Evil could have been a hurricane. Evil could have been disease and famine or a hungry lion. But evil had taken form in blonde tresses and skimpy shorts; a smirking demeanor and a taunting tone. Evil was a boy deprived of a social acknowledgment. He knew nothing of sweetness nor saw anything of a childhood. Evil was a boy called Alois Trancy, a false Earl to the Trancy manor. So what was Elizabeth doing at his front door weeks after this discovery when she had been the one to recognize his unsightly mien, when she had purposely told him 'Do not even look at me,' what did the curly adolescent want? "Elizabeth...?" He began, returning to the false and friendly poise he displayed primarily for trickery. "Did you miss me that much?" He snickered.

"I must speak to you, Alois." The young Lady responded boldly, but the Earl could see she was on the verge of tears.

With a raise of his brow and a pout of indifference, Alois stepped aside to allow her to enter the manor. Whatever there was to talk about he didn't much care of. But she looked vulnerable and things were going to get interesting, if they were to be left alone. This was the only reason she was allowed access.

"Alois, I know that you are repulsed by me in every way," she began, sighing, her voice cracking slightly. She looked up at the blonde boy who was not completely shocked at what she had just said. "Ciel...he.." Lizzy began to cry and she fell to her knees in the middle of the room, tears soaking into her snow white gloves.

The boy all but stared as the girl driven by pride and happiness broke down into a sobbing mess. But the state of confusion soon melted into something of a smirk, crossed arms and a stance of status as the height filled him with a hierarchy. Something concerning Ciel had reduced the young woman to the floor. And she had come to the wrong person indeed. With a cruel snicker he stepped one foot closer to her, his taunting glare now turning into disgust. "What about that little shit?"

"He left me." Her voice echoed in the room held together by cathedral ceilings. She tried to speak through broken sobs, but nothing came out.

Alois threw his head back in a giggle that grew into stingy laughter. "Oh is that so?" He said with an entertained tone. "He finally got bored, then?"

She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. "Stop, Alois," she sobbed. Without thought she stood up and grabbed a hold of the young Earl, her arms stretching around his slender torso. She didn't even realize what she was doing until she felt the purple satin of his jacket beneath her damp chin. She wasn't asking him to be her friend, she was asking for comfort. It was a lonely world. Alois knew that, and she was alone and needed something she hoped even the Young Earl Trancy would be considerate of.

He wasn't expecting that. With a flinch up right, his arms flared out with surprise and his eyes didn't seem to wander from the nasty glare. With the crush of his canines and the clad of his fists his gaze turned into something of melancholy. No, he didn't care one bit about her. And he soon came to reject the sudden flash of sympathy for her. "Get off, you sniffling wench! You'll make my shoulder dirty."

"Alois.." She stood straight and slapped her glove-covered hand across his right cheek. She was silent and then spoke as shock grew across the boy's face. "You are always so upset when no one gives you attention, and then you reject them when they come to you." She looked at the Earl. His face was covered in bewilderment.

He blinked once in the shock of her hit, his face a notch to the left with the force of the unexpected. Returning his gaze with the sting in his cheek he grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him, closely and intimidatingly. It could have been erotic. But he was too rough, too stingy as she fell with the jerk into his palm. He clasped tightly around her jaw; a height advantage. "Do you really think you have it so bad? Do you really think you're alone? That you'll never be loved again? Do you want to die?" He spoke with a quiver. "I am rejecting you... because you are of no importance to me!"

She was shaking from the pain in her jaw and she struggled to get away. "You're the only one who would listen." She yanked her arm free. Alois could see the red marks forming on her jawline and wrists from where he so maliciously held her. "I am alone, Alois. I thought you would be more understanding than this." She glared at him. Her words were still shocking to the boy. With a sigh he released her and spun on his toes to place his arms back in a tuck across his chest. Yes, he understood exactly what she was saying, but he was too arrogant to admit that he too was alone. "I have Claude, Elizabeth. I'm not alone. You are the one who is a mess, you are the unwanted!" He had almost convinced himself through the vindictive attitude he wore with shameless hubris. But her sobbing would not be enough; it would not break the ice to Alois Trancy's compassion.

But that was fine. She was... entertaining. "You know..." He turned a heavy head over his shoulder to glance at the girl. "You're not a pretty crier... at all."

She stood still, looking at him. How could someone so young hold the anger that he had? "Alois, tell me something."

"What do you want?" He snapped, turning around to face her yet again with a new expression; a smirk, a slight smile of both amusement and jeer.

"What happened to you?" Her face was warm. It was a serious expression but one of comfort nonetheless.

He raised a brow at that, a tranquil set to his mouth. "Do you really care?"

