Phantomhive Manor
"Excuse me, Lord and Lady Phantomhive," Agni said, bowing as he entered Ciel's office. "There is a man named John Brown here to see you."
Ciel and Faye exchanged puzzled looks. John Brown, as Queen Victoria's personal bodyguard, was a frequent visitor to Phantomhive Manor. He was often the one who brought the Phantomhives their assignments as the Queen's Watchdogs. However, he rarely spoke to the Phantomhive siblings in the process. He always handed the assignment to Sebastian or Tanaka, who then brought it to Ciel. Why would John want to speak with them?
"Well," Sebastian said with a clap of his hands. "We must hurry then, mustn't we? It wouldn't do to keep the Queen's personal messenger waiting. Doubtless his news is important if he wishes to speak with the Phantomhive siblings directly."
Ciel ground his teeth. "Would you stop acting as though you have authority to run things around here? I am Lord of this manor, not you. You're not even head butler anymore."
Agni wisely chose to duck out of the room. As much as he wanted to help his friends through this difficult transition, he thought it best he stay out of conversations such as the one beginning in Ciel's office. He thought the best help he could give was to smooth things over by acting as head butler to the best of his abilities.
Sebastian gave Ciel a look that was half pitying, half chastising. "Indeed you are Lord of this manor, my Master, which is why you should be the one prioritizing Mr. Brown's message rather than sitting here arguing silly semantics. As your future brother-in-law, it is my duty to ensure that you grow into the best Earl you are capable of becoming. That at times may require for me to take charge of the situation or to reprimand you in front of the help." He raised his eyebrows. "Of course, if you chose to behave as you know is befitting one of your station on your own, there would be no need for my involvement at all."
Fists and teeth clenched, Ciel stood and stormed passed Sebastian. "Come, Faye. We need to see what the Queen's emissary wants."
Sebastian smiled pleasantly as he followed along behind Faye.
"Good morning, Mr. Brown," Sebastian greeted congenially when the trio reached the front entryway. "What brings you here today?" Sebastian's purposeful welcoming of their guest before Ciel made Ciel grind his teeth even harder. He would be lucky to have any teeth left after this ordeal was over. Of course, with Sebastian planning to marry Faye it looked this ordeal might never be over.
"Good morning," John replied curtly, dark glasses covering his eyes, as usual. He stood at stiff attention next to the doors, a letter in his hand.
"Would you like to move to the sitting room?" Faye asked hesitantly, surprised that Agni had not already offered. It seemed poor etiquette to allow the personal emissary of the Queen to simply stand around waiting for the Phantomhives.
"No thank you," John said, holding up a hand and shaking his head. "My horse is waiting right outside, you see." He opened the door a little so that Faye could see that, indeed, his horse was waiting right outside. On the porch. "It would be rude to go so far away from him while he is waiting on me, and this won't take more than a moment."
"R-right," Faye said, wondering if John had ridden his horse onto the porch. Then she remembered John's preference for not riding his beloved horse.
"What is it?" Ciel asked, his voice a little more snappish than usual. "Does the Queen have a special assignment for us?"
John waited a moment before answering. "Of a sort," he hedged. "But this is a matter her Majesty would prefer to discuss with you in person. The Phantomhives are invited to have tea with her Majesty this afternoon." He held a letter out and Ciel stepped forward to take it.
John left a moment later, after getting Ciel's confirmation that they would be there.
~.~
Buckingham Palace
"Who is this man and why is he here?" John Brown demanded when Faye, Ciel, and Sebastian stood outside the room they normally met the Queen in. "The invitation was for Lord and Lady Phantomhive only."
"The invitation was for the members of the Phanomhive household," Sebastian corrected. "And as Lady Phantomhive's fiancé, I am, by extension, a member of that rather select group." Faye's eyebrow twitched when Sebastian said fiancé, but now was not the time to argue that point.
"Sebastian is practically part of the family," Faye said, employing all her acting skills so as to not grit her teeth. "He wishes to be involved in all the work of the Phantomhive family, as such, he should meet the Queen and gain her approval."
John's face was inscrutable behind his dark glasses, but he eventually went into the room and held a whispered conversation with the Queen before reappearing. "Very well," he allowed. "The Queen has given her permission for this man to enter."
The three followed John into the room and Faye curtseyed while Sebastian and Ciel bowed.
"I did not know you were engaged, Faye," Queen Victoria said standing by a window and, looking at Sebastian with interest. "When did this happen and to whom are you engaged to?"
"It's a rather recent development," Sebastian said, stepping forward. "I am Marquis Michaelis from Wales. I have been acquainted with the Phantomhives for some time and decided I should make my association with them permanent. Both they and their work mean a great deal to me. As you may have heard, they recently lost their butler and are in need of some aid in their work as watchdogs. If you would permit it, your Majesty, I would very much appreciate being able to help them in their duties serving the crown."
Queen Victoria raised her eyebrows as Sebastian spoke, surveying him with intelligent eyes. Finally, she turned to Ciel and asked, "What do you think, Earl? Do you recommend this Marquis to me?"
