Chapter 12
His Maid Princess. His Black Butler.
The Tragedy
A/N: right, this chapter's a BIT GORY (like I'm gonna mention missing eyes and stuff) so if you don't like it, then please skip the gory bits.
Also, I've got good news for everyone that likes this story- I've finally managed to make a list of the upcoming chapters so altogether, with the epilogue, there will be 32 chapters. I wanted to make it a long story so I wouldn't really have to rush the ending because I feel that if I finish this story in a few chapters, it'd be very rushed and will turn out awful so…just bare with me, okay?
For inperfection:
In the previous chapter when I said 'stoned butler', you were right- I DID mean stunned but I think I kinda overused that word throughout that chapter so I simply changed it to 'stoned'. Both of them have the same meaning and no, I didn't mean that Sebastian was high or anything in that sort, lol. Hope that helps ^^
-*-
She lay on a black, leather seat of the Atona's two-horse carriage, trying to listen in to their hushed conversation.
Both windows of the carriage were closed by two thick black curtains and being inside the carriage in such darkness reminded Rachel of being inside a shut coffin. Her body was numb and motionless and the rosemary choker painfully gripped her neck, reminding her of a dog collar. It was slowly but steadily cutting off the supply of oxygen, painfully choking her.
"I guess you must've realized by now what this choker is, little lady"
Alexiel chuckled and she felt someone stroke her hair gently. Frederic Atona.
"Did you know, Cinderella, it sucks out your demon power bit by bit, taking away your will to live. The reason you can't move is this choker."
Frederic suddenly pulled hard on her hair, yanking her head towards him and hissed:
"Did you know that I hate being rejected, Cinderella?"
Her eyes were dull- she couldn't care less anymore. Somehow, like Alexiel said, the choker was slowly taking away both her power and will to do anything.
Satisfied, Frederic flung her back onto the seat, chuckling evilly:
"And now, no one, even that Phantomhive and his butler can save you. No one, hear me Cinderella? You're MINE!"
"Frederic!"
Alexiel hissed, his hand ready to backhand his son and Frederic rolled his eyes:
"What? You're thinking about boss's orders again, aren't you? Boss is not going to find out a thing. He just wanted us to kidnap her and bring her back to him, right? He never said that I'm not allowed to touch her!"
*Boss? Why would that 'boss' want me kidnapped? And how does he know about me being a demon?*
She thought, curious.
"Your 'boss'…what does he want from me?"
Rachel asked Alexiel and the man rolled his eyes at her, turning away.
"You'll find out from his mouth"
Rachel rolled her eyes back at him- what a stingy man.
"Pfft, for a kidnapped girl, you sure are talkative"
Frederic chuckled and she shot him an annoyed glare:
"And for a kidnapper, you sure are laidback. Putting that rosemary on me…do you even know who I am?"
"Princess Ainselle, the only imperial princess of the Dark Metropolis or Hell. The only daughter of Satan and Constancia. Only half demon, has two half-brothers Artemis and Deadon and a step mother Andromeda. Did I forget to mention anything else?"
Frederic gave her a triumphant smirk, watching as her face got paler and paler.
"H-how?"
"Boss has his ways of finding things"
Frederic gave her another mysterious smile before leaning back in the seat and opening the curtain on the right window, looking outside.
It was obvious that they were far away from London now- the carriage was going through a forest. From the start, Rachel thought that the place was strange- it was daytime and it was bright outside. However, among that brightness, there was something off. Something dangerous.
She screamed as the carriage went flying and spinning down the hill and into a ditch.
"W-what happened?!"
Frederic exclaimed from the place next to her but she was still, tensed.
"Death, that's what"
Her eyes were pinned to something in the darkest corner of the carriage and Frederic followed her gaze. Afterwards, how much did her wish that he hadn't done that.
There lay the twisted body of Alexiel Atona, his arms and legs broken and facing the pair in a strange, unnatural angle. His head was bowed down, as if the dead man was looking for something that he'd lost while the carriage was falling, his hair shadowing his face.
"…What?"
Frederic's voice was quiet as he lay in silent denial, staring at his father's corpse.
"Shh, it's not over. Someone's outside the carriage"
Rachel hissed, silencing the man. She was right- after a few seconds of absolute silence, Frederic could hear someone's calm footsteps outside. However, the footsteps stopped right in front of the carriage door. Then, it was opened with a creaking sound that was as loud as a started chainsaw in the dead silence of the carriage.
