Unfulfilled Heart

Chapter 2: Freedom

The birds could be heard chirping outside as the sunlight shined in through the opened window, disturbing the young man's sleep. It was still early in the morning almost seven o'clock. The young master had just woken up, the memories of yesterday slowly coming back to him. Sneaking into Baskerville mansion, Lotti, Glen, Alice, the memory of Alice hit Jack like a ton of bricks as he remembered the promise he made to her. Jack got off his bed quickly knowing that if he continued to lay down any longer the drowsiness would kick back in and he would fall back to sleep. He rubbed his eyes a bit before grabbing his clothes that he left out the night before prepared for today. He left his room quietly and set towards the main hall to the front door. It was still early in the morning and the young man was hoping no one would be up to ask him any question about where he was off too. He was just about to open the front door when he heard a voice call out his name from behind him.

"Master, where are you going this early in the morning?"

Jack let out a sigh, he didn't really feel like talking at the moment but put on his best smile anyway as he turned around to talk to his young servant, "Ah, Gilbert, I see you still retain your usual habit of waking up early." Jack had forgotten about his servants waking time.

Gilbert, servant of Jack Vessalius even though he is only thirteen years old. He and his brother, Vincent, were orphans living on the streets of Sabrie when Jack had found them. In a generous act of kindness, Jack took the brothers off the streets and let them become his servants.

A sudden thought came to mind as Jack realized that he had been called master. "I told you Gilbert that you don't have to call me master, just call me Jack or big brother."

"Huh! No, I can't do that! It would be disrespectful and imagine what would happen if the other aristocrats heard me, a servant, say anything except master." The boy with the messy black hair looked as if he was about to cry.

Jack walked over to his young servant, knelt down and put one hand on his shoulder. A serious look came across his face as he said, "I don't care what they may think about me. Listen to me; I don't really think of you as a servant, I think of you as a friend so don't say things like that." It was obvious by the tone of his voice that he was being serious.

"I don't have the right, I'm just a servant." Gilbert said through his sobs.

Jack sighed after hearing that. Well, if it makes him happier to call me master then that's fine. The blonde stood up and walked over to the door.

"Gilbert, I'm going out for a bit. Wake up your brother and get a head start on your morning duties." The boy nodded upon receiving his commands and walked off to wake up his brother.

Jack opened the front door, the sunlight instantly shining on him causing the man to have to shield his eyes until they could adjust to the light. As he set off towards his destination he set his plan into action. First, sneak into Baskerville mansion early in the morning. Second, take special care not to let anyone notice his presence especially Lotti. Third, make a plan later to get off Baskerville's property. Hopefully things would run smoothly.

&.&.&.&.&.

Alice looked into the mirror with discontent as she continued with one of her least favorite morning activities. Though Alice liked having long hair, she always found it to be a pain to have to brush it every morning. This morning she had an actual reason to prepare herself, the man with the blonde hair and green eyes would arrive today. It would be the first time she spent the day with someone.

I wonder if he'll climb up the tree again. The thought made her laugh a bit.

She stopped brushing her hair as a stranger feeling, a cold feeling, came over her, the feeling of being watched. Alice continued looking into the mirror until that feeling became to strong to ignore and she put the brush down and then stood up. The many dolls that sat on the shelves that surrounded the large room all seemed to be looking at the girl. This was strange because Alice didn't move any of the dolls herself. The clacking noises made by the dolls began. This wasn't very surprising as it had happened a few times before. The black haired girl could hear the tiny voices made by the dolls in her head.

"Alice…" The voice sounded like that of a little girl.

She looked around the room but was unable to tell which of the dolls were speaking.

"You must be so happy; someone new will finally get to enter this little Wonderland of yours."

"You should be careful, he is always around Glen."

"Careful of what? Jack is a very kind person."

"He had such a…interesting destiny."

"I do not know why but I do not like Jack."

"He is too strange."

"He makes Alice happy."

"Jack is a dummy."

"He's kind of cute."

The dolls were now arguing amongst themselves about Jack. Alice wondered if they even realized she was still there and listening. The clacks soon stopped and the cold feeling in the room had lifted. With the voices now gone, Alice could resume with her morning preparations. She wanted to organize her thoughts, make a list of the things she wanted to talk about. It would also be very interesting to hear about Jack's hobbies as well.

