Hey, world, I'm back with another Kuroshitsuji fanfic ^_^. Like the rest it's a SebastianxCiel, though there's nothing too extreme in this one.
Disclaimer: I don't own the series, I only play with the characters every once in awhile.
Enjoy!
The Brass Pocketwatch
The cold wind in Paris's midnight air whipped and roared as it made its way down the cobblestone streets, into the dark alleyways. The main street was empty and completely entrenched in darkness.
The year was 1360.
A bit farther down the street, a lamp in an upstairs workshop crackled to life. In the tiny room stood an old man, bent over his most recent unfinished work. He had dissembled the face and the hour hand already, and was now, once more, attempting to get the foliot in working order. After a few extremely cautious minutes, he extracted his hand from the contraption and wiped his brow with his sleeve. He had no idea if he would ever be able to fix it. He had one last option left, but he was hesitant to try it, lest it displace the other parts of the contraption.
He closed his eyes for a moment.
The king would not be pleased. And he'd lose everything, more likely than not...he tried not to think about what he'd already lost in his journey to this country.
'When the time comes for me to present this tomorrow,' he wondered, 'What will I do? What will his Highness do to me?'
Suddenly images of his tortured children surfaced in his mind. Blood and gold and The Crown. And the message, the threat, his wife's slit throat.
You can control time. You can conquer it.
He began breathing heavily, and tried, tried, tried to shut off his mind.
Quickly, furiously, he began to work. He poured all of his emotion into his movements. He needed to forget, he needed to forget. All he needed to do was reposition the- in his haste, he had moved his shaking hand a centimeter too far. And that centimeter too far had knocked the rod off center.
For the longest time, he just stared.
And then, he just cried.
There was no way he would fix this by the morning, so he was as sure as gone. The cheap wooden floorboards beneath him creaked, and suddenly a shadow seemed to grow and extend out of the corner of the room. It came closer and closer, and it struck some distant part of the man's mind that this wasn't quite normal. He remained in his place.
The shadow reached the top of the worktable, now, and the darkness obscured the man's view of his invention.
He gasped as he heard two things in quick succession.
A sweet, saccharine voice whispered soothing words in his ears.
From the table, he heard a distinct click.
The first mechanical clock had come to life.
Ciel Phantomhive stared disinterestedly at the brass pocketwatch he held in his hands. It was still in working order, as far as he was concerned, and it bore no outward signs of wear. He had no use for it, though, as he already owned a more elaborate one.
Still, he was hesitant to get rid of it.
It had been his father's.
He heard a polite knock on the door, which marked the arrival of his afternoon tea. "Good afternoon, young master," Sebastian said with his signature smile, "I've brought you your tea. Today's selection is a light Oolong, with a hint of ginger flavor to strengthen the taste."
Ciel nodded, and suddenly an idea came to his mind. Gathering his courage, he thrust the pocketwatch in front of Sebastian's pretty face. The butler's eyes widened, and he tilted his head slightly to the side.
"What is this for?" He questioned, and had the gall to look slightly amused.
Ciel sighed impatiently. "It's a pocketwatch, you know that."
"And you mean for me to take it?" Sebastian questioned, though he already knew the answer.
"I have no need for it."
"Then why not just throw it away?"
The boy looked away from the demon's piercing gaze.
"It was my father's."
"Young master, I am not your father."
"I know that, I'm not an imbecile!" The boy shouted in frustration, "It's just that you're..." He fell silent. He didn't know how to finish his statement.
"I'm what?"
Ciel didn't respond, and refused to look at Sebastian. The air in the room grew heavy with unspoken words, silent confessions.
Dull red eyes flamed ruby, and all of a sudden the demon was a lot closer than he had been before. The temperature in the room soared, and for a second Ciel had a single disjointed thought: This must be what hell feels like. He felt his butler reach an even closer proximity. He couldn't breathe.
"Young master," whispered the demon, and his sudden release of breath ghosted over the boy's neck, causing him to shiver.
"What am I to you?"
Sebastian could hear his master's wild heartbeats, and the rush of delicious blood pumping through those blue veins....
"Ge-Get away-" the boy stuttered slightly, panic rising.
"Answer me."
The earl shook. No, no, no.
He felt Sebastian's fang graze his earlobe and would have recoiled violently if it weren't for a gloved hand holding his neck in place. The boy couldn't think straight. What was this twisted game his butler was playing at? Was Sebastian trying to illicit a response from him?
"Am I more than just a demon to you, more than just your butler?" The hand on Ciel's neck began to slide down to the boys shoulders, and-
"Ye-yes," the boy mouthed almost mutely, and in a flash his butler was back on the other side of the desk. He began pouring the tea, and spoke animatedly and casually as if nothing had happened.
Ciel was too shocked to respond. He remained in his place, sweating, shaking, even minutes after the demon had made his departure.
Only a few hours later did he notice that the brass pocketwatch was gone.
Years Passed.
Ciel was now sixteen years old. He stood just outside the cathedral, waiting for his wedding's final preparations to be complete. The breeze was nice, and the earl closed his eyes momentarily, leaning more heavily against the stone wall behind him.
He was getting married to Lizzie today.
He didn't know what to think, what to feel. What he did know, however, was that the effort his fiancée had put into the event was completely unneeded. It was just an ornate way of singing a contract, nothing more.
His eyes snapped open when he heard footsteps approach him. Sebastian stood in from him, and for a moment the two simply analyzed one another. Since that day, there had always been a certain tension between them, and though he tried to ignore it, Ciel knew it had only grown exponentially.
Sebastian leaned against the wall a foot or two away from him. The demon didn't know what to say, for a moment, but when he repositioned his leg he felt a heavy metal object in his coat pocket.
"You know," the butler began, "I met the man who created the first mechanical watch."
Ciel's interest was suddenly piqued, and with as little feeling as he could manage, he responded.
"Oh, really? What was he like?"
The demon looked down for a moment, and then suddenly raised his gaze to meet his master's.
"He was very much like you, actually."
The boy forced himself not to speak. How so? He wanted to ask, but he knew this was getting into dangerous territory. Sebastian looked down again, and for quite a few seconds the pair was silent. Seconds...the boy didn't want to acknowledge what he was about to go through with today.
Just as Ciel was about to check his pocket watch for the time, he heard his butler pull something out of his coat pocket.
It was the brass pocketwatch.
And suddenly carefully locked memories of that afternoon so long ago came rushing back to the earl...
Sebastian offered his master the watch.
Ciel's mismatched eyes widened.
"You know very well that I already own one," Ciel began shakily, but was cut off before he could complete his thought. His butler took hold of his left hand and placed the watch in his palm, then folded Ciel's fingers tightly over the item.
"I'm not giving it to you so that you may remember time,"
Breath ghosting over his neck and a sense of insecurity and the tension is all too much....
"But rather so you may forget it, every once in awhile,"
He's getting married to Lizzie today...
"And not spend all your breath trying to conquer it."
He wants to live in the past.
On the day Sebastian takes his master's soul, he retracts his comparison. Ciel was nothing like the man he'd rescued centuries ago, he decides. He was so much more like the mechanical little clock he'd fixed...
The end! How was it? Just for your information, as far as I know the first mechanical watch really was invented in 1360 in Paris. The old man is Henry de Vick, and he was really working for the king of France.
The ending lines spoken by Sebastian are an idea I got based off of reading The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner.
Anyways, thanks for reading xD! Review, people, please?