The Forest of Magic was quiet, save only for light footsteps and the crunch of dead leaves and twigs. Mokou, head hung low, carried the limp and battered Medicine deep in the Forest in an attempt to find Alice. The territory was new for the immortal and finding either the witch or puppeteer would be a long shot. "I'm sorry..." is all Mokou said, over and over for what seemed to be years for her. Wind kicked up, the clouds darkening and rolling in. A heavy storm was approaching the Forest, Mokou could care less though.
"Hm..wonder if the witch is doing anything..." Someone said, standing on a tree branch and looking around. "Doubt it with the rain..I should get going too..my wings will be ruined in the rain." Aya groaned, flapping her wings in an early attempt to dry them off from what little moisture was on them. "There that should...Mokou?" She said, quickly jumping off the branch and running to the gray haired woman. "Mokou!"
Mokou kept walking aimlessly, ignoring the tengu.
"Hey..Mokou?" Aya said, catching up and place a hand on her shoulder. She looked at her, then noticed Medicine. She held back a gasp. "Looking for..Alice then huh?" She asked, trying to touch the topic as lightly as possible.
The immortal stopped, nodding very slowly. "Y-yea...where is she?" she voice was horse and worn out.
Aya bit her lip. "C'mon..follow me..." She said, leading the immortal to the doll maker's house. 'God..she seems really torn up about this...' the crow though, sighing lightly. "Any..um..any idea who did this?"
"Yuuka..."Mokou muttered, holding Medicine even closer against her.
Aya nodded, taking out a small piece of paper and quickly scribbling a note. "You..seen this happen right?"
Mokou nodded. "Yea.." she said, her voice cracking lightly.
The tengu scribbled some more. "You came at the right time though." She said.
"I didn't..Medicine needed someone to be there and I wasn't..." the Fujiwara said.
Aya turned her head to look at Mokou. The immortal was visible crying, trying to hold it back as much as she could though. "Mokou, look...I know we barely know each other...but you don't have to act tough around me." She said, trying to help the situation. The tengu stopped walking and turned around. Mokou glanced up very lightly.
"I'm not trying to act tough alright?" the gray haired woman said, looking up now. "I lived nearly a eleven hundred years alone...and I find someone like me..."
Aya bit her lip once more. "I see..I'm sorry for my words then" Aya said, bowing.
"Yea yea..." Mokou muttered, starting to walk again. "How far is her house?"
The tengu looked ahead and pointed. "A few minutes that way...you need me to keep going with you?"
Mokou shook her head. "I got this..thanks though." She said, quickly getting stopped by the tengu. "...what?"
Aya handed the immortal the small paper scrap. "Take it. I jotted down some things." the tengu said, extending her wings as Mokou gripped the paper. "I'll be going now..good luck."
"Thanks..." Mokou sighed, seeing Aya flap her wings and slowly hover off the ground, then fly away. The immortal walked on towards the small black blot in the Forest, Alice's house. The rain had just started, the few drops evaporating as they touched the phoenix's clothing and skin.
"This day sucks~ze!" Marisa groaned, kicking the door open on Alice's house.
"Thank you for knocking..." Alice sighed, putting down a screw driver for a small doll.
"Aw, but it's fun this way!" the witch pouted and dropping herself on the couch.
"And thanks for just making yourself at home..." Alice complained.
"Eh, who cares~ze?"
"Just..forget it.." Alice grumbled, returning to work on her doll.
The rain picked up, light booms of thunder already arriving with the faint rain. "Sounds like it's gonna be one hell of a storm." Marisa said.
"Yep.." Alice said, trying to focus more on the doll than the witch in her house.
The rain steadily grew heavier, coming down in sheets.
Mokou kept walking, ignoring the fact she was soaking wet, but keeping Medicine's body completely dry with a heated aura. "Medicine look..thunder." She said. "You're not a afraid right? I'm here..everything's okay." Mokou said, trying to remain in a sane state of mind. She listened to another crack of thunder and promptly held Medicine against her. "Sh..shh..it's fine.."
Marisa poked her head to the window, rubbing the glass to defog it. "Wow! It's coming down in sheets~ze!" She said, laughing lightly.
"And this is funny how?" Alice asked, putting down her tools and putting the doll on a shelf.
"Someone's outside!"
