Chapter 2: Pandora
Ashley began to stir in the bed of an unfamiliar room. She slowly slit her eyes open, taking in the light of the sun. She covers her face hoping the light would go away. 'Well, it's' not going to go away. So might as well get up.' She tosses the sheet aside revealing she was wearing a night gown. She pondered on how she got it on. "How did I--" She gasped at the memory of the two males of the group that was chasing her. She squeaks, covering herself with her arms as if she was somehow exposed. "Tho-Those jerks! If they had touched me, I'll…" "Please, continue. I want to know what you'll do." said an unexpected voice. Apparently she doesn't notice and simply answers "I'll beat the living crap out them, that's what I'll do." The voice gave a sound of pretend chills. "Brr, I would hate to be the people you're talking about." She scoffed. "You can bet your…." her voice trailed off. She looks to the side of the bed. A man slides half of his body out of the bed, showing his dark red eye. Ash gives an earsplitting scream.
She starts to scan anything throw anything that was near her, starting to with a vase. She lifts the vase above her head, but finds the mysterious man missing. "You weren't about to throw that at me, were you?" Ash looks cautiously to her left, seeing the man sitting on the bed, dusting himself off. She throws the vase at it, but it found its way on the wall instead of his head. He had some how dodge the sudden attack. She soon throws everything she can find at him. Mysteriously he danced his away from the hits. Ash had given up the fight and blots toward the door. The door flings open with her bumping into someone. She looks up to meet two golden irises, glaring down at her. This person was a man with black hair and a solid look. He averted his eyes to the mess that was the room. It didn't take long to make Ash realize that this was his room. "Break!" yelled the furious man. The sliver hair man found his way beside her, which freaked her out a little. "Gilbert-kun, glad your up. I believe I would like some tea, please." Gilbert's face twisted into frustration. "Why do I have to--?!"
Break, the odd man, started choking this small doll on his shoulder. "Ouch! It- really hurt!" cried a small voice from the doll. Ash stubbles back along with Gil, more from the doll than from Break. Gilbert rushes to the kitchen, preparing the tea. Break let go of the doll and strode toward the couch taking a few steps. He gestured her to join him on the couch that looked hard and lumpy. She was too nervous to go over.
"I would be insulted if you don't." he said giving another frightening look. The look gave off shivers in her spine. She silently and vigilantly walked over to Break. She took her seat and placed her hands on her lap, she had to show that she had class to make up for the incident in the bed room. "Well, Penelo-san, it seems that you have gotten out of the Abyss safe and sound. I must say I'm impressed." Break complemented.
She stares up and down at him, guessing that he was a very eccentric person. So far, her theory was right. Break notice the stare and begins to look up and down at his self. "Is there a problem?" Before answering, Ashley cleared her throat, so not to sound raspy. "Forgive me if I was rude when I was staring… and in the bedroom." Break simply laughed off the apology. Also laughing with him is the long blond haired doll, resting on his shoulder. Her facial expression began to change from calm to aggravation. "Oh please! I've been through worse. I was very entertained, exactly." "Yeah, but you could have killed us, baka brat!" Break chuckled, while poking the cheek of the doll with his index finger. "Emily, you know it's rude to say the truth." Ashley was, now, flaring from the insult. She clutches her knuckle hard to the point they turned white. "Will you please tell me who you are?" His attention was than directed back at her.
A sudden gasp escaped his lips than slowly reverting to a smile. He stands from his spot, facing her and bow. "Where are my manners? I am Xerxes Break. It is a pleasure to be in your presence, Penelo-san. You've already meet Emily." Break pauses, waiting for her introduction. "It's… nice to meet you. I'm Ashley Penelo." A large clanking sound landed in front of her. The sound turned out to be a tray of tea and tea cups having being forced to the coffee table. It was the man that she had run in to before. She took a moment to observe him before taking the tea. The glared hard at the man, still most likely furious of the ruckus of his room. Break looked at him with surprise, "Now, Gilbert what's with the nasty look? Especially with a special guest. You're giving off an unwelcoming appearance." teased Break. It didn't take long before realizing that this was a consent thing between the two strangers. "Since Gilbert enters the conversation so rudely, why doesn't he introduce his self?" he said with still a hint of teasing.
Gilbert, who was still glowering, had glanced her way. For some strange reason, Ashley felt like her tongue was caught in her throat. Ashley tried to summon all the powers of her will to speak, but the words dared not to come out. She had commenced to doing her usual habits of squeezing on something until her palms were red. Finally regain some control of her mouth spoke, "It's is very nice to meet you."
He simply nodded at her. "Gilbert, give a better response. It took all of her strength to speak. You possibly can't imagine the embarrassment of gaping at someone for a long time. Not only that to have a hand in the ruckus in your room."
This was the point when Ashley's temper was starting to become overwhelming. Instead of showing how furious she was becoming, she had taken a sip of tea. "But since it already happened, I guess it is alright to take her into custody." At that moment she was ready to let the tea in her mouth fly, but hastily drunk it to void the discomforting moment. She had unleashed a fit of coughs that made her throat sore. "Um, custody? What have I done to be place under arrested?!" her voice rising. "Well, for one thing resisting arrest and than there was illegally obtaining of a Contractor. That is what is on the list so far, anyway." he replied in an insensible. The remark had started a large throbbing headache in her skull. "Ashley…" whispered a familiar voice. Her finger tips reached the temples in her head. She repeatedly rubbed her temples to calm her. "We wouldn't arrest you, of course, until Rainsworth-dono comes, anyway." Break said. Ashley, whose headache was relieving a bit, let out a breath. 'So, the Rainsworth family knows something about this, not that surprising for one of the Four Great Dukes Houses. If they have a hand in this…' she shook the thought away from her thoughts. She had to worry about now.
