Black Bride
Disclaimer. Kuroshitsuji and its characters do not belong to me. Neither do any other characters you may see references to.
Pairings. CielxLizzie
Warnings. unbeta'd, attempts at battle scenes & horror
Rating. PG-15
A/N. i thought i was done with anime/manga, but my muse disagrees with me. i wanted to try my hand at a Gothic horror-esque setting, and what best fandom to do it than Kuroshitsuji. i have also wanted to explore Lizzie's character since the Campania arc, and i am really looking forward to this. since this is heavily influenced by Gothic novels, it will have a degree of horror &, of course, supernatural creatures. Lizzie is definitely not going to be the same person as in the anime/manga once i'm done with her. i therefore thought calling this fic 'Black Bride' in contrast to 'Black Butler' was a fitting idea.
A/N 2. this is going to be heavy plotwise and characterwise, and it will also be a lot darker than i am used to writing, so please let me know if you think i am doing a poor job, as this will be largely unbeta'd, knowing me. i am trying to play homage to both the Gothic novels & the Kuroshitsuji manga.
A/N 3. there will be references to Gothic novels sprinkled throughout the fic, and several characters that will be later introduced will have names directly taken out of those novels. on that note, since this is a case!fic, there will be a lot of new characters introduced, so if OCs aren't your thing, turn back now. if you're still here, then please, enjoy the first chapter of Black Bride.
"There are far more dangerous things than simple drug lords and pickpockets in London, milady," the Undertaker had told her, "and it'd be best if you stayed far away from them."
Elizabeth cursed her own arrogance for not paying attention to the strange man's warning as she sat in a pool of blood, and caught a brief glimpse of the responsible monster in the mirror: herself.
-o-
That Bride, Kidnapped
-o-
The chain of events that led to Lady Elizabeth Ethel Cordelia Midford's current state had begun earlier in the month, one chilly Tuesday morning, in London. She had been looking for her fiancé and soon-to-be groom, Ciel Phantomhive, who had run off with his butler once more. While she understood that he was in the midst of a case for the Queen, she was rather cross as it meant that he was missing his appointment with the tailor once more.
"Honestly! He's not a boy anymore, he needs to learn that he has other responsibilities aside from being the Queen's Watchdog, especially now, especially to me," she complained to Paula as they left the rather upset tailor who had, once more, made special time for them.
"I'm sure he has a good reason, milady," her maid replied. Lizzie stopped and blew the air out of her face, a reaction quite unbecoming of a lady.
"He's seventeen Paula, and I'm almost nineteen now, you know the ladies are starting to gossip about how long it's taking us to get married, and his continuous absence for all the wedding planning and preparation is only making it longer," Lizzie explained, "I understand very well the importance of his work, and can take the gossiping and remarks, but I still worry about him,"
"As a proper wife should, milady,"
Lizzie sighed once more as the two continued to walk, her eyes not once straying to any of the cute clothes on display that would have once held her attention. She had grown considerably in the past two years and a half, both physically and emotionally. It seemed like she was destined for surpassing Ciel in height for a couple years more before he caught, although he had grown considerably compared to how small he used to be. Her figure had become that of a woman seemingly overnight, and she soon found her cute dresses and frills switched with elegant gowns more appropriate for a young lady. Her season in society had come and gone, as everyone was aware of her betrothal, she had had no offers, but she had enjoyed it nonetheless.
And she had considered it worth it, especially now that wedding preparations were finally well underway. Or, they would be, if Ciel decided to make an appearance at any stage of the process.
She knew what she was getting into by marrying Ciel, but she was more than willing to endure it, not only because it was expected of her but because she cared for him deeply. Lizzie was prepared for a dangerous life, perhaps more than most, but she was also looking forward to the times in-between cases, when life could be quiet and just the two of them (and probably that butler).
