Ambidextrous III/IV: Vessalius (Part 2/4)
Chapter I: Baskerville
Chapter II: Nightray: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
Chapter III: Vessalius: Part 1, Part 3, Part 4.
Oz was right ahead. Whatever had happened to him, Gilbert would be by his side to face it. The man knocked the double doors open with his shoulder:
“Oz!”
The boy was there. Surrounded by dewy grass, Oz stood shaking against the breaking dawn with his back to Gilbert. Oz was holding his hands before him, palms up, as if checking for raindrops. He gave no reaction when the man called his name.
“Why....”
Gilbert’s relieved smile froze on his lips. The voice was deep and hoarse. Completely at odds with Oz’s frail body. The man’s fist clenched around the sword hilt with barely suppressed rage.
“I can’t summon the scythe,” the shaking voice went on. “Why? Glen, what did you do this time?”
Suddenly the boy turned to face him. Gilbert felt a sick feeling sink into his stomach. The eyes were green and wide like those of a wounded predator. Haunted and mad.
“No,” the possessed boy whispered. “It was you, wasn’t it? Gilbert....”
Gilbert glowered at him. He could feel the power of B-Rabbit concentrating in his chest like a wild animal about to pounce. The pull in his left hand was getting fainter. Raven was almost done restoring the chains Jack had destroyed.
“You tricked us,” Gilbert growled back. “All of us. You have no right to use Oz like this. I won’t let you.”
“So you were the one who took his powers.”
Oz’s features relaxed, until his lips curled up into a lenient smile:
“Oh well, it was only a matter of time until Alice interfered again. I suppose I should thank you for bringing her back to me, Gilbert. I’d better settle this now.”
Gilbert jumped out of the way a fraction too late. A metal spike slashed the left side of his arm. Pointed chains materialized all around Oz like so many hydra heads. Jack raised his arms, and their pointed ends turned to face Gilbert.
“Alice!” the man shouted, holding his bleeding arm to his chest.
The fire in his chest swelled and exploded. A dozen more chains darted through the air to meet Jack’s. They knocked them out of the way with thunderous clanging. When Gilbert took a step back, he felt the presence of a massive Chain at his back.
“How nice of you to join us, Alice,” the possessed boy greeted her.
“Jack…” a deep growl came from behind Gilbert, making him feel a shiver of kinship; the ferocity of her hate was going right through his body. “I am going to maim you limb by limb!”
“Don’t!” Gilbert held out a hand in warning. “You can’t hurt Oz!”
“Stay out of this, Raven. Oz rejected me. He’s going to pay for this!”
“Gilbert has a point, you know,” Jack chuckled. “Besides, you were never B-Rabbit to begin with. You can’t blame Oz for taking back what is his.”
“You shut up!” Alice roared. “I don’t care if he was the original B-Rabbit! Oz was always mine, and I can do whatever I want with his powers! Now give him back, Jack!”
“Don’t mind if I do,” Jack whispered. “Oz.”
No sooner had the name left his lips than a dark shape rose among the uncoiling chains. Gilbert could make out two lowered rabbit ears. With a pang to his chest, he realized the figure was hiding its face behind its hands.
“Oz…” Gilbert called softly.
The rabbit clenched his hands tighter in a vain attempt to shield himself from the world.
“Don’t…” his voice rumbled among the rattling chains. “Don’t make me…”
“Kill them.”
Oz gave a cry, and the chains soared. Alice charged.
“Hold him back!” Gilbert slashed at the hissing chains with Elliot’s sword. “Jack can’t stay in control for long. Don’t hurt him!”
But it was impossible to distinguish the two rabbits. Their contours were black and blurry, like twin shadows of the same entity merging as one. Their clash looked like a black mountain emerging from the fog.
Gilbert had to look away when Jack came at him with chains in his wake. Gilbert could only square up to them and back away. But his opponent followed, dancing before the black blade, unarmed and exposed. Gilbert cursed under his breath. He tried to parry and move out of the way.
The chains kept coming, darting from every direction. Hot pain flared in Gilbert’s limbs when he failed to bat them away for fear of hurting the boy. He could hear Oz’s desperate cries among the commotion.
“Gil! Alice! Run! I don’t want to kill you! I don’t want to kill you!”
“As if I’d let you do that,” Alice growled.
She sent him tumbling to the floor with a smack. The earth quaked in protest. Gilbert and Jack were knocked off their feet. Bloody grass and an open sky span before the man’s eyes until the giant Chains jolted back into focus.
“Gil, please, get Alice out of here!”
“I’m not leaving you behind, Oz,” Gilbert jumped to his feet, his eyes trained on Jack. “Never again!”
The possessed boy was staggering back to his feet, showing the first signs of fatigue. Gilbert was too lightheaded to feel any triumph. His legs were bleeding profusely. In his peripheral vision the rabbits were still fighting in a black chaos of claws and teeth. The world was turning fuzzier by the second.
“Don’t worry, Oz,” Gilbert willed his voice to remain steady. The blood in his left hand was pumping wildly. “Any second now....”
“This is quite draining,” Jack conceded between short puffs of breath. With a flick of his wrist, the possessed boy gathered the discarded chains behind him and advanced towards Gilbert. “You look pretty worn out yourself. However, unlike you, Gilbert, I have only one Chain to keep under control.”
Gilbert took slow steps back, his sword at the ready. Jack was ten meters away. Soon, it would be over soon....
A sudden hissing sound made the man dive in alarm. Four spikes sunk into the ground Gilbert had been standing on milliseconds ago. Jack had struck from the back.
“I wonder,” the ghost said as he came to meet him head-on, “which of us will collapse first?”
Gilbert pushed the boy away, and a spike sank into his left shoulder. The man rolled out of the way on his uninjured shoulder with the sound of hissing chains close to his ears. When his momentum sent him back to his feet, Gilbert felt a final jolt in his left hand. Then he heard the caw.
