Lux ex Tenebris: Light From Darkness
Chapter 4
"Are you sure this is the area Equus lost that person?" Gilbert says looking around the shopping district in Reviel. 'This is a huge city… He could live anywhere. Why, on earth, are we on this goose hunt?' Gilbert thought sighing as he remembered the man that they saw early that morning. 'We have no proof that it is truly Elliot, the teen said he was two years younger than Elliot, anyway. Then there was that girl with him…she called him her brother, so lovingly. They had to have known each other for more than just four years to be so close.' Gilbert thought trying to convince himself that this person was not Elliot, but simply a kid that looked like him. To get his mind off the topic, he watched his master look around the area with bright watchful eyes.
"This is the area Break said Equus lost Elliot's trail… so we should start here." Oz says casually leaning against the carriage. "What do you think, Alice, should we start asking around? If he lives here, he'd frequent the shops." He says casually.
"I don't really care… This guy was trouble back then, wasn't he? Why are we searching for him now?" Alice states in annoyance, not understanding why they were doing this.
"Elliot was not trouble! He was good kid, you stupid rabbit! How dare you talk about my little brother like that! Do you want me to put a bullet in your head?" Gilbert snaps at her causing her to flinch.
"Gil, don't be such a grouch. You've been acting all annoyed and angry all day. I know that Break's orders were a little strict but it's not like we were sent to kill him." Oz says calmly with a worried look. "We're just here to find out who this guy is and why he really visited the Nightray family's graves, right?" He says understanding why his friend was so upset. Gilbert looked at him with an apologetic look before nodding.
"It's just… If it's really Elliot, he could be in danger, not only because of the Baskervilles but because of those Dojis that keep getting in our way…" Gilbert says softly and Oz nodded in understanding.
"Break said that all we have to do is speak to the man." Oz says calmly as he grabbed Gilbert's shoulder. "But we have to find him first." He adds with a small smile on his lips. Gilbert looked at him with a depressed look before he nodded.
"I suppose, that's the first step." Gilbert says with a slight sigh as the three of them headed off into the town asking around. Most of the people they asked had said that they had never seen a teen or young adult with that description or a blonde female that had been with him. Four hours later they stopped at a tea shop for a break with little, to no, evidence that Elliot was even in the area.
"Well, this was pointless." Alice mutters in annoyance as she took a bite of the cake Oz had gotten for her.
"Maybe Elliot doesn't live in this area after all…" Oz says stirring his tea with a spoon.
"Once we're done here then we can try a few more shops and head back to Pandora. Lord knows, the civilians are getting suspicious and we can't very well tell them we're searching for a boy by the name of Elliot Nightray." Gilbert says with a small sigh as not noticing an old woman slow at their table before moving on past them. 'If we did they'd give us strange looks and ask us why we're…' Gilbert thought before he turned his attention to his master that was trying to talk to him.
"If we can't find him then there's no harm done." Oz says calmly with a slight sigh. "It's just a case of mistaken Identity." He states with a slight disappointed look on his face.
"Yeah…" Gilbert says feeling even more depressed about not finding the person than he felt when he was ordered to search for him. 'Elliot's been dead four years, what were we expecting to find.' Gilbert thought as he glanced outside of the window to see Vincent and Echo standing at an empty table and Vincent looked shocked by something the girl was saying. "Vince!" Gilbert shouts jumping to his feet before Oz did the same and gasped.
"If Vincent's here, then so is Leo!" Oz states going to move to go after the man.
"No, Oz, you stay here. I'll go talk to them… If we all go out there those damned Dojis might intervene." Gilbert says pushing the boy gently down in his seat before he quickly moved to leave. Oz reached out and grabbed his sleeve, stopping him from heading toward the door.
"We'll be watching… If there's trouble, we'll come right away." Oz states with a serious look in his eyes and Gilbert smiles.
"I know." He whispers before he left the building to approach Vincent.
