A/N: LISTEN UP FOLKS THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT!

So! This is my first attempt on actually writing something other than one-shots! (oh, and a big bright thank you to everyone who reviewed on Switch and stuff btw, you guys are all cuties and im so sorry I get to provide only with so much as angst ahhh) I plan on having this a bit long but I can't promise anything as I don't really have much spare time to write anymore... BUT, here I am anyway.

This story, somewhat AU, is mainly placed on the 90's but it starts off on the 80's. It's not gonna be really linear, so be aware of the time jumps and stuff, especially around the first chapters! The story evolves around Oz, Gilbert and Alice (the last one to be introduced later).

Things are to get heavy at some point (I said it), but for now it's more of a know-who... Introducing, I guess. I plan on posting a chapter every three weeks or something, but it all depends on how far off I've written /so we can be on safe grounds and thin down the chances of me dropping out of the thing before it gets good.

very important thing: this is not the first chapter, it's a prologue.

I hope we get to make this through, somehow! I'm all fired up!

um, the only beta'ed this is is not beta'ed. If anyone cares to volunteer as for the next chapters it'd be really sweet! PM me or smth, idk how this works. Reviews, favorites and follows make my cold heart light up with joy at all times! Now, take a seat, get some snacks and pray it's gonna be ok.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pandora Hearts, really.

...

Sometime around 1980;

Prologue.

... ... ...

The first morning light rays seeped into the room through the window on the young blonde's bedroom.

Such quiet morning was quite unusual at that place of the city… what with the train station right on the other street across them? Even though the warmth of the sun light was so soft and the street noise so faint like it was never there, the boy woke up. His mind awoke before his body really did, a tad bit tired and overall lazy. He tried guessing the time, opening his eyes just enough to make out the form of things around him. The covers were spread around his body, the dark blue of the sheets blending with the light green of his sleepwear, but comfortable nonetheless.

Closing his eyes again, the boy pondered over why was he awake so early in a… yeah, that's right, in a Saturday morning during summer vacations.

He decided to turn around and go back to sleep, but something about the inviting calmness of the morning made his mind ache and his heart race to see a bit of landscape and enjoy the rare opportunity of having both silence and a dawn-colored sky.

The boy got up, slipped in some sneakers, smoothed his hair a little and walked out of his bedroom. Ever since his 5 years, Oz had been used to taking lonely walks around the block during the early mornings. It was not like his uncle would ever stop him… actually, no one but the boy himself knew of these walks.

He opened the door, took a deep breath and then stepped out of the house.

By the faint orange still forming in the sky, Oz took it as something around 5 in the morning or so. The boy started his way, a steady and slow pace, as he had no intention of hurrying back home. As the lack of noise had told him before, the streets were deserted. Oz liked it like that, this way people wouldn't bother asking him what a nine years old kid was doing alone at the street in such hour, or telling him how dangerous it could be for him as he was so young. He didn't need to be told these, this much he knew. Even though he was so young, in fact, he was fast, if anyone were to try running after him, he would have already hidden somewhere. He kept his pace, just walking, appreciating the somehow different air that morning seemed to have. It did feel different, a sort of alarming different, a warning something was about to happen. At least it felt like it.

By the time Oz was making his way back, the sun had already risen up and slowly things seemed to grow back to the normal, which is, noisy. Walking absently minded with his hands in his pockets, he focused his sight a little and could already spot his house from a certain distance.
The thing was, he didn't feel like coming back… not just yet. He knew if he came back, Ada would probably be still asleep, his uncle busy with his work matters and the only person left would be Missus Kate, the housekeeper they had hired after Oz's mom passed away.
He wished something interesting could happen, but just what of interesting could happen in such boring place?

He was about to turn around and go back somewhere else, but that was when he saw it; in the small playground there was in front of his yard. Alone in the double swing-set, a tiny and apparently quite wounded, thin boy, his black hair all messy and… why was he holding his hands in such a way? He seemed in pain.

Oz couldn't just walk past him and pretend he hadn't seen him. He did, and he hadn't intended on going back home anyway.
He turned around and made his way towards the swing-set, determined to know what happened to the poor thing, or if… well, he didn't really knew, he felt the urge to do so and there he was.

His steps grew faster by the moment, somehow he felt like time itself was moving too slow, so he had to hurry up. What had been a normal paced walk soon turned into a jog and then careful steps as he approached the boy.

"Hey…"

He didn't knew what to expect. Maybe for the boy to bark at him to get out and leave him alone, or maybe just ignore him… but he hadn't been prepared for what had just happened.

