Sweet Yet…
Chapter One
"Oz!" called his father Zai as he waits for his 14 years old son, "Oz, please come here," he called once more as Oz comes running down the stairs and stops in front of his father, "Oz as you know a year from today your coming of age ceremony will arrive, we must prepare before that happens," Oz just stares at his father and just nods as he runs off to the kitchen for cookies. Zai places his hand on his forehead and groans, "just what I am going to do with you."
There was a knock on the door, a maid opens the doors only to revealing the Duke Xerxes owner of the great candy industry of Europe, "Hello everyone!" he said as he walks towards Zai, "So my friend, where are thy brat? I need to speak about sweets!"
"Good luck trying to get him to speak…" his friend replied, "his in the kitchen."
"All righty then!" Break runs towards the kitchen as he finds the little blonde boy staring at his cake, ``"Ozzy!" he said as he hugs him, and waits for the maids and the cooks to leave, "now… you know why I am here brat, the cakes better be chocolate, ok?" his face was filled with a devious grin.
"No," Oz replied as he walks away, Break manages to get in front of him.
"You like cookies don't you?" Oz nods, "Very well then chocolate cakes for your party and you can have a mega cookie!" sparkles are now around to make a convincing effect!
"I want Lemon cake."
"Lemon cake ok! Wait… WHAT? THAT'S DISGUSTING!"
"Well I like lemon cake and it is my birthday, so get to it," he said as he walks pass Break and towards the living room. Break's jaw drops and is now very angry… and quickly writes the order down but puts chocolate frosting on it, "Don't you dare, Break," he froze for a second and crosses out the chocolate frosting part.
"You are not funny you little sour brat!"
"You are not eating any cake then!"
"I won't make it!"
"If you don't I'll show that really embarrassing picture from Christmas party, with you dressed up as a prostitute."
"For the last time that wasn't me!" glares at Oz, "What happened to that hyper smiling child I use to steal cake from! I really hate you…" he storms off as he slams the exit doors open, "There will be no cake for this party!" slams the doors shut. Zai is now desperate, as his younger brother Oscar shows up with his wine bottle and is carrying his luggage.
"Oscar what are you doing?" he asked his brother.
"Our carriage is going to leave soon, c'mon get your stuff we got to go!" as he drags his brother towards the carriage, "I'm sure your boy should be fine with the party and everything," Zai gulps hard and before he could say anything, "Don't worry, I got yourself a new butler, Since we are going to be in Paris for a year might as well as get that boy a tutor someone who will teach him some manners! Trust me when we returned your boy is going to be a damn duke!"
"What? How? Who?" Zai asks as he watches the maids finish loading everything in the carriage as it starts to leave.
"His name is…" Oscar whispers the butler's name into Zai's ear, as soon enough after a breath taking silence of 10 seconds...
"WHAT?" Zai screamed on the top of his lungs.
…
A knock on the door is heard, Oz walks towards the main entrance, "Break I am not going to change the order-"he pauses as he notices a tall young man at the door with raven black hair and striking golden eyes, the man was wearing nothing but a black clothing, on his right hand as a pocket watch and on his left was his bag, "who are you?" the young man smiles.
"I am Gilbert Nightray, here as your butler, at your service…" he said as he bows, "Jack…" realizes he made a mistake, "I mean Oz," the blonde boy shuts the door on his face, "He-hey!" Banging at the door, "Open up!"
"No Nightrays, go away!"
"I'm going to count until three, and you will open this door… young master… one…" the door is not opening, "…two…" and extra lock is heard from the inside, "very well then… THREE!" he kicks the giant 15 feet tall doors down.
"You have to pay for that."
"Young master, you do realize it's very, very, rude to shut the door on guests," he said as he picks up the door and puts back in its place.
"I do it to Break all the time."
"So do I…"
"You are really, really, really…"
"Yes young master?"
"Ugly."
Gilbert vein twitches, "Young master, that is very kind of you…" he said with a false grin.
"Now go get me food," he said.
"What?"
"You heard me, I want food."
"You must say please."
"No, food, now."
"Looks like you are lacking manners," he throws Oz over his shoulder, "I'm afraid I have to punish you now," he took a look at his golden pocket watch (the one he had in his hand before), "well I only have an hour and 20 minutes to get things ready, I hope Break can finish baking everything I ask him. Wouldn't you agree, young master?"
