That Butler, New Face

That Butler, Composed

"Private soldiers... ye say?" Joker asked from where he lay bleeding on the floor.

"Phantomhive is a shadow, a phantom that exists solely to obliterate the sorrows of Her Majesty, the queen," Ciel stated darkly. "Step into its den, and you can never hope to return to the light."

"They're  anythin' but amateurs themselves," Joker retorted on behalf of his  family of friends. "They won't be done in so easy, like—"

"Though  you are free to believe as is your wont... pray, do not forget they are  individuals selected by me," Sebastian reminded him, waving the dagger  that he had used to sever Joker's good arm from him in a single stroke.

"Kuh...!"  Joker groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. He understood, but he didn't  want to accept it. 'Please be alive, I'm beggin' ye...' he thought  anxiously, imagining their smiling faces. 'I want ye lot to stay alive  at the very least—!!' He gritted his teeth as he winced at the  pain he was in "...! We... What else could we 'ave done?" Joker asked Ciel.  "Like Tom, the piper's son, in the nursery rhyme... we could do but one  thing... 'only play one tune'... But if... if we'd been born in another  country instead of this one..." He still remembered what it was like to  live on the streets. To be one dirty piece of bread away from dying. The  fear they felt each day. "If I... If my body... 'adn't been this way..." He  remembered Baron Kelvin reaching out to them, and how readily they had  taken his hand, desperate to survive and protect each other. "... It  wouldn't 'ave come to this—!" Tears of anguish, frustration, and guilt  streamed down his face.

"Don't weep so disgracefully," Ciel told him. "Your tears will change nary a thing. The world is never kind to any of us."

"Smile..." Joker said sadly.

"I  am Ciel Phantomhive," the young earl stated coldly. "That is my one and  only name." Sebastian watched his young master out the corner of his  eye.

KACHAK.

They were surprised when the door opened again  to reveal someone unexpected. It was the doctor from the circus in his  wheelchair, and behind him were two children pushing another cage full  of 'lambs'.

"Apologies for having kept you waiting on additional  reserves!" he said brightly. "Oh?" His smile fell a little when he saw  Ciel and Sebastian. "Black and Smile. Aah, now I see," he said, coming  to a swift conclusion.

CLICK.

The doctor put one foot on the floor. Then another. He stood up as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"So,  what Joker was saying was right on the money, hm?" he said with a  smile, descending the steps to join them. "The legendary watchpup of the  queen, all the more trouble than the yard 'cos money has no hold on  him."

"Doc..." Joker said with wide eyes, almost too shocked to speak. "Yer legs... Ye can walk..."

"My  legs? Aah, yes, my legs are, in truth, just fine," Doc admitted  cheerfully. "Haha! Children like you are less suspicious of folk in such circumstances,  so I just always sat." Then, he noticed something. "Ah! Baron Kelvin!?"  he exclaimed in alarmed, rushing over to check the wounded man's  injuries. "Oh nooo!" he said when he saw the bullet hole in him. "He's  beyond my help now," Doc said, sighing. "How could you!? And after I'd  finally met a patron who understood my ideals..."

"Your ideals?" Sebastian asked.

"Yes.  Since long ago, I have continually developed and experimented in the  quest for the perfect artificial limb," Doc replied. "And as a result of  my research, I succeeded in creating the best material possible!  Lighter and more durable than wood, and still possessing the inhuman  beauty that is particular to ceramics... I came to create something that  no one had ever made before. However, gathering raw materials for it is a  rather complicated venture, you see."