Suigintou dodged backwards across a tiled crystalline floor, her wings refusing to obey her commands to leap into the sky, as she was forced to slide across the sleek surface in order to properly evade. She had been transported into an underground section of Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings, featuring a bizarre architecture that Suigintou hadn't ever witnessed inside Kirakishou's strange crystalline world.
"Do you like it? From what we're told, Kirakishou copied the architecture from one of Ozpin's holding facilities for the Maidens. Albeit with her own touch."
"With her own touch~" Madulin repeated Judica's finishing phrase in a hauntingly sing-song tune that bounced across the walls, the conjoined doll teasingly waggling a finger in her direction.
She slid backward before the dolls could strike, impacting harshly against a crystalline pillar. With a mounting distaste Suigintou could easily identify where exactly Kirakishou had supposedly 'chosen' to display her own stylistic flair, the room appearing as less of a holding facility and more of a crystalline colosseum decorated in a foreign style and covered from head to toe in the crystals found all throughout Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings.
It was becoming abundantly clear that Kirakishou had been busy with her N-Field, if she had managed to twist it into something like this. Suigintou had never seen a Rozen Maiden's N-Field altered to such a degree from what it had originally been at the time of Father's sacrifice and their subsequent construction.
This architecture, while bearing the unique teal crystals found only within areas of the N-Field overtaken by the youngest Rozen Maiden, was seeming of Remnant design, based on an 'Ozpin' or something. Suigintou had seen a great many things in both the wound and unwound worlds, and none of it bared any degree of resemblance to anything that Kirakishou had ever generated inside of her N-Field barring her signature crystals. Was it connected to the dolls that Suigintou had found inside?
And these dolls… Judica and Madulin they had called themselves. What in the world were they, and what were they doing defending Kirakishou's N-Field? How did they have this much power? Where did they even come from?
The conjoined dolls twisted, heads facing each other as the singular body clasped hands. And it was, by far, one of the most bizarre sights that Suigintou had the misfortune to lay eyes upon these last hundred thousand hours.
"Sister, sister~ She looks so confused~"
"Sister, sister~ She is very confused indeed!~"
"Don't play games with me!" Suigintou snarled angrily, wings flaring in response to her anger. She found herself momentarily taken aback by the sudden growth of her wings, before smiling savagely. Even if her wings would not allow her to fly for some strange reason, that was not their only purpose. Oh no. Not in the slightest.
She was reminded that, per her contract with one Yang Xiao-Long, the Medium in question was providing her with a sizeable amount of energy. Far more than she could have ever hoped to have attained in either the wound or unwound worlds with a regular human. This, in turn, theoretically allowed for Suigintou to relentlessly throw out powerful attacks with little-to-no concern for her contracted Medium's health. It also appeared to have the side effect of enhancing her attacks considerably, given the sizeable volley of black feathers that sprung forth from her wings, far more powerful than any attack Suigintou could remember ever achieving in the past.
The conjoined doll's eyes widened in momentary surprise, seemingly just as taken aback as Suigintou herself felt, as the mass of feathers crossed the distance between Suigintou and her target in a shaded blur of speed, the flechette-style attack proving quite effective as it tore through the dolls in a sea of black, drawing a startled feminine cry from both dolls as they were thrown back into a crystalline wall through sheer force alone.
When the dust settled, Suigintou's lips curled into a victorious grin, seeing the conjoined doll bisected down the middle, collapsed on the floor amidst a cluster of snapped feathers, their clothing tattered and broken, sheared away into ribbons of discarded fabric and scattered around the place. She could hear the precise moment their internal gears, made visible by their macabre design, spun their final rotation. Whatever the dolls had been, they were apparently little match for Suigintou's aura-enhanced attacks.
Allowing her wings to settle down, Suigintou opted to assess the strange section of the N-Field that the conjoined doll, Judica and Madulin, had suddenly opted to forcefully thrust upon the First Rozen Maiden. Suigintou had never witnessed a portal to the N-Field of such colossal scale, let alone weaponised in battle. It had surprised her, but it clearly hadn't been enough to surprise Suigintou into a loss.
The location itself was a bizarre deviation for Kirakishou, the conjoined doll no-doubt serving as some kind of guard for Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings given their short monologue earlier on. They had mentioned, in sing-song tune no less, that there had previously been other visitors to Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings. Excluding Kirakishou's allotted Master, of which she could only imagine had been allowed inside the field on multiple occasions and of which Suigintou doubted had been the only visitor, who else could have visited?
Hinaichigo or Kanaria, perhaps? Both dolls were, as of yet, unaccounted for and both possessed a history of being manipulated by Kirakishou to varying degrees of effectiveness. Kanaria was a possibility, of course, as any plan involving her was doomed to absurdity up to and including those concocted by Kirakishou herself. Inviting Kanaria into Kirakishou's N-Field was bound to cause a hassle.
Alternatively, however, there existed the possibility of Hinaichigo having visited Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings and invariably being forced into battle against Judica and Madulin. The more innocently childish of the Rozen Maiden, Hinaichigo had been a non-threat to Suigintou and an easy target for Kirakishou in the past. According to what she had uncovered from Shinku and her own investigations into the matter, Hinaichigo had been one of the first to be targeted by Kirakishou, being summarily defeated by the Seventh Rozen Maiden with little fanfare.
From what she could recall during Kirakishou's initial advent into the unwound world, Shinku had been particularly worried that Kirakishou had used Hinaichigo's physical body to enter the world, only for it to be eventually revealed that Kirakishou had used Souseiseki's body instead. However, the fact remained that Hinaichigo had been defeated by Kirakishou and possibility disassembled.
