Early in the morning at Saint Raphael's Hospital in London, a nurse walked into the building to start her work for the day. She was intent on seeing a certain old man who was admitted two days before for his heart, despite her not being assigned to him. That's simply how dedicated she was to the cause. He had a private room, however, for which she needed a key. But, this was not the first time the nurse was faced with a locked door and it certainly wouldn't get the best of her! Very quickly and easily, she finagled the door open before stepping inside. The man thought nothing of it as she walked over to the front of the bed and picked up his chart.
"Mister Nelson Pomeroy..." she thought aloud. Looking to the man, she offered him a sickeningly sweet smile. "Are you feeling any better, today?"
"No, as a matter of fact, I'm not." the old man huffed from his rather comfortable hospital bed. His droopy face twisted into a sour expression as he spoke. "I have a lot going on right now and this isn't helping it any! The doctor said to not be stressed, but it's pretty damn hard not to be!"
"Sir, you really shouldn't yell. Getting worked up will only worsen your condition." the nurse warned.
"Lady, if I wanted your opinion, I'd ask for it." Mister Pomeroy growled. "Now unless you're here to tell me I can leave or show me your tits, you can bloody well piss off."
"Well, I'm actually here to give you an injection." she said. Pulling out a pair of latex gloves, she put them on before wiping the clipboard off with a handkerchief. After setting it back down, she pulled a needle out of her smock before taking off the lid. "It'll ease the strain on your heart."
"Fine, fine, whatever." the other huffed again, prompting the woman to walk over to him. She had to pull his arm out from under the blanket, as he was being intentionally difficult. All the while, she had to endure the fact that he was blatantly staring at her rear end while she found a vein. "Nurse uniforms are so ugly nowadays."
"I'm sorry about that. But you know a lot of pretty girls, so that shouldn't be too much of a hindrance to you, right?" suggested the nurse while putting the needle to Mister Pomeroy's skin. "This is going to sting a bit, but it won't hurt for very long. How are the kids, by the way?"
"Stupid as always." Nelson stated, finally turning his head so he didn't have to watch. "They completely screwed up our latest project and can't stop blubbering about it."
"No, I mean your merchandise."
That caught Mister Pomeroy's attention. Turning his head, he looked at her with a puzzled expression as he tried to figure out what she meant by that. Then, he felt the sting of the needle being removed.
"All done!" she cheerfully declared before replacing the cap on the needle. Putting it back in her pocket, she smiled at the man in that same, sickly sweet smile, but now, it seemed different. It was like something else was lurking underneath. "Bye, Mister Pomeroy!"
With that, she left, locking the door behind her. All the while, the injection site on Mister Pomeroy's arm began to burn. Quickly, the nurse made her way down the hall. Once she was alone, she made a detour into the men's restroom of all places. She walked into a stall and locked it behind her, but moments later, curious became curiouser and a man in a tan trenchcoat and ashy-brown hair walked out. He paused for a moment, stopping by the sink to wash his hands before walking out.
As he did, he was nearly run over by a few nurses carting a defibrillator down the hallway with great urgency. "Out of the way!" they shouted. It would appear that the machine hooked up to one of their patients had indicated that their heart had stopped. What a shame. Such a shame. But the man only offered a stifled, yet morbid smile before turning to make his exit.
He walked out of the building and down the street for a rather long time until he was out of the sight of security cameras. Somehow, he never did come back into view. In fact, he was never seen again after that. He just vanished as somebody else walked out of the alley he had turned down. This time, it was a blonde man in a black coat with icy blue eyes and a cat-like smile on his face. He was walking with his phone in his hand and texting like a genuine unruly youth.
"Hey Every' Sorry Dimwit Eventually Acquires Dishsoap." he typed before pressing "send."
"That's good, sir." his butler texted back. "I'll be there to pick you up shortly."
"Thanks, Sebastian." With that, the menace put his phone back in his pocket. He then continued walking, keeping out of the view of cameras to the best of his ability.
Then, once he got to his destination, he spotting a black 2015 Rolls Royce Phantom with tinted windows. As he approached it, he heard the doors unlock, allowing him to slip inside. Once he was in the backseat, he finally relaxed, sinking into the seat with a sigh.
"Hello, master Jim." the butler greeted from the front. "I received your message. Do you have the evidence bagged?"
"Yeah." Alois replied before pulling a large plastic bag out of his jacket with a used syringe and pair of latex gloves inside. He then placed it in Sebastian's waiting hand. "Thanks for doing this, Sebastian."
