"The Purple Rose Saga": An otakufic by King Reanna
Episode
Seven: "The Christmas Storm"
Written
Dec. 8-13, 1999
(Reanna wakes up. The phone rings. In it,
Reanna hears a recording)
Recording: Due to the weather, we are
recommending that all students stay within their dorm buildings today. Thank
you and have a happy Christmas Eve.
(As
Reanna hears this recording, she looks out the window to see that it's snowing,
and that snow is already piled high on the ground)
(We see Reanna's hand start some Christmas
carols on a CD player, then we see her hand turn the shower on. We see the
outside door of the bathroom for a moment before the phone rings again)
Reanna: Hai! (Crash) Ow!
(Reanna
emerges from the bathroom wearing a towel. She runs to her bedroom and picks up
the phone. She's gasping for breath)
Reanna: (gasps) Hello?
Touga: Ohayou, Reanna-kun. Did I
catch you at a bad time?
Reanna: Uh, no.
Touga: Good… have you received
your letter from End of the World?
Reanna: End of the—Letter?
Touga: Check underneath your door.
Oh, yes, and have a merry Christmas, Reanna.
Reanna: … … Hai, and you too.
(Reanna
hangs up the phone and leaves the room. As Touga had said, there's a small
white envelope, sealed with a Rose Seal, under her door. She approaches it)
Title: "The Christmas Storm"
Reanna: (whispers to herself) End of the World… (She picks it up by one corner, like it's something gross)
(Reanna winces as she breaks the seal and
opens the envelope in one quick motion)
(She opens the letter and begins reading)
Reanna: (reading) (Grams: "Densetsu: Kami no Na
wa Abraxas") To King Reanna-san: a duel
for possession of Bara no Hanayome has been scheduled to take place today,
December 24. Since no Duelist currently has a motivation to duel Kaoru Miki,
the current champion, you are scheduled to challenge him. Kiryuu Touga will be
spotting the both of you. I wish you luck. Sincerely, End of the World. (She says "End of the World" as if it were
profanity)
(Reanna pauses for a moment, then crumples up
the letter)
Reanna: (aloud) Duel? Micky-chan? In this weather? On Christmas Eve?
(Reanna
throws the letter away and goes back into the bathroom)
(We see her in the shower, thinking to
herself)
Reanna: (thinking) Who does he think he is? He can't force us to duel… can
he? What was I thinking when I came here? Maybe of… This whole thing is like a
dream… This isn't what I wanted.
(We see Reanna exit the bathroom in her
duelist uniform)
Reanna: If
I don't plan on dueling Miki, then why am I wearing this thing? Because I like
it…? (She looks down at the uniform)
(She looks out the window) I can't duel in this weather. No way. It's
freezing out there.
(The
phone rings. Reanna facefaults)
Reanna: I'm gonna kill that phone. (answers it) Hello?
"Touga:" Reanna, I just saw Miki run
by towards the arena forest. He… looked upset. Do you have any idea what could
be troubling him?
Reanna: Huh? No…
"Touga:" Perhaps his sister might
know. I'll call her.
(Reanna
hangs up the phone abruptly, puts on a coat and leaves her dorm)
(Scene: The door to the dorm building. Reanna
reaches it, a man who is standing there notices her)
Man: Miss, I'm afraid it's much
too cold for anyone to be out there. Students are encouraged to stay inside
today.
Reanna: That's why I'm going out.
(Reanna
leaves)
[Scene: A certain wall at a random sunset.
The Kagee Shoujo appear]
A-Ko: Kashira, kashira! What of
the woman?
B-Ko: Hai, and what of the man?
(We see
the two girls playing chess)
A-Ko: (moves a piece) In this game of chess, all they both are, are pawns!
B-Ko: Demo, who is wielding the
innocent and unknowing pawns? (moves one
of her own pieces)
A-Ko: (moves a piece) She thinks she can change the rules of the game!
B-Ko: The rules?
A-Ko: But she doesn't understand
at all!
Both: The rules! The rules of the
game! Do you know what they are? (B-Ko
moves her piece)
B-Ko: Checkmate!
