Chapter Two
It wasn't long before the door to the manor opened to reveal a smiling Sebastian.
"I apologize for the wait. Please, come inside."
The travelers did so, and after taking their coats (or cloaks, rather), Sebastian led them up a set of stairs and down a hallway to a large room filled with all manner of game equipment, from cards to a dart board to a billiards table. Sebastian gestured towards the interior of the room.
"Unfortunately, my master is busy with work at the moment, but you will be able to meet him later this evening. I must prepare dinner now, so please stay here until then. In the meantime, try to relax and enjoy yourselves." He turned towards the door. "I'll escort you to the dining room when dinner is ready."
"Thank you very much for doing this. It's very kind of you," Syaoran said.
The butler smiled. "Think nothing of it. It's my master you should be thanking, not me. He's the one allowing you to stay here, after all." A loud crash sounded from somewhere in the manor, and Sebastian frowned. "Now, if you'll excuse me." Turning swiftly, he left the room, shutting the door behind him.
~)))0(((~
Clack! Thud!
Fai smiled as yet another billiard ball dropped into a pocket. "Looks like it's my turn again," he said. "I seem to be doing rather well in this game, don't you think?"
"Oh, shut up," Kurogane growled. "You don't need to rub it in."
"Come now, Kuro-pu, no need to be a sore loser," the wizard teased.
"I'm not a sore loser! I'd be doing better if that stupid creampuff would stop distracting me!"
"Don't blame Mokona!" the creature piped up. "It's not Mokona's fault if you're a bad player!"
"That's it!" Kurogane reached for Mokona, but it jumped out of his reach. "Get back here! I'll turn you into a ball and shoot you into one of those pockets!"
Syaoran and Sakura, who had been chatting quietly at one of the tables, glanced over, watching Kurogane and Mokona's antics with slight amusement.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and Sebastian entered.
"I apologize for the interruption, but dinner is ready."
They all quieted down a bit, expectant. At long last, they would finally be able to meet their mysterious host.
~)))0(((~
"Please, follow me," Sebastian said, leading them through the mansion to the dining room.
The butler opened the door and bowed. "May I present my master, the Earl Ciel Phantomhive."
At the head of the table sat a boy with bluish-gray hair who looked to be about twelve years old.
"A kid?!" Kurogane exclaimed in disbelief. The others seemed to be startled as well.
"My master is the owner and founder of the Funtom Corporation, one of the nation's most prominent toy manufacturers," Sebastian said.
Ciel smiled, though it was closer to a smirk. "I'd like to formally welcome you to the Phantomhive manor. Please, have a seat."
After the five travelers had taken their seats, Sebastian presented the main course. The group had no idea what exactly it was, but it certainly sounded fancy! As they took their first bites, a look of wonder and amazement spread across their faces—with the exception of Kurogane, who, in addition to his usual glare, wore an expression of suspicion.
"Ah! This is fantastic!" Fai exclaimed.
"I'm glad you're pleased," Sebastian said from the place where he stood behind Ciel.
"Did you make this?" the wizard asked.
"Yes," the butler replied.
"Well, you're quite a talented chef! This is incredible!"
"Thank you, but you are too kind. I am no chef."
"Oh? What are you, then?" Kurogane asked gruffly.
Sebastian seemed to take no notice of Kurogane's tone. He smiled and bowed slightly. "Why, I'm simply one hell of a butler."
"What kind of answer is tha—"
"Now then, on to business," Ciel interrupted. "Who exactly are you, and what in the world is that white thing? It looks like a creampuff."
"Mokona is not a creampuff, Mokona is Mokona!" the creature said.
Ciel was startled. "It…talks?"
"Of course! Mokona Modoki, pleased to meet you!" it said, smiling broadly.
Fai gave a little chuckle. "Well, I can't really explain it much better than that. Mokona is sort of like our mascot, I guess you could say. Oh, I'm Fai, by the way. Fai D. Flourite."
