It had been almost 10 years since that chance meeting occurred.

You had met a young boy around your own age, shy and nervous about almost everything he saw or heard. He seemed to be living at a large and pristine white house that you believed belonged to a noble. What were you doing there? Well, your adoptive father needed to speak with the head of the Vessalius household, Zai Vessalius. Meanwhile, you were asked to stay outside with the children in the room opposite to where the two men were conversing. However, the room seemed bare just by looking around. So, you took the opportunity to select a book off the shelf. Of course, you had to stretch onto your tip-toes to reach it, seeing as how it was on one of the higher shelves. After you got the book, you cuddled up on the couch with it. The book seemed very dusty at first glance, so you used a handkerchief to dust off the cover.

'Sleeping Beauty' the cover read, a slow smile growing on your face. You loved reading fantasy stories. They gave you the kind of escape from reality that you longed for. You curled your toes; reading into a few pages, before you heard a short knocking on the door. You carefully brushed off your dress and grasped the nob, swinging the door open slowly, seeing as it was quite heavy to begin with. In the doorway, stood a short obsidian haired boy carrying a tray with both hands shaking. His bright amber eyes looked so calm, yet uneasy. As if his eyes were hiding some painful truth. His hair was separated in front of his face, some dark locks were swept in front of his eyes. blinked twice, probably wondering who you were since he hadn't't seen you around the building before. You looked down in embarrassment before speaking grasping at the fabric of your dress.
"O-Oh...um...I'm sorry. My father went in the room opposite to talk with Zai-sama! I-I was just-!"
The boy gave you an understanding smile and nodded, placing the tray down on a nearby table. "Well, I-It's certainly no trouble miss~. I'm sure Master Zai won't be long." he looked deeply into your (e/c) eyes, smiling, a light blush staining his cheeks.
"Ah..I-If I may..." he paused, awkwardly scratching his cheek " What's your name? I don't think I can keep calling you Miss, right?" he asked, tilting his head giggled at how shy he seemed to be around you.

"(y/n). It's nice to meet you-"

"Gilbert. Just Gilbert" he interrupted.

You smiled and straddled his left hand in gratitude with both of your own hands. In response, Gilbert's face became flustered and somewhat stiffened. "Nice to meet you Gilbert!" you happily said, cupping his hand in yours. After getting used to your warm hand's touch, the raven haired boy had relaxed a little and smiled. He couldn't believe how cute you were when you smiled. It seemed to light up the whole room. And he had only just met you a few minutes ago! If it were at all possible for Gilbert to work up the courage to get to know you better, he would do it in a heartbeat. Opening his mouth, he spoke the only thing he could say, without saying too much

"Thank you."

Just before you said anything, you both heard someone yelling down the hall that made you almost jump "Master Oz! Young Master! Where are you?!" she shrieked. Gilbert let go of your hands and frantically looked towards the door. He looked back to you with a nervous expression. "I-I have to go...I'm sorry, (y/n)." He was obviously nervous about something involving the 'Young Master' that the lady was yelling about. You just nodded quietly, smiling with enthusiasm.
A little while after he left, you clasped your book you were previously reading tightly in your arms from off the couch and followed Gilbert to wherever he was followed the voices of yelling servants and worried caretakers. All of the sudden, a strong arm pulled you into a separate room. You tried to punch whoever pulled you, but you saw how he smirked while putting his index finger to his lips, asking you to be quiet. You mimicked his action. He casually snickered as he was holding a giggling blonde child as well. To your curiosity, the older male decided to hide in the wardrobe against the wall with the smaller blonde. You quietly followed along, sitting on the couch on the other end of the room, humming a , Gilbert rushed into the room panting. He saw you and immediately wondered if he had gotten the wrong room. You made a 'hush' movement and signaled toward the wardrobe where the two blondes were hiding from their caretakers and servants. Gilbert was about to ask his master to stop messing around, before aloud thud was heard towards the door of the big room. A woman came storming into the room, grabbing the obsidian haired boy by the arms, asking where the young master was. Even though Gilbert tried hard to avoid the subject and hide his master, the woman held a cat to the boys face before he screamed in terror. He's afraid of...cats? Gil finally told the caretaker that the two had gone down to the lake, tricking her into rushing out of the room as fast as she could.
You smiled and giggled at Gil's reaction to the feline. Gilbert just stood there, blushing madly.

"Please come out, young master..." he spoke weakly.

After a bit of rustling inside the wardrobe, the twin doors burst open, revealing the two blonde siblings
"Good work, Gil!" the older sibling said, patting the other male on the back. Gilbert then continued to sulk in the corner. Meanwhile, the smaller child-a girl no less-swept her dress off of the dirt from the wardrobe, letting out a small breath in relief. The older boy found his gaze laid on you and immediately brought out a white rose, holding it out to you in a very flamboyant pose. Then, he grasped your hand gently with his free hand, gracing your knuckles with his lips.
"My dear, I sincerely hope you will accept this flower as a token of my affection. Although it could never live up to your true beauty, it could perhaps shine as brightly as well."
You blushed softly and took the flower. You thanked him quietly and shuffled back. Of course, Gilbert couldn't say anything to you; but if he could, he would probably use those exact words. Gil blushed at the thought. "Anyway!" the older boy spoke, breaking the silence in the room. "My name is Oz! Oz Vessalius at your service, ma'am" he said, bowing forward. "Oz..." the name seemed to roll off the tongue and you weren't sure why it felt so familiar to you. "And this little cutie here is my little sister, Ada!" he hugged the small girl as she giggled. You pat the girls head as she bowed shyly.

