Disclaimer: Touhou is created by Team Shanghai Alice, led by its only known member, ZUN.

Touhou Project: Valkyrie

Chapter 1: Re-Awakening

"Shanghai! Hourai!" A large shield manifested itself as dozens of silver beams bombarded its surface. Seconds later, a figure swooped from behind the shield towards the attacker, its glaive swiping in a sharp arc towards its target.

The attacker, a silver-haired woman dressed in red, gave a slight smirk before moving slightly to the side, narrowly dodging the swipe within less than a inch. It was then immediately followed by several beams fired from above, slamming into the figure, effectively bringing the attack all the way to the ground far below.

"Hourai!" Alice Margatroid could only watch in despair as her eldest doll hit the ground explosively. She then turned to face the woman floating in the air above her. "Shinki-sama! Please stop!" The blonde puppeteer begged.

"But Alice dear." The woman, now known as Shinki, glanced back down with a smile. "It's only the beginning." She place a finger at her chin, somewhat floating in a cute thinking pose. "You barely even call me 'Mama' like you used to. Maybe if Alice dear can return home to Makai with me, I'll listen to Alice and stop."

Alice steeled her gaze as soon as Shinki finished her words. "Shinki-sama, I've already decided. I'm going to stay in Gensokyou. I will not return to Makai."

"Is that so?" Shinki dropped her carefree façade, glaring down at Alice as the her bangs shadowed her eyes. "Then you've left me with no choice." Several glowing orbs appeared beside her, which slowly grew in numbers to more than dozens. "Please bear with me, Alice dear." The orbs shot down, raining towards Alice in astonishing speed that surprised even the puppeteer. "This is going to hurt a little."

Instinct kicked in as the blonde-haired girl brought her hands up, putting every ounce of magical strength she had to create a barrier capable of defending against the danmaku attacks.

A shadow shot out from the ground again, with the familiar glaive swung towards Shinki in a blurred arc. The woman did not bat as much of an eyelid as a metallic barrier expanded beside her, blocking the attack in mid-arc. Sparks flew as the sound of metal grinding against metal screeched into the air.

"Hourai, is it?" Shinki cast a sideways glance at the porcelain doll clad in a red and black Victorian dress. "You've done well." She gave a light smile before several glowing magical binds ensnared the doll, the grip tight enough to force the doll to drop its weapon, letting the glaive fall towards the ground. "Sleep tight, my dear." A snare of purplish electricity strike down onto Hourai from above with a thundering crack. When the assault ended, Horai was left hanging in the air for a moment before gravity took over and pulled the unmoving doll towards the ground below.

"Hourai!" For the second time in battle, Alice screamed the name of her eldest doll as it slammed onto the ground explosively, this time no sign of the doll getting back up.

"What are you going to do now, Alice dear?" Shinki's words caught the girl's attention. "If this goes on, I may have to break another of your children to set your decisions." Alice caught her mother's gaze shifting over to Shanghai.

"No! Shinki-sama!" Alice swept herself protectively in front of her doll. "I'll never let you do that to Shanghai!"

The goddess of Makai did not reply as a magic circle appeared above her faced to the ground, growing wider until it reached to the end of their vision.

Alice could only stare in despair as the runes in the circle began to glow rapidly. Turning to her doll behind her, Alice was torn within her heart. Biting her bottom lip until she drew blood, the puppeteer made up her mind, quickly waving her right hand in the air in front of Shanghai. Her Grimoire snapped open, pages fluttering until it stopped at one of the pages, the book still open. A rune glowed in the place where Alice waved her hand, slowly accompanied with dozens more minuscule ones drawing themselves into a magic circle. Six line faded in and formed a hexagram, completing the magic circle with a sharp glow.

Glancing up to see that the large magic circle had glow to its limit, Alice knew she did not have much time left. With a slight push on her own magic circle, the puppeteer had it enveloping the doll. She gave a slight smile, laced with a hint of sadness, and clicked her fingers. In a bright flash, the doll in front of her disappeared, along with the magic circle.

With her work done, Alice looked up to the magic circle again, closing her eyes slowly before opening them again, the brilliant blue irises fading into blood crimson.

【Doll Sign...】

Several silver empty armours assembled themselves beside her, all armed with various kinds of weapons.

◄Knights of the Round Table.►

The armours finished assembling themselves and took their positions surrounding Alice, their weapons pointed at Shinki.

Alice then slowly crouched a little, a magic circle forming itself under her feet, angled to face the goddess of Makai. A hard step against the face of the circle and a sonic boom, Alice shot towards her mother just as Shinki fired off the magic circle above herself, lighting the entire area with a brilliant flash of colours.

