Chapter 2: In which Nefertiti learns, understands, and meets the Undertaker. Poor girl.

The sound of the vilest curses filled the manor the next week.

Of course all the curses were in Egyptian, so their meaning was rather lost on most of the estate's occupants, save for one demon butler who was highly amused by the incredibly vicious tongue the regale queen had. Such curses he had only heard in the gaming houses and brothels in the worst parts of Egypt where only bandits and murderers dwelt. Not to mention the set of lungs good ol' Nefertiti had on her. Her shouts and screams called through the halls and rooms. Ciel had to sigh into his morning tea.

All this fuss over a little corset.

"I swear to the darkest pits of hell, if you are getting the slightest bit of amusement out of this I will make you a eunuch!" Nefertiti hissed as Sebastian pulled tighter upon the strings that were slowly suffocating the life out of her, her threat only increasing the size of his smirk.

"I've been to the darkest pits of Hell, dear madam," he replied silkily giving another all mighty heave, "Now hold still."

"What imbecilic reason could you have for doing this? I am a QUEEN and I refuse to be hassled with this-FUCK!"

Neatly, Sebastian tied a bow at the end of the strings, "All done, your highness. It was as simple as that."

Simple. Suffocation was simple? The bastard.

Thanks to her light-headedness, Nefertiti failed to notice the hint of sarcasm in the butler's voice. Slipping simple silk cloth over her head and arms, Sebastian fastened the pearl buttons on Nefertiti's newest dress and stood back to study the effect of the magenta silk against her dark skin and hair. Not at all a bad combination if he was to say so himself. Now she simply looked like some gracious foreign dignitary rather than an ancient queen. Of course she had her own opinion of the dress that far less optimistic.

"I don't see why I need to be saddled with so much fabric," Nefertiti surveyed herself in the mirror looking very annoyed her image. The dress had managed to force certain assets upwards to her neck while making others look several times its normal size. "My traditional garb is so much more functional."

And doesn't make my rear end look like a hippo's.

"Be that as it may, we have a rather important appointment in London and an Egyptian Queen running around may give the wrong impression," Sebastian explained while simultaneously pulling a pair of heels upon her feet, "My master wishes you keep a low profile."

She sniffed raising her nose, "I'm insulted to think that my gracious host believes I could behave in any other way than which befits royalty."

Her behavior minutes earlier notwithstanding.

Still grumbling under breath, Nefertiti took her place across the breakfast table from the youngest and only remaining Phantomhive. Settled quite comfortably, Ciel hardly looked effected by his guest and continued poking at his breakfast which consisted of porridge this morning with fresh blackberries and currants. For their exotic guest, Sebastian had somehow retrieved dates from town and arranged them in a small fruit bowl. It was an odd thing for a demon to do and Nefertiti didn't doubt it was some sort of test. They were not as succulent as the ones back home, nor as sweetly bitter, but they did hold a certain amount of bittersweetness to them.

A shade of old masquerading as a tang of new.

And she certainly wasn't thinking about the dates anymore.

Damn these double meanings.

Unable even to communicate, Nefertiti could hardly comment on the poetic nature of her breakfast. Shooting another glance at Ciel, Nefertiti cleared her throat and plucked another date from the bowl. Of course then Ciel cleared his throat awkwardly in response and silence reigned.

The quicker her lessons in English began the better.

Once Ciel was safely locked away in his office with a pile of paperwork that would surely leave him bored to tears, Sebastian began his daily chores. Today a little cat followed him throughout the house as he straightened, cleaned and fixed every room.

"I suppose being a demon forged by the darkest most grotesque powers imaginable has its perks." Her dear highness was currently watching as he waxed the silverware with a practiced hand at a rather incredible speed. It wasn't quite an annoyance, but he found his work was certainly slowed by her constant chatter. Odd, he never thought that a Queen would be quite so curious. Back in Egypt she had seemed so sombre and quiet, but he supposed that was all for the public and their image of her.

"You flatter me." Setting the silverware back in its drawer, Sebastian moved on to cleaning up the dishes from the morning meal.