So yes, Elizabeth Midford knew what she was agreeing to and was fully prepared to face it head-on, at the same time as getting ready for the wedding if need be. What was currently frustrating her to no end was her lack of involvement. Since the Campania, Ciel was fully aware of what she could do. Her talent for swordsmanship had only increased with the passing of time and lessons her father imposed on her. He rarely asked for her help, however, choosing instead to leave her in the dark more often than not.
As of the Campania, she had shown her skill in order to protect him two more times, both of which had only been due to the direst of circumstances. Ciel seemed intent on ignoring her abilities unless there was no other choice. And Elizabeth, while thankful that he cared and wanted her safe, was absolutely infuriated.
He knew very well she could take good care of herself. She was not, in any way, a liability – indeed, she should be considered a great asset. Her appearance would never lead a perpetrator to suspect her abilities, thus making her quite deadly and, more importantly, useful. Her intellect, while perhaps not at the same level as his, was still quite sound. She was not stupid.
So she could not for the life of her understand why he insisted on leaving her in the dark. He probably had no idea how much it frustrated her to know that he was out there dealing with the most dangerous criminals of Britain with only his butler to protect him.
(Even if Sebastian was one hell of a butler.)
Why, she could probably help him solve his current case faster and then they finally get back to the wedding. But no, he would have none of it, and he would refuse her help, so the only way she could help him was going behind his back and that was not likely.
Elizabeth suddenly stopped.
Around her, people made mumbles and grunts of complaint, but she paid them no heed. She had just had a brilliant idea. Ciel didn't have to know she was helping him, she could just do some investigating on the side, gather her own information and then quietly leave it somewhere he was bound to find it, or give it to one of his sources.
But first, she had to find out what case he was working.
"Paula! Come on! I've got an idea, and it's going to be great! We'll be back at the tailors by the end of the week, you'll see," with renewed vigor, Elizabeth began to dash through the people.
"Milady! Wait!" her maid jogged behind her.
The men and women gossiped about the audacity of the two young girls, especially Elizabeth who was a lady and was clearly picking up her skirts in a most inappropriate way. The girls didn't hear them, one too concentrated on following her mistress, the other intent on reaching her goal.
-o-
"Milady, if I may ask, what are we doing here?" Paula asked, once her breath evened out from the run.
They were standing in front of a grim-looking shop. There were coffins outside, of various size and style, and crows pecking at bits of food. They were also in one of the poorer areas of London, certainly nothing like the shopping district they'd just run from, and stood out quite obviously amongst all the inhabitants of the area.
"I'm going to help Ciel solve his case, and if I'm not mistaken, this is one of his most trusted sources," Lizzie explained, nodding to herself before stepping forward into the shop.
Hesitantly, Paula followed.
The inside of the shop was just as eerie-looking as the outside, with rows upon rows of coffins and lids. There were spiders, skulls and strange paintings watching them from all directions.
(One painting stood out in particular, it was a fine-looking man dressed in fashionable clothes. Had the ladies cared to look at it closer, they would have noticed it was simply titled, 'Mr. Gray'.)
Paula's inner cleaning habits had to be settled, as the place was so filthy she found herself just itching to clean it up. Lizzie was also holding back her own need to make the place look more homely, elegant and, why not, somewhat cute. Nicer curtains would have made a world of difference, in her opinion.
Undeterred by the appearance of the place, and the atmosphere, Lizzie stepped forward towards a desk and rang the bell. It sounded somewhat ominously throughout the otherwise quiet shop. There was no response, so, impatiently, she rang it again. Again, the shop remained quiet. Sniffing, Lizzie opened her mouth to call out, when one of the lidded coffins was opened from the inside.
Paula let out a small shriek as a strange figure appeared from its depths.
The figure, of somewhat indeterminate gender, had long, silver hair, bony wrists with thin fingers and long black fingernails. It wore a black ensemble, and as the young women watched, it picked up a hat from the coffin next to it.
