"Then I will just have to force you to come out!"

Oz deftly grabbed a knife, aiming it towards his heart without a moment of hesitation. Each second seemed to simultaneously take an eternity, and pass by in a flash. Before it could pierce his skin, Oz felt the familiar presence of the soul who shared his body, Jack Vessalius. His free hand reached to stop the knife, a combine effort of both the Vessalius men.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the guests of Duke Barma's mansion, the two were fighting a battle of words inside Oz's psyche.

"You idiot! What were you thinking?!" Jack yelled, frustration seeping into his voice that Oz had never heard before.

"Relax! It was all just a ploy!" Oz shot back, "I was planning to stop myself, and make it look like you had intervened!"

"It was still dangerous! There's any number of things that could have gone wrong!" Jack didn't calm, and instead his frustration was rising. "What if Gilbert or Alice would have stopped you?! Then your plan would have been ruined! Or if you hadn't stopped yourself in time, you would be dead!"

"But that didn't happen!" Oz clenched his fists, anger flickering like a fire in his chest. "Now, if you're quite done, I still have to clean up the mess I've left!"

"What are you going to do?!" Jack demanded, reaching out towards Oz, who had turned to walk away.

"Just shut up and watch!" Oz snapped, returning to reality to see everyone staring at him in concern. His hand shook, as if he and Jack were still fighting for control of the knife. A moment later, his facial expression shifted, and he laughed in a light, airy voice, imitating Jack in a nearly flawless manner. He straightened quickly, and spoke, "This kid…...I wonder what he was planning to do if I didn't stop him?"

"Alright, that's impressive." Jack admitted, "You're a good actor, I'll give you that much."

"Oh, it's not over yet. There's more where that came from." Oz would have smirked, had it not blown his cover. So instead, he simply tried his best to look regal, imitating the mannerisms that he had seen from Jack in his visions.

Duke Barma seemed surprised, and said with awe and reverence in his voice, "Did you really come out?"

Oz smiled softly, his gaze falling on the Duke with gentle eyes, although it pained him to do so. "Yes. You are Arthur's descendant, are you not? You have his eyes…." He spoke the words without hesitation, as if he truly were Jack.

Duke Barma fell to his knees, his head bowed in respect. Everyone else was staring at the two in shock. To see the soul of the Sablier Tragedy's hero speaking through a young boy was surprise enough, but to see Duke Barma acting in such a way in conjunction was a sight to behold.

"You're a little too good at this. Should I be scared?" Jack mused, "At first no-one believed that I was able to speak through you, now you have someone deceived into believing I'm speaking when I'm not!"

"Oh just watch, things will get even better." Oz assured, internally grinning like a kid in a candy store. However, he kept his composer externally, waiting with bated breath to see what would happen next.

Isla Yura seemed unable to contain his excitement at the idea that Jack Vessalius was standing right in front of him. "If…...if you are really Jack Vessalius, then you should probably know," Isla was trembling with excitement, every word revealing it more and more, "the pledge that has been passed down by the guardians of the seals!"

"Ah, what are you going to do now?" Jack's voice held a tinge of amusement, watching the chain of events unfold through the eyes of Oz.

"You'll see." Oz gave Isla the same gentle gaze that he had given Duke Barma, although it pained him ten times more. "Yes, a snake, coiled around a silver stake."

Isla's eyes went wide, which made Oz's internal grin grow even wider. "See? I told you this would work." He gloated to Jack, while continuing to speak aloud to Isla. "We shall become the chains…...that will bind his soul…..for eternity….."

"Hey, what are you doing now?!" Jack yelled, noticing the changes in Oz's behavior. "You sound like you're-"

"Relax!" Oz assured once again, "Every time you take over, I pass out. This is just to make sure my show is believable!" In reality, Oz let every muscle in his body go limp, falling backwards into Gilbert's waiting arms.

"And that is how you fool an idiot."

---

A/N: So this is a bit of a "what-if?" scenario, which I came up with while re-reading the manga. I thought it would be kind of amusing to see what might have happened should Jack have actually intervened with Oz during his attempt.

As always, comments are 100% appreciated!