Short chapter here, but I have a bit of a stubborn headache. And I have no chocolate! *cries*

Rozen Maiden: Märchen

EPISODE EIGHT

Future Shock

"Rozen? You're Rozen?" Jun asked in shocked disbelief. Rozen rolled his eyes.

"No, I'm really his evil twin brother come to steal your cookies!" He gave a mock evil laugh, but stopped when he realized that Jun was staring at him as if he were being serious. "That ... that was a joke. I was kidding. I don't have an evil twin brother, and if I did and I was him, I certainly wouldn't announce it like a complete ... you know what, never mind." He seemed to lose momentary interest in Jun and began examining his surroundings as if searching for something. Jun was still rooted to the spot, too stunned to act. He blinked and shook his head.

"Wait, no, you can't be," he started to say. Rozen made his way unsteadily over to the kitchen and opened one of the cupboards optimistically. Jun gaped at him. "Hey, what are you doing?"

Rozen held up a tin and peered at it suspiciously. "Looking for food. You're not supposed to eat anything for a full five hours before jumping through time. Not unless you want it to come back up on you."

"Huh? What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means I'm hungry. Famished, actually. What's this?" he held the tin up questioningly, "I can speak Japanese fine but I'm a bit rusty at reading it. I can't tell what it says."

Jun glanced at the label. "Straw mushrooms. Look-"

"Mushrooms? Yuck!" he flung the tin over his shoulder, where it crashed into the sink, "Hate mushrooms. What else do you have here?"

This was infuriating. Jun had a thousand questions to ask this intruder, but the guy seemed more interested in raiding his kitchen for a late-night snack. He stormed over to him just as he sprang up clutching a wrapped curry bread. Rozen tore the clear plastic wrapping off and bit into it. His face screwed up as if to suggest that he disliked the taste, yet he immediately took another large bite from it.

"Listen, whoever you are you can't just come barging into my house at this time of night!"

Rozen held up a finger to stop him, swallowed, and then cleared his throat. "Actually, I'm pretty sure I can. Or have you just not been paying attention to anything these past couple of minutes?"

Jun snarled and snatched the curry bread away from him. "Look, are you gonna give me a straight answer or what?"

"What?"

"Huh?"

And again Rozen seemed to lose all interest in him. He turned away and wandered over to the refrigerator, wobbling slightly as he went. He rapped his knuckles against it, shook his hand and then opened it. His face lit up as he peered inside and felt the coolness waft out at him. "Oh! That's clever! A kind of cooling storage receptacle for food and drink." He pulled out a carton of orange juice and a tub of yogurt before shutting the fridge and turning back to Jun with a wide grin on his face. "The future, eh? Marvelous."

Jun couldn't take it anymore. He clutched the side of his head and screamed. "ENOUGH ALREADY! Who are you? How did you get in here? What are you doing here?"

Rozen set his pilfered snacks down on the kitchen table and considered Jun's questions for a moment. Then he started ticking them off on his fingers one at a time. "I'm Rozen, I got in here by bending spacetime, and I'm here to help you," he paused and ticked off another finger, "After I've had something to eat."

Shoulders sagging, Jun slumped down into the chair opposite Rozen and leaned his elbows on the table. "Help me how? To do what?"

Rozen frantically began searching around for something, glancing this way and that, even peeking under the table. He frowned. "Lost something?" Jun asked. Rozen held up the tub of yogurt he had opened.

"Spoon."

"Over there."

"Thanks. Oh, hey, I think my manners are improving a little."

They both sat in silence, Jun watching the strange boy eating strawberry flavored yogurt and showing every sign of enjoying it. As Jun waited for some kind of coherent answer from him, he finished off the curry bread he was still holding, chewing slowly.

"That," Rozen vigorously licked his spoon clean and set it down, "Is delicious. Do you have more?"

Jun sighed and pointed at the fridge. "There's some more at the back, and there's some strawberry ice cream in there somewhere as well."

