Let's just assume that from now on, I never will update on a regular basis. Because for me, you can't force words to come. Either I feel like writing, or not. So I apologize for the long and anticipated (probably not) wait of Chapter 16 of White Roses! (Sorry again..)

Ciel Phantomhive

The search for answers was to be as quick as possible. They had been granted a mere three days to attempt to save Elizabeth from a lifetime of blistering Hell heat and the anguishing cries of damned souls.

Three days was not enough. It was hardly a bat of the eye compared to the long lives demons had. To Ciel, twelve years was just like spending a day outside. It seemed to pass so quickly to him.

And seeing as one day had already passed, Ciel was feeling quite concerned.

"So... Now what?" Grell groaned from his spot on the ground. Sebastian and Ciel grimaced at the sight of the redhead surrounded by the old very old and very fragile books.

The three were in an ancient library that was once the main demon library in the physical realm. (Of course, the Thousand Years War made sure that no one would ever set foot on the cursed ground ever again willingly without a fantastic reason.)

Mortals were unable to enter the premises due to the ground literally acting as lava to people without that certain magic quality. Which left Elizabeth waiting outside in the cool dewy morning air, a grouchy aura surrounding her at her exclusion from the search.

Which also allowed Grell access to the large library filled with millions of years of information on both reapers, demons, and a plethora of other creatures. Unfortunately, this did not include any information on the Lord of Hell, Lucifer.

"What do you mean, 'Now what'? We keep searching for something!" Ciel muttered angrily from atop one of the ladders, pulling out any books that looked useful. When he found them to contain nothing, they were tossed unceremoniously down to the ground which was about four-stories down.

"Well, there's nothing here Mr. Prissy Pants! Anything of value was obviously taken or burned or- OW!" Grell snarled, looking up at Ciel who'd "accidentally" dropped one of the books on Grell's head.

The reaper rubbed his head, and then turned to Sebastian, who was standing a few shelves away.

"Would you kiss my boo-boo Bassy-chan?" He asked, eyes fluttering.

"No." Sebastian stated bluntly, without looking up.

"But Bassy-!"

"Keep looking damn you!" Ciel yelled from his perch on the ladder. Frowning he turned the pages of a thick, yet small, black book entitled, "The Royal Demon Hierarchy"

He opened the book, and a thick layer of black ash drifted up from the pages and tickled his nose. The smell of death and fire was all over the book.

Deciding that it might be worth looking at later, Ciel pocketed the book. "Find anything yet?" He called down to Sebastian.

"Not yet My Lord." Sebastian answered in a conversationally tone, again, without looking up from the book in his hands.

'We'll never get anything done this way!' Ciel thought frustrated. 'There's no way we can cover this whole library by hand and find something before the deadline!'

"Do any of you hear that?" Grell suddenly asked, looking towards the entrance.

"Quiet down, and keep looking. I hear nothing." Ciel snapped. Roughly pulling the next book off the shelf, he flung it to the ground towards Grell.

"I'm serious Phantomhive!" Grell snarled, dodging the book. He was annoyed by the younger demon's immediate dismissal of him. Did everyone really think so poorly of him?

"What about you Bassy? Do you believe me?" The red-head turned hopefully to Sebastian...who also tossed a book at him.

"I, too, hear nothing out of the ordinary." Was his cold reply.

To answer the previous question, yes. They did think very poorly of him.

Suddenly, the bookcases began to shake. Ciel and Sebastian immediately were back to back in a defensive position, while Grell cowered on the ground, looking up at the towering and very unstable bookcases.

Most unexpectedly, through the door... walked Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth, don't walk in here! You'll be incinerated!" Ciel yelled, fear creeping into his voice for his ex-fiancee.

Elizabeth's eyes were glazed over as she stepped over the threshold of the library.

A sonic boom knocked over both demons, and tossed Grell across the floor and into a pile of books.

Ciel slowly lifted his head off of the ground to look at Elizabeth, who had been both the source and the catalyst of the explosion.

That was when he noticed the glowing purple sword in her hands.

