Gambit

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters of Kuroshitsuji, nor am I clever enough to have thought of them on my own. This story contains male/male relationships between an adult and a child—if that offends you, please stop reading now. This story is dedicated to my amazing "husbandou," Dahlia. 3 Without her brilliant ideas, it wouldn't exist!

Chapter 4
His Butler, Dismayed

Dark… it was still so dark—why was he awake? Sebastian hadn't shown up to wake him for morning tea yet, he should still be sleeping. Ciel groaned quietly and moved to stretch on his bed. That was when he realized he couldn't stretch; his arms were stuck. Behind him. He gasped a little and tried again.

"Oh…he's waking up," a flat, female voice said. Who was that?

"Already?" another female voice asked. He felt a foot press into his side gently and push him onto his back. "You should still be sleeping, Finny."

Finny…? Little Phantomhive gasped again and pulled at his arms. They were tied; he could feel the rope now. And he was blindfolded… He remembered now: he remembered briefly waking up when someone grabbed him, and quickly falling back to sleep. He remembered smelling something sweet and unnatural. Chloroform… The lingering groggy headache and nauseous feeling in his stomach were enough to confirm it.

He'd been kidnapped.

Well…that explained why nothing seemed suspicious at the magic show—they didn't take the boys at the show; they took them after. But how? How had they known where to find him? They couldn't have followed him, Sebastian surely would have known and they would know by now who he really was. The carriage they were in groaned and jerked when they hit a rock in the road, and he felt another body suddenly roll against his side. He wasn't the only one, then…

As the coach began to slow down, he could hear the sound of muffled voices outside. There was a crowd close by. Immediately, the Phantomhive knew why. They were being taken to an auction. It was no wonder the boys were so hard to find—they were being sold off within hours being taken.

As soon as the carriage stopped, the door opened and Ciel could hear movement around him. He tried to sit up, but with his arms bound at his back it was nearly impossible. Eventually, he was pulled up by the sleeves of his night shirt and led roughly out into the cool night air. He shivered and curled his toes as bare feet touched the cool, damp dirt on the ground. He wrinkled up his nose at the feeling.

"There he is," a familiar voice purred. Hasani Agamemnon. Ciel's body tensed up as he felt the man's shadow towering over him. He gasped, then, when the man's gloved hands touched his cheeks and tilted his head up. "My little Finny," he continued softly, sliding his thumb against the Earl's cheekbone, just under the blindfold. "I can't wait to see those beautiful eyes again, Finny."

A disgusted chill coursed down the Phantomhive's spine slowly, sending shivers throughout his entire body. He didn't like being touched like that. The Viscount's touch had felt like that—dishonest and somehow filthy. It was a touch that made his skin crawl and his stomach twist up inside him. He jerked his face away from that grasp, but it didn't matter. Hasani grabbed him at the waist and hoisted the boy up into his arms easily. "Bring them," he ordered the twins softly as he carried Ciel over his shoulder.

Before long, he was set down once more and forced back into a rickety, old wooden chair. He tried to kick at the magician as he was tied down to it, but without being able to see, he could aim for nothing but the dead air in front of him. It actually made Hasani laugh, and Ciel scowled furiously.

"You're so feisty, I didn't expect that," Hasani commented with a chuckle. He grabbed the boy's ankles with reflexes that shocked the Phantomhive and tied them each to a leg of the chair. Ciel would have sworn aloud if he weren't supposed to be playing the part of 'sweet' Finny. "You're a very lucky boy, Finny…" his kidnapper insisted as he knelt in front of his prey. "You're going to be part of something bigger than you could ever imagine."

He touched the boy's cheeks again and Ciel was certain he could feel the man shiver. It disgusted the little Earl and all at once made him very aware of just how naked he was in just his night shirt. After a moment the blindfold was lifted from his eyes and dropped to the floor beside him. Ciel tried to turn his face away quickly, but Hasani grabbed him by the chin and forced him to look straight ahead.

Ciel's blue eye opened quickly, though he was careful to keep his marked eye shut. The grin on that magician's face made him want to throw up.

"Beautiful…!" he whispered, stroking the boy's cheek with his thumb. "Such innocence, and yet…so much pain. You've seen some terrible things, have you not, little Finny? Let me see your other eye…"

Before panic could truly set in, Ciel was saved as the short-haired twin stepped up beside them and touched her boss's arm gently. Hasani turned to look at her and nodded his head. "Very well, Faustine," he said, getting to his feet. He smiled down at Finny. "We're ready to begin. This will just have to wait until I have you to myself. Wait patiently here for me, won't you Finny? I have business to attend to."

