Abridged Ties (Gilbert x OC)

Arvan Doloony

The couple had parted, cleaned themselves, and prepared for a peaceful night. But despite what had happened between then, Noelle was still eager to read what was written in the old journals.

Dressed in her long white shirt, serving as sleepwear, she folded her legs on the bed-sheet covered couch. Just before she picked up one of the second of the black notebooks, Gilbert opened the door to his washroom, trying to dry his tousled, dripping wet curls with a towel. His strong shoulders were visible through his dampened shirt which already hugged his torso.

Noelle couldn't help but blush, which luckily went unnoticed.

"Are you sure you want to look at those tonight?" Gilbert's question caught her attention again.

She nodded surely. "No time like the present." Her violet eyes shown fiery determination.

He wore a warm smile and lazily sat next to the girl.  "Alright." He agreed.  "Let's see what this one has in store."

Noelle rubbed the rough cover of the black little notebook she held.  It was identical to the first of the journals, so it must have been written near the same time.  And surely enough, the inside cover had the same signature: Levi Baskerville.

Despite her nervous shaking, the girl turned the next page.  Her thin eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she flipped the next page, and the next, and the next.  She hurriedly fluttered through all of the pages, her eyes rapidly scanning the unrevealing contents. 

It seemed as though there was originally a lot written in this particular journal, and it might have been very insightful.  But every word was scratched through with dark ink.  Nothing was readable.  All of it was deliberately hidden.

"What...?" Noelle said with a deep inhale.  She kept turning through each page, looking for something to give her insight to her past.  But every last word was scribbled through haphazardly.  Yet the final page of the notebook had large, bold letters inscribed.

"Failure." The girl read aloud with a shaky, pained voice.  "...failure." She repeated, using her finger to rub the harsh word as though it would disappear.

Frustration overcame her as she threw the notebook on the floor, the pages sprawling over the carpeted ground. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" She shouted, fury resonated within her petite body.

"Noelle." Gilbert said softly, frowning at her outburst.  "These notebooks do not determine who you are." He stated calmly.

"I know. You've told me that before." Noelle calmed her frustration.  She pulled her knees to her chest and slumped into Gilbert's strong, supportive shoulder.  He blushed momentarily, and then he gave a deep sigh as he wrapped his arm around her, letting her head rest on his collarbone.  "It's just... frustrating.  Every time we seem to get somewhere, it ends up being a dead end."

"It is frustrating." Gilbert agreed.  "But that's not entirely true.  When we found the Doctor's house, we also found those notebooks.  We discovered your real name. And if you want to consider... us... as an achievement, then there's more of a reason to believe that we got somewhere."

Noelle giggled, kissing her companion's lips quickly before nuzzling back into his shoulder.  He rubbed her shoulder with his thumb soothingly, waiting until she rid herself of her frustration.

"Do you still want to look at the next notebook?" Gilbert asked in his usual calm demeanor.

He felt he nod as she declared, "Bring it on."

Thus, the two proceeded to the next journal.  However, this black book was the most peculiar of all of the five.  It's binding was more sturdy and the pages were less aged than the others.  Gilbert brushed the dust off of the leather cover, revealing words embedded in the center in a dramatic font. 

"Katharó Koráki." Noelle read aloud.  "That's strange.  Do the other journals have titles?"

Gilbert shook his head.  "This one looks like an actual storybook." He opened the first page, whispering a soft 'thank you' when he noticed the words of the story were written in English, and not whatever language that the title was written in.

Intrigued by whatever secrets that the book held about Noelle's forgotten past, the two managed to spend several hours reading the book.  It wasn't particularly long, but the story was still about a hundred pages in length.

"So, this idolized god-figure called Apollo fell in love with someone who wasn't a god, and sent his dear, trusted white raven to follow her, seeing as at that time the white raven was associated with purity.  Apollo's beloved became unfaithful to him, and the raven thought it would do him a favor and killed the unfaithful woman.  Apollo got mad and singed the white raven until all of its feathers became stained black...  And apparently that's why ravens’ are black and associated with death now."

Noelle summarized sarcastically.  "What the heck does that have to do with me?" She sighed as Gilbert closed the short novel.

"I'm not quite sure." He answered as the girl leaned forward to pry the back of the novel open, reading the name of the owner of the novel.  Surely enough, the recognizable signature of 'Levi Baskerville' was there. "But..." He began to trail, sounding as though he was in deep thought.

"Levi Baskerville made contracts with all of the Four Black Winged Chains.  That includes my Chain, Raven." Gilbert said logically.  "The entire story is practically about a raven, but it has white feathers.  Maybe, it has something to do with the Chain."

"But the raven in the story is white.  I'm assuming your Chain is black." Noelle commented.

"Yes, but the raven in the story became black at the end.  What if... the Raven Chain was originally white?  Seen as Chains are fallen beings, the white raven supposedly became "fallen" at the end of the story..." The young man tried to connect all of the conclusions in his head.

Noelle's violet eyes widened as she began to understand his logic.  "The white raven was associated with purity, right? Well, if Chains are "fallen," then the Raven Chain is associated with death.  Before the raven became black, it was white.  So, before the Raven Chain became a Chain, it was white, or more figuratively, pure!" She concluded excitedly.  After a moment, her shoulders dropped with defeat.

"But... what does that have to do with me?"

Gilbert smiled sadly.  "I'm not sure yet." His golden eyes brightened as he connected another link between the information they had found.  "In the first notebook, Levi Baskerville called you the 'White Wing Project.'  If this has something to do with you, it's connected to the white raven.  And I'm almost completely sure that this does relate to you in some way.  There's too many connections between it all."

"But there's still so many things not connected." The girl frowned, organizing all of the information they had found within her head.  "And you're the one who has a contract with the Raven Chain.  If the story is related to the Chain, then it probably is more closely tied to you."

He smiled, assuring her that everything would be fine.  "Either way, we're just another step closer to learning about your past."