A/N: Right. The second oneshot in the running. Please read!

Title: Even So

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: T

Pairings: None.

Genre: Family/Horror

Warnings: Violence

Summary: In a world where Rachel lives and Vincent is taken as well, Ciel still makes a deal with a demon.

Disclaimer: Sadly, Black Butler is not mine.

Someone! Anyone! Save me NOW!

At that moment, the candles and torches around them flickered and dimmed. A dark figure, formed from smoke, coalesced into the middle of the room. It began to look around.

Cries and demands rang out from the masked people, but the creature ignored them all, passing through the crowd with ease.

Finally, it came to a stop in front of Ciel, who was wide-eyed with shock. Its eyes, burning orbs of hellfire, landed on him. Oh. Well, aren't you a very small master.

"Ciel!"

Vincent yelled in fear for his son, horrified by the proximity the shadow creature held to him. Then he felt his heart stop when a hand reached out from the billowing smoke, cupping Ciel's gaunt cheek. This couldn't be happening. Not after everything.

Ciel felt rather detached from everything. He didn't react as smoke streamed from the creature, enclosing both of them in an amorphous cloud. This ran quite counter to his father's opinion, which resulted in him once again struggling futilely to reach his son, heart in his throat and feeling as though he had been dunked in freezing water.

Then, abruptly, the darkness fell away, replaced by a blinding white. White feathers, bright like fresh snow, fell around him. He reached out and caught one between his fingers, and for a moment, it was the softest thing he had ever felt. But then it grayed, withered, and crumbled to dust in his hand.

Ciel looked around, confused. He was alone. He jumped as, regardless of his solitude, a voice reverberated through the air.

You have summoned me, young one. For all eternity that fact will not change.

"What are you?" Ciel whispered.

A chuckle, eerie as a moonless night, echoed in Ciel's ears. I am the demon you summoned to your side. If you so wish it, we can form a binding contract.

"And if we do?" challenged Ciel.

If we do, I will serve you until your goals are reached, in exchange for one thing.

"My soul," Ciel whispered.

So you do know something of demons after all. Yes, little one. For your soul.

His soul in exchange for a chance of revenge and for his father's life. His only immortal soul. Ciel did not even have to consider before he replied.

"Demon! I'll make a contract with you!"

Abruptly, all the feathers that had fallen to the ground surged back up into the air. Ciel was blinded by the all-encompassing white, unmarred and bright, and then it vanished, leaving only the black of the swirling cloud of smoke. That, too, dissipated, leaving him, naked and vulnerable, on the cold stone table.

Vincent relaxed slightly, his son once again within sight, and even the stab wound from before gone. He remained pressed close to the bars, though, almost out of his mind with anxiety.

Where do you wish for the contract mark to lay? the indistinct figure asked his son. Vincent clenched his fist; it was clear that something had happened between them while they were obscured by the black smoke.

"I don't know," Ciel whispered.

Vincent could hear the smirk in the thing's voice when it said to Ciel, What do you desire from this?

Ciel's fist, mirroring Vincent's, clenched. "Power. I want… I want the power to take revenge on the ones who did this to us."

The hand that the creature had on Ciel's cheek moved, instead covering his eye. In that case, I will put it on that large eye of yours, filled with despair that runs counter to your innocent face.

Vincent's eyes widened, but locked in the cage, he could do nothing but yell. "NO!"

The cry went unacknowledged, and Ciel tensed on the table. A soft, black glow engulfed the smoky arm and a scream, loud and chilling, rent the air. It was joined but a moment later by another, heartrending in its pain.

"CIEL!"

An eternity was encompassed in the minute it took for the agonized scream to peter out. A stunned silence hung over the room. Masked men and captives alike were frozen in shock, paralyzed by that horrifying sound. The silence was broken only by Ciel's harsh breathing, heavy and labored, as blood the color of the beast's eyes streaked down from his right eye.

The hand (and how Vincent hated it already) was gone from Ciel's face, but it returned just moments later, two fingers lifting Ciel's bowed head until blue (and was that lavender?) met crimson. Have you an order, master?

Ciel drew a shuddering breath. "Kill them." Rage roared to life in his eyes, making them darken with anger. "Kill them all!"

The demon made as if to move, but Ciel stopped him. "Except…"

It turned back to the boy as his eyes – Vincent was certain now, even in the dim lighting, that the color of his son's bleeding eye had changed – roved over the cages, searching for someone. Finally, they landed on Vincent, and a pale, shaking hand was extended toward him. "Except for him."

Yes, master.

The next few minutes could not be described as anything short of a bloodbath, one Vincent wished with everything he had that Ciel did not have to see it. The demon flew through the masked people, limbs flew through the air, and red soaked the ground. Finally, though, he stopped, surrounded by bloody corpses.

It is done.

Ciel was clearly in shock, Vincent noticed with a wince. He was staring at the floor. Once simple gray stone, it was now a solid red, disembodied limbs scattered across it. Ciel was green, but he didn't throw up. He had become somewhat desensitized to the sight of blood and gore over the last month, Vincent knew.

What is your name?

Ciel found his voice as he tore his gaze from the remains of their captors and the children. "C-Ciel Phantomhive."

And the man you spared?

"My father, the Earl of Phantomhive. Vincent Phantomhive."

Interesting. Then I shall take a form appropriate for such a contract.

When the figure finished speaking, it stepped from its mist, which dissolved behind it.

He was pale, with wine-colored eyes and pitch-black hair. His outfit was, unmistakably, a butler's. He strode toward Ciel with a smirk, amused by something only he was aware of.

Ciel didn't wait for the demon to reach him, moving to slide off the table on his own. His bare feet hit the floor and he slipped – it was slick with blood. He would have fallen if the demon hadn't caught him just in time.

A pink blush stole across Ciel's cheeks, but he determinedly regained his balance. One hand clutched the demon's forearm in a death grip as he approached Vincent's cage.

It was a long time before the boy reached the cage, and he kneeled in front of it. His wide eyes, one still so much like his wife's (but one marred by that violet pentagram, a vicious lavender that glinted at him tauntingly) met Vincent's, and a hand snaked between the bars. Vincent clasped it in both of his and squeezed lightly, comforting his son the best he could.

Ciel turned his head to the demon, desperately searching for something in his eyes. He found nothing, but spoke anyway. "Open it."

Without a word, the demon knelt and effortlessly bent the bars, wide enough for Vincent to get out. Vincent barely waited for him to step aside before he tumbled out. The moment he reached Ciel, he wrapped his arms tight around the boy and pulled him close, not wanting to ever let go again. Ciel responded rapidly, hugging him back and laying his head against his father's chest.

"Daddy," he whispered. Silent tears spilled down onto his cheeks.

"I'm here, Ciel," Vincent murmured back.

I hope you all liked that! This is the second oneshot running for my next story. All three will have their respective stories put up eventually, but the winner will be the first. Views are half a point, favorites are three, and reviews are five. Let me know what you think!

[Transferred from its original posting because of an annoying guest.]