Deformed

by Crystalteen

Ciel Phantomhive summons two demons to help him get revenge on those who made his life a living hell. Sebastian Michaelis and his sister, Elise, make an agreement to serve Ciel as his Butler and Nanny, as long as they get to devour his soul in the end. However, along the way, they'll have to assist Ciel in his duties as the Queen's Watchdog. And Elise is a demon with many secrets.

1. His Butler & Nanny, Introduction

A/N: Greetings, my fabulous viewers! :D I hope you are all having a splendid day.

In case anyone is wondering, this is my first ever "Black Butler" fanfic and I'm very much looking forward to sharing it with all of you. Shortly after my great friend, Anarchist's Rose, got me interested in the anime, this idea formed in my brain and I couldn't resist bringing it to life. :)

This story literally took me a year and a half to plan! It tells the entire "Black Butler" anime series, except now, another character is involved with the plot. With this, I'll be adding in my own scenes, pieces of dialogue, and possibly all new missions for Ciel to solve as the Queen's Guard Dog. It'll certainly be a wild ride, so I hope you're all ready.

Summary: Ciel Phantomhive summons two demons to help him get revenge on those who made his life a living hell. Sebastian Michaelis and his sister, Elise, make an agreement to serve Ciel as his butler and nanny, as long as they get to devour his soul in the end. However, along the way, they'll have to assist Ciel in his duties as the Queen's Watchdog ... and Elise is a demon with many secrets.

Keep in mind, I'm balancing other responsibilities and other works on the side of this. So, if I seem to be taking time to update, it's only because I'm caught up in working on other stuff. It doesn't mean I'm abandoning this story, so please acknowledge that. I appreciate you all for understanding.

Also, I absolutely adore feedback and I look forward to all of it very much. Please don't hesitate to share your opinions on this story in the reviews or you can PM them to me at anytime. Make sure to review! Thank you, everybody! :)

Warning: This prologue includes graphic details of violence, bloodshed, and death. If any of these things trigger you, I highly suggest proceeding with caution.

Note: I do not own the characters or official plot of "Black Butler." I only own my character, Elise.

Well, I believe that's all I wanted to say for now. It's time for you all to sit back, relax, and enjoy the prologue!

---

Elise's POV

Even in my rundown state, I was running as fast as my legs would allow me. Yet, at the same time, everything around me felt like it was suddenly occurring in slow motion. My eyes were large and alert, watching as the long-haired Shinigami regained his grip fully on his death scythe. By this point, it literally felt like all I could hear were the sounds of my heels trampling across the ship's floor and the moans of the walking corpses, lingering through my head.

My heart was charging faster than I've ever felt it charge before, practically exposing its outline through the fabric of my tattered dress with every pump that it made. Half of my brain still couldn't even begin to comprehend what I was about to do, but I knew for a fact that I couldn't just stand back and watch from the battered sidelines as Sebastian put himself unknowingly in a vulnerable position against the ancient Death God.

I understood perfectly well what I was about to risk, but at the same time ... I didn't even know if I cared anymore. It was true that Death Scythes were one of the only weapons that had a solid, ninety-five percent chance of being able to permanently destroy a demon's existence—but that wasn't even the part that I was dwelling on. If Undertaker managed to strike me instead of Sebastian, it would be my Cinematic Record on display ... which means that the Small Lord, along with everyone else around us, would finally find out the truth behind what I did.

However, during very moment, I couldn't exactly tell whether I was ready to face that battle or not. I just had to get Sebastian out of the way ... and prevent him from getting injured by the Death Scythe that was directly behind him.

Everything was still playing at a ridiculously slow pace and small grunts kept escaping from my lips between every couple of hurried steps that I took from my injuries.

The Young Lord continued to fly backwards through the air, extending his arm out as far as it could go in the direction of my brother.

"Come on, Elise! Faster! Faster!" I was practically screaming those words to myself inside of my head.

My Puny Master's mouth was hanging open in shock and his single, bright blue eye was opened wider than I've ever seen it before. There was no doubt in my mind that he was looking at the Undertaker and noticing the mischievous grin that was decorating his lips, along with the satisfaction that was glimmering in his vibrant green eyes from the sight of Sebastian no longer paying attention to him.

Instead, the butler—though remaining perfectly balanced on the railing—had dramatically turned to make an attempt to reach for our Young Lord. He was wearing a much similiar expression—scarlet eyes expanded in a stunned manner and mouth hanging open like a frog that was trying to catch flies.

I could just barely overhear the sound of the gray-haired Reaper chuckling to himself as he swung his Death Scythe back. His vision was entirely locked on Sebastian and it was evident that I didn't have much time left at all...

... So, while grabbing the bottom of the railing to the point where it felt like my knuckles were going to pop, I gathered up all of the strength that I had to jump and literally hurl myself to the top of the staircase.

"SEBASTIAN!" I called out, just as he managed to briefly wrap two of his gloved fingers around two of the fingers of our Little Lord.

However, at the sound of my outburst, Sebastian's eyes ended up widening even more. For the faintest moment, as I tossed myself in front of him, my brother took his gaze away from our Young Master.

"E-ELISE!" Sebastian shrieked.

I couldn't tell if he sounded more angry, concerned, or ... possibly even terrified. Nonetheless, despite how every single moment still felt drastically slow, the next part happened so fast.

I firmly shoved Sebastian in the back, using such a strong amount of force to the point where he began soaring away from the staircase and through the air like our Bocchan had. As this happened, the Young Lord didn't hesitate to shoot his arm back out towards my brother. In return, Sebastian also extended his hand as far as he could ... and this time, after what felt like an eternity of struggling to get to each other, Sebastian finally managed to grab Bocchan.

As this happened, my waist roughly racked against the railing of the staircase and I was forced to grab onto it with both hands to prevent myself from toppling over the edge and falling to the ground. Nevertheless, while gritting my teeth in discomfort, I forced myself to lift my head back up in order to keep watching Sebastian and the Young Master.

Blood continued to trickle from a small, open wound on my cheek and I could even feel more drops of the scarlet liquid beginning to weld up in the corners of my eyes.

"I'm sorry, Young Master ... I'm sorry, Sebastian..." I whispered mentally. "But what kind of nanny ... and sister ... would I be if I allowed something as tragic as this to happen to either of you?"

Then, I felt it—a sharp, burning, indescribable amount of pain that almost made me collapse to my knees right then and there. My jaw practically slammed all the way down to the floor and my wine-colored eyes grew to be five times their normal size. A loud, hoarse, somewhat strained gasp—almost perfectly resembling one that a person would make when they're being strangled to death, but much more eerie to listen to—lurched out of my throat. If I had to give it a proper description: it felt like somebody was in the middle of committing arson on every single of my body—on the inside and out.

With my enlarged eyes still staring directly at Bocchan and Sebastian, who both looked nearly traumatized by what they just witnessed, I was still able to see the pointy end of the Undertaker's long, polished blade pierced through my body. It had entered through my back, directly between the top of my shoulder blades, and exited through the area that was just above the middle of my breasts.

Blood spurt out of my body in a variety of directions.

"ELISE!"

"NO!"

The sound of my Young Master's voice punctured the air first, hollering out my name.

The second outburst belonged to my brother, who now sounded more worried than he's ever done before.

For another split second, I was able to see their startled faces and both of them trying to reach out for me as they continued to soar in the opposite direction. Then, just as I had predicted, a bright white light started flickering from the excruciating wound that the Death God had given me. After that, a flood of white and black film strips started flowing out of me in a tangled mess, preventing me from seeing Sebastian or the Small Lord any longer.

My Cinematic Record was being revealed.

---

"I know what you're thinking ... how the hell did I get myself tangled in this situation?

Well, I can assure you that it didn't happen overnight. On the contrary, it took years of being a nanny—and yes, I said a nanny—before I got stuck in this predicament.

I'm afraid that none of this will make any sense to you until I share the whole story that led up to this point. So, I guess that means I should start at the very beginning ... when Sebastian and I were first given our titles as Phantomhive servants..."

---

His Butler & Nanny, Introduction

---

It had been such a long time since my companion and I were last summoned. So many years had went by, in fact, that I'd nearly forgotten the rush that came with being wanted by a mere mortal ... but this one was different. He was just a small child, who I could tell by his height was no older than ten. He had an incredibly scrawny figure that bared the outlines of his ribs and the creases that were included in the bones of his arms, legs, and hips. Aside from that, the unfortunate boy had fragile skin that was riddled with filth and hundreds of scrapes. He also had greasy, grayish-blue hair that hung sloppily in his face and the richest pair of deep blue eyes that I'd ever seen on a human.

It had evidently been at least a couple of months since this kid had been given a proper meal or bath ... but that wasn't the main reason behind why somebody as young as him had called out for me and my companion. There was something else—something much bigger—that this helpless human desired ... but in order to carry out whatever commands that he had in store, my accomplice and I had to make it official.

With the help of our unworldly abilities, we put the tiny boy to rest and came to him in a pitch-black dream state. Like always, Accomplice transformed into a raven and took the voice of a male, while I gave myself a female tone and became a black scorpion that was decorated with dark purple streaks. Our summoner hovered in the air a fair distance away from us, covered by only a red piece of cloth that I had formed in order to guard his lower extremities.

A sea of white feathers, which neither my companion or I were able to touch, engulfed the trance. As a result of this, Accomplice wielded a long, twisted, stray branch to come out from underneath all of the feathers. I curled my many legs around its center, clicking my pincers as I lightly tapped the tip of my stinger against the old wood. At the same time, Accomplice perched himself atop the branch ... and we both knew that it was time to get down to business.

"Before making any hasty decisions, let's ensure that you understand what you're signing up for." My words bounced off the invisible walls in the dream, full of elegance and lightly brushed with a British accent. "My brother and I will follow every command that passes through your lips, no matter how absurd it may seem. We'll do this for as long as you wish, whether you have a specific deadline or would rather wait until the day comes in which you take your final breath and get buried in the ground ... but be warned, our services don't come cheap." I blinked my many eyes, just imagining the succulent taste that Accomplice and I craved so badly. "In exchange for our humble obedience, we expect to receive your soul. If you agree to this, the results of your afterlife will be permanently decided and you won't be able to back out at anytime."

The boy peeked over at me with disdain glistening in his exposed eye. "Do you really think I care about that?" He inquired in a bitter tone. "After everything that has happened to me on earth ... I've decided that Hell couldn't possibly hold anything worse."

There was a faint moment of silence, in which my companion and I watched a few more white feathers sprinkle down from above. They fell dangerously close to our summoner, but never touched him.

"Think carefully." Accomplice then spoke up, also possessing an accent that had some caution slipped into it. "Should you reject the faith even this once, the gates of paradise will forever be out of your reach."

The scorn grew thicker on the young human's face. "Do you think one who was among those faithful would ever go so far as to summon creatures like you two?"

I pierced the bark of the branch with my stinger and slowly started to drag it beneath the wood.

"The feathers around us are as white and pure as snow." I remarked with a spark of interest embedded in my voice. "They show that you used to have plenty of faith when it came to a higher authority."

The small child clenched his teeth and narrowed his visible eye, making it obvious that he wasn't pleased with how I had mentioned his prior hope in God.

"You should really pay attention to how you said the word used." He sneered critically. "I used to be foolish and among those who are faithful in such bloody nonsense ... but not anymore, you damn brutes."

My companion darkly snickered, evidently amused by the boy's choice of words and satisfied by how he no longer cared about Heaven's leader.

"I'll ask but once more." Accomplice stated, and if he hadn't been in his pest form, I could tell that there would've been a smirk spread across his lips. "Do you wish to form a contract with us?"

