Hi everyone, I'm back with another chappie! Hope you enjoyed the last one, now on with the next! To be clear, this chapter starts out 2 years after the prologue, not the series itself.

Disclaimer: I make no claim on Black Butler. If there is a piece of plot or a character who seems familiar it's most likely a coincidence.

That Butler, 2 years later

She stood at the top of a grand staircase in her extravagant gown of white satin, the skirts and single shoulder strap fashioned entirely out of white artificial roses. Her hair was swept up in an elegant coiffure, no longer in childish pigtails as a diamond tiara adorned her head. Nina Hopkins insisted they use the flower as they represented regality and dignity. The woman would never understand what these particular flowers meant for Elizabeth. She thought back to a few days ago when she was practically ambushed by the seamstress in her mother's parlor. She hadn't been very excited about her coming out party, but once she'd slipped on the elegant gown it had considerably altered her mood in several ways. Elizabeth had mixed feelings about the season, about husband hunting in particular. Her betrothed may have been dead, yet her heart was still pledged to him and she supposed it always would be. She gazed at herself in the looking glass and realized she loved the gown immediately; later she realized it was because it reminded her of Him. Paula had swept her hair up into a style befitting a cultured young lady and her mother had given her the diamond tiara she herself had worn at her own coming out party. And as Elizabeth Middleford looked through a sea of fake, smiling faces, she wondered if she was making the right decision. Her mother watched her from the bottom of the balustrade, a wry smile on her aging face, an expression so very different from the usual stern one she wore. Her brother stood off to the side with his new bride, smiling up at his sister proudly. The young lady by his side was the daughter of a duke and she looked radiant in the pink gown she wore designed for her delicate condition. Elizabeth was happy that his brother had finally found a woman and now in just a few short months, said woman would be giving birth to their first child. She beamed back at them as they waved at her and continued her descent. She swallowed hard as tears came to her eyes when she realized her father would have loved to have been there. Their father had passed away the year before of a heart condition and it was the excuse she had used when she had told people of why she wasn't introduced into society earlier. The true reason was almost too painful to dwell on, but she supposed she had come a long way over the past five years. Ciel...memories of him came rushing back to her the moment Miss Nina had presented the gown to her. After all the grieving and struggling she had done to put him from her mind it seemed that he still insisted on remaining within her thoughts. Though she noted it was never the happy times that came flooding back to her, it was always their last time together...oh it was almost too frightening to dwell on! He'd danced with her willingly, just like she'd always wanted. Yet this time, his demeanor had frightened her. The creepy, demented way he had gazed at her as he spun her around the room to the sounds of a broken phonograph would forever be etched into her thoughts. She shook her head to clear her mind. She had to face up to reality, Ciel was dead, buried in the ground next to his parents. Knowing him as she did, he would have wanted her to move on with her life and to quit this pointless grieving. He was the reason she was going through with this. Elizabeth was doing it not only to honor Ciel's memory, but for her own sanity as well. Elizabeth wasn't allowed to see Ciel's body at the funeral, she was informed by Sebastian that his body was so badly mangled that the mortician could do little to make his body proper for societal viewing. Sebastian had told her that they were in a terrible accident on a poorly managed road in the rain. The carriage had flipped over, causing Ciel to break various bones in his body therefore causing internal bleeding and eventually death. And yet Sebastian, who was driving the carriage had survived, his body unscathed. Despite all this, despite the overwhelming odds, his butler, his faithful servant had lived. It was so unfair, the beautiful, dark-haired boy she'd loved for as long as she could remember, had met an untimely end at the young age of thirteen, having known more horrors than most English gentlemen see in their lifetimes. She had lashed out at Sebastian after the ceremony as they lowered Ciel's casket into the ground,
"You could have saved him!" She screamed, hitting him with her fists as hard as her strength would allow. "Instead you only thought of yourself you selfish bastard! If you had been in the carriage with him none of this would have happened!" Sebastian caught her hands in his, looking down at her withblood-redeyes that seemed to be devoid of any emotion other than pity. She could find hardly any remorse in that cold gaze of his, if there were any at all. She broke down, tears and rainwater streaming down her pale cheeks and soaking her black funeral gown. Her knees buckled and she fell into the mud, wailing and screaming like she never had before. The pain of losing someone had never felt this intense, this horrible. Sebastian looked down at the young lady writhing in her pain, his ebony hair so wet it clung to his angular face. He put his white-gloved hand to his chest and gave her a short bow.
"I'm very sorry my lady, I hope that one day you will find it in your heart to forgive me."
Those were the last words he'd spoken to her before vanishing. In truth she didn't know if she could ever forgive him and in the years that passed a frightening thought crossed her mind, what if Sebastian Michaelis had murdered her fiance? It was altogether possible, a servant murdering his young master in exchange for wealth and power. It might have been the reason nobody had heard from him in years.
She handled the stairs gracefully, an almost reluctant smile on her gorgeous face. The clinking of champagne flutes brought her out of her troubled reverie and back to the present, back to pretending to be happy like the rest of society. She spent most of the evening conversing with various young ladies and gentlemen. She met many young, handsome men from wealthy noble families but no matter how hard she tried or how sincere they seemed, she could not bring her thoughts away from Ciel. Meeting these gentlemen with the intention of finding a husband almost seemed like a betrayal to him, like he was alive somewhere, watching over her. She knew it was a ridiculous thought, she'd seen him-or what she assumed was him-dead and buried. A smooth baritone interrupted her thoughts and she turned around to adhere to the sound,
"Pardon?" She inquired. The smooth voice belonged to the Baron Robbin, a handsome young noble only a few years older than she who had recently lost his father and gained the title of Baron. The man was of an average height for a male, about 5' 7". He had ash blond hair that appeared almost white combed back with oil and large brown eyes that she was sure would make any other woman swoon. He chuckled,
"I was wondering if you would allow me this dance my lady." He extended his palm for her to take and patiently waited until she consented. As they made their way to the center of the ballroom a slow waltz began to play. As the Baron placed his hand upon her waist and she her hand in his, she felt skittish, and felt her hand slipping from his. He grasped her hand firmly and twirled her out into the center of the crowd so she could not escape him. "Trying to run away little flower?" he cooed, a charming smile plastered on his pale face. For a moment, Elizabeth felt that his smile was forced, a playful facade placed to cover up a more sinister expression. But no, she thought, Baron Thomas Robbin's record was clean, he donated most of his money to charities for goodness sake! She was just thinking of ways to reject him because he wasn't Ciel Phantomhive. 'The Baron is a good man' She reasoned, 'any woman would be lucky to land someone like him!' After all, the man had money, looks, and he wasn't nearly as cold or dejected as her former fiance...
"Oh no, I apologize my lord, for you see-"
"Thomas." He interrupted her.
"Excuse me?" She inquired.
"Please Lady Elizabeth, call me Thomas." He smirked. She was rather hesitant as society dictated that strict use of one's first name in conversation was improper unless they were intimate friends which she was sure they were not.
"My lord, we really don't know one another at all, certainly not enough for me to call you by your Christian name." The man chuckled and almost leered at her in a way that made her uneasy,
"Perhaps when we get to know each other better, then you can scream it to the faulty god you worship." He grinned slyly, holding her tightly against him as the comment made her want to pull away from him.
"W-what did you say?" She asked as if in a daze. He really couldn't have said what she thought he said...
"Ah, dear Elizabeth, your delicate ivory skin would look so lovely on the end of my knife..." The room suddenly felt too hot, she felt as if she were spinning and suddenly she felt as if she couldn't breathe. This wasn't real, he couldn't be saying such things to her. She was having a nightmare, she reasoned, she must have fallen asleep in the parlor after refreshments. Or perhaps Paula laced her corset too tight? She noticed other dancers collapsing to the floor and realized that her suspicions of the Baron may be correct as the air clouded with a thick, noxious gas. The Baron held her as she fell asleep in his arms, a wicked smile plastered on his sneering face. "Don't you worry Elizabeth, we'll have such fun you and I. But for now you need your rest, I don't want you passing out during my favorite part." He placed a mocking kiss on her forehead before lifting her bridal style and carrying her from the hall. As he was leaving he smirked into the shadows, hoping the figure who resided there caught the hint.
...

