Disclaimer: I don't own black butler, though I do own one character within this story and that's it. She's my OC, and you will meet her shortly.
His Butler, and the Witch
Chapter one: His Butler Catches a Thief
The sun made its lazy, slow ascent in the East. It was another typically overcast English day. The great fiery mass tried to penetrate the cloud cover, but to no avail. What a slovenly star, to be so slow in rising and giving its light to the world. It was shameful that a simple butler could rise before it and be dressed well before its rays touched his master's garden. The butler couldn't help but scoff at it, daring it to try to beat him at waking the other servants.
He went first to the quarters of the gardener, cook and former head butler. He had long legs that carried him swiftly to their room. He opened the door smoothly, as if he were opening it for a princess, and proceeded to clap sharply. He clapped twice before the gardener awoke.
The gardener was called Finny. He was rather effeminate and young. His wide aqua-colored eyes were bleary from sleep, and his strawberry blonde hair a mess."Mornin', Sebastian." he yawned.
The second servant to awaken was Bardroy. Bardroy was a much older man with stubble on his thin cheeks and circles under his icy blue eyes. He ruffled his sandy blond hair and yawned, his constant companion, a cigarette, hanging loosely in his mouth. "Mornin', boss."
And lastly there was Tanaka, an elderly gentleman who had at one time been the head butler. He had gladly passed the torch on to Sebastian, and was spending his days in relative peace, sipping tea nearly always. He was, at present, asleep, and quite deeply so. Sebastian didn't have the heart to wake him, but was curious to check if he was alive. He shook the little old man's shoulder gently and was greeted by a gently "ho ho ho". Satisfied, Sebastian moved on to wake the maid.
The maid in question was a young lady named Mey-rin. Mey-rin awoke with a start, knocking over the glass of water at her bedside table. The redhead put on her glasses and shrieked with dismay at the sight of the shattered glass. Among apologies and her obvious sexual frustration,Mey-rin finally managed to clean up the water and glass. Sebastian would have done so himself, but he was terribly tired of her clumsy antics and decided she should take care of it herself. He left with a disgruntled sigh. The maid watched his black-clad, slim figure leave, fantasizing about the day he would look into her chocolate-brown eyes and profess his undying love to her.
Sebastian then went to wake his master. His master was curled up in his large four-poster bed, looking for all the world like an innocent child. Sebastian knew better. Underneath that angelic, youthful face, hid a cunning manipulator, a veritable snake in the grass. Here lay the Queen's guard dog, Ciel Phantomhive.
Sebastian gently tapped his shoulder to wake him. "My lord, it is time to wake up."
"Five more minutes." whined a sleepy 13-year-old.
"Absolutely not,my lord, there's too much to do today." Sebastian took ahold of the covers and yanked them off of Ciel's skinny body. "Let's get you dressed."
As he dressed his young master, Sebastian went over his list of chores in his head. "I'll have to polish the silver today, do the laundry, beat the rugs, and dust the parlor before lunch. Luckily breakfast is already being cooked and should be ready to serve as soon as my young lord enters the dining room. That is, unless Bardroy ruins it. I do hope he doesn't, I'm growing rather tired of being the only competent servant here."
"You seem quiet. What are you thinking about?" Ciel said rather suddenly. That seemed odd. Lord Phantomhive rarely asked Sebastian what he was thinking.
"Oh nothing, my young lord. Simply going over the chores for today. Nothing you need worry about." Sebastian replied, thinly veiling his slight contempt.
There were times where he still couldn't quite come to terms with what he had been reduced to. A butler. A lowly butler that served a bratty child. He was an archdemon, for heaven's sake! It had been nearly three years since he had started serving this brat, and he had no soul to show for it! He had battled all of his enemies, infiltrated ridiculous circuses, fought undead legions at sea, and even been murdered on his this trouble for one soul. He was hungry, curse it all! Hungry and tired. But when he contemplated this child's soul, oh how his mouth watered. This soul was seasoned by pain, tenderized by suffering, yet still retained its strong flavor no matter what hell this boy had gone through. Each trial, every tribulation, would sharpen the soul's potency. After devouring this soul, Sebastian would be most powerful indeed. He may even rival that Old Bastard's power someday. That thought kept him going. He would only need to endure the Contract a little while longer, and then the boy's soul would be his.
As he buttoned the boy's shirt, he couldn't help but notice that he seemed a tad taller. Sebastian was continually impressed with this human. He grew even without the light shining on him.
