Acacius

Summary: "Acacius" Latin form of Greek name Akakios meaning "Not evil". Oz Vessalius is a youg demon being schooled on how to interact peacefully with humans as he finds himself pushed into the care of a bishonen but is he really a human? A Demon? A Blackbird?

Chapter 10- Allies

Allies- to associate or connect by some mutual relationship, as resemblance or friendship.

"Raven... Are you mad at me?" Oz says with a small frown as they sat at the breakfast counter eating breakfast but Gilbert looked more annoyed than usual which made Oz uncomfortable. Gilbert on the other hand looked quite shocked by Oz's question before looking at Oz worriedly.

"Of course not... Why would you make you think that?" Gilbert says softly before reaching his hand up and gently patting Oz on the head causing Oz to look up at him with a small frown before looking back down at his food.

"No reason." Oz whispered playing with his eggs slightly. 'Except for the fact I jumped off a pier to go after a necklace.' He thought silently as he took a bite of the eggs. Gilbert sat there staring at him for a moment before he pulled his hand away from Oz's head and continued eating his self. He wondered why Oz would ask him something like that but he knew Oz wouldn't tell him why because of past occurrences.

'I wonder if he thinks I'm upset over that incident… but that's not the reason at all. It's the fact that you're being used as a lab rat and don't even know about it. I would tell you but I doubt you would believe me.' Gilbert thought silently as he glanced back at Oz with concerns about the boy's well-being. 'He obviously was starting to remember the past… what he was remembering I'm not entirely sure but it had to be a painful memory.' He thought looking back at his food and Oz tilted his head to the side knowing Gilbert was staring at him.

'Gil… Gil… Gil… quit worrying about me already… I can handle my memories... after all I am a child of a demon noble. I'm pretty surprised really at what I did but I'm not afraid of what I did more I am curious as to what caused me to do so.' Oz thought smiling slightly glad that his sister counter-acted the spell Gilbert had tried to place on him. 'Still what I did seems more like a bad dream than reality.' He thought silently staring down at his meal with calm eyes.

"Oz is there something wrong? I'm not mad at you if that's what you're still thinking… but I am worried because of what happened yesterday. If some thing's wrong please don't hesitate to talk to me about it." Gilbert says softly and Oz smiled at him.

"I'm alright… Yesterday was just a fluke, my necklace fell into the ocean and I just went after it by a reflex. I'm sorry." He says with an apologetic smile on his face and Gilbert sighed before flicking his forehead.

"You should be… do you realize that you could have killed yourself doing that?" Gilbert says in a serious voice and Oz lowered his head slightly. "B-But don't worry about it… I'm just glad you're safe but I do expect that you won't do something like that again." He says in a serious tone and Oz laughed sweetly causing Gilbert to tense.

"Okay… I promise I won't and if I do I'll let you beat me." Oz says with a slight smile as he watched the man stare at him with a shocked, even speechless stare and Oz only continued eating enjoying the stare secretly. 'Gil… Gil… Gil… You look so much older but the expressions are still the same.' Oz thought gleefully as he listened to Gilbert stutter a response. After he was done eating breakfast Gilbert went into his office and worked on his work and Oz sat in the living room reading his 'Holy Knight' book he had brought with him. Oz was so into the story that he didn't even hear a knock at the door until Gilbert had opened the door and Oz heard chit-chatting and he glanced up and saw Vincent talking to Gilbert and he stood up with a disgusted look on his face before he stalked off to his room. He threw his book onto the bed before he jumped on to it and opened it back up. 'I'm not going to let bad company spoil my book.' Oz thought with a slight smile.

"How about good company then, No. 363… Oz Vessalius?" A voice says sweetly causing Oz to look over his book before jumping up to his feet smiling ear.

"Celeste, it's been centuries!" Oz squeals dancing over to a young woman who threw her arms around him and they stood there in an embrace for a moment before pulling away. "How are you? Did you come with that bastard, Vincent?" Oz says with a small growl and the woman, Celeste laughed flicked her cream colored hair back over her shoulder.

"No… I came to see you and speak about Ajax and how he died." Celeste says softly and Oz frowned before pulling away from her.

"Do you realize that my sister could have been in danger?" Oz says softly walking over to his bedside desk. He opened the bottom draw pulling out the red book and turned toward her. "This belongs to you? You better run off and hid in the sanctuary, you know…" Oz says softly holding out the book to her and she shakes her head.

