Hey Readers :) This is a short story I thought up really early this morning and I knew I had to write it down. If anyone is interested, this is following the story line of 'The Threads Of The Spider's Story' an OVA on Black Butler 2. Hope you like it :)
"I know that the dream has died," I thought to myself, "but why?"
I had gone to the meadow that morning with the hopes of clearing my head. Thoughts focused on what Claude had told me that morning, though I wasn't surprised. I didn't want a new maid; I had all I needed in that bloody estate. A smile formed on my face, however, as I remembered why I was getting a new maid. Claude had suggested the idea to me.
"She may prove useful," Claude had said as he had dressed me that morning, "she has some…knowledge of the Guard Dog."
The Guard Dog and the Spider…what a bloody nuisance! If it weren't for the old man, I would have…
"What would I have done?" I asked myself as I leaned against s tree, "Luka wasn't there anymore."
Luka…where did you go? Why did you leave me? Didn't you love me? If you had truly loved me like you said, you would stayed with me.
"Hoheo Taralna, Rondero Tarel," I whispered calmly before I looked up, seeing a Spider on his web.
The Spider…weaving its delicate threads to survive; sucking out every drop of warm blood that flowed through any creature that was ensnared in his web. Is that how Claude viewed me? No, he loved me.
I watched as a blue butterfly floated across my face and straight into the web of the spider. It twisted to move away, but it only managed to entangle itself further. Each move it made shook the web of a few dew drops and notified the Spider that it had something new. A new soul…
I stood up quickly and broke the web as the Spider inched closer. I had wanted to free the butterfly, stop it from being killed by the Spider. There were still strands of the silvery thread on the butterfly as I held it. I sat myself back down, to watch the Spider move away to repair the web I had destroyed. I lifted the butterfly up by one wing to view it.
It had thin wings, like that of a dog rose, but painted a bright cerulean colour. The cerulean wasn't alone as designs were etched into the wings by black that had an odd glow to it. The colours shifted to something close to grey as I lifted the butterfly to see the rest of the body. Its legs were twitching as the wings moved. It was trying to escape…it wanted to leave me.
"I was kind enough to save you," I said softly, "and you repay me by trying to escape. But don't worry, I won't let you."
I raised my hand to touch the top left wing, feeling the soft texture before I broke it. It came off in my hand, that beautiful cerulean wing. I looked to the wing for a moment, seeing that I had broken it up far finer than I had first imagined. The butterfly was shaking, its wings not moving as easily as before. I could only compare it to losing a limb. I doubted the butterfly minded; we could be together now forever. It would never leave me alone.
"You won't be going anywhere," I said softly as I held it high before blowing away the soft remains of its wing, "you're mine forever."
"Your Highness," a voice said simply and I turned to see Claude, on one knee and looking to the ground. He was my Claude…like my butterfly really. No, the butterfly had been ensnared in Claude's deceptive threads. Was I the butterfly then?
I returned my gaze to the weak butterfly and smiled. I wasn't the butterfly, no, I was a Spider.
"My threads will bind you…forever," I thought to myself, "you are mine."
I stood up, placing the butterfly in my hands to protect it from the breeze that threatened to take it away from me. Claude followed me as I walked away from the tree, the web and it's Spider. The butterfly would be mine forever, and it would always love me. It would love me for keeping us together. But first things first, I had to make the butterfly feel comfortable. I didn't want it flying away while I slept. I would make a place that could never compare to the outside world. My butterfly would never want to leave me.
We returned to the pruned garden, away from the Spider and the webs. I opened my hands to view the butterfly who had stopped fluttering and was simply lying there. I wanted somewhere for it to stay, somewhere to make it understand that it was mine.
The roses were in full bloom and wrapped around the statues prettily. If only the designer had known the old man hadn't been interested in young women…but it would hardly look appeasing to the eye if it were a young boy wrapped in roses. I shook my head to clear my thoughts before returning my mind to the simple problem before me. Where was the butterfly going to sleep?
"An insect cage!" I shouted with enthusiasm
"An insect cage?" Claude asked calmly, repeating what I had said for clarification.
"Yes, it's for this butterfly," I replied as I opened my hands to look down at the perfect butterfly. Could you really compare it to an insect? I always thought insects were disgusting things, worth nothing more than the heel of my boot.
