Certain lines are from Black Butler: Book of Circus.
"I thought Miss Wendy was the only one injured?" Sebastian says, standing across from Will.
"Right, but old Peter obviously can't hold your weight," Dagger replies.
Will scoffs. "I don't see why I should have to pair with you."
"Well, you two are the only ones available with the skill needed," Dagger says. "One of you could've done the act with Shadow, but he declined. Said it would be a good chance to show your skills to an audience."
Both demon and reaper scowl, realizing Thorne had basically forced them together on purpose.
Behind a corner, Thorne snickers to himself, now greatly looking forward to their performance.
His eyes turn black, a smirk crossing his lips. "Oh come now," he whispers. "You can't honestly say staying with me is boring, can you? ... Yes, I agree... He is one of my favourite creations too, of course I will keep him as safe as I can."
⚯
Ciel quietly slips into Thorne's tent, freezing when he sees the five panthers lounging within, all of them now watching him.
"What was I expecting," Ciel mumbles.
"It's rude to snoop around in others' tents, you know," one of the panthers says, voice a low rumble.
Ciel's eyes widen. "Puppets... You can...?"
"Yes, we talk," one of the others says. "Master gave us the ability when he saw you would be visiting us tonight."
"Thorne knew?" Ciel says. "How?"
The first panther gives him the equivalent of a teasing smile. "That is for us to know and you to discover later, Phantomhive. There's one thing we were told to show you."
"Two things, actually," a small cub says, standing on the bed and pawing at two photographs in front of her.
Ciel picks up the two photographs looking at them. One is of Ciel and Raven, taken when they standing on the roof of Raven's manor watching the sun rise. Ciel is watching the rising sun while Raven is watching Ciel with a wide smile.
The second is a photograph from a time before Ciel met Sebastian, during one of the social parties his father had brought him to. Ciel recognizes a younger Raven with his father standing next to them in the photo, Earl Percival Thornheart's arm around Earl Vincent Phantomhive's shoulders. He smiles at the utterly surprised look on Raven's face, seeming to have only been told about the photograph a millisecond before it was taken.
Then his attention turns to the man in the background of the photo who seems to be watching the four.
"That's the man in the photographs of the first-stringers," Ciel whispers.
"Yes," one of the panthers says. "We cannot say who, but later when the time is right, instead of sending your demon elsewhere outside the circus, send him to speak to Master."
"When the time is right?" Ciel repeats.
"You'll know when. That is what master said to tell you."
"Thorne, huh?" Ciel mumbles. "He's even harder to understand than Sebastian."
The panthers all let out barks of laughter.
Ciel steps out of Thorne's tent. The panther cub follows him despite his attempts to tell her to stay in the tent.
"Fine, just stay quiet," the young earl says with a sigh.
"Take this," she pipes up, the photograph of Ciel and Raven on the manor roof rolled up in her tail. "Master wants you to keep it."
YOU ARE READING
The Queen's Panther
Fanfiction| boyxboy | Ciel x OC1 | Sebastian x OC2 | Young Earl Raven Thornheart lost everything that day two years ago. His family. His home. And his freedom. But now, accompanied by a mysterious butler, he's back to take his position as the Queen's Panther...