Alice walked over and looked. "You're right...but it's not nice to laugh at them Marisa!" Alice scolded her friend.
"Their fault for walking outside in the rain~ze."Marisa said, shrugging.
"Though..she looks kinda familiar..and she's carrying something." Alice said, getting closer to the glass to look.
"Eh? You sure?"
"Positive! In fact..she looks like..."Alice said, gasping.
"What? What is it~ze?"
The person vanished out of sight, a light knocking being her a second after.
Alice slowly got up and walked to the door. "H-hello?"
"Let me in..." The voice said.
Marisa's eye's flew open, her hand grabbing her hakkero. "Let her in...and I'll blast her."
Alice opened the door, Marisa jumping into attack, but dropped the hakkero at the sight. Alice covered her mouth.
Mokou, drenched from head to toe, shivering and shaking, carrying Medicine's still limp body.
"Is..is that..." Alice asked.
Mokou nodded, slowly and unsteadily walking to Alice. "Please...help her...I'm begging you..."
Marisa, eyed the Fujiwara. "How?" She asked.
"Yuuka...I came too late..." Mokou said, slowly lifting her hanging head to look at Alice. Her eyes, red from crying. "Please Alice.."
Alice, still in shock, slowly nodded and gently took Medicine and hurried over to a large table, placing the doll on it and looking at her carefully.
Mokou rubbed her eyes and slowly walked to the couch and sat down.
The witch walked over, sitting next to her. "Aren't you uncomfortable in those wet clothes~ze?"
Mokou shook her head, sighing. "Nope..." she glanced up at Alice, who was busy gathering tools.
Alice looked up at Mokou. "You care for her huh?" she asked, seeing Mokou nod. "I think I can fix her body..but.." She didn't want to say the rest.
Mokou nodded, biting her lip and hanging her head. "Just try..please Alice." She begged once more.
"I will..don't worry..she might have tried to kill me a good number of times, but she's a doll and I can't turn one away." Alice said, grabbing a screwdriver.
Mokou smiled lightly. "Heh..good times."
"Eh? You tried to kill us too ya know~ze."the witch said.
"Just a bluff, you gotta stop being so judgmental." Mokou chuckled lightly
"Exactly what I've been trying to tell her." Alice said, stopping her work as a thunder boom was heard.
Mokou shot her head up and looked at Medicine. "It's okay...I'm here..."
The two blond mages looked at Mokou, confused.
"She's afraid of thunder..."
"Oh..I see." Alice said with a faint smile. 'Medicine might not even make it and Mokou's still thinking like she's alive...' she though.
The house was eerily quiet for hours, the only sounds being the sounds of Alice as she worked.
"So..Yuuka did this huh~ze?"
Mokou nodded. "Yep..." she said. She was dried up now, but still damp.
"Does she know you're here?" Alice asked.
"Don't think so..if she does...sucks to be her." Mokou said, lighting a fireball in her hands.
Marisa backed up a bit, then nervously looked outside. Nothing but rain in sheets. "Really coming down now."
"You're telling me..." A voice said.
"Speak of the devil.." Alice groaned, picking up the in repair Medicine and hurrying her into Alice's bedroom.
"I knew she was going to follow me!" Mokou growled, storming over to the door. She ignited her hands and reared back.
"Mokou! You know it's raining right?" Marisa said, arming her hakkero once more.
"Don't care!" Mokou yelled, tackling through the door and slamming the person behind it into the ground. The fire around her was quickly put out, but her enraged state kept her in a mental state of flames.
Yuuka laughed under the weight of the immortal. "Glad to see you still know my voice!" She said, kicking the immortal off of her body and jumping up, the rain washing the mud off.
Mokou recoiled off the ground and braced herself. "Get away from her.." Mokou growled.
"Wow, like a little dog." Yuuka giggled. "Even after the master has gone and DIED, the dog will still stay by their side." the flower youkai said.
Mokou's eyed flared open, her fists clenching together and diving at Yuuka. "NO SHE'S NOT!" She yelled, connecting with a powerful straight punch to the youkai's face. The green haired woman jerked back, then quickly snapped back into her old place, a twisted grin on her face.
"Lap...dog.." Yuuka chuckled, bashing her umbrella against Mokou's head. Mokou took the blow and retaliated, the immortal and youkai battling back and forth.
