~Black Crimson Rose~ ~Chapter 1: His Butler, Roses of Fate~
Disclaimer's Note: I do not own Kuroshitsuji, the anime, nor the manga so please don't take me to court. I'll never get my Grell cosplay done without some money. Cosplay isn't free you know.
Summary: This is a yaoi SebastianxGrell fanfic where Grell and Sebastian must go through many trials and tribulations in order to keep the love that they share for each other. In other words the story of Kuroshitsuji through Grell's eyes, as well as the made up story line where the two are trying to get past the fact that shinigami and demons are supposed to be sworn enemies.
Author's Note: Yes the Undertaker makes a guest appearance in this chapter, and yes him and Dahlia are brother and sister in case you were wondering…or will wonder since this is the start of the chapter. Every now and then I'll pop a few side notes to allow you to know any references appear in the chapter and where they came from.
-England: Early 1700's-
Dahlia was known the world over for her fortunes. Even the queen herself called her the Oracle of Fate. She wore nothing but a long black cloak like one you would see worn on a Black Magic user. No one knows what she looks like and no one ever will. Today one woman in particular was seeking out Dahlia's shop with one reason in mind...She wanted to find out the fate of her baby boy.
The said woman had long red hair, with a row of fangs for teeth, the baby in her hands looking just the same. She wasn't a human woman but a shinigami...a god of death straight from the shinigami realm...A woman known as the Bloody Rose. She had a curse on her and she knew that she didn't have that much longer to live and she wanted to know what would become of her son when she was gone.
It was a dark night as is the proper setting for a scene such as this and the moonlight was casting shadows even in the darkest of places and playing with the highlights in her bright red hair. He yellow eyes dart from to and fro looking for the legendary shop that many said never existed in the first place. Being a stubborn female death goddess she never believed a word of what anyone told her. She hoped that it was a quality that her son would never have.
Soon her smile grew wide and her mouth temporarily looked like a shark's. Bingo! She found the shop hidden away in an isolated alley way that no one had ever treaded upon before. The shop door was a very dark black and it was starting to peel apart from age, and hanging above was a squeaking sign that rocked back and forth that read "Madame Dahlia."
As she walked in holding her baby close to her heart she stepped through the door of darkness only to walk into even more darkness separated by dim candlelight.
"Come in...I'm in the other room..."
Rose jumped, startled at the sudden voice in the dark. She followed the voice and saw the fortune teller herself just like she had heard in the stories.
"Set the baby...Set your son Grell on the table..."
Rose did what she was asked and the second Grell was on the table Dahlia placed a pair of hands on the child, each finger adorned with long pointy black nails. She said a few words that Rose couldn't understand but after awhile she looked up at Rose who had taken a seat down on a mat.
"You need not worry Miss Sutcliff. You are to give your baby to a man by the name of William T. Spears tomorrow before you die the morning of the full moon. This William shall raise your son like one of his own and when you pass you'll vanish out of his mind and memories entirely...but he'll be safe from harm. He'll grow up to be a fine man, a bit of a screw-up, but fine notherless. He's going to cause trouble for others but...he is your son after all...There's...one more thing that you should know...You're son is going to go through a trial of his love and faith that he's going to have to face alone."
Rose had a smile on her face up until the fact that her only son is going to have to go through something hard on his own. "What about William? Can't he help?"
Dahlia shook her head. "No...This he must do on his own...I can only tell you this...Two roses shall grow within the garden. One red and one black. They shall meet by fate and fall into everlasting love. The only thing that can break them apart is...the fulfillment of the gardener's undying wish for vengeance....That is all that I can tell you...I'm done here and one more thing before I leave your presence...It's not the future that counts...It's what you do with the present that really matters." She smiled as she slowly started to vanish into the darkness, leaving baby Grell on the table where he had been placed. Rose picked her baby up and took him home for the last time before she was to hand him to an unknown stranger the next day.
