The Final Curtain (Kuroshitsuji)

Chapter One: A Shocking Revelation and Several Changes

The room was full of people all looking at each other sorrowfully, adding to the nervous atmosphere hovering above them. Lau and Ran Mao stood by the window, exchanging confused glances. Elizabeth sat on the piano bench and sobbed on Paula's shoulder, prompting Agni and Prince Soma, who had been mourning nearby, to join in the attempt to comfort her. Tanaka, Bardroy, Mei Rin, and Finnian stood together nearest to the door, each with furrowed brows and dejected auras. At one point, Finnian squeezed his eyes shut, and tears began streaming down his face. Mei Rin pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and began to dry the boy's tears, while Tanaka rested his hands on the boy's shoulders in a fatherly fashion and Bard gently rubbed the boy's head. Even the Undertaker was there, standing alone next to a small end table, looking almost like a lost puppy.  It was, perhaps, the most solemn wake anyone could imagine, though the wake of the deceased Earl Ciel Phantomhive had passed several days ago.

Sebastian took a turn about the room, speaking to each person briefly. His talk with the Undertaker took a little bit longer than the others. When he reached the other Phantomhive servants, he spoke to them in low, gentle tones, as he had done to the rest of the visitors. Finally, he gave Bard and Tanaka each light pats on their shoulders, raised Finnian's head, and cupped Mei Rin's face before striding to the center of the room, calling everyone to attention.

He glanced at his pocket watch and sighed, putting it away as if it were irrelevant. This action on his part only served to further the queasy foreboding the others felt. Taking a deep breath, Sebastian said, "I don't suppose there's any use dawdling, nor do I believe there is any easy, clean way to go about this endeavor. I have brought you all here today because someone wishes to speak to you."

With that, the door near the servants opened, and in walked none other than Ciel Phantomhive.

The resulting buzz from the rest of the people in the room ranged from joy to panic.  Even Lau and Ran Mao seemed caught off guard.  Only the Undertaker kept his composure, merely raising and tilting his head in curiosity and near amusement.  Ciel held up his hand to the small crowd, refusing to look at them.  "Silence," he said, in just as irritated a tone as ever.  "I have something to tell all of you." 

A fearful and anticipatory silence settled over the whole room.  Although Ciel had clearly tried to keep his normal aloof attitude, he could not help it when that mask fell and was replaced by something that could almost be mistaken for guilt.  Standing with his back to Sebastian and his face towards the rest, he began to speak. 

"When I disappeared after the death of my parents and the destruction of my home, I was, in reality, captured by an underground cult.  I still to this day do not have a clear picture of their purpose, although fairly recent interactions with the remains of this cult have given me a decent clue. During my time there, they branded me, tortured me, and nearly killed me. It wasn't until the moment before I would have died that I resorted to what is called the Faustian contract."

Ciel paused a moment, debating the diction of his next sentence, ignoring the horrified gasps from various people in the miniature crowd.

"Moments later, I found my enemies lying dead all around me, and myself restored and bound to a demon who would act as my butler until the day I avenged my parents. On that day, he would devour my soul."

Bard, Mei Rin, and Finnian all glanced at each other briefly, so many past experiences suddenly making sense. Mei Rin stared at Sebastian blankly. At length, Sebastian looked her way, prompting her to look emotionlessly at her shoes. Sebastian, in turn, did the same, holding his head lower than normal.

Ciel continued to speak to the small crowd. "Doubtless this is connecting many inexplicable events in your minds. At any rate, there's more. The fire that ravaged this city - the one that Pluto caused - that was the day I got my revenge. The exact details are too complicated for me to explain to you lot at this moment, but the long and short of it is, an angel of massacre had corrupted Queen Victoria and led her to attempt to cleanse the country. That resulted, in part, with the annihilation of the Phantomhives, or at least that was the intention." Ciel paused to shudder at the thought of what had really happened to his parents.

"However, after my family had been avenged, complications arose. Sebastian found himself unable to devour my soul, as an injury sustained during the avenging battle caused the temporary loss of our contract seal." At this, Ciel removed his eyepatch and Sebastian slid the glove off of his hand with his teeth, both of them revealing the contract seal. The others all gasped once more. "This allowed another demon, this one rather a miscreant, to tamper with my soul. Once again, I'll not labor through the details of this with you. The result of that struggle ended with my becoming a demon and Sebastian remaining my butler." Ciel allowed his eyes to glow red in order to demonstrate, garnering more gasps from the rest of the people in the room.

Ciel's eyes returned to their normal midnight blue, and he once again donned the eyepatch. Sebastian followed suit with his glove, white as ever. "As it seems Sebastian is bound to me forever, and I do not appear to be dying unless killed in a certain way, I have decided to continue running Funtom as a demon. Obviously my - species, I suppose - is not a fact that anyone else need know. And besides, why let a perfectly successful and expanding company go to ruin like that? I will also continue to operate as the Queen's Guard Dog; no sense in letting England's Underworld go without proper control either. For all intents and purposes, I am back and I am staying - except, I realize, for one particular circumstance which is beyond my control, and I must mend that."

Ciel paused and took a deep breath.  "Soma.  Lizzy.  Please come forward."

Elizabeth and Prince Soma both obliged, looking bewildered and a little dazed.  They reached Ciel, who held out his hand to each.  He held Soma's wrist, palm facing upwards, and placed Elizabeth's palm down on it gently, grasping them together.  There was a moment of solemn silence before Elizabeth's eyes grew wide. 

"Ciel, no!" she tried to remove her hand, but it would not budge. 

"Lizzy-"

"I don't care if you're a demon, I don't care about all the things you and Sebastian have done!" Elizabeth exclaimed, her voice rife with desperation.  "I love you, Ciel, please don't-"

"Lizzy!"  Ciel's voice, previously a weary one, now silenced the entire room once more.  "This is the best, I promise you.  You have to trust me.  I know things you do not know."  He turned to Soma, who was standing as still and as shocked as if he had been turned into stone, his golden eyes wide and his lip nearly trembling. 

"Ciel..." Soma began, as if to make absolutely certain of the earl's decision.  Ciel just slightly nodded his head, somber as ever. 

"Take care of each other," he instructed them.  "And rest assured that this is the right way of things.  I promise."  He gave their hands a firm yet affectionate squeeze before releasing them.  "Now then," he said, closing his eyes and running his hand through his hair to fix it.  "I have things to do.  Life will resume as usual, more or less.  You may now all go about your daily business. Oh, and you four -" the young earl looked at Bard, Mei Rin, Finnian, and Tanaka, who still seemed to be processing the entirety of what had just happened. "I believe Sebastian will want a word with you soon." And with that, the earl departed from the room, followed by a Sebastian with a slightly changed demeanor.