Beta reader is the amazing: Luscinia's Lullaby.
This story is a gift for: Ozbert fangirl her birthday.
I do not own Pandora hearts.

There is some action in this chapter, a lot of characters are making their first appearance. Perhaps someone will finally get the tiny clues I left behind when reaching the end of this chapter, (I hope so) please do share your theories! ^^ I hope you like it, and Reviews make my day!

He knew this wasn't a good idea, had known that he might have made a terrible mistake since the moment he had closed the door behind his back that morning. But really, could you blame him for doing this? Because in the end, all of this was for the greater good. He nodded to himself, as a sigh escaped the man's pale lips. He had managed to calm himself down slightly. There was nothing to worry about, all of this was for Oz, to help him get better. With that in his mind he straightened his back a little while his golden eyes followed the young girl's movement, slow and elegant as always, his face remained peaceful as she drank from her black tea.

Lady Dalia Garland was truly a sight to behold.

"I'm sure you have not come to visit me, to simply look at me while I enjoy my tea." She spoke without looking up, instead her foggy grey eyes were fixed on her blurry reflection.

Gilbert nodded slowly, awkwardly rubbing his clammy hands against his black pants, "R-right, sorry. I'm sure you have more interesting stuff to do… Lady Dalia," he apologized quickly, oh how the young man hated this. Whenever he came to visit the beautiful girl he always ended up in this blubbering mess, yet the younger girl simply offered him a gentle smile as she placed her porcelain cup back on the table. Her eyes found the window nearby, the rain ticking against it must have finally caught her attention. "Father is doing better at the moment, I have time. Besides…." Her voice was soft as her eyes finally met his, simply making eye contact with this beautiful creature made the man's heart beat ten times faster. "I enjoy your presence." Whenever he saw a painting of her in the manor, her expression had always been despondent… yet now, her smile was filled with pure happiness.

"Thank-…. Thank you, Lady Dalia." The man managed to utter, quickly looking down.

"Always so polite," she hummed amused, "As for your request?"

How had she noticed?

She easily read the question written all over his face, "You're only that nervous when you have a request for me," she then chuckled, "You always seem so worried whenever you have a request, like you're scared I will refuse. Tell me, Gilbert," she leaned forward a tiny bit, making the distance between them smaller. Both wanted to erase the distance between them so desperately, like that one night, months ago when they had both been a bit more brave. When they had kissed each other for the first time, making them both long for more, yet they never spoke of that one evening again. As if it had become a taboo. "Have I ever let you down?"

"You have not," he shook his head, feeling a bit braver, he did not come closer though. "But this request is different than the others," he gulped,

"Is that so?" she tilted her head slightly to the left, her eyes just a tiny bit bigger than usual as she gazed deep into his golden eyes.

"I'm sure you've heard of the huge scandal that happened at the royal engagement ball a couple of weeks ago?" he asked, his face remained indifferent, not wanting to give too much information away.

The Garland family had been invited to that party, but both father and daughter had to refuse the invitation as both had been terribly sick at that moment. Her father has been fighting against an unknown disease for years now, one that had its ups and downs, the doctors called it a miracle that he was still alive while his daughter had been cursed with very poor health. "The Vesalius family have turned their backs on our kingdom? Only the crown prince managed to survive… although I noticed that no one mentioned their c-…." The girl suddenly stopped talking, her eyes widened in disbelief. She gazed at the man sitting in front of her, "Gilbert, why are you asking me this?" worry was written all over her face. Gilbert and Vincent had absolutely no reasons at all to even be interested in this scandal, unless-... "What did Vincent do?"

"Nothing-…" well, that wasn't exactly true.

"The poison was his…? Does anyone know? Are you two in danger?" it wasn't often she showed so many emotions at one time, Dalia was well known in high society for controlling her emotions, yet whenever it came to the man she loved she couldn't quite get a grip on them.

"No, we're not." He shook his head, calming her down by gently holding both her hands in his, "But the scandal might not have gone as the Baskervilles would like us to believe…" he gently caressed her soft pale skin as he spoke with calm eyes.

"How do you mean?" she furrowed her brows.

He breathed in, keeping his eyes closed as he did so while holding both of her hands, he didn't even question how he somehow had gotten closer to her, he had already made up his mind and knew there was no going back now, "I… I need you to take care of someone, to take in a… Vesalius."

