~Refuge Inside A Luxurious Palace~

It had only been one night, and the gang had already seen so much. So much that was admittedly a little strange to be finding in a forest, unless it was one of those enchanted forests, like from fairytales. They had seen a huge stone tower. They had seen a mortician's shop. And they had even seen a third thing that probably just didn't come to mind right now. But as strange as this forest was, nothing could have prepared them for what they saw next.

Every single one of them had wide eyes and dropped jaws when they saw a huge palace, seemingly made out of gold. They probably would have been frozen like that forever, if not for the cold air that would actually freeze them. The palace seemed to resemble one that would come from India. "

Uh...should we go inside? Or knock?" Alois asked, still shocked by the fact that a luxurious palace had somehow ended up in the middle of a haunted forest.

"Um, maybe we should...knock?"

"But it's a palace, and I don't think people knock on palace doors." Sieglinde said.

Ciel approached the door, examining it further. "Wait a second, I think this is a doorbell."

The three others curiously approached to find out of what he was saying was true. "It does look like one." Sieglinde observed.

"Well, ring it." Lizzie insisted.

And so, Ciel pressed the button. However, as soon as he did, nothing happened. Well, not yet. A few seconds later, the golden front door of the palace opened, and invited them inside. However, it looked bigger on the inside than it did on the outside. The walls were made of gold and there was some sort of fountain in the middle. "I never imagined that we would see something like this out here." Alois commented in awe.

The light of the moon was shining through the skylight. None of them really knew why it needed one in the first place. "Come on Agni, we have trick-or-treaters this year!"

They could hear as a cheerful voice called from another room nearby. "Yes, of course, my Prince." Came another voice.

A few seconds later, two figures entered the room. One of them looked to be in his late teens and he had purple hair tied back into a ponytail. The other figure was a bit older than the first, and had long white hair. Both of them were wearing traditional clothes from India. "Welcome to the palace! I bet you all weren't expecting to see something like this in the middle of the forest!"

"Well, actually, we were a bit surprised at first." Alois answered.

The taller figure bowed. "Namaste-ji, everyone. This is Prince Soma Asman Kadar, the 26th son of the Raja of Bengal."

Well, now the rest of the group knew that this palace was authentically Indian. The Prince, Soma, smiled. "And this is my Khansama, Agni."

By examining the cheerful attitudes of the two, they were able to infer that they would be a couple of the happier spirits that they would be encountering before the night was over. "So, you have all made it this far! Good for you all. Just be careful that the demon doesn't steal your souls."

Ciel nodded. "Yes, we are already aware of that."

Now it was Lizzie's turn to ask a question. "Um, I was wondering. All throughout tonight, we have met a Werewolf, Grim Reapers, a Snake Charmer, and lost of other magical creatures. I don't mean to be rude, but just what might you two be?"

Soma and Agni exchanged knowing looks with each other, then Soma answered. "We're glad you asked."

The Prince snapped his fingers, and the next thing that anyone knew, an elephant appeared in the middle of the room. The group of trick-or-treaters had their eyes widened with surprise. "Yep, that's right! We're genies!"

"That is so cool! Is that actually a real elephant?" Sieglinde asked in excitement.

"Um, well, you see, the forest demon took away most of our powers, so all we can do is cast illusions." Agni explained.

Soma nodded. "I used to have plenty of real elephants, including an Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant...but he took it away." It was obvious by the tone in his voice that he was deflated by that fact.

"Why would he do such a thing?" Lizzie asked.

"It was only because he was afraid that we would rebel against him. Genies have a lot of magical power." Agni answered.

Soma's expression immediately brightened. "Anyway, that's all in the past. Let's focus on tonight. You all need candy to move on, right?"

The group nodded. "Alright then! There is just one little problem though." He said, nervously.

"And what might that be?" Ciel asked.

"Uh, you see, I kind of misplaced it. I didn't know if you would make it this far, so I kind of forgot where I left it." He laughed nervously, hooping that it might ease the tension.

Agni turned to Soma and smiled. "It will be alright, my prince. We will find it before the night ends."

"We could all help. Um, where exactly should we start looking?" Lizzie asked.

Soma had to think for a second. "Let's see...Maybe we could start in the basement. Isn't that where candy is normally kept?"

The group turned to the direction that Soma pointed. "Alright then, we'll check their first." Ciel said, seemingly unfazed by the fact that they had to look for their candy instead of just receiving it like normal trick-or-treaters.

The six of them walked down into the basement of the palace, which looked just as royal as the rest of the building. They had looked around for a few minutes and then coming up empty. "Well, I suppose that it isn't down here. Let's all go look somewhere else." Ciel suggested.

