Update! And I hope you all had a great Christmas and have a Happy New Year as well!
Rozen Maiden: Märchen
EPISODE NINE
Homecoming
As it happened Jun was not happy when he returned home and found the state his room was in. Nevertheless Suiseiseki's temper tantrum may have been a blessing in disguise, as the other dolls used the incident to suggest a sort of truce; Suiseiseki would help them get to Lebensbaum and in return Jun would agree not to retaliate for her wrecking his room. It started to go well until negotiations broke down after the gardener doll demanded an apology and Jun flatly refused.
"Like hell I am gonna apologise! After what that demonic doll did to my room, she should be the one apologising to me!"
Suiseiseki snarled at him and stamped her foot. "As if I would apologise to such a puny little runt, you intolerant bigoted buffoon, you!"
"Suiseiseki..." her twin urged feebly, knowing that she should try and settle this dispute but also aware that both Suiseiseki and Jun could be incredibly stubborn at times. Jun turned to Rozen and gestured angrily at Suiseiseki.
"Your daughter totalled my bedroom, are you just gonna stand there and let her get away with that?"
"Umm ... what exactly do you suggest I do about it?" Rozen asked uneasily. Jun groaned at his sudden obtuseness.
"You're her father! Discipline her or something!"
Rozen looked warily from Jun to the doll in question, whose mismatching eyes went wide, hand raised to her mouth as if ready to stifle any sound that emerged. All trace of anger completely gone now, Suiseiseki took an involuntary step back as Rozen advanced towards her and picked her up. He held her out in front of him and stared into her frightened eyes, uncertainty clouding his own. The entire living room held its breath as everyone watched and waited for him to do something.
"It's no good," he blurted out, turning the doll around and pulling her close in an embrace. He whirled around to face Jun and shook his head. "I can't do it. You said it yourself; she's my daughter. I don't want to hurt her!"
Jun sagged. "Oh man, you gotta be kidding me. Don't be fooled by her looks, that doll is a menace. She's outta control, Rozen; if you can't get her to behave then no one can!"
"Oh come on," Rozen squeezed Suiseiseki affectionately, "She's hardly that. You just hurt her feelings," he said. Jun glared at the trouble-making doll, who stuck her tongue out at him in response. "I think you should both apologise and make up. Surely that's for the best. Suiseiseki, tell Jun you're sorry."
Both boy and doll regarded each other in a way that said they would sooner pull their own teeth out than apologise, but there didn't seem to be any alternative. Still riding on a cloud of smugness over the fact that her father hadn't disciplined her, Suiseiseki put on an infuriating smile and said that she was sorry.
"Now you, Jun," Rozen urged. Jun ground his teeth together, but under the combined stares of Rozen and four dolls he finally caved in and admitted defeat.
"Fine then. Suiseiseki - I'm sorry."
"What was that?" Suiseiseki cupped a hand to one ear and tilted her head slightly in a mocking fashion, "I didn't quite catch that."
"I said I'm sorry! I'm sorry I called you a twisted little freak for wanting to marry your own twin sister! There! Are you satisfied?"
"No," she said, "but it'll do for now."
"Good," said Rozen. He held the gardener doll out towards Jun. "Now kiss and make up."
"WHAT?" they both exclaimed simultaneously. Rozen took a step closer to Jun and all but thrust Suiseiseki at him.
"There's way too much negative energy between the two of you, and seeing as how a covenant exists that is just not a good thing," Rozen explained to both startled and embarrassed parties, "One little kiss will go a long way towards defusing that."
Suiseiseki said nothing, she simply stared at Jun and blushed, all previous hostility gone in the face of the mere prospect of having to kiss him. Jun took a step back, hands raised defensively, but Rozen advanced mercilessly. Jun swallowed.
"L-like hell I'm gonna kiss her! She's a doll for crying out loud!"
"Oh?" Shinku spoke up finally, "And what is that supposed to mean?" she demanded, her voice lowering the ambient temperature in the room by several degrees.
