Kirakishou returned from her abrupt meeting in the N-Field with Laplace-no-ma to the material world with little fanfare. Currently, Kirakishou found her artificial body clutched desperately by a slumbering Ruby Rose, her Master wearing her favourite set of pyjamas and making cute little snores on occasion as she rested her head atop Kirakishou's chest. Kirakishou herself had been dressed in her own sleepwear by Ruby Rose, the young girl having blushed scarlet during the changing as Ruby satisfied her desire to play with her doll.
Following their departure from Kuchinashi, Roman Torchwick had been quick to identify a quaint little abandoned home a little ways off the beaten path, which had made for a wonderful campsite for the night. A small touch of Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings, to the widened eyes of Roman Torchwick and Neo Politan, had turned the decaying home into a place truly fit to house her darling Master and their chosen travelling companions.
Summer Rose had opted for a room closest to the master bedroom where Ruby and Kirakishou slept, while Roman Torchwick and Neo Politan had opted to explore the home for a little while longer, before retiring to a far-off corner of the house.
When her darling Ruby had fallen into a slumber and been embraced into her own N-Field, Laplace-no-ma had seen fit to steal Kirakishou away and pull the doll into a different N-Field entirely, one situated outside of both Ruby's and her own Palace of Beginnings. It had not been a strange venture outside the norm for Kirakishou to visit the N-Field as her Master slumbered, but the interruption by Laplace-no-ma of all things had not been appreciated in the slightest.
Following the materialisation of her Palace of Beginnings, Kirakishou had taken many journeys to and from the materialised Palace of Beginnings and the N-Field that remained among others, leaving her physical body to lay alongside Ruby Rose. Her beloved Master had been helping her a great deal ever since their initial contract, remaining happily unaware as she slumbered and allowed a pure rose to quietly tend to her garden across the world, so that Kirakishou may return to Ruby's presence and spend the majority of her time happily enjoying life with her beloved Master.
As a result of her careful nurturing, the N-Fields of both Ruby Rose and Kirakishou herself had grown ever plentiful following their contract. While Kirakishou was so very grateful to see her own garden strengthen and grow, the majority of the growth had been centred around the N-Field of Ruby Rose herself, brought forth into being by Kirakishou's own doing, alongside a hefty amount of energy donated by her little seedbed.
In truth, Ruby Rose had done most of the hard work all on her own, thanks in full to her all-consuming yearning for the return of Summer Rose. Kirakishou had needed little more than a single night following her eventful introduction to Ruby Rose in order to truly gauge the depths to which Ruby Rose missed her Mother. This iron-clad, ever-present core fundamental thought had shaped everything to do with Ruby Rose, which had thus served as the groundwork for her own N-Field.
Solemn Grove.
Kirakishou felt like it was some of her best work. To give hope to her beloved Master had earned Kirakishou her heart. While she was distinctly aware that her relationship with her Master was built on more than just a singular action, it had been the revival of Summer Rose through the use of Kirakishou's powers that had opened up the possibility to Ruby Rose. From there, Kirakishou had offered her a kiss to bind in contract and Ruby Rose had eagerly accepted. To this day, Kirakishou could scarcely believe everything that had happened in regards to Ruby Rose. She was a polarising figure, who held a great deal of sway over the world through her sheer presence alone. Binding herself to Ruby Rose had been a justified decision, Kirakishou believed.
When Kirakishou had first begun her attempts to create a Rozen Maiden body for Summer Rose, she had first tried to simply force the issue through the use of her own powers, only to find the result distinctly lacking in ways that she couldn't rightly discern. She could create an exact duplicate of Summer Rose's body, albeit hosted as a Rozen Maiden, yet there would always be something missing from the finished product.
Delving deep into her Master's memories regarding Summer Rose had, thankfully, yielded the answer. Rozen Maiden are beautiful little people, forever frozen in time. However, this belief was one created on Kirakishou's end. She herself was a pure rose, a beautiful doll, and it was a part of her very nature. Her 'soul', so to speak. Meanwhile, this concept was uniquely outside that of Summer Rose, or more specifically Ruby Rose's conceptualisation of Summer Rose. Introducing such a state into this new body had intrinsically hampered her creation of Summer Rose.
However, such a step was a necessity in order to revive Summer Rose. She had to use a Rozen Maiden body, for Kirakishou to have any chance of successfully reviving her. She did not have access to Summer Rose's true body, and if she did she would never attempt to revive it. Such a thing was, thankfully, outside the scope of her powers. However, creating dolls had been something that Father had been able to accomplish, and through the use of her rosa mystica and a vast donation from her seedbed, the ability could be replicated on her end. However, the problem with creation still persisted. And, in order to see her would-be Master smile, Kirakishou had needed to create a fully-realised Summer Rose. Nothing else could compete.
Eventually, Kirakishou discovered the answer. Memories. They had been right there for the taking, brandished tightly and flowing like a river of knowledge. It had been these memories that had kept Ruby Rose connected to Summer Rose for so very long. They had been held to such an extreme as to influence Ruby Rose's own development, her own choices in life from her career as a huntress to her very own sense of self. They meant everything to Ruby Rose, for they were, in essence, as much a part of Summer Rose as everything else.
However, they were incomplete. Fragmented. Try as she might, Ruby Rose could not remember what she had not truly experienced. So, instead, her darling little Master had done the next best thing; she had researched every little piece of information regarding Summer Rose that she could get her hands on.
News clippings, academic records, journal articles, stories from her Father, stories from her Uncle, stories from her sister, from her teachers, from friends of the family. Anything and everything revolving around Summer Rose had been desperately sought out and compiled within Ruby Rose's mind.
