Children's Games (a Sebaciel Fanfic)

Part 4

Hope you're enjoying it!

~MidniteFanfic

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Ciel had grown bored and began wandering about the dining area. He watched silently as the servants left in their carriage, they waved excitedly and shouted at him, making him smile a little and offer a small wave in return. He really did like them.... most of the time. Although he supposed that everyone was a bit more likeable when they were away. What was the saying? "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." he whispered softly to himself, leaning down to admire the scent of a particularly large rose blossom when he heard the telltale *click-clack click-clack click-clack* of Trancy's heeled boots. He scoffed quietly and turned to face him. "I don't know how you sneak anywhere in those boots. I heard you coming a mile away."

"I wasn't even a mile away. And your servants didn't hear me anyway, that's what matters. One of them almost caught me, but I gave her the slip!" he offered Ciel one of the glasses, then dug a shortcake from the pocket of his jacket. "I got these too!"

"Mey-Rin. She wouldn't have seen you anyway, she's blind as a bat with those glasses on. I'm not sure why she insists on wearing them. And I'm not eating anything that came from your filthy pockets." Ciel sat back down on the bench, glass in hand. Trancy sat beside him, poking at the shortcake curiously, taking a little nibble from the edge.

"Not even on a dare?"

"No. Not even on a dare. Pockets are no place for pastries." Ciel laughed despite himself, looking at the crumbled mess of shortcake in Trancy's hand, pieces of it lying on the ground all around him as he munched on it. "Trancy you're positively disgraceful."

"They're not half bad... not as good as what Claude makes for me... but I found lemonade in the icebox..." He smiled and sipped his drink, waiting for Ciel to follow suit. He did so but cringed a little at the bitterness.... and what was that other taste? This wasn't anything Sebastian would have made for him. Must have been something Baldo made... he really is a terrible chef.... Ciel thought as he looked down into the glass and licked his lips, trying to identify the aftertaste.

"So, go on. Finish the game." He took another sip and held it in both hands, watching the yellowish liquid swirl in the glass, then running his finger around the rim as he waited for the question.

"Truth... or dare?" The blonde asked through a mouth full of pastry. He finished the last bite and brushed the crumbs from his hands and jacket, Ciel watched them fall to the ground with a look of utter disgust.

"Truth, I suppose."

"Are you really going to marry Lady Elizabeth when you don't love her?" Ciel nearly dropped his glass, looking at Alois wide eyed, tharn as a rabbit in the road. "You did say truth, after all." Alois shrugged, placing a foot on the seat of the bench to rest his elbow on his knee, chin held in the palm of his hand as he awaited the answer.

"I... I am... I mean I do... and we have been betrothed since... since we were children and..." flustered, he trailed off and looked at the ground, his cheeks reddened as he stumbled for an answer, his heart racing. He hadn't been prepared for a game to cut to the heart of the matter so quickly. He fiddled with his eye patch for a moment, then started to protest again when Alois cut him off.

"You do not. I've seen you with her. You don't love her. Not like a husband loves a wife." The blonde took another drink and licked his lips, smiling coyly. "You show your butler more courtesy than you show her." Trancy ran his finger around the top of his glass. "And I've seen you with him too." his smile grew, and he watched as the young Lord's cheeks deepened crimson, a few little beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. Ciel glanced again to the window where Sebastian had stood. Still empty. They were still alone.

"... hi-him? I'm sure I have no idea wh-" Trancy smiled at this, licking his lips slowly as he gazed at Ciel with knowing eyes.

"Sebastian." There was a long pause, the boys looking at one another, neither of them daring to speak for a moment, as though the weight of the accusation had deafened them. Ciel's hand strayed to the edge of the black eye patch again, looking away from Alois and down into his glass.

"... this game isn't fun anymore." Ciel said softly as he stood and Alois grabbed his hand, pulling him back down to the bench with a little jerk. The bluenette made a little sound of surprise as he was pulled back down and started to protest only to be silenced by Alois' words.

"You chose truth. So, are you really going to marry her even though you don't love her?" Ciel let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. There was a moment he was certain Alois was going to push the issue about Sebastian, and that wasn't a place Ciel was willing to explore in a game of truth or dare with the likes of Alois Trancy. He though for several moments in silence as Alois watched him, sipping his lemonade. "Well? Are you?"

"Yes. I suppose I will." Ciel replied. "It's what expected of me to carry on the Phantomhive name. She's a sweet girl, my cousin, and I do love her as my family. So perhaps it won't be so bad to marry her.... although she is terribly annoying." Alois giggled, kicking his feet childishly.

"Yeah, she's pretty bossy... and so are you, so that should be a great arrangement." Laughing heartily now, Alois repositioned himself, lying back against the bench, head laid back, eyes looking to the clouds. "Alright my turn!"

"So, choose then. Truth or dare?" Grateful to have the spotlight off of himself, the young Lord leaned back as well, his mind wandering back to the real question he had been asked, the one that sat silently between the lines of conversation. The one he wasn't prepared to answer.

"Truth!" Trancy answered, and Ciel took a moment, trying to think of a question A hundred questions ran through his mind, the most prominent of which was exactly why Alois was here without his butler, and how he could find out without being too direct.

"When you made your contract with Claude... did you think it would last this long?" Ciel asked, watching as Alois looked down at his shoes, fiddling with the glass in his hands, eyes averted. It pleased him to see the blonde uncomfortable now, seeing as he was so recently in the same position, and he smiled a little as he drank up the sight, certain it wouldn't last long.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... did you think he'd have eaten your soul by now? That is the final part of the contract after all." The blonde sighed and turned to look at Ciel, who fingered the glass in his hand as he waited. There was a notable change in the air, Alois now calmer, letting himself sink into the bench, quiet in his reflection of his past.

"I didn't think anything. I was desperate, and angry. I guess since then I've wondered how long he'll keep me before he... well, you know. I mean I never thought about how long it would last... " Ciel nodded in understanding. He had felt the same way at the moment his contract was made, binding him to the creature who would feast upon him, once given the opportunity.

"It's a strange thing. To know your fate but not the time of it."

"When your fate is being devoured, it's like watching the storm come. You see it, you watch it get closer and then there's that first drop of rain and you know it will be soon, and then it will be gone, like it was never there at all. But you don't know when that first drop will fall, or how long it's going to last when it gets there." Alois mused. Ciel looked at him, rather surprised something so eloquent could have come from the mouth of such a crude child. Ciel nodded in agreement before continuing.

"Did you think you'd still be alive now?" Trancy looked away from Ciel, the memory of that moment too close at hand.

"No. Did you?" Ciel paused, then shook his head softly.

"No. No, I don't suppose I did." Both of them went quiet, each lost in their own thoughts for the moment.

Sebastian stood now in the guest dining hall, near to the front window. He could see them from here, not as clearly as he'd have liked, but it would have to do while he finished preparing the tea and cakes. The shortcakes Mey-Rin had made were a disgrace and were quickly disposed of in favor of lava cakes, some of Ciel's favorite. As he waited for the cakes to finish baking, he listened, a little smile curling his lips. I don't suppose I thought you would still be here either, Bocchan. Although you have made life a bit more... interesting.