I'm updating twice today! Because I'm bored. And the day is long. Yay.

And it's also a really long chapter, the longest one yet!

I just checked, but nope, still don't own Kuroshitsuji. What a shame.

XxX

Chapter 25

Sebastian sat on the window-still, his legs crossed and an arrogant smile on his face. 'Things are never working out for you on your birthday, do they? You lost your mansion, you lost your parents, and this time, will you lose Elizabeth too?'

Ciel felt relieve coming up, but somehow the words his butler said so him weren't calming at all. 'Sebastian!' Then he got angry. No. He wasn't going to lose Elizabeth. Not with Sebastian here. 'Take that back, Sebastian,' he demanded.

'Take what back?' Sebastian asked immediately.

'That jeer!' Ciel said and his voice had lost every form of respect towards his butler.

Which the butler noticed, of course. 'Young master,' he said calm, 'did you come here to dotingly savor your wretched past and wallow in the pleasure of humiliation?'

Then the song started again. 'Build it up with iron and steel, iron and steel, iron and steel. Build it up with iron and steel, my fair lady.'

XxX

Clarissa's POV

He was still holding me like that when he suddenly frowned. 'So I thought to myself: there's a strange presence in this castle,' he said.

'What do you mean?' I asked, not expecting an answer. What was it with men and their natural ability to ignore me whenever they could?

'Build it up with iron and steel, iron and steel, iron and steel. Build it up with iron and steel, my fair lady,' he sang, but this time his voice travelled further then when he'd sang to me alone. His voice sounded spookier, it echoed through the whole house and made me shiver. Though I must admit that I did miss his voice, it scared me more than Sebastian's did. And that's one hell of an accomplishment.

Then I swallowed and suddenly felt the need to sing, to purify this terrible situation. Drossel controlled the dolls with his voice. Maybe the trick was in the song. 'Iron and steel will bend and bow, bend and bow, bend and bow. Iron and steel will bend and bow, my fair lady,' I sang and I heard that my voice was travelling far through the mansion too, but I also felt a power inside me, as if I could shoot lightning. Since when was I able to sing so loud, to be able to make it echo through the whole mansion?

'So I thought to myself,' Drossel said, sounding scarily indifferent, 'you destroyed my dolls.' He then lift me up and held me in his arms like a princess, carrying me with an unhuman speed towards the last staircase of the house.

The first thing I saw was that Sebastian had arrived. But I knew he wasn't here to save me. 'Let us depart, Young Master,' clearly not giving a damn about me or Elizabeth. Then I noticed the broken dolls all over the floor. All the girls… dead. But I wasn't sure if Sebastian was the one to blame or me.

'No,' Drossel said as he walked into the room, still carrying me in his arms. 'Ciel Phantomhive is my master's possession now.'

'Possession?' Ciel repeated angry, still not paying any attention to me. 'I am not a-'

'The proof is the ring on your finger,' Drossel said, interrupting Ciel with a voice that sounded so soft, but was so strong. 'I can tell. That Hope piece is a present my master sends to those who will be made into dolls.'

I frowned. His master?

Sebastian narrowed his eyes, clearly thinking the same thing. 'Your master?' he asked.

Drossel ignored him. 'Ciel Phantomhive will become a doll. A doll made of silver and gold. Yes, silver and gold, just like Clary.' His grip around me tightened.

'I do believe you said that people who possess a Hope piece will be turned into dolls,' Sebastian said, 'and I also believe that miss Lane doesn't own any sort of Hope piece.' He sounded curious, not trying to save me.

'I reason that that is indeed true,' Drossel said, 'but she's mine. My master said that I could have her if I wanted to.'

Okay, I was already quite sure that I didn't like his 'master'. And he couldn't have me. I was the only one who could possess me. But I didn't say anything, too curious what Sebastian reaction would be.

Sebastian just smiled a polite smile. 'Then I won't take her away from you,' he said, clearly not interested in my safety. 'But you can't have my master. Silver and gold will be stolen away, stolen away, stolen away.' Sebastian grabbed Ciel and disappeared out of the opened window before Drossel could even reach the middle of the room.

