Warning: constant bickering and flirting, reader is a witch, Black Butler does not belong to me, and may God help us all, Happy Holidays.

"My Young Lord will be missing me if I do not return to him by the morning."

"My Highness will be missing me if I do not return to him by the morning."

"My coven will be missing me if I do not return to them by the morning."

"…My report will be late."

The demons and witch turned to stare at the reaper.

"And I will send all three of you to hell if you cross this part of the room."

"Your threats are empty if we outnumber you," Claude's eyes turned red.

"Two demons, a witch, and a reaper," Sebastian placed a hand on his chin. "All trapped in a one-room cabin in the middle of the woods. It certainly—"

"—Makes for one hell of a story," Claude interrupted.

Sebastian shot a dark look the other demon's way while (Y/n) opened the curtains again. She summoned a flame of light to her fingertip and held it up to the glass, then sighed. A sheet of white greeted her eyes. "The avalanche did not take away the cabin, but we are buried under a mountain of snow right now."

The cabin was pitch black, as the snow covered any sunlight, and so she went around and lit candles while the three men eyed each other suspiciously. It was funny, how all four wound up in the same place. Long story short, Sebastian and Claude were working against one another, Alois and Ciel were still at the hotel in town, William (the reaper) followed the demons since he was following up on a missing souls lead, they were all in a cabin a few miles outside of town, and (Y/n) was a suspect for a series of murders in both London and a small town on the northern border of England.

Sebastian and Claude were ordered by their masters to solve a killing spree thought to be the work of witches (the queen herself requested Ciel to solve them officially, but others were dragged into matters quickly). Alois really only wanted to meddle in the Phantomhive affairs, thus why Claude was ordered to be involved. The demons traced these murders back to a witch coven in the town they were in now, near the northern border of England, because of the missing souls and air of dark magic the supernatural beings felt at each crime scene. William was involved because of the missing souls obviously, and all three men(?) found the name of the coven. (Y/n)'s name was brought up when both Sebastian and Claude interviewed a few locals of the town on their own accord, and found her hiding in this cabin a few miles away from town. They worked at the same pace, but they did not work together.

William entered at the same time because he followed them (and did his own research to find the witch), and there was a large fight that broke out between the three men ((Y/n) was really just confused throughout the loud arguments between the three during their fight) before the mountain snow broke as well. There was a large possibility that either Grell had followed Will, because only he could make loud enough of a monologue to himself to cause an avalanche, or the coven (Y/n) was a part of tried to kill her. The cause was most likely a mixture of both, but since (Y/n) did not know who Grell was, she now thought that her own coven must have turned against her.

"Nobody knows where any of us are. We need to find a way out of here," William sat on a chair and crossed his legs. "Can't any of you use your magic or skills?"

"I'm a witch, not a miracle maker," She scoffed and blew out the flame on her finger. "Energy cannot be destroyed, it can only be moved. I cannot melt this snow, nor can I move such a large quantity of it so that we may escape."

"Do you know any teleportation spells?"

"I can't teleport all four of us very far at all, it is too many people. And I have no idea how much snow is outside. I could accidentally send us all into the middle of the ice and trap our bodies until it melts."

"We can dig, perhaps," Claude remained standing, and Sebastian stood in the same position a full four feet away from him. "From where we are now, I mean."

"Surely an intelligent demon such as yourself will know," Sebastian bit back a scoff, "what we just witnessed was a slab avalanche. The snow is not powder. It was already hard and frozen on top of that mountain to begin with, and now that it has settled since the avalanche it has compacted into thick and hard pockets of ice. We will not be digging our way out anytime soon through the front door."

"Surely an intelligent demon such as yourself will know," Claude replied cooly, "we are in the presence of a lady who does not need to hear of what may be her immediate death."

"…Well she did not hear of it until you spoke of it just now."

"Well you brought up the compacted snow."

"Do learn how to read these sorts of situations, Faustus. At the angle it rested on the mountain as well as the freezing temperatures it has been up there, anyone could do the math."

"Oh, anyone?"

"Besides you, it seems."

"That's it." Claude cracked a knuckle.

(Y/n) grit her teeth and ignored the indirect insult towards her. "Will you two please stop clucking like hens?!"

"Of course, My Lady," They both bowed.

