Well, I have two extra chapters so you guys know what that means x3

Double Upload! :D

So let's go to the thank you section really quick to show my appreciation to some awesome people! :3

-CrystalHeart950: Thanks a lot for the review Crystal. And yes that was a lot of revelations when considering one half of her family tree ;3 And guess what, I see some more coming.

-Trist PhantomEvans: Hey there, girl. Thanks a bunch for the review and tell Gil I say thanks for the cupcakes ;D And I liked how the relationship with Claire and Break is too c: I try giving every character a chance to see how they are through Claire's eyes. Glad you liked it too cx As for the staff, let's just say that I got some inspiration after playing Mogeko's Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea. And thanks about the vocab. I always have a thesaurus open when I write. It helps me learn and express myself better c;

Well, after this let's go ahead and start this next chapter :D


Chapter Sixteen

Gilbert and Vincent


Knowing what would come for the day, I woke up earlier than most. By around six in the morn I was already dressed and ready to go out for the day. Even though I was to meet up with him in the afternoon, it didn't mean I couldn't enjoy some of the festivities that were happening around town today.

In Reveille, it was going to be St. Bridget's Day today. I had never really gone to a festival before. I've only heard about them and read about them in books. Such festivities, I've always wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Putting a cloak on, I had managed to sneak out of the mansion without waking anybody up. Or so I thought...

"Going somewhere?"

Stopping in my tracks, I couldn't help but cuss at my own stupidity. Of course Break would be the only one insanely capable of noticing me slipping off.

"Y-Yeah," I replied somewhat reluctant to but shook it off quickly before he noticed. "If you have any problem with that you can always come along with me?" Gazing quickly over my shoulders, I saw as he emerged from the shadows that were being caused by the rising sun's light.

"It isn't a problem. At least not mine. All I wanted to know was what you were planning to do with that little annoying luggage you're burdened with. After all, you are Oz-kun's bodyguard."

"He can take care of himself, Break. Sure, Gil may be a little useless at times but he'll have to do for now." I turned towards him with a smile, "I'll be back before dark, Papa. I'm off."

Without awaiting his answer, I left the mansion by foot. Reveille's capitol wasn't far and by the time I got there, many of the stands that were selling and a plentiful crowd had already gathered. It wasn't even eight and all the streets were lively with busy people coming here and there.

I took some leisure and bought myself something to eat. A crepe and some nice milk were what I had for my breakfast and I took it out near the bridge above a river. Sitting on the edge I watched the people pass me by as I ate my food.

It was indeed lively today. Since Reveille was the capital I never thought it was possible for it to be even fuller of people. It seems I was clearly wrong. Everyone around seemed to be so glad and having so much fun. Reminded me much of the kids back at the orphanage, the few times that I performed the White—

"Fucking crap!" I clamped my mouth closed and felt my cheeks get hotter out of my embarrassment from yelling such vulgar things out in the open. Throwing my trash away and walking away from the crowd that had heard me, I began to heavily ponder on what I had just come across.

Crap, crap, crap, crap!

The White Flora had completely slipped my mind! I had to compose the song I was going to sing and have choreography for it in time for the ceremony. I needed the beads, tambourines, candles, and the papers. Shit, I needed the clothes and shoes that I was going to wear. And I had to do all that in less than 72 hours!

I just wanted to curl up into a ball and disappear now more than ever. So I did just that in the middle of the street, hell be if people laughed at me. There's no way I'll ever have everything ready in three days' time. "God, what am I going to do?!"

"Get your dresses!" At hearing the loud shouts of a vender nearby I couldn't help but look up from my ball of despair. "Let's celebrate by helping the angel hide and find her true love! Come, come and celebrate with everyone!"

Huh. Dresses?

"That's right!" I exclaimed scaring a few people around me when I suddenly sprung back to a stand. Checking my pocket watch and making sure that I had enough time, I walked over to the dresses that they had displayed and began searching.

