Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I own nothing of touhou and familiar of zero, all character belongs to their respected creator.

Louise POV

The rest of the day seem to pass in an instant and memories of everything seemed to be mixed, or perhaps it just felt like that because her mind is so preoccupied. Feelings clashed with each other, fear of leaving this safe village, fear of never returning home, fear of losing hope, and fear of having hope… All these emotions mingled in her mind forming one question, should she go with Professor Colbert?

She couldn't answer it easily, she wanted to aid in the attempt to return home but what help could a failure of a mage like her provide. A part of her that is still held by the memories of her world constantly reminded her that her spells never worked; but another part of her, a part that just recently came to being, wondered if she really is useless. Didn't my explosions help the group against those wolves, they may not be like other magic but they have power behind them. Perhaps this power is what we need; perhaps this power could be helpful to our situation.

"Ahhhh!" Louise shouted and scratched hair head. What was she thinking! Did this world mess with her head or something, when did she gain this foolish confidence? Her magic haven't improved at all and she still couldn't cast a single spell successfully, she could not possibly be of any help to them.

"What are you doing Louise?" Kirche, who was sitting right next to her in the water, asked her.

"Nothing."

"You should just relax and enjoy the water; I never imagined there would be a hot spring in the village." Kirche remarked. Louise let out a sigh, perhaps she had been too tense she should have focused on enjoying this hot spring. As the moon rose, Keine brought everyone to a hot spring within the village to relieve the stress that has been building up. According to the locals the hot spring actually originated from the mountain and is reheated in the village, but it was still a big enjoyment for Louise's group.

"hah, this feels good."Louise remarked, around her she can see the other female members of her group having similar reactions. The male side over the wall seemed to be a lot noisier and excited as the sound of their laughter carried over the wall. Louise felt that this hot spring was exactly what she needed to organize her thoughts. That's right I'm a noble, I may be a failure but I have my pride as well, just staying here not moving forward would soil that pride. As she organized her thoughts she began to listen to that new part of her, the part that told her that even she have the ability to be helpful.

I'll volunteer tomorrow, she thought to herself, I would carry out my pride as a noble so when I go home I can look my mother in the eye and see her being proud of me. I won't be seen as a coward, I'll prove that I can do it. She didn't know whether these thoughts were logical or caused by the heat from the spring, but she believed in these thoughts and made her final decision.

-Second day-

Everyone waked up really early in the morning and went down stair to sort out the group. In the end Kirche, Tabitha, Guiche, Louise, Siesta and 4 other boys volunteered making it a final group of 10 people including Professor Colbert, the rest were given the task of taking care of the familiars in the village.

"Why did you volunteer Siesta?" Louise asked the maid, she could have stay at the village it would be really dangerous for someone who don't have magic to come.

"When I was back in my village I went out hunting with my family before, so I have experience in finding my way in the forest. I thought that we might need my skill, since we are going into an unknown forest." Louise could understand the maid's decision to help since she made the same decision herself. Deep down she could feel a sense of kinship and respect for the maid.

"I'm sure you could be of great help." Louise said to her.

"Thanks"

"Okay group let's go, could you lead the way Miss Keine." Louise heard Professor Colbert said and they quickly followed him. As they walked towards the east side of the village the housing and people seemed to lessen, until finally they reached the edge of a forest. Unlike the forest they traveled through, this forest seemed to radiant an aura of mystical and it was much larger. It felt really weird to Louise since she had never felt something like this.

"This is the forest of magic," Keine said, "I can only lead you guys here, head for northeast Marisa's home is in that direction. The rest is all on you I wish you guys' good luck." Then she left and walked back towards the village.

"Well let's go now." Professor Colbert said to the group and then they ventured once again into the unknown territory.

They walked and walked and walked. Hours passed but there were no sight of any building or any signs of this magician they were searching for. The surrounding forest is full of plants they have not seen before radiating an aura of mystery, which was helped by the thing mists that is around the forest, occasionally wild animals would hop out startling the group.

"Remarkable, I have not seen any plants or mushrooms like this." Professor Colbert remarked while observing a mushroom that had a cap the size of Louise. As they travelled into the forest they saw numerous mushrooms that were gigantic, in fact all the plants seemed to become bigger as well as stranger.

"Professor we need to keep moving." Louise said. Then she felt a tap on her shoulder, so she turned around and found that it was Siesta who seems to be looking at a something.

"What's wrong?" Louise asked, she was acting kind of weird.

"I feel like we're being watched, do you have this feeling?" Louise shook her head, she didn't feel anything, and the sun was still in the sky so the forest did not feel threatening. Can it be that Siesta is just too nervous?

