Pairings: Alois/Doll.

Genre: Romance, Supernatural.

Notes:

Hey Everyone, Zancrowe Here!

As a fan of the Kuroshitsuji manga far more than of the anime, I can still see Alois and his group appearing in the canon storyline. I mean, Paula made it, why can't he? Also, I rather liked Doll, so I wanted to do something with her. Alois x Doll, unheard of! I think? Scenarios like this are the ones I adore writing, which could happen in canon, but obviously did not. For all intent and purposes, this is set on the manga Chapter 24 and (if the anime is taken to account, which would only count Alois' storyline and not the whole Ciel and Sebastian vs. Ash/Angela thing) right before the first episode of season 2. Hence the reason why Hannah still has both of her eyes.

This story does have a semi-sequel, which you can find in my page titled: "Year One". It's a Our-Ciel / Lizzy story, but one that will be featuring both Alois & Doll rather prominently. Do check it out if you enjoyed this little piece.

Disclaimer: Don't own Kuroshitsuji / Black Butler / Majordomo Negro.

"Hannah!"

The shout echoed throughout the manor, a thunderous boom loud enough to frighten the nearby birds into flying away yet had no noticeable effect on the workers within the walls of the Trancy household. Most of them, at the very least. They had all gotten quite used to the yelling and screaming that came at nearly every waking moment courtesy of their Lord, most often than not being directed at the maid.

This time another cup of tea had been spilled, causing the young Earl of Trancy to shout at his servant, who without trying to shutter or stutter, quickly got on her way to cleaning it. For the young Earl, however, it was highly annoying. Even if most of the time he would simply spill things on purpose just so he could see Hannah squirm under his threats; this time he had genuinely wanted to take a sip of the blasted thing only for it to spill all over the table. He also genuinely considered it her fault, for some reason.

"Hurry up and go get more tea. I just ate a mouthful of biscuits and I have them stuck on my throat. Or do you want me to choke here?" he obnoxiously asked as he swung around the newspaper he had been reading, or pretending to read anyway, like some sort of flyswatter while hitting Hannah on the head repeatedly. As she muttered an apology, she was quick to use the nearby towels to dry most of the mess up, yet leaving a little bit unattended for due to the lack of drying material. She was about to leave briefly to fetch more, but was stopped by a tug of her skirt by her master.

Said master would have wanted to smack her or something at that moment, which she thought was what he was going to do, but all she received was the newspaper and a gesture to use that as a drying cloth replacement. Being on the verge of oxygen deprivation did wonders for people, Hannah was quick to note.

As she did as instructed, she was stopped by a hand quickly grabbing the titular piece of the newspaper and violently tugging it out of her hands. The young blond was quick to grab the piece and examine it, as his eyes narrowed. Half expecting another preach or worse due to her simply following orders, as one does in this household, she was instead surprised by how childlike his voice sounded.

"What's this here?" he asked, and at that moment she stopped to briefly see him looking at the page rather intently, and afraid to answer since she couldn't tell if he had asked her or himself the question. A rather forced "Hmm?" followed, which made her realize it had been the former.

"Y-Your Highness," she shuttered, inwardly, "It reads about the disappearance of children all over –"

"Not that you moron!" the youth shouted again, nearly slamming the newspaper on her face while pointing at a segment a bit to the end of the page. "This! What's this?!"

"Oh…? That's a circus announcement your Highness. It's a type of show with many attractions and games," she replied, even if she wasn't sure if he had even bothered to listen to anything she said after the word "circus", but he did mutter a "oh" afterwards. This was followed by the last dry newspaper ending in the floor while her master quickly stood up, slamming both of his opened palms onto the table as his chair fell backwards onto the floor resulting in a loud booming noise. "Claude! Hannah! Tell the other three to clean up the mess Hannah made, we're going to the circus!"

-0-

Alois Trancy liked the simple things in life. He was proud of himself because of it. Despite all his wealth, he loved a day out in order to see what the common people saw in order to enjoy themselves. He could understand why they saw these things and why they spend their days in such a manner. The unorthodox display which now stood before him was clear evidence of all of this…

The above paragraph is complete bullshit, as noted by Alois Trancy himself. Instead, he took great pleasure in being the exact opposite of that, and he could never fathom why such simple-minded people took interest in such idiotic things.

