Thanks to everyone who review/followed/favorited! I hope this chapter it up to par :)
Thanks to the awesome Serena Heartfilia for beta-ing this chapter!
Shadow Star was excited to see how Hazel, no, Semara, was doing. Technically, she was supposed to have checked on the girl when she turned seventeen, (a prime age for romance in Mary Sues) but Shadow Star had got caught up in the Life Note OC rush, and her job had gotten busy. Seriously, why did so many Character Placements have to happen in a world where the guys where either psychotic or completely nerdy? Of no matter, though. The Mary Sue seas had calmed about six months ago, so finally after a new dye job on her hair, the girl had stepped through the door labeled, Pandora Hearts.
Shadow Star fell unproffessionally into the bushes on the Rainsworth villa, and had quickly stood, dusting herself off. "If Bloody Wraith were here, she would be laughing her head off," she muttered. "Got to keep my beautiful reputation up."
To her surprise, there was already a person on the doorstep of the villa. She squinted at the back of his head. He had short brown hair, and weird, totally unfashionable earrings. What was his name again? Ryme?
Of course, when she applied for the Pandora Hearts section, she had been required to memorize all the characters faces and names (and angst-filled pasts), but really, all a girl needed to know was the Main Love Interest characters. Namely, Gilbert Nightray.
Shadow Star sighed. "Oh, Gil, if you weren't going to end up with Semara, I would marry you on the spot..." she giggled. "It would almost be worth it."
The man on the doorstep looked down at his small suitcase-bag thing, and Shadow Star remembered his name after seeing a glance of his face.
Reim Lunettes. Friend of Xerxes Break. No major connection to Gilbert, so not an interference to the romantic plot that was unfolding.
"You got here first," Shadow Star said to him, after he knocked on the door. He jumped, looking at her. Hmm, he could've been a little cute, maybe if he was a little younger. Not her type, though. Shadow Star had a thing for dark-haired masochistic men.
"Who- who are you?" he asked, and Shadow Star rolled her eyes. He was an official character, not a Mary Sue, so she had to be nice, but really, the nerve of some people... Whatever. She was cool.
Her ponytails needed fluffing, so she ran her fingers through the silky sea-green locks, proud of the new color. "I'm Shadow Star. I've got a message for Hazel." Wait, he wouldn't know the Mary Sue's old name. "Oh, or should I say, Semara."
Reim gaped at her, his mouth looking kind of like a fish, opening and closing.
"What?" Shadow Star said, giggling nervously. Oh, please let there not be something on her face, please.
"Semar? You have a message for Semar-sama?" Reim said.
"No, I've got a message for Sem-" the door opened, the noise cutting off what Shadow Star had been about to say.
A male servant with dark brown hair looked at Reim, a wide smile appearing on his face. "Reim-sama! You have arrived early!"
Reim smiled tiredly back, but the smile was lost as Shadow Star pushed past the servant and into the house. The servant looked confusedly back at Reim, and Reim shook his head. "Sorry, Quinn, I really don't know what she's doing here..."
Shadow Star ignored this rudeness, quickly walking down the entry hall. Where was that Mary Sue of hers?
A white-haired man peered out at her from a doorway, his one red eye calculating. Xerxes Break was attractive, Shadow Star realized. Bloody Wraith had interesting taste. Again, though, not her type. Shadow Star ignored him.
"Wait! Girl!" Reim called after her, and there was the sound of a suitcase dropping as he ran off after Shadow Star. She didn't slow, turning a corner with a spin of her heel.
Reim caught up to her, grabbing her shoulder. "I need to let Semar-sama know that you've arrived. He'll be wondering, um, I just need to see him first."
Shadow Star was getting really confused. Who was this Semar? Semara was very definitely a girl, so why was this infuriating canon character referring to a person who sounded like Semara? "'He? Semar?' As far as I know, the person I know is most definitely a -oof!"
"Sh- Shadow Star?!"
A few minutes before
Semara sat in her room, on her bed, staring at the wall. She felt trapped. How long had she been home, and already boredom had set in from not being on a Pandora mission?