By this point, the lad had become entirely impatient. With a glare on his face, he snapped, "I do! Now, stop asking these tedious questions and let me know if we have a deal!"

As soon as those words left the boy's mouth, the air became as cold as ice and filled with sounds that perfectly resembled the ones that would be at sea during a raging storm. For the briefest second, the falling feathers froze. Then, at a rapid speed, all of them started flying back up towards the unseen sky. They swirled in a variety of unholy shapes and patterns, right before they encircled me, my companion, and our summoner in a giant tornado. In the blink of an eye, the whiteness transformed into black. With this, Accomplice and I were permitted to touch the feathers as they rained all over the place, giving us the opportunity to disguise ourselves as mortals.

After my human form came together, I opened my glowing eyes and watched through the storm of dark feathers as a series of them started piling up on top of the young lad.

"It is done." I announced, deciding to pay no mind to the faint sunken feeling that had suddenly appeared in my gut. "From here on out, until the very end, we will serve you ... Master."

---

Two Years Later...

---

I was lying in bed when I felt it.

Somebody had placed their hand on my shoulder and was trying to gently shake me out of my slumber. Memories from the night before almost instantly started to flood my groggy mind, helping me to remember why I decided to rest in the first place.

At first, I screwed my eyes shut a little tighter, clenched my teeth in minor discomfort from a small headache, and shifted my head slightly so my face could be buried in the large pillow. However, the hand on my shoulder started to apply a bit more force, despite how there was also definite reluctance.

"Mistress Elise?" A familiar, high-pitched voice spoke to me. "Pardon me, but ... are you awake?"

In less than a second, all of the exhaustion fled from my system and I chose to ignore the headache, knowing by now that it would fade away shortly. So, with my right hand remaining tucked underneath the pillow, I peeled the warm blanket away from my body with my other hand and pushed myself up into a sitting position.

All I was wearing was a silky, ankle-length, violet chemise with black lace trimming. One of the thin straps hung off from my shoulder as I released a small yawn. At the same time, I pushed a few stray curls out of my face and casually swung my long, slim, sleek legs over the edge of the bed. While doing this last part, I also made sure to properly cross my right leg over my left one.

At last, I molded my lips into a charming smile and opened my eyes to see the one who had awakened me. There, standing between the two beds with some wrinkled blankets and sheets gathered in her arms, was Mey-Rin. She was the maid of the Phantomhive manor, owning a thin figure, fair skin, maroon-red hair that she always kept tied back, and hazel eyes that were hidden behind a pair of large, thick, overly round glasses. At first glance, I noticed that she was already wearing her required attire: a frilly cap, a casual midnight-blue dress with matching buttons, a white pinafore that had ruffles incorporated around the shoulders, and dark brown boots that reached all the way up to her knees.

"Yes, I am wide awake." I answered at last, staring directly at Mey-Rin's face with a grin still on my own. "How nice it is to see you this morning, Mey-Rin. I hope you slept well last night."

"Hm?" The maid seemed lost for a second, but as my words reached her, she started nodding faster than one would find necessary. "Oh! Oh, yes! I slept like a baby all through the evening, yes I did!"

A light, somewhat entertained chuckle fell from my lips.

"Come now, don't throw your neck out." I said as I gestured for Mey-Rin to calm herself. "The young master has a very eventful day ahead of him today and we need to make sure that we stay on top of all of our duties in order to prepare for it. Surely, you know that you wouldn't be able to focus on all of the cleaning that has to be done if you give yourself such an injury."

As I said my last sentence, a panicked yelp escaped from Mey-Rin's mouth when her glasses nearly fell off her nose. She immediately stopped nodding and quickly started to fix them, somehow dropping a few of the sheets and blankets in the process. An embarrassed blush appeared on the maid's face as she then squeaked and tried retrieving the pieces of bedding. However, every time she picked one back up, she ended up dropping two more. There were even a few times in which the maid accidentally stepped on a couple of the sheets and almost made herself topple down to the floor when she tried pulling them back up.

"Y-yes, of course. I-I'll try to be more careful." Mey-Rin stuttered as she tried placing her chin on top of the messy pile that she was holding in order to prevent anymore of the bedding from falling to the floor. "Please excuse me for disturbing your rest, Mistress Elise ... b-but Mr. Sebastian instructed me to collect all of the sheets and blankets a-and I couldn't help but notice that you were still asleep when I came to strip our beds." Her blush darkened even more at the mention of Sebastian, but I paid no mind to that.

My eyes widened a tiny bit as the realization struck me that I must've overslept. This almost always happened to me whenever events like the ones from the night before took place.

"Oh dear, how irresponsible of me!" I sighed heavily, despite how there was no actual worry in my voice. "I should've been long awake by now."

I sprang up from my bed, paced over to the only window that was provided in the room, and looked out at the view. The glass was a little foggy on the outside, but I could still see everything as clear as day. The courtyard looked just as it always did, providing recently trimmed grass, perfectly rounded bushes, a variety of wonderfully bloomed and arranged flowers, and an elegant fountain that was full of sparkling water. Everything was also decorated with fresh drops of dew, considering there had been a storm last night.

It was still dim out, but the sun could be seen starting to peek over the horizon. The sky was tinted with many vibrant shades of orange, yellow, red, and pink, announcing the beginning of another day in the Phantomhive mansion. As I studied all of the colors, I narrowed my eyes, crossed my right arm over my chest, positioned my left elbow in front of my hand so it wouldn't be visible, and touched my chin in thought.

Mey-Rin continued to squeak every few seconds, and I didn't need to see her to know that she was still dropping and snatching back up pieces of bedding.

"It—it was an honest mistake, Elise. I-I really wouldn't worry about it if I were you." She continued to stammer slightly since she was still flicking her attention back and forth from me to the floor. "Besides, it's only—"

The sunrise reflected in my eyes as I observed a few clouds that were slowly slipping through the sky.

"Six-twenty." I cut the maid off in a perfectly nonchalant tone, lightly stroking my chin with my index finger. "Judging by the faint amount of clouds and their flow, as well as these particular color shades and where the light meets the horizon, it's evident that the sun has been peeking out for exactly thirty-six minutes. This means we still have an additional forty minutes before the young master must be awakened." A confident, somewhat smug grin slipped across my face. "And within those forty minutes, I have no doubt in my mind that I'll be able to catch up on my schedule."

I turned my back on the window to look at the maid, who had fallen silent. She was staring at me with her mouth gaping open in surprise. The blankets and sheets had also been transformed into a large, sloppy, crumpled up ball in her arms. Some were drooping down and nearly touching the ground as well.

"That ... that's right!" Mey-Rin noted in a tone that was both stunned and impressed. "F-forgive me for sounding nosy if I am, Mistress Elise, but ... how do you do stuff like that?"

Another faint chuckle escaped from one of the corners of my mouth as I pushed another lock of my hair out of my face. Then, I lowered my left arm to join my right one across my chest, still keeping the front of my right hand hidden from sight.

"I'm a nanny with many skills. Let's just leave it at that." I replied, giving my roommate an innocent wink.

My eyes were then drawn to the bedding in her arms. I raised one of my eyebrows as a twinge of curiosity shot through me.

"Oh, Mey-Rin ... I'm just wondering, you did remember the other sheets, right?" I inquired.

The bespectacled woman looked down at the messy jumble that was in her arms like a lost child, right before she raised her head and locked her attention back on me.

"Uhh ... o-other sheets?" She asked.

"Yes." I replied with a small nod, looking straight at her. "You don't recall? Sebastian washed a few other sheets yesterday morning and instructed you to hang them outside to dry off. You were supposed to bring them back in before the storm hit."

Almost immediately after my final sentence, Mey-Rin's jaw practically dropped all the way down to the floor and a high-pitched gasp lurched out of her mouth. She threw her arms up above her head and twirled them in frantic circles, seeming to forget all about the pile of bedding that she'd been holding. They spat through the air and landed in different areas around the room, as if a tornado had just ran through it.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no! How could I have forgotten about the other sheets?! Oh, I left them in the rain all night long! Oh no, oh no!" Mey-Rin shrieked in an evident panic. Her face reddened in shame as she hurried over to the door, nearly tripping over her own feet in the process. "Oh, they're bound to be soiled now! I must get them inside and washed before the Young Master retires tonight!"

The hectic maid disappeared out of the quarters, quickly pulling the door shut behind her. However, the door was so thick and heavy to the point where it caused some of the objects in the room to shake from Mey-Rin's hasty departure. From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the lamp that was between the beds on the nightstand tip over and topple over the edge. In less than a second—and that wasn't an exaggeration—I made it over to the nightstand and easily managed to catch the lamp by its neck before it could smash against the floor, showing no worry whatsoever.

"Can't let this break, now can I?" I murmured as I gently placed the lamp back in its original spot. "I wouldn't want to risk disturbing my Bocchan before his proper awakening hour."

Then, I felt my toes brush against something on the floor and looked down to see that it was one of the rumpled blankets.

"Oh, for goodness sake. Look at this mess." I released a sigh and placed my hands on my hips as I took a glance around at all of the spewed pieces of bedding. "There's already much to get done before the Young Lord's guest arrives this evening. We can't afford anymore setbacks than we already get on a daily basis, Elise."

I bent down and picked up the blanket that was by my feet. After that, with a casual look on my face, I zipped all through the room and gathered the rest of the blankets and sheets. Then, after sitting the pile down on Mey-Rin's stripped bed, I headed over to the foot of my bed, grabbed both of the bottom corners of the blanket, and tossed it into the air.

The pillow flew upwards and at the angle it fell, it slid out of the pastel yellow case that it was in. Then, as the pillow landed perfectly back in its original spot at the head of the bed, I paced back over to Mey-Rin's bed with my blanket and pillow case, added them to the pile, folded all of the bedding back into squares, and even took the liberty to separate the sheets and pillow cases from the blankets. All of this was done in no more than ten seconds.

"Alright, there we go. As good as new." I whispered to myself, running a hand through my hair as I examined my accomplished task. "Now, Elise, it's time for you to prepare yourself for another busy day. After all, it would be a disgrace to the Phantomhive family if their nanny went ahead and attended to her duties in her nightwear."

As I said my last sentence, I approached the full body mirror that was beside the window and looked at my reflection.

I had taken the form of an attractive woman in her mid-to-late twenties, possessing a creamy-white complexion and shoulder-length, somewhat wavy, jet-black hair that had its ends tinted dark purple and tightened in a bunch of sleek curls. I also had admirable, cantaloupe-sized breasts and a slim waist that later expanded into a curvy set of hips. Then, there were my eyes. They were the color of wine and almond-shaped, standing out from the rest of my pale features. And lastly, there were my fingernails—naturally black and perfectly trimmed with not a single speck of dirt or muck anywhere beneath them, just like my toenails.

I ran the tips of my fingers across my collarbone, which was slightly visible through my skin, and took a moment to stare at the pattern that was printed on the top of my right hand. It was a black pentagram that contained a variety of other symbols and was surrounded by a circle with spikes on it. A Faustian contract.

A shrewd smile crossed over my face as my eyes lit up like two red Christmas bulbs for a couple of seconds. When they stopped, I walked over to a series of built-in wall hangers that had two pieces of clothing hanging from them. One was Mey-Rin's nightgown and the other was my uniform.