The others introduced themselves, and Ciel nodded. "Well, that answers that question, at least. But what I want to know is, why are you here?"
Now it was Syaoran who spoke. "We're searching for something."
"Just 'something'?" Ciel asked.
"Yes."
"Well, I'm not sure I can trust you with only that information," Ciel said. "You'll have to give me more than that if you want to stay here while you search."
"It's just something I promised I'd find for someone," Syaoran said, his face an unreadable mask. "We have no intention of bringing harm or trouble to you, so you don't need to worry about that."
Ciel stared at Syaoran for a while, seeming to gauge his expression. "…Hmph. Fine, then. You can stay, assuming you're telling the truth about not causing me any trouble."
"That's great, thank you," Syaoran said. "I was wondering…could you tell us a bit more about the country? We're…well, we don't really know much of anything about it."
"All right. What do you want to know?"
~)))0(((~
After they had finished eating, Ciel drew Sebastian aside, his suspicions nagging at him.
"Sebastian, are any of them—?"
"They are all human," his butler assured him. "Though I did sense a strong power from two of them—Fai and Sakura, I believe their names were?"
"Hmm…" Ciel thought for a moment. It was obvious that the group was hiding something from him…but what? What could it be that they were searching for?
"Sebastian, I want to know as much as I can about them as soon as possible. Understood?"
"Yes, but my lord…" Sebastian began.
"What is it now?" Ciel asked, irritated. "Do I have to repeat my orders?"
"My lord, I just think that perhaps it would be more effective if you obtained the information yourself. I do have other responsibilities to take care of, after all, and you would be able to get the information directly from the source…"
"Tch. That's ridiculous. I have too much work to do, and I'm not going to waste my time spying on them. Are you telling me you can't do something as simple as this?"
"No, of course not, my lord. It was simply a suggestion."
"Well, I gave you my answer. Now get to work."
"Yes, my lord." He walked back over to Syaoran and the others. "If you would please follow me, I'll show you to your rooms."
~)))0(((~
The travelers were sitting in one of the rooms assigned to them, talking. "Well, Mokona, can you sense one of Sakura's feathers?" Syaoran asked.
The creature closed its eyes for a few moments, concentrating, then opened them with a smile. "It's very faint, but there's one on this world! Mokona's sure of it!"
"That's great." Syaoran smiled, relieved.
Suddenly Mokona let out a squeak, its eyes wide. The others looked over, surprised. A beam of light shot from the jewel on Mokona's forehead, and suddenly Yuko was displayed in a circle of light on the wall.
"Yay! Yuko's come to see us!" Mokona exclaimed happily.
"It's good to see you all again," Yuko greeted.
"Well, this is quite a surprise," Fai said. "I didn't think we'd be hearing from you again so soon."
"I thought I'd check in and see how Mokona was doing," the witch replied. "So, what world are you in now?"
Syaoran told her what Ciel had told them about the world. "Apparently, this country is called England, and we're just outside a city called London. The country's ruled by Queen Victoria, and the person who owns this mansion, Earl Phantomhive, seems to work for her. The earl also owns a toy company called Funtom."
"Sounds like you're in an alternate timeline," Yuko said thoughtfully.
"Alternate timeline? What's that?"
"In my own world, there is also a country called England. Judging by what you've told me, you seem to be in the Victorian Era, which my world's England also had a few centuries ago. However, to my knowledge there was never a Phantomhive family or Funtom company in my England."
"So what you're saying is that we're in a different version of your world's history," Fai summed up.
"Precisely."
"Okay, so we're in this 'alternate timeline' or whatever. What does that have to do with anything? That doesn't tell us anything useful," Kurogane grumbled.
"Kuro-burro, there's no need to be rude," Fai scolded.
"Actually, I did have another reason for calling," Yuko said.
"Oh? And what would that be?" Fai asked.
"I just thought I would give you a warning." Yuko's tone became serious. "You should know by now that not everyone is who they appear to be. Everyone has secrets, some of which are best left alone. If you dig too deep, you may find yourselves in more danger than you expected." And with that, Yuko's image vanished.
