Disclaimer: I do not own Pandora Hearts.
This is my first chapter story. Since I usually write one shots, this chapter is a little short but I think chapters will get longer as the story continues.
This is a Gil centered fic taking place when Oz was still in the Abyss, just after Gil contracted Raven.
Chapter 1
Children Tale and Mass Murderer
In the depths of the night, in an isolated alley, a shadow was grinning, contemplating its art. Red covered the snow of December, obscene drops traveling on every inch of their owner, tainting him, transforming him into a blossoming red rose; its color clashing with the pure white. The previously immaculate ground was now soiled by a frail and lifeless body.
Plic, Plic, Plic
An evil laugh filled the silence of the night, carried by the howling blizzard, reveling in hearing life's essence crashing on the cold floor.
~¤O¤~
Gilbert tightened the grip he had on his black gold-embroidered coat, desperately seeking warmness. Pandora's corridors were cold; winter this year being particularly harsh. Cursing against the weather, the young Nightray made his way to the room where Break was waiting for him.
"Oh, already here?"
Break welcomed him with one of his annoying smiles. Sprawled on a green velvet couch, the hatter was peacefully eating candies, his doll Emily casually resting on his shoulder.
"I must congratulate you…" He got up and slowly walked towards the young man. "… I heard your first mission as a contractor was a success. Here is a little reward!" He continued, placing a wrapped candy in Gilbert's hand.
The silver haired man was right, to all the Pandora members; the Raven's life was perfect. He was young, handsome, he had formed a contract with one of the most powerful chain and he was part of one of the four duke households. But he was looking for more. He didn't care about women, wealth or fame; the only thing he wanted was to save his precious master from the dark and cursed prison he had been send to already eight years ago: the Abyss. He wanted light back by saving the only person able to save himself from the eternal darkness he was drowning in.
Gil frowned
"I don't need this" he said, letting the candy fall to the floor. The pink object made a muffled sound as it made contact with the floor and rolled under the sofa.
Break pouted, one of his precious sweetness was wasted.
"How mean! Are you in a bad mood?"
In fact, Gil was in a bad mood; like almost every 365 days of each single year God made.
"Go to the point Break, I don't have time to waste. What do you want?"
"Yes, yes, so impulsive."
The Hatter went back to his previous sitting position taking a serious expression.
"Concerning your master, we can't start acting now. We don't have enough information as to where in the Abyss he could be, and moreover, there seems to be an illegal contractor running through the streets of Reveille; this is giving us a lot of work."
Gil's frown deepened. He wasn't satisfied by this answer. He was tired of waiting, minutes; hours seemed like hell, filed with guilt and regret since he had lost Oz. A wave of angst overwhelmed him as he thought he may never be able to see the blond again.
"Can't we do something about this contractor?" He tried to make his voice sound confident, not letting his worries reach his vocal cords.
"The problem is that we don't have much information about him, but if you helped us a little, maybe we would be able to find him…" Break paused, a smile growing on his pale face. "… and then, we could concentrate on finding your precious master."
The Raven knew Break was using him; it had always been like this. This relationship they shared was one no one else could understand. Using one another; betraying allies; fighting chains; killing people; all these sinful and revolting behaviors were now part of every one of his days. But if this illegal contractor or any other obstacle stood between him and Oz, he would destroy it.
"Give me the details."
Break's grin widened.
"Have you ever heard of the Pied Piper of Hamelin?"
"Yeah, the Piper was a rat-catcher hired by the town to lure rats away with his magic pipe. But the citizenry refused to pay for this service so he retaliates by turning his magic on their children, leading them away as he had the rats, never to return." Gil recited the tale he had read with Oz millions of time when they were young, giving him a pang.
"But it's just a child's tale. What about it?"He muttered, annoyed.
"Well, that's the name we gave to our new murderer!" Break looked at Gil straight into the eyes before adding "The victims are all children and there are no traces of kidnapping, no breaking in the families houses; as if the children vanished because of some kind of magic trick before reappearing dead, lying in squalid alleys."
Gil's eyes widened, disgusted by these actions. Attacking defenseless children, destroying the hopes and future was the worst. Parents shouldn't witness their descendants die, for it wasn't how things should naturally go. After such incident, indelible scars always remained and moving forward was almost impossible. He knew too well how painful it was to lose a precious person.
"Nice isn't it?" asked Break, seeing how affected his interlocutor was. Gil looked away, not wanting to show any weakness. "And that's all we've got?"
"Well yes, but luckily for you, a body was found last night" the Hatter said mockingly "One of our agents is already in the field."
~¤O¤~
Walking through the streets of Reveille, Gil gradually quit the animated and joyful streets to engulf into the dark, down the disreputable areas. The cold breeze was frizzing him, like it was even penetrating his bones. Fresh snow was cracking under each step he took. The young man turned a corner and silence let place to chatting noises. In the alley, a group of Pandora agents was standing in a circle, watching something Gil couldn't see. Clad all in black, gathered like vultures, they seemed more like culprits than investigators.
