Chapter 7 - The Past Life Of Grell Sutcliff
Ciel moaned in annoyance as the sun peaked its way threw his blinds and into his bedroom. Thankfully today was the day off for Ciel which didn't require him to wake up super early, after all even the noble need a day or two off every now and again, especially after the ballroom brawl that happened the night before. Ciel was taken away from his moment when he heard the faint sound of knock at his bedroom door.
"Yes? Come in." He answered quietly. Sebastian entered the room already, as usual, dressed in his attire. You wouldn't think that he had been in a fight with another demon the night before.
"Good morning master. I brought you some morning tea. Earl grey." Sebastian said entering the room with a tea tray that held fine china that contained already freshly brewed tea. Sebastian placed the tray on the wooden table swiftly pouring a cup handing it to Ciel carefully.
"Has Grell awaken yet?" Ciel asked enjoying the warmth form the tea.
"No my lord. I tried to awaken him but he's not budging. I allowed Mey-Rin to stay by to watch in case he stirs. She has grown quite attached to him." Ciel nodded slightly quietly finishing his tea.
"Now you must get some day clothes on. Undertaker has planned to come this morning. He wants to check Grell. I also plan to ask him some more questions that we didn't have the opportunity to ask." Ciel signed getting up allowing Sebastian to start dressing him for Undertaker's visit. Only taking a few minutes to be ready Sebastian and Ciel heard a faint knock at the front door catching both their attention.
" I will await in the lounging room. You may retrieve Grell before coming with Undertaker. Ciel commanded turning around to his destination. Sebastian approached the door opening the door slowly to see Undertaker with his usual grin standing at the door.
"Good morning Undertaker." Sebastian bowed to the Undertaker, allowing him to come in.
"Hehe good morning butler. So how is the little lady doing this morning?" Undertaker asked touching the tips of his long nails together.
"Still in bed. Last night took a toll on him." Sebastian answered leading him upstairs to Grell's room. When he opened the room he saw Mey-Rin in the rocking chair that was seated by Sebastian's bed. In her arms was Grell snoozing peacefully clutching onto one of her bare fingers. Their was one thing that caught Sebastian's attention. She wasn't wearing her usual glasses. He had to admit she did look rather stunning without them.
Sebastian coughed slightly to get the maids attention. Mey-Rin look up slightly startled at the two men in the room.
"Sebastian-san! Undertaker?" she asked surprised to see the old mortician in the room.
" Mey-Rin why are you cradling my daughter?" Sebastian asked closely watching Grell.
"She was whimpering in her sleep. So I picked her up and started rocking her so she would go to sleeping peacefully! I didn't mean to handle her with out your permission! I swear!" The now scared maid answered. By now Grell woke up his eyes immediately went to Undertaker.
"Why look who's awake! Hehe!" Undertaker exclaimed taking he toddler from the maids arms. Undertaker rocked Grell gently making the still tired toddler rest his head against Undertaker's shoulder, while Mey-Rin took her glasses quickly leaving the room still believing she had caused trouble.
"Come now. The young master is awaiting in the lounging room." Sebastian interrupted leading Undertaker and Grell to the room. Ciel was sitting in his normal spot drinking his tea until the three visitor's grabbed his attention.
"Ah Undertaker you have arrived. Take a seat. You as well Sebastian since I know you have questions for Undertaker you would like answered." Ciel said not really caring if the old Shinigami was in his manor. Sebastian pulled up his chair as did Undertaker while Grell was now more alert simply playing with Undertaker's long silver braid.
"Hehe so butler what questions do you have for me? You have some explaining to do as well." Sebastian raised an eyebrow at the last sentence. What did he have to explain?
"Well go on ask me the questions! Hehe!" Undertaker cackled while tickling Grell's neck with his long fingers.
"Well ...first order of business ... I understand that a Shinigami's soul to a Demon or
Angel is more valuable then an human soul consumption. But why make Grell this young at the risk of not receiving as power as his adult form?" Sebastian asked patiently waiting for Undertaker to answer. The silence was broken when the old man bursted into laughter making Ciel choke on his tea at the sudden noise, while at the same time startling Grell.
"You haven't thought this through have you Demon? Were you ever able to take his soul when he was an adult and could throw around that scythe of his?" Undertaker asked slightly smirking at Sebastian. Ciel listened closing trying to ignore the choking feeling in his throat.
Now he thought of it .. it all started to make more sense.
"I'm a fucking idiot!" Sebastian scolded himself angrily. "it makes sense. Whatever caused the de-aging knew that they had little to no chance at success to taking Grell's soul so they de-aged him first so he would be completely vulnerable to their attempts at kidnapping him. Even if it meant not receiving as much power."
Sebastian's thoughts were broken when he heard a knock at the door. He got up not even waiting for Ciel to demand him to answer. Sebastian opened the door to see two men he was not familiar to. He could of sworn he saw them last night but he never learned their names at all.
" Is Grell here?" The Shinigami with cornrows asked holding his saw scythe over his shoulders while the shorter one with brownish hair stood besides him.
