The Test of Courage (a demon's pursuit) 6

Summary: Ciel continues into the Test of Courage, expecting demons and ghosts. What will come of it?

First Chapter | Previous: a haunted house

There was a flurry of whispers as soon as he reached the door leading to the outside, and Sebastian’s eerie smile followed him out of the seminar hall. Sebastian had come with him for a few steps, murmuring a cryptic: “Stay to the path, Phantomhive. Shadows follow you.”

Ciel went through the door and paused, wondering at the night air. He didn’t bother to reply, knowing Sebastian wouldn’t listen.

The dark path before him certainly suited the requirements for the Test of Courage. It looked as though it was straight from a ghost-story. A banshee or a Japanese ghost would be equally comfortable in the dark forest that lurked just beyond the building, and thoughts of Hansel and Gretel also sprang to mind.

Hesitantly, he began to look for the signs of where he was meant to walk. He found them in the form of little white stones, and they sketched the way as far as he could see. Ahead of him there was a fork in the path. On the left fork, a larger stone with a rope tied around it served as a quaint reminder that ‘this way is blocked,’ (a custom from traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony, Ciel thought) which successfully kept students from turning a wrong way. Ciel was soon under the white moon again, watching the indigo sky turn a deeper shade. He stepped onto the dirt path, and wondered briefly which way to go.

The wind seemed to laugh at him.

Soon he caught a glimpse of the trees again. With the knowledge of the local legend, the copse seemed ominous, the trees too straight and dark.  The closer he got, the darker it seemed. Is that a…sacred tree? He wondered, and his foot collided with one of the stones. It went skittering into the underbrush.

“Hello?” he called out quietly, hoping no one saw him destroy the path. He made the pretense of walking closer to the trees and with that moment, certain he saw what looked like a thick hay-spun rope the same thickness as his arm. The tree was circled with it, confirming his suspicion that it was considered sacred in the Shinto faith.

“Guess it’s not cursed after all…” Ciel breathed a sigh in relief. That ghost story was just another trick of Sebastian’s.

The wind blew. It felt like the touch of the dead, and its chill bit him to the very bone. Ciel hesitated for a moment longer, and then steeled himself. It was only a tree, and obviously there was no grave nearby. Moreover, he needed to replace the path-marker, or he might lead another student astray. He bent to go under the fence, and saw a sign: ‘Leave your paper here under the rock.’ (*1) So It was part of the test.  he thought.

Carefully, Ciel lifted the stone. He was struck with the image of the straw-rope swaying gently in the breeze. If he hadn’t had the foresight to hold the other papers down, probably they would flutter all around him like so many leaves in autumn. Ciel left his paper with the others, and then made his way back toward the building.

“Just one last thing.” He muttered to himself. The next part should be inside. Just one last chance for something creepy to happen…


Ciel looked to see if there were more white rocks to follow, but none caught his eye. He stood on tiptoes to peer into the glass pane of the door he stood before. At first, it seemed that there was nothing inside, just a long empty hallway. The building seemed particularly poorly lit from this vantage point, and the hallways echoed oddly. Perhaps the next step was to go back inside…


He opened the door and stepped through.

There was an empty hallway with several study rooms, and there was a quiet hum that made it all seem normal again. Then he glanced away, until something flickered at the corner of his eye. His head shot back towards the door, just in time to see a figure at the end of the corridor. A tall figure wearing a white kimono with long black hair seemed to be standing perfectly still.

His lungs felt like they were burning because he held his breath so long staring at the unusual sight. That has to be a teacher. A teacher in costume to help make this a scary adventure. This is a school sponsored event...it's a teacher in costume trying to scare me... Ciel tried to cling to his old disbelief in ghosts, magic and anything paranormal, in spite of knowing it was not entirely true because of Sebastian.  But even a demon wouldn't take them anywhere with a real ghost, would he?

Then the figure began to turn slowly, and Ciel knew that he must not let it see him. Sebastian was nothing if not a demon. Ciel suddenly had the feeling Sebastian was perfectly willing to summon a real ghost to their school event.

Ciel ducked inside one of the study rooms. He shut the door with a hasty push, and crouched to the side where he could still see the door, but was not directly in front of it. If he looked up at the right angle, he could see out into the hall. He peered out that window and noticed the figure had drawn closer unexpectedly fast. It was no longer at the end of the corridor, but standing before the door. Through the milky-white glass, Ciel could only make out the whiteness of its clothes, the paleness of its features.

