Title: Relapse
Summary: When Shinku fails to find a way to wake her fallen sisters, Father provides another way to resume the Alice Game. "I take it that it didn't go too well?"
Author's Note: Again, thank you so much! James Birdsong (welcome back! You seem to have gone away from FFNet a couple of days), BaraBara-chan, summerlilies, and Silent Reader. I'm sorry it wasn't as fast as the last, but yeah. I am fully aware that some parts of my story will contradict popular beliefs (as in what happened in the anime) that involve Suigintou but let's face it, this is most partly AU and yes... Hayate seemed rather... deranged? Enjoy!
"Shinku?!" Jun was growing worried... Okay so maybe we skipped past worried and are now on full-out panicking. He and the rest of the dolls had searched all over the house for any sign of Shinku. She couldn't be found, and the same could be said for Hayate.
"Shinku-desu?!" Suiseiseki was equally as worried. She'd yet to thank Shinku for returning Souseiseki to her and she hardly wanted to lose a sister just as she'd gained another. With a determined gaze, she threw Shinku's case open. "Where have you gone, desu?"
"Wah! Father must have taken her because Karania doesn't believe Hina, nano!"
"That's not true, kashira!" The grey haired doll's cheeks powdered a light pink. "Father would never personally meet with a doll, kashira. It defeats the very purpose of the Alice Game, kashira."
And that's where it got quiet. No one had mentioned the Alice Game ever since it etched itself into their hearts as an awfully bad memory. Souseiseki and Hinaichigo's sudden slumber made it too difficult of a subject to talk about and so everyone silently yet mutually agreed that it be taboo to the Sakurada household. Kanaria must have found it all right to bring up such a subject now that all seven sisters were awake.
"What, kashira?" The second doll blurted out. It was about time everything got back to where they were supposed to head. The Alice Game was the only reason they were alive. "Why are you all looking at me like that, kashira?"
"It's nothing." Jun mumbled before falling to sit on his bed. "Shinku... Where are you? Where could you have gone?"
"And Hayate too." Everyone blinked at Souseiseki, who stared back at each of them. She shrugged. "Kazue informed me about the four Rozen Pages and as little as he's told me, I gather that he's actually the second. Therefore Hayate, or so I guessed, must be the first."
It hit Jun with a plethora of emotions. Every word that left Souseiseki's lips made his heart beat louder with each syllable. Angrily, he glared at the rose ring on his finger before it glowed a bright red- he growled.
"Stupid dolls!"
-x-
"My, my Shinku... I never thought we'd be alone like this just yet. I feel oddly pleasured to be in your presence and I've been hoping to confide some things to you." Shinku's dazzling blue orbs followed Hayate as he paced back and forth across the room from her. He seemed edgy, ever so slipping from his cool and indifferent character. Sighing a bit, she attempted to warm the ice that kept her chained to a wall. When nothing happened she made a sound of irritation.
Hayate seemed very contented in staring at her all day despite the fact that he had been saying something about confiding things to her. She did not want to meet his eyes though and so opted to stare at her surroundings once again.
They weren't on earth anymore- they were in another N-World. It was more than obvious what with the large portraits of her and her sisters. To be honest it looked a lot like her own N-World only differently furnished. Her eyes wandered more so until they rested on a different set of people in a painting which stood behind the wall Hayate had decided to rest on. Funny, she was sure that wasn't there before.
"Like it?" Hayate's voice ruined the silence. He was staring at the floor rather, he wasn't seeing it but he was looking at it. "Father made it for us, no one wanted to keep it because it brought too many memories so I took it."
Shinku's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean 'Father made it for you'."
"I didn't say 'me'." Hayate cut her off. "I said 'us'. Doesn't it matter to you that it's you and I together in a portrait?'
"Of course it matters very little." Shinku's cheeks darkened a light color but she refused to take notice of it. Hayate was right when he'd said it was made for them since it portrayed a beautiful blonde doll much like herself and Hayate. The artist captured the essence of life in both doll's eyes and as hard to believe as it was, Shinku supposed that that girl Hayate had in his arms was none other than herself. Fixing Hayate with a steely gaze, she huffed in annoyance. "Still, explain."
