Ambidextrous III/IV: Vessalius (Part 1/4)
Fandom: Pandora Hearts
Story title: Ambidextrous
Chapter title: Vessalius
Characters: Gilbert, Alice, Oz, Jack and others.
Disclaimer: All characters except for Joseph (the coach driver from the second chapter) were borrowed from the mangaka Jun Mochizuki. The copyrights go to Square Enix.
Rating: T
Warnings: SPOILERS up to Retrace 81, to be safe. Slight gore.
Word Count: 18,358.
Status: Ongoing (three chapters out of four).
Summary: No matter how many times he changed his name, Gilbert would never belong anywhere. He simply hopes that his master can be saved. The question is: does he still have one?
Chapter I: Baskerville
Chapter II: Nightray: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
Chapter III: Vessalius: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
AN: I love Retraces 78 to 82. These chapters were amazing, much better than anything I could ever pull off here. However, fanfiction isn’t about doing better than the author: I just love to write about these characters. As much as I prefer to stay close to the original, Ambidextrous has already taken a different direction, and some things simply won’t fit with the plot I had in mind. All the same, beware of spoilers: I am still fitting everything that does serve my plot in.
Now, on to business, I have a story to finish. A billion thanks to my sister Stingmon for her help as a beta-reader. Since it has been a while (sorry for writing so slowly), here is a summary of what happened previously:
[Previous Chapter Summary]Previous Chapter Summary:
Glen Baskerville, Zai Vessalius, Sheryl Rainsworth, Rufus Barma and Gilbert Nightray successfully used the power of their five Black Winged Chains to prevent the destruction of the world. But in the meantime, Gilbert found out that Glen intended to send the three of Vincent, Break and Oz to the lowest level of the Abyss.
Unable to oppose his master directly, but determined to find a third option, Gilbert decides to keep his last promise to Oz, and use the Nightray key to go into the Abyss and rescue Alice.
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Ambidextrous
Vessalius
Gilbert had thought that he would be too agitated to rest as Vincent had advised, but exhaustion won him over. No sooner had he boarded the carriage than he fell like a stone on the seats. In spite of the jolts and the sword digging into his side, he slept right through the travel back to the Nightray manor.
Joseph had to shake him awake. Gilbert assured him that he would be fine on his own, and instructed the driver to bring the horses back to the stable. If all went according to plan, Gilbert wouldn’t need them again.
Alone, he hurried across the driveway leading to the Nightray manor. It was strange to feel the weight of a sword at his side after so long. Gilbert hadn’t fenced in two years, not since he had left for the capital: he had always favoured pistols for his missions, as they were easier to conceal. Furthermore, Gilbert had been quick to learn how to incapacitate his targets without killing or crippling them for life. As for assassination… for what is was worth, bullet wounds were less bloody.
Yet before he knew it, Gilbert was adapting his walk to the weight at his side, like the sword had never left. It looked like eight years of sparring with Elliot and being massacred by Break had left their mark on him. And to think Gilbert used to be so far behind, back in the days when Lord Oscar had initiated him into fencing alongside Oz....
Gilbert barged through the double doors, and raced up the carpeted stairs to the second floor. Vincent’s room wasn’t locked. Sharon’s voice rose from Gilbert’s shadow:
“There is a hidden compartment inside the cabinet to your left. Fit the queen’s crown into the little hole on its left side to open it. The antidote is the small triangular yellow flask.”
“By ‘queen,’ you mean the chess piece?” the man asked.
“Yes.”
Gilbert had already opened the set and taken the black queen. He rushed to the cabinet, and felt for the hole Sharon had mentioned. As Eques’ contractor had said, the tiny crown fit perfectly. Gilbert turned it with a click.
When he opened the compartment, he found an assortment of small crystal bottles glinting in the dark. The flask Sharon had described was tucked between two thicker glass bottles containing a greenish liquid. To Gilbert’s relief, the small flask was full to the brim.
Gilbert crouched down, and placed the bottle on his shivering shadow. A patch of darkness detached itself and swept the clear object along.
“Is that the one?”
“Yes,” Sharon answered. “According to Lord Vincent.”
Gilbert hesitated in front of the remaining bottles. He heard the distrust in Sharon’s voice. The man couldn’t blame her. Vincent had poisoned her in the past, and he had never been on friendly terms with Break, either. As much as Gilbert wanted to trust his brother, he still couldn’t be positive that Vincent was on their side.
“Maybe you should bring Break and Reim here?” he told the Chain inside his shadow. “If Vincent lied… they might find the true antidote while I am away…”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Sharon cut him off. “Reim can’t disappear now, and you can’t afford to wait here until I get to Break. Hurry and find Miss Alice. We will take care of the rest.”
Gilbert shut the cabinet, got to his feet, and descended the stairs four at a time. Sharon was right. There was no time to lose, and they couldn’t afford to doubt each other at the moment. Reim had already taken great risks by freeing Sharon and hiding her, even though it had been on Rufus Barma’s orders - Gilbert winced at the mere thought of the written message, which the Duke had apparently hidden under Reim’s bandages, of all places.
In any case, if the servant disappeared along with Break, it would be far too suspicious. Reim had had no choice but to go back to his master’s side, leaving the task of rescuing Break to Sharon and Vincent. Gilbert could only hope that Break would find a way to save Oz once he had recovered.
“Echo will be there, too,” Gilbert whispered. He didn’t know whether he was trying to reassure Sharon or himself. “I am…not sure where her loyalties lie, but she seemed concerned about Oz.”
“We will be fine, Gilbert,” Sharon told him in a gentler tone. “Please focus on your own task.”
Gilbert’s steps faltered when he passed the mantelpiece in the Nightray living room. The hat Ada had given him was still there. He touched it tentatively. It had dried while he was away. The material felt smooth and soft against his gloveless fingers.
He was here on Oz’s orders, Gilbert reminded himself. The thought made the weight on his chest a little lighter. He put the hat on, and allowed himself a small smile. As childish as it was, Gilbert had always felt sheltered under its long black brims. He reached the side door and its subterranean passage with renewed determination.
The Nightray Gate was there to greet him, imposing as ever with its high arc, broad gold bars, and the hint of never-ending darkness beyond. Gilbert put a hand to the sword’s hilt without slowing down. He walked up to the door and grabbed the bar. The hard metal slipped right through his fingers.
Darkness engulfed him. Gilbert could hear rattling chains and swashing water all around him. His ears rang from the sudden air pressure. The man walked with purpose. The shallow water hindered his progress. Gradually, he was starting to distinguish vague forms in the dark.
His hand moved to his holster, but met nothingness. He had left his pistols with Echo.
“Don’t worry,” Sharon’s voice sounded very close in the darkness. “Eques can take care of the Chains.”
Gilbert nodded. He could feel his shadow shudder as he scanned the darkness. The forms he had glimpsed were motionless. The man took careful steps forward. He could make out the eroded contours of ruins and broken furniture. Silence weighed down on him.
