In an instant, Ciel woke up just as he had conditioned himself to when he heard the booming sound of bombs being dropped in the distance. Bolting upright, he realised that he was seated on a couch wearing his military uniform. This obviously wasn't his bedroom, with it's concrete walls and dim lights with the cables visible trailing along the ceiling. With each blast, the lights shook and occasionally, they would dim momentarily before resuming their glow. The sound of a record player could be heard softly playing while the smell of cigarette smoke filled the room. Looking for the smell's source, Ciel's attention turned to another boy in the room, sitting in a rather relaxed fashion in the chair next to the player.
He was about fourteen or fifteen, wearing a white shirt, grey dress pants, and a black vest with a matching tie. His hair and eyes matched the colour scheme, being black and grey, respectively, looking off into space with cigarette in hand before taking a long drag. Playfully, he blew a smoke ring before turning to the bluenette with a cocky smile.
"'Bout time you woke up." he said. "I'd make fun of you for bein' lazy, but I'm pissing around, m'self. Don't tell the boss."
"Walter?" the bluenette squinted before reaching up to rub his eye. He noticed that his hands were significantly smaller than what felt right, and his face felt rounder. "Where are we?"
"In a bomb shelter, where else?" scoffed Walter.
"Should you be smoking in a bomb shelter?"
The other lad clicked his tongue disapprovingly before reluctantly squashing his cigarette in the ashtray on the table. "You're worse than Arthur."
"Arthur isn't as concerned about breathing, I suppose." Ciel retorted while the other stood up with a roll of his eyes. Walter stretched momentarily, before fiddling with the record-player. He stood by with a hip propped out while he moved the needle and removed the record. His stance inadvertently drew the Watchdog's eye without the bluenette giving it hardly any thought. Ciel was only snapped out of it when Walter swapped out the record and put the needle back. The black-haired boy cranked the volume up as well to cover up the increasing loudness of the bombs overhead.
"You still get nightmares about the bombs sometimes, right?" Walter questioned, causing the other to arch an eyebrow. "Best to cover that up, right? Shame we're underground, too, but I don't think you want to be up there."
"What are you talking about?" questioned the bluenette. "What nightmares?"
"The ones you have when you cling to your lover at night. Shame I couldn't meet 'im. Did you always fancy blokes, or is that a new thing? You were in the army, too… Did you ever take a peek at anybody?"
"Don't be ridiculous." Now the officer was unamused at the ghastly insinuation, furrowing his brow deeply as he looked up at the other with a scowl. "I would never do something so depraved."
"Do you sometimes wonder if I ever noticed you staring at my hips during the war?"
To that, Ciel's stomach dropped and his eye widened as his face became flush. The other simply looked back at him from over his shoulder with a terrible grin. With that, he simply shrugged.
"Too late to ever find out, now." Walter stated. "You probably didn't even notice you were doin' it until now, it was buried so deep. Oh well, it worked out in the end, right? Anyway, why are you even here? Was it seein' a facility full of inhumane experiments?"
"I- what?" the bluenette was both flabberghasted and confused. Walter wasn't speaking any sort of sense and he had a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach like something terrible was bound to happen at any moment. The other just shook his head at the other's expression while putting his hands in his pockets.
"Careful, 'sir,' your brain is telling you something." black-haired boy said while pointing at his own cranium. "If you aren't careful, you won't be able to handle what's comin'. Your head won't let you. How did it feel seeing fucked up shit in a laboratory again? How'd it feel havin' to be nice to the wank who did it?"
"I had to bring him back for the intel. He was executed, anyway."
"Huh? You've gotten soft. Ain't you the one who socked some punk for wearin' a swastika patch back in the 80's? Where'd your hate go? Don't you get what's happening? What kind of person creates a secret, underground facility for human and inhuman experimentation? Some sick fuck who has a hard-on for power and no regard for other people's lives."
"You mean someone like you?" the Watchdog finally said in an acusatory tone. The sudden change in tune caused the other's expression to change. His eyebrows raised and his smile disappeared as a look of surprise took hold, only to fade soon after to be replaced by a cocky grin and a dark look in his eyes.