"Whatever it may be that you have to go through my precious Grell...Mommy will always be watching you from the Heaven's...That witch may have used up my remaining life but I'm far from going to the pits of Hell....Mommy will...always be watching...My sweet sweet son."
~The next day~
Rose even though she never went out during daylight hours, went to the library having been told my her friends that the leader of the shinigami, William T. Spears, hung out most of the time with her child, Grell, in hand. The library was a place she never went willingly because well...she hated books and found reading boring. She asked everyone there that she saw if they were William, or if they knew where she was. She came across a dark looking man wearing a black robe, much like the one that Dahlia had worn, and he had long silver hair that covered his eyes, and went all the way down to the ground.
"Excuse me Sir...but are you William? And if you're not do you know wh-"
The man turned around and grinned wickedly at her. He had two scars on his face. One on his neck, the other going from one end of his face to the other. His looks alone were enough to creep her out.
"William? William T. Spears? I could tell you...for a price that is..."
"Wha-What do you want?"
"I want to hear a good joke. I want you to make me laugh until my guts fall out...Heheheheheh...."
Shivers went down her spine at his whole presence as well as his dark, silky voice.
"Uhhh...okay...Um let's see...This duck and a rabbi go into a bar right? The rabbi orders a beer and the suck scorns him and says, "Man! What a quack up! Get it? A quack...up?"
"..."
The man just stared at her with a deadpanned look on his features and then he reached a hand out to her that was a lot like Dahlia 's as well. Were they...related in some way? The hand touched her shoulder and poked it.
"That was the worst joke...I have ever heard...It's about as dead as the corpses that go into my hand-made coffins."
Rose freaked out as she got as far away from him as she possibly could, almost knocking down a bookshelf. "Y-Y-You make c-c-coffins?"
"Yes...I'm the Undertaker..."
"...."
She screamed as she ran off to the next room, still holding onto her baby son, covering his face so he wouldn't have to see or hear such things. The Undertaker sighed as he continued looking through the books for one to read during his free time.
I'm supposed to leave my son here? In the shinigami realm? If I wasn't one myself I wouldn't be living here either...Wanting to be somewhere else...is what got me cursed in the first place...?
She continued her search and was just going to give up when she came across an ebony table where another man was sitting, holding a long Death Scythe in one hand that looked more like a grappling hook that one uses to grab something that is far too high for them to reach, and a newspaper in the other. His face was covered up but she walked in and closed the door behind her.
"Umm...Are you...William T. Spears?"
The man set down his newspaper and pushed his glasses up on his face with his Death Scythe. His was was calmed, but yet highly stern and serious.
"Well that depends...What can this William do for you...Bloody Rose?"
She flinched slightly when she was called by her shinigami nickname. She had earned that name because she would always leave a rose on all those that she passed judgment upon, and since the victims were always bleeding from the wound the rose was always bloody. She could tell by the way that he talked that she had found the right guy.
"I don't have very long to live...up until the next full moon to be exact, and that's in the next few days. I was told by the Oracle of Fate that I should give my kid to you so that you can raise him as your own while I'm no longer living and breathing. I'm asking a lot of you this I know but I'm desperate..No child deserves to be left alone in this world or any world at all."
William glanced over the table and saw the red-headed baby within the blankets and the baby smiled up at him with his yellow eyes like a cat.
"Give me one good reason...I should waste my time to raise...that? If I were to give in to everyone's requests then I would be fired from my position for sure and someone else would be running our race."
Sparkling tears began to stream down Rose's face. "Please William...Will...I'm all that he has left in this world...He's my only heart and soul...if he continues to live then I'll live forever as well because I'll always be a part of him...Even if he'll never remember me..."
William let out a sigh as he used his Death Scythe to pull the baby up by the blanket, and placed the child gently into his hands before pushing his glasses up again.
"Fine...I'll take care of your son...He does have a name doesn't he?"
She slowly smiled as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
"His name is Grell Sutcliff."
With that she walked out the door and was never seen or heard from again.