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Request: "Hmmm, how about a Pandora Hearts one? […] With Oz being the main character of the fic, with either Gil or Eliot as the side character and make it a Friendship or Romance fic. Or something like that, but just make it happy! […] I've been thinking on it, and maybe something with moonlight or sleeping or something?"

I don't own Pandora Hearts or any of its characters. Both belongs to Mochizuki Jun.

– Argent Night –

The almost set sun casted a warm, orange colour to the sky, the last rays still warming the town. Excited voices filling the usually mute alleys, the streets lined with lanterns, music sweaping over the sidewalks. Men and woman, hand in hand, walking down paved ways, enjoying the festive mood and talking happily to each other. The annual summer festival had come to town and citizens from different cities had come to participate.

Taking some time off, Oz, Gilbert and Alice had joined the festival and had come to the town for some fun. Although the young Vessalius had been the one who had dragged them both there, telling Alice about the many different kinds of delicious meat and forcing Gilbert to join them that way.

Oz and Gilbert were standing at the side of a brightly lit alley, Alice having left some time ago, in order to hunt down her next meal. The man and the teen were watching people laugh and enjoy their time. Free from sorrow, free from regret. Not having to worry about their time of life decreasing every second, a cursed clock ticking on their chest.

"Oz?" Gilbert suddenly asked worriedly, looking down at his shorter master.

The boy seemed as if being woken out of a daze, as he looked up to his servant. "Huh?"

"Oz… what are you bothered by so much? You've been so silent since we've got here. Weren't you the one who dragged us here to have fun?"

The green-eyed teen blinked perplexedely for a few seconds, then his face lit up in a brilliant smile. "Everything's fine, Gil. I'm just a little tired from the chain hunt last night. I didn't get much sleep after all."

Golden eyes narrowed and regarded the blonde profoundly. "Oz…"

"It's really nothing, believe me." The blonde waved at the raven-haired man, a smile still plastered on his face.

Accepting that he wouldn't get anymore information out of the teen, Gilbert averted his gaze to the lively alley again, hands buried in his deep pockets.

The streets were getting more and more filled with happy people, still laughing, still enjoying.

The two males watched as people jumped a little in surprise, looking after the girl shoving its way past the crowd, while holding various kinds of meat. Meat on a stick, fried meat, meat coated with a sauce and similar things. Alice marched towards the two, a chicken leg sticking out of her mouth. "It's so amazing here! They even have meat of animals I didn't even know of before!"

Annoyance was the first thing that crossed Gilbert's features, but then confusion lined them. "How did you pay all that?"

"I borrowed some money," the chain answered.

The raven-haired man's expression of confusion deepened until realisation dawned on him. Frantically he started to burrow through his jacket's pockets.

Throwing away the bone, cleaned of any meat, and balancing all of her goods in one hand, Alice reached out to grab something from her own pocket. "You looking for this?" She was holding the man's purse.

Wide-eyed, Gilbert grabbed the purse from the chain and rummaged through it. His expression became more incredulous with the seconds passing. "Half of my money is missing! How did you spend so much money on buying so few things?"

"I didn't want to buy stuff randomly, so I had to test everything," Alice replied casually. "It takes money to test twenty-seven different kinds of meat, porridge, stew and beef in different variations."

"You stupid rabbit!" Gilbert was obviously not so amused about the chain's preferences of food. "How am I supposed to pay our hotel room for this night when half of our money is missing?" he yelled.

Calmly, Alice kept munching on her meat and talking around the food in her mouth. "How about asking your prick of a brother for money, seaweed-head?"

Again, confusion made its way onto Gilbert's face. "You mean… he's here?" For a moment, the raven-haired man seemed to think, until a scowl plastered his face again. "Stop calling me 'seaweed-head', stupid rabbit!"

"I think he's coming our way." Alice completely ignored the man's shouting. "Seems he and four-eyes saw us." Another piece of meat found its way into the chain's mouth.

