A/N: Okay guys, this would be my first fanfic, so...yeah.

Warnings: There will be yaoi in later chapters as well, so if you don't like it, cease with reading now.

Edit: The first four chapters are now beta'd as well by fantastic Carrie2sky!

Now, go ahead and check this newbie out :)

Deceive Me Right From the Start

Prologue

December 13th 1885.

It was a cold snowy evening in London. Streets were mostly empty and only a few passers were there, most of them running late for dinner, but having not enough money to afford a carriage ride home. Unfortunately, this year's winter was extremely cold; it had no mercy for people who were out on dirty streets of London. Of course, there were lucky ones who were in the safety of their carriages. The one of them was the Phantomhive family. A lady and a man in their early thirties with their nine-year-old son were just returning from the Midfords' manor, from a pleasant dinner in honour of the boy.

"Mommy, I'm so excited! Tomorrow I'm going to be ten! Can you believe it? I can't wait for the presents!" The boy jumped from his seat and sat on his mother's lap. Now, Rachel was indeed very patient woman, but her little boy was doing this for the fifth time during this ride. Her husband sighed and smiled softly, glancing at her.

"I know, Ciel, so what do you think about me reading you a story before sleep tomorrow? Hmm?"

Ciel giggled and hugged his mother closer. How lucky he was to have such good mother!

"I say yes! Tomorrow is going to be the best birthday ever!" he exclaimed happily. He was completely sure there wasn't anything that could ruin his day tomorrow, the day when he would exist a whole decade in this world. Just that thought made butterflies invade his little tummy. He was getting closer and closer to inherit his father, Vincent's, Funtom Company, the most successful toy company in the whole of England. He already helped with the toys' designs, so being the head of the company couldn't be a lot harder, right? Then, he would probably marry his cousin and fiancée Elizabeth (blah blah blah) Midford (he simply couldn't remember her full name, it was too long) and they would have a lot of children and live happily ever after. But now it wasn't time to think about a future that was so far away. All that mattered to Ciel was his birthday tomorrow; there were so many presents to get, so much cake to eat, so many dear faces to see.

The carriage came to stop in front of the manor, and Phantomhives exited it when Ciel ran to his loyal black hound, leaving his parents smiling at the affectionate scene before them.

"Sebastian!" Ciel petted his dog, which was actually challenging Ciel's height while simply standing. Ciel has never been a tall boy, but when he stood next to the dog, it was painfully obvious how short he was. Ciel was laughing as Sebastian tackled him to the ground. But when he looked over to see his parents, he was surprised to see them worried. First he thought they were mad at him because he was dirtying his new coat, but after following their gaze he realized they were looking at shadow that was visible through the front room window. His mother smiled sweetly, but not sincerely to her son. That kind of smile freaked Ciel out in all honesty. It was not reassuring as it was supposed to be, and actually it made him feel afraid. Of what, he couldn't be sure. Fear was just there, refusing to go away.

"Honey, why don't you go inside and read a book? It seems we have another meeting," Rachel said and motioned the servants to take Ciel to his bedroom.

"Shall we go then, young master?" The butler nodded to Ciel. The boy just hummed in agreement and petted his dog's head in apology for leaving one last time before he stood up. Now, he was really a bright child and he could understand something was happening, but since he learned that 'curiosity killed the cat' first-hand some time ago, he knew better than to make the very same mistake twice.

But as he was going upstairs he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard an unknown voice, but he couldn't detect the words of the voice, seemingly male, was saying. What the- he had never been closer to the revelation of his parents' secret. Before he could even consider the possibilities of this opportunity (screw making same mistake), his musings were interrupted.

"What? Now? You can't do this, it's the cruelest thing you could do!"

That voice was known to Ciel as his mother's and was hushed, probably by his father. Obviously his mother got nervous, since she would be always the one to whisper around Ciel in the evening, not to wake him up, or disturb his reading. Then again, she couldn't know Ciel was just on the other side of the door. The butler noticed something was going on in the front room and hurried him upstairs. Ciel turned around to face the butler, and seeing a questioning gaze in his young master's eyes he shook his head and put a finger on his lips, successfully silencing him. Once they were upstairs, the butler opened the door of Ciel's bedroom and led him in.

