I. Down the Rabbit-Hole

"... and she had never forgotten that, if you drink from a bottle marked 'poison,'

it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later."

It was the dead of night but all of London was wide awake. Most gathered on street corners and whispered to each other, standing on their toes to see over the dozens of heads. They were looking and pointing at a manhole, flagrantly thrown open and stinking. Some were bold enough to steal closer to the scene of the crime, though the lawmen on duty made sure they kept their distances. Only two that emerged from the crowd were allowed near. A dark pair, a man and a boy, looking terribly comfortable with the fact that they strolled a crime scene at midnight. Ciel and Sebastian approached as they usually did, casually, with their eyes looking ahead. Lord Randall awaited them, too absorbed in the matter to have time for his disdain of the Watchdog and his Butler.

"What happened here?" asked the Earl.

"Kidnapping," Randall answered. "About time, too. The city was due for one. Morbid though it may sound, it's true."

"So this isn't part of some larger trend?" Ciel said.

Randall shook his head. "There may be more down the line, but as of now this is the only one." He reached into the breast pocket of his coat and removed a small photograph of a young girl with rippling blonde hair and big blue eyes. "Elise-Louise Carrollton," said Randall. "Ten years old this Friday past. She was seen walking with an older man of broad stature before she was poisoned by him and stolen down that manhole." He pointed to the passage.

"Who's witness to this?" asked Ciel.

"She." Randall gestured to a bony woman with mousy brown hair and an askew nightcap. She looked all about with frantic eyes and mumbled to herself. "I don't suggest speaking to her, though," he continued. "She's a little..."

"I can tell," said Ciel. "Was there anything found at the scene?" he went on.

"There was," Randall sighed. "A few too many things, if you ask me." He handed the items to the Earl.

"Too many things?" Sebastian repeated. "You don't suggest they were planted?"

"Too soon to speculate, but it is highly unusual for so many things to be left behind."

Ciel sorted through the clues: a scrap of white fur adhered to a leather lining, a pocket watch, and a cracked glass bottle with its label half torn off. He could see only the last three letters: K M E. There was the embossing of a company name on the bottle's front.

"Is this from a local doctor?" he asked.

"It is," Randall said. "He hasn't been contacted yet, but we'll be knocking on his door tomorrow morning."

"What could it be, do you think?"

"Laudanum, most definitely. Had the unfortunate pleasure of getting a lick," Randall squirmed slightly at the memory, "and there's no mistake. That purveyor is even known for carrying the purest tincture."

"If there's ever been a piece of good advice given to me," Ciel said, "it is to never drink from a bottle labelled poison." He exchanged the items in his hands and flipped open the pocket watch's cover. It was stuck at six o'clock. "Hmm, tea time," he said to himself.

"What was that?" Randall asked.

"Nothing." He snapped the cover closed. "So all of these things were found simply lying around the manhole?"

"You see now why I believe they may have been left purposely," said Randall. "They're just the type of things we would be looking for."

"It is very strange." Ciel handed the clues to Sebastian. "What do you think?" He meant, of course, for the Butler to note any scents he picked up on, but smelling something in front of Randall might've come off as a bit... odd. Sebastian brought the items close to his face, acting as though he were only eyeing them closely. After a moment he handed them back to Ciel and gave the boy a discreet nod. He got what he needed. Ciel returned the nod and looked back to Randall.

"Are there parents to alert?"

"There are, and they have been."

Ciel and Sebastian turned to where Randall was looking. A man and a woman, pale and dark at the same time like moths in the night, held each other tightly and wept.

"Have you spoken to them yet?" Ciel asked.

"I have," Randall said, "but I wasn't able to learn much from them. They're too distraught. I'm going to leave them be tonight, see if they're not more collected in the morning."

"Do you mind if we..." Ciel pointed to himself and the Butler.

There was a flash of frustration from Lord Randall. He wasn't so sure that those two were the best to speak to parents living their worst nightmare, but there weren't any options available to him. They were going to have to try their luck sooner or later.

He sighed. "... Fine."

Ciel tipped his hat and set off with his Butler to the parents.

They still sobbed openly, both wrapped in blankets and clutching cups of untouched tea. The Earl and Butler approached as respectfully as they could.

"Excuse me," Ciel said. "I'm Earl Phantomhive. This is my butler, Sebastian. I know that you both are very scared, but I have to speak with you about your daughter."

For a moment, the husband and wife simply stared at him- or, not really at him but rather through him- as though he were a mist they were trying to navigate. Then the wife's eyes brightened with cognisance and her tears dropped softly.

"My daughter," she whispered. "She has the same blue eyes, the same fair hair. Oh Elise, my Elise..."

"Ma'am, I realise this is hard for you, but-"

The woman exploded into tears.

Ciel's patience, already thin, was getting thinner. "I really must-"

"Young Master." Sebastian took Ciel's arm and pulled him aside. "I don't think she'll be able to talk with you. You remind her too much of her daughter."

