Chapter Forty-Six

Divulging Butler. Vigilant Bride

Hoheo Taralna. Rondero Tarel.

Claude turned his head to look at Alois.

Hoheo Taralna. Rondero Tarel.

His glasses gleamed. His eyes burned like liquid ambers.

Hoheo Taralna. Rondero Tarel.

Ciel's blood clung to his cheek as he made no move towards him.

Hoheo Taralna-


Alois abruptly awoke from his slumber. He cried out and clutched the bloodied bandages wrapped around his abdomen. Hannah approached his bedside quietly, her eyes downcast.

"Pardon, Master," she said. "I'll change your bandages if you'll allow me to."

The boy glared at her out of the corner of his eye, grabbed hold of the bandages, and pulled her towards him.

"You aren't of any use to me!" he snapped. "Get out and call Claude!"

Hannah struggled for breath for a moment before answering.

"Certainly Master. I'll go at once."

She bowed her head and hurried out the room.

As he held the bandages, Alois stared blankly up at the ceiling.

I've seen eyes like that before.

His fingers ran over the fabric quietly.

Eyes that make your skin burn.

He gritted his teeth and winced at the lancing pain that shot through his side.


There was a knock at the door, and he brought himself up into a sitting position, tossing his legs over the side of the bed. Claude then stepped inside the room.

"Excuse me, Master," he said. "Might I change your bandages?"

Alois smiled at him and gave him the bandages. He grunted painfully as the demon worked.

"That brat!" he complained. "He could have done a better job of stabbing me."

Claude didn't look up from his work as he spoke.

"Indeed. He used more force than he could control, and that threw his trajectory off. If he'd remained calm, he could have managed a deeper wound."

Alois's eyes narrowed.

"Interesting. The way you say that almost makes it sound like you wish he had," he said incredulously.

Claude's expression didn't change.

"No, it's not that." He ran his fingers over the stitches keeping Alois's wound closed. "It's just that the clumsy artlessness of the cut suggests a certain… purity."

Alois gritted his teeth and barely held back a snarl.

"Purity?" he asked.

Claude wrapped the new bandages around him.

"Yes."

"Do you fancy the smell of my blood?" Alois inquired. "Does it make you want to feast?"

Claude paused for a moment, looked up at him, and smiled.

"Yes, it certainly does."

The boy's eyes widened at those words. The demon got to his feet and bowed.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, My Lord."

He walked away after that.


As he went, Alois's hand shook.

What was that? A smile? From Claude?

He fell onto his pillow, and stared out into the empty space before him. His body still trembled as he thought of that smile.

"That's… sickening…"


Hannah was cleaning the floor of one of the mansions many corridors when she heard someone topple over the water bucket. She turned around and saw Alois standing before her, haphazardly dressed and holding his side with his arm out of his coat sleeve.

"Oh, you're out of bed," she said.

Alois walked slowly towards her, and suddenly grabbed her by the throat and pushed her to the ground. He landed on top of her and panted heavily. His knee was pressed between her legs. Tears trickled from his eyes and landed on the woman's face.

"Take me…" he panted. "Take me… I need to see… Ciel. I need to see Ciel Phantomhive. Take me to him."

Hannah looked up at him with soft eyes.


Claude worked silently in his office, writing in a ledger. The triplets appeared behind him and whispered in his ear. He made a sound of acknowledgement, and folded a sheet of paper in front of him into an origami ring. A smirk spread across his face as he slipped it onto his left ring finger.


In the darkness, Hannah drove a carriage through the forest. Alois sat inside, holding his wound. It had opened again and was bleeding through his green waistcoat. He let out breath after rasping breath as his mind drifted to memories he had long hidden away…


A young Alois pushed an old man over and took his case. A russet-haired boy ran behind him as they made their escape from the man and his daughter.

"Come back!" she cried. "That's my father's!"

The two boys only continued to run.


As the sun was setting that day, they stared over their ill-gotten gains.

"Cripes!" Alois swore. "There's not much 'ere."

They leafed through the contents. The russet-haired boy pulled out a jar with a strange liquid inside.

"Brother, do you think this is medicine?" he asked.

Alois stared at the jar for a moment before shaking his head.

"Chuck it."

The boy lowered his head sadly.

"I wonder if he'll be alright without it. I mean, do you think he's going to die?" he asked.

"Nah, I doubt it!" Alois sneered. "Besides, what do we care if he does? He's a stupid old man!"

He looked up, saw something on the boy's forehead, and swept his hair aside. A red graze stared back at him.

"What happened?" he asked firmly.

