Title: Demons, Not Fairies

Author: Ze Quixotical

Summary: My brother told me how to contact the Fairies and I did. However, I had no wish for them to grant – I knew could find my brother on my own. The Fairy welcomed me back, if I ever changed my mind and found myself unable to complete my task alone.

Pairing(s): Alois x OC, possible future OC x OC

Additional Notes: This is going to be an Alois x OC story, and I'm going to do everything in my author-ly power to save Alois. However, I have a grand total of this chapter plotted out, which means everything is in the wind. This chapter is simply a preview to assess the level of interest there will be in this story. That's why it's so long (for me) – there is plenty to think about in this chapter.

Warnings for this Chapter: Subjective (religious) ideology.

Disclaimer: This is Ze, my desk is a mess and my fan is blowing papers and shit everywhere and I'm about to shoot myself in the right eye, and I do not own Kuroshitsuji.

Eva clasps her hands in front of her and rocks back on her heels, waiting. It's been nearly a minute since the last time she pulled the curtains back from the window to check. She takes a deep breath and holds it, then unclasps her hands to fiddle with the ribbon tied around her wrist. Then she pounces on the curtains and pulls them back to look at the cobbled London street below. It's not a very effective antic – it is not likely she would be able to recognize the top of her brother's head with so many other young boys wearing caps and milling around.

She steps back, disappointed. Behind her, her mother tuts but doesn't lift her eyes from her sewing.

"He should be here by now," Eva says anxiously, peeking out the window again.

Her brother, Charles, left several months ago for an apprenticeship. It had been a very mysterious and sudden affair – Eva hadn't even known he was going to leave until he had already packed one small, ratty trunk. And though he said he'd write, she hadn't heard a word from him. Their father said that he was probably very busy, and Charles was lucky to have been taken on as an apprentice in the first place.

"He's so careless," their father had said. "Not suited for meticulous or dangerous work."

But Eva hadn't agreed.

"The Fairies will take care of him."

She'd whispered it, so her father couldn't hear. He was a God-fearing man and didn't believe in Fairies. Charles had told Eva all about the Fairies – that they would grant you any wish if you summoned them. He said that they were nice, caring creatures who watched over you. Eva, at the time, had believed in God.

"Like angels?" she'd asked.

Charles had shaken his head.

"No. Angels aren't real, or if they are, they aren't good – people just misinterpret the work of the Fairies. They think such beautiful things could only be done by perfect beings. They think that it's not possible to accomplish beautiful things exclusively through their love, since humans aren't able to love that way.

Eva had liked the sound of that. Fairies weren't arrogant, and God was. She'd much rather be born loved than born in sin. And everything she knew about God made her feel ignored. She'd been told that He worked in strange ways, but what Eva really heard was, 'He works in nonexistent ways.' And since the Fairies truly loved her and Charles, they'd help him with his apprenticeship. They'd watch him and make sure he didn't make any mistakes.

Although, she disagrees on the last count. She believes humans can love absolutely, and protecting those close to her doesn't require her to have to be perfect like an angel or a god. She just has to be able to love as completely as a Fairy.

But even though she loves her brother like that, she hadn't voiced her differing opinion aloud. It may have made him laugh, or even made him angry to be contradicted.

Eva leans forward and scans the street again.

Charles is returning home for his first visit. It is likely his master is coming along with him, to collect the second part of his payment if Charles and their father agree to continue the apprenticeship.

Eva had been waiting for hours at the window now.

"Come away from the window, Eva," her father orders from his armchair. "I won't have you standing there gawping outside all afternoon."

Eva lets the curtain drop, bites her lip, and bows her head.

"Alright," she says respectfully, moving away from the window. She sits down in the chair across from her mother. "But shouldn't he be here by now?"

Her father scowls around his cigar.

"Don't concern yourself with it."

