(Break and Gilbert/Raven have disappeared and have not returned)

Pandora Hearts
Alice...Or...Echo
Chapter 1

Oz had saved Alice. But he knew it still wasn't right. His feelings inside of him were over flowing - he didn't know how to tell her or how to approach her now. He hadn't seen Alice so emotional.

*Several hours before*

"Stop it. I want to keep sleeping like this" Alice said eyes closed being held up by the chains
"She's so dim-witted sometimes and surprisingly gluttonous" Oz said sprinting up the white stairs. Alice slowly opened her eyes.
"A glutton?" Alice murmured. Oz approached the top of the stairs.
"She's not Alice because she's a human, she's not Alice because she's a chain" Alice's eyes opened fully now to see Oz. The chains holding Alice up started to break and fade away. "Her behavior, her way of thinking, her facial expressions, All those individual characteristics express the fact that Alice is Alice". The Chains were now gone and Alice fell from her mid-air pose. Oz leaped towards Alice arms open.
"Alice! Alice!" Oz caught Alice's hand and pulled it towards him. Oz stretched out his other hand towards Alice.
"Oz..."
"Alice..." Alice started to cry. The tears of happiness - or maybe love - building up in her eyes. Alice pushed towards Oz sending them both backwards.
"Your late to come and get me! You useless servant!" Alice screamed with her teary eyes, pushing her head onto Oz's chest.
'She's warm' Oz thought. 'She's different to the Alice back then, she's properly alive, I'm glad'

*Present Time*

Oz lay on a master bed with Alice beside him. Her eyes closed - she was sleeping. Oz sat up and looked around the room. Gil was no-where to be seen - and Break was not hiding any where either. They hadn't returned yet. The door slowly opened to reveal Miss. Sharon's face.
"Good morning Oz" She smiled. Oz smiled back.
"Good morning Miss. Sharon" Oz said looking at Alice. Sharon entered the room and opened the curtains. Alice turned and started to fidget in the bed. She let out a loud moan that stopped Sharon in her tracks. Oz and Sharon both stared at Alice.

"She's a little strange in her sleep, isn't she?" Sharon said now looking at Oz who's eyes were fixed on Alice. Oz broke his concentration.
"Huh - oh yeah...she's normally like this" Oz smiled. Just the thought of Alice made him happy. Sharon could see the happiness in his eyes.
"She means a lot to you doesn't she?" Sharon asked now wanting to know the truth. Oz looked up at Sharon.
"How did you know?"
"Its in your eyes, your heart, everything about you needs Alice, its obvious to someone who knows these things" Oz's eyes widened. He new she was right - yet he didn't want to confess to having such feelings towards a chain. He thought it wasn't right to love a chain - but yet the feelings could not be helped.
"Oz...It's okay to love a chain...even if you do not believe it is possible" As Sharon said this she exited the room leaving Alice and Oz alone. Alice still fidgeting.

Oz moved towards the balcony beyond the window. The morning was bright.
"How did Sharon know? Is it really that obvious?" Oz said to himself.
"How did she know what?" asked a familiar voice. It was Alice, she was standing behind Oz holding the quilt over her body. "Are you hiding something from me Oz?" Oz didn't know what to say - if he said yes she would ask what and that could get complicated, and if he said no then he would be lying. Oz looked at her then looked at the quilt.
"Why haven't you got dressed yet?" Oz asked trying to change the subject. Alice looked at herself, then back at Oz.
"Mmm, I don't know, I can do what I like!" Alice said treating Oz, once again, like a slave. Oz didn't mind this - if it was anyone else he would not be treated, as Alice likes to call him, a slave.
"Well say something!" Alice shouted at him breaking him out of his day dream. Oz looked down.
"Sorry..." Alice didn't feel bad about shouting at him. But at the same time she didn't feel to good either.

*Later on*

Oz was sat alone on the bed in his and Alice's room.
"Why am I like this...I..I need to go and talk to Miss. Sharon! I need answers!" Oz jumped up of off the bed and sprinted out of the room. He ran all the way to Miss. Sharon's room running through halls and corridors just to get to her. When Oz arrived at the door her could hear two voices.
"Its difficult..."
"Whats difficult?"
"Me...falling for Oz" Oz's eyes widened.
"Its okay...im sure he will understand"
"Thank you..." Oz knew that it wasn't Alice - Alice never uses Sharon's name...Ever. The door opened. Oz's heart raced. Echo stepped out of the door. Echo gasped.
"Master Oz..." Echo murmured. Echo ran off down the hall out of Oz's site. Oz was fixed on the spot.
"It was...Echo...?" Oz's mind and soul was spinning, he thought Alice was the one he loved, but now with Echo getting involved.

"Oz...Come in" Sharon shouted. She knew Oz had been there all along. Oz was blown away. Miss. Sharon had seemed to know everything today. Oz entered Miss. Sharon's room. "Why are you here...Oz?"
"I'm here...because I need answers..."
"Answers to what?"
" - tell me...what is love" Sharon took a sip of her tea and put it back down on the table.
"Your asking a very hard question there Oz"
"Please...I have time"
"As you wish, Master Oz"

Sharon and Oz were in that room for over 3 hours discussing Oz's dilemma. They discussed the question about love - and how to know if you were experiencing it.
"To conclude, Master Oz, love is basically when you have strong feelings towards someone you care about..." Oz sat slumped in his chair.
"I still don't get it..." Sharon gave him a cold look. Her stare was broken by a knock at the door. Oz and Sharon looked up - It was Alice.
"Oz?"
"Alice?" Miss. Sharon rose from her chair.
"Oz, that is enough for today - Alice, do come in..." Oz get out of his chair and left the room - Alice taking her Manservants seat. He closed the door behind him and walked back to his bedroom - or what had given him.
'Alice...Or...Echo...There both important to me, but which one means more to me?' Oz thought to himself walking through the corridors. 'I mean Alice is great, has lots of emotions building up inside her...But I think Echo has the same thing, just hidden...' Oz started to hit himself on the way back to his room getting strange looks from people walking past him.

Oz arrived outside his room. The door was open. Oz peered his head around the door to see a girl on the floor crying. The girl turned round.
"Im so sorry..." The girl burst into tears. "For what I've done Master. Oz"