A/N:This is a fic one-shot for Pandora Hearts week, day 2, the prompt being "flowers".

I started this one off with just one of the sections, with Gilbert and Vincent, near the middle. But then so many of the other sections just kinda came to me, so it ended up being a bit of a one-shot mish-mash XD

I've also left some things up to interpretation deliberately, so if you have anything in particular you think about something, I'd love to hear it! :)

"Roses?"

Lacie smirked slightly, holding a small bouquet of flowers. "Why are you giving me these?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Jack laughed, "Why else would one give roses?" He sat down next to Lacie, pulling her close. "To show how much I need you in my life."

"Ah, I see. Well then it would be rude to refuse, wouldn't it?" Lacie sat the bouquet down, pulling out one single bloom, cutting down the stem a little and tucking it gently in Jack's braid. "There, now you're mine."

"And no-one else?" Jack smiled, admiring the bloom. He pulled Lacie closer still, as if without her he could not breathe.

"And no-one else." Lacie echoed, "But Jack? Can I ask something?" She spoke into his chest, leaning her head against his emerald coat, her words slightly muffled.

"Of course." Jack replied immediately, "Ask anything."

"Why are the roses not red?"

"Everything is red!" Vincent laughed, taking in the horrific sights in front of him. Fire blazing, bloodied bodies fallen against each other and slumped against pillars. Hallways bathed in blood and drapes torn apart.

"Everything is burning! Burn, turn red, just like my cursed eye!" He turned and darted down a hall, making his way through the chaos, not even bothering to pay attention to whether or not anyone was alive.

"Wilt and wither like roses! Blood-red roses! Don't leave anything behind!" A dark, demented smile spread across his face, and he laughed, over and over until it filled the halls with his empty, broken, lost song of pain and insanity.

"Vincent? What kind of flowers are these?" Gilbert reached out and carefully cupped a flower bloom, his eyes curious and slightly reverent at the sight he had never seen before.

"That's a rose, Gil!" Vincent pointed at the thorns, then caressed one of the roses. "See? Isn't it such a nice flower?"

"But it's black!" Gilbert tilted his head, "I didn't know roses could be black."

"Of course you didn't." Vincent confirmed, "I grew these myself, while we were apart. They're my signature."

"Oh." Gilbert released the bloom, taking a few steps back. "What do they mean?"

A small, secretive smile crossed Vincent's lips, and he held one finger up to them to shush his question away. "That's my secret, OK?"

"Gil!" Oz gripped Gilbert's sleeve tight, "Look!"

"What?" Gilbert glanced to where Oz had pointed, and a faint smile crossed his lips. "Oh, Echo?" He nodded in greeting to the small girl, "What are you doing here?"

"Master Vincent wanted me to deliver these." She held out a small bouquet of roses, "So Echo came to do as she was told."

Gilbert reached out his hand for the bouquet, a frown flitting across his face, in place of his earlier smile. The bouquet was Vincent's signature black blooms, with a card nestled among a few of the flowers. "Thank you Echo." He acknowledged, turning away from her.

"Your welcome, master Gilbert." Echo turned as well, nodding to Oz before she left.

"Gil?" Oz peeked at the card and the flowers, his eyebrows creased in confusion.

"It's nothing, Oz. Just…...forget about this, OK?" He tucked the card away in his pocket before Oz could read the name scrawled across the front, and tossed the roses into a nearby alleyway. "It wasn't for me, anyways."

"Why, why?!" Leo screamed, pounding his bare hands against the stone floor of Pandora headquarters. "It's all my fault! I just wanted…...I just wanted to save him!"

His eyes fell on a small vase of flowers, and he crossed the room to throw the vase against a wall, the harsh crash of the vase shattering into pieces becoming a soothing noise to his soul, a sound of destruction to drown out the feelings he was so desperately repressing.

He reached down to pick up one of the roses, his hand catching on one of the larger pieces of glass. A hot, sharp pain burned at his palm, and he winced, blood trickling from the wound. It dropped onto the petals of the rose, but left no color, for no red could show on a rose stained black.

"How cruel."

Break had hardly the strength to laugh at the irony, for had he not made light of the fact so many times that his death was so close? Had he not said that death was nothing for him to fear? But yet…..

"I don't want to die!"

Image upon image flashed through his mind, all of the enjoyable days, the painful moments, the struggles, the tears, the heartache, everything that he had been through, that had made him who he was, the people who kept him going through this hopeless, cruel, ironic world.

"I can't keep my promise…..."

And so he was enveloped by pure white, a rose unlike any other, to end his suffering and pain.

"I'm doing this for you!"

Vincent could barely see through the tears flooding from his eyelids, streaming down his cheeks until the were raw with salt. It burned, the pain only serving to fuel the emotions in his heart.

As much as Gilbert tried desperately to soothe him, Vincent refused to listen, too driven by his goal, Gilbert's words only pushing him further to the edge. With every second that passed, his soul begged for release, for death.

His heart, an overflowing maelstrom of emotions, bled red, flowing like roses he had once cursed, over and over until it stained his very soul with his pain.

"These flowers?"

Gilbert held a bouquet extended to him, taking in their bright color and sweet fragrance. "These aren't yours, are they, Vincent?"

"I've given those up, Gil." Vincent smiled softly, "A long time ago. Remember, back in that garden, I told you their symbol was my secret? I don't want it any longer."

"It was hatred, wasn't it?" Gilbert spoke in a whisper, "Those black roses, dark and painful, you grew them to harbor what you couldn't say in words."

"Yes, you're right, as always." Vincent admitted, "But that's in the past. I'm trying, Gil, I really am. That hate…...it will never go away, but I won't hold on to those useless symbols anymore."

"Vince…..." Gilbert clutched the bouquet, a tear gathering at the corner of his eyes. "You've really grown."

"I know." Vincent laughed lightly, "Come on, I don't want to stay here too long. You have to go back, and I need to leave."

"Right." Gilbert agreed, remembering with a slight pang in his heart that Vincent no longer stayed with him, in order to keep up the facade of his death. He glanced down once more at the bouquet, his heart overflowing as Vincent moved on ahead of him.

"I'm sorry."

Well, there you have it, day 2 XD hope you all enjoyed!

As always, comments are very much appreciated!