I silently debated with myself over this dilemma, and came to a decision after a few moments.

I listened to my heart and took Charles' hand. He pulled me close to him as if to protect me from the angel, who he deemed dangerous.

Ash looked like he was immensely shocked. It seemed he was not expecting me to refuse him and the shock was turning into anger. "You made the wrong decision," His face twisted in exasperation, "I had thought that maybe at least there is one pure human in this city. Oh how wrong I was." He spat out the words venomously. Then with a flap of his wings he was gone within a second.

"Clare, I'm glad you didn't go with him." Charles smiled.

I forced a smile on my face as a response, but my mind was somewhere else. What was I to do now? I wanted to see Ciel one last time, and also I was immensely curious about Sebastian's true demon form. I wanted to witness it.

"Charles, I need to go to the Tower Bridge." I said.

"But why? As I asked before that...thing interrupted, why do you need to follow the Phantomhive boy?"

"I...I need to say goodbye to him," I said. "We'll never see him again."

He contemplated for a moment, then sighed, "Fine"

We found the horses that we used to come to the Buckingham Palace, remounted them, and headed off to the Tower Bridge. I followed Charles' lead as he turned and navigated through the chaotic streets of London. Soon the river Thames came into view, the half-constructed bridge followed.

As we quickly approached the bridge, I could see that figures were stood on top . Those must be Sebastian and Ash. I kicked my horse and sped ahead of Charles, determined not to miss the opportunity to see this fight.

I neared the bottom of the construction and the view on top was slightly clearer, though not by much as the smoke and dust whipped up by the fire obstructed the view sometimes. Pulling the reigns, I slowed down my horse and narrowed my eyes to better focus. Suddenly loud noises of clashes boomed from the top, and debris fell into the river below.

"What is that?" I muttered when puffs of black smoke gathered around the bridge, and a strange shape was slowly forming in the sky above.

"What is what?" Charles heard me and asked.

My brows furrowed, "What do you mean? The black smoke."

"There is no black smoke, Clare, unless you are talking about the smoke from the fire." He said.

I came to the realisation. "You... You can't see it?"

"What is there that I'm supposed to see?"

I went quiet. Why couldn't Charles see the black substance? I remember that those are the emotion of the dead in this fire, a soul-like essence. I knew that Sebastian, Ciel, and Ash could definitely see it. I guess all of them either are supernatural beings or have supernatural ties, but why can I see it? Unless...

My thought was interrupted when an impossibly bright light started emitting from a point on top of the bridge. It was so blinding I had to look away even though I was a distance from it. But soon, it stopped, and the black smoke also began to subside. I smiled, it must have been undertaker and the rest of the shinigami.

It was finally time. I saw a wave of eerie blackness starting to dominate the scene. Sebastian was reverting to his true form. I didn't even dare to blink so that I wouldn't miss any opportunity to catch even just the tiniest glimpse of it. Unfortunately, luck does not seemed to be on my side as the blackness continually interfered with my line of sight. Even more noises came from the fight scene, but I could witness none of it.

Soon, all commotion stopped. The next moment, light exploded from the point atop of the bridge. I flinched, and felt a pair arms quickly wrapped around me, protecting me from any stray pieces that flew our way.

I had never been this close to Charles as Victorian etiquette prevented it. I could smell his scent. When the explosion died down I opened my eyes and found myself staring into his silver ones. He seemed to be slightly surprised at his instinctive act as well.

"Charles..." I whispered but quickly snapped out of my reverie as at the corner of my eye, I saw someone falling off the bridge. I tore my eyes of Charles and looked towards it, only to see Ciel dropping into the river, cinematic record leaking out of him. I saw that Sebastian jumped in right after him, to save his young master one last time.

Sebastian shot out of the water with an unconscious Ciel in his arm, and landed on the river back. I ran to where they were as fast as my legs could carry me.

"Sebastian!" I shouted as I approached them.

"My lady." He turned to me.

"Have you...have you completed Ciel's revenge?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes."

"...Are you going to eat his soul now?"

"Yes."

"Oh," I suddenly remembered Ciel's sapphire Phantomhive ring, which I forgot give back to him after preventing him from giving it away on the boat, and strangely, which he didn't ask for back. I took it out of my pocket and held it up on my palm, "Here's Ciel's ring."

