Beside him, Ceil watched as Sebastian put a warm cloth on top of Alina's head, and popped two of her pills expertly into her mouth. Monitus jajanus, a drug some of the best scientists gave him and Sebastian for Alina. It literally meant prevention health less, nonsense, really, but impressive all the same. At first Ceil had imagined it was poison, for the scientists Sebastian had introduced to him when Alina became sick last year looked a bit off and their backgrounds were equally mysterious, but after a little bit of hard research, he found that it was alright.
Though, he was always on top of his game with information concerning his subjects, Sebastian's earlier taunts about actually liking her kept getting into his head, making him snatch looks at her lying asleep in the guest bed, her long curly dark hair splayed out on the pillow like some angel's, her long lashes complimenting her Indian and African American skin so that she resembled one of her collection of dolls trapped in her room.
Trapped, huh. Ceil thought with a smirk. Like her, I bet.
She was sound asleep, had been since that afternoon when Alina fainted. Alois, who was sitting not two feet away from him and Sebastian, sitting with one foot on the chair and the other splayed to match his slumped positon. His pale blue eyes were still looking pissed from the unexpected tackle, his mouth tight together as he watched Alina sleep. It kind of annoyed Ceil for some reason.
"Alois," Ceil spoke, turning to him with arms crossed. Alois glanced at him, his expression of annoyance not changing. "You wanted to talk to me about something? I believe you have no obligation to stay here since you haven't done anything wrong."
"I'll be the judge of that, Ceil," said Alois, a smile on his face now. "Whether I go or stay, that is."
Ceil's eyes narrowed. What was this impish prick saying? "You don't have any reason to be here, Alois," he growled. "Why would you even consider the thought of staying?"
Alois's grin just widened. "Why is it such a pain in the ass to you? I can be wherever I want to be."
Ceil tried not to get angry, but instead said in a pleasant-forced voice. "You wanted to talk to me. Right?"
Alois shrugged and looked back at Alina. Sebastian was standing and turning to the two boys with a bow. There was a fixed smile on his face. Ceil knew that look. His heart thumped in his chest suddenly, and he lowered his eyes in suspicion.
"Young lord- "he began in his low deep voice, until Alois's sharp tone cut in.
"Will she awaken soon?"
Ceil turned to look at him in surprise. He had wondered when they'd come into the guest room with Alina in Sebastian's arms why Alois had followed, but he hadn't thought he would want to see her wake up. To t-talk to her.
Stupid. Ceil thought to himself as Sebastian turned his dark red eyes on Alois. Why can't Alois talk to her?
"She'll awaken soon, Alois. But I do believe your butler is waiting for you outside. You haven't forgotten him have you?" asked Sebastian with his polite expression intact. Alois smirked, not caring for his charms, and stood to turn to Alina's sleeping form.
The day ball had ended early for the afternoon after Alina's little episode with Alois, and then when she fainted on his person, Ceil had called Sebastian to come and take her to the guest bedroom they always took her to when she fainted unexpectedly. Claude had been waiting for his master for at least ten minutes now since the guests left.
"Right," Alois said. "Claude can take care of himself. My interests, however, lies elsewhere. Like," he turned to look at Ceil, his blue eyes piercing with barely contained anger. "Why she duked me in the first place."
Ceil looked away from Alois's expression, taking comfort in the fact that Sebastian was nearby if he needed him, and said with stiffness. "I believe, Alois, that she thought you were someone she knew."
Alois looked surprised at that, but he and Sebastian's expressions remained neutral. Of course, Ceil hated the fact that Alina looked at Alois and immediately took a liking to him. When he saw her face as she tackled him, he was surprised to find such…radiance. Like she was happy.
She never looked at him like that before.
"But why?" Alois asked, turning to face them. The windows behind Alois and Alina let in the growing evening light. It shone on his head to make Ceil think of it as gold, and that-looking at Alois's features- made him think of an angel. It did nothing to alleviate his mood.
"Why?" Ceil snorted. "because she's the sort of person who shares the same sickness as you." At Alois's confused expression, Ceil growled, "Your state of mind, Alois."
Silence.
Sebastian tried to speak again, but was interrupted, again, by Alois.
"What is that supposed to mean?!" he cried. "My state of mind! I'll have you know my state of mind is- "
Alina moaned and opened her eyes. Gray as silver pupils looked around the room until they rested on Ceil, then Alois, and finally Sebastian.
Ceil's traitorous heart thumped painfully in his chest.
"Why are you all yelling?" The dark-haired girl said monotonously. "Can't you see I'm dying peacefully here?"
"Alina," began Ceil. "I- "
"Why did you tackle me, girl?" Alois said, looking down on her with an unreadable expression. Alina stared up at him, and Ceil could see how quickly her breathing was getting. He moved forward to grab Alois's shoulder, and pulled him away from her, anger in every line of his body. "Don't get so close to her." He hissed. "She's recovering."
Alois's blue eyes glared back at Ceil, but when he spoke it was directed at Alina. "I have a right to know why you tackled me."
"I only thought you looked like a doll I once had." Alina said. Ceil stiffened, and quickly looked at her. The warning from Sebastian he'd given earlier through his expression was in his head.
Her eyes were clouded.
"We need to leave her be," Ceil said to Alois. "When she begins to talk about her dolls things go south quickly."
