Revelations

Chapter twenty four

AN: So, this will probably be a super, uber long chapter cause, a lot happens in this one and it feels like I haven't updated this story in like...forever. Anyway, hope you peeps like it and I am SO very sorry that it took me till now to finish this chapter. XD
Enjoy, friends! :D

It was finally the big day for both Ciel Phantomhive and Alois Trancy, and the blond-haired boy has been panicking for almost an hour about little things that really shouldn't matter, but he deems them as being of import.
Ciel stares at himself in the full-length mirror, sighing at his appearance and wondering if Sebastian will like the baby-blue dress coat he's wearing, paired with a white, ruffled blouse. He had been up most of the night, trying to find the perfect outfit for such a memorable occasion, and finally found this one in the back of the wardrobe, as if it had been waiting for him to find it and put it on.
Now, as he listens to his friend freaking out about random stuff, Ciel rolls his bi-coloured eyes dramatically. He hasn't put his black eyepatch back on yet, so the purple pentagram on his other eye that isn't a crystalline blue anymore, is very much visible to anyone who might suddenly walk in.
They are getting ready to walk down the long aisle of the Trancy manor soon, Lizzy telling Ciel to 'hold still!', as she attempts to tie the large, brilliant, blue ribbon on the back side of his dress coat into a bow.
"Are you not finished, yet?", the young Earl says, getting rather impatient with Lizzy's bow-tying skills.
She shakes her head, her long, blonde ringlets bouncing back and forth, and smiles.
"No silly, almost."
Across the room, where he's sitting on the bed, Alois places his head in his hands and sighs.
When he looks up, Ciel see tears brimming in his eyes.
"What's wrong, Trancy?", the young boy asks, seemingly concerned about his friend.
But, Alois doesn't look up at Ciel, just stares at the floor through the spaces between his fingers, giving a shaky sigh.
"I-It's all wrong.", he chokes out.
"I-It's all wrong!", he yells again, pulling at his freshly washed blond locks of hair, as if they will come out of his skull and fall apart in clumps and land in his hands.
Both Lizzy and Ciel turn to towards the distressed boy, expressions of confusion plastered to their faces.
"What do you mean 'it's all wrong?", Lizzy says, her voice becoming softer as she looks at the other boy.
Alois shrugs, almost as if he too has no idea why he is so upset right now about everything.
After all, he should really be happy, he's getting married, today.
Marrying the love of his life, the only one who's ever came close enough to being his everything, no-he is his everything...
In that split second, Alois tries to imagine how Claude is feeling right this minute.
No doubt, he and Sebastian are if anything, a little nervous, but mainly excited about seeing them again.
Finally, he gets up after thinking about all this and sighs.
"Alright, I think I'll be okay. Let's do this.", he tells his friends, a smile slowly spreading across his face.
So, they all disregard his outburst and decide it's due to the fact that he's about to get married and continue getting ready.
That is, until they hear Mey-Rin outside the door.
"Ciel? Alois? It's time for you to walk down the aisle, now! Yes, it is!", the cherry-haired maid says excitedly and then they hear her footsteps receding as she then goes to get ready herself, seeing as she is the flower girl, after all.
Shortly after that, Ciel hears the music begin to play, as it swells through the victrola in the corner of the main room of the manor, where the ceremony is being held.
He stops, his breath hitching as he feels tears begin to well up in his eyes.
Lizzy has now put on his eyepatch and is just placing the ivory, lace veil over him, so that it shields his eyes from view.
But before, she lets it drape across his pale face, hiding it until the moment Sebastian will lift it up and kiss his Ciel, she kisses the soft skin of his cheek.
Pulling back to look at him, she smiles.
It's a contented smile.
"I'm glad you're finally happy, Ciel."
The young boy nods, and he sees Lizzy's bright, smiling face, as the veil slowly drifts down into his eyes, causing everything he sees to appear in a sort of haze.
He smiles and takes a deep breath, as he hears Lizzy push the door to Alois' room open and slowly feels her grab hold of his hand, as she then helps escort her two friends down the winding staircase, making sure they don't fall suddenly, and cause a commotion.
