*Literally pulls chapter out of my ass because I haven't written for a really long time and this is always good practice* Ey fam.
I'm looking back at old chapters and it's interesting to see how I've grown as a writer since I started this story years ago. A lot of things about the old chapters really bug me because I used to be a problematic little shit and i want to fix it but thats also A LOT of editing. Anyways, I did a thing. Please enjoy.
Weeks after Ash crashed the ball, Angeline was finally feeling like herself again as he hadn't shown up since. She was still watched carefully by Sebastian, but she no longer stayed holed up in the library, feeling too scared to go anywhere but in between her room and the library.
Right now she was in the garden, training Pluto basic commands, which she had put upon herself when she tried to take another walk only to be tackled down by him once again. As she gestured toward the dog, Sebastian watched obediently from the sidelines, not moving a muscle but his eyes, which flicked with Angeline's movements.
"Pluto, sit." Angeline commanded, flicking her pointer finger down. Pluto plopped into the ground noisily, a dopey grin on his face as Angeline threw a slab of meat at him. "Down," she said, flicking again. Hesitantly he got down and she threw him another treat. "Roll over," a swirling motion of her finger.
"You're going to waste tonight's dinner," Sebastian commented monotonously as she threw him more meat.
"If you want to catch him some treats, be my guest." She replied. "Pluto, shield."
In an instant Pluto had wrapped himself around Angeline, growling menacingly at a nonexistent threat. "Good boy," she praised, scratching at his shoulder. She'd been terrified of the massive animal the first few times she saw him, but she's grown to love him and feel safe when he used his huge form to hide her. "Release."
Pluto obediently stood, lumbering in front of Angeline and sitting again. She was about to grab another steak from her pile of treats when Sebastian appeared beside her, a dead bird nestled in his hands.
"Sebastian, that's disgusting!" She exclaimed, resisting the urge to gag.
Sebastian shrugged and threw the bird at Pluto, who swallowed it whole before looking at Angeline with his tongue lolling out of his mouth. "Well if you're so insistent on feeding him something fresh, like birds, could you please put all of the meat away?" She requested. She had grown more comfortable with asking Sebastian for favors after Ciel insisted it was his job after she'd been caught trying to find something to clean her tea spill one day.
Sebastian bowed slightly before clearing the garden in a matter of minutes while Angeline stood beside Pluto, scratching at his fur. The dog whined, bending down to nudge at Angeline. "Oh stop, you big oaf," she scolded. "We're done for today."
A whine was heard and suddenly Angeline was not scratching at Pluto's shoulder anymore but at his head, and not his canine head, his human head. "Pluto!" She exclaimed, holding her head in her hands. Big furry dog Pluto she could handle and love. Smaller naked human Pluto was an entirely different story.
"Angeline,"
"Yes?" Angeline started at Sebastian's voice, grateful for the distraction.
"Would you mind terribly to accompany me to the square? Our meat seems to have gone missing," he replied with a pointed stare.
"No one else was bothering to train him. Admit it, you all find life easier being able to tell him what to do." She quipped, but started down the path nonetheless.
Angeline had only had to go into town with Sebastian a few times before, but she found each one to be more boring than the last. It was rare for him to go anywhere now that he was specifically supposed to look after Angeline, but having three other complete airheads as staff had started to put a toll on Ciel's mental state and Sebastian had begun to pick up a few of his duties again to make sure the young earl didn't combust. Angeline didn't mind, she found herself feeling less guilty about taking him all to herself with him starting to manage the estate again.
She still didn't like shopping with him.
Angeline sighed as she looked around the square. Sebastian had been dragging her around to every vendor even after he had gotten the meat he needed so badly.
A vendor selling jewelry caught her attention and she slowly made her way over. She was looking at a sapphire ring when she felt a dark presence behind her. "I wouldn't get involved with that ring if I were you," Sebastian said and she sighed, turning around.
"Why?"
"To put it short, it's bad luck. Don't know how it keeps showing up after I've tried to get rid of it so many times." He said.