"Visitors for me! Yes, hello, how may I help you? Do you have a friend that needs to be prepared for his or her last journey?" the figure turned to them excitedly.
"Um, no, no, in fact we were just leaving weren't we, milady?" Paula squeaked, holding onto Lizzie's arm and attempting to drag her away. She wanted nothing to do with this strange creature.
"Wait! Paula!" Lizzie refused to move. Paula tried to drag her once, twice more, but the young lady held firm.
"Ooh, you're the Earl Phantomhive's betrothed, aren't you, milady? I heard the wedding is soon, so congratulations are in order, yes?" the strange man, judging by the voice, clapped his hands.
"Yes, thank you," Lizzie blushed, still feeling a tingling of excitement and accomplishment whenever she was congratulated.
"Well then, what brings you here and not to the seamstress? Are you lost perhaps? Yours will be a celebration of life, while here I humbly celebrate naught but death," the man wondered.
"Oh, I, uh, well…you see, Ciel's very busy with his case, and so he hasn't been showing up to the wedding preparations so I thought…well, I thought I could give him a hand, help him solve the case faster, maybe even catch the suspect for him," Lizzie stumbled through her words, feeling slightly embarrassed but still quite sure of herself.
There was a pregnant pause, as this was news to both Paula and the strange man. The pause was broken by Paula's outrage and the man's laughter.
"Milady, you should not-"
"Hihihi,"
"-lower yourself to consulting with-"
"HIHIHI,"
"-or dealing with common criminals, it is not-"
"Hihihi, milady has given me a rather good laugh today," the man finally calmed down, while Lizzie blushed in embarrassment, as she felt quite silly, but was still determined to press on.
"Will you help me, then? So I can help Ciel,"
"Ah, milady, I know that this request comes from a place of caring, but I am curious why you come to a humble Undertaker asking about the Earl's business," he asked, still wiping tears beneath his long bangs.
"Don't play games with me, Undertaker, I know for a fact that you are one of Ciel's sources, and have in fact a long-standing relationship with the family," Lizzie glared, somewhat miffed that she had been taken for uninformed.
"Hihihi, milady speaks the truth, I assume the young Earl has no idea how much you know, does he?" the Undertaker grinned.
"Well, no, but…I mean," Lizzie deflated, spluttering.
"It is quite all right, milady, it can be our little secret," the Undertaker's grin became somewhat less menacing.
"Thank you, Undertaker," she hesitantly smiled back.
"Now, as to the matter at hand, I am afraid, milady, that I cannot help you, the young Earl would have my hide if he knew that I told you, and that butler of his is, as I am sure you are aware, quite dependable on fulfilling his master's request," the Undertaker shrugged, somewhat helplessly.
"What? No! I…please Undertaker! It does not have to be the entirety of what is happening, just any way in which I can help my fiancé!" Lizzie begged, grasping the man's tattered robe. He seemed somewhat surprised at the contact, perhaps because few people wanted to touch him, and he smiled warmly.
"I cannot tell you, milady, it is for you own good, you must understand," he intoned again. Lizzie sighed, and nodded, crestfallen.
"However, you did give me quite a laugh, so I can tell you something and you can do with that what you will," the Undertaker continued, seeing Lizzie's face brighten up immediately.
"Yes, please!" at Lizzie's words, the Undertaker gestured to the coffins behind him, all of which, Lizzie now noticed, contained young women.
"There has been some strange sort of disease which has taken over the young women of London, milady, and they all suffer greatly from it, to the extent that it leads to their death, physicians and doctors are quite baffled by it, as the ladies seem to within a week with no visible symptoms other than great fatigue and light sensitivity," the Undertaker explained, nearing one of the coffins and holding onto the dead woman's hand.
"That's terrible!" Paula exclaimed quietly.
"I haven't heard anything about this," Lizzie frowned; sure that something like this would be commented on.