However, try as she might, Ruby Rose could not reach out to everyone. There were those that were simply outside of her web of connections. Stories that were never told, greedily held by others who refused to share their experiences each and every time Ruby attempted to request the information. However, through the use of Kirakishou's own powers, she could finally gain access to these memories and their compilation of Summer Rose's memories could grow.
Truly, Kirakishou found herself uniquely suited to undertake the task of healing her poor soon-to-be Master's heart.
Following her initial venture into the world of Remnant, Kirakishou had found herself overwhelmed by the degree of information presented to her. Even as she sat, confined within that shipping container, thrust into the material world with only her N-Field for guidance, the scope of her abilities had truly overwhelmed her at first. Upon arriving in Vale and connecting with the vast network of individuals, she had barely been able to move her little physical body, let alone converse with others.
How could she speak, when she had been held away for so long? What could she say? What would they understand?
And, then, she had appeared. Ruby Rose. Her beloved had taken a single look at Kirakishou and immediately come running to offer assistance. Kirakishou had possessed the naivete of a little budding rose, trying to bloom in unfamiliar terrain, and Ruby had taken no pause in gently guiding her towards a new world, ripe with possibilities.
Connecting with Ruby Rose, touching her beloved's heart, Kirakishou had learned of the pain that Ruby held deep within her past. And, following that, Kirakishou had found a direction with which to focus her powers. No longer did she find herself overwhelmed by the sheer scope and size of her abilities, now that she was focused upon ensuring her beloved Master was able to smile again.
She had spread out her N-Field, connected to as many as she could, in search of any memories pertaining to Summer Rose. A great deal had been neigh-inaccessible at the time, as the minds of many were simply beyond her budding strength, yet there had still been a veritable repository of knowledge that her beloved simply did not carry within her current understanding of Summer Rose. However, until Kirakishou could grow her strength, many memories would remain locked to both Ruby Rose and Kirakishou herself. And, simply put, that could not do.
When Kirakishou had grown strong enough and compiled as many memories as she could, she had gone through and added the memories to her creation, to her would-be Rozen Maiden. Thus, Summer Rose returned to the world, armed with sufficient knowledge to be her own person. She had ventured out, of her own volition, and reunited with her daughter. And Ruby Rose quickly followed the trail right back to Kirakishou, where she had truly become Kirakishou's treasured Master.
Connected with a kiss~
It had come as a surprise to be bonded with a Master that was so very… physically affectionate. During her time spent in the N-Field, she had never witnessed any of her other sisters pursuing a physical relationship with any of their Masters, so the idea was completely outside of her understanding. She had witnessed the act, of course, as her darling N-Field cared little for the concept of privacy, yet the nature behind the acts was completely lost on her. At the time, she had known that a kiss was a sign of intimacy and thus used a kiss as a medium to convey her Rozen Maiden contract, but the other various acts of physical intimacy were lost upon her.
...Thankfully, Ruby Rose was an incredible teacher.
Furthermore, the act of intimacy brought her ever closer to her beloved Master, improving their bond by leaps and bounds to a degree that was somewhat startling for the youngest of the Rozen Maiden. It was new and unexplored territory, to be yearned for and desired. Yet, the feelings it manifested within her, whenever she witnessed Ruby's smile… it was truly a thing to behold.
Over time, Kirakishou had worked to improve upon Ruby's life, deepening their relationship and cementing their bond as their respective N-Fields flourished in unison. Naturally, those seeking to bind Ruby to their own designs attempted to resist, with Yang Xiao-Long, in particular, proving a somewhat dangerous adversary. Her connection to Ruby Rose was vast, controlling a momentous amount of Ruby's life, limiting Kirakishou's influence to a considerable margin.
Then, Laplace-no-ma had arrived and destabilised her little web of connections all the more, manipulating events behind the scenes to bring an outside agent into the mix, which had ultimately been used to destroy her Summer Rose creation. The resultant strife had actively stolen the attentions of Yang Xiao-Long, while pushing Ruby Rose deeper into her influence. Even for a pure rose like herself, the paradoxical nature of Laplace-no-ma's actions- destroying her little doll while pushing her beloved Master ever closer, while actively working to sever their connection no less, confused her greatly. Laplace-no-ma had worked to force Kirakishou out of Remnant, all the while its actions had inevitably deepened her connection to Ruby Rose and distracted her current adversary.
Unfortunately, it hadn't taken long for Yang Xiao-Long to turn her attentions back onto Kirakishou despite her best attempts to establish a relative truce, and their grand battle for Ruby's attentions had been reignited once again. However, the destruction of the Summer Rose doll Kirakishou created had unfortunately created a piece of leverage for Yang to use against her, fruitlessly attempting to use Summer's limited memories as justification for her lesser status.
Thus, Kirakishou began to search for even more memories of Summer Rose in order to fill in the current missing pieces of her life. And, with the Vytal Festival actively occurring, there were a great many fresh memories to sort through. Summer Rose was, as she understood, something of a legendary figure in the world of Remnant, proclaimed as a once-in-a-generation prodigy for both her skills as a huntress and her semblance being the deciding factor in a great many influential battles throughout history. Searching for memories of Summer Rose proved not to be a difficult endeavour in the end. Instead, sorting through the massive influx of information proved to be little more than an undertaking that required an immense amount of time to complete. Thankfully, the situation in Beacon Academy had afforded Kirakishou a great deal of time that she could spend at her leisure, and a majority of it was spent cataloguing all that she had learned regarding Summer Rose.
Unfortunately, a problem soon made itself apparent.
Even while Kirakishou was more than happy to process all of the memories that she could get her hands on, the Vytal Festival was a fleeting event, and with the festival's end would see to it a mass exit of all of the tourists carrying the memories of Summer Rose. Simply put, she could not allow such a potential resource to disappear when her beloved's smile was on the line. Summer Rose meant the world to Ruby Rose, and thus Kirakishou's venture to reconstruct Summer Rose would take priority over the various experiences of those present in Vale.
