Chapter Final
Inevitable Fate
Homura's incomprehensible scream of rage fills the air as the contract is completed. Kyouko, Mami, and Sayaka come back into existence. Yukari looks slightly taken aback, and Marisa obliterates this Kyuubei, but too late to prevent the contract. Madoka Kaname is now a magical girl.
"GodsDAMNit! We were so close, too!" Marisa shouts.
"W-what happened? I thought I…" Kyouko says.
"You did. I saw you. I thought I died too… and… why is Madoka a magical girl? Unless…" Sayaka says.
"Yes. Kyuubei took a perfectly innocuous remark from the girl and used it to force a contract upon her. However, the means matter not. Marisa, kill her." Yukari says.
"No. You know what, Yukari? Fuck you. I'm not gonna kill some little girl when we have a cure for her standin' a few feet from us. Ya already said you can undo this shit, so do it. And, if ya don't, well, I guess I'll just hafta beat some sense into ya, won't I." Marisa says.
"M-Marisa? I thought… I thought you said…" Madoka says.
"I did, and if you had purposely screwed yourself over, then I wouldn't have cared, but you didn't. It isn't your fault that stupid rat was hanging around. You didn't actually try to do this to yourself, and so you don't deserve to die because of it." Marisa says.
"I see…" Yukari says, hiding her expression with her fan.
Mounting her broom, Marisa says. "Girls, stay back. Most of you already died fighting an overpowered abomination, I'm not planning on letting it happen again." she says.
"I will not. The outcome of this fight determines whether Madoka lives or dies. I'm not going to put her in danger just because of your pride, Marisa." Homura says.
"Yeah, and we should already be dead. It's thanks to Madoka that we get a second chance, and I don't like owing people." Kyouko says.
"Madoka is our friend. I will not just sit back and watch as her fate is decided." Mami says.
"I… don't have anything else to add to that. So… I agree with everything they said!" Sayaka says.
"Aww, nothing about how it wouldn't be fair for me to fight by myself for someone who ain't even my friend? I'm hurt, blue." Marisa says, grinning.
"Fine, that. It wouldn't be fair to let you fight… It's too corny to say. I'm helping too!" Sayaka says.
Madoka says "I'll help too. I have these powers now, it wouldn't be-" before getting swallowed up by a gap.
"No, you will not be helping. You are the prize of this fight, and are therefore not allowed to participate." Yukari says.
"Hey, that's not fair. It's her life that's on the line, she should be allowed to participate." Sayaka says.
"Actually, for Gensokyo battles, those kinda would be the rules. Sorry guys." Marisa says.
"Well, now that we are done with the self-help section of this fight, may we begin?" Yukari says, her face once more hidden behind her fan.
(Youtube Video: "[Touhou][Request Week][9-4] Magnus Fantasy - Komeiji Records")
Homura garbs Marisa and stops time. "I'm relegated to support for this fight, I'm afraid. I already tried shooting her once. It just made her look at me strangely." she says.
"Got it. Get me close to her, and I'll blast her point blank. Else those gaps a' hers'll just eat all my attacks." Marisa says.
"Right." Homura says, moving them closer to the boundary demon. Marisa unleashes a massive barrage of stars, and summons a few laser-shooting familiars. Time resumes, and Yukari takes the brunt of the attack.
"Ah, yes. The time stopper. We'll just have to fix that, won't we?" Yukari says, smiling wickedly. Nothing visibly happens, but when Homura tries to stop time again, it fails. A magic musket ball slams into the side of Yukari's head, giving Homura enough time to investigate her arm device, and finds the crushed bullet she had shot at Yukari two weeks ago hopelessly caught in the gears. Homura grimaces, and turns her attention back to Yukari.
The gap youkai appears to be having fun fending off both Kyouko and Sayaka with her parasol, while throwing kunai at Marisa and Mami with her fan. She smacks Kyouko in the face, then falls into a gap. Homura feels something land on her shoulders, and looks up. Yukari says "Oh, that's very naughty of you, isn't it?" and stomps on the girl's face. Homura collapses while Yukari jumps off of her. A laser cuts through the area Yukari just was. Mami is about to shoot her, but a swarm of bats flies out of a gap and startles her. The gun-wielding girl's aim is thrown off, and her next shot buries itself in Sayaka's shoulder. Sayaka swears, but heals the wound and continues towards Yukari.
Homura notices something fall next to her as Marisa flies over her. It is a large blue bottle with just one word hastily scrawled on it; Boom. Homura pockets the bottle and stands up. Marisa rams into Yukari, knocking her off balance long enough for Sayaka take a swing at her neck. The sword, as it was created with magic, is able to cut a few centimeters in before the youkai's natural physical resilience stops it. Sayaka, not expecting so little to happen, loses her grip on the sword, which stays imbedded in Yukari's neck. This would be comical, if not for the fact that the now irritated border demon responds by ripping the sword out and stabbing Sayaka in the face with it. Another magic musket ball slams into the back of Yukari's head, staggering her once more. Marisa makes the most of this by taking one of her small explosive bottles and breaking it on Yukari's skull, with the blast knocking both of them to the ground. Kyouko plunges down from the sky spear-first, stabbing Yukari through the chest. Having seen what had happened to Sayaka earlier, Kyouko leaps away from her spear the instant it stops a few inches into the youkai's body. Yukari, falling through a gap and landing upright, rips out the spear and stabs it through a gap, removing Kyouko's arm.