Gilbert sighed through his nose. For now, he was alone. However, Chains would definitely feel his presence in their home. They would follow the smell of human blood.
There was only one Chain that Gilbert was after. He fished the music box out of his pocket, and flicked it open.
The sad tune made for strange background noise as Gilbert splashed his way across the water, deeper and deeper into the darkness. It sounded eerie and defeated, like a requiem. But Gilbert had no intention to die here.
He called Alice’s name. Nothing. Not even a drop of water in the distance. Every move Gilbert made seemed deafening in the silence, yet strangely muffled. There wasn’t enough air to carry an echo. It was suffocating.
Gilbert kept calling. Neither his voice nor the dreamlike melody could drown out the ringing in his ears. The dark brims of his hat looked grey against the murk of the Abyss. The occasional broken toy floated by in the sky-less wasted landscape, but there was no trace of a little girl or giant rabbit.
The man skirted around the square point of what looked like an old giant chess set, with its broken tip immersed like a surreal iceberg. The more he walked, the more Gilbert feared that his search was hopeless. Mere hours in the outside world could equal to an eternity in the Abyss. Gilbert might be anchored to Sharon’s time through Eques and their connected shadows, but Alice was on her own. Did she even have enough power left to defend herself against the other Chains? What if she was…
Gilbert stopped and strained his ears. He thought he had heard a voice.
“…Hatter....”
Gilbert started:
“Break?”
“We found him,” Sharon replied hastily. “Xerx, hang in there!”
Her disembodied voice was full of anguish. Trembling words were drifting to him through the gurgle of the waters at his feet. Gilbert could barely understand their meaning. He took a reluctant step forward. The splash drowned Sharon’s voice, along with the faded echoes of Vincent and Break, and the broken notes of the pocket watch. Gilbert halted his steps. Gradually, the water stilled around his ankles. Breathless words drifted to his ears:
“…will thank you when you stop this sickening hobby of collecting poisons, you little rat.”
“Break!” A wave of relief washed over Gilbert. “Are you alright?”
“How wounding, Mister Hatter,” came Vincent’s sultry voice. “After all the trouble Miss Sharon and I went through…”
“Yes, I’ll be sure to thank Gilbert for taking advantage of that brother complex of yours. How considerate. Not only does he treat me like an invalid, but he had to send you to play nurse.”
“H-Hey!” Gilbert protested. “It wasn’t Vincent’s fault if that bottle got stolen!”
“They can’t hear you, Gilbert,” Sharon said. Gilbert jumped slightly at the clarity of the sound, and the ripples swallowed the fainter voices of her two companions. “Break will be fine… Xerx, don’t push yourself! Here, lean on my shoulder.”
“Oh right, Gilbert is here,” Break’s snide voice was back. “Did you find Alice yet?”
“No,” Gilbert answered a little sheepishly. “Not yet.”
Sharon relayed the information.
“Then stop slacking and get back to work,” Break sighed. “I’ll get Oz for you.”
“We, Break,” Sharon heaved a sigh. “Get used to it. Miss Echo, is the road clear?”
The dark waters fell silent for two seconds, until Sharon’s voice rose once again:
“Alright, let’s go. Gilbert, we’ll have to act very quietly from now on. Please don’t worry about us. You said it yourself: we can’t rescue Lord Oz without Miss Alice.”
Gilbert nodded and resumed his pace. It was true. There was nothing Gilbert could do to help his colleagues from the Abyss. If he wanted to go back to their side, he had to find Alice, and fast.
But where could she be? It felt like he had been walking for hours, and still there was no sign of a Chain. The Abyss was nothing but a deserted marshland.
‘Could it be because I am a Baskerville?’ Gilbert wondered suddenly. ‘Are the Chains avoiding me?’
Gilbert couldn’t be sure. He kept scanning the darkness in search of hungry eyes, and straining his ears for a noise of any kind. But Gilbert was alone with the sound of his own steps and the melancholic melody. He almost wished the Chains would attack. Then he wouldn’t feel this draining mix of anticipation and pointlessness.
He thought he heard Break and Vincent’s voices, and almost stopped to check. Had they been spotted?
Gilbert was about to voice his worries to Sharon, but a sharp pain in his left hand stopped him. The man gripped his shaking hand and looked around him. He found himself in a field of overturned ten feet tall cubes, with rusting numbers on their faces. There was no Chain in sight.
Gilbert could still feel the pull from Raven’s efforts as the giant bird recreated the broken chains. The open watch at his wrist seemed to weigh a ton. Yet the sensation from earlier had been different. It was reminiscent of the times when B-Rabbit’s powers had been unleashed. Did something happen to Oz? Or…
“Oz!”
The man turned round just in time to see Alice materialising atop the highest toy box. She looked changed, almost immaterial in her silk black dress and ribbons, but Gilbert would have recognized her shrill bossy voice anywhere. He would never have thought that he would be so happy to hear it.
Gilbert had heard anger and relief clash when she called Oz’s name. Both emotions vanished as soon as Alice saw the man:
“Raven....”
Her voice was trembling. From shock or anger, Gilbert couldn’t tell. She was too far for him to read her expression. Of course, he knew what to expect.
A lump formed in his throat, but Gilbert refused to look away. It was almost a relief to meet Alice’s accusing glare. The man had expected this anger from the moment he had shot Oz. Ever since, he had been waiting for a punishment that never came.
No one had a right to hurt Oz: it was the one thing Alice and he had always agreed on. Gilbert knew that she would never forgive him.
“Why…” Alice’s hands balled into tight fists at her sides. “No, don’t tell me. You remembered, didn’t you? Who Oz really is.”
Gilbert was taken aback. What did that have to do with anything?
“You found out that he was the real B-Rabbit, so you shot him,” Alice said bitterly. “Is that it?”
Gilbert could only stare at her in silence, dumbstruck. Lacie’s melody was fluttering between them tauntingly.
“No,” the man answered without thinking. “No, I… It wasn’t a choice I made.”
That was when it truly struck him. How instinctive it had been, to move his hand and pull the trigger. How the servant had heard the gunshot before he even had time to comprehend Glen’s order. How, ever since, Gilbert had been a stranger in his own body.
No… It had been the case long before that. Before his amnesia, before the Tragedy… He had had this alienating feeling almost as far as he could remember. When had it all begun?
His head throbbed. Gilbert looked down at his hands and realized they were shaking. His fingers closed around the vibrating metal of the pocket watch. The box swallowed the notes with a resounding click. Silence fell.
“I did…I do remember,” Gilbert said. His mouth felt strangely dry. “The truth is that I am a Baskerville. I was Glen’s servant back in Sablier. Ever since then… there was this voice in my head,” the man clawed at his skull. “It’s driving me mad. And now master… Oz is....”
