AN: Hello! I recently started watching Rozen Maiden a few weeks ago, and it's got me hooked. Sousei Seki was one of my favorite characters, and it really killed me to see her die, especially being the first to go. I started writing this almost immediately after her whole death sequence was over, and I have to admit that I quite like how it came out. I plan on writing one of these for each of the character's deaths, and they may be shorter or longer, depending on the POV and the doll that died. This is probably going to be one of the longer ones. It was actually originally intended to be a one-shot, but I got a little carried away. I kind of wrote this to make myself feel better about the deaths... so... yeah...
There is no Sou/Sui femslash in this. Though I think their bond in the anime was quite cute, I see them as friends, nothing more. Although, if you do ship these two, I guess you could interpret it that way.
I don't know why we got along so well. We were polar opposites, right down to our eye color. She was calm, sometimes reserved, and nearly always reasonable. I'm, well, as much as it humiliates me to admit it, a little crazy. But unlike her, I saw that Father's Game was wrong, and that was ultimately what caused her death, and came quite close to causing mine as well...
I grabbed my sister's shoulders. "Sousei Seki, your scissors are used to protect people's hearts! Hurting someone isn't like you!" I paused, waiting for a reaction, but I didn't get one. "Come home with us right now," I pleaded.
She looked slightly guilty, but stood her ground. "But... Father... he was-"
"SOUSEI SEKI!"
Before she could respond, a shadow cast over our hiding place. I gulped. "Found you..." Suigin Tou sang.
Sousei Seki grabbed my arm and pulled me away. We narrowly missed the torrent of black feathers.
Of course, there she was again, standing atop an old telephone pole. "Now, let's continue." Sousei Seki summoned her scissors and ran out to meet the villain.
I couldn't take it any longer. I ran out in front of my twin sister and yelled as loud as I possibly could, "STOP IT!" I heard her call my name from behind me, but ignored her. "Please, Suigin Tou! Don't you dare take this any further than it's gone!"
She laughed that silky, evil laugh of hers. "You're rather overprotective, Suisei Seki. But it doesn't seem your sister wants that."
She wouldn't dare. She wouldn't dare question our bond. My eyes watered and I faced my companion. Her face was like steel. "Sousei Seki..."
"If Father is searching for Alice, then I want to answer that call," she breathed, not even looking at me. This wasn't the sister I knew. This wasn't her. "Get back."
Oh, how I hate that silver-headed doll. "I won't!" I screamed at Sousei Seki. "I WON'T!"
"Suisei Seki-"
"I-I won't." I lunged forward and embraced the girl that had once been my closest companion. The girl that I thought was still my closest companion. "If I can stay with you forever... that's enough for me. I don't care about Alice!"
"Suisei Seki-"
"I mean, I love Father as much as you, and Shinku, and all the other dolls, but..." Two rivers ran down either side of my face. I squinted my eyes shut. "But if it means to lose you, then..." I squeezed her body one last time, then pulled back, my hands on her shoulders. "If you still," I sobbed, unable to form a full sentence. "If you still intend to do this, then cut me down!" Our eyes melted together. I knew she wouldn't. She might have been changed by this Alice Game ploy, but she couldn't harm her own twin, could she?
Sousei Seki spluttered, then bowed her head. "I'm sorry."
No. NO.
"I can't go back. I've chosen my path, and I plan to follow it all the way to the end." She pushed her flattened palm into my chest, sending my flying backward, onto my bottom.
NO!
"Suisei Seki, if you are going to get in my way," she began, her voice eerily devoid of emotion. My fellow Gardener raised her scissors and pointed the tip directly at my nose. "Then I will cut you loose!"
"NOOOOOOO!" As Sousei Seki lifted the scissors up into the air, about to strike, I summoned my watering can. I didn't want to use it on the one I loved so much, but she was giving me no choice. I had no intent to hurt her, but I needed to immobilize her until I made her see sense.
Fortunately, as I was about to counterattack, Sousei Seki jumped away, pursuing Suigin Tou.
I watched her in awe. "What-what just happened?"
Surely that wasn't my sister, that could so easily have taken my soul from me. That was some vicious monster, that had been manipulated into believing right was wrong by Father's "wishes."
...Did Father really wish this on us?
"You are Suisei Seki..."
Such a gentle voice...
