-:- Subject 13's Butler -:-
.:A Kuroshitsuji Fan Fiction:.
Author: AoUsagi
Summary: Ciel takes the leap into Oblivion, only to wake into a strange white-washed world of beeping machines and white-coats doctors. The only thing that seems real is Sebastian, who steals him away from the hellhole laboratory to save him from the sick sake of science.
BeforeNote:
I hope you all know the effort I go to to bring you this story. I have NEVER, EVER written a sword-fight scene in my entire LIFE, so this chapter is really lame because of a fight scene but who the hell cares Ciel gets in on the action this time instead of running away or cowering behind Sebastian. OOPSIES, spoilers~!
(Shuttup Charles.)
SO. Welcome to the Steampunk Convention, everyone!
Here you will meet some old faces, new faces, and even some ENTIRELY unexpected ones. But that's all up to you guys to go ahead and read ;) I'm not going to tell you everything that happens. I've already dropped a major spoiler in the above comment about the fight scene. YEAAAAH CIEL GO MAN GO WOOOO~
By the way, who's excited to see the rebirth of Most Beautiful Death? *waves arm wildly* OOO OOO ME MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME! *ahem* anyway, it's currently being performed in Tokyo at the moment I believe, and then I think they'll be heading out to Osaka for more performances (or it could be the other way round). I've already got a hilarious picture of Nagaoka Takuya (who was the original William T Spears in the first stage production of Most Beautiful Death) heading in backstage after the first performance to catch up with Yuya Matsushita (Sebastian, yo'!), and he even got a shot of himself with the new guy playing our favourite over-time Shinigami, Will – the guy's name is Teruma, and god DAMN I hope he lives up to the awesomosity that Takuya was in the first performance!
Well. He can but try, I suppose. I haven't seen the rebirth yet, I'll wait til it hits youtube, but I don't personally think anyone can top Takuya's performance. But that's my opinion (I have many of those).
WHAT ARE YOU ALL STILL DOING HERE. WHY AREN'T YOU READING?! SCROLL DOWN YOU SILLY BILLIES, THEN DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW AFTERWARDS!
- Mercy
…
Guy to a friend of mine: so, are you a boy or a girl?
My friend: neither.
Guy: well, what were you born as?
My friend: *leans in and whispers* fabulous.
Chapter Twenty-Four: Steam Punkers
-:-
The whole thing about a convention, Ciel very quickly came to realize, that it was supposed to be a very busy, very crowded, and very, very noisy. There were people yelling, running, meeting up with friends, and waving around pretend weapons that looked like they belonged in one of those ultra fantasy games that he'd once seen Finnian playing on a handheld device that Finni had called a "PSP", whatever that was.
And another thing – everyone looked just as old fashioned and completely lost in time as they did. If there was one thing that he was happy about being confined in this cramped, shuffling line of people winding its way towards the front counter of the Manchester Convention Centre in order to pay for their passes and be granted access to the con, it was that they all blended in with the crowd. For once in his new life, Ciel didn't feel out of place at all. At his side, there was Bardroy dressed in the whites of a chef, Mey-Rin in the blue and white frock and skirts, her outfit completed by the knee-length brown lace up boots on her feet. Finni was fidgeting excitedly behind them, in the white shirt and checkered shorts and gumboots of a gardener, his own outfit made complete by the straw hat hanging at the back of his neck, secured by a drawstring. On his other side, Sebastian, dressed in the finest of black suits of a butler, standing with such a straight-backed, rigid stance that Ciel would never have imagined that merely a few weeks ago, he had been shot in the shoulder on a daring rescue attempt.
Ciel smiled to himself, and checked himself over once again – that morning, Sebastian had helped him into his own costume, and Ciel had almost let himself get lost in the moment of the feeling that his butler was dressing him, buttoning his shirts, arranging his lapels properly, even lacing up the knee-high boots for him when he got the laces all twisted up by accident. His outfit was of a deep, royal blue, lined with silvery plaids and golden buttons down the front of his jacket, two black roses clipped to his right lapel, small, silver chains looping around them, the ends hanging loose from the roses as the other end was clipped across his breast to his left breast pocket. The outfit was topped off by the hat, which looked almost like a tricorn hat, and a large blue-ish white feather fluffed over the back. His eye was adorned with a silken black eye patch, and the entire outfit was decorated with subtle beading of little cog shaped buttons.
