Author's Note: Someone asked me what time I usually update at, and I think I usually finish posting this stuff around midnight where I am. I'm in the United States of America, and the state I live in is in our 'Central standard time zone.' I hope that helps some, but I don't have a real schedule for updating, since I just post as soon as I finish. (^_^;)
I own nothing but my OC.
That Butler, Trick or Treat 2
'thoughts'
"speech"
"Demonic speech"
{setting/stage directions?}
SOUND EFFECTS
An entire sentence like this, without quotes, is narration for dreams or stuff like written letters.
=†=†=†=†= scene shift/time shift
Previously:
"!?" They all said, alarmed when they felt another force pulling on them again, and they started hurtling toward a bright light.
"Looks like this is our stop! Get ready for a rough land—" Chêne yelled as they were suddenly enveloped by the blindly bright light.
{Friday, October 30, 2013—Covington, Louisiana}
WHAAAM!
"Hm?" A blond woman said as she paused her sewing machine and turned to look around the room, wondering what had caused the loud noise. It sounded like it had come from the room down at the end of the hall...
"It can't be—!?" The women said excitedly as she jumped up out of her chair and ran to open the door of the room in question.
=†=†=†=†=
WHAAAM!
Sebastian kicked the doors of the armoire open, and stepped out of it, setting Chêne and Ciel down. They were no longer in that strange void anymore, so they were probably safe, for now.
"Where are we...?" Ciel asked, as he glanced around the room. They had apparently just come out of an alternate version of his armoire, only this one seemed to be much older... it was well cared for, and looked as though it had been polished regularly. There were just a few nicks in the wood here and there. It looked like the room was being used for storage. There were clear, plastic containers full of miscellaneous items, and a few pieces of furniture that had been covered by sheets to keep the dust off of them.
"... I cannot say for certain, but it appears we have somehow traveled between alternate versions of the same armoire..." Sebastian said thoughtfully.
"Um... guys...? I think I might have an idea about that..." Chêne said, her eyes widening slightly in surprise when she saw the items in the plastic bins. She walked over to one and opened it, pulling out an old, ratty stuffed animal that was on top of the other contents. She held it up to show Ciel and Sebastian. The two of them raised an eyebrow at her, as if to say 'So...? ' She held up one of the floppy ears, revealing the name that had been embroidered on it many years ago.
Chêne LeBeau
"... This is 'Dickens' my old stuffed bunny from when I was a kid... He was my favorite." Chêne said, smiling wryly. Sebastian's eyes narrowed slightly. They were finally in the world that Chêne had tried so hard to get back too... He hoped she wouldn't do something foolish, like trying to remain behind with her family once they found a way to return to the Victorian era. Sebastian decided he would never allow it. Chêne belonged to him now. He would bring her back with them. No matter what.
"But..." Chêne said hesitantly, biting her lip.
"But...?" Sebastian asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"But... this isn't my home." Chêne said, sweat dropping. "This is my stuff in here, but we don't have a room like this in my house, and if you look out the window, you can see woods..."
"So?" Ciel asked.
"So, I'm from New Orleans, a city... and our backyard has like four trees, and they're myrtle trees... Those are American Long-leaf pine trees out there... they don't really grow in the city. If we are in Louisiana, we're probably somewhere on the Northshore, where it's more rural and less developed... like Abita Springs, or Covington." Chêne explained.
"In other words... just because the items in this room are familiar, does not necessarily mean that they are 'yours'..." Sebastian said thoughtfully. Chêne nodded.
"So what are you saying...? Are we in a third parallel universe...?" Ciel asked.
"Maybe? It's possible that we're still in your universe, but in the 'future'... and this is the home of your universe's 'Chêne LeBeau.'" Chêne said thoughtfully.
"That's impossible." Ciel said bluntly.
"I agree, Young Master." Sebastian said.
"Huh? Why?" Chêne asked, confused. How could he be so sure?
"Because if there were two of you, the universe would most likely implode." They deadpanned. A vein mark throbbed on Chêne's forehead. If she didn't know any better, she'd think they'd planned that.
"And just what is that supposed to—!?" Chêne asked indignantly.
BAM!