Drossel just stared at the open window, as if he couldn't believe what just happened. 'He was stolen away…' Then he looked at me. 'But Clary is still here. And I thought to myself: Ciel Phantomhive will return.'

Yeah, but for Elizabeth, not me. I rolled my eyes. Dang it, Sebastian. You really do want me killed, don't you?

XxX

The moment Sebastian put Ciel down he was smacked in the face. 'What about Lizzie? What about Clarissa? I gave you orders, Sebastian! You couldn't save at least one of them?! What about our contra—'

'An order is not the same as a contract,' Sebastian said calm, not effected by Ciel's slap at all. 'Just as you give priority to order from the Queen, I prioritize your life.'

'And what about Clarissa?' Ciel asked again, after thinking about Sebastian's words for a while, looking into the eyes of a demon.

Sebastian tilted his head to the right, narrowing his eyes. 'What about her, Young Master?'

'You'd let something that you're interested in, no, I dare even to say feel attracted to, slip away from you like that?' Ciel smirked. 'Ha, you're not a worthy demon at all.'

A smile more devilish than the devil himself appeared not Sebastian's face. 'I have devoted myself to your service and protection all this time. I couldn't stand for you to be stolen from me now. You are a remarkable human, one that you do not find often these days. The only thing that Clarissa has that no other human has, is a soul I can't figure out. A soul I can't trust. I'd be better off without it.'

Then Ciel remembered something that did seem important afterwards. 'Well, then you might have a problem,' he said, 'since Grell said that Clarissa has an immortal soul.'

Sebastian just smiled. 'Well, maybe this is the perfect time to test that theory, don't you think?'

Ciel frowned, thought about the Queen's orders. About Elizabeth. Then he shove the ring that he'd taken from the doll in the entrance hall on his finger. 'It would seem that the ring is the mark of his next target,' he then said, feeling confident this time. He could outsmart his butler. 'And I have two of them. Protecting me now will no doubt require some effort.'

XxX

'Err, Drossel? I do appreciate the petting, I really do, but you're making me uncomfortable,' I said, trying to push him off me while also trying to see how Lizzie was doing. No change.

Drossel had brought me to the tower, which used to be an old watch-tower for London, but now was just an empty tower. Or so I thought. Apparently Drossel had used to tower to make dolls here. The fact that I was where now didn't calm me down, though Drossel had told me that he would wait for his last doll, and with last doll I meant Lizzie, to harden. So he had tilted me up to the ceiling, were there were wooden beams keeping the roof together, and we sat on one of the beams, I again on his lap.

And he wouldn't speak to me. He would just touch me, not even smiling at me. It looked like his expression was frozen into this strange, indifferent look.

And then I touched him. My finger touched the blue tattoo under his eyes and I almost teared up when I felt that his skin felt almost fake. And it wasn't warm. 'What happened to you?' I asked, but I didn't receive an answer. But I did believe that this Drossel, whatever happened to him, still loved me like he did back then. I just didn't love him… that way. Never did. Maybe that was what broke him. Maybe I broke him.

I heard them before I saw them. 'Lizzie!' Ciel screamed, making me look down at him as he ran towards the chair where a unmoving Elizabeth was sitting. He grabbed her shoulders. 'Lizzie?'

'Looks like we were a little too late,' Grell said, not sounding like he minded. I wasn't sure when Grell had re-joined the group, but then again I wasn't sure why they'd returned. Ciel returned for Lizzie. Sebastian had returned for Ciel. Grell had returned for Sebastian.

Ciel started to sound and look scared. 'No…' He shook her so hard that I thought he would break her, screaming: 'Lizzie! Lizzie! Lizzie!'

From this distance I wasn't sure, but it looked like Elizabeth responded and opened her eyes. This was an alert for Drossel, who shot up, still carrying me in his arms. Why the hell couldn't he just let me go for two seconds? It wasn't like I could go anywhere, since I was a human who couldn't survive a fall down. And it wasn't like I was going to test if Grell or Sebastian would catch me. I'd rather stay alive, thank you very much.