"Yes, your Majesty, I do," Ciel said, giving the Queen a bow. "He has proved both resourceful and loyal. His association with the Phantomhives has been a great benefit to us and I believe would be a great benefit to our work as watchdogs." Inside, Ciel was seething. First, he'd lost his butler. Then said butler returned as a Marquis, one title above Ciel. Next he declared he intended to marry Ciel's only sister. Now, Ciel was forced to sing Sebastian's praises to the Queen. He hated doing it, but they did need Sebastian's help and it would be more convenient if they had the Queen's permission to bring Sebastian in on their work as watchdogs.
Queen Victoria nodded. "All right, Lord Michaelis, you have my permission to aid the Phantomhives in their work for me. I think very highly of the Earl's opinion, and if he's willing to vouch for you, I will accept it."
"Thank you, your Majesty," Sebastian said, dropping into a deep bow. "Your approval in this matter means a great deal to me."
"Now then," the Queen said, turning on her heel and walking to an armchair. "Now that that's settled, everyone take a seat and we can discuss why I called you here today."
Ciel, Sebastian, and Faye sat across from the Queen with Sebastian in the middle. The Queen sat primly for a few moments with her hands clasped in her lap. Finally, she began speaking. "Four years ago, there was an attempt made upon my life. John Brown secreted me away with the intent of keeping me safe while he discovered who was behind the assassination attempt. However, soon after we left the palace, an imposter took my place with a white-haired guard at her side. No matter how hard John Brown tried, he could not harm or gather any information on the imposter or the white-haired guard."
Faye's eyes widened. Queen Victoria was talking about Ash, the fallen angel who'd tried to destroy the city and kill Ciel. This meant that the teenage "queen" who'd arranged for the death of her and Ciel's parents had been an imposter, as Faye had wondered. She must have been a puppet put on the throne by Ash and Angela, the other fallen angel involved in a scheme to 'purify' England.
"John Brown and I were in the middle of creating plans to expose the imposter and put me back on the throne, but before we could put our final plans into action, we heard quiet rumors that the queen had been killed, so John and I returned." She paused to give Ciel and Faye a piercing stare. "I assume the two of you played a part in that and were able to accomplish what my John could not. Thank you."
Faye and Ciel both murmured something in reply. Technically speaking, Ash was the one who'd killed the false queen, but Sebastian had killed Ash as well as Angela with Faye's help, so they had helped to put Queen Victoria back on the throne.
"I need the Phantomhive's help in an urgent matter once more. What happened four years ago must not be repeated. In order to ensure that such a thing does not happen again, in order to protect England from its enemies, I want, I need undead soldiers."
Faye heard a roaring in her ears as her blood ran cold. The Queen could not be serious. She couldn't really know what the undead abominations were like and desire them as her soldiers. Queen Victoria was either naive about the situation, or had gone mad.
"I order the Phantomhives to apprehend the man known as Undertaker or to obtain the secret of the undead for me."
Ciel stared at the Queen in stunned disbelief, wondering if she had somehow misunderstood his report about the mindless killing things he'd found at Weston College.
"I-I'm not sure that will be possible," Faye said, amazed she could talk calmly despite the horror she felt.
Queen Victoria raised her eyebrows. "The Phantomhives are all about accomplishing the impossible, are they not? Will you fail me now after all this time? When your country so desperately needs you?"
The trio left soon after, exchanging goodbyes with the Queen. They passed Charles Phipps and Charles Grey on their way out, the latter gave Sebastian a very suspicious look. Faye wondered if the two Charles knew about the Queen's plans with the zombies and if they approved.
Once they were in the carriage, Faye asked, "What do you think, Ciel? What should we do now?"
"I don't know," Ciel said, looking out the window with a troubled expression. "I was willing to hand Undertaker to the Queen when I thought the Queen wanted to put an end to him. Now..." Ciel trailed off. "I should have known better from the beginning. The Queen never eliminates anyone herself. She always sends the Phantomhives to do it."
"We can't hand him over," Faye argued. "If Undertaker can't control his undead creations, the Queen certainly won't be able to. The only thing that will happen is death and chaos. Undertaker and his zombies need to be stopped, not reproduced."
"Well, the grim reapers are looking into this problem, aren't they?" Ciel asked Faye. "Undertaker was one of their own and names reappearing on the death list must be a serious issue for the reapers. This is a problem outside the Phantomhives realm. Let the reapers handle this and we'll come up with an excuse to tell the Queen."
Faye guiltily thought of William coming to her to ask for help. If The Grim Reaper Dispatch Society had the situation handled, he wouldn't have come to her. He said that the problem was getting worse, that there were more zombies appearing all the time. Everyone had completely struck out against Undertaker so far. Even Sebastian hadn't been able to capture him.
Not for the first time, Faye wondered what would happen if the grim reapers and the Phantomhives (including Sebastian) combined their forces. Surely all of them together stood a better chance of stopping Undertaker…but Faye seemed to be the only person in that equation interested in working with the others. The grim reapers would never lower themselves to work with a demon and they were none too fond of Ciel either. And Sebastian despised the grim reapers at least as much as they despised him. If only Faye had the ability to talk some sense into the beings around her.