Now Oz and Gilbert too glanced into the direction the chain had pointed out. Eliot and his servant Leo were indeed approaching the small group, pushing themselves past the people crowding the streets.

After only a few moments, two slightly breathless teens were standing in front them.

"You!" Eliot shouted after spotting Alice. "Give me back my money! The guy that sold the meat said you didn't pay enough, whacked him and ran off! I had to pay for your food!"

Still calmly eating her meat, Alice kept unfazed, noticing Oz and Gilbert shooting her weird look. "What?" she asked the two.

After blinking, Gilbert slightly tilted his head in confusion. "You stole my money, but didn't pay enough even though there was enough money?"

"You said we needed some money for a hotel this night," the chain replied. "I'm not all stupid, you know. And why should I pay so much, if I can have it for half the prize?"

For the first time in a while, Oz spoke up. "Just how much did that meat cost?"

Alice's reply was muffled by the fried meat in her mouth. "You don't want to know, believe me."

"Give me back my money, you stupid chain!" Eliot cut in. "You owe me, dammit!"

With a bright smile splitting his face, Oz stepped up, waving his hands in front of his chest. "I'm sure we can handle this without fighting. Right now we can't pay you back because we still need the money we have left. How about we pay everything back another time and for now just have fun together?"

"Che." The teen huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, averting his gaze. "I don't want anything to do with someone of the Vessalius household. Especially not someone that's supposed to be dead."

Oz's mouth fell open in utter shock and his voice was whiny as he replied. "But I want to be your friend, Eliot!" When he stepped forward, arms wide as if about to hug, Eliot backed away with a disgusted expression.

"Don't touch me!" he yelped. Confusion made its way to the teen's face as Oz suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, the smile faltering.

"Don't touch me. You are filthy."

His father's voice still vibrant in his memories, the blonde let his arms drop to his side. "O-Okay…"

Unlike Oz, Gilbert soon had anger plastered onto his face. "Eliot!"

"What?" The beige-haired teen replied. "I didn't say anything bad!"

Ignoring the other Nightray, Gil stomped over to where Oz stood motionlessly, features hidden behind his bangs. Cautiously he grabbed the teen's shoulders. "Oz?" Worry coiled inside of him as the teen didn't answer.

"Gil?" the blonde suddenly muttered. "Why does everyone abandon me?"

"Hah?"

"N-Nevermind." Then it reappeared. The face-splitting smile everyone knew. "I'm just a little bored and tired. How about we go see some of the stands? We don't need money to look. Come one!" Cheerfully, he skipped off, happily running towards a stand for books. "Ah, they have 'Holy Knight' here!" the others heard him exclaim from afar. The boy was immediately captivated by the volumes of books he hadn't gotten a chance to read yet. He presented the image of utter happiness.

Reluctantly and frowning, Gilbert walked over to where his master stood, the others following him silently.

The day continued with the group visiting stands, dancing to cheerful music and chatting with some of the kind local people. Gilbert, even though he was trying to enjoy himself, couldn't stop himself from keeping to shoot glances at his master. He knew that Oz didn't want anyone to worry about him, so he was putting up his happy act. It pained him what his master was putting himself through. He watched the emerald-eyed teen laugh at something a young girl had said. She had light-brown hair that barely reached her shoulders and was freely waving around in the light breeze.

Night was beginning to take over and in the darkness arising, the lanterns were giving out an even brighter light, illuminating the streets in warm colours.

Captivated by the sheer beauty of the night crawling over the town, Gilbert didn't notice how the cheerful girl eagerly dragged Oz away into an alley.

"Ne, ne, Rosalia-chan, what are we doing here?" the blonde asked the girl cheerfully.

