AH! I'M SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN A WHILE BUT END OF YEAR AND SCHOOL AND STUFF AND STARTED WATCHING BLEACH AND IT WAS GOOD AND THEN MORE SCHOOL AND TESTS AND STUFF AND THEN END OF YEAR THEN HOLIDAYS NOW WRITING FANFICS AGAIN FORGIVE MEEEEE! Okay I don't own Pandora Hearts, Cassidy and her family and her Chain is mine. Okay here is the long awaited chapter 7 of Belonging as One!

Spoilers:

-Break's past, and what happened in the Abyss, and why he only has one eye.

Secrets Revealed

'So…what if there is a chance that your father could come back?

'Come back? You mean, from the Abyss?'

'Yes, that's exactly what I mean! So, do you wanna know?'

'But that's- '

'Impossible? You want proof?'

Thump.

'Break!'

'Don't worry, don't worry! I know what happened, how it happened, when it happened, and what's going to happen!'

Cassidy frowned. Barma was beginning to get on her nerves. So, is he doing all of this just to scare me? Throw me off? Mess up my judgement? She inwardly smiled. Well, I guess I'll have to play along with him for a while…

'Fine, Mr. Meatball, tell me how people come back from "the Land of No Return".'

At that, aforementioned spherical duke narrowed his cartoonish black eyes. 'Now, now, hold your horses! I don't just tell people things wily-nily, you know! Knowledge is power, and power is dangerous in the wrong hands! At times like these, I, for one, know to be cautious!'

'So, I'm here because-'

'Like I said, if you give me a bit more information, I'll give you a little insight about something else! It's a trade! I absolutely love to know things, and I just can't stand not knowing things! And I seem to be lacking this piece of information, and I just can't think of a more reliable source than you, Miss Cassidy Ambersail!'

As the top hat wearing bowling ball of a man ranted about knowledge and all its advantages and disadvantages, Cassidy noticed something strange. Her friends didn't speak. Or move. When she looked closely, she realized that they, except for Break – who was unconscious – weren't even breathing. It's like they've turned into statues… Hollow-Eye, check this out for me. And be stealthy about it.

The girl felt the Chain slink around the room, sniffing here and there. So that's what happened. Wow, all this, just for knowledge? This guy is nuts. Oh well, no pain no gain, I guess.

'… so you see, having knowledge of certain things leads to questions which must be answered by more knowledge. MY QUEST FOR KNOWLEDGE IS NEVER ENDING! SO YOU MUST TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO KNOW, BECAUSE I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW! I CAN ANSWER YOUR QUESTION IF YOU ANSWER MINE! SO? TELL ME! TELL ME!'

Is he losing it? Payback time – Break, prepare to be avenged. This, you hyperactive obese penguin, is what you get when you try to mess with me. 'Uh, Duke Barma, I might not have the information that you want to know…'

'What?' the shock on the moustached face was evident, to say the least. Then: "NO! I HAVE BEEN MISINFORMED? WHY? WHY IS MY INFORMATION WRONG? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?'

'You just said you wanted to know how I knew so much about Contracts, Chains, the Abyss and Pandora. Well, I've already told everyone that was at the "meeting" how I know so much, so I'll tell you again: my father told me everything.'

At this, the Duke stopped his panic attack. He narrowed his eyes. 'So, Miss Ambersail, how did your father know so much?'

The redhead frowned. He caught on so quickly…

'I know what you're thinking. Don't try to mess with me, girl.' Barma was starting to get serious.

Time for the ace up my sleeve. 'What about the way you're messing with me? Surely, a mere girl isn't worth setting up so many illusions and spells!'

Barma, or rather, the illusion that was supposed to represent him, disappeared. 'So, your Chain can detect illusions? Interesting.'

'Actually, it can't even see illusions. Look, I'll give this little bit of information away as gift of goodwill. Then, you tell me what I want to know, and then I will give you my other piece of "knowledge". But no more beating around the bush. It's getting late, and I haven't had any dinner yet.'

The man standing before her – on the ground – looked at Cassidy with his dark eyes, his red hair flowing behind him as walked towards her until they were at an arms length apart from each other. 'Very well. Proceed.'

Cassidy wasted no time in her explanation. She could tell that she was close. 'My Chain can't see at all. It has to have a Contractor in order to do that, but otherwise, it has to rely on its other senses. Hollow-Eye found out that your scent didn't come from the balloon man you put on the ceiling, but directly under it. I just had to put the pieces together.'

The true Duke Barma smiled. 'Hm, this seems to be quite unique. Now, watch closely, as I give you the information that you seek.'

Cassidy watched as Break, or rather, Kevin's, past unfolded in a series of jumbled memories. She watched him murder and slaughter, using both Albus and his own skills as a knight. Finally, she witnessed the scene when Vincent Nightray – then a young boy – caused the Will of the Abyss to break her dimension up, and how she gouged out one of Kevin Regnard's eyes to replace the one's that her beloved Cheshire had lost.

She gasped. 'Why… didn't he tell me…?'

