Rimuru and Iruma's Adventures in the Netherworld

Traveling Trips

Punctuation Key:

"Spoken dialogue"

'Quoting'

*Action*

Emphasis

Internal thoughts/talking to Ciel

[[Ciel talking]]

{{Thought Communication}}

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Iruma POV

After visiting with Clara and being led out of the Hubbub Forest, Azz separates from us, deciding to fly home from here. It's now pretty late in the evening, starting to get dark and stuff, so I was a little worried about Azz going home on his own, but he assured me he would be fine, and I took his word for it.

It's time to go home since Grandpa has told us the press was scared off by Ameri's dad and his men, just like he promised, meaning it's totally safe to return without having to deal with them all trying to interview us and stuff like at the Roosevelt Hotel.

Then I remember something; an important thing I haven't done yet since we've been so busy. I might as well do it now since I have the chance.

"Hey...Ciel?" I ask the woman standing nearby.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry..."

She stares at me blankly, not saying a word at first.

"I assume you are referring to your attempt to manipulate my actions, am I correct?" she questions, her eyes growing noticeably colder.

"Yes..." I sheepishly answer, my heart filling with a sinking feeling of regret at my actions.

"Sheesh, Ciel, that's a pretty harsh way of wording that," Rimuru complains.

"But that's what I did," I admit sadly, looking down at my feet, not able to look either of them in the eye.

"I was aware of what you are doing so my actions were my own decision," Ciel explains in her usual flat tone. "...but I will say that I did have a stronger reaction than I expected to them..." Ciel trails off.

"Even though I've said this a lot lately, just don't do it again," Rimuru interjects, lightening the mood with a cheery tone.

"But I feel so horrible about what I did..." I repeat.

"And to a certain extent, you probably should. That's how you learn a lesson, after all." Rimuru replies, patting me on the back. But, Rimuru isn't the person I need to apologize to right now.

"Is there some way I can make it up to you?" I ask Ciel.

After a brief pause, she opens her mouth again.

"No there is not," Ciel says in a cold, ruthless tone.

Then, in a puff of black smoke, Ciel is gone.

"..."

Even Rimuru seems surprised by her actions, standing there stunned for a moment alongside me.

"But..." I start to speak but my words catch in my throat and tears start to well up in my eyes.

This isn't a problem that can be fixed with a simple apology... at least with Ciel, it's not. She's clearly less forgiving than Rimuru.

I was hoping that expressing my regret would be enough and that I could do something for Ciel to make it up to her, now that I've already resolved the issue with Rimuru. But, it's not that simple; I really did do something absolutely terrible back there and I can't make up for it so easily.