August 5th 1891, England.
The moon hung loosely in the dark, inky sky and although the moon was enormous tonight and surrounded by stars, they shone a very dull and lifeless light. At the Holmes' residence, Sherlock and his daughter lay sleeping in each of their rooms, warm and tucked in tightly. Sherlock Holmes was known for his exquisite crime-solving skills and his daughter, Elena, age seventeen, wasn't far behind following in his footsteps. Like her father, she never missed a beat, a single detail or even a hint of something awry. In a few years she'd be old enough to start going on actual investigations with Sherlock and make a name for herself.
Elena Holmes had always been a bright and happy child, she aspired to be the best detective in the world and to marry one day and live happily. But all that changed on September 14th 1882, during that week, her life was thrown into disarray. At the age of eight, she felt her life could no longer return to the way it was. The sun would never be as bright, music would never again stimulate her emotions, and the world itself would never seem as beautiful as it once did. She felt she could no longer connect with it or with anyone in it. If it wasn't for her father being Sherlock Holmes, she would never have been brought back to the world above that was just as dirty and sick as the one below–only concealed better.
Even though she felt distant from everyone nowadays–even after nine years–she still loved her father. Though true emotions, especially love, were just too hard to show now. As that seemingly gentle and blissful night turned to shock and horror by the time she had awoken, she had regret trying harder to show her father a glimpse of the love she still kept for him. For when she had awoken, her father was no where to be found. She had called the police and investigated the crime scene–her very own house–before the police had arrived, but even her, the Sherlock Holmes' prodigy daughter, came up empty-handed. The police, in turn, investigated the home–not surprising Elena at all when they came up with even less than nothing.
When her father's old friend, Dr. John Watson, had arrived at the scene, he was surprised to see Elena had already packed her bags and was awaiting a carriage. When he confronted her of where she was going at such a late hour–it being 11PM–she replied simply by saying: "To see my cousin, Ciel Phantomhive."
For Elena, the trip to her cousin's home was not a short ride. It was about a three hour trip in a horse-drawn carriage–one moving at an incredible speed, at that! Elena hadn't seen Ciel for almost nine years now. She was a little nervous meeting him again. He was always such a happy and cheerful kid and she never minded that, until what happened on September 14th. Elena then turned away from anything that was remotely happy or bright, closing herself off from the world–more so than her dad did when he was stuck solving a riddle or clue. She focused only on becoming a genius detective like her father, and now that he was also taken away from her, she wasn't going to let this go so easily. She had promised herself that she would be the one to bring him back.
Elena turned to look out the window, remembering what she had said to her father's friend.
"Watson, I swear I'll bring him back. I won't let him be taken away from me, not him. That's a promise!"
"Elena…"
She was glad she stopped John from saying anymore at that moment. If he'd said anymore, she would have perhaps started to doubt herself. That was another thing she'd been manipulated to believe during that dark period of time. That help doesn't always come, people are unreliable and selfish, thinking only for themselves and their own well-being. Although that didn't turn out to be the case, at such a young age, she was willing to believe anything if it had an iota of truth to it. She was told this on September 14th and, before her father rescued her on September 21st, she had completely succumbed to the emptiness her kidnappers wanted her to. She felt nothing, as if she was an empty shell, a human no longer affixed to their soul.
"I'm going now, Watson, please take care and if you find anything, and I mean anything, please let me know as soon as possible, okay?"
John Watson nodded, complying with his best friend's daughter's wishes–he always liked it when Elena called him by his last name like Sherlock did, he thought it somewhat cute when she did it. Elena smiled; it wasn't out of joy or the feeling of having another being, one she could trust with her life, obeying her. No, it was just a signal that she understood and that she knew he was telling the truth.
A sudden jerk and cease of motion woke Elena from her light slumber. She hadn't even realised she'd fallen asleep and thought that, for a three hour trip, it had gone ridiculously fast. Peering out the slightly frosted window, she could see that everything was pitch black, except the few little twinkling lights of a candelabra dancing around past a window on one of the higher up floors of the Phantomhive mansion.
"Milady, we've arrived at the Phantomhive Manor," Elena turned to be met with her coachman, Jasper Heraldry. She looked back at the mansion one last time before hopping out.
"Thank you, Jasper, you've been a great help." She was sincere, but it came across as monotonous boredom. "What is the time?"
"Nine minutes past two, in the morning, Milady."
"Hm, let's hope someone is still awake," Elena went to grab her bags, but Jasper stopped her, only slightly holding her arm back in response. Although, Elena yanked her arm back forcefully and looked at Jasper. To him, she would have looked merely surprised, but in reality, she was staring at him in utter disgust. Being touched without permission wasn't something she liked.
"Milady, if I allow you to carry your bags, what kind of coachman would I be?" Jasper's smile returned as he lifted each of the young female's bags from the carriage.
Elena's face softened, she had once again overreacted to the slightest of simple actions. Once all of her bags were at the steps, she walked to the front door. Elena knew it was late and that Ciel was most likely asleep, so she hoped that Tanaka would be awake to confirm her identity, so that she wouldn't have to bother Ciel himself–not until morning, anyway.
