Grim Reaper Dispatch Society Headquarters
Faye sat on her bed, staring out the window. It was a view she was quite familiar with since this room had once been hers for three years. She was amazed that nothing had been done with it in the time that she'd been gone.
All of her old things, her clothes, her bedding, and her hair ties were also present. William had them put into storage when Faye left. She wondered if he did that because he'd figured she would return or if he, the ultimate example in stoicism, had been too sentimental to simply throw them away. Or maybe he'd thought Faye would come back to collect her old things and simply forgot to bring the matter up the few times Faye came to visit the Society. Regardless of the reason, Faye was grateful. It was more convenient for her not to have to return to Phantomhive Manor for clothes. She wasn't so sure that Sebastian would let her leave if she did return.
A knock sounded on her door. Faye opened it to find Ronald Knox on the other side.
"Welcome back, Faye!" He greeted, throwing his arms in the air. "I just heard from William that you've joined us again. I'm really glad you'll be helping us out with this whole zombie issue. It's creating a whole mess of problems. We're way behind on reaping current deaths because of all the people who are reappearing on our lists." He sighed, looking dejected. "It seems like the overtime work will never end. I can't imagine what Undertaker is thinking."
Faye wondered if Ronald was more upset by what Undertaker was doing or by the fact that he had to work overtime. Typical reaper. "I'm glad to be helping," she said honestly. "Undertaker must be stopped and I want to do whatever is necessary to accomplish that end."
Ronald nodded before leaning one arm against the doorjamb and smirking down at her. "So, Faye, did you let your skills get rusty while you were gone? It must have been easy having a demon butler around to do everything for you."
Faye raised her eyebrows. "Perhaps you'd like to find out for yourself, Ronald. Care to spar?"
He grinned. "By all means." He bowed, gesturing for Faye to lead the way. "Feel free to use your knives. It's not like they can do much against me since they're not death scythes."
"All right, I will use them," Faye said as the two of them walked down the hall side-by-side. "But don't forget to watch your strength while sparring with a poor, fragile mortal like me."
Ronald snorted. "The last thing you need is me going easy on you." Faye smiled outwardly, but inwardly she hoped that Ronald was right. Truth be told, she probably had been relying on Sebastian more than she should have. It was easier when he was so much more efficient than her.
They entered the sparring ring and Faye gripped two of her knives, moving into a fighting stance. She and Ronald eyed each other carefully. Ronald made the first move, ducking low and running forward. Faye sidestepped and let one of her knives fly. He twisted at the last moment to avoid it. When he lifted one leg to kick her, she attacked his vulnerable leg with a quick jab of her heel. He flipped over backward to escape her next attack.
"So what's it like to live with a demon?" He asked conversationally, not the least bit winded by their fight.
"Interesting," Faye said. "And unnerving sometimes." She ducked to avoid a punch. "It seems like there's nothing he can't do perfectly, which is aggravating sometimes."
He aimed a kick at her face and hit her arm instead when she blocked him. "I have something I need to apologize for," he said, guilt flashing through her eyes. "And it's long overdue. I'm sorry I helped William with the spell to make your brother's demon fall in love with you. William made it sound like you knew what was going on. I thought you'd volunteered to be the object of the spell and Sebastian's affections in order to help us kill him. I had no idea you didn't know about it."
Faye could easily imagine Ronald innocently telling William that it was great of Faye to make such a dangerous sacrifice to help the reapers, and William being too guilty to admit that Faye was in the dark about the whole thing. "It's all right," Faye told Ronald, lunging forward with her knife aimed at his stomach. "If you and William hadn't cast, the spell, Ciel would be dead. Sebastian would have eaten him the moment he killed the fallen angel Ash."
For a moment, Faye wondered what her life would be like if the spell hadn't been cast on Sebastian. Would she have returned to working with the grim reapers? Continued on as the Queen's watchdog with the help of the Phantomhives' outstanding staff? Or perhaps she would have moved in with the Midfords and decided to live a normal life. She would never know. Nor did she want to know, which brought up the question of if she was grateful for the spell cast on Sebastian and all its accompanying effects. She admitted, deep within herself where no one else could see, that it was somewhat flattering to have such a powerful being desire her. Though the fact that Sebastian's feelings were manufactured by a spell made it less flattering.
