A/N - I'm sorry for my extremely long absence (over a year!), things have been pretty hectic but I'm back. Thank you for being patient with me and you have every right to be irritated - I know how it feels to have to wait for a fanfiction, believe me I do.
The majority of this chapter is dialogue.
I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any of the characters (excluding my original characters).
"What is he doing here?" I whispered to Felix, angry at the fact that he forgot to mention that Percy was here. I quickly recovered though when he turned to look at me, the shock on his face was evidence enough that he didn't know anything about Percy's arrival. Taking a deep breath, I made my way over to one of the empty seats (which just so happened to be the one next to Ciel and at the opposite end of the table to my 'fiancé') whilst Felix sat next to Eugene. My mother shot me a disapproving look whilst Percy looked absolutely livid at my choice of seating.
"Charlotte, there is an empty seat besides me. I would be happy if you would sit there." Percy said, obviously trying to keep his voice steady.
"She has just woken up, Percy, leave her be. You can properly talk to her later." My mother said, before looking straight at me, a stern look on her face, "I'll make sure of it."
"Are you feeling better, Charlotte?" Raven asked, a concerned look spread across her features. "Yes, I'm feeling a lot better, I believe I should stay away from ships full of corpses and traitorous shinigami for awhile though." I grinned at Felix, causing Percy to shoot me a displeased look.
"Yes well I believe this event only proves that you should stay out of danger for good now, this isn't the first time I have almost lost you."
I narrowed my eyes at him "I appreciate your concern for me but you were not there, people needed my help that night, my friends needed my help that night, my brother needed my help that night. I'm not the sort of person who can just leave people when they are in trouble."
"You should have got on one of the boats, you were a priority due to your status so you would have easily been able to board one instead of rushing into a fight where you didn't stand a chance." Percy began to raise his voice now, I looked around the table but they were all silently watching the exchange, including my mother who would usually not tolerate arguments at the dinner table.
"I understand that my actions were reckless and maybe even a little foolish but like I said I couldn't leave them, I may be part human but I'm not as fragile as you are making me out to be." I began to raise my voice at him now, struggling to contain the building anger inside of me.
"Don't speak to me with that tone, you seem to forget that you are my fiancée and it is about time you started being more responsible and acting like it."
"Hey! Don't talk to her like that..." Felix began before my mother cut him off.
"Charlotte, Percy, that is quite enough, I expect you both to apologise to each other and settle this matter privately. Charlotte I'll have the chef prepare you some breakfast, whilst we sit in the parlour for tea."
"It's alright, I'm not really that hungry now, I think I'm just gonna sit in the garden for a sort while, I'll join you later." I stood up and walked to Percy "I'm sorry for my behaviour." I bowed my head slightly and headed towards the door, offering a small nod to my mother and sister and a smile for Sebastian.
A tea cup was set in front of me, I took a sip, "Thank you, the tea is Darjeeling right?"
"Yes, it is." Ciel sat down in the chair opposite me "Sebastian is talking with Raven, whilst your fiancé is speaking with your mother and Eugene. Felix suggested that I keep you company."
"Do you love her?"
"What?" Ciel asked, confusion evident on his face.
"Lizzy, do you love her?" I reply, facing him.
"I don't really think about things like love, my only goal is revenge. Why do you ask?"
"If you weren't able to get your revenge and could live normally, do you think you could love her and marry her someday?"
He looked away, "I don't know, my parents were arranged to marry but they loved each other. Why are you asking me this?"
I sighed and stared into my tea cup "I don't want to marry Percy, I don't think I could marry someone I have no feelings for and I don't think I would ever develop them for Percy. He's only marrying me because he requires a wife in order to take over his father's company when he's older."
Ciel stared into his own tea cup, unsure of what to say. I realised I had made it awkward, "Sorry for just unloading this all on to you, shall we change the subject?"
A letter was slid across the table to me, "This letter arrived for me, it's from the Queen. She is concerned for her relative Derrick Arden who, as well as a few other students, is refusing to come home from Weston College. I was wondering if you could help."
I clasped my hands and rested them on the table. "What would I be doing?"
"We need to infiltrate the school as students in order to find out what has gone on and then report it back to the Queen."
"Ciel, I'm a girl. Weston College is a school for boys, I don't think I could attend as a student."
"I thought you liked breaking rules and anyway that has already been taken care of, your father has already managed to persuade the school via the vice headmaster to allow you to attend."
"I presume money is involved then, Weston College would never go against tradition without some sort of bribe. I guess I have no choice but to help you then, what is Sebastian going to do?"
"I've told him to figure a way in by himself."
Having finished my tea, I stood up, Ciel looked at me confused. I just grinned at him "I'm going to make peace with Percy now before we begin the infiltration, I doubt he will be pleased with the fact that I'm helping you again but he'll just have to deal with it and besides at least he will get to hear it from me this time. We will have to discuss this plan in more detail later so for now please excuse me."
As I walked off, I heard what I believed to be a small laugh from Ciel and a warm feeling spread through my body. I chose to ignore it.
A/N - I hoped you liked this chapter. I'm not sure if I have the correct spelling for Derrick Arden as in some variations of the manga it is shown as 'Derek' but 'Derrick' seems to be the most common one.
