A Promise is a Promise (Black Butler Fanfiction)

A Promise is a Promise (Chapter 6) Up in Flames

Alois pushed past Ciel and ran into the room. He froze on the spot when he noticed the fire. What's going on? Ciel thought again. It's like they're trying to keep him from seeing the blaze...

Alois stared for a moment longer, then backed away slowly and slumped to the floor. "It's burning..." he murmured.

Ciel took a few steps towards him. "Alois?" Hannah looked down.

Ciel took Alois by the shoulders. The boy was shaking. "That's it," Ciel said, turning to the maid, "I want to know just what is going on here!"

Hannah decided to risk explaining; she doubted Alois was in any condition to beat her over it. "When the Master was younger, the village he lived in was burned to the ground one night. He was the only one left alive. His brother..." -She swallowed, and looked away almost guiltily- "His brother was killed too. The memory still haunts him, and he has been afraid of fire since then."

Alois looked up at Ciel. His eyes were wide with terror. He really is scared, thought Ciel. He knelt down beside the trembling boy and put his arms round his shoulders. "Look, everything will be all right. Sebastian and Claude will put the fire out." he said, trying to calm Alois down, and realizing his experience with comforting people was almost zero. Alois whimpered, and flung his arms round Ciel's waist. The fire behind them roared up.

"Where is he?" Sebastian muttered grimly, and went in search of Claude, Hannah on his heels.

"Hey. We need to get out of here," Ciel said, pulling Alois away from him slightly. The smoke was beginning to creep along the floor towards them. He tilted the boy's face to look at him. "Do you hear me, Alois?"

Alois gulped. "It's going to... get me... I'm scared..." he said, choking on his sobs.

"Listen, the fire won't get you. I won't let it. Claude and Sebastian will be back soon with the water." Ciel replied, but Alois wasn't listening. He buried his face in Ciel's dressing gown as the blaze whooshed upwards again. This is bad, thought Ciel, noticing the smoke was getting closer. My asthma... I have to do something. He's too scared to move.

Ciel racked his brains. Finally, he decided that there was only one thing he could do to calm Alois down. Coughing on the smoke, he took him by the shoulders. "Alois!" he choked out. "I love you!"

All of a sudden the roar of the fire seemed to go silent. Alois lifted his tear-streaked face from Ciel's chest and blinked at him. "What?" he mouthed.

Ciel blushed hard. "I said I love you, you idiot! And there's nothing I can do about it. So stop crying, and let's go!"

Alois stared at him for a moment longer, then opened his mouth to say something. The last thing Ciel saw was Sebastian running through the haze towards them, before he blacked out.

--

When Ciel awoke, he found himself lying in his bed upstairs. The sun was high in the sky, and was shining brightly through the window. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. Looks like I got at least a few hours sleep then, he thought to himself. He glanced down at Alois, who was still fast asleep, his arms wrapped tightly around Ciel's waist as if he might suddenly disappear. Ciel smiled a little. As if I could go anywhere with you clinging onto me like that, he thought. As if I would want to.

Alois stirred, and woke up. He blinked repeatedly in the bright light, then sat up. "You're awake before me?" he asked in mock surprise. There was no sign of the previous night's trauma in his voice. "So miracles do happen."

"Oy!" Ciel replied indignantly, swatting at Alois. Alois grinned and dodged, then suddenly grew serious. "What you said last night, before you passed out... did you mean it?" he asked. 

Ciel blushed, and flopped back down. "...Of course I did. There's no way I would ever say something like that... unless I meant it."

Alois looked momentarily taken aback, then suddenly hugged Ciel, laughing in delight. "Whoa!" Ciel exclaimed as Alois glomped him, almost squashing him flat.

"I'm so glad! I thought maybe I was hearing things, or the smoke had addled your brains or something and you didn't know what you were saying, but now I know you really meant it. I'm so happy." he said.

"Thanks for that," Ciel commented drily, then groaned. "Gedoff, you're heavy!"

Alois laughed again, and shifted his weight off Ciel, wiping his eyes.

"Come on, no more tears, happy or otherwise. Good grief, I swear you must have cried enough to fill the Thames!" Ciel said. He frowned, and wiped away a bit of grey dust that was still sticking to Alois' cheek.

Alois grinned. "You're right," he said. He looked at the clock. It read 10:30 AM. "It looks like they're letting us sleep in," he said. He lay back down. "Turn over," he said to Ciel. Ciel did, and Alois snuggled into him from behind, nestling his chin in the crook of his neck. "So what happened last night, after I fainted?" Ciel asked. "I mean, one minute I'm trying to get you to stop panicking, the next I'm waking up here."

"I don't really remember much. Sebastian, Claude and Hannah came back with the water, just as you passed out, I think. Claude carried me upstairs while Sebastian rescued you, then came back down. Hannah must have put the fire out by herself. Stupid tart actually did something right for once." Alois explained, then added "I suppose I was still in too much of a state to take much in."

Ciel opened his mouth to enquire why Alois seemed to hate the maid so much (By this time he had realized that Hannah was not human), when he was interrupted by a knock on the door. It was Sebastian. Noticing Ciel was awake, he asked "How do you feel this morning?"

"Fine," Ciel replied, glancing back at Alois, who for some reason was pretending to be asleep.

"Good. Now then..." Sebastian said, looking sternly at Ciel. Now that he had confirmed that his master was not at all unwell from the previous night's incidents, he got straight to the point. "What on earth were you thinking, my lord?! You should have gotten out of the fire immediately! Had I not returned when I did, you might have been burned alive! And what would I have done if your asthma returned because of the smoke?" Sebastian scolded.

"Eh..." Ciel gulped, having an answer to none of these questions, and wondering just how he could get out of this one.

The butler sighed. "Honestly my lord, you should be more careful." He went and fetched Ciel's clothes from the chair beside the bed, as Claude came in.

Alois, who was lying with one eye open, smirked. He was finding the sight of Ciel being told off like a little kid rather amusing.