Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji by Yana Toboso or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

A/N: I thought of this story when I first saw a preview for "Ciel in Wonderland". I was sad that it was not about Alois because I think he is much better suited to be Alice, since he has blond hair and looks adorable in blue dresses. His wonderland would also be much more interesting to see since he is, well, Alois, and Alois is insane...Alois' Wonderland would certainly be very sinister. This is why I wanted to write this. My writing focuses heavily on the original story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but I used my official annotated copy with notes by Martin Gardner. This means that I have added references from scenes or ideas that were removed from the final draft of Alice and I have incorporated them here. Forgive me, it may start out a little slow, but in time I hope it becomes as disturbing and twisted as Alois Trancy himself is...

Spoiler: None really, but it would be advisable to at least watch the first episode of Kuroshitsuji season 2. Other than that the spoilers are gradual and if you have never watched Kuroshitsuji season 2, there will be very many surprises for you to discover along the way.

Warning: Very little for right now, but there are: mentions of opium and other drugs, prostitution, language, cross-dressing, pedophile demons, and of course, Alois Trancy himself.

Works used for influence: Narcissus, The Masque of the Red Death, Doctor Faustus, The Golden Key, Phaedrus, The Prince, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Imp of the Perverse, Death in Venice, The Symposium, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, The Tell Tale Heart, Phaedo, and many poems and quotes by Edgar Allan Poe, quotes by Lord Byron, Plato, Pliny the Elder, and Edward Fitzgerald.


Alois Trancy

in Wonderland

"I would be done with modern story-spinners, follow with you the laughter and the gleam: weary am I, this night, of saints and sinners."

(Vincent Starrett)

Chapter I

Down the Spider-hole

"I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity."

Edgar Allan Poe

It was on a hot and rather dreamy summer's afternoon that the young master Alois Trancy, officially declared to himself (as he lay sprawled on his stomach, dipping one long finger into his reflection in the lake of his pavilion), that he was thoroughly bored.

This was nothing so very out of the ordinary, as he was quite frequently bored – too bored for his lessons, too bored for parties, and too bored to last even another minute with any of the insufferable grinning fools who came to talk of the late Earl, or the ongoing issue of "the will", or grovel at his feet, hoping to win his heart; the heart that held the key to all of those musty and utterly worthless pounds – the fortune of the Trancy Estate, but it was his, not theirs', and didn't they know that? No…

But to-day, Alois thought, as he shifted uncomfortably over the cool stone to reach into the lake a little further, if things didn't suddenly become very interesting, there would be hell to pay…

It was at this moment that Alois' fantasies of life outside the Estate (dull as they were, for imagination was the one thing he could not demand), was interrupted by a butler neatly dressed all in black, as he stooped low, as if in a deep bow, to place a single glass cup and saucer by his side.

"Master, your tea is ready," His butler murmured.

It was always a dangerous thing to interrupt Alois from whatever he was doing, but nonetheless he withdrew his icy hand from the water and took to shifting the cup precariously around the saucer. "Black-cherry and licorice spice?" He asked, sniffing the cup.

"I believe that's what you desired…"

Alois sipped, savoring the unexpectedly fiery, yet sweet taste on the tip of his tongue. "You've out done yourself this time, Claude," He said happily. At this, the mark on Alois' tongue glowed and he licked his lips. His butler shifted a little, uncomfortable at the electric shock that suddenly pulsed through his hand.

"Well then, if you are satisfied I shall–"

Alois snapped his head up, shockingly blue eyes piercing into his butler's, "No. I'm not satisfied."

Claude sighed and stiffly ran a hand through his black hair as Alois plunged both of his hands back into the water, humming something nonsensical; careful enough to splash as much of the lake as possible onto his polished shoes. Claude gazed at Alois as his master swirled around his own reflection, stroking it now and then; the angelic face of a boy hardly old enough to be an Earl. The reflection smirked, full lips pulled in a knowing smile as half-lidded blue eyes watched his butler's impassive face in the water.

"You're like Narcissus, master," Claude remarked thoughtfully.

His master made a noise of annoyance and rolled onto his back, long legs wrapping around Claude's. He flicked water onto Claude's pants but the butler made no move to break Alois' hold.

