Good morning my lovely readers! I know, the last chapter was a lot of filler but I think I did alright.
Thanks again to all of my readers and the people who take the time to review, favorite and follow my work. You guys make all the difference in the world.
That being said, I must say that I might take a short break for a week or two. But don't worry! I have more unbetaed chapters that will be posted when I return from a late holiday (if I end up going). So have no fear that this story will drop off. Not gonna happen 3
Sorry for the longish authors note. Please enjoy!
Ta-Ta,
Majix
Daylight quickly faded into darkness as Ciel pondered over the conversation with Sebastian. The puzzle wasn't entirely solved, but it might as well have been. Within hours the duo would know who Jack the Ripper was. Impending victory set the boy's spirits high and as the stars made themselves known, he found himself considering the chess board.
The heavy black king felt comforting in his palm and as he leaned towards the pieces, he trailed slender fingers over the decorative table top that held the heavy marble board. The wood was warm, inviting and for a moment, Ciel forgot that it was all a memory. It wasn't the same table and it never would be again.
Just like me.
He cast his thoughts away and slipped quietly from his troubled conscious to gaze into the dwindling fire. A foreign flash of maroon caught his attention and an unconscious smile pulled at his lips as he caught sight of his aunt.
Unlike before, her hair was completely unmanaged and her body sat freely under the projection of a loose nightgown. A burgandy robe was tied at the waist and she returned his smile with one of her own.
"I thought I'd find you here. Still working, hard as ever."
His soft smile turned into a grimace but he didn't comment.
"You work to hard, Ciel." The redhead sat behind the white army on the board and gestured to the pieces, "How about a game?"
The bluenette glanced over at the scatter of papers on his current work space, the dense web of connections stark against the parchment and he easily turned from his game in favor of the seat across from her, "Of course."
He returned the King to his place beside the Queen and looked expectedly up at her, "It's been a while since we've faced each other on the board, Madame Red."
She laughed and moved one of her pawns, "Indeed, it has. I must admit that I haven't gotten any better."
A smirk creased the Earl's lips as he slid one if the pawns into battle on the opposite side of the board, "Ah, but let's hope you haven't gotten any worse either."
A playful glare was tossed his way but no retort came as they focused on their own men, mapping out the potential moves and trying to read the others mind.
As the game went on, it was obvious that Ciel held the upper hand. The redhead across from him has already lost three pawns, a knight and a rook. The bluenette on the other hand had sacrificed one pawn and lost a bishop in a move that even Ciel hadn't seen coming.
As the shadows grew and the pieces along the board began to thin, Madame Red glanced up at her nephew, "So tell me, Ciel. How is the investigation going?"
The young Phantomhive bristled slightly as he recalled his recent failure before composing himself, "I've made progress."
The woman opposite of him glanced down at the checkered squares and hesitated for a moment before moving her remaining rook three spaces to the left in an obvious attempt to take out one of Ciel's knights.
"I don't get you, Ciel." She cast a look behind them to the silent butler that looked on from the shadows, "You've proved again and again that Sebastian is more than capable of the situations and demands that you present him with. Why not just leave the case to him? I'm sure he'd figure it out in mere hours."
The Earl of Phantomhive picked up the knight that she'd been aiming to take and he glanced up to meet her eyes, "It wouldn't take hours. Mere minutes. I'm more than positive that he already knows."
Her eyes widened in surprise, but she remained silent, "Sebastian is the very best there is, but he isn't the King. I am."
He leaned towards her and smiled, "Sebastian is my force," He held up the knight, "He moves where I tell him to and until I give the word, until I tell him exactly what I want him to do, he won't move a muscle."
Ciel smirked and glanced over her shoulder at the demon only to find that Sebastian's maroon eyes were already on him, "I am the King. I wear the crown. I am the Queen's Watchdog. Not Sebastian."
He returned his gaze to Angelina, "If I let Sebastian do it, the accomplishments would not be my own."
"But that's not to say that he isn't a valuable player. Oh no. That would be foolish."
Ciel's eyes twinkled as he thought on to the inside knowledge that was only shared by Sebastian and himself, "You see, he's a special knight. He can go anywhere. Do anything. All the King must do is voice his desire and his faithful knight will make it reality."
He leaned forward and knocked her King over with the knight, startling her slightly, "Even if the task seems impossible."
"That isn't fair, Ciel."
She picked up his knight and set it back where it'd originally been, replacing her king in the process.
"No, I suppose not. But that hardly matters. Life isn't fair, Madame."
The bluenette glided his bishop across the board, effectively taking out the threat to his black knight, "When you play the pieces for real, there are no rules, aside from those you make for yourself. Everything else is fair game."
