Chapter 2: A Missing Miko

Marisa woke up to a chilling gust of air and an empty shrine. She thought that Reimu had started the search for the perpetrator without her, but when she found an empty futon, an open door, and Reimu's yin-yang orbs scattered on the scuffled grass, the magician knew something was up. She quickly embarked on a personal mission to find Reimu and determine just exactly what was going on. I hope she's fine… I wonder what happened? Marisa thought as she flew around the area, searching for any signs that would be left in the grass. However, she was completely dumbfounded.

"Surely there must be some signs around," Marisa muttered to herself. Finally, a certain patch of grass caught her eye. The grass was overturned, leading toward the forest of magic. Marisa quickly headed in that direction, careful to not miss any other clues. Strangely, this path led her directly the to the puppeteer's house. She quickly landed and knocked on the wooden door of the small house.

"Why hello, Marisa," Alice said, rubbing her eyes. "What brings you here today?" With her voice trembling, Marisa asked Alice if she had seen any signs of Reimu lately. "Well, I haven't seen her since yesterday. What's the matter?" Marisa quickly explained the situation, which left a sobbing Marisa and a very shocked Alice behind. "Well, I'm sure I can help. This is a very extreme situation," Alice said grimly, standing up and summoning several of her dolls into existence. "Who knows who the one responsible will target next…" As she said this, Alice's voice died.

"What's the matter?" Marisa asked. Slowly but surely, Marisa connected the events of the previous day with the current incident. She quickly embraced her friend, vowing to never leave her. Alice and Marisa stayed in that position for several minutes, dreading what might happen if they left each other. "From now on, we'll stick together. We'll find Reimu as well and bring this horrible person to justice." vowed the two of them. Then, with their newfound bond, the two began their search for the missing miko. The pair wandered through the forest, coercing fairies and other creatures to tell anything about the missing Reimu. However, it was getting late, and they had still to find a single lead. "Man, this guy was good," said Marisa, exasperated at the lack of information they had gotten that day. "We've asked all the youkai and fairies in the forest and we still have no lead on this incident."

"Well, should we tell the others? It could cause an outrage, but at least they will try and find Reimu too," reasoned Alice. "I don't think that's the best way to approach this. The humans will immediately suspect youkai and will hurry to find a new shrine maiden to exterminate all the youkai, no questions asked. Instead, we should tell a select few that can help us but will not cause such an uproar."

"Okay then," said Alice. "Who should we recruit?" Marisa smiled. "I have a friend…" Several minutes later, Marisa stood at the doorstep of the Scarlet Devil Mansion with a large duffel bag.

"What's that for?" Alice asked. "Bargaining material" was the response. Marisa knocked on the door. She was greeted by the head maid, Sakuya, but was less than pleased to see them. "What are you two doing lurking around at this time? Shouldn't you be at home or something?"

"Well, there's been an incident… It's best if we can talk inside." Sakuya tilted her head and cautiously let them in. "You'd better make this quick. What is it? Shouldn't Reimu take care of this?" "You see, that's the problem," Marisa replied, scratching her head. "Reimu's been abducted, and we need you and Patchouli to help us find her." Sakuya started pacing around the room. "Reimu's missing? I wonder what happened to her… I hope she's okay…" Alice chose this time to interject. "We've already searched and interrogated the entire forest, and we have no clues. We need to keep this to as few people as possible as well, too."

"Okay," Sakuya agreed. "I guess waking Lady Patchouli up is justified then. Follow me." The trio wandered through the endless tunnels and spacious caverns, twisting and turning until they arrived at a huge set of polished wooden doors. "Wait here," the maid said as she peeked inside the huge library. Lying on top of an open book, dozing away, was Patchouli. Sakuya cautiously approached the sleeping magician and shook her back gently. "Lady Patchouli, you have visitors." The purple haired spellcaster shook her head and mumbled half-consciously: "What? Visitors? Now? Tell them to go and see me tomorrow…"

"Lady Patchouli, there's been an incident. Reimu has gone missing." With that, the magician sat up, shocked. "How did this happen? Bring the visitors in here…" Sakuya gave a signal, and Marisa and Alice stumbled into the huge library, stepping over piles of books and overturned papers. As soon as the doors were shut, Marisa hurried over to Patchouli and gave her the huge bag of books. "I'm really, really sorry that I took these books, and I would like to return them to you… Just please help us find Reimu, okay?" The stammering witch, now on the verge of tears, collapsed on the magician, repeating about how sorry she was for stealing and begging her for her help. Patchouli gently lifted the witch off of her.

"It's okay, Marisa. We'll find Reimu together, okay?" A teary Marisa nodded, as the truth of what had happened now fully hit her. Now she poured out all her emotions and regrets to her surrounding friends. "It was so quick, ya know? And I didn't even say anything… I just went to sleep and assumed she would be there in the morning… She was one of my closest friends… I remember all the memories we had together… But now it's all gone…" Alice and Patchouli comforted the witch silently, as they too, recounted their memories of the red and white miko. Sakuya, tearing up as well, stood silently and wiped her tears with a handkerchief, mourning the loss of one of her two human companions. Eventually, Sakuya gathered the others into a small huddle.

"Listen. Reimu's somewhere out there. Maybe she's gone, but we don't know. Let's hold on to that hope that we have. Let's set our eyes on the goal and work toward it. There's still hope. Let's not lose it." After this had happened, the four girls agreed to never lose sight of their friend. It would be a new beginning for them, and a new day would start with their newfound motivation for their friend.

Hello again! I hope my writing has been okay so far... But since you came back to read the second chapter, do you mind dropping a review? Anything is appreciated. Thanks!