Smiling brightly, Rosalia released his hand and turned around. "We're going to have some fun, Oz-kun." Her laugh was ringing throughout the alley, mingling into the music sweeping in from the town's center. She danced up and down the paved ground, turning around herself and dragging the blonde teen further, until they reached a corner not reached by light and covered in semi-darkness. The girl pushed Oz against a wall, covering him with her own body. "We're going to have a lots of fun," she purred, before tilting her head towards the blonde's lips.

Oz could smell the alcohol surrounding the girl. She had drunken and that was obvious. "R-Rosalia-chan," he tried, a blush tinting his cheeks a light pink, "I don't think this is a good idea." He tried to push her away, but the girl was tightly clutching his shirt. He wasn't able to prevent her lips from brushing against his own. Emerald eyes widened as she wrapped her arms around him and lifted one leg to circle around his hip. "R-Ro–"

"I won't let you go," Rosalie suddenly uttered. "Not after I've got you."

Her tone of voice was scaring Oz. Maybe she–

His thoughts were interrupted by the girl's sudden evil laughter escaping. In the flash of a second her hands were wrapped around his neck, cutting off his air. He was only able to release a choked sound as behind the girl an eery creature arose. A long, slim tail whipped behind its dark-grey monkey-like body. Sharp, long teeth growing out of its skull-like head and hollow, red orbs glaring from a dark eye-socket.

Oz froze, his mind and body petrified for an instant. Then he knocked his head against Rosalia's forehead, causing her to loosen her grip. He bolted away, knowing that he had to find Alice and Gil to deal with the chain. Maniacal laughter and eery roaring sounded behind him as he dashed along the alley, back to where he thought his companions to be. A sudden loud screech sent his mind reeling, making him feel as if his head was splitting. The chain was releasing a horrible sound, paralyzing him. He wasn't able to move, nor was he able to form any coherent thoughts. It was terrifying.

Out of nowhere, something smashed against his stomach, sending him against a wall, knocking the air out of his lungs. His emerald eyes widened at hearing the crack sounding from his chest. At least one rib had definitely broken during his crash against the concrete brick wall.

There wasn't even time to reach out to his wound, since the chain's pliable tail wrapped around Oz's middle and ripped him away from the wall. He was rose up and felt air whiz past him, as he was slammed onto the ground again. More cracks sounded, but the teen wasn't sure from where they had come from. He couldn't determine where exactly the agonizing pain was originating, while bolts of anguish shot throughout his body. He was aching all over. Laughter filled his ears as he slowly drifted away into darkness.

Worry befell Gilbert as his master still hadn't reappeared yet. Since he had realised that he had lost sight of Oz, uneasiness had coiled inside of him. He was telling himself that everything was all right, that the teen would cheerfully walk out of that alley again, but his feeling told him otherwise, nagging him to search for his master. When four minutes had passed and Oz still hadn't returned, his eyes narrowed. "Oi, rabbit!"

Alice turned to the man, mouth smeared with and unidentifiable sauce. "Hah?"

"I think Oz is in danger. Let's go!" He didn't wait for the chain, knowing she would follow. With long strides he ran down the alley, hearing Alice's light steps behind him. He hadn't run that far, but he slowed down nonetheless when he heard a weird noise. A dull sound and faint laughter rang from somewhere nearby. Gilbert sharply rounded a corner to his left, his eyes widening at the large shadow hovering in the distance. He could make out the vague figure of a tall creature. The man stopped dead when he was several metres away from it, then he turned around to face the chain accompanying him.

"It's a chain," she exclaimed. "An oyster!" Her scowl deepened when she eyed the other chain further. "Where's Oz?"

Gilbert averted his gaze back to the chain again. "That's what we're trying to find–" His own gasp interrupted the man's sentence and his golden eyes widened at the sight he had spotted.

Oz was being pressed against the ground, the chain's tail wrapped around his stomach. Blood covered his face, a crimson gash lining his temple. How big it actually was Gilbert couldn't tell, since so much blood was flowing from it. "Oz!"

Even Alice's amethyst eyes widened as she caught sight of her manservant.

