Warning: The following chapter contains twincest. Consider yourself warned. By my warning.

So here is the final part of episode seven. I toned the crazy down for this chapter, so it's a bit more serious in tone. And yes, in case you're wondering, I do obsess about kissing. I can't help it :P

Rozen Maiden: Märchen

EPISODE SEVEN

Timeout

The twins sat together in front of the glass doors, watching as Shinku strutted about the garden doing what she did best. Namely, giving orders. Hinaichigo, Kanaria, Barasuishou and the two humans were setting up chairs, tables and various decorations in preparation for the imminent wedding. And all the while Shinku clutched Kunkun in her arms, occasionally holding him up to ask his opinion. He never answered, at least as far as anyone could tell, because he was only a puppet. Shinku nevertheless seemed satisfied by his silent responses and resumed her job of bossing everyone around.

"I wonder where Jun and Suigintou are," Souseiseki pondered. Both of them had been absent for quite a while, which was almost ironic because they were the two people most likely to object to the proceedings.

"Shinku's really lost it," Suiseiseki observed, though she kept her voice low just in case said sister happened to overhear, "I mean what is she thinking? She can't marry Kunkun, he's just a stupid stuffed animal."

"I don't think she knows that," Souseiseki said, a hint of worry creeping into her voice. Shinku had always been enamoured with the dog detective, her usual prim and proper attitude melting away at the sight of him at work. Souseiseki had never had the heart to tell her that he wasn't real and that the Kunkun show was a work of fiction. In retrospect, perhaps she should have said something. She sighed heavily. "Hey, Suiseiseki?"

"What?"

Souseiseki hesitated for a moment. Normally she wouldn't ask, but she felt different today. Lighter somehow. As if her normal sense of duty and responsibility weren't weighing her down the way they normally did. She felt as if she could say anything without having to worry about the consequences. So she asked.

"Do you ... ever think about marriage?"

Suiseiseki peered sideways at her sister, her mouth hanging open. She closed it and giggled. "Well of course I do, sometimes. Why do you ask?"

Souseiseki removed her hat and set it down to one side. She gazed at the wedding preparations with a faraway expression. "I was just wondering who you would marry. What kind of person they would be."

Suiseiseki snorted. "What a silly question. Isn't it obvious?"

"No," Souseiseki admitted, regarding her sister seriously for a moment, "Tell me Suiseiseki, what kind of person would you want to marry?"

"Oh honestly!" Suiseiseki closed her eyes and extended her hands, as if to indicate that the answer should be self-evident. "You have to ask? You marry the person you love most in all the world, the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. There's only one person I know of that fits that description."

Souseiseki seemed genuinely at a loss. "Who?" she asked, honestly unable to see what her sister was getting at. Suiseiseki gaped at her for a long moment and then jabbed a finger into her side.

"You of course! I can't think of anyone I'd rather spend my life with," she said. And she said it with such charming sincerity that Souseiseki couldn't doubt her for a second. She was still shocked by her answer.

"But Suiseiseki, we're sisters. Sisters don't usually marry one another, it's sort of frowned on."

"Oh, giant WHO CARES!" Suiseiseki threw her arms up as if to emphasise this, "If anyone wants to tell me who I can and can't get married to, they better be wearing shin guards, that's all I can say," she folded her arms, a set look on her face, "If I can't marry you Souseiseki then I'm not marrying anyone. So there."

Souseiseki stared at her twin in awe, amazed at how cavalier and confident she could be all the time. She turned away and sniggered, a sudden thought occurring to her.

"What is it?" Suiseiseki asked, frowning, "What's so funny?"

Souseiseki shook her head. "Nothing, I was just wondering what Father would say if we told him that we wanted to get married to each other."

"Oh he'd be fine with it," Suiseiseki waved a hand dismissively, "Just so long as he has Alice, he'll be happy."

They fell silent for a moment, watching their sisters (and step sister) struggle to arrange the chairs properly despite Shinku changing her mind every five seconds. Something started to nag at Suiseiseki, and with each passing second the gnawing desire to confess ate at her until she finally caved in.

"I kissed Barasuishou," she blurted out, her eyes staring straight ahead without seeing anything, hands clutching her dress for what little comfort that offered. "Well, I mean, she kissed me, but I didn't exactly stop her. I'm sorry Souseiseki. If I could have kissed anyone for my first time, I'd so rather it have been you."

