Hey you guys! I was a bit preoccupied with my other story, but I'm back now. I own nothing but Thalia, and a few side arcs that I may want to implement later on. Enjoy the chapter. Constructive criticism is, as always, totally appreciated.
Bad Plans and Bad Memories
I walked, almost ran, up the stairs and into Ciel's study, just in time to hear him say something to Bard about not being allowed to use flamethrowers. Everyone immediately wilted as, whatever their plan had been, was shot down (mercifully. The house had sustained enough damage for one day, which I would have to clean up later).
"Ciel, someone called Master Lau is here to see you," I told him when I walked inside. "Also, he said he wanted to buy me," I added as a bit of an afterthought, and then I looked at Ciel curiously. "Why would he want to do that?"
Ciel twitched, and his visible eye narrowed slightly. "Lau runs an opium den, and a brothel."
I blinked once, twice, just as the door opened and Lau walked in. "Hi Earl!"
I immediately ran behind Ciel's chair and glared at the man from behind the little Earl, like a highly irate cat. "Keep that guy away from me, or I may kill him. And I'm not kidding about that." I'd seen enough of the inside of a brothel that I would never want to go back.
Ciel sighed and glared at him as well, or that could just have been the face he had on. Ciel rarely ever looked happy, I had noticed, but sometimes he appeared soft and not as hard as he normally was. This was not one of those times. "What are you doing here, Lau?"
"I heard something interesting was going on, so I decided to visit," Lau replied cheerfully. How did you hear about this? I wondered dully as my eyes narrowed even more. None of us have been outside the house!
"Go home," Ciel deadpanned immediately. Yeah, do that.
Lau pouted and leaned further over the desk. I responded by pulling Ciel's chair, which I was still standing behind, backwards and away from him. Even though he was right in front of me, I couldn't see his eyes. Never trust someone who smiles too much and doesn't look you straight in the eye, they are rarely ever what they appear to be. Right now, I didn't trust Lau any further than I could throw him. "Don't say such cold things," he grinned. "Just leave it to me."
I blinked, and even Ciel looked surprised. Wait, really? I frowned at Lau curiously. He thinks he can catch Sebastian in one afternoon, when the four of us spent almost the whole day trying to do just that?
"The spider's web has already been woven," Lau picked up one of Ciel's figurines, the one of the sheep. "The more you struggle, the harder it becomes for you to escape from those bonds. Whatever the prey is, once they become involved with me, catching them is only a matter of time."
Well that came out sounding sufficiently deep and impressive, I decided. "Alright," Ciel acquiesced. "However, I will not tolerate failure, no matter what."
"But of course," Lau smirked. "If I were to sully the Phantomhive name, I would be expelled from this country after all." Why are they both making this sound so much more than it is? I stopped clinging to the back of Ciel's chair and, instead, opted to stand beside it with my arms folded across my chest. "So," Lau's voice lost its mysteriousness entirely. "What are we doing?"
I facepalmed while Ciel developed an angry twitch on his forehead. "I'm never going to get my chocolate, am I?" I muttered under my breath.
oOo
You know, there are dumb plans. There are also stupid plans. There are also plans that make you wonder whether the person who thought of them was high on opium or some other such narcotic.
And then there are the plans that make you want to hit the person over the head with something particularly hard until you knock some sense into them (or until they die, whichever comes first I suppose).
This was one of those plans. Ciel and Lau were hiding behind one of the pillars in the front room. I was hiding inside a vent in the wall because there wasn't anywhere else to hide, and I was still pissed off at Lau. I would probably have killed him if Bard and Finny hadn't restrained me.
See, his master plan was to have Ran Mao sit on the banister of the staircase and seduce Sebastian into stopping for the ten seconds needed (or confuse the hell out of him, at the very least. Seriously, who wouldn't be confused to see a strange, barely dressed Chinese girl sitting on your banister?). She didn't seem to mind the plan at all, and I could only assume that it was because she was one of his prostitutes. I don't know, she didn't tell me when I asked her.
Anyway, I was annoyed with Lau because, initially, he had wanted me to sit with Ran Mao as well. "The butler seems quite taken with you," he had commented while narrating the plan to us. And then he had beamed and whipped out a replica of Ran Mao's dress – but in black, white and red – from behind his back. "And look, I even brought a dress that would fit you!"
Just you wait, you perverted Chinese Bastard, I growled in my head. I could hear the sound of a carriage approaching the mansion. I watched as Sebastian walked past the vent I was in. I heard the door of the mansion open, and a man introduced himself. Time to see how badly this plan fails, I twisted my head to the side so I could see the staircase clearly from my spot.
You can tell that I'm rather pessimistic, can't you?
To give her credit, Ran Mao performed her part rather well. Unfortunately, she only managed to seduce the visitor. Sebastian, on the other hand, just kept walking. You'd think he'd stop for, at least, a few seconds to tell Ran Mao to stop posing provocatively on the staircase banister because she was making the guest rather nervous. Nope, he kept on walking like she wasn't even there.
