That Butler, Composed


I own nothing but my OC.

≤speech in Indian language≥

'thoughts'

"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

—^—^—^— change of perspective/area of action within one specific time frame/location


Previously:

Standing in the moonlight out in the clear night air with Finni and Mei-Rin, Bard flicked the burning match into the kitchen. Beast's eyes widened as she watched it fly through the air above her. In that instant, she suddenly thought of all her friends, her family. She would never see them again.

"Jo..."

KABOOM!!

The kitchen of the Phantomhive estate exploded in a fiery inferno.


"Private soldiers… ye say?" Joker asked from where he lay bleeding on the floor.

"Phantomhive is a shadow, a phantom that exists solely to obliterate the sorrows of Her Majesty, the queen," Ciel stated darkly. "Step into its den, and you can never hope to return to the light."

"They're anythin' but amateurs themselves," Joker retorted on behalf of his family of friends. "They won't be done in so easy, like—"

"Though you are free to believe as is your wont… pray, do not forget they are individuals selected by me," Sebastian reminded him, waving the dagger that he had used to sever Joker's good arm from him in a single stroke.

"Kuh…!" Joker groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. He understood, but he didn't want to accept it. 'Please be alive, I'm beggin' ye...' he thought anxiously, imagining their smiling faces. 'I want ye lot to stay alive at the very least—!!' He gritted his teeth as he winced at the pain he was in "…! We… What else could we 'ave done?" Joker asked Ciel. "Like Tom, the piper's son, in the nursery rhyme… we could do but one thing… 'only play one tune'… But if… if we'd been born in another country instead of this one…" He still remembered what it was like to live on the streets. To be one dirty piece of bread away from dying. The fear they felt each day. "If I… If my body… 'adn't been this way..." He remembered Baron Kelvin reaching out to them, and how readily they had taken his hand, desperate to survive and protect each other. "… It wouldn't 'ave come to this—!" Tears of anguish, frustration, and guilt streamed down his face.

"Don't weep so disgracefully," Ciel told him. "Your tears will change nary a thing. The world is never kind to any of us."

"Smile..." Joker said sadly.

"I am Ciel Phantomhive," the young earl stated coldly. "That is my one and only name." Sebastian watched his young master out the corner of his eye.

KACHAK.

They were surprised when the door opened again to reveal someone unexpected. It was the doctor from the circus in his wheelchair, and behind him were two children pushing another cage full of 'lambs'.

"Apologies for having kept you waiting on additional reserves!" he said brightly. "Oh?" His smile fell a little when he saw Ciel and Sebastian. "Black and Smile. Aah, now I see," he said, coming to a swift conclusion.

CLICK.

The doctor put one foot on the floor. Then another. He stood up as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"So, what Joker was saying was right on the money, hm?" he said with a smile, descending the steps to join them. "The legendary watchpup of the queen, all the more trouble than the yard 'cos money has no hold on him."

"Doc..." Joker said with wide eyes, almost too shocked to speak. "Yer legs… Ye can walk..."

"My legs? Aah, yes, my legs are, in truth, just fine," Doc admitted cheerfully. "Haha! Children like you are less suspicious of folk in such circumstances, so I just always sat." Then, he noticed something. "Ah! Baron Kelvin!?" he exclaimed in alarmed, rushing over to check the wounded man's injuries. "Oh nooo!" he said when he saw the bullet hole in him. "He's beyond my help now," Doc said, sighing. "How could you!? And after I'd finally met a patron who understood my ideals..."

"Your ideals?" Sebastian asked.

"Yes. Since long ago, I have continually developed and experimented in the quest for the perfect artificial limb," Doc replied. "And as a result of my research, I succeeded in creating the best material possible! Lighter and more durable than wood, and still possessing the inhuman beauty that is particular to ceramics… I came to create something that no one had ever made before. However, gathering raw materials for it is a rather complicated venture, you see."

"Indeed, the artificial limbs of your making were enchantingly silken to the touch..." Sebastian said with the ghost of a smirk, holding his chin. "Almost like tableware of bone china..."

"So you understand the beauty of my creation, do you, Black!!?" the doctor said, excited. "But in reality, you're still slightly off the mark! If you don't mind, I'd appreciate it if you didn't lump my creation in with bone china, which is made from the bones of cows and other livestock."

"Ah, yes. You did mention that you use special materials, did you not?" said Sebastian.

"Yes, that's right," Doc said, standing up. "And I can only obtain them here."

"N…" Ciel said, eyes widening with his face cast in shadow, paling as he began to realize what that meant. "… No!"

"This way, I don't have to trouble myself with their disposal either," Doc continued, walking over to lean against one of the cages around the altar. "Isn't it the best recycling scheme you can think of?" he asked with a smile. Joker's eyes widened in shock as he understood what the doctor was saying. All those children who died… they were in his arm!? "No…! Bleh…! Ueh…!" he screamed, throwing up in disgust. He was horrified. "Koff! W-We've 'ad on such a thing… this whole—!?" The doctor sighed.