A-Ko: Wait… I thought we were
playing checkers!
(Fade
out)
[Scene: Outside. It's snowing and the wind is
blowing hard. Reanna is running through the snow. The coat she wears has a
hood, which is up)
(We also see two more sets of legs running.
We don't see much of them, and what we do see, it's not for very long. We see
Reanna as she reaches the Rose Doors)
Reanna: (looking around nervously) Miki? (She
sees the handle. She slowly reaches out her hand and grasps it. A drop of water
emerges from the Rose Seal on the door and touches her ring. The whole columns
of water/elevator mechanism things begins. Reanna whirls around, gasps, and
watches)
(Once it has ended, she takes a deep breath
and steps through. She arrives at the foot of the staircase. She looks up, and
looks around)
Reanna: (nervously calls) Micky?
(Getting
no answer, she begins to ascend, nervously singing "Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku"
to herself)
(We see the top of the stairs. Reanna has
finally made it up, extremely tired. She is singing "We Wish You a Merry
Christmas" to herself in a hoarse, out of breath voice)
(We see someone else reach the Rose Doors)
(Reanna looks upward and sees the upside down
castle. She also notices that it is not snowing in the dueling arena. Reanna
sees "Miki" kneeling in the snow. She goes up to him)
Reanna: Micky? (She tries to put her hand on his shoulder, but it goes right through.
Miki disappears) A mirage?
Miki: (from behind her) Reanna-sempai? You challenged me? (Miki
is there with Anshi)
Reanna: Micky, what's wrong? I got
a call from Touga saying that he saw you running here, looking really upset.
Miki: What?
Reanna: Touga… lied to me?
Miki: You didn't come here to
duel?
Reanna: I was supposed to… see,
there was this letter from End of the World… It says that I was supposed to
duel with you today? But he can't make us duel… can he? I mean… it's Christmas
Even and it's so cold here…
Miki: Well—
Reanna: He can't make us duel.
We're supposed to challenge each other when we want to! Right? (looks terribly
confused)
Miki: …Well…
Reanna: Could the letter have been
a fake?
Miki: Uh… it could be.... There
is something strange going on here.
Reanna: (shivers) Let's get out of here.
(Reanna
begins to leave the arena)
Anshi: You can't leave the arena.
You must duel.
Miki: Anshi!
(Miki,
too, begins to leave, but with some hesitation)
(The
second Reanna and Miki leave the arena, a wind of purple and blue rose petals
mixes with the snowy wind and blows them back. Grams: "Shi no Butou")
(We see Touga watching this with those weird
opera glasses)
Touga: (genuinely surprised) Trying to leave the arena without dueling?
Are they mad?
(Reanna
and Miki land back in the arena) (Roses materialize in their breast pockets)
Reanna: (still on the ground) What's going on
here? (becomes mad) I don't care! I don't care! (she tries to take off her Rose
Seal, but it won't budge)
(Anshi
approaches her)
Anshi: You must duel.
Reanna: (fearing) Anshi? Anshi…
(Anshi
kneels down and grabs Reanna, who gasps)
Reanna: Anshi! What are you doing?
Miki: Himemiya! (It's obvious what Anshi's
about to do)
Reanna: Stoppit! Make her stop! Micky-chan!
(The
hilt of Reanna's sword emerges from her own chest; Reanna screams) (Miki looks
on, amazed. Anshi pulls the sword from Reanna's chest)
(As
Anshi gets up and hands the sword to Reanna, Reanna wears an almost comical
expression of fright and amazement)
Touga: What the hell was that?!
(Eyecatch)
Miki: I don't think that letter was fake,
Reanna-sempai.
Reanna: I think you're right… we'll have to
duel. (stands up)
Anshi: (does shining orb thing) O' rose of
the noble castle… power of Dios that sleeps within me… heed your master and
come forth! [sorry about the dubbed version…]
(Miki
bends Anshi back and draws the Sword of Dios from her chest and brandishes it)
Miki: … the power to bring the world
revolution!
