The carriage rumbled slowly along Mint Street with its little shops. Annie sat nervously next to Sebastian while she, the butler and Ciel were on their way to make some errands. Her gaze drifted to Ciel and once again one question popped up on her mind. She cleared her throat and asked carefully,
"Why—why do you have that eye-patch?"
The young boy watched her blankly before he shifted and replied vaguely, "That's just an old injury. Don't worry about that."
Annie sensed that this was not the full truth and yet she decided to stay silent and watch the morning traffic of London. Children hurried along the street, pulling their parents towards a toy-shop. Upper class ladies with huge hats strolled along the sidewalk chatting and laughing. Annie sighed and asked,
"Will I be able to visit my parents?" Her gaze drifted to Sebastian. His eyes seemed to be warmer as he replied, "I don't think that's a good idea, Miss Conroy."
"Annie," she said determined and earned a confused look from him. "I told you my name is Annie. My mother is Miss Conroy," she added and could see an amused twinkle in his eyes.
"Fine, Annie. And no, you will stay with us the entire time. We will get the Master's cane and some clothes for you. We will return to the mansion in the afternoon," he said and checked his pocket-watch. Finally the carriage came to a halt and the three of them stepped outside onto the busy street.
"Wait—I will go get new clothes together with you?" she suddenly turned to look at the boy and his butler. Ciel lowered his gaze and Annie could see he tried to hide a smile.
"You may buy them by yourself. We will just stay nearby to keep an eye out for any intruders," Sebastian replied and cast a glance along the road as if he was looking for something or someone.
"Do you know anything about the problems my parents are involved in?" she stepped closer to Ciel, but the boy turned to follow his butler towards a shop. Annie stared at them in disbelief until Sebastian pulled her out of her thoughts as he called,
"I suggest you keep up, Annie!"
She huffed and followed them into the shop. She decided to stay close to the door while Sebastian and Ciel talked to the owner of the shop. They talked about a cane or something and she nearly squeaked as Sebastian suddenly held the cane in front of the shop-owner like a gun, but finally he let a bag of money drop on the counter and signaled her to leave the shop again.
"What was that about?" she whispered and watched him curiously. He chuckled as he replied, "He made fun of the young Master. I thought it was necessary to show him not to make fun of Master Phantomhive."
"Uhm—alright. He means a lot to you, right?" she asked while they strolled along the road a few steps behind Ciel.
"Yes, he does—"the butler replied calmly and gestured towards another shop. "There you might find suitable clothes."
"Suitable for what?"she chuckled and pinched his arm playfully. He chuckled and pushed her wordlessly into the shop. Annie sighed and began to try on different dresses, trousers, tunics, shoes and jewelry.
Nearly half an hour later she stepped outside again with three bags. Ciel turned and signaled the carriage to come closer. "Well, I am ready to leave if you are," he said and stepped towards his carriage again. Sebastian opened the door and let the boy step inside.
He took Annie's bags and helped her up as well and finally joined them. The carriage moved on back out of the city. Annie was quite tired and closed her eyes for a while.
As the carriage bumped through a pothole she mumbled and grumbled and finally turned around to snuggle against the soft fabric of her pillow. Her arm and leg wrapped around her blanket and she sighed contently.
"Uhm—"someone cleared his throat and made her snap out of her slumber.
"Wha—?" she mumbled and gasped as she found herself entangled to Sebastian. With a heavy blush she jumped away from him. "I'm sorry! Oh my—why didn't you wake me up?" she asked in shock as she was aware that she had fallen asleep on him. The butler exchanged an amused look with his Master before he replied calmly,
"It seems to be rude to wake a sleeping lady, don't you think?"
She huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I have the strange feeling that it amuses you to embarrass me—"she grumbled and turned to look out of the window.
The butler simply chuckled and they all fell silent for the rest of their way until they finally reached the mansion again.
"Ciiiiel!" a loud, squealing voice boomed up as they entered the mansion again. Ciel's jaw dropped open as he saw all the shiny, pink decorations and a blonde girl came crashing against him.
"I missed you! Look, I made the hall shiny and beautiful!" she called and placed a kiss on his cheek.
