Undertaker's New Treasure: Part One
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A young lady dressed in rags is running down a cobblestone street in London. She's running from something, but she doesn't dare to look back and remind herself of what it is that is chasing her. She's been running for hours since sunset the night before. The pounding, cold rain pierces her bare arms, legs, and back. Her poor, little heart is about to give out. She tastes the blood trickling in her mouth from her head wound, and her head pounds due to an ache that makes her sick to her stomach. She vomits as she runs, hastily wiping her mouth. Her pants for breath are growing weaker as she slows her running to a barely-there stiff walk. She starts to stumble and slosh in the puddles around a nearby building. Her eyes are too weak to see the sign above the door she is nearing, and even if she could see, she wouldn't want to anyway. All she wants to do is get away from whatever it is that is chasing her. She reaches for the door knob, her hands trembling from the frigid rain and blood loss. Just as her fingertips lightly touch the knob, she collapses, dead.
"~Oi? Who could that be at this hour?~" A tall, slender man with long, silver hair, says from his desk where he was sleeping. He looks over at a clock, "~3:28, ehh? Maybe another early morning customer? He..He..He..~"
The man walks over to the door and opens it, and in slumps the cold, wet, lifeless girl. "~Ohhh? What 'ave we 'ere now? It seems I was right.~" He ponders for a moment with a silent grin. "~Right pretty thing you are, let's get yourself fixed up then, shall we? It is my job as Undertaker after all, in'it?~" He chuckles silently as he lifts the dead girl up into his arms and carries her corpse into his shop. "~Ahhh, now... For that Cinematic Record... EH?!~ He says with surprise. "~Whaaa...t?~" "~She doesn't 'ave one? She must 'ave one. I'll go to the library to check, but not before I fix her up.~" He says with a wide smile. He then sets to work to make her corpse nice and pretty for the most grand party she will ever attend, her funeral.
"~Ahh, all done now, lovely. Now to go check where you came from an' just who you are in the first place...~" He sets off to the Reaper Library.
"~No. No. Noooo. No. Noo. Not 'er at all...~" He says as he flips through the last of the books' few pages. "~Not a single trace of her anywhere. And Will isn't here, so that makes for a bigger problem. Must all be busy...~" He trails off. "~...! Oh, maybe the Earl could help? Or even that butler of 'is?~" He sets off back to his shop to retrieve the girl to taker her to the Earl Phantomhive.
He arrives at his parlour, but leans his pierced ear against the door because there sounds to be a light, distant, blocked tapping going on inside. Now being a retired Grim Reaper, he had to know who was invading his shop. He crept in, careful not to make a noise to startle any burglars. He stepped in and lit a candle, illuminating the room. Not a live person in sight. "How curious..." He chuckles, as he sits down at his coffin-shaped desk, folding his hands under his chin and leaning his elbows on the table. More tapping. This time tapping his long, black nails against his desk shortly after the other tapping stops. He hears a slight groan and a creak from one of his own custom-made coffins. He grabs his death scythe and wanders over to the coffin in question. He stands over it silently, stifling a chuckle at the excitement. "~Aye, looks like I was right after all. A burglar, but a one who steals corpses, not items...~" he thinks silently to himself.
