Hey there me again -w- Don't know if putting out chapters in such a rapid fire is good but I want to get as many out now before going back to school. In exactly a week, the hell that's being a sophomore in college begins TwT And since I was told by my doctor that too much stress was causing my constant headaches and migraines I figured, what best way of letting out steam that by doing the thing I love that is writing ;D

So you guys are basically my therapy :3

Now to give thanks:

-LightandDarkHeart: Haha, that you thought of Cloude that way was my whole point. That way when he was outed like that, the reader would feel tricked into disliking him and ending up liking him ;3 And thanks a lot about the language :3 That makes me really giddy and fluffy inside (^w^)b

Now let's get on with the next chapter~


Chapter Twenty

Proof of Life


"You again?" Grimacing at the head nurse's annoyed tone of voice, I nod to reiterate my being here. She huffed before motioning for me to follow.

It was already the morning of the third day after the incident at Sablier. Very early in the morning. I had to wake up before the sun came out so that I could get to Bethlem by the time the asylum opened. Elliot had fuzzed plenty about me leaving so quickly but with Leo's help he got over it. Promised they would come visit once in a while though, as did I. Thankfully they were nice enough to give me a carriage for the ride here.

Now I was before another room, one that wasn't the usual playing room for us two when I came to visit.

"Um, he's here?"

"He got terribly sick a couple of days ago." The head nurse grimaced and gave out a sigh. Anybody could easily see that despite her attitude towards everyone that she cared deeply about the patients here. To her, her job was her life. "He's been in bed resting since. You won't have as much time as usual in there."

"How long is 'not as much'?"

"Twenty minutes." With that said, she opened the door and we went inside. In the room already there were two others besides Skiá, another young nurse and a guard. Just at coming in my eyes widened at seeing him laying there in his bed. "Give them privacy." The two others nodded before leaving with the head nurse following behind them. I supposed since he was in bed rest there wasn't any real threat for anyone.

Pulling a chair up to his bed, I sat and grabbed at his hand that was hooked up to some fluids. It seemed he had been asleep for when I touched him, his eyes fluttered open. It surprised me to see his dark eyes even more dazed as if that were possible. They must really have him in tons of medication.

"Were you sleeping?" I asked in a hushed voice trying not to wake him completely in case he was still half asleep.

"Mm," he mumbled closing his eyes briefly before opening them and turning to me. "Wasn't expecting you here, κορίτσι." It sometimes threw me off when he spoke to me in Greek, specially since it wasn't a language I had studied. "So pray tell, to what do I owe the visit?"

"How are you?"

He scoffed at my question. I was here for something, we both knew that, but I wasn't asking just out of curtsey. "I feel dandy, luv. Never better. So let us stop beating around the bush and talk some business, yes?" Heaving out a sigh, I simply sat there while staring at my hands. "Is that new jewelry I see?"

His question caught me off guard and made me glance down at my ribbon. Instead of my own broche, which was on the belt were my sheathed dagger was, I had Cloude's identical one on my ribbon. My hand reached up to it and caressed it before I answered. "It was my brother's."

"Brother?" he inquired quite perplexed but after a few seconds a small smirk came to his features. "By that I take it that you've recovered your memories."

I give him a curt nod as my answer. "Most of them, yes. I had a brother who passed away recently. And a mother, too. Albeit, I don't know much of who she was."

"You know her name?"

"Edea. Edea Florence." Out of the blue, he choked and started coughing. This made him actually sit up slightly while he hacked and I patted his back. "A-Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah," he called out pulling his hand away from his mouth. "Just a fit." But the moment he pulled his hand away, I noticed the small trace of blood that was left on his chin. Gripping a towel by the bed stand, he cleaned his mouth and his hand before turning to me. "Edea, you say?"

"Yeah," I answer still a bit stupefied by what I saw. "The one who told me about her was Duke Barma. The oldest of four, remember?"

"That I do." He turned over to me once more and stared at the broche. "So, were you planning on asking me about Edea Florence?" My answer was a simply nod. To that he chuckled, and turned to stare at the ceiling of his room.

"I've only heard her name in rumors and stories of yore," he began and brought his arm up over his eyes. From that point onward all I saw was his smirk. "Miss Florence was a White Sage of a tribe. Her duty was—"

"To protect her people," I finished for him a bit annoyed that I was hearing this yet again. "I know that and I know that she caused a massacre of her tribe because she had babies. My brother and I. What about the tribe though, do you know anything more about them?"

