Lizzie and Eramun

Kamalani didn't talk anymore, and she no longer bounded about in the form of a large dog or a fox kit at Ciel's side. Instead, when Ciel came back his daemon had settled into the form of a raven, perched still and silent on his shoulder as her beady eyes tracked any and all movement around him. Kamalani also no longer sought out Lizzie's Eramun, or flitted endlessly between him Noelani whenever she and the twins were together in one room. Of course, many things had changed when Ciel came home alone.

The first night after seeing Ciel again after that long month, when Lizzie and Eramun had huddled down in their bedcovers, her daemon said, softly:

"There's something different about Kamalani. I mean…she and Ciel are alone now, and she's settled, and I know that we don't…we don't know what happened to them, but something's just…" her daemon growled in frustration, the lynx's tufted ears flattening against his skull, "Something's just different."

"I know, Eramun," Lizzie whispered, stroking her daemon's spine as he relaxed into the form of a house cat and curled up under her chin, "everything is different. But Ciel's alone now. All we can do is be there for him."

Eramun sighed into her shoulder.

"Still," he said, "Something's not right."

...

They believed they figured it out when she went to give Ciel a surprise visit. Lizzie had turned up completely unexpected (going by the manor's unusual state of disorder) and Ciel's daemon had been nowhere in sight. Even as she threw her arms around her cousin's skinny shoulders, his daemon didn't reveal herself. In fact, Kamalini had remained unseen for nearly the entire afternoon, and only when they were taking tea on the lawn did the reason become apparent: her cousin's daemon came wheeling out of the sky, growing from a tiny black speck among the clouds into a huge raven that perched on the back of Ciel's chair. For a moment, Lizzie had stared, uncomprehending, but then her breath had caught in her throat and Eramun had shrunk against her side, a tiny mouse that skittered up into her sleeve. Ciel acted like nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all.

"I'm sure Nina wouldn't mind coming by," he said, continuing the vein of their conversation without so much as a glance at Kamalani as she settled behind him, "I can arrange for her to pay a visit next time you're here, if you'd give me some warning before you show up." Ciel looked at her with a sigh, his chin propped on a darkly gloved hand.

"Oh—oh, yes," she said, even as she bit back her sudden nausea, "Of course. Say—say, these cakes are very fine."

"Obviously," drawled Ciel, "They were made by Sebastian."

Looming at his back like a dark hood, Kamalani shifted, ducking her head and her ruffling feathers as he continued:

"One day I'll find something that he absolutely cannot do; that will be the day that my household falls to ruin." He gave a little smirk, but behind him, his daemon stiffened, her feathers falling flat and smooth as her head turned unerringly towards the mansion. Lizzie followed her gaze uneasily, and saw Sebastian himself.

"Speak of the devil," Eramun whispered from where he'd nestled himself at her collar, still tiny and agile as a mouse. Lizzie gave him a quick frown, before greeting the butler as he approached.

"Good afternoon, Sebastian," she called, forcing cheer into her voice, "Did you really make these cakes? Surely you must leave some work to the chef!"

The conversation continued, light and trivial, but she could still feel Eramun shivering at her throat with every glimpse of Kamalini through her hair. Truthfully, Lizzie herself was not much better, but for Ciel's sake—Ciel, who must be trying so very hard, and hurting so much—she could pretend. It was only later, in the solitude of the carriage bound for home, that she allowed herself to cling to Eramun, her fingers fisting in the coarse hair of the wolf's form that he had taken. It was only then that she allowed herself to cry in chorus to her daemon's mournful whines.

"It's no wonder she doesn't talk," Eramun murmured as his large form leaned into her embrace, "I can't even imagine, oh, oh, what must have happened."

Lizzie gritted her teeth, clutched her daemon close, and declared:

"When I get home, I'm going to send him a letter; I'll tell him I'm coming back this weekend."

A/N:

Um. So. I started thinking about a Kuroshitsuji Daemon AU, and I just couldn't stop. I think, with a manga that has souls as such a major plot element, that this is an incredibly fun concept to explore. Plus, y'know, daemons. The idea of them absolutely enchanted me in my childhood.
Um, also, before I get too far, I'll just throw out there that I haven't read His Dark Materials in literally ten years. So if there are any grievous errors, that'd be why.
(Also: titles. I hate thinking up titles)