Slowly, the coffin creeps open, revealing short, slender fingers with purple painted nails. "~Oh!~" He says with surprise, then laughs. "~Eehee hee hee! What a delight!~" The coffin lids slides off and lands with a thud on the ground. The girl who had just died hours before right outside his door, was rising slowly from her dark, softly padded, tomb. "~Hmm? But how could this be, her heart...~" He is stopped by her turning her head and looking at him. She was quite the sight to be held. Long, curly, silver locks tied up in pig tails framed her lovely, square face, with shimmering, lavender coloured eyes. Her skin was a beautiful soft white, "~Enough to make the very Moon 'erself envious...~" he thought. Her long eyelashes fluttered as she adjusted her vision, and her ruby red lips quivered slightly due to the chill in the parlour. "~Why, what a ripe, lovely thing you are, dear... Can you tell me your name?~" The Undertaker asked with a chuckle. She just stared at him, unemotional, like she was thinking. "~Can you speak at all...?~" He wondered. He lifted his long bangs which usually covered his eyes and revealed two bright green, double iris eyes, as he stared into her equally piercing eyes, she moved slightly, as if to stand, ruffling sounds coming from her purple and grey dress that he had replaced since she was only wearing rags when she was found. "~Not fitting for a natural beauty like her.~" He had thought at the time, he realized now he was very right, indeed. She stood up in her coffin, her matching heels clicking slightly against the wood. She was quite short for a young lady of her age. She turned towards the Undertaker who had crouched to see her up close in the dim light (and due to the fact that he as a Grim Reaper, is very near-sighted). She toppled forward suddenly, letting out a soft whimper, and landed on the unsuspecting Grim Reaper, knocking him on his back. "~Mmmphhh! Mmmrrmm... emmemmemmemmmm...~" He said as his face was covered with her chest. He lifted her off of him and into his arms as he stood. "~My my!~" He laughed, "~I had forgotten what a large bosom you had, dear lady!~" With a slight perverted grin he looked down at the young lady, who was also looking back up at him. He couldn't help but stare at her chest. "~Not to be a bother ma'am, but it seems the front of your dress has split open...~" He looked away quickly. "~I need to fix this right away, young lass, so I need to set you down. Can you stand still for a moment?~" He gazed at her waiting for a response. She simply nodded her head yes.
He set her down and reached a covered hand into one of the inside pockets of his trench coat and pulled out a needle and some thread and set to sewing her dress back up. "~Now that's fitting a proper lady such as yourself.~" He said as he finished his work and stepped back to take a full look at the girl. She took a few stumbling steps towards the Undertaker, and again toppled forward and landed in his arms this time. "~Hmmm? You seem to have a hard time walking yet, dove. Could it be I made your dress too long?" He uttered, looking towards the girls feet. "~Oh, it seems I've given you shoes that a bit too big for your small feet, as well. You see miss, most of my customers never get back up." He chuckled, and she let out a light chuckle as well, smiling slightly. He fixed her dress, it being now shorter in the front than the back, showing off her shapely legs covered by white stockings. She looked like some sort of gloomy flower in full bloom, which he thoroughly enjoyed, seeing his work now up and moving around. He took a few steps backward and let her walk towards him. She had no problem walking this time, in fact, each step she took was so graceful, it filled him with awe. "~How could someone who was dead just a few hours ago, who was supposed to be in rigour mortis by now, walk with such a step as to put the Queen to shame, eh?~"
He beamed a wide smile at the girl. She seemed to be staring at the scars on his face and neck. "~Don't worry about those, aye? I'll tell you about them if you can give me your name and a first rate laugh!~`" He chuckled creepily. She parted her lips and gave out a whisper of something unintelligible. "~Oi! You'll need to speak up, madam!~"
"...I...I don't...remember my name..." Her voice chimed like funeral bells. The Undertaker burst out laughing. "Mufufufufufufu! Ahhhhahahahahahahahahaha! Ahhh! A used-to-be-corpse with no Cinematic Record that can't remember its own name!" She tilted her head to the side as if slightly confused. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve-covered hand and stood upright, "~Now as promised, to tell you about these scars...~" He said with a grin, "~Then we'd best be off to see the Earl, he'll be interested to see this.~"
"~Wait 'ere 'till I pull the carriage 'round, m'lady.~" And with a bow, he was out the door to fetch the carriage. Once he pulled it around and went back inside, he chuckled loudly to see her bent over the front of his desk doing something. She turned with half a bone-shaped biscuit sticking out from between her lips, munching on the other half in her mouth. "~Ah, I see. I suppose you would be hungry, wouldn't you?~" He chuckled creepily, and walked over to her, handing her an urn that contained more bone-biscuits. She took it and looked up at him confused. "~Here, you can eat on our way there, but you'll 'ave to do it lying down. I can only carry coffins in my carriage.~" Her eyes seemed to sparkle slightly at the word "coffins". "~Plus, we don't need many witnesses to such a strange girl, wouldn't you say?~" He said with a smile. She simply nodded and held the urn in her hands firmly. He took her to the coffin and laid her in it, along with her urn of biscuits, headed the carriage, and started off to see the Earl Phantomhive.
Undertaker's New Treasure: Part Two: Meeting with the Earl
Sebastian Michaelis, the Earl Phantomhive's butler, sat at his desk signing and sorting papers when there was a knock the front door. "Hmm? It's rather early for unscheduled guests." He muttered softly, rising from his work. He walked in the dim first morning light, seeing through the windows that it was to rain again. He reached the door and opened it, only to see the Undertaker and an unfamiliar young lady.
