Hello there -w- Thought I'd put this up before I officially stop uploading for the week. I was going to upload it Weds. evening but I thought "why make everybody suffer so much?" So here we are :3

I haven't written much since it is finals week -w- So next weekend's uploads may be a bit slower 0w0 Good news though is that on Weds. I start Winter Break and that means hella lot of writing for me! :D

So for now, let's give some Seasons Greetings and Thanks:

-LightandDarkHeart: Yep, she did. Glad you liked it :3 I really had to think a bit about how to rewrite this chapter. Once I had it done the next thing to worry about was the title which didn't fit anymore. And ta-da! That happened c:

-VNKlein: Thanks so much for the favorite and follow :D I'm really glad that you liked it so much to do those things :3 Soo thanks a lot :D

Now that that's dealt with let's get to what you all came to!


Chapter Forty

The Truth of it All


"Vince." Claire's quiet thought echoed in her head. Before her was the man that she had grown to despise. Yet somewhere deep in her she could still see the same boy that she would play with. The same shy kid that would blush at every little thing she did. For the first time she let her usual bias disappear and in that instant she saw him: the boy that was just as scared as her of being neglected, forgotten, and left alone.

"You're such a pest," he hissed behind his smile. "Making everything seem so simple. I've always hated that about you." The Queen of Hearts suddenly attacked but was stopped midway by Raven and Lachesis. Claire's pain doubled as her breath was taken from her lungs. This was taking too much of a toll on her.

"No...you're wrong. It's—not that simple but it is doable. You can choose love over hate. But you just went for something that seemed stronger."

"Shut up!" he called out and pointed the gun at her once more. This time it was only Raven that guarded her while Gilbert stood in between the two.

"Claire, go on ahead. Get to Oz!"

"I can't just leave you here!"

"It'll be better if one of us is with him. You'd be doing us all a favor. Now, go!" He pushed the Queen of Hearts and Vincent back. Even if he told me that I couldn't do much with how exhausted I felt.

"I apologize for the burden, mia Dominia. It seems I cannot remain any longer here. If I do, it will severely harm you." Claire couldn't do anything but nod and Lachesis vanished. The burden on her body suddenly lifted letting her breath.

"Thanks, Lachesis." She spun on her heels and headed towards where Oz had run off to while following Leo. But before she could even get half way there the great three-headed dog that was Cerberus blocked her way. Not only it but six others which included Kein and Cloude's puppet stood as a barrier in her way.

"You're not going anywhere!" Kein motioned for her Chain to attack but before he could a great fire wall rose in between them. Claire, being way too close, had to cover her face from the intense heat and step back a few paces. When she opened her eyes she was surprised at who she saw there holding them all back.

"You guys!" The five lords stood as a shield that blocked them all from attacking. Talis held the teen girl back. Derek held the small child at bay. Arbel took the older man. Envier the older woman. And Angele was keeping both Kein and the puppet at bay.

Envier flashed her a grin over her shoulder. "Just in the nick of time, huh?"

"Spectacular timing, my friend," Claire admitted with a small grin.

"Gil! Alice! Claire!" Claire turned up at hearing her name and saw Oz over her head mounted on Eques. "Hurry up!" He sounded quite shaken up and was a bit panicky, more than the usual. "We're going back to Pandora!"

"But—" My gaze fell upon the five but Angele interrupted me.

"Leave, Clarice!" he exclaimed. "We will handle this."

She was very reluctant to despite what he said. It wasn't until Gilbert took her by the wrist and dragged her away towards where Oz and Alice were that she actually moved. The black flames that Eques created quickly engulfed them. Yet before they teleported back completely she heard Angele speak over them. "I'm proud of you."

Before Claire could even speak, Eques brought them back to Pandora in the midst of what appeared to be an emergency. She had never seen this place like this except during the time Oz and Alice landed here after Cheshire's lair. But this time she had no idea why they were so hysteric.

Sharon found the group and called out to them to follow her. She was breathing heavily and was clearly exhausted from running around but that didn't take away how anxious she was.

"Sharon-chan, how's the Duchess?" Oz asked before Claire could ask what in the hell was going on.

"It was fortunate that no vital organs were injured," Sharon panted, clearly out of breath. "However, I still can't believe Duke Barma did this." He had formed an alliance himself with the Baskervilles. Claire scowled at that, "How low." And here she thought he was better than that. Stupid her for believe it. Sharon handed a string over to Oz that told him where he was headed. Duchess Rainsworth had placed it upon him without him noticing apparently. Claire wondered for a second if those were the same as her Magnetic Strings. But without time to question it, they followed it and soon found themselves running in the outer hallways and found out that Barma had stolen the key to the Door of the Abyss of the Rainsworth's.

"Oz!" All startled by Alice's sudden exclaim, turned to watch the grand dragon-like creature approaching Pandora.

"Jabberwock," Claire whispered under her breath once they stop. Out of nowhere, Leo began to attack the building.

"He's out of control..." Alice said under her breath. Claire couldn't have agreed more. Leo wasn't himself anymore. This wasn't her big brother.

"Gil, you and the other's head towards Duke Barma. I'll deal with Leo."

"What?!" Gil and Claire both exclaimed petrified about the idea.

"Are you out of your ever loving mind!?"

"You're joking! You can't—"

But Oz interrupted him before he could continue. "Gil, I'm counting on you." His eyes fell upon him and the face he was making was really worrying her.

"Don't even—"

"Let's go!" he proclaimed not letting her finish and continued towards their original destination. Claire turned to Oz and Alice in disbelief but only saw the smile that he gave her.

