"Ciel, I think we need to go to school again." Lizzy stood in front of the boy's desk, feeling uncomfortable, like an intruder. "It's been a really long time since we last went."
"What? It hasn't been that long." Ciel looked up from a huge pile of paper work, "We graduated just over a decade ago. 2001, I distinctly remember it." he looked at her confused. She needs to get her memory checked, it would have to be 2020 before they even considered going to school again.
Then, to his astonishment, the girl started giggling as though he was the silly one that was remembering wrong. "Oh, no silly!" she cried, doubling over with laughter. Well, dates certainty weren't the boy's forte. "No, not 2001! It was 1991! Silly." she giggled and patted his head. Twice.
"Oh, really?" he counted on his fingers, like he was doing calculations in his head. "Those dates are remarkably similar." a rosy red flush appeared on his cheeks, it was as good as him admitting defeat, which the boy never did. "I don't think that was long ago enough to consider going to school again." he blundered, trying to cover his idiocy.
"Right." Lizzy didn't sound convinced. "But, I think its been a perfect amount of time. The two of us have been maintaining the Funtom Company, so our academic levels have not dropped, as we are supposedly in our forties. Alois, however doesn't have any external academic stimuli, and its showing. He was doing his times tables for whatever reason, probably in an attempt to tutor himself, and he said three times five was twenty-one!" She put her head in her hands and began to speak frantically. "Now, I have no idea where that answer came from or why he thought it to be correct, but somehow it made sense in his twisted little mind. He's also been making silly spelling mistakes that someone of his age (138 mentally, thirteen physically) shouldn't be making." she crossed her arms, thinking that she had proved a rather good point.
"Fine, how quickly can the preparations be made?" Ciel introduced his palm to his forehead. Enrolling in school for the three of them got to be a real hassle, as there was only a handful of schools in reasonable distance of them. For starters, all schools they had been to in the last two decades were immediately eliminated, lest someone figure out the three kids hadn't aged a day since the last school term. They then had to double check to make sure none of the staff had encountered them before. Then all the schools data on them in the computers would have to 'mysteriously disappear, the culprit leaving no traces', thanks to their professional hacker, the sweet and innocent little Lizzy. Then they, or at least one of them, would have to come up with a convincing back story on why three mysterious kids are suddenly appearing out of the blue and starting seventh grade- the grade universally agreed on as the one they start at.
"They already have!" Lizzy smiled really wide. "honestly, I only came in here to tell you, because ALOIS who is a WIMP was too AFRAID to face your wrath over why we didn't tell you sooner." she put emphasis on certain words, knowing full well that the boy was standing just outside, his ear pressed up against the door.
"Hey! I'm not a wimp! I wasn't afraid!" Alois' outraged voice came from the other side of the door.
"Says the boy eavesdropping from the other side of a steel plated door." Lizzy called back taunting the boy, while slowly, quietly stalking to the door so the boy wouldn't know she was there.
"Have you felt how hard he can punch? This isn't out of fear of his wrath, it's out of fear for my li-!" his sentence cut off because Lizzy suddenly yanked the door open and he fell in.
"Hello Alois, so glad you could join us!" she taunted him. "I suggest you run now, you've been caught in the act!" she acted startled and pointed. "Eavesdropper!"
"Fine. I'll go now." he stood and high tailed it out of there, dust flying in his wake.
"There, now that that pest is taken care of," Lizzy continued, patting the new dust off of her gown. "We will be attending Barcksland Academy, in the suburbs of London, a roughly ten minute drive from here. The school term starts August 24th. I have ordered a new, completely modern wardrobe for us all, so expect the new clothes in your closet any day now." she smiled "That's about it." she skipped out of the room. Ciel sighed, what was he going to do about that free willed girl?
"Ciiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel!" Lizzy wailed loudly on the midnight before school was set to start. Why was it like this every time? "You can't wear those clothes! They look absolutely dreadful! Why won't you wear the outfit I picked out for you? It looks adorable, and it compliments Alois and my outfits perfectly!" she made a puppy dog face, hoping the snot dribbling out of her nose wouldn't ruin it. She had put blood, sweat and tears into making the perfect outfits for everyone, making sure all the clothes looked good together and everything! And now stubborn, dumb Ciel is ruining it all by not wearing the outfit she had chosen, it had taken her a good four hours to find his perfect outfit, not to mention that after that she still had to do Alois and herself.
Alois had gotten into his outfit easily, knowing that struggling would just cause a fight, waste time and all the hard work of resisting would be wasted, as Lizzy always got her way. And besides, he liked the outfit Lizzy had chosen for him. He was wearing a royal purple shirt with a rubber ducky on it (ah, rubber duckies, they mystified him with all their squeaky wonder), a pair of his signature black booty shorts, challenging the dress code and a black leather jacket. Lizzy had let him pick his own shoes, so of course he picked a neon green pair of converse with violet shoe laces. Lizzy had pursed her lips over that one, but she had let him chose for himself and if that's what he wants...
She ran through the halls looking for Ciel. Where did that boy run off to? She looked down at the outfit she was toting around. Was it really that bad? It was a midnight blue, plaid shirt, and dark jeans all the way down to the tops of the the black high tops. There was a light blue sweater to be worn over the shirt. She was positive that Ciel would like it, and look wonderful in it on the first day of school. But he was stopping that from happening by running away from her!
She closed her eyes and let her senses fan out. She could hear Alois in the drawing room, laughing his eyes out and she could also hear hurried footsteps near the guests' hallway where any guests- if the had any- would stay. She noticed he wasn't breathing to avoid making more noise than necessary. But, he was sweating profusely and she could smell that quite easily. Oh yeah, definitely Ciel after gym class. She used the sixth sense to feel his presence, creating and image in her mind as he ran into the fourth guest bedroom on the left and hid in the wardrobe. She ran in his direction, leaving a sonic boom behind. Alois didn't even look up, that was normal behavior. Instead he started laughing harder, knowing that meant she had cornered the poor boy.
Lizzy stood outside of the closet Ciel had locked himself in. "Knock knock, I'm here!" she cried, prying the door open. There he was cowering in a corner. "Wear it." She shoved the clothes in his face.
"Crazy girl!" He shouted and weaved her way around her and out the door. He ran, leaving another sonic boom to shake the house. More tears leaked out of Lizzy's eyes. She just wanted him to look cute! Why did he have to be so mean!
She looked down at her own outfit, eyes blurring everything with tears. She was wearing a knee length baby blue dress with embroidered designs of the same color. She had silver platform shoes and a little white half sweater. Her hair was in it's signature hair style; two curly pigtails. The blue headband had off white and yellow flowers and ribbons.
"I just want you to look cute!" she wailed after a few hours of this nonsense, and broke into horrible wracking sobs. In the middle of the hallway.
Ciel appeared out of nowhere. "Fine, I'll wear the clothes!" he snatched the stack of clothes out of her arms and stalked into a guest room to get changed.
"Yes! Thank you! Thank you!" she shouted, smiling from ear to ear.
"There, you happy?" he walked out of the room, wearing the outfit.
"Oh, yes! I love it! You look even better in that outfit than I thought you would!" she tackle hugged him. "Lets go down to the parlor." Lizzy led the way.
"Why the parlor?" Alois asked, walking up to them, "Why would we need to got to the parlor?"
"Because A) that's where our book bags are and B) You need to know our back story, why we're going to the school." Lizzy smiles fiendishly.
"Alright!" the blonde readily agreed.
"Our stories huh. Knowing you, they're probably some long heart breaking story with events that would probably never happen in real life." Ciel smiled evilly.
"Well of course!" Lizzy acted like she was offended that he would even consider thinking other wise.
