That look on her face, the mounting confusion that steadily rose to new heights as the silence stretched on. It was beyond obvious to her that Ruby Rose couldn't remember a thing. Several months of memories had been wiped away in the blink of an eye, leaving a confused little girl that stared up at her team-mates, ignorant of the pain she had caused them and the pain that they had caused her.
Weiss Schnee could see it in Ruby's eyes, the doe-like innocence, the little dolt of a leader that Ruby Rose had once been, prior to meeting Kirakishou. So very early on during their career in Beacon Academy. Ruby Rose had regressed. She hadn't even known that Blake was a faunus, for Oum's sake. All of that knowledge, and more, had seemingly vanished from Ruby's mind.
Was this the end result of what they had done in the N-Field? Had severing Ruby's contract with Kirakishou somehow erased all memory of her time spent with Kirakishou herself?
She could see the look of shocked realisation as it flourished on Yang's face, as the blonde brawler failed to respond to her younger sister's prodding, remaining as still as a statue. For her part, Weiss couldn't exactly blame Yang for freezing up. Oum knows she would probably be doing the same thing were she to be standing in Yang's boots right about now.
And Blake, poor, poor Blake looked so very startled by the admission from Ruby Rose, the naked surprise remaining blatantly affixed upon her face as Ruby continued shooting looks at the feline ears poking out from her ebon locks. Ruby Rose did not understand the meaning behind her words, unaware of the implications of a girl bearing the Belladonna name revealing her faunus heritage. How could she? The reveal of Blake's status and her shocking past occurred after Ruby had met Kirakishou. On the very same day, even. It, too, had seemingly been erased from Ruby's mind.
All of her memories directly after meeting Kirakishou were gone.
Ruby Rose didn't know what they had sacrificed to find her, she didn't remember any of the actions she had taken in order to connect with Kirakishou. She didn't remember how she had changed.
She didn't remember Penny Polendina, or what she had done to the poor girl in front of a live audience.
Ruby was, in essence, thrown back to a time when everything was fine, while the world continued turning without her. And, here she was, a girl out of time, waking up in a different world.
"...Guys… Please… You're scaring me," Ruby fidgeted in her bed, frantic eyes moving between each of them in search of answers. "Why is everyone looking at me like, like I'm being weird… What's going on? Please, just talk to me."
"Ruby…" Yang hesitantly spoke up, wincing in apparent pain when her Silver Eyes flickered over to stare at her. At that moment, it was eerily reminiscent of the very same knight bearing Ruby's likeness that they had all fought, of her marionette-like attentiveness. "What… What's the last thing you remember?"
"The last thing that I remember?" Ruby's face scrunched up in confusion at the question. "Are you playing a prank on me or something? Really? I'm not in the mood for-"
"Please," Blake cut in. Her voice was tired. Withered. "Please, just answer the question, Ruby."
That was more than enough to silence any rebellion on Ruby's part, the young girl seemingly catching on to the seriousness of the situation despite not properly understanding it.
And, then, she spoke.
"...Ummm… oh! We were all going to go down to Vale for the Vytal Festival! I think it was… something to do with new students? People were… people were coming from other schools to stay at Beacon for the Vytal Festival. Why? Did I miss it or something? And what does it have to do with your kitty ears?" when the group stared at her, too shocked to answer, Ruby reddened in apparent embarrassment. "Um… Not that there's anything wrong with kitty ears! They're actually really cute!"
Blake stood there, frozen in place as Ruby eyed her. Weiss could relate, as she was reeling from the implications that had forced themselves upon her. Having been forced to live through Blake's memories, alongside learning a bit about her partner's experiences following their budding relationship, Weiss knew more than anyone how it must have felt for Blake. It was like that time at the docks all over again, the naked fear of discovery, pulled from her memories and manifested again in cruel detail.
And Ruby Rose truly had no idea. Everything had been wiped away.
"Oum, Ruby… I… I don't know how to break it to you…" Blake tried to explain, she really did, but try as she might the faunus simply couldn't condense her feelings into words.
Weiss, painfully, forced herself to explain. It had only been an hour following the surprising defeat of Summer Rose and the group was still reeling. With the hours stretching on into the night and exhaustion settling in, it was only a matter of time before the stress got to them.
If… it would make it easier for everyone else, she would allow herself to be the one to break the news to Ruby Rose. Even if, by doing so, she would have a front-row seat to the despair her words would inflict. It was, simply put, better than any alternative.
"Ruby," she winced at the sight of those Silver Eyes focusing upon her, mounting distress displayed in full detail. "To make matters short, it's been quite some time since that time in Vytal. I'm… afraid that you appear to have lost a significant portion of your memories."
"..."
Ruby Rose froze, eyes still and stagnant in the wake of the revelation, as the ramifications of what Weiss had just said impacted her with callous disregard for her feelings. As her words were said and Ruby failed to deny the loss of her memories, Weiss found herself privy to the reactions of her team members.
Over the years, Weiss Schnee had been witness to a great many horrid moments, typically over board meetings detailing the loss of various staff members to the White Fang. However, at that moment, all of the pain in the world seemed to pale in comparison to the impact that her words had on the other members of Team RWBY.
To have such a significant portion of your life erased like that…
"...How long?"
Yang spoke and prevented Weiss from suffering further, her tone remaining carefully neutral. "Roughly nine months."
Oum. Had it really been that long since that fateful outing in Vale?
And Ruby, poor Ruby, she looked almost like she had been expected to hear terrible news yet had still somehow managed to be shocked by the information regardless.
"...Nine months…" she whispered to herself, looking down at her lap as her hands balled into fists. Tears welled in her eyes, as a tiny sniffle of fear escaped her. "I-I can't… what… what happened?"