Distorted memories of his master danced before his eyes. Oswald’s calm words, Oz’s laughing eyes, Leo’s pale hands pulling at his hair to chase the ghosts away. An ancient hooded hunchback with scrawny lips, spouting murderous commandments that took root in Gilbert’s head. A vow carved in flesh and blood between Chains and Baskervilles. So that’s why Vincent never sank into the Abyss. Raven’s warning. Possessed boys, century old voices haunting him....
“Who poured these thoughts into you?” Break had asked.
Gilbert didn’t know. But if this voice and his left hand bound him to Glen’s will, then....
“Where is he?”
Gilbert raised his eyes from the cold golden watch to look up at Alice. She had taken a step forward on her box. She was going bare foot.
“Where is Oz?”
Her powerful voice vibrated in the confined air. It shook Gilbert out of his trance:
“He was taken prisoner. Master…Glen is going to send him to the lowest level of the Abyss.”
Alice flinched. Even from this distance, Gilbert could tell that she was shaking. She stomped her foot on the giant cube:
“Don’t! Glen… No, you can’t do that! Oz is mine! I was the one who brought Oz to the real world! I should decide what to do with him! You can’t take him away!”
Gilbert’s eyes widened. It suddenly dawned on him. Alice wasn’t shaking from anger. She was scared. Scared for Oz. And what she had said…
“You remember,” Gilbert whispered.
“That’s right!” Alice gave a vigorous nod. The movement sent droplets of water flying around her face. “I remember everything. I was there, that day, when Oz nearly destroyed the world. Jack forced him to do it!” her voice was growing stronger with every word, until she was screaming: “He stole Oz from me and used his power… Oz couldn’t even fight back! He was crying, and Jack wouldn’t listen…!”
Her voice broke. Her slight shoulders were shaking so hard Gilbert was afraid they would dislocate. The surreal halo that surrounded her made Alice’s tears glow on her cheeks, their shine apparent even from this distance.
Gilbert was speechless, stuck between shock and an overwhelming sympathy that constricted his throat and kept his voice trapped. Even the man’s shadow shuddered at his feet. He had been there to witness Oz’s torture. Gilbert remembered the scene Alice described all too well.
“I won’t let him do it again!” the little girl cried, her eyes shut tightly against the onslaught of uncontrollable tears. “I won’t let anyone use Oz again! I won’t forgive those who made him cry! Not even Glen, not even you! Just…”
A hiccup cut through her screaming. She used her sleeves to wipe at her nose furiously.
“Just…give Oz back to me,” she said between sobs. “Don’t kill him, Raven.”
Gilbert almost jumped. She sounded pleading. Did Alice really think that…?
Of course she did, Gilbert thought with sudden revulsion. She had seen him shoot Oz. She also knew the reason why Glen had given that order. She was Alice Baskerville. As such, she knew that her uncle’s orders were absolute. And Glen Baskerville wanted Gilbert to kill Oz.
“I won’t,” Gilbert said firmly. “Never.”
Alice stilled, and her black dress fell in small drifts around her ankles. Gilbert took a step forward. Dark water rippled all around him. The man thought he heard a clatter in the distance, but he ignored it.
“Oz will be fine, I promise,” Gilbert pointed at the stilling water. “Sharon and the others went to rescue him.”
The man suddenly realized that the metallic sounds were coming from his shadow. He strained his ears to hear more from Sharon’s side, but something was covering her voice. Gilbert thought he heard Break shout, and heavy clanging in the distance.
“Hurry, Lord Oz! We have to get away!”
Hope flared in Gilbert’s heart. They had found Oz! They would protect him. Now, all he had to do…
“Then why are you here?”
Alice’s voice brought Gilbert back to reality. The man clenched his left hand resolutely and turned back towards her. Maybe there was a way out after all. Gilbert suspected he knew what was wrong with him, and how to protect Oz from now on. But first, there were some things he had to confirm.
“Oz sent me to get you,” he told Alice. “He said that, a hundred years ago, you took his powers and became the new B-Rabbit. Is that true? Do you remember anything like this?”
“Yeah,” Alice answered hesitantly, and raised a hand in front of her face. It was translucent. “But it looks like he got them back. And now Jack is using him again.”
She snorted. It sounded like a sniffle.
“You should have brought him here! That idiot rejected me, and now I can’t even go back…”
“I will bring you back,” Gilbert said. “You’re the only one who can save Oz. So tell me: have you really lost all of his powers? If you went back to our world, could you take them back?”
Alice threw him a suspicious look:
“I can still feel some power. Just enough to move about.” She grinded her teeth. “And even then, I had to ask the other Alice to bring me here when I heard the music box. I can’t handle Oz’s powers without a proper body.”
Gilbert felt a renewed confidence. That was it.
“In that case,” he said, “make a contract with me.”
Alice’s eyes widened. For a second, Gilbert thought her body looked a more solid white against the darkness of the Abyss. That only strengthened his suspicion.
“What did you say?”
“If you still hold some power from the Abyss,” Gilbert told her, “then you are still a Chain. In order to go back to our world, all you need is a contractor. But it doesn’t have to be Oz, does it?”
The little girl fidgeted. She still looked wary.
“You said you were one of the Reapers,” she pointed an accusing finger at him. “Why would you help Oz now?”
The man hesitated. The memory of the gunshot was looming over them heavily, clouding Gilbert’s confidence. He took a deep breath:
“Raven told me once that the two of us were bound by my left hand. At the time, I didn’t realize what it meant. A hundred years ago, this contract I made was the first step before becoming the next Glen Baskerville. I vowed to serve him until the day I died.”
“But I can’t obey him anymore,” Gilbert told Alice. “Not if it means sacrificing everything he loves. He was already forced to send his own sister into the Abyss, yet he is still trying to maintain that law about Children of Misfortune, even though…”
Gilbert stopped himself mid-sentence. No. He wouldn’t mention the fact that Glen had also been ready to sacrifice his own niece. It was unsettling enough to see Alice this distraught; she definitely didn’t need to hear that on top of everything.
“It’s absurd,” Gilbert said instead. “I won’t let my master repeat his own mistakes. Even if it means betraying him.”
His voice turned bitter:
“I broke my vow long ago anyway. In the end, the one I want to protect is Oz. The reason I renewed my contract with Raven was to save him. And now I can’t even go back to him....”
“Even then… If I can’t be relied on… at the very least, I want to share Oz’s burden. If I was chosen as a host for Glen, then my body should be able to stand the power of five Chains. I am sure I can bear the power of B-Rabbit. If worst comes to worst, Raven can seal some of it away. This way, if B-Rabbit’s power is shared between us… Oz won’t have to handle this alone.”
Alice was peering down at him like a hawk, with her toes gripping the side of the giant cube. Her amethyst eyes stood out sharply against her surreally pale face. The man still couldn’t tell whether she was staring at him with reproach, fear or hope. Either way, he couldn’t blame her for distrusting him.
