This fanfic is in an AU and in a different time period.
1875
…I'd like to think….
I'd like to say that I am certain, but I'm honestly, positively uncertain as to what time line I intended this to be on, kay? So that would explain why the characters might say some complex words instead of something simple or use some sort of slang. Like earthenware, instead of pottery…or something like that.
Kay?
Oh, and I should tell you here and now that some of the characters aren't called by their aliases. Like Near and Mello.
Or Mello and Near however you prefer to say it….
Near is for the most part called "Nathan" (I was told that Nate is simply the short version of Nathan so there is your explanation) and Mello is for the most part called "Mihael" but I'll give them aliases later on in the story, I promise!
Oh, and I'm suddenly feeling regretful that I might have spelled Mello/Mihael's last name wrong sorry about that!
Pwease, R&R. :^D
Thank you…but seriously…pwease do R&R!
It'd be greatly appreciated.
A shriek echoed throughout the entire house after a loud, shattering crash, which caused a blonde teen to run down the halls and into the parlor. "What is going on in here?" he demanded looking around at all who were present. His older sister Jane and younger twin sisters, Kate and Abigail where there in the parlor. So was the housekeeper Mrs. Yagami who stood behind a young boy who was more than likely a new servant. He was biting his bottom lip and standing in front of a huge mess. Glass was scattered about in front of him and around his feet, but he didn't move and didn't seem to breathe.
Mihael studied everyone.
The twins giggled, whispering to each other, gossiping no doubt. At eleven years of age they appeared slim and poised with straight fair hair and sparkling, restless jade eyes that were constantly filled by some sort of mischief.
Whilst, Jane was seventeen and was tall, slender with a plain face, and dirty blond curls fell over her shoulders, over her forehead and her tiny dark, blue eyes stared angrily at the servant who was the most settled down, even his breathing wasn't noticed.
Mihael almost couldn't believe that the youthful boy he was looking to was a servant. He was thinner and smaller than most boys Mihael had seen; with thick snow-white tresses and soft, creamy white skin that was utterly attractive in the afternoon rays and mysterious, charcoal eyes that almost seemed to shine.
Mrs. Yagami appeared caught between being bothered, annoyance, dread, discomfiture and distress as Mihael's eyes studied her. She was a lean lady with shady eyes and curls and she was very kind to all of her fellow staff and the family, but she did not concern herself much with Jane or Mr. Keehl, who persistently threatened to terminate her job if she made any slip-ups.
"What happened?" Mihael at last inquired, which caused both Jane and Mrs. Yagami to explode with fretful and infuriated words.
"That dim-witted idiot ruined my most wanted vase and three of my finest bowls!" Jane yelled. "They were my greatest works! And that senseless fool broke them! He also ruined my new work, as well!"
"I advised him to be cautious!" Mrs. Yagami said fussily. "I advised him, but this was purely an accident! That's all this is, and don't you call him a senseless fool, Ms. Jane he is more intellectual than what you give the impression to be!"
"Fasten your gob shut, you're brainless!" Jane snapped.
"This is a mishap, Mihael, that's all, just one slip-up!"
"Oh, no, it's not, he ruined them deliberately, he is outlandish and ruined them out of malice!" Jane screamed. "He ruined them on purpose, Mihael, beat him!"
"No, don't you place a hand on the boy!" Mrs. Yagami protested looking to Mihael Keehl. "Mihael, please give him another opportunity he's a fresh servant here and is not familiar with all of the rules and house inhabitants!"
"Beat him! He deserves it!"
The servant who stood at Mrs. Yagami's side drew back, unmistakably frightened. Mrs. Yagami gave him a compassionate, momentary look before she snapped back at Jane. "Miss. Jane don't speak so babyishly when you know it was a genuine slip-up!"
"I am not speaking like a baby, you aged cow!" Jane spat.
"Ooh, Jane spoke offensively!" the twins gasped in unison. "She is in trouble!"
