Hii! So I haven't actively decided what's going to happen in the future so I'm kind of just winging it as I'm writing...hopefully this'll turn out alright...
I don't own Kuroshitsuji or any of its characters but I do own characters, events, and other stuff that did not happen in the anime/manga. Enjoy!
The next day, we set out for the cottage once again after having breakfast.
"Man, nothing beats fresh meat! Great job on that shot, Mey-Rin."
Baldroy purposefully ran his shoulder into the maid while giving her his silly smile.
"Thanks! Having good vision helps, hehe."
"Mey-Rin, why do you wear glasses? Didn't you say you can see extremely far in detail?"
"Well...I'm extremely farsighted and it was a gift from bo-chan so I can't bear to part with it!"
"I get it. No need to freak out like that. Speaking of gifts, did you guys all get the things I made you?"
The servants gave each other blank stares and I realized they didn't know I had given them gifts.
"I gave all of you parting gifts but then decided to stick around."
"P-parting gifts?! You were going to leave us?" Finni exclaimed, looking extremely hurt.
"Hey, what matters is that I didn't leave. I hope you haven't lost the gifts I made you..."
"You made the gifts? Does that mean the gifts are silver?"
"Yup. Check your pockets."
They fumbled their pockets and one by one, pulled out the gifts I've made. I realized that Tanaka did not receive a gift and I looked at him apologetically.
"Sorry, Tanaka. I don't have anything for you."
"Ho, ho, ho."
I took his little breathy laugh as him telling me it was alright. I made my mind up that I'll make him something in the future when I have more materials and gave him a warm smile.
"Oh! This is so pretty!"
Finni pulled out the hair clips and quickly fastened them in his bangs by removing two of his usual red hairpins.
"Looking good, Finni!"
He gave me a bright smile.
"What the hell is this? A ring?!"
The chef pulled out the thick silver band and gave it almost a judgmental look.
"Oi Ster. You really think I'm going to wear a ring?"
I glared at him and he immediately shrunk back.
"H-hey. I was just kidding..."
"After deciding to stay, saving you from the mess in London, AND giving you a gift, this is how you thank me?"
"Like I said. I was just kidding!"
Baldroy slipped on the thick silver band on his left pointer finger and examined it in the sun. The silver sparkled beautifully in the sunlight.
"Man, that's bright.."
"That's real silver for ya!"
I grinned at the chef and turned my head to Mey-Rin. She had pulled out the delicate silver ring with the cat outline as an accent and looked at it wordlessly. As I was about to ask her what she thought about it, her face flushed a rosy pink.
"W-WOW! This is so cute!"
She immediately put it on her finger but began to frown as she stared at it shining under the sun.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm just a maid! I can't possibly do housework wearing such a nice ring!"
I brought my hand to my chin and thought carefully.
"You're right...let's see. Oh! I have an idea."
I cupped my hand and concentrated. Soon, I formed a silver chain and I pulled the ring off Mey-Rin's finger and slipped it through the chain. I held up the necklace and grinned at her.
"There you go! Now you can wear it as a ring or a necklace."
"Thank you, Sterling!"
She threw her arms around me in a tight embrace and I chuckled at her enthusiasm.
"We almost there, Ster?"
We had been walking as we were talking and joking around. I glanced around our surroundings and nodded.
"We're almost there."
Soon enough, we came upon a certain part of a forest and trying to be dramatic, I found the tree from where I had first spotted the cottage. I leaned my cheek against the rough bark and closed my eyes, greeting the tree silently. The other stood there and watched me quietly. I slowly opened my eyes and walked towards where the cottage was. The servants stood where they were and just stared at me. Just as I was about to get to the clearing, I stopped and turned around.
"Well, what are you waiting for? We're here."
"Oh!"
They jumped and immediately ran to my side. We walked into the clearing and the cottage came into sight. I felt a pang of nostalgia as I surveyed the familiar surroundings.
"Man, this is a pretty decent cottage! Where did you find this, Ster?"
"Well...I used to live here."
"Whaa?!"
The chef's jaw dropped opened with a loud cry. I ignored him and walked up to the cottage, tracing the silver pieces in the walls before I walked inside.
"I'm home," I softly called out to the empty cottage.
The servants entered the cottage and it immediately became lively and their voices brought a warmth to the cottage.
"It's a dusty and run down but it's fairly small so we should be able to fix it up quickly."
They explored the cottage and Baldroy yelled from upstairs.
"Oi! There's no roof! We need to patch up here first before fixing the smaller problems."
He came downstairs and quickly issued orders. Finni was to bring back logs from the surrounding forest while Mey-Rin and I wove a sort of internal barrier for under the logs. As we got to work, I saw Baldroy pull out an ax from nowhere.
"Woah! Where'd that come from?"
He winked at me.
