Chapter 7-It's Time

"Are you sure about this, Your Highness?" she asked.

"Are you questioning me Hannah?"

"No Highness. I only worry for your safety. The two of your parted on such hostile terms. I wish to protect you."

"I've already made my decision. You will do as I say. Won't you, Hannah?"

"If it pleases you then I will do whatever you say. I live for your happiness alone. I love you Dear Highness."

For a moment Alois was speechless. As has been told before he had never grown accustomed to hearing those words, no matter how often they had been uttered. His face grew pink, and he shuddered as the powerful emotions over took him. He began to think about what he was really asking and wondered if his request was selfish or greedy. Most likely it was, but the feelings of guilt weren't strong enough to drown out his deep, powerful need. He would get what he wanted, as he always did.

Greed...That had been his motivation for so many years. Greed for revenge against the townsfolk. Greed for Claude's love. Greed for vengence against Sebastian and Ciel. Greed for so many things that deep down inside he knew were wrong or impossible, yet greedy he remained. Even now when Hannah would sit down and talk to him and Luca, he would grow envious whenever her attention would dwindle. Imagine that..jealous of his own brother, how pitiful.

"Hannah?...Why do you love me?"

The question caught her off guard. Why did she love Alois Trancy? He was a selfish, spoiled child who cared about nothing but his own gain. He was vengeful and rude, and abused her on a daily basis never once saying thank you for anything she did for him. Why would anyone love Alois Trancy? No one in their right mind would...

...But he wasn't Alois Trancy, now was he? No, he was Jim Macin, her true Master, her beloved Highness. The boy who had lost his dear parents and was forced to care for his brother, cursed with the responsabiltiy of child while he was still in youth. Then in another of fate's vile blows Luca was lost to him. Now he was truely alone, without anyone to love, without anyone to love him.

The only affection he found in the following years was a molestation from a cruel, filthy man, and the false promises of adoration from Claude Faustus. He was a broken child and with each year of his life more cracks were added to his shattered heart. But never once in his horrible life did he give up hope. Every night he dreamt of better days, of sunny afternoons with people who would love him, who could love him. No matter how broken he had become, he always put himself back together. No matter how many times he fell, he got back up again and hoped that this fall would be his last. That perservience, the love for his brother, his continual hope, that was why she loved him.

"I love you for the light you carry even in the darkest of times. I love you for the strength you hold in your heart. I love for the compassion you have for your brother, but most of all I love you because you're you, Jim Macin, and I will always love for that reason, my Dear Highness."

"I love you too Hannah Annafellows...Thank you," he whispered.

"You're very welcome Highness. Now let's start the preparations for your rendevous with Lord Phantomhive. I'm sure he'll be very surprised to see you."

"He most certainly will..."

"Well it seems that those two have already done our job for us," she said.

"That'll save us some time. I'm sure you're glad about that."

"The pieces are coming together, aren't they? But the Recognition wasn't complete, and I expect some hesitation from the butler. He hasn't a single memory of his other self, and I doubt he'll begin to recall anytime soon."

"Well then, we'll just speed up his memory. We are here to act as catalysts, correct?"

"Correct," she sighed,"Come now, enough of our talk, we must prepare for the Intervention."

"As you wish...Dear Partner."

"That was spectacular! The effects! The acting! The everything! It was phenominal!"

Ivy bounced up and down in pure glee praising the cinematic achievement. The Hobbit was just as amazing as all the critics made it seem to be, and she found joy in the fact that she had brought the Comity to witness its wonder. What better than spending a glorious evening with glorious friends? She couldn't think of a single thing greater than the events of tonight, but there was one problem that kept the evening from perfection.

Ciel had still yet to smile. All through the night she kept glancing over at the boy, hoping for even the slightest grin to grace his face, but it hadn't happened. It was really beginning to put damper on her mood, but she wasn't going to give up yet. She would make Ciel Michealis smile if it was the last thing she ever did!

And then suddenly as she glanced at her Comity, a wonderful thought crawled inside her head, a glorious epiffany that she would knew would make him grin eventually. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but it would work! She only had to convince them of her plan, and she prayed to the Heavenly Father, God above that they would listen!

While she brought them together to discuss her phenominal plan, Ciel was concerned with a less trivial matter. Where had Sebastian run off to? The last he saw of him was a passing glance as Ivy dragged him into the theater like a child drags its doll. After that he disappeared into the winter's night, no where to be seen. He was growing impatient with his rebellious servant, and after sitting through a two hour movie with his 'peers' he was in no mood to wait for his return.

