"I don't understand. What are you talking about?"
Had Ruby been in a calmer mindset, she may possibly have taken the time to properly explain her deduction piece by piece, but she was most certainly not feeling any emotion even remotely close to calmness at the moment.
"Laplace-no-ma." Ruby hissed impatiently, not sparing the confused Atlesian general a glance. Her eyes remained locked on the creature. "It's him. The one behind it all. The one who has been pulling the strings of this entire stupid charade. That's not Uncle Qrow. It's the man who murdered my mother."
Ironwood's expression hardened, but there was clear questioning present on his face. A suspicion aimed toward her that had been involuntarily conjured by her outburst. No-doubt that he was wondering how exactly she knew of this mysterious creature and its connection to her mother's second death. Somehow, she doubted that it would be long before he managed to connect Kirakishou's influence to her knowledge, which Ruby assumed would likely lead to even more pointless questions.
Cold, twisted laughter was the initial response from the entity in question as it observed their reactions. It was harsh, broken and grating amidst the nearby rumbles of thunder from the storm raging on outside. Her borrowed pistol -forgotten originally in wake of Qrow's appearance- found itself pointed directly at the creature's head. Its mocking laughter was not at all like the sounds Ruby would hear from her beloved Uncle, further confirming her discovery.
"Smart girl." the false visage of Qrow chortled hoarsely, "No wonder she chose you to play with. So very open. You accepted Kirakishou deep into your world without a second thought, didn't you? Our darling seventh is quite the devious being, it seems…"
This was the adversary that Kirakishou had mentioned in the past, during her time in the infirmary after her battle with Emerald and Mercury. His presence alone had concerned her doll immensely, enough to warrant the use of her transportation technique for the first time. He wasn't a Rozen Maiden, that much was abundantly clear to her limited perception- yet he was connected to them, somehow.
A withered branch, stubbornly refusing to fall away from a tree. Pathetic.
Ruby hadn't bothered to question Kirakishou further about the entity had led her mother to her death, instead opting to sequester herself with the blonde doll for as long as she could. It had been a possessive move on her part, one born out of necessity after the constant bickering from her teammates and various faculty members.
Would she have chosen differently, had she known she would end up face-to-face with a monster she barely knew, let alone understood?
"Stand down." Ironwood barked, levelling his pistol in tandem with Ruby, his eyes narrowed intently at the figure disguised as her Uncle. "It has been made abundantly clear that you are not in fact Qrow Branwen. Cease your semblance and surrender yourself to Atlesian custody. You don't need to make this hard on yourself."
The creature did not deign to shift its eyes away from Ruby, but the diminutive huntress-in-training could feel its attention shift over to Ironwood. "Semblance. Aura…" it mocked, waggling a finger at Ironwood in a dismissive sense. "You two do not even know what you are speaking about, to confuse the abilities of our seventh and even myself for mere parlour tricks… What a paltry creature you are, bound in vines and blinded so easily. Do yourself a favour and stay silent, lest you join these fallen soldiers."
Ironwood gritted his teeth at the insult, his eyes snapping over in her direction in a seemingly questioning gesture. She gave a brief, confused shrug. Wasn't like she exactly knew what the creature was talking about. All that she knew came from Kirakishou and nothing mentioned a power outside those generated by the activation of a semblance.
"Don't listen to it." Ruby growled, tearing her eyes away from the beast to glare at Ironwood and his stupid face. "That thing doesn't care about anything except Kirakishou and her sisters. It doesn't care how many lies or fake promises it has to spew to get to them. Who it has to hurt…"
The implications of Laplace's statement were worrying however, even if she had just tried to convince the general otherwise. The creature's statement had directly implied that both it and Kirakishou possessed powers outside a semblance. Which meant that, technically speaking, she had no way of truly knowing what they were going up against.
Ruby had seen some of the things that her beloved Rozen Maiden was capable of and they had been almost something out of a fairy-tale. Teleportation, resurrection, crystalline generation, contracts bound by rings…
According to the video feed of Kirakishou's fight with Emerald and Mercury following her elimination, such powers were only touching the surface of what the doll was truly capable of when sufficiently angered.
