Yes, Your Highness

Chapter 14 ~ Just Wonderland

A familiar smell awoke Beth. The smell of sweets. The smell of chocolate. Just as she thought, her vision was still foggy, but she could still make out the figure to her direct left, leaning againsed the headboard with his eyes in his lap, twiddling his thumbs. Beth let out a groan, knowing it hurt a lot now and couldn't imagine what it would be like if she sat up, so she only used her elbows to scooch herself up a little further.

"Some attack you had. Didn't your parents tell you if you leave bears alone, they leave you alone?" Ciel asked. Beth paused a moment.

"Bear?" She asked really silently. Just as, all the memories came blasting through her mind.

"Yeah, bear... If you don't know, then don't look at your face."

Beth's eyes grew wide.

"Why?"

Ciel pursed his lips a moment, standing up and walking up to a desk that didn't look familiar to her at all.

"I still don't understand why your room is torn up."

That made Beth conclude that she was probably in Ciel's room. Her door was shattered. Ciel eventually came back with a small mirror and hesitantly handed it to Beth. Beth precariously latched her hand onto the mirror and it took a few tugs for Ciel to let go, but he eventually did. She kept her eyes on him for a little bit until the mirror faced her completely and she looked down at her reflection. At least what she thought was her reflection. Beth gasped, clapping her hand over her mouth. Three nail marks spread from her lower-right jawbone in her perspective to her nose. The cuts were mildly deep, but remained closed with clean, precise stiches. "Your ribs had to be fixed again." Ciel added.

"This... This wasn't a bear..." She half-whispered, choking on her words a bit after she finally lifted her hand from over her mouth.

"I know... I didn't quite understand why you had claw marks in your face big enough to be a bear but had hoof prints practically embedded into your ribcage."

That made the girl's heart race faster and faster, bringing tears to her eyes.

"This wasn't an animal."

"So it was human?"

"Not even close."

"Then what was it?" He asked, seeming to choke on his words a bit.

"Something... Something that shouldn't be here."

"So... It's... A ghost...-"

"N-No! I-It has hooves, a-and a bull skull f-for a head, a-and a pointy tail w-with these... TALONS on its fingers t-that-"

"Calm down!" Ciel snapped. "So you're saying it's some kind of demon?"

"I... I guess..." She replied quietly. Ciel only hummed shortly, keeping a still epression.

"I see..." Ciel began to wrap up the conversation, strutting back and forth a bit.

"And when did you meet this... Demon?" He asked, choking on "demon" a bit.

"Um... I first saw him... In a nightmare... But he showed up in my room yesterday..."

Beth paused after that, Ciel patiently waiting.

"What did he do to you?"

"How do you know it's a 'he'?"

"That's irrelevant. What did he do to you? Please tell me he didn't-"

"No!" Beth's jaw dropped. Ciel crossed his arms and twisted his waist, giving a short brow-raise in a "Just asking" way.

"The way you're describing him, you never know." He defended. Beth shot him a glare.

"He did nothing but beat me."

"Alright. That's all I wanted to know." Ciel finally finished, heading for the door and twisting the knob. "If you need me, let me know. But... I really wouldn't turn to Sebastian for this help."

"Why?"

"... No reason."

With that, he left the room, shutting the door behind him. Beth sighed, lifting up her shirt and looking down. Her torso was bandaged with fresh wrap and bloody hoof prints. She let out a sigh. "No reason" was not a good enough answer for her. If it's enough to make Ciel tell her to watch out, then obviously it's serious. Then again... He made her promise to never speak to Alois again, too. She then took a quick gaze around the room and was going to try to stand, but suddenly felt the bed sink beside her to her left. Beth glanced to see what caused it, and she smirked drowsily, turning her head back in front of her. The cause still remained next to her, keeping silent.

"Hello, Paranoia."

"Hello, child."