I don't have a lot to say about this, since I'm sure that everyone already knows about the biggest issue right now. I'm sure I don't have to name it, right? You'd think that means that I wouldn't have to be working, but nope! I'm an essential, apparently. That is one of the reasons I haven't been able to update as quickly as some of the others in this archive right now. Along with that, I chose the worst time to move! That ate into my free time (that I use to work on this while juggling other things) as well. It was a long time coming, and it was set in stone before I had even began to think about this story, but it was more than I expected, what with the small amount of things I actually own!
Either way, I hope that you can enjoy this chapter!
It was raining in the Human Village. Rain, in the case of most of the inhabitants, meant doing their best to avoid going outside and getting themselves soaked. From a nearby store, a small group of older villagers watched as a lone worker continued to cut wood out in front of the woodcutter's warehouse. The man's coworkers watched from within the warehouse's open door as he continued to cut wood. He only had three more logs to cut, and he was determined to finish it, incoming thunderstorms be damned. He lined up the next log, and just when he began to bring the axe down upon it, a clap of thunder shook the ground around him, and him along with it. If it were not for the fact that he had prepared himself he might have accidentally chopped his foot, as the hatchet he had been using was now embedded in the ground next to the stump he had been cutting the logs on. He quickly finished up his work and deposited the cut logs in the warehouse.
"Why're ya in such a hurry, outsider? Got a big date or somethin' tonight?" one of the woodcutters asked.
In the light of the oil lamp and what sunlight still was visible through the open door, the man took off his kasa and shook some of the water off of it. Ray shook his head in response to the question.
"Nah. I might go and chat with the miko when this thunderstorm passes, though. Is the first round on you tonight, Goro-san? You're awfully inquisitive about me today." He asked.
The man who asked Ray the question started to stammer out an answer, but he was interrupted by the sound of a wood cane clacking on the stone floor of the warehouse. All of the workers turned to watch as their boss started to make his way out of his tiny office, and head toward Ray. When he reached him, he reached into his pocket and deposited a handful of coins into Ray's outstretched hand. Ray quickly counted them up to make sure it was correct before he bowed to the man.
"You always do good work, Dobbs-san. Don't let these morons get to you. They've still got a whole day's work to do before they can leave!" The old man said. When he spoke about the other workers, he raised his voice as if to reprimand them.
"It's no biggie. Let me know when you need any extra help." Ray replied. The two of them shook hands, and Ray left the warehouse, doing his best to not get even more wet as he made his way back home. When he stepped into the dormitory, he was glad he had gotten home before the storm had gotten even worse. The first thing he did was lock the door to the dormitory so no one would disturb him while he changed. Marisa was not known for knocking when she came over, and he didn't want a repeat of last week.
"Maybe I shoulda waited for the rain to end..." He mused.
When everything that was soaked through was off and ready to get drying, he stepped into his room. It looked more or less the same as he had left it, aside from the fact that the window looked like someone had tampered with it. He moved closer to get a better look at it, and saw that four of the slats across the window had been broken near the corner. He scratched his head and looked around for something to cover the hole with to keep any rats out. Something moved in the periphery of his vision. It couldn't be a rat, since rats don't float around.
"Alright, come out," He said, as he looked around frantically. "If you're a youkai or something, I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to." He reached into the box next to where his futon would lay and removed his revolver and held it at the ready. From the corner of his room, he heard the sound of the wicker chest that he stored some of his clothes in getting moved by something. He darted over and pulled the basket out, only to see a small humanoid figure trying to shield itself from him. In the light of the lamp, he saw that it's skin shone like it had a polish to it, and that the places where its hands met, its elbows had joints.
"You're definitely not a rat." He stated matter-of-factly. The little person, upon the realization that Ray was not going to hurt it, looked up at him with what amounted to a blank stare. He extended his index finger and began to slowly move it toward the trembling creature, until it touched its forehead. The creature stiffened up completely, but when it realized that Ray was not going to hurt it, it grabbed ahold of his finger and moved it away.
"Excuse me? Are you home, Outsider-san?" An unknown feminine voice called from the entrance to the dormitory. Ray looked at the little creature, and then toward the direction of the door. He looked back at the creature, who seemed to be trembling even harder now. Between the stranger knocking at his door and the trembling creature, Ray was getting a bad feeling about all of this. He picked up the little thing, which squirmed and fought in protest, and placed it inside the wicker chest.
