AN: You know what? I won't warn you about 'not expecting long chapters' again. This one is longer than the prologue! Oh well. You won't complain, will you?
Nothing much happens in this chapter, though. You get some more information and letters – hence, I wanted to call this story 'Letters' at first. I hope I am still doing well~
Also, please notice me of any mistakes you might find. I think I tend to make some… Funny sentences.
On another note! You guys have absolutely no idea of how happy your reviews make me! Thank you very much Jashinistin, Glitchrosedeath, Natsu and Mariko Higa! You made me very, very happy~! Of course, thank you to those who have sat the story on alert and all that too.
I still want you to think of the title. Is Timeless okay, or do you like Your Reaper or 21 Days more?
Oh, and just so you know; I am following the storyline of the manga and not the anime. I will not take anything (much) from the anime if I can avoid it.
Well. That's about it, I think. Enjoy!
Timeless
- A fan fiction by Nathalaia
Disclaimer: I own nothing and am very happy by stating that fact; If I had made it, Eric and Alan would have debuted in the manga already~ Besides, I couldn't even draw if my life depended on it.
William T. Spears was furious. His face was clear of all emotions and his eyes were as cold as ever, but the tension in the room spoke clearly for itself.
"Do any of you have even the slightest idea of why Mr. Knox hasn't showed up yet?"
"Relax Will~," Grell said lazily and looked at him, smiling.
"Sutcliff's right, Spears," Eric said. "'Kid probably went to a party last night and is now in bed with a hangover. He'll be here soon, I'm sure."
William's eyes narrowed the smallest bit. "A party is no excuse to miss work, Mr. Slingby. Mr. Knox is more than an hour late and I have lost my patience."
"As if you had any in the start," Eric muttered, making Grell snicker and Alan slap him.
William just ignored them.
"Give him an hour before sending one of us for him," Alan said. "I'm sure he'll be here in that time. He may sometimes be late, but not more than an hour at most."
"There is a first time for everything," Eric added, grinning.
William sighed and glanced at the clock in the main office, hanging on one of the walls. "An hour. If he's not here by then, you'll go, Sutcliff. Now, back to work. And that's all of you."
Leaving no room for arguments – or whining – he went inside his own office, closing the door behind him.
"You know…" Eric began quietly, eyes on the door. "He may actually be a real softy on the inside as you said, Sutcliff. He hates when we are late for work, but he is willing to wait for the kid. Maybe he feels deeper for him than us?"
Grell looked absolutely terrified at the thought, despite his smugness the day before. "No way!"
Eric just laughed. Even Alan smiled at the look on Grell's face.
An hour went quickly although Grell didn't do anything of importance and Eric was nodding off. Alan, again, was the only one who was working.
"Sutcliff."
They looked up at the sudden break of silence, seeing William standing in the doorway to his office, his glasses reflecting the light.
Grell sighed and stood up, heading for the door. "As you wish, Will~. I'm sure poor Ronnie got too drunk last night. Mh… He's probably sleeping in his bed by the time I arrive…" His voice died as he got further and further away.
William sighed and went inside his office again, though not without adding a "Get to work, Mr. Slingby. You are setting of a bad example by dozing off."
He closed the door behind him and headed to his desk where he sat down. He looked through the papers, though his focus seemed to be elsewhere. Mainly on a certain absent blonde.
William wasn't worried. Why should he be? It was a well-known fact that Ronald liked to party. What Grell and Eric had said was most likely true; he must have a hangover.
But as William had said then: That was no excuse. If he couldn't party the night before work and turn up for work in time, he shouldn't party at all. What he and the others did in their time off was not his concern. Only if it affected work, as now.
William appreciated Ronald's hard work. But being late was a no-go. It was only because he sometimes helped William with his work that he got off without overtime most of the time. And because he wasn't late by several hours, as seemed to be the problem now.
Missing two hours of work wasn't an option. Ronald hadn't even called in sick, so he was probably sleeping, as Grell had said.
