Oh, no.
Evelyn felt a wave of horror wash over her as she processed the Earl's words. "Goodbye...?" she breathed, her eyes widening in fear as the phrase registered in her mind. Leaning back, she allowed the back of her head to thunk to the floor as she thought of the other first tiers.
Dagger. Jumbo. Wendy. Peter. Doll. Snake. Beast.
Beast.
Evelyn choked at the name, her hand clamping over her mouth as her eyes filled with tears. Beast, she thought, guilt and regret striking her as she felt the warm, salty drops begin to run down her face. I was a complete bitch to her. I never said goodbye. I never apologized.
Earl Phantomhive looked at the illusionist with an expression of disgust as he continued. "Those are the private soldiers Sebastian and I personally selected. They'll protect Phantomhive secrets and Phantomhive pride from anything." He spoke nonchalantly, as Joker made a strangled noise from the ground, his eyes slipping in and out of focus as he stared up at the Earl in dismay. "That's what makes a Phantomhive servant," the Earl finished.
"Private... soldiers...?" Joker rasped, and with a jolt Evelyn noticed that the man was beginning to shake from pain. With a groan, Evelyn reached a hand forward, digging her nails into the floor of the chamber and beginning to drag herself towards the redhead, as the young Earl spoke once more.
"Phantomhive is a shadow which exists solely to dispose of Her Majesty's worries," He replied. "Once you enter our den... you can never return to the light."
"They're pros, too! They won't be easy to-" Joker tried desperately to counter the boy's words, only to receive a ghostly smile from the butler in reply.
"You're free to believe what you like," Sebastian said pleasantly, holding up the bloodied dagger he had used to sever the ringleader's arm. "But don't forget that I chose them." He grinned, waving the dagger and tossing it to the ground in front of the other man.
Joker's gaze switched from the sight of the dagger, to the Baron laying lifeless on the ground, to Evelyn, who still struggled towards him with great difficulty. Finally he looked to the ground in front of him, looking utterly broken and afraid. "Please... live..." he whispered, staring at the remainder of his skeletal arm. "Even if I can't..." His voice was barely audible as he lowered his head to the ground, still staring at the fake limb. He remained that way for quite a while, before a stifled sob escaped his mouth, and immediately tears began to flood from his eyes.
Evelyn felt as if her heart was shattered as she watched Joker finally break down in front of her. Her own eyes filling with tears, she gripped his shoulder, pulling herself up beside him and draping an arm over his back as he sobbed pitifully. Pressing her face into the dirtied fabric covering his shoulder blade, she allowed her own tears to stain his shirt as she spoke quietly, hiccuping slightly as she did so. "Joker..." Evelyn whispered hoarsely, before Earl Phantomhive interrupted once again, with words that immediately sent Evelyn into a rage.
"Don't cry; it's pathetic-" He began, before the girl cut him off.
"Fuck you!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, forcing the remainder of her energy into the shriek as she lost herself. "You insolent, spoiled, wretched little sack of shit, you deserve every burn that hell's fire can give you!" She bellowed, her sharp words bursting out before she was able to stop them. The young Earl glared hatefully at her for a moment, before a quiet whisper caught both Evelyn and the child's attention.
"Smile..." Joker uttered as he raised his head, staring at the Earl with an unreadable expression - pity, possibly, shone from his red-rimmed eyes. Earl Phantomhive's blue iris narrowed as he looked condescendingly down at the ringleader.
"I only have one name, " He snapped. "and it's Ciel Phantomhive." His words sounded muffled, and with a weak start Evelyn realized she was quickly losing focus. Glimpsing down at herself, a puddle of blood steadily grew from underneath her, shining dimly in the candlelight. The gash that Sebastian had inflicted upon her ached, stabbing pains shooting through Evelyn's abdomen as a low groan escaped her lips. Gritting her teeth, the girl readied herself to retort, only for the group to be distracted by the creaking of an opening door accompanied by the squeak of a wheel.
"Sorry I'm late! I brought more!" Doc's voice echoed cheerily throughout the chamber, the squeaking of wheels stopping as he surveyed the scene, his mouth forming a small 'o' as he took in the sight. "Black and Smile? What are you doing here?" He asked curiously, sounding - and looking - oddly casual in light of the situation.
"St-stay away, Doc - they're... the Queen's guard dogs!" Joker struggled to speak, his voice shaking as he gagged, pain radiating from his bloodied stump. Evelyn's vision blurred as she stared hazily at the ringleader's bloodied arm, watching as a puddle of red began to stain the floor beneath it. In a murky, violet-tinged flurry, the girl's brain made a simple but terrifying connection - he's dying.
Reaching down with shaky hands, Evelyn weakly pulled at the stained, wet fabric covering her torso, feeling a strip of it come loose as she tugged, ignoring the banter of Joker and Doc in her desperation. Exposing a strip of her stomach to the humid, heavy air of the cellar chamber, she pulled the long length of fabric free, thoughts whizzing in and out of her mind in a misty haze. Tie it off, right? That's what they do...? Evelyn's head reeled as she used what was left of her energy to push herself off of the ground, length of torn fabric clutched tightly in hand.
Pain erupted across her stomach as she stretched out her hands, gripping the redhead's upper arm as she slipped the length of fabric above his stump. Joker cried out in agony as Evelyn yanked the piece of fabric into a knot, tying it as tightly as her shaking hands allowed. Her head spun and lights danced in her eyes as she pulled away, dropping to the floor and sobbing loudly as wave after wave of pain struck her. Yet, as the two performers writhed on the floor, Earl Phantomhive, his butler, and the Doctor failed to even notice the pair, casually speaking to one another as if there wasn't a dead man and two dying partners in the room.
