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Love in the Darkness, Love in the Light	By : phoeyay Category: > Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji ???) Views: 2418 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Black Butler / Kuroshitsuji. I make no money from the writing of this fiction.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Chapter 5: Shadows by Lamplight
Playlist:

Liar by Jewelry

The Egg and I by The Seatbelts

Sheep Go to Heaven by Cake

Suzy by Caravan Palace

===
For a few happy moments, Ciel thought he was back home at the manor, and it had all been a dream. The blinds were thrown open and a dignified voice intoned "Good morning, young master. I trust you slept well?"
The bed was different somehow… softer, more luxurious than what he was used to - but also harder to get out of. He thrashed wildly until he managed to extract himself from the extravagant bedclothes. He stumbled from the bed and glared at his captor defiantly.
"I am not your young master. What have you done with Sebastian?"
Claude's face settled itself into a disappointed expression. "Still being difficult, I see, my lord. Well, I have prepared your tea. You may drink it or not, as you wish. It is currently at the perfect temperature. It would be such a shame to see it go to waste."
The earl could not but agree with the demon on that point. Some part of him simply could not let a perfect cup of tea go to waste. It would be crass. He took the cup and sipped delicately as Claude laid out his outfit for the day. "As for Sebastian, my lord, that ingrate will remain where I've put him. It's best you don't see him until you understand the circumstances fully."
The bespectacled butler turned to the young lord tentatively. "Shall I dress you, my lord, or would you prefer to do it on your own?"
Ciel was overcome by sudden panic. That's Sebastian's job… no one else touches me! But I have no idea how to tie that cravat…
He remained in possession of himself on the outside, and settled on wordlessly extending his arms, permitting Claude to begin.
The young earl had to struggle to keep from shuddering as the strange demon's hands smoothed the shirt over his belly, tucking it into the trousers, fastening them up… How could I not have noticed how very invasive this process is? He resolved to practice doing it on his own, so such discomfort would not be necessary in the future.
When it was Sebastian, of course, he'd never minded. The thought of his butler's last words to him still lingered in his mind, made more poignant by the demon's collapse. Oh, Sebastian…
"Now, my lord, what you must understand…"
"Let's get one thing clear, dog. You may have me captive, but you do not tell me what I must or must not do. Leave me to my breakfast. I will tell you when I wish to hear what you have to say."
The demon's eyes flashed red in a familiar way behind his glasses. He bowed low. "As you say, my lord."

***
Belly comfortably full, the young earl tried the window experimentally. The sash swung open easily enough, but outside… Ciel squinted. His initial impression was of a forest in the deep of winter. But the air did not feel cold, and the white stuff all around was of a different consistency… it swayed, as if it were lightweight but somehow bound down… Cobwebs?
"Don't attempt to escape, my lord. You will find yourself back where you started. The place I've brought you to is its own small dimension which does not allow access to any other part of the world, except through me. I will release you when it is safe."