&.&.&.&.&.

Gilbert walked into his brothers room, Vincent was still sleeping. He walked over to the bed and lightly shook his brother's shoulder. "Vincent…wake up. We have orders from Master."

The blonde haired boy woke up and looked at his older brother with a grumpy expression on his face. "It's early…why now?" Vincent complained, he wasn't the type to wake up early.

"Don't ask questions, just wake up."

Vincent sat up with a grumpy look on his face; he wiped his eyes a bit before looking up at his brother. Gilbert cringed slightly at seeing the color of his brother's eyes, one was gold like his own and the other was red. Vincent had been born with different colored eyes. The terrible memories brought up from that red eye suddenly came flowing back.

My little brother was called the Cause of Misfortune. It was said that those who have red eyes will attract disaster. People kept saying that and bullying him. We were always wondering the streets because of my little brother's eye. I thought many times that if my brother wasn't around that I could have had a better life. But, to my little brother, there's only me in this world for him. Then, Jack found us and saved our lives. He not only allowed both of us to live in his mansion, but even said that he was grateful to have us, who was born poor, by his side. When he noticed Vincent's red eye, he didn't care one bit and told him that he shouldn't let what other people say bother him.

"What's Master Jack up to today?" Vincent said while putting on his shoes.

Gilbert's thoughts were interrupted by his brother's question. Being that he was deep in thought he didn't really here the question and had to ask for what his brother said.

"He said that he was going out for a bit but didn't say where too."

"How unusual."

It's true that Master doesn't usually go out this early in the morning. He's probably at Glen's place…or out flirting with all the women again. Gilbert sighed at the thought of his master doing such things.

Vincent had finished tidying his bed but left his blonde hair messy just like his brother did. The both of them had the habit of never combing their hair. So every morning when the brother's woke up, their hair had the same messy looking bed hair style all day.

"Brother, I suppose we should start by cleaning the main hall." The blonde haired brother was already walking out of his bedroom when he said that.

Gilbert soon followed his brother down the hallway but was still plagued by thoughts that were bothering him. He remembered when Jack returned home late in the afternoon yesterday but something seemed a little off. Something must have happened but as usual, Jack merely shrugged it off saying that everything was fine. Jack had put on his best smile when saying that. It was obvious to Gilbert that it had been a fake smile, the boy was starting to figure out when Jack was genuinely smiling or not.

I wonder if the reason Jack left earlier was because of what happened yesterday. As a servant, I must help my master with whatever problems he is having. I just wish he would tell me what they are.

&.&.&.&.&.

Jack walked through the streets of Sabrie, some people were greeting the young man as he passed by but he only answered half heartedly. He didn't mean to do that but his mind was elsewhere at the moment. The blonde man was thinking about his conversation with Glen after leaving the tower yesterday.

"Are you satisfied now?" Glen kept a straight face as he asked his friend that question.

Jack could hear a bit of a tone in Glen's voice despite the fact that Glen had kept an emotionless face on when asking the question. Unfortunately, it rubbed off on Jack the wrong way.

"I suppose you could put it that way." Jack tried to not be too rude when saying that.

"It's like I said before, there are some things in this world I must keep a secret. It is my duty as a Baskerville to do so."

It's understandable that as a duke he has certain responsibilities that he can't tell me about. I just wish he wouldn't show so much attitude about it.

"Yes, your right. Besides that, have you heard that I recently got two new servants?" Jack decided to change the subject to something a bit more light hearted.

"Yes, those brothers. I do think they're a bit too young to be servants."

"Maybe, but they don't seem to mind it too much."

"As long as they're happy I suppose." Glen's expression and tone of voice made it clear to Jack that he really didn't feel like talking at the moment.

The two young men were already in the mansion when Glen said, "I have business I must attend to now. See you tomorrow, Jack."

Something urgent must have come up and it's also strange how there seems to be no one else inside the mansion. They, like Glen, must have left for the meeting. Well, I really don't care at the moment. The Baskerville's have their secrets and I have mine as well. Jack smiled mischievously knowing that he would have to return here tomorrow without being caught, especially by Glen.

