Chapter four: My fair Lady

They all ran up yet another set of stairs.

"God… how many stairs are there here?" Lily asked, but she kept running. It seemed that she was pretty athletic as well. They finally got to a door. Lily inched closer to it, keeping her switchblade out. Sebastian walked forwards.

"Allow me" He pulled the door open. They walked into what seemed to be a doll creating factory. Doll parts made out of clay lay everywhere. Over in a chair propped against the wall, Elizabeth sat with her head down.

"Lizzie" Ciel ran towards her, and Lily followed warily. He knelt down. "Lizzie" He grabbed her by the shoulders. Her eyes were closed.

"It looks like we were a little too late" Grell said.

"Shut your trap you piece of garbage" Lily spit.

"No" Ciel said. "Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie!"

Elizabeth opened her eyes, strikingly similar to Lily's.

"Hmm?"

"Lizzie… thank goodness."

"…The ring" Lizzie said. "So you were pleased, Ciel"

"Then this was her gift for you" Sebastian said.

"But it's foolish… why would you give me…" Suddenly, they heard the click of puppet strings.

"Ciel look out!" Lily cried.

"Yes, why?" Drocell's voice sounded out. The puppet strings pulled Lizzie up into the air.

"Lizzie!" Lily yelled.

"L…Lily…" Elizabeth said quietly, looking down in horror at her fiancée and her cousin.

"Why does her body move independent of her will?" Drocell asked.

"You monster!" Lily yelled at him.

"And…" A spear flew into her hands. "Why does she hurt the ones she loves?"

"Elizabeth!" Ciel cried. She raised the spear.

"No!" She brought the spear down on Ciel. Sebastian pulled him out of the way. She attacked Lily, who caught the spear blow on the blade of her knife. She danced out of the way. Elizabeth kept on attacking. "No, no, no!" She tried to take control of her body but couldn't.

"Grell" Sebastian said. "You can see this too, can't you?"

"I suppose, but I might chip my blades, so…" Grell said, sitting in the corner, cutting his nails.

"Please" Sebastian said.

"Oh, Sebas-chan, you're asking me for something? In that case… during the kiss… can there be tongue?" Grell asked. Lily looked at him like he was insane. For some reason, she felt possessive of Sebastian, though she barely knew him and had only met him today.

"I haven't the faintest idea what you mean, but in fact, I can tie a cherry stem with my tongue."

"Oh yes!" Grell ran up to Elizabeth. "It's unfair that a girl like you can wield a better weapon than me."

"Stop, Grell!" Ciel cried. There were two scissor strokes in the darkness, and Elizabeth fell. Lily and Ciel crouched down next to her.

"Elizabeth." Sebastian pulled something off of her waist.

"It's a puppet string." He said, staring at the thin cord.

"This sharp cut comes only with a death scythe… well, Sebas-chan? I'm amazing aren't I? Compliment me, compliment me!"

"Good for you… not just anyone would run with scissors."

"Oh, I'm flattered to death!"

"And the puppet string leads to…" He looked up. They heard Drocell's voice again.

"So I thought to myself:" He took several puppet strings and tied the four of them up with it. Lily's strings seemed particularly tight, and her breathing was laboured. Sebastian found it hard to breathe himself, but his weren't that tight. Oh no… this can't be happening. Not again, not again? He thought desperately, trying to stave off the truth. "What shall I use to make my new dolls?"

"Then, I'll ask you this" Sebastian said. He needed to hurry. Lily was starting to turn blue. He had no idea why he even cared. "What are you made of?"

"Hmm… what am I made of?"

"Yes, you see, you don't seem to be made of very fine quality materials."

"So I thought to myself… I know I must be human, and yet lately I find termites crawling out of my ears." Sebastian's eyes narrowed. He picked up Elizabeth's spear with his foot and kicked it upwards. It hit Drocell in the face. He tried to balance himself. The strings loosened, and Lily fell to her knees. She got up immediately though, and Sebastian sighed in relief. The spear fell back into his hands.

"Grell"

"Ah, a loving collaboration, right, Sebas-chan?" Sebastian jumped on Grell's head, and went to hit Drocell. He jumped up with the spear and landed on the same platform as Drocell.

"I sense none of the way or the style of a butler in you." He said as he raised the spear. He struck, and Drocell fell, hitting Grell. Moments later the spear fell on him too. Sebastian landed lightly on his feet. He was proud to see that Lily was looking at him in admiration.

"I would never lose to a man without style."

"That's my Sebastian, so stylish." Grell said as he inched forwards. Lily glared at him.

Drocell lay on the floor, his purple eyes wide open, and a bunch of straw like material coming out of his head.

"So he was a doll too?" Ciel asked in disbelief.

"Drocell Keinz… his soul was collected five years ago, but for some reason, we detected signs of survival."

"Someone must have fitted him with a makeshift soul."

"Ciel" Lizzie said.

"Lizzie, you're awake." Lily said.

"Elizabeth… Let's go home." He said. Elizabeth lay in his arms. She smiled.

"I want to… give you a birthday party… Ciel…"

"Yes… Please do…" The young earl's face softened. Elizabeth closed her eyes, and the puppet pallor was gone from her cheeks.

"You can rest easy… it's all-" he was cut off.

"It's not all over, as it appears" Sebastian said. Drocell slowly picked himself up off the floor.

"How is he still alive?" Lily asked.

"… So I thought to myself… I will report to my master." He began to walk, and the filling spilled from his head.

"What's wrong with him?" Grell asked. "He's all torn up and he still wants to serve his master?"

"I can understand. You see, he's merely one hell of a butler… as am I."

"Mas…ter…" Drocell pushed open the door, and fell, the irises from his eyes gone. He was just a lifeless puppet. The blue light from the room filled the entire place.

There was a chair, which they saw a silhouette sitting in. Pluto sat happily beside the chair.

"Pluto!" the huge white dog looked up, and licked the hand of the person in the chair.

"Why is he being so friendly?"

"I'm sorry… my butler is incompetent, so I am unable to offer you hospitality." The voice said. Lily started, and flicked her blade out. She pointed it towards the person in the chair. "Please lower that thing, young lady. You are making me nervous."

"So you're behind this." Ciel said. "Why would you make girls into dolls?"

"Flowers, eras and also people are beautiful for only finite moments. Dollmaking is noble work, preserving in this world the most beautiful and perfect of people."

"You've got awful taste" Grell said. "What's so perfect about immature little-"

"Why are you after me?" Ciel asked. Grell stared at him in rage. "I won't be made into a doll and lovingly displayed somewhere. Neither will Lily."

"Know your place, boy. The girl I picked simply because she was there at the time."

"What"

"My butler's head is made of straw. I imagine he couldn't understand why I wanted you. Ciel Phantomhive, you were fated to die from your very birth. Your body is already unclean." He said. Ciel started. Flashbacks of his torture began in his head. "Unclean, unnecessary, unfruitful. Therefore I tried to snuff you out."

"What?"

"Snuff out the unclean, the unnecessary, the unfruitful" The voice began, and continued, the chair began to shake. "Snuff him out, snuff him out, snuff him out!"

"Don't play games with me!" Ciel ran forwards. In the chair there was just a life sized rag doll. In its lap sat a tiny puppet with jagged teeth. It snapped at Ciel and ran away, laughing.

"The person manipulating it is not here, my lord." Sebastian said. "I now notice there were invisible strings everywhere in the room."

"Not nice at all…" Lily remarked, and closed her eyes for a minute.