After a bath he had in the bathroom connected to his room, Ciel sat on the edge of his bed and watched the butler bringing him his nightgown and starting to undress him.

His butler was a young man, in his mid-twenties. He had tanned skin, since he spent most of his time outside with Ciel, (while Ciel couldn't get tan so easily, he was pale, and he would easily get burnt than tanned), and he had yellowish brown eyes and shoulder length dark hair. He was really tall, as tall as Ciel's father and he had a perfect composure. He was Ciel's butler since he could remember, but even with his skills he still didn't earn a title of a head butler. Head butler of the Phantomhive household was Tanaka, old, experienced and strict man, probably Japanese, according to the stories he heard about him. Tanaka has always been mysterious, and Ciel didn't spend lot of time with him, hence he didn't know any more about the man, in the contrast with his personal butler, who was now tucking Ciel in the bed and exiting his bedroom slowly.

After the butler closed the door, Ciel's mind started racing. Those 'secret meetings' were more and more frequent and they started about five months ago. He never saw the participants, he didn't even know if there is more than one. All of these meetings were after he went to bed, and his parents were always extremely anxious before them. Actually this was the first one that was unexpected, judging by his parents' expressions. It scared him, he didn't know if that meant danger. Now that he was alone, he thought for a moment about going to front room and seeing for himself what was going on. His curiosity was piqued and now he couldn't help but create his own theories. But he will discover what is happening. Not now, though. He will ask his parents tomorrow and they better tell him the truth.

It didn't take long his young tired body to find some sleep, so he didn't hear his mother's silent sobs and painful shouts or his father's calls to stop.

Ciel woke up due to the loud and terrified screams of his servants. He started panicking, not having the slightest idea of what was happening, so he threw his blanket off him and sat up in bed, and without hesitating he jumped off his bed and raced to the bedroom doors, knocking off the rings on his nightstand and exited room. He looked around once out of his room, trying to detect where the screams were from. Deciding it was coming from the front room downstairs, he started running towards it. He simply couldn't think about what may have happened; he didn't have enough courage, so he just postponed those thoughts until he could confirm it with his own eyes. Running down the stairs, he came to the front room, and he abruptly stopped when he saw the open doors and a few maids in front of the door. Dodging them he ran into the room, but the sight that greeted him made his stomach twist. His mother and father were lying lifeless on their backs on the floor. There wasn't any blood, but they were obviously dead. Their eyes were widely open as were their mouths. Out of everything that could have happened, this was surely the worst. Ciel couldn't do anything to stop silent tears streaming down his face. He opened his mouth, but clamped it shut as no sounds could be made.

Betrayal. That was what he was feeling. He knew that was wrong to think, but seeing his parents laying on the floor dead, on this, no his, special day, when they promised that very same day would be the best birthday of his life; hurt. Hurt too much for him to comprehend. At least they could have brought him as well, up there, in heaven. It probably would be way better than living the rest of his life alone. It was like he was left alone, like his naturally unlimited love for his parents was betrayed and unrequited.

He slowly approached their bodies as the maids were trying to stop him and practically screaming at him, but he couldn't hear them. Nothing mattered now. He sat between them and caressed each of their cheeks.

"So, that's a happy birthday, I guess… Goodbye, Mother, Father," Ciel whispered leaning down to hug Rachel, but the maids stopped him and dragged him out of room. He screamed and attempted to enter the now locked room, but the bell, which was announcing somebody was quite some time at the door, cut him off. He planned on ignoring it, and he collapsed on the ground. He didn't care about anything anymore. His parents will never be with him again. They lied that this was going to be the best birthday ever. They left him all alone. They betrayed him.

That was the only thing that he thought about. The future would never be bright again, it was too late. But only in one moment the thought of what will happen to him now crossed his mind, but it didn't matter. Not yet, anyway.

"Ciel, dear, what are you doing? What happened?"

