Shadows eerily shifted in size and shape as the Phantomhive lord rushed to descend the staircase in the tunnel. His heartbeat raced at an un-even rate, and his instincts flared with fear. Ciel mentally shook off the uneasiness and continued deeper into the cave.

In a sense, this impulsive action violated everything that Ciel had always stood for. From the day that he had become the owner of the Funtom company, he took on sense and logic, and retained from trusting anyone. It was his belief that sacrifices must be made to achieve difficult goals. And yet now, he was hurrying down a staircase, plunging straight into oblivion, as one may say, with no plan what-so-ever.

He skidded into a halt, grumbling distastefully under his breath. After clearing his mind, he realized that he was doing something utterly crazy and foolish, and the raven-haired boy started to clamber back upstairs. What a stupid choice I've made to what is merely a nightmare... Alois is probably sleeping in his mansion, and I am just making a fool of myself

"Help!" a strained voice echoed through the cave, turning Ciel's blood into ice. It was hard to identify the owner of the voice, because it was barely above a whisper, but Ciel was definite that that was Alois's voice calling. Without a second thought, he bolted.

Upon entering a cavern of some kind, Ciel was quickly recognized by the man.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Hehehe..." the man's booming voice broke the silence of the room, also having the effect of sending a shiver down Ciel's spine.

"Ciel? Is that you?" a tinier voice rasped behind the man. The raven-haired boy felt a tug in his heart as he realized that small figure scrunched up in the corner was Alois.

"Who are you, and why are you doing this?" Ciel growled at the man, his voice quivering slightly at the first word, but he mentally convinced himself to stay calm and alert.

"Ciel, my boy, I'm surprised you don't remember this face," the man laughed, meaningfully advancing forward a few steps to be under a crack along the ceiling, where the dim light shines the brightest.

The Funtom boy squinted, and released a gasp. The man's face was gruesome. A long gash snaked its way from the top of his forehead down to his chin, resulting to his distorted features. The scar was dried to a thick black line that resembled a snake slithering down his face. One of the man's eyes were green, and the other brown.

This very man was the owner of the rival toy company that had closed down a year ago. He was the leading competitor to the Funtom company, and one who tried to kill Ciel.

"Now," the judge announced, "we will decide which toy company deserves to be ranked the finest of quality!"

It was an early, frosty December morning, and Ciel and Sebastian arrived on a carriage to compete. As if the cold wasn't enough to create irritation, the Funtom lord had low-blood pressure, which made him especially cranky in the mornings.

"Please present your toy to the judges."

Two figures walked up to the stage, each holding a toy delicately in their hands as if cradling a child. One of these figures was Sebastian, and one was John Finkleberg, better known as a scandal of the black market business. John had started out as a successful head of the toy company "Finkleberg's Fantasy Land", but the competition of many toy companies drove him to two choices: make better toys fast, or cheat. Mr. Finkleberg never was the kind to admit others were better than him, and so needless to say, when his desperation was at its peaked, he cheated. However, the cheating worked, and the rest of the toy factories could withstand not even the slimmest of chances to survive in the business world. But the Funtom Company... Despite all his efforts to overpower it, the Funtom Company was virtually untouchable.

'But not today,' he grinned. Today would be the day that he would succeed. He had secretly planted a small stick of dynamite in the damned Phantomhive's toy, and on cue, a judge, that was secretly in a collusion with him, would light the dynamite while pretending to examine the toy. It was so simple, but so perfect.

John observed to his contentment as the first judge pretended to light his cigar while reaching for the toy.

"Excuse me, sir, but might I say what remarkable toy that is." John glanced up to see the Phantomhive's butler.

"Thanks," he grunted.

"If you may sir, I'll take that toy with mine to the judge's table. It is quite slippery there, and I would just be pained to see you trip and damage something."

"Hey, wait!"

However, it was too late; Sebastian already took the toy away. Then, the butler did something that will change the life of John forever. He took out a match and pressed it to the belly of the Funtom's toy.

"How did you know?" John stammered.

"That is the duties of the Phantomhive butler." Sebastian smirked, sliding the toy in John's hand, he whispered, "It is indeed a great toy, one that will rival the Funtom's creation, but have you ever heard of the saying a man who cheats is a man who deserves to be casted down to hell? I suggest you take that saying into consideration Mr. Finkleberg." and with that said the Phantomhive butler gracefully leaped off the stage. Perhaps it was the fact that John was too stunned, because he didn't pay heed to the dynamite's trigger getting shorter and shorter. By the time he acknowledged it, it exploded, and the devastating force of the dynamite doomed John's face to be forever ugly and scarred.

"You're John Finkleberg." Ciel remembered, horrified.

"That's right, Ciel, remember what you did to me? You left me with nothing. NOTHING!" he bellowed, approaching the raven-haired boy with a sinister glow in his eyes.

"So now, I'll be taking what I want stripped from you." The dagger in his hand glistened wickedly. Behind John, Alois shouted a warning, but all Ciel could focus on was the scar on John's face, thinking of how un-natural the scar was and how the dynamite could cause such a gash.

While John had his back turned from Alois, the blond hastily removed his shoe and hurled it to the back of the man's head. John howled in pain, momentarily pausing from his assault.

"Goddammit, Ciel, I told you to move!"

That shook Ciel out of the scar's hypnotizing hold, and he grabbed the best weapon he could find, which was a sharp rock littered on the ground. He got up his courage, and threw as hard as he could, aiming for John's head. John failed to dodge in time, and it hit with a thud, causing him to cry out in pain. In blind rage, he charged at Ciel and knocked him on his back with a furious punch.

Gripping Ciel's neck, John demanded, "Now, Phantomhive, give me the ring."

"I don't have it," Ciel spat, feeling rather bold after harming John. The comment about the whereabouts of this ring wasn't a lie; it was back at the mansion, with Sebastian.

John seemed unconvinced, and a malicious smile formed. "Well then, I guess I'll just make you watch your friend die." He thrust a fist into Ciel's stomach to render him useless, at least for the moment. His sinister laugh filled the room as he returned to Alois and drew the blade coming closer and closer to him. The blond thrashed and screamed in protest. He kicked up his legs in hopes that it will stop the attacker, but it was futile as John merely shoves his legs aside and pointed the weapon directly at Alois.

Tears ran down Ciel's face, as he pleaded, "Please, don't do this!"

"I have to, Ciel, my boy. You took away everything that I had, so now, I'm going to do the same to you."

Without sparing another breath, he slammed the dagger down in Alois's face. At the same time the blade connected with skin, Ciel screamed.

Then, everything spiraled into darkness.

Beat-ed by Phantom Ou~

Major cliff hanger this time, and does anyone else get the strange feeling that John is secretly a pedofile and has a servant named Monroe? Eh...

A. Lullaby