Another musket shot slams into Yukari's face, and the youkai says "I've had enough of that." before creating a gap above Mami. Marisa notices this, and disintegrates the tombstone falling out of the gap with a laser. Homura throws the large bottle at Yukari, and the ground underneath her explodes violently, launching the border demon into the air. Sayaka, having healed her earlier wound, dashes at Yukari, causing a deeper wound with her high speed then her first strike. Marisa shoots a powerful laser at the youkai, sending her further into the air. Kyouko, understanding the cue, strikes Yukari with a giant spear, sending her towards Mami. Mami shouts "Tiro Finale!" and launches a single massive bullet at the youkai, sending her back into the sky. Marisa follows this up with "Star Sign – Dragon Meteor!", slamming Yukari into the ground with a massive laser.
(Youtube Video: "TAMUSIC - 魔女さやかのテーマ")
Yukari stands up, dusts off, and breaks the sky. Right through the center of the sky is a gargantuan gap. "Last Word – Omnipresent Chaos."
Upon hearing this, Marisa taps her throat to amplify her voice. "Guys, don't even bother tryin' ta go after her. This ain't her normal one, probably 'cuz she's tryin' ta kill us, but since it's a last word, all we need ta do is survive 'til it wears off and we win. Also, thanks for givin' me time to explain it to 'em, Yukari." Marisa says, grinning.
"Of course. We do want this to be fair, after all." Yukari says, smiling. Then, everything falls out of the gap. Swords and spears rain down, point first. Heat-seeking missiles fall by the dozen, exploding on contact with the ground. Multiple trains, cars, and even a few boats are thrown down upon the girls. No less than three houses and an apartment building crash into the ground. Road signs seemingly launch themselves out of the gap, and, unlike all the other objects, are aimed directly at the girls.
One of said road signs rockets past Sayaka's head, causing her to yelp in surprise. This distracts Mami long enough for a missile explosion to send her flying away. She then loses the bottom half of her body to a falling train. Kyouko grabs Mami's upper half, only to get impaled and effectively nailed to the ground by a spear. As she is trying to remove it from her gut, a sign slams itself through her skull, and she goes limp. Another missile drops near Homura, but she is able to get far enough away before it explodes. A sign slams into the ground no more than ten centimeters from her, and she falls over backwards. A sign tears through her neck, decapitating her. The apartment building crashes to the ground next to Sayaka, throwing her off balance long enough for a spear and a sword to impale her shoulders, pinning her to the ground. In this position, there is nothing she can do as a car fall towards her head.
Marisa, having done things like this for many years, and having the added advantage of indefinitely long flight, is faring much better than the other girls. Of course, this also means that Yukari is sending far more after her. An unending stream of signs forces her to keep moving, and there is a cloud of swords and spears above her at all times. Currently Marisa is flying circles around Yukari to avoid the signs, twitch dodging the other projectiles. Yukari puts an end to this when she drops a house in Marisa's path, forcing her to weave back through the hail of road signs. One nicks her hat, but she manages to get through unscathed. Yukari then forces her to repeat the maneuver with a falling train, this time also adding a small boat to the number of things she needs to dodge through. This time, a sign cuts off the back end of her broom, sending her careening to the ground. The impact dazes her, and when she returns to her senses, she sees a house falling towards her, too fast to dodge. She closes her eyes and waits for impact… but it never comes. Marisa opens her eyes, to find all of the things involved in Yukari's spell dissipating. She breathes a sigh of relief, before looking for the other girls.
(End Music)
Marisa finds the mangled bodies of the magical girls, but breathes in relief once again when she sees that all of their soul gems are intact. She says "So, uh… I guess I just wait 'til they regenerate or somethin'? It's certainly takin' 'em a lot longer 'n Mokou or Kaguya." After a while, the magical girls are all in one piece again.
At this point, the sound of an audience clapping plays, and Yukari, stepping out of a gap, says "Congratulations! You passed."
"I… what, exactly, Yukari?" Marisa says coldly. "I… passed? You mean… this was all some sort of godsdamned TEST!?"
"No, actually the gods, at least the Moriya Shrine ones, were in on it too. But it was a test. And you passed! Good for you." Yukari says, an innocent smile on her face.
"I am going to kill you so hard." Marisa says, charging up some sort of spell.
Yukari cancels it with a simple hand wave, and says "Now, now, don't you want to know what your reward is?"
"Fine, I'll humor you. What's my 'reward'?" Marisa says flatly.
"Well, first, those two" Yukari points at Homura and Madoka, who she just dropped out of the gap dimension "get to be turned back into normal girls. Unfortunately, the Yama said that the other three need to stay dead, if the other part of your reward is to occur. Well, they'll die either way, but if I do it, then you get the other part of your reward." At this, Mami, Sayaka, and Kyouko fall to the ground, their soul gems in pieces. Madoka's and Homura's soul gems vanish, and they transform back into normal girls, becoming unconscious in the process.
