I do not own Pandora Hearts in any way!
Speech Key:
"The" – Oral/Normal Speech
'The' – Thoughts
'The' – Telepathic Speech
AN: If I play my cards right, then this should be the final actual chapter and after this will be the epilogue. In any case, I'm no good with battle scenes, so I'll do my best, though the chapter might turn out to be shorter than I wanted…
Enjoy the chapter!
The Altered Rotation
oO~One Final Battle~Oo
"B-Rabbit," Oz muttered, feeling Alice shift into her rabbit form, scythe in hand.
"So how are we supposed to do this?" Gilbert whispered to Oz.
"We wing it, I suppose," Oz shrugged. "I only knew of Jabberwock, but I've never really seen it fight to know how to beat it."
"Just what do you think you can gain from the power of the Abyss, Glen?" Oz spoke up. "You slaughtered so many because of power. What did you want that power for?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out!" Glen chuckled with an insane glint sparkling in his eyes. He leapt forward, sword in hand at Oz.
At the same time, Jabberwock and the other Chains charged at each other, dodging and delivering blows.
"What about Lacie?" Oz shouted as he and Glen clashed swords, Break and Gilbert behind the violet-eyes man, weapons trained on him. "Would she have been proud of you for doing this?!"
That seemed to have struck a chord in Glen. His expression turned furious. "Never speak of that unfaithful wench again! I don't care about what she would have thought! SHE. WAS. DISLOYAL!"
Glen lashed out at the trio, sending them flying into the ground.
Pandora~Hearts
Meanwhile the Chains were having little to no luck landing any blows on Jabberwock. The large dragon seemed to have almost impenetrable hide, making their attacks on it just about useless.
Alice let out a shout of frustration. "You're an eyesore!" She flung her scythe at the dragon-Chain.
The large Chain was preoccupied with the persistent attacks of Raven and Cheshire, and so when it finally spotted the scythe, it had no chance of dodging it.
There was a sickening squishy sound was heard as the weapon lodged itself in the dragon's eye.
Seeing the momentary lapse, Mad Hatter and B-Rabbit both launched their spear-tipped chains at the dragon-Chain. The chains all wrapped around the dragon's legs, neck and wings, pinning it to the ground.
"Now!" Alice shouted at Cheshire and Raven.
Cheshire hissed and let out a roar as he slashed at Jabberwock's other eye, now rendering it completely blind. Raven let out a flurry of razor sharp feathers and shadow spears at the dragon.
This time, the attacks hit the many scars that littered the dragon's body, opening them.
Pandora~Hearts
"You don't know the truth, Glen!" Oz shouted as he stood shakily. "Lacie was never unfaithful!"
"Shut up!" Glen roared, charging towards Oz once again, only to collapse after a few paces.
Oz felt something drip onto his face and looked up along with Break and Gilbert, and saw that the rain of liquid was really a drizzle of blood from the dragon-Chain's wounds.
"Jabberwock," Glen whispered.
"Pay attention!" Gilbert shot his gun thrice at Glen, with the dark-haired male dodging only one of the three. The first lodged itself into his upper shoulder while the second only grazed his cheek.
"Damn you!" Glen yelled, running at Gilbert, only to be stopped by Break's blade. Quickly, Glen ducked underneath the sharp edge, avoiding the blow, but he was unprepared for the second half of Break's cane to knock him in the gut.
"Hold him down!" Oz cried out to Break and Gilbert, who scrambled to do as he ordered.
"Listen to what I have to say, Glen, and then think about everything," Oz told the man that was held down.
"Release me!" Glen yelled at the trio.
"Just how often were you around Lacie in the months after your marriage?" Oz asked, making the squirming man still.
"Not very often, correct?" Oz answered himself. "You were constantly going off places doing research on the Abyss and the power the Will of the Abyss had. And then you found out about Lacie. How she was a Child of Ill Omen."
"Shut up!" Glen roared.
By now, the Chains had also stopped attacking the now unconscious dragon and were listening to what Oz was saying.
"And then you left," Oz continued as though he was never interrupted. "You left for long periods of time, never giving your wife time to tell you about the good news she had. But when you finally came back after so long and saw her, you demanded she abandon the child she birthed, never knowing the truth of the child."
"Silence!" Glen tried to speak again.
"Two years after, you tried to murder the child, realizing that she must have gained the powers that Lacie once had as a Child of Ill Omen," Oz ignored Glen's interruption and the gazes that Break and Gilbert sent him. "But Lacie died protecting her baby. And as a favour to her, you decided to have the child cared for, though isolated from the world."