His body felt heavy. As he struggled to make out details, to think of a way out of the abandoned classroom, Ciel's vision swam. The vertigo that had plagued him whenever someone roughly grasped his hand, or so much as touched the sensitive skin on his back, returned. He rested his weight on his heels, feeling the blood coursing through his veins, and darted to the side as the door jerked. Uncomfortable thoughts of that night made him feel short of breath; panicky.

There was a taste of icy cold air wafting in from the crack, and it rattled again.

Clatter, clatterclatterclatter.

Ciel, rather than being pinned to the spot with fear, was ready. His blue eyes were wide with concentration, and he stood on the balls of his feet. He balled his hands into fists.

The door rattled again, and this time light poured in from the hall as it reflected off the white fabric of the figure.

Ciel closed his eyes. When nothing supernatural happened, he opened them hesitantly.  A familiar teacher, dressed in modern clothes, stood before him.  

“Congratulations.” It was Charles Grey, Phantomhive Senior's representative and lookout at Ciel's school. His smile was faint, as though he could find several amusing anecdotes just in the way Ciel was holed up in the classroom with his small white hands curled into fists that would pose no threat. “You have successfully completed the Test of Courage,” Grey informed him. He stepped aside, the smile fast turning into a grin.

From beyond Grey, in the semi-darkness, a quiet laugh echoed. Ciel recognized it in an instant, and Sebastian soon revealed himself, his mocking eyes practically glowing in the dark. “I'm afraid you have returned out of order, Mr. Phantomhive,” Sebastian tsked softly. “Pairs six and seven have already found their places here...” Sebastian was beside Ciel with supernatural swiftness, and then his strong hands were supporting him again.

Ciel finally noticed the quaver in his shoulders. His cheeks flamed.

“You ought to reassure them of your safety,” Sebastian remarked, and that strange half-smile of his distracted Ciel from an angry retort.

Ciel swallowed and cast his gaze on Grey. He raised his eyebrows, demanding an explanation wordlessly.

“I trust there was no problem?” Grey was regarding Sebastian with mild suspicion, but nothing like the annoyance Ciel usually leveled Sebastian with.

“Well, let me go back in,” Ciel said gruffly. He couldn’t exactly explain everything with Sebastian right there. He just gave Grey another significant look, and hoped Grey would mention something to his father. Not that it'd make any difference, Ciel thought, annoyed. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, he thought ironically, remembering the Contract he refused. Aloud, he said, “Is everyone meeting in a different room?”

Sebastian followed Ciel's gaze, and he showed the pearly tips of his teeth. “Just through these doors. You'll find the students getting ready for the final address. Please, go on in.”

“We'll take role to make certain you are the only student who was late,” Grey added, shooting a curious glance at Sebastian.

When Ciel entered, a strange hush fell over the students. After a long moment, Ciel broke the silence. “Sorry I’m late. Were you waiting long?”

Then the whole room began to chatter, and the mix of language and voices made Ciel's head hurt.

”It was him! I knew it!”

”No, no, what if he's a real ghost?!”

And Soma's characteristic, “Ciel~~!!! Are you ok?!”

”What?” Ciel interrupted, pursing his lips. “What are you talking about?”

”Well,” one of the older boys began. Ciel recognized him as a popular soccer player. “You saw it, didn't you?”

”You saw the figure?” Another girl prompted. “That person that was here. The person in the corner.”

”No, it couldn’t have been him.” Ciel's classmate Sato shook his head. “He's way too short, yeah?” The playful spin on his words was lost in the following tumult. “Also, the voice was weird.”

”You were standing just there!” someone accused. “You were standing right  there, and it was like something was wrong with you.”

”No, he was outside! Nothing was in here with us.”

”It was someone else.” Another voice shot back angrily, too fast for Ciel to place it.

”But it was his voice, wasn't it? And what was wrong with his neck?”

Surprisingly, it was Cheslock who explained what they had all seen. “Everyone got back, except you, we thought...that you were in here with us. But then we heard someone say. 'Everyone is here.` And we saw something that looked like you...except that it was ...dark. And it laughed, and it couldn't have been you... And then it was like it wasn't there at all...” Cheslock froze as the door opened a second time.

They looked on in quiet horror at the black figure that walked, one slow step in front of another, to the head of the group. Sebastian smiled in that sardonic way of his, and in the light it seemed particularly well formed for a demon. Then he dropped his gaze, as would have been appropriate for a Butler of Victorian standing, and waited for their attention.

From the open door, Grey gave a grand smile nothing like Sebastian's. “Congratulations.” He repeated his salutations from before. “With this completion of the Test of Courage, each of you has gained some small amount of self-reliance and aptitude to continue even in the face of difficulty.” He looked up at Sebastian, but when the other didn't continue, he finished with an awkward smile. “We wish you the best of results on your future exams, be they at our fine school, or on the Entrance Exams elsewhere. In comparison,” here he wavered, and finally gestured for Sebastian to say something, apparently at a loss.

