Stage 4
Alice searched the front hall, and a few side rooms. She was surprised by the
apparent lack of any traps or other security measures. Perhaps they had been disabled by
Sakuya? After all, none of the fairies around her when she was fighting had attacked.
Eventually, she began to hear a group of voices. They were coming from behind a large pair
of doors. The voices were all female, and she recognized at least one of them.
She opened the door to find a row of fairies guarding the library. They open fire and
activate a few kunai-throwing traps, until they spot the book in Alice's hands. The traps
shut off and the fairies cease fire immediately, returning the bullets they had shot before
Alice had to bother dodging.
"Strange." Alice thought to herself. "Why did they retreat? Oh well, saves me a lot
of time. I am behind enough as it is." She resumed following the trail of voices, which
were fortunately loud as well as continuous, so they weren't hard to follow.
Alice found the owners. A small girl with long purple hair that is tied up in several
ribbons, purple eyes almost the same color as her hair, wearing a pure white nightgown and
holding a large, leather-bound novel. Alice did not recognize her at all.
A much younger red-haired girl with bat-like wings on her back and sticking up
through her hair, wearing a black dress and white sleeves. She was definetly odd looking.
It was true that the Scarlet Devil Mansion was inhabited by Devils.
The third girl was a human girl in her mid-teens. She had short blonde hair, was
riding a broom (the other two were floating), wearing a witch's dress and hat. Certainly
Marisa Kirisame.
"Marisa Kirisame." Alice yelled suddenly to grab her attention.
All three of the other girls stopped in the middle of their conversation and turned
to Alice. Alice became frightened. If she was not welcome, she may have to fight the other
two, or worse, aggravate all three.
"I figured you'd show sooner or later, ze." Marisa growled half-angrily. "Must be
important if you'd follow me all the way to the Scarlet Devil Mansion of all places, ze."
Marisa tapped her broom and flew over to Alice to discuss with her, flying in circles
around her.
Alice could not seem to find the words, and began to stammer. "I.... I...." She had
forgotten what she wanted to say. Had she come this far, just to forget? When did she
forget? Was it during the heat of the battles she fought to get here? Or perhaps when she
heard Marisa's voice.
"You're useless." Marisa sneered at Alice. "Anyway, I was talking to Patch. Excuse
me." The young black magician flew away from Alice, back to the other two, and resumed
conversation with the girl in the pajama-like outfit.
"Wait!" Alice screamed impulsively. She couldn't hold it in any longer. "I risked my
life to come here, so at least hear me out."
"No shouting, please. This is a library." The purple-haired girl began to speak
directly to Alice. "If you're going to talk, be quiet or I'll have to kill you."
Alice largely ignored her threat.
"Marisa Kirisame. I love you!"
The blonde, human magician nearly fell off her broom in shock as Alice shouted that.
The purple-haired girl was furious, while the odd-looking demoness was confused.
"No, Alice," Marisa quietly spoke. "you can't."
"I know I shouldn't, but I can't help it. I've had a feeling ever since we met in
battle, but I never knew what it was. I never knew what it was, but...."
Marisa cut Alice off. "It's not that, ze. You see, Patchouli... is my girlfriend."
As Marisa said this, the anger in Patchouli finally snapped. She pulled out a large
book, unlocked it, and began moving her lips.
"Patchouli, stop!" Marisa begged in vain.
Emotion faded from Patchouli's face. "No. Alice Margatroid shall die. And I shall
kill her."
[BGM : Voile the Magic Library]
Fireballs appeared around Patchouli in a dense spherical cloud. The cloud began
rotating around Patchouli and some of the fireballs flew off, flying towards Alice. She
couldn't use her dolls her or they'd burn to a crisp. Of course, Alice has that danger as
well. There was no way out. Patchouli was serious. She wanted Alice dead. Most battles
ended when one side can't fight more. This one was going to be a lot harder to win. Alice
began firing streams of magic balls at the center of the firestorm, assuming Patchouli to
be encased in the flames. The blind battle continued, surprisingly leaving the library and
the books themselves untouched. A few seconds later, the Spellcard shattered and the flames
burned out.
