Atmung

A Rozen Maiden fanfic by Aondehafka

Disclaimer: the characters and concepts of Rozen Maiden are owned by Peach Pit, not me. This story is based on the anime, not the manga.

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Chapter 5: On the Defensive

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Shinku blinked, staring at the view before her. "This is... unexpected."

Suisei Seki was less restrained. "What happened here? It's all... it's..." She stopped, groped for words, then sputtered, "It's halfway decent!"

"Please keep your voice down," Shinku requested, even as a smile tugged at her lips. "What if Suigin Tou heard you?"

"What if she did?" the Gardener asked. "You're here to look for her, aren't you?"

"And ask for her help," Shinku pointed out. "That is pushing our luck far enough already. We do not need to make things worse by criticizing her dream world." She glanced around and muttered, just loud enough for Suisei Seki to hear, "Even if covering all that dreariness up was the best decision she ever made."

Suisei Seki stifled a giggle. "At least she'll be easy to spot now. Her dress doesn't exactly blend in anymore."

"Mm." Shinku nodded her head, staring around at the snowflakes drifting peacefully down. At that leisurely pace it must have been falling for a very long time, to cover all the old scenery so completely. There were still a few places where glimpses could be seen of the underlying buildings, but for the most part everything was covered in a clean, soft blanket of white.

"It's much brighter, too," Suisei Seki added. She looked upwards at the clouds above. "I can't see any of the upside-down city that used to be there. And with so much light coming through... maybe it's gone entirely?" The last traces of amusement were gone from her face now, replaced by worry. "You know... this doesn't really seem like Suigin Tou at all."

"I am not so sure," Shinku countered. "It's true that things look very different. But... there is still no life. No sunlight. No sign of the sky, or a welcome mat for guests." She was quiet for a few moments more, then said, "It's different... but it still feels like Suigin Tou to me."

"I hope so." Suisei Seki frowned anxiously. "Wait a minute... didn't Jun say when you and he met Bara Suishou here, it was snowing then? And that it was Laplace who did it, not Suigin Tou?"

"Yes, that is true. It was obvious at a glance that his power was at work then. But that's not true any more; this snow is entirely Suigin Tou's."

"She better not have been brainwashed onto his side or something!" Suisei Seki exclaimed, her fists clenching.

Shinku shook her head. "Not a chance. Not after Bara Suishou's deception. Suigin Tou would break into a million pieces before she let anyone else pull her away from Father's ideal.

"And Laplace was in no shape to risk confronting her again," she added. "At least not anytime soon. He only got away with his miserable life by dropping the Rosae Mystica."

"I know," Suigin Tou said, looking down. "And if there had been three of us chasing him, we could have rescued them before they were lost in N-space and still caught him too..."

Shinku placed a gentle hand on her sister's shoulder. "That's not true, you know. I told you that he did not show himself until Suigin Tou and I pretended to argue and go our separate ways. If there had been three of us, I doubt he would have appeared at all."

"I guess." Despite the reluctance of her words, Suisei Seki's face brightened, and she stood a little taller. "Hurry up and go find her, Shinku—I want to get out of here, not stand around holding the door open."

"All right." Shinku rose into the air, soaring as high as she could without losing herself in the clouds. She peered around, searching for any sign of the First Doll. Nothing obvious stood out. However, far off in the distance, she thought she could see a break in the lumps and bumps of the snow-covered city. She began flying toward it, moving steadily but not so quickly that she might miss anything closer to hand.

If Suigin Tou was aware of her presence, the First Doll wasn't ready to admit it yet. Shinku covered the distance without interruption to find her eyes hadn't deceived her. The abandoned city did not continue forever; instead it stopped at the edge of a long stretch of ground. The space was empty right in front of her, but as her gaze swept forward it encountered ridges of cold grey stone, breaking through the soil and eventually rising into a knobby crag that reached toward the clouds.