"Wait right here." He whispered to it, and then it was enveloped by darkness and fresh-smelling yukatas. Ray threw something on quickly as the knocking got a bit louder, which made him hurry to the door. When he opened it, the girl standing there made him do a double-take. For a moment, he was not sure that the person that stood on his doorstep was actually a person and not just a human-sized doll. Her blue dress was not even the least bit wet, even with the torrential downpour that was going on behind her. Behind her, there was a small doll, very similar in appearance to that little thing that he had stuffed in his wicker chest.
"Oh! Excuse me for bothering you, Outsider-san, but I was looking for something that I had misplaced, and I thought it might've been here." The girl said. Her voice was very pleasant to Ray's ears, and if he had the choice to, he'd listen to her all day. Even so, he still had that feeling in his gut that something was wrong, and it had something to do with that little thing in his room. He leaned on the frame of the door and crossed his arms.
"Well, before we go any further, we should probably introduce ourselves," Ray held out his hand for the girl to shake. "Name's Ray Dobbs, miss."
She shook his hand in turn with a smile on her face. Even if she were smiling, it did not seem to be a genuine smile to him. The smile was one that to him, was more than one that was forced for the sake of being polite. It seemed so empty to him, as if there were not any actual emotions behind the doll-like face of his new acquaintance.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Dobbs-san. You may call me Alice Margatroid." She said, the tone of her voice cheerful, even if Ray knew that it sounded more fake than all of Hollywood.
"Well, now that introductions are out of the way, exactly why did you come and visit me in the middle of," He gestured to the storm behind her. "That? That doesn't seem like that good of an idea, if I'm being honest with ya."
"I lost a very important doll of mine, and I was wondering if you might have seen it. I've been going around asking people in the area if they may have seen it, but so far I haven't had any luck."
"What did the doll look like?"
"Well, it was blonde like me, with blue eyes and a frilly black dress. I have to say, it was probably the best doll I've made in quite a long time."
That matched the description of the thing that was currently in his room, and it made him even more uneasy, but he did not show it. If it were not for the fact that he had learned how to keep control of his emotions, he probably would be looking rather anxious. All of these occurrences were most likely a complete and total coincidence, but it was shaping up to be the kind of thing that, if he were still in the Outside World, would be following to get a good scoop on.
"Haven't seen anything like that around here, but I'll let you know if I do. Where do you live?" He asked.
"Oh, my home is within the Forest of Magic. You would be better off asking Marisa-san or Reimu-san to tell me. They don't run any risk of being hurt by the denizens and dangers of the forest." She answered.
"Will do. I'd offer to let you come in and have some tea or something, but you sound like you're in a hurry. Good luck finding your doll, miss."
"Thank you, Dobbs-san. I hope you can enjoy the rest of your day." Alice flashed him that sickening smile again and then walked off into the rain. Ray could see it just bouncing off of some sort of field that she had apparently put up around herself. He would have to see if Patchouli could teach him that one, or show him how to make his own spell that was similar.
When Alice was finally out of his hair, Ray went back inside his room and went to check on the doll. There was a slight thump coming from inside the chest, and the top was being moved ever so slightly. He opened it and the little doll jumped out, but Ray was fast enough to grab it. It did not struggle this time, and when he sat it down on the top of the chest, it stared at him intently as it waited for him to speak.
"Alright, so I don't know if you can understand me. Can you? Nod your head if you can." He said, pointing to the doll again.
The doll nodded.
"Okay, so you understand me. That's a start at least," Ray stroked the stubble that was beginning to grow on his chin. He would have to figure out if there was a barber or some similar profession in this village, or he would eventually end up looking scruffier than his uncle during the winter. He looked around the room, and eventually his gaze fell on the pad of paper and ink pen that he bought from some blue-haired kid (probably, he had genuine trouble distinguishing them from youkai anymore) with a huge backpack that was manning a stall on the road. "Do you know how to write?" He gestured to the pen and sheaf of papers again.
The doll nodded again. He placed the paper and pen on the floor, and the doll picked up the pen. It was a little silly to look at, since it had to hold the pen in both hands and balance it against itself to even write, but when it got the hang of it, it began writing. At first, it attempted to write out a paragraph, but after the third time it dropped the pen, it gave up and stuck to simple sentences.
[THANK YOU.]
"You're welcome, I guess." Ray replied. The doll looked up at him with its expressionless face for a moment, and then it began writing once again.
[THAT IS NOT ALICE.]
"It's gonna take a lot more than you just saying that for me to believe that." The doll stamped one its feet on the floor in protest, then picked up the pen again and resumed writing.
[TAKE ME TO REIMU. INCIDENT.]
"Okay, okay. I'll take you to Reimu. It'll have to wait, though."
[GO NOW!]