"With or without a cage, I doubt it will be going anywhere soon," Claude replied in a monotone. Couldn't he see the temptation the butterfly would face at this moment? It was not truly indebted to me; it would leave me.
"Are you talking back to me?" I demanded as I kept my gaze on the roses.
"No," Claude replied sincerely.
"I want more than a cage. Flowers!" I said as I skipped to the closest rose bush, "I want it to be surrounded by the most beautiful flowers! That way it can sip up nectar when it thirsts."
"I shall see to it at once," Claude replied faithfully.
I frowned, wanting more of a reaction out of the demon butler. I wanted him to smile at my generosity towards the butterfly. Couldn't he see that I was saving the butterfly?
"Master," Claude said and I turned to look at him, "do you want me to watch over the butterfly while the preparations are being made?"
"Hoheo Taralna, Rondero Tarel," and I stuck out my tongue, showing our contract mark, "don't let this butterfly escape."
"Yes, Your Highness," Claude replied as he dropped to one knee and placed a hand over his heart.
I handed him the butterfly and he placed it on his ribbon tie. It spread out, looking perfect but the ripped wing was easily spotted. For a moment, it looked like it was a decoration on the tie. Would the butterfly love Claude more than me? No, it would love me, I was getting it flowers…or rather, my demon butler was getting it flowers.
"You won't ever leave me," I said calmly as we walked into the manor.
Claude opened the doors and stepped aside to let me lead. I walked in, greeted by the warmth of the noon sun. The first thing I spotted where the disgusting triplets. They were constantly whispering to each other, which made me paranoid. What the hell were they talking about? I glared at them and knew the answer. They were talking about me.
"What is this?" I asked them as they turned to look at me, "you lot are always whispering. I wonder why that is."
"They are ill-bred and foul-tongued. I've ordered them to speak quietly so they need not offend your ears, sir," Claude explained in that normal monotone of his. Couldn't he show any sign of emotion?
"Ill-bred and foul-tongued? You wouldn't be implying something about me, would you?" I asked Claude as I stood on my toes to pull out his cheeks. Couldn't he smile? Maybe demons didn't possess that ability…
"Never. Such a thing would never occur to me," Claude replied.
"If they whisper, I can't know what they're saying. And I don't like it! From now on, you will all speak up!" I ordered.
"I can't abide not knowing what's on their minds!" I thought to myself.
"The master has a few screws loose upstairs," one said.
"He's a bit of a head case," another said.
"A dim bulb you might say," the final one said.
"That's enough. There's work to be done," I heard Claude say, but the rest was lost as I walked further out of earshot.
I walked to the stairs, away from those stupid demons, my butterfly and my Claude. How dare he order them to speak quietly! That was my job as their master! I wanted to know what my servants thought of me, whether it was good or bad.
"As if they'd have a bad opinion of me," I said calmly but I had heard the triplets, "ill-bred…that's all it was."
I went to my office and straight to the desk. There was a piece of paper on the desk so I walked over to investigate it. I undid my purple frock coat which someone took from me. I looked up in time to see Claude folding it over the arm of a chair. That's my Claude, always thinking of me. The butterfly was clinging onto his neck and fluttering gently, making no move to escape. As if it could out move Claude. The thought made me smile.
I sat down at my desk to view what was in front of me. The piece of paper turned out to be a financial report for the manor and it needed my signature to send funds away. One of the boring tasks I had to complete. I signed it quickly before dropping the pen to doodle on the edge. It only reminded me that I didn't know how my servants really thought about me. It wasn't like with Luka who had told me everything.
"I wonder what dark thoughts go through Claude's head," I thought to myself as I looked up at the butler.
"I'm finished," I muttered as Claude took the report, my signature and a suggestive picture, "now tell me about this new maid."
"She has been unemployed for the last month, since the fire in London," Claude replied., "she was in a hospital recovering from a gunshot wound."
"What happened?" I asked, and then added, "I don't want some tart doing my laundry."
"It is unclear and she was recommended to us by her uncle, a Frank Hamilton," Claude said, "he owns a trading company in London."
"When is she coming here?" I demanded, "does she even have a name?"