"Tell me, if you were in my place what would you do now?" aimlessness never suited her and currently that was exactly what Nefertiti was. Not only that, she was bored. She was never bored in Egypt where something always had her attention in its grasp, be it her husband or a matter of national importance or even one of her children, imploring her to play.

"I would find a new game to embrace, one holding more amusement and dangling more lives than simple politics."

What an unsavory answer.

"The ever helpful devil spawn," rolling her eyes, Nefertiti collapsed in an arm chair wincing as the corset pinched pretty much her entire torso. Current fashion in this nation was seriously lacking in comfort.

"I will answer as demon, Madam," Sebastian retorted unapologetically, "And if you loathe me so then why are you here?"

"I'd rather have some company, however infuriating and evil it may be."


Around two the study door opened and a tea tray entered with a butler and a queen behind it.

Quite the odd situation if Ciel were to comment, which he didn't. In fact he hardly looked up from his documents and papers as a cup of tea, earl grey judging by the scent, was poured for him. The first to speak was their eccentric guest in her strange lilting words directed at Sebastian who simply shook his head. After all this time, Ciel found himself slightly annoyed that Sebastian could understand her, but he could not. Call it a somewhat childish form of jealousy, Ciel was not impressed.

"Today we have a lemon meringue pie," Sebastian explained not dignifying whatever Nefertiti had said with response, "with a dollop of fresh creme on the side."

"What did she say?"

"Lady Karnak was merely commenting that lemons were a rare treat in Egypt," Sebastian replied sighing as he cut a piece of cake for her to try, "I believe she may raid our stores later like she did with the chocolate a few days ago."

"Just order more," Ciel couldn't care less about lemons and chocolate, that much was plain even to Nefertiti. His eyes were trained on a letter that was sealed with red wax.

"We should get going if we wish to get to London before afternoon tea," Sebastian glanced at his pocket watch, "I shall get the carriage ready, my lord."

Thankfully the carriage ride was not as awkward as breakfast had been, though it was still quiet as the grave. While Ceil moped over the Queen's orders (England's Queen that is), Nefertiti was settled across from him on the plush seat with some blank paper and random bits of charcoal that she had discovered from somewhere. After quite a bit of protest, she had wormed her way out of the corset and was instead settled in a dress much similar to the style of her homeland on top of which a thick shawl rested against the cold. The only reason Sebastian hadn't commented on the change of clothing was because he had confirmed one crucial fact about her highness's personality from this little experiment: Nefertiti did as she wished, she was not afraid of him, a demon who could pull her heart out of it's chest cavity.

It was something he would need to remedy eventually. For now he was willing to see how far Nefertiti would be willing to push the limits of his patience.

Currently, her fingers were dragging the charcoal across the paper carefully, her trained eyes mapping out an image that her fingers carried out. There was a look of focus on her face and Ciel studied it for a second. According to Sebastian, Queen Nefertiti, along with her husband, had ruled Egypt for over a decade and prospered. The queen as the demon remembered had been charismatic and sombre, though admittedly the butler had no personal dealings with her, but posing as a nobleman at the time, he had seen her more than once. Sitting here now, Ciel wondered how she was handling losing her entire world quite so well.

After what seemed hours, while Ciel read and re-read the letter his queen had sent him, Nefertiti finally looked up from her page with a small smirk about her face. Silently, she handed him whatever it was and Ciel snorted in true laughter at the sight before him. It was a caricature, featuring an absurdly drawn Sebastian (who had leathery wings, cat eyes and a lizard's tail) being ejected from hell by a rather mean looking deity of some sort. There some Egyptian script at the bottom and Ciel made a note to ask Sebastian what it meant at his earliest convenience.

It seemed the first impression phase was over and Sebastian had not at all come out on top.