She highly doubted that a girl like Hinaichigo would ever aim to return to Kirakishou's N-Field of her own accord after such a traumatising experience.
The tiniest of sounds in a still world grabbed her attention, Suigintou turned around in search of the source only to narrowly avoid a lunge by a fake Rozen Maiden doll that Suigintou had believed to have been defeated. Judging by the creepy giggles, this was the Madulin doll in control at the moment. She jumped backward in a winged display of agility, intent on creating some distance.
As she backed away, Suigintou was granted a better understanding of what had occurred. The sound that had briefly captured her attention had been the sound of Madulin's gears beginning to spin of their own volition despite the doll's forceful separation from her sister by way of Suigintou's wings.
Further still, Madulin had grown both an arm and a leg in order to complete the separation. Less akin to completed limbs and seeming closer to a clockwork skeletal structure with interconnected thin vines threaded throughout the doll's anatomy. She was still visibly unclothed, displaying her artificial form with little fanfare. Of note was the complete lack of cuts and scrapes against her artificial body. Had she even been damaged by Suigintou's feathers in the first place?
Madulin gave an exaggerated pout, "Awww!~ You got away! A shame, really. We don't like separating. It's a really cool ability to possess, but there's something so very exhausting about it, ya'know?" she was no longer singing in her bizarre creepy tone, but Suigintou somehow found the doll's over-the-top cutesy act a little too similar to Kirakishou for her liking.
Off to the side, Madulin's sister Judica twitched and lurched, clockwork limbs growing from their respective opposing sides as the bisected doll became bipedal once more, her own internal gears beginning to spin again as tiny green vines guided their movements. Madulin appeared beside her sister in a burst of speed, golden crackles of energy briefly flickering around her form from the movement.
"Upsy-daisy!~" the doll giggled, pulling her sister up with a flurry of motion. The two joined hands, turning back and smiling in unison at an increasingly disturbed Suigintou.
"Do you like it?" Judica asked, gesturing down to her nude form with a wry smile. "It's a shame you destroyed our clothes. We're pretty strong, but physics still has a place in this world and a delicate little fabric can't stand up against sharp things moving at a great speed. Although… it is rather freeing to be this way instead. Wouldn't you agree?"
"...You're both disgusting, disregarding pieces of yourselves. Trash like you two, taking solace in being unclothed and incomplete, it's a disgrace to everything the Rozen Maiden stand for," Suigintou voiced her opinion with a scrunch of her face and a sour tone. The two dolls stilled at her words, frowning. They seemed genuinely hurt by her words. "But," she smirked and flexed her wings, "it's no matter to me how some junk imitations see themselves. You two really should have just stayed down on the floor. If you're both going to misbehave, then I guess it falls on me to beat you two down again!"
The separated conjoined dolls tensed as Suigintou opted to go on the offensive and unleashed a barrage of black feathers from her wings, kicking off from the ground and pushing forwards as she did so. Judica and Madulin both dodged either side of the feathers, moving in a bizarre parallel, landing just in time for Suigintou to reach their side. She targeted Madulin, the first to awaken following her initial attack.
Madulin, for her part, reacted swiftly to the sudden aggressive advancement, shifting both her arms in a standard cross-block mere moments before Sugintou's wings crashed down, lessening the impact force significantly and sending the doll to her knees.
Suigintou moved to unleash a volley of feathers on the downed doll, only to be forced back as a sudden force grabbed her wing and yanked her backward. There was just enough time to glance behind her and witness a glowing golden appendage grasping her feathered wings and originating from Judica before a flash of yellow electrical discharge smashed into her cheek. Madulin again? She was sent hurdling backward, the Rozen Maiden barely avoiding smashing into a pillar by twisting her wings at the last moment.
...What in the world…? Suigintou wondered as she pushed herself to her feet, glaring at the two dolls and flexing her wings. They can have the appearance of a Rozen Maiden, twisted as it is… but they can't have the powers. It's just not possible. What's going on here?
"Do you like them?" Judica teasingly voiced, cocking her head to the side in a manner eerily reminiscent of a certain blonde-haired astral doll. Her hands, both the freshly-grown clockwork prosthetic and the original doll joint, were coated in a golden translucent sheen of an unfamiliar energy source. Well, not entirely unfamiliar. They vaguely reminded her of-
No. She shouldn't be thinking about her Medium at the moment. She needed to focus on the battle.
"I don't think she likes them, sister~" Madulin pouted, glowing sparks of energy discharging from her form in sporadic intervals, the doll almost vibrating in place. "Perhaps we should trade?"
"...Good idea, sister~"
Suigintou tensed as she prepared for an attack, wings flaring defensively. They had proved effective in the past, capable of surprising the two dolls on multiple occasions with their barrage of feathers. However, their true strength shined in their defensive capabilities. Provided that she kept a level head, Suigintou remained confident that she could continue to keep the dolls occupied until Shinku and her team had completed the mission. Then, she would personally dismantle these walking affronts to the Alice Game and be done with it.
Surprisingly, being pulled from her dream and into the N-Field didn't hurt in the slightest. Given the way that Suiseiseki had been looking at her mere moments ago, Yang had been anticipating the worst.
Although, perhaps that was just what the green-clad doll had been hoping for in the first place. Given the doll's seeming ability to fly off the rails at the slightest provocation, Yang wouldn't put it past her to call the doll strangely vindictive at the best of times. After Yang had been 'caught' awakening Jun's aura, the doll had seemingly made it her Oum-given mission to protect the poor boy from Yang's nefarious grasp.
