𝙃𝙄𝙎 𝘽𝙐𝙏𝙇𝙀𝙍 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙊𝙍𝙄𝙂𝙄𝙉𝙎 𝙊𝙁 𝘼 𝘿𝙀𝙈𝙊𝙉

Chapter 2: The Trickster Caught

CHAPTER 2 - "THE TRICKSTER CAUGHT"

"Forgive me, my lord, but I am unfamiliar with this story," Sebastian said.

Sebastian had followed Lukas down to the basement storage area and watched as the master rummaged through a pile of items Ciel had collected over the years that had apparently been forgotten. Lukas said he was after a few specific things that would give him purchase to make Ciel to change his "miser" ways.

Even Sebastian was astonished at just how much Ciel had collected in their time together, that even he had forgotten about. In fact, he could say that the basement was nearly full of junk. However, there was a saying that one man's junk is another man's treasure, but by the level of dust, in Sebastian's eyes, it was all junk!

"The premise, Sebastian..." Lukas struggled in a tiny alcove to reach what he wanted, pulling out a length of rope, "is simple. I intend in duplicating the story written by the author Charles Dickens about an aging, stickler miser who detaches himself from his fellow man because he feels society itself has befallen him. In creating a ghostly atmosphere with smoke and mirrors, I want to draw the old Ciel out. The happy Ciel."

Sebastian held up an old table cloth that will eventually be cut with eye sockets, looking at it skeptically, to make believe to be a ghostly phantom. "But how will frightening your brother out of his melancholy during this time of year help him? I normally find to scare someone has the opposite affect."

Lukas coughed, stirring up some dust. "When was the last time this basement was cleaned?"

"Forgive me, sir, but your brother doesn't leave me much time for gratuities, I am very busy with cleaning above ground levels."

Lukas nodded. "A lot of this stuff can be thrown out if it has collected this much dust."

"You may want to ask your brother for permission as all this is all his he has accumulated over the years." Sebastian put down the bed sheet on a stack of dusty boxes, dusting his gloves off. "Frankly, I find it junk."

Lukas smirked. "Well, not everything here is junk." He dragged out a large and heavy portrait of his parents from a half-moon alcove. Ciel was in it, smiling, and was without the eye patch, sitting proudly in front of Vincent and Rachel Phantomhive. Obviously this family image had been painted before their parent's murder and Ciel's torturous ordeal. It was a reproduction of an original, Lukas knew, because everything had burned in the fire that took the original Phantomhive mansion.

"Your brother had that taken down only months before you arrived, my lord. He felt it brought back bad memories, as he, at the time, was the sole heir and head of the Phantomhive family."

"I would like it hung in my bedchambers if possible. Perhaps it will remind me of happier times."

Sebastian bowed. "I will instruct the servants to do so," the butler said. "Now, to further inquire about the story. Did it work?"

"Did the spirits succeed in making Ebenezer Scrooge change his miserable ways, do you mean? Well, not at first. It took the Ghost of Christmas Future to show him the true meaning of his ways - death - and henceforth, Christmas morning, he was a new man. The Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present were only a prelude to his fate if he did not change. His past he could not change, but the present was accumulative." Lukas rummaged through another cramped corner of the basement, kicking up dust. "Basically," his voice a little muffled, "the story relays to the reader that there's still good in all off us, even if we have been stuck in our ways for a long time, or have lost our way. Scrooge reminds me of Ciel."