"...Created what no one before me had been able to," Doc's voice broke through the stupor as he turned to the pair and strode towards them, picking up Joker's discarded skeletal hand and examining it with a loving, yet crazed, look in his eye. "The only problem with my material was that it was a touch difficult to gather." He noted, gently stroking two fingers across the knuckles.
"Yes, your prosthetics did have a lovely texture," Sebastian supplied, looking thoughtful as he glanced at the limb. "Almost like bone china..." He smirked, raising a hand to his chin.
"You can appreciate the beauty, Black?! But you're off the mark!" Doc exclaimed, opening his arms and gesturing widely around the room. "I wish you wouldn't rate my work the same as cattle bone china!" The words struck Evelyn as odd, even in her pained, fading stupor. Cattle bone? But what else could he... she wondered drowsily, feeling closer to unconsciousness every minute.
"I do recall you saying that you use special materials," Sebastian noted. The doctor looked practically ecstatic at that, spinning around the room with his arms outstretched in glee.
"That's right! Special materials I can only get here!" He laughed, as Earl Phantomhive looked dumbstruck. Nearing a cage, the Doc grinned, leaning on it with ease and chuckling slightly. "Saves the trouble of dumping them elsewhere. Brilliant recycling, don't you think?" He asked happily, as Joker's eyes widened with a choke.
The redhead opened his mouth and, with a horrid look crossing his face, began to scream.
The piercing, frightened noise tore through the air, jolting Evelyn back to alertness as she stared, horrified, at the man, Doc's words just then registering in her own brain as Joker began to thrash. Slamming his skeletal limb on the ground in a panic, he earnestly tried to separate himself from the wretched thing, a feral sort of fear pulsing through his body as he shrieked. Doc watched the man in his frenzied panic, only to shrug. "See? Another patient rejecting it," He sighed unhappily, pushing away from the cage.
At that, Evelyn finally broke. Pushing herself from the ground, she vomited, retching loudly as the bloodied contents of her stomach made their appearance on the chamber floor. Pushing herself away from the muck, she leaned back on the floor, beginning to shift as loud sobs wracked her body. This whole situation is demonic, she thought frenziedly, a mixture of pain, shock and terror coming over her in waves.
"I can't believe what we've..." Joker whispered, hot tears streaming from the corners of his eyes as he stared at the skeletal limb. Doc sighed again, smiling playfully as he held up the discarded hand, waving it slightly and letting it swing from his fingers.
"And you were so happy to have this right hand, too!" He said sadly.
"If I'd have known, I wouldn't have..." Joker rasped, his voice shaking with grief. Doc looked at him incredulously.
"You wouldn't have wanted it? Are you sure?" He asked in disbelief, causing the ringleader to make a noise of distress. After a moment, the man's violet eyes rolled back and he lowered his head in defeat, closing his heavily painted eyelids as his breathing slowed. Evelyn gazed at the man, scared, before scrambling over to him in a panic, shaking his shoulders while Doc continued his ramblings.
"Joker!" She cried out, her abdomen pulsing painfully as she rapidly pushed against the ringleader's shoulders. The man's body swayed limply under her grasp, moving far too loosely for Evelyn's liking. Swiftly (though with great difficulty) she leaned over the redhead's arm, her blood running cold at the sight of his shut eyelids. He's just... unconscious, she desperately tried to convince herself, shaking the man's shoulders one last time before her attention was caught by the sound of another scream.
Earl Phantomhive stood, slumped over, both his eye and mouth widened as he let loose an ear-splitting scream. He looked positively wild as he coughed, drool spilling over his fingers as he extended them to the air, looking scared to death. "Young master," Sebastian said disdainfully, sweeping over to the boy and grasping his hand tightly, pulling the boy towards him and grabbing his other hand with ease. "What's there to fear? You're outside of the cage now, my lord."
What's there to fear? The words echoed in Evelyn's mind, and all at once everything became clear as a tiny voice slipped into the back of her brain, chiming snidely and quietly from its place in the darkness.
Him.
Immediately every odd feeling, every dreaded confrontation, every word spoken between the two came flooding back to her, filling her with a fear she had never experienced before. He's to fear. A savage desire - no, a savage need - to get away from the young noble and his butler occupied every ounce of Evelyn's mind, and quickly she slid her hands underneath Joker's arms, sitting up and digging her heels into the stone floor as she began to pull. An explosion of intense pain worsened every time Evelyn moved, but the instinctive desire to get away kept her from falling to the ground in defeat. Hot, angry tears streamed down her cheeks as she fought to pull the redhead away, but the shallow decline of the stone platform kept her from reaching her goal. With a loud gasp, Evelyn and Joker went down, Joker's body flopping away from the platform as Evelyn found herself hitting the hard floor of the chamber head on.
The world was quickly darkening, the light in the room flickering in Evelyn's eyes as her vision blurred, sound muffling as she found herself unwilling to move. From the corner of her eye, Evelyn noticed the dark figure of Sebastian holding his young master like a child, slowly untying the young Earl's eye patch with a devious smile on his face. The butler leaned down, whispering something into the child's ear before the worst sound in the world reached Evelyn's ears.
"Sebastian. Sebastian. Sebastian."
And with that, fire swept down upon the room, engulfing the chamber in one fell, deadly swoop.
I'm just going to outright say it: episode 9 nearly gave me a panic attack.
I actually had to stop watching it at one point - when Joker started screaming, I lost my cool and had to pause the video. I actually stepped out of the room, got myself a drink, and chilled out for a few minutes before going and continuing to watch. That's why I love Kuroshitsuji - it's a damn amazing show, and its characters are even better.
So here's this chapter. All I'm going to say about this one is that you shouldn't make any assumptions. Feel free to figure out what that means.
See you in chapter 17!