"It's finally winter!" Luke twirled around with glee and was caught by Sebastian immediately.
"You'll fall over if you're not careful. The winter is a horrible season for your leg" Sebastian cautioned and Luke wrapped his arms around Sebastian's neck.
"My leg is nearly back to normal thanks to you" Luke leaned up and kissed Sebastian's nose and to his surprise, Sebastian flushed.
"It has snowed. After a few days, Young Master wishes to go to the Frost Fair on the river Thames" Sebastian said.
Sebastian had taken up to spending the night in Luke's room since they had completed the second stage. Luke could not lie to himself. He enjoyed it when Sebastian's eyes would linger on him a second longer before heading off to do his duties. Luke also stole kisses from Sebastian when Ciel was occupied or when he would meet Sebastian alone in the hallways
"Let's go for breakfast" Luke said and Sebastian kissed him one last time before leading him out to the dining room.
"I feel more colder than usual" Luke commented.
He was seated right next to the fire and Sebastian was busy dusting the library shelves.
"Your body will start growing weaker until the third stage has been completed" Sebastian replied.
"I need to tell Ciel about us first before proceeding to the final stage" Luke said.
"We'll tell him together after the Frost Fair" Sebastian said.
"Gosh it's cold" Luke said rubbing his arms. He had layered a parka with a fur lining similar to Ciel's over his clothes but his sensitivity to the cold weather had urged him to wear gloves and an extra sweater underneath. The ice crunched under his boots as he walked along next to Ciel while Sebastian trailed behind him.
"The first Frost Fair in eighty years" Ciel said.
"Our company should have set up a stall here. We would get many buyers" Luke said.
"Like those?" Ciel asked pointing his staff at a toy seller who had an toy ark on display.
"Is that... Noah's ark?" Luke asked stepping forward.
"Young Lord, that piece is one of a kind. It was manufactured by the Phantom Company back when it was still a crafts shop" The toy seller said.
"It's a fake" Luke said stepping back to stand next to Ciel.
"Phantom Arks are rare, only three were ever made. My father employed an artist who was incredibly skill in his craft, since our estate burned down even we no longer possess one." Ciel said.
"It brings back memories though. You played with one of the Arks with Elizabeth when you two were kids" Luke said.
"One most certainly will not turn up here" Ciel finished, bored.
"I'm going to visit the Undertaker's shop. I'll be back soon" Luke said.
Ciel nodded and Sebastian led him away to look at the stalls. Luke walked off and searched for the Undertaker's booth. He found it and moved aside the flap that stood as an actual door.
"Luke, I've missed you" The Undertaker giggled from where he was lying down in an open coffin.
"It's warm in here" Luke commented.
"Of course. Anything but the best for this Reaper" Undertaker replied sitting up.
"How come you've set up shop here?"
"People are dying from frostbite all the time. To save time, I set up shop here"
"I was touring the fair when I heard that your shop was here"
"Since you're here, let me fit you for a new coffin" Undertaker said.
"Of course" Luke replied.
The Undertaker began looking through the coffins that he had and then pointed to one closest to the fire.
"This one would be the perfect size for you" He said with a small smile.
Luke made his way through the number of coffins and then stepped into the one the Undertaker had pointed to. He lied down and then smiled.
"It's a very comfortable coffin. I could fall asleep in here" Luke commented.
"You can if you want to. I still need to finish the body of the man who died in the river last night" Undertaker replied.
"Goodnight" Luke shut his eyes and was asleep within seconds. The lack of sleep since Houndsworth had caught up to him.
He was suddenly jolted away by the Undertaker's booming laugh.
"Undertaker?" Luke sat up rubbing his eyes.
"It's alive!" came the shout of Aberlain. Luke laughed so hard that he nearly toppled out of the coffin. The Undertaker boomed with laughter again.
"What are you all doing here?" Luke asked coming out of the coffin and noticing that Ciel, Sebastian and surprisingly Lau had entered the shop.
"The elder Earl Phantomhive, it is a pleasure to meet you"
"Inspector Aberlain" Luke nodded to the red haired inspector's greeting.