It was a demon-slaying sword, that much was obvious, but he'd never seen a sword legitimately glow. And he had no idea what sword that was that she was holding, nor where she'd even gotten it from.

"Elizabeth, what are you doing...?" Ciel murmured dazedly. Explosions normally wouldn't affect demons, however this explosion obviously wasn't normal. Nothing was normal anymore.

Elizabeth walked to the middle of the library, and suddenly plunged the entire blade into the ground.

Again, there was an explosion, though this one seemed to come from beneath them.

Ciel picked himself off the floor, leaving behind a passed out Grell, and slowly recovering Sebastian.

"Elizabeth! What the hell are you doing?" He yelled. A series of explosions resounded throughout the whole library, and nearly deafened Ciel.

Elizabeth, hands still on the hilt of the sword, eyes still staring blankly ahead, didn't look at him as she spoke in a voice that was dead and void of any emotions.

"Purging the Earth of this unholy and filthy place." She replied clearly.

"Are you insane?! We're looking for something to help you! Why would you destroy our only outlet for information?!" He screamed over the loud booms and shattering of glass, and thud of books falling to the ground.

"I... It's... my destiny... To kill... them." Elizabeth muttered, eyes widening on the word 'them'.

"Them?! Who is them?!"

Elizabeth finally looked up, the empty expression on her face lifting to reveal pure horror.

"We need to get out of here!" She suddenly yelled, pulling the purple sword from the ground and running to Ciel. She grabbed his hand and they ran towards the entrance away from the crumbling building.

"Sebastian! We need to leave! That's an order, get up now dammit!" Ciel yelled to Sebastian who was covered in dust and looking confused.

The two of them ran, both knowing Sebastian would escape from the toppling library, both hoping silently that Grell would be squashed beneath the many books on, 'How to Seduce a Demon'.

Right as they were outside, a sharp cracking sound pierced the air. Then all was quiet for a solitary moment before the whole library collapsed inward on itself. There was an odd, almost demonic, scream that came from the falling building.

Elizabeth released Ciel's hand and closed her eyes, breathing hard. However, she wouldn't sit down and ruin her dress. Ciel had already caught his breath and was warily watching her from his spot beside her.

She looked in control now. When she walked into the library, her eyes looked dull and she had ignored him, Sebastian, and Grell. Then somehow she'd gotten a hold of a demon slaying sword? A purple glowing one at that!

She then walked through the library unharmed and stabbed the library. Thus destroying it, and any chance they had at finding a way to save her.

It was all because of that sword. It was a holy object, which explains how it was able to destroy the building created by demon kind. It didn't explain how Elizabeth, a human, was able to walk through the library without getting grievously injured. That first step over the thresh hold might have had something to do with it perhaps... Maybe the wards were weakened after all those many years of not having some demon take care of it? No, that wasn't it...

As of now, most of his questions revolved around that mysterious sword. He glanced at the sword which was... Gone?

"Where's that sword you were holding?" Ciel asked frowning. A sword that can appear and reappear whenever? What was going on?

Ciel really didn't like having questions, but not having answers. It made him feel like a human boy again... Unsure of what to do, where to go, who was what, what was who, and a million other things.

"What sword? What are you talking about? The only swords I have are at my house. And we're not at my house are we smart one?" Elizabeth replied sarcastically.

"Yes you had one! It had an intricate hilt unlike any I've ever seen! It was engulfed in purple flames on the blade- Hey!" Ciel grabbed Elizabeth before she fell completely.

"I...can't...My head...it hurts!" She stammered out, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. From beneath her eyelids, blood tickled out.

Ciel held both of her shoulders, and was staring directly at her bleeding eyes. "Elizabeth, calm down! You'll override-!"

"Oh shut up won't you?!" Elizabeth suddenly cackled. "I'm already getting a headache from your disgusting false concern Sweetheart!"

Ciel released Elizabeth instantly and stepped away. "What-?"

"I should really introduce myself." Elizabeth opened her eyes, and the blood poured from her eyes further leaving both her eyes completely black. "You might have not met me before. Elizabeth has, so I'm not sure why she wouldn't introduce us Sweetheart!"