'Hmmmmm…?' Lizzie said, sounding so confused and tired that she almost sounded like the indifferent Drossel.

'Lizzie,' Ciel said, sounding relieved now. 'Thank goodness… But why—'

'Yes, why, indeed.' Drossel let me stand on my own on the beam, which was surprisingly scarier than being carried by him. Ieks! I really didn't want to fall down. He still had one arm wrapped around me though and he pulled me towards him with a strength that I didn't remember he had. With his free hand he seemed to pull something that at first glance I couldn't see, but then I saw a thin string on his finger, leading down to Elizabeth. He pulled and Elizabeth rose. It seemed like she was flying. But I saw the strings and knew that that wasn't the case. 'Why does her body move independent of her own will?'

They were looking around now, trying to find the place where Drossel was hiding. Drossel pulled again and this time, a strange sort of sword was flying through the room and ended in Elizabeth hands. 'And why does she hurt the one she loves?' he then said, making me look at him shocked.

Oh no.

Elizabeth seemed to realise as well, but Ciel didn't seem to care. The only thing he seemed to care about was Lizzie, who was swinging the sword at him while screaming and crying. 'No!' she screamed, but Sebastian pulled Ciel away before she could cause any damage.

I started to fight Drossel now, trying to get to the strings that made Elizabeth hurt Ciel. She kept screaming 'no' while Sebastian kept jumping across the room, saving Ciel again and again and again.

During this rescue mission, Sebastian somehow managed to talk to Grell with a calm and reasonable voice. Of course he could. 'Grell. You can see this too, can't you?' he asked and I realised he must be referring to the strings.

Grell did not look interested. He wasn't even helping. He just stood there. Maybe if I could scream and give away my—

As if Drossel had read my mind, the hand on my waist changed position and covered my mouth now.

'I suppose,' Grell said, looking at his nails. 'But I might chip my blades, so-'

Sebastian grabbed the sword when Elizabeth brought it to Ciel again. 'Please,' he asked Grell, his voice softer and kinder then he'd ever sounded to me.

Of course, that turned Grell on. 'Oh, Sebas-chan! You're asking me for something? In that case, during the kiss… can there be… can there be tongue?!'

Geez, this man with his strange tongue-fetish. I would've been more useful.

Of course, Sebastian hadn't heard about the deal that Ciel made with Grell yet. 'I haven't the faintest idea what you mean,' he said, holding the blade off with ease, but it was clear that it was harder to do than it seemed. 'But, in fact, I can tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue.'

Lol, had he read one of my magazines or something? I had one where they said that if you could tie a cherry stem in a knot with your tongue, you were an amazing kisser. Well, of course I could've known, because it's Sebastian we're talking about, but it still surprised me.

Grell seemed to understand that too. 'Oh yes!' He ran towards Elizabeth, who was still unwillingly trying to kill her loved one. 'It's unforgivable for a little girl like you to have a better blade than me.' And with those words, he attacked, cutting the strings off.

'Stop, Grell!' Ciel screamed, obviously thinking that Grell would kill Elizabeth. Which he didn't.

Elizabeth dropped on the ground. Literally like a puppet whose strings got cut. She lay there on the ground, not moving.

Ciel kneeled down before her, Sebastian following his example. 'Elizabeth…'

Drossel's hand slipped away from my mouth, back to my waist as Sebastian said 'it's a puppet's string'.

I wanted to scream, but then Grell opened his mouth and I kind of wanted to know what he would say. 'This sharp cut only comes with a death scythe. Well, Sebas-chan?' Was he fishing for compliments? 'I'm amazing, aren't I? Compliment me, compliment me!' Jup, definitely fishing for compliments.

'Good for you,' Sebastian said, sounding incredibly indifferent. 'Not just anyone would run with scissors.' I would have laughed if I wasn't standing on a high beam with my murderous, psychopathic childhood friend.