"The Queen wishes for it to be kept quiet for now, as well, none of these young ladies have been of high status, and thus you could say, no one important has been affected just yet," the Undertaker smiled, patting the woman's hand before placing it over her heart.
"These women are important to someone, Undertaker, even if not to society at large," Lizzie's gaze sharpened as she said this, and she clutched the edge of the coffin. The Undertaker smiled.
"Yes, that is just what the Earl said…but that is all I have for you, I am afraid milady, anymore and I will be in quiet a lot of trouble indeed, hihi," he giggled into his cloak, before swiftly beginning to push both women out of his shop.
"W-wait, what about cause of death? Suspicions? Anything?" Lizzie tried to hold back, but the Undertaker continued to steadily push them out the door.
"I have already told you more than I should have, milady, and really, it would be better for everyone if you forget everything, although I know you won't, goodbye now," he finally succeeded in pushing them cleanly out the door.
The young women stumbled, before turning to the now closed door behind them. They dusted themselves off, Paula muttering to herself while Lizzie remained deep in thought. Both women vaguely noticed that it had turned dark while they were inside, prompting Paula to push for speed.
As they began to walk away, a voice called out,
"Milady?"
Elizabeth turned around to face the Undertaker once more, and had the feeling that she had locked eyes with him. She shivered; it was impossible to tell whether she was indeed looking at his eyes.
"There are far more dangerous things than simple drug lords and pickpockets in London, milady," he said, "and it'd be best if you stayed far away from them,"
With that final, cryptic warning, the man shuffled back into his shop and slammed his door closed.
"And good riddance, milady, now, I think that's quite enough adventures for today, wouldn't you say? Let's go back to the shopping district, I saw some ribbons you might like," Paula steered Elizabeth, who only nodded every so often to her chatter.
She was deep in thought, and somewhat rattled by the Undertaker's warnings. Ciel's case was quite complicated, and had already had a number of victims, if the women in the coffins at the Undertaker's were all from the same one. It was quite troubling, both because it frightened her, but also because it frustrated her. To think that something like this was occurring right under the noses of society and no one had thought to say anything!
Those young women had lives, families, who cared about them, and deserved answers for their passing. They deserved justice. Elizabeth's motivation returned to her, as she was now determined to solve the case not just for Ciel's protection, but also for the protection of all young women in London. This was no longer a somewhat childish desire to help, but a commitment to solve this heinous crime.
It was perhaps because of this newfound determination that, when she heard the scream, she ran towards it blindly instead of waiting for help or running away.
"Milady!" she dimly noticed that Paula was behind her, as usual, but Elizabeth was so intent on getting to her goal that she did not pay her any heed.
Somewhat out of breath, she arrived at the source of the scream. And froze.
A young woman, around her own age, lay on the floor of an alleyway between warehouses, a pool of blood around her. There was a wound on her neck, as if a savage animal had ripped right through it. Over her stood a dark figure, presumably male. He was mostly shadowed, however from what Lizzie could see he was hunched over, but still larger than any man she had ever seen. His eyes, which stood out from the darkness, a bloody red, were now staring straight at her. He stepped over the prone figure on the ground and began to trudge towards her, but Elizabeth found that she could not will herself to move, too stupefied, as the…creature slowly came to light.
He was still incredibly large, with raven dark hair, muscled arms with claws for fingernails, and a heaving open mouth, with teeth riddled with fangs. And his eyes, so red and crazed-like, still centered on Elizabeth's frame.
"Milady, what – oh my God!" Paula's voice snapped Elizabeth from her spell, as the creature now turned to her and, with a growl, charged.
Swiftly, Elizabeth drew her swords and dashed at the creature before it could reach her maid. She injured its side, thus leading it off course, which resulted in the creature crashing into one of the nearby warehouses.
"Milady, what…what on Earth is that…thing?" Paula asked, as Elizabeth stepped in front of her.
"I don't know, Paula, I just know that, as a descendant of the English knights and as the wife of the Queen's Watchdog, I cannot let it roam free in the streets of London," Elizabeth stated, holding out her swords at the ready.
