There are so many spoilers here! And sowwy for not updating in so long! But anyway, I don't own the wonderful Pandora Hearts, and I'm planning on changing this fanfic from 'Romance/Adventure' to 'Romance/Humor' or something. Tell me any suggestions. And I've been watching Fairy Tail and Inuyasha(again!) because they are AWESOME animes, so I might be a little off for PH. Basically the spoilers are:

- Duke Barma
- Break's Past (small hints, anyway)

I warned ya…

Thirst for Knowledge

'So, he shut you out of every little room of his dark secrets, did he? Just like that sewer rat to do that, crawling away into all his little holes and avoiding telling the truth!' once again, Break called Vincent by his somewhat offensive nickname.

'Well, if the truth really is what you suspect, I really can't imagine anyone – drunk or not – who would let something like that slip. Honestly, you may as well hold him at gunpoint and demand that he say that he's actually a monster slug sent to poison the local cattle while admitting to the truth of the Tragedy.'

Break's comical pout instantly became a goofy grin. Somehow, Cassidy's unique sense of humour and bold, if mildly insulting, statements cheered him up immensely. If fact, they cheered him up a bit more – or so he suspected – than they even should. 'But you mentioned that his reactions to your, ah, rather unexpected knowledge were quite, hmm, interesting, correct?'

'Yeah, I think you would've paid most of your sugar-coated teeth to have been there.'

Deciding to drop such serious matters for just a moment, he countered, 'If my beautiful teeth are sugar-coated, wouldn't they have all fallen out?'

Relieved that she could now push the memories of the previous night away to the back of her mind, Cassidy answered, 'That explains why all you ever eat are lollies and cake.'

Skipping merrily, Break waltzed out of his "interrogation chair" - located behind a desk covered with paperwork – and proceeded to open the door in proper gentlemanly fashion for Cassidy. She gave him a mocking curtsey in return. Somehow, she was beginning to feel at home. Which was just as well, seeing as there was no way she could go back to her proper home.

'Ehehehe! A letter! Hahaha!' the talking doll cackled gleefully. 'Who's it for?'

Sharon the letter twice before announcing, 'Miss Cassidy, it's addressed to you.'

There was silence while even the infamously impatient Alice waited for her answer. 'Uh, okay, who's it from?' she felt like she was doing a speech the way all eyes – and in one case, eye – were staring at her.

'Er…me?'

'Yes.'

'Oh, okay…' cautiously, as though the letter might bite, Cassidy took it from Sharon's hands and read it out loud for the entire room to hear. 'Dear Miss Cassidy, Duke Barma has requested that you see him in person at the Barma Household when possible, you may bring along a few friends. Signed, Rufus Barma?'

Silence. Then:

'Well now, it seems as though Duke Barma believes that you have some information that he does not yet possess! Shall you accept this rather interesting invitation, Miss Cassidy?' Break gave her a look that suggested that if anyone was to accompany her to visit the Duke, he was definitely going to be among them.

Looking straight at him, she replied: 'I didn't think that there was a choice.'

Cassidy sighed, once again forced to abandon her worn brown pants and navy blue coat for another frilly dress from Sharon. At least this time she got to keep the purple bow that she wore around her neck. And no dyed hair, either. What a relief.

After a bumpy carriage ride – not to mention noisy, since Oz tagged along, so therefore his two faithful companions followed – the entire group arrived at the Barma mansion, where a flustered Liam welcomed them in. All in due time, Cassidy was introduced to the knowledge-filled talking meatball that was Rufus Barma who immediately demanded the information that he wanted, all while seated comfortably on the ceiling sipping tea from his hat.

'HOW? How did you get so much information on Pandora? WHY? Why do you know so much? Tell me! TELL ME!'

Amazingly, Cassidy was not surprised at all being shouted at from a spherical humanoid hanging upside down. She smiled innocently, replying, 'As I said a few days ago, my father told me everything.'

Now, it was Barma's turn to grin. 'Your father, you say? Your father, who is missing? Terrance Ambersail?'

'Everyone in Pandora knows about that.'

'Of course. However, if you give me a bit more information, maybe I'll give you a little insight about something else. Something that could help you in your search…what do you say?'

'Duke Barma, I've seen enough Contractors get sucked into the Abyss to know what's probably happened.'

Barma's moustache wiggled as he frowned. 'Then why? Why are you still searching? I need to know!'

Break waited for Cassidy's answer. But he smiled. As far as he knew, Cassidy wasn't someone who would act without reason. And she did not disappoint him.

'I can't go back to the Ambersail household, because that might bring danger to my family. So I have just got to keep finding a way forward. I'm not sure how I'm going to help Pandora or if I'll ever really find my father, but I'm sure that I'll find a way to go on with my life, so until I have a new reason to live, I'm going to hang on the hope that my father might still be out there somewhere, waiting for me to find him.'

A stunned silence followed her short speech. So I just have to keep finding a way forward… slowly, smiles spread across the faces of her friends. The words may have been spoken only to justify and explain herself, but they all saw how they needed to do the same. They might not have known how it was all going to end, but they just had to find a way forward.

The Duke, however, was not impressed. After all, he had read greater things in many ancient texts. 'So, you believe that father has already been taken to the Abyss?'

Break's eye widened in alarm. He knew where this was going, and he was willing to give anything to prevent it, and also feeling extremely idiotic to not have suspected Barma to play this card. It was obvious. And he could already see the connections; Ambersail, Abyss, gone, back, death, blood, betrayal, grief…

'So…what if there is a chance that your father could come back?' And that was all Break heard before he collapsed.

Ok, no major things about Break's past, but for you smart people or those "in the know" then you can probably see what the next chapter's gonna be about. Plz review, I LOVE reviews. And poor Break! What's gonna happen? Better wait to find out! Hehehehehe. But don't worry, I've got the next chapter all planned out, so just hang in there!