Once they entered London proper, Nefertiti's pen skittered across the page rapidly as they passed buildings, monuments, pedestrians, carriages and all sorts of spectacles. From what Ciel could see she was trying to draw out everything she saw. There was an outline of Big Ben, a carriage, and she was currently sketching out the tower of London. At this point, Nefertiti stopped caring about Ciel's business altogether and what brought him into town. When they arrived at his London home, she continued sketching and finishing her drawing while everyone discussed the Jack the Ripper case. Whatever Ciel was up to held not interest for her, especially seeing as how she could not contribute in the slightest.

Madam Red and Lau had not been expecting Ciel to bring a companion, much less a companion of such clear exotic beauty and unique taste, but they accepted her and spoke as though she were not there. Throughout the day person after person simply paid her no heed, except for Ciel and Sebastian both of whom kept a watchful gaze upon her as though she were some sort of experiment.

"She is a pretty thing," Madam Red had commented surveying the woman carefully.

"When did you get such an exotic guest, Earl?" Lau asked, his gaze looking ever so slightly less than pure.

"We have places to be," Ciel reminded authoritatively and ended any further harassment that could ensue.

"Where are we going?" Nefertiti asked, completely unaffected by their stares. climbing up, she sat next to Sebastian in the carriage. Since the coach was full, Nefertiti opted to sit outside with Sebastian in order to gain a better view of the town and speak freely with someone who would understand her words. Of course than she was distracted by the sights and sounds around her and promptly gave up talking to Sebastian.

"We are on our way to an acquaintance of the young lord," Sebastian explained as they drove away from the crime scene and very unhelpful man of Scotland Yard.

"Well, good luck with that venture." She was barely listening, her hand sketching out the outline of what looked to be a baby carriage.

"Your disinterest is odd," he commented noting her total lack of concern for the serial killer they were chasing or for anything at all. Often he found that in situations where a person found themselves cut off from everything they had ever known, that person would take up a new purpose for their life. For example, Ciel had taken revenge as his purpose in life when he had lost everything. In all logic, she should have been attempting to do the same. Instead, the great queen was simply doing nothing.

"One must understand in order to be interested and currently I understand less than a toddler would about the world around me," she explained easily and Sebastian understood. They were dealing with a ruler and she approaching this situation as a strategist would; in order to affect any change one first needed to understand and observe before being able to help in any useful way. If she wanted to get home, she needed to learn about everything around her first.

It was an old text she was struggling with, written in a slightly older dialogue then the one she was fluent in. Sitting in the great library in Thebes, Nefertiti sat with all sorts of references and corresponding texts but her own translation seemed imbecilic at best. The prose of the words was lost on her as was the meaning.

It was a text documenting the life of Hatshepsut, a female ruler of Egypt who brought the land wealth and peace by re-establishing old trade relations and built temples all over Egypt's major population centers.

She was Nefertiti's idol.

Strong, charismatic, and willful, Hatshepsut proved to an entire generation that Egypt could pull itself up from any situation given the right the commander.

And Nefertiti herself could hardly even understand what the great lady had done because she could barely even read the text. Inaugurated only a month earlier, she was struggling with the ways of the court, struggling to understand her people, her husband and most importantly herself.

"This is hopeless!"

"Dear Lady," it was said husband, a man far older than with far more experience, "What is troubling you?"

"How can I be a Queen, a useful one?"

For all intents, Nefertiti was a girl trying desperately to fill the shoes of both of men and women and she had neither experience nor knowledge. She was quick to temper and frustration, always causing mischief and hardly fit to be queen by all accounts. Her tutors were despairing and apparently so was she. But Akhnetan was too much a lover of peace to discipline her. She had a spark in her that needed to be grown not stamped out.

Something to be flourished not crushed.

And he did love her from the moment he met her.

The question she posed had no real answer, so the Pharaoh replied in a different way.

"You must start by understanding those things that come easily," he looked at the incredibly difficult text she had been trying to decipher that was much beyond her skill level, "And the more tricky things will follow after without much trouble."

It was sound advice and even in this new era, Nefertiti still found a use for it. Some concepts transcended time.

Sebastian would not have expected any less from the Queen of Egypt.

"There are twenty six letters in our alphabet," Sebastian smiled.

