Once again, Jun found himself in a situation he really did not want to be in. After the new doll called Siegfried had fixed the door he had smashed, he had demanded that a meeting be called in the morning. Though questions had been thrown at him like bullets from a gun, the doll had simply said he would answer everything in the morning. After he issued that statement, he had wrapped his cloak around himself tighter and fallen asleep on the couch. Now Jun was forced to go to sleep with his head full of questions.
As Jun had gotten into bed the second time and pulled the sheets to his head, he knew that Suiseiseki and Shinku were silently watching him. Even after a half hour, pretending to be asleep in total darkness, Jun heard only one box close. An hour passed, and Jun knew that Shinku hadn't taken her eyes off him. However, as Jun was about to give up on the idea of sleep, Shinku broke the silence.
"Jun." she said softly. She knew he was still awake, and Jun knew she knew, but he still pretended to be asleep. After a minute of silence, she spoke again.
"Jun…you tried your best. Thank you…" Jun heard her box close after she had spoken, and so he slowly opened his eyes.
His room was completely still. Jun stared at the boxes in their usual places. For a good five minute, he stared, not taking his eyes of the boxes, not even to blink.
"I'm sorry…" Jun closed his eyes softly and let sleep cover him in its sweet embrace.
A muffled voice reached Jun's ear. Who's voice was this? He could not place the owner. A second voice reached Jun's ears. This voices sounded so familiar, but from when, and where?
A beam of warm light hit Jun's face, and he sleepily opened one eye. It was morning. Sitting up, Jun wearily scanned his room. Shinku's and Suiseiseki's boxes were in the normal places, still shut. Jun let out a yawn and reached for his glasses. He suddenly stopped, as he heard the muffled voices again. Where were they coming from?
Wham! In an instant, Jun found himself pinned between the wall and his bed.
"Whaa! That was so scary! I couldn't open my box!"
"Yes, that was very strange. I couldn't open my box at first either. Well, whatever was holding the lids down, we managed to get off us at least."
"G-good morning, Hinaichigo, Souseiseki…" Jun managed to cough out this greeting, thought the pressure of the bed didn't help his breathing much.
"Hm? Jun, did you say that? Where are you?"
"Whaa! Souseiseki! Look! Jun's bed is on its side!"
Looking from the corner of his eye, Jun saw two blurs, one with a disguisable blurry hat, peering down at him.
"Jun! Are you okay? What happened?"
"What does it look like?" Jun responded, annoyed.
From the distance, Jun heard Shinku's and Suiseiseki's boxes open.
"What's all this noise so early in the morning?"
"Ah! Shinku! Suiseiseki!"
"Hinaichigo?"
"SOUSEISEKI!"
Jun could hear the clatter of doll feet running across his floor, the sound of fabric on fabric as the dolls were embracing each, and Jun would have been willing to bet everything on that Shinku was smiling brightly. However, this heartwarming family reunion filled with love and joy still didn't get the bed off him.
"Would somebody please get this bed off of me!" Jun shouted angrily from his pinned position.
"Really Jun, we're in the middle of a family reunion, and you want us to focus on you? I can't believe how rude and selfish my servant can be sometimes."
"Chibi-human doesn't have any respect for family desu! It's always about him desu!"
Jun's face went red as he seethed with rage. "I swear, when I get this bed off me…"
"I don't like it when my servants make promises they can't keep."
"Say Hinaichigo, look at chibi-human's feet sticking out from the wall desu. I wonder if he's ticklish desu?"
"Yay! Tickle Jun's feet, tickle Jun's feet."
"Don't you dare come near my feet!" Jun started flailing his feet wildly, sending all the dolls into uproarious laughter.
The sudden sound of the footsteps of tiny feet in the hallway silenced the laughter. Jun struggled against the bed so he could stretch his neck up and see what had caused the sudden silence. In a few seconds, Jun didn't have to. The bed was suddenly away from Jun, and for a moment, he thought it was floating in the air. It wasn't.
Under the bed, supporting the frame, box spring, mattress, sheets and pillow with one arm, was Siegfried. His face was bare of emotion as he stared at Jun. Dead silence inhabited the room.
"Well, are you going to move, or would you rather I put the bed back on top of you?" Siegfried asked directly, a touch of annoyance hinted in his voice. Mumbling apologies, Jun stood up and walked out of the way. Moving Souseiseki's and Hinaichigo's boxes out of the way, Siegfried set down Jun's bed as quietly and softly as he had picked it up. Sighing slightly, Siegfried turned and faced Jun and the Rozen Maidens.
"If our business is done here, can we kindly move down to the living room so that our meeting may commence? Nori is kindly making us breakfast, so we don't want to keep her waiting." With a swish of his brown cloak, flashing a bit of silver plate mail to everyone, Siegfried exited the room.
A moment of silence followed. "Who was that?" Souseiseki asked, amazement underlying her voice. "Is he a brother of ours?"
"Shinku, do we have a big brother? Do we?" Hinaichigo asked with excitement.
"No, father did not create him. He was…made by someone else." Shinku replied after a brief pause.
" It was hard to tell, since he was so similar to Shinku desu." Suiseiseki added slyly.
"What?"
"I see her point." Souseiseki interjected. "He's so…proper and formal. Plus he has the same hair and eye color as you Shinku. Someone could think easily think he was your twin brother."
"My twin brother?"
"Not to mention he was as demanding and cold as you are Shinku. Plus he-" Jun was going to add more, but a swift kick to the shins silenced him.
"Lets just go see what he has to say." Shinku demanded, blushing and annoyed. The dolls started to leave the room, Suiseiseki clinging to Souseiseki.
