A/N: Eheh... Hi everyone. Please don't kill me! ;n; I know it's been a few months since the last actual update, but here I am! I have no excuses for this one, other than me being lazy and never finding the perfect way to write this chapter. Hopefully there are still people reading this fanfic o_o Oh well, to those who are, thank you very much for not giving up on me! :3
A New Beginning will also be updated as soon as possible, as I know it's been even longer since I've updated that one... Sorry again, guys! ^^"
I'm going to reply to some of the reviews, but only those involving questions about the story or the characters (none involving spoilers), since I have no idea how the respond to the others. Remember that I still love all of the reviews, it's just that when someone ask something about this fic, I need to answer cx
Okay, so I got this question a while back, but I don't think I ever replied to it. Sadly I can't find it now (it might have been removed by the user), but I'm going to answer it anyway.
Is Lance your own character, or have you taken him from another anime? (or something along those lines)
Yes, Lance is my very own character, and he always will be c:
I also got a question from Svaneaalka, asking if Ciel is still wearing his eye-patch or if he's just walking around in Hell showing off the contract symbol.
I was actually going to explain this in one of the earlier chapters, but I guess I never came to that. Huh... I will have to do that in the actual story soon then xD The thing is, after Sebastian left Ciel, the contract dissolved. A contract between two demons wasn't supposed to be possible anyway, so breaking it off was easier. So now Ciel does no longer bear the mark, and his eyes are the usual deep, blue colour.
And thanks for the reminder, by the way, I guess I really need to put that out there o_o
I don't think there were any more questions that I can actually answer without spoiling something, but I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have! :D
Warning: None for this chapter. I think..? o.o I haven't really read through this chapter, so if there's anything I need to fix, just tell me~
Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any of the characters in it.
As always, thanks to everyone who was favourited, followed and reviewed to this story. Without you, I would have stopped writing this long ago.
"Ciel, are you okay? You've just been sitting there for days now. Isn't there anything you want to do?" A deep voice broke the silence that filled the air around the two demons. Dark, serious eyes landed on the boy on the ground.
"I'm fine, there's nothing to worry about," was the curt reply from the boy. He carefully looked up at the older demon, doing his best to maintain an expressionless face. It seemed that he failed, though, as the man simply frowned at him, moving closer. Knowing that he wouldn't let the matter go, Ciel let his emotions take over, his face twisting into a pained, enraged expression and hissed, his normally blue eyes starting glowing in a pink-ish way. "Don't concern yourself about me. I will be gone soon, I just need to know where to go first. After that, you can just forget about me. I'm surprised you're still here, really. There's nothing in it for you. So leave!"
Lance heaved a sigh, putting his hand over his forehead. "I won't leave. How can I, when you're hurt like this? Ciel, you're just a child, and…"
"SHUT UP!" In one swift second, the boy was on his feet, glaring daggers at the man with his glowing demon eyes. "I'm not a child! I don't need protection! I don't need you!" With those words, before he knew it, his hand had reached out and struck the older man across the face as hard as he could. Even though he had used as much force as possible, the slap didn't send Lance tumbling, or anything like it; it was just being whipped to the side, a dark, red bruise now forming on the previously seemingly perfect skin.
Before he could stop it, a small gasp left his lips. For a moment his mask of anger slipped, and as he saw Lance's eyebrows furrow, he knew that he had seen the look of fear and pain on the boy's face. Up until now he had hidden it, hating the helpless feeling he got whenever the man's pitying eyes fell on him. He almost despised it enough to want to kill the man in his sleep, the way his feelings were mixed up now, but luckily, he wasn't physically nor mentally strong enough to do such a thing. Yet.
"Ciel, you shouldn't move so suddenly, you…" Lance stopped as soon as he saw the harsh death glare sent by the boy. He sighed and plumped down on the ground beside Ciel, grabbing his arm as he did so, making the younger demon fall down beside him with an annoyed grunt. "I'll take care of you until you're better, and after that you're free to do whatever you want. I hate to see chil… others like this."
Letting out a humourless laugh, Ciel let himself fall back, closing his eyes. "That's very demon of you."
The comfortable silence that settled between the two of them suddenly got interrupted when a strangled cough left Ciel's mouth. He received yet another worried look from the other man.
"Don'-" cough "-look at me like-" cough "-that." The boy glared, putting a hand over his lips to muffle the coughs erupting from his mouth.
A hand was put against his back, rubbing it soothingly. "Don't talk, you might get worse," Lance said in a gentle manner, receiving a simple nod from the other. "It'll get better, but if you don't want it to take twice as long, I recommend you to get up and do something. If you stay like this, it will take much longer for the soul you consumed to get through your system."