"In all this rain? We'll want to wait for the storm to pass, at least."
[NOW NOW NOW BIG TROUBLE]
The doll dropped the pen and toddled over to Ray. It flailed its tiny fists at him, and even if it did not cause any damage, it showed him just how urgent this little doll's mission was. He picked up the doll and sat it down on the chest again.
"Okay, okay. Give me a minute to get dressed for the weather, at least."
Reimu and Marisa sat on the porch of the shrine's living quarters and watched as the rainstorm began to clear up. Since the wind had died down, and Reimu had removed the some of the storm shutters (with no help from Marisa, who decided to just laze around and watch instead), the two of them had decided to not let the storm ruin their day, and had broken out a bottle of sake for the two of them to share. Reimu sipped at hers, but Marisa had decided that she wanted to get drunk quickly, and had opted for a less traditional drinking cup. After she quickly downed her third cup of sake, she let out a contented sigh.
"Man, that hits the spot!" Marisa exclaimed. Her face had already started to flush, and Reimu guessed that she would be blackout drunk within the hour if she kept going at this rate. She rolled her eyes and took another sip of her sake. It was not the best sake that she had, but that was saved for very special occasions, such as flower viewings or when at least three weeks went by without an incident. It did not burn going down, which made it rather pleasant overall.
"I don't know why I should let you sit here when you didn't even help me with the shutters." Reimu remarked. Marisa smiled warmly and refilled her cup with more sake.
"You had it under control! You know how it goes, 'too many cooks spoil the broth', and all that, ze."
"Whatever. It's not like you would have been able to leave, anyway. If the storm comes back I don't know if you'd be able to stay in the air long enough to get home. I don't know if I'd be able to sleep at night if I knew I-"
Reimu saw the unmistakable tip of a straw hat beginning to make itself noticeable from where the steps leading to her shrine ended. When the figure made itself more noticeable, she could see that he (presumably a he, anyway. The only other people she could think of who matched that build were that oni Hoshiguma and her late mother) had a straw raincoat on. His hakama were tucked into the shin-high boots that he was wearing. When he looked up from the steps, she was indeed correct with her assumption.
"Hey, Reimu-san!" Ray shouted. He waved at the two of them as he approached. When he got closer, the two of them noticed a little blond tuft of hair that was sticking out of the front of his raincoat. For some reason, Ray had one of Alice's dolls stuffed into the front of his yukata. When he finally reached them, he sat down on the porch and pulled the doll out. When he sat it down on the porch, it stood up and dusted itself off. The two of them, upon seeing this doll act of its own accord, were taken aback in shock.
"Wow, I can't believe Alice finally figured out how to get her dolls to act on their own, ze!" Marisa commented.
"She finally managed it." Reimu added.
She went to poke the doll, but the doll tried to swat her hand away. It failed due to the very obvious difference in strength, but it got its point across. Ray immediately pulled out the pen and a few pieces of paper and laid them out for the doll, who nearly immediately began writing once more.
"It's kinda cute watching it write." Marisa said. She leaned forward to get a better look at what the doll was writing. When the doll was finished with its first sentence, it leaned back and waited for their response.
[REIMU MARISA HELP ME]
"Help? What does a doll need help with?" Reimu mused to Marisa.
"Maybe Alice sent it because she needed help with something." Marisa answered back.
Ray leaned in a bit to join in their conversation.
"She seemed fine, if a bit off when I met her earlier today." He added.
The doll, upon hearing this, stamped its foot in protest and quickly scrawled out a new sentence.
[THAT IS NOT ALICE I AM ALICE]
The trio looked at the doll, who stared up at them with its blank stare. Reimu took a sip of her sake, and then spoke up to break the tension.
"Ah? Are you being serious?" She asked. The doll threw the pen down and began to stomp its feet. If it were a person, they would be fuming with anger, if Ray had to guess. Marisa leaned in to look at the doll, whose gaze attempted to drill into Marisa's soul.
"I wonder how we could check to see if it really is Alice." Reimu added.
"Well, is there anything that only the two of you would know that you could ask?" Ray asked.
Marisa's mouth curled into a devilish grin. Ray guessed that she must have thought of a way to check. She cleared her throat, which drew the attention of everyone that was gathered there. If the doll could have had a chill go up its spine, it would have at that very moment.
"Well, if this little hunk of cloth and wood were Alice, she'd probably have a big problem if I told the story, in front of a boy, about how a few years ago, after she left Makai, she asked me for help, since she was sure she was still growing, and wanted me to help her take her measur-"
The little doll flew as fast as it could right into Marisa's face, where it did its best to pummel her with its tiny wooden fists. Marisa could be heard laughing during the doll's onslaught. "Yep! This is definitely Alice, ze," Marisa grabbed the little doll, who tried its hardest to get itself out of her grasp so that it could keep pummelling her, and held it at arm's length. "She's the only one who'd react like that if I told that story!"
