Seasnake: Ah, finally. I did not mean for this to take so long. Fight scenes apparently take me extra time to write. I'll be more prompt with the next chapter, promise.
"Wait!" Ciel shouted. He had heard the explosion and could now smell smoke but that didn't mean… The mansion couldn't be on fire again. It just couldn't. "Put me down!" he ordered but was ignored. Ciel squirmed against the arm holding him. "I said put me down!" He was not being carried out of his house against his will. He was an earl, people followed his orders. This didn't happen to him anymore. "Let me go!" Those last words sounded more like a plead than a command. A part of Ciel's brain that wasn't overwhelmed by panic felt disgusted for begging like a child.
"Lord Ciel, we aren't safe yet." Ciel glared up at Agni who still held him off the ground despite his struggles. Ciel could feel the night air around him now and turned to stare at his mansion. The flames had almost completely claimed the bottom story of the house. Red light glowed from every window and even at this distance he could hear the structure starting to groan. Soma ran beside Agni as they moved away from the house. Ciel barely registered the prince was there. Bile rose in the boy's throat but he swallowed it back down. Everything was burning again. He squeezed his eye lids shut but could still feel the heat and smell the smoke. This didn't feel real. The fires from his recent nightmares. The smell of a hot metal poker burning his own flesh. It was too much.
"Sebastian!" He did the one thing his frantic mind could think of. "Sebastian!" Ciel yelled for the demon he had summoned to prevent this from happening again.
"Ciel, Ciel, it's alright," Soma was the one to respond to his panicked yelling.
"Put. Me. Down." The boy spat venous words at Agni. This time the man obeyed and carefully lowered him to the ground.
"Lord Ciel, I'm sorry. You weren't moving and…" Agni broke off as Ciel jerked away from him angrily.
"Ciel," Soma said reassuringly and tried to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Ciel stepped back and viscously smacked Soma's hand away.
"Don't touch me," Ciel snapped. Without another word he turned away from the two Indians. Soma and Agni stood, shocked and hurt by the boy's actions.
"Young Master!" Finnian and Maylene came running towards them.
"Are you unhurt?" Agni quickly asked.
"I'm fine, I am."
"Yeah," they both confirmed.
"What happened? Something exploded," Soma spoke but scanned the front yard looking for everyone else instead of waiting for an answer. "Agni did you see where Aliya went?"
"What? You lost sight of Aliya!" Ciel rounded on the prince.
"She just…" Soma started to say but Ciel interrupted him.
"Sebastian!" he shouted again.
"I am here, my lord." Sebastian walked calmly towards the others. Ciel let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when he saw that Aliya was with him.
"Aliya, you scared me," Soma sighed when he saw the girl.
"Sorry," she apologized.
"Hey! I need some help over here!" Bard's voice made everyone turn. The cook staggered towards the others while helping Tanaka walk upright.
"Tanaka!" Maylene and Finnian ran over to help support the older man.
"No, I'm alright." Tanaka managed to smile. "It's only my arm. I'll be fine." Fine wasn't a word to describe the condition of Tanaka's right hand and forearm. His skin was charred black and covered with blisters.
Sebastian looked ready to put Aliya down and go help but Agni beat him to it. "Sit down here," Agni instructed Tanaka to lean against the trunk of a tree. He very gently took the man's right arm to look at.
"Is it bad?" Soma peeked over Agni's shoulder. He then made a disgusted face at the severe burns and looked away.
"It's not fair you got hurt," Finny whined as he sat next to Tanaka. Maylene and Bard hovered nearby and Ciel just stood a few feet away from everyone else with his arms crossed.
"Will his fingers still function?" Sebastian addressed Agni. Aliya watched the whole scene silently from his shoulder.
"Yes, if he receives proper medical attention." Agni answered. He didn't have anything else to use as bandages so he unwrapped the cloth from his own hand to place carefully around Tanaka's. "This will only keep the wound from getting worse."
"I had a burn kit in the house," Bard muttered and lit a cigarette for himself.
"I see you managed to save a few things," Ciel commented darkly to Sebastian.