Damn!, Gilbert cursed to himself. This way we can't release Alice's powers. If Oz is being restrained like this I can't get near him. Guess I'll have to handle this on my own. Ignoring Alice's complaints, the raven-haired man dashed forward, his gun poised to shoot the chain. He avoided to look at his master to not distract himself and soon reached the large creature.

Of course, Rosalia noticed the man approaching her and immediately ordered the chain to attack. Obediently the oyster turned to its side to face the man with somewhat a cackle. Its red eyes gleamed in the darkness of the night now covering the town.

Suddenly a bang sounded.

Shocked, Rosalia watched as her chain froze and slowly descended towards the ground. "Wha…" Then she spotted the still smoking hole in her chain's head. "You!" she shrieked, pointing a finger at Gilbert. "What the hell do you think you're doing, you dick-head?"

"What a fowl mouth she has," the man muttered to himself, slightly aghast. The girl had been the image of politeness just minutes ago and now she was throwing around curses like a sailor. Gilbert felt a pang of pity when the dead chain's body was being dragged down into the abyss in a purple light, while Rosalia kept protesting and screaming. He waited until the light had completely faded and then ran over to pick up his master. Up close Oz's injuries looked even worse than they had from afar. Blood was still oozing out of the wound on his temple and his torn shirt exposed bruised skin on his chest.

Two pairs of steps sounded as Eliot and Leo came running towards them.

"Gilbert, why did you suddenly run off like tha–" Eliot then spotted the beaten form of Oz in his step brother's arms and incredulity settled in his look. "What happened?" He eyed the fuming girl standing a few metres away from Gilbert and Alice.

Looking down at the blond teen in his arms, a sigh left the raven-haired man. "A chain attacked him."

"Why did you have to interfere, you idiots?" Rosalia suddenly yelled again. "Everything was fine until you dullards showed up! I was about to get Keife back! Oyster promised me to bring him back! Oyster promised me to never let that bastard shoot him! Have you taken leave of your senses?"

Wordlessly, Gilbert walked over to where Eliot and Leo stood. "Eliot?"

"Y-Yeah?" the beige-haired teen replied.

Again Rosalia spoke up. "Don't you dare ignore me, you damn pricks!"

The raven-haired man easily tuned out what the girl was yelling. "Could we get Oz to somewhere safe? We have barely enough money for a room to sleep, but he needs medical attention."

"Of course," Eliot replied. "Leo, could you arrange everything for us before we get to the hotel, so everything's ready until we get there? I'll lead them there."

Leo simply nodded and ran off, leaving behind three worried companions and one severely injured teen.

Gilbert looked down at the pale form of his master. A doctor was examining and treating Oz's wounds, after the raven-haired man had arrived in the hotel together with Eliot and Alice and the blonde in his arms. The chain was already sleeping in the room next door, even though she had been reluctant about leaving her manservant's side.

When the doctor had cautiously unbuttoned Oz's already torn shirt, more large bruises had been revealed. Violent purple was covering the teen's pale and sweaty skin. The blonde's breathing was shallow and there was a weird rustling to his breaths. Half an hour passed, in which the elderly man treated the teen's injuries.

"He definitely has some broken ribs," the doctor uttered after a while. "At least three of them are fractured. The gash on his right temple is pretty nasty too. It bled a lot, but I don't think it has caused any brain damage, since it's mostly a flesh wound. He'll probably have a bad headache when he wakes up though. I bandaged his chest and managed it so his ribs are supported, but aren't pressured on. I stitched the wound on his temple and treated his other wounds with an ointment. For now he should rest a while and not move around to much, otherwise one of the broken ribs could puncture a lung, which would be life-threatening. He already has problems breathing, so any rash movements could kill him." His last words were exclaimed with a slight scowl towards Gilbert, glasses slid down his nose and making his direct glare look fiercer. "You had luck there hasn't been any worse damage inflicted, while you carried him here."

