Ebony Roses (Black Butler)

¥ Chapter 2 ¥

Honestly...

I don't know...

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I walked into the company building. A packet in hand holding a schedule, map, rules, and other sorts of things I deemed unnecessary and boring. I sighed, my half and half bangs covering my eyes as usual. I had put my hair in a braid, a silver and dark blue ribbon holding it in place, I looked up as reapers walked past me, some whispering about my appearance or aura. Father was in one of his saddened moods today as it was, apparently, the day my mother was killed, because of this I didn't ask him to come with me so getting here was a bit harder than it could have been. A man with yellow and black hair walks up to me, a smile on his face "hello, Ebony!" He says brightly, I recognized him "Oh! Uncle- er...Mister knox! It's nice to see you again" I say, fixing my slight slip up. He peered over my head "is Adrian not here?" His face confused as he questions me, I shake my head "today marks 15 years since..." I trail off, not even having to finish as he nods sadly "right, I forgot about that" he says, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

I nodded "anyways, could you show me where the dorms are? I have to unpack and then head to the assessing room" I tell him, his smile returns "sure!" He says and turns "follow me!" He orders, I walked behind him. I pass many of my kind, their whispers filling my head but only a few caught my attention "that's the child Adrian was holding the day his wife..." one said "today marks 15 years now..." another mutters "Luna was such a sweet girl...her child takes on her facial features" one speaks. I sigh, Ron glances back at me "so, are you excited to become a reaper?" He asks, I shrug "I don't know, I think I prefer working with father in the shop, but we'll see, I have goals in mind" I say, he nods "that makes sense" he tells me. Once we make it to the dorms he runs off yelling something about William and overtime. I sigh and step inside, I had requested a dorm for just myself, I wasn't a big fan of interaction which I got from my father. My split eyes looked around the nice dorm room from behind my split colored bangs and I sighed, changing into the recruit clothes and making my way to the assessing room.

As I walked I out my half and half hair in a ponytail before stepping inside. There stood William and my aunte Grell, she seemed quite bored as she leaned back in a chair, filing her nails. I stood next to the other recruits who seemed to be standing at some sort of attention but they glanced at me as if I was some foreign exchange student. William sighed, adjusting his spectacles "now that everyone is here we can begin, we'll be focusing on your agility, strength both offense and defense, and your strategy. The top ranking students will be trained separately while the others will train in a group" he says, his voice the same monotone sound. We started off with a training course which I finished first of course, my speed was unmatched and my flexibility was on point, one of the many things I inherited from my mum. After that we did hand to hand combat with William, grell fangirling as she watched me trip him and cause him to fall backwards. Then we moved onto strategy through a game of chess and a situation quiz. I played chess with my father many times and everytime we played we ended up tying in the end and could never break the score, William beat me twice though I won three times. The situation test was easy and most of the other recruits passed just as I did.

The entire process was utterly boring. I needed a challenge so if William, one of the top reapers, wasn't a challenge then who would be? William said we had the rest of the day off and scores would be given to us tomorrow, the students left the room, all glaring at me strangely. Grell glanced down at me as she stood beside me and I shrugged "you were positively amazing, Ebony! Just like your mother and father" she said brightly, William sighed and narrowed his eyes "too much like your mother and father" he corrected. I smirked "well that's what happens when your a naturally born reaper and your father is a legendary reaper while your mother was trained by said father, it's not like I can help it" I say, losing interest in the conversation quickly. Grell seemed to frown "speaking of your mother...here, I thought you'd like this" she says, holding out a photo to me, I hesitantly take it, I had never seen my mother in a photo, I was always told what she looked like. The picture was of the reaper realm's garden, she was running in a patch of flowers, a smile on her face as grell was chasing her "Ron took the picture, I have had it for awhile and thought you'd might want to keep it" she tells me. William takes his glasses off and cleans them as I stare at the picture, now I knew what people meant when they said I looked like her, and I guess that's why father always seemed so...saddened when he looked at me. I knew he loved me, but he was so distant, spending hours upon hours in his workshop. I stared at the picture, my mother's long dark blue hair was enchanting just like the right half of my hair, she had beautiful pale skin and her eyes the color of emeralds just as a normal reaper's. I smiled at grell "thanks" I say, stuffing the photo in my pocket, I glanced down at the clothes I was wearing "I'm gonna go change, this uniform is ugly" I say. Grell burst into laughter as William almost choked on air "I'll have you know I designed those uniforms!" He says, glaring at me, I smirk "no wonder" I say with a laugh, one that echoed my mother's. I had my father's giggle and my mother's laugh, it was a strange combination.