Indeed. What had happened? Where to even start? How could they explain everything to the very person from which everything in their lives had circulated around for the past nine straight months? Rozen Maiden. The Alice Game. Beacon. Vale. Silver fire. The Knight of the White Rose. Kirakishou. Summer Rose. There was so much to go over, so much that had been lost.
And, so far, Weiss suspected that it was this loss of information that was the only thing that was keeping Ruby Rose from outright attacking them all.
"You met someone," it was Blake who spoke up in response, the feline faunus's ears drooping as her tone slipped into the morose. "At the Vale docks, I mean. Do you remember?"
Was it wrong to feel some degree of relief when Ruby shook her head?
"...No, I… I don't… what did they do?"
"They used you," Yang grated out, voice heavy and fierce. Ruby flinched at the tone, clutching her blankets tightly. "She stole you away, made you do things that you wouldn't."
"What, like mind control?" Ruby balked at the idea, confused in the face of Yang's strong reaction.
"...We're not entirely certain," Weiss spoke up, interrupting Yang's rebuttal with a strong glare. She had seen how monumentally poorly the blonde had handled the situation with the Knight of the White Rose with her insinuations and she wasn't going to allow Yang to ruin their talk with Ruby Rose.
Little Ruby merely cocked her head to the side, not unlike a bird. "Okay? So, what was it? What did she do?"
"You two entered into a sort of relationship," Blake answered, as Ruby's cheeks blazed red at the reveal.
"R-Really?"
"It wasn't an actual relationship," Yang denied, crossing her arms. "She used you, Rubes. She has a sort of, er, semblance, that connects her to people. It makes her stronger. When you met her, she was weak, and she connected with you in order to heal."
Weiss knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there was far more to the story of Kirakishou and Ruby than just some asinine desire for the Rozen Maiden to reinvigorate herself. She had seen the lengths to which Kirakishou would go in order to secure Ruby Rose's heart. Her method may have been flawed, incredibly so, but the doll had genuinely cared for Ruby Rose, despite whatever harsh opinion Yang seemed to have on the matter.
"...So, she didn't love me?"
The whisper was tiny, fragile. The whisper of a little girl crying out for comfort. Weiss could see it in her eyes. Ruby may not remember her time with Kirakishou, that much was certain, but the insinuation that their time together was without love had cut her deeply.
Perhaps, deep down, there was a part of her body that remembered their time together. And their words had inadvertently touched that part, and thus had shaken Ruby to her very core.
"She-" Weiss went to refute, only for Yang to interrupt.
"-did not," Yang finished with a glare of her own, looking between Ruby and Weiss and daring either of them to refute. Her semblance had activated, a sure sign of her anger, as crimson eyes blazed with fury.
"...Yang…" Blake tried, only to find herself on the receiving end of the blonde's glare. Blake flinched away, hurt, as poor Ruby silently shook, seemingly locked away from the world as tiny sniffles fought and died to escape her.
They had just gotten her back, and already she had been exposed to the worst side of their team dynamic. Oh how Weiss wished things were more simple, like it had been at Beacon Academy, where the worst she had to worry about was some assignment coursework.
Instead, Weiss was back inside her family home, playing host to her dysfunctional team and a company of Rozen Maiden dolls, waiting to see what would happen now that her Father had learned about the Alice Game. Everything had been stirred up and thrown about, and Weiss could barely so much as think straight, let alone deal with the mess that was Ruby Rose and Kirakishou.
A sniffle was finally heard, and Weiss felt her heart clench in worry.
"I-I'm sorry," Ruby tried, desperately rubbing her eyes as she wiped away tears. "I just… I don't understand why… but… just hearing that, being told she didn't love me… it… it hurts. I don't even remember her, for Oum's sake… and if what you said was true-"
"It's true, she didn't love you," Yang cut in.
"...Then, why does it hurt? Why am I so…"
Yang moved close, pulling Ruby into a hug as the little Rose cried into her shoulder, clutching Yang desperately as the tears spilled from her eyes. Weiss and Blake glanced at each other, the same feeling readily apparent in their expressions.
This was wrong. They didn't exactly know how, or why, it felt the way it did to them, but something about this felt like some terrible deceit. It felt like they were going down the wrong path.
"...I don't mean to interrupt-" Weiss whirled around at the familiar voice, finding Whitley standing at the doorway and inspecting the group. There was an odd look in his eyes, a tenseness in his posture the moment he glanced Ruby's way. The rose glanced back, inquisitive and confused, while Whitley merely looked away from her, focusing instead on Weiss herself. "The Atlesian military is at the door, speaking with Klein. Our sister is in attendance. She's asking about you, Weiss."
Winter. Shit. Of all the times…
There was a tense moment as Whitley surveyed the group, eyes lingering on Ruby Rose for a moment before the boy sneered and ran off. She didn't entirely understand why Whitley had seemed so… odd, and Weiss knew she would need to talk to the boy when she had a chance, but for the moment there were other concerns that needed to be addressed post-haste.
She turned to the others, Yang pulling back from Ruby as the three wounded huntresses all glanced at each other in realisation. It would seem that all of them, sans Ruby of course, had realised exactly why the Atlesian military was investigating the Schnee family manor.
"...The firefight! When, um," Yang paused, eyes flickering to Ruby Rose for a moment, "the doll blasted a hole in the wall, the energy beam she generated must have alerted the military. Considering how close we are to the Atlesian military base, it's no surprise they got here so quickly. Damn it."
"Firefight? Doll?" Ruby repeated, alarmed.
"It's nothing, we'll deal with it," Yang dismissed her younger sister, before directing her gaze towards Weiss in particular. "If Daddy Schnee is talking to them, what do you think the chances are that they'll be able to get inside and inspect the damage? If they see the others…"
Weiss curled her lips in discomfort. "First of all, please don't call ever Father that again, dear Oum," she shuddered. "Secondly, considering Father's recent ascension to Councilman, it would be politically advantageous to concede to the military's demands. However, now that Father is aware of the, er, game, then there is a possibility he may work to hide any mention of it to the best of his ability."
