[edit] fixed Grell's pronouns (only concerning narration, merianna is confused about all this), msg me if I missed any
"And what have you found out from Mr. Breton?" Ciel demanded.
"Well, Young Master. It would be incorrect to say that this is the Mr. Breton we expected…" Sebastian answered, reading from a set of papers.
"An imposter?"
"It appears the sir was attacked before we came to pick him up, and the thieves put an impostor in his place. Their goal: to steal valuables from the Phantomhive household for their so called…guild…"
"It's those bastards again, isn't it?"
"Yes, Young Master. The Rouge-Gorges."
"A guild of thieves I see… The Queen will surely send me a letter concerning them soon. What other information did you get from Mr. Breton?"
"Hm, not much before his body succumbed to drowning, I supposed I should work on my waterboarding skills…or perhaps it was the quality of the rainwater…"
"Sebastian!"
"Ah yes. My apologies. He told us the place where he was to deliver the goods once he escaped from the mansion. Shall we finish the job for him?"
Sebastian handed to Ciel a map of the local area, with the destination circled in black ink.
"Of course. Prepare a carriage immediately. We will have to contact our correspondent there as well. We will leave tonight."
"Yes, my lord."
"Haaaaah? Young Master is taking you to France? How lucky!" Finnian exclaimed.
"It's an okay country." Snake remarked, picking another tomato.
Finny moved the basket closer over to him.
"Ah, Merianna's hometown is there…she called it…Hainneville. Have you been there before?"
"…Yes…"
"So you know how to speak the language, right?"
"…No…"
Inside the house, Merianna dropped the duster while Sebastian told her the news.
"Only Master Ciel, Snake and you…?"
Sebastian smirked. "Yes, you heard correctly. Boarding on the ship tomorrow to France. It certainly is a shame that you couldn't come along."
She gripped the duster tightly when she picked it back up, with an almost murderous aura around her.
"P-Please…take care…of the Master then…" she said, bearing a forced grin.
It was only after he closed the door that Merianna turned into a whirlwind, brushing and dusting the study.
Why couldn't he take meeee? I speak French! Quite fluently as well! In fact, I bet I could point him out to the most delicious French desserts! Ohhhh and they are ferrying over! On a ship~! Gah! I will have to work harder so that Master will notice my efforts and take me along next time!
As mad as she was for not having been chosen to go, she felt a sort of happiness that her friends would see how elegant her birth country was. In a sense, if they were in France, a part of her soul was there as well. From the window, she watched as Tanaka pulled up the horse carriage and stopped at the front. Sebastian and Bardroy were carrying heavy-looking trunks and cases. Snake, too, was carrying a suspiciously heavy wooden crate. She sighed and quickly finished in time so she could see them off.
"Dear, our Young Master is travelling so far away!" Meirin exclaimed. "We won't have anyone to take care of for a while…"
"Nonsense. There is plenty to take care of during our absence." Sebastian said.
He handed let a piece of paper that unrolled into just about a million chores to do around the house.
"And don't let anyone else on the property." Ciel warned.
"Yes, My Lord!" the servants said in unison.
Ciel slept while the carriage travelled, finally stopping at an inn when they were near the border. As usual, Ciel had only the finest foods to eat, even if they were away from home. After all, he still had Snake, Tanaka and Sebastian to wait on him. Each person had their own single room, and slept soundly that night. The next day, Sebastian and Snake had to pack up everything to get back on the trail. Tanaka had readied the horse carriage and the journey continued until they reached the docks. They stopped and unloaded the carriage, waved goodbye to Tanaka and he set off back to the estate. Sebastian and Snake lugged the cases to the big ship and handed them off to the attendants. Snake hoped that none would hear the suspicious hissing from inside one of the crates…
They boarded the ship and mingled among the passengers. Ciel kept mostly to himself, leaning over the railing to watch the ocean waves. The ship was filling up with more people, and they started noticing the 'snake-skinned person', the 'handsome butler' and the 'unsupervised child'. Ciel had absolutely no interest in mingling with the crowd, so full of peasants. Despite this, he listened into any conversations that happened near him.
"Oh, did you hear that terrible news about that stealing maid? I hear that she was given another job, at the same mansion!"
"No! That's absurd! It must have been that rogue group that's been going around again…"
"Are you quite sure that this ship won't crash? It's such a beautiful night…I feel a bit sick…How long will the trip be?"