Claire stuttered trying to find a good reason before she threw her hands in the air in surrender. "Fine! Do whatever the hell you want to do! But—" She drew her fisted hand up towards him. He blinked at it, confused. "I'm counting on you. Bring my big brother back to his senses." When he finally understood he smiled and knocked fists with her.

"I will, promise." With that she left following behind Gil.

"Please, Oz," Claire murmured under her breath as she ran hoping her prayer would reach someone. "You're our only hope."


It took me the longest time but I found Gil just in time to see him and Break confronting Duke Barma and the Baskervilles. A lot of them. Yet from the crowd only one stood out. "Lottie!" But my call was drowned by the sound of Gil's gun. Lottie evaded it and both her and Lily went through the passage that most likely led to the sealing stone.

Gil called for me to follow and we both went through while Pandora's agents dealt with the Baskervilles that had intruded. Going through the passageway hidden by vines and leaves, we found ourselves within what seemed to be a secret grove.

I couldn't help but stare in awe at the beautiful grove. Just then my eyes landed on the sealing stone. Both Gil and I headed to it and gave our backs to it. Summoning Radiant Dawn to my hands, I stood guard with him. We had to defend this thing with all we had. It couldn't be broken. We can't let them have it. The stone where he— a sudden piercing pain hit my head. This pain...it's a memory...?

I turned to Gil but was surprised to see the expression of pure shock on his face. What the hell— My gaze then followed his and met what had stupefied him so. Inside the sealing stone... "A head...?"

"Brother!" We both turned to fine Vincent with a gun in his hand, aiming at Gil. "Get out of the way, brother."

"No!" I won't allow him to destroy it. What he created. "Lachesis!" I didn't know how I knew but at my beck a shield formed around the stone. My body had reacted on it's own. Something was telling me—urging me!—to protect that stone. No matter what I had to protect it.

Yet at the same time, something else was urging me to stop. Something in me was causing this pain in my head that pierced through it. A pain that was quickly spreading all over my body. What was this conflicting emotions I was getting?

Just then I heard Gil yell out to Vincent. "I know I failed to save my master, Jack!"

The piercing pain became even stronger, making me flinch, when he spoke the words "master" and "Jack" together. What's happening to me? The pain became so strong that I actually heard something break inside my head. It was the clicking of a lock. Had something else opened? No, not opened. Broken. The box of my regrets, why was it breaking now?

The pain became so intense that I actually dropped to my knees and held my head. My eyes weren't even working correctly. The scenes before me were coming and going, changing between the now and then. Between now and the tragedy that I saw. But this time it was different. They were glimpses like that one time where nothing was clear. All I saw were dead bodies, I heard people screaming, and felt something warm running down my arms.

Why...?

Then another sharp pain came that erased those from my view. What came next was what shocked me. I was looking at the memories that I had recovered over time.

I saw the first memory that I ever recovered: the one about Cloude and myself. But this time it looked torn. On the surface it was the memory that I had seen but behind the tears and holes I saw another memory. The same one but slightly different. No...not slightly. Very. The voice that had called out to us, the one that had been searching for us that day— it hadn't been Jack.

The plummeting gunshot took my attention away from the ever changing scenes in my head to the now just enough to watch Gil taking a bullet for Vincent. No, please...

"Stop this..." I cried under my breath. Not only that but I felt my tears running down my cheeks. "Please, stop!" Just then the sound of the box breaking stopped and in an instant shattered completely. I felt a great burden begin to spread across my whole body but mostly through my head.

"Gil!" Vincent's desperate cries took my attention from the pain for mere instants. "Gilbert! Gilbert!"

Staggering, I made my way to Gilbert and checked his wounds. I heaved a sigh and addressed Vincent, "It's not fatal."

"He got shot!" Vincent snapped with a yell. "That's serious enough for me!"

"Calm down, Vincent!" I finally snapped at him but that was the wrong move. That just made my head hurt even more. It was hard to stay focused at the now when the torn memories kept passing through my eyes. Most of them were of Jack, of the times when he had taking care of us. But then in these memories it wasn't Jack who cared for us.

The more they came the more I could differentiate between the real and the fake. The most prominent was of the piano room and that rose. It hadn't been Glen who had yelled at me, and it hadn't been Jack who had consoled me. It hadn't been him.

The only thing that person hadn't lied to me about was the broches and the box. He didn't want me to forget for my sake. He wanted me to forget for his sake. So that he had an advocate after his death. Someone who would follow him blindly just because he cured my sadness. He was only looking after one person: himself.

The sudden breaking of the sealing stone made my head turn abruptly towards it and see Lottie's dagger making contact with it. "No..."

Then what was inside the stone—the head—rolled out of it. And when my eyes landed upon it, everything was instantly pieced together. Everything so far had been like a really fucked up jigsaw puzzle where all of us where pieces. Where all of us where carefully put into place by an outside person.

And it made sense. It all made sense because of one thing: that box. It wasn't to lock away my sadness. It was to lock away the truth. Once destroyed it allowed the real memories, the ones he had altered, to surface. And that head just proved me right.

All of us were bewildered, baffled, shocked at what we saw: Gibert, Lottie, Doug, Lily, Vincent and I. All because the head that now laid before the empty pedestal was none other's than our Master's—Glen Baskerville.

The person that had made our lives like these hadn't been Glen. It hadn't been him. It had been the one that we least suspected of. The one that had fooled us all.

It had all been his fault.

Jack.


Dun-dun-dun! :D

Hoped you guys liked it even though it was very short x3 Now you'll have to wait till next week. Wish me luck though :D

So stayed tuned and see ya'll next week :D