Besides, her darling N-Field had become rather restless at the time of the Vytal Festival Tournament. As Shinku onee-sama had calmly explained to Sakurada Jun, once upon a time, imposing oneself upon another world carried certain flaws intrinsic to its design. And, while her N-Field was vast, it had been unable to fully grasp the material concept of 'aura'. In order for her N-Field to truly flourish, she would need to make it a core piece of the world of Remnant. Doing so would ensure that any potential hassles with her continued stay in Remnant were erased, allowing Kirakishou to continue spending time with her Master.
Happening upon Cinder Fall's little plan was quite fortuitous at the time, as it allowed Kirakishou to simply manoeuvre around the plans of another instead of constructing a plan on her own. Influencing a great many people to act in her stead was indeed quite possible, but it would have detracted from her time spent working on Summer Rose and, by extension, working to ensure Ruby Rose was happy.
Another unexpected accomplice of hers had gone by the name of 'Mercury Black'. From her rudimentary understanding of the happenings of Vale, Mercury Black had been one of Cinder's accomplices, working to bring down Beacon Academy for some nefarious reason. The boy had possessed the gall to attack her beloved Ruby Rose during a sparring session, which had prompted Kirakishou to retaliate. Following her actions, Kirakishou had been able to discover some more information regarding Summer Rose. Apparently, Ruby's biological Mother had been something of a legendary figure at the time.
When Cinder had detonated her little explosive device in Kirakishou's dorm room, Mercury's services were rendered obsolete. The boy was quickly taken by her Palace of Beginnings, having been among the first of those in Vale to witness her Palace of Beginnings growing itself into the world. It had been truly beautiful.
...Everything following her arrival in Remnant and subsequent meeting with Ruby Rose had been a beautiful experience. Each moment spent in the presence of her Master touched her in ways she could scarcely understand. She felt… happy.
It was a strange feeling, indeed, to be happy. She could feel it deep within her rosa mystica. A sort of gravity flooded through her artificial body and pulled her ever closer to the attentions of her Master. After having spent so long in the N-Field, working to create her Palace of Beginnings after Father had seen fit to leave her alone, to be walking and talking in the physical world alongside someone like Ruby Rose was beyond mystifying.
To feel her Master's warmth, the softness of her skin a constant reminder of their union as her beloved slumbered against her own delicate ball-jointed body, it was so vastly different from everything she had experienced inside the N-Field. The N-Field itself was shaped by the collective unconsciousness of those present inside, humans who lived their lives taking such concepts and experiences with little regard. For a pure rose with no major understanding of 'warm' or 'cold', how was she to understand what they meant when she experienced them for the first time?
She snuggled against her slumbering Master, stroking her Master's cheek with her jointed fingers and drawing a keening sound out of Ruby's lips. Ruby Rose clutched her ever tighter, unconsciously seeking out the one who was bound so deeply to her heart. A lover's embrace, Ruby had called it when she had asked one day as they travelled, amidst a sizeable blush. Summer Rose had been somewhat amused to overhear their discussion, chuckling underneath her breath and drawing further mortification from her poor little Master.
The sight of a tiny smile on Ruby's face amidst the reflexive cry of "Mom!" had summoned forth the warmth in Kirakishou once again, the same warmth she had learned to associate with happy feelings. She did not yet fully understand the way that Ruby Rose interacted with her Mother, but she could easily interpret that it made Ruby happy, and that was all that truly mattered in the end.
Oddly enough, Kirakishou had never anticipated bonding with a Master to be anything like the bond she now shared with Ruby Rose. The world of Remnant was far beyond either the wound or unwound world from which she had first attempted to breach. Beasts of dark roamed this world, driving conflict to be a constant thought within the minds of others, detracting from their own inner worth. She didn't like their presence in the slightest and actively worked to ensure her little seedlings dreamed their idyllic dreams devoid of the creatures. The silver fire generated by Ruby Rose had been an unexpected bonus in this, the bond with her Master openly nurturing her garden and ensuring the two flourished together. As it would appear, even the presence of a small grain of Ruby's power within Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings was enough to cause the beasts to give her dominion a wide berth. A fascinating discovery, really.
Researching the history behind the Silver-Eyed Warriors had been an intriguing study thus far, as knowledge in regards to their presence across time was few and far between in the minds of those she captured. All sources pointed toward Summer Rose as having been one of these legendary warriors, however despite her best attempts, she had been unable to replicate the power of Silver Eyes within Summer Rose. And Kirakishou had known about the Silver-Eyed Warriors for quite some time, now.
Truly, it had been her constant search for memories of Summer Rose that had inadvertently revealed to her the first piece of information regarding the Silver-Eyed Warriors. In following alongside her network of connections, Ruby Rose herself had been able to push Headmasters Ozpin and Ironwood into believing her to have the same powers, passed down by her Mother. From there, more information had been given out. Ruby's N-Field had taken its first leap!
Kirakishou had followed alongside her Master's initial venture, connecting with General James Ironwood and making the man believe Ruby Rose to be an ideal candidate for his plans. At the time, Kirakishou hadn't the faintest idea as to what Ironwood's whole 'plan' actually referred to in his mind, only able to glean that it had something to do with her Silver Eyes.
Instead, once more, a new topic had been revealed to Kirakishou through her Master's inquiry. The Four Maidens.
Fascinating little powers, they were. Truly unlike anything she had ever experienced. For all the little semblances that Judica and Maudlin boasted about, and for all the aura Kirakishou herself had collected through her Palace of Beginnings, they all paled in comparison to the power of the Maidens.