Second before impact, Alice closed her eyes, accepting the impending doom descending upon her, all with only one thought in her mind.

Shanghai...be safe...

"Alice!" The girl shot out of the bed with a scream, reaching forwards as if trying to grab something. Heavy breathing was soon met with the sound of thumping footsteps approaching the door. Seconds later, the said door slammed open to reveal a dishevelled blonde-haired woman,dressed in a white blouse and a black skirt, panting from the running she just did. The one thing that captured the girl's attention was that the woman had the top part of her left face and her eye covered in a black quarter-mask. Her other eye widened as she saw the girl on the bed staring back at her in panic.

"Shang...hai...?" The woman took an uneven step into the room, taking in a deep breath. "Shanghai. Are...are you awake?"

"Ma...ri...sa?" The girl could somehow recognised the single-eyed woman. "Marisa, is that you?" A sign of relief came over the woman.

"You're awake, Shanghai!" Marisa flew over to the girl, tackling her back onto the bed in a tight hug. "Thank goodness...thank goodness..." She fell into the soft sobbing of relief. "Thank goodness...you're finally awake..."

"M-Marisa!" Shanghai was stunned, and could only bring her arms around the woman into the hug, feeling the warmth. Suddenly, something felt horribly wrong. Shanghai sat up from the bed and pushed Marisa off her own body, who was slightly surprised at the reaction.

"Shanghai, is something wrong?" The woman asked, afraid that she might have done something wrong. "Did I hurt you somewhere?"

"Marisa, what's going on?" Shanghai asked, confusing clouding her thoughts. "Why can I talk? Why can I process thoughts? Why...why do I even have sentience?"

Marisa looked at Shanghai with an unreadable expression, before getting off the girl and bed. "You must be hungry." She said with a light smile. "Come, I'll cook something up for you."

"Marisa!"

"We'll discuss this after a meal, alright?" A familiar look of sadness flashed over Marisa's eyes. "I promise, I'll explain everything." With that, the woman exited through the door, leaving Shanghai alone in the room.

Light taps of footsteps echoed throughout the interior of the hallway as Shanghai walked down the stairs. What greeted her at the end of the stairways was Marisa laying out a couple sets of utensils on the table.

"It seems that you can move around normally." Marisa said without even looking up to the approaching Shanghai. "Do you feel weird in any places?"

"No." The doll-turned-human sat on one of the chairs, staring pointed at the older woman.

Marisa paid no heed as she continued with her task, setting out the dishes from the kitchen and finally settling down at the table opposite of Shanghai.

"Mari-"

"After the meal, please?" Marisa gave a pleading look through her eye. "A cold meal tastes bad after all."

Shanghai glanced down at the steaming dishes on the table before her. The sudden urge to consume the food flowed into her system as she slowly picked up the small piece with a fork.

Turning her eyes back up, she saw that Marisa had already began eating, in a way that she knew never fit the older woman. The elegant way of cutting the piece of steak into small pieces, the subtle way of moving the fork to her lips, the motion of chewing politely. All these, did not fit the Marisa that Shanghai could remember from before.

It was as if Marisa had hard-forced herself to learn the proper table manners.

Shanghai stared back down that the piece of meat on the fork she was holding. Would she be able to taste? What is taste?

Taking in a deep breath, Shanghai shoved the food into her mouth, grimacing as she started to chew.

…

…

…drip...

...drip...drip...

"S-Shanghai?" Marisa asked in concern as she watched the younger girl consuming the food. "Shanghai, are you alright?"

Shanghai jolted in surprise as she placed another bite-size piece of food into her mouth, realising one thing unnatural.

Tears were flowing from the corners of her eyes.

"Shanghai, is the food really bad?" Marisa asked she she stood up, preparing to take the dishes from the table. "Shall I remake them?"

"No..." A hand shot out and clasped onto Marisa's arm, stopping the older woman. "It's..."

"Shanghai...?"

"It's..." A sob. "It's...delicious..." Shanghai rubbed away the flowing tears with the edges of her sleeves. "It's...really...delicious..."

"That's good." Marisa smiled as she reached over to Shanghai with a light hug. "That's good." She moved back and proceeded to wiped the tears on Shanghai's face with her thumb. "Come, let us enjoy this dinner."

"Yes." Shanghai nodded with a smile, her first smile since her awakening.

The rest of the meal passed quietly, save for the occasional sound of utensils clacking lightly between one another. Soon, the dishes were washed and placed away neatly, stacked into the shelf after being dried.