"This… is a circus? Who in the right mind would call this wasteland anything that resembles entertainment?" the young Earl screeched as he stomped on the ground as if it held any particular meaning, as both Claude and Hannah stood at his side. Hannah merely looked around, as it didn't even seem like the place was all that filled up as the newspaper had made her believe it usually got.

Claude, for his part, merely stood on the side, his expression unreadable as always.

"What a bore… Oh well, let's get this over with. We've got to entertain our dear Hannah at least," their Master noted, and the way he said it made her cringe, as she tried to avoid direct eye contact with him. One of these days she felt he would rip her eyes out by just looking at him the wrong way. He seemed to pick up her train of thoughts, somehow, and continued. "Don't get your hopes up moron; you're here just to pay out of your miserable salary –"

"This attraction is free," Claude intercepted, his eyes somehow glued to the Circus' logo, which had a rather big paper taped onto it which read: "Closed". He didn't feel it necessary to let his Master know, thought.

"…huh?" Alois' eyes narrowed. "We're so out of here."

Turning to walk away, the young Earl was stopped at the sight of one of the performers passing by the trio. His appearance was certainly circus-like, but it was his arm that caught the attention of the blond. A skeletal arm, which seemed to have belonged to the grim reaper himself. The attention to detail was so fascinating that it looked very real, which made Alois wonder just what type of show were this people putting up… or hiding.

"Claude…" the boy who now sported a devilish grin began.

"Yes your Highness?" Claude merely looked on with passing interest at the young boy, having noticed at just what had glued the boy's eyes back towards the back area of the circus tent. Having known Alois Trancy for a while, he had a very good idea at just how useless this little endeavor would be. And how he had no chance at getting out of it.

"I'll check something around back, accompany me for a bit," he ordered, and at this he turned to his other servant, "Hannah! I'm hungry. Go fetch me something to eat while Claude and I go out back. Don't let me catch you in my sights if you're not holding snacks!"

"Y-Yes, your highness," she replied with a soft curtsy. At this, she was left alone as Alois happily skipped towards the tent, with a rather forced Claude sighing behind. She did give the place a good last look though, since there was something off about it all. Still, she was sure Claude must have felt it too.

In the meantime, she had better find some snacks…

Alois and Claude made their way towards the tents rather quickly, since the young blonde was rather pushy in all aspects of his life. The back area was filled with many a things, ranging from props and dangerous looking equipment (which caused Alois' eyes to sparkle) to different cages housing a variety of animals (which caused Claude to frown, he hated cats). What interested Alois the most, however, was nowhere to be seen. "Now where did the skeleton guy run off to?"

"Sir," Claude voice in monotone, a single pointed finger causing Alois to look upwards, just as the lights of the place were flickered off except for one strategically placed beaming light aimed at a tightrope nearing the ceiling. Before Alois could call Claude childish for showing him such an uninteresting thing, he saw someone take a step into the tightrope. That certainly caught his eye.

It was a very peculiarly dressed girl, whose hair covered almost half of her face and whose dress reminded Alois of a fat swan. Regardless, the girl in question walked with outmost excellence against the thin line of rope, something which quickly bored the young Earl. He also saw that a few other people were at the bottom of the poles that held the ropes, which he figured were also performers judging by their appearance. But he still couldn't see the skeleton armed man.

At that moment, he got an idea.

"Claude," he instructed as he moved his head to be in earshot of his butler, who bowed slightly to listen to whatever insanity would be spoken by the boy. "Make her fall."

The girl then tripped, as the umbrella she had been holding flew and fell towards the empty stands, her body giving way to her weight and pulling her onto the side. A collective gasp and shout was heard by those there, all in an instant trying to figure out what to do. Alois merely smiled. "Damn… You're getting even faster Claude."

"It wasn't me."

"Huh?"

Before Alois could form the question proper, the corner of his eye caught glimpse of the falling girl not falling, instead spinning once against the tightrope as she landed gracefully back onto rope. Getting an eyeful of everything under the girl's skirt, which at least looked more appealing than Hannah, for whatever that was worth, Alois merely looked on as the girl skipped her way across the tightrope, reaching the other pole in a matter of moments.