Marisa ran outside, her witch's hat keeping her a bit dry. She aimed the hakkero at Yuuka, waiting for the right time. "C'mon...lemme get the right shot~ze..."She muttered.
Yuuka ducked, using the slick mud from the rain to slide back. Sh aimed her umbrella as Marisa, who dropped her aim, and fired. "It's my battle with the dog, not your battle!" Yuuka yelled, Marisa narrowly dodging the laser. Marisa took the slight pause, putting her hakkero away with one hand and whipping her other hand, shooting out star shaped danmaku.
Yuuka chuckled again, step siding the stars. "Is that the best you got?" She yelled, splitting into two Yuukas once more. The two aiming their umbrellas, one at Mokou, the other Marisa. "Hatred Sign: Double-Edged Spark!" She yelled, a giant, twisting laser suddenly launching from the laser and rocketing for the two females.
Marisa gasped and tried to block herself with a few quick danmaku surges, but the laser connected, sending the witch slamming against Alice's house and falling to the ground.
Mokou rushed through the laser, suddenly stopping halfway through and groaning a bit.
"Too much now huh?" One of the Yuuka's said, the two of them both aiming their umbrellas at her. They laughed, suddenly blasting the Fujiwara with a concentrated blast of pure magical energy. A loud scream, a laugh, and the heavy fall of rain.
Alice looked up towards her bedroom door, halting her already rushed work on Medicine. "Did..did she get them?"
The scream echoed, slowly getting lower.
Alice looked down, the doll, suddenly moving lightly. "M-Medicine?" She asked, seeing the tsukumogami open her eyes.
"Mokou!" She yelled, sitting up and looking around. "Where am I? What's going on?" She asked, panting nervously, soon seeing Alice. "You..." She growled, trying to attack her, but falling to the ground.
Alice picked the doll up and sat her down. "Medicine, listen. Mokou brought you here to have me repair you..she though you died when Yuuka attacked you! Yuuka's out there right now trying to get you!" Alice said.
Medicine eyed the doll maker. "Was..that just..?" She asked seeing Alice nod slowly. Medicine growled, soon slowly and very unsteadily getting up. Alice grabbed the doll, only getting pushed away. "I'll...kill...her..." Medicine growled, her body twitching.
"Medicine, you can't fight like this! You're still being repaired!"
"I don't care!" Medicine yelled. She slowly walked over to the bedroom and opened it, leaning against it and panting. She gazed outside the house, the front door ripped clean off from Mokou's assault. Her gaze dropped n Yuuka, casually kicking Mokou around like a rag doll.
Alice hurried over and bit her lip, not knowing what to do. "M-Mokou..."
Medicine's sanity finally snapped at this point. Her body twitched more and her weakened pace slowly grew stronger as the doll walked outside. "Yuuka...get away from her!"
Yuuka looked over. "Hey! You're awake! About time..I got bored." She giggled, stepping on Mokou.
"Get off of her!" She yelled, stepping into the rain. Her body was still extremely battered and her joints were nearly shattered. She panted heavily and gripped her side.
"You can barely walk, let alone do anything to stop me." Yuuka said, sitting on the immortal. "Tell you what, one free shot, go ahead."
Medicine growled and tried to form a poison weapon, the liquid welling extremely shakily and soon sloshing to the ground.
"No poison either." Yuuka sighed. "Oh well."
Medicine slowly walked over to Yuuka, falling in the mud multiple times and hearing Yuuka laugh. The tsukumogami got up every time, reaching up to Yuuka. "Run...now..." She said.
"Hm..nope." the flower youkai replied.
Alice ran outside, looking at the battlefield, spying Marisa and hurrying over to her.
Medicine reached Yuuka, and gripped her collar as tightly as she could, light popping from her joints being heard.
"Breaking huh?" Yuuka laughed again, tilting her head back and closing her eyes.
Medicine yelled, tightly gripping Yuuka's neck and hearing her choke. Yuuka's eyes flushed open and she tried to rip the doll's fingers off her neck. "I said...GET OFF OF MOKOU!" she yelled, hurling the youkai off with all of her might. Yuuka was sent blazing off to the side, colliding with a number of trees.
Medicine panted and looked at her hand. The throw shattered the joints, her hand useless now excelled for poison.
Yuuka groaned, slowly getting up. "That's it you worthless piece of wood! I'll kill you and your pet!"