"She may be a lady," William said, "but she is still a witch." He stood up and made eye contact with her. "A witch who may just double as a serial killer and soul thief."

"I had very little to do with those murders, Love," She grit her teeth. "The coven I am in wants to expand their reach into the rest of Europe, and they are trapping strong and innocent souls to become soldiers and fight."

"So they are enslaving souls?" Claude froze.

"…Yes. To take over Europe."

"Why are you telling us this now?" Sebastian, as much as he loathed to admit, looked remarkably similar to Claude when he froze too.

"Because," The witch went into a cupboard and pulled out several blankets, "the avalanche was too coincidental to truly be a coincidence. Three supernatural beings, capable of finding out the dark mysteries of a powerful and secretive witch coven, go around questioning the townsfolk, gathering names, and visiting my home all the way out here in the middle of nowhere? Getting our odd group in one place together like this would be the perfect way to kill us, or at least quiet you all. Maybe I will die before we get out, and maybe you will kill each other after I am gone, but they tried to kill me because of what I know of their plans. They had to, the avalanche was too convenient a chance to pass. I am a user of white magic, not black. I was going to stop them."

"So they gathered us in one space and trapped us while they prepare the souls for war," Sebastian conveniently summarized.

"Yes. There is a group of three witches that lead us, and all three have been using black magic. We did not know they were killing innocent people until they announced their big plans, and there were only a few of us who were not swayed by their promises of power. What they are planning is horrible and wrong."

"All witches are evil," William muttered from his side of the room.

"That is quite racist, you know," She held out a blanket to him to change the subject. "Now then. It will be getting cold and we cannot have a fire burning. The smoke would choke us all in here if we lit one." And a bit of snow spilled out of the fireplace from where it had fallen down, inside of the cabin. This only meant that the entire cabin was buried under the mountain's ice.

However: they could all see the snow on the floor, yes, but they could also see the gap between the floor and the inside of the chimney. That meant that it was still hollow and somebody could crawl their way up and out. The snow at the chimney opening must have been too thick to fall through, and blocked off the rest of the snow. It was a stroke of luck.

William took the blanket.

"Then why did you go around lighting candles?" Claude half smirked.

"There is no smoke," Sebastian was quick to point out, and his smirk grew as Claude's turned down into a snarl. "She lit them with magic."

"It isn't real fire," She agreed. "It is light, and it looks like fire, but it is not real. We are all safe."

"And our oxygen supply?"

"Limited," She admitted. "I have plants in that corner that will produce breathing air, but it will not hold us forever." She pointed to the bed in the corner of the room, where a total of five potted plants circled it.

Finally, Claude moved to sit down on the sofa that was near the ruined fireplace. Someone would need to sweep that snow back. "There are those of us in this cabin who can't die of asphyxiation should smoke fill the room."

"Because you are already dead? Yes," (Y/n) tossed a blanket over his body anyways. "But I have several protection charms over my soul as well and I still want you all to be as comfortable as possible," She sat down beside him with her own blanket, and motioned to Sebastian to sit as well. "Now, I believe that we should discuss the matter of survival. You all at least have lives to get back to while I have a new one to start away from the witches of this town. I believe that they will try to kill me again if they find out I survived this. We are iced in and judging by the snow in the fireplace, it has covered the entire cabin, so it is at least twenty feet above the front door. The snow came down the chimney, we can all clearly see it on my floor as of now, but it has not filled the entire thing. A patch of ice must have blocked the chimney opening off before the powdered snow could find its way in."

"We can try climbing up," Sebastian eyed it as he sat beside the woman, sandwiching her between two demons…Yet he sensed no fear from her as she threw the last blanket over him. There was only a very, impossibly, caring and kind soul that he sensed.

"It is a very small chimney," William pulled the blanket up to his chin. It smelled of flowers and he liked that. He suspected the potted plants in the corner were flowers in the warmer months too.

Sebastian raised his shoulders in a half shrug. "I can turn into my raven form and peck my way through until I reach the outside. The rest of you can follow."

"And what about us non-shapeshifters?" The reaper frowned.

"What about you?" Claude sniffed. "Miss (Y/n) can cast spells for herself, if she knows the magic."

"Well, if Miss (Y/n) can cast a spell on herself than she can cast one on you too William, isn't that right?"