The door of the room suddenly flew open, revealing... a blond Chêne...!? Ciel turned blue with shock as Sebastian's eyes widened slightly. Oh, God—there really were two of her!? Chêne and the newcomer stared at each other, shocked.
"M—!?" Chêne started to say in disbelief, when the 'blond Chêne' glomped her with such force, that the two of them fell to the floor.
"—Chêêêêêênne~!!" The blond woman cried happily as she hugged Chêne in a bone crushing hug. Chêne twitched. She was starting to turn blue form lack of oxygen.
'They... They know each other!?' Ciel and Sebastian thought, stunned.
"Ah." Sebastian said in realization. Chêne did mention that her younger sister looked mature for her age... Perhaps that's who this young lady is. "Excuse me, young lady." Sebastian said, smiling politely. The blond girl turned to look at him, smiling with the radiance of a thousand suns. "I realize it has been quite some time since you have last seen your sister, but it appears she is having a spot of trouble breathi—"
"Ah~!" The girl cried excitedly as she released poor Chêne. Chêne gasped greedily for the air she had been deprived of. She'd thought she was a goner for a moment there... "You must be 'Sebastian'! My, I see my mother was right! You're quite the charmer aren't you~! But I'm giving you fare warning now, flattery will get you everywhere with me~!" The blond girl said, winking playfully at him. They all stared at her, stunned.
"...Um... Mom... how do you know about Sebastian, and why don't you look surprised that three people just mysteriously appeared in this room—Does this happen a lot, or something...?" Chêne asked, sweat dropping. Sebastian and Ciel stared at the blond woman in shock. Hadn't Chêne said before that both of her parents were in their forties!? When Chêne said that the women in her family aged 'gracefully,' that had been the understatement of the century—was this woman drinking from the fountain of youth!? She didn't look a day over twenty!
"Mohh~! Don't call me that! It's only been two years, call me like you used to!!" Mrs. LeBeau said, pouting, as she gave her daughter 'sad puppy' eyes. Chêne took a step back.
"No. Don't you dare use that against me—I invented those eyes, dammit!" Chêne said, covering her eyes with her hands to block out the sight of her mother's deadly cute eyes of hypnotism.
"B-But... you were gone for two whole years... and we had no idea where you were or what had happened... Do you have any idea how worried your father and I were...?" Mrs. LeBeau said sadly, sniffling as she held her face in her hands. Sebastian raised an eyebrow at that. If they had no idea, then how did she know who he was...? Apparently, Chêne wasn't able to think as clearly when her mother was 'crying,' because she bought it hook, line, and sinker.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you... PomPom." Chêne said as she gently hugged her mother. She blushed out of embarrassment, avoiding Ciel and Sebastian's eyes.
'PomPom...?' Ciel and Sebastian thought, stunned. What on earth could that be short for, and why was a grown woman insisting on being called such a strange name...? Chêne never did actually tell them her parent's names. She had always just referred to them as 'Mom' and 'Dad'.
"Yaaaay~!" Mrs. LeBeau, aka 'PomPom' cheered happily, smiling with the radiance of a thousand white-hot suns as she hugged her daughter back. "Oh, Chêne's just too adorable when she's embarrassed~!" The way She was hugging and nuzzling Chêne was eerily similar to how Lizzie usually hugged Ciel whenever she thought he was looking particularly 'cute.' Ciel and Sebastian sweat dropped. No wonder she was so good at dealing with Lizzie...
"A-Anyway, PomPom... how did you know about Sebastian?" Chêne asked, sweat dropping. She decided to just let her mom get it out of her system, instead of fighting for her dignity... it'd already been shattered to pieces anyway.
"Hm? Oh, it's simple, really~ Grandma Willow 'saw' it! I know about Ciel too~!" Mrs. LeBeau said as she turned to look at Ciel, still holding Chêne. "He's such a cutie, just like you when you were that age... only he's a boy, of course." She was staring at him as thought he were the cutest thing she had ever seen. A vein mark throbbed on Ciel's head. Why was the part about him being a boy added in as an afterthought—like there was actually a chance he might've been a girl!? Sebastian smirked at him. Chêne sweat dropped.
