Title: Black Rose
Pairings: Alice x Oz x Alyss; Mainly Oz x Alyss.
Full Summary: In a garden of light, there grow roses.
A rose of purity, that beams like a sun. But, it made others wonder, will it always stay bright? Will he just always 'accept' the oddities around him and smile?
...A rose of red, that shines with its burning color. Brave and stunning, does it really bloom like that, even if it doesn't know how it came to be in the first place? Doesn't she fear once, for herself, for who and what she is, once she knows the truth behind her past?
There also stood a dark rose, a rose once pure, but stained with blood... How did a beautiful flower turn this way? She really didn't want to be like this, in the first place, however, her fate was decided from the moment she existed. Despite her refusal, her clean petals were tainted with blood, and she was 'crimson'. She loved her gardener dearly, and in order to be picked, even though she had a color she hated, she made a decision...
The decision to be a Black Rose instead.
•
Welcome, dear reader who stumbled upon Black Rose, a Pandora Hearts fic~!
This is my second fic for Pandora Hearts. The first is the By the Black Abyss, an Oz x Alyss one-shot that I've tried to see if Alyss x Oz rocks, and I did prove that it's awesome! I suggest that you read it, and help me improve, too, guys. A simple review makes me happy. Just so you know, this fic is based on that one-shot, but I decided to make it longer and give it a twist, making it more detailed and more planned.
Rating may go up, possibly, if ever. Please have mercy on me, I'm still kind of a newbie, lol.
Please read in 3/4 or 1/2, because it'll look more organized that way.
Let the chapter roll! xD
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"I want to sleep with you!"
"You can't, Alice. This is my room, besides a boy and a girl can't share one, you know. You must go to your-"
"You're only my manservant! How dare you refuse my command! You must bow down to me! Kiss m-"
"Oz already told you 'no' stupid rabbit! A no is no! What is the part in there that you can't understand?"
"Don't just drag me around, idiot! I'll kill you-"
Oz Vessalius sighed, massaging his temples. After a tiring week of encounters, about the truth behind the years, random Break Missions, Pandora interrogations, and a whole lot more in his schedule, he was definitely ready to hit the sack. Sum it also up with the fact that he can't sleep because of his disturbing dreams.
Now, besides from privacy and peace, all he was lacking for was his pajamas. The blond took the chance to get his pajamas, while the rabbit and his friend were bickering inside his room.
"Hello, Oz-kun~ ...Is this you're looking for? You're quite the decorator of this cute closet of yours, huh~"
"..."
Speechless, he grabbed the said pajamas. A second later, he was puling Alice and Gilbert with the clown. Gilbert felt the atmosphere. Break was just allowing the blond pull him, knowing the mood. The only one that was dense enough to notice was the stupid rabbit.
"You stupid manservant…! You have no right to do this to your master!"
THROW OUT!
"That hurts! …I won't tolerate this kind of-"
Smiling sweetly, Oz gazed–no, glared at his 'master', sending chills to her spines. Did he 'glared' at her, the great Alice-sama herself, his 'master'? Gilbert only sweat dropped, while Break was obviously amused.
"Although it was a short while, I hope you all enjoyed your visit in my room," Oz said with patience. The smile on his face widened as he said, "Good night, everyone."
Alice was ready to snap back, however, she can feel that kind of 'leave-this-place-or-you'll-die' aura emanating from her servant. Curse her animal instincts! With just a look, she withdrew, as Gil did the same, apologizing afterwards.
Break smirked, and this caught the blond's attention, bringing him back to normal.
"Good night to you, too, Oz-kun," the clown greeted back, as he walked away from the boy. Cooled down, Oz was struck with realization that he had just threatened him earlier. He called Xerxes, hoping to greet him properly this time.
"Break-san, I'm…! A-A good ni-"
"Sweet dreams~"
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► :: Black Rose :: ◄
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• White Rose •
– Oz :: Sweet Dream, Beautiful Nightmare –
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"From here on, there's no turning back. We have Pandora's 'key.'