Raven. At last.
Jack looked up at the sky with sudden trepidation. Gilbert rushed at him.
The possessed boy tried to get away and hide behind a wall of snaking chains. Gilbert had to watch his step against the tremors the giant rabbits were causing in their scuffle. He slashed wildly at the chains. Gashes were opening all over Gilbert’s body as he ran, but he barely felt them. High above, Raven was swooping down on them.
Three feet. Gilbert swiped two chains out of his way, and reached with his left hand. His face even, Jack pointed straight at his heart. Without missing a beat, Gilbert slammed his bare hand against the possessed boy’s forehead. A violent earthquake broke behind the man with heavy clanging. Out of the corner of his eye, Gilbert saw giant black talons holding a metal coil to the ground. Raven had landed right on the chain about to impale its contractor.
The sword fell to Gilbert’s side. The man hung on to the struggling boy, his right hand digging into a frail shoulder. Gilbert’s left hand glowed a bright blue against Oz’s forehead. The servant didn’t hold back this time, and let all the power he held as a Baskerville seep through the seal. The small body went limp in his arms. The two rabbits and crow vanished in a ray of morning light.
“Oz,” Gilbert panted, holding on to the boy’s forehead and shoulder like his life depended on it. “Oz, can you hear me?”
Blurry green eyes blinked madly up at him. Oz’s fair features were distorted in a grimace of pain. A drop of blood was dripping from the side of his bottom lip.
“…Why?” he croaked. “Why did you come back? You… I almost killed you!”
In spite of his wounds and racing heart, Gilbert couldn’t help but give a heavy sigh of relief. The voice was cracked and hoarse, but the man recognized it as Oz’s. Regardless, he forced himself not to let go. Gilbert had learnt of Jack’s acting skills the hard way. Oz would never forgive his servant if he let his guard down too soon.
“I had to, Oz,” Gilbert said nonetheless. He knew Oz would hear him. “I need to be by your side.”
“Are you out of your mind?” the boy grabbed Gilbert’s mantle with both hands. “You saw what I did! You know what I am! Why would you want anything to do with me?”
“I am your servant…”
“No, you’re not!”
Oz was striving like the very devil to free himself. Gilbert grabbed both his wrists with his right hand to hold him still. He didn’t feel confident enough to let go of the boy’s forehead just yet.
Oz panted heavily. He wouldn’t stop struggling, and it felt like each word was hurting him, grating on his tongue like salt into a wound:
“You’re Glen’s servant. Go back to him. Alice, too. She… She’s his niece, right? You belong with him. Both of you. Forget about me. I’m just… I’m just a doll!”
“I remember,” Gilbert told him gently.
This gave Oz pause. His hands felt cold even through the man’s glove. Gilbert held them close to his heart:
“You and Alice were always together, back in Sablier. Once, she tore one of your sleeves and asked Master Glen to sew it back together. I volunteered to do it in his stead,” the man chuckled self-mockingly. “I was so vexed. And I think that’s all the interaction we had back then.”
Oz refused to look at him.
“But that’s all in the past,” Gilbert told the crown of golden hair. “My master is dead, and there’s nothing I can do about it. In this time, you were the one who gave me a place to belong. I don’t want to give that up.”
A brief silence settled. Oz broke it in a small voice:
“That was all fake. Just a part of Jack’s plan. He let me borrow his body, only to get it back and destroy everything. This is what I was created for. I can’t help anyone. Least of all you.”
“You did,” Gilbert protested. “You saved me!”
“This is just what you want to believe.”
“This is what I know,” Gilbert said stubbornly. “Those years we spent together were the happiest of my life. They were real. Don’t you dare tell me they weren’t.”
“But I am not.”
“What difference does that make?”
Gilbert was getting confused and angry. Idly, the man could feel Alice’s own frustration at the back of his mind. This argument was only hurting Oz. Why couldn’t he see that it was pointless?
“It makes all the difference, you idiot!” Oz shouted. “I can’t even control myself! Do you have any idea how many people died because of me? I caused the Tragedy of Sablier. I almost destroyed the world, twice. What’s stopping me from doing it again? I’m better off…”
“Then make a contract with me!”
Oz jerked his head up and glared at Gilbert with fierce watery eyes. The man couldn’t help but flinch. Yet he refused to back down:
“I already made a pact with Alice, and Jack lost some of your powers because of it,” he insisted. “If I made a pact with you, we might break his influence completely…”
“Don’t even think about it,” Oz interjected. “I won’t turn you into an illegal contractor!”
“It wouldn’t be an illegal contract,” Gilbert said in the same breath. “As messengers from the Abyss, the Baskervilles are meant to make contracts with Chains by drinking their blood. That’s how I contracted Alice.”
Gilbert shuddered slightly at the reminder. The less said about exactly how that had transpired, the better. He put the thought to the far back of his mind
“I do have a seal,” he went on, “but it won’t drag me into the Abyss.”
Among the fear and grief, he saw a glint of relief flash across Oz’s eyes. Slight as it was, the shift lifted Gilbert’s spirits. He looked at Oz with daring hope:
“If we made a pact… maybe you could be freed of your seal.”
Oz seemed to hesitate. For a second, his eyes grew distant, like he had just realized something. The boy shook his head to rid it of the thought. The anger was gone, but he still looked upset and scared.
“I can’t,” Oz said haltingly. “Alice is safe with you now. I don’t want to make the two of you take that risk. Not after everything I put you through. Alice died, and you… I hurt you so many times… And you only stayed with me because you thought I could replace your master....”
Gilbert’s chest constricted at that. His grip tightened around Oz’s slight wrists. He could feel a mad pulse.