"You scared the living shit out of me Doll!" one of the bystanders, performers, whatever, said. She was a rather well-endowed female who dressed slutty, which also reminded him a little of his own maid. He dislikes this woman now.

"Just let the brat fall, she's only showing off," another said, and by what Alois could perceive, it came from a young boy who was seating against the stands with another young girl standing next to him. His eyebrow rose at the notion of calling the other girl a brat, considering how bratty those two looked. Before he could continue listening, he was interrupted by Claude, who merely tilted his head to the side.

"Now, now. Let the princess do her thing," another one spoke, and Alois smile returned; it was the skeleton. The man in question merely stood near the base of the pole "the princess" was casually seated at. He stared up at her. "Doll, dear. I can vouch that new antics are fine and all, but if you trip and fall and die it will look bad for us. So, please, stick with the script."

"As you wish Joker, but you have to promise if I practice it enough you'll at least gimme a chance!" Doll, as he called her, said with a scoff. She crossed her arms and cocked her head to the side, grinning at the older man. Joker, as she called him in turn, merely returned the smile. "Besides," she continued ever so cheerily, closing her one visible eye. Was she winking or were her eyes closed, Alois could not tell. "Those folks ain't seen anything like it. They gonna love it!"

"I concur," Joker replied, as his smiled shifted a bit. "We have to guests who saw the whole thing and were left rather speechless it would seem."

At this everyone turned to face the Earl of Trancy and his butler, both of which merely blinked in acknowledgement. "Who? Us?" Alois asked, pointing at themselves.

"Correct you are young lad," Joker replied as he turned to face the youth, as Alois merely stared at his arm. Such a well-made contraption. If only Claude would rip it off, then he could – "And what brings you to the show so early, are you fine gentlemen so eager to see some action that you couldn't wait for the curtains to rise?"

"Huh? Yeah, sure, let's go with that!" Alois clapped, as he would usually do. "Bravo, bravo. Mister Joker sir, you are fa~bu~lous!"

"The bloody hell?! It was me walking the thing!" Doll screeched, quickly cutting in, having somehow gotten down from the pole a few instances before. Alois couldn't care less. "At least gimme my proper respect!"

"Bravo to you, now shut your trap and let me speak to the man," Alois just mouthed, giving off another clap right at Doll's face, before he turned back towards Joker. At this Doll felt a vein pop and her blood outright boil.

"Why ya little –!"

"Enough princess, don't be rude to our guests. Everyone, take three," Joker instructed as he did some clapping of his own as the circus freaks were quick to move and rearrange themselves and began to prepare the props and gadget-thingies. There were more of them than Alois had originally thought, as one man in particular caught his eye. The way he had appeared to have slithered his way out of the very darkness itself reminded Alois too much of a snake. "Now then, gentlemen," Joker spoke again, causing Alois to turn back to him. "Since you two are already here, allow me to show you around. Please, come with me."

As Alois grinned at the invitation (poor fool), and Claude just sighed, Doll looked on, frowning. There was just something off about this guy…

For a moment, Alois thought that maybe they were going to get beat up for being their uninvited. Joke would be on them anyway since Claude could easily kill them all in a heartbeat, which made Alois a bit disappointed when Joker merely took them on a very short tour, then right around back (or was it up front?) to ask them who they were and if they had liked the preview they had gotten. That meant he had to think of another way to get that arm…

Also, where was his damn snacks?!

"I see, you're the Earl of the Trancy family. I'm so sorry for treating you with such familiarity, Milord. I hope we have not offended you at all," Joker said with a bow, as Alois merely blinked.

"Not really. I don't give a bloody ass about my title. Actually, I didn't even want to mention it," he replied, giving extra emphasis to the last word as it was directed at Claude, who merely fixed the position of his glasses with his index finger in response. "…Anyways, you have a very fine establishment here Mister Joker; I found it all very amusing and whatnot."

"I'm glad to hear that," Joker replied, true to his name, in all smiles. "Though I wouldn't go as far as to call this an "establishment"."

"I was merely ass-kissing," Alois noted off-handedly, which seemed to actually catch the elder man off-guard. Before Joker, whose eyes visibly twitched, could respond; another member of the circus gang popped his head out of one of the tents. Alois merely gave the figure a sideway glance before returning his attention to Joker. Joker also noticed the boy, and smiled.

