In an area entirely comprised of roses, grass, and trees, it was difficult for Yuki-Koori to imagine any of their mediums being in mortal danger.

However, it was Kirakishou that this N-Field belonged to. If it was anything like Kirakishou, it could look completely serene at first glance, and turn into a complete nightmare at the blink of an eye. She continued to glance around, half expecting the entire scene to change before her eyes, but she could only see roses, and only hear Anja's light breathing beside her. Shinku surveyed the area with equal amounts of suspicion, though, if she was worried, it didn't show on her almost comically neutral expression. Kanaria could not conceal her worry, though her expression was contorted into something completely unreadable, but her violin and bow were drawn and pointed wherever she turned. Mariposa and Momoko had offered to look out for Kirakishou, and were now perched dutifully on top of her white door, with promises to look for them in an hour if they did not return with some news.

"It's so peaceful," Anja eventually commented, tired of the only sound she could hear being the blood pounding in her ears. "It's nothing like what I saw a while ago, though."

"It is," Shinku agreed. "And what do you mean, Anja?"

"The place she took us to was filled with crystals," she mumbled, unwillingly reliving the horror again. "And about as many crystals as the amount of roses here."

"It's an illusion!" Fumiko, who had been dead quiet before, blurted out with a gasp. "That is Kirakishou's secondary power. The powerful of manipulation, of being able to use illusionary tactics in battle…"

All heads turned her way in shock, but Sekihi merely grimaced.

"Before you say anything, I believe I can attest to that," she began with a sigh. "When Kirakishou brought me to her N-Field for the first time, this is what I saw, too: all the nasty roses, and the trees. But once I spent more time there, I could occasionally see a large, crystalline structure in the distance. She would always distract me if I looked too long, though…and it would disappear again."

"Then that confirms it for sure," Suiseiseki agreed. "She was an illusion herself before she stole puny Ichigo's body, wasn't she?"

"Somehow, yeah," Yuki-Koori sighed. "Our father left her without a body at all. She's been here for all these years, losing her marbles in the N-Field."

Suigintou stepped forward, and bent down to a small patch of the red roses. Before anyone could question her, she forcefully yanked one up and turned it until it rested neatly in her palm.

"Suigintou, what are you…" Shinku began hesitantly as she continued to glare at the flower in her palm. But, just as she began to trail off, the rose began to melt into a reddish looking goo in Suigintou's hand.

"There's our concrete evidence, then," Suigintou said plainly, letting the goo slide through her slim fingers and disappear into the grass below. "Everything in this field right now is a result of the seventh doll's illusionary work. And it is far too elaborate to be a new illusion, either."

"Then, she's kept it this way for a long time, huh?" Kanaria asked halfheartedly, most of her thoughts being concentrated on the powerful instrument in her hand. If what the others were saying was truly correct, maybe she could…

"Most likely," Suigintou deadpanned. "But what difference does it make to know that? It would take us an entire millennium to completely destroy this illusion on our power alone, and she will discover what we've been doing before then. We're working on limited time."

"But not all is lost when you have Kanaria, ladies," Kanaria piped up with a grin, gripping her violin even tighter. "This violin is good for both assisting a slow and ear-splitting death, and breaking up illusions such as these! Double the power for half the effort!"

Yuki-Koori grinned at her sisters' confused, concerned, and even mildly irritated looks. "Oh, that's right. Kanaria can actually help us, this once."

"Are you sure about that, eighth doll?" Suigintou grumbled through a clearly skeptical look in Kanaria's direction. "I don't think I can recall even one time that musical brat did more than annoy us, and you're telling me she can actually do something that useful?"

"Oh, quiet, you," Suiseiseki huffed. "Yuki-Koori's a lot of things, but she's not a liar. If she thinks the musical brat can actually help, I believe her."

"And not one of you actually has genuine faith in Kana's abilities?" Kanaria huffed irritably. "Well, I'm going to show you, then!"

"Go ahead, Kanaria," Fumiko encouraged, though she was mildly worried for their safety once Kanaria got to it. "We believe in you, really."

"Most of us, anyway," Sekihi added dully. "I'm more of a 'believe-it-when-I-see-it kind of girl, you know?"

"Then take a look at this!" Kanaria grouched, placing the violin under her chin and readying the bow above it. "You cannot doubt me ever again if I pull this off, you got it?"