"It was the most I could do given the situation." Sebastian carefully placed the papers into a pile on the ground. He would probably need both hands free soon.
"Ciel," Aliya leaned over from her seat in Sebastian's arms to pass Ciel his revolver. The boy took it without a word.
"Did the rest of you take anything on the way out?" Sebastian asked the others. He made sure his tone didn't sound mean or accusatory if they had failed to do so.
"No," Finny shook his head sadly.
"I brought my rifle, I did," Maylene held up the weapon. She had saved it as part of an old sniper instinct to never leave one's weapon behind.
"Just what I happened to have with me," Bard pulled out a hand gun and a few ammo clips. "Nothing valuable."
"Maylene do you have ammunition?" Sebastian checked.
"Uh…a little," the maid stuttered.
"Why does that matter?" Ciel barely managed to keep his voice below a shout. His entire home was on fire and his fucking demon was worried about the servants being armed?
"I'm afraid we have company." Sebastian turned his back to the burning house and looked directly at a patch of shade. "As you can see we are a tad busy at the moment, perhaps you could come back later?" Everyone stared as William T. Spears took a few steps forward to be visible in the light of the fire.
"No," he answered bluntly.
"Spears? What are you doing here?" Ciel demanded.
"My superiors have business with your dog. He will come with me now." William pushed his glasses up his nose with his weapon. Soma, Agni, and the servants glanced about but didn't say anything.
"Who the hell are you calling a dog? You…" Aliya leaned forward angrily.
"Hush." Sebastian placed his free hand over her mouth before she could finish. William eyed Aliya but didn't comment. "Young Master, they blame me for the incidents in London."
"Are you out of your mind?" Ciel shouted furiously. He gestured at the burning house behind them. "Do you think Sebastian did that? And her? Don't you know what she is?" He pointed to Aliya. "We're under attack by the same person. If you want to catch her we should…"
"We don't believe in such things," William talked over the earl. Ciel glared dangerously at the reaper. William snapped his fingers once. The sound reverberated through the night air over the noise of the fire. A dozen more figures appeared behind William. "He has failed to cooperate, put him down like the vermin his is." He instructed the other shinigami. A collective gasp came from the humans who didn't understand what was going on. "No matter who gets involved," Spears added in a cold voice as he surveyed the humans and Aliya. The girl's mouth was still covered so she settled for making an obscene hand gesture.
"C…Ciel, who…what?" Soma found his voice before anyone else.
"They are here to kill me," Sebastian flashed smile over his shoulder at the humans.
"What!" Bard, Finny, and Maylene shouted in unison. Soma ducked behind Agni as the armed attackers suddenly formed a circle around the group. Ciel held a glaring match with William T. Spears.
"My orders haven't changed, Sebastian," he stated without breaking eye contact with the reaper.
"Yes, my lord." Sebastian bowed and set Aliya on the ground. The shinigami drew near with all their weapons held ready.
"Mister Sebastian," the servants looked about in distress. Tanaka still sat against the tree, feeling useless. Agni was counting the advancing enemies and taking stock of their weaponry.
"Listen all of you," Sebastian quickly addressed those on his side of the fight. "Our opponents will likely ignore you. Use that to your advantage. Aim for their lungs and heart, don't waste bullets on their brains." William broke his staring match with Ciel. He shot his spear out towards the demon. Sebastian sidestepped easily but the humans stared at the strange weapon with alarm. "Remove their heads from their shoulders if you can. Most of them are nearsighted without their glasses, aim for those as well." Sebastian didn't pause for a second. "Tanaka, kindly watch the Young Master. Finnian, don't hold back. Aliya, do not make yourself an easy target." A blond man holding a saw jumped forward to attack Sebastian. He blocked the reaper's wrist, so the weapon didn't even graze his skin, then easily kicked the man away. "Everyone watch out for their weapons. Any injury in the torso or head will be fatal, this goes for you too, Aliya."
"Just a scratch?" Aliya asked.
"Any gash in the abdomen or chest, or being decapitated is fatal," he clarified.