"...Considering the giant hole in one of the walls and the subsequent arrival of the military soon after, there's not much that even the likes of Jacques Schnee can do to hide that," Blake deadpanned.
"Well, I don't care about Jacques and whatever plan he's got cooking. It's the others in the mansion that I'm concerned about," Yang redirected, crossing her arms. "One look at them and we'll have a lot more questions to deal with. If they find Ruby…"
Ah. Right. Weiss had almost forgotten. Ruby was wanted by the Atlesian military for questioning in regard to the disaster in Vale. Most notably, the wanted poster came attached with a stipulation that a reward would be offered were she to be apprehended dead or alive. In other words, gathering information from the girl was a lesser task in comparison to ending her perceived threat upon the world.
How Winter could sign a capture or kill order on her team leader was something Weiss simply could not understand.
"...Why would the Atlesian military react if they found me?" Ruby spoke up in a small, frightened voice.
"Look, Ruby. It's nothing. Drop it. Just let us deal-"
"It's not NOTHING!" Ruby yelled out forcefully, Weiss flinching at the sudden frantic tone. Silver Eyes glared at the group, worry and uncertainty pushing Ruby to shakily move to stand up out of her bed. With unsteady movements, the Rose marched over to glare at her three teammates. "I don't understand what's going on... but I know that, Oum help me, you're all going to explain what the dust is going on, before any of you so much as think about leaving. Got it?!"
It frightened her, how similar in that moment Ruby Rose looked like the Knight of the White Rose. Resolute, unyielding in the face of her injuries. And, judging by the look in Yang's eyes, she must have realised it too. The blonde looked like she had seen a ghost.
"...Ruby, please-"
Silver eyes snapped to focus on the heiress in an instant, and Weiss found speech failing her with the finality of a glare. An uncomfortable pang rattled in her stomach, an anxiousness, as some half-worried ebb of hurt stabbed through bones. It pained her, she realised, to see Ruby Rose so confused and hurt, lashing out at her own team members for withholding information.
"It's-"
Yang tried to reflect. It was obvious that the blonde was trying to redirect the conversation away from the topic at hand. She wouldn't allow it. She couldn't, Weiss realised.
"You're currently wanted by the Atlesian military for actions that were committed during your lapse in memory. Dead or alive."
It was almost amusing in a morbid sort of sense, to explain the full-scale gravity of the situation in such a blunt manner. The destruction of Vale at the height of the Vytal Festival does not go unnoticed. From what she had understood, there was a good chance that Ruby Rose and Kirakishou were among the most wanted figures in recent history.
And here one of them was, as innocent as a lily. Without her memories, without her development pushed forth by Kirakishou, Ruby Rose was every part the victim, forced to hold the blame of a nation.
And still, despite everything that they had accomplished in the last few hours, despite the feelings fluttering in her heart and the pain present throughout her broken body, everything still felt so wrong.
Yang rounded on her, furious, as Ruby's eyes widened like saucers at the blunt admission. But, for the life of her, Weiss couldn't find herself feeling guilt for admitting the truth to Ruby Rose. She needed to understand the situation, even a small portion of it, despite how much Yang believed that it was still necessary to coddle her.
"But, don't worry! It's all just a misunderstanding!" Yang moved to clutch Ruby's shoulders as the little girl began to shake, tears running down her cheeks. "If we keep you hidden, then nothing will happen! You'll be okay, Ruby. You'll be safe. I won't ever let you get hurt again, I promise."
Yang pulled her close, smothering the young girl in her warm embrace.
Meeting the eyes of her faunus lover, she found solace in the dispassion manifesting inside amber eyes. Blake, too, could easily understand that the blonde's words were little more than empty platitudes. Personally, Weiss wondered if Yang was actually saying the words to herself rather than to her amnesic younger sister.
"...And when they find me? You know they will. I doubt that all the hiding in the world will be enough to stop an entire nation. Especially when we're right in the middle of the capital city itself. You can't take on all of Atlas, Yang."
So, Ruby realised that she is in Atlas. No true leap of thought there, especially after seeing Whitley just before. And she's got a point, too, Weiss mused to herself. Trust Ruby to realise how pointless of a gambit it is to try and deceive a nation.
Unfortunately, Ruby was correct in her assessment that their small group would be effortlessly overwhelmed by the Atlesian military the moment they realised that Ruby Rose was currently situated in Atlas. Weiss Schnee believed that she understood her sister's personality to a fair degree, and Winter Schnee had never been one to take an action she may regret unless she was forced to by an outside party. And, with Winter being the General of the Atlesian military herself, there was nobody above her rule in Atlas.
So, there was little hope in persuading Winter. Even as a plea from her baby sister, Weiss doubted that Winter would belay her orders. After all, the woman hadn't even visited Weiss during the entirety of her recuperation after the fall of Vale. There was no telling how far their relationship had deteriorated.
They were on their own.
...Unless…
"Yang. Aren't you forgetting something?" the blonde perked up as she pulled away from Ruby, sensing a lifeline. "Raven. She can-"
"Raven Branwen?" Ruby balked, confused by the perceived non-sequitur. "Isn't that-"
"Of course!" Yang grinned, fetching out her scroll and dialing a number. She waved off Ruby's searching eyes, focusing on her scroll.
Following the retrieval of Ruby Rose and the subsequent defeat of Summer Rose, Raven Branwen had disappeared from the Schnee mansion as the battle came to a close. However, Weiss had been relatively confident that the woman would share some method of contact with her daughter, if only to continue their alliance during the Alice Game if nothing else. She had seen similar politically-inclined approaches upon the numerous board meetings she had attended over the years. Remaining in communication with a partner was as vital as any other action for ensuring the profitability of a business. To a woman like Raven Branwen, Weiss could easily see her using such delusions of rationality to convince herself to remain in communication with her daughter.