"Yes, actually, I do." She politely smiled. "I'd like to know what's troubling you so much. I know you're hiding behind this confident Earl stature. What happened to make you like this?"

The gaze that nurtured so much hate and enmity turned distant and round. A hand traveled up to press against his forehead and he released a breath of deflation. "I don't understand... Why someone so wrapped up in self-pity wants to hear my life story. But if you really want to hear about it…" He didn't really care too much about telling her the ins and outs. It was attention, after all.

She grinned at his snobby remark, but proceeded to walk over to the purple clothed chair across the room where she sat and rested her hands on her lap.

He stared at her for a while, his hands returning to fists again as he stiffly obeyed and joined beside her. And it was almost infuriating how she had tamed him. And he was quite aware of that. With a tone of frustration, he began. "I grew up in a village. I didn't know my parents, but I had a friend... he was like a brother ta' me. And the people there... the villagers were mean. But they died. Everyone. All of 'em in a fire..."

Her eyes widened in horror. "How?"

"Well I don't bloody well know," He yelled, coming out of his calmer state. She slightly moved backwards, out of his vocal range. He noticed and quieted himself. "Anyway, my brother, he died as well. An' then the men came to sort the ruins and brought me to this place. It used to be the previous Trancy's home, but he died as well."

"That's horrible. I'm so sorry, Alois." Her sympathy was genuine and it was shown clearly on her face.

"...Mmm..." They sat quietly for a moment, mostly because he was still letting the idea of her interest sink in. With a slow movement, he lifted his gaze from his hands to stare at the girl. "What's wrong with you?" He asked as if they were in hospital.

"Excuse me?" She was surprised by his question.

"Why are you so upset? I'm sorry, but Ciel Phantomhive is not someone I would consider worth crying over."

"He's my fiancé, Alois." She looked down at her lap.

Without any understanding of what lovable relations were, he simply shrugged.

"It's hard to explain. Ciel…I never thought that something like this would happen to me and now that it has, I'm lost." She looked up at him, sadness and confusion written across her face. She did not cry and her voice didn't falter. "Can you try to understand?"

The Earl was fourteen. He should know by now that life was not kind. And he did understand, he did feel pity. But there was no way he was going to let her know that.

With another shrug, he leaned on the arm that rested at the arm of his chair into Lizzy's space, a look of disdain as he reached her ear in a low hush. "Maybe you should make a wish." As clueless as she was to his own little joke, he had to chuckle.

She scooted over in the seat slightly in the opposite direction, uncomfortable with his intrusion. "A wish?"

"Nothing," He replied, and moved his head just slightly away from her to rest it in his palm. "Hmm," he sighed. "Poor pup. So what did you do, I wonder...to make him call quits?"

"We were playing chess like we usually do when I visit…" Her eyes crossed the room towards the well-dressed butler standing in the corner. "And there was no ease into his message...he just told me as I began to sit down that he had to let me go. He gave me no excuse, and asked me to leave and that I was never to see him again." The butler's glasses shined when the sun pouring in from the window hit them. She was unnerved by him. He was nothing like Sebastian, besides his dark appearance. "I went wandering into town and had the thought that I had to see you; that you were the person I had to talk to." She fell silent, staring at the floor.

Her gaze caught his attention and he soon followed it to his butler. When did he get here?

"What a silly thought... Now where were you to be influenced to entertain that?" He raised a questioning brow. His words were of interest, but his gaze showed nothing short of boredom, puffed up by his cheek he leaned against his palm. "Or were you bored? Maybe you're looking for a new muse? I'd hate to hurt you," He lied, "But I hardly take interest in women."

"No, no of course not," she sighed. She looked directly into his blue eyes, seeing her reflection in their pitch black centers. She immediately looked away and regained a deep breath, almost coughing. "I saw a ruffled shirt in the market, similar to the one you wear." She nodded at the soft fabric that rested on his figure. "I just thought of you."

"How cute," He grumbled, looking down at his own shirt. But he was flattered, really. Though of course, a counselor was not something he'd like to be recognized as. Though, he was in someone's thoughts. And he was starting to bring himself around to the idea that maybe the breakdown Elizabeth had had, put her in the same initiative as he. "Do you care?" He asked quite simply, expecting nothing more than a shrug.

"What do you mean 'do I care'"? She was becoming frustrated that this boy wouldn't accept the fact that someone actually wished to listen to him; to hear him out.

"Do you care?!" He repeated himself with a more passionate tone, almost a shriek of desperation. "...Or are you just distracting me so you don't get hurt?"

"What...why-" she was at a loss for words.