"I̱ dolofonía, the murder. That's what we knew them as. They were a group of people devoted to a goddess of unknown origin. To some of us they were even considered a cult, myself included. But I was a very knowledgeable lad in my day. I would often quest far and wide for wisdom and to partake in it. And in my later years, I became aware that they had many names but only one stuck out from the rest. One that remained through many decades: dikastí̱rio to̱n koráko̱n. The Court of Crows."

Court of Crows...? I get it. That's why his country knew them as 'the murder'. A group of crows is a murder. "What about them?"

"After the event with Edea Florence and the massacre, it is written in books that the tribe or cult died from a rebellion. But that's just a façade kept much like Pandora's public face." With that comment, he slightly flicked my nose. "In reality there was no rebellion. Instead the tribe as a whole was divided into parts to avoid any loose ends that were caused by your mother's leave."

"Loose ends?"

"Other people, κορίτσι. Edea's individualism caused others once faithfully blind to dispute the Elders of the Court and for uncertainty to grow among the people. The division into smaller groups able to be patrolled made it that much easier for the Elders to pick out those nonbelievers and deal with them. Permanently."

Unconsciously I gulped down my nervousness while he continued. "You talk about Elders..."

"The ones actually in charge of the Court of Crows. Five in total, all old cynical occultists if you ask me. They were the ones that took in the White Sage each time one was chosen. I don't know what happened a decade after the massacre though, after the division. Unfortunately, a dark hole swallowed me in a chasm. My world and this one are more than one hundred, seveny-five years apart."

"A-A hundred seventy-five? That's how much time passed from when you turned out from the Abyss?" He only nodded as a reply. No wonder he didn't have anybody out there. Even if there were anybody out there he had no means of finding any descendants of his family.

"So as far as they are concerned, this is all I know," he concluded with another deep breath and a couple of hacking coughs.

"Please, let me tell Pandora about you," I pleaded to him watching him suffer. "They will have the resources to make you better."

This caused him to laugh, cough and wheeze some more. I don't understand? What was so damn funny about dying?! "There's no medicine or doctor that can help me. I'm one of the damned already. If that is all you wanted then leave. I'd like to rest now." He then slipped quietly and quickly into sleep. It surprised me that he had been so straight forward about it.

Having nothing else to do there, I simply left some flowers for him and left. The coachman then took me towards the Rainsworth mansion, our last stop. I thank him and got down meeting the great edifice before entering. One of the maids came to me in a haste. They get really nervous when someone comes in unannounced. Once I had calmed her down, she filled me in on what had happened three days ago when this side of the group had arrived from Sablier. Oz, Gilbert and Alice were in their parlor and Sharon in her own room. What shocked me were the news that Break had been on bed rest unconscious for the past three days.

She led me to the room where he rested and I thanked her before going inside the room. There was no one but him and he was just laying down there with his hand on his forehead. At hearing me coming inside, his head tilted slightly away from the door. That one gesture gave me a very odd feeling for some reason.

"It's me, Break."

"Well, if it isn't Clarice. Correct?" I supposed Oz had told him about what he saw with Siva, Cloude, and I. "I was wondering where you had gone when you didn't come in to see me the moment I awoke." It took awhile to tell him the whole thing personally. In the end, I finished by telling him that I had spent the past three days at the Nightray mansion. Two of which had been me just being unconscious. "I see. And you say that you now posses the other Chain, Lacrimosa?"

"Yeah," I answer and undo the broche from my bow. "He gave it to me and passed the contract to me. Is that even possible?" Clutching it in my hand, I pass it on to him wanting him to see it. He sat there in thought but didn't grab the broche that I was offering him. What the hell? "Hey."

"Yes, quite tragic yet opportune."

A grimace came to my face and I snapped at him, "Take the broche before I throw it at you?! God, seriously! Are you getting so old that it's making you blind?" Before anything else, I heard the swirl of the blanket before he plunged like a little kid onto the bed. What's up with him? Was it something I said? Curiously enough he was remaining me a lot of how Skiá had been act— "Break?" I inquired but didn't get anything from him. Pouting, I jerked the blanket away only to see him lying down on his side facing away from me. Again I raised my voice to ask, "Is something wrong?"