"Yang," a voice sounded over Yang's scroll, the telltale tone of Raven Branwen herself. Ruby let out a gasp at the sound, eyes wide. Judging by the look in Ruby's eyes, Raven and Yang likely hadn't been in communication prior to the events caused by Kirakishou leading to the two reuniting. Which, unfortunately, made sense considering it had been Raven that had rescued Yang from the Vytal Festival event. "And by that girlish little squeal, I can only assume that Ruby Rose is awake. Hm. Odd time for a call, is it not?"
In other words, the bandit had rightly been anticipating a fight to have broken out upon Ruby waking up. Something that Weiss had been expecting herself.
"U-Um…" Ruby tried, lost.
"Well, yeah, but a lot has happened and we don't have much time to explain," Yang rushed to speak. "Rubes has lost a bunch of her memories and we've got the Atlesian military knocking on the doors. It's only a matter of time until they force their way in. And if they find Rubes in here…"
"I get where you're going with this. Need an evac?"
Yang's sigh of relief was all too blatant. "Please. It's too dangerous for us to stay in Atlas any longer, and you're the only one I know that can get us all out of here without alerting the military."
"Hm. About time you started thinking with your head, Yang. Very well. I'll be there in a moment. Standby."
Ruby stared at the group the entire time. She didn't say anything, but the expression on her face was more than enough to convey her disappointment.
Judica and Maudlin… The Knight of the White Rose…
Just what exactly did you have planned before we arrived, little sister? And where exactly were you, if you weren't fighting either group?
Suigintou passively watched from a distance as Jun scurried along with his dolls, fussing over them with an ever-so-piercing gaze. Suiseiseki preened happily at the attention, while Shinku and Souseiseki were noticeably more subdued in comparison to the green-clad gardener.
As for Suigintou herself, she had leveled one single look at the boy and Sakurada Jun had wisely backed off.
Following the battle with Judica and Maudlin deep within Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings, Suigintou had decided to give herself a home-field advantage by tricking the conjoined dolls into venturing inside her own N-Field. Cut off from Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings, the dolls hadn't been able to access their gathered semblances and had instead been forced to rely upon their uncanny regenerative ability for sustainability against Suigintou.
They had been difficult opponents, even inside her own N-Field. However, they had both fallen in time, fading away into nothingness in a manner all-too-similar to the late Summer Rose that had failed to assault the Schnee mansion.
One passing glance at the doll of Summer Rose, however, had told Suigintou that the group would likely have been easily overpowered were the woman to have been in her prime, such was her skill. The blade she had carried, of comparable length to the absurdly sized claymore wielded by the Knight of the White Rose, had proven quite deadly in the hands of a skilled wielder. The blast of superheated dust shot from the barrel had taken Suigintou by surprise, both in its sudden appearance from an otherwise overspecialised melee weapon, and in its sheer potential for damage.
Had the blade not expired alongside Summer Rose, Suigintou would have been slightly interested in learning to wield such an extraordinary weapon herself. Instead, it would appear that 'Null Value' would be lost to time. Unfortunate, yet not entirely unwelcome. Both the blade and its wielder had the potential to cause quite a fair bit of strife in the Alice Game. Any potential outside threat to the Rozen Maiden was something that Suigintou could not stand for, as it possessed the capability to interfere with the Alice Game as a whole.
Were it not for Sakurada Jun unlocking his 'semblance', a rather fitting ability that appeared to rapidly repair Rozen Maiden in physical contact with the boy, it was more than likely that Shinku would still be suffering from the wound she had received in battle.
Much to her amusement, however, it would seem that Sakurada Jun's semblance only targeted the wound itself while ignoring any outside damage to a Rozen Maiden's apparel. So, Shinku's little red dress was sporting quite a few cuts and scrapes. As was fitting for that infuriating doll. It was an affront to the Alice Game to even consider subsisting in tattered apparel, and she was aware that Shinku would likely see to it that her outfit was repaired before their next eventual battle, but Suigintou could take the time to amuse herself watching as the proud doll moved around looking like some stupid piece of ruined junk.
"...That was, hm, quite the slew of developments," Shinku mused with a sigh, relaxing on the side of Jun's bed. The group had retreated to Jun's private accommodation, inadvertently dragging Suigintou along while the other denizens of the Schnee family manor fussed over Kirakishou's former Master.
Suiseiseki slumped against the wall, sliding down as she groaned. "You can say that again. We almost didn't make it back there. If those flames would have touched us…"
"Flames?" Suigintou perked up, finding herself intrigued.
Souseiseki took the time to answer, the blue-clad doll currently standing beside Jun at the opposite edge of the bed while the boy himself seemed content to sit beside Shinku. "During the battle, the Knight of the White Rose demonstrated an ability to utilise silver flames that petrified any organic matter that it touched. Despite our nature as artificial beings, we couldn't be certain if the flames would petrify us as well as our allies."
Silver flames… Suigintou mused to herself, thoughtful. She had encountered flames of the same unusual colouration while venturing deep inside Kirakishou's N-Field.
"You don't seem that surprised, Suigintou. Do you have something to say?" Jun commented from the side, an annoying lilt to his voice.
Suigintou sniffed, glancing away from the boy and his obnoxious searching eyes. "Hm. You don't know what you're talking about, ningen. I was just asking a question. You don't need to try and psychoanalyse everything I say."
"I don't know what I'm saying? Is that honestly the best comeback that you have?" Jun retorted wryly. "Because, from how I see it, the only part of the story that's interested you so far has been when Shinku mentioned the silver flames."