It was a shin-length dress with mid-length sleeves, an A-line skirt, and just a slight V-neck that was accompanied by a few, tiny, black buttons. The middle section of the skirt was pure black, disrupting the dark shade of purple that engulfed the rest of it. The bodice was close-fitted, yet modest, and also black. In addition to that, there were two lines of black ruffles that began where my neck met my shoulders. They ran down the sides of my abdomen and went all the way down to the hem of the skirt, separating the black fabric from the purple. As for the sleeves, they were purple with slight black frill incorporated into the hems; and around the neck, a strip of purple cloth with more black frill provided the illusion of a necklace. Then, at last, elegant black swirls, flowers, and leaves were detailed into every last inch of the purple material, looking remarkably like vines that would be hanging from the trees in heaven. Needless to say, it was a very sophisticated uniform.

While humming a tune, I stripped myself from the chemise and slid the dress on, still pleased with how smooth the fabric felt against my skin. Like always, I saved buttoning the strip of cloth that went around my neck and the few buttons that were above my breasts for last. When that was finished, I smoothed out a couple of wrinkles that had formed on the skirt, grabbed my brush from where it was lying atop the dresser, and paced back over to the mirror.

I ran one of the disheveled locks through my fingers in thought as I stared at my reflection.

"Outside of these quarters, bedhead is unacceptable. How shall I tame this today?" I muttered, shortly before an idea came to my mind. "Ah, perfect!"

After brushing out all of the tangles in my hair, I styled it into a perfect fishtail braid that lied against the back of my neck. Again, this took me no longer than ten seconds.

"Simple for a nanny, yet classy for company." I noted, content in my choice of hairstyle. "All I need now are my shoes and gloves."

I returned my hairbrush to the dresser and grabbed my gloves, which were black with purple ribbons tied into bows around the wrists. However, just as I was about to slip them on, I couldn't help but freeze when my attention was grabbed by my fingertips. Courtesy of something that had happened in my past, all of the pads on my fingers were left burned to the point where the skin was permanently scarred―literally to the point where it was impossible for me to leave fingerprints. Just looking at the damaged skin made my eyes fill with a mixture of disdain and disgrace ... but instead of allowing myself to get sucked into the memories, I simply slid my gloves on and grabbed my black, lace-up, high-heeled ankle boots from where they were lying beside the dresser.

When I finished tying them on, I took one more peek at my reflection.

"Alright, all set." I declared, right before another one of my innocent smiles returned to my face. "It's time for another hell of a day in the Phantomhive manor."

After exiting the quarters and pulling the door shut behind me, I descended down the narrow staircase that was directly to the left of the room. Upon making it to the bottom, I pursued through many long hallways that were painted bold colors and decorated with many valuable vases, elegant paintings, potted plants, marble statues, and large windows that were accompanied by silk drapes. However, when I arrived in the foyer, it came to my attention that the wallpaper was starting to look discolored and uninviting—definitely not appealing for guests to see as soon as they entered the mansion.

I took a mental note of this as I walked down the wider and much more elegant set of mahogany stairs. My boots clicked every time I took a step, and the closer I got to the servants' area, the more renovations I saw were needed in order to get rid of the cracks and water stains on the walls. I also took a mental note of this, but knew that there were many more important tasks to attend to at the moment.

Suddenly, I found myself jerking to a halt when I felt the floor shake a little. A crackling POP filled the air, followed by the sound of a laugh that I knew very well by now.

The voice it belonged to spoke up seconds later, exclaiming, "Alright! Now that's how you start off a good day!"

A small groan followed that, accompanied by another familiar voice that was dripping in annoyance, saying, "By this point, your utter idiocy doesn't surprise me in the slightest."

I approached the doorway that led into the kitchen, where the commotion was coming from. As soon as I made it, another loud POP punctured my eardrums and I felt the wetness of pancake batter slap against my right cheek. I didn't even flinch. I simply stared into the kitchen, which was already inhabited by two more fellow servants of the Phantomhive household.

One was Baldroy, the Young Master's chef with neutral skin, blue-green eyes, a muscular physique, dirty blonde hair that he kept brushed in a spiky style, and a cockney accent. He was currently stationed at the stove, wearing his standard all-white uniform with a pair of goggles hanging loosely around his neck. There was also a cigarette dangling from one of the corners of his mouth, like one always was. Except, this one wasn't lit.

Baldroy—or Bard, as he was usually addressed—was in the middle of flipping pancakes ... but like always, he had his own "special" way of doing it. Every time he would toss a pancake up into the air, he would quickly strike a match, ignite a stick of dynamite, and throw it at the half-baked goody, resulting in batter splattering, the room filling with smoke, and chunks of dynamite soaring in a variety of directions. With every explosion, he would throw his fist up into the air and cheer.

Then, there was Sebastian. He was the butler of this estate—as well as my brother. We had a very close resemblance, often being mistaken as twins whenever we came in contact with the guests of our Puny Master. Like me, he had incredibly pale skin, a sophisticated British accent, and hair that was as dark and silky as the feathers of a raven. It was properly trimmed in the back, but also grown out more in the front in order to frame the sides of his face. His eyes, on the other hand, were a much more vibrant shade of red compared to mine.

Like always, he was dressed in a solid white button-down, a charcoal-colored vest, a pair of black trousers, matching boots, and a black tie. Normally, he would also be wearing white gloves and his double-breasted tailcoat that had the Phantomhive crest engraved on each of the buttons. However, since he was in the middle of chopping up ingredients for our Small Lord's breakfast, he had traded his tailcoat for an apron and typical gloves for a pair of plastic cooking gloves.

A platter of mint salad was already prepared on the island, and I could smell the heavy scent of scones that were in the process of baking. Of course, Sebastian always made sure to fix more than one dish in order to provide the young master with healthy options every morning. I was the one who handled lunchtime and the desserts, while Sebastian and I worked together on dinner. Preparing breakfast for our Little Lord was all up to him, but I still took the liberty to fix a tasty meal for the other servants almost every morning. Although, snack preparations were usually determined on whoever the Young Master rang for.

POP!

"Yeah! Awesome!" Bard cheered as another stick of dynamite blew up.

Sebastian shot him an unsatisfied look, managing to slide the platter of mint salad out of the way just in time before a glob of batter could land in it.

"Baldroy, that's enough foolishness!" He growled.

The chef grabbed a nearby rag and wiped some pancake mix away from his face, completely unfazed by the smoke. Then, he said in a confident tone, "Aw, come on, Sebastian! There's no need to be a bitter bloke, especially when we got a whole day ahead of us. Like my motto says, 'Cooking is art! And art is-'"

"'Explosions.'" I finished with pure nonchalance, and then went on with a sliver of humor. "I see that you're still the same open-minded chef as you were yesterday evening when you made an offer to help me prepare the Young Master's chicken Parmesan by using firecrackers. Quite creative, but not exactly the route I, myself, would or will ever take while preparing food."

Bard immediately spun around to face my direction from the other side of the room, while Sebastian peeked at me from the corner of his eye.

A delighted smirk curled up on one of the corners of Bard's lips.

"Well, well, well! Look who's awake! Mornin', Elise!" He chuckled a little and tossed me the rag that he had used to clean his face.

In one swift motion, I shot my arm up and caught the rag before it could soar past my shoulder.

"Good morning, Baldroy." I said with a small grin as I wiped the pancake mix away from my cheek.

Sebastian, unfortunately, didn't look as pleased with my presence ... and I knew exactly why.

"It's about time that you decided to join us. You're late." He glanced back down at the ingredients and continued to chop them up with a condescending note in his voice. "You were supposed to be up on your feet nearly an hour-and-a-half ago."

I shot him a bland look as I folded the rag back up into a perfect square.

"How lovely it is to see you up and at 'em, too, dear brother." I grumbled, lacking just as much interest in my tone as I did on my face.

Bard stopped rearranging his few remaining sticks of dynamite and flicked his attention back over to me and the butler.

"Come on, cut her some slack." He said calmly with his cigarette bobbing between every few words. "After all, we all get a little more tired from time to time. Sleeping in on accident happens to the best of us."

Sebastian turned his head and stared at the chef with brutal honesty. "You don't even come remotely close to what I would label 'the best.' You still have quite the long ways to go before receiving a description like that."

Bard bit down on the end of his cigarette a little harder, just as his face smoldered in a mixture of embarrassment and frustration. Nonetheless, he knew better than to talk back to me or Sebastian—not that I was ever a problem since I hardly breathed down the other servants' necks like my brother constantly did. Sebastian and I were known as the head servants of the manor, which meant that it was one of our many responsibilities to keep the other servants in line. So, we rarely received backtalk ... and considering how scary we could get, that was a very good thing.

"Leave him alone, Sebastian. It's not like he's making things up." I came to Bard's defense after a couple of seconds and stared directly into my sibling's eyes from where I was still standing in the doorway. "It's true, I ended up needing a little more rest than usual ... but I'm positive that you know the reason as to why."

Since Bard had looked away to pour some more batter into the frying pan, I allowed my eyes to glow as I said that last part. In return, Sebastian also permitted his red orbs to light up for a brief period. Then, after a faint moment of silence, both of our eyes stopped shining and Sebastian continued to prepare the ingredients that were laid out in front of him.

"Well, make sure it doesn't happen too often. We only have thirty-five minutes before we must wake up the Young Master and there's still much to do before the evening arrives." Sebastian reminded, still looking a little pointed. "Also, Elise, if I were you, I would take the time to recall how a butler and nanny's day starts early. We're meant to rise at the very beginning of the day and get to work before anybody else in the manor."

With a roll of my eyes, I finally entered the kitchen and approached the butler. The sound of the batter fizzing on the stove filled the air as I did so.

"In case you haven't noticed, Sebastian, I'm not a child and I don't need a lecture from you." I remarked, placing the rag down on the island.

Sebastian peeked at me from the corner of his eye, definitely not in the mood for my attitude at this hour. "It was a reminder. Not a lecture." He corrected.

I pretended to not hear him and touched my chin while examining the variety of fresh ingredients.

"I see you've already prepared the option of mint salad for the Small Lord's breakfast." I noted. "I can also smell the aroma of fresh scones that are in the process of baking—his most common choice. All that's left is the new dish you're currently putting together ... even though I quite honestly don't see the point. We all know how much the young master loves his scones."

Bard poked the half-baked pancake with a spatula, right before he glanced back over his shoulder at me and Sebastian.

"That's true, but he's been very serious lately about wanting to have a new option to choose from every morning." He stated, and then snickered. "On the bright side though, no food around here ends up going to waste."

I breathed a small laugh, watching as my brother sprinkled some dried parsley over the other ingredients.

"What else do you expect from a household that contains seven people?" I asked in a rhetorical manner.

The chef looked like he was just about to flip the pancake, but he stopped and raised an eyebrow in curiosity at the butler. "Actually, come to think of that ... Sebastian, in all of our years of working under the same roof, I don't think I've ever seen you settle down and enjoy a meal. Elise always eats with me, Finny, and Mey-Rin, but you—"

I pursed my lips as Sebastian cut him off in a tone that was perfectly convincing.

"I always eat breakfast before anyone else awakens and I simply wait until the Young Master retires every night before making myself dinner. I can't allow my schedule to interfere with his, so I am willing to hold off on my own mealtime."

Among our kind, eating and sleeping were considered luxuries. Sebastian never slept or ate, but I did simply because I enjoyed them and I figured that it would make our covers more believable. Not only that, but I actually possessed a specific ability that sometimes resulted in me actually needing to take advantage of these luxuries.

"What's this that you're making for the third dish?" I inquired in order to change the topic.

Sebastian started adding salt to the ingredients as he replied with, "Lightly poached salmon. I noticed how much the Young Lord liked this meal when he recently dined with Lady Elizabeth. With just the proper amount of parsley, salt, pepper, and lemon juice, it can also make an ideal choice for breakfast."

