Rumia into it. The roaring of the beam came only much later, once the silence and darkness had settled. It had not been long since Marisa last fire this spell yet she had already forgotten how it felt. Her vision was darkened with the roaring of the beam only thing she could hear beside her own breaths and heartbeat. Marisa's eyes darted around trying to find any kind of source of light to focus onto but there was none. The malice, hatred, anger, she had poured all of those negative feelings into that spell and she could feel herself losing control over it. Like every time before. Marisa knew why she was doing this but as she stood there and let it happen the dark reality was starting to settle in her mind. She knew why she did this but she didn't understand why. With all that negativity pouring out and getting to rage freely, the only thing she was left was sadness. She had not poured into that spell. Neither had she poured fear.

The foolishness of her actions was starting to dawn to her. She had never before let herself loose this far and she didn't know whether she could pull herself back anymore. She tried to close the palm of her right hand but it would listen. Marisa was afraid, afraid to her very core. If she did not stop the spell, what would happen to her? Would there even be her after this?

Marisa's breathing was starting to quicken. Her eyes darted to every direction trying to seek help from the raging darkness she had released. She tried to scream but her voice was muffled under the roaring spell. Right as she was starting to give into the panic her eyes finally caught a glimpse of something. A distant yet unmistakable glimmer of light. Marisa's eyes widened and her heart pounded with hope. She could not move nor scream but she felt herself trying to reach for it. Her eyes were locked toward this faint glimmer as it grew brighter and brighter, closer and closer. Marisa's eyes widened and her heart was racing. Whatever it was she was welcoming it with open arms. She was almost laughing from releaf as the light pierced the darkness and nearly blinded her eyes. But what came through was not her salvation.

Rumia's sword of light pierced its way through Marisa's beam scattering the dark and breaking the spell. But the sword was not aimed at the hand from which Marisa was casting the spell. It was aimed right at the hand in which Marisa was holding the watch. Marisa's eyes were wide as the look on her face was turning from desperate joy to shock. Rumia, scarred and battered by Marisa's spell plunged her sword through Marisa's hand, through the watch she was holding and right into her chest.

Marisa looked down in surprise and saw the bloodied pieces of the watch fall between her fingers. She kept staring at her hand until all the pieces had fallen to the ground and all that was left was blood trickling down from her hand and her chest. Only then did she look up again at Rumia. She looked out of breath and nearly enraged but that look soon faded away as the reality of her success hit her. The watch had been destroyed. The two stared each other in the eyes for a good moment in silence. Rumia finally looked away and was about to pull her sword out but Marisa suddenly grabbed the luminescent blade with her right hand that she had kept pointed forward all this time. Rumia looked back at Marisa.

"Sorry," Rumia simply uttered but was surprised when Marisa grinned at her.

"Nah, thanks," Marisa responded and stared Rumia directly to her eyes. As the two stared at each other they did not realize how quiet it was. Not only had their battle come to an end so had every battle that had still raged in the crater. Because even if everyone had forgotten that Marisa and Rumia battled Rumia's finishing blow was felt elsewhere as well. Marisa and Flandre did still share a connection. The very same connection had enabled Yukari and the rest to find Flandre and now that same connection stung Flandre's mind like thousand needless. Just like it had done many times before.

Flandre and Flan were still struggling over the watch but their struggle came to a screeching halt. Flandre felt a sudden pain. The very same sudden pain that Marisa felt, maybe she felt it even more. Her attention was immediately drawn to that pain and that pain only. She, like everyone else had forgotten about Marisa and Rumia and now she was reminded. Her gaze was drawn to their direction instinctually. She could only stare completely petrified. She saw how on the other side of the crater two figures stood close to each other. She didn't need to think for a second the recognize them. The stinging she felt assured that. She was so focused onto what she saw that she did not realize that Flan had stopped fighting as well. Both of them were staring wide eyed toward these two figures but for very different reasons. There then was a sudden movement. They saw as the other figure, Rumia, pulled what they both feared was her blade out from Marisa who immediately stumbled back a little.

"NO," They both yelled at the very same second which snapped their focus back onto each other. Flandre slowly turned her head back toward Flan who did the same.

"What have you done?" Flan simply uttered in a whisper as the two still held onto the final watch. Flandre stared back at her but was unable to do or say anything due to the shock. Their exclamation had also drawn the attention of others, Yukari and Renko alike. They all stood still and stared in slight confusion. They did not know what had just happened. On the other side of the crater Marisa held her chest and sat down slowly. Her wound was severe but not lethal but she felt dizzy nonetheless. She sat on the ground, leaned against a rock resting her head onto it and stared up. Rumia watched her and the blade vanished from her hand.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" Then echoed all across the crater which then drew even Rumia's and Marisa's attention to Flan and Flandre. Flan stared at Flandre with wide eyes while still holding onto the watch both of them had fought over. The looks on the faces of Yukari and the others was now starting to switch from confusion to worry. Something was not right.

"What is she screaming about?" Alice asked out loud and glanced at Yukari but she did not offer an answer. She didn't have one.

"IDIOTS, YOU'RE DESTROYING IT ALL," Flan then screamed again. Flandre stared at her in confusion but that didn't last for long as Flan tried to wrench the watch from Flandre's hardened fingers. Flandre in turn tried push Flan away but with no success.

"Seriously, what is going on?" Alice asked again now almost yelling. Everyone was looking at each other in confusion. They did not immediately realize what Rumia had done or what it had caused. That was until Meiling happened to look up.

"H-hey!? What's happening!?" Meiling yelled drawing everyone's attention to her. Yukari and the others looked at her confused as she looked up and raised her hand to point up as well. They then finally looked up to see what was truly going on. The dark sphere on the sky was no longer the size of a sun. It was growing, it was growing really fast.

"My gods, what's happening!?" Kasen yelled in panic and looked at Yukari who seemed to be absolutely paralyzed by shock. The sphere just kept on growing. It was now over ten times the size it had just been. Yukari finally managed to divert her eyes from the ever growing sphere of blackness and look around her. Meiling, Alice and Kasen looked absolutely terrified. They were glancing around trying to figure out what was happening or what they had to do. Renko on the other hand had fallen to the ground. She was simply staring up with wider eyes than Yukari had ever seen on her. Her breathing was completely out of hand. It was then when the first wave of tremors hit them. The ground shook suddenly which threw them off balance. Yukari glanced up again. The sphere was now taking almost one fifth of the whole sky. Then without wasting any more time Yukari opened a gap between them all.

"We need to leave, NOW," She yelled getting everyone's attention. Kasen, Meiling and Alice, glanced at each other before rushing to Yukari's gap. She closed it immediately behind them. Junko was howering above them looking at it all with worried look on her face. The second wave of tremors hit them then. It was much more powerful and nearly knocked Yukari off her feet. She managed to stand up however and rushed to Renko who was still laying on the ground completely motionless and wide eyed.

"Come on, we must leave," Yukari exclaimed as she grabbed Renko by her arm and lifted her up. She did not resist. It was as if she had gone completely limp from the shock.

"It's over, it's all over," Yukari heard Renko utter as she picked her up and rested her against her shoulder. She glanced at her briefly before snapping her fingers and opening two more gaps. She glanced at Junko and Remilia who had now joined her after backing away from the battle between Flan and Flandre. She nodded at them. They then entered the gap which closed immediately behind them. But before she stepped into the gap she had made for her and Renko she gave a one last glance toward Flan and Flandre who were still struggling over the watch a little way away from her. She then looked up briefly. The sphere was now taking half of the whole visible sky. With that she closed her eyes and stepped into the gap.

"It's going to be fine," She whispered into Renko's ear before closing the gap behind them. It was now just Flan, Flandre, Marisa, Rumia and I. Rumia was still standing beside Marisa with her gaze locked upwards. The sphere just kept on growing. Marisa too was staring upwards as she rested against the rock beside which she had sat down.

"You know... It's just like in the dream I saw," Marisa uttered and glanced toward Rumia who only glanced back at her briefly. The look on Rumia's face was confused and really worried at the same time as she looked how the sphere consumed the rest what was left of the sky. Marisa then diverted her gaze from Rumia and looked back up.

"We're all going to die... aren't we?" She asked quietly. Rumia then looked at her again and did not look back up toward the sky again. She did not understand what was going on nor what Marisa was saying.

I on the other hand did. I was still lying there beside the rock where I had been left. I simply watched how Flan and Flandre still fought over the watch. To be honest I don't even think they noticed what was going on. Flandre didn't at least. The sphere had now consumed all of the sky. It would just be matter of seconds until it would all be over. Even if I wouldn't get my new world I couldn't help but to grin because at least Flandre wouldn't either. I looked around. The tremors had leveled the craters sides giving us a perfect view of the end of the world, time and space. Now when the sky had been all consumed the horizon was starting to disappear into the darkness. I honestly was curious and a little worried as to how it would feel, oblivion. I guessed I would soon find out. The mountains in the distance were consumed. And then the ocean. One could literally see the edge of existence draw nearer and nearer. Next to go was the city and that massive geological bowl. The darkness was drawing ever closer. Flan and Flandre were still going at eachother, clearly eaither not knowing or not caring what was going on. Marisa and Rumia on the other hand could do nothing but to just observe.

As everything that was left was the mountain I no longer dared to watch. I closed my eyes right before it was all consumed. I could feel a certain prickling on the back of my neck, a sudden loud humming like the distant waves of the sea crashing to the beach and then... nothingness.

The experience didn't feel bad. Aside from the tingly feeling it didn't feel anything really. One just stops existing. There isn't really any pain to it. And no escape. Almost all of it, nearly the whole of creation was now all compressed to a single point. Every single timeline, every single reality and dimension, almost all had been consumed by the singularity. Our plan would come to fruition. Though not just yet. Within the event horizon there were still whole realms worth of matter still free circling the singularity. But all of it would eventually merge with it and then... well it would be up to Flan to complete the rest but I had to admit. Nothing was certain anymore. Especially when on one of those chunks of matter was laying the unmistakable figure of Flandre.

Flandre had absolutely no idea what had just happened. The last things she remembers was that after Flan went ballistic she had started to wrestle over the watch again before the earth started to shake and then everything went dark. Flandre was laying on a piece of matter that felt like rock. At least it was hard. She was simply staring up with wide eyes. If 'up' was a concept anymore that is. Before her eyes opened an alien view. Weals of light, of all colours were flying to absolutely every direction against mostly blue background that also seemed to be glowing and moving. As if it was all just a bubble in the midst of the ocean.

Flandre didn't feel well. In fact she felt really dizzy. Nevertheless she was starting to gather her thoughts.

"What happened? Whe- where am I?" Flandre managed to mumble while slowly turning her head from side to side. Everywhere she looked it was the same. Just extremely fast weals of light rushing to each and every direction imaginable. However the longer she looked the more she started think of a concept of bubble because it was starting to seem as if all the weals were actually going in circles. None of them went just straight until disappearing from the view into the distance. Flandre's thoughts were starting run normally as she made these remarks about her alien surroundings.

"Rumia... Rumia stabbed Marisa... Did she... destroy the watch?" Flandre mumbled while glancing around herself while pushing herself up. She held her head. The dizziness was not leaving. She now looked at where exactly she was. She was sitting on a fairly large 'boulder'. Maybe ten meters across.

"Yukari!? Meiling!? Marisa!?" Flandre called out. There was no answer. What had happened to the others? What had happened in the first place? If she had ended up here, did the other make it too. Were they safe? Was she safe? All these questions were running amok in Flandre's mind. The confusion was palpable. She felt the surface she was sitting on with her hand but before she could do that for more than a second she perked up. Her hand was empty.

"The watch! Where is it!? Where's Flan!?" Flandre exclaimed and pushed herself up completely and looked around hastily. The watch was gone and so was Flan. And the worst was that she had absolutely no idea where they could be, where she was and were Flan and the watch there with her. Flandre started making her way toward the edge of the boulder. As she stood up straight and walked there she started to see where she was in all its grandeur. It truly seemed like she was in some kind of bubble or ball of some sort. All the weals of light were just circling around what looked like the center of this... place.

And so was she. She realized that she and the boulder were also circling around the center. And in really high speeds as well.

"No wonder I'm dizzy," Flandre uttered and now diverted her gaze toward what seemed like the center of it all. At first it didn't seem like there was anything there but after squinting her eyes and looking at it for a moment she realized that there in fact was something, although she couldn't directly see it.

In the middle of it all there was this weird phenomenon. The image behind the center was bending and stretching weird. As if she watch watching through some crystal ball or something. Flandre stared at it bemused for a moment before sudden flash of light brought her back to reality. Another boulder had whirled past her right before her eyes. It had been just a split second so Flandre couldn't get a good look at it but one didn't have to be a genius to realize that it had been really close. Flandre fell to her butt in surprise. Her heart was starting to race and her breathing quickened. Where ever she was, it wasn't a friendly place.

"I need to find the watch, quick," Flandre uttered between her breaths and stood up again. Finding the watch. It was easier said than done though. She looked all around the boulder and it was obvious that there was nothing else there together with her. How on earth would she find the watch or Flan, assuming she had it? Should she jump for it and try to fly around? Hardly seemed a reasonable idea as everything visible was moving so incredibly fast. Should any of the particles flying about hit her it would be nasty. Then again it very much seemed like she had no other options other than to just stay there and give up and this wasn't even an option for Flandre anymore.

Flandre approached the edge of the boulder she was standing on again and looked around. She figured out that if she couldn't land onto any of the other flying objects she could at least fly around herself. It seemed like a long shot but it was worth the try.