She had been deluding herself that reading was possible. Reading was, well, frankly boring sometimes. She just wanted to escape from her fate, namely, Raven. He seemed nice, he really did, but Semara was not. A. Mary. Sue.
She missed Sharon, and the relaxed feeling Sharon brought with her. The tension in the house may have been invisible to all others beside Semara, but it was making her nervous.
As if answering her silent plea, she could hear the front entry door open, a big heavy sound that rocked some of the portraits on the walls. Semara jumped, then slid out of bed. Sharon must've been home.
She walked down the hall, feeling the dark gazes of past Rainsworths looking scathingly at her from more portraits on the walls. Just as she was turning the corner, a teal haired girl ran into her stomach.
Semara looked down just as the girl looked up, and Semara was met with brown eyes that sent a chill down her spine. "Sh- Shadow Star?!"
"Ha! I found my Mary Sue!" Shadow Star said triumphantly, but then Semara got over the fear she felt and clamped a hand over Shadow Star's mouth. She knew what Shadow Star being there meant.
Her (not so) simple life was over.
Dragging the teal-haired girl back down the hallway, Semara gave Reim a furious glance, trying to communicate that he was not to follow her. Shadow Star seemed to be in shock at the rough treatment, but Semara ignored her gasps of anger.
Kicking her bedroom door open with her foot, Semara pulled Shadow Star in after her, removing her hand from the girl's mouth only to pull her bedroom door shut. The last thing she saw before the door closed was a shock of white hair as Break leaned against the wall of the hallway, right behind Reim. His red eye was curious.
Semara sat Shadow Star down on the bed, then nearly ripped a chair away from her desk, sitting down in it. The brunette stared at the bright-haired girl for a few seconds.
"What are you doing here?" Semara demanded. Shadow Star stuck out her bottom lip.
"That hurt. Why'd you drag me into your room?" Shadow Star looked closer at Semara, her eyes traveling up and down the cross-dresser. "And why're you dressed like a boy?"
Semara gulped. "I'll explain after you tell me why you are here." She was so obviously buying time to think up a plan.
"I'm checking in. It's the start of the canon story in a few days."
"What? What's the canon story?" Then Semara paused. "Wait, the one that Sharon's involved in?"
Shadow Star grinned. "More observant than you were twenty-two years ago," she said. "You're now involved in it too. Soon, Oz will be pulled from the Abyss, and you and Gil will..." she stopped talking, squealing and hugging herself.
"Gil?" Semara assumed that was the canon character who would turn her into a Mary Sue (who would also wreck her life, and who she would avoid at all costs).
"Gilbert Nightray. You might know him as Raven?" Semara's heart fell. She had been clinging on to some thread of an idea that maybe it wasn't Raven that she had to fall in love with, maybe it was someone else who had yet to show up... To no avail, though.
"...Yes. So it's him I'm supposed to, um, fall in love with?" Semara asked. Shadow Star seemed confused.
"Haven't you already started the progress?"
Semara paused for a few seconds, coming up with a plan. How could she convince Shadow Star she was being a good little Mary Sue?
"O- Of course! I have a plan, though. It involves why I'm dressed like a man, and people think I'm a man. I'm doing this... for the angst."
"The angst?"
Semara nodded, giving Shadow Star an intense look. "See, Raven, or Gil, I suppose, will start to falling love with me, only I'm a guy, so he'll feel conflicted, and... It'll make the romance last longer and way more dramatic when we finally, um, ya know... fall in love. Officially."
Shadow Star sat back, her eyes wide. "I've heard about this. Somebody dropped in D. White Man did this... I think it worked."
"So, you can't reveal that I'm a girl to anyone, otherwise it'll ruin the drama," Semara said. Shadow Star bit her lip.
"It better work. I mean, dramatic Mary Sue stories are on the rise, so we could start a trend!" Shadow Star giggled. "That would be so awesome, I'd be famous."
"Alright, then, um, I'll work on creating angst and romance, and you just head back to wherever you came from."
"Before I go, I have a few things to discuss. First, how's the pinkie thing working?"
