When he woke up very late that morning, Ciel Phantomhive had known immediately that something was terribly wrong. Ever since he and Sebastian had moved back here after the contract was made, Sebastian had faithfully awoken him every morning with tea and breakfast already prepared. As the demon dressed him, he told him what his schedule was for the day and if any visitors were expected. It was a routine that had been followed for over two years now and never once had it been differentiated from.
What made this morning so different was the fact that what woke Ciel was not Sebastian's voice speaking to him, but birds chirping outside. Sitting up slowly and rubbing sleep from his still closed eyes, the young Phantomhive lord wondered why Sebastian was not here yet. Throwing the covers back, he only took enough time to put on his eye patch, hiding the demon contract that showed clearly within his right eye.
Still wearing only his night clothes, his bare feet padded along the carpet as the blue-eyed boy, whose dark hair also appeared to hold a bluish cast to it, ran to Sebastian's room, flinging the door open. Panting hard from the exertion, his one eye widened when he realized that the demon was not there. Thinking for a few moments, Ciel then turned, running as fast as he could to the kitchens, but the result was the same. There was no sign of Sebastian anywhere.
Not even concerned about how it might look with him running about like a madman, deep worry and concern was filling Ciel. No matter where he looked- from the accounting room to outside where that blasted cat that Sebastian was so fond of slept, a dash through the orchard and gardens, then back inside again in every room he could think of. Finnian, Mey-Rin, and Bardroy had helped him with the search as well, though they'd had no more luck locating Sebastian than he had. The entire search of the manor, inside and out, took hours and nothing was all any of them found.
Trying to calm himself, Ciel took a deep breath. The carriage was still here, but that didn't mean that Sebastian hadn't gone somewhere by himself. However, the demon had never done so before without an order from him. "Sebastian," he softly said, uncertain for a few moments as to how to proceed.
What could possibly have happened to Sebastian? Yes, he'd been distracted the night before when putting him to bed, though Ciel had not thought anything of it at the time. Now, with it already well into the afternoon, he began to fear that someone or something had taken or killed the demon. Going to a mirror, Ciel removed his eye patch, wanting to see if the contract had been broken.
Somewhat relieved to see it still in place, Ciel then paused, leaning closer to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was. The pentacle mark was only showing slightly now, instead of being more visible to the naked eye. When the contract wasn't being raised, it didn't glow its usual shade either; the vivid color of pink muted as well, Ciel realized, when he attempted to use the contract to order Sebastian to come to him.
Horror filled him; this could not be happening. The contract was obviously still in effect, but something must have happened to Sebastian, since Ciel himself was fine. With Sebastian being a demon, though, it had to be something or someone from outside of the human race. No human could ever hope to beat a demon, the teenager thought to himself.
No human, Ciel thought again, his eyes narrowing as a deep, incensed look appeared upon his young face. There were only a handful of not humans that he personally knew, and he highly doubt that any of the Shinigami would have done Sebastian harm for no reason. With their contract in place, Sebastian was bound to Ciel, not devouring any other souls at this time. Agni wouldn't hurt Sebastian, because they were friends, sort of. There was only one left that could have done this; that other demon, Claude Faustus.
Ciel knew that Sebastian and Claude had hated each other from the start; they were always attacking each other and verbally sparring every time they got around each other. That other demon was, logically, the only suspect that came to mind. And that particular demon's master was none other than the very vexing young Trancy lord.
"Alois Trancy," Ciel spit out angrily, losing his calm for the present time. What in God's name could he possibly want with Sebastian? It wasn't like he didn't already have a demon of his own that he was contracted to. No matter that Sebastian was much older and infinitely more powerful than him, Ciel was determined to go and rescue him from whatever madness that boy was up to. And if Sebastian had been harmed in any way, there would be hell to pay.
Stalking away from the open door to Sebastian's room, Ciel's blood boiled inside, a grim expression upon his face. This was going way too far, even for Alois. He'd left both him and his estate alone during his investigations; couldn't that lord return the favor? If this was how Alois was going to play, then so be it. Ciel was far better at games like this than that weird child any day; he'd played more of them and won. Even if Sebastian had been there for that and was still missing, Ciel, like Alois, had more pawns to play.
