After the End
Chapter 1
The dark angel was there when I woke up. She was doing something to me. It hurt. Her black wings were half open, circling around like a beast, protecting its kill. My vision blurred, constantly, and it took me a minute to realize I was seeing with two eyes instead of one. She touched me, on my chest. It was agony, but, familiar. It brought back memories. Sebastian, how I died, how it hurt. I could feel him being gentle with me, despite what I'd said, and I was grateful. As gentle as he was, it was still excruciating. I would have blacked out, but I couldn't. Death was a relief, briefly. I could feel the dark angel's fingers moving, they moved from my chest to my side, then suddenly, I was flipped over, and her fingers were trailing along my spine. I could feel them stroking, up, down, up again. It would have been soothing, had it not been so painful. But, I had resolved, just before the end, no matter how much it hurt, I would never show my pain, even in hell. Her fingers had stopped. They were at the top of my back, just at my neck. She pressed down, hard. I couldn't help it. I broke my vow. I sucked in a massive breath, just before passing out.
When I woke up again, I was in her arms. We were moving, her wings flapped ever few moments, so I assumed we were flying. I was scared. The pain was gone. I was numb everywhere, to numb to even move. She was scanning the skies, and the grounds below. Her gaze shifted to me for a moment and she smiled. Not an evil smile, like she was going to drop me, but a genuine smile, like she was happy I was waking up. My eye patch was tied back around my head, I could only see from one eye, one was enough. She looked to the ground, smiled more, and closed her wings. We were plummeting straight out of the sky. She stared intensely at the ground below. I could not see what she was looking at. I didn't want to. So I closed my eyes and waited for more pain to come. It didn't. Instead, I drifted into more slumber.
I woke up again, in my bed, in my room, and completely naked. Come to think of it, I'd been naked the whole time. I tried to get up, hoping the whole thing had been only a dream, that I wasn't dead and Sebastian would be in momentarily to dress me, but as soon as I moved, the pain came back. The door opened. I looked up, still hoping for Sebastian. It wasn't him, it was the dark angel, with a tray in her hands. Afraid she was back to torture me, I shrunk back into the covers. I watched as she turned around. I could feel myself cowering, and I loathed myself for it, but I couldn't stop. She approached slowly, whatever was on her tray rattled with every step she took. She placed the tray on the nightstand, I didn't look at it, to afraid of what I might see. She pulled back the covers, I struggled a little, but it was too painful and she easily overpowered me. She pulled me close to her and looked me over. She grabbed something off the tray. I closed my eyes as she moved it close to my face. She stuck it in my mouth, tipped it down, and pulled it out again. The broth was warm. It felt good. As I swallowed, the good feeling radiated throughout my body, sending all the pain away from every recess of myself. I opened my eyes again. She was watching me. She was smiling, almost laughing, like she was about to tell a joke she found very funny.
"I trust you can handle the rest on your own." I looked at the tray. A bowl of broth, a muffin, and a cup of tea. I could tell from the smell, Earl Gray. I nodded. She stood up. "Good, when you are finished, there are clothes in your closet. Before you ask, no, you can't wear something else." I looked at her, really looked at her for the first time. She looked young, older than me, but still young. She wore clothes I'd never seen before. A pair of blue pants, and a white collarless shirt. I have no idea how she got it on over her black wings. "Once you're decent, you can come to the foyer. There is much to be explained." At this, her eyes dropped, but then she looked up. "Welcome Ciel Phantomhive, to the place you will spend the rest of your existence."
Now that the pain was gone, I could move freely. I finished the food and walked to my closet. I opened it to find a bunch of dresses. Well, robes would be more accurate. Some were white, some grey, some black, and various shades of blue. I grabbed a blue one and pulled it on over my head. As much as I disliked wearing a dress, admittedly it felt good. It was soft and warm, like a blanket I could wear. I looked around for a pair of shoes, and a pair of underwear for that matter. I found neither. So I made my way on out. My bare feet made almost no sound as I approached thee foyer, yet somehow, she heard, and turned to greet me as I walked in. The foyer was different, but the same. Not the one I'd come to know in the last few years, but the one before it. Even the ark sat there on the rug.
"It's good to see you on your feet Ciel. Are you alright?" She looked me over again. She had changed, no longer wearing those strange clothes, but now in a robe of her own. A soft cream color, like clouds at sunset. She was watching me expectantly. I realized she was waiting for an answer.
"I'm fine." My voice sounded weak. I cleared my throat and tried again. "I'm fine. Where are we? Is this Heaven or Hell?" Her eyes dropped again. I could tell she did not want to tell me. "Hell it is then. Don't worry, I'm ready for it." She looked up startled.
"No, no. It isn't Hell, don't worry. No one is going to punish you."
"Heaven?"
"Erm, well no, not Heaven either."
"Then where? Tell me now."
"Please don't order me around. I'm not your servant. We are equals here." She was rolling her eyes.
"Where is here?" she sighed.
"Fine, this is the shadow realm."
"The shadow realm?"
"Yes."
"What the hell is that. I've never heard of any shadow realm."
"It is not common knowledge. You see, when someone dies and their soul lingers, they are called ghosts. We are not ghosts. We're Shadows. Our souls are dead and we are all that is left of our existence."
"That's preposterous. A soul can't die."