"Okay, here goes nothing," Flandre muttered and inhaled deeply. She leaned back a little and then with couple running steps she leapt off the boulder and towards the space before her. But before she could even think about what to do next Flandre's thoughts were interrupted when she didn't feel herself falling... anywhere. Not back toward the boulder nor toward the center of this chaotic bubble. Flandre's eyes darted around quickly. She wasn't flying. At least she hadn't made an attempt to fly yet. She was just floating. Flandre turned around and saw that she was still floating next to the boulder she had just lept from. Or more precisely, she was moving with it. It baffled her. In her mind she should be falling... somewhere at least.

While floating there Flandre tried to move her body around but was surprised when while trying to turn she suddenly darted into a seemingly random direction, fast as a bullet. Flandre's stomach turned, she felt even dizzier than she had before. Now when she looked around she was no longer floating alongside the boulder and instead was moving to her own direction now.

"Jesus! What's happening!?" Flandre exclaimed as she was zooming on her own now around the center of that 'bubble'. It really didn't seem good as she didn't know if she was on the path of any of the other particles flying around. Flandre then made an attempt to see whether she was in any immediate danger and the first thing that happened when she moved her body again was that she again shot all of a sudden to another direction.

At this point Flandre's stomach was ready to give up. One more sudden switch like that and she might throw up. Given the circumstances it wouldn't be the most awful thing to happen to her but she really didn't want to put up with any more inconveniences. She needed to have her whole focus set onto finding the watch. With that said Flandre carefully moved her head around as to not provoke any more of those sudden changes in direction to just see what was going on around her. By the looks of things she was still moving on the same speeds as before even though she had not tried to fly even once thus far but she did notice that she was now much more closer to the center of the 'bubble'. She didn't know whether she should be worried about it or not though. One thing she was worried about however was the fact that around her there were now a lot more of those loose particles zooming around. It seemed that the closer she got to the center the more there would be rubble flying around it.

Flandre was starting to regret her decision to jump off from the boulder she had woken up from. It would be just a matter time until she would be sent to a collision course with one of the particles and she really didn't want to imagine the aftermath. But she still needed to find the watch. And in order to do that she figured she would need to figure out, why everything that happened, happened. And the first thing in her mind to figure out was to learn why was she changing direction so violently when she would just make the slightest move of her body. Flandre didn't dare to try what movement would do what so at the moment she was just staying still flying together with the boulders and particles around her.

Her peaceful moment however was interrupted by a sudden increase in light around her. With a quick turn of her head Flandre saw that her worries had become reality. One of those particles was heading directly toward from her side. Flandre freaked out. She needed to get out of the way. Flandre was about to turn her body to shoot herself to other direction but with the speeds she and the boulder approaching her were traveling in, her reflexes were outmatched. Flandre didn't even get to think about it as the boulder smacked right into her.

"AAAH," Flandre yelled and covered her face not realizing that they had already collided. A few seconds passed and Flandre finally moved her hands away. Due to the fact that she was still thinking and feeling generally alive she thought that the boulder had missed. It was only after that that she realized that she was laying on solid ground again. Flandre looked around. She was laying on that very same boulder that had just smacked into her. She jumped up.

"Wh- what!?" Was the only thing Flandre could utter. That impact should have absolutely annihilated her and yet there she was completely unharmed. The only thing she felt was the dizziness from the sudden change of direction again.

"What is going on? Why am I not... dead?" She mumbled and looked around. The boulder was peacefully zooming around the center together with the other boulders and particles like it. Flandre rubbed her chin. She was bewildered by this. The impact with the boulder had no affected her in any other way than just taking her with it. It confused her and yet opened up new possibilities for her.

"If I'm not affected by the impacts... I should be able to start looking for the watch more effectively," Flandre mumbled after pondering the situation for a moment and then looked at the particles zooming about all around her. But before she could focus onto those she had to inspect the rock she was currently standing on.

It didn't take her long to do this. The rock wasn't too large and after a quick search she concluded that the watch wasn't here either. With this slight disappointment Flandre turned her attention to her surroundings. If she timed it just right, she should be able to jump and land onto a particle passing near her. She stood on the edge of the boulder and just watched. Boulders were flying all around. Some were gigantic and some were as tiny as Flandre herself. Most of them were too far however. This was frustrating. All of the boulders and particles were flying on their own exact orbits but as there were slight variety in their speeds, orbits and Flandre was on one of them herself she couldn't just pick one that passed close to her expecting it to go past her again and again. Her reflexes just weren't quick enough to react to the ones that were close enough. But remembering how she got here Flandre had an idea.

If she jumped off from this boulder and managed to launch herself just right she could probably land straight onto another boulder. Flandre didn't like the idea of once again zooming freely around the space switching directions erratically but it was the best option she had. Flandre took a deep breath again, took couple running steps and leapt off from the boulder without thinking about it too far. The worst that could happen was that she would throw up, hopefully.

Flandre floated next to the boulder she leapt away from. She looked around. She wanted to try to hit the largest particles she could find because those were obviously the easiest targets and also probably the most likely places she could hope to find the watch. After looking around herself for a moment she noticed one large boulder orbiting around the center. Flandre followed its orbit with her eyes to try to figure out what would be the best moment to go for it. It was orbiting really fast and Flandre didn't know how quickly she would dash for it so it was difficult to judge. Ultimately Flandre decided to just go for and if she failed she would just try again until she got it right. She then inhaled deeply, held her breath and twisted her body like she had done before while keeping her eyes focused on her target.

She blasted off just like she had done before. But this time it was just for the shortest of moments until her dash was stopped. Before she could even register what had happened she was already standing on a new boulder. The large one she had meant to hit in the first place. Flandre's eyes darted around. When she finally realized that she had indeed succeeded she couldn't help but to let out an excited giggle.

"That was so awesome! Nauseating but awesome," Flandre enthused while looking at her feet set firmly onto the surface of the boulder like it was the most amazing thing she had ever seen. Once again the only thing she had felt was the dizziness. It had almost been like an instant teleport. She had dashed so fast. Flandre had to calm herself down though. She knew she would probably do that many times more and she needed to focus onto her goal. With that in her mind she started to search through the massive boulder she had landed onto.

It took her much longer to search through this one but once she was finally done with it she came empty handed once again. Her search was far from complete. The sky was full of boulders and particles like this one she was standing on. She had no idea how long it would take her to search through them all but she knew she couldn't stop until she found the watch.

With this in mind Flandre proceeded to repeat what she had done to get to the rock she was currently standing on. She picked a promising looking boulder, lept off from the one she had searched through and dashed for the new one she had picked. It worked as if she was dreaming. She landed onto the boulder without feeling a thing. In fact she started to think that her stomach had started to get used to this. But now when she was once again on a new rock she had to get to the main task at hand. This one wasn't too large so it didn't take her long to go through it and in the end she came yet again empty handed. Frankly she didn't expect to find the watch so easily because it could be literally anywhere if it even was there. Nevertheless Flandre waved off this inconvenience and repeated the process all over again.

Flandre dashed and searched all around this weird dimension of sorts. She always just picked a random rock she thought she hadn't looked through yet and went for it. But every time she came up with nothing. Even the glamour of dashing for the rocks in blindings speeds was wearing off when Flandre realized that her aim didn't always work. When she would dash for a rock much further away than normal she would sometimes miss her target and just end up floating awkwardly. This happened almost always when she tried to pass the center of this space. Especially when she passed close to it she missed her mark by miles. This always peaked Flandre's curiosity to know as to what that thing in the center was but because she could only see the distorted image and nothing solid she could land onto. She decided to just ignore it for now though.

One other thing she also realized was how unworldly boring it all was. No matter what boulder or particle she landed onto it was always the same with no exceptions. Just grey, really hard stone-like matter. Most of the times all of them had rough surface though sometimes, that being really rarely, they would have some smooth surfaces and even geometric shapes. But these did little to ease Flandre's boredom as she searched through the rocks and boulders. She had already pretty much searched through all the boulders on the outer reaches of this space where they were scattered more sparsely. She was now focusing her search toward the objects orbiting much closer to the center. And there were a lot of them.

One other things she also noticed was that due to the large distances and high velocities she was dealing with, measuring the actual size of her targets was usually really difficult. Most of the times when she would pick a target she would have no idea of its actual size unless it was really close to her. This wasn't too big of a problem though especially with the objects closer to the center as they were more close to each other. But it was still hard to tell what was the size of the object she was aiming for every time.

All this added to the surprise when after searching through yet another boulder and looking for a next one she saw an absolutely massive particle zooming around the center. She was now closer to the center of the space than she had ever been before so from the distance it had just been another dot. Now however she was close enough to see that this object was a lot larger than any other she had seen thus far.

It also seemed to be closest one orbiting the center of the space so exploring that one seemed like a no brainer. Due to its size it also meant that missing it wasn't too big of a risk even if it was really close to the center mass.

"That's probably the most likely place to find the watch. It's huge and it's really close to that... thing in the center. If it isn't there...," Flandre didn't want to finish that thought. At this point failure was not an option. With this Flandre repeated the process she had done so many times before already. She leapt from the boulder she was standing on while keeping her eyes keenly focused onto her target. This had become such a routine that she no longer had to even twist her body to launch herself. She could do it almost purely with her will power.

She took a deep breath and once again launched herself toward the massive rock zooming through space. Even though the dash lasted under a split second she could still feel the sudden and almost unnatural pull of the center mass. Flandre had thought that her stomach had gotten used to this by now but when she landed onto the rock she found herself feeling dizzy once again. This time however it was solely due to the fact that balancing oneself was difficult. Now she was not only being pulled toward to the boulder but also the center mass of the space all the boulders were orbiting. She was basically experiencing gravity much stronger than she had before. It was as if all of her limbs were weighed down by strings pulling her downwards. It was strange and somehow ominous feeling. After coming to relative terms with the gravity problem she looked around herself. The boulder was as if it had been cut right from a miniature mountain range. There were small jagged peaks all around with small valleys and plains in between. It was as if she was back on the moon again. Although the gravity was the opposite of what she remembered

"This might take a while," Flandre sighed after looking at the terrain in her immediate vicinity. Though she was pretty much used to that by this point. With that she started to search through every nook and cranny from the peaks to the valleys between. Due to the high gravity she was experiencing she was also tiring much faster than she had before and this was more than just an inconvenience while looking through the rock. But no matter where she looked the only thing she found was just that stone-like grey matter everything here was made of. She had expected to find at least something else but her expectations were not met. Just rock. As far as they eye could see. Though that expression didn't hold too much ground as Flandre had almost searched all of the massive boulder and was nearing its opposite side. Flandre was annoyed, bored and a little fearful that she wouldn't be able to find the watch but still pressed on in the hopes of that something would come up from around the next corner. And for the first time in a very long time Flandre's hopes did come true... sort of.

Flandre's search was taking her closer and closer to the the edge of the boulder but it was still hundreds of meters till she would actually get there. But as she crossed yet another hill her eyes caught a glimpse of something. A splash of red came into view from behind a hill. Flandre's senses perked up and she rushed down from the the hill as fast as she could completely forgetting about the increased gravity. She finally stopped for a moment at the bottom of the valley. The grey rock had been the only thing she had seen around her for such a long time that she had to stop and think about what she had just seen. She was sure it had been red and this made her tense up immediately. She already had a good candidate for what she had just seen but before she got a better look she couldn't confirm this.

Flandre knelt down to all fours and crawled up toward the crest of the next hill as to prevent herself from being detected if her worries were proven right. She still did not know what had happened when she and Flan had fought over the stopwatch. The only thing she remembers is struggling against her before everything went black and then she woke up here in this realm. As far as she knew Flan had probably met the same fate. In fact now when she thought about it it seemed really likely and if she indeed was here Flandre had a reason to fear that she was still in possession of the watch because she did not have it herself.

Flandre wished the whole time she crawled toward the crest of the hill that it would be something else, something else that was red and it wouldn't be Flan. But as she reached the top of the hill and peaked over it her worries were proven to be right. It was Flan, there was no doubt about it. She was standing near the edge of the boulder while pacing back and forth every now and then. Apart from that Flandre couldn't tell what she was doing, if anything.

"Crap, she probably has the watch as well... Maybe I can ambush her and grab the watch before she can notice anything," Flandre thought to herself while pulling herself behind the crest of the hill again to make sure her cover would not be blown. Her plan however was much more difficult than it sounded. There was a large plain field of open area between the two so going unnoticed would be more than difficult. On top of that Flandre couldn't be one hundred percent sure whether Flan had the watch or not. If she didn't have it then Flandre was just getting herself into an unnecessary fight she really didn't want to get involved in the first place. But give her circumstances she didn't have an options really.

"Okay, just don't turn around... don't turn around," Flandre muttered to herself as she stood up and readied herself to cross the top of the hill and start approaching Flan. From here on she needed to be stealthy.

Flandre scampered up the hill and onto the slope on its other side as quietly as was possible for her. Her eyes were practically glued onto Flan in the distance and were trying to make out any and every move she was making. But before Flandre could start to descend down the hill she stopped. She got an idea. If she could dash in lightning speed from boulder to boulder why couldn't she do the same to get to Flan. She didn't see any reason to think that wouldn't work. It would also be probably the best way to get to her as she shouldn't have time to react to her. This was enough reason Flandre needed. She prepared herself. She only needed to dash in grab the watch and destroy it. Nothing more, nothing less.