That's right, today was a festival. People were selling all kinds of clothes, toys, and things to celebrate. Things that I knew I could put to use plenty. It took me a couple of booths to finally find a dress that I knew would be perfect for the ceremony. It was of nice length first of all—it only came up to my knees— and it would allow me to perform a nice dance the way the cloth fell together. The top was sleeveless which was the only bad part and it was a deep blue color that match my eyes. At the waist it began to fade in color and quickly became a white skirt with ruffles that puffed it up enough for my taste. To take away from the sudden change of color, a bundle of silver feathers was strung to the right side of the waist and along it were patterns of feathers sewn intricately on places around the waist and fading out onto the white skirt. It was perfect and best of all it fit me.

What else I found were the beads, tambourines and candles. The paper I could get later and all that was left were the song and dance that I had to come up with. Now that the load of the dress and miscellaneous stuff was out of the way, I could finally take a breath of relief.

"This will be enough for now." Walking away, I was intending to call for someone from the mansion to come meet me and take everything when someone bumped into me making me drop a few bags. I tried reaching out but a hand won me to it.

"Oh goodness, my apologies." That voice...

At gazing up, Reim and I stared at each other for a few seconds before he broke out of his stupor and finally stuttered his way into a conversation.

"M-Miss Claire!?" Oh yeah, something was up. "W-What a surprise! What brings you out so early in the morning?"

"The festivities and private matters," I reply truthfully but with a jesting grin. "What brings you here, Mister Reim? I presumed that you were too busy with your work and Break's to enjoy any kind of vacation?"

"W-Well!" His voice was cracking too much. He suddenly took his glasses in his hands and began cleaning them fervently. I watched him nonchalantly with an aloof expression as he continued to explain himself. "I came to escort Oz-sama and Alice-san as Sharon-sama requested."

"And—" I placed a finger at my cheek and raised an eyebrow. "How does that suit into Break's request again?" At the mere mention of his name, he suddenly begin to get the jitters. Oh yeah, that one totally blew up in his face. "He asked you to follow me, didn't he?" At noticing my knowledge of it, his shoulders slumped in disappointment.

"I'm sorry."

I heaved a sigh but in reality the fact that he had actually sent someone—specially someone as diligent as Reim—touched me in some weird way. "Never mind it," I say before putting the weight of my shopping bags on his arms. "Would you do me the favor and make sure these get back home safe? Thanks!" He didn't have time to argue before I sprinted away as far as I could before anybody could follow me.

Finally arriving at one of the few desolate alleys, I stood by checking if anybody was nearby. Once I had verified I was alone I called Hades to me but didn't allow it to materialize. Instead, what I had done was hold in my palm the small sphere of light that made it up. Holding it forth, it surprised me to see the thread of light that shot from the sphere and traveled out towards what looked to be the west outskirts of the city.

It took me a good while to exit the city and enter the west woods that surrounded it. I knew that beyond the boundaries of the forest were the borders of the country. If I stepped out of here and entered, I wouldn't have any protection because I was an agent of Pandora. Beyond those woods were countries that were self served.

But I didn't have to worry about it because instead of pointing forward, at some point in the woods, it took a sharp left. Following it, I had to cut off some vines that clung to the trees to get through. Once out I noticed that I had arrived to a small grove hidden away by overgrown forestation. Beyond the grove was what seemed to be a cottage. The trail of light ended once I got at the foot of the door. Going over, I opened the door and heard the hinges with clarity as they cringed and cried from not being moved in so long. I stepped inside into a small, cozy living room. For some reason, the wooden floor was stained with black blotches besides the intrusive vines that had appeared over the years. Walking through it, I went into the room to the right. The door was so ingrown from the forestation that I had to kick it down forcefully, throwing it off its hinges. The door falling made a cloud of dust making me cover my mouth and nose with my sleeves. Well, nobody seemed to live here anyways.

The room I was in now seemed a little different than normal. The beds were much too small for an adult so perhaps this had been some children's room at some point. I was surprised that the beds themselves had survived in a much better condition than the rest of the house. On the pillow of one of the beds was a small doll. Coming closer and picking it up, I could tell that it was a handmade doll with blonde hair and blue eyes with a tattered green dress. The moment I picked it up the doll's little arm fell off. Not wanting to do anymore damage, I left it as it was and placed it back.

