The Fire That Lights Itself

In the middle of the night, Victoria stumbled out of her room, kind of dazed. She had cut her night gown shorter because of her flirty personality, and was now simply standing in the middle of the hallway in it. She rubbed her eyes, still sleepy, but a smirk quickly snuck onto her face. “I should go have some fun.” She giggled and crept through the hall and down the stairs. Just as she was about to creep open the gigantic double doors leading outside, she stopped herself. “Damn, Sebastian will know I left. Once I’m out there, there’s a high chance he’s not going to let me back in, and he’ll make sure of that.” Victoria began tapping her foot impatiently and finally shrugged. All of a sudden, a thought crept inside her head. “Wasn’t there an adorable cook I saw earlier…?” She held her hand in front of her mouth and giggled mischievously. She decided to go back upstairs and search until she found the cook’s room. However, during her search, she heard a noise emitting from one of the rooms. It almost sounded like someone sobbing.
For a quick second, Victoria actually forgot who she was and felt a tickle of fear. She thought it was a ghost, and almost screamed, but stopped herself. Fire building up inside her, she whispered angrily, “What the hell is wrong with me? God, maybe I should go back to sleep.” But the crying continued. Victoria carefully walked through the hall until she found the door that was hiding the source of the crying. Carefully, she turned the gold knob and creaked open the door. What she saw inside was a girl holding a doll, sobbing quietly to herself.
Victoria’s eyes widened in surprise. “There was such a girl earlier, wasn’t there…” After quickly recalling her memory of Sebastian coming home, she approached the girl. Her rising fire died down. “Hey there, what’s wrong…?” Victoria’s eyes filled with sadness at the sight of the girl. “…How long have you been crying…?”
Sophie stared silently at her, shocked at being caught in such a state. She wiped her eyes, silently staring at the pretty woman in front of her. She seemed friendly, so Sophie allowed her to sit on the bed.
Victoria positioned herself comfortably on the bed and then proceeded to find out what was troubling the poor girl. “What’s wrong, love?” Victoria smiled sadly. “Your name’s Sophie, right? Well, I’m Victoria. Do you want to talk about it…?”
Sophie proceeded to tell her the whole sordid tale, from her mother's death all the way to her arrival at Phantomhive manor. It felt so good getting it off of her chest like that. She had never really had anyone to talk to beside Molly. It was nice to have someone at least act like they cared.
Victoria stared at the child, wondering why she was still living after that horrible story. However, she did not want to encourage any bad ideas, so she shook away her confused thoughts and put on a warm smile. “I’m terribly sorry, Sophie. That story is quite sad. However, there is no need to give up hope! Living at the Phantomhive Mansion won’t be too bad. I just got here, so we can get used to it together, right?” She winked. “And, I’m sure all those bad memories will quickly be replaced with good ones. Just you wait!” Victoria’s smile turned into a malicious smirk. “Oh, and are you a curious girl? I’m sure you’ll find plenty of secrets and surprises awaiting you in this huge house…” Victoria stood up, strolled towards the door, and opened it, but paused. She looked back at Sophie and said, “Goodnight! Get a good sleep; dream about happy things. Dreams can be quite wonderful, you know, and may do more for you than you think.” With that, she quietly closed the door and returned to her room for the night.
Sophie lay her head down on her pillow and tried her very best to dream those happy dreams Victoria was talking about but every time she was close enough to reach them they slipped away. Finally, exhaustion won, but there were no sweet dreams to be had, only images of blood, and eyes just as red.
There was something warm and wet on Sophie's face. Was it blood? Sophie slowly opened her eyes to see another pair of eyes. They belonged to a man, who was crouching over her without a single shred of clothing covering his body. Soon, Sophie found out why her cheek was wet. The man leaned forward and licked her face.
Sophie let out a scream loud enough to wake the entire house hold. The man made a an inhuman sound like a whine and jumped off of her bed. He took off down the hall and the maid from last night -- Mey-rin came hurrying in. "Miss, are you alright?" she asked in a worried tone.
"There was a man... he wasn't wearing any clothes... he just took off..." Sophie stuttered, too shaken to form proper sentences.