Eva looks at her mother beseechingly but gets no response. She sighs and slumps down in her seat so her chin is roughly level with her knees. As expected, her mother looks up to snap, "Sit like a lady."

Tears sting Eva's eyes. Why won't they tell her anything about Charles? They act like they don't even care that they're going to see him for the first time in months.

Her mother is still looking at her fiercely, so Eva boosts herself back up into a proper sitting position and adjusts her long skirt over her knees. The instant Eva is situated, her mother turns back to her sewing.

Minutes push their way through the acrid scent of cigar smoke. Eva frowns and pushes away hair that had come loose of her headband.

"May I be excused?"

Her mother nods, eyes intent as she pulls the needle through.

Eva gets up and walks slowly to the small washroom across the hall and shuts the door. The instant she's cut off from her parents, she closes her eyes and furrows her brow in hurt. This is supposed to be a happy family reunion. She has been looking forward to it for weeks, but her parents just tell her to stop being so excitable.

Eva opens her eyes and pulls the thin brown headband out of her hair. Wisps of ash blonde hair fall across her eyes but she tosses them back. She frowns at herself in the mirror, scrutinizing. There are three freckles on the bridge of her nose (three and a half, if Eva was to be perfectly honest, which she normally was). How childish. She wrinkles her nose, causing them to vanish and fixes the headband back in her hair.

She leaves the washroom and glances down the stairs towards the front door. Maybe she could go sit on the front steps to wait for him.

"Father?" she calls, reentering the parlor where her parents are sitting. "May I go sit on the front steps to wait for Charles?"

He fixes her in a hard gaze.

"Didn't I tell you not to bother about it?"

Eva opens her mouth to respond, puzzled, but he cuts her off.

"Charles isn't coming."

Eva's mouth snaps shut.

"W-why not? I thought – he left a few months ago! That means him and his master have to come here to determine whether he'll stay on for another season! Isn't that right?" she cries, aware that she is being disrespectful to her parents.

"Lower your voice and stop asking questions!" her father growls.

"Don't speak to your father that way!" her mother scolds. She sets her sewing aside to stand beside her husband.

Eva reels back and bows her head in obedience, eyes shut tightly. Her fists are clenched in front of her. "I'm sorry. But wh-?"

Smack!

Eva's head snaps to the side. She looks up. She didn't even see her father get out of his chair. And the blow didn't hurt – not until she puts her fingertips to her cheek and finds it hot.

He hit my face.

She meets his eyes, her own wide and beginning to pool with tears. She knows not to say anything, now. She should've known that before.

"Charles is not coming back," her father says again. "We sold him to the Earl Arnold Trancy."

Eva stands stock still. She dares to speak, "Sold him? But his apprenticeship -,"

"There is no apprenticeship. We sold him to the Earl Arnold Trancy. Have you got that, girl?"

"…sold him? For what purpose?" she asks, beginning to feel sick. Her father falters for a moment. Eva feels like her body was dipped in a river of ice water. Though she didn't know anything about the Trancys', she'd suddenly been struck with a bad feeling. "You can't have sold him." She stares at her father, her brown eyes now piercing instead of dull in submissive obedience. "The Fairies wouldn't have let you! They're supposed to keep him safe!"

Her mother and father look shocked. A weight drops into Eva's stomach as they stand there. This is…her thoughts fragment for a moment, and it feels like her consciousness is being picked away at – by her parents, who so avidly pushed indoctrinated thoughts into her mind since as long as she could remember? God and sin and prayer, when all she really needed was Fairies, and that much had been supplied to her by – Charles. And then they took that away from her. And they took everything away from him. Eva pulls away from them, repulsed, and runs down the front stairs and out the front door, stumbling a bit on the threshold.

She hits the street and sprints across without bothering to check for carriages. She jumps onto the opposite sidewalk and slams into someone. She ignores their outrage and ducks around them and through the masses of men and women. She runs until her legs and lungs are burning, then she finally stops and throws herself sideways into an alley, where she slides down against a wall with her knees up to her chest. Despite her panicky appearance, no one has followed her or seen her; she's alone.