...Even if this gentleman is a fallen angel that will bring about destruction."
.
.
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"-ght to you, too..." the young Vessalius trails off.
Where is Break? Where is his room? …The hallways? …The doors? After a few seconds of thinking, a realization strikes him, as he gasps with an "Ah!", and he told himself that he must be dreaming. That has to be a dream.
Standing alone, he checks his surroundings. He's in this big, white room, with chequered red-and-white tiles as the floor's skin. On the shelves, are the different dolls sitting. He sees a couple of books on a white-clothed table, and a tea set.
He realized three things:
One: He can play chess on the tiles.
Two: He never thought of playing dolls in his whole life; he never did, he wasn't that kind of person, so why does he dreams of them?
Three...
"Where in the world am I?" Oz asks himself. Exploring the place, he looked at the shelves first, and observed the dolls. Suddenly, he felt the room's temperature dropped.
CLACK!
Huh? Did he just hear a moving sound? He turns his head cautiously to his right, to his left, and checks if there's someone besides him in the room. He knows there's something fishy going on; he just couldn't figure it out. Something is definitely wrong, but what can he prove himself that?
Shrugging, he ignores those thoughts. He must be getting paranoid, since he didn't get much sleep this week.
Examining a rag doll, Oz murmurs, "If I were a girl, do I have a weird taste like this? Creepy..."
CLICK!
That wasn't his imagination anymore, that's for sure. A creepy laughter of a small voice echoes in the room. Turning around, Oz becomes desperate in looking, hoping to find the scary snickering that multiplies every second he counts.
*NIKO!
Behind me!
Oz turns his back to the shelves, as his emerald eyes widen.
The still rag doll he was looking earlier is moving! The dolls are rampaging, as they came to life! Soon, more dolls are joining their 'fun', as many started to flood the floor. The room seemed to spin in his sight, as the dolls close him in, leaving a circle of remaining space for the boy to stand.
"He's here~! He's here~!"
"What...?" Oz exclaims, as a doll approaches his left foot and hugs it.
"You won't escape this time~!" another one talks, much to the blond's surprise, as it leaps on his right foot, preventing him to move it. He's stuck to the floor!
"It's already tea time~! Tea time~!" others cheer. Some of the dolls fly onto his shoulder, his arms and torso, holding him. Oz grits his teeth, struggling to be free, and escape this 'torture'. This is his dream! What's happening? This isn't even supposed to happen, is it? They aren't supposed to even move in the first place! They're dolls, for crying out loud!
Could it be that this is...? But, that's not possible-
"The mistress won't need to wait for long again~!"
...Is it?
For a second, Oz pause his attempts to break free, and looks at a speaking marionette, which thankfully, is at the end of the crowding toys and doesn't bother to join its brothers and sisters in harassing him.
As if it felt that it succeeded in flicking the lad's switch 'on', it grins at him, and states happily, "Finally, she won't need to wait for another hundred years for you, Vessalius-sama~!"
THUMP, THUMP. His heart suddenly beats fast. Every beat echoes loudly in his ears. He felt his stomach churn, his body trembling. Bowing his head, Oz stares at the chess-like floor, as the memories he doesn't want to remember rise from the very back of his mind, and crashes in his head for him to remember.
The white girl...
The white room...
The pointing hand at him...
The man behind the curtains...
Oz comes up with a conclusion, as the hair on the back of his head rise, and cold sweat starts dripping slowly.
…This is the same with that dream! This is a nightmare!
Screaming, shrieking, the dolls sing with their ear-piercing voices. Covering his ears, Oz tried to ignore the painful sounds.
"Stop..."
Shouting, screeching, the toys chant noisily than before, adding the laughter, the fun of seeing him almost drop on his knees.
"Stop it...!" with his cracked voice, Oz commands roughly, but the dolls didn't seem to even notice. Desperate, he shuts his eyes, and yells, "I said stop–!"