He glanced around at the group – he knew they looked amazing, and he was fairly certain that they knew that they looked amazing. The Undertaker had done an astounding job, and Ciel reminded himself to find and thank the kooky man once the convention was over. Casting his eyes around the large, gathered crowd of excitedly chattering convention-goers, he also reminded himself why they were here; to try and find out if Vincent Phantomhive really was here.
There was idle chatter amongst themselves while they waited in line, slowly shuffling along as more and more people were moving away from the counters to make their way into the convention. Soon enough, they were at the counters themselves – Sebastian cheerfully paid for their passes with a sweet smile, and also handed over the story sheet for their cosplay competition enrolment. The girl behind the counter passed back a handful of thin strips of paper before telling them to enjoy the convention.
They were ushered out of the line and into the open area of the foyer, where Sebastian handed out the strips of paper, and everyone began to remove a small tag of plastic from the ends of the strips. Ciel turned the gold-sided paper over in his hands, unsure of what to do.
"It's a wrist band," Mey-Rin explained, and showed Ciel how she was wrapping her own band around her wrist before securing it with the sticky end that had been under the tag. "It basically allows the convention staff to let you through certain areas – if you don't wear it, they won't let you in because it doesn't look like you've paid to be here."
"Like that?" Ciel pointed as Mey-Rin helped him with his own wrist band towards a makeshift gate that stood at the other end of a foyer that led to another area, and Sebastian nodded.
"That's about right." he said, just as a girl wearing a lacy black mini-dress and big, platform black shoes decorated with studs came up to their group, several streaks of colour flashing through her black hair and a clipboard in her hand.
"Uh, 'cuse me guys?" she asked, and everyone seemed to tense. Sebastian smiled sweetly down at her from his taller height, but Ciel could tell that he was ready to turn and make them all run at any moments notice.
"Yes, how might we help you, miss?" he asked, his flawless English accent sending a pang of nostalgia through Ciel as he thought just how well the butler's attire suited Sebastian.
"You guys are enterin' in the comp, yeah?" the girl asked, and Sebastian nodded.
"That's right. We were given – " he checked the piece of paper that he'd been handed at the counter. "Group contestants number twenty-six."
"Yeah, and you're under the name Phantom Butler, yeah?"
"That's right." Sebastian nodded again. The girl ticked something off on the clipboard she was carrying before looking back up at the group.
"Cool. Look, coz of all the other competitors as well, we've had to put several of today's contestants on tomorrow, otherwise it'd all be too packed into today's competition, so you guys are on tomorrow instead, kay?" she said, and Sebastian exchanged glances with everyone in the group, his eyes coming to rest on Ciel. Ciel nodded silently, and the dark haired doctor turned back to the girl with a honey sweet smile.
"That suits us just fine, thank you," he said, and she finally seemed to take notice of the handsome man who she'd been addressing the entire time, and a blush rose in her cheeks as she blinked.
"Oh – ah, yeah – cool…" she murmured. "I, uh – gotta get back now…"
With that, the girl whirled on her big, clunky boots and tottered back towards the reception station. Ciel rolled his eyes. He'd always known Sebastian's looks could have every woman from here to China swooning at his feet the second the man smiled, but that had been in the fake reality. Now, it was almost comical to see it, and Sebastian turned back to them as if nothing had happened. Before he could say anything, however, a voice of an old-fashioned loudspeaker shaped like a gramophone began to blare, asking everyone who had been admitted if they would please make their way to the auditorium for the opening ceremony, which would begin in ten minutes.