He looked at Glen with a cold gaze. "Did you ever give her a chance to explain who the father was? No, you didn't. You decided that because she was left alone for so long, she must have betrayed you for some other fellow, that had she been pregnant with your child she would have told you. But how could she? You never gave her the time of day. You were so caught up in your plans to gain the power of the Abyss that you neglected your wife!"
"You courted Lacie and knew her for so long," the gold-haired man spoke, "you should have known that she would never betray you. Have you ever wondered who Alice's father was? Had you given Lacie a moment's time to explain, to tell you; you would know that Alice is your daughter! She is a carbon copy of Lacie with your eyes! How you could never see that is beyond me. You locked away an innocent girl for years, never telling her anything of her mother and never glancing her way for more than a few moments. Why is that? Was it because she looked so much like Lacie? Or was it because Alice was a constant reminder of the supposed treachery Lacie had committed?"
"Shut up!" Glen roared once more, though this time a deep-maroon light erupted from him, engulfing both him and Jabberwock.
Suddenly, Glen's body and that of Jabberwock's dissipated.
"What the—" Gilbert began, only to cut himself off when he saw the large being formed a large shadow.
The dark of the shadow faded away to reveal Jabberwock, bigger than before, but this time with armoured plating scattered over its body. And right there in the centre of the dragon-Chain's forehead was Glen Baskerville. It looked as though he'd been sucked into Jabberwock's head; everything from the waist down was most likely inside Jabberwock, while everything from the waist up was showing. However, Glen no longer looked as he had a few moments before. His eyes glowed a deep red, and his skin now shone a pasty-grey.
"By the Gods," Oz breathed.
"Ah la la," Break murmured, red eyed wide in shock.
"Should that even be possible?" Gilbert chocked out.
"Only if one was desperate enough," Oz told them, "things like this don't happen unless the Contractor is desperate enough that he no longer cares about what happens to him as long as he carries out his desire."
"How the hell are we supposed to beat something like that?!" Gilbert exclaimed.
He looked to Oz for an answer, only to find him ordering Cheshire and Alice to attack the creature, just as Break was doing for the Mad Hatter.
"What do you think you're doing?!" he shouted.
"Improvising," Oz shrugged as though it was nothing. "Now, go B-Rabbit! Cheshire Cat! Bring that thing down to its knees!"
"You as well, Mad Hatter," Break told his Chain, "obliterate that creature."
"I guess it can't be helped," Gilbert sighed. He turned to his own Chain. "Go with them and attack with all you have. Make sure that this thing will never be able to cheat death ever again!"
And with that all the Chains charged at the creature, throwing any and every attack they could at it.
Unfortunately, the thing was so large and the armour so strong that the most of the attacks bounced off of it. And the ones that actually hit the creature only left a miniscule scratch that was healed almost as soon as the wound was received.
Just then, the creature let loose a powerful pulse of energy, shoving the Chains back and while their Contractors were flung back.
"We need help," Oz muttered. 'Please, Uncle Oscar, Sharon-chan, if anyone can hear me please send help. We can't do this alone!'
-Pandora Headquarters-
After cleaning up some of the damage done by the Trumps and Trump Cards, the meeting between the four dukes resumed, though this time Sharon and Ada were invited to stay and participate, while the Pandora chiefs were out fulfilling the orders of the four dukes.
"Can they truly defeat Glen Baskerville?" Daniel Rainsworth asked quietly.
Oscar sighed. "I don't know. They're only three people with four Chains. For all we know, they could have underestimated the power Glen Baskerville holds."
Sharon was about to reassure them all, when she felt a pulse ringing throughout her body. And then she heard it. Oz's voice.
'Please, Uncle Oscar, Sharon-chan, if anyone can hear me please send help. We can't do this alone!'
"They need help," Sharon whispered, eyes wide, catching everyone's attention.
"What's wrong, Sharon?" Daniel asked, kneeling next to his daughter, checking her over. "What happened?"
"They need help," she repeated. "Something's happened, they need help!"
In that instant, everyone understood just who and what Sharon was talking about.
"But how?" Oscar asked. "How can we help them if we don't know where they are?"
Ada sat with a pensive expression for a moment before a thought occurred to her. "Eques," she said, "Eques can send our Chains to help them!"
"Can it be done?" Elizabeth asked, surprisingly sane.
"I think so," Sharon answered after a moment. "As long as you all think about their location clearly, it should be possible to send them to where Jack, Break, and Raven are."
