(A/N: So! We're all familiar with the classic tale "A Christmas Carol" right?well remember how in the story the three ghosts show and replay different memories of Scrooge's life in front of him? Well that's kind of what we're getting here, so bear with me on this chapter. What exactly will be in store for the pretty marionette in that mansion? We'll just have to see)

Chapter 19 D-O-L-L H-O-U-S-E

Armin carefully crept into the large foreboding mansion in pursuit of Annie Doll. This, he presumed, was the living room. It was quite large and heavily Victorian styled. Much like something out of "Black Butler". The elaborate furniture that decorated the room was a lovely white color while the walls and carpet were a vibrant bloody red rose color.

A great white marble staircase could be seen spiraling upwards into what could only be the second floor. an old ebony grandfather clock and an old fancy looking rotary phone could be seen as well. Blurry portraits in fancy detailed frames and vases of pretty flowers, mostly red, blue, and pink roses could also be spotted throughout the room. The house was very dark save for the few oil lamps and candles that illuminated it.

If Armin wasn't so wary of this place he would have thought it was beautiful place to live in. He hesitantly looked around as he searched for Annie Doll but found neither hide or ball joint of the girl. "Annie?" Armin whispered in a small shaky voice."where are you?" He asked. Thick suffocating silence hung in the air as he looked around expecting an answer from the doll.

Armin didn't like this. He didn't like it at all!

A terrified shriek escaped Armin's mouth as he felt something brush up against his healed boot. jumping back and looking down he realized what it was. That same little white rabbit from his previous dream. The fluffy animal stood on it's hind legs and pawed at Armin's ankles waiting to be picked up."Oh!y-you again?" Armin asked picking the rabbit up. He examined the name tag the bunny wore on his ribbon collar and read it out loud.

"Snowball huh? That's a cute name for a bunny like you!" The doll exclaimed. Snowball's ears perked up at the compliment. He nuzzled his face in Armin's neck as he took in his scent."hey! That tickles!" Armin giggled softly. He then held Snowball at arms length getting another good look at him."you know Snowball? somehow i feel like we've met before"

Snowball just twitched his nose in response and raised a questioning ear as if to say" really?" Seeing that the rabbit wasn't a threat, he petted him some more. "And your fur is so pretty too!" He complimented. Snowball twitched his Whiskers and licked Armin's nose kissing him. The boy felt a bit more at ease now with this bunny here. "hey..you seem to be a smart rabbit and you seem to understand what I'm saying as well, so do you think you can help me?" He asked with a bit of hope in his voice.

Snowball perked up and slowly nodded his head in response to the doll's question. "Oh great!" Armin replied. "You wouldn't have happened to have seen another giant doll like me wandering around have you? She's about this big and she was dressed as a really sexy bride" he explained.

Snowball twitched his ears for a moment before scrambling out of Armin's grasp and scurrying up the staircase."hey wait!" Armin called out following the rabbit. Snowball patiently waited for Armin to join him at the top of the stairs before dashing off again towards the left wing of the hallway.

Armin followed in hot pursuit. He felt like Alice in Wonderland chasing after this damn rabbit! Seeing Snowball finally slow down to a halt in front of a guest room, he stopped in his tracks and looked at the rabbit. "Is Annie in here?" He asked. Snowball just sat perfectly still on the ground remaining quiet looking at Armin. He then silently stretched out a long fuzzy ear and pointed it toward the door in an eerie manner.

Armin shivered a bit at this. The way Snowball was pointing at things with his ears greatly reminded him of how The Ghost Of Christmas Yet to Come would point his bony, corpse like fingers at things whenever he wanted to show something to Ebeneezer Scrooge on "A Christmas Carol" and that alone started to make him a bit more scared again.

"Snowball?" Armin repeated a bit more warily."is Annie really in this room?" He asked again. Snowball remained as still as a corpse as he continued to point at the door. Obviously there was something that really needed to be seen behind this door otherwise Snowball wouldn't have brought him up here.

"Okay..fine.. I'll look inside" Armin said in an exasperated tone. Peeking his head in the doorway and opening up the door, he froze at what he saw. It was a young little version of himself in a cute sailor suit sitting on the floor and playing with his toys. He looked no more than five or six years old at least " What the hell?" Armin muttered looking down at Snowball with a confused face.

"w-what is this?" He asked gesturing to his younger counterpart in the room. It wasn't just the fact that this version of him was younger, there was something else about his appearance that was throwing him off too but he couldn't for the life of him quite put his finger on why. Little Armin looked up from the blocks he was playing with and looked over to Snowball smiling, paying his older counterpart no mind whatsoever, as if he wasn't even there.

"Snowball there you are!" Little Armin squeaked."I was looking everywhere for you!" Snowball then hopped into the room and leapt into Little Armin's lap, leaving Armin near the doorway."you're such a sweetie Snowball! I love you so much!" Little Armin declared. Armin however, was totally thrown for a loop as he watch this scene unfold before him.

