"Think Juniour will be okay?" questioned the blonde as he and his beau traversed down the hallway in search of one of those who was trapped in sleep. They had both agreed that they should probably look at what was happening to them and see if there was any disruption in a spiritual sense. The Watchdog sighed for a moment, already feeling this case weigh down on him.
"I think so, but just to be safe, we need to find out what's doing this." He said, keeping his eyes peeled for the room number that the nurse gave them.
"Stopping it is going to be the tricky part…" reminded Alois. "We don't know how they're doing this, and it might not be something a few punches and bullets can fix."
"That's why we're doing our research." The bluenette stated. "I don't like going into things blindly. We need to have at least some basic idea—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the lights went out, rendering the hallway pitch black. "What was that?" asked the bluenette, turning around in order to face his beau, only for the lights to slowly flicker on again. The hallway was a little darker than before, and held a bizarre blue tint. Ordinarily, the Watchdog would think that there was just something wrong with the lights, but his thoughts were elsewhere at the moment. His partner had vanished.
"Jim?" he called. "Jim? Where are you?"
Ciel couldn't sense the man anywhere. It was like he simply vanished altogether. His contract was still there, however, so he was certain that the menace was still alive. That didn't ease his panic, however. His husband was gone, and something bizarre was happening.
"Ciel!" echoed a voice accompanied by a high-pitched ringing sound coming from everywhere. Quickly, the Watchdog covered his ears as the painful noise assailed them, but it was no use. It felt as though the sound was coming from within his own head. It called him again and again. Ciel knew this voice. It was Alois'. He was looking for him.
"Jim!" he called back, keeping his eyes peeled. The hospital was lifeless, however, as though everyone had suddenly disappeared. Frantically, Ciel leaped into action, opening doors in hopes of finding someone—anyone in this hospital, especially the blonde.
"Hello?!" he called. "Hello?! Jim! Where are you?!"
There was no answer. The voice stopped. The man's breath was frantic as he stood alone in the hospital corridor. It was the only thing that stood out against the deafening silence of the hospital. The entire building seemed vacant. Dead. There was no sign of life anywhere. Ciel knew there were people here before. He saw them in the lobby, in the hallway, while passing rooms; but all of that seemed to change when the lights went out.
"Is this really a demon's doing?" he thought aloud in a whisper. How this could be was anyone's guess, as one moment Ciel was walking, and the next, he was in what appeared to be another world. Was he dead? Was he merely asleep? He didn't know. Whether this was limbo or a dream, Ciel would come back to his reality. He swore by it. There was no way that he was leaving his beau behind. That thought led to another question, however: is Alois trapped here as well?
That is a mystery that needed solving before he did anything else. Was he somewhere in the hospital? Ciel couldn't sense him nearby, so most likely not. The Watchdog's feet began moving again as he made his way down the corridor once more. He needed to get moving if he was going to get things over with quickly. His pace quickened as he progressed, glancing inside rooms as he passed. This was starting to seem hopeless. He descended the stairs to the next floor and passed by a few more rooms, only to notice something very peculiar on them.
He was supposed to be on the second floor now, but the numbers on the rooms still indicated that he was on the fourth. No wonder this hallway seemed so familiar. It was the same one he started in! Ciel's eye widened at the realization and his heart dropped. Space made no sense. Time was useless. As far as he knew, he was trapped in an endless cycle. Now he had to ask himself how exactly he is supposed to break it?
Was he missing something? Surely there was a way out. If there was one thing a Phantomhive doesn't do, it's give in to despair. Now, the bluenette started going into rooms and rummaging through them. It was tedious, and didn't seem to do anything. There was nothing to be found that was out of the ordinary. The silence was starting to creep up on him. It was getting on him. Even the slightest sound that disturbed it as he shuffled through drawers and moved objects seemed loud enough to wake the dead.
It was then that he heard it and everything froze. He stood completely still with every single sense in his arsenal stood on end with him. The melody wafted toward his ears from out in the hallway, and when he peeked his head out into the corridor, it was coming from somewhere else. Without any other leads, the Watchdog was left with no other option but to follow it.
As he seemed to approach its source, the music got louder, but was still soft. Soon, it came from behind him, indicating that he had passed the source, and when he backtracked he found that it was coming from the restroom of all places. The crackling of the record player could be heard from behind the door, playing a tune that was very familiar to him.
It was an instrumental, but it still hit him just as hard as the original song did when he first heard it. It was supposed to be an uplifting piece, but he knew that it wouldn't be true for many in a time of war. Ciel could still make out the lyrics in his head even though they had been replaced with a piano.
