"This is the place?" I ask them as I get out off the carriage.
"An opera house?" Oz said coming out after me. "Haven't been in one of these since a long time ago."
"I haven't been in one period," I mumble to myself as I stand there looking at the immense building.
"Looks pretty enough on the outside," I turn as I see Break standing there. I immediately turn my gaze away towards the house again. "But what's inside is way more than just ugly."
This is pathetic. Scratch that, I'm the pathetic one. Since that night I haven't been able even look him in the eyes. It's because I still can't explain what happened. I jog up to were Oz and the others are. Which in what I'm wearing is hard. A dress of red, black, and white with frills the dress was originally strapless but I convinced Sharon I needed to wear a small jacket on top because of my illegal contractor's seal. She fell for it, truth was I wanted to cover my Ouroboros' tattoo. I also had a pair of red high heels, my hair up, sadly Sharon made me undo my plait, and I had this stupid red rose on as a necktie. Sharon… some times I wish she wouldn't do these things to me.
As we approach the entrance I see someone familiar, "Liam?" So he's originally Barma's servant. Huh, never saw that coming. He was always with Cheryl-sama that I thought he was from the Rainsworth's.
As we walked more into the house Oz kept talking about how he wanted to know more of the Tragedy of Sablier. At that I remember, I can talk to Analice. She might know something about this. But since the part I haven't even talked to Wrath.
"What's over there?" Alice suddenly said going away.
"Ah, Alice wait! Don't off by yourself!" I call running after her. That's when I heard Gilbert coming after us as well as Liam. "Gotcha!" I call as I snatch her by the collarbone.
"Let go!" she screeched.
"No way," I say to her. "You have to stay with us."
"What's with you!" she said angry as I let go. "You're all feisty and jumpy."
"J-jumpy!" I call blushing and angry as well. I was about to say something when Gil caught up.
"Welcome back~!" I turn around to Break's lousy call. Jumpy? Hell, if I am why isn't he? He's the same always! Gilbert started yelling at her and I stepped back for that.
As we got into the parlor that was where Duke Barma was I heard I distinctive laugh I'd recognize anywhere.
"C-Cheryl-sama?" I ask as I get in and noticing she's in there. As she's talking I look up to the man that has red hair. It's like mine, except his is brighter than mine. His eyes are red, too. He's handsome alright but something just throws me off. I suddenly take a step froth because a slight push someone gave me. I turn to look and see Break passing right by me followed by Gilbert. Why did he push me for? I leave Oz there and walk up to where the other two went. Break was watching something from the balcony. I got on my tip toes and looked over to the floor and stage.
"I wonder what's so special about this guy?" I say thinking out loud. "I mean he's a duke alright, but what's up with the terrible decorations?"
"What do you mean?" Gilbert asked me.
"Well, they look so somber somehow," I chuckle. "They remind me of this place I went to when I was little. It was a temple and they called it the Shadow Temple."
"Why Shadow?" he asked.
"Because in there were many tricks and traps," I said raising my finger like a teacher. "You had to have special kinds of eyes to get past through it. That or have the lenses that could make through the shadowy traps."
"Eyes?"
"The Eclipse Eyes," I say pointing at my eyes. "Like mine."
"Well," I flinched as Break spoke. "If you have such ability then this place will be a breeze to figure out."
"Figure out?" I say looking down. I close my eyes and let my pupils change color. When I open them I see the stage and floor but the people that were there before were gone. "W-what's the meaning of this?"
"You see it don't you?" he said as I let my vision come back to normal and turn to face him. "The farce this whole thing is."
"Farce?" I ask and suddenly turn at Alice's scream. I turn to see something hanging from the ceiling. Is that…?
"Ah," Oz calls. "Are you Sir Duke Barma?"
"Yesiree!" he calls in an annoying tone of voice. "I am Rufus Barma!"
"That…" I hesitate trying to find the right word but my mouth beats me to it, "Meatball is Rufus Barma?" That's when he pointed out Gilbert's lack of willpower for failing to quiet smoking eight times. I sigh, I guess he has little to no willpower. "And you!" he pointed at me with that stick of his. "You're the sin incarnated that walks this earth!"
"S-sin incarnated!" I called pissed at how he pointed me out.
"Yes. I know, I know; you're the reincarnation of a great mage. A witch that has had many names in the past but one soul in common: Wrath!" he explained all.
