The Drabble Diaries

by Tomoyo-chan

Disclaimer: I do not own. Hopefully the length of this PH story will make up for the shortness of some of my others.

A Black Abyss - July 26, 2012

The two of them were little demons separately. Between Oz's teasing and sadistic tendencies and Alice's stubbornness and violet temper no member of the house was safe. But together... Together they took Oz's mind and Alice's strength and made it work.

When on their fifth birthday they somehow managed to abscond with an entire cake, locked poor Gil in a cupboard with a cat, and destroyed part of the garden, matters were getting out of hand. When Master had to actually return to handle things, everyone knew the two were in over their heads.

Gil had been at the manor for less than two weeks before the incident with the cat. When the traumatized boy had finally been able to return to work three days later, badly scratched and frightened but otherwise whole, Oz had been alone in the drawing room staring morosely out the window. When he inquired, the Young Master had only a moments look of pain before he smiled so widely it hurt.

A few months later, when young Miss Ada was born, Gil was among the few who saw Oz's impossibly happy desperate adoring smile at the sight of his baby sister. He adored the small girl, and only then did Gil remember that short amount of time when there had been another girl in the house. But when he asked Oz who the girl had been he received only a frosty stare and the words 'No one you would remember.'

He soon forgot all about the girl and five years later, when Oz disappeared, only he and Miss Ada seemed to care at all. Of course it was talked about by all the gossips - Lord Belazarius' only heir vanished! - but no one did anything.

Gil could feel himself panic. In the five years they had known one another, Oz had been everything to the boy. The only one he could trust and rely on, the only one who gave his life purpose. What was he supposed to do if it wasn't to serve Oz. He had done that nearly since he was found, since his memory began. What was he to do now?

He had been given small duties, like any other member of the staff, but found he could not focus. He wandered the halls at night and ate only enough to survive. More than one he found himself drifting while at work. Oz was gone and no one seemed to notice but him. They went about as though he never existed. Gil couldn't do that. Oz was everything. He couldn't exist without Oz.

One rare moment when he was outside, cutting the roses for bouquets, he caught sight of his reflection in the lake. A half starved corpse stared back. His clothes were poorly kept and his hair barely brushed, but his eyes were the deadest part. Gil found himself reaching to touch the boy as the boy reached back. Why was there a corpse in the lake?

A gigantic splash brought him back to his senses. Sopping wet he sat in the cold waters and felt the closest to alive he had since he learned Oz was gone. If Oz was missing, he'd have to find him himself. Wasn't that the duty of a servant, to care for his Master? If his Master was missing he had to find him.

That day, he left the Belazarius estate without so much as a word, simply walking off in his wet clothes to begin the search for Oz.

~5 years later~

Raven may have only been fifteen, but the hard expression of his face and the guns at his hips kept the majority of people from accosting him on the street. Inside, he felt a little silly in the too large hat and black duster. A kindly dollymop had given it to him the previous year, saying a customer had left it behind. The guns he had stolen out of a pawn shop. They had no ammo, though, he wasn't brave enough to steal that too. It had been bad enough taking the guns, except that he was pretty sure the shop had been a front for a smuggling ring. They didn't need any more guns in the place.

A few years ago, he night have blushed and stuttered at the people he now associated with, but in his search for answers, for Oz, there was no one he wouldn't talk to. So now he only blushed on the inside. He may have been more than a foot taller, and a thousand ways wiser, but he still felt a little boy trying on his father's clothes.

A pickpocket tried to sidle up to him, but backed off when he saw his look. He had learned fast that a confident demeanor and a sharp gaze went a long way out in the streets. He had lost too many dinners that way, being only a small timid boy. Lost too many dinners and gained too many beatings.

"Raven!'

A voice caused him to look behind.

"Fox." The child running up to him gave Raven his trademark grin, the one that earned him his name. Though slightly younger, Fox was the one to take Gil under his figurative wing and keep him from starving to death during his first winter. Though they no longer ran the streets together, they looked out for each other should they cross paths. Pushing long brown hair from his eyes, Fox looked up and down Raven's frame.