"I'm bored." Alois whined, rubbing his bare stockings against Claude.

"Then may I suggest we retire indoors? I could heat you a bath since you have already most assuredly ruined your clothes. You must be soaking…"

Alois aimed a precise kick at Claude's shins. "No! I will bathe later, once indoors there will be nothing to do because there is nothing ever to do!"

Sensing an oncoming temper tantrum, Claude bowed an ever so humbly – "Forgive me master; but how shall I entertain you?" while taking care to look deeply into his Master's eyes.

Alois' breath caught, momentarily lost in the eyes of his butler's – he shook his head, and then skipped over to the pavilion's table all the while tugging at his butler's sleeve for him to follow. "Read to me from this."Alois snatched an old and battered looking book up from the table and then motioned for Claude to sit so that he could clamber into his lap.

Claude took it carefully in his gloved fingers – the pages were already fraying at the slightest touch. He flipped to a page containing a woodcut picture of a little girl in a dress holding a bottle that read, "DRINK ME", "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?" He asked.

"Yes, it's my favorite!"

"I see…I believe I met Lewis Carroll once, he stuttered quite a bit - his books are full of nonsense."

"Nonsense, nonsense, what is nonsense anyway? Something better than this, I'm sure." Replied Alois loftily.

The corners of Claude's mouth twitched, as if was going to smile (as if he would smile – had Claude ever smiled? Not because of his Master, of that he was sure), "Are you sure, Master?"

Alois rested comfortably against Claude's chest, fingering his waistcoat affectionately. "Yes, I'm sure. This weather is lovely, so let us read by here, a fair resting-place, full of summer sounds and scents." (1) He gently pushed Claude's spectacles up his long nose. "Beneath such dreamy weather…" (2) In response, catlike tawny eyes blinked back at him.

"Very well," Claude began, his voice was deep and heavy with an almost melodic lilt to it, and it vibrated nicely against Alois' face, so he closed his drowsy eyes...

"Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?"

"So she was considering," Claude continued, wrapping his arms a little around Alois so as to adjust the page. "In her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her…"

Alois waited in anticipation, for it was always his favorite part when Alice actually paid the White Rabbit any attention and followed it down the rabbit-hole; but when the silence continued, and Alois could only hear the sound of his own beating heart and not Claude's (but was that the sound of a ticking watch?), he opened his eyes and looked around.

There was no Claude. There was no tea or book for that matter either. Alois rubbed his eyes to clear his dizzy sleep filled vision and swiveled in his seat to look around, now panic stricken. If Claude had left him…But that was silly, Claude never left him (at least, not without a command). This didn't stop Alois from turning frantically around and around (but he daren't actually move to find his butler, for he felt as if his legs had turned to jelly and there was still that odd ticking and dizziness in his head).

"Claude?" Alois called out weakly. No answer. A gust of pleasant wind came with a whoosh from the thicket of pine trees surrounding the pavilion, causing his short blond locks to tumble about his round face.

"Claude?"

"CLAUDE?"

"Clau – Oh!" Alois' chair finally gave way and he tumbled head over heels, and came to stare into the face of a hairy thing with a great many tawny eyes.

"A – Spider?" Alois exclaimed, his vision coming back into focus. The Black Spider blinked once, behind a pair of a hundred tiny spectacles, before turning around and scuttling into the forest, with a flash of its silver pocket-watch.

"Wait, please!" Alois jumped to his feet, heart racing, as he followed after the Black Spider. "If this is like Alice's Wonderland, then surely there will be-"

"Aha!" Soon he came to a large spider-hole, and after the spider vanished within the hole, Alois followed, without a moment's hesitation.

