Chapter Six
In the kitchen, Bard and William tried to calm down the excited cook. "Look at this!" cried the tall man, gesturing to platters of untouched food. "All my hard work-wasted!" His tanned skin hid his flush of anger well and his short hair hair almost stood up on end. "What a disaster!"
"Indeed," agreed William, pushing up his glasses. "At this rate, the master will never be able to-"
"Ciel!" interrupted Bard, waving to the dark-haired boy who had just slipped in through the door. "What brings you out here at this time?"
"I was just looking for something to eat."
"Did you hear that?" chimed Bard. "The boy's hungry. Agni, you needn't worry, we have a mouth to feed!"
"But the master said that-" started William.
"Well, we can't just let him starve, now can we?" the blond man replied.
"Fine, just some bread and-"
"You insult me, William! He must get a meal worthy of a king! Come, this way to the dining room, master Ciel!" Bard grabbed Ciel's arm and led him through a side door to the dining room. It was large, with a long table and many simple, but elegant chairs. The boy was left alone and he sat down, feeling rather uncomfortable at the prospect of having people serve him.
Bard appeared before him, bowing. "I believe the kitchen staff is ready, so without further ado, the dining room proudly presents-your dinner."
"Be our guest, be our guest, put our service to the test. Tie your napkin 'round your neck, young sir, and we'll provide the rest. Poached salmon, mint salad, why we only live to serve. Try the Grey tea, it's delicious! Don't believe me? Ask the kitchen! We can sing, we can dance. After all, sir, this is the house of Michaelis and a dinner here is never second best! Go on unfold your menu, take a glance and then you'll be our guest, yes our guest, be our guest!"
"Beef Tataki-don or Donburi, pie and pudding enflambe. We'll prepare and serve with flare a culinary cabaret. You're alone and you're scared, but the banquet's all prepared. No one's gloomy or complaining, see the flatware's shining! We tell jokes, I do tricks with my handy flamethrower."
"And it's all in perfect taste that you can bet!"
"Come on and lift your glass, you've won your own free pass to be our guest."
"If you're stressed, it's fine dining we suggest."
"Be our guest, be our guest, be our guest!"
"Life is so unnerving for a servant who's not serving. He's not whole without a soul to wait upon. Ah, those good old days when we were useful. Suddenly those good old days are gone. Over ten years we've been waiting, doing nothing much but dusting. Needing guests to please, a chance to use our skills. Most days we just lay around the manor-flabby, fat, and lazy, you walked in and opsy-daisy!"
"It's a guest, it's a guest! Sake's alive and I'll be blessed! Wine's a pouring, thank the lord, I've had the napkins freshly pressed. With dessert, he'll want tea, and my dear that's fine with me. While the cups are laid out, I'll get the tea bubbling, I'll get it brewing. I'll get it warm piping hot. Heaven's sakes, is that a spot? Clean it up; we want the company impressed! We've got a lot to do! Is it one lump or two? For you our guest."
"He's our guest."
"He's our guest!"
"Be our guest!"
"Be our guest, be our guest, our command is your request. It's been years since we've had anybody here; and we're obsessed! With your meal, with your ease, yes indeed we aim to please. While the candlelight's still glowing, let us help you, we'll keep going."
"Course by course, one by one. Till you shout 'Enough I'm done!' Then we'll sing you off to sleep as you digest. Tonight you'll prop your feet up, but for now let's eat up. Be our guest, be our guest. Be our guest, please be our guest!"
Ciel sat back in his chair, stuffed beyond belief. He felt like he could just drift off to sleep right there, but his curiosity kept him awake.
William cleared his throat and pushed up his glasses. "There, now that you have eaten, it's off to bed with you."
"But I'd like to see more of the manor."
"Well, of course!" interjected Bard, before William could say anything about Ciel not being able to see more of the manor. "There's the gallery, library, music room-"
"You have a music room?" interjected the boy.
"Why yes, young master! Oh what the heck, we'll just give you the grand tour. Right this way, young master!"
The blond led the boy out of the room and up the stairs. William followed next to Bard, joining him in pointing out the manor's various historical, artistic, and architectural aspects.
"To your right, you will see the vase that the master received from a friend of a foreign country," showed William.
"On the other side, you can see the sword that Queen Elizabeth I gave the master when she made him an Earl."
"Queen Elizabeth? But she died over two hundred years ago," pointed out Ciel.
"Uh, and over here you can see the lovely-" continued Bard.
"But what about that way?" asked Ciel, pointing behind him.
"Oh, that's the East wing," stated William, pushing up his glasses.
"What's up there?"