"So you've told me."

"Recite them for me."

An impromptu English lesson. Fantastic.

"You are an efficient multitasker."

"No I am simply one hell of a butler."

The smug pride in his voice only irritated her further.

Still, she recited the entire alphabet and listened to his instruction intently.


"Sebastian, where exactly are we?" she may not have been able to read the large sign above the doorway, but judging by the skull adornments and overall dark quality of the building, Nefertiti assumed it was nothing pleasant.

"The Undertaker's. He prepares the bodies for burial after death."

"Ah, like our priests who embalm and mummify the body."

"Not quite." Sebastian smirked, "In this time the bodies are simply buried."

It seemed blasphemous to bury a body without the proper mummification and rituals. Such a thing ensured destruction of the corpse and thus denied the undead soul entrance into the afterlife, a horrible way to play out eternity. This new tradition certainly did not seem normal and neither did this shop. The horror on her face must have been apparent, because the butler gave a small chuckle at her expense.

Upon entering Ciel was immediately accosted by a man with long grey hair and a rather odd disposition. It seemed that along with being an 'undertaker' he was also an information broker of sorts. Judging by the actions of those around her and the few words she picked up like 'payment' and 'bargain', Nefertiti assumed that they were haggling over price and judging by the undertaker's reaction to Madam Red and Lau, thus far they had not made a suitable deal.

At one point the Undertaker looked directly at her and nodded in recognition. He said nothing, but she could tell that he knew. This man was somehow connected to all of, he had information and she needed it.

Finally, Sebastian seemed to take charge and ushered everyone, including herself, out of the shop. They stood outside only for a few minutes when booming laughter suddenly echoed from around them. It shook the window panes and blew past them. The entire building shook and Nefertiti wondered what in hell Sebastian was doing to the poor man. The sign with the skull crashed to the ground and everything was still for a a few words, Sebastian ushered everyone back inside. The next exchange seemed to bear more fruit and Ciel looked quite satisfied with the information he received. As everyone filed out, Nefertiti hung back. The Undertaker's eyes were still upon her.

"You are from another time," he spoke words that she understood. He spoke in a language that he should not have known, "It is not a simple trick. No demon could do it alone."

"What do you know of it?" Nefertiti hid her surprise and quickly questioned him. In a few moments Sebastian would no doubt stride back in demanding that she hurry up.

"I know your name my dear Queen, I know of a demon who calls himself Graveyard, who tossed you into this place like trash," almost enthralled by the situation, the Undertaker looked gleeful, "they will fight over your soul soon enough but not so soon as for you to not set down roots."

A prophecy?

This was no prophet.

Who was he?

What did he know?

Graveyard.

Set Amentet.

Nefertiti didn't get any of these words out of her mouth.

"Lady Karnak, if you could hurry-" Sebastian stopped in the doorway and narrowed his eyes at the two of them. Something was going on and Sebastian never enjoyed a human who thought they could do as they pleased behind his back, "Come along Milady."

The words sounded mild mannered enough, but there was a dark undercurrent and Nefertiti didn't keep him waiting. However she was unable to hold her tongue.

"That's her highness to you," she retorted haughtily. The butler chose the worst time to enter and she was not amused by it in the slightest. Once her back was turned, Sebastian faced the Undertaker and they shared barely a glance that shared no secrets. Then Sebastian calmly followed her out and climbed atop the coach. A closer eye was needed upon their gracious guest.


This time when the corset was tied, Nefertiti cursed but in a low grating growl and a hiss. This time she was prepared for the pain and didn't scream like a banshee. Still, she made several threats against Sebastian as he pulled and tugged on the strings of the torture device that was around her torso currently trying to squeeze the life out of her. Threats of a violent nature, most of them consisting of what he knew to be ancient torture techniques. The lady certainly was a vicious one with a temper worth waiting for.