And they all went back upstairs to look elsewhere.

The group had eventually decided to split up, with Lizzie and Sieglinde searching on the second floor, Ciel and Alois searching the third floor, and Soma and Agni searching the first floor. The girls were having little success so far, but since they were alone, that gave them some time to talk about things. "Um, Sieglinde, what do you think about our chances of getting out of here?"

Sieglinde didn't know what to say, but nevertheless, she sighed. "Honestly, I have no idea. We're doing alright so far, but there is no way of knowing how long it will last. Claude has noticed our presence and he'll most likely tell the demon. Also, we have no idea when the candy that Undertaker gave us will wear off. I just really hope that we can all get out of here safe and sound."

Lizzie sighed, then nodded. "I hope so as well."

The two of them kept on walking and checking rooms. The palace was pretty big, so searching through it would probably take a while. Lizzie sighed. "I hope that Ciel is at least having some form of fun."

Both of the girls knew how Ciel became stoic after his parents had died, and although Sieglinde had never seen it for herself, from the stories she had heard, Ciel used to be upbeat and cheerful, and he used to love having fun. But that was before, and now, things were different. "Um, Sieglinde, I'm going to tell you something, and I need you not to repeat it to anyone."

The young witch nodded. "Of course. What is it?"

Lizzie shifted her eyes down to the ground. "Um, you are aware that a nobleman's wife must be of a noble birth as well, do you not?"

Sieglinde nodded. "Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, Ciel, even though he is my cousin, he is also my betrothed."

Sieglinde's eyes widened a little, but nevertheless, her expression stayed pretty normal. "Really? I did not know that. Is that all you had to tell me?"

"No, I just realized that I had never told you that before. After Ciel had lost his parents, he mysteriously disappeared for a month. No one knew what happened, and neither did I. However, one day he came back, but he was different than the Ciel I knew. He had changed. Something felt really off. After he had returned, I saw a raven in the trees. This is probably irrelevant to the story, but even today, I still can't help but feel like it had some kind of connection to Ciel. I just couldn't put my finger on it."

Sieglinde had to take a second to think. "That's strange. I wonder where he could have disappeared to."

"Part of me would like to know, yet, I feel something deep inside that really doesn't want to know anything. Like it would be too horrible to fathom."

Sieglinde sighed. "Let's not think about this right now, okay? Let's just focus on finding the candy for now."

Lizzie nodded. "Alright."

Prince Soma eventually remembered that he left the candy in a room on the first floor, so they went and got it, alerting everyone that the search was now over. "Trick-or-treat!"

Soma and Agni happily passed out the candy, and once they were finished, Soma couldn't help but notice something about Ciel. "Hey, how come you don't smile?" He asked, curiously.

Ciel shrugged. "Because it's not necessary."

"B-But of course it's necessary!"

Alois put his arm around Ciel's shoulder. "I apologize, but my friend here isn't exactly the smiling type. It's nothing personal, he just doesn't like anything."

"Hey! Stop speaking for me!"

Suddenly, Soma snapped his fingers. "I have an idea. Before you leave, I'll make sure that Ciel smiles!"

Alois scoffed. "We've been trying to get him to smile for three years now. Trust me, nothing works."

"But isn't that one of the reasons why you're out here? To get him to smile and have fun?" Soma asked.

"Alright then, give it a shot." Alois said, wanting to see if he could do it.

Soma snapped his fingers, and all of a sudden, a trunk wrapped itself around him and lifted him up into the air. Ciel landed on the back of an elephant. "I thought you said that this was all an illusion!" Ciel yelled.

"It is! It is very realistic, however!"

The rest of the group watched as Ciel tried to figure out the elephant that he had no idea how to control. Lizzie had something on her mind, however. She had told Sieglinde something that she had never told anyone, not even Ciel or Alois. Over the past year that they had gotten to know each other, Sieglinde became Lizzie's best friend and the one she always went to for advice, and it worked the other way around as well.

She was sincerely hoping that Soma's attempts would work, but she also knew, deep down, that something had changed him. She wasn't sure what it was, and she wasn't sure that she would ever be. She had tried to get answers out of her cousin before, but he wouldn't talk about it. Ever since that day, something had been really wrong. Something in the air told her that her speculations were correct.

However, they had continued to live a normal life, and she was hoping that they could all keep it that way. There were so many things about him that her cousin that he just wouldn't reveal, and it made her feel bad that she couldn't help him. If that raven really did have anything to do with it, then she wondered what it's connection to Ciel might be.