((Thanks so much for all the love in my last chapter! Once again, I'm so sorry about the last chapter being so short! I hope you guys enjoy this one to make up for it!))
"Mama! Papa! Look what I found!" a young girl, around the age of three cried out with joy. She was giggling and running up to a lovely looking couple.
The young girl looked vaguely familiar; long black hair that fell straight down her back. Bright, oddly colored eyes. Her skin was pale, complimenting her other features as well. When she tried to focus on the couple, though, everything blurred and she couldn't remember a thing. She couldn't think of a hair color, or eye color, or even a name.
"Look! Look!" the little girl exclaimed, excitement covering her face as she smiled brightly up at the two. She seemed to be holding up a four-leafed clover, giggling at the find. Once again, though, when she attempted to focus on the couple, she couldn't find the faintest memory of who they were.
"That's amazing, Darling," the man said, though she couldn't recognize any exact voice. She couldn't tell whether the voice was high or deep, if it was kind or harsh. But she could faintly remember the light smile the man had on his face when he smiled at the girl.
But wait a moment. Remember? What was there to remember?
Everything flashed, black surrounded the little girl and the couple was gone. When the scene changed back, she saw that the woman was no longer there. Only the man, blood splattered over him and where the woman had been standing.
The little girl took a few steps back, shock covering her face. "Papa? Mama?" she called out questioningly. The girl looked around, as if lost even though just moments ago she was filled with joy and running to the couple. She skimmed right past her, but she was sure that she saw her. She was there, wasn't she? She had to be, right?
The look on the girl's face was familiar. The shock, the hurt, she fright. She realized now. This girl was her. She remembered it all now. She could feel something hot and sticky covering her body. She was no longer looking at the girl, but she seemed to be her. She placed a shaky hand on her cheek to feel whatever it was dripping down her face, but when she pulled her fingers away to get a good look, the sticky substance was not there. But she was sure she had felt something…
She looked down at her body and screamed when she did. There was blood covering her. Not just any blood, though, when she looked down, she could see all of those she cared for. Her mother, father, uncle, brother, everyone. She opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. She took a few more steps back, still looking down at the bodies and trying to scream. She tripped over something and cried out, though silence still met her ears. She looked up slowly, feeling there was someone in front of her. When she did though, she saw a man. Someone rather handsome. He had pitch black hair, pale skin, and crimson eyes. His smile though, that was the best part of his appearance. It was so bright, so big and it seemed so loving. All she could do is stare. But soon, her stare was unwelcome and the man began to walk forward. He moved towards her, standing right in front of her and glaring down at her.
"My lady. My lady, get up." he said, though the voice didn't seem to come from him. It sounded as though it was in her head, like she imagined the voice. She couldn't seem to pinpoint any specific location to where the voice had come from, "My lady, you must get up." It was getting louder now, and each time it ordered her to get up, it got louder.
She tried to back away from the man, hoping the voice would get quieter, but she couldn't make it stop. She screamed and screamed, trying to make the voice leave her alone but it wouldn't stop until everything suddenly went black.
"My lady! You must wake up! You're having a nightmare!" wailed a familiar voice. The voice of their maid. The Phantomhive maid.
Kimberly opened her eyes with much difficulty and whimpered slightly, "Mey-Rin, stop shouting, please…" she asked her maid, touching her palm to her head as she slowly rose from her bed.
Light was flooding into the room from the windows, the curtains were open. She shielded her eyes from the light and sighed a bit as she waved off several frantic apologies from the maid.
"My goodness!" cried the maid, seeing how horribly frail Kimberly looked. She still hadn't washed out the blood from her hair or changed her clothes. She was sure she looked horrible.
"Mey-Rin, not so loud, please," she said again, her patience beginning to run dry. She glanced the maid over and saw that she was worried for her and she faked a smile for the young woman.
"O-Of course, my lady," she said, quieter this time, "My lord has told me you are in need of a bath." she said, attempting not to sound rude.
"Yes, yes, I am. Would you mind helping me, Mey-Rin?" she asked, attempting to stand on her own, but she was still weak and having just woken up, she wasn't very able at the moment.
"Of course, my lady," Mey-Rin chimed happily and helped Kimberly towards the bathing area.
~~~ Skipping Because of Awkward Reasons ~~~
Kimberly smiled lightly as she was helped with her dress. She had to wear a corset, and she found it rather hard to breathe in them. She gripped the foot of her bedpost and was holding her breath, sucking her stomach in to make it easier. She generally wore corsets tighter than most, just so that the satisfaction of taking them off at the end of the day would feel that much better. She released her breath when the young maid gave her the signal that she finished tightening the corset and just needed to finish with the gown itself.
The dress was well-made, a deep blue velvet with silk layers fell with grace down and past her ankles. The bottom of the dress lightly brushed the floor, but only enough to look elegant. The silk was a lighter blue, but it contrasted well with the velvet. The corset she wore was black, however, and the dress had sleeves that moved through the corset and hung loosely on her arms, the cuffs clinging tightly to her wrists. Like Ciel, she wore a ring. Unlike Ciel, she only wore one and it was her mother's ring. It was a simple silver band with an amethyst surrounded by several small diamonds. She always fibbed to Ciel that it was given to her by her uncle, but her father had found it in the remnants of the fire.