"I-I understand. Thank you, Dr. Walker." Gilbert averted his gaze away from the man and towards the floor, feeling guilty enough already.

The doctor seemed to have noticed the guilt paining the man, because his glare softened into a sympathetic look. "Please take good care of him, young man. Make sure to put a shirt on him, since it's really cold." He left the room with a faint smile, closing the door behind him silently.

"Gilbert," Eliot muttered, "it's not your fault. Oz was the one being careless–"

"That's not it and you know it!"

Eliot flinched back, surprised by the outburst.

Turning his head away, realising that he had shouted at his step brother, Gilbert walked over his master's side and let himself fall into the chair next to the bed, proceeding to carefully dress the sleeping Oz. His own inky black jacket was resting on another chair's rest at the opposite wall. "I was the one being careless. I'm the adult and his servant. He's still a teenager, so it's no wonder that he went along with a pretty girl. Every teenaged boy would have. That's why I should have trusted my own intuition more and should have followed him right away."

"You won't gain anything by beating yourself up, Gilbert." The younger Nightray felt as if he should walk over to the other and rest a hand on the man's shoulder. He didn't because he was being held back by the lingering feeling of betrayal that he felt radiating from Gilbert, who was the servant of a Vessalius. "There's no use in thinking about the mistakes you made in the past. Instead think about what you can do for him now." He turned around to leave, but was stopped by the older male's words.

"Thank you, Eliot. I appreciate your help."

The teen didn't turn around to face his brother and instead walked towards the door. "Make sure that idiot doesn't kill himself." The door closed behind him with a soft click and left behind was a servant with his teenage master.

For a while Gilbert watched Oz peacefully sleeping. As long as the slim, bandaged chest was regularly rising and falling, he was happy and content to just sit there and keep watch.

Night was already engulfing the city, a raven sky littered with glinting stars hanging above it. A full moon casted an argent white light, illuminating the usually dark night.

The raven-haired man had long dozed off, sleeping beside his master with his arms placed on the bed's edge and his head resting atop them. He was shaken awake by movements on the bed. Hitched breathes reached his ears and he could see Oz tightly gripping the sheets beneath him, as if he was clinging to dear life. Blonde hair whipped around when the teen's head trashed around and whimpers left him. Quickly, Gilbert attempted to wipe the sleep from his own eyes and rose from the chair to regard his master. He carefully grabbed Oz's shoulders and shook him lightly, assuming that the teen was having a nightmare. "Oz! Oz, wake up!" Then he released a small surprised gasp when he realised that the blonde was awake, his emerald eyes half-lidded and looking straight at him.

"It… hurts," the teen choked out, his pants ripping through the night's silence. From beneath the layers of bandages and through the boy's shirt, an eery red light shone.

"Oz, stop moving around so much! You could kill yourself!" Gilbert was becoming more desperate with each second passing, since Oz wasn't able to hold still with the amount of pain radiating from his chest. Seeing no other way the servant sat down beside Oz and carefully wrapped his arms around the teen's upper body and pulled him to his chest, cautious to avoid the fractured bones. He felt Oz letting his hed drop onto his shoulder and the teen's hitched breathes hitting his neck. Usually he would have blushed at the closeness, if the conditions had been different.

The blonde wrapped his arms around his servant's neck and let his hands rest on the man's back, tightly clutching the fabric of the white shirt under his trembling fingers. The throbbing pain pulsed through every and each fabric of his body, but he felt it slowly subsiding, until it was only a mere pulsing sensation. Even though the pain was gone, he couldn't bring himself to let go of Gilbert and kept clinging to him. "The hour hand moved again," he mumbled into Gilbert's neck. "It should be on four of the clock now."

The raven-haired man sighed in devastation, letting his right hand rest between the teen's shoulders blades and the other around his waist. "What was making you so gloomy today, Oz?" He wanted to change the topic and avert the teen's attention away from his own doom.