"Shut up!" Mihael shouted. "Abigail, Kate, you both are excused." The two girls ran off giggling. A heavy stillness ensued until Mihael spoke up.
"At this time…calmly, clarify what happened, Mrs. Yagami."
"Well, I brought in the new cleaning servant, Nathan, here to instruct him how to sterilize, some, since he'd be assisting our maid, Misa. I cautioned him to be cautious, but small Abigail and Kate unintentionally bumped him into the shelf and knocked some of Miss. Jane's earthenware off." She paused before adding, "It was merely chance I reassure you. But, I warned him to be cautious. I'm certain he is remorseful, Mihael."
Mihael nodded. "Yes. I understand."
He turned to his elder sister. "Okay, Jane?"
"I was coming in to add a new vase to my collected works whenever he started dusting and I saw him knock into the shelf deliberately! I watched him directly, not like Mrs. Yagami, and I promise he knocked them off deliberately. He pretended to be bumped into and knocked my stunning pottery off with the intention! I saw him, Mihael!"
Narrowing his icy eyes, Mihael turned to the servant, Nathan. "Alright, then and you, Nathan was it? What do you proclaim happened?"
"I-I'm not to blame." He muttered nervously. "I was bumped. It was an accident, sir. I'll make sure it by no means occurs again, I swear it won't. It was an accident, sir, solely unintended."
"Very well. Clean this clutter up before Father sees it and make an apology to my sister."
"What? That's it! My pottery was-"
"Let it go Jane." Mihael interrupted. "You know you can recreate those pieces of pottery. Besides, I'm sure Nathan didn't do anything on purpose. He's new and has no ill will against you as all the other staff members do. What motivation does he have, anyways?"
Jane calmed down a bit and didn't take action as Nathan walked up to her and turned his head away shyly; she glared, callously at him, but did nothing else.
"I-I express regret for my lack of skill. And I also apologize for breaking your pottery. It strictly was an accident, whether you accept it as true or not, Miss. I anticipate you shall pardon me. The pottery in fact was fine-looking…and I would like to recompense for it…with half of the money in my wage. It'd be satisfactory if I did that for Miss. Jane would it not?"
Jane nodded, glaring callously and waved him away.
"Come, Nathan let's go get a broom and let us clean this clutter up." Mrs. Yagami said ushering Nathan out of the parlor room.
"You know that was kindhearted of him considering the fact you accused him unfairly."
"Brother, I saw him…he ruined my pottery deliberately. He's caused trouble for the second time since he's appeared."
"What do you mean?"
"When he arrived this morning he stumbled into our niece Rachel causing her to smack into cousin Brent, causing him to send our elder sister, Margaret into a wall."
"He's just awkward is all." Mihael chuckled. "He won't be the first inept servant we have…or the last. Anyway…are you keyed up about the party we will be having?"
"Yes. I'm very keyed up. I can't wait to wear my new dress! You've seen it right?" She spoke with a lot of enthusiasm. Mihael shook his head and sighed deeply. "I'll see you later, I think I'll be getting dressed about now." Heading to his room Mihael forced a grin onto his face as he passed by his Father.
"Mihael, have you seen Brent?"
"No sir."
"He has been absent for some time now…and I need to have a word with him."
"I think he was with his brother-in-law Aiber. I have seen them talking, but Jane is the most recent to have seen them. She claims the new cleaning servant bumped into him earlier."
"If that boy causes any problems tonight he'll be in the streets looking for new work."
"Surely you wouldn't do away with him for being a tad ungainly?"
"No need keeping an inadequate servant around if they can't do anything correctly, now is there?"
"No, sir." Mihael said unenthusiastically.
With that said his Father stalked off towards the parlor. Continuing to his room Mihael froze as a harsh cry of pain made him turn around and he watched as Nathan was thrown from the parlor hitting into the wall outside. He rushed down the hall past Mihael with terror and distress in his dark eyes.
