CE:24
A/N: Hey guys! I said that the last chapter would be the last on my laptop, but I figured that I should suck as much energy out of this thing while I have it. I was wrong, it has to be turned in on Friday. So sad, so sad. I might just buy another laptop with the money I've saved up, one just for the summer months.
Chapter 24: A Reason to Stay2
"So they plan to take Felix and possibly Kurt back with them to Verona?" Ciel asked to confirm what Sebastian was telling him.
His butler didn't seem all that distressed by this fact, and in truth Ciel wasn't too stressed out about it either. It seemed any time one or both of them left the manor they always seemed to return despite that.
There was quite a commotion this morning also, that Indian butler had taken him up and carried him about like an oversized doll, Lau was in the house as well for unknown reasons, and the servants had just come crashing into the master bedroom raving about something strange with the gardens and such. He didn't want to know what the Prince and Kurt were up to this morning. Felix was probably still mulling over what possible reasons he had to stay.
"That is correct my lord." Sebastian nodded.
"Hm. See to it that this coven is kept busy…" Ciel ordered.
"As you wish." The butler smiled, "The Prince and should be enough to keep them occupied while we continue the investigation young master."
"You may leave Sebastian."
Sebastian bowed in that familiar manner before closing the door behind him, Ciel obviously wasn't sleeping that well if the bags under his eyes gave any notion to that fact. He was considerably paler too; he should start serving more meats. Speaking of meals…
"I must go see to the mess those servants made, judging by their excitement it must be pretty vulgar…"
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Felix stared in awe; he even felt a tear come to his right eye, at the sight of the pristine white sheets blowing on the line, drying calmly. The garden wasn't torched to the ground! It had that pure feeling that seemed to follow their guests everywhere. Hespera sat perched on top of one of the fountains, obviously in the middle of her early sunrise meditation. Luna and Sol sat sipping tea with Lau in the garden. He could smell the scent of good food coming from the kitchen, a rare and inviting smell to his nose that was used to the scent of burning charred meats and explosive soups.
The rest of the servants had the same feeling of beauty and overwhelming light, he saw Sebastian come up to his right. He looked stunned, and he had a very good reason to be.
"What happened?" He asked, for the first time, he asked this question without any sense of anger.
"A miracle! It's a bloody freaking miracle!" Kurt yelled happily at the top of his lungs as he ran happily through the pathways, clear for the first time. Lau seemed to find the whole ordeal amusing.
He should be a good influence on the young earl… the Chinese Mafia lord thought wisely.
"Ah, it was presumptuous of me, but I have prepared all of this myself!" Agni smiled warmly as he approached.
"Oh you shouldn't have! Please just relax as you are our guest…" Sebastian turned towards the Indian butler.
"Oh, but it's nothing!" Agni waved his hands in front of him sheepishly.
The Indian man darted a quick wink towards Felix, showing that he remembered his promise to befriend the Phantomhive butler. The redhead groaned and raised a hand to his face. Such a religious and pure being was trying to become best friends with a sadistic demon from hell.
"The Prince is of course excluded, however I am a mere butler." Agni explained, "So I think the least I can do is lend the hard-working Sebastian and Felix a hand."
"Agni…" Felix echoed the man's name thankfully.
Sebastian turned towards the three dunces behind them, with a sadistic smile gracing his lips as his aura sparkled.
"Why don't you all kneel down on the ground and beg for even a mere scrap of Agni's talents?" Sebastian asked rhetorically, "Perhaps it would improve even you a little."
"…"
"Gimme some scraps! Scraps!" Mayrene demanded, reaching for Agni's coat.
"Some for me!" Finny added and followed after Mayrene.
"Me too!" Bard followed suit and soon the three were banging heads with each other and kicking up dust, trying to get some of Agni's talents.
Hespera was there in a flash, holding Mayrene and Finny by their collars, while Bard stopped altogether on his own. The chef gulped as he saw the intimidating woman before him, he reminded her of his drill sergeant, about to punish him for being out of line.
"No more scraps." She stated dully before releasing the two of them. Agni looked grateful and Felix growled at the three servants.
"HE DIDN'T MEAN IT LITERALLY! (I don't think)"
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"…So?" Kurt started off the conversation before digging into the amazing food, his eyes sparkled and he gave Agni a thumbs up, "You're cooking is bloody amazing!"
"Language…" Felix sighed and pulled off Kurt's bandanna, "We're in the presence of guests."