For some reason this place gave me some heavy nostalgia. It seemed like the home of a normal family. Although old and bitten, the home itself gave off such a comforting feeling."Why...this place?"

"You don't remember."

At hearing his voice, I spun around already with Hades in hand to face the Baskerville boy that now stood between the exit and me. He had no weapon on him but I was expecting anything at any second.

"What do you want? Why did you call me out here?" I inquired all ready to attack if he tried anything funny. Instead, he started walking over to me with a steady yet slow walk. Fearing the worst, I became hostile towards him. "Answer me!"

"The 29th." Huh? He began getting way too close to me but when I tried backing away more all I felt was the wall against my back. Shit, he had me cornered. "Do you know...what happens in three days?"

"I have no idea and frankly don't care. But if you dare touch me, I'll beat the daylight out of you," I growled noticing him only a few feet away from me.

"My intentions aren't to fight," he retorted with that same lilt to his voice. "In fact, I come bearing a gift from us all."

"Gift?"

"The 29th," I felt him breath out the words from how close he was. He had trapped me and even with Hades in my hands, I couldn't move. "That day, we celebrate—" Out of nowhere I felt something sharp on my chest. "Our birthday."

Gasping for air, I let go of Hades to grasp at my chest instead. My breathing was getting ragged and it was getting harder to see. He stands back only enough to give me space to fall down onto the floor. My body was going numb. I could barely breath anymore and my vision was getting darker by the second. W-What was happening to me?!

"If you're so affected...it won't be long before she's forced to come out." What little energy I had left I used to glance up at his silhouette as he began leaving the cottage. "When it does I'll have spared you your fate. After all..." I heard the words all in jumbles and could barely discern them as my consciousness slipped way from me. "None of us want you gone."


Holding my head, I heard the coachman as he called out my name to tell me we had arrived to the mansion. Getting out and still grimacing from my pain, I thanked him and begin to walk towards my room.

After that meeting with the Baskerville and my fainting, I awoke after what I thought had been several hours later. But time had actually gone by faster since the sun was already starting to set by the time I got home. Besides the aching on my whole body there was a constant throbbing that was left on my temple from whatever he had done to me.

"Claire?"

Sharon's sudden appearance took me by surprise. What shocked me more was that I hadn't even sensed her coming.

"S-Sharon, hey." I knew how weak my voice sounded but if I hadn't answered it would have been even more disheartening.

"Is...everything all right? You seem very pale."

Shit. "U-Um, I haven't really slept so well these past days. I think I'll skip dinner and go to bed early."

"Wait, Claire?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I don't know if it's been just me who noticed this but have you grown?"

"Grown?" That single word made my headache slightly less while I gave myself a look around. "Well," I reply after a few seconds of looking at myself. "I suppose I have outgrown my pants a little since last year."

"Really?" The high pitch of her voice made me cringe a bit. The only times when she used that voice was when she wanted to have some girl talk with me. "Then how about we go shopping tomorrow? I've been dying to buy some new dresses and since you need clothes too it'll be just perfect. What do you say?"

"W-Well, I kind of had some pl- eek!" The dark aura that suddenly hit me made me jump and turn towards her. The smile she had before was maintained but the atmosphere around her had suddenly become grim and quite frankly, frightening. "Y-Yes! I'd...love to go shopping with you Sharon..."

"Wonderful~" she cooed and clasped her hands with glee. "Then tomorrow morning I'll await at the parlor for you."

"Y-Yeah, sure. Goodnight!" Skirting around her and avoiding her, I left for my room and shut the door behind me. God, she scared the crap out of me when she got like that.

Dragging my feet towards the bed, I undressed and didn't bother to change into my nightgown and instead plunged right into bed. My body felt heavy like wet wool and my head was hurting much more than before. It was hard to with the pounding and aching but in the end I managed to fall asleep.

The next morning I woke up and all the pain from the night before had vanished just like that. Whatever he did had lost its effect overnight and for that I couldn't be more grateful. Getting over to the parlor, I noticed something that I had never seen before. Out in the balcony was Break and Sharon drinking tea and accompanying them was Oz...sulking and crying.

