Chapter One

Foncé.

Ciel's french vocabulary didn't fail her as she let her eyes wonder around the vast foray she found herself. Trés foncé. Very dark indeed. The description suited the musky atmosphere that, according to the lawyer, hadn't been occupied for the past six years. Apparently even her deceased grandfather could only stand living in the antique mansion for so long.

She dropped a finger to the wooden banister, running it along the curve of the carved wood before drawing it back. The pale skin of her finger was coated in a thick layer of gray dust. She sighed, brushing it off against her dark jeans. Doubt was beginning to seep into her mind about her decision of moving from her cozy city apartment to the English country side. Perhaps it hadn't been such a brilliant idea on her part.

She bit her lip, glancing around, who was she trying to fool. Ever since she'd first recieved the letter requesting her presences at the reading of a certain James Phantomhive's will, she'd felt irrevocably drawn here. It was only of a somewhat surprise that her deceased grandfather would leave everything he owned to the daughter of a son that cut all family ties years before she'd been born.

Not that she was complaining. The bank account had enough digits that she could probably live lavishly for the rest of her life and her children after her. The Victorian era mansion had only been the cherry to seal the deal. And even now, looking over the dust coated furniture and cobwebbed ceilings, she didn't regret any of her decisions.

"Gorgeous, isn't it?" A feminine voice asked, pulling her from her private thoughts.

Ciel gave a curt nod, eyeing the blonde from the very corner of her eyes. The woman looked too young to have been her grandfather's original lawyer, considering she looked to be about twenty-six at most, but Ciel didn't voice these thoughts allowed.

The lawyer smiled, gesturing for Ciel to follow her up the stairwell. "Everything here are the originals, for the very floor we walk on to the antique furniture. The only things that have been replaced throughout the years have been all the curtains, bedspreads, and such. Even then, your ancestors took great care in replicating the originals down to the very last thread."

Ciel feigned interest in what the lawyer had to say. In all honesty the blonde could have told her that there had been no more furnishing in the manor and she wouldn't have cared any less. She was just grateful that this place was her own. It seemed like some sort of dream that she might wake up from. It just wasn't logical that someone like herself would inherit so much finery without having to lay down a single dime for it all.

"The history of this place is the best though," the lawyer continued to chatter, unaware that Ciel wasn't paying much mind to her words.

Instead Ciel's mind found itself on the painting sitting at the first landing they met. To say it was large was an understatement. It had to have been at least three times Ciel's height, but the most impressive feature was the actual painting that lay within the golden framework. A boy, who had to be no more than thirteen at most, sat with a mask of indifference on his face. There was no doubt that he was noble, not with all the finery and lace that adorned his petite frame.

Carefully, Ciel lifted her hand up to the smooth lines of paint, running her fingers lightly over the curve of the painting fabric of the coats. Something just seemed so familiar about it all... and it wasn't the apparent resemblance, because there was that as well. The slate colored locks obviously were in the family genes, though neither of her own parents had such hair color, and the large sapphire colored eyes. Ciel smiled softly, it was obvious that he was just as much of a Phantomhive as she was.

"Huh?" She turned, looking up at the lawyer curiously.

The blonde smiled kindly, "What is it?"

"Can you repeat what you just said, I didn't catch it," Ciel asked politely.

"Oh," the blonde smiled. "I was just saying how the original manor burned down to the ground, when I noticed you looking at the painting, so I mentioned who it was."

Ciel slide another gaze to the painted boy, before looking back up at the woman, "Who is it?"

The lawyer smiled before moving to the painting. She let her blue eyes scan over it before a sad, haunted smile pulled at her thin lips.

"That was the Earl of Phantomhive, Ciel Phantomhive," she slide a glance to Ciel at the girl's sharp intake of breath. "Tragically he died very young, only nineteen if I can recall my history correctly. He left on sole heir, who his newly wedded wife conceived three months after his untimely death."

Ciel gazed up at the painting of the boy who held her own name, of rather her his, with a renewed interest.