Turning her gaze away and looking right and left, she saw that the city's edge didn't describe a straight line. Instead, it curved forward in either direction, as if the space ahead of her was an island in the endless city. The snow fell just as thickly outside the city as inside, leaving it unclear why the ground was mostly bare. 'Perhaps it's a sign that the city is what she wants to forget,' Shinku mused hopefully as she watched ten thousand snowflakes settle to the ground and nine thousand, nine hundred, and ninety-three of them vanish without a trace. Moved by an uncertain impulse, she landed and began walking across the intervening distance, rather than simply flying to the mountain.

"Shinku..." The voice echoed from all around, and gave the Fifth Doll only a heartbeat of warning. In the next instant the falling snow intensified to blinding thickness, and the next after that it swirled around her, carried on a whirlwind.

"Suigin Tou!" Shinku called out, squinting and shielding her eyes with her arm. "I came to talk about something important! Can we please not play these games?"

"Let me think about it for a moment." No sooner had the words finished than the wind died and the whirling snow pulled back in all directions, vanishing as quickly as it had arrived.

Shinku gasped, taking an involuntary step backward. Most of the light had left with the snow, but she could still see through the sudden darkness. Towering above her at three times Enju's height were cold, glimmering statues of angels more grand and militant than anything the Rennaissance had produced. They weren't posed as if to strike, but their sheer majesty and presence were more than she was prepared for—especially in the dream of a doll whose prior motif had been pitiful, broken toys.

"Oh my... Shinku, that timid expression is adorable," Suigin Tou's voice lilted. The snow returned as if carried on the rise and fall of her tones, whirling around Shinku and cutting off her view of the ice-angels. "What shall I show you next, I wonder?"

"Laplace's grave would be nice," Shinku fired back. "That is what I came to talk about, after all."

"Very well. If a guest doesn't want the grand tour, giving it anyway wouldn't be very polite."

The curtains of snow drew back again, though this time flakes continued to fall and there was no obscuring darkness. Shinku found herself and her sister three-quarters of the way up the ridge she'd been approaching, in a sheltered nook that hadn't been visible from below. It looked as if something had chewed a large V-shaped wedge out of the stone to form this open-air grotto, and Shinku found herself wondering whether Suigin Tou ever needed to feed those dragons she could create out of her wings.

It was only an idle thought, though, and one she barely noticed as it flitted through her mind. Most of her attention was focused on what lined the sides of the cleft—exquisite rosebushes formed from snow and ice, whose flowers glowed a fierce blue. Looking closer, she realized that Suigin Tou had somehow fixed her cerulean flames inside the blooms without harming them.

Not even the angels of a minute past had prepared her to see such beauty associated with the First Doll. "Those are very impressive, Suigin Tou," Shinku allowed after a few moments had passed.

Suigin Tou blinked, looking unsure whether she dared accept the compliment. "H-hmph! Your frightened mask was better than this soppy, dazed expression," she said. As if realizing the lack of conviction her words had carried, she frowned and said more harshly, "So what did you want, anyway?"

"To discuss the matter of Kira Kishou and Laplace, of course," Shinku said, tearing her gaze away from the roses. She still had no idea how Suigin Tou could have managed that trick with the fire, but there were more important things to think about. "We nearly managed to kill him the last time we worked together. I believe we should keep on cooperating, until this last threat is ended."

"Let me make myself clearer," Suigin Tou said. "Why are you bothering to ask? You can't have forgotten last time. All you had to do was come to me and tell me what was happening, that we needed to run Laplace to ground, and I joined you immediately." She smiled cruelly. "You have to know I'm ready to finish the job.

"And if this is about Kira Kishou, well, there's no need to worry there either." Suigin Tou glowered for a moment. "She wasn't there for any of the rabbit's plot with Enju. She hasn't seen what we have, and it would be wrong to hold that against her. I'll be sufficiently gentle when I pound the truth of her foolishness and misunderstanding through her head."

"That is all well and good," Shinku said evenly. "But it doesn't change one important thing."