"Um…Excuse me. I have a question." A woman's voice says and Oz glanced over to see a waitress with worry in her eyes.
"What is it? Can't you see we're busy?" Alice asks with a slight annoyed look causing the young woman to flinch.
"Alice…"Oz says harshly before smiling at the waitress. "What is the problem, Miss Waitress?" Oz asks politely and the girl smiled shyly at him.
"It's my Grandmother… She heard you mention an Elliot Nightray and she thinks you people are after him." She says with a small frown causing Oz's eyes to widen before he smiled charmingly.
"Then what have you come over to ask us about?" He asks and she swallowed nervously.
"I just want to know what you people want with him… The Elliot-kun, I know, is a sweet, gentle guy…and if you think he's done something wrong then you are mistaken." She says looking away ashamed for being so outspoken.
"So, you know someone that goes by the name Elliot Nightray?" Oz says glancing back at Gilbert, who was speaking calmly to Vincent outside.
"I don't know nuthin', unless you tell me why you want to speak to such a person." She says shifting nervously but she had a determined look in her eyes.
"I'm an old friend of his and that black haired guy is his older brother… We're here to see him because, it was said, he was murdered four years ago… We're here just to make sure that was or wasn't so." Oz explains calmly as the girl looked at him a bit skeptically. "Really… It's the truth, miss." He says watching her look around the room.
"Okay, but if my Grandmother asks, I was hitting on you..." She says blushing slightly as she spoke softly. "My Grandmother hate when people stick their noses into other people's business. But since you're an old friend of his... and that man was his brother, I…" She says stopping to gather her wits. "Elliot-kun, the Elliot-kun I know, works at a dress shop down the street. He doesn't seem like the type, when you speak to him, but the dress he makes… They're beyond beautiful, like works of art. He comes here once every month and buys cakes for his…" The girl says but stops as she heard her grandmother call for her. "Right, his dress shop's just down the road but it's closed today… So, he'd be at the restaurant next door to it, if not then he's in his apartment above and you'd have to knock on the door between the two shops." She says quickly before wrote down the address on an order form. "Here's his address. Don't tell him I told you… My Grandmother would be furious." She says before she ran off back to her post at the cash register.
"She was helpful…" Alice says with a slight smirk.
"Yeah and cute… Shall we go?" Oz says standing and Alice nodded as the two moved to the door and Oz gave the girl a flirty grin and waved causing the girl to blush a real bright pink. Oz then ran over to Gilbert and jump on him.
"Gil! A girl that works at the restaurant talked!" Oz says happily as Alice sighed.
"She gave us a location that our suspect lives, his work place, and another location." Alice says with a smirk on her lips as Vincent frowns.
"Then we shall take our leave then… Come Echo. Our master is waiting..." Vincent says calmly as the two walked away. "It was nice speaking to you… please give the Hatter my greetings." He says amusedly and Gilbert sighed.
"We're going to find a way…" Gilbert states. "Vincent, you know, it is not going to end well in the end if this really is Elliot." He says with a pleading look in his eyes.
"Don't worry, Nii-san*… Everything will be fine." Vincent assures before leaving and Gilbert sighs again.
"Gil… Did you tell Vincent about Elliot?" Oz questions with a curious look in his eyes but Gilbert simply shook his head.
"Vince told me… apparently he ran into a young man that looked like Elliot fifteen minutes ago. Did you get the address?" Gilbert questions watching his master grin ear to ear and hold up the piece of paper. "Then let's go…" He says as the three walked off in that direction.
"Rakkel-neesan!" Cordelia's voice calls cheerfully as Rakkel turned to look at the door leading toward the apartments with a slight curious look. She saw the little blonde smiling at her with a blue face causing her to let out a slight laugh.
"Oh my, what did you do?" She says laughing warmly as the girl walked behind the counter.
"Alyss-neesan gave me cake… It was a pretty blue color." Cordelia says causing Rakkel to sigh.
