"Roman Torchwick," Ruby hissed virulently, glaring at the criminal that had willingly worked alongside Cinder Fall with a violent, ravenous, hatred igniting inside her veins. Crescent Rose was withdrawn in an instant, as Kirakishou and Summer quickly darted to the side to escape the reach of the massive scythe.
Immediately, the other bar patrons tensed and moved for their own weapons, a menagerie of modified pistols and blades of all sizes surfacing around as the room was quickly smothered in armaments. Lil' Miss Malachite looked to be about to speak up, only for Roman Torchwick to suddenly raise both his hands in the universal sign for surrender, his petite associate mimicking the action.
"Now, now! Don't be hasty. I didn't come here for a fight, Little Red. As a matter of fact, I'm only here as a favour to poor Neo here," he gestured towards his diminutive associate.
She stared at the girl. Neo, supposedly. It was a rather fitting name, for a pint-sized teen clad in a menagerie of colours that distinctly reminded Ruby of what she could only assume was Neo's namesake. Now that she'd gotten a good look at the girl, she recognised her as the one responsible for whisking Torchwick away after the efficacious criminal had chased Blake Belladonna and… um…
...The monkey guy… the one that didn't wear a shirt. He… uh, leader of Team… SSSN…
Sun! Sun Wukong. That was it.
The Vacuoian monkey faunus had overheard Team RWBY planning their investigation into the White Fang and Roman Torchwick's activities and invited himself (and one of his other team members) along for the ride. Sun and Blake had gone to investigate a White Fang rally and ended up getting chased by Roman Torchwick in an Atlesian Paladin mech-suit when the thief had revealed his newest toy to the White Fang.
Naturally, Team RWBY had kicked the tar out of him, because they're cool. Or, er, were cool.
Simpler times.
"Do you know these people, Ruby?" her Mother inquired in a conspiratorial whisper, a noticeably hardened edge to her voice that felt oddly reassuring at the moment. It had been the same tone of voice when they were back-to-back fighting the creep grimm swarming the forests outside the town of Shiragiku. They had been comrades, supporting each other in battle.
"...You could say that…" she murmured regretfully, unwilling to sheathe her weapon. She did, however, marginally lower the blade of Crescent Rose as she thought about her next move. "Let me handle it, okay?"
"Got it," Summer inclined her head ever so slightly, a silent Kirakishou mimicking the gesture next to her. "No matter which way this altercation goes, we'll back you up."
She gave a thankful smile to the two women, before returning to the subject at hand.
Of course, per universal baddie law (or just plain bad luck), Torchwick had escaped before Team RWBY was able to bring him to justice, at the hands of the very same girl that was currently making doe-eyes at Kirakishou as the doll grew visibly confused with all the attention, glancing at Ruby helplessly while Neo continue to stare.
Ruby's fists clenched tightly around the hilt of her scythe in barely-restrained fury. "...And why are you both here?! Shouldn't you all be, I dunno, gone like the rest of Vale?"
Torchwick winced alongside several other bar patrons at the verbal jab, while Lil' Miss Malachite gave an amused whistle.
But the girl. Neo. She just kept making doe eyes, never looking away from Kirakishou's silently beautiful form even as Ruby essentially threatened them while heavily armed. The ice-cream-themed girl even had the gall to wink at her doll, seeming as uncaring about Ruby's threats as physically possible.
...While she knew the truth behind the N-Field, in that it didn't kill but instead nurtured and soothed its seedlings with peaceful dreams so that both Kirakishou and the Palace of Beginnings itself could remain standing, she was well aware of how the rest of the world had interpreted the events of Vale, having been forced to abandon the area for that very same reason. Hence her use of what should have been an effective threat.
But nooo. Of course, her master plan didn't work for little miss ice-cream psycho. Only seeming to have any kind of effect on Torchwick and the peanut gallery in the background. Why were they even still here?
Oh. Right. They were having this conversation in a bar. And, well, the others were patrons in a bar. Doing bar stuff. Duh.
"I believe my daughter asked you both a question."
And, like that, Neo's gaze was torn away from Kirakishou as Summer Rose demonstrated her notoriety amongst the criminal world in a single sentence, the pint-sized loon focusing on her the way a wounded pastel-coloured gazelle would stare at a giant pissed-off momma-bear armed with a thermionic lance.
"Ah-buh-buh," Torchwick butted in, "ol' Neopolitan here can't speak. She's mute, you see. But, don't worry your fine little heads. I've got the gist of what's happening and can translate. We're both in the same pickle, actually. She's just trying to make it all about her."
Said mute proceeded to voice her 'appreciation' for Torchwick's statement by elbowing the older man in the side, with enough force to earn several sympathetic winces from more than a few bar patrons.
"Damn, you people certainly know how to put on a show for us, eh?" Lil' Miss Malachite jeered, shaking her head in apparent bemusement for the situation.
Ruby was, suffice to say, less than amused. "Right, sorry about that," she sarcastically apologised to the criminal mastermind for having the sheer fucking gall to be momentarily surprised about the appearance of Roman Torchwick and his pint-sized ice-cream henchwoman. "We'll be leaving now. Good luck doing, wait," she moved to say her goodbyes to the group, before seemingly coming to a conclusion. "...I don't care what you're all doing, as long as I'm not here. Which I won't be anymore. Because we're leaving now. Bye."
Lil' Miss Malachite snorted, the sound audible even over the jeers and mutters from the peanut gallery of bar patrons, while Roman's response was only ever-so-slightly more enthusiastic.
"Wait!" the master thief pleaded the moment Ruby had moved to turn around, Roman holding up a hand. "Look, I know we haven't gotten off on the right foot, so to speak, but seriously. Can't you spare us a moment of your time?" Ruby merely scoffed and began to walk out- "Don't you want to hear about what we were all doing in Vale in the first place?"