"I was just about to." Hayate smirked. It was still the same proud Shinku. It almost made him grin, almost but not quite."You see, Father had created us a long time ago, but because of rules that were placed on the Alice Game, only, ah, if you will, daughters or rather female dolls were allowed to be awake in order for the game to be played. There really was no use for us male dolls and instead of being destroyed, since we too are Father's creations, we'd been sent to sleep."
"Why are you awake now?
"The rules that forcibly kept Father at bay from playing the Alice Game as he'd wanted seem to have changed and we're now, legally, participants. Only as Rozen Pages we cannot become Alice because I doubt that Father would want a homosexual for his daughter, not that I have anything against such people, just that I would find it odd."
"That's trivial."
"Be patient Shinku, your thirst for knowledge has always been your weakness." Hayate cast an almost loving hand to caress the blonde's cheek which made Shinku suppress a shiver. "Anyway, Father sent us here to finish the Alice Game and as soon as we find your dear big sister everything will be ready.
"Then the game begins?"
"Unfortunately." Shinku flinched at his vague reply. Lifting her head she asked the one thing that had been bugging her the entire time, minus being strapped to a wall by ice.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I want you to remember."
-x-
Megu was having trouble thinking straight. A little doll had appeared in front of her and he very well reminded her of Suigintou, only very noticeably male and possibly taller. Iruka, on the hand seemed rather surprised he was in the presence of Suigintou's former medium when he was supposed to be with HinaIchigo's. Haru would just have to suck it up for the both of them, no use in letting Father down.
"I don't get it." Megu's soft voice beckoned Iruka's attention, which he gave. "If you're here, then... where's my Suigintou? Where's my dark Angel?"
Iruka was confused. Shouldn't the eldest be with her medium as well? As far as he knew, Suigintou had been revived, much like the others, and been given life yet she wasn't here. How odd.
"I am looking for her, Mistress..."
"M-Megu."
"Megu." Megu stared at the new doll. His motifs of orange and white reminded her of Hitachiin Kaoru from Ouran High School Host Club, more so with his spiked ginger hair. "I've come to seek Suigintou, the first doll."
"She isn't with me..." Megu cringed. Way to state the obvious.
"So I see." Iruka looked thoughtful for a moment. He seemed to be… faking it, if Megu could say she knew him well enough to make such a remark. The way his amber eyes moved almost smugly around the room as if everything was falling into a plan he'd thought of at the start. From the first second she'd saw how his face seemed thoughtful yet knowing she already knew… what a trickster. "Do you have any idea as to where she could possibly be?"
"No." As if he didn't already know. Megu was surprised to find herself thinking that but there was definitely something about Iruka that was plainly see-through.
"Well that doesn't give me any clues to find her." Iruka blew on his dark bangs, testily glaring at the ceiling. "You could have made this just a little easier Father."
Father? Megu watched as the male doll stared for a long time, as if actually in deep conversation with the flat surface of cement and plaster. His amber eyes had been in an agitated glare before they'd snap to gaze at Megu's face as if reminded of something.
"I know that she's Suigintou's medium." He was staring at her almost as if she couldn't see him, though both were aware of the others presence. "I just wish she'd give me a sign, because I didn't think she'd want to leave her medium so vulnerable for the taking..."
A sharp feather whizzed from the open window and a small smug smile found its way to Iruka's face. "That'll do, nice of you to finally appear. Leaving your guests to wait is hardly considered proper, Suigintou."
-x-
HinaIchigo was practically fuming. How dare her sisters not believe her? She expected this from Suiseiseki, due to many things, but never from Kanaria for the second sister had always been there for her. They were both the shortest of their sisters and mostly got along, not actually that much of a player in the Alice Game, but their best they gave.
So… maybe that's why it hurt whenever Kanaria fixed her with a glare. There must have been a reason why her second eldest sister hated - or perhaps not to that extent just quite yet, but a reason why they were arguing. Hopefully it would be resolved soon.
HinaIchigo watched as Suiseiseki and Souseiseki nodded towards her and Jun before laying their hands on the old mirror. If Jun couldn't sense Shinku anywhere nearby that only meant one thing- she was in the N-World.