"My lord, I do believe you've grown a little" Sebastian said with a smirk. "Well done."
"Oh shut up. You're only saying that." Ciel snapped. He sat on the bed to allow Sebastian to pull his socks on.
"Oh but you have. We may need to get you some new clothes soon."
"How trivial.I get bored just thinking about it."
"Yes, I suppose children do find clothes-shopping boring." Sebastian buckled his shoes and helped him stand so he could help the boy into a jacket. "Breakfast will be served in a moment."
"Stop referring to me as a child."
"Yes, my lord." Sebastian bowed elegantly as Ciel walked stoically out of the room. He smiled viciously. He did find it enjoyable to press the young lord's buttons.
The rest of the day passed in much the same way as any other. Sebastian went about serving his young master, completing his chores, and cleaning up the messes of the other servants. Snake seemed to be the least troublesome. Snake was newly-hired as a butler. He was capable enough at doing dishes and helping with simple tasks, but he wasted a great deal of time playing with his innumerable pets: the snakes. The snakes were useless at best, hindrances at hung on him like garlands on a christmas tree, hissing and peering about. Snake would address them by name, and would only speak to a person by telling that person what various snakes were saying. Sebastian still wasn't sure if he really understood them, or if he made their words up. The fact still stood that he was able to control them somehow and that talent had made him worth hiring after that fiasco with the circus he had been apart of.
By the end of the day, Sebastian had needed to stop Finny from uprooting the apple tree in the garden (Finny was going to shake the apples off), he had taken Bardroy's flamethrower away (who cooks lamb with a flamethrower?), and he had needed to replace all the rugs that Mey-rin had beaten (she had somehow unraveled them). Snake's little friends had decided to take up residence in a potted plant,so Sebastian had needed to evict them. Tanaka had done nearly nothing, as top of everything, Sebastian had finished polishing the silver, baking several varieties of muffins, dusted to parlor and scrubbed the foyer's floor clean. All in all, a busy day. A day that was full of mishaps and the usual amount of headaches. A very boring sort of day.
Sebastian gave Ciel his nightly bath and tucked him in. The house was quiet. All the residents slept in their cozy beds and as usual, Sebastian was the last one left awake. He would walk around the halls, checking for any danger, until he grew bored or tired, whichever came first. He rarely needed sleep, but sometimes it was an enjoyable way to pass the time. He blew the candles he held out, as he wouldn't be needing them. His night vision was perfect.
Sebastian roamed the halls for quite a few minutes, the silence swallowing him up. It still amused him that humans were so loud during the day and absolutely silent at night;they were such inconsistent creatures. The estate took on a quality that many people found quite eerie at night. The long shadows cast on the walls by the moonlight and trees looked like long,gnarled fingers ready to capture anyone at a moment's notice. The inky blackness permeated the very floorboards, reminding Sebastian of Home. Though admittedly, his Home was a rather unpleasant place.
He spent his time mulling over how much better this place was compared to his Home and was therefore surprised when he heard a noise coming from the study. Someone was opening the safe. He swiftly arrived at the study door and kicked it open as quietly as possible. He pulled some silverware from his pockets, ready for a fight. He saw a slim human figure, clad entirely in loose-fitting black garments, rummaging through his master's safe. The figure turned and looked right at him. Sebastian found that strange, as he had been trying to enter undetected. The would-be thief headed quickly to the open window, but Sebastian cut him off, standing between him and the fresh air.
"You wouldn't want to leave so soon, would you? You've only just arrived." Sebastian grinned menacingly, his lips resembling a beak more so than a human mouth. The thief took a measured step back, then swung his leg high in a crescent-kick, nearly landing a blow on the butler's jaw. Sebastian tilted his head back just in time and the kick missed. The thief took off in the opposite direction, running down the hall with light footsteps. Sebastian took off after him, slightly bemused at the thought of a break from his boredom.
The thief ran swiftly, almost gracefully, through the halls, avoiding the knick-knacks that stood on pedestals along the walls. Sebastian had no trouble catching up, however, and tried to grab hold of the thief by the arm. Sebastian was surprised when he grabbed the arm and found it to be rather soft to the touch, firm certainly, but almost-
His thoughts were interrupted by a bright flash of purple light and a searing pain in the abdomen. He released the thief and doubled-over in pain. He was taken aback by how much that had hurt. Usually any pain he felt was minimal, almost nonexistent, but this was rather distractingly painful. A hole had even been burned through his jacket. He tried to think of any new weapons the humans could come up with that would do this, and found he couldn't think of one. How bothersome. This thief was particularly gifted, it would seem.