'Oh, I'm flattered to death!' Seriously, he actually believed that?

Then Sebastian looked up, at me. A small smile appeared on his face, but it was gone before it could bother me. 'And the puppet string leads to…'

Drossel really seemed indifferent, but his words just didn't match up his tone. 'So I thought to myself,' he said, pulling his free hand again. Strings appeared, trapping Ciel, Sebastian and Grell in silver-looking strings. 'What shall I use to make my new dolls?' He said, making me want to roll my eyes. Fetish, dude. Fetish.

'Then I'll ask you this… what are you made of?' Sebastian asked Drossel, while looking at me.

Oh. I got it now. I looked at Drossel, his skin, his eyes. His cold, cold body. He's also a doll.

But the strangest thing is that Drossel didn't seem to get that. 'Hmm? What am I… made of?' he said, looking only a bit troubled.

Sebastian was smiling now, that kind of smile that I didn't trust at all. It was the 'I'm going to kill you'-smile. 'Yes. You see, you don't seem to be made of very high-quality materials.'

Drossel's expression didn't change. 'So I thought to myself; "I know I must be human and yet lately I often find termites crawling out of my ears".'

Yikes. Too much details.

Sebastian then managed to kick the sword on the floor our way with his foot, making me and Drossel almost fall over. But Drossel managed to keep us standing with the help of his strings.

'Grell,' Sebastian said in a demanding voice.

I couldn't see what was going on until Sebastian appeared right in front of us, looking at Drossel while completely ignoring me. He jumped on another beam, holding the sword. 'I sense none of the way or the style of a butler in you,' Sebastian said, sounding angry because of that.

'Seriously?' I asked, pulling up an eyebrow. 'We're standing on this good-for-nothing beams with my psychopathic childhood friend and you want to talk about style?'

To my surprise, I wasn't ignored. 'You… know… him?' Drossel asked, tilting his head to the side like a puppet would do.

I wasn't sure why I felt guilty all of the sudden. 'Yes, I do,' I told him.

Sebastian clearly didn't want to have a conversation. He pulled the sword and I just saw, I just knew, that he was going to kill Drossel.

And me, because I was in the way.

And I understood. I got it. Maybe I was supposed to die. Maybe this was even my fault. I couldn't think. But in those seconds before death, everything slowed down. And I just looked at Sebastian and understood. I understood so perfectly well. He was a demon. And he did not care one bit if I died.

I knew that I had tears in my eyes, but I somehow managed to give him a small smile while he jumped towards us with the sword. Then I closed my eyes, ready to be killed by the hands of a demon.

And in that split second, I loved that demon.

But then I fell down on two layers of bodies and I hated him again.

I had landed on Drossel, whose had was broken and a strange looking material was gushing out. Gosh, how gross.

And under Drossel was Grell, who I somehow felt sorry for now. How'd that happen?

Then Sebastian jumped down and helped me up, looking at Ciel with a small smile. 'I would never lose to a man without style,' he told him and I could feel the grip on my waist tighten.

I just looked at him. Why had he spared me? I felt special for a few seconds before I realised that it most probably had something to do with an order Ciel gave him. Great. I knew Sebastian for quite some time now and I was still deceived. I never learned.

The attention then went from Sebastian to Drossel, who was laying on the ground. 'So he was a doll, too?'

I shook my head. 'No, he was a puppet.' I frowned. 'A puppet with a master.'

'I do believe that's true,' Sebastian said, 'the only thing this puppet seemed to know is that he had to obey his master and that he loved Clarissa.'

I managed to blush because of what he'd said. Great. My emotions weren't paying attention to the situation at all.

'Drossel Keinz,' Grell said, who had gotten up from under Drossel. 'His soul was collected five years ago, but for some reason, we detected signs of survival.'

I closed my eyes for a second. So my Drossel was indeed long gone. I looked back at the puppet. I wouldn't be sad. This wasn't something new. Drossel has already been dead for ages.