"She'll be here by noon tomorrow, and her name is Elena Hamilton," Claude said, "is that all sir?"
I waved my hand to dismiss him before I put my head on the table. I didn't want a new maid, and now I had one. Why would Claude hire one? It would hardly be to help me complete my wish so he could devour my soul…was Claude leaving me?
"How can I be certain he won't try to abandon me too?" I asked as I remembered the butterfly, "I should rip off his wings. Then he would remain by my side forever…"
I stayed at my desk for a little longer before I decided to go for a walk. I picked up my frock coat and threw it back on. I would find something to do. I made my way slowly down the stairs and spotted the triplets cleaning. Had they always spoken that loudly? I leaned against a doorway, knowing they would reach it eventually. But I didn't really want to hear them, did I?
"He's a cruel idiot," one of them muttered.
"Especially cruel to Ms Hannah," another said.
"I like the way her boobs jiggle," the third one said.
Their words were rather odd so I decided I had heard enough. I would find something else to do as I was already sick of this walk, if all I heard was the triplets muttering about me. I had heard enough while I was in that blasted village! Good thing it burnt that day. But that was behind me now; I would never have to go back there again. I walked down the corridor and spotted open French doors and an inviting breeze.
"Maybe a walk outside," I said as I turned to the doors and stepped outside.
The sun hit me and warmed me quickly. Had it always been this warm before? I started walking to the roses…but eventually, I stopped. I didn't really want to walk, so I decided I would find a bench and just look at the roses. They weren't my favourite flower but they were better than the other trash in this stupid garden. I spotted pale white roses with a small drop of dew on their petals. No, I didn't like those roses; white suggested innocence.
"That was taken from me by that old man!" I thought to myself.
"Master, the room has been prepared for you," Claude said as I looked out on the red roses in the garden.
"And the butterfly?" I asked as I turned to look at him, "did it try and escape?"
"No, Your Highness," he bowed to me and motioned for me to go ahead of him, "we put the flowers in your bedroom."
We stopped outside my bedroom door, and Claude had no expression on his face. Had he always looked like this? No, he had seemed happy the first time I had spoken with him, but he had probably been starving. I wanted him to look at me the way he had that day, like I was all that mattered to him.
"I've assembled all the items you requested, Your Highness," Claude said as he opened the door. He froze, with his hand on the handle, and I looked around him. The colour of blue made me weep…
"There are bluebells everywhere," I said as tears dripped down my face, "it's just like that…other garden."
I stepped forward unsteadily to see a golden cage on my bed, bluebells hung close as the butterfly drank nectar. How could it compare what I had given it to the outside? It couldn't was my thought. I had given it an assured sense of safety. It was indebted to me, so it could never leave me. I would make sure it didn't…
"Is something wrong?" Claude asked as I held the cage in my arms.
"You did this?" I asked him, still in shock.
"Yes, sir," Claude replied.
"Incredible," I said as I ducked my head to hide my tears, "how can you know me so well, Claude? Please? Say you'll always do things like this for me."
"Indeed, I'm bound to do so as long as our contract remains," Claude replied as he knelt, placing a hand over his heart.
"Always a price," I thought to myself as I looked at the demon, "there's God and there's nothing but a contractual obligation…"
I stayed there a moment longer before I walked out to the corridor. I wasn't sure what I wanted when I heard the triplets. They were speaking rather loudly.
"The master was crying, huh?" one said calmly.
"Yeah he was," another said.
"He was totally crying," the final one said.
"But it was kinda cute, don't you think?" the first one said.
"Yeah, it was cute," the second said.
"Crying like a cute little kid," the third said.
"I can hear you," I said calmly as they came to a stop in front of me, cloths in their hands from washing the floor. They stood up as I walked past them, almost as if they wanted to pay me the respect I deserved.
"You're more irritating than a gaggle of fish wives around a fire! You're bloody prattle hurts my ears! Pipe down and get to work!" I snapped at them.