"But why me? Why did you come to me?" He slumped back down beside her.

She looked over at him and noticed that he was no longer the boy that had clung to her jaw. He was genuinely distraught. "Because even though we have our differences, I knew that somehow you and I were the same."

Silence was all he could really conjure in the moment to offer her. He was still angry; that much wouldn't go. But he was tame enough to understand her sense, senseless enough to feel just a brush of guilt and guilty enough to touch the tips of his fingers to her reddened jaw, a somber glance.

"I forgive you," Elizabeth said, understanding his physicality. She could see right through him, like he was a piece of crystalline glass. He was beautiful in almost every way, but there was something behind that glass being hidden. "I feel strange, being here." She touches his soft hand with her index finger and thumb and immediately retracted it at the cold of his skin.

The warmth of her fingers had broken through the trance he seemed to cling too. He fluttered his eyes and flinch upright. He felt the new warmth at his own flesh with the blush that controlled it with reckless ambiguity. "That's probably because you aren't used to it 'ere..." He returns to a neutral stance in his chair, retracting his hand. Words of apology would never be uttered from the Earl. "I like you," was the best she would ever get.

She smiled. Those words were comforting now more than ever. "Is that so?" She giggled watching his features that remained completely biased.

"Yeah," He chimed, turning to face her again with a snicker in return. "You're fun to pick on," were simply words to justify his cruel self.

"Hm." She was a bit hurt by the comment but she figured it was better than him actually picking on her. She turned away, ignoring him and he could tell she was a bit upset.

With a shuffle of his butt he slid in his chair to cross his legs over the arm of his chair, leaning back onto his palm at the other to glance at the back of her head. "What is it now?"

"You don't have to be so confident around me, you know." She said with sass.

"Oh is that so?" He sang with a bratty tone returning to his voice.

"Yes, it is." Her voice was loud and curt as she turned around, arms crossed. "I can understand why you do it in front of everyone else."

He giggled at that. "People don't care, Elizabeth. They take. They are sly. I thought I taught you that." With a brush of his fingers he stroked his cowlick back, turning into the back of the seat to coddle into it.

"But I don't believe you truly are that kind of person, Alois. You just pretend to be." She was now standing in front of his chair, hands clasped together along the prettily tied bow at the hipline. She just stared at him, waiting for a response.

The adolescent continued to stare at his curled up lap, a pause in his breath before he let out a sigh of dissonance. He turned his gaze to the young woman with heavy lids. "I suppose..."

She sat on the ground in front of him with her knees sinking into the mauve carpet. Her head sat comfortably on her neck as she stared up at the boy. He looked weary, exhausted and a bit unsure. "Alois?"

"What?" He mumbled, following her movement with a set vision before closing them, squeezing them for a second and opening them again, a new set to them; energy. He threw himself upright in the chair and slumped his chin into his palms, crouching over. "What is it?"

"Do you want me to go?"She quickly caught her breath and tried to make contact with his eyes.

"No!" He cried. Fear of being alone was his one weakness. He reached for her and lost balance with his violent thrust, falling to his knees before her. He stared down with a pained libido.

"Alois…" Her eyes had never been so wide, her vision had never been so blurred by confusion. She reached down for him and without a second thought, caught him in a strong embrace. "Then I won't."

A staggered breath and a noise of uncertainty escaped his lungs as he held the wrist to her arm tightly that coddled him. It was a grip of sudden resentment that soon smoldered and turned into something of need, he threw himself up and into her, joining her in an embrace.

She drew in her breath quickly at the slight stinging of her wrist and then rested her hand on the back of his head. Her fingers sat on his soft blonde hair as she held him. She was still in complete awe that he had surrendered himself to her like that. "Please...don't cry."

The boy found warmth in her flesh at the curve of her neck, burying himself in her lacy bunches, keeping a stubborn hold on her. It was true. The Trancy boy was very cold, very selfish and that wasn't going to change. But she had done it. She had broken through the ice of Alois Trancy and offered him pure compassion with a harsh bite of honor. She held him. And the child natured teenager found guidance.

"Don't... Tell me what to do..." He sobbed.

She smiled solemnly and chuckled quietly at his stubborn response. She pulled him in closer, running her lacy white glove along his cheek bone, wiping away the tears that trailed there. She held his chin in her hand and looked down at him sweetly, gazing into his misty ice-colored eyes. She began to giggle slightly.

The blurry vision of the blonde rested upon the others' eyes, releasing her giggling form to take a new softer hold to her face, his own twisting in an attempt to stifle his that was riddled in pain; he touched his forehead to hers in defeat.

Yes. Elizabeth had broken through his ice. But she had absolutely no idea what she had gotten herself into.

