Abyss, a prison believed to take alleged criminals into another dimension−never to be seen again. Legends of its existence have been passed down hundreds of years. It is a well-known fairytale parents would often tell their children as they went to bed each night.

If you were to ask someone if such a place really existed, most would laugh at your silliness and naivety for believing such a tale. However−certain individuals would react differently; it is only those who were unfortunate enough to experience captivity in such a place that would cringe at the very mention of the word 'Abyss.'

Yes, for the {h/c} haired girl, sitting at the very deeps of the Abyss, the word was a curse, it was a prison, it was her fate, and the punishment she received for the deed she committed years ago.

She knew not of how much time had passed in the real world, nor of the wellbeing of her loved ones. Time was different in the Abyss; it was only recently that the girl realized she had not aged since she had arrived here. Memories were foggy but still intact, something she held dear to in order to remember who she once was and the only thing to keep her sane in this bizarre world.

Once there was a time that the girl thought of escaping the Abyss but realized her naivety when she discovered the creatures that lucked in the darkness−preying, watching, and waiting for her to foolishly allow herself to be devoured by them. Left with no choice, the girl's only option was to patiently wait and hope that someone, anyone, would take her out of this world. But for now she would remain and wait until that day arrived.

{Time Skip}

Sitting comfortably on a chair with an old tattered book on your lap, you distantly stared out into the abyss. As usual most of your surroundings were dark and filled with half demolished buildings and flying furniture with the occasional creatures or chains popping up once in a while. Having been a resident of the abyss for some time, you've come to learn many things about your prison, but most of it was how to keep yourself hidden from the chains until they went away.

For the past few days or hours, it's hard to tell being in the abyss after all, you've began to feel quite nostalgic and mostly find yourself thinking of your life before arriving in the abyss. The most recent memory you recalled happened to be a particular song.

'Was it a song? Yes it was definitely a song, you thought. I wonder if I should try singing it? Might as well I guess, it's better than sitting here doing nothing. Now, how did it start again? Oh, yes it was….'

"Every time you kissed me, I trembled like a child….."

Meanwhile in the real world, three young children were playing outside in a mansion's garden. It was a very special day today, at least for Oz Bezarius, heir to the Bezarius family as he was to celebrate his coming of age ceremony.

Having never been to the mansion before, Oz was curious of its layout, even more so after hearing that the place was renovated just for this day. Unknown passageways and corridors incited his desire to explore the vastness of the mansion. Taking along his younger sister, Ada, and Gilbert, his one and only best friend and servant with him, Oz led them to a newly discovered secret area.

Oz brightly turned to them, "What do you think? Cool place, right?!"

Before his companions could answer, a strong gust of wind blew past, causing some flower petals to dance around them. It was only after the wind had died down, that a sweet, smoothing feminine voice was heard.

"Gathering the roses, we sang for the hope. Your very voice is in my heartbeat, sweeter than my dream. We were there, in everlasting bloom."

Oz: "Hm? This melody….is it a song? Is there someone singing out here?"

Gilbert nervously stared at him, "Young Master, what are you saying? I don't hear anything."

Ignoring him and intrigued to see who it was, Oz inspected his surroundings and walked closer towards the path at the center of the garden.

Oz: "Hello! Is anybody there!?"

Gilbert: "Young Master, Wait!"

"Roses die. The secret is inside the pain. Winds are high up on the hill, I cannot hear you. Come and hold me close, I'm shivering cold in the heart of rain. Darkness falls, I'm calling for the dawn…."

Unknown: "Hey {Name}! What are you doing out here all alone!?"

"Hm?" Hearing your name called out, you immediately stopped singing and turned towards the figure. Recognizing who it was you smiled as they approached you.

You: "Good evening, Alice. It looks like I managed to get lost again."

At your greeting, the girl called 'Alice' angrily scowled at you.

Alice: "Don't you 'Good evening Alice' me {Name}! I've been looking all over for you! I thought a chain had eaten you up!"

You looked at her in surprise, taking in her worried expression. Feeling a sense of guilt you quickly apologized to her, "I'm sorry, were you worried about me?"

At your words, Alice blushed bright red but quickly retorted back, "I−I−I wasn't worried! I just thought that you were taking a long time so I−"

You cut her off, laughing at her clumsy choice of words, "I'm sorry; I only intended to go out for a quick walk, I even made sure not go too far but it seems like I still managed to get lost on the way back."

Alice: "You idiot! What would you have done if I hadn't come looking for you?!"

You pondered for a moment, "Hm….I guess I would've been eaten by the chains?"

Alice stared at you, slightly taken aback by your calmness: "Wha?! How can you stay that so calmly! You could have died! If you'd died then I'll be all alone again! I−I don't want that!"

Surprised by her sudden outburst, you could only hopelessly stare at her, "Alice? What's wrong?"

You didn't know if she was more conscious of you watching her or her fear of being seen as weak when she didn't answer and turned away from you, facing the other way. It was only after you had moved to face her, did you realize that she had started crying.

