Number five is alive! And here I present the first chapter of my horror episode. It's just a shame I couldn't have it set on Halloween, but I already had a recent episode set on Valentines Day.

Disclaimer: The author makes no promise that the following episode will be at all funny. In fact it probably won't be, but maybe you'll be nice and lie about it, and tell her that it actually is. And maybe you'll also give her lots of chocolate, because she hasn't had any in a while and she's starting to get kinda annoying...

Rozen Maiden: Märchen

EPISODE 5

Start of Darkness

It all started when the credits began to roll, which is an odd place for something to begin, but then it was an odd night.

Earlier that day Nori had suggested that Tomoe and Hinaichigo have a sleep over, as they were all going to stay up late and watch a scary movie. Souseiseki was there too. She was now permanently living at the Sakurada house after a tearful farewell to grandmother and grandfather. She and Suiseiseki nevertheless promised to visit them often. Barasuishou was staying the night at Micchan's place with Kanaria. The reason for this was a long one, but the short of it was that Jun had given Micchan Barasuishou for the day to stop her from bugging him. The chance to play with and dress up a new living doll was more than enough to keep her occupied, though Jun felt a brief twinge of guilt at subjecting Barasuishou to such a fate, especially since he was supposed to be looking after her. The Enju doll herself seemed to have no opinion on the matter one way or the other.

The scary film they'd selected to watch was the Ring. Considering that the dolls had been almost terrified by a mildly frightening episode of Kunkun once, this movie had the approximate chilling effect of being dropped into the middle of Antarctica whilst wearing nothing but a pair of shades. Tomoe and Jun were the only two present that didn't feel as if a white-hot brand of flaming terror had been seared across their soul. The fact that they'd watched the film incredibly late and with the lights off had only served to amplify the trauma the others had endured.

"Is it ... is it finished? Can Hina open her eyes now?" Hina was on the verge of tears, and had been clutching Shinku's dress for the last half an hour, trembling occasionally as the sounds of the film had threatened to make her scream.

"That was horrible, that was absolutely horrible!" Suiseiseki complained, "I swear if I ever watch another human movie again it will be too soon!" She was holding on tightly to Souseiseki as if she were a comforting plushie. Even Souseiseki was visibly shaken, and didn't object to the fact that her sister was so squashed up to her.

The same could not be said for Jun, who'd had to endure his sister getting uncomfortably close over the course of the film. As events got progressively more frightening he had to outright pry her off himself before Tomoe got the wrong idea about them. It was downright embarrassing, and in hindsight he probably should have picked a better place to sit.

"Nori, the film is over now. You can let go of me. Seriously. Nori!"

"Ohhh, Jun-kun!" Nori wailed. She was holding onto her little brother's arm tightly enough to make his eyes water, and looked as if she would rather chew through the furniture than let go. Jun gave her an exasperated sigh.

"How is it that you're older than me but you're the one who's scared?"

"That's because you are a boy of unusual courage, Jun," Shinku said abruptly, smoothing the creases from her dress where Hina had been wringing it. Jun blinked at her, surprised by the compliment. The moment was unfortunately ruined by Suiseiseki, who gave a sharp laugh.

"As if! The puny runt's courage is as small as his teeny tiny-"

"Hey! At least I didn't just spend the last hour and a half cowering into the cushions because of a dumb film!"

"-tree! What was that? I so was not cowering! Take that back, you!"

The argument was interrupted when Tomoe found the light switch, bathing the living room in a soft, safe glow. It served to take the edge off the accumulated fear, but it was still there, lurking in forefront of their minds. Outside everything was unnaturally still and quiet. Deathly so.

"I think we should all go to bed now, it's really late," said Tomoe, ever the voice of reason. Jun heartily agreed and looked forward to getting his head down. He got up, or at least tried to, and found that Nori was still holding on to him. She looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"Jun, would it be okay if I slept in your room tonight?"

Jun finished brushing his teeth and shut the bathroom door behind him, before slowly padding up the stairs towards his bedroom. Nori would not be staying in his room. He'd had to remind her that they'd made a bed up in her room for Tomoe, so she wouldn't be alone anyway. It was annoying how clingy she could be sometimes, though Tomoe said she thought it was rather endearing.