Felix looked at the Indian butler standing behind the prince. The Pendragon Coven sat to Kurt's right, completing the Phantomhive table for once in a rather long while, Ciel and the Prince at the heads of the table with Kurt to Ciel's right. Felix picked up his ward's plate and noticed the vegetables still present, he set it back down, ignoring Kurt's fuss about hating beans.
"I am happy to receive such praise." Agni smiled, not minding the boy's manners at all, pouring Soma another cup of tea.
"How long do you all intend to stay in my house?" Ciel asked in irritation.
"We'll leave once our work is done." Soma replied.
"We'll leave when they leave." Sol replied with a nod from her sisters.
"Aren't you two looking for someone?" Lau asked from Ciel's left, directing the question to Agni and Soma.
"So what if they are, and why do you four feel need to stay here also?" He asked Lau and the Coven.
"To see if Felix should stay or go." Luna stated.
"What's wrong with me staying here?" Lau pouted.
"Oh yeah, we're looking for a lady." Soma pulled out a picture, a child's drawing by the looks of it, the hair was made from large swipes of ink, the eyes large circles with dots to serve as pupils, body similar to a cartoon angel, and a dot in the middle of the poor disheveled character's forehead, "This lady; Her name is Mina, a maidservant at my palace, I drew that myself! It's so good that once you see her you'll recognize her for sure! Isn't she a beauty?"
Ciel handed the picture to Felix, who looked it over sweating.
"Sebastian, can you find her with this?" He whispered to the man beside him.
"Even for me that's…" He sighed and sweat dropped, such was the fate of a Phantomhive butler, "I'll try my best then…"
"Lemme see!" Kurt snatched the picture and his eyes went wide, "What the bloody hell-Mph! Frmilx!"
Felix muffled the words pouring out of Kurt's foul mouth, he really wasn't a noble after all. Had he been anywhere else, Felix's reaction would be much of the same. Lau chuckled at the sight and took the picture.
"I have never seen such a beautiful lady!" Lau complimented. (lied)
"Liar…" Kurt mumbled, directing the whisper towards Lau.
"Ah, I seem to remember a family heirloom; a vase to be exact. Oh woe, to think it was stolen out from under me, perhaps I should-"
"Sorry! Sorry!" Kurt waved frantically; it seemed Lau wasn't going to let the whole thing go.
"Of course oh young Prince of Thieves, I've seem to just forgotten what I'd said…huh." Lau feigned confusion.
"So why is this woman in England?" Kurt asked, diverting the conversation away from stolen objects.
Suddenly Agni, Hespera, and Soma were kneeling before a statue behind Lau, it was a bit…interesting to say the least. Ciel didn't seem interested in how the hell such a heavy bronze object got there, but rather he was a bit irritated that the two were not only ignoring him, but Kurt as well. That was just…irritating for him.
"What the hell is this all of a sudden?" Kurt stood up, "Where did they get that statue from?"
"My thoughts exactly." Felix murmured in confusion, "It seems they are praying…"
But that's such an awful and surreal figure of God…He finished in his head.
"A figure of God…?" Sebastian looked just as confused.
They all approached the statue, and found it was just as horrid looking up close. It was a bit disrespectful, but was this really how they wanted their god depicted?
"It's just a statue of a woman who who's holding a man's head, and is wearing men's heads while dancing happily on a man's stomach…" Luna sighed.
"That's how I see it…" Sol agreed.
"It's something like that I suppose…" Felix sweat-dropped.
Agni seemed to finish his prayer as he sat up to explain, "This is a statue of Kali, the goddess from the Hindu religion that we have faith in."
"So it's a god from India?" Ciel inquired.
"I remember some of what you're talking about now," Sol nodded and sipped her tea once more, "Kali is the wife of the god Shiva and is also the goddess of power; she protects from misfortune and gives lots of benefits."
"A long time ago…" Hespera sat up, done with her prayers as well, "A demon recklessly challenged the goddess to fight with him. The victory of course went to Kali the goddess…however…since then her destructive urge has not settled. The goddess became absorbed in destruction and massacres; Continuous massacres, making necklaces from men's heads, drinking blood, etc."
"Other gods couldn't stop Kali the goddess, so they decided to destroy this world at any costs!" Agni grew extremely passionate with the story, it seemed he was far more religious than first anticipated, "At that time, in order to protect this world, the god Shiva who is her husband lay down at her feet! After she had trampled on her husband with her dirty legs, Kali returned to us and this world returned to its peaceful state."
"Ah, so that's why he's being trampled on," Sebastian realized, "It's just a matrimonial quarrel."
"Maybe he should've done it before so many were killed…" Ciel and Kurt said at the same time.
