Shades of violet clouded his vision, a laughter echoing through his mind. It was mocking, and it even made him feel a bit agitated.

Though it warmed him in a way he never felt, not from a mothers embrace, not from a fire.

"Tr…"

The voice laughed out, beckoning him even if he could only make out certain sounds of the voice. He felt himself move, was he running or was he walking, perhaps even floating? Suddenly his body stiffened, noticing he was on a narrow wall. He tried his best to stay on the wall, balancing it so he would fall to the depths within each side. The edge loomed down on him, making him sway dangerously, threatening the fall.

Don't fall.

This new voice terrified him for some reason. His body started to go off the edge, he tried to jump back to the wall, reach for it, do anything but he was unable to. He fell down; a soundless scream escaped him, begging for someone to catch him.

"Tris-"

It was the beckoning voice from before, though this time it was panicked, worrisome. Why were they worried about him? Did the owner of the voice push him?

It continued to cry out to him as he fell, a distant melody playing in the background. Sounded familiar, but he quickly remembered he was falling and tried to grope anything around him.

None of these questions processed though as the thrill of being dropped of a tower rushed threw him, making his heart skip a beat.

Elliot woke up, clutching his undershirt while sweat dripped off his skin. He was used to nightmares, but this wasn't like the others. It wasn't terrifying, yet the mystery of the dream made his heart clench with an ache he couldn't recognize.

Leo appeared at his side without a second thought, placing a hand on the boys shoulder.

"Did you have," there was a slight pause in his voice, Elliot mutely looked at the ground, eyes devoid of any emotion, blank and wide" that dream again?"

Slowly, pale blue eyes focused on his friends mostly hidden face, they slowly cleared themselves as he blinked away the dream.

"N…" his eyebrow twitched out how weak his voice sounded, "No. It was something… different."

He let out a breathy groan, rolling his neck, feeling the stiffness in his body. Leo said nothing, sitting on the ottoman to the left of Elliot. He waited silently as the Nightray adjusted and stretched himself.

"It really wasn't anything," Elliot half-shouted to the silent boy, his eeriy quietness getting to the Nightray. It was true that Leo didn't buy Elliot's poor excuse, even if he didn't voice out his opinion. The blonde let out a large sigh, rubbing his temples.

"It was just one of those stupid falling dreams, it jolted me awake." There was a pause of silence, before Leo accepted the answer and stood up.

"Maybe we can get some more calming teas from town next weekend, didn't they seem to help?"

Elliot shrugged ruefully, stubbornly stared at the wall of their dorm in defiance.

"I'll take that as a yes," this comment made Elliot's eyebrow twitch, someone making his mind up for him? How dare he!

His restlessness kept him silent, and Leo seemed to acknowledge the boys strange mood.

"Classes about to start back up again in a few moments, if we don't leave soon we'll be late."

At that Elliot's head whipped to Leo's, eyebrows scrunched. Just as Leo predicted, the school's warning bell rung out throughout the dorms. Elliot cursed and quickly ran to and fro in the room, gathering his school jacket and letting Leo straighten his ruffled outfit up. He quickly picked up his violin case and made it towards the door, casting a glare to Leo.

"If we are tardy, it's all because of you!"

The boy shouted angrily, Leo merely smiled sweetly at him, which infuriated the boy more.

"As usual, shifting the blame… I wasn't the one napping during class periods…"

"DON'T BLAME THIS ON ME-"

They quickly made it out into the hall, Elliot's voice carrying out throughout the school.


"The safest place for her would be Lutwidge," Oscar boldly called out at the meeting.

"If she is to be removed from Oz's presence, then Lutwidge would be the best place to send her, as Oz will stay in the protection of Pandora's Headquarters," the bearded man rephrased, seeing the reprising glances.

"I do not agree with separating them both, but if what you say is true, if it really is for the best of both of them, then Lutwidge is the safest spot for her. Not only is it well-protected because the noble-children who attend, since my last visit," he cleared his throat at the knowing-grin Break sent him. "Pandora has stationed many of their squadrons there; they remain under the school in the secret grounds that -until now- Vessalius-nobles have only known about." There was a slight bitterness in the last sentence, but he covered if up with a happy smile.

"Baskerville's will not be able to get in through there, at least not without notifying many Pandora officials, so Miss Alice will be able to stay in contact with us easily."

The council that had gathered all brought their heads down in thought. Finally, Sheryl Rainsworth spoke up.

