Chapter Four:
Me, a Thief?

Raven ignored the stares they were getting as they dashed as far as they could away from where Ciel and Sebastian were. At this moment, she couldn't care less about them. All she wanted to do was get away from them.

"Hold up!" Kyra exclaimed. "Why are we running from them?!"

Raven pulled her into an alleyway, and after a glance about decided they had enough privacy and bent over, her book clattering to the ground as she placed one hand on the wall and the other arm gripped around her abdomen as she wheezed heavily.

"Are you okay?" Kyra asked tentatively, gently placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Yeah, just... out of breath," Raven gasped. She turned her head, wincing in pain. She felt a bit weak, and her stomach really hurt, but she refused to let Kyra see that. She had to be strong. Kyra needed her.

"If you say so..." Kyra hummed, not taking her eyes off of her.

"Anyway... Kyra, that was Ciel Phantomhive and Sebastian Michaelis." Raven grunted.

"I know," Kyra replied, an eyebrow risen. "I've watched a few episodes of Black Butler with you... but that story was just pretend. How in the world are we in their world? This just isn't possible."

Raven closed her eyes, sighing. "The impossible just became possible. This is our new reality. As for how it's possible-" Raven picked up the book, "- this. This is his Faustian Contract symbol. I don't know how, and I most certainly don't know why, and, quite frankly, I'm not sure if I care to know, but I'm certain it has to do with this. I do, however, know this for a fact: we are staying the Hell away from them."

"But maybe he can help us get home! He does have powers!" Kyra said earnestly.

"What, in exchange for our souls?" Raven glared. "He is. A fucking. Demon. Cute as a story, but this is reality. He's a fucking demon."

Kyra rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. Why would he want to hurt us? We're just two random girls!"

"Oh, I don't know, it's just what demons do!" Raven replied sarcastically.

"Raven, he's incredibly polite and a gentleman. So is Ciel. As long as we don't piss them off, it's fine!" Kyra groaned, then squeaked in surprise when Raven grabbed her shoulders tightly and moved their faces near each other.

"What part of 'he's a fucking demon' don't you understand?!" She growled. "This is not just a story now! This is our reality now! The reality is that demons kill for fun. The reality is that no, Sebastian is not a polite gentleman! Sebastian is a demon who made a contract with a child. To kill the people who did that to Ciel's family, and in return, Sebastian will get to devour Ciel's soul. Sebastian is evil. This is not a game! We need to stay very far away from them, for our own safety!"

Kyra sighed, rolling her eyes once more. "Yes, ma'am."

"You've seen a few of the episodes. Did you notice how much violence was in each of the episodes? Do you want that to be your life?" Raven scowled.

"No, ma'am," Kyra pouted.

"I didn't think so." Raven sucked in a breath, looking down. "Have you sensed this feeling of... foreboding, or... dread, ever since we got here?" She glanced up in time to see Kyra slowly nodding. "I think that's from him. When we were walking towards where we saw them, I felt... something. It was like I sensed that something... dark was over there. I've felt evil things before, but... never something that... strong. Like I said, we need to stay away from them. Especially him."

Kyra was silent for a moment, staring at her best friend. "Then why were we brought here?"

"... I don't know." Raven nearly whispered. "But it can't be good."

OoO

Raven yawned, pushing herself up, glancing out the treehouse's window. The sun was just beginning to rise, meaning they had to sneak out of there very soon, else they might be found out. She sighed, shaking her friend awake.

"Ughh.. want to sleep more..."

"We have to go."

"Five more minutes..." Kyra whined, smacking Raven's hand aside.

Raven closed her eyes and sighed, leaning against the wall of the tree house, a hand moving to her stomach.

So hungry.

They had not gotten any chances to steal or otherwise get food since the two apples Raven swiped yesterday morning. They were getting very hungry, very thirsty, and weak.

"Come on, we need to find food and water," she whispered, tugging on her friend's arm.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming..."

OoO

When Kyra finally got moving, she told Raven to stay in the treehouse. She was worried about her as Raven seemed to tire so easily and was very pale.