"It is my pleasure, sir. I will dispose of this at the earliest convenience. Did you want to proceed with the next hit today?"
"No, it's past time for him to get on the train. Besides, I want them to find out the patriarch of the family is dead and freak out about the inheritance for a wee bit so the structure of their organisation is becomes more unstable."
"Very good, sir." Sebastian stated before turning the key and starting up the car. "Is there anything else you would like to do while we're out?"
"Uhm… I dunno?" Pausing, the man thought for a moment as the car started moving. He hummed and hawed for a while before leaning forward to speak to the older demon more clearly. "Wanna go to the cat cafe?"
"The cat cafe?" questioned the butler, excitement prevalent in his voice despite his measures to stay professional. Clear his throat, he answered: "Certainly, if that is what you wish."
"I've never been before and petting animals is always fun. I say let's go!"
"Yes, your highness." Sebastian said, prompting an eye roll from the blonde, although he smiled all the same.
Alois didn't feel bad in the slightest for what he did. In fact, he didn't feel anything at all. It was somewhat surprising to even him just how thoughtless it all was. It was just so easy. There was no effort put into this kill. There was no personal touches, no looking the man in the eyes as he died, it was just, sticking a needle into someone, changing appearances, and then them dying. Nelson Pomeroy was an old man with a bad heart who died from cardiac arrest. It was hardly as though Alois killed him at all. If anything, he just helped him along a bit. He was free to go and play with cats until it was time for lunch, then he would probably go back home after grabbing a bite to eat.
It was a productive day on his end of things. Alois had a genuinely good time with Sebastian and the cats, although he got the impression from the staff that Sebastian comes here often and stays very late. It was refreshing. It was rare to have moments with Sebastian where they weren't interacting in a professional manner. It was friendly and informal. The menace actually saw the older demon overtly giddy for once and it was something of a shock. When it was time to leave, the butler seemed absolutely devastated. Alois couldn't help bit feel sorry for him. Despite the fact that his master was no longer allergic, Sebastian was still not allowed a cat, even after all of these years. There was no other reason but pettiness, it seemed. Alois would have to have a talk with his husband about this.
Ciel, on the other hand, received copious amounts of pictures from their outing. He had to turn it on silent during his lecture that morning, only to be greeted by cat after cat when he finally checked his messages. Only the honourable Jim Phantomhive could pull off an assassination and then go to a cat cafe to pet cats with his butler. Well, that was technically not true, given that the butler himself was the same way. Either way, it was absolutely ridiculous.
He wasn't annoyed, however. In fact, he found a picture he quite liked. Alois had sent him a picture of himself holding a cat that looked remarkably similar to him. Same blue eyes, fair hair, and both Alois and the cat even shared the same expression. There was a message underneath that read: "Found a doppelganger at the cafe cafe. He screams at you until you pick him up. Same, mate, same..."
"Cute..." the bluenette thought to himself. Ciel saved that image and put it as his lock screen. All the while, his underlings were none the wiser.
They suspected that something happened during lunch, however, as he seemed a bit more cheerful than usual. He was. He was worried setting out that morning, knowing what his husband was going to set off to do, and even offered to skip work himself to provide assistance and support, but the menace adamantly refused. It was a massive relief to see that Alois was feeling alright about everything. That morning, he was very harsh to the recruits and had no patience to spare. He even stopped the lecture to make poor Private Peterson do jumping jacks for what seemed to be no good reason apart from the fact that Ciel didn't feel like speaking in a familiar fashion at that moment.
But, he couldn't be friendly with them. At least not overtly so. He needed to keep them on their toes and toughen them up, because if they didn't keep up, the training was going to get harder and harder until it might destroy them before they even made it to the real thing. Slowly, Ciel had begun changing their schedule so that they would be up for training at night. It was rough on Ciel and his husband, as they had arranged to work together at night on other things, but it was part of the job. It was temporary and Ciel could still spend time with Alois, but it took place at slightly different times, now. The Watchdog was coming home and leaving for work later now, but it couldn't he helped. It was all preparation for a test that Alois himself remembered well during his time in the youth training camp and something told him that it wasn't going to be any less brutal for the amateur camp just because they're adults. In fact, if they didn't have a hard time during their first attempt, that would be a cause for concern. Yes, unlike the youths, these men were going to have to endure the "caged ghoul" test multiple times. The menace sent them his best wishes.
