Okay, I know this update took a long while. There are a few reasons for that. For one, I failed to make it to the shortlist for the writing competition I entered. Two months solid writing every day, down the drain. On top of that, someone looked at this fic and told me it was crap. Needless to say my confidence took a bit of a dive. But I'm not giving up. This is the last chapter of episode ten, meaning we're down to the final two episodes of this story before we reach the end. I'll be damned if I stop now.

Before I do the next chapter of this however, I will be starting a new Devil May Cry fic, as per a request. If you're interested in DMC at all, check it out if you like. As for the Wizard of Oz, I don't know when I will get around to that. I still haven't given up on it either, it's just not my highest priority atm, and I'm not in the right frame of mind for writing comedy.

So, enough waffle from me, here you go. Just a short filler chapter I'm afraid, but I hope you enjoy it all the same. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned.

Rozen Maiden: Märchen

EPISODE TEN

The Calm

Tomoe leaned on her knees and peered at Jun, tilting her head this way and that as she regarded him for a moment. "Jun," she said quietly, "do you ever get the feeling that life is trying to tell you something?"

Jun scowled. "Mostly I just get the feeling that life is having a good laugh at my expense. Oww!" he cried out suddenly, prompting Souseiseki to appear from behind his head.

"Sorry," she said, brandishing a pair of scissors. Jun groaned.

"Do you even know what you're doing?"

"Of course I do; I used to do this for one of my previous masters. Just sit still."

Jun was seated with his back to the dinner table, whilst the gardener doll stood behind him on the table itself. She was currently cutting his hair back to its original length, despite Nori's insistence that he looked much better with long hair. He'd clipped his nails too, given that ten years worth of nail growth is not something that looks good on anyone.

"There," announced Souseiseki abruptly, "I think that should do it. I'm afraid I wasn't able to style it the way you normally have it. Just out of curiosity, how do you get your hair to look that way, Jun?"

Tomoe passed Jun a handheld mirror so he could check out the results. "Hmm? It pretty much ends up that way on its own. Hey, not bad. Now all I need-"

"Right here," said Souseiseki, setting down the scissors and handing Jun a new pair of glasses that they had procured for him. He put them on and blinked as his vision swam into focus. He then checked his reflection in the mirror again and nodded appreciatively.

"Better," he admitted. He disappeared upstairs for five minutes and then returned to the living room, this time sporting a stylish new suit that Micchan had purchased for him. "Well," he said before the assembled group, "how do I look?"

They all stared. The end result was a definite improvement, at least for the task that lay ahead. It was still very ... odd, seeing Jun as an adult. For some it took a little getting used to. For others -

"Fantastic!" Micchan gushed, clasping her hands together gleefully.

- not so much. Shinku gave a curt nod of her head.

"It shall suffice."

"Thanks Shinku," Jun rolled his eyes, clearly thrilled by her enthusiasm. Suiseiseki chuckled.

"Not bad for a puny little runt. I'd even go so far as to say that you look easy on the eyes, human."

Compliments from Suiseiseki, thought Jun, as if things weren't weird enough. He noticed Nori trying to surreptitiously snap a picture of him and pointed sharply at her to get her attention. "Hey! Don't you dare!"

"Aww, c'mon Jun-kun!" Nori wailed in protest as she lowered the camera a fraction, "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! I just gotta capture the moment, you know?"

"Besides," added Tomoe with a slightly mischievous smirk, "You should be used to posing for pictures by now, right Jun? You even considered taking it up as a career ... remember?"

She was of course referring to Jun's brief brush with insanity last week, where under some strange influence he'd professed a desire to take up professional modeling. He had hoped she'd forgotten about that. Obviously not. He wilted and caved in.

"Fine. Then can we get this crazy plan over with? I want to go back to being a kid again."

That was the cue for Kanaria to take centre stage and begin the mission briefing. This she did with some excitement, hopping up onto the coffee table so everyone could see her clearly. "Right then," she began heartily, "It seems the first stage of my ingenious plan has been successfully implemented. Stage two is already underway."

Souseiseki raised her hand, and when prompted asked; "Just what is stage two, exactly?"

Kanaria's green eyes glittered with the smug self-assurance of how brilliant she was. She giggled. "We need to sneak into the auction of course. We already have Jun disguised for the part, and thanks to Micchan, getting us dolls in will be sheer childsplay, y'know?"

"No," said Suiseiseki flatly, "Stop tooting your own horn and start explaining."

Kanaria frowned, ruffled at being so bluntly interrupted. She brushed the whole thing off and extended a hand. "It's easy of course! If you want to hide a match, you just put it in a matchbox with a whole bunch of other matches."

Suiseiseki growled and crossed her arms in a frustrated huff. "Oh great, now she's going all metaphorical on us."

"You are going to take the Enju dolls from Miss Micchan's newly acquired shop and put them up for auction alongside Pandora, are you not?" said Shinku simply, more a statement of fact than an actual question, "This will allow Jun and Miss Micchan to smuggle us into the auction without suspicion, by hiding us amongst the other dolls."

