Wake of the Dead

London is as dry as a desert. The wind that the ocean brought is hot, and the land is parching
to the already smoldered flesh of the survivors. The cry of the victims of the second London
Fire is endless, and screeching to the ears.

The casualties of the fire were piled up to almost unbelievable quantity, and the damages
were not even pitiful. No matter where one directs his eyes, he would see the cruel mark of
the tragedy.

Elizabeth closed her eyes as her carriage strolled down the obliterated street. It was heart-
wrenching to see the state of the place, and to stare straight at the eyes of those helpless
people scattered with tattered clothes and filthy flesh; or to those burned and dead bodies of
the victims.

She clasped her hands tight and lowered her eyelids when she saw a wrapped baby on the
floor, its lips purple and its skin white as snow. Beside it is an old woman, her lower body
sandwiched by fallen debris.

“The fire turned the city black…” Elizabeth muttered softly.

Paula turned her dazed eyes to Elizabeth and saw the pain in her face. “Miss Elizabeth, please
strengthen yourself. No matter how the place suffered, look, we are still alive.” She said and
in her mind doubted her own words.

Lizzy did not respond and looked up as the Phantomhive mansion came into view. What was
once a grand manor was now gone, left only of incomplete burns and ashes. The place was
silent as they made their way down.

Paula went out first and gently pulled Lizzy out from the carriage. She saw Sebastian walking
towards them from the entrance of the house, his hospitable smile already welcoming them.
He was wearing his usual dark and brooding clothes, and it flipped back as a cold wind whirled
and blew it.

When he was already a foot from where they stood, Sebastian bowed. “Welcome, Lady
Elizabeth. Ciel is waiting for you inside.”

They followed the butler and waited as he opened the door inside again. Did Lizzy truly
believed everything was real, and that Sebastian was escorting them to where Ciel is? The
palace is very silent, even the pendulum seemed suspended.

Then in the midst of the silence, they heard the distant sound of a bell ringing its mourning
wail. Sebastian smiled at them.

“Then, Lady Elizabeth, to Young Master’s room…” he said then proceeded to walk.

Their footsteps echoed and disappeared in the stillness of the palace, fading in the darkness
beyond the unlit room. Paula was following behind Elizabeth and Sebastian.
Stopping in front of a lofty door, Sebastian turned to them. “Please.” He said then pushed the
door open, waving expressively his hand inside the room.

Elizabeth started to enter. No, she can’t enter at all. Her foot seemed glued on the floor, and
her body seemed frozen with time.

“Young Miss, he’s waiting for you…” Paula said from behind her. Her soft and gentle voice
broke into Elizabeth’s reverie. Sebastian merely watched as they entered the room.

Everything inside was grand, as if the fire had not devoured it. The window curtains were
designed and opened, allowing the daylight to enter the room. There were wines served at the
bedside table, along with the arranged flowers and a picture of the Phantomhive Family.

Ciel turned to Lizzy when they entered the room. The patched in his eye was still there, and
he was dressed formally with a white flower at his left pocket.

“Lizzy…” Ciel said in his casual voice and extended his arm, the blue ring that circled his
thumb sparkling under the light.

“Ciel…” Elizabeth muttered under her breath and took a tentative step towards him. “…Ciel.”
She said again and started to run towards him.

Her foot stepped over the hem of her skirt, and she started to fall. She doesn’t know why, but
everything happened too slow.

“Young Miss!” Paula exclaimed and started to come near her but Sebastian was faster.

Elizabeth fell to her knees. There was… something strange about everything that’s happening.
She looked up and saw Sebastian holding his hand to her.

“Sebastian…” she said and held his hand.

“Lady Elizabeth, I’m sorry.” He said and pulled her up. Elizabeth turned her eyes from the
butler to Ciel but he was no longer there.

He disappeared.

In the dark?

Where did Ciel go?

Asking for an explanation, she looked back at Sebastian…but he was not Sebastian at all, it
was Tanaka.

She took a step back. Suddenly, the grand room turned into a dark and cold space. At the
center, Elizabeth saw Ciel lying motionless…breathless…dead.

And a wail of cry escaped her throat.

