Ciel glanced at the clock. He'd wasted half an hour checking his emails and looking up the ins and outs of the foster program.
He hoped to whatever God there was that he'd end up with one of the nice families.
He had a little under an hour left to spare, and he'd already finished packing a bag. Sebastian appeared in the doorframe behind him, holding some tuning behind his back.
"I'm not yet required to leave you on your own, am I?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
"What is it?" Ciel asked. Sebastian's hand moved from behind his back to reveal a pen. Ciel already knew what it did. The side where the ink would come out of was replaced by a blade that you could click into or out of the pen, an inconspicuous way of hiding a pocketknife. While you couldn't use it to kill anyone, you could do some serious damage with it. He couldn't remember where or when he'd acquired it, but he was supposed to give it to his predecessor as a family heirloom sort of thing.
He never got the chance to.
"No. Absolutely not. Why the hell would I need that thing?" Ciel asked.
"I have a feeling it will come of use." Sebastian insisted. Ciel thought for a moment. Sebastian had never been wrong when it came to harm coming Ciel's way. Ciel took the pen, stuffing it in his pocket, grumbling the entire time.
"I'm gonna go call Finny." He muttered, stepping out of the room. Sebastian chucked to himself. Despite being well over two hundred.
An hour and a phone call to Finnian later, Ciel big goodbye to Sebastian, going over their rushed plans.
"Job?"
"Check." Sebastian affirmed.
"Finny?"
"Double check."
Ciel wrinkled his nose, hating the idea. "Claude and Alois?" Sebastian's eyes flashed in their shared disdain of the duo.
"Check."
"Alright, good to go. Only approach the household if you know I'm in over my head or if I miss a single day of school. I'll see you on Monday, Sebastian." Sebastian nodded his head, and with that, Ciel walked out the door, down two flights of stairs, and stepped into the black SUV. He frowned, looking at the driver, a young woman with wiry brown hair pulled back into a bun.
"What's with the tinted windows?" He asked as they pulled away from the curb.
"Some of the children are picky when it comes to that. Clearly you aren't..." she eyed him. She cleared her theist, adjusting her hands in the wheel. "Anyway, my name is Justine. You must be Ciel Michaelis—" he changed his last name every twenty years. He'd already burned through Trancy, Jones, Smith, Faustus, Sutcliff, and Midfird among others. Michaelis was the one he took when Sebastian had to pose as his legal guardian.
"That'd be me." He confirmed, vaguely listening. She kept talking about this next household and he thought about running away to Norwich. Maybe his descendant would take him in if he posed as a cousin or something.
"—if you experience any problems in this household, which are common with this particular family, please contact us immediately. I understand that your situation is... unique. But they don't know you were sent by the queen; no one but you, me, the queen, and the head supervisor know. We should be there in fifteen minutes." He nodded.
"Sounds good." Five minutes later his mind had drifted of to something he thought about often; Lizzie's death.
They were married for fifteen years, long enough to have three kids together without the aging difference being too extreme. They divorced when rumors started going around about their now taboo relationship, but remained close friends afterwards.
She was in her fifties, he was still stuck as a seventeen year old. He remembered right before they got married, he told her about Sebastian.
"Lizzie," he'd said. "I'm not who I used to be." Lizzie giggled.
"Of course not. You were a lot meaner back then." Ciel shook his head, grinning.
"No, I mean... I'm not completely human anymore. When I was twelve, and my parents had died, I was kidnapped by a cult." He paused to see her reaction. There was none. He face was emotionless. He continued. "The only way I got out was Sebastian. I... struck a sort of deal with him."
"He's a demon, isn't he?" She asked. He looked at her, taken aback.
"How-"
"I've seen your eye, Ciel. I've seen him fight. I've seen his hand. I'm not stupid. I could put two and two together." She said quietly. He almost thought she was angry, before she kissed his cheek, putting her arm around his shoulders.
"And I suppose the only reason you aren't dead is because you're a demon too now, right?" He could tell she was joking on that last part, but he nodded anyway. She dropped her arm that she'd slung around his shoulders.
"Wha-"
"Lizzie, I'm can't age anymore. If you marry me, you'll live your life out to the fullest, knowing there's so much to do before the end. Me—I stay seventeen forever."
"So we'll make it count." It was Ciel's turn to ask what she was on about. "You may never find someone willing to marry you again." She giggled, and he laughed with her. "I'll admit, I'm a bit concerned about what'll happen in the future, but I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle." Ciel smiled a real smile, one of his rare ones that Lizzie loves so much.
"Right."
Ciel snapped out of his daydream with a harsh jerk. A quant townhouse stood in front of him, a big yard and trees surrounding it. A dirt circle driveway stretched in front of them towards a small gait behind him. He hadn't seen a house like this in a while.
"Where are we?" He asked Justine. He could tell she was mentally preparing herself for whatever came next. That was never a good sign.
"Just outside of London, a couple miles north of Brighton. I hope you're strong enough for this." She mostly muttered the last part to herself. Ciel frowned. How bad could this place possibly be? He grabbed his bags, and walked towards the two steps that led up to the wraparound porch.
Stepping inside, he immediately considered calling Sebastian back.
Damn me for jinxing it. He silently cursed himself out.
A couple stood in front of him. The man had dark hair and pale skin along with round glasses, which reminded him of Claude. The woman had light brown hair and an olive complexion, and a toddler that looked like an exact cross between them cowered behind his fathers legs.
The woman spoke in a thick American accent, "Welcome, Ciel!"