A/N: Exams are over :) At least for now anyways...The end draws near, my friends as we get closer to the final chapter of the story (the next one is the last) Enjoy :)
Chapter Eleven: A Change of Pace
"It's a rather absurd turn of events, isn't it, my lord?"
"Hmph...!"
The young master lay sprawled on his stomach upon the wrinkled sheets of his untidy bed. They had arrived back at his manor in record time. He buried his face into the scent of his own pillow and tried to drown out all the confusing thoughts swimming through his mind that had decided to tumble into his consciousness again. It wasn't easy to make sense of things right now. Now that he thought about it, how much evidence did they really manage to get out of their little trip to a stifling portion of Asia...?
Western drugs had been found inside the victims, so the culprit must have connections with the underground facilities of the Queen.
He laughed darkly, humorlessly. What if it was all a conspiracy...? What if the Queen had a sixth sense and saw how terribly bored he had been and decided to kill some people just to give him something that he could never clean up? Hmph. How unamusing.
No. What...?! He couldn't think of the Queen so rudely. He worked under Her. Where was his respect...? What the bloody hell was wrong with his mind...?
But it didn't make any sense.
"Alois Trancy," He scoffed. " -that brat isn't capable of anything,"
"You are one to talk, my lord," The butler smirked.
"Pardon me...?" The boy inquired irritably.
"Nothing, sir," Sebastian chuckled.
Ciel Phantomhive sighed and rolled his eyes, blowing a rasp of air from his lower lip, sending a few strands of his hair away from his lashes.
"On a more logical note, I just can't grasp why someone like him would do this..."
"Well, we never really had a good look at his history, my lord. Perhaps something from the past sparked his actions..." Sebastian suggested.
"Killing people of both Caucasian and Asian descent... I understand that his mood swings are worse than hemorrhagic sow's, but what is his deal with these people, anyway...? He doesn't even know them. And another point, the animals, what- did he squander them from the zoo or something? I have never suspected him throughout the entire case." The young master spoke, frowning.
"But who else do we know who has the initials A.T...?"
"There could be a lot of people with those initials, you know. London isn't as small as you think..." Ciel argued plainly.
"Maybe you need some more rest, my lord. From what I see, we aren't getting anywhere..." The butler replied, trying to hide his annoyance.
Sebastian was silent as he busied himself with dusting the nooks and crevices of Ciel's expansive chamber. He straightened the tomes on the ancient shelves, pulled in the thick curtains to dim the room and tried to distract himself from the uneasy feeling he had, for quite a while now.
Alois wasn't on his list from the beginning either, but to just toss this thought into the dark corners of his mind so soon...it didn't seem right. That child was as suspicious as anyone else. He acted upon impulse. People of his ilk were unpredictable and on certain levels, dangerous. What cold thoughts could be hiding behind those soft blue eyes of his...?
Ciel didn't seem the least interested in investigating this, though. Maybe it was just the discomfort that the blonde haired boy so profusely provided for him, he was certainly unafraid to touch his guests... And Alois wasn't very good at watching his tongue either, one moment it was in his own mouth, the next, it had slithered over the innocent lobe of some unsuspecting stranger's ear. Maybe his upbringing had some attention deficit issues.
Suppose he moved to gather some information without the young master...? Ah, that would never work. Sebastian chuckled darkly. It would be unforgivable to let Phantomhive miss out on the fun.
A butler followed the orders of his master, anyway. Disobeying such orders wasn't something a respectable butler would do.
Sebastian coughed bitterly at the heavy dust clouds that formed as he brushed away the rather thick layer of debris that had accumulated on the third level of the book shelf.
Clinkity-clinkity-clink. Ah, darn. He had accidentally swiped off some stupid little trinket.
The butler sighed and bent down to pick up a thin golden chain necklace where a dark crimson jewel hung from the center. Huh. What was something like this doing here, anyway...? The young master didn't were these kinds of things.
He smirked. Elizabeth. That little girl probably left it here by chance when she was busy playing with Ciel. Well. She would never get it back now. This was going into the wastebaskets.
Wait. He looked at closer. One of the chain links were broken.
Hmmm...