The man turned to the other boys then, who were all bound and blindfolded like Ciel had been. They were trembling and huddled together—some of them crying, while others tried to be brave. "Walter, wasn't it?" Hasani said as he knelt in front of a small sandy-haired boy. He smiled and pulled his blindfold off. "It's your turn, Walter." The boy was untied, and then dragged out onto the makeshift stage Hasani had set up by the front of his night shirt.

Ciel could hear the crowd begin to applaud, but from where he sat he could see nothing more than Hasani, part of a table and the curtain behind him. After introducing the trembling child to the crowd, the magician held something up from on top of the table. With one quick swing, Hasani lowered the object. Ciel realized what it was just before the blade of the butcher's cleaver sank into poor little Walter's shoulder.

The child screamed immediately. Ciel wasn't sure if it was the blood, or the boy's screams that made his stomach turn, but as the cleaver came down a second time into the boy's shoulder, he could feel bile rising up into his throat. He watched Walter collapse onto the stage in a hysterical fit of screams as Hasani held the poor boy's arm up to the crowd and began to auction it off.

He was powerless to stop it. He struggled in that chair—but in the end could only watch as the little boy on stage was mutilated alive on that stage, and auctioned off piece by piece. He didn't even remember seeing the poor boy die—those horrible screams were still ringing in his ears as he turned his face away and vomited onto the concrete floor below. After that, everything went dark once again.

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The morning air was cool; but without a cloud in the sky, it promised to be another warm, sunny day. Sebastian had arranged a pot of hot oolong tea for the young master. For breakfast, he had made lamb chops with a puff pastry, one poached egg and a side of asparagus. Of course, he had included a small dollop of fresh strawberry jelly. The entire kitchen smelled richly of lamb and pastries. It had been enough to draw Bard and Finny curiously to the door.

Sebastian had allowed them the rest of the pastries, as he knew his young master would only eat one. Once the breakfast was set neatly on that perfect, shining silver platter, the black butler had lifted it gracefully into his hands and made his way up the stairs.

He pushed the young Earl's bedroom door open carefully, and stepped inside. After closing the door behind him gently with his hip, he turned to glance over at the boy's large bed—fully expecting to see his adorable young master lying on his side, as he always did, with the sheets pulled up around him and his arms wrapped around one plush pillow, his mouth hanging open charmingly as he slept.

But he wasn't there.

Sebastian's eyes narrowed a little. He set the tray down and made his way over to the bed, nearly stepping on his young master's precious ring. He knelt to pick it up, noticing his gold ring and eye patch were also on the floor. When ruby eyes lifted to the bed table, he frowned. The coin Hasani Agamemnon had given the boy was gone. He stood and touched the bed. It was cold, which meant his master had been missing for some time now.

"Honestly…" he sighed softly and stood up straight. "That boy really has no talent for anything other than being captured…" he murmured softly, then glanced to the tray of food. It would go to waste now—what a pity.

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Ciel's whole body felt heavy… no matter what he did, he couldn't move, and once more he was shrouded in darkness. He sighed shakily as he woke up; squirming a little on the hard surface he was lying on. It was then that he realized he was tied down, and clearly blindfolded again. A little groan escaped through soft lips as he tugged fruitlessly at his wrists. He felt sick, and the taste of vomit lingered in his mouth.

"Awake, are you?" Hasani purred in a low voice. He touched the boy's thigh with a bare hand, just under the night shirt, making the little Earl's whole body flinch and tense up. "Don't you worry, little Finny. I'm not going to kill you. You're just too pretty to kill…it's a pity you don't look more like him… I'd keep you as is if you did."

He slid his hand up that slender thigh and smiled as the fabric of that night shirt crumpled up against his wrist. The little gasp Ciel made sent shivers down his spine. "Those eyes, though… your eyes are perfect. They're just like his—even the perfect shade of blue I loved so much." He reached up with his second hand to stroke Ciel's cheek, smiling a little when the boy jerked away from his touch. "Your lips are like his, too," he noted, grabbing the poor Earl's chin and brushing his thumb over those soft lips. "But I've already found him a proper face. Lucky for you…"

Hasani leaned down close enough that Ciel could feel the man's hair tickling his neck. "Still…to kiss lips like his again… Warm lips…"

The Phantomhive gasped when he felt Hasani hovering so close to him—their mouths far too close for his liking. Even Lizzy didn't get this close to his mouth! "Quinn…" Hasani whispered, the name barely audible as he brushed his lips against Ciel's lightly. He shivered against the young teen and then stood back up. "We should get started," he said.