"If I'd not known you my whole life I'd probably do the same thing, you inconsiderate dummy." Reimu responded.
"Really, over measurements?" Ray interjected.
The girls and the doll looked at him like he had just asked one of the most stupid questions that they had ever heard. Ray rolled his eyes in response.
"Whatever. So you're Alice then?" He leaned in a bit more to look at the doll. "It's a pleasure to actually get to meet you, Miss Margatroid. I've heard a lot about you from Marisa." He held out a finger for Alice to shake, and she returned it (albeit with both of her hands instead of just one). Marisa then picked Alice up and placed her on the table with her pen and pad, where she could be more at everyone else's level.
"So how are we gonna deal with this fake Alice then uhh..." Marisa's gaze went away from Alice for a moment. "Alice? Man, saying 'Fake Alice' is gonna get annoying, ze."
Reimu leaned in closer to the table to get a better look at Alice. "So how long have you been stuck as a doll?" Alice quickly went to respond.
[THREE DAYS]
"That's not too long, at least." Ray added. He also leaned in a bit to get more on Alice's level. "So Miss Margatroid, you've been a doll for three days now. Go over everything that led up to when you were, I guess, turned into a doll. Anything that can help Reimu and Marisa fix this is helpful."
[FOUND A BOOK IN THE FOREST]
"You found a book? Like a grimoire or just a regular book?" Ray asked.
[GRIMOIRE. DOLL STARTED TO MOVE ON ITS OWN AFTER I FOUND IT]
"I'm guessing you were pretty happy. Since Marisa and Reimu pointed out that 'you finally did it', I'm gonna guess that you've been trying to make a doll that doesn't need you to work it or something. Am I right?"
Alice nodded rapidly.
[SO HAPPY I CRIED. I WENT TO BED AND WOKE UP AS A DOLL AND MY BODY MOVED ON ITS OWN]
The assembled investigators looked at one another. They all looked rather worried at that piece of information.
"So she wasn't turned into a doll, she got her body switched with the doll's," Ray stated. He scratched his chin for a bit, and then looked at Marisa and Reimu. "Do either of you know of any magic that can do that? I'll bet that there's some sorta spell that can do that."
"Or a curse." Reimu added.
"I bet it's a curse. It probably had something to do with that grimoire you picked up, Alice. I bet that there was something sealed in it." Marisa concluded.
Alice crossed her little wooden arms and nodded in agreement. She hung her little head in defeat and shame, but Marisa patted her on the head.
"It's alright, Alice. It happens to the best of us, da-ze. What's important is getting you back in your own body as soon as possible. And we're gonna do it to die trying." Marisa said optimistically.
"How, though?" Ray asked her.
"Well, we can beat the tar out of the fake Alice until she agrees to get back in the book, or we can seal her, or..." Marisa began to trail off, but Reimu interrupted her.
"Between Marisa and I, we have more than enough ways to deal with a spirit possessing or switching bodies with someone."
"Alright then, I'll leave you to it." He said. He got up, put his coat back on, and began to walk away when he felt someone grab hold of his sleeve. He turned around to see that it was Alice. "What?"
"I think she wants you to come with us." Marisa said with a chuckle.
"But why?" He asked.
Alice flew back down to the pen and pad and began writing frantically.
[FAKE ALICE HID THE BOOK. I THINK IT IS IMPORTANT. MARISA/REIMU WILL DEAL WITH HER. I CAN SHOW YOU WHERE THE BOOK IS]
"Well, Mister Dobbs. It looks like a lady is asking you for help." Marisa said jokingly. Ray looked at her with an eyebrow raised, but she could see that she struck a bit of a nerve. She leaned forward with a goofy grin. "You just gonna leave a lady in trouble, da-ze?"
Ray made some sort of noise in the back of his throat, like he was both annoyed at her antics, and at the same time angrier than he should be. He pointed at Marisa accusingly.
"Ray Dobbs isn't one to leave a lady in distress when she needs his help, and you know it. Let's fuckin' do this."
He picked up Alice and set her on his shoulder. With a quick turn on his heel, he started to walk toward the forest. He felt Alice tap him on the side of the head, and he picked her up again and looked at her quizzically. She pointed at the forest, shook her head and then made a cutting motion with her hand near her neck.