Alice was right about Patchouli being at the center of the firestorm, but she was
somehow unscathed by her attack. Patchouli's face was emotionless still. "Fine. If you
choose not to burn, I will find another way to kill you." Four large, red lasers extended
from Patchouli's body and began rotating around her. Rows of bullets formed between the
lasers, and aimed at Alice.
Alice tried to stay near the lasers without touching them, and moving between gaps in
the bullets. The lasers faded away, and four more replaced them, rotating in the other
direction. She waited until they started to graze her, and then quickly moved to the side,
luckily timed to move between the bullets again. The lasers faded again, the bullets
stopped.
"You won't die. How irritating." Patchouli monotonly whined.
Marisa knew it was only going to get more dangerous. She understood Patchouli
literally wanted Alice to die right in front of her. "Patchie, please, leave Alice alone!"
She knew her protest could not convince an angered Patchouli to cease fire, but she tried
anyway. After all, the battle would end soon.
"Marisa. She has no right to be in my library, and she's noisy. She must die."
Patchouli flipped through her spell book and stopped on a particular page. "Ah. Perfect.
'How to eliminate rainbows.' Mix that with 'Destroy silly puppeteers' and this should be
simple."
Alice gave up waiting. Her life was in serious danger. She would accept a loss, but
this is not a normal duel. She had no choice but to open up her Grimoire and unleash a Last
Spell.
All four dolls vanished. The library was wrapped in a magic that placed the magicians
in a rainbow-colored cloud.
Gases enveloped Patchouli. Light blue, yellow, and green. "Water, Metal, and Forest
Sign - Birth of One-Thousand Five Hundred Spirits!" Patchouli's spell summoned a vast
number of large iron spheres that floated randomly throughout the cloud. Dense clouds of
water vapor stretched outward, liquifying into balls. Leaves and petals of various plants
flew throughout the area, slicing anything they touched in half. Alice could barely fight
back, concentrating on her final Spellcard to end the battle once and for all.
"Omni-colored Sign - Super Novae!"
Alice's magic formed around Patchouli in the shape of a star. It collapsed, turning a
bright red, and then expanded to a tremendous size before exploding, sending shrapnel in
every direction.
The purple-haired librarian girl, encumbered by both her physical condition, as well
as too focused on her own spell to dodge, countered this by casting a barrier around
herself, causing the magic shots to graze her, but not hurting her in any way.
A second star shaped formed, and turned orange instead of red, but otherwise behaved
the same as the first. Each time the initially white stars collapsed, they turned a
different, more potent, color and moved at a higher speed.
Yellow. Green. Blue. The speed had now become dangerously fast, but not enough.
Indigo. Violet.
It restarted the cycle, creating a second red star as the first one expanded, and
mimicing this behavior for the following spells. Alice was running out of tricks. This
would be the end of her. Plus, Patchouli's spell became terrifyingly dangerous.
Orange. Yellow. Green. Patchouli coughed.
The random barrage she created vanished and she coughed again, spitting up blood.
Alice ended her Spellcard, having miraculously defeated Patchouli.
Patchouli's breathing became heavy, and she clutched her chest as she fell into a
coughing fit. "An... asthma... attack." She coughed up more blood.
"Asthma?" questioned Alice.
Marisa grabbed the injured Patchouli, and stared into Alice's eyes. "I'm afraid so.
Patchouli is both anemic and asthmatic. She got too angered by you and fought harder than
usual." A strange, incredibly rare, sympathy found itself in her voice. "That's why I come
here to visit her. She's too weak to leave the Mansion."
Alice's chest began throbbing intensely. She was worn out from the fighting, as well
as Patchouli. Every beat of her heart sent pain throughout her entire body. But, it felt
weird. Not like normal pain, or anything Alice had experienced in a long time.
Patchouli coughed again. "Poor girl." Marisa soothed. "You shouldn't strain yourself
like that, ze."
"You're not -" a small cough interrupted Patchouli. "- my ... mother. So ...
shut...." She coughed up more blood, and began to fall into a violent fit.
Marisa looked at Alice again with the same look as before. "Alice, I have to take care of
her. Please, leave us alone. Let's talk about this later, ze."
A childlike voice beckoned Alice. "You've come to talk to the human girl, right? I
suggest leaving before she gets mad at you. Follow me." The young demon girl escorted Alice
out of the library.