“Simple sheets of paper with problems like those you have faced in every classroom will seem easy in comparison,” Sebastian finished smoothly. “You will all surely perform at your best. Please. Let us go now with our hands clasped tight against the horrors of the night, and hold our heads high...” he gave a soft chuckle. “The worst of it has passed.”

Ciel ducked his head, walking swiftly toward where he'd left his school bag. He shouldered it just as Soma came up beside him.

“That was scary!” Soma beamed, but despite his apparent excitement, he patted Ciel once or twice as though to check Ciel was really there. Or maybe he was looking for injuries....

“It was just a walk in the dark,” Ciel muttered. “I don't know what they're talking about...what voice? Where?”

“You would make a scary ghost.” Soma commented vaguely, but pushed the question aside. “You aren’t a ghost, and you obviously weren’t here like they thought you were, and it was probably another kid. It wasn’t you, and you’re not dead.”

“Why,” Ciel began, “oh, never mind. But it sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself, not me.” He was annoyed.

“We have to walk back now, right? You'll be coming with all of us?” Soma asked hopefully.

Ciel shook his head, knowing he needed answers more than he needed the company. “I promised Professor Michaelis that I'd help clean up,” Ciel muttered. “Seeing that he's been,” he paused lightly, “such a big help recently.”  

Soma nodded his understanding, but his face fell. “He's probably got Agni, Professor Grey, and maybe some other people though,” Soma argued.


Ciel felt a cool presence behind him, and slight pressure on his shoulder made him wince. The chills returned, and his breath caught in his throat.

“I would be most grateful if you could stay but a moment, Ciel,” Sebastian murmured. “He shall not be long, Soma,” he added. “Agni would not approve of my keeping such a young child away from the others at this hour.” His lips twitched.

The panic that had risen in him was slow to calm, and the rushing and chattering of his classmates flowed over Ciel like the rumbling of water over rocks. He was barely aware of the time as they all filed out, nor was he conscious of the looks they gave him. Finally, they were alone again, and Ciel remembered exactly how disconcerting being one-on-one could be if your opposition was a demon.

He isn't exactly my enemy. Ciel mused. But who is to say he means me no harm?

Sebastian took two steps forward, his dark hair casting strange shadows on his face in the light. The moon shone in just the wrong way, casting Sebastian's already pale complexion into something unearthly. He knelt before Ciel in one smooth motion, his Butler's tailcoats fluttering like banners.

“Grey is waiting just outside the door.” Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “But I have a puzzle for you, Little Earl.”

“I'm not an earl,” Ciel replied automatically.

“Young master.” The irony there was palpable. “My first week is up,” he remarked, and said nothing further.

Ciel waited for a while before demanding explanation. “Why does it matter?”

“All contracts have rules,” Sebastian replied cryptically.

Something clicked in Ciel's mind. “You've been here a full week.” Ciel stopped to consider it. “Therefore?”

“Find me,” Sebastian demanded, and then he cupped Ciel's chin in one hand. The other hand was free to trace an unknown design on Ciel's eyelid, and then one on his lips.

“Let go!” Ciel demanded, breaking away as soon as he could.

“The others await.”

“I was supposed to be helping you,” Ciel reminded him, feeling awkward. “If I don't…”

Sebastian was shoving a small box full of glimmering white stones in Ciel's hands. He staggered. “Oh.”

“Deliver that to Agni, and consider your duty fulfilled.”

“I want to know what you're doing here,” Ciel said as he shifted the box. “I will find out.”

Sebastian only smiled, and this one was ill-suited. It showed only the red tongue against an unnaturally white face, and his red eyes gleamed with it. “And you would control me.” Sebastian tilted his head.

Ciel turned away without saying anything, his heart pounding. Truth told, he did not know why he insisted on staying with the demon. He supposed running away was out of the question-- none of his other attempts had worked. But was that reason enough?

“I will still have you,” Sebastian assured him. “If you only give me an opening...”

Ciel closed his eyes and turned away. “I will know everything,” he said, though it was not a real reply. It was a clumsy attempt to distract Sebastian, and he knew it. “Good night.”

“Sleep well, my lord.” Sebastian replied, and all the night filled his voice.

As Ciel rushed from the room and down the beaten path, the moon seemed to stare down at him cruelly. The biting wind had a message, too, and it was more than Sebastian's laughter. The world watched, and it recognized this game.

Ciel ran, struggling to catch up with the others.

---

tbc...

( Next Chapter: His Would-be-Master, resolved. )