"Hey, wait!" Mihael called as he followed. "Stop!"
Submissively Nathan stopped, panting, he was almost crying. Once the blonde stood in front of him the servant bowed his head avoiding the frosty azure eyes. "What happened Nathan?" Mihael asked. Nathan shook his head. He was visibly terrified of what the fair-haired boy would do to him if what he said weren't believed to be true.
"Don't fret, I'm not going to harm you. I merely want the truth."
Nathan nodded letting out a choked sob. "I-I was cleaning… cleaning up that clutter and…and h-he saw me…and he got livid." He paused. "He s-said I-I looked like someone who he use-used t-to be acquainted with…and h-he shown aggression t-towards me…h-he threatened me…and st-struck me…I-I'm remorseful, sir."
"Don't be, and, please, excuse his actions. He has been on edge all morning."
The servant nodded before rushing off. With a fatigued sigh Mihael went to his room, changed clothes and went downstairs. There were tons of people that he acknowledged, but there were a couple he didn't recognize, but that couldn't be helped since his family was new to the town of Shady Wood. The settlement was very strange and wonderful.
There were rumors of wicked creatures and people who had evil powers that lurked the streets at nighttime, looking for sacrifices, but the Keehl family didn't believe one word of any of it. It was all too outlandish, ludicrous and as most would say 'ridiculous'. Mihael noticed that Mrs. Yagami's lad Light Yagami had four members of the staff with him in a corner of the room, speaking amongst themselves noiselessly.
Mihael wondered what they were talking about. He noticed that Nathan was amongst them appearing rather uncomfortable around Light, along with the not-too-bright maid, Misa and the head cook, Takada both young women seemed to have a crush on Light and then, there was another servant, Matsuda looking at him in awe.
Mihael knew why Misa, Takada and Matsuda were around Light. They respected and loved him, but the blonde wondered why Nathan was around him. From the look on his face he seemed to dislike Light. He soon heard his Father rebuking the four servants for lazing around and then he scolded Light for disturbing them. Misa and Takada waved bye to Light, while Matsuda appeared mortified and Nathan looked delighted. Yes, he appeared happy that they were interrupted and Light was being scolded. Mihael thought that that was rather odd, but ignored it and went about his own business.
After a while everyone took his or her place at the very large dining room table. Misa appeared to clean the floor, but made sure to stay out of everyone's way. Nathan, who seemed to have been asking if she were certain that they were permitted to be in the room at the moment, to which the maid guaranteed him it was all right, accompanied her.
"I've done this millions of times before." She giggled softly. "As long as we keep quiet and out of the way then nobody cares or notices we're here and the more unnoticed we are at a party the more likely we keep our jobs."
"Yes, that makes sense enough I suppose, Misa is sort of bright when it comes to matters such as this." Nathan said quietly. "Perhaps I could make myself handy elsewhere seeing as Misa has this under control and is much, much more qualified."
The blonde maid nodded smiling cheerfully.
Nathan walked towards the kitchen certain nobody was watching. He gasped softly as he locked eyes with Mihael. Was he watching Nathan's every move? The pallid haired boy felt chilly as the sapphire orbs forced him to freeze.
"Nathan, come here!" Mrs. Yagami's recognizable voice called from the kitchen door.
He sighed gratefully that she'd called him. He was beginning to feel frightened like a young child staring into the bony face of death. Rushing into the kitchen Nathan was surprised when he was given a large tureen that was filled to the brim with wonderful smelling soup.
"Be careful not to spill the soup, it's very hot and will scald skin if not careful." Mrs. Yagami warned. "You must serve each of the gusts and please, for heaven's sakes, child be careful. You aren't given many chances in this household. Why the last gardener was fired for forgetting to water the flowers on his first day!"
"Yes, Mrs. Yagami." He said with a tiny nod.
"Be careful, be swift, be poised and be remorseful if you spill any."
"S-spill any?"