"Come on, lets go!" Alois started to tug on Ciel's arm playfully. "Lets go already."
"So, according to the paperwork," Lizzy began once they had all settled in the parlor with tea. "We were all orphaned when we were young. Because of that we also inherited our parents titles as Earl Trancy, Phantomhive and Lady Midford. We all met when we were ten, and have been best friends ever since. Just this past summer, however, we were all adopted by Sebastian, and we now live in the London townhouse. This will be our first year enrolled in a charter school, but we went to public school before that."
"Awesome!" Alois was exited by this, and it wasn't wholly a lie. Ciel had been orphaned when he was ten, Alois when he was eleven. He then spent two years working his way up from being the old Earl Trancy's plaything to being the new Earl, after his 'Father' died, of course. The only one none of that applied to was Lizzy herself. She'd lived that charmed life. She had a caring mother that always urged her to work harder in her fencing, even when she wanted to give up. A kind father who always urged her to look her best, going for cute above all. Her older brother Edward who was overprotective of her, as she was his whole world. She had Aunt Rachel and Uncle Vincent- Ciel's parents- they were like her second set of parents, treating her like a daughter, not just a niece. And there was Aunty An, or Madame Red, who was not related to her at all, but rather Ciel's aunt who was unable to have children of her own, so she substituted with Ciel and Lizzy. It was she who taught Lizzy that ladies should be genteel and love dresses and never be violent.
She also was the one who, she learned this later on, went crazy and killed every woman who had come to her clinic for an abortion. They nowadays called her, and her crime spree 'Jack the Ripper'. The human police never did catch her.
Ciel smiled slightly. "As cunning as always, something just within the limits of possibility."
"Oh, goodness!" Lizzy cried looking down at her digital watch, "If we want to get there on time we have to leave now, and forget a couple of speed limits, unless cops are nearby, of course."
"Yay!" Alois squealed and started jumping up and down while clapping, being the little girl he truly is.
The three raced to the car, hoping to get in in the desired seat that they all loved. Lizzy won, getting the best seat on the very left side, then in the middle was poor Ciel and then last on the right, was Alois. Lizzy and Alois bubbled the whole time, leaning over Ciel and Lizzy even scooted into his lap at one point to talk to Alois better, but she was promptly pushed off. About half way there, after London had come into view, they started to sing a song, one that drove the blunette with heightened hearing mad. "School, school, we're going to school!" Over. And over. And over. Finally the wrought iron gates of Barcksland Academy came into view. When the car stopped, Ciel was the first out of the car of insanity.
"C'mon guys! Lets go!" Lizzy squealed happily, skipping towards their homeroom class.
"This is gonna be awesome!" Alois ran up with her.
"Yeah," Ciel agreed halfheartedly. "It'll be fun."
"You bet it will! Don't doubt the awesomeness that this year will bring!" Lizzy shouted joyfully. "It'll be-" her voice cut short for no apparent reason as she walked into the room. Ciel wondered how this could be, as almost nothing shocked the girl. Then he walked into the room.
Then he saw her.
She had chin length dark brown hair that got lighter as it reached the tips, which made her hairpin stand out even more. Everything else in the room faded away as Ciel stared at the familiar design on the hairpin.
It was an upside down pentagram- two points up, a symbol usually linked with black magic- with two circles around it. There was a inner circle, connecting all the points together, and an outer circle with a bunch of little tick marks going around it. It was glowing purple and glowed brighter with every step he took closer to the girl. The symbol perfectly matched up with the Faustian contract ingrained in his right eye- that was the whole reason he wore the eye patch. A Faustian contract is the symbol that proves you have made a contract with a demon, as Ciel had with Sebastian after his home burned down and he was sold on the black market like a animal, like a toy and finally, almost sacrificed. So why did this girl have the symbol on a hairpiece?