William sighed and signed a couple of the pages with his signature. He couldn't be thinking of Ronald now. He should be working.
Grell came back some time later and walked inside the office without knocking. "He wasn't at home, Will."
William raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't at home? Where else would he be?"
Grell sighed lazily. "Maybe he went with a girl."
William's eyes narrowed a little. "Ask his friends. They must know."
Grell lightened up in a broad smile. "You're asking me to gossip instead of working?"
"Now, Sutcliff, before I regret it."
Grell grinned and winked at him. "As you wish, Will~!" And then he was gone, leaving William alone to his thoughts.
He leaned back in the chair with a thoughtful expression.
It wasn't unusual as such for Ronald to be late for work, but it didn't happen often. A month ago he had overslept, having been to a party the night before.
"Honestly…" William sighed softly to himself. That boy went to way to many parties. Every day he had time off, mostly weekends, and some times even workdays. Not that William knew much about Ronald's private life. He just wasn't deaf and had sometimes heard this and that when getting his coffee.
… Maybe there were other reasons too. For example the fact that William thought of Ronald as… Interesting, so to say. He was the first person to ever help William willingly. He would not go as far as to say love, though. Not even crush – that was for schoolgirls. No, interesting fit perfectly well.
William didn't think of himself as soft either, but had it been any other than Ronald that was late for work, he would have not waited two hours for that person. Barely half an hour.
Ronald, though… He could wait a bit for that boy. But two hours, even for him… That was testing the waters.
William looked up as the door was opened, frowning. He had fallen too deep in thoughts. That wasn't supposed to happen, especially not for one like him.
Grell hurried towards him, actually looking a bit anxious. "Some of Ronnie's friends were at a party last night, but didn't see him there. Others said that he went home. None have seen him since yesterday."
William's frown deepened. "Is it possible for Mr. Knox to have gone to another party? That way, his friends might-"
"I asked them about that too," Grell interrupted, looking more and more nervous each minute. "They said that it was possible, but unlikely. Ronnie usually parties with certain friends, but they didn't see him. And if he wasn't out partying it isn't likely that he went to a girl that night either."
William stayed silent, contemplating. Was it possible that anything had happened to Ronald? Ronald was a strong reaper despite being the youngest, and he was quite clever too. He should have been able to defend himself. Then again, it depended on the eventual assailant…
"Do you think something has happened to him, Will?" Grell asked quietly, frowning. He may be an idiot, but he cared deeply for the few friends he had. And if one of them was in potential danger, he did not like to stand on the sideline for too long.
"We can't say for sure," William said calmly and locked eyes with Grell. "Did anyone see him go home?"
Grell shook his head. "They only saw him leaving. No one saw him make it home… If he did make it."
"Stop being pessimistic," William said and adjusted his glasses. "We can't say anything for sure yet. The possibility that he went to a party is still big. Did you look through his house or did you just knock?"
"I knocked on the door and every window I could find. Nothing," Grell answered, having one of his few serious moments.
"In that case," William murmured and stood, "I'll go with you to Mr. Knox' house again. Do you have a key by any chance?"
"Yes, I have," Grell said, giving a small grin.
"Then let's go," William said and headed for the door. He didn't want to know why Grell had the key to another's house. It would just give him a headache bigger than the one that was already starting to form. "Mr. Slingby, Mr. Humphries, you two will continue your work. If anyone comes for me, tell them I'm away for some time. Mr. Humphries, I trust you to make Mr. Slingby work."
Alan smiled and nodded. "Of course, Mr. Spears."
Eric scoffed and glanced at William. "Where are you going? With Sutcliff, no less."
"Ronnie's house," Grell answered for William; he had left the room without answering. "He most likely didn't go to a party after work last night, if what his friends say is true. We are going to search his house again."
"Sutcliff!" William's voice sounded from somewhere down the hall, obviously impatient.
Alan got a worried look on his face at Grell's words. "Let's hope he's there… Maybe something happened?"
