A/N: Aaaanddd so now I'm updating this. Huh, I really have been in a mood to write a lot in recent times... I hope this lasts for a good long while, I'm getting a lot done.

Title: Ethereal

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: K+

Pairings: Rachel/Vincent, onesided Madam Red/Vincent, and onesided various!characters/Ciel, Ciel/Elizabeth

Genre: Oh, god, I don't know. Family/Romance?

Warnings: This could easily be counted as excessive fangirling... that wasn't my intention. Promise! Oh, and implied pedophilia, too.

Summary: The Phantomhive family was special. Undeniably human, but very, very special, and many fell victim to their Pied Pipe. Because each and every one of them was spellbinding... Ethereal, one could say...

Disclaimer: Sadly, Black Butler is not mine.


Mey-rin hadn't known Ciel for very long, but already she watched him with hawklike brown eyes, and then later, didn't. Because she didn't need to in order to predict his moves.

Already, it was as if she had been a loyal servant to the Phantomhives for years. She hadn't, though – just two, two short years. But she felt more alive than she ever had before, and she owed it all to Ciel and Sebastian. Everything. Even in the beginning, she trusted Ciel more than she trusted herself.

Flashback

The breath whooshed out of Mey-rin's lungs as she was shoved roughly against the hard ground. Her head was tilted back – the position, while uncomfortable, bordering on painful, allowed her to see part of the apparent head of the house, a mere boy. She'd been sent with a picture to use to identify him, a gun, and instructions to kill the boy. No name. She didn't need a name. A name made him a person. Without a name, he was just another target.

His back was turned, and he did not remedy that as he spoke, his accent refined and his voice stern. "What is it, Sebastian?"

Sebastian? That must be the man who was pinning her to the ground, immovable as a mountain. Without her permission, she felt a blush rise to her cheeks. It wasn't a bad name, she mused. Sebastian... Her blush deepened, but she was jolted from her thoughts when the man replied, not even having the decency to sound strained from the effort of keeping her down.

"I located the assassin sent to kill you, my lord."

The boy's stance changed slightly, the cold indifference replaced by pure irritation. "And why did you not just kill them?"

"If you'll recall, sir, you yourself mentioned considering taking a sniper on staff. I thought that this one might do nicely."

Mey-rin bristled, feeling a strong sense of indignation. She wasn't an object to be picked up or tossed aside at will, and they had no right to talk about her as if she was!

All thought of this, however, disappeared when the boy turned around. Since he was all the way across the room, which was in no way small, he was hardly blurry at all, and what she could see of him stole her breath away.

The picture hadn't done him justice, she thought dimly. A mature, cerulean eye probed deep into her own, and the way he held himself bespoke a strong sense of confidence and pride. Young, smooth features, flawless and pale, were darkened with a mildly disapproving frown. His one-eyed gaze swept up and down Mey-rin, studying her closely.

"And how is she special?"

"Her eyes, my lord. They are as a hawk's, and no matter how far something may be, she sees every detail of it."

The boy 'hm'ed. "What about up close? Is her vision impaired?"

"I believe so, Young Master."

The single blue eye met hers and she could see the decision being made in the expressive sapphire orb. She held her breath as she waited for it to be voiced aloud. "Very well. Take her on, train her as a maid, and buy her a pair of glasses. She will do."

He had turned away again after that and she was halfway down the stairs before it occurred to her that the course of her life had just been determined right over her head.

End Flashback

Before that day, Mey-rin had always been her own master. She decided her occupation, which jobs she took on, and even how to go about it. Of course, that hadn't ended well – she was unhappy in that life, losing her passion, simply going through the motions.

The single best decision of her life hadn't even been made by her.

When she had control of her life, it had spiraled down and down, and she realized that she no longer trusted herself with her own freedom. Not with what she'd done with it, where it had put her.

Ciel taking her control from her was the best thing that had ever happened to her. He knew how to use it better than she did.

Flashback

As he left, Ciel looked over his shoulder at the servants.

"Protect the manor while I'm gone," he ordered. "Do not let anyone in unless you know them. Understood?"

"Yes, Young Master!" Mey-rin chorused with the other two servants.

They didn't really need to know why. It was enough that they had been told; their Young Master hadn't led them wrong yet. Every decision had been for the best.

He wouldn't let them down.

End Flashback

People, Mey-rin had come to realize, didn't really know Ciel. Or at least, not the ones who didn't like him, didn't watch him.

Mey-rin saw more than anyone knew. She saw how Sebastian's eyes always tracked Ciel's movements, how Lau's body angled toward the boy. She saw how Madam Red looked at her nephew with wistful red eyes and how Edward regarded him with a strange sort of suspicion. Those were people who knew Ciel, who realized that he wasn't who people thought he was.

He never pretended not to have secrets. That was one of the first things she noticed about him. Most people who had secrets, the sort of people most thought that Ciel was, pretended to hide nothing. Not Ciel. Ciel Phantomhive had secrets, and he made sure everyone knew it.

He wasn't who people thought he was.

Flashback

Mey-rin gasped as Finny accidentally ran into her and something flew from her face.

"Ah! Oh, no! Mey-rin, I'm so sorry!"

Finny, still unused to controlling his strength, had bumped into her hard. She barely heard his frantic apologies, though – her glasses had tumbled from her face, and she could only watch helplessly, horror-struck, as they fell to the hard marble floor below. They turned over and over as they fell farther and farther away, becoming clearer with each twist, as if to mock her, to torture her.

When they finally shattered against the ground, she could make out every miniscule piece in excruciating detail.

"My glasses!"

The words burst from her mouth, propelled by stricken horror. The Young Master had given her those!

She stiffened as she heard familiar, even footsteps, and then, as if to taunt her further, his voice. "Mey-rin? What happened?"

She turned to face him with wide eyes, but he wasn't looking at her. Rather, he drew level with her and leaned over the banister to look down with cool indifference. His voice matched his demeanor as he stated, "I see you've broken your glasses."

She froze.

Ignoring her, he turned back the way he came. "Come, Mey-rin."

She followed without question, terrified.

The short walk to their destination seemed to take an eternity, and by the time they had reached the door, she felt like she was about to faint. Ciel opened the door to the empty room and led the way in, across to a desk set with a little drawer, which he slid open, still not looking at her. The breath left her lungs as she realized what he was holding.

"Young Master…"

"I thought it was inevitable that, with you three, your glasses would be broken eventually," he explained, holding out a brand-new pair of unbroken glasses as if they weren't one of the most precious things in the world to her, one of the most meaningful, a symbol of her new life. "So I decided to have these made in advance. A preemptive measure, if you will."

Reverently, she took the glasses from his hand and slipped them onto her face. Her Young Master's face, resigned and slightly amused, slid into wondrous focus.

"Thank you, Young Master." For everything.

End Flashback

She knew her Young Master, but always, he surprised her.

There was one last thing that she would never, ever tell anyone. Though he tried so hard to seem like an adult, to seem strong, Mey-rin had learned how to see past Ciel's walls, so thick and sturdy. In reality, the young boy was vulnerable. Painfully vulnerable. It brought out something in Mey-rin, an unfamiliar feeling, and heretofore unheard-of in her. There was the pride of place, that he trusted her so close to him, but there was more.

There was a need to protect.

And she would protect him.


There we go! So that's all well and good, I should think. It turned out all right, if not quite as reverent as the other ones. More of a general character study of Mey-rin's relationship with Ciel... ah, well. Please review!