Souseiseki laid her hand on Suiseiseki's shoulder, a mischievous smile on her lips that surprised her. "Actually, it was," she said.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean I was your first kiss Suiseiseki. I never told you this, but..." she took her hand away from Suiseiseki and wrapped both of them around her knee's as she leaned back and gazed up at the sky. She cast her mind back to that time, her mismatching eyes shining with remembrance. "Do you remember the night of the meteor shower? It was back when we were visiting Hinaichigo and her new Master in France. We stayed up late to watch it, but you fell asleep in my lap."

"I ... remember," Suiseiseki murmured, recalling the night in question. She'd woken up the following morning to find that Souseiseki had stayed up all night watching over her. She had opened her eyes and looked up to see her twin smiling down at her with such a content look upon her face.

"Well when I saw you sleeping there, you looked so peaceful. I couldn't help myself," she admitted, smiling fondly at the memory, "I kissed you. I'm sorry I never told you before. I let my guard down that night. That's something I've never let happen again ... until today."

Suiseiseki frowned with puzzlement at her sister's words. "Let your guard down?"

"Yes," Souseiseki sighed and rubbed her eyes, as if she were momentarily tired, "I always have my guard up. I'm always trying to behave properly, say the right thing, do what's expected of me. It's ... hard, but I keep it up. I think I'm scared of what I might be like if I just let myself go," she glanced sideways at her sister, her expression softening, a smile flickering across her face again. "I envy you Suiseiseki. You are not like that at all, and you're a lot more fun because of it. I ... I love you dearly Suiseiseki."

"..." said Suiseiseki, at a loss for words, a rarity. Instead she opted to throw herself at her twin, wrapping her arms around Souseiseki and bowling her over with the force of her momentum. Souseiseki blinked with surprise as she found herself staring up into her sister's wide eyes, taken back by her forcefulness.

"Suiseiseki..."

"Souseiseki, will you let your guard down again and say you'll marry me?" she asked, no, pleaded, "Not today, not even tomorrow, but someday. Say you will. Promise me!"

On any other day Souseiseki would have said no, or remained silent. But today she felt different. Today she didn't have to hide herself and pretend to be the person everyone expected. Today she was free to be honest.

"Yes, I will. I promise."

Suiseiseki's face glowed with such happiness and pure bliss that Souseiseki's Rosa Mystica resonated with her feelings in perfect harmony, and she felt that same soaring sense joy fill her up inside. Souseiseki touched a hand tenderly to the side of her twin's face and leaned forwards to kiss her, almost dizzy with such intense feeling.

Yes she would marry her. One day. Because Suiseiseki was right. You marry the person you love most in all the world, the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. For her, there was only one person who fit the description, and that was her own twin. The one who made her complete, who made her happy, the one she wanted to be with no matter what. Marriage was just a way of declaring to the world how they felt for one another. They were in love. How could that be wrong?

Shinku certainly seemed to think so, and let them know it by smacking Suiseiseki across the back of the head with her cane. The Gardener doll let out a yelp of pain and sat upright, rubbing her head and glaring at Shinku with an obvious look of shocked hurt. Shinku merely stared back at her and snapped off a scathing remark. "Really now, if you have time for that then you certainly have time to assist Hinaichigo with arranging the flowers," she said, "Kindly stop slacking and put yourselves to work. You are upsetting Kunkun and I will not have that."

They watched her march off, muttering apologies under her breath to the puppet dog about her sisters indolence. Suiseiseki rolled her eyes. "That's it," she said, "I'm going to get Jun."

Jun dropped to his knees in front of a towering dead tree, fighting for each tortured, laborious breath. He couldn't go on. He wasn't exactly fit at the best of times and the only thing that had kept him going this long was adrenalin. Now even that was gone. This was it. He couldn't run anymore. He turned around and slumped his back up against the tree, the bright hot pain in his chest threatening to make him pass out.

"Aww, and I was hoping for at least another five minutes," Suigintou said mockingly. She landed a dozen feet away and casually sauntered over, flicking the blade of her sword around in anticipation of what was to come. Jun managed to lift his head and fix her with a weary look.