"Thank you, for letting me visit." She quietly spoke those words into his face, her head still leaning against his, eyes closed. She knew all he needed was love and comfort, and she was willing to try and help him. She rested her hand on the back of his neck, warming the chill that his skin continued to release. Her thumbs rested on the side of his neck under his ears, and she slowly stroked them back and forth in a comforting motion as he choked on his quickly disappearing tears.

Making a mewl of release he sighed softly through his nose, closing his eyes in the brief moment of tranquility, forgetting about the figure that stood statue like in the corner, and very briefly forgetting about his hate upon society; The burning rage to eradicate those that shun him. And then he wondered how long will it last? before quickly deciding upon ...I don't care.

"Will you stay...? Forever...?" Though his forever was destined to be quite shortly lived; forever to the girl was just innocence.

She opened her eyes only to notice that his already were and staring desperately through her. A warm feeling in her chest began expanding and her heart began to race. "Alois..." She placed her hand on the side of his face and grinned. "I…" She was conflicted with the idea that he wanted her to stay, only because she wasn't sure Ciel was serious about what he had said to her, but she didn't care. This boy needed her, and in a way, she needed him. She stopped, looked away and grinned again softly and then brought her face to meet his. "Yes, Alois. I'll stay with you."

The chilly digits that remained upon her cheek bones dusted her flesh in a slight caress in something of adoration of the girl's words. Though he was quite aware that she came to him with heartache of her own, she had succeeded in taking his own - the ache that caped his soul in a rotting cask. But he didn't much care for Ciel. He didn't care too much about Elizabeth either. But he was still in complete dote upon her. And with a greedy grip, his touch tightened and met his own lips with hers, a kiss of satisfaction.

She hesitated at his sudden kiss, her eyes wide in horror. He wasn't harsh, or weak, it was gentle and warm. His lips were like velvet beneath hers, but at the same time, she knew she had to back away.

He let the kiss last, for it was just a sweetly placed kiss of affection, nothing more nor less. As he retracted his lips he lingered, lacing his light breath with her own and retreating a hand from the shape of her jaw, he placed it upon her lap. His heavy gaze found hers.

Her eyes were still closed as she wrapped her mind around what had just happened. She breathed heavily but quietly, and placed her hand on his. "Yes, Alois?" She slightly laughed as she looked up at him. She laughed, not out of disrespect, but utter confusion and enjoyment.

"...I don't know," He grumbled in something of annoyance in his confusion of what happened. He didn't really understand why he kissed her. Kissing to him should not have been that kind. Kissing was something done to express dominance; in his experience. He let his eyes fall shut again as he slid back into the embrace, turning his palm up to grab hold of her and tug her towards him in a greedy way, his actions something of fatigue as he held her tight at her shoulders.

Her hands rested by her side for a moment after the sudden tug and her back, but she could understand why he acted the way he did. She raised her arms to wrap around his back and rubbed her fingers along his shoulder blades comforting him. He was slightly shaking, but she couldn't tell if it was out of nerves or anger, and she held on for as long as she could, breathing in his sweet scent that resonated on his skin and his clothing.

There were few things the Earl had associated with bliss. Slumber after a long time of being awake, the first gulp of water on a hot day or in the middle of the night with a fever. But an embrace he knew not of. He knew well the striking pain of lust and the ache in his flesh of reckless hands. And he knew an empty glare followed by empty words of comfort that he hated so much that stayed with him day in and out.

It was so nice; being hugged back. The texture of the cotton that made her dress, the bunchy crunch of her petticoats that fanned around her body, the two curly locks that lay thick on her shoulders that brushed against his cheeks in the embrace; even her body heat... He now called bliss. He snickered at himself.

Elizabeth had been introduced to many things in her past which led her to believe in so much more than she could count. She believed that love was being invited over for a ball and dancing with her arranged fiancé. She believed that love was playing chess on a summer afternoon, with the curtains pulled open drinking fresh tea and eating strawberry cake in the parlor. She believed that love was shopping in every market in the town square for the most perfect petticoat and gown that she could lay her eyes on... She believed love was watching her darling, Ciel, struggle day in and day out and being there by his side through it all...But, despite all of this, she didn't believe it anymore. She didn't believe now that someone as cold as the Earl Trancy, was what love was...or what love should be. Not in a romantic sense; not as of yet.

His skin became warm against hers. Their heartbeats beat together with the ticking of the mahogany grandfather clock standing in the corner of the room. His breath was sweet, like mint and roses, and his touch was as gentle as a piece of silk floating against her skin. She was happy, sitting silently in his arms. She felt welcome for the very first time.