“Besides,” Gilbert’s voice grew softer. “I’ve come to realize that I misjudged you.” The man lowered his eyes. “I called you a parasite, when all this time you were protecting Oz. Long before I even knew him. Please forgive me.”
Gilbert drew his lips into a tight line. Once again, Break had been proven right. Overcome by his own jealousy and resentment, Gilbert had been blind to the truth. It was about time he set things right.
He heard Alice take a sharp intake of breath. When he looked up, she seemed slightly flushed. She shook herself, her long dark hair flying all around her and sending golden drops in every direction. After that, the little girl raised her chin, put both hands on her hips, and with a decisive nod, she said:
“Oz belongs to me. If you’re his, I guess that makes both of you my servants. This might make up for what you did.”
Her words were still harsh, yet she sounded bolder. The little girl hopped from box to box until she landed on the one opposite Gilbert. She held out her hand and the man took it. He thought all had been said and done when, out of the blue, Alice stood on tiptoe to whack him on the head.
“What was that fo…”
“For shooting Oz.” Alice punched him again. “And that’s for being an idiotic, useless seaweed-head.”
“I am not…!”
“Stop saying that you can’t be relied on, or I won’t,” Alice grabbed Gilbert’s hair and yanked, so they were nose to nose. “I already told you, didn’t I? I won’t let anyone hurt Oz again, especially you. If you are useless enough to go crazy and try to shoot him again, I will use his powers to crush you. So you’d better put up a good fight, because I’m going back to him, and you’re coming with me!”
Gilbert blinked, at a loss for words. Beyond the boasting authority that the Chain took whenever she talked, he could hear the distress in her voice, and see the worry in her eyes. In her own, strange way, Alice was seeking reassurance. That there was the slightest chance that she wouldn’t disappear, and that Oz could be saved. That she could protect Gilbert from himself.
The thought was so baffling Gilbert felt oddly flustered.
“You said it yourself,” Alice shouted into his face. The man cringed. “You can’t listen to Glen anymore. You’ll be my contractor, and that means you’ll only obey me. Swear it!”
Alice paused for breath and fixed him with an expectant glare. Gilbert’s ears were ringing, yet her words sounded so hopeful he couldn’t bring himself to get angry. In this moment, Alice was only a child trying to make her statements come true by yelling the words as loudly as she could. From up close, her embarrassed blush looked redder still, and Gilbert could feel her fingers shaking around his locks.
In the end, they were in the same boat.
He shook his head; the movement made him wince when his hair remained trapped within Alice’s tiny fists:
“I can’t do that.”
The little girl opened her mouth to protest, but Gilbert put a placating hand on her head, half to make her back away and let go, half to reassure her:
“That’s not how it works, stupid rabbit,” he elaborated, his voice soft. He called her names almost as an afterthought these days. “You’re a Chain, and I am a Baskerville. That makes us equals. Comrades. So I can’t serve you.”
The flush on her cheeks grew darker:
“I’m a Baskerville, too!”
Gilbert couldn’t help but chuckle at that:
“Then that is all the more true, isn’t it? Since we can’t be by Glen’s side anymore,” he added ruefully.
A flicker of grief crossed Alice’s features, and she went quiet. She looked to the side.
“You won’t go away,” she asked under her breath. “Right?”
Gilbert gave her a small smile:
“That’s the point of making a contract. Whatever comes at us, we’ll fight together.”
Alice seemed to ponder that.
“Comrades… I suppose that’s fine.” When she turned back to him, there was a grin on her face. “Alright, Raven. First we save Oz, then we come back for my sister.”
Sharon’s voice startled them both.
“Gilbert!” Gilbert’s shadow heaved. “I can’t hold on much longer, Lord Oz is…!”
Gilbert’s heart skipped a beat:
“Alice!”
A bright glow took over her body when he called her name. Alice swiped at the rusted number ingrained on her cube. Pearls of blood burst between her fingers when the metal cut her skin. Sharon shrieked. The floor vanished from under Gilbert’s feet before he could take Alice’s outstretched hand. The man was dragged down into the darkness.
He reached a helpless hand out to Alice. With her eyes set in a determined scowl, the Chain stuck her bloody fingers into her mouth and jumped after him. She snaked one arm around Gilbert’s neck and sucked the blood off her other hand. She locked lips with him right before Eques’ shadow swallowed his head.
Gilbert gulped out of reflex. Then gravity made a violent comeback. The man landed dizzy and scandalized next to a breathless Sharon. In the next second, he saw a crowned lion pounce. Eques burst out of their joined shadows and impaled the Chain on its flank.
“What a surprise,” a sarcastic voice came from behind the lion. “To think you’d be behind all this, Nightray boy… or whatever household you’re leeching off at present.”
A violent shockwave took over Gilbert before he could answer. The man rolled out of the way as the two Chains fought, one hand clenched over his heart. It felt like a fireball was about to burst out of his chest. The man took a sharp intake of breath when the energy spread like wildfire through his veins. By contrast, the draft felt freezing against his hair. His hat had flown away.
Gilbert struggled to keep his eyes open. Even his eyelids burnt. He glimpsed Charlotte Baskerville through the furnace. The woman made no effort to suppress her shivers of cold fury.
“So you made a new contract.” Her eyes were shooting daggers at him over her toothy grin. “Does it hurt? Don’t worry. I will free you from the pain right now.”
Her growling blended in the roar of her Chain. The lion pinned the black unicorn to the ground, only to leave it rearing at air and attack Gilbert. The man barely had time to unsheathe Elliot’s sword. The claws and the black metal clang together. Gilbert was thrown back from the force of impact.
In the blink of an eye, Sharon was standing between him and the feline Chain. A black wall rose all around her.
“Gilbert,” Sharon cried as Eques held the lion off with its horn. “I’m sorry, Lord Oz got away… He went outside. Go after him, I’ll hold her back!”
“What?” Gilbert staggered back on his feet. His heartbeat was deafening to his own ears. “Sharon, what happened…”
“Aw, but aren’t you worried about the Hatter and your little brother?” Charlotte snarled. “Master Glen and the others should be about done with them. Now move aside, I need to have a little chat with Jack…”
“They’re buying us time!” Sharon turned to Gilbert hastily. “Don’t listen to her! Go!”
Sharon took several steps back, breathing heavily. Safe in the shadow of her Chain, she held two fans before her in a defending position. With a last look at the fighting duo, Gilbert turned heels and fled.
“Master Glen trusted you!” Charlotte’s screeches made him flinch. “I’ll get you for this, traitor!”
The Baskerville’s cries and Eques’ whinnying pursued him as the man rushed towards the exit. He forced himself not to look back. His left hand was still clutching at his heart, where a contractor’s seal was carving its way into his skin. The other clenched the black blade tightly. There was no turning back. Gilbert had already made his choice.