Her hair has escaped her headband again, so she rips it off and allows her long hair to spill forward over her shoulders and face, shielding her from the harsh light at the mouth of the alley.

"The Fairies are keeping him safe. The Fairies are keeping him safe," she whispers to herself, a tear rolling down her cheek. She grinds her teeth together so hard it hurts. "THE FAIRIES ARE KEEPING HIM SAFE BECAUSE NO GOD WILL!" she yells, the words so loud that they seem to strip her throat raw and angry. When she calms down, she whispers the words her brother taught her to keep her close to the Fairies. "Hoheo taralna, rondero tarel."

She hugs her knees tighter and shivers, suddenly feeling cold. She opens her fist and raises her head to replace her headband. But when her eyes clear of tears, she stops. There are strange pins of light floating in front of her eyes - she's not in an alley anymore. She's sitting on the ground of what appears to be an island settled in a lake of green water. Trees line the other side of the lake. Beyond them is a blackness so complete that she can't even begin to fathom what it is hiding.

Eva stands up slowly. She's surrounded by waist height fog and reeds. She totters over to the water's edge on unsteady feet. The ground isn't as firm here, and she slides a few centimeters into the water. She presses her lips together in disgust and peers forward at the water.

It's dark below the surface, unlike the rest of the pond, which is a light, almost pearly green. Her eyes follow the dark shape – it wraps all the way around the island, like a strip of land in the middle of the water's berth. She looks for a small rock to toss but finds nothing. The island is pristine. She turns her eyes back to the dark shape.

The water explodes upward near the base of the darkness. Eva screams and falls backwards into a few centimeters of water. Her skirt is soaked through instantly, and her fingers claw into the mud. She is about to scrabble backwards onto the shore when she sees something she's only seen in Charles' Egypt books.

A few feet in front of her is the head of a crocodile.

It's the size of a full grown man; bumpy and scaly and rough-looking. The snout is menacing, and Eva can see viciously curved teeth protruding out of the water. The eyes are raised – bright yellow with slit pupils. She can feel the hostile heat from them on her face – her own eyes turn hot with terror.

Eva's chest is constricting and she can hardly get a breath – she's making thin whooping noises as she tries to suck air in. She automatically starts muttering prayers to Fairies to spare her from the monstrosity that's burning holes into her eyes with its yellow points of fire.

"OhpleasepleaseFairieshelpmed on'tletmedieohplease," she wheezes through a sob, trying to push herself backwards, away from it. "Hoheo taralna, rondero tarel. Hoheo taralna, rondero tarel." Her arms are weak and don't even seem to feel her brain telling them to move. She isn't even aware of her legs anymore – it seems everything from her waist down is dead and non-responsive. She almost faints, her vision going spotty, as the head stirs. Behind it, the dark shape floats upward to reveal sharp spines as long as her arm.

It's wrapped around the entire island, ohpleasedon'tletmedie, she thinks.

"Why have you summoned me?" a deep voice rumbles. The water ripples near the crocodile's snout, pushing small waves of water towards her. Eva whimpers and her throat heaves like she's going to vomit.

"Answer now with your request or last words," it growls.

"Don't eat me," is all Eva can sputter when she's certain that she won't throw up if she opens her mouth.

Larger waves ripple away from the crocodile's snout as it makes a perverse sound that makes Eva think of a chuckle.

"Is that a request, or your last words?"

"R-request!"

"Very well. Anything else?"

"Are you a Fairy?" Eva asks, her arms wobbling as she again tries unsuccessfully to push herself upright. She can see now that the crocodile is even more massive than she originally thought. The width of the middle of its trunk-like body had to be several meters, and its head was quite a bit larger than a man. It could eat her in a single bite; it wouldn't even need to chew her.

