Aftermath

[Clownpiece]

A weak groan rose up from the villager lying at Clownpiece’s knees. The hell fairy opened up her eyes and lifted her hands away from his body, a small, hopeful feeling blooming in her chest. He’d been in pretty bad shape ever since he got to the shrine. The only signs of life he’d given off for the longest time had been the occasional blood-filled cough, so things were looking up if he made the sound of his own volition.

“Hi...?” She asked, shifting in place and trying to bring feeling back to her legs. Her question was only met by another weak groan from the doctor, this time couple with a small shake. “You awake yet?” She continued, cautiously prodding him in the side. With a surprising amount of strength despite his near-death experience, the doctor loudly rolled onto his side, away from the fairy. “Is that a yes?”

“...Where...” he mumbled weakly after a few moments. “...Am I?”

“The Hakurei Shrine.” Clownpiece answered unhelpfully.

“...Where...?”

“I don’t know...” she trailed off, thinking. “Somewhere in the middle of the woods?” Her tone was questioning for a moment, before she regained her usual pep. “You got hurt pretty bad when those things invaded. Yuuka brought you here so one of us could fix you up.”

“...Who?” He carefully sat up, dazed confusion slowly leaving his voice.  “What...?”

“You know. Yuuka. The green-haired lady,” the hell fairy said, pushing to her feet. The sensation of a thousand needles danced across her legs as feeling slowly began to return to them. Rather than risk her numb legs giving out beneath her, she lifted into the air, hovering a few inches off the ground, and stretched. “She brought you here, I fixed you up.” Her voice strained as she stretched her back. “Y’know, you’re pretty lucky. I’m surprised Yuuka thought to save you, Since you let us down before. She totally could have let you bleed out in the village.”

“Village...” The doctor mumbled. Clownpiece could almost hear the gears in his head turning. “Wait! What happened!” He slowly turned to face the hellspawn, his lively tone providing an amusing juxtaposition to his sore movements. “I-I remember these.... Things flooding in. What happened?”

“Don’t know,” the fairy answered, floating back a few feet and touching down gently. “Things attacked, people died. We drove ‘em back though, and since Reimu’s still out helping the village and Yuuka and Cirno are tracking down the culprit, there shouldn’t be any more attacks. Nothing to worry about!”

“I have to...” He tried stumbling to his feet, only for his still-tired body to give out and send him sprawling. A suppressed snort escaped Clownpiece as she held back her laughter. “I have to get back...” He took on a defeated tone, still laid out.

“Sure...” she said, still suppressing a giggle as she stepped over to the table where her torch lay and picked it up. With weapon in hand, she concentrated, trying her hand at the same thing she did when fighting Yuuka and the weird dragon guy. A hellish pyre sprang forth from the floorboards, chewing hungrily at the wooden walkway. A white blur flew out of the magical inferno and straight at the nearby wall.

CRACK

Liberty’s head bounced off the wall, quickly followed by the rest of her, and she collapsed in a heap on the ground. Next to her, the infernal pyre fizzled out, leaving only scorched flooring in its wake. 

“...You.... You okay?” Clownpiece asked between giggles, slowly making her way over to her fallen comrade.

“Give me... some... warning...” The brown-haired fairy muttered in a dazed tone, simply lying on the ground in defeat.

“Maybe~” she sang, before leaning down to help Liberty to her feet. “Anyway I’ve got a job for you.”

“Nope! I was having fun!” Her request was shot down before she even had a chance to say it, and without a moment of hesitation, the white clad fairy turned to skip off. Clownpiece grabbed hold of her hand before she could and swept her torch across her eyes in one swift motion. Liberty's gaze seemed to shift as the lunacy, a special blend of pride and energy in this case, took hold.

“Cirno carried an entire person to the village in less than half an hour,” the star-spangled fairy began with a tone that talked up her friend. “Bet you can’t do better.”

“Can too!” The slightly-maddened fairy objected in an unusually indignant voice.

“Prove it.” Clownpiece responded, smug grin plastering her face. Without so much as another word, Liberty pushed past her, roughly hoisted the man over her shoulder with lunatic strength, much to his chagrin, and raced off. She reached the sliding door, and just as Clownpiece was about to offer to open it for her, she lifted one leg up, and promptly kicked it open. Wood splintered with a powerful crack, and the hell fairy’s face fell. Before she knew it, Liberty had taken off into the day, leaving behind Clownpiece, standing ramrod straight and staring slack-jawed at the destroyed shrine door.

It took a few moments for her to fully process what had just transpired. The rusty cogs in her mind slowly kicked into gear, and she soon realized what horrible fate awaited her should Reimu find out about this. She immediately sprang to action, hopping forward with a panicked gait. Fixing a door wouldn’t be that difficult. Right?