Ciel could see many people still stuck in the long lines waiting to pay their entrance fee groaning and sighing as he and the others passed them – but there were already huge crowds of people heading in the general direction that he guessed was the auditorium, and he and the others blended in with the crowds as they were all ushered into a huge theatre that sloped downwards towards the stage. Sebastian guided the group away from the main mob so that they could find some seats that would allow all five of them to sit next to one another. Once seated, Ciel cast his eyes around the auditorium, the chatter and excited yells of the other convention-goers all a buzz to his ears, the lights that illuminated the stage from the railing above the stand changing to a multitude of colours as they swung around, over the stage and out over the audience. His face was bathed in the blue light of one light for a brief moment, and Ciel found himself smiling – the nerves and tension he had been feeling all morning leading up to this made him momentarily forget what he was doing here. He was just taking everything in – the buzz of the excited crowds, the yells across the auditorium, the music that was playing over the speaker system; everything seemed so familiar yet so unreal, so futuristic to him, that he realized that this was all just a nostalgic call back for many people, people who wanted to escape from their modern day lives, back to when life was simpler, but the mechanics of life were interesting and complicated. That was what Steampunk was, he realized. Innovation in a world of unique people looking towards a future. The art of Steampunk was a celebration of a time when new technologies were produced, not by large corporations, but by talented and independent artisans and inventors. Ideas of Victorian science fiction.
The crowd quietened as the overhead lights dimmed down even lower, the stage lights now the only source of luminosity in the auditorium, and the music faded to silence. The stage lights flicked off, and Ciel could hear the murmurs of the people in the seats around him. Then, suddenly, one stage light lit up the centre of the stage, and his breath caught in his throat. Standing in the centre of the stage with a violin cocked on his shoulder, was the ringleader of the Noah's Arc Convention Troupe.
"Joker," Ciel breathed, and the young man with the prosthetic skeleton right hand raised the violin's bow to rest upon his instrument.
"I'd like to begin this years convention," he said, his voice magnified by a small microphone hooked over his ear and sitting just in front of his mouth. "With a song. We 'ere at the Noah's Arc Troupe wish to welcome ye all here today with a performance. Some say we shoulda been better off as a circus," a titter of chuckles ran through the crowd, and Ciel could see that there were still more people cramming into the auditorium. "But here we are."
With that, he began to play. A cello somewhere offstage struck up as well in accompaniment, and then, a string of people began to parade out from the side of the stage and into the spotlight as more stage lights came on. Ciel gaped as he recognized every single one of them – there was the pair of acrobatic twins, Peter and Wendy, back flipping and doing cartwheels around the stage, locking arms with each other to do combined tricks that had the audience gasping and wowing in excitement at the fearless duo. Then the giant man they called Jumbo lumbered on stage, juggling seven balls, and another performer danced up behind him; Ciel couldn't believe his eyes – the girl he'd known as Freckle Face, her real name Doll, in the very same rose-decorated white outfit that he remembered her in, pirouetting and dancing her way around Jumbo, and the two of them moved almost in sync, Jumbo never once dropping a single ball and Doll never once losing the beat of the music that Joker's violin sang.
From the other side of the stage, another pair came on; these two also had familiar faces – they were Beast and her younger brother Dagger, Beast cart wheeling onto stage whilst her brother ducked and dodged around her, juggling a set of throwing knives. Several times, Ciel held his breath, thinking surely Dagger would trip, drop one of his knives, or Beast would knock into him and cause them both to falter, but they never once collided. He was sure everyone else in the audience were holding their breath, too – he glanced sideways and saw Finni and Mey-Rin both on the edges of their seats, agape at the marvellous display before them.
Slowly, as each pair of performers circled Joker, they drew closer, went lower, down on one knee as the music continued to flow, and then, without missing a single beat, lifted Joker up and into the air, Wendy and Beast expertly climbing the shoulders of Jumbo and Dagger, before reaching down to lift Doll up high above their heads, where, as the music came to a climax and a finale, Joker stopped his playing to grab Doll's hand, and she was hefted up to be seated upon his shoulder. The pyramid of fearless performers waited for the last of the background music to finish, before striking a pose in unison, and the audience was suddenly all on its feet, people whistling and screaming and applauding louder than anything Ciel could have ever imagined – and he found himself, along with Sebastian, Finni, Mey-Rin and Bardroy, on their feet as well, clapping so much his hands went numb. By the time it had all settled down, he was almost certain that his hearing had been permanently damaged. He'd have to ask Sebastian about it later.