"Isn't Jun coming?" Hinaichigo asked, and the dolls turned to face Jun.
"Geez! Let me get changed first!" Jun shouted and slammed the door on their faces.
A little while later, everyone was gathered in the living room. The breakfast dishes were still unclean, as Nori had only been introduced to Siegfried and knew less about him then everyone else.
"Well, everyone is here. What do you want to talk about?" Shinku asked after a brief minute of silence.
"You're wrong. Not everyone is here. We're missing one person. She's actually right there." Siegfried calmly pointed to a bush through the glass doors without looking at it. Everyone else glanced at the bush in curiosity, and something stirred within it.
Kanaria popped out from the bush, surprised she had been spotted as much as everyone else was surprised that she was there.
"Aha! E-everyone is gathered together, just as I planned! It is time to enact my plan, and I, Kanaria, will get everyone's Rosa Mysticas! I will-" Kanaria stopped talking and paled as Siegfried walked to the glass doors and opened them.
"I am the one who sent Squire to you, so if you would please have a seat inside and stop your babbling, we can get this meeting started." Siegfried said this calmly, but he glared at Kanaria so viciously she trembled as she entered the room and took a seat.
"Squire?" Jun asked curiously.
"Yes, Squire. My artificial spirit." With that, Siegfried took off his brown cloak and threw it into the air. It shriveled up and became a brown version of the artificial spirits all the dolls knew and recognized.
However, Siegfried was revealed in all his glory and splendor. The quintessential knight in shining armor, except for his face and hair, he was covered in armor. Across his back was a traditional shield, though it bared no insignia. At his side was a long sword, almost the length of his entire body. However, it didn't look awkward on him for some reason, and Jun, Shinku and Suiseiseki all knew from his brief display last night that he knew how to use it. The other dolls couldn't help but gawk.
"So…are you a knight?" Nori asked uneasily.
Siegfried smiled for the first time the group had met him. He did have a dazzling smile. "Something like that."
His smile disappeared after that. "Now, let us begin. I will start from the beginning. My name is Siegfried. My father…creator, is The Cruel Merchant, the demon that Jun summoned last night."
Nori, Souseiseki and Hinaichigo all stared at Jun in amazement. "Jun…you summoned a demon?" Nori asked, worry coating her voice.
"It was a way to get Souseiseki's and Hinaichigo's Rosa Mysticas back." Jun mumbled, barely audible.
Souseiseki and Hinaichigo looked down at the ground. "Jun, you didn't have to do that…" Souseiseki said uncertainly.
"Is Jun okay?" Hinaichigo asked.
"I don't know the price my creator took from Jun, but from his, Shinku's and Suiseiseki's look, I have my expectations that he will suffer for the rest of his life with the consequences," Siegfried interrupted, "but if I may continue please…"
Souseiseki and Hinaichigo looked at Jun with sympathy, causing Jun to cringe and look away from them.
"How did The Cruel Merchant obtain Souseiseki's and Hinaichigo's Rosa Mysticas desu?" Suiseiseki asked.
Siegfried cleared his throat, obviously annoyed. "My creator has immense power. There are few beings that dare challenge him. Whoever had the Rosa Mysticas must have been smart enough to give them up to him. Now If I may continue…"
"Can he really make one of us Alice?" Shinku asked quietly, and all other questions died in everyone else's throats, with Kanaria, Souseiseki and Hinaichigo looking back and forth between Shinku and Siegfried.
Siegfried crossed his arms and sighed, closing his eyes. "Yes, he does hold that power…"
The dolls gasped, but Jun stayed silent. "What price would his enact for that?" he asked, and all the dolls looked at Jun questioningly.
Siegfried simply shrugged. "I have no idea. Perhaps he would turn the doll's medium into a lifeless doll, perhaps he would kill Rozen so there would be no one to appreciate Alice, I don't know." The doll's eyes widened with horror at the thought.
"What I do know however, is that my creator promised 3 wishes, no strings attached, to the one who can defeat him."
"Why hasn't someone who only cares about becoming Alice, like Suigintou, contacted The Cruel Merchant and asked to become Alice?" Souseiseki asked, earning a sideways glance by Shinku.
Siegfried chuckled. "Probably because Rozen despises my creator with all of his being and has done everything in his power to keep his daughters away from my creator."
This earned a gasp from the dolls. Their father, their loving, caring, kind father, hating someone?
"Why does Rozen hate your father, er, creator?" Nori asked, earning a glare from Siegfried at the mention of the word "father."
"The only way they'll find out is if they come with me to kill my creator this afternoon. Squire found out where he'll be and when, and I intend to kill him." Siegfried unsheathed his sword. "I'll let you three have the wishes. Nothing interests me other than my creator's death. I am strong, but I am also realistic. I need help." Getting on one knee, Siegfried laid his sword in front of the Rozen maidens. "Please, will you assist me?"
No one moved. Siegfried kept down on one knee as everyone looked at each other, wondering if someone would make a move.
Someone did. Picking up his sword, Jun handed it back to Sigfried. "I will help you," he said simply.
Siegfried looked up and took his sword back, smiling. "I guess I misjudged you human. I thank you for your aid."
Shinku sighed. "Well, I guess this means we're all in then. "
"Yay! We're gonna help a knight!"
"Awww, chibi-human is always getting us in more and more trouble desu."
"Wait a minute, who said I was getting involved in this?" Kanaria whined.
Only Souseiseki looked at Jun and his determined faced questioningly, wondering what on earth had happened to have Jun dive head-first into trouble.