It would have been funny. Oum, it had been for the first few hours. But, by this point, it was beginning to get a little annoying.
"...The Miniature Garden?" Shinku looked around their surroundings in bewilderment, her voice clearly carrying some capitalisation. She almost snorted at the title. Clearly whoever had first named the place hadn't had that much of an imagination.
As the name implied, the group had found themselves in what looked at first glance to be a relaxed garden setting, complete with a menagerie of overgrown plants surrounding a typical picnic setting complete with foodstuffs and crockery clearly meant to house more than a few patrons at once.
The main theme was that they were in miniature, Yang herself measuring smaller than the damned salt shaker. It had the effect of making the place seem far larger than what Yang imagined to be in truth a relatively small garden setting. It wasn't even slightly close to what she was expecting the N-Field to look like. Cool effect, though.
"You sound as if you're familiar with this place," Blake observed aloud, her faunus ears twitching ever so slightly. She didn't miss how Weiss's eyes snapped to glance at the feline appendages for an instant, her own lips curling in a wry smirk. Looked like someone was rather appreciative of the faunus people.
"...Before Rozen Maiden are granted a body, their astral forms are situated here," Shinku spoke in a wistful tone, looking around the place as if she could scarcely believe her eyes. "None of us, save for Kirakishou perhaps, have been here in… why, hundreds of thousands of hours in the very least."
Yang raised an eyebrow as the other dolls nodded along with Shinku's words. Didn't anybody else find their method of counting time to be more than a little inefficient? She glanced over at Blake and Weiss, to see them looking oddly perturbed. How long even was a hundred thousand hours? Eh. She wasn't going to point it out and further complicate an already annoyingly headache-inducing topic. All this Rozen Maiden stuff was just plain weird.
"It's an intriguing development to see that this slice of the N-Field has managed to appear inside Remnant," Suiseiseki spoke with a curious lilt to her tone, sounding nothing like the spiteful little doll that Yang had grown used to interacting with over the past few weeks.
"Perhaps Kirakishou took it with her when she journeyed to this world?" Souseiseki suggested aloud. "Either that, or it is merely a reflection of the true Miniature Garden, created by our youngest."
"Both are similarly possible," Shinku nodded. "And, I do agree that the appearance of the Miniature Garden is suspicious. However, it is not at all what we are searching for. Ruby Rose would not be contained within this area."
"You seem rather certain about that," Weiss observed critically, putting a hand on her hip. Yang resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Why bother questioning a doll on how their weird world worked? It wouldn't bring them to Ruby any quicker. By dust, it'd probably just slow them down.
"Ruby Rose would not dream of the Miniature Garden," Shinku answered. "If her connection to Kirakishou is as strong as we have been led to believe, we will instead need to search through places of significant relevance to both Kirakishou and Ruby Rose herself."
"You're saying they'll be dreaming similar things, Ruby and Kirakishou?" Blake blurted, sounding disturbed by the notion.
"Essentially," Shinku gave a slight nod at the question. "Furthermore, Kirakishou's presence may become more and more prevalent the longer we linger inside the N-Field of Ruby Rose. There will be no telling how deep her influence has spread until we are there, unfortunately."
"Knowing that doll, it'll probably be pretty bad," Suiseiseki grumbled. For once, Yang could agree with the green-clad doll.
"Great," Blake snarked, "then let's get out of here already. If Ruby isn't going to be here then there's no point in sticking around."
"I wouldn't be so hasty if I were you," Souseiseki shot her down with a respectful tone. "...We were brought to this area for a reason. It is connected in some way to Ruby Rose. If we are to continue forward, we need only find the connection point."
The girls soon spread apart in search of whatever could possibly be the connection that Souseiseki was speaking about, examining their own various sections of the Miniature Garden. Yang, for her part, privately wished that the twin dolls could just wave their hands and whisk them out of this bizarre fairy tale fetch quest. Unfortunately, it seemed as if things just didn't work that way in the N-Field, despite everything that she's seen Kirakishou do with nothing but a simple smile and a wave of her hand.
Oum, she'd seen the crazy blonde doll use her powers to move from Team RWBY's dorm room to her own at one point, using the N-Field as little more than a crossing between the two areas. If that was possible in the real world, why wasn't it possible in the astral world?
Bah. She would never understand this nonsense. Yang frowned as she busied herself looking through a plantation of various fruits and vegetables that towered above her like massive buildings, reaching far into the sky. What in the world were they even looking for in here?
If this was some dream world, one that was closer in significance to the Rozen Maiden themselves than anything that Ruby could apparently even be dreaming about in the first place, then what could they possibly find that would lead them to her baby sister? Shinku herself had stated that Ruby would never dream about the Miniature Garden, as she had no way of knowing about it besides-
"Wait! I think I have something!" Blake's voice called out.
The group quickly converged towards the sound of Blake's voice, finding the faunus deep inside what looked at first glance to be an immense jungle, but in reality, seemed to be little more than the beginnings of a massive hedge that twisted and turned in various sections, but seemed oddly trimmed and uniform…
Wait.
Oh. Good Oum, no. Please don't say that they had to go through a freaking hedge maze to find Rubes. That was, eugh, Yang didn't even know what to call it apart from needlessly stressful. She had seen enough films over the years to know that hedge mazes were just a waste of time.