"That is yours Oz… We trust you with the names of the rebels and the ones that are trying to end us." Celeste says softly sitting on the chair in the corner of the room. "Last night I got word of Ajax's death… He had died the night before by the hands of the red Shinigami." She says in a stern voice and Oz frowned lowering his hands. "Oz I fear for my child… not myself. I am an angel and I do not fear for my life but the life I created… S-She's at the sanctuary already, I put her there and went after Ajax who was leading them away but I could not find him and the men from Pandora came to the sanctuary and told us what had happened… I don't want your help but Ajax wanted to warn you but he didn't know exactly where so he gave a girl with your scent on her his message and seeing you have the book means that girl did know you." She says softly and Oz smiled.

"My younger half-sister, she's a full blooded demon unlike me, of course." Oz says calmly and Celeste smiled at him with understanding eyes. "I didn't need to be informed about this… After all I didn't remember much until recently; apparently Gilbert's necklace is retainer. Ada stopped it from retaining my memories. I didn't remember all of them until I woke up this morning, interesting right? How a little bit of memory can change your vision of life and what you believed to be." Oz says with a gleeful smile and Celeste frowns slightly not understanding what he meant.

"I don't understand but…but I just want you to be careful of the people around you don't know. It could be dangerous to trust someone fully." She says calmly and Oz laughed warmly

"You sound like Break! I'll be fine…" Oz says happily taking her hand and kissing it. "Besides if I was attacked by the Shinigami this book would be found in my possession and it would, I dare to say, can their asses." Oz says causing Celeste to giggle amusedly.

"Ah… so that is your reasoning." She says pulling him into a motherly embrace. "I still worry for you… You've already lost so much and we all don't want to lose you again. You are our savior, no matter how much those Pandora people think they saved us it truly was you." She whispers giving him a tight squeeze before pulling away and Oz stared at her curiously.

"You and I have very different memory of that incident, Celeste… I remember trying to kill everyone but you said I saved you all. That's really strange…" He says with a slight grin and she smiles warmly at him.

"That maybe so but we are still alive…and that is the important part, you stopped when it came to us…and Ophelia." She says calmly and Oz looked at her with gentle eyes that made Celeste feel like he would cry.

"It wouldn't have been right to kill someone who fought so hard to protect their child… You and Ajax both fought hard to fight for her. Just like I fought hard for…" Oz says stopping and looking at the door with a small growl. "Vincent must have sensed your presence… you better go and quick." He says calmly and Celeste smiled sadly before nodding and disappearing in a bright light. Oz then jumped on the bed and buried his red book under the pillow. As he opened his 'holy knight' book the door swung open and he heard Gilbert yelling at Vincent.

"Leave him alone, Vincent! He hasn't done anything wrong!" Gilbert's voice shouts and Oz looked at them hanging upside down with a fake curious look.

"Raven… What's going on? Who's this? Your brother?" Oz says sitting up letting a smile play across his face as he watched Vincent grimace at him.

"Oz…" Gilbert says softly watching him with worried look on his face and Oz walked over to Vincent with an innocent look and held out his hand to Vincent.

"I'm Oz Vessalius… It's nice to meet you. You're Raven's brother right? He wouldn't tell me anything about you… Tell me your name, please…" Oz says trying to act cute and Vincent scoffs and slaps his hand away.

"I can't stand that fake attitude of yours… Why the hell are you in my brother's house? You're just going dirty up the place and make it unclean just like you did him!" Vincent shouts and Oz looked at him like his feelings were hurt and Gilbert stepped forward.

"Vincent! That's enough! You never gave him a chance!" Gilbert yells putting himself in between Oz and Vincent glaring at Vincent with a serious look. "You never did even back then." He says softly knowing that Vincent could hear him but he didn't realize Oz did and the boy straightened his self up and placed his hand on Gilbert's sleeve.

"Raven… It's alright, I'm used to it. Don't be mad at your brother, I don't mind if he doesn't like me." Oz says with a smile on his face and Vincent glares at him.

"Oz that's not necessary… Vincent's being rude to you. You shouldn't let people disrespect you." He says in a serious way and Oz laughed as he remember what he did the last time someone disrespected him before he lost his memory.