Feeling both annoyed and hopeless with himself, Ciel could only let out a small 'tch' sound, much like he had used to when he was human.
"Well then. Do you want to join me in hunting? I've done it already, but there's nothing wrong with getting a snack." Lance's lips twitched into a smile.
"…Fine," Ciel groaned, stifling another cough before standing up.
The man hummed. "Good boy."
"Lance?" The younger demon tilted his head slightly, a sickly and obviously fake smile on his face.
"Yes?"
"Never say that again."
"…Yessir."
"Boy! You boy! Open your eyes!"
Ciel groaned, being woken up in a too harsh way for him to appreciate. He slowly opened his eyes to look at the maid who had disturbed his sleep. Giving her a grumpy look, he sighed. "What do you want?"
"His Majesty, The King Sebastian, has requested your appearance in the throne room. It is late, and he does not like to be kept waiting." She bowed gracefully.
"I was sleeping," Ciel grunted, at the moment not bothering to care that he was being extremely childish. His back hurt like hell now because he had been sleeping on the floor. "But you woke me up. You could just have had someone carry me there. Why didn't you?"
Bright green eyes lit up in irritation as the maid listened to his words. "Who are you to make such demands?"
A small smirk formed on the boy's face. "Oh, I'm no one. Yet I'm still here, and not as a servant."
The woman's eyebrows twitched, and she glared at him for a second before turning around and stomping off, cursing in some foreign language.
With a victorious smirk, Ciel got up from the floor and brushed some dust off his now wrinkled clothes. The smirk quickly fell, though, as he let the small amount of seriousness he could feel right now take over. He hadn't meant to fall asleep in the middle of the corridor like that, and he felt slightly dishonored for the action. After he had become a demon, he had been broken down and hurt so many times, yet his pride remained as still as ever. Almost, at least. Enough for him to feel shameful about having fallen asleep on the floorboards.
As he walked down the hallways, he didn't feel like the Ciel Phantomhive he had once been. Ciel felt small. He knew that he couldn't trust anyone here, not even Lance. It pained him, but he had to put up with it, or Sebastian would win.
Even though he knew that the man wanted to talk to him, he couldn't help but to slow down as he passed by different paintings and art sculptures, finding even the ones he had already seen eerily fascinating.
When his eyes landed on the portrait of the former king's late wife. She was still the beautiful, exotic woman he had seen before, but now that he was alone, without Sebastian, looking at her made him feel ill at ease. His eyes were somehow glued to her face, and he just couldn't look away. It was like watching someone you knew die right in front of you, and even though you wanted to take your eyes off of it, it was just impossible.
The longer he looked, the more alive the woman in the picture seemed. Her eyes gleamed with pride, and even a hint of mischievous joy. The small, mysterious smile that rested on her lips made it seem like she knew a secret no one else would even dream of. She stared at Ciel, watching him melt before his very eyes.
A dull ache in his chest made Ciel turn his head away, not being able to look at the painting anymore. His hand went up to his upper body, laying over the part of his chest where his heart was located. A wave of sadness washed over him as a familiar melody started playing in his head. It was a lullaby, he knew. He remembered the tune from all the times he had woken up in the middle of the night after a nightmare, and someone holding him close to themselves while humming it soothingly to him.
It hadn't been Lance. No, he never told Lance about his nightmares. Someone else, though. Someone that had stayed with him and Lance for such a short amount of time, it didn't even seem to matter. Except she had been the only one to know about his nightmares. At the time, he hadn't cared much for her; she was just another one of Lance's 'friends'. In the end, she would leave too, and so she did. So why did Ciel even care? Did he even remember her name?
As he thought back, he remembered her clear, blue eyes and dark, almost green-ish hair. She obviously wasn't that beautiful lady in the picture, though they kind of had the same feel to them. It was strange, how the lovely, royal woman whom Sebastian had known made him think of her. They weren't alike at all. While the former Queen held an aura of strength and arrogance, though at the same time staying mysterious and beautiful, Ciel's old acquaintance was annoyingly weak, to the point where Lance had to get her all of her food for her, not attractive in the slightest and completely vulnerable to the world.
Thinking back at her, Ciel narrowed his eyes. There was no way she was still alive, being as scrawny as she was. He didn't feel sad, though. To him, she was just a tool. Just something to help him sleep.
But he really needed to remember her name now that he thought about it. He would ask Lance about it later.
I think it started with an A…
Lance heaved a sigh as he walked out of his room. For the whole day, he had been sitting on his bed, doing literally nothing. He had wanted to talk to Ciel; they both knew there were things that needed to be cleared up.
