Lingering Darkness Chapter 1: Oh Lovely Day, a pandora hearts fanfic

"Sienna? You heading home?" A familiar deep voice filled the silence in the near empty crew room. Sienna turned to the voice just as she flipped her fiery red hair out from under her long dark purple jacket. Her eyes moved to the speaker and she smiled at him warmly.

"Yes, it's been a long day I'm afraid. How about you doctor Hartford?" She busied her hands to do up the buckles crossing the front of her jacket to hold it closed.

"Isn't it always? I told you to call me Ethan; you're off the clock so lose the formalities." Ethan smiled back at her. Everything about his appearance was perfectly arranged as though he had just arrived to work even though he had started a couple hours before Sienna had. Not a short blond lock of hair seemed out of place and his white coat had not a wrinkle to be seen in the fabric. His dark brown eyes however told a different story. Dark circles were beginning to become apparent under his eyes and his smile lacked any real energy behind it.

"Of course, Ethan. Are you going home soon too? At this rate you're going to run yourself into the ground and we don't have another great doctor to replace you yet." Sienna absently checked her pockets for her wallet and house keys before deeming herself ready to leave.

"Haha, yes I'll leave soon. I just want to make another round before I take off. Too bad we could use another doctor around here." He shrugged nonchalantly and pulled a small pouch out of a pocket in his coat. He held it out to her. "I was hoping I'd catch you before you left since I have your pay for the week."

"Glad to hear it. Oh, thank you." Sienna took the pouch from him and the jingle of the coins were music to her ears. She was cutting it awfully close to being broke again and with this she could restock her groceries later. "You didn't have to track me down. I was going to ask you about it tomorrow anyway." She smiled appreciatively at him.

"I wanted to. Well, not just to give you that but it's as good of an excuse as any. I was wondering if you'd join me for dinner after work sometime soon. My treat." Ethan offered while rubbing the back of his neck nervously. His tone was casual, but Sienna recognized his familiar gesture.

"W-what? I mean...that's probably not a good idea." Sienna diverted her gaze to the floor as she stumbled over her words and stuffed her hands into her pockets. This man was one she had worked with for a short time, only a month, and he was her senior by at least ten years. The invitation had blindsided her and she struggled to find a suitable response. "We're coworkers still so it would be inappropriate on if we were to have a relationship beyond that." She felt almost like she was smaller than usual as she denied his offer. The excuse of being coworkers wasn't the only reason she wanted to avoid such a situation, but it was the best she could give him. From what she knew of him he was a very good and kind man though.

His smile tightened at the edges in disappointment at her answer. "It wouldn't hurt anyone. I'd like the chance to get to know you better if you would give me the chance." He dropped his hand from his neck and slid his hands into the pockets of his white coat. The air in the small room shifted quickly from friendly and casual to tensely awkward.

"Sorry doctor. I'm not really looking for anyone right now either. I've got enough on my plate at the moment." Sienna transferred her weight from one foot to the other awkwardly before moving past the man. "Take care, Ethan. See you later." The woman smiled apologetically at him. She felt his eyes on her back as she made her way out of the building.

"Ah, Sienna wait! Do you want a ride home today? It's supposed to storm tonight so if you give me ten minutes I can take you." He offered suddenly. Sienna looked over her shoulder at him and shook her head.

"No, I'll be fine walking tonight. I think I can make it before it sets in if I get moving. I appreciate the offer though." She forced a smile his way before leaving out the door of the hospital building. A cold wind greeted her and blew her jacket back from her legs making her shiver a little. At least if she ran she'd fend off the cold.

The sky bellowed overhead in a roll of thunder. The storm wasn't far off, but she didn't live very far away. Hoping to outrun it she broke into a sprint. She was exhausted and her limbs protested to the abuse, but she was more concerned about not getting wet to let that slow her down.

Sienna ran down the block, cut across an empty street and entered a small park. It was late into the evening so her surroundings were mostly vacant of life. Looking to the sky she spotted the heavy grey clouds rolling in from the east. She didn't mind a storm, but getting caught in one didn't appealed to her. While she was distracted something caught her foot and sent her skidding into the grass.

"Shit! Ow.." She cursed as she pushed herself off the ground. She left her proper ladylike facade behind at work and now she didn't bother to hide her "unladylike" nature. Glancing around she spotted something black sticking out of a bush. It had a stark outline from the greenery around it. Once on her feet she noticed that the offending object was attached to something much bigger.

