Chapter Nine
10:51 P.M.
Marisa had finally reached the elusive Eientei. She knocked on the door frame. No response. She kept knocking, and eventually Eirin came out, looking as tired and cranky as ever.
"Oh, what now?"
"You've gotta help me! I-"
"Sorry, but we're closed tonight. Come back tomorrow morning."
"What!? But-"
"Goodnight." Eirin said with a grunt. Before Marisa could say another word, a torrent of rabbits emerged from inside the palace, sweeping her off the premises and deep into the forest. Dejected, Marisa drifted aimlessly through the endless bamboo. She didn't get very far before...
"I've got you now, youkai!"
Suddenly, Marisa was being chased by Reimu. Marisa instinctively shot up into the air. She tried to escape, but Reimu fired several barrages of paper charms too fast to be evaded. They battered Marisa, and for some reason, clung to her after hitting. Wave after wave came, and soon, she was entirely cocooned. The weight of the many layers of paper put too much strain on her broom, and it snapped in half. Marisa plummeted through the air, the ground coming ever closer...
The paper scattered, and now she was in a cage, tied up with rope and being displayed in the middle of the human village. The villagers pointed and stared, whispering to one another. Marisa couldn't tell what they were saying, but it definitely wasn't good. Something hit her arm. The villagers were throwing rocks at her! Then they started shouting.
"Kill her!"
"Kill the monster!"
"She's nothing but a traitor!"
"Traitor! Traitor!"
"Kill the traitor!
Among the most vocal of them was her own father.
"It's an abomination!" he roared. "Slay it with no mercy!"
"Calm down, people." said Reimu, positioning herself between Marisa and the crowd. The mob came to a halt, and Reimu locked eyes with Marisa. Surprisingly, Reimu's face showed no trace of malice; rather, there was a dullness in her eyes that was startlingly apathetic. Apparently, exterminating Marisa was no different than any other routine youkai extermination. Reimu turned away, and addressed the crowd once more. "I have a solution. Watch!" The ground disappeared from underneath Marisa. The last thing she saw before the darkness completely enveloped her was her father's face, filled with scorn. Reimu's distant voice echoed down from above. "Goodbye, Marisa. You were a good friend…"
Before she knew what was happening, Marisa found herself running for her life in an endless corridor, with Flandre in fast pursuit. The corridor gradually widened, becoming a featureless plane. This time, there were no doors or windows to offer escape.
"Play with me, Marisa!" squealed Flandre. She let out a series of flame-bullets, followed by a deranged laugh. "You're so much fuuuuuuuun!"A large red laser soon joined in the 'fun', attempting to slice Marisa in half. Flandre swept it to the right, then to the left. Embers rained down on Marisa as she frantically dodged from side to side. Flandre twirled the laser above her head. "Why are you running away? This is the best part!"
The flames shooting by Marisa dispersed, and brightly glowing orbs took their place. The orbs flowed in unnatural, geometric lines that seemed intent on caging her inside. Each orb glowed in psychedelic colors, cycling through the color spectrum before settling on harlequin green. Soon, Marisa was walled in. Satisfied with the orbs' arrangement, Flandre released a shockwave. It resonated through the cage-like structure, and the orbs caved in around Marisa. She scrambled to find a spot that hadn't filled in, but it was too late. She was going to be caught in the collapse. Then, improbably, a bell chimed.
"Over already? Awww…"
The orbs disappeared at once. A pair of teacups sitting on a little tray appeared. Flandre flew over to them and started drinking out of one. Marisa took the opportunity to crawl away.
"Oh? What's the matter?" asked Flandre, aware her new 'friend' wasn't following suit. "It's teatime! You know what that means, don't you?" An invisible force dragged Marisa over. She struggled against the invisible force, but none of her limbs could break free. "Have you never drunk tea before? Well, I'll just have to show you how!" Marisa stared at the teacup in horror as Flandre held it up to her lips. She firmly pursed her lips shut. Flandre responded in kind by pinching Marisa's nose shut.