The hairpin stood out to Alois, he had seen Ciel without his eye patch and, come on, it was glowing. But amazingly, that wasn't what grabbed his attention. It was her choker necklace. There was a symbol on it, one that sent chills up and down his spine. It brought him back to the days when he was kept in the old man's basement, as one of his dolls. Of when he was 'captured by faeries'. Of, after the old man died, sitting in his new room in front of the mirror, looking at his tongue and seeing that mark, proving it wasn't all a dream. Even if he wanted it to be.
It was another pentagram with two points up. This one had it so the points of the star were a light golden, and the center a brilliant crimson. A single circle framed it, making it look simpler and more elegant than the one in her hair. This was the Faustian contract that Alois used to have on his tongue before Claude Faustus, his demon butler, had killed him. Or rather, he finished him off. Ciel had delivered the sword to the gut that had mortally wounded him, then Claude killed him. Then he woke up in Ciel's body, made a contract with Hannah Annafeloz and then died again. Then he woke up in his own body in the middle of nowhere and he was a demon. And he noticed the contract was gone, as Claude was dead. Unlike the star in the girls hair, the symbol didn't glow or reflect light at all. It was dull. It almost seemed to absorb light.
Lizzy stared at the girl. She is so adorable! Her long bangs stopped just above her lily pad green eyes. "She's beautiful." Lizzy whispered. She had a petite nose and thin pink lips. She had multiple piercings running up the length of her ear and one on her eyebrow. She had a dark gray sweater on over a red striped shirt and coral colored pants. She had on fingerless gloves going about halfway to her elbows and a chain belt hanging loosely off her hips. "I can't take it anymore, 'Minimal Interaction' my bum!" Lizzy whisper yelled. She zoomed over to the girls desk. "Hi! I'm Lizzy, whats you're name?" she introduced herself a little to cheerfully.
The girl looked up at her, a surprised and dangerous look in her eyes. She was shocked anyone would just walk over and talk to her so casually. She had a reputation of tough girl of few word that communicates with her fists. Why wasn't this girl intimidated by her? "I'm Maylene Croatia." she grunted and Lizzy heard her voice clear as day, even though Maylene had muttered it.
"Oh, Maylene! That's so pretty!" Lizzy called. In reality her name reminded her of Ciel's old maid, Mey-Rin, the way she pronounced her name in that cute accent of hers. "You're very pretty too, a pretty face to match a pretty name! You also have a beautiful accent, American, is it?"
Maylene cocked her head to the side. This girl's way of talking was odd. The way her sentences were put together, even her accent sounded old fashioned. Like she was from one of the books or movies from the 19th century. "Thanks. Yes, I moved here from the U.S. a little over a year ago." she acknowledged the waterfall of compliments pouring from the girls mouth. She spoke slowly, cautiously and quietly, like she was afraid of being mocked.
"You know, you really should speak up more. You have a pretty voice, but no one can hear it because you're too quiet." Lizzy had a serious moment, where she spoke very seriously. Then she was sent back to Cute Land and started babbling poor Maylene's ear off with questions about where she bought her outfit and where she got her hair done- teenage girl crap. When Maylene suddenly jumped up.
"Do you ever stop talking! I'm sick of all these questions! I don't get my hair done anywhere, it's like this naturally!" she scrunched her face up in anger. "So shut up and leave me alone, you b-!" she snapped her eyes open. Her fiery, red eyes. You know how they say eyes are a gateway to the soul? Well demons don't have souls, so their eyes are gateways to a whole other dimension. Upon will or when they are doing magic, or if they were just mad, the color in their eyes would disappear and be replaced with the fires of Hell. Just like Maylene's were at that very moment.
