A spry young man with blonde hair and bright green eyes hurried across the road. He had dashed out of the car the moment it pulled up to the manor.
The Phantomhive manor stood like a palace, welcoming the boy into the world of the shadows. He sped up the stairs and threw open the door to the earl's study hastily.
"Uncle Ciel!" He exclaimed. "I'm back from Weston!"
The uncle in question laughed graciously.
"And now I suppose you'll tell me all about your adventures in the Green Lion dormitory, correct? Although I must say, your stay was rather short-lived," Ciel responded, rising from his desk to greet his nephew.
"I simply couldn't bear the thought of being too far away from my family. Plus, that school is terribly boring, with all those rules-"
Their conversation was interrupted by a light knock at the door.
"Sebastian!" The boy exclaimed, excitedly coming to the side of the butler.
"Oh, forgive me for intruding on your conversation, my young lord. Lunch is ready."
The butler guided the uncle and nephew pair to the dining room, where two servings and a veritable mountain of hor d'oeuvres and other finger foods were laid out.
"Sebastian, won't you come and eat with us too?" Ciel's nephew said innocently, and Sebastian laughed.
"If you wish, my young lord, I will accompany you."
Having been invited to the table, Sebastian sat alongside Ciel, listening to all the adventures of the master's nephew. That nephew being, of course, Eli Midford, son of Edward. Although Edward often complained about his second son's insistence on visiting the Phantomhives so often, the boy went as he pleased. The boy reminded him too much of Elizabeth to restrict him.
"Uncle Ciel, can I ask you a question?" He suddenly said quietly, laying down his utensils.
"Of course, Eli. Anything."
"You and Sebastian are a couple, right?"
For a minute, the two were shocked into silence.
"Please, uncle. Don't give me that face, it was painfully obvious. I've visited you two far too much to see you as just a servant and master," He teased, and the panic melted from Ciel's face.
"Oh dear, looks like we weren't as convincing as we thought. Well, yes. I suppose there's no use concealing it any further."
"Well, then... if there are no heirs, who will possibly be the next Earl of Phantomhive?"
Sebastian placed a hand over Ciel's. The subject of his family's future was one he often found himself turning over in his mind, and after Elizabeth's death, there was much talk of finding a new spouse for him.
"No one will," He said, resolutely.
"But Uncle Ciel, who will be the Queen's Watchdog if there is no one left?"
"I suppose the title will fade off into obscurity, as will my name."
Eli suddenly looked in that moment as if he were about to cry.
"Eli, there is no need to cry over this. It's simply the way life goes," Ciel comforted him in a hushed voice.
"Forgive me for butting in on the matter, but won't the young lord Eli be a suitable candidate for succeeding you?" Sebastian suddenly suggested.
"Please! Oh, you must let me continue your work. There has to be a Phantomhive always watching over the country, it simply won't do to have no regulation in the underworld."
"After all, you've always been watching me work. Even when your father tried to drag you back home, you stuck by my side and always paid great attention to my affairs. Yes. I suppose there's no person more suited than you to take over the Phantomhive name."
--
That conversation had been held two decades to the moment. As he watched the master and butler lowered into their final resting places, there was one thing he knew he had to do. To the chagrin of his family, Eli Midford broke away from his family and took up the Phantomhive name. Rejecting his former identity, he took up the mantle of "Astre Phantomhive."
And thus, the Phantomhive line continued. It survived through the greatest wars of human history, through the dissolution of the British Empire, and nested itself into our present day.
On one cold Winter's day, December fourteenth...
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His Butler, A Homosexual // SebaCiel
Fanfiction[ now complete! ] Sebastian Michaelis had watched his master suffer through many things, but this, more than anything, made his blood boil. How dare that blonde brat lay her grubby hands on Ciel? Confusion and jealousy swirled through his consc...