Sebastian smiled, "I'm sure young master won't be needing it anymore." And then he turned away, walking towards the river. I watched as the demon gently set his master down onto a rowboat, picking up the oar, and pushing it offshore. It gently drifted along the river as Sebastian paddled the water. Rays of sunlight broke out of the horizon and shined onto them. They ferried passed the Tower Bridge, into the mist of the morning. And they were gone.

Farewell, Ciel Phantomhive.

-

"Is this over?" Charles muttered by my side when the two disappeared.

"Yes," I replied looking at him, "This is all over."

-

As I hurt myself quite a bit in that ordeal, I was ordered by Charles to stay in my manor and rest for the whole week. He was busy dealing with the political matter as Queen Victoria was now dead. He visited me a few times even though he was probably drowning in work. He told me that they have decided to conceal the fact that the real queen was dead, and present an actress as a false queen to the people of Great Britain because they think that in a time of such political turbulence, announcing such shocking news might cause civil unrest.

I wanted to rejoin the work and help stabalise the country after that disaster but Charles absolutely would not let me unless I fully recover. He said that he was working with the other lords in the privy council and Prince George well and my help would be greatly appreciate, but not needed. That was what he said, but I knew he was stressing over the control of the underworld. Now that the Phantomhive family was gone, the position as the controller of the underworld was vacant. What made it worst was that both of the biggest power in the East End, Lau and the Ferros, were now gone. From my sources, I was told that smaller factions such as the reminants of the Italian Mafia were having continuous border fights, trying claim land for themselves. I sighed as I thought of how much work I'd have to do when I do recover.

As my maid Reema was dressing me, I caught sight in the mirror of the wound that had been on my arm. There was a horizontal scar that was left by the time when I protected Ciel from Madame Red's attack. I realised that the vertical cut I received during the day of the great fire used to overlapped that old scar. But now it was completely gone. It didn't leave a scar. I smiled as I thought to myself how odd it'd be if I had a cross shape scar on my arm.

My eyes travelled down from the mirror to the desk, where a weighty sapphire ring sat in a box. Now that  Ciel has't given his ring away, and that it was here safely with me, the spider demon Claude wouldn't lay hands on it. This means he wouldn't be able to steal and seal Ciel's soul in it. I guess this averted the whole Phamtomhive vs Trancy drama, effectively preventing Sebastian from being forever bound to Ciel. This was good thing as I believed the demon deserves to have his final meal that he has worked so hard for, and also his freedom.

I put one of the nicest day dress that I had today because Charles invited my over to his country house in the outskirt of London, which he'd never done before. To be honest, I was actually quite excited for this trip.

After a short carriage journey, I arrived at the destination. The first impression I received when I set eye on it was that it was very aesthetically pleasing. It had nicely-kept red and green vines running around its walls, complementing the grey walls of it.

The double doors to the manor opened and Charles walked out, his silver hair gleaming in the sunlight. He welcomed me into it along with some servants.

"Would you like to take a walk in the garden?" He asked, something strange gleaming in his eyes.

"Of course, I'd love to." I answered as calmly as I could. I know he's been courting me for quite a while, but there weren't many opportunities when we were both just free to walk alone with each other like this. For some reason, my heart sped up slightly, and I was getting a little bit nervous.

We waked passed the main body of the manor to the back where the garden was. I gasped a little when I saw how beautifully presented the garden was. There was a path of grass in the midst of flower beds, and countless baby blue roses in full bloom were planted in the beds. Some of the roses were so light that they looked grey. Whenever the wind blew, some petals would detect themselves and drift along into the clear blue sky.

"Wow, your garden is beautiful," I said.

He smiled, "Thank you. Come, Clare" We started strolling down the path.

"Have you fully recovered?" He asked.

"Yes, thank you. I'll get back to work soon." I replied.

"No you won't, not yet," Charles said.

I turned and looked at him, "Why? What do you mean?"

He let out a sigh of mixed-emotion. "I wanted to do this during the Exposition, but I couldn't because of what happened."

I tilted my head, "Do what, Charles?"

The mysterious smile remained on his face as he removed a small box from a pocket of his white coat. He opened it as he kneeled down on one knee, revealing a large, gleaming diamond ring.

"Clare, will you marry me?"

THE END

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You have reached the Happy Ending.