'I still have sometime. Maybe one of the Rainsworth probably wouldn't be here for hours or even weeks. If I'm lucky, they'll be gone maybe a month.' The front door was quickly opened and closed. A yell came saying "We're home." Your hands began to shake from the nervousness that was going through you.
The room was entered by three people. The three of them were carrying bags of some groceries and clothes. The girl, she remembers to be Alice, the boy with blond hair, and another young girl, she knew instantly. The girl with light creamy brown hair was none other than Sharon Rainsworth, daughter of Shelly Rainsworth. Ashley felt her chest being squeezed by the fear, she had no clue now what was going to happen. Unexpected to her, Sharon smiled lightly to her. "I'm glad you had awoken, Penelo-san. Did you sleep well?" Ashley was still in amazing by her sudden kindness. She nodded cautiously towards her. "Excellent, I'm glad you slept nicely. I was a feared that I had gotten the wrong gown for you."
"You were the one that had….." she said trailing "put this gown on me." Break had given a small chuckle of amusement. "I don't think that she like it, though Sharon-sama. You should have heard what she said after she had seen it. She was furious." She glared at him intensely. "You didn't like it?" her eyes showed the hurt she was feeling. "No, I thought it was someone else that had dressed me in this." she said, her face flushed by embarrassment. "I appreciate you dressing me. Also, for the night gown you had let me wear." Ashley gave a little bow to her superior. "It is not a problem." she smiled. She glided her way to the couch while the other two carried the groceries to the kitchen. Sharon was carrying the bags of clothes that filled her both her arms. Break was the only thing that was standing between her and a seat next to Ashley. Without hesitation, she had swung the bags toward his back, sending him flying to the wall shaking the table with the tea.
Sharon had then nestled a seat next to her, grabbing her hands in loving sisterly way. "I was happy that you had returned. Even if we have never met, I glad that we can get to know each other." She smiled again, with a little more warmth. "Oh, I have many outfits for you. I hope you like them." A scoff rang the air, which made Ashley jump. They directed their attention to Alice as she leaned on the doorway. "Why are we treating someone like her like a princess? After we're done we're arresting her, right?" This time Ashley was not unset as before, but more like annoyed. The throbbing has slowly regained its power of her. A sudden whispering of her name echo piercingly until a part of her fell into darkness. While she mind slept, D-Wolf had taken over her body. The bangs of Ashley hair hide her now dull eyes. "Don't be rude, Alice. We had been in the same situation as her. Give her a break it not her fault. I'm sure that she only did it to help her get out. She acted very different than the others." said Oz. Oz sits next to the vacant Ashley. "It's nice to meet you, Penelo-san. I'm Oz Vessalius. You pretty much introduced to everyone else." "Everyone, except Gil." Break interrupted. "Oh, that's Gilbert, Gilbert Nightray. You can call him Gil for short. Forgive him if he was rude." Oz introduced point to the man with golden eyes. "Oz!" yelled Gilbert.
D's electric blue irises flashed over Ash's eyes. "Since your going to arrest me, can have at least something to eat." They looked at her in surprise at the bluntness of her statement. "Alright, I'll get it for you." Oz had leaped from his seat racing to the kitchen. Before anyone could speak, Oz had returned with a small plate with a napkin covering it along with a fork.
He gleefully handed it to her, not expecting anything out of the ordinary. He revealed the small food to be a vanilla icing cake with a sliced part of a strawberry on top. Gilbert's face went into a state of fit. "Oz, I was going to eat that!" Oz looked at his servant with a childish frown. Why the childhood personality of his servant had not came to a halt, he will never know. While they began to argue with Alice's rant for them to shut up, inside Ashley, D's was pretend to eat. He was preparing for it. It was almost the prefect moment to strike at them.
Half of the cake was already gone before D's eyes glance at them. He continued to glance at two people of the room as they went on like everything was normal. They were talking and laughing like they had no criminal in their living room.
D-Wolf had an enough of this, it was too him this was insulting for him. It was like they were ignoring their presence. D stood up from his seat leaving the piece of cake with tea on the table. He moves towards Oz and Gilbert when their attention was completely down. That was until Break stepped in. A red circle cased him and Ashley's body keeping them still. A sudden pressure pressed him forcedly to the ground. He couldn't move his pinky let alone his boy. The others gasped in surprised. They knew the reason why, but since he never reacted to attack them it caught them off guard. "Now, now, that was going to be rude. You could have hurt my subordinates with that thing. But now that you are secured, I have some questions for you to answer." Before he could interrogate the chain he realized something. That he wasn't wincing in pain. As a matter of fact, he wasn't showing any emotion toward the seal.
Break was caught in a predicament that was leaving him confused. "What's up, Break?" Oz asked the dumbstruck Break. "You can't feel that, can you?" asked Break, completely ignoring Oz. D simple shook is head, looking at him with still and predator eyes. Break broke out a sigh of disappointment, he wasn't going to get the information he was hoping for. "Sense beating you wouldn't do, can you tell me why you planning to mainly attack Oz and Gilbert?" The two male gasped in unison. They confused on why he would want to attack them the most. "Because…you made Ash sad."