Alrighty, chapter four is here! I want to give thanks to Sit Back and Life Live for being so kind as to enjoy the story and review :D . So without further ado, let the story continue!~
"This morning you have dance lessons with Mrs. Brush, and then you have a meeting later this afternoon," Sebastian tells Ciel as he follows after the human boy through the hallway. It's been about...Maybe a week since the curry incident with Soma and Agni, whom have both returned back to their home. At least, as far as I know. "Are you listening to me, Bocchan?"
"Haven't I told you that I'm tired of dance lessons? I wasn't meant to dance," Ciel tells his butler.
"Master, you dance perfectly fine," I assure him. I'd speak in my broken up sentences, but last time I tried to revert for the sake of me, I was hit by a grandfather clock via Sebastian being 'clumsy'. I sigh. So much has changed since I joined this pack. From not talking a single word, to speaking in perfectly fluent sentences.
"No I don't, Phobia. And for that matter, we should give you a new name. The one you have now isn't human. In Hell, what did you go by?" Ciel states.
"As in a name?" I wonder.
"Yes, as in a name you dolt," Ciel sighs.
"No need to be rude, Master," I whimper out, "Before I came to this world, I was known as Fobie (pronounced Fo-bee-long a). It means Phobia".
"Fobie? What kind of name is that? We'll just have to go with the one you have now, then. Unfortunately"
"The kind of name that goes to the strongest of Hell Hounds," Sebastian tells him as I figure he knew I wasn't going to tell him. "Though how someone like you managed to become the strongest, I have no idea".
"I was just raised that way is all," I sigh, and run shortened bone claws along the back of my other hand despite the fact that they're hidden by white gloves; a tick I seem to have when annoyed. "Just because I got my ass handed to me by you doesn't mean I'm weak. I don't like to go all out, it's not fun".
"Not fun?"
"Hell Hounds have a known record of being rather sadistic. That is, once they've grown passed their initial instincts," Sebastian again explains. "They delight in killing their enemies and playing with their food".
"Is that so bad?" I sigh out and place a clawed hand to my forehead. "I wish I had never decided to dedicate my life to you at the moment, Then I wouldn't be explaining everything, nor would I have to actually tell you about my potential. I was hoping that with the injury to my head I wouldn't ever be able to talk again- even though it got annoying sometimes. But no, you just had to be the perfect butler, didn't you? Jamming information into my mind and turning me into something like yourself. Even making me want to please you by learning on my own how to talk fluently after you gave me the basics. You're cruel".
"I find that to be a complement, honestly, coming from the strongest Hell Hound," Sebastian smiles out. Our conversation though stops at the sound of laughter. One voice is Tanaka's, the other belonging to someone else.
We open the door that leads to the room we heard the laughter coming from, only to see Mr. Ash. I grin broadly. Like Sebastian, the scent he constantly gives off is to die for. However, in his time away from us he seems to have done his reading up on Hell Hounds, and as such he glares at me darkly. Oh, ouch.
"Y-you're the Queen's butler!" Ciel states with a single wide eye. "What are you doing here?"
"Ahh forgive me," Mr. Ash stands up humbly, "You did not have to see me in such a state as I was". What, in the state of having some fun? Yea, because that's a bad thing.
"I don't know if you haven't realized, but Mr. Ash is always the one to deliver the Queen's bidding," Sebastian states.
"Yes! For being able to go over the Domesday books and making sure that everything is in line, and then coming to Master Phantomhive's home to deliver the Queen's bidding as well as have a cup of tea with Mr. Tanaka all while during Her Majesty's nap time!" Mr. Ash poses as he states this. Why is it that he reminds me so terribly of the black clad butler at my Master's side?
"You can do without the tea," Ciel states. Not long after, Ash excuses himself from the rest of us as he must return to Her Majesty.
"More over, we should get a move on this," I state as I read over my Master's shoulder. "A new cult?"
"It seems like it," Sebastian sighs out.
"I'm tired of dealing with the occult," Ciel states, a hand going to his ribs. I know not much of my Master's past, but I have seen that burn on his ribs, and I have seen that symbol before. It's not good news for someone like Ciel. "There's been an oddly large number of coffin deliveries to this place recently...I know who we can go talk to".
"The Undertaker?" Sebastian wonders.
"Exactly. However, I don't feel like taking forever," Ciel admits...How many people can you carry?
"Five, Master," I tell him simply. I'm not that big, but I'm not small either.
"That's a good enough number. Phobia, you will carry us until I tell you to put us down," Ciel states simply.
"As you wish, Master," I sigh out and fire consumes my form. With fur of blue and black, eyes as red as blood, I crouch my massive form so that Ciel may get on.
"You too Sebastian," Ciel tells the butler. "But first...Get Phobia another suit for later".
