Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

"Only one more week to go." Lizzy crowed, jiggling her intended by his upper arms. "Oh Ciel, darling, I'm so excited! Aren't you? Aren't you excited too?" Lizzy still bounced and giggled in spite of her nineteen years of demanding lessons on self-control, courtesy of the stern Marchioness.

Not in front of her mother, of course, she'd learned that much. But here, they were alone…well, mostly alone, so her happy mood translated into movement and her eyes and thoughts were only for her beloved fiancé.

And Ciel? Ciel Phantomhive turned a helpless glance across the garden, behind the gazebo, to where Sebastian was standing, acting as chaperone. They had just sent Paula inside to fetch Elizabeth a stole for her shoulders. Even in May the south of England can be chilly, but especially as the sun begins to dip below the horizon as it was just about to, and the blue shadows begin to creep stealthily over the landscape. The sun had already hidden its bright face behind the thick belt of trees surrounding the grand estate and the sounds of night were beginning to overtake the cheerful birdsong of day.

Bats careened overhead. An owl plummeted down right in front of them, onto the lawn, There was a tiny shriek which made the young blonde jerk in surprise then turn her face from the miniature life and death struggle playing out before them.

The boy signaled the butler with a nod. It was time.

A chill finger seemed to slide down young Elizabeth's back as she looked up and saw that the butler had silently joined them inside the gazebo. Suddenly there was something in the air, a heavy foreboding Lizzy didn't like.

Not at all.

"Meat," Ciel said, seemingly apropos of nothing in particular.

"Wh- what?"

"That is what we reduced him to," the earl whispered.

"What?" Lizzy stared. "Who? Who are you--"

"The last underworld criminal the young master and I were obliged to run to ground and eliminate by order of the Queen." The butler supplied. His back was to the setting sun and his face and form were completely lost in deep shadow as he loomed over the girl. Unobserved by the two young people the butler gestured with an intense expression toward the house. A small burst of power left him as he assured the ladies' maid Paula would not be leaving Miss Elizabeth's room until the young master had had his say.

"And right here," the young earl continued, pointing, "right where you're sitting, in fact, is where Sebastian tore the head off an assassin sent to kill the both of us. Sent by the Italian Mafia. Again." The young man rolled his eyes as if at a tired joke that had long since stopped being funny. 

Elizabeth leaped up and pulled her skirts away from the indicated spot, her eyes wide.

"Third time this month," the butler remarked. "Most tiresome." Even in the gathering twilight both the butler and master could see the young lady's face paling. She looked down at the painted bench seat, searching for evidence of their gory tale.

"They certainly are persistent," Ciel added with a dry bark of a laugh. The butler busied himself snugging his gloves while thinking back on what a satisfying evening that had been.

"There were three pairs of them, you see," Sebastian continued, "each man with a helper, six in all. They came from the trees behind us, from three different directions. I dispatched four here. The master shot the last pair right in his own bedroom. The leader was most persistent. He got so far as to begin choking your fiance' in his own bed." The young woman's hands crept up to her throat as she listened with her mouth agape. Clearly Sebastian's retelling was quite vivid to her. "Luckily our young lord always sleeps with his pistol loaded and tucked beneath his pillow, safety off. The last villain was shot dead right across the young master's legs and bled all over the mattress. If you look where you'd been sitting Miss Elizabeth, you may see the stains and scuff marks from the four I dispatched still here in the woodwork. We've not had time for Finny to scrape and repaint the gazebo yet. Of course it shall be done before your ceremony is conducted here next week," Sebastian assured with a sinister smile. "And it goes without saying we shall hire assassins of our own to fill the woods on the day, just in case anyone is fool enough to attempt interrupting your ceremony with murder and mayhem." The young lady stared, her eyes wide.

"We certainly can't have heads and limbs flying about during the service now, can we?" said the earl.

"Whatever would the Marchioness say?" The butler grinned.

"Might get into the finger foods," said Ciel with a wicked smirk.

Ciel drew near his fiancee' and added with a confiding tone as though he were sharing an amusing secret, "Sebastian, you know, he doesn't much care for pistols or weapons. He likes to tear them apart with his bare hands when he catches them," the young earl finished with a congenial pat to the butler's slender shoulder.

Sebastian grinned back warmly. "They make superior snacks, and as an added bonus, when properly composted, they make excellent fertiliser for the roses." They shared a look, each grinning ear to ear. The young woman saw it and rightly interpreted it as an intimacy she would never understand or be part of.

She took a step back. "That's right, Lizzy," the young master grinned and leaned in closer. "You see the truth is…" and here Ciel lowered his voice so only the young woman and the lurking demon could hear, "he's not actually… entirely… well, human."

"What?!"