"It's not what you think, Ciel... When I was twelve, I used to dress like a real tomboy... I even wore boy shorts... I my chest was flat as a washboard, too... So seeing a pretty boy is just making her feel nostalgic." Chêne explained, smiling wryly. Another vein mark throbbed on his head as Ciel blushed slightly out of embarrassment. He didn't want to be told he was 'pretty,' damn it!
"Yes~! Chêne was our little 'prince charming' back then~!" Mrs. LeBeau said, blushing slightly as she smiled wistfully. "As much as I wanted to see you wear cute dresses, like this maid uniform, I didn't have the heart to tell you not to cross-dress, since you were just like a mini version of your Papa~!"
"I was not cross-dressing, PomPom!!" Chêne yelled indignantly, blushing. "It was just the shorts—only the shorts! Everything else I owned was girl stuff! I just didn't want to have to wear short-shorts that barely even covered anything, and boy shorts actually have real pockets that are capable of holding more than just lint in them!"
"Short-shorts...?" Sebastian asked curiously. Chêne sweat dropped. He wasn't trying to picture it, was he...?
"But you never really wore any skirts or dresses either, until you entered high school..." Mrs. LeBeau said, pouting.
"My, my, you really were quite the tomboy, weren't you, Chêne?" Sebastian said, smirking. Chêne scowled at him. He was not helping the situation one bit.
"Now, now, Sebastian~ don't tease her too much! Chêne had a perfectly good reason for it~!" Mrs. LeBeau said, fake-whispering in a conspiring tone of voice.
"Oh? Please, do tell, Madam LeBeau." Sebastian said, smiling politely. Ciel was starting to feel a little sorry for Chêne now that they had started to gang up on her.
"Oh, please, just call me Pomona~! You're my son-in-law, after all~! 'Madame LeBeau' is what people call my mother." Mrs. LeBeau, Pomona, said.
'I see, so that's what 'PomPom' is short for... Son-in-law...!?' Sebastian and Ciel thought. Sebastian managed to keep his poker face on, but Ciel turned blue with shock. What the bloody hell was going on!?
"Don't worry, my mother has visions, just like Chêne, and she would occasionally have dreams about you guys on 'the other side,' but the 'reception' doesn't seem to be very good, because she only caught you saying the words '—me for—until death do us part—'" Pomona explained. "... Or did we misinterpret it?" She asked.
"PomPom... that was—" Chêne said nervously, blushing as she tried to think of how to explain what had happened.
"—My proposal." Sebastian said, giving Pomona a brilliant shit-eating grin. Chêne and Ciel gaped at him, stunned. What the heck!? "I'm afraid we are only engaged at the moment." Sebastian said, smiling apologetically.
'Since when...!?' Chêne thought, blushing cherry red from head to toe. She knew that Sebastian was just saying it as a cover story, but still—!!
"Yes! I knew it~! Not only did you snag yourself a real stud, but he's got a sexy accent too~! Good job, PomPom approves!" Pomona said, pumping her fist in the air victoriously. "Your Papa didn't want to believe his baby girl was all grown up and getting married, but I knew my woman's intuition couldn't be wrong~!" She said happily.
'No, no, you're completely wrong...' Ciel thought, sweat dropping.
"And don't worry, Sebastian, I already disarmed and removed to ammo from all of my husbands guns, so you're perfectly safe, for now. He'll be coming back here later, once he's finished with meeting the real-estate agent." Pomona said, smiling. "We're finally moving to the Northshore, like we had planned to do once you finished high school, and your sister was ready to start it, but we still have to sell our old house. Your father is going through all the paper work with our agent." She explained to Chêne. They all stared at her. She'd just told someone they might have a chance of being murdered in the same tone of voice someone would use to say 'Take and umbrella, it might rain today.' Ciel hoped this was just some more strange humor from Chêne's world.
"PomPom... even if it's the truth, there are some things you just shouldn't say..." Chêne said, sweat dropping. "I bet you scare away all of Laurie's crushes that way..."
'You mean that wasn't a joke...!?' Ciel thought, glancing at Sebastian to see how he was taking this.
"..." Sebastian said, not quite sure how to react to that. He knew that there was no way Chêne's father could actually kill him, since he was only human, and he could understand why her father would be so protective of her, but that seemed a little... extreme?