With that Flandre leapt into the air without wasting any more time and did what she had done so far, launched herself toward her target. When dashing from boulder to boulder it took her just a blink of an eye to make the distance. Now was no different so she didn't realize anything was wrong until when she thought she would be making her move against Flan. It was just like any other time she had done this. She would dash and only couple moments later her consciousness would register what had happened. It was so fast. In her mind she had already imagined how she would land just beside Flan and with the element of surprise she could over power her for long enough to grab the watch. But when she instinctively tried to lunge to the direction where she thought Flan would be after her landing her plans were shattered when she realized her body wouldn't budge. In fact she didn't even feel the ground beneath her feet. Her hands, her feet, nearly her whole body was stuck on something.

It took Flandre a whole two seconds to realize that her plan had failed miserably and in a rather spectacular way too. Her body was held up in mid air by, what looked like a hand made of stone. It was as if a torrent of liquid rock had shot at her from the ground as she dashed at Flan, hit her in mid air and then froze again as it encased her partially leaving a frozen, splash-like statue around her.

"Wh... What?" Flandre managed to mumble in confusion. She had not expected anything like this. Not even remotely. She tried to squirm out from her rock prison but she was lodged in it tightly. Her attention however was drawn away from her situation to a sound of footsteps clearly approaching her from below. Flandre glanced down to see Flan approach her slowly. Each of her step seemed like it weighed tons. The look on her face was that of absolute, silent rage. Like the face someone makes when they're on the verge of snapping.

Flandre didn't know what had happened but she knew Flan had done it somehow and she was enraged. She could only guess that Flan would pour it all onto her.

"YOU! I tried to warn you not to oppose me! And yet you still went and chased your agenda in your ignorance! LOOK AROUND YOURSELF," Flan exploded. It was as if she was not even slightly surprised by the fact that Flandre was alive and had just tried to sneak up on her. Flandre stared at her nervously.

"LOOK AROUND YOURSELF, TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE," Flan screamed again. Even during their battle in the crater Flandre had never seen her act like this which made her feel even more nervous.

"What's she on about? Why does she act like that? And how did she do this?" Flandre thought to herself and decided that the best course of action would be to play along. It could at least buy her some time. Flandre glanced around herself carefully. She didn't know what Flan meant by 'telling her what she saw' so she decided to be blunt.

"Bunch of rocks flying?" Flandre blurted out and looked back at Flan who did not look satisfied with her answer even a single bit.

"YOU ABSOLUTE MORON! This-," Flan screamed and kicked the ground beneath her feet slightly.

"This is all that is left of our reality! All that is left of the timelines is now orbiting here around the singularity until all of it will plummet into it leaving nothing left," Flan continued pointing around herself erratically. Flandre tried to follow where she was pointing with her gaze but gave up when she realized that it was all rage induced.

"Wasn't that your plan? You wanted to destroy the reality so you could make a new one?" Flandre asked out loud half confused half still wanting to defy Flan till the very end. Flan was seemingly enraged even more by this if it was even possible.

"These watches," Flan raised her voice and dag out the watch Flandre had been looking for. Flandre's eyes widened. She truly had it. She needed to figure out a way to get to it and destroy it as quickly as possible.

"These watches are the sole things that kept the universe from collapsing! The paradoxes they created destroyed the timelines and when nothing else was left those paradoxes managed to hold the reality together as I slowly brought it all down! It was all under control until YOU ALL decided to destroy the sole things keeping it all together," Flan raged waving the watch in her hand. Flandre didn't care what she was saying. Her eyes were locked on the watch and the possibility that by destroying that she could finally put a stop to this.

"You were this close, THIS CLOSE, to destroying it all," Flan finished her rave and held out her hand toward Flandre hile almost pressing her index finger and thumb together.

"Then why did we survive? Why didn't we get destroyed together with the universe?" Flandre asked doubtfully trying to keep Flan talking so she could come up with a plan to get free and get that watch. Flan stared at Flandre and seemed to calm down a tiny bit.

"Because we were the only ones in contact with the last remaining upholding force in this universe," Flan growled her response and held out the watch.

"This thing! This thing, is the only thing that still manages to hold up the remnants of reality you see around yourself! It protects us from total annihilation. In a way, we are no longer even part of the universe anymore," Flan explained and closed her fingers around the watch.

"What do you mean?" Flandre asked. She was still trying to figure out how to get free but Flan's last statement had peaked her interest a little. She wanted to know what she was on about. What did she mean?

"You've experienced it too, you wouldn't have found me if you had not. We experience the reality around us now much, much more differently. Distance, velocity, basic forces of nature no longer affect us in the same way they used to. If we want, we could shape anything we could ever imagine from the ashes the universe left behind," Flan explained with much less hateful tone and look on her face. Flandre watched as Flan knelt down a little and it was as if she lifted something from the ground. But her hand was empty and instead the ground literally followed her hand like a servant its master forming any shape Flan wanted it to. Flandre watched in awe and surprise. Flan shouldn't have this kind of power. And yet there she was, molding the rock as if it was liquid without even touching it. Flan finally pulled her hand away and the rock instantly froze to the last shape it held. Flan glanced at Flandre.

"We are living gods now, you and I. The universe is not yet lost. We can rebuild it, reshape it. We can make a perfect world without pain, suffering or any wrongdoings," Flan said and stared at Flandre. The hatred and anger had completely faded from her face as if she had not been angry at all. Flandre stared at her silently, still encased in her rock prison. If what Flan said was true she wasn't actually trapped at all. The rock should bend to her will. Flan had purposefully told her that so she would realize it. Flandre looked down at the grey matter surrounding her body and keeping it in place. Only her head, her hands and fingers and her feet were free. She focused onto the rock. She should be able to free herself easily if what Flan had said was true. Flandre imagined the stone and a moldable mass, something she could shape, like sand. And before she could even flex her fingers the hard prison around her crumbled to fine grains of sand and collapsed onto the ground releasing her from its grip.

Flandre fell down onto the soft pile of dust she had just turned the rock into. She looked around herself in surprise. It was out of this world. She had never even thought she would be ever able to do something like that. She then stood up from the sand, straightened herself up and looked at her hands. This was something truly magnificent and terrifying. Shape reality to her liking?

"Living gods?" Flandre asked out loud as she stared at her hands. She then slowly raised her gaze and looked at Flan. She did not express any aggression or hatred. She simply stood there and waited for Flandre to take it all in.

"Yes, anything your heart desires you can make it happen. Come on, we can set things right together. Only thing we have to do is just wait for the every last piece of the universe to conjoin the singularity and then a new universe can be born," Flan said and outstretched her hand toward Flandre. Flandre looked first at Flan and then at her hand she was offering her. It wasn't clear whether Flan actually believed Flandre would finally change her mind or if she knew already that Flandre was just buying time by keeping her talking. Flandre had made her decisions long ago and as she stared at the hand outstretched toward her she imagined how she could severe it from Flan's body.

With that image in her mind she formed a spike from the rock of the boulder just as she had seen Flan molding the rock before. She did this as subtly as she could and once she had it ready she lunged it up toward Flan's hand. The spike shot up from the ground almost in an instant just as Flandre had wanted it to but before it could even scratch Flan she had already stepped back and dodged the spike. Without hesitation she then cut the spike with a one motion of her hand and looked Flandre straight in the eyes.

"Why did I ever even bother?" Flan uttered coldly. The look of friendliness was now completely gone and replaced by emotionless and disgusted look. Flandre didn't bother to respond, she only needed the watch and Flan had it. So without skipping a beat she tried to dash and grab her but Flan was quick. Insanely quick. One moment she was right there in front of her and the next she was beside Flandre ready to blast her. Flandre a felt a hot pain emanating from her side as she was blasted from her feet. At that point she knew she was up against her toughest challenge yet. Flan had showed her what they could do now when most of the universe had collapsed but she still had only shallow understanding of the extend of their capabilities. Flan on the other hand had orchestrated all this. She had had time to plan everything and even experiment with her newly gained abilities while Flandre had been looking for her and the watch. She needed to figure it out herself as well or she would not stand a chance.

Flandre smacked into the ground heavily caused by the immense gravity they felt but she got herself up nonetheless. Flan was approaching her from where she had blasted her. Her steps were heavy and purposeful. Flandre didn't let this intimidate her however and when she got herself up fully she attempted to launch a fireball at her. But before she could even get it conjured up a piece of the earth shot up like the spike she had tried to use on Flan, sending her off balance and ruining her spell. She attempted again but Flan simply lifted another shard preventing Flandre from casting. She then watched as Flan did some kind of hand motion. Flandre glanced around hastily to try and see where the next shard was going to shot up. She turned around just in time to see the ground behind her crack and shoot right toward her head. Out of instinct Flandre moved her hands between her face and the approaching shard and as soon as the tip of the shard touched Flandre's finger it turned into a torrent of sand. Flandre's face was met with a cloud of dust and sand as the shard reduced to mere particles hit Flandre's hand and made its way between her fingers. Flandre coughed and wiped her face. She did not yet know how to fully use her newly found powers to her benefit but she knew she could combat Flan's moves with the knowledge she already had.

Remembering Flan again Flandre span around just in time to see Flan charging at her and aiming her flame-engulfed fist at her face. She may have not had the skill Flan already had but she knew that in raw combat she could take her. With a fast and determined swipe of her hand she blocked Flan's strike and grabbed her hand. She then intended to strike Flan herself but Flan simply caught her fist into her palm. The two were now locked and staring each other as both of them tried to over power the other. Flandre however didn't want to stay like that for too long. She needed to get the control over the battle. With Flan locked in place she attempted the same as she had before. She conjured up a spike between them and tried to impale Flan now when she couldn't move. At least Flandre thought she couldn't because as soon as the spike shot up Flan was gone in an instant. Flandre felt an immense pull as Flan dashed away in a blink of an eye. Flandre stumbled forward and took ahold of the spike she had just created to regain her balance. She then looked up toward Flan who was now in the air looking down toward her.

"What do you have left to fight for!? Your friends are dead! The universe is no more! Defeat me and you'll only doom the future as well," Flan yelled down at her with fury and annoyance painted across her face. Flandre simply gritted her teeth and stared back at her.

"Don't be so egoistic to think I'd give a damn about you! I'll only take the watch, destroy it and be done with all this," Flandre yelled back at her with equal amounts of fury.

"You haven't listened a single bit I've said...," Flan uttered slowly after a short pause and wiped her face with closed eyes. Her eyes then snapped back open with her gaze pointed right at Flandre. She raised her right hand up clenched into a fist.

"And for that you'll burn," Flan yelled and lowered her right hand and pointed it toward Flandre. Flandre looked at her for a moment readying herself for whatever was to come but was left confused when nothing happened... at first. She finally saw what was happening when the sky was starting to lit up. Flandre looked up and saw how almost every single boulder and particle in the sky was starting change its direction. Each of them was curving toward her. Flandre yelped and took flight as the first boulder crashed into the large one she was standing on. The grey rock turned into plasma instantly from the force of the impact. The ground shook as more and boulders started to bombard the larger chunk. Flandre did her best to dodge and avoid everything that was coming her way. Flan was staring at her from above and backing away from the destruction. Flandre couldn't let her get away so she charged at her while trying to avoid the shower of massive boulders that was raining down toward her. Flan however was having none of it. Before Flandre could even get close Flan simply hurled one of the boulders she controlled right toward Flandre. Flandre's heart skipped a beat. It was thrown at her in such a speed that she could not dodge it. She once again had to result to what she had done before. She moved her hands before her face to protect herself. The boulder crashed into her like it was supposed to but once again just as it touched the tip of her fingers it was broken into tiny dust particles. This however didn't break its momentum and instead of one large boulder Flandre was now hit with a massive pile of dust moving in incredible speed.

Fandre was blasted right off the sky as the boulder turned to dust crashed into her. The particles of dust dag into her skin piercing her body like thousand tiny needles leaving a bloody mist on her wake as she fell to the ground. Flandre hit the ground leaving a bloody splatters everywhere as she rolled. Flan's bombardement finally stopped as Flandre layed on the ground. Flan stared at her from the sky and started to descend back onto the boulder again. The massive boulder was now completely unrecognizable. It was completely scarred with huge impact craters with bright hot plasma dotting the landscape. The whole boulder had shrunk to half its previous size after the bombardment.

As Flan touched the ground again she did not know whether to expect find Flandre dead or not. Either way she needed to confirm it. Flan started walking toward Flandre's bloodied and unmoving body. She looked around herself, there were blood splatters everywhere. This made Flan confident that Flandre was no longer going to rise back up. But just as she was only few meters away from Flandre's body a spike shot up from the ground catching her completely off guard. The spike went right through her chest impaling her and locking her onto her place.

"GAAH," Flan let out a scream of pain and surprise as she clutched the spike going through her chest but before she could free herself a new spike shot up, this time it hit her right arm. Flan growled. Then there was a third spike. This one hit and impaled her left arm. Flan screamed again. Her body was now locked in place completely. It was then when Flandre finally pushed herself up to look at Flan. Her face and body were completely soaked in her own blood and the look on her face was as if the blood on it was going to start boiling at any second. Flandre's body was badly damaged but the damage was not fatal nor did it impair her movement. Flandre got onto her feet and started approaching Flan. She had gotten Flan to stay still but only temporarily. Flan ripped her right arm right off the spike splitting it wide open but as Flandre had seen so many time before already, she knew this injury wasn't going to last. She needed to get to her now.