Sebastian strolled over and lightly roused the boy awake and ignored the grumpy protests.
"What is it...? I never even had a wink of sleep..."
"I found this on your bookshelf. I have a suspicion it isn't yours, my lord..."
"You're right. From the looks of it, it's probably a jewelry of Madam Red's...What is something like that doing here...?"
"Look at the back of jewel, my lord."
The boy took the gem into his fingers and turned it to the flip side where a thin layering of gold held it in place. Engraved into the surface were the initials A.T.
"These initials again...First on a handkerchief and now a piece of jewelry...? It's like he wants me to suspect him... Isn't that a bit on the absurd side...?"
Then without warning, the young master fell back into his pillow closed his eyes, tightly. He breathed normally and would not rise. He covered his face with his sleeved forearms and sighed annoyed.
"I don't want to deal with the likes of him. I don't care. I just can't...Ugh..."
"What is the matter, my lord...?"
"I don't know...! I just...Alois is just...Ack, that brat just really gets on my nerves, okay...? I need to think up something to keep him from trying any moves on me..."
"I will protect you, my lord, you don't need to worry,"
The young master scoffed in disbelief.
"Who are you fooling...You can't protect me from him. He's promiscuous to the point that he'll probably start with you if he can't get to me first..." Ciel grumbled, muffled from his clothes.
"Well, what I think, is that Alois might be a link to this case, my lord," Sebastian chimed.
"Your puns are deplorable." Ciel muttered, fingering the chain of the broken necklace.
"No, in all honesty, my lord, I really think we should take a quick look at whether Alois Trancy is the suspect..."
The young sighed heavily and mumbled a reluctant agreement as he clenched and unclenched his fists, stretching his arms towards the ceiling. He yawned and frowned. There really wasn't anything else they had to do anyway.
"But there is one thing we need to be mindful of," Ciel spoke, a new lilt present in his voice.
"And what might that be?"
"How will we know if he is the culprit? What will have changed once he is in prison?"
"Well, the killings of the maids will probably have ended. The sailors on the other hand..."
"Exactly. They are consuming the dried meat from the drugged animals. And we do not know how much more meat there might be stored in the ships...So the sailors may continue dying even after the culprit is finally captured,"
The butler smirked, impressed. Then his eyes glowed an ominous crimson, his pupils seeming to narrow into slits, flashing. A cruel smile curled upon his pale lips.
"But you must understand, my lord. Preservation of life is one of the many stubborn habits of humans..."
Ciel shot up from his bed, thought for a moment and grinned, chuckling.
"Sebastian. That's a wonderful idea,"
On the way to Alois Trancy's lodgings, not much was spoken. The young master did seem rather smug, though. Sebastian grinned. What might Phantomhive be thinking...?
The blonde brat's manor was not too different from the young master's home. Wealthy mansions tend to look similar after a while. But the interiors had a different feeling to them, darker, yet a certain violet passion seemed to burn silently from a deeper level. It had an uncertainty to it, and it had that sharp edge of unfamiliarity because Ciel did not visit often.
"Ciel, darling! What a delightful surprise! Did you miss me?" An excited voice piped up from behind him.
"What-
"Ah, I surprised you too, I see! What can I say? I am quite the spontaneous one...!" Alois grinned, the tip of his pink tongue peeking thought the corner of his lips as his fingers trailed down Ciel's delicate neck and made their way to his collarbone. The boy bristled and wrestled away from his grip, straightening his coat.
"Alois...!" He shot angrily.
"What is it...?" The blonde giggled, drawing close to his ear. " -cat got your tongue...?"
Sebastian laughed humorlessly and looked over at Alois.
"Your butler really does seem useless sometimes,"
A hard gaze shot from the pale blue eyes.
"Hmph! And what makes you think so...?"
Sebastian gestured to the tall man wearing thin rectangular frames across his nose, clad in black and seeming to be rather idle and silent, completely uninterested in the Trancy heir's distracting antics.
"He doesn't appear to be doing anything..." The butler chimed pleasantly.
"Ah, Claude is simply having one of his moods...!" Alois grinned sweetly.