Her smile faltered as he briefly skimmed over his silent occupation, "Is that how you view what you do, Ciel? A game?"
He raised a brow and smiled coyly, "What I do, Madame?"
She sighed and sat back in her seat, crossing her arms and holding them sadly, "You know of what I speak."
She glanced down at the board but it was obvious to anybody who knew her at all that she didn't even see it, "They wouldn't have wanted this, Ciel.. My sister. Your mother.. Vincent.. they wouldn't have wanted this for you. This life. They wouldn't have wanted to see you roaming the Underworld in search of their killer. For revenge."
He actually looked minorly shocked, "When you were born I was just starting out as a nurse. It was the first time I'd ever delivered a baby and I was so worried about you."
She gave him an adoring smile as the past filled her vision, "You were so small and perfect and I loved you instantly, even though you weren't my own."
She looked up at him and smiled sadly, "I worry for you Ciel. I don't want to watch you crumble away to nothing while you desperately try to avenge your parents deaths."
He scoffed and glanced down at the board, thinking intently for a moment before moving both sets of pieces in the syncronized order of impending moves until only black and white loyalty remained, "Revenge won't bring back the dead, Madame." He glanced back up at her, "The dead do not make choices. They aren't happy or disappointed or even offended. Because they've passed on. No, revenge is for the living."
His gaze hardened, "I've chosen this path. It's my choice to seek revenge on those that humiliated me. It's my choice to show them the same pain I faced. It's my choice to use every tool left to me by my predecessor, and if that tool is unbridled access to the underbelly of England, then that's what I have. That's what I'll use."
"Ravenge is my own. My path."
Her eyes held a note of sadness but they glittered with something else, the small smile on her lips meeting her eyes and she knocked over her king as she stood, moving around the board to stand in front of the bluenette. Steady fingers brushed the hair from his face as their eyes met, "Ciel. They would have been proud of you."
She watched as shock and disbelief flickered through the endless depths of his sapphire blue eyes, "They may not have agreed with all of your choices, but they would have been proud of what you've done and how far you've come."
Her warm eyes glossed over with memory and she smiled, letting his bangs fall back in his face as she laid a palm on the top of his head, "Especially your father. I see so much of him in you, and he would be proud that he passed his name and his legacy to you, Ciel."
Something pulled inside of the Earl. A deep chord within the confines of his heart was being tugged as those words sunk in. The thought of his parents being proud filled an empty space inside of his soul that he hadn't known was missing. Something that'd been left and forgotten but as he thought about it, the accomplishment seemed to tarnish before his eyes.
How would they be proud of him? How could they? He traded away his immortal soul for revenge and even now, he didn't regret it. Without that, he wouldn't have met Sebastian, and he would've died.
Sebastian. His eyes flickered towards the demon but the elder didn't seem to acknowledge him in any way other than meeting his gaze, silently questioning if an order would be given.
Or so he thought.
In truth, Sebastian's entire focus was on Ciel as he waited to discover how he would react to the older woman's words. Would he reject them? Or perhaps he would rejoice. The fact that he couldn't tell left him breathless and he realized just what held him to this one soul. The element of surprise.
The Earl's frown was soft and sad but not altogether unhappy. He sighed before quietly standing and surprising Angelina by kissing her on the cheek, "You have no idea what that means to me. And I shall end our night on that note."
She smirked and watched as he turned and headed back towards the door, her voice soft, "Just because you won again doesn't mean that I won't beat you eventually."
A deep silence enveloped them both as their eyes met. The quiet spark of understanding flowed between them. An unannounced apology, of all things, from both sides. They would not play chess again, and he did not accept her claims of his parent's pride. There was no explaining the nature of their discussion, but it was binding.
The moment lasted a mere fraction of a second before Ciel was gone, leaving Madame Red alone with Sebastian.
Angelina held her strong stance for a few more moment before slumping and burying her face into her hands, letting out an exhausted sigh, "That boy, Sebastian."
Her voice barely registered to the butler as he tasted the atmosphere, the demonic nature of his true being flashed in his eyes as the flood of truth arced through the air. The spark from both sides, each with secrets claiming their hearts. It hummed against his demonic core and he sighed contentfully. Power. The universal language. And as all those like him understood, there really was no "good" or "evil". Only power, and those to weak to seek it.
"I worry for him."
The soft spoken voice pulled him from his thoughts and he turned to her, giving a tiny smile of understanding, "Ah, yes, the young Master is quite.. stubborn."
She chuckled, "Yes, I suppose that's a way to put it."