The Nightray spotted a familiar figure in the middle of all those black coats. Liam Lunettes, a very average brunette was heading towards him, rearranging his glasses in his usual way.
"Good morning Gilbert-sama. I guess it was Xerxes who send you here?"
Gil nodded; he had always appreciated Liam, for he was a hard worker and a very sincere person.
"So the agent collecting information about this case was you?"
Liam sighed
"I'm afraid I'm not, but I can lead you to her."
The man started walking while Gil stayed glued on his spot.
"Her?" He repeated, clueless.
Liam stopped and turned back.
"Yes please follow me; I'll give you the details"
A girl? In Pandora? Gil had never heard of this. Was she really an agent? Were girls able to do this kind of work? Gil stopped his misogynist thoughts a bit ashamed as he realized Sharon, who was working for Pandora and her Grand-mother, who was one of the four Dukes were in fact really strong women. He had seen them angry at least once and knew they shouldn't be approached, except when one wanted to die painfully under a Harisen blow… Strangely Break seemed to like this kind of treatments; but he was with no doubt some kind of sadomasochist clown.
The young man finally agreed, walking side by side with Break's "friend", a bit disappointed that he wasn't going to work with him on this difficult case.
The other Pandora members gave way for them and that's when Gil saw it. The boy was around 8 years old, a smile on his lips, one of a happy child beaming at the thought of playing in the snow. But his eyes were glossy, sparkles of life gone forever; his body petrified, not only by the contact of the cold floor; the pool of red normally warm liquid failing to warm him up.
Gil had to contain his retching at the sight of this unusual and depressing scene and the smell of dried blood filling his nostrils. He had never seen a dead child and would never have thought it would shock him so much seeing youth and happiness fade away. And suddenly, under his shocked eyes, brown hair became blond and lifeless brown eyes turned green; looking at him with a smile on cold almost purple lips. In a hasty move, the Raven turned away from this scene, bringing his hand on his mouth to contain a scream; tears almost falling from his eyes on their own will. He desperately searched for support as his vision blurred and his head started spinning to finally lean on a nearby stone wall.
"Why?"
Liam looked at the raven-haired man inquisitively, worried about his violent reaction.
"Why would a contractor kill only children?" Gil asked again, his body trembling, his voice cracking. Once again, he had failed to stay strong, exposing his fears and inner demons. But Liam's calm voice was slowly appeasing him, bringing him back to reality, even if his words were far from comforting ones.
"This is what we are trying to figure out, but at least it shows that this murderer has some control over his chain."
"This is probably why he keeps slipping through our fingers all the time."
The two men turned back to meet two shining red eyes.
"There you are Miss Sarah; we've been looking for you for an hour!"
The young girl blinked quickly before answering.
"I was inspecting the surroundings but I didn't find any clue"
Gil analyzed the strange girl before his eyes. Long snow white hair was falling to her shoulder blade and she was wrapped up in a plain black cape, contrasting with the paleness of her skin. She was rather thin and small, making it difficult to give her an age; mature traits contrasting with a childish figure. She could have been one of the murderer's targets for all he knew. But the Raven was stopped in his observation as he met two bloody eyes starring directly into his golden ones. Surprised, he quickly looked away.
"Gilbert-sama, this is Miss Sarah. She is investigating on the Piper's case." Liam said fixing his glasses. He then pointed at Gil. "Miss Sarah, this is Gilbert Nightray, he will be assisting you on this case."
"Fine" was all she answered. She walked to the corpse, kneeling beside him. Her slim fingers slowly caressed the red tainted snow and a few seconds later went up to close the victim's eyes. She then inspected the body.
Wasn't she a little young to investigate alone on such a dangerous and frightening case? And moreover, could she give him the cold shoulder like this!
"All the victims died of a large wound in the middle of the chest." Liam said turning to the Raven, getting him out of his thoughts. "The bodies are always left like this in the middle of a pool of blood."
"And the parents?" Gil asked his throat suddenly dry.
The March Hare lowered his head, gazing at his shoes.
"Shattered. Rumors are spreading and all the families are scared. Despite the measures we established, the crimes didn't stop."
Pandora really seemed in big trouble to solve this case, which wasn't surprising seeing what kind of agent they sent to investigate.
Before coming here, Gil thought he would help on this case just for the sake of seeing Oz again. But with all these new elements and his previous hallucination; he was now filled with a new determination; as a human, he just couldn't let such horror take place in the town where he lived, he felt emotionally implied as the victims reminded him of a past he wanted back. This murderer wasn't only killing a dozens of parent's hopes but he was also destroying the Raven's ones. So he was going to arrest the Piper, whatever it took, whatever it cost!
Next time: Her body had welcomed the cold of December without resisting and wouldn't let it go. Never, irreversible.
Why must red youth be spilled on white snow?
So I hope you liked it. Please review so I know what I can improve!
Next chapter will come soon!^^