"No," it answers, and Eva jumps a little at the short syllable. "I am a demon."

Gooseflesh bristles along Eva's arms and a cold feather ghosts up her spine.

"A demon..?" Eva says. "But I was praying for Fairies."

The crocodile surveys her for a moment longer before speaking again.

"I can grant you any request you would like." A rumble sounds in the back of its throat.

"Can you find my brother?" she asks.

"Easily. Is that your request? Do we have a deal?"

"Wait," Eva says, but cautiously. She doesn't want to get on the crocodile's bad side – even though it had agreed not to eat her, she didn't trust it. It sounded far too eager to make this 'deal'. "What kind of a deal? What's in it for you?"

The crocodile's eyes slit further, like it is narrowing its eyes at her, but when it answers, it sounds amused, and far more human, even though what it says is far more inhuman than anything Eva could ever imagine.

"Your soul."

Eva's eyes widen.

"What would you want with that?"

The crocodile makes the rumbling sound again, and it flicks its tail. It looks disturbingly like a smile to Eva. No – not a smile. Not exactly. It's more like the smug look of a cat that just succeeded in swallowing the canary.

"One must eat, mustn't they?"

Eva's mouth twists in a sickened expression.

"That's disgusting!" She shuts up quickly, forgetting she shouldn't provoke it.

The crocodile's body stirs again. It seems to take a century for the motion to reach its tail, which follows it like an obedient dog.

"Do we have a deal?" it repeats, its eyes slitting again.

Eva hesitates. "I know where he is," she says slowly, like she's putting her thoughts together in her mind before speaking, "and I think I could find him myself." She steels herself for his response, waiting to be eaten.

The eyes are still slit, staring at her in what looks like anger.

"If that is your wish. Just remember, you are always welcome to summon me if you find yourself unable to complete your task on your own," the crocodile says.

Eva lets out a sigh of relief. She'd expected the monster to oppose her.

"How will I summon you again?"

The crocodile starts moving in a slow circle, around the island. It slowly disappears beneath the water's surface, so far that she can't even see the dark outline of it.

"The same way you did before."

Eva raises her head from her arms, blinking away the feel of tears that aren't there anymore. The brick wall behind her is jutting into her back, and her rump is pained from sitting on the hard ground. Her headband is still clenched in her fist. Numbly, she fixes it back into her hair and stands up.

Her nails catch her attention, and she bares them, squinting. There's mud beneath them. It wasn't a dream. And now she has to find her brother – without the help of the…

Demon.

Not Fairies, demon.

Eva pulls the door to the shop open, glancing around guiltily. If her parents were looking for her, this is the place they'd check first. She stops here nearly every day; she's friends with the owner – an overbearing, perverted, but still sweet seamstress. Ms. Hopkins ('Please! Call me Nina! I'm not known as tailor who indicates the seasons for nothing!') is always glad to have her, and would plop her down at a table in the back room with a plate of biscuits and cup of tea (after she'd torn her skirt away) in preparation to unleash the latest pile of steaming gossip she picked up from all her noble customers. The latest thing Eva can remember talking about was the little (though the same age as Eva) Lady Elizabeth Midford and her fiancé, Ciel Phantomhive. Eva finds it interesting, but really only listens for Ms. Hopkins' sake – she fears the woman would explode if she didn't have an audience for all of her knowledge.

"Ms. Hopkins?" Eva calls once the front door was shut. Her shoulders slump in relief when the woman steps out from the back room.

"Eva O'keefe!" Ms. Hopkins says warmly. "You've never been around this late before! And I told you, call me Nina!"

"I know," Eva says with a small smile. "I needed to ask…a favor."

Ms. Hopkins beckons her to the back room, and Eva finds herself comforted as their normal ritual takes over and the only thing she has to worry about is the heaping pile of sweets in front of her. Eva digs in while Ms. Hopkins drinks tea, watching her over the rim of the cup. When Eva is sufficiently full, she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand (her mother's strict discipline and manners are forgotten while she is with Ms. Hopkins who is perhaps the most robust and ill-mannered being in London).