"Then we must do it," Daniel looked to the other dukes, "and as quickly as we can. Last time it was the massacre of every living being in one city. This time, if Glen released upon the land, it might be more than a town, it could very well mean the end of the world!"
Moved by the mini-speech, everyone in the room nodded and made their way to the courtyard outside of the building and called out their Chains.
"Now, everyone" Sharon spoke, standing beside Eques, who stood before the rest of the Chains, "please think about Raven, Break and Jack. Concentrate on sending your Chains to them."
They all closed their eyes and thought as hard as they could until they heard a whoosh. Opening their eyes they saw that their Chains had disappeared, leaving no more than a slight breeze behind.
"Good luck," Ada whispered, hands clasped to her chest.
-Glen Baskerville's Dimension-
The dragon chain reared its head back and opened its mouth, revealing a forming ball of fire.
Oz, Break, and Gilbert closed their eyes, thinking it was the end since it was impossible for their Chains to reach them in time.
But when the creature let loose a large stream of fire, the trio was surprised to find that it didn't reach them like they thought.
They opened their eyes and saw the stream of fire being sucked into a portal Eques had created.
"Eques?" Break whispered.
"How—?" Gilbert managed to choke out, eyes wide.
"They heard," Oz gave a soft smile, looking at all of the Chains, "They heard."
"Let's go!" Alice shouted, leading the rest of the Chains to battle against the large creature.
Dronte's eyes glowed for a moment before animated copies of all of the Chains were created, surrounding the creature that had once been Jabberwock.
Mad Hatter and B-Rabbit once again launched their spear-tipped chains. They bound the creature's legs, neck, and its wings before pinning it to the floor.
Bassiere glowed a pale white for a moment and so did the Mad Hatter, Alice, Raven and Cheshire. When the glow died down, the four found their energy replenished and their wounds completely healed.
Duchess cackled as she tugged off her veil and charged directly at the creature. She leapt up and tore the veil to shreds before tossing the torn bits of cloth at the creature. Immediately, each piece of torn cloth lengthened into a shadow that wrapped around the armoured pieces on the creature. After each part was securely latched onto the armoured parts, Duchess held her arms out in front of her and the stitches that ran along her arms detached and attached to the shadows she'd created. Clenching her fists and jaw, Duchess pulled her arms as though she were trying to pull the reins on a galloping horse. The shadows were pulled upward and the pieces of armour were, too, moving slightly.
(AN: Okay, I just realized that my description of how Chevalier looked was wiped from the document posted, so please just use your imagination!)
Chevalier and Albus both ran at the creature and plunged their swords into the armoured plates Duchess was trying to pry off.
Splitting the armoured plates must have helped because once that was done, the armoured piece came off quite easily and were promptly flung to the side.
Raven cawed as he let loose another flurry of razor-sharp feathers and shadow spears. Unlike last time where not much damage was done, this time, the attack hit the creature dead on straight.
Deeps gashes and cuts littered the creature's body when the shower ended.
Alice and Mad Hatter retracted their Chains and watched as the creature slumped into unconsciousness.
Suddenly, Oz's saw a glow come from his side. He took a hold of the hilt of his blade and took it out of the sheath to find the blade was glowing a solid white.
'Now Oz!' Jack shouted.
Oz stood up as carefully as he could, making sure not to put much pressure on his left leg. Suddenly he felt his arm being slung over a shoulder and looked to see Gilbert smiling at him determinedly. "I won't leave your side, Master."
He looked over to Break and saw that the man had fallen unconscious. Oz remembered that using the Mad Hatter tends to take a toll on his body, and they'd been battling for a while now!
'There's no time to think about that now, Oz!' Jack reprimanded. 'We must finish Glen off now before he regains consciousness!'
Oz gave a mental sound in agreement as he raised his sword and chanted alongside Jack.
"O great blade that felled this enemy once before
Do thy duty and rid the world of this evil now and forevermore!"
Oz flung the sword at the now awakening creature. 'Please! Reach before it's too late!' the gold-haired man prayed.
They all watched as the sword struck true and lodged itself into what was once Glen Baskerville's body.
A horrible shriek erupted from the mouth of Glen's body as cracks sprouted from where the sword had struck.
Gold light leaked out of the cracks now forming all over the creature's body until there was a large blast of golden light, engulfing them all.
That was the last thing Oz saw before he succumbed to the darkness that had been creeping over his vision.
A bientôt,
TsukiyoTenshi