As the pyramid disassembled, Wendy back flipping down and Beast being lowered down gracefully by her brother and Jumbo, Joker setting Doll down at his side as he was lowered back down the stage himself, the audience quieted enough for Joker to speak again.
"I'm so very glad that you enjoyed our performance," he said, taking a breath as Peter offered to take his violin, and he relinquished his grip on the instrument. "And have I mentioned how humbled I am to see so many of you all out there today?!" he waved his free hand around. "I mean, from all the way up there, I think I could just about everyone up there in the back row!"
A cheer went up from the back of the auditorium, and Ciel glanced over his shoulder – they were barely ten rows away from the very back of the auditorium.
"Anyhow, anyway, anywho!" Joker reclaimed quiet in the theatre again. "I have to hand it to you all – this convention wouldn't be possible without everyone's participation; from the staff and the organisers," he made grand gestures to the group still standing around him, and they all gave the audience a big smile and a wave. "To all the invited guests, those who've hired out stalls downstairs in the Huxters, and every single one of you out there today who've come along to enjoy what we've put on for you. And I suppose I should mention our sponsors, too – they're pretty important, right?" he joked and a titter of laughter went around the audience, but Ciel found himself leaning forward in his seat a bit. He glanced at Sebastian, and saw that the doctor was watching him, too.
"Our sponsors for this convention," Joker was saying. "We owe a hell of a lot to. From the fandom groups who gather every Tuesday afternoon to the big-name companies – without this lot, we wouldn't have the funds to be able to do what we do, year after year. And this year in particular, we have a very special return to applaud – he's not here right now, but everyone give it up for the return of Vincent Phantomhive!"
Once again, the crowd went wild, and Ciel slumped back into his seat. So the sponsors wouldn't be asked to come on stage. Feeling a little bitter about that, he was woken from his reverie by Sebastian's hand on his arm.
"We'll see him in the competition, don't worry," he said softly as the audience calmed. "We can watch it today, even if we're participating tomorrow."
"We better get good seats," Ciel grumbled, and he could have sworn he heard Sebastian chuckle before Joker began to talk again.
"We'll give Mister Phantomhive the proper welcome back that he truly deserves at the beginning of the cosplay competition, which he has kindly agreed to host! In the meantime, we've got all manner of things for you steam-punkers to sink your lovely fangs into! We've got guests from…"
His voice faded into the background a little, and Ciel found himself not quite listening as the MC continued to list the schedule of festivities, panels with special guests, the Huxter area on the floor below the ground floor. It all just sort of washed over him, and all he could think about was where he might be able to get close to his father before or after the competition. He didn't think it smart to reveal himself right away, which was why his costume made him seem as unlike himself as possible. It was just in case this man was an impostor claiming to be Vincent Phantomhive. He sighed, and watched the group on stage without really listening, and waited for the entrance ceremony to be over.
-:-
The welcoming ceremony lasted another ten minutes or so, with the introductions of special guests and so forth being announced, before Joker and the group on stage bid everyone farewell and wished them all a happy next two days of the convention. The entire audience all seemed to be trying to get out of the auditorium at once, eager to go and explore the rest of the convention centre, and Ciel found himself squished up against several other people rather uncomfortably. He'd been separated from Sebastian and the others, but he hadn't been able to cry out over the hustle and bustle, and he wondered if Sebastian had even noticed he was gone. Unable to go back against the flow of people pouring out of the auditorium, however, Ciel took to waiting just outside the auditorium doors while everyone else continued to file pass him before dispersing.
"Ciel!"
He turned his attention away from the photography booth that had caught his eye, and saw Sebastian and the others finally able to shuffle out of the auditorium and catch up to him. Sebastian quickly checked him over to make sure he was okay, before taking a deep breath to pacify himself.