At that moment, that horrible moment, she remembered Kakizaki Megu. The morbid sickly little girl that could read her body language like an open book. The one that could gaze deep into Suigintou and understand, without question, how she was feeling. They were both newcomers to the Alice Game, relatively speaking, yet both Kakizaki Megu and Sakurada Jun shared that same attentiveness. A trait so rarely possessed by humans.
Her ire for Shinku raised another notch.
"...Fine. I may have seen some flames that were similar, inside Kirakishou's N-Field."
Suiseiseki and Souseiseki perked up, having understood the implications of her statement. The twin gardener dolls were, as their natures dictated, well versed in the happenings of the N-Field.
"Inside Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings, you say?" Shinku spoke with a low whisper, musing. "How very interesting. A sign of Ruby's connection to Kirakishou, perhaps? Or something else?"
"If you were able to somehow break the contract that Kirakishou held over that little brat, then why does it matter?" Suigintou snarked, crossing her arms. She didn't precisely understand how a small strike force of Rozen Maiden and huntresses were able to sever a Rozen Maiden contract without the Rozen Maiden herself present, and frankly, the whole thing made her feel uneasy.
How else was she supposed to feel, at the prospect of such an absurd thing possibly existing?! The idea that someone could just waltz into her Master's mental space and forcefully terminate their contract was beyond ludicrous! It would change everything for the Alice Game!
And for one contracted to Kirakishou?! The doll that had, once upon a time, personally located and captured each and every former Master in record to add to her seedbed? A doll like her would never have allowed such a thing to occur. Not without outside interference. And Suigintou couldn't even begin to fathom what could possibly possess the strength to interfere with the Alice Game.
If, and only if, such a thing was possible, then Suigintou wanted no part of it. Even for defeating Kirakishou, allowing an outsider to interfere with the Alice Game was a level too low to even consider.
But for Shinku and the others? Would they have gone so far, and not told her?
Would her own Medium, Yang Xiao-Long, have done the same?
Why wasn't Yang with her, now? Why was she still with Kirakishou's former Master? She could understand that the two are biological half-siblings, but Suigintou was also well-aware that this very same woman had shot Yang Xiao-Long in the back at one point, all in order to protect Kirakishou.
Why would she choose to spend time with a person like that over Suigintou herself?
"...Severing the Rozen Maiden contract does sound rather suspicious," Sakurada Jun agreed with her, nodding. Suigintou blinked, surprised to see Shinku's Master actually agreeing with her about a topic. "Kirakishou doesn't strike me as a doll to allow her Master's contract to be removed so… easily."
"Easy?" Suiseiseki balked, putting her hands on her hips and giving Jun the stink eye. "You do remember us telling you the part where we all almost go torn apart, right? You even healed us all afterward with your semblance!"
"I remember, but thanks for reminding me about the time when my dolls almost all got destroyed and the recounting of such a story was traumatising to the point where it awakened my semblance," Jun snarked back at the green-clad doll, rolling his eyes. "I'd prefer it if my dolls didn't go and force me to rely on magical superpowers from another world in order to heal them of their injuries, if at all possible."
"R-Right," Suiseiseki faltered, cheeks reddening before she shook her head and opted to glare heatedly at the boy. "Still! We had a lot of trouble, you know! It wasn't such an easy fight like you say."
"...But, it should have been worse," Souseiseki inferred with a curt frown, looking at the lone human in the room. "That is what you are trying to say, yes?"
"Yes," Jun nodded. "Remember, Kirakishou has access to far more energy than she has ever possessed in the previous worlds, either wound or unwound. Simply put, with the amount of energy that she has running through her, I wouldn't have thought that any amount of force could ever hope to sever the contract. And, even if it did, it should have prompted an immediate response from Kirakishou herself."
"Summer Rose did invade," Shinku reminded the boy before trailing off and frowning. "...However, in hindsight, Summer Rose put up far less of a fight than I was led to believe was to be expected from a huntress of her calibre. She was, as Suigintou suggested at the time, disconnected from Kirakishou and Ruby Rose. Without a supply of energy, she was easily defeated. Why, then, would Summer Rose choose to attack? Or, more precisely, why only Summer Rose? Where was Kirakishou throughout the battle? Where is she now?"
All good questions. None of which Suigintou had any ideas towards. To be quite honest, Shinku's grand scheme to invade the N-Field and forcefully remove the Rozen Maiden contract of Kirakishou and Ruby Rose should not have worked, nor should it have been an event without the seventh doll in question being present whatsoever. Kirakishou's appearance, in either Suigintou's assault or Shinku's strike team, would have been the deciding factor in how their respective battles turned out.
Even for the supposed retaliation, sending Summer Rose to assault the Schnee family manor was tantamount to suicide for the false doll. So, why send her in the first place? What had occurred to force such a response from Kirakishou?
"...Clearly, we're in the dark about a great variety of factors," Suigintou huffed, uncomfortable with the situation. "Hopefully Ruby Rose will be able to shed some light on the situation when she wakes. At this point, she's the only link to Kirakishou and the Alice Game that we have, for better or for worse."
"That does, of course, depend on what occurs when Ruby wakes up," Jun reminded them with a shake of his head. "Severing the Rozen Maiden contract could have untold repercussions on the girl. We all saw what happened when we broke Kirakishou's hold over my unwound alternate reality self. It ruined that world, tore it apart, and froze it in a single impossible moment until Suiseiseki and Souseiseki were able to force time to move again using their powers."
"...Why didn't that happen here?" Shinku wondered aloud, shaking her head. "The gravity and complexity of the situation notwithstanding, previous experience dictates that time should have stopped for this world. Instead, the passage of time continues to pass uninterrupted."