Mey-rin looked relieved. "That's just the family dog, Pluto, yes?" she said.
"Dog?" Sophie said in confusion. That was no dog that had invaded her room. What was wrong with these people?
"He's quite friendly, yes," Mey-rin assured her.
"I see," Sophie said, wiping the slobber off of her face.
"Anyway, I brought you some clothes. You would like to get dressed now, yes?"
"Yes, thank you," Sophie said. When Mey-rin did not leave, she said, "I can dress myself." With that, Mey-rin allowed her some privacy.
Once dressed, Sophie sat by the window, staring out at the landscape beyond. It looked like it would be a fairly decent day. 'I think I'll go walk around the grounds for a spell,' she thought to herself.
No sooner had the thought occurred to her had Sophie found herself slowly strolling through a garden of the most beautiful roses. There were blossoms of every color imaginable. Red, pink, white, yellow and blue. There were big ones and small ones. All of them were magnificent.
Sophie reached out and carressed a nearby pink blossom and drew it to her nose so she could breathe in the wonderful scent.
"Excuse me, Miss," said a voice behind her. Sophie jumped. She hadn't heard anyone come up behind her. She turned to see a boy with blonde hair and bluish-green eyes smiling brightly at her. 'He must be the gardener,' she thought, taking in his tanned skin.
"Be careful handling those roses, Miss. You might prick yourself on those thorns," he said. His sunny, cheerful nature was contagious; Sophie felt better just listening to him.
"Did you plant all these roses?" Sophie asked.
"Sure did," he said, beaming with pride.
"You must be really talented. These are lovely," Sophie said earnestly. She honestly had never seen such amazing flowers before.
The boy blushed slightly. "Not really. Most of the time I end up killing the flowers but this time I must've done something right," he said modestly.
"If it's not too much to ask, may I -- may I have one?" Sophie said, embarrassed that she was already asking favors.
The boy didn't seem to mind, in fact he seemed almost flattered. "Sure! I'll get you one," he said brightly. He gently moved past Sophie and severed the stem of a pale pink blossom in full bloom with his big garden clippers and presented her with it.
It was the first real smile Sophie had given in what felt like a very long time. "Thank you," she said, and she meant it from her very core. This boy was so kind and it was obvious he was genuine. He was the only one so far considering Victoria somehow gave off the same vibes as the butler.
The boy seemed at a loss for words for some reason but after a moment regained his brilliant, innocent smile. "You’re welcome."
"What's your name?" Sophie asked after a moment. She could see herself being friends with this cheery character and found that she already enjoyed being around him very much.
"I'm Finnian, but everyone just calls me Finni," he said.
"I'm Sophie," she said.
"Who's that?" Finni said, gesturing at the doll in Sophie's arms.
"This is Molly," Sophie said, holding the doll up so Finni could see.
"Nice to meet you," he said, addressing Molly.
Sophie smiled at his silliness. "Why don't you tell me about all of your flowers?" Sophie said.
"All of them? That could take awhile," Finny said.
"That's okay," Sophie said, trying not to sound disappointed.
"We should get started right away so we have enough time," Finny said.
Just as they got started, there was a loud noise like thunder. Sophie looked up in fear to see a huge dog running full speed right at them.
Finny stepped in front of her protectively and just when Sophie thought he was going to run them both over, Finny grabbed the dog by the nose and threw him on the ground with and ear-splitting thud laughing joyfully.
Sophie stared in shock. This boy was super-human. It shouldn't have been physically possible for anyone to lift a dog of that size. Finny rubbed the monster's belly with a furious kind of enthusiasm. "Good boy, Plu-Plu!"
Plu-Plu? So that man it her room earlier was a dog? Sophie continued to stare in amazement. How could a day that had just started to get fun, start to get so weird?
"You can pet him if you want. He's harmless," Finny encouraged. Sophie didn't know who looked more eager for her to pet Pluto, him or Finny.
Hesitantly, Sophie kneeled down next to Finny and patted the giant dog's soft belly fur.
Sophie spent all morning in the garden th Finny and Pluto until it was time for lunch.