"What did you- Oh," Shinku went to question, only to pause as she found Blake kneeling down on the garden floor, inspecting a curiously pale root that stood out amongst the menagerie of earthen plant growths.
"...That looks uncomfortably familiar to one of Kirakishou's vines," Weiss noted, humming. "After seeing her conjure masses of the things conjoined together, I hadn't ever noticed how tiny they are on their own…"
"Hm, yes, even in our previous fights, Kirakishou never grew larger vines, only joined many of them together to give the illusion of size," Suiseiseki agreed with a disgusted scoff. "A terrible gardening ethic, really. Just a waste of nutrients. Doesn't look good in the slightest."
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," Shinku disagreed, moving next to Blake and sitting down beside the faunus. With a motion, Blake handed over the piece of the vine she had excavated from the ground, Shinku shuddering the moment she grasped the vine. "...This little vine does indeed carry Kirakishou's influence. I do believe we have discovered her connecting point to this world. It is little more than a branch extending from a far-off corner of her N-Field, but it is proof that Kirakishou's N-Field was not fully physically manifested in its entirety. Her influence still persists here in the astral world, while her Palace of Beginnings remains standing in the physical world."
"So, it's a step in the right direction?" Yang clarified, just to make sure she was properly understanding all of this nonsense. If it got her closer to Rubes, then she didn't rightly care how they got there.
Shinku glanced at her, curious, before nodding. "Indeed," she turned to the twin gardener dolls and beckoned them to approach, handing off the vine to them. "Now, Suiseiseki, Souseiseki, if you would? We shall move on. This vine shall be our focus."
"Healthily, and freely," Suiseiseki intoned as she planted the vine back down, flourishing her golden watering can as if it were some oversized weapon. And, in a way, Yang supposed that it was. Much like her twin sister, Suiseiseki could also manifest an item. It was an ability that many a huntsman and huntress would kill to obtain, the ability to almost casually manifest and store their weapon at will.
"Let sprouts emerge," Souseiseki followed along, "let buds blossom!"
Vibrant green energy gushed forth from Suiseiseki's watering can, the ground beneath quaking the moment the water reached below, Kirakishou's single white vine shuddering as many small vines grew from the ground around them, forming into a circular portal that reached from high atop the sky down to the very earth itself.
It was, in Yang's own opinion, quite gaudy and very over the top for what was essentially just a doorway to another area of the N-Field. Though she wouldn't say such a thing aloud and risk ruining her one opportunity to rescue her baby sister before Kirakishou had the chance to grow any stronger than she already had been at Beacon Academy.
Stepping through, Yang was greeted by a landscape appearing vastly different from the Miniature Garden, consisting of a sprawling set of lush green grass dimmed by overcast weather, a rich fog seeping through what looked to be an area vaguely reminiscent of-
"The Emerald Forest?" Blake wondered as she gazed around the area, feline ears twitching before shaking her head. They appeared to be deep inside a valley, a beaten path leading into the woods barely discernible. There were mountains all around them, the fog seeming incapable of fully covering their breadth. "No. This feels different. Eerie, almost. There's something about this place…"
"Mmm, I feel it as well," Weiss agreed with a stagnant murmur of discomfort, hands twitching as if uncertain whether to reach for her rapier.
"Make no mistake, we are still inside the N-Field," Shinku intoned, marching forwards. Both Suiseiseki and Souseiseki followed along, with the three trainee huntresses trailing behind them at a further distance.
"Judging by what Weiss spoke previously, you all are somewhat familiar with this environment?" Souseiseki's voice spun up around them, the diminutive younger gardener twin keeping the conversation relatively light.
Yang shivered, feeling a peculiar chill twisting through her body. Blake and Weiss were right to be uncomfortable about this place. Unlike the Miniature Garden, which seemed little more than a strange gimmick to her, this place held a certain unnatural presence to it that was tingling on the edge of her senses. She almost felt like a little girl again, untrained and weak, walking through an unfamiliar environment with little to no understanding as to what was occurring all around her.
How could this be, in any way, connected to Ruby and Kirakishou?
"...When we were training to become huntresses, our orientation was conducted in a place similar to this," Blake explained to the other dolls. Yang didn't understand why she was bothering to play friendly with them, as their past experiences didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but once again decided to keep her mouth shut.
"An intriguing structure for an initial lesson," Shinku shook her head momentarily. "There was nothing of similarity in both the wound and unwound worlds, at least in recent history. I can scarcely imagine how it must have been, both for Ruby Rose and for yourselves."
"It certainly was a rather eye-opening experience," Weiss sarcastically muttered, before hesitantly continuing when she realised everyone had heard her little speech. "Er, to explain, our to-be Leader, Ruby Rose… we did not have the gentlest of times upon first meeting up in the Emerald Forest."
"That's one way of saying it," Yang felt the need to interject with a teasing leer. "Rubes told me that you almost walked off, princess. That's pretty cold, don't you think?"
Weiss huffed. "Well, excuse me! I'd had certain expectations in regards to Beacon Academy. Partnering with a character like Ruby Rose had not been my original intention," she shook her head, a melancholic wistful tone floating into being. "...Ruby, however, quickly proved that despite being an overenthusiastic dolt of a girl, she had the strength of a true leader and a caring heart."
The elder green-clad gardener doll, Suiseiseki, smiled a soft little fragile smile that Yang personally believed hadn't been meant to be witnessed. For a moment, her heart twisted at seeing such a smile, before she shook her head and dismissed the thoughts.