The boy smiled.

"It was the baker. He threw a stone at me."

Alois gritted his teeth and turned away.

"That bloody sod!"

The boy frowned.

"I'm okay," he said.

Alois looked down at him and snatched the jar from his hand. He threw it across the room and watched it smash against the wall.

"It's not just him. It's all of them. They… They can all just drop dead."

He imagined himself walking through a crowd of people holding his little brother's hand.

"Ever since our parents died, everyone's treated us like nuisances. I wish they'd die. Every last one of them."

His brother scrambled to his feet and wrapped his arms around Alois's torso.

"I'm sure your wish will come true, brother," he said. "I know it will! It's gotta! After all, you can eat three kidney pies at a time, and run faster than Spring-Heel Jack!"

He ran about the room with a smile on his face and jumped up onto a crate.

"Yeah! You can do terrific stuff, so you'll get lots of terrific wishes!"

Alois smiled at him.

"Listen, Luca: you have to stick with me always from now on. If anyone dares throw a stone at you, I'll throw a pile of horse manure at them. Understood?"

Luca leapt down from the crate and went down on one knee.

"Yes Your Highness."

He rewarded his brother with a cheeky smile, causing Alois to smile back.


One day, they were getting water from the river when they saw a mangled corpse drifting along the current.

"What happened here?" Alois cried out.

They saw more bodies coming down the stream, and their village burning up in towering flames.

They ran back to the village, saw the corpses scattered on the ground like flies, and the looks of sheer horror forever etched on their frozen faces.

"They're all dead…" Alois whispered.

"But how?" asked Luca.

"That old man with the medicine… That sodding baker who threw stones at you…"

Luca looked up at him somberly.

"And that lady who used to throw rubbish at our house, Miss Layla."

"And that rotten vicar who would always spit on us!"

Manical laughter started to bubble in Alois's throat.

"And the shoe-shiner who'd always brag about his sweets. Him too?" Luca asked.

Alois made a peace sign to the sky.

"All the bounders who were so nasty to us are dead. Every last one of them, dead, good and proper!"

He and Luca smiled gleefully.

"Everyone, everything is all gone!"

"Gone!"

They giggled together and danced among the corpses before Alois threw himself to the ground and stared up at the black sky. Luca knelt down beside him.

"Come on! With them out of the way, all their stuff belongs to us now."

Luca smiled at him while the fires continued to burn.


Once the village was little more than ashes, Alois began to steal everything he could find from the corpses. He ripped a jewelled necklace from a noble woman's throat.

"Pearls don't suit you, old lady!" he taunted. "You ever look in a mirror?"

A cold breeze swept over his spine. He turned back towards the entrance to the village, and stared into the darkness that lurked there, as though watching him. Alois shivered and turned away.

"Luca!" he called. "It's time to go home!"

He didn't receive an answer.

"Luca?"

Darkness… Without a single beam of moonlight… So dark…

Alois ran through the village until he found Luca. His brother was on the floor, face down and unmoving.

"Luca!" he cried. "There you are! I was calling you."

He knelt down beside him and rolled him over before cradling him in his arms. Luca didn't stir, only stared back at him with unseeing eyes.

"Come on, wake up! What's wrong with you?" Alois asked.

He brushed a tear that remained stuck to Luca's eye.

"No…" Alois dragged him to his chest, and wept into his russet-coloured locks. "No. Please no… Don't leave me alone! Please don't!"


It was some years later when Alois sat in a cart with a number of other boys, waiting at the gates of a large mansion. One of the men looked back at his haul.

"Quite a group today…" he said.

"That's Her Majesty's Spider for you," his companion replied. "Ensnaring hapless innocents like they're so many flies."

"Poor things don't know they're caught in his web."

The gates opened, and the carts carried onwards.

"He'll drain them of every last drop of their purity."

"Truly terrible."


"Next."

The boys were brought to a room where an eldery man awaited them. His face was marked with liver spots, and many of his teeth were missing. When he smiled, his face wrinkled even further. His cold eyes raked over each of the boys as they hesitantly stepped towards him in all their barely-clad glory.

"Move on."

The boy stepped away and Alois was pushed forward. The man stared at him silently, saw the crystal blue of Alois's eyes. He thwacked his cane against the boy's chest, knocking him to the floor.

"Your eyes disgust me, boy!" the man proclaimed as he got to his feet. "When I look at them, I can scarcely think of more filthy rainwater."

He smacked his cane down upon Alois. Alois was barely able to defend himself before the man turned away.

"Next."


