AN: Welcome to the last chapter! This chapter has been one hell of trouble to write, so I hope it meets with your expectations. I think I have rewritten it five times by now. But finally, after quite a long time, it's done! And I hope they are not too out-of-character. I am a little afraid of that… So if there's anything wrong with it, please tell me! Be it OOC-ness, typos or sentences that don't make sense (I think there are a lot of those).

Oh, and thank you for all your reviews and alerts and favourites! :D Keep them coming! I appreciate them very much. Especially thanks to Jashinistin and Mariko Higa for reviewing each chapter so far! And a very big thank you! to Robin Mask for writing wonderful feedback and reviewing most of the chapters :D

Is there more..? Probably. But I'll let you read. Enjoy (hopefully)!

Timeless
- A fan fiction by Nathalaia

Disclaimer: I own nothing and am not happy by stating that fact; if I had made it, Ronald would be one of the main characters~ But I couldn't even draw if my life depended on it. So it's probably a good thing I'm not the mangaka. Especially given what I have written for this fanfic. What wouldn't I draw/write in the manga?

A scream of horror tore through the whole infirmary, scaring several shinigami shitless. It sounded as if someone's organs had been ripped out of their body while still awake and alive; it was frightening.

Inside one of the rooms Eric and Grell were trying to keep the cause of screams from thrashing around too much and reopening the wounds that weren't yet healed.

"Ronald!" Alan said, waving his hands in front of Ronald's – good grief – focused eyes. "You're back with us, so please, calm down. Ronald! The demon is gone; he won't ever hurt you again. Ronald! Listen to me!"

"Ronnie. Ronnie, calm down, please," Grell begged, holding Ronald's hands pinned to the bed. "Calm down! We can't have you reopening your wounds. You aren't fully healed yet and you're still weak."

"Kid," Eric tried, holding Ronald's legs down. "Ronald, listen to them. Nothing bad will happen to you here, I promise."

Ronald just kept screaming, his throat already sounding dry, making his voice hoarse.

"Mr. Knox," William spoke up, having watched from afar, now nearing the bed and the others. "Calm down, please."

Ronald, surprisingly, shut up and turned his eyes to William – avoiding eye contact, though.

"I'm sorry…" the scared reaper whimpered, looking away from all of them. "I'm sorry. Please… Let go of me… I'm sorry…"

William frowned slightly, watching as Grell and Eric finally released their grip on Ronald. Why did he apologise? He hadn't done anything that needed apologising for.

When they released him he immediately drew his legs up towards his chest, breathing in a shallow intake of air. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry… Don't touch me, please… I'm sorry… Please…"

"Ronald," Alan said softly, hesitantly reaching out for his shoulder. "Why-"

"Don't touch me!" he shrieked and shied away from them, tears now flooding down his cheeks. "Don't touch me… I'm sorry, I'm sorry… Don't touch me… I'm sorry…"

"Ronald…" Eric breathed, looking at the mumbling boy. He turned a desperate glance towards William. What should they do?

"I'm sorry…" Ronald kept whispering. "Please, just let me die… Make it all stop…"

The room's occupants could only stare exasperated at Ronald. Let him die?

"No, Ronald," Alan said softly, looking at the crying reaper with pained eyes. "We won't let you die."

William kept quiet. At Ronald's awakening his hopes had raised, but now… He sighed and looked at Ronald.

Now, he began to doubt his own words to the demon.

The nurses quickly came inside the room and gave something to Ronald to calm him down, though they had to get Eric and Grell to hold him down again before they could give him the sedatives; he started thrashing again as soon as they neared him. Not much time went by before he stopped moving, now only crying silently.

"To prevent him from getting worse, kindly refrain from touching him unless strictly necessary," the head nurse said, gazing seriously at them. "Mr. Knox has been through a lot and needs peaceful surroundings where he won't get stressed. You're more than welcome to talk quietly to him, like you have done these past days. I believe your words helped him back to us.

The sedative I gave him will wear off in a few hours. I'll be back by then to give him a new dose and take a look at him. Be careful with him, understand?"

"We understand," William spoke for all of them. The nurse nodded and left them alone in the room.

While Alan and Grell spoke reassuring words to Ronald, William thought back to when they had found him.

It had upset them all greatly to find Ronald lie in the demon's lap, hands chained to the wall, naked and unresponsive. He hadn't even seemed to mind the demon whose hand had been playing with his hair.

While William had taken care of the demon, Grell had managed to break the hand cuffs holding Ronald captive. It had not been as easy as one would think, seeing that they weren't made by humans but demons, making them harder to break.