Ciel can barely think as he feels them descend the stairs, can sense when his foot finally hits the last step, and has to grab the bannister as he feels the floor coming closer, his feet seemingly sliding out from under him.
"Ciel!", cries Lizzy, as she quickly catches her friend in time and helps him back up to his feet. 
"Are you okay?!", Alois says, attempting to lift the veil off his eyes so that he can see if Ciel is hurt or not.
But, Lizzy puts up a hand to stop him.
"Not yet, we're almost there!"
Alois sighs.
Finally, they begin to approach the aisle, and through his hazy view due to the veil, Ciel sees Mey-Rin carrying a basket of flowers and throwing them into the aisle, as she walks slowly yet calmly down it, a flush of red very evident on her cheeks.
Ciel then turns back to Alois, and notices his trade-mark smirk, even beneath his own veil.
He chuckles.
"Still nervous, Trancy?"
The other boy nods, but his eyes are elsewhere, gazing through the door at no doubt Claude Faustus who's standing beside Sebastian Michaelis, as they both wait for their 'brides' to enter.
Then, the music suddenly changes and Lizzy lets go of both their hands, as she steps away from them, slowly walking through the door, her head held high, as her blonde ringlets bounce slightly with each step she takes. Through the veil's haze, Ciel can just make out the colour of her gown, a pale, satin pink and her slippers are small, silver and the heels of them produce a subtle click as she descends the aisle which is now littered with red, rose petals.
The young boy sighs as he glances through the small, crack of light in the door, at everyone gathered.
His one visible eye scans the room, trying to figure out who all of them are, especially the couple closet to the front with raven, black hair clad in black and blood red crimson attire, despite the occasion, making them appear to stand out like a sore thumb. An impractical eyesore, really...
Finally, Ciel just shrugs and turns to look at his best friend, for that last look of confirmation that means he's ready to walk down the aisle.
Once he sees it in Alois' eyes, that tell-tale expression, the young Earl of Phantomhive takes a deep breath of air into his lungs and grabs hold of the other boy's hand, silently letting him know, that it's too late to turn back, now.
Despite the knowledge of that though, the Trancy boy doesn't resist or protest as Ciel walks with him through the door, and both try not to let the intense feeling of nervousness they are overwhelmed with, show on their faces as they continue to shakily proceed down the long strip of cobalt carpet, their little feet moving together in sync.
Ciel tries not to stare at the sea of faces before him on either side as he catches sight of their smiles and their astonishment.
Seeing as Alois is considered an important figure in the public eye, news of his wedding became a big deal to most everyone in England and so that was why they were all gathered here now, but their shock was due to who was also veiled by his side.
None of them had even thought that the young Earl of Phantomhive would get married any time soon, let alone attend his 'rival's' own wedding, but in a way it made sense to them, and they excitedly cheered as the two boys kept walking, their steps becoming more hurried with their growing impatience.
"I heard that he's marrying that girl. The Middleford's daughter. What's her name? Eliza? Ella?"
"Elizabeth? Indeed, I had thought so too, but then wouldn't she be the one walking dorm the aisle, instead? After all, he'd be the groom!"
"I am afraid you both are wrong about that.", a woman says, turning around in her front-row seat to inform of how very wrong they are.
"You see, Lady Elizabeth's not the one Earl Phantomhive is getting married to, but rather, someone else, entirely..."
"Someone else?", a man dressed in a tweed jacket and grey slacks asks, clearly in disbelief.
The women nods and turns back to her husband, as they both exchange a small smile.
"Do tell, my Lady, who is this other girl that the Earl is to be wed to, today?"
But, the woman just laughs at that and reaches into her ebony-coloured handbag to extract a small, delicate fan, which she waves against her face.
"Perhaps, if you were to look to the front of the room, you would see who the dear boy is about to marry.", she says, still flapping her fan about her face, but when her crimson eyes fix on one familiar individual, she sets in down in her lap and waves a black-gloved hand at them.
