Warning: The following fanfic contains randomness. You have been warned. Anyway, hey guys, so this is my second fanfic and my first Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji/whatever you want to call it fanfic! Also, I do not know who said the quote I used in this chapter, I just remember reading it somewhere and thought it was really cool so I used it. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Black Butler or the quote I used in this chapter. Or Jane Eyre.
Chapter 1: Words are not needed among the Rosemary
"Love is a leap of faith."
This saying couldn't relate more to the characters in this story, and little did they know there leap of faith was about to begin…
Time travel: that was the cause of all this. The mysterious organization known as The Agency worked around England in secret, unknown to the public. Well, the general public that is. The Queen of England had recently become aware of this herself, as did her watch dog, Ciel Phantomhive. In fact, the Queen had ordered Ciel to meet some members of the organization and perhaps strike up a business deal with them. The reason for this was simple; with the assistance of The Agency, controlling London's underground might become easier. In fact, The Agency was already trying to help all of England, and therefore could be very useful. And so it was Ciel found himself one morning flipping through some papers at his desk about The Agency.
"You're tea, my young lord," Sebastian said as he laid a cup and saucer in front of Ciel. "On today's schedule, young master, you are to meet with those members of The Agency at promptly 3:00 P.M. sharp. Tea and cake shall be served."
"Very well," Ciel sighed, shuffling his papers. "That will be all. You may go now."
"Yes, my lord," Sebastian replied and left the room.
Thyme Rosemary stared at the sky that lay before her. Where are you? She thought as her paintbrush dipped in water and she proceeded to create a new shade of strawberry blonde for her painting. I need you. The words kept echoing in her mind as she created a beautiful shade of blue and green whirlpools for eyes. As she finished painting the porcelain like skin on her canvas she whispered, "I will see you again. Although whether it is in this life or the next I cannot say." Adrenaline rushed through her body and a little, almost miniscule voice seemed to whisper, Today's going to be a very important day.
Finnian was out in the garden, weeding the roses just like he usually did each morning. Today's going to be a very important day. He nearly jumped. Where had those words come from? He shrugged it off. "Well, whatever!" He said cheerfully, a smile plastered onto his face. "Time to do my chores, and today I will get them done RIGHT!" And with determination in his eyes, the strawberry blond- haired gardener went back to work.
BANG! This was the sound that Rosalind Rosemary heard as she put down the book she had been reading and sighed. Thyme, Rosalind thought to herself as she smoothed down her skirts and stood up. A tall young woman with long brown hair and brown eyes, Rosalind adored books. She would always make sure to read every day, and treated books as if they were her own children. She read so often that she had even acquired nicknames from various people, such as "The Bookworm" or the "Walking Encyclopedia". However, regardless of what people thought about her obsession, or whether or not it was approved of in society for a woman to read so much, Rosalind continued to be the crazed book fanatic that she was.
At the moment, Rosalind had been reading one of her favorite novels for the umpteenth time, Jane Eyre. However, for now she would have to leave the fascinating world of Mr. Rochester, and Jane Eyre herself, the poor and plain but intelligent and kind hearted governess of Thornfield Hall. After memorizing what page she was on- a trick Rosalind had taught herself to do since she was little- Rosalind got up and went to Thyme's room. Thyme had always been a clumsy creature by nature, but seemed to have only gotten more accident prone as she got older, especially these days. Wondering what the disaster could be this time, Rosalind stepped into the room.
Thyme had fallen face first with a sketchbook in hand on her unmade bed and a chair had been knocked over in the process.
"Thyme, that's the second time you have caused harm to an innocent inanimate object in just as many hours. " Rosalind informed her younger sister as she went over to make sure she was okay. "Why must you treat them this way? They haven't done anything to you."
"'T wasn't me," Thyme gasped, offended at being accused of such a thing." How could you possibly think that? I admit to nothing; it was like that when I got here. It must have been a wrack spurt trying to frame me! They must have left one of their traps lying around, making me fall on the bed as I came through the window; you know how they always love to frame me for stuff I didn't do-"
"Hold it!" Rosalind stopped her slightly unhinged sister's rant abruptly. "Rewind a bit; what did you say about coming through the window? Thyme, you've been on the roof again, haven't you?"
Thyme gulped, silently cursing herself for her little slip up. "I'm in trouble now, aren't I?"