Magic, Ironwood had called it in his dreams. Less of a solid construct like a semblance, instead acting as fluid energy that could be controlled and manipulated by the user; typically in a thematic sense tied to the seasonal Maiden power present inside the Maiden herself. According to the many seedlings she had searched, it was something of a rare concept in the world of Remnant. Exceedingly rare. Most believed it to be a mere myth, a fairytale. Instead, her Master had gone and achieved something spoken about in legend. Something beyond myth, beyond fairytale, beyond any and all else.
Her Master was so special!~
Silver Eyes and Maiden powers. Two pieces of information lost to time. Powers that, when united inside Ruby Rose's burgeoning N-Field and supplanted with a sizeable portion of harvested aura from Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings, had given rise to the Knight of the White Rose.
The Knight of the White Rose was a curious development in regards to the progression of Ruby Rose. A magically-inclined unconscious projective progression of Ruby Rose, of her aspirations and development across time, charged with a solemn duty of protecting Ruby Rose's Solemn Grove.
Considering the fact that the two figures possessed the same goal of ensuring the protection and future growth of Ruby Rose, both Kirakishou and the Knight of the White Rose had entered into a joint partnership of sorts- working in tandem to ensure Ruby Rose continued to bloom. Kirakishou would supplant the Knight of the White Rose with aura and information gathered from her little seedlings, while the Knight of the White Rose would staunchly defend Ruby Rose's Solemn Grove from outside interference. In admiration for their deep bond, the Knight of the White Rose had permitted Kirakishou unparalleled access to Ruby Rose's Solemn Grove.
...As if she didn't have complete access to Ruby Rose's N-Field in the first place.
In truth, the boon given by the Knight of the White Rose had simply ensured that Kirakishou did not have to waste any energy in defeating the Knight time and time again whenever she needed to tend to Ruby's Solemn Grove and maintain her connection to Summer Rose.
While Ruby had become somewhat self-sufficient in handling the connection with her Mother, Kirakishou remained the ever-dutiful gardener just in case Laplace or any of the other Rozen Maiden decided to try one of their antics against her precious Master. With the Knight of the White Rose on her side, Kirakishou believed she would have no trouble in repelling any hostile invaders were such an event to ever somehow occur.
Now that Ruby Rose had accepted the companionship of Roman Torchwick and Neo Politan into their little group, Kirakishou remained content in her belief that Ruby Rose would be well-protected and aptly trained for any future dalliances. Now that the Alice Game was beginning to turn its wheels and begin again in the world of Remnant, Kirakishou felt it in her best interests to prepare her darling Master, who she could easily identify would be quite comfortable in joining her during any prospective bouts against her older sisters.
Neo Politan, in particular, would be a good test for Ruby Rose in the future. As it currently stood, her darling Master felt uncomfortable at the interest that 'Neo' openly and blatantly displayed towards Kirakishou, to a far higher degree than that she had previously displayed with Pyrrha Nikos.
Kirakishou had been quite surprised to hear her beloved Master's relative disinterest regarding the story of Pyrrha Nikos and her surprising arrival inside Kirakishou's N-Field, following her wayward message from Spider. The Invincible Girl had gone on quite the journey following the loss of her Team Leader, and Kirakishou had thought she would make for an interesting story to explore in the N-Field. Instead, her Master had preferred to simply depart from Kuchinashi as quickly as possible.
Moh!~ And Pyrrha Nikos had possessed such a wonderful home in her past. She had wanted to kiss Ruby Rose in the room when they explored her memories, as a final little bit of fun during their stay in Kuchinashi. Perhaps she would bring up the idea another time?
Once they were all done with capturing Raven Branwen, perhaps Ruby could use the training rooms featured in the memories of Pyrrha Nikos in order to hone her abilities as a Silver-Eyed Maiden? Then, Kirakishou could help her relax in the other parts of Pyrrha's childhood home? Mmm~ She really liked that idea! And, she hoped her Master would, as well!
She preened slightly at the thought, kissing the top of Ruby's head as her Master continued slumbering, drawing a fluttering giggle from her unconscious paramour. After dealing with Laplace-no-ma for so long, Kirakishou really didn't want to go back to maintaining her N-Field at the moment, even if she knew she probably should while her Master slept. Considering that they now travelled with a larger group, Kirakishou could assume that any moments of peaceful solace would be few and far between.
...Though, at the moment, all she really wanted to do was snuggle with her sleepy Master and continue thinking up cutesy little ideas for their future.
It was a happy feeling. She really liked the happy feelings she had, when they involved her Master.
Personally, Kirakishou would ensure that her Master's recent alliance with Roman Torchwick and Neo Politan resulted in more of these happy feelings for both Ruby Rose and Kirakishou. Her Master had been justifiably cautious about allowing the two extraneous variables into their little group, as she shared some degree of history with them during her time in Beacon Academy. However, Kirakishou considered such former connections to be a bonus. Were the need to arise, Kirakishou could easily use such former connections to instruct Ruby Rose into creating her own seedbed, with Roman Torchwick and Neo Politan becoming some of the first seedlings in a soon-to-be flourishing garden.
The need would likely arise anyway, if Raven Branwen proved uncooperative. Summer Rose shared a deeper connection with Ruby Rose than Kirakishou at this point. However, that did not remove the fact that Summer Rose required an immense amount of energy to continue functioning, just like any Rozen Maiden. Perhaps, even more, considering her lack of rosa mystica. The capture of others would also allow for more memories to be gathered at a quicker pace. If Ruby wanted to capture as many memories as possible, doing so using her own N-Field instead of Kirakishou's would most certainly speed up the process. Ruby knew more about Summer Rose than Kirakishou did, after all. She would know what to look for amongst Raven's memories. Of course, such an action would only occur if Raven proved uncooperative.
But, depending on how Raven Branwen acted around Ruby Rose when the two inevitably met, Kirakishou could just as easily force the issue if the need arose.
