Past Life's Ghost

When Ciel woke up, he almost thought he was back in the tower.

He could see nothing but darkness. Even with his mana senses and excellent night vision, no shapes could be seen, giving him a sense that he was the only being in an endless void.

'Damn, did I die for real this time?'

Just as that thought came out, a bright light almost blinded his eyes. When his vision cleared up, his surroundings had changed form a small room, but this simple room made Ciel doubt his eyes.

With two old and crude bunk beds on either side and a lonely metal window in the wall right across from the entrance, what else could it be other than Ciel's childhood home?

Ciel smiled grimly, "...I don't think I'm dead. The bastard who did this should come out before I rip this illusion of yours to shreds."

The response he received was loud laughter as a figure started to form on the top of one of the bunk beds.

Ciel's pupils dilated as he recognized the valiant looking woman sitting on the bed. She looked the same as she always had, wearing a spotless white lab coat and a pair of gold rimmed glasses even when her vision was perfectly fine. Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she looked at Ciel, smiling radiantly.

"Wow, you've shrunk. It's like you're a child all over again."

Ciel's already cold expression cooled down even further, the smile completely vanishing from his face.

"Don't. F*cking. Imitate. My. Sister."

The woman's dark amber eyes curved up from all her smiling.

"You haven't changed at all."

A hint of confusion flashed across Ciel's face. He felt no unfamiliarity with the woman in front of him, it was the same with Erin. He clearly knew the chances were close to zero for them to be here, but his instincts refused to believe in logic.

If they both had come here with him, then he really couldn't complain about his bad luck anymore. (–. – ;)

As if knowing what he was thinking, the woman dropped onto the floor and gave a hard flick on his forehead.

"This isn't one of the mystery novels you like to read. I'm really here."

"You're dead." Ciel was certain of that fact. He had seen her body cremated and personally scattered her ashes into the foggy sky.

The person who looked like his sister chuckled.

"Didn't you also die?"

Seeing Ciel remain silent, she continued.

"Isn't it funny how after we died, we achieved what many scientists couldn't do even with their entire lifetime of researching?"

"Traveling to a different world?"

She nodded cheerily, her short brown hair bobbing up and down. She then remembered something and added.

"By the way, I'm not an illusion."

Ignoring Ciel's expression telling her to explain, she happily ruffled his hair.

"Your new appearance is like your old one, only so much more flashier. Hehe, before, you could be counted as a cute boy, now you're just like a small fairy. The white hair doesn't help either."

White hair?

Ciel quickly grabbed a handful of his hair, only realizing now that his previously black hair had turned silvery white.

Tsk. Guess the potion he had acquired from the black market didn't work here.

Discarding the irrelevant thoughts in his mind, he silently removed the hand still on his head, keeping his wary gaze on the woman. Truthfully, he was very close to believing her—he also wanted to believe her. But, this was too convenient. If something was too good to be true, then it most likely wasn't true.

Sighing, she turned around. "...You were always the most suspicious one among us three siblings…"

Thinking some more, she added.

"And the most annoying one."

Ciel subconsciously smirked.

"No, that was you."

"Looks like dying didn't change you at all. Come out, you explain. We'll get nowhere if we continue like this."

In the middle of talking, she turned around.

Behind her, the lone window had somehow produced a black swirl. A tall and handsome man with gentle features stepped into the room, the vortex reverting back into its original state behind him. Twinkling, moving spots of light could be seen floating back and forth through his head of inky black hair—his dark colored pupils were the same, as if all the light in the night sky had condensed together into his eyes. But even with so many stars in his eyes, Ciel somehow had the feeling that his pupils were black, giving the newcomer a otherworldly feeling.

The man opened his mouth, his voice was ethereal, just like his appearance.

"Hello. This is our first official meeting. I am a god. Apologies for the late meeting, however, I can only meet mortals when I descend, or when that mortal is close to death. You should be fine as long as you wake up in time though….Should I say anything else?"

He drifted off at the end and turned questioningly to Theresa, who shook her head smilingly.

"..."

Ciel was speechless.

He just fell into a hole, why was h*ll was there a god here now?

