Today was the day. Tonight was the night. As Ciel got ready for work, he tried his best to be optimistic, but all he could feel was dread. The last time he carried out this exercise, a kid fell in and was almost eaten alive. He had no idea how his troops would cope or even if they would cope at all. All the Watchdog could do was cross his fingers and hope for the best.
That wasn't all that was on his mind, though, unfortunately. There was still the matter of his husband, who was not faring well on his own mission. While the menace was achieving results, it appeared that there was a cost to that success. All Jim could think about were things so dark, that they defy ordinary human comprehension.
"You should come with me, today." the Watchdog suggested, walking over to his husband's side of the bed before sitting down. "You should probably take a break, today."
"Probably. I was planning on staying home, anyway." Alois replied. "I don't know if I'll show up to visit or not. Either way, you need to go to work."
"I don't want to work while you're like this..."
"And I thought I was needy..." the menace chuckled. "What, do you think something bad will happen to me?"
"No, not really." his beau answered. "You don't like being alone, though. If you're already feeling bad, then it could make things worse, can't it? Part of my job is to help you out, so if it'll make things easier on you..."
"Yeah? What job is that?"
"My job as your husband. We vowed, didn't we? This falls under my jurisdiction."
"You're sweet… Thanks, Ciel. It really means a lot."
"But?"
"But, I dunno… I'm not sure..."
Ciel paused to think, all the while examining his spouse carefully. Gently, he took the blonde's hand in his own and held it there for a while, stroking it with his thumb. "Listen, I..." he began, not quite sure of where he was going with this. "I know that saying 'I love you' isn't going to be enough. Maybe love itself isn't going to be enough to help you; But it's all I have to offer- that, and my complete support. If you need anything- anything at all, please don't hesitate to ask, alright?"
The bluenette was perfectly serious as he spoke, never taking his eyes off of the menace. For a liar, a cheat, and a practically all-around shady individual, when it came to family, Ciel was surprisingly earnest. Alois knew that. He knew that as soon as he called, the Watchdog would come running, dropping everything else in order to focus on Alois. Yet, the blonde didn't quite want that. He knew that the other Phantomhive was enjoying his time running bootcamp and that he was serious about training the recruits into proper soldiers. It would be a shame to spoil that for him. That's why the blonde refused.
Even still, he also knew that Ciel wouldn't be able to stand it if he was kept in the dark, so what choice did Alois have? Sighing, he shook his head, conceding to his husband nonetheless. "Okay," he said. "I'll be sure to do that. Promise."
The bluenette stared at him, seemingly unconvinced. "I'm serious!" the menace insisted. "I will!"
"I know." Ciel said. "I believe you. It's just that I still don't want to leave."
"Go to work. Bring home the bacon and win me some bread." Leaning forward, Alois cupped the other man's cheek and pressed their lips together. It was no mere peck, as he held them both there for a while. After several weeks of quick kisses before Ciel ran out the door, Alois found this to be a pleasant change of pace. When he pulled away, he could still slightly taste the mint from the other man's freshly brushed teeth.
"Okay?" he asked, but Ciel only groaned in response. Rather, it was very nearly a whine.
"If I must..." the Watchdog answered with very prominent reluctance. "Are you sure that you'll be alright?"
"Ciel, you're fussing again..."
All of a sudden, the bluenette's eyebrows raised as something had finally occurred to him before his face shifted to expose his embarrassment at being so obvious. "Sorry..." he apologised.
"I promise I'll still be here when you get back." Alois assured, patting his spouse's shoulder. "You can call me whenever you get the chance."
"Aren't you supposed to be calling me for reassurance?"
"Yeah, but I'm not a complete worrywart when it comes to myself, while you go nuts like a dog seeing a strange vehicle in the front yard."
"You're my family, of course I'm worried..."
Alois paused to mull that over for a moment. Ah, so that was it. Of course. No wonder the bluenette was so anxious. Smiling, the blonde said: "I know. You can't help it because you love me. It'll be fine, though. When you come home, you'll see."
"I have to work later tonight, though, because of the 'pen test,' though..."
"Want me to come visit you?" the menace inquired, snorting a bit when he saw his spouse visibly perk up. In a flash, however, Ciel's more rational side kicked in.