"Welcome." He said looking at Undertaker, who had a wide grin on his face. "Who is this?" Sebastian said as he looked the woman up and down.
"~Well, butler, that's precisely why I'm here. I'm hoping maybe you and the young Earl might be able to help me with this guest of mine. You see, a few hours ago, she was quite stone dead.~" He said with a cackling chortle.
Sebastian looked at them both with a slight annoyance, then spoke. "Please come in, the Earl will be awake in a few hours. I'll prepare a tea for you both. It is a rather chilled morning." Sebastian stepped to the side to allow the two in.
A few minutes later, Sebastian emerged with some tea. "Please, come with me and have a seat." He said, as he walked to an adjoining room. They followed and sat down on a couch, one beside the other, with the girl hanging onto the Undertaker's left arm.
"Now, kindly tell me, what is all this about? What do you mean she was dead only a few hours ago? She does have an off smell about her, but other than that and the pale skin, she looks perfectly healthy and alive." Sebastian said as he poured the tea. The girl opened the urn she was still holding and popped a bone-biscuit into her mouth.
"~Well you see, butler...~" Undertaker said with a large grin. Before he could explain the situation to Sebastian, Ciel came through the door.
"Hey, what is all the noise? It woke me up." Ciel said, rubbing his eye. He looked at the Undertaker, "What is HE doing here?!" Ciel demanded, "And who's the woman with him? I've never seen her before."
"~Ah, Earl! So glad you're up. I was hoping you and your butler could help me sort some things out about this young lady sitting next to me.~" Undertaker said. The woman scooted closer to him and gripped his arm tightly, digging her fingernails slightly into his sleeve.
Ciel sat down and was offered a cup of tea, of which he took a long sip before returning his gaze to the Undertaker. "Now, explain, what are you doing here with this woman, Undertaker?"
"~Earl of Phantomhive, about this young lady sitting next to me, I do not know her name, neither does she. For you see, at around 3:28 this morning, I found her dead in my door step.~ Undertaker continues, sipping his tea, "~I went to watch her Cinematic Record, only to find she did not 'ave one. So I ventured to the Library to look for some information on 'er.~" He starts to cackle. "~Only to find she didn't 'ave one! Don't you find that humERous?~" He cackled again, taking a biscuit from the urn the girl was still holding in her lap. "~Life would be dreadfully dull, without laughter, don't you think, young Earl?~"
"I have no time, nor the patience for humour or games, Undertaker." Ciel said with a scowl. Sebastian snickered.
"~Well when I came back from the Library, she had, I suppose you could say 'woken up'.~" Undertaker started to say, grinning even more creepily than usual.
"Are you sure she was dead?" Sebastian asked.
"~Oh quite dead, I assure you.~" Undertaker replied, "You see butler, I examined her corpse before setting off to the Library, you know my hobby of mine to take souvenirs, well when I opened her up...~" He paused and smiled eerily "~... Her heart had exploded inside her chest cavity.~" He giggled. "~I closed her back up, and took her clothes off...~"
"That's disgusting and perverse!" Ciel shouted, interrupting the Undertaker.
"~It's part of my job Earl, she was only wearing rags when she got there. It's my job to make 'er look right proper for 'er funeral.~" Undertaker snickered.
"Couldn't the other Grim Reapers be of assistance in this matter? We seem hardly suited to handle this situation." Sebastian added.
"~I tried, but none of the other Reapers were available. Busy schedules and all that.~" Undertaker replied. "~So I came 'ere, thinking of the butler who could do anything, and the young Earl whom I have helped so much in the past.~"
"~Funny thing about her though, all of 'er wounds, both before she died and after she got back up, have all healed extremely quickly. Just take a look!~" Sebastian quickly shielded Ciel's eyes. Undertaker ripped the front of the girl's dress to expose where he had examined her, pointing to the faint scar between her breasts, then quickly sewed the front of her dress back up like nothing had ever happened.
