A/N: JSYK, I love getting suggestions for plot points and stuff. I may not use them every time, but I always see them and I can guarantee that I consider them, even briefly. ^_^ I like to know what my readers are thinking. So drop me a review!

~Penelope


Chapter Seven

"We must find him," said Glen.

"No!" Leo whirled about, and went to retrieve his discarded scabbard. "I'll find him! You need to ready the ship to disembark."

"You should take someone with you; we're in France now, Leo." Glen, violet eyes dark with concern, kept his voice low. "We can't go about freely as we can in Spain or Portugal."

"I know, I know," Leo sighed.

"Ooh!" Oz raised his hand and waved it frantically. "I'll go! I'll go! I know the city better than anyone!"

"All right, you go with him." Glen glanced around and grabbed Oz's wrist, lowering his flailing hand to his side.

Oh, right, Oz thought, we're not supposed to draw attention to ourselves. Oops.

"I'm coming too!" came a familiar gruff voice. Always one for an entrance, Alice leapt off the ship, bypassing the gangplank altogether, and landed on the dock with a loud thunk. "That Nightray is always getting us into trouble, and I wanna be the first to give him a piece of my mind!"

Leo made a snarling face at his sister that Oz never would have imagined him making. For a moment, he was a brutish pirate just like all the others. He wrinkled his nose, and tilted his head back and forth in a very mocking manner. "Get in line, Alice."

"I own the line, minion!" Alice brushed past him, nose in the air. She flipped her hood up. "Now, come! Let's go find that jerkface."

How old were they, eight? Oz rolled his eyes, and followed the two Baskervilles off the dock. He and Leo already had their hoods up. Leo sprinted a bit, and stomped on the tail of Alice's cape as she walked, making her flail for her balance. With a small snicker, Leo then rounded in front of her and took the lead.

Alice caught her balance, clenched her fists at her side, and growled just as Oz came up beside her. Her eyes blazed, her hair flew, and when she glanced sidelong at him, he flinched. Then she opened her mouth. Without waiting to hear what she had to say, Oz dashed ahead to catch up with Leo. He figured he was safer with the lesser of two evils at the moment.

Back into the busy market they went, with Leo leading as if he knew right where he'd find their missing shipmate. In very little time, they left the market behind and moved on into the business area of Chef de Caur. Less people surrounded them, yet a good number still lined the streets, going to and fro about their own private business. The institutions that populated this particular area were common inns and busy taverns, sometimes both in one building. The occasional shop disrupted the flow – a hat shop here, a seamstress' there, a bakery billowing the tantalizing scent of melting cheese, fresh oregano, and crisp baking wheat.

Then, they came to the theatre. And Leo stopped at the door. From within the massive hall, the faint playing of a clavichord* could be heard. Though muffled by the walls, the notes floated from inside with as much grace and wafting charisma as the smell of bread did from the bakery, pleasing to the ears rather than the nose. Oz smelled the bread from down the street, and heard the sound of the music, and took a deep, soothing breath. How charming!

Leo marched up the theatre steps, and barged through the doors, making one of the nearby attendants jump, and put a hand to his heart. "Goodness me!" the man exclaimed.

"Shhh!" Oz hissed.

Alice, who tromped in behind him like a queen, jabbed a finger at her brother's face. "Yeah, be quiet, four-eyes."

Leo just rolled his eyes and proceeded into the performance hall, where the clavichord music grew even louder. It echoed off the walls, swooped over their heads, and yet the source of the sound, they could not see.

After looking around a moment, Leo descended into the stands, toward the stage. Oz and Alice followed, hopping up onto said stage after him. The noire then made his way backstage, with the other two in tow. There, the music grew to its loudest, and sounded very near.

At the back of the storage rooms, where the larger instruments were kept, stood three clavichords, only one of which was being used. By a very familiar person, as well. Another person sat cross-legged beside the stool on which the first perched, and leant their dark-haired head against the player's side.

Oz wanted to hear the music finish. But Leo, it would seem, was not feeling patient. The noire stepped forward, and blurted out, "Elliot!"

The music halted, and both of the room's former occupants turned around. Elliot, as always, looked positively furious at being interrupted. The other, Oz saw, was a girl – a young woman in a loose, heavy dress and robe, with short, feathery raven hair and bright blue eyes that matched Elliot's.

"Leo! What the ****?" Elliot leaned on the corner of the bench.

"One of these days, you're going to get us all caught and hanged, you irresponsible…" Leo searched for an insult to hurl at his friend.

