Disclaimer: I don't own or have any rights to KUROSHITSUJI and HARRY POTTER. This is a work of fiction that is based on more fiction. Of course you all probably know that.
This chapter sucks, sorry.
If you don't like it, don't review.
Only review this chapter if you like it.
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Chapter 5
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They were silent as Sebastian led the way through the labyrinth of corridors and back down stairs.
Ron had calmed down a little, but the glares he kept shooting at the butlers back made it clear that he was still angry.
Hermione had decided to pretend that her moment with Sebastian had never happened.
Harry's thoughts were occupied by concern for his friends and the upcoming meeting with the Phantomhive Earl.
For his part, Sebastian was enjoying the guests' discomfort. He wasn't sure what Ciel was up to this time, but it promised to be entertaining. One thing he was sure of was that his master wanted to further his knowledge of the Wizarding World and collect some useful pawns along the way.
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Ciel was already seated at the dining room table when his guests were ushered in. They sat quietly in an awkward silence as the butler served them a light lunch; a savory vegetable soup with two beef sandwiches each.
Sebastian stationed himself against the wall behind the young wizards once they each had their plates.
Ciel dipped his spoon into his own soup but didn't bother tasting it. Instead he slowly swished it around and studied the teenagers. Their discomfort was obvious as they stared distrustfully at the food, and it was all he could do not to smirk. He darted a glance at Sebastian and saw his own amusement mirrored in the elder demons eyes.
Spreading a friendly smile on his face, he addressed his reluctant guests.
"Is the food not to your liking? I can have something else brought out if you prefer."
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Harry quickly dipped his spoon into the soup.
"No, Phantomhive, this is fine," he said as he lifted it to his lips.
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"Harry…" Ron warned, causing the boy to hesitate.
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Ciel laughed and quickly reassured them.
"Please, call me Ciel. If at all possible I would like us to get along; so really, there's no need to be so wary. We haven't done anything weird to the food. If we meant you harm there would be no need to stoop to such methods. Besides, it would be a terrible waste. Sebastian is arguably the finest cook in England. I can almost guaranty that even such simple fair as this will be better than anything you've tasted before."
He paused and his smile changed to a grin, his tone careless. However, none of it touched his empty eyes.
"I would feel terribly insulted if you didn't at least try it."
Left unspoken were the words: and we wouldn't want that now would we.
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Harry hesitated a moment longer before trying it. His eyes widened and he stared in amazement down at his bowl.
"This is incredible! I've never had anything like it!"
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"Of course," Ciel replied. "I only have the best. The Phantomhives were famous for their hospitality."
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Hermione perked up at this.
"Were?"
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"Indeed. Before my family was destroyed, we often had company over and hosted quite a few parties. After I returned and rebuilt the mansion I had little interest in such things, though of course I had to fulfill my social obligations on occasion once the Queen bestowed me with my father's title."
He had their complete attention. It was only natural. They had to be very curious about him. But knowledge was power and he'd only give them the tiniest amount, it was always better to keep people guessing. Sebastian's earlier teasing would have provided ample distraction (the demon could be truly irritating when he wanted to be), and these people would have lost much of their previous focus.
In negotiations, a solid base to stand on was essential. People who lost their balance easily fell into traps. So he'd give them a few scraps to keep them guessing and willing talk. Then he'd talk them into whatever he wanted.
"Even after the second fire I had to maintain my image. Unfortunately, not long after that there were some unexpected and highly distasteful incidents. I suppose you could say that one curse got traded for another. In the end I thought it best to leave for a while and see something more of the world. When I returned to England, I no longer felt any need to pay attention to the social niceties and I do not care for attention. So, instead of moving back into my family's estate I had this lake-house built and I've lived here ever since."
Again he smiled. Perhaps it was the way he had tilted his head or some small trick of the light, but for a second his expression seemed edged in darkness.
"Very few people ever come here and those that do are special associates with whom I either have business or who have business with me."
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Again, silence fell. But this time it was more thoughtful than awkward. Harry and Hermione started eating and after a moment Ron joined them. They quickly forgot their earlier uncertainty in favor of eating as much of the delicious food as they could.
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Butler and Lord watched them eat, each of them thinking the same thing: these children were fools.
All that talk with nothing really said and the teens feel more comfortable with them. Plus, even though the food really was alright it was still very careless to instantly take their word for it without question.
Only the idiot red-head had shown caution. What did it say about this group that the dumbest member was more intelligent than either the Leader or the Brain.
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Right then the red-headed Ronald Weasley glanced over at Ciel and noticed that his food was still untouched.
"How come you're not eating?"
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Maybe he wasn't as stupid as they had taken him for.
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Hermione and Harry looked up from their nearly empty plates in suddenly renewed suspicion as Ciel answered.
"I can't eat it. You can have it though if you want."
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Harry and Hermione each gave him their most piercing looks. They asked almost at the same time:
"Why can't you eat it?"
"Why do you have it if you can't eat it."
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Ciel chuckled darkly.