Sebastian took his hand off Ciel's face and faced the Undertaker. "So you mean to say she is not dead, but she is not alive? Is she one of your..." Undertaker cut Sebastian off. "~Nay, she is not one of my dolls. She 'ad no Cinematic Record to continue or edit.~" he added, "~But she is quite intriguing. Maybe we should give 'er a name since she can't remember 'er own, eh, Earl?~"
"I don't care. I don't see how we could possibly help you." Ciel glowered and yawned. "Anyway, I'm headed back to bed. Sebastian, take care of them and then get them out of here."
"Yes, my Lord." Sebastian replied with a smile. "If I couldn't do that, I would not be able to say that I am, indeed, one Hell of a butler."
Sebastian turned to the young lady, then looked at the Undertaker. "She is most certainly not a demon, nor angel, or a Grim Reaper. But if by what you say, she is indeed not living, but she is not dead either. There might be a book in the young master's library to help us." With that he turned to walk away, only to be stopped by the Undertaker's gruff voice.
"~I was thinking about a name for her...I think I'll name 'er Minina, it means 'glimmering light'. Her youth exudes a glow that is quite rare and unseen, wouldn't you agree, butler?~" Undertaker said with a eerie grin. He straightened his expression, "~But that doesn't solve the question of what she is or where she came from. She's certainly no ordinary human.~" He then realized he was talking to no one and the butler had vanished.
Sebastian came back quite some time later, only to find the girl slumped over in Undertaker's lap, eyes expressionless but piercing, which slightly unnerved Sebastian. "Like a cat's eyes." He thought to himself. She chewed on a biscuit and looked up at Sebastian, sat up, and folded her hands in her lap, blushing faintly.
Sebastian cleared his throat. "Well, I did find a bit of information you might find useful. She's not alive, but she used to be dead, is that correct?" Undertaker nodded, chewing on a biscuit himself and drinking some tea. "Well, according to a book I found on myths and legends, she's what is considered to be 'undead'." He explained, "However there is usually some ritual or practice that needs to take place after the person has expired. This did not occur."
"~Aye, right you are, butler.~" Undertaker smirked.
"That's all the information I have to offer you, Undertaker..." But he was stopped by a far away sound...
"3 OH BASSIE! *KISS KISS*" A distant voice picks up as it gets closer.
"Oh no..." Sebastian groans silently to himself.
"~Ohh?~" Undertaker grins, and Minina looks up at him curiously.
"Ohhhh BASSIE!" Grell Sutcliff says as he barges through the door and runs to Sebastian hoping for a hug from the handsome butler. Sebastian moves before Grell can touch him and Grell goes smashing head first into the wall beside the couch where Undertaker and Minina are sitting.
"Bassie! Why must you be so cruel to this poor girl?" Grell says as he pouts and points a finger out at Sebastian.
"Don't be ridiculous. I've told you before, please don't do those sort of things, they're disgusting." Sebastian retorts.
Minina clears her throat softly "Undertaker? Who is that strange person?" she says softly. Her tiny funeral bell voice catches Grell's attention.
Grell swishes his hair and beams her a toothy smile, "Well hello there! Just who are you, girl?"
"I'm not sure. He gave me the name 'Minina'." she answers softly, looking up at Undertaker with another faint blush. "He saved me, I was running for what seemed like a lifetime, down the streets. Something was chasing me, but I don't remember what or who. I felt faint and the next thing I know I'm in a lovely coffin and I'm dressed up like a princess. I don't remember anything else, sorry."
"~Ohhh! She CAN speak!~" Undertaker laughs.
"There's something peculiar about you..." Grell saunters over to Minina for a closer examination. She bows her head slightly, as if afraid.
"~Good eye, she used to be dead!~" Undertaker chuckled. "Eehee hee hee hee! She was dead when I found her on my doorstep. She didn't have a Cinematic Record, so I went to the Library to find it, but there wasn't one. No other Reapers were around, so I 'eaded back and there she was, sitting up and walking around like 'er heart had never exploded in the first place.~"
"She's undead, that's about all we know." Sebastian added.
"Whaaaaaaaatttt?! NO CINEMATIC RECORD?! How is that even possible?!" Grell shouted, confused.
"Please be quiet, the young master is asleep and I do not wish to deal with the help at the moment." Sebastian chimed in.
"I'll go find Will and see if he can be of any help, but for now, I'm not sure what you want to do." Grell said as he looked towards Undertaker and Minina. "And as for you, Bassie, you and I have some unfinished business when I return as well." He winked and blew a kiss to Sebastian, who frowned and shuddered at the thought.
