Ossia is the one-hundredth chapter of Jun Mochizuki's Pandora Hearts.
Synopsis[]
After Alice tells The Core that she intends on releasing her sister from The Intention of the Abyss, The Core takes her time to try and decipher what Alice means.
Outside The Tower, Oz and Oswald continue their battle, with Oz stating that in order to stop the Chains of the World from being completely destroyed, they need to use The Core's power, but in order to do that they need to revert her to her original form when she could use her powers without any limitations. However, there's only one way that they can do that, and so Oz reveals to Oswald that he intends on using his powers as B-Rabbit to destroy the body of The Intention of the Abyss. Realizing what this means, Oswald asks for confirmation that Oz is really going to kill the other Alice with his own hands.
Back in The Tower, a large crack forms in the floor beneath The Core as she says that she's not quite sure what Alice means, asking if by "release" Alice means that she and Alice (The Intention) won't be able to stay together anymore. Confirming this, Alice explains that her sister can't handle The Core's power, and that because of it both The Intention's body and mind are on the brink of collapse.
Remembering back when Cheshire had whisked her away from the battle with Oswald, Alice asked Cheshire what was going on with The Intention of the Abyss. Cheshire revealed that The Intention wouldn't even look at him anymore, and after he'd been torn apart and nearly killed by Break, The Intention refused to say anything to him. Thinking of this and how he'd failed to protect The Intention's memories, Cheshire admitted to Alice that he got angry - only for Alice to reassure him that they could work together to free The Intention, because that was what she really wanted.
The world around The Core starts to crack as she insists that Alice is lying to her, but Alice stands strong and reveals to The Core that she's telling the truth - as The Intention imparted her wish directly onto someone she'd known (Break). Alice remembers back before they set out for Sablier, shortly after Sheryl, Break and Sharon had all arrived on Owl. Sharon had revealed the hidden part of Break's encounter with The Intention where she divulged her wish to him. Alice then admits to The Core that she'd seen it in the junction shared between her and her sister, she laid witness to The Intention crying painfully because of her burdens as The Intention. The Core, now screaming, tells Alice that The Intention's body was left for her by Lacie, and she'd always taken proper care of it to ensure that it doesn't break. Attempting to get through to The Core, Alice tells her that no matter how important she may believe it is to her, there isn't any other way, as The Intention's already worn.
Outright denying Alice, The Core breaks down, covering her face and crying while the world cracks all around her. As she cries, The Core mutters about how if The Intention wasn't allowed to be with her anymore, then she'd have to go back to being alone.
As Gilbert enters The Tower, he finds Oswald's dismembered body, pausing briefly as he becomes filled with grief over the death of his master. Carrying on, Gilbert ascends The Tower, only to find Jack frozen in place. Confused, Gilbert tries to figure out what's going on, looking outside to find that the leaves that had been blowing in the wind are also frozen in place. Realizing that time in the past may be frozen as a result of that light that radiated out of The Tower earlier, deciding that he can't waste anymore time, Gilbert enters Alice's room.
Meanwhile, The Core has entered a crazed state, summoning some of The Intention of the Abyss' Dolls as she proclaims that she won't hand over The Intention, because she wants them to be together forever. Only then does The Core wonder whether taking Alice as well and uniting the two sisters would cheer up The Intention. Determined to obtain Alice as well, The Core sends the dolls after Alice, only for them to be stopped before they can reach her, as Gilbert shoots them down. Gilbert asks Alice what's going on and what exactly she did to make all this happen, prompting Alice to explain that since she'd heard them talking about how they needed to get to the place where The Intention is, she thought that she'd try and separate The Core from The Intention. Hearing this, The Core goes off on a tangent, insisting that she's going to take The Intention and ordering Alice not to get in her way.
The Core's distress spreads a crack across the sky, distracting Oz long enough for Oswald to outmaneuver him in battle. Lottie stares in horror as the world continues to crack around her, while Oswald asks Oz if he truly understands what destroying The Intention will do. In the meantime, Lottie attempts to stop Oswald from continuing his attack on Oz, though her path is blocked by a furious Cheshire, who reveals that he heard about how they intend on killing The Intention. Cheshire then goes in for the kill as he declares everyone to be enemies of The Intention. As Oz's wounds bleed, Oswald explains that with the physical body she has now, The Core of the Abyss has become The Intention of the Abyss, and so if separating the two of them were to fail, they wouldn't have to worry about altering the past, as the past, future and even the world itself would likely be destroyed. Admitting that he knows about the consequences, Oz stands firm by his beliefs, because there's still a small chance that things could turn out right.
With this Oz remembers talking with Gilbert before they left for Sablier, where Gilbert revealed that, if it was the power of The Core, they may be able to stop the destruction of the Chains of the World. Continuing, Gilbert revealed that Oswald always used to tell him a story when he was younger; about what the harmony of the Abyss used to be like, about a world protected by Chains that the eyes couldn't see, and about a Core of the Abyss who possessed the power to bring forth everything in existence. Admittedly, Gilbert felt like the story was nothing more than a fairy tale at the time, however he couldn't help but wonder if that was Oswald's way of trying to make him understand the structure of the world while he was still young.
