A/N:
This chapter wasn't planned. It was supposed to be the other half of the 10th. Hence the strange extension of the title (I don't know how it happened, it just did).
I know Carlo's "crime" is rather banal. This kind of plot was used in fanfictions countless times already. In spite of that I couldn't stop myself. Ciel is such a pervert magnet...
Me: Oh my, if it isn't Grell. Welcome, welcome. How do you feel about your first appearance in this story?
Grell: To tell you the truth, I really don't know. After all I haven't appeared even once yet (^___^x)
Me: Such reprehensible negligence, isn't it, te-heee~
Grell: … You don't look exactly apologetic, you know...
Me: Te-heee~ That is only because I don't like you~
Grell: How... how dare you... To not like such a fine lady like myself... Despicable! I'll make you regret this! (is turning his chain saw on)
Me: Whaaaa! Sebastiaaan! Help me!
Sebastian : Say the magic words.
Grell: Hahaha!(is drawing near)
Me: (is totally confused) …the hell... What magic words!?
Sebastian: Come on. Everyone knows them.
Grell: Hihihi! (is drawing even nearer)
Me: (is scared shitless and entirely clueless) "Pretty please...?"
Sebastian: Bzzzz, incorrect.
Grell: Hehehe! (is about to get me)
Me: (is thinking really hard) "I beg you, oh my great and only master?"
Sebastian: Bzzzz, incorrect again. I like it, though.
Grell: BUAHAHAHA! (is finally getting me – only a bit, but it's still painful, chain saw is no joke)
Me: (is experiencing the serious case of sudden and unexpected brainwave, caused probably by pain and near-death experience)
DISCLAIMER:
I d-don't own! Really! I mean it!! Whaaaa!! Sebaaaastian!!! Hurry!!!!!!!
Sebastian: (is beating Grell, very eagerly, mostly in the face)
Me: Uhhh, that was close... I almost had my leg cut off. I'm in pain and I'm bleeding. And look at my jeans! All ruined, and they're my favourite... T__T
Sebastian: If you (kick) weren't (whack) that slow (stab, stab), it wouldn't have come to this. Next time (kick, kick, bang, whack, whack, whack) do it faster!
11. That Master, Facing Annoying Familiarity
Reality is like Muay Thai fighter –
tends to hit you in the face.
With a knee.
What an eyesore, the Earl thought, looking into the eyes of the current master of his demon. There was so much fear in those eyes, so much uneasiness, so much precariousness. It made him sick.
What a trash.
"Great job, kid" that idiot dared to say. "But I have one more trump card you haven't foreseen yet" he stated conceitedly. "Well I..."
"You mean him?" Ciel interrupted and pointed at the demon (still not looking at him).
Carlo seemed a bit confused.
"Oh may, you sure are smart, boy. But guess what, your smartness won't do you any good today. He can stop you any time. You can not believe me" he giggled "but he can even stop the bullet. Even on this distance. Really" he assured.
The Earl squinted his eyes. He felt irritated. God (he knew he shouldn't call His name, but still he did it again out of linguistic habit) he felt so irritated that he almost pulled the trigger. He remembered the similar situation with the Italian Mafia leader back in the days he and Sebastian were still together. He gritted his teeth.
Of course he can.
"Of course he can" Ciel repeated out loud.
Carlo's eyes widened.
The Earl smirked.
"But only if you can order him to" he said and as quick as a thought he grabbed a piece of pie from the table and stuffed it deep into the Prince's wide open mouth.
"Isn't that right?" he asked, for the first time turning to the person quietly standing behind the Italian's back.
The hole in reality was suddenly filled.
Their eyes met.
The faithful encounter, so painful.
"Well it is" Sebastian smiled overly happily, after staring into his former master's single eye for a long moment. His gaze was firm and calm. And fake.
So damn annoying.
What in bloody hell is he thinking, Ciel wondered not so calmly, coming here after all this, accompanied by that trash, as if nothing happened!?
Those red eyes was mocking him.
As always.
His body tensed. The index finger on the trigger trembled.
He tore his eyes away from that hateful (fateful) face and stared at the pathetic man sitting in front of him. Thirty-something years old, tiny wrinkles in the corners of his eyes arranging themselves in the shape of arrogance and conceit, narrow lips giving evidence to his ruthlessness, cold, watery-blue eyes, marked by cruelty but not determination.
Annoying.
Vexing.
Excruciating.
He wanted to pull the trigger so badly.
He restrained himself.
"Oh may, how stupid of you to not state the phrase 'protect me at all costs' in the contract" he muttered in a low but at the same time playful voice. He had taken a gamble here and won.
That stupid foreign Prince didn't hear his words.
Ciel felt almost tangible change in the atmosphere. The so well known amusement mixed with the air.
The demon did.
I hate you so much.