At this, Fake-Elizabeth stepped forward and pressed herself against the front of Ciel.

"She really likes you deep down. I think that's ridiculous, seeing as love is a sham. And she's pretty convinced that you loved her... At least, you used to."

"My Lord?" Came Sebastian's voice. Ciel and Fake-Elizabeth both looked at him, and Grell who was hiding behind him.

"Oh my! The infamous Sebastian Michaelis!" She gasped in mock surprise. Then she moved away from Ciel and towards Sebastian. "Elizabeth thinks highly of you! The demon who protected little baby Ciel from the big bad monsters!" Fake-Elizabeth laughed. The sound seemed very unnatural to be coming from Elizabeth's mouth.

"You never told us who you are." Ciel said coldly.

Fake-Elizabeth halted, and her head snapped towards Ciel.

"Of course! How rude of me..." A smile spread across her face. "You already know me... At least, the human part of me!"

"Wait... the human-?"

"Yes, you slow dunce! I am what Elizabeth would be if she was a demon! Amazing yes?!" Demon Elizabeth turned her uncomfortable gaze back to Sebastian, and then to Ciel once more. As if she were expecting cheers or clapping.

"Who are you really?" Ciel asked angrily. "Leave her alone!"

"How cute... I can't 'leave her alone' as you say, because I am her! She's just the outside cover for the deep dark inside. Which is me." She said, her smile turning into something dark and sinister.

"So if you want me to leave her alone, that'll mean both her and my instantaneous deaths! Though I don't think you want your darling love to die in terrible agony, do you Sweetheart?" Fake-Elizabeth continued, an absolutely vicious and twisted grin on her face.

"No..." Ciel said studying her. "What can we call you? Fake-Elizabeth just-"

"Doesn't cut it does it? Well..." Fake-Elizabeth sat on the ground and closed her eyes in thought. Sebastian looked to Ciel for an order, but he ignored him and elected to watch the demon on the ground carefully.

"How about Darcy? That was always a human name I enjoyed! Last name of Mr. Darcy in that one human book Elizabeth and I have read!" She cackled, then stood up. "You will address me as Darcy."

"How are you in Elizabeth, Darcy?" Sebastian asked. Darcy looked over at him (Behind Sebastian you could hear the scared and quick breaths of Grell).

Darcy shrugged. "Don't ask me! I was my own being, until His Liege Below had pointed out the uncanny similarities between I and Elizabeth. He said that I was the second part of her, and that's when I realized that I'd been deep inside of Elizabeth's conscious the whole time. I was never in Hell. I just thought that I was." A butterfly landed on her shoulder. She glanced over, and grabbed it by the wings and suddenly it burst into flames.

Flames...

"Do you know what happened to that sword?" Ciel asked. He didn't like her doing this to Elizabeth (Who was still bleeding from her eyes) but while they had Darcy here, they might as well try to wheedle some information out of her.

Darcy shuddered. "I got rid of the damn thing again. I made it disappear before, but since it's her mother's I guess it doesn't want to be lost. Especially since I'm in here with her... More powerful than ever. I'm a liability you see. I could kill her at any time."

Ciel swallowed his anger at her words. He was done talking to Darcy. "What is the sword's na-?" Sebastian began.

"I hate saying it's name... Marwolaeth. Ugh!" Darcy gagged, and tossed the burned insect to the ground. "It's a demon-slaying sword obviously. And I know Sebastian's heard of it!"

Ciel looked at his butler who indeed, wore a look of displeasure at the name. "You are correct in your assumptions Darcy." Sebastian said disgust evident in his voice.

"What is... whatever she said?" Grell finally spoke. Fear was in his voice.

"Means 'death' in Welsh little reaper." Darcy sniffed disdainfully. "Why is this reaper here? I hate reapers. They disgust me, horrid little beasts." She muttered darkly.

"Anyways I can feel Elizabeth's conscious returning, I'm not feeling too talkative anymore, and I hate you all so..."

