Chapter Title: Adagio

Chapter Description: The cold ski trip heats up when a misunderstanding pulls Eliot and Ada together without anyone else and without a jacket.

A/N: I had most of this written. And then I had an idea and had to rewrite two chapters. It wasn't fun, but I think that it was probably worth it in the end… That explains the randomly long time between updates. Sorry ya'll. :/ I'll try to work more diligently… I'd work even more diligently if someone possibly drew some fan art for the courtyard scene? I've never gotten a reader to draw some for me and I'd be UBER excited because I… I have no artistic skills whatsoever. :(

Disclaimer: I do not own Pandora Hearts because if I did, Alice's meat obsession would be a little less creepy.

…

"One, two," Anton pauses. "Are you sure that you can-"

"Let's go," Ada tells him and he smiles; Ada Vessalius had more guts than he had expected… and a gorgeous smile.

"Alright. One, two, three!" And then with a quick push from him Ada began down the hill. Never before had she been skiing, but she was adamant about being able to ski down the same slopes as her friends by the end of the trip. A nice boy who was a year younger than her had offered to help teach her –named Anton- and he had been a great help. He had already given up a day of going on the fun slopes himself to teach her how to get down the dinkiest of hills. She felt bad, but that made her even more determined to get better and skiing and quickly.

Still, her determination didn't make up for lack of skill, taught or natural. Three seconds after pushing off on the beginner hill she fell flat on her face in the cold white snow.

Her instructor -who had been skiing with his family every year since he could remember and had quite a knack for it- skis down the hill with great ease, coming to Ada who was having trouble standing up, white snow covering her clothes and in her hair. "Maybe we should call it a day," he tells her with a charming and sympathetic grin. "You've been working harder than everyone else and most of our classmates have gone inside already…" It's not that he doesn't want to quit being with Ada; he's thinking that maybe now is a time for a cup of hot chocolate, rather than the slopes, for her own sake. It would be a shame if she tried too hard and overworked herself and broke a bone, or something.

She was reluctant to accept Anton's, offer, but she was getting tired and she knew that he had already been such a great help to her and she couldn't even think of denying him the warmth of a fire after such a cold day. "Sure," she tells him with a smile even though she's feeling worthless. "It's getting dark out, anyways. They're probably looking for us." They were so out of the way from everyone else on the tougher hills that all of their classmates could have gone inside and they would have never known.

"Here," he holds out a hand and she grasps it, finally able to get up. "Shall we?"

Together they went down the slope, slowly, Anton holding Ada's hand the entire way with the excuse that he was worried that she'd fall down if he didn't. He couldn't say that he had minded; when he had found out that the Vessalius heir couldn't ski he jumped on the opportunity to teach her. For the longest time he had seen her in the halls and on the way to class and had never gotten to speak to her. He had always wanted to, however, and this was exactly the opportunity that he wanted to get to know her.

"Anton!" They look back and see a guy that Anton recognized from class skating towards them. Reo, he thought his name was. Someone who, though they were cordial to each other, was not exactly his friend. When Ada realizes who he is, her stomach drops and she looks frantically around, but she can't see the boy's master around. With a deep breath she feels relieved; it was nice to see Reo if Eliot wasn't around.

"Hey Reo," Anton says with an easy smile. "What's up?"

"Well, we –meaning Eliot and I- were just wondering if you'd join us for dinner tonight? Eliot's just catching one last slope before he comes down to the lodge" He turns to smile at Ada. "Of course you're invited, too, Ada."

Ada, somehow, does not believe that Eliot knows that his friend had invited her and she gets the feeling that if he did know, he wouldn't be entirely pleased with that. Besides, this weekend was supposed to be fun for her; dinner with people who hated her didn't seem like a particularly joyous way of spending her time. "Um, thank you, but I should probably-"

"Don't worry Miss Ada, I understand," Reo says with a sad smile. "I know how it is between your two households; if you don't want to try to breach the gap between the two of them then that is up to you."