It was hours before Elizabeth reawakened. Her head hurt like she had hit it against a brick wall. When she opened her eyes she realized she was in bed. But wait, this was not her bed. She quickly sat up, causing all the blood to rush to her head at once, the action made her wince and plop back down into the azure pillows. She now stared up at a dark, dusty ceiling, spiderwebs gathered at the corners. She sat up once again and took a look around the room, all the furniture was covered up in white sheets as if the tenants of the household weren't coming back for quite some time. Despite the unsightly state of the room, the bed she lay in had clean sheets on it and the comforter seemed brand new. Yet there was something familiar about this room, something she couldn't quite place. As she went to get out of bed she noticed that the combs in her hair had been removed along with her mother's diamond tiara. Her hair now fell in long, golden waves down her back. She looked down, noticing that her gown had also been removed, leaving her in nothing but the lace chemise, white stockings and drawers she had worn underneath. She panicked, frantically looking about for her clothes. Realizing that she wasn't going to find them in that room, she decided she should try to find a weapon and a way to escape. She jiggled the door handle, surprised when in opened quite easily. She stuck her head through and looked up and down the hallway, the only thing she could make out in the darkness was the peeling wallpaper directly in front of her. She lifted the heavy candelabra from the nightstand beside the bed, pausing when she saw an old, faded dart board. A black widow had spun a large web across the dusty old thing, the hourglass shape on it's bottom seemed to glow in the dark room. She realized that everything about the room was familiar, but it shouldn't be, she had never been in a place this dark and dingy in her life! It wasn't cute at all! 'I must be dreaming,' she reasoned, 'yes that's it, I'm really at home asleep on the settee in the parlor and what's familiar is that I've had this dream before, that must be it!' As much as she would like to believe in those words, she knew they weren't true. She hefted the silver candelabra over her shoulder and made her way down the dark, foreboding hallway. All the doors she had come across in the house were shut and bolted against her. It was only when she came to the foyer that she found the grand front doors wide open. She ran down the stairs, almost tripping over herself as she ran for the door. But when she got there the doors slammed shut and bolted themselves. She pounded on the door angrily, tears of fear coming to her eyes as she fell to the floor, the candelabra slipping from her grasp as she wrapped her arms around her knees, shivering. She whimpered before hearing a voice at the top of the stair,
"I hope you weren't planning on leaving without your clothes my lady, I just had them cleaned and restitched." Elizabeth looked with tear-filled eyes to the top of the stairs to see none other than her fiance's loyal butler, Sebastian. "I also imagine that your mother may be cross if you returned without that diamond tiara, I'm sure it cost a fortune." She suddenly realized why the house looked so familiar to her, this was the Phantomhive manor. But what was she doing here? Unless...Sebastian had a hand in helping the Baron kidnap her- "I know what you may be thinking and no, I am not an accomplice of Baron Robbin." He said as if reading her thoughts, "My master brought you here after rescuing you from that vile human." Sebastian smiled as if the statement was somehow amusing. 'Master? Could he mean...no, no this can't be happening...he's dead.' She thought, more tears sliding down her face as her knuckles turned white from holding the candelabra too tightly.
"Sebastian, have you finished stitching up Lizzy's clothing yet? I'd like to get her back home as soon as-" A dark figure appeared at the top of the stairs and Elizabeth gasped. The figure was a young man garbed entirely in black, his dark hair shone blue in the moonlight that streamed through the windows. When she noticed the black silk eye patch strapped over his right eye she knew it could be none other than her Ciel.

