Mother, Where Art Thou?

This story is a sequel to Puella Magi Marisa Magica and The Scarlet Devil. It is recommended that one reads the both of them before reading this story, to fully understand it. Also, this story will not be updated everyday, as my past stories have been. It will be updated either two or three times a week, depending on how many chapters I have in reserve. The updates will happen on Mondays, Thursdays, and sometimes Sundays.

Chapter 1

Unexpected Visitor

Alice was working on her dolls, as usual, when Marisa knocked on her door that day. When she opened the door, Alice was quite prepared to yell at her friend for the disruption, but any thoughts of that vacated her mind when she saw the second person standing outside her home. Though, standing would not be technically accurate, as the woman in fact had no legs, and was floating. Floating, and cackling at Alice's dumbstruck face.
"Hey Alice, look who I found!" Marisa said, trying not to laugh herself.
"Evil Spirit Mima, in the flesh!" Mima said, bowing.
"You don't got flesh though, Mima." Marisa said.

"I-bu-wha-yo-eh… What!?" Alice said, which caused her visitors to burst into laughter. Once they were done, they invited themselves into her house and Marisa plopped onto the floor. Being a spirit, Mima simply continued floating there.
"So, missy, what's with all these dolls? Last I saw you, you were dabbling with that book Shinki gave you. Didn't understand a lick of it, did you?" Mima said.
Alice grimaces, and Marisa says "Hey, Mima, bit of a touchy subject, yeah? Let's just move past that, all right?"
"Yeah, I guess killing your own mother would become a bit touchy… But, then again, I survived, and I only had a copy of the book. I'm not the original author." Mima said, a slight grin on her face.
Alice said "You're saying…"
Mima said "No, I'm not saying '…', I'm saying that Shinki is probably still alive, somewhere in Makai. I'm also saying you need to learn how to finish a sentence."
Marisa said "But, wait, didn't we-"
"Kill her?" Mima thwacked Marisa's head, and said "If you think a few oversized lasers are enough to kill a big-G Goddess, then I guess I didn't teach you very well."
"R-right. Sorry, Miss Mima." Marisa said, rubbing her head.

"Now, is anybody going to answer my original question, or not?" Mima said, crossing her arms impatiently.
"The dolls, yes. Um… I've been trying to make a sentient doll, ever since… That… happened." Alice said.
"Trying to fill that empty void in your heart, eh? And you didn't ever think to look in the book that gave birth to an entire universe, sentient life included?" Mima said, rolling her eyes.
"Eh, um… no…" Alice said, looking down.
Mima took out her copy of The Grimoire of Genesis and Apocalypse, and snatched Shanghai from Alice. She flipped the pages to somewhere near the end of the book. Before she could cast the spell, however, Alice tore Shanghai out of her hand and said "Wait! … Let… Let me do it. Okay?"
"Sentimentality is dumb." Mima said, handing Alice the book.

A few hours later, and Shanghai was moving around, though not entirely on her own. It was clear, however, that she had independent thought, and, while she could not speak, she did communicate with gestures. The first thing Alice did, of course, was to burst into tears. The little doll sat on her shoulder and hugged her neck, and Mima, being as purposefully tactless as ever, started laughing, until Marisa gave her a punch in the shoulder. After calming down, Alice said "So, when are we leaving?"
"Wait, what?" Mima replied.
"For Makai. When are we gonna go?" said Marisa.
"Hold on now, I never said I was going with you. I merely said she's probably there." Mima said.
"You remember the rules a' your release, though, right, Mima?" Marisa said, grinning.
Mima just kind of floated there for a bit. Then: "Dammit, I'm supposed to be the clever one! Fine, I'll go with you." Mima said, frowning.
"Thank you, Miss Mima" Marisa said with overt cuteness. Mima merely rolled her eyes.
"Well, then, since we are all going, it would be best to leave as soon as possible, before something prevents us from going all at the same time." Mima said. She floated toward the door, and said "Well, shall we?"
Marisa jumped up and ran to the door. "Well, c'mon Alice, let's go find your mom!"
Shanghai floated in front of Alice and nodded vigorously. Alice nodded back to Shanghai, got up, and headed to the door herself.

The next day found the group outside the entrance to Makai. Marisa had a large bag full of supplies, while Alice and Mima had nothing more than usual on them. When Alice asked Marisa why she had so much stuff with her, Marisa said something about not wanting to be caught unprepared again. Aya showed up, and Alice asked Marisa and Mima to allow the tengu to take their pictures. When they asked her why, Shanghai pointed at herself, smiling rather proudly, and Alice explained that the little doll could see the current state of someone through a picture of that person. When Mima asked her how she had figured this out so quickly, Alice simply mumbled something incoherent. Mima gave a slight smile, then went over to pose for a picture. After Alice received the pictures, the group crossed through the portal to Makai.

Upon seeing what her home had been reduced to, Alice burst into tears. There were hardly any traces of civilization left. A few broken, sad-looking buildings provided the only respite from the bleak and blackened landscape. Much more common than those were the craters. Those were almost everywhere. There were few signs of life, which, while more than the group expected, were certainly fewer than what they had hoped for. Alice approached one of the demons, a tall woman wearing golden armor, and asked if she knew anything about Shinki. The woman laughed bitterly and said that the Goddess had apparently decided that her subjects weren't good enough, a number of years prior, and had gone on a rampage, slaughtering most of them. Nobody'd heard from her since. The demon also said that not many had bothered to go looking, and most of those who had, never came back. She then pointed the group in the direction of Pandemonium, and left herself. Another demon, a man wearing robes that obscured his form and face, approached the group and asked them what they were doing in Makai. Alice said that they were looking for Shinki, and the man offered to go with them. Mima declined, but was overridden by Marisa and Alice. The man introduced himself as Nofina Nolana. The group looked a little confused by the name, but none of them bothered to ask about it. The man shrugged, an action barely visible due to the amount of clothing he was wearing, and the group proceeded toward Pandemonium.