The Prospective Lake (Pandora Hearts Modern Day)

Ch 4. The 11th hour

"More?" It was more of a statement rather than question, since she ended up flooding his cup anyway. Oz had gotten tea from a tray filled with shattered cups. Each cup had their own number, indicating a given hour of the day. 12 all together. A carefully painted 7 on the side disappeared in the tea-flood from Marie. She pulled back a thin layer of dust from her curly hair, following same way as the tea. Grey dots created patterns in the surface and Oz thought he'd just lost his appetite.

The old mad chuckled. "Here" Rytas said, reaching Oz another porcelain cup. Grateful, the young boy used the opportunity to move the chair further away from Marie. She might not be in her ghostly form anymore, but she still scared him to wits end by her mere presence.

Unaffected by his staring eyes she continued past him. On a ledge she found matches to lit the lanterns in the window with. It was twilight outside; the birds were flying low in search of a placed to spend the night.

"She's been with me for many years, Marie. Never once complained about babysitting an old man like me. But she needs to get out more, meet other people once in a while". From his pocket he found a lighter and a small candle, which he lit. He placed it in a carved out apple and put it on the table.

"I was out mending the stonewall, so I'm sorry if I didn't hear you in the beginning. Your name was Oz you said?"

—

Exhausted after a long day he dragged himself over to the fireplace next to Rytas, pulled his knees up to his cheek, and absorbed the heat of the burning fire. He had been offered a new set of clothes, and sat pulling in the smell of a linen shirt two numbers too big at least. As they talked, the light outside had turned a dark blue color. Marie was still standing uneasy in the corner, but didn't look like she was about to disobey Rytas anytime soon.

"What kind of wood do you use?" Oz suddenly asked. "They look kind of strange." Through the grate he could see a green-blue energy, licking up the logs. "It's taken from one of the trees here in the forest" Rytas explained. "We use it mostly only in the summer, when there aren't any other trees around."

"The summer?" baffled by this, Oz examined the fire more closely. Rytas pulled his hand in front of him, careful so the chair wouldn't tip over. "Yes, seasons work a bit differently here."

"Do you celebrate St. Bridgits day in the winter instead of summer?" Rytas chuckled. "It's a long time since I've heard that name. How on earth did such a young man as yourself end up here?"

"I don't know" Oz said, and that much was true. He didn't quite understand the situation he'd found himself in yet. So far, all he knew, was that it didn't bother him. "I was at my school, and then, suddenly I was here. But before that there was this dark place, jammed with chains, somewhere without sound, and I met someone; A girl. She dragged me out. Thats what I can remember."

"So, my boy, you're saying this woman that came out of the darkness, and helped you out of the chains, managed to land you here?" Oz nodded and nibbled at a cookie he'd gotten from a metallic box. It had christmas motive on and was filled with a various of dry outcomes from the baking shelf. "But what on earth was that good for?" the old man said, sighing in his own words. "You're just as stuck here as in the rest of the Abyss." Oz chocked.

"The Abyss?!" he coughed. "But am I still in the abyss, though? I mean, this looks pretty normal to me." With a sigh, Rytas sat back in his vacancy and tipped the pipe into his mouth. "Maybe she was trying to get you out sooner" he mumbled. "Too bad she couldn't make it though." 

A owl sounded far off and The Prospective Lake had turned from purple to night black.

"You will find-" he said, looking out the window "that there are many was of a person to travel. One does not necessarily need a solid body to encounter other people."

"I don't understand"

"You will" he said. "Go to the lake tomorrow. That is the only way anybody is going to get anyway with this."

"I saw some signs outside" oz said. " What do they mean?"

"You mean the one next to the lake?"

"The chain forest, the pier..."

"The chain forest, the pit, the prospective lake and the rapture" Rytas finished. "They are the four levels of the Abyss. You yourself just got though the chain forest, then you ended up here, the prospective lake, and...ah!" Rytas didn't finish. Instead he apologized. "I'm sorry. I seem to have forgotten the two others. Well, they are out there as well, and that is all that matters. Every part of the Abyss layered out. We live on the second plane. The Prospective lake, as you might have guessed. It is quite nice here, though it does have its...disadvantages."

"The pit is dark, eaten with terror" Marie stood out from the corner, moving around the table. She picked up Oz's cup, glancing from the number 11 and watching as the remains of his tea seeped out. "What's down there?" Oz asked. "I think I'm supposed to go there in order to get back. Please tell me."

"It is only natural for a ghost to want more of life as it has already passed."

"Marie!" Rytas banged his fist in the table. Oz jumped.

"Does not being aware mean he does not have a right to know?" Marie placed herself next to Oz. "They boy is right. It is his only chance."

"You are going to scare him" Rytas said. "It's not good, not good."

"What?" Oz asked. Rytas kept on mumbling the same sentence like a chant.

"You are not normal. It is the poison. The poison should have killed you by now." Oz stumbled backwards, away from Marie, and stared with horror at the cup he had tea from earlier.

"Not the drink. You. You are only energy. The soul. Seeping out like a little girls tears." Marie emptied his cup now, washing cold cocoa all over the floor. And it was full once again, like it had never been touched at all. Oz had been certain he had emptied it. He could still feel the taste in his mouth. "Why?" Marie continued, "Did you leave your body behind in the other world? Or did that girl take it?"

Oz reached for a possible weapon as Marie's aura was showing up again. In a mirror, hanging a few feet above her shoulder Oz met his limit. He didn't think he could speak anymore. Unfortiountaly, she could. "We have people, you know, coming here once in a while. But all of them solid bodies rot away within minutes of this realm. Without a contractor you shouldn't be able to breathe. What does the mirror tell you?"

And Oz looked. For the mirror behind Marie showed the back of a beautiful raging woman, strangely talking to a glowing, blue, empty chair. A light, slowly burning out.

He was but a beacon of energy wandering astray from his body. The worst part was, there was nothing figuratively about this at all.

Bolting away from the door he stormed out into the night. His heart slammed in his cheast, not that he knew how that was possible, but it's what he felt. The cold night had made the lake damp. He reached the wharf and turned to a sudden halt on the very edge. Down there he could see the lake creep up against the sides. It was something stirring it, down below. Deep, deep down. And in the surface he could see the same blue light from earlier. It was like watching your shadow doing moves of its own. And Marie was right. The blue beacon was getting weaker.

"Now you see." The light whirled around, facing Marie once more. "Your soul is trapped here, your body elsewhere. Find it. If you stay still you'll burn out. Use the girl. Reach the pit" and with a powerful blow she pushed him into the lake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~(A/N)

Been a while since last I wrote on this, so it was a nice change of pace of what I normally do. Already on plotting next chapter for you guys. And remember: 

-still not allergic to votes ;)