"If you're up to it." spoke the Watchdog. "Don't force yourself to for my sake. Your comfort is more important than my anxiety."
"Ciel, you're so sweet, I'm gonna fucking vomit..."
"Huh?"
Somehow, Alois was able to coax his spouse into finally leaving for work, allowing the bluenette to be late rather than absent. The task fell on the corporals to wake the troops and inspect the barracks, making Ciel just in time to wait in his office while the troops ate breakfast. It wasn't as though Corporals Connelly and Gatts could complain, however. It was the most action they had had since volunteering to assist with training. That, and they weren't going to gripe to an over-protective demon.
The troops commented on their instructor's unusual absence during breakfast, but when they asked before the lecture, the Watchdog simply explained that his husband was stressed from his latest assignments and that he needed to make sure he was okay before he left. He didn't over explain, he didn't under explain. Ciel only gave them the necessary bits to get a grasp on the situation. Given how transparent the Phantomhive seemingly was with them, they accepted it at face value and the day carried on as usual until after lunch.
Instead of doing their usual exercises, they were dismissed to get their things ready for inspection the next day. Unfortunately, a few of them thought that this meant that they had all the time in the world to do so, but that wasn't the case. In reality, they were given this time not only because the sun needed to set before they could move on to the next assignment, but also because they would be perhaps too shaken to focus on it if they did it when they got back.
"Listen up!" Ciel began while the troops were lined up decked in all of their gear. The parade square was dark, lit by artificial lights that caused it to glow orange. "You are all about to participate in the hardest exercise that we have to offer here in boot camp. It is not an exaggeration to say that some of you will not be the same afterwards. You may in fact be traumatised. Yet, it's only a taste of what the job has to offer. Let it be known, however, that during this exercise, you will be kept completely safe from harm so long as you follow proper gun procedure and do not roughhouse inside of the towers. There have been cases where people were messing around and fell into the pen with the ghouls."
That was a terrifying thought. Every single person there had seen at least one movie or TV show with zombies in it and they knew what would happen to them should they get overwhelmed. In an instant, all of them pictured it. Some were able to shake it off, while others simply shook in their boots. Obviously, they wanted to ask, but they almost didn't want to hear the answer.
"In the event that this happens, you can't freeze up." the bluenette informed. "It's not instant death unless you fall on your head. Even if your leg is broken, you can shoot a gun. If you fall into the pen, keep firing to at least keep the ghouls at bay until we can get someone down there to get you."
"'Kill the panic, not the fear,' right?" nervously chuckled Gordon, trying to be helpful.
"Right. Exactly. But, as long as you stay in the tower, you will be perfectly fine." Ciel insisted. "I just have to inform you of what to do in the very unlikely event that something does happen. The goal of this exercise is not the completely eliminate the ghouls or even to survive. It's simply to get you accustomed to the idea. It is good to kill as many as you can, however."
"Is this really ethical?" questioned Private Wallace Young while sheepishly raising his hand.
"Probably not. We didn't exactly get permission from the body's owners or their families to do this, so I suppose it's 'unethical' from that standpoint." Like usual, the Phantomhive's bluntness astounded the group, but it also made them even more uneasy. "The best thing you can do, though, is to kill as many ghouls as you can to put them out of their misery. They aren't people anymore. They're corpses that will hurt people unless killed. The person that they used to be didn't choose this. None of them did. No one wants to become a ghoul and start mindlessly limping around in search of human flesh to consume. It's our job to help them out and to end their suffering as well as to protect those who are still living. Understand?"
"Yes, sir!" he received in reply, but it didn't sound very confident. With a sigh, the bluenette put his hands on his hips and shook his head.
"Listen, you're all going to be fine." Ciel said reassuringly. "Just remember everything I taught you and stay calm."
With that, he called for them to get in position and begin their march to the pen. It was dark, save for the few lamp posts that lit the path, but they were still encouraged to carry flashlights and wear reflective stickers on their clothing. As they got closer, they could see the four towers and the chain fence that they surrounded. It was well-lit and could be seem from quite a ways off. That wasn't the worst of it, however. What really got the hair on the back of their necks standing on end was the sound of groaning off in the distance, and lots of it.