The butler renewed his pursuit of the thief, this time tackling him from behind, grabbing him by the waist. Sebastian smirked when he noticed the slight curve at the waist. The thief turned to glare at him with sharp amethyst-colored eyes rimmed by thick lashes. Sebastian moved to take the mask the thief wore off,but was met by a very solid right hook. The thief followed that up with a kick to the groin and another burning flash of light. The flash of light knocked Sebastian back several feet, burning his handsome face. The thief turned to run again but found that the butler had pinned the hem of their loose-fitting pants to the floor with a fork and two butter knives. The thief knelt down to try and remove the silverware.
The butler, now thoroughly enjoying himself, hoisted his body up, as if he were a puppet on strings. He approached the desperate thief, who was busily trying to yank the silverware from the floor to no avail. Sebastian saw what the thief had taken, a few important documents and a velvet sack full of gemstones and gold. Interesting that the thief would know to take the deeds to some underdeveloped lands, Sebastian thought. He stood directly above the thief and pulled the mask off.
Long, honey-colored hair fell from the mask, cascading down the thief's slim shoulders. Those light purple eyes bored into Sebastian, and he noted the angry tears in them. She was a very beautiful girl, with a pleasing face and full, pink lips. Sebastian couldn't help but compare her beauty to that of a kitten,slender and sleek, yet was terribly young, perhaps only a few short years older than his master. The butler smiled, a little menacing.
"Now why would a lovely little kitten like you want to steal from my master?" Sebastian cooed, sure that his charm would sway her.
The girl remained resolutely quiet and glared at him, just before sending another purple blast at his head by waving her small hand. Sebastian ducked.
"I see. You want to be difficult about this, don't you?"
The girl shot at him again. He dodged it, almost bored.
"You realize I know that little trick now? I am not someone so easily overpowered."
She scowled, looking like a disgruntled child. "Lemme go."
"Why? So you can steal my master's things? That would be a terrible idea. What kind of butler would I be if I let a thief such as yourself waltz off with the young lord's valuables?"
"Ya don't get it. If I don't do this good, my master will have my head for this." She hissed vehemently.
"Interesting. An American with a master. I thought they abolished slavery there some time ago? And besides that, you're rather the wrong color to be a slave in America."
"Shut up! Lemme go! Just cause it ain't legal, don't mean it ain't still happenin'.Now lemme go, please! Ya don't know how bad my hide'll get tanned for this!"
"I'm afraid I don't quite understand your colloquium. What do you mean by, 'your hide will be tanned'?" The butler asked innocently.
"He'll beat me senseless and then some. He might even break my legs so I can't run away when he wants to have some fun." The girl looked fearful, and Sebastian felt bad for her. He could easily guess what 'have some fun' meant.
An idea dawned on him. He smiled ruthlessly. "How would you like to work here?"
"'Scuse me?" the girl drawled, apprehensive.
"I would like to hire you as a maid here." Sebastian responded, slow and deliberate.
She looked like he had just slapped her. She seemed floored to get such an offer.
"If you work here," he continued, "we can offer you a warm bed, your own private room, clothes and food. My master can be a bit demanding at times, but he is a good master, and much better than the one you currently have. You would be free and I hope, happy here. All we ask is that, in return, you protect the young master and this manor with your life."
"Why would you want to hire me? I broke in and stole from you."
"A valid point, though I found it more interesting than anything. You have considerable skills and you are stunning to look at. Those traits alone would make you a valuable employee. It takes a large amount of bravery and thinking skills to break in here, and had I been less of a threat to you, you would have made off with your quarry quite easily. I consider that a good enough reason to employ you."
"How do ya know ya can trust me? I could take the job and steal everythin' I can and leave."
"True, though I don't think you would. You're an honest person."
"Ya don't know me." She wiped at a tear making its way down her cream-colored cheek.
"No, I don't. But I know you can be trusted. Your soul shines through your eyes, and your eyes say that you are too desperate to say no. You are tired and in pain, you are weary of this man who abuses you. I promise that, if you work here, I will protect you from him, and I will personally see to it you aren't hurt again." Sebastian extended his white-gloved hand to her. She took it hesitantly, anxiety visible in her expression, but also a strange sort of resolution.
"I'll do it," She said with her sweet, birdlike voice.
Sebastian smiled, his sharp teeth showing. "And what is your name, my dear?"
"April Forger."