From the moment Ciel stepped into his apartment he felt that something was not quite right but couldn't figure out what. He inspected the room for any suspicion before moving on to put his bag of victory on his kitchen counter. He saw the empty glass of milk he put in the sink this morning. It was untouched and still in the same spot.
So Sebastian is still not back. He thought to himself.
Frowned slightly at his undone dish he decided it was best to punish the demon with chore. So he moved to his bathroom to wash his hands.
That was when strange figures suddenly appeared everywhere in his flat.
Distracted at that moment, his hands were still resting on the doorknob halfway opening the door and a pair of hands, through the gap gripped his arm- too fast for his brain to register what was happening, pulled him forward and slammed his face violently against the doorframe. Ciel heard a sickening crack sound and he knew his nose was destroyed. Blood also streamed down from his forehead.
His head ringed and the metallic taste blood was instantly everywhere in his mouth, Ciel grunted, tried to rip off the hands coming at him through the door but only to receive yet another violent punch in his midsection, this time it was from the side as more figures emerged out of nowhere and completely surround him.
Wh-what the fuck is happening? Ciel only swayed for a second and fell to the ground in pain.
Blood blurred his vision and he felt many pairs of rough, strong arms holding his struggling body against the green carpet and some sort of liquid was filling a container with a rapid and familiar sound.
No.
NOT THAT.
Realization hit him and he thrashed with all his might until someone decide to punch him his face again. At that one millisecond he was off guard and a cold, skinny needle was harshly injected into his neck. He gasped as a freezing substance invaded his bloodstream, then he was falling forever.
Where…where am I?
Blurry eyes slowed opened up to take in he strange surroundings, fighting the fog in his mind for a sense of orientation.
Why…am I here?
Ciel was about to close his eyes again for a nice long nap when his eyes snapped open as memories from not long ago rushed back to him.
There were strangers in his apartment, then…
His brain was proceeding so much slower than usual it was almost pain-staking.
Sitting in a chair with hands bound to the arm stands he was silent for a minute before a terrified scream came out of his locked throat. He tipped forward along with the unbalanced chair and painfully smashed his already bloodied nose against the rough ground. It only made him struggle harder.
As dignified and mature as Ciel could be, he still felt extreme terrified at the sight of a needle. The feeling of the metallic probe penetrating his neck gave him violent shudders all the way down his spine. He found himself twitching violently in the chair.
Calm down, you need to calm down. A small voice inside his head said.
Ciel clenched his jaw and forced himself to breathe slowly. It's okay, he said to himself. There is no time to waste on panicking; you should access the situation first. He took in a deep breath and suppressed the urge to let out his terrified screams.
After recollecting himself he tilt his chin up to survey the area. The rough ground painfully scraped his chin. He was only a few inches from a wall and judging from the source of light and the passageway Ciel predicted that he must be in a dead alleyway, as those who had taken him prisoner must've made him sat in this chair facing the wall. The only strangeness of this alley was that it was clean, almost too clean to be an alley. Didn't all alley reek with the stalest garbage? The alleyway looked like it was newly constructed. It was spotless and all walls were painted crisp white. Painfully tilting his head upward, Ciel could see a glimpse of a bright blue sky.
"It's almost too…" Ciel frowned and murmured to himself.
"Too virtual?"
Alerted, Ciel turned his head sideways to hind a beautiful, poised, and almost holy looking woman smiling charmingly at him.
"…Who are you?" Ciel asked warily.
Instead of answering the lady only smiled. She had glittering purple eyes that could almost talk and they shined with an amazing quality as if two amethysts were imbedded into her eye pit. She wore all her hair into a simple but elegant braid that reaches all the way down to her waist.
She strongly resembled Hannah except for her ivory skin. With the satin-white dress that hung on her shoulders she looked even paler.
"Don't think too much, I am only here to free you." She smiled her sugary smile again and took out a knife.
Ciel only mumbled something while she repositioned the chair and began to cut off the ropes with startling precision. Ciel couldn't help but gulped as he thought about the damages this woman could do with her knife.
"There. It's all done." She smiled heartily and helped Ciel up to his feet. He rudely pushed her away and staggered to find his balance.
"I see. The medicine still hasn't worn off yet." Ciel did not know whether she was commenting on his hostile attitude or his clumsiness. Her ambiguity only infuriated him further.
She reached out to give him a hand and again found her hand being slapped away.
"Why did you drug me? You better give me an explanation." Ciel hissed as he regained his balance and looked at the woman with as much venom as he could manage. There was something unpleasant about this woman.