She went down to scout around just a bit. She seemed to remember seeing a garden of sorts closer to the house and thought she might be able to pick something for the two of them. Off to the side of the garden, playing in the shade, was a very young toddler banging on pans with a wooden spoon. She was grateful for the racket at the moment.

Staying close to the bushes on the side of the land, she snuck up closer to the large home. There was someone, likely a maid, picking things in the garden!

Yes, there was food here!

The maid suddenly looked up and ran over to pick up the child.

'Oh, no. I didn't make a noise, did I?' Kyra thought, worried.

The maid called out, "Yes, M'lady, right away!" and quickly went inside, taking one basket with her free hand but leaving another.

Kyra quickly crept up and looked at what was there.

Potatoes!

She grabbed a few and scanned the rest of the garden. It looked as if the rest of what was ripe enough to eat was already taken inside. Not sure if it was safe to eat unripe tomatoes, she settled on just the potatoes for now and quickly made a dash back to the treehouse.

"Raven! Look!" Kyra said as she showed off what she had snatched: a pot and a few potatoes.

"Where did you get that?" exclaimed Raven. After Kyra explained, Raven rolled her eyes.

"Need I remind you that just a while ago, you were so offended that I even asked you if you've ever stolen something? And now, you're stealing a pot from a baby," Raven drawled, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Kyra blinked. "Me, a thief? Oh, no no no! I'm borrowing it, just like the bucket we got yesterday by that water pump. I fully intend on returning this... eventually." The last word was muttered under her breath.

"Kyra," Raven said, putting a hand on the girl's arm, "thank you."

Brushing this off with a slight smile and nod to her friend, Kyra declared she would be the chef for the night and began washing the potatoes. "I saw a creek not too far from here, Raven. When it gets dark we can go take a rinse or bath, whatever you want to call it."

Raven nodded. "That sounds perfect. It's been a while since we got to wash ourselves, and we are dirty," she shivered.

"I don't know if we should go out exploring today. You look rather pale and I know we are both still pretty tired," Kyra said with concern.

"Kyra, I'm alright," Raven sighed, "but the last few days have been kind of... stressful, so maybe we should take a day off to relax and get our heads together."

"I know we still need a lot of things, like blankets, but I do think the rest will do us both some good."

"Yeah," Raven nodded. "We'll rest a bit and have a 'bath' of sorts tonight."

OoO

The girls stepped into the creek, shivering against the cold. The cool night air only reminded them of why they needed to find blankets sooner rather than later.

The clouds that were covering the moon opened up, releasing the moon's light. Raven turned away from Kyra, biting a lip.

She hadn't even been able to finish one of the potatoes Kyra had cooked, which was a shame, as they had been delicious. She hadn't had a chance until now to remove her dress and take a look at her stomach.

Kyra looked up at the sky and exclaimed to Raven, "Look at that beautiful sky! I have never seen so many stars!"

Raven stared at her stomach, fear bubbling up in her chest as she examined her wound. "Oh, yes, it's beautiful. The stars are brilliant. You can see so many more because we don't have the street lights and pollution like back home," she replied absentmindedly.

On her stomach in the spot that Tyson had repeatedly kicked her in rested an ugly, dark purple bruise roughly the size of her palm. It looked as if it were swelling as well, but she wasn't sure as recently her vision had been getting fuzzy and then going back to normal, so it was hard to concentrate on it. All she knew is that she wanted to go back to sleep.

She briefly considered telling Kyra but decided against it. She had to be strong for her friend.

On the way home, Kyra spotted some hay in a shed, and they both grabbed some to carry home so that they'd have at least some bedding. Sleeping on the hard wooden floor was not doing their backs any good.

Before they hit the hay, they discussed other essentials they would need to keep watch for the next day.

Raven sighed as she closed her eyes. She was very worried about their future... especially since she was hurt. What would Kyra do if something bad really happened to her?

Her head snapped up. She hadn't checked the book recently!

Quietly so that she wouldn't wake her sleeping companion, she pulled over the book and opened it, quickly flipping to the most recent page that told her where they were. Taking a deep breath, she turned the page.

84 Charing Cross Road