"Actually, I think you're the one with the moods." Ciel muttered and gave a gurgled shout of irritation when his cheeks were squished together by the blonde's disgusting little gloved hands.
"Hmmm...? What did you say? I can't hear you!" He protested, laughing mischievously.
Ciel grit his teeth. Being polite wasn't working. Suppose he fought fire with fire...?
The young master growled, frustrated, and pried off Alois's fingers one by one.
Then he smiled darkly and placed his hands upon the blonde boy's small shoulders. He tilted his face until his lips brushed over Alois's left ear. Ciel smirked when he felt a subtle, but immediate change in the boy's composure, a flash of heat.
"How about we play a little game...?" The young master whispered quietly enough that only Alois could hear.
The boy grinned curiously and a skeptical look crossed his eyes.
"What did you have in mind? A tedious round of chess...?" Alois scoffed, though it was impossible to hide his interest.
"No, actually I was thinking about something a little more...physical, if you will..." The young master replied, keeping his voice smooth and level.
The blonde laughed mischievously, unable to conceal his widening grin.
"Oh, I like the sound of that...When do we start?"
It was too fast. Suddenly the lights went out and the entire hall became as black as night. A wet slash was heard and Ciel gave a quiet grimace of discomfort, grabbing his arm. It was damp and he winced when he felt the sharp line of the cut, a bit long but not very deep.
That Sebastian. Sometimes he didn't know why he trusted him.
Alois's annoying voice was heavily muffled by what sounded like a very thick layer of material, which made the young master breathe a sigh of relief. At least that part went smoothly.
He turned to see a pair of eyes glowing pale crimson, the dark pupils so narrow they were almost invisible.
Sebastian...? No. Claude. It was Claude.
Sebastian had him by the neck, three knives pinned gently on his motionless jugular, smiling pleasantly and ignoring Claude's cruel glare, and the impatient twitch of his lips.
"I advise you to cooperate with us. I don't want to be forced to use violence against someone of my own kind...It would be very unpleasant..." The butler smiled politely.
But Claude wasn't paying attention to the whereabouts of Alois. A small spray of Ciel's blood had spattered across his face and he slipped out his tongue and tasted it.
It was indescribable. The taste of it had roused hidden passions within his cold, unfeeling mind, he tasted such warmth, spice, depth and life, that made his breath go silent in ecstasy, his eyes freeze into a moment in time he never wanted to escape from, it made his skin convulse in the most powerful of desires.
Claude was still, motionless as if transitioning between the fancies of life and death, as if he had never noticed he had been walking upon the thread of these extremes since he first took a breath. Then his eyes steadied their gaze once more and he struggled to get free of Sebastian's grip, almost salivating from his desperate need to get another taste of the blood.
"Control yourself. I assure you that you will be generously rewarded in the mean time if you would just do as we say. There's plenty more where that came from. You have quite a bit to spare, my lord, haven't you not...?" The butler grinned quietly.
"Shut up, Sebastian." Ciel grimaced irritably, trying to stop the bleeding on his arm. " -let's get out of here..."
"It's so dark in here. How disgusting," A muffled voice protested.
"Well, you agreed to the game...surely you can adapt to its discomforts," Ciel spoke smugly.
Alois was stuffed into an old cloth sack, one of the really large ones, and it didn't exactly allow for the best quality of air, heck, it didn't even allow for a satisfactory quality of life if he thought about hard enough. He seemed to be a bit higher up in the air than he usually was and he was being hulled at an angle that slanted downwards, so Alois supposed Sebastian was taking him somewhere downstairs.
Surprisingly enough, if he ignored the fact that he couldn't really move, see, or breathe much, the trip wasn't all that uncomfortable; Sebastian was very well coordinated and he didn't experience any sudden halts or skids or bumps of any kind, so the journey was smooth sailing as they went on. It was actually almost fun because Alois had been up and about all day long and he needed to rest his legs. He had been trying to get Claude to dance with him again, but as usual he had him at Olé. That butler was definitely a hard nut to crack. Oh, but he loved him anyways...