The spider-hole plunged Alois into a thick darkness which was full of the smell of an odd combination of earth and spice, before he suddenly fell, straight down. It was either that like Alice's rabbit-hole, the tunnel was very long and he was falling very slowly; or it was that Alois had already hit the ground below, had already smashed to a hundred pieces and died, and still felt like he was falling, because well, because – "It must be the after-effects of dying," Alois said knowledgably (which seemed like a proper explanation of a boy who hardly attended lessons), "because, I've never died before, so how would I know?" (Indeed)…

Presently, a dull light came about Alois as he fell, and he could see that there were all sorts of curious objects tangled within the intricate weaves of the spider webs coating the walls of the tunnel. Objects such as glass tea pots, tea cups and saucers (which Alois was careful not to touch, for their contents were still steaming), and portraits of what appeared to be a burning village and blackened dead people, that Alois could have sworn felt like fire at his touch (and why did they look so familiar? Alois could not remember). There were also crumbling, household-looking books: how to make the perfect soups, preparing tea, and recipes of fancy custards like Crème Brûlées and such; when Alois reached out to touch a page of the desserts recipes, he drew back his hand with a cry of disgust, for the contents of the page had begun to ooze a sticky jelly substance, and secreted a smell of sickly sweet rotten fruit.

Then there were the cupboards, and they were all packed with black tea. Alois didn't particularly like bitter tea, especially the ones here – "NEW MOON DROP" (it always made him feel rather empty), but upon discovering that the tin was bare, he let it fall below him to hear how far away he was from landing, or perhaps to connect with the head of some passerby – he didn't care which.

Down, down, and down again. Would this fall, this dream, never end? Alois was beginning to get very sleepy with nothing to do but fall, and just as he thought to himself, "I wonder if I shall fall right through the –" When all of a sudden, boing! He bounced from a springy spider-web and landed on a pile of dry leaves and sticks. Alois groaned, massaging his backside. "Really," He thought. "I am in no condition for these sorts of falls…" Yet he got up and looked about and realized…That he was back in the Earl's manor…But no, that was impossible! Alois' had seen to it that everything, everything was destroyed! Yet so it was – it was the Earl Trancy's manor.

Granted, it was dustier; thick layers of dirt and grime coated the wine-red halls and most of the candle lights were now gone, and in the place of what should have been a great chandelier, there hung a glittering spider web, stuck full of dripping candles; their wax falling steadily in hot pools on the floor. This was of little relief and Alois shivered, backing away to search for a door, any door, when he noticed the Black Spider hurrying down another dark passage of the manor.

"Wait!" Alois sped after it, slipping as he did so, on the hot wax, down the narrow hall, but alas for poor Alois! He was blocked by a spider web barricading his way. Tearing it apart impatiently, Alois tried to catch up with the Black Spider but it was out of sight once more, and Alois found himself in another low corridor. This hall was thankfully lit by more candles, which floated eerily alongside Alois' as he walked about the many rows of doors lining his way.

"Why, they're all locked!" Alois cried, baking away in horror, but just then he bumped into a three-legged table made entirely of glass on which lay a miniature golden key. Alois held up the key and ran a finger along its oddly intricate woven teeth. "Perhaps this shall do the trick."

Alois tried all of the doors again, but to his mounting frustration, none of them fit. Just then, Alois came upon a beautifully woven curtain made of red spider silk, that when pulled apart like gauze, he discovered behind it a little door fifteen inches in height. "There was the Door to which I found no Key; there was the veil through which I might see..." (3) Alois recited, remembering the poem. "Ah there we go."

No sooner had he turned the lock, did the little door vanish in a puff of dust at his feet, revealing what appeared to be a magnificent garden straight ahead. Oh, how Alois longed to walk about the garden of those tall flowers, for although his garden was grand, this one appeared to be much lovelier. But as his head could only barely fit through, and Alois remembered in his cloudy mind, that if he walked back to the table as Alice had done, something good was sure to happen.

So he did. And to his astonishment (though why should he be astonished?) he found a little red colored bottle with a paper label round its neck, marked "DRINK ME" in large letters. Alois thought for a moment about the consequence of drinking from unknown medicine bottles (for this one looked nothing like the ones Claude usually forced upon him), but decided to finish off the whole bottle anyway.

Alois licked his lips, "It tastes like, cheery-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey? Toffy, and, mmm, buttered toast!"

"I simply must make Claude find me something like this! But what a curious feeling," said Alois, "I can't reach the table!" And so he couldn't, though he tried to put the now enormously difficult bottle back on the table. He caught a glance of himself on one of the table's legs, and discovered with great surprise that he was now just ten inches high – perfect for the garden! He shivered violently for his clothes had not shrunk with him. Though he was just the right size, he couldn't help wondering if the flowers would bother him for not being properly clothed…Suddenly he spotted a glass box that he had not noticed before, and found that inside was quite a small cake etched with the words "EAT ME", in frosting, and underneath was a simply gorgeous lacey blue dress with a little white pinafore and stockings.