"Yes. Undertaker as well. May I ask why you are here this morning?" Sebastian asked, wanting to cut to the chase still not allowing the two to enter the manor.
"We found some important details in regards to Grell's record." The shorter Shinigami answered plainly. Sebastian stepped aside allowing them to enter the manor leading them to where Undertaker, Grell and Ciel were. Undertaker was immediately curious at the two Shinigami that entered the room making him tilt his head.
"Alan Humphries and Eric Slingby. What a surprise." Undertaker said now he himself was confused at why the two men were here.
" Sir we have something important that you must know regarding Grell's record." Eric blurted not wanting to stand by with small talk.
"Go on." Undertaker said now giving Alan and Eric his full attention.
" We were looking at it again last night after the attack by the spider demon. William sir noticed something odd about his record. We tried to use it to see if we could spot the perpetrator but ..." Alan explained slightly trailing off.
"But what? Its rude to keep an elder waiting."
" There was nothing. It was like his record before his transformation was completely erased. Non-existent. Never happened!" Alan exclaimed. Ciel dropped his tea cup shattering the cup in pieces leaving everyone in the room completely silent.
"What do mean erased?" Undertaker growled now getting irritated which surprised Sebastian. Every time the old man ,who normally was never serious about any matters, became angry Sebastian couldn't help but still have slight shock at Undertaker's reaction.
"We mean his time in the academy, meeting the demon butler, meeting William, Ronald, us and everything else involving his adulthood! Gone! The only thing that remain's in the record is him first turning into a Shinigami, his first two years under your care and a little of his life before he died while he was still human from birth to age 17 months." Eric explained looking slightly saddened at seeing the last part.
"Wait a minute!" Ciel yelled getting the Shinigami's attention. "Grell was only 17 months old when he died? Undertaker nodded his head solemnly .
"Its true. That's why he is this young and a Shinigami."
"How .. how did he die?" Ciel asked making Alan and Eric's eyes widen at the question. Undertaker got up slowly taking the cinematic record from Alan's hands opening it slowly. A bright flash of light filled the room revealing strips of film that finally stopped at one scene playing in the room.
~ A grand ballroom area was filled with people in elegant gowns and suits floating across the room as they danced to classical music. One woman in particular stood out. She had long locks of brown hair with porcelain skin that looked like it belonged to a China doll and she wore a dress of a brilliant champagne color. in her arms was a small bundle that appeared more fragile then glass, wrapped tightly in red blankets. The baby slept soundly as his mother rocked him gently while humming a lullaby.~
"That's Grell?!" Ciel yelped not taking his eyes off the record. Sebastian watched memorized by the scene ignoring his young master's shocked exclaims.
~ As the woman hummed. A man with red shoulder length hair spiky hair appeared behind her stroking his son's face. The woman smiled at him before stood up signaling foe the music to end. The crowd stopped focusing their attention on the man.
"Als Leiter der Sutcliff Haushalt, mich und meine allerliebste Dame, zusammen mit unseren kleinen Sohn, möchte ich danke Ihnen allen für ihr Kommen zu einem freudigen Ereignis. Die 5 jahr Ehe zwischen meiner Frau und mir! Viele Grüße an euch alle für eure Anwesenheit!" ~
"What are they saying?" Alan asked listening in confusion as did everyone in the room.
"Something along the lines of celebrating a five year wedding anniversary. I believe its safe to say that man is the head of the Sutcliff house and the woman with brown hair is his wife and lady of the house.
The crowd raised their champagne glasses cheering on the anniversary couple. As people drank the cheers soon ended as the room heard the front doors being forced open. A man in a priest outfit entered the room scaring everyone, some were even dropping wide glasses on the marble floor. Behind him were several hooded figures all wearing black robes with hoods that covered their identities well.
"Eure Heiligkeit?" The redhead man asked standing in front of his wife and kid in a protective manor while his wife held onto her baby tightly.
"Das Kind ..." the priest paused before pointing harshly at the small bundle "Ist eine unheilige Dämonen aus der Hölle! Seine Zähne sind immer wie ein Haie! Und die Augen heller als Teufel selbst! Und ich werde mir das eine, ihn zurück in die Hölle, wo er hingehört!"~
"The man is the priest and he is making remarks stating Grell is a unholy demon that should die and go back to hell ... how cruelly ironic." Sebastian translated rubbing his chin.
The crowd gasp at yells of the priest while the woman held onto the bundle even tighter then before. Before anyone in the room could react gunshots could be heard coming form the hooded figures. Lords and Ladies ran out of the room in a panic. Before the redheaded man could respond or even think to run, a bullet buried its way into the side of skull blowing off nearly half of his cranium and brian tissue out, sending him to the floor. As they aimed their fire at the woman .. she was not in sight. The woman ran away from the room, keeping tight hold on her bundle while exiting the servant's quarters.
