I do not own Pandora Hearts in any way!

Speech Key:

"The" – Oral/Normal Speaking

'The' – Thoughts

'The' - Telepathic Speech

AN: Seriously, sorry for not updating, but I was literally waaaaaaay too busy, and my baby cousin sometimes just wouldn't leave me alone!

Oh, and now that Oz being Jack is out in the open for some people,. I'll be alternating the use of 'Oz' and 'Jack' throughout my story; unless it's in oz's thoughts and he's talking to Jack himself.

Enjoy!

The Altered Rotation

oO~Greetings & a Grave~Oo

-Rainsworth Manor-

"Why did you block the memory?" Sharon asked as she Break, Gilbert, Alice and Oz took a seat in the small room they talked in once before.

Oz shrugged. "I didn't want anyone to find out who I was too early, but I didn't want to explain twice or go through the explanation more than once, so I just told you all at the same time and blocked it until it was time for you to know. But unfortunately, Zwei shot down that plan, back there."

Oz's expression turned serious as he leaned back into his chair, arms crossed over his chest. "Now I don't want anyone to know that Oz Vessalius is back from the Abyss. If anyone wishes to know who I am, I'll just tell them what I told you: that I'm Jack Vessalius. I will only tell those truly trustworthy of who I am."

-Elsewhere-

"What?" a voice asked. "What did you just say?"

"Jack Vessalius has returned," Zwei repeated for probably the thousandth time.

"Are you sure you're not getting him confused with the boy?" a figure asked.

Zwei's head snapped towards the figure. "Of course not, Lottie. Why would I lie about something like this?"

"Well, then," the figure known as Lottie, said, "If the fabled hero has returned, I propose we give him a nice welcoming gift; don't you think so?"

The group that belonged to or followed the Baskerville agreed heartily.

-Rainsworth Manor-

"Now, I think we should head back to where my Coming-of-Age Ceremony was held," Oz suggested, as the group walked down a hall.

"Why?" Gilbert asked his master.

"Because I think that there may be clues that we can use and because I have a feeling that a shard of Alice's memories might be hidden there," Oz explained.

"Oz-sam—" Sharon began, only to be cut off by the windows shattering.

Members of the Baskerville piled in through the shattered panes, but to the groups' surprise, only four members had arrived.

Gilbert cocked his gun, ready to shoot when necessary; Break had placed Sharon behind him, holding her there to keep her from harm; Alice was poised in a battle stance, in case Oz had wanted her to transform; and Oz…Jack was just standing there, mildly surprised.

'They've found out this quickly?' Jack thought. 'I expected them to find out and pay us a visit, but definitely not this early.' He quickly wiped his face and posture of any emotion.

Pandora~Hearts

All four were different heights. One looked bulky and was the tallest of the four, a second was probably a foot shorter, the third was taller than the second but shorter than the first, while the fourth was shorter than the first, but taller than the other two. The third figure was carrying a zanbatō.

Pandora~Hearts

"Well, well, well," Lottie drawled, "It seems like the hero has indeed returned!"

"I would greet you as I used to, Lottie," Jack replied, "But in these circumstances, and in our present situation, I should think not."

Lottie only grinned as she pulled down her hood, revealing her face.

Pandora~Hearts

She had mid-back-length dark-rose-colored hair with two long, thick strips of hair going down to just past her shoulders. She had pale skin and red eyes. She looked no older than twenty or maybe even eighteen.

Pandora~Hearts

"Jack," Lotties said in a mock-bored tone, "I don't know why you've come now or even managed to survive these last hundred years or so," Lottie's mocking expression was replaced with an unforgiving expression, "But that doesn't matter; we'll eliminate anything that gets in our way; innocent or guilty."

Jack only smirked coldly as the figure with the zanbatō came charging at him, as though to prove Lottie's statement true. The gold-haired male charged at the hooded figure coming towards him and leapt out of the way just as the figure was about to strike, and landed behind the fourth figure.

Jack smirked even coldly as he caught a glimpse of the fourth member's face. 'Just as I thought.'

"Lottie," Jack said, suddenly, gaining everyone's attention, "You've proved your point, but I have mine to make." He glared icily at the rose-haired woman. "I will stop the Baskerville just as I did a hundred years before, if I must, to stop history from repeating itself. I won't take pity, but nor will I be ruthless; I will stop you and Glen from repeating the events that caused the Tragedy."

Lottie only glared back before a maroon light enveloped all the Baskerville. When it cleared, nothing of the four beings were left.

"Oz-sama," Sharon began, "What was that about? Do you know what happened at the Tragedy of Sabliér?"

Jack turned to look at the four standing behind him, with slightly bemused, but curious expressions painted on their faces.

Alice ran over to Oz and gave him a look that clearly asked, 'Are you okay?'. Jack just smiled and ruffled Alice's hair lightly.

"I do," Oz admitted, smiling sadly at Alice, which went unnoticed by her, but not the other three, "But I will tell no one until it is time," he stated when he saw the other three about to inquire about the information.

"Now," Oz said, turning to his old friend and their accomplices, "Shall we head over to the Mansion?"

