Marisa returned to Alice's; what else could she really do? The dollmaker had taken care of her up until this point, so she figured she should stick with the friend she had in all of this. A lot of the soreness she had been holding had left her. Still, she didn't feel good... In fact, she felt the opposite of good as she made her way in the front door. Her bare feet were dirty, but she couldn't really do anything beyond try and wipe them a bit on the mat as Alice rounded the corner, roused by the return of Marisa. She had a knowing look on her face; more than likely, she knew exactly how the confrontation was going to go. Still, out of respect for her friend, she resisted saying "I told you so."
"You should have at least waited for me to give you your clothes back. Your dress had a gaping hole in it, and it wasn't easy to patch it up and still make it look nice." Alice sighed. Marisa walked past her, sitting down on the couch even as Shanghai and Hourai hovered over, landing and placing said dress, in addition to Marisa's steepled hat, down beside her. An uncomfortable silence reigned for a good while after that, until Alice finally took a seat on the witch's other side.
"I'm sorry, Marisa. Reimu isn't how you remembered anymore. She isn't how I remember." Alice muttered.. Alice was a common visitor of Hakurei shrine as well, Marisa knew. Not as common as she was, but still, she stopped by for tea now and then, "I tried to tell you before, but.. After she killed those two youkai in the town, Yukari confronted her about it."
"And?" Marisa asked, though it was clear she didn't much want her question answered judging by her tone, as she knew that the response couldn't be good.
"And she revealed that during the fight with Utsuho, Utsuho ignored the spellcard rules and fought lethally. And when she saw that..," Alice paused, moving to correct herself, "Thought that you died, she did the same and the fight ended with Utsuho dead as well. Reimu decided that... That if youkai could decide to ignore the rules like that, then they weren't worth having."
"Youkai have ignored them before.. We just end up beating them." Marisa frowned. Her voice was terribly hollow.
It made Alice frown, and not her typical frown of disapproval. She felt terrible for her friend., "Yes, but this time, it ended in the death of her companion." Alice responded with a huff, and then almost immediately afterwords realized what she implied. It was too late as Marisa began to laugh in disdain.
"So that's it? This is my fault. I get stupid in the middle of a fight and have to go and die, and Reimu decides to go scorched-earth." Marisa said between bitter chuckles. She was trying to keep up that aura of happy-go-lucky fool, but tears were beginning to leave her eyes, and her fists were clenching so hard it felt like her fingernails would breath the skin.
"No, Marisa, it's not your fault. Reimu chose the path that she's going down.. And you didn't die, for that matter. " Alice put her hand on the witch's shoulder, which managed to throw her out of her fit. "You're right here in front of me, right? You certainly seemed solid when I found you. More so when I dressed your wounds. And I can feel you right now. "
"What difference does it make..?" Marisa grumbled, looking down once more, "Reimu's trying to protect everyone because I died, or because she thought I died. Either way, I'm the damn heart of it all, aren't I?"
"I don't think so." Alice said.. But not out of sheer comfort. Alice was a logical woman, perhaps too much so at this point, "I think the heart of this is the fact that you're still alive despite all odds, and despite Reimu seeing you die with her own eyes. Why are you here, Marisa? What happened?"
"I don't know! I told you I don't. I remember falling off my broom, Reimu screaming out for me... And then darkness. Next thing I know I'm on the shrine steps with a hole in my gut."
"Be that as it may, that obviously can't be the whole story. Somewhere in that head, I'm sure there's more.. Even if you can't remember it right now. I think that the fact that you're here now, while things have gotten as bad as they have, has to have some sort of importance to all of this."
Marisa was nodding along with Alice; as rambunctious as the witch could be, she was a fan of approaching magic and alchemical matters logically.. And it seemed Alice was proposing some sort of experiment. Or maybe...
"Do you think we could work up a spell to get my memory back?" Marisa suggested. The dollmaker beside her smiled warmly.
"Now you're thinking straight again, Marisa. Or maybe it's thinking straight for once." She tittered. Despite how distraught she was, the witch couldn't help but at least smile a little. No matter how upset she was about Reimu, at least Alice still seemed to be the same.. At least, mostly. She seemed a little more receptive to Marisa... She supposed she couldn't help it. Despite how much Marisa could frustrate Alice, they were comrades, and they had helped each other solve incidents in the past. In the end, despite their differences, they were relaxed around one another. The hangups were just part of the deal.
"So how about it, Marisa?" Alice asked finally. Shanghai landed on one of her shoulders, smiling happily at the witch, nodding, as if to goad her on.
"All right... But tomorrow. It's already getting kind of late, and I don't want to pull an all-nighter, y'know.." Marisa scratched her head, thumbing through her clean clothes beside her, almost wanting to add "Even if I have just slept for a year, for all I know." Alice's expression was warm.. And possibly a bit excited at the prospect of getting to solve this mystery. Her friend was alive, and she would get to solve this conundrum... Now, if only they could bring Reimu back to her senses.