"Freckles, come here for a sec," he instructed as he motioned his index finger at the boy, who just scoffed. He did, however, walk towards the older man and the men from the Trancy Estate.

"Whatcha want Joker? I have to go prepare –"

"The show won't start for about another fifteen minutes or so. Why don't you give our Lord Trancy here a small tour around our campus?" he asked, and Alois noticed two things about Joker's statement. One, he emphasized "Lord" way too much for Alois' liking. Two, it seemed more like a demand than an actual question. Freckles, as he was called, frowned but nodded.

"Then let's go, my Lord," Freckles (what an idiotic name) replied, turning to Alois. Sarcasm never went unnoticed by Alois, since he was very proficient in it himself. Freckles feigned respect, but before Alois could even consider having Claude rip him a new one, he was grabbed by the sleeve and pulled away from the two elder men.

"What the hell?! Let me go you damn frill; you're escorting me not taking me hostage! Claude!" he practically wailed, turning to face his butler, who still didn't give a damn. "I'll be right back I guess. Oh… And get that idiot Hannah here with my snack!"

"Geez, you're a royal pain in the ass for a noble, aren't cha?" Freckled spoke up, finally letting go of him as they approached a few cages around back. Alois was quick to wipe the imaginary dust off his sleeve, as Freckles merely studied him.

"It's Earl Trancy, not noble. And we're supposed to be a pain. That's why you clowns are beneath us, remember?" he noted with a little smirk. However, instead of getting an annoyed response from the guy, Freckles merely chuckled. At this Alois eyebrow raised, as he wondered just how much of a freak you had to be in order to get into a circus.

"An Earl? In those girly shorts?"

A devilish smile. "They keep my jewels packed. I like it."

An even bigger grin. "You actually have a pair?"

"Much more than you freak," Alois merely responded, already grown tired of the conversation. If the kid wasn't so easily offended, then this wasn't fun at all.

"Got me there!" Freckles cheerfully said as he turned back to his original smile, without the slightest hint of mockery. Alois felt a bit disturbed. He unintentionally wondered why this boy's self-esteem had hit rock bottom, or maybe being an Earl meant having a bigger manhood. He wasn't sure.

"…That's sad to hear."

"But it's true, see…" she said, he'd come to learn, as her hand grabbed his, and was instantly placed on her crotch. For a moment his eyes widened, his fingers feeling up something that was most definitely not the parts he had been expecting. Granted, he had not been expecting to grab anyone there at all today, but still. He still quickly removed his hand as if it had been burned, eyes still wide. "So it's true ya have a bigger package, but that's not saying much," Freckles noted with a grin that carried no modesty whatsoever. "Actually, I'm sure my clit is probably bigger than your thingy."

"Huh…?" Alois noted, hating how he could still feel her warmth in his hand. "So you're a…?"

"I'm a girl, glad I cleared that up for ya!" she said with a wink, or did she just blink? What was with this place and people with just one eye? Freckles then turned towards the cages. "Come, the animals ain't gonna show themselves to ya."

It had not been his intention to merely go along with it, but he followed her anyways. She showed him around the area, introducing him to the members whose stage names he couldn't care less for and the variety of attractions each one of them did which he simply ignored. Instead, he noticed that Joker wasn't the only one with a type of prosthetic in his body, but none of the others caught his eye.

"And that be all of them. Us, I mean," Freckles concluded with a rather boyish bow, as Alois merely grinned.

"Fool, you missed one. What about the so-called Doll who was walking on the rope. She at least had some talent in her, as opposed to the rest of you useless idiots. Yet, you don't even introduce her to me. Don't tell me she's all pissed off about me ignoring her back there. Or are you all just jealous of her?" he concluded with a shit-eating grin, crossing his arms across his chest, expecting a shutter for a response. Instead he got…

"I am Doll. I though ya realized it when you touched my cunt," she flatly replied, and for once, a very bright blush adorned his face, but whether it was because of being reminded of the crotch-grab or being proven wrong, Doll couldn't really tell. She found it absolutely priceless anyways. Before he could even mutter something, Doll continued. "And thanks though for calling me talented. Means a lot, my Lord."

A cute little feminine curtsy.

"…Oh fuck off with that," he merely spat back, turning his eyes to the side. This was not how he had planned on spending his afternoon at all.