Annie was more than confused and winced as Sebastian bent down and whispered, "This is Miss Elizabeth. She is his fiancée."
"Oh—they look cute together," she smiled but could see that Ciel was not quite amused about the girl's presence. He signaled Sebastian to take care of her for a while. The butler bowed and offered his hand towards the girl. "Lady Elizabeth, may I lead you to the lounge? Tea will be served soon."
She smiled brightly, but ignored him and jumped towards Annie. "Who are you? Oh, you are so beautiful!"
Ciel sneaked away to avoid Lizzy's attention and Sebastian picked up Annie's bags. "Your new clothes will be in your room", he said and left as well up the flight of stairs. She stared after him in utter disbelief. 'Did he just leave me here with that hyper-active girl?' she thought a little upset, but faked a smile as the girl pulled her with her into a nearby room which was actually kind of a lounge as well.
"Now tell me, what is your name?" she asked again and Annie sighed heavily. "Annie, I'm the new maid of Master Phantomhive," she replied and got pushed into an armchair.
"My name is Elizabeth, but you can call me Lizzy!" the girl said and jumped into the armchair across from Annie. "Uhm—nice to meet you, Lizzy. But I don't think I have time to talk with you. Sebastian might need my help with the preparations for the tea—"she was about to get up, but the girl scowled at her.
"No! Please, stay here with me! I like you! How old are you?"
"Eighteen—"
"Aaaaw, I'm fourteen! Do you like to dress up? I love it! And I love masked balls! Maybe we should make one! That will cheer Ciel up, I'm certain. He is always so serious—"Lizzy said without even taking a breath between her sentences, but Annie could hear a sudden sadness in her voice as she mentioned Ciel's lack of happiness. This was the perfect chance to get some more information about the Master.
"Lizzy? May I ask you something?"
"Oh, certainly!" her green eyes sparkled in the light of the afternoon sun that shone brightly through the window in the back of the room. Annie cleared her throat before she asked,
"What happened to Ciel's parents? Why does he live here alone with just his butler and us servants? He doesn't even have any pets to cheer him up. Sebastian mentioned he has a hurtful past and—and that he forgot to smile or laugh at al. Do you know anything about this?"
"His parents died in the fire. The whole mansion was alit and—well, that is nearly three years ago. It was on his tenth birthday. Since then he avoids to celebrate his birthday. He vanished for a long time and returned as that boy you know him as together with Sebastian. I remember that he was such a cheerful boy when we were children. I wish he would laugh just once for me again," she explained and sighed as her head hung low.
Annie was more than shocked about these tragic news and all those horrible things that boy must have been through. And yet, one question was not answered. "Uhm—Lizzy?"
"Huh?" the girl looked up again quite curiously. Annie shifted a bit closer and whispered, "Do you know why he wears that eye-patch? Did he wear it before—you know?"
"No—he had the most beautiful blue eyes! I don't know why he wears it—he never showed me or told me how he got it. The only thing he assured me was that he still has two eyes," she giggled and leaned back in her chair.
"If the ladies are finished with gossiping, I would ask you to follow me to have tea," the voice of Sebastian suddenly spoke up from behind Annie and made her jump again.
"Seriously—you have to stop that! At least, you should knock before you enter!"
"I did knock—"he replied and signaled her to get up. Lizzy watched them curiously while Annie approached him. "What are my chores?" she asked as she stopped in front of him. His eyes rested on her face for a moment until his gaze drifted back to Lizzy.
"Miss Elizabeth, follow me. The young Master is waiting for you," and finally he looked back at Annie and added, "You will get the tea from the kitchen and join us in the lounge upstairs."
With the he left the room with Lizzy right behind him. Annie shook her head in defeat and did what she was told.
'He came back after a long time—together with Sebastian,' Lizzy's words echoed through her mind while she fetched the tea and walked carefully up the flight of stairs. Before she entered the lounge she stopped again.
'Where did Sebastian come from?' she thought, now determined to find as much information about the Master and his butler as possible. She straightened and entered the room with a smile.
A/N: Thank you for reading my story! I would really love to hear if you like it! Don't be shy and just drop a few words in the review section. That would encourage me a lot to go on with the story!