The boys were kept in a dungeon, where maids came down to bathe and scrub them with coarse brushes. Alois watched three of the boys get cleaned silently.

"There's these fairies see?" he heard one of the boys say. "All you have to do is make a pact with them. And they'll grant you any wish you want."

His friend brushed him away.

"Cut it out! Are you a bloody idiot?! Didn't you hear what that old man is going to do to us?"

The boy sighed.

"But…"

Alois placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"How do you do it?" he asked.


Later, he was wandering through the forest, entranced by the masses of spider webs that clung to the trees.

A spider's web wet with morning dew…

Alois walked through one, and let it fall over his skin.

Like a veil that hides your true face…

He looked up, and stared through the gaps in the woven silk.

"Hoheo Taralna. Rondero Tarel."

The boy waited, expecting a presence to appear before him. But nothing happens. He grabbed the web and tossed it to the ground.

"Useless story!" he huffed.

Coloured flecks began to fall from the sky. Alois reached out to catch them.

"Is this snow?" he asked.

He then saw the greyness that stained his skin.

"Ash…"

Something approached him from behind, and everything went dark.


He found himself in the centre of a large spider's web. A shadowy creature appeared behind him, and took the form of a large spider. It rested its head in his shoulder, four black eyes stared back at him as he suppressed a shudder.

"What is your wish?" the spider asked.

"Wish? What wish? I…" Alois tried to answer.

The spider's head faded and took on a more human face.

"Your wish. Why would you call me if you didn't have one?" it replied. "Perhaps there's someone you'd like to get even with?"

Alois scowled.

"I hated all the villagers. But they're all dead."

Their bodies were tangled in the threads all around him.

"And I don't care about that old pervert. I will escape, but I don't have anywhere to go back to…"

The shadow shook its head.

"In that case, you have no business with me, do you?"

"Yes!" Alois said quickly, refusing to lose his chance.

The shadow's arms encircled him.

"Alright then, but you have to tell me what your wish is." Claude's face then emerged from the shadow. "Well?"

The boy was silent.

"As I thought."

The web disappeared and Alois was freed.


He opened his eyes and found himself standing in the forests of the estate, snow heavy on the ground. Looking up above his head, the white tree branches hung over him like a massive spider.

"If you can determine a wish, I shall make a contract with you."

"Hold on!" Alois cried. "Tell me, are you a fairy?"

There was a beat of silence before the voice gave his answer.

"I am a demon."


Alois bolted upright in his cot. Many of the other boys lay sound asleep in their cots, completely undisturbed by the noise he made.

"A demon…" he muttered.


As he brushed his blond hair until it shone like spun gold, he pondered the words from his dream.

Finding a wish…

He rubbed clear gloss on his lips to make them seem fuller.

That became what I never knew I didn't have; a purpose for my life.


Red wine splattered against a large painting as the wine glass exploded when it hit the wall.

"Another of my dolls has broken!" Earl Trancy screamed.

He lay in a bath filled with bubbles, a cigar smouldering in his mouth, and surrounded by butlers who waited upon him.

"Yes," said one butler. "I'm afraid several of them have collapsed from infection, My Lord."

Trancy got to his feet, wrapped his hands around the man's throat, and shook him violently.

"Don't you know how fragile they are?!" He tossed the butler down. "Soak the entire room in antiseptic solution!"

The butler gathered himself and went down on one knee.

"I beg your pardon, Lord. I've prepared Jim for you today."

Trancy scowled.

"Jim?! Is that filthy brat really all you have to offer me?!"

The door suddenly opened. Earl Trancy stared at the being who entered, his mouth falling open in awe and his cigar slipping from his lips.

Jim, the boy who would take the name Alois, enticed him. He extended a milky leg around the door, his slender shoulder peeking out invitingly from beneath a red and black kimono, decorated with a butterfly trapped in a spider's web.

"Is this real?" the Earl asked, walking slowly towards him. He stumbled out of the bath. "You're him?"

Alois offered him a leg, and let the old man grab onto his ankle. He demurred under his attentions.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting," he said. "Forgive me, Father Dearest."


Some time in the future, when Alois had taken the role of the Trancy heir, he was sipping tea when Claude came to him.

"Sebastian Michaelis."

"Is he a demon too?" Alois asked.

"Yes, that's right. It was he who wiped out your village in accordance to a contract with a certain individual." Claude explained.

"And who might that be?"

"Sebastian has already eaten his soul."

Alois scowled into his teacup.

"A demon killed him… Luca…"

He poured the scolding hot tea into his saucer.