Sophie went inside and sat down to eat. A burly blonde man -- Sophie guessed the chef -- sat a plate of questionable food in front of her. Sophie could hear him mutter, "I don't know why I'm doing this... didn't even touch dinner last night..." under his breath.
"I'll eat every bite, I promise," Sophie said, bravely digging in. True to her word, Sophie finished and found that it was an enjoyable meal. After thanking the cook, she went to explore the big mansion that she would now call home.
On her way upstairs, Sophie was blocked by Mey-rin who was frantically trying to place an impossible amount of clothes in a basket. Guessing that she had tripped and spilled them all, Sophie bent down to help her.
"Oh, Miss, you shouldn't do this. If Sebastian saw that I was making you help me with my chores, he's have my head, yes," Mey-rin said, obviously surprised at having a guest assisting her.
"You aren't making me do anything. I want to help," Sophie said, tossing a shirt into the basket.

Finny sighed dreamily for about the fifth time since lunch, hardly noticing when he accidently pulled up a tree rather than the weeds he was originally trying to remove. His mind wasn't on gardening. It was on Sophie. She was so kind! And that smile... Finny sighed again. He hoped she was staying for a long time.
“So Sebastian, let’s talk about that job offering,” Victoria said while relaxing in an arm chair whereas her brother was dusting. “Oh, those cakes look good. Pass me one, would you love?”
Sebastian, still dusting in the process, reached for a little cake from the silver tray and swiftly whirled around, throwing the cake straight at Victoria. He refused to look at her during the little show.
Victoria caught the cake with her hand and proceeded to eat it. “Thanks. Now, I think this really could work out for both of us. If I become a maid, I’ll get paid. If I get paid, I’ll have money to get out and go do my own stuff. Following me so far?” Sebastian didn’t make a sound. “Good. You know, I could’ve gone and stolen the money. But you don’t want me to fall back into that habit, correct?” Victoria played her words mischievously. She was one of those women who didn’t back down until she was in too deep. And she was always aware of how she presented herself. Currently, she was resting her head on one of her hands. The other was still holding the cake that was almost gone. Both were dressed in lacey, fingerless gloves. Her dress was black and magenta, and spilled out across the chair and onto the floor, her legs crossed underneath it.
`Sebastian reached up to dust a picture frame. “You continue to steal anyway,” he remarked coldly.
Victoria snickered. “Only from my customers. I just take the amount that I feel I deserved for my work. It isn’t always easy, you know. But we could get into a long discussion about that…”
“No, that’s quite alright,” Sebastian interrupted. He finished dusting the room and then strolled over to Victoria’s chair. She was licking the rest of the cake off of her fingers. “You’re really never to let it go if I don’t give you this job, are you?”
Victoria grinned, already knowing she had won. “I believe not, sir.”
Sebastian sighed. “Master will not be happy, but he’ll get over it I suppose. You better earn your worth and do what you’ve promised, Victoria, or I’ll personally see to it that you are out of this house and never return.” The butler’s words seemed laced with venom, but they didn’t sting Victoria. She simply nodded and strolled out of the room, happy with her victory.
“What?!” Ciel pushed out his chair and slammed his hands onto his desk. “Sebastian, I will not tolerate her working in this house. It’s already bad enough she’s here.”
Sebastian seemed annoyed from how loud Ciel had been with his reaction. “Now, calm down, young Master. I’m sure it won’t be as bad as you think. Now, though she is an unfortunate, that doesn’t mean she’s completely trash-”
“I’m not exactly talking about that characteristic, Sebastian.”
Sebastian nodded, but tried to butter his words. “She is like me, correct. However, do you not give jobs for me to do? Why not give her some? When I am busy, you could use her as a substitute.”
“We had a deal. She has nothing to do with it.” Ciel seemed impossible to break.
“Yes. However, it is only temporarily. All I ask, Master, is that you allow her to work for you for a surely brief amount of time. I will see to it that she does not get into any major trouble.”
Ciel sat back down and rested his chin on his hand. “I don’t feel like arguing. Fine, I’ll allow her to work. However, she is your problem, Sebastian.”