"Please don't look at me like that." The woman's brows knitted together and looked at him in a way as if she had been hurt deeply. But Ciel knew, he just knew that she was faking it. Her smile reminded him of Sebastian. It was fake. She was fake. This whole world was fake.
If she had not been a woman, and a very skilled knife handler Ciel would have already tackle her with an intention to kill. He did not like injections, the image of shiver needles came to his mind and he shuddered.
They started walking, or to be more precise, the woman with no name started walking toward the light, the only exit out of the alley. Ciel trailed behind cautiously, leaving a great distance between the two of them.
He paused when they reached the light that lead into vast nothingness. He grimaced at the strangeness of it. The woman noticed and stopped
"Are you afraid?" The woman asked calmly without turning around, only one step away from the light.
"I refuse to follow you until a further explanation about this whole thing had been given. At least, I need to know who you are."
"What if I said I am your mother, Hmm?"
"You're not." Ciel said flatly.
A soft, musical, almost unearthly giggle escaped her lips. It grew louder and louder, scratchier and scratchier to a point Ciel felt like his ears were going to bleed.
It quieted down again, this time that soft voice turned vicious, returning to its true form.
"The hell you're are right, and I would never want to be the unfortunate mother of someone like you, causa mortis"
Causa mortis
Causa mortis
Causa mortis
That familiar phrase rang inside Ciel's head repeatedly and the woman turned around, her angelic features had turned cunning. A monstrous, almost wolfish grin stretched from ear to ear revealing razor-sharp fangs.
She produced a handful of keys and waved them at the baffled boy. "When the time comes, find me."
Then she disappeared into the light.
There was almost too much information to put together at once.
Why does that phrase sound so familiar? Does she know about my past? What is my background? She obviously knew my parents…would this be trap? She was a demon so where is here? Wait…is she? Am I dead? Are my parents dead? What does she mean by unfortunate? Will I be stuck here forever? Doe she know Sebastian? What's behind the light? What are those keys for?
Million questions raced through his mind and he knew he had no choice but to follow the woman. Although every cell in his body screamed "NOOOOO" he still took in one deep breath and gravely walked into the nothingness.
It took him a few seconds to get his bearings. The light scattered and he was placed in the middle of a long, endless corridor. The woman was nowhere to be seen. There seem to be a million doors in this corridor that stretched into darkness.
He was attracted to the various sounds emitted from behind the doors. Temptation crept inside him and he snuck quietly outside an unlocked door and peek in.
Soft murmurs filled the nicely decorated room. A man, around his twenties with a look that at some angles resembled Sebastian was exchanging conversations with a lovely lady, who listened intently and wore a warm smile that instantly lighted up Ciel's heart. The man was clearly human despite his strange similarities to the demon since his dark eyes emitted so much affection and kindness that Ciel doubt any demon could possibly ever provide match against. The young women with beautiful blond hair smiled merrily, her eyes danced. The two were obviously married. There was so much affection in the man's eyes Ciel felt bitter. The woman's loving sapphire eyes deeply intrigued the man; they were just like the colour of the blue sky- Wait those eyes!
Ciel froze. He glanced at the man again. His mouth went slack as pure exhilaration washed over him.
There was no way this was a coincident! Those two people were clearly his parents!
The sudden coming of joy struck him and he pushed through the door without thinking.
"Mom! Dad!"
His voice trailed off when he received no response. No even a curious glance was cast his way and the two couple continued their conversation as if Ciel did not exist. That's when Ciel realized this was nothing but a replay of his past.
Slightly disappointed yet eager to finally learned something about his parents, Ciel smile lightly and watch his parents' interaction… Oh they look ever so happy!
For what might have been an eternity, Ciel finally broke his eyes away from the loving couple and dreamily made his silent exit.
Ciel visited the next dozen doors; they were all unlocked and open. His parents were always presented only the setting and the room was different. Sometimes the doors lead to a balcony, sometimes it lead to a study. In one room his parents sat side by side, humming happily as they stared at the falling snow. In another room beautiful, soothing music poured out and through the crack of the door Ciel could see the his dad's fingers danced magically on the piano while his mom sat by his side, watching with great intensity. Each room a snapshot of the simple moments in their life.
No matter what they were doing, or talking about. They were always so contented.
He smiled slightly and wondered a bit down the endless hallway. Happiness pursued.
He went to one of the doors where cheers were heard. He peeked into the room and found his parents grinning wildly at each other, as composed as they usually seemed to be they were radiating with joy, his mom's hands gently patted her slightly bulge stomach and she was on the verge of shedding tears.
"Vincent…God blesses us." Her eyes shined with anticipation.
Holding his wife close Vincent Phantomhive nodded. "After all those years, our dream has finally come true." He then leaned down to kiss her on the lips passionately.
