AN: I don't usually like pairings involving the Season 2 characters. Especially Claude. But oh well.
Based off of Morbidly Obscure's "Unforsaken". (Check it out, it's better than this.)
The leaves of the trees, now turned scarlet, orange, and gold, blazed faintly under a luminous full moon, itself a golden orange. The wind whipped through the forest, scattering fallen leaves and making the trees sway, their branches seeming to reach up like arms to claw at the tiny stars dotting the night sky. A wolf's cry echoed in the distance, and Alois turned to Ciel with a grin on his face.
"Can you hear it? We're getting close," he said in excitement. He began to run ahead, then stopped and spun around to face Ciel again. "Let's hurry! Come on!" He spun again and began running along the path. Ciel sighed, rolling his eyes, and slowly followed.
When he caught up with the blonde, he found him stopped in front of tall double iron gates. Looking beyond them, he could see old tombstones, almost seeming to glow in the moonlight. Ciel's gaze was drawn upwards to a group of crows perched in the branches of an old, twisted oak. As if on cue, the birds took off with a round of raucous screeches and caws. Alois looked up in fright, but the dark-haired boy merely smirked and taunted, "Come now, you're not afraid of some birds, are you?"
Alois smirked back, any trace of vulnerability or hesitation gone. "Of course I'm not. You're not afraid, are you, Ciel? Need me to hold your hand?"
Ciel scoffed, and Alois smiled again and reached down to grasp something lying on the ground near one of the gates. He shook it out carefully, and Ciel saw that it was some sort of garment made of spider webs. Alois laid the piece over his face and head, letting it trail down his back. It looked a bit like a bridal veil, catching the moonlight every time the blonde moved and making the gossamer threads shimmer.
"A spider's veil for the Queen's Spider. How fitting." Ciel remarked drily.
Alois giggled, turning and posing almost like some sort of model. He then pointed towards the opposite gate. "There's something for you, too, Ciel. Go look."
Ciel reached down and gingerly picked up a single long-stemmed black rose. Turning away from Alois so the other boy wouldn't see, he inhaled deeply and smiled. The flower smelled as if it were from another world—it had the scent of a rose, but also an underlying odor of wet earth and something he couldn't quite name. Delicately holding the rose, he turned back to Alois, who was smiling and holding out his hand.
"Well then, shall we keep going?" he asked playfully. Ciel took the hand he was offered and they walked into the graveyard, the gates swinging open with a groan. As the two walked, they began to hear faint strains of music, and the landscape began to grow wilder around them, with skeletal trees reaching up into the sky, their trunks twisted and bent. The music grew louder as they walked, with deep, pulsing drumbeats and haunting violins, and eventually they could make out figures ahead of them.
"Claude!" Alois exclaimed, letting go of Ciel's hand to race over to him. "Where have you been? I missed you!" Behind him, Hannah and Luka approached, Hannah smiling fondly while Luka ran to hug his brother.
Left alone, Ciel walked steadily toward the remaining figure. "Sebastian. Were you the one who sent those crows?"
The butler smiled. "You were running late. I thought you could use a little reminder to help you pick up the pace."
"Tch. Thinking of the schedule as usual. You never change, do you?"
Sebastian smiled again, this time fondly rather than teasingly. "I see you found the gift? I thought a black rose would suit tonight more than your favored white variety. It certainly suits more than a red or pink rose would."
"It does fit tonight well, doesn't it?" Ciel murmured. "The night of Hallow's Eve, where anything can happen. Fitting for us as well, don't you think?" He looked up from the rose to meet Sebastian's gaze, his one blue eye turning to crimson as he spoke.
Sebastian chuckled, perhaps a bit darkly. "Yes, it does suit us nicely. But tonight's not a night for reminiscing, is it?" At his words, the music swelled in volume, surrounding them all with its haunting melody.
"Claude, dance with me!" Alois exclaimed, tugging on his butler's sleeve.
"Yes, Your Highness." Claude knelt and bowed low, kissing Alois's hand, before rising and leading him away from the closest graves, managing to be graceful in his dancing despite the blonde's overexcitement.
Ciel and Sebastian paused to watch the pair for a few moments, then turned back to each other. Ciel normally hated dancing, but on this night, just this one night a year, he found it enjoyable. He looked at his butler, raising an eyebrow. "Well then?" he said, almost uncaringly.
Sebastian smirked—he knew this act all too well. He bowed deeply, gently taking Ciel's hand. "My lord."
They danced then, among the graves, to that melody so hauntingly beautiful. That tune that no mortal knows, that only plays one night a year, in a desolate graveyard, the song that leads demons and lost souls in an equally beautiful and haunting dance. And as the night wore on, Alois went to Ciel and whispered to him, "Promise me. Promise me you'll come back."
And Ciel looked at the blonde-haired boy, the Spider, the one with a spider's veil on his face, and gently lifted his hand to touch the boy's cheek.
"I promise, Alois. I will always come back."