"The pinkie thing? I don't understand." Semara replied.
Shadow Star frowned. "The thing whenever you're around Gil, your pinkie throbs because you have a red string of fate that attaches you together? By your pinkie?"
"Oh! So that's what has been happening. It does hurt... sometimes." Semara tried to remember. Raven had been in the near vicinity when her pinkie had hurt, right?
"Super. Isn't that so romantic? It's a new thing we've been trying out for the past two decades, based off of what the Japanese people believe. You were the second test subject to get it, so feel lucky."
Semara felt so, so lucky.
"Anyway, the second thing is, pleeease don't fall in love with Oz. I mean, he's attractive, but he's super boyish and not manly like Gil at all, so nobody wants to read about that. You're like, nineteen. He's what, fourteen?"
"Who's Oz?"
"Oh, you weren't there ten years ago? Where have you been, Semara? Under a rock? Oz is Gil's... master. Sort of. Gil is his valet, and stuff. Oz is supposed to be a main character of the canon story, but," Shadow Star shrugged, "everybody's really a main character in their mind."
"Alright then. I haven't met Oz, but I'll meet him soon, I'm guessing."
Shadow Star nodded. "I'll be keeping an eye on you, since you're my main project right now. All the other Mary Sues are only in beginning stages. Oh, here," she reached into her hair and pulled out a tiny little mirror hairpiece. In her hand, it expanded into a six-inch-tall hand mirror, as if by magic. Might as well have been, Semara had no idea.
Semara took the mirror suspiciously. "What's this for?"
"So I can contact you, keep an eye on you better. It's like from the Beauty and the Beast Disney movie."
Semara vaguely remembered, from a long ago childhood, something called Disney. "Alright. I'll put this away somewhere, then," Semara said, intending to put it somewhere it could never be found, but then the mirror shrank into a simple, reflective chain.
"It's a necklace," she realized. "I have to wear it?"
"Yep! I'm going to do research on this angst-cross-dressing scheme of yours, and I'll give you guidance along your way to better fall in love," Shadow Star said, completely content. How were things so simple to her, Semara wondered. But then she realized, she herself was just a form of entertainment to Shadow Star. Not another person with opinions and doubts.
Semara slipped the shiny necklace onto her neck, pulling up her collar over it. Explaining why, all the sudden, she wore jewelry, when she never had before, to her sister, would be tiresome.
"Bye, then," Shadow Star said. "Someone else might come in from the Pandora Hearts section to check on you, don't freak out. She might not be as awesome as me, but she'll help you." Shadow Star stood up, getting off the bed, and looked at Semara. Her skin was becoming translucent, Semara could see the bed post through her neck. "Pray you don't get Bloody Wraith, she's an old cow," Shadow Star said, and then she vanished all together.
"It's nice to see you, Break," Reim said, and Break popped a candy in his mouth. The albino-haired man actually felt the same way, but didn't voice it. He wasn't one for sappy reunions. It had only been a few months, anyway.
"You're not here to make me do my paperwork, right?" Break asked. Reim frowned.
"No, but you better have been doing it. Pandora gets upset at both of us if you don't."
"Oh. What a relief. I hate paperwork."
They were sitting in the study, doing nothing. It was mid-afternoon, and Shelly-sama would arrive soon. Reim looked tired, Break noticed. He had slightly dark circles under his eyes.
"Why are you here, then?" Break asked. Reim gave him a look.
"I'm visiting the Rainsworths. I did live with them for several years, you know."
"That's all?"
"Mostly. But, I also wish to know, how is the Oz Vessalius thing going?"
Break's one eye looked at Reim with amusement. "How do you know about that?"
"I know you well, Break. He'll be pulled from the Abyss soon enough, I can tell. So, the question is, how soon?"
"Reim, you're stupid," Break said bluntly. "Why are you being smart?"
Reim sighed. "Stop avoiding the question. Is he going to get out by himself?"
Break sucked on the candy thoughtfully. "I knew him for a minute, maybe less, but he seemed to be the type who wouldn't give up without a fight. He won't have changed much in the Abyss, it couldn't have been three hours there for the ten years here. I'm assuming he'll find a way, if there is one."