Breaking off from the crowd, he stood secluded in a alley, surrounded by the shadows cast down from the cold stone walls. Alone, all alone, it was the perfect place for a summoning. Reaching behind him he quickly undid the tie of his patch and it fell onto the snow. His Marking was now burning bright upon his eye, glowing underneath the silver moon's light.

"Sebastian return to me now. That is an order," he demanded.

Like a flash of lightening Sebastian returned, standing before his Master as he had so many times before.

"You called Young Master?"

"Where the hell have you-"

"Ciel! Ciel! Ci-Oh there you are! Guys he's over here! What are you doing in some alley, Sillies?"

Quickly, Sebastian's hand glided over his Master's head, shielding his eyes and covering the Mark that bound them. Ivy couldn't be allowed to see the Demon's insignia, no mere human could. Even with demons, somethings do remain a taboo.

"Miss Ivy, please excuse my Brother and I. His patch seems to have fallen and he wished for it to be replied in privacy."

"Oh! I'm sorry! I'll just be waiting back over..um..there! Bye!"

Ivy soon ran off to rejoin her Comity, and Sebastian was left alone with his bothersome master. Gracefully he plucked the patch from its icy surroundings and retied it firmly in place. He stood back and examined his work, pleased with what he saw.

"There we are. Good as new," he said.

"I expect you to tell me where you've been Sebastian."

"All in time, Young Master. We mustn't keep the lady waiting."

Upon their return, the two were greeted warmly by the Comity, Ciel especially for the group crowded around him like wolves ready to strike against their prey. With eyes gleaming and toothy smiles they stared at him with a strange light illuminating from them. It put him in a state of unease. He knew they were up to something.

"Ciel guess what? I've got a big surprise for you!"

"And that would be?"

"Well I ran it by everyone, and it's a unamious decision! We want you to join the Welcoming Comity as our newest member!"

"You've got to be joking," he said shocked.

"What? No Silly, this is real! We all want you to join!"

"S-She's right. It'd be our pleasure t-to have you as a new member..A-And Sebastian could over see the meeting..I-I mean if he wanted."

"It'll be great fun! I promise. When I first moved they made me feel right at home. Same with Warren."

"He's right. It'll be a blast!"

"So you will join won't you Ciel? Pretty please?"
"I most certainly will n-"

"He'd love to!"

Ciel couldn't believe his ears..Sebastian had...had volunteered him to..No..It couldn't be true. He couldn't be part of a...club...

"That's great! Oh I'm so happy! Thank you much Ciel! You'll have so much fun! I promise you won't regret it!"

"I already have," he said glaring.

The rest of the night went by in a bothersome blur. After being forced to join some moronic club, with some ridiculous people Ciel throughly ignored them to the best of his abilities. Inside he was fuming with pure, unbridled rage against his butler, but he couldn't exactly let lose his emotions in the middle of a crowded parking lot. He'd just have to wait until they returned to the apartment.

After some extremely drawn out goodbyes he was finally freed from the Comity's presence, but he knew the nightmare wasn't going to end just yet. Tomorrow was another day of school, another dreadful eight hours to associate with his peers, another afternoon spent with the Comity.

He shuddered with the thought. Sebastian buckled him into the seat of his car, sparing him the rope and trunk he had arrived in, but he was still rather furious about his behavior. He would have to discover some way to punish his servant. Though over the years it got increasingly difficult. Without bumbling maids and super strong gardens to annoy him Sebastian was hard to make suffer, but Ciel was a smart boy, a Phantomhive no less. He'd figure out a way eventually. Before they had returned, exhausted from the night's events, Ciel drifted off into a well deserved slumber finally at peace.

Outside his window, traveling along side the car, the two Strangers gazed upon his sleeping figure.

"Is it time?" she asked.

"It's time."

/

Hey everyone! Guess what? Next chapter you're gonna get to find out who the Strangers are! Partly anyway, I'm gonna drag this out a bit. So I just wanted to tell you all that I'm on Christmas Vacation so I'm gonna be uploaded a lot more often so I hope you're looking forward to that. Oh and I just wanted to thank everyone who's reviewed so far. I really, really appreciate it. Everytime I see that I've got a review my whole day just goes up a notch. Okay that's all I wanted to say. God bless and byebye.