Grell shrugged. "Will doesn't seem to believe so. Who knows? Maybe he really is at home, sleeping away a nasty hangover. I certainly hope so, thought he'll have to deal with a pissed Will."
Alan nodded and smiled gently. "I'm sure. Now, hurry after Mr. Spears before he loses his patience."
"Which is nonexistent," Eric muttered, receiving a slap on the arm from Alan.
Grell heard Eric complain while he hurried down the hall after William and smiled. Oh, those lovebirds! A true love story fated to end in tragedy.
Grell saw William standing a bit away and was beside him in the blink of an eye.
"Shall we go?" William asked drily, though he didn't even wait for an answer. And he complained about Grell's – and others' – lack of manners…
Grell followed William to Ronald's house. Why he had a house in the human world they didn't know. Some reapers chose that too, though, so it wasn't unusual. It may be because of the human's parties that Ronald liked.
Grell knocked loudly on the door, waiting for answer in a minute before he shrugged and unlocked it. They went inside, looking around.
"Ronnie!" Grell called, heading for Ronald's bedroom. He had been there a few times and had stayed overnight once or twice. "If you are sleeping I am gonna hit you!"
He went inside the bedroom. Nothing seemed amiss. Grell frowned and continued looking in every part of the house. He didn't succeed in finding the blonde. Neither did William.
"The door was locked, so he either didn't come home last night or left early today," William said thoughtfully. "The house is what you can expect from Mr. Knox, though it is somewhat clean, indicating that he cleaned up after leaving, if he was here at all. His things seem untouched. Therefore, if by any chance something has happened, it isn't likely that it happened in here. Mr. Knox would have fought so things would have been tidier. If something happened, it did so on his way home or on his way to work. Or at a party."
Grell nodded slightly and locked the door again as they left. "Yes… Maybe he returned to the office while we were here."
"So let's return. If he isn't there, we'll figure out what to do."
"It seems more and more likely that something happened…" Grell murmured on their way.
William ignored him, too caught up in his own thoughts.
They quickly made it back to the office. Ronald still hadn't showed up and when Grell told Alan and Eric what they knew so far, they both looked different levels of worried.
"We still can't make a conclusion," William said and crossed his arms, looking at them. "Sutcliff, ask his friends for more. Slingby, you know where Mr. Knox party, don't you?" A nod. "Good. Then go to those places with Mr. Humphries and see what you can find. Ask around."
He dismissed them and returned to his office, watching them leave through the windows. He sat down with a sigh, a distant look in his eyes.
Grell was right. Things pointed towards that something had happened. It became more and more likely the more time went by.
William sighed and adjusted his glasses, but stopped halfway. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something he didn't remember leaving at his table. Meaning it had been placed there between the time he left and came back.
He frowned and took the folded paper, letting his eyes scan over the content. Immediately he tensed up, hand gripping the sheet of paper tightly. The letter read:
Dear William T Spears
You may like to know that I have got one of your reapers, going by the name Ronald Knox. A lovely little youth, isn't he? Oh, how I would love to see your eyes flash with burning anger, while your face remains as stoic as ever, though it will only last for some seconds before you have got control over yourself again. So typical of you, isn't it? But then again… If this was anyone of your other officers, you wouldn't have as much as raised an eyebrow. But this one is different, now isn't he? You hold him very dear. It would be such a shame to hurt his pretty little body, wouldn't it?
Now, let's get down to business. You may not remember me, but oh do I remember you. I want you to suffer; to hurt. Badly. And what's better than taking your little 'friend'?
Let's see… I'll be nice: You have exactly 21 days to find him. The longer time you are about it, the lesser is the chance of him returning safely to you. And if you have not found him before time runs outs, he'll suffer the consequences.
And because I'm in a generous mood, I'll give you a hint:
London, my friends.
By now, you are probably very mad, aren't you? But I feel like adding another condition: You may not tell anyone about this. Though, you may get help from your other workers. Grell Sutcliff may be a good addition, his strength taken in account. Alan Humphries is quite clever and can surely help you with the hints I'll give you. Eric Slingby is sneaky and will be useful.