"Yeah. Exactly like me." Walter replied before sitting back down again. "If you don't pay attention to things, history just might repeat itself. Maybe not on the same scale as the Nazis, but people are gonna suffer for no good reason if this shite keeps at it."
"I can see the similarities." growled Ciel, continuing his pursuit of trying to stare the other boy down. "They did the same things. They infected humans with vampirism and lycanthropy, altering it, and then infecting others with a different strain of the virus, trying to push the limits of what they can and cannot do. They probed humans' minds and broke the spirits of most of them. Just to see if they could."
"But you're here, on your ass sleepin' like nothing's wrong? Bloody hell, you've gotten sloppy. You couldn't prevent Preston from happening, either. But, you haven't really visited him since then, so maybe your stance on traitors hasn't changed. No forgiveness, even in death."
"I don't have to forgive anyone for anything. Not Preston, and certainly not you. I don't know what exactly you're getting at. One minute, you're telling me to hate, and now you're telling me to forgive? Which is it that you want?"
"Oh, I know you're perfectly good at forgiveness." A chuckle escaped the other agent. "As long as the person is cute and blonde, that is."
"Enough! I will not have anything with listening to any sort of 'wisdom' that a cowardly fool like you has to offer. No resolve. No morals. No respect. No loyalty to the people who care about you. You will never have my forgiveness for what you did. You made your choice. Now get on with your point, already!"
To that, Walter let out a lengthy and hearty laugh, throwing back his head with a rumble in his chest. "There he is!" he said in a sing-song voice. "There's the angry bastard we all know! Does there have to be a reason for me being here? Maybe you just wanted to talk to me? Maybe there's no reason at all? Who knows? I don't. I'm here because 'you' told me to be."
"I'm through, here." hissed the bluenette abruptly as he stood. His fists were clenched and he was thoroughly finished with these shenanigans.
"Hmm? Really? Where are you going to go?"
"Elsewhere in the shelter, of course!"
"Maybe I spoke too soon. There's no doors, dumbass, haven't you noticed?"
While Ciel didn't want to give the other the satisfaction, Ciel turned his head to look around. Sure enough, there was in fact a door on the other side of the room. Yet, just as expected, the action made the other lad laugh.
"Made you look." Walter said, but Ciel did not linger. Immediately, he began walking toward the door before his doubt could be questioned any further. Gripping the door, he swung it open and stepped through surely, defiantly giving no hesitation in the act.
On the other side was a sitting room in a small house with a drab interior. Sofas and bookshelves were illuminated by the soft orange glow that came through the windows- yes, windows. Although he was in an underground bomb shelter just moments before, without climbing any stairs, he was above ground again, he could see. He could also see and hear a record player next to a chair. In it sat a boy with black hair and grey eyes, but instead of a colour schemed wardrobe, he wore all black, including his shirt and tie. A familiar smirk greeted the bluenette, much to his dismay.
"'Allo, 'allo!" Walter greeted. "Pleasure to see you again so soon."
Quickly, Ciel looked over his shoulder to glance at the room behind him, only to see a wall in its place. His horror was only heightened when he smelled smoke. It wasn't from Walter's cigarettes, either. This was from an honest to God fire. Taking a few steps into the room, Ciel could see out the windows, now and London was on fire outside.
"Still don't like fire, either." the boy in the chair noted. "Every traumatic event in your life seems to have fire involved in one way or another, doesn't it? Queer, isn't it?"
"We have to stop it!"
"Now you want to take control of things… I'm afraid there's nothing you can do, this time." While saying this, Walter placed a fresh cigarette to his lips and held it there, taking a moment to dig in his pockets for a lighter. "You don't mind, right? We're not in the bunker, now."
"Everyone is on fire, Walter! People are dying! London is being destroyed!"
"I know. This city is very flammable for some reason."
"Walter-!" the Watchdog stopped as he realised that barking orders wasn't going to work. He didn't understand the other man's actions. He didn't know why he didn't seem to care. He also knew that he couldn't make him care and that action needed to be taken immediately. Swallowing his pride, he grit his teeth and said: "Fine! What good would you be, anyway? You're a fool who threw away everything just so you could fight Alucard, and even then you were worthless! Just sit here and get in the way!"
