Reincarnation

Chapter 20:

Ciel Phantomhive the first opened his eyes and found himself back in the white place where he had spent an eternity waiting for someone to pick up the ring. He looked down at himself to find that he was also wearing the same outfit that he had always worn; black shorts with matching knee high socks, a white blouse with a black ribbon bow and a plain navy blue jacket.

This time there was a difference. His descendant was lying outstretched on the ground where he had left him.

Concernedly, the Earl bent down and checked his pulse just in case. His skin was also very pale, but that could be attributed to the fact that Ciel had used a pressure point to incapacitate his descendant. Fortunately the pulse was at a steady regular rate.

"Ciel? Wake up," the original Ciel said and shook his descendant's shoulder.

The second Ciel stirred and groaned before opening his eyes.

"Why is there a mirror here?" he asked groggily as he wasn't fully conscious yet.

"I am not a mirror- I am your ancestor, Ciel." It felt strange for Ciel the first to call someone that was the spitting image of him, his name.

"Ah," the descendant said and sat up hurriedly. "I remember- you knocked me out and took control of my body. So why have you taken off the ring?"

"So we can merge souls and we will both have control. There is not a lot of difference between us so it will not be difficult- we were just born in different eras."

Ciel narrowed his eyes at his ancestor's explanation. "But you care for Sebastian, I don't"

He knew this for definite as the final line from the last journal had been "As a final request, please kiss Sebastian and inform him that I cared for him."

His ancestor grimaced and blushed. "We can get round that, are you willing to merge?"

"What about the contract?" Ciel the second enquired. "If we merge, both contracts will be valid so the Grim Rea-"

"I have dealt with them. They have let Sebastian and I go, but in return we have to prevent demons from taking souls. Spears is going to give us a list of locations and dates."

"That does sound intriguing," Ciel commented, but a suspicious thought struck him. "Why do you suddenly want to merge? You can be with Sebastian freely- I'm assuming he returned your sentiments."

The teenage Earl wondered how he was going to explain his reasons without mentioning that he had been coerced into it with one of the main reasons being that this Ciel had better manners than him.

"Don't you want your life back? The Grim Reapers will leave us alone now so you can do what you want and live without threats. I have also stopped Alois Trancy from running away."

The descendant absorbed the information silently. He was still bemused as his ancestor's request definitely did not match his personality and was very out of character for a proud person like him. Living a life without the reapers sounded tempting as he had hated their presence and the fact that they had gone as far as to genetically engineer him so that he would have the same face as his ancestor.

But he still hesitated before making a decision.

For the majority of his short life he had always been compared to his brilliant ancestor who had single handedly run the family business and won a Royal Warrant with only his butler at his side, all at the age of 13. It might have been something to do with the fact that he had grown up with the same name and face as his ancestor, but he suspected that even if his father hadn't been a reincarnation, every descendant of the first Ciel Phantomhive would have grown up with the same pressure on them.

Ciel the first saw his descendant's hesitation and searched through the memories that he had stolen to work out why.

"Do not worry about having to live in my shadow. I will be a part of you and you will be a part of me- we will be two halves which is not a shadow, if that is what you are concerned about."

Slowly the descendant raised his head and met his ancestor's eyes. That was right- if they merged he wouldn't feel inferior as a Phantomhive.

"Ciel, remember that you solved my riddle and orchestrated a successful plan to outwit the Grim Reapers- you are worthy of the Phantomhive name," Ciel guessed what had been running through his descendant's mind.

Ciel the second smiled wryly before replying. "You did set a very hard example. I agree to merge."

The Ciels held out their hands to each other and the second Ciel absorbed his ancestor's memories which meant that they were now the same people and could merge.

***

The butler and blonde bent over Ciel Phantomhive as he lay unconscious on the ground. Without even talking, Alois and Sebastian had formed a temporary truce as their aim was the same, but for different reasons. Alois wanted his best friend back and without the contract that he had formed with Sebastian. The demon wanted his master back with the ability, manners and necessary knowledge to survive in a modern setting so the change in personality wouldn't be detected as easily- it would also stop Alois Trancy from getting angry at him.

The boy on the ground made a noise and slowly cracked open his eyelids. Alois and Sebastian immediately bent closer, but the butler pushed Alois back as he didn't want to confuse Ciel too much.

"Young master, are you all right?" he asked concernedly.

Ciel groaned inaudibly and Sebastian checked his pulse which was now at a normal rate.

"Sebastian," Ciel said slowly and looked up at him.

"I am here and who are you?" It would be interesting to see how the boy replied.

"I'm Ciel Phantomhive, my parents are Earl Vincent and Lady Phantomhive. I used to be engaged to Elizabeth Midford."

"Correct," Sebastian complimented with a smile before gesturing to Alois to come closer. "Now, who is this?"

"Alois... he's a casual acquaintance."

The blonde opened his mouth to correct him and say that they were best friends, but he stopped himself as he recalled how much the original Ciel had hated the other Alois Trancy- casual acquaintance was the best he was going to get for the moment. He had plenty of time to work on improving his status.

"At least you aren't calling me by my surname anymore," he said amusedly. "I can see that you have definitely merged souls.

Ciel nodded and sat up slowly, supported by his butler's hand.