"So, you're finally here, nyaaa~"
The room becomes quiet. Oz opens his eyes, to see a familiar figure in the shadows of the corner of the room. A raven-haired boy comes out of that corner, as his red cape slides on the floor, following him. His bells ring with every movement, and he gazes sharply at the blond with the famous red eye of his.
"Don't do anything stupid, yet, our 'guest of honor'," Chesire purrs.
"What?" Oz asks, clearly confused. First, psychopath dolls; now, Chesire is also here? ...If he has any chance to ask what on earth is happening in his supposed-to-be own dream, this is it.
"Cheshire... what do you mean 'guest of honor'? W-where am I? Why am I even here, in this room, out of all places? You... You're supposed to be dead, aren't you?"
Cheshire snarls at him, surprising him with change of mood. He must've hit a vein. "Cheshire won't die! Cheshire never died! …LIAR!"
"Liar..." the dumb dolls repeat after the cat. Oz backed off, as the cat seems to ready for attacking, but was relieved for a while, when it returns to the shadows. However, this leaves him thinking: why did he back off when he was exactly for the kill earlier?
"He's a liar, isn't he?"
Oz turns around, as the dolls whisper.
"Yes, Cheshire said so..."
The terror returns, out of all sudden, as the entire toys wail louder, and way more boisterous than before!
"Liar... Liar... Liar... Liar…!"
It's as if his ears are tearing off, Oz covers them with his life. Stop this... Stop... Stop it! The blond begs in his mind. Make them stop!
With his eyes closed, and a dark, dominating voice, Oz muttered, "SHUT UP."
Suddenly, all came to a halt. There's only an eerie silence. What just happened? Panting, the boy checks the room. No more sound. No more movements. No more 'living' dolls. Said toys are on the shelves once again, with the innocent simper back on their faces. Did it do the trick?
DRIP, DRIP... Oz looks at his hands, covered with the liquid that dropped on him. What is it? He examines the warm, red liquid closer. Oz froze.
Blood… It was blood.
The blond is staring at the crimson liquid on his hands, as more drops on his clothes and hair. …Red. He looked around him, as the white walls are slowly being corrupted by crimson. …Blood. The liquid begins to fill the room, as it climbs his body.
"No..." Oz mumbles, completely freaked out. "S-stop this... Stop this... I hate this colour… Stop... I don't want to see this... Stop-"
Something pats his head, bringing him back to 'reality'.
"Eh?" Oz mumbles to himself as he blinks, and checks his hands quickly. No blood. He looked around the white room. No more blood.
"What are you talking about?" a small voice inquires, snapping him back to his senses. Looking around, he found the source beside him. Oz backs off from a white toy, with its small-dotted eyes focused on him. He hid his surprised expression with a calm demeanour he surfaced.
"What are you talking about?" the stuff toy repeats with curiosity in its tone.
Oz knew better; it isn't just a toy. The white rabbit with its blue ribbon flew away from him and floats. Oz didn't answer. What should he do? He has consciousness; unlike the previous dreams he had, which were really disturbing, and the reason he can't sleep from the beginning. Everything is more real than before. He can feel everything now, which is more terrible.
How can he get out of here?
"Ah! Yes, that's why!" the rabbit didn't give him time to think, as it snapped him out of his train of thoughts. "How rude of me, so that's why you won't answer my question next… Anyway, welcome back, J-"
"Hey," Oz interrupts. "You've been repaired, huh?"
The rabbit dances in the air cheerfully, singing, "EHHH~! He noticed~! He really noticed~!"
"I wonder who sew that up for you," he continues, stepping forward. No need to be afraid; Oz knew what to do, even though he really doesn't. "Did you do that for me… so, I could shoot you again? How convenient! …Mwahahaha~!" smiling, Oz teases the toy, as his ominous laughter follows.
The toy stops flying in circles. It replies giggling, "Thank you~! …although, I haven't expecting that one~…"
Blood starts to drip on his face. His emerald eyes widens, as the cute rabbit turned crazed. Its black eyes enlarged, its tiny smile turned to a maniac grin. The edges of its white dress are covered with blood, as its eyes pour the red liquid out of it and purposely drop it on him.