Just then, immediately after his final word, Bard tossed the pancake that he'd been working on up into the air and grabbed another one of his beloved sticks of dynamite. He quickly struck a match by running it against the side of his boot and ignited it, right before he threw it up with enough force to make it puncture through the uncooked side of the goody. Within seconds after that, another ear-splitting POP erupted through the air and the batter flew in every possible direction. Reacting fast, I shot my arm out and caught a few pieces of broken dynamite in the palm of my hand, preventing any of them from landing in the food that my brother had prepared for our Small Lord's breakfast.

I disposed of them properly in the nearest bin, shaking my head a little.

"Wahoo!" Bard hooted joyfully, still not bothered by the smoke.

Drawing out a heavy sigh, Sebastian sat the knife that he'd been holding down and approached the chef with an annoyed glint in his eyes.

"That's it. Give me the dynamite." He ordered, placing one gloved hand on his hip and holding the other one out.

In less than a second, Bard's glee transformed into disappointment. His shoulders sunk a little, as if he were a toddler who had just been sentenced to a timeout; but instead of protesting, the chef quietly exhaled and reluctantly handed over the three remaining sticks of dynamite to the butler.

"We don't need you blowing up the whole kitchen again." Sebastian criticized as he slid the dynamite into one of the pockets of his apron and retreated to his station at the island. "And we especially don't need you disrupting the young lord's rest with such a ruckus. How many times must I say it? Dynamite isn't at all required in order to make pancakes or any other type of food."

Bard removed his cigarette from his mouth and pretended to examine it as he muttered, "It was from where I came from..."

"Bard," I spoke up in a bittersweet tone, "as much as we—and by we, I mean I—admire how you're determined to bring new ways of cooking into existence, perhaps you should just let me handle preparing breakfast again. After all, I highly doubt that Mey-Rin and Finny would be able to properly handle eating pancakes that have chunks of dynamite mixed into them."

It didn't go unnoticed that Sebastian had rolled his eyes when I changed the "we" to "I" in my statement.

The chef scratched the back of his neck, evidently taking what I said into consideration. "I suppose you're right..." He admitted slowly.

"It'll definitely be easier if you just leave the food preparations to me and Elise this morning." Sebastian agreed with a small huff as he added a pinch of pepper to the salmon. "The least you can do, Baldroy, is think about how you're going to appropriately handle tonight's dinner and start cleaning up all of the pancake mix. We need to keep the manor as tidy as possible."

Bard placed his cigarette back between his teeth and murmured, "Right ... my bad, I guess."

Then, despite how I could tell that he was still disappointed about having his dynamite taken away, he grabbed another nearby rag and started using it to wipe up the sticky puddles of batter.

While this happened, I collected four white plates that were lined with small, fancy, lavender flowers, placed them in a straight line at the opposite side of the island, and started gathering ingredients to make French toast. Along the way, I made sure to slide on another apron to prevent my uniform from getting messy and, after confirming that Bard wasn't looking, removed my gloves to replace them with another pair of cooking gloves that matched the ones Sebastian was wearing.

After slicing up twelve pieces of thick bread, I bathed each of them—two at a time—in a sugary mixture of a single beaten egg, two teaspoons of ground cinnamon, one-and-a-half cups of milk, an extra teaspoon of vanilla extract, and a few pinches of salt. When that was over, I assigned three slices to each plate and prepared them the ways that were most admired by the other servants.

Mey-Rin's dish consisted of the French toast being positioned like fallen dominoes on one half of the plate, sprinkled in a light cloud of powdered sugar and decorated in fancy swirls of maple syrup. As for the other side of the plate, there were fresh strawberries and oranges that I'd taken the liberty to cut up and arrange into stars.

Bard's plate, on the other hand, had the French toast stacked on top of each other like a sandwich with a light layer of raspberry jam covering each of the slices. It was also topped with blueberries, a little bit of whipped cream, and more maple syrup.

Then, there was Finny—the gardener's—dish. With slices of banana lining the plate, the French toast was purposely positioned in a lopsided manner on top of each other in the direct center and lightly drizzled in a mixture of powdered sugar and chocolate syrup.

My dish was the last, but it had nothing special done with it yet. Much to my dismay, I had noticed a couple of days prior that the prime ingredient that I most definitely liked using on almost all of my mortal meals had ran out. As a result of that, my French toast was covered only in a slight drizzle of maple syrup. Hopefully, I would be able to collect more of that succulent ingredient very soon.

I peeled off the cooking gloves and slid my black gloves back on, glad to no longer be feeling the plastic sticking to my skin.

"There we go." I declared while letting out a satisfied breath. "As always, a job well done, if I may say so myself."

Bard finished wiping down one of the countertops and swung the dirtied rag over his shoulder as he approached my side.

"Crikey!" He exclaimed, staring at the dishes with wide eyes and an amazed grin. "These look fantastic, Elise! I gotta say, I'm pretty impressed with how you and Sebastian are when it comes to my domain. The two of you sure are talented!"

With a slight tilt of my head, I shot him an angelic grin. At the same time, a mere smirk curled up on one of the corners of Sebastian's lips as he pretended to adjust his plastic gloves.

"As generous as you are for using such a word to describe me and my brother, believe me as I say that we are most definitely not 'talented.' We are simply just as hardworking and humble as you, Mey-Rin, Finny, and Tanaka." I assured.

"Indeed, that's correct. Yet, you're almost making it sound like there is something special about Elise and I." Sebastian informed the chef with a faint, devilish look in his eyes. "The two of us are nothing more than another pair of servants who are here to assist the Young Master and carry out his wishes. We do not consider ourselves as 'unique' or 'talented' in any particular way. By the end of the day, we are all workers of the Phantomhive estate."

There was a brief moment of hesitation before Baldroy raised his shoulders and said with a small snicker, "Well, alright. If you both say so."

"Now, Bard," I said as I picked up his and Mey-Rin's plates. "I'm sure that you can manage setting these up at the servants' dining table. Mey-Rin accidentally broke another fine set of china yesterday, so take only two plates at a time to prevent dropping anything."

"You got it." Bard complied, taking the platters from me.

As he walked off to carry out my instructions, I rested my hands on my hips and flicked my attention back over to the butler. We made eye contact.

"For Bocchan's full schedule today, I'm hoping that you remembered to assemble another appropriate outfit for him." Sebastian said as he skillfully ran a knife through the salmon.

"Of course I did. I would never forget to handle such a simple task." I retorted with a small shake of my head. "When you were giving him his bath last night, I selected an olive-green overcoat and a matching pair of trousers to go with his usual white blouse. I also picked out his pair of brown, buckled platform shoes and took the liberty to polish them before overlooking all of his accessories. I ended up deciding on a thin, navy blue ribbon to complete today's attire. I believe these two additional colors will blend together very well with that particular shade of green and make him look as appealing as ever to Mr. Hughes and Mr. Damiano."

My brother stared, evidently thinking about my outfit arrangement for our Small Master.

"Hmm." He said at last, just as Bard returned, grabbed mine and Finny's plates, and wandered away to take them to the servants' dining table. "Very well. That sounds acceptable."

I shot him a dry look, honestly annoyed by how he felt that he needed to give his approval on every little thing that I did. I could understand to an extent why he did this to Finny, Mey-Rin, Baldroy, and (rarely) Tanaka, but I held the same title as he did. We were both head servants, so it really got on my nerves when he didn't treat me like one ... and what made it even more annoying was that I could tell that he often did it on purpose just to push my buttons.

"By this point and time, Sebastian, you should know that it's completely pointless to question my ability on choosing garments for our Young Master." I stated in a dead serious tone. "He assigned that particular duty to me. I pick out the clothes every evening and you put them on him every morning. There's no need for you to be concerned over whether or not I do my job correctly."

Sebastian stopped slicing up the salmon and stared at me dully.

"Your job and my job are tied together." His voice made it obvious that we'd had this conversation multiple times in the past and he was starting to grow impatient with it. "As the head servants of the Phantomhive manor, it is one of our many responsibilities to make sure that Bocchan is getting nothing but the best in every possible form ... no matter how ridiculous it may seem."

With a small roll of my eyes, I folded my arms. "You seem to be perfectly okay with addressing me as a head servant only when it's convenient for you."

An insulting smile formed on my brother's face almost immediately after I said that, resulting in me pinching the bridge of my nose and letting out a groan.

"I swear, even after roaming the earth for centuries, we've failed to stumble across any human who managed to get on my nerves as much and as often as you do." I grumbled. "You really frustrate me at times."

Sebastian chuckled, increasing my irritation. "The feeling is mutual."

He then turned around to grab the bottle of lemon juice from the counter, only to have his attention get drawn upwards towards one of the small windows. Within seconds, his spiteful grin crumbled away like it was never there and his face was taken over by the same bland expression from moments before.

"And of course." Sebastian sighed heavily in disapproval. "This always seems to occur whenever we're dealing with a packed schedule."

I raised an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?"

The butler glanced over at me and then gestured up to the window with his pointed gaze, at which I walked over to his side to see what the problem was. We both stared out the glass, only to be greeted with the view of one of the many treelines that surrounded the estate in the distance. Despite how we didn't see anything out of the ordinary, that didn't mean that there wasn't necessarily a problem. Like Sebastian, I could often sense when danger was near ... and currently, it didn't take much effort for me to realize that there was a group of men—assassins—hiding out there. Again.

I lowered my eyebrows, unimpressed. "Ah, I see. It's another one of these mornings."

Sebastian let out a low, displeased groan. "We already have much to do today. We don't have time to condone trespassers."

"Hey, relax. There's no need for you to get your trousers in a knot. I'll take care of it this time." I concluded, giving him a smack on the shoulder. "Just lend me a stick of dynamite, would you?"

Sebastian sighed, making sure that the chef wasn't looking or listening before he reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the sticks of dynamite.

"Make sure that you don't make too much of a mess." He cautioned quietly, handing the explosive over to me. "Don't make too much noise either. If you disturb the Young Lord's rest, I'll have a bone to pick with you."

His eyes threatened to glow again as he said his last sentence, but I wasn't fazed.

"You and I almost always have a bone to pick with each other. It's nothing new to me."

I grabbed the stick of dynamite and slid it in to one of the pockets of my apron, right before I grabbed one of Bard's boxes of matches and a rope that'd been fashioned into a noose from one of the drawers. I slid it up my arm like a lasso and pocketed the matches, tilting my head slightly at my brother afterwards.

"I'll make sure to hurry this along so I'll still have time to eat before we wake up the Young Master." I stated professionally. "Speaking of which, it's your turn to fix his tea this morning ... and since you seem to be doing positively on breakfast so far, be a doll and make me some coffee while you're at it, okay?"

A bitter stare crossed over the butler's face as I began my departure, my heels still clicking with every step.

"To be completely frank, I despise that whole 'be a doll' phrase of yours." Sebastian scorned, shooting vague daggers at my back.

"I know." I retaliated with a smirk, feeling amused by his hostility. "And that's exactly why I say it. Now, if I were you, I would hurry up on that coffee. I like it black."

On my way out, I stopped in my tracks for a brief moment and glanced over at the end of the counter. Sitting on top of it, there was a beautifully woven basket that was created out of white wicker and had a dark purple ribbon tied neatly around its handle. It was something that had been given to me shortly after I first became the nanny of this estate. I often used it to carry around everything ... and I do mean everything.

"Since Bocchan has a guest coming over this evening, I better gather some flowers from the garden while I'm outside." A small, fond sparkle formed in my wine-colored eyes as I reached my hand out and grabbed the basket. "Like I always say, a table without a lovely centerpiece might as well be naked."