In the gardens outside the mansion, a chinese girl was tending to some flowers. The
demoness turned to Alice. "That's Hong Meiling. Outsiders tend to call her 'China'. I would
not mess with her. She's pretty powerful. However, she slacks off often, and is not too
good at her job, which earns her a lot of ... reprimanding... from Sakuya. Oh, and I am
Koakuma. I am the assistant of Patchouli, the Mansion's librarian. As you know, she's
dangerous. If not for her illness, perhaps even more dangerous than the Head Mistress,
Remilia Scarlet, also known as the fearsome Scarlet Devil."
Alice thanked Koakuma for her information. "Koakuma, why are you telling me this?"
"We actually don't like fighting. Truth be told, we all hate it. But, the Head
Mistress has to eat somehow. Unfortunately, you are Youkai, so she can't eat you."
Marisa appeared, and tapped Alice on the shoulder. "That's enough. Come on, Alice."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stage 5
Marisa hopped on her broom and helped Alice onto it behind her. The two took off,
rapidly accelerating to an incredible speed. They took off in no particular direction.
Several minutes of silence passed by. Alice's mind was empty of any thoughts, as she
tried to soak in the peaceful air while she could.
"Hey, Alice." Marisa spoke suddenly, shattering the silence and nearly throwing Alice
off balance. "Don't try to tell me that back there, you said everything you came to say. I
know you better than that. You came too far for it to have been that easy."
Alice thought about Marisa's statement. She was unwilling to admit that she had in
fact, long since forgotten what she wanted to say to Marisa in the first place, the real
reason why she had followed Marisa all the way to one of the most dangerous places in
Gensokyo. So, she had to do what she was best at, what she had always done. Make up an
excuse.
"Of course not. After all, I wouldn't want to say everything in front of Patchouli."
"I don't see anyone around, so let it loose, ze." Marisa enticed Alice.
"I've had feelings for you ever since we met in Makai. I ... didn't know it was love
until I had shouted it from the top of my lungs."
"Heckuva time to find out, you idiot."
"I should apologize to Patchouli. I did not intend to break into her library and
confess to her girlfriend. I feel so, so guilty."
The sky began turning dark incredibly fast. A large storm had formed suddenly. Marisa
growled. "I'm not about to let a storm set me off course. Sorry, Alice, but we're going
straight in." Alice nodded in agreement.
The rain came down hard.
"Miss Kirisame, don't you think this storm feels unnatural? Like, maybe some youkai
is causing this?" Alice pointed out a feeling she had. She had been around enough youkai to
know when one was causing trouble.
"You're right. But, we're not too far away from the Hakurei shrine. Let's just head
there and bother the Shrine Maiden about it."
The rain grew remarkably fierce.
"Hey! Don't ignore me!" A girlish voice came from behind the two.
Marisa halted and turned around, staring the girl directly in the eyes. "Who are you,
and why should I care?" interrogated an angry Marisa.
"My name is Ameko Arashi, a water-nymph. And as far as why I'm here, well, I don't
feel like telling you that." she responded. She didn't seem to belong here. Or anywhere for
that matter. More than likely, this girl was from outside of Gensokyo. But, how? Her hair
was long and a dark reddish color, contrasted to her blue eyes. She looked to be about the
same age as Marisa, maybe a bit younger, of course, appearance tended to mean very little.
A large ribbon was tied to her hair, with an overly large bow on the left.
"So? Feel like ignoring me any more?" Ameko screamed, making the rain intensify even
further. "If you want flood rains, I'd suggest keep this up."
"Shut the hell up, dumb bitch. We don't care about your stupid storm." Marisa
taunted,revealing a small hexagonal object with enchanted markings on the edges, and a
small hole in the middle. "Besides, this is far more powerful, anyway.
Alice decided to intervene. "Miss Kirisame, I'll keep her busy. You go get Reimu."
Alice directed the rest of her speech at the nymph, and hopped off Marisa's broom, letting
her fly away. "If you want to play danmaku, let's play. You will regret picking a fight
with the Seven-colored puppeteer!"
