A/N: Alright, I've had this idea for a while. Actually, this is my third version of what would happen. Let me know what you think!

Title: To Have an Angel

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: K+

Pairings: Hint of Ciel/Lizzy

Genre: Friendship/Family

Warnings: Blood

Summary: For years, Ciel had a guardian angel. For years, Ciel was never alone. Years go by and Ciel's best friend was Michael, his guardian angel. And then he was. He was alone.

Disclaimer: Sadly, Black Butler is not mine.

It was dark and silent. Ciel did not mind; he was asleep, peaceful and quiet. He didn't notice when the sound of fluttering wings filled the room and a person appeared beside him with a soft thump.

The person – a man, plain looking, but with a warm aura that made the whole room seem kinder – reached into the crib holding the infant Ciel Phantomhive. He took the tiny hand in one of his and stroked the back of it gently with his thumb.

The touch eased the infant out of his sleep and, slowly, Ciel opened up impossibly wide blue eyes to peer up at the man. A coo bubbled up from his throat. He didn't recognize him. After all, he had never seen him before.

The man smiled at him. "Hello, Ciel," he greeted quietly, marveling silently at the intensity of his gaze. "My name is Michael. I'm going to be your guardian angel."

In reply, he received another coo. For a human, Michael mused, he was extremely adorable. He smiled again.

"You and I will have a lot of fun together," he promised the slightly fussing baby. "I'll be your protector and your friend for your whole life. I'll always be watching over you."

He continued to talk to the baby until, finally, Ciel grew tired and fell asleep. Even then, he remained, standing over the crib, for a short while. Then he let go and vanished, leaving behind no trace that he had ever been there at all.

Ciel was now two years old. He often mentioned an 'imaginary friend', Michael. Vincent and Rachel attributed Michael's apparent adulthood to the fact that Ciel only rarely came into contact with others his age. But Ciel knew better. Michael had visited every night since that first time.

Ciel smiled and nodded as Rachel tucked him in, kissed him goodnight, and blew out the candle. Then he waited in the darkness, completely unafraid.

When he finally heard the fluttering of wings, he jumped up out of bed, excited. "Mike'l! Mike'l!" he chanted, pulling happily at the leg of Michael's pants.

Michael smiled down at the boy. "Hey, kiddo. Good day?"

Ciel nodded, beaming. "Uh-huh!"

Michael lifted Ciel and placed him on his shoulder. "Want to tell me about it?"

He listened as his charge began to chatter happily about his Daddy playing with him, and hiding from Tanaka at bedtime.

"Mama find me," Ciel finished, deflating slightly.

Michael nodded, still smiling. "What do you say we go ahead and play?"

Ciel perked up again and beamed. "Yes! Yes!"

Michael chuckled at the boy's enthusiasm and slipped off his thick coat, depositing it on a little chair. From underneath it, his large, white wings unfolded with a fwump. He bent to one knee and grinned at Ciel. "Climb on."

Ciel clapped his hands happily and scrambled over, clambering onto Michael's back. His small body fit perfectly between the two wings, even leaving plenty of room for movement. He flung his little arms around Michael's neck and Michael opened the window and slid out.

In another moment, they were off, soaring through the still night air. Michael's laughter and Ciel's screams of delight echoed across the starry sky, never once reaching the ears of those bound to the earth below.

Ciel was four and he had his first friend his age. According to him, they were going to be fiancés, which made Michael smile a little. At least Ciel got along with his. That was better than some had.

"So her name is Lizzy?" Michael asked.

Ciel nodded, smiling widely, quite pleased with this development. "Yeah! She's the daughter of Aunt Frances and Alexis Midford, Daddy told me. He's glad we get along, too." He giggled, presumably over some event or other of the day, but offered no explanation.

"What is she like?"

Ciel beamed and launched into a full-out, very detailed description. Michael smiled and nodded along, occasionally asking questions.

Yes, he was very pleased about this.

Ciel was six and he loved talking to Michael about anything and everything. Lizzy notwithstanding, Michael was his best friend.

Today, Michael was teaching him something, and all of Ciel's attention was focused on the lesson.

"What am I, Ciel?" Michael prompted.

Ciel smiled. "My guardian angel."