"Good, I don't like you either." Ciel bluntly stated.

Darcy grinned wickedly at Ciel. "I look forward to speaking to you later on Sweetheart. I'll reveal all of Elizabeth's dirty secrets about her!" Darcy tilted her head to the side and looked at Ciel with that same unnerving smile.

"Right." He replied. Suddenly, Elizabeth fell once again. Ciel barely made it in time and caught her once again. Before she awoke, Ciel wiped away the trails of bloody tears from her face leaving a dark patch of stain on his over coat.

"Uh..." Elizabeth groaned. Her head felt groggy... Last she remembered she and Ciel made it out of the building... then what?

"What happened?" Elizabeth mumbled.

"You passed out. Again. Though I don't blame you, your human body most likely can't handle the amount of supernatural occurrences so your brain shuts down temporarily." Ciel supplied. "Or maybe you're just that scared of a falling building." He grinned.

"Shut up." She snapped, though it had no effect on Ciel who found Elizabeth much less threatening now that he'd met Darcy.

"Why is it always you that has to catch me?" She said, pushing away Ciel a slight red on her cheeks.

Really though, he had no clue of the effect he had on her. Obviously she liked him. How was he so blind?...

"Because you're my fiancee?" He said, phrasing the statement into a question.

"Was." She replied, then stood up using Ciel's arm as a support.

"Right then... Let's go find another demon library." Elizabeth said and started off towards the carriage.

"There are no more of these My Lady." Sebastian said. "This was the last one. And you destroyed it."

"I- wait what?" Elizabeth stopped and turned to him. "I did what now?"

"You don't remember My Lady?" Sebastian asked politely.

"It's fine." Ciel interrupted. He didn't want Elizabeth to know what happened. She didn't need to know about the mentally unstable part-demon living inside of her that was Darcy.

"No, he said I destroyed-"

"Metaphorically. You destroyed it metaphorically." Ciel interrupted. He cast a look at Sebastian and Grell that plainly said 'If you tell her, I will kill you.'

"How would I destroy it meta-?"

"Doesn't matter. Let's go. I just thought of where we might get some information." Ciel said grabbed her elbow and pulling her along towards the carriage.

Sebastian sighed, and followed his master and his master's beloved.

Grell groaned, and dragged himself along behind them.

All of them had failed to notice the movement in the rubble behind them. Peering from beneath a pile of torn books and broken ceiling, were a pair of pink eyes.

The eyes followed the four of them as they piled into the carriage and the older demon directed the shadow horses. They disappeared before the eyes, but the demon had all he needed.

Closing his eyes, he reopened them to find himself kneeling before His Liege Below.

"What exactly is it about that Phantomhive demon that she finds so appealing?" His Liege groaned in displeasure after having extracted the memory from the demon.

"Perhaps he's seduced her?" The demon replied, still kneeling.

His Liege, (better known as Lucifer), stood up from his throne of bones and began pacing back and forth. A common human practice, but he'd come to find that he rather enjoyed it. It gave him something to do rather than the same old thing of torturing murders in his fits of boredom.

Their screams get old after awhile.

"Nonsense." Lucifer said waving his hand. "That child has no idea of the human's love for him. If he did, he would've acted upon it and bound her to him long ago. No, Bael... It is much more."

"Then what do you think it is?" Bael stood up fully and regarded the other demon.

"Humans work in strange ways..." Lucifer murmured. "Bring Levi."

Bael rolled his eyes. "Really? All three of us? Just for one mortal?"

Lucifer grinned revealing cracked and bloody teeth. "Just like good times eh?"

"Not like good times. Leviathan and I haven't been on the best of terms for the last few centuries-"

"Get over it Bael." Lucifer snarled, doing a complete 180. "You're both demons. Stop acting like fledglings."

"But that was my mortal he took..." Bael muttered resentfully. "Fine. I'll call him."

Bael closed his eyes, and before he opened them he heard his voice.

"Hello Beelzebub. Been awhile hasn't it?"

Bael grit his teeth, and opened his eyes to see Levi standing there looking smug and arrogant.