"Ah, Claire. Good morning." Sharon greeted me with a smile.

"Morning, Claire," Oz called not even facing me.

"I am not even going to ask. From the way you're beating yourself up, it's probably about Gil and you not saying something important as per usual," I replied his half-assed greeting with a deduction I had come up with.

"A-Am I that obvious?" he cried with tears in his eyes.

"Like that? Hell yeah." My comment only made him brood harder.

Ignoring him, I turned to Sharon and asked her when we were leaving. "Well, Oz-sama doesn't seem to be in such high spirits..."

"Don't worry about him, milady," Break interfered while patting Oz's head. "I'll take care of the Young Master while you are out. After all, it won't take all day. Your shopping, I mean."

"Yes. You're right." Sharon got up and faced me with a smile, "Then shall we leave?"

It took us a good hour to get ready and arrive at Reveille. We visited most of Sharon's favorite shops with her buying plenty of dresses. I, however, only got a few pants and blouses.

"Is that really all you're getting?" Her question took me by surprise. Compared to her fourteen boxes and bags that one of the servants carried, I bared the weight of my two meager bags in my arms.

"It's all I need, really," I retort with a grin while carrying the bags over my shoulder in one hand.

"Have you never worn a dress outside of necessity's sake?" she asked a bit out of context.

"Pretty much. I don't like dresses. They're uncomfortable for the job." My answer didn't seem to satisfy her though I didn't know what exactly she wanted me to say.

"But you're a girl and as such you must find a healthy balance between discovering your feminine side and your hard-working ethics," she preached standing still and pointing a dainty finger at me. Putting her forefinger against her chin, she stood there thinking until the light gleamed gleefully in her eyes. "And I think I've got the place where that balance is." Taking my hand, she dragged me halfway across town to a tailor shop that didn't seem like a place a person of status would visit. Not to be mean or anything, but the place was quite small and didn't have much on display.

When we entered the establishment, a nice young woman greeted us and it seemed like she knew Sharon for they began chatting as soon as they saw each other. After ignoring for what seemed hours, Sharon turned to me with a smile and gestured at the seamstress.

"Claire, meet Elise." The young blonde that could not be any older than her mid twenties bowed slightly at me and showed me a big smile. "Elise's family has worked for the Rainsworth family since my Grandmother was young and have handcrafted many of our dresses and gowns. And I'm sure we can find something suitable for you here. I have no doubt in mind about it."

"It is nice to meet a friend of Sharon-sama's," Elise spoke with a faint German accent. "Now, if you two would accompany me to the back, I'll start taking measurements while we talk about what it is Miss Claire would like from her vestments."

Out back was what seemed to be the real tailor shop for it was the actual workroom. A bunch of mannequins stood about and in a single, long table were countless of threads and other utensils while hitched on the walls were the fabrics used.

Elise motioned me towards a particularly empty space of flooring and took out a measuring tape and began, literally, molesting me. I supposed she noticed my fidgeting and glanced up at me reassuringly, "Don't worry. This is routine. We have to get your exact measurements if the clothes are to fit you good." She turned to Sharon and then to me, "So, what is it that Miss Claire needs fashioned?"

"Something elegant, nice, and assertive, but most of all bold."

"Are you making me clothes or finding me a lover?"

My pun went to deaf ears as Sharon continued. "But at the same time it can't be too ornate or extravagant. The clothes needed are for work and quick mobility. Something that won't impede her movements much. But at the same time it must be feminine and breathtaking!"

"I see, I see," Elise repeated taking mental note I suppose of what Sharon was telling her. I guess my suggestions didn't matter. "What do you think, Miss Claire?"

Guess it did. It took me a minute since I couldn't think of something important to add in. Then it hit me. I placed my hand over my broche and gave a slight grin, "As long as I have somewhere to put this, it's not too long or short, and I can move in it, I leave it all to your expertise."

"Oh really?" she asked taking my leg length. "For someone who doesn't seem to wear too many dresses, you seem confident that you're going to like my taste."