"Yes, my Lord," and in no time we're out of here.
To say that the Undertaker's place is interesting yet funny smelling is an understatement. It is a simple place on the outside, however dark and covered in all sorts of things having to do with death on the inside. The dust that layers this place makes my nose twitch and I sneeze, causing the gray haired man to twitch in slight surprise.
"May I come in?" Ciel questions.
"Welcome, Earl," the man greets. "It's been a while". As he turns, I see glasses that I remember vividly. That weird red haired Shinigami that had suggested some 'fun' between he, I and Sebastian. Gross. "And welcome Sebastian!~" He launches himself at the demon, however my eyes narrow. If I'm aloud to show my true colors, then I don't have to sit back and let everything pass me by. But this time I let Sebastian simply step to the side and let Grell face plant.
"You?! Where's the Undertaker?" Ciel demands.
"Welcome, Earl," the real Undertaker greets from a rather large vase filled with...I can't really tell.
"What happened to you?" I ask.
"Well, sweet hunk puppy," Grell speaks up, "This jerk had the nerve to call me ugly! When obviously I am not! I was doing this investigation for Will the other day but got very hungry and tired. So I decided to take a nap. But then I ended up here; I guess that's what I get for not breathing while sleeping. I was just waiting for someone to wake me up with a nice, long tongue kiss". I kind of forgot that I don't really need to breath; no demon or reaper or even angel needs to breath in order to live.
"What were you investigating exactly?" I ask.
"Oh? So you can talk! And what a nice voice you have as well!~" Grell smiles out. I shutter. "I was investigating the disappearance of cinematic records".
"Huh? Cinematic Records?" Ciel questions. Of course he wouldn't know about them.
"By extracting the memories of what you have done over your life time, Shinigami can decide whether or not you go to Heaven or Hell. However, I didn't know that they could be stolen," the butler explains.
"When not in use, the Cinematic Records of every living thing- that is, everything destined to die- are carefully stored away in the form of books. Certain records were stolen, and I was sent to find them". Grell states. "Humans can only see their own record when they're in a life threatening situation, or about to die". Grell continues. "Someone had stolen a Cinematic Record from the library, and I was told to do some investigating on it".
"How interesting that something like that is happening while more and more coffins are going to our destination," Ciel mutters, "Undertaker, I have a favor to ask of you".
"Oh? Well, you're going to have to pay me in some of the finest-," the gray haired man sees the glare that Grell is giving him. "On second thought, this one will be free of charge". And so, the four of us- Sebastian, Ciel, Grell and myself stuffed ourselves into one large coffin, which was then taken to our destination. When we stop and I hear talking, I assume we're there. "I've brought the coffin you ordered," The Undertaker states to the man in robes with a chuckle.
"Huh? I don't remember ordering a coffin," the stranger states.
"Oh? But I have the order here somewhere," the Undertaker assures and begins to dig through the sash that he wears, throwing various things to the ground. It is during this time that I push up the lid of the coffin up and the four of us skitter into near by bushes to hide and wait for a way in.
"Don't worry about it. You're welcome to come in. And so are those people over there," the man looks to our not so well blended in forms.
"I've played my role here," the Undertaker turns down casually and turns to walk away.
We in the mean time are lead into the...monastery I guess you could call it, and walk along with the donkey that pulls the coffin with him. As we come upon a trio of three people, they smile brightly and bow to us. I sneeze, excusing myself after words. They smell weird. Not bad...But weird.
"I don't like those smiles," Ciel mutters.
"That's something, coming from you who has forgotten how to smile," Sebastian states as he smiles his usual smile.
"Those smiles are fake," Ciel tells him, giving the reason for not liking those smiles in the first place. As we enter the main building, the man leaves use to do as we please. Which is kind of odd because if this place is supposed to be evil and what not, wouldn't they be watching us closely?
Soon after we look around the alter room- with Ciel seeing the mark that had been burned into his skin when he was younger by those cultists- some little boys come laughingly running into the room. Only to stop and look at Grell as though he were nasty.
"Aww, well aren't you three adorable? I'm not into children though," Grell tells them.
"Hello again Mr. Unclean! You're going to get clean right?" One boy asks.
"'Unclean'? I'm not unclean! I'm perfectly fine," Grell jolts. "I'll show you unclean!" He reaches forward and touches the boy who had spoken. Said boy promptly freaks out- which I can't help but laugh at- and runs off about getting cleansed again. Then, a woman dressed in a feminine version of what the men have been seen to wear, greets us with a chuckle.
"Everyone is unclean at one age or another," she assures an annoyed Grell.