She paused in her tracks, eyes shifting momentarily to Kirakishou and Summer Rose as the two dolls perked up at the mention of Vale. Annoyingly, Ruby found herself struck by a feeling of uncertainty in the wake of Torchwick's offered breadcrumb. While Ruby wanted nothing more than to be rid of Torchwick and Neopolitan and to just leave this stupid bandit town, she wasn't going to let a potential danger go unhindered.
"...You were working for Cinder," Ruby hissed from a clenched jaw, expression thunderous as she turned back around. "You stole dust, probably did a whole bunch of other stupid stuff on the side, and helped blow up Kirakishou's dorm room."
"Actually," Torchwick corrected with the slimy smile of a politician that had found an edge to work on, "it was more akin to yes to the first and second, and no to the last bit. Ol' Neo and I had nothing to do with the bombing of your little girlfriend's dorm room, besides a bit of recon of course."
"...One would argue that willingly working alongside a maiden-powered extremist attempting to blow up a student academy is grounds enough to be cautious of your words," Summer commented from the sideline, narrowing her eyes.
Torchwick winced. "And, in most cases you'd be right. Ain't nobody going to dispute the words of Summer Rose and hope to live to tell the tale," he shook his head. "But, we weren't working for her by choice, Little Red, let me tell you."
"Oh, of course," Ruby rolled her eyes, placing a hand on her hip as she prepared for yet another story. "Let me guess, you're going to go on about how you were unjustly held against your will and forced to do all those horrible things, right?"
There were some genuine chuckles from the peanut gallery, which apparently was what Ruby's mind had decided to call the amassed group of Spider mercs littering the bar, as they'd done little more than react to events beyond the one dude checking out the condition of Lil' Miss Malachite's daughter with his semblance. She figured that as long as they remained nameless, faceless nobodies then Ruby wouldn't have to pay them much mind.
Not like Lil' Miss Malachite or her two daughters, the freshly-released daughter having woken up sometime during Torchwick's arrival and was currently looking rather confused all things considered. They would be a problem if things got rough.
"Now, now," Torchwick raised his hands when the laughter died down. "Well, sarcasm aside, you're actually not that far out of the ballpark, Little Red. Cinder was… how can I say this in polite terms..? A total bitch. A power-mad bitch with an Oum-complex, but a bitch all around. To all sides of her secretive little conflict. I can tell you probably half a dozen stories about all the names she spurned, and that'd only be from the first week of knowing her."
"Alright, we get it, she's a bi, er, a bad person," Ruby corrected herself at the last second, refusing to swear in front of Kirakishou. She figured that it wasn't something she wanted to have to explain at a later date. Plus, well, cuteness. "Can you get to the point already?"
"...Look, I'll cut to the chase. Cinder Fall made a lot of enemies in her time. And, well, she's certainly not the type to take Neo's and my… continued survival… all too well. Do you get what I'm saying?"
"You're looking for protection from Cinder Fall?" Lil' Miss Malachite commented from the sidelines, amusement colouring her tone. "Never thought I'd see the day the illustrious Roman Torchwick reaches out for help."
Roman's brow twitched as the man briefly whirled around at the once-again chuckling crowd. "What is this, Pick on Roman Day?!" he glanced over at Neo who seemed to be silently chuckling at his situation and pouted. "Really? You too, Neo?"
Said mute merely shrugged in a 'what can you do?' motion.
As for Ruby, she found herself torn between bewildered amusement or slowly-mounting frustration. This had been why Torchwick and Neopolitan had tracked them down halfway across Remnant? They were looking for protection from Cinder Fall and expecting Ruby, Summer, and Kirakishou to supposedly rise to the occasion?
Oum. What a mess. How did it come to this? Standing in some dingy bar in Kuchinashi talking to Roman Torchwick of all people. This wasn't even Mistral City! Just some backwater town that shouldn't have had much else except for Spider and Lil' Miss malachite. But, noooo. Here they are, chatting with Torchwick about Cinder Fall.
It was like some bad joke that Yang would-
Bah. Damn it, Yang.
"...You don't need to worry about Cinder," Ruby decided to rip the band-aid off with a brute-force approach rather than tiptoe around the issue or make some stupid pun about it. "She's dead. Been like that for weeks."
She tried to prevent herself from injecting too much satisfaction into her words, taking a certain pleasure in knowing that the one that had caused her beloved Rozen Maiden so much difficultly was no longer a problem for them to deal with in the immediate future. And, in thanks to Cinder's own stupidity and her connection with the Fall Maiden powers, she had given Ruby a bone-certain confirmation of her death in what had become a rather richly-ironic manner.
After all that Cinder had done, all she had succeeded in achieving, in the end, was making Ruby into a full-fledged Silver-Eyed Maiden and immensely strengthening Kirakishou.
"Well," it was obvious by the look on Torchwick's stupid face and by the widened eyes of his pint-sized sidekick that the two criminals were utterly blown away by her casual admission of Cinder's demise. "...I don't even know what to say. Colour me surprised. Damn. How sure are you of her death?"
Ruby felt something of a smile creep up on her face, strange enough as it was. "...Quite sure," she answered, before nodding in the direction of Lil' Miss Malachite. "Besides, they don't seem so surprised. Were you two the only ones who didn't know?"
Lil' Miss Malachite barked out a laugh, responding before Torchwick had the chance to voice his displeasure. "Oh, don't bother kicking them while they're down, missy. We weren't all that certain ourselves. We just hadn't heard of her for a while. And if you're in the business of trading information as long as we are, figures like Cinder Fall disappearing after a big event typically means one thing."