As Flandre started running toward Flan, Flan's right arm regenerated and with that she swiped at the ground between her and Flandre. There was a burst of dust and then a deafening crack. Flandre hesitated and stopped briefly. Then the quakes began. It felt like the whole boulder was falling apart and quite frankly it was. A massive crack had formed between Flan and Flandre. A crack that widened fast. The boulder shook and trembled as the two halves Flan had split it into were now detaching from one another. Flandre was thrown off balance for a moment as she looked how the half Flan was standing on was starting to move away. Flandre composed herself and started running toward the edge of her half. Flan on the other hand had now pulled her left arm free as well. Flandre was now right at the edge of the boulder and ready to jump when Flan pointed her hands right at her.

"BECOME DUST," She screamed and released an almost invisible pulse of energy, like a shockwave, right at the same moment Flandre lept toward Flan's half of the boulder. The shockwave hit Flandre and she felt the air getting knocked out her lungs. The shockwave stopped her and blasted her backwards back toward her half of the boulder. Or at least so she thought because as she was blasted back she was spinning uncontrollably and while doing so she saw as the shockwave hit the boulder behind her. It was as if the shockwave was eating at the remnants of the boulder because as it swept over it the whole thing was turned to dust. It was as if a strong wind had just blown over a sand castle. Flandre's eyes widened and she turned her gaze back toward Flan who was once again charging a new spell. A couple seconds later she unleashed a beam toward Flandre but by then Flandre had regained her sense of direction and taken flight so she managed to dodge the beam. She then turned her attention directly toward Flan as she charged back toward her. Flan fired a couple more beams at Flandre but after she dodged those as well she was starting to become visibly frustrated. She became even further annoyed when she saw Flandre using her own trick against her. Flandre was pulling a couple boulder from the sky and directing them toward Flan as she charged at her. Flan growled at this and pulled herself free from the spike that had still been impaling her chest. She then pulled out the grimoire she had showed Flandre when they had first met in the crater. Flan opened it and glared right at Flandre.

"You have no idea of the power I can wield! You can never hope to over power me! Behold," Flan yelled at Flandre. Flan then turned her attention to the book that laid open on her palm before her eyes. Flandre didn't hear what she said next but she could only guess that it was some kind of incantation as the very next second everything went completely white and Flandre had to cover her eyes because of the brightness. She didn't know what Flan had did but when she suddenly felt herself hitting something she knew that something was not right. Flandre's eyes still hurt but she felt herself not bouncing or falling off the whatever she had just hit. In fact it was as if she was laying on the ground. Soft ground. She felt grass tickling her body as it breezed in the wind. The wind? Flandre slowly managed to force her eyes open. She felt around with her hand. It indeed felt like grass and when she got her eyes open it also looked like grass.

Flandre shot up in shock. Where was she? What happened? The moment before she had been charging at Flan and now she was suddenly laying on some field in the middle of a forest. Flandre looked around. It was a small opening in the middle of a forest. Flowers were in full bloom and the cool wind was caressing the lively nature.

"What...? Flan... where is she? What did she do?" Flandre uttered in confusion as she span around looking at the scenery around her. There were mountains reaching for the blue skies above her all around giving her an idea that she was in some kind of a valley. Flandre then looked up toward the sky. It was as blue as a crystal clear water with bright and warm sun shining down on her. Flandre felt herself getting a little panicked when she was fully exposed to a sun but that panic faded quickly when she realized it did not hurt her at all. It felt pretty good in fact. But it did little to ease her confusion. This was wrong, all wrong. Where had all this come from? It must have been Flan. There was no other explanation. But what was she trying to do? Was she trying to trap Flandre into some weird pocket dimension to get out of her way? Was she trying to entice her with a false sense of comfort?

"You think you can charm me with something as weak as this!?" Flandre yelled at the skies above her. She then turned her attention to her surroundings and conjured up a ball of fire to both of her palms. She then pointed her arms to her sides and let loose with the flames. She released torrents of fire all around her causing the grass, the forest, everything catch on fire. She stopped only when she was surrounded by a literal circle of raging flames.

"What ever you try to make, I will destroy," Flandre screamed and turned her attention now to the ground beneath her feet. She focused onto the thought of destruction. Even if Flan had made this she could still unmake it. She would get to Flan and there was nothing she could do to prevent her from doing that. She had made the mistake of showing what she was capable of. With that Flandre slammed her palm onto the ground that immediately started turning black, hard and shiny like obsidian. She watched it spread all around the earth yet to be scorched by her flames slowly consuming all that there was. Finally when all that was left were her flames and the black earth beneath her feet it all suddenly gave away. Flandre felt herself falling and all the while she saw the earth around herself turn into yellow grains of sand. The earth that had just been scorched and black was now falling down together with her, turned to sand in a blink of an eye.

Flandre's fall was soon stopped when she felt herself hitting a soft surface. But she didn't lay there for long. As soon as she had recovered from the surprise of her and the ground below her starting to fall she lept back onto her feet and looked around. It was all now very different. The forest, the field the mountains, it was all gone, replaced by soft and flowing dunes of the desert. She looked down at her feet. There was a dent on the otherwise pristine surface of the dune where she had landed. The air was still and chilly. Flandre looked up. The sky was black and dotted to the brim with stars. She couldn't recognize any constellations though. The sky she was looking at was alien. It was not that of home.

"Mimicry," Flandre simply huffed as she pulled her foot from the sand that had piled up around her leg.

"You're not even creating something of your own! Is it a perfect world if it is copied from the existing one!?" Flandre yelled to the night sky knowing that Flan would hear her. Flandre then turned her attention back to the sand beneath her feet. She knelt down and stuck her hands into the piles of yellow grains that glistened slightly in the starlight. Flandre poured her energy into her palms and let loose once again, but not with fire but with pure heat only.

The sand started started to glow in bright colour of orange as Flandre heated it up. The grains around her hands was slowly but surely starting to melt. Flandre then focused onto the heat she was creating and then with sudden pulse the heatwave that made the sand glow and melt spread all around in incredible rate. The heatwave swept all across the dunes melting the sand in a fraction of a second but as soon as it melt it froze once again leaving behind a smooth, glistening surface of glass. All the sand around Flandre was melt and crystallized into a hard, sparkling, smooth surface that glistened like a wall of diamonds as it was bathed in the starlight.

Flandre looked around for a moment, content at what she had pulled off but now when all the glass had hardened she found her hands and feet buried in the solid crystallized ground. Flandre groaned a little in annoyance. It was no hard feat to release herself. She adjusted her posture a little and then with one strong jerk pulled her hands free from the glass. But as she did this and shattered the glass around her hands the rest of th glass cracked as well. All of it. The once crystal clear dunes of glass now turned to white when it cracked all at once. Flandre quickly looked around herself. The sound and the sight were ominous. All around could be heard a slight crackling and more and more cracks were appearing all the time.

Flandre held her breath. Then suddenly all of the glass exploded into sea of sparkling dust before she could even think about freeing her legs. Flandre felt the ground disappearing under her feet but this time she didn't fall, nor did the sparkling glass dust. It all just kept floating there like a mist of tiny ice crystals. The stars also stayed there just as sparkly and bright as ever. Flandre felt herself become weightless as she looked around herself to see what was happening. She now found herself floating in a middle of sparkly, silver coloured nebula surrounded by more stars than she had ever seen before.

Flandre turned her head from right to left, from up to down and even if she knew that this too was Flan's creation she still found herself looking at it all in awe.

"Look around yourself! This is what I can create and so much more! Is it not enough!?" Flandre heard Flan's voice yelling. She looked around but could not see anything else but the silver mist and stars all around her.

"I never wanted anything more than I had. No one did! The world did not need your pity! The world needed you to let it be! Let it follow its own course," Flandre yelled back at the disembodied voice around her.

"Leave it alone? Let it run its own course!? What I did, I did out of necessity! Necessity caused by YOU, your actions you ungrateful maggot," Flan screamed back at her but Flandre still couldn't see her.

"Same goes for what I'm about to do to you," Flandre simply growled back at her voice and looked back toward the stars around her. The small dots of light kept glimmering and sparkling in the far distance, it was shame to pluck them out. Flandre extended her hand toward the dark space with her palm open and pointed at the stars. One by one small orbs started to appear onto Flandre's hand. They were like small marbles that glistened like the stars themselves. Flandre waited until her hand was so full that she could barely close her fingers around the orbs. She then opened her other hand as well and did the same. Her hands were full of those orbs that shined so brightly that it was as if Flandre was holding two tiny stars herself. But that was only means to an end because once her hands were full she slammed her hands together destroying every single orb she had collected. They shattered in bright fashion like fireworks but what followed topped every lightshow ever. Flandre looked back at the dark skies just in time to see the stars starting to blow up one after another. The sky was lit up with explosions brighter than thousand stars, each leaving behind a colourful cloud of gas and causing even more explosions.

It all happened in silence. Flandre watched all around as the stars were snuffed out in great masses leaving only dimly shimmering gas clouds behind. The lightshow just kept on going. It was one massive chainreaction.

"You... YOU," The disembodied voice of Flan yelled as Flandre witnessed the destruction unfold. The chainreaction of the exploding stars was getting more and more vigorous to the point that Flandre saw the shockwaves the explosions created join together as they passed through the empty space creating a wall of fire that wiped out everything in its path further accelerating the chainreaction. Flandre watched as the wall of fire grew closer and closer causing more and more explosions as it swept the stars in its way. Flandre braced herself as it grew near. She crossed her arms over her face to protect herself as the wall was just about to hit her.

"I COULD HAVE SHOWN YOU MERCY! I COULD HAVE GIVEN YOU A PLACE IN THE NEW WORLD EVEN AFTER ALL THIS!" Flandre heard Flan's voice scream just before it was snuffed out by the sudden roar of the wall of fire passing over her. Flandre felt herself being blasted away together with the raging fires but she felt no pain nor the heat. Flandre moved her hands away only to see herself charging through the cosmos with the wall of fire. The roars of the flames and the explosions made her ears ring but she didn't mind it. She was not the passenger of this shockwave. She was its harbinger.

Flandre charged onward with the wall of fire surrounding her. The stars were wearing thin. The explosions were starting to decrease and the blackness of the space in front of her was starting to give way to light. Flandre aimed for that light. She knew that Flan would wait her there. She didn't know how, she just knew it. The light grew brighter and brighter. The explosions were wearing thinner and thinner until the last star was wiped out and the only thing left was Flandre and the wall of fire surrounding her. The light grew now to blinding degrees. Flandre had to close her eyes but even when she did it she could feel herself breaking free from Flan's grasp. Flandre could see through her eyelids how the light dimmed again. Flandre's eyes shot wide open to witness Flan's shocked face as she charged at her and the boulder she was still standing on accompanied by a beam of fire that had managed to cross back to the other side with her.

"RAAAAAAHHH," Flandre roared as she charged right at Flan who could only cover herself as she was hit. Flandre felt herself crashing into Flan and saw how the flames surrounding her struck the boulder she had been standing on eradicating it in seconds. Flandre's hands were clutching onto Flan's body as they charged through the space around the central mass.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU ABSOLUTE IDIOT! YOU'RE DOOMING US ALL," Flandre heard Flan screaming as they whirled around the central mass falling closer and closer with each passing second. Flandre just didn't care what Flan had to say anymore. She kept ripping at her body trying to get to the watch while Flan tried to blast Flandre off from her. They were now so close to the center of the space that the space around the started to warp due to the gravity of the mass they were falling toward. It was psychedelic view. It was a matter of just seconds until they would plummet into the central mass, what ever it may have been. What would happen then, Flandre was uncertain of but even then she didn't let go of Flan.

Just as they were about to plummet into the invisible, reality warping monster in the middle of it all by some freak luck their fall was stopped by a tiny boulder, barely larger than Flandre. It had been probably cast down here this close to the center by the bombardement Flan had cast at the gigantic rock. It was a miracle that it had managed to stay on orbit this close to the central mass. Flandre crashed face first into the boulder stopping her fall instantly and painlessly just as many times before when she had dashed from rock to rock. But before she could even comprehend what had happened she felt an immense pull that flipped her off from the rock and she was only able to prevent herself from falling by grabbing onto the boulder with her right hand. Flandre was hanging from the boulder breathing heavily and glancing all around erratically. She had no idea what had happened but slowly her brain started to catch up. Flandre tried to pull herself onto the boulder but found it harder than she first thought. Something was weighing her down and it wasn't just the gravitational pull from the central mass.

Flandre glanced down only to find Flan dangling from her left hand. She was holding on tightly. Her finger had pretty much dag into her flesh. Flandre let out a growl and the look on her face darkened. She attempted to shake Flan off by kicking her a couple times but stopped when she felt her own grip slipping.

"STOP," Flan screamed at Flandre but she disregarded that and instead of kicking her Flandre started pulling herself up. It was a real challenge when she couldn't use her left hand to help herself. Flandre just had to pull herself high enough until she could throw her right foot onto the boulder after which she could wiggle herself fully back onto it. Something like this would not have been a problem in normal circumstances. She had the strength required but the pull from the central mass she and Flan both felt put up a considerable resistance. Ultimately however Flandre managed to get herself back onto the rock and before doing anything else se glanced over the edge to see Flan still dangling from her arm.

"PULL ME UP," Flan yelled from the bottom of her lungs when she glanced up and saw that Flandre had managed to get up. But Flandre had no such intentions. Flandre yerked her hand smashing Flan to the side of the boulder and trying to get her to let go.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!? STOP," Flan screamed at her and tried to use her free hand and legs to soften the impacts with the boulder. Flandre however was not listening she kept slamming her left hand into the rock together with Flan to get her to fall.