“You don’t understand,” Gilbert said, rueful yet firm. “We can’t go back. Alice and I are traitors to the Baskervilles. Not because of you,” he added immediately. “But because Glen was ready to sacrifice anyone who threatened the stability of the Abyss. Even…”
Here again, Gilbert barely stopped himself in time. He had lost so much blood he had trouble thinking straight. But he was positive Alice could still hear them.
“Even his own family,” he said in a low, bitter voice.
Oz’s eyes widened in horror. He understood. Gilbert knew he would.
The boy’s body went slack against his. Gilbert almost lost his balance when he had to steady Oz with his left hand. The boy’s trembling had almost turned into spasms. His teeth were chattering:
“But…you won’t let him. You will protect her. Right?”
“I will,” Gilbert held him closer. “But only if you come with us. Alice and I decided this together. We are not going anywhere without you. I am not going anywhere without you.”
Oz’s conflicted gaze turned pleading:
“Please, Gil… You’ve accomplished so much. I’m sure you don’t need me anymore,” his voice was so faint Gilbert could barely hear it. “I’m… glad we met. I wish we could have stayed together. I want to believe in your promise, I really do, but more than that… Gil, I… want you to be free.”
Gilbert shook his head. He couldn’t take this anymore.
“Don’t you get it?” He was clenching Oz’s wrists so tightly they might bruise. “After I lost my memories, all these years, you were the only one who kept me sane. That will never change! It’s true that you saved me by replacing my master, but before I knew it… I started to use that as an excuse. I made it my duty to protect you, to stay by your side… anything to stay by your side. I always wished I was destined to serve you.”
The boy’s eyes went saucer wide. Gilbert couldn’t stop:
“Even after I shot you… I could only think of the way to save you. Even if you’re not my master, I can only be free by your side!”
Oz’s cheeks were flushed a deep red from the fight and the fear, his eyes a surreal bright green under his golden bangs. He was still panting, but it looked like he had forgotten why. Slowly, a smile bloomed on his juvenile face. Gilbert was rendered speechless.
“You idiot,” Oz’s shoulders were shaking with silent laughter. “Do you even hear yourself talk? Geez....”
The boy sighed through his nose. He shivered slightly in the morning breeze, and his features seemed to waver before settling into an expression of resolve; but the smile never left. Oz’s wrists gave a gentle prod and, because Gilbert knew this smile very well, because he knew Jack could never pull it off in a million years, he let them go.
“You have it all backwards,” Oz told him. “You were the one who kept me sane. Ever since Father rejected me. If I’m a Chain, you’re the only contractor I want.”
Oz’s fingers were trembling when he cradled Gilbert’s face, like he was still afraid to touch. The servant didn’t move. He let the boy tuck stray black locks behind his ear experimentally. Featherlike touches lingered on his cheekbones, and long fingers came to rest at the nape of his neck. Small hands and emerald eyes were pulling him in.
Gilbert didn’t understand what was going on until Oz started nipping at his bottom lip.
The kiss didn’t last long. No more than the time Oz needed to sneak his bleeding tongue in and wrap it around Gilbert’s, so the man could taste it before he swallowed. The boy only lingered for a second, to savour the wet warmth and the intoxicating scent of tobacco. But by the time Oz pulled away, Gilbert was misty-eyed and breathless.
“Oz…”
“Yes, silly,” Oz played with the soft locks framing his servant’s face. The strong scent of cigarette smoke clung to the wavy hair. It drifted to Oz like a warm welcome as his fingers combed the knots away. “I love you.”
Gilbert grabbed his shoulders.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to,” Oz chuckled. “I didn’t want anything to change between us. I loved to see you doubt. It was so funny and cute… And this way, I could woo girls whenever I wanted. That always drove you crazy.”
The boy hung his head too late. Gilbert had seen the tears.
“I was cruel. Gil, I....”
The air got knocked out of his lungs. Gilbert was hugging him so tightly Oz could speak no more. Or it might have been the lump in his throat.
“You damn…” Gilbert sobbed, and somehow it sounded like laughter, like the man couldn’t have been sadder or happier, “impish, reckless, stubborn, tyrannical little brat!”
He could hear Oz’s trembling smile in his teasing voice: “You still love me.”
“I always loved you! Since the day we met,” Gilbert said. He was pretty sure Oz hadn’t loved him this long. And if he had, his young master was even more sadistic than Gilbert had ever suspected. “And I will always love you!”
“I know.”
Gilbert froze. Oz’s voice was growing faint. The servant’s left hand hurt. Something hot was flooding his throat and chest. It set his blood on fire. Looking down through a hazy fog, the man met the boy’s resigned gaze.
“Oz…!”
“Don’t worry,” the boy smiled, ephemeral and mischievous. Unreachable. “I’ll be right here.”
Oz’s eyelids drooped. A shiver ran down Gilbert’s spine. Waves upon waves of power crashed into his being, each rush stronger than the last. They shook his whole frame until the man broke into uncontrollable spasms. He could only cling to the frail shoulders of his young master to keep steady.
The black rabbits were merging once again. Gilbert felt Raven’s struggles as the bird fought the overwhelming presence of the foreign twin Chains. For what felt like an eternity, the boy was his only anchor in a storm of destructive power.
Then the seal was back in place. Emerald green eyes turned stone cold.
“That was quite impressive, Gilbert,” the deep voice slurred out of Oz’s lips like an exotic snake. “And a huge mistake on your part.”
Rage shook Gilbert out of the aftershock.
“Jack.”
The possessed boy’s smile was humourless:
“Why are you so surprised? You were the one who got Oz out of this body to join Alice. Naturally, that only leaves me in control.”
“Get out,” Gilbert seethed. “I won’t let you hurt Oz ever again.”
“I can’t get out,” Jack chuckled. “This is my body, after all.”
