Author's note: I apologize for not having updated in quite a while. I had major writer's block for this story specifically and I also wanted to finish Start Again. Basically, this is what I came up with in the end. Hopefully this is okay. I was worried that I might put this on hiatus until I could figure out something, but that would just make my friend not very pleased with me. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorite-d, and alerted this story. It always makes me happy to see people take interest in this. Anyway, I don't own Pandora Hearts (by Jun Mochizuki-sama) or the song "Welcome to the Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance. I did, however, come up with the band name. ;) Review please.

Chapter 2: Meetings and Reunions

Oz's POV

Since the audition, various things had happened in the course of the next 48 hours, but sadly, I did not see Gil at all within that period of time. He reminded me of someone I often spent time with alongside Alice during the summers that I spent in this city before I had to stop for ten years to focus on studying, so meeting this lookalike gave me a nostalgic feeling. They even shared the same eye color and name. Gilbert... I wonder how he's doing...my best friend. It was always a lot of fun teasing and bullying him. Now that I think about it, he should be about seventeen by now. Breaking myself away from the memories, I decided to wait in Pandora's lobby for the last time to kill time for a while.

That is when Gil finally chose to show up.

"Gil~ Did you make it through the audition?" I asked playfully once I approached him.

"I did, but not the same one as you," Gil admitted with an awkward smile.

"You got tricked and signed up for the wrong audition."

Gil began to splutter nervously.

"How did you know that?"

"Some things I just know," I replied with a devious grin.

His face flushed bright red as he averted my gaze. However, much to my surprise, he seemed to guess the question on my mind as he repeated it aloud.

"Oz, did you used to stay here every summer before ten years ago?" he wondered tentatively.

This was...

"Gil? Gilbert Nightray?"

"Yeah. It's me, Oz. I'm really glad to see you again."

There was so many things I wanted to say, yet all I would allow to leave my mouth was the words, "You haven't changed." Sure, he looks different physically since it has been ten years since I've seen him last, but he still reminded me of the person I knew then. I hoped to be able to talk to him since we had some catching up to do, but we were interrupted by Lottie who informed us that we could go up to the 9th room on the 5th floor to meet the people we would be working with. Well, it's not like we won't be seeing each other today, so I allowed a short postponement of our reunion and settled for just accompanying Gil to where he needed to go.

By doing that, I ended up facing the face of misfortune and fortune all in one room.

"Oz, Gil, you're here. Gil, I need you to go with Glen, so that you can be informed on your job in a different room. Oz, your band mates are actually in the room adjacent to this one, so we'll start by going there. This is more of a meeting room that everyone will be in at one point. Might as well know where it is now," Jack explained with Glen simply giving us a "Do you understand" look from close by his friend.

I nodded in understanding before we, the Oz-Jack pair and the Gil-Glen pair, went our separate ways. Already inside the room we walked into, there was (in the order I that noticed them):

the guy that tried to attack Gil yesterday,

an albino man eating a large amount of candy,

someone with large spectacles and messy hair standing beside the only person I somewhat recognized,

and a serious man scolding the albino.

"Reim-kun," Jack called out to the brunette standing next to the albino. "Please get Oz acquainted with the rest of the band members. Has everyone come up with an idea for the band name yet?"

"Not yet, Jack-sama," Reim replied solemnly after cutting his conversation short with the albino. "We will have one ready as soon as possible."

"There's no need to rush," Jack assured before turning back to face me. "Oz, this is Reim Lunettes. He is the band's manager. If you have any immediate questions, then you can ask him. I'll be back to check up on everyone later, so I'll leave everything up to you, Reim-kun."

And with that, Jack took his leave. Once he was out of sight and probably out of hearing range, Reim quickly cleaned his glasses before introducing the other members to me.

"On the opposite side of the room near one of the amplifiers is Elliot Nightray. He is the lead guitarist. The person next to him is Leo Baskerville. He is the band's bassist. And finally, the person with the unique hair color is Xerxes Break. He's the band's drummer," Reim explained easily while gesturing to each person he was referring to. "Elliot-sama, Leo-sama, Xerxes, this is Oz Vessalius, the band's vocalist."

Unfortunately upon hearing of my arrival, Elliot glanced in my direction and, once he recognized me, began to shout angrily as he called me "Shorty" and expressed his annoyance towards my interference in family matters and the fact that I didn't enter the audition fairly. This sparked a flame in me as I prepared to start a fight until Leo hit Elliot in the head with a book he had in his possession and told him to apologize.

"Leo, shouldn't you be on my side?" Elliot pointed out in an unsatisfied tone.

"I never volunteered to be your yes man, Elliot. Although Oz-kun did not send any demos, he answered the judges' questions and sang for them just like the other applicants for the singer position," Leo shot back with a sigh. "But, if it makes you feel better, why don't you just test him?"

"Alright. Let's go with that idea," Elliot agreed with an evil grin as he focused on me. "Oz Vessalius, I will fully accept you as a fellow member of this band if you can beat me in a singing contest. Everyone in the room that isn't competing can be a judge."

"This seems like a rather interesting game," Break decided with a smile as he popped another candy into his mouth.

"Xerxes! You shouldn't encourage them!" Reim exclaimed in a whisper.