"Well I mean look at him!" Ciel suddenly crowed. And right on cue Sebastian favoured the young lady with a rare show: the fearsome appearance he generally reserved for thugs, thieves and assassins right before he killed them, or hapless humans whose souls he intended to swallow. It included glowing, fiery eyes and a slithering, visible aura of darkness that began to spread, whipping and twisting about his lithe body like his own private maelstrom. "You see, Lizzy, in exchange for his loyalty and services, I've promised my soul to him. He's a demon. My demon." The young man said, smiling warmly. "And since Sebastian here will be devouring my soul not too long from now and leaving you a very young widow, well, we thought you really ought to know."

"C-ciel, what— what are you saying?"

"I'm saying he's a devil, I'm damned, and we like it this way." The young man slung his arm around the butler's neck and gave him a far warmer embrace than young Lizzy had ever received from him. The young man laughed and smiled at his intended. "Why did you think I insisted on a wedding out here in the garden instead of in some church or cathedral?" the boy laughed. "Of course you won't be able to tell anyone. Sebastian will see to that."

"Don't be ridiculous!" the girl shouted and the demon's eyes flared. "I cert— wi--erq!" The young woman gagged, clawed at her throat and writhed, unable to draw breath. After a moment's struggle she went rather rigid, her back arched and she nearly toppled over backwards. It would have been a terrible, possibly even a fatal accident, if Sebastian hadn't caught her right before her head slammed into the gazebo bench.

"Careful Miss Lizzy," the demon whispered in her ear, his hands sliding over her body in ways she'd always dreamed she'd be touched by Ciel one day—but this was not Ciel. His breath ghosted across her throat raising all the hair on the girl's body as she strained away from him. "You wouldn't want to crack that pretty skull of yours like an egg, would you?

"Now calm yourself," he continued softly, and the words seemed to have a power to them the young woman could not deny. "You'll find you can breathe and speak as well as ever, so long as you harbour no intent to tell anyone what we've just revealed to you. Do you understand?" His last three words seemed to ring with special significance in her head: a promise and a warning.

Sebastian then smiled and returned her to a standing position. Immediately she twisted out of his grip and stumbled backwards out of the gazebo and off into the night.

Sebastian stood looking out into the darkness, arms crossed casually over his chest, a wry smile on his face. His master joined him at his side.

"Hm," the boy mused. Off in the darkness they both heard the unmistakable sound of someone coughing up roast pheasant, spring greens and cabinet pudding, followed by the sound of a pair of feet running on gravel, fading off into the distance.

"D'you suppose it was something we said, my Lord?" quipped the demon with that deadly smirk of his.

Three days later they were informed by letter the wedding was off.

Chapter Text

It was early morning, just after Ciel had begun working on a report he needed to write for the Queen, when the large bronze knocker on the front door announced a visitor. Sebastian frowned. They hadn’t been expecting anyone. Reluctantly, he put aside the mint pudding he'd been preparing for that night's supper, donned his coat and went to answer the door.

A few dead leaves scraped and tumbled across the porch, dancing on a sudden, brisk wind. But the storm he felt approaching had nothing to do with the weather. He couldn’t decide which sight annoyed him more: a furious Aunt Frances, looking like a particularly cringe-worthy statue on the front lawn, or the grumpy-looking old priest who was just climbing out of the carriage behind her.

“Marchioness Midford," he called, "what a surprise. And how may I help you today? Did you come to discuss something about the wedding with the Young Master?

“Certainly not. My daughter has made her decision and I respect that. I am not giving her to a man who consorts with some decadent-haired demon. In fact, Father Merrin is here with me today to exorcise both you and this place. Of course, given most demons don’t brush childrens’ teeth or serve tea, I only told him about a “demonic influence.” We put Elizabeth in a special clinic where she’ll be able to rest until I can test the veracity of what she wrote us. But I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if every bit of it turned out to be true.”

“Please do not worry or waste your time, Marchioness, young Elizabeth is almost certainly in her right mind.”

“Either way there’s no way I’d spend more than one supplementary second in your company.”And with that she turned and headed back towards the carriage. He briefly thought about telling her yet another killer sent by the Ferro family had just slaughtered her carriage driver and quietly taken his place while she'd been talking, but what happened outside the manor was none of his affair.

The old priest hadn’t noticed a thing; he just kept walking straight on, eyes closed and crucifix aloft, mumbling prayers and imprecations.

***

“You know Sebastian, there is one thing I wonder,” the young Lord said after hanging up the old cardigan he’d just put on so he could greet his aunt properly dressed. “Why was there an old monkey praying in my closet just now?”

“It is my duty as a butler to remove every obstacle from a visitor’s path, is it not? But after I stepped aside, opened the front doors for him and even moved a table, I couldn’t very well dig a hole through the wall for the old barmpot. Since he kept marching straight ahead with his eyes closed, I assumed he was some sort of clockwork,and wished to put himself away, so I obliged him.”

“Very funny, demon. But of all things, what is a holy man doing in this house in the first place? Why did you...?”

“He was a gift from your aunt Frances. I did not particularly appreciate it, but he seems harmless enough. I do feel a bit nauseous when I walk past his closet, but beyond that, nothing spectacular...must be a mere level 1 religious.”

“Well for God’s sake, let him come out of the closet!”