"She sounds like quite the enigmatic figure," Shinku offered genially, getting weak chuckles from the other trainee huntresses at the description. "And this Emerald Forest? How exactly were students able to handle delving into such an area? I can imagine that these…. beasts of dark… the grimm? I can imagine they would have been rather prevalent."
Yang raised an eyebrow at the terminology. Beasts of dark. That had been exactly the way that Kirakishou had described the grimm while she was staying at Beacon Academy. An odd coincidence. Did they not have the grimm in their world? What would a world without the creatures of grimm even look like?
"Beacon Academy is a secondary course of schooling following primary academic studies, so all of the students there already possessed some minor experience with combating the grimm and had all been trained in rudimentary survival tactics," Weiss explained, as if the poor heiress hadn't been screaming her ears off for most of the initiation. "Naturally, we were all heavily armed and had honed our auras to an exceptional level to meet Beacon's standards. The creatures of grimm, while numerous, were easily felled."
"Well, most of them were," Blake added with a dry tone, kicking a stone with surprising force as she walked down the track. "The Emerald Forest held a few surprises. Team JNPR, another group of trainees, ended up aggravating a large Death Stalker, which caused them considerable hassle in defeating. Ruby, however, decided that flying on the back of a giant Nevermore was a smart thing to do. The damn bird almost killed us all."
"...And I take it these… Death Stalkers and Nevermores… are subspecies of grimm?" Souseiseki inquired with a touch of curiosity in her tone, amidst a healthy level of discomfort. It reminded Yang of her first time hearing about grimm from dad. That lesson had been worst then the dreaded 'talk' that he had given them, many years later. Learning about all of the horrific monsters prowling through the dark had been quite the experience.
"Yes," Weiss nodded. "The term 'grimm' is essentially a catch-all term for the many, many variations of negativity-hunting creatures that inhabit the world of Remnant. Nevermores can be imagined as ravens which can grow exponentially in size with age, while Death Stalkers are akin to armoured scorpions the size of a large vehicle."
Suiseiseki shook her head, disbelieving. "...This world is, eugh, I don't even know what to call it! How can any of you all handle it?!"
"Through combat. What else? Huntsmen and huntresses are trained to uphold the peace of the world through the slaying of grimm," Weiss supplied casually. "It's not a pretty job, it's not a cushy job, but somebody has to do it to protect what really matters."
Shinku looked down, momentarily slowing in her pace before the doll shook her head and continued onwards. Similarly, the other dolls also appeared seemingly melancholic following Weiss's explanation, though Yang couldn't even begin to understand the reasoning behind their reactions. That was just the way the world worked.
"My apologies," Shinku eventually bowed her head. Judging by the little gasps let out by the other two dolls, Yang assumed that the red-clad blonde apologising was something of a rare event. "Originally I had experienced some trouble in understanding the relationship you all share with your missing leader, but now I believe I have gained a manner of understanding. You all are comrades in arms, yes? Friends and partners, surviving through adversity?"
"...Yes," Blake agreed after a moment, looking towards the Schnee heiress for support and receiving a soft smile in response. Yang for her part simply nodded. Her family meant everything to her, for better or for worse. "Surely it must be similar for you all in some way. You're all sisters, aren't you? Clearly, some of you have formed alliances in the past."
"We have, yes, we've also broken alliances if our Masters requested," Souseiseki explained in a dutiful tone. Yang winced uncomfortably at the reminder of exactly how Rozen Maiden interacted with humans and faunus. Contracts. "While there are certain preferential alliances we would enjoy numerous times throughout the ages, there are often times when we are forced to battle for opposing forces."
Blake grimaced, shaking her head. "It sounds like you've all been fighting in the Alice Game for some time."
"Not exactly," Shinku responded. "While numerous Rozen Maiden have been active or inactive throughout the years, the Alice Game itself is only technically active when all dolls are present. Kirakishou, being confined in the N-Field until recently, was without a Master and thus unable to participate for some time. Only in recent times has the Alice Game truly begun. Prior experiences were considered to be skirmishes, nothing more than practice for the main event."
"So it all turned to shit when Kirakishou started messing with things, but it was still pretty terrible before that?" Yang summarised sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
"Yang!" Weiss admonished her with a hiss and a fierce glare, before turning back to the others. "...Sorry. That must have been a difficult time. However, there is some hope in that, once Kirakishou is defeated, we all may have some measure of peace for our respective sides."
She resisted the urge to snort dismissively. As if 'stopping Kirakishou' was going to be so easy. They had already pretty much come to terms that this whole plan of theirs was either going to fail dramatically or succeed and result in monumentally pissing off the Rozen Maiden that had previously erased an entire damn Kingdom.
"Yes, well," Shinku paused, looking directly at Yang for a moment, a questioning look in the doll's vibrant eyes that made her feel distinctly uncomfortable. The moment soon passed and Shinku turned back to the path and continued. "...I would suspect that both our battles, whether they be for the Alice Game or for the betterment of Remnant, shall be an arduous undertaking at the best of times. If we-" the doll paused when she caught Blake's head snapping to glance off to the side, her feline ears twitching wildly. "...Blake?"
"...It's just…" the faunus muttered, distant. It took Weiss tugging on her arm to snap Blake out of her funk. "Sorry. I can hear something. Due east from here. I, Oum, I can swear that I've heard it before, but for the life of me I can't place it."
"We should investigate," Souseiseki immediately suggested, before elaborating when her twin sister frowned at her. "Logically speaking, it's the best step to follow. If we are attempting to seek out Ruby Rose through her connection to others, following a sound familiar to one of her teammates may lead us closer to Ruby herself."