Vincent sighed softly as he gazed at the boy who was currently leaning over their toilet, it wasn't even like he had eaten that much food at breakfast. No matter how much Gil tried his best, the boy still had trouble with eating and woops… there it went, right back into the toilet. The young man leaned against the doorway, seeing the teen's small frame shivering from head to tie. -A memory from years ago flashed in front of his eyes, he rubbed at them while pushing it to somewhere in the back of his head. He didn't need to remember that small and useless child crying in his own vomit without anyone even batting an eye. Another annoyed sigh left his lips before he walked towards the boy, he seemed to be done but didn't trust his stomach yet… Oz didn't even flinch away when he awkwardly patted his shoulder, the best sort of comfort the young man could manage. "Are you getting sick again, Oz-sama?" he usually used the title in a mocking way, right now it sounded like a simple name. "As far as I know, I haven't put any poison in your food… yet." He joked. Now don't get him wrong, it wasn't like Vincent was actually starting to care for the boy, his brother had simply told him to be nice and take care of the prince while he was out. Vincent was simply being a good brother.

He watched as the boy slowly got up and flushed the toilet, it was a surprise that the boy hadn't commented on it yet. There were a lot of things in this house that the boy had probably noticed that seemed to be a bit too expensive to be owned by two regular pharmacists. Perhaps he wanted to comment on it at that moment but Vincent simply prepared a bath for the prince. "It'll be better if you take a warm bath now," he hummed softly, "You kind of smell like sweat now," he said, smiling.

Oz actually snorted when hearing this, "Yeah… thanks," he muttered awkwardly, Vincent watched as the boy slowly raised his hand so that he could rub the back of his neck, an old habit of the teen, seeing as how the blond didn't even notice what he was doing. What Oz did notice was the younger sibling's smile grew just a bit bigger. Neither commented on what they had just observed. But the older male would be pleased to tell his brother that the boy was slowly opening up to them without even noticing it, old habits, making displeased sounds… how odd. The man's eyes widened a bit as he gazed at the boy who had turned his back towards him now, unbuttoning his shirt. When had he started paying so much attention to the boy?

"If you're not out of the bath in about an hour, I'll assume you've drowned." He then spoke, chuckling softly when the boy jumped in surprise. The prince had probably thought he had already left, "So hurry up, and I'll show you how to make soup."

It shouldn't have been the highlight of the spoiled brat's day, but apparently it was. The teen's eyes widened and he nodded eagerly.

Vincent hummed amused and then finally left the bathroom, heading towards the kitchen to get everything ready for the boy's first class.

Vegetables, they needed some more vegetables. The blond sighed, wondering to himself why he was even going through so much trouble for the prince as he headed towards the garden to harvest said vegetables, he snatched the basket off the counter without even slowing down.

The weather seemed to be getting better, who knows they might actually see some sun at the end of the week. He hummed softly to himself while kneeling down on the muddy ground, he rolled up his sleeves, tied his long hair up into a ponytail and started to work.

.

While Oz stayed in the bathroom, undressing himself and stepping into the warm water of the bath. A sigh of relief escaped his pale lips as he let his chin rest on his knees, hugging his legs close to his body… when was the last time he had taken a bath anyway? Usually he just quickly washed himself with a bucket of lukewarm water that Gilbert gave him. Of course the prince had noticed the odd luxuries the two brothers had, but he didn't know how much money they had so he never requested for a bath.

It was odd how he was slowly getting used to this life, how he easily forgot about his life as a prince and relied on those two complete strangers… he sighed, images of his family flashing in front of his eyes. He wondered how Alice was doing right now, the connection between their chains seemed to be broken. Why was that? Why did it feel like B-rabbit was sleeping? He hadn't heard anything from the chain for a very long time… it wasn't like B-rabbit was as talkative as Cheshire, but it at least reminded its contractor that it was still alive.

What was going on? Why was he even in this sort of mess…?

He shut his eyes tightly, trying to push the pictures he had seen of all the corpses in the newspaper away. His corpse could have been lying there as well if it weren't for Alice reacting so fast. He owed his whole life to the girl, and yet he couldn't do anything to help her right now. He knew about her comatose state, knew that the doctors had already given up on her.

He should talk to Vincent and Gilbert again, ask them if there was anything he could do to convince them to make the same antidote for Alice that they had made for him.

They had already done so much for him, and this request wasn't even for himself. It was to save the girl who he loved with all of his heart. He'd leave right away if that's what they wanted, he'd do anything if it meant that they'd make something for her.

Another sigh,

He really missed everyone.