As Ciel turned to leave, he felt a tugging on his arm, followed by a cutting sensation. Warm liquid dribbled down his arm as he turned to look, only to find that it was his own blood. In the light, he could see threads reflecting the orange colour that was coming from outside, coiling around his arm and stretching outward, pulled tight by his own movement.
"'Worthless,' huh?" the other boy questioned. "I told you already, Ciel. You need to be more careful to remember the past. It looks like you've forgotten I could do this."
With a quick flick of his wrist, the threads attached to Walter's hand tightened too, cutting deeper and deeper into Ciel's flesh. When the bluenette looked up and their eyes met, he pulled, taking the arm clean off and causing the Phantomhive to scream. It was so loud that it made Ciel's throat hurt as well, but none of it could distract him. Clutching at the stump with his remaining arm didn't help, nor did falling to his knees. He just kept screaming and screaming as more blood came out and stained the carpet deep crimson.
"See how easy it was for me?" Walter questioned. "You've gotten so careless… Now the other one has to take care of you again! And you were so pathetic the first time… Always whining about how not having an arm made you feel weak..."
"Ugh..." All the bluenette could do was answer in a grunt as he desperately searched for both his composure and any amount of courage he could spare. He was scared. Something in all of this shook him to his core. He wasn't sure if it was actually losing his arm or if it was were he was, or if it was the fact that Walter was the one who did it.
"Let me show you what being helpless is all about." cooly stated the boy with in black as Ciel felt something cutting into his remaining forearm. Looking up, the Phantomhive could see the threads again, and meeting the eyes of his former-compatriot, grey on blue, he silently begged Walter not to do what he was inevitably going to. With a swift yank, that arm came off, too, leaving the Phantomhive to scream and writhe on the floor in agony.
His legs flailed as he tried to distract himself from the pain as well as get up, but it was a useless gesture in both regards. The bluenette's face was pressed into the floor from falling forward, with spit pooled on the carpet from his screaming. He could feel the floorboards shifting with each footstep taken toward him through his cheek and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end as Walter crouched down.
"What's scarier than losing one arm? Losing both of them, of course." the lad taunted, grabbing the back of Ciel's head by his hair and lifting it off of the ground. "You can't fight back. You're completely at my mercy. How does it feel?"
"Urgh… Fuh… Fuck you!" Ciel defiantly forced out, only for his head to be slammed back down on the hardwood floor, cushioned only by the rug on top of it. The throbbing pain in his head wasn't nearly enough to distract from that of where he was relieved of his limbs. As blood stained the floor, his body grew colder and colder, but he as still very much alive.
"No thanks." retorted Walter before tightening his grip and pulling the other up. This time, he tried to force the Phantomhive to his feet, all the while he was very displeased with the bluenette's stumbling. "Get up." he ordered, dragging Ciel toward the front door.
The Watchdog fell several times, but Walter persisted, swinging open the door and pulling him outside onto the street. It was hot. Everything was on fire and the smell of smoke and ash was stronger than before. It burned Ciel's lungs and caused him to cough, but that wasn't the worst of it. The worst of it was the rumbling beneath his unsteady feet that grew more and more intense with each approaching bomb.
Holding up the Phantomhive, Walter forced him to face the darkened sky. Black smoke swallowed the moon and stars while orange light bounced off of it, further entrenching the scene. Yet, Ciel could still see the bombs dropping, including one just above them as it grew larger and larger. He thrashed about, trying to escape the other lad's grip, but it was useless. For a brief millisecond, Ciel felt metal against his cheek before he shoot up out of bed with a scream.
A cold layer of sweat coated his skin as his chest heaved and wide eyes tried to make out his surroundings through the darkness. This looked like his room. He hoped to whatever higher power there is that it was. Clenching and unclenching his fists, he looked down at his hands and saw that they were back to their normal, more adult size. He rubbed them together as well as the rest of his arms just to make sure that they were still there.
"Bad dream, baby?" a voice next to him called. Poor Alois. He had been thrown in his husband's violent awakening as he had a tendency to sleep while resting his head on the other man's chest, but he didn't seem bothered by that in the slightest. Instead, his tone was gentle and calm as he addressed his beau.