Sebastian closed his eyes for a second. 'Someone must have fitted him with a makeshift soul,' he said, making me curious. What did that mean? Gosh, I really did want to know more about him and his world. Though I actually did not want to know about Grell. I liked the clumsy Grell more than the I-love-Sebastian-more-than-you-do-Grell. He kind of creeped me out. That and the fact that we was more feminine than I was.

Lizzie opened her eyes again. Ciel was holding here in his arms, I hadn't noticed that until now. How romantic. 'Ciel…'

'Elizabeth!' he said, but it was clear that she was still in the process of becoming one off Drossel's dolls. Killing him didn't change that fact.

Ciel looked up at Sebastian. 'Isn't there anything we can do to reverse this?' he asked.

Sebastian shrugged, clearly not willing to think about that.

You know what to do, my dear sweet Clarissa. You can do it. Now, show me what you can do. I kneeled down besides Ciel. I felt a power, humming inside me ready to be used. 'Can I…?' I asked, reaching for Elizabeth.

Ciel nodded, letting me touch Elizabeth's face. I placed one hand on her cheek and the other one found the place where her heart was beating in her chest. Wonderful. Sweet. And Delicious.

What? Delicious? What the hell did I just…

Then I felt it. The poison, slowly tearing her heart apart until it would stop beating. I breathed in and let my instincts take over. 'Purify the unclean,' I said, so soft that I wasn't sure if I'd even said it. I felt the poison fleeing from me, from my hand, almost as if it knew that I was there. But I didn't let it. I took it. And then I melted it away, breathing it out with every single breath.

The moment I almost collapsed was the moment that Sebastian reached forward to catch me. 'Purple,' he said, looking deep into my eyes.

I didn't want to think about his words now, so I sat up to see if it worked. She seemed less doll-like now, but was still shining a bit.

'Ciel,' Elizabeth said, sounding so, so tired. 'I want to… give you a birthday party…'

For a moment Ciel looked shocked, almost scared, but then his expression soften and he just looked tired and sad. 'Yes… Please do,' he said, surprising everyone in the room.

Elizabeth smiled, seeming happy with just that, and closed her eyes. And as she fell asleep, the shining disappeared and she looked totally human again.

I did it.

But… how?!

I looked at Sebastian, hoping he would have an explanation, but he was staring at Drossel, making me frown and look too.

'You can rest easy,' I heard Ciel tell Elizabeth. 'It's all—'

'It's not all over, it appears,' Sebastian interrupted him as Drossel, or fake-Drossel, got up again, his voice sounding like a broken radio now.

'So I thought to myself: "I will report to my master".' His steps were almost a torture to watch, but no one stopped him. They just looked. And I felt like I had no strength in my body left, so I just looked as well. But seeing fake-Drossel in this state kind of made me want to cry.

'What's wrong with him?' Grell asked, clearly not understanding something. 'He's all torn up and he still wants to serve his master?'

Sebastian almost looked sad for a moment there. 'I can understand. You see, he's merely one hell of a butler.'

Drossel walked up to the only door that hadn't been opened yet and pushed it open while also collapsing. The last words on his lips being 'mas…ter…'.

And as I looked away, I felt that my tears did escape my eye.

But Ciel, Sebastian and Grell didn't hesitate. They ran inside the room Drossel had opened, wanting to see what was inside. His master? I didn't think so.

'I'm very sorry,' I could hear a voice say, a voice that sounded strangely familiar, making me curious enough to stand up too. But the three men blocked the doorway and I couldn't see a thing. 'My butler is so incompetent, I'm unable to offer you hospitality.'

'So you're behind this. Why would you make girls into dolls?' Ciel said, sounding all high and mighty again.

'Flowers, eras, and also people are only beautiful for finite moments,' he said, making me think about the words Drossel used to say to me. 'That's why demons are attracted to such creatures. Creatures that fade away like no demon ever will.' He was silent for a moment and even though I didn't look, I knew that Grell of Sebastian or both were looking at me. 'Doll-making is noble work,' the man went on, but I still couldn't see him. 'Preserving in this world the most beautiful and perfect people.'