Summer made an amused sound, crossing her arms. "...Well, certainly didn't stop you all from withholding the truth from Torchwick, huh? No honour among thieves, so it would seem."
Kirakishou giggled, the sound alone enough to silence the room and still those within the bar. "...But that's not the only reason you both came here, is it not? You know us. You've seen my Palace of Beginnings, seen the strength of our bond, and still you seek us out. Not just for protection, as you would have us believe."
Raising a brow at the sudden outburst from her paramour that had previously appeared content to remain silent, Ruby glanced over to Torchwick only to discover the frown surfacing upon his lips. The frown of a person caught in their tracks. She'd long since grown to recognise the expression ever since introducing Kirakishou to all the students in Beacon and watching how Kirakishou read them with little more than a glance.
"...Mmmm, you could say that indeed," Torchwick agreed after a moment's hesitation, glancing uncomfortably at the doll before redirecting his gaze back on Ruby, seeming to single her out. "First of all, I'm not going to ask how you know, just that I'm glad you told me about it. Best news I've heard all year, believe me."
She crossed her arms, annoyance flaring as she recognising what the man was doing. He was stalling. Eugh. "Right. Whatever. Please, just finish your stupid story already."
...They could have been halfway out of the city by now. Perhaps even outside the city walls entirely. But noooo. Torchwick and his sob story just had to exist.
"Look, I know that you didn't do it for us, but regardless, your actions indirectly helped the both of us out. I can recognise that. However, both Neo and I are also aware that there is a good possibility that Cinder's associates will be targeting all of us. Not just the illustrious thieves that got away, but the young trainee huntress, her resurrected legend of a Mother, and the same little blonde girl that glassed Vale."
...She found her mind recalling the exact circumstances that had led to Ruby capturing Cinder's portion of the Fall Maiden power and the suspicions that had surfaced on her Mother. Together, they had come to the conclusion that someone far more powerful than Cinder had captured and killed her, for some unknown reason. Summer Rose hadn't spoken about it ever since, but she had seen how spooked Summer had been at the time.
Could this person who had ended Cinder once and for all, actually be her backer? And Torchwick believed this person would come for them?
Ruby's eyes narrowed at the perceived threat. "So what if Cinder's backers decide to go for us? My Mother can hold her own against anyone who tries anything. Kirakishou is more than capable, and I'll stop anyone who tries to hurt either of them," she declared resolutely, scowling at the thought of anyone even daring to lay a hand on either of her dolls. After witnessing her own sister deny her pleas and attack Kirakishou in spite of her words, she was all too aware of how low people could sink for some petty vendetta.
Torchwick saying all of that was just rubbing salt in a wound. It was cruel, and it was wrong. Besides, he was in the same boat anyway. As he said, Cinder's backers would eventually turn on those connected to Cinder and that included more than just Ruby's side.
"Oh, I don't doubt that in the slightest," Torchwick chuckled as he shook his head. "Anybody who messed with you three would be hard-pressed to get any kind of advantage. But… can you all really do that on your own? You're three girls fighting who-knows how many people, all of which had to be pretty-damn connected to attempt what they did. It's a miracle you all have lasted this long in town, considering the heat on you three right now. Something that I suspect our gracious host had something to do with."
"Guilty," Lil' Miss Malachite chimed in with an amused lilt to her accented voice. Ruby sent a queer look her way, wondering why the leader of a criminal organisation would look out for them. "What? Don't look at me that way. You had my girls. You should be grateful that half of Atlas isn't knocking on our doors right about now, looking for all you folk."
She rolled her eyes. Lil' Miss Malachite was just protecting her daughters. As if they were even in any danger in the first place. The only reason they still weren't being targeted, was because Malachite's daughters were still here alongside Ruby's group.
"Where are you even going with this, Torchwick? Why tell us all of this?" Ruby frowned dispassionately.
"...I'm saying that both Neo and I know a little bit about surviving in situations like these. Simply put, we want to come with you both."
"You want to come with us?!" Ruby parroted in surprise, balking at the sheer idea. "But why?! If even the slightest bit of what you just said is true, then who even knows how many people will come after us. Why would you want to be a part of that? You would both just be putting yourselves in danger. It doesn't make any sense."
"Not to you, perhaps," Torchwick answered with a grim smile, shaking his head as he gestured to Neo. "Between us two, we've been through a whole slew of nasty situations over the years. All kinds of people from all kinds of places. And, frankly, we've learned that sometimes the only way to survive in a pond like this is to cosy-up with the bigger fish and hunker down together."
Ruby looked down, grimacing. She didn't know what to think of such a sudden and utterly bonkers request coming completely out of the blue. She looked over to Kirakishou and Summer for support, to see the two dolls showing some vastly differing expressions.
Her Mother seemed contemplative. Annoyed, definitely, but she clearly had that look in her eyes that showed she was considering the offer for what it was, weighing out the pros and cons in her head. When she caught Ruby's gaze, her eyes softened.
"...As I said, little owl. Do as you wish, and we'll back you up," her Mother reaffirmed with a supportive smile, Ruby smiling thankfully in response.
Kirakishou, meanwhile, was smiling. She was happy. Ruby could dare say that the Rozen Maiden seemed almost excited. It was the type of bubbling excitement that Ruby would get when she was younger, every time when either Yang or Dad baked cookies and they were still cooling down.
Briefly, she wondered if Kirakishou had somehow known that something along these lines was going to happen. It was an odd thought, one she wanted to discard, but her mind did supply that the doll hadn't seemed the slightest bit surprised by either Torchwick's entrance or by his sudden request.