"Yes Jun," Suigintou chimed in, ever eager to twist the knife in the back of the human boy she was jealous of, "What's wrong with kissing a doll?"
Jun turned his attention guiltily back towards the doll in Rozen's hands, only a short distance from his face. Suiseiseki's cheeks were visibly reddened though she was no longer looking at him. Rather, her eyes were downcast, as if she'd expected his reaction and seemed somewhat disappointed. Rozen and the rest of the dolls however were still watching him expectantly, and he knew, just knew that there was only one thing he could do unless he wanted to alienate everyone in the room. And he really didn't.
Swallowing his embarrassment once more, Jun steeled himself, leaned forwards and planted a kiss on Suiseiseki's cheek. He pulled away hastily as her eyes widened with shock and she gasped. Rozen nodded. "Good enough." He lowered Suiseiseki down onto the ground and stood back, while Jun pointedly avoided making eye contact with anyone in the room. Far from being jealous, Shinku actually seemed pleased. She strolled towards the living room door with just the barest hint of a smile showing on her face.
"I shall go up and repair the damage to your bedroom," she announced as she passed Jun. Rozen picked up the potted plant from the coffee table and headed for the glass doors leading to the garden, Suigintou floating after him. Souseiseki put a comforting hand on her twin's shoulder.
"We'll be outside when you're ready," she said quietly, and then left to follow Rozen. Pretty soon Jun and Suiseiseki were the only two still in the living room. They both stood in a kind of awkward silence, neither speaking or making eye contact. Suiseiseki clenched her hands for several long moments before finally breaking the silence.
"You ... you should apologise to Souseiseki as well," she said, her voice more level and quiet than normal, "You hurt her feelings too after all."
"I ... I will," Jun assured her, shuffling his feet. He felt as if he should say something further in the renewed silence that followed. "Suiseiseki..."
"Yes Jun?"
"I'm sorry ... about what I said earlier. I didn't mean to snap at you like that."
Suiseiseki bobbed her head, her cheeks now sporting a healthy rosy tint. "That's okay Jun," she paused for a moment before adding; "I'm sorry I trashed your room."
"That's okay, I kinda had it coming after the things I said."
Suiseiseki giggled, her gaze directed at the floor in front of her. "I so totally agree there. Umm ... Jun?"
"Yeah?"
"Could I ask you a favour?" she said. He frowned and regarded her curiously, and she finally looked up from the floor and made furtive eye contact with him. "Pick me up," she half-asked, half-instructed. He did as she bid and held the doll before him.
"What is it?"
"Umm, well..." Suiseiseki hesitated, uncertainty clouding her features. "I was wondering ... do you think maybe you could ... kiss me again? Like you did before. Umm."
"Huh? Why?"
Suiseiseki moaned, having been asked the one question she didn't want to be asked at that very moment. "Will you?" she pressed, the colour of her face now matching one of her eyes very nicely. Jun sighed.
"Fine, but don't tell anyone, okay?" he pulled her close and kissed her on the cheek once more, and the doll squeezed her eyes shut tight when he did. Jun carefully set her down and took a step back, while Suiseiseki opened her eyes and gently touched her hand to her face. She looked up at Jun and smiled a genuine smile of warmth and affection that was seldom seen on her, especially when directed at him.
"Thank you, Jun."
Embarrassed, Jun rubbed the side of his head and smiled nervously back at her. "Uh, yeah, sure." He watched her go, for once not throwing a cutting remark or insult his way, and wondered what all of that was about. One thing was for sure, Rozen was right; it had at least helped defuse some of the negative feelings between them. And for all his insistence that Suiseiseki was an evil menace, he knew that she had a softer side she did occasionally let show through.
If only she was like that more often, he lamented.
Outside in the garden, Suiseiseki poured water from her watering can onto the patio until it created a small pool. Souseiseki clipped a tiny piece of the plant using the shears and then dropped it into the pool of water her twin had made. The gardeners then summoned their artificial spirits Lempicka and Sui Dream, which circled the pool for a moment before diving into it. It shimmered and glowed brightly with a bluish white light.
