I don't own Kuroshitsuji or the song.
Deliver Us
Ciel was a dead mask hiding hate. He hated his cage that he shared with other smelly children. He hated his captors that treated them like dirt. He hated the people that came to see them like they were exotic pets. He hated the brand on his side that still hurt. But most of all, he hated that song.
With the sting of the whip on my shoulder
With the salt of my sweat on my brow
Elohim, God on high
Can you hear your children cry:
Help us now
In this dark hour…
Ciel covered his ears and shut his eyes tight, trying to block out the sounds of a child starting the song up again. But even if he blocked out the song it would still sound in his mind. A woman's voice singing it… his mother's voice… his dead mother's voice.
It was all that girls fault; she was the one who started it, maybe a week ago? Time was impossible to tell when you were in constant agony. Ever since then the lullaby was almost always being sung, whether it was one child, or many.
He probably wouldn't have hated the song so much if it wasn't so different from the one he knew.
The girl who had started the song was one of the most cheery out of all the children. When they were locked in the large cage that was used when they weren't being sold individually, she was the one who gave everyone a little bit of hope, enough to keep them from dying.
In fact, she was the one that helped Ciel when he was first forced to become a child slave.
Deliver us
Hear our call
Deliver us
Lord of all
Remember us. Here in these cold cages
Deliver us
There's a land you promised us
Deliver us to the promised land…
When Ciel was first thrown into the cage he immediately searched for a spot that would give him the most privacy. He found it at the right side of the cage, next to the bars. Since the enclosure was a thin rectangular shape, he managed to get more space by sitting in a way that no one could come up beside him. At the time he found the amount of room he had pathetic, but after a while, it became a luxury.
Tired, and aching all over, a new feeling started to bubble in his chest. Bringing his legs up and wrapping his arms around them, Ciel set his head down to rest. And for a while he seemed to doze.
"Hello." a voice said softly.
Ciel looked up into a face of a girl around his age. Her curly black hair was matted around her face.
"I'm Elena," she continued, "and this is my brother, Claus." She gestured behind her to a boy with dirtied blonde hair. He was young and cute, old enough to wander away from the house, but not enough to help with work. "What's your name?" Elena asked
There was a small smile on her face as she tried to be friendly. Ciel stared at it in anger, How could she smile in this place?
Turning his head away, the boy ignored her.
In response the girl sat back on her knees. The cage was tall enough that you could stand if you hunched a bit, but no one ever did. They simply crawled.
"Come now," the girl said, "It's better to talk to someone, it helps push the pain away, if only for a little while."
My good and tender brother
Don't be frightened and don't be scared
Since then the girl never seemed to leave Ciel alone, in fact, she seemed to treat him nicer than the other children. During the first week of being in the cage, she would always give him some of the food she had if she heard the pre-teens stomach rumble. When he was first shown off in one of the child shows, she was there afterwards. Not saying anything, but she was there, as the same feeling as before made its way known. So much so that Ciel was shaking with it.
While Ciel still strongly disliked her, they gained some sense of camaraderie. At night when everyone was asleep, they would sit next to each other, her brother's sleeping head in her lap.
During these times she would talk about her life before she was captured. How her brother used to talk and talk how he would always tell her stories about the adventures he had and so on. The entire time she talked about him she would be stroking his hair and giving him a loving look. While the talk eased Ciel's soul a bit, it made him angry that Claus still had someone that loved him alive.
Elena was always the one to speak. Occasionally she pried information from Ciel. "Did you have siblings?" "No" "What were your parents' names?" "Vincent and Rachel." It had taken weeks for her to get this information
After almost three months had passed, Elena told Ciel about that day.
"The only reason they took my brother along was because I held onto him so tightly. One of the men was about to kill him, but another said that he was pretty, and that they could probably sell him."
She bent down her head and planted a kiss on her brothers sleeping form. "Ever since then Claus has barely said a word, but he's what keeps me going. I have to stay strong, for Claus."
My brother, I have nothing I can give
But this chance that you may live
I pray we'll meet again
If He will deliver us
It was then that Ciel realized two things about Elena. That the smile that so infuriated him the first day was just a show, it was only meant to keep her brother from feeling too fearful. The other was that she talked to Ciel to ease her burden. It made her feel better to say anything and everything.
But after her confession, Elena hardly ever talked to Ciel. It wasn't because that was all she wanted to say, but her brother became restless at night and her hands were full trying to get him to sleep. That was when she sang the lullaby
Ciel's heart stopped when he heard the girl's voice sing the oh-so-familiar song. All was quiet as the children listened to Elena sing. When she was done Ciel could feel his heart beating again.
Since then, there have been many versions of the song sung, most of them talking about deliverance, but none of them were the same as the one Elena, or his mother, had sung.
It seemed like Claus was getting better for a while, but then he got worse. He was hot to touch, and whenever he slept he would shake and cry out. Elena tried to get help from one of the captors, but he just laughed.
Claus died a day after that. He finally grew still and cold. Elena shook him, trying to wake him up, but it didn't work. She held unto him until one of the men took Claus away because of the stink.
Hush now, my baby
Be still, love, don't cry
Sleep as you're rocked by the stream
Sleep and remember
My last lullaby
So I'll be with you when you dream
Elena grew lifeless. She would only sit against the cage, her eyes devoid of all emotion. The first few days the children treated her normally. When food came they would wait for her to divide it up between them, and would continue to wait until another girl came up and parted the food. Those that remembered her kindness would make her eat something. But she only put it in her mouth mechanically and would keep moving her arm until someone stopped it. Only a couple days later were people grabbing as much food as they could and the children could no longer afford to feed the girl.
Deliver us
Hear our prayer
Deliver us
From despair
These years of slavery grow
Too cruel to stand
Deliver us
There's a land you promised us
Deliver us
Out of bondage and
Deliver us to the promised land
Ciel's feeling of hate grew with each passing day that Elena lay limp.
"Come boy, you're needed for the sacrifice." Ciel came out of his reverie to be prodded by a snide looking man.
He crawled obediently to the cage door, his hate rising steadily higher, he was going to do something, but he didn't know what.
When he was lying on the sacrificial altar Ciel's hate reached its peak, he felt something probe near his soul with a question. In response he screamed the words, "Kill them! Kill them all!"
The whole room became darker as the candles went out; a black fog appearing in the middle of the slave dealers. "My, aren't you a small master," the fog drawled.
River, o river
Flow gently for me
Such precious cargo you bear
Do you know somewhere
Where he can live free?
River, deliver him there…
When the demon was through with everyone, Ciel got off the altar, immediately the he came to his side. Looking around, Ciel noted with satisfaction that everyone was dead, including the children who could no longer return to their normal lives.
He was about to order the demon to take him away when a voice raised in song reached his ears.
Turning around to face the cage which he would never enter again, Ciel saw someone rustle and kneel up, singing an unfamiliar verse of a lullaby he knew so well. The girl's eyes slowly traveling the whole room, singing the entire time.
Brother, you're safe now
And safe may you stay
For I have a prayer just for you:
Grow, baby brother
Come back someday
Come and deliver us too…
On the last note the girl's eyes were looking straight into Ciel's. The girl smiled the truest smile he had ever seen.
"Goodbye. Ciel Phantomhive."
He ordered the demon to kill.
Hush now, my baby
Be still, love, don't cry
Sleep like you're rocked by the stream
Sleep and remember
My last lullaby
And I'll be with you when you dream
I'll be with you when you dream