"What? Put me down! You freak!" he starts punching Gilbert's back, the blonde keeps struggling as his butler carries him towards his room, "How did you even know this was my room?" Gilbert did not answer and places Oz on top of his wardrobe, the tallest one. "H-hey! G-get me down from here! I-I hate heights!" he said as he clings on to the sides of the wardrobe, his anger had completely disappeared now only showing fear, like a kitten stuck on a tree.
"Until you learn how to respect your elders, you will not come down," he said as he starts to walk towards the exit, "see you in an hour," Gilbert quickly shuts the door as he runs for his luggage, and starts getting everything ready before the party, he whistles for the maids and the other servants to start decorating the rooms, "Everyone listen up! We only have an hour and less than 20 minutes to turn this mansion into a master piece, so I need every single base filled with white and red roses, also all the tables must have silver ware not a single one missing anything," the maids were gathering around with the white and red roses while all madly squealing for the new servant in the house.
"Yes sir!" Every love struck maid replied, as they run off to do what was commanded.
"Now, for the gardeners, I need you to trim every single thorn of every flower in that garden, I need the water foundations to be working and the bushes and grass must be trim down," the gardeners only nodded, "Now... what else..." he looks at the cooks, "Of course! For the appetizers, Crab and Lobster Cakes will be served, follow by the Lobster Corn Chowder, now for the main dish as you all are guessing sea food is our theme for tonight, Lobster will be served along with Crabs, shrimp and any other dishes involving sea food please get to it and finish it fast," one of the cooks raised their hand, "Yes?"
"I'm guessing from what we heard from Oscar you must be the new Vessalius Butler, but tell us Mr. Nightray why are you working as a servant of this household?"
"As you may know my brother and I were both adopted and if it wasn't for Mr. Oscar I would have died, I promised him once I was old enough I would become a servant of the Vessalius household, and now I am," he replied with a smile.
"But why serve Master Oscar's nephew? I mean not to be rude but his a brat! His spoiled and rude and never listens to his father, he doesn't even play the violin or the piano his older sister has been trying to teach that for years! He doesn't even show his fiancee any affection!" the old man said with an annoyed voice.
"I heard that ever since that child's mother died he hasn't been the same."
"Well..."
"You can't just judge a child for his actions, he must have some emotional backgrounds due to that and that could explain his change in personality, and that's why I am here for to teach him to break all those walls and become the proper Duke, now if you'll excuse me I have to talk to the man who is bringing all the sweets in," the cooks stare in disbelief, soon enough Break popped out from the covert, "Xerxes where's the order?" he asked the silver/purple hair man.
"All ready here! The cakes, the cookies, candies, chocolates, everything is here! My workers are bringing every in right now," he said with a smile, "but... well, well, well, well... Look at you Gilbert Nightray, I never thought you would become a servant of the Vessalius household let alone become the butler of the blondie brat," Gilbert gave him an annoyed look, "Ah c'mon don't be like that! You know I'm just kidding but..." Break leans closer to Gilbert's ear and whispers, "your act isn't fooling me... Glen..." Gilbert's eyes widen as he backs away from Break, "just kidding!" he replied laughing, "You should have seen the look on your face!"Gilbert falls to his knees but quickly gets up when one of the maids ran towards them.
"Gilbert, everything is ready!" the maid reported as she was having a nosebleed.
"Thank you, I'll go get the young master ready, be sure to welcomed the guests," he leaves the dining room and enters Oz's room, who is still sitting on the top of the wardrobe, "I hope you've learned your lesson."
"Whatever, just get me down… please…" Gilbert smiles as he gets Oz down, "thank you."
"That's much better, now young master let's get you ready for the party," he opens the wardrobe and finds the birthday outfit which was a nice green outfit, "now…let's start this again shall we? I am Gilbert Nightray your new and only butler, now… my young master… in order to show you my loyalty that I will never harm you and will always protect you…" he takes out the pocket watch, "please take this pocket watch as a gift of my loyalty," Oz stares at the watch and bites his lower lip, he hesitantly takes the watch, "when you need me, just open it, the melody shall lead me to you."
"Whatever…" he starts to undress himself as he makes a hand gesture so Gilbert can leave, "Entertain the guests while I get ready…" as Gilbert closes the door, "what a weirdo… somehow I get the feeling I've met him before…" he starts to puts on his pants and his shirt, he stares at himself in the mirror but he did not look like himself, he look older, his hair was longer, and his smile was quite different from ever before, he blinks twice as his reflection is back to normal, "weird…" a sudden knock on the door was heard, "coming just a second," he replies as he finishes tying his tie and opens the door, "Oh Alice!" he was a little surprised to see his fiancé, "why aren't you-" he wasn't able to finish his sentence due to the fact that his fiancé was now hugging him.