"There, that should do it," Souseiseki announced. Rozen knelt before the glowing pool and dipped the tip of his finger in it, creating ripples of light. He glanced up at the assembled dolls and smiled.
"Well, are you ready? I imagine it's been a while since you guys have been home." He stood and bowed theatrically. "Ladies first, of course."
"Jun?" Suiseiseki glanced up at her Medium. He frowned and looked down at her.
"Wh-hey! I am not a lady!"
Suiseiseki sniggered. "Well if you'd like, I'm sure Souseiseki could fix that," she said. Jun glanced across at her twin who innocently snipped the gardening shears together. He gulped. Suigintou finally lost patience waiting on them and dived right into the open portal. Shinku joined her a moment later, followed by the twins. Jun and Rozen were left standing around the pool together. Rozen grinned at him and then hopped into the glowing puddle shouting 'Geronimo!' as he went. Jun stared down at the portal and grimaced.
"I hate these things," he muttered, "I always land on my head."
He jumped.
And yes, he did land on his head. He sat up and groaned, rubbing the fresh bruise whilst searching for his glasses. Shinku handed them to him and he slipped them on, blinking about at their new surroundings. He got to his feet and gaped. "You live here?" he asked Rozen.
"Well," Rozen answered slowly, "it's gone downhill a little since the last time I saw it."
Lebensbaum. Fabled birthplace of the Rozen Maiden dolls. It looked like the kingdom from the Sleeping Beauty fairytale, which was to say the kind of place you get when everyone lies down for a nap for a couple of hundred years and no one tends to anything. The buildings were old and worn, with overgrown ivy and weeds everywhere. The streets were empty, not a soul in sight, not even a bird. Everything was deathly quiet, save for the occasional chilly gust of wind. It was cold and grey, the sky clouded over and ready to rain at any minute from the look of it. Jun could see thick cobwebs through the grimy windows of the nearby buildings, so presumably there were at least spiders here. Then again, perhaps they were just obligatory for lifeless ghost towns like this. There was a clock tower, which had stopped at six o'clock.
"Oh, wow!" Suiseiseki was backing away from Jun and looking up at something that must be towering behind him. He spun around and found himself face to face with perhaps the only living thing here save for themselves. It was a tree. Actually tree didn't quite do it justice, and was akin to calling a fire hot. It was the largest tree Jun had ever seen in his life outside of television shows of jungles and rainforests, and managed to look incredibly ancient yet vibrant at both the same time. It was sitting in what must be the main square of the town, which was where they were now.
"Impressive, huh?" said Rozen, standing at Jun's side and joining him in gazing up at the thing. "This is one very special tree."
"You don't say?"
"I do! The sap from it is extremely useful in alchemy. You can live forever with the help of this tree and a few other ingredients. Of course if you're not careful you could end up turning yourself into ... err, something. Not that I ever did, mind."
Rozen led them all through the town, which Jun found to be eerily familiar. It took him a moment to place where he'd seen it before; Suigintou's N-Field. The ruined streets of her Field were a kind of semi-recreation of Lebensbaum. There were fleur-de-lis decorating several of the buildings and monuments as well. After about ten minutes of trudging through dreary, empty streets, they finally reached his home. Again Jun was overcome by a sense of deja-vu. In this case it was Shinku's N-Field which had served as the source of his familiarity, for the house and garden in her Field were almost the same as the one here.
"Geez, you travel a couple of hundred years into the future and look what happens to the place," Rozen observed dryly. Despite the similarity to Shinku's N-Field, this estate was as run-down and unattended as everywhere else in this ghost town. The once thriving gardens were simply overrun with weeds, and there was not a touch of colour outside of grey and dull green to be found. The garden steps were covered with dust and debris, and the house itself practically screamed 'haunted'.