At last, I exited the kitchen and walked back down in the direction that I had came earlier. Then, after following many more hallways and turning down dozens of corners that I had memorized like the back of my hand, I made it to the main back entrance of the mansion—the one that led out into the courtyard. Immediately upon heading outside, I was greeted by a comfortable breeze that wrapped around me like a quilt and the fresh scents of morning dew and damp soil. The sun was also still in the process of rising, but the sky and its rich colors had noticeably become brighter since I had last studied them from the window in mine and Mey-Rin's room.

"The weather is certainly going to be beautiful today. Perfect for company." I muttered under my breath, right before I closed my eyes and let out a small sigh. "It's such a shame though that another fine morning like this is going to be violated by the smell of blood. Humans can't exactly handle it like me and Sebastian can."

I then cracked my eyes back open and saw somebody on their knees in the grass, humming a cheerful song and pulling out weeds. It was Finnian—Finny—the youngest servant of the Phantomhive family.

To me, he looked more like he was fourteen instead of sixteen, acquiring a white complexion, turquoise eyes that were full of innocence, and short, messy, strawberry-blonde hair that he kept out of his face with the help of five red bobby pins. He was already suited up in his uniform, which was a plain, white, long-sleeved shirt with red piping around the collar, plaid pants, a pair of gardening gloves, and black knee-high boots. He also had his beloved straw hat hanging around his neck. I had to admit that I was relieved to see that he wasn't accidentally pulling out any flowers or clumps of grass like he did during almost all of his prior attempts at weeding.

A soft, charming grin appeared on my face as I started to approach the gardener. At the sound of my footsteps, he lifted his head and looked over at me with a curious look on his face.

"Oh! Hi, Elise!" Finny greeted, flashing a perky smile at the realization that it was me.

I stopped walking when I made it over to his side, a grin still molded across my lips. "Hello, Finny. It's nice to see you getting a head start on your duties. I gather that you got a full night's rest last night?"

"Yep! I'm all set for another day of gardening!" The young boy blinked with the vibrant colors of the sunrise reflecting in his eyes. "You look very lovely this morning."

I internally chuckled a little. "Why, thank you. I'm very obliged by your kindness."

Finny reached for the brown pouch that was connected around his slender waist and opened it. Then, with the sweetness not faltering the tiniest bit from his face, he pulled out a lavender tulip that had a few of its petals slightly uncurled and rimmed with a faint shade of brown.

This was a tradition that the gardener and I had together—of course, after getting the Young Master's approval. Every morning, Finny would pick a different flower from the garden and give it to me. In return, I would gladly incorporate it some way into my appearance. According to the Small Lord, it was fine as long as Finny didn't bother or ruin any perfect flowers, especially his favorite white roses.

"This is for you." Finny said as he held the tulip out to me. "I'm sorry that it's a little wilted. I would've picked one of the prettier ones, but—"

"Oh, don't be preposterous." I cut him off, gently taking the flower from him and positioning it perfectly behind my right ear. "I think it's just perfect. Thank you for showing me such generosity."

I leaned down—considering I was almost six feet tall with my boots—and planted a small, simple, friendly kiss against the gardener's forehead. In return, his face became as red as a raspberry and he raised his shoulders up to his ears, showing off another smile that was both flattered and shy. Believe it or not, even as something not of this world, I found this quite adorable since Finny lacked plenty of experience with females and he often blushed so easily in the presence of them.

"I-it's no problem, Mistress Elise." Finny said, stumbling slightly and sweetly with his words. "I-I'm glad you like it."

I bowed my head, as if I was telling him that it was no problem, and focused on a single drop of dew that was resting on the tip of a bright green piece of grass. My smile wavered and a vague scowl started to form on my face as I zoomed my vision further in on the dewdrop. In its reflection, I noticed the head of an assassin peeking out from behind one of the trees in the distance. He ducked out of view a few seconds later.

"It's unacceptable for a Phantomhive nanny to fall behind on her schedule. I better take care of those bastards before the time arrives for me and Sebastian to get the Young Earl up for the day."

With that thought on my mind, I put on another realistic grin and lifted my head back up to make eye contact with Finny again.

"I really do." I said, confirming my thankfulness for the flower. "Now, Finnian, by any chance, is Mey-Rin still out here? I understand that she had another ... forgetful moment with the sheets from yesterday and needed to come outside in order to get them."

The strawberry-blonde boy nodded. "Yes, I saw her run over to the clothesline about ten minutes ago."

I gave a small nod and raised my hand with my forefinger pointed up, signaling for the gardener to wait a moment. Then, I turned my head towards the east side of the manor, where the clothesline was set up around the corner.

"Oh, Mey-Rin~!" I called out, and it didn't take much effort to overhear the maid letting out a small startled yelp. "Could you come here, please? Now!"

"O-of course, Mistress Elise! Of course!" Mey-Rin squawked almost immediately. "I'm coming!"

Within seconds, she emerged from around the stone corner of the mansion, hurrying as fast as she could. There was pure panic covering her face, just like there nearly always was whenever she was in a rush. Her glasses bounced on the bridge of her nose with every step she ran and there were a couple of times in which she almost tripped over her own shoes. By the time she made it over to me and the gardener, another short shriek lunged out of her throat when she stumbled forward again. Lucky for her, I easily managed to grab a hold of her right arm and Finny didn't think twice before catching her other arm.

"Whoopsie!" Finny yelped as he and I helped the bespectacled woman get her balance back. "Are you okay, Mey-Rin?"

"Y-yes, I'm fine." Mey-Rin replied with an embarrassed stutter, fixing her glasses with her face lightly burning.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "You really must be more careful. Remember what I said to you earlier? We can't risk falling behind on our responsibilities as loyal servants due to injuries and a twisted ankle would be hell to put up with while carrying out a hectic schedule."

"U-uhh, of course! You're right. I-I'll try to watch out more." The maid folded her hands and held them close to her heart, almost looking like she was begging for me to believe her. "You called for me, Elise?"

With another angelic smile playing around with my lips, I tilted my head slightly. "Yes. I just wanted to tell the two of you that I have recently finished preparing a delicious breakfast for us. It's time to head inside to enjoy it before the young master is due to wake up."

Relief swept over Mey-Rin's features and she exhaled, giving it away that she'd been fearing the worse when I called for her. At the same time, Finny's eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning and he'd just hit the jackpot with presents. However, this only lasted a couple of seconds. Almost instantly, frowns appeared on both of the other servants' faces. The maid's was definitely more of a nervous frown, while the gardener's looked more guilty.

"You definitely prepare the greatest food that I've ever tasted, Elise," Finny started, sounding just as remorseful as he looked, "but Sebastian instructed me to finish removing all of the weeds from the courtyard before the Master's guest comes later on today."

Mey-Rin raised her folded hands up to her face, now peeking over her knuckles. "A-and I have to finish gathering all of the soiled sheets. I-if I don't manage to get them washed, the Young Master won't have anything to sleep on and Mr. Sebastian will throw a fit."

"Nonsense." I rebuked, flicking my eyebrows up in dead seriousness. "Surely, the two of you know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I wouldn't want either of you to be sluggish due to lack of nourishment, nor could we risk that. The weeds and laundry will still be here when you're finished."

The redhead still looked a little unsure. "But Mr. Sebastian—"

"If my brother seems to have a problem with the two of you taking the time to eat, which I highly doubt he will, just tell him that I said that it was okay." I instructed, right before a small smirk formed on my porcelain face. "Did I mention that the breakfast I made for today is French toast?"

Finny's sweet smile almost instantly made a return to his face as he ran his tongue across his lips.

"Oh, I love French toast!" Mey-Rin proclaimed, lowering her hands to reveal a new grin on her face as well.

I breathed a small laugh. "I'm aware. Bard is already helping himself to his dish, so I suggest you both get in there to enjoy your own. You wouldn't want the food to get cold, would you?"

Finnian shook his head and then asked, "Will you be joining us, Elise?"

"Of course. I just need to gather some flowers for the Young Lord's centerpieces first." I replied, secretly adding a sly note into my accent. "I'm going to need to borrow a pair of scissors. May I use yours, Finny?"

"Oh, sure!"

The strawberry-blonde boy reached down, retrieved a doable pair of red scissors from one of the compartments of his pouch, and snipped them two times, as if to check to see if they really were scissors. Then, as I snickered faintly at his playfulness, he handed them over to me.

"Thank you. Now, the two of you better hurry along." I said, offering another innocent grin to the gardener and then to the maid. "I'll be in shortly."

"Yes, Mistress Elise!" Mey-Rin and Finny exclaimed simultaneously.

I watched as the two of them trotted over to the nearest door and scurried inside. When they were no longer in sight, I turned back around and locked my attention on the scissors that were in my hand. As I stared at my reflection that was within the sharp pieces of metal, my wine-colored eyes lit up and my smile became a lot more sinister.

"'Don't let them get in ... and don't let them win my game under any circumstances.'" I muttered under my breath, quoting Bocchan's orders when it came to bloodthirsty trespassers. "Very well, Young Master. I won't disappoint you."

---

I stood atop a branch in one of the hundreds of trees that surrounded the estate. The thick groups of leaves blocked a majority of the light that was provided from the sunrise, helping to keep me hidden in the shadows. Looking down, I easily spotted thirteen assassins—all men with brawny physiques, black clothing, and guns—squatting behind a long line of bushes and rocks. I also counted five daggers, each of them strapped to either an assassin's hip or thigh. While doing this, I quietly tied the opposite end of the rope around the trunk and paid close attention to what was being said.

An assassin arose from his kneeling position and let out a long, loud, irritated groan. The intimidation that immediately formed on the other trespassers' faces made it clear to me that he must've been the Leader of their group.

Aside from his chin-length hair that was the color of rust and piercing green eyes, he also had an olive complexion, a trimmed stubble, and a pointed nose that looked like it used to belong to a witch. There was even a long, unappealing, pinkish-red scar slashed across its bridge.

"Dammit!" He sneered through tightly clenched teeth. "I knew that we should've taken out those damn servants when we had the chance!"

The assassin that I had seen poking his head out through the reflection of the dewdrop batted his lashes in confusion. He had a brunette cropped hairstyle, along with skin that had clearly been kissed by the sun for a long time and oval-shaped eyes that were this mixed shade of yellow-green.

"Who in the bloody hell was that woman in the purple and black dress?" inquired the yellow/green-eyed assassin.

The Leader rolled his eyes and grumbled, "I don't give a tiny rat's ass who she was."

"Well, don't you at least think she looked a little too ... I don't know, sophisticated to be a servant?" The assassin with the yellow-green eyes went on.

Another assassin chuckled, possessing platinum blonde hair, skin that was as white as cream, and blue eyes that were so pale to the point that they were practically translucent. He also had a small scar etched horizontally across the right corner of his mouth and a distinctive bruise printed on his left cheek.

"In case you've forgotten, Adrian," the platinum blonde trespasser said as he pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, "what a woman wears doesn't define anything. It doesn't matter if they seem 'sophisticated' or not. In the end, all of them are tarts."

I rolled my eyes at that and grabbed the knot of the noose, holding back the urge to scoff.

The rest of the trespassers snickered along, just as the platinum blonde one decided to lean against the tree that I was hiding in and light his cigarette by striking a match against the sole of his boot. He inhaled deeply and held the smoke in for a couple of seconds, right before he blew it out with a sly smirk peeling across his face.

"Speaking of tarts, did you fellows get a good look at that maid?" More insulting chuckles leaked out of the platinum blonde's mouth. "I bet she's still the holder of her cherry. Maybe before we pop her with our bullets and go after the Queen's mongrel, I can pop her with something of my very own."