"STOP, STOP, STOP, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP," Flan screamed at her again. Flandre finally stopped for a second and looked at Flan. Had she not known her she could have sworn the look on her face was that of utter panic.

"Why should I?" Flandre spat her words with hateful tone and look on her face. Flan looked back at her like she couldn't believe what she had just heard.

"Why? WHY!? Have you listened to anything I've said!? If I fall into the singularity it'll destroy the watch with me as well," Flan retorted with absolutely terrified look on her face.

"Well then, isn't that convenient," Flandre simply responded and slammed Flan onto the side of the boulder once again.

"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!?" Flan screamed again so loud that Flandre stopped again to look at her in slight confusion.

"I told you already, these watches are the only things upholding the universe at this point and this one is the last one left," Flan yelled at Flandre and pulled out the watch from her pocket again. The look on her face was getting more and more desperate. Flandre's eyes were immediately glued onto the watch the moment Flan pulled onto her view again.

"If this watch is destroyed we will lose our powers and the universe will collapse! It'll be all over for me, you and everything else! There will be no new world, no old world, nothing! It'll all be destroyed! Now if you truly want to save the universe and not destroy it you'll pull me up," Flan screamed while holding the watch in her hand so that Flandre could see it. But Flandre was not convinced at all.

"You think I believe anything that you spew out? I'm not that stupid," Flandre hissed back at her without any hint of remorse in her tone.

"Happy ending! That's what you promised to Mitori! If I fall it'll be ending for sure but anything but happy," Flan insisted. This seemed to trigger something inside Flandre because she didn't give any response at first. Just stared at Flan with a little wider eyes.

"Happy ending for everyone except you. That's what I promised," Flandre uttered while staring at Flan coldly.

"Be it as it may, you drop me and it'll be all over for everyone! The universe will be done for! You think I want that to happen!? No! It is the opposite of what I seek," Flan retorted and was getting visibly more and more distressed.

"But if I pull you up now you will just betray me the moment you get a chance," Flandre said and retained that cold stare. Flan stared back at her for a moment and the two just sat there in silence. Then without uttering a word Flan reached out with her left hand where she was holding the watch and held it out for Flandre. Flandre looked at this in silent surprise.

"Take it," Flan simply uttered and stared at Flandre who was staring back at her still unsure how to respond.

"TAKE IT! If you're going to let me fall then at least make sure the universe doesn't fall with me," Flan repeated herself yelling and shook the hand she was holding the watch in. Flandre stared at Flan and the watch in silence. This was something she had not expected. She had been sure that Flan would just betray her if she complied but now when she was offering her the watch, something she had tried to keep for herself so fiercely Flandre wasn't so sure. If what she said was true and that watch is the only thing preventing the destruction of the whole universe then offering it to her was a significant sign of trust she didn't know Flan had toward her. Maybe she didn't. Maybe it was just a trick. She at least didn't trust Flan a single bit but even so this might be the only chance Flandre could get.

Flandre made an annoyed grunt as she reached down with her remaining free hand. Flan watched in silence as Flandre reached for her left hand where she was holding the watch. She did not make any sudden moves, did not utter a single word, just stared at Flandre's hand. Her gaze however was suddenly drawn to Flandre's face when Flandre did not grab the watch from Flan's palm and instead wrapped her fingers around her wrist. Flan looked at Flandre in surprise and in confusion. Flandre simply made a silent nod as she started pulling Flan up onto the boulder. Flan let out an audible sigh and closed the watch into her palm to prevent it from falling.

"Come on," Flandre groaned as she pulled Flan up until she could flip her leg onto the boulder and make it the rest of the way herself. Once fully on the boulder Flan stood up and turned to look at Flandre. It was an awkward silence. Their faces were only couple dozen centimeters apart due to the lack of space. Flan then opened her mouth to say something but stopped before anything more than just a peep could come out. She looked at Flandre, glanced down and then looked at Flandre again before speaking.

"Thanks... for trusting me," Flan uttered and looked down again. Flandre stared back at her silently. The whole time she had been ready for a surprise attack.

"I don't, but the end of the world is not on my to-do-list," Flandre responded and held out her palm in front of Flan. Flan looked at it for a second and then laid her own hand where she still held the watch onto it.

"I know that," Flan simply uttered while taking her hand away from Flandre's leaving the watch onto her palm. Flandre huffed ever so slightly at this. She then stared at the watch on her palm. Just like that she now had it. But... if destroying it would destroy the universe she had to admit that now that she had it, she didn't know what to do with it.

"So... what now? How do we revert the damage? Can we return the world to the way it was?" Flandre asked out loud and looked at Flan. The two looked at each other for a moment until Flan sighed.

"Yes... it is possible," She uttered and slowly brought her hand back onto Flandre's. Flandre stared at her. She was still looking out for any signs of betrayal.

"But first we must return back in time. Back before our world was consumed. You know how to do it, right?" Flan asked and stared Flandre in the eyes. Flandre gave her a slight nod but before doing anything else she asked, "How far back exactly?"

"Not far, to our battle, before the second watch was destroyed," Flan said calmly. Flandre took a one last glimpse around herself. If this was the only way to fix the damage that had been done, then she probably had no choice but to go along with it. Flandre pressed the small button on the shiny surface of the watch and the lid popped open. Flandre looked at the now exposed face of the clock. To think this little thing had caused so much problems. But Flandre knew she couldn't stay there gawking. She felt around with her fingers until she found the other familiar button. Flandre glanced at Flan. She gave her an expressionless nod and placed her hand so that she too was touching the watch. Flandre then looked back at the watch again. She took a deep breath.

"Here we go again," Flandre mumbled under her breath and pressed the button while focusing onto what Flan had told her. They needed to return to their earlier battle in the crater. Immediately upon pressing the button Flandre felt herself getting lighter. The pull from the central mass disappeared in an instant. Even faster than the all too familiar shimmer started to form around them. Flandre and Flan both glanced around as the world around them started to fade into yellow sea of light. Even after all the times Flandre and Flan had both used the watch it still felt so alien. The two fell through an endless tube of light. It looked as if it was a tornado of golden fire. There were also sounds that could be heard through the roaring of the time vortex.. Like always they were unrecognizable and sounded like they were spoken underwater. Nevertheless the two held onto the watch as they fell through the cracks and crevices of the already shattered time. Both of them gave the other nervous glances up until the light suddenly increased in strength and they were enveloped in a sea of luminosity. Flandre closed her eyes and covered them with her free hand. It was the moment of truth.

Flandre held her breath the whole time the light made it impossible to see. Then suddenly she felt as if she fell out from a pool of water. The light and the roaring dissipated and faded into the back of Flandre's mind. As if it had just been her imagination. Flandre rubbed her eyelids with her fingers to try to get her eyes used to the lower light level again. But before she could take even the first look at her surroundings she felt a familiar hard ground beneath her bare feet. It was a good sign which made Flandre's eyes open in an instant to see where she had ended up. It was surreal. She was standing on the slopes of the crater just as she had only couple short moments ago. She looked up. The sphere was still there together with the red clouds. She then looked at her surrounding again, this time giving it a little more thought. She was back in the crater but not all was as it had been. She was alone. There was no one there with her. She couldn't see Yukari, Renko, Junko, no one. It was also eerily quiet. The air was still, heavy and warm. Too warm to her liking. It was as if she was back in those...

"You made it? Good," Flandre heard being uttered from behind her. She turned to look and saw Flan standing near the edge of the crater.

"Yeah but... where is everyone? Why can't we see them?" Flandre asked a little confused and started walking up to Flan. Now upon closer inspection she saw that Flan was standing next to some lump on the ground.

"We can't see them because they aren't here. The time shattered, remember? This isn't really the past. This is just an after image. Imagine it as a painting of sorts. It's just a single moment from the past. The passage of time here is just an illusion, and therefore so is the perception of distance as well," Flan responded while first looking at Flandre and then at the lump on her feet.

"So... the others are...," Flandre started her sentence but before she could finish Flan already responded, "Yes, they're still dead. No matter where or when you travel, we are the only people left alive. There is no one else." Flandre stopped for a moment. The thought of that made her skin crawl. It was terrifying to even think about. Gensokyo, completely deserted.

"And if this place... you know, if this place is just a image of sorts without time and... whatnot... Does it mean it is like the...," Flandre asked carefully but once again before she could finish Flan already responded, "The wastes you spend so much time in trying to find me? Yes." Flandre looked at Flan and her eyes widened. She then took a couple running steps toward her and the edge of the crater and once she got there her fears were proven right. When she stood on the edge of the crater and looked down onto the slopes of Fuji she didn't saw the mountains or the sea or the giant geological bowl. Just the ash covered slopes, stretching as far as the eye could see until they faded into the red clouds below.

"While you were making your way through the wastes no time actually passed. What for you felt like days, weeks or maybe even months was in fact just a blink of an eye for those actually in the outside world and in Gensokyo," Flan uttered calmly and placed her hand onto Flandre's shoulder as she stared dumbfounded into the endless stretches of the ash covered slopes. She then turned her head back towards Flan.

"So if we're once again in one of those... places, how does it help us in any way?" Flandre asked with a little nervous tone and look on her face.

"Where we are is not really important, what is important is that we have a clear visual to the black hole above," Flan said and painted upwards toward the black sphere. Flandre glanced up again briefly as she stepped down from the edge of the crater toward Flan. She still didn't fully understand what it was but she still hated to look at it. She then laid her eyes back onto Flan and when she did she noticed that lump from earlier. Flandre stopped. That lump looked awfully familiar. Flan looked at her for a moment and then glanced at her feet to see what she was staring at.

"Ah yes, I figured you'd recognize her," Flan uttered and sat down onto a rock beside the corpse of the human Flandre that was lying on the the ground. Flandre stared at it confused and shocked all the same.

"Wh- why's she here? What happened to her?" Flandre asked out loud. She had nearly forgotten about her existence so now seeing her dead just hit her harder.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, you didn't see what happened to her, didn't you. In the midst of the battle she managed to sneak behind me and stabbed me. I presume it was you who gave her that knife?" Flan uttered calmly and glanced at Flandre who stood still and silently just staring at the corpse. Flan waited for a moment but when Flandre didn't respond she continued, "Look, I didn't want to kill her, never did. But when I was stabbed in the back I didn't know who it was. So the first chance I got I hit them back. She couldn't take a single hit. Had I known I-," Flan's explanation was cut short when Flandre finally spoke up.

"Why's she here?" Flandre asked out loud and caught Flan's attention.

"Huh?" Flan looked at Flandre a little confused.

"You said only us two would be here. Why's she here as well?" Flandre continued without taking her eyes off the corpse.

"That's because she is the same as you or I. We are all the same person. We are all from different timelines but fundamentally we're still the same person. Don't get me wrong however, she wasn't with us in the black hole. She's just the only... well she's not living, but a person brought back with us because she is us," Flan explained and rubbed her head. Flandre knelt down beside the corpse while listening to Flan's explanation.

"Just why on earth did she climb onto the mountain and stab you? I gave her the knife to give her some form of protection," Flandre said and touched the cheek of the corpse gently. Flan stood up and stretched a little.

"Who knows? My goal was to absorb every single timeline of myself before going through with my plan. Didn't want to leave any loose ends. Maybe I somehow attract myselves toward me? I don't know," Flan responded and shrugged her shoulder. Flandre sighed and stood up. She turned toward Flan and looked her dead in the eye.

"Then do you at least know what happened when I was stabbed?" Flandre asked with quizical and curious look on her face. Flan stared at her confused and tilted her head.

"What do you mean 'stabbed'?" She asked.

"You know, Koishi stabbed me with the knife. I presume she took back from her after she stabbed you," Flandre said and painted her hand at the corpse near their feet. Flan looked at it and the expression on her face was getting more and more confused.

"I thought I was dead for sure but I wasn't. I somehow regenerated, like you. Does it have something to do with this? About us being the same person?" Flandre continued and asked from the confused looking Flan. Flan bent down a little closer to the corpse.

"I... I had no idea that that had happened. And... it shouldn't have. Just because we're the same person doesn't mean we share the same power automatically. You don't share the timelines I've absorbed... unless," Flan said but stopped abrubtly.

"Unless what?" Flandre asked.

"Unless you somehow tapped into the absorbed timelines after you came into contact with the knife. It was still probably soaked in my blood. That was probably what saved you. Yes, it must be, the soul is hosted in the blood, you know. I... I never took that into account when planning this," Flan continued with thoughtful look on her face.

"And speaking of which, how do we stop it? Your plan? How do we stop it?" Flandre asked, her expression had turned to cold and serious. Flan looked at her for a moment. It was clear that she didn't want to tell her but Flandre was now in the possession of the watch. She didn't want to risk the worst possible outcome happening. Flan sighed.

"It's... it's simple, really. You have to destroy the singularity," Flan said and pointed up. Flandre glanced up toward the black sphere in the sky.

"That's it?" Flandre asked while keeping her eyes on the looming sphere.

"Yes, but...," Flan responded but stopped when she saw Flandre raising her hand toward it. She took a couple quick steps toward her and grabbed her arm before she could do anything.

"But it's not quite that simple," Flan uttered and stared Flandre in the eyes. Flandre glanced at her a little confused and waited for her to continue. Flan pressed Flandre's hand down and glanced at the black sphere in the sky.

"You have to understand, that singularity consists of nearly the whole universe and every iteration of it. If you destroy it directly you will consequently destroy the universe as well," Flan explained the situation. Flandre looked at her for a moment and looked a little confused.