"Oh Oz!" she said, "I haven't seen you in 2 months!" she is now squishing him with her bear arms strength, "Why didn't you call me? Or write to me? Do you know how worried I was?"
"C-can't bre-breathe!" Oz managed to say, "hugging- to-too tight!"
Alice let's go and kisses him on the cheek, "I'm sorry… I just got a little excited," she said as she holds Oz's hand, and leads him towards the ball room where all the guests are, and of course Gilbert was waiting for him at the end of the stairs.
"Young Master," he bows, "My lady," as he escorts the two towards the cake, "I hope you enjoy the cake…" the cake is all ready cut and it is coconut with chocolate on it, he takes the plates and hands them over to the birthday boy and his fiancé, "I hope you enjoy it."
"This wasn't the cake-" Gilbert shoves a spoon full of cake into his mouth.
"A proper gentleman, should not complain to what it is given," Alice gasps at her sight, "forgive me my lady, but I am his guardian from today on," he replies as he wipes some of the cake from the corners of Oz's mouth, the young man just glares at him, "and he needs to learn how to become a proper gentleman before the coming of age ceremony, I'm pretty sure Miss Alice, that you would love to marry a proper noble man correct?" Alice blushes while nodding.
"That's enough…" Oz commanded, as he takes his fiancé to the dance floor and starts waltzing with her, "I'm terribly sorry about that Alice… his just new… and annoying…" he said as he spins his fiancé, "He is going to live here now."
"Well his certainly handsome," she said with a smile as Oz blushes with frustration, "but I prefer my cute little Oz," as she kisses him, "I'm positive you'll be just fine, make me proud."
"Alice…" he said while blushing a little bit more, "I don't trust him…" he kept an eye on his butler so he wouldn't hear them talk, "he is a Nightray, his very suspicious he gave me a pocket watch and called me Jack for God's sake, something is not right about him, and I'm going to find out what it is…" the song was over, Break bumps into them with Sharon, "You!"
"Sorry I didn't see you!" Laughs as Sharon kicks him in the shins, tears roll down his eyes in pain, "T-this is my fiancé…"
"Yeah she's my fiancée older sister."
"Oh… I see… here!" places cookies on Oz's mouth, "have you ever heard the saying of people are prettier when they are quiet?" he smiles and waves as him and Sharon go towards the cake, Alice just giggles as soon enough a stranger bumps into both of them.
"Oh pardon me, are you Mr. Vessalius?" the stranger asked.
"Yes, I am," he replied, the stranger smiles and pulls out a gun. Alice gasps as the stranger grabs Oz and pulls the gun up to his head, as a bunch of men start breaking in from the windows and doors scaring the guests.
"Everybody on the floor hands over your head, do not move or this kid will die!" he said with a laugh, "all your belongings are now mine!" he said as he shoots his gun up at the ceiling causing terror to the guests, "Are you afraid little boy?" as he points the gun up to his cheek.
"Are you done yet? I would like to continue dancing with my fiancée," the stranger's men start to laugh as they keep stealing all the money; the stranger gets frustrated and slaps him with the gun.
"Watch your mouth!" as now he points the gun up to his forehead, he notices the men are about to finish and he is walking towards the exit with Oz, "you'll be good for ransom…" he laughs, "I can't wait to see my name on the front pages of the newspaper! Emil Jones kidnaps the great Duke's son! The best part is..." he holds the gun towards Oz's lips, "I'm going to leave scars on that pretty face of yours and maybe if I feel like... I might just kill you! And no one will stop me!"he laughs, "Are you scared now?"
"Listen buddy, I really want to continue with my party and you are only making things boring," the boy replied with a devious smile, "you are so pathetic..." Emil kicks Oz in the stomach.
"I'm going to make you regret saying that you stupid brat! How would you like to have a dead girlfriend next?" he points his gun at Alice, who gasps in terror as some of his men get behind Alice and hold her captive, Oz's eyes widen, "Well... well... well... looks like I've hit a weak point no? Unless you don't want her dead you just keep your little mouth shut and do whatever I say, ok?" Oz glares at him, "Aww... Is the little brat angry, you are aren't you?" the man snickered, "All righty then... hey guys while don't you have some fun with this little lady?"
"Don't you dare!" Oz yelled.