Kanaria laughed happily and clapped her hands, hopping on the spot. "That's it! That's it, yes!"

"And the great thing is I might actually be able to sell some of the Enju dolls while we're at it," said Micchan, evidently able to find a silver lining around an already silver cloud. Jun meanwhile was feeling a tad more pessimistic. He sat on the couch with his arms folded, his expression one of severe doubt.

"You've still got the problem of how exactly we're supposed to steal the Box and get safely away with it. You know - the main point to all of this."

"Have no fear!" Kanaria replied heroically, "For I, Kanaria, have already devised the solution to that dilemma! It's simplicity itself, y'know?" She chuckled at her own brilliance, then laughed. The laughter grew to the point that everyone in the room was staring at her. Finally she stopped and coughed lightly, hoping that her laughter didn't make her seem quite as insane as it had sounded. She smiled nervously. "Really though, getting the Box out of the auction house will be a piece of cake compared with actually getting all of us safely out as well. I calculate that our only strategy will be to convince Grimm that we've failed so that he will let us go."

"And just how are you gonna do that?" asked Jun. Kanaria turned and pointed to Tomoe.

"Me?" Tomoe's eyes widened, startled by this, "How can I help?"

"Well ... lets just say we're going to have to pull a bit of a switch. And for that, we'll need you to stay here with one of the Gardener twins."

Suiseiseki and Souseiseki exchanged looks, utterly perplexed by this. Kanaria groaned and sat down, tapping her fingertips together.

"Okay," she said carefully, "Listen up everyone, because this is where the plan gets a teensy bit complicated..."

Kirakishou drifted aimlessly through the gleaming crystal hallways of her palatial N-Field, absent mindedly brushing a single black feather against her nose as she went. Her expression was blank and unreadable, her thoughts at that moment anyone's guess.

"You will have to fight her," said Barasuishou, who was perhaps in a better position to guess than most. Her face reflected in one of the numerous mirrors throughout Kirakishou's Field. The seventh doll stopped and scowled, but said nothing. Barasuishou continued. "In the end you will fight all of your sisters. It is your fate as a Rozen Maiden. You cannot escape it."

"I do not want to fight Suigintou," Kirakishou murmured, not turning to face the reflection that taunted her. And it was true - she didn't. She didn't really want to fight any of her sisters, though she would if they got in her way. But not Suigintou. Not her big sis. Barasuishou scoffed at her.

"That one will destroy you, unless you destroy her first."

"No. I will find the Box."

"She will fight you for it. Or fight you in the Alice Game. You cannot avoid it."

"Be silent!" Kirakishou screamed abruptly, spinning and hurling the feather at the nearby mirror. It shattered into fragments of sleeting glass that cascaded to the floor, each piece still reflecting a part of the Enju doll's face.

"Why?" her voice continued to mock, this time coming from all around, "You wanted me. Two sides to the same coin. Together as one. This was your desire."

Kirakishou stood rooted to the spot, trembling with frustrated rage, the crystals in her Field shifting between hues of white and pink and violet as her mood darkened. Finally her anger shattered and she broke down as if defeated, sinking to the cold floor, hands clutching her face as if to assure herself that she was still real.

"No, I will not ... not ... will not fight her. No matter. No matter what."

She saw Barasuishou's face move in the scattered fragments of the broken mirror around her, and heard a short, quiet chuckle of amusement at her denial. "And if you must choose between Alice and Suigintou? What then?"

Kirakishou stared at the fragments with one wide amber eye, the question piercing her heart like a blade before letting the truth pour from the fresh wound like oozing blood. And it startled her, the truth, her answer to that question. She spoke it aloud, as amazed by it as Barasuishou was.

"Suigintou ... I would choose her. I would not harm her even to become Alice."

"Hmph," Barasuishou scoffed, surprised but not deterred, "You will have to, to win the Game. To see Father."

"Then I will lose the Alice Game," Kirakishou snapped, more confidently this time. And she knew that, yes, if she had to she would break every last one of her sisters to win. Every last one but Suigintou. If she held Pandora's Box and victory in her hands, and Suigintou stood before her and demanded it from her ... she would rather hand it over than fight her big sis for it.

"Then you will be alone," Barasuishou teased, her tone scathing, "Forever and ever."

Kirakishou's distraught expression curled into a sly smirk and she narrowed her eye at the scattered fragments. She raised a finger to her mouth and giggled, her mind unraveling before her. "Never alone, sweet Barasuishou," she countered, her voice somewhat unhinged, "I shall always have you, after all. We shall always be together. Forever. Forever and ever." She giggled again, louder this time, and by the time she stopped the broken mirror fragments no longer reflected the face of Barasuishou, nor was her voice to be heard.

In the silence that followed, Kirakishou did hear a sound. It was such an odd sound to hear, here in her N-Field of all places, and at first she couldn't place it. She frowned and concentrated, listening intently, trying to comprehend what it was that she was hearing.

Music.