"Cover your ears," Shinku suggested with a wry grin. "Good luck, Kanaria."

Kanaria gently pulled the bow along the strings, creating an unusually smooth tune. The tune gradually became more erratic as her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Though her ears were closed, Yuki-Koori could not take her eyes off of the display. In only seconds, the dome above them began to crack with a shower of golden sparks.

And, less than a minute later, Yuki-Koori realized it was all coming down on them. With whatever little power she still possessed, and hoping it wouldn't hurt Takana any more than she already was, she quickly shot up a barrier of ice around her sisters and Anja. The ground shook under them as the illusion continued to shatter, and, as Kanaria allowed herself a quick glance down, she could see that the lush grass was turning into what appeared to be a sheet of glass under their feet. She grinned as the song came to a close and the last pieces of the illusion shattered.

"And that's how you do that," Kanaria attempted to sound nonchalant, though it was apparent she was reveling in this victory. "Got anything to say about my performance, ladies?"

"Too loud,"

"I thought the pieces were going to fall on me!"

"I can't believe something that weird actually worked,"

"I just saved your asses, you know!" Kanaria griped. "How about we blame Yuki-Koori for freezing me to death while I was playing, huh? That would make about as much sense!"

"Aw, we're just messing around," Suiseiseki waved her hand lightly, dismissing Kanaria's complaints. "You actually did do something useful this time, you little runt. Congratulations."

"Wow," Anja breathed. "This is definitely it. Look over there."

In this near distance, a clearly visible structure make of crystal had appeared, along with a low hum in the same direction. Anja hesitantly stepped in front of the dolls, knowing that she might have some memory of the layout between the time she was struggling in Kirakishou's grip and just before she completely lost consciousness under her powers.

"Talk about the blind leading the blind," Suiseiseki mumbled, hoping she was out of earshot to Anja. "Does she even know where she's going? Wasn't she totally knocked out in Kirakishou's clutches?"

"I heard that," Anja announced lightly. "And I was still putting up a fuss until she used her weird mind powers on me. I'm not your average human, you know. I just spent hundreds of years in stasis."

"I guess that is true," Shinku conceded, reluctantly following Anja. "She is the only one of the original mediums still alive after all this time."

"And by some crazy circumstances we were reunited," Anja shook her head slowly. "I feel like I owe Kirakishou something for, uh, keeping me as long as she did, but I'm also want to hate her for taking me away from my life and family."

Fumiko twitched slightly, still unnerved by the fact that Anja had been right under their noses for almost four hundred years, when she had assumed, once waking up seventy years after being forced to end her contract with Anja, that she had most likely died. She had not had time to ask Anja how, exactly, everything had gone down after she and Yuki-Koori had left, but it was a question that still burned her tongue every time she thought of bringing it up. She continued to regret that she had been so caught up in the Alice Game when Anja was her medium that she never got quite as close to her as Yuki-Koori did, but she had somehow, someway been given a second chance. She was, after all, even more than Rozen's doll, Anja's doll. She was created for Anja to love, and she had developed such an introverted personality that she missed out on being a good doll for Anja.

But, if they somehow survived the rest of the day, she wanted to put that second chance to good use.

"It's really okay," Yuki-Koori reassured the girl. "You're not the only one with mixed feelings. Kirakishou is our sister, but she's so terrible that we really can't bring ourselves to care about her at all. You can hate her all you want, you know. You don't owe her a damn thing."

"Well, good. Because I really do hate her," Anja responded after a long pause, unable to find much else to say. Yuki-Koori could be surprisingly wise for such a playful doll, though she knew it had more to do with the fact that they were in such a tense situation than anything else. Yuki-Koori did not want to have to be this strong. She could see how much it pained her to have to find the strength to go on when all she wanted to do was cry.

"There!" Suiseiseki spoke up loudly. "There they are! Mizuki!"

Suigintou froze in her tracks, slowly taking in the sight of her crystalized, weak medium. Whatever façade she had put on that even helped her really believe that her medium would survive this torment was shattered at that moment, when she finally looked up at her sunken cheeks and faintly blue lips. She lifted her hand to the crystal, pressing her hand against it and attempting to break through the substance.

"Is it working?" Kanaria asked anxiously, finally getting a look at Micchan, whose head was hung down loosely in the crystal. "Micchan…hold on there, will you?"