“That’s not true,” Gilbert said. He sank his fingers into the boy’s shoulders, and hoped Jack wouldn’t notice that he could barely stand. “Oz was born and grew up in this era. You are nothing but a ghost hijacking his body.”
Jack shook his head:
“This body is the one I was born and grew up in, until I was forsaken by the power of the Abyss. I lent it to Oz long enough for him to collect the fragments of my soul. Now that you made a contract with him and Alice, the three of us are bound to B-Rabbit.”
“Liar…”
“The seal is still on my chest,” Jack put a hand to his host’s heart. “And when the clock strikes twelve, the four of us will be dragged into the Abyss.”
“Liar!”
Unmindful of Gilbert’s iron grip, Jack unbuttoned Oz’s shirt. Horror-struck, Gilbert got a glimpse of the black mark. The seal was a quarter to completion.
“It is the logical conclusion of your foolish actions,” Jack said neutrally. “Then again, logic never was your strong point, was it, Gilbert? You only ever followed your feelings. This is why you can’t harm me. Not when I look like this.”
Gilbert couldn’t answer. Jack smiled, glassy-eyed:
“Of course, there is a way out of this: you could still reject Oz and be freed of his influence. That would also get rid of me. Since the needle has moved this far, it’s too late to save this body.”
A pause. Gilbert felt nauseous. His vision swam, and the black needle seemed to tilt ever closer to its starting point. Still his tongue remained frozen in his mouth.
“You won’t? Come now. There is nothing to regret. Try as you might, Oz was always beyond saving. You heard him: he would rather let you live free of him.”
There was no answer but the chirping of morning birds and a distant clatter from the manor. Jack trapped Gilbert’s forearm in a death grip.
“Just do it,” the ghost hissed. Panic gave a sharp edge to his voice. “You won’t be apart for long. I’ll just take the world with me, and then you can join Oz in the Abyss. Give my Chain back, Gilbert.”
“Stop pestering my servant, will you, Jack?”
Jack raised his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side. His smile turned grim:
“Oz. I see you’ve learnt from the times I took over your body.”
Gilbert’s face answered with a smile of its own, weighted by irony. The two contractors were close. When Gilbert’s host looked into Jack’s eyes, he could see his own red irises reflected there.
The colour didn’t suit Gilbert at all, Oz decided, and neither did his boyish voice. But he would make do.
“Not exactly,” Oz answered. “Gil is exhausted. That idiot was about to lose consciousness. I promised that I would be there to support him if he ever fell. It’s as simple as that.”
“You seem to be in a better mood,” Jack said lightly. His long fingers loosened their grip and traced the contours of Gilbert’s wrist. “I take it Gilbert’s body is to your liking, then?”
Oz rolled his eyes and let go of his former body’s shoulders. Good thing Gilbert was out cold, or his poor servant would have died of embarrassment from the innuendo.
“Actually, Gil is right.” Oz crossed Gilbert’s arms and pointed one finger at Jack. The man’s features set into the scowl that Gilbert usually directed at Alice when he scolded her. “I have used this body for fifteen years now, and I’m rather fond of it. I would like to have it back.”
Jack shook his head sadly:
“You didn’t listen to anything I said.”
“I did.”
“Yet you keep on burdening Gilbert and Alice with your existence? This is rather selfish of you.”
“It is,” Oz admitted. Idly, he felt Gilbert’s self-depreciating smile creep back on the man’s lips. “I was hoping that Gilbert’s plan would work… He must be rubbing off on me.”
Jack smiled indulgently. He put a hand on Gilbert’s arm:
“You can still set them free.”
But Oz merely shook his head:
“I can’t. They won’t let me.”
And in spite of the bitter resignation he felt, Oz couldn’t help but feel a twisted pride in that fact. He hated himself a little more for it. But he could still feel the bite of Alice’s anger at the back of his mind, urging him to go on, and Gilbert’s comforting presence, steady even in sleep.
Oz had thought he had accepted his fate. But in the end, he just couldn’t let them go.
“They’ve gone so far to protect me,” he said softly. “The least I can do is to try and stay alive.”
Thin pale fingers closed around Gilbert’s cravat. There was a mad glint dancing in Jack’s eyes. Oz couldn’t help but shudder a little. Even with their inversed height difference, the ghost’s mere presence was enough to put him on edge.
“You don’t understand, Oz. You don’t have a choice,” Jack’s fist clenched into a knuckle-white grip. “Either you break this second contract right now, or we all sink into the Abyss. All for nothing.”
“You are the one who doesn’t understand,” Oz said, grateful for his own practiced detachment and how steady his voice came out. “I am not threatening you, and I am not asking for a favour either. This is my right as your Chain. You gave me a human body in exchange of a wish. That’s how a contract works. It can’t be broken until I fulfil my part of the bargain.”
A glimmer of interest shone in Jack’s eyes at that. He furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully:
“Something tells me you aren’t going to break the chains again that easily.”
Gilbert’s eyes glowed an angry red when Oz frowned at him:
“That,” he said, his words harsh from raw memories, “isn’t your wish.”
“Of course you would know all about it,” the ghost said.
Oz ignored the sarcasm:
“I only realized just now. Something was bugging me about your memories. I don’t remember contracting Lacie. Yet in that winter when she met you, she used B-Rabbit’s powers to save you, even though I was only a plush rabbit at the time. Don’t you think that’s strange?”
All traces of ill humour had vanished from Jack’s face as soon as he had uttered Lacie’s name. Oz felt a bitter lump form in his throat. He had been mulling these memories over and over during his imprisonment, unable to think of anything but. After his fight with Gilbert, things were finally clicking into place. Why Jack had been rejected by the Abyss, the fact that Alice could take Oz’s appearance, the power that they shared... the very nature of B-Rabbit’s power. Who Lacie’s Chain had been.
Oz didn’t like where this was leading him. But it was too late to turn back.