With what was at stake, Ciel wasn't going to waste any more time, but neither was he going out unprepared, either. God only knew what Alois Trancy wanted Sebastian for. He could be having Claude try to kill him; with both of them demons, it was possible, especially with Claude being nearly as good as Sebastian. If Sebastian died, he could not be brought back. Ciel knew that a life that was lost could never be returned- and losing Sebastian was out of the question.
The first thing he did was to go find Tanaka, to see what state he was in. The elderly butler was almost as efficient as Sebastian; if only he was in his normal form, Ciel hoped. Luckily, he found Tanaka at normal size, drinking tea, walking directly over to his former butler. Until Sebastian had come, Tanaka had served admirably as his butler- when he wasn't shrunken down, that is.
Clearing his throat, Ciel spoke, his voice remaining strong and stable despite his worry. "Tanaka, I need you to help me get dressed, and then go find Mey-Rin and Finny," he ordered, knowing he could not take all of them with him to go get Sebastian back. If Lau were around, he'd have dragged him along as well, or even that weird red-haired Shinigami, Grell. Unfortunately, he hadn't seen him around here for a while now. "Tell Mey-Rin to leave her glasses and bring her guns. We're going to get Sebastian back, no matter what it takes. You and Bardroy will be in charge here in case something happens while we're gone."
Meeting the young master's gaze silently, Tanaka nodded, heading off with him upstairs. Things like this would never do, for a servant of his master's to be spirited off by a servant from a different household. Especially considered that the particular servant was Sebastian Michaelis, deadly efficient and, as he often put it, one hell of a butler.
The process of dressing was quick, and as Ciel checked his own gun, making sure it was loaded, Tanaka went off to do as he had been ordered, informing Mey-Rin and Finnian both of their master's suspicion and what he intended to do about it.
"How dare they take Mr. Sebastian!" Mey-Rin wailed, a flush appearing on her cheeks at the very thought of the handsome, sensual butler being imprisoned and possibly tortured. "We'll make them pay for this, yes we will. Right, Finny?" Her voice was high-pitched and a little loud, though she was also very upset and it showed in the way she fisted her hands. "No one hurts Mr. Sebastian!"
"Poor Sebastian," Finny murmured, a sad look appearing on his face. He remembered too well what it was like to be held someplace you didn't want to be, and not being allowed to go where you wanted to go the most. "I'll go, for Sebastian! He saved me and let me go outside; now it's my turn to save him!"
Dashing off to her room, Mey-Rin went to get her best gun guns; she knew that meant that this would most likely end in a physical fight. Not caring about that, though, she was determined to save the person who, like Finnian, had saved her from a life she had never really wanted. Her life was so much better now, thanks to Sebastian, and she had vowed then that if ever he needed her help, she'd give it to him. Well, today seemed like the day when she could finally start to repay him for his kindness to her.
Her eyes, though covered by her precious glasses, narrowed, clearly showing the inhuman color they possessed when she brought her hand up, removing them silently and placing them on her dressor. Strapping her guns on, though they were hidden beneath the maid's outfit that she wore, Mey-Rin walked to meet up with Finny, who looked nervous but still determined. "We'll teach them not to mess with our master like this," she said to him, her voice sounding much different now than before. The usual scatterbrained personality had faded, bringing this part of herself to the front, the side that she had buried when she had come to work here.
Nodding determinedly, Finnian followed Mey-Rin as she led the way to their master; Ciel was standing by the front door now, dressed in all black, save for his shirt and his hat. The carriage had been pulled around and was waiting for them; instead of Sebastian driving this time, though, it would have to be Mey-Rin. Finnian's strength was too dangerous to allow him to drive; he might kill the horses back accident or even break the carriage apart before they arrived.
Getting settled into the carriage quickly, Mey-Rin set off as soon as everyone was sitting, driving at a much faster pace than Sebastian ever had. She had to focus to keep her incredibly keen eyesight from distracting her and it was a bit of a challenge, but time was of the essence. They had to reach the Trancy estate as soon as possible; Sebastian could be getting tortured at this very moment!