"Just a tired old man, right? I should be fine with some rest."

Grimacing, I decided to let it go for now. Before leaving I pointed towards my broche which had been left unattended by the edge of the bed nearest to him. "Hand it over to me then. If you're not well to talk then I'll talk to you later." Still lying down he went reaching for it, but was clumsily missing. What the hell? It was right there beside him.

Just then, it all clicked in. But I needed to make sure. I took a few quiet steps while he still fidgeted around and reached out for my broche just when he had found its place and touch my own. I gasped but he didn't react. He simply slid his hand back towards him and laid there.

It couldn't be. But then again, he hadn't turned towards me when I came in. He hadn't noticed me handing my broche over. He didn't even see me coming around the bed.

"Break...you're really blind?"

He didn't answer but I saw a sad smile creep to his face. A grimace came to my own along with sadness but I didn't let it show. "But—" his sudden outburst caught me off guard. "I'm not the only one incapacitated, am I?" He turned his head towards where I was. "After all, you are heartless."

"W-What...?"

"Don't act dumb. You know, don't you? That you no longer have one."

This time it was my turn to look down. Yeah, I knew all right. It was while I had slept that Chronos along with Lacrimosa, to whom I was properly introduced to then, told me what was happening to me. After I woke up, my body, though rested, felt beat and tired. My face a bit paler than normal and my eyes were a bit dull. What really proved to me that they were telling the truth was when I tried finding my pulse.

To my complete shock, there was none. I was alive, literally, without a heartbeat. And the answer to that question was simple. The reason I had no pulse was...because I had no heart.

"Yeah, Chronos and Lacrimosa told me. When I destroyed the heart that kept Siva tied to this realm, I destroyed my own anchor to it as well. What's keeping me here now are the pieces of what's left of Cloude's. His second chance that he gave me." He came up to the post of the canopied bed, "I'm limited physically because of it. I can't use both Chains at once."

"And Astrovylia?"

I shook my head before answering verbally. "She won't answer my call. Maybe that one time at Sablier was just a fluke. Perhaps it was just her answering the desperate call of the daughter of her former contractor."

"So, what are you planning to do now that you know that?" he asked grabbing the blankets and covering himself.

"Follow Oz and Alice. If I can help, I will. By searching for Alice's memories I might actually remember some things that could be tied to the tragedy's origin."

He nodded and curled up into a ball before chiding at me like usual. "If that's your resolve then you best be heading out now. Oz-kun and the others are heading to Pandora to meet with Duke Barma."

"I will." Before I left the room, I turned briefly towards him. "Rest up, Break. We'll be back before you know it."


It was no trouble finding the lot that would be going to Pandora. Amazingly in that bunch was Sharon with whom, along with Alice and Reim, I shared a carriage with on the way there. Apparently, Oz and Gilbert had taken another for privacy. I didn't witness whatever they did so maybe talking about it between themselves would be best.

"So you where at the Nightray Manor these past three days?" Sharon asked on the ride over there, curious. Alice simply sat sulking beside her. It had been a good ten minutes of us trying to cheer her up. She was really down because of Oz making her go on a separate carriage.

"Yep." I had just finished my story to them. Wow, it was getting quite tiresome to repeat this story over and over again.

"So, your real name...?" Reim asked after keeping silent for the whole story. He was another curious person among them.

"It's Clarice. Clarice Lune Florence," I said, pronouncing the words with the accent of my mother tongue. Many quirks had arisen from my memories. I noticed that now, more than before, my voice started to show off a slight accent with certain words. It was quite noticeable when I spoke my language to myself. It was the same accent that Cloude had as well. "But, regardless of that, I am still Claire. I'm still that clumsy, idiot, and big-mouthed girl that you all know."

We arrived a few minutes later and a couple of guards showed us the way to where Barma was. In the end, we arrived at a library with the ahoge duke sitting below a window while reading some parchment. I suppose he was deciphering it. A lot of books were spread around him as well. We stood at a distance each while Oz began asking his question.

The earthquake at Sablier? That's right, I'd forgotten that Elliot and Leo had said something about an earthquake hitting Sablier minutes after what happened to me.

At this, Barma just opened with a story. The story of how Jack Vessalius used his body to seal off Glen Baskerville's soul. We all listened in utter shock at what he said. Then he snuck out the ace he had under his sleeve.