"There's nothing you can do... and oh really? Hey I've got a brilliant idea... why don't we also take her with us and then you can watch her get raped," Emil was noticing the fear expression on the blonde boy's face, "That's the face I've been wanting to see! That fear in your eyes, look at you... you are all powerless and defensive and daddy isn't here to save you anymore..." the man snickered, "well then... since you are been such a good boy will let the young lady go..." he snaps his fingers as they men let go of Alice as she crawls back towards her sister, sobbing, Oz suddenly realize that through all that time Gilbert had not been there, he had completely disappeared... and then he remembered...
"Play the pocket watch melody... and it shall lead me to you..."
"What are you mumbling about?" Emil asked as Oz pulls out his pocket watch and plays the melody,"What in the world?"
"I'm afraid your charade ends here, Mr. Jones."
Black wings for the last thing Oz saw before he became unconscious...
...
"Are you all right?" the blonde boy found himself been held by Gilbert's arms, soon he got up while still carrying on in a bridal style,"attention everyone I'm sorry about tonight's unfortunate events but I may assure this will not happen again," He replied with a smile as Oz just stares, "Yes?" he asked as he let's go off him gently making sure he stands back on his own two feet.
"Just who are you?" he asked with a serious tone on his voice, follow by his expression, Gilbert smiles and ruffles Oz's hair, leaning towards his left ear.
"I'm Gilbert Nightray…" he whispers as the police arrived, Oz couldn't help but to shiver at the man's tone of voice. He was certainly not use to this, after all he has always been a spoiled child since birth by his older sister and his mother, he has been scolded in the past by his father but he never really did anything to ground him; this man was certainly not like his parents or sibling. "Young Master," he said as he pulls out a hanker chief from his pocket, and wipes the blonde's cheeks that had little spots of blood on them, "Next time, if something like this ever happens again I would recommend for you to be more careful, your father would kill me if something happened to you." Oz just stares at him in disbelief, no servant had ever told him anything like that, this thought frighten him he was afraid of his butler somehow, "Do not be afraid," the boy's eyes widen this man had just read his mind! "You'll stay out of harm's way, I promise," he replied as he strokes the boy's face.
3 hours later
"Well this certain was an exciting party," said Break in a sarcastic way, "Sharon, I believe it's time we leave, you've been through a lot today and your sister and you deserve a good night's sleep," Sharon just nods quietly as Break leads his fiancé towards the carriage and helps Alice get inside the carriage.
"Thank you for coming," said Oz to Break.
"I should have recorded that! I just got thank by the great Oz!" he laughs as he pokes his ear, Oz kicks him on the shins.
"Break I need you to do a background check on Gilbert Nightray."
"Ah, I've noticed you've started to suspect too," Break replied, "I've had my doubts about this young man as well... not to mention his little brother might be dropping by I suggest that you do not let your guard down, now before I leave has anything strange happened since you two met? Like has he called you by any other name other than your own?"
"He did... wait how did you know about-"
"Your bath is ready young master," Gilbert announced, "please come here at once."
"I'll talk to you later, Xerxes..." Oz replied as he runs towards his butler as Break smiles, while getting inside the carriage and leaving the Vessalius Mansion behind.
Meanwhile
"Oscar... how dare you bring a Nightray into the family!" Zai exclaimed.
"Relax Zai, everything will be all right."
"You are too drunk to even understand the situation!"
"I am not!"
...
"Young Master, your clothes shall be hang on the door," Gilbert replied with a smile as he closes the door that is connect to Oz's room.
"Did he have a chain? How… how did… where did he come from there's no way his Gilbert Nightray, I've heard he was a scary cat and really nervous at times like this…" he thought to himself out aloud as he finishes washing his hair, he starts getting dressed for bed, "Why does he talk and care for me like that, he barely knows me... I need to find out what's going on here and fast..." he walks towards his room, Gilbert was waiting there as he frowns, "Stop popping out of nowhere!"
"Forgive me, my young master but I'm afraid I must tuck you in."
"I'm fourteen!" he replied.
"Orders are orders," he said with a grin as he escorts Oz to bed and tucks him in, "you've had a rough surprising day but I'm letting you know now… this is only the beginning… Good night, young master," he replied as he is about to exit the room.
"Wait, tell me one thing. If you are a Nightray why work for the Vessalius household? I mean... it was my uncle who rescued you not me so why serve a spoil brat like me?"
"Because…" he walks towards Oz and gently kisses his hand, "You are my young master..." Gilbert turns off the lights and exited the room, leaving Oz wonder for the rest of the night.
End of Chapter 1