In that instance, Kirakishou was quite thankful that her Master had been comfortable with diplomacy when dealing with the Spider organisation led by Lil' Miss Malachite. Gathering the necessary information to locate Raven Branwen from the dreams of Lil' Miss Malachite would have likely taken up an unnecessary amount of time, and she doubted her Master would have enjoyed the delay during their extended stay in Kuchinashi.
Instead, all that Kirakishou had needed to do was trade Melanie and Militia Malachite for the necessary information. A regretful pruning from her garden, yet Kirakishou remained confident that the action would allow for further growth of her N-Field in time. She had already subsumed a fair portion of the continent at this point, little by little, so the loss of two little seedlings was statistically insignificant.
Yet, as a pure rose, the lack of even a single seedling was a great loss for her indeed. Truly, to force the two twins back out into the world when they could instead have remained inside the N-Field and continued to dream their idyllic dreams was quite the travesty to imagine. However, it had been a necessary sacrifice in order to learn of Raven Branwen's current location and thus potentially gather more information regarding the Silver-Eyed Maiden power that Ruby had recently developed.
It was certainly quite the strange ability, the Silver-Eyed Maiden power. A direct result of combining the Silver Eyes and the Fall Maiden power that had both been made manifest inside Ruby Rose. As far as she understood, Ruby Rose had already possessed the Silver Eyes as inherited from her Mother despite any uncertainties some may believe, while the Fall Maiden powers had been transferred into Ruby Rose as a direct result of Kirakishou's influence throughout Beacon Academy and her own budding N-Field.
From the brief snippets of information that Kirakishou had gathered amidst her quest for information regarding Summer Rose, the headmaster of Beacon Academy, Ozpin, had expressed his concern for Ruby Rose gaining the powers of a Fall Maiden. General Ironwood, pushed by her vines, had naturally ignored the man and proceeded forward in order to make her darling Master ever stronger. However, when Ruby Rose had successfully gained access to the Fall Maiden powers and promptly awakened her Silver-Eyed Maiden power during the materialisation of her Palace of Beginnings, Ozpin had managed to somehow avoid gaining a spot inside her Palace of Beginnings. Thus, the chance to learn more about the man's thoughts regarding Ruby Rose and her powers had been irrefutably refused to her. Somehow.
...It had been quite confusing. Ozpin had been inside her Palace of Beginnings at the time of his demise, with Kirakishou right there to capture him, yet Kirakishou hadn't been able to gather his soul no matter how hard she had tried. It had just slipped out of her vines and flown away. It didn't make any sense to her. Perhaps it was a semblance thing? An ability to avoid dreaming happy dreams seemed like the worst ability in the world to her, really. She felt bad for poor little Ozpin, if such was the case.
Well, to a degree. To be quite honest, the man had been suspicious of her from the first moment of her arrival in Vale. Confining her to the Beacon Academy dormitories, for instance, had ruined any chances of going on a 'date' or 'shopping trip' with Ruby Rose for quite some time. Were it not for Cinder's little grudge against her resulting in the destruction of her dorm room and subsequent materialisation of her Palace of Beginnings, she would have been hard-pressed to leave the dorm room for an extended period of time.
...But, at least Kirakishou had been able to attend the dance with Ruby Rose…
She smiled fondly at the memory.
Clad in her crystalline dress made from the first ever crystals to materialise in the world of Remnant, Kirakishou had danced alongside Ruby Rose. In a room positively thriving with her immaterial vines, her darling Master had been so very enchanting, clad in her own beautiful dress and adorably pushing to show their contract ring to the world. The feel of her hands, the delicate touch of a darling rose, had been everything that Kirakishou had ever wanted.
She truly, deeply, loved this girl. Her beautiful smile, her dorky giggles, her deep yearning for passion, their shared similar pasts, their ever-flowing bond. It all meant the world to Kirakishou. Their connection, unified by both their Rozen Maiden contract and their blossoming N-Fields, was more than Kirakishou had ever wanted as a Rozen Maiden. Was this what it meant to be Alice?
Even now, she could sense…-
...sense…
Ruby Rose was calling her? She could feel it, deep within her N-Field, within the very vines in her physical body, that Ruby Rose was attempting to call for Kirakishou inside her Solemn Grove. But, that didn't make any sense. Ruby could scarcely retain consciousness within her Solemn Grove, as she was nurtured by both her connection to Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings and to Summer Rose. Her precious Master needed her rest as she grew accustomed to an ever-growing N-Field. There would, of course, come a time when Ruby Rose acclimated to the state, but Kirakishou knew that such a time was a far distance away.
Ruby was still getting used to traversing the N-Field that Kirakishou had personally manifested in the real world, let alone her own mental N-Field. Summoning Kirakishou should not have been possible.
...Unless it was the Knight of the White Rose that was summoning her. Such a thing was, indeed, quite possible. She did not often interact with the Knight of the White Rose, content to allow the manifestation a degree of peace, and the Knight of the White Rose responded in kind. They both cared deeply for Ruby Rose, after all. However, when bolstered by Ruby Rose's connection to Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings, the Knight of the White Rose was indeed capable of using that connection to call upon Kirakishou should the need arise.
But… why? The Knight had never called upon her before. Did it want to converse, as Laplace-no-ma had?
No. It wouldn't. This didn't feel like the Knight of the White Rose calling her to converse. It felt…
...felt…
It felt like a cry for help.
"...Master?" Kirakishou murmured in confusion, shaking Ruby ever so softly in order to awaken her. When Ruby didn't respond in the slightest, remaining motionless and silent as she lay atop the doll's body, worry turned to panic in an instant. "Master!"
The door to their bedroom was thrown open and Summer Rose was beside her in an instant.
"What's going on?"
"It's Ruby," Kirakishou reluctantly pried herself off from the unconscious Ruby Rose, moving off the bed and standing beside Summer Rose as she explained the situation. "I can't wake her. I could feel her calling in the N-Field, but… that shouldn't be possible. Something's wrong!"