"Then how-"

"Allow me, my Lord," smiled the Butler.

He turned around to the parents but Ciel pulled him back.

"And what am I supposed to do?" he demanded.

Sebastian looked past Ciel at Lord Randall. Ciel clicked his tongue and sulked off. The Butler rolled his eyes (would it kill the boy to not be difficult for once?) and neared the parents again.

"Pardon me," he interrupted their crying.

Mrs Carrollton's head snapped up and she became very nervous. "Where did that little boy go?!"

"He's talking to someone else," the Butler said while raising his hand. "He is perfectly fine."

The woman calmed a bit. "Good," she said. "Children should be kept safe. I tried. I tried so hard-" She crumbled again and here her husband brought her close in the tightest embrace. Such shameless displays of human suffering.

Sebastian second-guessed his decision.

-}%{-

It gave Randall a little joy to see Phantomhive walking alone and looking disappointed.

"No luck?" he asked, trying to mask his satisfaction.

"She wouldn't speak to me," said Ciel. "Apparently I remind her of Elise."

"Not surprising," Randall said. "She isn't too much younger."

"Is that all that's known about her?" Ciel asked shortly. He was a touch impatient after having been denied by the parents. "Her age?"

"No," said Randall. "We know that she attends Nightingale Academy, a prestigious girl's school in the Sutton district, is well-liked among her peers and is excellent at both the viol and the piccolo."

"... That's it?"

"Well, we also know that this is not the first time she has gone missing."

Ciel was dumbstruck. "What?"

-}%{-

"She is a very curious child," Mr Carrollton explained, as he was slightly more together than his wife. "Oftentimes, she's found wandering our mansion's grounds in the wee hours of the morning or even as late as this. She also manages to get past the hounds and gates to explore the fields and forests. There were days when we wouldn't find her for hours."

"And where would she turn up?" asked Sebastian.

"Right back where she started, normally. I would even find her asleep in her bed like she had never left."

"She's a bit far from home this time, yes?"

Mr Carrollton nodded gravely. "Yes. She is."

"So it's safe to say that she did not wander off on her own."

-}%{-

"No," said Randall. "The witness says that the girl was taken by a man. That would seem true, as well. It would be physically impossible for a child to lift a manhole cover. It's a wonder that a grown man on his own even could."

"Have the sewers been checked?" asked the Earl.

"My men are doing so now. Not a very pleasant task, I'd wager."

Ciel scrunched his nose and looked to the manhole. "How could it be?" He could smell the foul odour from where he stood, some twenty feet off. Looking back to Randall he said, "Do the parents have any idea who could be responsible?"

-}%{-

The mother and father stared wide-eyed at Sebastian.

"What?" the father said at last.

"In the majority of cases children are kidnapped by someone they know," the Butler explained. "Most often it's a member of their family."

Mrs Carrollton cried harder than ever and her husband turned a plummy colour.

"What type of riff-raff do you suggest we come from?" he demanded of Sebastian.

"It's an unfortunate truth that every family tree has a few bad apples," the Butler said plainly.

"Well, I can assure you that it was no one in either of our families!"

"Who was it then?"

Mr Carrollton's purple complexion deepened. "Isn't that what you lot should be finding out?"

"I could if you would cooperate," Sebastian said with practised patience. "You want to find her, of course."

"What kind of question is that?!"

"Not a question at all. It was a statement. Now then." The Butler cleared his throat. "Who in your family- or outside of it," he added shortly, "spent much time with your daughter?"

-}%{-

"Sebastian is good with uncomfortable questions like that," said Ciel.

"I would imagine," Randall muttered. "That butler of yours is strangely detached."

"He's a talented man." Ciel looked to the crazy woman in the nightcap. "What is the witness' name?"

Randall sighed. "Well. When I first spoke to her, she called herself Sophie. When talking to Abberline, she was Penny. One of my men told me she had given them the name Ramona. For all I know, she could be John now."

Ciel paused briefly before making his decision. He walked in the witness' direction.

"I wouldn't question her on your own, Phantomhive," Randall advised. "She is quite unstable."

Ciel turned back with a playful smile. "Are you looking out for me? Would you like to be my chaperone?"

Lord Randall reddened and mumbled before moving away. Ciel chuckled and continued towards the single witness.

The Nightcap Lady still muttered uncontrollably and looked about with crazed eyeballs. She was far more frightening up close but Ciel didn't want to back away from a challenge with the whole of the Yard watching. He pulled his chin up and stood proudly in front of her. At first she didn't notice him, but when she did her words poured forth like out of a floodgate.

"I saws it all, I did! She wi' 'er li-le 'ands and he wit 'is co-on hair and mad eyes. An' he grabs her, he does, after she gets limp and stupid from the stuff in the bo-le. She drank it all on 'er own, milord, like lemonade on a summer's day. And she falls to the ground, oh, I can still 'ear the thud in me ears even now, and he lifts 'er and pulls her underneath like a monster, that he did. I saws it all, milord, saws it wit me own eyes. Dinah's mind's not too bright, but 'er eyes is as big as the moon."

