Rozen Maiden: Märchen

EPISODE TWELVE

Duellwalzer

The dolls materialised upon a snow swept bridge spanning a dizzying chasm, at the end of which towered a simply spectacular pinkish-white palace of polished crystal. It stretched up to the uniformly white sky, the highest tips of the structure protruding through a bank of low lying clouds. A bitter chill was in the air, though the air itself was quite still. There wasn't so much as a light breeze to disturb the blizzard of glittering snowflakes that drifted down upon them.

"So nice of you to come," said Kirakishou, standing little over a dozen feet away from them, clearly awaiting their arrival. She glanced from one doll to the other, taking note of the two missing Rozen Maidens. As she did so, a smirk flashed across her features, as if she'd expected as much.

"We have come to take back our friends," Shinku declared boldly, striding forwards and swishing her cane through the icy air. She stopped half a dozen feet from her youngest sister, her equally icy gaze locked upon the smirking seventh doll. Kirakishou stared back. After a moment of silence, Shinku sighed. "Must it really come to this? Must we fight?"

Kirakishou glanced about at the falling snow and held out a hand to catch several of the drifting flakes in her palm. She peered at them closely and giggled. "They say every snowflake is unique, different from all the others." She glanced up at Shinku. "Just as we are different. But Father does not want seven unique daughters. He wants only one. One named Alice." Kirakishou clenched her hand shut, crushing the snowflakes in her palm, a demented grin spreading across her face.

Shinku sighed again, heavier this time, her serene blue eyes downcast. "I see. I wish Father had not kept you apart from us. If only he had allowed you to be with your sisters, to spend time with us, perhaps ... perhaps you would not be as broken as you are."

Kirakishou scoffed at her words, lowering her arm to her side. "Broken? Is that how you see me? I am the strongest of Father's creations. I am the most worthy of becoming Alice. Father entrusted the key of Hope to me, because he wished me to become the perfect girl. You could not stand that, Shinku, so you kept Hope from me. But despite your jealousy, I shall prevail, and I shall become Alice."

"How sad," Shinku raised her gaze and directed the most pitying look at Kirakishou. Kirakishou narrowed her one eye.

"Sad?"

"You truly believe Father wishes you to become Alice, yet he told me himself that it is I he desires to become Alice, out of all the dolls."

The seventh doll's eye widened at her words, stunned. Her surprise quickly shifted to angry denial, her features contorting in an ugly fashion. "Liar. LIAR!"

"See for yourself," Shinku produced Rozen's journal and tossed it towards her. It landed in the snow at her feet and she stared down at it for a second, before casting a suspicious glance at Shinku. There was no hesitation, no nervous apprehension in Shinku's manner, only weary resignation. Kirakishou knelt down and scooped the journal up, opening it to the page Shinku had bookmarked. Her eye danced across the pages, scanning the contents. It was easy to tell when she read the relevant passage, as she let out a disbelieving gasp and sank to her knees.

All was silent. Snow continued to fall gently upon the assembled dolls. Everyone waited and watched to see her reaction. After a while Shinku spoke again.

"When Father's past self came to help us find Pandora, he gave me a parting message. He told me that if he could choose any of us to be Alice, I would be that choice."

Kirakishou said nothing, only continued to stare numbly at the pages of the journal in her hands. Finally she let it slip from her grasp onto the ground once more. She pressed a hand to her face, her fingertips gingerly touching the rose growing from her eye socket.

"Why ..." they heard her whisper, "Why, Father? When I love you so much? I ... I kept it safe, just like you asked. I went to sleep all alone for so very long. I did everything you asked of me. Why do you want her ...?" Suddenly she wrenched the rose from her eye, tearing it clean out of the socket, leaving only an empty black hole where it had been. She crushed the rose in her hands and screamed, her shrieking voice echoing throughout her world, almost deafening. The dolls clapped their hands over their ears, save for Shinku. The fifth doll crunched across the snow towards her little sister and knelt before her, laying a comforting hand upon her shaking shoulder.

