Her Name is Bliss

Chapter 2

"If we were forced to wear a warning label, what would yours be?"

― Unknown

Ciel watched her coldly as she quietly smacked her black painted lips as she awoke. She wore a frown as she opened her eyes, and it seemed strange resting on her innocent sleepy face. She pulled her hand forward to rub at her eyes, but her hand halted with the sound of metal. There was a clasp around each of her wrists that attached to the wall and each other with a chain.

In an instant, she was awake. She pulled at her chain vigorously like a maddened, trapped, animal. Then, she froze completely, chilled to a stop by the feeling of eyes watching her. She turned to see Ciel sitting on a chair, watching her amused. She stood and charged at him, "Release me!"

The chains caught her and pulled her back. The force caused her to fall back against the wall sitting. Ciel smiled, "Such venom, and you haven't even said one ill word."

She gave her head one rough shake as if to ruffle herself like a bird would, "Oh, you should believe me, when I say I am thinking of a long list."

She fell silent and refused to look at him. Her pride and will held her chin up and puffed her chest out. Ciel lifted an eyebrow with amusement at the sight, "Aren't you brave?"

Her lips remained sealed, so Ciel continued on. He hoped that poking at her would bring a response, "So your name is apparently Bliss. What were you doing killing all those people, Bliss?"

Her response could have been for the shadows or the wall, because she still did not look at Ciel, "I was simply fixing the rising population issue."

"Or were you trying to drag someone out? Maybe, Death? Maybe, a reaper? Maybe... your father?" With that note, Ciel pulled out a folded paper and waved it at her.

It set her off instantly. She moved too quickly for Ciel to catch, and, before he knew it, a small blade she had pulled from a halter at her waist was flying at him.

The blade was plucked from the air, and the raven man was standing next to her with a delightfully menacing grin, "I must ask you to refrain from attempting to harm my young master." Sebastian then swiftly twisted his body and kicked Bliss back against the wall.

She crumpled to the floor weakly like the falling petals of a wilted rose. The wall behind her remained caved in, while a few pieces broke off and hit her with mocking thuds. She looked up at Sebastian with hate in her eyes and an evident galaxy of a bruise on her face. Ciel's jaw clenched at the sight of her bruised puffed cheek and the small trail of blood that ran from the corner of her mouth. "Sebastian!" Ciel barked at his butler, "What was the meaning of that?! Follow orders!"

Sebastian bowed to his master, "My apologies, my lord, but look. Do you not think a blow of that strength, from me, would do more than give her a simple bruise and ruptured lip, if she was human?"
Ciel looked at her cautiously with the sudden realization, "Who are you?"

She turned and bowed her head like a brokenhearted caged bird. She took a deep breath and looked back up at Ciel. Her pale skin ate at the edges of the bruise, until within moments it was gone. Sebastian walked over to her with the prowess of a hungry prowling cat. He smiled down at her, the menacing air licking a chill down her spine, "You are not human, but you are not a demon, or reaper, either."

There was a strange demeaning twist to his words. It was the melodious sound of hidden answers, but she only smiled, "Raven Man, Raven Man. How cruel you are, oh Raven Man."

Ciel tapped his cane on the floor once with force, "Enough, both of you. I have a deal for you... Bliss?"

Bliss bobbed her white head of hair in response, and Sebastian watched with bored amusement.

Ciel continued, "Well, I have a deal. I will help you, only if you stay in my manor."

"Help me with what?" She scrutinized the short bluenette, before feigning realization, "Oh, are you referring to releasing me from these chains you put me in?"

Ciel turned to leave with a shrug. He strolled a few steps away in arrogance, "I guess, you are not some lost little girl looking for papa then."

Ciel waved the letter over his shoulder. The sight of it flared her back to life once more. She dashed forward, and the metal clasps on the wall whined with the struggle of restraining her. Ciel turned surprised, "Oh, so, you do need my help? Do you want this? This insignificant piece of dead tree with ink? I could simply take this ugly thing and burn it for you."

Her eyes burned, and the shadows seemed to cower and hide form the twin emerald flames. She pulled at the chains, clasps biting into her wrists, metal whining, wall crumbling. Finally, one of the metal clasps broke from the wall, and she held onto the other chain with her newly freed hand and pulled. She pulled the last clasp free from the wall, but Ciel remained unfazed. When she made a bounding charge at him, he simply barked out his order, "Restrain her."

Sebastian plucked her from her feet and held her tight to his chest. Ciel strode up to her, all pride and mocking grin, "You will not win. Now, please, behave yourself and agree to the generous deal I made. You do want to find your father after all."

She bowed her head, "My father is dead..."

Ciel chuckled, "Oh, no. I think he is very much alive."

"And if I deny staying?"

Ciel shrugged a thin shoulder, "Then you die here, but I don't want you dead. I want you to agree to stay, but under some certain conditions."

She peered over at him, "Those being?"

He raised his chin up, but Bliss smiled, because, no matter how hard he tried to seem big, he was undeniably a small human. Ciel could feel her amused gaze and sputtered on, "You are to stay here. I will have my working hands tend to you, but you are not allowed to leave the manor. If you wish to leave you are to have Sebastian and myself escort you."

She huffed, "You are awfully dominant and demanding for being so small."

He glared at her with flushed cheek, and Bliss could feel Sebastian's chest hitch with a refrained chuckle. Ciel glared up at Sebastian, and he dropped her. Ciel extended the letter out to her, "What do you say? Do we have a deal?"

She didn't respond. Her tongue was lead in her mouth. Shaky fingers reached out to take the folded letter. The shadows seemed to watch the scene unfold with anxious enthusiasm. They watched the girl who clutched the letter to her chest, the frail boy with his arrogance, and the raven man with his knowing Cheshire grin.