Hours earlier...

From the moment she entered the ballroom, he couldn't believe his eyes. There, standing at the top of a grand staircase, stood his former fiance. It had been almost three years since he'd laid eyes on her and in all that time he had never predicted that she would grow to be this beautiful. She wore a satin, ivory gown decorated with his favorite flowers, white roses. Most of her hair was swept up under a diamond tiara and held back with nearly invisible pins, yet that one long forelock had seemed to escape the hands of the hairdresser because it peeked out over the tiara and curled down to frame her face. She looked very mature and grown up and as he watched her converse with the various gentlemen in the ballroom he decided he should not have come. Elizabeth seemed to be getting on well without him, she didn't need him, but it was just that thought that had lured him back from the depths of Hell. He had told himself he just wanted to see her, to make sure she was alright. He was only planning on lingering at the very edge of the ballroom, content at watching her from the shadows. That was, until the so-called Baron Robbin decided to advance on her. He had sensed another demonic presence as soon as he'd entered the ballroom. This Baron Robbin was only an elaborate disguise made by a demon he had encountered in Hell. This demon held a grudge against him. The reason being that Ciel had him stripped of his prestigious rank and forced to work in a lower circle of Hell. Ciel had spent the last five years not only training to be a full-fledged demon, but also trying to prove his strength so as to be revered as a more powerful demon. Doing so, he had gained some very powerful as well as numerous enemies, something that in his former life was very common as the Earl of Phantomhive. Yet he had also lost an ally. Sebastian had been bitter and unhappy about his transformation from that of a human into a demon. He still followed his master's orders but with a stoic nature that Ciel had never seen him display before. The elder demon was miserable. He had spent too long preparing dinner and it had all slipped through his fingers like sand. He would spend an eternity serving his master, and he could no longer fend for souls without said master's permission. Ciel had become so frustrated with Sebastian's emotionless behavior that the younger demon had decided that he had had enough.

"Sebastian, I want you to leave." He had said simply. Sebastian turned towards him, a brow lifted in confusion.
"Young master, I-"
"You know what I mean Sebastian! You are free, I release you from your contract, I am no longer your master." Sebastian stared at him. His master had allowed him to leave. Ciel glowered at him, "Well?Didn't you hear me? Off with you demon!" He shouted, swinging his cane at him. Sebastian put a hand to his heart and bowed, a silent thank-you written on his devilish features. Ciel turned his back on the expression, thinking he might burst into tears if he looked too long. When he turned back again he noticed his loyal dog was gone...his last friend in the world was gone.

Ciel was sixteen the last time he saw Sebastian, and without him he was forced to learn everything the butler had done for him since they formed their contract. It was a tough two years without him, but he believed that if he hadn't done it, he wouldn't be the demon he was today. Ciel watched from the shadows as Lizzy and the other dancers were drugged and fell into a deep sleep, a result of the poisonous gas emanating from the Baron's person. He growled low in his throat as he witnessed this lower demon kiss her on the forehead as she succumbed to sleep. Rage boiled inside of him, he wanted nothing more than to step from his hiding place and claw the smirk off of the blackguard's ugly face. Yet revealing himself would tell of his weakness, his connection to Elizabeth Middleford. Even if he did manage to rescue her, word would soon get back to his other enemies and she would be in danger all over again. But if he did nothing, he knew he'd never forgive himself, he loved her too much to let her suffer at the hands of this filth. Ciel smirked at the thought,
'I love her too much eh? How amusing, five years as a demon and still I harbor such human affections for this girl.'

Thank-you for reading and if you are so inclined please leave a review!