Not as disappointed by this dress, Nefertiti had to admit that it certainly gave her a unique figure. Unlike the other one which had nearly three layers of tulle under it, this one had none. It was round around her hips but then narrowed around her knees, leaving an elegant flared look by her feet. The bodice was nicely embroidered and the dress was in an orange rust like color which set of her dusky complexion rather well.

It still wasn't worth the corset.

"I would like to rip this off this instant."

"You can try as you like, those knots on your corset will not be undone by any strength you possess," Sebastian informed her smugly.

"Bastard of the underworld."

"You complement me, Madam." He held the door open for her. Striding out, she passed by Ciel who was heading in to get dressed as well and from what she gathered he got to wear a special costume tonight.

"Good luck you poor unfortunate soul," she offered as she walked away well aware that he didn't understand a word she said.

"Sebastian what did she say?" Ciel looked mildly worried.

"Don't worry master, everything will be fine." Those words spelled his doom and Ciel didn't even know it. Looking at the corset now, Ciel had a very bad feeling growing in the pit of his stomach.


"My dear lady, the land you hail from must be a truly exquisite one!" the strange man with golden hair accosted Nefertiti as she strode around the impressive ballroom. According to what Sebastian said this was most likely the man behind all the trouble and who Ciel was after. It seemed he was rather a fop of a man with the way his swished his hair, "Though it must pale in comparison to thy face!"

He kissed her hand. Presumptuous git.

If there was one talent that Nefertiti did not possess it was seduction.

Rather than taking his complements, which she didn't understand anyway, and his attention, which she had not wanted in the slightest, the former Queen's jaw went rigid. In her life she had only ever been with one man and the first they had shared a bed had been more than awkward enough. Awkwarder still were his attempts to woo her. Eventually she fell in love with him, but even to this day, she hardly knew what to do with the advances of men. It was an area in which she had very little instruction and experience. With her cheeks feeling warm, Nefertiti wiped her anxious palm on her dress. This was most definitely not part of the plan, neither her's nor Ciel's. Speaking of whom, the mighty child was dancing across the hall with his demon of a butler dressed as a girl while she was accosted by this scum.

"Fools. All of them." Nefertiti muttered to herself. All she really wanted was to somehow sneak off and go find that Undertaker fellow again and give him a proper questioning, but Sebastian seemed to be having none of that at the moment.

"Sorry love, I missed that," Druit tried again giving a tug on her hand, "Perhaps we should get you a private room to rest in."

Her reply to his affection was a dignified but cold nod and a stiff shoulder, "No English." Freeing her hand, Nefertiti walked away as if the world was hers and Viscount Druit decided right then that this was one specimen he wished to add to his collection. Before she could have reacted, a man, one of the Viscount's minions, stole her away and no one was the wiser. The current dance ended and a particularly fetching young lady in a pink dress with flowing black hair appeared before him as another target. Tonight seemed to be a good one.


"Gents, there is a rare and foreign pearl amongst the ordinary swine we normally see!" That was most definitely the voice of the fop from earlier. Whatever curtain was over her eyes was suddenly dropped and light blinded her for a second. Once her vision cleared Nefertiti found herself trapped in a cage of fine silver, bound and displayed in front of a raucous crowd of well dressed men.

It was a familiar sight.

Like the slave auctions back in Egypt.

Is that what she would be reduced to?

Now she was to be treated like some animal. Still, she stayed tall and stared her captors in the eyes and glared. Just because they planned to sell her like a slave did not mean she would act like one. There was no fear in her eyes or on her face.

"We will start at 300 guineas!"

Men shouted and jeered and offered up their money.

"I see 400 guineas!" Druit looked around at the crowd and then at his cattle, "Flawless skin, luminescent and willful. Perfect for any man looking for a challenge!"

"500!"

"500 guineas! Do I see six?" Druit was willing to bet he could get a little more out of the crowd. These men were depraved, "Imagine having such a gem in your collections gentlemen!"

"Six!"

"Six hundred guineas! Going once. Twice. Sold!"

