|Maid's Room|
Madeleine held out the maid's dress in front of her, examining it rather thoroughly. She personally saw no reason whatsoever to use that heavy a fabric on a dress in which people were required to work in.
"So, this is what servants are supposed to wear in this day and age?" she asked out loud, to no one in particular. She prodded the fabric experimentally. It was a smooth sort of material, heavy and probably very uncomfortable. Her face took on a disdained look. Of course anything would feel coarse after having worn angelic robes for so long.
Madeleine put it on, slipping out of her heavenly attire. It was the first time in over two hundred-fifty years she had ever felt a real fabric. She plucked at the sleeves and skirt, and tried kicking in the air.
It was as if the designer had made this dress specifically to make sure a woman would have no defense when wearing this garment.
Looking for a pair of scissors, she kicked her previous dress in a cupboard not too far from her. Finding the scissors, she started modifying the dress, in hopes of getting it a bit better suited to fighting conditions.
|Trying to find Sebastian|
She walked around the manor, trying to find that son of a bitch that went by the name of Sebastian. This place was huge, making it more than likely she would get lost.
There were several paintings hanging at the walls. She tried to discern if there was perhaps one of her hanging around. The apprentice angel could remember having to stand around for hours waiting for the painter to finish, being bored and sore all over. But then her father and brother had praised the paintings, making the long hours all worth it.
She heard a person screaming, and as she turned about the corner, another maid zoomed by on a cart, making her hair flow back and forth by the air current.
"AAAAAAAAAAH!" the maid yelled, riding on the cart backwards, desperately clutching the handles.
"Oh my, please hold on!" she yelled, starting to run in her shortened dress. As she ran, they were nearing the kitchen. As she ran past, she caught a glimpse of a cook using a flamethrower to create a roast.
'You've got to be kidding me!' she couldn't help but think to herself.
The maid managed to ride through a pair of open doors. The young angel followed ,almost having reached the distressed maid. After her fingers closed around the trolley handles, she caught a glimpse of the surrounding garden.
It was all blackened, as if somebody had used the flamethrower the chef had been using to get rid of everything green here. Faintly she suspected there indeed being such a madman, lurking around and hoping to find a couple of innocent maidens about.
After all, it wasn't unlikely that Sebastian had brought some other demons along. Even if he hadn't…
'This place is a madhouse!' she thought to herself, wondering how Ciel even survived in this environment.
"Are you alright, miss?" she asked the other maid, panting. Or at least she was pretending to pant. Some small distance as that wasn't enough to make a supernatural being break into a sweat. Maybe if it had been a longer distance, and if there had been some enemies trying to kill her.
The maid let herself slide of the cart, sitting on the ground shakily. "Oh my, oh my…" then she noticed the angel, standing there with a worried look on her face. The maid scrambled up, and made a small bow to the stranger.
"Ah, welcome to Phantomhive Manor. My name is Maylene!" she said in a voice that, although respectful, couldn't suppress a cheerful titter in it.
Madeleine made a small bow as well. "Hello Maylene! My name is Madeleine. I'm a maid here too, starting from today!" she answered in a cheerful tone, trying to match Maylene's manner of conduct.
Maylene looked up again, adjusting her glasses and scanning the angel up and down. "Oh, really? But your costume! What happened to it?" she asked, seemingly shocked to see someone walking around with so little fabric covering her body.
The angel looked down at her exposed legs. "Ah, uhm, that's…" she tried to come up with an explanation that didn't involve her little on – coming war with Sebastian. Again she was confronted with the fact that she hadn't prepared enough.
"Maylene? Please tell me that's not Sebastian with you!" a voice sounded in the gardens. It sounded nervous, as if the person whom it belonged to had seriously screwed up something vitally important.
A blond – haired young man came out from behind a bush. Maylene waved at him, trying to appear reassuring. "Finny, it's okay!" she yelled, standing on her tiptoes.
"I'm not Sebastian." The young angel said, trying to keep the disgust from creeping in her voice. "I'm the new maid, Madeleine."
Finny's eyes started to water up a bit. "I don't want to know what Sebastian will do to me if he finds out that I ruined the garden!" he whined, pointing at the charred garden.
The angel glanced around. It did seem to be quite a problem, the garden surrounding the manor having been reduced to a pile of not even smoldering ashes.
Maylene glanced at the broken china cups that were sprawled in the dirt, and started panicking too. "Oh, and what if he finds out about the cups?" she asked, putting her hands to her mouth.