And remember: Say a word to anyone else, and you have sealed Ronnie's fate.
Now, I bid you farewell.
Till we meet again.
And remember: 21 days, starting now.
"William?" Grell, having just returned from his gossiping, asked warily, seeing William's expression and his tight hold on the paper. William wasn't one to show his inner feelings, not even anger. But in this very moment, he wore a deep frown and his eyes had something Grell hadn't seen before: Frustration and a barely hidden anger.
All those feelings, not much but definitely something, vanished the second Grell spoke up.
"Sutcliff," William said firmly. "Find Mr. Slingby and Mr. Humphries and bring them here. Do not speak to anyone about Mr. Knox. If anyone asks, he is ill and needs rest."
"Is there something wr-"
"Now, Sutcliff," William hissed and looked at him.
Grell nodded once and hurried away.
William sighed heavily and read the letter again. Who was it? Someone had abducted Ronald, and they had only figured that out now. To take a shinigami, you would have to be another shinigami, a demon or several humans. A mere human couldn't take a shinigami without help. A demon, then? Or a traitor? Who?
15 minutes went by before Grell returned with Alan and Eric. "Sorry, Will! They were difficult to find and-"
"Quiet," William said. "Sit down."
With only two chairs available one of them had to stay standing or sit on William's desk. Not that Grell minded. He had just been looking for a reason.
"Read this, all of you," William ordered and handed them the letter. Grell took it from his hands, frowning slightly and quickly reading it through. His eyes narrowed the more he read, and by the time he was done, he was furious.
"What does this mean?" he exclaimed and waved the letter. "Is this supposed to be some kind of sick joke? What kind of bastard-"
"Be quiet," William demanded and nodded at Alan. "They need to read it too."
Grell handed Alan the letter, still burning with anger. Alan looked worried and read the letter with Eric reading over his shoulder.
"This is serious," Eric stated quietly, placing a hand on Alan's shoulder for comfort.
"No shit," Grell scowled. "Who would take Ronald?"
"Someone looking for revenge," Alan said gently and gave William the letter again. "Or so it says. Do you remember anyone who you might have angered in the past, Mr. Spears?"
"Quite a lot I'm sure," Eric growled. "The possibilities are endless."
"Eric," Alan warned and sent him a look before returning to William. "This can't be the doing of a human, unless someone is guiding the human for their own gain. I don't think it's likely that several humans have gathered either. It is difficult for humans to get the upper hand in a fight against reapers, especially when reapers can handle more than humans. Also, humans shouldn't have a grudge against you. You never are in the human world.
A demon is more likely. A demon is certainly strong enough to take on a reaper. And I'm sure you have crossed path with several demons. It still seems weird for a demon to kidnap as revenge and not just kill, though. Demons mostly get in our way when there's a soul at stake.
The last possible options are another shinigami - a traitor - or another being like shinigami and demons. But these two seem unlikely, though I'm sure you have got some enemies around here.
So, a demon or someone controlling a human is my guess."
William nodded slightly. "I agree with you. But I do not remember having angered anybody more than I would any else. And when speaking of demons, I only do what I am supposed to do; collect the souls. Doing that shouldn't make a demon want to take revenge."
"You have to remember," Alan said urgently. "It's our only lead. I'm sorry to say this, but we all depend on you. If you do not remember anyone who you might have angered, we do not stand a chance. We know that Ronald is somewhere in London, if we can trust the information in the letter. We also know that this is for revenge, so by remembering the person – or persons – that might hold a grudge, we'll be several steps closer to finding Ronald."
"You don't think Sebby can be the one, do you?" Grell asked tentatively, not looking happy at the thought of his demon kidnapping his friend.
"Not likely," Eric said gruffly. "It would be far too easy. Whoever is a fault knows that Spears probably won't remember, as he wrote in the letter. It would be stupid of that Michaelis to kidnap Ronald, getting all shinigami on his tail. If it was him, 21 days would be too long. He'd give us a day at most. No, it must be someone from your past, Spears. So long ago that whoever does not believe you'll remember him anytime soon."