It took a few more minutes before the boy had finished pillaging the refrigerator, but he finally sat back down and took the trouble to explain a few things. He waved his spoon at Jun. "Okay, now pay attention. I'm gonna lay out the basic facts so you have at least some idea of what's going on. So sit still. Don't fidget."

"What are you, my mom?" Jun muttered. Rozen gave a short laugh.

"No, that's just what Pandora says to me all the time. 'Sit still. Don't fidget. Pay attention or I will be forced to hit you again.' That sort of thing. She's a doll, you know. And a bossy one at that."

Despite himself, Jun smirked. "Sounds kinda familiar."

"Right. So here's the deal. My name is Rozen. I'm from the eighteenth century. I got a message from myself, apparently, from the future. It gave me a bunch of instructions on how to make this," he pulled out the strange contraption from before and clunked it down on the table. It gave off an odd noise, prompting Rozen to wince. "Sorry."

"What is that thing?" Jun asked, peering at it. Rozen shrugged.

"I haven't thought up a name for it yet. For now I just call it a Timepiece. With a little help from a certain artificial spirit, it allows you to zip from one time period to another. Which is how I wound up here in what is, from your point of view, the present day. From my point of view, I'm in the future. It's a whole big ... subjective point of view sort of ... thing. Mess."

Jun regarded Rozen with a vaguely worried expression. "Do you even know what you're talking about?"

Rozen shook his head. "Haven't the faintest idea. I'm just sort of winging it as I go along. It seems to work. Well ... most of the time."

Jun scratched his head, trying to sort all of the facts (such as they were) into something resembling an order. "So ... you're Rozen from a couple of hundred years ago-"

"Right."

"-and you got a message from your future self telling you to make this and come here, to my time-"

"Right again."

"-why?"

Rozen snatched up the Timepiece from the table, twirled it in the air and tucked it away again. He smiled. "To help you find Pandora's Box."

Jun's eyebrows shot up. "You know where it is?"

"Umm, well..." Rozen seemed a bit dubious for a moment, "I know where it is in my time, because I found it after all. The note I got from myself said it was in the same place in your time. So I guess I just have to show you where that is."

"And where is it?"

Rozen drummed his hands on the table cheerfully. "Lebensbaum. My home town. It's where I live."

Jun slumped down onto the table and groaned. "In Germany."

"Yup."

How the heck were they supposed to get to Germany? That was hundreds of miles away! He wasn't even old enough to drive, much less take a flight to another country. He groaned again. Why the hell didn't the present day Rozen just sort all of this out himself? Why the song and dance with sending his past self? It made no sense. Unless he was doing it because he remembered it happening when he was just a kid, but that was no kind of reason at all.

Jun sat upright and sighed. "So will finding Pandora's Box help bring an end to the Alice Game?"

Rozen frowned, a spoonful of strawberry ice cream halfway to his mouth. "The what?"

"The Alice Game, you know?"

Rozen set the spoon down and gaped at Jun as if he'd just blurted out the five thousandth digit to pi. "What's the Alice Game?"

Jun stared back at him. Surely he knew? He'd created it! "You don't know?" Rozen shook his head slowly. "It's the game where the Rozen Maidens fight each other for the right to become Alice. I would have thought that you of all people would know that."

Rozen looked as if he were about to faint. He swayed slightly. "Rozen ... Maidens? What are those?"

"You're kidding?" Jun eyed him skeptically. Again, he shook his head, watching Jun as if he were an unexploded bomb about to go off any minute. "The Rozen Maidens are your daughters ... oh," he stopped, realizing that this Rozen, being just a kid, very probably hadn't got round to making them yet. Rozen gasped.

"My ... daughters? Daughters?" And then he did faint, right out of his chair and onto the floor. Jun got up and gently poked him with his toe. The guy was out like a light. Huh.

"Well," he said to no one in particular, "This is going to make for an interesting conversation in the morning."

Shinku awoke earlier than usual. This was because someone was knocking on her case. Stifling an unladylike yawn, she opened the case lid and found herself face to face with Jun. She glanced past him to the clock over his bed and saw to her astonishment that it had only gone six o'clock. It was very unusual to see him up so early in the morning.