Ciel was stricken a second time. She had answered every question he had for her without him even asking.

"... Your name is Dinah, you said?" he asked after a moment.

"I like the name Dinah, sir."

"You saw the man take Elise into the sewers after poisoning her?"

"Aye."

"And you don't believe he forced it on her?"

"She drank it at the smallest suggestion, milord."

Ciel didn't want to jump ahead for there could have been coaxing ahead of time, but he filed the idea away in his brain.

"The two of them were alone?"

"That they were. No one else around but Dinah."

Ciel cocked his head. "What were you doing out so late?"

"Not out, sir. This is me home."

He looked at the street where she gestured and gathered that she was homeless.

"You said she drank the poison 'at the smallest suggestion.' Are you saying that they looked like they were familiar?"

Dinah rocked back and forth on her heels. "I swear I saws 'em 'olding 'ands like friends."

"And what did the man look like?"

"His hair was white, white, white and his eyes were piss yellow."

Ciel paused to digest this new information when suddenly a thought flashed behind his eyes like lightening. He shook his head a bit and started from the beginning.

"Let me get this straight," Ciel said with both hands raised and his eyes closed. "Your name is Dinah. The girl's name is Elise. She drank from a bottle labelled 'poison' and was taken by a man with white hair and a pocket watch, stopped at six o'clock, down a hole."

"It's funny, isn't it?"

Ciel looked over his shoulder to see the Butler standing just behind him.

"Li-le children bein' stolen away isn't funny!" Dinah shouted.

"No, it isn't," said Ciel. He faced Sebastian and quietly said, "We'll talk about this later."

Dinah glowered dangerously. "He makes me angry."

Sebastian smiled and bowed, turning on his signature charm. "I did not mean to offend-"

Dinah, however, was not taken. "Why is he helpin' to find her?" She pointed at the Butler using the full length of her arm.

Sebastian straightened up. "I-"

"She'll be lost forever if it's you to go after her!" With every word Dinah's voice grew louder.

"We should leave," Ciel said as he began to back away.

Dinah advanced towards them with her claws bared. "You should have to take it back, Mr Tails," she hissed.

Ciel could feel the Butler flexing his muscles for a fight but it wasn't needed. Two of the Yard's lawmen had been watching Dinah closely and apprehended her at the first sign of violence. They grabbed her arms as she began to shriek and scratch. The Earl and Butler stole away to the sidelines to talk.

"What an unpleasant woman," Sebastian frowned.

"She was doing just fine until you showed up," Ciel said.

"You must admit, it's a very strange sequence of events," said Sebastian. "I do believe I've heard the story before."

"So have I," said Ciel. "The question is, do you think they've noticed?" He meant the Yard.

The Butler looked to the officers who were still attempting to restrain the screaming witness. "Surely they would have said something if they did."

"I suppose," Ciel shrugged. "It would be a huge coincidence otherwise. But what does it matter?"

"If the kidnapper is staying true to the story, knowing how it goes will help to stay one step ahead of him," the Butler explained.

Ciel didn't disagree. "True. What about the parents? Anything worth sharing?" he said.

Sebastian rubbed his temples.

"I am not sure if it's because they're in shock or if I had offended them," he began, "but they told me nothing. Really the only interesting bit was the fact that the girl had gone missing before."

"Randall was telling me about that," Ciel said. "Maybe that man had been following her for a while."

Sebastian nodded. "Most likely. Kidnappers usually do keep tabs on the child's whereabouts. Makes it easier to snatch them up."

"And what about-" Ciel stopped mid-sentence as he noticed a young officer listening in while pretending to dust for fingerprints. Earl and Butler acted casually for a short while, checking fingernails and adjusting waistcoats until the young man gave up and shuffled away. Ciel looked up at Sebastian again. "And what about the evidence?" he continued. "Something interesting there?"

"I think so. The watch's time you already picked up on: the time of the infamous Mad Tea Party scene. The bottle did indeed contain laudanum, though I also detected a splash of absinthe and a hint of something even stronger."

"Stronger than laudanum and absinthe?" Ciel said. "You don't think she was killed, do you?"

"I don't believe so, no. I did not smell death anywhere near. But I don't think that she was aware of what she was drinking."

"How do you guess that?"

"The amount was so trace, it was difficult even for me to make out."

"And the fur?" Ciel asked the question, but he already figured the answer.

Sebastian assumed he would have. His canines peaked over his bottom lip as he smiled. "Take a guess, my Lord."

Ciel sighed. "Rabbit?"

The Butler bowed his head.

"So what we've got here is a man turning fairy tale into fact?" Ciel said.

"It looks like it," Sebastian agreed. "And if everything goes his way, we've got to act fast. Otherwise..."

"... Otherwise what?"

"Well, unless this is all just a dream on a golden afternoon, it will be 'off with her head.'"