"I hope we reach Paris soon~"
"It seems this ship is docking at Hainneville. It will take 2 days they said. Oh dear, how will the children take this?" fussed one woman.
"Oh! Hainneville! You must be careful, darling." Said another, "That town is rumoured to be full of rapists and bad people. Not a single good person at all!"
"I suppose they all left for England!"
The gossiping women squawked in laughter like parrots. One of them carried a small, sleek bulldog that squirmed in her arms until she finally let it down. It sniffed around the docks and came up to Ciel, sniffing his feet. Sebastian responded by glaring at it.
"Oh, Tikess! Don't terrify the poor child!" the woman scolded. "Come here, boy!"
"I hate dogs…" Sebastian mumbled.
Ciel smirked. "Well, you'll be together for 2 days on this ship. Woof!"
Finally, everyone had boarded and the ship set sail. The ship was a common ferry across the English Channel, but Ciel had rented almost a quarter of the ship for his own personal space. He resided in the silence of one parlour alone, reading from a book. Meanwhile, he sent Snake to guard outside, untrusting of the more common folk around the ship. Sebastian he sent to mingle with the folk to gather gossip and news. At once, there was a large thump noise. Ciel ignored it the first time, but this time, there was something that fell into the waters. He only caught something in his peripheral vision through the window, so he was unsure of what it was.
He opened the door to the rest of the ship, surprised to see Snake still standing there. Sebastian was walking calmly towards them with a small smile on his face.
"What is going on?" Ciel demanded.
"Oh, just a robbery, Young Master. Of the whole ship."
"It's a group that proclaim to be called the Ruje-Gores or something like that…says Celia."
Merianna was sweeping the patio with the straw broom, sighing dejectedly. How she wished to be on the ship with her Master. She worried if they were able to take care of Ciel. She still didn't trust Sebastian at all, and Snake was still inexperienced. Certainly she would be able to protect him and take care of him as well. Since Sebastian had gone, Bardroy would be in charge of cooking meals again. She preferred leftovers than his 'special surprise meat' pie.
She saw someone red approaching the patio. She looked somewhat familiar, and she seemed to calmly be walking, as if she was a regular guest at the estate. Her colour was vibrant and flamboyant.
"H-Hold it! Who are you? Th-This is private property!" Merianna yelled.
"Araa? Did you say something?" The strange person asked.
She had long red hair and a crimson jacket she loosely wore around her arms with bright lime green eyes that seemed so familiar under her red-rimmed glasses. Her mouth revealed teeth that reminded Merianna of monsters. Merianna clamped her mouth shut upon hearing the deep voice.
"Is Sebas-chan home?"
"Sebas…chan? Do you mean Sebastian?"
The man had grabbed Merianna's chin and painfully twisted it left and right.
"Huh…you don't seem like Sebastian's type…or any other kind of person's type either…"
She let go forcefully, almost snapping Merianna's neck, took out a book and started scanning through it, mumbling something to herself.
"H-Hey! You are trespassing on Master's property! I will k-kick you out!" Merianna threatened.
She didn't want to be rude, and she was a little frightened by this man who looked like a woman. She grabbed his arm and started to drag him away, but she had no MANLY PHYSIQUE (rubyquest joke insert) and it was no use, the crimson man would not budge.
"I will have to force you out then!" she warned.
He looked at her with the most uninterest in the world. Merianna was not being taken seriously at all. In response, Merianna took out her cards. She didn't want to kill this opponent. She supposed that as long as she didn't cause any bleeding, the man would be fine.
"Risado sirscunus! Deus!"
The Hanged Man.
The sun suddenly retreated behind a large heavy cloud, as many more joined to block the sky out completely.
"Aryan victinr sy-yarn" she muttered. Get away from here.
"What's that? You want me to go away? For an angel, your accent is pretty good."
He continued flipping through the pages, but he suddenly stopped upon realization.
"Why would an angel know devilspeak…"
He had no more time to ponder the thought though, as a rope suddenly caught around his neck. He struggled and dropped the book, unable to escape before the knot enclosed his neck. The noose. There was a noose around his neck. His breath caught in his throat and he tried to scratch at the rope.
"DETTAKE! SUGREI!"
Merianna released Deus, reverting back to her proper English.
"That was a warning, sir! Madam…? Sir, what ever being you are! I ask that you leave the ground now if you have no business here!."
