Conclusion - and here we find the last piece of that artistic liberty I took and slathered all over this story. I do hope you don't mind.
Oh, what the hell, I'll warn you now, what I've done will piss a bunch of people off, then it'll piss off the other bunch, and then Kaguya and Mokou will have a thumb-war.
Crescendo: Act 3
Two doll sentries were facing her, but hadn?t started to move yet. Before they could react, several tunnel boundaries flicked open around them. Yukari?s mysterious swarm of hands ? armed with various bladed weapons ? thrust forth, piercing the dolls in multiple places.
A shrill cry pierced the air. Reimu blinked in surprise; it was echoing.
?They?re here!? Alice?s voice rang out behind them. The shrine?s maiden and resident turned to face her, a feeling of hot rage spreading through her. Though Alice and Marisa were her friends ? or had been, at least ? no one defaced her shrine without reparations.
Without even willing it, several Hakurei Artifacts spun into existence around her, orbiting her rapidly. She didn?t pay much attention to them, and was instead focusing on the magician standing in front of her.
Instead of her typical shawl and dress, she was wearing a white scarf and a robe similar to the style that Reimu remembered Marisa as wearing.
A small, threadbare magician?s hat rested atop her head. Despite her change of outfit, she was still physically the same. Hair length and color, facial structure, it was all identical to the Alice living in Reimu?s intact memories.
Alice smiled at her and twined her fingers together in front of her waist as Marisa landed next to her. Together, they spoke.
?Reimu, I need your help. Can you open the barrier to the outside world? I can?t seem to get it open without the shrine gate intact, and I need to get out.?
Yukari was watching intently as Reimu stared at Malice. To her credit she wasn?t showing sorrow over a lost friendship. Instead, she seemed offended. Yukari glanced up at Malice; they seemed to be stationary, with their mad smiles plastered to their faces. Despite her evisceration of the sentry dolls, they weren?t on the offensive.
Yukari jumped; a resounding gong sound rang out. The source of the sound, and the actual reason the Gap Youkai was surprised, was a pair of Hakurei Artifacts flashing across the yard and smashing into Malice?s heads.
Another pair of Artifacts followed almost immediately in their wake, crashing into their chests, driving their sternums back to match their recoiled heads.
Reimu recalled the original Artifacts while sending another four to pummel the magicians. Yukari took the opportunity to conjure out her Tunnel Boundaries and jab with her lances and glaives. Most of the blades were redirected or simply bent aside as they came in contact with Alice, but Marisa was pierced in multiple places.
As hope welled up in Yukari, Reimu cried out. ?No! I wanted to save them! What are you doing??
Yukari shot a glance at her. ?This isn?t the first time I?ve done this, Reimu. The Marisa half is still human; she doesn?t heal as fast. The more we can harm her without outright killing her, the more we delay Malice altogether.?
The color drained from Reimu?s face. ?You didn?t see what you did, then??
Yukari looked back towards the fallen figures of Malice, with the spears still needling the ground, and Marisa. As she drank in the details, she turned ashen.
One of the blades that were redirected away from Alice had instead pierced Marisa through the throat; it was clear her carotid artery had been pierced, and her lifeblood was spilling free.
Alice began to writhe about, clutching at her own throat and screaming madly. Marisa was still for the most part, one arm slowly curling up to her throat, twitching slightly before dropping to her chest and remaining there.
Reimu squeezed her eyes shut, and sent all the summoned Hakurei orbs sailing towards Alice, intending to pummel her.
Instead, dull thuds sounded, and she felt the presence of her divine heirloom artifacts fading away one after the other. She opened her eyes.
A trio of small dolls ? typical of Alice?s original designs ? had sprung out and was channeling a shield, protecting Malice. The Hakurei orbs shattered away into nothingness as they smashed into the shield.
Behind the protective barrier, Alice had gotten upright and produced her Grimoire of Alice. She worked the clasp on the belt sealing it shut, and snapped the book open. She cast it free of her hands, and it began to hover over Marisa?s form.
A wan yellow light began to shine forth from Marisa?s body. The Grimoire seemed to attract this light, pulling it into the open pages. As though a wind were blowing fiercely across the book, the pages began to flip and whirl along.
After just a few scant moments the light faded, and the pages of the Grimoire stopped turning. The tome slowly clapped shut, and began to drop back down towards Marisa?s now-still body. Alice reached out to take it.
Her hand found empty space; Yukari had pulled the book through a gap and was now holding it in her hands. Alice whipped her head up and glared at the barrier maidens.
Instead of returning the stare, Yukari smirked down at Reimu. ?Finally, a win in a long streak of losses.?
As Alice rose to her feet, Reimu felt the ground start to go out from under her. Yukari had opened another tunnel beneath them and they sank away from the desecrated Hakurei Shrine.
As soon as they were dropped back onto the ground in Eientei, Reimu collapsed to her knees. Ran started to reach out to catch her, but the miko held herself mostly upright.
The rabbits of the estate were gathered back outside, around them. Tewi was still there, and had apparently been talking to the Scarlets before Yukari and Reimu returned.