"Do you remember Charles?" Eva says, suddenly feeling shaky again.

Ms. Hopkins knew of Charles, but had never really spoken to him – he wouldn't be dragged into a seamstress's shop if his life depended on it. He was imaginative in terms of Fairies and other things, but really just a boy. A small smile springs to Eva's lips despite the present situation.

"Of course," Ms. Hopkins nods.

"His apprenticeship…," Eva starts, feeling her throat close. Her earlier reminiscent smile has vanished. Ms. Hopkins' expression darkens and Eva catches it, looking on in shock. "You knew?"

Ms. Hopkins nods.

"I knew. I've served members of the Trancy family for as long as I've been in business. I know what they're like."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Eva cries. She pushes away from the table, the legs of her chair scraping the wood floor harshly. "You tell me everything else that has to do with your customers!"

"I'm sorry," Ms. Hopkins says, pursing her lips. Eva felt a flash of satisfaction – she should be ashamed for keeping something like that from her. "But…I couldn't tell you. You were too young to know how dangerous that family is – how they are, what they do…"

"I'm going to go get him," Eva says, glaring, daring Ms. Hopkins to contradict her.

"Don't be ridiculous," Ms. Hopkins says. Eva's eye twitches for a moment, and then she resumes her threatening demeanor. She sets her cup down on her plate and brushes nonexistent crumbs off of the table to disguise her shame as nonchalance. "Didn't I say that they're dangerous?"

"I have to go. I know I can find him. I just need to get there. And that's what I wanted to ask of you."

Ms. Hopkins frowns. "I can't let you go there."

Eva clenches her fists again and looks imploringly at the woman.

"Please, Ms. – er, Nina. I know how to help him – I can do it. I promise I won't get hurt."

"How can you promise that?" Ms. Hopkins says, shaking her head. "You don't know that."

"Okay, I don't promise, I just say."

Ms. Hopkins is quiet for a moment, her head bowed, and Eva thinks she may have convinced her when she finally speaks.

"What did your parents say to you?"

Eva looks at Ms. Hopkins' averted face.

"Just that they sold him and he wouldn't be coming home. Please Ms. - Nina." She steers back towards her goal.

Ms. Hopkins sighs and stands up. Eva looks at her hopefully but jumps as a small sack thumps onto the table in front of her.

"Go," Ms. Hopkins says, looking torn. "You know what happens if you don't come back."

Eva straightened up, taking her fists of the table slowly. She takes a deep breath, waiting to see if, perhaps, Ms. Hopkins is just being cruel. When she says nothing on the contrary, Eva throws herself at the woman.

"I know - you'll kill me with corset strings. Thank you, Nina!" She tightens the hug for another moment before dropping down onto her feet and picking up the bag of money. She turns and runs towards the front door.

"Make sure you bring your brother back too! I'd like to meet him! I like boys his age!" calls Ms. Hopkins, as Eva bolts out the door. Eva tosses her head in acknowledgement, a warm heat purring in her stomach alongside the sweets. She's going to find her brother.

Eva had managed to find someone going in the direction of the Trancy manor within an hour of leaving Ms. Hopkins' shop. The man she found said he could let her off right at the front door, if she wanted him to. She had thanked him, climbed up onto the wagon, and not taken her eyes off of him since they started moving. He may have been generous (for the weighty sum of money she'd gotten from Ms. Hopkins) but she wasn't taking any chances.

Eva looks up at the darkening sky – it can't be that late already, she thinks. There must be a storm on the way. The man is looking up at the sky as well, looking distinctly worried.

"The strait that leads to the Trancy manor is easily flooded. If I can't beat the rain, I'll have to let you off about a kilometer shy of the house," he says. "My horses have a hard time with water, and this wagon will rot. It's walkable, though."