"Undertaker, tell us where is the ring?" Ciel asked.
"Ring?" Luke asked.
"The Shard of Hope was stolen from a carriage by some criminals. A man stole it and died under the ice yesterday evening. We think the ring was in the ice around him" Aberlain said.
"The blue diamond?" Luke eyes automatically went to his thumb where his ring glowed back at him.
"Perhaps it was frozen in the ice, near where the body was found. You are a citizen of our great country Mr. Undertaker." Luke chuckled at the fact that Aberlain called Undertaker a citizen. "Please give us your help in this matter."
"As I said before I am profoundly impressed with you Inspector. I'll tell you everything. Where is the ring you ask?"
The Undertaker led them out of his little shop and then to a majestic ice sculpture on the other side of the Frost Fair. He pointed his finger at the hands of the statue where a blue diamond ring was clearly to be seen.
"It was there?" Luke asked in surprise.
"Get the ring!" Aberlain ordered and policemen converged on the statue.
"Stop you thieves!" a voice ordered and Luke turned to see a an elderly man shouted. Behind him stood a plump woman in a yellow dress, a taller man with a long mustache, and another tall slim woman. Luke's eyes widened to see the Viscount Druitt as well.
"That dear lady will be awarded to the contests victor… you wouldn't want to defile her now would you?" Viscount Druitt asked, holding a rose to his lips.
Ciel stiffened next to me and Luke rolled his eyes at how flamboyant his old friend was.
"Nice to see you again, Alistair" Luke said.
"Lucas Phantomhive!" Viscount Druitt stepped forward and presented the rose to Luke.
Luke chuckled and took the rose. He tucked it into his breast pocket and Alistair wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulders.
"I haven't seen you in a long time. You didn't even come to my parties last season" Alistair complained.
"My leg wasn't doing so well. Are you the judge of this competition?" Luke asked.
"Yes. Why aren't you a judge as well? I do so remember you being the beauty of the choir whenever you sang" Alistair said.
"I wasn't picked for the judging. Also, my leg doesn't do so well in winter" Luke replied.
"Can we not add this fair angel to the judges panel? His midnight blue eyes sparkle at the very sight of beauty and his face lights up at the sight of the fair ice maiden" Alistair said swinging his arms around and the women in the judges panel had hearts in their eyes.
"Lord Phantomhive, you are welcome to join to judge the competition" The elderly man said.
"I thank you, sir" Luke said and brushed his bangs out of his eyes.
"Come, let us have tea!" Alistair wrapped an arm around Luke's waist and literally dragged him away. Luke turned to wave to Ciel and then saw Sebastian's eyes narrow on the arm around Luke's waist.
Luke went along with Alistair to a Chinese booth that was full of scantily clad women.
"Oh! Oh, there are such beautiful women here" Alistair exclaimed and Luke chuckled.
"Always after the women, as usual" Luke said.
"Don't be so droll! You were the same, always singing with your impressive voice to show off to all the ladies in the choir" Alistair said.
"Alistair, have you got married yet?"
"If I ever did marry, you'd be the first to know. What about you?"
"No woman seems to be happy about a cripple"
"Oh, you're so dashing yet one little thing stops you from attained the very great beauty and satisfaction a woman brings!"
"I don't mind. Say, Alistair, wasn't there a queer in the choir when we were younger?"
"I believe there was one. He migrated to America after the public booed him off the stage during our fifth performance" Alistair replied.
"I always did feel pity for him. He wasn't different from us but his career in the choir was stopped because of one small thing"
"I did too. He did have the most beautiful grey eyes like the sea in a storm" Alistair said ith bright eyes and Luke chuckled.
They headed back to ice sculpture competition where the competitors were announced. Sebastian was one of them, obviously Ciel had ordered him to win so as to obtain the ring. Luke sat down next to Alistair to wait for the sculptures to be carved and finished. Luke couldn't help but watch Sebastian as he kept on sculpting but Sebastian didn't even glance over at Luke.