Even though his sense of smell had been rather heavily compromised, Alois had the feeling that they weren't in his manor anymore. The air seemed a bit musty and stale, like they were in an old basement of some sort, but maybe it wasn't the scent of their surroundings, maybe it was the scent of his surroundings, being suffocated in a sack and all. Wait. Alois managed to jerk an arm around and he touched a fine powder near the bottom of the sack. What was this stuff...?
Achoo! Flour. Yes, yes, it was definitely flour. Ugh. How terrible.
Stuffed into an old flour sack and being dragged into some mysterious basement...Alois had definitely been having a strange week of sorts but today was most certainly the highlight of it all. What kind of game did Ciel have in mind...?
He said it was something physical. Alois could definitely understand the physical part; if he remembered right, before they began their descent down here, he must have been knocked out pretty hard because all he heard were a dizzying exchanging of voices that varied with age and gender. It seemed like a rather formal conversation though, almost an interrogation of some kind. Maybe this game would not be as fun as he'd anticipated...
Pfft. It was not even fair. That Ciel didn't even tell him the rules yet.
And more importantly, Alois needed to know how to win.
It was a few moments later when they finally stopped going downwards and began a normal, even path. Alois heard a muffled screech of metal and the familiar clinking and turning of keys and he was dropped, if not a bit roughly, onto the cold, hard ground.
The sack was opened at the top, so he hastily crawled out to examine his new environment. His eyes widened in disbelief.
They were underground and the passageways before him were lined with weakly lit orange lanterns with a thick smell and the walls were made of old stone, that had been worn with years and seemed to be cracked and crumbling steadily near the bottom. It was damp and moist down here and water leaked from the uneven ceiling. But that was the least of his worries.
As he drew closer to take in his unfamiliar surroundings, he was stopped by a distinct barrier.
He was behind bars.
Alois curled his fingers around the rusted iron and tightened his grip and shrieked at the peeling metal that stabbed into his palms. No. It wasn't his imagination. He was really here.
He was in prison.
It hit him like that pain you felt when your foot struck into an iron table leg. You didn't feel it at first, first, it's the shock of it that gets you, but then the delayed effect shoots in and suddenly you are aware, terribly aware of the pain that you had caused for yourself.
Alois hadn't really felt it when he first found his way out of that suffocating sack he had been stuffed in, but now, the more he pored into his surroundings the more real it felt. It had finally sunk in.
He grit his teeth and his eyes flashed with anger and resentment.
"What is the meaning of this?!" He exploded with fury, violently shaking the bars with his thin arms.
"-why the bloody hell am I in prison...?!"
"It will all be explained-
"You rotten bastard; I have done nothingto deserve this...!" Alois shrieked, spit flying out of his gnashing teeth.
He looked like a barbarian, with his crazed eyes, horribly disheveled hair and his complete loss of temper.
Barbaric didn't even describe it well enough; Alois had become an animal.
He continued to scream and howl at the top of his lungs until his legs gave out and he crumpled to to ground, completely exhausted. Then he curled up into a ball and started to sob bitterly. His words were choked by his tears and were difficult to decipher.
After a while, he fell asleep.
When he woke up, the salty scent of his tears still lingered in his nostrils and he rubbed his eyes.
Hmph. He was still in this prison.
Well, screaming and crying wouldn't get him anywhere, suppose he use a different approach to get what he wanted...?
"Ciel, darling. Won't you be a dear and enlighten poor Alois upon his whereabouts...?" He inquired, grimacing when his light, playful demeanor felt rather forced and choked up.
The young master watched the teary blonde from the other side of the iron bars and bristled when Alois addressed him. Then he sighed and crossed his arms.
"There's no need for manners, Alois. Your time will be coming soon, anyways..." Ciel drawled quietly, calm and unbothered as he nailed his gaze to the cracks in the ground.
"Whatever do you mean...?!" The Trancy heir piped up, confused.
Ciel Phantomhive chuckled darkly and a sad smile crept up upon his lips.
"Alois Trancy. You have been deemed guilty of murder of both the first and third degree, of not only the Caucasian servants working under the Queen's underground medical facilities but also of the Chinese workers of the Eastern Trading Branch. After extensive thought and analysis, your fate has been decided,"
He was speechless.
"Your execution will commence respectively after the next 48 hours."