“I can grant your wish, Jack. I will bring you to Lacie.”
Part 3
Chapter II: Nightray: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
Chapter III: Vessalius: Part 1, Part 3, Part 4.
Oz was right ahead. Whatever had happened to him, Gilbert would be by his side to face it. The man knocked the double doors open with his shoulder:
“Oz!”
The boy was there. Surrounded by dewy grass, Oz stood shaking against the breaking dawn with his back to Gilbert. Oz was holding his hands before him, palms up, as if checking for raindrops. He gave no reaction when the man called his name.
“Why....”
Gilbert’s relieved smile froze on his lips. The voice was deep and hoarse. Completely at odds with Oz’s frail body. The man’s fist clenched around the sword hilt with barely suppressed rage.
“I can’t summon the scythe,” the shaking voice went on. “Why? Glen, what did you do this time?”
Suddenly the boy turned to face him. Gilbert felt a sick feeling sink into his stomach. The eyes were green and wide like those of a wounded predator. Haunted and mad.
“No,” the possessed boy whispered. “It was you, wasn’t it? Gilbert....”
Gilbert glowered at him. He could feel the power of B-Rabbit concentrating in his chest like a wild animal about to pounce. The pull in his left hand was getting fainter. Raven was almost done restoring the chains Jack had destroyed.
“You tricked us,” Gilbert growled back. “All of us. You have no right to use Oz like this. I won’t let you.”
“So you were the one who took his powers.”
Oz’s features relaxed, until his lips curled up into a lenient smile:
“Oh well, it was only a matter of time until Alice interfered again. I suppose I should thank you for bringing her back to me, Gilbert. I’d better settle this now.”
Gilbert jumped out of the way a fraction too late. A metal spike slashed the left side of his arm. Pointed chains materialized all around Oz like so many hydra heads. Jack raised his arms, and their pointed ends turned to face Gilbert.
“Alice!” the man shouted, holding his bleeding arm to his chest.
The fire in his chest swelled and exploded. A dozen more chains darted through the air to meet Jack’s. They knocked them out of the way with thunderous clanging. When Gilbert took a step back, he felt the presence of a massive Chain at his back.
“How nice of you to join us, Alice,” the possessed boy greeted her.
“Jack…” a deep growl came from behind Gilbert, making him feel a shiver of kinship; the ferocity of her hate was going right through his body. “I am going to maim you limb by limb!”
“Don’t!” Gilbert held out a hand in warning. “You can’t hurt Oz!”
“Stay out of this, Raven. Oz rejected me. He’s going to pay for this!”
“Gilbert has a point, you know,” Jack chuckled. “Besides, you were never B-Rabbit to begin with. You can’t blame Oz for taking back what is his.”
“You shut up!” Alice roared. “I don’t care if he was the original B-Rabbit! Oz was always mine, and I can do whatever I want with his powers! Now give him back, Jack!”
“Don’t mind if I do,” Jack whispered. “Oz.”
No sooner had the name left his lips than a dark shape rose among the uncoiling chains. Gilbert could make out two lowered rabbit ears. With a pang to his chest, he realized the figure was hiding its face behind its hands.
“Oz…” Gilbert called softly.
The rabbit clenched his hands tighter in a vain attempt to shield himself from the world.
“Don’t…” his voice rumbled among the rattling chains. “Don’t make me…”
“Kill them.”
Oz gave a cry, and the chains soared. Alice charged.
“Hold him back!” Gilbert slashed at the hissing chains with Elliot’s sword. “Jack can’t stay in control for long. Don’t hurt him!”
But it was impossible to distinguish the two rabbits. Their contours were black and blurry, like twin shadows of the same entity merging as one. Their clash looked like a black mountain emerging from the fog.
Gilbert had to look away when Jack came at him with chains in his wake. Gilbert could only square up to them and back away. But his opponent followed, dancing before the black blade, unarmed and exposed. Gilbert cursed under his breath. He tried to parry and move out of the way.
The chains kept coming, darting from every direction. Hot pain flared in Gilbert’s limbs when he failed to bat them away for fear of hurting the boy. He could hear Oz’s desperate cries among the commotion.
“Gil! Alice! Run! I don’t want to kill you! I don’t want to kill you!”
“As if I’d let you do that,” Alice growled.
She sent him tumbling to the floor with a smack. The earth quaked in protest. Gilbert and Jack were knocked off their feet. Bloody grass and an open sky span before the man’s eyes until the giant Chains jolted back into focus.
“Gil, please, get Alice out of here!”
“I’m not leaving you behind, Oz,” Gilbert jumped to his feet, his eyes trained on Jack. “Never again!”
The possessed boy was staggering back to his feet, showing the first signs of fatigue. Gilbert was too lightheaded to feel any triumph. His legs were bleeding profusely. In his peripheral vision the rabbits were still fighting in a black chaos of claws and teeth. The world was turning fuzzier by the second.
“Don’t worry, Oz,” Gilbert willed his voice to remain steady. The blood in his left hand was pumping wildly. “Any second now....”
“This is quite draining,” Jack conceded between short puffs of breath. With a flick of his wrist, the possessed boy gathered the discarded chains behind him and advanced towards Gilbert. “You look pretty worn out yourself. However, unlike you, Gilbert, I have only one Chain to keep under control.”
Gilbert took slow steps back, his sword at the ready. Jack was ten meters away. Soon, it would be over soon....
A sudden hissing sound made the man dive in alarm. Four spikes sunk into the ground Gilbert had been standing on milliseconds ago. Jack had struck from the back.
“I wonder,” the ghost said as he came to meet him head-on, “which of us will collapse first?”
Gilbert pushed the boy away, and a spike sank into his left shoulder. The man rolled out of the way on his uninjured shoulder with the sound of hissing chains close to his ears. When his momentum sent him back to his feet, Gilbert felt a final jolt in his left hand. Then he heard the caw.