Considering the nature of her N-Field and how Kirakishou had acted during her time spent in Beacon Academy, Ruby knew first-hand that the doll had a way of learning about things she had no way of knowing, typically through the use of her N-Field. And Kirakishou had just recreated her 'Reading Room' in the N-Field during their extended stay in Kuchinashi.
As if sensing her focus, Kirakishou looked over to Ruby and smiled at her. "I'm with you, Ruby. Whatever your decision, I want it. They could be fun to play with, or they could be fun to discard. A past or a future. Whatever you desire."
Ruby smiled, nodding her head. No matter how this developed had come to pass, the ball was in her court. She could rest assured that no matter what she decided on in the end, both of the dolls would have her back. And she believed them. They loved her, and she loved them. That was all that truly mattered.
She turned back to Torchwick, who had stayed respectfully silent during her silent dilemma, much to her surprise. She had expected him to make a snippy comment or several while she was lost in her thoughts. Yang would have-
...Yang would have…
"Ugh. Fine," she conceded with a sag of her shoulders and a reluctant groan when both Torchwick and Neopolitan perked up at her words. "But! I want to make things clear, we'll stick together and that's all well and good, but we'll want to hear the full story of what happened with you and Cinder when we get the chance. Everything you know. I want to know as much as you do about who may be coming for us. Got it?"
She disliked the looks in their eyes, both Torchwick and Neopolitan, the thankful expressions reminding her of certain experiences over in Beacon Academy with her team mates. They seemed so relieved. Like a weight had been lifted on their shoulders and hoisted onto her own.
"Good enough for us, ain't that right, Neo?" said pint-sized minion gave an affirming nod at the question, her eyes flickering to Kirakishou for a moment before returning back to Ruby and Summer Rose, the looming presence of both Roses still taking centre-stage for the girl at the moment. "So," Torchwick continued, "what now?"
Ruby looked to Summer Rose, feeling particularly uncomfortable now that the issue of Torchwick and Neopolitan had been sorted out. She was done with talking, done with Kuchinashi, done with everything that wasn't her two dolls. And, thankfully, it would appear that Summer Rose could recognise this fact.
"If that would be all," Summer spoke up, her voice a thankful reprieve for Ruby as she stepped back into Kirakishou's welcoming embrace and allowed her Mother to take charge, "we should best be going. We'll make it out of town and set up camp."
"Sounds fair," Torchwick nodded, Neopolitan visibly agreeing with a shrug of her shoulders and a slight smile. "We heard about your quest for Raven Branwen from Lil' Miss Malachite and we're happy to assist. Well, Neo is at least. She's more a fighter than me."
"...Mom…" Ruby muttered lightly, "Can we go now?"
"Of course, sweetie," Summer smiled consolingly, before looking back over at Torchwick and Neo. "Pack your things. We're leaving."
"No problem there," Torchwick chuckled. "We've got a bag of supplies upstairs. I'll have Neo here grab it and- ow!" he leveled a sour look at his smaller associate, before sighing. "Fine. I'll grab the supplies and we'll meet you outside."
Ruby groaned, clutching Kirakishou desperately as she felt a headache already coming on from Torchwick's stupid antics, alongside the sheer presence of his pastel-coloured sidekick. What in the world had she signed them all up for by agreeing to this?
The N-Field, or rather, the particular plane of the N-Field currently in use by one Yang Xiao-Long, was an uncomfortable reminder of that past that thrashed violently in Weiss's perception. Phantom memories and bitter regrets, caused her eyes to sting. How pitiful it was, to learn that even in this false world, she was still able to cry.
"It's quieter than what I expected of Suigintou's Master," Souseiseki mused aloud with some degree of surprise, gazing about the dream of one Yang Xiao-Long with a fleeting degree of interest.
"...This is… Beacon Academy," Weiss murmured, voice thick with emotion as she gazed about a lecture hall filled with other humans and faunus. Down in the centre, a dishevelled man with impressively messy green hair sped about the podium, his voice speaking at speeds most would consider impossible to understand.
For one Weiss Schnee, she knew with absolute certainty that the man careening about the lecture hall was none other than Professor (Doctor!) Bartholomew Oobleck, one of the huntsmen professors that had been working at Beacon Academy up and until its destruction at the hands of Kirakishou. His name hadn't been mentioned in the Atlesian Census, so she could presume that the man had been taken into Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings, alongside countless others.
Next to her, Blake Belladonna was peering through the crowds, amber eyes narrowed in concentration before they finally settled on a particular area in the far back rows.
"...There," Blake pointed forwards, as Weiss and the rest of the crew directed their attention over to where Blake was indicating. "...It's Yang. She's… dreaming about one of Oobleck's lectures?"
Weiss smiled warmly at the disbelieving tone emanating from her paramour. If one were to look at Yang with a casual eye, they would likely believe the topic of the dream to be wildly inaccurate for her gung-ho personality. To her, however, the reason behind a seemingly audacious topic for a dream was made quite obvious.
"...Simpler times."
Shinku, Suiseiseki, and Souseiseki spared her a glance of curious intrigue, but it was the look from Blake that Weiss had been seeking.
"Ah. I see. Been having similar dreams as well, huh?"
A singular grimace that flashed across her face seemed more than enough confirmation for her partner, who frowned and clutched her hand in a supporting manner. She welcomed the gesture, trying desperately to banish the mounting emotion brimming beneath the surface.
"Come. We should reunite with your teammate," Shinku took charge, pushing past the two trainee huntresses after a moment's hesitation. "...Sakurada Jun will be on the lookout for my signal, where Yang Xiao-Long's associate will activate her semblance. However, the passage of time in this place is convoluted, twisting about. We should not dawdle if at all possible, lest we find our opportunity pass by."