[BGM : A Myriad Storms]
Triangular-shaped bullets fired out of Alice's aura in a spiral pattern. Blue, and
then green. They alternated direction and continued firing, repeating the pattern. Yellow.
Orange. Red. Ameko dodged Alice's non-spell based attack, and retaliated with her own
danmaku.
Five narrow beams of water magic shot out from Ameko towards Alice, with large
spheres between them, repeating every second. Alice squeezed herself as best as she could
in the small space she had.
"Shanghai." Alice summoned Shanghai, who began to emit a constant stream of magic at
Ameko. Her attacks ceased, and she activated a spell card.
"Rain Sign - A Dark Sky's Sorrow!"
A dozen evenly spaced triangle bullets formed a circle around Ameko. They spread out,
and stopped in place, as a second wave copied the same action. Bullets began spawning
overhead, mixing in with the rain. The circle of bullets around Ameko drew inward, and
continued their path around Ameko and then outward. More bullets continually repeated the
same patterns, and the waves picked up speed. Small disks of magic began collecting around
the area and moving around the storm in various, aimless, directions, amidst the pouring
rain and continuing storm of magic bullets.
The storm was starting to effect Alice's ability to both dodge, focus on shooting,
and controlling her dolls. She wasn't able to last much longer. Luck and patience were all
that kept her fighting. She gave up trying to outlast the storm, and instead chose to
obliterate it with a Last Spell.
"Omni-colored Sign - Phantasmal Circular Beam!"
Seven dolls materialized around Alice. They began to consume vast amounts of magic
from Alice, and stored it within themselves, letting it all out in a chain of explosions.
An eighth doll, dressed entirely in black, no expression on her face, long black straw
hair, and blank eyes, appeared on top of Alice's Grimoire, expelling a similar large wave
of black-tinted magic.
The first seven explosions collided, and turned into a single white wave. The
black-tinted magic from the eighth doll caught up to it, and turned the white explosion
grey, just before slamming into Ameko. As the wave traveled, all of the annoying water
nymph's danmaku was absorbed, and inflicted brutal injuries on Ameko herself. She began
bleeding. Her Spellcard broken, he body beaten, she could no longer cast any more magic.
She had been defeated.
"What? You won?! But..." Ameko began to pout.
"I'm sorry, but I have to meet with the Shrine Maiden. I can't let you stop me.
Please, don't hold this against me." Alice took off, headed in the direction of the Hakurei
Shrine to meet up with Marisa and return to the Scarlet Devil Mansion if she chose to.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marisa was not hard to find. She was in the courtyard of the shrine having tea, as
usual, with Reimu Hakurei, the Maiden of the Hakurei Shrine.
Reimu looked up as Alice arrived. "Ah, you're here." She stated, sipping her tea
calmly.
"I told her all about the odd rain-youkai. She isn't at all worried, but it is her
job to investigate, so we will." Marisa took a bite out of her sushi, and drank some more
tea.
Alice sat down with them. Shanghai floated over to Alice, and set down a basket, full
of Alice's lunch. "I apologize for the havoc I caused, Marisa."
Reimu finished her tea. "Havoc? Since when does the Seven-colored puppeteer cause
'havoc'?"
Marisa shook her head and hands, desperately trying to dodge the question. "Uh, let's
not worry about that. It's a long story. Let's uhh, go after that rain youkai, ze."
"Marisa!" Alice yelled at her for trying to avoid answering. "Apparently, I had found
out earlier today that Marisa has a girlfriend. Patchouli Knowledge of all people."
"She..." Reimu was in disbelief. "...has a ... girlfriend? I......." A long, akward
silence stalked the trio. As did a certain youkai.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stage 6
Lightning struck nearby. The sound startled Marisa and Alice. "Looks like we have a
visitor." sighed Reimu. She didn't really enjoy hunting youkai, but what could she do? She
was sworn to oath, as a descendent of the Hakurei bloodline, to hunt youkai.
Reimu hovered in the air with her faith powers to meet the so-called 'visitor'. A
childish, blonde haired girl with grey eyes, a dark grey dress, and large, puffy, wing-like
objects that resembled dark storm clouds attached to the base of her shoulders on her back,
and an angered expression.
"You're not Alice!" demanded the furious youkai. "I demand to fight Alice. My sister
said she was beat up by a girl named Alice." Lightning struck when she raised her voice.