"Blue also isn't really your color, darling," Angeline heard from behind her. She turned to see a familiar red haired reaper casually looking at other jewelry, mesmerized particularly by a ruby brooch.
"Then what is my color, Grell?" She sighed. After his threat to put her on his to die list, he'd paid another visit to the Phantomhive Manor in attempts to sabotage the nonexistent romantic relationship between Sebastian and Angeline. She, ever so soft spoken and sweet, had cleared everything up and while she and Grell were now on speaking terms, they didn't much get along.
"Green, or maybe a coral pink." He replied, pointing to an emerald ring, then to a rose quartz ring.
"Those are two completely different colors, Grell." Angeline sighed.
"But they'd both look good on you. Just not blue, it makes you look flushed. Sick, almost."
"Come Angeline, let's leave this pest to his shopping." Sebastian said, holding out his arm. Angeline took it with an indignant sigh, irritated that she hadn't gotten the last word.
"Ta-ta, Bassie!" Grell exclaimed, seeming much more chipper now that he was talking to the subject of his infatuation. Then, directed at Angeline without missing a beat or his cheerful tone, "See you in Hell, darling!"
Angeline gasped and whirled around, her eyes blazing. "Of all the disrespectful-"
"Angeline!" Sebastian interrupted sternly, looking at her with furrowed brows. She let out a frustrated grunt, turning back around and stalking ahead of Sebastian. Before she could get far she felt a firm, almost painful grasp on her arm.
"What?" Angeline snapped, turning toward the Phantomhive butler.
"It's unbefitting of a lady to cause a scene in public." Sebastian said. "And you know to stay near me. Why do you keep going off on your own?"
"I was two vendors away from you, you of all… things… should be able to keep an eye on me just fine from that far away. And you need not worry about me causing a scene, I didn't get a word in before you stopped me." Angeline replied.
"I'll not have you soiling the Phantomhive name, the Earl must show that he keeps good company and it's no secret the Earl has been hospitable enough to let you stay with him." Sebastian continued.
"Oh yes, his hospitality is truly overwhelming when I'm cooped up at the estate, unable to leave the grounds for anything other than boring shopping trips and stuffy balls!" Angeline exclaimed, irritated that Sebastian could question Angeline's behavior when he stopped her from doing anything wrong in the first place.
"We've saved your life, we're protecting you at all cost, don't be ungrateful to the Earl's good deeds to you!" Sebastian retaliated, leaning menacingly toward Angeline.
"What would you know about good deeds, Sebastian? When in your life have you done anything for anyone but yourself?" Angeline questioned, standing on her toes to get into Sebastian's face. "You're literally the Devil's spawn, don't try to tell me anything about good deeds and don't tell me Ciel is acting out of the goodness of his heart rather than on the orders of his Queen." She shouted.
The two were at a standstill, their angry faces just inches away from each other, and glaring daggers at their opponent. The tension was so strong you could cut it with a knife.
Angeline was so tired of it all. She just wanted to go back to the way her life used to be. With her parents and her sister in their house out in the countryside. No more lustful angels pining after her or demon butlers muddling her thoughts. Tears pricked her eyes as she reminded herself she could never have that again, that her family was dead and Ash was still out there.
"Are you really so unhappy with us?" Sebastian asked softly, almost a whisper.
Angeline dropped back onto her heels, averting her gaze to the ground. "This hasn't been easy for me, Sebastian. Being scared all the time, wondering what Ash wants to do with me when he finally does have me, not being able to do anything by myself. It makes me feel like a helpless child, it's so tiring."
"You're safe with us. You don't need to be scared when you have me here." Sebastian replied.
Angeline's heart fluttered and she had to remind herself that Sebastian meant only that he was unstoppable, not that he was protecting her because he necessarily wanted her safe. "You don't know that," she whispered. "Remember that time in the garden, he almost got away with me."
"But he didn't."
"I want it to be over." Angeline said. "I want to find out how to stop him once and for all."