"What I am about to tell not even the other three dukes know about." He stood up abruptly and walked past Oz while speaking, "I have already tracked down one of the sorcerers."

Sharon then spoke up about how could he have obscured such knowledge from the other three dukes. When he compared his ethics to those of Break's, she snapped.

"Don't you dare compare yourself to Break! He won't forget the existence of 'humans'! He's not like you! He doesn't use people's consciences as objects! Stop saying such nonsense!"

A few seconds of silence came over everybody before Duke Barma replied to her outburst. "Lady, please mind your words." All of a sudden, I felt an immense pressure coming from him and noticed something forming. "You may be a lady. But you have shown no respect towards your elders. If that be the case then let me teach it to you."

Then the figure became more distinguishable to my eyes. A sudden nostalgia overcame me then at seeing a Chain that I hadn't seen since I was small. A Chain I had only witnessed once during those four years of servitude towards my old Master.

"Dodo..." my whispered words were caught in the air before he launched to attack Sharon. It was too late for me to react, she was too damn far from me!

Then I felt a strange vacuum all over the room before it burst, popping my ears and leaving nothing else behind but black feathers falling from nowhere all around the room. At opening my eyes I saw Oz had reached out to protect Sharon but the one who had really stopped Dodo had been Gilbert with Raven's power.

He and Duke Barma exchanged some words, apparently the latter knowing something about Gil's 'problem'. He dismissed Barma simply with a 'it's none of your business'.

"I shall ask about the details next time," he declared and began heading towards another door. "I'll be leaving now." After he left, Gil went to pick up his hat while the others waited. I, however, went up to Reim and spoke to him quietly.

"Reim, may I ask a favor of you?"

"A favor?"

Nodding, I simply ask directly. "I wish to speak to your Master." This seemed to tense him up a bit. If that didn't sit well with him, he wouldn't stand the next. "Alone." He visibly stiffened. Oh yeah, he was tensed up.

"A-Are you sure?" he asked really anxious. I nodded and he just sighed in defeat. He knew that I wouldn't leave otherwise.

The instant he gave me the okay I went over to Oz and the others. "Go on ahead without me. I'll catch up later."

"But, we're being guided by a servant of the duke to the sorcerer's mansion," Gil intervened with a very valid point.

Tapping my chin a couple of times I snapped my fingers at getting an idea. Just then I poke Oz's forehead and leave it there. "Don't worry. Finding a little brat, a loud rabbit, and a nosy raven can't be that hard."

I let go of him and he brings his hands up to it before his eyes went slightly wider. The only answer I give him is a grin. "All right," he answered knowing what I had meant. "We'll see you there."

After they left, Reim turned to me worried. "Are you sure you shouldn't have gone with them? That place was hard to find in the first place for a reason. It's not even on the charts!"

"It'll be fine," I reassure him. "I just wired Oz, after all."

"Wired?"

"With Lacrimosa's magnetic strings. With her powers over space, I'm capable of hooking and finding a specific magnetic field. So, Oz is like my precise compass, so to speak." Leaving the jokes behind, I become serious at what's to come. "Take me to him."

He sighs heavily once more before he leads me to the door which Barma had entered minutes before. "You should be brief. Master's already displeased because of Oz-sama's attitude." Giving him a curt nod, he opens to door to let us inside the door.

It wasn't that brightly lit but I could easily catch Barma some feet away. He was just there playing around with the caged bird that he had perched on a pedestal. Without taking his eyes away from the bird, he spoke to me.

"What do you want, Florence?" he spoke rudely using my last name. It appears that somehow, he too found out about what had transcended at Sablier.

Ignoring my sharp tongue that wanted to bark back, I stood strong and went to the point. "I won't beat around the bush with you, Barma," I told him just as rudely as he had treated me. "I'm more than sure that you are aware of my condition."

His eyes turned briefly towards me before returning to the bird once more. This time, however, a slight smirk spread across his features. "Of course I am. And I must admit that what is happening to you is most peculiar. You have no heart yet you live." At this time, he turned his entire body towards me and opened his fan at me while gloating in the moment. "You have faced death and defeated it but have no heart as a result. Nonetheless, you breath, you walk, you talk. I am most curious indeed!"

