PainfulMemories

Ciel's body wouldn't stop shaking and he couldn't bring himself to reach for the bell that would summon his servant. He uttered the name that made him feel safe, the name of the butler that was his demon.

"Sebastian…"

A cold chill ran through the room causing the boy to shiver, involuntarily.

"You called, Master."

Sebastian was taken aback when Ciel looked up at him. Tears were cascading down his cheeks and his shaking still hadn't subsided.

"Whatever is the matter?"

Ciel couldn't control himself. He flung himself in to the demons arms; cries of fright filled the still air. Sebastian was taken aback. He looked a little lost but tried his best to comfort the hysterical boy.

"Was it a nightmare, Master?"

Upon the mention of a nightmare, Ciel's hand tightened on his butler's tail coat. Sebastian carefully lifted the boy and placed him on the bed so that he could set the candelabra down on the night table. He lifted Ciel into his arms, all with Ciel never letting him go, and cradled him like an infant.

"It is alright, Master. I shall never let anything or anyone harm you. You have my word…"

Partly satisfied, Ciel seemed to calm and the boy slowly drifted to sleep, safe in the arms of his demon.

"Young Master, you have a letter."

The young Phantomhive lord looked up from the new found paperwork and frowned. The incident of last night was never mentioned and the events of the day went by as normally as it would have been on any other given night.

"Who is it from?"

"I believe it is from the queen, my lord."

Ciel lifted a stoic eyebrow. Cautiously he took the letter from Sebastian's hands and looked it over. He couldn't help but think what the Queen would want with him. He knew that his father was the queens watch dog but he gave up that title just days before the accident. What could the queen want with him? Ciel broke the seal and opened the letter; He read its contents, humped, re-read its contents, then past the letter over to Sebastian, who raised his eyebrow questioningly.

"I often seen my father hand his letters over to, Tanaka. He was our butler back before… Anyway, I figured it was so that Tanaka could make his own conclusion over the letter and then we could take action from there."

Sebastian understood, skimmed the letter, and smirked.

"You will need cloths suitable enough for a royal audience."

Ciel lifted an eyebrow…

"Yes that is what I surmised. So then gather cloths for our visit to the queen to tomorrow."

"Of course, Master."

The next morning came and Sebastian dressed Ciel in a brown knee length suit. He also placed a silk eye patch over his eye and Ciel started in surprise.

"I took the liberty of getting this, Master. It would not do to have you in your audience with the queen with those white bandages covering your eye."

Ciel seemed to take that in stride and he rose from the bed.

Half an hour later, Ciel found himself in the presence of her Highness herself…

Ciel dipped to a bow holding the hat the Sebastian placed on his head only hours before.

"Your Majesty, I am Earl Ciel Phantomhive son of Vincent."

"I know who you are child."

Ciel frowned but didn't comment.

"I have asked you here after all. It would be silly of me to not know the name or of the person I have invited."

Ciel lifted his head up and tilted it questioningly but not one word escaped his mouth.

"Let's get to the chase, shall we? I haven't got much time so we'll get right to business. Are you aware of your father's old occupation?"

"You mean about him being the guard… uh… About assisting you, You Majesty?"

"Yes that is precisely what I mean. Your father was a faithful servant up until his death. I would like you to take his place and solve the crimes in London. Since Vincent died the underworld has been in terrible jeopardy. They know that Vincent will not be around to stop them so they do as they please. I will also ask mundane tasks of you, nothing more."

"Mundane, you say. So that means I shall be in the most uncomfortable places."

"Only most of the time, but your still young you should fit right in."

Ciel stared at the queen for a moment and then mumbled under his breathe, "I highly doubt that."

Sebastian heard and smirked like a Cheshire cat.

"You don't have to answer know you can take some time to think it over and then you can write a letter telling me your answer. I'll give you three days to respond. Sound good?"

Ciel seemed to think it over and started when one of the queens' guards shuffled his feet.

"Yes, I shall reply to you in three days' time."

"Very good, you may leave."

Ciel and Sebastian turned on their heels and walked out if the room and down the spiral staircase and out of the palace.

Moments after those awful adults branded him Ciel was being dragged to a small room. In the room there were Cages with other little kids inside of them. The kids were crying, screaming, and begging for their lives. One child was dragged from the cage. He heard the closed adult to him say that it was his turn to be honored, sacrificed to the gods. Ciel stiffened, he didn't know what that meant and he didn't want to find out. He began to struggle. One of his arms got lose but a whip was slashed across his back. It stung but only a little. His shirt had covered most of the attack but that didn't stop a tortured scream from erupting from the boys' mouth. The man with the whip cackled and four adults came to his side. Each was grinning wickedly at him. He didn't notice at first and looked at the closed female pleadingly.

"Please," he said in a small voice, "Please don't do this. Please? I just want to go home… Can I go home?"

Tears never stopped spilling from his eyes as he sought comfort in the woman.

Another evil grin broke forth from the woman's face and she stared at Ciel. She leaned down and touched the boys shoulder, nodding to the other to let him go. Reluctantly, they let him go skeptical of what the woman was going to do. She lifted Ciel gently into her arms and held him tight, as if in reassurance. The boy relaxed slightly. The woman cackled and stated…

"…your far too trusting boy."