"Yes, I think this is a fine idea. Not only is young Alice exposed to a more educational environment instead of hostile, which will give her a better understanding of this world, she also will be far out of Oz's reach, if our sources are correct."

Break stayed silent as he observed the noble-heads, glancing over to Duke Nightray.

"I wonder," he sang out easily, walking around the table while swirling around his cane. Everyone seemed to visibly tense as the 'mad' man began to talk. The valet always seemed to have something up his sleeve.

"There are children related to the four noble houses in that academy," he continued on, as if said 'noble-houses' were not currently surrounding him. "I wonder if they are worried for those children's sake, since a dangerous chain is currently going to be residing there… perhaps attracting danger… attracting more Pandora detectives… lots of investigation~"

His one red-eye narrowed in on the slight tightening of Duke Nightray's fist.

"As Duke Vessalius stated before," Sheryl interfered in the tense atmosphere, her light voice breaking through it easily. "This is the safest place for Miss Alice. Her safety in Pandora may mean the safety of the future. If anything smells funny, I believe in the Pandora Officials set up there to snuff it out, oh-ho. Don't you agree, Break?"

Her voice was light and airy, but Break could easily see underneath the tone, the warning to stop antagonizing. He was silent for a moment, before he let out his own fake laugh.

"Of course, Duchess Rainsworth, I guess my worries are starting to come out in old-age," he joked easily, though the tension could still be read in the air. He made his way back to his chair, while the meeting continued on.

It was official, Alice would attend Lutwidge academy.


She fought tooth and nail against this new idea, Oz stood beside her, also fighting for her right to stay with him. Raven stayed on the sidelines, confused on how he felt about this new predicament. He should be happy the girl wouldn't pushing him or his Master around anymore, but at the same time he knew it would also be a bit quieter without the loud girl. He wouldn't admit openly about the slight affection he had for the young girl.

Oz, surprisingly, lost his will in the fight to keep Alice with him. Suspiciously, it was after he retired to his room a night ago, and when the maids went in the room the next morning, there were candy-wrappers littered around the bedroom.

Though it hurt Alice to see his withdrawal, she didn't stop fighting, claiming 'she didn't need a manservant, and she wasn't going to take orders from a clown'. It took days for Oz trying to explain to her in the best way possible why she needed to do this, without revealing too much.

She blatantly ignored him after that.

Finally, after some pushing and hurt feelings, she agreed to go along with this new placement, on the condition she 'got to join the meat club'. Sure it was an excuse on her part to still seem tough on the outside, not showing that she was hurt from this new decision.

She didn't want to be apart from familiar faces, she didn't want to feel alone. Oz had comforted her by saying Ada would be more than happy to be Alice's friend at school, Alice bit her tongue to yell at him that she didn't want that ditzy blonde by her side when she already had Oz.

It's not like she really would mean it, but she didn't want to be 'handed' off and forgotten. Oz and Sharon attempted to comfort her that as the search in this new investigation (Which Alice knew nothing about, only that it involved her and Oz), that she would be welcomed right back, and that they were going to miss her.

So, here she was, dropped off in the front entrance of Lutwidge Academy, left in the dust of the rapidly departing carriage. Apparently they had heard her murderous mumbling and were scare to death of what the petite chain might do if she released her wrath onto the coachmen.

She grumbled and sneezed as the dirt tickled her nose, before heaving her heavy bag. Her attempts to carry her luggage went unsuccessfully, which made her curse loudly. Alice grabbed the handle with both hands, dragging it through the graveled pathway very unladylike, making grunting sounds to go with it.

"How disturbing… are you an undomesticated gorilla?" A voice sneered out, clearly disgusted with the display. Alice's eyebrow twitched at the new presence, whipping her head around and kicking her leg up, not carrying for her short school skirt went flying up.

The boy who had spoken managed to dodge the first kick, but seeing the shameless display of her upturned skirt made him loose concentration for a moment. That moment was all it took as the girls leg whipped around and caught him square in the jaw, sending him back a few feet.

"WHAT THE HELL!" He shouted at her, raising his own fist towards the girl in anger. His anger did not dissipate the blush that had bloomed on his cheeks, though he chose to ignore that fact.

"What kind of girl are you? Shameless! Not to mention violent!"

The girl huffed, hands placing them on her hips as she looked down on the fallen boy. He did not like that, acting like she was his superior.

The sudden wide smirk she let out scared him slightly, making him tense up. He swallowed as her fiery amethyst eyes stared down on him. Just as she opened her mouth to say something, a new voice came into existence.

"Don't reflect your own personality on others."

"LEO!"