Yet, still, this creature brought worry even to a girl as strong as Kirakishou. Even if every fibre of her body ached to attack the twisted thing after what it had-
"Tell me…" the entity spoke up, voice aimed towards her as she turned to focus on the beast with distaste. "Did you like it, having one of Father's darling daughters all to yourself? Did it make you feel strong? Worthwhile? She has always been quite the treasure for the more… open minded collectors. Or, she would have been, had fate been more charitable."
Her aura flared up in agitation, sparking a malevolent red. "...Don't you dare talk about Kirakishou like she's some… possession. She has hopes! Dreams! I'm happy that she chose me, instead of participating in whatever sick fantasy that her stupid father had for her. If you're trying to take her back or whatever, then you can go ahead and leave. She's mine."
The amusement that had been prevalent in Laplace's borrowed face dropped immediately, replaced by a cold glare. "Do not mock that which you do not know, girl. The Alice Game is all that matters to the girls. You're a fool to believe otherwise." Laplace moved a hand to his breast pocket, the action drawing a tense from both Ruby and Ironwood alike. A golden pocket watch was revealed, the creature looking at the small device before sighing. "Originally, I had decided to wait until the opportune moment to witness Kirakishou's chosen medium with my own eyes. An inspection of sorts. However, our darling seventh had irrevocably pushed forward certain plans..."
Ruby growled lowly, eyes narrowing in hate. He's treating this like a game. Mom's death was just another piece in the plan for him… Plans surrounding MY DOLL. My girlfriend.
"Why are you here?! Are you behind all this death? Why attack the transmit tower?!"
"...You assume I came to this place for some as-of-yet unknown nebulous reason." Laplace-no-ma spoke, chuckling bitterly. Its eyes gleamed crimson. "I have no interest in your human communications tower, nor the souls once housed within. No. They were not my purpose for being here tonight, as I stated before had you been listening. You, Ruby Rose, were my purpose."
"Me?"
A small, traitorous part of her felt fear. She hated it. She hated feeling fear. Feeling scared over this filth. Her mother's killer.
"Well. You and the one you're connected with." it answered, waving a hand dismissively. "Our own little darling seventh has sunk her influence rather deep into you, has she not? More than any other in recent history, at least. Father is regrettably quite displeased with her actions as of late. He is in mourning for his departed girl. This, a poor referee cannot allow. Certain actions must be done to ensure the Alice Game continues."
Ruby's eyes narrowed dangerously. Laplace had come for her, whether it be to kill her or something else, simply because she was connected to Kirakishou. All because she was in love with a girl that had an overly possessive dad. He knew about their bond and hinted that his 'employer' was upset with the development. Which meant that he not only knew of their Rozen Maiden contract, but was actively seeking to sever it.
It was just a game to them. He was just a referee.
"Well you can tell Father that we don't care about what he wants. She's happy right where she is. She doesn't need you or him, or her other sisters. She doesn't need anybody else! Just leave us alone!"
The faux image of Qrow Branwen shook his head, amusement visible on her Uncle's twisted features. "Oh, you sad little girl. You touch the edge of a grand design, then believe you are a centrepiece to everything. The arrogance of humans. How can you claim to know his youngest daughter's emotions more than her own father? More than her sisters? More than her true master? You're nothing but a child living a lie, surely you must know that."
Blazing scarlet eyes found her own silver pools. She tensed. There was a mad hunger contained inside those horrifically fake eyes, glaring deep into her core. "...Perhaps our darling seventh did indeed find a similar soul. How very fitting of her. A fool for a fool. If you will not prove reasonable to submit, perhaps she will when faced with your corpse."
Ruby was upon the creature in an instant, whirring forward in a violent burst of her semblance as she pushed the power to its limit in such a confined space. Deep within her mind, an intrinsic part of herself knew that a mere sidearm would do little to Laplace-no-ma except possibly piss it off, or draw out even more horrid mockery.
No. In order to stand a chance she needed her true weapon. Crescent Rose. Currently situated in one of Beacon Academy's rocket lockers somewhere in a remote distribution centre, her only chance of retrieving the weapon was to deploy her locker.
Which meant that she needed to get outside. Preferably with Laplace-no-ma in tow, so as to prevent the monster from escaping before she could kill it once and for all. With Ironwood's lockdown in place, however, metallic reinforced grates covered the windows and prevented escape- excluding one specific manner of escape which did not require a brisk elevator ride.
Creating a new manner of escape altogether.
