CHAPTER NINE

Break hummed lightly, the sound echoing through the large main hall of Rainsworth Mansion. He'd spent a lot of time here when Sharon had been younger, so the painted walls, the chandeliers and the pillars, were all so familiar that he barely noticed them. Lady Shelley was drinking tea at the opposite end of the hall, her back to him. If she registered his presence, she didn't give any sign of it. He decided not to draw her attention, ducking through a door and into the side corridor that would lead to Sharon's room. It was not as rich and well-decorated as the rest of the mansion, but nor was it ugly or plain by any stretch of the imagination. The floor was tiled, and detailed paintings adorned the walls.

During his stay at the mansion, he had never really paid attention to them, but now, he could not help but realise that all the painted figures on the walls were of unicorns, and of rampant lions, locked in battle. He narrowed his eye, sweeping his gaze along the mural. The unicorns looked very similar to Eques, for that matter, and the lions all wore crowns, thin black wings sprouting from their backs.

Hmmm. Interesting.

His gaze rested on a small, painted name at the very right corner of the mural. It read 'FOR THE DUCHESS-TO-BE SERAFINA RAINSWORTH'. The name was familiar, he thought. A coincidence, perhaps? Lions with crowns and unicorns with shining black coats…and not to mention the Dark Unicorn's escape…

But no matter- he'd better go in. He needed to see for himself that Sharon was alright. Break opened the small wooden door, not bothering to knock, and let himself inside.

The room, painted a pale shade of blue, could only be described as pretty, or delicate, maybe. He had always wondered about the blue – Sharon's favourite colour was violet, after all - but the room was old, and had belonged to Ladies Rainsworth before Sharon. The furniture, too, was delicate, and Break knew that every piece was antique, dating back to before the Tragedy of Sabrie. He gave an old lampshade an experimental poke with his cane, one whose light he remembered reading to Sharon by. It dropped off the carved stool it had been sitting on, and rolled over to the leg of the four poster bed, where it cracked in two.

Yes, definitely delicate. "Oopsy," Break said aloud.

There was a faint, breathy sigh, and a sound that was eerily similar to someone slapping their palm against their forehead. He looked up to see Sharon lying in the bed, swathed in blankets. She gave a weak smile.

"Mistress Sharon!" Break said, not bothering to conceal his relief that she was awake. He swept to her side. "You're alright, then?"

She shrugged and pointed to her neck, which was wrapped tightly with white bandages.

"Oh, you can't speak…hmm, that's a bit of a bother."

She winced, and shrugged again.

"We could make a kind of…language of sighing?" he suggested. "Or throat clearing. Like a code." Break usually had no problem at all with one-sided conversations, but it got a bit strange when Sharon was the silent party.

Sharon shot him a look, and he laughed. "I'm glad you're alright," he said cheerfully. "I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that we're in the process of apprehending the ones who did that to you."

Her eyes lit up, and she visibly relaxed with relief.

"Of course, we'll let you know when they are caught." He imagined that she was saying 'thank you.' "The wound in your neck was made by a knife, and the wounds in your back were made by claws," he continued. "Pretty brutal, yes?"

She winced again, a hand going to her bandaged throat. His gaze flicked to her other hand, which was clutching something.

"What's that you're holding?" Break asked, noticing it. He moved closer, and laughed when he saw what it was. She tried to jerk it away, but he snatched it off her, grinning. "Oh, yes! Isn't this just precious!"

It was a short picture book, entitled 'The Lion and the Unicorn.' Each page was devoted to a line of the old nonsense poem, and illustrated beautifully. The book was a couple hundred years old, but was still robust as ever, and it was tradition for every Rainsworth child to have it read to them.

"Is this what I think it is?" he crowed, flipping through the richly decorated pages of the book. "It's your old picture book, isn't it, Miss Sharon! Oh, I remember when you were just this high –" at this,he demonstrated her height by pretending he was patting the head of a girl about the level of his knee – "and I would read this silly nonsense poem to you, over and over!"

She shot him a glare that said, Stop exaggerating. Please.

"Look, here's the lion victorious and, hmm, covered in …is this really a children's book?" he wondered. "Oh, and here's the drums and the cake –"

Sharon's frown was darkening rapidly. Break gave a smug grin, sensing not a little embarrassment on her part. "You know, I never realised," he commented, Sharon scowling at him like a thundercloud, "but the Unicorn in this story looks quite like Eques, doesn't it?"

The scowl vanished, and a pleading expression replaced it.

"Oh, I see, sorry," Break said. "You want a notepad and a pen, yes?"

She rolled her eyes and slumped back. He hurriedly fetched the materials and gave them to her.

No, you idiot, but I guess this is helpful, she wrote.

"Oops. Sorry!"

I want to know about Eques, she wrote. Where is he?

Break frowned. He didn't actually know. "Why can't you simply call him?"

If I could, I wouldn't need to ask for your help.

"Okay, then…wait a minute, I'll call HQ and find out." He concentrated, telling Mad Hatter to send the message, and proceeding to ignore the wave of dizziness and nausea that always spread over him the moment he even contacted his Chain. At least he didn't need to use its powers right now, or things would turn out…hmm, badly.

Mad Hatter replied almost immediately, and Break's fists clenched. "HQ says there's no response," he said. "Eques was last seen chasing a Baskerville, but that Baskerville turned out to be a fake, a kind of illusion."

Sharon nodded. Lucky for her. He, however, didn't have any idea as to what the Baskervilles had to do will all this…strangely enough. They usually had something to do with everything. But this time, it was all his fault…he shoved the thought away.

"And then, after that – nothing," he finished. "There's been no contact with him…I apologise."

She slumped back, looking to be on the verge of tears. Break didn't go to her side. Instead, he sat on the spindly stool, and he opened the book. On the title page was a long list of handwritten names, most of them scratched out, except for the last.

Serafina Rainsworth

Sarah Rainsworth

Ernest and Leon Rainsworth Leon and Ernest Ra Ernest and Leon Rainsworth

Laurence Rainsworth

And so on, until –

Sharon Rainsworth

He began to read, and Sharon's face gradually relaxed into a faint smile.

xxx

Oz sighed, finding it hard to ignore the gnawing, empty sensation in his stomach. He could really do with some food, but none of them had any idea how to get hold of some while in the middle of a forest, having either lost all their memories or grown up in a noble mansion, with cooks and servants and dinnertimes. They would probably have to find their way out of here before they starved to death or fell to the ground from lack of sleep, but this too was a bit of a dangerous option, given that they were all wanted by Pandora.

Lotti had somehow managed to make a fire, after a lot of messing around and failed attempts. For some reason, when Oz had asked her to do it, she had complied immediately. Flexing his fingers, he could feel the power tucked away in there, burning and fizzling in his nerves, ready to be unleashed at any second. It was And all of a sudden, he knew why she had done his bidding.

He looked at her face closely. Lately she had seemed normal, friendly enough, but…there was always something, there, behind her eyes, that betrayed the fact that she was just a little bit cracked-

He shooed the thought away. He didn't want to think about insanity. She had said it would come for him, but he would avoid it if he could. Lotti scared him still - possibly more than he scared her.

"So, comrades, we're sitting around a campfire and everything …you know what we should do?" Lotti said, to break the silence.

"What?"

"Sing!" Lotti said, grinning evilly. "You going to sing some songs for us, Rabbit Girl?"

"Can't sing," Alice snapped, poking the fire with a stick.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Absolutely positively suuuure –"

"Shut it, Baskerville."

She pouted. "Aww. I was looking forward to watching you make a fool of yourself."

Alice didn't deign to reply. She just stared at the pitiful fire that Lotti had managed to conjure up, legs drawn up to her chest.

Oz watched the two of them somewhat bemusedly. "What's all this business about singing?"

Lotti took out Leon's golden crown, and started twirling it around her hands. "Oh, nothing. Just trying to bring some life into this little…gathering? Thing."

Oz felt his face light up. "But you're right, Lotti!" he said excitedly. "That's exactly what we need to cheer us up. A song sing!"

"A ..singsong?"

"Yeah!"

"It wouldn't work, anyway."

"Why not?"

"Because the rabbit doesn't want to, I was only joking and you probably can't sing. And it's kind of weird, having a singsong with your enemy."

"Aren't I your friend?" Oz asked, looking hurt.

"What, you thought I was?" Lotti said irritably. "You're so naïve, Jack."

There were a few moments of silence, and then Oz spoke again, a kind of bitter smile on his face.

"Jack?" he said. "And we're the insane ones? Really?"

Lotti tucked a pink strand of hair behind her ear, just watching him.

More awkward silence. Oz fiddled with his pocket watch. "Why don't we tell stories, then? If you don't want to sing?" he said.

"Don't know any," Alice muttered sullenly.

"I do," Lotti said suddenly. "Leon once told me where he came from."

The two Chains looked up, startled.

"Don't you want to know?" she giggled. "He even told me his name – it was Leon Rainsworth!"

Oz dropped the watch. "What?"

"Oh, yeah," Lotti said. "He was a member of House Rainsworth. Long ago. Long before the fall of Sabrie. And he had these two brothers, whose names were Ernest and Andrew. He and Ernest were twins, but they fought a lot."

"He was…a person, before he was a Chain," Oz murmured.

"So were you both," Lotti said cuttingly, laughing when they flinched. "So, yeah, he said he and his brothers used to read this old picture book. He liked the lion best, 'cause it won. Ernest favoured the unicorn, said it deserved to win."

She stared into the embers of the fire, for a moment, then caught herself and kept talking.

"So one day their father the Duke got sick, and then Leon and Ernest realised that one of them was going to be duke, and only one. And did I tell you Andrew was a clever little sneak? He got this crown off his dying father– " she held up the crown that she had been spinning in her hands – "and he inscribed the words on it, and of course Leon and Ernest fought over it..."

"What next?" Alice prodded, sounding surprisingly interested in the tale.

"Their father found out, he got mad, chucked the twins into Abyss with the crown for good measure," Lotti said. "Of course, Andrew the sneak was named heir. Leon and Ernest slowly mutated into Chains. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"So Leon became a lion Chain…and Ernest…became a unicorn?" Alice said slowly.

"Eques," Oz realised.

"Got it in one!" Lotti said cheerfully. "Eques always remained loyal to House Rainsworth, lucky him. But Leon eventually formed a contract with a young girl named Charlotte Baskerville." She grinned widely. "It was an experience for him….here, have a look." She tossed Oz the crown.

He tried putting it on. It didn't fit him, and despite the inscription, he didn't exactly feel like the Duke Rainsworth when he wore it. Maybe it was a dud.

"So, got any more stories?" he asked, removing the crown regretfully. "Alice?"

"Of course," she grumbled. "I'm just not telling them to the likes of you!"

"Oh, really?" Oz said innocently. "Or maybe… do you just not know any?"

"Shut up!" She stood, hands clenched into fists. "The fire's dying down – I'll get some wood, OK?"

She ran off.

"Wonder why she's so sensitive about not knowing any stories?" Lotti wondered.

"I shouldn't have said that," Oz muttered, frowning. "I guess it was a low blow…after all, she's lost her…" Lost her memories…

He trailed off into silence.

"Lost her what?" Lotti asked.

"Why should I tell you?" he said. "Like you said, you're not my friend. You're a Baskerville." He flicked open the golden pocket watch, and a tinkling, haunting melody instantly began to chime from it. Lotti froze.

"It's my duty as a member of House Bezarius to kill you," he said, and he smiled.

Lotti laughed, her grin wide and mirthless. "Things sure have changed...Jack." This time, Oz knew the use of the wrong name was deliberate. He felt suddenly intimidated by her. She was a Baskerville, and she was dangerous, and she had stabbed his friend and killed countless people – and killed – and killed and killed and killed -

"Jack," he said numbly. "You called me Jack again."

"Well, if you don't want me to," she spat, voice rising, "stop BEING HIM-!" And she whirled to her feet and slapped him in the face. He stood too, staggering slightly, clutching a hand to his cheek.

"My name," he hissed at her through clenched teeth, "is Oz."

"I DON'T CARE!" Lotti screamed, looking truly unhinged. "I don't CARE, I DON'T CARE, I DON'T CARE! SHUT UP!"

He scrambled backwards rapidly.

"You killed Glen," she yelled, eyes wild and frenzied. "You KILLED HIM, Jack! There's – " she pointed at his hands – "there's blood, right there – I'll never forgive you, NEVER!"

She backed Oz up against a tree, placing her hands on his shoulders, and shoving her face very close to his.

"No, I'm not sane, Jack Bezarius," she growled, hands fisting in his shirt. "You're fooled far. Too. Easily." She licked a trail up his cheek, and Oz realised she was licking off the dried blood there. Her tongue reached his lips – she smiled –

Breathing in short gasps, leaning away from her as best he could, he drew on his power – he was on the brink, the power sizzling through him. Any second now -

She kissed him properly then, which was a bit of a shock.

He stood stock still for a single, horrified moment. In that moment, there was a rough yell, and Lotti – thank heavens – was jerked roughly away from him, possibly by the hair, and thrown to the ground. It was Alice standing in front of him now, looking furious.

For some reason, the first words that popped out of his mouth were, "I can explain!"

"Explain what?" she said, pulling her scythe out of the air with a vicious, jerking movement, and slamming it uncomfortably close to Lotti's throat.

"It's not my fault!"

"When did I ever say it was?" The anger was replaced with confusion almost instantly. Her grip on the scythe slackened, causing Lotti to scramble back hurriedly. "Here, do you still want the Baskerville alive?" She made a face. "Can't think why you would."

Lotti got to her feet. The madness in her eyes had died down.

"I think she's alright now," Oz said softly. "C'mon. We have to get out of here."

Alice looked at him for a moment.

"Insanity," she said. "When I was in Abyss, it was always there…it was waiting. Just beyond…" The scythe vanished. "Just there, right at the corners of my mind. I don't think I ever gave in."

Oz took her hands in his.

"We're not going to give in, though," he said urgently. "We can't. We aren't going to…are we?"

"That's not my point," she said, jerking her hands from his grasp. "I think there's a chance you might be insane already." She glared at him, daring him to talk back.

"Mercy is not insanity," said Oz, utterly calm. He turned and began to walk away. "Let's go. We need to get out of here."

After a couple of seconds, Alice followed, with Lotti bringing up the rear.

xxx

And they were getting along so well, too… alright, I admit it, I have this weird fondness for the crack pairing Lotti-Oz. Don't kill me! D: It just popped into my head when she licked up his cheek in episode something-or-other. But it only works if it's onesided, and if Lotti's having delusions of Oz being Jack.

Cliches involving romantic couples and poor communication kill me because they're just too stupid.

Yeah, I said I'd update in November. Never said early in November. Nice long chapter, though.

This chapter is pivotal in terms of plot. There's a lot of information here.

Go check out WolfspiritSD's drawing of Lion Oz! Remove the spaces:

h t t p : / / wolfspiritsd. deviantart. com /art/ Halloween- Chain-Oz-184296452