Suigintou shook her head. They weren't going to accomplish anything just hanging about in Jun's bedroom and chatting about past events like they were having some kind of weird slumber party or something. It was getting late and, without her case, Suigintou wanted to catch some sleep before the next inevitable situation presented itself. With the idea of resting her physical body in the N-Field a laughably absurd notion given Kirakishou's abilities, she wanted to go and bug Yang's Mother to return them all to her camp.
Well, Yang, Raven, and Suigintou herself. Not the other dolls. They could stay where they are for all she cared.
"Look, there's no point in discussing things without the facts," she explained to the group. "We're all in no condition to bother with anything that does occur, if anything even happens. And despite Jun's semblance, the fact remains that we all still need sleep, even if we don't need our cases in this world. Fighting all night has lasting effects, even on us Rozen Maiden."
"...You would probably feel a lot better if you just let me heal you, you know," Jun pointlessly attempted to persuade her once again, maintaining his stare despite the withering glare she sent his way.
"I'll be fine using Yang's aura to heal myself. I don't need your semblance or your charity, ningen."
Although, while laughably foolish to offer to heal the enemy of his dolls, Suigintou did appreciate the boy's offer. Not that she would ever admit such a thing of course. Jun was oddly sweet even when it was in his best intentions not to be, and Suigintou knew that inevitably her rivalry with Shinku would hurt the boy. There was no point in accepting the charity of someone she would inevitably hurt.
Suiseiseki huffed, acting all the part of the pouty little brat she had always been around Suigintou. "You heard her, Jun. You shouldn't have even offered it in the first place. Just let her be, it's no use."
Refusing to rise to the bait, Suigintou instead moved to focus back on Shinku. "You may wish to get your outfit repaired, as well. I don't particularly care if you want to pointlessly cripple yourself, but the fact remains that it's undignified for a Rozen Maiden to fight while Father's craft is damaged in such a way. And considering the current state of affairs we have all found ourselves in, it is highly likely that we shall be fighting sometime in the immediate future."
Shinku puffed out her cheeks and narrowed her eyes. It reminded her of better times. "Hm. I don't need your advice, Suigintou. My servant is more than capable of repairing my outfit, thank you very much."
"Eeeh?" Jun squawked at the attention, as all the gathered Rozen Maiden in the room turned towards him with searching looks. "Why do I have to do it? And why are you calling me your servant again? I thought we were over that!"
In response, Shinku merely turned towards the boy and moved a ball-jointed hand to daintily rest upon his own hand. Suigintou raised a brow at the development, her other brow soon raising alongside the first as the boy's cheeks darkened to a deep red.
Oho? What's this?
"...You have some experience with sewing, yes?"
Suigintou blinked. Of all the things that she had expected Shinku to say, questioning the boy's skill set had certainly not been among them.
"W-What?" Jun stuttered, looking all the part of a blushing maiden as Shinku continued to capture his attention. From her position, Suigintou was able to spot the grumpy frown on Suiseiseki's lips, while Souseiseki sent a concerned look toward her older twin.
The crimson-clad doll continued, remaining hand-in-hand with her Master as she spoke.
"My clothing was damaged during the battle against the Knight of the White Rose. While your semblance proved more than sufficient in healing the internal injuries, it would appear that is the extent to which your semblance flows. This is insufficient for my needs. I would request that you, personally, repair my clothing."
"M-Me? But… isn't there anything else you can do in order to get your clothes repaired?" Jun stammered, appearing positively scandalised at Shinku's words despite the seemingly innocent request. Suigintou fought the urge to openly smirk at the scene. She was certain that she had seen a similar scene on one of those old detective shows that Megu used to watch in her room. "I-I'm sure that Klein could find-"
Shinku shifted her position, moving her body so that she was sitting and facing Jun entirely, before moving his arm so that it rested over the ruined part of her dress. The boy's frantic words faded into a lilting stammer.
"You are my servant, Jun. There is nobody else that I would trust with this," the statement seemed to surprise Jun into silence. Shinku merely blinked, before shrugging and pawing at her crimson dress, using the boy's own hand to force her garment upward. "I would prefer that you start with the outer layer, before moving onwards to my innerwear. It is-"
The Rozen Maiden was, at best, roughly halfway through pulling off her crimson dress before Jun jumped off the bed and ran out of the room. Shinku watched as the flustered boy departed, a frown growing on her lips as she allowed her dress to fall back down. Oh? Was that disappointment that she saw there? How very interesting.
There was a brief moment of silence as the dolls stared at the space where Jun had once been, before a sudden scuffle drew their attention outside towards the hallway. Had Jun run into someone, perhaps? That was all that Suigintou assumed that it could be. The boy was, after all, probably intelligent enough so as to not find himself crashing into a wall or some such nonsense.
Wordlessly, the dolls all glanced at each other before simultaneously coming to a uniform decision and chasing after the boy. Well, that was what Suigintou assumed, anyway. She was only following them all out of her own idle curiosity.
Rushing through the door, they came face to face with a group of outsiders, clad in militarised gear. There appeared to be five total visitors, with four in what Suigintou assumed to be standardised military outfits belonging to the nation of Atlas, going by the white and blue theme, while the remaining figure was clearly of significantly higher rank.
The woman wore a light blue collared shirt and matching deep blue tie, covered by a white long coat outfitted with military regalia matching the Atlesian military insignia Suigintou had witnessed during her stay in Atlas. Underneath, it appeared that the woman wore dark pants and fingerless gloves, the outfit completed by a pair of thick combat boots.
A cause for visible concern was the two swords that, currently, remained sheathed on the woman's side. Somehow, Suigintou doubted that it would take much provocation for the woman to unsheathe her blades and lead an all-out assault on the Schnee Manor, judging by the downright glacial expression on her face.
"...Rozen Maiden…" cold blue eyes stared at the three girls in hardened recognition. This wasn't good. This woman recognised them. The figure returned her gaze to Sakurada Jun, who had apparently run straight into her when fleeing from Shinku and found himself on the floor, dazed. "Which would mean, by extension, that this would be Sakurada Jun."