"Just ... get it over with," he muttered, his demeanour one of complete defeat. Suigintou stopped, momentarily surprised.

"What's that? You're surely not just going to give up."

Jun gasped, his breathing heavy, "I'm done, okay? If you really want to kill me so badly then just do it already. Cut me up, run me through, whatever. I don't care."

She was standing right in front of him now, her sword aimed directly at his head. Jun didn't even look at her; he was too busy trying to breath and ignore the screaming pain in his limbs. The chase was over. All she had to do was strike and be done with it. She could be rid of this pest, this rival to Shinku's affection. Just one final cut. That's all.

Suigintou screamed and threw her sword away. It struck the ground and skidded a few feet further, the metal scraping against the stone. She stood with her back to Jun, fists trembling, eyes screwed shut, as if she could squeeze the life out of her feelings by sheer force of will alone. Jun somehow managed to smirk.

"I had a hunch you couldn't do it," he said. Suigintou rounded on him, her teeth grinding together. She glared.

"Oh is that right? Well aren't you a clever little boy."

"Not really. I just listened to Shinku before. She said you were a good person now. She's usually right about that kind of thing."

Suigintou continued to glower at him for a long moment. Then it was as if someone had reached into her and flipped a switch. Her rage subsided, replaced by the same look of exhausted weariness that Jun was doing such a great job of displaying. She slumped down beside him, leaning against the dead tree and staring off into the distance. They both sat in silence for several minutes, neither uttering a word. Finally Suigintou spoke, muttering under her breath as if she grudged telling him.

"I'm jealous," she said.

"Yeah, I kinda figured as much."

"Why her?" Suigintou regarded him, her voice an almost pitiful whine, "Why Shinku? You could have fallen in love with any of the other Maidens, or even that Tomoe girl. But no, it had to be Shinku. Why?"

Jun shook his head, not even trying to think up a proper answer to her question. "I wouldn't even know where to start. There's just too many reasons. You might as well ask yourself the same thing."

"And you wouldn't give her up?"

"Would you?"

"... no. I suppose not." She sighed and fell silent once more. She was still angry, she could feel it simmering away, but Jun was right. She couldn't kill him. Not really. Kirakishou would, of that she had no doubt, but Suigintou had resolved not to end up like her. Life was important and should be treated with respect. Even if it was a life she envied to the point of heartache. "You know she's a doll, Jun..."

Jun gave a short laugh. "People keep telling me that like I don't already know. I'm not blind, I know what she is."

"And that doesn't bother you?"

He shrugged. "Why would it?"

"Well it means the two of you can't..." she trailed off, hoping that Jun would understand her meaning without her actually having to say it. Jun had to wonder why she would have such a problem - it wasn't as if she was exactly shy. He growled with annoyance and clutched at his head.

"Geez! What the heck is with everyone? Is that all people think I care about?" he shook his head sharply from side to side, exasperated. "I don't. That doesn't matter at all, because I'm not that kind of person. Even if Shinku were human, I wouldn't ... I wouldn't do that! Okay?"

Suigintou was startled by his outburst. She stared at him as if seeing him in a whole new light. Finally she smiled and looked away. "Well, aren't you a regular Sir Galahad."

Jun scoffed and slumped his face down onto his arms. "Yeah that's me; a real knight in shining armour," he muttered sarcastically. He glanced up as he noticed a speck of green light descend from above. It took him a moment to realise that it was one of the Rozen dolls artificial spirits. He blinked at it, surprised. "Sui Dream?"

"There you are!" a voice cried out. They both glanced around and saw a frazzled looking Suiseiseki standing a short distance away, evidently out of breath. Jun still didn't understand how dolls could get out of breath but apparently they did. Suiseiseki hurried over to them and waved her arms frantically.

"You gotta come quickly! It's Shinku!"

Jun and Suigintou exchanged worried looks. "What about her? What's going on?" Jun asked, getting to his feet. Suiseiseki jumped up and down and pointed back the way she had come.

"She's getting married you dolt!"

"WHAT?" they both shouted in unison. Suiseiseki grabbed a hold of Jun's leg and tried to push him.

"Come on Jun, you've got a wedding to crash!"