Ada's stomach plunges. Of course she wants to make the households get along better! If the Nightrays and Vessalius were able to get along then she and Vincent could…

She puts a fake, nervous smile on. "What do you mean, Reo? Of course I was going to accept your kind invitation! I was just about to say that I… need to change before going to dinner. I fell into the snow a few times and I'm afraid that my clothes are quite wet."

Both Reo and Anton wear smiles, but of different sorts. "Very well," Reo says with the sly grin of a chess master about to win his game. "We'll see you both in the dining room in half an hour."

…

Anton wasn't there.

No matter how much she looked to either side of her, no matter how often she glanced behind her, no matter how much she wished, hoped, and prayed that he'd show up, Anton wasn't there.

Instead Ada found herself sitting at an uncomfortably long table with only a scowling Eliot and a pleasantly grinning Reo. It seemed that Eliot had been fine with giving the invitation to Ada, but had not believed that she would accept it. He ate his meal grunting occasionally when Reo attempted to involve him in the conversation and taking angry looking bites out of the chicken that they were served.

Reo, however, looked quite pleased with himself as he contentedly ate his meal and made pleasant chitchat with Ada.

Halfway through the chicken, however, Ada really began to worry. "I should probably go find Anton," she tells the two boys. "Not to mention, I haven't seen any of my friends, either…" Ada looked around again. Not only did she not see any of her friends, she saw no one that she recognized at all. Most of the people around them seemed to be guests at the ski lodge that were not there with their school. "Are we in the wrong room?"

"No, we're not, Miss Ada," Reo tells her. "We're in exactly the right place; it's just that it's not where everyone else is." A vein in Eliot's throat is twitching, but his eyes remain fixated on the food in front of him. Reo, however, is smiling at Ada with a jovial demeanor. "Eliot thought that you may want to have something a bit fancier than what they were serving to everyone else, so he requested a table in the restaurant rather than the dining hall." Eliot's face turns red as he stares at his plate of food. "He really wanted you to be comfortable, he's really thoughtful that way."

She tries not to let the surprise show on her face, but it does as she addresses Eliot. "Thank you. I'm really happy that you'd do that, though I really wouldn't mind eating with everyone-"

"Then go!" Looking up from his plate of food for the first time in quite some time, Eliot's face is bright red and frantic looking.

Of course Ada, who has never seen Eliot embarrassed before, mistakes his blush for anger and is quite scared. "Eliot, calm down!" Reo says, but it is too late. Ada, afraid of what happened last time, shot up from her seat and ran out one of the doors in the restaurant.

For a moment there is silence between the two boys as they stare at her disappearing body. Then something hard hits Eliot's head and he realize that it's Reo's fist. "Moron, go follow her," he says almost without emotion. With a quick glance to Reo, Eliot does that just that, vaguely realizing that Reo is behind him.

He gets to the door and runs outside, yelling Ada's name. He is surprised when he steps into snow, his feet getting caught and nearly having him lose his balance. Earlier in the evening Reo had told him that this door had lead to the hotel, not out into the cold. He looks back to see that the door has just shut behind him, Reo still inside. He grabs hold of the handle and tries to turn it, finding that it has been locked. "Reo!" He yells, but hears nothing. He bangs on the door, but there is no response.

"Eliot, is that you?" The voice is timid and a bit scared sounding. He turns around and is face to face with Ada. "I think that we're in some sort of courtyard; there's no way out. Does the door work?" Though it was dark out, she could see Eliot shake his head. "Oh, no," she says, grabbing a piece of her hair and sliding her hand down it. "How are we going to get back in?"

It was true that this was some sort of courtyard. They were surrounded by walls on all four sides of the square and it seemed like the only door was the one back into the restaurant. "Why the hell would they even make it like this?" It wasn't like any plants could grow in this weather and there were no windows. There was no decorative fountain and no reason to-

He took a step to the side and realized why this was there.

"This is for their dogs… to do their business." It must have been fresh, because when Eliot looked down, his nice shoe was now an unpleasant shade of brown and smelling worse than the oldest of shoes on the smelliest of feet stank. "Great," he says with a sigh.