As the words left his mouth, the world around him seemed to shut down. The thin boy moved his hands away from his head, and slowly looked up at him, through tears.

Oz breath was caught in his chest, the boy's stare lingering in his face just for a second until he looked down again and came back to his initial position, pacing in the seat with both hands tied in his hair.

"Hey, hey, why… why are you crying? What happened?"

No response, the boy just shook his head.

"What's your name? Come on, talk to me, please…"

Again, nothing.

Oz knelt in the harsh grass and then tried taking the boy's hands away from his face. The boy gave him a scared shriek and let a sob come out, but Oz managed to get his hands out from his face.

Again, Oz forgot what breathing was like, for the boy's face did that to him.

His tears-strained rosy cheeks, lips closed in a thin line, and eyes… those eyes, Oz had never seen eyes with that color! They were wide, and the hue of golden in those irises… was it really possible to have eyes like that? So beautiful.

Still, his expression was one of fear, one of confusion, hurt and something else Oz was not sure how to describe.

"I… m-my name… is Gilbert."

Oh.

What a cute name.

"Why are you crying, Gilbert?"

The boy hesitated, then moved his hands away from Oz's, letting them fall at his lap. He looked around, like searching for the right words. Oz let him take his time.

"I… I don't think I can t-tell you…"

"Why not?"

Gilbert's eyes narrowed, his sight set on Oz. He looked puzzled. Oz bit his bottom lip. What, why was he looking at him like that? The accusation in his eyes was clear.

"What exactly… Why are you here, what do you want with me?"

The words weren't half as mean as they sounded, when coming from that boy's mouth.

Oz pondered over the question… well, it was true that he just met the boy, maybe he didn't even had the right to ask such things but… something about finding the boy there, something about his behavior and… all about him, seemed to be just what that quiet morning was warning him of earlier. There he was, the interesting change of routine he looked for.

"Because… well, you know, we could be friends. And it's a friend's duty to protect and be there for his another friend… come on Gilbert, trust me. What happened to you?"

Oz wasn't really sure what prompted that, but it seemed to work. Gilbert fidgeted one last time, looking around as if to be sure no one else but Oz was there, and then sighed.

"I… don't know."

Ah. He started crying again. Oz panicked, afraid he would cry too.

"Hey, no, don't cry..! What do you mean you 'don't know'?"

"I d-d-don't know! I can't remember anything b-but my n-name! I woke up… and I was here..." The boy said between sobs and tears, trying to make Oz understand something even he himself didn't.

But somehow, Oz understood. And believed in him. It didn't seem as if he would lie about it, so… "Do you have a place to stay, like, until you remember things?"

The boy wiped his tears away, shaking his head.

Oh…

"Do you want to come over to my house? You can stay there if you want to."

At first the boy looked at Oz like the blonde had spoken in another language, and then he blushed, his golden eyes wide and uncertain. Oz himself wasn't sure what made him ask it, but it seemed the right thing to do. And, besides, it was not like anyone would oppose to it in his house; his uncle was probably going to welcome the boy as a nephew, Ada wouldn't really understand what was going on but would be happy to have someone else to play with… and about Missus Kate… she would probably not be very pleased with it, but who cares.

Oz got up, holding out his hand for Gilbert to take.

"So, are you coming?"

Gilbert smiled a little, what made Oz smile as well, and nodded, taking the hand Oz had offered him.

"Hey, may I call you 'Gil' instead of Gilbert?" Oz asked as they crossed the street, looking back only to see the boy blushing again. How cute.

"I-i guess so…"

"Giiil~"

"Yeah?"

"Nothing, just testing it."

"Oh"

"How old are you, Gil? I think you're 8, because you're just too cute to be older than me." Oz chuckled as Gilbert stuttered something about not being cute, and soon they were already at Oz's doorstep.

"Well, we're here."

Oz turned the knob and opened the door, gesticulating for Gil to get in first. The boy hesitated, but obliged anyway. Gil looked around, amazed by how well furnished the place was, and clean, and huge. Oz chuckled again, and led the boy to his own bedroom.

"You should take a bath, your clothes are all dirty with… is that blood?"

The boy looked at his own clothes, and then mumbled something Oz didn't really catch, but nodded.

"So, stay here while I go find Missus Kate and ask her to prepare a bath. Feel free to look around, but don't leave my room until I come back, okay?" The boy nodded, and then Oz left.

Oz couldn't help, but feel content with having the boy there. Whatever it was that would happen, he knew from second one the boy would change his life.

He just wasn't sure how much.