The Queen's Viper (A Black Butler Fanfic)

~twenty one~

".... (Y/n)?"

You stood before Alois, trenched from the rain that came upon the earth. Your clothing was teared a little from your journey to his home, but it wasn't bad enough for you to have to take it off. God knows that you would rather be covered. Your skin had formed several bruises and featured scratches from running into a wooded area, and your feet and legs were aching.

Alois looked over you and was immediately angered by your state. What happened? Why did you come running all the way here? Where was Jeremy?

You peered up at him, tearing him away from any useless thought in his head. You eyes were glimmering. Not with happiness, but the sorrowfulness that covered your face. It didn't suit you well.

"Alois, please. I need somewhere to stay."

He stared at you for a moment, a bewildered look on his face, but soon remembered that you had been travelling on foot just to see him, and you were still standing out in the rain.

"Of course." He said, moving out of the way of the door. You graciously stepped in, a little embarrassed that you were getting his floor wet.

"Listen Alois, I'm so sorry—"

"You can explain everything later. You need to get rid of those clothes before your catch a cold. Hannah!"

Moments later, a young woman appeared from the hallway with a bandage around her left eye. She bowed.

"Run her a bath and fetch her some new clothing. And make it quick." Alois demanded.

"Yes, Your Highness." Was all that she replied with as she hastily ran up the stairs.

"Go and follow her. She should have everything ready in a matter of minutes. If she does not do what you ask, or do things as quickly as you'd like, I give you my permission to punish her in any way that you wish. I will be in my study once you're finished. Please do visit me."

He walked up the stairs, leaving you to wonder about his odd behavior.

'Punish her? What the hell does he mean..?' You asked yourself. He had always seemed strange, sure, but did he abuse his servants? You could feel your anger that you had ran out come back at the thought of their mistreatment.

Though, no matter how selfish he could be, you demanded yourself to not question his ways. After all, it was his home, and he graciously allowed you to stay. You hung your head at your mindful dilemma, and walked up to the second floor after his maid, Hannah.

~~~~~~~~

After she had bathed you, much to your dismay, you were given a beautiful royal purple dress. It was simple, yet extremely well made and elegant. You had greatly insisted that you did not need such a formal dress, but she said that it was what her master had ordered her to give you. You were terrified of her condition, so you obliged. You didn't want to cause more trouble for her.

As you walked down the hallway towards Alois's study, you saw his butler, Claude, walking in your direction.

Considering the trouble that you've been put through concerning demonic aide's, you tried to steer clear of him by walking with your shoulder grazing against the wall. You didn't break eye contact when he looked down at you as he walked, licking his lips at the sight of you. His golden eyes scanned your tense form, but he made no move to come after you. You exhaled a sigh of relief and continued to walk towards the Earl's study and knocked on his door.

"Come in." He answered. You opened the door and stepped inside. You closed the door behind you softly and turned back around to face Alois.

He looked up at you, curiousity obvious on his face. He smirked and leaned back into his chair and sat his legs up on his desk.

"Go ahead. Sit down."

You did as you were told and sat down on the other side of the Earl, awaiting the questions that he surely had prepared to ask you.

"What's your favorite color?" He asked, causing you to blink a few times in bewilderment. To say the least, you thought that he would be asking you about why you were there, but it seemed as if it didn't even cross his mind.

"Umm... What?"

"It's a simple question. What's your favorite color?"

You thought for a moment before answering.

"(F/c)."

"Hmm." Was all he said as he began twirling his chair around in circles, "What about your favorite game?"
You heart suddenly sank at the question. You looked down in shame as you thought of your fondest memories.

"Personally, I could go for a game of memory, but I realize that it's kind of childish." Ciel chuckled.

"Indeed."

"You weren't lying when you said that you were good at memory." Ciel commented as he watched you beat him for the fourth time.

"We all have our strengths and weaknesses, Phantomhive." You countered, taking the last matching pair from the table, giving you an outstanding victory above him.

"Indeed."

'Ciel.'

The accusations that you threw against him... You had no idea if the way you felt was right or not, but it didn't matter to you right now. The death of your brother was still fresh in your mind. His face was not at all peaceful or calm as his life abruptly stopped. He looked scared—in pain. All because of the fact that you were too selfish to let him leave. What kind of trouble was he really in? Would you have been able to help him if he could've escaped with you?

You looked back up at Alois and saw him watching you with awaiting eyes, interested in your eventual answer. You took in a breath and mustered up as much courage as you could.

"M-Memory." You stuttered out.

Alois immediately noticed your emotional shift. You were trying to avoid eye contact with him, and the only think that you seemed to want to look at was the ground. It agitated him that you were partial with your thoughts. He knew that your thoughts were still completely and entirely chained by the events that happened merely hours after you arrived at the Trancy Manor, but he had a plan. A plan that he would use to allow you to forget everything that had happened to you. You would be entirely fixated on him. You would never think of that damned fool, Ciel. It would only be him.

Alois innocently smiled at your answer.

"Claude, fetch some memory games for me." Alois commanded. He heard a 'Yes, master.' coming from the outside of the door and was satisfied with the answer. You looked at him, a glimmer of hope in your eyes. That look - he wanted to see that face for the rest of his life. Claude had spoke to him about the scent that you gave off, and he could only think of how delicious you would've been for that foolish demon, Jeremy. That is, if he hadn't messed up everything for himself. Alois chuckled inwardly at the failure of the butler, but quickly focused his attention towards you, as you had decided to speak.

"Thank you, Alois." You said, a soft smile on your face.

Alois was slightly taken aback by your thanks, but smiled cheerfully in return.

"Don't mention it."

Little did you know as the two of you played several games of memory, Alois didn't care how many times he had lost. This was a larger scale plan than just a simple game. While you were cleaning up, he found out everything that had happened between you and Ciel. For once, he was genuinely excited for this. He was going to play with Ciel's heart, which he would do with immense satisfaction. He was going to throw your order in Jeremy's face to make sure that he remembered that he could not see you ever, according to your own dialogue. It wasn't simply your smell, or your personality that he wanted. He wanted to watch the Queen's Guard Dog break in half.

He wanted to look in the distance to see Ciel live his whole life without you by his side, and with no way to get you back.

You were going to love him.

And he was going to see to it that he succeeded, no matter what he had to do.