The two of them stand there for a minute and Eliot notices that Ada, only in a relatively simple green dress (it was advised that girls leave their fancier clothes at school so that they would not have to carry as much luggage), was shivering. He hadn't noticed how cold it was because he was cozy and warm in his long pants and woolen coat. There were no lights in the courtyard but he could make out the outline of her arms crossed over her chest and was shivering something fierce. They had only been out there for about two minutes and she was frozen; if Reo didn't open the door quickly, then she would become an icicle.

He bangs on the door, but what he doesn't know is that Reo had expected this to happen and had paid a waiter to stand guard at the door, telling anyone who mentioned the noise that two criminals had been apprehended and were being kept in the courtyard until the police came. While Eliot and Ada worked out their differences in the cold, Reo finished his dinner and ordered desert on Eliot's tab. They are outside for at least ten minutes before Eliot gives up banging on the door.

"No one seems to hear us," Eliot says exasperated and despairing. "But Reo followed me over to the door… Little bastard."

"D-don't say that," Ada scolds as her teeth chatter. "He's probably just-t getting a k-k-k-key." She sneezes into the snow. "Ex-excuse me," she tells him in a pathetic little voice.

Without thinking he begins to unbutton his coat. It is a dark gray pea coat, a gift from his father before he left for school. Incredibly expensive and fashionable, not that Eliot cared much. It was warm. "Here," he says, taking it off and holding it out to her, looking away from her even though it was dark enough that he wouldn't have to make eye contact with her. "Take this."

"But-t-"

"Just take it. I don't need to be blamed for murdering you if you freeze to death out here." Despite the macabre statement, Ada grabs the coat and slips it on. Though it is tight around the chest, it fits well and is incredibly warm.

"Thank you Eliot," she says, nuzzling into the coat, basking in the warmth of Eliot's body heat. "But are you sure-"

"Don't worry about it," Eliot says, already feeling the chill in the thin white shirt that he had worn under the coat. "The heir to the Nightray dukedom can withstand anything. A little cold won't kill me."

There's silence for a moment before Ada speaks in a small voice. "If you want it back, then just tell-"

"I won't, so just be grateful."

Again there is silence between the two of them. "My friend told me that you were going to leave school to go on a tour to play piano, is that true?" Ada asks, not knowing if it was at all appropriate.

Eliot makes a snort of a laugh. "Where did she hear that nonsense? It would be disgraceful for me to leave school to do something like that." He pauses for a moment before adding, almost too quietly for Ada to hear, "Besides, no one would want to hear me play."

"That's not true!" Ada interjects too quickly. Forgetting to be embarrassed, Eliot looks over at her. In the dark her face turns red and she turns away from Eliot's stare. "That song I heard you play was… lovely. I thought it was beautiful." Smiling at the mere memory of the music that had played –not the events that had transpired afterwards- she continued to speak, though more than self-conscious and worried that what she would say would somehow make Eliot angrier at her. "It was passionate and… full?" She laughs nervously. "I know next to nothing about music. I can only tell if it's something that I like or something that I don't. I liked the song that you were playing. I liked it a lot."

Eliot doesn't respond; there's silence all around them. Part of her mind wonders if Eliot has stopped breathing because what she said to him was so offensive. She opens her mouth to say something else, but comes up short on what she could do. Apologize? No, that'd be wrong. All she did was share what she felt about his music. If he didn't take the compliment that it was as it was meant to be then it fell entirely on his shoulders, not hers. Still, she itched to say something, just to see if Eliot was okay, but nothing came to mind.

"Thank you." She's surprised but… happy. Happy that he spoke to her as if she were a real person and not just some piece of Vessalius scum that was worth less than what the dogs left in this courtyard. "I'm…" The words are hard for him to get out. "Sorry for what happened that day." His voice is quiet but she can hear it.