It just didn't make any sense! Since when did dolls ever physically start out as actual children!? Now, could a doll like Armin mentally age over time? Absolutely, but physically speaking? It just wasn't possible. obviously when Armin was created, his design was meant to be that of a teenager, so how on Earth is this even possible!?

A moment later the sound of light footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway towards Armin. Looking up, he seen it was the same cute redheaded maid from his previous dream except she was a lot more younger this time. Her hourglass figure wasn't as pronounced, her hair was shorter, and her bust was noticeably smaller. judging from her appearance she looked no more than fourteen at the least here.

Armin was definitely starting to have deja vu again about this maid. Furrowing his eyebrows together he tried to see if he ever been around such a pretty maid. As he stared at her bloody red hair some more, it slowly started to dawn on him."Rose.." the doll muttered to himself. That was her name he believed. He didn't know how he knew exactly, he just did. Carrying her tin tray of milk and cookies, Rose walked through Armin like a ghost to visit his little self.

"Armin are you doing alright up here sweetie?" She asked in a faint British accent."yes Miss Rose" Little Armin replied smiling at her. "Would you like some milk and cookies dear?" She asked holding up her tray of freshly baked sweets. Little Armin nodded eagerly and patted a spot next to him on the carpet. "Won't you please have some with me?" He asked politely looking up at her.

Armin couldn't help but silently smile a bit as he listened to how sweet and polite his younger self sounded." oh dear bless your heart, You truly are an angel! But you know I have to clean though" Rose replied. "I can help you Rose! Please?!" He over heard his younger self beg. She must have ended up giving in to his begging because the next thing Armin knew she was sitting down next to the tiny blonde and joining him for a little cookie picnic.

Snowball then sat up and hopped back over to the real Armin who was still very much confused. He looked up at the doll and back to the little boy and young girl in the room as if to ask "remember this?".

"I...I had a maid?" Armin asked in disbelief looking down at Snowball. Snowball nodded his furry little head. The doll then looked back over to his younger counterpart who was still giggling and eating cookies with Rose. "And you.. you were my pet..?" He asked looking into Snowball's big red eyes.

Snowball once again nodded in response to his question. Yes, Snowball and Rose were definitely starting to ring a bell to him now. "But I still don't understand..when did I ever have a child's body?" He asked. he had no memory whatsoever of being an actual kid. Unless he was somehow given an upgraded body to look older like Major Kusangani on that cyber punk anime "Ghost In The Shell"... Snowball then pointed his ear in the room once more and gave Armin a look that said "look again..."

Armin looked once more at his little counterpart. He walked a bit more into the bedroom to get a closer look. After a good while of staring at the little boy, he slowly realized what else was different about his appearance. his tattooed on doll make-up wasn't there on his face for starters. The permanent subtle black eyeliner that usually adorned Armin's feminine round eyes was gone.

Even though this younger version of him still had naturally pretty lashes, they were in absolutely no way as thick, black, and heavy looking as they were now. The airbrushed pretty pink doll blush that permanently fused with his milky cheeks wasn't present either. His pretty face was plain and completely bare.

Armin then started to take note of Little Armin's blue eyes. Now that he could see the little one better, he also noticed that he didn't have that artificial glimmer that seemed to be implanted there either. They looked well..normal. he froze in alarm however, when he stared at the younger boy's wrists peeking out of his sleeves.

There were no ball joints there...just normal smooth human wrists.

"That's impossible!" Armin whispered stepping back away from the doorway in shock. "How can I be a human when I'm clearly a doll!?" He demanded looking down at the rabbit. Snowball then dropped his ears and whiskers drooping them downwards, giving him a bit of a sad look. Armin got even more wary when he noticed Snowball's change in demeanor.

"What's wrong?" Armin asked as he watched Snowball look at him with eyes full of..pity was it? "Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked. After a moment, the small beast finally hopped away from his perch causing Armin to follow him once more. This time, he led him to another bedroom In the house. Looking inside this one,he could see that an older human version of himself was sleeping peacefully in his bed. He looked like his current age now.

Armin didn't know why, but he couldn't help but feel like something terrible was going to happen as he watched his human self sleep. Human Armin slowly started to come to, sitting up and yawning in bed. Had this been a Disney film, there probably would have been a dozen birdies and squirrels coming through his window kissing him and telling him goodmorning.

Eyeing Snowball near the doorway, he got up with his pretty white long sleeved night gown swishing around his naked ankles and walked over smiling to the little bunny. "Goodmorning Snowball!" Human Armin greeted picking the rabbit up. He payed his doll counterpart no mind as he snuggled and kissed his pet.

Once he was done kissing Snowball, he walked past the confused doll barefoot down the stairs. "Let's go see what mother is doing!" Armin heard his human self say. "What the fuck?" Armin thought silently following his human version."mother? What mother?" This he had to see.

His black platform boots click clacked throughout the halls as he followed his human self down the spiral staircase. His train of thought stopped however when he seen two women pop out of the kitchen surprising human Armin.