Stifling a yawn, Jun pushed the door to his room open and stepped in. He blinked and stared across at his bed. He then blinked again, his eyes going wider the second time, as if trying to assess the reality of what they were seeing.

"Close the door Jun, you're letting a draft in."

That was Shinku. She was not in her case like the rest of the dolls. There was a good reason for that. It was just a reason that Jun was having trouble wrapping his shell-shocked mind around.

Shinku ... was in his bed.

"Well, Jun? Are you going to stand there all night like a statue, or will you come to bed?"

Various parts of his brain were fusing together and sending conflicting messages that threatened to deprive him of his sanity. Shinku was in his bed. In his bed. She was in his bed. And she was undressed! She sat there in her undergarments, the covers pulled loosely up about her, her expression as blank as if she were drinking tea or reading a book.

What. The. Hell. !

He pointed at her accusingly. "W-what the heck are you doing in my bed?"

"What anyone does in bed. Sleeping. At least once you have finished gawping like a stunned fish."

Jun shook his head, just in case this was all some kind of horror-movie induced hallucination. It wasn't. If only. "But ... you're a doll!"

"Yes?"

"You're supposed to sleep in your case."

"Tonight I feel like sleeping in a bed. Is that a problem?"

"Yeah, a big problem. Just where am I supposed to sleep?"

Shinku looked away from him and pulled the covers up a little tighter. "Right here, of course," she said with complete seriousness. Jun almost fainted there and then.

"I can't sleep in the same bed as you!"

Shinku regarded him again with her icy blue eyes, her face as still as a frozen lake. "Why ever not?"

He stopped. She shouldn't have asked that. It should have been obvious. What had happened to reality? Had someone stolen it and replaced it with a cheap knock off? He pressed the palm of his hand against his face and struggled to avoid blushing for what had to be the millionth time in his life. "Because you're a girl."

"Really now, Jun, your powers of observation are remarkable," Shinku said with actual honest-to-goodness sarcasm, "Detective Kunkun would be impressed."

Realisation dawned on Jun. He lowered his hand and grinned at the doll. "Wait a second, I know what this is about - you're scared!"

Shinku narrowed her eyes slightly. "I haven't the faintest idea what you mean."

"You totally are! You're just like Nori - you don't want to sleep by yourself because the movie frightened you so much. Haha!" Relief flooded through his system like a prescription strength painkiller. It was short lived however, because at that moment Suiseiseki burst out of her case, her breathing heavy.

"It's no good dammit! I just can't sleep! Souseiseki! Souseiseki, wake up!"

Souseiseki opened the lid of her case and peered out groggily, evidently a doll who could drift off to sleep at the drop of a hat. She rubbed her eyes. "What? What's wrong?"

Suiseiseki clutched the rim of her case and leaned over towards her sibling. She was still scared and was trying to cover it up by being angry. "Thanks to that stupid movie the puny human made us watch, I can't get to sleep. I need to do something!"

"Hina can't sleep either," Hinaichigo whined, springing out of her case. She was visibly shaking, and held the bulky form of Mr Alligator tightly against herself for protection.

"Geez, all of you?" said Jun. This proved to be a rather stupid move, because it caused the three dolls to look at him. And then look at Shinku. Jun noticed them looking and started. "Hey, wait, this isn't what it-"

"Aren't you going to turn the light out?" asked Tomoe. Nori was staring at the light switch, clutching the covers of her bed for what little comfort they offered. She didn't want to turn the light out because then it would be dark, and once it was dark anything could happen. The phone could ring with a message telling her she only had a week left to live. Something could crawl out of the television and come after her. Anything!

"Umm..."

"It's okay," said Tomoe, adjusting the covers of her own bed, "leave it on if you like, I don't mind."

Nori looked from Tomoe to the light switch. She knew she wouldn't be able to get any actual sleep with it on, but then she also knew that she was so scared she wouldn't get any sleep with it off either.

"Hey, Tomoe?"

"Yes?"