"Nothing! Uh, nothing really. Just boring old things like dust and records, nothing of much interest." Bard started up. "Now where was I? Oh yes, the trimwork on these arches was designed by the late. . ."
Neither servant noticed as Ciel slowly backed away from the receding pair and doubled back to the grand staircase. Once there, he made sure that no one else saw him as he entered the East wing. It appeared to be the same as the other wing, at least, at first. But the further Ciel went, the more it changed. Although the physical appearance stayed the same, the feel and air felt different. There were fewer torches lit down there too, because it wasn't well-traveled.
One door caught Ciel's attention. It looked the same as the others, but the boy felt drawn to it somehow. He turned its cold metal knob and slipped inside after a glance up and down the corridor.
The room was fairly large, perhaps a master suite. On the opposite side, a wall of glass showcased the moonlight-illuminated forest. The room was void of any candles or torches; the only light streamed in through the window from the full moon. Long shadows covered the floor and walls. A dark rectangular shape, a desk, sat in front of the window.
Ciel strode to a fine tapestry hanging on the right wall. He brushed it and it gave under his touch. Pulling it aside, the boy revealed an opening into a side room. He stepped inside, letting the fabric fall back into place. The first thing he noticed was a battered old painting. It had couple tears in it, but Ciel could still make out a middle-aged woman and a younger man. The woman wore a fancy dress, and an old one at that. A gold crown sat on top of her head. Ciel guessed that this woman must be a queen based on her attire. The man next to her had on a suit of a similar style with poofy sleeves. However, it was his face that really caught Ciel's attention. It was somewhat pale, like that of a noble who sat inside all day. His face was framed by longish black hair and his eyes seemed to be looking right at the boy. He felt a shiver run down his spine and looked away.
That's when he noticed the second thing.
In the middle of the smaller room sat two big, equal-sized boxes. The wood was stained a deep brown, maybe black. The boxes were longer at one end, shorter at the other. Engraved on the side of the boxes were a date and the initials R. P. and V. P. Running his fingers over the inscriptions, Ciel saw that there seemed to be a lid on top of each of the boxes. He reached forward to touch the closest one, but a voice behind him made him stop cold.
"What are you doing?"
Ciel whipped around and saw Sebastian standing in the doorway, one hand holding up the tapestry.
"I-uh," Ciel stammered, and sidestepped around the boxes. "I was j-just-"
"I thought I told you," Sebastian articulated, following the boy. "Not to come here."
"I j-just I didn't m-mean any harm, I-"
"Do you know what you could have done?" bellowed the dark man. Ciel cringed and watched in horror as the man's shape began to change. Gone was the tall, slim man from before. In his place stood a tall, black creature. The red orbs were his eyes, fire peering out at him. His skin was so pale, but covered by skin-tight clothing. Long fingerless gloves crept down to his hands and his black nails were sharpened into claws. When the creature took a step, its pointy-heeled stilettos clicked on the floor. Two big black wings sprouted from either side to complete the picture.
"Get. Out."
Ciel stood frozen to the spot, unable to move.
"NOW!"
The boy turned heel and sprinted out the little alcove and out of the study. The corridor seemed to stretch for miles, and he was grateful when the staircase came into view. Taking the steps two or three at a time, Ciel half stumbled down them to the huge oak doors. Bard and William saw him and tried to stop him.
"Where are you going, young master?" Bard asked hurriedly.
"Away from here. I can't stay here any longer."
Ciel wrenched open the door and darted out into the night. Even though he ran as fast as he could, he still heard the loud roar that vibrated through the surrounding trees and resonated in the ground. Branches whipped his face and arms as he tore through the forest, trying to put as much distance between the manor and himself. The boy stopped when his lungs burned too badly to continue. Gasping for breath, Ciel froze when he heard a loud caw from above. Looking up, he saw an overgrown crow circling above. Soon, several others joined it, all the while drawing closer to Ciel.
He began running again, this time away from the crows. The boy stumbled off of the overgrown path to make it harder for the birds to see him. When he could no longer hear the sound of flapping wings, Ciel paused and listened. Suddenly, a dark shadow fell over him and the next thing he felt was air brushing past his face from the crow. The force of it knocked him off balance, causing him to fall over. He yelped and cried out as several birds dived at him. Ciel raised his arms in front of him for protection and braced himself for the impending pain.
It never came.
Ciel's eyes snapped open at the sound of a crow cawing loudly. Before him, he saw Sebastian, the deformed Sebastian, fighting off the large birds. Crows disappeared in explosions of black feathers. The boy started to crawl backwards from the scene, but the lord turned at the sound. His glowing blood red eyes froze the human in place. In this moment of distraction, Sebastian didn't see the remaining crow dive at him, talons glinting in the moonlight.
