Lingering Darkness Chapter 3: Hell to Pay, a pandora hearts fanfic

Sienna closed her eyes as she murmured to the boy and rubbed his back. His shuddering had lessened over the passage of an hour. She wasn't sure what had set him off, but it was probably this bell he had lost. She tried to recall every detail about how she had found him in case it had fallen nearby the bush he had been in. Unfortunately, she had been preoccupied at the time so the details were pretty vague.

The look he had given her when he had accused her of stealing from him had been filled with so much malice and fury that it had actually sent a chill of fear through her. Until then she had not felt that degree of fear in a long time. He had claws but otherwise he didn't have a fearsome appearance and she was confident in her ability to defend herself if he tried to attack her. Just then she wasn't sure she could have done so. It had struck her by complete surprise and she didn't really understand where it had come from.

"Cheshire can smell your fear. Why? Why are you doing anything to help a Chain?" His voice cracked as he spoke. Lowering his arms he finally looked at her again. He frowned as he struggled to make sense of her actions.

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just a sucker for punishment. You haven't tried to hurt me yet, though for a minute there I was sure you were going to, it makes little difference to me what you are if you need help. Being racist has never solved anything and I rather not burn any bridges that I don't need to." Sienna moved her hand to his mess of black hair to the area between his ears. Rubbing gently she aimed to soothe him further.

Cheshire closed his only red eye and seemed to revel in the touch. "My father was a legal contractor for most of my life. At least until he died around 8 years ago. He never had any issues with his Chain and would always tell me how Chains are just as much individual beings as we are. There are things that make us the way we are, but even if you share some experiences, the lessons you learn and how you deal with situations will always be unique to you. By the sounds of it you're pretty unique." She gave him a small smile to reassure him. "If there's anything I hate most out there, it would be arrogant people that don't bother to consider both sides of a coin so to speak. I'll probably never understand a Chain as I might another human due to our differences, but that doesn't give me the right to stereotype all Chains together."

The cat boy stared at her for a long moment before bringing a paw to his face to wipe away his tears. "You're strange." He blinked at her a couple times and took another swipe at his face.

"Well, I guess we have something in common after all. That's a form of progress, don't you think?" Sienna couldn't help but laugh at his statement. It wasn't the first time she had be deemed strange and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Coming from a Chain, however; with the appearance of a 19 year old boy with cat ears and a tail made the comment amusing.

"Maybe. Cheshire would like to go back inside now to sleep." His gaze wandered between her and the glass door. Sienna nodded and ran her hand over his soft ears one more time before standing up and offering her hand to help him up. At first he hesitated before holding out a hand, then as though he reconsidered his decision he pulled back.

"It's alright you know—to ask for help once in a while when you need it." She smiled down at him. Instead of waiting for him to debate she placed a hand under his and grabbed right before his claws started. With a decent grip she pulled him to his feet and he didn't resist. His arms were slightly disproportionate with the rest of his body. A strange black material looked to be stitched into his arms starting from the middle of each bicep; covering the rest of his arms into a bulky shape until it reached his long sharp claws. This form of 'skin' felt almost velvety to the touch.

Sienna chose to keep her hand on his wrist as she led him back into her house. Closing the door behind them he waited patiently beside her. "Is there anything else you need?" She asked gently as he returned to his spot on the couch. She felt obligated to make him comfortable. She'd never seen a Chain mentally break down before. Most were bordering on mindless, but she was learning quickly that few things about this Chain was ordinary. His one red eye stared up at her, his pain written plainly on his sweet face.

"Cheshire is a hungry, but really tired." He let himself fall onto his side on the couch like it was too much for him to continue sitting upright. She let his hand go and ran her fingers through his hair again.

"What do you eat? People aren't on the menu of course, but I might have something around here that you find edible." Sienna mused at him. She wasn't so sure she could let him go at all if he was craving human flesh and she wanted to know if that was the case or not. He mumbled something into the couch that she couldn't make sense of. "Sorry?" She prompted him to repeat himself.

He lifted his head up a little to speak. "Cheshire doesn't like humans very much. They don't taste very good. Cheshire does like fish though." Sienna muffled a chuckle behind her hand.

"Alright, happy to hear it. I might have a can of tuna left, do you care if it's canned?" She asked over her shoulder as she walked to the kitchen through the entryway into the living room. This time she heard a muffled 'no' so she continued her plan to locate a can.

This creature was odd without a doubt. He spoke in third person and he seemed totally lost. Is it even possible for a Chain to accidentally leave the Abyss? That was hard to believe considering how difficult it was supposed to be to get out. She was really curious about this anomaly, but at the same time it shouldn't really be her concern. Her job as a decent person would be done by the following day and her solitary life would return to normal.

Just as she set the plate of tuna in front of Cheshire the doorbell rang out. He jumped a little and she put her hand between his ears again and gave his head a quick rub. "I'll be right back." She nodded at him and went to answer the door.

"Good morning Nia~ You are home after all." Sienna was greeted by her brother when she opened the door.

"Corwin! When did you get back?" she asked in welcome surprise. She stared up into familiar green eyes. She found it easy to forget just how much taller than her he had become, but he'd always be her baby brother no matter how much he'd grown.