"Do you feel disorientated in any way or confused about who you are? Or who I am?" Sebastian enquired to be perfectly sure that the merging had been successful. The last thing he needed was the boy to go stark raving mad again like he had in the 19th Century, then again that could be attributed to the fact that last time his master's soul had been combined with Alois Trancy's which was not a good combination. In comparison the two Ciel Phantomhives were very compatible.

"No. You're the demon that I have 2 contracts with after all," Ciel answered without any hint of hesitation and stood up. "Alois, are you still staying at my house? If so you are definitely not sharing a bed with me. You can use a sleeping bag and sleep on the floor."

Despite the serious implications of the situation, like the fact he would never fully get his best friend back, Alois burst out laughing and Sebastian smiled.

"Well said, young master, I could not agree more."

His young master's sharp personality was still present as was Ciel the second's kinder personality. The merging was a success.

"Sebastian, could you stop calling me "young master", it makes you sound like a walking anachronism," Ciel requested as they walked along the empty roads to Ciel's house.

"Yes... Ciel," Sebastian replied.

Ciel flushed red at the sound of his actual name come from Sebastian's mouth. Whenever the butler had said his name it was either prefixed by "master" or followed by his surname.

Sebastian spotted the change in colour of Ciel's face and bent closer as they turned the corner.

"Did you like that, Ciel?" he whispered into the boy's ear.

Alois sighed. "I think you two should stop your lovey-doveyness for the time being. We're within view of Ciel's house and Sebastian would be fired if he was caught making moves on Ciel."

Reluctantly Sebastian pulled away and Ciel pouted.

"I wouldn't be one hell of a butler if I wasn't an actual butler," Sebastian said to console his master, before adding his name. "Right, Ciel?"

The boy flushed an even brighter red as they walked up the driveway.

Sebastian pulled out his key and unlocked the door to reveal Ciel's parents waiting in the hallway.

"Where have you all been? It's nearly midnight," Rachel Phantomhive questioned.

"We had a message from Weston College to say there had been a death and that the school was closed until next week. Your mother has been worrying about you all day," Vincent Phantomhive said. "Where did you all go?"

Ciel was slightly stuck for words at the sight of his parents. He had seen them that morning, but he had also seen them lying dead on the floor of his old house.

Sensing this, Sebastian stepped in. "Master Trancy wanted to get something important that he had left at home and he and Master Ciel were going to walk over and get it. I accompanied them as I didn't feel that it was suitable for them to be out so late."

"That's fine, just don't worry us like that ever again," Ciel's mother replied and hugged her son who unusually did not squirm away like he usually did. "That's strange Ciel, you normally don't like being hugged. Is there an ulterior motive at work here? It is coming up to Christmas..."

"No, there's no ulterior motive," Ciel replied. "I just felt like it."

"Ciel and Alois, you can use your time off school to decided which A Levels you want to do and which college you want to go to. Or you could help me design a new product for Funtom," Ciel's father said.

The pair of casual acquaintances exchanged looks. They had avoided deciding about colleges and subjects as Ciel had been sure that he was going to die or at least lose control of his own body and Alois had been planning to run away.

"I'll help you design a new product and Alois can help," Ciel answered, much to his father's surprise.

"So you're finally taking an interest in the family business," he said and gave his son a pleased pat on the shoulder.

Ciel nodded.

"We will talk about it more tomorrow as it is getting late," Vincent said.

Ciel and Alois trudged up the stairs tiredly as it had been a long day full of death and drama, followed by Sebastian who was feeling fatigued even though he was a demon. It had been a stressful day for everyone who had been involved the soul swapping affair.

Sebastian arranged a sleeping bag for Alois on the floor of Ciel's bedroom along with a soft pillow as he was slightly more fond of Alois now that he knew he wasn't really that annoying and it had been an act.

"What are you going to do about the contracts?" the blonde asked once Ciel had left the room to change and clean his teeth.

"I'm not going to take his soul if that is what you are referring to," the demon replied as he fluffed up Ciel's pillows.

"I meant the second contract, the one regarding control of you. The Grim Reapers are bound to notice that he had changed and they might change their minds about leaving you alone if they know there is a chance that they can use you."

"That is a point that- I hadn't appreciated that one yet," Sebastian replied thoughtfully. "It would be best if Ciel transferred control before he meets Spears again, but to who?"

"I will transfer control to Ciel Phantomhive the first," Ciel said from his position in the doorway as he had overheard their conversation. "It was Ciel the second that made the contract so I can do that. Sebastian, do you feel any change?"

"Give me an order."

"I order you to hug Alois," Ciel ordered after a moment of consideration as to make sure that the control had transferred the order would have to be something that Sebastian really didn't want to do.

The demon frowned, but he hugged a very creeped out Alois Trancy, as he felt the compulsion forcing him. He hoped Ciel was not going to have fun making him do more things that he really had no inclination to do.

"I think it worked," Alois said awkwardly as he still really didn't like the demon as it was all his fault that his friend had had to make the contract in the first place.

Tiredly, Ciel yawned. "That's good," he murmured sleepily and got into bed. "Have fun in your sleeping bag, Alois."

Sebastian tucked his master into bed and kissed him on the forehead before turning the lights out and leaving the room.

"Good night, Ciel."

****

One chapter to go!