I fake saluted to them and skipped out of the room, back to my dorm where I changed into my usual dark grey button up t-shirt, black skirt, dark grey leggings, and black boots. I pulled my hair out of its ponytail and let it fall. I brushed it out before skipping out of the dorm room, death was a curious thing. Everyone here had experienced it except myself, it was funny, death was. It didn't discriminate and could happen just from being hit in the head, I had seen it, I had touched it, I had smelled it...but I had never experienced the curious fate. Corpses were one thing but actually going through it was another. These thoughts swirled around my head like a tornado, everyday I caught myself thinking like this. Did I want to greet death? Surely not! I had people I loved in this world...could I even die? I was born a reaper...does that mean I have a soul!? The thought puzzled me, I made my way to the gardens and I sat on a bench, staring up at the white sky, the presence of past reapers surrounded the bench, there was one presence that felt familiar from a past memory, one from when I was an infant. It was father and mother. I frowned "my train of thought is so interesting even I question it..." I muttered, I twisted the silver bangs hiding my left eye as I shook my head, clearing it of those strange thoughts.

Soon I heard the voices of a group of girls, their glances at me and snickers made me wonder what they were talking about. Using my hearing I acted as if I was eavesdropping and listened quietly "isn't that Midnight? Why is her hair like that?" One of the girls questioned, one of the others shrugged "silver and dark blue? They're quite ugly...wonder why she hides her eyes...maybe they're an ugly green!" She snickers. Another smirked "I heard her father is some legendary reaper but he's retired and runs a funeral home in the human realm" she giggles "well her mother's dead! Killed by a demon right here in the reaper realm" the first girl grins. This got on my nerves, who were these girls to talk about me like that? Judging by their appearance they are third year recruits, close to graduating so they're higher up in rank...but do I care? No. What really made me angry was the fact they were calling me a she and talking as if I wasn't there. I chuckled and stood walking up to them "hello! I'm Ebony! I heard you talking about me and just wanted to ask, what the fuck!?" I cursed, my happy expression dark. The girls gasped, it was considered unladylike for a woman to curse at all, they glared at me in disgust "you really are a freak!" The first girl growls. I laughed "oh honey, that's a compliment, don't test me because even though you guys are third years I could kill you, right here, right now" I growl, voice darkening. The other girls were caught by surprise, urging the first one about leaving but she just glared "are you threatening me!?" She asks, I smirk "oh darling, it's not a threat. It's a promise" I say, the wind blew at my hair, my bangs moving slightly and showing off my split eyes "oh and two more things...talk about my parents like that again and I promise you'll be dead by morning, and I prefer the pronouns they/them, I only let certain people call me she" I said.

The girls stared at me, speechless as I turned and skipped off, putting my bangs back in place. Once I was out of sight I burst into laughter "they were so freaked out!" I giggled, grell rounded the corner, an epic smirk on her face "That was hilarious, sweetie! Those girls were absolutely frozen in place" she says, praising me. I look up at her "you saw?" I asked, she nodded "and it was a perfect show of dominance, 10/10 darling" she tells me brightly. I smirked "thanks auntie" I say, she smiles, her sharp teeth bright in the light "your welcome dear, oh and we'll just keep this between us. Will doesn't need to know" she whispers, we both giggle "well I should get back to work, have a nice day! Ta ta" she says, I nod and she walks off. I burst into another fit of laughter.

This place actually might be better than I thought.