Weiss swallowed, the unknowns of the dream world causing a rather horrid discomfort in her stomach. Unlike Yang, who was happily lounging about in the Schnee Family Manor, the rest of them had physically entered the N-Field through the use of Suiseiseki and Souseiseki's combined powers. As they had been told, the twin gardener dolls were capable of opening portals into the N-Field, in a manner similar to a semblance- a power unique only to them. Weiss and Blake had possessed nary a moment to question the validity of such a statement before it was proven true when they were thrust into the dream world of their blonde teammate.
...Originally the plan had been to arrive in Suigintou's N-Field and meet up there, but it would appear that Yang's mind liked to wander. And, at this moment, it felt an overwhelming need to reconcile of a time when events weren't so…. up in arms.
Simpler times indeed.
She could call Yang names all day, but to Weiss Schnee, there wasn't a shred of doubt in her mind that the elder sister of their Team Leader was an incredibly strong figure with a warm heart. Unfortunately, even the strongest of souls needed some safety and security, and Yang Xiao-Long had simply been through too much in recent times.
The loss of Ruby Rose had impacted them all in various ways, but for Yang it was different. Intimate. They were sisters. As she understood from their conversations, Ruby's Mother had died early in their life and Yang had been forced to assume a similar role in order for the family to push forward.
How would one acting in such a role, a Mother, react to the sudden loss of their child?
...How would Willow Schnee react, if Weiss were to fall due to Kirakishou? Weiss… didn't want to think of the answer.
Nor did Weiss Schnee wish to learn exactly what the Rozen Maiden doll bound to Yang Xiao-Long was doing that had managed to divert Kirakishou's attention away from this particular subsection of the N-Field. As long as the abrasive winged doll was not in her presence, Weiss considered herself relatively content.
"...It's all rather fascinating…" Blake murmured beside her, gathering the group's attention as the faunus surveilled the landscape with some degree of trepidation. "It's an almost perfect copy of the main lecture hall of Beacon Academy, students and lecturers alike, detailed down to the very notes on people's books. My dreams are never like this."
"They are," Souseiseki spoke up, the blue-clad tomboyish doll shaking her head. "However, nobody remembers their dreams to such a degree of detail. The mind likes to prune information. It is why you utilised the phrase 'almost perfect' for an exact copy. Reality, or in this case false reality, is unrealistic."
"...Whether it be detailed or not, we did not come here to listen to one of Professor Oobleck's lectures," Weiss reminded the group following their pause once again. Shinku nodded, the small twin-tailed blonde displaying a frustrated frown at having to have her urging repeated by another.
"Agreed," Blake nodded along with her suggestion, the ebon-haired faunus taking all of about three steps before the dreaming Yang's eyes snapped to her amidst the crowd.
"Blake? Weiss? What are-" Yang moved to question, before her eyes landed on the other Rozen Maiden in the room and she blinked repeatedly, slapping her head. "Oh my god. Am I really dreaming about a lecture?"
Shinku gave the blonde a quizzical look, before visibly dismissing the question brewing on her lips with a shake of the head and voicing up a different question entirely. "...I take it you have realised why we are here?"
"Yeah. All good," Yang affirmed, shooting up out of her spot in the lecture and rocking over to them with a casual walk, ignoring the professor shouting out at her to answer some mundane request to answer an old text.
...The answer was the Fifth Catalytic Reaction Rule for electrolytic dust separation, but Weiss wisely decided not to voice her thought aloud. Why Professor Oobleck would be asking such a question in Yang's dream wasn't something she wanted to have answered anytime soon. It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a simple question. Weiss in particular only knew of the appropriate answer from a particularly harsh tutor she had studied under when she was younger.
"So, considering you're all here, I take it the plan went off without a hitch? Suigintou was able to distract Kirakishou and prevent her from finding us?"
"Correct, it appears that Suigintou was indeed successful in her approach, surprisingly," Shinku confirmed with a low sigh of annoyance. Likely, in relation to the Eldest doll. It didn't take a genius to recognise that the two held some sort of animosity. All one needed to do to discover such a fact was to be in the same room as the two dolls for a few minutes. "However, we have no idea what Suigintou will encounter in her attempt to disguise our actions in this N-Field. We would best hurry, lest Suigintou finds herself… overwhelmed."
The trio of huntresses grimaced, having seen on more than one occasion just how powerful the youngest Rozen Maiden could be at times.
"Right. Gotta go fast. Got it," Yang… well, Weiss was sure that Yang's own dialogue made sense to her. "How do we go about rescuing Rubes?"
"You hold a connection to Ruby Rose through your shared experiences, strengthened by your familial relation and mutual contracts with Rozen Maiden," Shinku explained, glancing at Suiseiseki and Souseiseki for apparent confirmation as the two dolls gave curt nods in response.
"...Okay?" Yang questioned more than answered, sounding uncertain. Weiss could certainly understand her team mate's confusion, as the N-Field and its bizarre complexities were always something of an esoteric subject to even consider let alone hope to understand.
"Through this connection, we shall use the N-Field to locate Ruby Rose in the N-Field as she slumbers and attempt to sever her connection to Kirakishou. Following such, we shall notify Sakurada Jun of our success and he shall contact your associate, Raven Branwen, who shall connect with Ruby Rose's physical body and bring her to Atlas."
Ah, yes, Raven Branwen. The influential figure behind Yang Xiao-Long's life was one of which Weiss Schnee had long since learned to avoid. This reputation was earned after a single chance meeting that had cemented her fear for the efficacious criminal leader of the Branwen Tribe, a notorious group of bandits that had ravaged the countryside of Anima for generations. After everything that the various criminal organisations had cost the Schnee Dust Company over the years, Weiss Schnee found herself more than justified in remaining cautious of the woman, blood relation to Yang Xiao-Long or not.