As she ran outside into the bitter cold of the snowy winter evening, she tried her hardest to run away but her hopes of escape were soon shattered as she heard a horse charging right at her with the priest riding on top. Before she could run up the stone stair ways the priest had made his way to the woman grabbing the bundle violently.
"Nein! Ist dies nicht möglich! Er ist mein Kind! Hören Sie auf! Ich bitte dich-!" Her pleas were cut off as her hands lost the tight grip on her baby sending her falling on the stone stairs followed by a sickening crushing sound. She laid still with her eyes open, blood pooled around her neck head, once lively were now dull, Lady Sutcliff was no more.
"Jetzt entfernen Sie Teufel. Ich wette, Sie würden gerne die kalte Hölle da ist so heiß." The priest snarled at the now crying baby. He threw the bundle into the freezing snow before riding off ignoring the cries of the bundle.
"The woman was begging for his life but its obvious what the Priest thinks of her pleas. He says since Grell is going "back to hell" that he should enjoy the cold. Implying that he left Grell to freeze to death."
~ 2 hours later~
A silver haired man with his hair tie in a ponytail with pale skin, scars along his neck and face and death scythe walked in the snow listening to the crunching sound it made below his feet. ~
"Undertaker?" Ciel shouted looking confused at the images. Undertaker only chuckled as he saw Eric and Alan looking dumbfounded at him.
"I was a handsome Shinigami wasn't I? Hehe!" He joked making the pair gawk at the old man further. Sebastian turned his head glaring slightly at the noise makers.
"Can you please keep it down the record its still playing."
~ The figure stopped as he stood over the still bundle. His face betrayed no emotion in sight.
"How sad that your time comes to here. Grell Sutcliff born 1678, died 1679, cause of death hypothermia." Undertaker said raising his scythe in the air. He waited for his scythe to penetrate the infant's body until his aim was blocked by a powerful invisible shield that covered the child's body. The reaper raised an eyebrow lifting his scythe back up kneeling down carefully by the bundle.
"I can't see your records little one? ... This can only mean one thing.." The reaper set his scythe down picking up the bundle carefully. Undertaker lifted the fold of the blanket exposing Grell's torso area. He slightly rubbed his long fingers across his torso generating a cooing sound from the baby. The baby slightly opened it eyes revealing acid green eyes and he released a small yawn that showed his very few shark like teeth.
"So I'm right." Undertaker said to himself lifting himself and the child up, summoning his scythe out of his sight. " You are a Shinigami child. Don't fear. For you, death is only the beginning." As he spoke he and the bundle faded from sight taking them both back to the Shinigami realm.
Shinigami Realm Hospital~
"Are you sure that you want this child?" The nurse asked Undertaker handing the bundle over to him carefully. Undertaker let a smile slip before looking up at the Shinigami nurse.
"This child is mine till he old enough to enter the academy. Until then the head has no place in telling me how to handle things ... he died once ... I will drop dead before it happens again .." finishing talking to the nurse Undertaker's eyes glowed brighter then before while leaving the room, no one daring to tell the legend himself how to handle his new bundle.
"Have a good sleep ... Grell Sutcliff" ~
The record suddenly went blank and the light from the rolling records had disappeared leaving the lounge room, returning to Grell's cinematic record book that laid on the table next to Undertaker.
"Eh? That's it?" Alan exclaimed scratching his head in confusion. Eric rolled is eyes at him tsking his tongue.
" Its his human records remember? All the other records from his time in the academy and work as a reaper are gone but for some reason ..." Eric explained out load. The room remained silent everyone trying to absorb what they just saw. Almost no one could speak a word.
TRANSLATIONS
Als Leiter der Sutcliff Haushalt, mich und meine allerliebste Dame, zusammen mit unseren kleinen Sohn, möchte ich danke Ihnen allen für ihr Kommen zu einem freudigen Ereignis. Die 5 jahr Ehe zwischen meiner Frau und mir! Viele Grüße an euch alle für eure Anwesenheit!
Translation: As head of the Sutcliff house, me and my lovely lady, together with our small son, I would like to thank all of you for coming to a joyful event. The 5 year marriage between my wife and me! Many greetings to all of you for your presence!
Eure Heiligkeit?
Translation: Your Holiness?
"Das Kind ... Ist eine unheilige Dämonen aus der Hölle! Seine Zähne sind immer wie ein Haie! Und die Augen heller als Teufel selbst! Und ich werde mir das eine, ihn zurück in die Hölle, wo er hingehört!"
Translation: "The child ... Is an unholy demons from hell! Its teeth are always like a sharks! And the eyes brighter than devil himself! And I will be taking him back into hell, where he belongs!"
"Nein! Ist dies nicht möglich! Er ist mein Kind! Hören Sie auf! Ich bitte dich-!"
Translation: "No! If this is not possible! He is my child! Stop it! I beg you- !"
"Jetzt entfernen Sie Teufel. Ich wette, Sie würden gerne die kalte Hölle da ist so heiß."
Translation: "Now remove Devil. I bet you would love the cold since hell is so hot."