It was a short ceremony, made all the shorter by the fact that Nori didn't really know all of the words and was largely working from memory of half-watched television shows. At least Kanaria had added to the atmosphere by playing some wedding-type music on her violin. That still didn't change the absurd fact that Shinku was marrying a fictional puppet detective dog, and there wasn't anyone even remotely qualified to actually marry her in sight. Nevertheless Hinaichigo was crying, because someone has to cry at a wedding and she had quickly opted to fill the position.

"So umm..." Nori's brow furrowed as she struggled to recall what part came next. They'd done the vows already (Shinku assuring them on Kunkun's behalf that he had made them), so that just left the issue of the rings. How they were supposed to fit a ring on Kunkun's paw was anyones guess. Did they even have rings to exchange?

"Nori!" Souseiseki hissed. Nori blinked and knelt down so that the doll could whisper something into her ear. Her eyes widened and she straightened back up, smiling brightly. "Oh that's right! I almost forgot," she cleared her throat, "If there is anyone here who has cause to object to this union, let them speak now or forever hold their peace!"

Silence. Pure, utter, deadening silence. Several of them glanced about, as if expecting at any moment that someone would burst into the garden, yelling at the top of their voice to halt the wedding. Gatecrashers spectacularly failed to appear, and Shinku was growing increasingly impatient.

"Anyone?" Nori whined. She sagged. "Okay, in that case I guess-" she stopped abruptly and dropped to the ground, evidently having fainted. Before anyone could react to this, a swirling grey vortex appeared above her, and from it came Suiseiseki, Jun and Suigintou. They all landed in a heap atop Nori, who was fortunately unconcious and did not mind. Jun struggled to his feet, hurriedly adjusted his glasses and then thrust a hand dramatically into the air.

"STOP THE WEDDING!" he shouted. Souseiseki covered her mouth with the back of her hand and chuckled. Shinku scowled.

"Jun, you are making a scene and ruining my wedding day."

"Good!" he yelled, striding up to her and putting his hands on his hips. "I mean what the hell Shinku? Married? Married?"

Behind him, Suiseiseki raised her hands over her head in a triumphant gesture. "Woohoo! I so crashed a wedding!" Meanwhile Kanaria had produced a camera and was snapping off pictures of the entire crazy affair. Shinku clutched Kunkun tight and stuck her nose in the air.

"This is your fault, Jun."

"My fault?"

"Certainly. If you could only remain true to your word then I would not need to seek solace in someone as dependable as Detective Kunkun."

Jun got down onto his knees so he was level with her, his face contorting into a mixture of anger and annoyance. "You gotta be kidding me! What happened before was all Nori's doing - she went crazy and threw herself at me."

Shinku seemed hesitant for a moment, doubt at Jun's guilt starting to creep into her voice. "Is that ... is that so?"

"It's true, Nori told me herself," Tomoe admitted, finally speaking up, "She's been acting as if she were drunk. I think ... a lot of us have been."

Suigintou finally managed to untagle herself from Nori and smoothed her dress out. She floated over to Shinku, her expression suggesting that she was about to do something she utterly detested. "Listen Shinku, if you ever doubt how much this human loves you then you're an idiot. Much as I hate to admit it, he's completely taken with you and would sooner chew off his own arm than betray you. He's as honourable as they come."

Everyone was stunned to hear Suigintou say something nice about Jun. Even Suigintou herself seemed mildly surprised with herself. Shinku lessened her grip on Kunkun and stared at Jun for a long moment. Finally she held the puppet dog up before her, her sparkling blue eyes brimming with tears.

"I am sorry Kunkun, but I cannot marry you. My heart belongs to another. I hope you can find it within yourself to forgive me, and know that I will always consider you a dear, dear friend."

There was an embarrassed silence from everyone as they watched this display. Wow, thought Jun, she really believes he's real doesn't she? Shinku held Kunkun out towards Tomoe, who carefully took the puppet from her and cradled him in her arms. Everyone breathed out a sigh of relief. Then Shinku spun around and slapped Jun across the face, knocking his glasses crooked and leaving a red welt on his cheek.

"That was for not explaining yourself sooner," she said sharply, "Next time you should come to me at once and tell me the truth. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," Jun smiled and rubbed the side of his face. Shinku nodded once, satisfied. She turned her attention to Suigintou, who was standing there staring at Shinku with the oddest of expressions. Shinku frowned.

"Suigintou, whatever is the matter?"

