Chapter Seventeen: His Master, The Groom
"Young Master… Young Master, you have to come out of your room eventually. You know that if I do not come in, Lady Elizabeth will break down the door and drag you out. I am certain that you do not want that, right?"
"Come in, Sebastian. The door isn't locked… Not for you, anyhow." Ciel said irritably. Sebastian couldn't deny the truth in this. So he picked the lock using his Demon powers and walked in.
"Hello, Young Master. I cannot help but feel that you are secretly afraid of this wedding. If that is the case, I am afraid that I cannot help you. I do not understand in any fundamental way the human concept of love. I understand lust and desire. But those are inherently separate from love."
"Geez, Sebastian… What am I supposed to do? Lizzie will be furious with me if I call off this wedding, not to mention Aunt Frances. Everyone is down there right now! There's a priest and everything, planning to wed us. It was all I could do to get Frances not to demand that we be married in a church." Ciel said nervously. Suddenly, though, there was a knock on Ciel's door.
"Ciel! Ciel! I know you're in there! You have to come out eventually!" Lizzie demanded.
"C-come in, Lizzie…" Ciel said. He hadn't felt this nervous in years, not since he thought Sebastian had abandoned him once he began to doubt his resolve. Ciel had been left in Paris to fend for himself, and had to find his own way home.
"Sebastian had been following him to keep tabs on Ciel until he either gave up or regained his resolve. But that had been a trying time for him. He had made it through it, though, and ultimately died once Sebastian took his soul.
He never expected to come back, to realize that he would end up marrying Lizzie after all. He wasn't disappointed. It was kind of nice to have a comparatively normal life. Now he could be married, have children, stay with Lizzie forever. In fact, he had two options. He could turn her into a Demon using the Soul that he stole from Johann, or he could turn her into a Culled.
Frankly, the former seemed the better option. He didn't want to worry that she would be under his control without him meaning to. Although he would never want to enslave Elizabeth. He felt that he really ought to bring up the subject of transforming Lizzie before marriage rather than after. If he brought up such an insane idea after and she refused, it would be a very inauspicious beginning to an eternal bond.
"Lady Elizabeth. Please, sit down. You would not wish to be standing as I expound upon this conversation…" Ciel said, suddenly becoming even stiffer than usual in speaking to her. He was always stiff and impersonal when speaking to anyone. But now, it seemed like he was doing it deliberately. It made Lizzie uncomfortable.
"O-okay… P-please, call me Lizzie… G-go ahead…" Lizzie said nervously, sitting down, her chest heaving in and out. Suddenly, she gasped, her hand moving quickly to her chest to slow her heart.
"Very well… Lizzie… You are aware that I defeated Johann Shaitan. As a result, I gained all his wealth, including his Demon Souls. I wish to bestow one of them on you. We can be eternal together."
"C-Ciel… I-I appreciate the sentiment… B=but I'm not even ready to stop aging as a Culled, let alone become a full fledged Demon! I know Sebastian can train both of us in the Demonic abilities. But I'm too young to stop aging!"
"I understand that. I did not intend to bestow it upon you until you turned eighteen`. I would have been happy to not become a Demon until I turned eighteen. But it was forced upon me. I should never allow that to happen to you. But… I prepared myself for many things when I contracted Sebastian to assist me in taking my revenge. Marriage was not one of those things…"
"A-are you saying you don't… W-want t-to marry me, Ciel?" Lizzie asked, looking terribly hurt, her emerald green eyes flooding with tears. Ciel shook his head, though, and kissed Lizzie tenderly on the lips, smiling gently at her.
"No. I am not saying anything like that. I am only saying that I never expected my wedding to come. I expected to be dead, my soul taken by a Demon before such a date ever came. Such an event was, to say the least, unconceivable in my eyes."
"I had such tunnel vision, revenge was all that I saw, all that I cared about. And now that revenge is no longer an issue, and I have come to accept that it should never be an issue again. But it is still slightly… Frightening that I will live a full and… Relatively normal life… I do wish to marry you. I love you. But understand that I am still nervous about it."
"I understand. Life is a scary thing. If you really thought that you'd only live for a few more years at most, but you now realize that you'll probably live for eternity, I can't imagine that it wouldn't be frightening. I'll help you all that I can. But you need to come down and be a gracious host at your own wedding."
"Of course. Sebastian… Can you help me tie my tie?" Ciel asked. Sebastian smirked and nodded.
"Yes, My Lord. I shall help you by teaching you how to do it yourself. You wrap the bow around like this, wrap it again, then pull. It is fairly simple."