"Happy Birthday Armin!" The two women cheered holding up a teddybear and a birthday cake. "B-Birthday?" Armin wondered looking at the two women. He instantly recognized Rose being one of them, but his wind up key almost stopped when he seen the other one. It was the same woman from his previous dream claiming to be his creator. But that wasn't what was bothering him, oh dear no, this woman...

"Why does this woman have my face!?" He wondered trembling. It was true, without the party mask on, he could see that gender and height aside, the woman was nearly identical to the doll in every way. "Oh thank you Mother! Thank you Rose!" Human Armin smiled hugging and kissing the two women on the cheek.

"Mother?..." Armin thought to himself in disbelief. "I really had a mother?" He continued to stare at the pretty woman In awe. "Guess what sweetie?" He heard his mom say."Mommy has a present for you!" She or not,there was no denying it, this gorgeous woman had to have been his mothersomehow. The striking resemblance to the lady alone was too much of a coincidence.

Unless she just decided to base his design off of her while in the process of making him? That could a strong possibility. He watched as the lady showered Human Armin with hugs and kisses. The human boy smiled in glee when Rose presented him with a fluffy white teddybear that was practically the size of a dinosaur.

a moment of listening to the three humans talk, he quietly followed them all into the kitchen where they sat down and had tea and birthday cake for breakfast. Snowball could now be seen hopping back over to the doll. Armin was now beginning to feel very uncomfortable watching this. "I-Snowball..what is this? What exactly are we looking at here?" He asked with his voice cracking a bit now in fear.

Snowball gave no actual response. He simply just looked up at Armin and and back at his human self with a very sad teary look in his eyes as if to say "watch.." Armin quickly averted gaze back to Human Armin when he started hearing small choking fits come from the birthday boy. "Mummy!? What's happening to me!?" He heard his human self cry in alarm. Armin and Snowball watched helplessly as the human boy started trembling in his chair.

"Don't worry my boy, you'll be all better soon " She heard his mother say in a sickly sweet voice. "Why isn't she helping me?" Armin thought as he looked in silent terror. His mother,nor the maid, never even raised a finger to help as the boy's lively creamy peach skin started turning a deathly pale color, very much like how his complexion looked now. His once vibrant eyes became lifeless,dull,and glassy, and his breathing became slow and shallow.

He looked so cold shivering to himself in his chair. A moment later the boy could be seen going quiet and collapsing on the tiled floor with a sickening "thump!"

Armin gasped in shock when he realized the human was dead. "Oh my god..!" Armin screamed looking down in horror at his dead counterpart. Now he definitely needed some answers! "why..? Why the hell would my own mother ..kill me?.." he whimpered staring at his mom in disbelief. this whole thing was sick as hell! He watched as Rose knelt down and scooped the pretty corpse up In her arms.

"What should I do with him now Mistress?" The marionette heard Rose ask holding the dead teen."Take him upstairs to my workshop" the blonde woman instructed."We'll begin immediately " The shell shocked doll watched as the two women carried his human self upstairs. Curious as to what they were planning on doing with the body, he followed them.

The two women remained unaware of the platform Lolita boots and little rabbit paws making their way up the stairs behind them. They stopped once they reached their destination. Armin and Snowball found themselves in a beautiful little attic/workshop, filled to the brim with dolls. Gorgeous ball jointed dolls of every size, shape and color could be seen sitting on their own shelves and perches lined up along the walls. Some were even propped up and sitting in miniature loveseats!

None of them were alive and moving like Armin though, they all just sat still, looking pretty with empty looks in there eyes. "Wow.." Armin said looking around at all of his brethren. Looking over to a top left corner, he could see Annie Doll slumped over and deactivated. Snowball nibbled Armin's leg and pointed back to his mother as if to say "look!" Armin looked back over to his mother as the two women gently placed Human Armin's corpse down on what was presumed to be her worktable.

"Don't worry my beautiful boy" he heard his mother say in a soothing voice to Human Armin's body."You'll have your birthday present soon enough... You'll be so beautiful!" She sighed in a dreamy tone."So much more than what you already are now, mommy will make sure of it"

"Armin!? Armin wake up!" Armin heard a distant voice say. His surroundings started getting blurry until it all eventually disappeared from view, turning everything black...

-back in the real world with Annie-

"Armin!?" Annie said shaking her doll awake. Armin abruptly sat up looking around frantically and trembling. "Armin?.." Annie asked getting her doll's attention."Are you alright?" It took a moment for Armin to remember where he was at, and calmed down a bit once he noticed Annie.

"I-i'm fine I just..i need to be alone.." he replied in a shaky voice. getting up with his blanket wrapped around him like a cloak, he went upstairs."are you sure?" Annie asked in a concerned voice. "Annie I'm sorry but please just leave me alone right now" the doll replied.

"Oh..okay.." Annie said quietly watching him leave.

"What's wrong with Armin?.." Annie wondered to herself in confusion.

(A/N: well, it looks like certain parts of Armin's past are slowly coming to light and it.. is.. frightening. Tune in for the next chapter of "Her Pretty Marionette")