"A world of it," Rosalind replied. "Thyme, you know I don't like you on the roof; it's dangerous to be up there! What would happen if you were to fall off? You could be seriously injured!"
"Uh, Rosalind, "Thyme interrupted, knowing Rosalind could go on for hours if she didn't cut her off now. " Super strength here, remember? If I fall it's unlikely I would break any bones because I'm so strong."
"Those doctors at the lab may have given you super strength," Rosalind's voice went quiet, but Thyme could hear every word that she was saying. "But they did not give you super healing, while you may not break any bones if you fell off, you could still cut or scrape yourself. I do not want to see you get hurt." As brown eyes bore into blue, it became clear to both girls that Rosalind was talking about something more than mere physical pain.
"I won't," Thyme assured Rosalind." Don't worry about me so much. I can take care of myself."
Right at that moment a paper lying around Thyme's room suddenly flew around the room, due to a sudden breeze coming in through the open window, and hit Thyme in the eyes.
"WAAH!" Thyme cried out, flailing her arms around frantically. "DANGER, DANGER, CAN'T SEE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I'VE BEEN HIT! I'VE BEEN HIT! GOODBYE CRUEL WORL-"
Right at that moment Rosalind lifted the paper off of Thyme, who had not lost any of her eyesight neither had she died. Thyme, upon noticing this declared," I'm okay." before collapsing back onto her bed. Personally this did nothing to reassure Rosalind about her sister's mental well being.
Rosalind rubbed her temples; she could feel a headache coming on already. With admirable patience- or perhaps maybe just sheer exhaustion prevented her from yelling – Rosalind turned to her sister and said," Look, let's just agree that you should not go on the roof and no more will be said on that subject. Okay?"
"Okay." Thyme said although both girls knew full well that Thyme would probably do it again anyway. Neither one pointed this out however, being as they both knew the other knew already without having to say anything. Rosalind ordinarily would have dropped the subject at that, but felt compelled to ask a question she had been wondering about for a while now.
"What were you doing up on the roof anyway?" Thyme grinned and showed Rosalind a piece of paper from her sketchbook.
Rosalind's eyes scanned the painting, taking notice of all the color and artwork. "Oh," Rosalind breathed. "So this is…"
"Yeah," Thyme's ordinarily loud projecting voice had gone eerily quiet, and while there were times when Rosalind wished for some peace and quiet coming from Thyme, that one perfectly normal word seemed strange coming out of Thyme's mouth. For once Rosalind was the one to break the silence that followed.
"Your artwork has this boy in it a lot, right Thyme." It was an observation, not a question. Thyme responded with a nod, though there was a distant look in her eyes indicating that although her body was in the room her mind and soul had traveled elsewhere.
"Wow, this is really amazing Thyme!" Rosalind's irritation at Thyme had subsided as soon as she saw the painting. Rosalind was not a very skilled artist but had tremendous respect and appreciation for talent in the arts.
"Your artwork has improved so much over the past years! I swear, out of all the times you've drew this boy this is my favorite! He looks so realistic I half expect to see a person instead of a painting! You are so talented; I've never been able to draw or paint like this…."
"You are far too modest Rosalind," Thyme teased playfully. "Your portrait of us at Christmas was so informative! Why, I never realized that I was a man, that Batty had an afro, or that you were a unicorn until after viewing your work! I shall remember it forever…"
Rosalind scowled and threw a pillow at a laughing Thyme. "Oh, be quiet." She snapped.
"Okay, Okay," Thyme apologized once her laughing fit subsided. "I was just kidding; but seriously, I will always treasure that whenever I need a good laugh. Thank you."
Rosalind had no idea whether she should take that as a compliment or an insult, but it seemed as though Thyme intended that as a compliment and an apology. However one thing she was sure of; even though Thyme had broken one of her rules and judging by the state of the room had evidently forgot to do her chores, she was happy to see her sister working on her art. Thyme always seemed to be laughing or crying, or shouting or screaming about something, but when she was working on her artwork, she was transformed into a totally different person. The usually emotional and hyperactive girl was suddenly quiet, calm, peaceful, and for once seemed to be at ease with the world.