Eva shifts reluctantly, but thanks him anyway.

"The road to the Trancys' is extremely temperamental," he continues a few minutes later, shaking his head. A drop of rain hits Eva on the cheek, causing her eye to flinch involuntarily. It's an extremely light drizzle, but the cloud it came from was trivial. The massive thunderheads are right behind it.

"Here is the entrance to the strait," the man says. "Sorry, but I can't take you any further. I'll be stuck there."

Eva nods and slides off the wagon. She tosses him the small bag of money and he catches it with an appreciative grunt. She hears him flick his reins and soon she is alone with only the thunderheads for company.

As the rain picks up, Eva sloshes through a few centimeters of water that covers the mushy ground. She soaked to the bone, her long brown skirt heavy, and her waist shirt clinging to her like a second skin. She pulls it away from her body every now and again to spare her modesty, even though there isn't anyone for nearly a kilometer. She's grateful for her headband, as it keeps the rubbery strands of her wet hair out of her face.

Eva looks up, squinting against the heavy rain. She can't be far from the house now, but she can't see it because of the grey haze. She drops her head again, annoyed. She would just have to bump into it. Something caught her attention in the corner of her eye, and she looked up.

A brief moment of absolute, unadulterated terror strikes her as she is certain she sees the crocodile-demon's head slithering towards her in the water, but in the next flash of lightning, there is nothing. Her teeth chatter together, more from fright than cold now.

"Nothing there, nothing there," Eva sings to herself through her teeth. "There's nothing there." But a thought hits her suddenly – she wishes there was something there. This would be so much easier if she could just summon the demon again. It would have her brother home to her in a matter of minutes, wouldn't it? It had said that such a task would be easy…Eva looks up hopefully; maybe the crocodile-demon hadn't been her imagination.

Nothing there, nothing there, the storm taunts her.

Eva shakes herself.

No, she thinks. I can do this. It's just a bit of rain. I don't need any help. Especially not from a demon.

But she wouldn't mind help from a Fairy.

The water is nearly at Eva's knees by the time she bumps into the gate of the Trancy estate. She frowns down at it in annoyance – there must be some kind of problem with the dams. That is the Phantomhive family's responsibility. She allows herself a brief, unladylike curse at the expense of the young earl (How do you like that, mother?) and then squeezes through the bars of the gate.

Eva stands on the front step, grateful to be out of the rain. She squeezes the water out of the end of her sleeves and peels her waist shirt away from her body. Thankfully, it is both thick and dark enough to have maintained its opaqueness. Then she reaches down and wrings the bottom of her skirt, wishing she could look more presentable. She's about to knock when she catches herself – is she really just going to knock and hope they invite her in? How on earth will she be able to find Charles in a single night? She needs some kind of excuse.

She mentally hit herself. Why hadn't she asked Ms. Hopkins about it? Because you didn't have the foresight, a nasty little voice in the back of her head mocks. Because you're stupid. Eva pushes it away angrily. She could still do this…think of what Ms. Hopkins would say. She'd need some insurance…something that would allow her to stay at the house for as long as she needed to find her brother…she didn't think the Trancy family would take to kindly to her poking her nose around looking for their purchases. Her mouth twists in revulsion.

Then it hits her.

She has come this far, and she isn't going to let herself traipse back to London in soggy socks. And Charles needs her.

She sets her teeth and raps on the door – four hard knocks.

Ze's Note: I think that's a pleasant place to end it – sorry. I personally hate cliffies as a reader, but what can I do? I don't really have chapters this long. Ever.

I hope you like it. I'm pretty happy with it myself. How do you like Eva and my OC demon? I thought I was being pretty original with the crocodile avatar...hm.

Critiques are welcome and encouraged – I will try to make it worth your while.

Fun Fact: I was looking up pictures of crocodiles and found this enormously freaky one. They are scary animals. I had a nightmare.