The time ended and it was time to judge the sculptures. First up was Inspector Aberlain's whose team had sculpted a lifelike statue of the head of Scotland Yard, Sir Arthur Randall. Luke sighed and gave them two points. Alistair gave them a zero while the rest of the judges varied between one to three points.
Second was Lau's who had sculpted a lifelike statue of Ran Mao in the nude. Fortunately, two supervisors held up coverings around her chest and waist.
"Unfortunately we cannot judge this piece" The announcer said.
"Why not?" Lau's voice came floating up.
Luke chuckled and exchanged a glance with Alistair. Both of them gave the statue ten points to the obvious irritation of Ciel but to the cheerfulness of Lau. The rest of the judges didn't bother to give points. Luke laughed and Alistair laughed with him at the irritation of the female judges in the panel.
The third was Sebastian's who unveiled a magnificent ark which was enormous, almost the same size as a two storey building.
"That is beautiful" Luke gaped and then smiled at Sebastian who turned to ignore him.
"That is art in it's most finest" Another judge exclaimed.
"Let's see the judges scores!" The announcer said.
"My apologies but you haven't seen the entire sculpture just yet" Sebastian clicked his fingers. The statue split into two revealing pairs of animals, beautifully carved from the ice.
"Oh!" Alistair and Luke exclaimed together and gasps echoed from the crowd.
The Viscount was moved to a speech, "Ah! Ah! Our ancestor the brave man who stood fearlessly against the flood of God's wrath Noah! He is depicted here with the animals he was ordered to rescue… awaiting rebirth from the sea."
Luke smiled wide as his friend's speech ended.
"Astounding work young man! A fine art! I declare you an ice sculptor of the highest caliber!" The bearded judge shouted.
"No sir," Sebastian responded, "You are too kind, I am simply one hell of a butler."
"Is everyone ready for the final scores!?" The announcer shouted to us all.
"Hold it right there!" A heavily accented man shouted, "Hate to break up the party but this ring is ours. We're taking what belongs to us!"
"'Old on!" Abberline said, "That means that you're the-"
"Yes, we're the thieves who all the people in London have been talking about. I'm sure you recognise these" The man said opening his jacket and revealing dynamite tied onto his body.
Luke stood up along with Alistair. Another of the thieves kicked over a barrel revealing alot more dynamite.
"I'm counting to ten! Those who don't want to die should run!" The man announced. The crowd stood stock still.
"Ten!"
The crowd began running and Luke rushed off to his brother.
"Master?" Sebastian asked looking towards them.
"We're getting out of here" Luke started but Ciel pulled on his brother's arm.
"My orders remain the same Sebastian" Ciel said and Luke gaped at his little brother.
"We'll die here, Ciel. Let's go!" Luke exclaimed.
"As you wish, Young Master" Sebastian disappeared.
"Eight!"
"What are you two doing? We need to get out of here!" Aberlain commanded the brothers.
"Seven!"
"You can go if you want too. Don't worry I'll be fine." Ciel replied casually.
"If he's staying, I'm staying" Luke said.
"Six!"
"What? I can't leave you here!" Ciel looked back at him in shock. "I joined Scotland Yard to protect our citizens."
"Five!"
"That includes noble man like you Ciel!"
"Four!"
"What a fool." Ciel muttered, smirking as Aberlain raced towards him.
"Aberlain, leave! We'll be fine!" Luke yelled and then looked down at his brother.
"You only have three seconds left, a sweet little boy like you? Shouldn't you be running away?" the man counting off said.
"There's no need for that" Ciel said just as Sebastian jumped up and kicked the gun out of the suicide bomber's hands.
The demon leapt into the air and spun four times, a feat that was praised by the judges and Viscount Druitt.
"A noble swan flying through a world of silvery white snow! Lured by that devilish smile that maiden is enfolded in his midnight black wings."
Luke grabbed his brother by the shoulders and flung him over his own shoulders like a potato sack.
"What are you doing?" Ciel asked hitting his fists against Luke's back.
"Keeping you safe!"
