Part 9
When magic dolls are more magical than you think.....
After blacking out again, Hourai waited alone in the clearing for what seemed to be like a few short seconds to her. Although the memories were blurry, some moments stood out and were remembered. The sound of footsteps leading up the path to the house. What seemed to be a very annoyed groan followed by the warm embrace of what could only be Alice?s hand, a feeling all the dolls could tell in a moment. Followed by the dull thud of landing on the work table in the storage room.
By the time she woke up, night had already fallen and Alice had already gone to bed. Grogginess and a headache were the first thing she encountered upon opening her eyes.
?Ow ow ow. My head,? she said while sitting up. ?Wait, what?s going on??
Hourai looked around the storage room. The lights were off, but enough moonlight was coming from the window above where she sat that she could see all the dolls in the room. It seemed like that everyone in some way had been injured from earlier that day. The less injured were helping those hurt bad fix minor wounds and walk around. The atmosphere was tense and sullen; nobody smiled as they did their tasks. Another bad aspect of being a doll? If you?re hurt, you pretty much just have to wait until you?re maker fixes you, or else they?ll notice you?ve been repaired by yourself.
The room was as silent as could be. Everyone knew what had happened by now. Looking over to her side, Hourai saw the new doll; the one Alice was working on before she left that morning. Now fully clothed in a purple dress, she was finished except for the final step, magic imbuement.
?Hey, she?s awake!?
Hourai returned her attention back to the dolls who had just taken notice of her. Almost all had stopped what they were doing and looked at her. Several were flying up towards the table. Two in particular stood out, Russia and London, the only ones that didn?t look like they were used as target practice.
?I hope you two had fun today, ?cause we sure didn?t.? Hourai said gloomily as they landed on the table. ?I assume everyone knows what happened with Seoul?? Even saying her name hurt and brought up unpleasant feelings.
?Erm, that?s a little hard to talk about right now,? London replied.
Strange, she was avoiding eye contact. In fact, all of them were. They were purposely looking off to the side trying to avoid looking at Hourai.
?Yes, I know I failed. Can we please move past that and actually talk to each other?? Hourai said, a little annoyed.
?You see, it?s not that. It?s?? London trailed off, leaving the sentence dangling in the air.
?What?? And as soon as Hourai said it, she felt a chill down her back. Literally.
Looking down in horror at what she just realized, Hourai buried her face in her hands and turned away from the dolls. The giant laser had burnt away her clothes.
?Um, comrade,? Russia stammered, ?it?s not that- erm? noticeable??
?Get me some cloth or something!? Hourai yelled, still buried in her hands.
Although dolls don?t have privates, per se, they still feel embarrassed like any other person about being seen exposed.
A few dolls flew off the table and fumbled around looking for some fabric. On the table however, the awkward silence just hung in the air. The dolls waited and bounced on the heels of their feet and waited.
And waited.
.....
And waited.
?What the Makai is taking so long?!? Russia yelled suddenly, breaking the silence.
?Here! Got it,? a doll replied while flying back to put a long piece of cloth on Hourai?s back.
?Well, now that that?s taken care of,? Hourai said flatly while standing up, wrapping the cloth around her. There was a dry cough from her audience. ?We all know the losses we experienced today right??
Mumblings of agreement came from her crowd.
?I?m so sorry Hourai,? London said, ?If I was here today, we may have won.?
?Me too,? Russia added, ?I feel bad about how I couldn?t help. If-?
Hourai raised her hand to cut her off. ?It was not your fault, Alice called you away, and there was nothing we could do about that. Now, what we need to do is look after the wounded. And make sure everyone is accounted for. Speaking of which, where?s Shanghai??
As soon as she said her name, she immediately regretted it. After being assaulted by the witch, Hourai momentarily forgot she was angry at Shanghai. And everyone knew this. Gossip spread in the house like wildfire, even faster than Russia to a deck of cards when she hears of a high-stakes poker game.
Everyone looked away again. Eye contact was apparently the current way of volunteering yourself to give bad news. And poor Italy accidentally looked up to see where Hourai was looking.
?Italy. Where is she??
The doll stuttered for a while before actually saying a full sentence. ?Well, she?s in the living room, but there?s something else you should consider before talking to her.?
?I don?t care. I?m not going to wait for Alice to clothe me before talking to her,? Hourai said.
?It?s not that. It?s?? Italy trailed off.
?Hm?? Hourai inquired.
Two dolls flew off the table and reappeared in a few seconds holding a silver hand mirror. They brought it up to Hourai, who saw her battered self for the first time since the fight. Her hair ribbon was gone and her hair was messy and dirty. Her entire body was smudged with a layer of ash from her burnt away clothes. But what was most worrisome was what was wrong with her face.
Starting from the middle of her hairline, it swerved to the left of her nose and ran around her lips to her chin.
A crack.
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I found a way to boost motivation and writng stamina. Booshizzle.
Also, what genre would you say this fic is?