"What do you mean?" He asked her. He heard some footsteps behind him, so he turned to look. Marisa and Reimu looked to have gotten themselves ready as well, with Reimu letting her gohei rest on her shoulder and Marisa lazily floating on her broom.
"The forest is dangerous for regular humans like you. You don't have anything to protect yourself from the poison further in, and Alice lives a little too close for comfort to where it starts to get poisonous." Reimu explained to him.
Ray looked between the two of them, then at Alice, then back at his two fellow investigators.
"So what now? How the hell am I supposed to help?" He asked.
"God, is this thing hard to breathe in. I feel like Darth Vader in this thing." Ray said, his voice muffled by the gas mask that he wore. He readjusted the hose a bit to keep it out of the way as the trio walked ever onward to Alice's house. He was surprised that Kourin actually had a gas mask that fit those canisters that he had picked up, but he did, much to Ray's gratitude. He did not like that Marisa told him that they would be "borrowing" it, but Kourin did not seem to really care, and just waved them off with as many of the filters as Ray thought they would need. He was even nice enough to let Ray borrow a satchel to carry them in. Along with the filters, Alice decided that she was going to ride along in the satchel instead of on Ray's shoulder. Ray did not have any issue with that, since it meant that he could look around unimpeded.
"Who's 'Darth Vader'? That's a dumb name." Reimu asked. He turned his head a bit to get a better look at her, and he watched her visibly bristle at his gaze. The mask made him look a lot more intimidating than he actually was, and he looked forward to not having to wear it again. He waved the question off.
"I'll tell you later. It's a long story." He said.
"Alright. Make sure you hold on tight to those ofuda I gave you, alright? It's some of the only protection you have out here if something happens to Marisa and I. Along with that, they're also some of the most powerful ones that I can make, so they should do the trick on whatever book Alice was talking about, if the imposter came from it." Reimu explained to him. He nodded in response and quadruple checked that he still had them in the satchel. Like he had expected, they were there, far enough away from Alice that they would not hurt her, since she was apparently a youkai according to Marisa.
The forest was a lot more intimidating than he had expected it to be. When they started their journey into the deeper parts where Marisa and Alice lived, they could see the sun through the canopy clearly. The trees grew somewhat far apart out there. Further in, it got to the point that Ray had to actively keep an eye open for anything that could cause him to trip, like a tree root or a rock that was partially buried.
"We're almost there, so you can quit your whining, da-ze." Marisa commented. Unlike Reimu, Marisa had chosen to continue flying when they had made it further into the forest. She floated a few meters above them and would swerve to avoid getting into a collision with the occasional tree branch that would get in her way.
Suddenly, she lowered herself to their level and hid behind a nearby tree. Reimu quickly followed suit, which left Ray to duck behind a rather large bush. When he peeked through the bush, the Fake Alice was, if he had to guess, about thirty or so meters away from them. She was walking through the forest, and didn't have any dolls with her, not even the one that Ray saw with her earlier that day. Without any warning, she spoke.
"You don't have to hide. I already know that you're there."
Reimu sighed and stepped out from behind the tree, as did Marisa. Ray, who decided that he would be better off not making his presence actively known, continued to stay hidden. He felt Alice tap him on the wrist, and she pointed off in a direction in the forest. He looked at her, and he guessed that she could sense that he was confused. She pointed again, jumping a little to show how urgent it was. He had an idea of what she was getting at, and he got himself ready to move when he saw the first opportunity to do so.
When Marisa and Reimu approached "Alice", she put up the same act that she did for Ray, with the hollow smile being the first reaction to their presence. Reimu and Marisa did not move when they saw it. In fact, they were downright unnerved by it. Alice would have never smiled like that. Alice's smiles were always ones of genuine happiness or elation. This one, to Reimu and Marisa, was one that was simply meant to be a formality.
"Wow, Ray-san was right about the smile. It's kinda creepy. Alice wouldn't smile like that." Reimu stated. This drew a bit of snickering from Marisa. Ray watched as Fake Alice's expression went from that to a blank stare. It was the kind of stare that a sociopath would give when their mask dropped. Ray felt a shiver go through him, like if he were to see this Alice in an alley at night, he would do everything to avoid her, lest he be violently murdered.
"So you two know then? At least I don't have to act like a person. That gets tiring. Well, let's get this over with. I'm not giving that idiot girl her body back." She said, her tone flat and lifeless. The two sides stared each other down for a moment, and then it was on. Ray had never seen a magic battle up close before, but it was something to behold. Brightly-colored bullets made of some sort of energy were being thrown around left and right, with the two sides showcasing how dextrous they actually were. Marisa alternated from her broom to using the trees as cover. He had to admit that her "danmaku", as Kourin had called it, were rather pretty. The star-shaped bullets that she shot at the bodysnatcher were each a different color, and if it were not for the fact that he might as well have been in an active firefight, he had a bit of trouble looking away from the colorful show of lights and violence.
Reimu on the other hand, wasn't as flashy. Compared to Marisa, she looked to be treating this about as professionally as he would. Her danmaku, if it could be called that, looked to be the same ofuda that she had handed him earlier. Along with that, she also had a pair of orbs that looked like they were made to look like the traditional yin-yang symbol. They floated around her head and got bigger and smaller as she needed them. When she sent one at the monster, it missed, but it took out a softball-sized chunk of the tree that it had collided with before coming back like a boomerang. She seemed to flit and float around the arena, sometimes even disappearing from one place and reappearing a few meters away, as if she had simply been erased for a moment.
Ray was drawn back to his senses by a little prod in his arm. He looked down to see Alice, She looked up at him with her faceless expression. She still frantically pointed in the same direction that she had been before he had got distracted.
"Alright!" He exclaimed. He scooped her up in one of his hands and took off in a dead sprint in the direction that she had pointed to. When they got a bit further away from the battle, she pointed in another direction, which he obeyed without hesitation. Eventually, he could barely hear the battle, but it was rather hard to breathe. He quickly unscrewed the filter at the end of the hoselike nose of the gas mask and tossed it aside. When he replaced it he heard the sounds of the fighting stop entirely.
"D'you think they beat her?" He asked Alice. She shook her head and pointed to herself. Suddenly, a beam of light cut through the canopy and just barely missed Ray. He clutched Alice to his chest reflexively and looked up. In the air, there was a shadow shaped like the Impostor Alice.
"You're not touching that book!" She shouted. Her voice dripped with malice and murderous intent. Before she could converge on the two of them, she was blindsided by a rainbow-colored ray of light that collided with her. From up in the canopy, he heard Reimu's voice.
"Ray, go and get the book! We've got this!"
"Roger!" He shouted back. He looked down at Alice again and continued to follow her directions until they reached a rather large tree. The tree was rooted in a clearing that had an almost ring-like shape to the canopy that let in enough light to make the place rather quaint to look at. A small stream ran by the tree, one of the arm-thick roots disappearing into the water. Ray walked further into the clearing and looked around frantically, and then looked back at Alice, who was pointing at the tree. There was a large knothole in the tree's trunk. She pointed directly at it. Ray ran over and looked inside. The knothole was very deep and very dark, but he reached in quickly and felt something blocky and flat. He pulled it out and it was indeed a book. This one looked rather similar to some of the ones that he had seen in Patchouli's library, with its thick, pitted and scratched brass cover and lock, albeit the lock on this one was broken.
He reached into the satchel and felt around for the stack of ofuda, but he did not feel them in his bag. He searched around even more frantically, but still without any luck. He opened the satchel wide and looked inside, and that was when he realized that they were not in the satchel anymore. He heard someone land nearby and he felt his stomach drop.
"What a fool you are." The Fake Alice chided.
He turned around to face her. She was covered from head to toe in blue ofuda. Along with that, her dress was singed in a few places and her hair had been messed up rather badly. He looked behind her and there, just behind her right foot, was the stack of ofuda. Somehow, they must have fallen out of his bag.
"I'll kill the two of you before they get here."
She held up her hand, which began to fill with a ball of bright red energy. He held up the book in front of himself as a makeshift shield, but she only laughed at his attempt to protect himself. "Do you really think I'd be amateur enough to hit my own phylactery?" The ball of energy in her hand got larger and larger. Ray could only watch and wait for an opening to move. This was not something that he was used to dealing with, and unlike dodging bullets, mortars, and grenades in a desert, this creature might be able to curve what he guessed was going to be a laser. He felt the sweat sting his eyes, and he blinked it out as quickly as he could.
"Die now and forever stay out of my business!" The Fake Alice said, a maniacal grin on her face. Just when the laser was about to fire off, the two yin-yang orbs hit her in the body loud enough to make a meaty thwack. Alice's body was launched meters to his right. She skidded across the clearing and was stopped by a tree, which was snapped with the amount of force that had impacted it.
"Ray! Get the ofuda on it!" He heard Reimu scream. He did not hesitate as he launched himself for the stack, the book cradled under his arm like a football. When he closed in on it, he dropped down into a slide and picked up the ofuda. He dropped the book in front of him, snapped the piece of twine that kept the ofuda bound together. He grabbed on in each hand and wrenched open the cover of the book, slapping them both down on the front page. When he did this, small streaks of red electricity arced off of the cover of the book and nearly blinded him, as if he had stared at an active welder without a welding helmet on.