The butler bowed gracefully. “And I will see to it that she is punished if anything were to happen, Master.”
Sophie had found her place in that giant house. There were books, hundreds -- no thousands -- of them and they were just sitting on the shelves waiting to be read. Sophie strolled down the rows of shelves, reading titles on thick spines and finally hefting a large volume with her to a comfy looking chair nearby.
It was about butterflies. She turned the pages gently, careful not to rip the fragile paper and let words that would normally be considered far too advanced for a child her age to understand to resonate within her mind. Every now and then, she came across an illustration, each one so beautiful, she had to stop to examine them.
Before Sophie had realized it, night had fallen and still she read on. That was the magic of a good book. They could steal you away to another world, one where anything was possible and no one could hurt you. You could forget your troubles and live someone else's life for as long as you wished, and when you got tired of their dilemmas, you could simply shut the book and pick it up again the next time you wanted to escape. The best part was, you could take it with you wherever you wished, and call upon it's powers anytime you were in need of a friend.
By this point in her young life, Sophie had made friends with many fairy tales. She wished she could be them. Maybe she would be a fair maiden, wanted by many suitors, like a princess. Or maybe she would travel the high seas, visiting far away lands and never taking orders from anyone like a pirate. Or maybe, she could be a knight, valiantly saving the day.
Sophie sighed. Little girls growing up in London could never be such things.
Suddenly, through the dead quietness a door creaked open, and closed just as slowly. The Young Master entered the huge library, quickly taking note of the girl lost in her fantasies.
He asked in a monotone voice, “Found your favourite place, have you, Miss Sophie?”
Startled, Sophie's head snapped up. Once she saw that it was only the young master, she relaxed. "You have such a wonderful collection of books," she said, smiling. She decided not to stay angry with the boy. He was kind enough to take her in and he was also her age, so maybe they could be friends.
“Do I? I can’t remember when I last had time to pick up a good book and read. I’m glad you’re enjoying it for me.” He strolled over and seated himself in a chair close to hers. “Something’s been bothering me, Miss Sophie.” His eyes narrowed as he rested his chin upon his fist. “I don’t mean to arouse bad memories; however, I was interested in knowing whether or not you were still in favour of that music box being created.” He eyed her with his one visible eye, the other hidden beneath an eye patch
"I can't pay for it..." Sophie said. She wanted the carousel very badly, but if she didn't have any money....
Ciel nodded. “That’s understandable. But might I suggest something? Would it not be a good idea to kill two birds with one stone, and work here? You wouldn’t have a problem finding a place to stay, and you could work up enough money to buy the carousel.” The young master stood up and started towards the door. “Just a suggestion, Miss Sophie.”
Sophie couldn't help but smile. "Thank you, Young Master," she said, feeling truly grateful.
For the first time in awhile, Ciel smiled a true smile. It was as if invisible matches started a small, warm fire that glowed inside his mouth, bringing a warm smile to his lips. However, he quickly caught himself, doused the fire, and regained his dignified composure. “I have work to do. Goodnight, Miss Sophie.” And with that, he delicately turned the knob and left, leaving the girl to return to her own world.
Ciel’s loyal companion was awaiting his master’s return outside the door. “Master?”
Ciel didn’t even glance at Sebastian as he spoke; he seemed to be staring at something that was invisible to others. “Sebastian, I would like some more books for the library.”
The butler bowed with a simple, “It shall be done, Master,” appearing not to care about the reason for the books at first. However, he did touch on the subject a little. “Any particular reason the young master is interested in reading the fine words of a good book every now and then so suddenly?” Although the butler did in fact know the reason, it was simply habit for him to make devilish remarks.
Ciel’s eyes left his imaginary vision and went to Sebastian. “Please, I still do not have enough time. They’re not for me, Sebastian. I just felt our guest would like more selection. Now, leave the subject alone.”
Sebastian bowed gracefully once more. “As you wish, Master.” As the butler finished his words, the young master began down the dark halls of the Phantomhive mansion towards his study. These halls held so many memories for Ciel, and they would hold so many more.