The man fell to the ground, although he seemed to be all right. A suited individual with slicked back hair and black rimmed glasses appeared beside him with a similar book and hedge clippers, kicking the man on the butt.
"I should've known it was you who took the liberties of trying to collect the soul here."
Merianna gripped the card, ready to summon another couple more lengths of rope now that another trespasser had joined in.
"Please disregard us, ma'am. We are simply Death Reapers on our duty." The suited individual politely said.
He turned back to the red Death Reaper, picking her up by the ear. Merianna lowered her guard for a moment, blinking her eyes to assure herself that she was not dreaming. Where were the horses that accompanied them or the black shawls that encompassed their skeletons, she asked in her mind.
"Grell! I've told you many times not to disrespect the Devils! For shame!"
"But Willlll!" she whined. "She ain't a Devil! She's a measly angel-girl!"
"Measly!" Merianna spat, offended.
It wasn't him that was dangling down from a knotted rope a few seconds ago, she thought. The Death Reaper called Will pushed the glasses on his face, staring at her. Merianna swore she could feel icicles growing on her. He didn't seem to be buying the story anyways.
"Let's just go. If you give me anymore trouble, I will have you work overtime!" He hissed, addressing the man…or woman? called Grell.
They started to leave, but only towards the house. Merianna was losing her patience now with these two strange fellows. Who were they?
"Risado sirscunus…Dris-Vit."
She was able to process the information that went through their minds. Things about collecting a soul, returning to the shinigami world, filing paperwork, more paperwork, a Ronald Knox, more paperwork...
"Mr. Death Reaper? There is no dead soul in this house to collect." She said firmly.
The suited Death Reaper opened his book and read out the name.
"Mr. Arthur Breton."
Merianna's breath cut short. "Yes…he was here yesterday…but our butler…"
She couldn't finish. After he had been knocked unconscious by Sebastian, she had no knowledge of what happened to him afterwards. Surely they sent him back home?
"He must not have died here." She concluded, the only logic left she could think of.
"Will! She's an angel that's trying to hide him! C'mon Will!" Grell pouted. "Hurry up or she'll tarnish it!"
Merianna wasn't sure what to do. Which one of them was right? And that Grell was getting on her nerves! There was only one way to find out. She didn't know Mr. Breton's fate herself.
"Well…I suppose if your intentions are honest, I will escort you through the house…but please don't do anything troublesome…!"
She stared at the strange beings up and down before making her way to the house, leading them. From the stories she read, one always had to be respectful to the spiritual deities (even though she was one herself), and was on her more respectful behaviour. She even refrained from shooting cold glares at Grell! She kept a hand on her cards just in case they tried to pull anything and constantly looked over her shoulder to check if they were still following. She let them through the back door, through the servants' quarters and downstairs, which was apparently where the body was located.
This time though, she had to let the Death Reapers lead, since they insisted that they touch the soul first 'since you are an angel' Grell insisted. Merianna rolled her eyes. What interest would she possibly have in a stinking invisible corpse? They searched the wine cellar, the fermentation room, the cheese processing station, the poultry keep, and did not seem to relent in their search. Merianna was getting suspicious. What if they too, were thieves trying to steal valuables? She qualmed this thought with Dris-Vit's mind-analysis. They were honest about their work there, as unbelievable as they looked.
Suddenly, the crimson Death Reaper started sniffing the air.
"The scent of Sebastian's sweat~" she squealed delightedly.
Merianna felt shivers whenever this Death Reaper talked. Why was he so interested in Sebastian?
Grell sniffed near a cabinet in one of the rooms. Merianna snatched a look at the ground, and then at the cabinet itself. It was heavily dusty (something that irritated her as a maid now), but there were signs that it had been moved on the ground. The suited Reaper took one side of the cabinet while the crimson one took the other, and they moved it out of the way. Merianna didn't even know there was a hidden passage here.
From behind the cabinet, there was a loose cloth nailed to the wall. William held the fold open.
"Ladies first."
Merianna was about to step in when suddenly Grell pushed her aside and went in. With a small grunt, she had to take a double look. Perhaps he was just being rude and ignored simple manners. Merianna cleared the thoughts away as she squatted and sidestepped under the cover. The first thing that hit her was the horrible stench that was steeping in the room. Disgusted, she took out a washing rag she had with her and covered her mouth and nose. The two Death Reapers came in after her, also commenting on the smell. Will took out a strange mechanism that when he flicked, set fire to all the candles in the room.