"Course Shiki'd do somethin' like that. Anyways, my part of the reward?" Marisa says.
"Yes. You… No, I'd like it better were it a surprise. Come with me, and I'll show you your reward." Yukari says, grinning.
Epilogue: Marisa
"So, what exactly does Hakugyokurou of all places have to do with my reward?" Marisa says as they wait for the Princess of the Netherworld.
"You'll see. I don't want to ruin the surprise, now do I?" Yukari says.
Someone behind them calls out "So, I'm free now thanks to you, Marisa. At least, that's what Vacuum over here told me"
(Youtube Video: "Dolls in Pseudo Paradise - Track 10: Reincarnation")
Marisa spins in surprise, saying "M-Mima!? Y-You're okay?"
"Of course I am. What, did you think I didn't make a copy of that book for myself?" the green-haired spirit says. "Of course, I wasn't exactly in the most ideal of situations when Alice switched the worlds over. Apparently, people didn't appreciate me over here very much. I can't imagine why." Mima continues, grinning.
"I wonder." Marisa says, before the two of them burst out laughing. "Anyways, Yukari, why'd you do all this for me, anyways?"
"Well, one day, Yuyuko contacted me and said that Mima was acting weird. Said she was saying something about world switches and little girls not knowing about magic, and that she was asking to be set free all of a sudden, when the last time that happened was a few hundred years ago. I thought it was just some new strategy to get out. But one day, I was watching you and I saw you with that book, and, more specifically, that 'edited by Mima' bit scrawled on the cover. So I asked Reimu if anything weird happened the day Mima went strange, and after some thinking, she said that you came to her shrine, asking about someone named Mima. She said she couldn't imagine you were talking about the Mima that got sealed away centuries ago, so she said no, she didn't know who Mima was. So I figured that Mima was telling the truth, but I couldn't convince everyone else. She is rather well known for lying, after all. So what I did was, I told them that you would be her supervisor, if we let her free." Yukari says.
"Why'd ya wanna let her free in the first place? I mean, not that I'm complainin' or nothing, but I don't realy see any benefit to you in it." Marisa says, before Yukari can continue.
"Ah, yes. Well, many of the things we enjoy today would not be possible without her. If we could let such an inventive mind run free, it would certainly be to the benefit of everyone. Anyways, I got everyone to agree, and found a situation which would push you too the limits of your morality. We can't very well have one psychopath in charge of another one. I set myself up as an enemy, to see if you would side with the logical choice, or with the people with whom you were more familiar. If you had killed Madoka, Mima would have stayed locked up for all eternity." Yukari concludes.
"Well, that was incredibly long-winded, and fitting for someone of your age. However, I suppose I must thank you nonetheless." Mima says.
"You're not exactly young yourself, Mima." Yuyuko says.
"What are you talking about? I've only been in this world for a little over a decade. I'm not even fifteen yet." Mima says, cackling.
"Well, if that's true, then we're the same age, and you don't get ta boss me around no more." Marisa says with a grin.
"Ah, dammit. Well, I can't have that, so I guess I don't get to make any more age jokes, then." Mima says, acting disappointed.
"I never said that. She really is pretty old, ain't she?" Marisa says.
"Will you stop talking about my age please?" Yukari says.
"Nope." Marisa says, at the same time that Mima says "Absolutely not."
"So… We free to go?" Marisa says, looking at Yukari.
"Yes. This is everything I wanted to do. You may leave." Yukari says.
"Thanks. C'mon Mima, I got this sick house now." Marisa says, leading the spirit out of the netherworld.
"So, Yukari. What did you do with those other girls?" Yuyuko says.
"Ah yes, I made them forget about everything. They are also unable to interact with Kyuubei or other members of its race in any way, shape, or form." Yukari says.
(End Music)
Epilogue: Madoka
(Youtube Video: "Sayaka Miki's theme – Decretum")
"Uhnn… Where… Where am I?" Homura Akemi says, upon waking up.
"I… I think we're in the city… I don't really remember what happened. What about you, Homura?" Madoka says.
Homura shakes her head, trying to think clearly, then says "I… I think we were… Kyouko challenged us to a contest? Maybe."
"Kyouko? Yeah, she…" Madoka says. A look of horror shows itself on her face, and she says "She dared us to go out in that storm. She… She's dead. Her, and Sayaka went with her, and Mami tried to stop them… They're all dead…" The girl bursts into tears. Though crying herself, Homura goes over to try to comfort Madoka.
"W-we should… We should get back. I'm sure your parents are w-worried about us. We need to get back." Homura says.
The two children hold on to each other for support the entire way back to the shelter.
New End Note: Both this story and The Scarlet Devil are receiving a sequel in Mother, Where Art Thou (Name subject to change). The first chapter of that story will not be published for some time, but, if you wish to read it, it is recommended that you also read The Scarlet Devil before doing so.