-First Class Passenger Deck-
"I'M SO HAPPY YOU MADE IT CIEL!" The lady gushed as she threw herself on the unsuspecting boy before spinning him around to face her approaching family. Smiling at their young love Josephine hid her pleased expression behind the scarf she wore to fend off the cool sea breeze.
"ELIZABETH!" A shrill voice made the woman's smile drop and gaze sharpen at who it was that had dared to shout out the Lady, only for it to dull when she recognized the similar features they bore.
"Please do not display such indecent behavior in public!"
"That's right Lizzy. Moreover. I STILL HAVEN'T ACKNOWLEDGED YOU AS MY BROTHER IN LAW OKAY! SO GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER ALREADY!" Out from behind his mother came the eldest Midford sibling Edward, his striking green eyes were set ablaze as he pointed an angry finger at the boy. Frowning Lizzy pulled her fiancé closer to her making Edwards face darken with fury.
"Come on brother! why are you still saying that!?" She huffed.
Through the commotion of the three Midfords there was still one they had yet to greet. Feeling his intense stare the boy glanced over to his left to find the head of the household the Marquis Midford.
With his stern expression and cold eyes the maid expected him to be just as straight-laced as his wife maybe even more so, as he approached closer the boy gulped and felt a nervous sweat break out upon his brow, his smile faltering ever so slightly as the older man leaned closer into Ciel.
"M-Marquis Midford, I haven't seen you in a while, um-"
"LONG TIME NO SEE MY FUTURE SON! YOU'RE CUTE AS EVER!" The lord suddenly gushed as he threw his arms around the boy in a hug that nearly took all breath out of him.
Concealing her giggles Josephine watched as the marquiness scolded her husband for his ridiculous behavior.
But to the maid it was good to know that at the very least the father of the bride found his soon to be son in law just as adorable as his future bride.
❦ 𝓑𝓵𝓾𝓮 𝓥𝓮𝓵𝓿𝓮𝓽 ❦
-First Class Tea Room-
Now in the ships tea room with the Midfords, the servants stood behind their master waiting and listening attentively to any and all commands that were to be suddenly thrown their way. With Sebastian, Snake then Josephine all arranged in the order of who was tallest to shortest-A request made by the marquiness-
However as they stood quietly, waiting it took all of Josephine's willpower to hold back her smirk and childish giggles as as she peeked over at Sebastian and Snake's slicked back hair, but there would be no exceptions made for her, as the marquiness also demanded that Josephine's hair be slicked back in a tight bun.
A feat she could not manage alone and insisted she receive a helpful hand from the butler.
Only problem was when the marquiness requested a tight bun...the butler made sure it was tight.
Quickly a headache began to form in the back and front of her skull.
"So you'll be with us for the whole three weeks?" The marquis asked as he sipped his tea.
"Indeed." Ciel responded as he felt Lizzy grip his arm in excitement.
"We've never been together for so long before!" Lizzy beamed as she fought hard to not strangle her fiancé with joy.
"Escort me to the dinner party, okay Ciel?"
Chuckling nervously at this the boy nodded his head in agreement.
"Okay, okay."
Smiling at her master and his fiancé Josephine couldn't help but think of the day the two would be married and soon start a family of their own, surely by that time she would be old and grey, the butler never aging.
She wondered what the lady Elizabeth might think of that. A butler that never aged and could do the impossible.
Quickly as they came she put those thoughts behind her and looked to the now as she would help her master grown into a fine young man that would be worthy of marrying the lady Elizabeth and that no matter what she would see it through until the very end.
Feeling a thick tension suddenly grow around the small table Josephine glanced to Edward and watched him grip the wooden table tightly to the point where she feared it would crack, his expression dark like before as he eyed the boy angrily.
"I was supposed to be her escort!" Edward growled lowly.
'What the hell...' The butler, maid and Earl thought to themselves as they saw the jealous look in the young mans eyes.
"The meeting will be held on the 19th at night. How about taking a good rest occasionally?" Sebastian asked with a slight smile as he looked down at the boy who could already imagine the events and games Lizzy was bound to drag him to.
At that he grimaced but when he spotted her more than joyful expression, the boy couldn't help but smile.