With enough force to set her aura visible from the sheer impact alone, she barrelled forth into Laplace-no-ma, impacting the false visage of her Uncle Qrow and sending the creature slamming backwards into the concrete wall before it had time to process her action.
It was a stupid, horrible plan that was little more than a heat-of-the-moment idea built out of a vague recalling of overhearing how the fight with Kirakishou had ended after she fell unconscious.
Supposedly, the Rozen Maiden had possessed an exterior capable of withstanding military grade dust with relative ease. Whether it had been because she was bolstered by the figure known as Rosary that Kirakishou had summoned or whether it was an inherent part of Rozen Maiden physiology, she wasn't entirely certain.
All that she knew was that there was a possibility that Laplace-no-ma may also possess extreme endurance. Endurance which, when slammed up against a concrete wall at several times the speed limit of most vehicles, would hopefully be enough to break right through the wall entirely and send the duo careening down onto the storm-laden outside area below.
However, such a plan had been made in mind for an academy student, aiming to rely upon using the force generated to disable their aura enough to call the fight by aura break. Using another student's power against them had been a strategy drilled into her head by Professor Goodwitch during many of her classes.
This creature was no student. It was her mother's killer- not human, not faunus, not even a grimm. It was beyond anything she had ever seen. But, her plan didn't particularly care whether or not it possessed the endurance required to survive her first move.
Either way it was a decent opening move.
Which, if Ruby were to consider the pain in her limbs and the spray of cold water against her face any inclination, her in-the-moment plan had seemingly worked as intended. That was good. She hadn't prepared for the possibility of merely pushing the creature into a wall. Yet it had soon been made abundantly clear that this figure was most certainly far more durable than a mere academy student.
Even whilst they continued to plummet down to the ground, it kept staring at her. There was no pain in its eyes, no anger or surprise whatsoever. They were cold, the sharp assessing eyes belonging to a predator. A beast that had been shaped like her Uncle. There was an amusement twitching in its lip -her Uncle's lips- that had her stomach coiling in revulsion.
It was enjoying this. It wasn't hurt at all.
"...You must know that you cannot win against me. Why do you resist? Why ever attack a simple referee? Would you not wish to instead aim your qualms towards those who-"
"Shut up shut up shut up!" Ruby screamed in his face, violently locking her arms and legs around the man and activating her semblance once more.
They crashed into the cobblestones below with a loud thud torn amidst the constant sounds of heavy rain. A flurry of petals later and she was out, standing over the crater and huffing as her aura flickered around her. She could feel her head throbbing in pain.
Guess Jaune was right. Crater Face was an apt nickname… Oum, that was stupid...
Whilst she had kept her aura reinforced from her time with Ironwood scouring the transmit tower, crashing through both concrete and cobblestone alike whilst using her semblance had taken a heavy toll on her reserves.
Ruby didn't need to take out her scroll and load her aura management app to know that she likely wasn't in the green reserves anymore. Perhaps not even the yellows.
But such a thing didn't matter to her.
It would seem that the storm had only intensified during her absence with Ironwood in the Cross Continental Transmit Tower. Harsh winds now joined the litany of violent effects caused by the tropical weather system moving above Beacon Academy and the Vale area proper.
Her aura would protect her from the worst of the elements, but it would not last. Especially not in conjunction with any potential strikes that the adversary managed to score against the shield itself. She was surviving on borrowed time.
But a damned storm wouldn't be able to impede her from taking revenge on her mother's killer. The fact that this creature was also tied to Kirakishou's suffering only served as fuel for her hate.
It was nothing more than a simple beast that only existed to spread its pain around. A grimm. She would show no remorse. No hesitation. Ironwood had been a fool in listening to Laplace-no-ma instead of opening fire immediately, rather than allowing it to mock their judgements as if it held some authority of their actions. She wouldn't make the same mistake.
Ruby would tear this creature apart, piece by piece. It could talk all it wanted. It wouldn't matter in the end. Laplace would die by her hand, just like any other grimm.
Her mind made up, she called for Crescent Rose.
Elsewhere, the seventh rose of the Rozen Maiden collapsed to the ground, her lone amber eye wide with fright as a gasp tore itself from her lips.
