"You're such a pathetic brat." Ciel commented, a disgusted, repulsive look on his face as he laid the barrel of his gun to rest on the boy's forehead. All Alois could do was stare up at the gun, hoping for some sort of savior to come to his rescue. And with Claude too busy fighting over the dead bodies of the rest of his servants, escaping this scenario seemed unlikely.
"P-Please, Ciel. I don't want t-to die." He choked out, tears streaming down his face.
"You made your choice a long time ago by putting your ugly, vermin hands on (Y/n)." He said, the sound of the gun cocking haunting your ears. You looked down at your clothing, reminding yourself of the blond's attack from the rips and tears in your dress. You looked back up at the two in front of you, concerned over how this was going to end, but relieved that Alois was getting what he deserved.
"No, no.. You've got it all wrong! I-I didn't do anything like that—!"
Ciel lifted the gun up into the air and let off a gunshot, causing the boy to scream in terror, as well as making you instinctively cover up your ears. Ciel lowered the gun, now against Alois's chest.
"What an idiot." Ciel repulsed, making Alois grow silent.
"At least I was honest with her." Alois said, looking over to you. You averted eye contact, not wanting to feel mixed emotions about either of the boys.
In a way, Alois was right. He did treat you with respect, and usually told you what was on his mind, even when it scared you. Ciel was always so reclusive and kept to himself most of the time. Truthfully, you couldn't blame either of them. Their behavior was a way for them to recover from their dark pasts. Each of them were different, but it didn't mean that one of them was more in the wrong than the other.
"You love me, right?"
Alois's desperate question snapped you back into reality. You looked at him sorrowfully. His childhood was justifiably horrible if everything he had said was true, but he had no excuse for what he did.
"I enjoyed your company when you were acting sane." You admitted, causing the boy's body to slump in defeat, "But when you went crazy, I can't say that I didn't want karma to hit you back."
The boy held up his hands to Ciel and began to slowly rise to his feet. Ciel eyed him suspiciously, but did not fire.
"(Y/n), I'm so sorry for how I treated you. You deserve someone better than me."
But then, he pointed his finger at Ciel and gave you a harsh look.
"But he doesn't deserve you either." He stated, causing Ciel's face to scrunch up in anger. You could see the glint in his eye, which gave you the vibe that something bad was about to happen.
"Maybe you're right." Ciel admitted. Alois turned towards him, surprised by his answer. Though adding himself into the conversation, the grip on his gun did not falter.
"I don't deserve her." Ciel reiterated, "She's so much better than me in every way. I could never even think to be as wonderful as she is."
Ciel looked over at you, a loving look in his eye.
"But, if she feels happy with me, even though I am no where near her standards," He looked back over at Alois, a mockingly oblivious look on his face. He shrugged, "Then who am I to say 'no'? I suppose it's selfish, but I'm just too stubborn to let her go that easily."
You felt very happy to hear Ciel's encouraging words. After you had left him, he still cared for you. Alois turned back to Ciel. He was beginning to become drowsy from his body's blood loss, as evident by his stumbling and difficulty in standing up.
"You.. Can't do that.." He said, looking back at you. You felt an uneasy sensation from his gaze, and therefore took a few steps back. He started to walk slowly towards you. This didn't give you the threat of immediate danger, but it still alarmed you. Ciel quickly recovered the short amount of ground Alois had made and stood between the two of you, the gun once again pointed at Alois's helpless form.
The Earl of Trancy terrified you, but seeing the condition he was in now, just didn't feel fair. It didn't feel right. You grabbed Ciel by his shoulders, pulled him back away from Alois and turned him towards you.
"What are you doing?" He asked you in an hushed tone.
"Alois has done enough damage for today. I don't need his blood on your hands to make it worse." You quietly scolded.
"Young master, we must leave shortly. It's nearing lunchtime." Sebastian commented. You looked behind you to see him standing calmly, Demon Sword in hand and blood scattered all over him. Sebastian seemed to see your eyes stare at the blood because he looked down at his suit to see its remains.
"Tch. Well, I suppose with some vigorous cleaning I can get out these stains, but I may need a new undershirt.. I'm surprised there are no tears.."
"We're done here anyways." Ciel said, moving you out of the way and putting the gun on Alois's head. The boy froze on his impending death. He dropped to his knees dramatically.
"C-Claude.."
"Wait!" You shouted, causing Ciel to look back at you, "Ciel, just leave him. Let's go."
"Leave him?! Why, so he can come after you again?"
"It would greatly upset the balance of the underworld, Ciel. You know this as well as I do. If he dies without a heir, the underworld community would begin to crumble until they desperately tried to find a new one. Let's deal with this on another day."
Ciel took another glance at Alois, who had crumpled from the realization that his entire staff had been murdered - and may it be add - effortlessly by Sebastian. Ciel knew that he was just a depressed child with anger issues, but you were right. There has been enough bloodshed. Alois will simply need to build up his empire again, which will definitely occur in the near future, so Ciel decided that it would probably be in everyone's best interest just to leave him here.