"A witch!" I called enraged. That's it! That last comment was the one that tipped the glass! I went charging over to the meatball when I feel a pair of arms on my waist pulling me back. "Let go of me!" I hiss to Break. "I'm going to kick his meatball ass!"
"You don't want to get kicked out of here right?" he says. I'm still a bit angry just as Barma starts freaking out.
When he drops off the balcony I run up to it and point out, "Ha! That's what you get!"
"Are you done?" Break asks as I breath in proudly.
"Yep!" I say cheerfully. "I hope he hurt himself~" I stop when they didn't move. "Is something wrong?"
"Oh nothing," Break says as Gilbert looks quiet shocked of something. "I just pointed out some things to Gilbert here."
"Haven't you learn not to meddle?" I ask as I follow him downstairs.
"I learned something alright," he said not turning to see me. "I learned that you're a very shy little girl~"
I blush, "Screw you!" We get to the bottom floor as he approaches Duke Barma. "Break?" I say as I notice the strong and dark atmosphere.
"You seem to be in rather high spirits," Break told the rolling meatball on the floor. "But the show's coming to it's end. I have to ask something though, what you sought after wasn't Oz but me, am I right?" I stopped right behind him. That tone of voice, I've never heard it from him before; so mean and so sadistic.
I tugged his coat a bit, "Break? H-hey, Break." But he wouldn't answer me and simply continued.
"Up till now all my requests have been denied by you. And now you invite me as well," he pointed out. "You said it yourself: to gain information you must give some in return. Within the information I've gathered; all, if any, that may interest you is…" He looked up at Barma with a cold gaze. "You've researched my past have you not, Sir Duke Barma." Barma was already up and suddenly a creepy grin crept up his face.
"You're finally here," he slithered. "The Red-Eyed Ghost."
"Red-Eyed Ghost?" I whispered. I've heard that somewhere before.
"B-Break," I stutter and smile a bit scared. "What does he mean?" He didn't answer yet placed his arm between me and Duke Barma.
"Oh, so she's the next Miss Haven Walker then~?" Duke Barma slithered his voice.
"Haven…Walker?" I moved from Break's safety and walked forth. "Who's Haven Walker?"
"Oh, you mean you don't know~?" he said.
I shook my head, "Who's-" but before I could repeat the question I heard Oz's yell.
"If you want to know, why not ask-" but before he could finish Break slashed him clean with his sword.
"W-why?" I said shocked and more than a bit scared by now as I turned to face Break.
"Why not dhow us your true form now," he said raising his scabbard and stabbing it down, "Rufus Barma!" On that instant was when everything began to disintegrate.
"What just happened?" I mumble as a deep voice takes my attention.
"Well, well," he said as I turn to see the same red head man sitting on one of the seats. "The illusion I poured my heart into to create is so pitiful. This is such a wretched power, Mad Hatter."
Suddenly I heard the violent coughs of Break. "Break!" I call in concern. Barma impeded Oz from getting to him but luckily I was already there. "Are you okay?" I asked. He simply smiled and turned his glare to Duke Barma.
"So pathetic," he called. "It is because you use your powers so recklessly." That's when Break throws one of his candies at Barma who catches it with ease. "Illusion will remain illusion. It cannot interfere with reality. That's mere child's play. Whatever," he let's the candy fall. It rolls over- "Even if it's an illusion, it might still scare people to death-" he stepped on it crushing the candy. Break started coughing again and I helped him, he looked like he was going to faint.
"Like you said, I want information that you possess," Duke Barma said. "First show me. That you," he stepped forth charging at Break. "Are Kevin Regnard's proven!" He shoved me back and blocked the attack. That's when Liam came out and stood in front of Break and got hit. I gasp, he drew blood out of him. Barma drew back, "Step aside if you're not helping."
"But now his body-!" Liam cried.
"His body is weakened because of the contract's effect. Did you seriously believe that?" he asked.
"But, that's is why. Isn't it?" I asked turning to Break who took his sight from mine.
"You don't…?" Duke Barma grinned. I foresaw what he was going to do next and stood in front of Break. "Your condition should be like this-" he charged again.
"Move!" Break grunted and threw me into Liam as he protected us both.
"Is because this is your second time, isn't it?" he called drawing that fan over his chest and making a rapture. And I saw it; the illegal contractor's seal. Alike mine yet the hand had already turned completely. He quickly covered it.
"Oh," Barma called. "So that's what the seal looks like after completing it's cycle. Ugly and twisted. It really suit's a sinful person like you."
"Ha," he whispered lowly but I heard. "You needn't…say." And just like that he fainted landing on Liam.
