#BEAR W ME OK that flashback gives me brainrot it's too important to tell and

[mushroompollution]

Chapter 45: Queen of Hurts

previous chapters: Sablier Arc Masterpost(35-42) || 43 || 44

read the manga: imgur || mangaread (ad warning)

As the heroes make their way back through the woods, a powerful earthquake shakes the ground, bringing trees and branches crashing around them. Oz immediately recognizes the tremor, and the feeling it causes inside him, as the same thing that had happened in Sablier.

The Sealing Stone they had gone through so much triuble to find and protect

was broken, and the Headhunter is back.

Elliot tells Gilbert that the other siblings are all pretty pissed about it, but he's happy for his adopted brother. He asks Gil what it was like to form a Contract with Raven, and we get a fun little flashback within our flashback.

After entering the total darkness of the family's Abyss Gate, Gilbert is tangled in chains that bind his arms and legs. Raven strikes him, leaving a bloody wound on his neck, as it speaks to him. Raven reminds Gilbert that he's tried, and failed, to form a Contract with it already. But he was just a child then, and had wandered into the Gate mostly out of curiosity. This time, Gilbert grabs those chains that bind him, steels his gaze, and demands to form a Contract.

This time, Raven obliges, and says that, once again, it will be bound to Gilbert's left hand. A statement that surprises Gil.

And then...

Gilbert apologizes suddenly for not letting Elliot have a chance to make the Contract as a legitimate Nightray successor. Which of course, pisses Elliot off. He says he doesn't need Raven, he will support their family in his own way. That's why, he insists, Gilbert must do his part as Raven's Contractor-- and as his big brother.

Their conversation is interrupted by frantic banging on Gilbert's door.

As Leo tells him the Headhunter has struck again, the scene changes.

Vincent and Ada Vessalius are on a date, walking through a beautiful park as they also discuss the Headhunter. Ada says she's worried about Vincent and his brothers, and Vincent cups her face and pulls her close as he tells her not to worry. It's all very rosy, there's three pages of Ada trembling and blushing.

Ada asks if that's why Elliot hates Gil so much, and Vincent explains that it's a little more complicated than that. Gilbert was worried if he was the next target, those around him would get get killed again. But Elliot convinced himself that Gil left out of fear.

He calls Elliot stupid, and Ada looks up at him with a pitying look that makes him sick.

yeah, Vince is a pretty awful guy.

anyway

over at Pandora Headquarters, Oz has locked himself in his bedroom. Gilbert finds Alice moping outside his door, and drags her away to give him some space and rest.

It's been a week since they visited that mansion. And Oz has been too depressed to get out of bed.

Alice seems confused by the question, but finally says that it would have been pointless for Oz to kill Marie back then. Gil asks what she means, and Alice thinks a moment, and finally says she doesn't really know, but it pissed her off.

Gilbert pats her on the head and thanks her anyway.