"Actually Mister Sebastian," (Y/n) blushed, "I would need to practice a lot before casting a shapeshifting spell on anybody else."

"Don't all witches know shapeshifting spells?"

"Again, that is quite racist towards us witches."

"Terribly sorry," Sebastian coughed into his hand, obviously not sorry at all.

She turned back to the group, "I don't want to have William turn into anything ugly or horrible now, or worse…"

Claude couldn't resist a mischievous grin. "Isn't he already all three?"

William seethed, "I will end you, Scum."

"Case in point, Pidgeon."

"Then Miss (Y/n) can practice her spells!" Sebastian was quick to end this before it could get ugly (he rather thought that William was handsome, and that was not just because the reaper looked an awful lot like both him and Claude). "She can practice while Claude and I dig."

"Practice on who?!" William tensed in the blanket.

"Why, you of course."

"I don't feel comfortable with this," The witch stated quickly. "I would rather practice on one of you demons first. You two can shapeshift easily if I make any mistakes."

"I like that idea better," William nodded and relaxed again.

The demons did not.

Claude said, "Why don't the three of us simply change our forms once we find an escape through the chimney and leave Spears behind?"

"Because," (Y/n) frowned, "that wouldn't be right!"

"Oh, perhaps you feel this way because you know he will kill you for stealing the souls?"

"I did no such thing," She now fumed, "it was the coven leaders!"

"Coven leaders are not the only members of a coven, Miss (Y/n). All witches know black magic."

"…I suspect that you are all racist towards witches aren't you?"

"Only when the stereotypes hold true."

Now the witch was getting fed up with this. "I don't even know the black magic involved in enslaving souls!"

"I see spell books on that bookshelf over there," Claude pointed out. "That can be tested."

"Those books involve many things, but not black magic!"

William was quiet, and went through his death list near one of the lit candles. (Y/n)'s name was not under his registry, but then again she was not in London. It would not have been his place to take her soul since it was not his jurisdiction, but as of right now he needed to get out of this cabin and talk to the reapers in charge of collecting souls around here. He could not simply teleport or transform into an animal like these…creatures.

But as of right now, his biggest concern was making sure that these demons did not take the soul of this witch. It was bad enough when demons took regular souls, but a witch's soul would be an avalanche of paperwork and overtime.

Pun intended.

"Oh really now?" Claude stood up and draped his blanket over her body (she was a lady in need after all), then went over to see the titles for himself. The room was well lit to read, and he was smirking quite widely as he did so, "I see: Magical Herbs, The Book of Charms and Talismans, Beauty in Magic, Treaties of the Celtic Tribes, Amusing Pub Antics…Summoning and Transformation…The Living Bible?!" He began to frown as the listings went on. "These are…"

"Beginner's spell books and magical history, mostly," (Y/n) said, and did not squirm away when Sebastian put his arm around her. For a demon he was quite warm, and it really was beginning to get cold in the cabin. Besides, even she could tell that there was a rivalry between him and Claude. One could smell the smugness radiating off of Sebastian as Claude's theory was proven wrong. "Well, they at least involve magical histories and listings, like the herbs and Celtic tribes. I use Celtic magic mostly since we are so close to Scotland, it's more powerful and concentrated."

Claude's face twitched in growing anger and impatience. "Are you not a born witch?!"

"I was raised by the coven as an apprentice. They found me in a tree stump and took me in. I can only perform very basic spells leveling with that of a child magic wielder."

That made her a born human raised by born witches. She had to work harder to gain magical powers.

"So you are not able to perform a transformation spell?"

"Well, you just found a Summoning and Transformation book. I can do something with that," She held out her hand, and Claude reluctantly pulled out and handed her the spell book. "I have been told that I am powerful for my age. Most humans not born with magical powers can only perform the most basic of feats. I can do more."

"And how old are you?"

"Old enough," She looked pointedly at him. Claude still looked frustrated, and (Y/n) almost pitied the demon. "I was never allowed to practice often, so I was never able to expand my powers."

Claude was silent.

"…We should be able to switch off," Sebastian said with a smile on his face. "One demon digs through the snow above us while the other allows himself to be tested."

"Wait," William held up a hand, and leaned forward. "(Y/n). You say that you have been raised by the coven. Why have they decided to kill you?"