Before heading to the infirmary they had found Ronald's clothes and death scythe, which the demon had taken together with Ronald that day, long time ago. His glasses, though, had been nowhere to find, but at least it hadn't been the death scythe. That would mean some random human or demon could have found it, and that would have been terrible, given that a death scythe is the only weapon known to have the ability to kill a reaper.

In the room's darkness they hadn't had a chance to get a full view of Ronald's injuries, but in the light of the infirmary they had seen more than enough. The head nurse had also given them the complete damage-report after she had gotten a look at him.

Ronald had suffered a blow to the head, probably from the fight with the demon when he had been captured. Blood from the wound had made his usually soft and thick blond and black hair dirty and sticky.

His neck had been covered in bite marks and kiss marks, while his torso and arms had been full of bruise and scratches, either from nails or a thin knife. Or both. The bruises had been worst on his hips where he had been different nuances of blue, yellow, green and lilac. He had had a wound in his stomach, one of the worst injuries together with the head.

His wrists had had fiery red marks from the hand cuffs and his palms had had scratches, too, probably from Ronald's own nails.

His legs had had dried blood on them mixed with some white substance – the demon's semen. Even Ronald's own. The blood had been from the demon entering him roughly and unprepared.

Besides all that, Ronald had had internal injuries, again from the demon's abuse of him. Not to forget the mental scars he would get from this.

Oh, the demon hadn't suffered enough. Doing all this to Ronald, only to die a mostly painless death…

William clenched his hands unconsciously, gaze trailing over to Ronald. Ronald who had been in a daze ever since they had found him, having just awoken now. Two days after they brought him here.

William hadn't slept this whole time, having been too worried about Ronald never waking up.

But now, his hopes had risen slightly. But even though he was finally awake, he wasn't saved. Not yet. This whole thing might have been too much for him. He had said himself he wanted to die and end it all. How it pained William to hear those words spoken by his subordinate, the person he cherished more than anyone else.

He sighed softly and raised his hands to massage his temples. He still had loads of overwork to finish, no thanks to the higher ups. It had been their punishment.

William had returned shortly to his own office after he and the others had handed Ronald over to the nurses, only to be met by the higher ups who had, by the looks of it, read all of the letters still scattered on William's desk. Needless to say, they had figured out something had been wrong. But missing work was missing work, so the punishment had been hours of overwork for one month to make up for what they had missed and, of course, as a warning to never do it again or the consequences would be severe. The higher ups didn't tolerate slack, no matter what. They had been sorry to hear about Ronald, though, and had wished him a quick recovery.

William sighed and folded his arms, looking at Ronald and the others. Eric had joined the two others in talking to Ronald. They talked about nothing in particular, just like how much work they were going to do the next many days and how much of a pain it would be to do.

Like they weren't used to it by now, with all the overtime William gave them when they misbehaved… Which they tended to do quite often.

He sighed softly to himself, drawing the others' attention for a short moment.

"You look tired, Mr. Spears," Alan noted with a slight frown. "Maybe you should try to get some proper sleep now that things seem to be going well again. You haven't slept properly ever since Ronald was taken captive, have you?"

William looked at his three subordinates and raised an eyebrow. "Whether I sleep well or not is none of your concern. Besides, there's work that needs to be done. There's no time for sleep. When the nurse comes back to tend to Mr. Knox, you'll all head back to the office and start working. We are behind in our schedule."

Eric rolled his eyes and Grell grimaced. Alan just returned his gaze to Ronald, still frowning. William might be a reaper and could endure much less sleep than humans, but still…

He sighed. Stubborn supervisor.

Ronald began answering them a week after he had awakened, carefully and quietly, as if afraid of them scolding him or hurting him in some way. He was a far cry from the social young reaper he had been before the demon had gotten hold of him. And while he had begun talking with Alan, Eric and Grell, he would shut up like an oyster every time William was around and refused to look at him. Sometimes he even began to cry.

It hurt. It hurt more than William would have ever thought it would, and it hurt more than he would ever show the others. He just kept his stoic attitude and only visited Ronald when he was asleep or heavily sedated due to another panic attack.

Damn that demon. Damn him to Hell.

Ronald would wake up shaking and crying, screaming and thrashing countless times in the night due to a nightmare.

It hurt William to see him like that. Unable to sleep through the night with all those nightmares, refusing the touch of everyone and just being a plain mess.

The only good thing was that his wounds were almost healed. But he was still weak and his mental state didn't help the healing-progress. The nurses took good care of him, though, and the three other idiots in William's division were a great help. It was probably because of them that Ronald had begun talking again. William though, could do no more than just sit at Ronald's bedside in the night, filling out reports and keeping an eye on the youth. And when Ronald would wake up because of those horrifying nightmares, William would be sent outside the room as the younger couldn't calm down with him around.