Jack snapped out of his thoughts and noticed that he was approaching Baskerville mansion. Now that I think about it…it will probably be a better idea to go around the mansion. He decided to take the long way around the mansion, that way there would be less people who might notice him. It would definitely take longer to arrive at his destination but it would be the best way to not get caught. There would still be guards but getting around them wouldn't be too much of a problem.

&.&.&.&.&.

Alice heard the rustling of the leaves outside and happily got up from her seat to look out the window. She was met with slight disappointment when she didn't see anyone outside. There was no one outside except the birds that occasionally flew by. The girl walked away from the window and then towards the couch where her cat was laying.

"Oh Cheshire, I'm getting tired of waiting." Alice sat down; her cat got up to lie on her lap. "When Jack gets here, I would like to formally introduce you, please don't hide this time." The cat responded with a meow. "We'll have fun, all three of us."

The cat looked up at her when she said that but its attention was quickly diverted to the window. All seemed peaceful at the moment until Alice noticed that a cold feeling began to fill the room once more. Alice got slightly nervous, she knew that she would soon here those tiny voices in her head. One after the other, the clacking noises made by the dolls began.

"Why do you trust him so much?"

"Miss Alice barely knows him."

"Alice is a good judge of character, there's nothing to worry about."

"Jack will get Miss Alice in trouble."

"Who cares? It will make Alice happy for Jack to be here."

For a few moments the dolls remained speechless. Alice felt uncomfortable by this; usually the coldness in the room didn't stay when they finished speaking. To her amazement, the dolls continued talking; it was unlike them to pause for so long.

"Perhaps your right."

"If it's what Alice wants-"

A rustling in the trees began, causing all the dolls to suddenly become silent. Before Alice could contemplate about their strange reaction, she heard a familiar voice by the window.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Alice. I hope I didn't make you wait to long."

He finally showed up, just like he promised to. Alice rushed over to the window as Jack was pulling himself up.

"Did you have trouble getting here?" Alice asked Jack as he was brushing himself off a bit.

"Nah, it was almost too easy." A cocky smile appeared on the young man's face as he remembered the light security around Baskerville's property. "Now that I'm here we can talk or play any game you want. But before we do anything, I have a question to ask first. Was it Glen that locked you in here?"

"I don't know…" Alice had never thought about that before. She could remember being in this tower for as long as she could remember. The girl grew silent for a moment before speaking again. "I thought everyone hated me since no one ever came to visit." Alice laughed a bit before continuing. "But I'm so glad that you came, Jack."

She's such a sweet girl, Jack thought.

"Alright, Alice! Then next time you must come to my house and play!"

For a few seconds the words Jack spoke didn't seem to register in her mind. When Alice realized what the blonde said she got slightly nervous.

"Eh!? No…no I can't! Glen won't allow that!"

"It's ok! It's ok! We just won't let him find out!" Jack smiled and winked at the girl as he said that. "Next time we'll go to my house, the Vessalius mansion, and I'll show you the roses in our garden garden, the songs I can play on the piano, and I will show many other things."

The look on Alice's face showed just how excited she was at his words.

"But all that will come another day. Today, we'll do whatever you want to do."

&.&.&.&.&.

Authors Notes: I decided to end the chapter there for a good reason. I feel that my writing ability isn't good enough to describe the things Jack and Alice did the rest of the day sound interesting. Also, this chapter turned out a bit shorter than what I originally intended it to be.

About Unfulfilled Heart: Takes place 100 years before the present storyline in the anime/manga. I noticed that there's a huge blank on the information about what went on between Jack, Glen, and Alice. I want to fill in those parts where the anime/manga does not explain.

I put that on my profile as well. I put this here on the update so people will know more about the fic when reading it. I figure its more important to put it here because I think less people will visit my profile to find out more about it.

Next Chapter: Such Sweet Sorrow

Sho

Cool, you're my first reviewer! It's good to know that my first review for this fic is a positive one.

megui-chan

I'm so happy you liked it! My plan for updating this fic is every 2-3 weeks.