It sounded human, but not. It sounded painful, but apathetic. There was no purpose to it, but it was terrifying. With each step the recruits took, it grew louder and louder, still. Then, they arrived and saw the horde. Rotting flesh, marred skin, glowing purple eyes, and blood stained clothes filled the pen. Rather, there were only about twenty or twenty-five ghouls in there, but for the recruits, it was a lot to handle. The smell caused their face to contort in disgust while everything else caused them to not want to take one single step further.
"Come on, keep your wits." Ciel said. "I need three people in tower one. If nobody volunteers, I'll pick for you."
At first, no one wanted to, but once the ghouls noticed them and began walking toward the fence, hands shot up very quickly. "Alright, Young, Cooksey, and Henderson, you're in tower one with corporal Gatts. Start climbing and don't do anything until instructed."
Things went on in much the same way, only with the recruits walking very, very quickly from tower to tower, given how they were not only being watched, but followed by every horror show, movie, and game they knew come to life. In tower two with Corporal Connelly was Private Withers, Braumfeld, and Danlaw, while tower three had Maddigan and Choi accompanied by another corporal. Finally, that left Private Kidman and Peterson with Ciel. They tried their best not to overcrowd the towers, so some teams had to be left with three people including the official due to the lack of an even number. There was room for one more in the tower that Ciel and his group resided in, however. At least, until they climbed up there and realised there wasn't. There, waiting for the festivities to begin, sat the blonde menace, boredly looking out at the ghouls below. Once he saw the others, however, he smiled.
"Hello~!" he said with a grin. Although his tone was cheerful, he seemed tired. "This certainly brings back memories."
"Hey, Mister Phantomhive." Clancy greeted.
"Hello." added Joseph. "So this is standard procedure, then?"
"Yep. Even the kids do it. It's just how we roll." There was a bit of sympathy in the blonde's expression as he addressed the pair, but he was still pretty nonchalant. "Just relax and shoot. That's all you have to do. You'll be fine, so don't even worry about it!"
"This is going to be the only time I'm going to say this, but think of it as a video game." Ciel said, walking over to the other Phantomhive and putting his hand on Alois' shoulder. In turn, the menace reached up to put his hand over it, prompting Clancy to blush a bit. "You need to get used to killing ghouls. If that will help you disassociate the 'ghoul' from 'person,' then it's fine. Get over here and assume a shooting position."
"Yes, sir!" Peterson and Kidman replied, offering a salute before hastily making their way to the front of the tower facing the pit. They sat down on one of the stools and set their guns on the table between them and the opening. From there, the bluenette instructed them to load their weapon and to wait.
"We ready to go?" asked Alois. In truth, he wasn't too interested in seeing this, but he promised his beau that he would come see him.
"Looks like it. I have to radio the others to make sure, though." replied the bluenette, still with a hand on his husband's shoulder. With his other hand, he held his radio up to his mouth in order to address the other towers. "Watchdog to towers one through three: how are we on being ready?"
"Tower Two is ready." replied Corporal Connelly.
"Tower Three is ready."
"Tower One on standby." Corporal Gatts stated. After a few moments, he confirmed: "Tower One is ready."
"Then fire on my mark." the Phantomhive informed. Guns were aimed in the pen with the safety now turned off and everyone waited patiently with beads of sweat forming on their brows. The recruits were nervous. Gently, their Corporals instructed them to keep their breathing steady and to remain calm.
"Five… four… three… two… one…" Ciel counted down. "Open fire!"
Despite the order, nothing happened. Not one single shot was fired. This is the moment they were waiting for, right? Yet they hesitated. Leaning back in his chair, Alois laughed and shook his head.
"First shot's always the hardest. Nobody ever wants to take it." he said, standing up. "Here's a little encouragement."
Suddenly, he reached into his coat, brandishing a pistol. With that, he aimed directly at a ghoul in the pen and pulled the trigger, somehow hitting it directly in the head from a long distance with a short-ranged weapon. Blood and brain matter sprayed into the air and splattered against the pavement, speckling it with red and sprinkling it with chunks. Where the ghoul fell, a pool gathered, yet the others around it seemed unfased.
The recruits in his tower sat there slackjawed as they tried to process what they had just witnessed. Naturally, since Jim married Ciel, he was a bit "strange" as well. Content with this, Alois put his gun back where it belonged and then held up a finger, indicating to his nonplussed spouse to wait a moment. Then, another shot rang out from one of the towers and he nodded with approval.