"Stop this," Shinku said, her eyes filled with sympathy as Kirakishou's scream trailed off. "However Father feels, we are still sisters and we care for you. There is no need to be alone any longer. Come home with us Kirakishou. We do not have to be enemies."

Kirakishou stared at her, her mouth hanging open, a glittering tear rolling down her cheek from the one eye that she had. Her mouth closed and smiled warmly, and gave a soft little laugh, wiping the tear away with the back of her hand.

"Oh Shinku ..."

Her hand shot out and plunged into Shinku's right eye socket, her fingers curling around the blue orb resting there. In an instant she tore the eye clean out, leaving Shinku reeling in shock and pain. The other dolls gasped and cried out, but they were too far away to do anything, and it was too late in any event. As Shinku lay sprawled on the snow, Kirakishou stood over her and grinned madly down at her.

"If Father admires your eyes so," she explained, reaching up and slotting the stolen blue orb into her own empty eye socket, "Well then, I shall be the one to wear them." She blinked several times and then leered at Shinku, now sporting mismatching eyes like the Gardener twins. Her left eye was a slightly greenish yellow, her right eye an icy blue. "Now when Father looks into my eyes, I shall remind him of Alice." She wagged a finger at Shinku, "I shall collect the other one in a moment. Be a good girl Shinku, and wait right there. Oh, and Shinku? I am not alone."

As soon as she said this, the other dolls were startled beyond words as Suiseiseki's head rolled to a stop in front of them. Astonished, Souseiseki and Suigintou turned in time to see Suiseiseki's headless body slump down onto the snow, Barasuishou standing over her with a crystal blade in her hands. Suiseiseki's Rosa Mystica floated up from her body and drifted into the smirking Enju doll, who absorbed it and glowed brightly.

"NO!" Souseiseki cried out, horrified. She hastily summoned her gardening shears and leapt at Barasuishou, intending to avenge her fallen sister. The blades of her shears slashed through empty air however, as Barasuishou shot straight up, arced backwards and landed well over a dozen feet away, still glowing brightly. Undeterred, Souseiseki charged towards her, screaming at the top of her voice. Meanwhile Suigintou turned back towards Shinku and Kirakishou, the seventh doll also glowing, as if she too had absorbed a Rosa Mystica.

"What ...?" Suigintou frowned, puzzled by this. Were the two dolls linked in some way? It seemed so.

Still lying at Kirakishou's feet with a hand pressed against her empty right eye socket, Shinku caught a glimpse of the silvery key dangling around the seventh doll's neck. Springing up from the ground, she snatched at it and tore it away. Before Kirakishou could even react, Shinku turned and sprinted a short distance, before hurling herself from the bridge and into the chasm below.

"Where do you think you are going, Shinku?" Kirakishou said aloud, marvelling at her new vision, "Don't run too far; I still need to pluck out that left eye ..."

She reached out and, without even looking, caught the blade of Suigintou's sword with her bare hand. Suigintou struggled to try and push it through her sister's hand, the blade trembling with the effort she exerted, but it was no use; Kirakishou's grip was like a vice. Her little sister finally did turn and regard her, doing so with an almost bored air about her. Seeing her with two eyes for the first time was extremely unsettling, especially as one of those eyes belonged to Shinku.

"Now big sis," Kirakishou tutted and wagged a finger at her, "I wouldn't be so confident if I were you. I know you have given yourself to Shinku. I am through pining for you. I will no longer spare you from my wrath."

Suigintou snarled at her, enraged. "Give back Shinku's eye you worthless piece of junk!" She extended her wings even as she struggled to free her sword from her sister's grasp, the black feathered appendages morphing into a pair of howling dragon heads. They darted in towards Kirakishou, intending to pincer the seventh doll. There was a sudden brilliant flash of blinding white light and the next thing Suigintou knew she was sailing back through the air to land heavily on the ground, her sword sticking into the snow beside her.