Jasper knocked before Elena had even noticed he'd rested her bags on the floor. It hadn't even been a second from the time Jasper's hand left the door to the time the door had been opened. Before Elena and Jasper was not Tanaka, but a tall, handsome man. Elena was lost for a moment, but shook herself from her daze and began to speak.
"Good morning, I am Lady Elena Holmes," Elena spoke in her proper voice, she disliked using it, but her mother always insisted on her speaking like a lady when in the company of others. "I called earlier-"
"Ah, yes. Please, do come in," the tall, raven-haired man, dressed as a butler, stepped back, opening the door wider.
As Jasper picked up Elena's bags and placed them in the foyer, Elena continued hesitantly, taking note of as many things as possible. She glanced around the open room and then at the butler out of the corner of her eye. She noticed him smiling slightly, as he stood, bowing, his face concealed by his fringe. The first thing she noticed when she looked at him was his hair; it was so oddly styled for this time era. He then opened his eyes slightly, catching Elena looking back at him. Her eyes were a cool, bluish grey in comparison to his warm red eyes. Both hues at opposite ends of the spectrum, yet deep down, their eyes held some sort of similarity that neither could put their finger on–and ironically, they similarly felt the same annoyance because of that.
"Sorry to have arrived later than planned, I hoped if I had gone fast enough we could have arrived ahead of schedule. I hope it wasn't too much of an inconvenience on your part," Jasper broke the awkward stare-down Elena and the butler were having, forcing the two of them to face Jasper. Elena looked back over at the butler; he too glanced back but quickly brought his attention to the coachman, again, and smiled.
"Not at all, I was ordered to await your arrival, no matter what time that may be. I was only obeying the young Master's wishes."
"The butler seems very cool, very collected. It's almost inhuman," Elena thought whilst staring at him again. "I wonder how he does it…"
"Well, still, I am sorry to have kept you up," Jasper smiled, and stuck his hand out to shake. "I'm Jasper, by the way, and you are?"
"Sebastian," the butler returned the hand-shake, grinning. He then proceeded to show Elena and Jasper their rooms. Jasper would only be staying the night to rest up before heading back towards his home later in the morning. Although the mansion had brought back so many overwhelming memories from Elena's childhood, she couldn't help but keep a close eye on the butler, Sebastian. Something was off about him, he wasn't like anyone else.
"Your room is here, my Lady," Sebastian opened the door and it lead to a beautifully decorated room. She took a few steps inside until she reached the centre, examining every inch before she turned to thank Sebastian. To her surprise, all of her bags had been brought up and were now being put inside the wardrobe.
"How on earth did he get all my bags up here so quickly?"Elena thought, trying to hide her shocked expression. As she watched the butler place the last of the bags in the wardrobe, she waited for him to turn and look back at her. When he finally did, she smirked. She wasn't even sure if it was by habit of being content or if she was genuinely smiling at this butler.
"I can see why you're Ciel's butler," Elena said, getting up and moving closer to Sebastian.
His expression was almost of satisfaction, but when Elena ignored him and went through her bags, pulling them out of the wardrobe one-by-one, and searching through them–removing all their items and throwing them onto the floor–his expression lightened more. His smile widening, he knelt down beside Elena and began folding what she had pulled out. She noticed this and shook her head.
"What is the point of that?" Elena asked, watching him straighten all her belongings out, keeping a blank expression and speaking monotonously.
"Pardon me?" Sebastian looked up, his face still bearing a contagious grin that almost made Elena melt there and then. In all honesty, she'd caught him off guard with such an absurd question, but he wasn't about to allow her knowledge of that.
"That," Elena pointed at the growing pile of her folded clothes. "Why is it necessary to have everything perfect every, second of the day, even when it's just going to get messed up again in a moment or so?"
Sebastian looked down at the clothes he had been folding and then at Elena again. "It's my job as a butler to–"
"Wrong." Elena interrupted Sebastian, stopping and looking down, staring at the item of clothes in her hands. "You do it because if something is out of place, then something is…" Elena paused, gripping the item tighter, crinkling it and thinking hard, remembering those words, that family saying. She then stood, keeping the cloth firmly in her grip, her head still low.
Elena slowly made her way to the bathroom joined to her room, she stopped in the doorway and finished her sentence, "because if something is out of place, then something isn't right." Elena then closed the door.
Sebastian did believe what she said to be true, but in this house, how anything could remain perfect for long was a task only one hellof a butler could perform! This made him think even harder.
"If something is out of place, then something isn't right." Sebastian repeated Elena's philosophy. "I wonder if she means that, because of my being here, something isn't right? Though that would mean she knows of my not being human. What a strange human, she is. Still, an intriguing one at that, just like my young Master."
"Perhaps he understood what I meant?" Elena thought as she leant against the bathroom door. "Perhaps someone else on this damned earth could comprehend the true meaning to that statement?"
As soon as Elena had changed into her nightgown and returned to her room, she noticed all of her clothes and few items had been returned to the bags they were packed in and were returned to the wardrobe. Shaking her head, Elena walked over to the wardrobe and grabbed the first bag she could, opening it and shoving her clothes inside, then replacing it back into the wardrobe and closing the doors. She wandered over to the giant and unfamiliar bed. As she sat down, feeling the soft duvet and mattress sink under her light weight, she breathed a soft sigh.
"It seems he might have misunderstood after all, even if he is that of someone who serves under the Phantomhive name."
