Written May 31st, 2007. This is a genuine ditty (333 words). Minor William x Isaak during their days at the University together (pre-novel/manga/anime). Imposing my Isaak-as-Romanticist idea on everyone. Rated G. The title is from a Lewis Carroll poem that is merely Isaak-esque, and I suppose it could describe his deteriorating relationship with William as he slowly falls into madness.

Autumn Frosts Have Slain July

By PikaCheeka

"Sometimes I wish to dream myself away."

His voice was barely more than a whisper and William almost ignored him. "Really, Isaak." He sighed.

"It's nothing to do with you." Isaak replied quickly.

"I would find you utterly mad if it did."

His friend's smile was all but a shadow. Silently cursing his toward comment, making the afternoon suddenly unbearable, he moved to stand up.

"Class was cancelled for this afternoon, remember?" William glanced up at his room-mate. The young man had fallen apart in the last year; everyone had seen it. Isaak was barely keeping up with his studies, obsessed with his occult fantasies as he had become. Only William had seen the desperation in his actions though, one he was unwilling to admit even to himself.

"Everything's going to crash, isn't it?" The black-haired man whispered suddenly.

"Why would you think that?"

Isaak slumped back in his chair again, compulsively reaching for another cigarette though he knew he was out. "How long could a nobleman of Germanicus stay in this University?"

"You're hardly a nobleman. I wouldn't worry if I were you." He almost laughed. Isaak could be so strange at times, as if there was another memory of another life trapped within him.

"I'm not Isaak Butler."

His friend hardly flinched. He was used to Isaak's fantasies by this point. "Come now. Are you just worried about the exams next week?"

Isaak laughed bitterly. "Shut up, William." He clipped the smoke from William's fingers and promptly lit it. "Thank you."

They fell into silence soon after, finishing their tea in the dying winter light. Isaak again stood to leave, this time walking around and absently touching his friend's shoulder. "I'm going back to the apartment now." His hand lingered, just long enough for William to smile down at the papers before him. Isaak wasn't there to see the smile falter, wasn't there to see it fade into a troubled look. He never was there.

William never let him be.