Before anyone else could say another word the reapers charged. Sebastian ran forward to meet them half-way so they wouldn't get too close to the children. He immediately ducked under one's wide swing and punched another. The ones on the far side of the circle took a few steps closer but seemed to ignore the humans and just watched their comrades fight Sebastian. The humans however, didn't ignore them.
"Go away!" Finny grabbed the nearest weapon, a cobblestone, from the ground and hefted it an enemy. The stone smashed into the woman's skull, causing her to fall over. Bard shot his hand gun straight into the chest of one blond man. Maylene pushed up her glasses and started to load her weapon.
"Agni," Soma glanced up at his butler who hadn't stepped away from his side. "Go help Sebastian. I'll watch Ciel and Aliya."
"Jo aagya." Agni nodded. He ran to the nearest reaper and struck him squarely in the jaw. Soma went to stand by Ciel. The young earl still stood with his arms crossed. Tanaka was on his feet but leaned against the tree while he kept an eye on the boy. Aliya watched her father and held her hand nervously by her mouth as if she were about to start biting her nails.
"Ciel, who are these guys?" Soma asked.
"Reapers," he said without emotion or further explanation.
"What?" Soma blinked. A man in a suit flew through the air only five feet away from the children before crashing into the ground and rolling across the grass. Soma jumped and whipped his head around to look at the fallen man, Aliya and Ciel didn't spare a glance.
"I'm going to fight," Aliya decided. She grabbed the top of her skirt and started to tear the fabric. She had her gray pants on but no extra top so the skirt had to go.
A sudden terrible scream caused everyone to freeze. They turned to watch as Bard hollered and jerked backwards a few paces. Luckily he managed to hold onto his manliness while still sounding completely terrified. "I just shot you!" He pointed accusingly at the man that was currently struggling to his feet.
"Ow, it hurts," the blond man leaned on the handle of his lawnmower to help stand. He coughed up a little blood and held the red spot on his suit with a wince. Aside from the pain he showed, he was very clearly not dead.
"How's he doing that?" Finny grabbed Bard's sleeve. Maylene was in her sniper mode so she just stared. Soma gaped with an open mouth and latched onto Ciel's shoulders. Whether this was for his protection or Ciel's was unclear. Even Agni paused to watch. The woman the Finny had smashed with a stone sat up and rubbed her head and the man with the lawnmower just continued to grimace and poke his chest.
"They aren't human. If you want to do any real damage," Sebastian took advantage of the intermission to catch an unsuspecting reaper in a headlock. "You must remove their limbs." For a visual aid he twisted the man's head completely around. The shinigami started moving again before the humans had time to register this news. Bard and Finny stood momentarily flustered until Maylene shot one through the heart.
"Human or not, they are trying to kill us," she said in a stony voice. Her words sobered the others. Bard gritted his teeth then took a step forward and cracked the reaper he had just shot in the face with his pistol. The young man yelped and fell down again.
"Mister Sebastian said not to hold back," Finny said mostly to himself as he picked up another rock.
Soma and Agni exchanged a glance. Agni made sure that Soma wanted him to continue fighting before he turned to aid Sebastian. Tanaka still stood against the tree, surprisingly unfazed by the whole situation. Ciel refused to change his expression and Aliya focused on ripping her skirt off. Agni kicked one of the reapers that tried to attack Sebastian from behind. He tried to stand by the Sebastian's side but the man was darting about staggeringly fast. Alarmingly, the inhuman blade wielders seemed to be just as fast as he was. Agni suddenly felt very concerned, he wasn't sure if he could keep up with this fight. Sebastian had beheaded one opponent, which Agni didn't necessarily agree with but he recognized this was a life or death situation and therefore wouldn't stop Sebastian from killing, but was staying just one dodge ahead of the men and women that swarmed around him. Agni had to wonder how long Sebastian could keep up with this many opponents.
"What are 'reapers'?" Soma asked. Ciel took a moment to come up with an answer that the Indian would understand.
"Beings who judge human souls before they enter the afterlife," he said concisely. Soma hardly had time to process that as a strange man charged their group.