Her young heart begun to beat fast, but her breathing was labored. A cold hand was trying to
clutch her heart tight, she lifted her hand and covered her mouth.
“Ciel…”

Suddenly she seemed to be surrounded with hot flame, and at the center she saw Ciel’s
bloody body. His blood formed a symbol on the floor.

She shook her head.

She sobbed.

Paula walked towards Elizabeth but did not touch her. The people around who came to Ciel
Phantomhive’s funeral watched his fiancé deny the reality.

Tanaka, who escorted Lady Elizabeth, took a step back to give room to her.

It was easy not to cry. Oh yes, it was easy not to cry. But when Elizabeth turned around, her
stealthy tears kept on pouring down. She allowed tears to flow down as she looked at the
melancholic face of Ciel, the only person she loved and cared. Lifting her hand, she laid it at
Ciel’s cold face.

“How come…you left so easily? You haven’t shown me your smile, Ciel…” she said and her
tears continued to flow.

“Young Miss…” Paula does not know how to comfort her, so she just laid her hand over
Elizabeth’s shoulder.

Lizzy turned to her, and Paula saw the extreme pain and grief in her eyes. Bridging the gap,
she hugged her tight. Elizabeth simply allowed herself to be cuddled.

“Hush, now…”

At the far side of the room, Ciel watched Elizabeth cry her heart out. Sebastian was standing
beside him.

“Young Master,”

Ciel closed his eyes for a moment. “She’s always crying.”

Sebastian looked at Elizabeth. “Yes. Her love for the Young Master is real and deep.”

Ciel did not respond and rested his head on the wall. “Have I used all the pawns, Sebastian?”
he asked softly and looked up at his butler.

“No. Young Elizabeth has never been a pawn to you. The Young Master cares for her too, and
could not use her for his own purpose.” Sebastian answered and met his master’s eyes.

Ciel tsked and looked away. “Why did you not continue it?”

“Because the contract is not binding anymore, and I want to serve the Young Master longer.”

“Even if…” Ciel turned his eyes to his dead body on the coffin. “…I’m dead?”

“No, not dead. Your soul is still by my side, and my duty to you never ends.”
Ciel sighed. “When will she stop from crying?” he asked, his eyes on Elizabeth.

Sebastian merely smiled. Ciel sighed again. “Let’s go.”

Elizabeth sobbed endlessly. She does not know how to accept that Ciel is gone, and that she
lost a very important person. It hurts… too much that she thought she could not stand the
pain anymore. Paula’s hand was keeping her strength to stand.

Ciel…is a good person. Although he never told her he cared, she could see from his eyes and
actions that he did. How can the people around them understand what she was going
through? Ciel left…without words of farewell and with love forever left unspoken.

She looked up when she heard the gasp of the people. Blue petals, the very same petal of the
flower Paula made a ring from, they were swaying down from the ceiling. Elizabeth watched
the endless shower of the petals.

She closed her eyes tight.

Ciel…

Outside the room, Sebastian watched what was happening inside. “She knew…” he said to
Ciel’s back.

Ciel did not turn to look inside and continued to stare at the dark hallway. “She will
remember…that I will always be by her side.”

Sebastian turned to his master. “Young Elizabeth will. She can feel the Young Master with the
blue petals.”

Ciel was silent for a moment. “Sebastian,” he said softly.

“Young Master.”

He lifted his hand and caressed the patch over his eye. “This is my order…” Holding it tight,
Ciel pulled it away. He turned his head and looked at his butler. “…protect Lizzy with
everything you have!”

Sebastian studied his young master for a moment, then a small smile spread his face. He
lifted his hand to his chest and bowed a little.

“Yes, My Lord.” He stared at the floor of the hallway. When the heart makes its way towards
the mind of a human, their rational thinking always are clouded. Will you give your second life
to protect the Young Elizabeth, Young Master?

Ciel’s eyes clouded when he saw Elizabeth open her palm for the falling petal. Shaking it away,
he turned his gaze back to his butler. “We will be taking our leave.”

Sebastian watched him walk away until he was devoured by the darkness. Giving Elizabeth a
last glance, he started to follow his young master.
Aye, Young Master, I will protect her. I think I understand now why you go to such extent …
after all, you are still but a human.