Raven. At last.
Jack looked up at the sky with sudden trepidation. Gilbert rushed at him.
The possessed boy tried to get away and hide behind a wall of snaking chains. Gilbert had to watch his step against the tremors the giant rabbits were causing in their scuffle. He slashed wildly at the chains. Gashes were opening all over Gilbert’s body as he ran, but he barely felt them. High above, Raven was swooping down on them.
Three feet. Gilbert swiped two chains out of his way, and reached with his left hand. His face even, Jack pointed straight at his heart. Without missing a beat, Gilbert slammed his bare hand against the possessed boy’s forehead. A violent earthquake broke behind the man with heavy clanging. Out of the corner of his eye, Gilbert saw giant black talons holding a metal coil to the ground. Raven had landed right on the chain about to impale its contractor.
The sword fell to Gilbert’s side. The man hung on to the struggling boy, his right hand digging into a frail shoulder. Gilbert’s left hand glowed a bright blue against Oz’s forehead. The servant didn’t hold back this time, and let all the power he held as a Baskerville seep through the seal. The small body went limp in his arms. The two rabbits and crow vanished in a ray of morning light.
“Oz,” Gilbert panted, holding on to the boy’s forehead and shoulder like his life depended on it. “Oz, can you hear me?”
Blurry green eyes blinked madly up at him. Oz’s fair features were distorted in a grimace of pain. A drop of blood was dripping from the side of his bottom lip.
“…Why?” he croaked. “Why did you come back? You… I almost killed you!”
In spite of his wounds and racing heart, Gilbert couldn’t help but give a heavy sigh of relief. The voice was cracked and hoarse, but the man recognized it as Oz’s. Regardless, he forced himself not to let go. Gilbert had learnt of Jack’s acting skills the hard way. Oz would never forgive his servant if he let his guard down too soon.
“I had to, Oz,” Gilbert said nonetheless. He knew Oz would hear him. “I need to be by your side.”
“Are you out of your mind?” the boy grabbed Gilbert’s mantle with both hands. “You saw what I did! You know what I am! Why would you want anything to do with me?”
“I am your servant…”
“No, you’re not!”
Oz was striving like the very devil to free himself. Gilbert grabbed both his wrists with his right hand to hold him still. He didn’t feel confident enough to let go of the boy’s forehead just yet.
Oz panted heavily. He wouldn’t stop struggling, and it felt like each word was hurting him, grating on his tongue like salt into a wound:
“You’re Glen’s servant. Go back to him. Alice, too. She… She’s his niece, right? You belong with him. Both of you. Forget about me. I’m just… I’m just a doll!”
“I remember,” Gilbert told him gently.
This gave Oz pause. His hands felt cold even through the man’s glove. Gilbert held them close to his heart:
“You and Alice were always together, back in Sablier. Once, she tore one of your sleeves and asked Master Glen to sew it back together. I volunteered to do it in his stead,” the man chuckled self-mockingly. “I was so vexed. And I think that’s all the interaction we had back then.”
Oz refused to look at him.
“But that’s all in the past,” Gilbert told the crown of golden hair. “My master is dead, and there’s nothing I can do about it. In this time, you were the one who gave me a place to belong. I don’t want to give that up.”
A brief silence settled. Oz broke it in a small voice:
“That was all fake. Just a part of Jack’s plan. He let me borrow his body, only to get it back and destroy everything. This is what I was created for. I can’t help anyone. Least of all you.”
“You did,” Gilbert protested. “You saved me!”
“This is just what you want to believe.”
“This is what I know,” Gilbert said stubbornly. “Those years we spent together were the happiest of my life. They were real. Don’t you dare tell me they weren’t.”
“But I am not.”
“What difference does that make?”
Gilbert was getting confused and angry. Idly, the man could feel Alice’s own frustration at the back of his mind. This argument was only hurting Oz. Why couldn’t he see that it was pointless?
“It makes all the difference, you idiot!” Oz shouted. “I can’t even control myself! Do you have any idea how many people died because of me? I caused the Tragedy of Sablier. I almost destroyed the world, twice. What’s stopping me from doing it again? I’m better off…”
“Then make a contract with me!”
Oz jerked his head up and glared at Gilbert with fierce watery eyes. The man couldn’t help but flinch. Yet he refused to back down:
“I already made a pact with Alice, and Jack lost some of your powers because of it,” he insisted. “If I made a pact with you, we might break his influence completely…”
“Don’t even think about it,” Oz interjected. “I won’t turn you into an illegal contractor!”
“It wouldn’t be an illegal contract,” Gilbert said in the same breath. “As messengers from the Abyss, the Baskervilles are meant to make contracts with Chains by drinking their blood. That’s how I contracted Alice.”
Gilbert shuddered slightly at the reminder. The less said about exactly how that had transpired, the better. He put the thought to the far back of his mind
“I do have a seal,” he went on, “but it won’t drag me into the Abyss.”
Among the fear and grief, he saw a glint of relief flash across Oz’s eyes. Slight as it was, the shift lifted Gilbert’s spirits. He looked at Oz with daring hope:
“If we made a pact… maybe you could be freed of your seal.”
Oz seemed to hesitate. For a second, his eyes grew distant, like he had just realized something. The boy shook his head to rid it of the thought. The anger was gone, but he still looked upset and scared.
“I can’t,” Oz said haltingly. “Alice is safe with you now. I don’t want to make the two of you take that risk. Not after everything I put you through. Alice died, and you… I hurt you so many times… And you only stayed with me because you thought I could replace your master....”
Gilbert’s chest constricted at that. His grip tightened around Oz’s slight wrists. He could feel a mad pulse.
