Frantically, Ciel looked around for somewhere to conceal the menace while the two of them waited for their foe to arrive. They were on a roof, so their options were limited. Ciel was careful to not put him near any of the ledges or anywhere that it might be difficult for him to get to, should things get bad. Both of them knew that Belmont was merely a human, but he was also a human who was able to incapacitate Alois, although while the blonde was seriously weakened.
"Let me see it." the Watchdog instructed, while lying the other on his back. Looking at the wound on his husband's neck, he could see that it wasn't closing as fast as it should have been. "Dammit. He has a blessed blade." he huffed. "Where the hell did he get one of those?!"
Alois opened his mouth to speak, but the bluenette stopped him, saying. "Don't hurt yourself, please. I'll take care of it, okay? I promise."
It was obvious to the both of them that he was just saying that to himself, primarily. Alois could see the fear in Ciel's visible eye and the panic that was slowly tightening its hold on him, but the menace could say nothing. He was physically incapable. All he could do was watch Ciel as his head whipped around and he began to mutter, occasionally getting up to pace around before crouching down to talk to Alois again. It was one-sided.
"It's gonna be okay, Jim." the bluenette rambled on. "Look at me. I'm here..."
Just as Ciel was going to get up again to start pacing, Alois found his body moving on it's own. His hand reached out and grabbed the cuff of his husband's jacket. There was nothing reassuring about Ciel's words. Alois' own anxieties weren't being addressed, but his husband couldn't do that right then. He had his own fear to cope with. So, Alois moved, but once he had captured the other demon's full attention, he wasn't sure what to do with it.
This was the worst. Ciel was worrying his head off and Alois was powerless to do a damn thing about it. All he could do was lay there and leave everything to him. How pathetic. Ciel was always fussing over him, wasn't he? The poor man was so scared about potentially losing the menace, that he was oblivious to everything else. The Watchdog was a demon! There's no way he could lose to a human! He was much stronger than Alois was in his current state, so what did he have to worry about? Couldn't he see that there was nothing to this?
No. He couldn't. Ciel's first priority was Alois. It was always Alois. If something happened to the menace, nothing else took precedence over helping Jim get better. The poor man was overwhelmed with fear and couldn't focus. It was always like that. Always. Alois would get hurt and Ciel would drop everything to swoop in and save him. How pathetic.
Couldn't Alois do anything for himself? He was always having Ciel fight this bad guy and that bad guy on his behalf. It was nothing new. That was love, wasn't it? Because he was loved, he could make the bluenette do anything, almost. All he had to do was sit back and relax. Pathetic.
Even when Alois was a bright, young, human boy, he could make people do anything. Part of it was his own expertise at manipulation. He knew now that the rest of it was simple obligation. His human self would have felt delight in the thought of making Ciel perform arbitrary tasks on his behalf. That was something he did. The bratty child that he used to be found value in forcing people to perform tasks, including engaging in duels to the death for his own amusement because that was love, wasn't it? If someone was loved, people would do anything for them. There was truth in that, if only to a safe extent that was in no way self destructive. Yet, the menace felt no such pleasure now. Instead, all he felt were feelings of guilt and inadequacy.
"What the fuck is wrong with me?" was all he could think as he stared into his husband's visible eye, still clutching at the other man's sleeve. He was seriously poised to let Ciel handle everything on his own, taking on both the mission and his own fears at the same time. That was a daunting task that Alois was wordlessly asking of him. What could he do, though? He had already been defeated once already. There was nothing more he could do. As of that moment, Alois was dead weight to the mission.
With that, his eyebrows furrowed and his grip on the other loosened, only for his hand to reappear on Ciel's shoulder. Like hell Jim Phantomhive was going to let that happen! One of the man's greatest flaws was also his greatest strength. The blonde was persistent and steadfast. There was no way that a little bit of pain was going to stop him. It never had before then and it wouldn't after. Ciel put himself in harms way and endured physical pain for him before, so what's a little bit now while Alois is on the receiving end? Nothing. Nothing at all. Gripping the Watchdog's shoulder, Alois forced Ciel's eye to widen and his brows to raise as he tried to stand.
"Jim!" the Watchdog called out, holding out his arms to catch the other in case he fell. All the while, his brain scrambled to try and figure out what to do. "Don't move around! You're hurt!"
Now, ordinarily, Alois was good at listening to his spouse's concerns. This time, however, he promptly ignored him. Instead, he used the other man's shoulder to hold himself steady as he wrestled against his body and got on his feet. He was still crouched, so the hard part was still to come. Gritting his teeth, he held onto his stomach as blood seeped through the fabric of his shirt with a strained grunt.