"Shall we, then?" Sebastian asked, but before anyone could reply, there was a sing-song voice from behind them.
"Oh yeah, lets~!" they all whirled and Ciel's blood ran cold, and he felt himself freeze. Everyone around him was tensing as well, and he heard Mey-Rin stifle a small gasp as they saw the two who were now approaching them. One of them was Bardroy's height and stature, with fair blonde hair, and his smaller counterpart looked about Finnian's age, his even fairer hair chopped around his face, a long ponytail swaying behind him as he pranced up. Their white outfits gave Ciel a flashback of the Ash, the Queen's butler, but then he realized who he was looking at, all decked out in their finery.
"The Double Charles'," he murmured, and Charles Grey smiled at them playfully, his older counterpart Charles Phipps keeping his expression stoic.
"Oooh, looky!" Grey cooed. "The test subject knows who we are, Phipps~! Isn't that exciting?"
"The hell are you doing here?!" Sebastian growled, low and snarling, his upper lip curling in disgust. "I didn't take you two cowards as party goers."
"You're from the Hospital…" Ciel whispered, just as Grey pulled out a fencing foil from the scabbard at his waist. By the looks of their outfits, they too had gone all out in getting costumes that would allow them to remain inconspicuous. Ciel guessed that they had been planning on being at the convention, searching, for a lot longer than this.
Grey smirked lightly, swishing the foil back and forth as Phipps cleared his throat.
"I would have thought it was obvious," he said, his voice hard, and Ciel felt Mey-Rin's hand protectively on his arm, and Finnian stepped in front of him. "We're here for the retrieval of Subject Thirteen, real name: Ciel Phantomhive. Step aside, Doctor Michaelis, and you will not be hurt."
"Over my dead body," Sebastian snarled.
"Well, it's your funeral," Grey giggled, before launching himself at Sebastian, who easily dodged the lunge, and before Ciel realized what he was doing, he was drawing the sword that the Undertaker had adorned his own costume with, and he stepped forward to meet Grey head-on, countering Grey's attack with a swift block. He used the moment of surprise to heave Grey back, and the younger of their two attackers stumbled back, his eyes wide, before a grin lit up his face.
"You will not touch him," Ciel found the words passing his lips before he could stop them, and he heard Sebastian call out to him as he stepped forward again, just as Grey was readying for another attack. He could see a crowd beginning to gather around them – convention goers murmuring things, wondering if this was actually an intention skit the group was performing.
"Aw, you're so cute when you're angry," Grey laughed as he parried and defended from Ciel's rain of blows. It was as if his hand was guided; Ciel had no idea what he was doing – perhaps he was remembering all the fencing lessons he'd once thought he'd had with Sebastian, in his Other Life, or perhaps he had really been enrolled in some sort of fencing class. Either way, he didn't dare stop to give Grey the opportunity to retaliate.
The crowd gasped and scooted out of their way as they circled each other, sidestepping wild swings and the sharp thrusts of each other's blades. Ciel heard a voice call out to him – it was Phipps – as Grey scooted back out of the way of Ciel's sword to take a breath. Ciel looked up, back to where the group was standing, and a collective gasp went up from the crowd. Someone was yelling for security. Other people were cheering – most of them still thought this was a performance. But Ciel saw something that made his stomach drop.
Phipps had Sebastian, one arm hooked around Sebastian's neck, and was holding him there with an old fashioned revolver aimed at his head. Ciel saw the other try to get close to save Sebastian, but Phipps turned the gun on them, warding them off.
"Give yourself up, Thirteen." Phipps was calling to him. "We don't want to make a scene."
Grey, however, didn't seem to be over fighting just yet, and his next attack threw Ciel off guard, and Ciel's arm went weak as he panicked from the sudden attack.
