A Healer's Soul (A Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji Fan Fic)

Prologue

Hey people! I decided that I simply had to write this before I went insane, so here's the prologue!! YAY! READ IT!! I'm trying to keep my Author's notes shorter, if you haven't noticed. But, before I go on a rant I'm going to stop myself so you lovely peoples of the interwebs can start reading my beloved Black Butler fan fiction. This is the offical start of A Healer's Soul, so go on and enjoy it! 1378 words in about an hour! Oh yeah! The next chapter should be up today or tomorrow, sorry this one's kinda short.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ciel sighed as the carriage approached the house. The city wasn't that exciting for him, but he preferred it to being constantly threatened by the explosions and such that his incompetent servants always set off. He leaned back and closed his eyes, trying to get in just one more moment of peace and quiet before the pyrotechnics show began. But he supposed it wasn't his problem, as annoying as it was. It was Sebastian's job to deal with the clean up while he sat in his office and signed papers all day. It was simply a joy to run the Funtom toy company and deal with his own estate's problems, never mind any assignments the Queen sent him on. That was his problem.

Ciel opened his eyes when he heard Sebastian's voice drift in from the driver's seat. "Young Master, we'll be arriving back at Phantomhive Manor in just a moment," Ciel looked out the window to see that they were indeed pulling up in the driveway to the house, if you could call it that. But it was a home to him, the only one he'd ever known. Ciel sighed once more as the carriage stopped. The wonderful quietness stopped with it, and Ciel winced as he heard the first explosion of the day, emanating from the kitchen, which he could imagine was charred and black already.

The carriage door opened and he shared a brief look of exasperation with Sebastian before stepping out and walking slowly up towards the door. Sebastian reached out to open the door in question for his master, when it was flung open by a startled-looking blonde who had half of his body blackened by soot, and was out of breath, panting heavily with his hands on his knees. The blonde stood up suddenly upon seeing his master and gave an unsure smile accompanied by a little wave.

"Good morning, Young Master!" He saluted.

"I see you've already managed to blow up the kitchen, Finny. Bardory's getting an early start today," Ciel replied, walking slowly past Finny, whose smile faded a bit before coming back.

"Sir!" He called as Ciel neared the middle of the spacious foyer, headed towards the grand staircase and then on to his office, "You've got a visitor here for you!"

"Oh?" Ciel turned around. He hadn't had any business meetings scheduled for today.

"Yes, she's waiting for you in your office, sir," Finny replied. Ciel visibly paled. She. Finny had said she, which could only mean one thing. Lizzy was visiting again. And his office was taking the full brunt of her cuteness attack. He sighed, placing a hand on his forehead and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths.

"Lady Elizabeth is here?" He asked in a small voice.

"No, sir. Another girl is here. She's about your age, though."

"Another girl? Who is she? If you've never met her before, why did you let her in, Finny?! Don't tell me she's a stranger seeking shelter here!" Ciel opened his eyes to glare at Finny, raising his voice just a bit as he did so.

"S-She's- I've never met her before, sir, but she-she said," Finny trailed off, shifting uncomfortably under the Earl's fierce glare. Sebastian stood off to the side, amused.

"She said what Finny?" Ciel asked impatiently.

"She-she s-said-" He began again.

"For God's sake, what was the girl's name?" Finny immediately calmed down after hearing this question, his smile returning to his face as he spoke.

"She told me she was the Lady Corianna Spyridon," Finny said proudly. The name meant nothing to him, of course, but he was proud nonetheless that he was able to do one thing right. It was Ciel's turn to go white as a sheet. His eyes widened and his jaw opened.

"Corianna?" He muttered.

"Yes, sir. Lady Corianna Spyridon," Finny repeated, but his words fell upon deaf ears, as Ciel had already bolted up the stairs and was sprinting down the hallway to his office. Even Sebastian looked surprised at his Young Master's reaction, before shaking his head and walking off to go and make some tea.

Ciel, in the meantime, had reached the door to his study and flung it open, out of breath and panting. It opened with a bang, making the room's occupant, who was seated warily on the couch, jump and look over her shoulder at Ciel. When she saw him, her eyes widened, and she immediately stood up, frozen besides that. They stared at each other for a few long moments, Ciel with his hand still flung out from opening the door, breathing hard, and Lady Corianna, standing wide-eyed behind the couch. After this sudden lapse in activity, Ciel and Corianna both stumbled over to embrace each other in the center of the room.

Ciel wrapped his arms around the girl, her head resting on his shoulder. They simply stood there in each other's embrace for a long time bafore Corianna looked up and, smiling, wiped her thumb across Ciel's cheek. Much to the Earl's surprise, it came away wet. He was crying for the first time since his parents died. Corianna gave a small smile, a lone tear trailed slowly down her cheek as well, before burying her head back into Ciel's shoulder.

They stood like that for a few seconds longer before Ciel snapped out of his shook and realised just how weak Corianna was. He whole body was shaking, not from her crying, but from exhaustion. Ciel mannaged to catch the poor girl just as her knees gave out, and he slowly lowered her to the floor, where they sat, still hugging. Ciel stroked Corianna's arm, still not quite believing she was really there, waiting for Sebastian to come. He didn't want to call the butler and ruin the moment, so he waited a few seconds for Corianna to calm down a bit before puling back slightly so he could see her face.

"Cory?" He prompted gently.

"I thought you were dead for the longest time, Ciel," Cory responded. Ciel bit his lip.

"I did too," He told her, not specifying whether he thought he was dead or he thought she was dead. He knew that he didn't have to though, because Cory would understand that he really meant both. She always did.

Cory smiled, looking up at Ciel's face. "That's okay though, because I'm here now," She replied.

Ciel couldn't help but give a weak smile back to his childhood friend. It was the least he could do, he reasoned. She'd obviously been through a traumatic experience to get to the Phantomhive Manor, which brought up the question, why? But Ciel held his tongue for now. He figured they both needed a little moment of peace before he started his interregation. It'd been over two years since he'd last seen Cory, he wasn't going to scare her off now, although he doubted he could do that. Cory wasn't a normal girl in any terms, and whatever you dished out she could take, and then some. Which brought Ciel back to wondering what had gotten her like this.

He sighed for the third time today. That doesn't matter now, he reasoned. All that matters is that she's here, and she's safe. That's more than he had believed possible for a long time. So, he pushed all his questions to the back of his mind and pulled Cory into his arms again, her head resting in the crook between his neck and his shoulder.

That's how Sebastian found the pair, still seated on the floor and in each other's embrace, when he strolled, unsuspectingly, into the room with his Young Master's tea.