They watched me go back to my room and close the door. There was only one thing I wanted to do now, and I'd be damned if I couldn't do what I wanted. I decided to stay with the butterfly, in the room of bluebells that showed me how much I had lost. How many times had I put those flowers in my hair, or that of Luka's, and pretended to be a girl? We had acted rich, or normal…but never as snotty as those other idiots from the village. We were what a real girl would act like. It was our belief that girls should act a certain way…a real girl would be honest, her hair soft, her eyes bright. She wouldn't be fat (I had added that), she would have manners. She knew where she stood with a man and she read to young children. She would sing soft songs…but we had always been tone-deaf…
I wasn't sure if there had been a girl who matched that description to perfection. But then I was reminded of a twelve year old girl, her hair a soft red like fire. Her eyes had been a bright green and she had had freckles along her nose and under her eyes.
"There was one girl," I said as I touched the cage of the butterfly, "she was nice to Luka. I can't remember her name anymore though."
I lifted a bluebell to look at, putting it in my hair above my right ear. That only served to remind me of how much I missed him, I thought as I opened the cage to pick out the butterfly. It fluttered feebly before it settled in my hand. Once it had settled, I thought about the new maid. I had a very vague recollection of telling Claude that Hannah was useless and it would be better if we had another.
"I guess he took it literally," I muttered as I looked away from the butterfly, "she's probably an old bat, a mouldy old crone."
"I doubt she's any better than Hannah," I told the butterfly after a moment, "but she might help me conclude my contract with Claude."
Did I want our relationship to end? Did I want to die? Not yet, I assured myself. I would retrieve the information from this Elena girl and waste time before I went after Sebastian Michaelis…and his new master, Ciel Phantomhive.
"I must deceive her," I said to the butterfly, "if I play my cards too quickly…she'll fly away. I have to damage her wings before I pull them off, and then I'll have her under my control. She'll never leave this estate…"
The thought of taking away what made this girl ticked, making her submissive made me laugh. It would only work though if she was human, I thought as I stopped laughing. If she was a demon, they would take the shit I dished and still do their job. This girl better be human or she won't tell me about Ciel. The butterfly had stopped fluttering while I had thought so I looked down.
It had curled up on itself; the damaged wing overlapped the perfect one. The eyes looked closed as the legs tucked closer. It wasn't warm, or had it been? I lifted it up by the unbroken wing to look at, but it didn't react like it had before. My cerulean butterfly had died…it had left me like so many others…
"Am I destined to be alone?" I asked the dead butterfly…
I had lost track of time, just staring at the dead cerulean butterfly. Why had it died? Had it died on purpose to escape me? What a stupid butterfly! Couldn't it see my room was full of bluebells for it, so it could never suffer by starving? I saw a light enter the room, followed by the sound of flickering candles.
"Did the creature die?" Claude asked, holding a candle stick to illuminate the dark bedroom.
"Life is so fleeting," I whispered, "here one moment and gone the next. Like now, don't you want revenge?" I asked the curled up butterfly in my hands, "strike back at the Spider who did this to you. Alois Trancy, the Spider who wears a human form. Take revenge on me, be vicious and cruel. Tear me apart and live. Don't you want to live?"
"What is your plan for the creature?" Claude asked calmly.
"I need a chance to think about it," I whispered, "but I want to think alone."
"I'll run your bath, master," Claude said as he bowed, taking the light with him as he left.
"Was life always this fleeting?" I asked myself, "why didn't the butterfly want revenge? I had broken its wing, stopped it from leaving me. Was this repayment?"
"I know what I'll do with you," I said as I put the butterfly in its cage, "I'll cremate you. That will be your funeral rites."
I walked out of my room and past the triplets. They whispered amongst themselves as I walked into the kitchen. The top drawer held the matches so I took them out and walked back to my room. Had life always been this fragile? I left my door open as I put the matches on the bed. Life had probably always been this way, I just hadn't noticed it before. But now I had a more important task at hand. How was I supposed to start the cremation? I needed something to put the match to.
"I'll use this," I said as I plucked a cloth from the basin on my bedside with more bluebells in it. The cloth was dry so I put it under the bluebells in the cage and put the butterfly by the nectar of one of the flowers. I picked up the matches and struck one. It was warm in my hands as I brought it to the cloth. The cloth took a moment to light but as soon as it did, the flowers started drooping and falling into the flames. The flames licked underneath the cloth and I watched as my bed combusted.