"Sharon brought me here for a reason, I like to think. So if she trusts you then I suppose I have no reason not to." This made her smile for some reason.

"Thank you very much, Miss Claire." After a few minutes, she finished the measuring and turned to both of us. "Well, I already have some designs in mind. As for the clothes themselves, I'll make a set of seven or eight. It'll take me a week and a half; two at most. If anything is delayed or finished earlier than planned, I'll send a letter."

"Thank you Elise. You've been a great help." Sharon showed her appreciation with a smile and already giving her a quarter pay in advance. "Please do inform us as it comes."

"Thanks again," I reciprocate and smile at her. She only nods and leads us out and thanked us for coming. It wasn't even one by the time we came back to the mansion where we found Break and Oz out in the courtyard. It seemed the little midget wanted some training. Seeing him fall with a trick of Break's reminded me a lot of myself when I was in his shoes. Yeah, and that wasn't even as bad as Break could get.

Thanking Sharon for the day, I retired myself to my bedroom taking what few things I had bought. Apart from the clothes, I had managed to buy the rest of the stuff that I needed for the White Flora. Now all I had left was to write the song and get the dance ready.

A song...huh. Writing lyrics and sing them to a melody wasn't that hard for me. Most of the times it was one of the tunes that Leo composed and I only added lyrics to it. This time, though, since I had no Leo with me and I couldn't very well go out so late for just that, I resigned myself to using one of the older ones that he had written. He never titled his songs so I had only the tune to go by. But I had one in mind since the day before and I thought it'd be nice.

It took me very well till past dinner to think up the lyrics. This one turned out to be one of the few that took me a while to figure out words for. But in the end, it turned to be a nice melody with a good meaning behind the words.

I turned in for the night and started on the dance routine the next day. That...was a little harder since the song was a bit slow to begin with. So although it took me most of the day, I somehow managed to do it and come up with something.

By the time we had dinner and I came back to my room, I was beyond exhausted both mentally and physically. Putting everything that I was to take tomorrow into a neat pile on the side, I went to shower and changed for bed. Once under the covers, slumber didn't take long to win me over.


The day finally came and that morning I woke up at four to leave for Sablier. I had dressed simply and instead of my coat, I put on a cloak that would cover me well from head to tow. Not many coachmen were awake or willing to take me to it but in the end I found one. In the end, it took almost an hour to get there. But once there, I took my bag and headed for the House of the White Angel.

At the doorstep, I knocked lightly so as to not wake up the children but loud enough to be heard from the small church nearest to the door. It took a few minutes of waiting but soon it was Sister Fiona who opened the door for me already dressed for the day. Funny how they woke just as the day broke but woke the children some hours later to begin their day.

"Oh, my dear Claire," she welcomed me with a grand smile and a big hug that I returned. "We all were awaiting your arrival. We didn't know when you'd get here but we figured it'd be before the children awoke."

"Yes, I'm glad to be back here, Sister Fiona." With that out of the way, she motioned for me to go inside. As she guided me towards a vacant room, I began saying hello to some of the other sisters that were still here and got acquainted with some new ones that had come to work just recently.

Fiona opened a door from the many that were at the second floor. "Sorry we don't have anything else, dear. Some new children have come over the past year. Hope it is fine."

"It's excellent, Sister. Thank you again for letting me do this," I explain to her while leaving my bag on the bed.

"Then, I'll leave you to your business." Thanking her one more time, she left me alone to be in the room. Frankly, it didn't look any different from my old room from almost a year and a half ago.

Well, I'll start then. Ridding myself of my garments, I dressed myself with the gown that I had bought before. Once I had correctly adjusted it, I placed my cloak over it to hide it from sight completely.

One of the rules of this made-up ceremony was that the one performing needed to be unseen by all until the appointed time but that the robes and all needed to be worn throughout the day. That showed the dedication to the festivity that the doer held.

Going around the bed and towards the window, I watched the sky that rarely let many sunlight through. Below, I saw the back of the house were one of the many trails met to a dead end; a cliff that I had seen many a time before.