Ciel looked away but a sweet feeling filled his heart as he returned to wonder down the corridor.
That feeling did not last long. After passing the last few open doors the laughter died down. The rest of the rooms were glued shut, and only muffled sounds could be heard if Ciel pressed his ear against the door and listened closely. Occasionally he would pass one or two rooms that are opened.
But this time they didn't look so happy. The affection in the man's eyes diminished as it was replaced by something that had never been there before- desperation.
"Rachel, you have to eat something."
"And if I don't want to?" She taunted. Desperation was there too, clouding her once carefree eyes. She cradled the baby to her breast and cooed.
"Please-" The man pleaded and the woman snapped.
"VINCENT! SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU WILL WAKE THE BABY!" She snarled viciously, never mind loudly, and the baby flinched and instantly started crying.
"Oh-sometimes-I-just-want-to-throw-you-out-of-the-window…" Through gritted teeth Rachel whispered into her baby only terrorizing him more before Vincent snatched him out of her arms.
"ENOUGH! OUT! NOW!" Startled by Vincent's angered tone, the ill woman stared at him for a second, broke out an ugly sob and wail with so much hurt as she brushed passed Ciel and fade into nothingness the moment she stepped out of the room.
Vincent looked in Ciel's direction; of course his eyes were following his wife. He sighed deeply and returned to rock the baby to sleep.
After walking for a while, he came across another open door. Hushed voice filled the static atmosphere.
"Vincent, they said our child is…"
"Please Rachel, just drop the topic, please." The man had aged so much; he now had wrinkles around his eyes. He furrowed his brow at his wife.
"But he is cursed! We have to help him!"
There was a moment of silence before the man resigned and stood to make his exit.
"I will be back in a year or so, with the best doctor I can find. Promise me Rachel; please do be careful with the child. In any case of danger…your own life should be the first priority all right? Remember that I always love you." This time the man tried his best to remain calm but his shoulder shook violently betraying his false calmness.
Rachel gave him a half-hearted smile, bitter and sadness stitched into her once loving voice.
"I love you too."
Before Ciel finished watching the couple he found himself running away. What was with this eerie feeling that throbbed inside his chest?
He kept running and running into the darkness. When he stopped to catch his breath he found himself surrounded by all kinds of monstrosity. Screams and howls now echoed inside each room and resonated through the pitch-black corridor. Different voices trapped him.
An eerie and childish voice, flatly question: "Mommy, why are you crying?"
A scream.
Another scream.
A sicken crush of a skull.
The sound of pins dropping to the floor.
Maddening laughter from people he did not dare naming.
A woman cried: "YES-YES-YES-YES-YES-YES-YES-HE-IS-DEAD! FINALLY!" followed by a sudden sharp yelp and her voice were muffled and fill with pain; some sort of muscle fell to the ground making a slick sound.
A male voice. "I am afraid there is nothing I can do, sir."
The dreadful cry of someone in pain.
Stop it, please!
Eventually the agonizing voices all mixed together into the background as Ciel released his own desperate scream. Tormenting questions bogged his mind and he did not dare to think about them.
He started running again. This time the haunting voices pursued. He kept running until the endless corridor finally came to an end and he slammed into a grand, hardwood door. He reached for the handles but it was locked.
Breathless, he turned around to find the mysterious woman again. This time she looked completed different than before. She wore a black bodice, tight leather jeans and knee-high boots. Her silvery braid now sat on top of her head in the form of a bun.
"You…" Ciel hissed.
"Long time no see, Ciel Phantomhive." The woman announced his name through a devilish grin. "Do you like the present I prepared for you? Too bad it is a pay-per-view."
"Are you kidding me? These flashbacks are more than…" Ciel suddenly paused. Who was he to judge his own pathetic past?
"Hmmmm, I see. Well you must've liked it." Her eyes flashed and she held out a key.
"Here is the last piece to your puzzle." She waved it in front of the boy, ignoring the glares she received from him.
Instinctively he reached out in attempt to grab it. The woman smirked and withdrew her arm just a slight bit to break Ciel out of his trance.
"But- you have to do me a favour first…since my mission is impossible to accomplish."
She held out a dangerous-looking tarantula.
NOOOO SCHOOL'S ABOUT TO START! TAT
*sigh* Hi everyone what's up? Do you like this chapter? I hope so... xD
The tarantula, haha -stabbed-
I saw Inception last week, omg so frikking amazing! Love it! Now I am addicted to it xD -sings "I am addicted it's a crisis"-
Was Ciel supposed to be blushed or having a cold in the trailer of ep.10? I couldn't tell Dx
R&R plz!