Oz blinked open his eyes, his heart pounding in his chest. He found himself lying upon a mattress with no idea how he got there. His last memory was of Jack telling Alice she was the one whom needed to get out of Oz's body. After that for some reason Jack decided to leave them alone for a while, saying that letting the new information sink in would do nothing to harm his plan. Everything after that was a haze. Still his dream hung before him, the horrifying remnant of a memory. In his dream he had remembered everything Jack hadn't the chance to say or explain. More importantly he remembered how he became Jack's chain…
Jack had snuck down, using Vincent to open the door so he may claim his chain during Gilbert's ceremony. To his surprise instead of B. Rabbit a young man with shaggy black hair and ruby colored eyes had walked out instead.
"I thought you were supposed to be a large scythe wielding black rabbit." Jack said amused.
"And I thought you would be manlier. Either way the reason I am in the form I am in now is to keep from exhausting your body too quickly. My power is too immense for a normal person like you to survive long exposure to. So rather than burden you, half of my power is sealed in here." Oz looked at him without much expression in his gaze. With quick movements he threw to Jack a pocket watch. Jack's very own pocket watch to be exact.
"Where did you get that?" Jack asked bewildered.
"Alice borrowed it. She felt it would be the perfect medium since you are very familiar with it."
"Is that so? Well either way it appears you will have to remain outside my body correct." Jack's response was distant; his gaze focused on the pocket watch which he had opened. In response Oz nodded curtly. With a snap Jack closed it before spinning around to face Oz once more.
"Well than you will have to simply pose as my footman. How does that sound? But first we will have to do something about those eyes. We would not want Glen mistaking you for a child of misfortune." Jack's eyes appeared to light up in excitement, but Oz knew better than to trust that man's expression. With his red eyes, unclouded by emotion, he could clearly see right through the flippant man. As he gazed at the man doubt swirled inside. Just how much resolve would the man have when it came down to the task at hand? Well he would have to find out later.
The days to come all the way leading to the event Oz had played the part of a footman Jack was training for higher nobility despite the boy's apparent blindness. Of course the blindness was just a ruse on his part, one to hide the boy's eyes. Yet luckily Oz was still able to function splendidly. So much so that he was greatly liked by the Baskervilles. He was their kind of person, one whom wasn't too curious for his own good. He was seen more than he was heard and never asked questions or showed interest in what was going on around him. He was not only considered well manner by the older Baskervilles, but was adored by Gilbert and his little brother. Jack often laughed at him, saying that Oz seemed to have a soft spot for children. Of course this was not true. He merely had been around Jack enough to learn how to laugh and smile even when he himself didn't feel such ways. He even got the rare pleasure of seeing Alice. His first time seeing her, he had greeted her as though it was their first meeting. Yet once Glen left she teased him, telling him she had seen from her window him getting along with the boys. He played along, knowing that the day he would prove just how wrong they were was close at hand. Three days later he had fought alongside Jack and got seal along with him as well. Since their contract was not officially ended he followed Jack's soul. When Jack gained a new body Oz had followed, developing his own personality and life in the body while Jack's soul and his memories were sealed.
Oz knew that even if Jack had not revealed the truth that triggered the return of his memories he would have still remembered, albeit slowly. Finally growing tired of laying down, he rose and staggered over to the mirror. Even though the reflection showed a short boy with golden hair, soft boyish features, and shining emerald eyes Oz saw differently. He saw a taller boy with shaggy hair, sharper features, and dull emotionless red eyes; whose body was highlighted with the blood of his victims. Looking at his hands, even though they were clean he could still picture the stains of countless murders. After all he wasn't the innocent boy he had pretended to be. No matter how hard he tried to remain the way he was before, the memories stole away all that childishness.
"I never thought I could ever become so human. It is funny. A killer like me masquerading as a foolish and soft child for so long. Part of me hoped I could stay suspended forever in the bliss of ignorance yet I know now such a thing could never happen. My past is stained with the blood of my countless victims for whom I am named." Oz smiled sadly, his voice cynical. Yet he knew he could not show the others this side of him. The real Oz would have to stay hidden.
Oz knew he only had to fake until his contract ended with Jack falling into the abyss. Still his thoughts drifted to Alice. What would she think of him? Of the truth? After all, the only goal he had ever possessed on his own was to see her smile once more. He would fight to the ends of the Earth for such a thing. Perhaps it was those very thoughts that transferred some of his power to Alice to revive her in the abyss. Such power made her into the B. Rabbit, if only a cheap copy of the original. If he were to reclaim the power the was fully his, would that make her disappear?