Rozen Maiden: Marchen

EPISODE TEN

Growing Pains

The dolls were gathered around Jun's bed, the cold light of the moon painting the room in a silvery white hue. They waited in hushed silence for Shinku to take a step forwards and do what needed to be done. When she remained motionless for some time, Kanaria leaned towards her and whispered in a low voice.

"What's wrong, Shinku? Can't you do it?"

Shinku frowned. "It is not that. I just wonder ... is this the right thing to do?"

"What d'you mean?"

The sight of Jun's slumbering form reflected in the blue pools of Shinku's eyes as she recalled the state he had been in following the confrontation at Lebensbaum. Humans were ultimately more fragile than dolls, for whilst a doll could be repaired and brought back from the darkness by a sufficiently talented individual, nothing could restore a lost human soul to its rightful place. It galled Shinku to think that if just one of the many bullets fired had found Jun, he might not be here anymore. To think that he had come so close to losing everything because of her...

"We need to snap the puny runt out of the wretched state he's in," Suiseiseki hissed, sensing Shinku's doubt, "If he gives up on life again then he's as good as broken!"

Which was true, she conceded. And they would need his help again, dangerous though the task was, if they ever hoped to reclaim Pandora's Box. The Box contained their only hope, both figuratively and literally. Without it their only option would be to either fight the Alice Game or spend an age searching for some other possible alternative, assuming one even existed.

Shinku steeled herself and took a step forwards, raising her hand as she did so. This was going to hurt Jun a good deal, as it would require a tremendous amount of his energy to work. She had to be extremely careful, not only to avoid draining him completely (and thus killing him outright), but also to ensure she didn't overshoot. One mistake and she could end up turning Jun into a wrinkled old man.

But then, as Father had pointed out, time was her specialty. Time to work a little magic.

Shinku concentrated, and as she did so the rose ring on her finger flared a brilliant ruby red. Jun's did likewise as her ring began drawing power from his, and her Medium groaned in his sleep and tossed fitfully, the transfer of energy burning him with pain.

Jun stared at himself in the mirror. It was hard to reconcile the difference between the face staring back at him and the face he had last seen in the mirror. At first he was certain that it was the face of a complete stranger, yet his subconscious mind nagged at him that there was a hint of similarity to be found.

But what a difference. Good grief. Breathing heavily, panting even, Jun pressed his newly aged hands to his face, unable to look away from his reflection. Good grief! Look at his hair! He removed his hands and touched his now long, shiny black hair, just to be certain it was real. It was, and it very nearly reached his waist in terms of length. His nails were ridiculously long too, as if he hadn't cut them in a very long time. His overall build was slender, and if he'd been hoping to beef up a little as he grew up then he was sorely disappointed.

"Jun-kun, what's the matter?" Nori cried out, alarmed by the scream he had so recently released throughout the house, "Are you ohhh-kay ...?" she stopped as she reached the open bathroom doorway and stared at her little brother. More like her big brother now. She raised a hand to her gaping mouth as Jun turned to regard her. "Jun ... kun?"

"Nori, please tell me this is a dream," Jun begged, "Or a nightmare. This can't be real. It just can't!"

"Oh, so you're finally up and out of bed!" a familiar voice announced cheerfully, "I swear human, I thought you were so totally going to stay in your room until you rotted away into a withered old husk!" Suiseiseki appeared beside Nori's leg and stuck her hands on her hips as if Jun's sudden change in appearance was nothing unusual. Shinku soon joined her and gazed up at Jun. She had to peer upwards a bit more than usual, owing to his increased height.

"You! You rotten dolls did this, didn't you?" Jun snapped, suddenly furious. He pointed accusingly at them for a second and then gestured to indicate himself. "What the hell did you do to me?"

"It's nothing to get worked up about," said Suiseiseki matter-of-factly, "Shinku just wound your time key forwards by about ten years or so."

Jun gaped at her for a long, incredulous moment, while Souseiseki appeared in the doorway, stifling a yawn. She blinked once and then noticed Jun, prompting her eyes to go wide at the sight of him.

"Wow, Jun," she said, soft spoken as usual, "I didn't expect you to look so ... so ..." she faltered, unsure what word to use to describe Jun's new appearance. Nori however managed to find one just fine.