She smiled, before hearing the long-distance sound of the incoming crowd, signaling the upcoming start of the show. "That's all for tha tour little Earl, business a calling. Just walk back thataway," she instructed, pointing towards… somewhere, "And you'll be back up front with your manservant."

As she signaled him and began to move away, Alois merely narrowed his eyes. "What happened to your other eye?"

She froze, momentarily. "Wut?"

"Hmm?" he mouthed, before he turned to face her, and for once, she saw genuine curiosity in his eyes. Her only eye widened a bit, before smiling.

"Just some small abuse is all. My mum and pops felt it necessary to apply punishment for things I did; this was for something very bad," she lied, sort-of. Alois studied her, briefly. She studied back. Getting a good luck at the boy, she felt her cheeks redden a bit, since he had a rather peculiar look that with such a serious face made him look… well, she didn't want to describe it.

"That it?" he asked, and she frowned, as he merely cocked his head to the side. She didn't get to argue however, as he added. "Abuse comes and goes, but the important thing is to be there when it stops, to still be there. And to get even when it really matters."

"Earl, did ya…?"

"I've told the Joker guy that I dislike my title, since the name of Trancy is just a load of bull in my opinion. Just bloody crap. Still, I pried the title out of the former's cold dead hands, and I couldn't be happier. I'll do the same with those who still remain. Every. Single. One," he said with the sincerest smile, the only sincere emotion she had witnessed on the boy, and her single eye studied him further, before smiling at him. Alois was slightly surprised at it.

"I see… So the world up there is as cold as it is down here eh? That's somewhat reassuring at least. Makes it all feel okay at the end of it all," she noted, and Alois stopped, stopped thinking at that moment. A single flash of a smiling Luka replaced the girl in front of him. For just the briefest of moments. Then all that was left was the girl again.

This girl was like him. Doll or Freckles or whatever the hell her real name was. He wasn't sure if she even knew, or if she wanted to remember. Just like him… and Jim Macken…

"By the by," she asked, "Whatcha name Earl?"

"Alois Trancy, my Doll," he introduced with a proper bow, but the smile remained. At that moment he licked his lips, which made her heartbeat skip. At the same time, she could swear she saw some mark in his tongue…

"Doll! The show's about to start; get your ass over here!" she heard someone call out to her. That was Dagger, as Doll had introduced him earlier, Alois noted, somewhat disappointed in himself that he had actually bothered to remember the names. Pitfalls of being so brilliant he supposed. Doll was quick to look towards him and give him a quick "I'm coming" response; before turning back to face Alois.

"Sorry, got to go a do a show ya know. Are ya gonna stay and watch?" She looked at him pensively, which caused him to almost avoid eye contact with her. But he simply replied with…

"Sure," he lied. "But if you fall, I'll laugh."

"Jerk," she simply stated. With that agreed, she turned and began to run towards Dagger, Beast and all of the other freaks who were waiting on her. Alois merely watched her go on as he turned and walked away himself in the direction she had pointed to earlier. Before having the chance to call for them, both Claude and Hannah appeared next to him. He gave Claude a quick look, a bit disappointed that he had no skeleton arm in hand, and was quick to snatch the food bag off of Hannah's hands.

"We're leaving, let's go," he instructed, and at this both Claude and Hannah stared, actually confused.

"But… your Highness…?" Hannah tried.

"The show's boring as hell. There's no music or drinks, and all of the stunts are so well performed that there's no chance we'll get to see somebody die. So I don't care about ya-you, but I'm out of here," he corrected himself, cursing at unintentionally mimicking the girl's speech pattern. So uncivilized. As he began to walk away, Alois' mind went back to Luka, before going back to the circus girl. She was a very interesting character, which he would at one point or another pay a second visit to if he ever got the chance. Claude and Hannah followed closely behind, not before Hannah warned Claude about an incoming threat.

Alois decided not to bother with Hannah or even Claude for now, as he merely took a bite of his snack (which tastes good but he'd never tell Hannah that), and walked out of the gate that read "Noah's Ark Circus" in all its neon glory…

…passing right by a young boy sporting an eye-patch and a walking cane, who was being shadowed by a rather pitch black butler.

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Alois Trancy's & Doll's story continues in "Year One"