Kuroshitsuji Fan Fiction ❯ Commodities ❯ Chapte 4: Do You Wish? ( Chapter 4 )

Commodities: Chapter 4

The ruins fell away and he could hear the ocean surf pounding in his ears, its stormy temper flowing around him. He could see himself clinging to the reef pitifully as the waves beat him against the coral, tearing at his hands. He remembered how helpless he had felt then, how incredibly human he seemed. A contract gone terribly wrong, broken at the worst moment, leaving him without the abilities he had been born with in the depths of Hell, almost human.

He remembered how the salt had stung his eyes. It was like unholy tears sent to blind him. He could almost feel the water in his nose, down his throat, closing everything down on him. Was this what it felt like to die? He was losing his grip on the reef, slipping farther and farther down. Would the waves be able to crush him against the rocks in his weakened state? Would sharks come to the scent of his strange blood? He remembered all the questions swimming in his delirium. How had it all gone so terribly wrong?

Then there was her, his stormy angel, skimming over the cresting waves like a moonbeam. The ocean bowed to her, parted for her, called to her like a lover. Its anger evaporated like foam on the morning tide. She came to his rescue and at the moment she reached her hand down to lift him out, he would have promised her anything, and he did.

He could still see her sea-lit eyes, such an intensely dark blue that the abyss itself would be envious of their depth. In his mind's eye he could still see her looking down at him with the strangely bright grey sky framing her beautiful face, “Do you wish for life?” she had asked him.

He could hear the reply on his lips even now, remembering the start of it all, “Yes.”

“I will grant your wish, if you give me your love. Love me and I will save you.”

It was the best and worst promise. It was the one thing he had never given anyone, could never give anyone. But in his moment of humanity he could feel it and he would give it to this woman freely. She knew what he was; she knew what it meant to link herself to a creature of the dark. She wanted it, wanted to be consumed by something outside her realm of light. And he wanted to live.

“I will…I will love you.”

The slap sent him reeling as Relana wound up her other hand to come around the other side. Snapping back to the matter at hand, he caught her wrist easily, letting his unaffected mask fall back into place, “Do not touch me.”

“You love nothing! You monster! You scavenger, dream killer, MURDERER!” Relana shouted, angry tears beginning their hot trek down her face. Had he said that aloud? That was a mistake.

“Don't touch me,” he repeated lowly with adept indifference, “I am my own, now.”

“You are nothing!” she hissed, pulling her hand back roughly, “Worthless Hell cur.”

“Be that as it may, learn your limits Witch,” was the flat reply, “I will honor my debts, but if you overstep your bounds again I may just decide that it's easier to kill you.”

“You can't kill me.”

“Can't I? I don't think anyone will know the difference,” he smirked, “Your soul is so far off the map.”

She turned her back to him, striding back to the bench in a flurry of black feathers. The blue glass beads which hung just behind her ear clacked eagerly as she moved. Sea glass, he thought to himself, from her sister. It had to be, since blue was not her color.

He watched passively as she scooped Ciel's limp body into her arms. It looked so odd for her to pick him up, slender as she was. He must have been heavy to her, though she did an excellent job of hiding it.

“What do you plan to do with him?” Sebastian asked.

“This,” she nodded to the body in her arms, “Is collateral. You will make arrangements for the rest.”

“And just where are you going with your collateral?”

“The Isle,” she said. “You know where it is, demon. You were there once before, shipwrecked and half drowned.” She narrowed her gold-flecked eyes, “If I had known your treachery, I would have made sure you were left in the sea! You would not have had the chance to-“

Sebastian bowed deeply, “I know. I will make the necessary arrangements. Forgive the tardiness of my repayment.”

It felt like he was at the Phantomhive manor again, apologizing to his master or to a guest. The lingering manners he picked up there were useful, he thought to himself. It was not intentional, but just as when he was there; it silenced whoever was making a fuss. Humans were so predictable like that. Still, just as in those other times he bowed his head in proper subservient posture, his dark nature wanted to burn them all alive, listen to their screams. Even Ciel had brought the edge of that desire out I him. It was not anger or hatred, nothing emotional, just a trigger to his nature.

“Do not take long,” she warned, “The ice cave will only slow his decay so much and if he deteriorates too much, I will not accept anything less than your own life.”

“Your price is high, witch.”

Wind spiraled around the women, lifting leaves and dirt into the air around them. Through the spiral Relana replied, “Not as high as the price I paid,” and with that she and Sinah were gone. In their wake, two ravens chased the wind upward, one with a small grey mouse in its talon.

Sebastian watched them go, in awe of her power despite himself. He could shift to a point, but it took a lot more effort and was much more limited. She had natural power, like her sister. It was the power of the Earth itself, woven to her whims. Apparently Sinah had it too, though the compassionate inner light that her mother carried did not transfer to her. And as Sebastian could see, the inner light Relana had when he had first met her, was all but gone. Perhaps he was a monstrous as she believed him to be. But then, as he thought of Ciel in her arms, chattel to her vengeance, he wondered if she was perhaps a monster too.