Prologue
Gunpowder, check. Scope, check. Target, check. Aim, steady, steady and fire! C'mon, I said fire! Do it, do it, do it... shit. Her index finger remained on the trigger, trembling with hesitation. The victim was perfectly in position for a clean headshot, all it took was a simple pull from the trigger and he would be a goner. Cold beads of sweat began to form on her forehead and her body began to shiver. Through the scope she could see that the victim's position remained stationary but next to him was a child around the age of eight holding his hands. The child looked so innocent and pure, not yet touched by the corruption of the cruel world. Hot food and cold solid cash was waiting for her, all it took was one bullet. Why did some child's life matter to her anyway? She took a deep breath and readjusted her rifle, aiming it towards the victim once again. It's now or never, pull the trigger and it would be all done. Aim, steady, steady, fire! Dammit! Why? She threw her rifle carelessly on the concrete surface of the balcony. She had failed her boss and most importantly her self. She peered down the balcony, the victim and the child casually walked away not knowing that it could have been the last. She picked up her rifle and placed it on her lap, what would she tell her boss? What kind of crappy excuse would she make this time to get away from failing this mission? She leaned against the cold iron bars of the balcony and buried her face on her knees and wept.
Something was not right. It didn't feel right, she could smell a slight hint of lavender and could feel the presence of another. She lifted her face of her knees. In front of her was a tall man of slim stature in a neatly ironed suit. Without a hesitation her assassin instincts activated, she grabbed her rifle and pointed it directly towards the man. What normal people would do is to put their hands up frantically in fear of getting shot, but this man decided that the normal course of action was not necessary. Not even a single muscle on in face twitched, he calmly placed his palms against the opening of the rifle and smiled, "I apologise for startling you. I come to you hear by my young master to recruit some new helping hands for his manor. I'am fully aware of the sudden notice, but do you accept the offer?"
Confusion was the first thing that came to mind. This was strange, hundreds of thoughts were running through her head. The man's smile turned into a slight smirk "we will provide you all the food, clothing and shelter." Her eyes widened, his expression and tone, he seemed to have said that almost as if he knew what was going on in her life. She grasped tightly onto the handle of her rifle and jerked it away from his hands and placed in directly on his forehead, "who are you? Tell me or you get shot." A small grin crept up on to the corner of his lips, he remained calmer than ever. "Please, I mean you no harm Miss-" She took one step forward, "Do you want to lose your head? Tell me this instant who you are and where you come from." The man sighed, "very well. I can't tell you all the major details but I can tell you what you want. I'am the current butler of the Phantomhive household, I serve Lord Phantomhive, the queen's Watchdog. A couple of month ago my young master lost his parents to a fire which also killed off the previous servants in the household. My mission is to recruit suitable additions for my young master. Through my observations, your sniping skills would come into good use. Now, please I'am running on a tight schedule here. Do you accept this offer?" She lowered her gun, "I... well... well you see I'am currently serving my own master, I really don't think I can just quit without notice." The man took a step forward, bringing the distance closer. He whispered "don't worry about that. It would all be taken care of."
1 Suspicion
It was another typical day at the manor. Finny tending the garden, cracking couple of ceramic pots, Bard cooking what he calls 'breakfast' for the young earl and Mey-rin dusting the furniture occasionally tripping over. The glasses that Ciel gave to Meyrin actually was never the right prescription, she could still do most things without a problem but sometimes reading labels on things, especially the cleaning products can get quite tricky. One time she accidentally mistaken the shoe polish for the cleaning polish used for the handle of the staircase, so she ended up smearing shoes polish all over it. Another time when Bard asked her to pass the sugar she ended up passing the salt instead and well the young master ended up throwing the cake away. This is why without Sebastian the household would not be able to function normally.
As the maid of the Phantomhive household it was her duty the clean every inch of the manor. Meyrin pushed opened the large wooden doors of the ballroom, revealing a enormous space for her to clean. She held the mop in one hand and a bucket of soapy water in another and stomped into the ballroom. Last night, the young master held a ball inviting all the earls and nobles, although she was only serving food and attending to the guests needs it was indeed a beautiful atmosphere. But that beautiful atmosphere only left the ballroom full of mess and it was her job to clean it all up. She placed the tin bucket on to the polished marble ground, soaked the mope with soapy water and began to mop the floor back and forth in a repeating motion. From a distance a light footstep echoed from the hallway. Everyone in the household had different footsteps, Finny's footsteps were full of energy and excitement, Bard's footsteps where strong and heavy, the young master's footsteps where slow and small and this footstep belonged to the suave butler Sebastian, light and elegant. Meyrin prepared herself as the footsteps came closer to the ballroom, ready, ready, now! She dropped the mop and kicked the bucket over spilling the soapy water all over the ground, she dropped to the ground with her stomach against the marble floor, she quickly tilted her glasses just in time as Sebastian came in. The butler froze in front of the doorway and let out a frustrated sigh. "Meyrin, what are you doing? Is it so hard to mop the floor?" Meyrin adjusted her glasses and slowly stood up straightening the folds on her dress. "S..Sebastian! I would get this cleaned up right away, let me just pick my mop up." Sebastian folded his arms and sighed once again "Do you require any assistance, Meyrin?" Meyrin dropped her mop once again "n..no! It's fine! Don't worry about it." The butler turned around to leave "Meyrin please do your required tasks properly, I'm leaving this to you then." Once again the light and elegant footsteps echoed off into the hallway.
Meyrin picked up her mop and bucket and started cleaning again. Sebastian was indeed a handsome man. He was tall, suave and his smooth jet black hair never seemed to have a bad hair day. Sometimes she would get lost in his chestnut brown eyes, she also liked the fact that it was the same shade as her eyes too. But, looks was merely a distraction to the eye. Sebastian had everything any young woman would desire but he was mysterious. Too mysterious, up to the fact that it was getting suspicious. Meyrin could tell he was smooth and cunning, hiding his mysterious side was not a problem for him and so far she seemed to be the only one that could see through his sly nature. Deceiving Sebastian is not at all an easy thing to do, from the very first day she met him she knew he was not to be trusted. She could remember it clearly, the way he approached her on the balcony that night, Calm and clever. The young master seemed to trust him with all his life although she could sense that the master himself had a deep dark secret too. Ever since the first day she became a maid at the manor, she acted like a undercover spy disguising herself as a clumsy, innocent maid. Her purpose was to find out more about the butler and the only way to do that was act like a complete moron and pretend to stumble or fall over (although her glasses had some play to it) mostly whenever Sebastian was around. The thought of finding out this mysterious dark butler excited her but at the same time she was dead serious about it. Of course she had no intention of hurting anyone, or leaving the manor, she had no place to go anyway. She appreciated the young master and would gladly serve and protect him from danger, but still everything was just to suspicious and she would get to the bottom of this.