"We'll meet again
Don't know where
Don't know when
But I know we'll meet again some sunny day
Keep smiling through
Just like you always do
'Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away
So will you please say hello
To the folks that I know
Tell them I won't be long
They'll be happy to know
That as you saw me go
I was singing this song…"
It was popular during the war, but Ciel never liked it. He knew that a good chunk of the men and women singing it would never come home. Even if they did, it was either in a coffin, or if they were especially unfortunate, a matchbox.
The thought chilled him, but Ciel put his hand on the door regardless, staying alert. Pushing the door open, the music got louder. Ciel couldn't figure out where it was coming from. He searched that room up and down. He checked the stalls, listened to the ventilation shafts, and still came up with nothing. What was this?
Placing his hands on his hips, he thought, trying to figure this puzzle out. In his frustration, he began to pace back and forth by the sinks, starting to grow tired of that wretched song. Looking up to examine his surroundings once again, he realized that he had been pacing in front of a wall of mirrors that were placed above the sink. The reason why he hadn't noticed before was the fact that he had no reflection.
Whipping his head to the mirror, he saw the bathroom's exit as reflected in it. There he discovered that the music was playing behind him, as there was a record player placed by the door. That is what the mirror had indicated, but he saw no such thing when entering the room, and when he turned around, there was nothing there. The space by the exit was empty.
"What the-?" he mouthed to himself, squinting and furrowing his brow. This was maddening. His eye was no longer reliable to him. Surely he was losing his mind. When he turned back to the mirror, he almost confirmed it as he let out a shout in surprise and almost jumped out of his skin.
In the mirror, there was someone standing in between the door and the record player. It was a man in a tailored grey suit with a black tie, belt, shoes, gloves, and umbrella to match. He leaned on it, staring back at Ciel in the mirror from his place by the exit, but his mere presence was certainly not the only thing that disturbed the bluenette. It was his face. It matched his own.
It was Ciel staring back at himself, with hair of a strange hue of blueish-black and sapphire eyes. The other man had two of them. No eyepatch or contract on his person. What separated the reflection from the Watchdog, however, was his expression. Ciel knew for certain he could not make such a face with a large smile on his visage, if one could call it that. It was more like he was bearing his teeth with his lips pulled back so far that his gums were exposed. The smile was seemingly petrified, as it never moved whenever the rest of the man's face did. His expression above his mouth moving without attachment to his more chilling feature. In fact, if one covered his mouth, he would have a normal expression, but alas, that was not the case.
Closing his eyes, the man in the mirror stood up straight before looking at Ciel again and turning his attention to the record player. With the tip of his umbrella, he moved the player's arm so that the needle was no longer touching the record. In that moment, the song stopped entirely, and silence returned, except for the sound of the smiling man's weight shuffling.
Looking back to Ciel, the man tucked his umbrella under his arm, and nodded to the Watchdog before turning toward the door. Ciel could hear from behind him the sound of the man's feet hitting the bathroom tile as he walked out, and the sound of the bathroom door swinging open and then shut as he left. Ciel did not let his gaze stray from that mirror until the man was completely gone. Then, his head whipped around quickly to see that neither the man nor the record player was there.
In silence, the Watchdog stood, wide-eyed at what he had just seen. His heart was pounding. A fresh coat of sweat covered his forehead and neck as his hair stood on end. Ciel had seen many things—horrible things; unspeakable things—but that was one of the most disturbing things that he had seen in a long time. The main reason was because he had no way of explaining it.
There was no waiting for him to calm down. He could not calm down after witnessing that. That smiling bastardization of himself in the mirror.
All Ciel could do was turn around the rest of the way and slowly make his way toward the door. Placing his hand on the handle, he was genuinely hesitant to turn it. He waited several moments before he mustered the courage. Pulling the door open, he let out an audible gasp.
"How can this be?!"
He was home. Ciel was back in Phantomhive manor. He recognised this hallway. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the hospital bathroom, yet too his front was his home? It was unbelievable. None of this was making sense.
Disoriented, Ciel cautiously stepped out into the hall, looking both ways as to examine his surroundings. Furrowing his brow, he tried to grasp at what was happening, only to jump as the door behind him slammed shut again. That was the final straw.
Turning around, he grit his teeth with nostrils flared and slammed his heel into the wooden surface of the door, kicking it open. Ciel's fists were clenched and he was practically itching to fight. Whatever was responsible for this, it certainly wouldn't make a fool of Sir Ciel Phantomhive! His frustration had turned to fury, only for his fire to go out all at once when he saw that instead of a hospital bathroom, he had just broken the door to his office.
What is this? Space was meaningless. Time was nothing. Eyes are deceitful. Nothing in this world was making sense.
"What is this place?" Ciel asked aloud. Even he wasn't sure if he was asking himself, or anyone who could possibly answer. "This world… is wrong."