Marisa's stomach gave a sudden, unceremonious growl, which caused her to wince and place a hand on it, and Shanghai to fall backwards with a mute yelp and the sudden sound. Alice gave a mild scoff, but it was more out of amusement rather than an arrogant type that she might usually give.
"Ehehe.. Sorry, Alice." Marisa laughed, scratching the back of her head, "I guess I haven't had a proper meal in awhile, eh?"
"That's right. You were unconscious for four days after I found you. I couldn't get you to swallow anything but rice porridge and water. And who knows what was going on before that," she tsked, making Marisa blush a little bit. Had she really been being nursed like that while she was out? Nevertheless, she carefully rose, working some of the wrinkles out of her dress: "I suppose I'll cook up something for the both of us to eat, in that case. In the meantime, why don't you get dressed? You can't walk around in pajamas all day, you know."
That was true... But she was a bit surprised. Alice had never offered to cook for her before. Was the loss of her really that profound? Did she somehow awaken some sort of latent motherliness in Alice Margatroid? Nah. More likely than not, the answer was simple as Alice being a good person, regardless of how cold she could act sometimes. Marisa and Alice were friends, though they didn't always show it. After a few moments of silence, she laughed, earning a quizzical expression from Alice as she rose up off her seat and went to go get changed.
Awhile later, Marisa emerged from Alice's bedroom, properly garbed once more in her black dress and white undershirt. She was glad it was so warm out; all she had was the shirtsleeve version. Moments after re-emerging, a pleasant smell hit her nostrils from the kitchen; was that Alice's cooking? It smelled delicious... Why was Alice so good at all this girly stuff? Besides the fact that she was a girl, of course. Maybe the question was more "why was Marisa so terrible at them?"
Dawdling into the kitchen, Marisa found Alice hard at work; a loaf of freshly baked bread was sitting a short ways off to the side of her, the source of the wonderful smell that she had been whiffing in. Currently, the dollmaker was washing a fish clean of its preserving salts so that it could be properly cooked. While part of her wanted to walk right up to the bread and grab a hunk due to her hunger, she instead plopped down in a chair in the kitchen, making her presence known with a simple: "Geez, that smells good already."
Alice chuckled, sort of having a feeling that after days of nothing but rice porridge, just about anything would sound good to a hungry person if it was properly cooked. Regardless, she appreciated the compliment, setting aside the cleansed fish. Hourai, the red-dressed doll that seemed to serve as a sort of teammate to Shanghai, promptly scooped it up and hovered over to the already-burning wood stove, placing it inside; despite being a doll, Hourai had no apparent fear of burning. After all, all of Alice's dolls were fire-resistant.
"Can't beat someone waitin' on me like this." Marisa smirked a little bit. Normally, that would have have earned her an open scolding from Alice, but instead the dollmaker recognized it as a good sign more than anything. Marisa getting her snark back meant that her fears about Reimu had been allayed, at least for now. The prospect of their research was a good one; after all, what could two powerful magicians tossing in their hats together not accomplish?
"Don't talk like you're getting all of it. We're eating an early dinner to quiet down those rude noises your stomach keeps making." she still huffed; after all, she had to keep up appearances.
The two ate a finely-cooked dinner, although a simple one, and chatted. The issue of Reimu hung over their head all-the-while, but they managed to tear themselves away from it for the time being. Marisa was happy that, despite how forcefully the world had been shaken up, she still had a friend. And Alice.. As always, Alice was happy to have company.
Alice had opened up one of several thick books on the shelves by the window and was browsing through it now, her dolls free to roam around the room once more now that she was occupied and didn't need them. Marisa, herself, plopped down on the couch. She wanted to just pretend this was just another visit to Alice's house... Not that she'd been missing for a year, that her best friend had tried to murder her, or the overarching issue of having no idea what was going on... But, easier said than done of course.
Still, for her sake and likely for Alice's, she had to get her spirit back somehow. She decided to ask for what she was sure would yield good news: "So... I know I've been gone for a year and all, but how is everyone else?"
"Everyone else? You know I don't go out too terribly much, Marisa..." Alice lowered her book as she spoke. It was true... Sadly enough, before Marisa became a real acquaintance with her, her only real company that she knew of had been her dolls. Still, she and Alice did share a few friends other than Reimu.
"Well, for starters, what about Nitori?" Marisa began with. Nitori was an inventive kappa who lived at the river on the base of Youkai Mountain. She was a bit shy when it came to humans, but friendly enough, which let Marisa befriend her easily enough. She always seemed to have interesting things for Marisa to "borrow." Regardless, Alice's answer wasn't quite what she wanted to hear.
"I couldn't tell you. The tengu have sealed up Youkai Mountain, from what I've heard. No one is allowed to come or go... I'm afraid Nitori is stuck there for the time being." the Dollmaker explained, earning a soft sigh from Marisa; looks like they couldn't count on Nitori for help at the moment. But at the same time, if Reimu had gone haywire, perhaps it was best that Youkai Mountain had passed into a defensive mode. The only person who likely was worse for the wear were Kanako and Suwako, the mountain gods who had a shrine on towards the summit.