"Are you sure it wasn't your imagination?"

"No, I'm certain there is someone there!" Siesta said with a tone of certainty, suddenly she began walking towards that direction. Seeing that Siesta seemed to have detected something, Louise quickly turned and notified Professor Colbert; and they begin to follow Siesta's lead.

After following Siesta for 10 minutes, she suddenly stopped and this surprised Louise.

"What's wrong?" Louise asked

"The feeling it's gone." Siesta answered.

"I guess it was just your imagination then." Kirche remarked, but then they saw Tabitha looking behind them.

"What's wrong Tabitha?" Kirche asked.

"The group, they're gone." Tabitha said.

"What!" Louise shouted out of surprise, she looked around and saw that the only people left were her, Siesta, Kirche, Tabitha and Guiche. Everyone else was gone, but they should have been behind her a moment ago.

"How is this possible, Professor Colbert and the others should have been behind me a minute ago!" Guiche said after realizing that he was now at the back of the group.

"Maybe they just got lost? Anyway we have to find them right now or we might get lost." Louise said, she doubts that the rest of the group would get lost in just a few minutes but she didn't what to think about the other implications.

So the group began to trace their steps backward, yet the forest seemed to have become an ever shifting maze, they couldn't tell whether they had been going in circles or not. Everywhere they looked it looks different while also kind of similar, so after an hour or so of running around they sat down on the ground feeling tired.

"I guess we can conclude that we're the ones who are lost." Kirche said.

"Yeah I can see that, but what do we do now? If night time comes this place could get a lot more dangerous we need to find the way back to the village." Louise replied, she didn't what to stay in the forest for the night, she still have nightmares about the last time they were in the forest.

"I guess we can shot some spells to attract attention, maybe the rest of the group would see it." Guiche suggested.

"That's a terrible idea, what if it attracts something other than human." Louise can see Tabitha nodding her head in agreement to what she said. Siesta on the other hand was walking around suddenly she stopped at a spot.

"Everyone come here and look." She yelled to them, and as everyone gathered to the spot Siesta is, but they couldn't see what she found.

"What did you find?"

"Look here," Siesta pointed to the ground, "Some of the grass had been pressed onto the ground, someone walked through here a moment ago. Let's follow the tracks; it might lead us towards the rest of the group."

Louise looked at everyone else; it seemed that everyone agreed with what Siesta said since they didn't have any other choices, so they began following Siesta through the forest. Good thing she came with us, otherwise we would have been lost completely, Louise thought, and sadly it was the only thing that was going their way that day. As they kept on walking they suddenly heard something.

"Shhh. Everyone quiet down." Louise said, and they listened as the sound become clearer. It was the sound of someone humming, and from the tone of it he or she was very happy. Could it be someone from the group or maybe one of the villagers? They silently followed the sound of the humming and soon they found the source, it was a blonde girl in a large black hat. She was wearing clothes that were black and white color while carrying a couple baskets on her back and picking up mushrooms.

"It's a person." Louise breathed a sigh of relief, they finally found someone. Maybe she could tell them where the village is –

What a minute, she is wearing black and white! Could she be the magician they are looking for?

"Excuse me." Siesta walked up and said. The girl turned around and looked at them with a confused face and replied.

"That's strange never seen you folks around here before ze. I didn't think that anyone from the village would come this deep into the forest of magic. You guys are either really brave or really stupid." The blonde-haired girl said to them, Louise felt she should have been a bit insulted by that comment, but now's not the time.

"Are you the black-white magician?" Louise asked her, but it seemed to displease the blonde girl a bit.

"I am but I don't think you should call someone you just seen by their nickname, I got a name you know; it's Marisa Kirisame not black-white ze." The girl, Marisa replied. Louise was glad they found the person they were looking for at least, but also surprised at how young the person is she seemed only a few years older than them. Maybe she could help them find Professor Colbert and help them go home.

"We were told that you could give us some help, so we came to the forest to find you and we-"

"Hold on a minute, let's not start chatting right here, we can talk about it at my house. Now give me some help bringing this basket of mushroom back and I'll listen to your story okay." Marisa said while handing a basket of mushroom to each member of Louise's party. The basket was actually quite heavy, and Louise felt surprised that Marisa can carry them so easily.

"While let's go, follow me." Marisa said as she lead the party, Louise was happy they found the person they were looking for but also worried about the rest of the group. I hope he and the rest are okay.