The angel looked around. She couldn't do anything with these two around. "Let's go inside." she suggested. "I saw the cook with a flamethrower, maybe we should stop him." she added, doubting their ability to prevent any further disaster from happening.
|Inside|
Sebastian was already boiling with anger when the three of them appeared. Bard was standing there rather sullen – looking, having just been chewed out by the demon.
"And you! Maylene, what happened to the teacups?" he asked, pointing at Maylene. His face had taken on a frown, as he tapped his foot up and down.
"Ah, I thought we could use the nice tea set today, so I tried taking them out, but then I slipped and ended up breaking them." Maylene answered, pushing her fingers against each other, blushing.
"Finnian, what happened with the garden?" Sebastian asked, pointing at Finny.
"I thought I should get rid of the weeds, but I forgot to put the lid on the can so now everything is deeeeaaaaad!" Finny whined, starting to cry. The angel winced, patting the young man on the back.
Sebastian's finger finally pointed at her.
"Madeleine..." he paused when he actually looked at her. "What happened to your dress?" he demanded, completely outraged. She pretended to not notice the flaming look he threw her way and turned around, showing him her back, arms clasped over one another.
"I thought this design might be more convenient for work." She answered, determined not to give in to the demon.
"And that gives you the right to start cutting it?" Sebastian said, not so much caring for the dress, but rather disturbed by the angel's attitude towards decorum in the house. If she was being a nuisance, he would be the one being scolded by Ciel.
"Hmmm… Well, you were already gone Sebastian, so I couldn't ask you for permission. Besides, I think it looks rather cute on me." She answered him sweetly, looking over shoulder at the demon.
Sebastian clenched his fist. "The four of you are trying to kill me, I'm sure. There's an important guest on the way, and we have less than two hours to get everything fixed. Bard, you get some meat, Maylene, prepare the table covers, Finnian, get me some lily seeds and some decorative stones. Mister Tanaka…. Please have some tea."
The last sentence was said in a more respectful tone, as it was addressed to the oldest butler of the household.
The trio shot off to their respective duties, except Tanaka, who was slurping some tea. She could see Sebastian had a plan, but he wasn't about to tell her. Smiling she waved at Mr. Tanaka, saying hi.
Sebastian frowned at her, trying to find some possible use for an inexperienced nuisance.
"Since you're here, you might as well make yourself useful." He sighed, motioning her to follow him. "Can you cook?" he asked, pulling out some ingredients once they were in the kitchen. She looked at them doubtingly, before reluctantly shaking her head.
"Of course not." she said in a tone that suggested he was being ludicrous. She had been raised as a noblewoman, and the curriculum hadn't involved a cooking class.
He glanced at her. "In that case, as soon as Finnian returns with the seeds, plant them at these places and bring them into bloom. After doing that, go to the third floor and place these mirrors and bookshelves into these positions."
She nodded, taking two papers with instructions on it from him. Both of them made sure not to touch one another. She turned around, getting ready for her duties.
"Oh, and Madeleine." Sebastian's voice coolly called out after her.
She turned her head a bit, looking at him. "Yes, demon?"
"You're not allowed to use any spells or other supernatural means for your tasks. Please go about your tasks as a normal human would. Except of course the garden duty I assigned to you."
Her eyes grew bigger as he said that, before she started fuming. "What? How am I supposed to do that? It would take at least three people to lift one of those mirrors, and I don't even want to mention those bookshelves."
She threw him a glare. "Besides, you're using your powers. I can smell it all over this manor, and you're telling me I can't use my powers?"
Sebastian smirked, his red – brown eyes gleaming fiendishly. "My, I guess you'll have to quit your mission then, if you're not prepared to serve the Phantomhive house with all your cunning. For one in the service of this noble family, it should be only natural to do this."
She huffed, and walked away furiously. She did not hear the demon's whisper behind her.
"There is more than one way to get you away from my Lord." He said softly, hoping that the angel would soon give up and leave him alone with his prey.
|The Third Floor|
"Come on, come on!" She yelled, pulling at the mirror, digging her heels in the soft wooden floor. It moved a fraction of the tiniest amount possible to move, before she had to let go and fell back.
She bumped into a bookshelf, and several books bumped on top of her head.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!" she said, giving an ouch for every book that fell down. Getting back up, she sent a glare towards the mirror. It refused to budge. She make her knuckles knack, preparing for round forty – three.
"Stupid, idiotic, evil, demonic, plotting, arrogant, selfish demon." She muttered to herself, stomping on the floor. "I oughta – "
"Madeleine?" Ciel's voice rang out to her. She looked back, seeing her nephew stand in the doorway. "Ciel!" She said happily, forgetting about Sebastian.
"What were you talking about?" he asked, looking at the mess she had created in the library.