W-What…
She had been dancing with the Variant Crocus, wrapping her in vines crafted from immaterial dreams and pushing her along in the path most suitable for her darling red rose maiden. A simple affair with which to occupy her time. A few words here and there, enough to entice yet far from enough to fully enamour. The girl was already infatuated with her. Growth without blooming was a terrible affair, but an unfortunate requirement in order to encourage future development of her garden.
Even weeds held purpose within her garden, after all.
Yet something was different. There existed a terrible whispering in the background of her consciousness, a subtle pull of her energy that had not existed mere moments ago. It strained against her pure thoughts, stringing along and distracting her away from her duties. Sensations assaulted her body, twisting and forcing fragmented information into vague understanding.
Something is happening with Ruby Rose.
Something is happening to cause her to pull on the Rozen Maiden connection that we share.
Something is happening that influences outside variables.
Something is happening which scares her.
Unacceptable. Completely and utterly unacceptable. It was something she could not allow to occur, her little Ruby Rose feeling pain. Feeling fear in a world that she had designed, piece by piece. How was it occurring? They were still within the confines of her N-Field, both Ruby and Ironwood. There shouldn't be any danger.
But something WAS interfering with her pull. Changing variables. Poking and prodding relative superpositions. Irreversible change preventing reversible developments. What was happening, that she could not witness with her rose-grown sight? Why were the reflections failing her in her time of need?
The sly playful demeanour of her variant crocus has been dropped entirely in favour of a worried and silent frown aimed down at her downtrodden body. A weed calling out for more fertiliser, unaware of its true nature. The gesture was welcomed in spirit but ultimately pointless in meaning and thus ignored by her pure self.
Surrounding her physical form, Kirakishou could sense her actions drawing the attention of other nearby dancers and faculty alike, her sound of fright akin to a spell being broken over their simple minds. She too ignored their attentive curiosity with relative ease. The sounds of the various partygoers meant nothing to her, nothing more than a buzzing in the background begging for attention.
Ruby Rose deserved her full attention. But she can't connect. Not now. Something is interfering, no matter how hard she tries.
She traced the lines of their bond, a tangled web of vines tying their respective selves together. A beautiful expanse were it not fighting off the encroachment of an outside force. The Palace of Beginnings had connected to her Rose's brilliant carmine forest, a forest that would not have ever been conceptualised were it not for their contract.
Already their respective trees had begun to intermingle. Pale crystalline with vibrant crimson. The old world and the new, bound together and bound again. It was beautiful. It was theirs. To know that another had chanced upon her most sacred ground was unfathomable. A desecration to everything she held dear as a Rozen Maiden.
"Hello again, darling little seventh. It has been some time since last we spoke. You've been quite the bad girl, haven't you?"
Irrespective of the advent within her mental world, she found her lone slit amber eye widening in alarm at the familiar astral voice. Her focus tore apart and she was forced back into the material plane once more. Tears were rushing down the cheek of her physical form.
"...Laplace." she hissed audibly, shaking.
"There you are!" Emerald exclaimed with a relieved sigh, gazing at her with a blush on her dark cheeks.
She eyed the teal-haired girl quizzically. Cinder could spot the telltale signs of stress appearing rather prominently on her features. It was an odd display for Emerald, considering the relative ease of the mission on their part. Had something transpired to cause a change in proceedings? Following Emeralds declaration regarding Ironwood leaving with a Beacon student, Cinder hadn't heard a word from the duo.
Instead, she turned to Mercury. Unlike his partner, the silver-haired assassin appeared as calm and collected as ever. "...There have been certain, shall we say, developments." Mercury spoke upon noticing her inquisitive gaze. "Whilst I'm not complaining, if you were aiming for a bodycount to send a message you should have just sent me. Feeling kinda overlooked here."
Eyebrows furrowing in confusion immediately, Cinder opted to question the two. She didn't have the slightest clue what the assassin was speaking about.
"...What in the world are you two going on about?"
It was Emerald that responded, sounding as confused as she was. "Umm… the tower?" she whispered, glancing around. "Apparently the General and his guest stumbled across the tower and decided to investigated. There's been comms chatter for the past half hour, before it suddenly silenced. The entire tower's been placed under lockdown pending multiple 419's."
419. Atlesian Military lingo. Dead body. Multiple dead bodies. What in the world...
"That wasn't me." Cinder muttered aloud, a spike of worry crawling into her gut as her mind churned through the events of the past hour.