Alice rarely cried so seeing her bawling her eyes out made you worried and slightly guilty−since you were the reason for her tears. Unable to watch any further, you hugged her, muttering every apology you could think of.

You: "I'm sorry; it's all my fault so please stop crying."

Alice: "You *sob* stupid human, how am I supposed to *sob* protect you if you always disappear from my sight?!"

You frowned and hugged her even closer, finally realizing why she was so upset over your disappearance.

It was because you were different from Alice. She was a chain so it didn't matter if other chains found her since she could always beat them up but for you it was a different matter. You were a human in the Abyss−to the other chains you were considered prey to be devoured or taken in as a contractor for them to go into the real world. You don't know what happens to the human contractors but know enough to suspect that they were eventually devoured by their chain.

You shuddered, suddenly remembering that you were almost devoured once but was lucky enough to be saved by Alice. At the time you didn't know who she was, so while you were grateful for the help you were also suspicious that she was trying to form a contract with you.

(Flashback)

You glared at the seemly smirking doll like chain in front of you. It had been following you for a while and was persistent in devouring you. Had it not been for that fact that you were badly injured and backed into a corner, you would have attempted to escape.

Knowing the situation you were place in, the chain laughed and moved in closer, "Now, say you'll form a contract with me!"

You snarled at it, refusing to yield, "I refuse! I will never bow down to the likes of you for as long as I breathe!"

Before the chain could reply to you, a child-like laugh was heard, "Interesting"

Both you and the chain turned to stare at the new arrival, a young black haired girl wearing a red colored cloak.

The chain narrowed its eyes at her, "B-rabbit! Leave, this human is mine!"

B-rabbit glared at him, "Oh? Interesting, a lowly chain like you dares to command me? It looks like you wish to perish by my blade!"

Before it could react, it was effortlessly cut in two by the girl's scythe, it happened so fast that you could only stare at her, dumb-folded by what just occurred.

The girl in front of you smirked at your expression, giving off an air of arrogance.

B rabbit: "Rejoice human, for I have personally chosen you!"

(End of Flashback)

And thus, began your unusual friendship with the chain known as Alice or her more well-known alias B-rabbit. In the time you had gotten to know each other, you started to consider her as a little sister and had told her this once; only to be lectured from a very flustered but also seemly happy Alice.

Discovering that the both of you wanted to leave the Abyss, you had offered to form a contract with Alice, who seemed upset by the idea of using her friend as a means to escape but eventually agreed to it. The idea was quickly dropped when it was discovered that the both of you were incompatible with each other however, at the time you secretly thought that it wasn't your compatibility but something else that was preventing you from leaving.

Eventually an agreement was made to wait for a compatible human to come and form a contract with Alice, who would then take you along when it was time to leave. Until then, the both of you had stayed together with you under Alice's protection.

This brings you back to your current situation−where you had wandered off away from Alice who started crying a few moments after she had found you again.

You: "Alice, I'm sorry I wandered off; I really didn't mean too but I knew that if I stayed in one place you would eventually come and find me so I waited for you."

Alice didn't reply but seemed to have stopped crying, which meant that you were successfully getting her to calm down and to listen to your words.

You: "I would never leave you alone, no matter what−you know that."

You felt her tense at those words but she eventually relaxed and gave you a light nod as she hugged you back. You smiled and continued to hold her until she was satisfied and finally let go, allowing Alice to revert back to her cheerful and demanding self.

Alice: "{Name}! What happened just now is a secret between us! Never tell anyone I cried, got it?!"

You happily nodded, "Yes, I'll be sure to keep my word."

Alice: "Good! Then let's move to another location before some stupid chain finds you!"

You quietly chucked to yourself, happy to see that Alice was in good spirits again, "Hm?"

Feeling someone's gaze you quickly turned around, surprised to find a blonde haired boy curiously staring at you.

You stared back at him, wide-eyed wondering how long he had been standing there.

Unknown boy: "Um, W-Who are you? Where am I?"

You: "….You….Do you not know where you are? How did you−"

Unknown: "Young Master!"

Oz felt a light tap on his shoulder when he suddenly came to his senses, "Eh?"

Gilbert worriedly stared at him, "What's wrong? You were staring into space."

Oz looked at him in a daze before turning to inspect his surroundings, "What was I?"

He looked up at the ceiling, 'Oh, that's right I fell down from the garden path with Gil and found this grave. It had this old pocket watch on it so took it and opened it. The watch played a melody and once I heard it I had this weird dream? There was a room with some creepy dolls and a black haired girl who wanted to kill me. But before she could I heard another girl's voice and suddenly found myself in front of her−I think? What? Exactly what just happened?'

Closing the pocket watch and placing it in his pocket, Oz decided to forget about the weird dream for now and climbed back up the path with Gil.

As he walked back to the mansion, his mind wandered back to the dream he just had, or more specifically to a certain {h/c} haired girl.

'Still I wonder who that girl was. She….was quite pretty', Oz thought as he slightly blushed at the memory. Shaking his head, Oz tried to push the image back into his mind. 'Focus Oz Bezarius! The ceremony starting soon! I need to get ready!'