But Merianna wished he hadn't.
They found the source of the horrid stench all right. There was a corpse tied to a board, face mashed in a grotesque fashion and skin paling and shrinking. Merianna kept herself from gasping any more putrid air, and kneeled down to bury her face in her knees, feeling sick. Meanwhile, Will took out his book and examined it, returning to the body.
"That's him, Mr. Arthur Breton. Died of torture. Drowning, to be specific."
Merianna lifted her head up.
"T-Torture? That's impossible! That's unthinkable!" she stated. "It-It must be an accident!"
"Why don't you see for yourself?" Grell mused.
She took out a large whirring machine and instantly, a film record started flowing from the corpse. Merianna suddenly remembered something from quite a while ago. The same strand of memories and pictures from inside someone's soul, and a crimson demon-man trying to attack her, to cut off her wings.
"Leave."
The two Reapers looked at her strangely.
"I said leave! Right now!"
She drew out a card, any card would do. So An it was. She called out her incantations before the Death Reapers could react, and instantly a flaming Morningstar orbited her.
"Well~ This brings back fond memories." Grell cooed, lashing out with her machine.
Behind him, Will drew out his hedge trimmer, busying himself by pruning the film strips. Merianna didn't want to pick a fight with him if she stayed out of the way. Summoning up more, she came closer to Grell, who had to knock away the dangerous objects. Her machine cut through every one of them however, but Merianna could summon more and more until she would tire. The room started to fill up with smoke and fire. Even the wooden board and the tips of the carcass…
"Done! Now let's get out of here!" Will exclaimed.
Grell harrumph, and they disappeared in a flash. Merianna tried to regulate her breathing again, infuriated with her frustration of her confusion and letting that crazy Death Reaper get away once again. The horrible stench was now spreading even faster with the flames engulfing it. When she released her card, the morningstars disappeared, but the fire was eating up the place. Merianna stepped out of the horrible room without bothering to stop the inferno from eating away at whatever truth lay hidden inside.
With a final goodbye, Sebastian kicked off the lifeboat containing the bound and gagged criminals out into the open sea. When he went back to attend to his master, he was surrounding by the other passengers who were thanking and praising the 'lovely brave boy'. Sebastian sighed and yanked him out of that mess, carrying him all the way to his personal section of the boat. Ciel was exhausted from the stress of it all, and told Sebastian that he was going to retire early today.
"The ship has returned to being under control…says Wordsworth. The trip will continue on its pace." Snake reported.
Ciel nodded, just about to fall asleep. While Sebastian went to send him to sleep, Snake escaped to the deck, unable to fall asleep. There were few people that were there, as most had gone to bed as well. He kept his companions safe inside his suit so that they would not get too cold. He learned over the railing to peer into the waters that parted as the ship sailed on until he heard footsteps behind him.
"It didn't seem like we came to France for a bit of vacation time…said Kent."
The Phantomhive butler smiled. "You are correct."
"The Ruji-Gerge people just now…didn't seem to seem to be your target…"
"Not entirely."
Sebastian started the explanation. "Originally, the Queen has asked us to take care of Mr. Arthur Breton, who was a valuable client to our company as well as our country. However, it seems a thief guild had taken his place trying to steal from our estate."
Snake's hand instinctively went to the side of his head that was still healing from the hit.
"The thief guild…Rouge-Gorges…it seems they were going to pull off a heist while escorting their impostor on this ship, although their plan has been miserably overthrown. The impostor was headed towards France, perhaps to meet up with the headquarters. We have certain connections to the underground there as well, so rooting out this anthill should be easier. Squash a colony before it can build, don't you agree?"
"It seems…strange…for a thief guild to be so…"
He wasn't sure how to finish that sentence, but Sebastian closed his eyes in thought, nodding slightly.
"They are amateurs after all, only now have they begun being more active."
"How many correspondents do you have in France?" Snake continued.
"Only one, but he should be enough. After all, if a Phantomhive servant is not able to do that, what use are they?"
Merianna had fallen asleep reading in the library again, having waken up to a sore back. She rubbed her eyes to rouse them as well. She had asked that she not be disturbed by the others while in the library, not even for dinner. She had tried to find any records on the Phantomhive estate and its family. Surely the body in the basement was a trick? Yet everything seemed to be the truth. The missions that the Death Reapers were on, the film strip that sprung out, the dead body…they all pointed to a dark side of the Phantomhive mansion that she had never known before. She had not even finished scanning through a bookshelf before she fell asleep on the warm couch. Perhaps sleep was better than finding the truth after all.
