"Ciel, this is wrong." Sieglinde whisper-shouted at the young Earl. Both of them were standing next to the grave that belonged to Ciel's fiancee, but the boy didn't dare stare at the headstone. Sieglinde, however, was not Ciel.
"'Too well loved to ever be forgotten, Lady Elizabeth Ethel-"
"Stop it."
"Cordelia Midford-"
"Shut up!"
"Dearest sister, daughter, wife."
"With all due respect-"
"I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may also be.'"
"LADY SULLIVAN!"
Sieglinde closed her lips at the shout, staring at Ciel with surprised hazel eyes. He closed his exposed eye, and shushed her again. It was bad enough that her spider legs had made all of the noise London could produce in an hour, he didn't need to be caught now. Not after all that. "... We can't just dig up her body, Lord Phantomhive."
Ciel glared at her. "We have to. We have to try. Did you bring the grimoire?" Ciel held his hands out expectantly, and received the leather-bound book.
"Mhm. It was rather easy to get it from Duke Centracade's library." Sieglinde explained. She then shook her head. "Regardless, it's in Latin." She hoped that would at least slow him down, but he instead flipped through the pages to find the entry he was looking for. "Lord Phantomhive I want her back just as much as you do, but this is a bit much!"
"I don't care." Was there a time when Ciel truly did care? "If I don't survive this, I get to join her." Besides, he had several other reasons as to why he wanted to join her...
Sieglinde swallowed hard and took the grimoire from him, her eyes scanning the page as best as she could. But she had to be honest, she didn't understand anything as well as she'd liked. "Ciel I… haven't done magic of any sort since that day…"
"This'll be your last time. I'm sorry."
"No, like. I haven't done magic at all."
"You're still more experienced than I am!"
Silence dawned upon the children, so Ciel broke it by picking up one of the shovels they'd brought with them. It was a bit too heavy, so he stumbled a little before regaining his footing. Sieglinde rolled her eyes with a giggle, and picked up the second shovel. At the same time, they dug the head of the shove into the soft soil, and began digging. Ciel knew he had to take breaks, his chest was tight and it was growing increasingly difficult to breathe, but he continued relentlessly. When Ciel heard a metal clang, he jumped into the grave and searched to open the casket. He realized that he was an idiot for getting on top of the coffin, so he climbed out and pulled the top open, then hopped back in. He lifted the body's torso up, and then dragged it out of the grave and placed on the ground. Ciel sat next to it and gave heavy pants. Sieglinde inhaled slowly. "Are you sure?"
"I'm positive, we're too far in to quit now. And Sieglinde…" The girl looked up. "Don't take too long to do it." There was an unreadable expression upon his face.
The girl nodded, and she let the book go. A sound of warbling occupied the silenced as instead of falling, it floated. Sieglinde read over the words again, and turned her palms to the sky. "Da mihi potestatem, ut Ciel Phantomhive anima." Her hands enveloped in a reddish glow, and Ciel stood up. The girl inhaled slowly, and then shoved her hand into Ciel's chest. He gasped in pain as she pulled his soul out.
The boy sank to his knees and gripped his chest as Sieglinde closed her eyes and dug her fingers into the soul's core. "I'm sorry," she began pulling the soul apart, earning a howl of pain from Ciel. When she was finished, she had Ciel's soul clean in half and opened her eyes. She found that Ciel was still alive, and she exhaled in relief. Ciel nodded towards Elizabeth's body. Sieglinde nodded back, and then pressed the left-half of Ciel's soul into the girl's chest. Sieglinde then pressed the other half of his soul into his chest, earning a loud gasp from him. He then watched the blonde girl expectantly, and when nothing happened, he felt his hopes die.
"... Come on, Ciel, before we get caught."
"... Let me say goodbye first." Ciel whispered, and Sieglinde nodded, turning her back towards them. The boy brushed his knuckles over Lizzie's pale cheek, and then leaned down to press his lips to her cold, stiff ones. He pulled away after a moment and felt tears roll down his cheeks, and let her body go. He stood up and walked over to stand next to Sieglinde. They glanced at each other and began walking. Ciel had taken about two steps when there was a gasp from the blonde girl, and both turned to stare at the once lifeless body. Lizzie was gripping her chest, her entire body trembling from the cold of being dead for so long, and he ran to her side. Sieglinde soon followed, and suddenly, Lizzie was being squeezed from all sides. Sieglinde and Ciel were both crying now. "Oh, Lizzie!"
Lizzie herself seemed surprised and confused. Staring between Ciel, Sieglinde, and then the grave and her headstone, she eventually gathered her memories. Speaking with a raspy voice, she began, "you… came back for me…"
"I said I'd always protect you, did you have any doubt, Lizzie?" Ciel replied, pulling back slightly.
"Well, the funeral and noose did give me pause." She said jokingly, then her gaze softened. "You… finally called me Lizzie."
He wrapped his around around her again, this time burying his face into the crook of her neck when the party heard footfalls crushing leave. Sieglinde looked up, and then moved away. "Oh, hello Sebastia…"
There was a jarring feature about the man. His eyes were no longer a reddish-brown, but instead, a flaring garnet-like colour with flecks of pink, and snake-like slits. He paid no attention to Sieglinde, and walked past her to speak directly to the young sweethearts. "Master." He snarled, reaching down to grab Ciel's neck and to hold him up in the air. Both girls let out shrieks of surprise and grabbed at Sebastian's arm to try and get him to let the boy go. The demon backhanded Sieglinde, and then rammed the bottom of his palm into Lizzie's stomach. The girls cried out in unison. "What did you do?" He kept the hold on Ciel's neck just loose enough so the boy could choke out a response. "What did you do to my soul?"
The young master grasped at Sebastian's hand, gritting his teeth. "Part of it… is in Lizzie now!" He snapped. He gave a choked gasp as Sebastian's grip on his neck tightened.
"Sebastian, this is an order!" The butler's eyes widened and he turned to stare at Elizabeth. "Leave Ciel alone!" His gaze trailed to her left eye and watched as purple lines etched themselves into Lizzie's iris to form his contract symbol. He then realized that…
He didn't have a say in the matter.
He let go of Ciel's neck, and the boy fell to the ground and held his throat as he attempted to breathe evenly. Lizzie went to hold him close, rubbing his chest and neck gently to help him breathe. She glared up at Sebastian. "Ah… I see what you did." He picked up the grimoire that was left forgotten by Lizzie's grave.
"No!" Ciel reached for the book, but Lizzie was faster. She jumped up and snatched it from the demon.
Giving him the stink-eye, she yelled, "it's mine now!" Lizzie gave a giggle, and she tossed the book towards Sieglinde. The scientist caught it and threw it back to Lizzie, and then Lizzie threw it at Ciel. He panicked and used the open flame in the lantern to light the book on fire. Lizzie and Sieglinde then ran in between Sebastian and Ciel so that if the man tried to claim the flaming book, he'd have to go through them first.
Sebastian narrowed his eyes at the children, who all felt just a little smug about themselves. "You two do realize what this means, correct?"
"I d-" Lizzie covered Ciel's mouth, and looked at him. Releasing his mouth, they gave a little nod, and then spoke in unison.
"We do, and when the time comes, we'll be ready."