Grell thought it was a good idea to open his mouth again. 'You've got awful taste! What's so perfect about immature little—'

Lucky enough for everyone present, Ciel interrupted him. 'Why are you after me?' Ciel asked the man.

I pushed Sebastian aside a little and stepped forward, now able to see the room with the large windows and the chair. We couldn't see who was sitting on it, since the chair faced the windows.

'I won't be made into a doll and lovingly displayed somewhere!' Ciel shouted, throwing the Hope piece from the doll in the entrance room to the chair.

'Know your place, boy,' the man said and I swear to god, I'd heard his voice before. But voices sounded alike, maybe it was just a coincidence? 'My butler's head is made of straw. I imagine he couldn't understand why I wanted you. I'm happy he died, though. Making a doll out of dear little Clarissa would have been a shame. The loss of a truly pure girl in this unclean world.'

I could almost feel Sebastian's eyes narrow and I shivered, didn't like the idea that suddenly everyone seemed to think I was pure. I'm not doing anything special, you guys! Not until I magically healed Elizabeth, that is.

'Ciel Phantomhive, you were fated to die from your very birth,' the man in the chair said. 'You're body is already unclean.'

Well, yeah. He is living with a demon who he made a contract with. I wouldn't be so pure either, if I was wicked enough to even summon a demon.

'Why do you know that?' Ciel said, but the way he said it made me feel like he was talking about something else than I was thinking about.

'I cannot allow someone like you to exist in this world,' he said and somehow, his voice started to sound strange, almost as if the pitched of the radio became worse and worse. 'Unclean, unnecessary, unfruitful… And therefor I tried to snuff you out.' The chair started to shake and his voice started to deform more and more. 'Snuff out the unclean, the unnecessary, the unfruitful… Snuff him out! Snuff him out! Snuff him out! Snuff him out!'

Then Ciel couldn't have it anymore. 'Don't play games with me!' he screamed, running towards the chair, while the man kept screaming 'snuff him out! Snuff him out!'.

Whatever was in the chair, it shocked Ciel. Sebastian and Grell immediately came in action and for some reason, Sebastian dragged me along.

In the chair was a dummy of a man. And on the man's lap was… a small doll. And as we looked at it, the doll got up. He screamed and then jumped off the chair, running away laughing. He even jumped over fake-Drossel's dead body.

'Catch it, Sebastian!' Ciel screamed, but Sebastian didn't move.

'The person who's manipulating it isn't here, my Lord,' he said, sounding strangely fascinated. 'I now notice that there were invisible strings all over the room. Not a very nice thing, I must say.'

XxX

It was already morning when we walking out of the tower. Sebastian was carrying Elizabeth in his arms, like a princess. I do believe Elizabeth would've appreciate it much more if Ciel was the one to carry her, but since I didn't think Ciel could manage Elizabeth's weight, I didn't say anything.

'Sebas-chan!' Grell said as soon as we were outside, trying to jump Sebastian. 'Now for our passionate kiss!' He screamed, making me pull a face. Ugh, please, not now. No one wants to see that.

Sebastian ducked when Grell jumped, making Grell fall on the ground. 'What shall we do, young master?' Sebastian asked Ciel. 'Would you like me to avenge Madam Red now?'

Grell got up, clearly not liking that idea. 'Fine, I'll keave your lips for next time! Bye-bye!' he said, running off with a speed no human could have.

Sebastian looked ready to go after him, with Elizabeth still in his arms for God's sake, but Ciel stopped him. Well, if he hadn't, I would've. 'No. Not today,' Ciel said. He stepped forward and touched Elizabeth's cheek and that simple touch made me realise that he might love the girl than I thought he did. But I also understood why he didn't let her know. It would only be harder for her… when he… left. 'I don't want the scent of blood to reach Elizabeth any more than it already has,' he said, so gently.

Then Sebastian looked at me, with a human-loathing expression on his face. I almost smiled. That guy really didn't get humans at all.

XxX

End of this chapter! Woohoo! And three hours till 2015! (at least for me)