Grell seemed relieved that Sebastian most likely wasn't the one. "Shall I go ask him? He may kno-"
"You will not do so unless it's our last option," William said firmly. "Reapers do not ask demons for help."
"It won't do anyways," Alan said softly. "Say a word to anyone else, and you have sealed Ronnie's fate', is what the letter says. By asking the demon butler we'll risk him figuring out what's wrong, ending Ronald's life."
"Oh yeah…" Grell muttered. "I forgot that."
"We still need to work, as for not letting others begin to notice anything amiss. They will ask questions if we are not doing what we are supposed to do. Therefore this has to be dealt with outside working hours, no matter how much you want to find Mr. Knox," William said and crossed his arms, looking at the three.
"We," Eric corrected. "You want to find him too. Sutcliff told us of your reaction to the letter."
William raised an eyebrow, glancing at Grell who suddenly found his nails unbelievable interesting. Nothing unusual, had they not been in this situation. "Of course. One of my officers is missing because of someone wanting revenge on me. Why wouldn't I be affected by this whole deal?"
Eric just scoffed, saying no more.
"So now we have to work?" Grell said, looking at William again.
William nodded. "Yes. We have some hours before we can continue with this."
"One of us can use more time on the problem at hand instead of work," Alan said. "Mr. Spears, you can use the time to try to remember."
William nodded again. "Yes. Now, get out and work. And please, do not sit and think too much of this problem. Try to concentrate on work. After working hours we'll speak about this again."
The three nodded and stood up. "Try to remember," Alan said again before heading out with Eric. Grell followed them after having sent William a reassuring smile.
Bastard. Grell knew this whole ordeal affected William more than he wanted to admit. He sighed and looked at the letter again, narrowing his eyes and trying to think of something – anything – that might help him. Had he pissed off some demon long time ago? If he had, why did the demon choose revenge now, and not then?
Had William not been the collected person he was, he would have growled and thrown something at the wall. But being who he was, he closed his eyes, drew in a deep breath and tried to remember.
And that's how the next few hours went, with William trying to remember, occasional signing some papers. The other three worked, though they kept thinking of Ronald and the abductor.
Time went fast and before they knew, they were gathered in William's office again late in the evening.
"You haven't recalled anything?" Alan asked as he sat down on one of the chairs.
William shook his head and massaged his temples. "Nothing at all."
The three others sighed. Everything was quiet for a moment before Eric spoke up: "Is it possible to look at reports from years ago? By doing that we might find something."
William's frowned. "I do not have access to those files, I'm afraid."
Eric smirked and looked knowingly at William, who narrowed his eyes, seeing where this was going.
"Absolutely not, Mr. Slingby. Breaking in to look at the files is against the regulations. If anyone finds out we'll be in trouble."
"Though I do not like the thought either, Mr. Spears, Eric is right," Alan said. "He can sneak in, take the files and we can read them in here. It may have useful information."
William sighed heavily and began massaging his temples again. This was giving him a headache.
"Come on, Will~," Grell said and crossed his legs, swinging one of his feet. "If Eric is discovered you'll just say that you didn't know anything about it. We're doing this for Ronnie, remember that."
"Even if I said that, it would still be one of my officers who had broken the rules – again – and I will therefore be held responsible," William said quietly.
"Then I won't get discovered," Eric said with a smirk, standing up. He ignored William's 'Mr. Slingby' and walked outside the main office continuing to the door leading out to the hall. Then he was out of sight.
William growled silently and shook his head. "Fine. But I will give you all overwork for days if this is discovered. Am I clear?"
Alan and Grell nodded, both smiling. Breaking rules for an officer; William really did care. But then again, he actually did care deeply for all his officers and would break rules for all of them - depending on the rule and why. But Ronald was just more… Special. So was the problem at hand.