Part 2
Story title: Ambidextrous
Chapter title: Vessalius
Characters: Gilbert, Alice, Oz, Jack and others.
Disclaimer: All characters except for Joseph (the coach driver from the second chapter) were borrowed from the mangaka Jun Mochizuki. The copyrights go to Square Enix.
Rating: T
Warnings: SPOILERS up to Retrace 81, to be safe. Slight gore.
Word Count: 18,358.
Status: Ongoing (three chapters out of four).
Summary: No matter how many times he changed his name, Gilbert would never belong anywhere. He simply hopes that his master can be saved. The question is: does he still have one?
Chapter I: Baskerville
Chapter II: Nightray: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
Chapter III: Vessalius: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
AN: I love Retraces 78 to 82. These chapters were amazing, much better than anything I could ever pull off here. However, fanfiction isn’t about doing better than the author: I just love to write about these characters. As much as I prefer to stay close to the original, Ambidextrous has already taken a different direction, and some things simply won’t fit with the plot I had in mind. All the same, beware of spoilers: I am still fitting everything that does serve my plot in.
Now, on to business, I have a story to finish. A billion thanks to my sister Stingmon for her help as a beta-reader. Since it has been a while (sorry for writing so slowly), here is a summary of what happened previously:
[Previous Chapter Summary]Previous Chapter Summary:
Glen Baskerville, Zai Vessalius, Sheryl Rainsworth, Rufus Barma and Gilbert Nightray successfully used the power of their five Black Winged Chains to prevent the destruction of the world. But in the meantime, Gilbert found out that Glen intended to send the three of Vincent, Break and Oz to the lowest level of the Abyss.
Unable to oppose his master directly, but determined to find a third option, Gilbert decides to keep his last promise to Oz, and use the Nightray key to go into the Abyss and rescue Alice.
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Ambidextrous
Vessalius
Gilbert had thought that he would be too agitated to rest as Vincent had advised, but exhaustion won him over. No sooner had he boarded the carriage than he fell like a stone on the seats. In spite of the jolts and the sword digging into his side, he slept right through the travel back to the Nightray manor.
Joseph had to shake him awake. Gilbert assured him that he would be fine on his own, and instructed the driver to bring the horses back to the stable. If all went according to plan, Gilbert wouldn’t need them again.
Alone, he hurried across the driveway leading to the Nightray manor. It was strange to feel the weight of a sword at his side after so long. Gilbert hadn’t fenced in two years, not since he had left for the capital: he had always favoured pistols for his missions, as they were easier to conceal. Furthermore, Gilbert had been quick to learn how to incapacitate his targets without killing or crippling them for life. As for assassination… for what is was worth, bullet wounds were less bloody.
Yet before he knew it, Gilbert was adapting his walk to the weight at his side, like the sword had never left. It looked like eight years of sparring with Elliot and being massacred by Break had left their mark on him. And to think Gilbert used to be so far behind, back in the days when Lord Oscar had initiated him into fencing alongside Oz....
Gilbert barged through the double doors, and raced up the carpeted stairs to the second floor. Vincent’s room wasn’t locked. Sharon’s voice rose from Gilbert’s shadow:
“There is a hidden compartment inside the cabinet to your left. Fit the queen’s crown into the little hole on its left side to open it. The antidote is the small triangular yellow flask.”
“By ‘queen,’ you mean the chess piece?” the man asked.
“Yes.”
Gilbert had already opened the set and taken the black queen. He rushed to the cabinet, and felt for the hole Sharon had mentioned. As Eques’ contractor had said, the tiny crown fit perfectly. Gilbert turned it with a click.
When he opened the compartment, he found an assortment of small crystal bottles glinting in the dark. The flask Sharon had described was tucked between two thicker glass bottles containing a greenish liquid. To Gilbert’s relief, the small flask was full to the brim.
Gilbert crouched down, and placed the bottle on his shivering shadow. A patch of darkness detached itself and swept the clear object along.
“Is that the one?”
“Yes,” Sharon answered. “According to Lord Vincent.”
Gilbert hesitated in front of the remaining bottles. He heard the distrust in Sharon’s voice. The man couldn’t blame her. Vincent had poisoned her in the past, and he had never been on friendly terms with Break, either. As much as Gilbert wanted to trust his brother, he still couldn’t be positive that Vincent was on their side.
“Maybe you should bring Break and Reim here?” he told the Chain inside his shadow. “If Vincent lied… they might find the true antidote while I am away…”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Sharon cut him off. “Reim can’t disappear now, and you can’t afford to wait here until I get to Break. Hurry and find Miss Alice. We will take care of the rest.”
Gilbert shut the cabinet, got to his feet, and descended the stairs four at a time. Sharon was right. There was no time to lose, and they couldn’t afford to doubt each other at the moment. Reim had already taken great risks by freeing Sharon and hiding her, even though it had been on Rufus Barma’s orders - Gilbert winced at the mere thought of the written message, which the Duke had apparently hidden under Reim’s bandages, of all places.
In any case, if the servant disappeared along with Break, it would be far too suspicious. Reim had had no choice but to go back to his master’s side, leaving the task of rescuing Break to Sharon and Vincent. Gilbert could only hope that Break would find a way to save Oz once he had recovered.
“Echo will be there, too,” Gilbert whispered. He didn’t know whether he was trying to reassure Sharon or himself. “I am…not sure where her loyalties lie, but she seemed concerned about Oz.”
“We will be fine, Gilbert,” Sharon told him in a gentler tone. “Please focus on your own task.”
Gilbert’s steps faltered when he passed the mantelpiece in the Nightray living room. The hat Ada had given him was still there. He touched it tentatively. It had dried while he was away. The material felt smooth and soft against his gloveless fingers.
He was here on Oz’s orders, Gilbert reminded himself. The thought made the weight on his chest a little lighter. He put the hat on, and allowed himself a small smile. As childish as it was, Gilbert had always felt sheltered under its long black brims. He reached the side door and its subterranean passage with renewed determination.
The Nightray Gate was there to greet him, imposing as ever with its high arc, broad gold bars, and the hint of never-ending darkness beyond. Gilbert put a hand to the sword’s hilt without slowing down. He walked up to the door and grabbed the bar. The hard metal slipped right through his fingers.
Darkness engulfed him. Gilbert could hear rattling chains and swashing water all around him. His ears rang from the sudden air pressure. The man walked with purpose. The shallow water hindered his progress. Gradually, he was starting to distinguish vague forms in the dark.
His hand moved to his holster, but met nothingness. He had left his pistols with Echo.
“Don’t worry,” Sharon’s voice sounded very close in the darkness. “Eques can take care of the Chains.”
Gilbert nodded. He could feel his shadow shudder as he scanned the darkness. The forms he had glimpsed were motionless. The man took careful steps forward. He could make out the eroded contours of ruins and broken furniture. Silence weighed down on him.