Said individual in return, pretends to have not seen her, and instead begins to start a random conversation with his friend, about how Ciel's outfit, seems to compliment his crystalline-blue eye, perfectly.
With a sigh, the woman turns her attention away from the familiar figure at the front of the room and instead, watches as the blonde-haired boy and the other boy donning a black eyepatch, finally make it to the front of the room, where they then let go of each other's hands, and so that they can go stand in their respected places beside their lovers.
The undertaker (who had been standing there by his podium the whole time), finally looks up and cracks a goofy grin when he sees the two boys standing before him with Sebastian and Claude. Carefully, he opens up a small, worn-looking book and begins to read the faded text on the yellowed paper.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join these men and these boys in not-so-holy wedlock. Should anyone have an objection as to why these marriages should not take place, let him speak now or forever hold his peace."
There is a slight pause and after a long moment, he continues.
"Very well. Now then, I will let both of our grooms here take turns in reading their vows to their ur...'brides'? Claude, you may go first, if you like."
And so the demon does, telling Alois all of the many things he promises to do for him, practically pouring out his heart to the young boy, letting him know that no matter what, he will always be there for him and protect him.
When Claude finally finishes speaking, Alois has tears brimming in his eyes and and the demon's own eyes look to be also if anything questionably glassy, as they stare at each other, fondly.
The undertaker then takes a brief moment to fiddle with his hat, before turning to Sebastian.
The demon butler smiles slightly and clears his throat.
"Now, how shall I put this? Well to begin, when I first met you dear Phantomhive you were quite a bother to me. Honestly, a real pain in the ass. But, then I got to know you better, the things you like, the things you dislike and I realized that despite our differences and our arguments, I had found myself somehow inexplicably falling for you. I am not exactly sure how, but nonetheless it happened and ever since, my life as your butler and protector has become quite a spectacle. I mean, just a while ago I was in court and now I'm at my own wedding? Marrying you? Something I thought I would never do? Really, the whole thing sounds rather preposterous and even I cannot fully believe myself at times. So anyhow, I guess what I am trying to say is that despite it all, I love you, Ciel Phantomhive. I love you so very much and I am sorry it took me so long to realize that. I hope you can forgive me for being so shallow in the past, and not always being there for you. Truly, you are the only one I want in my life, Ciel. You are the on,y smiling face I want to wake up to each day and the same one I want to see, before I go to sleep at night. And, I am so very glad to call you mine and treasure you forever and always. Even after we are both long gone from this earth. Even then, I will still love you, Ciel Phantomhive.", as Sebastian stops, Ciel is far past the point of being speechless, in fact it's almost as if the demon has stolen his voice with his confession of love for him, causing him to suddenly worry that he may not be able to get his words out to Sebastian when the time arises, due to his state of shock.
Yes, the young boy knew that his butler loved him, but he didn't know it was that much.
He sighs when he catches the eyes of his friend, a worried expression evident on the other boy's face.
Slowly, he manages to smile brightly at the Trancy boy and this seems to convince Alois that everything is fine with Ciel, so goes back to staring up at Claude, adoringly.
Meanwhile in the audience of assembled wedding-goers, the woman who Ciel now can't help but notice bares a striking resemblance to Sebastian, suddenly lifts a black-gloved hand back up to her heavily caked in makeup face, and wipes a small barely-visible tear from her eye with an equally dark handkerchief that she must've had in her purse. Then, all at once their eyes meet, and Ciel catches the woman's eyes and gasped at the colour of them. Red. Dark red. Crimson, really. Like, pools of dark blood...
His breath instantly hitches in his throat and he freezes, stark-still, but still not being able to tear his eyes off of her.
He's about to say something to his soon-to-be husband, but then said individual beats him to it, when the boy feels a warm, white-gloved hand on his small shoulder.
And, it is this sudden touch that finally releases Ciel's gaze from the woman, causing him to turn on his heel and face the familiar pair of crimson-coloured eyes that he would so much rather look into, any day.
"Ciel? What's wrong?", the demon whispers, his voice filling with concern for his love.