"Cut the crap." My voice became very heavy with the seriousness I felt. "Just what does this imply?"

With that he grinned out. He was truly enjoying himself with this, for some godforsaken reason. "It matters not whether you overuse your powers or not. Either way the pieces that are keeping you alive will continue to wane. Steadily but surely, this will cause your body to stop functioning."

It was hard to accept what he was telling me but in a way I was already expecting this answer. So instead I dare ask it just to make the concept that much more real.

"So I'm dying."

There was silence before he answered. "Indeed." A sudden grin spread across his face. "But—"


On the carriage ride I kept thinking about what Barma had told me. Could it be true? Is it actually possible that I—

"Miss?" My attention drifted towards the driver that had called out to me. "We're here. Welcome to the city of Tor." Leaving me behind, I watched the coach retreat before glancing around town. No one would care what I did so I went right to work.

"Lacrimosa?"

I felt a surge of warmness before I heard her voice. "Yes?"

"Can you tell me where Oz and the others are?" I request from her with a small smile.

"But of course," she replied nicely with a small lilt to her voice. "Give me a minute."

Lacrimosa and I hadn't been acquainted that long but she was a good listener. Besides, it wasn't in me to order others around, Oz excluded. When we first met in my sleep, she had taken me to the Grey Garden to speak to me alongside Chronos. They both held a completely different form to what I was used to. Chronos was a small monkey, a much smaller version of his true form. As for Lacrimosa, I had never seen her true form but the one she took then was of a full grown doe. Chronos had climbed up on her while they talked to me. She had proclaimed that from that moment onward she would be my Chain and that she would follow my every command. But I didn't do things that way. So instead, I simply told her that we would start out as acquaintances and see where that led us.

"I've found Oz." To my eyes then a single silver thread started from my feet and stretched out before coming to one single direction, towards the forest.

"Thanks," I call and start heading there. Soon enough I found myself before a dark, gloomy mansion surrounded by trees that barely let a grey light of sunlight come through. It was like a haunted house or something.

"He should be inside."

"Of course he would," I reply sarcastically. This seemed like the set of a really cliché horror novel. Blowing a raspberry just because, I went on ahead and slowly opened the front door. At not seeing a soul I entered while listening to the creak of the door. They were close, I could feel it. But it was quiet...way too quiet.

Just then two shots from nowhere scared the living hell out of me. They had come from that door! Kicking it in, I entered what seemed to be a grand ballroom that was bear only to see the lot of them and hear Oz yelling out to Gil.

"It's a mirror!" At looking around, I noticed it too. From wall to wall, the room was covered in mirrors. It was how that girl that had been attacking them kept hiding herself from them. Shit, ain't half bad. But she ain't half as good as me.

"Chronos!" I called but I was shocked when nothing happened. Instead, I felt an empty void that gave me chills. They weren't coming. I couldn't summon them here. That's when I felt it. A high pitched ringing in my ears. It wasn't painful at first, just annoying.

A sudden pressure came over the room that made me glance up towards Oz to see him hold a huge, red scythe in his hands ready to kill the girl that he had captured underneath his foot.

"Stop it, Oz!" I heard that sentence being called by more than one person but it hadn't been what stopped him. Instead Alice had launched herself at him.

Oz, still dazed, spoke softly. "Alice...?"

"Oz...she is my prey," she called indignant yet seemed a bit sad and shocked. "You are my manservant! You can't just do as you please!"

Oz simply gazed at her and slowly the dazed look on his eyes disappeared and quickly after, so did the scythe. "Yes. You're right. I'm sorry, Alice..."

"That's enough Marie..."

We all turned towards the sound of an old man. And sure enough there was one entering the room. In a wheelchair and bald, he was dressed well and had small glasses upon his nose.

"Riitasu-sama," the girl, Marie, called out dumbfounded that the man had appeared.

"For such rudeness, I beg your forgiveness," he said with a bow of his head. "The thing you are looking for is downstairs." He then guided us down a spiral staircase. For some reason the further we went in the more a piercing pain went through my skull. My frown was a sure sign of my discomfort but I wasn't holding my head like Oz by the time we arrived at the base of the stairs. There in the small room was a large stone clad in chains and sitting atop a small pedestal.

Jack, you're there right? A piece of you was in that thing holding off Glen. Oz went up to the stone and brushed it with his fingers. The instant he did that though, sudden flashes came through my head.