Rachel's eyes went wide as she screamed in surprise and shock. Frederic lay motionlessly, too stunned to speak. He could feel the waft of death coming from the figure in the door. He could feel that his death was near. He took a deep breath and with a last glance at Rachel's frozen expression, his soul exited his body, leaving an empty shell to lie next to the already silent girl. This was the end.
-*-
"Can you sense their presence, Sebastian?"
Ciel was getting impatient, frustrated and angry. The tall figure next to him looked around before nodding and smacking the brown horse with a whip.
"Yes, young master, we are very close now"
Sebastian answered and watched as the horse galloped through the forest, dragging the open carriage with the impatient boy.
"Good"
Ciel nodded and turned away to glare at the passing tree trunks and flowers. How irritating- flowers, green trees, how can everything look so bright when someone important to him was kidnapped?! Unforgivable!
Suddenly, the carriage came to a sudden stop and Ciel, jerked up with the carriage, gave Sebastian a hard glare. What now?!
"We're here, young master"
Sebastian jumped off and Ciel followed him up to the trench-like ditch that was dissecting the forest road in half, preventing anyone from crossing it.
There, at the bottom of the ditch, laid a black, two-horse carriage that obviously belonged to the Atona family. Ciel's palm flew towards his mouth as a strong smell of blood entered his nostrils. No, it wasn't blood of the two white, now dead horses that lay next to the carriage, it was the smell of human blood and the thin stream of the crimson liquid than poured from out of the crack in the carriage door was the proof.
"Young ma-!"
Before Sebastian could protest, Ciel was already at the bottom, yanking the carriage door open.
"Wh-!?"
Ciel stumbled few steps away from the carriage, his eyes wide in fear and deep disbelief as his eye was glued to the scene that he saw inside the once elegant carriage.
"No, young master"
Sebastian's firm hand circled around Ciel's eyes, preventing him from looking at the contents of the carriage. Yes, contents, because what was inside could no longer be labeled as 'humans'
(A/N: no, I won't go into great detail because I REALLY don't want to disturb anyone's minds, so just bare with me and don't worry)
However, Ciel ripped the demon's hand off his face and stormed into the bloody carriage, trying to ignore the blood, looking for Rachel. And oh boy, did he find her? Yes, he did.
She was huddled in the corner of the carriage, her knees were pulled up to her chest, her eyes wide and frozen from the mix of fear and shock. With one glance, Ciel could see that she was heavily traumatized and he could clearly understand why just by looking around.
"Rachel…can you hear me?"
He gently shook her shoulder, trying to make her to snap out of it. Suddenly, her head jolted and her vacant eyes stared right up into his, surprising him. Ciel stiffled a surprised scream and bent down to her level. From just having his hand on her shoulder, he could feel how bad she was. She was shaking furiously and he was surprised that she didn't break down yet.
"Rachel, please, please, look at me"
Her eyes followed his movements and Ciel gave her a small, reassuring smile:
"Rachel, can you stand?"
She blinked. Once, twice, until he could tell that her sanity was coming back.
"Young…master?"
Her voice was quiet, hoarse and he nodded, the smile still evident on his lips:
"Yes, Rachel, that's me"
"YOUNG MASTER!"
She screamed and flung herself at him, hugging him tightly. She was crying and every time she tried to wipe her tears off, more would come out, wasting her efforts.
"Shh…calm down, you're safe now…don't cry"
He placed his hand on the back of her head gently, patting her like a child, trying to stop her body from shaking.
"It was awful! I saw it all…horrible!"
She was hyperventilating, her state nearing hysterics. Ciel felt that too so he helped her up and led her out. Outside, stood Sebastian, intensely staring at something on the carriage wall just few inches away from the door.
"Sebastian, take her to the carriage. We're leaving"
Sebastian ripped his eyes off the wall and nodded, picking up the still sobbing girl and carrying her out.
Before he left, Ciel looked back at the carriage and his face hardened. His fists clenched and he hissed:
"I don't know what happened, but I WILL find out, I promise you"
He heard shuffling coming from the other side of the ditch and understood- his challenge was accepted.
'All the traitors will die a painful, inhuman death. R.I.P'
-*-
A/N: Okay, that's about it for the gory bits and if you were brave enough to read through it all, then have a cyber cookie =D
Review to show me your love!