Was it the demon's fault? Had it said something to Ronald while he was there that made him afraid of William? Or whatever made him react in such a way whenever William was near. Ronald hadn't spoken of his time with the demon. Every time they tried to approach the topic he would get silent, refusing to answer them.

The demon really had died too easily.

It took a whole month before Ronald was well enough to work. And with 'well' it meant that he insisted, not taking no for an answer.

William watched Ronald through the window, seeing him laugh at something Eric said.

He was back, yes, laughing and smiling, partying as never before. But the smiles didn't hide the pain in his eyes nor did it bring back the light. Although the physical wounds were long gone, the mental ones remained and would be there forever as scars.

Ronald still didn't like talking of the time with the demon, pushing all thoughts of it away by partying and working. And he still didn't like being near William. Each time he had work to hand over to William, he would get one of the others to do it or do it himself when William was away from the office. And when he was forced to enter William's office he would keep his gaze low, not looking at him. He would place the reports on his desk and hurry out again without saying a word.

William sighed and leaned back in his chair, gazing at Ronald. He had to stop avoiding him. His gaze shifted to Alan who was looking content with watching Eric and Ronald joke around, occasionally reminding them that they were at work and not a kindergarten.

He smiled slightly while wondering why he had been given this bunch of disobedient and rude reapers. But then again, although they were all idiots, they were also strong and clever. They all had minor problems, yes, but they would get through it together, no matter how sappy that might sound.

For once ignoring Grell who was doing absolutely nothing as per usual, he focused his gaze on Ronald. When the younger had to hand him his work, they would get a talk. He wouldn't leave the room once, not even to get coffee, so Ronald couldn't avoid him. And if the others dared to take the reports for him…

After a couple of hours Ronald came into his office, head lowered as usually. He laid the paper on William's desk, but before he could hurry out a certain someone's scythe extended and held the door closed.

"Mr. Knox," William said calmly and gestured to the chair opposite of him. "Sit down, please. I would like to have a word with you."

He watched Ronald, seeing no other way, sit down. He was fidgeting and looking everywhere but on William.

"Mr. Knox," he said slowly and leaned backward in his chair. "We need to figure out what to do. The nurses have requested a therapist for you, haven't they?"

A nod of confirmation.

"Why haven't you accepted? It would help you greatly. You can't go on like this."

"I don't need it…" Ronald said slowly. "I'm fine, really. I-"

"You are not in any way 'fine'," William said sternly. "I have been told that you occasionally wake up from nightmares in the night and that you don't like being alone. Therefore, you tend to stay overnight at Mr. Humphries' and Mr. Slingby's. Even Sutcliff's. And you suffer from panic-attacks from time to time, too. So don't tell me you're fine when clearly, you are not."

"I keep remembering it…" Ronald whispered while fidgeting, looking down. "All the things he said to me and… And…" He broke off with a strangled sob.

"What did he say to you?" William asked softly, watching the younger.

"It doesn't matter…" Ronald said.

"Talk. It won't help to keep quiet about it. In the end it will do you no good. You might not want to talk with a therapist, but then at least talk to me. That's what I'm here for. I'm your supervisor and you have been avoiding me for the past month and a half. An officer and a supervisor are supposed to be capable of communicating with each other, so this won't do."

"I can't…" Ronald struggled to say. "It's… I…"

"I'm not saying you have to talk about the whole thing right now," William said gently. "Just a bit. But no matter what, you need to talk about this. I know it's hard for yo-"

"You do, huh?" Ronald said quietly. "You don't know anything. I waited for you to come and save me, but you didn't… No one did! And I hear everyone whisper about me as soon as they think I cannot hear them. And they are right!" He let out a sob, covering his mouth with his hand as tears slid down his cheeks. "It's my own fault…" His voice had lowered to a whisper, cracking slightly at the last words.

"You are not at fault, Mr. Knox. Do not blame yourself. If anyone is at fault, it's me. I didn't save you in time. It's because of me that all this happened."

"No. No, it's not," Ronald whispered.

"Yes, it is. It's my fault all this started. I killed the other demon that time and I chose not to take his warning seriously. I'm sorry.

But I need you to talk to me."

Ronald clenched his hands and tried to keep the tears away from falling anew. How could he tell William? He would be disgusted. He smiled grimly. Hell, he probably already was, but had to confront him because of their work.

Work.

It always came down to work when dealing with William, didn't it?

"Mr. Knox?"

It always did. And how could William ever love him, knowing what he had done? William despised demons more than anything, and that was a well-known fact. And Ronald had been pleasured by one of those hated beings.