"That's not what I was frowning at you for," Suiseiseki admonished. "This is the N-Field. Everything here is by design, whether it be by conscious decision or unconscious creation. A sound that just so happens to be familiar could easily be a trap, especially with Kirakishou's considerable influence over Ruby Rose."
Yang rolled her eyes. Were they going to just stand here debating something, or were they actually going to come to a decision sometime in the next century? She had no idea how time worked in the N-Field, but she figured that whatever Suigintou was doing to piss off Kirakishou wouldn't last forever. She certainly didn't want her doll to lose right after getting her.
"Look," she spoke up, interrupting the bickering dolls, "at this point, it's the only lead we have. Whether or not it's some trap laid by Kirakishou, it's a risk better work taking. I figure it's better than aimlessly wandering about in some random ass Emerald Forest knockoff, right?"
The dolls glanced at each other, while Weiss and Blake shared a knowing smile. Eventually, Shinku spoke up. "...You do have a point. Going at our current pace is fruitless. Trap or not, it would be best to investigate this sound and be done with it. Be on your guard."
Well, don't have to ask me twice. Readying Ember Celicia, she decided to take the lead and march onwards, Shinku allowing her passageway with a curt nod. Behind her, Yang could hear the telltale sounds of Weiss and Blake readying their own weapons, dust cylinders clicking into place.
Marching through the brush, Yang took turns in glancing back towards Blake and ensuring that the group was on the right track, adjusting as necessary. While she knew it would likely have been for the best to have Blake lead, being the only one as of the moment that could actually hear the mysterious sound, she did not put it past the likes of Kirakishou to have planted some manner of ambush ahead to startle them.
And, simply put, Yang had the most aura out of the three trainee huntresses. She didn't have much idea as to how much of a beating the other Rozen Maiden dolls could take, but she wasn't going to put it to chance. Even if their abilities had supposedly been bolstered by Jun's now-unlocked aura, she wasn't entirely certain how that translated to defensive capabilities.
She may not like the Rozen Maiden dolls, especially not these particular dolls, but Yang wasn't the type of girl to use them as cannon fodder because of some petty personal feelings. Well, unless it was Kirakishou of course, then all bets were off.
"...Wait. I can hear it now…" Weiss spoke up as they continued to march. Glancing idly back at the heiress, Yang could see that her brows were furrowed in concentration. "...It's strange. I know that I've heard it before. And not too long ago, either, but for the life of me I just can't place it."
Yang blinked. Exactly the same wording as Blake, there.
"Likely a defensive measure by Kirakishou," Shinku deduced, shaking her head. "Forceful ambiguity. The closer we get to the personal N-Field of Ruby Rose, the deeper her influence. More than likely, she is preventing you all from remembering a key moment."
"...So, what happens if we get closer?" Yang asked. She was beginning to regret deciding to just blindly march towards to unknown potential trap.
"Unfortunately, as you said, it's a risk we'll have to take," Suiseiseki huffed uncomfortably. "Besides, if the worst is to occur, we can likely dispel any effects cast by Kirakishou on this edge of the N-Field. Don't worry."
Yang shuddered at the idea of having the weird green-clad gardener doll use her abilities on her again but swallowed her discomfort in favour of reassurance. When Laplace-no-ma had supposedly possessed Qrow Branwen, Kirakishou had also used her abilities to overpower and remove Laplace's influence. She figured it was much the same with the other dolls using their own powers. Bunch of flashy lights and nonsense.
Hopefully, it didn't come to that, however.
"Let's press on," Yang shook her head, dismissing both the conversation and her own morbid thoughts. "Blake. How far away do you reckon we are from the sound?"
"...We're in an astral plane where distance is more a suggestion than an actual unit of measurement from my understanding," Blake deadpanned, before sighing at the glare Yang sent her way. "...About fifteen minutes away at this pace, give or take a bit."
She huffed, turning back and brushing some stray shrubbery out of the way. Was that so hard to answer? All this metaphysics nonsense was beginning to get to her.
And then she heard it. The sound. It… reminded her of crackling, of leaves violently rustling in the wind. Her heart clenched. She felt… powerless. Almost as if she was gazing up at a big grimm for the first time, unarmed and without aura. It was akin to the feeling of the forest, magnified tenfold and accompanied by a sound that tickled against her senses something fierce.
"...An odd sound, distinctly uncomfortable," Shinku noted with a soft tone. Suiseiseki and Souseiseki said nothing in response, but Yang could tell the twins had also heard the sound by how they stepped a little closer to each other for mutual support. Blake and Weiss were doing the same, practically leaning on each other while Yang marched ever onwards.
Pushing past a bunch of tall shrubberies with a particularly violent shove, the group of girls found themselves in a small forested clearing devoid of the tall trees and vegetation that had plagued their travel through the emulated N-Field copy of the Emerald Forest. Sitting in the centre of the clearing, however, was a sight that she didn't think she would be seeing anytime soon.
"...Patch. We're in… we're in Patch…" Yang muttered, unable to believe her eyes. The other girls looked at her, Weiss and Blake clearly recognising the tone of voice with some degree of concern growing on their faces, while the dolls merely seemed confused. Considering their origins, she supposed that they had never heard of Patch before. "This is our home. What's it doing here?"
"This is your home? Yours and Ruby's?"
Yang nodded distantly at Blake's question, her throat feeling somewhat tight as a warmth tingled behind her eyes. How long had it been since she was last in Patch? Oum, she could remember leaving Patch for Vale and Beacon Academy like it was yesterday. She… she still hadn't even had time to come to terms with the news that her Dad was-
Focus, Yang.