She watched as Break opened his eyes, obviously having heard her question and recovered some rather unpleasant memories of his own. He remembered how he had raided the Ambersail household, as his Chain thirsted for blood and refused to let such an easy meal slip past, he had been so blinded by loss that he had agreed, only to be repelled by the Ambersail's own knights as they defended the nobles…

Now, he was blinded by fear and shame, and he ran… to hide, to punish himself, to avoid Cassidy, who would surely never forgive him for the day he slaughtered half of her ancestor's friends, family and servants…

She gasped. 'Why… didn't he tell me…?'

'That doesn't matter to me.' The Duke answered coldly. Cassidy made a move to use Hollow-Eye to break through the long-haired man's barrier and chase after Break, but he expertly threw his metal fan at the ground in front of her, making a large dent on the marble floor.

'That is of no concern to me. However, what does concern me is your information, which you have not yet revealed.'

Cassidy glared at him. 'Lizard Bill. He was my father's Chain. His powers are focused around getting into tricky places without being detected, as you should know.' The two words were filled with venom.

With that, the girl called her Chain to her side, and sprinted full pelt out of Barma's dome shaped barrier. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her friends pounding, shooting and kicking – and in Alice's case, biting – the barrier as she rushed past them and out into the night, ignoring their startled cries.

Her Chain barely paused as it followed the scent left behind by the only man to survive the Abyss. 'Break! Come back!'

'W-what should we do?' Sharon panicked. 'I didn't know that they would run away like this, so Eques was on Oz all this time!'

'What do we do? We go after them, of course! C'mon, manservant!'

'HE'S NOT YOUR SERVANT, YOU STUPID RABBIT!'

'Uh, I think that they will be fine.'

'HUH?'

The two people and Chain turned to the blonde illegal Contractor.

'Well, both Break and Cassidy are really strong, and I'm sure that they'll come back. We should probably let them sort this out on their own, because it seems like the right thing to do, don't you think?' Oz smiled.

'HOW CAN YOU JUST ACCEPT THAT?'

Oh, yeah, this is Oz…

Cassidy had her Chain track Break down, and found him sitting under a tree. It was raining, and he was soaked. But she could see that down the side of his face his wet hair was covered in fresh blood. One scarlet stained hand was scratching a hollow eye socket. 'Break!'

The man looked up, his surprise evident on his face. He smiled weakly. 'Sorry for not telling you anything. Heh, you must hate me for what I did.'

He tensed when he felt her hand grab his bloodstained one, preventing him from harming himself any further. She pulled out white coth, and tried to stop the bleeding. Break pushed her hand away to hold the cloth himself.

'Break, if you think that I would hate you that easily, then, then…' tears pouring down her face and mixing with the rain, Cassidy's death grip on Break's hand loosened. Choking back the sobs, she managed to get the last of her message through her trembling lips. 'Then you're a, a… a big idiot!'

The white-haired man smiled.

Flashback:

'I –I'm sorry you had to witness that, Lady Cassandra!' stuttered the white-haired knight. His bloodstained hands holding a bloody dagger, Kevin Regnard tried to look the woman in the eyes as he tried to explain. 'I didn't think that it would survive, I'm so sorry that you had to see, I really thought that it would be for the best- '

Unexpectedly, the lady of the Ambersail noble house smiled. 'I believe that it was for the better as well. That creature did not deserve to suffer, and giving it a quick death was a kindness.'

'Th-thank you, Lady Cassandra.' mumbled Kevin. He pushed dirt over the hole where the corpse of the recently departed animal lay, burying it. After a slight pause, he added, 'I know you liked that cat very much.'

'Yes, Kevin, I did.'

'I'm so sorry, you must hate me now, I wouldn't blame you –'

Cassandra cut him off. 'Kevin, if you think that I would hate you so easily, then you are a fool.'

The knight blinked at the icy tone of voice. Then he bowed. 'Yes, Lady Ambersail.'

'Now, let's get the blood off your hands; please be careful, I have a meeting with Duchess Sherlyn Rainsworth soon and she would be horrified if I had blood on my dress!'

She chuckled, and Kevin couldn't help but smile. There was always something about her that comforted him. And sometimes, when she worked her magic with her words and laughter, he would wonder… about just how close they were…

'I know.' He whispered. Still holding the cloth to his bleeding eye, he leant close to the amber-haired girl. Using his other hand, he traced her face until he felt her lips. Then, he kissed her.

Still sobbing, the girl kissed back. She felt his hand slide from her face to her back, and then he hugged her. They stayed like that for a few moments, and then they pulled apart. But they remained close together.

'We should be heading back.'

'Ready when you are, Lady Ambersail.'

Okay, kissy-kissy! Also, Keeping with the Oscar-Oz, Cheryl-Shelly-Sharon, it's Cassidy-Cassandra! Also, Lizard Bill is a reference to the real Alice in Wonderland's Bill the Lizard, who can climb into chimneys because only he and someone else has a ladder in Wonderland. Yes, I actually did research for a fic! So, kinda going for broke with the romance now… tell me if I'm completely messing the genre up. Please review!