Distant, faint, but definitely a melody of some sort. She tilted her head, puzzled deeply by this. Was she imagining it? She did sometimes see and hear things that were not real, that existed only in her mind. Her conversations with her twin were evidence of that. But no. She felt that this was real, this music. As she glanced up, she saw her artificial spirit sail over her head, stop for a moment and pulse at her.

"You hear it too, Rosary?" she asked, "Lead me to it."

It pulsed again in affirmation before zipping off through the endless corridors and hallways of her palace. Kirakishou stood and glided after it, floating just inches above the ground, her dress fluttering in the air as she flew.

On and on Rosary went, down stairways, through empty rooms, around corners. Finally it stopped before a doorway that was completely out of place with the design of her Field, a stout wooden thing with gold and silver inlay intertwined together in a floral pattern. As she approached, the melody that led her here ceased. Frowning, Kirakishou pushed at the door and it swung open with ease, admitting her into a brilliant emerald green garden. A hanging garden even, with a spectacular view in the distance.

Yet it wasn't the scenery that held her attention, far from it, for in the middle of the garden sat a table. Upon this table was a chess board, and seated opposite each other were two figures. One was the unmistakable white rabbit known as Laplace no Ma. Kirakishou knew him well, as he frequently appeared in the N-Field to pose nonsensical cryptic statements to any who would listen.

The other person however...

"Father!" Kirakishou gasped, her eye wider than it had ever been before. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the blond haired figure seated opposite Laplace. He glowed with a faint aura of golden light, the same light that shone down on the entire garden. Could it truly be? Yes it was! It was Father!

Laughing merrily, Kirakishou ran to him, arms outstretched. He did not seem to notice her approach, and indeed did not even notice when his seventh daughter ran right through him and staggered to a stop several feet away. Kirakishou gasped again, shocked. With a growing sense of unease she turned back to Rozen - who still did not seem to see her - and slowly passed her hand through him as if he were insubstantial as smoke.

The same held true for Laplace, and even the table they were seated at. She could not touch them or interact with them in any way, and neither of them appeared to be aware of her presence. Heartbroken at this, yet still cheered somewhat to be able to see her Father once more, Kirakishou stood and stared at him with an enraptured expression upon her face.

"Oh, Father..." she whispered, almost moved to tears of joy at the sight of him.

"Your move," Rozen said dryly, directing his words to the demon opposite him. Kirakishou tore her gaze away from him long enough to glance at the chess board situated between the two, and when she did she was only further puzzled. She was quite familiar with the game, and had even on occasion played it with Laplace out of a simple desire to keep the demon around for company, so lonely had she been at times.

But what she saw made no sense.

"The Red Queen falls," said Laplace, reaching out and placing the piece in question on its side. The problem, Kirakishou realized, lay in the other two pieces on the board, for there were only two others. One a White Queen, the other a Black Queen. They lay opposite each other, the only thing between them the overturned Red Queen piece.

Three Queens? Each a different colour? What kind of game was this?

"And now the first and last bring the game to an end," announced Laplace, sitting back in his chair with an air of finality about him. She glanced over to Father, who was leaning on the table, his expression thoughtful, not defeated. After a long moment of introspection, Rozen reached over and removed the Red Queen piece, replacing it with another piece. A White Knight. Now he leaned back, a slight air of smugness about him, his green eyes boring into Laplace as if daring him to comment. Kirakishou didn't understand any of it.

"Hmph," said Laplace, faintly annoyed, "You would break the rules to intervene? That will never do."

Rozen smirked somewhat. "What makes you think I am the White Knight?" he countered.

Laplace's whiskers twitched, his blood red eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Then who might this be?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Ahh," Laplace smiled. Possibly. It was hard to say with a face like that. "The boy who wound. The Medium. But white, not red ... interesting."

What was so interesting? Kirakishou wondered. She couldn't ask, nor could she discern the answer by continuing to observe, for the sight before her faded away and vanished. She cried out for Father, but it was no use. One moment he was there, the next he was gone. Laplace, the table and the chess board with him. Even the garden. As the seventh doll blinked and looked around, she saw that she was standing inside one of her very own vacant crystal rooms, alone once more.

But then again, not everything she had seen had completely gone. As she cast her one-eyed gaze about, she caught sight of something on the floor, right where the table had been. It was so small she almost missed it, but it was definitely there. She bent low and scooped it up, holding it tight in her hand as she stood upright. As Rosary appeared and hovered at her shoulder, Kirakishou turned her hand over and uncurled it, examining the tiny thing that had been left behind. It was a chess piece.

A White Knight.

Kanaria: Commence Operation: Pandora!

Emil: Wait, you guys are trying to steal the Box?

Jun: Yeah, and we need to get out of here right now!

Eike: Over your dead body.

Emil: No! Stop! Don't!

Rosetta: If you want to leave, you'll have to go through me first.

Shinku: If that is what it takes, then so be it.

Kirakishou: Pandora's Box ... is mine.

Jun: Next time on Rozen Maiden: Märchen -

Kirakishou: The light of truth eludes you.