"You know there is, don't you," Reim noted.
"He'll get out within a few days, I think. Gilbert is going more insane every minute, you'd think Oz has half of his soul in there with him."
"A few days. This will change a lot, you know."
Break looked out the study window, at the growing clouds on the horizon. They could almost be foreshadowing the future.
"Everything's already changing," he said, and that was that.
The deal was made.
The B-Rabbit had a contract
Oz was coming home.
Two days later
They were walking in the garden when it happened. Break suddenly grabbed Sharon and pulled her to him, just as Gilbert flinched. Semara could feel something as well, a deep rumbling.
There was a crack, and suddenly winds were blowing Semara's short hair around. She heard Break say something, but the wind whisked the sound away.
Everything stopped, and the brunette realized there was a blonde boy laying on the cobblestones when before there had been none.
"He managed to get out of the Abyss with his own power," she could finally hear Break say, as Gilbert ran over to the kid. The rest of the albino's words were lost to Semara, as the blood rushed to her ears.
That was the beginning. The beginning of the actual canon story. The beginning of a supposed romance.
The boy must've been Oz, the one that Shadow Star spoke of. He seemed small, and blood coated his formal clothes. Gilbert picked him up, as Sharon touched his face with a white glove.
"Finally, we have Pandora's Key," she heard, and wondered what that was. Pandora was a very secret and confusing organization (probably not the best work environment, either) and Semara didn't ask a lot of questions. She just did her job, staying away from home.
'Haha, get ready, Semara! The party's just going down!' a voice echoed in her mind. Semara flinched, and realized it was Shadow Star talking through the necklace.
She ignored it, watching Gilbert hold the boy. He looked at Oz's face with reverence, sadness, and another feelings Semara couldn't name.
"Let's put him in the sitting room," Sharon said. "We can lay him on one of the couches."
"He looks like he was through hell," Break noted. Semara rolled her eyes. That much was obvious. She'd never heard about someone getting out of the Abyss, so that boy must've been quite something.
"How did he get into the Abyss?" she asked. Sharon turned towards her twin, and Semara saw sadness in her eyes.
"He was... banished there. Ten years ago. I can't believe he looks the same, but I suppose time passes differently in that place."
Semara would've asked why, but she saw the stiffening of Gilbert's spine when she asked the question. It must've been a painful subject.
She wondered why.
Gilbert's heart hurt when he looked at Oz, lying there all bloody. He remembered his master being tall, commanding, and bright. This Oz was small, frail in his arms. Gilbert tried to ignore the scent radiating from the blondes body, the scent of metal that seemed to always accompany chains. He pushed away his fears. Oz was human. He couldn't be a Chain, or a Contractor. Oz was Oz.
Break motioned for Gilbert to sit, after he set Oz gently down on a couch. Gilbert ignored this, taking off his black coat and laying it over Oz. He chose to stand between the creepy mad hatter and his master, unconsciously.
He didn't want Oz to get hurt anymore.
"Reim left a note for my brother," Sharon noted. "He must've left just this afternoon." She picked up an envelope, and slit it open, breaking the wax seal.
"Hey, wait!" Semara said, grabbing the envelope. "That's for me." She pulled the neatly folded paper, reading it.
"What did he say?" Sharon asked. Semara's brow crinkled.
"He says that Pandora has a mission for me and... Xerxes Break. It's something about a Chain that's Rose's twin...We leave tomorrow."
Break looked at Semara with confusion. "Why am I included on this mission?"
'What?! This isn't canon!' Shadow Star's voice echoed through Semara's head.
'Not canon?' Semara thought back, replying for the first time. 'Is it because of me?'
'No. You haven't done enough to change this much. The only way this could happen...' Shadow Star paused, and Semara could hear a tinge of fear or anger in her voice, '...is if there were another Mary Sue.'
Oh snap, there's another one... Let me warn you, the new one doesn't want Gil, she wants another certain albino clown... ;)
Thanks for reading!