Having explained what Gilbert told him to Oswald, Oz claims that it's all because of Oswald that they're even standing there now, he himself offered them a chance to save the world through Gilbert without even knowing it. Grinding his teeth, Oswald reiterates that there's such a small chance that their plan will actually be successful.
Within the joint subconscious of Glen Baskerville, Oswald demands to know why everyone keeps wanting to get in his way so badly, causing a swirling vortex to appear within the subconscious around Oswald. While Leo shows concern for Oswald, Levi just thinks to himself, realizing that it's "time" already. Reaching out toward the vortex, Leo quickly pulls his hand back as he finds that coming into contact with it has cut his hand.
Outside of the subconscious, Lottie, Dug, Vincent and Ada are shown fending off Cheshire, with Lottie begging Oswald to stop what he's doing and trying to get Oswald to see that Oz's way is the preferred way of saving the world. Unfortunately, Oswald merely silences Lottie, announcing that he must fulfill his duty as Glen and correct his mistake. Jabberwock then summons himself, though as Lottie notes, he looks more feral and uncontrollable than usual. Oswald mounts Jabberwock's tail and states that he has to make his way to the top floor of The Tower in order to stop Alice from provoking The Core.
Noting the severity of the situation, Oz follows Oswald onto Jabberwock before he can ascend too high, thinking to himself that he couldn't have gotten so far alone, as he needed Gilbert to show him the way and Alice for her connection to The Intention. Oswald manages to best Oz in battle yet again, kicking him off of Jabberwock - though as he falls, Oz thinks of everyone who'd come alongside him to fight with him in this moment - encouraging Oz to send a length of bladed chains to wrap around Jabberwock's neck so that he can flip back up to Oswald's level. Continuing with his inner monologue, Oz thinks of Break, who delivered The Intention's wish without anyone even knowing. Over time so many small fragments of light have connected with each other and overlapped to form into this strong hope that they have together, that shines within their current darkness.
As Oz barrels down on Oswald, he declares that he's decided to carry on reaching out for "that light" with his hands. Although he was initially ready to face Oz once again, Oswald finds himself unable to this time, as it's revealed that Leo has stopped his sword within the Glen subconscious, taking control away from Oswald. With Levi watching the events unfold, Leo tells Oswald that he's not really thinking about altering the past, and he doesn't really want to kill Lacie, so he's hoping to stop someone (Oswald) whose feeling are so strong that their outweigh his own will. Just then, Oz slams his scythe into Oswald, though he's surprised and confused when Oswald doesn't fight back, sending Oswald tumbling off of Jabberwock with a blank look on his face.
Back in The Tower, The Core is shown to have overpowered both Alice and Gilbert with lengths of chains, leaving Gilbert laying on the floor unconscious while Alice is suspended with black material reminiscent of tar that's been generated by The Core. As The Core coils around Alice, she invites urges Alice to come along with her so that they can be together forever.
Suddenly, the world outside shatters into large shards, and only Oz is seen diving through the fray and he tries to reach Leo.
Characters[]
- The Core of the Abyss
- Alice
- Oz Vessalius
- B-Rabbit
- Oswald
- Cheshire
- The Intention of the Abyss
- Xerxes Break*
- Sharon Rainsworth*
- Lacie*
- The Intention of the Abyss' Dolls
- Gilbert Nightray
- Jack Vessalius*
- Fang*
- Lottie
- Dug
- Levi
- Leo
- Vincent Nightray
- Ada Vessalius
- Jabberwock
- Oscar Vessalius*
- Reim Lunettes*
- Sheryl Rainsworth*
(*) - Denotes that the character did not appear physically, but as a part of another character's memories.
Terms[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This chapter's alternate title was freely translated, since there is no official translation available in English.
- Ossia is a musical term for an alternative passage which may be played instead of the original passage. It derives from the Italian term "o sia" which roughly translates to "or be it."[1]
References[]
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v - e - t | Pandora Hearts Chapters |
---|---|
Coming-of-Age Ceremony Arc | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 |
Working for Pandora Arc | 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 |
Cheshire Cat's Lair Arc | 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 |
Lutwidge Academy Arc | 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 |
Break's Past Arc | 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 |
Sablier Arc | 33 • 34 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 |
The Feast Arc | 43 • 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 • 51 • 52 • 53 • 54 • 55 • 56 • 57 • 58 • 59 • 60 • 61 |
Jack's Intention Arc | 62 • 63 • 64 • 65 • 66 • 67 • 68 • 69 • 70 • 71 • 72 • 73 • 74 • 75 • 76 • 77 • 78 • 79 • 80 • 81 • 82 |
Swan Song Arc | 83 • 84 • 85 • 86 • 87 • 88 • 89 • 90 • 91 • 92 • 93 • 94 • 95 • 96 • 97 • 98 • 99 • 100 • 101 • 102 • 103 • 104 |
Extra Episodes | 80.5 • 85.5 • 91.5 |
Volumes | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 |
Omake | Maidora Hearts • Bumbling Sleuth Break • Magical Girl Ill-Omened❤Lacie • Pandora Academy |
Other | One-Shot • DVD Bonus Story • Pandora Hearchu • Mochizuki's Musings |