A throat cleared and Ronald and Faye both froze. William stood at the edge of the sparring ring, a death notebook in his hands. "New names have reappeared on the death list," he announced. "We need to go."
London
"It mye noc!" Faye chanted, holding her hand out. Brightly colored strings flew from her hand to wrap around three zombies. The spell was actually meant to bind evil souls, but William had explained to her that the act of souls being dragged back from wherever they belonged warped the souls enough for the spell to work on them. The three shambling corpses froze, held in place by the spell.
William's pruners came forward, neatly snipping off the heads of the zombies one by one. Behind them, Ronald rode along on his death scythe, mowing down zombies.
"It mye noc!" Faye chanted again. As William proceeded to kill (or re-kill, really) the zombies, Faye used her free hand to throw a knife into the head of a zombie creeping up behind Ronald.
Ronald gave her a salute before continuing on his with his mowing.
"Firnai mysta nuk," Faye chanted when all the zombies seemed to lay unmoving. The spell to find souls didn't quite work the same for zombies as it did for living beings. Instead, Faye felt an innate sense of wrongness when she used the spell around zombies. Either way, the spell worked fine for detecting them and she only sensed living beings in the vicinity. She breathed a sigh of relief.
"The appearances of these creatures are continuing to increase," William said gravely. "Undertaker must be increasing his experiments. Of course, posing as an actual undertaker, people do bring him dead bodies on a regular basis."
Faye jumped when a loud voice called, "Oye! What do you think you're doing?" Faye noticed that Ronald and William startled too, which meant whoever had just come up on them was very good.
She turned to see Charles Grey, his hands on his hips as he surveyed the three of them. To his right stood Charles Phipps, looking as impassive as ever.
"What are you doing here?" Faye asked, narrowing her eyes.
"That's what I want to ask you," Grey said, leaning forward and pointing a finger at her.
"It's not polite to point," Ronald declared. Grey ignored him.
"The Queen sent us because she feels that the Phantomhives are working too slowly, so she wants us to help as well," Grey explained. "Obviously, she was right to send us. Exactly what is it you hope to accomplish by killing all the zombies? We'll never learn the secret of them that way. You were supposed to bring one to her Majesty if you were too incompetent to catch Undertaker and bring him in." Grey looked around, holding one hand above his eyes as though to shade them from the moonlight as he peered behind Faye. "Where's your flawless butler? Shouldn't he have some leads on the whereabouts of Undertaker?"
Faye stared at him in disbelief. How could he be so cavalier at the scene in front of him? Interspersed among the zombies were the bodies of their victims. Five or six people had been killed before Faye and the reapers arrived.
Faye slowly walked forward until she stood next to the body of a young girl. The wide, dead eyes staring blankly up at the sky belonged to a face that didn't even look fourteen. Faye looked from the body to Grey. "Does the death of your countrymen mean so little to you, Lord Grey? Is any sacrifice acceptable so long as it pleases your master?" Her gaze switched to Phipps. "Can the two of you truly support Queen Victoria's desire for undead soldiers when the cost is so high?"
Grey, for once in his life, was silent. Faye took a few steps toward the pair, glaring fiercely. "My brother and I have separated for the time being. I do not support the Queen's desire for zombies and will do everything in my power to see that she does not obtain them and that this menace is brought to an end." She turned on her heel and stalked away, Ronald and William following along behind her.
~.~
The trio returned to London only a week later. This time, the sight greeting them was much worse.
Faye stared up in horror at the building where she sensed the zombies. An orphanage. The zombies were in an orphanage and she sensed no living humans. She did, however, sense a reaper. "Undertaker is here," she announced.
Ronald and William moved forward. Faye had to force herself to follow them. She did not want to see the carnage that lay inside. Not when all of it would be children. The moment William opened the door, a zombie lunged at him.
Ronald and William were both quickly engaged in fighting. Faye ran passed them both, ducking to avoid being hit. "Faye!" William yelled, turning his head to watch her. "Where are you going?"