"Not long," He wrapped his arms around her in a big hug "I'm getting sent out again soon so I wanted to drop in before then." Sienna returned his embrace happily before reaching up and messing up his dirty blonde hair with her hand like she'd done since they were young, earning a chuckle from him.

"Good because I missed you. Come in and I'll fix you some tea. I'm curious to hear about your latest venture." Sienna pulled away from him, but took his hand in hers to pull him into her home.

In the living room she was instantly reminded of her charge. All that was visible of the Chain was his swishing white tipped tail over the back of the couch. "Cheshire, I have some company now. If you still want to sleep you can hide out in my room for now." She offered. She let go of her brother's hand and leaned over the couch to look down at the feline boy.

Ears flicking his head turned toward her, one striking red eye staring up at her. "Just no disappearing on me alright? If you don't want to you can stay out hear, but I doubt you'd want to." Sienna reached down to run a hand through his hair again and messed with his already messy black hair. His ears pulled back as she reached for him in his uncertainty, but then they righted themselves once her hand was on his head.

"Ah, you've already got a visitor Nia? Well this is unusual." Corwin mused and came up behind her to lean on her shoulders to see who she was talking to.

"Heh, oh really? Well—" She interrupted herself to toss her head back and bunt her brothers forehead. Mild pain flared at the back of her head, but as her brother yelped in surprise and stumbled back she decided it was worth it. "I suppose you'll just have to get used to it, brother mine." She smirked at him playfully.

"Son of a—Nia was that really necessary?" He proceeded to rub the space between his eyes which were started to water. "A lady isn't supposed to be so violent." He tsked playfully back.

She turned back to him with her hands on her hips. "Give me a reason to be ladylike and I'll think about it, but as it stands I'm perfectly happy this way. It's saved you a few times if I recall correctly." Sienna shot back defiantly. Her brother had always been a wimp when they were young so she'd had to take up the role as the protective older sibling even though they were twins.

Sienna heard Cheshire shift position on the couch. She assumed it was to see what was going on. She didn't look back at him but saw a change in her brother's expression from a mix of pain and playfulness to serious surprise. His brows pulled together and was staring hard at Cheshire.

Before she had the chance to ask what was wrong her brother's hand shot out and grabbed her arm. He pulled her roughly to his side and drew his gun to point it at Cheshire. "What—Sienna do you know what that is?"

"What—what is?" The abrupt change in position and atmosphere dazed her a little and it took a moment for her to recover. Unfortunately in the time it took her to recover, Cheshire jumped to the floor beside the couch and her brother swung his gun to aim at him again. Without time to think she formed a fist with her left hand which was closer to her brother and swung it up and hit his wrist to knock his gun away. It hit the floor with a loud clatter and seeing his chance the Chain made a break for the door. As he tried to brush past her she flung herself onto his back and they both hit the floor roughly.

"Sienna! What are you-" "Shut it, Corwin! Do not come into my home and start waving your gun around or I'll hit you with it next time!" She scolded him with a harsh glare. Cheshire moved his arms under him to push her off when she wrapped an arm around his neck, but didn't close it around him. She grabbed his hair in her hand and brought an ear closer to her. "You too. I told you that you're not going anywhere until I say so. He's not going to do anything under my roof, but you both have some explaining to do, cat. Now just make my job easier and work with me here." There was a low growl in response, but she was distracted and didn't catch what he said. Sienna let go of his hair and used her free hand to push herself off of his back. Moving her arm around his neck to around his torso she pulled them both to their feet, thankfully there was no fight from Cheshire and it was probably more his willingness to stand that let her move him at all.

Corwin stared at her wide-eyed. "You just threw yourself on a Chain! Do you realize what he could have done to you?" His voice was getting louder with each word. Sienna met his green gaze with her own and pressed herself closer to Cheshire's back. His ears were pulled back and his tail was flicking angrily.

"Cheshire—" "Actually I do. I haven't totally lost it yet you know. He's mine, therefore you just threatened me by threatening him." She mentally cringed at the lie, but she schooled her face to show nothing but defiance. She had never thought her brother would be so disrespectful to do such a thing, but at the same time she wouldn't hesitate to defend him either. She was supposed to be the reckless one, dammit. "I know full well that he's capable of hurting me and as true as that is I don't want him to hurt you, brother mine." She didn't want Cheshire to say anything to agitate her brother so she tightened her grip on his chest in warning. "Don't say a word unless I tell you to. Damage control, sweetheart." She whispered under her breath to ensure her brother wouldn't catch her words. She couldn't be sure the Chain heard her either but she was hoping his large ears were for more than just show.

His body stayed rigid with tension, but the movement of his tail slowed a little. Sienna relaxed her arm and sighed in moderate relief. "Now boys, let's all be mature and get along yes? If not there will be hell to pay, I promise you." She vowed and bounced her narrowed gaze between them.

Author's Note:

I don't really have much to say here this time. I think if someone would like to help bounce around ideas that would be wonderful. My aim is to stay true to the canon characters that end up part of the story so if you think he or anyone else seems to be falling out of character please let me know! Unfortunately that can be pretty difficult without assistance, but if it's pointed out when it happens at least I can go back and fix it. Thanks for reading~

*Constructive criticism is very welcome here and I would really appreciate it.
Please comment and let me know what you think.