"Yes, actually!" Grey was cackling. "Yes we do~!" his mad rash of attacks forced Ciel to take several staggered steps back, and it was all Ciel could do to block the moves; there was no way, no space for him to step forward and retaliate. If he gave up now, he would be taken back to the Hospital. Sebastian and the others…they might be killed. He would never see his parents again. Their faces flashed through his mind, and in that moment, Grey managed to flip Ciel's sword out of his hand, and the slender sword went flying blade-over-handle through the air, landing with a thunk in the carpeted floor mere inches away from another convention goer, who yelped and scuttled away. The force of Grey's move had sent Ciel tumbling back, and he landed on the ground, completely exposed as his attacker stepped up, fencing foil whipping up suddenly to catch Ciel under the chin, holding his face up.
"Aw, looks like the little kid can't hold his own after all. Ah well," Grey smirked, before pulling the foil back to strike Ciel once more. "See ya next time, champ."
Ciel scrunched his eyes shut ad braced himself for the hit that would undoubtedly be on a pressure point somewhere on his body – a hit that would, no doubt, knock him unconscious. He had no other choice but to accept his fate. He heard the whistle of the fencing foil as it arched through the air, but there was a clang of fencing foil meeting metal, and he opened his eyes, only to have a curtain of red hair fluttering down across the back of a white-shirted man who had leapt down in front of him.
"Grell!" Ciel scrambled back just as Grell glanced over his shoulder and gave him a smile.
"Fashionably late, as always," the agent winked at him, and Ciel saw that he had a hand gun drawn and held up to block Grey's swing. The fair-haired Charles Grey's face contorted in anger.
"Noo!" he cried. "Get out of the waaay~!" he made several wild, raging swings at Grell, who ducked and dodged them as easily as if he'd been taking a casual step out of the way of a crawling toddler, and as he let Grey's momentum swing the young man forward, Grell brought the butt of the handgun down on Grey's shoulder. Grey's eyes went wide, and he collapsed, unconscious. Ciel looked up at Grell, who spun the handgun around before tucking it back into its holster at his hip, and the redhead grinned at him.
"Pressure point," he indicated to the spot where he'd struck Charles on the shoulder, and Ciel nodded, still agape. The two of them looked over to where Phipps had Sebastian. The other Charles' was shocked to see his younger counterpart defeated so easily at the hands of the redheaded Dispatch agent, and Sebastian took the moment to haul the taller of the two Charles' over his head, slamming Phipps down to the floor. Phipps cried out in pain before rolling away, free from Sebastian's grip.
Ciel and Grell dashed back to the group, and Sebastian turned just in time to catch Ciel in a flying hug – Ciel clung onto the doctor as though his life depended on it, breathing hard, his heart hammering in his chest. He had been this close to losing everything.
"It's okay," Sebastian was murmuring into his hair, rubbing soothing circles on his back. "You're okay. You did so well. It's okay now, shh."
The others all gathered around to hug Ciel as well, just as Grell coughed into his hand.
"Um, Bassy? We have an audience." He motioned around to the stunned looks on everyone elses faces. Ciel could see Phipps back on his feet, but the man was retreating – he had Grey hoisted up and over one shoulder, and the two were making their retreat out the foyer doors. No one really seemed to notice them go, because all eyes were on the young boy with his butler and gathered servants. He glanced up at Sebastian, who looked just as lost for words as the others of their little group. Ciel cleared his throat, and stepped out of the group hug and gave the crowd a big smile.
"Uh – thank you, everyone! Thank you for watching that performance!" he called out as cheerily as he could, just as he could see a couple of security guards heading their way, accompanied by several of the convention staff. "We hope you all enjoyed that, and, uh, the rest of the convention too! Bye now!" he waved cheerfully to the crowd, which slowly began to disperse and break up, everyone murmuring and mumbling to each other.
Sebastian stepped up to his shoulder. "Nicely done, young master," he said, before giving Ciel a nudge. "But we have to get out of the spotlight before we get nabbed by those security guards."
The group all merged in with the rest of the crowd, and after a few minutes of mingling and side-stepping the staff and security guards, they all regrouped back up by a small café once everything had calmed down.
"So were they really from the Hospital?" Ciel asked as he sipped the hot chocolate that Sebastian handed him, and Sebastian nodded, but Grell was the one to speak.
"Sadly, yes – they're a couple of thugs for the Directors, really. They do all the dirty work, making the Directors look good." The redhead explained.