"So in other words," Felix summarized it, "Kali is the goddess in Hindu religion that defeated the demon after a time of struggle. She is holding the head of the demon she defeated as proof."
"It's as you say." Hespera nodded.
"If such a strong person exists, I should be careful when I go to India…" Sebastian filed this information in his brain. Felix pulled him off to the side for a quick moment.
"Bastard, are you trying to reveal that you're a demon?" He hissed.
"Why of course not darling." Sebastian smirked when Felix pushed him away and returned to Kurt's side.
"So I have finished praying now! Let's go out midgets, you two can be my guides!"
Soma seemed to have an unknown amount of strength, because he swooped Ciel up underneath his left arm within seconds. Felix put a hand on Kurt's shoulder to protect him from the same fate, when Soma tried to pick up the small child with his free arm.
"Why us?" Kurt demanded, he didn't want to lug this royal prat around with them, "Besides our names aren't midget, they are Ciel and Kurt!"
"Then Ciel and Kurt, I order you to lead the way." Soma started walking, grabbing Kurt and dragging him from the chair.
Felix gave Sebastian a slightly panicked look and the black-haired butler stepped in front of the indignant prince.
"I'm deeply sorry…" He began.
That's so bull… Felix thought.
"…but it has already been scheduled for the young masters to study and work today." Sebastian finished.
Felix nodded, "Truly we apologize, but they need to be educated young lords."
"As you can see we're very busy." Ciel walked out with Sebastian.
"If you want to look for that person than just do it yourself." Kurt added, though he'd rather help than do lessons, Soma was a bit like a whirlwind and probably wouldn't be any fun.
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"Felix…really I'm no good at musical instruments." Kurt huffed.
"Well, the piano is simple enough. I had to play it at Lord Greenwood's, though I wasn't very good…at all…but I know the basic notes and chords!" Felix huffed.
"And you want to be better than Sebastian at everything-"
"I thought I already told you to respect your elders!" Felix retorted, a light flush on his cheeks as he pushed a simple set of chords that were set to the violin song that Ciel was going to play, it seemed Sebastian had thought of something good again…dammit.
"-instead of governess Adams and the others, I shall serve as your tutor for the duration of time in London."
Sol was in the corner again wearing circles in the carpet, making Sebastian's eyebrow twitch. Really, did these witches have any respect for the manor and his hard work at all? Luna obviously didn't by the way she was searching all of their shelves seemingly for good books and pulling out books left and right.
"What are you doing L?" Hespera asked from the window sill where she was sitting cross-legged, trying to relax but failing at the sound of books hitting the carpet rather roughly.
"Looking for a secret passage…" Luna murmured, "All these old houses have them…lots of old gold and other heirlooms and such."
"Stop searching my house!" Ciel growled, Luna snorted and continued to pull at them.
"Gold…?" Kurt almost drooled, "Treasures?"
Felix snapped his fingers to get his ward's attention back on the piano. Ciel looked back to Sebastian who put a few papers of music on the intricate stand.
"Chaconne of Bach." Kurt gulped.
"This piece of music is extremely high level…" Ciel looked up at Sebastian a bit angrily, "How can I play-?"
Sebastian put the bow from his own violin beneath Ciel's chin to bring it back up.
"Because it's hard, if you can do this you will gain confidence." Sebastian smirked, "That is my method as a tutor."
"That statement is going to come back to bite you in the backside someday Sebastian…" Felix muttered.
"Ah Felix, do you have any problems with my education policy? It is only my method as a tutor."
Felix clicked his tongue and showed Kurt where to put his fingers, muttering something about stupid demons.
"Sadism is a bad habit Sebastian, with bad actions, karma follows." Hespera spoke.
"Karma?" Kurt inquired curiously.
"It means what goes around, comes around." Luna sighed.
"If you do bad things to others, others will do bad things to you." Felix added on.
"Do not do to others, what you yourself would want done to you." Sol muttered, starting another circle.
Sebastian ignored them and instead told Ciel to be ready, Kurt readied his hands.
The melody flowed out very steadily, but it was a bit difficult to keep up since Kurt was still just starting out. He tried to express the tune with severity and piety. Somehow he managed pretty well.
"Great job Kurt. Keep going." Felix encouraged as he flipped the page.
All of a sudden, the room was filled with the mixed sounds of beautiful piano accompaniment and the flowing of Ciel's expert hands trailing the strings of the violin like magic. Felix felt his heart swell with pride. Maybe this was a good reason to stay? He and Kurt were learning so much despite their reluctance, hell, Kurt had invented so many good toys for the Funtom company alongside Ciel already, the earl had even admitted to Kurt's great imagination.