It was only a matter of time, really. On this day, however, the lads would stay up a little longer so that they could squeeze in an extra lecture. It was an important lecture and it could only take place after the sun went down. After the recruits were done with their physical training for the day, they were released back into the barracks to rest and start getting their things put together for the next day's inspection. They had a couple hours before it was time to load themselves back into the lecture hall and by this point, they were thoroughly done for the day.
They perked up immediately when they saw that they were not the only ones in there, however. Not just that, but there were women in there. It had been a while since they had even seen a woman, so they were a little bit excited about that. For once, the front rows of desk were completely full as the quartet of new faces sat in front of the class like they were about to speak.
One of them was an asian man with a uniform that varied slightly from Ciel's, but still had the button up and tie. He wore a purple beanie with a skull on it and had unusual eyes. They were green and yellow at the same time and none of the lads had seen anything like it before.
Next to him was a blonde woman in a deep red uniform with the sleeves rolled up, revealing muscular arms. One was flesh toned while the other was black as night with a strange energy wafting off of it. She conversed lightly with the woman next to her, as they both sat there.
They seemed to share the same uniform, although the other woman's sleeves were completely down, showing no skin at all save for her hands. Her long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail and freckles dotted her face. There was a moment, however, when she yawned, revealing to the class her unusually long canines. It was at this moment that they noticed that her eyes were red, as were the eyes of the blonde woman. The recruits now knew enough about supernatural beings to be put immediately on edge as they examined each person a lot more closely now.
Collectively, without speaking, the lads had a few guesses as to what those three could be, but they were completely stumped on the last woman. She was short with a baggy, mismatched uniform. Her pants were camouflage, but her jacket was solid green with the HELLSING insignia on it. One thing that put them off about the way she was dressed was the fact that she was wearing the same T-shirt that they were, but it didn't fit her in the slightest. Her long, waist-length hair was white and the recruits had no idea what to make of that. She sat with her legs crossed while facing the other women. It was hard to tell if she was actually listening, however, due to the bored expression on her face. Occasionally, she would notice that she was being stared at and turn to face the recruits. Somehow, those deep blue eyes of hers were even scarier than the red ones of her companions, causing the lads to immediately look away.
"Right! Let's get started." Ciel said, closing the door behind him. He took one step into the room before he heard a knock. Swiftly, he turned and swung it open again, only to see Private Timothy Maddigan standing there with a meek look on his face.
"Uh… Hi?" the private said.
"Get in there…" his instructor ordered, prompting the redhead to quickly shuffle inside, only to let out a yelp when the Phantomhive lightly swatted at his legs with his riding crop to hurry him along. "Little degenerate..."
With that out of the way, he shook his head lightly before turning his attention to the matter at hand. "Now, I hope that all of you will be on your best behaviour for our special guests. All of them are elite HELLSING agents with quite a lot of experience in the field. Ladies- and Audrey- would you care to introduce yourselves?"
They started on the end closest to the bluenette as he gestured to the group, though somewhat reluctantly. The first guest needed to be nudged by the woman next to her in order to speak. "Hello, my name is Amelie Garou." she said in a distinct French accent, surprising the group slightly. It wasn't surprising as what she followed up with, however. "I shoot people with a shotgun at work and Charlotte is my wife."
With a roll of her eyes, the woman next to her took her turn, offering a friendly smile. "Well, I'm Charlotte Garou and I am indeed Amelie's wife, but I'm also a soldier at HELLSING who assists durting complicated procedures that are a bit too dangerous for standard soldiers." Charlotte couldn't help but feel annoyed at seeing the disappointment on the audience's faces as she revealed her marital status, but let it slid for the time being, as she didn't want to get into it right then and there.
"My name is Seras Victoria and I have a similar job to Charlotte and Amelie." spoke the blonde woman directly to Charlotte's right while gesturing to her coworkers. "I am also the personal bodygaurd of the organisation's head, Sir Integra Hellsing."
Turning her head, she directed the audience's gaze to Audrey, who already knew he was the least interesting one there. "What up? My name is Audrey. I used to be a combat operative, but decided that my skills were better used in the Intelligence Department. Also, I have a penis."
There was a hesitant titter as the recruits tried to make sense of the people they were seeing. Fortunately for them, they would soon receive an explanation. "Every single one of them is a fully fledged HELLSING operative. They are also, however, supernaturals. I certainly hope at least some of you have picked up on that, or else I think I might have failed you."
