Episode 1 - The Deal with the Devil
*******
"Do you seriously think I'm that stupid?" I demanded, pointing accusingly at Sebastian as he stood in front of me. "What makes you think I'm going to drink that disgusting tea for my breakfast? What am I, British?"
He stared at me for a long moment, a small smile splitting his face. "Well... your parents are originally from England—"
"Shut up," I said then, making him chuckle. "And go make me a cake or something."
Sebastian just stepped over to my bed as I pulled my long, black locks from under the collar of my nightshirt.
I gazed up when he held the teacup out to me.
I glared sharply in warning.
"It won't hurt to try it," he suggested, still smirking. "Will it?"
I just shuffled out from under the covers and gazed up at him, unamused. "For all I know, you poisoned it or something."
"Why would I do that?" He splayed his hand over his chest. "You know very well that I would never kill—"
"Says the demon," I stated, shooting him a look. "That slaughtered all those unfortunate intruders yesterday. Not to mention with his bare hands."
He just smiled slightly. "You didn't let me finish. I said I would never kill you. And you ordered me to kill those vile humans, anyway, master."
I just rolled my eyes.
"Drink the tea, master. It'll help your overall health."
"Not my teeth," I stated, "my poor, unfortunate teeth."
Sebastian just rolled his eyes, setting the cup on my nightstand and walking over to the dresser on the other side of my room.
I glanced over suspiciously as he shuffled through my clothes.
"What are you wearing today, master?" he said. "Surely you have an outfit planned for the gathering this afternoon."
I scoffed, silently picking up the tea off my nightstand. "Ask yourself. That's your job as my butler."
"As snotty as ever, aren't you, master?" Sebastian said, shuffling further until he pulled out a long, blue maid dress that my mother bought me when I was sixteen. "Oh, this would look adorable on you."
I glared over at him. "Shut it. I'm not wearing that."
He smiled a little. "But you said anything I wanted you to wear."
"Within reason," I added this time, quietly hiding the teacup from his sight.
He just smirked and folded the dress neatly.
I then quietly took a sip from the teacup, cheeks warming as the sugar burst through my every being.
I then gazed down at the cup, lashes lowering.
Homemade chai with ginger... just like mom used to make.
Sebastian sighed and kept shuffling. "You're hard to please, aren't you, master?"
I took another sip. "You're hard to deal with."
He never answered, but I noticed the familiar smile curling his lips.
I kept drinking the tea as he pulled out all my clothes and set them over his arm, sighing when he finally stood and glanced over at me.
I hid the empty teacup behind me, trying not to look guilty as he stepped over and kneeled down.
I watched as he unbuttoned my nightshirt with grace, and then I saw his eyes flicker over to the nightstand.
I swallowed something hard.
He gazed back down to what he was doing and smirked. "So it was to your liking then?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," I stated defensively.
He just slipped his arm behind me and caught the teacup, shooting me a look when he set it back down on the nightstand. "I must say, humans feel the need to lie compulsively, but some do it with grace. You, master, are a horrible liar, though."
"I never lied," I replied, glaring at him.
He just slipped the shirt down my arms. "No need to get so defensive. I was only just noticing something about you."
I let out a short breath as he clipped my bra on and finally pulled my arms through my dress sleeves.
I stood as he unruffled the bottom and brushed it down, standing up straight seconds later.
I had to crane my head back to look at him as he gazed down at me, smirking.
"Did you have to pick this one?" I demanded. "It's very... fluffy."
He arched his brows. "It's not to your liking, master? I can change you again, if you want."
"No, it's already on." I waved his response away. "You just have poor, old fashioned taste."
He sighed then, bowing before me. "I must apologize. It seems as if the nineteenth century was only yesterday. It's hard to adjust for someone like me."
I just shook my head. "It's fine. Calm down."
He stood fully then, smiling down at me.
"I'm not Ciel Phantomhive, Sebastian," I told him then, and his lips thinned. "You cannot treat me the same way as him. That was hundreds of years ago."
Sebastian just smiled. "I do treat you very similarly, I must say. I am a butler, after all."
"Yeah, yeah," I waved his response away, "one hell of a butler."
He smirked.
"Whatever." I gazed up at him. "I'm not the same as him, though."
"Assuredly," Sebastian replied, nodding. "You are not. But you are very similar."
I just rolled my eyes and started to the door.
"Master," Sebastian said then, making me stop.
I turned. "What?"
"If you are so keen on me treating you differently than Lord Ciel," Sebastian said than, tipping his head to the side, "then why did you name me Sebastian? The same name Lord Phantomhive gave me?"
I stared at him for a moment. "Well... Lord Phantomhive named you Sebastian because of his dog, correct?" I smiled. "I found it fitting. You are a faithful dog, after all."
He gave me a look, one that clearly said, "Spoiled Brat."
I tried not to laugh as I opened the door.
"You may not be him," Sebastian said then, making me turn again, but his lashes lowered, "but you are very much like him."
I watched him for a moment, but finally turned and stared out the bedroom door. "Are the dinner preparations ready, Sebastian?"
"Almost, my lord."
"Hurry it up." I smiled a little, turning toward him. "We must give him a very warm welcome, shall we not?"
Sebastian's lips curled, and he bowed before me once more. "Very well, my lord."
He then stood, staring at me with a sinister smile that I returned.
I then turned and started out the door.
*****
"Let me out!" I sobbed, pounding the walls of my cage as tears slipped down my cheeks. "I don't care who! Let me out! Save me!"
I gripped the bars of the cage tightly as I sank back onto my knees, staring down at the floor helplessly as the familiar cold consumed me.
Cold.
Alone.
Pained.
Bleeding.
They hurt me. They burned me. They ripped me apart piece by piece.
I was a joke with my eye so broken and pummeled, stabbed by the blade of my own sister, and then after my family's murder... I was kidnapped.
A freak, I was. All a part of their show. Their show of freaks.
"I don't care who..." I whispered, lowering my head. "Save me."
The room suddenly silenced; the chattering crickets, the blowing wind, the crying children.
"My, my," someone said, making my head shoot up, "I didn't think I'd find you so weak and frail, Yumi Phantomhive."
I gazed out with my one eye, brows drawing together when a monstrous shadow tore out from the darkness, and my breath shook when it's footsteps tapped in my direction.
"So small even when you're only sixteen, so weak in that little cage, so frail with your broken skin."
The shadow knelt down by my cage, and my eye widened when his gaze stared back with a demonic glow.
"Save you," he said, voice dark and rough, "fix you, I can do that. You need only ask for a wish, and I will grant it. But you must know the price, Yumi Phantomhive. The price of dealing with the devil. But you know what the price is, don't you, Yumi? That's why you called me, is it not?"
I stared deeply into his eyes, breath shuttering as he watched me back.
"You must choose, Yumi Phantomhive."
I just reached out from the bars of my cage, clasping my hand in his cold, blackened claws. "I shall make a deal with the devil. And I shall pay the price."
A smile shown from his blackened shadow, and he lifted his head, red eyes glowing like lamps in the darkness.
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