Sebastian lounged on a chair as Angeline delved into books kept in the library, trying to find any answer she could to defeating Ash. After her breakdown with Sebastian, they had returned to the Manor in a tense haze and Angeline immediately went to the library despite Sebastian's protests that he had to go to the kitchen first. Angeline knew technically Sebastian could make her do anything he wanted, but the question was how far could she go before he stopped cutting her slack?
"You won't find anything but rubbish in those books, humans simply can't comprehend what it's really like being a demon or angel." Sebastian sighed with a bored tone. "All of you puny creatures are actually quite clueless regarding anything about the supernatural, actually."
"Well then, what do you know, demon spawn?" Angeline asked, using the not-so-fond nickname she had given him only a few days after allowing him near her after she found out what he was.
"Angels are obsessed with the idea of love. So much so that they'll find a human they're attracted to and become completely infatuated with them, but they can never actually love someone." Sebastian explained. "Truly the only way you could possibly defeat Ash is if you got him to see that you don't love him. If you did that, his heart would literally break. It'd shatter to pieces. But angels are practically blind to everything but their own desires, it's impossible to give him such a realization."
Angeline sighed. "Do you plan on fighting him off for the rest of my life?" She asked. "Surely you must have thought of something."
"If I had thought of anything you'd be free to roam around wherever you want and Ash would disappear from this world."
"There has to be something," Angeline sighed.
"Of course there is, it just might take a long time to find it."
"If I didn't know any better I'd say you've caught feelings." Mey-Rin said later that night as she watched Sebastian work about the kitchen.
"Absurd," Sebastian commented.
"She's a pretty one. And you know, you look at her the way the Master looks at Lizzie sometimes."
"Exasperated and irritated?" Sebastian replied distractedly.
"No, you know what I mean." The maid said. "Sometimes you look at her like she's the most amazing thing that's graced your presence." She continued. "I've never seen you act this way before. Always thought you were stone cold, I did."
Sebastian sighed. At least Ash had hope, he envied that. He knew that if he let himself fall for Angeline it would doom both her and himself. Blind infatuation was better than feeling the real thing but never being able to act on it, Sebastian was sure of it.
He already did it once. He couldn't do it to Angeline, too.
ALL THE DRAMA. Hey, I'm a theatre kid, can u blame me? Anyways now that this story isn't going in the same direction as it was when I originally wrote it, I needed to find something else to write about, hence Sebastian's angst at the end of this chapter.
Also they got rid of those underline thingies that you could use to break the time lapses? why?
Also remember if you want to help me out by writing a new description for this story in either the reviews or my PMs that would be awesome and help me a whole lot because i don't feel like the current description really gives the idea of this story very well.
Reviews:
kykyxstandler: we're getting there. Baby steps, I'm really kind of enjoying making Angeline hate Sebbie a little lol. But trust me when they kiss (and they will) its gonna be freakin awesome.
alexc1209: lol the viscount was just a fun thing to add to that chapter, while he may be in future chapters and flirt with angeline he's not going to be totally obsessed with her, just his regular ol flirty self.
toukachan14: i mean your interests might change over time, but if you stick with this story you'll definitely see it until the end.
Cali: Thank you so much darling! I'll keep that one in mind for sure.
guest: lol you and like 3 other people
chicxthexripper: i totally read that as "chic x the x stripper" lol oops. If you're talking about what anime this is based off of, it's Black Butler, but the storyline outside of the anime is totally mine (like obvs there are a lot of key components of the anime but u know what i mean and so do the lawyers) so there's really noting else you could watch to make you appreciate this more. And oh my gosh, seeing that you said i have beautiful writing made me so happy. Honestly, reviews like that are what keep this story going. I'm so flattered that this is in your top 3 omg. You're so nice in both of your reviews omg.
aight y'all i gotta go to sleep (I wrote this instead of doing ap homework oops) so until next time make sure u drink plenty of water and love urself a lot!
That's all for now, as always please review and I love you all!