"I was…. Nothing, I just got annoyed by the mirror, that's all." she said, realizing it would be childish of her to complain about Sebastian. This was between her and the demon after all.
"I see. You can stop doing that. We're going to have dessert soon. My guest and I will be waiting in my office. Can you check on the kitchen, and tell Sebastian to serve the food? You can forget about whatever you were doing here. And don't forget the tea!"
She nodded, and walked towards Ciel. She stopped next to him, looking down on him lovingly. "I can't believe how tall you are already, Ciel. You look just like my brother did when he was younger. You have his eyes and everything."
Ciel blushed when she said he had become tall. One of his frustrations was that people still thought he was a kid. "Say, Madeleine. We need to have a talk soon. I have some stuff I need to ask you." He said, looking up at her.
"Of course, Ciel. We'll talk soon." She replied, giving him a pat on the shoulder, before walking off in the direction of the kitchen.
|The Kitchen|
She walked inside. There was nobody except for her and Sebastian. "Demon, Ciel asked you to start serving the table. Are you done? "she asked in what she hoped was a neutral tone of voice.
"I am done with my duties, angel. How are yours coming along?" Sebastian asked, his eyes landing on her, still having that fiendish gleam about them.
She hopped on one of the counters, crossing her ankles as she had been taught ages ago. "Ciel dismissed me." She replied, curling a long lock of her hair around her finger.
Sebastian put a spoon in front of her face, covered in brown and white sticky stuff. She threw a glance at him. "What?" she asked, in a confused tone. What was he hoping to accomplish by putting a sticky spoon in her face?
"Taste it." He ordered her, putting it closer still.
"Uhm… no. Why should I?" she asked, not feeling very comfortable having to taste something that a demon had made.
"Because you were human once. Which means if you like it, they will like it." Sebastian said slowly, sounding as if he were trying really hard not to strangle her.
"What makes you think I'm still able to taste like a human?" she asked, crossing her arms over one another. It was a defensive position, one she was forced to take more than she liked. She knew it, and the demon knew it.
"Because you're so weak, I doubt that you've managed to complete the lowest levels one of your kind should master. I'm surprised you were able to come here on your own. Now taste it." He pushed it so close it almost touched her nose.
"I'm not eating anything that was made by you!" she stated, ignoring the insult that he had just so blatantly spat out at her.
He glared at her. "Open your mouth and taste it." His tone of voice was commanding, and filled with authority.
"No –"
He shoved the spoon in her mouth, almost making her gag. Then she actually tasted what was on it. She brought a hand to her cheek. "Oh my…. This is delicious…. What is this?" she asked, her voice sounding softer than before.
Sebastian blinked, surprised at her reaction. He had expected some kind of scoffing reaction, perhaps a degrading remark, or a spoon thrown in his direction.
"It's chocolate. And some frosting. You've never eaten it when you were alive?" he asked, slightly surprised. He was still waiting for an attack which he could counter. He wanted her to attack him. It would give him an excuse to hurt her.
She shook her head, still gazing at the spoon. "I've never had anything this good."
Then she realized where she was, and who was here too. She smacked the spoon down on the table, and jumped off the counter.
"It's pretty okay, demon. But nothing to get proud over." She said, trying to seem not impressed.
He grinned, and pulled a cake out of the oven, letting the delicious aroma of chocolate fill the kitchen. "Those are pretty big words for an angel who was just enchanted by her first taste of chocolate." He threw back at her, placing the cake on the counter as he started to spread the frosting on it with deft hands.
She threw the spoon at his head. He caught it between two fingers, and smiled. "You should go and see to our guest, little angel. There's no telling what I might do to you if you bring shame on our Lord." His smile grew more sincere as he thought about what he might do to her. Images of blood spattered on the wall filled his mind as he watched her.
She ignored him, and started to load the food on the small cart. When the demon had turned his back to her, she licked her lips, savoring the last flavor of the chocolate.
"What a delicious thing, to not be spoiled by the hands of evil. This must truly be a divine food." She thought, hoping that she would be soon to taste more.
Neither she or the demon looked at each other when she left the room, pushing the trolley. When she had left, Sebastian poised himself against the counter, looking at the spoon she had thrown at him.
He smiled to himself when he thought about her face. "How brave, for such an inexperienced thing to face me. I can see myself having fun bringing her to ruin." He kept smiling, pondering his possibilities, varied as they were. "So much options, and so much time… Wherever should I begin?"
So, I know women shouldn't be running around with their legs bare in that time period. But in my defense Mina - the tailor - isn't that modest either. Not to mention the other anachronisms in the manga. Just enjoy it while it lasts?