"Yes, but don't fret it's happened more than once, now. Why if you are bumped then it'd be because that room is so full, don't be troubled though you'll be fine, Nathan. Just perform properly and do as told."
"Yes, Mrs. Yagami." Nathan said with an abrupt nod. With that he left out followed by Matsuda who was also carrying a hefty tureen. Nathan walked awkwardly out of the kitchen, but began to walk normally as he neared the table and started to fill one of two bowels that was in front of everybody with Matsuda following close behind him.
"Do you need assistance with that tureen, Nathan?" Mihael's familiar voice asked.
"N-no." Nathan replied shakily. "I c-can handle it."
He moved hastily past the blonde after he filled his bowel feeling butterflies in his tummy all of a sudden. With a silent desire he became relieved when the feeling faded away. However the feeling reappeared as he felt Matsuda bump into him and heard two loud wails of pain. He saw that he had spilled some of the warm soup onto Jane as well as (her attractive elder sister) Margaret Fear. He felt so uncomfortable and felt his face redden as the two stood up and screeched making everyone gawk.
"Will you two be all right?" Mr. Keehle asked in concern.
"X xs şörry." Nathan said vociferously in an outlandish foreign language and accent that made all eyes turn on him. "X xs şörry."
"What did you say?" Jane shreiked.
"You speak rubbish!" Margaret shrieked.
"He speaks an evil language!" a man yelled causing the whole room to come alive with whispers and angry, accusing faces.
"O məndənyaşlıdır. Firı hxm!" Nathan said looking back at Matsuda.
Mihael felt bad for Nathan and was the one who had to restore order and make the people in the room stop making accusations about Nathan just because he knew a strange language. If he didn't then Nathan was certain to lose his job and would lead a miserable life as a misfit. Besides that, Mihael hated the idea of anyone getting into trouble because they were different from the people around them.
"Settle down everyone!" he snapped in a authoritative way. The room fell soundless within mere minutes. All eyes were suddenly on Mihael, including Nathan's wide, fearful dark eyes.
"I'm certain nobody here has heard the language in which Nathan speaks, but that doesn't matter. Don't some of the people here speak French? And doesn't Mr. Pedro, the prosperous merchant, who lives across town speak in a language called Spanish? Whatever language Nathan is speaking is probably similar. So there should be no need for alarm and as for the soup…I'm certain it was unintended. Right?"
Nathan nodded, too terrified to speak.
"There you all have it." Mihael said with a smile. "Father, may I have permission to choose a punishment for both Matsuda and Nathan for causing such an uproar?"
"Permission approved." Mr. Keehle nodded before turning to Jane and Margaret. "Daughters you may fancy to freshen yourselves up and change into new dresses."
"Come with me, Nathan, I will be punishing Matsuda and you." Mihael said ushering him and Matsuda out the door.
"Mən səni eşitdim." Nathan muttered gently.
Mihael led the two upstairs.
Once they were absolutely alone Mihael slapped Matsuda across his face. Nathan cringed fearful that he would also be struck. Instead, however, Mihael gave him an icy scowl. Feeling like he was going to explode into tears Nathan looked to Matsuda who was rubbing his reddened cheek.
"Nathan…you have made Father, dissatisfied. I expect you to ask for forgiveness from him and I expect Matsuda to also ask for forgiveness. Now, as punishment for causing such a dilemma I will assign you both chores that will keep you busy while the party is still going on. After it ends I want you each to ask for forgiveness."
"I understand." Matsuda said with a nod.
"I do, as well." Nathan said coolly.
"Fine. Well, good evening to you both." Mihael said with a jovial grin.
"Good evening." Matsuda said pathetically.
"Axşamın xeyir." Nathan whispered blushing afterwards.
Mihael gave him an inquisitive look. He wondered what language Nathan was speaking in and he attempted to ask, but for the rest of the party and afterwards he seemed to have gone astray. Perhaps he was embarrassed for speaking in a different way or possibly he had already asked for forgiveness and went back to his meek abode. No, that wasn't likely…Mihael's father had just went upstairs there was no way he could have already asked for forgiveness. Mihael didn't reflect on it for too long, though.
