* italic - thoughts
* apreggiation – a group of music notes played quickly after one another
Of Master and Servant
"Thank you, Raven. You're dismissed." Edgar gave his last order.
It was half past nine when Edgar told Raven to enjoy his last bits of Christmas Eve. Edgar wanted to dismissed his servant earlier since it would be a really important celebration tomorrow; he did not want to exhaust Raven too much. After all, he loved him platonically and accepted him as one of his really close family member. A really important one at that.
Edgar drank a sip of his grey tea; the aroma was somehow too strong for his taste. It was then he slowly remembered the Christmas celebration two years back. They had much fun back then, the three of them; himself, Raven, and Ermine.
Ermine.
She was no longer with them, not longer by his side. Her absence made him unbearably guilty, though he knew Raven wouldn't blame him. Instead, that man proved him loyalty more than ever. The worse part was that she vowed to protect him, and yet he was powerless to do anything. He switched from his grey tea to his bottle of vodka.
What a distressful Christmas Eve.
He drank the first gulp of the liquid; the sour taste remained in his cavern. He turned his head and saw the paper bag on his table. He smiled and peeped into the slight opening, the suitcase-like leather box was still neatly standing inside.
I should hand this to him now.
He left his vodka and the table and took the package with him, exiting his room door. His foot brought him to a certain room, and he paused before him knocked…
… but he heard something. He thought he heard someone sobbing in the room. His eyes widened; it was very unusual for someone like Raven to be sobbing alone in his room. Has he been crying and struggling alone all this while?
And then he heard a faint word escaping from his servant's lips: Nee-san.
Edgar felt his hands turning cold as every second. He was sobbing over Ermine; and it's definitely part of my fault. It's all because of me. He clenched his hands tight; I've got to do something about this.
That said and he left the scene without letting his presence known.
Running footsteps were oblivious as the earl ran though the hallway. When he reached his destination, he was all panting. Edgar wanted to call out Raven's name, but he was surprised that Raven was the one to break the silence.
"Is there any assistance I can provide, my lord?" Raven's voice was faint from his room. "You've been to my room twice."
Edgar was speechless. So Raven did sense his presence when he came earlier. He braced himself, "Just feeling the urge to have a talk with you," his hands tightened on the paper bag, "Do you mind?"
There was an awkward pause then, till Raven decided to break the silence, "I apologize for my rudeness, but I feel a little tired right now, my lord. I hope you understand."
The blonde thought of something to reply, "It'll only take for a while." He smiled, he knew Raven somehow could feel it, "Besides, I'm feeling lonely. Christmas Eve are supposed to be a happy celebration."
Edgar waited for a reply, but no, nothing came from Raven. He tried to sound as gentle as possible. "You've been thinking about Ermine, am I right? You cried for her, didn't you?"
Silence.
Edgar tried again, "Raven, I understand your feelings. There's no point accumulating everything in your heart. You need to voice out, and I am here to share it with you. I want to lessen your burden. Please open the door, will you?"
"My lord," Upon hearing Raven speaking, Edgar felt relieve, though Raven doesn't seem to want to open his door, "Her disappearance isn't your responsibility, therefore there isn't a need to lessen my burden for me. I am nothing more than merely a servant."
"You're wrong!"
Raven's stiffen his body, his master seldom yells, even if he did it's definitely not directed to him.
"You're not a servant, Raven. You're my family member; someone that I really cherish. If it's not because of you and Ermine, I wouldn't have survived, I would have lost everything, lost the will to live on," Edgar murmured, but he knew Raven will be able to hear every single word he was saying, "Both you and I know that we really loved her, and her absence was plain torture. But there is nothing that we can do, Raven; we will not be able to bring her back."
The black haired boy felt tears filling his eyes again. He missed her, he really did. He'd been holding his feelings for so long.
Edgar felt so hard to continue, but what has to be said have to be told, "I'm so sorry, I'm unable to do anything to make you feel better." He forced a smile, "I'm a good-for-nothing earl after all, what am I without you?"
"… No."