"~Well then, at least we found some information out about you, didn't we now, lovely?~" Undertaker looked at Minina, even though his hair covered his eyes, Minina could tell his eyes were smiling as well. "~Let's go home then, shall we, dead one? Or should I say, UNdead one?" he chuckled. They said their good-byes and departed back to the funeral parlour.
Undertaker's New Treasure: Part Three: New Assistant
It had started to storm again on their way back to the shop. Minina didn't much mind the sounds or bumping around in her casket, for she was too busy stuffing her face with more biscuits. She couldn't understand why, but those biscuits felt like the first thing she had eaten in quite some time. Or ever for that matter. Undertaker sat silently with his usual eerie smile upon his face as he drove the carriage home. He parked around the back of his parlour, helped Minina get out, and escorted her back into the parlour from a rear exit. She sat down on a nearby couch made out of bits of scrapped coffins. It was unusually comfortable considering that fact.
"~Aye now, what to do with you...~" Undertaker paused for a quick giggle. "~I can't very well turn you out when you present such an amusing specimen for study.~"
She looked confused. "~What I mean is, you're a very rare candy indeed,~" He chuckled. "~I would like to keep you here, since you don't know who you really are, or where you came from. That is of course with your permission.~" He flashed her a wide grin.
"O...Of course. I rather like it here anyway..." She stammered a bit, as if still dazed from waking. "B...But I...I must point out, th-that kidney you have on a shelf over there..." She pointed towards an amorphous blob in a beaker. "It's quite cancerous, and I noticed you l-labeled it as "Normal"." Undertaker, puzzled and intrigued, looked towards the beaker and examined it more closely. "~Eh? Well, you're right..." He let out a burst of laughter. "Hahahahahaha! Who better to know a mislabelled part of the body than a living corpse?!~"
"I think you'll come in quite handy indeed." He chuckled. "Fufufufu... I have a test for you, Minina, my pet.~" He handed her three beakers, a skeleton figurine, and a button. "~Your test is to take these beakers, each one with a different organ harvested from three different sources. They all look normal and human, but one of them is from a pig. Please tell me which one is from the pig. Next is the skeleton figurine. All the bones are there except one. Tell me, my young lady, which one is missing? Then the button. This is a slight souvenir from a customer that was once in my shop. Tell me who it came from."
"Well..." The girl said, "This kidney is from a human male, around the age of 32, it has a slight bruise on one side. He seems to have had failing kidneys. This liver is also from a human, someone much older, and a lady. From its condition, she must have been a heavy drinker, and also must have died that way. This heart, however... This is from a pig, butchered by my guess just yesterday morning."
Next, she took a long look at the skeleton figurine. She examined every part with great detail. Finally, she looked up at Undertaker and said, "This figurine is missing on of the bones that goes inside the ear, the incus."
Next, she took the button in her hand. "This button used to be mine." She looked up at Undertaker. "Did I pass?"
"~Ahahahahahhahafufufufu! It is as I expected. Your test is complete, and you 'ave passed. You shall be my permanent assistant.~" Minina seemed a bit surprised at her own knowledge and skill, turning her head to the down and to the side, giving off a faint blush.
"Thank you, Anda..." She whispered.
"~Mmm? What was that you called me? 'Anda'?~" He retorted with an eerie chuckle and glance.
"D...Did I say something wrong...?" She whimpered slightly, afraid she had offended her saviour.
He rushed over quickly to her, tilting her head up with one of his long, black fingernails. "~Oh, no, quite the opposite.~" He said, seeming to read her thoughts. "I am actually fairly fond of that name. It's quite funny! No one 'as ever cared enough to give me a nickname, besides the one I already 'ave of course!~" He burst out laughing, dancing with a hanging skeleton he pieced together himself from old "guests".
"~Fufufufu! Hahahahahaha! What a grand day indeed! Not only do I 'ave me a new assistant, but she's funny too! I shall never be starved for laughter again!~"
As he danced with his skeleton, he barely noticed a client walk in. A tall, thick woman dressed extremely well walks up to the Undertaker.
"Excuse me sir, but I'm here to purchase a custom-made coffin for my ailing daughter. She hasn't much longer to live." She says with a handkerchief clutched tightly in her hands.