"But I'm not insulted by what he says… But I don't think I'd dirty up the place, I mean I pick up after myself and I've showered today so I'm not dirty. He doesn't have to worry about me dirtying up the place because I'm a tidy person." Oz says with a laugh warping what Vincent said about him to sound like he was calling Oz a slob. Gilbert gave Oz a small smile wondering what was going on inside the boy's head but refusing the urge to read his mind as he watched Oz smile at Vincent.

'They're picking fights with each other… I had hoped Vincent would be nice to him but they're not getting along at all.' Gilbert thought frowning and Oz turned to him.

"I'm going to the bathroom, I'll be right back." He says calmly walking away and Gilbert sighed.

"We'll be in the living room." He calls to Oz before turning to Vincent. "Stop trying to hurt Oz! You already made him jump off a pier… Just leave him be, Vincent. He's still just a kid." Gilbert states coldly and Vincent rolls his eyes.

"It's been five centuries, Oniichan! He's a demon! A cat demon at that! You know that but you refused to kill him! Now he can harness his demon powers and hurt people." Vincent shouts and Gilbert tensed before crossing his arms.

"Oz hasn't hurt anyone yet has he?" Gilbert states in a serious tone and Vincent grimaces before looking away from his brother.

"He still has you wrapped around his finger like a dog on a leash… That's disgusting." He says with a disgusted look on his face and Gilbert raises an eye brow but said nothing and walked out of Oz's room to the living room. "Oniichan, don't ignore me! I am being serious, you should have killed the kid back then but you didn't and you even tried to cover up the fact you didn't! He's a mockery of the lines of Angels and Demons! He needs to die!" Vincent shouts and Gilbert looked at him with such a serious look that it made the man tense.

"Don't ever say that… you didn't live in that place with him for two years, you didn't see what was going on there! You have no right to say who should die, especially because you are an angel, Vincent! If you go around saying such things you will be forced to fall like the others." Gilbert states coldly as he turned away from his brother. "I'm your brother and that's the advice I'm giving you so do not go near Oz again, do you hear me? The next time something happens to him and you're involved I won't forgive you." He says softly knowing his brother was staring at him with wide hurt eyes.

"Fine… but when he finally gets what he deserves I'm shaking the hand of the one that dealt it to him." Vincent states before leaving the apartment using the front door and Gilbert sighed sitting down in the chair with a small scowl. He knew something like that was going to but he was worried that Oz would get hurt if his brother got near him when Gilbert wasn't there to protect him.

'Oz hasn't hurt anyone yet… Why did I say that?' Gilbert thought covering his face with his hand as he heard soft footsteps and he looked up to see Oz standing there with a frown. "Is there something wrong?" He asks watching the boy with slight worry because Oz wasn't looking at him.

"I-I'm sorry… I'm sorry that you got into a fight with your brother about me." Oz whispered softly, walking over behind the chair that Gilbert was sitting in and he sat on the floor and covered his head with his arms. "Sometimes I wonder why I'm not dead… He said I should die but I am not dead… I'm sorry if I made your brother hate you." He whispers closing his eyes. 'I really am sorry… You always talked about your younger brother about as much as I talked about my younger sister… Now you're getting into a fight because of me.' Oz thought letting out a small laugh. 'Why am I acting so bipolar right now? …Maybe it's because he…he stood up for me even though I really did hurt people. That's probably why it hurts…' Oz thought feeling like the emotions from the night before were coming back and he let out a whimper before he felt a hand on his back.

"You have nothing to be sorry for… You just continue to live okay? If you don't there are people that will be sad that you gave up without a fight. Always put up a fight when it comes to death, okay? Never die until you're old and grey and you've completed everything you've wanted to do with your life." Gilbert says softly and Oz lets out a soft laugh knowing that Gilbert was acting like Oz was some innocent teenaged boy.

'We're both acting trying to hide our identities from each other… even though I know he knows who I am but does he know I know who he is?' Oz thought looking up at Gilbert with a warm happy look. 'He's told this to me before though… back in the asylum, when I tried to kill myself. He said the exact same thing and I know the next part.' He thought smiling at Gilbert as the man looked at him with a bit of relief. "Life's complicated… and it may never get better but you just have to keep living, right?" Oz says with a small giggle at the surprise that appeared on his friend's face. "An angel in my dreams had once said the exact same thing… It makes me happy to hear it." He says watching Gilbert blush slightly before looking away.