Oz nuzzled his face into the warm crook of his servant's neck and for the first time was able to recognize the change in Gilbert's scent. He had matured, that was for sure. "I was thinking."

"About what?" the man questioned gently.

"Everything… and nothing."

A small smile graced Gilbert's lips. He was amused about the teen's antics, Oz still reluctant about sharing his thoughts. "Which would be…"

"I was thinking about how I don't hold any own power. I do have power, but that power actually belongs to Alice and is being restrained by you. Alice's powers are sealed, but she still can defend herself without them. You have your guns, but I… I can't even protect myself against a girl."

"An illegal contractor with a chain, Oz. If I were you, I wouldn't have suspected her of anything either. What would become of you if you were constantly suspecting people of being illegal contractors? You would be becoming paranoid."

A small groan left Oz. "I prefer being paranoid before being smashed to the ground by a chain."

"Oz, you can use a gun too," Gilbert insisted. "You could easily defeat chains with your skills."

The teen released a short laugh. "But I don't carry a gun with me like you. If I wanted to shoot, I would have to get myself a gun first."

"Why don't you just carry an own gun?"

"I'm much too lazy to do that. And watching you always taking apart and cleaning that thing for hours doesn't really encourage me." Oz could see the light blush blooming on his servant's face in the bright moonlight and feel the heat radiating from the man's face.

"It doesn't take that long," the man mumbled. "How do you feel?"

Oz hesitated for a moment, thinking about it himself. "Weird," he then replied.

"As in?"

"I feel so light-headed, even though my head feels as if it's going to split in half. The room's spinning a little and I feel dizzy."

The raven-haired man thought back to the previous conversation he had with Dr. Walker. "The doctor said that you would have a bad headache, so it's nothing serious."

"I still feel like shit."

"Oz!" Gilbert exclaimed with a warning tone.

"What? Aren't I allowed to cuss once in a while?"

The older male's scowl faltered a little. "But not… like that."

"How else should I cuss, Gil?"

"Well, not like… that."

Oz chuckled a little at his servant's discomfort. "You're hopeless."

Gilbert then mumbled something that was inaudible to Oz, even though he was so close.

"What was that?" the teen inquired curiously.

"I don't want you to cuss like that girl that attacked you!"

"She cussed?"

"A lot," the raven-haired man muttered. "Like a sailor."

Oz then almost burst out into laughter, but refrained from doing so, not wanting to hurt himself. Instead he chuckled a little. He didn't like the following silence and mischief settled itself in his eyes. "Gil…" he purred into his servant's ear, his hot breath hitting the man's skin.

"W-What?" Gilbert sensed danger looming about. His blush, that refused to leave, deepened as Oz suddenly started to run his fingers through the man's black hair.

"Meow!"

A yelp of surprise and panic was heard coming from the older male, for Oz's impersonation of a cat sounded much too real for Gilbert's taste. The worst thing was that he couldn't back away, since he didn't want to hurt his master by doing so. The teen kept meowing right into his ear, making him squirm around uncomfortably. "Oz, stop that!" he shrieked. Then delighted chuckles filled his ears and he relaxed a little, hoping for the torture to have ended. Relief washed over him as a sleepy yawn left the teen and the body in his arms suddenly completely slackened.

He did fall asleep, right? He can't just yawn and then… die.

Oz's steady heartbeat against his own chest assured Gilbert and he realised himself how tired he was. Oz was still clinging to him and he didn't want to wake him up, so he carefully lowered himself and his master to the bed, until they bother were lying on their sides. A smile curled his lips when Oz retreated his hands from behind Gilbert's head and settled them on his chest, grabbing a handful of the shirt covering it. He felt sleep slowly taking him into it's chasms and willingly complied to its invite.

The brightly shining argent moon casted its glow throughout the whole night, enlightening master and servant and embracing the pair with its brilliance.