The Head and Heart Thorns
A Black Butler Fanfic
Chapter 3 - Memories
A/N:
Hey everyone, I'm back yet again! I am so sorry that it took this long for Chapter 3 to get out! But thank you all so much for waiting for Chapter 3 of this Fanfic and being so patient while doing so!
I DO NOT own Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji)! If I did then trust me. You'd know XD Anywho! Please read the warning below that mentions certain things that are included in this chapter, in case there are one or more things in this chapter that could be a trigger for you!
DETAIL WARNING: This chapter includes mentions of the following:Nightmares, Blood, Intense Coughing Fits, Mentions of Suicide, and Headaches.
Okay, everyone! I hope you all enjoy Chapter 3 of The Head and Heart Thorns!
(More notes at the end of the chapter!)
Back At Vanessa's House
Vanessa opened the door to her house and let William in before following behind him and closing the door.
She walked past the table in the kitchen, taking her coat off and tossing it over one of the chairs before looking back and saying to Will "You can stay here tonight if you want, but you'll be taking the couch. Haven't had too much time to fix up the guest room."
A humorless smirk came upon her face and she looked to the side before saying with an emotionless tone "Because I never get guests. But I'm used to it by now…"
She sighed lightly and looked at Will for another moment before she walked up the stairs and went into her bedroom, leaving William downstairs to his own devices.
She closed the door behind her and went over to the dresser on one side of the room and looked at the framed pictures that sat on its surface.
She picked up a picture that showed her standing next to a brown-haired boy who looked to be around two or three years older than her at the time who had a cheeky grin on his face and had his arm playfully wrapped around Vanessa's neck.
In the photo, Vanessa was wearing half-rimmed midnight blue, rectangle-framed glasses and had a genuine smile on her face that showed that the moment in the picture was a happy one.
A few moments of silence passed as Vanessa stared at the picture with an emotionless expression on her face, before her gaze on the picture softened and a sad smile appeared across her features as she took the picture with her and sat on her bed before flopping onto her back on the mattress, holding the picture up above her face and looking at it with a sad look in her eyes.
The sad smile that was on her face moments before had disappeared, leaving the sadness in her eyes as the only emotion on her face. A single tear slid down her cheek as she whispered to herself "Why? Why did you do what you did brother?"
A few minutes later she had gone back downstairs and she had made lunch for herself. She had asked Will if he wanted to eat but he declined and she ended up eating alone in silence.
About 30 Minutes Before Midnight
Vanessa was sitting in the lounge on the couch just staring into the fireplace. William was sitting in the chair opposite to her, reading a book that he had gotten earlier in the day.
A few minutes passed before Vanessa put a hand to her head, squeezed her eyes shut, and winced as she felt a headache coming on.
Will looked up from his book when he saw Vanessa put her hand to her head. He put his book down, got up from the chair, and kneeled in front of her, asking her quietly "Vanessa? Is it a headache?"
Vanessa nodded lightly in response, and looked at Will with a look in her eyes that seemed to say 'Can this just be gone already?'
William let out a sigh before he moved to sit next to Vanesa on the couch. He gently pulled Vanessa into him and she made no objections when he did so.
She rested her head on his shoulder, gritting her teeth and letting out groans of pain triggered by her headache.
About 10 minutes passed and by then Vanessa was starting to have trouble getting big enough breaths in, the breaths that didn't go in coming out as weak coughs. Another 10 minutes passed and Vanessa's breathing started sounding wheezy. William looked at the clock above the fireplace and saw that they had another 10 minutes before they could go to see Undertaker.
Just then Vanessa sat up and started coughing, William straightened up in his spot next to her, and he placed his hand on her back gently and started rubbing circles.
He thought to himself, 'Damn it! Why didn't I think to bring the stuff that helps with her coughing fits? Honestly...'
8 minutes passed and Vanessa's coughing had started to sound worse, and William kept looking at the clock, growing more anxious with every second that passed by. He thought to himself as he looked at the clock again, 'Come on, come on...'
2 minutes later and the second the clock hit midnight, William stood up and carefully pulled Vanessa up to stand, putting one arm around her waist to keep her up and putting one of her arms over his shoulder and holding that one. He let go of her waist and summoned his scythe, making a portal that would take them directly to Undertaker's shop.
Once the portal was formed, William led Vanessa through it, and he thought to himself as they passed through, 'Please let Undertaker help her...'
Undertaker's Shop
Undertaker was sitting behind his desk, about to put one of his dog-bone biscuits into his mouth, when through his silver bangs he saw a portal forming in the middle of his shop and he dropped his biscuit back into the jar and watched the portal closely.
When he saw William step out of the portal, helping to keep a female reaper standing, his hidden eyes held a glint of curiosity in them.