Before Ciel knew it he was on his stomach. His shirt was being removed rapidly and the men that were holding him were holding him down. The sound of the whip cracking against flesh made the others stop what they were doing and look at the sight before them. Each person not over where the young boy was being beaten walked to get a better view of the scene, dragging any children they had with them to bear witness to one of the most horrid punishments. One little boy, who appeared to be younger than Ciel, screeched and broke free of the man holding him, he was afraid that they would beat him the way they were doing this new stranger. He got all the way to the door before he was intercepted by the same female that had falsely comforted Ciel and dragged him back to where Ciel was being viciously beaten. The young boy stared at the scene shaking violently when four other people joined in Ciel's beating. Ciel's eyes, which had connected with the small boy, clouded with thick tears and his screamed never once died down. His abusers were taking turns with the whip. When on pulled away another was lashed down until Ciel was bloody and barely conscious. When it looked as though Ciel would pass out they halted the whips and laughed heartedly like it was a game. Limp, sore, and Scared, Ciel glanced back to the little boy no younger than him and watched helplessly as the whips were redirected towards him. The men, who originally had Ciel, gripped him up by his raw arms and continued to drag him toward a vacant cage. The cage was small and barely fit a person in it. Ciel was thrown, landing hard on his already raw, bleeding, and tender back. He couldn't scream however because he had no voice left to scream with at the moment. The man went to shut the cage door but the door hit Ciel's leg. The man did that three times, harder and harder, before he found himself fed up and kicked Ciel hard in the foot. The boy moaned silently. He sat up painfully and drew his knees to his chest. The cage door was abruptly slammed, apparent anger in the eyes of his tormentor. The man stooped down and to Ciel's level and cackled at him.

"Now you see what happens to children when they don't behave."

The man stood and walked away.

Ciel bolted upright. Fright clouded his eyes and screams tore up his throat and through his mouth. MeiRin, being the closest to the boy, burst through the door with a riffle in hand. She had her aim on nothing and her glasses were pulled away from her face. Her hand went to the trigger but she stopped herself at the sight of Ciel. Giving a quick glance around the room she noticed that no one was in the room with the master. She couldn't help but cock her head to the side and wonder why the boy was screaming in what sounded like pure terror. She walked over to the boy and tried to lift him into her arms to calm him down but wasn't expecting Ciel to lash out at her violently.

"NO! NO! GET Away! GET AWAY!"

Ciel was throwing punched blindly, his eyes were still clouded and he lost himself in the memory that would alleviate from his memory. MeiRin caught his fist and pulled him close. When she wrapped her arms around him he gave a blood curdling scream. MeiRin became frantic. She released the trashing boy making sure to keep him on his feet before bolting out the door with the intent on finding Sebastian. Faintly in the distance Ciel could hear the screams for his butler but the fear still had him trapped in a living nightmare. He slapped his hands over his ears when he heard the voice of the woman echoing in his head…

"… far too trusting…"

Ciel's body shook violently and he started wheezing. Hyperventilation was starting to kick on and he was becoming dizzy. His body slammed against a corner in the room and he slowly slid down the wall holding his knees to his chest.

That was exactly how Sebastian and MeiRin found the poor boy. Sebastian recognized his position and frowned. Calmly he walked over to the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder. Ciel started violently and he let lose a scream of fright and pain.

"Young Master…"

Ciel stopped screaming and froze. Did he know that voice? Was it just some sick joke that his captors were playing on him to make him think he was safe?

"Young Master…"

The clouding of Ciel's eyes slowly faded and he stared in the eyes of the man who saved him from his nightmare.

"Young Master, you are not in the cage. You are safe at the manor."

He wasn't in the cage? He was safe in the manor?

The last of the cloudiness left Ciel's eyes and the room slowly came into view. He was safe in the manor. He had fallen asleep at his desk while thinking over the queens' proposal.

"Sebastian?"

"Yes, Young Master, it is me."

Deep gasps and wheezing was still heard in the boys' voice. Time froze for a spell and then Ciel did something that he would order no one to ever speak of later. He flung himself into Sebastian arms and cried. He cried for himself, He cried for his parents, he even cried for the little boy that was so much younger than him. Soon his cries died and Sebastian rubbed small circles over his back, with the coaxing of MeiRin. Hiccups was what the boy was reduced too and he leaned limply against Sebastian's chest.

"I'm not in the cage," Ciel asked attentively.

"You are not in the cage, Young Master," Sebastian answered in his best comforting voice.

"I'm not in the cage," Ciel repeated to himself before giving into the unconsciousness from the nightmare that took all the energy from him.

'I'm not in the cage,' echoed through Ciel's head before he succumbed completely to unconsciousness.

To be continued…

Whoa, that was the most intense fic I have ever written. I hope you enjoyed it. If I have made any mistakes feel free to point them out and I shall try my best to better edit it. I hope you enjoyed it. And please review…

YetAnotherJanewayFan

P.S I shall also be taking requests, so, if you have any, don't be afraid to shout them out. :D