She admired the ring for a few more seconds before allowing Mey-Rin to lead her to the vanity and begin with her hair and makeup. She didn't notice what Mey-Rin was doing to her hair, too busy with staring in amazement and horror at how hollow she looked. When she did bother to pay attention, she found that she was being told a few pieces of news. She wasn't sure if she needed to know it all, but she hadn't heard most of it so she decided it was better not to ask for her to repeat it. If Mey-Rin knew it, it was most likely minor news, like whether or not they were to go to town that day and whatnot.
She saw that Mey-Rin put her hair in a simple fishtail braid, which gave her a look of messy elegance; she liked it. Once Mey-Rin was done, she smiled and stood, turning to her and thanking her for her help. To which she was told not to worry and bowed to several times before Mey-Rin quickly left the room. She wasn't nearly as harsh to the servants as Ciel, so she wasn't sure why she was held so high in their eyes, but she certainly didn't complain. She didn't know why, but she felt like she was respected with how careful they were around her, despite her efforts to be kind to them.
She looked at herself in the mirror for a bit longer before leaving the room. She shut her door behind her with a soft click and began to walk towards Ciel's study. She hadn't forgotten last night. She remembered every bit of it clearly, which scared her a bit. She knew Ciel had been attacked, that she had almost been too late. She knew that the woman who held her captive and tried to kill her was still under Ciel's custody and was being held captive herself for information. She shuddered at the thought. Then her thoughts moved to what happened after Ciel went to bed and she found her face growing a bit hotter. She smiled softly at the thought of the way Sebastian held her, how concerned he was for her wellbeing. She was glad she had finally seen the side of Sebastian she had once only imagined was there. But the thought of Sebastian also brought the memory of her dream. It was so vivid, even now after all this time has passed, she could remember it as if she had lived through the dream. The thought of seeing everyone she cared for, everyone she loved dead on the ground; she couldn't suppress a shudder and could feel goosebumps crawling over her skin.
On the side, though, she knew it was a dream. Dreams aren't real and she knew that; she knew it all too well. She continued forward down the hall, making turns she knew would lead her to her destination; and they did. No screams, no music, no talking, nothing that indicated life on the other side of that door. Which is exactly why she jumped when she went to knock on the door, and a voice came up behind her. But this voice was not one she enjoyed hearing. It wasn't the low, smooth voice of Sebastian's. Instead, it was the high, strict voice of the woman she despised most.
"Oh Kimmy, Darling!" she was spun around to face the woman, her cold blue eyes lightening and her blond hair making her look less like a woman and more like a girl. She was pulled into a hug that she didn't dare return, "I was so worried for you!"
The thought of seeing the woman pacing in a room, looking worried and a mess over her almost made her laugh. She suppressed the strong urge, though, and kept her arms by her side until the woman pulled away from her. She faked a confused look and was about to question why she didn't return the affection when Kimberly finally lost control over her own movements and raised a hand, barely even feeling the strong sting when her palm connected to the woman's cheek.
"How dare you?" Kimberly heard her voice hiss at the woman, but didn't remember deciding to say anything. The look of rage on her face must have been enough to frighten the woman, because she didn't move to slap her back or yell at her. Her voice lowered and she took a step towards her aunt, "I know it was you. You hired those people to kill Ciel and me. You had better be glad that little minion of yours hasn't blabbed yet. My brother and I don't take kindly to people who attempt to kill us."
Visibly noticing what was going on, Elise smirked a bit, though still held her dark look. Before Kimberly could move, her hand grabbed Kimberly by the braid and forced her to move her face closer, lowering her voice as well, "Well then it's a good thing your little precious brother won't be with us for much longer, isn't it?" she said, smirk growing wider once she saw the look of pain mixed with fear and worry in Kimberly's eyes, "You think I was going to stop there? Oh no, my little minions won't speak because I'm not the one they got their orders from directly. No one is going to find out Kimmy, but then again, you're confused. You're more traumatized now than you ever have been. You won't know what you're saying. No one will ever believe you even if you did try to rat me out." she said, her grin growing darker.
However, the moment the sound of footsteps came, Elise let go of Kimberly's hair and went back to her smiling, sweet self. She smiled at the direction of the footsteps and saw that it was Ciel, Sebastian trailing closely behind him. Kimberly found herself forcing on a smile, directing it at their general direction, but forgot who she originally was smiling for.
Elise was a powerful woman. She knew this; but she couldn't simply let her kill Ciel. She couldn't.
She would rather die herself before ever letting anything bad happen to Ciel. She already vowed to herself that she would never let anything happen to him ever again. However, she seemed to find herself failing.
Ciel drew closer and raised an eyebrow at the two women, "Am I missing something? Why on Earth are you two smiling so much?" he asked, looking between the two, though stood in front of them.
"No reason, Ciel," Kimberly said, her smile faltering a bit, "I simply figured with what happened last night, if you couldn't smile, I might as well do it for you, hm?" she said, trying to come up with something on the spot.
Ciel obviously didn't buy it, but nodded and moved past the two and entered his study, Sebastian trailing closely behind, glancing slightly between Kimberly and Elise. Though when Ciel entered, he stopped before he even got halfway to his desk.
Curious to why Ciel stopped so quickly, Kimberly entered behind him and her eyes widened slightly when she saw what Ciel did. The woman from the previous night; Kimberly's previous captor and their informant, was slumped against the back of the chair. Her eyes were rolled back, her jaw opened wide. Her throat had been slit open, the evidence was all the blood covering her and the large wound on her throat. Her skin looked cold and her body stiff. The only way to even get close enough to proving Elise was behind all this, was now dead.
((Sorry this was so short, you guys! I know I promised for longer, but I really tried! DX Tell me what you guys think. Good? Bad? Anything helps!))