"I'm trying," Suigintou barked. "I don't suppose you could shatter these crystals with that noisemaker of yours?"

"It's worth a try, maybe," Kanaria responded hesitantly, tearing her eyes away from her medium for a moment to face Suigintou. She looked worried. And she was making no attempt to hide it this time, much to Kanaria's surprise.

"I've got you covered," Yuki-Koori announced hesitantly, placing a larger barrier around the dolls and Anja. "Give it a try, Kanaria. Something tells me we're running out of time here."

"N-Not so much pressure," Kanaria grumbled, placing the violin under her chin, and playing an even louder tune than before. From under the cover of the ice, Suigintou could see that, once again, Kanaria was the only one who could break through Kirakishou's leftover work, and the only one who could get any closer to saving their mediums. She bit back a grimace. Team work with her sisters was so far from her mind, even only hours ago, that she would have never considered it could be beneficial. When they had made enemies out of each other, it was so hard to consider the idea that maybe, one day, they'd have a common enemy to take down.

And even harder to think about, now that the enemy was a sister. When was this temporary truce going to end between them? She was anxious to see Rozen, more anxious than she ever had been before. Unlike previous errors, there were actual casualties. This was, very likely, the last era of the Alice Game. There would only be one victor, and she needed it to be her. But, with Kirakishou duping them all so badly that the remaining six them needed to work together with two allies to even measure up to her trickery, Suigintou was truly beginning to doubt her real capability. As much as she wanted to break away from the group, save Megu herself, and finally finish the Alice Game once and for all…she couldn't.

Yuki-Koori drew the barrier back quickly as Kanaria's song finished the last remnants of the crystals shattered, shocking Suigintou out of her increasingly low thoughts.

Megu was slumped over in front of her, drawing in shallow breaths and clutching at her chest. She needed medical attention, Suigintou noted immediately. And soon. They needed to get themselves together, and leave as soon as possible.

"Megu," Suigintou spoke simply, trying not to let the fear she was unwillingly feeling show in her tone or face. "You're going to be alright, Megu."

Megu glanced up tiredly, but could not find the strength to make sense of Suigintou's words. Maybe this would finally be her end. She was only vaguely aware of it now, but the pain in her chest far outweighed anything she'd felt before.

No matter how much she told her angel to kill her, to take away the life that was constantly about to be snatched out from under her, she had, obviously, gone to extreme lengths just to rescue her.

Never before had she questioned whether or not she wanted to live this much.

"Micchan!" Kanaria wailed at her still half-conscious medium. "You have to wake up, y'hear me? Come on! You still have a ton of dresses to make me try on!"

"That's right," Micchan piped up weakly, forcing herself to sit up. "But what happened? I feel so weak…"

"Don't ask," Kanaria sighed. "Oi, ladies! We need to get them home soon, you know!"

"You're telling me," Fumiko said as she helped Nori, who seemed to be recovering the best so far, up. "How are they doing over there, Yuki?"

Yuki-Koori rubbed her mitten-covered hands together nervously, looking the two Moriya siblings over carefully. Takana seemed to be recovering relatively well, even beginning to make attempts to stand up, though she could not find her voice.

Takumi, on the other hand…

Yuki-Koori saw now that Anja was right about how well he was fairing under Kirakishou's power. He was still passed out for the most part, though Yuki-Koori could see, to her relief, that he was still very much alive.

"Hey, you," Yuki-Koori placed her hand against his cheek lightly. "You're going to be okay now, Takumi. You hear that? Kanaria actually saved your ass. You can thank her when you wake up."

"I finally get some recognition, you know!" Kanaria snorted, finally able to relax now that Micchan was recovering and Kirakishou was still nowhere in sight. "You're welcome, Takumi!"

Takumi twitched under her touch for a moment, finally finding the strength to open his eyes.

"Yuki-Koori?" he struggled to focus on what was in front of him, but he could feel her hand on his arm.

"Yep," she smiled, grasping his hand. "I hate to cut our reunion short, but do you think you can find the strength to stand up? I doubt we can go under Kirakishou's nose for much longer."

"Here," Anja offered, grabbing Takumi's hand and pulling him up. "You can lean on me if you want."

Yuki-Koori grinned at Takumi's shocked reaction. "That's Anja, Takumi. Remember when I told you about her?"

"I thought…I thought she died a long time ago, Yuki-Koori," Takumi mumbled through a haze of confusion. "Isn't that what you said?"

