~Definitely A Good Idea~
Ciel stood near the forest entrance mumbling to himself, chastising himself for agreeing to have anything to do with this. It was Halloween night, the one night a year where candy was attainable for free.
Ciel had grown out of the holiday long ago, but his cousin, Elizabeth, had forced him to dress up for the occasion. He was wearing a blue suit, because he had been told that blue was definitely his color, and a blue pirate hat, accompanied with his eye patch, which he wore often after an incident a long time ago. And three years later, here he was, waiting for his friends, who had yet to show up.
Unbeknownst to Ciel, a shadow was slowly making it's way over to him. With a devious smile, the shadow shook Ciel by his shoulders. "Boo!"
Ciel's blood suddenly ran cold and he let out a loud scream. "GYAAAAA!"
Ciel turned around, only to face a laughing blonde boy, wearing a royal outfit with a king's cape and crown. "Alois! What was that!? You almost gave me a bloody heart attack!"
The boy, Alois, wasn't able to stop laughing. "The look on your face was absolutely priceless!"
Ciel was boiling with fury, but he was able to calm himself down.
"Anyways," Alois began after his laughing fit ended. "Are you ready to go inside," He paused for emphasis. "The Demon's Forest?"
Ciel gave him a deadpan look. "Do I look like I'm ready?"
Alois nudged Ciel in his shoulder. "Come on, have some fun for once. You know, legend has it that the forest is ruled by a demon, and on Halloween, many ghosts and monsters dwell inside."
Ciel blinked and sighed. "Yes, I am aware of the legend. Isn't that why we're spending the night here in the first place? Besides, we can't start without the girls."
"Were you talking about us?"
Ciel and Alois turned to see two girls heading towards them. One was a blonde with curly ponytails on both sides, wearing a pink princess costume, and the other had black hair and was wearing a long, black gown, with a witch hat on her head.
"Lizzie, Sieglinde, you missed it. I snuck up on Ciel and made him scream like a little girl!"
Ciel became furious again. "Hey! Don't go spreading that around!"
"Aww, but Ciel, you look so cute when you're scared. I can't believe I missed it." The blond, Lizzie, complained.
"I think it would have been funny to see you scared." Sieglinde commented.
"Believe me, it was." Ciel just sent a cold stare Alois's way, but he didn't seem to notice.
"Are you ready to head inside?" Alois asked the girls.
"Uh, I'm not sure. It looks kind of scary in there." Lizzie said.
Ciel then grabbed her by the hand. "It will be all right Lizzie, I'll protect you."
She looked into his eyes. "Do you mean it?"
He gave her a smile that he rarely ever gave anyone. "I'll protect you without fail."
The blonde girl suddenly smiled huge. "Oh Ciel, you're so brave! And so cute in that costume!" She yelled as she hugged her cousin like a Boa Constrictor would.
"Y-Yes, that I am."
"Alright you two, you can have your little love tryst latter. Now, we march!" Alois yelled as he picked up a kingly staff and pointed it forward towards the forest.
The merry group went forward, being lead by their semi-tyrannical king. They had to admit that it didn't really look like anything special. It only looked like an average forest. Well, as average as a forest could look at night on Halloween.
"So are you all scared yet?" Alois asked in a low voice to amp up the drama.
Ciel merely rolled his eyes. "It's a forest. There is nothing here to be scared of."
Alois chuckled lowly. "If you say so."
Sieglinde scoffed. "Honestly though, this place isn't all that scary. I'm an actual witch, so any forest monsters should be scared of me." She commented as she pointed to herself.
Sieglinde is the daughter of the famous Emerald Witch, known all throughout Germany. She came to England to explore the world, and she made three new friends as well. And now, about a year later, they were going with another one of Alois's ideas, which would likely end in disaster. Alois was an Earl and heir to the Trancy Earldom. He first met Ciel, heir to the Phantomhive Earldom, many years ago at a party that their fathers took them to, and they immediately became best friends. Then, one day, Ciel's parents were murdered and a fire was left behind to cover the trail. Ciel had never been the same since then.
Alois tried everything he could to bring him back to his old self, but no matter how hard he tried, it just wouldn't happen. That was one of the reasons for this little escapade. Alois was determined to get Ciel to have some fun, even if it was the last thing he ever did.
A sort of clanking noise was heard along the ground, and soon, Ciel turned to look at the girls. "What is that noise?" He asked.
"Maybe it's ...a ghost." Alois answered.
Ciel rolled his eyes. "Oh, sorry, that's my fault." Lizzie said.
She lifted the clanking object to where it was in everyone's sight. "You brought a sword with you?" Alois asked.