"Okay, okay," Summer grabbed her shoulders, Kirakishou flinching at the touch. "Focus, please. You said she's trying to call for you through the N-Field. You know more about the N-Field than anyone. What should we do?"
Kirakishou scrunched up her brow, puffing her cheeks in thought. The obvious answer was to venture into Ruby's Solemn Grove in order to investigate the situation, but she had no idea what she would find if she did. Her pull over Ruby Rose should have been more than sufficient to wake her, N-Field communication or not.
"We… we need to…"
She trailed off, her lone eye widening as it was drawn to focus on a specific spot.
"...Is that what I think it is?" Summer dared to ask.
"H-Her contract ring…" Kirakishou couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Something is interfering with her contract… The N-Field! Ruby's being targeted in the N-Field!"
Summer Rose was upon her in an instant. "Take us there. Quickly. Do whatever you have to, but get us there as quick as you can."
"Y-Yes, of course," Kirakishou muttered a response as she hurriedly pulled on her vast stores of energy, the combined aura of hundreds proving more than sufficient in-
No!
Their ring. Her ring. Kirakishou's Rozen Maiden contract ring, glowed a crimson hue and promptly shattered. But that wasn't possible!
Before she could so much as react, there was a flicker of a deeper, darker crimson colour, one that expanded beneath her precious Master and began to-
A portal?!
Ruby Rose vanished, stolen away from her in a flash of crimson.
Kirakishou found herself only vaguely aware of Summer Rose diving towards the portal, as she fell to her knees. The warmth, the pleasant tingle of Ruby's presence, began to fade away, as she stared at an empty bed, unable to understand what had just transpired.
"M-Master..?"
"I've got her. Be ready for anything," Raven Branwen advised, as Weiss stared with wide eyes at the crimson portal that the bandit leader had manifested in the middle of the Schnee Family mansion.
Willow Schnee was in attendance. Her Mother. Her incredibly alcoholic Mother, drowning in her own sorrows for years on end, stood beside Raven Branwen, longsword clad tightly and looking completely alert. Almost as if she hadn't had a drink in years.
Beside Weiss stood the rest of her teammates, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao-Long, either girl in a varying degree of condition. Suiseiseki and Souseiseki had returned them all to the physical world just moments ago, where Klein of all people had raced them to a secure room under Father's orders.
Father. Jacques Schnee.
He knew. Somehow, Father had learned of their plans, the Rozen Maiden, everything. She didn't even have time to so much as consider the implications of the Schnee Dust Company CEO learning about the Alice Game, before the next part of their plan had been sprung into motion.
Sakurada Jun had arrived and repaired Shinku, his semblance awakening and revealing itself in a brilliant display of crimson colour- the power to heal Rozen Maiden, supposedly. Shinku had been overjoyed, with tears in her eyes and everything. And Weiss supposed, in hindsight, that for the Rozen Maiden and their artificial bodies, the ability to heal would be quite the treasured resource indeed.
Shinku, Suiseiseki, Souseiseki, and Yang's doll Suigintou had all been repaired by this same power. There hadn't been a moment to spare to learn of Suigintou's venture in the N-Field before Klein had shepherded Jun out of the room and Raven Branwen had activated her own semblance. An event that, as it would appear, Jacques Schnee had prepared for beforehand.
A crackle of energy was the only sound Weiss heard before a dome-shaped force-field sprung up around the flicker of energy generated by Raven Branwen, the field itself likely controlled from a remote area by Jacques Schnee. Clearly, then man was prepared for the worst possible outcome. Did he believe that Kirakishou would come through and retaliate immediately following Yang's severing of her contract with Ruby Rose?
Could all the power of Atlas even begin to hold the doll with the aura of several hundred thousand backing her? Considering what her group had only recently experienced at the hands of the Knight of the White Rose, fuelled by Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings, she highly doubted that any Atlesian innovation could ever hope to hold her.
Before Weiss could voice her concerns, a simple swish of Raven Branwen's blade tore through the air, and the face of her enigmatic Team Leader was seen once again for the first time in several months. She felt an uncomfortable, deep-dwelling emotion claw at her insides as she gazed at her Team Leader, who was slumbering casually and looking no worse for wear. Months had passed, and Ruby Rose seemed to be a perfect reflection of the trainee girl once seen casually walking around a prosperous Vale.
It was… strange. She looked so very innocent when she slept, so very different from the strange blonde doll that had overtaken Vale. How could they have ever been partners in the first place? What would happen to Ruby Rose, now that her Rozen Maiden contract with Kirakishou had been severed by her very own older sister?
She petered over to chance a small glance towards Yang Xiao-Long, to see an inscrutable expression flickering across the blonde's face as she gazed at her sleeping sister. Weiss could only begin to imagine what was going through Yang's mind at the moment. Yang didn't look pleased, angry, or even sad. Nothing like how Weiss had expected the blonde to react. Perhaps she was simply preparing for the potential battle?
During their bout against the Knight of the White Rose, Yang had displayed a certain degree of bullheadedness that had begun to grate on Weiss's nerves as the blonde continued to antagonise the Knight of the White Rose at every possible moment. Even when the Knight of the White Rose had attempted to communicate with them, to offer them a chance to flee, Yang had used the moment of opportunity to insult and redirect the Knight of the White Rose into further aggressiveness.
Make no mistake, even a young ignorant rookie would have easily been able to determine that the Knight of the White Rose had prioritised Yang from the very beginning of their fight, but following Yang's actions during the battle had made Weiss wonder if the Knight had known how Yang would act from the moment they all arrived inside Ruby's N-Field.