"Oh, well I like Sebastian, so I thought I'd give him a fair warning... but you're right, I do say things like this on purpose whenever your sister tries to bring a 'boyfriend' home. She's only thirteen, and she doesn't even have your good taste in men. They're all so weak in character." Pomona said, frowning. "All I have to do is deliver a line like that, and they take off running with their tails between their legs. Sebastian didn't even blink."
'No, sorry PomPom, but this daughter isn't any better...' Chêne thought, sweat dropping, as she smiled wryly. If only her mother knew that she was in love with an actual demon...
"Ahem. You mentioned that Chêne was cross-dressing for a reason? I'm curious as to what it was." Ciel said, deciding he'd rather hear about that, this awkward subject.
"I wasn't cross-dressing!" Chêne huffed indignantly.
"Oh, yes! You see, in middle school, there was a boy Chêne had a teensy little crush on, so she started dressing up a little and wearing cute clothes, but then, on one of the days Chêne was wearing a skirt, he just suddenly walked up the Chêne, and threw her skirt up, in front of everybody, so they all saw her cute baby-blue soccer ball patterned panties!" Pomona said. She was smiling, but you could still sense the dark feelings behind it. Can you believe that little bastard!?"
"PomPom, please calm down... He only did it because they triple-double-dog-dared him too, and if he didn't, his friends would've humiliated him instead." Chêne said, sweat dropping. "... It's better that I found out he was a frog, instead of a prince charming, before I actually kissed him—"
SNAP.
'Snap...?' Chêne, Ciel, and Pomona thought, glancing at Sebastian.
"!?" Chêne and Ciel said. Sebastian was wearing that eerily calm smile he had whenever he was in polite company, but was feeling the urge to murder someone. 'Was that the sound of his self-control snapping—!?' They thought, alarmed. 'Why!?' Sebastian didn't know why, but hearing that Chêne had been tempted to kiss that brat, when he could barely even get her to sit on his lap, pissed him off far more than it probably should have.
"Pomona, you would not happen to know where this cretin lives, would you? I wish to pay him a little 'visit.'" Sebastian said, smiling a brilliant shit-eating grin.
"Oh, are you going to avenge my little Chêne's honor? Excellent~!" Pomona said, smirking evilly. "He lives at 675 Chambe—"
"Okay, stop right there!! Sebastian, you are not killing anyone in this world, got it!? Remember how I explained forensic science during one of Ciel's science lessons? Well, humans have gotten a lot better at it over the years, and it's nearly impossible to commit a murder without being found out and caught, so it's better if you just don't! Even if we go back, if they find a connection to my family, they'll be harassed by the police—and I don't want that!" Chêne said quickly, grabbing Sebastian's arm, and looking him straight in the eye to show him she meant every word. "Besides, Lacey already 'avenged' me, remember PomPom? She pantsed him, and then pushed him in a mud a puddle while I was busy trying to recover from my shock. His situation was way more embarrassing than mine, so no one really bothered me about that incident anyway, because they were too busy harassing him."
"Oh, that's right! How silly of me to have forgotten~! That girl really is a genius!" Pomona said, smirking.
" What do you mean by 'pantsed'... what did she do to him?" Ciel asked. "Sebastian, I order you not to kill anyone while we are here." Ciel whispered. He knew that if anyone could commit murder and get away with it in Chêne's world, it was probably Sebastian, but cleaning up after such a mess would be quite a nuisance.
"Oh, that's when you pull someone's pants down, so that they fall around the person's ankles, exposing their underwear (or lack of) to the world." Pomona said smiling brightly.
"People don't really wear belts anymore, so it's easy." Chêne said, sweat dropping.
"I see, so Lacey is ' an eye for an eye' type of person..." Sebastian said thoughtfully. He decided he would have to congratulate Lacey if they saw her.
"No, She isn't. Lacey is more of 'an arm and an leg for an eye' type of person. She was just too busy helping me calm down from my emotional trauma to do more damage..." Chêne said, sweat dropping. "Speaking of Lacey, how is—"
DING-DONG! DING-DONG! DIIIIINNG-DOOOOOOONG!
"Oh, someone's at the door..." Pomona said, smiling like a Cheshire cat.
Author's note:
'Northshore' and 'Southshore' is how Louisianans refer to the north and south shores of Lake Pontchartrain.