From that point on, let's just say that I don't feel like telling you what goes down because all Sebastian ended up doing was seducing the woman into telling him some information. That's right, he fucked the information right out of her; something Grell nor I were happy about. Grell wasn't happy about it because he apparently loves Sebastian. Me? I wasn't happy because well...I don't know to be honest. Part of it might have been because they were so loud, and I didn't need to hear any of that. Other than that, I don't know why I was so disgruntled. When the two were done, Ciel, Grell and I met up with the same woman in a barn as she ran her hands through her hair and still held a small blush on her cheeks. She told us of the boys only choir that would sing when a cleansing ceremony occurred. And the boys were hand picked by the Founder himself. After leaving the woman to be on her own, we talked about what we were going to do about the whole cleansing ceremony that was going to be tonight. We decided that we were just going to watch. However, after being scarred by Grell who stole a boy's uniform and tried to pull it off as 'sexy', my attention went towards a smell that made my nose burn almost painfully.
"Something smells horrid," I mutter, looking in the direction of the scent. There's someone listening- if not just watching- us as we speak. Their scent makes me unable to tell whether they're female or male, just that they're there.
"Is there something the matter, Sebastian? Phobia?" Ciel questions.
"No, nothing," we answer as one.
"Come, it's time for the cleansing ceremony," Ciel states and leaves us behind to walk after him. We find ourselves in the back most pew, with Sebastian and I on each of Ciel's sides, and Grell cuddling up to Sebastian's free side. I have to admit that the singing is rather pretty, and that the Founder picked good boys for singing. Their harmony is excellent.
"Can you tell if those are real Cinematic Records?" I hear Sebastian question Grell.
"Mmmnn. We're too far away to really get a good look," the red head replies. And so we're forced to really sit through the whole thing. Apparently, the woman of the two had become pregnant at 15 for whatever reason. The man, simply let the years pass by without a care. Both are apparently sins. As the two were cleansed of their sins, the ceremony came to a close. However, even as everyone else left, we stayed to talk in private.
"Those weren't real Cinematic Records," Grell tells us, "I couldn't tell at first, but when that whole projection thing showed up, I knew right away".
"Then what do we do now?" I question, itching at my nose. That scent was strong here. It belonged to the Founder.
"Is there something wrong with your nose?" Ciel raises a brow in my direction.
"The Founder smells really bad," I tell him, "And his scent is really potent too. It's burning my nose off". Sebastian was going to say something when a trio of three women walked into the room.
"Oh good! There you are," the one at the front beams, "Come with us. You've been chosen to sing in the choir".
Obviously they're talking to Ciel; he's the only kid among us. What Sebastian and I walk in to see is Ciel struggling against the women that had come to get him. Someone doesn't like to be stripped by women; odd. Or maybe it's just strangers. That's make a whole lot more sense.
"Excuse us," I get their attention.
"We can take it from here," Sebastian follows up.
"I'm afraid you can't. You're both still unclean," one of the women states.
"We're unclean?" I innocently tilt my head seemingly hurt by the words. Sebastian in the mean time just smiles charmingly as he did for the other woman from before.
"O-or maybe you're not," one of the three states.
"You're too cute to be unclean," another assures us, hands clasped to their chest.
And that's how we got to strip Ciel down and to scrubbing his body. I'm currently working on his arms, while Sebastian works on his back.
"I don't like this at all," Ciel states, "They have that symbol up there," he growls out.
"We'll protect you, Master," I assure him lightly,
"Besides, do you think you can escape Hell?" Sebastian questions.
"No. I can't escape it, I know that much. In fact, I'll grab the very last spider thread that has been spun and use it to drag me to the depths of it," Ciel sighs out. It is after that, that he stands and we dress him in the usual boy's uniform they got going on here.
I wasn't there to see what Ciel had gone through, nor was Sebastian or Grell. But when Ciel called my name, along with his butler's, we both high tailed it to the alter. I growl as one of the people there try to come at me, my hand going trough their chest without a care. Their blood is rich and pure. Like that of a new born babe. I stop to lick the blood off my hand, unable not to as I haven't had fresh meat in a good while. However, my attention is given to the surprise that I wasn't even expecting.
"I knew it; Angela," Sebastian mutters.
"What's an angel doing in this world?!"
"Angela is an angel?!" How did she manage to mask her scent from me for so long? I snarl low in my throat. She tricked me! I cared for her and she tricked me!
"I will make you clean again, little Phantomhive," Angela mutters into his ear. Her purple eyes land on me.
"Get back here with my Master!" I demand, racing after her.
"Sebastian! Phobia!" Ciel calls out with an arm outstretched as much as it could, his form straining against the woman's hold.
"Bocchan! We're coming!" Sebastian, honestly worried, calls.
"Hold on Master!" I call out again, racing at his side. Angela and Ciel go through the portal first, and Sebastian, Grell and I only just make it through.