Immediately, the young Earl feels like someone has turned an invisible switch on in his mind, and suddenly he doesn't want to tell the older male what he saw. So instead, he shrugs and then chuckles nervously.
"I-It was nothing."
"You sure?"
"Positive."
Sebastian finally sighs and gives up trying to figure out what is troubling his little Ciel so much, mainly because he already knows.
"Damn you...", he angrily mutters under his breath and hopes against hope that the woman in the front row, clad in a midnight black and blood red flowing silk gown won't hear him.
Because, Sebastian may be a demon and all, but that wouldn't help him even a little bit, if she were to hear him over the drone of the victrola's music...
After he's certain that she hasn't heard him, he focuses his attention back on Ciel again and the other couple.
Alois is saying his vows now to Claude, telling him about how he always found him to be so sexy and that he honestly believed that no one else could do the things he could. He even went so far as to talk about the two's late night and also early morning escapades, causing the undertaker to burst out into a fit of giggling and Ciel and him to cringe outwardly at the sudden,  vulgar images that unfortunately flashed through their minds.
Eventually though as he stopped laughing, Undertaker told him that he was running out of time and that if they wanted to have the reception promptly at 1pm, they were all going to have to speed things up a bit. So, Alois wrapped up his long-winded speech by saying for the most likely hundredth time since he started talking, that he loved Claude with all his heart and that he was so very happy that the demon had finally told him his feelings, because he too had harboured the same ones for him.
At the end of it all, Claude smiled slightly at Alois and the blond-haired boy practically beamed from ear to ear. He would never get used to Claude, smiling.
Finally at long last, it was Ciel's turn to poor out his everything in his inner being to Sebastian, and to his relief, he actually found that he was able to speak. Even if his speech was slightly shaky.
"Sebastian, if someone in this very room were to have told me that when I hired you way back when after both my parents had died in that terrible fire, I probably would have denied it and laughed in their face. Because, the truth is, I never really meant to fall in love with you, so when I did, well, you can imagine my shock. Anyway, my initial intention was to not ever tell you and risk rejection, but then eventually I just couldn't fight those damn feelings of mine anymore and I ended up flat-out blurting it out to you one day, not that long ago. And now here we are, getting married? God, it seems so surreal! Like, one of those dreams I had in the past that I thought could never come true. But it did, and I am so glad that it did. I mean, that's not saying that you weren't a pain in my ass at first, cause you were. Somehow though overtime, you got better and we both learned how the other worked, so that we too much after that. So, it is because of all that, because of you Sebastian, that I can honestly stand here today and pledge to stay with you always. I love you, Sebastian Michaelis and I'm sorry for being ignorant of that fact, for so long. No doubt, I'm sure you have forgiven me but still, I want you to know right here right now, that I am apologizing to you from the bottom of my heart. I don't want you Sebastian, I need you, it took me so long it figure that out, but when I did, I realized that if I should ever let you go again, or the world takes you away from me, I will go back to living an unhappy life and I will never feel like my life amounted to anything, should you suddenly disappear, forever. You complete me, Sebastian and I don't to ever feel incomplete ever again. I love you with my heart and soul, Sebastian Michaelis and don't regret the time I have spent with you."
As he finishes, Ciel feels tears quickly spilling out of his eyes and he hurriedly wipes them away with the back on his white-gloved hand.
Undertaker smiles a big grin at the two couples, but especially in Sebastian and Ciel's direction because honestly, he knew that there was something going on between those two for much longer than they claimed. Years.
"Alrighty, Claude Faustus do you take Alois Trancy to be your lawfully-wedded husband, for as long as you both shall live?"
"I do.", Claude replies, matter-of-factory, the same way he always does.
"And do you, Alois Trancy take Claude Faustus to be your lawfully-wedded husband?"
"I do.", the blond-haired boy says, smiling up at Claude.
"Very well. Now, do you Sebastian Michaelis take Ciel Phantomhive to be your lawfully-wedded husband as long as you both shall live?"
"I indeed do.", Sebastian replies, causing Ciel to face-palm.