"Good morning Jun," she said, "Whatever is the matter?"

Jun hesitated for a moment. "Uh, Shinku, do you think you could come with me? There's someone downstairs I'd like you to meet. Just let the others sleep though; I think seeing one of you will be a big enough shock as it is."

She didn't understand what he was talking about, but decided that it would be simpler to do as he said and see for herself than ask him to explain. Once she had smoothed the creases from her dress and tidied her hair up a little, she allowed Jun to carry her downstairs to the living room. Nori was already up and busy preparing breakfast in the kitchen. She waved to the doll and smiled.

"Good morning! It's steamed rice and Miso soup this morning, okay?"

Shinku was more interested in the stranger sitting at the kitchen table. It was a young blond haired boy about the same age as Jun. He was already tucking into the breakfast Nori had made him, but glanced up as Jun entered the room. His bright green eyes went wide as they fixed on Shinku, and his face lit up with joy. He slipped out of his chair and came over.

"Oh! You never told me you had one as well, Sakurada!" he said. He leaned over and examined Shinku intently, tilting his head this way and that. "She's ... beautiful. What's your name, Miss?"

It seemed surprising to Shinku that Jun would invite a stranger into the house and allow them to see her, yet he had said that he wanted her to meet him. Curious. "My name is Shinku. And what is your name may I ask?"

Jun chuckled, enjoying every second of this. "Don't you recognize him Shinku? This is your father, Rozen."

There was an extremely labored silence after he had spoken. Shinku and Rozen stared into each others eyes for a very long moment, both far too stunned to actually react. Finally Shinku tugged at Jun's sleeve. He leaned his head close to listen, her voice so low he almost didn't hear her.

"Jun, put me down please."

He put her down carefully and stood upright. A second later Shinku spun and kicked him in the shin. Jun let out a cry of pain and clutched his injured leg, hopping on the spot as he did so. Shinku glared up at him.

"That was not amusing in the slightest," she said coldly, "Explain yourself this instant."

"Wait a second," Rozen staggered back a step and pointed at Shinku, "Her? She's one of my daughters? But I thought..."

"That I meant human daughters?" Jun winced and rubbed his shin, "Nope, they're dolls. All of 'em. And pretty rotten dolls at that."

Rozen sat right down on the floor and pressed a hand to his forehead, a look of immense relief showing on his face. "Oh thank ... I thought ... but dolls ... that's okay!" He blinked and focused his attention on Shinku again, who seemed thoroughly bewildered. Rozen grinned and sprang forwards onto his knees, laughing merrily. "Fantastic! I never imagined I'd ever have the talent to make such a wonderful looking doll. Shinku, was it? That means crimson. A name that suits you, I should say. I'm Rozen, pleased to meet you."

Shinku was at a complete loss for words. She didn't know whether to back away or embrace this person. "Jun?"

"It's him alright," Jun confirmed, strolling over to Nori's side and taking sniff of breakfast, "It's just Rozen as a ... how old are you?"

"Almost fifteen," said Rozen.

"A fourteen year old. He's traveled hundreds of years forwards in time, and he hasn't made any of you guys yet, so he's never seen you before. Hey Nori, will you stop cringing? Anyone would think I was gonna bite your head off or something."

Shinku turned back to Rozen and stared. She was still at a loss for words. This was ... Father. Her father. She'd waited so long to be with him, and here he was, smiling at her as if she were the most wonderful thing in all the world. And yet he'd never met her before. It was strange beyond words. She didn't know how to react, what to do or say. What was the proper protocol for dealing with a time displaced version of one's father? No one had ever written that down anywhere. She decided to start off on safe ground.

"Would you care for some tea?" she asked. Rozen nodded.

"Sure, I'd love some."

"Jun, make the tea. And wake the others before their breakfast gets cold."

Jun turned to Shinku and scowled. "Why do I gotta?" He took one look at her expression and hastily changed his attitude. "Uh, on second thoughts I'll get right on that..."