Sebastian furrowed a brow, working out the exact meaning of this sentence, but ultimately did as he was ordered. Despite what the butler had said about the man’s powers, Sebastian was not feeling entirely well when in the same room with the cleric. The butler was sweating profusely when he finally let their guest out to join the young Lord. He had no idea what to do for the situation beyond that. Ciel’s eyes clearly indicated he didn’t want him to harm a priest, but on the other hand Sebastian was not sure he could utilise his full  powers while the old man was on the premises, either. If someone -say the Ferro family for instance- were to choose that moment to attack the manor, it could become quite a serious problem.

And if the old monkey managed to successfully exorcise his young master, it could destroy their contract and Sebastian’s supper could be purified and on the loose again. Or worse yet, Sebastian might find himself a butler for all eternity. He could -at least potentially- even burn up or dissolve.

Charming.

***

While his butler was trying to work out some useful plan of action, Ciel was having tea with Father Merrin, after having finally convinced him that talking together was a better way to identify the 'demonic problem' in his household. Also that pouring salt on all the Manor’s door steps and over the floors and carpets was hardly something one commonly did when inviting oneself into another Englishman's home.

The poor man had taken this advice to heart, but was now feeling very uncomfortable since he'd asked about Ciel’s childhood (as you do,) then clumsily blessed the young man to make up for what he'd been put though and as an apology for the priest's making him recount it. That’s the reason why I sought help from a demon in the first place. He was actually useful, Ciel mused archly behind his polite smile.

Suddenly inspired, the Earl began speaking about his encounter with Angela, carefully skipping the parts where she was a crazy zoophilic murderess. It worked! The priest was so excited about how the boy had had a vision of a supreme angel, a cosmic androgyne, he started looking at Ciel as though he were some sort of beatified demi-god. Which, to Ciel, was both soothing and rather droll.

At that point, the old man was completely overcome and his judgement stopped being anything like reliable. And that was the moment Sebastian put his grand plan into play, in the form of (wait for it)... a cat. Ciel’s allergies instantly kicked in: his nose itched, then twitched, then started to dribble, as soon as the beautiful black animal slunk into the room. The earl leapt up and sneezed violently several times. Then he doubled over and started sneezing uncontrollably. Then he came out in spots. Rather prominent ones, raised, and rosy and unmistakable. Naturally, there was only one possible conclusion...

“DEEEMOOOOON!!!” howled the priest, and leaping unsteadily out of his chair he began to chase the horrified cat who puffed out like a static electricity demonstration and ran for it.

Finally he cornered her, the priest sure it was the cross he was shoving in her face which was causing the traumatised feline to spit and shiver. He locked eyes with the beautiful creature and sloshed holy water over her paws. The cat, who by now was a bit thirsty, licked up the little pool of water on the floor while the old man yelled his prayers with just the whites of his eyes showing. Quite disturbed, the Earl began having a real asthma attack. This, and the cat’s escalating war cries convinced Sebastian to overcome his revulsion and step into the room. He took his master in his arms, waiting for him to calm down despite the surreal atmosphere and both species’ screams and imprecations.

It took a while to complete the exorcism. The cat almost got smoked in the process because the Father was swinging his thurible so wildly that at one point, the censer swung clean around and just missed clipping his own ear, singeing quite a lot of hair instead. After a few hours, however, Ciel was officially pronounced squeaky clean, infernal influence-free and Heaven-ready. The happy but exhausted old priest finally tottered off, chanting prayers all the way. Though worried for everyone’s sanity -especially the poor cat's- Sebastian felt immensely relieved to see the back of the old thing as he clambered into the Marchioness' carriage.

It was the same holy man who gave Aunt Frances’ eulogy the following Friday,* and three days after that, declared Ciel and Lizzie man and wife. (He had personally assured her everything was back to normal at the manor after which she'd happily (read 'willfully') put everything else she'd seen and heard out of her mind and started making plans again. The poor priest, on the other hand,  never returned to his normal state of mind after that day. Little did the young couple know he was going to be writing them long letters every Sunday to talk about angels and beatification.)

During wedding the ceremony, Sebastian held the black cat on his knees. He and Ciel had officially adopted the sleek creature thanks to the antihistamines the Green Witch had kindly provided them.

Sebastian leaned towards a furry ear and whispered: “By the way, thank you so much for what you did last week."

To which the cat replied "Think nothing of it, my friend. You were right about the humans though; what the Hell is wrong with them?”**

________

*Yes, so, someone killed Frances' carriage driver, took his place, then drove her to a secluded spot where ten men were waiting, intent on taking her captive until they could extort a ransom from Ciel. This was not to the Marchioness’ liking, so she killed them all and tried to come back home. Of course women were never taught how to drive carriages in the Victorian era, so she detached a horse and climbed on its back and yelled “yaaa!”. But the animal took the opportunity to claim its own freedom, jumped sideways, and she fell off, sadly skewering herself on one of the henchmen’s swords.

The horses lived happily ever after.

**Ditto the cat.