Nori swallowed and looked at her with a kind of sheepish embarrassment. "Umm, I don't suppose you'd mind sleeping with me tonight? Only, I'm still kinda spooked from watching that film, you know?" Tomoe stared at her for a long moment, prompting Nori to clasp her hands together and lean forwards. "Please?"

"Okay, I guess so."

Nori smiled and shuffled over to give Tomoe some room as she climbed into the bed. "Thanks Tomoe," she said, breathing a sigh of relief, "You're so brave. Didn't the film scare you at all? I had to bite my hand to stop from screaming at the end there." She held her hand out towards Tomoe to show her the faint teeth marks that were still visible. Tomoe smirked a little.

"So I see. To tell you the truth, I wasn't scared at all. Being around you guys makes me feel safe."

"Really?" Nori was surprised. Twice now Tomoe had almost died thanks to the Rozen Maiden dolls, and yet she felt safe around them? Strange. She reached for the light switch but stopped when something occurred to her. "You know, Tomoe..."

"Hmm?"

"If you want someone to talk to ... about Jun? I'm here for you."

Tomoe said nothing. Nori watched her closely. She seemed thoughtful, although it was hard to say with Tomoe. You could take a bunch of snapshots of the girl and label each one with a different mood, and they would all look the same.

"There's nothing to talk about, we're just friends," Tomoe said at last. Her tone of voice was as neutral as her facial expressions, and Nori didn't quite have Jun's knack for reading her. She sighed.

"I know you gave him chocolates last week, and on the same day he confessed his love for Shinku. Loudly, from what I've heard. That can't have been all that easy on you."

"I'm fine."

"Are you? You and Jun have been friends with each other since the day you could both talk, and now you gave him chocolates on Valentines Day. You must have feelings for him."

Tomoe gave a frustrated sigh and turned to her. "What do you want from me?"

Nori was momentarily taken back, but recovered and leaned closer to Tomoe, concern evident in her features. "I want you to tell someone how you feel! You're always bottling things up and that can't be good for you. I'm worried about you, Tomoe."

Tomoe was about to tell Nori not to, that she was fine, but something stopped her. Perhaps it was the fact that she was not fine. And yes, it was nice having someone worry about her. She needed to talk, but that was something she never really felt confident with doing. Except with Jun, and even then only just. She stared at the covers in front of herself, trying to put her feelings into coherent words.

"Jun and I are just friends. I wanted us to be more than that, but ... he's in love with Shinku. And she's in love with him. Nothing is going to change that, so I'm just going to go on being his friend. That's all I can do. And maybe..." she hesitated, stumbling across one particularly jumbled knot of feelings that she found almost impossible to articulate, "Maybe it's for the best."

"What do you mean?"

Tomoe frowned and tried again to translate how she felt, but there was something that was just too confusing for her to understand. Or maybe just too scared. She sighed. "Nothing."

Nori was as sure as she could be that Tomoe was feeling down then, and so chose to wrap her arms around her in what she hoped was a comforting embrace. "Oh Tomoe, I'm sorry things worked out this way. You're a really great person and you've always been a good friend to Jun. If there's ever anything I can do you have tell me, all right?"

Before Tomoe could answer the bedroom door was opened, and there stood Jun. He stared at them for a long moment, aware that he was looking at his best friend and his sister in bed together, hugging. It also occurred to him that he should have knocked first. He blinked as Nori let go of Tomoe and both girls stared back at him. There was a strained pause before Jun spoke.

"You know, after what just happened to me, I'm not even going to say anything."

"What's wrong, Jun?" his sister asked. She got her answer when Hinaichigo appeared and wrapped herself around Jun's leg. He winced, as that was where Suiseiseki had fiercely kicked him just moments ago. Hina's big green eyes broadcast her frightened state of mind to the entire room like an emergency news bulletin.

"Hina's really really scared!" she informed them, just in case they had any doubts. Jun rolled his eyes and looked back up at his sister.

"Yeah, that. The dolls can't sleep. We need to do something."

Nori clapped her hands together as inspiration struck with remarkable speed. "Oh! I know! Why don't we all have a midnight snack?"