"See? Encouragement!" Alois reiterated, prompting his beau to chuckle. Suddenly, the two recruits stationed with them were very uncomfortable.
After a while, things started to pick up and shots were going off rather regularly. Not many ghouls were falling, however. Hitting moving targets, even if they weren't moving quickly, was rather difficult. It was certainly more difficult than it was in videogames. Occasionally, Ciel would interrupt his group with hints or to inform them to make an adjustment, but for the most part, he was silent and merely observed. Yet, while the others were distracted, he always had his hand in Alois', or at the very least, on the blonde's shoulder.
It was rather boring, not being the one who was firing. But, it was the way things were. Alois was tempted to pull out his phone and start playing on it, but he at least pretended to be interested for his husband's sake. With a bored expression, he rested his chin in his palm and his elbow on his knee while the other man held onto his free hand. Truth be told, Alois quite liked the sound that guns going off made, but the booming percussion didn't seem to move him if he wasn't directly involved. Slowly, the blonde's eyes wandered around the room in search of something to hold his interest. He read every single safety poster multiple times before he decided that he had enough. Letting go of his husband's hand, he stood up and walked over to the window in order to look over the recruits heads down into the pen.
It was just a typical pile of bodies. Alois had seen far worse. It was underwhelming. Worse, it was not at all distracting. In fact, it only made him want to go back out into the field and hit his next target. While he knew that he should probably calm down first, he didn't know what else to do. Just the knowledge that they were existing out there made his skin crawl. How could he sit still? How could he calm down? It made him mad. Oh, how it made him mad! Instinctively, he reached into his coat and gripped the handle of his pistol.
"Wait." called a hushed voice from behind him. When did Ciel stand up? "Those are for the recruits to shoot."
Alois' expectant expression shifted into a scowl. He didn't care about that right then. While his rational mind knew, recognised, and respected that this was important to Ciel, the menace couldn't help but feel miffed that his husband didn't address his problems, too. With a huff, Alois released his weapon and begrudgingly sat back down. He folded his arms across his chest with a sour expression on his face. All the while, his foot tapped impatiently.
"Do you want to go outside and walk around a bit?" Ciel asked him. "I can't leave them here by themselves with guns, but we'll talk eventually, alright, darling?"
"Alright." the menace sighed. With a grunt, he stood. "I'm gonna go walk, then."
"I'm sorry, dear..."
"Nah, it's fine. It's not your fault. Really, it's fine."
It wasn't fine. Alois wanted to go home. He had already offered to drive Ciel back and wasn't about to go back on his word. Yet, he didn't want to be around any of this right then. He wasn't sure what he wanted to be around at all, really. Everything just seemed so unbearably terrible and it agitated him.
Climbing back down from the tower, Alois paused to make sure he was sturdy as a gust of cold wind hit him. Once he was on the ground, he looked back at the pen and held his nose, sneering in disgust at the smell of blood and rot. The ghouls were almost gone now, much to his surprise, so the others would be returning to the parade square soon after him. He thought that he might as well start heading that way. The sound of leaves crunching beneath his feet was the only thing that accompanied him in the darkness without a flashlight.
A/N: I couldn't think of a title at all...
Sorry for the shortness of this chapter. I just couldn't figure out how to get this scene to transition into the next one. What can you do? I'll try to make the next one longer...
All of you had like really great comments? I've been reading them obsessively over the past few days...
Also, we got some character shet, y'all.
Until the next chapter, my duckies~!
CHARACTER SHET
Question: "How's Daniel and his sister settling into the town?" by Novasix
Samantha: "Alright? I'm very, very, VERY slowly getting used to seeing people with horns, tails, and/or goat legs amoung many, many other things, but I think I'm getting better?"
Daniel: "Samantha locked herself in her room for the entire day because she got caught staring while trying to memorise our neighbour's stripe pattern (he's a weretiger)."
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Question: "Alois and Ciel: will you guys ever get a pet? If its a dog what breed would it be and what would you like to name it?" by Socially Awkward Oreo Monster
Ciel: "I don't know. I kind of like not having dog hair on my couches."
Alois: "Ciel would probably agree to a dog, maybe? Probably a doberman or something. I'm not sure what I'd name it, though? It all depends on their face and what name they look like."