Ciel turned, glaring at the demon who intruded on his privacy. Claude began tidily stacking up the tea things on the tea cart.
"Fine. What do you bloody well want from me?"
"I simply want your safety, my lord. It came to my attention that Sebastian was planning a coup. I acted to stop him."
"A coup? Explain."
"Very rarely, a demon will rebel against his master. They grow tired of their master's demands, or something in the demon world diverts their attention and they wish to end the contract, but do not wish to give up the soul they have worked for so long to cultivate."
The demon finished loading the tea cart and wandered casually in the direction of the boy, who was still standing by the window, gazing listlessly out at the ocean of cobwebs.
"Essentially, at that point, the demon takes a gamble. He creates a situation where his master will die. It is akin to a spell, and it is powered by a large number of human souls which must be sacrificed to activate it." Ciel shuddered at the thought of the train accident, and what Grell had said about the souls. Could this slimy bastard be telling the truth?
Claude continued. "If the master's commitment to the contract is not strong enough at that time, he dies, and forfeits his soul to the demon. If it is strong enough, the master lives, and the demon lapses into a death-like state, usually remaining that way for the next few hundred years."
…few hundred years….Ciel collapsed into the chair by the window, head in hands. Then the illogical nature of the explanation dawned on him.
"Sebastian would not have done that."
"However much you deny it, that is what occurred. I would not like to see you put yourself in a madhouse with your own self-deception, my lord."
"It is no deception. I know he would not have done that, even if he might have desired to. He knows better than any that I do not waver. There is another explanation for this."
Claude approached the chair cautiously, kneeling before the boy. "My lord, you must accept that your demon has reneged on his contract. He is as good as dead to you. You are free to form another contract with me, if you desire to continue on your current path of revenge."
Ciel leaned forward, hands on his knees, looking the demon in the eye intently. "A contract with you, you say?"
The demon inclined his head, but Ciel saw his secret smile. "If my lord wishes it."
Taking advantage of his proximity, the boy hauled off and slapped the demon clean across the face as hard as he could.
It was like slapping a granite statue. Ciel made an effort to swallow his pain, still wincing a little. Did Sebastian deliberately make himself easier for me to slap?
Ignoring the stinging pain which remained, the young earl turned the full force of his glare on Claude. "I knew you had an ulterior motive, and now its nature is clear. I don't know what you've done, but I have no doubt that what has happened to Sebastian is your doing. I would suggest you cease bleating to me about contracts and leave me immediately. When you are ready to tell me the whole truth, you may return."
The demon's expression was an odd mix between frustration and amusement. "Such faith in a fiend from the depths of Hell… I don't know whether to call you a fool or a saint." He turned without another word and left, taking the tea cart with him.