Whoever she was, she was extremely powerful.
Reimu called Alice. "Be cautious. You wouldn't want to get hurt in front of your
precious Marisa, would you?" Reimu winked her right eye.
Alice flew next to Reimu, who decided to watch from afar. If something did happen to
her, Marisa could avenge her, but that seemed unlikely. She wasn't willing to give her the
chance anyway. Alice hated losing. She always has.
"My name is Mizuko Arashi. I am the embodiment of thunder and lightning. I'll make
you pay for hurting my sister." A monstrous storm cloud gathered in the sky directly
overhead. In the air is probably not the best place to be, but there isn't another choice
anymore.
"She attacked us for no reason! I was merely getting her away from me." Alice
reasoned.
"Liar! You attacked my Sis for fun, didn't you? I will make you pay, and suffer my
wrath!"
"I'M TELLING YOU, YOUR SISTER ATTACKED ME!" Alice was infuriated. She gets punished
for defending herself from a random attacker?
"I said shut up, you liar." Mizuko lost her control. Lightning and thunder flashed
repeatedly. The bangs became deafening.
"Just let me return to the Shrine. I apologize for harming -" Alice was interrupted.
"You aren't sorry for a thing. Worthless, petty liar." Mizuko sneered accusingly.
"Has it occurred to you that she was lying?"
"No way. She's my sister."
"And she is most likely sore over losing a fight. Its her fault for not realizing who
she picked a fight with." Alice had gotten tired of this youkai by now. She was being
incredibly annoying, as well as aggressive. It was about time she got rid of her.
"You made her bleed!"
"I'll make you bleed if you don't leave me alone."
They both prepared their attacks. It was going to be a long and difficult battle to
bring back peace.
[BGM: Delightful Chaos - Explosion of the Evening Sky]
"Fine. If that's what you think, go ahead. Prepare to die, puppet mistress!"
"If you are so convinced I'm guilty, you will meet your end here, stubborn youkai!"
Beams of electricity extrended outwards from Mizuko, bending slightly as they
traveled. Diamond-shaped bullets shout out from her in a fan shape, with the center of the
fan aimed at Alice.
Alice got as close to the bullets as she could without touching them, giving herself
room to dodge more efficiently. So long as the bullets remained aimed, the closer she
stayed to them, the less they moved. The less they moved, the less she had to move to dodge
them. Shanghai materialized in front of Alice, firing a beam of magic directly at Mizuko.
The lasers faded and the bullet fan disappeared. The lasers reformed, rotating in a
clockwise manner around Mizuko. The bullet fan began to repeat. Keep track of the lasers,
and the attack is an easy dodge.
Alice's magic lost its effect suddenly. The damage she had been causing vanished, and
her streams merely grazed Mizuko as she erected a symbol around herself, activating her
first Spellcard.
"Lightning Sign - Alternating Current!"
More lasers eminate from Mizuiko's cloud shaped wings. They rapidly bent at a sharp
angle, all individual of each other, extended a short distance, and bent again with
remarkable speed. The fight immediately became a guessing game of where the beams would
extend to. There was enough of a hint to go on though, and the beams did not extend at the
speed of light, like one may expect. (Do the denizens of Gensokyo even KNOW about the speed
of light? Assuming it exists. One never knows these things.)
After extending out as far as the Spellcard could reach, (did it hit a barrier, or
just have a short range?) the lasers became magic spheres that headed in a straight path at
each bend, effectively extending the lasers range outward. As the spheres traveled, they
spread out very slightly, making it almost impossible to fully guess if she was fully safe.
A flash of light, followed by a loud bang. Mizuko's wings unleashed a second wave of
lasers as lightning struck. Or perhaps the other way around.
The beams repeated themselves as they did before, in a completely random pattern.
Oddly, it seemed that the farther away you got from Mizuiko, the more spheres there were.
One particular area, in front of her but far away, was incredibly dense. It almost seemed
surprising more lightning didn't emerge from the cloud of magic spheres.
Alice continued her own magical assaults, hoping to bring Mizuko down as fast as
possible. Which was going to take a very long time anyway.