"Now, there is Ciel Phantomhive." Claude continued. "He is the human party to Sebastian's new contract."

Alois got to his feet as the demon explained.

"With this particular soul, Sebastian has a singular obsession. One fiercer than he should by rights feel for his prey."

The boy muttered four words.

"Hoheo Taralna. Rondero Tarel."

Claude looked at him in surprise.

"Hoheo Taralna. Rondero Tarel."

Alois stuck out his tongue, and let his contract seal burn. Claude went down on his knee and received his order.

"I order you to make this Ciel mine."

The demon looked up at him.

"Master."


When old Earl Trancy was laid to rest, Alois put on a show of tears as he laid himself over the top of the man's coffin.

"Father!" he wept.

Many people were shedding tears, but Arnold Trancy kept his eyes firmly on the display before him.


As they walked away from the church that evening, Claude spoke to Alois.

"According to your orders, Master, I've freed the boys, and I've seen to the inheritance."

"Fine," said Alois. "But what about Ciel Phantomhive?"

The boy noticed a red flower growing in the dirt, and held the petals in his hand.

"May I ask a question?" said Claude. "Why would you like to possess Ciel Phantomhive rather than kill Sebastian?"

Alois crushed the flower into his palm.

"Because simply killing him isn't enough. After death, he would peacefully rot into a skeleton in some patch of earth. No, that's too good for him. You see, I want him to know an agony worse than death. The boy is the key."

He blew the crushed petals into the wind.

"We'll use the young Master Ciel he fancies so much."

Claude looked at him with an almost smile.

"Magnificent."

"Ciel Phantomhive is mine. Mine. And so are you, Claude."

The butler bowed his head.

"Yes, Your Highness."


The horses reared when a tree toppled in their path. Alois awoke from his slumber. Hannah pulled on the reins and swerved out of the way. His body was battered back and forth in the small compartment until the carriage collided with a tree. He gritted his teeth and raised his head. Sitting opposite him was Grell. The Reaper smiled at him.

"Hello!" he greeted.

"Who are you?!" Alois demanded.

Grell shrugged.

"What a shame! Babes in arms are no fun at all!" he complained, pulling out a Cinematic Record. "We'll do this quickly then."

He inspected the record in question.

"Let's see… Jim Macken. That's your real name. My, what a dreary name! Well, no matter I suppose, you're at Death's grim door! Aren't you?"

The Reaper smiled, revealing his sharp teeth.

"Now, normally I wouldn't leave the office for just something like this. But, as it happens, we have a teensy issue with your soul."


Just then, two hands burst through the carriage roof and tore it off. Grell sweatdropped.

"Well, this looks bad."

Hannah pulled the roof completely away.

"Ugh!" Grell groused. "I knew it was a demon. You're not just a pretty face then. Where do you get something like her?"

Alois scowled.

"Hannah, kill Ginger here, would you?!"

He winced in pain. Grell turned to look at him.

"Right bloody little nipper, aren't you? I don't want to fight. I just want to-"

Hannah leapt into the air and slammed down on the carriage.


After the dust from the impact cleared, Grell moved into a stance and drew out his Death Scythe. Hannah emerged from the smoke. He sighed.

"Alright then, but I'd better be paid overtime for this."

Meanwhile, Alois had managed to crawl away from the collision. His blood was seeping into the earth beneath him as he heaved breath after painful breath.

Claude…


A plate smashed on the floor and Claude was soaked as the trio cleaned up the mess.

"Don't look at me! You lot make me sick!" Alois cried. "You demon! You're just like him!"

Claude simply smoothed his wet hair and bowed his head.

"Yes, Your Highness."

Alois slammed his hands on the table.

"Don't say that!"

The staff bowed before they left him alone. Alois shuddered as he tried to hold back tears, remembering Luca saying those same words.

"Yes… Your… Highness…"

Yes… Your… Highness…

"Yes… Your… Highness…"

Yes… Your… Highness…

He shook his head.

"I changed my mind. Say it. Now!"

As Claude walked away with the butlers trailing behind him, he smirked.

"Yes, Your Highness."


The blades of Grell's Death Scythe whirred to life. He lunged for Hannah, but she caught it between her palms. She shoved him away, but the Reaper managed to land on his feet. They ran at one another and continued to battle…


Alois struck Claude across the face as the demon knelt before him.

"Would you do anything to obey me then?!" the boy demanded. "Are you a pet? My loyal dog?"

With a glaring red mark on his pale cheek, Claude adjusted his glasses.

"I abide by our contract," he answered. "I'll make one Hell of a feast out of you. That's all."