"~Mmmm? What's that now?~" He says with an eerie grin. Minina watches silently, sitting behind Undertaker's desk.
"~I'll be needing your daughter's measurements, Ma'am.~" He says, walking up to the woman.
The woman hands him a piece of paper with her daughter's measurements. She starts to sob uncontrollably. Undertaker takes the paper to his desk, then walks into a back room to prepare what was necessary for the woman.
"I...I told her...she...she... was going to be...be fitted for a...a new dress..." The woman sobbed into her hankie.
Minina got up and wandered over to the woman, putting her hand on the woman's shoulder. The woman looked up to see the strange girl.
"Oh my, dear! I'm terribly sorry. You startled me." The woman said, staring at Minina's face.
She beamed the old lady a kind smile, and nodded her head. "It will be all right madam," she said as she wiped the tears from the lady's face with her finger. "There is no need to cry. Your daughter, she will feel a lot better soon." Minina looked deeply into the woman's eyes, which had stopped crying. As Minina stared at the woman, still smiling, visible only to the woman, Minina's eyes flashed a bright light.
The woman seemed calmed down, so Minina continued. "She will be in a better place."
Undertaker came back to see the woman smiling and Minina standing next to her.
"~Hmmm? What's this now? You were crying like a waterfall earlier, what 'appened?~" Undertaker asked with a grin.
"This young lady here helped to calm me down, I'm not sure how, but I was so sad when I came in, but now I feel a lot better. Thank you miss." The woman said to Minina.
"~Interesting, I wonder what she said...~" Undertaker thinks to himself, then starts. "~Ma'am, I can have this coffin done by the morn'. And I'll 'ave everything else arranged for you when you come back. Have a nice day!~" He chuckled at the end.
"But, I didn't give you the details. How could you...?" The woman started to say but was cut off.
"~Madam, I'm the Undertaker. This is my job, and I've been at it for quite some time now. I knew exactly what you wanted when you walked through that door. Hee hee hee!~" Undertaker said with a hearty giggle, and ushered the woman out of his parlour.
Once the woman was out and he had shut the door, he turned to Minina, who was again sitting behind his desk, this time, with a slight grin of her own on her face.
"~I wonder what you said to that woman, hmm? Eeheeheee!~" He said, tapping his fingernail on the brim of his hat.
"Oh, nothing much, really. I just told her she and her daughter were going to be all right." She said, looking up at him with that same tiny smile.
Undertaker's New Treasure: Part Four: Sebastian's Puzzle
"Good morning young master, today we have Earl Grey tea with a side of blueberry and lemon croissants" Sebastian said, waking Ciel. "I'm terribly sorry about the earlier company. They have been sent off and arrangements for the day have been made. But I wonder something..."
"What is it, Sebastian?" Ciel asked, still sleepily rubbing his eyes.
"About that girl, something did seem terribly off about her. I highly doubt the Undertaker was simply here to make a joke. If I may, young master, I would also like to look into her whereabouts. It might be something the Queen would be interested in, wouldn't you say? Especially if she starts to make trouble around London." Sebastian answered.
"I don't care either way, but I hardly see what point you may have other than pure interest." Ciel added, with a grimace.
"Think of it as an evasive manuever. If we know more about her, if she seems to pose a threat, we can eliminate a problem before it can start." Sebastian said with a grin.
Ciel looked at Sebastian with suspicion as his sipped his morning tea. "I have a feeling there is another reason all together." He said, putting his cup down.
Sebastian clothed Ciel and went about with doing his butler type duties.
"While the young master is with his music instructor this morning, I will leave the duties to you three. I will be at the library, gathering information." Sebastian said, staring at the help.
"Bard, you are in charge of lunch. The recipes are on the counters in the kitchen. Please follow them exactly. EXACTLY."
"Finnie, please trim the young master's roses, and water the trees out front. DO NOT USE THE WEED KILLER."
"Mae Rin, you are in charge of cleaning the clothes and polishing the banisters. PLEASE DO NOT USE TOO MUCH SOAP."
"Yessir, Mr. Sebastian, SIR!" The three chimed in unison.
With that, Sebastian hurried out the front door to the library.
~Mr. Sebastian is right scary, he is!~ Mae Rin said.
~He sure is!~ Finnie chimed in.
~Well then, let's make sure not to mess this up!~ Bard agreed.
