Chapter 8: Familiarity.
Ciel stared down at the plate of food in front of him with a dull expression as he twirled his fork around in it all, creating a mess of the dish. "Sebastian."
"What is it, Young Master?" The butler asked, taking a step forward.
The young earl looked over to him nonchalantly as he dropped the fork in the middle of the plate, "I want to meet Annalise today."
Sebastian's eyes narrowed faintly as he furrowed his brows, "So soon?"
'Why is it that he always seems so... preservative of that girl?' Ciel thought.
He shrugged off the thought as he stood from the table, "Is that a problem?"
"Of course not, my lord. I shall prepare the carriage right away." Sebastian said with a bow, swiftly making his way to the large set of doors.
In truth, Ciel wanted to meet Reece Valentine first, but he was becoming impatient. The ball wasn't for another three days, and though that may seem like a short amount of time, the earl had no desire of waiting for information. So, he figured meeting Annalise firsthand would answer his questions, even if she doesn't know anything about who she really is.
But what was it that made him so impatient? Well, you see... He wants to meet Annalise. Just the thought of seeing her in person makes him anxious.
'What kind of girl could she be? Does she really resemble my father? Will she like me?' These questions plagued the boy's mind as he stalked towards the carriage.
However, one question in particular kept repeating over and over in the young earl's head... 'Why does the name Annalise seem so familiar?'
They rode along a dirt path that headed deep into the forest. When the carriage finally came to a stop, Sebastian helped the boy hop out.
Ciel stared in awe at the building before him.
It was a seemingly abandoned mansion that was in a state of horror. It looked as if it could collapse at any given moment.
To put it simply, it was no place for someone to live. Especially a young girl.
"Are you sure this is where she is?" He asked, clearly amazed by how rundown the place was.
Sebastian nodded and spoke with a hint of dread in his tone, "Yes, this is where Miss Annalise has been staying."
The boy furrowed his brows as they walked up to the large set of doors, "And it's just her here, correct?"
Once again, the butler nodded. "Yes, only Miss Annalise lives here." He then opened the door, to which there was a loud creaking sound that echoed throughout the area.
As Ciel strolled into the crumbling mansion, he was greeted by a pitiful-looking girl.
Her skin was as white as snow, the only color to them being the bruises that lingered all over her arms and legs. Dark circles were visible under her cerulean eyes, and her lips were ashen grey. Her hair was matted and her clothes were torn.
And for some reason, this made her seem all too familiar to the earl...
The scene was set where the demon and his contractee first met. Petrified and far from home, Ciel lay pinned down on a cold slab of rock, surrounded by men in masks. He tried to break free, squirming and begging to be let go, but of course it was no use.
The tallest man pulled a long iron rod from a pile of fiery coals, revealing a red-hot brand. The masked man spit on the iron to test the heat, and it immediately sizzled and evaporated away within seconds.
Seeing this sent chills down Ciel's spine and caused his heart to race so fast it could be heard by the others.
Without any warning, the brand was pressed against the frail boy's ribcage, his skin bubbling and blistering from the heat as he screamed out into the darkness.
Unable to walk, he was dragged back to the cage that held him and thrown in without any consideration to the fresh wound on his side.
The other children around him looked away, knowing there was nothing they could possibly do. The one child who would have even attempted to help him, was the young girl whom he shared his cage with. She was his only sense of light in this dark, dark place.
But she couldn't help him in the state she was in. She was just beaten half to death, thus resulting in her lying unconscious in the cold metal box.
Ciel laid on the cage floor, hyperventilating and sobbing in pure agony. The intense pain hazed his hearing and vision, causing every bit of sound and movement to be muffled. However, as soon as his senses were regained, he'd heard all he needed to.
"...grant any wish you could ever imagine. Any hope, any dream can be fulfilled. And all I need it a single soul. The person noble enough to stand up will spend the rest of eternity after they pass in pure nothingness. So, now... Who would like to form a contract with me?" The voice was familiar and foreign all at the same time.
The men all hesitated, shuffling and speaking amongst themselves.
"I... I will..." Ciel moaned out, slowly turning himself towards the black aura in the middle of the room.
The men shouted, trying to stop the boy. But it was too late...
"You want to form a contract, little boy?" The voice taunted, in complete disbelief that someone as young as Ciel would be willing to throw away their eternity for a single wish.
"Yes... I want to form a contract with you..."
The mysterious voice let out a soft chuckle. The aura formed a figure resembling a human and slaughtered the masked men, the children, everyone, and it tore Ciel apart bit by bit.
Blood soaked the floor, body parts scattered across the room like dirty clothes. The door to the boy's cage creaked open. The man reached in, ready to kill the unconscious girl at his side.
Ciel jumped in front of the girl, "No! Not her!"
The man simply smirked and pulled back his hand, "If that's what you wish."
Ciel unsteadily exited his confinement, his legs trembling violently. However, he was well enough to follow Sebastian out of the building and into the open air that he hadn't seen in over a month.
While the two remained silent, voices buzzed around in the young boy's head. "Why did you abandon her?"
"You could have saved her."
"You know they'll come back."
"They'll just keep torturing her."
Over and over, the voices taunted him, riddling him with guilt about choices he didn't make.
"You want her to suffer, don't you?"
That one question alone made the quivering boy fall to the ground. His heart was heavy and tears poured out of his already puffy eyes, "A-Anna... I'm s-so sorry..."
Ciel nearly gasped at the flashback. He and the injured girl both stared wide-eyed at each other.
"Young Mistress, I'd like to introduce you to my Young Master." Sebastian spoke, breaking the silence. "This is Earl Ciel Phantomhive, the Quee-"
The girl cut off Sebastian's introduction as she stormed towards the young noble and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, "I don't want anything to do with you." The sharpness in her tone caused the boy to jump slightly in her grip.
Ciel was completely at a loss for words.
The girl then turned her back towards him and headed towards the staircase.
"Annalise!" Sebastian called out, stopping the girl in her tracks.
She felt her stomach flutter as the man said her name. She turned around slowly as she stared at him with tears in her eyes.
She had looked utterly torn.
"Please don't call me that." She spoke, her voice no louder than a whisper.