A small flicker of movement alerted Suigintou and the others to a little all-too-familiar ring that had immediately drawn the attention of every Rozen Maiden in the room, alongside Sakurada Jun.
It took Suigintou all of half a second to recognise the particular ring that lay resting atop her left-hand ring finger. A Rozen Maiden contract ring. A glance to the side, and Suigintou could see that the other dolls had recognised this particular facet as well.
This woman currently held a contract to a Rozen Maiden. A Rozen Maiden that is currently outside of their particular group, of which the potential candidates could be counted on a single hand. And, now, this woman had come for them.
Suigintou extended her wings immediately, as Meimei manifested beside her, the little artificial spirit floating threateningly around Suigintou herself. The gathered Atlesian soldiers tensed at the movement, rifles cocked and aimed towards her in an instant, which prompted the other Rozen Maiden by her side to spring to action. Petals, gardener's shears, and a gleaming watering can soon made themselves apparent.
To add insult to injury, Jacques Schnee turned the corner and approached the group, the enigmatic Schnee patriarch openly glaring at the Atlesian soldiers.
"Winter! You damn brat! How dare you encroach upon the Schnee family home uninvited and threaten my guests. Stop all of this at once!"
The Atlesian woman, Winter, Suigintou assumed, hadn't moved a muscle during the sudden commotion and certainly hadn't shifted her attention away from the group following the appearance of Jacques Schnee. Her weapon, a strange sword of cutlass sword, remained thankfully sheathed as she stared at Sakurada Jun with an icy gaze.
"...You should know full well, Councilman Schnee, that harbouring a group of dangerous fugitives wanted by the Atlesian Military is most certainly highly illegal, let alone a poor sight for the Schnee Dust Company. Your actions are disgraceful."
"And intimidating a young boy into fearful silence is not?" Jacques demanded, scoffing. He turned to Jun, marching past the group of soldiers even as several weapons were trained his way. "Get up, boy. Do not allow yourself to be frightened by the dogs of the Atlesian military, or their famed toy General."
General?
Suigintou looked to the other dolls for clarification, only to find equal measures of confusion and intrigue surfacing amongst their expressions. Clearly, they were out of their element here.
Wisely, Sakurada Jun obeyed, taking Jacques's offered arm and climbing back up to stand on his own two feet, standing behind the Schnee patriarch as he continued to level his ire at the Atlesian military figures. Shinku and the -seiseki twins tentatively approached their Master, while Suigintou reluctantly trailed behind the other dolls.
She knew, full well, that a prolonged battle was out of the question. After their own battles, each of the Rozen Maiden needed some time in order to rest and recuperate. Especially Suigintou, loathe as she was to admit it. There simply wasn't much of a chance for the dolls at the moment, if they were forced to battle an unknown assailant.
Even with Jun's semblance, the boy was still a liability. His ability to heal would only see him targeted by their enemies. Or, alternatively, endangering Jun would provoke his Rozen Maiden into taking unnecessary risks. Much the same, unfortunately, would be likely to happen with her own Master. There was simply too much on the line.
Glancing off to the side, she looked in search of a possible measure of escape. There weren't any windows in this particular corridor, however, there was a side-facing window in Jun's bedroom. She would need to get the other Rozen Maiden and Jun back into the room and the group could mount an escape if the need arose.
...Or, alternatively, she could use the N-Field. However, Suigintou remained cautious in opening an N-Field portal so soon after the group had defeated and destabilised Kirakishou through her contract with Ruby Rose. Kirakishou's dominion over the N-Field was neigh-absolute at the best of times, and with the girl having just lost her Master, there was no telling what it would be like were Suigintou to give her even the slightest possible opening.
"Despite the relative tenseness of the situation, we did not come here for Sakurada Jun, nor his Rozen Maiden," General Winter spoke with a crease in her brow, icy-steel eyes moving to lock with those of the enigmatic Schnee patriarch. "However, were you to have attended the recent council meetings following your rise to Councilman status, you would know that any Rozen Maiden sighted in the vicinity of Atlas territory are to be reported immediately."
What?
A glance at Shinku, wide-eyed and quite uncomfortable with the words just spoken, confirmed that which Suigintou herself had deduced. The Atlesian Military as a whole, or at least a vast majority, had learned of the Alice Game. In the span of a couple of short sentences, General Winter had just revealed that the Alice Game had grown far larger than what had occurred in either the wound or unwound world.
"You of all people do not need to lecture me on state secrets," Jacques Schnee scoffed dismissively, uncaring in the face of a glacial glare being sent his way. "However, if you and your thugs would have remained in the waiting room as requested, you would understand that the situation is not so black-and-white as it would seem."
General Winter narrowed her eyes and marched forward, while Jacques Schnee copied the movement, the two figureheads meeting in the middle of a tense bout between separate groups.
"You do not understand what you're dealing with, Father," what? They're related? "The Rozen Maiden are no mere tools that can be used to build your corporate empire. The Alice Game will bring disaster to Remnant if we do not control things. You must have already heard what has transpired in Vale, yes? There's no way you couldn't know."
Everyone knew what had happened in Vale. Kirakishou and her damn N-Field had taken over the entire landscape. It was the whole reason why they were even here in the first place. What in the world was this person talking about, to assume otherwise?
Jacques Schnee crossed his arms, harrumphing. "I will not stand idly by and be belittled in the middle of my hallway like some ignorant child by my own daughter," Jacques glared fiercely at the Atlesian military general, and Suigintou found herself minutely impressed at the elder man for remaining so overwhelmingly confident in the face of so many trained soldiers. "Let us adjourn, and sort out this mess," he paused, before casting his gaze over the soldiers surrounding him. "And for Oum's sake, put all of your damn weapons away. By dust. Bunch of thugs, the lot of you."
