The Funtom Company

25: The |Diedrich| Company

"Motherfucker," an angry German stood before Vincent. The entirety of the room was black, like his soul. There was no light at the end of the tunnel. Damn. Did he really die?

"Bitch ass hoe," Vincent replied.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" Diedrich crossed his arms, his eyebrows furrowed. "It's not your time to die yet."

"Oh, well, you know me," Vincent shrugged. "Always living life on the edge."

"I'm sending you back, right now," Diedrich pointed to the door. Was that door always there?

"No, not yet, please? It's been so long since I've seen you last," Vincent pleaded. "Can't we catch up a bit?"

"You do know it wasn't your fault, don't you?" Diedrich said. Vincent reached out his hand to touch Diedrich. The German stepped back. "You can't touch me. You can't. You're not dead yet, Vincent, you'll die if you touch me. I'm not allowing that. Leave," he pointed to the door again.

"I don't want to," Vincent confessed. "I don't want to be alive anymore, Diedrich. Please let me stay."

"We both know that isn't quite true," Diedrich gave him that look that he always did when Vincent spouted bullshit. "You have a person waiting for you, don't you?" Diedrich smiled.

"Rachel? She hasn't wanted me around for years. What are you talking about?" Vincent said. He heard a voice in the distance. It sounded familiar. It was coming from the door. He was curious about the individual speaking, but he didn't want to leave Diedrich yet.

"No, not Rachel. I never liked her, you know that. No, Vincent, someone else," Diedrich took another step back. "Think carefully, you can do it."

"Who are you talking about? My secretary? I wasn't serious about him," Vincent frowned. "I was only ever serious about you," another confession.

"Maybe you weren't serious in the beginning. Maybe you just acted like you thought you should to grab his heart strings. But, you're serious now. I can tell. I can always tell, Vincent."

"I don't want to leave yet, don't make me," Vincent noticed the door getting much closer.

"You're not allowed to die yet, Vincent," Diedrich made a gesture and the door flung wide open. Vincent grabbed the side of the door, trying to cling to the afterlife. He couldn't. Diedrich always forced him back to the 'real' world.

...

The sound of a soft sobbing fell on Vincent's ears. He was disoriented. A good poison would do that to you. His face was in someone's chest. His head was being clung to. The soft silver hair was familiar. Oh, wait, this was Adrian. Right. His secretary. Adrian must've assumed that he was dead. Well, in a way he kind of was. Nothing permanent.

"Uny," Vincent muttered. "I can't breathe," he tried to say. Adrian wasn't hearing him. "Uny," he tried again. He grabbed Adrian's arms. "I can't breathe."

"You're not dead?" Adrian let go of Vincent's head, only for it to slam back into the bench again.

"Well, I might be soon if you keep dropping my head," Vincent groaned.

"You're not dead!" Adrian clung to Vincent.

"Yes, yes, I'm not dead, you can let go of me now," Vincent sighed.

"Never," Adrian clung to him tighter. "I told you I wouldn't let you go once you confessed. I meant it."

"Confessed what?" Vincent feigned ignorance.

"You don't remember?" Adrian's eyes held a twinge of sorrow.

"Don't remember what?" Vincent almost felt bad for lying, almost.

"Sigh," Adrian said as he sighed. He let Vincent go and stood up. "We better get you to the company so you can sleep. Or, are you going home after what you said?"

"I need to get the paperwork," Vincent sat up and rubbed his head. It still hurt. "But, that can wait until tomorrow. I suppose I'll head back to the office," Vincent stood up, his body ached and he was still a bit wobbly. He nearly fell but Adrian was sure to catch him.

"Is he okay?" Sebastian asked as the two exited the room. He made his way to the other side of Vincent to support him.

"Oh, sure, just what I need, an attractive teenager on one side and a too-hot-for-his-own-good secretary on the other. Damn, just sign me up for the threesome right now why don't you?" Vincent mumbled. "Wait a minute, have you slept with my son yet?" Vincent stared into the depths of Sebastian's eyes. They were a nice shade of red, he hadn't noticed that before.

"Sir?" Sebastian could feel the sweat building up on the back of his neck. He desperately wanted to avoid that question.

"I can assure you, Vincent, I witnessed first hand how well they have been getting along," Adrian answered for him.

"Hm, I'll take it for now." Vincent still stared into the depths of Sebastian's eyes. He was going to get him to talk one way or another. He didn't care if he had to use force.

The exited the building of the press conference. They were making their way to the car. But, there were two gunshots. The first was fired from the hands of Rachel Phantomhive. The second was from an unknown source. The target was Rachel Phantomhive. Vincent watched as he body of his wife fell in the road. Her blood pooled out of her and the cars ran over her. They didn't even stop to check on the body they'd hit. She was a mutilated figure. He saw this happen, without even realizing the blood pooling out of his own body.

"Living is a hard thing to do, isn't it?" Vincent couldn't help but laugh. Sebastian pressed his hands up against the wound, trying to apply pressure, and Adrian pleaded with the people surrounding to call an ambulance.

"Sorry Diedrich, after you went through all that trouble too," Vincent tried to cling to consciousness but it was fading. The last thing he remembered was staring into the worried faces of Adrian and Sebastian.