Red. That's all the color I saw. Red embers. Scarlet blood. Vibrant red eyes staring at me.

The images disappeared just as quickly as they had come and they just left me breathless. Standing back to catch my breath, I simply listened to Riitasu as he recounted the stories passed down his family.

After everything else we came up to the foyer. In the end we had found the sealing stone but there was no way in hell we could take it with us. Why the hell were all these seals made with heavy ores!? We headed out and decided to leave Glooner in the mansion while we alerted Duke Barma about the stone.

But the farther we kept walking through the forest back to Tor, the more of a bad feeling I kept getting. It was very oppressive and it weighed much uneasiness on me. Startlingly, a huge seism shook beneath our feet. I had to actually steady myself on a tree to keep from falling. When it finally ceded we all stared at each other with a clear heavy feeling on us. Without missing a heartbeat, we rushed back to the mansion.

At the doors, Gilbert and Oz pushed the doors opened to look at what had happened. None of us were prepared for this.

Everyone there was dead.

They had been beheaded.


It cannot be possible for a human being to be this bored!

"I'm losing my marbles!" I yelled out in the open while thrashing my arms about. Breathing heavily, I rested once more upon the grass of the East Courtyard of Pandora. This place was huge having plenty of places on each wing. For now, the East Wing and any edifices connected to it were for Oz and his party to use. I was included in that 'party' but it had gotten boring after the third day of walking around and snooping around every nook and cranny.

A week had already gone by since we had come back from Riitasu's mansion and a week since we had seen that scene. No matter what I did images kept popping in my head and alongside them were the ones that I saw before the sealing stone. I seriously had no fucking clue what they were. Usually when I remembered something it was in good sized chunks of information. This time they weren't even a decipherable scene by themselves.

On the last three days of my nothing-to-do vacation I had gone out and done research at Pandora's library. Yet no matter where I looked I found nothing about the Court of Crows or the White Sage. I had even gone back to Bethlem a few times to visit Skiá to see how he was besides the obvious. Questions about the sealing stones and the seal itself came up even but, oddly enough, he knew nothing about them. I guess those things didn't happen during his time period. Or perhaps Jack's attempts to keep it all quiet worked real good.

"Some training would do you good, lass. How about it?"

"I can't," I groan while the sunlight bathes me. Today was really nice out. So instead of my usual outfit, I decided to go with something new.

A few days ago, the outfits that Sharon and I had ordered from Elise had gotten in. At least the whole trying them on kept our minds out of the lethargy that seemed to have spread throughout Pandora. I had to admit that they weren't half bad.

Today I wore one of the ones that I had put aside for casual wear. They were mostly all dresses, despite my preferences but I had to admit they weren't that bad anymore. And it wasn't even a full dress, this one. It was a two piece connected by an underbust corset. But one thing that I noticed about the designs was that Elise had a unique way of style like Sharon had said.

The blouse I wore was a puff sleeve shirt of a royal blue color but the neckline was almost nonexistent. I think it would be considered a v-neck but the buttons weren't up until a bit under my breasts and were covered by the corset itself. What covered the rest were two black strands zigzagging just barely up to were my breasts started. The shoulders and back of the shirt were held up by a wing collar that was buttoned twice and fitted to my neck. From either side of the collar, a pearl choker came down where I could attach any of my broches, to which I had decided that Cloude's looked better with this one.

As for my lower part, I was in a black skirt that was hiked up once to make a small puff in the front and the rest flowed down just a few inches above my knees. On the back I had a small tail down to a little below my knees of the same material. Sharon had also gotten me, without my knowledge, a pair of black laced, and sort of high heeled boots that came up to just below my knees.

Since it was so nice out, I decided to put up my hair for once. It was up and styled to one side.

"Why not?" Chronos asked confused.

"Break's out doing work. I have no sparring buddy because of that."

"And? Drag his sorry arse out here and get going!"

"Really! Ever the insensitive one. How is he suppose to spar with Claire if he cannot see?"

"Believe me, he ain't as disabled as he makes out to be. I'm sure he's already gotten everything figured out about how to fight like that."

"Both of you just shut up!" I finally snapped wanting to hear some silence inside my own head.

"Sorry," they both said in hushed voices.

Groaning again, I sprung to my feet, dusted myself and headed out.