"Oh, please… no need to put up that calm and cool façade!" the true, terrifying voice of the crazed bunny reveals itself. "I know you're in fear–for everyone, about everyone… especially about YOU! You're afraid of yourself, aren't you? You just want to 'be hurt' in their place, just to have an excuse, right? It's the truth~!"
The blond still has his serious expression, with no reaction, although the dumb rabbit hits him exactly bull's eye.
"You have no one beside you, you're all alone. From the start, you never even have one, do you~? Everyone hates you, and they all abandon you, leaving you by yourself…" the rabbit flies around, snickering.
"Without Alice, you're powerless! From the beginning, you're never that strong. You always depend on others and you just want to get out of the picture by using the excuse of 'being harmed for their sakes', when in reality, it was really for yours… You just want to fulfil your own desires~! You just want to prove that-"
"Fine, you win," Oz declares, holding that 'smile' back on his face again, as he stretches his arms and drops them with 'joy'. "I admit that I'm never that kind of person with such might, and that I used to 'depend' on everyone, and by the idea of mine of 'getting hurt alone', I thought I wouldn't be a burden to them, and would give myself satisfaction…"
"But…" Oz continues; his smile fading. His expression changes into a threatening one, as shadows of his bangs cover his eyes, making their emerald colour rise. He balls his fists, as the tone of his voice becomes frozen; unlike the 'usual' warm one Oz has, making the atmosphere intense.
"I dare you try harm my friends yourself, and I swear to you, I'll have more than enough of the strength and power to kill you!"
"Oh, really?" after a few seconds of silence, the doll taunts him with a fixed voice unlike the giggly one, flying closer to his face this time, showing its horrifying bloody form. With an uncontrolled flinch, Oz showed an unexpected expression for a brief second.
Wrong move! He was supposed to show it his 'fixed' mask! Not the mask of any feeling! What if the rabbit notice the hole in his defence and crash it? No, Oz. Stop panicking. Be calm. Adapt. Adapt.
In the shadows, Cheshire watches the 'show', glad that it makes his mistress happy. The boy has surpassed all of what she expects of him. He's perfect, she would comment, but he's still nothing, compared to him, her favorite pet, in terms of time he's beside her.
His fur being brushed, he looks up to find her, grinning. Cheshire knows what to do, what she has in mind. Cheshire understands. He quickly vanishes from her sight.
Oz finally composed himself, as he still gazes with the rabbit eye-to-eye… There's no way he's losing with the 'reason' and 'answers.' He wouldn't let it mess his–
OOF!
The next thing he knows, Oz found himself planking on the floor, face-down, as something–no, someone–pushed him. What about the annoying rabbi–…Someone? …With him? …Besides from the said rabbit, the creepy dolls, and Cheshire in this room?
He rose, massaging his forehead. Then, just as he'll turn to see the one who pushed him, it went first and hugs him. Yes, hugs him from the back.
"You're finally here~! …Oh, please don't be mad~!"
"Huh?" Oz manages to turn his head back to her direction. "…Alice!"
He quickly gets away from her grasp, and grabs her by the shoulder. It's really Alice! But, how did she also end up here? Why does he have to drag people in his dream without knowing exactly why!
Setting his thoughts aside, he started worrying for her, all because of that annoying stuff toy. "Alice, are you okay? Hey, you aren't responding… Are you hurt? Did something happen? …Anything?"
Why is there something different? Why does he feel odd? Shrugging, Oz notices Alice's silence, and speaking of, examines her.
"What's with the white dress? I thought you hate them, because they get filthy easily! Oh, and what happened to your hair? Are you trying to dye your hair blonde like mine again? You looked like a beansprout this time! …Wahahaha~!" Oz laughed hard, wiggling his hands in the air.
"Oh, God!" he also touched his stomach for emphasis, and removes his faked tears from his eyes, "Those are nice jokes, Alice! …Hahahaha~!"