"Bishie!" she squealed, her eyes positively glowing with delight. She flung herself at her now big brother and wrapped her arms around him as if he were some adorable puppy she'd just been given as a gift. Since Jun was now taller than Nori, he glared down at her in irritation and struggled to pry her off. Sadly just being an adult did not make Jun any stronger than he normally was, and thus he was still, as Suiseiseki would aptly put it, puny.

"Will you get off me! Dammit Nori, I am not a teddy bear!"

Suiseiseki chuckled and turned to Shinku, an impish smirk on her face. "Well Shinku, I'd say you did a fine job. Even though Jun looks about as manly as a fluffy mewling kitten, he can at least pass for an adult."

"Perhaps in terms of physical appearance," Shinku admitted, "Though his behaviour still leaves much to be desired. I fear it will take some considerable work before he is ready."

It took them all a while, but they finally managed to calm Jun down long enough to explain the situation. Grumbling profusely, Jun sat down to breakfast and listened as they outlined what Micchan and Kanaria had learned, as well as some of the details surrounding Kanaria's supposedly brilliant plan.

Basically they needed to get into the doll auction (which was tomorrow afternoon, so time was short), and steal the Box right out from under Grimm and his lackeys. Problem was he'd already shown that he knew of the existence of the Rozen Maidens and was more than capable of dealing with the dolls. He'd be ready for them to try something. The whole thing was surely a trap after all.

So they needed human assistance. Jun though was too young to go traveling about the country, sneaking into auction houses. Plus there was the danger of him being recognised by one of Eike's hired goons. So Kanaria had come up with an idea to solve both problems: age Jun ten years or so to adulthood so that he and Micchan could pose as buyers in order to get into the auction. Simple.

"You can reverse it, right Shinku?" Jun enquired suspiciously as he pushed aside his finished breakfast. Shinku lowered her tea and turned her head slightly to regard him.

"Of course. However the process uses up a great deal of your energy, so I would not recommend doing so until we have completed the plan."

Jun sulked. Nobody cared, they were all far too happy to finally see him out of bed and out of his room. If nothing else his bizarre predicament had snapped him out of the fear induced coma that nearly being killed had put him in, and he was back to acting like his old self. And his old self was not remotely happy about the situation at all.

"Stop staring at me, will you?" Jun muttered, blushing and turning away from his sister, who couldn't stop gazing in wonder at him. Nori wailed.

"Oh, I'm sorry Jun-kun, I cant help myself. You're just so ... so pretty!"

Jun groaned and wilted, eyes closed and cheeks burning red. He did his best to ignore Suiseiseki sniggering at Nori's comment, but his best just wasn't good enough. "I'm a guy," he protested, "Guys are supposed to be handsome, not pretty." He scowled and looked down at his slender build and long hair. "I can't believe this is what I'm gonna look like when I grow up," he murmured. Shinku heard, despite his lowered voice.

"I believe you look quite attractive, Jun," she said nonchalantly as she took another sip of her tea. Jun and Suiseiseki both gaped at the crimson doll.

"You do?" said Jun, astonished.

"You do?" said Suiseiseki, incredulous. Shinku set her cup down once more and regarded Jun with her typically blank expression.

"Of course; you have an air of elegance about you now that is quite becoming," she said in all seriousness, "If only you could refine your mannerisms and learn to control your otherwise vexing and uncouth behaviour, you would make a first rate servant."

Jun's expression transformed from one of startled amazement into that of someone who just realised that a compliment being paid to them was not quite so complimentary after all. "Thanks Shinku," he muttered, his voice deadpan. Even though Jun had to periodically wind her up to keep her going, Shinku nevertheless proved that she was equally as adept at winding him up when she wanted to.

"Come now," Shinku continued, "If you are to pose as a doll collector then you must look the part. We shall have to find you some appropriate attire."

Jun glanced down and took notice of the fact that he was still wearing his old clothes, which no longer fit him in the slightest. He frowned as an idea occurred to him. "Maybe some of my dad's things might fit me."

Ten minutes later and this idea was proven to be a dismal failure. His father's clothes were simply too big for him, even as he was now. Though he was currently the largest person in the house, Jun was still quite short and slim for the average adult. Just as he was cursing his ill luck, Nori appeared with an outfit slung over her arms and suggested he give it a try.

"Hey, it fits," Jun announced a few minutes later. He stood before the others, feeling slightly awkward, yet pleased that he was now wearing something that didn't feel as if it was cutting off the circulation in his arms and legs. As the dolls silently took in his appearance, Nori raised a hand to her mouth and giggled.

