The Queen's New Pet (A Black Butler Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty Four

Day 2. Second lesson. Dangling out of the second story window.

"Maybe we should practice flapping a little more." Maria nervously suggested, to which Ciel nodded eagerly.

"Nonsense. You wanted to learn right? I told you yesterday this was coming." Sebastian teased her to no end as he held her over the green lawn.

"I didn't think you were serious."

"Are you ready?"

"Not really, but at least let me throw myself out of the window instead of you just dropping me." She snorted sarcastically.

"Fine."

Once her feet were solidly back on the ground - or, windowsill - Maria took a few deep breaths. Sebastian sensed her anxiety.

"Your Fallen instincts should kick in and help you."

"Really? Why didn't they yesterday?"

"You didn't flap yesterday, remember?" Just thinking about it made Maria both wince and blush at the same time.

"Okay. So, I just need to flap and my wings will do the rest."

"Yes." He sounded confident enough.

"Simple enough. Here I go."

She didn't let herself get prepared as she jumped out of the window for a second time this week. Flap your damn wings! She thought over and over until she actually was.

Not realizing she had closed her eyes, Maria forced herself to reopen them. She was steadily climbing into the air, away from the ground unlike she had expected. Fearing to get to far from the ground, seeing as she was now above the manor, she stopped flapping and abruptly fell again. She caught herself after dropping a few yards, noticing that if she flapped her wings with just the slightest difference she could change directions and hover.

Carefully maneuvering herself down to level with the window, she saw Ciel's surprised yet excited face. Sebastian was smiling.

"I did it." The truth coming from her mouth felt like a splash of ccold water to her face. She was flying. It felt so natural.

"You better come back in here before your wings give out." Sebastian rained on her little praise parade.

"Huh?"

"You have not yet built up stamina, I'm sure your wings are dying right now."

So I can fly, but only for a little bit because my wings aren't used to the stress. Maria surmised before guiding herself over to the window. Sebastian caught her and pulled her the rest of the way into the room. As soon as her feet were safely on the ground her wings sagged wearily. The tendons connected them to her back were so sore the pain was almost as bad as the first time her wings emerged.

"Wow." She gasped. She hadn't even noticed their tiredness while in the air.

"I will go prepare a hot bath." Sebastian said before gliding out of the room. As soon as he was gone Ciel sprung on Maria, singing praises.

"You actually did it! You can fly!" His visible blue eyes was wide and shining. Maria tried to calm him down, because she was not used to compliments like this.

"It was mostly my Fallen instincts, like Sebastian said, that helped me. I was just flapping."

"Either way," Ciel waved a hand through the air as if to brush off her excuses, "it was great. You did a good job."

She thanked him and excused herself to go find that bath Sebastian was preparing. As soon as she left Ciel's study, Castizel was there.

You did great today, love.