~For the Young Master and Sebastian!~ they all chimed, heading out to do their work.
At the library, Sebastian went to looking for the books he needed to borrow.
Looking through records, flipping through page after page, of different books.
'History Through the Ages', 'Medieval Mysteries', 'Plato's Greatest Works', 'History of Asia', 'Recipes for the Noblility', along with several others. He put them down on the front desk to check them out, quite a stack had piled up in the short time he was there. He checked them out, loaded them on the carriage, and set back home in time for afternoon tea to be made.
Meanwhile, at the Reaper Library, Grell was heatedly talking to Will about the new-found girl.
"What do you mean 'no Cinematic Record'? Everyone has a Cinematic Record, you imbecile." Will said coolly, adjusting his glasses.
"But I'm telling you! I've checked myself and there is NO record for this girl!" Grell replied.
"As always you've probably overlooked some crucial detail." William scoffed, as he drug Grell to the shelves to look together for any evidence of the girl.
Back at the Phantomhive manor, Sebastian gave out a great sigh seeing the mess that the three incompetent help had done.
"Just what happened here, you three?" He said with a slight aggravation as he set the loads of books down.
"When I was putting the linens on the line, I tripped and fell, yes I did! Then I fell through them, you see..." Mae Rin said blushing as she held up the several torn linens.
"I was only trying to cut off the dead branches of the tree! But then Plu-Plu came by and knocked me down, and so did the trees..." Finnie cried as he hugged Sebastian's leg.
"Well I thought that the salmon would have better flavour and cook faster if I used me flame-thrower..." Bard said as his cigarette burned to a crisp.
Sebastian looked at his watch. Only thirty-five minutes until dinner, and he still had so much work to be done. So off he went, all to prepare dinner and clean up the mess those three made.
With a deep sigh, he instructed the three to their new jobs. Mei Rin was to fetch new linens, and set the table. Bard was to clean up the mess in the kitchen, and Finnie was going to erect new trees.
As Sebastian quickly set to his new work of fetching and preparing a new dinner, he contemplated to himself what he had read on the way back from the library.
"So many pieces to this puzzle, but none of them seem to fit together." He thought to himself. "It seems I have more work to do." And with a grin, he set forth to do his duties as a Phantomhive butler.
Undertaker's New Treasure: Part Five: The Reaper's Quarrel
"I'm telling you there is nothing here, not a thing!" Grell shouted at Will as he jumped gracefully down from a shelf with a pile of more death record books.
"Stop your whining and look harder with me, Grell!" Ronald Knox said as he poured over the information in front of him.
"Agreed and seconded." Will said from a corner gathering more books.
"Oi! Grell, did you check section 6-X-IV?" A female voice chimed in, far from the back.
A short haired female Reaper appeared from behind a few shelves soon thereafter, with a pile of books stacked much above her head.
"Ah, Madeline, there you are. It's a wonderful help to have you here." Will said, not looking up from his work.
"Oh, Willie, don't be so rash on 'ese two. They ain't nothin' but scrambled eggs for brains." Madeline said as she giggled and nudged Will in the side with her bony elbow, setting the books down next to him.
"Ohhh, who's she? I've never seen her before. And did she just insult us?" Grell whispered to Ronald as he passed by, walking more books back to their shelves.
"That is Miss Madeline. She's a new recruit. Just started today. She passed her tests with flying colours apparently, and they gave her a reaping job just a few hours ago, and finished it in less than 30 minutes with no mistakes." Ronald said passing by Grell again, unloading more books upon the long tables in the library.
"Dat's right! Although, I still think I can pick up my time and 'elp save Willie there some overtime!" Madeline said appearing behind the two murmuring to themselves. Her ashen blue hair twinkling in the dim light of afternoon. She winked one green eye behind her large white and blue spectacles.
"Madeline, why on Earth are your clothes so loose on your... Ahem... Frame?" William said, interrupting.
"Well, Willie, I wann't much but a wisp 'o' a girl in life, and it's takin' some time to grow into this 'ere uniform." Madeline said, rubbing the back of her head.
"Have RR make you a new uniform right away if you can't grow into that one in a week." Will said, adjusting his spectacles over his face.
"This is bloody impossible, we've been at this since before dawn, and we haven't even found a speck of information on that girl Undertaker found." Ronald said, leaning against a bookshelf.