"You just said we needed to destroy it? But now you're saying destroying it will destroy the universe?" Flandre said with a bit annoyed tone and look on her face.

"What I meant is that we need to... scatter the singularity. Our ability, the destruction, it completely wipes the existence of the destroyed target in a violent explosion. If you target the singularity itself it and all that makes up the singularity will seize to be," Flan continued and started pacing back and forth on a small area.

"What you need to do is destroy something you know for a fact that has already been lost to the singularity, lost to the time so to speak," Flan said and stopped to look Flandre in the eyes. Flandre looked back at her and tilted her head a little.

"Why me? You orchestrated all this, shouldn't you know better than me?" Flandre responded with an inquisitive look on her face.

"No, I don't know. I could take wild guesses but it is wiser to play it safe. You've seen what has happened while I've been away from Gensokyo. You should know something that you know has been lost to the singularity," Flan said and looked at Flandre. The look on Flandre's face turned into a perplexed one. She glanced up toward the sphere and rubbed her chin. Something that was lost to time. One could think that it would have been an easy task to come up with something that would fit the description but Flandre's head was coming up with nothing. What made it more difficult was the thought that what she would come up with would have to be destroyed.

"Something lost to time... Something lost... Lost... What I've lost...," Flandre kept mumbling to herself and staring at the sphere above until she came to an abrupt stop. Her eyes widened a little but instead of any kind of excitement the look on her face fell. Flan watched this curiously and waited what she would do next. Flandre stared at the ground in front of her feet. She shook her head a little. Flan heard some kind of a whimper from her. She was about to step toward her and ask what it was but she stopped when she saw a tear roll down Flandre's cheek as she pressed her eyes shut. Flan saw Flandre's face twist into an agonizing looking grimace.

"What is it?" Flan asked a little confused while looking at Flandre who had grabbed her hair with both of her hands. Flan didn't get an answer though because Flandre finally raised her head again, though she kept her eyes shut. She raised her hand toward the sphere and opened her palm. Flan watched as Flandre took a deep breath and turned her head away just as a tiny, brightly glowing orb formed onto her hand. Then without uttering a single word, nor doing anything else Flandre squeezed her hand into a fist cracking the orb that had just formed onto her hand. Flan's gaze was immediately drawn toward the sphere up in the sky. At first nothing happened. Flan was holding her breath. Then all of a sudden it was as if the black sphere shrunk or contracted really rapidly into just a tiny bright dot in the sky. There was then a brief glimmer, as if a twinkling star and with that the tiny dot in the sky blew up in bright dramatic disk-shaped fireball. It was bright, way too bright to look at with bare eyes. Flan covered her eyes and looked away. Flandre on the other hand didn't budge. Her eyes were already closed and her head turned away from the sphere. All this time there was not sound, not even a peep. It was only the slowly fading light and nothing else. Eerie silence persisted. The wind didn't even pick up. Or at least that's how it was at first. Flan was starting to lower her hands from her face when all of a sudden she felt a rock-solid shockwave knocking her off her feet with ease. That's when the heat and the deafening boom hit them as well. It was as if the whole world had just blown up. That's how it felt and sounded like. Flan could do nothing but keep her eyes shut and cover her ears as the shockwave pressed her against the side of the crater. All that lasted for little less than ten seconds and after that it stopped almost as suddenly as it had started. The light had almost faded completely by the time the shockwave let up and the ear piercing sound of the explosion disappeared into low rumble, like thunder.

Flan finally opened her eyes to see what had happened. The sky looked as if it was on fire. It was glowing in all the hues between red and yellow. On top of that there were absolutely massive stellar masses dotting the sky. Pieces of rock much larger than any planet and they were all glowing brightly red. And to top it off the sky was absolutely filled with auroras. They were in every single colour. Green, yellow, blue, red, every single colour. Flan watched in silent awe. On one hand it was a breathtaking sight but on the other there was now no going back. Her plan had been destroyed. Flan then glanced around herself and found Flandre sitting a little ways next to her looking up toward the sky as well. Her face was no longer twisted into a grimace. In fact it showed no emotion. She was just sitting there calmly and watching.

The crater was wiped clean of all the ash that had been covering it revealing the dark rock underneath. Flan glanced behind her and saw that the corpse of the human Flandre had been blown against a boulder near them. She then looked back at Flandre again.

"The time runs again," Flan simply uttered. Flandre glanced back at her but her face showed no hint of joy. Flan stared at her for a moment before looking away and standing up again. She dusted her dress a little.

"Well... it is done now. If you don't mind me asking what did you destroy exactly?" Flan asked and glanced at Flandre who was no looking down at her knees. Flandre sighed deeply and turned her face back towards Flan. There was a long and rather awkward silence before Flandre managed to open her mouth.

"Marisa's friendship toward me," Flandre simply said and looked down again. Flan looked at her for a moment silently.

"You seem to take it rough. You really care for her that much?" Flan asked with a rather curious tone and look on her face.

"Do I? She's the only real friend I've ever had. But I guess it's better off this way. Every time I've been around her she's only suffered from it," Flandre responded and stood up from the ground. She sighed again. Flan then gave a quick glance behind her again and then back at Flandre.

"You know, there's still something we could do to help her," Flan said. Flandre perked up a little after hearing this. She turned and looked at Flan.

"What do you mean?" Flandre asked. She was curious but also a little sceptical at the same time. Flandre watched as Flan pulled something out from her dress. It was not the grimoire this time. It was a small glass vial filled with red liquid, presumably blood.

"What's that?" Flandre asked a little confused.

"You remember when you arrived here? You remember Marisa's condition and how you turned her into a vampire?" Flan asked and grinned ever so slightly.

"Yeah, what about it?" Flandre asked. She did not understand what Flan was getting at here.

"Well I remember you mentioning something about curing her as well," Flan said and looked at the contents of the vial again. Flandre looked at her for a moment, huffed a little and shook her head.

"I do but all that I've previously tried has failed. Patchouli even said that it's not possible once someone turns into a full vampire," Flandre said and wiped her face. What Flan was saying irritated her. Curing Marisa had in fact been the sole reason why she was here in the first place but after so many failed attempts she had started to grow desperate.

"You wanna know why they say it is impossible?" Flan asked and looked at Flandre with a little smug grin on her face. Flandre looked at her a little confused and waited for her to continue.

"The reason is that once a person turns into a vampire the main ingredient needed to cure them from it becomes inaccessible. That ingredient being their own human blood," Flan continued while fidgeting the vial in her hand. Flandre looked at her for a good moment until she tilted her head in confusion.

"You saying that that's Marisa's blood? Human blood? Where'd you get it," Flandre asked with skeptical and confused look on her face.

"Patchouli took a blood sample from her before she was turned and I snatched it before the mansion blew up. I didn't like the fact that you had turned her into a vampire. I also saw an opportunity to try to lure her into helping me with the cure. But I guess I wont be needing it any longer," Flan said, shrugged her shoulder and offered the vial to Flandre while cracking a slight smile. Flandre looked at Flan for a moment before taking the vial from her hand. She brought it before her eyes and looked at it curiously. She then looked back at Flan.

"I- I'd love if this worked but it's only one small vial. How can we be sure it works? And even if it works we would have enough for only one dosage, right?" Flandre said with a bit more hopeful but worried look on her face.

"Don't worry, I asked Koishi how it should be done. And as for making sure the cure works, we could try making a test dosage for... either one of us," Flan responded with reassuring tone and look on her face.

"Either one of us? Where'd we get ingredients for that? We'd need our blood, human... blood...," Flandre responded but stopped when she realized what Flan was getting at. Flandre's eyes were diverted toward the corpse of the human Flandre that was still laying next to a nearby rock. She didn't know how she felt about this.

"She isn't coming back to life, so I see no harm in using her blood," Flan uttered after turning to look at the corpse herself as well. Flandre seemed a little fidgety. Flan then turned to look at her and placed her hand on her shoulder.

"If you want to make sure we do it right it is best if we test it on ourselves first. Once we know for sure it works we can make the cure for Marisa and make the one final trip back," Flan said and looked Flandre in the eyes. Flandre looked at her and then at the watch she was still holding in her hand. She then looked back at Flan.

"But which one of us should the cure be tested on?" Flandre asked the question that made her nervous the most.

Gensokyo, a land where fairytales and folklore come to life. Where magic is abundant and all kinds of creatures dwell. A dark, really dark night was coming to an end and the peak of the Youkai Mountain in the center of it all was already bathing in sunlight. That night had been full of death, pain, treachery and hardship so finally seeing it come to an end was truly a surreal event, even if the residents themselves did not yet know it. The village to the south from the mountain was still under distress. Not only was Flandre gone, they had lost contact with the Oni and Marisa was now in some reason in possession of the watch. She had used it to get away from Reimu and Alice once Reimu learned of her past and they found out she had the watch. Although what Marisa found from where she ended up turned out to be something for more disturbing than she could have ever imagined. Marisa was not sure what would happen to her if she returned but she saw no other option she needed to tell the others what she had found.

The outskirts of the village were crowded. People had gathered to see what was going on after Marisa suddenly appeared out of thin air and seemed panicked. The ones who had seen what had happened after the confrontation with Rumia were quick to assume that Marisa was trying to evade Reimu who had been seen to head into the forest after she woke up. But all these assumptions were silenced quickly when Marisa asked to be allowed to see Yukari as soon as possible. People, humans and youkai alike were confused and before anything else could be done the commotion had already reached Yukari's ears and she had come to see what it was all about. At first she was not so surprised to see Marisa but the distressed look on her face soon made even Yukari's face turn grim. First and foremost Marisa started to explain that she was now in possession of the watch and how she had gotten it. Immediately after Marisa jumped into the part where she had used the watch to escape Reimu and Alice. Yukari obviously was furious at this but calmed down quickly when Marisa continued and told where she had ended up. She explained how she had ended up in the past and described what she had seen. More and more people had started to gather around them to listen and that's when some of them managed to piece two and two together. Meiling was the first one to bring up the fact that it had all come a full circle. They now knew what exactly had happened during the day Flandre had appeared.

People were dumbfounded and slight panic was starting to spread until Yukari commanded everyone to calm down. She then demanded Marisa to continue and just as Marisa was about to tell them about her findings in Flandre's room and the piles of bones she was interrupted. Reimu and Alice had hurried back to the village as soon as Marisa had used the watch. And now when they arrived and saw Marisa there nothing could stop accusations from being thrown around. The amount of confusion went through the roof.

"You! Quite bit of nerve you have for showing your face here," Reimu roared after a brief moment of just staring dumbfounded at Marisa. Alice stayed back while Reimu started stomping her way toward Marisa who looked visibly stressed by this. Lucky for her Yukari was quick to step between the two.

"Reimu, calm down. Let us have a peaceful discussion," Yukari tried to calm Reimu down but she was not having none of it.

"Are you in leagues with her!? That lying, backstabbing witch!?" Reimu exclaimed and tried storm past Yukari but she grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"Look, I know what it is between the two of you and we will discuss it eventually but now we have a lot more pressing matters. So please try to behave yourself," Yukari said briefly while holding Reimu still and staring at her intently.

"Damn right we have. She has the bloody watch! She even used it! And now she's standing here as if she had done nothing wrong," Reimu retorted and waved her hands at Marisa. Yukari simply nodded silently and let go of Reimu.

"That's exactly what I meant," Yukari uttered and glanced at Marisa who was sheepishly looking at the situation. She then turned her gaze directly toward Reimu.

"Reimu I'm sorry. Just please hear me out I have information that might be crucial in resolving this incident," Marisa pleaded and approached Reimu and Yukari a little. Reimu didn't respond. She simply folded her arms akimbo and huffed. Marisa sighed a little, partially out of relief that Reimu didn't attack her and partially out of regret that they had ended up in this situation. Alice had followed the scene from a little ways away but finally decided to approach once it seemed like the situation had calmed down.

"Okay, so Marisa, you were about to continue," Yukari said and turned her head toward Marisa once she was content that everyone had quieted.

"Thank you. So, Reimu, just so that you know too, once I used the watch I ended up in Flandre's room a little over a week ago. You do remember that, right?" Marisa started to explain her situation so that Reimu could understand it as well. The look on Reimu's face seemed to suddenly switch from pissed to a little surprised after hearing this.

"And once there I got a confused. I panicked. But once I calmed down I too noticed the bones in the room. I hope you all remember those," Marisa continued. People around her, Yukari, Alice, Meiling, Reimu and some others were nodding.

"Well I... I found out that those... they were my bones. That was not the first time I had ended up in that room. From the pile I found yet another watch and even another grimoire," Marisa continued and pulled out both the watch and the book she had taken from Alice. Alice stepped forward at that point and outstretched her arm toward Marisa.

"Speaking of which, could I get it back?" Alice said bluntly and looked Marisa into her eyes. Marisa looked at Alice, then at the book and then back at Alice.

"Oh, right, s- sure," Marisa stuttered and gave the grimoire back to Alice who immediately inspected to make sure it had not been damaged. Reimu on the other hand looked perplexed after hearing what Marisa had to say.

"Wait, wait, wait, so how in the world have you ended up in that room before. If those are your bones then you-," Reimu started unload her confusion but was cut short when Yukari chimed in, "She was killed each time she ended up in that room before. This is the first time she made it out alive."

"And what does that mean?" Alice now joined the conversation after making sure the book Marisa gave back to her was intact.