Yumemi's side POV

"Interesting, highly interesting. I never thought I would find something so interesting in a world like this." Yumemi remarked as she examined the water spirit they just caught from the lake known as Lagdorian Lake. She and Chiyuri had made world hopped using the vessel back toward the Halkeginia world again, with a list of priorities including capturing spirits, kidnapping elves and stealing relics. But all that had changed; she had found something she had never imagined before in this world.

When they first arrived at this world she decided to capture spirits first, so after some "friendly persuasion", one of her test subjects, called Montmorency, revealed to her the position of a water spirit. So by setting her priority as capturing the water spirit, she used the vessel to travel to the Lagdorian Lake.

It was a simple job luring the spirit out, the test subject "gladly" aided in their experiment; she didn't even need to use Relationship Building-kun (torture device). The girl lured out the spirit with the pack that her family made to it, and all Yumemi needed to do was set up the devices needed to capture the spirit all around the lake. She will admit the spirit out performed what she had expected, considering it destroyed 5 out of 10 S.E.S.s (Spirit Energy Suppressors) that she had set up and nearly broke free. But in the end it seemed to have tired itself out before it broke free.

But what caused Yumemi so much surprise was not the power the spirit possessed but its components.

"Chiyuri have you seen the data from the analysis, it was truly remarkable." Yumemi said to Chiyuri who was standing next her in front of the lake. She was busy coordinating the S.E.S.s used to imprison the water spirit, who was still occasionally attacking the ball-shaped barrier created by the S.E.S.s.

"No, what's so remarkable? You have been observing this thing since you got the data." Chiyuri asked, she hasn't seen Yumemi this excited since she created the Disunified Field Theory of Magic.

"Chiyuri, do you know how embodiments of nature are created?" Yumemi asked.

"Heh. Wasn't it created when a concept of that aspect of nature gathered the energy of 'JING' and 'QI' to gain form and a sense of self? Why did you ask?" Chiyuri was confused; it should be pretty much common sense.

"Exactly, and that's what surprised me! According to the analysis, this being is made from nothing other than magical energy! There is a concept but it isn't associated with the center of its existence. In short it should be impossible of something like this to exist, it shouldn't have a sense of self, its existence is actually closer to a magic spell than an actual being." Yumemi said with high excitement, she was about as happy as she had first proven her Disunified Field Theory of Magic.

"That's impossible… I guess it would be a bit hypocritical to say that." Chiyuri remarked. Yumemi could understand her; people usually have a sense of disbelief when the world overturns their understanding.

"Chiyuri change of plan, we are going to figure out how these being came into being without concept aiding them and attempt to reproduce the result."

"What about the other things such as elves and the void magic?"

"Who gives a shit about those backward things! The world of science had made another discovery today that must be solved, everything else are merely noises distracting us!" Yumemi shouted, she felt so alive at the aspect of something so interesting and best of all there would be no one to stop her.

"It's so like you to say something like that." Chiyuri said, "Very well, but what should we do with this water spirit after we are done analyzing? We can't bring it with us; it's connected to the lake."

"Destroy the lake. Bring only part of it with us; the spirit should still be connected to the part we bring, that way we can carry it with us as a test subject."

This was the truth behind the disappearance of Lagdorian Lake, but only few know about it. No one knows it yet, but this is the prologue of a chain of events that would forever change Halkeginia. The stage has been set and the pieces are in motion, there is no one who can stop the changes that have yet to come.

Author's note: So Colbert lives, I'm not going to switch to the village's view for quite a while so I'll say this here, the rest of the group returned to the village but got sick from the magical spores drifting in the forest (some of the mists are actually spores) and was paralyzed for quite a while.

Now fanon explanation time, S.E.S. is a device created by Yumemi in the fanon game tragedy of Gensokyo, it suppresses the power of the opponent and can cause weak opponents to become powerless while in the field of its power. It was quite troublesome in the game but didn't work against the stronger Touhou characters which have too much power and cannot be suppressed (like Reimu, Kaguya, Yukari, Yuuka, etc.). The "JING" and "QI" ideas came from the touhou rp Edge of Perspective. I also think Yumemi blowing up a lake is believable (since there is the four dimension bomb and no one to stop her), her personality is a lot worse than canon (cause it's based on her personality in tragedy of Gensokyo ).

Now finally spoilers, Louise and co. is not leaving the forest of magic for a while, I'm having them become apprentice for Marisa. Halkeginia will get dragged in to a TITANIC experiment done by Yumemi that will destroy the setting so much that you probably wouldn't recognize it anymore, and finally WAR. Once again thank you for reading, please provide me with suggestions, and sorry for grinding canon to dust.