The moment was ruined by loud and foreign twanging sounds echoing through the room like Big Ben itself. They tried to ignore it.
"Express the tune with intense emotions…" Felix directed.
"At the appropriate times, use the sound to represent anger." Sebastian spoke over the sound, "Very good young master."
Well I certainly have a lot of anger at this point… Ciel thought, his eye twitching.
Felix couldn't take it anymore; he turned to Agni and Soma who were playing two different instruments. Agni's looked like Indian drums, while Soma's could be identified as a sitar. No wonder the sounds were so bad now, that guitar-like instrument totally didn't fit in with the piano or the violin.
"Er…what are you doing?" Sebastian asked.
"Hmm?" Soma looked up and smiled excitedly, he obviously was a hog for attention, "I just think it would be good to spend some time with the brats today. I am also talented when it comes to musical instruments."
"GET OUT!" Ciel demanded, his voice shaking the manor as the two men were thrown out.
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"Next it's time for art study." Sebastian stood beside a bowl of fruit and a bottle of wine, meant to serve as a still-life.
The Coven had left to go walk the gardens, Felix had sent Mayrene to attend to them as he still had to continue his lessons with Kurt, he hoped that the bumbling maid would be able to entertain them…and that Luna didn't drill the poor maid to the bone.
"Look for balance calmly…" Felix told Kurt.
"Bring out the depth." Sebastian added.
"What? Drawing a bottle is boring isn't it?" Soma scoffed, "Drawing a picture is better with a beautiful naked woman right?"
"Ah, but there are no beautiful women here." Lau chuckled.
Soma looked about the room, while Sebastian and the rest of them had their jaws dropped at such an accusation.
"Hm. You're right." Soma grabbed Felix by his arm and tugged off his jacket, "You'll do, undress!"
"Why me?" Felix struggled, but Soma wouldn't let go.
"You may be a man, but you are quite feminine despite that, now hurry up!"
Sebastian was by Felix in an instant, deftly, but firmly he pulled his toy away and wrapped his own jacket around him, Felix's shirt had been torn by the man-handling he'd just gotten. If looks could kill, Soma would be dead. He averted his eyes from the Prince for the better sight of Felix's pristine white shoulders exposed to his eyes, they looked so soft that he considered just drawing Felix himself.
"You may go change Felix." Kurt basically ordered, he too was glaring daggers at the prince, as was Ciel. One of their own had been disrespected in such a way, it was most displeasing.
"GET OUT!"
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"The samples of the limited Christmas goods from our Yorkshire factory have arrived." Sebastian motioned towards the tree with many small toys beneath it.
Ciel hugged the nearest bunny, squeezing it as tight as he could to get a good feel of it, he rather liked holding things smaller than him within his grasp, he still held a pillow while he slept, though he wouldn't admit it to anyone.
"It feels good now that they remade it." Ciel commented.
"Next, the production plan for next year has arrived from headquarters." Sebastian continued, "It seems Master Kurt's new products like the Christmas Cracker are having favorable sales at the Herriot Department Store."
Kurt did a small victory dance and Felix returned, tugging his tailcoat on over a crisp new blouse.
"Hey kid, I'm back." He smiled and ruffled his hair and Kurt tried pulling out a bandanna to wrap around his head, only for it to be confiscated again, "Good sales?"
"You bet!"
"Though since our kid customers are the majority, we need to keep producing more toys." Ciel added.
Maybe that's another reason to continue here, Kurt is making the Funtom Company thrive with his new ideas…Felix thought.
Soma came in and was offering a new toy idea, one with some stupid elephant and a moving trunk. He was kicked out right away, a new record of nine seconds. Fencing was next, he saw Sol walk back inside from the garden and caught her gaze. That's all he needed to do before she nodded and waved him over. He quickly walked over to her.
"Do you have your reason?" She asked.
"My reason for staying is that Kurt is finally getting an education he deserves. He's learning about the world, and so many options are opening up for him. The Funtom Company is thriving because of him, I'm sure that Ciel wants Kurt to stay and be a partner in the Company permanently, and I'm so proud of him…" He offered.
"…" Sol thought about it for a moment before sighing, "Felix, that's not a sufficient answer."
"Why not?" Felix asked in exasperation.
"Those are all sufficient reasons for Kurt to remain here." She smiled, "But not for you, I assure you that there is a reason though Cain, you will find it I'm sure."