He wanted to turn back the time, wanted to talk to his uncle again, wanted to play hide and seek with his younger sister, he wanted to play stupid pranks with his cousin Jack… he didn't want to visit his mother and aunt's graves on his own. The boy bit his lip, turning his head away from the door while trying to hold back the sob, tears were already rolling over his cheeks.

Because really, that was all the prince could really do after all. His father had always been right about him, he was weak, powerless and useless. He would only let his country fall into the deepest pit of the abyss. All he did was cry and lean on people who wanted to live their own lives. God, he was useless.

.

By the time Vincent was done, he was the one that needed a bath and Oz was already standing in the doorway, not sure if he should come to help, but Vincent had easily waved him off without looking at him, wiping some sweat off his forehead before he got up, he picked up the basket and headed back towards the small white painted house. "Eager, aren't we, hm?" he teased the boy, walking past him into the kitchen. "As far as my knowledge goes, royalty doesn't care about simple tasks like, 'making food'."

"I-it's just that I want to help," I don't want to be useless. Vincent easily found the words the boy actually wanted to say, he saw how red the prince's eyes were… had he been crying again? Honestly this kid,

"And from today on, you will be able to help." He said in that soft voice of his while he washed his hands, "Alright, come here-" Vincent turned to face the boy, eyes widened when he suddenly saw the boy lose his balance and fall to the ground, "Oz-" he was too slow to rescue the prince's head from hitting the cold floor.

The girl gasped for air as she shot up, surprising her sister, Abyss had rarely left the brunette's bedside since she had gotten so sick. "Alice!" she almost screamed her twin's name. Relief and happiness written over her whole face, feeling tears of joy prickle her eyes.

But the brunette paid no attention to her, the first name she shouted was, "Oz!"

The connection was back! She could feel the boy's dizziness, felt how he collapsed to the floor the moment she had woken up and if she concentrated hard enough, she knew where to find him. Images of a tall blond haired man appeared in her mind, he could hear him saying Oz's name in surprise and saw how he had reached out towards her best friend before Oz had closed his eyes.

Perhaps he should have stopped his master from acting before thinking, because like any other situation, Elliot just ran straight into the unknown without a good plan- oh no, wait. The raven-haired boy shook his head, Elliot had a plan. "Don't get caught." Because that has always worked!

"I can hear you thinking," said the sandy-blond haired teen while looking around the corner, both of them had their backs pressed to the walls, hiding from the Baskervilles.

"Huh?" Leo blinked in confusion,

"I can hear you thinking." The Nightray repeated once again, voice barely louder than a whisper.

"I don't think that is even possible-"

"Yes." He nodded, already losing what little patience he had in him. "Yes it is possible. So stop."

"Well can you really blame me for being worried about your stupid plan?"

"There is nothing wrong with my plan, okay!" he rolled his eyes, turning his body away from the corner to glare at his servant instead, ready to kick him in the gut if he wouldn't shut up right now.

"Everything is wrong with your plan for starters there is no plan!" Leo said through gritted teeth,

"Now listen here you-" Elliot never got the chance to finish that sentence, the pink haired Baskerville woman appeared right behind his valet's back and before he could warn his friend, a warm and slender hand covered his mouth. A voice spoke, right next to his hair and he could feel the man's hair tickling his neck as he spoke, "My, my has no one ever taught you two brats that when you try to sneak into someone's territory, you have to keep your little mouths shut."

Lottie chuckled while holding Leo in strong grip, covering his mouth as well to prevent the two from shouting. Elliot rolled his eyes when he saw the raven-haired teen glare at him, the words 'I told you so!' written all over his face. The Nightray wasn't even sure what to feel in this situation, was he supposed to feel scared now that he no longer had the upper hand, was he supposed to be angry because someone caught him- well, most of all…. He felt sort of honored that none other than the Xerxes Break caught him; His idol from as long as he could remember.

He was in so much trouble.

"I'm sorry," Reim Lunettes spoke, standing as straight as possible while he gazed straight into the green eyes of one of the last Vesalius members, next to him stood Lady Sharon. There to support him while their friend had headed straight towards the capitol city of the Baskerville Kingdom, he was one of the first that had seen through the person sitting on the throne's plan.

"But while his royal highness, Oz Vesalius is still alive, he will remain the one and only rightful heir to the throne." he was grateful for Xerxes forcing the girl to stay here, to help Reim protect the throne. Her presence calmed him down, stopped him from having a mental breakdown now that everything had gone wrong, and all of that was thanks to the man sitting on the throne that he was supposed to protect.

He narrowed his eyes, feeling Sharon grabbed his hand. They would not go down without a fight.