"That boy… Honestly." She says sighing, knowing Elliot was the one that brought the cakes home. "Let's get you cleaned up before, Elliot finds out you made a mess of yourself." She says in a motherly way as she picked the girl up and set her on the counter and grabbed a napkin. She then walked over to the sink that was behind the counter and wet the napkin. "Here we are…" She says smiling warmly as she began whipping off the girl's face. "Let's make you presentable for our customers. They'll be sad if they see such a cute little lady with a dirty face." She says with a motherly look on her face.
"Right… I'm sorry, Rakkel-neesan, thank you for cleaning my face." Cordelia says smiling brightly as she hugged Rakkel lovingly.
"It's alright, sweetie…" Rakkel says hugging her back with a happy smile on her face as she heard people enter the room. "Um… I'm sorry but we are not open right now." She calls picking Cordelia off of the counter and moving out from behind the counter to see Gilbert, Oz, and Alice. The sight of the three caused her to stop before setting Cordelia down on a stool.
"Sir, We appreciate your business but bringing your children to a bar. Tsk…Tsk…" Rishima's voice sounds from the door way that lead to the apartments above.
"We're here to ask you people about someone we're looking for… Forgive us for coming in before the store opens, Miss." Gilbert says calmly as he pulled out his Pandora badge. "I'm from Pandora… My name's Gilbert Nightray and we were told a silver haired boy, about the age of nineteen, lives in one of the apartments above and goes by the name Elliot. Is this correct?" Gilbert says with a stern look in his eyes and the women looked at him with cold eyes.
"What if he does…what did he do to get Pandora on his tail?" Rakkel says watching the three carefully as she wrapped her arm around Cordelia protectively. Cordelia looked at Rakkel confusedly but stayed quiet thinking Gilbert looked scary.
"Nothing… I-I'm the elder brother of an Elliot Nightray. He's been missing for four years… We believed him to be dead but earlier today I met a man that looked like him but one of my comrades scared him away. We have reason to believe he lives here…" Gilbert explains calmly with a sincere look in his eyes. "I just wish to speak to him to see if he is truly is my brother or if he is not. That is all we are here for... If he is not then we will leave." He says watching the girls look at each other.
"What if he is…? What will you do to him then?" Alyss says appearing behind the Gilbert and the others with a slight scowl on her lips. "Hmm…Maybe, take him away from us and torture him, perhaps? Or maybe you want to make him go back to that horrid house and take responsibility for his father's actions." She says accusingly as she walked between Alice and Oz to stand in front of Gilbert. "I don't think we'd like that very much because, you see, our Elliot is very important to us. He's our dear brother…He's very beloved to us and Cordelia here." She says walking past Gilbert and sitting on the stool beside Cordelia. "And besides he's done nothing wrong… Other than letting someone manipulate him and losing himself to their evil." She says coldly as Cordelia looked at her with curious eyes.
"We just wish to speak to Elliot and then we will leave. We're no danger to him…" Oz says with a small frown. 'Why are they being so defensive?' He thought looking at the little girl, who was staring at him with an innocent intrigued look. He walked closer to Alyss and the girl's eyes hardened. "I used to be one of Elliot's friends… I was really happy to see him alive." Oz says softly watching the girl look away from him but the little girl leaned forward.
"Say, how old are you, Mr.?" Cordelia asks Oz and he smiled shyly.
"Well, I look young but I'm actually only twenty-nine years old." He says with a slight shy look on his face and Cordelia frowns.
"You're short." She says causing Oz to flinch and laugh nervously.
"I am?" He says feeling a little annoyed a four year old had told him he was short.
"Elliot told us about a short blonde boy, right?" Alyss says with a slight amused look before Oz smiled happily.
"He did." Oz says with a happy look on his face.