As Alois held up the dress, he found to his shock, that he was still not small enough, and could still not reach the key! So he took to finishing off the cake as well.

"Curiouser and curiouser!"Cried Alois (he couldn't understand either what made him say such a thing). He was now growing at an alarming rate, and crouched in fear of crushing himself against the low ceiling and spider webs, and still he wouldn't stop! And was that him who was making that thumping noise against the walls? And why was it growing steadily louder, louder, and louder…

"Alois," And now someone was calling his name! Was it the Black Spider?

"N-now I'll never leave this wretched place!" Alois sobbed. And soon he began to cry…

"Alois,"

"A-and that Spider is still calling me!" Alois pounded against the walls that seemed to be slowly pressing in around him, though they felt like thick pillows…

"Alois,"

"Yes! I'm here! Please, please, HELP ME!"


"YOUR HIGHNESS,"

"Oh but that's, Claude's voice,"

And with that everything, the pool of tears, the dress, the cake, everything vanished, and Alois Trancy was once again back in his own bed, safe beneath his heavy satin comforters and feather pillows.

"Claude,"

"Your Highness, I have prepared your tea…"

"Oh Claude, I had the most fantastic dream! You weren't there, but there was this Black Spider and-"

"And?"

"Nothing, it wouldn't interest you…"

"Very well, drink your tea before it grows cold, Ridgway's Majesty's Blend – it's quite soothing…"

"Pity,"

"Pity, Master?"

"That you couldn't have blended something more interesting; like, cherry tart, custard, pine apple, roast turkey, toffy, and buttered toast, all in one!"

"That would have been quite the tea, Master."

"Will there be anything for me to attend to-day?"

"Yes,"

"Well that will be highly unusual,"

"It's time to dress, Master,"

"Claude! That table, the little glass one in the corner, have I always had that?"

"Why yes Your Highness, I believe that was a gift from the RED ROSE,"

"Do not speak of that name!"

"My mistake master,"

"And that glass box is it too from that place?"

"Naturally,"

"Bring it here,"

Click

"The gold key…"

"Hmm?"

"I said, but there's nothing in here! Fill this with something sweet, Claude. Like a little cake or something, and decorate it with the words 'EAT ME', ha-ha how dirty!"

"Will that be all, Master?"

"…"

"Master?"

"Do you believe in fairy tales, Claude?"

"If there are demons, then there are fairies."

"Oh...Well, how about a Wonderland?"

"That's impossible. Now really master, it's time to dress..."


Then Claude was gone, and Alois just laughed

Collapsing back onto his bed, face down, laughing until his sides hurt and all that he could force out were weak hiccups. Alois closed his eyes, breathing deeply. It had been a nice dream hadn't it? The cake had tasted so real, so sweet, and so had the bottle; and if only he could go back…Just to see the garden and perhaps wear the blue dress – it was so pretty.

His eyes closed but Wonderland did not come. What came was that night. When he was pinned like a butterfly to his bed, naked and sore all over, and the curtains were open with such a soothing breeze, and the Early Trancy was finally asleep…

He had called to his demon, the one with the empty face and thin lips…The one with the tawny eyes, like a spider. The windows flew open and the silhouette of a man, his shadow, vast and looming over the wine-red walls, had plunged his long tongue inside of Alois' aching mouth, without a word, gripping him close, then closer, until it had felt like a knife had etched itself across his tongue.

Then the demon had vanished and Alois had collapsed onto the cold floor, tongue pulsing, as a spider crawled from his slack mouth, scuttling over his limp body, and into the darkness.

It would be hours before Alois Trancy would awaken from his dream. If Wonderland could not be Alois' to command, then at least this, a memory, would always be his.

It was several hours before Alois had bothered to drag himself from his bed and retire to his study where he was to await for further news on this after-noon's schedule from Claude. He always looked forward to seeing Claude (his attention for once, was entirely focused on his master without a direct command), but upon arrival, Alois' wished him away almost immediately.