"Pitiful," Kirakishou sneered. Suigintou was startled to see a rose ring upon her finger, glowing with an intense white light. She had a Medium. As if she didn't have enough power. Kirakishou extended her hand towards Suigintou as the first Rozen Maiden struggled up to her feet, snatching up her sword. Kirakishou smiled, her mismatching eyes narrowing. "Oh Suigintou, you don't have a clue, do you? We are in my world now, and everything in it is dominated by my will. Including the very ground you are standing on." She turned her hand and snapped her fingers. The entire bridge trembled and shook.

Then it collapsed, sending a startled Suigintou tumbling into the chasm below.

Souseiseki slashed at Barasuishou, all thought of strategy and technique obliterated in the face of her boiling rage and burning desire to avenge her fallen sister. Barasuishou however remained utterly calm and in control, effortlessly dodging the clumsy blows directed her way.

"Stand still!" Souseiseki demanded, breathing heavily as the Enju doll darted back out of reach. Barasuishou responded by sending a hail of crystal shards at her, which she deflected with her shears. Souseiseki leapt at her again, this time bringing her weapon down with blinding speed. Her opponent raised her hand and summoned a shimmering barrier of violet light. As the shears connected with it, bolts of crackling energy discharged about them, blasting chunks out of the bridge.

After struggling and failing to penetrate the shield, Souseiseki relented and landed a few feet away, breathing heavily once more, her teeth clenched. Her grip tightened around the handle of the shears as she tried to compose herself, force herself to think rather than blindly hurling herself at her enemy.

"Why?" she demanded abruptly, her eyes pained, "We took you in! We treated you as if you were one of us! Even after everything you did! Suiseiseki thought of you as a friend, and this is how you repay her?"

Barasuishou remained unmoved by her words, her face as blank and expressionless as ever. "I was revived for a purpose," she said simply, raising her sword and pointing the tip towards Souseiseki, "To help Kirakishou bring an end to the Alice Game. When the Game ends, my father and sister will be freed and I will be able to see them again."

"And what about my sister!" Souseiseki snapped, slashing at the air furiously with her shears, "Jun was wrong about you; you haven't changed at all. Well I'm taking back Suiseiseki's Rosa Mystica, even if it means cutting you into a thousand pieces to get at it!"

No sooner had she said this than the entire bridge collapsed around them, breaking into countless slabs of stone that proceeded to fall into the yawning chasm. Neither doll seemed to care. They each leapt from one falling chunk of bridge to the next, springing at each other, blades clashing and ringing from blow after blow. Souseiseki swiped at Barasuishou's legs, and she in turn backflipped off a piece of falling bridge, landed on another, kicked off from it and shot back towards Souseiseki, swinging her sword as she did. Souseiseki opened her shears, caught the crystal blade with them, then twisted around, sending the sword spinning away into the inky blackness.

Barasuishou grabbed hold of the shears and both dolls struggled for control of the weapon, as snow and stone and debris rained down about them. Suddenly Barasuishou turned their descent into flight, propelling them both up towards Kirakishou's gleaming crystal palace. Souseiseki tried to wrench the shears from the Enju doll's grasp, but it was no use, she was too strong. Barasuishou rammed the Rozen Maiden into the side of the palace with tremendous force.

Unfortunately for Souseiseki, she had also summoned a large crystal spike moments before impact, impaling Souseiseki upon the sharp protrusion. The fourth Rozen Maiden doll could barely gasp at the pain as she glanced down, seeing the crystal sticking out through the front of her torso. Smirking, Barasuishou easily tore the gardening shears from her weak fingers, floating back a short distance to observe Souseiseki's dying throes. Souseiseki fixed her failing vision upon the white-haired doll, hand outstretched towards her, fingers grasping.

"Sui ... seiseki ... I'm ... sorry."