She was tired of being too late. She was tired of being heartbroken and furious at the sight of more dead victims. She was tired of never arriving in time to save anyone. Killing zombies wasn't going to accomplish anything, not in the long run. It was like trying to stop a flood by standing in front of it and hoping your body blocked some of the water. Undertaker was the source of everything. He was who they needed to eliminate.
Faye ran up to the second floor and reached what looked like a living room. Bile rose in her throat. A dead girl hung over the back of a couch, blood running from her neck. A boy lay on the floor in front of her, a ripped stuff bear still clutched in his arms. On the other side of the room stood Undertaker. Zombies knelt on either side of him, gnawing on the flesh of two more dead children.
"How quaint," Faye said coldly. "The grim reapers have been looking for you for months, and here you are, just waiting for us."
"Roct myr nukt!" Faye yelled the spell to bind a grim reaper. Of course, the last time she used this spell on Undertaker it hadn't worked, but she still had to try. Undertaker swung his death scythe, blocking the spell.
"Is your goal to slaughter every living being in England?" Faye asked, hoping to stall for a time until William and Ronald showed up, or until she figured out another way to stop Undertaker.
Undertaker shrugged. "Everyone dies some time. The casualties are regrettable, but I'm only speeding up the inevitable." He grinned at his rhyme, infuriating Faye.
"If you feel so casual about everyone dying, why won't you just let nature take its course? Why are you so obsessed with trying to circumvent the natural order?"
"Because I'm curious!" Undertaker declared, grinning and throwing his arms in the air. "When someone loses all curiosity, that's when they really die. There's no point in living without it. I want to see what I can accomplish by manipulating death, by becoming the master of life itself. If I'm successful, I'll accomplish something no one else has ever done."
He leaned forward and spoke conspiratorially, as though he were sharing a secret with Faye. "Imagine. I could stop death and nothing like this would ever have to happen again." He gestured at the dead children around him. "Worthy people wouldn't have to lose their lives, they could just keep on living. Imagine if Leonardo Da Vinci were still alive. What would he have accomplished by now?"
"Something like this wouldn't have to happen?" Faye repeated. "This would have never happened if not for you! It mye noc!" Strings sprung from Faye's outstretched hand to wrap around Undertaker. He laughed.
"Got me that time, Phantomhive!" He tilted his head until one chartreuse eye was visible. "But can you keep me like this while my zombies are attacking you?" He muttered a command that Faye didn't hear and the zombies at his feet stopped their gnawing. They looked up, blood dripping from their mouths. Faye backed up, slipping a knife into her free hand. They slowly rose to their feet before leaping forward.
She aimed for the one on the left first, her knife imbedding in the center of its forehead. "Nice shot!" Undertaker crowed. "Your aim is as good as ever."
Her heart rate rose faster as the second zombie came within a few feet of her. Faye forced herself to keep her breathing even. Rather than throwing the second knife, Faye lunged forward and stabbed it into the zombies head.
"Very nice, very nice!" Undertaker complimented. "You work very well under pressure, Phantomhive. However…I think you missed one."
Faye spun around to face the hallway she came down earlier and found two zombies there. Losing her focus, she felt the spell around Undertaker fade.
"It mye noc!" Faye screamed. The zombie was already on top of her, pushing her to the ground. The spell took effect, stopping the zombie from biting her, but now Faye was trapped under its body.
She heard the roar of Ronald's mower soon after. "Hey, Undertaker!" Ronald yelled. "Who do you think you are to run around letting all these people die? You think you have the right to experiment with life so you can decide who lives and who dies?"
"Why wouldn't I have that right?" Undertaker asked. "When you think about, it's a natural extension of what you reapers do, just taken a little further."
"If you're so curious about the unknown, you should let us kill you and you can find out what happens to a murderer in the next life," Faye grunted, struggling to breathe under the weight of the inert zombie.
Undertaker cackled. "Maybe someday, Phantomhive, but not yet!" She heard the sound of breaking glass, then the weight on top of her moved as Ronald pulled the zombie off.
"You should have gone after Undertaker," Faye chastised.