As soon as the two reapers came through the portal and it closed behind them, the reaper that William was helping to stay standing, collapsed onto her hands and knees, coughing harshly. Undertaker stood up from behind his coffin desk and walked towards the pair.
He stopped in front of the female reaper and looked at her closely as she coughed. After a moment he turned to William and asked him with a surprisingly serious tone to his voice "What is her name, William?"
William answered him while watching Vanessa with worry clear in his eyes "Her name is, Vanessa Steelgrip."
Undertaker nodded and looked back down at Vanessa before he said to William "Get her to sit on one of the coffins by my desk. I can't help her while she's in that position."
William nodded and got her standing again, leading her over to one of the coffins and sitting her down. Undertaker followed behind them, going in front of Vanessa when William sat her down.
Vanessa had her hand covering her mouth as the coughing continued and she looked up briefly at Undertaker for a moment and as soon as she saw him, her eyes widened for just a moment before she squeezed them shut and let out a few especially harsh coughs.
Undertaker found her reaction interesting but also a bit confusing. He didn't expect that to be her reaction to seeing him, but he pushed the countless thoughts about her reaction to the back of his mind and he said to Vanessa in a calm but serious tone "Vanessa, I can help you but you need to listen to me in the process."
His hidden gaze was concentrated on her the entire time he spoke. He continued after a moment "You need to try and find the drive that can help you control these coughing fits. What that drive is, I am not sure. But you need to try and find it, my dear."
Vanessa looked up at Undertaker with pain-filled eyes, showing that she heard him before she looked down at the floor and tried to slow her breathing down, and when she managed to do that, she closed her eyes and tried to do what Undertaker said.
She looked inside herself and after a moment she thought she had found that drive to stop, but a moment later, her coughing started up again and it was the worst she had ever felt before.
She clutched her chest tightly and she coughed up blood into her hand at almost every cough that escaped her.
Undertaker kneeled in front of her as soon as she started coughing this way and he gently moved the hand she held to her chest away and placed his own on her sternum and kept it there firmly as he stood up and placed his other hand on her back.
He closed his eyes and inhaled and exhaled slowly before he raised the palm of the hand he held to her chest and brought it back down, his palm firmly hitting her sternum, making Vanessa take in a big inhale directly after the next cough.
Undertaker opened his eyes and looked directly into Vanessa's when she opened hers and looked up at him as she sat on the coffin, panting heavily. Her whole body was trembling from what just happened, but the coughing had stopped.
Undertaker stared into her eyes in silence for another moment before he said to her "You were close to finding that drive, my dear. But what you have going on with you, it seems to not want to let you put a stop to it."
He turned around and said over his shoulder as he walked away towards the back room of the shop "Not easily, anyway."
He came back about a minute later, carrying a silver rapier in his hands. The guard on the hilt of the rapier seemed to be the shape of a crescent moon. Vanessa's gaze instantly fell on the rapier as soon as Undertaker walked back into the room.
Whenever the dim lights of Undertaker's shop struck the blade, to Vanessa, it looked like it could have been a beam of moonlight if it wasn't a rapier. Vanessa's eyes seemed to glimmer just like the rapier did whenever the light struck it.
Undertaker noticed this and he giggled as he approached Vanessa with the rapier. William sat next to her and he stared in awe at the rapier and its design.
Undertaker stopped in front of Vanessa and said to her with a grin on his face after he giggled once more "My, my... The way you look at this rapier, one would think you knew it your entire life." Undertaker giggled once again before he handed Vanessa the rapier.
She took it in her hands and she stared at it, carefully gliding one of her hands over its silver blade. She whispered while she continued to stare at the blade "It's beautiful. How did you come to have this?" She looked up at Undertaker when she asked the question.
Undertaker focused his gaze on her for a few moments before he grinned and said to her with one of his fingers on his chin, lightly tapping it every so often "And the question arises… I came across that rapier about… A year ago now, I believe. Someone brought it to my shop one night, they came in, gave it to me and told me to take care of it "Until the right one came along" as I believe he put it, and then he left. I didn't know what to do with it after I received it, so I put it in the backroom and it has been in there since. After William came to see me, I had gone into the backroom after he left, and that rapier seemed like it was glowing faintly as if it heard the entire conversation. Then a thought occurred to me. 'What if it could sense that the one who was meant to wield it was getting closer?' That got me thinking."
Undertaker looked at her as she ran her hand over the rapier's blade once again and he continued "And when I went into the backroom to retrieve it a minute ago, it was glowing even more when I looked at it."
He lowered himself down to kneel on one knee before he looked at the rapier and then back at Vanessa before he said to her "My dear, I think this rapier is saying that you are its wielder. You are the one that is supposed to have it. Whether you believe that or not is up to you but… I suggest you listen to what that sword is telling you."