She can't help it; she grins. "Is that why-"

"Yes." He hugs his chest with his arms; the chill was starting to get to him. "It was my idea to invite you to eat with us." He frowns, not really liking where this conversation is going. It was too personal. Yes, he meant to apologize for what happened, but he never meant to be stuck alone with her for this long. In the back of his mind Eliot was convinced that in the morning their headmaster would come looking for them and find only two human icicles covered in dog crap.

Though it was chilly outside, Ada suddenly felt very warm. She knew that the boy who composed that song could not be as cruel as he had been to her that day. He was proud; she had realized that long ago. So she would not tell him how happy she was to hear that, but she couldn't help but to grin. "Thank you, Eliot," she said, unable to let it go by without any comment at all.

He frowned and turned his back to Ada. "There aren't even windows on any of these walls; no one but Reo knows where we are." He sighs and rubs his hands over his arms, seeing if he could get some feeling back in either of them. "If we don't make it out of this alive I am going to haunt the crap out of him."

Though she can see how cold he is, she doesn't know what to do. She only has one idea to help him out, but she doubts that he would go for it. All she can do is watch as he tries to keep himself warm.

"Before he disappeared, my brother would make me soup when I was sick. I was really little back then, but I can still remember how I would always be overeager and burn my tongue on the soup, just because I was so happy that he did it for me. The soup wasn't very good, but it just felt nice that he made it, and it was hot and felt good going down my throat. I'd really like to have some of that now," she says with a small laugh. "I can't think of anything I'd like more than a bowl of soup."

Eliot turns to face Ada, barely able to see her with nothing but the moon lighting the area. Still, he couldn't help but thinking that her hair against the white backdrop of the snow and the moon shining down, illuminating her eyes was sort of picturesque –sort of perfect. "When we get inside and cook Reo in a stew then I'll make sure to give you some."

"Stew? You can't be serious Eliot! Could you? That would be very cruel! Maybe he's been searching for a key this entire time and you-"

It was Eliot's turn to sneeze. "Excuse-" he can't get the words out before he begins to cough.

Though she was sure that he would decline her offer, she couldn't see Eliot suffer that way, especially since he not only apologized to her for what had transpired between the two of them, but had also given her the jacket off of his own back. "Um, Eliot?"

"Ye-yes?" He asks between chattering teeth.

"Since you seem very cold… I… um…" Her cheeks turn bright red and she's glad that in the darkness he couldn't possibly see it. "I was wondering if you'd like to come over here and hold me… I mean, like, hug!" Every inch of her was burning with embarrassment at her inability to articulate what she was thinking. "Or… So that we could stay a bit warmer. When brother and I were lost in the woods once he told me to hold onto Gilbert if I was cold because people have a natural body heat that will help them stay warm so together it makes a flame!" The last part was her brother's words and not her own, so she felt proud saying them, though they were a bit silly. "Except Gilbert ran away when he said this, muttering something about knowing the way out, but that doesn't really matter…" She shook her head, trying to get herself to stop rambling. "What I mean is that if you want to use my body heat, Eliot, I'd be more than happy to share it with you!"

Eliot Nightray was mortified.

"That's a very improper sort of thing to say," he told her, trying to keep his teeth from chattering and almost succeeding at it. "Not the most ladylike-"

And then Ada Vessalius became mortified. "I didn't mean it in any sort of… way," she told Eliot, frantic now that he didn't misunderstand her. "I just thought that you'd be cold! You've lasted so long without your jacket and I thought I… would just offer…" They both trail off and stare into opposite directions.

That is, until Eliot breaks the silence with another cough.

Ada can't help it, then. She runs over to him and, once he's done, puts her arms around him and pulls him close to her. If he were to get sick because of her, she would never forgive herself. It didn't matter if he thought that she was forward and hated her forever; she just wanted him to be warm.

"What are you-"

"You sound so cold that I can't help it, Eliot! Please don't hate me; all I want is for you to stop suffering." When she doesn't hear him reply, she sighs a breath of relief. He may not be happy with the arrangement, but at least he wasn't pushing her to the ground either. They stood like that together for a minute before Eliot moved his hands around Ada's back. A grin formed on her face; he cared as much as she did, apparently. And though she could not see Eliot's face, she was sure that he was just as happy as she was and that was enough to-

"ADA!" The great burst of light and loud voice made both she and Eliot jump. They let go of each other too late, but the damage was done. Anton stared at them as if he was terrified of what he had just seen. "Sorry, I'll let you guys finish," he said as he began to shut the door.