"Then... What about Patchy?" Marisa followed up. "Patchy" was, of course, short for "Patchouli." Patchouli Knowledge was a magician youkai who took up residence in the Scarlet Devil Manor across the lake from the forest. She was extremely withdrawn and prone to bouts of poor health, so she didn't leave the mansion's library very often.
"Miss Patchouli? She was fine last time I spoke to her... Though, things have begun to come to a bit of a head. From what she told me, Reimu came to the mansion and demanded that Remilia stop her nightly strolls..."
"I bet that didn't make Remmy too happy." Marisa grimaced. Remilia Scarlet was the owner of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and a vampire. Marisa knew she went out sometimes to feed on humans at night, although she'd never killed anyone to her knowledge, due to a small appetite.
"No, it didn't. The two were at odds. I remember when Remilia used to visit the shrine for tea." Alice said rather balefully. Marisa groaned quietly; this was, so far, having the opposite effect of what she had been planning it to be like. Still, there was one more person she was curious about.
"And what about Yukari? You said she and Reimu got into it over... That incident, right?" Marisa couldn't bring herself to say "killing those youkai," still. Yukari Yakumo was an extremely powerful youkai that lived in seclusion from most of Gensokyo. She had a power over borders and gaps, and was a friend and common visitor to Hakurei Shrine. Not only that, but she was a stickler for keeping the status quo between youkai and humans in order. If Reimu was doing this, Yukari would not be happy.
At being asked this, Alice's expression, which had been one varying between somewhat peaceful to somewhat sad, dropped. It was clear that, like when she had explained Reimu's deed in the human village, she didn't particularly want to talk about this. Nevertheless, she answered: "After that incident, as I said, Yukari confronted her. Apparently, they got into a fight, and Reimu seriously injured Yukari. No one has seen her since."
"A-Are you serious?" Marisa's jaw slacked slightly in surprise; Yukari was immensely powerful. When she had fought the gap youkai along with Reimu, they had barely come out on top... And that was against Yukari when she was feeling particularly ill from lack of sleep.
"I'm afraid so. Yukari would normally be the one to settle these kinds of matters, but.. I'm afraid we're on our own unless you'd like to visit Miss Patchouli."
Marisa nodded twice. She felt down again... That certainly hadn't worked. But at least she knew more about what had happened while she was away, and who would make viable allies should it come to that.
The day went on, and the night followed. Marisa and Alice spent it together.
Reimu Hakurei was all by herself at her shrine. At one point, that would have been a rare happening indeed. However, nowadays, it was the standard. No one came close to Hakurei Shrine. The humans never wanted any part of the place, and now the Youkai feared it. She couldn't say it was entirely pleasant like that.. But it was a necessity. She brought herself onto this path, and the fork in the road was so far behind her that she couldn't even remember what it looked like anymore
But still, she felt, as she gazed up at the moon, that she was beginning to get used to. It was starting to feel natural, this life of solitude that she had chosen for herself. It had been long enough that she was beginning to separate herself from the outside. Her duty was becoming her life, for perhaps the first time since she accepted her duty as a shrine maiden. The others didn't matter anymore, even if they weren't coming. In point of fact, she'd only had one visitor for the past two months. That one that had come today.. That one who had shaken her up.
"The one that looked like Marisa." Reimu shivered involuntarily, as she gazed at the Shinto gate bathed in moonlight. The moment she had seen her, everything had come flooding back to her, and she was for a few fleeting moments at the start of all of this; crouched on the stone surface of Hell itself, her friend in her arms. Blood all over the rocks, all over the black dress, all over her hands. No breathing.
The shrine maiden's legs rose up a bit and she curled them against her chest, shutting her eyes tight. Never, since the day she had met Marisa, had she thought that losing her would affect her so heavily. But, then again, she hadn't ever lost a friend. The spell cards had facilitated that.
"But they also facilitated her death." the logical section of her brain told her, "If we were prepared to fight that crow instead of carrying around spell cards, we would have beaten her. No problem."
It was what she told herself when she had stalked upon Utsuho's fallen form after their battle and obliterated it utterly. The spellcard rules were flawed, and they always had been. Reimu had been a fool to buy into them, and had been a fool to trust Yukari, because human lives were far more important than the sake of Gensokyo.
Slowly, the shrine maiden rose from her seat, turning her back to the night and heading around the shrine to her home. What had come and visited her today.. It wasn't Marisa. It looked and sounded like Marisa.. It even flew like Marisa. But there was no way that Marisa Kirisame could be alive, not after watching her die with her own eyes. And whatever that thing that was wearing Marisa's face was, be it one of Alice Margatroid's dolls, or some other strange youkai intent on shifting her away from the path she had taken, it would perish along with any youkai that dared cause trouble in Gensokyo while the Hakurei shrine maiden was on guard.
At this point, I've run out of stuff that I've already written. So from here on out, updates will probably be slower. I apologize if anyone is actually following along with this story!