Abridged Ties (Gilbert x OC)

Khoridugaar

Noelle erupted into fit of coughs. She held her small hand over her lips until the coughing finally ceased, but when she pulled it away, her skin had become stained with dark blood.

"Noelle! What's wrong?!" Gilbert yelled frantically, placing a sturdy hand on her shaky shoulder. When she looked up to meet his golden gaze, her own violet orbs rolled behind her eyelids.

She collapsed, becoming dead weight in her companions arms as her own mind haunted her.

~+-+-+-+~

Yet again, Noelle became plagued with darkness. She was trapped within with a black abyss of nothingness.

The scar on her chest ached and she could feel the presence of someone else wherever she was, she just had no idea of what or who it was.

"Hello..." The airy, low words echoed by Noelle's ears. She jumped, turning to face nothing but never-ending darkness. "Did you miss me?" Again, the voice fluttered through the nothingness.

"Who are you?!" The startled girl yelled.

"Oh my, dear Noelle..." She could now determine that it was a feminine voice, but nonetheless still haunting. "You've already forgotten me?" The unknown woman laughed.

"Do you know something about me that I don't?" Noelle became tense.

She chuckled again. "I know everything about you, Noelle."

"Tell me, then! I want to know everything!" The confused young woman continued to shout to seemingly nowhere.

"Now, now. There's no need to be so eager." The unfamiliar voice cooed.

Noelle felt anger boiling within her. "Stop tormenting me! Who are you?! Where are we?!" She yelled before dropping her shoulders. "I'm so tired of not knowing anything."

Yet again, the woman laughed, but a hazy, white mist began to circulate in front of Noelle. "For one, we are inside of your fragile little mind, Noelle." Her song-like voice seemed to echo from the strange mist as it began to form a woman's defined silhouette. "But you don't need to remember me just yet..." Finally, the mist had manifested into an entire, regal figure.

The peculiar woman standing before Noelle had striking, long white hair piercing blood red eyes. Her pupils were slit like a reptile's eyes and she had pale skin marked with notable refined scars on her chin and under her eyes. She had an almost ghost-like beauty as she wore a black corseted dress with a full, ruffled skirt. Yet, fastened to her thin neck was a spiked collar attached to heavy chains.

"I am not familiar to you at all, am I?" The woman smirked. Just as she had manifested, she disappeared.

Noelle felt a heavy weight on her shoulders, feeling the white-haired woman's warm breath beside her ear as she took the girl's round chin between her thin fingers, bearing black claws of some kind of raptor.

"Nothing is familiar anymore." The dark-haired girl frowned, but didn't try to writhe in the mysterious woman's grasp. 

"Oh, really?" She seemed to be taken aback, but she then relaxed as she released another chuckle.  "Your dear friends... Oz Vessalius, Alice, Xerxes Break, Sharon Rainsworth..." She listed each of the names as if she were going through a checklist of grocery items.  "Oh, and of course, your dearly beloved, Gilbert Baskerville... or Nightray.  Whichever he prefers..."

"That's not -" Noelle began, only to be interrupted.

"Because truly, you are just a helpless heroine without anything to hold onto or believe in." The woman teased.  "Even if you have everything a girl could ever want: Friends, a future, a lover..." Her voice became venomous.  "You are still not satisfied.  You want more, more, more..."

Noelle turned and slapped the oddly prying woman's pale cheek.  "You have no right to talk about me or them that way." She said with a strange, dark tone.  "I don't even know who you are, yet you are invading my mind and heart! Are you going to tell me what I need to know or not?!"

Much to her irritation, the white-haired woman laughed again.  "You're much less submissive..." She said to herself.  "Say you want to know who you are, do you not?" Despite this, a dangerous smirk played on her lips.

Noelle nodded slowly, her violet eyes full of caution and anger.

"Even if it scares away your little, fragile friends.  And even if your dear pretty boy lover won't stay by your side anymore.  Do you still want to know?"

"I am sure that they are not as fragile as you think."

The woman placed a finger to her thin, white lips.  "I think you are the one who is mistaken.  After all, love is a very fragile thing.  You'll end up all alone, just as you always were..."

Noelle bit her lip, trying to stifle the watery droplets that threatened to fall down her cheeks.  "I won't be! Gilbert promised he'd stay by my side forever...  I believe in him.  But most of all, I believe in myself."

She scoffed at Noelle's response.  "You've always been so naive, Noelle."

"I am not naive!" The dark-haired girl retorted.  "I have faith in the friendships I've made and the relationships I've built.  And I believe that they won't desert me!"

"You will believe that until they find out what you've done." The white-haired woman wore a sickening smile.

"I don't even know what I've done."

"You won't even have faith in yourself when you remember..." The woman's wine red orbs curved maniacally.  Her eyes reflected horrors unknown to the vast majority of those walking the planet.  "Just look at your small, blood-stained hands.  Look at the crest branded to your chest."

Again, the woman became much too close to Noelle, caressing her collarbone with her sharp nail.  She trailed the shorter girl's shoulders down to her chest, where she traced the clock-like scar.

"You will remember soon, dear Noelle." With her other hand, she lifted the confused and even scared girl's chin, forcing her to look into the woman's corrupted red eyes.  "And when you do, I will be waiting right here." She lifted her clawed finger and placed it on Noelle's forehead.  "In your mind."

An image flashed before Noelle's eyes.  It was an image of a small village-like town that appeared as though it would have been peaceful... if it hadn't been amidst a sea of flames and dark, gooey liquid that stained every building.  But other than the crackling of fire on old wood, the village was silent.  Noelle looked at her hands, trying to avoid the horrific scene.  Yet, it was inescapable.  Her hands were drenched in gloves of blood, staining her skin and torn gown.

"No!" She screeched.  "Get me out! I don't want to see this!" She desperately forced her eyes shut, but the image didn't fade.

"So weak." The woman's voice returned, dissolving the picturesque scene.  "But you will surely awaken soon, my dear.  Though, I cannot promise that I'll wait much longer." 

"What do you mean?! You're just confusing me!" Noelle's brows furrowed.

"I am the only one you need, Noelle.  You will remember me soon enough." She stroked the confused girl's round cheek, though she pressed her long claw into her porcelain skin, leaving a trail of blood when she released her.

The white-haired woman leaned closer to Noelle's ear, whispering soft words that were nonetheless venomous.  "I will take you back, my dear." While the words were undoubtedly quiet, they rung through her head painfully, echoing through the caverns of her mind, forcing her to the ground as she clutched her head.

"Who are you?!" Noelle shouted, her violet orbs reflecting the pain she was trying to endure.  But the mysterious woman faded, leaving a haunting white smile.

However, that, too, disappeared with the terrifying black abyss.