As the rubble began to move, she steadied herself, ready for another attack. When it came, it was a shock. The creature was fast, much faster than it had been just a second ago, when it charged straight at them.
"Duck!" she yelled, and, hoping Paula had obeyed, Elizabeth herself ducked as her arms stretched out to cut the creature's stomach. It groaned in pain once more, but quickly turned and raised its claws, surprising Elizabeth.
She gasped, as she tried to deflect with her swords, but both her and Paula were thrown back, heavily landing on the floor. Paula was close to the prone woman, and held back a scream as she realized she was dead, probably in a pool of her own blood.
Elizabeth, meanwhile, shakily stood back up, her right arm's sleeve and some of her skin having been torn cleanly off. The creature suddenly sniffed the air, and growled once more, charging again with renewed vigor.
It was then that Elizabeth realized she was going to die. There was no way she could parry an assault like the last one again, and she had Paula to worry about as well. Frozen once more, she could only stare at her impending death.
"Dear me, they are simply brutes in this form and give us such a bad name," the voice, highly musical and educated, came from nowhere, and for a second Elizabeth thought she imagined it.
However, another figure appeared before her, and merely raised a hand. As the creature continue to charge, the man in front of her merely flicked his finger, which sent the creature flying once more. Stupefied, Elizabeth unfroze, staring at their savior.
The man turned. He had pitch-black hair held back in a ponytail, and was dressed like a proper noble, with rich, stylish garments. His eyes were a startling green, much prettier than her own, Lizzie noted with envy, and his skin a very pale white. He was, she found, one of the most beautiful people she had ever met. As he stepped toward her, however, Lizzie once more held her pose. He stopped.
"You're quite an interesting one, aren't you?" he asked.
"Who are you? What was that…thing? How did you stop it? I demand answers, sir," she asked brusquely. Behind her, she heard Paula shuffle close.
"So many questions, and I believe…yes I will answer them in time, but not right now…I've rather taken a fancy to you, my dear little swordswoman and…maid?" he asked, tilting his head at Paula.
"I want answers now, sir, this is London, and things like that should not be roaming around freely," Lizzie gestured to the whole in the hall where the creature had been sent flying.
"Quite right, of course, quite right…but as I said, later," he smiled jovially, and Lizzie got the distinct impression that she was being made fun of.
He stepped closer again, and she raised her swords higher. Grinning, he stepped back and held his hands up in mock surrender, before crossing his arms behind his back.
"None of that now, we don't want anyone getting hurt, do we?" he asked, and his eyes held her gaze steadily. They seemed to change for the briefest of moments, becoming cat-like.
Elizabeth suddenly found herself quite drowsy and at ease. She lowered her swords, and slumped slightly, noticing, for the first time, how very tired she was. Paula slumped against her side just slightly.
"That's right, my dears, let us sleep and forget about the monsters for now," and as he grinned, Lizie saw the two fangs amongst his white teeth.
Opening her mouth to scream, she found she could not hold herself up and simply fell forward into the awaiting arms of her captor.
-o-
The next morning, all that was found was the body of a young woman, which, due to the destroyed buildings surrounding her, was labeled some form of gang warfare and animal attack.
Also on the scene part of a beautiful dress sleeve was found, which no one could quite make heads or tails of, as it was not from the dead woman and it did not really fit in the area at all.
When the Queen's Watchdog finally made it on the scene, he took one look at the cloth and was suddenly very pale.
"Lizzie…"
hello again! i hope you enjoyed it, comments regarding characterization, the battle sequence (i cannot write action to save my life) and interest in the idea as a whole are much appreciated.
at this point in time, i've got time and inspiration for this, as well as notes on all the coming events and characters, all the way to the end of the fic. however, i still don't know if and when i will finish this. feel free to keep an eye out.
i also need to go back and edit this.
thank you.