***
Bright and early on Wednesday morning, Will found himself greeted by an unusually cheerful Grell as he walked in the office.
"Will, sweetie! Happy hump day…" That happy grin was just a little too wide. Will cast his eyes downward and shook his head hopelessly. "Good morning, Grell. Any word on the data analysis?"
The startled 'yeep' noise the red shinigami emitted told Will that despite being early, his subordinate had not gotten any actual work done yet. Grell rushed toward the fax machine like a puppy greeting its master. William stared at the sweet little backside housed in snug red pants, watching the flamboyant shinigami skip about the office like an idiot. An idiot who now held Will's heart in one of those delectable back pockets. He's like a force of nature. I never had a chance… The older man sighed again and brought out his keys to unlock his office.
Grell came scampering in with a sheaf of papers in one hand and a steaming hot cup of black coffee for Will in the other. He set the coffee down in front of his boss, and Will inhaled the robust aroma appreciatively. Say what you will about him, he can prepare a damn fine cup of coffee.
The fax was about 20 pages long and contained a ridiculous number of disclaimers and exceptions, but buried within it Grell had picked out the five pages of actual information. He made himself at home in one of the chairs in front of Will's desk and tilted the chair back, leaning one foot casually on the edge of the desk. "It's a curse. Basically, a really powerful curse that's bound up using the souls."
His eyes travelled up to his boss's, ignoring Will's pointed glare at his foot on the desk. "It's on Sebastian."
"Oh, bloody hell. So the damn demons have managed to get us mixed up in their affairs again, have they?"
"But listen to this…" Grell's eyes sparkled and he squirmed in excitement as he read onward. "…it's so romaaaaantic…"
Will frowned. Romantic?
"See, it says here…" The red reaper leaned across the desk and showed his boss a paragraph of text. "The souls will be released, and the curse unbound, when the one who has been cursed receives true love's kiss!"
Will frowned some more. "What's that, some kind of code?"
"No, silly! It's exactly how every good curse works! You can't just create a curse without a way to undo it. It's physically impossible. What better test to tell if you are deserving of being released from a curse than whether you have someone who truly loves you?"
"Bloody hell. That's the only way? I suppose that's the last we'll see of those souls, then. I doubt anyone could love such a vile creature."
"Are you blind, Will?" Grell smirked. "No, I suspect you're just too decent…"
"What on earth are you rattling on about?"
Grell continued to smirk at him, eyebrows raised. Will searched his mental inventory for what the younger man might be referring to. It dawned upon him.
"Th…the boy?"
Grell's eyebrows crept up further.
"Oh, bloody demons. Bloody hell…" Will's head sank into his hand. Such depravity...
"You have to admit it's handy for us in this instance, though."
"Don't try to make excuses for it. If the filthy creatures didn't exist to start with, the curse probably wouldn't have even happened. Oh… ugh."
"So, our objective is to find Ciel and Sebastian, and get the boy to plant a big smooch on his true love's lips. Is that about right?" Grell was rather enjoying making his superior uncomfortable now. Will shuddered. "I suppose so…" he managed to choke out.
Grell leaned back further in the already tilted chair, making a scraping noise against the floor and causing Will to wince. The man was just so cute when he was uncomfortable! Grell was also feeling very self-satisfied for remembering more about curses than his supervisor apparently did from training.
"Therein lies yet another problem. The nature of this curse is complicated by the fact that no one can inform the potential breaker of the curse about what he needs to do. He has to figure it out for himself. We may be able to give him a hint, but we wouldn't be able to tell him it's a hint, and it can't be anything direct like writing him a note."
"Would you give me a moment, please, Grell? I'm still trying to get past the fact that he's bloody twelve years old!"
"Well, that doesn't seem to concern Sebastian too much… nor the boy himself. I mean, the demon comes from Hell, and the boy is on his way there… why should they care? Mind you, I tried to make Sebastian see that I was a much better choice… even dressed up as an altar boy for him..."
Grell preened, unaware of the intense light which suddenly appeared in his superior's green-gold eyes. "You flirted with a demon?"
"Oh, sweetie! It was never serious, of course…"
Will was suddenly on Grell's side of the desk. He lifted the offending foot and dragged it toward him, tipping Grell far enough back that he would fall without his boss holding him up by his foot.
Then the elder man gave an extra tug, sending the red reaper tumbling the rest of the way back onto the floor, the chair sliding out from under him. He knelt down and loomed over the prone shinigami menacingly.
Will stared into his subordinate's wide eyes with an expression that was desperately possessive. He felt so powerless. "No more."
"Awww…" Grell considered pushing things, but the poor man looked so upset. He pushed himself up with his hands and threw his arms around his flustered boss. "Don't worry… there's no one but you, my dear."
It was exactly what Will had wanted to hear, if not in quite such a flippant, teasing tone. His heart skipped a beat and he turned very red. "I'm, er… just concerned for your safety, you see."
"Of course you are, Will, darling! That's why you spilled me all over the floor, I'm sure…" he smiled coquettishly to show he was joking, but his poor senpai only blushed redder. He's so fun to tease!
Grell jumped up from the floor, leaving Will kneeling beside the overturned chair. He put a gentle hand on his boss's shoulder. "You wait right there, my love. I have just had the most brilliant idea."
And he was gone in a streak of red hair and excitement. Will picked himself up off the floor and righted the chair. Hearing Grell say my love to him.. even in such a lighthearted way… was making him feel lightheaded.