"We would have found more out if you two had worked harder, and if Grell didn't make constant mistakes in his work." Will said, aggravated.
"Hey now! I don't mess up ALL the time!" Grell shouted. "And besides, I've already searched this whole damn library, so did that Old Man, and we didn't find anything! I've said that about a million times!"
"Maybe you missed somethin'! It's likely someone just mislabelled somethin'!" Madeline interjected.
"But Grell and I have been searching forever, and our shifts are due up soon!" Ronald said, over a pile of books open in front of him.
"Then let Madeline take your shift while you help me look. She's a much better worker than even you, Ronald. I know you normally finish early, but Madeline didn't have anyone to train her, and not only does she go above and beyond what she needs to, but she does it in half the time or less." Will said, rubbing his brow.
"On it, Sir Willie!" Madeline called, bounding out the front double doors of the library.
"HEY! Why'd you give her OUR jobs, Will?!" Ronald angrily asked, slamming down a book.
"I've already explained why. Now get back to work! We still have one more section left to go." Will said hastily shifting through multiple books and their pages at once.
With that, the two Reapers grumbled and went back to work.
"What's with Will, lately? He's been even more strict than usual." Grell said, leaning over to Ronald as he studied the pages of the books in front of him.
"I'm unsure, actually." Ronald sighed, "But you're right, he's acting strangely. I wonder what's up with him lately?"
"Oh no! You don't think he has a secret love for the new girl Madeline?!" Grell half whispered, half shouted.
"Keep your voice down! And no, I don't think it's anything like that..." Ronald said, trailing off while reading every page almost immediately and flipping to the next.
"Something IS up with that girl though. Her body is quite dead, but she is very much alive. That much I can tell. And so far, we're no closer to finding out who she is than anyone else." Grell heaved a lonely sigh, thinking of his dear Bassie.
"You know, between you and me, I've heard that Madeline has an amazingly huge and powerful death scythe." Ronald said with a slight grin to Grell.
"Are you daft? There's no way such a tiny spit of a Reaper like that could ever handle something like that!" Grell spat back, rushing through paperwork at breakneck speeds.
"I've heard tell that it's called 'The Slasher'. It's unimaginable, don't you think?" Ronald questioned himself while trying to pay attention to his work.
"Hmmm... 'The Slasher', huh? If I remember right, that's the one that looks a lot like a traditional death scythe. Humph, that little girl couldn't handle it, there's no way!" Grell snuffed out his suspicion.
Meanwhile, Madeline was bounding across rooftop after rooftop, her soft step barely audible to even a dog's ear, the sound nothing more than a dying fly's last wing beat.
"Let's see, 'ere. Amber Victoria Van Russel, age 10, dying of a mixture of pneumonia, consumption, and cholera." Madeline thought to herself, standing on top of the dying girl's rooftop. "Best to make t'is quick. I've got more than just 'ese jobs to do tonight." With that, she slipped into the girl's room to finish her job.
She quietly tiptoed into the girl's bedroom, another tiny wisp of a girl, lay dying on the bed, her portly mother sitting quietly in a corner, humming a girl a tiny lullaby.
"I knew you were coming today..." the portly woman sighed quietly. "But someone told me today that it would be okay." She had tears streaming down her face.
"H-How can you see me?" Madeline inquired, pulling out her Death Scythe, The Slasher. "It ain't no matter, I'm 'ere to take your daughter. 'Tis 'er time to go, Ma'am."
With that, Madeline swung down The Slasher onto the girl's abdomen. Holding it's immense handle, its vast, long, slightly curved blade cut through the girl's record as she watched her life unroll on film.
"Ah... I see... She was borne unto this world a sickly kid, huh?" Madeline inquired to herself, ignoring the mother's sobbing. "Hmmm... That's awful strange, inn'it? 'Er record says 'END', but it looks like there be somethin' after it... Oh well, time to move on. I'll make a note 'n' bring it to Willie when I'm all done."
Madeline, done with her work, put her scythe away and slipped out of the house just as quickly as she had arrived. In the blink of a gnat's eye, she was gone, off to her other jobs for the night. Since she was tasked with not only her job, but that of Grell and Ronald's as well, she was to have a busy night, but she knew for sure, that she would be done in less than an hour and a half's time.