Rozen Maiden: Märchen
EPISODE TWELVE
Duet
They were gone. All of them. Tomoe. Micchan. Megu. The Shibisakis. Even Jun. Just as they had feared, Kirakishou had swooped in and snatched them out from under their collective noses. The fact that she'd been able to even pull such a thing off was impressive in itself. The dolls all gathered in the living room of the Sakurada house and sat in gloomy silence, knowing what was to come.
The Alice Game.
After the last Alice Game with Barasuishou a year ago, they'd all been dreading this. Rozen's words to Shinku though, and the subsequent discovery of Pandora's Box had given them all hope that it would never come to this again. Even Kirakishou herself had been determined to avoid it, opting instead to pursue the same alternative that they all sought.
Not anymore, obviously. Having failed to get her hands on the Box, the seventh doll had evidently abandoned that plan in favour of restarting the Game. It was clear she intended to lure them all to her N-Field and do battle with them. Walking away was not really an option, unless they wanted to throw away the lives of those they had come to care for.
"How tough can she be?" Kanaria spoke up at last, breaking the fragile silence, "I mean she's just one doll, y'know? If we all work together I'm sure we can take her down." She looked from one sister to the other, as if searching for reassurance. "Right?"
Suigintou shook her head slowly. "I'm not so sure. Father made her to be the strongest one of us. So strong he trusted her alone to guard the key. So strong that he put her to sleep, only waking her when it seemed the Alice Game was almost over."
Kanaria wilted at the complete lack of comfort Suigintou's words offered. She and Hinaichigo both clung to each other and whimpered, afraid of what was to come. Meanwhile Suiseiseki ground her teeth together and kicked at one of the table legs.
"That Kirakishou so pisses me off! Honestly, we should have done something about her the first time she showed that creepy face of hers."
"Nevertheless, here we are," said Shinku reasonably, "If we want to save our Mediums, our friends, then there is but one course of action open to us. We must face her in the Alice Game." She sat on the couch next to Suigintou, holding her big sister's hand in her lap. If the other dolls weren't so worried about the current situation they might have commented about that. Sitting alone on one of the chairs, Souseiseki seemed lost in thought, until she glanced up at Shinku's words.
"Maybe not," she said carefully. All eyes turned on her, inviting her to elaborate. She did, narrowing her gaze in an almost devious fashion. "We may not have to beat Kirakishou ... supposedly Pandora's artificial spirit has the power to vanquish any foe, and may even be the key to creating Alice without using all our Rosa Mysticas ..."
Suigintou blinked with surprise as she realised what her sister was getting at. "If we can just get the key from her-"
"Then one of us could open the Box whilst the rest of us keep her occupied," Souseiseki nodded, "Surely then either Pandora or Hope will be able to bring a stop to the Alice Game. There'd be no need for us to fight Kirakishou then."
Shinku seemed dubious. "That will not be easy," she ventured, "If we bring Pandora's Box with us to the N-Field, then this plan might work against us. She would need only open the Box herself-"
"Wait a second," Suiseiseki waved her hands to interrupt, her face screwed up from the effort of trying to make sense of something, "Do we even know for sure what will happen when anyone opens that damn thing? I mean just whose side would this Pandora doll be on? For all we know we could wake her up only to find ourselves up against someone worse than Kirakishou." She crossed her arms and huffed in seeming annoyance. "The way everyone talks about that Box, you'd think Pandora really was some kind of wish granting genie or something, but what if we stick our necks out to wake her up and she just yawns at us all and asks for some tea? Then what?"
There was silence in response to this, as none of them had even considered the possibility. They'd all been so sure Pandora would be able to somehow magically sort everything out it hadn't occurred to them to even think of her as a living doll, with a personality and desires of her own. In that case, what would happen? What would Pandora do if they opened her case and woke her up? Would she be willing to put a stop to the fighting, or might she become their worst enemy? An unsettling possibility.
"Father knew Pandora," Souseiseki pointed out after some consideration, "He spoke of her during his time here. And he came from the past for the sole reason of helping us to find her." She bowed her head and sighed. "We have to trust that this is what Father wants. I believe that it is our only option short of playing the Alice Game," she raised her gaze and fixed it upon her sisters, the slightest suggestion of a smile playing across her normally reserved face. "I for one would rather take my chances with Pandora than fight any of you again."
Coming from the doll who just last year had been prepared to strike them down for the sake of becoming Alice, her words carried considerable weight. If Souseiseki would sooner take the risk than fight, how could they argue?
"Then it is settled," Shinku produced her pocket watch, taking note of the time before tucking it away once more, "Hinaichigo?"
"Unyuu?" Hina blinked with curiosity at Shinku.
"You and Kanaria will wait within your N-Field with Pandora's Box. The rest of us shall confront our sister in her Field. As soon as one of us is able to steal the key from her, that person shall race to Hina's Field and open the Box, whilst the others keep Kirakishou occupied."
The assembled dolls each voiced their assent at the plan and then got to their feet. This was it, then. The final battle. The fate of the Rozen Maidens would be decided today, and it was possible Alice might also be born at long last. Depending on how things went, it could potentially be any one of them. Win or lose, all or nothing, there wasn't long to go now.