"Come on, open up!" Flandre said, giggling. "You can't hold out forever!" Marisa's lungs screamed for air. Flandre was right; she couldn't hold out much longer, and her mouth opened soon enough. Flandre poured the liquid inside. Marisa automatically coughed out the incoming blood.
"No! I'm not a traitor!"
Flandre forcefully clamped her jaw shut, and Marisa swallowed by reflex.
"See, that's how you do it!" Flandre enthusiastically proclaimed. "Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?"
Marisa found herself agreeing. Flandre was right. It wasn't nearly as bad an experience as she thought it would be. And it tasted… interesting, to say the least. Now Marisa's curiosity began to outweigh her fears. Flandre slipped another sip into Marisa's mouth. She didn't resist this time. She swallowed it whole. Then, she took the cup out of Flandre's hand and took a sip out of it herself. Not bad at all. She steadily drained the liquid from the cup. With each drop, her anxiety melted away…
The teacup began resisting. Marisa pulled the cup toward her, only for the cup to stubbornly snap back into place. The tug-of-war persisted, until finally, Marisa lost her grip on the cup. Instead of falling, the cup made a beeline for Marisa's head, and...
CRACK!
"Ze!" Marisa exclaimed. Something had hit her head and startled her awake. "What's going on? Did I just…!? No, no, no… Aaaaaaah…"
At that moment, Rinnosuke walked into the vicinity, carrying a gas lamp.
"Is everyone okay?" he asked. "I heard a noise and—! Are you alright!?"
Marisa was still dazed, and a few seconds passed before she registered anything beyond a heavy metallic scent in the air. Lifting herself into a kneeling position, she almost knocked over a pile of unsorted goods. As she steadied herself, she saw several blankets, some bloodied, strewn across the ground. Rinnosuke stood stunned in the doorway, but Sakuya was already in motion. She quickly procured a rather large thermos. Marisa noticed a trail of red trailing down Sakuya's arm, and traced it back to a deep red splotch above her collarbone.
"Di-did I do that?" Marisa asked incredulously, pointing at the wound. As she asked, a droplet of blood dripped off her chin onto her arm, removing any doubt that Sakuya's injuries were indeed her own doing.
"Yes." replied Sakuya. "Oh, but please don't worry. This certainly isn't the first time I've ever been bitten." she added, perhaps a bit too quickly, because her attempt at assuaging Marisa's anxiety only made it worse. Marisa glanced down shamefully, and caught sight of her arms. They were a sickly grey hue. She wanted to cry, but her tears would not come.
"What have I just done? Have I... become a monster?" Another glance at her gray hands confirmed that thought. What in the world had she done now? She'd gotten herself into minor trouble before, but nothing like this. She had a feeling that this time, getting herself back to normal would push the limits of what magic was really capable of. "But Eirin can help me. I've just gotta believe that." And for all her revulsion, that unusually lucid nightmare had planted a tiny seed of curiosity inside Marisa. To her disgust and horror, a growing part of her wanted more of the delectable blood from her dream—and it was getting hard to ignore.
"We might as well get this over with. Drink this, please." Sakuya presented her with the thermos. "The mistress instructed me to give you this if we couldn't cure you in a timely fashion. She told me if you got thirsty, it would be better to just give you some blood than to put you in a position where you could harm someone."
"If this is what I've gotta do for now," Marisa reasoned, "I might as well. It's not gonna hurt me to enjoy it for a bit..."
Marisa took the thermos. She indulged in its contents, and once finished, set it down. The transformation was complete.
(Author's Notes: I'd like to take this moment to sincerely apologize to everyone reading this. It was irresponsible of me to disappear from the site for over a year, and no amount of excuses will make up for it. I want you all to know that I am extremely grateful for your readership! I won't make any promises I don't think I can keep. However, I fully intend to finish this story.
On a less related note, I've also re-edited the earlier chapters for style. Nothing plot-significant has changed, except Remi's directions to Eientei make geographic sense now.
Thank you so much for reading my story, and I hope to return the favor!)