There was a deep rumble of thunder in the distance and the group decided that regardless of the state of the building, being inside out of the rain was far more preferable to being soaked by the inevitable downpour the gloomy sky was threatening them with. The front door wasn't locked and Jun didn't think it even could be judging by the rust on the thing. It creaked ominously, admitting them into a dark and foreboding entrance hall. Rozen strode in and spun around, arms extended and a wry smile on his boyish face.
"Well, here it is. Home sweet home. Sorry about the state of the place, I guess the maid finally got fed up with me at some point and quit. Can't say I blame her, I've always been difficult to live with."
Jun followed the dolls in and gazed about at the old-fashioned Victorian style interior. Two words immediately came to mind: Resident. Evil. If there were any zombies here then that was it, he was out of here. Outside the rain finally began in earnest, pelting the roof and windows to the accompaniment of another long roll of thunder. Suiseiseki whimpered and clutched her twin's arm tightly.
"What happened here, Father?" Souseiseki asked as she removed her hat, "How did the town end up like this?"
Rozen shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. "Not really sure. It isn't like this in my time. Lebensbaum is packed with people, and this place is usually..." he trailed off, frowning for a moment before his eyes widened suddenly, "Oh!" he turned and ran up the main staircase, taking the stairs two at a time. They hurried after him as he led them through the dark and dusty building, the multicoloured light from the dolls spirits providing just enough illumination to see with.
"This place is like some kind of haunted house or something," Jun observed as Rozen led them up another spiral staircase. He stopped and glanced back at him.
"It is haunted," he said with dead seriousness.
"What?" Jun's eyes widened in alarm and his grip on the banister tightened considerably. It had taken him ages to get used to living dolls, but now ghosts? That was all he needed. Rozen nodded and turned back, resuming his climb up the creaking old staircase.
"Yes, it's haunted even in my time. Ever since my little sister died."
Even the dolls stopped at that. Jun was the first one to ask the question that was on all of their lips. "Wait ... you said that you normally sleep with your sister."
"That's right."
"Your dead sister?"
"Yup. She should still be here actually; we're going to see her now."
What do you say to that? What the hell do you say to that? Jun had no idea whatsoever. None at all. It was simply beyond weird, beyond creepy. And this was him thinking that. Creepy was practically the norm for him. He'd once sought out creepy things out of boredom, buying cursed items online for a thrill on the off chance he might actually get something scary. If he'd told himself then that he'd one day be creeping through an old German dollmaker's house to meet with the dead sister he regularly slept with, he'd probably stare at himself and then slowly back away.
They followed the doll's (clearly disturbed) father to what had presumably been a girl's bedroom at one point in time, before the curse of Lebensbaum (as Jun liked to think of it) had claimed it and turned it into a web-strewn faded grey phantom of its former self. And there, lying on the once lavish four poster bed, was Sleeping Beauty herself. To Jun's immense relief she was not the ghastly skeletal remains of Rozen's sister, but rather a stunningly beautiful girl of perhaps twelve or so. She was wearing an old-fashioned dress that fit the style of the house, and had long golden blond ringlets that cascaded loosely around her shoulders and face. Her eyes were closed and she seemed to be sleeping, though she did not appear to be breathing.
"Oh good, she is still here. Well that's something at least." Rozen wandered over to the bedside table and opened one of the tiny drawers. He removed a winding key from within and sat himself down on the bed beside the girl. They watched as he gently took her into his arms, reached around and inserted the key into her back. There was the familiar sound of a mechanism being wound, and Jun realised that the girl Rozen was holding was a doll. His sister's spirit must be inhabiting the thing.
"Rise and shine Ada, it's your big brother Rozen," he spoke softly, removing the winding key and tenderly brushing a strand of hair from her serene face. She twitched in his arms a few times, just as the Rozen Maidens would do, and then slowly her eyes opened. Green eyes, just like her brother. They focused on Rozen, and for a long drawn out moment Jun and the other dolls all held their collective breaths.
Then she slapped him.