2 V. I Chapter 2: Chains

Ciel struggled against the chains holding him to the wall, but his bruised, weak arms did nothing. He pressed himself against the wall to get as far away from his "Uncle" as possible, eyes darting between his advancing and his mother's form in the corner, those pale blue eyes sparkling with insanity as she said, "Stop fighting, Ciel, darling. It only hurts more. Trust me. You told me you'd go to hell and back for me, right? Then just relax... and it will hurt less."

.

Ciel's eyes snapped open, the first thing he saw the blue sticky note telling him to check the stock and counter from Rosenblade. He sat up, looking first at the pile of finished documents, then the doors leading to President Jaeyline's office.

As Ciel yawned, he noticed a small, black coat had fallen off of him sometime in the night. He picked it up, realizing it was President Jaeyline's! She must have put it over him when she left the office late that night. He shook his head with a small smile on his face. That woman was going to catch a cold, and it was all because she to too kind for her own good.

The doors were pushed open and one of the female COOs rushed in. "Sir! Rosenblade's attack just arrived. What is your suggested retaliation?"

"They're being more resistant that I thought they would be," Ciel replied, moving to drawers to the left of his desk in the wall. He opened one and pulled a crisp white shirt and suit jacket. He threw his own off and into a different drawer before slipping the clean clothes on. "Let's go. Tell me what they posted," he ordered, freeing his clipped hair and throwing it back into a long tail.

She stared at him for a long second before saying, "Yes!" and leading him to the screens filled with Rosenblade's comments. "There's a video, Sir, and it shows you in the car driving straight at one with Rosenblade members, and then the cliff. All three people in the car were sent to the hospital; one died last night."

"Good. Upload this and post it everywhere you can, everywhere they have theirs," Ciel said, handing her an SD card. "And you! Go outside with these and let the wind blow them away. The news will spread fast enough."

Ciel walked back to his desk, pulling a crystal jar of tea leaves, a Ginori tea cup and saucer, and a bowl of sugar. He used the coffee machine to produce hot water, putting two scoops of tea leaves into the strainer before lowering it into the water. He prepared the cup while the tea seeped, wetting the rim with clover honey and dusting it with sugar, putting two teaspoons of sugar in the cup before pouring in the tea, a White-Tip Earl Grey.

After Ciel put the supplies away, President Jaeyline walked into her office, red heels clicking on the marble. He waited three minutes before walking into the room, placing the tea on her desk as well as his finished files, organized by priority, then by date, then by alphabetical. He also placed her coat from the day before on the back of the chair.

"Flawless, as always," she said, flipping through the documents.

"I'll take my leave, President," said Ciel, bowing before leaving the room, setting into his own desk, sighing as he saw the stack of paperwork that had been placed there in his absence. He started organizing them, reviewing them, and filling them out, finishing within four hours. He took his laptop from his bag, opening it and the new itinerary for next year's new products.

"Ciel?"

"Yes, President Jaeyline?" he replied, continuing to type as he looked up.

"Are you prepared to tonight?" she asked.

"What's tonight?" he asked, confused.

"The Auction I invited you to weeks ago. It's required to have a partner, and I'd rather have someone who is more capable of protecting me than my father's personal bodyguards by my side instead of some idiot. You said you'd come; you even wrote it down in your planner."

Ciel frowned. "Did I? Let me check..." He looked in his bag, but the planner wasn't there. He checked all of the drawers, too, but it was like it had just vanished.

"Um, Ciel?"

He looked up, and she reached out, picking the black, spiral-bound planner from the wood surface.

"It was where you always put it. You're quite forgetful today. You were supposed to call Madame Seliger over an hour ago."

Ciel bit his lip, pulling on his hair. That dream had really screwed his system up. "Appologies, Miss Jaeyline. I'll review the day's schedule and preform the rest of my duties infallibly." He opened the planner and, right at the top in big letters were the words "AUCTION WITH MISS JAEYLINE". He pursed his lips. "I'll pick you up at nine. May I have the rest of the day off?"

She looked shocked. "Yes," she replied finally.

"I'll call Jullian to finish my duties for the day." He put his laptop and planner in his bag, standing. "Good day, Miss President."

"Nine?" she called.

He nodded, back to her. "Nine."

Ciel took a taxi home, loosening his tie as he breathed deeply. He unbuttoned his shirt three times, hand rubbing his throat. One reason he liked his industry was because of the formal attire. With a collared, cuffed shirt, nobody saw the thin, pale scars wrapping around Ciel's wrists and neck, pale scars made from restraints of iron chains.

.