Vanessa looked at Undertaker quietly for a few moments before her gaze drifted back down to the rapier in her hands.
Undertaker stood up and he looked at William and said to him "I'd like to have a word with you, William."
William looked up at Undertaker and nodded before he got up and followed the mortician to the back of the shop before they stopped and William inquired "What is it, sir?"
The mortician regarded William briefly before he spoke "William, do you not see what that rapier truly is? It is-"
William cut him off and finished his sentence "A death scythe. I am aware of the power that surrounds it. It is indeed a death scythe, but it seems to be more than that to, Vanessa."
Undertaker nodded and he asked William after a moment "And what do you intend to do if she decides to keep it? Which I think she will."
William let out a light chuckle which left Undertaker faintly shocked before he replied to his question "If she does decide to keep it and I try to do or say anything related to taking it away from her, I'm pretty sure that'd be when she goes off on me."
Undertaker giggled lightly as William finished talking and he said "My, my. So there is indeed someone out there who is not afraid of snapping back at, William T. Spears!"
He giggled once again before William gave him a more serious look and asked him in an almost cautious way "Sir, I know that what I am about to request might sound quite… odd at first, but… Would it be too much of an inconvenience for Vanessa to stay here for the night?"
Undertaker tilted his head to the side a bit at William's request and he inquired curiously "Oh? Why are you requesting she stay here for the night?"
Before he replied to Undertaker, William looked in Vanessa's direction "She said she had a nightmare just before she woke up 24 hours ago. I think it was more than just a normal nightmare that she had, Undertaker. She said that it felt real to her."
Undertaker listened intently to William and tapped his chin lightly with a long, black fingernail in thought before sparing a glance at Vanessa, tapping his chin once more before he said to William "Alright, William. She can stay here for the night. I do have a bed, but I haven't slept in it in a long while ever since I found sleeping in coffins to be a bit more to my liking. She can sleep there. Will you be staying the night as well?"
William was silent for a moment before he answered "I will stay, but a few hours from now, I will have to go pick up some paperwork." Undertaker nodded before he and William went back over to where Vanessa was.
About 3 Hours Later
Undertaker was going around his shop, the chain of mourning lockets that he had at his hips illuminated by the soft candlelight as he went around his funeral parlor.
After the mortician made sure that the front door of the parlor was locked, he went to the back of the shop and poked his head in through the door that led to the room that Vanessa currently slept in.
He noticed that she was thrashing around in her sleep. He opened the door just enough so he could step into the room, going over to the side of the bed and noting that Vanessa was moaning softly in her sleep, her expression showing that she was fearful right now.
Undertaker rested a hand on her forehead gently, quickly pulling it back when he felt how warm her forehead felt. He thought to himself, 'She's got a high fever… Even I can see that. Does her temperature always go sky-high when she has nightmares or is this the only time it has happened to her?'
Undertaker left the room and came back a few moments later, carrying a bowl of cold water and a towel. He set the bowl down on the night table, dipping the towel in the cold water, squeezing out the excess water before placing it on Vanessa's forehead, noting how her thrashing seemed to ease when the cold cloth came to be on her forehead.
But even when her thrashing ceased minutes later, her expression was still fearful, and her moaning continued.
Undertaker thought to himself as he observed her, 'What nightmare is she having right now? She seems incredibly terrified of whatever is going on in it…'
In Vanessa's Nightmare
Vanessa stood in the middle of a street, a confused expression on her face. She looked around at her surroundings, almost instantly looking down at her feet, eyes widening when she saw her own body lying deathly still on the ground.
After a few minutes of her staring down at the body in complete shock, she heard a voice behind her. She quickly turned around, coming face to face with a dark-haired man in a suit, the most notable feature of him being his chartreuse phosphorescent eyes.
Just then the surroundings changed and Vanessa now stood in an incredibly dark forest. She looked around and noticed that a little ways away from her, a figure stood.
Vanessa took a few steps closer to the figure. It slowly raised its head and when a few beams of moonlight shone on the figure, brown hair was revealed, and when the figure's head was raised all the way, Vanessa's eyes widened when she saw one chartreuse phosphorescent eye and the glimmer of fuchsia in the other.
She took a step back, breath quickening before she said quietly and fearfully "No… No, i-it can't be. Axel… That can't be you!"
Just then, the figure's lips turned upwards into a freakish smile just before it charged towards Vanessa, aiming its claws at her throat. At the last second everything in the nightmare completely faded away to black.
End of Nightmare
Vanessa screamed as she sat bolt upright in the bed, the damp towel flying off her forehead and landing on the blanket as she sat up.
Undertaker somehow managed to not get startled when she screamed and sat up so quickly. He looked at her closely, seeing that her eyes looked faded as if she thought she was still trapped in the nightmare, he saw the perspiration coating her face and the shaking of her whole body. She was terrified and that was as clear as a mirror to Undertaker.