Eric returned ten minutes later to complete silence with a stack of papers in his hands. "Here," he said and placed them on William's desk, "reports from your soul-collections. It's not all, only older reports."
William nodded slightly, sighed and said: "Well done. Take some all of you and look them through for anything useful."
"What if you 'forgot' to write an eventual disagreement with a demon or other down?" Grell asked and took some of the reports, glancing at William.
"I write everything down," William said sternly and gave Grell a meaningful stare. "Unlike some others. I know you miss out some minor details in your reports."
Grell grinned and flipped some papers. "Well, I didn't think you would appreciate reading all my escapades with Sebby~."
"That's not exactly what I was thinking, though I do appreciate you not mentioning that scum," William said. "I was speaking about your rule-breakings during soul-collections that you forgot to write on your reports."
Grell just grinned and winked at him. "Oh. Those."
William glared at him for a second before he too grabbed some papers. "Read, Sutcliff."
Several hours later they had read through all the reports Eric had brought and had found nothing useful.
"We'll continue tomorrow," William said and ran a hand through his hair unconsciously. "After work. Go home and rest."
"What about you?" Grell asked and looked at William.
William glanced at him for a long second before he shook his head a bit. "I'll stay. I may remember something if I read the reports again or just sit and think. Meet up here tomorrow. Then we'll figure out what to do from then."
Alan and Eric left the office after they had said their goodbyes. They were all tired and thought it best to just sleep and then think it over the next day. Grell left after William threatened him with his death scythe, leaving William alone with the papers.
He leant back in the chair, crossing his arms and uttering a soft sigh. He wouldn't get much sleep that night, that much was sure.
He woke up again with a startle, immediately scolding himself for falling asleep on his desk. On his desk. What kind of supervisor fell asleep on his desk?
He shook his head and looked at the papers he had slept on – and narrowed his eyes. Another letter caught his eyes. He lounged for it and read it quickly:
Your reaper is a feisty one, I'll give him that. It's fun to watch.
William allowed himself a smirk, rather proud of Ronald. It looked like he had given his abductor a fight at least. It also looked like he wasn't giving up.
Then his smirk vanished again. Why would the enemy write that to him? Just to tease him? Or something else? And how the hell had the letter ended up on his desk?
He growled quietly and stared at the characters on the letter. When he found whoever was at fault for this, he would let Grell on him. That should do some damage.
William sat back and glanced at the clock. An hour until the others would arrive. He would wait and maybe read the reports again.
When the first ones to arrive, Alan and Eric, he handed them the letter wordlessly, watching their reaction. Eric raised his eyebrow slightly and Alan smiled a bit. Their eyes, though, were cautious and showed frustrations.
"Another letter, huh?" Eric muttered and glanced at William.
William nodded calmly. "Obviously. Now we-"
"Will~!" Grell exclaimed and came in to them. "What – oh? What's wrong?" His eyes fell on the letter in Alan's hand. "Another one?"
Alan nodded and handed it to him. Grell quickly read it and gave it to William again. "Damn bastard. What I would give to slice him up with my death scythe."
William coughed to get attention and looked at them. "As I was saying before you came, Sutcliff, we need to figure out what to do now."
AN: Do tell me what you think! I would love to get criticism. Flamers will be used to burn my homework, though.
Now, is there other notes… I do not know how big the reaper world is, so… I am just making something up!
Aeh… Anything else..? Probably. Forgot it, though. Of course, I hope I manage to keep the characters in character. I can only see the musical of Eric and Alan to get an idea of their personality, soo… Yeah. Bleh.
Ronald will appear briefly in the next chapter. Kukuku~
And do not get angry if the next chapter isn't as long as this one and the prologue. I will try to get at least 2.500-3-000 words, but I can't promise anything. But oh well. It's still something, right? Heh… And do not get used to fast updates. Next chapter might take a while, because I have to think of the plot and yada.
We'll just have to wait and see, ne? I may surprise you, as now~
Well, dearies! Till we meet again~