"It certainly has, Leviathan." Bael snapped back.

Fire was sweeping around both pair of demons as they glared at the other before Lucifer interrupted them.

"I know you two can't wait to feel up the other-" (Bael and Levi looked disgusted at this.) "-But we have more pressing matters to deal with."

"Such as?" Levi scoffed.

"A mortal named Elizabeth Midford."

"Really? A mortal?!" Levi said incredulously annoyance in his pink eyes, which were slowly turning black. "What could a mortal do to us?! Exorcisms, yes, but other that? What threat would this mortal pose to us?!"

"Her mother is Francis Midford you fool."Lucifer replied calmly.

Levi opened his mouth, then promptly closed it. Francis Midford...

"How interesting... And you say she's engaged to Phantomhive?"

"Was. I coerced her in 'marriage' with myself. Thus breaking the tie she had to Phantomhive."

"What's the point of that exactly?" Levi asked raising an eyebrow. "She's only a mortal. Her soul is just like other souls. I chased her; she's not worth it Lucif."

"Did you forget that she opened a direct portal to Hell? She tossed you to the farthest ring from the physical world. It took you centuries to get back up there!" Lucifer snarled, his eyes flashing dangerously. "You will not question me. Though you may not see it, I can sense that her soul is a delicious one. I plan to wed her, then consume her and her soul."

Levi looked angry and flustered at Lucifer's blatant reminder that Levi was beneath him. Bael could be heard chuckling in the background at Levi.

Levi glared at Bael who hissed back at him.

"Enough. I don't care if neither of you can see the potential-"

"I can." Bael interrupted. "She's just not my taste-"

"We all know your taste Beelzebub. Easy prey that falls right into your grimy claws." Levi snarled viciously.

"You both will help me contain her." Lucifer replied coldly. "Whether you want to or not. Do not forget that it was I who showed you HIS arrogance and twisted ideas so we could escape Heaven!"

"You seem to forget that I fell with you. It was us first! We're about the same when it comes to power!" Levi snapped. Fire whipped up from the scorched ground and blew directly at Lucifer's face.

Lucifer hissed and another wave of flames rose up and met Levi's.

"Leviathan? You do remember that I fell with you two right?" Bael said in a mock voice of hurt.

"It doesn't matter if you fell with me!" Lucifer replied to Levi, ignoring Bael. "I am the better leader than you! If you try to rebel against me I will not hesitate to eliminate you!" Lucifer's voice turned into something that sounded like a snake that had learned to speak.

"Oh my- Did you- Did you just hear him?! You won't let him get away with that will you Levi?!" Bael asked looking back and forth between the two livid and blood-thirsty demons, a wild, crazy grin of delight on his face.

"Eliminate me?! Lucif, it's been thousands upon thousands of years that you and I have lived! You think yourself a stronger opponent than I?!" Levi screamed, his voice sounding the same as Lucifer's.

"Come on now. Use your words children!" Bael cackled.

Lucifer suddenly lashed out, and slammed Levi's head into the ground with a clawed hand. Levi hissed and struggled to no avail.

"Quit moving vermin." Lucifer snapped. Levi's face twisted into a ugly grimace of pain, and he stop moving.

Finally, Lucifer released Levi. Levi shot up instantly and moved away from him.

"As you said, we are the same when it comes to power. This is obvious." Lucifer spoke in a calm and detached voice. From thin air, he pulled a old cracked mirror and held it out to Levi.

Levi approached Lucifer warily while Bael easily bounded over to look at the dirty object.

"However, it takes more than power to be a leader. It takes ambition, skill, and most of all-" Lucifer tapped the grimy surface and on it appeared Elizabeth, sitting in the shadow carriage staring blanking out the small window. Completely oblivious to three devils watching her.

"A plan."

Hello. Sorry again! I love you all! :) And school starts tomorrow for me! Dear god no... Oh well. Summer has to end eventually yes?

Oh, and I was thinking of changing the title? Leave any suggestions for me if you can think of any! :)

R&R