“You don’t understand,” Gilbert said, rueful yet firm. “We can’t go back. Alice and I are traitors to the Baskervilles. Not because of you,” he added immediately. “But because Glen was ready to sacrifice anyone who threatened the stability of the Abyss. Even…”
Here again, Gilbert barely stopped himself in time. He had lost so much blood he had trouble thinking straight. But he was positive Alice could still hear them.
“Even his own family,” he said in a low, bitter voice.
Oz’s eyes widened in horror. He understood. Gilbert knew he would.
The boy’s body went slack against his. Gilbert almost lost his balance when he had to steady Oz with his left hand. The boy’s trembling had almost turned into spasms. His teeth were chattering:
“But…you won’t let him. You will protect her. Right?”
“I will,” Gilbert held him closer. “But only if you come with us. Alice and I decided this together. We are not going anywhere without you. I am not going anywhere without you.”
Oz’s conflicted gaze turned pleading:
“Please, Gil… You’ve accomplished so much. I’m sure you don’t need me anymore,” his voice was so faint Gilbert could barely hear it. “I’m… glad we met. I wish we could have stayed together. I want to believe in your promise, I really do, but more than that… Gil, I… want you to be free.”
Gilbert shook his head. He couldn’t take this anymore.
“Don’t you get it?” He was clenching Oz’s wrists so tightly they might bruise. “After I lost my memories, all these years, you were the only one who kept me sane. That will never change! It’s true that you saved me by replacing my master, but before I knew it… I started to use that as an excuse. I made it my duty to protect you, to stay by your side… anything to stay by your side. I always wished I was destined to serve you.”
The boy’s eyes went saucer wide. Gilbert couldn’t stop:
“Even after I shot you… I could only think of the way to save you. Even if you’re not my master, I can only be free by your side!”
Oz’s cheeks were flushed a deep red from the fight and the fear, his eyes a surreal bright green under his golden bangs. He was still panting, but it looked like he had forgotten why. Slowly, a smile bloomed on his juvenile face. Gilbert was rendered speechless.
“You idiot,” Oz’s shoulders were shaking with silent laughter. “Do you even hear yourself talk? Geez....”
The boy sighed through his nose. He shivered slightly in the morning breeze, and his features seemed to waver before settling into an expression of resolve; but the smile never left. Oz’s wrists gave a gentle prod and, because Gilbert knew this smile very well, because he knew Jack could never pull it off in a million years, he let them go.
“You have it all backwards,” Oz told him. “You were the one who kept me sane. Ever since Father rejected me. If I’m a Chain, you’re the only contractor I want.”
Oz’s fingers were trembling when he cradled Gilbert’s face, like he was still afraid to touch. The servant didn’t move. He let the boy tuck stray black locks behind his ear experimentally. Featherlike touches lingered on his cheekbones, and long fingers came to rest at the nape of his neck. Small hands and emerald eyes were pulling him in.
Gilbert didn’t understand what was going on until Oz started nipping at his bottom lip.
The kiss didn’t last long. No more than the time Oz needed to sneak his bleeding tongue in and wrap it around Gilbert’s, so the man could taste it before he swallowed. The boy only lingered for a second, to savour the wet warmth and the intoxicating scent of tobacco. But by the time Oz pulled away, Gilbert was misty-eyed and breathless.
“Oz…”
“Yes, silly,” Oz played with the soft locks framing his servant’s face. The strong scent of cigarette smoke clung to the wavy hair. It drifted to Oz like a warm welcome as his fingers combed the knots away. “I love you.”
Gilbert grabbed his shoulders.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to,” Oz chuckled. “I didn’t want anything to change between us. I loved to see you doubt. It was so funny and cute… And this way, I could woo girls whenever I wanted. That always drove you crazy.”
The boy hung his head too late. Gilbert had seen the tears.
“I was cruel. Gil, I....”
The air got knocked out of his lungs. Gilbert was hugging him so tightly Oz could speak no more. Or it might have been the lump in his throat.
“You damn…” Gilbert sobbed, and somehow it sounded like laughter, like the man couldn’t have been sadder or happier, “impish, reckless, stubborn, tyrannical little brat!”
He could hear Oz’s trembling smile in his teasing voice: “You still love me.”
“I always loved you! Since the day we met,” Gilbert said. He was pretty sure Oz hadn’t loved him this long. And if he had, his young master was even more sadistic than Gilbert had ever suspected. “And I will always love you!”
“I know.”
Gilbert froze. Oz’s voice was growing faint. The servant’s left hand hurt. Something hot was flooding his throat and chest. It set his blood on fire. Looking down through a hazy fog, the man met the boy’s resigned gaze.
“Oz…!”
“Don’t worry,” the boy smiled, ephemeral and mischievous. Unreachable. “I’ll be right here.”
Oz’s eyelids drooped. A shiver ran down Gilbert’s spine. Waves upon waves of power crashed into his being, each rush stronger than the last. They shook his whole frame until the man broke into uncontrollable spasms. He could only cling to the frail shoulders of his young master to keep steady.
The black rabbits were merging once again. Gilbert felt Raven’s struggles as the bird fought the overwhelming presence of the foreign twin Chains. For what felt like an eternity, the boy was his only anchor in a storm of destructive power.
Then the seal was back in place. Emerald green eyes turned stone cold.
“That was quite impressive, Gilbert,” the deep voice slurred out of Oz’s lips like an exotic snake. “And a huge mistake on your part.”
Rage shook Gilbert out of the aftershock.
“Jack.”
The possessed boy’s smile was humourless:
“Why are you so surprised? You were the one who got Oz out of this body to join Alice. Naturally, that only leaves me in control.”
“Get out,” Gilbert seethed. “I won’t let you hurt Oz ever again.”
“I can’t get out,” Jack chuckled. “This is my body, after all.”
“That’s not true,” Gilbert said. He sank his fingers into the boy’s shoulders, and hoped Jack wouldn’t notice that he could barely stand. “Oz was born and grew up in this era. You are nothing but a ghost hijacking his body.”