"And the opposite of me is?"

"A demon, or a devil."

"Who cuts Cinematic Record?"

"Grim reapers."

"Very good, Ciel," Michael praised. "Do you remember any others?"

Ciel considered for a moment. "Ghosts."

"Yes."

"Vampires."

"Very good. Go on."

Ciel frowned, then guessed, "Fairies?"

"Excellent, yes." Michael smiled and boosted Ciel onto his shoulders. "You're learning very well, Ciel."

Ciel beamed and hugged his head. "Thanks, Michael!"

Michael, just as he had done so many times before, removed his coat and climbed out the window and up toward the full moon, Ciel clinging tightly to his neck.

Ciel was always happiest flying with Michael. He knew that they'd be friends forever, because Michael would never leave him and he would never leave Michael. Ever.

Ciel was seven and crying, clinging tight to Michael's side, seeking comfort. But Michael wasn't responding as he usually did – no comfort was forthcoming. No hug, no murmured reassurances, nothing.

Ciel cried harder.

Earlier, he had done something he'd never had to do before. Sure, he'd seen it done. He'd even ordered it done. But Daddy and Tanaka couldn't protect him this time.

They'd been in the middle of an infiltration when Ciel got caught somewhere he shouldn't have been. The man – Vareo, Ciel remembered – had sent a messenger, who had run off, shouting about how an intruder had been found.

Ciel had been frozen with fear. The few times he had been caught before, still new and inexperienced as he was, Tanaka or Daddy had been around. Granted, that had only happened twice…

Then he had been forcibly refocused when the man, now holding a gun (and when had he gotten that out?) shot at his feet. "Don't move," he had warned. His name was Vareo, Ciel remembered. Vareo. Fleeting, fragile Vareo.

Ciel didn't.

The man started to slowly turn away, toward the door, but then seemed to get an idea as footsteps pounded closer. They were coming. He lunged for Ciel.

Ciel screamed.

A gunshot went off.

A body thumped limply to the ground.

When, mere seconds later, Vincent threw open the door, wild and frightened, he found Ciel, staring straight ahead, breathing heavily. A gun was clasped in his shaking hands, with smoke rising in deceptively gentle swirls from the tip. At his feet lay the dead body of Vareo. Fleeting, fragile Vareo, life ended with the pull of a trigger.

They had returned with their mission complete. Ciel hadn't been crying then. He had thrown up, once, but he hadn't been crying.

He had just been in shock.

Daddy had asked if he wanted to sleep with him and Mama that night. He had shaken his head mutely. But then Michael had come, and he wasn't smiling, and Ciel knew that he knew what Ciel, naughty, cruel, bad Ciel, had done. Ciel had thrown himself at the angel, starting to cry.

It was a long time before Ciel cried himself to exhaustion. When he finally did, Michael, still not saying a word or giving a smile, had picked him up and placed him in the bed. Ciel closed his eyes and fell into an exhausted sleep, haunted by dead eyes. The last thing he saw was Michael's disappointed look.

The next night, he stayed up until dawn waiting for Michael to come. He didn't.

Ciel stayed up the next night, too.

And the next.

On the fourth night, he was sobbing quietly to himself when Tanaka came in and found him. All he could say, over and over, was one thing. "Michael's gone. Michael's gone."

It was Ciel's eighth birthday tomorrow. Michael still hadn't come back. He wasn't going to, Ciel realized. Not ever.

He stayed up all night waiting anyway.

It was Ciel's tenth birthday.

The manor was burning down. If ever Michael was coming back, he had to come back now. Ciel needed him, more than he had ever needed him before.

Ciel screamed.

Michael didn't come.

Ciel kept running.

Ciel was eleven.

He didn't need Michael anymore. Now he had Sebastian. Sebastian would take Michael's place. His name had simply been a moment of weakness. He didn't need Michael.

He was angry. Michael, Michael had abandoned him. This anger, it had been a long time in coming, but now, he hated Michael. Hated him.

He would never forgive Michael.

Was that good? Bad? Do you all hate Michael? Is he a bad character? This is the first oneshot in the running for my second big story. Views are half a point, favorites are three, and reviews are five. Let me know what you think!