This time, while the rest of the assassins snorted again, something plucked a nerve inside of me. Displeasure electrocuted through my veins, causing my grip to tighten on the noose and my eyes to glow like burning embers once again as I continued to watch the trespassers.

"For the love of all that's holy, Charlie. Your ass can't be serious." An assassin with toffee skin, jet-black hair, and hazel eyes shook his head in amusement. "Half of that broad's face was hidden behind those giant clown glasses."

The platinum blonde trespasser, who acquired the name Charlie, smirked even wider after letting out another puff from his cigarette. He then said, "Faces are meaningless. I'm more interested in getting to what's between her legs. We might as well have a little fun before wiping her from all of existence."

While scoping out the courtyard, the leader let out a husky huff and rolled his eyes again. "If it'll get you to shut up and focus on the mission, then fine. First, we'll take care of that spoiled brat. Then, if any of you are really that desperate to relieve yourselves like Charlie apparently is, we'll take the damn tart with us."

The yellow/green-eyed assassin—Adrian—flashed a small, naughty grin. "Well, in Charlie's defense, it's not exactly a crime to want some fresh baps to stuff your face between."

Tired of this conversation, I decided to put my plan into action.

As the group of trespassers broke out into perverted laughter once again, my glowing eyes narrowed into thin slits and I threw the noose down with full force so it fell perfectly down Charlie's head and tightened around his neck. He immediately stopped laughing and looked down in confusion. At the sight of the noose, his eyes became wider than saucers and I could sense the terror that was now radiating off of him. Nonetheless, before he could make the tiniest move in order to attempt freeing himself, I roughly yanked the rope up in one swift motion.

Charlie shot up off the ground and a loud SNAP filled the air, no doubt from his neck breaking. His body went limp, dangling from the branch with his head rolled over to the side and burning cigarette tucked weakly between his fingers. The faintest color that he had in his skin was already beginning to fade away and he had dropped his gun in the process of getting hanged. All of the other assassins were too busy snorting and checking out their view of the manor to notice.

"Isn't that right, Char—" Adrian continued to chuckle, but when he turned his head and saw the platinum blonde trespasser now hanging from the tree, he became as stiff as a statue. His skin paled to the point where it resembled a sheet and his eyes became googly with horror, looking like they were seconds away from popping out of his skull.

As the snickers from the other assassins started dying down, Adrian stuttered out, "W-what ... the ... h-hell..."

Another assassin with pasty skin, jade-green orbs, and curly, mid-length, dirty blonde hair raised an eyebrow at the yellow/green-eyed trespasser.

"Who stuck a burr under your saddle all of the sudden?" He inquired, right before he followed Adrian's gaze and nearly dropped his weapon from the shocking sight of one of his comrades now dead. "Oh my God..."

One by one, the remaining assassins started turning their heads and noticing Charlie's corpse. In the blink of an eye, their amusement disappeared and was replaced by a mixture of shock, disbelief, and fear. A few gasps came from the group, resulting in an evil smile returning to my porcelain face.

An assassin that had dull gray orbs, skin that looked like it was made out of melted caramel, and mahogany hair that was pulled back in a small ponytail almost looked like he was about to empty his stomach.

"U-uh ... sir?" He stammered, evidently addressing the leader while keeping his stunned eyes locked on Charlie's swaying body.

The Leader grumbled, "Not now, Johnson. I'm checking to see if the coast is clear."

"B-but, Sir—" Adrian stuttered.

"Hmm..." Without showing any care or concern, the Chief continued to whisper to himself. "Perhaps the best strategy is to go ahead and shoot up the windows. That way, we can get in, split up, and find the puny twerp. It'll be impossible for any of those servants to take a stand against all of us."

"Sir!" Adrian, along with three other assassins, exclaimed at the same time. The remaining seven were too busy gawking at their comrade's hanging body to say or do anything.

"Oh, for cryin' out loud!" Now furious, the Leader tightened his grip on his weapon and his lips tore back, revealing his tightly clenched teeth. "I can't think with you idiots flapping your lips at me! What in the bloody hell is it?!"

The assassin with curly, mid-length, dirty blonde hair took a tiny step back, truly looking like he was moments away from passing out.

"I-it's ... it's..." He couldn't stop stuttering to save his life. "Char—"

"Did you swallow your tongue or somethin', Christopher?! Spit it out!" The Boss ordered, shortly before he finally decided to jerk his attention over in the direction that his fellow group members were staring in. "It's wh—"

He froze at the sight of Charlie's lifeless corpse. His glare immediately crumbled away from his face and his eyes expanded, almost appearing too large for his head.

"Charlie..." The Leader whispered, sounding almost completely out of breath. "Holy hell..."

With my lips still molded into a mischievous smile, I decided that it was officially time to carry out this particular duty of mine. So, I leaped down from the tree branch and the soles of my ankle boots struck the ground perfectly, resulting in a couple of startled yelps that escaped from the mouths of some of the assassins.

I stood directly in front of the hanging body and blinked slyly.

"Christ, it's her!" exclaimed Johnson, really looking like he was a mere moment away from ruining his trousers.

"W-what ... what the..." Adrian sputtered. "S-she ... she did that to Charlie?!"

My sinister grin automatically became a lot more unsettling, as I could feel the amount of fear that was radiating through the air increasing more and more by the minute.

I couldn't tell whether the Leader was more shocked or infuriated by my presence, especially after Adrian's outburst.

"Who in the hell are you?!" He inquired in a harsh, demanding tone.

With a chuckle, I closed my eyes, bowed my head in phony respect, and "innocently" placed the hand that was holding Finny's scissors over my heart. As this happened, I showed no concern whatsoever to the few guns and daggers that were being pointed in my direction.

"Oh, pardon me, sir. I apologize for the inconvenient loss of one of your men, but I'm afraid that he was talking a bunch of nonsense that I wasn't necessarily fond over and I felt that he needed to be taught a lesson in manners." As I said that last part, I opened my eyes back up and the mischief in my pupils continued to increase. "You see, I am the nanny of this lovely estate. It is one of my many duties to look out for the Earl and keep him safe from the no-good scum that pollutes this earth ... which includes perverted bitches like yourselves."

As soon as that last sentence left my mouth, all of the assassins—excluding Adrian—had glares twist across their faces. It was obvious that they were determined to kill me, but this wasn't the first time I dealt with a group of trespassers. In fact, I found it quite humorous when ungrateful humans got angry over the tiniest things.

"Aww. Such nasty, improper faces." I remarked, sounding just as taunting as I looked. "How disrespectful. Didn't your mothers teach you boys how to stare in the presence of a lady?"

As I said that last sentence, I traced the tip of Finny's scissors lightly across my forehead, simply using them to push a few stray strands of my hair out of my face.

"You ... you demented witch!" barked Christopher, now squeezing the handle of his polished dagger to the point where his hand was starting to tremble. "How dare you take the lives of one of my comrades! I'LL END YOU FOR THIS!"

At his final sentence, he charged at me with his jaw viciously clenched and eyes electrocuting with wrath. He threw the dagger above his head and prepared to take a swing at my neck, but instead of showing the tiniest amount of concern or fear, I released a small chuckle from one of the corners of my mouth and reacted quickly. Without having my feet moved from where they were planted on the ground, I separated the blades of Finny's scissors and ran them along the jagged blade of Christopher's dagger, pushing it away and preventing it from making contact with my skin. Then, I roughly grabbed the curly-haired assassin by his wrist and effortlessly disarmed him by twisting his arm around his own neck.

The dagger fell to the grass and a distressed scream fled out of Christopher's mouth as a disgusting POP echoed through the air, followed by a repeated crackling noise. It was obvious that I had dislocated his shoulder and the bones were breaking more with every passing second. All of this took place in no more than five seconds.

"Now, now. I am most certainly not a witch." I informed calmly, still wearing a mischievous grin. "As my brother would more than likely say in a moment like this ... I am simply one devil of a nanny."

I then threw the curly-haired trespasser down to the ground, taking the liberty to make sure that he would land on his damaged limb. He immediately rolled himself over onto his back, still groaning in pain as he clenched his teeth so tightly to the point where it was a miracle that they weren't breaking. Luckily, I knew exactly how to make him shut up.

"Please refrain yourselves from making so much noise." I said over the sound of Christopher's whimpers. "I don't want my Young Master to be disturbed before his proper awakening hour."

The curly-haired assassin tried scowling at me through his agony. Unfortunately, before he could open his mouth to more than likely curse me out, I slashed his throat with the pointy tip of Finny's scissors. The pasty skin immediately separated and blood started gushing out like a crimson waterfall. As a result of this, Christopher's eyes widened to the point where they looked like they were bugging out of their sockets and he made a choking sound as he pressed his unharmed hand against the deep cut, drenching it in blood.

Then, within seconds after that, I lifted my right foot up, hovered it directly over Christopher's head, and brought it down with full force directly between his eyes. An unsettling CRUNCH rang through the air, startling a couple of crows. They shot out from the trees and flew off together, cawing. At the same time, Christopher fell motionless—officially dead with his bulging eyes remaining open—and his blood continued to drip down to the ground, staining the grass. Like before, this took no more than five seconds.

"Holy shit!" Johnson cursed in an evident mixture of shock and terror. "S-she's crazy!"

The Leader stared at me with large, horrified eyes as nervous beads of sweat started to trickle down from his hairline. Nonetheless, he maintained a fierce tone as he bellowed at the top of his lungs, "Don't just stand there gawking like morons! Kill her! I want her to be nothing but worm food! You hear me, bastards?! KILL HER!"

With no hesitation, the remaining assassins lifted their guns and started to open fire. Hundreds of bullets soared in my direction, but I casually dodged each of them with absolutely no difficulties. They struck multiple trees, causing chips of bark to break off and fly in a variety of directions. They also hit Charlie and Christopher's lifeless bodies, covering them with holes and making them twitch like they were having seizures. More blood splashed across the ground and on the tree that Charlie was hanging from, but not once was I punctured by a bullet.

Amusement flickered in my sneaky orbs.

"It's almost cute how you pricks actually believe that I can be taken down with such poor aim!" I remarked, continuing to simply dodge the bullets as I withdrew the stick of dynamite and pack of matches from one of the pockets of my apron. "Though painful, a few scraps of metal will have no long-term affect on somebody like me!"

I struck a match against the side of my boot and ignited the stick of dynamite, still grinning mischievously.

"Here's a special gift from yours truly! I hope you boys like it!" I exclaimed as I swung the explosive with full force over to the group of trespassers.

It struck the ground and the unlit end actually plunged into the earth, providing a good view of the fuse getting shorter with every passing second.

Adrian was the first one to stop shooting. He stared wide-eyed at the explosive and yelled over the sound of whizzing bullets, "OH, DAMMIT!"

The Chief then hollered out with sweat pouring even faster down his face, "EVERYBODY, GET DOWN!"

The rest of the assassins didn't think twice before obeying. The shooting stopped as abruptly as it had started and the group of trespassers dove to the ground, some landing on their stomachs and others kneeling down so fast that it was surprising that their legs didn't snap. With just a split second left after that, a loud BANG erupted through the air. Small pellets of dirt, chunks of dynamite, and sections of grass flew in multiple directions, leaving behind a hallowed out hole in the ground and a thick cloud of smoke that I was going to use to my advantage.

Multiple coughs filled my eardrums as the assassins slowly began picking themselves back up, trying with all of their might to see clearly through the haze.

Johnson tried fanning some of the smoke away from him as he choked out through some coughs, "W-where did she go?!"

