A/N: Hello, ladies and gentleman. Here for your reading pleasure, allow me to present a piece on which I had help from a very good friend, VegetaCold. Enjoy, everyone and no flames.

WARNING: This particular chapter contains a few non-graphic torture details.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any of the characters, Yana Toboso does.

…

December 28th, 1885

It had all happened so fast. What had started as a fun and exciting birthday, had ended in absolute horror.

Young Ciel Phantomhive had just turned ten years old when everything he knew and loved was taken from him; his home, his loving parents, and even his beloved dog, Sebastian. All within a matter of minutes, and on what should have been one of the happiest days of his life.

At first he wasn't sure how long he had been here, locked in a cage that now served as his 'home' until two nights ago when the men tasked with looking after him and the other children, or rather just doing the bare minimum to keep them alive, had complained about having to work on Christmas. He had been here for fourteen days...but it had felt like so much longer...

This brought a fresh wave of sadness over Ciel. Never again would his father pick him up and twirl him around before holding the little boy to his chest and telling him just how precious he was, nor would he ever feel his mother's gentle kisses and hear her whisper that he was her darling boy. Sebastian would never run alongside him as he played, and even his father's old butler Tanaka, who had served his family since before Ciel himself was even born and whom he had seen take a knife to the back as he called for his young charge to run, were all gone from his life, if life could even be the right word for it. Surely was he was in the middle of at this very moment could never be called anything like life.

There were other cages in the room as well, each holding at least three or more children. Ciel's was the only one that held a single child. The people who had brought him here had said it was because he was 'special'.

Ciel, a child completely innocent to the ways of the world around him due to being kept in cotton wool thanks in part to his being frail, he had truly believed them the night he came here. They had told him they were going to play.

Play...

Oh, how he hated that word now. What they had done was nothing of the sort. And it hadn't stopped there. Words like 'toys' and even 'games' had taken on sinister and horrific new meanings.

There was still a bruise that went all around Ciel's neck in a ring from where one man wearing a mask with a red and black diamond pattern had clamped a dog collar on him. The collar had been connected to a least that the madman repeatedly tugged, stopping only to tighten the collar. It was only when Ciel, sputtering and coughing as he desperately clawed at the accursed thing, was yanked off his feet that another man intervened, saying that if the other man was careless he would wind up breaking Ciel's neck and the assault was halted.

Ciel tried not to dwell on this as he lay on his side, doing his best not to roll over on his back lest he put any pressure on the sight of the burn, but even then he could not still his shaking. He could never control it, especially whenever his captors looked down at him, their eyes blazing behind their ornate masks, the masks they always wore, probably to hide their identities. Were they nobles like his parents had been? Perhaps, hence the need for anonymity.

Regardless of who they were, all Ciel knew was the agony they caused him. They had branded him his first night there. Even now that the wound wasn't nearly as raw, it still pained him.

Suddenly, a rough voice shouted, pulling him out of the listless, weary state in which he now merely existed.

"Listen up, you little brats!" it was one of their keepers. "It's dinner time!"

Ciel didn't even look up, even though one or two of the others did. Though his stomach was aching more than he ever would have thought possible, he had no desire for the slop they referred to as food. It was a disgusting substance that consisted of what might very well have been garbage, just enough to keep their 'lambs' from starving to death.

Suddenly, a hand reached out and roughly dragged him closer to the bars. Ciel tried not to cry out, lest his captor become angry and strike him again, as the man pinned his tiny arm against the bar.

The child gagged silently as the man shoved a funnel into his open mouth and poured some of the slop down his throat.

Despite his best efforts, a soft moan followed by a cough escaped his throat as his small frame began to spasm.

'Father…Mother…' his frazzled mind frantically tried to call out for them, the ones who had loved him and always protected him. 'It hurts…I'm scared…someone…please help me…'

After what seemed like an eternity, his tormentor finally released him.

As he slumped against the filthy floor of the cage, he could hear the man and his partner grunting that one child in the cage next to his was dead. It didn't surprise him; one by one they had all been so callously beaten, tortured, and some had even been sacrificed during the 'meetings' and 'parties'.

With the memory of his birthday and now the gatherings his tormentors held, the little Phantomhive would have been more than content to never so much as think of the word 'party' again.

…

December 30th, 1885

A sob escaped the little boy's throat followed by a guttural moan as he curled up, his entire body shaking as he looked around the cage.

All of the others were gone now. As he lay there, alone, Ciel found himself wishing he were dead too. After all, what he was doing at that moment was anything but living.

How could he have done this? His captors so often loved to remind him that his parents had died on his birthday, a sure sign that it was his fault. Now they, along with Sebastian, were finally getting justice. He was being punished for his wrongdoing...this was what he deserved...

'No!' a voice inside him cried.

'You killed them. Little by little. Day by day. You did it...and now you're getting your comeuppance.'

"No..." Ciel moaned as he curled into a ball, trying to warm himself. He began to cough as he inhaled a little smoke from the fire burning a short distance away, leading him to vomit what little remained in his stomach. "I didn't..."

He heard one of the masked beings shout for him to shut up or he'd get another beating.

Ciel forced himself to be quiet, but tears still fell from his eyes and silently rolled down his bruised and bloody cheeks.

'I didn't...' he shivered quietly. 'I didn't mean to...'

...

…

There is the first chapter. Yes, I'm leaving it on a cliffhanger because I'm evil that way. The next chapter will be out Friday, December 1st. Until then, everyone.