It was evident, though, that the boy did not want to talk to him about the past, or anything else for that matter.
Another sigh left his mouth, and he started moving towards the throne room. Figuring that talking to Ciel would get him nowhere, he decided that Sebastian would be the next best choice, no matter how much he detested him.
He passed one of the lower-class servants (maybe it would be more fitting to call them slaves?) and sent her a polite smile, which she almost surprisingly returned. Deciding to play nice, Lance took a step closer to her. "Do you need any help carrying that?" he asked, nodding towards the almost empty bucket filled with liquid souls in her hands.
The servant's smile immediately stiffened, and Lance couldn't help but notice her hands tighten around the pail. "No thank you. His Majesty told me to take this to the kitchens, so I'm going to do just that."
Lance nodded, forcing himself to stifle an irritated groan. He didn't even bother asking why there was so little in it. "That's fair enough. Well, good luck."
"…Thank you."
As she walked away, Lance couldn't help himself, his eyes narrowing in disgust. He was nice to her, sure, but that didn't mean he had to like her. She was weak, and had actually let herself be degraded into watch she was now. Lance had absolutely no respect for those kind of demons.
With a low hum, the man resumed his walking. After spending so much time with Ciel, he had acquired some of the boy's opinions. It was almost funny how fast their time had gone by. Lance had been sure it would last forever. Oh, how naïve he had been. He had thought everything had been okay, but then Ciel had left. Completely without saying anything, too.
It went without saying that he had been pissed at the boy, and still was. For years, he had been trying to figure out what had become of his friend. He had never imagined that he would find him in the King's castle, out of all places. What surprised him even more was the fact that he wasn't even there out of his own free will.
A part of him wanted to punch Ciel in the face for leaving, and for letting himself be messed with like this, while another part wanted to hug him tightly. So much had happened after Ciel's disappearance, and he did not want to repeat any of it again. He hated being alone, and the strong bond he and the other demon had developed had not helped when he was abandoned. It was strange how easily such a bond could be broken.
Lance wanted to know what had caused his friend to suddenly disappear like that, but knowing Ciel, he would keep it all to himself, no matter how important it was. It was part of his ridiculous pride, Lance guessed. Even though they had been so close, the boy had never told him about his old life, only that he had been a human. Lance had tried asking him who Sebastian was, since he had heard that name come from Ciel's mouth when the man had saved him, but of course, Ciel wouldn't tell him anything. Each time he asked, the younger demon would become more angry than usual, and he would stop talking to him for short periods of time.
Now Lance knew exactly who Sebastian was, but he still didn't know what connection he had to Ciel, or why the boy seemed to hate even just hearing the name. There was something between them, something that hurt Ciel more than he wanted to let anyone know. And Lance had to find out what it was. He knew that he shouldn't be prying, but now that he was in the middle of it all, he needed to know precisely what was going on, and how he could help his friend.
He continued making his way towards the throne room, ignoring all of the strange looks he was receiving. It was quite obvious to everyone already that Sebastian, their king, disliked him, so many of them did not want to be involved with him. The low-class servants didn't seem to care about him, though. Maybe they didn't like the King all that much, either. In that case, they weren't as bad as he thought.
A low hum left his throat as he recalled something he had been told years ago.
"A person who's constantly being bossed around with is not weak, but unless they plan to do something about it, they are not strong either. The real weaklings are the ones that not only learn to accept their horrible fate, but pushes all rational thoughts away, and somehow manages to fall for the one who's hurting them. Have you ever heard of a slave falling in love with their imprisoner? They get too wrapped up in the fact that just that person is the only thing close to 'good' they'll ever have, and tend to forget that they're also the reason for everything bad in their life. Silly, isn't it? Instead of trying to do something about themselves or their life, they stick close to the thing that's keeping the world away from them."
Oh, how he hoped Ciel wouldn't turn out like that.
The man thought back at the time when was been truly happy. In his memories, Ciel had been happy too, but Lance was starting to wonder how much of the so-called happiness was real.
He heaved yet another sigh as he pushed open the door to the throne room, startling quite a few demons who were currently inside.
"What do you want?" the king asked, his voice sounding more annoyed than ever, if possible. His face only proved it.
The other occupants in the room only looked at him, their irritation at being disturbed turning into curiosity.
"I need to talk to you," Lance said. He tried his best not to look at anyone but Sebastian, feeling a bit too awkward with the situation.
"Can't you see that I'm busy?" Sebastian gestured towards the others demons.