Kirakishou observed the outside world through her N-Field, crawling across a vast network of white vines woven across her Palace of Beginnings shaped over Beacon Academy and Vale. A great many minds lay bare to her, little fleeting unconscious visitors to her vast garden. Their wondering selves were dwarfed by the colossal amount of seedlings already present within her flourishing N-Field, yet still, Kirakishou found herself craving that which they took for granted.
Reality, Kirakishou had discovered, was somewhat fantastical in nature when one had been given the chance to experience it for any prolonged length of time. Having walked the world alongside Ruby Rose, Kirakishou had been much too preoccupied swooning over her beloved Master to realise the momentous opportunity she had been granted by the as-of-yet unexplained phenomena that had seen Kirakishou transposed into the world of Remnant. It was a truly beautiful opportunity, to walk amongst the world alongside a treasured partner, and Kirakishou craved to experience such a blessing once again. To see such a treasured feeling taken for granted by so many people was audacious, bordering on utterly foolish.
However, how could the people hope to understand what they could lose, if they had always possessed it in the first place?
The people, both humans and faunus, those denizens of Remnant were a curious bunch. Compared to the relative monotony she had experienced in the wound and unwound worlds populated by Sakurada Jun, the people housed within Remnant led such interesting lives.
Even now that her precious N-Field had swallowed up their land and severed a majority of the local continent, the people still visited on occasion. Curious minds, seeking answers. Following her impromptu return to the astral state, the landmass that her Palace of Beginnings had once stood upon had been reclaimed by the sea, as the world sought balance for her fractured state.
However, this great change in structure had not gone unnoticed. Outsiders had come to rest their weary selves upon the once-great location that had housed her Palace of Beginnings, resting their physical selves as their astral selves were drawn deep into her immaterial Palace of Beginnings.
Those of military might had chanced upon a freshly-made location seemingly free of grimm and quickly sought to turn it into their stronghold, their floating bastion of strength and prosperity. Or, at the very least, that was what they all believed in their dreams. They were a proud people, seeming almost desperate to survive. Kirakishou would ensure that she used their desperation to achieve her own desperate desire to be reunited with Ruby Rose. For, at this point, Kirakishou felt like she would do anything just to see her Master's smiling face once again, even if she had to play with all the toys in Remnant just to accomplish such.
From the minds of those she touched, Kirrakishou was able to gather some degree of understanding regarding those that now floated in what was once her Palace of Beginnings. An Atlesian military remnant once based in the port city of Argus had been chased out of their base of operations and summarily happened across information regarding Vale. Forced out of their bastion of power by a sudden onslaught of trained assassins and beasts of dark, the former Atlesian military soldiers had found themselves journeying to the continent of Anima. And, upon a chance encounter at the fringe of her N-Field, they had been among the first of those to discover the empty space left behind by the removal of Kirakishou's Palace of Beginnings. The group had set up something of a floating fortress using a great many salvaged navel vehicles and debris, constructing several rudimentary devices to avoid detection by outside forces.
Their leader, one 'Caroline Cordovin', held one of the most stalwart minds she had ever seen throughout the entirety of her long life. Even now, despite numerous attempts on her part, Kirakishou had been unable to so much as tentatively nudge the woman in the slightest direction. It was fascinating, truly fascinating. Every little immaterial vine that she sent, each and every one of them, had been torn apart not through callousness or disregard, but through sheer bullheaded ignorance. Her Master would have loved to have played with such a person, as their wills clashed and her Master emerged ever stronger. And, even if she didn't, then Kirakishou could have simply had another seedling to occupy her N-Field.
Obscenely full as it was, at the moment. Such an issue would not have mattered were her Master to be beside her. They could have simply shared nutrients, after all.
...Ruby Rose did not lay among any of those currently residing inside Kirakishou's formerly-physical Palace, her beloved Master had seemingly been stolen away and hidden elsewhere, outside of Kirakishou's sphere of influence. It was a painful, lonely experience, to spend time without her Master, yet Kirakishou contented herself with the knowledge that she was continuously working to locate and return to Ruby Rose posthaste. All of the pieces were there, the little dolls that would lead her to Ruby, all of them lay within the world of reality. All she needed to do was spread her influence, and someone, anyone, would eventually give Kirakishou what she needed in order to return to the woman who held her rosa mystica. The one she loved, and the one who loved her in return.
Kirakishou would return to her Master, and they would embrace. She had to. Ruby Rose meant everything to her.
And so, she continued to pull herself along her makeshift web, crawling throughout the vast network of vines threaded throughout her N-Field variant of Vale and subtly pulling the strings of all the malleable toys that unwittingly entered her dominion. Regrettably, she could not grant them a permanent position within her seedbed, occupied as it was, but she would at the very least remain content with the fact that they were being used for a noble purpose.
With her Palace of Beginnings practically overflowing with aura, Kirakishou needed to expend the energy somehow. She was, effectively, sitting on more aura than she had ever held before, now that her N-Field had been forcibly returned to a dematerialised state. All of the aura that had once been used to maintain her Palace's grip on reality was free to be utilised.
All that she needed, of course, was an outlet.
Pulling herself along, Kirakishou delved deeper and deeper into her N-Field, crossing a vast distance with nothing but a smile on her face and a happy hum occasionally spilling from her lips as she thought of her precious Master. Clouds of unconscious thoughts and perceptions passed her by, as the Rozen Maiden idly sent her tiny little vines through the connection, allowing the vines to seek out important individuals as she continued along her path.
Soon, Kirakishou would be reunited with Ruby Rose. All that she needed was the right little toy to get her back into the physical world. And, if she needed to play with a bunch of other little toys in order to find the right one, then so be it.