"Move!" he internally urged himself. "Belmont ain't gonna wait for anybody! Move! Move! Stand up! Come on!" Suddenly, blood that had built up in his throat came spewing up from his mouth and through the hole in his neck, mixing with the sweat from his forehead on the ground. His progress halted as he doubled over again.
"Jim!" Ciel pleaded. "Just lay down!"
The Watchdog didn't understand it. What on earth was Alois trying to accomplish! He was out of the fight! All he was doing was hurting himself more. There was absolutely no reason why he needed to do this. Frantically, Ciel's eye searched for any sign from the other as to why. Why?! It didn't make any sense! What was Alois trying to do?!
Then, Alois strained to take as deep of a breath as he could and raised his head. The expression on his face did not show a single trace of the pain that the man was in. Instead, when he looked up, he turned his head slightly in order to lock eyes with the other demon. Yes, Alois wasn't professing any indication of agony, as in it's place was a haughty smile.
"Everything will be alright." he said to the Watchdog. He didn't say it with words, however. All he needed was to look the other square in the face for Ciel to understand. "Look at me. I'm here."
"Ah..." It was more of a sound than anything resembling a word that escaped the Watchdog's lips. His husband was bloodied, battered, and missing an eye, yet just that expression alone made the blunette's heart skip a beat. There was no way that Jim was going to allow him to worry about everything on his own. He couldn't. That wasn't the way he was. Jim was one of the strongest people Ciel knew, and he knew quite the mighty bunch. More noble than most nobles, Jim Phantomhive was unlikely to give up once his mind was set on something. He wasn't going anywhere. He was going to make sure Ciel knew that.
Grunting, the blonde straightened his back and held his head high. Although he was internally embarrassed by the current state of his face, he still looked proud and strong. That is what he wanted to convey to the Watchdog so that he wouldn't worry. It didn't matter that his left eye was mangled. It didn't matter that he was covered in blood from head to toe. Just the sight of him made Ciel feel more sure. Jim was here and going nowhere else any time soon.
Taking a step closer, he reached out and cupped the other man's cheeks. He leaned forward and pulled Ciel in. All that the bluenette could do was stand frozen. He was far too captivated by the sight of the menace and by the blonde's laboured breath against him. Ciel held Alois at his elbows, keeping him steady before moving to wrap his arms around him. Before he could, however, Alois pulled away and the string that tied the Watchdog's eyepatch around his head was undone. Blinking, he saw the menace wave it in front of his face briefly before attempting to put it on himself over his own eye.
"Let me." Ciel said finally. He was a tad surprised when his husband actually allowed him to take the strings from his hands and carefully position the garment over his bad eye. The Watchdog tried to fix it in a way that was flattering, but the other's hair was so matted with blood that it made things difficult. When he pulled away, the bluenette felt a wee bit demented for finding it cute that he was wearing his eyepatch, given the circumstance. Still, the gesture helped the man focus a bit and calm down. Taking a deep breath, Ciel continued.
"Okay," he began, "Can you handle shooting a gun?"
Unfortunately, all he received was an unsure shrug. Alois wasn't sure if he could handle the recoil at the moment and he certainly did not have any confidence in his aim. Sighing, his husband answered: "Alright, then… Think we can handle playing it by ear?" That got a nod out of him. Now all that was left to do was wait.
A/N: I'll just make these into two chapters. It'll make more sense that way... Next chapter, we'll get right into the thick of things! Sweet merciful mother Mary...
Hopefully, everything turns out alright. I still haven't figured out how I'm gonna do a few things, but hey, I'm playing this by ear. Also, I like the phrase "playing it by ear" when not used for anything music related.
Also: I got a question.
"What would you say is the most defining moment for Alois over the course of DLTD/DLTP?"
I honestly don't have an answer for this one... huh... It's really hard to narrow it down to just one moment, to me. People are more like a collection of experiences and moments and that contribute to who they are as a person. Alois has many, many moments that are significant to his character. All of them helped shape who he is currently and are equally important, even if they may not seem that way. It's sort of a cop-out to answer it like that, though, I think. Sorry about that!
Does anybody else have differing opinions on that? I kind of wanna know. What is a moment that noticeably changed him? Maybe it's different depending on whether you read or write the story. I always think of characters both in terms of who they are as of this chapter, and who I want them to be in future chapters, so these changes aren't really new to me. I will say, though, when it comes to Alois, I LOVE talking about his ability to keep going even when shit gets bad. I really admire it about him.
Until the next chapter, my duckies~!