The two-story log cabin, supposedly constructed by Team STRQ many years ago, looked exactly the same as Yang had last seen it prior to her departure alongside Ruby. The dusty wooden porch overlooking the surrounding area was like a snapshot from her memory, cuts and scrapes on the railing from all the times spent playing about clearly visible to her discerning eyes. The scorch mark on the side from when Ruby first got her hands on some dust crystals was right there, weathered and faded with age and copious failed attempts to cover the mark.
Tai's stupidly cramped shed was there, Bumblebee, her precious bike, propped up against the side of the shed as if it hadn't been long since lost in Vale after the incident. She rushed over to it with a frantic pace, her teammates trailing loosely behind her, all-but-forgotten as she marvelled at the sight of a bike. It had originally belonged to Taiyang, before he'd given it to her on her sixteenth birthday. Oum. She had spent what felt like a month straight ordering parts and building up that damn bike.
"Oh, I've seen this bike before!" Weiss, of all people, spoke up, the heiress's intrigued voice taking her by surprise. "I remember seeing you riding that bike during the Torchwick fiasco. I couldn't believe how fast you arrived in downtown Vale following Blake's call."
She smiled fondly at the memory. "...Yeah, I remember. Didn't know you were that interested, or else I would have offered you a ride."
"And, at the time, I would have likely declined the offer," Weiss shook her head, then smiled. "But, I would have regretted declining. When I was younger, I always wanted to own a bike. They seemed so… freeing, in a way."
"Damn. Weiss Schnee the biker. Now that's an image I'd like to see," she teased as Weiss blushed and stammered prettily, chuckling lightly at the scene as the rest of the group met up with her around the shed. "...Hey, you all, sorry if I've been a bit of a downer recently. This whole N-Field stuff just gets to me, you know what I mean?"
"Of course, we completely understand," Shinku spoke up for the rest of them, shooting Suiseiseki a look before the doll could so much as utter a word. "And, we also can clearly see that this home is important to both you and Ruby Rose. To put things simply, it means we're on the right track. You were right in suggesting that we investigate this area."
"Yeah, right, thanks…" Yang trailed off, stroking the seat of Bumblebee nostalgically before she tore her gaze away from the bike and refocused on the task at hand. Yang could agree with Shinku that this home was most certainly connected with Rubes. It was their damn family home for Oum's sake. But what in the world was is doing in some recreated piece of the Emerald Forest? Was there some form of symbolism here that she was missing?
And what about the weird sound? Why was this place connected to the Emerald Forest and Miniature Garden from before? How did all of the pieces fit together in this bizarre quest?
"...That sound…" she muttered, humming as she caught on to a particular snag. "We originally came here to investigate the sound, right? We, ah, we should probably investigate that instead of getting sidetracked by… home…"
Was this Kirakishou's trap? A trip down memory lane? It seemed relatively simplistic if that was the case. No. A deeper part of her felt that the recreated home and the strange sound were both pieces of the same puzzle that she needed to solve in order to find Ruby. They were like breadcrumbs that would lead her to her baby sister. Really strange, convoluted, breadcrumbs.
Blake's ears twitched, the faunus inclining her head in the direction of the main cabin. "...The sound is muffled. So, it's probably inside."
"Right, of course, it would be," Yang nodded. Though, she was privately very confused as to how Blake could hear an indoor sound across a forest from miles away. When she'd heard the sound, it certainly hadn't sounded like it was indoors. And none of the dolls or Weiss had commented that it sounded muffled, until now. "Let's head in. I'll go first. Keep your guard up."
Yang and the group headed towards the front door, hesitating as her hands grasped the door handle. Shinku moved to clutch her shoulder briefly, the doll giving her a supportive nod. Resisting the urge to pull away, she nodded and steeled her thoughts, pushing the door open.
A forest, a very familiar forest, greeted her immediately.
"...Summer Rose…"
"What?" Weiss questioned as the group stepped through the door, looking around at the forest with some degree of trepidation. The dolls, all three of them, shuddered in unison at some likely-imperceptible feeling. Yang, however, the reason for her surprise was far, far too close to home.
"This is the forest leading up to Summer's memorial stone…" Yang muttered disbelievingly, to the surprise of the rest of her team. "What in the world is this forest doing inside our family home? I get this is the N-Field and things are weird here, but this just seems a little too odd."
"...And I take it that this 'Summer Rose' is related to Ruby Rose, yes?" Shinku questioned the girls, sharing a brief glance with Souseiseki that had the elder gardener doll frowning.
"She's Ruby's biological mother," Yang explained. "Well, she's essentially the mother to the both of us, but only Rubes is directly related to her. When Rubes was only young, Summer went missing and was declared dead. It… tore Rubes up quite a bit for a very long time. She was pretty much over it by the time Beacon started up. But, uh, then Kirakishou came along."
A brief moment of silence was met by the group, as they each processed Yang's words in their on ways. Some, likely Weiss and Blake, seemed more concerned about the mention of Summer Rose, while the dolls…
"Then, I daresay that we have found our N-Field."
The group of huntresses blinked at the random statement, mutually confused by what Shinku had just said. The gardener dolls appeared to be in agreement with Shinku, Suiseiseki, in particular, looking almost distressed at the very notion.