Luke slid across the ice on boots and then was caught by Sebastian. Sebastian skated around and the suicide bomber began throwing lit sticks of dynamite at the three of them. Sebastian manoeuvred through the ice easily and the dynamite exploded on the ice making it crack.
"Boss, stop! We're on ice!" one of the henchmen said.
Unable to resist the ice fell and Luke eyes widened as he felt the ice loosen under him.
"I'll have to get rid of the weight" Sebastian said. He whirled Luke around and then let go.
Luke closed his eyes and Ciel tucked his head against his brother's shoulder. Luke felt arms wrap around him and then opened his eyes. He was in Sebastian's arms and he was set down immediately. Looking around he saw they were on the enormous ice ark that Sebastian had carved out of the ice.
Luke set Ciel down and wrapped his arms around Sebastian.
"That was incredible!" Luke exclaimed and Sebastian chuckled.
"Only the best for my Master" Sebastian said.
"The Shard of Hope will now sleep at the bottom of Thames" Ciel commented and Luke chuckled.
"Wasn't it cursed to bring bad luck to anyone who wore it? Just like us" Luke said looking down at the matching diamonds on his and Ciel's thumbs.
"Won't it curse the entire of London then?" Sebastian asked.
"Oh I don't think so. We've been cursed enough and we've moved on. I think London will survive just fine" Luke replied.
After their return home, Ciel called Luke into the study.
"What is going on between you and Sebastian?" Ciel asked bluntly.
"Nothing is going on. What are you talking about?"
"I can spot the lingering glances, the affection in your voice and of course that hug today. Don't lie to me, brother" Ciel replied.
"Alright fine. We are affectionate with each other because we're more than just friends" Luke said.
"And what does Sebastian say about this?" Ciel asked.
"He would say that he was hurt that Master decided to have this conversation without him present" Sebastian said opening the door.
"We did say we were going to tell him together" Luke replied.
Sebastian stood behind Luke and placed a hand on his Master's shoulder. Ciel's eyes narrowed on the hand and Luke smiled up at Sebastian.
"How long has this been going on?" Ciel asked.
"Since Jack the Ripper" Luke replied and Sebastian coughed lightly.
"For me, since I entered the manor" Sebastian replied and Luke gaped up at him.
"Sebastian, how do you feel about my brother?" Ciel asked.
"I love him. I know it is not like a demon to love but I have found a mate in him and I wish to be with him forever" Sebastian replied.
Luke stared up at Sebastian and then looked back at Ciel.
"How do you feel about Sebastian?" Ciel asked.
Luke fidgeted for a second and then looked up at Ciel.
"He's one of the people I would not be able to live without. I don't regret what I feel for him. It's not love just yet for me but I believe my feelings will grow stronger" Luke replied honestly and Sebastian squeezed his shoulder.
"I do not find this strange but I would like you two to keep your feelings for yourselves and in his manor. I don't think people outside would enjoy hearing about this" Ciel said and Luke smiled.
"Thank you Ciel. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine and I'm still that big brother that you can come to when you're upset" Ciel smiled at this and Luke stood to wrap his arms around his little brother.
"Thank you, Young Master" Sebastian bowed.
"Don't let this interfere in your duties" Ciel warned.
"Yes, my lord" Sebastian said.
Luke wrapped his arms around Sebastian and hugged the butler tightly. Ciel coughed and Luke chuckled. He dragged Sebastian out of the room and then slammed the butler against the wall to kiss him passionately. Sebastian immediately kissed back and raked his gloved hands through Luke's red hair.
That night as Sebastian spooned Luke, Luke voiced a question that had been bugging him the entire day.
"Why were you ignoring me after I met Alistair?" Luke asked
"I never liked the Viscount Druitt in the first place. To see you go off with him, well let's just say I was ready to kill him" Sebastian replied.
"Our demon has a jealous side?"
"It is one of the sins" Sebastian replied.
"Goodnight, Sebastian"
"Goodnight Master"
The lights shut off as Luke slipped off to sleep.
Even if you don't love me yet, Master the day will come when you'll confess your love to me. I just hope that day comes soon.