Alois continued to drag himself across the grass as he remembered.

"Then look at me like that…" he cried. "Not the way I would look at some villager's face…"


As he lay barely covered by his crimson kimono, Alois stared up at the ceiling above Earl Trancy's bed. The old man was sat on the chaise opposite, taking in a glass of wine. The boy's skin was littered with small bruises. He glanced out of the corner of his eye as Trancy approached him again.


"And not with the craving look the old man would give me…" Alois whispered. "Look the way you did that day… Like I'm all you care about… Please, Claude…"


Claude stood before him within a swirl of black smoke.

"Hesitation into resolve. Passion into composure. Love into grave markers. That, Master, is what makes a Trancy butler."


Blood left a long trail behind him as he continued to crawl.

He's just hungry. I know that well enough. My feelings are just a poorly-made sauce clouding the flavour.

Alois propped himself up against a tree.


As he lay there, a wolf loomed, snarling as saliva trickled out of its mouth.

Alois looked to the side and smiled.

But… Now I'm here.

He saw the wolf approaching, and the thirsty gleam of its ravenous teeth.


Grell impaled Hannah with his Scythe and pinned her against a tree. She coughed up an obscene amount of blood, while he only gazed at her in triumph. He removed the Scythe and smiled.

"A little maid like you should know better than causing me trouble," he commented, a river of blood dripping down his blades.


The wolf leapt. Blood spattered against Alois's face.

"What are you trying to do, Master? Why are you here?"

The boy opened his eyes, tears tricking out of the corners, and looked up to see Claude staring down at him with the dead wolf in his hand.

"Your goal is incomplete. You do not yet have Ciel Phantomhive," the demon said as he tossed the corpse away.

Alois crawled over to him, smiling brightly through his pain and tears.

"It's just you now…" he murmured. "You're all that I have left."

"Come now, Master. Don't say such ridiculous things." Claude said.

Shaking his head, Alois continued to speak.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! You're the only one… You're all that I have!"

He crawled over and attached himself to Claude's leg.

"Hoheo Taralna! Rondero Tarel! You can't ever leave my side! Never! Not you! Please, Claude… Do you know… I think… you're My Highness!"

Claude stared at him, knelt down, and held his master's face as he brushed away his tears. He leant forward and whispered to him.

"What a thing to say to a butler."


Without another word, he crushed Alois's head between his hands.


He let the body drop. Claude rose to his feet.

"Don't worry, Master. Have no fear."

He lifted the Trancy ring up to his eye with bloodstained gloves.

"Yours is a crass soul who would give his love to a butler. I could hardly work up an appetite for that." He tucked the ring into his breast pocket. "I'll keep you. I can use your soul, indeed, I can."

"So, that's what's going on."

Claude turned around and saw Grell standing behind him, speckled with blood. The Reaper ran a hand through his hair and swept it out of his face.

"Yes, that boy was slated to die tonight, but the Soul Ledgers weren't affected," he said. "Well, I did assume that a demon was involved."

The demon arched a brow.

"Will you be taking him, Grim Reaper?" he asked.

Grell shrugged.

"I just need to keep the accounts balanced. I would just as soon watch how this all plays out. You see, I think it will be interesting."

"So, does that mean you've not taken Sebastian's side?" Claude inquired.

"Taken his side?" Grell retorted. "Please don't insult me with such an idea. The only true way to prove my love to dear Bassy is with a death match!"


After the demon and the Reaper had left, Alois's body lay silent in a pool of its own blood. Hannah came out through the trees.

"I know it will! It's gotta! You can do terrific stuffs, you'll get lots of terrific wishes!"

She came over and straggled Alois's corpse, leant towards his head and touched his left eye.

"And now…" she said. "Shall we discover your wish, My Lord?"

Digging her fingers in and removing all its restrains, she took the eye into her mouth, sucking it out of its socket.


On the other side of the tree, watching quietly with her hands clasped to her heart, Marianne stood in the shadows.

You are all playing a game you think you can win. She thought. But this is no game, and the only victor here will be the love a mother and father have for their child. You and Claude shall not touch our child.

Her hand came to rest on her belly.

Either of them.


And here is the confirmation, Marianne is indeed pregnant. We still have a long way before we get a look at the baby though, so you will have to be in suspense for a bit longer.

I know there wasn't any scenes with Ciel and Sebastian, but this episode has always been focused on Alois and his death, I felt that it should have some attention, especially so we can all see how far Claude would go to get what he wants, including breaking his own contract in favour of another's soul.

Should you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Please read and review!