***
Grell hopped up on the wheeled cart and let it carry his lithe form through the endless stacks to the small, dusty 'mundane' section of the giant library. This part wasn't really maintained at all, since it didn't contain any cinematic records.
The reaper searched slowly through the "G" section of the shelves until he finally found what he was looking for. He tucked it under his arm and hastened off to find the boy.

***
It had been more difficult than Grell had expected. He'd found the place where the boy was being hidden, but only after he realized it was on a different plane of reality. Another demon, then… possibly the source of the curse. Grell stepped carefully in the demon's temporary domain, which appeared to be made of cobwebs. He found the window of Ciel's room. The boy wasn't there, but his essence pervaded the place.
Grell quietly slipped inside and left the book on the pillow, then kept watch on the room until he saw Ciel come back and find it - he wouldn't want to go to all this trouble and have the book be found and discarded by the young lord's captor. Ciel frowned at the book, flipped through it, and set it aside. Read the book, you little brat! Grell sighed to himself. He didn't think he'd be able to get any closer to giving Ciel the answer than he just had. He headed back to the office to brief Will.

***
Later that evening, after Ciel finished dinner, he returned to his room and the mysterious book of Grimm's fairy tales. He was familiar with most of them already, of course. A toymaker couldn't afford not to be. The mystery lay more in where the book had come from. It could be that his captor had installed it in his room for some nefarious purpose or other. It seemed odd to him, though… it just didn't quite seem to fit. He had nothing else to do, so he flipped through it, looking for a story that would catch his interest.
"Would you care for a game of chess, my lord?"
"Don't you ever bloody well knock? What kind of butler are you?"
"That is an interesting question, my lord. I am acting as your butler purely out of politeness and consideration for your circumstance. I could, of course, behave more like a demon if you wished it…" An ugly grin spread across Claude's face, as the bedroom around them was momentarily replaced by a dank and unsanitary looking dungeon. His eyes flashed at Ciel, who glared back at him sullenly. Dealing with something less than the comforts of home would be annoying, but he wasn't about to show weakness to this ingrate.
The bedroom came back, and Claude held up a wooden box and repeated his request. "Would my lord care for a game of chess to pass the evening?"
Chess with a demon? Then again, Ciel didn't think there was anything he could do that would get him in more trouble than he was in already. Perhaps this would help him learn something of the demon's motives. "Very well."

***
Ciel examined the board, annoyed at being forced on the defensive. His exposed queen did not have a lot of options. He moved her silently to G6, and raised his head to look at the demon across from him.
The demon spoke. "You haven't answered my question yet, my lord. You insist I am either mistaken or lying. What would you do if I were correct? It would mean your butler is lost to you. How would you pursue your goals other than to make another contract?"
"And why would you tie yourself to a contract with me? Aren't there a million souls out there begging to be tempted into something like that?"
"That is exactly why you should believe me when I tell you I have nothing to do with this occurrence, and with Sebastian's current sad circumstances."
Ciel angrily captured the bishop that had invaded his territory. "Or perhaps you find it gratifying to steal someone else's prey rather than hunting your own."
"You have every right to distrust a demon. I just wonder at how much you do trust the one that's been serving you."
"He never gave me cause to distrust him. You, on the other hand, appeared just after he collapsed, then proceeded to imprison me."
"All I can tell you is what I've already said. Sebastian intended to betray you. The entire demon world knew of his intent. One cannot prepare that complex of a spell without other demons' knowledge. I keep you here because without him, you are now defenseless against the human and demon worlds. Until you make another contract…"
Ciel moved to take Claude's rook, pounding his queen down on the board with rather more force than was necessary."You and your bloody contract! You think I don't have my resources?"
Claude made the expected move with his rook, and Ciel took it. "Check."
The demon arched an eyebrow and moved his queen to take the rook. "No, my lord. I don't believe you have those resources anymore. I believe they fled you when you lost your one trump card. I can be the one up your sleeve."
"Wouldn't you just like that," the boy spat, annoyed with himself at not seeing the queen. He began moving his bishop into place, but it would already be too late.
"…and I believe that is mate, my lord."
"Yes. Thank you for a very entertaining game." Ciel stood, extending his hand to the demon. He was still a sportsman, no matter what else.
Claude packed the chess set away and bowed gracefully to the young lord, the surface of his glasses flashing slightly in the lamplight. "I hope you will consider what I've said, my lord."
Ciel glared impotently at the door as he undressed himself - he'd insisted that he did not need Claude to do that for him - extinguished the lamp, and slipped into bed.

***To be continued...***

A/N: Thanks a bundle to The_Byronic_Man, my shoutbox buddy, for pointing me to www.chessgames.com. I am not terribly intelligent, and am definitely not good at chess. I don't know gambits, strategies, openings, and whatever elses… but I don't have to if I can essentially pick a random chess game and go play-by-play through it, back and forth to my heart's content. This is an awesome tool that any chess-challenged author who wants to write a chess scene should utilize.
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Love in the Darkness, Love in the Light