"Master, your Uncle Arnold will be arriving for to-day's dinner. Apparently he wishes to question you about the time when you were imprisoned. He is also bringing a priest."

"If I satisfy him with an answer, he's just going to ask for money, isn't he?"

"Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain, but your uncle, I must admit, is a special case." (4)

Alois closed his eyes once more and rested his head on his desk – what a mistake. A sickly and putrid smell filled his nostrils. The desk became a suffocating pillow; his head was smothered against it as fat wondering hands suddenly pressed everywhere… Alois' head shot up from the desk and he shook his head, trying to rid himself of the horrible memories.

"They're all like that, aren't they? All of them...Yes…Well in that case, let him come, but you must change our decorations, Claude. I wouldn't want my dear uncle getting the wrong idea; after all, we are mourning the loss of my father…"

"Yes, Your Highness,"


For Alois Trancy, the conditions of the night had never been so successful. Uncle Arnold had come, and yes with a priest and a rather fair looking man who claimed to have known the late Earl; and Alois had shown them around the tasteless mansion, complete with all those hateful decorations thanks to Claude. The fair Viscount had swooned at the old extravagance of his friend's collection of art, while his uncle stewed, his small eyes searching for any flaws, and the priest looked on timidly, glancing at Alois now and then to confirm if this was the Trancy's legitimate son – and it certainly seemed that way, didn't it? For the three men had watched as the boy's blue eyes filled with tears at even the slightest mention of his father's name, and Alois congratulated himself at this, he didn't even need to dig his fingers into his skin to cause tears anymore. Everything was going so well…

He had told him his sad story; about the village he had no recollection of, called something sinister, like, Weaver's End (and was that really it?). With its foreign shingled roofed mud houses and filthy merchant people, who kicked him and his Andrew about whenever they begged for food, not even money, and so he was forced to work as – but never mind the what or the place, it needn't be mentioned…

It was such a very miserable story too, filled with lots of tearful pauses, quivering breaths, that even his uncle had looked unsettled, so of course he was easy prey for all sorts of humiliation.

Then Arnold Trancy had left in his stupid carriage, and Alois, beckoning to him on the terrace with his sweet voice, had forced the man to dance for all of those musty worthless pounds from a case he had told Claude to retrieve from somewhere deep in the cellars, and Alois whooped with laughter at the sight of his beloved uncle shaking his ass for money, and all had been quite fun, until…Until the storm had come…


Once the entire Trancy household had been impounded within the manor, and all was as it had been before, silent without the disruption of unusual guests, Alois rounded on Claude.

"Claude Faustus, was that not amusing?" Blue eyes electrified in the light of thunder, mixed with anger and slight humiliation at having to laugh at something so ridiculously amusing all on his own so that his actions had seemed childish, and not clever.

"Master," (a stiff incline of the head)

"When I command you to do something, do it."

"Yes, Your Highness, is that all?"

Alois Trancy surveyed his butler haughtily; silently challenging, no begging, him to betray any emotion. Claude Faustus returned the gaze, eyes a pool of sweet honey for his master. Alois felt the exciting agitation from his evening performance melt away, settling into emptiness. "Yes that's all."

"Very well," The butler turned away, receding back into the darkness of the manor's hall, a dimly lit candelabrum in his gloved hand. He could hear his master behind him, heals clicking dutifully as he sought to keep within the haze of light surrounding his butler. It was always like this. Alois trailing behind Claude as he performed his final tasks of the day; just in time before evening would succumb to darkness, reducing Alois to whimpers, pleading to be carried to his bed, away from the frightful black of the night once more...

A slight tug on his sleeve brought Claude away from extinguishing the final candle in the manor. "Carry me, Claude." Alois said, raising his arms.

"Yes, Your Highness." Claude obliged, stooping to sweep up his master in his arms.

"You're such a good butler," Alois mused, tousling Claude's hair. He then began walking his fingers up Claude's chest, stopping to press them against the pulse in his neck. "Say, why don't you and I-"

A soft rapping at the manor's door distracted both master and butler. "Now who could that be at this hour?" Alois wondered, kicking his feet in protest for Claude to let him down.