"You want to speak to Daddy?" Cordelia asks with a curious look as she jumped off of the stool. Oz looked at her for a moment before nodding and she pouted. "Well you can't!" She states pointing at Oz. "A shrimp, like you, has no right talking to my Daddy… Besides he's busy! He has a friend over…Daddy never brings friends over. So you have to come back later… I don't care if Daddy did tell us about you." She says with a serious look as she placed her hand on her hips. The three girls looked at her with a shocked look before they started to giggle.
"Oh my…" Rakkel says laughing warmly as she moved forward and picked the girl up.
"Cor-chan's got Elliot's mouth already." Rishima says with a large grin on her face as Alyss smiled at her.
"Forgive Cordelia, Nightray-sama. She is taking after Elliot in the mouth department." Rakkel says with a small smile on her lips. "But what she said is true… Elliot is in a business meeting, most likely about expanding the dress shop to give them more space to place mannequins." She says placing her hand together with a large smile on her face.
"We can wait… We really want to speak to him." Gilbert says with a gentle smile knowing that they would be able to see the man if they waited.
"Daddy doesn't want to talk to you people… Daddy would have come to you if he wanted to speak to you." Cordelia mutters with a frown and Alyss giggled.
"Hey, you stupid brat…" Alice states in annoyance to Cordelia. "We've been looking all day for this bastard. How dare you, tell me we cannot see him." She yells at Cordelia who scowled at her.
"I'm not afraid of you! You're just some overgrown bully!" Cordelia says sticking her tongue out of her mouth. Oz looked at Cordelia with a slight worried look because Alice looked like she was about to beat her up before he moved forward.
"Alice, please…" Oz says before he knelt down in front of Cordelia. "Hey, my name's Oz Vessalius... What's your name?" Oz says smiling cheerfully at Cordelia and the girl stared at him with an emotionless look.
"None of your business…Daddy told me not to talk to strangers." Cordelia says with a small pout forming on his lips. Oz simply laughed at her words before tilting his head to the side and glancing at Rakkel, who Gilbert was still talking to, and he noted the black haired girl had disappeared. He also took note that Alyss was watching him with cautious eyes and he smiled at her before looking back at Cordelia.
"But I'm not a stranger, I'm Elliot's friend." Oz says happily pointing to his self but Cordelia frowned at him.
"But you're a stranger to me and I am a stranger to you." She says with a scowl on her face before she turned away. "I'm not telling you my name and I don't care to know you, until Daddy says it's safe." She states not looking at Oz.
"Well, your Daddy taught you well." Oz says with a slight sad look.
"Yep…" Cordelia says smiling proudly turning back to Oz.
"Is your Daddy here? Can I talk to him?" Oz says with a huge grin on his face trying to win the girl over.
"Nope… Daddy's with his friend, so, get out of my face." She states causing Oz to gape at her.
"Cordelia's a little sweetie…as long as it doesn't have to do with her Daddy Elliot." Efa says appearing in front of Alice and Oz with his hair wavy and unbraided, falling over his shoulders in a gently wave.
"Who are you?" Oz questions with a slight smile on his face because he was looking at a pretty girl and Efa frowned slightly.
"Oh, how rude of me… I never introduced myself when Brother Elliot and I were at the cemetery. I am Efa Barathrum… This little one is Cordelia Nightray. She's Elliot's daughter." Efa says causing Oz to stare at him with wide eyes.
"Daughter? Are you serious? Gil, Elliot has a daughter!" Oz shouts in a panic.
"What?" Gilbert questions curiously, looking at Oz with a surprised look as they heard the door, off to the side, open.
"Rakkel, Rishima told me that there were some people here to visit me?" Elliot says leaning in the door way with a slight annoyed look on his face.
"Yes, they're from Pandora… I didn't know you knew members from Pandora." She says smiling warmly and Elliot smirked.
"Tsk… I used to know members but that was before I realized the truth. This person isn't just a Pandora Member, you know." Elliot says causing Rakkel smile at him happily.