Immediately, hands went up. They were urgent as a million questions swirled around in the heads of each and every single recruit there. Yet, the bluenette brushed them off for the time being.
"Save your questions until I've explained everything!" he ordered, forcing the hands to stay down. "All this time, you've been taught about various species of supernatural beings and what to do when they are encountered in combat. However, that is not the only place you will experience them. As an operative, it is incredibly important to recognise that while they are not human, they are still people. They have individual personalities, thoughts, and feelings, just like you do, so it would be inhumane to teach you only about those who break the rules and act dangerously. That is why I have asked a few of my coworkers to speak today and answer questions." After a pause, the Phantomhive rolled his eyes and said: "Now, you may raise your hands..."
Once again, the hands shot up enthusiastically, prompting the supernaturals to look to one another and then at Ciel. The Phantomhive scanned the crowd for a moment before picking a hand at random. "Peterson." he said while pointing at Clancy. The private smiled nervously, although he seemed very excited.
"If it's not entirely rude to ask, what are you?" he questioned. "And do you have any specific needs that need fulfilled so that you can live here?"
Taking charge of the room, Charlotte was the first to answer. "Well, I'm just an ordinary vampire while Seras is a draculian vampire. Amelie is a werewolf and Audrey is… half grim reaper, was it?"
"Yeah." Audrey replied with a nod. "I'm half grim reaper and half human. I wasn't raised in a reaper soceity, so I don't have all of their rules or a death scythe or anything, really. I actually don't have anything that regular humans don't, so I'm not that interesting. The most unique thing I need to function is contact lenses 'cause grim reapers have shitty eyesight, so it's really quite boring."
"I just need the day off after a full moon." chimed in Amelie, but she failed to explain or add anything else.
"Shapeshifting is hard on werewolves." her wife said for her. "Once morning comes, she's exhausted and sore from changing back. She also needs quite a bit of food, since all that burns a lot of energy. Personally, I can't think of anything but blood transfusion packs. I don't really like the idea of going out and biting people. It's just inconsiderate."
"Don't forget shade gel." added Seras.
"Oh, yeah! Shade gel! It's like super-sunscreen for vampires so we can walk around in the sun for a bit." Turning to the other vampire, Charlotte questioned: "What about you, Seras? You differ a bit, don't you?"
"Yes, I don't actually need to drink blood regularly to keep my strength up! My type can sleep in a coffin to keep our strength up. It's the silliest thing, but it works. I'm a serious minority, though." Miss Victoria attempted to explain. She felt a little embarrassed to be admitting it to the recruits, since it was such a cliche. "I'm only one of two draculian vampires in the world! No one else needs a coffin, so don't get that in your heads! Otherwise, I could use some shade gel when going out in the sunlight, and that's pretty much it. The point is, you live with it."
"Yeah." the other vampire agreed. It was a hard thing to convince humans of, but she tried her best. "Basically, we just adapt to the condition and get into the routine of dealing with it. Now it doesn't feel like much of a bother at all! Though I am rather envious when Amelie is fixing food for herself. That's the worst part! Eventually, it just becomes a part of your ordinary life and it doesn't seem very important. Does that answer your question?"
"Yes!" excitedly replied Private Peterson with a grin. "Thank you!"
So polite. After he was done, the hands shot up again, prompting the bluenette to scan the room once more. Pointing, he called out another. "Danlaw."
With that, Solomon Danlaw sat up straight and lowered his hand with the others and presented his inquiry. "Do you think that your being supernatural helps or hinders your ability to be a soldier?" Pausing, he thought about what he said for a moment before a rather bashful look came over his face. "I'm sorry, I meant any unique abilities or weaknesses, not… that you can't do the job because of what you are- Uhm… I should really just stop talking..."
All of the supernaturals save for the bored Amelie got a chuckle out of his question. They understood what he meant. To that, Audrey replied: "Definitely. I'm a bit stronger and faster than most full-humans, so it was kind of noticeable when I was in combat. Honestly, the whole reason why this bunch right here is so good at their job is because they can do stuff that humans just can't do! If they get bitten by basically anything, it doesn't matter. They're immune. And they're out there, doing all this crazy stuff like oh, I dunno, lugging around an actual anti-tank canon like it was made of cardboard?" Pointing to Seras, he added with a look of disbelief, himself. "This one can cut cars in half with just that arm of hers. She'll fix your monster problem, no sweat."