"Let's go, desu!" The green themed doll jumped in, followed by her twin and closely behind was Kazue- his raven black hair flowing behind him like dark satin. Jun glanced at HinaIchigo, doubt filling in his mind as to whether he should let her come along, one stern glare (a rather rare stern glare) made him shake his head and run through the mirror, all too aware that even had he rethought his decision and forbidden her from coming along, she still would follow along with Kanaria.
Distractedly, he couldn't believe that the two were fighting. He'd suspected Shinku against Suigintou or Suiseiseki against HinaIchigo but never… Kanaria vs said pink doll.
"We're here." Souseiseki's voice seemed doubtful, mystified. There was hint of fear in it as she glanced around the N-World where she last perished, but she remained strong. Most especially when her twin gave her an affectionate pat on the shoulder.
"Shinku should be here somewhere, desu." Suiseiseki extended a hand. "Jade Dream."
"Lempicka." The two Gardener dolls took fast strides forward. "Follow us, and Jun…"
The medium glanced up, not realizing he had dropped his stare down at his ring. Souseiseki was looking at him as if with sympathy- her face was void of emotion but still it seemed like sympathy. "Please stop worrying. This is Shinku we're talking about. It isn't likely that the main character dies that easily."
-x-
Megu could feel her heart beating faster, and for quite a different reason. She had never feared Death, sometime she even welcomed it, begged for it to grace her with its presence. Right now though, she felt even more alive than all her years of breathing combined. Her dark angel stood on her usual window sill, crimson cat-like eyes gleaming with annoyance as if not liking the fact that Megu had a visitor.
"How dare you." No not one bit. Suigintou looked ready to kill Iruka for daring to set foot in Megu's hospital room, let alone her bed. There had to be an explanation- perhaps the white haired doll already knew who this person was. "How dare you!"
"Now now Suigintou, it's your fault and you very well know it." That tone. Megu was confused. Iruka spoke to her Angel as if she were some child caught doing something terribly naughty. The anger in Suigintou's eyes flared and her pale face nearly turned red with rage. Iruka was dancing between a trickster and a horrible smug person in Megu's eyes and if there was anything other than Shinku that pushed Suigintou's buttons it was the way someone spoke. "Come now Suigintou, your sisters are dying to see you."
Oh snap.
-x-
Kirakishou was peeved. Nothing was going according to plan and what's worse was Suigintou was pissed off! That wasn't something she dreamed off let alone allowed to happen. Oh if she got her hands on Iruka that ginger haired doll would be tossed in some pot and she'd let him boil to death!
Rozen sensed his youngest daughter's anger and watched as her lone gold eye twitched with relative annoyance. Her sudden favoritism towards her eldest sister had something to with the fact that both she and Suigintou had been partly left on the shelf while the rest he'd attended to, the rest he finished, the rest he completed. Guiltily, he had approached both daughters and found him pardoned which made him incredibly happy. That's why it brought back memories to see Kirakishou testily staring at the mirror- as if, if she saw Iruka taunt her one more time she'd jump in and smack some sense (by smacking him into the nearest wall, post, bed, table and chair a hundred times respectively) herself.
"Kirakishou." Rozen's voice brought Kirakishou back to reality and her head turned, eye calming back down, hands uncurling from her tight fists. If Suigintou got her to rage, for Father she calmed down in less than a second. Truly, Suigintou would have made an unbearably stubborn daughter if she'd been in the Alice game at the beginning. Perhaps an ally of Souseiseki's, but then what would have happened to her twin. "Perhaps you'd like to tell me why Iruka is behaving as so? I thought he was supposed to be like me?"
Kirakishou blew on her white bangs. "For all I know Father, none of my creations are working as I'd seen them in my head. I should be given a lump of coal for all the good I brought you."
"Nonsense." Rozen ruffled the seventh's bright white hair before gesturing towards the ever changing mirrors. "We still have Haru and besides… you've made the wait all too bearable."
"Have I really? Kirakishou asked hopefully.
Rozen smiled. "Even a doll maker gets bored sometimes."
-x-
To be continued...