Remilia stood up from the bench under the awning she and her sister were seated on. ?You were barely gone a minute, what happened?? she asked.
Yukari held up the Grimoire. ?Through their own admission, Malice can?t get to the outside world without either Reimu or I helping them. Also, I? managed to kill Marisa.?
Remilia blinked at her, but said nothing.
Tewi pointed to the door of the estate. ?Why don?t we all move inside, then? The Ladies need to be brought up to date, then.?
Reimu reached out and grabbed onto Ran?s arms, laced into their opposites? sleeves as usual, and used the divine fox to help herself back to her feet. She didn?t let go, but she didn?t lean on the shikigami, either.
Yukari followed directly behind Tewi, Grimoire tucked under her arm. The Scarlets followed immediately after her, while the two shikigami stayed behind Reimu as she drifted in their wake.
As they wound their way through the elaborate manor, Reimu turned her focus inward. A crushing sense of grief was starting to work its way around her throat, her stomach. Perhaps, if her memories weren?t warped, she would?ve felt triumphant over the defeat of a powerful enemy. As it stood, however, the now-dead Marisa was a friend, someone to be mourned. Even as aggravating as dealing with her could be sometimes, there were just too many memories; exploring Makai. Recovering the missing essence of spring. Resolving the issue of the flowering event. Competing to uncover the culprit behind the unending night and the twisted moon. Helping put Suika into submission when she first declared her presence. Getting that blasted celestial to stop screwing with her shrine. All those many days sharing tea with her at the shrine. The eccentric experiments she tried with magic, many cultivating in unexpected results ? shrinking the Moriya shrine maiden to a child?s body, sucking a gift music box that Alice had gotten through a small rift (which ended up sending it right to Reimu?s shrine), among other strange tests. The times when Flandre went on a rampage at the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and Marisa had to pacify her each time. No matter how hard she tried to scour her mind, Reimu just could not recall anything of the past ten years. There was nothing she could think of to cast Marisa in a sinister light.
And now, she was gone. Killed by Yukari?s hands, indirectly and accidentally as it were. But, at the same time, she was also technically still alive, if she had everything figured out properly. The entirety of her existence had merged with Alice?s, and the two of them were now in Alice?s body. That last act she saw Alice do with the Grimoire over Marisa?s body didn?t seem to be healing the witch, but rather taking something from her. Perhaps the differences in their experiences since becoming one entity? A sort of ?update? to her memories?
Reimu turned her focus back outward. The Grimoire of Alice was still firmly held in Yukari?s hands, closed but not bound by the strap wrapping around it.
Wait a second? what?s wrong here? Reimu thought. She slowed down, and the shikigami almost bumped into her. Ran stopped and looked down at Reimu, then followed her gaze.
?Yukari!? both of them shouted in unison. The entire entourage stopped and turned to look at the Boundary Youkai. Yukari herself glanced back at the two.
Reimu pointed at the Grimoire. ?There?s something wrong!?
Yukari looked down at it. The strap that was normally holding it shut ? except for when Alice willed it ? wasn?t bound into its place. Instead, it was pointing straight upright alongside the cover of the book, twitching slightly.
Yukari opened a gap alongside her, abreast of the hallway?s wall. She went to go fling the Grimoire into it.
As soon as it left her hand, it snapped open and rotated once, pages popping loudly in the disturbed air. It only made it halfway to the tunnel boundary Yukari had opened before a brilliant flash of light obscured everyone?s vision.
Reimu crossed her arms in front of her chest to shield her eyes. A brutal impact slammed her own forearms into her face, and she felt her nose pop under the force. She staggered back into Ran before falling to the floor.
Blinking her eyes clear, and nursing her bleeding nose, Reimu forced her eyes into focus to see what had just happened.
Alice was standing where the Grimoire had been, clutching it in one hand and holding her other hand out, covered in her puppet-master rings. A veritable cloud of her smaller dolls were swarming about; looking up, Reimu saw that the doll that had almost smashed into her face had been snatched out of the air by Chen before it could continue attacking Ran, who was saved only because of Reimu bumping into her. Chen slashed the strings giving the doll motivation with her free hand.
Two dolls had lanced out and struck Yukari, pinning her hands to the opposite wall with their glaives. The boundary Youkai looked at them, and flexed her arms and hands. Through sheer force she ripped the glaives ? still embedded through the palms of her hands ? out of the wall and smashed the dolls together.
The moment of hesitation from her was all Alice had needed, though. She released the Grimoire, which hovered in place next to her, and brought the now free hand up. In it, she was clutching Marisa?s magic reactor, the miniature Hakkero. The eight trigrams on it were glowing fiercely.
Yukari spotted the glowing octagon, and her eyes bugged out right before Alice released the fire.
A brilliant beam, looking like a cross between Alice?s Shanghai Doll beam and Marisa?s Master Spark burst forth.
The two shikigami joined Reimu in screaming for Yukari. The rabbits however, scattered, leaving only Tewi with the residents of the Shrine.
