Abridged Ties (Gilbert x OC)

Yesön

Nanalie had become completely paralyzed with horror, even as Gilbert reached out and hugged her, stroking her thick hair softly to sooth her.

"It's alright. We don't need to look at this stuff now." He said in a quiet voice as he felt her body begin to shake.

The terrified girl freed herself from her companion's secure and safe embrace. "N-no." Her words shook more than her body. "W-we n-need to find out..." She tried to pick up another one of the journals, but it only slipped from her fingers again.

"No." Gilbert's voice was low and resolved. He lifted Nanalie's small chin so he could look into her scarred violet eyes. "You'll only hurt yourself emotionally if we look at them right now. We'll take these with us and look through them slowly. And I will be by your side the entire time. But right now, I'm drawing the line. You will be too overwhelmed and will only break down."

After being slightly surprised by her companion's assertiveness, Nanalie nodded.

~+-+-+-+~

A long walk back to Gilbert's apartment led to a silent evening. Nanalie sat on the sheet-covered couch with her legs pulled to her chest. She rested her chin on her knees and appeared to be in deep thought, barely noticing when the concerned man sat beside her.

Or so, that's what Gilbert thought. "Who the hell am I?" Nanalie murmured quietly, to seemingly no one.

"Some of our answers may be right here." The man mentioned "But first, there's something that... I want to share with you." He seemed insecure as he looked at his fingers, though he earned Nanalie's intrigued violet gaze. "When I was younger... I was adopted into the Baskerville family."

She was able to meet Gilbert's golden eyes. "You're not a bad person though."

A smile made its way to his face. "If you are a Baskerville, too, I doubt you're a bad person."

Nanalie returned a genuine smile. "How can you be so sure?" She still asked.

"Because the Nanalie I know could never be a bad person." With that assurance, Gilbert ruffled her thick locks.

"Can you..." She hesitated, unsure if she should ask the question on her mind. But her friend's eager expression encouraged her to continue. "... tell me a bit about yourself? I mean, we've both been trying to learn about my past, but I really don't know much about your past either..." Her voice trailed.

After displaying a bit of shock, Gilbert looked to the ceiling as he began to explain.

His explanation continued for hours as he mentioned every detail. From when he woke up in their current time to when he remembered becoming a Baskerville, answering every question that Nanalie asked with complete honesty. Yet, he didn't know why he felt he could trust this one girl with absolutely everything.

"You said that when you were going to become the next 'Glen,' the Baskervilles had you complete a contract with one of a Chain... What Chain were you contracted to?" She eventually asked, completely intrigued by Gilbert's story.

"One of the four Black Winged Chains: Raven." He answered factually, and then untied his neck tie. He unbuttoned the top buttons of his collared shirt to reveal his upper chest, earning a rather bright blush from Nanalie. However, he further showed her the black clock imprinted on his skin. The tattooed arms each pointed directly upwards. "Because I was formally adopted into the Baskerville family, the arms won't move."

"Well, I know that." Nanalie huffed. "I'm not completely clueless."

"I know." Gilbert responded with a light chuckle. "I was just informing you of the details." He tried to cover for himself.

But the girl wasn't fooled as she grunted, "Liar."

"I'm sorry." His smile became sad as he reached for the pouting young woman.

She merely rolled her large violet orbs, ignoring his actions. Yet, he continued to try to hug her, and resulted in wrapping his arms around her petite body from behind. His significantly greater weight pushed her onto the sofa and caused a surprised squeal to escape her lips. When she wriggled in Gilbert's grasp to face him, a bright red flaw erupted on her cheeks, noticing exactly how close he had gotten to her.

What was most confusing of the situation was that the typically shy man did not know why he did what he had, which had become a rather frequent scenario involving Nanalie.

"I think... that we should start to look through the notebooks." The embarrassed girl suggested as she averted her gaze.

Gilbert suddenly jumped to his feet, also hiding his blushing face while he scratched the back of his head insecurely. "Right. Do you want tea or anything?" He asked.

"I'm alright." She mumbled as a response just before he went into his tiny kitchen to make a cup for himself.

When he returned to Nanalie's side, he discovered that she had fallen fast asleep. She laid on the misshapen sheets curled into a small ball. Her breaths were soft and light, and thus, he could see that she was in peace.

With the belief that it would ultimately lead to the confused girl's future safety, Gilbert sat beside her and began to look at the notebooks himself. He examined the journal that appeared to be the oldest.

The pages were crinkled and yellowed with age, but clearly inscribed on the first page were formal, cursive letters reading 'Levi Baskerville.'

Even upon reading the just the name of the notebook's owner, Gilbert completely understood how informational, yet how potentially horrifying their contents could be. He turned to the next page which displayed an old photograph of a child. She was draped in some kind of loose outfit, an outfit Gilbert recognized to be used in hospitals. The girl had dark, thick, unruly curls that reached her shoulders and she had clear, pale skin. She wasn't smiling in the photograph, but she didn't seem scared, and she appeared to be perfectly healthy as well.

On the following page, there was a list of information about the girl in the photograph. She was referred to as the "White Wing Project" and in the first photograph she was merely ten years old.  He continued to sort through the contents, discovering that the book was primarily composed of pictures of this young girl as she progressed through whatever "Project" she was a part of.

And finally, Gilbert reached the final page of Levi's notebook.  He nearly cried himself when he saw the image printed on the old, yellowing paper.  It was surely the same girl.  But she was at least two years older than she was in the first picture.  She didn't appear to be physically starved or abused.  But the dark circles painted under her eyes and weak stature showed that she was mentally exhausted.  Not only did the picture present that something was going on inside of the girl's head, but it clearly reminded Gilbert of something he was convinced he'd never forget. 

"How could I... have forgotten...?"