I screamed as the bed sheets dripping with fire, going up the way to the walls. It caught the drapes that decorated the wall and moved from there to the carpet…and then to the curtains. I fell back on the ground and pushed myself into the corridor, away from the destructive flames.
"Help me! Claude! Where are you? I need you!" I screamed.
"What's happened, my lord?" Claude asked as he dropped to look at me. He turned to look at my room and stood. He was going to go in there…I couldn't let him be cremated like the cerulean butterfly.
"No don't!" I screamed when he went towards the inferno.
"Why not, master?" Claude asked as I clutched the leg of his trousers, hoping I could stop him. I couldn't lose him. I had already lost so much.
"It will burn you alive!" I sobbed, "Claude you can't go in there!"
"It's alright," Claude assured me.
"Please don't go. The fire will take you," I pleaded for him to understand.
"Go get water!" Claude ordered the triplets. I heard them run off while Hannah remained where she was. Why did she look upset? Almost like she wanted to assure me everything was alright?
"I can't lose you," I whispered as I buried my face into his leg.
The clock chimed the hour as I cried. Claude Faustus was the one thing I could never lose. It would hurt far too much to see him gone. I only listened as the triplets returned and Hannah helped them pour water over the raging flames. The smell of acrid smoke exited my room informed me that the fire was out, even before Claude brought me to my feet and put me in my bath. I didn't challenge him as he washed me, rubbing my back, my arms…making it seem like he was washing away the butterfly's imprint on my skin. He couldn't wash my heart, which still grieved for the creature that had refused to fight back.
Claude put me in my nightshirt and wrapped me in a blanket before bringing me down to the dining room. Candles were lit and all the demons surrounded us, as he put me down on the chair. I pulled my legs up as tears dripped down my face. I tightened my grip on the blanket, trying to contain the warmth it was giving me.
"It's all right now, the fire is out," Claude said as he took a tray from one of the triplets, "we'll have the room back to normal shortly."
"I just wanted to burn it," I said as I stared straight ahead at the roses on the table, "the butterfly. Set to rest, yeah? Like a funeral," I sniffled, "but the fire got out of control…"
"A funeral?" Claude asked.
"Everything burned," I replied, remembering the village…Luka… "everything."
I cried for a few more minutes, ducking my head to wipe the tears away before I reached forward for the tea Claude had prepared me. I sipped it, noticing that Claude was gone when I was about to ask him a question.
"Do demons care that life is so fleeting?" I asked myself.
Claude came back in a few moments later, cleaning his glasses before I put down the finished cup of tea. Hannah walked forward to pick up the cup, putting it on the tray before handing it to one of the triplets.
"Your room is ready," Claude said and I nodded before standing.
I led the way but he opened the bedroom door for me, stepping aside for me to enter first. The room was like that of this morning, all traces of my cerulean butterfly gone. If it wasn't for the fact that I remembered how hot the fire had burned, I would have thought it was some dream. That was something that had evaded me for a very long time. When was the last time I had dreamed been? I shook my head to take in the room.
"Incredible, it's like nothing happened," I said as I looked around. Claude had moved to fix the bed sheets, getting them ready for me to go to bed.
"Come to bed master. It would be best for you to get some rest, my lord, before dawn," Claude insisted as I moved to the bed, "the maid will be here at noon."
"Stay with me?" I asked as I pulled the sheets up over my shoulder.
"Yes, Your Highness," he replied, the only answer I really wanted to hear from him nowadays.
"You can sit on the bed," I said as I yawned. Claude nodded before sitting in the middle, leaning forward as if in contemplation, "say, am I entertaining?"
"Yes very," he replied without looking at me.
"Enough?" I asked, enough for you to stay?
He folded up his glasses and stuck them in his pocket, pulling out another pair. These were horn-rimmed and covered his whole eye. He turned to look at me, pulling at the arms to make his eyes look bigger and smaller. A trick I would have normally found very amusing, but today…less so.
"Enough for now," Claude said, though that didn't really answer the question.
"That line again," I said softly, "you're quite impertinent… for a butler. You never give me a straight answer. You're always telling me as long as this, or only if that…why can't you say yes? Would that be so difficult?"
I closed my eyes to try and sleep, only hearing the bed depress as Claude moved closer.