Lizzy's eyes widened. Maylene was human. She had a very human aura, so why were her eyes glowing like that? "Oh, my. I'm quite sorry for pestering you about it then." she apologized for asking her the onslaught of questions that led to this. She curtsied along with apologizing like they would in the Victorian Era. She knew it was a bit to old fashioned, but it was how she had been raised and old habits like that die hard. She wasn't visibly fazed by the glowing eyes, they were quite common in the Phantomhive house these days. But her insides were churning with questions. Why were her eyes glowing? Why wasn't she apologizing, both for her eyes and the rude word she said? Why... The list goes on. "Ciel, Alois get over here, you may-no will- want to see this." she whispered to quietly for any of the humans in the room to hear, even the girl one foot away from her.
"Who are Ciel and Alois?" Maylene asked, "Why did you talk that quietly! I could hardly hear you. Who you talking to?" Maylene cocked her head curiously.
Lizzy's eyes widened in shock. No human should be able to hear her. "Now." she added so quietly that she could barely even hear herself.
"What is it?" she heard Ciel's cool voice, so quiet it was almost hard to hear him, adding in the noise of the room, but she managed. And Maylene did as well, she noticed.
Maylene looked at the odd group. Was that the Alois and Ciel she had been calling out to before? She had said it awful quietly, Maylene who was only a foot away could hardly hear her, so how could those boys? They made a very funny group, the three of them. The boy with blue hair was easily the shortest, by about six inches. The girl with the drill curls- Lizzy- was tied for height with the other blonde who also had almost white hair.
The two boys had very powerful auras that even a human could pick up on, a air about them. The most prominent was the blond's look at me, obey me or else aura. He wasn't very deep, that was all. His emotions ran very close to the surface. The blunette's character was deeper. He was more authoritative, more menacing if things didn't go his way. He was the kind of person who would wait to take revenge, wait until the recipient had forgotten all about it. She knew who was in charge of that group.
The group had things in common. When the blunette had spoken, he had the same accent, same way of forming his words as Lizzy. They also had black nails, all of them. They weren't glossy black, like they had painted them, no. they were black, and got almost white as it reached their fingers. They each held themselves upright, very good posture.
"What is it Lizzy?" the blonde asked, glaring at Maylene. "You didn't call us over just to meet you're friend did you? Your message was to urgent for that." he smiled slightly, and that was the only indicator that he was joking. He tugged on one of her many drill curls. She slapped him across the face, and from the sound it made, she hit him hard. Really hard. "Domestic violence please!" he laughed it off like it was nothing. He didn't even rub at the red hand mark appearing on his face.
"Leave her alone, Alois." the blunette scolded him. Ah, so the blonde was Alois, and the short one was Ciel. Saved for future reference.
"Look at her eyes, before they stop." that surprised them, even Maylene. 'Before they stop'?
"Whats wrong with my eyes?" that earned a surprise from the boys, they had been talking too quietly for her to hear. That was also the moment they noticed the fire in her eyes, although they could tell she was human. "Everyone always thinks that somethings wrong with my eyes! I have 20/20 vision, and they are well within the natural color range! But sometimes people do walk away muttering about devil eyes... hm" she inquired aloud.
"Yes, I suppose that would be the common reaction to this." Lizzy let the fires shine through her own eyes, just for a moment. Just long enough for Maylene to get a good look at them.
"What the blazes...?" Maylene muttered to herself.
"Oh, now that's something I should talk to you about," Lizzy looked her in the eye. "I don't like that word you just used. Or the one you used earlier. Frankly, I don't like any cuss words." she smiled sweetly, " You see, maybe you should work on breaking that bad habit." Lizzy walked to her own seat leaving the gaping and thoroughly intimidated girl behind.
"Bloody..." she muttered.
"Don't like cussing!" Lizzy called back at her without turning around.
At just that moment, the bell decided to announce the beginning of the day, trilling through the school so loud and shrilly, Lizzy almost covered her ears to protect them. The bell was so loud, enhanced by super hearing. It was physically painful.