Ronald shook his head, looking sad. "I know I'm not good enough to take him on by myself. Maybe with all three of us, but…" He shrugged helplessly. "Undertaker will be long gone by now. Let's finish cleaning up and go home."
William walked into the room, looking angrier than Faye had ever seen. "What were you thinking?" He demanded. "If you'd waited for Ronald and me, we might have Undertaker in our custody at this very moment."
Faye shook her head. "No. We're not that good. Undertaker had to have known that the three of us were here and he never would have allowed himself to be caught. The only way we're going to capture Undertaker is if we have a plan and take him by surprise."
"Is that your conclusion?" William asked, raising his eyebrows. "Then perhaps you can explain to me why you ran off on your own if you did not believe that even the three of us together could have stopped Undertaker."
Faye hung her head, knowing that William had every right to be upset with her. "I lost control," she said. "I'm tired of looking at dead bodies caused by Undertaker, both dead and undead. When I realized he was here…" She trailed off.
William shook his head. "You forgot one of the first rules of the grim reapers, Faye. You must control your emotions. They have no place while we are working."
The trio was silent as they walked back downstairs. Once again, they'd eliminated all the zombies present, but the night felt like nothing but a failure. When they reached the first floor, they found Phipps and Grey there.
"This is the second time they've been hanging around," Ronald mused. "Do you think they're secretly working for Undertaker?"
At the sight of the Queen's butlers, Faye snapped. "Are you happy now?" She shrieked, gesturing at the bodies of toddlers and children around their feet. She couldn't take her anger out on William and Ronald, but these two would do just fine. "You must be so pleased at this sight. You can report back to the Queen that the undead soldiers have another benefit. No discretion for who they'll kill. All those dangerous children threatening the Queen and England won't be a threat now. I'm sure you'll sleep well tonight knowing—"
"Enough," Grey said, quietly and firmly. Phipps knelt down and gently closed the eyes of one of the children. Grey stared down at his partner, an unreadable look on his face. "Phantomhive, you and those other two are fighting to stop this, aren't you?" He looked up at Faye. "Let us help you."
Faye's eyes widened in shock. She glanced at William, wondering what he thought of this offer. Before William could say anything, a zombie hidden in the rafters jumped down. Without missing a beat, Grey unsheathed his sword and stabbed the zombie through the head. He cleaned the blood from the sword on the zombie's clothing before sheathing it.
"Huh," Ronald mused. "That was pretty impressive."
"What do you think of their offer, Faye?"
She paused. "I've seen these two fight and I've no doubt they're good enough to take on zombies. However…Horestm kit mic." Strings flowed into Phipps' and Grey's heart and mind. "Are you two sincere in your desire to stop the zombies?"
"Yes," they both said in monotones.
"There's your answer," Faye said, removing the spell. "They're good enough, and they mean what they say."
"Very well," William said, his mouth tight as he gave a single nod. "These two may help us for the duration of the zombie epidemic."
Phipps and Grey looked around. "What just happened?" Grey asked, scratching his head and looking around suspiciously.
"You were tested for sincerity," Faye said simply. "You passed."
He narrowed his eyes at her.
Phipps, ignoring his partner's glares, said, "We should give all these children a proper burial."
Faye remembered Undertaker's words about tragedies like this not having to happen and shook her head. "It's better to burn them all. That way, we make sure that Undertaker can't get his hands on them and turn them into zombies." The thought of zombie children made her shudder.
"Maybe that's why Undertaker hasn't been very careful with his zombies," Ronald said, rubbing his chin as he studied the dead bodies. "Maybe he's letting them out on purpose so he can use their victims to create more zombies."
After that, the four men took care of the grisly task of gathering the children, plus the two adults running the orphanage, into one room and burning them. This was one instance in which Faye was willing to let others treat her like a girl and tell her to stand aside.
"So…what now?" Grey asked after the deed was done.
"Now we take you back to Headquarters," Ronald said cheerfully. "You'll have to live there while you're helping us. Faye lives there too." Ronald was more cheerful as they began returning home, happy at the prospect of getting more help, and, hopefully, having less overtime. "I can't believe these two humans are actually good enough to help out the Dispatch Society! How lucky."
A few moments later, Grey said, "Wait, did he just say humans?"