"Where are you going?"

"To see Oz." That brat had been locked up in his room ever since we came back. I was tired sick of waiting for him to come back to reality. And I was about to drag him out to it. "He's been holed up in there for far too long." An ache came to my head and it made me massage my temples. "And do me a favor and keep quiet for the rest of the day, both of you. I'll get a migraine at this pace."

Oz hadn't been in his room so that meant he had gone out. Good, that mean I won't have to drag his ass out. Walking towards Reim's office to ask if he had seen them, I was surprised to see Oz, himself, coming down from the second floor towards my general direction.

Before he could leave I called out to them. "Where're you going?"

Oz turned to me and smiled. "Oh, hey Claire." He, Gil, and a very groggy-looking Alice met me at the base of the stairs. "Cute wardrobe," he commented with a smirk.

"Sharon's idea. Not mine. Although I am liking the style. Anyway, where are you headed?"

"Reim-san called for me to meet a visitor at his office," he explained pointing his thumb out in the direction of said man's office.

"His office for a visit?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows? But we're going, care to join?"

"Yeah, sure. Anything's better than what I have been doing these past few hours." Which was clearly nothing but creating carbon dioxide.

After a few minutes, we arrived and knocked at the door. When Reim opened, I saw the faces of two people I wasn't expecting to see.

"Oh," Elliot called out nonchalantly and shutting the book he had in his hands close. "You're late shorty."

"Elliot!?" Oz said just as amazed as I was to see them there. Gilbert instantly started yelling and losing his marbles. He began mumbling something before the door slammed open hitting him and startling me a bit.

The one responsible had been a Pandora agent that looked just as frantic as Gilbert had been before he had been knocked down.

"Hey, Papa~" I cooed poking him while squatting down beside him. "You alive there?"

"Is Elliot-sama here by any chance?!" he called out very nervous about something. Why did I have the feeling I should be that way too? Was I hungry? Nah, can't be. I ate an hour ago.

But at hearing Elliot's name, I instantly turned to see them but they were gone from the sit they had taken just a few seconds ago. Leaving Gil, I walked over next to the desk that was closest to the chair. Walking behind it, I had to do my best not to burst out in laughter. Their faces...just priceless.

Trying to add more heat to the pot, I went over and leaned over right were Elliot was and prop my elbows on the desk to keep balance. This would hide them easy if only he would stop moving so much. Geez, seriously. Had he never played hide-and-seek? Something warm kept brushing against my thigh but I ignored it while I listened to the agent.

"Elliot-sama escaped his bodyguards and fled the mansion. It seems he's now at Pandora," he explained fervently. At that, I lifted my left heel and stepped on Elliot's foot. "And with the head-hunter on the loose I've been ordered to find him and escort him to the mansion immediately!"

That was what I was forgetting!? This only made me grind against his foot with my heel that much more until he had to grabbed onto my ankle to make me stop. Reim then managed to somehow get the guy out and give us some privacy.

"Did you run away from home, Elliot?" Oz asked sheepishly, squatting down to them. Leo simply laid out, clearly tired of hiding.

"Don't make me laugh!" Elliot shouted at him plenty annoyed. "I'm here to gather information about the headhunter! And you—" At this I was surprised that he actually stood up and grasped my wrist before shouting. "That hurt!"

"Yeah, well good!" I yell back just as fervently. "You shouldn't be roaming around when the headhunter's free! Can you imagine how worried sick Madame and Vanessa should be this very instant!?"

"Just, don't start with me!" he exclaimed and went over to Oz. Just when I was to give him another piece of my mind, Leo pulled me back with plenty of protest from my part.

At last he managed to settle me but not calm me down. I simply stood about waiting beside Leo and tapping my foot while they talked. Oz explained about the contents of Riitasu's box and a particular piece that Duke Barma had found interesting. He redrew the image as best as he could and passed it on to Elliot. I got a mere glance at the drawing but it seemed a bit familiar.

Just after Alice sniffed Elliot, hilarious by the way, him and Gil started quarreling. Ignoring them, I covered my ears from the incessant yelling from both. Out of the blue two hands chopped at both and threw them to the ground. Then, after reprimanding both, Oscar Vessalius said something that piqued my interest.