"Yeah." Ciel breathlessly nodded with a bit of a lump in his throat.
"Is it okay if I touch you?" Alois questioned further.
"Yeah."
With the bluenette's permission, the menace slowly inched closer and put one arm around his spouse while holding one of Ciel's with the other. "What do you need?" he asked while rubbing the man's back in a soothing fashion.
"I need to get up for a second." Ciel sighed. "Maybe splash some water on my face..."
"Okay. Go do that." his husband nodded along, not letting go of him until his feet touched the floor and he started walking toward the bathroom. Alois began moving as well and ventured out of bed in order to turn on the lights. He squinted as the sudden brightness hurt his eyes, but thought that it might make Ciel feel better if he can see. Peeking through the doorway of the connecting dressing room, he could see the door to the bathroom open right across from him.
There, Ciel stood, staring in the mirror and examining himself in order to make sure that everything was where it was supposed to be. He did wash his face and put some water on his neck as well to help him cool down. He had to make sure that his reality was in order. Part of him was worried that he was still dreaming.
As he stared at his reflection, his eyes eventually shifted in the mirror as movement behind him caught his attention. He could see the menace quietly walking up to and peeking into the doorway, making sure that he was noticed by the other and that he wasn't sneaking up on the bluenette. Silently, he was given permission to approach as Ciel turned around and held open his arms. He looked abnormally tired and run-down, despite having just woken up. Needless to say, he needed some physical reassurance that everything was fine, and Alois was more than happy to deliver on that.
"It's okay..." cooed the menace, wrapping his arms around his husband and squeezing him tightly. "You're awake now. That wasn't real."
"I know." Ciel mumbled into the blonde's shoulder. "Thanks."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"You already know about most of it."
"The Blitz?"
"Yeah… It was a bit different this time, though." the Watchdog informed. "This time, I talked to Walter, too. He was talking in circles for seemingly no apparent reason."
Now, Alois knew about the former HELLSING agent from Ciel's war days, "The Angel of Death." He also knew that he had left a deep scar in the organisation and infuriated the Watchdog as well. Integra and Seras would forgive him, but not Ciel. He wasn't one to forgive very easily.
"He was a massive prick. He was a bit of a prick during the war in real life, but not nasty about it. He mentioned Preston and cut off my arms. Then, the bombs hit..." the bluenette explained. "It was obviously not real. None of it ever happened. Still… I can't help but feel shaky..."
"Dreams and irrational fear don't ever make sense. They have a nasty tendency to do that." While Alois' words were ordinary- something he would choose even if his husband wasn't under duress, his voice was soothing to Ciel's ears and helped him relax a bit more. Kissing the side of the bluenette's head, he cooed: "I love you. No matter what."
"I love you, too." the other instinctively responded, but after a short pause, he furrowed his brow and pulled away in order to look at the blonde's face.
Perplexedly, Alois asked: "What is it?" causing Ciel's expression to soften again. Without another moment of hesitation, the bluenette voiced his thoughts.
"You… are much prettier than Walter." he said surely.
"Where did that come from?" Alois tried his best not to snicker, but a rush of air escaped him no matter how hard he tried to hold it in.
"In my dream, Walter caught me staring at his hips. I think I might have actually done that a few times without realising it."
"I've seen the pictures. He did have some nice hips." the menace nodded, humouring the other a bit. "Do I?"
"You have nice everything. It's kind of ridiculous."
"Gee, thanks. I also appreciate the comparison to your ex." Now that made the Watchdog pause to think.
"I think I might have had a crush on him back then." Ciel stated. "We didn't talk on a casual basis, however, and I think he was striaght. Then there's the fact that I was a bit repressed at the time."
"Aw~ Ciel's first boy crush~!" the menace said with a grin. He didn't feel competitive at all. There was no reason for it. Walter was gone and that was all in the past. It was the thought of a younger Ciel in the army trying to fight the war and awkwardly interact with his coworkers at the same time that amused him. "That's adorable."
"I wouldn't say he was my 'first...'" a light pink tint formed on the Watchdog's face as he spoke, causing his spouse to remain somewhat unconvinced by his words.
"There were more?"
