A/N: OK, here's this. I'm sure lots of you want to kill me for not updating a different story rather than making a new one, but this is more of a side project. Honest!

Title: Ethereal

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: K+

Pairings: Rachel/Vincent, onesided Madam Red/Vincent, and onesided various!characters/Ciel

Genre: Oh, god, I don't know. Family/Romance?

Warnings: This could easily be counted as excessive fangirling... that wasn't my intention. Promise! Oh, and implied pedophilia, too.

Summary: The darkly enticing Vincent Phantomhive came first. Then was the bright, happy Rachel Phantomhive. And finally the purely enchanting son, Ciel. But they all shared one quality. They were spellbinding - ethereal, one could say...

Disclaimer: Sadly, Black Butler is not mine.

Baron Kelvin was not the first to admire the untouchable wonder of the Phantomhives. No, he was far from it, indeed.

The first of the many realized it even before Ciel was born, actually. The first was none other than Madam Red.

When she first laid her eyes on that man, she was enchanted by the mere sight of him. His eyes spoke of a deep intelligence. The smallest of smiles decorated his face and a slight tilt of his head communicated a keen interest. His posture was flawless, but somehow warm and welcoming.

And then he spoke and she went from enchanted to completely, hopelessly ensnared. "How do you do?" His voice was smooth and perfectly polite, without the cold, impersonal quality almost always associated with the tone. Angelina knew that this was the man she wanted to marry, because if even one thing was changed about the man in front of her, it would be for the worse. He couldn't possibly be any more perfect.

So enchanted was she by the preternatural elegance of Vincent Phantomhive that she at first wished to marry the older man. Because he was perfect, otherworldly, a fallen dark angel. She wished to join him as a Phantomhive.

Earl Phantomhive had liked her red hair. Had called her pretty. So maybe if she made it show more, he would choose her, and then she would be happy. He liked red. He had said that red suited her, so she wore it as often as she could, and grew to love the color, because she associated it with Vincent Phantomhive.

She cut her hair and the next time she saw him looked at him hopefully. He smiled at her and she was happy. She continued to do so, keeping her hair short in front, wearing the red he seemed to like, day after day, hoping that one day he would grow to love her, too.

But she could not, because she did not fit. It was not until she saw her sister, standing beside the man of her dreams at the altar, that she could truly accept it – she simply didn't have the ethereal quality that her sister did, that he did. But the striking magnificence of Vincent was only enhanced by the bright beauty of her sister – the sharp contrast making both shine all the brighter.

Angelina watched with a sad smile as Vincent, the man she so wanted to marry, and her sister leaned over, each smiling happily, and signed the little paper without even a moment's pause. And who could truly blame them for their conviction? The man virtually shimmered with a dark, dangerous grace, an enticing warning, while the new Lady Phantomhive shone with a bright, pure, delighted glow. They complimented each other in the way only they could. One could see, with barely a glance, that they were the perfect fit, the perfect couple.

Then their son – their adorable, spellbinding son – joined them and she realized that she had never been good enough to be a Phantomhive.

Angeline watched. That was all she could ever really do, in the end. Vincent had come to visit his wife and son – having made as hasty an escape as he could manage from the meeting he had been attending. Which meant that he had to wait for it to finish while pushing it along as much as possible without appearing rude. Not an easy task.

Still, he had finally made it and Angelina could only watch as Vincent knelt next to her sister and tenderly took the newborn baby from Rachel's hands. That was when she realized that their child had the very same enhancing quality of the other two Phantomhives, fitting right in and making the family ever more perfect.

That was when she knew that she could never have been a Phantomhive.

Madam Red was the first to realize this.

So yeah... I hope that was alright. I don't have any set-in-stone plans for this, but I also intend to do one for Soma, Sebastian, Lau, Alois, and Claude. Probably others, too. Not Baron Kelvin, though. Please review! I'm open to suggestions!