'Alice' looks at him dearly, and giggles. Giggles?
"Hey, can you do me a favor?" she starts, grinning at him brightly. Oz is relieved when Alice finally spoke, but is taken when she asks him because asking him for requests is strange… she usually beats it out of him, or complains at him until he gives up. In the end, he always ends up hurt by his chain. But, what's going to hurt this time, if she's asking properly for the first time?
He's about to listen carefully for it, but what surprised him is that, she ran past him. Oz turns, to find her embracing the same stuff toy he's talking to earlier, only that it's back to its normal form.
'Alice' chirps, "Can you show me that murderous expression again? Ah, there's no need to mix it with anger… I would never want you to be really mad~! Please also add that killing intent! You know that I really like your different expressions… but, this is the first time I saw your 'angry' expression to the point that you want to kill~! So, will you show me that again, please? Please show me~!–"
…Twisted. …Insane. Oz made his shocked face. This girl isn't Alice! His sweat runs cold, so is his blood. He should've realized it earlier! If this isn't the Alice he knows, this girl couldn't be…
"I really missed you for a long time. You still have this habit of making me worry for you, too much, you know…" the snow-haired girl turns around to see him, as her white gown follows her graceful movement. She touches the white roses located near her neck, and smiles, "–Jack!"
Oz is currently having goose bumps.
"Jack?" she asks, with her face full of worry, as she bends to see Oz's face closer. "Your face looks like as if you saw a ghost~! Could it be possible that you don't remember? We used to play, to chat with each other! You used to always hum me to sleep, and tell me wonderful stories! We always like to have tea, and pick roses out in Glen's gardens!"
"You're not Alice…" Oz mutters unbelievably. The one Pandora is looking for a lifetime, the one that grabs people into darkness and the one who's causing all of this pain is in front of him. …The root of all reasons, especially the Tragedy of Sablier.
"I'm Alice!" 'Alice' sings.
"No, you're not Alice! You're different! …Who are you? Tell me!"
"Jack!" 'Alice' cried, hugging her bunny to herself more, "Oh, but I am Alyss!"
After a few seconds of staring unbelievably at her, Oz takes back the expression on his face, and bows gently in front of the girl. He knows what to do. Alyss claps childishly with delight, as he rises and greets her with a gesture of respect. He finally remembered!
"Ah, so you're Alyss, milady," Oz smiles. He brings his hand to ruffle his hair, as he continues to grin sheepishly, "I'm very sorry, but, I really don't know who you are. Rather, we've never even met before, have we? I also apologize greatly, because I mistook you for a 'stupid rabbit', you see… Have you seen her?"
Alyss gasps, the grin on her face vanishes, as he bursts her bubble. She stares at Oz, who seems to expect her to answer, as she slowly strangles the life out of her stuff toy. The flowing crimson tears of her toy stains the edges of her sleeves, leaving her hands clean.
Meanwhile, Oz finally found an exit. He would finally wake up! Confident, he continued his 'play', as he walks around the room, and finds an opportunity to go near the door.
"I know that she should be around here somewhere, Miss, for she's the type of person who won't leave her 'properties' behind, especially her manservant… Thinking about her, well, I need to get ready for some beating…!"
Oz steps a big step backwards to the direction of the door.
"Oh, but you see, you also mistaken me for someone, too, Alyss…"
STEP BACK.
"I'm not the one who played with you, who talked with you and did all of the other boring things with you, which you told me earlier… I'm not Jack!"
Taking the last step backward to the black door, Oz grins with affirmation in his green eyes. "I am Oz Vessalius! Don't get the wrong person, Will of the Abyss!"
"B-But, Jack…!" Alyss sobs, with a disappointed look on her face. She bows her head, and gazes coldly at her toy. "Too bad he isn't for a visit today, huh…"
Oz opens the door. The black, timeless void–the Abyss–waits for him from below; meaning, this room, like Cheshire's dimension, is a different place from the Abyss? Its 'intention' is here, so this must be the 'heart' of the Abyss that took Pandora to almost lose its mind just to find it.
