Author's Notes: Yeah, this one turned out quite a bit longer than that last one. There was no way I was going to be able to continue into this, so it's a good thing I split it where I did. The further into the story I go, the more it changes from the original; soon you won't be able to recognize that it's supposed to be the same story. This one took a bit of effort to write though, since the elaborations required a whole lot more thought to get through. It's coming along nicely, though, so please let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: Touhou Project is owned by Team Shanghai Alice, whose sole member is ZUN. I only own the story, words, and concept.

The day of the festival was a beautiful mid-late spring day, and the night promised to be even more beautiful. I had set aside the best dress that I had made; it was a pale blue color with pink ribbons tied at the neck and waist. To accent it had a white shawl and a red hair band.

I spent the entire day practicing the skits and scenes I was going to do; the third doll turned out nicely, even if she looked a bit different from the other two. In the last hour before the festival started, I set up the stage and got everything I was going to need ready.

The sky had a pretty orange hue when the torches were lit; the sun was falling down towards the horizon at a steady pace, and people had started to filter into the plaza. Many of the parents simply dropped off their children in front of me, though some stood a little ways behind them in order to watch, too. I was unsure whether it was just to see what kind of play I was going to put on, or if they were parents that were more wary of my being trusted with the children.

For an hour and a half I presented my craft; some of the adults had drifted away once they saw what it was I was doing, while some others joined in, mesmerized by what I was doing. I didn't pay them much mind, though, since I was putting quite a bit of concentration into keeping my connection up long term; the children seemed genuinely entertained, though, which made me quite happy.

Another half an hour later and I had started to tire, though I wasn't going to stop if I could help it. There was a moment where I could take a pause where I decided to randomly look up; what I saw made me freeze in place: standing there in the back with the adults was the witch in purple.

Panic was something I rarely did, but I was on the verge of it in that moment. I did my best to finish the scene I had already started before saying, "Excuse me, everyone; I need to take a break. We'll resume in…" I paused for a moment. "Fifteen minutes."

I withdrew the dolls and severed my connection to them, picked up my grimoire, and paced off towards a table that had been set up that had cups of water available. I took a cup and hastily gulped down some of the water to try and calm my suddenly frayed nerves; this failed to work when I turned around and found myself face to face with the one that had caused my condition in the first place.

In retrospect, I should have taken her expression into account before giving into my fit; she was grinning from ear to ear. She said, "Hey, you're pretty talented! You're new in the village, eh?"

To say I was startled would have been an understatement; I had expected a firefight to have started right in the middle of the plaza, but then if she lived here that would have caused a lot of damage. I nodded slowly at her answer and said, "Y-yes; I've only been here for about a month."

She started looking me up and down, which made me a little uncomfortable; I hadn't been scrutinized like that since my first day on the village. Her eyes finally settled on the book that I held against my chest by my left arm. Her face suddenly held a look of understanding, and she said in an excited whisper, "Hey, I know you; you're that girl from Makai, ain'tcha?"

Only my own finely tuned body control kept me from fainting at that shock; she knew precisely who I was and could expose me for being from a world of demons. My unspoken panic must have shown on my face because the girl immediately smiled and shook her head. "Don't worry; I'm not gonna say anything. I'm sure the children would be more than a little disappointed if you weren't around."

I felt instant relief from her words, but a thread of suspicion tugged at the back of my mind. "But why? Shouldn't you be more worried about having found me here? What if I was just sent ahead of a full invasion force?"

She grinned again and said, "If that were the case, you wouldn't have told me about it." She stuck her right hand out and said, "My name's Marisa Kirisame; Ordinary Witch."

I reached out and gripped her hand, surprised at the sheer strength that it seemed to hold; she was quite a bit shorter and smaller than I was, so the thought that she contained so much physical strength was a different experience. I replied, "I'm Alice Margatroid."