Time passed, time that Ciel took to go to the hospital.

"You're throat seems to be healing nicely," Doctor Ishida said, smiling.

No matter now much he hated women, he refused to let a man be his doctor, for a man to lay a hand on him.

"Still take your medicine, and therapy, but your'e healing very well, given the... state you were in when you arrived here," she said. "Tip back your throat."

Ciel did as instructed and bit his lip to keep from jerking away as her hands felt his throat, but as her thumbs pressed slightly on his trachea, he slapped her hands away breathing heavily, needing to remind himself that her brown eyes could not shift into blue. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "That hurt, a bit."

Dr. Ishida nodded. "That's understandable, even five years later. What that woman did to you..."

"Is the appointment done?" Ciel asked, re-buttoning his shirt to cover the scars.

She handed him a slip of paper. "These are my instructions. Other than that... yes. Just make sure you get enough sleep, or you may collapse."

Ciel thanked her before walking out, past the desk where three nurses watched him pass with whispers.

"He's the one who immediately requested a female doctor."

"Some sort of pervert?"

"Why does he come in so often?"

"Is he in a relationship with Dr. Ishida?"

"That's enough of that," Ishida said, walking from the back rooms. "That poor boy's been through enough."

"Like?"

"Well... all I can say is the scars he bares around his throat and wrists were not easy to heal, because they were made by years of tearing skin and struggling against chains and a monster that wants to claim him even now."

They nodded in understanding, only one of them connecting the scars with the fact he wanted a female doctor, instead of a male one.

.

Ciel received the text from Jaeyline three hours before he was due to pick her up, asking what colors he was wearing. He just shook his head, disbelievingly. Always with the clothes, women were. He sent back saying navy blue and silver, seconds later, a winking emoji he didn't quite trust flashing on his screen. He turned his phone off, closing the book he'd been reading.

Ciel stood from his bed and walked into the office, tossing the book in the trash. He sat down, opened his computer, and replied to emails sent from the company. But that could only keep him busy for so long, as Jullian was a good substitute for him and covered near-everything.

So he turned his computer off and grabbed the fabric buckles from his drawer, fastening them around his legs, going to the garage and picking up some of his favorite guns and holstering them in the straps the buckles provided

Ciel got in the car, a fancy BMW he rarely used, and drove to the range ten minutes away. He had the time. He'd get home with an hour to shower and change, then drive to her house.

He pulled into the parking lot, and as he walked through the doors, Enda Markes ran up and threw his arms around Ciel.

"Oh, Ciel! It's so good to see you! You're even cuter than before!" he giggled, kissing Ciel's cheek.

Ciel pushed him off. "You never change. Still a fluttering Tranny, I see."

He tossed his long gold hair, fluttering his eyelashes, those brilliant, bright blue eyes staring straight at him.

No matter how much Ciel hated light blue, those sparkling sky eyes never reminded him of his mother, so he couldn't be disgusted. Enda was too feminine to trigger his touch-aversion for men, and still a guy, so he didn't make Ciel feel on edge, either.

"Is it really smart to wear a skirt to a shooting range?" Ciel asked, raising an eyebrow at the pretty silver and blue skirt and matching blouse and blue ribbons typing his hair up.

"Is it pretty?" Enda asked, twirling.

But Ciel was quick and turned around as the skirt lifted. He sighed. "You need to stop doing that. Not everyone is as chill with transvestites as I am, and this is a shooting range. One wrong move, and you'll get shot."

Enda wrapped himself around Ciel's arm, peering up at him with big, round arms, saying in a sweet voice, "But I have you to protect you, right, my sweet, adorable Ciel?"

Ciel rolled his eyes, pushing Enda's face away from his own. "Let's get to the range."

"And if I win?" Enda asked.

"You get one favor from me. If I win, then you have to pretend to be my female partner for a gala held by my... mother."

His attitude changed immediately to something darker. "When is it?" he asked.

Ciel sighed, "Three weeks."

"I'll do it anyway. Pick a different request," Enda said, pulling his Desert Eagle .50 from the folds of his skirt, a bright silver color. He didn't need to stay subtle; his job was much more out in the open.

"No. I don't need you to pity me. I want to earn it," Ciel replied.

"Fine. If I win, you need to invite me to all of your... mother's parties and gatherings as your girlfriend. If I lose, then I'll go with you to the party as your girlfriend."

Ciel gave him a withering glare, but it softened quickly. He turned to the doors to the range, but paused. He looked over his shoulder. "Targets, Airsoft, or 1v1? he asked.