"Hey, to be fair, I thought I was dead, too," Anja joked lightly. "Now, come on. Let's get out of here."

Shinku could not find the strength to watch much of the reunion when Jun was still missing. She had offered Nori a small smile when she could open her eyes, but that was all she could manage to do now.

"Where are you, Jun?" she sighed softly. "You got away…I can see that much. But where did you go?"

A loud crash from across the field interrupted her lonely conversation, and their attempt at a quiet escape.

"What the hell was that?" Yuki-Koori grumbled, nearly losing her grip on Takana out of surprise. Before anyone could answer her, a flash of green shot past her.

"WE'RE DEFINITELY OUT OF TIME!"

Jun was sure, by this point, that he was completely losing his mind.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed since he had gotten away from Kirakishou, but it was enough time for him to start counting every wire coming out of the computers around him. She had left, claiming she had business to attend to, which worried Jun. What had become of the other dolls and mediums now? And what had Anja done to ensure she got away, if she had gotten away at all?

And, more importantly, just why was he so concerned about Anja?

He sighed. He needed to get out. But he had tired himself out beyond being able to move any further, and, if what Kirakishou said was true, there would be no easy way out of this maze. She had, after all, created it just for him. But he needed to do something. There was no point in realizing he needed to change his ways if he couldn't show everyone that he was at least trying to be more capable.

He sighed, standing up on his sore legs and looking around. There were still computers as far as the eye could see. To the left, to the right, forward…

Until a flash of pink caught his attention.

"Hina-Ichigo?"

He couldn't believe that was the first thought that crossed his mind. There was no way that could be Hina-Ichigo, could it? He had heard from Shinku a few nights ago that she had died at Kirakishou's hands. Kirakishou had even admitted it to him.

"Hello there. You look lost. And dirty, yuck!"

Jun jumped, spinning around to where he thought the voice was coming from.

"Down here!"

Jun looked down only a little, and found himself standing right in front of another doll. Her strawberry-blonde twintails ran down over her shoulders and very pink outfit, which seemed to be heavily inspired by Sakura blossoms. She had a smile on her face, though, as she continued to look him over, that smile slowly turned into a grimace.

"Uh," Jun began awkwardly. "I'm Jun…and I am really lost. Do you know the way out?"

"Well, I know how to get myself out of a maze," she responded halfheartedly. "I guess we could go from there. And I'm Sakura-Hana. Who trapped you here, human? And why are you so gross?"

"Well, you don't really have time to change your clothes when you're stuck in the N-Field," he retorted. "And Kirakishou trapped me in here. I'm not sure you know who she is, but…"

Sakura-Hana's expression changed immediately. "That Kirakishou? Oh, goodness, when was the last time she was here? If you're being tracked by her…I can't get myself involved with you! No way, stinky human!"

"She…she's been gone for a while," Jun lied, if only out of desperation to get out of the N-Field before he completely lost his mind. He already felt the urge to laugh uncontrollably, and he assumed it was only going to go downhill from there if he stayed any longer. "You don't have to worry about her, I think."

"Huh," Sakura-Hana seemed to be contemplating this carefully. "Well, fine. I can see by the ring on your hand you have some other commitments to attend to. But you owe me your whole entire life if I get you out of here, got that?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Jun sighed. "I've got it."

How did he always end up under another doll's control?

"Well, there's actually a very large hole starting to form just beyond that piece of junk there," she announced, pointing above him. "That's how I got in!"

"Well, I'll be damned," Jun sighed. "And why do you think that's happening, Sakura-Hana?"

She shrugged, beginning to take flight towards the hole. "Illusionary work isn't exactly my power, mister stinky Jun. But, if I were to guess, she's losing some of her power! Come on; I don't have all day!"

"Fine, fine," Jun deadpanned. "All you dolls are so damn demanding!"

A/N: Well, well, well. It didn't get done last weekend, but I think I made pretty good time, for myself.

Fellow user Akihanatsu PMed me a few weeks ago asking nicely if I could include her OC, Sakura-Hana, in my story, so I agreed. This is only her cameo (sort of a test run so I can see if she likes it), so it is a short appearance, but she will have more of a part in future chapters if all goes well!

Let me know your thoughts, especially you, Akihanatsu. If you'd like Sakura-Hana to be portrayed a different way, let me know. (:

Ciao.