-Grand Estate- (AN: Corny name, but I really didn't have any good ideas for the mansion where Oz and his family stayed during his Coming-of-Age Ceremony. I would've called it Archduke Estate, but that didn't sound right to me.)

"Why did you really want to come here for?" Gilbert asked, as he walked beside Jack, following Alice, who'd run off ahead of them. "I know you said something about that stupid rabbit's memory, but why else did you come?"

Oz smiled at what Gilbert had just said. "I did come here for Alice's memory, but I also came here to look at something and see if Jack and I assumed correctly about it."

"What is—" Gilbert asked, before being cut off by Jack, who had placed an arm out in front of him, preventing him (Gilbert) from moving; the gold-haired man just turned to his black-haired companion and placed a single finger over his lips, before pointing at Alice.

The chocolate-haired girl seemed like she was in a trance of some sort. Se stood at the railing of the pathway the three of them were on and looked at a cherry-blossom tree that was in bloom; the petals moving along with the gentle breeze.

Her violet eyes glazed over as she raised her arms to the tree. "I couldn't recognize the voice that was calling me, but I now know," Alice said to the tree, "You've been waiting for me, haven't you?"

All of a sudden, Gilbert and Oz were sucked into what looked to be one of Alice's memories.

A considerably younger Alice ran past both men with a smile.

Pandora~Hearts

She wore a lovely periwinkle-colored gown that had white trimming and long sleeves, heeled shoes of the same color, and a periwinkle ribbon was tied in the back, keeping her hair in a slightly loose low-pony-tail. She held a brown-colored stuffed bunny within her arms.

Her hair was in the same style she had it in at present.

Pandora~Hearts

The two watched the young girl sprint over to a familiar man that looked to be several years older than her.

"You followed me, didn't you?" the man asked. "Silly girl," he smiled as he ruffled Alice's hair, causing her to giggle.

Gilbert only looked at the man in shock when he saw his face. He was practically a perfect copy, save for a couple minor details, of his golden-haired companion.

He looked over to Oz to see his reaction, but to Gilbert's surprise, Jack wasn't surprised, but was watched the memory calmly, as though he'd seen it once before.

The image faded away and Oz made his way to his Chain. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Alice only nodded, wiping a few tears off of her cheeks before smiling at her Contractor.

Pandora~Hearts

"Do you remember how we found this place?" Oz asked his dark-haired friend.

Gilbert winced, but smiled at the memory.

-Flashback-

Oz stared up at the large magnolia tree with an unreadable expression on his face.

That was when the golden-haired boy heard a strange tune. A haunting tune that he'd felt he'd heard, and yet, had never heard it at all.

Taking off in the direction of the sound, Oz ignored the calls of "Young Master!" from Gil as the black-haired boy ran behind Oz with his younger sister following them.

As he came closer and closer to the sound, Oz received another image in his mind of a city shrouded in darkness.

'This tune, where is it coming from?' Oz thought stopping a few feet from the Magnolia tree, before the stones underneath his feet gave way and he collapsed into the large hole.

"Young Master!" Gilbert shouted running over to him, only to fall into the hole, himself.

"Onii-chan! Onii-chan!" Ada called worriedly.

"Ow…Gil, you still alive?" Oz asked as both he and the black-haired boy sat up in an upright position.

"Somehow," Gilbert commented, rubbing his head.

-End Flashback-

"Ah," Jack said approaching the grave, "Here it is."

"What exactly are we looking for?" Gilbert asked, stopping behind Jack, who had kneeled down in front of the grave.

"The name of who was buried here," Oz replied, "Both Jack and I had discussed our thoughts and came to an assumption while I was in the Abyss. I just need to know if our assumption was correct."

Jack brushed off the moss that covered the stone part of the grave that once had a name engraved upon it. He saw that the name was completely weathered away, so only slight dents were left; the only things that indicated that there was once writing on it.

Oz placed his hand on the stone and began chanting as his hand glowed a faint white. He removed his hand to find the stone glowing a bright white.

Gilbert and Alice only looked on in both shock and awe.

The light died away, to be replaced with a name and statement.

"What did you just…?" Gilbert trailed off, looking at the grave.

"I just did a Reversal spell on the stone," he explained, "I simply reversed time for the grave so that the name etched on it would be clear as day. See how the entire thing looks almost new?"

Hearing this Gilbert and Alice looked at the grave to see that it did look new. All the scratches and small nicks on it were gone. Everything was polished as though it was new.

"How…?" Gilbert chocked out looking from his friend to the grave several times.

"Let's just say that Jack didn't only teach me how to use a sword while in the Abyss," Oz grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

Oz looked at the name and smirked in triumph.

'Well, it seems like our assumption was correct, Jack,' Oz stated.

'Oh?' Jack commented. 'Then it really is who we thought it would be?'

Oz only gave a mental nod to his incarnation.

"What?" Gilbert asked. "What is it?"

Oz only stepped back to let his other two companions read what was written on the grave.

Lacie Evengale (Lacey; Evan-Gail)

Dearly Beloved, Loyal Friend, and Unfortunate Sacrifice.

'The song shall bring about the end.'

A bientôt,

TsukiyoTenshi