Ciel pulled the trigger.
"BANG!" reverberated in the dining-room. The source wasn't the gun. The scary sound was born within the Earl's throat, passed by his small pink tongue, escaped through the gate of his teeth, and then, finally, come to life between his lips.
The gun wasn't loaded from the very beginning.
Even so Carlo almost pissed himself.
Ciel turned around, walked to his place at the table and sat down as if nothing happened.
"My Lord! You should have just...!" Albert yelled, surprised and angry and for some reason frightened. His voice startled Ciel.
He almost forgot about his current butler's existence.
What a sorry excuse for a master he was.
"Easy, Albert, calm down or you'll have a heart attack. It will be a shame to die at such a young age" he said, avoiding looking at his servants, both current and former one.
He felt Sebastian's smirk as if it was burned-out on his skin.
So irritating.
The feeling so familiar.
So hateful.
Desired...
"Then I will..." the butler wasn't giving up. He reached out for the gun. He knew something was about to happen, probably something very bad. The silence and stillness in the room was heavy, like a lull before the storm which was going to tear apart his world.
"No, Albert" the Earl denied him the chance to prevent the calamity from happening.
"But why...?" the servant wanted to know.
The Earl of Phantomhive gave him one of his rare honest (evil) smiles.
"I just feel like playing a game today."
Albert was rendered speechless.
"Now leave" His Lordship ordered. He felt that no matter what will happen from now on, he can't let Albert see it.
"But..."
No matter what.
"LEAVE."
Albert gritted his teeth. He tried to stare at Ciel firmly but soon lowered his eyes. The Earl, even though he was merely sixteen year old kid, had never lost to him at the game of staring, not even once. Today wasn't going to be any different. Or maybe it was – the Earl's gaze was more intense, more fierce, more hot than ever.
Albert was beaten.
He put the gun down and, without a word, left the room.
"This... This was your biggest mistake, kid" after chocking on the pie for a while, Carlo was able to speak again.
"Oh really?" the Earl asked without interest. He was looking at the door.
He knew he hurt Albert's feelings but he couldn't help it. As a master he was obliged to protect his people from unnecessary danger and he always believed that protecting them from knowing too much was one of the ways to achieve that. Still, not having anyone to confide in was hard.
That is, besides that demon.
In the past.
He winced.
Remembering it wasn't going to help much, quite the contrary.
"You'll... you'll pay for this! Cough...cough..." the fear in Carlo was beginning to convert into blazing anger.
No one was going to mess with him!
No one!
"Sebastian. Seize him!" he ordered.
Once again the demon and the Earl communicated using only the eyes. It felt strangely familiar to "talk" like that, omitting the words which could hurt and deceive.
After what happened it was so wrong to understand each other this way.
Yet it felt so right.
Sebastian walked to Ciel's side and stood by him.
Yes, that was how it supposed to be.
Damn contract, damn demon, damn it all!
"What the hell are you doing?! I told you to seize him!" Carlo clearly didn't know what was going on and was close to flying into a rage.
"So I did" the demon said, faking surprise. "He can't attack. He can't defend himself. He can't escape. He can't do anything. I assure you."
Well, Ciel though, Sebastian was always good at mocking people. Although his master had changed (stab), his personality hadn't.
Damn it, this idiot.
Oh well, whatever. Lets just play along.
Wasn't it exactly what he had asked for?
A game.
"Uh-um, uh-um. I feel seized. Really" he waved his hand flippantly.
From the corner of his eye he though he saw the usual, amused and slightly excited smile on Sebastian's face.
It must have been a hallucination.
He knew it wasn't.
So. Damn. Annoying.
But it appeared Carlo was at least as much annoyed as the Earl. He was counting his breaths, muttering something which sounded strangely similar to the phrase "this brat!", or "this bastard", Ciel wasn't sure.
"I guess you didn't quite comprehend the situation you're in" the Prince said after calming down a bit. He tried to talk in playful, self-confident tone once again. "You see, this man standing beside you isn't a man at all. He's a demon."
Ciel was examining his fingernails with rather bored expression. Despite everything, this situation was beginning to amuse him quite a lot.
"Oh really?" he raised an eyebrow.
Carlo was, once again, rendered speechless.
Something was terribly wrong with this situation.
"You don't believe me?" he asked hesitantly. Just now he had told this boy that scary, supernatural things indeed do exist, plus that one of the most frightening of them all is standing right beside him and the damn kid didn't even flinch. Was it a joke? Was he dreaming? Or was the famous Earl of Phantomhive simply poor in the head!?
Or was it Carlo?
"I do believe you" Ciel interrupted the Prince's thoughts, startling him.
"Eh? But you don't seem to appreciate the news properly. You're not even surprised." Carlo was definitely surprised.