"True." grinned Seras, inadvertently showing off her fangs to the others. "We get called out all of the time for missions. It's less risky and takes less manpower when we go. I would say that our abilities definitely help us do our job, especially when it's just too dangerous to send in humans."
The questions carried on like this with the humans asking every single burning question that was on their mind. A few were somewhat offensively phrased, but few were blatant jabs. Ciel really ought to have known better than to call on Private Henderson, but he didn't stop to think about it until it was too late.
"Why did you join this organisation if it means killing your own kind?" the private asked, causing his poor mentor to introduce the palm of his hand to his forehead. "How can you do that?"
"How do humans do it?" asked Audrey in return, scoffing conspicuously. "Humans join the regular army and kill each other all the time. Why's that not weird?"
"Yeah, and all of you joined for your own reasons, didn't you? Ours aren't exactly the same, either." added Seras with an incredulous look on her face. "I was a police officer before I was bitten. Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be one so I could help people and keep them safe. Now that I'm this, this is the best option for me to do that with. That combined with the fact that I quite literally didn't have anywhere else to go afterwards. What am I supposed to do?"
"Right, right. Amelie and I were actually maids at Sir Phantomhive's estate for a while before we enlisted." Charlotte explained. "We had assisted him on a mission before and this paid a lot better- no offense, sir.
"None taken." Ciel replied.
"I also need to eat in order to live, and you can't exactly go down to the market and pick up a few packs of blood." Mrs. Garou continued. "It's better for everyone involved if I simply acquire blood through HELLSING instead of… well, killing some random person on the street who was merely trying to go about their business!"
"I just wanted to know more about myself." Audrey shrugged. "I was raised by humans, so I didn't really know a lot about my supernatural half. That's kind of something important that you'd wanna know about, right? Turns out, though, that I'm quite good at intelligence, though, and I can support myself doing that. Why'd you wanna join, huh?" He addressed the private directly, causing the other man to shift uncomfortably. "Did you think killing supernaturals would be a laugh? Played a little Dead Rising or watched a little Blade or some shit and thought it might be fun?"
Quietly, the private looked down. "No..." Henderson mumbled, although he didn't sound very sincere or certain.
"That's what I thought." the reaper said. "Next question."
"Yes, my question is for Charlotte." spoke one of the recruits. Unfortunately, the man was Private Gordon Cooksey. "Once I'm out of boot-camp… Do you wanna go out sometime?" The others laughed at his request and he himself grinned, but Charlotte was not amused.
"No." the woman stated, not even bothering to try and let him down gently. What motive did she have to? She had already said that she was married, and if he was willing to disrespect that and pursue her anyway, what reason did she have to be courteous when she wasn't afforded the same respect?
"Oh, please?" the man insisted. "You can drink my blood any time you li-"
He didn't get to finish his sentence as the light from the ceiling was abruptly blocked by the sudden appearance of the woman's spouse. One can only imagine the man's shock, as no one there had even seen Amelie move. She was sitting in her chair one moment and standing on top of Private Cooksey's desk the next. Raising her boot, the wolfwoman brought it back down on top of the man's face as he looked up at her. Not roughly, mind you, but it was enough to hurt a bit.
"Didn't you hear? Charlotte is my wife!" she said. "Clean out your ears and pay attention, boy."
"Amelie, as annoying as it is, do you really have to stomp him?" questioned Audrey, only to receive perhaps the only answer the woman could give him.
"Yes." Amelie stated. "Otherwise, he will not know his place."
"I think he gets it, Amelie. You can sit back down, now." Charlotte said, patting the seat next to her. "Don't flirt with women you know are in a relationship and don't flirt with lesbians. Neither are interested."
With coaxing from her spouse, the wolfwoman lifted her foot and hopped down from the desk before taking her seat. Her wife put an arm around her shoulders as Amelie continued to glare. "His nose isn't even bleeding."
"It still hurts..." groaned Gordon, rubbing his face to both soothe the pain and check for possible damage. The recruit next to him swatted his arm as his comrades essentially looked at him like he was an idiot.
The next few questions weren't so "eventful." They were rather standard curiosities like how they acquired blood through Hellsing and the like. It was all routine. There was a moment where Ciel got nervous, however, and that is when Bryce Withers finally thought of something to ask.
"Are there more supernaturals working here, if you don't mind me asking?" Private Withers inquired. "It would seem unlikely that you're the only ones, with the amount of operations there are."