An animalistic scream tore itself from the dark figure's throat as the bird's claws ripped into his arm. With his other arm, Sebastian grabbed the offending animal, and it too disappeared in a miniature explosion of feathers.
Ciel was, needless to say, shocked. The "man" he'd been running from had just saved him from a murder of crows. Black feathers covered the ground and little splotches of crimson surrounded Sebastian. He stood amongst the mess of feathers, clutching his bleeding arm, which was spilling blood. To Ciel's amazement, the dark wings receded into Sebastian's back and he once again resembled a human. As Ciel was going to say something, the man stumbled and fell to his knees. Feeling bad for being the reason that they had ended up in this situation, the boy started towards the man.
"...Sebastian?"
The lord said nothing, but let out a loud whistle that made Ciel cover his ears. As soon as the whistle stopped, the boy tried desperately to stay upright as the ground beneath him started shaking. Moments later, a giant white dog came bounding up to them.
"Woah!" Ciel cried and ran behind Sebastian. The man stood up and staggered over to the beast. He tried to climb on its back, but this task was extremely difficult with an injured arm. Ciel ran forward and helped push the man up onto the canine. Once Sebastian was firmly secured, the dog reached for the boy with its jaws. Ciel cried out as he was thrown into the air. Luckily, he landed right in front of Sebastian. Ciel clung to the animal's fur as it started off back towards the manor.
xXxXxXx
A young man with white hair waited patiently in a small dimly lit room. His client had insisted on as much privacy as possible. The man hoped his client didn't have a rough time finding the place; it was kind of in the middle of nowhere.
A soft knock sounded at the door.
"Come in."
A tall hooded figure entered the room and took the seat across from the white-haired man.
"Would you care for a drink?" offered the light-haired man.
"No thank you, Mr. Ash," the hooded one replied. "If you don't mind, I'd like to get on with business. I'm frightfully busy with the preparations."
"I see. And, what brings you out here?"
"I am in need of a "full time" worker for my business and one of my subordinates has found an excellent candidate. However, this candidate needs some...prodding."
"May I inquire as to who this may be?"
"Ciel Phantomhive."
"The one that lives in that teashop with the old man?" asked Ash.
"The same. But as I said before, he is reluctant. As I'm sure you know, there are some rumors going around about Tanaka's sanity."
"Oh, Tanaka's harmless," chuckled Ash.
"Yes, but if the old man were to end up in your facility, I'm sure that Ciel would do anything to get him out."
"Including working at your "bar." Hm," thought the pale-haired man.
The hooded figure pushed a sack across the table. "Perhaps this will help you make a decision?"
Ash took the bag and opened it, grinning at its contents. "I like the way you do business," he smirked, extending his arm. The other did likewise, sealing their deal.
xXxXxXx
"OW!"
Sebastian snatched his arm away from Ciel, a red glow beginning the form in his eyes. The boy put down the wet cloth he had been using to clean up the man's wound and sighed exasperatedly.
"Well maybe if you sat still, it wouldn't hurt so much!" the boy fought back, getting in Sebastian's face.
"If you hadn't run away, this never would have happened!"
"I wouldn't have run if you hadn't scared me!"
"You shouldn't have been in the East Wing!"
"Maybe you should learn to control your temper!" Ciel huffed.
This made Sebastian and all of his staff in the room speechless. No one had ever talked back to the master like that before. Surprisingly, both Ciel and Sebastian seemed to calm down; Ciel sat back down and the glow left Sebastian's eyes.
"This is going to sting a little," Ciel warned right before placing the cloth back on Sebastian's arm. The man hissed, but made no other sign that he was experiencing pain. The boy stared into the reception room fireplace as he contemplated asking his nagging question.
"Sebastian?"
"Hm?"
"What...happened, back in the East Wing?"
When he received no reply, Ciel looked back up at Sebastian, who appeared to be deep in thought, as if deciding how much he should tell the boy.
"That...happens whenever I lose my temper," he eventually explained. He sighed. "You see Ciel, I'm not...human. I'm...a demon."
Ciel stopped wrapping the bandage around Sebastian's arm.
"A demon?"
"Yes."
"So then, that room was a collection of things from the decades you've spent here?"
"Centuries," corrected the demon.
"Then what were those two boxes in that little alcove?"
Sebastian paused and grazed his fingers over the sapphire ring on his hand. He stood and moved to the door, but before he left, he said, "They serve to remind me of a mistake I made a long time ago."
