A/N: Sword Art Online 2, Episode 24. That's all I'll say.
The dying screams of Youkai General Antarius tore through the island, his wounds having overcome his body, death finally claiming the man who killed so many innocents.
As his body melted away into the earth, two figures could be seen next to him.
Blood matching the fresh shade of red that was her hakama running down her body, the first woman had messy brown black hair, her ribbon only barely hanging on as her downcast eyes revealed no emotion, as her deep breaths signified exhaustion. A bloody Gohei fitted with two white Shidei had been broken, its stems in half.
A modified Shrine Maiden's dress had been soaked by blood, both her own and the enemies, as behind her, thousands of Youkai bodies continued to melt into the earth, each having been slain by her own hand, as well as the one beside her.
Dark burns and blackened hands could be seen on the second woman's, even as her black witch dress showed signs of intensive damage to the inner areas, several stab wounds making their presence known with extreme bleeding. One of her eyes shone out from underneath her messy blonde hair, a single eye filled with exhaustion and hope, a bright spark within.
The remains of the Mini-Hakkero had been scattered about the area, its final Spark having been the largest Laser in history.
Limping towards the massive tree residing in the center of the island, the two women leaned against it, before looking to the sky and its bright orange shade, the sunset having begun.
Pulling out a piece of candy from one of her pockets, the first slowly chewed the sweet, strawberry flavored candy, savoring its taste while her own wounds continued to degrade.
Handing a second to the other woman, the blonde haired woman chewed on her own strawberry candy.
The smallest of smiles appeared on both of their faces, as the first commented, "We did it."
The second responded, "Yeah. We did it ze."
The two pairs of eyes, one brown and the second golden, both gleaming with triumph and joy, each of them content with their results.
"Reimu! Marisa!"
A quick glance up revealed Alice, the seven colored Puppeteer, a dear friend and ally of the two injured woman.
Her bright blonde locks whipped about in the gentle wind that was slowly dying, her baby blue eyes filled with worry and determination.
"Konichiwa, Alice!" Marisa greeted cheerfully, all of her old confidence still present.
Marching right up to the duo, Alice yelled, "Honestly, the nerve of you two! Do you have any idea how worried we've been for you?!"
"Don't worry, we'll be fine." Reimu said, her stance straight, her posture perfect.
"Let me just sit down..." Marisa said, as the duo sat against the tree, their breaths deep and peaceful.
Sighing with exasperation, Alice murmured as she sat down as well, "Honestly you two... You're always making trouble, but even so, you're still our leaders."
A tear ran down Alice's cheek, until she began crying, her quiet tears streaming down her face as she whispered, "Why? Why did you two have to go so far forward in the assault..? We were almost there with you, just a few more minutes and-"
A hand clapped down on Alice's shoulder, jolting her out of her stupor, her worried blue eyes connecting with Marisa's confident golden ones.
A grin of embarrassment and determination was set on Marisa's face as she said, "Antarius was almost done with the Boundary Destroyer, and if he gained access to that power, he would have been able to even defeat Yukari, who was already running interference to buy us time. Had we waited, we would have been too late. That's why... We had to forge on."
To the side of of her, Reimu added, "Antarius has had over a thousand years to develop the spell, and his power was already too great... That's also why we faced him down alone, we didn't want any of you hurt."
"You bakas..." Alice whispered, after wiping her tears away, before putting Reimu and Marisa's hands together commenting, "Now you two look like a couple."
The trio laughed a bit, their chuckles sounding out through the area briefly before dying down.
A small wind gusted through the area, the vibrations from the flying squad overhead dropping down as they landed. The squad of eight rushed over, kneeling down in respect as Marisa said, "Huh, how did you guys get here so fast? I thought his forces were still holding you up ze..."
"Oh spare the thought book thief, did you honestly think that such rabble could h-hold us up?" Sakuya retorted, her own voice cracking slightly despite her attempts to remain stoic.
All around them, Sakuya, Flandre, Patchouli, Yukari, Yuyuko, Youmu, Sanae, and Suika kneeled, each one walking up to comfort the duo, many of them crying.
A far larger gust of wind blew through the air, as the group looked up, to see the entire population of Gensokyo flying through the air.
Thousands of humans and Youkai flew through the air, rushing to reach the island quickly as possible as Reimu said, "Heh, who ever knew that we deserved such a large pass away audience..?"
As scores of people landed on the island to pay their own respects, Marisa chuckled, "All this time, I always questioned our existence, as to why we were alive, as to why we were chosen for what we've done. But now I realize, that I don't care. I realize that no matter what life has chosen for us, that we control our own fate. We dictate the path that our lives take, and I can say that I don't regret it. We, don't regret out paths."
Reimu added her own words, "Ever since I was little, I always knew that we would be fighting for Gensokyo. That some day, and Incident would occur that would result in casualties, would result in death. But just Marisa said, we don't regret it."
Alice spoke up again, her tears flowing down as she said, "We'll see you again one day, alright? No matter where you go, no matter what happens, I'll find you, and give you the biggest scolding of your lives, got it?"
With a grin, Marisa laughed and said, "Got it mom. We'll be waiting for you guys. So we'll see you all again one day, okay?"
With the same grin, Reimu smiled and spoke, "Farewell to you all. One day, we'll all see each other again. And when I do, I'm going to beat every single one of you into the ground, got it?"
Yukari chuckled behind her fan, her eyes shining with tears as she said, "I, we'll be looking forward to that. I'll be sure to beat you, Reimu."
"We can finally end our journey... Right Reimu?" Marisa whispered, her words sounding out through the island clearly.
"Hm. Our journey can finally end Marisa, so we'll... See you all later." Reimu whispered, her eyes closing against Marisa's shoulder.
As the duo's eyes slowly closed while leaning on one another, a final thought made itself known from them,
"Death isn't the end. So see you all later. For it is in death that we achieve peace, but in death that we cause sorrow. but before we leave...
We just wanted to say...
Arigatou, everybody..."