"I thou' I was seein' things, cuz surely that can't be Raven I see. But there you were's. When's the last time I saw you, last spring? Musta grown like a weed since."

Raven began walking again, Fox at his side, as the boy continued. "You find what you were lookin' for?"

He shook his head. "No, but I'm getting closer."

"Hey, while you's was gone, a man came 'round, asking 'bout boy wi' golden eyes. I didn't say nothing, but some o' the others might." A glance of his all too memorable eyes was all the response Fox got from Raven. But he hurried their pace, turning into an alley like any other. It was at the end of the alley what he was looking for. A grate, leading down into the catacombs. This was where Gil and Fox had spent the long cold winter's nights, and a few summer ones after getting attacked by gangs for asking too many questions.

Making their way down into the familiar dark, Raven could feel Fox eying his guns as he descended the ladder second. "Didn't take you the type to accessorize like that."

He tried to keep a serious look, but Fox had known him years, he knew when he was bluffing. "They're only for show. There's no bullets."

"Oh, good. I was worried you turned coattails." Street-kid though he was, Fox had morals. Defense only weapons, so stealing from kids, look out for your own. He never would have taken in Gil otherwise.

"Other, than the man, was there anything else?"

Fox's eyes shone as they passed under another grate. "I ax'd as you always did, 'bout people disappear'n or red cloaks, but..." he shrugged. "People dis'pear every day. Got more luck on the 'weird stuff' ques', though."

Raven tried to keep the desperation out of his eyes, but feared it shown though anyway.

"Heard tales of a monster rabbit that shows up in the Sabrie ruins. Twice as tall as a man, I heard, and black as the Devil. Kills people that wander 'bout at night." Fox wasn't sure why his friend was as interested in the paranatural as much as he was missing person's cases, but he looked out for them all the same.

Raven stopped beneath another grate, this time turning to head up. "Thanks Fox."

"No pro'b." A grin. "Say, next time we take the high road and a few purses while we at it." Raven actually blushed at being caught out. He had taken the tunnels not just for their secrecy, but because Fox had a habit of taking any purse that he passed. Raven didn't really like it, though he understood why. He had to eat after all, and not much honest work for a thirteen year old. He rapidly blinked at the boy still on the catacomb floor, before turning an pushing away the grate over his head.

"No pro'b."

~That Night~

Fox grinned. Today was a good day. A full belly, a clinking purse, and an old friend. He made his way around the corner. After seeing Raven that afternoon, he had decided to ask around again about his missing friend. No pretty little blond boys, suddenly missing or returned, but there had been another rumor, one he might try to find Raven again for. A lot of men had recently died, down near the water, and someone had mentioned a red-cloaked figure fleeing when one of the bodies was found.

Another corner lead to a deserted street. It was late, and he should have long returned to his lair, but that rumor had been to good to pass up. Or the mark's purse once the rumor was heard. Something, a sound, caused him to pause and move his hand to the knife hidden in his waistband. He didn't want to get robbed a dishonest days work.

This far from the water, the mist was light, but still enough to blur the edges of things, make the sounds echo both before and behind him. He half turned, a bad feeling in his gut. A sharper sound caused him to whirl around, eyes widening as he came face to face with a wide grin.

"Hello."

He didn't get to reply as something stabbed him in the back. His vision was already fading as the person before him spoke again.

"I hear you've been asking about us."

The last thing he saw was red.

And yes, before you say it, I know the numbers don't match that of the manga/anime. This is on purpose, this is an AU of the original, where he/they disappear earlier and Gil doesn't (immediately) become part of Break's plans. And Fox, lovely Fox, who unexpectedly showed up. Originally named Cheshire, Fox was terrible to write, but because of the personality, but because of the accent. I was trying to portray a low-born accent, something suited for a guttersnipe, but I've never tried something like this before.

~Tomoyo-chan