Killing was a simple act, but messy and oftentimes a rather arduous process which her time-sensitive mission did not allow for. Overpowering the guards with her maiden powers and depleting their aura until break to send them spiralling into unconsciousness for a few hours was more than enough to ensure no witnesses to her mission. Quick and efficient. Coupled with her disguise, it was an effective plan that would sew enough confusion to allow her to escape with relative ease.
Yet, somehow, the guards had died anyway. Not one or two from complications, but multiple victims to warrant a full investigation. Which implied that something else had interfered following her departure yet prior to Ironwood's arrival. Their deaths would stir the both the Atlesian Military and the Vale Police Department into a frenzy. It would only be a matter of time until they were out for blood.
Something had been following her, killing off the soldiers in her wake and using her as a scapegoat of all things. She was being framed.
It was a saving grace that she had been able to successfully implant the virus and escape before the General had found her. Dealing with the entire Atlesian Military single-handedly was far, far outside her pay grade- even with half of the Fall Maiden's power flowing through her body. It would be only a matter of time before she was overwhelmed and restrained.
Considering the current suspicions of her Mistress in regards to the recent advancements of Atlesian medical technology, there was a definitive possibility that the general would possess measures capable of successfully restraining her powers.
Capture was not an option. Not that she would ever have allowed such a thing in the first place.
"There's more." Emerald hesitantly responded, flinching when Cinder's eyes blazed in response to her mounting agitation. "T-The blonde girl, the one we fought, she's been acting strange."
"How so?"
"Well for the most part everything's been fine with her, apart from showing up in a weird looking crystal dress. We've been paying attention to her, like you requested, but there weren't any real issues at the start. People have been complaining about seeing odd reflections in her dress- faces of different people that they've never seen before, but we're assuming it's just a trick of the light. Or someone spiked the punch. Neo simply took initiative and had a more, uhm, hands on analysis of the girl. Everything began to change after that."
Cinder blinked at the odd use of terminology, coupled with the rosy red blush growing on Emerald's face. The diminutive mute thief had been rather insistent in attending the dance, citing her illusion semblance as being useful for information gathering. Whilst Cinder doubted the skills of a mute in gathering any pertinent information from hormone-addled teens, it was more than worth it to accept if only to placate the odd-haired girl. She had quite the temper.
"Explain that last part." Cinder commanded authoritatively.
If anything, her simple request served only to increase the embarrassment flourishing inside Emerald. "...W-Well, they were dancing together. Neo and, um, Kirakishou. They looked to be enjoying themselves, for the most part. As much as a couple of crazies could, at least."
Cinder narrowed her eyes. Neopolitan had become increasingly unreliable as of late, following a botched infiltration mission a couple days prior. The girl had supposedly overheard some ludicrous-sounding fairy-tale about Summer Rose and become absolutely convinced that Kirakishou had the power to turn people into dolls of all thingsand had subsequently used her semblance on the infamous huntress. She'd read about half the message before deciding that clearly the girl was either messing with her or completely off her rocker.
Irregardless of which was true, she had dismissed the possibility out of hand. Nobody possessed a semblance that pointlessly complex. Besides, Cinder was certain that she'd once heard about an old Atlesian cartoon show villain possessing a similar variety of the power, which was likely where Neopolitan was getting her ideas from. A little over-the-top crime show or something, featuring little cloth puppets if she recalled correctly. It gave her a headache to think about.
"...I could care less about what Roman's protege gets up to in her free time, Emerald."
Mercury decided to interrupt, a frown of displeasure apparent on his face. "No, that's not the point that Em's trying to make. They were dancing one moment, before Kirakishou collapsed all of a sudden. She whispered a bunch of nonsense words before rushing out of the room and into the night. From the direction we could see, she was making a beeline towards the transmit tower. Neo ran off after her. We tried to alert you, but the comms weren't working. Must have been the storm."
"Oh? Heading towards Ironwood I can assume." Cinder muttered contemplatively. "Hm. Which would mean the academy student that followed along with Ironwood is one Ruby Rose, correct? The two girls are rather close friends, considering their capability in dual combat."