"And now we come to the heart of the matter. Well, since you look like you're done eating, I'll explain. First: if I had sat here with no food of my own in front of me, staring at you three; no matter what assurances I could have given, you likely wouldn't have eaten. Correct?"
He waited and after a moment of thought, the wizards nodded and Hermione admitted that he was probably right.
"A good host should be considerate of his guests' needs. Whatever else you have been doing, there can be no doubt that you were in need of: a hot bath, a solid meal, clean clothes, and a good long nap. However, as you also claimed to be in something of a hurry, all I could provide for you was a hot shower, fresh clothes, and a quick lunch. Can you honestly say that my effort have not made you feel at least a little bit better?"
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The wizards remained quiet while they thought about it. Ciel had practically taken them prisoner, but the only thing he was forcing them to do was feel better and talk with him.
Harry was the first to speak.
"It's not that we don't appreciate what you've done for us, it's just that we don't know if we should thank you or try to escape."
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Ciel laughed and replied, "I get that a lot. I suppose I'm just not good at making friends."
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Ron still looked distrustful, but Hermione's expression was more thoughtful. She did want to know the answer to the other question though.
"No offence, but I would still like to know why you won't eat with us."
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Ciel nodded and moved on to the remaining question.
"The answer is actually a somewhat delicate topic, as it touches on things I'd rather not talk about. However, in an effort to put you at ease, I'll tell you a few things."
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Ciel gazed contemplatively up at the ceiling, as if thinking of the best way to begin. He could feel three pairs of eyes staring at him, silently urging him on.
The atmosphere of suspicion seemed to lighten as they wait for him to speak.
A good performer knows the value of setting the mood for the audience. A good conman knows how to work a crowd. A demon knows that there are times when less is more. Well, he always was a good actor and had a talent for manipulation long before losing his humanity.
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"The Phantomhives have been a wealthy and powerful family for many generations. Our status as Nobles, our success in business, as well as our various other connections, had allowed the Phantomhive family to rise to a level of prominence and power second only to the Queen. I'm sure you can understand, then why we also had many enemies."
He paused a moment to let them think about it.
"Many of the so-called bright and shinning elite have a darker side. A smiling face more often than not hides a corrupt and depraved soul. While this isn't always the case, it's true more often you might think. As for the ones that are genuinely of worth… Well, let's just say that even an angel can fall if confronted by an ambitious temptation."
This last was said so darkly that the listening wizards were sure it was the voice of personal experience. Ciel's next words soon confirmed their guess.
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"This is what happened to my family. A certain person to whom the Phantomhives had great admiration and had done many favors for, in a moment of weakness, one day fell to a holy temptation. This person's conspirator whispered words of false hope into an eager ear and not long after it was decided that, as the first step to creating pure and shinning world, the house of Phantomehive must fall. The event took place on the evening of my eleventh birthday."
The little Earl's expression was dark. His eyes and voice empty.
"It was the most memorable day of my life."
He closed his eyes and bowed his head.
"There was fire and blood, so much blood… Everyone died. By knife or gun they died. I ran, calling for my parents. I found them in my father's study. Their attacker had just finished doing…the things it had been doing. I have no words to describe the…act…that that had been committed upon them. "
The boy looked up. His one visible blue eye stared piercingly into the faces of the wizards.
"You know magic. As wizards you have seen the impossible become real. I understand that you're fighting in a civil war against dark magic users. I have no doubt that you have seen things, evil and unnatural, that should never be done. Some…acts…are so taboo, so forbidden that the type of mind that could even conceive of such…things…let alone commit them is just…wrong. My parents' attacker had paid careful, and unnatural, attention to them and the result was…wrong. There was blood everywhere because the extra…parts…had been cut off and thrown aside. I-I-I'd rather not talk about that. Or what happened after."
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Hermione wanted to comfort the boy, and at this moment that's all he seemed to be, an angry little boy who'd lost his family.
Harry felt the same way as Hermione. He'd lost his family too. The only difference between Ceil and him was that Ciel had known his family, and that must have made the pain of losing them much worse.
Ron also felt bad for Ciel and if he was telling the truth then maybe the creepy little brat hadn't had as easy a life as he'd thought. But he didn't see what any of this had to do with not eating lunch.
One thing that the wizards were certain of was that whatever happened next in the kids' story was going to be bad.
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Sebastian watched them all silently and smiled. His young master was quite the talented actor. He could easily sense the strong emotions the wizards were feeling from hearing the Earl's story. They had already forgotten much of their suspicion.
Up until now his Lord had been telling an edited version of the truth. The demon wondered if his master would continue to do so or if he would now come up with some clever lies.
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AUTHOR NOTE:
Ok, I tried not to do it, but now it can't be helped. Until the rest of Ciel's fake story is told, this is all going to be Ciel talking, without any interruptions from the people listening. Sorry, but that's how it's going to have to be until he's done talking.
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Ciel was taking deep calming breaths. He held himself stiffly and clenched his fists.