Gilbert sighed through his nose. For now, he was alone. However, Chains would definitely feel his presence in their home. They would follow the smell of human blood.
There was only one Chain that Gilbert was after. He fished the music box out of his pocket, and flicked it open.
The sad tune made for strange background noise as Gilbert splashed his way across the water, deeper and deeper into the darkness. It sounded eerie and defeated, like a requiem. But Gilbert had no intention to die here.
He called Alice’s name. Nothing. Not even a drop of water in the distance. Every move Gilbert made seemed deafening in the silence, yet strangely muffled. There wasn’t enough air to carry an echo. It was suffocating.
Gilbert kept calling. Neither his voice nor the dreamlike melody could drown out the ringing in his ears. The dark brims of his hat looked grey against the murk of the Abyss. The occasional broken toy floated by in the sky-less wasted landscape, but there was no trace of a little girl or giant rabbit.
The man skirted around the square point of what looked like an old giant chess set, with its broken tip immersed like a surreal iceberg. The more he walked, the more Gilbert feared that his search was hopeless. Mere hours in the outside world could equal to an eternity in the Abyss. Gilbert might be anchored to Sharon’s time through Eques and their connected shadows, but Alice was on her own. Did she even have enough power left to defend herself against the other Chains? What if she was…
Gilbert stopped and strained his ears. He thought he had heard a voice.
“…Hatter....”
Gilbert started:
“Break?”
“We found him,” Sharon replied hastily. “Xerx, hang in there!”
Her disembodied voice was full of anguish. Trembling words were drifting to him through the gurgle of the waters at his feet. Gilbert could barely understand their meaning. He took a reluctant step forward. The splash drowned Sharon’s voice, along with the faded echoes of Vincent and Break, and the broken notes of the pocket watch. Gilbert halted his steps. Gradually, the water stilled around his ankles. Breathless words drifted to his ears:
“…will thank you when you stop this sickening hobby of collecting poisons, you little rat.”
“Break!” A wave of relief washed over Gilbert. “Are you alright?”
“How wounding, Mister Hatter,” came Vincent’s sultry voice. “After all the trouble Miss Sharon and I went through…”
“Yes, I’ll be sure to thank Gilbert for taking advantage of that brother complex of yours. How considerate. Not only does he treat me like an invalid, but he had to send you to play nurse.”
“H-Hey!” Gilbert protested. “It wasn’t Vincent’s fault if that bottle got stolen!”
“They can’t hear you, Gilbert,” Sharon said. Gilbert jumped slightly at the clarity of the sound, and the ripples swallowed the fainter voices of her two companions. “Break will be fine… Xerx, don’t push yourself! Here, lean on my shoulder.”
“Oh right, Gilbert is here,” Break’s snide voice was back. “Did you find Alice yet?”
“No,” Gilbert answered a little sheepishly. “Not yet.”
Sharon relayed the information.
“Then stop slacking and get back to work,” Break sighed. “I’ll get Oz for you.”
“We, Break,” Sharon heaved a sigh. “Get used to it. Miss Echo, is the road clear?”
The dark waters fell silent for two seconds, until Sharon’s voice rose once again:
“Alright, let’s go. Gilbert, we’ll have to act very quietly from now on. Please don’t worry about us. You said it yourself: we can’t rescue Lord Oz without Miss Alice.”
Gilbert nodded and resumed his pace. It was true. There was nothing Gilbert could do to help his colleagues from the Abyss. If he wanted to go back to their side, he had to find Alice, and fast.
But where could she be? It felt like he had been walking for hours, and still there was no sign of a Chain. The Abyss was nothing but a deserted marshland.
‘Could it be because I am a Baskerville?’ Gilbert wondered suddenly. ‘Are the Chains avoiding me?’
Gilbert couldn’t be sure. He kept scanning the darkness in search of hungry eyes, and straining his ears for a noise of any kind. But Gilbert was alone with the sound of his own steps and the melancholic melody. He almost wished the Chains would attack. Then he wouldn’t feel this draining mix of anticipation and pointlessness.
He thought he heard Break and Vincent’s voices, and almost stopped to check. Had they been spotted?
Gilbert was about to voice his worries to Sharon, but a sharp pain in his left hand stopped him. The man gripped his shaking hand and looked around him. He found himself in a field of overturned ten feet tall cubes, with rusting numbers on their faces. There was no Chain in sight.
Gilbert could still feel the pull from Raven’s efforts as the giant bird recreated the broken chains. The open watch at his wrist seemed to weigh a ton. Yet the sensation from earlier had been different. It was reminiscent of the times when B-Rabbit’s powers had been unleashed. Did something happen to Oz? Or…
“Oz!”
The man turned round just in time to see Alice materialising atop the highest toy box. She looked changed, almost immaterial in her silk black dress and ribbons, but Gilbert would have recognized her shrill bossy voice anywhere. He would never have thought that he would be so happy to hear it.
Gilbert had heard anger and relief clash when she called Oz’s name. Both emotions vanished as soon as Alice saw the man:
“Raven....”
Her voice was trembling. From shock or anger, Gilbert couldn’t tell. She was too far for him to read her expression. Of course, he knew what to expect.
A lump formed in his throat, but Gilbert refused to look away. It was almost a relief to meet Alice’s accusing glare. The man had expected this anger from the moment he had shot Oz. Ever since, he had been waiting for a punishment that never came.
No one had a right to hurt Oz: it was the one thing Alice and he had always agreed on. Gilbert knew that she would never forgive him.
“Why…” Alice’s hands balled into tight fists at her sides. “No, don’t tell me. You remembered, didn’t you? Who Oz really is.”
Gilbert was taken aback. What did that have to do with anything?
“You found out that he was the real B-Rabbit, so you shot him,” Alice said bitterly. “Is that it?”
Gilbert could only stare at her in silence, dumbstruck. Lacie’s melody was fluttering between them tauntingly.
“No,” the man answered without thinking. “No, I… It wasn’t a choice I made.”
That was when it truly struck him. How instinctive it had been, to move his hand and pull the trigger. How the servant had heard the gunshot before he even had time to comprehend Glen’s order. How, ever since, Gilbert had been a stranger in his own body.
No… It had been the case long before that. Before his amnesia, before the Tragedy… He had had this alienating feeling almost as far as he could remember. When had it all begun?
His head throbbed. Gilbert looked down at his hands and realized they were shaking. His fingers closed around the vibrating metal of the pocket watch. The box swallowed the notes with a resounding click. Silence fell.
“I did…I do remember,” Gilbert said. His mouth felt strangely dry. “The truth is that I am a Baskerville. I was Glen’s servant back in Sablier. Ever since then… there was this voice in my head,” the man clawed at his skull. “It’s driving me mad. And now master… Oz is....”