On top of the bush lay a young looking man on his back. His face was relaxed as though he were asleep, but his cheeks bore many scratches. Sienna used her foot to nudge his leg hoping to receive some sort of response. Her mind started to race with possible events that could have left someone like this in the park. The best scenario? He had been too drunk to make it home and decided that a nearby bush was as good a bed as any. Worst case? A victim of ill intent.

He remained unconscious regardless of her prodding. Another crack of thunder rolled over them and Sienna cursed again. "Hey, it's obvious you've seen better days but this storm isn't going to wait for you to pull yourself together." She tried speaking aloud to him in the hopes that it might stir him even though the physical made no difference. Reached over him she placed two fingers on his throat just below his jaw to find the artery that would at least confirm he was still alive.

There was a pulse under her touch and she released a breath she didn't know she was holding. She had seen so many people come in with all sorts of injuries, but the fear of losing a life under her watch was always in the background. Returning to a vertical position she looked down at him with her hands on her hips. If this was the best scenario she'd feel like a fool worrying so much over a strange drunk, but at the same time she'd have problems accepting it if the man was reported dead tomorrow because she had left him here.

She'd rather be a fool than a cold bystander of a victim in need of help. Leaning back over him she grabbed on of his arms and tried to pull him out. He was caught pretty well among the broken branches so it would require better maneuvering. His hand slid over her arm and a stinging sensation set in following it. Looking at her arm she noticed her jacket now had a cut in the sleeve and when she pulled it up her skin underneath was bleeding from a long scratch that matched the damage to her jacket. Confused she looked to the mans hand and pulled away with a gasp.

Blades. This was no man. Instead of fingers he had sharp blades extending from his hands. Now she was annoyed. Was she wasting her time with something that shouldn't be here anyway? Glaring at him she returned to the leaving him concept. After all her job was to tend to humans, not Chains. Creatures belonging to a hellish place called that Abyss. Most were extremely dangerous unless they have a legal contract with the right person. But this thing was here all alone. It didn't make sense, he should be seeking the closest gullible fool to con into a contract with him before he gets pulled back into the Abyss as Chains were always unstable beings when they lacked something tying them to this world.

As if he knew the track her train of thought was leading down a whimper escaped his lips. She tensed at the sound and searched his face, but he was still unconscious. His brows pulled together now as though he were in pain and his arms aside he looked very human to her. Bitterly she thought to herself how much better it was that she had the misfortune of literally stumbling across this creature. The existence of Chains were not common knowledge to the public and the Abyss was nothing but a myth to most.

Still, the struggle between her mind and her heart to decide wasn't pleasant. She still felt obligated to help him somehow; though it would probably take more than a storm to kill him, but at the same time he was still an unknown Chain. Unpredictable and undoubtedly dangerous. As she pondered her options little drops of water hit her face and hair. Cursing louder this time she threw the debate to the wind.

Tossing his arm over her shoulder she wrapped her arms around his torso and lifted him out of the bush. This time she was cautious of his hands as she pulled him free. She staggered a few steps backward and for a moment she feared she'd fall. If that happened the stinging from the cut on her arm would be the least of her injuries.

"C'mon man, at the very least I don't want to carry you. WAKE UP!" She shook him a little with his head on her shoulder. Still no response. With a noise of frustration she moved a hand to his arm and the other to his waist so she could support his weight. With his head still on her shoulder she felt something soft flicking weakly against her neck. With an intake of breath she shook her head. Right now she didn't want to know what it was. She just wanted to get home.

Just as she set out for the second time the rain intensified into a downpour. "You better have put up a damn good fight to whoever or whatever did this to you. Somehow I think it'd be a disappointment to discover I just saved a wuss that will just end up like this again soon." She mumbled aloud more to herself than her unconscious burden. The toughest obstacle would be when she arrived home and would have to somehow get the Chain up the stairs without dropping him. Oh lovely day, a long one indeed.

Author's Note:

Okay so, recently I watched the Pandora Hearts anime and found some inspiration to write a little something. It started out as random drabble and I just kept adding to it. I was certainly surprised to see how few Pandora fan fiction is out there for Cheshire. This disappointed me a little, so I've just continued with my own little story.

I'm going to plan this one out a little more than I have in the past in the hopes of actually completing it. I think it's off to a decent start. I will say here though that I have not read the manga for Pandora Hearts yet - it's on my to do list once school lets out - therefore it will not be based on it so I apologize for anything that doesn't quite match up. My goal here is to make a decent story to give a little more spotlight to a character I really liked and based on comments I've read, I'm not the only one wishing he had had more of it.

*Constructive criticism is very welcome here and I would really appreciate it.
Please comment and let me know what you think.