"NO!" Both she and Eliot screamed at the same time as they ran towards the light and were able to get out of the courtyard and back to the courtyard.

Still, despite the story that they told Anton and Reo, they had still be seen in a compromising position and the rumor that Eliot Nightray was courting Ada Vessalius and their secret rendezvous had been found by another student spread across the students like wildfire.

…

The next morning Ada woke-up to the unhappy realization that she would be leaving the ski resort that morning, earlier than the rest of the students. When the headmaster had found out about the incident with she and Eliot being locked in the courtyard, he had checked to see if they were ill and found that Ada had a slight temperature. Because of that he decided that, unlike the rest of the students who would be leaving late that evening, Ada would return to the school as soon as she woke-up.

Her roommates had all been cold to her the night before when she had come in and had left without her that morning without even saying goodbye. Unsure as to why they would do that she packed her remaining things and headed to the lobby of ski resort.

"Are you ready to go Miss Vessalius?" The man who would drive her home asked her with a smile. She nodded. "You seem displeased," he said, his kind eyes sparkling. "Are you okay?"

She shrugged, unsure as to why she was so unhappy. Sure, she did not want to leave early from the trip, but there was something else that made her feel sad as well, though she could not place her finger on it…

"Did someone say Miss Vessalius?" A man in a blue uniform ran up to her with a package in his arms. "Thank goodness; someone had said that you had left already. A group of girls, actually." With a frown Ada realized that it was probably her friends who had told him that. "But I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to give this to you."

He hands the package to her and she takes it. "Is this really for me?" she asks him as she stares at the black, unwrapped box.

The man smiles. "Yes miss! It was on special delivery, too. Someone must have really wanted you to get whatever was in there."

Without a confused smile she opened the package gingerly. Her smile became even more confused when she saw the bouquet of red roses with a small silver mask with pearls around the edges of it. Placed on top of the mask was a small white card. Abandoning the box on a nearby table she glanced at the writing on it.

My dear Ada, it said in a spidery script. I shall be seeing you soon. Until I can, I hope that this meager gift can satisfy my burning love for you. Sincerely, Vincent Nightray.

For some reason her hand began to shake. She had all but forgotten Vincent within the past few hours. Thoughts of him had not crossed her mind since Reo had first asked her to have dinner with him and Eliot…

Eliot?

Why did that name make her sweat and shake a little more? She shook her head and took up the package. The carriage driver had already grabbed her suitcase and had taken it to the carriage, just returning now. "Thank you," she told the deliveryman with a smile, sad that she had not brought any money to tip him with.

"It's no problem Miss Vessalius, have a wonderful day," he responded before walking out the door to his carriage.

The carriage driver smiled at Ada and told her that it was time for the two of them to go. Confused and tired she grabbed the box and went to the carriage with him. "It's mighty thoughtful of that person to send you something here. They must have really had a reason to do that!" She nodded, somewhat unable to focus. Maybe she did have a fever… "Still, the mask is a bit strange. Is there a reason that they would send you that?"

During the trip she had all but forgotten, but there was a reason for the mask. One that she now was dreading. "Next week at my school the families of all of the students are coming," she told him. "At the end of it, as a party, there will be a masquerade."

A masquerade that it now seemed that Vincent would be attending.

…

Meanwhile, Eliot could not sleep. He hadn't slept all night and not for the usual reasons. He had told Reo that he was too cold to go to bed and had stayed up by the fire, furiously scribbling notes down onto a piece of paper that he had hastily covered with music staffs when he had the inspiration.

The second movement of his sonata –the slower adagio- would be called 'Snow' and it was about a girl, shivering in the moonlight with shadows all around her.

…

End of Chapter Two