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"Young master, we are here."

Ciel Phantomhive, heir to the Phantomhive legacy, Earl and trusted servant to the Queen of England sleepily opened his eyes. For a moment, he had a vision that they were sailing over the rooftops of London on black feathered wings. The dark feathers swirled around them, and he felt warm, nestled there in Sebastian's arms…feathers soft against his cheeks…

He blinked and the image was gone.

Sebastian looked down at the young lord in his arms and smiled. In his sleep, the eye patch had slid sideways off Ciel's face to dangle by his ear, fully revealing the mark which sealed their bond, now that the young master was awake…the mark which made Sebastian's hand itch so ravenously every night…

Sebastian's coat fluttered quietly as his feet brushed the ground. Ciel struggled to get down.

"Young master, your eye patch…"

"I know!" Ciel growled, angrily pushing Sebastian's arms away. The demon's true identity was not lost on him, would never be lost on him. It would be foolish to forget the real reason why Sebastian had sworn to stay by his side till the very end…indeed, very foolish. No matter how safe the butler's presence made him feel…no matter how much he wanted to be-

It was a cold night, and Ciel fumbled with tying the knot on the only article of dress he was used to putting on himself. Sebastian simply beamed at him and handed him his common-boy's-cap from somewhere inside his black waistcoat. Ciel grabbed it, surveying their present location. A series of shady doorways not uncommon to the poorer London neighborhoods lined the cobbled street.

"So this is Dorset Street?"

"Yes, my lord."

Ciel set his mouth in a grim line. The concealed pistol pressed coldly against the small of his back.

There would be no bedtime dessert-and-tea tonight.

******

Butler felt…fuzzy. It reminded him of the time when he'd first joined Madam Ko's Academy and accidentally shot himself with a tranquilizer gun. It was as if he was being dissimulated atom by atom, stretched, then suspended in emptiness, yet somehow still together and barely conscious. He wondered if they looked like the teleporting characters from those Star Trek shows that Juliet liked to watch when wrestling wasn't on, to some casual insomniac resident peering out the window. It was no use fighting against the pull of the fairy technology. Butler relaxed.

As they drifted in and out of the time-stream, some of their earlier conversation floated back to him.

"So they intend to use us as-"

"That's right. Better to send Mud Men test subjects to a Mud Men occupied past, than risk one of their own. It was the only way I obtain one of these first-generation Faerie Rings, and a trial product at that."

We're volunteered Guinea pigs. That's reassuring, Butler thought. Beside him he sensed Artemis's being pulse rather vigorously. His own body gave a violent shake but otherwise nothing seemed to happen.

"I've described our destination already to our little friends below. Naturally, they don't know the true point of this expedition but they are monitoring the trip and will make, uh, corrections if we offshoot by a single minute."

Butler did not want to know what those corrections were.

"Artemis, how can you be sure that the Ring…"

"…Will get us to the right place? It was quite simple- I did a full check-up of all its functions the minute we returned to the manor. It is my design after all, so I can assure you it hasn't been tampered with. Ah, I see you're still not convinced. Perhaps if I explained it with this example you will find our mission actually quite possible."

"Imagine that time," Artemis explained, "is running stream, and you and I are only two leaves floating along it. Leaves are stuck to the surface of the stream and can only be carried forward by the rushing water, as are we, living only in the present but always moving towards our so-called fates. But if a leaf suddenly leaves the surface of the stream, is suspended over it and then dropped, it would be at a different place, a different "present". The water has moved on and the leaf is now located in a section of the stream behind where it used to be.

That, my friend, is time travel. As well as the function of the Rings."

Butler had nodded, although he was sure more went into it than what Artemis was letting on. He decided not to press his employer. They had to get moving, if they were to avoid the nightly rounds made by the NSY.

"One last thing: The reason I am telling you this Butler, is because inserting two objects back into the time-stream takes quite an amount of energy, so please do not be alarmed if our arrival is rather flashy."

"Understood."

Artemis had hardly spoken this last comment for Butler's own sake. The unstated message rang loud and clear: 'Be Prepared-our entrance will be noticed.'

******

On November 9th, 1888- in the midst of the Jack-the-Ripper case- two mysterious figures stepped out of the night... and appeared on Dorset Street.

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Don't make me get Sebastian.