The Birth of Claude

Chapter Three: [Part Two]

Considering the fact that Grell lived so close by, it made it more and more difficult for William to try and avoid seeing him. In fact, he found himself wanting to see him for the simplest of reasons. He would come up with excuses just to visit Grell's apartment. Upon realizing this fact, he realized that he needed to put some sort of restraint on his behavior and held himself back from seeing Grell. As he should, obviously, he was a married man with a son. Frivolous campaigns to see a student he had no business seeing must cease.

There was a knock on the door and Claude hurried over to check who it was. He opened the door, against William's teachings, and saw the false redhead standing there. William shook his head and sighed, making his way to the door. When he made eye contact with Grell, he wasn't sure what to do or say. It had been a while since the two crossed paths. He never expected Grell to come to him. That wasn't in the cards; be tarot or playing, it wasn't in the cards.

"Grell? Why are you here?" Claude stared at Grell with inquiring eyes. It wasn't often that he tried to talk to someone he didn't know that well. Had Claude taken a liking to Grell? That could be bad in a number of ways.

"I've come to ask your father a question." Claude looked at Grell and then to William. He nodded in approval, William didn't know what he was approving, but he opened the door wider to allow Grell to enter. Claude then ran off and went about his business. Grell stood there, without entering, and looked at William for permission.

"You're already here so you might as well come in," William said. Grell entered and closed the door. William led him to the livingroom for him to take a seat. He was about to ask him what his question was but the door opened. Claude couldn't be bothered to run and see who it was this time. He knew it must be Sebastian. William knew that too, which made it all the more interesting. How was he to explain Grell's appearance here? He decided not to worry about it. Worrying would make things more difficult. Interesting scenario or not, he must remain calm.

"William?" Sebastian sauntered in with a kid at his side. The blue haired boy stared William in the eyes and began to cry.

"What did you do?" Sebastian asked William. "Was your face just that intimidating?" he laughed. William didn't reply.

"I'm so sorry," the boy said. He wiped his tears and immediately embraced William. "I'm so sorry," he repeated. Why was he doing this? They didn't know each other. What did he have to apologize for? Confusion, among other things, overwhelmed him. He jumped to conclusions trying to piece together something that made sense. His struggle didn't allow him to arrive at any one thing.

"I'm so sorry," he repeated for the third time. "You don't deserve this. You really don't. I can't believe they did that to you..."

William immediately knew what the kid was talking about now. There was only one thing. Only one 'they.' He pushed the boy off of him. He looked into his eyes with a face that held such concern, such fear, Sebastian and Grell both were worried at once.

"How do you know?" he asked. William had never told a soul in all of the years he'd been alive. "How do you know?" his stone cold exterior wavering at a simple apology. Sebastian hadn't seen this happen before.

"My eye," he explained. "I can see into people's minds..."

"You have no right," William pushed past him. "You have no right," he grabbed his coat, forced on his shoes, and left. The door slammed behind him. He walked. Walking was the only thing he could do. One foot in front of the other. It was simple. It was easy. All he had to do was concentrate on the steps. He counted them. Distracting the mind with numbers was his skill.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and flinched with the contact. The familiar shade of red. Was it comforting? Was it concerning? William couldn't differentiate. "William, are you okay?" he asked. He must've known the answer. Why would he ask such a thing? William's mouth wasn't working. His vocal chords refused to utter a noise. His mouth hung there, open, but nothing escaped. He closed his mouth again which made his lips appear to look like a firm line. His thoughts drifted.

"William, if you don't tell me anything I won't know what's going on," Grell said. He was saying things William already knew to be true, but he couldn't vocalize anything at the moment. He was hearing the words but his body right now wasn't his own.

"You came here, why?" William's voice returned. He'd pushed the memory to the depths of his soul where it belonged and forgot about it altogether. "You came to my apartment to ask me a question, what was the question?"

Grell blinked in confusion. He seemed to understand that William didn't want to explain what had happened. So, he tried to explain why he had come. "You seemed to get really distant all of the sudden. I just wanted to check up on you, you know? Ask if you were okay," Grell averted his gaze for a moment. He scratched his own arm and tried to return eye contact again. Ah, so he noticed. People rarely noticed such things. Grell was too observant for his own good. William would have to make note of that if he wanted to protect himself in the future.

"William?" Grell waved his hand around in front of William's face but the college professor looked much paler than normal. He wasn't responding. He could hear, he could see, but he couldn't breathe and his body was rebelling against him.

William fell. He fell to the ground and lost consciousness. Grell panicked. "Oh my god, William? William!" he screamed at William but the sound of his voice was swiftly fading.