The magic cleared a second time, lightning struck immediately following, and the
lasers began to extend again. But Mizuko was clearly losing her hold on the spell.
Shortly before the lasers transformed into bullets, the Spellcard broke, and Alice
absorbed the magic.
A large flurry of knives appeared, flying out of Mizuko at incredible speeds.
Although they were shot out rapidly and in large numbers, none of them were directed at
much, so Alice dodged what she could and let the rest fly by harmlessly. The knives shot
out behind Mizuko, making a large turn in Alice's direction as more knives were flung about
randomly. Something seemed to draw the knives toward Alice. She made a sudden move away
from them, careful to avoid the alternate waves of knives that weren't aimed anywhere.
Shanghai refused to let up her own vicious assault. The knives ran out slowly, but
Shanghai's magic was doing its damage, and convinced Mizuko to activate her second
Spellcard.
"Electric Current - Direct Current!"
Lights began to glow around Alice and Mizuko. Despite her expression, and her earlier
frustration, Mizuko was completely still. Silence fell upon the battle field. But not for
long.
The lights connected with each other in straight, horizontal lines, one at a time. As
soon as the beams connected, they began giving off waves of tiny bullets. After three waves
were ejected from each light, the beam connecting them faded, and the lights above them
connected with each other. Alice noticed the pattern behaving exactly the same behind
Mizuko, approaching the center of the lights. There was a small amount of time to move
underneath the beams before the next ones turned on, but how much time would it take?
The pace increased, with each beam turning on slightly sooner than the previous one.
The beams were about to guillotine Alice with either electricity or danmaku. Worse, the
waves they emitted were mixing with each other, becoming a mess of almost randomly
cluttered bullets.
Just before reaching the middle, about to sandwich a terrified Alice, the beams
paused. The lights turned on one right after the other in rapid succession, but moving away
from the center instead of towards it. The waves they gave off became more organized, as
they radiated closer in time. Upon reaching the edges, the beams of light again stopped.
The points of light the beams originated from faded, reforming in horizontal lines in
front of and behind the pair. The ones to the left of Alice connected, while the ones to
the right remained dormant. The energy waves radiated off of them still, but the distance
separating Alice from the source was much more significant, and the number of sources much
less. She could focus entirely on the beams for now.
Upon traveling half-way across the field, they stopped, yielding to the right side.
The pattern was mirrored perfectly, so dodging was hardly an issue, if she kept her wits
about her. The problem was not being able to shoot at Mizuko.
The same vertically-aligned lights formed again, with some of the horizontal ones in tack.
However, only every other was lit, leaving space to move, and more importantly, space to
attack. No matter how small, any room for attacking would be a godsend.
Alice took heavy advantage of this chance, and fired everything she could without
activating any Counter-spells. Just before things got really messy, the spellcard broke,
and the energy was absorbed into Alice.
Mizuko was furious. Perhaps she had not beaten her sister by mere chance, as was
proposed. And maybe, just maybe, Alice was right. Perhaps Ameko was a liar, and manipulated
her sister. Or, maybe that is just what Alice wanted her to believe. She wasn't going to
give in yet. One final assault.... Not yet.
[BGM: Chaotic Delight]
"Electromagnetic Pulse!"
Bullets encircled her, spreaded outwards, and then suddenly altered direction. Every
few seconds, Mizuiko emitted a blast of ... magic? ... changing the bullets direction as
they spread outward, some clockwise, others counterclockwise. Every wave of bullet was
affected simultaneously by her pulses, which did not so much as phase or graze Alice or her
dolls. That didn't matter. The constantly changing direction of bullets was enough to
endanger Alice.
She stayed directly in front of Mizuiko, focused her fire as much as possible, and
moved between bullets before they reached her. She moved off to the side to fit between
some larger gaps, failing to predict a nearby wave cutting her off early. She responded by
summoning all that she had in a counter-spell. "Magipulation - Return Inanimateness!"
Four circles appeared around Mizuiko, intersecting on top of her. Other circles came
in from the sides, uniting into one white circle, eliminating all bullets they touched and
dealing heavy damage to Mizuiko. Her body couldn't take the damage anymore. Alice had been
fighting too long.
