A/N: This marks the first installment of my newest Kuroshitsuji fanfiction, The Rose and the Raven! I estimated this fanfic to end up being around six chapters long, with a sequel planned, of course~ I rated this fanfiction 'T' for violence later on, potential romance, suggesting of adult situations, drinking and smoking. There are my own characters in this fanfiction.
To take care of any confusion regarding the pronouns I will be using for Grell, in this fanfiction, in her shinigami form I will be using she/her pronouns, as I do think of Grell as a transwoman. When I write Grell in her butler, or human form, I will be using he/him pronouns, as she is presenting herself as a man in her disguise. You can disagree with my opinion, of course, but please do not mention if you think Grell should be called different pronouns in reviews. If you have any questions regarding Grell's pronouns, please message me and I will do my best to answer them. c:
A general plot overview for this fanfic is Angelina (Madame Red) comes back from vacation with a fiancé, and his step daughter. This fanfiction is suggesting there was an affair between Madame Red and Grell, as in the manga Grell confessed her love for Angelina. Naturally, Grell is upset over this sudden man and his daughter. Basically, I'm creating terrible drama and shipping frenzy.
I have tried my best to correct any grammar or spelling mistakes with the resources I have, sorry for any mistakes you may see.
I truly do hope you enjoy this fanfic, as I have worked hard on it to present it to you. Have fun reading!
Copyright notice: Kuroshitsuji and all its characters belong to the fabulous Yana Toboso.
That evening, Grell abandoned her normal red locks for a much less vogue color of dull dark brown, and dressed herself in all black. The only flash of red that she donned was a red and white striped ribbon, to tie back her hair. She blended in with the shadows as she walked through the dark hallway of her flat, darting passed mirrors and avoiding her reflection. The shinigami didn't want to look at herself as such a dull person. But of course, before she left her crimson apartment, she had to steal a look. Grell was almost shocked to see herself, after not assuming this image for so long. Drab hair, round glasses, and a butler uniform. The men's clothes fit her better, with her wide shoulders and flat chest, and she sighed at her monotonous masculine appearance. Although she was looking forward to this evening, Grell disliked the lack of flare to the outfit she had to wear, and the pathetic personality she had to present. She appeared to be weak, with a look one of what you would expect from a puppy left out in the rain. She couldn't even wear makeup, and she left her apartment quite depressed at how tedious it all was.
But of course, the flamboyance she was dressing up for wasn't dull at all! Oh, no! The Madame was most likely the core of splendor, with beautiful crimson, a sharp blade of stunning grandiosity! The way she tore up bodies and painted everything red, working with passion and furiousity! How the world was so cruel to the woman! How Grell had longed for her mistress!
It was such a boring month without Angelina. Day after day of normality, the same unexciting schedule. No matter how much work she drowned herself in, she finished every task efficiently – as if that was even possible of Grell Sutcliffe! Even William had no complaints of her performance. There was no exhilaration in the death, the blood and carnage! No bliss in the cinematic records, spiraling into the night sky! It was dreadful. For a month Madame Red had vacationed along a beautiful canal in Venice, dancing into the night on balconies of starlight, in the arms of rich Italian men. Grell had wondered if the stars shown just as bright for Angelina in Italy.
But now they were to be reunited! How passionate it would be! Two crimson red hearts to be melted together after they were apart for so long! Perhaps Madame Red would have a surprise or two for her loyal butler~
As the sun began its slow descent along the sky, carrying out its wistful colors in the slowest way possible, Grell became impatient. Finally, after hours of wait, the carriage arrived at the manor. Grell's head perked at the sound of horse hooves clicking against cobblestone. Angelina was finally home! The butler's heart leaped at the thought of seeing his mistress once again, feeling her skin, embracing her slim body. He advanced toward the carriage with a smile on his face, but it soon faded when he opened the door. Madame Red had arrived, but a man was seated next to her, with his arm around her shoulders. Shock replaced his enthusiasm. What was this stranger doing, in the carriage with Grell's beautiful mistress?
"Come on in, Mr. Sutcliffe. I've heard lots about you, that's for sure." The man said, grinning.
For a few moments Grell stared, befuddled, and unblinking at the man. What did he mean, come on in? For a moment Grell scowled, but then realized that the stranger was asking Grell to get into the carriage with them. The butler climbed up into the carriage, clumsily making his way into the seat across from the couple. He sat with his hands in his lap, looking quite shy. The man's lips were moving, he laughed and smiled, but Grell could hear none of it. All he could focus on was his mistress, who looked sad. Angelina forced a smile. He could tell when his mistress was truly smiling, which was almost never. Grell was certain the man didn't even know her last name, or the dress she wore the night Grell met her, or her favorite wine. The man couldn't have known the shade of lipstick Angelina was wearing.
At first Grell stared with his head cocked at Angelina, waiting for some sort of explanation. Her eyes drifted from the carriage, and her mind was absent to another place. Perhaps she was pretending she was in the arms of another man, a man who loved her. Maybe she was thinking she could blame the man for her and Grell's murders if they were ever caught. After moments of nothing, just silent thinking, finally he connected her lovely voice to her moving red lips.
"Grell, he asked you a question." Madame Red said, sternly, looking at her butler with emotionless eyes.
Where was the passion that gleamed in her eyes? Surely this man has stolen it away. Suddenly, Grell was reminded of William, with the same oblivious, stoney glare. He avoided all love, ignored affection. Perhaps this was happening to Angelina. Emotions are of no value in the field.
