Author's Note: Clever, creepy and best served up as a nursery rhyme, this is a minor Pandora Hearts and Doctor Who crossover that was just meant to be.
Disclaimer: I claim ownership rights to nothing but the plot bunny.
Tick, Tock, Goes the Clock
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He never knew, but supposedly there's an inscription on the old bell in the clock tower.
Or at least so Zai claims – in his usual monotone, calmly and with a perfectly straight face – as they sit in the library with a cup each of yet untouched evening tea, pretending that it is perfectly normal for them to be this civil to one another (and that in the gloom of his upstairs master bedroom, Father isn't slowly dying).
Oscar regards his older brother warily. But he doesn't ask, nor is he told, which clock tower, exactly; because even though Oscar feels certain that there are plenty of faulty clockworks around, there is only one that truly matters.
"…why wasn't I told?" he mutters at last, reluctantly giving in to his growing curiosity, because surely even Zai isn't such a heartless bastard that he would try something at a time like this.
"Is there any reason why you should?" counters Zai easily, and embedded in his voice are all the reasons why Oscar wouldn't have been told: because you are the younger son, the spare to Zai's heir. Because Gryphon nearly killed you when you tried to form a contract with him, remember? Because you have been rejected by so many lesser Chains that even the vast number of heiresses – and their opportunistic fathers – snubbed by Zai pales in comparison. Because you went against your own father's wishes and married for love, almost getting yourself disowned in the process.
(Because you, brother mine, are Oscar, and a bumbling idiot and a failure in so many ways.)
Zai says all that without saying anything at all, and Oscar laughs a bit uncomfortable, because even though his brother is mean and always will be mean, he is also surprisingly honest. Besides, when put like that, Oscar supposes that it really is sort of true, isn't it?
(But even so, Oscar has no regrets. He makes his own choices in life – good and bad – and he stands by every single one of them simply because they are only his to make. And he suspects that this makes him a far happier man than Zai will ever be.)
"Then why tell me now?"
He gets a long, calculating look in return, and Oscar thinks that he stopped understanding his brother a long time ago. "Father is unlikely to last the night," says Zai, finally, as if that alone explains everything and perhaps it does. "The other Dukedoms are growing impatient. They expect a new Duke Vessalius within the hour."
Oscar nods grimly. Duke Barma has hardly left them alone since Father's illness took a turn for the worst, though that was only to be expected. But even the discreet Rainsworth Duchess eventually found it necessary to infiltrate the household with members of her own loyal staff – undoubtedly under one polite pretext or another – in order to remain informed about their exact movements (and as always, one step ahead).
"As I am sure that even you are aware," continues Zai smoothly, "the Clock Tower of Silence only came about after the Tragedy of Sablier."
Oscar frowns. "Yes, of course. But what has that got to do with—"
"The inscription, however—" Zai lowers his voice, "—nobody knows for certain."
He doesn't know why, but Oscar is still holding his breath when his older brother suddenly pulls a sealed envelope from his pocket, and the gryphon crest gleams in the warm light of the fireplace.
"Be sure to learn it by heart, little brother."
The envelope is placed on the table in front of him.
"And once you have, you will burn it to ash, understood?"
Oscar blinks. "I understand. But—"
"Good." Zai rises from his chair. "That is all."
"W-Where are you going?" calls Oscar out after him, infinitely more worried about his brother's strange behaviour than he would like to let on. "Zai-niisan!"
Zai's hand briefly comes to rest on one of the ornate door handles. "Out," he replies over his shoulder just as the heavy double doors fall shut behind him.
Oscar stares into the fire for a long, long time, muttering obscenities under his breath, because how dare Zai – how dare he who is both Father's heir and favoured son, the contractor of one of the legendary Five Black Winged Chains, and not to mention Oscar's idiot big brother – leave him on his own like this? With Father on his deathbed and the staff expecting comfort and reassurance from somewhere, and with Rufus bloody Barma (and who knows whose servants) roaming freely around the estate, no less!
But soon curiosity gets the better of him once more; and when the wax seal crumbles under his fingernails, it falls on the white tablecloth like flakes of dried blood.
Admittedly, the content of the envelope does surprise him a little, but Oscar isn't a Vessalius for nothing and takes it in his stride the best that he can. He is, however, not in a learning mood; so rather than destroying the envelope and its content like instructed, Oscar locks it away in his private desk. He never was any good at memorization anyway.
Oscar puts the key in his pocket, squares his shoulders and leaves the safety of the library to face the household with as much confidence and cheer as he can. Then he waits: for his brother to return or his father to leave, whichever comes first.
(It turns out to be Father.)
The senior Duke Vessalius dies in the early hours on the morning, and he goes with a pale smile on his thin lips. Oscar would like to think that it is for greeting Mother in heaven, but in his heart of hearts he seriously doubts it. The old man was a cold bastard, colder even than Zai, who incidentally does not turn up again until high noon, at which point the other Dukes have since long grown restless while Oscar and the rest of the household are nearly beside themselves with worry.
Oscar's heart has barely settled back into a reasonable rhythm when Zai unceremoniously drops the next bomb. And before he knows it, Oscar is welcomed into Pandora as the new Duke Vessalius.
.
.
Tick, tock, goes the clock,
And what now shall we play?
Tick, tock, goes the clock,
Now Summer's gone away.
Tick, tock, goes the clock,
And what then shall we see?
Tick, tock, until the day
That thou shalt marry me.
Tick, tock, goes the clock,
And all the years they fly.
Tick, tock, and all too soon
You and I must die.
Tick, tock, goes the clock,
We laughed at Fate and mourned her.
Tick, tock, goes the clock,
Even for the Master.
Tick, tock goes the clock,
He cradled her and rocked her.
Tick, tock, goes the clock,
'Til only Chains remain for River.
Tick, tock, goes the clock,
He gave all that he could give her.
Tick, tock, goes the clock,
From Now and until Forever.
The Chosen One, brave and good,
He turned away from violence.
But once bloodied understood,
The Falling of the Silence.
Tick, tock, goes the clock.
Tick, tock, stops the clock.
.
.
End note: Did you know that 'Zai' (as in Zai Vessalius) means 'River'?