Jack shook his head:
“This body is the one I was born and grew up in, until I was forsaken by the power of the Abyss. I lent it to Oz long enough for him to collect the fragments of my soul. Now that you made a contract with him and Alice, the three of us are bound to B-Rabbit.”
“Liar…”
“The seal is still on my chest,” Jack put a hand to his host’s heart. “And when the clock strikes twelve, the four of us will be dragged into the Abyss.”
“Liar!”
Unmindful of Gilbert’s iron grip, Jack unbuttoned Oz’s shirt. Horror-struck, Gilbert got a glimpse of the black mark. The seal was a quarter to completion.
“It is the logical conclusion of your foolish actions,” Jack said neutrally. “Then again, logic never was your strong point, was it, Gilbert? You only ever followed your feelings. This is why you can’t harm me. Not when I look like this.”
Gilbert couldn’t answer. Jack smiled, glassy-eyed:
“Of course, there is a way out of this: you could still reject Oz and be freed of his influence. That would also get rid of me. Since the needle has moved this far, it’s too late to save this body.”
A pause. Gilbert felt nauseous. His vision swam, and the black needle seemed to tilt ever closer to its starting point. Still his tongue remained frozen in his mouth.
“You won’t? Come now. There is nothing to regret. Try as you might, Oz was always beyond saving. You heard him: he would rather let you live free of him.”
There was no answer but the chirping of morning birds and a distant clatter from the manor. Jack trapped Gilbert’s forearm in a death grip.
“Just do it,” the ghost hissed. Panic gave a sharp edge to his voice. “You won’t be apart for long. I’ll just take the world with me, and then you can join Oz in the Abyss. Give my Chain back, Gilbert.”
“Stop pestering my servant, will you, Jack?”
Jack raised his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side. His smile turned grim:
“Oz. I see you’ve learnt from the times I took over your body.”
Gilbert’s face answered with a smile of its own, weighted by irony. The two contractors were close. When Gilbert’s host looked into Jack’s eyes, he could see his own red irises reflected there.
The colour didn’t suit Gilbert at all, Oz decided, and neither did his boyish voice. But he would make do.
“Not exactly,” Oz answered. “Gil is exhausted. That idiot was about to lose consciousness. I promised that I would be there to support him if he ever fell. It’s as simple as that.”
“You seem to be in a better mood,” Jack said lightly. His long fingers loosened their grip and traced the contours of Gilbert’s wrist. “I take it Gilbert’s body is to your liking, then?”
Oz rolled his eyes and let go of his former body’s shoulders. Good thing Gilbert was out cold, or his poor servant would have died of embarrassment from the innuendo.
“Actually, Gil is right.” Oz crossed Gilbert’s arms and pointed one finger at Jack. The man’s features set into the scowl that Gilbert usually directed at Alice when he scolded her. “I have used this body for fifteen years now, and I’m rather fond of it. I would like to have it back.”
Jack shook his head sadly:
“You didn’t listen to anything I said.”
“I did.”
“Yet you keep on burdening Gilbert and Alice with your existence? This is rather selfish of you.”
“It is,” Oz admitted. Idly, he felt Gilbert’s self-depreciating smile creep back on the man’s lips. “I was hoping that Gilbert’s plan would work… He must be rubbing off on me.”
Jack smiled indulgently. He put a hand on Gilbert’s arm:
“You can still set them free.”
But Oz merely shook his head:
“I can’t. They won’t let me.”
And in spite of the bitter resignation he felt, Oz couldn’t help but feel a twisted pride in that fact. He hated himself a little more for it. But he could still feel the bite of Alice’s anger at the back of his mind, urging him to go on, and Gilbert’s comforting presence, steady even in sleep.
Oz had thought he had accepted his fate. But in the end, he just couldn’t let them go.
“They’ve gone so far to protect me,” he said softly. “The least I can do is to try and stay alive.”
Thin pale fingers closed around Gilbert’s cravat. There was a mad glint dancing in Jack’s eyes. Oz couldn’t help but shudder a little. Even with their inversed height difference, the ghost’s mere presence was enough to put him on edge.
“You don’t understand, Oz. You don’t have a choice,” Jack’s fist clenched into a knuckle-white grip. “Either you break this second contract right now, or we all sink into the Abyss. All for nothing.”
“You are the one who doesn’t understand,” Oz said, grateful for his own practiced detachment and how steady his voice came out. “I am not threatening you, and I am not asking for a favour either. This is my right as your Chain. You gave me a human body in exchange of a wish. That’s how a contract works. It can’t be broken until I fulfil my part of the bargain.”
A glimmer of interest shone in Jack’s eyes at that. He furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully:
“Something tells me you aren’t going to break the chains again that easily.”
Gilbert’s eyes glowed an angry red when Oz frowned at him:
“That,” he said, his words harsh from raw memories, “isn’t your wish.”
“Of course you would know all about it,” the ghost said.
Oz ignored the sarcasm:
“I only realized just now. Something was bugging me about your memories. I don’t remember contracting Lacie. Yet in that winter when she met you, she used B-Rabbit’s powers to save you, even though I was only a plush rabbit at the time. Don’t you think that’s strange?”
All traces of ill humour had vanished from Jack’s face as soon as he had uttered Lacie’s name. Oz felt a bitter lump form in his throat. He had been mulling these memories over and over during his imprisonment, unable to think of anything but. After his fight with Gilbert, things were finally clicking into place. Why Jack had been rejected by the Abyss, the fact that Alice could take Oz’s appearance, the power that they shared... the very nature of B-Rabbit’s power. Who Lacie’s Chain had been.
Oz didn’t like where this was leading him. But it was too late to turn back.
“I can grant your wish, Jack. I will bring you to Lacie.”
Part 3