"What does that supposed to mean?" demanded Alois, but he didn't resist when Ceil pulled him by the shoulder to the door.
"Sebastian." Ceil said, turning to look at him with his one good eye. Sebastian smiled as if knowing what he would say, and bowed with a hand over his heart. "I will stay with Lady Alina until you are through, young master."
Ceil turned to the door with Alois and opened it. Both of their feet were loud as they tromped down the hallway to the dining hall, where Ceil felt he could speak in private with his long-standing rival.
Once they entered the spacious room, Alois shrugged him off and spun to face him. "Alright, no more tricks! Tell me what is going on or so help me-"
"It really is none of your business, Alois, but for the sake of Alina, I will tell you what she is."
Alois froze, staring at him. "What she is? What do you-"
"Frst off, she is not your ordinary girl."
Alois frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "I have figured that much from the moment she hit me."
"Second, when I said you and her share a similar state of mind, I meant it. You were traumatized as a child, resulting in your broken nature now, and she was the same way. The same way now."
Alois was looking at him like he was dirt. "I am not the broken one, Ceil. Look at yourself. Prancing around the place like a lost little puppy, so cynical for your own good to even live properly."
A roar of anger crashed into Ceil's head. How dare he?! How dare he insinuate that what he was doing for his parents made him broken.
Ceil grabbed the front of Alois's shirt front, to punch him, but before he could get his fist up, Alois knocked him onto his back and pinned him with his legs straddling his waist. He looked down on him with a nastily amused grin. Ceil's head hurt from the impact against the ground, but he didn't cry out. He wouldn't give Alois the satisfaction.
"You're all poise and steel when you're standing, but you look like a scared little baby when you're on the ground." Alois laughed. "It's precious."
"Get off of me," Ceil growled, humiliated. "Now, now," Alois taunted as Ceil struggled. "You're the one who picked this fight. I only wanted to know more about the lady. For instance, why did her eyes cloud over when she answered my question?"
"Ceil?" he repeated when Ceil wouldn't speak. Then Ceil balked when Alois began moving against him, laughing at the green that was surely on Ceil's face. "What is it, Ceil?" he said, his eyes wicked. "Sick to your stomach already?"
He bent over him to whisper in his ear then, and his breath was hot on his skin. "Don't like boys?"
Damn you, Alois! Ceil thought angrily, and shoved at his heavy weight. Alois continued to laugh and push with his waist, sending Ceil into a desperate panic. "Alois! Stop this instant or I will call my butler!"
Alois stopped then, his breathing the only thing moving now. Ceil knew of his past, of the sick way his life was with an old man before coming into a mansion of his own. Sebastian got the entail from Claude himself a long time ago, but Ceil had never thought he'd have to deal with the results of that pedophile's influence.
He'd just been violated, but that, surprisingly, was the least of Ceil's concerns. He was still thinking of the question he'd asked him of Alina.
"Why did her eyes cloud over when she answered my question?" Asked Ceil to Alina's maid, who was standing over Ceil and Alina unconscious in his arms. Rain fell in torrents on them, the night air hot and cold at the same time. The Highborn mansion stood just behind them, where a pool of dark blood sat stained in front of the steps. Lying in it was the likeness of a broken doll, split at the waist, of Ceil himself. Two blue-colored eyes looked at the sky with a glassy stare, as if it truly did die, as if it were real before.
"Whenever she speaks of her dolls the energy she spent to make them would begin to drain her, so she doesn't speak of them." answered the maid. her dark skin was glistening in the wet.
"That doesn't make any sense," said Ceil, shaking his head. Alina's wet hair was like a rug over his knuckles, he held her close, afraid for her health from the rain's wrath. "If the dolls drain her then why does she make them? Or why does she speak about them in the first place?"
Anastasia had smiled, and looked down on her master. "She is cursed, Ceil." She said.
"Then tell me, Ceil," Alois said now, interrupting Ceil's thoughts. Startled, Ceil stared at him as he sat up on top of him, his blond head bowed so Ceil could only see his mouth. "I want an answer."
Ceil took a deep breath. "She is cursed." Startled, Alois looked up at him, his blue eyes full of surprise. "Cursed? Like you and me? She's signed a demon contract?"
"No," Ceil said, amused at that. A curse, hm? He guessed the demon's contracts would be that way to someone like Alois. "Ever since she was a child she has had a problem with her body. It's called the expensure of energy. You do know of the rule energy cannot be destroyed or created, right?"
Alois slowly nodded, his lips twitching slightly. "She had the unfortunate event of being born with too much energy." Ceil continued. "It needed to be released somehow. She uses dolls to do it, creates them as her hobby, but whenever she talks about them, that same energy she spent before comes back on her and causes her to destroy things. It is why I left Sebastian to her needs."
Alois looked up, as if exasperated, and got off of Ceil. Ceil got to his feet, beyond relieved, but was quickly annoyed again when Alois pushed him against the wall. "Alois, what in the world are you- "
The ceiling began to make breaking noises, and flakes fell onto them from the ceiling, before the bit where the two boys were standing over fell in a crash onto the floor.
Ceil stared at it, wide-eyed.
"What is that?" demanded Alois, as they both stared at the doll in the middle of the debris, picking itself up and straightening. When it turned, it's pale blue eye and its marine blue eye looked blankly at them. It's blond and dark-blue hair was covered in debris ash.
Sebastian hadn't stopped her this time.