Everything was not at ease at the Phantomhive manor. Bard had nearly blown up the kitchen when he had been "cooking" (Sebastian had wound up doing all the actual cooking after that out of concern for the house remaining in one piece), Meirin had broken nearly all the plates in the house again, and her clumsiness had resulted with her falling in Sebastian's arms he was starting to wonder if it was all on purpose. Meanwhile Tanaka happily drank tea as he watched the scene unfold. However, the most troublesome servant in Sebastian's mind today was Finny. Finny was prone to daydreaming sometimes and struggled but tried his best with the gardening, but today he seemed even more clumsier than usual and didn't seem to be really concentrating on his work. Odd, Sebastian thought but gave more notice on the matter and went back to work.
"Batty, may I come in?" It was Rosalind's voice.
"Yes." Batty replied in a vice so soft that most people ordinarily would not have heard her, but Rosalind knew Batty well enough to understand she could enter the room. Rosalind opened the door and found a little girl sitting on the floor of her room playing with dolls. The girl was very young- no more than 4 or 5 years old- and had golden blonde curls that glistened in the sunlight and had blue eyes. Batty Rosemary; Rosalind and Thyme's little sister.
"Hey Batty, just so you know we're going to have to leave soon to go to meet with Earl Phantomhive. Okay?" Rosalind made sure her tone was gentle with Batty; she knew how easily nervous and scared Batty could be sometimes and also knew how shy she was around strangers. The idea of leaving home for a couple of hours, visiting a stranger's house, and meeting new people probably had her scared stiff. And sure enough, Rosalind's suspicions proved to be correct.
"How are you feeling?" Rosalind asked delicately.
"I'm nervous," Batty confessed. "What if they don't like me? What if I mess up? What if they're mean? I'm scared." Batty would never have dreamt of telling these secret worries to anyone else. Most people Batty knew would have just laughed or told her she was being dumb, but Rosalind was different; Rosalind listened.
"Batty, you'll be fine. Just be yourself. You won't mess up and even if you do that's okay. And if they do anything at all that upsets you, they will regret it for the rest of their lives… if they live, that is."
The Phantomhive servants assembled themselves in front of the front door, ready to greet their guests. Finny found it unusually hard to stand still, and felt jittery all over. Probably nothing, he thought to himself but wasn't so sure.
"What in the name of sanity are you two wearing?" Rosalind had left her sisters for merely one moment by the door of their house to go get something she had forgotten inside and when she emerged she found them each wearing two red caps with gold string on them.
"This, my young grasshopper," Thyme explained to Rosalind, attempting to look very wise. "Is called a fez. "
"I know what it's called," Rosalind interjected," I was just wondering where you got it and why you two are wearing it."
"Oh, I just went back in the time stream to get it because they are so epically AWESOME!"
"Did you pay for them?" Rosalind asked part of her scared to know the answer.
"Please," Thyme said indignantly. "Of course I paid for them! I didn't just steal them! What do you take me for, a criminal? No, wait- don't answer that. Anyway, aren't the fezzes so cool? Fezzes rock!"
"Okay, they are cool," Rosalind conceded. "But you guys can't wear them out of the house. It would be messing with the space time continuum or something like that."
"You brought back a computer and a TV from the future! We're living in Victorian England, and we have a computer and television? What is up with THAT?" Thyme pointed out.
"Yeah, but we don't let anyone else besides us see it." Rosalind explained, then turning to Batty who was wearing the fez whispered," I'll give you twice as much as whatever she's bribing you with if you back me up here."
"Okay that will be two fezzes, please!"
The rest of their journey was uneventful, apart from Rosalind convincing her sister not to wear the fez and Thyme running over to pet a bunny and then chasing it when it ran away. The girls lived in a house in the woods near the Phantomhive estate so they simply walked there. As they came into the clearing in front of the estate, Thyme suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.
No way, it couldn't be… but it was. Thyme broke into a run, her sisters called after her but she didn't hear them. Feelings took over thought; all reason was lost and had no effect. Everything mattered, nothing mattered. Nothing that is, except for him. Every emotion she had ever felt inside her piled up until she would explode and yet at the same time she felt perfectly emotionless.
Thyme's vision became blurred and she felt as though she was in two places at once, even though she physically wasn't. Her legs and feet took on a mind of her own, moving without her realizing it. She would not lose him this time; she swore on her life.
Finny froze as he saw a familiar figure running towards him. "Thyme Rosemary." The words left his mouth before he could stop them. Eyes widened, he stood there paralyzed for a moment before running towards her. Thyme and Finny embraced, reunited at last.
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