His disbelief at the situation had disappeared. There was only one god in Aeon, and his name was Delmira. In ancient times, Delmira had descended a few times in front of others, but every time, he had been covered in a pure white light. No one knew what his hair or eye colors were, which was why all his statues were either made from white material, or painted white.

Only Ciel, who had read 'The First Saintess' knew that Delmira had pure black hair and eyes, both which seem to contain the galaxy, and that was only because at the beginning, the protagonist and her hero friend had met the true form of Delmira before they were transported into another world. It was impossible for some fake goods to be this accurate.

That meant…

His eyes wandered to the side.

His sister smiled.

"Don't cry."

Ciel instantly denied it.

"Not crying."

Before he had the chance to look away, he was enveloped in a hug.

"I changed my mind, cry if you want to. I haven't seen you cry in a long time. Ah, too bad I don't have a camera to videotape this."

Ciel's tears dried up instantly and he hugged her back before quickly pushing her away.

'Why is it that even after she died, she didn't get rid of that little sadistic streak of hers?'

Theresa could tell what he was thinking from his expression and quickly changed the subject.

"I didn't think you would treat a novel world like this as a real world so quickly."

She knew.

Ciel smiled bitterly. Of course she would know. Even if he was the only one among the three siblings who enjoyed novels, he had always enjoyed telling the other two interesting tidbits he had read.

"There's too much discrepancies between the two for this world to be formed completely from the novel. Besides, wasn't the multiverse theory proven true a long time ago?"

Theresa nodded agreeably.

"Then, since you believe us. Feel free to ask questions."

Ciel could tell from her happy expression that he wasn't going to get any straight answers.

"Just tell me how I got here, and why you two are here."

"You were originally supposed to reincarnate here. It's just that there was a teeny tiny deal I made with Delmira here, so you regained your memories."

Her answer seemed to remind Delmira of something. The lazy looking man paused and looked up, as if he had just remembered something.

"Well, my side of the deal is done. You better complete your promise later."

Neatly turning around, he stepped through the window, not leaving even a strand of hair behind. His ethereal voice echoed throughout the room.

"You have five minutes before this space sends both of you out."

Ciel whipped his head towards Theresa.

"What sort of shady deal did you make this time?"

She shrugged.

"I didn't. Making shady deals is your job. I just promised to do something in his place because gods can't personally affect the lower realms. Come on, don't make that expression. At least I'll be joining you in this world from now on."

Saying this, she pinched Ciel's cheeks, sighing.

"You need to eat more. It was the same in our last life too. You're too small."

"Oi. I was considered tall. You and elder brother were just giants. But… you're talking as if you weren't in this world in the first place?"

Theresa merely smiled. Ciel knew that smile, it was the helpless expression she pulled when she couldn't answer something.

"Don't worry about it."

The space around them started to crumble. The familiar room was slowly breaking like shards of a mirror, revealing the darkness around them.

Ciel knew that time was running out.

"Wait, I have one last question."

"Mm?"

"Who is Erin?"

Thersa tilted her head.

"Didn't he already say who he was at the very beginning?"

With those last words, their surroundings completely collapsed. Through the encroaching darkness, Ciel could see Theresa's tall figure waving, her dark amber eyes curved up through her glasses as she mouthed two sentences that made Ciel's mood rise.

'See you later. This time, let's not part so suddenly.'

Mini Theater:

Theresa: Calling me a bastard and cursing the moment we reunite, isn't that so mean?

Erin: I agree. He also tried to avoid me when we first met in this life. Does he still treat me as his elder brother? (￢_￢)

Theresa: So he has to do something for us to make it up!

Erin: Right.

Ciel: ..I have repented. But to be fair, both of you were dead. How was I supposed to know?

Theresa & Erin: Don't worry, you just need to do one simple thing〜(^∇^ 〜)

*Ciel is handed a pink dress full of lace*

Ciel: ….I'm happy that my elder brother and sister are with me again. But I forgot how irritating they could be. What to do?

Verdalite: So even an unruly brat like you has weaknesses eh?

Ciel: Get out.

Verdalite: Ah, this grandpa is so sad~ You should also do something to make it up to me.

*Ciel is handed a baby blue cinderella style dress*

Ciel: Scram! ┴┴︵╰ (‵□′)╯︵┴┴