Her smile disappeared and she looked up to the mysterious man in black. Her eyes were flat and calculating, "We both know the truth, Sebastian. Maybe not the whole truth, but that matters very little to me."
His soft smile turned to a cunning smirk worthy of any Slytherin, "Right down to the bare bones of the matter, my Lady?"
"Don't play coy with me, Sebastian."
He bowed slightly and stoked the dwindling fire, "Of course not, my Lady"
She stood from the chess board and turned towards the ravenette, "We both know that when this ends,"
He raised an eyebrow in question and she gave him a bland look, "When it does, because I am assured that it will indeed end, we both know that he will be without guidance."
Sebastian met the woman's fierce gaze, "This job, this.. duty. It was thrust upon him. There is no escaping this curse, Sebastian."
"When it ends, he will be more alone than ever."
The resolve in her eyes strengthened as she unknowingly looked into the eyes of the devil, "Sebastian, I must ask something of you. Something I could never ask of any other."
A slight prickle of curiosity caught his attention, "Madame?"
"Watch out for him. Stay by his side and don't let him stray from the right path. Nobody else could possibly guide him."
A jolt of surprise through the butler for a loop. She wanted him to protect the boy? He'd fully expected for the woman to ask for her life, or perhaps ask him to deceive his Master. Most humans lived for themselves, their number one priority was self preservation but the woman in front of him cared more for her nephew than herself. She cared more for his guidance than her freedom and perhaps even her life.
With slow and steady footsteps, he made his way over to her and he kneeled at her feet, bowing his head deeply in the ultimate sign of honor and respect as he clasped a gloved palm over his heart, "On my word, I will never abandon him. Not to his enemies, or himself."
Deep inquiring eyes met his own and she stared into their maroon depths, "Don't disappoint me, Sebastian"
She stood and glanced back down at him before, he too, rose to his full height, "It's late. I think it's time for me to turn in."
The male stayed silent as she walked over to the door and paused in the same manor that her nephew had. Angelina looked over her shoulder at the tall ravenette, her gaze cold, "I hold you to your word, Sebastian. All the way to the grave. On your honor and the honor of your kind."
Heat coiled around his core as she spoke, the tingle of a sealed promise branding itself to him from within as he once again dipped his head in respect, "My word."
She seemed satisfied before she slipped out of the door like a ghost. She was so like her nephew. In personality and mannerisms alike.
Sebastian lingered within the darkening room, taking in the shadows with little interest. Much had been revealed, to him and hopefully to the young master as well but would it be enough? Would it give Ciel enough time to prepare? Would he even know what he was preparing for? The demon knew Ciel was by no means stupid, but would he be able to accept what he learned? Her body language and the words she chose were subtle but not unrecognizable, especially to an expert like the Earl of Phantomhive.
However, the demon also knew that denial was by far the greatest disguise.
Ciel stood over the simple and purposefully ragged clothing his butler had laid out. Their plan demanded that his normal apparel was absolutely out of the question. Pity.
The bluenette sighed and picked up the rough gray coat, running his thumb over the course texture. It left much to be desired but he couldn't risk standing out.
He smiled down at the offending material, remembering the affinity his father had with similar things. The former Earl Phantomhive was higher on the nobility latter but he still enjoyed some of the simple things. Clothing being one of them.
Ciel could remember his mother playfully scolding his father, asking what the others of our stature would think if they saw him. Not that such things mattered to her. Not in the least, he knew.
The thoughts of his late parents made his heart swell with unwanted emotion. He wished he could've believed the words his aunt spoke. He wished his parents would've been proud, but he couldn't see how they would've been.
How could they have been proud of a person like him? A son like him? He threw away everything and would be, without doubt, the last of his line. The very last Earl of Phantomhive. How could either of them be proud of that? How could they be proud that he traded his eternal soul for revenge? To a demon no less. The fiend in black.
The Earl shoved the thoughts away and let the ice crystalize his heart. The heat of emotion slowly smothered under the sudden frost, leaving the cheap wool clenched in his fist. The dead were silent. They had no thought and made no judgment. He owed them nothing.
The bluenette shrugged out of his clothes and started throwing on the laid out garments. It rubbed against his skin and made him want to scratch. His trousers were sown in all the wrong places and the cap made him feel as though his intelligence took a sharp dive.
Ridiculous.
The Earl smirked and unconsciously swept the wrinkles from his attire. It didn't matter what he was wearing. In mere hours, he would be putting Jack the Ripper to rest, one way or another.
An arrogant smirk curled his lips as he slid the harmless looking medical bandage over his left eye. The board was set. He could practically map the rest of the game. His knight was set to strike and the King that'd so valiantly tried to hide would topple.