"Well, it is not easy to kill a soul. Few have the power to do it. A soul suckers is one of them."
"Sebastian."
"Yes. He is our killer. Our true death."
"He took your soul, too? "
"Well, technically we both gave them to him."
"Oh, you made a deal with him."
"Yes. See?" She pulled down her collar and showed me a symbol at the top of her chest.
"You are still marked. Am I still marked?" I touch my eye, feeling my eye patch beneath my fingers.
"Well, as I said, we are shadows of our existence."
"What does that mean? What happens here?"
"Not much really. This is just our home. Nothing new
happens. It is always the same. No time truly passes here. If you want to do anything interesting, you have to leave this realm."
"Huh?"
"Think of it like the whole world, all three realms, are in layers. We are on the top layer, so we can travel to both layers beneath us. The spirit realm is the middle layer, anyone from there can travel down to Earth, but not up to the shadow realm. Earth is the bottom layer. No one from there can travel up to either other layer, without dying first. Alright, come on, let me show you. Then we can come back and talk some more."
"Ok." She grabbed my hand and we flew away. Outside, I looked down onto the entire estate, but, the lawn blurred around the edges, changing into other things. "Why is it doing that?"
"There are other shadows here Ciel. That house is yours. It is the shadow of your home. Other Shadows have their own houses, the ones they considered home. It blurs were one Shadow's memory becomes another's."
"Where is your home?"
"I never truly had one."
"Oh." We were silent after that, until we reached a pair of gates. She landed and grabbed a ring from a box beside the gates.
"This, is yours. Never lose it, or else you won't be able to travel anymore. Especially never lose it in another realm. You wouldn't be able to come back if you did, and you would fade out of existence itself. Ok, put it on and take my hand. Ready? Let's go." She lead me through the gates and the ground fell from beneath us. "Don't be afraid. It comes back." Suddenly, we were on Earth, on the island where I died. Sebastian was just pulling away from what was left of my corpse. The memory started to bring back the pain. "Don't think about it. It is just a memory now." Sebastian sat there for a minute, as if stunned.
"Dear master. I will miss you. You always had a way of surprising me." Sebastian picked me up. "Do not worry master. I will lay you to rest somewhere nice." He started walking through the ruins. I followed. "I have prepared something nice for you. A place worthy of accepting your body. You see, young master, I am simply one hell of a butler."
Sebastian took my body into the woods. Following no path I could see, he just kept going, twisting and turning as if he knew the place by heart. "You see, young master, this was my home as a child, before I realized who, or rather, what, I am. I know of a wonderful place, hidden in this forest. You will love it." It hadn't occurred to me that Sebastian had been a child. I also never knew he cared so much for me. A few minutes later we came to a clearing. It was filled with moonlight and dozens of roses. Three colors of roses. Around the edges, they were black, most were several different shades of blue, and at the center, was a small patch of white roses. The white ones sat close to the ground, cut to grow in a bed. This is where he laid me down. My blood still leaked from my body. Sebastian smiled. "Its alright master, you only make them more beautiful. From now on, you can be a part of the roses. No one will ever disturb you, I will make sure of it. You can sleep now, and be eternally peaceful." He fixed my shirt for the last time, straightened my bow tie, and kissed my forehead. Then he was gone, perhaps to find a new master. I stayed.
"Ciel?"
"He cared for me. He truly cared for me."
"He did. He loved you, Ciel."
"I never thought a demon could truly love anything, but he loved me." She touched my cheeks. Her fingers came back wet. I was not sad. For the first time in three years, I truly and genuinely smiled.
"Come on, Ciel. There is one more thing I want you to see for now." I stood up, slightly shaky, and nodded. She took my hand again and the ground fell away again. This time, I was not afraid. We stopped somewhere white. Extremely white. There was a mass of people gathered around something in the center of the square. She pulled me closer to it. There were many people. Some looked kind, others were downright frightening, even to me. When we got to the center, I saw two people, kneeling in front of a picture. My picture.
"Mother, Father?"
"They can't here you, Ciel." My parents were crying, I could see their tears wetting the ground.
"What is this?"
"It's a funeral. Everyone in the spirit realm, even the bad people, mourn the death of a soul."
"Why did you bring me here?"
"I thought you might want to see them, before they began moving on."
"What?" I looked up at her. She wasn't looking at me. She was staring at a different soul, across the square. She too, was crying. "Who is he? What do you mean moving on?"
"The people who would care most about you have earned their way into paradise. No one stays sad in paradise for long. Soon, they move on, you fade from their memories and they are happy again." I could tell she was in another place and time. I stood up.
"Can we go back now. This place is to sad right now."
"Of course." She took my hand and the ground fell away. We came to the gates from earlier. We went through and she picked me up. We got back to the estate and I saw something new. Behind the manor and I saw a bit of woods. Tucked inside I could see a clearing. It was mostly blue with a small patch of white at the center.
"Why is that place here?"
"It is yours now, a part of your home. You can go there whenever you please." We dropped from the sky again. Just before we would have hit the ground, she pulled up. We landed lightly, went inside, and sat down.
"So, what questions do you have?"
"Just two, for now."
"Go on."
"Who are you? How did you end up here?"
"I'm afraid it is a longer story than I just sold my soul to Sebastian."