"Yes… I have concluded that on my own but would you care to introduce him to us." Rakkel says with a teasing look on her face.
"This here is Duke Gilbert Nightray." Elliot says walking out of the door way and Gilbert frowned. "As you can see I lied about my face... Punish me if you wish." Elliot says casually as he walked toward Oz and Alice. He knelt down beside Cordelia and held his arms out. Cordelia instantly ran and jumped up, into Elliot's arms and he wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. "This is my daughter… Cordelia Nightray; she's eight years old. She is a sweet little girl, is she not?" Elliot states with a serious look in his eyes. "May I ask, why have you come, Duke Nightray?" He says calmly.
"Elliot... Why are you talking like that? It's me, Gilbert." Gilbert says with a slight frown and Elliot frowns.
"Yes, I know, my Lord." Elliot says calmly with a knowing look and Gilbert frowned.
"That's not what he meant, Elliot." Oz says stepping forward. "I know it's been four years but you know Gilbert. Why are you being so formal? You just admitted being Elliot Nightray." Oz says with a small frown.
"So I did, but what is it to you people, who I am? Do you intend to arrest me? If you do, then by all means arrest me and leave this family at peace." Elliot says coldly and Cordelia wrapped her arms around his neck and Gilbert frowned.
"How can you talk about such things in front of that child?" Gilbert says with a bit of a hurt voice and Cordelia simply snuggled into Elliot's neck.
"He's going to take Daddy away?" Cordelia says with a sad voice and Elliot held her close.
"Not at all… Daddy was just telling them to do whatever they came here to do and leave. I do not know why they are here." Elliot states calmly and Cordelia smiles at him. "Why don't you go upstairs with Alyss-chan, Cordelia?" He says softly kissing the girl's forehead.
"Kay… I love you, Daddy." Cordelia says as Elliot set her down on the ground and she moved over to Alyss, who stood and walked away with her.
"Should I ask why you have come?" Elliot says calmly. "And don't say because I want to know who you are and how you survived." He says coldly as he tilted his head to the side.
"We came to confirm that you were, indeed, Elliot Nightray. And even though it's been four years we're shocked to see it to be true." Gilbert says softly staring at Elliot with mixed emotions in his eyes.
"Yeah… Is that all? If so, please leave." Elliot says looking away from them.
"Why? You should come with us!" Oz states moving forward to Elliot but Elliot sighed.
"I've got business to attend to… There are a couple dresses I need to finish and measurements to make for the next ones." Elliot states coolly as he watched Oz stare at him in shock. "What the hell is that look for?" He questions in annoyance before he looked back at Efa. "Is Zelda still sorting the roses?" He asks and Efa nodded with a bright smile on his face. "Why don't you go help her…? You don't need to listen to this conversation." He says calmly and Efa frowned slightly.
"But Elliot…" He says crossing his arms.
"Hey, you want to be a girl then you're going to be a girl. Go sort flowers." Elliot says causing Efa to pout and leave.
"Would you like to take them to your apartment? Your guest left with his associates a few moments ago." Rakkel says with a playful look on her face and Elliot frowned at her words.
"Let's hope he never comes back…" Elliot states with an annoyed look on his face.
"The deal didn't go through then?" Rakkel asks with a slight frown and Elliot glanced at her curiously. "Pity…" She says with a frown before she crossed her arms.
"Right…Let's not go upstairs. Is it alright if we take a table in the back? The bar shouldn't be too busy, since it's Sunday, right?" He says with a curious look on his face and Rakkel smiles brightly.
"Of course, you can do so, Elliot." Rakkel says warmly.
"Thanks." Elliot says hugging her. "You girls are too good to me." He says kissing her cheek causing her to smirk.
"Well, Elliot's good to us as well." She says warmly as Elliot motioned the three to follow him to a table in the back.
*Niisan: Casual Japanese noun meaning Older Brother; Onii-san is the formal form of this noun.