"Fine. Let's go." Ciel said, lowering the gun and putting it back in its holster on his belt. Sebastian smiled and bowed towards the two of you.
"I shall prepare the carriage." Sebastian announced, walking towards the carriage in the distance.
"I'm going to go and look for something inside. I'll be right back." Ciel said, pulling your head towards you and giving you a kiss on your forehead. You blushed madly. You had missed his delicate affections and were happy that things seemed to already return to normal. Sebastian had already made quite the distance between the two of you, so you decided to follow him, as you didn't want to be alone with Alois.
"I-I love you." Alois sputtered out, clenching his shoulder. You turned to look at him, and were profoundly shocked by his vulnerability and sadness.
Overwhelmed by emotion, you knelt down and hugged him, not caring about the blood that had already stained his clothes. He hesitated for a few moments before returning your embrace desperately.
"Alois, your brother wants to see you be happy on your own." You whispered into his ear, "If you do anything in life, do it for him."
You got up from the ground and went back towards the carriage, leaving Alois to sit on the dirt with tears in his eyes.
'I wonder how the servants are doing back at home without me.. I'm sure that it terrified them when they figured out that I wasn't necessarily coming home. Hmm... What will they do when they see me?'
You thought of several different reactions of theirs, which subsequently caused you to laugh.
"Is my mistress having fun?" A voice called out, paralyzing your movements. It only took a couple of moments to process the tone, but it was undeniably too familiar.
You heard chuckle beside you, causing you to turn in that direction. You were met with a pair of glowing, blue eyes, intimidatingly looking down on you. You took a step back, feeling a bit too close to comfort.
"I told you to stay away from me! Are you going to disobey me with a direct order?—"
"I'm going to keep this short, because frankly, I can't wait to devour your soul."
The demon licked his lips in anticipation. You took a couple of steps back.
"Haha, you're really funny, Jeremy. Now.. uh—you're joking, right...?" You asked, beginning to doubt a good answer as he stepped closer to you. You looked down at his right hand, and noticed that his Faustian symbol was now glowing a piercing red, unlike it's usual aqua.
Without giving you any time to react, the demon grabbed your right wrist and sunk his teeth into it. You cried out in pain, and quickly ripped the limb away from his grasp. You held your injured limb and look down at the inner part of your arm. Several teeth marks in your skin broke through, causing trickles of blood to seep out onto your forearm.
You looked back up at your butler to see him licking the blood off of his face and hand. His eyes widened, giving you the impression that it was time to run. You turned around and began to stride towards Sebastian, but your barefoot soon stepped on a fairly large rock, causing you to fall to the ground, hitting your nose hard in the process. You could feel the blood come out of your nose when you touched it, but you didn't have anytime to reflect on your injury as Jeremy was on the ground, mimicking a lion about to pounce on its prey.
"Our contract is up, mistress." He said mockingly. You held you nose as you sat up.
"What do you mean, 'our contract is up'?" You asked, beginning to panic. You knew all too well what it mean for you if what he said was true.
"Simple: Our contract stated that what you wanted the most was someone to always protect you. But now that you've found someone whom you feel more secure in. Therefore, I am no longer needed."
"No.. No.. You're wrong!"
"I do not have the patience for this conversation. I have waited long enough and have now gotten a taste of your delectable flavor. I need more."
Jeremy crawled to you and grabbed your chin with his hand delicately.
You closed your eyes, hoping to not feel anything, and not wanting to see him take your life away so soon, but before the demon could penetrate your skin, something else did so to his own.
"Don't touch something that isn't yours." Sebastian said, causing you to open your eyes. Jeremy was still in the same position, but blood was now starting to trickle down his chin.
You looked behind him to see Sebastian had taken the Demon Sword and plunged it into Jeremy's beck and through his chest. There was no possible way of survival for him.
You reached out your hand to Jeremy, resting your hand gently on his cheek as he began to choke. He may have been a demon, but he was one of the only people in your life who truly began to understand you and you felt that he was a very big part of your life in so many ways. It pained you to see him go through this inevitable death, but in order to save yourself it had to be done.
You losing your life would upset the balance of the underworld. So, you had no choice but to become selfish for yourself.
Jeremy reached out his hand to you, a mix of fear and anger in his eyes.
"Y-You.."
It was the only word he could get out before he started gurgling. In attempts to make his death easier, you put your other hand on the other side of his face and wiped away the blood that had trickled from his mouth onto his chin.
"Thank you for being there for me, but it will take more than that to take me down." You said,making those the last words that he heard before slowly slumping down into your lap. You ran your fingers through his hair one last time before removing him from your body. You got up and brushed off your tattered dress. Your foot still held evidence of the rock that caused your slip-up earlier.
'I'm starting to wish that I had worn shoes..'
"Let's head to the carriage. Ciel should be waiting." Sebastian said, drawing the sword out of Jeremy's limp body.
"Thank you, Sebastian." You said, turning away from him and continuing on to the carriage, "I don't know how you knew what was going on, but I won't ask too many questions."
Sebastian smiled.
"I am simply on hell of a butler."