They'd each been waiting their entire lives for this moment, and the weight of that fact bore down heavily upon them. Hinaichigo and Kanaria hugged one another tight, giving each other babbled assurances that everything was going to work out. The Gardener twins did likewise, Suiseiseki throwing her arms around her boyish sister.
"Promise me nothing will happen to you this time," she demanded, squeezing Souseiseki as if afraid of what might happen if she let go, "I so could not stand the thought of losing you a second time!"
Her twin closed her eyes and gently laid her hands upon Suiseiseki's back. "Don't worry about me, sister, I've learned my lesson. I'll be by your side until the very end."
Suigintou and Shinku stood face to face, their hands pressed together and fingers intertwined. Shinku smiled oddly at her big sister and tilted her head to one side. "So," she said, "do you regret deciding to come back now?"
Suigintou smiled back at her. "No. All I wanted was to be with you, Shinku. As long as we're together, I'll see this through come what may." She chuckled. "And besides, we have to rescue that hopeless Medium of yours, don't we? Poor Jun-kun, where would he be without you?"
"I might say the same of your Medium, Suigintou," Shinku teased, trying to ease the tension she felt, "You did promise to take care of her, did you not?"
Suigintou gave a mock look of bemusement. "I did at that, didn't I? I must be doing something wrong though, because no matter how I try I still cannot teach her to make a proper cup of tea."
Shinku giggled, her eyes glinting with genuine mirth. "In that case, when all this is over you must bring her for a visit; if I can teach a servant as vexing as Jun to make good tea, I am certain someone like Megu will prove no challenge."
Suigintou smirked and leaned towards Shinku, intending to kiss her. She stopped when Souseiseki politely cleared her throat, and as the two dolls turned their heads a little they saw that the rest of their sisters were watching them both in utter astonishment. Suiseiseki in particular seemed completely flabbergasted.
"When did you two become so close?" she asked, looking from one to the other, "Does the puny runt know the two of you are tasting each other's lips?"
"Suiseiseki!" her twin gave her a shocked stare. Suiseiseki glared back at her and pointed sharply at Suigintou.
"Did you know about this?"
"Do I look like I knew?"
Meanwhile Hinaichigo waved her hands in the air and moaned loudly. "Hina wants kisses too!"
Kanaria elbowed her in the side. "No you don't, stupid!"
"I don't?"
Kanaria growled at her naivety. "Of course not! You only kiss someone like that when you really love them, silly!"
"Unyuu?" Hina seemed puzzled for a moment, before her face split into a wide grin. She promptly grabbed a hold of Kanaria and planted one on her. The second Rozen Maiden flailed her arms in shock at this, and when Hinaichigo pulled away she could not have looked more stunned if she'd been shot with a stun gun.
"W-what did you do that for?" Kanaria yelped once she found her voice again. Hinaichigo beamed happily at her.
"You said you kiss someone like that when you love them. Hina loves Kana, so Hina kissed her. Haha!"
Kanaria facepalmed in epic fashion at her little sister's complete failure to grasp her meaning. Meanwhile Hinaichigo giggled like a child with a new toy and launched herself at Souseiseki. The Gardener doll had just enough time to give a startled cry before Hina locked lips with her. Seeing this, Suiseiseki screamed and clutched the side of her head. Observing the spectacle, both Suigintou and Shinku chuckled at the little doll's display of affection. As soon as Hinaichigo was done kissing Souseiseki she rounded on the second Gardener doll, whereupon Suiseiseki ran from her as if being chased by a hungry alligator.
"Yaagh! Stay away you! I so do not want your puny lips anywhere near mine!"
"Suiseiseki! Come back, Hina loves you too!"
Souseiseki and Kanaria stood side by side and watched Hinaichigo chase Suiseiseki around the living room. They sighed wearily and shook their heads.
"They're so hopeless ..." they both said in unison.
"Swear!"
"Like hell I'm gonna do that!"
Kirakishou's features twisted into a grimace of rage. She gestured violently, summoning a swarm of writhing white rose vines that engulfed Jun, lifting him into the air. He cried out in pain as they twisted and strangled him, then wrenched at his arms and legs as if trying to pull him apart.
"SWEAR!" Kirakishou thrust her rose ring towards him. Face contorting in anguish, fighting for breath, Jun nevertheless managed to find the strength to refuse.
"N-never!" he gasped hoarsely. Kirakishou seemed about ready to explode with anger, her entire body trembling. Then without a moments notice her entire manner changed. She laughed and flicked her hand, causing the rose vines to cease their assault and lower Jun back down onto the floor.
"My, so strong," the seventh doll observed, grinning like a lunatic. Quite aptly, Jun thought, because she was one. Kirakishou strode up to him as the rose vines held him gently but firmly in place, unable to move. She stopped right before his face and reached out to remove his glasses.
"They wont suit you," Jun quipped, sarcasm about the only thing he could manage right now, "Try a monocle."
"We're feeling funny today, aren't we Jun-kun?" Kirakishou tossed his glasses away and reached out to pluck something out of the air. Jun's eyes widened with horror as she leaned close, brandishing a needle-sharp shard of white crystal.