She adjusted her hat for a moment before saying, "It's been a pleasure meeting you, Alice." She turned and gestured towards the crowd of children. "It's been a little past fifteen minutes, so you might was to get back to the show." My eyes widened at the revelation; I quickly finished off the water and walked back over to the stage.

I picked up the story where I left off; Marisa returned to the row of adults that were watching. She appeared to be enjoying the show as much as the children were. I continued to entertain for another hour before the festival itself started to wind down; many of the children had been taken home by their parents, and those that were left were starting to look really sleepy. I was getting a little tired, myself, but was willing to go on for as long as I was asked to.

Finally the last child had been collected; I took a moment to rest before packing up the stage and my three dolls. I began to walk off in the direction of the schoolhouse when I was intercepted by Marisa. "Hey, where are you staying?"

At first I wasn't sure if I should answer her, since it wasn't necessarily her business to know; something about the way she looked at me made me tell her. "I've got a room at the school."

I picked up my pace slightly, but Marisa kept up. She said, "I know this is short notice, but would you like to stay over at my house tonight? Um… kind of like a sleepover!"

I stopped walking, which made her have to backpedal a little. It sounded like a strange request; almost like there was some ulterior motive behind it. She looked uncertain, though, which slightly calmed my suspicions; besides, I'd read about sleepovers and hadn't ever gotten to experience them myself because of who I was. I tilted my head a little and said, "Okay; I think I'd like that."

Her grin returned as if it had never left her. "Great! I'll meet you back at the plaza; just get whatever you need for one night."

She ran off towards the central plaza, oozing excitement which I will admit was quite infectious. I continued on towards the school, passing a few of the younger adults that apparently couldn't hold their alcohol very well and were sleeping against some of the buildings. Once I got inside, I found Keine sitting at her desk with another girl with silver hair that was wearing red overalls and a white shirt. I said, "I'll not be staying here tonight, Keine."

This seemed to slightly surprise her; she said, "Oh? Did you find someone at the festival?"

I didn't fall for the implications of her words or her smile. "I've been invited to a sleepover by who I can only assume is the daughter of the owner of the second-hand shop."

This fact really did surprise her. "I see… Well I hope you two have fun then, and tell her Miss Keine sends her regards."

I bowed in appreciation and walked back to my room; I had few possessions besides my grimoire, my dolls, and the clothing that I had made to replace the tattered old thing I was wearing when I first entered town. In addition to the clothes I had fashioned a carrying sack out of the remaining cloth I had purchased; I got a change of clothes for the morning as well as a nightgown and folded them carefully before putting them in the sack.

I waved to Keine and her companion on my way out and made my way to the plaza; Marisa was one of the few remaining people there that night. As I approached she hopped up onto the broom she was holding and floated there for a moment. She said, "Hop on, I'll take you to my home."

I was wary of climbing onto that broom; I could still remember some of the maneuvers she pulled off to escape my attacks that night I had trapped her and her companions in my Wonderland. Despite being able to fly, I went ahead with it, and climbed onto the back of the broom; we floated up a ways before Marisa caused the broom to start accelerating rapidly. I yelped and grabbed Marisa around the waist, not used to that kind of speed at all.

In mere moments the terrifying experience was over; we were in front of a one story house in the middle of some woods; I detached myself and very thankfully touched down on the ground. She gestured towards the house and said, "Home sweet home!" She got off of the broom and walked up to the door, throwing it open unceremoniously and walking in.

I walked in cautiously behind her and had to stop once I had crossed the threshold; before my eyes was a horror unto which I had never laid my eyes on before. Piles of books were strewn everywhere, and a thick layer of dust covered everything; if it weren't for the mess, this house would be quite comfortable and roomy.

My reaction to the house went completely unnoticed; Marisa cleared a wooden table off and said, "Make yourself comfortable; I'll get the tea!"

Furniture-wise, she had a couple of easy chairs and not much else; a single futon was laid out in the corner. The main living space was really just one big room with an attached kitchen; a door just beyond the kitchen was closed, so I didn't know where it went at the time. As I approached the table to sit down I heard a curious squeaking sound followed by the rush of water; I turned to look at Marisa and saw her standing over a sink where she was filling a small kettle with water from a faucet. "Plumbing?" I said.

She looked up at me and shrugged. "Funny little thing, that; one day a Kappa knocks on my door and offers to connect me to the main pipeline for a small fee and monthly charge. I'm not exactly sure where he was headed with his pipe, but I wasn't going to complain if it meant I didn't have to keep a supply of water on hand all the time."

Nodding, I sat down and waited patiently; taking in more of the room I remember thinking that Yumeko would have had a mental breakdown after seeing that room. Mere minutes later my host returned to the table with two steaming cups; she handed one to me before sitting across from me at the table.

I stared at the cup for a moment before seeing Marisa take a sip of hers out of the corner of my eye; shrugging mentally, I took a sip as well. The flavor of the tea, more than the heat, bit at my tongue in ways that I hadn't experienced before. The face I made was quite plain, as right after that she said, "Aw, don't like my tea?"

I set the cup down and shook my head. I contemplated lying and saying it was too hot, but I couldn't find the heart to do it; mother raised me better than that. "Just not used to the flavor; we rarely drank tea back in Makai."

I picked up the cup and gave it another try; I found that once you get used to it, it wasn't too bad. After managing to down about half of the tea, I set the cup down and asked, "So why do you live in the woods by yourself?"

She looked off in the distance for a moment before saying, "Part of it's the privacy; I can work on my magic without anybody know it or possibly getting in the way and getting hurt. Part of it is the mushrooms; there's a huge variety of them all over the place here, and many of them have incredible magical properties." She looked down at her cup and lowered her voice to an almost whisper. "Of course there's also my parents…"

I barely caught that last line; it seems I wasn't the only one with parent issues. "You were having difficulties at home?"

She snorted. "That's an understatement; dad wanted me to take over the store one day, but I wanted no part of that. I got interested in magic when I was real young; I had wanted to be a witch for a long time. When dad learned that, he got really mad and forbid me from even looking in a magical book; of course I didn't listen to him." She sighed. "Finally, a couple of years back, I ran off, got a friend to help me build this place, and I've been living here ever since." She downed the rest of her tea and took a breathy exhale. "Your turn, ze; why are you up here in Gensokyo, living in the human village?"

I froze momentarily, but quickly dismissed the feeling; this was simple curiosity on her part, nothing more. "There's nothing left for me back in Makai; I ran off, stole a book of great importance, and worst of all…" I smirked at the girl sitting across from me. "I failed to destroy the four invaders that had blown a considerable chunk out of my home."

She chuckled at this. "Yeah, I guess that's as good a reason for running off…" She got up and refilled her cup. After sitting back down she raised the cup up and said, "To a couple of runaways." I reciprocated and the cups clinked together; we both downed the entirety of our tea, though I had considerably less at that moment. She slammed her cup to the table after she was finished; she looked up at me and said, "I hope you don't mind my asking, but how is it that you look so much older now than when we last saw you over a month ago?"

I was actually prepared for this question; it was the second most logical one she could have chosen to ask. "Truth be told, I'm fourteen years old. The atmosphere of Makai is filled with a miasma that is normally toxic to humans; I was found as an infant and raised by Shinki as her own. Something about being so young allowed me to adjust to breathing that poisonous air, but it also stunted my growth somewhat. After following you guys out I spent a week wandering a huge forest, and during that time, I guess you could say, my body caught up to my mind." I shuddered at the memory. "It was… a painful experience, to say the least."

She winced at my description, then had a somewhat sad smile. "Well, you certainly grew up really nice, and very good looking to boot; I've gotta say, though, I'm a little jealous… you're a year younger than I am, but everything about you is bigger…" She looked down at the front of her witch robe and placed a hand on her chest. "Everything…"

It took me a moment to realize what she was referring to, but once I made the connection, I blushed furiously; I'd only had this build now for a month, but I wasn't yet really used to everything that came with it. I laughed nervously and said, "It's not that great, really… there's a lot more maintenance involved that's kind of a pain to deal with."

"Still, though… you're lucky because you're just about done growing, by the looks of it. People like me, despite being older, continue to look more childlike, making it harder for others to take me seriously." She shook her head and said, "Do you like magical artifacts?"

I very nearly missed her sudden subject change. After taking a moment to process, I said, "Um… yes, I guess; I've never seen any besides my grimoire, but the thought of them does fascinate me."

She grabbed for her hat, reached into it, and procured a small block of wood; it was roughly disc-like but instead of being round had eight sides. There was a small indentation in the top, and around it in eight cardinal directions were markings of some sort; I had recalled reading somewhere that they were called trigrams. She set it down in the center of the table and said, "This is my mini-hakkero, an elemental reactor. Shortly before we went to Makai it was given to me as a gift from an old friend; this thing is capable of amplifying the magic that is fed into it by the holder." She regarded it fondly. "She's the only reason I was able to beat you when you used that book on us; I really didn't have enough magic left in me to go eight more rounds with anybody, but thanks to this I was able to keep going, no problem."

I was a little surprised, to say the least. Despite everything, the girl seemed to be more energetic than anybody else I had ever met; to think that she needed the aid of an artifact to beat me, even when I didn't have a full grasp on the power of the book was more than a little strange. We both yawned at the same time, which made Marisa laugh; I looked about the room and said, "Do you by any chance have someplace I can go to change?"

She pointed towards the closed door. "In there." I excused myself, picked up my sack, and walked over to that room; it was dark in there when I opened the door, but after closing it behind me, a number of candles lit all at once. I surmised that it was some kind of proximity magic that would automatically light them, though I had no proof of that. The room surprised me, as it appeared to be a water closet like the kind we had back home; I shouldn't have been surprised, of course, since she had told me of the pipline.

I set the sack down and retrieved the green nightgown, setting it aside before disrobing; green was not a color I typically wore, but sometimes it felt good to be a little different now and then. I folded the dress I had just taken off and placed it into the sack, removed my hair band, and slipped the nightgown on. A mirror hung over the sink, and for the first time in my life I stopped to actually look at myself; I wouldn't have thought to do that had Marisa not said I was good looking, and for once I was actually concerned with my appearance. I no longer had the cuteness from when I looked younger, but now that I looked like a young adult I could actually see what she meant.

After picking up my sack, I exited the room and found Marisa standing over by the futon wearing just a plain white sleeveless shirt and bloomers. She looked up at me and I could have sworn her cheeks were tinted pink. She said, "There's just the one futon; you are okay with that?"

I laughed internally, since it was a little late to be asking that; it didn't matter to me, though. "This is a sleepover, is it not?" She seemed relieved after hearing that. I crossed the room and the two of use proceeded to crawl under the cover; thankfully she had an extra pillow for me, so we weren't necessarily crowded against each other. I must have been more tired than I originally thought because after a quick good night I was out.

I found myself standing in a well lit room; the walls were made of a grey stone and tapestries were hung all about. The floor was stone as well and a deep blue carpet stretched behind me and in front of me, going up a long staircase which ended in a landing with two more staircases branching out to either side. After getting my bearings I realized that I was somehow back in Pandemonium Castle in Makai.

"I'm not supposed to be here…" I whispered. "The last thing I remember was falling asleep at Marisa's house." I cupped my hands over my mouth and shouted, "Marisa! Are you there?"

After the echo died down, a voice which chilled me to the bone rung out from the top of the stairs. "Marisa? Who's that?" I slowly turned my head and looked up; there, at the top of the steps, was Shinki; goddess of Makai and the one that I call mother. I fell silent with fear; her voice was full of anger and contempt, "What's the matter, Alice dear? Afraid you might upset me if you speak up?" She scoffed. "Well I think we're a little beyond upset, now; don't you?"

I managed to find my voice, though it was very small, just like I learned that I was; once more trapped in my ten year old body. "Marisa's a friend of mine; I was staying over for the night, and-"

Shinki's voice boomed over mine. "A friend? A friend? This is one of the girls that had a hand in destroying Makai, your home, and you have the gall to call her a friend!"

Her words stung, and I could feel tears welling in my eyes; I managed to choke out, "She's been nothing but nice to me since we met-"

"You mean since she beat you up and tried to steal the grimoire; the same grimoire that you stole from me." I could feel the rage coming off of her. "At first I was just disappointed in you for leaving the castle like you did; it didn't matter to me that you couldn't beat them the first time. After my defeat, you should have just returned to your room and let it be; but for reasons I cannot fathom you let your human emotions get the better of you and swore revenge." She closed her eyes and almost appeared to calm down slightly. "You took something I expressly forbid you to touch, left the castle once again, and to make matters worse, you still didn't beat them! The last straw was when you left Makai completely, not even bothering to tell anyone that you were going to leave!"

I felt a weight hit me and I collapsed to the ground, sobbing; mother was suddenly hovering over me. My voice was barely audible; I said, "I'm sorry, mother…"

A new voice cut through the air; it was very soft, but I could hear it clearly. "Alice…"

"Yes, because sorry is going to cut it." Shinki spat at the ground beside me. "As far as I'm concerned, I no longer have a daughter."

She turned her back to me and started walking away, but I wasn't paying full attention to her; I recognized that voice that I heard earlier. "Marisa…?"

Mother stopped in her tracks and turned back around. "What, still calling out for your little witch?"

Again, Marisa's voice rang out, this time much stronger than before. "Alice, wake up!"

I could feel hands on me, and my vision darkened; in an instant, I was out.

I opened my eyes to complete darkness, save for a small amount of moonlight coming in through the window. My head darted all around trying to figure out where I was; this didn't look like the castle, though my eyes were blurred by unshed tears, so I couldn't get a good look at everything. It took me a moment to calm my breathing, as the experience had left me a little agitated.

As I was rubbing my eyes Marisa's voice rung out clear and strong; "Oh good, you're awake." I looked over at her only to see a concerned face as my eyes adjusted to what little light there was available. "Nightmare, ze?" I nodded. "You want to talk about it?"

It was a good idea to let it out, and for some reason I didn't hesitate to do so; I took a deep breath. "I was back in Makai, at the castle; I called out for you, since the last thing I remembered was falling asleep, and then mother appeared and started yelling at me. I… I couldn't stand up to her at all. Shinki can be very frightening at times, though she never showed that side to me, personally. She just kept needling into me and…"

Marisa smiled softly and reached over to grip my shoulder. "I guess that explains the crying and muttering; why do you think that's how she'd react, though?"

I shook my head. "I don't and that's the thing; I'm never going back, probably out of fear, so I'll never know what she really thinks of everything I did."

"Has Shinki ever left Makai?" Marisa asked.

I furrowed my brow. "Not since I've known her; why?"

She grinned. "You have nothing to worry about, then! If she doesn't leave her own realm, and you never go back, then there's nothing to be afraid of!"

It was silly logic, but sound nonetheless. I was breathing easier at that point, and what turmoil there had been in my mind was calming down. I smiled back and said, "Thank you, Marisa."

"Hey, no problem, ze! I hate to see friends in trouble." I was slightly taken aback that she so casually tossed about the word 'friend.' Admittedly, I did the same in my dream, but one has to remember that it was a dream, and I was a little desperate.

The ordeal had left me exhausted, so I closed my eyes again and said, "Good night, Marisa."

The last think I heard before sleep claimed me was, "Good night, Alice!"