Comforting Darkness

Chapter 32: The Tutor, Escape Plan

Sieglinde was kneeling on the ground, her hands clutching her skirt and in her mind a constant buzzing; the cold night air of the forest ruffling some of her stray strands of hair but could not pay attention to that. The sound and light of the flare Ciel had fired were almost gone, but still she could not bring herself to care for anything other than the storm of emotions raging inside her. Selina was standing by their side with her blades ready to push away any approaching foe before their reinforcements arrived.

Ciel looked at the girl and took a step closer. "The outside world is full of those who would take advantage of you. You may yet experience more hardships than what you did today." He said coldly as he came closer, dropping his flare gun and pulling his pistol from his pocket. "So choose. Will you still venture beyond this forest? Or... will you take the easy way out instead?" He pressed his gun on the girl's forehead showing his intention of shooting her if need be, ignoring Selina's cry of agony begging him to stop.

Sieglinde's red, puffy eyes opened wide and her heart skipped a beat at the cold, emotionless face the boy she had come to consider a friend exhibited. She remained silent for a while and then cast her eyes to the ground as new tears started flowing.

"I am horrified I brought 'SuLIN' into the world. I no longer know what to believe in. I don't want to think anymore. I... just want to disappear."

Ciel narrowed his eye as he lightly pressed the trigger. "True. If you have lost the will to utilize your prodigious brain, it would be better off fertilizing the weeds instead. If you die... you need not hear the death throes of those you might have saved." He said seriously and Selina could swear a shadow of sadness and guilt crossed his deep blue eye, even for half a second.

"Saved?" Sieglinde asked, trying to understand what the boy was saying.

"Since you were able to develop an ultimate poison... I thought perhaps you could develop an ultimate antidote to save the villagers. Something not unlike a magic elixir to astound the world." He grinned at her.

"A magic... elixir?" The girl's eyes lightened up behind her tears and a glimpse of hope made them sparkle beautifully. "Could I... really do... such a thing?"

"I cannot say for sure, but your chances would be nil if you died here. Emerald witch, I will ask you again. Will you die and flee? Or live and fight?" He asked her with an authoritarian tone in his voice.

The girl clenched her skirt even harder and spoke. "I... want to live! I want to live and fight!" She announced with determination and rekindled desire for life.

Selina was watching as her master hid the gun and kneeled in front of the young lady, offering his hand in a handshake that sealed their alliance and friendship anew. The blond witch could not speak, astounded by how the young boy - currently reminding her very much of a devil, a young but nevertheless cunning devil - managed to breathe new life to this emotional rag the girl was by giving her a new purpose.

She had never understood - and her guess was she would never do - why demons would choose to do that. As far as she was aware of, Selina had no personal experience with that side of demons, but had heard and indeed found really weird that these black and vile creatures born from the darkest emotions a human soul could ever experience, were able to push back to life and give a purpose to an utterly despaired human, even if they claimed that human desperation was what they were yearning for.

The two children were now walking slowly through the forest, Ciel supporting Sieglinde trying to take a few steps with her tiny feet, and Selina still circling around like a guardian hawk, shielding them from any possible threat. Ciel thought he glimpsed a purple sphere, from time to time, surrounding and moving along with them, but thought his eye must be deceiving him due to the poor light of night in the forest. After a while, Bard's loud voice was heard as he along with the rest of the Phantomhive servants joined them.