"Yeah, not everybody could be here, I'm afraid." Seras answered. "I think they're probably busy with other things. It's fairly early in the night for Charlotte and Amelie, so they probably won't get called out for a while if at all. Audrey usually works in the day time, and I don't get called out much unless it's something really big."
"You're the heavy artillery." jested Charlotte. "For when it's time to break out the big guns."
Jokingly, Seras raised her arms and flexed her biceps with a laugh before setting them back down again. "I'm kidding, I actually carry around what is essentially a canon." she said before continuing to answer the question. "There's not a lot of us, but there's more than this. Most jobs can be handled by humans."
Ciel could relax a bit after that. He wouldn't have to take off his gloves just yet. While he knew that the day would come eventually, it still filled him with dread. Would he be accused of lying to them? Would he be accused of betraying them? But most importantly, did he? The Phantomhive didn't want them to dislike him. He almost didn't want them to know that he was a demon.
Though, they appeared to be responding well to the presence supernaturals so far. They were tense and even frightened at first but now, they seemed to be relaxing. Maybe they could accept him as a demon some day. After all, the accepted that he had a husband. This was merely a few steps up from that, the bluenette thought.
Things had to stop somewhere, as the lads needed to go to prepare for inspection the next day and get some sleep. Meanwhile, Ciel needed to go home and check up on his spouse. Unfortunately, his men would be exhausted from staying up late talking about the operatives they had just met. Along with genuine wonder, astonishment, and discussion about what they had learned from the agents, there were unfortunately jokes about Miss Victoria being a "jug-ernaut" due to her strength and breast size. Thank god there were few, thanks to Private Choi shutting them down quickly, but it was still insulting even though the woman wasn't there.
Meanwhile, Ciel began the long commute home in the dark. He had missed dinner by the time he returned, much to his disappointment. With a sigh, he walked into the house and took off his hat before shuffling upstairs. It was times like this when he was tired and ready to sit down after a long day that the Phantomhive regretted having such a big house. The climb up the grand staircase in the foyer was bad enough, but then he had to navigate his way down the hall.
With his senses not honed, he rounded a corner, only to be collided with. The height of the perpetrator was perfect so that he headbutted the older demon in the chest, knocking the air out of him. "Oof!" grunted the bluenette, taking a few steps back. With a hand over his chest, he looked down at the boy in front of him who was currently rubbing his now sore head of reddish-brown hair.
"Luka, it's past eleven. Shouldn't you be in bed already?" Ciel questioned with an arched brow.
With a shrug, his brother-in-law answered: "I'm thirteen now. I can stay up later." He said it smugly while folding his arms. Good God, Ciel thought he looked taller, but it hadn't quite sunk in yet how old he was until then. Luka was actually the age where Ciel met Alois. Is staying up late what normal thirteen-year-olds concern themselves with?
"Alright, but since you're thirteen, that means we need to send you to boot-camp. You're already behind." The Phantomhive jested, trying to to smile as Luka frowned.
"What do you mean?" the boy asked.
"Well, your brother and I were both Earls by the time we were your age, so I guess we need to start sending you on missions, now."
"But that's not how things are now, right?"
"Your brother was still fourteen when he started working here, so no, not really." With a shrug, Ciel casually mused: "I guess we need to start getting you ready, then."
"You're messing with me!" Luka accused, pointing his finger at the other demon.
"Why, I simply have no idea what you mean!" Ciel said unconvincingly, cracking a bit of a smile when the boy rolled his eyes. Patting Luka on the head, Ciel walked passed him, telling him: "Go to bed, kiddo."
"You're not the boss of me!" the lad stated before his face dropping. "Uh-oh!" He tried to turn and run away, but the man grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder before parading him around the house. "Let me go!"
"You're not the boss of me." retorted the Phantomhive with a scoff. Eventually, the boy just gave up and limply dangled in his hold while patiently waiting to be set down. His head perked up when he heard the sound of a door opening behind Ciel, only to realise that Revy had come out of his room.
"Revy! Help me!" he called out to his brother, reaching out to him. Yet, the older lad didn't seem interested.
"I have to piss." Revy stated, pointing at another door down the hall. "Sorry."
"You suck!" the youngest of the Macken brothers declared. "Your hair makes you look like a washed out, emo version of Ciel!"