"Jerkface," Alice muttered aside, and Leo clenched his fists and ground his jaw.

"I was searching for a worse word, but I suppose since there are ladies present…" Leo huffed, folding his arms over his chest.

"You and Glen took long enough at the brat's house," said Elliot, jerking his head toward Oz, "that I knew I had time to run a few quick errands."

"And endanger your head, our heads, and the heads of the entire crew while you were at it!" exclaimed Alice, pointing an accusatory finger.

Elliot scowled, and pushed her finger out of his face. Alice moved it back again, and he did the same thing. Alice moved it back between his eyes a third time, and then Elliot grabbed her wrist, swung her around, and wrenched her arm around her back.

"Ow!" Alice cried, face a mask of fury. "Let go of me!"

Oz watched with wide eyes, and Leo stood back and did nothing as Elliot drew a curved knife, and ran it under Alice's chin. The pirate princess froze stiff.

He didn't yell. He didn't growl or spit or curse. Though his cobalt eyes blazed, his voice was low and controlled, and that scared Oz more than any amount of yelling or ranting. Because he had never seen the buccaneer that way.

"I could slit your throat right now," the Nightray muttered, teeth clenched, "and you would drop dead at my feet. No one in the known world would care, and not even your brother could stop me in time."

Alice gulped, and Elliot then shoved her away from him, sending her stumbling.

"No wonder you have headaches so often, Elly." The new voice came from the young woman, and everyone but the person she addressed turned to look at her. "If you're hanging around these people all the time, you'd be better off staying with Mamma and I."

"Who's this?" Alice spat, keeping her distance from Elliot, yet still obviously perturbed.

"His sister," Leo answered before Elliot got the chance. Elliot then glared between the two Baskervilles, and Oz had to pity him. Two against one didn't seem fair, no matter how adept Elliot was at aggressiveness.

"Vanessa Nightray, yes," said the woman, shooting Leo a very Elliot-esque look.

"We don't have time for introductions!" Leo turned to Elliot. "The captain is ready to leave; we can't stay here longer than we have to."

Oz wasn't sure if he was hallucinating or not, but he swore he saw a flash of hurt cross Elliot's steely face. The sandy-haired youth simply deepened his glare.

"You visited long enough; why can't I do the same?" he growled.

"Because we're leaving now," Leo retorted. "And we'll leave you if we have to."

Ha. Oz doubted that. No matter how angry he was, Oz knew Leo wouldn't dare leave his friend behind.

Elliot had no response beyond glaring a little longer before he averted his gaze to stare at the wooden floor. Vanessa sighed, and put a hand on her brother's shoulder. Oz thought she seemed older, yet she was shorter than he.

"It's all right, Elly," she said as he turned around. "Go. We'll be fine."

Oz leaned over, trying to get a glimpse of Elliot's face. He sense a tenderness between them that he'd never seen from the buccaneer, and he wanted to see it on his face for himself. He managed to find an angle from which he could almost see Elliot's profile. True enough, he looked pained, conflicted.

Then he turned further, and Oz lost sight of the brilliant blue of his eye as he clasped his sister's face gently and rested their foreheads together. "Come with us this time, Van. Please? You'll be so much safer."

Oz could see the sad smile that stretched her pale lips even as she shook her head. "You know the life of a pirate is not the life for me. Besides, I have to take care of Mamma."

"She could come too! Captain Glen would take good care of all of us."

But Vanessa's headshake grew more fervent. "No. I'm sorry, Elly… I can't. We can't. Not now."

Oz got the idea that she referred to something that only she and her brother knew of, and he felt confusion again grip at him. Would all of these mysteries ever connect?

"But you, now," the young woman said slowly, clasping her brother's hands in her small, frail-looking ones. "You take care of yourself. Don't go and do anything stupid. You are all that I have left."

Elliot nodded, and then returned the embrace when Vanessa wrapped her arms around him. Alice made an unladylike noise while Leo stood stoically aside, waiting. Oz watched the scene in wonder.

The city bells began to toll seven o' clock as the siblings parted. Elliot planted a kiss on his sister's cheek, and then pulled up his own hood.

"Love, laugh, live," muttered Vanessa, clasping his hand.

"Weep, hate, survive," replied Elliot. Then he turned, and stalked toward the stage door. Leo followed close behind, then came Oz, and then Alice. They all filed out of the theatre and onto the city street as the sun dipped low in the sky. Once outside, Leo took the lead and began the march through the city.

Oz fell into step beside Elliot, who kept his head down. Peering up at him, Oz again tried to glimpse his face, to no avail. He searched for something to say.

