Cover 3 is a twist on the formula so far. The frame sits in a pool of water with Noé and Vanitas on either side. Depending on which angle you look from, one is the contents of the frame for the other. This fits the story in this volume as this is when Noé and Vanitas start to get to know each other. Noé decides to stay with Vanitas because as a person he interests him, while Vanitas discovers Noé’s strength of will in the Catacombs Arc. When Vanitas is defeated by the situation because he’s plagued by memories of his past, Noé still believes that the cursebearer can be saved. Vanitas rallies himself around that belief and together they save the cursebearer.
Vanitas’s book is lying on his stomach, and its chain makes it way through the frame to wrap around Noé’s arm. Noé’s initial reason to stick with Vanitas is because of the book he carries, and even now this keeps him connected to the book’s holder as the only way to cure cursebearers. On the surface of the water appear to be little chunks of ice. Between Noé and Vanitas are ice pieces that spell out “Noé” “ou” and “Van.” The phrase “Noé ou Van” means “Noé or Van” in French, which of course refers to Noé and Vanitas. Once again, depending on which angle you look from, you are seeing Noé from Vanitas’s point of view, or Vanitas from Noé’s point of view, with these words spelling it out.
There are a few ice chunks near the right side of the frame, but I haven’t been able to determine what they say, if they do form words at all.
Vanitas has a red splotch on the left side of his neck, and a purple splotch on the right. The left one is presumably representative of Jeanne’s mark of possession on his neck, and in this volume she makes a deal with Vanitas to only drink blood from him in exchange for keeping her secret. The purple splotch is unexplained in the volume, but following the logic of the previous splotch, one would be forgiven for thinking it’s a mark of possession given by Noé. But Vanitas is highly hostile to the idea of Noé drinking his blood, as seen in Memoire 23. Vanitas tells Noé that if he so much as tries to drink his blood, he’d kill him. Later we learn this was more of a warning than a threat, as Vanitas (sometime before the beginning of the story) hypnotized himself to take such a course of action if this situation came about. But when push came to shove, even with hypnosis Vanitas is unable to kill Noé for making the attempt. This might be a hint that Vanitas gets a mark of possession from Noé later on as the death threat is no longer valid. The last mark on Vanitas is his mark of possession from Vanitas of the Blue Moon/Luna.
Noé looks like he’s wearing his pajamas since the shirt of his usual outfit is black. He’s covered in purple on the section of the cover that isn’t seen through the frame, and speckled with light spots. His clothing might be a reference to the bell tower scene at the beginning of the volume. Purple is Noé’s color, while the water is a shade of blue similar to Vanitas’s eyes and the color of his mark of possession.
At the top of the frame Noé and Vanitas’s symbols have been merged. The monstrance sunburst pattern radiates from a skull held in skeletal hands, and a butterfly alights on its right side. The sunburst belongs to Noé while the butterfly belongs to Vanitas. The skull has fangs, indicating it belonged to a vampire. It’s just like the fanged skulls that are in the Chassuers' catacombs, where the skulls of powerful vampires keep the signs of Babel’s formula revision even after death. Clinging to the skull and sunburst is ivy, which means friendship. Basically, this is a representation of Noé and Vanitas’s adventure together in the catacombs, and how after this adventure they become friends.
The frame is crammed with skulls, and at the top left there are a string of daisies from the sunburst skull all the way to the left corner. Daisies mean innocence, which might refer to Noé and Vanitas’s innocence when Roland believes they killed his comrades. Eventually their innocence is accepted by Roland and an understanding is reached.
At the corners of the frame are swords with six wings,which the symbol of the Chassuers. The ivy is growing on the right corner, indicating how the boys and Roland befriend each other and become allies during this adventure. Curiously, there is a butterfly on the ivy near the sword and wings. Vanitas doesn’t particularly like Roland, yet goes to him for advice on whether he’s really in love with Jeanne. Vanitas hates the Chassuers, but once was devoted to their cause of wiping the world clean of vampires. One would suspect that these contradictory feelings will be explored later on.