"Eh? R-Raven?"
"You're not a good-for-nothing earl, you're my master, the one and only one I'd pay my loyalty to," he wiped his tears. "Please do not misunderstand that I serve you only on behalf of my sister, but I serve you because I truly think you're a man capable of bringing happiness and peace. Just take the sprite living in me as example, you're the only person that's capable controlling it. I couldn't have done it alone."
Edgar was amazed that he poured out so much, whatever he felt about him for so long. He smiled, "Thank you, Raven."
It was then when he heard the grandfather clock, signifying twelve midnight; the beginning of Christmas. He yelled over to Raven, "Raven, look outside of your window!" His servant followed his order, removing the curtain out of his sight. Then he saw the view through the transparent window.
Fireworks were blasting here and there, the colours; red, green, yellow, blue, purple, looked stunningly beautiful in the dark sky. Raven's smile widened; he loved fireworks.
His eyes focused on the patterns, never leaving the sight of the sky. When the last batch of firework blasted, his eyes clearly show amazement. Those fiery lights formed the sentence;
Merry Christmas, Raven.
He felt his heart warming, crumbling, squeezing, whatever; he didn't know what was that, unsure of what he was feeling. All he knew was this is the first time someone actually go through so much trouble preparing this for him, just for him, although he knew all his master need to do was giving a command to the servants and everything will be done in no time.
Raven smiled anyway, feeling his heart a lot lighter thanks to his master, and slowly he brought his foot to the door. He turned the doorknob and saw the smiling features of his closest. "My lord."
"Merry Christmas. You took a very long time opening the door, Raven." Another charming smile escaped his lips.
"I'm terribly sorry, my lord, and Merry Christmas."
"Here," Edgar passed the gift to Raven. "I knew you enjoyed drawing, therefore I prepared a whole new drawing set for you. Inside there will be a key leading to the room furthest to the left on the second floor. From now onwards, that particular room will be an art room and it belongs fully to you."
"My lord…" Raven stopped to think. "But I failed to prepare a gift for you."
"There's no need for a gift, Raven. You've proved me loyalty, and that's all I need from you." Edgar wasted no time; he stepped forward and circled his arms around Raven's neck, pulling him in a tight embrace. "Do not address me as your 'lord', at least for today. You're a huge part of my family. Thank you for being with me. I really appreciate that."
Is it wrong for someone like me to hug the master? Raven hesitantly returned the embrace, "Thank you."
Edgar remained in that position till he felt Raven moved, thus letting go of both of them. Edgar then winked and said, "Follow me to the main hall, I've got one last thing to show you."
"… Yes."
The two men headed to their destination, voices and music echoed in the street, celebrating this wonderful Christmas. Edgar stopped abruptly in front of a grand piano and placed himself comfortably on the seat. He turned his head towards Raven, "This song is for you, please enjoy." Without waiting for a reply from him, his fingers pressed in the piano key; and it started to dance.
Raven recognized the song; it was his lullaby. When he was young, his sister often played this song to send him to sleep. But somehow this song worked the other way round now, he didn't feel sleepy; instead he felt sorrowfully happy. He didn't know how to describe it. His childhood memories seem to float in his brains; running around on the field, splating water, sharing the same bed…
The repertoire ended in a sway of arpeggiation, the last note although soft, but it echoed through the hall. Raven was lost of words; his eyes were slightly watery, not because he was sad definitely, Edgar was very sure; probably because he was touched?
Edgar focused his eyes on Raven, "Do you like it?"
Raven's only reply was a wide smile, but that was all Edgar needed. He pulled the younger child in an embrace again, "I want you to feel happy, and not to hide anything from me. Always remember, Raven, that you are my family."
It was the first time on that day that Edgar felt a real smile from Raven, though he knew that beneath the smile there were sorrow as well. But he would do anything in his power to bring happiness to all his beloved.
Raven was, after all, the most important person in his life right now.
Merry Christmas.
The End
A/N: finally. (: my first hakushaku to yousei fanfiction. people, read and review please..? ^^
:D Merry Christmas!