He reached his hand out towards her, gently resting it on her forehead, watching as her eyes began to look less faded, and almost two minutes later they regained their normal look.
She squeezed them shut just a moment later, quiet sobs escaping her as she hugged herself.
Undertaker moved his hand from her forehead and instead moved it to her back, rubbing it gently as he used his free hand to move the stray locks of hair behind her ear as she cried.
He thought aloud but in a voice barely a whisper, "What have you been through, my dear?" What he said went unnoticed by Vanessa though as her quiet sobs continued to rack her body.
About 10 minutes passed by and Vanessa had stopped crying and was now sitting on the bed, hugging her knees to her chest, her chin resting on them as she stared down at the blanket in front of her.
Undertaker came back into the room with a cup of tea, and Vanessa raised her head and took the cup when he offered it to her. She took a sip of it before she returned her gaze to the blanket. Her eyes showed that she was tired, but they also held a strong sadness in their depths.
Undertaker noticed that and he asked her calmly, "My dear, is there something on your mind?"
Vanessa snapped at him lightly, "I have a ton of things on my mind right now, so yeah I do." She let out a sigh and said quietly, more to herself than to Undertaker, "Things that I would rather not have on my mind at all…"
Undertaker sat on the bed next to her and he looked at her for another moment before he looked down at the floor and said to her quietly, "I am not going to pressure you to say anything, my dear. But if you want to talk about what's on your mind, I'll be here."
And there he sat on the side of the bed, both of them not saying a word until around fifteen minutes later when Vanessa said to Undertaker quietly, a deep sadness sounding in her voice as she spoke, "I was a younger sister once. Had a brother who was older than me by three years. Our parents got badly sick during one of London's colder winters and they… didn't make it. My brother and I were on our own after they passed, and we lived on the streets for a few months, somehow managing to stay alive, but for my brother… at a cost. He knew he had to take care of me from the moment he woke up and found our parents. And he did."
Undertaker saw the tears that had started to fall down her face, and yet she continued her story, the mortician listening quietly and intently, "He took care of me up until the first day of our third month out there on the streets. He had just come back from trying to find food and he was able to find some, but not an hour later I found my brother lying in his own pool of blood on the cobblestone of an alleyway, a silver knife coated in blood lying just out of arm's reach…"
Her tears now fell freely down her cheeks and she took a shaky deep breath before continuing, her voice cracking, "H-He killed himself… I sh-should have s-seen it coming and done something as s-soon as I saw that he cried almost every night of the month before! I… I should h-have…"
Undertaker took the cup of tea from her hands when he saw them start to shake and he set the cup on the night table before turning back to Vanessa who was now crying into her hands as they covered her face.
When Vanessa moved her hands from her face just a bit as she cried, she was surprised to see the mortician wrapping his arms around her in a comforting embrace. Her crying continued but was muffled in the mortician's robes for the most part.
Undertaker said nothing as he held her and swayed side to side, her crying fading away some minutes later. When he was sure she wasn't going to start crying again, he said to her quietly and calmly, "You should try to go back to sleep, my dear."
When she made no objections he gently laid her back down on the bed, pulling the blanket over her when her head hit the pillows.
He whispered to her as he saw her eyes drifting shut, "I'll stay here with you in case you have another nightmare, my dear." Vanessa's eyes fell shut fully not a moment later, sleep claiming her once more.
Undertaker stayed true to his word and stayed with her the rest of the night, a small smile crossing his features as Vanessa's sleep wasn't disturbed by another nightmare.
As more time passed, a peaceful silence fell upon the room, the only sound noticeable being Vanessa's breathing as she slept.
A/N:
This is the 3rd Chapter of The Head and Heart Thorns and I truly hope you all enjoyed it! My favorite part about this chapter as I was typing it out was definitely when Undertaker said to William "So there is indeed someone out there who is not afraid of snapping back at, William T. Spears!" I honestly loved typing out that whole little moment between those two! It certainly brought a few light chuckles out of me as I was working on it, that's for sure XD Before I go, if any of you guys could put in a review of this chapter and tell me what you thought of it, what I could try and improve on, and if you think it is needed, suggest some things to change. Rude or mean comments aimed towards me or others are NOT tolerated here. Thank you for understanding.
I will try and get the next chapter out whenever it is complete! I haven't been able to think of what to have in Chapter 4 yet, but we'll see what I can think up!
Just please do keep the possibility of Chapter 4 not coming out for a little while in mind. And yes, when I say "a little while" that could possibly mean even longer than it took for me to get Chapter 3 out. But again, this is only a possibility. We'll see what happens. See you all when the next chapter is out!