Lizzie put the sword back down. "I didn't know what we might face out here, so I brought it with me. Just in case."
Alois scoffed. "We're not here to fight monsters, we're here to have some fun."
Ciel rolled his eyes. "I'm not saying that I believe in any of this, but if monsters were to attack us, I would find a sword rather useful."
Lizzie smiled. "Oh Ciel, you always know just what to say!"
Alois suddenly stepped in front of everyone and stopped the group from moving any further. "Let's have some fun tonight. It doesn't matter if monsters live here or not. We can do anything here."
"But it's so dark and I don't think any of us thought to bring flashlights." Sieglinde added.
Alois scoffed. "Where's the fun in flashlights? It's much scarier to walk in the dark, especially on Halloween night."
Since they had first started, there was something that had been weighing on Ciel's mind, and he figured that now was the perfect time to ask. "So, the legend has it, that every Halloween, ghosts and monsters come from the spirit world and inhabit the forest. If they only show up on Halloween, then what goes on in this forest the rest of the year?"
Alois had to stop and think about that one. "I'm not sure, I don't think anyone ever says anything about it. However, the legend derived from an incident that happened years ago. A group of children wandered in here, and when they came back out, they kept telling tales of monsters and demons, and told how a demon ruled the place. Ever since then, it's reputation stuck, making it a fabulous tourist trap for clueless children, like us."
Ciel shot him a glare. "This was all your idea, you know!"
Alois shrugged it off. "I know that. Ciel, why won't you even try and have any fun?"
"He does have a point. You never seem to have any fun anymore." Lizzie commented.
Ciel only sighed. "Fine, let's do something fun tonight. We're out here, so we might as well."
"That's the spirit, Ciel!" Alois encouraged as he put an arm around his best friend's shoulder.
"And just so you know, I'm only doing this to get you off my back."
"Well, I won't, not unless you are having some real fun. Understood?"
Ciel only sighed. "Yes, of course."
As annoying as Alois could be sometimes, Ciel had to admit that he was really persistent and he didn't give up easily. That was something he admired him for. Alois just cared about the wellbeing of his friend. That was all.
The girls had also taken a liking to Alois and figured that it was nice to have a troublemaker in the group. It made their lives interesting this way. "Although, I have no idea what we could possibly do here if we can't see anything."
"We just need to be creative. There are tons of things we can do here if you think hard about it."
The four of them took an opportunity to look around, and no one could see anything except trees and darkness. "There isn't exactly a lot creativity to work with." Ciel commented.
"A-Alright, so maybe it is limited, but we just have to think outside of the box. And believe me, if there's one thing I'm good at, it's doing exactly that."
"Alright then, what can we do?"
Alois took another second to look around, then an idea came to him. "I have it. To think of things we can do in the dark, how about Sieglinde assists us with some sort of light spell?"
Ciel and Lizzie turned to the girl in question. "I think I might be able to pull one off, but you all have to stand back."
The three of them immediately complied and stepped out of the way, behind some trees. Sieglinde took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She started chanting a spell underneath her breath, which the others couldn't hear, since they were out of earshot. A small orb of light appeared between her hands and it only grew bigger as the spell grew louder. Finally, it reached it's maximum size, so Sieglinde lifted it up into the air and released it, while shouting a few finishing words, possibly in German.
The orb exploded, and in an instant, light surrounded the area. The three of them came out from behind their hiding spaces and basked in the light that surrounded them. "Now this light should follow us wherever we go, if only for a little while."
"This is amazing Sieglinde. I never knew you were capable of creating such wonders." Lizzie commented.
"It's only temporary, but it should give us enough time to think of something we can do tonight."
"We can do anything, now that we can see. So what do you all want to do? Do you want to climb trees? Or maybe look around some more? Or even...Look for ghosts?" Alois lowered his voice at that last part for effect.
Ciel rolled his eyes. "And we're back to that."
"Oh, don't worry Ciel. If a monster does jump out at us, I can use my sword and Sieglinde can use her magic. Not to mention, Alois has his staff. He could use that as a weapon. You'll be just fine, Ciel."
Ciel only sighed, but nevertheless, smiled a little. "You're right."
"And besides, I have a good feeling about tonight. It's not everyday that we get to take risks like this."
Ciel had to admit that she was right. Being the head of an Earldom was hard work, and it was really rare that he got to do anything like this, especially with his friends. They were always busy, so Ciel had no idea if he would ever get to do anything like this again.
He wasn't dare going to mention it to Alois, but he felt like he could have some real fun tonight. It might have been the last, so he would have to enjoy it while it lasted. Ciel kept on walking with the group, wondering what was next on their night of fun.