"It means that we've uncovered the scheme of our culprit. All that you've experienced, it's all just a prefabricated loop. Everything we've done has been has just been part of the loop. Shit," Yukari uttered while rubbing her forehead with troubled look on her face.

"Not just the scheme. Don't you see, we have the culprit as well," Marisa continued with rather annoyed tone and look on her face.

"Oh, then who is it?" Alice asked and looked rather surprised.

"Come on! It is-," Marisa started after wiping her face in frustration but she didn't get to say the name before she was interrupted by Meiling.

"Flandre?" Meiling uttered in audible confusion and surprise.

"Exactly," Marisa exclaimed and turned towards Meiling but was taken aback when she saw Meiling staring at the forest with surprised look on her face. At this point most people had turned to look at her and were curious as to what she was looking at. People's gazes turned toward the tree line where there was standing a familiar looking small figure. Marisa froze while everyone else just stared at her curious. Flandre was leaning against a tree and looking at them back. She then started taking slow and somewhat shaky steps toward them.

"It's her, it's her! She's behind all of it," Marisa suddenly yelled and pointed her finger at her as Flandre started to approach them. Reimu gave Marisa a nasty glare and Yukari shushed her and looked annoyed.

"Quiet. Let's see where this goes," Yukari whispered while staring intently at Flandre. Marisa looked as if she wasn't going to believe what she had heard. She however didn't get to sound her displeasure before someone broke through the crowd and ran toward Flandre.

"Young mistress! I was so worried," Meiling exclaimed as she ran toward Flandre with her arms open for a hug. People looked at her surprised and Yukari was just about to yell after her but thought better of it before she could utter a word. They all just watched as Meiling rushed to Flandre and immediately upon reaching her she closed her into a hug.

Meiling squeezed Flandre tightly.

"Where did you run off to? I was worried that you might have done something reckless," Meiling uttered while holding Flandre. She however loosened her grip once she didn't hear a response or feel Flandre hugging her back. She let go of her and looked at her worried. Flandre was gasping for air and holding her chest.

"Is... Are you alright?" Meiling asked with worried tone and look on her face while looking at Flandre who just nodded quietly. Upon further look she then realized how utterly shredded Flandre's clothes were and how dirty she was.

"Oh my, what happened to you? What have you been doing?" Meiling asked and covered her mouth in shock after seeing in what condition Flandre was.

"You know, resolved this incident. And please, don't hug me so tightly, you almost crushed me," Flandre responded with a slight chuckle. She sounded as if she was out of breath. Meiling looked at her confused.

"What are you talking about?" Meiling kept on asking her questions. She took ahold of Flandre's shoulder but let go all of a sudden and stood up once Flandre finally looked at Meiling back. Her eyes were sky blue. Meiling looked at Flandre with even more confused look on her face. She mumbled something but it was so nonsensical that Flandre couldn't make what it was. In her rush to greet Flandre Meiling had not noticed that even her wings were gone but now when she looked at her she noticed that Flandre did not look herself at all.

"Oh my god, what happened to you?" Meiling finally managed to exclaim her confusion and shock. Flandre simply stared at her and smiled a little. This smile exposed her teeth just enough for Meiling to see that even her fangs were gone.

"That's... no way. That's impossible," Meiling managed to stutter before she felt a hand land on her shoulder and pull her back gently.

"We will take it from here," Yukari uttered and stepped forward while gently guiding Meiling toward Ran. Flandre glanced up at the small group of people that had gathered around her. Yukari, Ran, Meiling, Reimu, Alice, even Renko had emerged from the confused crowd to look at what was going on. Flandre then stood up while grunting a little and gave the group around her a smile. The group looked at each other before Yukari spoke up.

"So, Flandre, where did you disappear to?" Yukari asked while eyeing her head to toe. Even if she didn't show it, Yukari was utterly confused as to what had happened to her.

"Well... that's a long story. But the incident has been dealt with," Flandre said while looking up toward Yukari. There was a stir in the group once Flandre said this. People were looking at each other confused and uncertain whether to believe even a single word she just said. Yukari looked at Flandre for a second before squatting down to her eye level.

"And how exactly did you manage that in such a short time? Seems like you managed to lost your vampirism as well," Yukari uttered while trying to figure out what Flandre was on a about. Flandre smiled a little and then dag out the watch and a syringe from her pocket.

"It's complicated but it certainly was no quick ordeal. And thanks to her I now have a cure for vampirism. Had to test it on myself to make sure it works," Flandre said and glanced behind her. The others looked behind Flandre toward the treeline where there stood another Flandre. People looked at each other again. What was going on? Yukari stood up with utter confusion on her face. Her gaze jumped between both Flandre's.

"Who's this?" Yukari finally managed to ask.

"You kidding? It's Flan, don't you recognize her?" Flandre asked playfully after looking back toward the crowd. Flan was standing in the tree line looking all sheepish.

"How is that possible? She blew up together with the mansion," Alice voiced her confusion while looking at Flandre. Flandre just sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"I was in the mansion and survived, what makes it so that she couldn't have?" Flandre said and looked up again. People were looking at her and Flan with distrusting looks on their faces. Flandre was not really convincing them.

"Okay Flandre, what I need you to do is to tell us the truth. What exactly happened?" Yukari demanded and stared Flandre in the eyes. Flandre stared back at her for a moment, glanced behind herself at Flan before turning back toward the crowd again and sighing.

"She was the main culprit," Flandre then uttered while looking down.

"WHAT!?" People exclaimed all at once. The commotion was starting to return as people started to debate whether to believe her or not.

"I knew it," Marisa then finally yelled from the crowd. She had stayed behind this whole time but now when Flandre had confirmed her suspicions she stormed through to see Flan with her own eyes.

"Silence," Yukari raised her voice but it did little to silence the confused debate over what Flandre had just said. Yukari rubbed her face in frustration and failed to notice as Marisa slipped past her and continued toward Flan. At first she looked at Flandre but her eyes quickly found Flan still standing near the tree line. With that she continued storming toward her with absolutely furious look on her face. But just as she was passing Flandre she felt a sting emanating from her side. Marisa yelped, turned to look what had caused it and jumped back when she saw Flandre standing there with an empty syringe. As Marisa had stormed past her she had seen her opportunity and didn't hesitate a bit while emptying the contents of the syringe into her. Marisa looked at her and then at the tiny wound on her side.

"What did you do?" Marisa asked while staring at Flandre with wide eyes. Flandre looked back at her with a melancholic smile and dropped the syringe from her hand.

"I promised to cure you, remember? Well, I did," Flandre simply responded. Marisa looked at the ground again, still shocked. The crowd had also quieted down and they were all just staring at Flandre and Marisa. Some were trying to approach but Yukari blocked their path by raising her hand. She wanted to see what would happen. Marisa then tried to take a step toward Flandre but failed as her leg couldn't support her weight.

"Di- did you poison me?" Marisa asked as she fell to her knees and her hands started to shake.

"No, I never could," Flandre uttered with a expressionless look on her face as she kept staring Marisa who started to cough. Reimu had followed Marisa as she had stormed through the crowd and got through it herself just in time to witness how Marisa coughed out four large and sharp fangs from her mouth accompanied by some amount of blood.

"It... it really is the cure then...?" Alice uttered as she witnessed the same. Flandre glanced at her and the crowd just staring at her and Marisa. Flandre nodded.

"When I used it, it hurt more than I had imagined," Flandre uttered blankly and turned her gaze back toward Marisa who writhing on her knees. Her hands were shaking violently together with her wings up until there was a loud and sickening crunch and pop as the wings fell from Marisa's back. At this point Marisa was able to let out a scream. Flandre looked away. She knew how much it hurt and she didn't want to see it. Marisa fell to her back while breathing heavily and still convulsing a little. Everyone stood quietly and just waited until there was a slight groan. Flandre perked up and stared intently as Marisa slowly pushed herself to sit up.

"Wha- what did you do to me?" Marisa managed to utter while holding her head. She was sweaty and still shaking ever so slightly. Flandre took a step toward her with almost enthusiastic look on her face.

"Open your eyes," Flandre said with impatient tone. Marisa's eyes flashed wide open and she glared at Flandre.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Marisa blew up again with rage burning in her now bright yellow eyes. Flandre couldn't help it. A smile like never before grew onto her face when she saw Marisa's eyes. Marisa looked at her dumbfounded and her rage turned to confusion when the crowd started to mumble and gasp. They too saw what had happened to Marisa.

"Hey, what... what happened?" Marisa asked more confused than anything while looking at the crowd. People were looking at her and Flandre as if they had just seen a ghost. This however didn't answer Marisa's question. It was until Alice stepped forward and offered Marisa a mirror she had dag out from the pockets of her dress that Marisa understood.

"You're cured," Alice uttered and gave Marisa the mirror. Marisa still looked at Alice as if she didn't understand but when she glanced into the mirror she dropped it immediately. Her eyes widened even more if that was even possible and she slowly brought her still shaking hand to her face. She gently caressed her own cheek and moved her hand to her mouth. She felt around her teeth. The fangs were gone. She then turned her head around and felt at her back. She couldn't feel the wings either. She then turned around fully and saw the detached wings laying on the ground. Marisa shot up from the ground but almost fell over as now when she was human again her physical strength was far lower.

"I... I'm myself again. I'm normal again," Marisa exclaimed and looked at Alice who had given her the mirror. Without any second thought she then lunged at her and gave her the tightest hug she could muster. Alice was a bit flustered but hugged her back. Alice then looked at Flandre with a slightly apologetic look on her face but Flandre didn't mind. She simply smiled back at her and just looked how Marisa rejoiced.

"It is true, all that I said. The incident has been dealt with," Flandre uttered and turned her gaze back toward Yukari who looked at her with intrigued and astonished look on her face. The group had fallen silent.

"Well then, what now? Oni are still in the outside world, you have the watch and there are two of you. And if what you're saying is true the other is the main culprit. What should we do to these matters?" Yukari asked while rubbing her chin. She was convinced that there was at least a grain of truth in hat Flandre had told but she was not yet convinced that they could just lay down and that the incident would be over.

"Now? Well you don't need to do anything. Me and this watch, you see, are the last paradox that needs to be untangled. Once that happens the whole universe will reset itself. None of this will never happen," Flandre said with serious look on her face while looking Yukari right in the eyes. Yukari looked at her silently. She then glanced at Renko next to her. She however didn't say anything and stayed silent as she had done so far.

"You're absolutely certain that it will happen?" Yukari then asked and looked back at Flandre. There was no longer doubt on Yukari's face, and instead more of sadness.

"Yes, please, just trust me on this, this one time. I know what I'm doing. All I'm asking you is just to please trust me this once," Flandre said, walked up to Yukari and took ahold of her hand. Yukari looked at Flandre and then at her hand she was holding. No matter how much Yukari wanted to resolve this incident, hearing that they would just return to square one if Flandre's plan worked wasn't an easy thought to bear. But even so Yukari knew that anything else than accepting would have been wrong and selfish. Flandre had already proven her honesty, at least to her. Cure to vampirism had been thought impossible thus far and now she did not just cure Marisa she also had cured herself just to test it. She was willing to trust Flandre on this and accept the consequences. Yukari looked at Flandre and placed her hand onto her hand.

"I trust you on this," Yukari said and smiled at Flandre. The look on Flandre's face lightened up, she stepped forward and gave Yukari a hug.

"Thank you," Flandre uttered while squeezing her. Yukari simply looked down at her and patted her on the head. Once Flandre finally let go Yukari turned to look at Renko.

"I guess this is where we part ways... again," Yukari uttered with visibly sad look on her face. Renko looked at her for a moment as if examining her.

"You know, Maribel I knew in the past would have not allowed us to be separated, no matter what," Renko said while rubbing her chin a little. Yukari looked down.

"Yes, I guess I truly have changed, I'm sorry," Yukari responded while looking down. Renko grinned her while she didn't watch.

"Sorry for what? I think you've changed for the better. Besides, the next time I'll be released from the Lunar Capital it'll be all the more happier when it'll be actually you who sets me free," Renko said and nudged Yukari gently to her shoulder. Yukari looked up from the ground and toward Renko. There was a bittersweet smile on her face. She then stepped toward Renko and closed her into a tight hug. With that the sun finally climbed over the mountains and treetops to reveal itself. Flan ducked deeper into the shadows of the trees while Flandre turned to look at and greet the sun for the first time in her life for real. It was blinding, bright and even if it didn't offer much warmth due to it being still really low and autumn it still warmed her heart. But even if the rays of the sun didn't burn her skin it didn't mean she still wasn't in pain. Flandre walked past the gawking crowd as if she was limping. Alice approached her, she looked worried.

"Are you okay? You seem to be injured," Alice said while following Flandre. Flandre stopped and turned around to look at her.

"I- I'm fine. It's just... my whole body has ached after I used the cure on myself. I don't know why," Flandre responded and looked at Alice. Alice looked at her for a moment before squatting down before her.

"I might know. As a vampire you had tremendous magical power stored within you. Vampire's body can take that but for a human it is not so straight forward. It feels as if you're burning from within, doesn't it?" Alice explained and asked. Flandre looked at her for a moment and then nodded slowly and quietly.

"Well, that's because it pretty much is. The power you have is now... destroying you from within," Alice said with compassionate look on her face. Flandre seemed a little startled by what Alice told her.

"Is Marisa going to be okay?" Flandre asked with audible worry in her tone and fear in her eyes. Alice glanced behind her where Marisa was sitting on a log caressing her skin with a bright smile on her face as sun shined onto her. She then looked back at Flandre.