Once I was sure he wasn't looking, I lifted the vent carefully and slithered behind the nearest pillar. I watched as Lau made a series of random arm movements, and my eyes widened as Finny and Mey-Rin began to fan upwards. The action caused Ran Mao's already very short skirt to flutter even higher, which she also didn't seem too concerned about.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and shook my head. I am surrounded by crazy people.
If possible, the guest's eyes grew even wider. He looked like Mey-Rin when she read those books she kept under her bed at night (you know what I mean). Sebastian, on the other hand, was the very picture of concerned nonchalance as he gazed at our guest. "Mr. Jones?" It's like he can't even see her! I marveled at his control.
"Huh?" The poor man looked like he had just been pulled back down to Earth, and very much like he was doubting his own sanity. "Oh, right. I'm coming!" I watched as the man ran after Sebastian and disappeared into the rest of the house.
As soon as I couldn't see them anymore, I stepped out of my hiding place and went to slap Bardroy upside the head. "Ow!" He rubbed his head and glared at me. "What was that for?"
"For trying to take a picture of Ran Mao, when you were supposed to be taking one of Sebastian," I told him with a glare of my own. He rubbed the back of his head and at least had the grace to look embarrassed. "Now what do we do?" I asked when Ciel and Lau walked over.
"How strange," Lau pouted. "I thought that would definitely make the butler stop and stare for a second. How disappointing," he frowned for a second, and then he suddenly smiled and whipped out the dress he had brought for me again. "Still, I think the plan I had for Miss Thalia could work. We could hide you in the meeting room and…"
"THAT'S IT!" I leaped at him, and was just barely restrained by Finny and his magical super strength. He held me around the waist and prevented me from getting any closer to knocking one of Lau's bones out of place. "LET GO OF ME FINNY! I PLAN TO KILL THIS PERVERTED SONOFA-!"
"My, my, she is quite feisty isn't she?" Lau commented easily. His comment only made me struggle even more in my restraints.
"SHUT UP! I WILL KILL YOU! PERVERT!"
"Thalia, calm down!" Ciel glared at me. I pouted but I stopped yelling and struggling, and simply hung limp. Finny removed his arms carefully, and I huffed and glared at Lau. Ciel turned to the still-smiling Chinese man. "Lau, stop goading her, otherwise I will not hesitate to set her loose on you," he warned.
At that, I smirked at him and cracked my knuckles for emphasis. Lau only smiled and held up his hands in a placating gesture.
"Thalia…" I turned back to Ciel and noticed him beckoning for me to follow him. He turned to the rest of the servants, and Lau with an irritated expression. "The rest of you can continue thinking up your rather harebrained schemes. Just make sure they don't include fire or turning my mansion into a brothel."
Bard wilted a bit, and Lau shrugged resignedly. I made the universal gesture of I'm watching you at him and turned to follow Ciel.
We walked to his office. He was deep in thought and I was…not exactly deep in thought, but rather unwilling to talk. I wasn't much of a talker or a conversationalist anyway, so the walk was pretty silent. Suddenly, something occurred to me and I looked down at Ciel curiously.
"Hey, Ciel, I'm curious, who is the visitor we have anyway?" I asked him.
Ciel stopped walking. We had arrived in front of his study and I pushed the door open for him without thinking. "He is a representative for a business newspaper," Ciel replied as he walked in ahead of me. I watched as he took his seat and rested his chin on his palm. "He is here to interview the owner of the Phantom Company."
I blinked and hopped onto his desk, a move that would probably have been condemned by Ciel had it been committed anyone else, but because it was me he let it slide. I was special that way. "And that is you…isn't it?"
My question didn't really need to be answered, but Ciel replied me anyway, and without sarcasm. "Yes, it is. But I am still young, and it would be bad for the company's image if the owner was but a child."
I considered this for a moment, and then shrugged. "It shouldn't be. You should be proud of it, of what you've managed to achieve even though you're young. Most people, especially young people, can never hope to come close to this…"
My thoughts drifted to my mother, to the time of my life that could only be called a living nightmare. And then I noticed Ciel staring at me out of his uncovered eye. "You're stroking your ring," he commented. I started and looked down at my hands. The thumb of my left hand smoothed over the cold facets of the ruby on the ring finger of my other hand. "Where did you get that gem, anyway?"
I knew he would ask that. I paused my motion and contemplated telling him, and then I squashed the idea. This was not the time. "I can't tell you now," I crossed my arms, effectively hiding the gem from his line of sight. "Besides, we have to plan a way to get Sebastian to stop for ten seconds!"
Ciel looked annoyed at first, and then he sighed and went back to his thoughts. The study was silent as I watched the young Earl stare fixedly at the tin toy soldiers surrounding the grey, iron sheep. My eyes were fixed on the ceiling as I alternated my thoughts between the past, Ciel, and Sebastian. A part of me was considering how pointless the whole day had been. Another part of me was wondering whether Lau would consider giving me the dress.