"Yes, but they're a lot more than simple partners." Mercury leered at his own partner, whilst Emerald blushed bashfully and swatted his arm in embarrassment. "Little Em here caught the two girls sucking face in the middle of the dance floor shortly after we gave you the all clear. Was quite the spectacle apparently. Been hearing conversations about it all night."
"Lovers, then?" Cinder once again found herself humming at the information received from the night's events. Whilst originally the half-maiden had found herself uncaring about the romantic prospects of a random girl that knew information she shouldn't, if said girl's little partner had been personally approached by General Ironwood then their connection may warrant further investigation.
The news of Kirakishou speeding off into the night after Ruby Rose was also an important development to consider. It implied that the flower-themed blonde-haired girl felt severe concern for herparamour, enough to leave a social event that she had been enjoying moments before. Yet that in its own was an odd behaviour. Were Ruby Rose working alongside General Ironwood then the Atlesian wouldn't have any trouble babysitting a trainee huntress. There should be no overall cause for concern.
...Why the sudden alarm, I wonder? Is it connected to the mysterious cause of death of those guards at the communications tower? Or is it mere teenage troubles? Both are possible. There are far too many inconsistencies surrounding the girl to ignore. Too many unknowns. Whilst actions have already been made to silence the girl when the times comes, detonating at this stage would draw far too much attention. The increased scrutiny around Beacon would be devastating to our plans.
"S-So," Emerald spoke up hesitantly, "what, um, what should we do about it?"
"Follow them." Cinder commanded after a moment's pause. "...The both of you. Remain at a far distance and remain undetected. If anything out of the ordinary is occurring, I want a full report the moment you are able."
"I won't let you take her from me!" Ruby screamed in a frenzy, slicing wildly against the creature in a mad dash to rip that oum-awful smile off his face once and for all. Or at least make it have some reaction. To have the creature consider her a threat.
Not matter what she did, it never fought back. All it ever did was dodge. Effortlessly and without pause. Yet, for some nebulous reason that escaped her understanding at the time, her heart continued to hammer almost painfully within the confines of her chest. She was terrified of this abomination wearing her uncle Qrow's face. All she wanted to do was run away and forget such a monstrosity ever existed.
But she wouldn't run away. Never. Her mother deserved to be avenged.
A flick of a switch and her blade reversed, seconds before Ruby fired off a shot and used the velocity generated by the impact to send her blade slamming down into the concrete below. Laplace was forced to dodge backwards, an amused smile on his face despite being mere millimetres away from being sliced in two.
Her semblance came willingly, propelling her towards the creature.
"You do not even know of the Alice Game, do you?" Laplace murmured in a disappointed tone, ignoring her continued jabs with little apparent reaction. "A medium, a master, without any knowledge of the contract to which she is bound." it gave a low chuckle of amusement seemingly at the very idea. "How can one soul function, bound and blinded so severely? Why, do you even recognise yourself?"
"I don't care!" Ruby swung her scythe in a maddened frenzy, using large sweeping blows to keep the beast away from her centre. "You think I care about all the tiny little details?! About who I was before I met her?!" Ruby screamed, ripping her scythe out of the ground and embedding it back into a mounted position to fire off sniper shots. "She gave me everything I ever wanted! So what if she's giving me even more?! She gives me Summer back and all everyone does is complain about it! And then you were the one who took her away from me! I won't let you do the same with Kirakishou! Never!"
Ruby glared fiercely at the creature as she ejected the spent rounds from her Crescent Rose, heaving painfully from the strain of a continued fight that her battered and beaten body could not handle in the slightest under the given conditions. Lightning flashed in the distance as the storm continued to batter the landscape. Her aura was fading quickly.
"Well spoken, my lovely little reaper."
Ruby jerked in surprise at the soft-spoken voice, a gasp tearing itself from her throat. Kirakishou had found her. She almost didn't want to believe it was true. But there was no denying what her eyes could see clearly.
"K-Kirakishou..."
The pale doll glimmered underneath the weight of the storm, her crystalline dress shining bright like a luminescent beacon amidst seemingly erratic strikes of lightning. Wind battered and whipped her impossibly long ponytail, the appendage seeming almost like a wild serpent of sorts. Infinitely beautiful, yet deadly.
Laplace gazed in the doll's direction with appraising scarlet eyes. "Hmm... You have been quite the naughty little doll, oh darling seventh. But where is your dress? Your father would be so very appalled to see you as you are now, laden in those crystals."