"Well, I guess it's okay...occasionally."
❦ 𝓑𝓵𝓾𝓮 𝓥𝓮𝓵𝓿𝓮𝓽 ❦
-3 Days Later-
-First class passenger lounge-
"Ciel! look! look! that cake is so cute!" Tugging him along the boy looked to where she pointed his mouth open to speak before she pulled him to another location, his full attention on her as he allowed his trusted servants to dutifully follow a few paces behind their eyes and ears open for suspicious persons.
Sebastian and Josephine freely walked side by side, while Snake trailed behind them to look around in amazement and wonder at all the people, food and objects the floated by him.
Now finally out of the marquinesses line of sight the three were finally able to style their hair the way they pleased, no longer was she bothered by the pangs of an annoying head ache as she kept her hair up in a pony tail tied back with a navy blue ribbon.
"They truly are made for one another." Josephine spoke aloud as she looked to the butler who in turn nodded in agreement.
"As they say opposites attract." The maid giggled in response.
"When are they to be married? Wedding planning sounds like so much fun."
Now it was the butlers turn to chuckle at her sarcasm.
"Not for a long while I promise you, he still has a long way to go before he becomes a suitable husband and lord, speaking of, are you seeing anyone Josephine?" The demon found it somewhat hard to believe that someone as beautiful and intelligent as Josephine wasn't engaged or at the very least seeing some one.
And if she was, why had she never mentioned it?
Sighing she nodded and looked at her master who had a creampuff shoved in his mouth from his ladies hand. His cheeks burned a bright red from the embarrassment as she began to wipe the crumbs from the corner of his mouth with a light blue handkerchief.
"No. Never actually, I was too busy and too young by my managers account. I use to receive marriage proposals by the dozen by all kinds of men, but then I realized that many of them wished to upstage me, want to take care of me or simply have me as some sort of trophy. I want more for myself...I want...I want to make something of myself and not be left to have a man do it all for me,"
"You're too young for all this rubbish," Nathaniel grumbled as he burned another one of the hand written proposals, more swears were huffed under his breath as he grabbed several more from the pile opposite of him.
Glaring at him from the corner of her eye she pursed her lips and hastily flipped the page of her book. She had been listening to him for the past twenty minutes rant and rave about these damn love letters and she had, had just about enough of it.
She had finally found time to read peacefully in her little library that day until her manager came stumbling through her front door with two cloth bags each about the same height as her, both of them filled with confession letters of all sorts.
Some from even noble lords and princes from far away countries wishing to seek an audience with her.
"Don't they know that you're just a seventeen year old girl!?" He huffed once more as he opened another one, this one containing a ring that he put back in the envelope and tossing it in the return pile with a few others containing gifts inside them.
Book marking her page the young girl walked towards the small pile that sat beside him, crouching down she grabbed the one he had just tossed.
Opening it she found three things a letter, a photograph and a ring.
Taking out the photograph she eyed the strapping young man and immediately felt her cheeks grow rosy. His eyes were kind and his smile even more so, he couldn't have been no older than twenty-five with wavy light colored hair, decorated on his chest were numerous medals and strapped to his hip she recognized the hilt of a sword .
Flipping it over to see if anything was written she found his signature and the date it was taken.
Sir Philip Astor.
Certainly this was a recent photo, just two weeks ago it was taken.
"When i'm old enough should I marry? Doesn't seem like such a bad thought." She asked as she gently tucked the photo back into place, before scooting herself beside him. Her green eyes looking over the intricate hand writing that spelled out the gentleman's home address on the front of the envelope.
Having froze mid rant he looked over at her slight smile and shook his head quickly lips pursed into a thin line.
"Never," He spoke as he grabbed the letter from her hands before tossing it aside. Feeling her heart sink she went to reach for it but he was quick to grab her by the wrist, letting out a small gasp she stumbled backwards and watched as he pulled her closer to his stern expression.
"Remember this Josephine," His deep brown eyes bore like acid into her green ones sending a chill down her spine.
"Men only want one thing in this world, and I will do everything to protect you from it, as of now I am the only man you can trust in this world."