Distorted memories of his master danced before his eyes. Oswald’s calm words, Oz’s laughing eyes, Leo’s pale hands pulling at his hair to chase the ghosts away. An ancient hooded hunchback with scrawny lips, spouting murderous commandments that took root in Gilbert’s head. A vow carved in flesh and blood between Chains and Baskervilles. So that’s why Vincent never sank into the Abyss. Raven’s warning. Possessed boys, century old voices haunting him....
“Who poured these thoughts into you?” Break had asked.
Gilbert didn’t know. But if this voice and his left hand bound him to Glen’s will, then....
“Where is he?”
Gilbert raised his eyes from the cold golden watch to look up at Alice. She had taken a step forward on her box. She was going bare foot.
“Where is Oz?”
Her powerful voice vibrated in the confined air. It shook Gilbert out of his trance:
“He was taken prisoner. Master…Glen is going to send him to the lowest level of the Abyss.”
Alice flinched. Even from this distance, Gilbert could tell that she was shaking. She stomped her foot on the giant cube:
“Don’t! Glen… No, you can’t do that! Oz is mine! I was the one who brought Oz to the real world! I should decide what to do with him! You can’t take him away!”
Gilbert’s eyes widened. It suddenly dawned on him. Alice wasn’t shaking from anger. She was scared. Scared for Oz. And what she had said…
“You remember,” Gilbert whispered.
“That’s right!” Alice gave a vigorous nod. The movement sent droplets of water flying around her face. “I remember everything. I was there, that day, when Oz nearly destroyed the world. Jack forced him to do it!” her voice was growing stronger with every word, until she was screaming: “He stole Oz from me and used his power… Oz couldn’t even fight back! He was crying, and Jack wouldn’t listen…!”
Her voice broke. Her slight shoulders were shaking so hard Gilbert was afraid they would dislocate. The surreal halo that surrounded her made Alice’s tears glow on her cheeks, their shine apparent even from this distance.
Gilbert was speechless, stuck between shock and an overwhelming sympathy that constricted his throat and kept his voice trapped. Even the man’s shadow shuddered at his feet. He had been there to witness Oz’s torture. Gilbert remembered the scene Alice described all too well.
“I won’t let him do it again!” the little girl cried, her eyes shut tightly against the onslaught of uncontrollable tears. “I won’t let anyone use Oz again! I won’t forgive those who made him cry! Not even Glen, not even you! Just…”
A hiccup cut through her screaming. She used her sleeves to wipe at her nose furiously.
“Just…give Oz back to me,” she said between sobs. “Don’t kill him, Raven.”
Gilbert almost jumped. She sounded pleading. Did Alice really think that…?
Of course she did, Gilbert thought with sudden revulsion. She had seen him shoot Oz. She also knew the reason why Glen had given that order. She was Alice Baskerville. As such, she knew that her uncle’s orders were absolute. And Glen Baskerville wanted Gilbert to kill Oz.
“I won’t,” Gilbert said firmly. “Never.”
Alice stilled, and her black dress fell in small drifts around her ankles. Gilbert took a step forward. Dark water rippled all around him. The man thought he heard a clatter in the distance, but he ignored it.
“Oz will be fine, I promise,” Gilbert pointed at the stilling water. “Sharon and the others went to rescue him.”
The man suddenly realized that the metallic sounds were coming from his shadow. He strained his ears to hear more from Sharon’s side, but something was covering her voice. Gilbert thought he heard Break shout, and heavy clanging in the distance.
“Hurry, Lord Oz! We have to get away!”
Hope flared in Gilbert’s heart. They had found Oz! They would protect him. Now, all he had to do…
“Then why are you here?”
Alice’s voice brought Gilbert back to reality. The man clenched his left hand resolutely and turned back towards her. Maybe there was a way out after all. Gilbert suspected he knew what was wrong with him, and how to protect Oz from now on. But first, there were some things he had to confirm.
“Oz sent me to get you,” he told Alice. “He said that, a hundred years ago, you took his powers and became the new B-Rabbit. Is that true? Do you remember anything like this?”
“Yeah,” Alice answered hesitantly, and raised a hand in front of her face. It was translucent. “But it looks like he got them back. And now Jack is using him again.”
She snorted. It sounded like a sniffle.
“You should have brought him here! That idiot rejected me, and now I can’t even go back…”
“I will bring you back,” Gilbert said. “You’re the only one who can save Oz. So tell me: have you really lost all of his powers? If you went back to our world, could you take them back?”
Alice threw him a suspicious look:
“I can still feel some power. Just enough to move about.” She grinded her teeth. “And even then, I had to ask the other Alice to bring me here when I heard the music box. I can’t handle Oz’s powers without a proper body.”
Gilbert felt a renewed confidence. That was it.
“In that case,” he said, “make a contract with me.”
Alice’s eyes widened. For a second, Gilbert thought her body looked a more solid white against the darkness of the Abyss. That only strengthened his suspicion.
“What did you say?”
“If you still hold some power from the Abyss,” Gilbert told her, “then you are still a Chain. In order to go back to our world, all you need is a contractor. But it doesn’t have to be Oz, does it?”
The little girl fidgeted. She still looked wary.
“You said you were one of the Reapers,” she pointed an accusing finger at him. “Why would you help Oz now?”
The man hesitated. The memory of the gunshot was looming over them heavily, clouding Gilbert’s confidence. He took a deep breath:
“Raven told me once that the two of us were bound by my left hand. At the time, I didn’t realize what it meant. A hundred years ago, this contract I made was the first step before becoming the next Glen Baskerville. I vowed to serve him until the day I died.”
“But I can’t obey him anymore,” Gilbert told Alice. “Not if it means sacrificing everything he loves. He was already forced to send his own sister into the Abyss, yet he is still trying to maintain that law about Children of Misfortune, even though…”
Gilbert stopped himself mid-sentence. No. He wouldn’t mention the fact that Glen had also been ready to sacrifice his own niece. It was unsettling enough to see Alice this distraught; she definitely didn’t need to hear that on top of everything.
“It’s absurd,” Gilbert said instead. “I won’t let my master repeat his own mistakes. Even if it means betraying him.”
His voice turned bitter:
“I broke my vow long ago anyway. In the end, the one I want to protect is Oz. The reason I renewed my contract with Raven was to save him. And now I can’t even go back to him....”
“Even then… If I can’t be relied on… at the very least, I want to share Oz’s burden. If I was chosen as a host for Glen, then my body should be able to stand the power of five Chains. I am sure I can bear the power of B-Rabbit. If worst comes to worst, Raven can seal some of it away. This way, if B-Rabbit’s power is shared between us… Oz won’t have to handle this alone.”
Alice was peering down at him like a hawk, with her toes gripping the side of the giant cube. Her amethyst eyes stood out sharply against her surreally pale face. The man still couldn’t tell whether she was staring at him with reproach, fear or hope. Either way, he couldn’t blame her for distrusting him.