He gulps. To jump in there with his own free will for the second time, he must've the guts. But, he needs to wake up now. He needs to find Alice!
Just as he's about to jump, hands came from his side, with an abnormal force making him go inside that blood-stained room once again.
…No!
•
At the center of the room, he's sitting on a chair, more like a throne. The whole room isn't lit anymore; all of its light is focused on him, as if he's an actor on a stage. Oz can't feel his body; he can't move even a finger. He feels heavy, and tired. His senses are still functioning, all right. And all he knows is that he must get out of her territory now.
The young Vessalius tried to stand, but to no prevail. Instead, hands wrap around his neck from behind, as he can feel her warm breath tickling his neck.
"It's okay," Alyss says softly, her voice soothes him. No, he must fight that inviting voice! Oz turns away his head from her face, but she still makes him look at her, no matter what direction he avoids his gaze.
"You know, I already knew that Jack is gone. He can't return to me anymore… We can't play anymore… I can't touch, see or even talk with him… And I can't accept the truth that he left me alone. Everyone's throwing that to my face, but still, I can't! He promised me he won't leave, but look what he had done!"
Those violet eyes like Alice's show loneliness. The will is almost crying. But, that was just a second, because when Oz blinked again, her sad face was replaced with a smiling one, with her purple eyes beaming with interest.
"…But, to think that he can resurface through you…"
Oz felt his blood boil. Why does everyone see him as 'Jack'? Don't they realize that he's Oz Vessalius? Oz, Oz, Oz. Just Oz. No Vessalius, no Jack, no 'descendant' of the hero of the Tragedy of Sablier. Being described like him, thought of like him, to the point of he's 'him', pisses Oz off. Why can't they see the real him? It also made his blood run cold. She was after Jack?
"You are just his 'house', after all…" he remembered someone said to him. Oh, so now from 'Oz Vessalius', he just become a 'house' for his great ancestor? Then, if she is after Jack, she'll definitely kill him just to get him out and take his body. But, not for a few minutes like usual… it can be forever.
"But, don't you worry! Since Jack always breaks his promises and leaves me, I don't like him anymore. He's much like Glen. I'm not surprised, though, since they used to be close," Alyss laughs, "Even if Jack lives in you, Alice, my too-good-to-be twin will just steal you away! …I won't allow that!"
"Then, why don't you just hurry up and kill me?" Oz asks, hardening his glance at her. "Why do you love making things so complicated?"
Alyss walks in front of the blond, leans close to his face, until it's only inches away. She raises his chin up, levelling his sight to hers.
With a honey-like voice, and a powerful gaze, Alyss talks to him, "Please don't misunderstood, my beloved person. You're not to be killed, and I even promise you, that you will never be touched by the Abyss. I never have the intention of hurting you, or doing things to erase your existence. What I really wish is to protect you… I would kill just to be with you…"
"I realized the truth a long time ago. Jack wasn't really staying by my side because of me, but because of Alice. He's only there for Alice, isn't he? I don't want a person like that, who is only there because of another…"
"W-what are you saying?" Oz couldn't understand.
"Simple, my beloved," Alyss smiles, inviting him with her alluring grin, "Come with me. Stay here. With you, it's enough. I… you… We, together…! We'll have fun every day! Time will be enough; there'll be no need for us to catch it! …Just say 'yes'! We'll control the Abyss together, Oz–!"
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A/N: What will Oz answer? How will he react? What about the real Alice? Where are the others?
Word for the day: Niko. What does 'Niko' means? Well, for those who don't know and doesn't have any clue, Niko is a Japanese word for 'smirk'. I just thought of using a Japanese sound effect. Cool, right? lol.
Anyway, how did it go? Did you enjoy? Criticisms, flames, comments, suggestions, and anything else in your minds are welcome! All you have to do is to click the button below. I'm in need of a loyal reader. If you think you're one, just review and you're in! :D
Watch out for the next chapter~!