"Don't worry, Marisa is a magician. Her body is already attuned to the stress magic usage causes. So no need to worry, there's nothing that will stop 'the great witch of the forest'," Alice said and grinned playfully. Flandre giggled and sighed for a relief.

"I'm glad to hear that. But I think I need to get going before my body starts to shut down," Flandre said and looked at Alice. Alice smiled at her and stood up again. But before doing anything else Alice glanced up. Something had landed onto her head. Something light and cold. Flandre glanced up too. The sky was almost completely clear from clouds. There were just couple white wispy threads on the greyish blue blanket over them. But even if it was almost clear the crisp autumn morning was cold enough to make it snow. Flandre looked at the gently falling, tiny snowflakes with wide open eyes. She looked as one flake fell onto her hand and turned into water almost instantly.

"Whoah, I've never seen snow before," Flandre uttered in amazement and looked around herself as the white and tiny snowflakes were falling everywhere. Alice glanced at Flandre.

"You mean like ever?" Alice asked with honest surprise on her face. Flandre looked at her and shook her head as a confirmation.

"When I was born we were still living in a really warm place. But when we moved I got locked in the basement before I could see my first proper winter," Flandre explained while looking at the falling snowflakes. She then glanced at Alice and the crowd behind her and pulled out the watch from her pocket.

"I guess it's time for me to leave," Flandre said and smiled a little. People looked at her. Some were still confused while the others looked back at Flandre with bittersweet looks on their faces. That's how it always was, the end. Bittersweet.

"Before you go, I hope you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you going to do to that watch?" Renko then asked with a little curious but mostly worried look on her face. Flandre glanced at her and then at the watch.

"Oh, I will just destroy it. I just can't do it here. I myself am a paradox as well, you see. Don't worry, I'll be fine," Flandre said and waved the air with her hand. Renko looked at her for a moment and it looked like she was going to say something but thought better of it before she could say anything and just watched together with everyone else as Flandre took a couple steps more away from the crowd and then turned to face them once more. Flandre flashed them one final smile before she flipped the lid of the watch open. People held their breath and looked as Flandre stared at the dial. A sudden glow then surrounded her. It looked as if her skin turned to shining gold as Flandre raised her gaze from the watch and raised her hand to wave goodbye. Some were petrified by the sight, some waved back at Flandre. She was content by that, content that it was finally over. And with that she pressed the button on the watch's side after which she was enveloped by blinding light as she was sucked into the flow of time.

Flandre felt herself falling through time again as the roaring-like sound and blinding light took over her sight and hearing. This time however she did not anticipate where she would end up. She knew she wouldn't end up anywhere. What she had told Renko had only been half of the truth. Yes she would destroy the watch but she didn't know if she was going to be okay. She couldn't travel just somewhere else and destroy the watch there because no matter where she would go she was going to be a paradox. So what she needed to do was to destroy the watch when she was nowhere. Flandre felt the watch in her hand and with her other hand she felt the grimoire hidden within her dress. In order for this to work she needed to break all the paradoxes which included Alice's grimoire that Flan had carried. She had given it to her before they had returned to Gensokyo. She was going to deal with that later if she ever got the chance because now she needed to destroy the watch before she would surface. Flandre forced her eyes open even if it was super bright. She looked around herself. It was as if she was flying through fire and stars. It was beautiful, violent and powerful. She then looked at the watch in her hand. At first she tried to crush it between her hands but as a human her strength was not even nearly enough. But that was not a big problem. She had plenty of ways to complete the job and so she picked the easiest one. Flandre opened the palm of her right and and looked at the watch. After a short moment a faint glimmering orb materialized onto her hand. It was heavy. Heavier than she had thought. Heavier than any eye she had ever crushed before. Was it because she was human, or because of what she was going to destroy? She didn't know, and frankly she didn't care. Flandre curled her fingers around the orb. She winced. It was hot. Really hot. Flandre groaned as she started to squeeze. Her hand was burning harder and harder the more she squeezed but she did not stop.

"HAAAAA," Flandre finally screamed as she pressed her fingers with her other hand and the watch to get the orb to crack. Then suddenly she felt a crack. She immediately glanced down and saw how the lid of the watch split in two. She opened her right hand and it was as if silver dust was blown from her palm as the sparkling remnants of the orb were scattered into the time vortex. She then glanced at the watch. At first nothing happened and she was starting to worry that it had not worked but then the watch suddenly crumbled and turned to silver dust as well. Flandre watched as it trickled off her palm and fell into the fires around her. Fires that all suddenly dimmed down. Flandre glanced around herself and she could feel her heart starting to race. The fires and light around her started to fade. She looked where she was heading. Before her eyes opened just a black abyss that was growing nearer and larger every passing moment. Flandre tried to scream and fly back but she was unabled. The final threads of light were snuffed out of her sight as she was cast into nothingness.

…

…

…

"Seven months since the last incident," Marisa thought to herself.

"Yukari once said that outside world is boring compared to Gensokyo, but at this point I highly doubt it." Marisa was still laying on her bed although it was midday already. The day was like any other, sun was shining brightly and a warm wind was blowing nicely from the open window. It was mid March. The spring was early this year. All the snow had melted already in the February. Some would even say that the spring coming this early was an incident in itself, but because no one had any complains it was ignored.

Marisa sighed and said to herself, "Well, since I don't have anything to do, it wouldn't hurt to visit Alice. I haven't visited anybody or even borrowed anything from anybody for while, so yeah, I should pay her a visit."

Marisa got up from her bed and looked at the corner of her room where her broom was usually laying. She walked up to the broom and reached for it to pick it up but she accidentally knocked it over. The broom tipped over, fell against Marisa's work desk and nudged an empty glass jar on it. Marisa looked at it for a second before she grabbed the broom. She then grabbed the jar as well and peered in.

"Oh crap, I'm running low on basic herbs," Marisa muttered and glanced at her broom. She then shrugged her shoulders, placed the jar back onto the table and grabbed a small bag laying on the ground and flipped it over her shoulder.

"Well, Alice's gonna have to wait, I don't wanna run out of research ingredients," Marisa muttered while walking through the door of her room and down the stairs. Such a wondrous thing. To think that change so miniscule could have effects so drastic. Truly. The world continued on its course, just the way it should have from the start. Incidents would come and go. Seasons arrive and change and no one would have any idea how close to that all had been to crumble down. Well almost no one. I too initially forgot together with everyone else. One really can't remember something that never truly happened. Or maybe it did happen? It was certainly peculiar when I started having dreams. Most of the time the dreams I had were peaceful. Just peeking into the minds of my other selves but one night I started having weird dreams. About events I felt like were familiar but also distant. I saw how the people I knew struggled and survived. How I was involved. It was fascinating and terrifying. To see how easily one could be turned into a monster. I kept those dreams to myself. I didn't want to share them. I usually didn't share any of my dreams, but especially not these ones. But in the end, they were all just dreams to me. Somewhere else, sometime else, they might have been more than just dream, but not for me. I didn't tap into the knowledge that drove my other selves into such frenzy and I didn't wish to. I was content with what I had and I had no further intention to look into the events I had witnessed. I let them be.

And so, now when I'm telling you all this I will lay this story to rest for once and for all. To most it will be just that, a story. But for me it is a lesson and a reminder. A reminder that a world can be a cruel and cold place, and that you're not its centerpiece. It doesn't care, never has and never will, but that doesn't mean there wouldn't be people who do. Just because it momentarily seems as if there wouldn't be any good in the world doesn't mean it is true. Your point of view is just the tiniest portion of the bigger picture. So go on, go and see it for yourself, tell your own story. But before you do, you still haven't heard the ending of this story. Or... should I say the beginning?

In the nothingness there is nothing. And when you're in the nothingness you are everything there is. There is no light, no dark, no heat, no cold and especially no time. One second can feel like eternity and years can pass by like nothing all the same. Flandre, floating in the endless non existence, was experiencing this first hand. She didn't know for how long she had been there after shooting out from the time vortex. It may have been 500 years or just a moment. It didn't matter. There was no way out. It didn't matter how long she had been there as she would be there forever. When she would open her eyes she would see nothing, and when she would close them she would still see nothing, not even dark. It was torture, worse than any pain she had ever suffered. She could move her hand but she couldn't feel anything beside herself. She could move her leg but there would be no ground to stand on. All that there was was her and her alone. In her dress she could still feel the grimoire. She knew she should probably destroy it but she couldn't find the resolve to do it. It didn't matter even. She would be there forever and she would probably go mad eventually from the boredom and loneliness. So for all she cared it could stay in her dress. The only comfort she knew was that the people she loved and cared for were safe and could live their lives the way they ever wanted to. That was enough for her. Enough to make her smile. But that smile would last only for a moment before the cold lonely reality of her own situation overwhelmed her again. For how long she would have to endure this before she would lose her mind completely? Maybe she had already? Be it that or not she knew she didn't want to see it. Not ever. She also knew that there still was one way out for her. Not to save herself from this but to save herself from madness. A feat she had not been able to pull off before. Flandre parted her hands a little. She had kept them pressed together for who knows how long. She peeked in. From within a faintest glimmer blinded her eyes. In the nothingness even the slightest light is brighter than any star in the universe. But this was no star. It was not even a true light. It was a pitch black orb that only faintly emanated an orange hue but that hue was enough to almost blind Flandre. But even so she stared at it intently. In that crater she had not had the resolve to destroy Flan and herself even if in her mind it meant saving the universe. No, Flan had been right, she was too selfish to ever pull it off. But now her selfishness was telling her to do it. She couldn't bear an eternity just floating in the nothingness. Her mind couldn't fathom it and it scared her more than death ever could. Before she had seen only death in that orb, now it was nothing shy off release from the eternal torment she had brought herself into. She had held that orb in her hands from the moment she was cast her and now she had finally gathered the courage to set herself free. With that she took her eyes from the orb and closed them and without any hesitation she closed the orb between her palms again and squeezed with all she got. This orb didn't burn her hands. In fact it didn't feel like she was even squeezing anything. But she knew that she was and she was not stopping. Her strength as a human was tiny but it was just enough to allow her to use her ability. And just as she was starting to tire to squeeze the orb it happened. Flandre had thought that people destroyed by her ability would experience the whole ordeal quite differently. She had thought that she would at least feel some pain before popping out from existence but she was surprised when she didn't. She didn't feel anything at all. No pain, nothing, not even her hands or limbs anymore. But she did see. Brightest light she had ever seen bursting into life and expanding into nothingness she had just escaped. Flandre watched in awe as it expanded with ferocity and more life than she had ever seen. It burned and raged. It was beautiful. She didn't know what had happened to her but she knew that she wasn't dead. How could she be? She was still seeing what was happening. But she did not have form. She didn't need one. She could move freely above the endless sea of darkness below her and the light spreading to every corner the darkness inhabited. Flandre flew closer to this light and she could feel that she was happy. She watched the light, she reached out for it, and she saw that it was good.

Author's final word

First things first, sorry, it took way longer to complete the final chapter than I had hoped and it is WAYYY longer than I had hoped. But I still refused to split it into two. I just wanted to give you the final part already. And to think my intentions were to complete this in three parts. Yeah, wonder why that didn't happen. And even during writing the EoEI the structure of the story took whole new forms from what I had originally thought. These changes included such as having Yuuka as the main villain but didn't sit right with me, so the idea was scrapped even before I set to write the 1st episode. That whole "wastes" thing, the fields of rubble that took the majority of the 5th episode was not originally even meant to be a thing. The whole story was supposed to take place in Gensokyo. Also Mitori and her facility, believe it or not I came up with those when I finished the 4th episode and set to write the 5th. Before that they weren't even in my mind. I also intended to have a scene where Marisa, Alice and patchouli would do battle between each other but never could find a good place to put that scene into the story so it got scrapped as well, and I think it is only for the better. There are also many more changes made to the story along the way but those mentioned are the biggest and should give you an idea of how greatly the story has changed along the way. But now, finally, after more than five years it is done. The story that I set to write as a cringe worthy 15 year old guy has finally come to a conclusion. So let me tell you a little secret. At first I never intended to write more than the first part of DoDR. That was to be just an experiment and its own story. But because people weren't satisfied with the ending I decided to write more, and now we're here. So in a sense I have you to thank for bringing us to the point where we now find ourselves. :D It's been a wonderful journey from which I've learned a lot and I wouldn't trade it for anything. But now I'm sure most of you're wondering what will follow. And I'm afraid now is the time to let you know that this is where our paths will finally split. Some of you may remember how in the last word of some other story I mentioned one other project I was working on. Well, I will now be turning my full attention toward that. It's been fun writing fanfics here but all things must come to an end eventually. It's been fun, these five years but if I want to grow as a writer I will have to start writing my own thing. And that's what I intend to do. But before I leave you I have one final thing I will give you. I intend to rewrite the whole of DoDR when I find the time for that, as it is really low in quality when compared to my other works. I also intend to fix the chapter issue many of you have pointed out. I will eventually move each chapter of each story under the first instalment of that story so it isn't spread out weirdly as it is now. Sorry, I'm pretty damn retarded and I should have looked into the chapter system before. :) But all and all want to thank you for joining me for this journey and as a final request I'd like to ask you to tell me in a review your favorite and least favorite parts from any of my works. That'd really help me improve. But with that I'll have to leave you. From my profile you can find other platforms where to follow me as the time I'll spend on the is coming to an end. You could even say that these five years are what's truly been the Epoch of Ephemeral Incandescence.