As such, Shanghai was currently sitting at the table facing Marisa, who had returned from finishing the chores. The younger girl stared intently at the older woman, as if willing an answer.

Marisa sighed, breaking away from the staring contest. "It had been ten years..." She said, her visible eye downcast as she recalled the fateful incident.

"Ten years ago, the portal to the Makai suddenly opened. The Makai denizens poured out from the portal, threatening to destroy everything in sight. Even Yukari was unable to hold them back." Shanghai listened as Marisa related the event.

"Turned out, Shinki wanted Alice back. The entire Gensokyou was being held hostage. Alice had no choice, so she entered the Makai to hopefully negotiate with Shinki." Marisa clenched her right fist, the leather of the glove creaking under the pressure. "We had our hands full trying to fight off the hordes. I was blindsided from behind, resulting in this." She pointed at the quarter-mask covering her face. "My face scorched and my eye gouged out."

"However, that was not the worst part." The older woman continued. "The portal suddenly started to crumble apart, and you were thrown out just before the portal completely imploded."

"And...Alice?" Shanghai asked the most crucial question.

"You were the only one to come out from the portal." Marisa's expression was solemn. "The other Makaians disappeared along with the portal."

"That...means..."

"Yes, Alice was in Makai when it happened."

"And you've never thought of trying to save Alice?!" Shanghai was on the verge of lashing out at the older woman.

"We tried..." Marisa sighed deeply. "We tried...for three years..." She was clenching her fist so hard that her nails almost cut into her palms. "But Yukari refused to jeopardise the safety of Gensokyou. So she sealed every possible route that leads to Makai."

"WHY?!"

"It is to prevent any more loss than we already had."

"We have to talk to her." Shanghai stood from her chair. "It's Alice...it's my mother, that we are talking about!"

A hand clasped onto her arm firmly as Shanghai approached the door. The younger girl turned around fiercely, only to be met with the sight that stopped her short.

Marisa was crying.

"Please..." The older woman's voice was trembling. "I've already lost Alice. I cannot lose you as well, Shanghai. You're my daughter! You're all that I'm left with."

The words pierced through Shanghai like a knife. How could she had forgotten? Marisa was married to Alice. Alice had taken care of Marisa, and vice versa. They were both her mothers. Her family.

How could she had forgotten such simple fact?

"I'm..." Shanghai threw herself into Marisa's chest as she too, broke down crying. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

The mother and daughter ended up crying into each other's arms.

Marisa was stroking Shanghai's hair, a gesture that was slowly luring the daughter to sleep. Shanghai was lying on her lap, dried tears still stained at the corners of her eyes. Both had taken their position on the couch. She glanced to the window to see that it was already dark out.

"Marisa." Shanghai's voice caught her attention. "I have a thought."

"And that will be?" Marisa looked down to see her daughter staring up at her.

"I want to save Alice."

"Shanghai!"

"Don't you want to do the same too?" Shanghai stared solemnly at her mother. "Save Alice, and your other daughters."

"I...I do..." Marisa muttered, turning her glanced away. "But we don't have any idea to do so."

"I can enter the Makai."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Marisa unknowingly raised her voice. "I've already said, I can't lose you as well!"

"Marisa, please." Shanghai sat up from her lying position. "I want to try...I know I can..."

"No!" Marisa grabbed onto Shanghai's shoulders, fixing her daughter with a glare. The younger girl glared back with the same intensity.

"Please." Shanghai did not budge. "I know I can do it."

Marisa saw the unwavering determination behind her daughter's eyes. She took in a deep breath, calming herself down, before letting out a long sigh. "Only in one condition."

"Yes?" Shanghai tilted her head in confusion.

"You must absolutely, I repeat, absolutely promise come back home." Marisa tightened her girl on Shanghai's shoulders.

Shanghai's eyes widened a fraction in surprise. The surprise then returned to determination as she smiled to her mother. "I promise, mum."

Marisa smiled as well after hearing Shanghai's reply. "Then have a good rest tonight, we will be paying a couple of visits tomorrow." She stood from the couch and turned towards the stairs leading to the rooms.

"Yes, Marisa!" Shanghai nodded and followed Marisa's lead, preparing to turn in for the night.

A/N:

Greetings, Readers of . It's me, RetardedFool, yet again. This time with a story which(hopefully) will be a multi-chapter story featuring Shanghai and *DEEET*. XD

And yes, Marisa is not speaking in her usual '-daze!' vocal tic. That's because she suppressed the habit. But god knows how long will that last...

It may not be a very good Touhou fanfic as compared to most posted here, but I do hope that it fits to your tastes. Reviews are greatly appreciated!