Not because I was considering becoming a prostitute, but because those dresses allowed more freedom of movement than my maid outfit did. I could wear them with stockings or something…I mused silently. But then people would stare at me a lot…
"To stop that thing for ten seconds…" Ciel spoke suddenly. I looked at him curiously when he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "This was the last thing I wanted to do, but I suppose I have no choice if we are to get him to stay still."
Worry bubbled in my chest and my eyes narrowed. "Ciel," I began warily. "Just what are you thinking of doing? It isn't anything too…dangerous, right?"
He chose to ignore me, which left me to worry in silence until Sebastian came in with a plate of cakes, at which point I promptly stopped worrying. "Today I have prepared the Devil Dog cake from our trip to Houndsworth," Sebastian placed a plate of three small cakes made to look like a dog's paws in front of Ciel, as well as a cup of tea.
Ciel stabbed one with a fork and held it up with a look that was part confusion, and part irritation. "Why does something like this exist?" He muttered as he ate one.
I grinned. "Bard, Mey-Rin, Finny and I bought a lot of it when we went into the town for a while. It was really cheap, and rather popular for something with such morbid connotations," I shuddered when I remembered the creepy town and it's creepy villagers. "I think I ate all of mine though…" I said to no one in particular. "They were really good though…"
Ciel ate another one and changed the subject. "How did the article go?"
"Tanaka showed his formidable strength as the company president," Sebastian reported. "In my opinion, I feel that the interview went quite well." Tanaka? But, he's tiny most of the time! How long did he last in his normal human form? Not long, I'm guessing. I kept my thoughts to myself and pretended to be transfixed by the shapes on the ceiling.
"I see," Ciel smiled a smile that was slightly self-depreciating. "Well, it's not like I could be the face of the company at the moment."
Sebastian smiled as well. I watched him out of the corner of my eyes. "There was also a photograph taken at the end of the interview," he commented with perfect casualness. I remembered the first time I had seen him, when I had noticed that air of perfection, and I considered what made that aura so terrifying.
To give him credit, Ciel was also quite good at lying. "Oh," he feigned an air of rather mild interest and poked another cake with his fork. "A photograph?"
"Yes," Sebastien nodded slightly, still smiling. "Lately, it seems the fashion is to have a photograph accompany an article." Ciel hummed slightly. "Young master, why don't you take one as well? You could have it done with Miss Thalia." My eyes widened and I realized that he was looking right at me.
Shit, does he know what we've been doing? I bet he does. Stupid demon butler!
Out loud, I said: "Hahahaha, no," I hopped off the table. "Photogenic, I am not. I'll see you later, Ci – young master," I corrected myself hastily. For some reason, it felt a little awkward to be calling Ciel by his first name in front of Sebastian, now that I was officially working for him. I quickly opened the door and shut it behind me. I could still hear them through the door.
"Was she about to call you by your name, young master?" Sebastian sounded like he was smirking.
"Wipe that look off your face, Sebastian," Ciel snapped. There was a pause, and then Ciel spoke again. "Oi, did she take one of my cakes?"
I quickly popped the white-chocolate flavoured treat into my mouth and skipped down the halls towards the kitchen. The house had been oddly quiet while I had been with Ciel, and I was worried that in my absence, someone had died and the others were trying to hide the body.
No One's POV
Ciel glared down at his empty plate. If Thalia hadn't taken one of the cakes, he'd still have one more left to eat. The girl shared his love of sweet things, which was both a good thing and a bad thing.
Ever since he had seen her, he couldn't shake the thought that he had seen her somewhere before, or at least like he somehow knew her. There was something undeniably familiar about her.
You would think that someone with such a unique hair colour would be easy to spot and easier to remember, but the memory seemed to be buried under so many and searching through them only served to give him a headache.
Sebastian noticed the dark, contemplative glare on the young boy's face, but didn't say anything. Why would he, when Thalia's scent still hung about the room like a rapidly disappearing shadow? Something about her drew him to her, and he wasn't sure what. He recalled the afternoon, the way she had flushed when he came close to her. Had she never been with a man?
The thought that she might actually still be pure sent a surprisingly hungry thrill skittering through him. He yearned for her, for her taste, her warmth, for the chance to take her and taint her with his mark.
He smirked slightly and considered his thoughts. He was beginning to have an idea of why he desired her so much…
"Sebastian…" The butler turned to his young master, not a trace of his previous thoughts showing on his face. Ciel wasn't looking at him anyway, so he needn't have bothered so much. "Since Thalia is new to the mansion, and unused to servant work, I want her to assist you in preparing tonight's dinner."
Sebastian arched an eyebrow. In reality, Thalia was actually quite used to the jobs of a maid. She could dust and sweep and wash clothes as well as the next maid. It was the fact that she had to act subservient to a bunch of, in her own words, money-hungry, pompous bastards that grated on her nerves.
Of course, she had earned a thwack on her ear, courtesy of Sebastian, as he reminded her that young women weren't permitted to use such language. The injury had only caused her to swear again, louder this time, and then sprint from the room when he lifted his hand again with that peculiar, closed-eyes smile of his.
Of course, Sebastian said none of this. Instead, he smirked and bowed. "Yes, my lord."
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