I still had plenty of time, so some practice before the actual thing wouldn't be so bad. Slipping my feet onto my shoes and tiptoeing my way out back, I got out without being noticed. Once outside, I started heading towards the cliff that wasn't that far off. I didn't really know where the fall led but I really didn't want to find out. Instead, once there, I stood a good distance away from it.

This felt like a really good place to practice for me. The children couldn't accidentally stumble upon this place because they weren't allowed back here. Leo and I had discovered it and was where we came to practice for this.

So, just like before, I began to rehearse the routine while mumbling the words to myself, careful not to step too close to the edge.

Yet the more I did, the more a pain came to my head. One that seemed similar to the one last night but this one spread out from my head towards my insides. Was I falling ill? No, I couldn't. Not today. Tough it out, Claire. If only for today you have to get through it without...

Shaking that thought out of my head, I let my thoughts vanish as I concentrated on my steps. But for some reason, the more I concentrated the more I sensed something wrong. Soon, I wasn't dancing to the steps I had made yesterday and I was mumbling a melody that I thought I had heard before. One night late in the evening when the moon was high in the sky and silence helped echo the words further away. The thought made me halt for a moment as I repeated the tune in my mind. For some reason, words were being placed into my head as if those were the lyrics to that melody.

At the end of this artificial paradise
Buried deep in the earth's rotting core with no life
I must sing out these prayers of merciful pleads
Alone I atone for sad past deeds

The words were but a mumble to myself. Unconsciously, it seemed that I had taken my shoes off and was now barefooted on the cold ground.

The cruel past which had eventually lost its way
Caged the weeping voices that I have weaved to this day
On the axis of harsh repeating history
I am vowed to do all that fate says

How...nostalgic this sounded. Although I didn't know from where they originated or why I knew them, it felt...right to sing this. Slowly, my bare feet started stepping to the song I sang.

I lived oblivious to all that still exists
Straining out just to cling onto life
Lullabies of the sun, songs of the rain undone
A kind soft requiem I've spun and sung

The road to paradise ends shining out with light
Even so, the warmth of all helping hands
Still could not stop nor reach the cruel place
Where I'll meet ends

By then my body had started dancing around by itself, movements that I knew from past practices and those that I had no idea where they came from. My voice became louder and louder but at the same time my headache had increased in its pain. Not only that but it seemed to be spreading down towards my throat. I knew this feeling, it hadn't come with the head-splitting migraines but it was the same one I knew from before. My throat...it was burning and it hurt so much. Yet...I kept singing.

At the bottom of the world dying out and decaying
Imprisoned I must sing out this hope
To all who've lost in this fight and died with the passing time
Forgotten and left erased
Even with my despair reigning out through my tears now
Without doubt my weak smile will surely remain

At finishing the verse, I felt the warm liquid that began drowning me. I felt it overflow and slip down my chin and before I knew it, everything turned black.


A little girl sat out in the corner of her room, weeping from the immense sadness that crushed her. Her hair loose and her bangs covering her eyes somewhat only let a tiny gap were her eyes could be seen shinning a bright scarlet. Her tears, however, glazed her eyes over with grief and her lips were in a taut line trying to keep her sobs in.

"Claire?"

The voice calling out to her as warm and caring, and the silhouette of a man approached her. Without a second thought, the girl launched at him to embrace him. "I'm sorry!" she apologized against his shoulder with a shriek. She kept saying her apologies more and more while the man soothingly rubbed her back.

"What happened?"

"H-He yelled at me. I didn't know that he would be mad at me for touching that flower. It was just there on top of the piano and I thought it was so pretty. B-But he yelled at me—" her sobs won her out from the explanation. She had never seen him that angry, specially at her. He was always so kind and gentle. Never...like that.

"He—" the man's sudden voice caught her attention from her crying. She buried her face on his shoulder as the tears fell with some interruptions from her hiccups. "He treasures that place and that flower very much. Someone...he cared very much about loved hearing the piano and the flower was a present from him to that person. It was the first present she ever accepted from him. Now that the person is gone, he's very protective of it." He pulled bangs away for him to see her face. Her eyes were red from her crying and her cheeks puffed and pink. He gently brushed the hair away from her face and put on the clip that he had found around while trying to locate her on to keep her face clearly visible. "You have to understand that he did not mean what he said to you."