With the ringed hand, Alice gestured, twirling her hand and twitching her fingers ever so slightly. The cloud of dolls began to arrange themselves around her ? spear dolls further away from Alice, and unarmed ones near her. The unarmed puppets began to glow with a purple light, and points of energy began to focus on them.
My God, that looks just like the Hourai Doll spellcard? but there are so many of them!
The massive beam of energy raging forth from the Hakkero was slowly petering out. That did nothing to assuage Reimu?s worries over the Hourai Dolls staring emotionlessly her way, shrouded in crimson-purple light.
Ignoring the burning pain caused by her broken nose, she pulled herself to her feet and wobbled upright. She pulled out four seals from her pocket and flicked them out in a practiced motion, one she?d done countless times before, and could easily do by reflex. She had done it many times by reflex, including now ? she hadn?t even thought to put out the glowing blue barrier, but she did anyways.
Just as the Shanghai Spark completely died out, however, there was a distinct pop.
Alice twitched, just barely, at the sound.
Eirin?s arrow narrowly glanced off the wrist holding the Hakkero, slicing through the magic thread connecting the dolls to Alice?s rings on her other hand. The arrow slammed into Reimu?s barrier and froze in midair, quivering against the barrier.
Further down the hallway, Eirin stood holding her longbow, nocking another arrow to the string with a thimbled hand. With just a moment to orient herself for her next shot, she drew the string to her cheek and let fly.
Alice, having already looked to the source of the interruption, jerked back towards the wall to try to dodge the arrow. The shikigami behind Reimu dove in the opposite direction, scrabbling towards the scorched wall that Yukari had disappeared in front of.
Reimu didn?t move.
Eirin said something as she fired, but the pop of the arrow launching off the string and the distance between her and the miko muffled her.
The second arrow slammed into the side of Reimu?s barrier, and the impact obliterated the shield.
Instead of the first arrow ? which was still stuck to the barrier at the time ? falling to the floor, it just disappeared. The second arrow continued down the hallway, barely losing any momentum.
Reimu coughed, sending blood spraying from her broken nose. She noticed just a second later that a fine mist of blood sprayed from her mouth, as well.
She looked down. The first arrow didn?t disappear; it had never lost its momentum upon hitting the barrier. Once the barrier was gone, it continued on its merry way, which Reimu had been obstructing. In retaliation to her rudely blocking it, it decided to punch into her ribs.
Reimu wheezed. The sound of air whistling out of her lungs around the arrow protruding from her chest frightened her.
Alice barreled past her, leaving her fallen dolls behind as she fled from Eientei at blinding speeds.
Eirin lowered her bow, and began to stride down the hallway ? not walking, but not running, either. She was saying something again.
??Reimu? to get up? there?s? en a mist??
Reimu slumped to her knees before falling to her side. The vibration caused the arrow to jerk, and she whimpered. Fuzzy blackness began to creep around her vision, and a dull rushing noise filled her ears.
The fuzzy blackness surrounding the edge of her vision came together to meet in the middle, and the dull roar ended in a deafening silence.
?Reimu, it?s time to get up. You see, there?s been a mistake.?
Reimu jerked upright, clutching at her ribs. She held her breath, trying to hold in any sobs. Her chest was soaked.
Eirin spoke again. ?Reimu, calm down! It?ll be alright, just settle down!?
Reimu forced her eyes open. Tears were obstructing her sight; everything was fuzzy because of this. Beside this, though, there was little Reimu could make out, because it was dark again.
She ran her hands over her side. The arrow was gone.
She froze. Her shrine-maiden outfit was gone, replaced by a lighter fabric.
Her breasts were gone, too.
Huh? Just when she was getting used to them, too.
She blinked away the tears, and finally spotted Eirin sitting over her.
?Good, you?re awake finally. Calm down, it?s alright.? The pharmacist sat back, and rose up from her kneeling position next to Reimu?s futon.
The miko patted herself down. The moisture was simply a night-sweat soaking her, not blood.
She mumbled and groaned, intending to speak, but failing. She cleared her throat, and felt a slick of phlegm pass through her lungs. She spat it out as a reflex, disgusted at it and herself for actually spitting it.
Eirin cocked an eyebrow and watched as the phlegm sailed across the room in the relative darkness. ?Well, that?s good news. You?re moving out of the worst phase of your fever.?
Reimu, now with a clear airway, leveled an annoyed stare at the doctor. ?So, you seem to know that somehow this was your fault. How so??
Eirin answered Reimu?s stare with her typical all-knowing grin. ?Not entirely my fault, but, yes I should?ve caught it sooner. Tewi was left unattended in my lab for just a few minutes, and replaced the Kochoumugan with the Nightmare Types that were being packed with your prescription. I?ve already gathered the Nightmare Types and have brought the original Butterfly Dreams.?
Reimu pulled her gaze away from Eirin and just stared into space.
She sighed and flopped back down onto her futon.
It was just a dream? What the hell. That?s such a let down.
I feel like a bastard for ending it like that. I think I'll tattoo to the inside of my forearms a vow to never end a story with 'it was all just a dream' again.