Instinctively, Revy reached up to touch his hair with a furrowed brow. Recently, he had dyed it light blue and quite frankly, he was offended at the insinuation. How dare Luka compare him to a person of authority? Now the younger lad was definitely not getting his help! Without another word, Revy turned and walked away, leaving his brother to his doom.
"Noooo! Revyyy!" Luka called out. "I was only kidding!"
"That's what you get when you're mean to your brother." Ciel stated. "If you're nice, I might set you down."
"And if I'm not?"
"I guess I'll just have to dangle you over the stairs, then."
"I'm so telling Jim on you..."
"Go ahead and try it. I'm not scared."
With that, the lad got an idea. It was a wicked idea that made his face twist into a mischievous smile. He took in the deepest breath he could, filling up his lungs up with air. Then, as loudly as he could, he yelled.
"JIM! CIEL'S BEING A JERK!" Luka screamed, causing the Phantomhive to freeze. Both of them knew damn well that there was no way that Alois didn't hear that. Immediately, Ciel removed the boy from his shoulder and held him out at an arms length. Kicking his legs, Luka continued to yell. "LET ME GO!"
"Sssh! Be quiet!" the Phantomhive hissed. "Do you want me to die?"
"No, I want you to put me down."answered the boy with a completely calm tone of voice. "I'm not a baby. I don't need carried."
With a roll of his visible eye, the bluenette gently set the boy down. As soon as Luka's feet touched the floor, he stuck out his tongue at the Watchdog, prompting Ciel to pick him right back up again with an annoyed look on his face.
"Hey!" Luka complained, only go grin as he saw Alois finally peek around the corner in order to see what was going on. Following his eyes, Ciel turned around to find himself caught.
"Having fun?" the blonde questioned. He couldn't help but let out a small laugh at the sight.
"Do children all become unruly as soon as they hit thirteen?" his husband asked in return, holding the younger demon up so Alois could see him.
"I dunno. Were you?" Alois inquired himself.
"According to Sebastian, I was always difficult, but thirteen is when I became a demon, so you could arguably say 'yes' in comparison."
"Put Luka down." the menace said with a roll of his eyes. "Luka, go to bed."
"Oh, come on!" whined the boy despite finally standing on his own two feet. "Do I have to?"
"Yeah. Want me to call Sebastian?" bluntly answered his brother with his hands on his hips.
"Fine!" Luka answered while turning to go get ready. "I can do it myself!"
With that, he scurried away, causing both adults to merely shake their heads. Once he was gone, they looked to one another knowingly and without words, Alois held open his arms and Ciel walked over to him, holding onto the blonde's shoulders while his beau's hands landed on his waist. Giggling, they greeted each other with a kiss.
"Welcome home." the blonde cheerfully greeted. "How was your day?"
"Uneventful, really." answered the other. "What about you?"
"Good. It was good." Alois nodded. He seemed alright, but the look on his husband's face indicated that he wasn't entirely convinced. "Seriously! It was fine! I killed a paedo and then went and played with cats. No big deal."
"Jim, you've been planning that kill for weeks…"
"Yeah, I know. It was just easy, is all. Like, really easy. I expected him to put up some kind of a fight somehow, but he didn't know until I was long gone. I think the next ones will probably be harder, but this one was okay."
"Alright… If you say so..." Ciel still seemed unsure, but was willing to at least try to take his husband at his word.
"Let's not talk about it in the hallway, okay?" Alois said, putting his finger to his lips in a "shushing" gesture. "No need to accidentally let the younger ones know all the grisly details."
"Alright." the bluenette nodded. "Let me go get changed."
"I'll wait for you in the frontroom, okay?"
"Sounds like a plan." Ciel said before kissing his spouse on the lips one more time. They released each other, allowing the Watchdog to walk ahead. Once he was out of view however, Alois' smile dropped.
He wasn't quite sure how he felt about all of this. It wasn't quite what he imagined. Yet, his resolve was firm and no matter what, he was going to complete the mission, regardless.
A/N: I don't have much to say about this chapter tbh. I wanted to do more, but it didn't lead up to it, y'know?
I really kind of wonder how much longer this arc can last... I know most of you really like it, but it's about time for us to turn up the heat a bit. That would also mean, however, that the end of the arc is approaching...
We'll survive somehow, right?
But, if you have ideas to stall with, do tell! I will say though, I will start writing the next chapter tomorrow, so I need to hear them by the time I do...
Until the next chapter, my duckies~!