"Tea party?" I murmured back. He led us outside to the North Courtyard where plenty of Pandora members had already set up the party. A long table was in the middle with countless of deserts and tea while plenty of other round tables were spread around it.

Yet, for some reason I didn't feel like joining the festivities now. Funny how when I had nothing to do I wanted something to happen but now that there's something to do all I want is to get as far away as possible. So I came to stand back across the courtyard where I could see everybody.

From there, I caught the sight of Oz and Elliot sitting underneath a tree's shade. They were talking and bickering, mostly Elliot on the latter. Leo soon came up to them and passed some tea to Elliot. Sighing, I gazed down at my feet.

I couldn't possibly tell them. Not Oz, not Leo, not Elliot. Specially not Elliot. No, telling anybody would just worry them needlessly. They can't do anything about it anyway. There's no need to put worry about something that can't be stopped. I can't burden them with that. Not him nor Leo nor anybody else.

Out of nowhere, something pushed me from behind, pushing me forth towards them. A warm breeze came out dancing about and lightly caressed my cheeks and my hand kindly, gently.

"You're right," I murmured under my breath with a smile on my face and start heading towards the others.

Peaceful moments like these are rare and should be treasured.

Coming up to them just after they finished their handshake—if you can call it that— I smiled and called out, "Hey guys." For some reason I was panting from the run across the courtyard. I'll need some serious exercise after this. No more dawdling for me.

"Hey," Oz replied and got up.

"What were you doing all the way over there by yourself?" Elliot asked while getting up and standing beside Leo.

"Nothing."

"Here," Leo called and offered me a cup of tea. "Want some?"

"Sure!" I say with glee and a smile. I reached out and grabbed the cu—

crack!—

At first the noise of it shattering was all I could hear. Then my sight kicked in when my eyes came down to the floor to see the broken cup that lay in pieces near my feet. Then just as quickly, they went over to my hands.

What the hell happened? The cup—it slipped right out of my grip. No, I thought I had held onto it. But...my hand, it didn't listen.

"Claire?" At hearing Elliot's concerned voice, I gazed upward to see concern in their faces.

But before anybody could say anything, I played it off with a nervous laugh. "S-Sorry. I guess I'm still tired. I'll go get some more!" They had no chance to call to me before I was out of their earshot. Slipping out of sight, I leaned up against a tree and simply stared at my hands. They were shaking so much. I couldn't stop them from doing that. Instead all I could do was hold onto them tightly.

"I'm fine. I-I'm probably just tired. Yeah, it's that." But no matter how much I tried deluding myself in those lies, I knew that something was happening to me.

"Steadily but surely, this will cause your body to stop functioning."

Barma's words rung out in my mind while I stood there dreading something that had began already. It must have been sometime that I had gone out because Leo had gone out of his way to go look for me.

"Are you okay?" he asked as we headed back to the table were Elliot was.

"Yeah. I'm fine, promise." It hurt that I was lying through my teeth. Specially since it was Leo whom I was lying to. They didn't need to know. I...I will die regardless. Better they not know about something they can't help.

So instead of sulking and dreading it, I let that care go away just for the day and spent it with a smile on my face. After sometime, Mister Oscar began calling for us to gather.

"There's all reason to celebrate!" he called out gleefully.

He was right. We had to enjoy pleasantries like these. Even I knew that. That's why I needed to tread forth and not let fear get the best of me. No matter what I needed to continue living. Even if—if I'm really dying.

That didn't matter right now. I had to be grateful for getting to spend times like these with the people I loved.

"I'm really happy to be here with you all! That's it! Today's a wonderful ordinary day, isn't it?"

Yeah, it was. It was a beautiful and wonderful ordinary day.

It's always been easy for me to love the people I care about. They're my everything. So, yes, I will always champion the ones I love, Cloude. You, Oz, Alice, Gilbert, Sharon, Break, Reim, Vanessa, Leo and Elliot. All of them are the reason I am here. So from now onward I'll fight until there's nothing left in me. Until the last drop of life drains from me, I'll continue forth. I will live my life happily and to the fullest.

That's a promise that I'll keep to myself. Because...if I do that then—

"Happy Unbirthday!"

I'll be leaving behind a proof of my life.


First long chapter that I upload in a while -w-

This was a good one in my opinion. Still debating whether to make an extra chapter out of the party in itself. But that'll come later c:

For now stayed tuned for the next chapter ;3