Alexis looked outside her door. The hallway was clear. She walked out quietly and closed the door.
"Alexis, you're up," Reim was turning the corner, "It's good to see that—" She ran up to him and covered his mouth, silencing him, "Shhh, Reim, if you talk any louder Sharon will find out I'm up and out of my room." Alexis pulled her hand away. Reim sighed, "I see why Miss Sharon would be worried since you were unconscious when you all got back last night. Are you alright?" He waved his hands in front of her face in various patterns to see how she would react.
She stopped his hands. "I'm fine. I haven't had a dizzy spell at all since I woke up." Letting go of Reim she took a step and started to stumble. Before Reim could catch her someone caught her from behind.
"I beg to differ."
Alexis and Reim looked up. Gilbert had caught her by the waist and was holding her steady. "Oh, good morning, Gilbert," she greeted. He raised an eyebrow, "Alexis, it's one in the afternoon you've been asleep all morning." Alexis pulled away from him and tried standing on her own. "If it's this late, where is everyone?" Reim and Gilbert looked at each other. "Are you sure you're alright?" Reim asked again. She crossed her arms, "Don't worry about me, I'm perfec-… I'm fine."
They started to lead her to the sitting room. "Oz, Sharon and the rabbit are in the sitting room," explained Gilbert. She paused. "What about Break?" Alexis remembered how the last time she had seen him he was unconscious. "He still hasn't woken up yet, but he didn't have any serious injuries," Reim explained. "Did he… use Mad Hatter's powers?" The memory of her, Elliot and Leo leaving him with the Baskervilles flashed through her mind. Anything could have happened. Gilbert answered her hesitantly. "He did, but we don't know to what extent." Alexis became silent. Now she was even more worried.
Gilbert opened the door to the sitting room, and sitting at the table with tea was Oz, Alice, Sharon, and Alexis' mother. "Mother?" Alexis looked at the women surprised at her presence. The older woman stood up at hearing her daughter and rushed over to hug her. "Thank goodness you're awake!" Her mother looked at her at arm's length and looked her over to verify to herself that her daughter was alright. "I'm fine," Alexis reassured her, "It's good to see you, mother, but how did you know I was hurt?"
Her mother looked at Reim. "Reim sent me a message about your condition," she looked back at Alexis, "and I heard at Pandora this morning that you all were in Sablier." Alexis was still surprised that her mother was here. They never had a good relationship, it had gotten better after her thirteenth birthday but it wasn't the best, her mother was still obsessively over protective. Alexis was always sad that her and her mother couldn't connect better. Sometimes Alexis thought it was because she looked nothing like her mother; she had dark ginger hair with deep brown eyes, and Alexis had dark brown hair and bright blue eyes, like her father and his family. Although her father would always tell her that she had her mother's smile.
"Are you sure you're alright?" her mother asked. Alexis smiled and walked a few steps back. "I'm fine mother. I woke up feeling perfectly fine." Gilbert and Reim cleared their throats behind her. "Well, I woke up feeling better," she restated remembering her little stumble not so long ago.
"What about at Sablier?" her mother asked, "what happened?" Alexis was a little taken aback. "What do you mean what happened? Do you mean how I got hurt?" she wasn't sure what her mother was asking. Her mother nodded, "Yes, and also if anything… strange happened to you." Everyone could tell that Alexis' mother was probing for something specific.
"Countess," Sharon intervened, "you shouldn't stress your daughter too much she did just wake up from an injury."
"Oh, you're right, Lady Sharon," Alexis's mother glanced at Sharon and back to her daughter, "I'm sorry, Alexis, you still must not be at your full strength." Alexis gave her a tightlipped smile. "Don't worry, mother, and besides I woke up feeling better. No dizzy spells or anything." Her mother smiled sadly, "That's good to hear."
Reim stepped forward. "Countess, you're needed back at Pandora." She looked past Alexis to Reim. She sighed, "That's right, I could only get away for a little bit," she placed her hand on Alexis's cheek, "But I'm glad I was able to see you and find out myself you were alright." She reluctantly let her daughter go and turned around to leave for Pandora with Reim showing her to her carriage.
As soon as her mother left, Alexis collapsed on the couch and sighed deeply. "Alexis, are you alright?!" Oz asked worriedly. The woman looked up, a faint smile on her face. "Don't worry, Oz," she reassured him, "I'm fine; I'm just still trying to figure out my mother." Sharon took a sip of her tea before speaking up, "You still haven't deduced your mother's motives, Alexis?" The brunette nodded. "All these years and I still have nothing."
"What do you mean exactly?"
Alexis looked at Oz. "I figured out a while back that my mother has been hiding something from me and I've been trying to figure out what it is. And the thing is I'm pretty sure that she knows."
"And you haven't decided on confronting her about it?" asked Gilbert as he sat on the couch next to her. She shook her head. "Even if she does know that I know, I'm afraid that she would still deny it. Whatever it is that she's hiding, she wants me to figure it out."