"Milk and cookies?" suggested Tomoe. The barest hint of a smile emerged on Hinaichigo's worried face.

"Unyuu?"

Jun leaned his head to one side and shrugged. "Sure, why not. It's Friday, so it's not like we have school tomorrow."

As Nori and Tomoe prepared a late night snack for everyone, Souseiseki watched Shinku enter the living room, adjusting her dress. The Gardener smirked just a little and wandered over to her.

"Shinku, were you really going to sleep in Jun's bed tonight?" she asked incredulously.

"And if I was?" Shinku replied, flushing. Souseiseki reached over and helped her tie one of her ribbons.

"I guess I was just curious. Ever since you and Jun admitted your true feelings for one another, we've all been wondering what you intend to do about it."

Shinku thanked her for her help and smoothed her dress down, before considering the question. "I confess I haven't given the matter much thought."

Souseiseki eyed her sceptically. "I find that hard to believe. Well, either way I'm glad that Jun cares so deeply for you."

"Hey everyone, come and get it!" Nori shouted from the kitchen. They all helped themselves to a plate of chocolate chip cookies and a cool glass of milk, before sitting themselves down in front of the television again. This time the room was brightly lit and the TV was playing an episode of the Kunkun show from the DVD that Jun had brought down from upstairs. Shinku had the entire collection on her shelf, and insisted on handling the discs with extreme care.

"Please take care Jun, I do not wish the surface to become scratched," she had told him as he loaded the disc in question into the player. He had been careful, he always was, and she still gave him an earful every time. Did she think he would forget or something?

Within ten minutes everyone was feeling a lot better, and the rank sense of fear that had climbed into their heads started to dissipate. Jun was just thinking that he might get some sleep tonight after all, when the television began to act up. The image on the screen jumped and filled with electronic snow, whilst the speakers spat out intermittent bursts of static.

"As I suspected," said Shinku, "your clumsiness has damaged one of my precious Detective Kunkun discs."

"Uh Shinku, I don't think it's a problem with the disc," Jun replied, watching the set with a growing sense of uneasiness.

"What's the matter with it?" Nori wondered aloud. Before anyone could answer, there was a very loud thump from upstairs, directly above them. Everyone in the room jumped with fright, even Jun and Tomoe. The TV meanwhile had returned to normal.

Suiseiseki grabbed Souseiseki suddenly and shook her. "W-what was that?"

"I don't know," said Souseiseki, peering up at the ceiling, as did everyone else. The fear, which had been gradually seeping away like dirty dishwater down the drain, returned with a vengeance. Hinaichigo whimpered and climbed up onto Jun's head.

And then the phone rang.

It was the proverbial last straw, prompting Nori, Hina and Suiseiseki to fly into an outright panic. Muttering under his breath, Jun got up and went to answer the phone, whilst Hinaichigo pulled at his hair in an effort to steer him in the opposite direction.

"Hello, Sakurada residence," he said with forced calmness. It was probably Kanaria, calling up to complain that she hadn't been invited over to watch the movie. That or Barasuishou had all she could take of Micchan and wanted to be rescued asap.

"It's that scary ghost lady from the film, isn't it?" Hina whispered, staring at the receiver as if it might bite her at any moment. Jun frowned.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

For a long moment there was only silence on the other end of the line. Then Jun heard a sort of voice. It was as if someone had altered it to lower the pitch by several factors, and it sounded vaguely eerie. Metallic, almost. He strained to hear the words but then realised there weren't any.

It was laughing.

"Who is it, Jun-kun?" Nori asked, more than a little concern creeping into her own voice. Before Jun could say anything, the laughing stopped and was replaced by an ear-shatteringly loud tone, so high-pitched that everyone in the living room heard it. Jun yanked the receiver away from his ear and Hinaichigo clapped her hands over her own ears, wincing in pain.

"The hell?" He slammed the thing down and stepped back from it, glaring at the telephone as if it were a dog that had just bit him. Taking in several deep breaths, he held his hands out in a steadying fashion. "Okay, everyone just calm down."

Then the lights went out.