The Knight of the White Rose had certainly held a grudge against Yang, reacting with fury over even the smallest of comments from the blonde during the course of the fight. However, coupled with the aggression displayed immediately upon the Knight's arrival, once again targeted towards Yang herself, it had seemed as if the Knight had been briefed about Yang prior to their arrival.
Had Kirakishou instructed the Knight of the White Rose to act that way? Or, alternatively, had the Knight's connection with Ruby Rose prompted it to prioritise Yang's defeat? What had caused such aggressiveness?
Regardless of if either theory proved to be true or not, Weiss felt that she would need to keep a keen eye on both Ruby and her older sister Yang. Whether the aggressive nature of the Knight had been influenced by either Ruby or Kirakishou, it was clear that there were some tensions between both sisters that had clearly been exploited over the course of Ruby's involvement with Kirakishou.
Looking at Blake, she found the faunus focusing on her. She took comfort in the gaze, drawing strength from it. Weiss could see the conflict flaring across Blake's face, the mounting sense of unease, bordering on panic as the seconds ticked on following Ruby's severed contract with Kirakishou. She would stand side by side with Blake, no matter what happened in the future. Hopefully, together with Yang and all their other gathered allies, they would be able to withstand Kirakishou's retaliation.
"Ready yourselves!" Raven cried out, startling Weiss out of her heated gaze with Blake. "There's another inside my semblance! One guess as to who it is! Prepare!"
No sooner than Raven had finished her sudden call out, her crimson portal warped above Ruby, and an all too familiar figure greeted them for the first time in months.
It wasn't Kirakishou.
Yang's ensuing gasp was met with a tense silence by the legendary Summer Rose, pyjama-clad and clutching Null Value tightly as she glared at the girls in utter hate. Her face, meanwhile, remained unerringly placid, but her eyes betrayed her true feelings.
"...Summer Rose, as I live and breathe," Raven mused with a bloodthirsty smirk. Her voice was stilted, however, the slightest trace of uncertainty hidden deep inside battle-hardened steel. "Cute pyjamas you've got there. Though, not really suitable for the current climate, huh?"
The woman in question, Ruby's Mother, shook. Her face, uncomfortably similar to that of their team leader, twisted in a visceral fury. She looked as if she could barely believe her eyes. Weiss could relate, to a degree.
After all, the last time that Weiss had seen Summer Rose had been when the woman was trying to kill them all as they fled from Amity Colosseum. Team RWBY, minus their missing leader, had boarded a bullhead comprised of a variety of other fledgling hunter teams and refugees, only for the bullhead to be attacked and boarded by Summer Rose herself.
They had been ripped apart. Overwhelmed, completely and utterly. It had only been through the intervention of Laplace-no-ma that everyone had managed to survive the journey. And, now, it would appear that Summer Rose had not only triumphed over Laplace-no-ma, but she had been standing alongside Ruby and Kirakishou for quite some time.
"...You all have no idea what you've just done, do you? Even now, I can feel Kirakishou's grief."
To Weiss's side, Suigintou gave a dismissive scoff. Summer Rose tensed at the sound, focusing on her. "Good. The little brat deserves it, for all she's done. She chose poorly in the Alice Game and lost all she cared for as a result. She's a disgrace, and you're even less than that, just for following her."
Summer Rose twitched, a harsh cracking sound that ripped past the subtle hum of the conjured energy shield and invaded their ears. It sounded wrong. Horrible. And, as their eyes fell on Summer Rose, they witnessed a sizeable portion of her jawline collapse, artificial skin crumbling and flaking apart onto the ground.
The artificial huntress started at the sound, seeming surprised herself at the sudden development, before taking a hand off from Null Value to clutch her lower cheek, glaring at them hatefully.
"...Her body is degrading?" Yang whispered, voicing all of their thoughts. Her arm was outstretched, reaching forward yet faltering. Twitching. The blonde looked as if she didn't know how to feel about the sight, seemingly torn between some vague grief-stricken feeling and a bitter yearning for triumph.
Perhaps, Weiss mused to herself, deep down, a small part of Yang did indeed believe that Summer Rose was real after all?
Suigintou pushed Yang's arm down, glaring haughtily at the crumbling figure of Summer Rose. "It's not just her body, is it?" the silver-haired Rozen Maiden glanced at Shinku with a meaningful look, before continuing. "It's her connection to Kirakishou. When you all severed the contract Kirakishou had with her Master, it destabilised Kirakishou's N-Field and cut her off from Summer. Following her daughter's body here has merely signed her death sentence, in the end."
There was a sudden blur of sound, as the form of Summer Rose disappeared, colliding against the energy shield that Jacques Schnee had conjured around the slumbering Ruby Rose and her errant Mother. The group reared back in equal parts surprise and trepidation, before Summer Rose was thrown back by the force of the shield, seemingly unable to overcome the shield's strength.
Considering that the shield was connected to the entire Schnee Mansion, and, thus, a vast majority of the Atlesian power network, Weiss wasn't surprised that a weakened Summer Rose would have trouble overcoming the shield's immense power reserves.
The legendary huntress confined within a Rozen Maiden body lay on the ground beside her slumbering daughter, as cracks seemingly grew over various parts of her body. To Weiss's surprise, the cracks appeared on more than just her body itself, up to and including the very clothing that she wore. All of it, she supposed, had been created by Kirakishou.
Even Null Value, the legendary weapon that had relentlessly carved through the exterior hull of a bullhead with little regard and undoubtedly torn through countless grimm in the aftermath of the Vytal Festival, had several large cracks running through its numerous blades. The colossal spear lay to the side of Summer Rose, blown out of her hands by the aftermath of her desperate gambit to escape. Even when it was not connected to Summer's hands, cracks continued to appear.