"How did he die?" She inquired softly. "Illness?"

"No, he was crushed beneath a building that collapsed suddenly."

Ciel couldn't help the small wince at imaging the crushing force of a building tumbling down onto her body. It was a horrible fate to wish upon anyone, but having lived the life she had, she knew life was just a cruel devil in disguise. The so called happiness that was supposed to be granted with it was nothing more than a deceptive lie that dripped from the honey sweet lips of the devil, in her opinion.

"Shall we continue the tour?" The lawyer asked, once more shattering through the girl's thoughts.

She nodded, following carefully behind the lawyer as she led them up past the next set of stairs leading to the right and down a corridor. Similar to the foray, the hallway was dusted with a fine layer of gray and silver cobwebs clung to the furniture and corners of the ceiling. Ciel paused to dig a shoe into the carpet, watching at the color became brighter beneath the work of her toe. One thing was for certain, the place needed a through cleaning.

"Down this way...," the lawyer's voice trailed off, as Ciel ceased following her to stare at the door the lawyer had brushed past. Running her hand down the smooth wood of the double doors, she looked down the hallway to where the blonde disappeared before glancing back at the door. She cursed herself mentally for being so idiotic of her to do so, this was her home now, but she still couldn't help but to feel strange barging into any room she wished. Ciel guessed it still hadn't fully sunken in yet that all of this was hers.

Slowly, as if she was afraid of being caught, she pressed the handle down and pushed. The door swung open with a small groan, revealing the large expanse of room behind it. As if she'd opened a crypt a small breeze rushed out, sending a lungful of stale air into the girl's face. She coughed, muffling it with the sleeve of her shirt as she stepped into the room.

Thick curtains covered the windows at the back of the room, preventing her from seeing much more than shapes in the dark expanse. The white sheets tossed over forms of furniture were the easier to spot in the darkness as she brushed past them slowly, as if she were drifting through a dream. If someone were to glance at one of the sheeted things quickly, they might have been led to believe the odd shaped white splotches to be phantoms. Ciel chuckled at the thought. Phantoms, it sure suited the family name.

Wondering further into the room, Ciel took notice of the one piece of furniture that wasn't draped over with a white sheet. A large bed of dark mahogany sat against the left side wall, a blanket of white thrown over the mattress and a large canopy of royal blue hanging over it. Ciel's fingers danced through the silk material of the canopy and she let her eyes drift closer, breathing in deeply she let the sense of familiarity wash over her. Though she'd never stepped foot inside the mansion before today, everything seemed as if she'd been here before.

"Oh, there you are," the nervous voice startled Ciel out of her trance. "I was wondering where you went off to."

Turning Ciel found the lawyer standing just outside the threshold of the room. The blonde's face was taunt with the very same nervousness that had leaked it's way into her voice.

Ciel forced a pleasant smile onto her face, "I was just exploring a bit. Hope you don't mind."

The blonde twiddled her thumbs, "Ah... of course not."

Ciel's lips pulled down into a small frown. "Is something the matter?"

The lawyer looked up once more, before shooting her blue gaze left and right as if she were waiting for something to manifest from the shadows any minute. Ciel nearly snorted at the thought. If she really believe that then she must be more idiotic then the girl originally thought when she'd first saw her waiting for her to enter the lawyer's office at the will reading.

"Nothing much," she gave a breathy laugh. "Just some old superstitions."

Ciel's frown became more pronounced, "What superstitions?"

The lawyer swallowed hard, clearly uncomfortable with the topic at hand. "It's really nothing to worry about. Just some stories the older generation likes to tell."

The Phantomhive folded her arms across her small chest in a demanding manner, "Well? Am I allowed to know or is the owner of the mansion kept from this knowledge?"

The blonde chuckled uneasily, "Of course not. I just thought you'd be more comfortable living here if you didn't know."

Ciel snorted, "Honestly, I'm not a child. I understand reality from fiction."