Standing outside amidst the horror of the windy storm was a man dressed in a shroud of black. A flash of lighting illuminated the heavy case he was carrying in his gloved white hand. "A storm has broken out." The man said, addressing Claude. His voice though covered by the soaking traveling cloak about his face rang out clear and deep in the night.

"Do you have some business in a night like this?" Claude reproached, appraising the man with distain.

"I was surprised by the storm. So, if could request to spend the night here..."

Alois pushed his way past Claude and bounded towards the man. "Amazing," He cried gleefully. Here was a man, a traveler no doubt, who was not one of the many stupid nobles who came calling for parties. He was a mystery, bundled up just for Alois to unwrap in the dead of night.

"What a filthy man! Just like a dark gray rat!" He continued, prodding at the man's thick cloak. "But," He stepped closer, raising himself on tip toe to sniff at the man's long black hair. "He smells good." Alois' repressed senses kicked into overdrive as he inhaled the aroma of musk and spicy, sweet licorice, and something else that seemed oddly familiar…"What's your name, stranger?" He whispered, batting his eyelashes. Ah, it had been such a very long time since Alois Trancy had had a man like this for the night…


"Master, why do you wish for our guest to sleep in a room so close to yours? I do not trust him."

"Where he sleeps is none of your concern. He is a traveler, and my guest, and he is already twice as interesting as you, Claude. I like him."

"Very well, but please refrain from speaking so commonly. 'Damn tasty', is not part of the noble dictate.

Laughter

"As if my traveler would care! Though, perhaps if he did, it would not surprise me, he already pays so much more attention to me than you ever have."

"Master…"

"Prepare dessert, Claude, and make sure it is something damn tasty for my traveler."

"To prepare pastries at such an ungodly hour…

"Ungodly is correct, Claude, there shall be nothing holy about this tonight."


"Hello mister traveler, is everything, to your liking?"

Alois stood at the entrance to his traveler's room, clinging at the door so only half of his body was visible. He hoped that it appeared as if he was shy of the man, respecting his privacy and not just barging into the guest room. In truth, Alois had been waiting for minutes outside, preparing himself for this and that; smoothing his lips, fixing his hair, and sucking on a few of the candies he had stolen from the kitchens. Perfecting everything for seduction…

Alois stroked the sheen of the mahogany door before sliding in; he wrapped himself around one of the weaving poles surrounding the bed before smiling coyly down at the man sitting on the edge, his trunk close by. "Say, what it's in that trunk? Is it your change of clothes, or is it some snacks?" Is it opium, or chloral? Is it fine silk robes or spices all the way from India? Or is it just the body of the prostitute you couldn't bear to part with from the night before?

The traveler said nothing, though his gloved hands that were clasped in his lap twitched. Alois came to kneel beside the trunk and fingered at its locks absentmindedly. "I'm so jealous. It must be fun to travel to various places. I want to break off on a journey, too. It's so boring in this mansion." Alois blinked, surprised at the sincerity of his words. It was one thing to speak the truth, but quite another to hear the ease at which he confined in this man; the envies and impossible desires that he had harbored all on his own bubbled to the surface. "I hate this life." He whispered, meaning every word of it.

"Boring?" The man's lips curled in a smile, but Alois took no notice. "I heard that there's something interesting beneath this mansion."

"Really?" Alois' whole face lit up just at the prospect and laced implications behind his traveler's words.

The man nodded. "I will show you the contents of this trunk if I can take a look at it."

Alois giggled. "Alright, we can go take a look at it."


"Right this way, mister traveler." Alois sang out, leading the man behind him to the cellars. They walked in silence for some time, the man looming over Alois like some oversized bird; while Alois himself wondered when the traveler would be content enough with choosing a place in the cellar to have a look at it.

"This must be it." The man stopped, his face tilted towards a dusty shelf crammed full of decorative boxes.

"It's just black tea." Alois said, reaching up to pull the box down. He tried to keep the edge of disappointed out of his voice; though he was sure his traveler could hear it.

"New Moon Drop; I heard that tea leaves picked up in nights of the full moon have a fresh and sweet scent. But this is the opposite; by picking them up in a new moon, a scent that resembles a bottomless darkness comes up faintly. It's also called "Motion of the Soul."