Ok, I've got them hooked. I don't know much about the magic community, but some things are universal and people will always be people. Every society has its dark side. I just need to keep this simple.
"I was taken. It would have been kinder if they'd killed me. Tell me wizards, have you heard the term 'human trafficking' before? The world is full of unscrupulous people. They like money more than anything and they can make a lot by profiting on the misery of others. Of course this is only possible because there are people who have interests in things that they shouldn't. So long as there are those who indulge immoral interests and have the money to pay for them, there will always be someone willing to procure a body (living, dead, or in pieces) for auction.
It was to such people as these that I was taken and sold.
By the way, have you three ever spent any time thinking about where spells come from?
Think about it. Someone had to come up with the spells, rituals, potions, and the like. Someone had to test their theories to see what would happen. It's all part of the scientific method: State the problem, collect information, form a hypothesis, test the hypothesis, draw a conclusion, then repeat the whole thing again in 100 ways until you can be sure of the findings. It's all very logical; a sensible way to advance the magical arts.
The difficulties often lay in finding something, or someone, to test the spells on. After all it's important to know what the effect of a new spell might have on a human, right? I'd imagine that there are a lot of rules and laws about that sort of thing.
I bet that is especially true if the magic's being researched are of an obviously dark nature. The type of thing that you would want to keep secret, except from your close friends who share your interests and maybe a few secret little hobbies…
Of course this sort of endeavor requires test subjects, lots of them, and the younger, more resilient they are the better. You could grab a few children here or there easily enough, it's tragic but kids disappear all the time. The trouble is, if too many vanish in one place someone might start to notice.
How fortunate it is that, for the right price, there are places where you can buy as many kids as you want, no questions asked. What a convenient way to get new test subjects when the old ones get too broken.
You understand what I'm saying right?
The place I was taken to had over a dozen other children.
Sometimes we shared a cage, sometimes I would have it to myself. I could see what happened to the other children, just as they could see me; bars don't provide much in the way of privacy anyway and our captors didn't care what we saw. They were going to kill us all eventually anyway, so that didn't matter.
I lasted longer than the others. One of the reasons I was spared from the more certainly fatal activities was that, out of all the kids there, I was the best looking. They all paid me a lot of 'special' personal attention.
One of them even remarked that I looked cute when I screamed.
I trust that you understand why I don't wish to go into the details.
A test subject has no need to be told what is being done to them or what is going to be done.
One thing was true, that place changed me in many ways. The person I became was very different from the boy I had been before my parents deaths.
One day, about a month after I'd been brought to that place, they began preparations for something big. Something that would require a lot of sacrifices. I guess that they'd tired of me or maybe thought that I had become too dangerous. Whatever the reason, all the children were gathered and placed into three large cages. They intended to kill us all, one after the other for their sick little ritual.
This was the day I met Sebastian
I have no idea what his life was like before we met. Sebastian himself has no memory of living a normal human life before that day either. In fact, I'm the one that named him.
But whatever his past, the fact of the matter is that he possesses unbelievable abilities and skills. For all intents and purposes he is a living weapon. A man who could control him could possibly even control the world.
As you can imagine, his presence there caused quite a stir.
I am equally sure that you can understand that he had no particular liking for any of those people. He saw no reason why he should do anything for them.
This was what the children's sacrifices were for: to gain complete and total obedience, without hesitation or hope of escape, over Sebastian.
What greater power to use for such a thing could there be then the lives and souls of children?
I watched as one by one the children were taken from the cages, forced to lay on an alter, and then stabbed in the heart.
Eventually I was the only one left.
I hated them all so much.
From the depths of my soul I screamed my hate, my wish to kill them all, to not let them get away with everything they'd done.
I'm not sure what happened next.
Maybe their eagerness and my struggles combined to make a distraction at a key moment, or maybe my hatred and my will were so strong that it did something to fate or the power. It could even have been pure chance. I just don't know.
For whatever the reason, their spell went wrong.
In that moment it was me, not that crazy murderer, that got control of Sebastian.
He named me his master and asked for my first order.
I ordered him to kill them all and reduce that evil place to ashes.
After that, I returned to take my place as the next Earl of Phantomhive, take my revenge on everyone responsible for my suffering and the death of my parents. I made Sebastian my butler and with his help my wish came true.
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Now, you wanted to know why I couldn't eat lunch with you.
If you haven't already come to the appropriate conclusion yet, I'll spell it out for you: I can no longer be considered human and I never chose to become like this. Human food and drink is no better than ash or air on my tongue.
While my current state has many advantages, it can also be considered cursed.
Imagine never being able to eat chocolate, candy, cake, pastry's, roast beef or chicken. I can smell exactly how good it all is but I can't eat it.
There's other things to.
One day, I'm not sure when, my body stopped growing. Look at me! It's been over 15 years and I haven't gotten even 1 inch taller. I'm never going to marry and have children of my own. I'm the last Phantomhive and when I die there will be no one left to carry on the Phantomhive name."
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Good, that's the end of the chapter. Chapter 6 picks up right where this one leaves off and it will be a better chapter.
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