He headed straight towards his room ready for some sleep. He saw Nathan leaving his room, but didn't bother questioning him.
"Good night, Nathan." He said. "I trust you've asked for forgiveness?" Nathan stopped in front of him turning his head away timidly; his face was rosy as he nodded.
"Yes, and…Mihael…I express gratitude to you."
"Whatever for?"
"You did not accuse me for speaking in that foreign language…and you saved me from losing my job. I thank you for that. I'm truly grateful...and I trust you know that."
"Oh, hey, it was nothing. I just didn't want you to get into any danger for being unusual. It's not a huge deal you know."
"It is...if you had not helped me then I would have been killed."
"I beg your pardon? Murder?" Mihael exclaimed with shock.
"Nix, just kill."
(A/N I know nix could mean zero but I intended it mean 'no' in the previous sentence.)
"Kill?"
Nathan gave him a brisk nod. "Yes, my father, Simon River, is unwell at the time being, so I am the only one who can support us, but because of my family's reputation it's been tough. My father would simply kill me if I lost this job! He says that if I can't maintain an occupation then I'm of no value. He doesn't want me to drag him down with me."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Mihael said kindheartedly, he gave the wholesome, ashen child a straight smile. "Hmm, I can understand how you must feel. My father expects me to wed some young woman when I turn eighteen. I feel that if I don't then he'll kill me."
"Oh? And this woman…do you feel affection for her? Do you love her?"
"Love her? I don't even know her! All I know about her is that her father is wealthy and can make my father richer, other than that all I know is that her first name is Wedy."
"But…how can you get married to someone you do not care for?"
"I frankly don't want to…um…Nathan may I entrust a secret to you? It's very private and not a soul knows…I think that I can trust you to let you know, but…I want to make sure that you pledge to never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever tell any person."
"You can trust me."
"Okay, well…you know of how you are fond of girls?"
Nathan's face flushed a shallow crimson as he twirled a lock of his hair tensely.
"I-I am not very attracted by females…if I may confess it to Mihael and trust him not to tell. I like males more, but I would not mind being in the company of a girl…or woman. I mean I have had a crush on a girl, but I've had more crushes on boys…I'm sorry…I'm truly sorry…Mihael must feel disgust towards me for having such thoughts and feelings."
"What? No!"
"You…you don't?"
"No, I can identify with you!" Mihael said in relief and anticipation. "I understand what you mean, but I've only had feelings for boys. I thought that I was the only one! I'm very glad that you do, because I'm now certain that I'm not unaccompanied…I-I was starting to think…that something…evil was possessing me or something like that."
"Hmm, I can remember when I felt that way, but things got better for me…when I met a woman who was interested in only other women. She had a nephew who was interested in only boys, and…we both were together…it was a brief but nice relationship."
"Pleased to hear it!" Mihael laughed. "Maybe…we can start out as friends…and see where things go. Would you like that?"
"Yes. I would like to have Mihael as my friend." Nathan said smiling softly. He looked out a window at the end of the hall and sighed sadly. "I must be leaving now… Mihael, you see…my father is not a very patient man and would want me home, soon."
"Okay, but wait! What language were you speaking in…before? I've never heard it until now. It sounded rather…interesting."
"It is called, Azerbaijani Latin. My family has always known the language. My family knows of many, many languages, Mihael. I could teach you some if you like."
"Alright then…could my lessons start tomorrow morning?" Mihael asked hopefully.
"Yes. Yes, I will try to teach you some words…I promise that…I will try, but Mihael must promise not to tell his father…or I may lose my job." Nathan said with a nervous smile. "I shall teach Mihael some basic words...if he wishes."
"Okay. Deal. Good night, Nathan." Mihael yawned.
"Gecən xeyrə qalsın." Nathan said with a courteous nod.