"Mr. Knox, are you getting unwell?" William asked, taking the blond's silence as a bad thing. "Mr. Kno-"

"How will I ever be okay after this? I let the demon-"

"I will repeat myself: You are not at fault, Mr. Knox. You couldn't do anything in your weakened state."

"I am at fault!" Ronald cried. "How can I not be? I let the demon touch me and I enjoyed it!" Good. Now he had said it. William would hate him forever. He couldn't bear that thought.

William's eyes softened. "That's what this is about? The demon forced you to feel pleasure?"

"I-" Ronald began, but his voice broke. He let out a sob and rose slowly. "I-I will go. Let me go."

"No," William said firmly. "I won't."

"William," Ronald begged and turned to look at him, tears in his eyes. "Please! Let me out! I-I can't-"

The door opened and Alan peeped in. "Mr. Spears? What's all this commoti-"

"Stay out," William ordered and turned a glare at Alan. Alan closed the door but not before sending William a reproachful look, leaving them alone again.

"Please," Ronald cried and looked at William. "I-" His voice died when William stood up and strode towards him, stopping only a few steps away from him. Ronald whimpered and took a careful step backwards.

"You didn't like it, did you?" William said quietly. "You wouldn't ever let the demon do that to you again, would you?"

"Of course not…" Ronald whimpered again.

"Then what's the problem?" William asked. "The demon forced himself upon you. You didn't do it of your own free will. Then why are you so ashamed of yourself?"

Ronald looked up, opening his mouth to say something, but no words left him. Tears, though, slid down his cheeks in a steady rhythm.

William sighed and reached out to wipe the tears away, but Ronald shied away with an alarmed cry.

"Calm down. I won't do anything you wouldn't want me to," William said softly and slowly reached out again. Ronald was shaking like a leaf and whimpering, but he stayed still and let William wipe away his tears with a gentle hand.

"See," William said quietly and withdrew his hand, taking a few steps backwards to let Ronald breathe. He knew this affected Ronald greatly, but this was also important. Ronald needed someone to go to when things got worse. Parties wouldn't help him overcome it. "I didn't hurt you. And I will never hurt you."

"Of course you would say that…" Ronald whispered. "He… He said that too…"

"He was a demon. Demons are known for lying and cheating," William spoke and crossed his arms.

Ronald hugged himself and stepped back until his back hit the wall, sliding down and staying there.

William looked at him and let out a soft sigh. He really didn't know what to do. He knew some demons liked to attack reapers only for the pleasure of breaking them and tormenting them, mentally and physically. Their victims often suffered from some kind of fear afterwards, but William only knew they were sent to a therapist. He hadn't tried being the one to console a victim and he hadn't really known someone who had been sexually assaulted by a demon. He didn't even know what the therapists talked with the victims about.

"Mr. Knox," he said and took a few steps towards him, crouching down in front of him, approximately with a meter distance between them. "You haven't spoken with anybody about this whole ordeal, have you?"

Ronald shook his head slowly.

"You have to. Talk to me. I won't judge you," William said. "It's either me or a therapist. I won't let one of my officers suffer through this alone."

"You'll hate me…" Ronald whimpered and finally locked teary eyes with William's, all the pain now evident in his eyes. "I don't want you to hate me…"

William frowned slightly. "Why should I hate you?"

"I am dirty. The demon did all this to me and I let it! How can you not hate me? I let our enemy do this!" the blond cried. "I'm better off dead… If only the demon-"

"Don't you dare speak that way of yourself," William said with a soft growl, making Ronald flinch and whimper again. "I don't hate you and I never would. And you never let the demon take you. Whatever the demon said to you is all lies."

"I don't want to talk about it…" Ronald whispered and drew his legs up to his chest.

William eyed the distraught reaper in front of him and knew that one of his panic-attacks might be approaching. So he did the first thing that came to mind; he spread out his arms and said: "I am nothing like that demon and I will never hurt you. Let me show you. Lay your arms around me. I won't embrace you back unless you let me. Trust me."

Ronald looked wide-eyed at William. Did his stoic and cold supervisor just offer him a hug? Had he been himself, he would have laughed hard at the sight of seeing William with his arms spread out like that. Now, though, he eyed William cautiously. Did he dare do it? He wanted the comfort from William so badly. But what if William only wanted to take advantage of him?

No. He would never do that. Ronald had to trust him. William meant this seriously. If not, not even his own superiors could make him do what he was doing now. He had known William in a long time and had never had a reason to doubt him.