Now she was feeling a bit hungry.
Looking out the window, it was pitch dark. Of course it was night; she had slept through the evening. She scurried out of the library and towards the kitchen, hoping that she could find something small to satisfy her hunger, at least until morning. Her footsteps were light on the floors and the candle she had in her hand gave little light. In the kitchen, she searched around, although she was unsure of what exactly she would be looking for.
Oh,hoh,hoh,hoh…!
Merianna nearly jumped out of her skin and also spilled the candle wax on Tanaka, who was holding his own candle, and in his pajamas.
"Oh! Tanaka…I'm sorry, did I wake you?" she whispered, heart beat racing.
He shook his head, holding up a plate for her, full with cooked rice. She received it and smiled.
"Thank you Tanaka. I fell asleep in the library…and even at this time of the night…" she said embarrassingly.
The old man gave another laugh. That's right, he was very old, Merianna realized. A question that rested on her heart found its way onto her tongue, although she wasn't sure whether it was the right time to ask.
"Tanaka…you've…worked here for quite a long time…even when Ciel was a small child. What…Is there…Is this…I saw…"
She took a deep breath to summon up her courage.
"Well…I realized that…Finny, Bardroy, Snake…Meirin…we have…I guess…one would say… an ability to…harm people. Finny with his strength, Bardroy with his battle tactics and Meirin with her guns...Now Snake with his serpents…Do you…Do you…Are we…Are we all just killing machines-?"
Her voice was stuck in her throat and she quickly set the plat on a nearby countertop to cover her mouth. A small sob escaped her mouth when she remembered the dead carcass in the basement. Which one of them could have done that? It was the horrifying thought that anyone in the house could have.
"I'm…I'm just a…a maid…here…But what do we really do here, Tanaka? What services are we really dealing with?"
Tanaka just shook his head sympathetically. "Perhaps it is because of your soft-heartedness that the Young Master has refrained from telling you, even if you've had prior suspicions…And now you bear the consequence of his decision…but it will all come to light soon, dear girl."
"I cannot tell you what it entails…" he continued, "It would be against my pride and duty. But you may wish to speak with him whence he returns. If only you had joined him in his travels."
She nodded understandably, admiring the stoic and wise servant. His words had certainly put her worries to rest and her heart at ease.
"Thank you, Tanaka."
She didn't feel the need to continue her search in the library anymore. She finished her dinner and headed to her room, singing of the fairy horse Falada and the magical steed Sleipnir. She was sure that she would find the truth soon.
Finally, the ship had reached the docks of Hainnesville, and everyone boarded off, carrying luggage and cases. The air was musky with the smell of fish and of course, fermenting wine. Ciel insisted that they find a suitable inn to rest at before going to explore the city further. At the docks, Snake pointed out a fairly modest ship by the same name as one of their friends. Sebastian made note to tease Merianna about the ship's name later. They were still quite a ways from their destination after all. After they settled down, they went to a local restaurant to eat, except that Ciel had ordered Sebastian to locate and bring in their correspondent.
While Ciel could read the menu, Snake had quite a bit of difficulty. Even more so when the waiter came and presumably asked them what they would like. Ciel went on with quite a bit of detail on how he wanted his meal, while Snake just pointed to a random dish and hoped for the best. The restaurant was surprisingly bare, but the noise from the tables was loud. There were a couple of old men laughing and having a beer next to Ciel's table.
"Yeah! I wonder where that damsel's been off to now! Took that kid right off with her!"
"My God, you're still bragging about being able to knock that woman up after all these years. Ahahahaha!"
"Well, it wasn't like she could've been passed around with you fellas! She was the absolute angel I've ever laid eyes on!"
"Complete unrefinery…" Ciel muttered under his breath.
He hoped that Sebastian would hurry up. Finally, the food arrived. Ciel's was mutton that was braised and covered with a delicious looking sauce while Snake's seemed all too familiar. The snakes that peeked out of his coat suddenly hissed and burrowed deeper in.
It seemed that Hainnesville cuisine included a moulting snake fried and decorated on a lavish plate. (Don't quote me on this!)
Snake hurriedly excuse himself to go to the washroom.
