A certain butler had decided that tonight he would do as he had been planning to do for a while now. Having spent weeks on end searching for the most perfect gift and the past few days planning for the perfect time and way to deliver it, he decided that he wouldn't put it off any longer as Christmas was vastly approaching. Having just put his master to bed and leaving the rest of the household duties to the four other's remaining in the manor; he took the small wrapped item in his gloved hand and set off into the night.
The air was cold, his breath cloudy and visible, and the light dusting of frosty snow crunching under the weight of his feet as he made his way through the fairly empty streets on London. He knew that his dear William would be working tonight – as he did almost every night, either at the dispatch or supervising other Shinigami who weren't as skilled at their work as he was; and so he figured that he should simply leave the small gift under the little tree in the Shinigami's house as a surprise.
Stopping in his tracks, Claude slightly narrowed his amber eyes behind his glasses, feeling the presence of some Shinigami in his general area, 'Perhaps a different route would be more suitable, it would be a shame to ruin the surprise by bumping into him here.' He thought to himself, turning on his heel and heading for a small side street that would take him on a much longer, but much less noticeable, route through the alley ways that ran around the backs of many houses and small shops.
Though it seems he wasn't as well hidden as he had hoped to be, one of the Shinigami on duty had spotted him from where he was stood atop the roof of one of the buildings that the alley ways ran behind. Said Shinigami was simply a trainee, out on his first assignment and desperate to impress his new boss as best he could, even if that meant leaving his post in order to fend off someone that would most certainly be considered a threat, a thief of the souls he was trying to collect.
Jumping down from his position on the roof top, the trainee Shinigami landed skilfully on his feet with a gentle thud which was muffled some by the snow covering the cobbled ground; death scythe at the ready as he blocked the demon butler from going on any further, "It would be wise of you to turn and leave now, Demon. Go and find your food elsewhere, you are in the way of my work and there is no way I am going to lose out on souls just for you." The Shinigami sounded fairly confident as he spoke, a smirk forming on his lips and all too familiar green eyes sparkling with excitement behind simple black framed glasses.
Claude gave no visible reaction to the other's words nor actions, his face completely still in that constant blank and unemotional stare. His only movement was to place the small wrapped box into his pocket as he prepared to avoid the oncoming attack from the Shinigami, which he did so rather gracefully. With a swing of his death scythe, the Shinigami's attack missed, the weapon slicing through the empty space where the butler had just been standing moments beforehand, "Damn it!" He muttered under his breath, straightening up and scanning the area for the demon that he had missed.
Having taken advantage of the Shinigami's brief moment of distraction, Claude had sprung up from the position he had been standing in and leapt right over the other; his landing position making it seem as though they had both quite simply switched places. He wasted no time with just idly standing around in wait for the confrontation to escalate – instead he took off at a brisk walk, deciding that running would be a little too extreme and draw more unwanted attention to himself, 'Who would have thought that such a simple delivery task could cause such havoc.'
From the corner of his eye, the Shinigami spotted the small flick of the butler's tail coat as Claude rounded the corner onto another alley and quickly set off following. Coming to the conclusion that going across the roof top of the building that formed the corner between the two alley ways, he quickly scaled the wall and sprinted across said roof, glancing over the edge once he had reached the other side and noticed that the demon had slowed down some, probably assuming that he would be free from any pursuit for a while.
Pulling the same move once again, the Shinigami leapt down from his position perched atop the building's roof, once again coming to land directly in the butler's path, "Tsk, honestly..." Claude muttered to himself, his voice too faint for the other to hear, not that words would be valued in this kind of confrontation. The Shinigami allowed a wide grin to spread across his face, knowing that the alley way would be far too narrow for the demon to escape around him, and knowing now from his last attack that Claude had escaped by going over, he had the most fool proof attack in mind for just an occasion.
Meanwhile, not too far away from the scene of the small commotion, William was standing alone with his death scythe in hand as he watched the few Shinigami he had under his wing go about the training assignment. Pursing his lips into a thin line, he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose just a little as his eyes scanned the area to make sure everything was going according to plan, though it quickly came to attention that he was in fact missing someone.
Scanning the area once again, he decided that him leaving his own post as supervisor for a few moments wouldn't do much harm, as the other trainee's seemed to be getting along with their work fairly well with little next to no problems. Following the presence of the one that was missing, within little time at all he found himself standing atop the very same roof in which the trouble making Shinigami had leapt down from twice just not so long ago, and glancing down over the edge, his eyes widened just a little before a frown formed, as he took notice of the situation that was playing out below him.
'What on Earth is Claude doing here? Ah, this is somewhat problematic, I should have him leave before he distracts my workers any mor-' His line of thought trailed off as he quickly made sense of what exactly was going on currently between the demon and the trainee Shinigami.
"No escape THIS time, Demon. Prepare for certain DEATH!" The Shinigami all but yelled, lunging forward to initiate his attack against the stoic butler, though this time – his attack would result in much more than just a simple miss.
William's green eyes widened behind his glasses as he watched the trainee go in for the attack, one that would surely hit if Claude wasn't extremely focused on the other's movements, and it all seemed to be happening in slow motion as his thoughts began to run rampant. In his mind, he knew perfectly well that there would be no need to become involved, he knew that Claude would be okay, that such a thing wouldn't kill him and that any injury received would heal over a short period of time. Though his heart would not acknowledge such things, his heart was telling him to act – and act quickly. His heart told him – screamed at him – that the person who he loved most, the person who he held so dear to him, was about to be on the receiving end of an attack by such a deadly weapon.
Without thinking any further, his body acted on the telling's of his heart, jumping down from the roof top and coming to land between his beloved and the blade racing toward him. Barely a heartbeat later, said blade collided with his body, leaving a rather large gash in William's side, one that would most certainly bring him death; and choosing not to cry out in pain, not to show his weakness to anyone – even in his last moments, he shut his eyes tightly for the last time in a ditch attempt to keep the tears from spilling out.
Death it did bring; falling to his knees with a most ungraceful thud, his blood spilled out from his wound and stained the snow with a deep red – though his blood was not the only thing spilling from his body, as reel upon reel of film began to rise up and into the air surrounding the three men currently present in the alley way. Silently they watched, unable to act, one struck still with shock and guilt and the other with grief and heartbreak.
Memories flew by, the life span of the Shinigami displayed for all to see in a series of short video clips on a dozen rolls of film. If one were to watch closely, then perhaps they would be able to pick up on the small and subtle changes William had made over his many years; how he had matured, how he had experienced many things and the way each event had changed him on a personal level. How he had come to experience love, to find happiness in the one being he had been all but born to hate – his lover, his life, his meaning, his heart, his pain, his demon.. His Claude.
Dropping to his knees, Claude pulled the still body of his passed lover into his arms, "That was... unnecessary." He whispered softly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the small wrapped gift he had planned to surprise the other with; swiftly tearing off the wrapping paper and lifting the lid of the small box beneath. He removed the gift from its box, it was a simple gift – something that he hoped would have been treasured as a keepsake, a constant reminder that even demons were capable of love – something as simple as a flower. Claude held the pressed rose between his fingers, the flattened petals still despite the light breeze; until he let the rose go, the flower now caught in a soft wind that would carry it off someplace within the city.
"Who needs flowers when they are dead…Nobody."
A/N: OKAY. I AM SORRY NOT SORRY. THIS KINDA SUCKS OKAY D: I JUST.. BVHBSHGBNJGF Forgive me please? William x Claude isn't exactly the biggest ship I ship, I only really like it because of Tumblr~ But hopefully some of you may enjoy this, despite the horribly sad ending.