Supposedly, Raven Branwen had been brought up to speed on the Alice Game alongside Yang herself when Suigintou contracted with their blonde team mate, Yang having been living with the Branwen Tribe at the time following the events in Vale. Despite their initial shock at the revelation of Yang living with bandits, Blake and Weiss had welcomed back their old team mate with open arms, even if she did come with a couple new faces. Jun had yet to learn of Raven's identity, having been far too focused on the Alice Game, but Weiss believed the reveal was best left until after they had retrieved Ruby Rose.
Raven was a double-edged sword. The less hassle they sent her way, the better.
"You're putting an awful lot of emphasis on the idea of us succeeding in doing what you're saying," Blake voiced her concerns, no doubt recalling several of the consequences of Adam Taurus thinking with a similar mindset. "Have you ever considered what will occur if we fail?"
"We're not going to fail and abandon my baby sister to that doll," Yang voiced desperately, her voice holding a hardened edge to it, almost daring Blake to argue otherwise.
"That is what we hope, at the very least," Shinku took the reigns with a conciliatory nod in Yang's direction, before turning back to continue speaking with Blake. "However, if the worst is to occur and we are unable to rescue Ruby Rose in this specific instance, then we shall likely need to resort to defeating Kirakishou in another manner."
"By force, most likely. Not like that doll will listen to anything else," Suiseiseki muttered to her sister, the angered grousing loud enough to be heard by them all.
"Unfortunately," Shinku sighed as she seemingly thought over the matter, "Suiseiseki is correct. Failing to rescue Ruby Rose will likely provoke Kirakishou into retaliating."
Weiss was quick to see a fault in that argument.
"...And wouldn't ruining Kirakishou's contract with Ruby and promptly stealing her away also provoke a response?"
The dolls collectively winced, while Yang and Blake paled right alongside her, each of the various parties present having learned the scope of Kirakishou's abilities in their own separate ways.
"...We have no choice," Shinku shook her head. "Any chance for deliberation is over. Suigintou has already distracted Kirakishou and the plan is in motion. All we can do is see the plan to the end, for better or for worse."
"Great. Piss off the doll that levelled a Kingdom in order to save my sister, or fail to rescue Rubes and piss her off anyway," Yang sarcastically snarked, dismissively scoffing as she kicked her feet against the ground. "Can't wait for this. Any ideas on what we can expect as we go looking for Rubes in here?"
"A mind held in deep contact with Kirakishou for an extended period of time is bound to be unpredictable," Souseiseki calmly offered her thoughts. "Rozen Maiden prefer to seek out like-minded individuals when choosing a contract. It offers both an easier path moving forward in life and a chance for companionship for both Rozen Maiden and contracted Master."
Weiss blinked. Hadn't Kirakishou once gone after Jun? What did..? Hm. Well, their potential contract had ultimately failed in the end, so she supposed it didn't matter now.
"...So, for Kirakishou, crazy attracts crazy?" Yang bit her lip, clearly uncomfortable with the idea. They had long since been made aware of Kirakishou's meddling influence over their elusive Team Leader, however, Weiss was certain that Yang in particular was recalling a certain few moments of her life with one Ruby Rose.
After all, it had been Yang that had informed both Blake and herself about Ruby's… eccentricities during her younger years, eccentricities that had only been made more apparent when influenced and nurtured by the youngest of the Rozen Maiden dolls for many months on end.
"Nothing so crass," Suiseiseki dismissed with a shake of her head. "What my sister is attempting to explain, Yang, is that Kirakishou is well-versed in the operation of the N-Field, capable of influencing the minds of those connected to her, to a certain extent. In being both her chosen Master and her… apparent paramour, Kirakishou would have developed an in-depth understanding of Ruby Rose and long-since learned how best to connect her to the N-Field. Were it not for Suigintou, we may very well have found Kirakishou in the N-Field alongside Ruby Rose."
Well. That was a horrifying prospect.
The others seemed a little uncertain, so Weiss decided to voice her understanding. If only to assure herself that she was right in her conclusion.
"So, what you're saying is that Kirakishou may have influenced what we may see when searching for Ruby in the N-Field?"
Both Suiseiseki and Souseiseki nodded, pleased smiles growing on their faces. At that moment, Weiss Schnee understood why they were known as Twin Dolls, despite their wildly differing personalities and oddly mirrored heterochromia.
"Correct," the eldest twin, Suiseiseki, verbally confirmed alongside a nod of her head. "Rozen Maiden, at least the ones that care about their Masters, will often try to improve their Master's N-Field in an attempt to assist their Master throughout life. They will give them confidence, strength, and soothe their worries. Kirakishou, however, may push this influence further and, in doing so, change the very N-Field for which belongs to Ruby Rose."
"We shall need to be cautious," Shinku summarised with a stern tone. "However, if we stick together and continue onward, we shall find Ruby Rose. Suigintou will distract Kirakishou for the most part. Once we are there, we can work on severing their contract. After which, we can assess the damage to Ruby Rose's N-Field and attempt a full recovery."
"Sure. Whatever. Avoid the crazy N-Field and rescue my baby sister. Sounds like a piece of cake!" Yang declared in a tone of voice that Weiss hadn't heard since their bout in the Emerald Forest during orientation. "Let's get this show on the road!"
If anything, Weiss would applaud the blonde brawler for her sarcastically pessimistic confidence in the face of what was, in her private opinion, a plan that was doomed for failure regardless of how it concluded.
...Unfortunately, she believed there was little chance of convincing the rest of the group otherwise. As Shinku had said, Suigintou had already ventured inside of the N-Field to distract Kirakishou from their antics. Regardless of what happened, the Seventh Rozen Maiden would know that a plan was in motion.