"And what is that, oh wise and learnéd little sister?"

"Is it not obvious? That Laplace has hidden himself away to lick his wounds, and we have no idea where to find him or Kira Kishou. Not until one of them makes another move, I mean."

"I still don't see your point."

Shinku took a deep breath. "I want us to be ready when either of them strikes again. We cannot afford to leave anyone isolated, where Kira Kishou and Laplace could attack together. You or I could handle ourselves well enough to escape and get backup, but if Kanaria were targeted..."

"What do you need me for?" Suigin Tou snapped. "I may have to accept it, that Father wants even the weaklings to strive for Alice, but your big happy family is certainly enough to support each other or that poseur!"

"Kanaria was just one example," Shinku said patiently. "You obviously have not thought this through. Even more effective than targeting us... would be attacking our mediums."

She'd said it knowing full well that it was a low blow, but she was still surprised to see the First Doll actually gasp and take a step backward, looking away into the distance with her face horrorstruck and her hands clutched across her chest. 'Perhaps I should have broken it more gently after all,' Shinku mused. 'Well, best not leave her in such a state.' "As you certainly knew already, Jun has returned to school. That means—"

"What do you mean, 'as I certainly knew already'?" Suigin Tou demanded, shocked out of her previous shock. "Do you think I have nothing better to do than keep tabs on you dimwits?!"

"I see. Well, at least you do not look like you're about to faint now," Shinku murmured, hiding a smile. "At any rate, I need to watch over Jun's school in case he should be targeted. Suisei Seki will do the same for Nori. Sousei Seki will watch out for her master and his wife, and Kanaria and Hina Ichigo for Micchan-san.

"We need to divide ourselves like that, to be ready for an attack on any front," she continued. "But necessary or not, it is also risky, for the very reason I already pointed out. We do not know for certain that Kira Kishou is ready to fight alongside Laplace, but it is certainly possible. If the two of them strike at one weak link, we have to be ready to reinforce whoever is targeted."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Suigin Tou asked. "Animate a thousand ordinary dolls as cannon fodder?"

Shinku blinked. 'Trust Suigin Tou to immediately come up with an effective but heartless idea, one that nobody else spotted at all.' Aloud, she said, "No. That would complicate things too far. This is a matter to be resolved by only the Rozen Maidens." 'And Jun, but I am not going to tell her about the powers he's learning to use if I don't have to.' "The problem is being able to contact each other immediately at need, and we know there is a way to do that. Thanks to you, Suigin Tou."

"To me?" Suigin Tou frowned and pondered this.

"Yes," Shinku said. "When you—"

"You're talking about exchanging our artificial spirits, aren't you?" Suigin Tou interrupted, evidently not in the mood to listen any longer. "Because even when I had control of Amethyst Dream and Lenpika, they still held a connection to Suisei Seki and Sousei Seki. If I hadn't held them tightly, they could have communicated no matter how far apart they were. So if each of us passed her spirit on to the next in line, that would make a circuit where anyone could reach everyone instantly."

"Very impressive," the Fifth Doll said sourly. Especially since it had taken her more than a day, and help from the Gardeners to boot, to come up with the plan Suigin Tou had so effortlessly divined. Shinku fought off memories of how badly Sousei Seki had shown her up the one time she wore her Kun-Kun Costume Set, and said, through teeth that were only slightly gritted, "Yes. That seems like the best approach."

"Hmmm..." Suigin Tou said, finally smiling again. "Shinku, I might be willing to go along with it. But..."

"But?" Shinku repeated frostily.

"I have two conditions. One, that you are the one giving me your spirit."

"I had already planned to," Shinku said with a sniff. "And that you would give Mei Mei to Sousei Seki."

"That's fine. And for the second condition..." Suigin Tou's smile widened. "You give me the fight I've wanted for so long. No more dodging or retreating or hiding behind your supposed idea of what Father really wants." She stepped forward, her wings rustling and growing larger. "I won't break you, but I've been waiting a long time for this."