He could hear the Fake Alice screaming in agony, and when he looked over, he could confirm that she was most likely in agony, as of blue and red electricity arced across her, they locked eyes for a moment, and in that moment he felt as if whatever entity had taken over her body was cursing him in its mind, since it could only continue to scream. In another moment, it was over, and Alice's body laid still. He looked around and saw Alice, or more specifically, the doll that she had inhabited. It laid on its side and did not move, the same as Alice's body. He then looked at Reimu and Marisa, who stood over Alice. They were still tensed up and ready for combat, and they looked about as worse for wear as Alice. There was only a single thing that stood out, and that was that Marisa's hat was practically spotless.
"Is it her?!" He shouted over. He stood up and walked over to pick up the doll.
"Dunno!" Marisa shouted back. She poked Alice's body with her broom quizzically, and she began to stir. This caused the two youkai exterminators to tense up even more. Marisa held her broom over her head, and Reimu her gohei. Along with that, the two orbs were spinning in place, as if they were ready to fire on her command. Alice's eyes fluttered open, and she looked at the two of them.
"... Marisa? Reimu?" She asked. Her voice was barely a whisper. The duo helped her to a sitting position. Ray, who guessed since Doll-Alice was not moving, and that Alice was moving, that they were successful. He hurried over to the trio and kneeled down at her side. She looked at him, and he looked at her. She could not see the smile that he had through his mask, but he smiled with his eyes as well. After that small moment of silence, he asked something.
"You're the real Alice right, and not that angry... whatever that was?"
Her eyes began to tear up, and she quickly dabbed them with a handkerchief. "Yes, Ray-san, I'm the real Alice." She said. She smiled, and for some reason, it warmed Ray's heart to see it. The smile was a genuine one, one of gratitude. Alice attempted to stand up, but with a wince and a sharp inhale, she fell back into a sitting position. "Don't worry about getting up, Alice. Ray can carry you!" Marisa stated. Ray could see that she was joking, but Alice was still rather out of her head, must not have caught on. He could see the blush that spread across her face and had to stifle a chuckle at her embarrassment.
"Oh no no! I can walk myself back home! I should be fine in a little while!" She stammered out. She attempted to stand up again, and failed once more. After the third attempt and subsequent failure, Ray had had enough of it. He scooped up Alice, who yelped in surprise, and held her in a bridal carry. She looked at him, her eyes wide, her cheeks red and her mouth agape in horror. Before she could protest, he cut her off.
"You may be fine later, but you're not fine now. I'm not gonna let go of you, and we're gonna take you back to your house. Reimu, can you grab that book? I slapped some of those talismans on it for you, but I don't know if it was enough." Ray said. Reimu nodded and went to check on the book. Occasionally, it would crackle with red energy, but that was it. She put a more liberal amount of ofuda on it and then that stopped it entirely.
When they reached Alice's house, Ray was surprised that it was Western in design. The paint was chipping in a few places and vined grew up the Eastern wall of it, but overall it was just a quaint little cottage, like he would have seen in the middle of Vermont. The interior was filled with more dolls than he had ever seen in one place, and the whole place had a slight odor that reminded him of the paint that his dad would use to paint his model ships. After Alice temporarily drove them from her bedroom so that she could change into something more suitable to sleep in, Marisa and Reimu returned with tea and chairs. Alice took one of the cups and shakily raised it to her lips. She closed her eyes and savored the taste of the tea with a small smile.
"This is wonderful. Reimu, did you make this?" She asked. Reimu nodded in response and then took a sip of her own tea.
"I don't trust Marisa to make tea for anyone after she used that herb she found in the forest once." Reimu explained. "I'd never seen Sakuya uproot a tree until she was under the influence of... whatever that was."
"One time! It was one time, ze! Will you ever let that go?" Marisa said with a sigh.
Alice could not help but laugh at this. Eventually, Reimu and Marisa joined in as well. When their laughter died down, Marisa was the first to speak up.
"So Alice, what happened? What was it like being a doll?"
Alice looked away for a moment, and then she set her tea cup on the nearby nightstand and took in a deep breath. When she exhaled, she began to speak.