"Indeed," Sebastian nodded. "I've only met them a few times myself, but they're quite the unsavoury pair." He had retrieved Ciel's sword, which he eyed now that it was safely back in the scabbard at Ciel's side. "And you've got quite the skill with that, Ciel. Do you remember where you learnt to fight like that?"
Ciel felt his cheeks colour a little. "Not really. As I was fighting, I wasn't really registering what I was doing. It just happened. I can't remember where I learnt to fight with a sword. Maybe I took fencing lessons when I was younger or something."
"Whatever the case, that was amazing," Finni breathed, and Bardroy nodded.
"Yeah, and now its over, we can get back to the task at hand." He said, stubbing out a cigarette in a nearby complimentary ash tray. "I'm just glad we're all here and accounted for – dunno what we would've done if they'd managed to capture you."
"Oh, like I'd ever let that happen while Bassy and I have this whole deal going," Grell smirked, leaning affectionately on Sebastian, who seemed untroubled by the flirty double agent, and instead, he smiled too. But Finnian spoke before he could.
"Except we're not all together," the blonde boy said sadly. "Plu-Plu's not here."
Everyone's faces fell, but Ciel saw that Grell had a mischievous glint in his eye – a moment later, a familiar voice spoke from the edge of the café booth.
"Whaddaya mean, I'm not here?" They all whirled around to see Pluto standing there, thumbs looped through his jeans pockets, cocky smile on his face. The reunion was a happy one, with Finni and Bard and Mey-Rin all throwing themselves at Pluto, cries of happiness earning them some odd looks from some of the passers-by. Ciel smiled as Pluto managed to shake the others off, and stepped up to Sebastian, who reached out for the silver haired young man, and the two shared a brief, manly hug before Pluto straightened and patted Ciel on the head. "I mean, I couldn't just leave you guys to have all the fun now, could I?"
"How did you get all the way to Manchester?" Ciel asked, and Pluto jerked a thumb at Grell.
"Got a lift – turns out Sutcliff is heading up the Dispatch security detail that's gonna be here at the convention. But we slowed down the security vans for a bit." He gave them all a grin, one that Grell shared. "Turns out that them vans aren't too good at movin' with a couple of slashed tyres."
"You slashed their tyres?" Sebastian asked, sounding surprised. "That's an obvious give-away that we're trying to stall them from getting here."
Pluto held up his hands in defence. "Hey, no sweat, boss – " he winked at Grell, who chuckled softly. "We paid a couple of kids to do it."
"Those kids sure are something when you give them a large knife and tell them to go have fun with all the cars on the street," Grell chortled, and Sebastian looked at him in disbelief. Ciel couldn't suppress his own chuckle – he realized the whole situation was, in reality, quite funny. Bardroy and Mey-Rin were smothering laughs, too, and Finni had a hand clapped over his mouth in an effort to not laugh. Soon, without really meaning to, they were all laughing, and Pluto dragged them all into a big group hug, and, even though he was squished somewhere between Grell's hipbone, Mey-Rin's chest and Sebastian's wiry arms, Ciel couldn't help but laugh along too. He felt safe, much safer than he had, he realized, without Pluto being there to act like a guard dog. Now, now that they were all together again, he felt that much more optimistic about finding what he was looking for here.
He couldn't wait to get started.
-:-
AfterNote:
I'd like to dedicate the entirety of this chapter with heart and soul to the one and only TheTimeTravelingAuthor, who, after reviewing this yesterday, refuelled my zest to get the rest of this goddamn chapter written. I knew Sunny previously as Sunleaf13, an avid reader and follower of one of my other stories, My Autistic Brother. They've been through a bit to get back on this site, and I really wanted to thank you, Sunny, coz you're awesome and I think you're superfantastical, except I never actually thought you'd have been into Black Butler ^^" oh wells! I'm glad you're enjoying the story, which is why you got the sword-fighting scene between Ciel and Grey!
You just sit there and stay shiny. You beautiful Sunny. You – ch – YOU STAY SHINY-
- Mercy