Just a mere moment after that question left his mouth, I plunged Finny's scissors directly into his abdomen from where I had appeared behind him. Johnson's eyes, which were squinted just a second before, automatically shot huge and a strained gasp lurched out from the back of his throat. He looked down and his entire body began to tremble at the sight of his black shirt growing darker from the blood that was leaking out of his stomach, giving it away that he was falling into a panic attack.

"Johnson!" A fellow assassin called out at the sound of his comrade's yelp, but it was still too hazy for him to fully open his eyes and get a better understanding as to where we were.

I rotated the scissors, burying the blades deeper into Johnson's bleeding flesh. Then, as tears began to weld up in the corners of his gray orbs and he let out another pained cry, I leaned in close so he could feel my breath on his ear and hear me over the sound of his fellow trespassers' coughing.

"Peek-a-boo~ ... I found you." I sang quietly with a sinister note in my voice and a devilish grin on my face.

After that, at the speed of lightning, I positioned one gloved hand on the top of Johnson's head, the other along his jawline, and I snapped his neck like a twig. The life that he possessed instantly vanished, leaving behind nothing but a gaping hole in his abdomen and a face that was still twisted in a mixture of plead, fear, and agony. His corpse flopped to the ground like a fish out of water, at which I tore Finny's scissors back out and peered into the reflection that was provided through the blades, completely unfazed by the scarlet drops that were falling onto my apron.

Even through the smoke, I easily spotted the trespasser with jet-black hair, toffee skin, and hazel orbs running up behind me like a venomous bull. He let out a furious battle cry, armed with a dagger that he already had held above his head. Nonetheless, before he could manage attempting to take a slice out of me, I forcefully shot my other fist up without even turning around and nailed him directly in the nose. Another sickening CRUNCH echoed through the woods, followed by the sound of the hazel-eyed assassin letting out a distressed scream. It was obvious that I had broken his nose.

As soon as I finished punching him, he dropped his weapon to the ground, staggered back a couple of steps, and flung both of his hands up to his face.

At the same time, I spun around on my heels and shot him an unimpressed gaze.

"I believe I told you and your fellow jackasses to refrain yourselves from making any noise! My Young Master needs as much rest as he can get!" I growled, just as I thrusted the scissors into the direct center of his chest. Then, instead of stopping there, I decided to roughly drag them all the way up to his chin, leaving behind a long, deep, bloody laceration that began at the point between his abs, continued vertically up the center of his throat, and ended at the streak of white bone that was visible from the skin that I had torn at the direct tip of his chin. Once again, this whole thing took place in no more than five seconds.

With his vocal cords damaged, the hazel-eyed assassin started heaving in a panic and collapsed to his knees from lack of oxygen, holding his throat in his hands as the life faded from his eyes more and more with every passing second. It didn't take long before he toppled over in the fetal position in the grass, dead with a couple of curious insects already beginning to crawl across his bloody neck.

As this happened, the smoke cleared up well enough to provide at least a decent view for the remaining nine trespassers.

The Leader swore, "Shit!"

"What the hell is wrong with her?!" demanded an assassin that had pale brown eyes, an olive complexion, and shaggy hair that was the color of a fresh carrot. "Did the Phantomhive runt fish her out of some loony bin or somethin'?!"

The Chief didn't think twice before snapping out, "Lift your weapons and open fire again! We need her DEAD!"

Once again, the remaining assassins didn't hesitate to do as they were told. They raised their guns with their fingers already curled around the triggers and started shooting like before. This time, with a new mischievous grin covering my face, I decided to dodge the sea of bullets by preforming a series of backflips, somersaults, and other types of acrobatics.

The orange-haired assassin bellowed in disbelief, "Damn, she's fast!"

"How is she doing this?!" proclaimed a redheaded trespasser with milky skin, lime-colored orbs, and a hideous scar that was slashed across his bottom lip. "It's impossible!"

As soon as that last word left his mouth, I quietly released a bitter chuckle and snatched up the dagger that the hazel-eyed assassin had dropped. Then, with a storm of bullets still whizzing in my direction and constantly missing me, I spun around in a perfect circle and threw the weapon after aiming from the corner of my eye for a split second. At the speed of lightning, the dagger flew in a straight line towards the redheaded assassin and punctured him directly in the heart, eliciting the sound of the organ practically exploding. The amount of force caused the redhead to drop his weapon and fall flat on his back. His lime eyes remained wide open, but they became glossed over with death within seconds.

"Hasn't it occurred to any of you boys yet?" I inquired, wearing a mocking grin as I skillfully ducked just in time before one of the remaining assassins could slam me upside the head with his weapon. "It's useless to battle against me! No matter what weapons or so-called skills some pathetic neanderthals like yourselves possess—" I spun around at the speed of lightning, karate-kicking the same assassin in the ass and sending him to the ground. As this happened, his finger slipped on the trigger of his gun and he ended up shooting himself in the face, ending his life. "—I will not allow myself to be shaken or defeated!"

"Holy mother of God, she is insane!" barked the Boss.

"Insane?" I scoffed like it was a foreign word, raising a brow with a sinister smirk still perfectly straight on my face. "Perhaps you should crack open a dictionary more often. There's a huge difference between being insane and being loyal."

Immediately after my final word, an assassin with silver hair, honey-colored eyes, and lily-white skin pointed his gun at me and pulled the trigger with a venomous scowl twisted across his face. Within seconds after the air was pierced with another loud BANG, I shot my hand up and caught the bullet painlessly between my fingers. A stunned moment of silence came over the group of trespassers, at which the one who had attempted to shoot me became terrified and started to sweat like he'd been wandering in the desert for months.

"Lose something, bastard?" I asked, using a sarcastic tone to go with my new angered look. "Here. Allow me to give it back to you."

I allowed a couple of seconds of pure silence to go by in order to increase the fear within each of the assassins. Then ... with a quick, simple, small flick of my fingers ... the bullet flew at an unnatural speed and punctured the silver-haired trespasser directly in the forehead. His honey eyes became wild and his jaw dropped like it had transformed into cement, just as a disturbing CRACK from the piece of metal breaking through his skull echoed through the trees. The bullet drilled through his entire head and exploded out the back with a gush of blood, almost making the whole scene feel like it was happening in slow motion.

"W-what the—!" Adrian proclaimed, finishing that terrified statement with an improper F-bomb as he watched the silver-haired assassin fall face-first to the ground, dead.

"STOP HER ALREADY!" The Leader spat with his entire face now coated in a nervous sweat.

Adrian took a couple of small steps back, his legs quivering like two pieces of licorice. Then, with the leader watching and clenching his teeth harder than ever before, the last four trespassers let out enraged screams and came charging at me at the same time. All together, they tried striking me with punches and kicks, but I continued to dodge every single attempt. While doing so, I preformed a variety of more advanced karate moves, along with some sidesteps and extra somersaults, and I allowed every strike to miss me just by a couple of inches only so I could piss these assholes off even more.

"Alright, that's enough playtime for now." I told myself in my mind, deciding to finish these trespassers off with the most unfortunate deaths.

First, I grabbed two assassins by the backs of their necks and slammed their heads together, resulting in their frontal lobes practically exploding from the amount of force that I used. Their skulls shattered. Even more blood splattered against my once-clean apron and splat across my right cheek, but I simply dropped the dead bodies down to the ground without showing any care.

After that, I spun around at an impressive speed, hooking my leg around the back of the next assassin's knee, and pulled his foot out from underneath him. With a panicked yell, he fought eagerly to regain his balance; but he failed and ended up landing roughly on his stomach. I timed the next event just right, waiting to see the man arch his back in an attempt to get back up. When he did, I raised my boot up as high as it could go and brought it down on the center of his back with an unnatural amount of strength, breaking his spinal cord in half. He immediately became limp and lifeless.

The exact moment after this happened, the fourth trespasser grabbed me by my shoulder, forced me to turn around, and threw a punch at my face. However, instead of striking me, I shot my hand up and grabbed his fist when it was just a couple of inches away from my nose. As this happened, an unsatisfied scowl crossed over my face.

"You dare try to strike a lady?" I asked, displeased. "How impolite."

In one swift motion, I twisted the man's wrist so hard to the point where his entire arm snapped in the opposite direction. He wailed loudly, causing me to sharply shush him and ram him directly between the legs with my knee to shut him up. As a result, the fourth assassin practically toppled forward into my arms and his entire face almost became purple from the amount of pain that he was in.

I leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "I hope that you don't mind the taste of bark."

Suddenly, as the fourth assassin stared at me like he was about to fill his pants with waste, I overheard the sound of someone else starting to make a rampage towards me.

"YOU LITTLE BITCH!" yelled the Chief.

I held the fourth assassin by the neckline of his shirt with a fierce grip, nearly strangling him as I swung my other arm down to snatch up a stray branch that had been lying beside my foot. Then, at the speed of lightning, I slammed the Leader across his face with the rough bark and sent his body jerking back in the other direction.

"AH!"

"SIR! NO!" Adrian screeched, just as the Leader dizzily collapsed to the ground, holding the area of his forehead that I had struck. Blood was already starting to lightly trickle through his fingers.

The assassin that I was still holding opened his mouth in desperation, also trying to call out to the Boss at the same time. However, all that he was able to let out was one strained gasp after another.

I dropped the stray branch—now dotted with blood—back down to the ground, breathing ferociously with a wild smile covering my face. Shortly after that, I placed my other hand firmly against the fourth assassin's forehead and forced him with my unworldly strength into a sharp branch that was hanging lowly from one of the nearby trees.

The sound of flesh tearing filled my eardrums as the branch impaled the fourth assassin through his wide-open mouth. In less than a second, his body became deader than a doorknob and he dangled in front of me like a mutated Christmas decoration with his terrified eyes staring up towards the sky.

I placed my hands on my hips and drew in one deep breath after another, managing to slow my heartbeat back down to its natural pace. The adrenaline that had been flowing through my veins started fading away as I reminded myself that there were still flowers to collect for my Young Master's centerpieces. I couldn't allow myself to get too caught up in these assassins. Otherwise, I would fall behind on my schedule and that most certainly wasn't acceptable.

Adrian whimpered, stuttered, and breathed all in one, being the final assassin that was left—excluding the chief.

I looked like I had just finished any other ordinary chore, once again wearing a perfectly composed expression as I turned to face Adrian.

"P-please! Please, no!" The horrified, full-grown man shook his head at me with his entire body trembling like a leaf. "D-don't kill me! Please! I-I swear, I'll leave a-and I won't tell another soul about this!"

I offered him a charming, yet very misleading, smile and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Tell me ... Adrian, is it?" I began to slowly take one casual step at a time towards the final trespasser, speaking to him in a haunting tone. "Do you actually think that anyone would believe that you witnessed your fellow comrades get their selfish, perverted lives taken from them by the nanny of Her Majesty's Guard Dog?"

Adrian's teeth chattered and his glimmered with tears as he anxiously stepped back.

"Besides, even if you did try to tell anyone about what you've seen, you would only end up needing to turn yourself in. For wandering on My Lord's property, uninvited, and not to mention trying to break in and kill him ... I have no doubt in my mind that the Queen would sentence you to death herself." I went on, allowing my innocent grin to alter into an amused smirk. "So, Adrian ... why must you try avoiding the inevitable? My Young Master made it perfectly clear to me and my brother that we're not meant to condone trespassers at all ... and I simply cannot allow myself to turn my back on his orders, just because you're finally showing the world what you really are—a scared, pathetic, spineless bitch!"

The last assassin quickly grabbed his gun and pointed it shakily at me. However, before he could shoot ... he ended up sinking his foot into the hole that the stick of dynamite had formed in the ground when it blew up.