"All right, class take your seats." the teacher finally decided to make an appearance. She was a short, plump woman with short red hair and thick overly-round glasses. She tripped over her own combat boot on the way in. Several snickers rose from the students, but one girl who was easily the shortest kid in the school, got up to help her. "Oh, no! Don't help me dearie, I'm fine, really!" she had a high scratchy voice, and it felt good to Lizzy, comforting. Alois didn't feel the same way.
"Maybe you should spend less time yelling, and more time watching where you're going." Alois cat called from his desk in the back of the room.
"Alois! That was rude!" Lizzy scolded, looking back at him. She instantly felt sorry for the poor boy. He was gripping the sides of his head, covering his ears. Tears leaked out of his eyes and he looked pained. Oh, the noise is getting to him. Lizzy was used to all the sounds of a place full of humans- she was co-owner of the Funtom Company after all- but Alois wasn't. All the sounds humans made by just being alive were hurting him, to the point of pain and irritability. "I'm sorry, you just have to get used to it." she whispered very quietly.
The teacher acted unfazed by his little outbreak. "Good morning, class, I'm Ms. Clemens." she introduced happily.
"Good morning Ms. Clemens." the class repeated back to her. Not a whisper circulated the room.
"On your desks you will find a worksheet and a sticky note with a name on it. That will be your partner. You will fill out this work sheet and then turn it into me at the end of class in... fifty minutes." she looked up at the clock. "Get to work!" she sat behind her desk and clacked away on the computer.
Ciel gingerly lifted the paper note off his desk and read the name written in the teacher's messy scrawl. Celeste Minerva, desk 16. He looked up at the desk and saw that she sat right next to Elizabeth, in the row in front of him. He could only see the back of her head, but that was enough that he could tell she would not get up for any thing. Her hair just barely managed to reach the tops of her shoulders and it was a gray-turquoise color, like his own, but lighter and greener. He saw her crumble up the sticky note and throw it on the floor. "Stuck with the bloody orphan..." he heard her curse under her breath. I'm just going to pretend she didn't say that. This was going to be fun.
He stood and walked over to her, at a dreadfully slow pace. "Hello, I'm Ciel Phantomhive. I will assume you are Celeste Minerva, due to this." he help up the slip of paper and read it. Sure enough, it said Ciel Phantomhive in the same messy scrawl.
"Ciel's a girls name, by the way. I was expecting you to be a girl." she muttered. She even sounded a little mad that he wasn't.
"Yes, I do seem to get that a lot. Where I grew up it was used for girls and boys." it wasn't really a concept of 'where' he grew up but 'when'. But he couldn't just say that, it would sound odd.
She jerked her head up, letting him get a glance at a pair of vibrant amethyst violet eyes. The color stood out quite shockingly against her long bangs that covered her left eye. "Listen up, Ciel, I'm only going to say this once. I'm only working with you for school, only for a grade, got it? I would never be friends with a dirty orphan like you. It would kill my reputation at this school. If you try to approach me in a social environment, I will personally make your life an awful place to live in. I am the daughter of a noble family, and you are an orphan. Are we clear?" she asked him, looking ready to hit him.
"Crystal." he replied, smiling slightly at this new game, and he was going to get as mush fun out of it as possible. "It is perfectly clear to me that you are a spoiled brat that bases all her popularity in her title as a noble. Without it, you'd crumble away into nothingness. All your friendships are either the result of bullying tho other child into it, buying them, or blackmailing them with your status. You can't live without a status, you're completely dependent on it. Your hold on this school is so fragile, you're afraid a couple pf orphans could just waltz on in and steal it all away from you. Truly pathetic." if this had been the old days, when he was remorseless, Ciel knew he would have taken it farther, torturing the poor girl. He could see the anger and hurt in her eyes. That would have goaded him to keep going, to push harder and harder until she broke. Now he knew such things would be immature and decided to leave it at that, adding in a evil smirk. "And so I agree with you on one point; I will never hang out with you in a social setting. It would injure my pride beyond repair to be seen with the likes of you." Celeste promptly snapped her jaw shut. How dare he?!
