High upon the castle walls once more, the young boy and his once-butler stood together, peering over the wall to the land far beyond.
“Why is a raven like a writing desk?” Sebastian questioned, smiling slightly down to the boy.
Ciel merely glanced up to him, a slight smile across his own lips.
"I'll think about it..." He nodded, before gazing over the land once more.
“You do know what tomorrow is?” the Hatter reminded.
The smile instantly dropped.
“Frabjous day...” The boy muttered, looking back out at the dream world. “How could I forget?” he gave a slightly irritated sigh, “I wish I’d wake up already.”
“You still believe this is a dream?” The demon asked, frowning.
“It cant possibly be real. This has all come from my own mind.” The boy assured, keeping his emotionless gaze forward.
“Which would mean that I’m not real...” came the murmured voice of the demon at his side.
Sebastian existed. He knew that for a fact. The mark that dimly glowed beneath his eye patch was proof enough that he was still around. But this Sebastian was mad. Insane. Oddly difficult to tear away from. Had strangely addictive kisses. There was no way he could possibly be the true demon he had made a contract with years ago. He was too different. Too mad...
“No. You’re just a figment of my imagination. I would dream up someone who’s half mad, I suppose.”
Ciel stood straight, turning towards the butler, who’s glum expression failed to change his own. There was a spark of hope in his crimson eyes, his gaze moving back to the boy from where it had been firmly placed on the ground.
“But you’d have to be half-mad to dream me up~”
A smirk appeared on the boys face, much as a smile appeared on the elders.
“I must be then...”
The two stood in silence a moment longer, before Ciel speaks up once more.
“Why is a raven like a writing desk?”
Sebastian smiled back to him.
“I haven’t the slightest idea.”
The tune of a badly played trumpet sounds, the White Rabbit puffing air from his lungs as he attempted to make some form of song from the badly played instrument.
“Who will step forth to be champion for the White Queen?” he calls out to the sea of heads staring back at him.
Ciel stood beside the White Queen, watching over her minions along with the odd group that didn’t quite fit in with the crisp cleanliness of the rest of the castle dwellers.
Sebastian stepped forward, tugging on the bottom of his white glove with a smile.
“That would be I~...”
Grell appeared from nowhere, as usual, hovering around the Hatter with a frown across his sharp toothed mouth.
“You have very poor evaporating skill, Bassy.” He insulted, turning his attention towards the White Queen. “I should be the one~”
“No, me!” cried Tweedledum.
Shoved out of the way, his brother called out as well.
“No, me!”
The White Rabbit held up the Oraculum, examining it with beady eyes. His expression falls, as does the noise of everyone around him. Upon the paper, the picture remains. Ciel Phantomhive, bearing the Vorpal Sword, and slaying the Jabberwocky. There was silence.
“No other slayer, nohow” Teedledum said flatly, stating the obvious.
“It it aint Ciel, it aint dead” the other responded.
All eyes fell to the boy, who’s own sapphire orbs fell to the Hatter, then the Dormouse, then to the twins, and each other friend in turn. The Queen finally spoke up, breaking the pressure that felt exactly like that moment of proposal under the gazebo in waking life.
“Ciel” her voice was like liquid silver as she spoke his name, “You cannot live your life to please others. The choice must be yours. Because when you step out to face that creature…” for the first time, she frowned, “You will step out alone.”
Time stopped its movements, silence hanging in the air as the boy remained quiet. His gaze fell. His feet stepped backwards. His fists clenched before he turned completely, running off away from the crowd, vanishing into the hedges of the maze garden away from the prying eyes. No one dared follow, nor make a sound.
Ciel paced the same balcony he had stood upon the previous evening, his hands clenched tightly by his sides as he glared down and the ground, his mind pulsing with insanity induced thoughts.
A tiny puff of smoke wafted past, catching the boys eye.
“...Absolem?”
“On the leaf.”
Ciel craned his head up, spotting the bug, hanging upside down, spinning an oddly shaped chrysalis.
“I’ve come to the end of this life.” The caterpillar admitted, eying the boy from his spot.
“You’re going to die?”
“Transform~”
The chrysalis envelops his body, almost completely.
“...I-I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” Ciel admitted, the bitter sting of weakness burning his very skin.
Defeat was not an option. But nor was this entire dream to end.
“I can’t help you if you don’t even know who you are, stupid boy.” The look-a-like of Lau scoffed.
A flair of anger sparked in the earl’s eyes, his glare shooting icicles at the bug above him.
“I am not stupid!” He insisted. “My name is Ciel. I live in London. I have a butler and several other worthy servants. My father was Vincent Phantomhive. He was the Queen’s Watchdog and nothing ever stopped him!”
The boy clenched his fists tightly, his anger subsiding, his glare transforming into a look of total determination and certainty.
“I’m his son. I am Ciel Phantomhive”
A wide grin broke out across the Caterpillar’s human face.
“Ciel At Last! You were just as dim-witted the first time you were here. You called it Wonderland as I recall….”
“...Wonderland?”
Memories suddenly rushed through his mind, a young boy, the very one who stood here now, only a child, in Wonderland. Young Ciel in a Room of Doors. The small boy with the Cheshire Cat’s grinning face. Attending a mad tea party with a look alike of his demon butler. Painting Roses red with a Queen with a large bulging head. Young Ciel, with a Caterpillar.
The memories faded, leaving the boy standing on the balcony once more.
“It wasn’t a dream at all!” He realised, “It was a memory. This place is real. And so are you. And so is…”
Sebastian...How on earth did he get here in the first place?
“And the Jabberwocky.” commented the Caterpillar, “Remember, the Vorpal Sword knows what it wants. All you have to do is hold on to it. Fairfarren, Ciel... Perhaps, I will see you in another life~”
The head of the Human/Caterpillar disappeared into the green of the chrysalis, away from the boy and the rest of the wondrous real world.
With the world firmly set in his mind, the boy turned back to the maze, winding his way back to his destiny.
BINABASA MO ANG