He picked her up in his arms while she clung to him and walked out of the room to another down the hall. Claire recognized their destination as his parlor and when they entered two little figures turned to face them. One with coal black, wavy hair and the other a crop of gold.

Shy, Claire simply tucked herself away as much as she could on his shoulder. Ever since he had left, she had become very introverted. She had stopped being the little cheerful girl that she used to be. Her bright colorful world had fragmented into a mess of greys.

"Master!" the two boys turned and called in unison as they entered.

"Who is she?" the boy with gold hair asked with a tilt of his head. "Is she okay?"

"Is she crying?" the raven haired boy inquired as well only making Claire more conscious of herself.

The man placed her on her feet but she fidgeted back behind his leg hiding her face and peeking curiously at them. "Her name's Claire." He then turned towards her making her glance up at him, "Claire, these two are brothers. They're Gilbert—" he motioned his hand towards the raven haired one who smiled and waved. "And Vincent," the latter, gold haired boy waved but skidded towards his brother's side. "Would you say hello?"

"U-Um...hi," Claire's faint voice came through and wasn't betrayed by her prior crying. But now that she was at eye level with the two she gasped at seeing Vincent's eyes. "Ah! Your eyes?!"

"Oh!" Vincent gasped starting to fidget with his hair so that it would cover his eyes. But Claire, loosing all her previous nervousness, leaped over to be before him and used her hands to wipe away his own and his bangs.

"Don't do that." She cupped his cheeks with her hands as she stared directly into his eyes. "So pretty! Your eyes are red too!"

"What do you mean?" Gilbert asked confused by what she had said. At turning her head towards him, Gilbert gasped when he saw two scarlet irises staring back at him. "Y-You too?"

"I love red!" she exclaimed and spun her head back to Vincent with a smile on her face. Taking his hands in hers, she gripped them tightly and chirped, "But I love Vincent's more because one's red and the other's gold. They're so beautiful!"

Little Vincent fidgeted around with his feet from his nervousness. A light blush came to his cheeks before he turned to face her with a small smile. "Thank you."

She nodded and gave him a big grin. "Let's go play, yeah?"

"And your lesson?" the man asked making her turn up to him.

"Lottie one-sama and Fang oni-sama are busy, apparently." Her bright demeanor suddenly returned to its glum state as she turned to face the floor. "And oni-chan won't listen even if I ask him. He always avoids me or says he has more important stuff to do."

Silence came over them but Vincent was the brave one that broke it with his loud voice. "Then I'll play with you! If you're brother doesn't then I'll play in his stead!" Anxiety suddenly broke out in him making him fidget and glance up at the man, "I-I mean, if Master let's us."

The three glanced up expectantly at the man who only nodded curtly shortly after. "Really?" Claire exclaimed and squealed at knowing she would have someone to play with at last. "Let's go outside and have some cakes!"

"I'll be happy to," Gilbert said with a shy smile.

"Yeah!" Vincent called out while the two took each other's hands. "See! You won't have to be alone anymore." Feeling thankful, Claire came up to Vincent and Gilbert and gave them both a chaste kiss to their cheeks.

"Thank you, you two." Both seemed surprised but Vincent was the only one to blush heavily turning bright red. Gilbert laughed about it with Claire joining him. It had felt like an eternity but she could finally manage to laugh again. Even without her brother she now felt that she had these two friends that wouldn't leave her. She felt safe and cared about again. And it was all thanks to them.

Gilbert and Vincent.


Ooh~ more mysteries! Gil and Vince seemed to have known Claire but how did this happen? Well, hopefully, we'll find out in the next one ;D

The song used in this chapter, and all credits of the lyrics, go to ChuMeiStudios and their cover of Synchronicity: Paradise of Light and Shadow. Love that trilogy of songs and I wanted so bad to use some of the lyrics cx

Thanks for reading and stayed tuned for the second part of this double upload :D