Ciel turned to face Mr. and Mrs. Beechworth. They were close family friends; mother and father always trusted them and called them over on many family gatherings, even if they weren't really a family. However, Ciel never liked them. They seemed pretty much untrusting, although he was sure that's how other people saw his parents. Well, they were Phantomhives after all, known as the Evil Nobles, so that couldn't be surprising, nor the fact they held close to others who were similar to them.

Ciel may be an innocent ten year old, but that didn't mean he hadn't heard rumours about his own family.

When Mrs. Beechworth approached Ciel, the panic got best of him and he launched himself on the locked front room door.

"Shhhh, Ciel, we won't hurt you, darling. Just tell us what happened."

Those whispered words made Ciel turn back to her to see her dark hair tied and her eyes widened, and he quietly sobbed the answer.

"They're dead. My p-parents. Somebody ha-has killed th-them," he stuttered. Actually stating that was a lot harder than he first expected it to be. To say, to admit, that he'll never see his parents during his life again was so painful that it made his heart ache and he started crying again with full force. He forced himself to open his eyes and look at Mr. and Mrs. Breechworth's shocked expressions.

"I'm…I'm so sorry, Ciel. Let's go to our manor," Mrs Beechworth said in soothing voice, slowly caressing Ciel's hair, which was still ruffled from sleep. When the young Phantomhive's heir frantically shook his head and choked out more sobs, she hugged him. After the boy started to slowly relax, she pulled away to look at his eyes.

"Come on, you are surely of no help here, you don't want to disturb your servants while doing something of that importance, right? Let's go, then you can calm down a little."

"B-but my c-clothes?" the boy barely choked out as he averted his gaze, remembering he was still in his short nightgown.

"Never mind that, nobody will see you on our way there anyway. Let's hurry up now."

With that being said, two stormed out of Phantomhive manor through the broken doors, yanking the youngest Phantomhive behind them. Ah, it seemed that a servant would have to repair the doors again. It was a nasty habit really. When the Phantomhives didn't answer the door, the guests (family and friends usually, not just any guests) would break through the door. Now that Ciel thought about that, from the beginning it seemed like everybody was prepared that something bad would happen. Only he was oblivious to everything, and it surely was his own fault for not being able to call for help, no, for not hearing his parents' last words and screams.

Ciel spent the whole carriage ride with his face buried in Mrs. Beechworth's chest sobbing, while she was whispering comforting words in his ear. As the butler led them out of carriage and in the huge, to him all too familiar mansion, since he had been there so many times with his parents, he noticed the satisfied look in her eyes. That was the first time Ciel doubted their motives, but when the doors behind him were shut and he was sitting alone on the bed in the guest bedroom waiting for his change of clothes, he honestly started to think that his parents just held their enemies closer than their friends. It actually did make sense now.

The doors opened and revealed about ten people. All of them were wearing black masks on their faces and they were dressed in long black gowns. Ciel looked at them in utter shock and disbelief. What were they planning doing with him? The two men held Ciel arms and lowered him on his knees in front of them. That's when Ciel noticed a branding tool in one's hands. Of course. They wanted to make Ciel Phantomhive their personal servant. But that simply couldn't happen. Phantomhives were made to be served, not to serve, for goodness sake! But all of his thoughts were cut off as a familiar voice, probably Mr. Breechworth's, sealed his future.

"Happy Birthday, Ciel."

And he felt the worst pain that he experienced on his back; burning and slowly carving itself deep into his soul.

June 16th 1886.

Six months had passed since he first entered in this damned manor. Ciel was trying to get at least some sleep tonight before "The Plan", but alas, it seemed like an impossible task. Staring at the darkness, with a candle being the only source of light, he let his thoughts wander. It seemed like an eternity since his parents were murdered. He was completely adifferent person today. His former innocence disappeared the night he was abused, forced and raped, along with the feelings of safety, happiness and even his desire to live. Now he was left with the Breechworth's brand, hatred and loneliness.

These past six months, he was kept locked in his room, except when he was wanted to 'entertain' his 'Master' and 'Mistress'. Then, servants of the household would force him out and bring him to them. Most of servants were actually really nice towards him, feeling with him and trying to help him in every way they could. Being stubborn and prideful like he was, he ignored them, making distance between them, but they found a way to make him interested. They found out who the other masked people were who would request his presence from time to time. Those disgusting people were part of the Underworld, which the Phantomhives used to control on the Queen's orders, but unfortunately Ciel wasn't familiar with their names, since the Underworld was a forbidden topic in the Phantomhive manor, because of little young Ciel.

