A/N: Hi Readers, this is my first Pandora Hearts fanfic and I'm super pumped about it. Note that there's some OOC-ness, but I hope you read and enjoy oh, and review! Yeah, that sounds like a plan.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pandora Hearts or its characters and what not.

Chapter One: Contract

"Oz, shouldn't you get back to the party?"

The music from the ballroom traveled down the hall, mixing with the chorus of murmurs. Oz ran his lips down the girl's neck, his hands unlacing the front strings of her dress.

"What is this Lotti?" He murmured with a smirk on his face. "Are you worried for me?"

She ripped open the buttons of his shirt and ran her fingers across his chest. "Don't kid yourself. I'm just making sure I don't get caught up in anything annoying if someone comes looking for you."

Oz chuckled, moving lower down her body. "Same old Lotti, always looking out for herself."

She moaned. "Pestering servants are annoying, only useful for useless tasks. That, and some tasty arm candy every once in awhile."

"So I'm only arm candy to you? That breaks my heart Lotti."

"Ha!" She giggled, kissing him hungrily on the mouth. "Oz, you may have everything in the world, but the one thing that I know you don't have, is a heart."

"Onee-sama, stop scowling before your face permanently freezes like that and then what will everyone think at the party?"

Alice gave an annoyed sidelong glance at her little sister whose snow white hair was done up in elaborate ribbons. She only deepened her scowl. "Who cares about what I look like at this party? I don't even want to go!"

"But you have to Onee-sama! What will Otou-san think?"

"What does it matter? Father doesn't care about me or anyone except himself! Plus he's not even going to be there," Alice snapped, her blood boiling. She hated any mention about her father, who only cared about how her appearance reflected his own.

Allys, her little sister frowned and leaned over across the carriage seat. She ran a gentle hand through her long brown hair, smiling gently. "It's going to be fine."

"I know it is," Alice said bluntly.

"You do?"

"Yup," she chirped.

"Onee-sama," Allys's brow furrowed in concern. "What are you planning?"

Alice grinned, showing a full set of pearly white teeth that almost looked sharp in the shadows cast by the streetlamps. She leaned back in her chair, looking out of the carriage window at the looming castle up ahead.

"Don't worry. Big sister knows what she's doing."

"Where have you been?" Gilbert asked Oz, who had entered the ballroom attempting to flatten his ruffled hair and re-button his jacket.

He eyed the door that he had just walked through where Lotti had just gone through. Her own heavily done up hair was ruined. He smirked at her. "What do you mean what's going on?"

"Look around, everyone's suddenly gathering."

Oz surveyed the room. Everyone was indeed gathering around the high dais, attempting to hush each other. If he hadn't already turned fifteen, he'd have thought he was having another Coming-of-Age Ceremony.

Oz shrugged. "Well I don't really know what's happening. All I know is that Uncle Oscar told me they were celebrating the grades I got on my last exam." His grinned. "Maybe it's a birthday present!"

Gilbert sighed. "This big of a party for you exam marks? That, and Oz, your birthday isn't for another three months. And why would they be giving you a birthday present if they were celebrating your grades?"

"Take a joke Gil."

"Oz!" It was his Uncle Oscar. He stood atop the dais, his voice booming across the massive room. "Oz come over here!"

"Well I'm off to get my present!" Oz exclaimed. He meandered his way through the crowd, finally reaching his uncle. "What is it Uncle Oscar?"

"Everyone, please welcome my nephew Oz Vessalius," Oscar wrapped his arm around Oz's shoulder, beaming to the crowd. A roar of cheers erupted from them. But between his teeth he leaned in to whisper to him. "Please don't hate me Oz. Your father told me just a few moments ago."

Oz whipped his head around, but his father was nowhere in sight.

"He already left," he said, answering his question. "But please, don't freak out."

"Freak out? Why would I freak out?"

There was no time for that answer to be questioned. The towering doors at the other end of the room were flung open at a speed so fast the wind brushed Oz's face. Everyone turned around to see a single girl standing at the entrance.

"Oz," his uncle began slowly, "That's your fiancé."

Alice glared at the appalled group of nobles, gaping at her entrance. Moving her eyes upward, she gazed at him, Oz Vessalius. She crinkled her nose just thinking the name, both disgusted and infuriated by it.

"Alice!" Her father barked.

"Y – Yes Otou-san?" She asked eagerly, rushing into the drawing room. It had been weeks since her father had wished to speak with her, let alone said her name.

"You're going to do something for me."

"Of course Otou-san," she said with a smile and a bow of her head. She would do anything for him at the moment, anything to please.

"You're going to be engaged to Oz Vessalius."

"What?"

It was so sudden, no hesitation whatsoever. Alice felt the wind knocked out of her, all intentions to please leaving her as fast as the anger was entering.

"Will you defy me?" roared her father, shooting up from his seat.

Alice fell back, hit by the force of his rage. Hot tears sprung to her eyes as she stared up at him.

"Insolent girl! If you will not obey me then you are useless to me. Die in the street for all I care!" And he stormed off.

And like that the room became instantly silent, left with an air of misery that was palpable. Alice felt a trickle down her chin, realizing she'd been biting her lip so hard she's made it bleed. She looked up, burying her face in her hands.

What was she going to do now?

Alice recalled that day angrily. Her father had told her about her impending engagement a week before today, at the party that was to decide her future. It was with disdain that she stomped down the ball room. The crowd parted out of her way.

As they should.

She pounded up the steps, glowering at the blonde-haired boy. His mouth was hanging open like an idiot, his eyes wide like he'd never seen a girl before. But what really agitated her was the strange twinkling in his emerald eyes. It made her shift uncomfortably.