Blushing profusely, Suigintou flung her arms around Shinku in a tight embrace, startling the crimson doll. It went on for quite some time, and the look on Suigintou's face suggested she was in her happy place. Suiseiseki, who had moved to stand beside her twin, nudged her with her elbow and whispered to her. "See? It's not just us."

A day later and the effects of Barasuishou's little prank had finally worn off. No one figured out that the Enju doll was responsible, but they knew that something had happened to make them act out their desires the way they had. There was a great deal of embarrassment all-round. Nori in particular couldn't even speak to her little brother, save to blubber emphatic apologies and scurry away. Tomoe only dropped by once, briefly, to leave Hinaichigo, and Jun noticed that she and Nori pointedly avoided eye contact with one another. Something had happened there, but he didn't know what. And he wasn't sure he wanted to either.

It wasn't all bad though. Suiseiseki and Souseiseki seemed to be in a good mood, and Jun would occasionally notice them holding hands and giggling together. Hinaichigo was as cheerful as ever, although for some odd reason she seemed to be deathly afraid of jellybeans. Weird. And of course Shinku was back to her old self, repeatedly reinforcing the fact that Jun was her servant and should behave accordingly. And make the tea right.

It took him a couple of hours staring at a blank wall to finally come to terms with it, but Jun bit the bullet and called up Tomoe. He told her to tell Micchan that he was all for doing more fashion shoots if she wanted him to. He then spent the next hour walking around with a permanent blush on his face, yet reluctantly admitted to himself that he was looking forwards to it.

Jun wandered into the living room to find that it was empty. It was late and the dolls had all gone up to bed. Nori was still hiding from him, so everything was quiet. Peaceful. Something felt ... off though. It was like the calm before a storm. He knew he wasn't imagining it when the lights started to flicker. There was a sudden blinding flash of light, and Jun cried out and flung his arms over his eyes. When he lowered them he was startled to see that someone was standing in the middle of the room. They'd just ... appeared out of thin air.

"Hey, who the heck are you and how did you get in here?" Jun demanded. The newcomer spun to face him and very nearly fell over.

"Woah," he flung out his arms to maintain his balance and blinked a few times, "Okay, dizzy. That's to be expected. I mean, a couple of centuries in a couple of seconds will do that to you. I'm fine, don't worry." The stranger tried to take a step towards Jun but his legs seemed to want to go in the opposite direction and he fell unceremoniously onto his backside. Jun simply stood there and stared at him as he bounced back up onto his feet, swaying slightly.

"Right. Steering's a bit wonky. Gotta be careful," said the boy. It was a boy, about the same age as Jun. He was dressed ... strangely. He was wearing an old fashioned sleeveless dark green jacket over a white blouse, a red bow-tie and a pair of dark blue trousers rolled up to his knees. And boots that looked as if they'd been cobbled together from several different pairs. He had short, spiky blond hair and glittering emerald green eyes that were currently having trouble focusing.

"Just who the heck are you?" Jun yelled again, just in case he hadn't heard him the first time. The boy was clutching a strange looking object in his hands, something like a cross between a compass and a pocket watch, with a very steampunk style to it. He squinted at it for a moment and then spoke to it.

"Thanks Holie, I think we got the right time this time. I mean it looks like it doesn't it? Yeah. Let me know when you're ready for another jump, okay?" He tucked it away and then pointed both index fingers at Jun. "Sakurada, right? Not me, you. At least I hope you're him. Him being you of course. Wait, I'm not making any sense..."

"You think?" Jun muttered, wondering just how a crazy person had magically appeared in his living room.

The boy slapped his forehead. "I'm making a complete mess of this, aren't I? Pandora would slap me silly if she saw me now. I mean where are my manners?" he extended a hand and smiled nervously, "I'm Rozen. Pleased to meet you."

Jun: You're Rozen? The Rozen?

Rozen: That's my name, don't wear it out!

Souseiseki: Father!

Rozen: Uh, actually, feel free to wear my name out.

Tomoe: Jun, I need your help.

Jun: Forget it! There is no way I'm going out on that stage!

Barasuishou: You ... fixed her.

Rozen: Good as new. Try not to break her this time.

Shinku: Next time, on Rozen Maiden: Märchen,

Rozen: The light of truth eludes us...