The blindfold came off and Ciel was forced to squint as his eye adjusted to the light. It was bright in the little room they were in…or perhaps it was only bright above him. He glanced up to the ceiling, and sure enough there was a row of windows in the roof of that small room—one large one directly above him, and the second large one directly above…

He lowered his gaze, and that single eye widened enough that he nearly opened his marked eye. Lying neatly on another table a few feet from him was what could only be described as a human rag doll. Ciel understood all too quickly what had happened to the kidnapped boys…and his insides felt tight and heavy as he realized that he wouldn't be able to return a single missing boy.

The boy on the table beside him was naked, and covered modestly across the hips with a white sheet. Ciel could see where each body part had been sewn together. Hasani was creating a new body with body parts from each of the missing children. The long-haired twin, presumably Johanna, was standing over the body silently as she sewed a scalp carefully onto the top of the head. Ciel wanted to vomit all over again, but he'd nothing left to give. He gagged and his innards heaved with a violent force that made him dizzy. He recognized that color hair… it was a soft, sandy brown…like Walter's had been.

"Everything is in place," Hasani said gleefully as he stepped over the body. He touched the cold cheek of the stolen face and smiled slowly as he looked into the empty sockets where his eyes should have been. "I found three important pieces last night… His hair… his voice box…" he looked over at his captive and that smile curled up into something wicked. "And now: his eyes. Quinn had the most…beautiful blue eyes."

He picked up a scalpel and shivered with excitement. "It will be complete soon…and you'll be back in my arms, my love; my Quinn…" The magician approached Ciel slowly and loomed over him with a twisted look on his face. "He was stolen from me, you see… eight years ago. I loved him so much…but so did he. He wanted my lover enough that he killed him while I was away, looking for food. He stole the air right out of his lungs. But my Quinn will be back soon… thanks to you, Finny. Thanks to your beautiful eyes that are so sweet…and so tormented. Now… let me see that other eye."

When Ciel turned his face away, Hasani grabbed his chin roughly and forced him to turn his head. He set the scalpel down and pushed the boy's eyelid open forcefully. His own reddened eyes widened immediately, the pupils shrinking back with a maddening gaze that actually frightened Ciel as he stared up at the man with both eyes open wide.

"They… they don't match!" Hasani screamed. His arm thrashed upward, knocking over the surgical table between Ciel and 'Quinn' and sending medical supplies toppling to the ground. In one wild movement, he was on top of Ciel on the table, looking feral and ready to kill. "You… you've ruined everything, Finny! You lied! Your eyes lied to me!" He grabbed the boy's hair, yanking it up and out of his eyes so roughly that it made the Earl cry out in pain. "I… I'll destroy them!"

Ciel could do nothing to protect himself. His arms were tied down at his sides, and his feet as well. Ropes snaked over his waist even to keep him from bucking his hips to knock the madman off of him. He was completely defenseless, and for the first time since he made his contract, he felt legitimate fear for his life. What would happen if he were to die before the contract was completed…?

He found himself screaming as Hasani raised the blade above his head, and brought it careening down into his marked eye.

Chapter four is dooone! Sorry it's a day late. x_x Oi. I'm not doing too well on this deadline thing, am I? It came out shorter than I expected, too... BUT! I'm leaving you at a cliffhanger though, ahaha!

Thank you SO MUCH for the wonderful reviews! =D Your comments mean a lot, and keep me motivated to keep working hard! I've had a couple ideas run through my head that I want to run by you! So when you leave me REVIEWS, let me know what you think!

I'm considering continuing the fanfiction in a series of arcs, like the manga. It will have two...maybe three arcs as well as in-between chapters! If I do this, I'm also considering bringing Grell in for some Grell/Sebastian fun! Opinions, please!

ALSO, don't hesitate to suggest things you'd like to see happen! I would love to hear your ideas if you think something could be added to the story for a fun twist, or even just something you'd like to see happen with a certain character!

Again, please please pleeeease REVIEW the story and let me know what you think! xD and I promise I'll try harder to update on time next time! Lol.

- Lo