"Let's do Airsoft. Denis his a special ops class he's teaching, so you take control of one team, I'll take another, Denis will take the third, and maybe we can get Jerry to take the forth."

"I'm in."

Ciel looked at the huge, buff African-American man walking up to them and raised an eyebrow. "You never join in, Jerry," he said.

"The Great Four are all here at the same time. I don't see the harm in determining which one of us is stronger," Jerry said, shrugging.

Ciel nodded and walked into the Woods Room, a real, mini forest that had been saved for the shooters to use as practice for real life scenarios. Forty-ish students turned their head to look at them as they walked in, Denis cutting one of his explanations short to say, "Well, it's been awhile, Ciel, Enda, Jerry."

Ciel put his back to the north, Enda the east, Jerry the south, and Denis the west, all of them facing each other, barely three feet away.

"It has been about a year," Ciel said, a small smile on his lips.

Enda giggled. "I just come whenever Ciel shows up!"

"I don't waste my time in dogfights," Jerry sneered, a large grin on his face.

"The Great Four..." The hiss traveled across the students, eyes wide.

Ciel judged the oldest was twenty-four, the youngest about seventeen. "They're old enough," he said in a soft, whispy voice, the voice he reserved for when he didn't have to shout orders at office workers, or seem like a confident, strong guard dog to the President. That was the voice he'd had until he had to change it. "Let's split them up into teams of four. Each of us will take a group, and whoever wins will get one favor from the others."

"I'm down with that," Jerry said.

"Fine," replied Denis.

"Sounds like fun!" Enda tittered.

"Then game on," Ciel said quietly.

"You! You're mine!" Jerry shouted, making the students jump as he grabbed a bulky boy with blonde hair.

Denis listed ten names, probably the ones who had the best testing scores.

"You look handsome! Come on." Enda's preferred method of chosing things was whether or not it was pretty or handsome.

The people that were left were twelve thin, beginning shooters.

Ciel looked them over, gauging each one's potential.

"You don't want us, do you, Sir?" one asked, looking like he was about to cry. "Because we're left, we're the worst ones here."

Ciel made sure the others were choosing equipment before gathering the twelve. "Listen," he whispered. "Just because you're not the best at shooting doesn't mean you're the worst. Believe it or not, but when I started shooting, I couldn't even lift up the gun. My body was a wreck, and I was told I would never be able to shoot like I wanted to. Look at me now. I'm one of the Great Four. What you lack in shooting skills we will make up in tactics and your speed. None of you are bulky, so you should all be very quick through his kind of terrain. I can tell all of you except this one have good balance," Ciel said, nodding to the smallest. "But you will be our sniper. Being small is good when needing to hide in tight spaces, and I assume that you have a very good eye, am I right?"

"Yes, Sir!" he replied eagerly.

Ciel nodded. "Just because you're smaller and a bit weaker doesn't mean the others will win. Everyone has their specific talents. If we use them to our advantage, then we can win."

They were excited now, chattering about their different abilities, smiles on their faces and heads up in hope.

Their happiness was infectious, and Ciel couldn't help the gentle smile that lit up his face, or the graceful, gentle titter that slipped from his mouth.

Everyone froze, even the other groups and their leaders, the three of them gaping at him.

"So, the Stone finally breaks," Denis said, brows raised so high it appeared as if they vanished into his bangs.

"You have such a cute laugh!" giggled Enda.

Ciel just shook his head, exasperated, before herding his team to the racks of guns. After handing one suited the best for each of them to them, he swung a rifle onto his back, checking the guns he'd brought.

Enda was the most flexible and foxy, Jerry was the strongest, Denis was the most calculating and panning, making them all tough enemies. But lucky for Ciel, he specialized in battlefield synesthesia and his speed. Together, they were the Great Four, but separate, they were some of the biggest names in the world. Denis as a Special Operations captain, Jerry as a military leader, Enda as an undercover assassin, and himself as a multi-skilled CEO, though he kept his name private whenever he accepted missions. Typically, they called him the Phantom, there and then gone without a trace.

The four stood at the cardinal directions again, shaking hands, before the game started.

They had one hour.

Game... start!

-

-

-

Jaeyline Marques Cordelia - F - 31 years old

Likes - Ciel <3, sweet things, business trips in the sub-tropics, hibiscus flowers, long hair.

Dislikes - working without Ciel, hot weather, the color yellow, horror movies, vitamin supplements, coffee and tea not prepared by Ciel.

Strengths - worrying about many things at the same time, fashion style, guessing the next fashion trend, arranging hair.

Weaknesses - long work hours, intense workouts, Ciel looking her in the eyes, in unfamiliar territory, cute things.