With an abrupt yell, Adrian tripped backwards and his back slammed roughly against the ground, causing two sounds to erupt through the air.

BANG! — His quivering finger pulled the trigger and the bullet went soaring through the trees, completely missing me and only managing to scare a couple of nearby birds.

CRACK! — Adrian's ankle snapped, causing part of the bone to break clear through his skin and be completely visible.

It only took a millisecond before Adrian started shrieking in agony. It was definitely the loudest scream that I had heard from any of these assassins yet, even managing to catch me a little off guard. For the briefest moment, I froze and stared in disbelief; but then, it occurred to me quickly that the other servants could be alerted by all of the noise. I couldn't allow them to discover just a gruesome scene, nor could I permit the Young Master from getting woken up.

I pounced at an unbelievable speed, literally throwing my body on top of Adrian's with one of my hands pressed securely over his mouth. He immediately had no choice but to shut up.

My face was blank and my eyes were cold as I stared directly into the traumatized, yellow/green orbs that were looking back at me.

"There's no need to wail like a banshee over such a petty injury." I growled, keeping my hand where it was over Adrian's mouth as I repositioned myself so I was straddling his chest with my knees digging harshly into the bones of his arms, pinning them down.

The final assassin had ultimately reached his breaking point. His whole body was practically convulsing and there were tears spilling down the sides of his head. From beneath my hand, I could just barely make out him shakily saying things like "Please" and "Don't do this."

My empty expression didn't change, despite how I was beginning to remember moments from the past just by observing this trespasser's behavior.

"I pleaded like that once too, you know? ... It's nothing but a waste of breath―like a hammer that's being pounded away atop a piece of silk cloth. Begging ... is pointless." I declared ominously, just as I raised Finny's scissors and traced the bloody tip along the bottom of one of Adrian's watery eyes. "Tch ... what a shame this is. Such a unique pair of eyes ... wasted on a useless mortal that was out to harm my Bocchan."

A delicate breeze whistled, causing a few stray strands of my hair to move along with its pattern. As this happened, I separated the scissor's blades and, with Adrian's increased whimpering and muffled sobs falling on deaf ears, positioned them over his eyes. At last, with no hesitation, I shot them down and pierced the final assassin smack-dab in the middle of his sockets.

POP! SQUISH!

A gush of blood burst out of both emptied sockets like little sprinklers, just as Adrian's body became motionless and the squeaky noises that he had been making stopped. Much to my satisfaction, even though my face still remained plain, he was dead.

I easily pulled the gardener's scissors back out from the final assassin's head and stood up once more, taking the liberty to wipe off a few specks of dirt from the bottom of my bloodied apron while I was at it.

Then, there was a weak groan, coming from none other than the Boss. He was still on his knees, using some rocks as support as he finally began to help himself up from the ground.

"And then there was one." I stated, slipping Finny's scissors into the pocket of my apron while turning in the direction of the Chief. "Let's make this fast, shall we? There's a guest that's scheduled to arrive later in the afternoon and there's still a lot to do to prepare for his arrival. Those centerpieces aren't going to get arranged themselves, after all."

Despite how perky I sounded, the smirk that had formed on my lips was a very scary one.

Gritting his teeth in fear, the Leader made an attempt to run. Unfortunately, I ended up grabbing him by his neck and pinning him against a tree before he could even manage taking his fourth step. He now had no choice but to stand on his tiptoes in order to prevent himself from dangling in my hand like a helpless rag doll.

"Oh, are my eyes deceiving me? Or are you actually trying to run away?" I asked as I cocked an eyebrow in a mocking fashion. "Whatever happened to that fierce attitude that you had when you were addressing me as a little bitch? ... Is it possible that you're finally starting to show how much of a coward you truly are?"

The Boss glared and grabbed at my wrist with both of his hands, regardless of the horror that was still visible in his eyes. He tried freeing himself, but it was no use with my steel strength. It took him about fifteen seconds before he finally came to terms with that, but he still held onto my wrist.

"Who ... what the shit are you?!" inquired the Leader with blood dripping down from the wound on his forehead. "You―you can't be just a nanny!"

My smirk grew to be a little wider, but as tempting as it was terrify this man even further, I knew that I couldn't risk wasting anymore valuable time.

"Let's just say, relating to what you said earlier ... I know for a fact that there's nothing holy about hell." I remarked, right before I bit down on the edge of my glove and quick yanked it off to reveal my unmarked hand. "Now, good riddance!"

With my glove remaining between my teeth, I curled my hand into a tight fist and plowed it at the speed of lightning into the Chief's abdomen ... causing it to completely go through his body! His jaw dropped and a sharp, strained gasp escaped from his mouth. At the same time, his eyes widened to the point where they looked too large for his head ... but then, he started making plenty of agonizing sounds as I proceeded to rummage my hand around inside of him.

"Hmm ... where, oh where ... ah-ha! There it is!" I proclaimed, hooking my fingers around the item that I had been searching for. "Ah, your fate was sealed on a good day, indeed! I was hoping to gather more of this ingredient for my meals very soon!"

The Boss was still in major disbelief, evidently feeling my hand grip something from deep inside of him.

With a single jerk, followed by a gruesome RIP, I had succeeded in tearing out the man's spinal cord. An incredibly sweet smile was decorating my face once again, and as the Leader's body fell still, I casually withdrew my opposite hand from his throat. He dropped down to the ground and rested against the three, eyes now rolled back in his head and intestines hanging out from his bloodied abdomen. Dead.

My eyes sparkled with satisfaction as I glanced around at all thirteen of the bodies.

"Well, that wasn't hard at all. When will these trespassers start giving me a challenge?" I wondered aloud, using my apron to clean the blood away from my hand.

When that was finished, I started humming and got down pleasantly on my knees, paying no mind to the feeling of one of my shoes brushing against a nearby body in the process. After all of the blood was gone from my unmarked hand, I slid my glove back on, removed Finny's scissors from my pocket, and took off the apron. Then, lastly, I wrapped the spinal cord up in it ... but not before breaking off one of the bloodied segments and placing it in my mouth.

It cracked and crunched beneath my teeth as I chewed, becoming nothing but a grainy powder that coated my tongue. It was similar to if butter melted in a human's mouth, but simply not as smooth ... or as pleasant to the tastebuds.

"Ah, delicious!" I chimed in delight, right before I tucked the wrapped-up delicacy beneath my arm and plucked Finny's scissors back up from the ground. "Now, I believe that my job here is done. It's time for me to collect some flowers for those centerpieces. For this specific occasion, a combination of marigolds and tulips would be just perfect!"

---

Sebastian was waiting for me by the manor's back entrance, holding a saucer that had a cup of coffee on it.

I approached him with an accomplished look on my face and my basket at my side. It was now holding plenty of fully flourished, brightly colored flowers ... and not to mention the wrapped-up spinal cord that stuck out like a sore thumb. It attracted the butler's attention almost immediately and caused him to let out a sigh of exasperation.

I furrowed my brow at him, almost in disbelief since I had literally just walked over to him. Then, I glanced down at the wrapped-up spine, seeing no problem with it. After all, this most definitely wasn't the first time in which I had snatched a mortal's spinal cord and had it with me in Sebastian's presence. He's even seen me devour them plenty of times in the past.

"Is there a problem?" I asked as I redirected my attention back to my brother's face. "You're acting like you've never seen me smuggling in a human spine before. Don't you recall how you told me once many centuries ago that if I wanted to have the taste of bones incorporated into my meals, I would have to stock up on them myself?"

"Indeed, I do recall that ... but I don't care about the fact that you've just stolen a trespasser's spinal cord." Sebastian remarked, staring almost pitifully at the wrapped-up delicacy. "I told you not to make too much of a mess, did I not? Look at the blood stains on that apron. They'll take plenty of time to get out."

I adjusted the tulip that Finny had given me a little behind my ear, sounding smug as I said, "Making a mess is part of the fun. It's one of the only things that truly brings me amusement and joy during hectic mornings like this one."

"A piece of me wishes that I could say the same, but we're already overbooked on duties as it is when it comes to visitors coming to the manor. This just means that we'll have yet another mess to clean up. However, that will just have to wait until Mr. Damiano departs from his visit." Sebastian concluded, just as he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a handkerchief. "You got some blood on your face. Wipe it off before you head back inside. We can't risk having Mey-Rin, Finny, Bard, and Tanaka seeing you like that."

I obliged, taking the handkerchief from the butler's hand and rubbing it smoothly against my face. It turns out, I had gotten so caught up in taking care of the assassins and feeling my adrenaline race like a wild horse to the point where I had nearly forgotten that my face had been splattered in blood.

"Better?" I asked after about ten seconds.

"Very much, indeed." Sebastian replied. "Now, here's your coffee."

He held the saucer out to me and I took it, repaying him by giving his handkerchief back afterwards.

After that, I picked the teacup up, swooshed it a little under my nose, and took in a whiff of the coffee's scent. As this happened, the butler took out his pocket watch to check the time and I finally raised the cup up to my lips.

A sip of the black coffee filled my mouth and my throat was filled with a pleasant warmth as I swallowed.

"It tastes quite nice." I said, detecting something different with this round compared to all of the other cups that I've had in the past. "Am I tasting ... a hint of blueberries?"

The butler stored his pocket watch away again as he answered with, "Yes. Over time, I noticed how much you seemed to like the taste of specific fruits, particularly blueberries. So, I decided to incorporate some blueberry juice into your coffee."

I nodded in an understanding manner, grinning faintly.

"Anyway," Sebastian went on, "we don't have much longer before the time will arrive for us to wake up our Young Lord. With that being said, I highly suggest you store that ... delicacy of yours away and eat your breakfast quickly. Don't let anyone see that apron either."

Again, I nodded, having nothing from that statement to disagree with. "Very well. Let's prepare for another hell of a day in the Phantomhive estate, shall we?"

With my brother following shortly behind, I walked back into the mansion.

---

A/N: There we go, ladies and gentlemen! This has been the prologue to my first ever "Black Butler" fanfic! ... And yes, I'm very aware that it was probably one of thee longest prologues in history. XD

The only reason why I allowed this prologue to be so long was because it was simply supposed to give you all a good view of Elise's character. Although, there's still plenty to learn about when it comes to her. ;) With that being said, I most definitely hope that I've captivated a majority of your interests and will have you returning to read more of this story! :D

Note: This prologue was over 20,000 words. From here on out, it'll be my goal to never go over that again. Since the "Black Butler" episodes have intermissions, my chapters will as well. That will make them easier for you all to read and easier for me to write. :)

However, let's also keep in mind that writing genuinely takes time and I have other responsibilities to juggle. With that being said, chapters will take time to plan out and fully put together. Updates will be as frequent as I can possibly make them, but please don't demand any updates and please don't try rushing me. Otherwise, I'll become stressed and will need to take time away from the computer.

I usually take 1-2 weeks off between every chapter before writing again as well, considering this will provide me with time to relax myself, plan the next chapter, and give my brain a chance to recharge. I hope you all understand. :)

I'm most certainly looking forward to writing more of Elise and carrying on with the actual "Black Butler" plot, which will begin in the next chapter. :D :D I hope you are all as thrilled as I am!

Remember, I love feedback and I appreciate it very much! Feel free to share your opinions in the reviews or you can PM them to me at anytime! I look forward to seeing everyone's reactions all the time! :) :)

Anyway, I believe that I've stated everything that I wanted to.

You've been one hell of an audience. ;)

Until the next update, everyone!

Crystalteen, out!

:D :D :) :)