“Besides,” Gilbert’s voice grew softer. “I’ve come to realize that I misjudged you.” The man lowered his eyes. “I called you a parasite, when all this time you were protecting Oz. Long before I even knew him. Please forgive me.”
Gilbert drew his lips into a tight line. Once again, Break had been proven right. Overcome by his own jealousy and resentment, Gilbert had been blind to the truth. It was about time he set things right.
He heard Alice take a sharp intake of breath. When he looked up, she seemed slightly flushed. She shook herself, her long dark hair flying all around her and sending golden drops in every direction. After that, the little girl raised her chin, put both hands on her hips, and with a decisive nod, she said:
“Oz belongs to me. If you’re his, I guess that makes both of you my servants. This might make up for what you did.”
Her words were still harsh, yet she sounded bolder. The little girl hopped from box to box until she landed on the one opposite Gilbert. She held out her hand and the man took it. He thought all had been said and done when, out of the blue, Alice stood on tiptoe to whack him on the head.
“What was that fo…”
“For shooting Oz.” Alice punched him again. “And that’s for being an idiotic, useless seaweed-head.”
“I am not…!”
“Stop saying that you can’t be relied on, or I won’t,” Alice grabbed Gilbert’s hair and yanked, so they were nose to nose. “I already told you, didn’t I? I won’t let anyone hurt Oz again, especially you. If you are useless enough to go crazy and try to shoot him again, I will use his powers to crush you. So you’d better put up a good fight, because I’m going back to him, and you’re coming with me!”
Gilbert blinked, at a loss for words. Beyond the boasting authority that the Chain took whenever she talked, he could hear the distress in her voice, and see the worry in her eyes. In her own, strange way, Alice was seeking reassurance. That there was the slightest chance that she wouldn’t disappear, and that Oz could be saved. That she could protect Gilbert from himself.
The thought was so baffling Gilbert felt oddly flustered.
“You said it yourself,” Alice shouted into his face. The man cringed. “You can’t listen to Glen anymore. You’ll be my contractor, and that means you’ll only obey me. Swear it!”
Alice paused for breath and fixed him with an expectant glare. Gilbert’s ears were ringing, yet her words sounded so hopeful he couldn’t bring himself to get angry. In this moment, Alice was only a child trying to make her statements come true by yelling the words as loudly as she could. From up close, her embarrassed blush looked redder still, and Gilbert could feel her fingers shaking around his locks.
In the end, they were in the same boat.
He shook his head; the movement made him wince when his hair remained trapped within Alice’s tiny fists:
“I can’t do that.”
The little girl opened her mouth to protest, but Gilbert put a placating hand on her head, half to make her back away and let go, half to reassure her:
“That’s not how it works, stupid rabbit,” he elaborated, his voice soft. He called her names almost as an afterthought these days. “You’re a Chain, and I am a Baskerville. That makes us equals. Comrades. So I can’t serve you.”
The flush on her cheeks grew darker:
“I’m a Baskerville, too!”
Gilbert couldn’t help but chuckle at that:
“Then that is all the more true, isn’t it? Since we can’t be by Glen’s side anymore,” he added ruefully.
A flicker of grief crossed Alice’s features, and she went quiet. She looked to the side.
“You won’t go away,” she asked under her breath. “Right?”
Gilbert gave her a small smile:
“That’s the point of making a contract. Whatever comes at us, we’ll fight together.”
Alice seemed to ponder that.
“Comrades… I suppose that’s fine.” When she turned back to him, there was a grin on her face. “Alright, Raven. First we save Oz, then we come back for my sister.”
Sharon’s voice startled them both.
“Gilbert!” Gilbert’s shadow heaved. “I can’t hold on much longer, Lord Oz is…!”
Gilbert’s heart skipped a beat:
“Alice!”
A bright glow took over her body when he called her name. Alice swiped at the rusted number ingrained on her cube. Pearls of blood burst between her fingers when the metal cut her skin. Sharon shrieked. The floor vanished from under Gilbert’s feet before he could take Alice’s outstretched hand. The man was dragged down into the darkness.
He reached a helpless hand out to Alice. With her eyes set in a determined scowl, the Chain stuck her bloody fingers into her mouth and jumped after him. She snaked one arm around Gilbert’s neck and sucked the blood off her other hand. She locked lips with him right before Eques’ shadow swallowed his head.
Gilbert gulped out of reflex. Then gravity made a violent comeback. The man landed dizzy and scandalized next to a breathless Sharon. In the next second, he saw a crowned lion pounce. Eques burst out of their joined shadows and impaled the Chain on its flank.
“What a surprise,” a sarcastic voice came from behind the lion. “To think you’d be behind all this, Nightray boy… or whatever household you’re leeching off at present.”
A violent shockwave took over Gilbert before he could answer. The man rolled out of the way as the two Chains fought, one hand clenched over his heart. It felt like a fireball was about to burst out of his chest. The man took a sharp intake of breath when the energy spread like wildfire through his veins. By contrast, the draft felt freezing against his hair. His hat had flown away.
Gilbert struggled to keep his eyes open. Even his eyelids burnt. He glimpsed Charlotte Baskerville through the furnace. The woman made no effort to suppress her shivers of cold fury.
“So you made a new contract.” Her eyes were shooting daggers at him over her toothy grin. “Does it hurt? Don’t worry. I will free you from the pain right now.”
Her growling blended in the roar of her Chain. The lion pinned the black unicorn to the ground, only to leave it rearing at air and attack Gilbert. The man barely had time to unsheathe Elliot’s sword. The claws and the black metal clang together. Gilbert was thrown back from the force of impact.
In the blink of an eye, Sharon was standing between him and the feline Chain. A black wall rose all around her.
“Gilbert,” Sharon cried as Eques held the lion off with its horn. “I’m sorry, Lord Oz got away… He went outside. Go after him, I’ll hold her back!”
“What?” Gilbert staggered back on his feet. His heartbeat was deafening to his own ears. “Sharon, what happened…”
“Aw, but aren’t you worried about the Hatter and your little brother?” Charlotte snarled. “Master Glen and the others should be about done with them. Now move aside, I need to have a little chat with Jack…”
“They’re buying us time!” Sharon turned to Gilbert hastily. “Don’t listen to her! Go!”
Sharon took several steps back, breathing heavily. Safe in the shadow of her Chain, she held two fans before her in a defending position. With a last look at the fighting duo, Gilbert turned heels and fled.
“Master Glen trusted you!” Charlotte’s screeches made him flinch. “I’ll get you for this, traitor!”
The Baskerville’s cries and Eques’ whinnying pursued him as the man rushed towards the exit. He forced himself not to look back. His left hand was still clutching at his heart, where a contractor’s seal was carving its way into his skin. The other clenched the black blade tightly. There was no turning back. Gilbert had already made his choice.
Part 2