"What are you doing?" Jun demanded frantically, eyeing the shard with fear. He tried to pull away from the grinning doll but the rose vines held him firmly in place. She cupped his face with her free hand and lowered the crystal shard until it was level with his eyes.
"How about now?" she teased, "Go on Jun-kun; make me laugh."
"Stop! What are ... no! Don't!" Jun struggled desperately as the seventh doll slid the shard closer to his right eye, the glinting point of it drawing his full and undivided attention.
"Then swear. Enter a covenant with me. Become my Medium."
Jun began to sweat. "I won't," he murmured weakly, surprising himself by his refusal.
"In that case Jun, you may want to invest in an eye-patch ..."
The tip of the shard was less than an inch away from his eye now. Jun instinctively screwed his eyes shut, but it didn't help; Kirakishou simply used her free hand to prize his eyelid open.
"Hold still now," she cautioned, "You have something in your eye. Well, you're about to ..."
There was nothing he could do. The crazy psychotic doll was going to gouge his eye out with a razor sharp piece of crystal. She really was. And he was going to scream, because it would hurt more than anything he'd ever experienced in his life. His only alternative was to give in and become her Medium, but if he did that then there'd be no stopping her. She was already the strongest Rozen Maiden. With Jun's power backing her up, she'd tear through her sisters with ease.
Shinku. If he gave in, she'd kill Shinku and take her Rosa Mystica. He'd never see her again.
"Go ahead," Jun snapped, suddenly finding his fear draining away as he accepted the fate she had in store for him, "There is just no way I'll help you to fight the others."
Kirakishou regarded him curiously as she held the crystal a hairs breadth away from piercing his right eye. The rose growing from her own empty eye socket swivelled. Finally she pulled away, the shard dissolving in her grasp. She stared a moment longer at him, then summoned his glasses into her waiting grasp. Without a word she replaced them upon his face and then tapped his nose.
"Shinku and Suiseiseki chose wisely," Kirakishou admitted with a resigned sigh, "So loyal. So brave. You would do anything for the ones you care about."
Jun said nothing. He was trying not to faint. Kirakishou snapped her fingers, causing the rose vines holding him to vanish. As he slumped to the floor, she danced around him like a playful child.
"So kind. So caring. Such a sweet boy. Can't break you. Not directly. So-" She gripped Jun's hair suddenly, yanking his head up and around so that he was staring up at Tomoe, bound and suspended within the crystal web, "-I shall just have to break you indirectly. Swear upon the ring, Jun-kun, or I shall force her to be my Medium instead. Considering that she could not stand having Hinaichigo as a Medium, I think you shall find her life expectancy to be extremely short supplying me with power."
Damn. "She wont give in anymore than I will."
"No? Not even when I threaten to pluck out your eyes and make her watch? She still cares for you a great deal, Jun. Can you not feel the affection she has for you, even from here? So warm ... so strong. If you were a girl she'd be madly in love with you."
Jun didn't answer, because he was trying to think of a way out, yet couldn't. He couldn't let this maniac use Tomoe's life to fight her sisters; it'd kill Tomoe for sure. Hinaichigo had very nearly drained Tomoe's life away just fighting Shinku, and Kirakishou intended to fight all six of her sisters at the same time. As it was Jun doubted very much even he would live long if he agreed to be her Medium. Tomoe didn't have a chance.
"I'll do it," Jun muttered sullenly, "Just leave Tomoe alone."
With no choice but to accede, Jun kissed the ring worn by the seventh doll. It flared with a brilliant white light, his own ring doing the same in response. Kirakishou held up her hand and gazed at the glowing ring, her expression euphoric.
"Thank you, Jun, that was all I needed." She flung her arm out and pointed to a blank stretch of floor. Jun screamed as a searing hot pain shot through his hand, blurring his vision and driving him onto his back. He didn't see the violet crystal spike that punched through the ground, not at first. Only when he prized his eyes open and squinted at it did he see, his breath catching in his throat.
The crystal was shrinking in on itself, shaping itself into something. As Jun watched, it took on a familiar form, one he knew well enough yet never expected to see again. The crystalline features sharpened into focus, until at last the figure was complete. With a final ripple of light the crystal changed texture and colour, revealing the finished result.
"What do you think, Jun-kun?" said Kirakishou, the light from their rings fading now, "Isn't she beautiful? Isn't she magnificent?"
"How ...?" said Jun weakly, lying on his front and sweating from the exhaustion of having his life sapped. The seventh doll glided gracefully over to the new figure and set down before it, gazing at it with unconcealed adoration.
"Are you ready, my love?" she asked, "Are you ready to end the Alice Game?"
Barasuishou opened her eye and smiled. She reached out and pressed her hands against Kirakishou's, entwining their fingers together. "I am," she said. They both leaned close and kissed. Jun struggled up onto his knees, unable to believe what he was seeing. Together the two dolls turned their heads to regard him, their movements so perfectly in synch it was as if they were a reflection of each other.
"I am Kirakishou."
"I am Barasuishou."
"And together-"
"We are-"
"The seventh Rozen Maiden doll ..." they finished in unison.