Souseiseki fell limp as her inner mechanism finally stopped. Her Rosa Mystica emerged from her impaled body, drifting towards the waiting Barasuishou. She absorbed it just as she'd done with Suiseiseki, her own body glowing with a bright nimbus of light. She smiled at the inner warmth, then slashed at the air with the gardening shears as it faded away.

"Two down," she said, before turning and flying off, leaving Souseiseki hanging where she was.

Suigintou touched down lightly at the bottom of the chasm, a kind of rocky ravine lined with glowing veins of pink and violet crystal. Snow continued to fall from the sky, coating the ground with a thin veneer of sparkling white flakes. She craned her neck to look upwards for some sign of Kirakishou, but the seventh sister had opted not to follow her down. She lowered her gaze as the sound of weeping reached her ears.

"Shinku?"

Shinku knelt with her back to Suigintou a short distance away, her shoulders shaking. She extended her wings and glided over to her, dropping in front of the sobbing blond doll.

"Shinku? What-" Suigintou stopped, realising at once what was wrong. Shinku clutched the key to Pandora's Box in one hand, whilst her other hand was pressed firmly against her empty right eye socket, mourning the loss of what had until recently been there.

"S-she took ... took my eye!" Shinku sobbed, tears streaming from her remaining eye, "A precious eye given to me by Father. One of the eyes that makes him think of Alice. H-how ... how could she?"

Suigintou winced out of sympathy for Shinku's plight, but reached out and hauled her sister up onto her feet, shaking her gently to try and snap her out of it.

"Shinku! I know it must hurt, but there isn't time!" Suigintou took a hold of the hand holding the key and lifted it so Shinku could see it with her remaining eye. "Remember what we came to do," she urged, "You have to bring this to Hinaichigo."

Shinku scarcely seemed to hear her, instead slipping from Suigintou's hold and falling back down to the ground. Suigintou cast a look around frantically for some sign of Kirakishou, but she was still nowhere to be seen. Where was she? Had she gone to help Barasuishou fight Souseiseki? Suigintou felt a pang of sympathy for the twins, remembering the sight of Suiseiseki's severed head. It was still possible she could be revived, but only if they could stop Kirakishou. And now Kirakishou had a Medium - who? - and any hope they might have had of doing so went out the window. Now there really was only one road open to them - Hope itself.

Suigintou fixed her gaze upon Shinku. She couldn't just take the key and leave her there, she wouldn't abandon Shinku like that. Extending one of her wings, Suigintou enveloped Shinku with it, lifting her from the ground and holding her within the mass of black feathers. Turning her eyes skyward, she shot into the air, soaring up and out of the ravine.

Hinaichigo sat atop Pandora's Box and swung her feet back and forth, watching the toys of her N-Field march to and fro. Beside her, Kanaria stood with her violin at the ready, occasionally striking up a short melody on the instrument.

"They sure are taking a long time, y'know?" Kanaria murmured nervously. Hinaichigo shrugged.

"I'm sure they'll be here soon."

"How can you be sure?" Kanaria demanded, lowering her violin and rounding on the little pink doll, "They could all be in big trouble! We should be helping them, not sitting here twiddling our thumbs!"

Hinaichigo blinked up at her. "But Hina isn't twiddling her thumbs ..."

Kanaria growled in annoyance and stamped away from her. She stopped short and goggled at Kirakishou, who was sitting atop one of the toy houses. When the seventh doll noticed that she was watching, she waved and giggled.

"Ah! AH! AAAHHHH!" Kanaria flapped her arms in a panic. This was not part of the plan! The others were supposed to keep her busy! What was she doing here? Where the heck were the others anyway? Had she ... had she killed them all?

Kirakishou jumped down from the house and floated to a stop, regarding Kanaria with some curiosity. She pointed vaguely at the second Rozen Maiden, her expression somewhat uncertain.

"Have we met before? I am not sure that we have. You must be Kanaria."

"I am?" Kanaria gaped, then recovered herself, raising her violin and bow in preparation to play. "I am! Yes! I am the magnificent, one and only Kanaria! Greatest strategist of all time and brainiest of the Rozen Maiden dolls! So ... just you watch out, y'hear!"