A short moment was filled with laughter.

"So this is where you've been, eh?" a deep voice rang in the room, before Oz and Ada were picked up by a cheery man. "E-Eh?" you tilted your head "Ah, and who might you be, little one? A friend of my nephew, perhaps? " he chuckled while you shook your head and smiled "Not really. I just met them, but they're really nice~ I'm here 'cause my Daddy needed to talk to Zai-sama about something important." the mans smile faded just slightly, but he kept a peppy tone. "Anyway, Oz..." he turned to his nephew with a knowing smile. "You shouldn't keep scaring your caretakers like that, you know!" to which Oz just sighed and cuddled little Ada. You took the chance to pick up your book and walk back next to Gil, who had been staring into space for the past five minutes. Gilbert tensed a little while you were right next to him. You looked to the side, holding you book tightly against your chest. A quiet moment was shared between the two of you. Of course you wanted to say something, but your mind became blank. You suddenly remembered his entrancing golden orbs and how you felt so lost in them every time you saw them. Unknown to you, Gil was doing the same. Your beautiful (e/c) eyes were so bright, he could forget all his stress just by seeing your eyes and your smile.
He looked down and saw the book resting against your chest. "Sleeping Beauty?" he asked, finally striking up a conversation with you. Score one for Gil! "Eh? O-Oh, yes...!" you clutched the book and held it out in front of you to see the hard cover. "That's one of my favorite books." Gilbert said. You smiled "I love the part where the prince fights the dragon to reach the princess-"
"And breaks the spell with true love's kiss..." you interrupted
You ran your fingers over the hard cover, smiling. Before Gil could respond, voices were heard in the hall.

"Master Oz! Master Oz!" one person yelled
"Mistress! Mistress!" another one said.

That was your cue to run. Luckily, Oz had a plan. You held Ada carefully as Gilbert hoisted you both up to the the window with gentle hands. Soon, all of you were running toward the bridge, past the garden. Oz's relative had mentioned something about sending him into the 'Abyss'. Whatever that was...Curiosity took you over and you tugged on Gil's sleeve. Tilting your head, you asked "What's the abyss? It sounds kinda scary." Gilbert found you so cute right now. "Well, the abyss is a place where sinners and bad people are taken to in order to pay for the bad deeds they've done. It's like a prison." he casually explained. Your spine shivered "I wouldn't want to go down there anytime soon!" you laughed with everyone else.

Then, something white was thrown at Gil. A robe of some sort? You chuckled. Gil was being asked to participate in Oz's coming of age ceremony. However, since your father had good connections with Zai Vessalius and the rest of the four dukedoms, you were able to attend,so long as you were supervised by your father. Just then, you heard a female voice call you inside. They said that your father was waiting for you inside. "S-Sorry guys! I have to go back inside. See you later~" You pat Ada on the head, you got smothered by Oz,and you gave Gilbert a hug and a book. It was a book with blank pages. A journal. "Just write down as much as you can okay? I don't really need it anyway." you wove goodbye to your new friends and ran inside to your father.
Little did you know that your smile would be what Gilbert wanted to see the most right now.
Later, at the ceremony, you had changed into an evening dress at the request of your father, and started conversing with other women who seemed to adore you.

"You look lovely today, Mistress (y/n)" someone had said

You turned to see that it was a tall and slender male with pure white hair covering one of his eyes while the rest of his hair in the back was held up in a ponytail. Right when you were about to respond to his compliment, he vanished. Applause was heard, as Oz Vessalius made his way up the stairs to the infamous 'Silent Clock Tower' and began speaking his oath. After a while, you spotted Gilbert standing at the top of the steps waiting to put the cloak onto his master. However, when your eyes met, you smiled at him, but he simply nodded weakly and looked away. Something strange was going on, that was for sure. A loud gong of a bell broke your concentration as you clutched your ears as tightly as you could.
"Wh-What?!" you asked, carefully looking around. Who were these people in the red cloaks? Why had Gilbert stabbed his master in the chest? Before you could do anything, someone shoved you down, trying to run out of the ballroom. You sprained your ankle and blacked out. The last thing you saw was a large black rabbit, and Gil collapsed on the floor, unconscious. Red cloth blurred your vision as your head met with the cold hard floor.

That, of course, was 10 years ago.

A/N: Hey! Hope you liked the fanfic! This is my first ever story I've posted on fanfiction so I hope you like it~ Also, be sure to check out my dA and tumblr~

Just a side note, I don't own the pic used for this.

Thanks for reading! More chapters coming soon~