Like hell I'm marrying him, Alice thought in disgust.

"Hello everyone!" Alice greeted the mesmerized crowd. "My name is Alice Baskerville." Positioning herself behind Oz, she kicked him to his knees.

"What the hell?" he cried.

With a steady foot on his back she grinned wickedly. "This is my manservant!"

Oz blinked, staring blankly at the girl who was striding towards him.

"That's my future wife," he said. It was not a question. He said it indifferently, the information yet to sink in.

If his thoughts weren't so jumbled, he would have commented on the fact that the girl was actually quite cute. Her long chocolate brown hair was pinned up in a lovely cascading bun and her eyes, a captivating purple were lined by impossibly long lashes. And her dress, a bold ruby red made her appearance all the more striking. But since his thoughts were so jumbled, he definitely did not think that.

Oz only stared as the girl stood in front of everyone with a fierce look. "Hello everyone! My name is Alice Baskerville."

She's a Baskerville?

He gasped as he was suddenly shoved to his knees. "What the hell?"

There was a foot on his back, holding him down.

"This is my manservant!" She announced with a grin that showed all thirty-six teeth. Were they pointed?

"M – Manservant?" Oz stammered in exasperation, hearing the collective gasps around him. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Shut up you idiot, didn't I just say? You're my manservant now so you will speak only when spoken to!"

Oz pushed her off, boring down on her with narrowed slits, his fists itching. He'd never hit a girl before, especially one so cute, but right then he didn't care. He'd hit her, no matter how attractive she was.

"What's your problem you stupid girl?"

"Stupid? I'll show you whose stupid Blondie!"

"Did you just call me Blondie?"

"Oz! Alice!" his uncle attempted to break them apart, casting nervous glances at the vastly scandalized nobility around them. "Please, I know you two must be a little overwhelmed by this shocking news but I'm sure if we just sit down and talk about it we can –"

"No!" the girl shouted. "This guy has ruined my life!"

"What? You've ruined my life bitch!"

"Bitch? Bitch?" An evil gleam entered her eye. It made Oz gulp in fright. "You haven't seen a bitch yet manservant."

Faster than light, the girl had flung Oz over her shoulder as if he was a mere piece of luggage.

"Eek! What are you doing to me?"

She didn't answer, but was already bounding down the dais, heading towards the exit. Her grip was so tight Oz could barely wiggle out of her grasp. He grit his teeth, scanning the ballroom for a familiar face.

"Gilbert!" he cried to his best friend. He was already sprinting towards them with cold fury coloring his features.

"Oz!"

"Gilbert, save me! Save me!"

It was only when they were completely surrounded by forest that Alice stopped. With a minute exertion of energy, she flung Oz to the ground. He moaned from the impact. She smiled, turning to run back.

"Wait, are you just going to leave me here?" he demanded, getting up and brushing himself off.

"Well that's the plan."

"What if I can't find my way back?"

"I'm kind of hoping for that. Then I won't have to marry you." Alice didn't wait for an answer. She sprinted off into the vast sea of trees.

"Hey wait!" was the cry from behind her.

Ignore it Alice, she told herself.

There were pursuing steps from behind her.

"Stop following me, you won't be able to keep up."

Out of nowhere she was pulled back, a hand clasped around her wrist. From the sudden halt she was toppled to the ground, getting in a face full of forest floor.

"Ah you asshole!"

She was pinned down, both her arms held and her body pressed against the ground by Oz.

"What was that about not being able to catch up?"

"Asshole let me go!" she cried, struggling to break free.

"Asshole?" Oz mused. His face was far too close to hers, his lips too close to hers. "You embarrass me in front of everyone I know, kidnap me, proceed to leave me to die in the middle of a forest and I've barely known you for five minutes. I think you're an asshole."

"Ugh, let me go!"

"No."

"I said let me go!"

Oz smiled slyly, leaning in further towards her. "I will, but I think you owe me something first."

"Huh?" She didn't understand the smug look on his face, all she knew was that it really ticked her off.

"You're actually kind of cute you know that?" His voice had dropped, becoming low and husky. He brought a hand to cup her soft cheek.

Alice felt a vein throb in her temples, the anger condensing in her stomach. "And you know," she answered in the sweetest voice she could muster, "I really hate guys like you!" She released the energy like a bomb, throwing Oz off effortlessly.

"If you ever try to pull that shit again I swear to god –"

"O – Okay look," the guy said, getting up once more.

How much pain can this guy take? Alice wondered.

"Fine, enough games. Hear me out. I don't like you, and you don't like me. I get that, I really I do. But just leaving me here won't change the fact that our families want to marry us off to each other."

"So what are you suggesting?" Alice asked warily. She wasn't ready to trust a single thing this guy said.

"I don't know, what do you have in mind? Besides killing me off that is," he added hastily.

Alice thought for a moment, trying to wrap her mind around the situation. It was after a moment that she spoke. "Form a contract with me."

"A contract?"

"Yes a contract! Stop asking me such stupid questions!"

"Fine! What kind of contract?"

"I don't want to marry you and you don't want to marry me. We share a common goal in that we'll do anything to stop this from happening. So let's form a contract. We'll work together. It'll be much more effective than going solo since we can strategize together and we'll be like spies against our own households.

She watched him consider it with the same mistrust on his features as she knew was on hers. But in the end he nodded, coming towards her with his hand stretched out. Alice grinned, feeling a wild burst of excitement. She loved games, and a big one was about to begin. She took his hand and gasped as she was abruptly pulled forward. The next moment she found her lips pressed against his in a kiss.