"...en. Gwen, please wa... Wake up, Gwen... Gwen. Gwen! Gwen! Wake up!"
I sat up, startled, and looked around. A cool cloth slipped from my forehead to my lap, and I opened my eyes uncomfortably. Ciel sat by my bedside, wearing the crow's mask again. I raised an eyebrow.
"Shouldn't you be somewhere else? You could get sick." I wrapped my arms around myself, rubbing my arms to try to dispel the goose bumps covering them.
"Do you remember? Do you remember last night? What happened? Who I am? Who Sebastian is?" He leaned forward desperately.
"How could I forget? The pair of you are probably the most horrible teachers I've ever met." He sat back and I could see his open mouth under the mask. He stood up and fisted his hands, putting them on his hips stubbornly.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he yelled.
I clasped my hands in my lap and said "you verbally abuse me and load me up with way to much information, and do you want to know something?" I tilted my head to the side and smiled, finishing my thought when he nodded. "I couldn't be happier anywhere else in the world."
Ciel stared at me for a moment before he settled back down in his chair. "This is only your second morning here. How can you say that?"
"I've been in heaven these past two days. Apart from-" I raised my hands, as a gesture to myself as a whole. "I couldn't imagine anywhere else I'd rather be."
Sebastian entered the room slowly, as if he was afraid to wake someone up. "Ah, you're awake I see. How are you feeling?"
"I feel like someone just ran over me with a carriage and then spat on me for good measure." Ciel and Sebastian both stayed where they were, unmoving, before they both started laughing. I rolled my eyes, leaned back on the headboard and let out a few chuckles off my own.
"Well," Sebastian said, stepping up to the side of the bed. He grabbed the small bottle of pills from the bedside table and said, "here, take two, and then Maylene will bring you some breakfast. Eat all of it, please."
There was a loud crash outside the door, and I nearly choked on the sip of water that was supposed to make the pills go down easier. Sebastian was already gone, but returned shortly with a tray of food in hand. There was a drop of milk on the corner of the tray, which he hastily wiped off with a gloved finger.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Maylene cried, rushing into the room. "I thought I saw a spider and I went to chase it away and I... tripped." She stood there awkwardly, looking down at the floor.
"Don't worry about it," I murmured, as Sebastian massaged his forehead as if he were the one with the migraine. I picked up a spoon and started eating the warm porridge, savouring every bite. Alas, it was soon finished, so I moved onto the warm rolls.
"You eat slow," Ciel commented dryly.
"I wish I never had to stop eating," I sighed, taking another bite.
"Maybe we should leave," Maylene suggested. I made no move to stop them.
Ciel and Maylene both left, but Sebastian stayed, taking up Ciel's post on the chair. "It's time you knew about your parents," he muttered, looking me in the eye. I carefully placed my fork on my plate, trying not to drop it.
"What are you talking about? I'm an orphan."
"We did some research on you, just in case there was something we should be worried about. As it turns out, there are some records of your mother, as well as letters from your new father to a friend of his."
"New father?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Allow me to explain. Your birth father remains a mystery in and of himself. But your mother had birth records for herself and for you, as well as baptismal certificates and so on. She was a seamstress of pure Irish decent, and though we did not find any explanations of your father, there were a few writings from your mother to a close friend of hers describes him to be a 'dark man of many secrets, but also of many enthralling stories'," he explained, smiling. "After she had you, your mother travelled to the Americas. She lived with you in New Orleans until you attained the age of four, when you then attempted to travel back to Great Britain. But your ship was attacked by pirates. The captain held great respect for women and children, and as most of the men on board fought and died and the two of you were the only women, he kept you. You travelled with him for a year, and he and your mother became quite close. He treated you like a daughter, and according to letters from him to a friend of his, he was proud of every aspect of you." He frowned, looking at me closely. I shifted in my seat.
"The ship was attacked by other pirates. Everyone was killed - except you. You washed up on shore one morning, and a fisherman took you to a doctor, where you were then sent to an orphanage - Mrs. Tabbot's, to be exact - after you were diagnosed with memory loss. That is why you do not remember your mother or the pirate that you once called father. That is all we have found out." Sebastian sat back in his seat and asked, "how does that make you feel?"
"It makes me feel like I know myself a little better, now. But I'm not sad - I've created a life for myself, and I like it." I frowned and picked up my fork, realizing that I was finished with my meal. I huffed impatiently. "Do I have to sleep again, now?"
"Yes, that would probably be wise," he said, leaning over me and taking my dishes away. "Have a good sleep," he whispered, after closing the curtains and vanishing through the doorway.
I looked fearfully at the candles to my right. I tried to blow them out, but instead they flared up angrily. I kept trying until they finally extinguished, and then I rolled over, and went to sleep.
********
I stepped out of bed and rushed out the door, stumbling down the stairs and out the kitchen in my night clothes. I heard voices in separate rooms, so I went in search of them, but was interrupted by a knock at the front door. I rushed to get it. Pulling open the giant door, I was greeted pleasantly by five men.
"Can I help you?" I asked, after we'd exchanged hellos and good mornings.
"Yes, I was wondering if I could speak to the young master, Mr. Phantomhive?" replied the man in the front.
"Of course," I chirped, turning and starting to walk away.
A rough hand clasped my shoulder and another held a sweet smelling rag over my mouth. Chloroform, I thought, letting my body fall to the floor before I was out. I would make them think I was down, and then go warn Ciel.
Sebastian came into the foyer as I hit the ground. He held a tray of silverware in one hand, and I reached out a hand and tried to gasp a warning. But something was wrong. I must have been dreaming.
Because butlers do not throw clean silverware into the faces and chests of thieves and thugs.
Blood spurted, men cried out in agony. Finished in seconds, Sebastian knelt beside me and braced an arm around my shoulders, pulling me upright.
"What just happened? Where did...why did you..."
"Because I'm one hell of a butler," he murmured in reply to my unfinished question. He then smiled devilishly, and the world faded to black, the last thing I saw being his mocking grin.
Three months later
Gwen was leaving to go to school. With the pay at the Phantomhive mansion, along with her accumulated money from her recent work at the bar, she'd bought a small flat and a few dresses. She'd sought employment at a respectable restaurant, the pay there plenty enough to pay for food with a little left over for leisure and textbooks.
Ciel watched her step out the door by the window in his office, Sebastian standing behind him dutifully. They both watched Tanaka pat Gwen's arm gently, Maylene hug her, Bard ruffle her hair, and Finny scoop her up and nearly break her bones in an embrace. They watched her step into the carriage and lean out the window, waving her hand enthusiastically, promising to write after much prompting from the other help.
"It was strange," Ciel said, turning from the window as the carriage disappeared from sight.
"What was?" Sebastian asked, pouring tea.
"She seemed to have an effect on everyone here. Even you," he added with a chuckle.
"Mmm," Sebastian murmured.
"You liked her, didn't you?" Ciel asked.
"As a man? Yes. She was a charming young woman. As a demon, again, yes. Being around my own kind has that affect on me."
"Should we have told her?" Ciel asked tentatively.
"That she is a pyrokinetic half-demon and her father is destroying some other woman's life this very moment on a hundred and eighth street? No, I think it would have ruined the condition of her departure."
"Of course," the young boy muttered, tapping his fingers against the desktop. "Alright, bring in the post. I'd like to see if Beeton's Christmas annual has come around, yet." The Earl's face transformed itself with a smile that was incredibly appropriate for his age. What he didn't tell anyone except for Sebastian was that when Gwenivere had still been at the mansion, he had graced her with that smile many times when she wasn't looking.
********
Alright, that's it! Hope you liked it!