Ciel almost pitied him, this poor idiot who imagined that after signing a contract with a demon everything will go well and easy.
Lets shatter that vain dream.
"Maybe because I knew all along?"
Carlo blinked.
"Oh, I see... WHAT?!"
"Young Master sure have a long tongue" a velvet voice soaked with amusement sounded from behind Ciel's shoulder, sending warm prickly shivers down his spin. "While I wanted to have fun a little longer."
The Italian, for the first time from the beginning of the conversation, turned slightly to look directly at the demon's inhumanly handsome face.
"Wait, 'Young Master'!? What 'Young Master'!?" he yelled. "Why did you called him that? You know him? I see now. From the moment I entered this cursed house I knew something was off with you!" he sprang to his feet and pointed accusing finger at Sebastian. "Oh, forget it! I am your master, you monster, look at it!" he rolled his right sleeve. Engraved into his forearm was the cursed seal. "It's a proof! You have to do what I order you to do!" he demanded.
"Oooh?" was the only answer he got from the boy. Who, despite the situation, seemed to be in an unexpectedly good mood. Or rather he desperately tried to appear that way, seeing Sebastian's seal on another man enraged him to the point of breaking. His knuckles, clutched on the edge of the table, were as white as snow.
Fortunately Carlo wasn't accustomed to reading Ciel's moods.
Sebastian was.
The atmosphere tensed even more.
"Now hold him still" the Prince ordered.
Ciel felt slim fingers under his arms and was literally lifted up from the chair. The strong arms enveloped him in tandem with soothing his overly sensitive senses scent of Sebastian.
Before he could restrain himself he relaxed into those arms. He couldn't help it, the feeling was too pleasant, too familiar. He heard soft giggle from behind. He blushed and tried to at least make some distance between their bodies, since he was incapable of freeing himself.
In vain.
Meanwhile Carlo, utterly clueless about the Earl's fruitless struggles, came closer and scanned Ciel's slender figure with a hunger in his eyes. He laughed triumphantly.
"You see, it's clearly my win, you can do nothing, nothing at all. Now I'm going to claim the prize~" he stated happily. The kid had given him so much trouble, now he was going to use this fine body to vent out all of his frustration.
His hand, extended to touch the boy's neck, was slapped away. By the demon.
"Why... you..."
"Oh may" Ciel laughed darkly. "Sebastian, did you just disobeyed an order? I always knew you had it in you" he added in sarcastic tone.
"But Young Master, he only told me to hold you still. Which means I haven't disobeyed" the demon explained. "Yet."
"Hold him still and don't dare to interfere!" exclaimed the Prince. He tried to touch Ciel again.
The same situation repeated itself.
"Now you did it" pointed out the Earl. He was still incredibly angry at Sebastian, still irritated, but at the same time he felt strangely light-headed, as if this wasn't real. He was afraid that soon he will start laughing hysterically. Or crying. Or both.
"But he didn't said 'that's an order'. Which means I still haven't."
Seriously, Sebastian was the best.
"You are one sly bastard" the boy remarked with a crooked smile.
Carlo was approaching his breaking point.
"DAMN YOU, THAT WAS AN ORDER!"
Sebastian froze, then smirked.
And then swiftly removed his Young Master out of Carlo's reach.
This time Ciel laughed for real.
"And what is it this time?" the boy drew a deep breath and asked, a bit curious.
"He didn't stated the time when I should carry this order out" Sebastian explained the obvious.
Ciel burst out laughing once again.
Carlo's mouth fell open. It appeared he didn't know what was going on anymore.
"Y-you... You have to do what I tell you!!!"
"No, he doesn't" Ciel disagreed after calming down a bit. What a sick situation, some detached part of him thought, and I'm actually enjoying it... And why the hell is this bastard hugging me so tightly!? I can feel his breath on my neck and his hair on my cheek, damn it! Stop blushing, you idiot! he commanded himself. "But that's a common misunderstanding" he continued out loud. "He only has to do what is stated in a contract, plus what you directly order him to do. On top of that he's free to twist your words any way he likes it. Damn, he doesn't even have to obey a direct order if his previous orders still hold or if he regards them as having "higher priority". There is so many ways around an order it can make someone sick. That's why the will is essential to make a contracted demon obey an order without loudly and clearly stating every single detail."
"Oh my my" the demon interrupted, rubbing his cheek against Ciel's. The boy tried to turn away from the touch but he couldn't. "Young Master, stop teaching this trash useless things."
"Why? I think this knowledge is very useful (stop that!). Besides, whatever I tell him now it won't change a thing (I told you to stop!). He still doesn't have the will we're talking about (idiot!). To tell the truth, I never would have thought you will sign a contract with such a pathetic master."
Ciel could feel Sebastian's genuine smirk with his whole body.
"I beg your pardon? What master? He's food. I've only had a master once."