"Just one." answered the bluenette surely. "You."
"Me? How does that work?"
"I thought you were cute from the first moment I saw you! I thought we established that."
"At the party? When I was in that maid outfit?" Now Alois was practically beaming at the thought. "I got you all the way back in the 1800s? Didn't you want to kill me?"
"Well, yes, but that was in part because of my gullibility at the time in seeking revenge, but I admitt, it was also partially because I was angry at being tricked into thinking a boy was attractive." Finally, Ciel cracked the smallest of smiles when his husband had the nerve to giggle at him. "Don't laugh! You really made my heart flutter, among other things. I hadn't even felt that with Lizzie, and I was supposed to marry her! Yet there I was, mouth open and completely enthralled by this beautiful maid. Then it turns out that 'she' is actually the person that I was supposed to be killing. I was humiliated!"
"That was the point! I was trying to humiliate you!" Alois pointed out. "And I succeeded! What I didn't know is that you were so genuine. I thought you were just a stupid boy who's only interested in sex, but no, you were just completely naive when it came to that stuff, weren't you?"
"Pretty much. Every time I saw you, you were still just as pretty. It pissed my off even more. I had almost forgotten all about it until I saw you again. By then, things had progressed to the point where accepting being attracted to you became a bit easier."
"So I was the one to awaken your desire? I'm kind of proud of that, if I'm honest. For the record, I thought you were pretty, too, but I also thought you were kind of stupid."
"But you love me, now." At that, Alois was hugged again, but he wasn't at all reluctant to return the favour. Ciel just craved it. At this point, Ciel was more than willing to openly profess that hugging the menace was relaxing to him. It made him feel better when everything seemed horrible. "And you're willing to comfort me when I have silly dreams."
"They aren't silly." answered his beau. "They have an effect on you just like mind have on me. You help me feel better, too, you know. You make me feel safe. I want to make you feel safe and comfortable, too."
A rather content hum escaped the bluenette as he rather liked the idea. He realised that accepting Alois' help with this would speed things along and truth be told, he liked having the blonde's attention. Furthermore, he was tired and wanted the warmth of their bed.
"I'd like to lay back down, now." he informed his husband, earning quick peck on the lips before being led back into the bedroom.
He wasn't let go of until he was laying down and the only reason Alois let go of him at all was because someone needed to turn the lights back off. Before he did, he looked back over to the bluenette in order to make sure that is what he wanted, only doing so when he received a nod. It was dark now, but the moon provided enough light for the both of them.
Ciel watched the blonde walk back over to the bed this way and waited for the other demon to get settled before moving closer to him. The bluenette nuzzled into Alois' chest, getting comfortable as his husband adjusted the blankets on top of them both. A smile graced the blonde's face as he gently stroked bluenette locks, prompting a content sigh from his lover.
"I love you." Ciel stated, his words muffled by the other man's shirt. "You're the best."
"Thanks." Alois answered right back. "I love you, too." Pausing, he kissed the top of the other's head before adding: "Try to go to sleep, now. Nothing's going to hurt you. Just focus on me."
"Okay..." It took a while, but eventually, the Watchdog succumbed to Alois' relaxing presence and soothing fingers, finally drifting off into a light sleep. His husband kept a careful watch over him so that he could catch him before he fell into another nightmare. Ciel had a big day when the sun came up, and Alois didn't want him to be stressed. He also wanted him to feel calm, comfortable, safe, and happy, as even though the menace knew of what was at stake, the well being of his husband came first in his mind and in his heart.
A/N: This is a long chapter... My eyes hurt...
So in this chapter, we see another character from Hellsing. In relation to this story, you can find him in Hellsing Ultimate (which will actually explain why Ciel's so mad) and Hellsing: THE DAWN, which shows Walter in his prime during the war (It's three 10-or-so-minute long episodes. You can find all of these on youtube tbh). That said, he's not this much of a bastard in reality. Well, I guess he is kind of a bastard, but not this KIND of bastard. He's really nasty, here, and that's because he's a version that Ciel's dream created and not the real deal. I felt the need to clarify that, because he's actually rather delightful.
As for the purpose of this chapter? You tell me.
Until the next chapter, my duckies~!