"Have you really?" Shinku asked coolly, even as one corner of her mind flickered across the dimensions separating her from Jun.

He was seated on the floor of his bedroom, his eyes closed and his will focused. The ring on his finger shone stronger than any electric light in the Sakurada household, as Jun drew out power from himself, spun it quickly in an arc around him, then phased it back into his body seconds later. The exercise stretched his limits and promoted growth as effectively as burning power did, without the weakness that too much burning would cause.

A small, grim smile spread across Shinku's lips as she continued, "Then I accept both your conditions."

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"The quiet night continues," Megu sang softly, "...this is when it should be... Oh! Suigin Tou!" It wasn't surprising to see the First Doll appear when she sang, rising up from below to perch on her forever-open window, but Suigin Tou's appearance was certainly cause for startlement. Her dress wasn't actually torn or stained, but it—as well as the doll wearing it—looked quite rumpled and battered. "Are you all right?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Suigin Tou muttered grimly. 'Damn Shinku anyway! I'm more skilled than her now, I'm certain of it! But she still managed to win by pure brute force!' She seethed wordlessly for a few moments more, then pushed the worst of her frustration and anger away as she turned to Megu. 'With as much power as she was throwing around, she probably left that medium of hers half-dead from exhaustion.'

"I..." Megu said worriedly. "Well... Did you have a fight?" she continued once she'd scraped together enough determination to disregard Suigin Tou's stated wish. "You should have used more of my life, Angel-san..."

"Megu, I already told you—" Suigin Tou jerked up short. "Wait a minute... used more of your life?"

"That's right." Megu held up her rose ring. "It only glowed for a few seconds. I didn't even feel tired or strained after it stopped. But I could feel the energy leaving me. Ah... if you did have a fight, and if you didn't win because you needed more energy than you took, then..."

Suigin Tou was no longer listening. With a wordless cry of fear she darted to Megu's bedside, crouching down beside her and staring desperately. First the cloth covering Megu's frail chest, then the skin, then the tissues beneath... each barrier in turn fell before the First Doll's stare, allowing her to gaze deeper than medical science could reach.

Nearly a minute later, she finally dared relax. The wheel of shadow and cerulean fire that she had placed into her medium still spun. It was slower than before, the energies less than they had been, but that was no surprise—the construct needed regular reinforcement to keep from spinning down to nothing. The drain she hadn't even realized she'd done had certainly accelerated the entropic process, but the 'pacemaker' still held nearly half its strength. Carefully and tenderly she poured more into it, bringing it back to full power.

With that done, she stood upright. "It's been three weeks since you felt even a twinge from your heart. Isn't that right, Megu?"

"...Um, yes," the girl answered hesitantly. "That seems about right. It's been many years since I've had so many good days in a row. Or what the nurses call good days, anyway." Megu stared at Suigin Tou for a little longer, then looked down at her chest. "Suigin Tou, did you...?"

"Good." Suigin Tou turned away for a moment, staring out the window and down to a nearby tree, where once she had seen Laplace gazing up at her and her medium. She snarled silently down, then composed her features and turned back to Megu. "Come on," she continued, pulling the I.V. out of the girl's arm. "We're getting out of here."

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Author's Notes

Hopefully it doesn't seem too out-of-character, to have Shinku so willing to kill Laplace. The events of Traumend showed us that she makes a fairly poor killer (to the point where she deliberately left Suigin Tou's Rosa Mystica alone at the end of the first season, in the hope that Rozen would bring her back). All the same, I suspect demon rabbits might be an exception to the rule, especially ones who escalate things as far as Laplace has here.

As for Suigin Tou, she'll never be my favorite doll, but she might just be the one most deserving of sympathy. This story isn't about her, but I have many potential follow-up ideas set in the universe of this fanfic, and depending on how many of those ultimately get written you could be seeing a lot more of Suigin Tou.