But now, he didn't have any connection with outside world. He was never permitted to exit his room, and only once, three months ago, the servants succeeded to smuggle newspapers in his room. The other times they were caught and punished by the master of the house. Hence, Ciel forbid them to even try that again, for he was introduced to the 'punishment measures' a few times before, when he attempted to escape.

Well, being in his room did give him some ideas of how he could get out of that mansion, as well as he had great help from the other servants. And "The Plan" would take place tonight at 3 am, while everybody else was still sleeping.

When the wall clock announced it was exactly 3 am, he got off his bed. He walked to the window. His bedroom was on the second floor so jumping would be suicide. But risks had to be taken. He picked up the candle from the nightstand and threw it next to door. Fire started spreading immediately, he could hear the fire crackling as he climbed out of the window and closed his eyes. He could smell the smoke, and it suffocated him. If he stayed in his room any longer he would be dead for sure.

One, two, three…

He jumped. He was falling for what seemed minutes until his back collided with the ground really, really hard. When he tried to get up he felt like he couldn't move at all, so he decided against walking, instead Ciel started crawling as fast as he could, looking for the road, where the deal was to meet with other servants.

Finally finding it, and slowly getting up, he watched the mansion burning and waited for the servants. Once they got out, Ciel would lead them to the Phantomhive mansion, and they would help him to get his title back, as well as his reputation, and they would serve him until the end. That was the deal. But, seeing as servants weren't coming out, he started fearing the worst. It was so easy for them to get caught in the flames and leave this world, which was so cruel to them, as they never in their lives did anything but serve nobles. And how cruel was it for Ciel to force them again in something like that. If they decided to leave this world behind, Ciel couldn't blame them. Maybe this was all part of something bigger that he had no idea about.

But as time passed, he saw somebody leaving the mansion right through the flames, like they were nothing. Ciel stared at two figures approaching him, and from that distance, he could clearly see how they looked. Both of the men were in suits wearing glasses, and the slightly taller of the two had black slicked back hair and was holding some book in one hand and something like extremely long stick in the other. The other man had blond hair, which was probably dyed, in brown on his neck and both hands were on the back of his neck, walking in a relaxed manner. He seemed a little bit younger, but Ciel couldn't be sure, since he still couldn't see their faces that well. Staring at them didn't do any good and he was noticed by the shorter of the men.

"Oh! Hey, look at the kid over there? Are we sure he isn't on the list as well?"

The one who was spoken to, started flipping through the book he was holding, yet he continued walking until they reached Ciel. Then, he looked from the book to meet Ciel's gaze. That's when he noticed his eyes, which held two colours, the yellow outlining the eyes and green inside. Ciel gasped and looked to the other one, who had the very same eyes. Ciel took step backwards, clutching his side when he felt the sharp pain from the fall from earlier. Those newcomers weren't humans…They were…monsters…devils… Ciel was frightened. Why were they here? Was this his end? But he'd rather die than show them his fear. They will be the ones cornered in the end. He learned how to maintain his pride even when he was relentlessly pounded into. Those two would witness the pride of the Phantomhives; that was for sure.

"Who the hell are you? Or more precisely, what the hell are you?" he barked at the newcomers.

"I'd kindly ask you to cease relating us with that particular place. I am William T. Spears, the grim reaper, or if you'd like, death god, and we are here to collect the souls of the dead humans," the black-haired one calmly explained, without a hint of emotion in his voice. This reply confused Ciel and no matter how much it sounded like nonsense to anybody else, it still made sense to Ciel. He was sure they weren't humans, but death gods? Maybe he was right from the beginning, maybe this was his last minute in this world? No. He knew better than that. Seriously, he had no obligation to believe in such nonsense.