"Break!" I scream in utter fear and concern. "Break? Break?" I didn't even notice until I saw the tears on the floor that I was crying. That's when he started telling the story of an illegal contractor who was sent into the Abyss about fifty years ago. How the red eyes gave him the name of the Red-Eyed Ghost and that he had sacrificed 116 people to his Chain.
Then Oz surprised when he asked, "Then do you wish to arrest Break as a criminal, Sir Duke Barma?"
"Although that sounds like fun, all I want is information," he said. My eyes widened, he wants to know if something happened in the span that Break was in the Abyss. "All that's left now, is to await for him to awaken." I wiped my tears away and stand back up.
"Elena-chan?" Oz called confused.
"What does Wrath want this time?" Barma asked.
"I seek the truth behind what occurred with the seven Causes," I said straight out.
He grinned, "You're another question with no answer that I've liked to know about. One of the seven deadliest sins in human kind: Wrath. How is it that amongst all your reincarnations you landed on a nineteen year old girl?"
"It wasn't her choice to be stuck with me as I am with her," I answered confidently the words that came up in my head. "It just happened."
"So, it was a matter of luck," he said.
"Luck. Misfortune. Call it what you will. Because of her I've suffered so much. And everything's been bottled up inside of me. Hatred, agony, sadness, loneliness. Everything up until now," I said stepping forth.
"Show me then," he said his fan on his face. "That you are a Yue, a Daughter of the Moon, and that in your body resides the soul of the sin."
I stopped and raised my hands to my shoulders where the thin jacket was and took it off as I let it slide off them. With my hair up it was easy to see the snake that had already started eating the cross.
"E-Elena-chan… what is that?" Oz asked as he too noticed it. Hell, I think everybody saw it.
Barma walked in front of me and his hand caressed the mark on my right upper bosom. "It's still incomplete nevertheless it is perfect. Just as the archives say it looks like. I must ask are you perhaps the daughter of Angelica Genevieve?"
"Angelica was my mother," I say not really caring about his hand almost touching my breast. "And I am her daughter."
"I see," he said taking his hand away. "And you say you want to know about the Causes?" I nod, he simply sits down on top of a chair and sighs. "If I remember correctly I once read a testimony about them. It was said that a traitor among the seven was discovered and murdered."
"It was a woman by the name of Gardenia De Luca," I answered.
"Yes, I recollect now," he said motioning his fan over to the stage were a figure of Gardenia, almost a spitting image of me, appeared. "She was the witch from Yue."
"What do you know about her?" I asked walking closer to the stage.
"She was a fairly normal lady. Up until she was marked as a Cause. That' when her true nature came into surface. She wanted revenged against them and gave the Causes an idea. To turn the Lee against the Yue," he said.
"A traitor," I mumble looking at her.
"There's nothing more I know about that's relevant," he said.
"What about how she died?" I asked.
"As I said she was murdered by one of her comrades," he said.
"Pride?" I say.
"Yes, actually," he said not confused yet surprised.
"After that came the Baskerville," I smirk. "But I doubt you have anymore information about her than I do so never mind her. There's also my mother but I already know she was a sorceress of the white magic." My eyes widened, "There was a blonde girl."
He grinned, "Her name was Haven Walker. About a good fifty years ago, she was a nineteen year old girl like you." He motioned his fan over to the stage as Gardenia disappeared and Haven's figure appeared. The blonde straight her and the familiar grin that I still can't place right, altogether with those mesmerizing blue-green eyes. "She was a noble, only daughter of the Walker Family. If it means anything, she was good friends with the Sinclair's as well."
My eyes widened, "Sinclair's?" Suddenly my head started to hurt and I fell to my knees. Barma simply walked away to await for Break's wakening. All I remember before that was before I passed out I heard Oz's and Gilbert's voices calling my name in concern.
"Is she alright?" Oz called from his place of taking care of Break.
"Yeah," Gil called over as he took Elena and sat her close to the group on a seat. "She just passed out."
"How?" Oz asked.
"She might be suffering of memories from her past lives," Duke Barma said with a monotone voice. "She a sin. By this time she's already gone by with several bodies and human beings. The girl Elena Godspell might be here yet the dominant soul is that of the sin Wrath. If anything, I'm sure that history will repeat itself."
"What do you mean?" Oz asked confused.
"Wrath along with the other Causes where all murdered by their leader on their Judgment Day," he said.
"Their leader?" he asked again.
"The core of the seven sins, Pride."