Kirakishou's arms encircled themselves around Ruby's shivering body from behind, the doll pulling her flush against her crystalline dress. She flinched at the sudden contact, but didn't dare move away. The inorganic arms held no warmth and offered no comfort, yet she revelled in the sensation nonetheless. She felt the blonde doll rest her head against Ruby's shoulder.
Deep inside, a long ignored part of her tingled in appreciation at the gesture. She wasn't just needed by the doll. She was craved.
She could spot a coy little smile flourishing on Kirakishou's face. "Referees should never interfere with the players in a game. That's a no-no." the doll spoke, wagging two of her fingers back in forth as if in a mockingly reprimanding manner. "Father would be quite upset with your actions."
The visage of her uncle's face twisted into a mockery of a frown.
"Your sisters miss you, you know." Laplace informed, lamenting with an over-the-top flourishing as if speaking of some great travesty. "Your disappearance has upset them greatly. Even now, the eldest continues in her quest to find you. She does not believe you to have fallen to the Game as they were led to believe."
Ruby glared at the creature, shaking in Kirakishou's arms. Were it not for the doll holding her, she would be rushing straight back into the fight. "Don't feed us that bullcrap. Her sisters were the ones who caused this! Them and Jun. If anyone's to blame-"
There was a rush of movement that violently ripped the air from her lungs. It took Ruby a moment to realise that it had been Kirakishou jumping backwards with her in tow. Laplace had lunged for them. For her.
"...How do you know of that name?" Scarlet eyes had snapped to her in an instant, containing a maddened ferocity that took her by surprise. Ruby could feel Kirakishou's arms tense around her frame, preparing for another sudden movement. "...Ah. Hm. So I see. This one is of a different stock to your previous masters, is she not?"
"My beloved master is a beautiful little reaper with a heart capable of accepting even a maiden such as I into its deepest core, a being fit for a pure white rose like myself." Kirakishou responded simply, affectionately rubbing her head against Ruby's cheek almost like a cat. "Far more worthy a master for me than Sakurada Jun, wouldn't you agree?"
"You do not get to chose your master, little seventh. That is not how the game works, no matter how much you wish it may be so." Laplace admonished. "Now, I was lenient with your branching of the N-Field, but your recent actions have gone too far for even me to allow. Rescind your contract with this girl and return to your true master. The rehearsal has been completed. The interlude is nearing its end. Now, my little seventh doll, it is time for the Alice Game to recommence."
A slight murmur escaped her doll, sounding vaguely amused despite the present situation. Were it not for Ruby's close proximity, she doubted that she would have heard it at all in the first place.
"...Ruby." her eyes snapped over to the doll in question as she detached from her impromptu embrace with notable hesitance. "We are allies in this game. Lovers. Fight with me... please?" the way her voice slightly trembled at the end was enough to seal the deal for her.
"Always."
She wasted no time in pulling out her weapon. Sometime during the doll's arrival Ruby's scythe had fallen to the ground, whether it be out of utter exhaustion or surprise upon hearing the voice of her girlfriend she wasn't entirely certain. However, with Kirakishou standing beside her she would not falter again.
Oum was she glad that she hadn't taken the clerk's suggestion at the shopping centre and purchased matching heels to wear with her dress to the dance. Fighting in heels would have been horrible.
"Two-on-one, then? Fighting unfairly is unbecoming of a Maiden." Laplace mocked with that same finger-twiddle movement that Kirakishou had done moments before, but nonetheless shifted into a combative position. It vaguely reminded her of the position that she'd seen dad take when they were sparring when she was younger.
It was taking them seriously. Good. Her mind relished the opportunity. She prepared her Crescent Rose, loading a fresh magazine of gravity dust into the weapon. Kirakishou, however? Her beautiful doll merely raised a hand.
What was once a desolate scene in the rain became a veritable nest of vines, overlapping and conjoining into a complex web-like pattern that grew as far as the eye could see. They wrapped around the nearby landscape, lamp posts and even the transmit tower itself, covering them almost entirely. It startled her eyes and overwhelmed her perception for a brief moment.
Laplace gave the webs an appraising glance. "Hm... Using the reflections generated by raindrops as a catalyst? An impressive strategy. You've certainly improved."
"Well, my master is an academy student." Kirakishou responded with a playful smile that did not reach her eye in the slightest. "It goes without saying that a pure rose would learn a thing or two from such an institution. Many reflections lay inside Vale."
A subtle gesture from the Rozen Maiden in her direction was all it took for Ruby to understand the intent, using a brief burst of her semblance to jump atop the vines and barrel forward towards Laplace. With the web in place their movement was severely restricted, but by using her semblance she could weave through the cracks with ease.
Laplace appeared surprised by her sudden appearance right in front of him and poised to strike in a downward swing, quickly grabbing her scythe blade and stopping her strike by applying friction to either side of the blade itself. A barehanded blade block. However by the brief flash of its aura -her Uncle's aura- it was clearly visible that the creature hadn't escaped unharmed.
"...Hmmm. Rather impressive speed for a child so young, but not enough. Did you really think you would surprise me?"
"I'm not done." Ruby responded with a harsh glare.
With a single twitch of her finger Crescent Rose discharged a shot into the distance, the recoil generated by the discharge sending the blade crashing through Laplace's block and forcing the beast to make a hasty backwards retreat to avoid a direct cleave.
However, Ruby's contracted doll had been waiting for that exact movement, sending bone-white vines to wrap around Laplace's ankle and violently fling him down and onto the concrete floor. A moment later and the creature was strung up and bound, looking none the worse for wear excluding the flickering crimson aura.
"So it would appear Shinku was correct." Laplace mused, "Your powers have indeed fully materialised, oh darling seventh. Constrained to a single master, I hadn't imagined such a thing to be possible. It appears I have erred, to have come to this land expecting a broken little doll."
Ruby returned to Kirakishou's side in a heartbeat, eyeing the strung up form of her Uncle with clear distaste.
"...How do we kill it?" Ruby asked, tilting her head to the side in curiosity. "It… it looks like my Uncle, but something tells me that if we try the, um, normal way then it won't work."
"Kill me?" Laplace retorted mockingly, "You would kill a defenceless referee? Not quite the hero you wanted to be, little owl. Your mother would be so very disappointed to see her daughter so eager to bloody herself."
Kirakishou's hand was on hers before she could fire off a shot. "Don't. That's what it wants. It can read your memories like the text in a page. They are just words to it." she answered, before smiling softly. "Besides, Laplace-no-ma cannot truly die in the way you understand, little rose. It is bound to the Alice Game."
"T-Then what do we do?!" Ruby asked fearfully, "Just... just keep attacking it over and over? How do we stop it?"
Rather than responding verbally, Kirakishou merely smiled. It was a terrifying smile, full of intent. She was glad that the smile wasn't aimed in her direction. "Laplace. Even my most far-reaching petals do not extend so far as to connect with previous gardens. However are you here?"
"Hm. We all have our secrets, do we not?"
Kirakishou chuckled. "Possibly~ However in the end it doesn't particularly matter. You are not bound to this garden. You have no anchor. However, you materialise fully and can even interact with the world to a sizeable degree. Thus you made an anchor. Impressive- perhaps we are more alike than you realise."
The creature was silent, but its face had twisted into a frown.
Ruby watched as Kirakishou extended her hand upwards, her ring burning brilliantly on her finger to the point where she winced from the sheer pain flooding past her aura's meagre attempts to mediate it. "...Rosary."
A/N:
So, here's essentially an introduction to Laplace in this story. Neigh unstoppable, burdened with purpose. There's a sense he's only allowing certain actions to take place- rather than actually reacting to them as they occur. He's an interesting figure in the Rozen Maiden manga/anime. Rather nebulous, only appearing at random times in order to promote the plot. In this particular story he takes a more central role due in part to Kirakishou's machinations however his actions still remain largely the same.
How he accomplishes said actions... well, they may differ slightly from what Peach Pit did with the character.
I do hope you all enjoyed the chapter. A lot of development went into this chapter, as major fight scenes are outside my typical style for this series. It future chapters it will likely be just one of many, however. Please, if possible, leave a review of how things are going and your thoughts about recent developments. You've all been wonderful supporters so far. Thank you all for your continued interest in this story.
Until next time.
EDIT: Apologies for the double post. One of my reviewers, ThanosofTitan caught onto a little flaw where I'd mentioned Jun before the proper moment. This has since been replaced. Good catch!