"I'm sorry," he finally came up with.

Elliot jerked his gaze toward him.

Oz offered him a smile. "That you have to leave your family behind."

"Tch," the Nightray scoffed. "Sentiment. It gets you nowhere, when you live like we do."

"Sure it does." Oz rolled his eyes. Only a pirate would try to deny having shown care for something or someone so obviously mere moments after they had done so. "But it still hurts."

"I don't want your pity, midget," Elliot spat.

Oz frowned. "I'm not offering you my pity, you jerk!"

"Shh!" Leo hissed over his shoulder.

Biting his lip, Oz lowered his voice, but tried to be just as earnest. "I'm offering you my empathy."

"What's the difference?" Elliot shrugged it off. Then Oz caught his shoulder and dragged him to a halt.

"Hey!" he snapped quietly, leveling his gaze up at the buccaneer. Elliot kept the irritated look on his face, though his eyes showed some surprise.

"I'm leaving my family here, too," Oz continued firmly, his mind's eye looming over his own manor house. He pictured his uncle in his study, writing his latest letters to his brothers. He wondered what they said… "I know how it is. It hurts, and if you were honest with yourself and everyone else, you'd admit it. It's not easy. And you know what?"

Oz paused, stepping back with a heavy sigh. "My father… is Cardinal Jack Vessalius. And I'm not sure who he is anymore."

He frowned, and resumed his hard glare. "So don't assume no one can feel the way you do, you arrogant, overblown… jerkface!"

Elliot simply raised a sardonic eyebrow.

"Elliot?"

Again, a new voice. A stranger's voice. Oz jumped, and the tense, emotional atmosphere evaporated instantly.

Elliot looked to the side, and Oz followed his gaze to his left, where a girl stood. She had mussed shoulder-length moon-silver hair, and flat blue eyes that held an unnerving sense of emotionless apathy. She stood about as tall as Oz did, and wore a dirty, simple blue dress and white apron, more like a uniform than a casual day outfit. The rumpled sleeves were so trumpeted and long, they covered her hands, so that only the tapered ends of delicate fingers peeked out from the hems.

She was pretty.

Oz felt his ears grown warm at the thought, while Elliot frowned.

"Echo?" the older boy said in surprise, and glanced around suspiciously. He took a step closer to the girl, Echo, and lowered his voice even further. "What are you doing here?"

"Vincent…" She swallowed, and finished in more of a monotone. "Master Vincent left me here."

Elliot's eyes flashed. "What?"

"Master Vincent told me to stay here, and then didn't come back." She spoke with the same blank expression, showing no emotion whatsoever with the admission.

"Where have you been staying?"

"The alleys are quite comfortable, I've found. Sometimes, I can even find a discarded blanket among the rubbish."

"The rubbish!?" Oz exclaimed, making both of them stare at him.

Who would dare leave this poor girl alone in such a large port city, by herself, with no home, no food, nothing!? The fiend! How dare he! How dare this Master Vincent, whoever he may be!

"That's horrible!" Oz stamped his foot, and then held out his hand toward the girl, bowing at the waist. "Such a lovely creature shouldn't be left to rot on the street! She must come with us!"

Elliot blinked, looking confused and just a tad frightened. "…With us?"

"Yes! Uncle Glen wouldn't hesitate to welcome her, I'm sure." Oz gave them both an excited grin.

Elliot just looked more confused. "Uncle…?"

It had just slipped out, that… But surely, Glen wouldn't mind. He was like an honorary uncle, now, anyway.

"Will you come with us, Lady Echo?" asked Oz, giving the lady in question a winning smile and a gallant sweep of his hand.

"It's just Echo," she deadpanned, not fazed in the least.

But surely she was just harder to please. After all, no one was immune to the charms of Oz Vessalius!

"Well?" he pressed.

She glanced at Elliot, who just shrugged, leaving the choice up to her. She glanced between the boys, and then sighed.

"I'm not a seaman in the least… but I do suppose a boat would be more comfortable than cobblestone."

"YAY!" Oz spun about like an ecstatic butterfly, almost knocking his hood from his head. He grabbed at the hem in haste, tugging it back over his forehead. Elliot shushed him, and he had the decency to look sheepish, cheeks coloring.

"Right. Okay. Follow us, Lady Echo! And we shall take you to your new home, and an entirely new world!"

"It's just Echo," said Echo.

"Tch," said Elliot.


*A clavichord is an old version of a piano, for those who don't know. You can look it up on Youtube; they sound quite elegant.