The traveler reached out a hand for the box but Alois pulled back. "This is still not enough."

"Still?"

"Don't worry. I'll make sure to show you." Alois murmured more to the box of tea than to the man. "But before that," He slipped the tea into his waistcoat and began loosening the ribbon around his neck. "I really need a favor, so if you could-"

"Hand over that trunk to me," Suddenly Claude appeared before them, gold silverware in hand. He thrust the knives like arrows at the man, sending his hat and cloak sailing with a flourish. "Sebastian Michaelis!"

Claude aimed another set of knives at Sebastian but the demon flung his cloak in Claude's way and snatched up the box of New Moon Drop tea.

"He's running away!"

Alois' demon, bound by contract and his own desire to reclaim the enigmatic tea, sped after Sebastian Michaelis within a flurry of gold silverware.

Alois watched in horror as the thing that could become the most precious to him was escaping. "Don't kill him! You mustn't kill him!" He shouted after Claude. "Just catch him – CLAUDE!"


Alois Trancy lay crumpled on the cold unforgiving floor of his manor. His heart raced and his head hurt from screaming orders. Only moments before Sebastian Michaelis, demon of his soon to be beloved, Ciel Phantomhive, had made his final escape. He had soared through the window's glass with Ciel's body inside his trunk and retrieved soul inside the tea-box, and had shattered the grand chandelier in the process, leaving Alois in total darkness.

"Chase after him, quickly!" His servants bowed and tore after Sebastian. What was the point? Surely Sebastian and his precious Ciel would be miles from here already…

Claude turned to follow after them but Alois lunged and entwined his arms around Claude's leg. "Not you Claude. Don't go!" He pleaded frantically. Not Claude, never Claude. If his butler left, Alois didn't know what he would do…

"But-" His butler protested

"Don't…leave me behind…" And the image of the child Alois cradling his dead Andrew swam in front of his mind. He buried his face against Claude and whimpered.

"Don't leave me alone Claude, please…"

"Master," Claude Faustus took pity on him, his master, and so he turned to kneel by Alois'. "I will always stay by your side."

Claude's gloved hands took hold of his master's petit ones; he squeezed them reassuringly as he recited the honorable code of the Trancy butler, "Day and night, sugar and salt, living and the dead, the impure and the pure…"

"Wrong!" Alois protested, tears welled up in his eyes but he made no move to brush them away. "It's as he said, I'm just a filthy kid." He, Sebastian, had called him a piece of dirty trash when Alois had finally seen inside the demon's trunk. He had said that if someone like him were to touch his younger master, he would become sullied. It made Alois weep to know how right the demon was…

"You are my master." Claude replaced the fake glasses he always wore and pushed them up the bridge of his long nose; to Alois, it was a sign of comfort and the final act of the demon becoming his butler.

"Enough with that, in the end, you also…"

Claude withdrew his hands from Alois' and brought them up slowly to cup his master's face. "I'm your loyal slave." He whispered, his face drawing closer. Their noses nearly touched and Alois could feel his butler's cold breath – he smelled of honey and cloves. Alois' cheeks erupted in a faint blush.

"You don't need to attract my attention. I want nothing, but to deeply desire my master." Claude's long fingers stroked Alois' cheeks and hair and Alois had to close his eyes. The touch and the intense gaze of the demon were simply too much…

"That's enough." Alois tiredly pushed Claude away and rubbed at his eyes. He needed sleep. He needed not to think or feel anymore.

"Everyone…"

"…Should just be engulfed in darkness."

"Master," Claude's voice was dizzying and Alois could only distinguish a few of his words as his head lolled against Claude's shoulder.

"Let me carry you to bed."

"Yes,"

Strong arms lifted him and enfolded him within a tight embrace to his butler's chest.

"Dream of sweet things, Your Highness,"

"Dream of a wonderland…"


(1) From Phaedrus, by Plato

(2) From a poem, by Lewis Carroll

(3) From a poem, by Edward Fitzgerald

(4) From The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli

A/N: Aaand that's it! That took a while...It was a little dull for my taste but again, it was meant to start out slow. Please let me no what you think! I am more than happy to recieve any kind of feedback! :D