Leo simply called Elliot a child under his breath as he read the book he hit the beige-haired member with. Ignoring the insult, Elliot decided that we would have to sing the first song that plays on the radio and we would be judged based on the judges' preferences on a scale from 1 to 10. More specifically, he would sing some verses and I would have follow his performance. Not only that, but we would be alternating throughout the entire song. After he finished explaining the rules, he pressed the power button on the radio that was on top of one of the amplifiers and then set the station. There was a short commentary about the song that was about to play, Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance, before the song started to flow out of the radio and the test had begun.

"When I was a young boy,
My father took me into the city
To see a marching band.

He said, "Son when you grow up,
would you be the saviour of the broken,
the beaten and the damned?"
He said "Will you defeat them,
your demons, and all the non-believers,
the plans that they have made?"
"Because one day I'll leave you,
A phantom to lead you in the summer,
To join The Black Parade."

When I was a young boy,
My father took me into the city
To see a marching band.
He said, "Son when you grow up,
would you be the saviour of the broken,
the beaten and the damned?" Elliot began with powerful vocals that gave me more motivation to avoid losing than I already had.

"Sometimes I get the feeling she's watching over me.
And other times I feel like I should go.
And through it all, the rise and fall, the bodies in the streets.
And when you're gone we want you all to know.

We'll carry on,
We'll carry on
And though you're dead and gone believe me
Your memory will carry on
We'll carry on
And in my heart I can't contain it
The anthem won't explain it.

A world that sends you reeling from decimated dreams
Your misery and hate will kill us all.
So paint it black and take it back
Let's shout it loud and clear
Defiant to the end we hear the call," I continued with confidence on par with Elliot's.

"To carry on
We'll carry on
And though you're dead and gone believe me
Your memory will carry on
We'll carry on
And though you're broken and defeated
Your weary widow marches

On and on we carry through the fears
Ooh oh ohhhh
Disappointed faces of your peers
Ooh oh ohhhh
Take a look at me cause I could not care at all

Do or die, you'll never make me
Because the world will never take my heart
Go and try, you'll never break me
We want it all, we wanna play this part
I won't explain or say I'm sorry
I'm unashamed, I'm gonna show my scar
Give a cheer for all the broken
Listen here, because it's who we are
I'm just a man, I'm not a hero
Just a boy, who had to sing this song
I'm just a man, I'm not a hero
I! don't! care!" Elliot sang in a voice much stronger than before.

I won't lose!

"We'll carry on
We'll carry on
And though you're dead and gone believe me
Your memory will carry on
We'll carry on
And though you're broken and defeated
Your weary widow marches on

Do or die, you'll never make me
Because the world will never take my heart
Go and try, you'll never break me
We want it all, we wanna play this part (We'll carry on)

Do or die, you'll never make me (We'll carry on)
Because the world will never take my heart (We'll carry on)
Go and try, you'll never break me (We'll carry)
We want it all, we wanna play this part (We'll carry on)," I finished excitedly.

This is a lot of fun... It's been a long time since I've felt this way...

Having reached the end of the song, we began to gasp for air after holding our breath for so long as we sang. Break and Leo applauded eagerly while Reim went to turn off the radio, yet not one person mentioned what score we each received until Reim had returned to Break's side.

The first person to give a score was Reim. To Elliot, he gave a 9 out of 10 while I received a 9.5. By the look on his face, he wanted to make an outburst, but a warning glance from Leo made him hold his tongue.

Break was the next person to give the final scores. Elliot received a 9.5 this time, but I ended up topping him with a score of 9.7. At this point, I could see that Elliot's pride had been severely damaged at this point. There was only one judge left and there was still a possibility of me failing this test.

The decision Leo came to was honestly a surprise to me.

"Sorry Elliot. You get an 8.8 from me and Oz-kun gets a 8.9. He passed your test, so you must keep your word," Leo chided firmly. "And since we haven't come up with a name yet, maybe Oz can decide."

"No way in hell!"

"Elliot, a man must keep his word."

The finishing blow to his pride.

"Fine. I'll consider you as a member. You can decide on the band name too."

Paying no mind to the way Elliot stressed the word "member", I dug through my mind for a good name until I came to the name "The Abyss" which was a club I heard was often orchestrated by Alice's twin sister, Alyss.

Alyss... Abyss... Into the Abyss... Edge of the Abyss...?

"Hmm... How about Edge of the Abyss?" I suggested casually.

The rest of the group gave the name some thought before coming to a unanimous vote. Edge of the Abyss it is. Reim quickly jotted the name down on a piece of paper attached to the clipboard that was in his hand while Leo held out his hand and congratulated me on becoming part of Edge of the Abyss.

All's well that ends well, but things will only get stormier from here on out. However, no matter whether that storm is good or bad, I will accept all comes my way.

Well, I guess that's the end of chapter 2 then. I'm reserving what happens to Gil for chapter 3 because I wanted Elliot and Oz to have the biggest part in this chapter. The Will of the Abyss will be known as Alyss for convenience sake. Why does she run a club? You'll find out the specifics later. I didn't want to leave her out of the story (which I have a tendency to do without thinking), so I gave her this role. I was also pretty iffy with Reim's speaking habits, so I just had him speak politely to everyone except Break. Since they are close friends, Reim only drops the formalities with him. Well, their friendship is just one reason why. ;) Another note, the parenthesis in the song were not sung by Elliot or Oz. Those parts came from the radio. With that, I hope to see you guys in chapter 3~