You'd better watch out Phantomhive, she thought, glaring at him for all she was worth, with an attitude like that you're not going to make many friends, and you've already made an enemy, probably the worst one yet; me.
"Let's get to work on the paper." she managed to choke out through tears that she would not permit to fall.
Alois lifted up his sticky note and wearily read the name written on it. Erickson Abberts, desk one. He looked up to see who exactly he was going to be dealing with and was greeted by a boy with wild brown hair and caramel eyes that danced with a crazy light.
"Hi! I'm Erickson- Eric for short! You're Alois Trancy, right?" he had a high voice that rivaled the blond's own claim as most feminine boy around. They both had that kind of face that at first glance, it could get really confusing weather they were a boy or a girl. It was like on of those T.V. shows where you have to play 'Guess the Gender', except if you guessed wrong there will be hurt feelings to deal with. And with their voices it was no question for the gender- girl. That made phone conversations really awkward. The phrase 'I'm actually a dude' tends to kill a conversation.
"Yes, hello. I'm Alois." Alois whispered. He reached out to shake the boy's extended hand. He gripped it tenderly, as not to break him.
"Geezums!" Erick reclaimed his hand from the other boy's icy grip. "Your hand is freezing!" he rubbed his hand, trying to get warmth back into it. whoops Alois thought to himself, and here we are, trying not to stand out, so what do I do? I shake his hand! Demons hearts beat very weakly, and the blood that does eventually get to their muscles isn't even oxygenated, resulting in a cold body temperature.
"Oh, sorry." Alois quickly shoved his hand under his desk. Don't stand out! He cursed himself. Having an average body temperature of seventeen degrees kinda stands out! "Alright, lets work on the paper." Alois read the title 'Get to Know Your Classmate!' it read. It made Alois want to barf. Why would he want to know his classmate?
"Okay!" the other boy shouted before launching into a monologue of a bunch random crap that had nothing to do with the topic at hand.
Alois gripped the sides of his head, covering his ears. "Let's just focus on the paper we can talk later." Not. Anything to get the boy to stop squealing in his ear. It was physically painful. Alois, Ciel, and Lizzy were all very soft-spoken, to the point where the were almost whispering. It wasn't because the were shy-the blonds were anything but-it was because everything sounds louder to them. All demons have heightened hearing, so their gentle whispers sound like a normal conversation would to a human. A humans normal conversation level to them is like shouting, and here was this boy being loud by even human terms, and then paired with his high voice... it was like running a cheese grater over Alois' nerves.'
"Okay, do-do-do~" Eric hummed to himself while scanning the page. "Here! Favorite food?" Why did it have to be that question? Demons don't eat human food and 'Human Souls' probably wasn't the best answer to give. So Alois thought back to his days of a human, muddled with his raging emotions from back then. "Greasy fish and chips." he finally answered. "You?" knowing that boy it would probably be something odd.
"Crisps." he answered while writing Alois' answer down in a messy scrawl.
"Oh, that's..." surprisingly normal. Alois wrote down his answer in flowing cursive, very fancy but still easy to read. It was like that for a couple of questions, Eric would ask and Alois would come up with a lie on the spot. In between each question Eric babbled a little bit more.
"... and then the ostrich almost bit his head off!" Eric concluded another one of his fantastical stories.
"Shut up!" Alois had enough of this torture. "How 'bout, instead of us asking each other questions and filling it out, we just pass each other the paper and fill it out accordingly. Kay?" that way he at least wouldn't have to create lies as he went aloud.
"That's a great idea!" Eric agreed. He still talked the whole time, but they got it done, just as the bell rung.
Lizzy lifted the paper off her desk and internally squealed in excitement. Maylene Croatia, desk five. It was the girl from before! She knew the two of them were going to be best friends!