"Hey, you'll freak him out, slow down!" The blond said and patted Ciel's head. "Look, kiddo, I'm Ronald. Now we need your name to see if you are supposed to die soon." Ronald withdrew his hand and looked at Ciel expectantly. Hah? To freak Ciel out? Oh, no they were looking down on him. That was their mistake. No matter the looks, Ciel wasn't aweakling, not after those six months. They will learn that, no doubt.

"I doubt I have any reason to believe you. Now, if you excuse me, I'm not planning on staying here and burning to death." Ciel dismissed them and started walking away, but falling thanks to his painful back. Now he was worried if he actually damaged his backbone, which would surely make his plan on retrieving everything he had once highly unlikely to succeed.

"Tch, ya know, ya could also benefit from that. Most people want to know when their last day is going to come, though," Ronald suggested offering Ciel hand to stand up, which was slapped away.

"Don't you dare touch me,"Ciel growled and tried standing up, but failing to do so, hence unintentionally leaning on Ronald for support.

"Hey, you're too stubborn for your own good. C'mon, I hate to break it to you, but it's damn obvious, you aren't gonna live for too long with that nasty spine dislocation of yours not to mention surviving without money, home, or a family even. So, what are you gonna do?" Ciel slowly detached himself from Ronald's hands that were holding him up, and glared at him. That was low, he knew very well how he had no family, and he needn't hear the reminder. But now, first things first. Debating whether to tell them his name or not, it didn't take him long to reach his decision.

"I'm Earl of Phantomhive, Ciel Phantomhive."

Now, it wasn't that Ciel was nervous, but nobody sane could be calm waiting to acknowledge of the date of their death. Though again, it's not like he considered himself sane, all that he had went through left too many scars and the former innocent, happy child was now a cold-hearted human, anything but a child. And it was only six months since the former. During those six months he greatly anticipated the same death that was going to be so soon, even closer for he will know now when to expect it.

Lost in his own musings, Ciel's attention was drawn only when he heard William's disapproving snarl after flipping again through his book.

"Tsk, impossible. There's no file on the name Ciel Phantomhive. Could it be you lied to us, Phantomhive?"

"I didn't! How are you even doing your bloody 'job' if you don't have my file? You sick liars! Do you-"

Ciel was yelling until William clearing his throat and continuing interrupted him.

"As I was saying earlier, before I was rudely interrupted by Phantomhive who obviously had the need to answer a rhetorical question; there are three possibilities about the file of Ciel Phantomhive that can't be found anywhere. The first possibility is that you are indeed lying. However, the second one is that you are not human and therefore we have no responsibility over the file. Since we cannot say which race you are just by the smell of your soul, we can't be so certain that you are really human. The third one is that your file has been stolen." William finished pushing up his glasses.

His calm and emotionless voice and seriously pissed Ciel off. They were talking about the file that contained the date of his death, for God's sake! And he knew that wasn't arhetorical question, it was directed to him! Inhaling to relax himself, his mind started racing with options and possibilities.

"First of all, I'm positive I'm not lying and pretty sure I'm human as well; I was raised as such and I had not known any other 'race' however you said it. So, damn it, somebody stole my file!" Ciel sighed and glanced at both death gods, before focusing on the mansion and the fire that was quickly approaching them.

Ronald followed Ciel's gaze, before taking him bridal style in his arms.

"Ah, it seems we'll have to finish this up at the Main Branch. I believe we also have to find a place where this little one will stay at until his case is completed, right?" Ronald asked ignoring several punches that Ciel delivered to his chest, trying to free himself. William merely nodded and the two of them launched themselves from the ground heading towards the Main Branch, the death god's main department.

"I believe I know an individual that will be glad to let you in, Phantomhive."

A/N: So this would be prologue. There will be Sebby in next chappie, don't worry, this is SebaCiel after all. Anyhow, if you can review please do so. I'd appreciate if somebody could give me some advise about writing or point out mistakes I've made, since I'm new and all.

And about this baby of mine. Title of the story is actually line from song "Angels" by "Within Temptation". It will have about twenty chapters, and yeps, there will be quite a bit of yaoi /it is rated M you know/.

Next update will be on Wednesday.

So if you read all of this, what do you think about dropping a review? Tell me what do you think, this is my first try, and I'd like to know if it is worth continuing.

Kitten Rebel.