Undertaker giggles again at that.
Then, he quickly clears his throat.
"And do you, Ciel Phantomhive take Sebastian Michaelis to be your lawfully-wedded husband?"
There's a beat of silence, even the victrola's music can no longer be heard.
"I-I do."
"Alrighty, then I now pronounce you crazy kids, husbands. You may now kiss your desired husband."
Alois of course, immediately launches himself at Claude, kissing the demon senseless and in a way that is so not appropriate for a wedding.
Ciel on the other hand, waits for Sebastian to pull him into an embrace and kiss him, abs he does, the young Earl kissing his demon back, as if Sebastian's kisses, are the oxygen he craves and needs to breath.
Eventually though, they all pull apart from their new husbands and give each other happy, overjoyed smiles.
The sound of clapping soon stops shortly after and as the people begin to clear out, to his horror, Ciel sees the woman from earlier now approaching born him and Sebastian, her own excited and happy smile clear as day on her painted face.
Ciel tries to grab Sebastian's hand and them away before she can get over to them, but his husband is suddenly completely still, staring straight ahead, his face paler than usual, if such a thing is possible.
"Salutations boys, glad I could make it to your wedding, today. Although, I'm a little miffed about not getting a personal invite.", she says, her expression turning to one of a frown as she looks past Ciel and directly at Sebastian.
"Honey, why didn't you tell me you were getting married?", the woman demands in a out-right whine, frowning more.
But, the demon just lets out an exasperated breath of air.
"Mother, why didn't you tell me you were coming? If I would've known, then Ciel and I could've eloped..."
The woman just sighed and shook her head.
"No sweetie, you couldn't do that. Besides, I'd just find out from one of your friends where you were and go there. Simple."
"Sebastian gives her an annoyed glare and grumbles under his breath.
"What's that, hon? I couldn't hear you. Must be my sharp sense of hearing going."
That just causes Sebastian to roll his eyes.
"Mother, stop that nonsense! You're a demon! Not some human! And anyway, you're scaring Ciel."
The boy nods slowly, as if to clarify that.
Sebastian then turns his attention back to his mother.
"Don't tell me father's here, too..."
"But of course, I couldn't just leave him at home in Hell, could I?"
"Why not?! You know how he gets at parties?! If he sees Ciel, he'll be all over him! Honestly, did you not think about that, mother?!"
The woman sighs and shakes her head.
Then, she shakes her head, again.
"What?"
"He's changed."
"What do you mean 'he's changed'?!"
"What I mean is that he wouldn't bother with Ciel, not anymore..."
"And why is that?!"
The woman sighs again and brings her hands up to rub at her temples.
"Just-he's changed, Sebastian. That is your name now, right?"
The raven-haired demon nods, not letting go of Ciel's hand.
"I-I named him that.", the young boy says, suddenly speaking up.
Sebastian's mother smiles.
"Oh, did you now? Tell me, why 'Sebastian'?"
Ciel thinks for a moment, trying to remember.
Sebastian just glares daggers at her.
'Ugh, not this again, Ciel...We'll never hear the end of it...'
"My dog. My dog was named Sebastian. And when I first met Sebastian, he was kind of like my dog, being a servant and all and I just...the name just...stuck."
The woman nods, and proceeds to ask Ciel more questions, so that all Sebastian can do is stand there and hope that this madness ends soon. After all, they've got a reception to attend.
So, finally when he just can't take it anymore and his mother starts asking the poor boy if her son is 'good in bed', Sebastian abruptly clears his throat, saving the overly flustered Ciel from answering the question.
Honestly, did that woman not have a filter?
She was asking Ciel, everything.
"I'd hate to interrupt, but if we don't go out into the front hall now, we'll miss the cake cutting with Alois and Claude. Do forgive me, I would hate to cut your conversation with my husband short, but we really must be going!"
The woman (who Ciel had found out was snaked Lilith nods slightly frustrated and Sebastian without another word, grabs hold of Ciel's gloved hand once again and whisks him out into the hall, where the wedding reception is already in full-swing...