Weiss could only hope that they ended up rescuing Ruby, and they would all simply have to deal with the consequences of their actions.
"Suiseiseki, Souseiseki, if you will?" Shinku requested in lieu of responding, turning to the two twin dolls with a knowing look.
The twin gardener dolls nodded in sync and clasped their hands, summoning their respective weapons into the other with nary a gesture. When both dolls approached Yang, the blonde brawler stepped backward, before flinching when she bumped into a wall.
"...Don't worry," Suiseiseki muttered, a strange smile on her face that seemed particularly fake to one Weiss Schnee. "This won't hurt a bit."
As soon as Suigintou tentatively connected to the N-Field in perfect tandem with Shinku's group, the Eldest doll immediately realised that something had gone terribly wrong. And, yet, she did not hesitate. She could not allow herself to hesitate, even if the information that Suigintou was receiving should have cause for significant concern.
Entering the N-Field, were a doll to be neither of the Twin Gardeners nor the infamous blonde-haired doll nurturing a seedbed of hundreds of thousands of human and faunus captives, was an action rarely taken save for battles in the alternate environment for the Alice Game. As they had learned many a time over the countless hours of their existence, reality (namely, those living it) oftentimes took issue with magical dolls battling it out for supremacy using their own wellsprings of power. The N-Field, as a whole, was supposed to be little more than a field for battle in her mind.
A field free from concern from humans or dolls alike, for the sole purpose of battling in the Alice Game, as Father wanted. To use it for anything else was a pointless exercise.
However, as her connection meant to transport Suigintou into the N-Field instead had connected to a physical plane of reality that was supposedly halfway across Remnant's globe and housed within a localised space, Suigintou realised that the human huntresses and Laplace itself had indeed been telling the truth regarding Kirakishou's actions.
The Palace of Beginnings had indeed been materialised, and in her quest to draw attention away from Shinku by combating the Seventh Doll in her own N-Field, Suigintou had inadvertently journeyed from the Kingdom of Atlas to the Kingdom of Vale, centred directly inside the area that had once been known as the 'Emerald Forest' by her chosen Medium.
And 'Emerald' it was no longer. Suigintou had arrived in a small clearing surrounding a still pond as it overlooked a clear white sky that was neither day nor night, the water of the pond more akin to a molten silver mirror than any kind of water deposit, ever-so-slightly translucent and completely undisturbed.
Beside the pond lay bone-white plants and withered trees devoid of colour, unmoving and inert amidst a dense white fog that moved without the slightest smidgen of wind present in the slightest. The plants themselves were akin to shrubbery and sprouts of growth forever frozen in time, vaguely glass-like in material and translucent to the point where Suigintou could identify the very veins of the leaves without hassle.
Even the very terrain she momentarily trod upon remained barren of colour. Crystalline deposits of varying shape and thickness created the illusion of a solid surface, while colours refracted deep below a translucent edge, synonymous with Kirakishou's design for her Palace of Beginnings.
Suigintou's wings flared to life and she took flight immediately, unwilling to remain standing upon a ground consisting of the very crystals that had captured and contained a neigh-unconscionable amount of unwilling 'Masters' to be used as nourishment for the Seventh Rozen Maiden. And the fog shifted from the ground as she moved, taking to the skies alongside her and lowering visibility to little more than a few metres around her current location.
"...To go so far, as to create this N-Field in the physical world…" Suigintou muttered to herself, scarcely able to believe what she was seeing with her own eyes. "...What could have possibly made you attempt such a thing? How could you have succeeded?"
Were Suigintou to have been powered by a hundred Masters of perfect health, superior to her own Kakizaki Megu in every way, there wasn't even a grain of chance that she would be able to attempt such a thing with any reasonable degree of success. The power requirements alone were astronomical, going against the very nature of the world itself. Rules of which, were Shinku's rambling to be believed, had been specifically designed to force Rozen Maiden to interact with the world in a certain way.
And, considering that their own respective N-Fields remained steadily incorporeal, this rule hadn't been in the youngest doll's favour either. Yet, somehow, Kirakishou had achieved the impossible and manifested her Palace of Beginnings atop the reality of this world, her will forced upon the world of Remnant for some unknown purpose.
The exact reason for such an odd development completely escaped her understanding. With how the youngest doll had performed in the unwound world after manifesting in the world, namely being promptly defeated in short order, Suigintou wondered if the doll ever had a plan in the first place.
But… there was a certain feeling in her body, creeping about as she gazed at the twisted environment, that this had all been done for a reason.
Regardless. It didn't matter. Whether it had been done for some stupid reason or just on a whim, all that mattered right now for Suigintou was finding Kirakishou and preventing her from realising what was happening to her Master. Shinku and the other dolls, dare she admit it, could likely handle the rest provided Suigintou completed her own goal.
With a burst of speed and flex of her feathered black wings, Suigintou sprung into action, a stale air pushing against her body as she flew forward, determined to push past the unnatural fog and seek out Kirakishou. As she had been come to expect, the same fog shifted once again and chased after her, seeming almost desperate to limit her visibility. However, Suigintou proved to be faster than the fog itself, as the world gave out and allowed her visibility to all save for her prior location.
The fog was still chasing her, but as long as Suigintou kept moving forward, it would be forever in the background.
And as Kirakishou's N-Field was revealed beyond more than a small section of clearing, Suigintou began to realise the extent of the damage Kirakishou had wrought upon the world of Remnant. For her N-Field stretched as far as the eye could see, a dense forest of vegetation devoid of colour pasted above what Suigintou had been led to believe was once a prosperous city.
So far as her previous visit to the Seventh Rozen Maiden's N-Field had been when Kirakishou had stolen away her precious Master, Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings appeared almost exactly the same as it had been in the N-Field back then, save for one major detail.
