Present, past and future

Ciel still stood in the study that was once claimed to be his own. Now it belonged to his rival, Alois Trancy.

"That brat...He took away everything!"

"No. Alois is not at fault, dear..." Ciel's eyes widened as he heard a familiar voice.

"Madame...No...It can't be! I'm getting delusional!"

"No, you don't, Ciel. It really is me, but...not as a human..." The young earl looked at the crimson red spirit standing in front of him.

"Aunty...What are you doing here?" The spirit of Madame Red sighed.

"I came here to show you something, dear...something important."

"What is it?"

"...Come with me." The spirit offered her hand. Ciel graciously took it. A black fog was forming before his eyes.

Suddenly, the two stood in the Phantomhive dining room. Everyone had gathered around the table, enjoying a feast. There was little Ciel Phantomhive, alongside a little Elizabeth and his family.

"...My parents, Lizzy, you, uncle...What is this?" the earl asked the spirit of his aunt. She smiled.

"It was our Christmas dinner, three years ago. You and Elizabeth were fighting about some croquettes, so your mother gave you both some of hers..." The earl stood there, as he watched his mother offering the remaining croquettes to him and his fiancée. The two children cheered for there deep-fried reward and smiled at lady Phantomhive.

Ciel from the present shed a tear out of nostalgia.

"Afterwards we both got a stomach ache..." he said with a voice not far from breaking. Madame Red's spirit looked at her nephew with a little smile.

"Oh, my dear boy...Are you crying? All this must've made you emotional", she said. Ciel quickly dried his tears and shook his head heavily.

"I simply got something in my eye, that's all!" The crimson spirit sighed.

"Come, there is more that I want to show you." They both suddenly stood in the hallway, where a crying Elizabeth stood in the hallway. Ciel couldn't speak.

"Madame, why is she crying?" Ciel looked at the spirit with flustered eyes.

"She now is no longer engaged with you, but with Jim Macken."

"Jim Macken?"

"It is Alois' real name, dear. After a horrible past he has been through, the best way of forgetting it all was for him to change his name. And as a result of that horrible past, he now treats people like they have treated him: like dirt."

"Sounds obvious, but I still don't know why Lizzy is crying."

"It is actually your doing, Ciel."

"Excuse me?" Ciel crossed his arms and looked at his aunt's spirit. "Explain, aunty."

"Well, you wished not to be engaged with Elizabeth, correct?"

"Well, yes but-"

"This is the result. Elizabeth has to do Alois' bidding and gets beat daily. At first they were happy, but-"

"Listen, I never wanted her to be engaged with him." Madame Red sighed and shook her head.

"It doesn't matter, Ciel. In every way, if you and Elizabeth aren't engaged, you would have no one, but Sebastian and let's be real...Him alone is not enough to please you."

"That's what you think, but the truth is..." The young earl stopped and thought of words to say, but his aunt had him cornered with her words. Ciel sighed and looked at his aunty. "...The truth is...that it is not the pleasing that matter to me...If Sebastian is not there, I will never be able to do anything - hell, I can't even dress myself properly...but Lizzy is a handful. I can live without her perfectly. I do not need her."

"...Well, she needs you", the spirit kept defending her point. "Really, Ciel. You have no idea."

"Proof it to me, Madame." The black fog formed once again and the two appeared in front of the Midford Manor. "What are we doing at Lizzy's house, aunty?"

"Follow me." The earl did what him was told and followed his aunt's spirit.

"We have arrived." They stood in Elizabeth's room. She sat on her bed, petrified and crying. Elizabeth's mother, Francis, looked at her daughter with furious eyes. The woman threw a pair of shoes at her daughter.

"Wear these! You have to look presentable today. For once, you don't have to look like a overhyped whore." Ciel didn't believe what he heard.

"No wonder I was scared of that woman at the first meeting", Ciel mumbled. The crimson ghost chuckled a little. "But why does she treat Lizzy like that?"

"Francis Midford always treated her daughter like this. Perfection was all she craved from her daughter, pushing her to not eat, so she could remain slim and beat her everytime she said her opinion, telling it was a bad thing to do." Ciel frowned his head and looked at Madame Red's spirit.

"What does it have to do with me?"

"...When Elizabeth met you, she had learned that perfection was not all that important. You may not know, but when she was with you, she finally managed to be herself and not some prima ballerina. She loved you. More than she loved herself and even more than she loved her older brother...Ciel, she is lost without you. Do you really want Elizabeth to be unhappy? To live in fear her entire life? Because, if you don't undo your wish...this will become a reality. And in the future, she'll-" She stopped talking. Ciel widened his eyes.

"What is it? Tell me!" The spirit sighed.

"I saved the most important thing for last..." Madame Red took the hand of her nephew. He was confused.

"Madame, you haven't taken me everywhere."

"You are wrong." The door of Elizabeth's bedroom flew open. Ciel turned his head quickly and saw the girl coming into her room and walk towards the balcony. She took a look down and sighed. Carefully, she climbed on top of the edge and spread her arms. She was about to commit suicide.

"Lizzy, stop!" Ciel shouted.

"She can't hear you, Ciel!" The earl turned to the spirit and looked at her with eyes filled with fear.

"Aunty, we have to stop this!" The woman looked down to the floor.

"...Ciel, it's too late..." Madame Red disappeared, leaving her nephew to witness the horrible scene.

"No! There has to be a way to stop all of this!" He didn't receive an answer anymore. The young earl fell to his knees and started sobbing softly. "I do not want this to happen...I do not want her to be engaged with that...that brat! I do not want her to get hurt! I've made a vow to my parents and to Lizzy as well! To marry her and protect her at any cost! It is my duty!"

Suddenly the room was pitch black. Ciel felt a drowsiness overwhelming him and fell to the ground.