"Ay, what?" The butler snapped out of his daze and looked over at the man.
"I said, are you doing well today, Mr. Sutcliffe?" The man repeated.
"Well, I… I suppose so." Grell replied, looking again down at his hands in his lap, hooking the fingers together.
"That is splendid." The man smiled. "Have you missed Miss Angelina?"
"Of course I have missed my mistress, sir." He said, with a soft voice, shifting in his seat.
The man laughed once more as if it was an oddity to miss a person you loved, whom you were close to.
"This is Sir Reginald," Angelina informed, discreetly, yet sharply nudging Grell's shin with her foot.
Of course, the butler had gotten used to the sharp 'nudges' that his mistress dealt when she saw his mind was drifting away. Sir Reginald reached out his hand for Grell to shake. Grell blinked before awkwardly shaking the man's hand.
"N-nice to meet you," Grell stuttered. "Sir Reginald…"
The name sounded foreign and ungraceful on Grell's tongue. The name was much too bold, much too loud and intimidating to be paired with an elegant name such as 'Madame Red'. Sir Reginald laughed again.
"What an ungraceful, small man you are!" He said, with a large, stupid grin on his face.
Grell blushed, looking down at his hands once again, curling his fingers into his palms once or twice before the man asked another question. So many questions!
"And you're taking good care of Miss Angelina?" The man asked.
The butler finally understood why in fact the man was here. "Well, yes, sir! I am taking great care of your daughter!"
Both Sir Reginald and Angelina laughed.
"Grell," Angelina placed a delicate hand on her butler's knee. His heart fluttered at her touch. He looked up into her beautiful hazel eyes. "He's my fiancé. We are engaged, and to be wed in the summer."
"Oh… I see…" Grell let his eyes fall from hers, afraid he would have gotten attached to the gleam in her eyes. He then remembered that it wasn't there anymore.
"His daughter is coming to visit tomorrow. She's beautiful." Madame Red said, smiling, winking.
Grell didn't move. He just sat there, sinking into his disappointment. He was right about Angelina having a surprise, that's for sure…
"Oh, my daughter will not be in any kind of relationship with a servant." Sir Reginald bellowed.
"Of course, sir," Grell muttered, trying not to make his tone sound distasteful. "Sir Reginald."
That night, mistress and servant bathed in blood. They drenched themselves in their victim's blood, painting the flat red. Oh, how the Madame worked, with fitful rage and screaming hot passion! It was more orderly, that Angelina now had experience after killing twice before. When they killed, they drank. It was a rich red wine, a gift from Sir Reginald to his betrothed. Must have been expensive. Perhaps even too expensive for a 'servant' to drink. They sat in stools across from each other at a tiny table and became drunk on the heavy scent of blood. Angelina smoked, too. Her deceased husband's wedding cigars, a congratulations on their marriage. They were useless, now, with no groom to smoke them over a brandy. They would have been regifted to Sir Reginald, no doubt. They intoxicated themselves with pain, halos of smoke floating above their heads with every agonizing exhale.
"You're ruining your lungs, Angie." Grell muttered, taking the cigar from Angelina, and putting it between her own teeth.
"What does it matter?" The Madame slurred. "It's better to just rip them out and have me suffocate."
"Honestly, you sound pathetic. What a painful human you are. Running off to get a fat diamond on your finger from the first man who fancies you. There is too much at stake to trust anyone else!" Grell yelled, tapping the cigar over the blood-stained concrete.
Angelina said nothing for a while. They listened to the outside world, but there was nothing. The earth was dead to them. Finally she said, "I'm sorry, Grell."
"Save your breath." Grell let the cigar fall from her fingers, and she smashed it into the ground with her heels.
"I still love you." Madame Red whispered, turning towards the redheaded reaper.
The woman trailed her fingers against Grell's arm, placing her hand over Grell's. The shinigami slapped her hand away and pushed the table to the side, relishing the sound of glass breaking, wood crunching over its own weight. She could imagine it as wooden ribs, crushed, a crystalline heart, shattering. Grell wrapped a hand around Angelina's neck, pulling the woman to her feet. She threw the woman to the ground. Angelina coughed and sputtered on the ground, backing up to the wall, trying to spare herself from Grell's fury. The shinigami fell to her knees before Madame Red, struggling to keep her composure as she reached forward to brush a lock of red hair behind Angelina's ear. Grell traced her fingers along the woman's jaw line, over her chin and along her neck, over the red marks her grip had held. She led the tips of her fingers across the protruding bones in Angelina's shoulders, and then back up to her neck. The grim reaper caressed Madame Red's cheek before curling her hands around her neck again, tightening the hold.
"What the hell were you thinking, Madame? Bringing this man into your life, your home, when he could very well have been sent from the Guard to arrest you! To destroy you! Will you let another man break you? You are so destructive, it's almost unhealthy to love you! Now, you deserve to be locked up in a prison cell. I've done everything I could for you! I love you, Angie, really, I do!" Grell spat, through grinding teeth, her chest heaving with sobs between broken words. She tightened her grip with every breath. "But how do you expect me to stay loyal to you when you destroy everything we have?"
The shinigami and human both breathed heavily, and Grell released her grip, letting her hand fall to her lap before she got up and walked away.
"I forgive you, Madame Red."
Her voice echoed down the hall as her heels clicked away, growing fainter as the world slept on.
A/N: Make sure to follow and review, and stay tuned for the next chapter! I love constructive criticism, so please voice your opinions on this one. c: