The day wasn't going well.
"Stupid rabbit." Gilbert cursed under his breath, as he ran down the halls of Pandora, yanking open every door, going down on his knees to search every nook and cranny of the place. Where the hell had she gone!
After Gilbert had gotten up and helped Oz to dress, both of them had gone for breakfast. Normally the stupid rabbit came to kick the door down when they were getting ready, but Oz and Gil had just supposed she had been too hungry to wait and had gone straight to breakfast.
Alice hadn't been there. Maybe they were overreacting (it had only been half an hour), but the brunette was always by Oz's and Gil's side, eating her meat and ordering them around and the very fact that she wasn't nearby or anywhere made Gilbert worry. What if she got into a fight with one of Pandora Contractors? She couldn't use her powers. What if the stupid rabbit was injured? What if, Gil swallowed hard, the Baskervilles had infiltrated Pandora and had captured Alice? "Gil!" The raven slowed to a stop, letting Oz catch up to him. "Have you found Alice yet?" The two had split up, and along with Sharon and Break were searching Pandora for a sign of the brunette.
"No, Oz." Gilbert said, feeling more than a pang of frustration and unhappiness go through him.
"Then I'll continue searching. Find me if you see Alice okay?" Without waiting for a reply, Oz ran off, his own worry mounting, despite telling himself everything will be fine.
"…Stupid rabbit you better be safe." Gilbert tried to run through yesterday's events again. No, nothing unusual had happened. He and Alice had had a minor argument before they had gone to bed-Gilbert had scolded her for eating right before going to sleep as it was bad for her digestion and had confiscated her food- but surely she wasn't angry about something like that right?
Maybe Alice had woken up during the night, and had decided to find food? Not knowing where Pandora's kitchen was wouldn't have deterred the stupid rabbit. Yeah, that's probably it. Gilbert felt relief at the thought as his steps quickened, heading downwards to Pandora's huge kitchen. It was a path well-known to him, since he had spent more quite a bit of time there cooking for Break during those ten years Oz was in the Abyss. The raven couldn't help but feel nostalgic-despite the fact that Break had taken advantage of him by making Gil smuggle out cakes and the like from the kitchen to give him.
Once arriving in the kitchen, Gilbert looked around. Besides the chefs and the servants who nodded and murmured his name when they saw him, there was no sign of Alice. "Excuse me," Gilbert muttered as he pushed past Pandora's staff, looking underneath tablecloths and whatnot, ears straining to hear even a wisp of the rabbit's voice. Eventually, the raven made his way to the cold-room where Pandora's kitchen staff kept the frozen food. Gilbert took one look at the locked metal door and shook his head. No, Alice definitely can't be in there. Gilbert was all set to leave when he heard a faint pounding sound from behind the door.
…Oh god no. Shit. The raven knew that despite the improbity, Alice was behind the door. How had the stupid rabbit even gotten there?! Ignoring the curious looks from the kitchen staff, Gilbert grabbed the keys to the cold-room from where they were hanging on a hook on the wall, and yanked the door open.
As his eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness, the raven could see a small shivering lump huddling on the ground. Alice. Crouching down, Gilbert outstretched his hand sighing, muttering 'Go get Oz and company' to a Pandora staff member who was standing in concern nearby. "Oi stupid rabbit how did you even get in here-" Gilbert broke off when he noticed that the brunette was sniffing furiously, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "You-you're crying?!"
"S-shut up Seaweed Head!" Alice hotly replied, glowering at the raven. "Why didn't you and Oz go look for me earlier! I've been stuck in this cold freezing room for ages and you manservants didn't even bother to come! I'm just cold that's all! And I wasn't crying I was-!" Alice couldn't think of an excuse and settled for harrumphing, turning her head away from the raven. The truth was that as Gilbert had presumed correctly, Alice had gotten up in the middle of the night to find food. After entering the cold-room, she had forgotten to leave it ajar, with the result was that the door had automatically closed to prevent the coldness leaking out and there was no doorknob on the inside to open it. The end result was Alice had spent the rest of the night and a good part of the morning in the dark room, alone.
Alice hadn't liked being alone in the dark. She had yelled and hammered on the door so many times, before giving up and curling up on the floor, furious at herself for being so pathetic without B-Rabbit's powers.
Seeing Alice wasn't going to reply, Gilbert shrugged off his jacket, starting to shiver slightly himself from the coldness. "Here, put this on. Do you need a tissue?"
"I don't need your stupid jacket." Probably Raven had been happy while she was gone so he could have Oz to himself. Alice knew it was irrational, but there were times in the past when she felt the raven's eyes on her, the sense that Alice wasn't welcome near Oz, that was almost hostile. She hadn't felt that feeling for a while but-
"You're the one being stupid, stupid rabbit!" Gilbert promptly pounced on the brunette, throwing his jacket over her in an attempt to get her to wear it. "Even though you're a Chain, what if you get hypothermia? Take care of yourself more!"
"Get off me Seaweed Head!" Alice yelled, clawing and spitting and acting more or less like a disgruntled cat at Gilbert, trying in vain to kick him and his jacket off her, hitting Gilbert hard in the stomach in the process. Despite the painful sounding grunt from the raven, Gilbert continued to grimly put the jacket on Alice, stuffing the jacket around her shivering body.
"Did you hear me or not Seaweed Head! Get off!"
"Just put the jacket on first!"
"Oi!"
"Just quit it-"
"Gilbert-san! What are you doing to Miss Alice!" Gilbert froze, momentarily distracted from his actions, gulping. It was not a good sign for any male to hear a Rainsworth woman shouting his name in that particular manner. Oz, Sharon and Break were standing at the entrance, with a few Pandora members behind them. Sharon was looking appalled at the sight in front of her: Gilbert was awkwardly straddling Alice, having successfully put one of her arms into the jacket, while at the same time firmly holding the other arm to prevent her from hitting him. He was also using his weight to pin her to the ground. The end result could be easily mistaken as…improper.
"Th-this is not how it looks…" Gilbert shakily began, only beginning to understand how deep in shit he was now, realising how bad the situation looked like from a different perspective. Alice sensing danger, for once kept quiet, not helping the raven's credibility. Of course, even Break was blinking in disbelief, although his thoughts were more inclined to why was Gilbert-kun doing it with Alice rather than Oz.
"Gilbert-san. I can barely believe my eyes…" Sharon said, her body trembling, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. "For a gentleman to do such things to a lady! Truly I…"
"There must be a mistake Sharon-chan." Oz spoke up, holding out his hands, as though he could ward off the approaching danger. "There's no way Gil would do something like what you're thinking to Alice, I mean he's such a wimp."
"I'll have to agree with Oz-kun," Break chimed in, while staring fixedly at Gilbert, silently communicating to the raven that he would never let this go. Never. Ever. Up to the day Break breathed his last breath, he would never let the fact be forgotten Gilbert had been accused as a lolicon. He would also get Emily to repeat every time they saw the raven. "Gil-kun taking advance of Alice-kun? Truly impossible, since we all know his heart beats one and only for his master~"
"You. Are. Not. Helping Break," Sharon icily said, as she stowed away her harisen after striking him down. Gilbert by this time, was well and truly terrified. The tales of the formidable Rainsworth family that he had overheard Pandora members whisper over the past ten years came back in full force. After all, there had to be a reason why nobody knew where the men of the Rainsworth had gone too. He hadn't done anything wrong!
"Well then!" Sharon approached Alice, and helped her to her feet, basically showing her motherly side to Alice, who was still on the lines that it would be wise to shut up for now. "It's only right for you to take responsibility Gilbert-san. Surely you must agree to that?"
"…Well…"
"The wedding will be held in two days' time then."
"Okay. Wait, what?" He had heard wrongly. Surely he must have had heard wrongly, because otherwise Oz and Break wouldn't be staring at Sharon either, as she stroked Alice's hair, 'comforting' the girl.
"Didn't you hear me properly? You should be responsible for your actions Gilbert-san. What if-pardon my rudeness Alice-kun, in eight to nine months' time a child of yours is crawling about?"
"SHE'S A CHAIN SHE CAN'T HAVE-" Gilbert choked on his words, not sure whether he should cry or laugh with disbelief. Judging from the snickers he was hearing from Break, crying might be a better choice. "Sharon! You can't really think I would have done something to the stupid rabbit!"
"The wedding will be held in two days' time," Sharon calmly continued on. "I'm sure Grandmother will have no objection for the wedding to be held at the Rainsworth Manor, so the location is settled. The food and such is no objection of course. So everything is settled for you yes, Gilbert-san? No objections? Good. Come Alice-kun, it's time you got a new wardrobe change~"
As Alice was tugged along unwillingly with Sharon, Gilbert turned to Oz and Break, speechless, feeling betrayed. How could Oz just sit by and watch this happen to his servant! And Break, well Gilbert wasn't expecting much from him, but they could clearly see he had been wronged.
Seeing Gil's pitiful face made Oz feel a tiny bit bad. A tiny bit. "Gil don't look so mournful. Just consider it as a bonding experience between you and Alice!" Break decided to chime in too, just in case he wasn't feeling bad enough. "I always thought you had a hidden fetish for younger women and men than you Gilbert-kun~"
"Drop dead Break. Oz…what am I supposed to do now?"
"Send out wedding invitations of course," Oz said with a straight face. "Uncle Oscar and Vincent and the rest of your family need to know that you're going to be married in two days' time, don't they?" I'm sure Vincent will want to know who's the lucky person so he can poison them.