"I thought it might; it's mom's."

Jun glared at her, his facial expressions frozen as if they were now made of stone. One got the impression that if knocked over, Jun might shatter into a thousand jagged fragments. Before he could unfreeze and yell at the top of his voice, the doorbell rang. He still unfroze, but instead of freaking out over the fact that he was wearing his mother's clothes, he waved his hands frantically. "Don't answer it Nori! Don't!"

Too late, Nori was already out of the living room and greeting whoever it was. Jun heard voices in the hallway and fervently searched for somewhere to hide. Anywhere. Before he could think to dive through the glass doors and make an overly dramatic escape, Nori returned with Tomoe in tow.

"Jun-kun, look who's here!"

For the second time in as many minutes Jun froze like a statue, his muscles suddenly refusing to cooperate at all, perhaps paralyzed by fear and embarrassment. He found himself staring across at Tomoe, who seemed shorter than he remembered. That was probably just his new perspective. Tomoe, for her part, stared back. He had to hand it to her; despite being utterly baffled by the sight of him she nevertheless managed to keep a very restrained look upon her face. Hinaichigo peered out from behind her and glanced up at Jun.

"Unyuu?" she said, which summed up the situation fairly well.

Dolls. Hundreds of dolls. Some lined shelves, some were in glass display cabinets, others still resided unseen within their own doll cases. They came in all shapes and sizes, with wildly varying outfits and hairstyles. Eike Grimm's personal collection. If you thought Micchan had a thing about dolls, then you'd clearly never set foot inside this room.

Were they all living dolls? How many of them had little keyholes in the back that would allow them to be wound up? Emil didn't know. All of the Enju dolls at any rate, and there were at least a dozen of those to be found in this collection. The rows of silent, unmoving figures stared at him as he strolled through the room, glancing about nervously as if afraid any one of them might spring to life and catch him.

It was a silly thing to think. He'd been in this room hundreds of times before. He wasn't afraid of dolls, in fact he very much liked them. No, what he was afraid of was getting caught, because this was the first time he'd come into this room with the intent to steal something. Perhaps because of that, he felt that the eyes of the dolls were watching him with disapproving looks, as if they could sense his intentions.

Emil was only twelve, but he'd already dealt with more strange things so far than most people encountered in their entire lives. Living dolls, alchemists, demons, alternate dimensions and artificial spirits ... he ought to be used to it all by now. Except in the past he'd always been an observer. Now he was making himself an active participant.

Now he was going to steal Pandora's Box.

The Box was sitting in a display case at the far end of the room, in an enclosed area separate from the dolls on show. As Emil entered the enclosed space and stepped up to the case, he caught a flash of movement from the corner of his eye. His heart raced suddenly and he almost cried out with fright, but quickly chided himself as he realised it was only his own reflection. There was a large ornate full-length mirror facing the Box. Emil stared at it and willed his thudding heart to calm down.

He was certainly an odd sight to see, with stone grey hair and equally colourless eyes. He was wearing a ruffled white shirt with a neckerchief and dark green shorts. If that wasn't enough to make one giggle, the knee-length frilly socks and shiny black buckled shoes ought to at least draw a smirk. Shockingly he'd picked it all out himself. It should be noted that he wasn't someone who got out and about very much.

The mirror was there for a reason. It was a potential doorway into the N-Field. Actually, that wasn't quite accurate. It was one way only. If anyone came through and then tried to re-enter the N-Field and, say, make off with a certain Box, they'd find themselves quite stuck. Eike fully expected someone to try and steal it, because he knew that someone out there had the key to the thing. That someone would surely come looking for the Box that their key unlocked, and when they did Eike intended to catch them.

Emil didn't have the key, but he was still going to take the Box. He knew about all the safeguards in place and did have a key to unlock the glass display case without setting off any of the alarms and traps. This he did. The Box was heavier than he'd been expecting, but that was probably a good sign that it wasn't just an empty doll case.

"I can't believe I'm actually doing this," he whispered as he adjusted his grip on the Box and turned about, "If Eike finds out he'll kill me for sure."