Unbeknownst to those three, however, no one was getting tortured inside of the Trancy estate- at least not physically for the present time. Claude had found Alois and had taken him up to his room, going ahead and preparing him for bed. Even if the sun wouldn't set for a little longer, it was so dark outside now that it didn't matter; Alois trembled in his darkened room, holding onto Claude's sleeve as tightly as he could.
"I don't want to sleep yet," he whined, pouting up at his butler as Claude changed him into his sleeping shirt and pants. What he wanted, really, was to be held and told that it was all right, but he knew from previous experience that while Claude would hold him, the butler would never say those words to him. Thunder and lightning struck together suddenly, making him Alois into Claude's arms in fear. "I hate storms! Why does it have to be so dark?" Shuddering, he pressed his face against his butler's chest, genuine fear in his soft blue eyes. As he expected, those large arms held him close, but Claude remained ever silent about his fear.
"Dinner is almost ready, your Highness," Claude replied, absently hoping that the noise outside hadn't woken Sebastian; he'd only slept briefly and until he got enough of his energy back, his demonic powers would still be ineffective. "Would you like to wait in the kitchen while I finish making it, so you don't have to be alone?" he offered, knowing it was a way to keep Alois from wandering through the manor and possibly finding Sebastian. Or Timber and Canterbury; those two might tell Alois about Sebastian being there, just to get him in trouble.
They couldn't stand the fact that he, Claude, was Alois' favorite servant, though he didn't think he'd really done anything to make the boy worship him as he did. Being his favorite, however, might come in handy if he did find out about Sebastian, though. At Alois' silent nod, before his master lifted his arms, Claude inwardly sighed, picking him up and carrying him downstairs.
It was fortunate that Alois was so skinny, though it really wouldn't have mattered if he hadn't been; Claude's strength was more than suited to the task of carting him around. As he turned to head to the kitchen, though, once they reached the bottom of the stairs, Claude saw through the window that the rain had finally begun, the wind driving it against the windows noisily. Within his arms, he felt Alois trembling again, seemingly trying to burrow into him.
Taking another step, he froze at an entirely different sound. Someone was pounding on the front door hard, before it was opened by Thompson. Seeing what stood there, he jumped out of the way, allowing three soaked and one extremely put out young lord to enter, water running off of them and dripping onto the newly mopped floor.
"Where is he, Alois?" Ciel demanded, glaring at the slight blonde cradled in Claude's arms, automatically rubbing his feet on the rug in front of the door before stepping forward. Flanked by both Finny and Mey-Rin, he refused to back down. And, considering that Alois was wearing just pajamas and being carried by someone much taller than him, he rather thought that the other looked silly in the oversized clothing. For that matter, it was strange for Alois to be carted about like a little child by a grown being; yes, Sebastian carried Ciel on occasion, but it was when he was injured, drugged, or escaping some sort of danger.
"How rude of you, to have come here uninvited," Alois simpered back, giving the three a sulky look, though he was actually happy to see Ciel there. He hadn't the faintest idea of what or who Ciel was referring to, though. Still clinging to Claude, he titled his head. "And I really have no idea of who you are looking for, Ciel..." His voice was almost a sing-song, as he gave Ciel a broad smile, one pale hand moving to clutch at Claude's shoulder.
Claude, however, froze immediately at Ciel's demand. Hannah had been right; the Phantomhive lord knew that Sebastian was missing and had come here to find him. Ciel was clever enough to have figured out that if something had happened to his demon, then it was likely that Claude himself was involved. The boy was truly impressive, Claude mused, though when he saw Alois' blank expression he felt, for the first time in a while, genuine guilt. Alois had not had Sebastian brought here; Claude himself had done it. Now Alois was getting the blame for it, which really was not fair, but nor did Claude fancy angering his master by revealing that Sebastian really was here.
Stalking over to where Claude, followed closely by his servants, Ciel icily stared up at Alois, not believing him for a single moment. "Don't toy with me, Alois! Sebastian is missing, and you and I both know that only you have another demon contracted to you, at least in this part of London," he replied, his voice tight with emotion that he could not hide. "I have left you and this entire estate alone up until now. But if this is how you want it to be, Alois, then there is no other choice. I will play this game of yours- and I will play it to win! Now tell me where Sebastian is!"
To be continued