Two men in masks moved the cage she was in aside to a far corner of the room where she would no doubt be collected by her new owner. Well whoever that man was, he would be sadly surprised once she ripped him apart with her own hands should he dare to touch her. The next cage was brought forward and when the curtain was raised Nefertiti nearly slammed her head against the bars of the cage when she realized who it was. The idiot who had concocted this plan had managed to get himself caught as well.

What was it the English said? Smashing.

The crowd seemed eager to have Ciel as they needed no prompting from the auctioneer. The buyers kept upping the bids without any words from Druit and finally their bids started reaching a plateau. It was then that Ciel opened his eye that was for once not covered in a patch. There was a symbol in it that glowed and from this distance, Nefertiti could not see the details but could only assume it was Sebastian's mark.

As expected the lights went out a second later and when a few candles glimmered on again all the men lay unconscious with Sebastian standing among their felled figures. Bemusedly, Nefertiti waited for master and butler to finish their conversation and free her, which they finally did. Staggering as she stood up, the queen waited a moment for feeling to return to her legs.

"It's time to return home," Sebastian informed her.

"Did the little Earl solve his mystery?"

"It appears so."


Ciel was exhausted beyond all belief. They day had been a long one. Once he was finally out of that god forsaken corset and in his night clothes, all the young earl wanted was a rest, but Ciel was a Phantomhive and when one problem was solved, often another one presented itself. It was not in Ciel's nature to dawdle on such things.

"What was Nefertiti saying to the Undertaker?" Despite being human and not as attune to things as his butler, Ciel had still noted that Nefertiti had lingered in the coffin man's shop. It was impressive really that despite everything else, he had still noted her small actions. Good. It meant he was thorough and as sharp witted as ever.

"I have no idea, young master," Sebastian replied helping Ciel into bed and smoothing out the wrinkles int he covers unnecessarily.

"Is there a way for her to travel back to her own time?" Because if she could travel back in time, then he could too.

"I'm afraid not," Sebastian replied shaking his head, "Traveling forwards in time past the lengths of one's own life seems theoretically possible, however traveling back in time in full of paradoxes that I cannot account for. It would seem exceedingly unlikely to me."

The re-writing of history for example was not possible.

Once you lose something, you can never truly get it back.

Words spoken wisely by the young Phantomhive, and also an immutable law of the universe. For example one could not simply go back to one's death and explain the situation to their past self and thereby prevent their demise. It was would affect the universe in a way that wasn't kosher. However bringing someone forward in time did not attempt to the chance the future because it was not yet written, nor the past as it had already been written.

"Still, I would like to keep her nearby," Ciel replied sounding sleepy, "She could prove to be an asset." Or bait for something stronger.

"Master, if I may, demons have the ability to stain a mortal soul, irrevocably marking that soul with the powers specific to that demon," Sebastian explained formulating a plan in his head. He too wanted to keep Nefertiti nearby. If a demon had somehow managed to gather enough power to send a soul to the future than said demon also had a bigger plan playing out in the background. Sebastian was agog to find out who this very powerful demon was and what he was up too. And of course how he could benefit himself from this situation.

"Like our contract?" Ciel asked lazily.

"More like marking one's territory," Sebastian replied with a wry smile.

"Perhaps when we get back to the manor."

"Of course master, good night."


One can imagine everyone's bemusement the next morning upon seeing the front headline papers. It seemed the task of staining souls would have to wait.

"I take it last night's little adventure was next to useless." Nefertiti was not impressed to find that her irritating encounter with the Viscount had been all for vain.

"Indeed." There was a light in the butler's eyes that suggested things were going to get far more interesting and probably quite a bit bloodier as well.


Hello all!

This chapter is really more of a segue into the actual plot of my story. Nefertiti has her own plot that sort of runs parallel to Ciel's and Sebastian's plot. I tried to introduce a bit in this chapter with Graveyard, but there's way more of my original plot in the next chapter. I picked the Jack the Ripper case to start because I like that arc in the anime and felt it was probably a good way to get the story started. I know this chapter is a lot of fluff, but the next chapter really does have a lot more meat to it.

Drop me a line if it pleases you.

Adieu!

Veil out.