"Because the three leaders need one-hundred percent willingness from the rest of the witches to have the enslaved souls fight, and I can hinder their plans with you three behind me. I am not swayed by their false promises of power to everyone."

"And there are no feelings of love towards your family?"

"They raised me. That does not make them my family." Her words came out clipped and short, and she suddenly stood and draped the blankets over Sebastian. The spell book was set down on the table between the sofa and chair (between the sitting demon and reaper). "I do not believe that demons eat human food, but do reapers?"

"I will eat no food made by any of you," William responded quickly.

"What about simple things you can chop yourself, like fruit? Nothing that needs to be prepared by any of us but you."

"…I am not hungry." He crossed his arms and looked to the side like a child.

"Well I am," She went to the other side of the cabin, where a stove and sink were—the kitchen area was small. She reached into the pantry closet and pulled out an apple. "I have enough food to last two of us maybe a few days if we ration evenly."

"Only a few days?"

"It is usually only me up here and I haven't been to the town in a while," She bit her fruit and motioned to the pantry. "There is water as well, and we can melt the snow in pots if we need more. There are ways to clean water without boiling it."

"Why—" Claude started.

"Boiling water requires fire and heat," Sebastian finished. "But so does melting the snow in the first place."

"She can create light, why not heat?" The demon went around the small room, looking at personal items that were lying around.

Paintings of nature were on the walls, a lace tablecloth was draped over the one table near the kitchen area, plates and utensils (all wooden and handmade…) were in drawers, a few dolls were on a shelf with other books such as Shakespeare and Sherlock Holmes stories taken from the newspapers . . . She lived in this cabin, isolated from the town. Even as a witch, it was unusual for such a sweet soul to be alone.

"…There are only so many things I can do…" (Y/n) rubbed her shoulder awkwardly. "Why do you think I'm getting blankets for you all?"

"Because you are trying not to get killed when we escape?" Claude raised an eyebrow. "Heat is a comfort for demons, not a necessity."

She blushed. "Stop going on about that, please. I did nothing wrong but be who I am…The blankets are for the heat I cannot create with magic."

He pushed his glasses farther up his nose,"I am sure."

There was a tension in the air created by Claude's words, and so (Y/n) sighed and tossed an apple William's way anyways. He caught it with the end of his shears, still sitting on the other side of the room opposite of Sebastian.

"The two of us will need food to generate body heat, at least," She said.

"And the two of us," Sebastian meant him and Claude, "do not. If you need assistance in that regard, do feel free to ask."

(Y/n) let out an unladylike snort. "Yes. Oh my goodness, yes. One of you two demons gets to cuddle up with me on the bed while the other gets to snuggle with the reaper on the couch. It's the perfect idea."

"I will kill you all," William said dryly.

"…I believe that William and Claude would be quite the pair in bed."

Sebastian snorted. The other two men(?) shot them both dirty looks.

"Or perhaps William and I can sleep on the bed while Sebastian and Claude get the sofa together," She continued her train of thought.

William snorted. The other two men(?) shot them both dirty looks.

"They do bicker like women, don't they?" The reaper added with a rare smile. It was a very rare smile. And caused by a witch no less.

But she was charming, and all three supernatural beings were charmed by her charms. She only knew how to cast the most powerful charms on herself, after all.

(Y/n) was a witch like no other. Her soul was indeed charming, and was already naturally kind, but after several spells were cast her personality could not be hated by those who spoke to her. One could hate her from far away, maybe, but the ultimate spell was a powerful one. It was a mixture of charms cast by both herself and the other witches of her coven to prevent any dangers from befalling the young woman, since she was technically a human, and even the coven hated to hate her because of the love charms that were cast on her soul.

It was practically impossible to hate her, and the normally cruel demons and reaper were beginning to warm up to (Y/n) almost against their wills. It was not unpleasant, and they may have liked her without the charms anyway. It would certainly hinder any plans of murder.

William took a bite of the sweet fruit as Claude made himself comfortable on the bed surrounded by potted plants. (Y/n) leaned against the counter in the small kitchen area across the cabin while she chewed on her dinner of one apple, and Sebastian got up to sweep the snow into a clean pile beside the fireplace, where it could be out of the way when he started to dig at the top of the chimney and hopefully get above the snow.

There was silence, for now at least, while each of the four supernatural beings in the room considered their situation.