Dotting the landscape was an abundance of rectangular crystalline panes of varying height and diameter, the largest of which appeared to be taller than most buildings dotting the city of Mantle, or a 'skyscraper' as had been called in their original world. The mirrors appeared to be filled with a strange flame-like substance of intriguing colouration, similar in appearance to a silver metallic substance. They were a strange addition to an otherwise perfect replica of what Suigintou had previously witnessed of Kirakishou's N-Field.
Opting to sate her curiosity, Suigintou flew down for a closer inspection of one of the mirrors, raising a brow as closer proximity to the flame generated far less heat than what one would expect from a typical fire. The flames themselves were sporadic in movement shifting about this way and that without any typical direction in mind, only bouncing back when the flames reached the crystalline edge. The edge itself appeared purposefully decorated, sporting a likeness of roses and vines that reminded Suigintou of the decorative mirrors that nobles and the like would find suitably fitting for their homes.
"Like them, do you?"
"Like them, do you not?"
"Regardless," Suigintou whirled around as the world shuddered at the sound of a soft lilting female voice with no origin, vines tearing away from the ground and encroaching upon the air. "They are not meant for you."
She darted away in a burst of speed, narrowly avoiding a dozen vines that had ripped through the space she had been mere moments ago.
Her attention was drawn to the crystalline pane she had been inspecting as the silver flames lurched abruptly to the edges of the pane, an absence of flame forming in the centre, shimmering on a crystalline surface previously hidden beneath the flame. The surface rippled in the tell-tale method of an N-Field being torn open. Her eyes narrowed as her wings flared in preparation. None of the other dolls save for Kirakishou would utilise the N-Field in such a way.
However, Suigintou found herself proven wrong as another doll revealed their presence. Vines seemingly moving in motion together as an entity pushed through the mirror, swinging lackadaisically on the two vines.
The one doll revealed herself as two, twin dolls conjoined together by a menagerie of gears visible across their connected torsos, spinning and twisting in a macabre motion reminiscent of the internal designs of a clockwork creation. Most of their torso was exposed to reveal the gears, with a ragged white dress worn by both dolls tied together by a great many belts to complete the conjoined appearance. They possessed long, peach-blonde, wavy hair that ran down a little past their shoulders. Their eyes were a strange yellow-orange shade, seeming almost to hold some unknown intent.
Suigintou could spot a few accessories mirrored on both dolls. White wrappings around their legs that did little to hide their doll anatomy, detached sleeves of the same style as their white dresses, and little white rose-adorned hats resting on their heads.
They were, most certainly, none of her sisters. And, yet, Suigintou could tell that they possessed the same characteristics of a Rozen Maiden. What in the world was going on here?
"I know you're broken down by anger and by sadness," one doll sang, swaying hypnotically on the vines and more and more growths forced themselves from the ground and raced towards Suigintou, the Eldest Rozen Maiden frantically dodging in the skies.
"You feel I left you in a world that's full of madness~" the other conjoined doll continued the impromptu verses, her eyes blazing with intensity.
"...I am Judica."
"...I am Madulin."
Their voices conjoined and twisted, suddenly sounding far louder than before.
"And we both know who you are, Suigintou. We both know all about you, Onee-sama."
...Big sister?
Suigintou narrowed her eyes as her wings flared with power, black feathers ripping free and launching forwards in a violent flechette, bisecting the approaching vines and promptly ripping them to shreds. The feathers continued moving forward, severing the vine 'swing' being utilised by Judica and Madulin and cutting off their connection to the mirror. The conjoined dolls, unable to fly with their own powers, fell down with little more than silent smiles and a lack of reaction, the world shuddering at their impact.
The surroundings shifted into obscurity as the fog that had once been chasing Suigintou finally caught up to her current location, spreading about the area in little more than a few seconds and removing her field of vision for any more than several metres around her. Suigintou quickly lost sight of the impact zone from where Judica and Madulin had landed, their stilted resonating giggling alerting Suigintou that they had survived the impact relatively unharmed.
"What in the world are you two?" Suigintou screamed out, flaring her wings in preparation for an oncoming attack. Sure enough, a flurry of vines ripped through the surrounding fog, Suigintou surviving the sneak attack through sheer instinct alone as she forced the vines away with a rough impact from her wings.
"I wanna tell you that you're all that ever mattered."
"Want you to know that, for eternity, I'm shattered."
They continued to sing. Over and over, singing a song otherwise unfamiliar to Suigintou. Their voices resonated against the twisted crystalline landscape of Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings, obscuring their origin and layering their voices all around her. Was it bouncing off the fog?
"I tried so hard just to protect you but I failed to~"
"And, in a prison of abandonment, I've jailed you."
Then, however, their sing-song voices shifted. They didn't deepen or heighten in pitch, but the words were spoken together and, most certainly, were not part of the song.
"But, you're not her. This song is not for you! Not for you! You intrude here, Suigintou, ruining everything! But… that's okay. You're not the first to come searching. Not in the slightest. We knew you would come. Kirakishou knew you would come. So, we'll jail you, just like we jailed the others."
A single sharp sound rippled through the area, high pitched and moving quickly. Suigintou tensed, preparing for an attack, only for her eyes to widen when she spotted a grand circular N-Field portal opening up right above her. It was massive, stretching as far as her eyes could see, the fog parting seemingly only to show her the true scope of the portal itself.
"Now, join us, little Rozen Maiden."
"Let us play our own Alice Game."
Damn it, Shinku! Suigintou thought with gritted teeth, frantically looking around for anything she could use to avoid whatever in the world was about to breach the portal. I don't know how long I can keep these two occupied. You better not take too long!
The portal rushed downwards-