Ronald moved a bit forward but hesitated just as he was in front of the other. What if..? No. He really wanted someone to comfort him; tell him everything would be alright and he had done nothing wrong. If that someone could be William… Then why did he hesitate?

Ronald took a deep, steadying breath and slowly, hesitantly, let his arms around William's waist, leaning into him and resting his head on his chest. How many times hadn't he wished for something as simple as this? And now, when it finally happened, he was shaking violently out of fear. But William kept his words; he stayed with his arms spread out, sitting as still as Ronald was shaking.

Ronald let out a loud sob and buried his face in William's chest, gripping his jacket tightly. "I-I… I'm f-fine."

William smiled gently as he heard the blond's words, slowly wrapping his arms around Ronald. Ronald, though, let out a whimper at the movement and William quickly removed them again.

"N-no…" Ronald shook his head. "I sa-said I am fine."

"Are you sure?" William asked quietly. At Ronald's nod he once again placed his arms around the shaking youth, holding him securely in his arms. Ronald let out a strangled sob and his hold in William's jacked tightened, now beginning to cry harder.

William just let him and moved his hand to Ronald's hair when said person placed his head between William's shoulder blades, warm tears quickly wetting his clothes.

He didn't mind, though. He had gotten Ronald to talk with him and embrace him. It was far better than he would have dared to hope. Ronald was still shaking violently in his hold, but at least he didn't shy away or whimper when he touched his hair.

Ronald kept crying for minutes and William just ran a reassuring hand trough his hair, saying nothing – simply letting him cry his heart out.

How many nights hadn't he cried himself to sleep because of the memories of the demon? William couldn't stand the thought of the demon touching Ronald, but he kept calm for Ronald's sake, even though he was inwardly burning with hatred.

"H-he told me you'd ha-hate me…" Ronald suddenly whispered when he had calmed down a bit. "That you'd never l-look at me a-again… He s-said it was my own fault… Wi-William, he said such awful things! I-I can't even…"

"It's okay…" William spoke softly as Ronald started crying again. "It's okay. I would never hate you for something you couldn't control. I hate the demon, not you. Never you. None of what happened was your fault."

"O-okay…" Ronald murmured and let out a soft breath. William withdrew slightly from the embrace so he could look Ronald in the eyes. He kept an arm around his middle as he gentle wiped Ronald's tears away.

"I won't let anything bad happen to you ever again," he spoke softly. "I'll make sure you get through this. I-…" He paused. Hell, why not just say it? He had to make Ronald comfortable around him and make him trust him. "I… Like you."

Ronald started wide-eyed at him. "Wh-what?"

"You heard me," William said sternly and wiped away more tears from the other's cheek. Then he paused in his movements when he saw the small smile on Ronald's lips. The first real smile he had seen on the other ever since the incident with the demon.

His eyes, too, looked more hopeful than ever, and a bit of the light seemed to have returned in them.

"I… I like you, too," Ronald said softly.

They sat in silence for some minutes, before Ronald spoke up again.

"Are you going to be like this? This sentimental, I mean."

"Don't get used to it," William scoffed, though he smiled softly as Ronald also did so.

He had been right, after all. Ronald would be fine again. It would take time, obviously. Ronald would most likely be better after this, but still not good. It could take years before he felt totally comfortable around them again. But most important, he would be, given time.

Everything really was about time, wasn't it?

"Another thing…" Ronald said, resting his head between William's shoulder blades again.

"Mh?" William murmured.

"Call me Ronald. Please?"

William sighed. "Fine. Ronald." He felt the other's smile on his skin. "Honestly."

AN: Sappy, sappy, sappy, sappy – I couldn't help myself! Sooo sorry x''D

Aaah, I think I dislike this chapter the most… ¤/)¤%(#¤=#?%/ (%=#/¤&! Bleh.

Please tell me if there's anything! I will even rewrite all of it if you think it is bad or anything!

I have a few ideas for some oneshots – spinoffs to this story x'D Two of three is uploaded, the first one being Fears of Yesterday followed by Snowy Days. The third and last is temporary named Beyond My Control, but whether I write it or not is not sure yet. It's *very* hard to write lemon, I tell you...

I also have ideas for some other stories that do not belong in the universe of Timeless. A story with Grell where he finds himself in the story of Romeo and Juliet and a somehow AU story with the lovely reapers. Ronald and Alan are nobles, so what happens when they meet William and Eric? Grell and Sebastian are in the story, too, but I haven't decided much about them yet.

I would like suggestions, so tell me in a review or PM if you have ideas! :D

Thank you very much for following this story! It makes me really happy and I love reading your reviews :) I hope you will continue to read the stories I upload.

Till next story!

~ Nathalaia ~