Title: Memories Remain Beautiful
Fandom: Black Butler
Rating: G
Length: 498
Content Notes: Set after the Book of Circus arc but before the Book of Murder arc.
Author Notes: I personally think Doll is gorgeous and I hope Ciel would think the same.
Summary: Roses are such delicate, whimsical things that are here today and gone the next, Ciel muses while in the garden one afternoon. He is reminded of a rose he recently plucked up prematurely, her beauty rare but appreciated in the few short moments before she withered herself.

Roses are such delicate, whimsical things that are here today and gone the next, Ciel mused while on a stroll through the garden that afternoon. Most of the roses that grew around the hedges were stark white, as pure and colorless as fresh-fallen snow. Their petals were like velvet and the scent they released was much more subtle compared to their flashy red counterparts.

Unwillingly so, his mind strayed back to memories of Noah's Circus and the destruction of its troupe. He recalled these flowers adorning the headdress of his bunkmate and almost-friend, Doll. She was such a trusting, naive fool, believing every word he offered her, drenched in sympathetic lies and honeyed emotions. It was almost too easy to win her over.

It was a pity she had to go and die.

Business was business, after all. Ciel left no loose ends when it came to answering as the Queen's Guard Dog. He even warned Doll as she drew the dagger in anguish and charged at them, her home billowing in flames behind them. Ciel's fingers shrank away from the petals of a rose as he remembered her bangs flying away from the obscured part of her face and the scars hidden therein.

She was so beautiful.

But like all flowers, her life was sad and short-lived. Ciel snuffed it out without a second thought (maybe he had a second thought, but he wouldn't admit to such weakness aloud.) He plucked her from the safety of the vine for one moment of pleasure, a moment of adoration, and then she was gone...crushed beneath the weight of his revenge and family legacy.

"Better to admired for a brief moment than to wither on the vine unnoticed," said the tall, menacing man behind him, plucking the rose he'd been toying with from the vine and moving to tuck it behind his Master's ear. "It suits you, my Lord."

Ciel sneered up at him, "Haven't you anything better to do than eavesdrop and play with flowers? We have a guest coming tonight."

"All the necessary preparations have been made," Sebastian reassured him with a slight bow and that creepy smile of his. "Our guest will receive the full experience of Phantomhive hospitality."

"Then tend to other matters," Ciel muttered and turned back to his roses. "I wish to be left alone."

Sebastian's grin grew a little wider. "Are you really pining for that despicably stupid creature?"

"Are you really questioning my orders?" Ciel barked and turned away completely, starting down the path again. "Get back to work."

"Yes, my Lord."

As soon as he rounded the corner of the mansion and out of Sebastian's keen line of sight, Ciel removed the flower from his hair and stroked the petals with all the gentleness he could muster. His eyes drooped for a moment and he brought the flower to his lips.

"I hope you find happiness," he whispered and looked up into the blue, cloudless sky above, "wherever you are."