"...Rozen Maiden…" Summer Rose murmured to herself, words barely audible over the crackle of the energy shield surrounding her. With seemingly great effort, she forced herself back up to her feet, grabbing Null Value and using the spear to support the bulk of her body. The distorted sound of cracking artificial parts echoed through the air as she tilted her head up to stare at the dolls present in their group. "...You're all Rozen Maiden, aren't you? You're her sisters…"
Shinku stepped forward, waving off Suiseiseki's hand when the green-clad gardener doll tried to stop her advance. "We are. I am known as 'Shinku'. You may be familiar with Suigintou, Suiseiseki, and Souseiseki as well," the doll gestured to her other sisters, each tensing as Summer's eyes fell upon them during the introduction. Suigintou, in particular, harrumphed and glanced away.
"Kirakishou… she…"
"Will you stop talking about Kirakishou already?" Yang ground out, marching forwards and pushing Shinku to the side as she openly glared down at the visage of Summer Rose. "Look at you! You're falling apart! And all you can do is talk about her!"
Silver eyes blinked at Yang, momentarily bewildered, before the woman gave a weak gurgling laugh. Suigintou moved towards her Master, clutching Yang's shoulder in a show of support, much to Weiss's inner surprise.
"...Little bloom, you really do have no idea what's going on outside your own world, do you?" Summer Rose softly murmured, shaking her head. Yang reared back as if slapped, while Raven growled from her position on the side like some overprotective animal.
With a sigh, Summer Rose staggered forwards as fragments of artificial skin and conjured clothes withered away into nothingness, her gaze affixed on Yang Xiao-Long, who was seemingly unable to look away despite the voice shouting at her to be careful. Weiss blinked. Was that her voice? Why did it sound so far away?
"I cannot possibly begin to understand just how sheltered you really are, Yang," Summer Rose whispered, her voice a low weak whisper that nonetheless tore through the world with an icy bitterness. "All of Ruby's memories, her pain, her dreams, and you've ignored them all."
"N-No… Mom… I didn't-!"
"You did this," Summer continued ever onwards, until she was mashing her free hand up against the shield, as if clawing towards the shaking blonde brawler. "She… she cried… for so long… the pain in her heart, the agony she experienced as she tried in vain to understand what had occurred at such a young age… I felt it all. I relived it all, memory by memory, piece by piece. Through her sacrifice, I endured, because nobody else could understand her heart. Until Kirakishou came. Through her powers, Kirakishou understood. She was the first person, the only person, to truly connect with Ruby Rose. And I will not let the likes of you ruin it!"
And, in the blink of an eye, Summer had torn through the force field, Raven throwing herself forward and meeting the legendary huntress head-on with her own crimson odachi clashing fiercely against Summer's brandished Null Value mere moments before it could sweep across and behead Yang Xiao-Long. The force of the combined strikes sent a wake of wind rushing against Weiss's face, pulling her out of her momentary surprise as the group suddenly exploded into motion.
Pulling on her limited amount of aura, dwindled as it was from the fight against the Knight of the White Rose, Weiss forced her semblance to manifest. A stylised white glyph appeared beneath Raven Branwen, aiming to bolster the woman's strength against Summer Rose. A second ring surrounded her glyph, courtesy of Willow. She sent a thankful look to her Mother, earning a warm smile in response.
With the additional force generated by the two Schnee semblance, Raven was able to advance on Summer Rose. Summer was quick to adjust her footing, Raven's crimson odachi sliding down the hilt of Null Value and making the bandit slip forward. Raven responded quickly, dodging backward and narrowly avoiding a sweeping hit from Null Value.
Blake rushed forwards, keeping the heat on Summer as Raven joined up with Willow Schnee and the others, who watched as a multitude of Blake clones were eliminated in mere seconds by their wayward opponent. And Yang, meanwhile, stood stock still, seemingly frozen in place as tears spilled down her cheeks.
"Yang! Snap out of it!"
Weiss was upon her teammate in an instant, forgoing the fight and prioritising Yang as she fought to prevent the girl from losing herself right after they had regained Ruby Rose. An errant shot of Gambol Shroud deflected by Summer Rose was flung their way and Weiss was quick to react, conjuring an ice wall to block the shot, the force of the impact making Yang flinch.
"...Weiss… everything she said, everything she did… was it really Summer Rose? Is she right?"
"Look, that's a complex metaphysical debate that we just do not have time for at the moment-"
"But-!"
"But nothing!" Weiss interrupted the blonde with a frantic shout. "The fact of the matter is that someone is fighting all of us at the moment. The Rozen Maiden, Blake, your mother, and my own, they're all in this fight at the moment, and if we're not careful then the fighting could bring down the entire damn mansion. Assuming we can even defeat her in the first place, exhausted as we all are. We just don't have time to argue. So, put on your big girl pants and fight!"
For a moment, Yang stood there staring at her with wide eyes, even as Weiss huffed from exhaustion. Then, eventually, the blonde chuckled.
"Right, sorry. I just... everything that's happened..." she trailed off, unsure.
"I get it," Weiss nodded with a warm smile. "Now, come on. The others are over here."
All things considered, Weiss didn't feel confident that they could defeat Summer Rose. Falling apart as she was, the legendary huntress had nonetheless torn through Jacques's shield like tissue paper and was actively managing to hold her own against a sizeable force, all in uncharted territory. With a majority of the contenders exhausted after fighting the Knight of the White Rose, there was a good chance that Ruby Rose would awaken alongside Kirakishou once again, before ever realising what had happened.
Through sheer force of will, they had managed to sever the contract Ruby had possessed with Kirakishou and succeeded in pulling their wayward team leader away from Kirakishou's clutches. Now, however, it would seem they needed to fight for the right to keep her.
Perhaps, if they somehow succeeded in defeating Summer Rose, Team RWBY would be back together once again.
Perhaps.
A/N:
So~ Rozen Maiden's 20th Anniversary Exhibition has been announced. I'm so excited!