"My, but you are annoying ..." Kirakishou flailed her arm and sent a massive stream of brilliant white rose petals shooting towards Kanaria, who was so surprised that all she did was stand there, open-mouthed. The attack would have been sufficient to blast her into tiny pieces, had not Hinaichigo chosen that moment to leap in front of her and block it with Pandora's Box.

"Hina won't let you hurt Kana!" the little doll declared boldly as she lowered the Box. Kirakishou seemed momentarily taken back, but quickly recovered.

"So I see. Too bad Shinku took my key; I could finish this here and now. Oh well, on with the Game ..." Kirakishou gestured, summoning rose vines that lifted Hinaichigo into the air. The Box tumbled away from her and she cried out, the vines threatening to pull her apart. Snapping out of her daze, Kanaria finally launched an attack, destroying the twisting, snaking vines with concentrated blasts of air from her violin. Hovering on the spot, Kanaria focused, playing with every ounce of strength she had.

"Symphony of destruction!"

The air around her whipped into a veritable tornado, building up increasing momentum as Kanaria continued to play. Hinaichigo joined in, snaring the seventh doll with her own strawberry vines. Once Kirakishou was held firmly in place, Hina called out to her sister.

"Do it! Get her Kanaria!"

"On it!" Kanaria replied, playing even more urgently. She directed the tornado at the trapped doll, hurling the whirlwind towards her with all her might, her rose ring gleaming with a brilliant yellow light. Kirakishou - held fast by Hina's vines - was engulfed by the storm, which whipped itself into a blurring frenzy as it tore at her, ripping at her with enough force to easily shatter a doll into a thousand pieces.

When they were certain that Kirakishou must be finished, they both eased off. Hinaichigo lowered her hands and Kanaria ceased her frantic playing, lowering her bow. As the gales subsided, both dolls stared intently, watching for some sign of their eerie sister. All that remained though were white rose petals. Hundreds of glowing white rose petals, floating in the air where Kirakishou had been.

"We ... we did it!" Kanaria exclaimed, not quite believing it herself. Hinaichigo laughed with joy at her side. Her laughter stopped as the rose petals all became still, then stretched into needle like points of light. Hundreds of them.

All aimed their way.

"That ... that's not good, is it?" said Kanaria uncertainly. Hinaichigo blinked.

"Unyuu?"

The pointed white rose petals shot towards the two dolls like a storm of bullets, a hail of relentless gunfire that struck them both again and again. They each cried out in pain, Kanaria's violin shattering as it was repeatedly impacted by the petals. It was like a death of a thousand cuts, and when the very last of the petals was fired, Kanaria and Hinaichigo slumped to the ground, their bodies battered and punctured in a dozen different places.

"Ow," said Kanaria very quietly, her vision fast fading, "That ... that really hurt ... y'know?"

Kirakishou floated down from the air and landed several feet away, grinning with glee at the sight of the two stricken dolls. Hinaichigo remained motionless, and Kanaria didn't think she had any life left in her. She didn't really have any life left herself, either. Still, as Kirakishou approached, she made one final effort to fight back.

"Pizzicato," she whispered, uncurling her hand. Her artificial spirit materialised and bobbed in front of her face, pulsing with concern for Kanaria. The second Rozen Maiden managed to turn her head enough to locate Pandora's Box, lying discarded a short distance away. Coughing, Kanaria struggled to hold on just a little longer.

"Pizzicato ... don't let her ... don't let her get it. Okay?"

As Kirakishou reached out to take a hold of Pandora's Box, Pizzicato shot towards the black doll case and then seemed to explode into a supernova of light. The seventh doll flinched and pulled back, and when the light faded both Pizzicato and Pandora's Box were gone. Seeing this, Kanaria managed one last smile.

"Not so ... not so stupid after all ... am I?" she said, her vision at last failing completely as she stopped.