"Okay… Like this? No… That's not right. Here… Damn… My fingers got tangled… Well…"
"Oh, Let me help you, Ciel… Mom taught me that it was important to know how to tie a tie for my future husband." Lizzie said kindly, running over and tying Ciel's bowtie perfectly in the blink of an eye. Ciel blinked once, then twice, then sighed. He would have to work on that.
For now, he took her hand and went down the stairs, and greeted the guests, which included all of his eccentric but somehow loyal friends, such as Grell, and his fervent admirer, Rael, Prince Soma, Agni, the eccentric and usually high Lau and his 'sister', Ran Mao (though Ciel suspected that they were actually lovers), Undertaker (who had been a thorn in his side for a while, now), William Spears, who wanted to keep an eye on Grell, Sascha Breisacher, Ásbjörn Rudgar and of course, Sieglinde, who was actually living with him now.
Of course, Lizzie's family was there. Her very severe and strict mother, her doting father, her borderline siscon brother, and her other brothers and the rest of her family. Frances was sitting there, her back stiff and looking at Ciel with a very severe look that nonetheless betrayed not a hint of emotion. He could feel from her expression, though, that she wished to speak to him.
"Lizzie, I believe your mother wishes to speak to me. Please allow me a moment. I shall be back shortly." Ciel said politely. Lizzie nodded and let go of Ciel's hand. Ciel turned and walked over to Lizzie's mother.
"Alexis! Go… Make sure the band has the correct music! Edward… You join him." Frances said sternly. The two men nodded timidly and went off. Frances then turned to Ciel and looked at him with an even more severe expression than normal.
"Ciel. Please sit down. Sit down…" She said in a stressed manner when Ciel showed every sign of arguing.
"Now, I am aware that you are a Demon… But I expect you are aware that Elizabeth is my only daughter, and I love her very dearly. I wish you to promise me that you will protect and love her for as long as she lives. I do realize that she will likely die long before you. That is no excuse to be disloyal to her."
"I promise, Aunt Frances. But I plan to make sure that she lives for eternity as well. I have several potential contingencies in place. I could go over them all. But I feel that now is not the proper time. A wedding is a time of joy, to celebrate the happiest day in two people's lives. Discussions of Demons, and their machinations would not be welcome conversation."
"Of course, I understand. But you will discuss it with me as soon as you are able. Is that understood?" Frances demanded. Ciel bowed politely.
"Yes, Aunt Frances. I understand. Please allow me to rejoin the party. The ceremony will be beginning soon."
"Before we begin… I am required to ask, anyone present who knows a reason why these persons may not lawfully marry, to declare it now, or forever hold your peace."
"Lady Sullivan…" Sebastian whispered. This is just a formality. Objecting would be… Terrible form."
Sieglinde cursed silently, but stayed quiet.
"Ciel Phantomhive… Will you take Elizabeth Ethel Cordelia Midford to be your wife? Will you love her, comfort her, honour and protect her, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?"
"I do." Ciel said. The priest then turned to Lizzie.
" Elizabeth Ethel Cordelia Midford… Do you take Ciel Phantomhive to be your husband. Will you love him, comfort him, honor and protect him, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?"
"I do." Lizzie said, looking at Ciel with a look of complete love and respect.
"Then, do you have the wedding bands?" The minister asked. Ciel and Lizzie nodded, taking them from Sebastian and Paula respectively, and putting them on each other.
"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride." The minister finished.
Ciel took Lizzie in his arms and kissed her passionately, before sweeping her off her feet and carrying her down the aisle bridal style. Ciel actually seemed happy to Lizzie, which admittedly wasn't a common occurrence. Ciel in the past had always been very surly and dour, and rarely spared a smile for anyone. But now, he seemed happier than ever.
His smile didn't seem forced or fake, and although he was a Demon, he seemed more human than he had before. Ciel's sulky and sour look had always defined him, and Lizzie had never been able to get him to smile, unlike when he was younger, when he was always happy. Maybe this was a chance for him to go back to the way he used to be.
The End
A/N: Hello, happy reader. I've finally finished His Butler, Eternal. But there's much more that I wish to accomplish in this story. It is far from over. Rael's graduation, Ciel and Lizzie's child, Bard and Maylene's wedding. These are all things I wish to include in the story. So a sequel must be made. I hope you enjoyed this story, though, and will look forward to the sequel. Hopefully this wasn't as poorly done as Kuroshitsuji II.