The wind howled on that late autumn night, the moon set high in the clouds cast a ray of light through the window of the drawing room, the trees in the garden danced in the breeze casting shadows upon the figure sat at his desk. The dark figure barely breathing as the amber glow of the fire flickered giving the night a sight at the young Earl that was sat looking at his desk, the fire had almost died, and the night ever engulfed the room. The young Earl Phantomhive had barely moved from that spot all afternoon, he sat staring at the letter that sat on the desk and it seemed to have him in a trance like state, even though it had not been opened. The wind whistled through the room causing all the candles to extinguish, leaving Ciel in pitch black with only the last few embers from the fire aglow. The door to the room opened and in walked Sebastian, butler to Lord Phantomhive, carrying a candle:
"Young Master isn't it time that you were to bid farewell to this night and retire to bed." Sebastian asked Ciel. Ciel looked up at him, the candle light accentuating Sebastian's pale face and his blood red eyes.
"Sorry Sebastian, I am just a little bit, well a bit..." Ciel couldn't describe what he felt for he did not know himself.
"You were in a trance like state, wondering if you should open that letter or not."
"Well, yes that is one way you can put it, the thing is I want to open it, but I know that it is a task set by the queen that is highly likely going to be a life or death situation."
"Well master, you don't know that unless you open it."
"What, so you want me to open it now, just a few moments ago you were telling me to go to bed."
"Well my lord if it is bothering you that much then I think you should open it, at least you can go to bed with some clear mind." Ciel picked up the letter and ran his fingers across the top of the envelope. He sighed;
"Can it wait till tomorrow; I have a bad feeling about this."
"You always have a bad feeling about things master, it's an occupational hazard." Ceil smirked at Sebastian's comment, "I'm sure it isn't going to be too bad, so just open it."
"Sebastian, remember I am the one who gives orders, not the other way around, if I wasn't then well we would be in a reversed situation." Sebastian looked at Ciel strangely.
"Well, I think you just confused me there Ciel. But anyway are you going to open the letter because if not it will still be there tomorrow morning."
"No, I'll open it", Ciel said, opening the top draw to the desk and picking up a small knife, he placed the knife in the corner of the envelope and ran it across the top, the 'rip' echoed through the empty hall as Ciel drew the letter and began to read it. For about 5 minutes the room was silent as Ciel dragged his eyes across the letter, they grew wider as the letter came to a close, Ciel folded the letter in two and placed it in the draw which he pushed shut and locked. Ciel stood up and walked to the door.
"My Lord, is everything ok, you seem like you have seen a ghost."
"It's nothing really, honestly don't worry about it Sebastian, well I will see you in the morning then", and with that Ciel walked off to his room, Sebastian stood there for a moment still trying to figure out the situation, he pondered to himself as to what could cause his master to act the way that he did. Sebastian had a sneaking suspicion that it was to do with a relative, since he has only seen Ciel act this way once, in the whole two years that he had been serving the Earl Phantomhive, the only one time he saw Ciel act this way was when his aunt died. Sebastian was really concerned for his master, well mainly because of his soul, but there is often other motivation for his actions. Sebastian decided to go to his masters' bedroom to find out one way or another, what was wrong, he walked into the room and saw Ciel sat in the window.
"Come now master, tell me what's wrong." He looked sternly at Ciel who was staring out the window.
"What if I don't want to tell you what is wrong."
"Well if you don't then I can't do my job to protect you."
"But Sebastian, what is the point in protecting me, at the end of the day, you are helping me to complete my revenge then you're going to take my soul."
"But until your revenge is complete, I can't have your soul so for now I can protect you from people who want you dead before your time. So tell me, or I will guess as to what the problem is." Ciel still said nothing, "Right then I am going to guess that it is something family related." Ciel nodded his head. "Is another member of the family going on a murderous rampage, or has Lizzie been kidnapped." Ciel looked at Sebastian.
"The last one." He stated.
"So master, you're telling me that Lady Elizabeth has been kidnapped."
"Yes and the people who have her want me to stop my investigation."
"And are you?"
"No, the Queen wants them stopped, and what am I to not follow an order from Her Majesty, the Queens Guard Dog will not fail. I will rescue Lizzie; I will bring the bastards to justice. Sebastian, tomorrow morning, we will review where we are up to in the case, and then we will work out how to rescue Lizzie. We need to know what timeline we have."
"Yes my Young Lord," Sebastian said, placing his left hand on his chest as he knelt down on one knee. He stood up and left the room, Ciel walked over to the bed, he sat down on it, his eyes red from the lack of light, which was only an excuse, if you looked closely at his eyes you could see that he was crying, he wiped his eyes, lay his head against the pillow and fell asleep, still wearing the clothes that he had on during the day minus the shoes. Sebastian on the other hand had no time to rest for he knew that tomorrow would be hard work, well with incompetent servants and a master on the warpath things would be interesting. Sebastian reached his quarters which were in the basement of the manor; he opened the door to be greeted by the cool air that whistled through the emptiness. He closed the door behind him and lent against it.
"Why is it that I end up in a situation like this, when I took other souls it was easy, why is Ciel's revenge so much harder to complete." Sebastian said to himself as he sat on his bed. "I wouldn't care if it was the revenge that was the sole reason for my being here, but I can't help but think that there is something else there, something more that I want." Sebastian thought for a few moments and then partially dismissed that last statement, if Grell or any other demon or grim reaper for that matter was to know he thought that, then all 'hell' would break lose. Sebastian chuckled to himself then lay down. Ciel on the other hand was failing to make any headway as to falling asleep. As soon as he closed his eyes and tried to sleep he saw the images of his aunt being killed and wondered if that would happen to Lizzie. Ciel sat up and said to himself;
"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." But what Ciel wasn't counting on was for Sebastian to walk through the door.
"What a stupid phrase people keep throwing about nowadays, don't then know how much strength it takes a devil to not appear in front of them. So master what is on your mind."
"Who says that there is something on my mind?"
"Master", Sebastian sternly said, "I have never known you to act in this way over anything that has involved you being kidnapped, but when it comes to Elizabeth well, you're a completely different book."
"So what Sebastian, I am engaged to her, I just sometimes find her annoying, it is part of her charm."
"So master does love Lady Elizabeth."
"Of course I love Lizzie, why do you think I am engaged to her." Ciel scowled at Sebastian, "But I will admit this, sometimes I think that there is another that I love."
"Master, get some sleep, you're talking nonsense." Sebastian said, he had aided Ciel into his night ware and tucked him into bed.
"Ok" Ciel said sleepily, and with that he nodded off to sleep.
"I know there is someone else you love Ciel." Sebastian muttered to himself, he loved Ciel, but he was forbidden to show it or make it public. Sebastian made his way back to his quarters where he waited until the morning.