"You mustn't let your fire burn too fiercely; you should burn yourself right out. Do take care," Claude whispered before he left and closed the door to my bedroom. Sleep caught up with me, and soon, I was not Alois Trancy….I was something else.
"I dreamt for the first time in a long time. There was a butterfly, caught in a Spider's web but it had no wings and that butterfly…was me…"
"Master," Claude said as I put my head on my desk. Today was boring; another work day…how many more reports did I have to sign before my hand fell off? What would Claude do if my hand did fall off? He would probably stitch it back, and hand me more reports the next day. When had being the Trancy head become so boring?
"Elena Hamilton has arrived," he said, continuing on his sentence as if I had spoken.
I sat up immediately at the news. I had been contemplating what the girl or woman would look like. I was still on the old crone idea…
My dream of the butterfly had morphed into that of what I thought the maid would look like. I had thought of ways to get her to speak, and had settled on taking away her voice. I would force her to behave like the triplets, no voice and no opinion. She would never think badly of me.
"Where is she?" I demanded as I put on my red coat, "I bet you she's an old tart."
"Her uncle's carriage is coming down the laneway," Claude replied and I walked past him.
I had imagined her with knotted grey hair and beady little eyes like a squirrel. Claude hadn't told me what she was…was she a demon like the others? Did demons look old? I hoped she was human like earlier with the butterfly.
I jogged down the stairs as Claude opened the front door for me, but I didn't step outside. The sun was not blinding, it merely lit up the road a little better and made it easier to see the carriage. The carriage moved until the right side was facing the door. Claude stayed beside me as the door was opened, and a girl stepped out.
"She's younger than I thought," I sneered as I saw her. She stepped down and put her hands in front of her, like a young lady would.
I hissed when I saw her fully, and she reminded me of the butterfly I had saved. Was it mocking me? Her hair was long and black like raven feathers, and the breeze moved strands lightly away from her. She reached up to tuck them behind her ears. I couldn't see her eye colour but her eyes seemed big and expressive. Her skin was a soft ivory and she fixed the skirt of her cerulean dress. I knew then that I was staring at the female embodiment of my butterfly. But things would be different this time. I had learnt my lesson with the butterfly yesterday.
"How old is she?" I asked Claude as Elena turned her head to look at the driver of the carriage and then inside again.
"Seventeen," Claude answered as he fixed his glasses, "she's a human."
"Human huh?" I said with a smirk, "this will be too easy."
Elena Hamilton leaned inside and I saw a hand touch her chin affectionately. She reached up to clutch the hand before I saw her sigh. Her hair was tucked up in a bun at her neck so I could see scratches that marked her. She was damaged goods, by the looks of it.
"What about those marks?" I asked Claude.
"From an old master of hers. She stepped out of line I believe," he replied as he looked her over.
"Don't worry, Uncle," Elena said softly, her accent sounded very delicate, "this will help."
Her voice sounded angelic, something a child would immediately run to. She reminded me of that twelve year old girl from the village and I didn't like the memories. I watched as Elena took a small bag from the seat and a luggage case was handed down to her. She put a kiss to her hand before holding it up to the person inside the carriage, the one she had referred to as Uncle. Elena then turned to move away as the carriage left…leaving her at the Trancy Estate. She turned to face the house, raising her right hand to cover her eyes. I saw her frown from here and knew I hated her. She was already judging me! What a bitch!
I took a deep breath as she dropped her hand, determining what I was going to do with her. How would I slowly rip her wings off? An idea popped into my head as I looked to Claude. He would know tasks that would destroy her soul.
"Claude," I said, "make sure you give her the hardest task to complete first."
"Yes master," he replied.
Elena moved towards the house and I knew what I was going to do. I could not win the butterfly's affection by giving it food and love. It would only wither and die, too weak to take revenge on the Spider who had protected it. If I wanted the butterfly to stay, I would have to rip off its wings slowly, making sure it wasn't aware of what was happening until they were gone and she couldn't fly away. This Elena, this new butterfly, would never leave me. I would do everything in my power to make sure my butterfly never escaped…she was mine now…
Right, so that was the first time Alois Trancy saw Elena and as you can guess, this was her first day with him. Hope you enjoyed it and remember to review :) Thanks for reading :)