"Elizabeth Midford..." she heard Maylene mutter under her breath. "It couldn't be that girl from before, could it? No, no 'Elizabeth' is a name for someone with class, not that hyperactive, annoying blond." Lizzy's face fell. That's Maylene thought of her? Annoying? Hyperactive? Lizzy just wanted to be her friend.
Lizzy stood and made sure no one was looking before melting into the shadows. It felt like getting oil rubbed everywhere on her body before it all slid away, to anyone looking she would have turned black and then sputtered into shadows, like a water fall after the river has been blocked. Once inside the shadows, she felt cool and comforted, as that's where Fallen Angels feel at home the most. She let herself have a good cry, but only for a moment before pulling herself back together. She visualized Maylene's desk, and thought about herself coming out of the shadows there, and it happened. It looked exactly like going into the shadows, just in reverse.
"So, that's what you think of me?" Lizzy chocked out. She then realized she had spoken to quietly for humans to hear and that Ciel and Alois would be really confused "So, that's what you think of me?" she repeated in a stronger voice, so Maylene could hear. She meant to sound strong and confronting, but her voice quivered with tears from her time in the shadow land.
"Huh!" Maylene jumped and turned around to find it was just Lizzy. How had she gotten there that fast? She had only just gotten the words out of her mouth. Time flows differently in the shadow land, and so Lizzy could have been there for hours and only minutes would have passed in the land of the living.
"I'm Elizabeth Midford." Lizzy said quietly, and Maylene instantly felt guilty, for it seemed as though Lizzy was there the whole time she said that. Maylene could tell the poor girl was just one step away from tears. "Let's get to work." the sweet and bubbly act she put on had vanished and a shy, quiet Lizzy took her place.
"Alright." that made Maylene feel even worse. She felt almost as bad as Lizzy looked. "Sorry." she whispered so quietly she couldn't even hear herself.
"It's okay." Lizzy answered her silent apology, shocking the other girl. "So what's your favorite color?" her bubbly self resurfaced, chasing the shy one away.
"Purple," Maylene was shocked at how quickly the girl had gone from the edge of tears to smiling joyfully and asking questions like nothing had happened. Bipolar disorder? "You?"
"Pink!" Lizzy shouted like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's so cute!" she added as an explanation.
"Oh, that's nice." the two girls had the sheet done with plenty of time to spare. Lizzy babbled to Maylene, and the latter girl discreetly put ear buds in. "Hum," she added whenever it seemed like the other girl was wanting an explanation. The bell rang, signaling the end of class.
All their classes were like that. Go in, sit for forty five minutes while doing some kind of team-building exercise. And to soon it was the class all three of them were dreading. Fifth period. Lunch. Lizzy warily walked out of the room as soon as the fourth period bell rang, telling all seventh graders to go to lunch. She had barely taken one step into the hallway when a purple and blonde streak caught her attention.
"Alois?" she hissed, looking down the hallway. Then she had a sinking feeling in her gut, and knew what was going on. She ran down the hall after him, hoping to calm him from his hysterics. The last time he had been acting that way for long, things didn't go over well. The last time this had happened was eighty years ago, before Ciel knew he was even alive. "Alois!" she hissed again, in hot pursuit.
She found him, curled up in a little ball in the janitor's closet. His silvery blue eyes were wide and full of tears, and snot freely dribbled out of his nose. He looked up at her and more tears flowed over his long lashes. He raised up his open arms like he was about to hug her. It was an invitation, a plea. She leaned down and took the boy less then half her age in her arms and held him close, answering that plea. He wrapped his arms around her neck, snuggled his head into her shoulder and wrapped his legs around her midsection. To anyone who might have been looking on, it would've looked like a teenage girl holding her (big)little brother.
"Lizzy..." he sobbed into her shoulder, dampening her golden hair with tears.
"Sh...it's okay Luka, it's okay." she bounced slightly and tried to sooth the crying five-year-old.