"I don't want to live my life as some docile thing that constantly needs to be protected, I also want to protect something dear to me." Her gaze back on the boy who was being whipped across the other side of the room.
"I see." The butler spoke wistfully his eyes never leaving her.
"I mean I'm Josephine Brandson for christ's sake, one of the deadliest women in the word with a sword, what good am I if I don't have something to protect?" She laughed as she looked at him with a small smile that he reflected back to her.
"I'll go get some food for us too! wait right here!" And with that lady Elizabeth disappeared amongst the crowd of nobles.
Feeling as though he could finally breathe again the boy let out a sigh of relief, before turning to his servants who seemed to be nothing but amused by the adorable couple.
"Well then will you accept the marchioness' invitation to a fencing match?" Sebastian asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You may not be able to win but surely my teachings have improved you from where you once were." Josephine proudly stated as she tilted her chin up with pride, arms crossed over her chest.
"Can I at the very least see the statue of liberty's face before we begin?" The boy groaned as he thought back to the rigorous warm ups his sweet teacher would put him through before every lesson. He could only imagine how much more intense it would be this time around especially for a real match.
"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it's not all that people make it out to be."
The boys frown only deepened at that.
"More importantly, young master," The butler spoke up as he handed him a plate of food.
"It's tonight." He whispered lowly into the boys ear.
Taking it he nodded and raised his fork before plunging it into the meal.
"Yes."
"It seems the signal for the opening of the Aurora society's meeting is a waiter, walking around the hall carrying empty glasses. The attendees take one and go to the meeting place."
Nodding the boy glanced over to the maid who was watching the lady Elizabeth from the corner of her eye.
Though she was not her maid she was still a part of the Phantomhive family which meant that the servants were also responsible for her safety.
The lady seemed in good spirits as she chatted away with a few other ladies who had approached her. Pleased she turned back to the boy who was already staring at her with that pointed look he gave when she wasn't present.
"Don't let the signal out of your sight."
"As you wish."The two of them hummed.
"Did you see it's skin?"
"It looks just like a snake doesn't it?"
"When did this place turn into a freak show?"
Picking up the sound of swirling whispers and giggles pertaining to the new employee of the Phantomhive household made Josephine's blood boil. A familiar heat began to curl at her throat and slowly rise to her face but as she turned to face him she cleared her throat of the threatening words that nearly fell from her lips.
"People are cruel, the moment something out of the ordinary catches their eye they toss it aside like trash. It's a harsh reality I know."
Hearing Josephine's voice snake looked up to find her gaze flicker to the people behind him with a deadly coldness that made him shiver before melting from the warmth that came to look back at him.
"...I look different from everyone else, and since I'm with the earl, people will laugh at him too. Says Dan." Opening her mouth to speak she was suddenly cut off by the boy who stepped beside her.
"So what?"
"Huh?" Snake gasped as he looked at the boy with wide eyes.
"You're another person so of course you look different. What do you need to be ashamed for?" He carelessly spoke as he took a bite from the dish.
"Besides I'm free to be with whomever I want."He reminded, causing the butler to nod.
"And if you haven't noticed it yet, our master has quite a fondness for the strange and unusual." A hand reached up to gently touch the eyepatch, the butler hummed in agreement.
"That's right. Right now you're the footman of a distinguished noble family."Almost touched by those words Snake gave the three a surprised look before softly smiling to himself at the comfort of being accepted into a home that once felt so foreign but was in fact now his sanctuary.
The last time he had felt this way was when he was with his old family, the ones that rescued him from a hellish nightmare.
"So straighten up and have some confidence!" The butler reprimanded as he smacked the man on his back causing Josephine to just shake her head and giggle.
"How about a glass?"
Raising her eye to across the room Josephine watched a gloved hand pick up an empty champagne glass from a butlers tray. Letting out a small gasp she grabbed the butlers arm causing him to furrow his brows, before looking off in the same direction as her, red eyes glowing with satisfaction.
"They've made a move let us go now master." She said as the butler ushered them on.
"Right."
Shoving his unfinished plate into Snakes hands the boy followed the two servants closely as to not get lost in the crowd.
"Clean this up!" He called back to the man as the three of them began their troublesome mission.