A distinct possibility. Eike was obsessed with Pandora's Box. He'd been obsessed with it ever since Enju had told him about it. He believed it could grant his wish and transform one of his dolls into a real girl. Like the fairy godmother in Pinocchio. Emil disliked that story. In real life magical fairies spectacularly failed to appear and grant you a happy ending. If he'd learned anything it was that you had to earn your happy endings yourself. Stories with fairy godmothers were just honey coated lies that gave children false hope.

He trudged past the silent dolls, who watched his every move. At least it felt that way. Probably just the guilt he was feeling over stealing something this important. It couldn't be helped, and besides, Eike had stolen the Box himself. It wasn't his, and someone else needed it more than him.

Thankfully none of the dolls sprang to life and attacked him or shouted an alarm, and Emil was able to leave the room with his stolen doll case without trouble. Normally sneaking the thing off the estate grounds would be tricky, what with all the people walking about apt to spot him and say something. This was why he had waited until it was the dead of night to do his little moonlight heist. Nobody was wandering about the halls except him, and he wasn't so much wandering as he was striding purposely towards one of the back doors that he'd unlocked earlier. There was the little issue of the security cameras planted throughout the building, but he wasn't too worried about those. Mainly because he had brought the men manning the security room drugged coffee earlier, and they were soundly snoozing at their stations.

Once outside, Emile made straight for the garden, and sure enough there she was waiting by the fountain - the little red-headed doll. Huffing from carrying the case so far (he was really out of shape, too much time spent reading books and playing video games), he stopped before her and sucked in a lungful of cool night air.

"Kohaku, I got it!" he exclaimed excitedly, presenting the Box to her. The Enju doll did not seem overly thrilled however, and he soon realised that she was watching something approach behind him. With a sinking feeling Emil turned and found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

"Okay Sam, you win," said the leering figure of Max, "I didn't think the kid had the guts or the smarts to pull it off."

Eike's two less than scrupulous hired guns stood several feet away. Max was the one pointing the gun, whilst the giant figure that was Sam merely scowled at Emil with his arms crossed. "The boss isn't going to like this," he said flatly, less than thrilled himself.

Emil was going to ask Kohaku if she could deal with them (they no longer had the barrier rings Eike had given them for the Lebensbaum job), but before he could utter a sound he felt a crushing hand clamp down on his shoulder and flinched with pain. The hand in question could quite easily have dislocated his shoulder entirely, and Emil got the feeling that any attempt on his part to break free would result in exactly that. He glanced up and found himself looking at the deeply unsettling face of Laplace no Ma. The tuxedo wearing demon had his scarlet eyes fixed on Max however, and seemed to be waiting expectantly for something.

"You have red on you," said Laplace. Max frowned, puzzled by this. There was a hazy and indistinct blur of movement around him and a moment later his crumpled shirt became stained with blood. Shocked, he fell to his knees as the shimmer of movement coalesced into the form of Rosetta. She stood several feet away, brandishing a gleaming rapier. Emil watched as a single drop of Max's blood dripped from the tip of the weapon and hit the ground.

Finally Max collapsed, his shirt now completely stained red, blood dribbling from the corners of his mouth. He gasped, seemingly confused by this turn of events. Eike Grimm appeared standing over him and glowered down at the mercenary with cold contempt. "Never point a gun at my brother," he said. He turned away as Max stopped gurgling and actually died, directing his attention towards Emil now.

"This isn't what it looks like," Emil protested feebly. His brother raised a suggestive eyebrow, prompting Emil to swallow. "Unless it looks like I'm trying to steal Pandora's Box and make off into the night with it, in which case it actually is what it looks like."

A swarm of chains erupted out of the darkness and shot towards Rosetta, who promptly vanished. She appeared behind Kohaku and thrust her rapier towards the doll's back, intending to impale her. Having already been impaled on a sword once before, Kohaku was having none of this and spun around, catching the blade deftly with her hands. The two dolls locked eyes, their intent to fight clear.

"Enough!" Eike snapped irritably, "Rosetta, stand down."

Reluctantly the pink haired doll did as instructed and stepped away from Kohaku, lowering her rapier. This did not stop the two dolls from glaring at each other, but their battle had at least been postponed for the moment. Eike nodded and turned to Sam, gesturing to the fast cooling corpse of his former associate. "Get rid of the body, then tell the pilot to prep the jet; we're leaving for Japan first thing in the morning."

Sam went about his assigned task without a word. Max had been his friend, but he'd also been too reckless and hot headed for this job. Sam had warned him earlier to consider a new employer, but he had not listened. And now he'd pushed his luck too far and his gung-ho attitude had cost him his life.

