So I decided to start a collection of Kuroshitsuji drabbles. Most will exist in the same universe, and will be either Alois centric or Claude/Alois, with some possible Sebastian and Ciel thrown in there.

Enjoy :)

Learn to Live

Chapter 1 - 2 AM

It's two in the morning, and Alois Trancy is scared.

Certainly not for the first time in his life, oh no. But he is scared, nonetheless. He starts high school tomorrow, and somewhere in his mind fear is lurking, feeding off of his soul like a ravenous demon. He must be brave, however - and being brave is something Alois Trancy has never been particularly fond of.

His mother and younger brother Luca had died in a horrendous accident when he was ten years old, leaving him in the care of his stepfather, a gluttonous old man who had abused him - viciously, and with hardly a thought. He had never stood up for himself, caving in to the bastard's demands because he was too scared to do something about it. And when the old pervert had finally kicked the bucket, Alois had been shipped to the house of his estranged Uncle. Needless to say, that hadn't lasted long - he hated the boy and dumped him into the custody of Child Services the second he got the chance.

Bravery is something Alois sees in other people, yet not in himself. He sees it in his adoptive mother, Hannah, who took him in straight out off college, saying that she saw something special in him, telling him that no matter what anyone said, he was worth something. She is the bravest person Alois knows - and yet for all of his watching and idolizing her, Alois is not brave.

He tosses and turns in his bed, wondering what high school will be like. Will everyone like him? Will anyone like him at all? Will it be difficult? He is pretty good at sports, and very smart when he applies himself, and all he wants is to make Hannah proud. Because she has done everything for him because she loves him, and all he really wants is to be loved. He doesn't really care what kind at this point.

Alois supposes that being scared will do him no good. Either people will hate him or people will like him - all he could do was hold his head up high and hope for the best. Because high school is only four years long, but he is only fourteen, and four years seems like a very long time. So, he reasons that he has a long time to make friends and go to the mall and get ice cream with Hannah and grow up and maybe fall in love. Alois is not sure about love and he is not sure if he can even love someone - not like he loves Hannah or like he loved his mother - but he has seen it in movies, and a teacher told him once that movies are mirrors for our lives. Alois always thought that if he had to define it, his life would be a horror movie, or one of those sappy Lifetime movies with abused children and dogs - but now, he has a mother and a school and a home and life is not looking so horrid anymore.

Perhaps he can be brave. Brave like his mother, brave like Hannah, brave like those people in movies. He will write his own ending - or beginning, really.

It's two in the morning, and Alois Trancy decides that his life will be a love story.