"What the heck was that supposed to mean?" Kurogane asked.
"I'm not sure, but we should keep it in mind all the same," Fai said. "After all, we shouldn't—"
"Hold on a minute," Kurogane interrupted, narrowing his eyes. He strode over to the door and yanked it open. The others' eyes widened as a startled Ciel Phantomhive fell into the room.
"Looks like the kid was spying on us."
"I was doing no such thing!" Ciel protested.
"Oh, then what were you doing then?" Fai asked, a small smile on his face.
Ciel stood up, brushing himself off. "I should be the one asking questions. What the devil were you talking about just now? Feathers? I demand to know what you five are up to!"
"Well, if he's heard this much, we might as well tell him, don't you think?" Fai asked the others, looking pointedly at Kurogane.
"Tch…fine," Kurogane muttered, turning away sulkily.
Syaoran stepped forward and began explaining to Ciel. "Sakura is the princess of a country called Clow. She lost her memories, which took on the form of feathers and scattered across dimensions. We've been traveling to different worlds to get her memory feathers back."
Ciel's eyes widened slightly as he took all of this in. "So that's what you're searching for, then?"
"Yes."
The earl's manner suddenly changed. "Good. Now that you've finally told me everything, I can get some work done."
"So you don't mind us staying here?" Syaoran asked.
"Stay here as long as you like. I don't really care, as long as you don't bother me." He turned towards the door, then looked back over his shoulder. "Feel free to explore the manor if you feel like it," he added. That said, he left the room swiftly, leaving the door partially open.
In the shadows, Sebastian watched the whole exchange and chuckled softly to himself.
~)))0(((~
"William, why do I have to do it?"
"Because I told you to. Now get to work."
"But why can't you get Ronald or someone to do it?"
"We are already understaffed, and Knox is investigating the other case. Since you can't seem to do your job properly, you'll be doing this instead."
"But Will…"
"This is an extremely important task, so I trust that you'll take every precaution to avoid mistakes. And make sure that filthy demon doesn't catch you. The last thing we want is him interfering again."
"Oh, my darling Bassy~! I don't mind the job so much if I get to see him again!"
"He is not your concern. Your job is to investigate the new group. You will not have anything to do with that scum. Is that understood, Grell Sutcliffe?"
"Of course ~! I'll just take a few candid photos, and—"
Whack!
"Oww! William, that hurt!"
"Quit wasting time and get to work, Sutcliffe. We need this information as soon as possible."
"All right…"
William left the room. As soon as the door closed, Grell grinned wickedly, showing off his impressively sharp teeth.
"Oh~! I can't wait to see him again! Just you wait, Bassy! I'll show you a deadly good time!"
Warning: This Author's Note contains spoilers.
Well, five months and a day later, the second chapter is finally up! Woot! Sorry it took so long; I'll try to make updates quicker from now on!
Okay, so here's where the story is according to the anime timelines:
With Kuroshitsuji, going by the anime timeline, this takes place somewhere after the cult arc with the reappearance of Angela, and before the whole "game" with Lau.
As for Tsubasa, the story takes place somewhere between Oto and Tokyo. I may add specific references later that make the place on the timeline more specific, but for now, that's where it stands.
Also, I should warn you: due to my lack of creativity (and love for Oto), I'll probably include a LOT of things that mimic previous occurrences in the series. Sorry. ^^;
Oh, and just so you know, I'll probably end up focusing more on the interaction between characters and such rather than what happened to Sakura's feather. Once again, sorry. ^^;
Oh, and since the last chapter, I have watched Season 2 of Kuro, but I still won't be adding anything in from it. For one thing, I don't particularly want to add any of the new characters from it, and including it would also mean dealing with Ciel's memory loss...which would just be a pain.
I think that's about it for this author's note, but if I think of anything to add, I'll put it on here.
Thank you everyone who reads, reviews, or follows this story! It means a lot to me. ^^