"I wouldn't say that I felt trapped, since that wasn't the case. I was fighting the whole time to try and, well, force my way back into my body. Being unable to talk was an issue, and any dolls I make in the future are going to have a jaw that can unhinge in the off-chance that I can get them to be fully animated. I couldn't feel any pain, which was a blessing, with how that... entity treated me while I planned my escape. But..." Alice began to tremble a bit, which prompted Marisa to lean in closer in case her friend needed her help. What happened, however, was not that. Alice grabbed hold of Marisa's hands and looked her in the eyes, her own beginning to fill the tears.
"It can be done, Marisa! Bringing a doll to life can be done!" She said, barely a choked up whisper. The tears began to flow down her cheeks now as she embraced her friend. Marisa could only pat her on the back as she let her friend cry out her joy. "For years and years I secretly wondered if it could even be done, if I was just wasting time on a fruitless endeavor; but it can! I just need to figure out my own way to do it!"
"Well, if you ever need my help with it, just let me know, ze. I'll give it my all." Marisa assured her. Alice hugged her even tighter as tears continued to flow. Eventually, Alice cried herself tired, and they left her to sleep. When they exited her bedroom, they saw Ray seated at her workbench. In the clamp that Alice used to keep her dolls upright while she maintained them, he had secured the doll that she had been imprisoned in. It was missing its right hand. Where it should have been was a nasty looking snap in the wooden appendage. Ray was writing a note on a piece of paper, and when he was finished, he folded it a bit and leaned it against the doll.
Ray sat under the overhang of the Outsider's Dorm and watched as people walked by. He drank from a cup of cooled tea and people-watched as the somewhat small number of people who went about their business where the dorms were located, which was somewhere close to the outskirts of the Human Village. There were a few, more esoteric stores and the like here, but other than that it was rather empty in general and was a welcome reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the more populated areas of the village. Eventually, he noticed a familiar face emerge from the crowd and begin to make their way over to where he was seated. She was not wearing her usual dress, and had, for some reason, decided to wear something that was somewhere between a schoolboy and a newsie's outfit. He knew who it was, even if other people, for some reason, could not notice who it was.
"Good afternoon, Dobbs-san." She said with a smile. He crossed his arms and gave her a deadpan expression.
"And what are you doing here? I thought the village wasn't a place for youkai." He replied. She looked at him in surprise, and then looked over herself. After she was finished inspecting herself, she looked back at him.
"You can see through my illusion?" She asked.
"I wouldn't call changing clothes an illusion." He answered.
She looked down at the jade amulet that hung from her neck, and then looked back at him with an eyebrow raised. She quickly hid her suspicion and returned to her energetic demeanor.
"Interesting. Not why I'm here, though!"
She sat down next to him in the unoccupied chair across from him. She pulled out her pen and paper, just like last time. When he heard the pen audibly click, he prepared himself for the worst.
"Some fairy contacts of mine told me that they saw you in the company of both youkai exterminators Marisa Kirisame and Reimu Hakurei, and that the three of you were seen headed toward the Forest Of Magic. Is this information correct?" She asked him.
He sighed, leaned back, and popped one of his shoulders. His injuries were beginning to act up. Aya continued to look at him expectantly, her pen poised to document whatever he said.
"Yes, that's correct." He stated bluntly. He looked at her as she quickly wrote something down and then looked back at him.
"And, if you don't mind me asking; for what reason were you headed toward the forest with the two of them?"
"Well, there was something that I had found that I think they would have been able to deal with. Due to my own stubbornness and moral code, I chose to help them out, with a little assistance from Kourindou. They have some pretty useful things mixed in with all of the junk."
"Hmmm. Yes, yes," She wrote down some more. "So, along with that, I was told that Kirisame-san and The Hakurei Miko were seen in a battle, not a spell card battle, with one Alice Margatroid." Before she could ask him if that was also true, he held up his hand to make her stop.
"That is something you'd want to speak with Margatroid-san about yourself. I can only tell you what I experienced during that. She was in need of help, and Marisa and Reimu were needed to solve it."
"So it was an incident, then?"
"A what?"
"An incident! That's what things like that are called here! When something out of the ordinary happens here, that's an incident!"
"Sure, it was an incident," He leaned forward and pointed his finger at her. "That girl's been through a lot, so I ask you politely that you don't go pestering her for a story if she doesn't want to tell it."
"Ayayayaya, I'm not one to pester a hurt girl over a scoop! Here, for being so forthcoming." Aya replied.
She reached into a pocket and slid a little brown envelope across the table towards him. He picked it up and looked inside. His brow raised in surprise when he saw that there was at least a half a month's worth of yen in here, in big denominations. He looked back at her, and she winked at him, a smirk on her face.
"Thanks for the info, Dobbs-san. Don't call me, I'll call you."
With that, she disappeared into the crowded streets, with Ray left both curious and surprised.