Lance narrowed his eyes slightly at the man, but quickly composed himself. "I don't really care, to be honest. Ciel and I are leaving in two days and I need as much 'information' as I can get. I don't mean to be disrespectful," he glanced at the strangers in the room, not wanting to make too much of an ass out of himself, "but I don't think it will be good for any of us to go without knowing what we're supposed to do. Don't you agree?" He ended it with a sweet smile, knowing that if the King said something wrong now, he would be put in a bad light in front of his subordinates.
With an almost inaudible sigh, Sebastian admitted his defeat, causing the other man to smirk inwardly, though he didn't dare show his satisfaction on the outside.
"You can wait outside for a mere thirty minutes, right? This meeting is important, and I would appreciate it if you could respect that. I am a King, and I do not have all the time in the world. I will, however, take time to talk to you, just this once. It won't happen again. Is that understood?" Sebastian's voice was strict, and it was obvious, well, to Lance at least, that he was doing his best not to kill the man right there and then.
Luckily for Lance, nothing of that sort happened. He flashed the king a bright, though fake smile. "Yes, Your Highness."
With a bow almost too deep for respect, he left the throne room.
I wonder what they're talking about that is so important, Lance thought to himself as he let the door close behind him.
Figuring he had nothing better to do, he leant closer to the door, so that he could listen to their conversation.
"As I said, we have secured the castle. There is no way anyone will be able to enter, or even leave. Isn't this good enough?" an unfamiliar voice said. Lance guessed it must have been one of the demons that he had seen before.
"Of course it isn't. I can't close off this place just to feel safe. Like I just said, I'm The King; the people need me. Without me, the whole of Hell would have been destroyed long ago," Sebastian said, and it was almost as if Lance could see the deep frown on his face. "Plus, as you heard my underling say just a minute ago, I'm sending two demons on a mission in two days, and I need them to be able to leave, as well as come back."
Lance snorted at the words. They wouldn't come back, he thought. There was no way any of them would ever want to live in here, that was for sure.
He moved his head away from the door, deciding that he had hard enough. A small frown started forming on his face. As far as he knew, something was going on, and he understood how lucky he and Ciel was to get out of the castle so early. Even if something happened here, neither of them would do anything about it, and Lance was happy for that.
Still, he was a little curious just as to what Sebastian wanted them to do. The man wasn't so stupid he thought they would actually go through with it… Right?
Lance convinced himself that neither him nor Ciel would do anything they were told, but this was a great opportunity to find out exactly what the king was plotting.
A tiny smile tugged at his lips. Knowing that he would be out of here made him feel like a king. A real king, not what Sebastian was. First, he needed to talk to Ciel, though, but he would have to do that after he was done with this.
His pleased demeanor quickly fell, though, eyebrows furrowing slightly. He was relieved there was no one but him there. If anyone as much as walked by, he was sure he would glare at them, intentionally or not.
Ciel would leave together with him, that much was obvious, but he had no idea if the boy would actually talk to him, let alone stay with him. After everything the man had done, bothering him, though not on purpose, would Ciel still want to see him?
He could only hope.
A loud, creaking sound echoed off the walls as the door to the throne room opened, and the demons Lance had previously seen made their exit.
"Why does The King keep picking up strays? I saw him with another just yesterday," he could hear one of them say to the others, and Lance simply rolled his eyes at them, frowning when they actually giggled at him.
"How do you do it?" he asked when Sebastian followed behind, the man stopping in front of him. "You're the king, but to me it seems like you don't give a damn about the demons you're supposed to be looking out for. The ones you're working with are just arseholes, and those who work for you all seem to dislike you. How do you live with yourself?"
Lance stared him down, trying to see if the man would show any emotion at all. A wry smile slowly made its way to his face, though not reaching his eyes. "I don't," he said matter-of-factly. "But I am doing what I can for the people. A cruel king is what they need, and most definitely what they deserve. What would you have done in my place?"
The man looked at Lance expectantly, raising his eyebrows in amusement when he got no reply. "See? You're no different."
"This isn't what I came to talk about," Lance almost hissed, his temper being pushed to the limit.
"Then what is it? I know you're saying it's for 'information' for your assignment, but honestly, I wasn't born yesterday. I know you're going to get the hell away from here as soon as you get the chance, so there's no way you actually need any of the information you want. If it is simply about your curiosity, I suggest you wait until you're actually leaving. It's better that way."
Lance frowned. "Why?"
The king's face lit up in amusement. "The element of surprise is quite a good one. Plus, I can't wait to see your faces."
Sending Sebastian one last glare, Lance turned around to leave.
"Oh, and by the way, Ciel has already been asked to come here. It shouldn't take too long, so why don't you just wait for him?"
Soo, want to review? No? Come on, I know you want to~ :3