Revelations part 2

Chapter 10

A puff of gray smoke floated up as a happy sigh followed from a puckered mouth. A pink tongue darted out to moisten them before the young man leaned back against the wooden railing of the cabin's porch and turned to look at his companion seated a few feet away. Shaking his mop of bicolored hair, he extended a slender arm to offer up the cigarette.

"You want a drag?" Dagger asked politely, smirking. Ciel frowned at the lit stick and shook his head negatively while waving it away. The senior chuckled at getting the response he expected and took another long drag on the tobacco. "Ahhh, yeah, that's the stuff." He hummed, blowing out more smoke.

"You know that smoking is really bad for you." Ciel informed, glaring at the cigarette as if it would bite him. "It causes cancer; they're pretty much death sticks." Dagger chuckled at the comment, brown eyes sparkling.

"Cancer? Really?" He joshed as blue eyes rolled at him. Reaching over, he playfully poked Ciel in the arm. "Does it keep you up at night worrying about things like being diagnosed with leukemia?" The young man swatted the intrusive hand away, frowning at the conversation they were having.

"You really shouldn't make light of things like that." He admonished, earning a wicked grin in response. "Cancer is nothing to joke about and neither is emphysema, which is what can happen when you smo-"

"Ciel, haven't you figured it out by now that something like smoking is nothing in the grand scheme of things?" He interrupted, flicking the butt away and placing his hands behind his head against the railing to stare skyward. "None of this will matter if we can't keep the forces of Hell at bay." Dagger spoke in a soft contemplative tone; sadness and fear lying under the surface as he chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Everyone we know and love will suffer horribly if we fail." He breathed.

Ciel glanced down to the ground, letting Dagger's words sink in and knowing he wasn't exaggerating. He worried his lower lip as he once again tried to accept the massive burden that had been placed upon his shoulders. Ciel knew his position; the blessing that had been passed through the Phantomhive bloodline to him and he was proud to uphold that honor. Yet, that didn't quell the feelings of insecurity that arose every time someone mentioned how important his role was in deciding the fate of humanity.

"But no pressure." Dagger's teasing voice breaking through Ciel's thoughts. He looked up to see the blonde grinning broadly at him. "Just the fate of humanity resting on your petite shoulders. No biggie." He purred, poking a long finger at Ciel again who swatted with appendage away even harder than the first time. Dagger laughed out and stood up, stretching long arms over his head before bending over to pick up his sword. "Come on, still plenty more to do." He nodded to the open space in front of them while heading in that direction.

Ciel grumbled lowly, not wanting to have to get back up just to have his ass make contact with the cold ground again in a few minutes. Father Spears had not been lying; Dagger was an excellent swordsman. His skill with various types of blades was astonishing whether it was swinging the broad sword, lunging with a fencing rapier or throwing short knives at a target; the black banged blonde had more than earned his nickname. Ciel on the other hand, was having a little more difficulty getting used to the differences between fencing and other types of weaponry.

To begin with, the weight of the blade was twice that of the fencing foil he had grown up using and as a result, the young man's center of balance was always off. This led to Ciel having to constantly readjust his position for offensive strikes and defensive moves which in turn made him vulnerable to all of Dagger's attacks. On the upside, having trained in the sport of fencing for so many years, Ciel was incredibly light on his feet; however, no matter how fast he was, his instructor was always just a little bit quicker.