Thunder cracked nearby. The cloud overhead began to lighten in color. The bullets
ceased to fire, but continued to flow. Suddenly, the pulses stopped, and the bullets
disappeared. Alice absorbed them as the spell card broke, but drew in nothing from the
spell card itself, having countered with a spell card of her own.
"No way! I....."
"I must say, that was a good fight." Alice congratulated her foe. However, her
opponent had no real strategy to take Alice down, just power. And it wasn't an excess of
power either. "But, I really must be going now. Please, leave us alone in the future."
"Get back here, bitch."
Marisa had apparently showed up, and was watching the whole time. "Excuse me?"
"Where did you come from?" hollered Mizuiko.
"What does that matter? All that matters is that she beat you. Its Alice that gets to
call you that."
"Ma-Marisa...."
"Now you're talking like Patchouli."
Alice jumped a little at that. "Speaking of which, shouldn't we be going to see her?"
"Yeah, yeah. Give me a minute." Marisa and Alice headed back to the shrine, said good
bye to some of the residents, and left together on Marisa's broom, heading to the Scarlet
Devil's Mansion again, taking a shortcut directly into the library.
"Knock, knock, girl."
A voice came from behind the massive door shutting Patchouli away from the rest of
the world. It belonged to Koakuma. "Ah. I assume you're here to visit her again. She's
recovered, and is in high spirits today." The little devil led the pair to her mistress,
who was busy writing a grimoire.
"Hey, Patch." Marisa called out.
"Oh. Hey, Mari." Patchouli didn't look up from her books, but noticed Alice anyway.
"You brought her? Mari, what-" Marisa cut her off, while Alice stayed silent. She knew
better than to speak right now.
"She came to apologize. Let her speak."
"No. I don't feel like fighting right now, so leave."
"Patchouli Knowledge! Shut the hell up. Let Alice say her piece, and then she can
leave."
Patchouli reluctantly agreed.
Alice couldn't swallow her fear, but Marisa was there to defend her. "Miss Knowledge,
I never intended to anger you. I had to say something after venturing all the way here, so
I said the first thing that came to mind, without thinking about it." She attempted to
downplay her feelings, pretending they didn't mean anything, and avoid further conflict.
"But you see, I had no idea that you and Marisa were.... That you would be together.
It just did not seem like you could be. But, I have no intention of stealing Marisa. I
apologize for creating a disturbance in your library as well. I should not have shouted,
and I probably should have just left when I realized I messed up, instead of forcing you to
fight. Please, forgive me."
Patchouli stared at Alice, anger still burning in her eyes. But, she had to accept
her apology. Something told her she'd lose Marisa if she didn't. Patchouli then decided to
lay a few rules, to ensure Alice would not become a regular problem. And alleviate some
current issues as well.
"Fine. I will forgive you on the condition that you don't steal of my books like Mari
does, and you do not let any one else have my woman, either."
Alice thought about the terms before agreeing with them. They were pretty lenient,
she said to herself. Perhaps she let most of her anger out in the battle, or had not
bothered to concern herself with them since then. "Yes. Thank you for your kindness,
Patchouli."
Patchouli then laid out a few more orders while she was at it. She took advantage of
her moment of good health, and returned order to her library. "Koakuma, excort this girl
out of the Mansion. Mari, come here." Koakuma did as ordered.
"Mari, I love you." Patchouli passionately said to Marisa, once her servant and the
puppet girl were out of earshot. "Your company means so much to me. You and I both know
there is no way I can leave. I've been outside once in a century, and only thanks to you
blowing my door to pieces. I won't let blondie steal you from me." Patchouli professed
lovingly.
"You're so cute when you're jealous, ze." Marisa teased.
"Anyway, I was wondering if you would teach me that spell of yours, the Master Spark.
I know I specialize in elemental magic, but I think I could learn it quickly."
Marisa agreed, and began to instruct Patchouli before heading home to the Magic
Forest.
"Leave my Mistress alone." commanded an obedient Koakuma.
Alice felt guilty all over again, but she decided to worry later, and headed to the
Hakurei Shrine for some rest, and maybe advice. Perhaps, she may donate as well. After
that, well, she would decide that much when the time came. For now, Alice needed peace and
quiet more than anything. And the Shrine was the perfect place for it.
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