The lawyer looked slightly insulted, but only nodded, "If you really wish to know then follow me. I'd rather not stay near this room for much longer."

Ciel scowled at the room around her, there really wasn't anything that should frighten a person. It was just another room to her. A very spacious room, but nothing extraordinary about it otherwise.

Sighing, she resigned herself to leaving the room behind and following the lawyer down the hall and back to the foray. The blonde seemed to grow more comfortable the further away she got; her tense shoulders sagging as she uncoiled from her pervious unease. Was she really so frightened of a room? It would've been humorous to Ciel, if she hadn't found it so vexing.

How could a grown women act so childish and not feel shame?

"Okay, well this is where I'll end the tour. You can explore the rest of it on your own, I just suggest that you avoid the attic, it hasn't been touched in years so who knows what sort of shape the floors are like up there."

Ciel nodded, narrowly avoiding an eye roll. She hadn't been planning on it anyway. "Of course, but before you leave may I hear that story."

The lawyer seemed to consider refusing to tell Ciel, the blue eyes clouding over with uncertainty. Ciel growled lowly to herself. Surely whatever the stupid superstition was, it couldn't be so bad that she would refuse to tell her? It wasn't as if she were twelve. She was seventeen, dammit! Weren't teenagers supposed to be known for being drawn to this sort of thing?

"If you don't tell me, I'll just research it myself," she threatened lamely, hating that she had to stoop so low to get what she wanted.

The blue eyes shot to Ciel's face, examining it to see how determined the girl was. It didn't take her low before the face fell and she sighed, running a hand through the blonde locks tumbling over her shoulders.

"Very well," the lawyer muttered, before looking at Ciel seriously. "It's a well known fact that anyone who sets foot in that room mets a horrible fate."

Ciel scowled, folding her arms over her chest, "That's what you nearly refused to tell me? A silly curse?"

She shot the girl a glare, "I wouldn't brush it aside so easily, Miss Phantomhive."

Ciel snorted, "I don't believe in things that aren't supported by factual evidence."

"Suit yourself," the blonde paused, her eyes softening. "Even if you don't believe it, I suggest that you do be careful. There's been more than enough tragic fates in this mansion, do not become yet another of them."

Ciel rolled her eyes at the departing figure. Who was she to tell her what she should or should not do? Ciel could do whatever she damn well pleased. She didn't carry the name Ciel Phantomhive for nothing.


A/N: Okay, let me explain somethings before any of you jump down my throat about this. First thing first, explanation of why I wrote that Ciel was married at nineteen. During the victorian era women were married as young as sixteen, while male heirs usual in their later teens and early twenties depending on their social status (There were also the exceptions of older men marrying later on in life. This usual happened due to divorces or death of their wives; more of the latter due to the views of society at the time). Being a noble and betrothed at that, Ciel would have found himself in a marriage with Lizzy younger than many other males his age. Second, why/how did Ciel die if he had Sebastian? That I shall explain more in depth later when Sebastian makes his entrance ;) It wouldn't be fair of me to ruin it too soon. And third, isn't Ciel's name a boy's name? Nope, I did enough research to prove otherwise. It's unisex and comes from many different cultures. So yes, Ciel can also be a girl's name as well.

The title Désirs Noir is french, if you couldn't tell. The literal translation is Desires Black, but since in the french language color adjectives come after the words they describe you'd have to switch the words around to make sense in English. So the title is Black Desires in English, rather then Desires Black which doesn't make all too much sense.

Also please don't hate me because of Ciel, she isn't entirely a female version of Earl Ciel Phantomhive as you'll find out as you read on, but neither is she completely apart from him either. And yes I know that it will get really confusing later on with both of them sharing the same name, but there is a reason behind why I did that. You guys will just have to wait and see. Anyway, thanks for reading both my rant and the story (if you even read the rant =_= ). I would greatly appreciate comments, since it would be nice to know what you think of this story and if I should even pursue it any further. So if you have time please share your thoughts with me :)