"I'm going to cut you up!" Grell revved his chainsaw. Tanaka stepped forward before even Aliya could react but he needn't have bothered. A grip on the reaper's long hair stopped him before he reached the children.
"We do not harm humans that are not on our list," William lectured and gave an extra yank on Grell's hair for good measure.
"I was aiming for the half-breed brat!" he wailed.
"I was hoping to see you again." Aliya very calmly walked forward and kicked the reaper as hard as she could in the-place-you-don't-want-to-be-kicked. Grell crumpled over and Aliya was ready to take his head off. Fortunately, William came to his subordinate's aid. "You're willing to kill me?" Aliya protested as a jab from Will forced her to retreat backwards.
"Yes." William positioned his weapon as if to attack her again but never got a chance because a silver butter knife cleanly knocked his glasses off. Suddenly blinded, William didn't have time to dodge the malicious punch Aliya aimed at his face. As the reaper clutched his broken nose Aliya grabbed his weapon with both hands and turned it clockwise until his wrist snapped, forcing the man to let go.
"Hah! Got your weapon." Aliya twilled the spear in her palm.
"Filth." William grumbled as he reached inside his jacket pocket to retrieve both his extra pair of glasses and backup spear.
"Aliya!" Soma warned. The girl ducked as a man swiped at her with a long knife. Unperturbed by her evasion, the man stabbed again. Aliya held up her arm to block. Soma yelped but Aliya didn't blink as the blade plunged between her radius and ulna with a shower of blood that dotted her face red. She regarded the tip of the knife which had frozen less than a centimeter in front of her eye then smirked at the shinigami.
"Your blade is too short." Before he could pull away Aliya lunged. With a small grunt she rammed the spear that she still held in her left hand into the brown haired reaper's gut. A dull clicking sound and a white glow came from the stab wound. Confused, Aliya drew back. A filmstrip exploded from the reaper's abdomen and hovered in the air as the images started to slide into focus. "Whoa," Aliya breathed. The girl marveled at the cinematic record as if it were the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
"Get away from him!" The blond man with a saw charged Aliya. She obediently backed away when he swung his death scythe at her. Aliya gone, the reaper supported his injured friend, who stood oddly frozen with both hands hovering near his stomach. A few others rushed to their comrade's side so Aliya continued walking backwards until she bumped into Soma.
"Aliya, your arm," the prince was mystified by the supernatural record but more concerned about his friend.
"Huh?" She glanced down at the knife that was embedded in her forearm to the hilt. "I forgot about that." She stabbed the spear into the dirt so it stood upright then carelessly yanked the knife out. Even with her long sleeves, Soma could see the wound start to heal. "I'm sorry, Soma," Aliya held out her arm to show him. "I didn't want you to… you deserve better than…" She bit her lip guiltily.
"I knew it," Soma blinked as the knife wound closed. The prince had no idea what to say but that hardly mattered as angry reapers turned on Aliya.
"Die, vermin!" The first reaper to come close was swiftly repelled by Tanaka. Ciel uncrossed his arms in favor of his revolver now that some reapers had taken notice of them.
"Get out of our way," one reaper snapped at Tanaka. Soma wrapped his arms around Aliya protectively when he saw all the murderous stares she was getting.
"Hmph, do you even know what you're guarding?" Grell had finished throwing up in the bushes and now joined the Murder Aliya Party. He held his chainsaw in one hand and regarded the humans, especially Soma and Tanaka, with an exasperated look.
"I protect Master Ciel and his companions," Tanaka answered calmly.
"That's a dumb question," Soma smiled. "I'm guarding my friends."
"Soma," Aliya gazed up at him.
"You're…" Grell started to say something in a haughty tone of voice. He was interrupted by Ciel shooting him in the face. Ciel watched Grell's head explode and his body hit the ground with deep satisfaction.
"I am Earl Ciel Phantomhive, Sebastian and Aliya Michaelis belong to me. I don't care who or what you are, I will not tolerate anyone threatening my possessions." His chilling words froze all the nearby reapers in place, except for one.
"Brave words," William T. Spears adjusted his glasses and met the thirteen year old's icy stare. "Can you enforce them?"