"Here we go again," said Doc. "Come now, don't reject them like that." He opened the cage door. "When the truth of the matter is kept in the dark, everyone praises them as magnificent." He grabbed a dazed little girl dressed in a dirty rag and dragged her from the cage. "But the baron was different. He was a wonderful patron, one very much motivated by the pursuit of beauty. He provided me with an abundant amount of materials and endless funding. Don't you agree that the best materials are essential to creating the best works? There's no success that comes without its sacrifices, but to the fools in this society..." He dragged the girl towards the altar and placed her on it. "… They say cow bones are acceptable, but human bones are not?" The image of him arranging the girl on the altar reflected in the earl's wide eyes.

BADUM.

His heart beat loudly in his chest.

"Ah…!" It was just like that day, when they put a kicking and screaming Ciel on the altar.

BADUM.

"Ah!" He was trapped behind the bars. Ciel was crying, reaching for him.

'Please! Somebody, anybody!'

"Ah…!" They raised the dagger.

'I beg you!'

"Who made those rules!?" Doc asked, driving the knife in his own hand home through the girl's heart.

'Whomever. However. Please help us.'

It was Ciel's murder all over again.

"UWAAAAAH!!" the young earl screamed while holding his head, completely losing it. "AAAAAAAAAH!!" Sebastian immediately turned to see what was wrong, concerned. His young master had discarded his cane and hat. He was dripping in sweat, coughing, and gagging.

'Stop,' the earl thought desperately. "Ugh!" He covered his mouth with his hand when he felt the bile rise up his throat. 'Stop.' He couldn't hold it back. "Bleh!" his vomit hit the floor with a sickening splat. He reached through the bars. Chêne was screaming. 'Somebody—' "Eh!?" he said, confused to see that his trembling hand was gloved and dripping with vomit. There were no bars. Chêne wasn't there. "Ah!"

"Young Master," Sebastian said calmly, taking his hand.

"Haah! Ah!" Ciel gasped, tears in his eyes and with sick dripping down his chin, unable to stop shaking.

"What have you to fear?" the demon asked, pulling him closer. "You are outside the cage now… my lord."

"Urk! Koff! Haah!" Ciel coughed. He was still breathing hard, but it seemed to be more of a panic attack than an asthma attack. It should pass once he had calmed.

"Now…" Sebastian said, his eyes glowing with the pupils contracted to slits. He untied the eyepatch covering the mark of their contract. "… Call my name."

"… Se—!" Ciel gasped with his eyes closed, trying but failing to get the word out. "Haah! Haah! Seba… stia… Hah! Sebastian! Hah! Sebastian! Sebastian!" he cried, his voice growing stronger. He gripped his butler's coat tight. His eyes flew wide open. The contract mark in his eye blazed bright. "KILL THEM ALL!!" Ciel shouted harshly with murder in his eyes.

SHNK.

In the next instant, Ciel was being carried in one of Sebastian's arms, while the other had its hand plunged clean through the doctor's upper torso. His white glove was stained blood red.

"Eh?" Doc said dumbly, stunned. It was so fast, he didn't even feel it. Sebastian withdrew his hand, and the doctor hit the floor, dead as a doornail.

SPLAT.

Sebastian walked over to Kelvin, who was still wheezing softly, hanging on by a thread. Sebastian crushed that thread, along with the baron's head, firmly under his heel.

STOMP.

Joker was already gone. He had finished bleeding out shortly after the doctor's arrival. They were completely alone now, aside from the silent children in the cages.

"Burn it," Ciel ordered darkly.

"Burn it? You mean this place?" Sebastian asked, a little surprised.

"Yes," Ciel confirmed coldly. Sebastian knew Chêne would not like this.

"But Young Master, gathering from Her Majesty, the Queen's correspondence, this mission consists of finding the perpetrators and rescuing the children, does it not?" the butler pointed out. "The perpetrators have already been—"

"Quiet! Shut your mouth!!" Ciel snapped. "Don't leave any trace behind. Turn everything here to ash. Have you forgotten your duties as my servant?"

"But Chêne—"

"Chêne is not here! I command you!!" Ciel roared furiously as he grabbed his demon butler by the head, breathing hard. "Hah…! Haah." Well, that was that. Sebastian couldn't defy a direct order. He knew Chêne would be quite cross with them if she ever found out, but… as Ciel said, Chêne wasn't there. What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. The more he thought about it, the more this seemed to be for the best. That dream she had about children burning… He looked around at the children in the cages. None of them looked familiar, which would explain why Chêne hadn't recognized them. They weren't on the Yard's list. Taking that into account, the current circumstances matched her dream almost perfectly. Meaning, this was supposed to happen. Chêne would likely beg them not to go through with it if she were there, but if Sebastian had to choose between keeping Chêne safe by fulfilling her vision and the lives of these children… He would, of course, choose Chêne. Every time. Sebastian bit the tip of the finger of his bloody glove and pulled it off with his teeth. He let it fall to the floor and moved closer to one of the tall candelabras near the cages. He placed his hand next to the flame and willed it to grow into a raging inferno.

"Yes… my lord," the demon said with a devilish smile as the flames swirled around him and his young master.