Sebastian looked confused as he stared down at the box that sat on the doorstep of the Phantomhive Manor. He looked around for any sign of the deliverer but saw nothing and nobody. The box was somewhat loosely wrapped up, shifting impatiently every now and then, in a shimmering purple paper and tied together with a shiny purple ribbon. Ciel's name was written in neat cursive on the tag.
The demon butler sighed, having not planned anything for the Earl's birthday as it did not serve good memories nowadays, and picked up the box to take it inside anyway.
Sebastian took the box up to where Ciel was sat in his office, working thoroughly through papers. The Earl looked up and told Sebastian to enter, his visible eye widening at the sight of the present. "Who brought it?" he asked.
"I do not know, My Lord. It was just on the doorstep".
Sebastian set the box down on the desk once Ciel moved his papers aside and the Earl carefully untied the ribbon and pulled the wrapping paper off more. He gingerly opened the box's lid and his mouth fell open in surprise.
Inside the box was a sandy coloured puppy. One ear was folded while the other was pointed upward. It's eyes were a soft blue, shining with glee. It's tail thumped against the sides of the box as it wagged ecstatically. The young puppy put his paws up on the edge of the box, standing on it's hind legs so it was almost face to face with Ciel.
Ciel looked at Sebastian - who wasn't all too pleased with having a dog around - and silently asked what the tag said. Sebastian swiftly replied that it only said his name, so they still had no idea who it was from.
Ciel carefully lifted to puppy from the box and set it on it's lap, not being able to help himself in smiling as it began to lick his face enthusiastically. "Okay, okay boy, calm down. I'm happy to see you too!"
Ciel eventually got the puppy to stop licking him and smiled, taking in it's colouring as he thought of a name. It reminded him a lot of someone he once knew...
"Have we thought of a name, Young Master?" Sebastian asked, wanting to speed up the process and leave the presence of the mutt as soon as possible.
"I have..." Ciel smiled, hugging him new puppy happily. "I'm going to name him Alo".
"Alo? Is there a reason, My Lord?"
Ciel shook his head, knowing that his reason would seem bizarre. It would be a secret that only he would know. People could pry and make assumptions all they wanted. But Ciel wouldn't care. Taking care of Alo would be his way of an apology of sorts. An apology for someone who hadn't been around for a very long time...
Nope, Alois did not give him the puppy. Alois is dead in this fic (;-;) and if you know me well enough you'll know that I probably have never written a fanfic where Alois is dead or not in it (well there was that one time...)