"A chef is always prepared."
I looked at him suspiciously before sighing and getting back to work. A few minutes later, Finni dragged back a bunch of logs and he and the chef sized them down and soon enough, we finished building the roof.
"So how are we going to get this up there? We don't have a lad-"
As I spoke, Finni picked up the roof and tossed it on top of the roof. It landed with a satisfying thud and somehow managed to sit on top of the cottage perfectly.
"Hey! If that hadn't gone up the way it did, it could've crushed the whole place!"
I chided Finni and he gave me an apologetic grin.
"Sorry."
"You need to be more careful!"
"Oh well. We have a roof not so we just need to do a few patch jobs here and there and clean up around the place. Are there any streams or rivers around here?"
I thought hard and remembered vaguely.
"I think there's a stream not to far away from here but I don't remember exactly where it is."
"Alright then, Finni and Mey-Rin, you two go get some water so we can clean this place."
"Yes, sir!"
Those two ran off into the woods and I just looked after them.
"So what are you going to be doing while they get water, chef?"
He suddenly had a serious look on his face and I stopped talking. Baldroy silently walked the perimeter of the clearing before striding back next to me with a grin.
"Well, nothing here!"
I glared at him and pulled my right arm back. Taking an aim, I unleashed all the power I could muster and punched him in the shoulder. The strength of my punch made Baldroy stagger sideways and he trips over his own feet.
"Damn, Ster. You sure can pack a punch!"
I rubbed my knuckles proudly and grinned at him.
"Just because I look like a dainty little lady, doesn't mean I am one."
He began chuckling and shook his head.
"Alright. You made your point. Let's finish cleaning this place up, okay?"
"Yeah yeah."
By the time it was nightfall, the cottage was decent and we all sat around the kitchen with speedily made chairs and basically a rough wooden plank as a table. Baldroy had made us stew in the ancient pots and served us with the bowls left over from when I last stayed here.
"So, Ster. Are you finally going to tell us how you know this place and how you know this place?"
I looked at Baldroy in confusion at the double questions and he rolled his eyes.
"How did you know about this place and how did you know there would be bowls and other stuff we could use?"
I swallowed the delicious stew and marveled that despite always blowing things up at the mansion, this man could actually cook.
"I used to live here. And...I helped build this cottage."
"What?!"
"You wanted to know."
"But..how? This reminds me. We hardly know anything about you, Sterling."
"Yeah, Ster! We've told you about our pasts so it's only fair for you to do the same."
I raised an eyebrow at the chef.
"You want me to punch you again?"
He flinched and rubbed his shoulder.
"No thanks, man. I'm pretty sure I'm bruised from where you punched me."
"Haha good. You're scared of me. Anywho...you really want to know about my past?"
I looked around and all three of them nodded their heads and Tanaka just responded with his usual ho, ho, ho's.
"Alright then...where do I start? Well to start off, I don't exactly remember how I came to the world. It's been so long I'd forgotten it so I'm going to skip forward a bit. I'll start from this cottage. Back then, I had met a man and we were married..."
"You were married?!"
I glared at the chef and he shut up. He mumbled a sorry and I continued.
"We decided to live in our own world so that's how this cottage came to be. If you look around this cottage, you'll see silver everywhere. And, as you may have guessed, they were all made by yours truly."
"So what happened?" Mey-Rin asked, resting her chin on her hands.
"Well, I'd rather not get into it because it's still a bit of a painful past but flash forward, as I wandered around the forest, I met Sebastian. He took me in and before I knew it, here we are. It was so funny how he treated me. When he found me, I was wandering around as a cat and you should've seen the look on his face! I've never seen such an adoring look on him. And Pluto got so jealous of me, he almost burnt down the mansion! Well.. I guess he did in the end..."
I fell silent and felt the mood of the evening changing. Standing up, I brushed my hand through my hair.
"Well, it's been a long day so let's get some rest, okay?"
OH NO! THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'VE EVER BEEN LATE TO POST THIS STORY. I'M SO SORRY D:
P3nnn: Hmm I think I have to give the nickname credit to you! Hehe I also decided not to put Claude or Alois in the story because quite frankly, I don't know their personalities enough to write about them.
EddingsFan: I'm late on this one T-T But no matter. Honestly, I'm really looking forward to see who Sterling's SO is as well, especially since I don't know right now.
BlackDragon2016: I haven't watched season two enough to write about the characters introduced there so I'm saving both of us pain from having to write about characters I don't like and you having to read something that would most likely be extremely out of character. Sorry for not putting these characters in :/
Kiseki: Who said anything about Will going away? Well, I guess you'll have to see in the future what happens ;)
promocat: he's honestly so cute and very trustworthy. I wish we could see the adventures of Vincent and Rachel but I guess that'll never happen.