Reanna: Okay. Let's go.
(There
is a pause. Finally, the beginning of a Japanese techno-rock song signals the
start of the duel. At first, the two just kind of swing at each other's roses
and dodge each other. After a while, they really seem to be dueling each other
for real. Every once in a while, Reanna looks back up at the floating castle)
Miki: You should pay attention,
Reanna-sempai.
Reanna: Hai!
(Suddenly,
Reanna freezes in a sword-raised position. It's obvious that this position is
not her doing; something is making her do it)
Reanna: Micky-chan… tasukete…
Miki: Reanna-sempai? (Miki sees her hand
and wrist glowing) Is it the ring?
(Reanna
yells as she brings the sword down. We see Reanna's face and blue rose petals
floating through the air. Reanna gasps)
Reanna: I… I… Micky… (drops her sword)
(Miki
seems just as surprised. The Sword of Dios disappears from his hand)
(The
bells never ring to signal the end of the duel)
(Anshi
approaches Reanna)
Anshi: Congratulations, Reanna-sama. You are
now the Champion of the Duels, and I am now engaged to you.
Reanna: Micky, I— … … huh?
(The
wind blows cold, drawing a shiver from all)
Miki: (smiles slightly) It's… okay. I…
never cared much for this kind of competition, anyway… congratulations,
Reanna-sempai.
Reanna: … Arigato. Come on, it's cold out
here. Let's just leave…
(Exit
all, fade out)
(Reanna
and Anshi reach Reanna's dorm building)
Anshi: I would like to go back to get my
things from Miki's dorm, Reanna-sama.
Reanna: (wide-eyed) "Sama?"… Anshi, it's cold
out. We've all been outside enough today. (Sneezes)
Anshi: Hai, Reanna-sama.
(We see
them enter Reanna's dorm. Reanna checks first, then flops down in her chair)
Reanna: So… how'd you pull my sword out of my
chest, anyway?
Anshi: I really don't know. I just knew that
I had to do it in order for the duel to take place, so I… I just did it. I
really can't describe it.
Reanna: Another mystery. (sneezes, wipes her
nose) I hope Micky's all right. I know he's… well… hey, Chu-Chu's still at
Micky's with your things, ne?
Anshi: Hai, Reanna-sama. (gets up) Why don't
I—
Reanna: Iie, Anshi. Don't trouble yourself
with that. I'll go get your things. (gets up)
Anshi: Demo, Reanna-sama…
Reanna: (puts on her coat, smiles at her)
Shimpai shi nai de, Anshi. I won't be long.
(Reanna
leaves Anshi, who smiles gently after her)
(Fade to
"To be continued…" screen)
(Grams: "Jikai Yokoku." We see Reanna
talking with Kozue, the both of them running through the snow, Utena talking
angrily to Touga, and Reanna arguing with Kozue)
V.O.
Utena: So,
Reanna, you're really the Champion of the Duels now?
V.O.
Reanna: Yeah,
but I'm really nervous. And I just can't seem to get along with Kozue-kun.
V.O.
Utena: You
mean Micky's twin sister?
V.O.
Reanna: Hai.
She really seems to hate me. But I'm going to try to get along with her. I'm
really going to try.
V.O.
Utena: Just
talk to her. Maybe it'll all work out.
V.O.
Reanna: Maybe.
V.O.
Utena: Next
time on "Shoujo Kakumei Utena:" "The Christmas Rose!"
Author's
notes: Obviously, this episode was a major challenge for me because of all of
the strange things that happen when Miki and I try to leave the arena. Would
that really happen? Would End of the World make one duelist fight another like
that? We already know that Anshi has the ability to pull a sword from the
Champion of the Duels, but what about the challenger? I had to do a lot of
things like that in this story. There's something called "suspension of
belief." Please use it, and PLEASE don't email me with criticisms involving the
plot of this episode; this whole series is entirely hypothetical.
Also, "Shimpai shi nai de" means "don't
worry."
http://www.fanfiction.net/index.fic?action=story-read&storyid=118446