"This area feels drastically different to the previous N-Fields we have experienced in our journey," Suiseiseki spoke in an annoyed tone, crossing her arms almost defensively as she glared about the place. "It almost feels like the N-Field of a Rozen Maiden instead of a human. It shouldn't be possible, but with the youngest controlling the N-Field with so many aura-bound captives supporting her, who knows what's within her capabilities at the moment."
...Well, that was definitely a terrifying concept to imagine. "How so?" Yang dared to ask.
"Each Rozen Maiden has an N-Field that is a reflection of their own thoughts and desires," Souseiseki explained in lieu of her twin sister. "While the fields of humans share a degree of similarity to those of a Rozen Maiden, they are fleeting things, prone to change. Meanwhile, this N-Field is solid, well-supported, and nurtured over a great period of time. It is also, as you say, a reflection of a deep desire of Ruby Rose."
That didn't make the slightest lick of sense to Yang and by the looks of it neither did the explanation mean anything to Weiss and Blake, but sure. Whatever. It was just more weirdness in a long list of bizarre moments involving her sister and Kirakishou. What was yet another to add to the list?
"Whatever," Yang eventually decided, both mentally and physically shaking herself free of the confusing mess of metaphysics and absurdity that was seemingly the Rozen Maiden's bread and butter. "Summer's memorial stone is through this path. If this is all still a trap, then the best bet is that it would be located there. Or, Oum-willing, that's where Rubes would be."
The dolls nodded, Suiseiseki shooting her a rather sour frown at her dismissal, not that Yang particularly cared. She glanced over at Weiss and Blake, to see her two teammates looking particularly uncomfortable. Heck, she couldn't really blame them, she wasn't looking forward to whatever awaited them at Summer's memorial stone. Whether it be Ruby, Kirakishou, or even the Summer Rose doll, there was a good chance that any of the three possibilities would cause a hassle.
She hoped it was Ruby that was waiting for them. And she hoped her baby sister was unarmed.
Pressing forwards through the trail towards Summer's memorial stone, Yang could hear the odd fluttering sound growing louder in intensity, which she figured was a pretty good indicator that they were on the right track. A small part of her felt reluctantly impressed at the level of detail featured around her. Everything looked exactly how she could picture that in her mind.
"...It's very strange," Souseiseki spoke as they meandered through the woods, "I had expected to see a place so deeply connected to Kirakishou's Master to be showing signs of her influence, but there is nothing visible."
"Yes, I was thinking the same thing," Shinku agreed, "the stability of the field is the only sign of her influence thus far."
The conversation petered out (to Yang's internal relief) as the background noise intensified until Yang came to a point in the trail that she recognised. This was it. They were finally here. Just through this-
"Ruby!" Yang yelled out, racing forwards. Flanked either side of her were Weiss and Yang, while the other dolls simply couldn't keep up with their frantic pace.
The group rapidly approached a mountainous edge overlooking the cliff-side forest surrounding Patch, Summer Rose's memorial stone in clear view of their eyes. It seemed considerably worse for wear than the last time Yang had come to visit the stone, covered in deep scratches and overtaken by a litany of white vines Yang was coming to view as synonymous with Kirakishou's influence.
Collapsed on the ground beside Summer's memorial stone, however, was the slumbering form of one Ruby Rose. Her head lay rested against the stone itself, with Ruby curled up on her side in the fetal position and clutching the stone tightly. Vines, white as bone, had wrapped around her baby sister, ensnaring her almost like prey caught within a spider's web.
Something was different, however. Situated on either side of Ruby's prone form, poised slightly ahead of her slumbering sister, Yang could spot twin braziers crafted from an all-too-familiar teal crystalline material. They appeared to be unlit as of the moment, but Yang didn't need to be an expert in Rozen Maiden shenanigans to know that Kirakishou's crystals appearing beside Ruby in conjunction with her vines was a recipe for disaster.
As Yang approached, vision blurry as tears spilled down her cheeks, a sudden grip on her shoulder ceased her momentum as a sharp whistling sound tore through the air. Yang barely had a moment to realise what was happening as a glyph appeared below her feet and sent her barrelling backward towards the rest of the group, narrowly avoiding a blade that had been mere millimetres away from slicing her down the centre.
She was right. It had been a trap after all.
"Halt, I am the Knight of the White Rose, and I shall not permit thee entry into this sacred place. Leave now, or die. I shall give no further warning."
A figure stood before her. No. Not a figure. An entity. One with a familiar face.
Ruby's face.
...It… it looked just like her. Like Ruby. The face that stared at them. A voice that should have sounded relieved… the tone, however, was completely wrong. Twisted. Polished to such an absolute state of perfection to where all the humanity had seemingly been drained away.
Gone was Ruby's iconic long-sleeved red-lined black blouse and matching combat skirt, replaced from head to toe with a gleaming silver plate mail that shined a vibrant opalescent sheen. The sole surviving piece of apparel even vaguely reminiscent of the original Ruby was her signature red hooded cloak, attached to silver pauldrons. Her hood itself was raised, shrouding a face seemingly devoid of expression save for a single-eyed half-lidded stare. In a particularly horrifying resemblance to her contracted Rozen Maiden, a large white rose appeared to be growing out of her right eye socket, three thorned vines growing from the rose itself.
Its posture, unlike her energetic baby sister, could be more aptly compared to that of a marble statue than that of an actual person. The Knight remained still and unmoving as its colossal greatsword was held outstretched with a single hand, with no sign of difficulty holding the weapon showing on the Knight's chiselled face. It seemed to be waiting for their answer, unwilling to move the sword from its position that had only narrowly avoided cleaving Yang in two.
"What in the world is that?" Yang breathed.