As Emil watched Sam haul the body away, he wondered briefly if the same fate awaited himself. Eike crossed his arms and regarded his little brother sadly. "Emil ... I'm disappointed."

Why, thought Emil, because I stole from you or because I got caught? He decided to keep his mouth shut in the hopes of avoiding digging a deeper hole for himself. Eike glanced across at Kohaku and frowned.

"I don't understand," he said, clearly puzzled by something, "Why did you do it? Did she trick you into it?"

Emil's stance of keeping quiet failed to last past the five second mark and he blurted out a response in defence of the doll. "She told me the truth!" he hefted Pandora's Box, "The Rozen Maidens need this to bring a peaceful end to the Alice Game. Without it they have no choice but to fight each other to the death. How can you stand by and let that happen when you have the means to stop it right here?"

Eike considered his words before regarding Kohaku shrewdly. "And what about you? What have you to say for yourself? You must have some angle here, something you're after."

Kohaku tore her gaze away from the prowling Rosetta and glared at Eike, her tiny hands clenched into fists. "I came to find my father. He was a friend of yours, I thought you might know what happened to him. When your brother told me about the Box though-"

"You couldn't help but fill his head with a tale of woe. I see. Well Laplace, little Kohaku here wants to see her father. Is that possible, do you suppose?"

"As surely as the promise of summer snow," replied the enigmatic demon. He raised a gloved hand and snapped his fingers, causing one of his trademark rabbit holes to open up directly beneath Kohaku. She barely had time to cry out before falling into it and vanishing from sight, the hole closing as swiftly as it had appeared. Emil gasped and made to run over to the place she'd just occupied, however Laplace still had a firm grip on his shoulder.

"Where is she? What did you do with her?" he demanded, frustrated at his own inability to do anything about the situation. Behind him, Laplace's expression shifted into what might have been a smile.

"Her father is lost within a deep labyrinth. Perhaps she will be able to help him find his way out. Or perhaps the two shall be forever lost ... who can tell?"

As Rosetta dismissed her weapon and joined Eike, Emil bit his lip and lowered his gaze to the Box he still clutched in his weary hands. He wasn't going to cry, no matter what happened. "What are you going to do with me?" he asked quietly.

"Do?" said Eike, seemingly surprised by the question, "Nothing. Except send you to bed. It's well past your bedtime, Emil," he sighed, "Laplace, let go of the poor boy, he's not going anywhere."

Emil felt the demon's hold on him vanish and he immediately winced and rolled his shoulder to get some of the feeling back into it. He treated the creepy white rabbit to a scowl, but Laplace seemed completely indifferent. Emil presented the Box to him grimly. "Here, take it - maybe one day you'll be able to open it and wish for a heart. Then again, I doubt that would do a demon like you any good."

Eike remained behind at the fountain with Laplace and sent Rosetta to take Emil to bed. As the two crossed the garden towards the waiting building, Rosetta glanced sideways at him, seemingly troubled by something. "Don't you want me to become human, Emil?" she asked, her tone suggesting that she genuinely wanted to know. Emil sighed and shook his head.

"It's not that Rosetta, it's just ... it's not right that those Rozen dolls have to fight each other. If you could help them out, wouldn't you?"

She stopped by the back door that Emil had slipped out of earlier and hesitated, considering the question for a moment. She then took a step back and looked up into the clear sky, gazing at the stars. "Maybe," she said, "But ... I want to be human more than anything in the world. I want to know what it's like to be truly alive, to be able to create life and give happiness to those I love. Cant you understand that?"

Emil leaned against the doorframe and stared at the curious little doll, his arms folded. "You are alive, Rosetta," he pointed out, "And if you have to get sick, watch what you eat, grow old and eventually die to feel truly alive, then count yourself lucky you're not. Hell, if I could I'd trade places with you in a heartbeat. You can have my humanity if I can be a doll like you."

Rosetta lowered her head and gaped at him, startled by such a claim. "You would wish to be a doll?"

Emil frowned and stared off into space, thinking what it would be like. "Never having to grow up, grow old or change ... yeah, I think that'd be pretty nice. I'd like it if I could stay just the way I am now. Forever."

Rosetta tilted her head and smiled at him strangely. "Perhaps you will get your wish, Emil."

He scoffed and shook his head, "Wishes are for fairy tales."