I don't remember much about the man that carefully crafted all of us Rozen Maidens, from the cheerful, naïve Hina Ichigo to the devious, vengeful Suigin Tou. But I do remember warmth and love. A beautiful light clouds his features. I find it hard to believe that the gentle dollmaker of my memories is the same demon that devised a scheme that would leave all but one of us sisters as lifeless shells, unable to do as much as think.
I snap back to my surroundings when the chibi Kanaria jumps up onto the couch to watch Kun Kun's show. The detective puppet would normally distract me from impending doom, but in this case, the doom has already come to pass, and Kun Kun is just making it worse. Sousei Seki watched Kun Kun. Hini Ichigo watched Kun Kun.
I'm reminded of the times that the four of us-Shinku, Hina Ichigo, Souseiseki, and I, sometimes the chibi human's sister, Nori-would sit down to watch the show, with such a light mood. I pull my knees up to my chest, remembering how Sousei Seki always scolded us for getting so worked up over a mere puppet show.
"It's not just a puppet show, Sousei Seki! It's Kun Kun, desu!" I tried to shake some sense into my twin.
"And what about Kun Kun makes him so special?" She crossed her arms.
"It's because he's... he's..." I dropped that thought when another floated into my mind. A sly smile crept across my face. "Say, if it's just a puppet show, why do you follow it as closely as the rest of us?"
"Because, because I-I, well, everyone else watches it!" Sousei Seki put her arms behind her back and smiled weakly. "Yeah, everyone else watches it!"
I had her. "Hah!" I laughed. "I see right through your lie, desu! You obviously recognize Detective Kun Kun's superiority over other TV shows as well, desu!"
"That's not-"
"You're just a chibi like chibi-chibi Ichigo, desu! My own sister..." I covered my face in my hands in mock disgust.
"Suisei Seki!"
I miss teasing her. She's only been gone for a day, but I can almost feel her absence. It's not like when she's sleeping and I'm not, because I know that she won't wake up.
I feel like I need her to live.
A trembling hand reached up to touch my cheek. "Are you... are you crying again?" Her voice was dull, flat. Even more so than before she almost attacked me.
"Y-yes I am! You and I are connected! You're precious to me!" Beneath me, Sousei Seki remained silent. She was weak, but I needed to tell her what I was thinking. Long ago, we had vowed never to keep secrets. "You mean to tell me you can't leave Father's sadness alone, but you're alright with making your twin sister cry?!"
"Suisei Seki... you already have... the strength to walk alone." Her hand slipped off my cheek, but I caught it before it could hit the ground. She had fallen enough that night.
No I don't!
No I don't! I depended on her! I still do!
Tears are brimming in my eyes. Kun Kun is still going, but I can't concentrate. Silently, I slide off the couch and trudge towards the staircase.
A shrill voice follows me. "Suiseiseki, where are you going, na no?"
"I'm going to see the chibi human, desu."
I can imagine Shinku raising her poised eyebrows. "You're going to see Jun? And it can't wait until after Kun Kun?" She's very skeptical, and I suppose I would be too. But I don't have a better explanation prepared, so I scurry up the stairwell to avoid further questioning.
Upon entering Jun's bedroom, I shut myself in my briefcase, slamming the lid.
"Hey!" I hear the irritable boy's yell, though it's a little muffled. "Which one of you pests is it?"
I raise the top up for just a moment, so he can see which one of us "pests" is in his presence and shut up, then pull it back towards me, creating another loud crash.
Jun is speaking to me in a calm and somewhat cautious voice now, but I find myself unable to make out the words. The box I'm lying in is the same box that I soared across the skies with Sousei Seki in.
...
...
...
I do think I'll go insane soon enough, without her serving as my voice of reason.
"No you won't."
"Huh?"
"What are you so sad about, Suisei Seki? Nothing happened. Suigin Tou and Bara Suishou didn't hurt anyone." The voice is painfully familiar.
"Sousei Seki?" I turn over, and see her lying beside me, propped up on one elbow.
"What?"
My smile must be bigger than my face. I reach out to wrap my arms around her, expecting the familiar solidity. How could I be so foolish as to think my twin was dead? It was all a big-
-hallucination.
There's no one in my case but me. Of course there isn't. My face contorts in a desperate scream.
"Suisei Seki!" I listen to a clearly panicked Jun's footsteps as he runs over to my case and seemingly kicks it a few times. "Open up, will you?
As nice as it is to know that he's actually concerned about me, I don't.
I need her back...
I need her back...