Her gaze darted to Sebastian and back to Felix, to his bright gold eyes.
"You're finally opening up aren't you?" She smiled and ruffled his hair, "It would be sad to see you go."
"Hespera said the same thing…" Felix furrowed his eyebrows, "But I'm still not sure I understand."
She sighed and patted his cheek, he turned back towards the commotion, seeing Kurt waiting on the side lines with a mischievous sparkle in his emerald eyes as he watched Ciel toss a saber to Soma. They were going to fence?
"So, if I beat you, you will play with me?" Soma asked.
"Only if you win." Ciel tilted his chin up with pride and an almost disgusted look that came whenever the boy snapped, "If you lose then you must keep quiet and stay out of my way."
"Five bouts in three minutes." Kurt smiled, "The one with the highest score wins."
"So, let's start!" Soma charged at Ciel, swinging his saber below at Ciel's calves, hoping to knock the small boy off his feet, the young earl's smirk was almost as twisted as his butlers, the sword bent as soon as it hit Ciel's left leg.
"That is not a valid point in fencing." Ciel mocked.
"Too bad!" Kurt laughed and Ciel charged him again, "He looks a bit like a fish out of water."
"You coward! I don't even know the rules! What the hell are valid points?" Soma exclaimed as he dodged. The two younger masters of the house wore smiles befitting an imp.
Oh no…since when were these two such sadistic children? Felix thought with a sigh, he blamed Sebastian.
"The bastard is a bad influence." He muttered.
"I'm starting to get quite used to that title darling." Sebastian stated from right behind him, making him jump and spin around, "But how exactly am I a bad influence?"
"You're making our children sadistic, all of our children. Even Lady Elizabeth is a bit more dangerous now." Felix grumbled.
"Ah, our children." Sebastian smirked, "What a thought Mr. Nhell."
Felix growled and very discreetly flipped off the demon, some of his country rebellious nature creeping back into his eyes. Sebastian noticed the fire in Felix's gaze; it was that of the long-haired beast residing in his soul. They were one in the same after all, it seemed that the gate was starting to open further. Sebastian wondered when he would be able to see what lain inside those towering red gates…
"It's your fault that you don't know the rules." Ciel told him.
"A match is a match." Kurt agreed, swinging his own saber around his finger.
"The saber is hard to use if it's swinging left and right." Felix sighed.
Ciel easily dodged the blows Soma was trying to inflict by swinging the sword at him horizontally.
"Thrusting forward is the basic idea of fencing, not to scythe the sword horizontally." Ciel told Agni.
He's teaching him… Felix thought with a slight smile.
"His torso is wide open!" Kurt called.
"I am perfectly aware." Ciel smiled and thrust forward towards the Princes abdomen.
Out of nowhere came Agni, blocking the blows instinctually, "Prince this is dangerous!"
Without thinking and before Felix could get close enough to stop it, Agni hit the pressure point in Ciel's arm, right on the connection between his biceps and his forearm.
"Ciel!" Felix was at his side in a second, along with Kurt who tried to help him up.
"C-Ciel sir! My deepest apologies! My body moved on its own when I thought the Prince was going to lose!" Agni apologized and looked about ready to have a heart attack.
"Allow me to see my lord." Sebastian gently picked up Ciel's arm and held it, Felix rolled up the young earl's sleeves gently while Kurt just sat fretting. Ciel was in pain…
Lau looked over the four, as did Luna and the others. There was no doubting that they looked like a family, a bizarre one, yet still a family.
"It will amount to nothing more than a bruise." Sebastian said, mostly to Felix.
The way Sebastian told Felix right away, was like he was the father comforting the mother. Kurt looked like a small younger brother looking sadly at his older brother…someone he looked up to.
"Agni has won for me! Now you shall play with me!" Soma smiled.
"Here." Lau threw Sebastian a saber, and Felix couldn't deny how strong the demon looked and how graceful when he caught the makeshift blade with ease, "You should take reprisal for your master, butler."
"What are you going to do Ciel's butler?"
"Indeed it's because you were being mean to a novice who didn't know the rules." Felix scolded them.
"Wha?" Kurt and Ciel looked in
"However, when my master is injured like this, as a butler of the Phantomhive Family, I can't ignore it." Sebastian stood up, "Moreover we behind the planned schedule by ten minutes."
"That's your real motive isn't it?" Felix sighed.
This was going to be a long day, and he didn't even know his reason for staying yet.
A/N: I cry! Today is my last day with my beautiful laptop! My mom said I can use hers though. Lucky me! XD