Oz put his cup down clinking it as he put it on the plate. "Oh! Your mother brought something for you," he remembered. The boy walked over to a table by the window and picked something up, Alexis heard the crinkle of paper. "It was nice of her to bring these, considering how you love flowers!" said Oz as he placed a bouquet in her hands. Alexis' eyes widened when she realized what kind of flowers they were. She stood up dropping the bouquet on the floor.
"What's wron—?" Alexis cut Oz off by leaving the room. She was going at a fast pace but it soon turned into a run. She finally stopped and collapsed to the ground. It was then, as she felt soft grass beneath her, that she realized that she was outside. "I would end up outside…" she mumbled as she breathed heavily trying to catch her breath.
Back inside Oz was surprised by their friend's actions. "What was that about?" asked Alice tired of the silence. "Daffodils," Sharon merely said. Everyone looked to the Rainsworth daughter not understanding. "Sharon, what do you mean?" asked Oz.
"The daffodil is the Rosewood family's crest, but its meaning goes deep into the family's history and its purpose," she explained, "in the language of flowers the daffodil means chivalry, or the code of chivalry. The family is heavily burdened by sustaining its honor as a neutral earldom. With a conspiracy that arose years ago, but was soon after neutralized, the family's honor was made even more burdensome for the next generation, or in other words Alexis."
"But why do they have that burden?" asked Oz enthralled by his friend's family history. "We don't know," answered Gilbert, "Her family has a power that has kept them in their position for years. That power has been passed down from one Rosewood to the next, but no one outside of the family even knows who that is at any time," he looked out the window, "Alexis once told me how she thought that power as trapping her family. With the burden of their honor intensified it puts an extreme amount of pressure on her and it stresses her out when she's reminded of it."
Back outside, Alexis was still breathing heavily as she wrapped her arms around herself. 'No matter what I do I won't be able to escape my fate, I will have the Rosewood family's honor on my shoulders.' She stared up to the sky at the passing afternoon clouds. 'If only once I could feel what it's like to feel as light as a cloud…'
Alexis sat in a plush arm chair as she watched Break, still not having had regained consciousness. She hated being lonely, she especially hated knowing if one of her friends were alone. This is why she took it upon herself to sit in Break's room whenever she could as he still recuperated from whatever had happened at Sablier.
"Oh, you're here again, Alexis?" asked Reim as he walked into the room. "Of course I am," she answered, "I don't like my friends being alone at a time when they're hurt. But I am a little worried; three days and he still hasn't woken up."
"Don't worry I'm sure he'll wake up soon," he walked over to her, "Don't you think you should be getting more rest?" Although she kept saying otherwise, Alexis kept getting the occasional dizzy spell over the three days since returning from Sablier. "I have been getting better don't worry so much, Reim." She smiled.
They heard movement from the bed. They looked over to see Break's eyes open and his hand across his forehead. Alexis stood up from her chair and walked over to the bed. "Break, are you alright?"
"Alexis, where am I?" Break asked, "Am I still at Sablier?" Reim was behind Alexis. "Eh? Are you sleep-talking?" he questioned wondering if his friend was perhaps dreaming.
"You're in a Rainsworth villa~"
Sharon appeared in front of Reim and Alexis all of a sudden looking angry and scary, and clapping a fan in her palm. She was walking toward the bed. "You're finally awake? Break~"
The next thing anyone knew Break had been beaten down by Sharon's fan with Reim kneeling next to him freaked out, and Alexis, who had escaped being in the girl's sight of vision, hiding far from her gaze.
"I had a feeling you and Reim were sneaking around behind my back, and then you suddenly vanished," Sharon scolded the two. She turned her full attention to Break. "Why is it so hard for you to report to me before you go off and take reckless action?! And do you see what has happened after you acted on your own?! You always end up in tatters because you insist on charging ahead alone!"
"No… this here… is my lady's doin—" Break cut off his weak explanation as he saw tears start to form in Sharon's eyes and looked away. "I-I called your name so many times, yet you did not wake up…! I was so scared… so very scared…"
Alexis had never seen Sharon so down. "Lady Sharon," Reim went to Sharon's side, "Hey, Xerxes! Just look at how much you've made Lady Sharon worry! How about offering her a word of apology?"
"Geez, you're the worst for making a girl cry, Break," Oz added.
"Yes, exactly-…Ah! Oz-sama!" exclaimed Reim.
"When did you get here?!" asked Alexis coming over to the group looking at the boy surprised. "Right now," answered Oz, "Good morning, Break~" Oz turned to the door waving someone in, "Hey, Gil, get in here already!" Alexis looked over to the door seeing Gilbert looking around the door looking quite gloomy. "Br-Break, are you… better… now?" he asked. Break stared at Gilbert with a bored expression, "The sight of a certain depressed-to-the-max seaweed head has made me quite ill." Alexis laughed slightly at seeing Gilbert's attacked reaction.
"Xerxes!" cried out Reim.
"Oh yes, Oz-kun, how long have I been asleep?" asked Break. "Oh, uh, almost three days," he answered, "Oh man, after you collapsed there was a really weird earthquake, than we were forced to come back."
"A weird earthquake?" repeated Break.
Oz looked away for a moment before answering, "Ah, how should I put it… Guess you could say it gave me a real bad feeling. Then Pandora officials came and brought us back telling us it was dangerous."
After Oz's explanation everyone went off into their own conversations over tea. Alexis was told what happened with Oz and the others; how he had seen an illusion of Glen Baskerville and Alice had seen a memory of Jack Vessalius.
"Gilbert," called Sharon, "did you see anything like Oz-sama or Miss Alice did?" Gilbert looked away before he answered, "No… I didn't see anything." Both Sharon and Reim looked at Gilbert skeptically.
An idea hit Alexis. "Break, why did you go to Sablier?"
"Yeah," added Oz, "it wouldn't have been to save us?"
"How could you~?" answered Break smiling, "I course I came to save you! That was my pretext at any rate. My aim was to discern the consequences of your actions. It's like I said before; Oz-kun is always at the eye of the storm. I was thinking that if I'm lucky I might be able to meet the Baskervilles." Gilbert was pouring some more tea when Break finished his statement. "Why would you want to meet the Baskervilles?" Break reached for a pastry missing it completely and felt around until he found it. "I'm not telling you~!"
CLAP, CLAP
"Now then, someone is still very tired," announced Break, "so you youngsters should get lost, go on." Reim looked at him irritated, "You just want to postpone writing your report." Break flopped back down onto the bed, "No, I would never think of pushing my work onto Mr. Reim!" Alexis smiled at his response. "Rest well, Break," she said as she walked out the door with the others.
"How about we go get some fresh air," suggested Sharon. "That sounds good," agreed Alexis. Sharon looked back at noticing only Gilbert and Alice were with them. "Oz-sama, what is Reim doing?"
"Ah, they… still have to talk about work!" said Oz as he ran over to them.
The group went out to a balcony to talk about a few things. Sharon, Alice and Oz were actually out on the balcony while Gilbert and Alexis were just inside through the doors, the gentle breeze blowing in.
"Sablier has been a research lab for Pandora's experiments," started Sharon, "The powers of the Abyss that fills Sablier, to better understand it, Pandora uses those who come to and gather around Sablier." Alexis leaned back on the couch she sat on as Sharon's words sunk in. "After Break went missing I forced this out of Reim," continued Sharon, "using opportunities to work as bait, they forced people belowground to investigate how the powers of the Abyss affect human bodies."
"They used humans to research the power of Abyss," Oz concluded.
"Human experiments…" mumbled Alexis. Gilbert glanced at the brunette from his spot by the balcony doors at hearing her.
"I can understand why Reim did what he did, keeping it a secret," added Sharon, "We do not know how much of this is the truth, so it is likely that he did not wish to put Oz-sama in danger with unreliable information." Her expression fell at her next thought. "But, Break… he kept silent because he didn't want me to hear something so dark is what Reim…" Her voice became softer as she continued, "I am not a child anymore that requires constant care. I want to properly be with Xerx-niisan and help him."
"Sharon, what's happening? Are you depressed?" asked Alice observing the Rainsworth daughter. The three outside on the balcony were now in their own conversation as the two inside were thinking to themselves. The breeze began to pick up and blew some stray petals inside.
"So if Sablier is a research lab," started Alexis, "then what is the House of Fianna?" She looked up at Gilbert. He took a drag of his cigarette, "I'm not sure, but I have this feeling that Duke Nightray is somehow involved." She nodded, "The only question is, what do we do from here?"
Alexis was silent for a moment before looking back up at him. "Gilbert, what happened to you at Sablier?" He inwardly flinched. "Why do you ask?" She stood up and walked over to him, feeling the breeze on her cheeks. "Come on, Gilbert, you've been different since Sablier, more so depressed. What did you see?" He could tell by her eyes that she was worried. He looked away. "What I saw at Sablier made me rethink, a lot." Alexis could tell that Gilbert was really torn up inside at trying to figure out what to do now that he saw what he saw. "But, don't worry about me, I'll be fine," he added giving her a smile to put her at ease, remembering how barely a few days ago she nearly had an emotional breakdown. "Right," she whispered.
Alexis held her head, slightly lightheaded from being up for so long. "Gilbert, can you tell Oz, Alice, and Sharon that I went to my room to rest?"
"Of course, but are you sure you'll be alright by yourself?"
"Don't worry I'll be fine, I've been getting better over these past few days."
Gilbert smiled and brushed aside a piece of her hair that had blown into her face, "Alright then, rest well, Alexis." Her cheeks started to tint at his gesture. "Th-thank you, Gilbert," flustered, Alexis left the room trying to interpret the feelings behind her friend's actions.
