I put a very minor Doctor Who reference in here. Cookies to those who can find it.
William had shut the world away for the first few days after the love of his life's (yes, he might as well say it, he had already worked out that he was in love with her, and he'd never be in love with anyone else) death. He had left the Phantomhive manor immediately after receiving the news and fled to Daisy's house. He had stood in Daisy's kitchen, staring at the wreckage that the lion had left. He slowly started to clean the place up because he had nothing better to do. He had to stop when he found an old photograph tucked away under Daisy's pillow; Daisy's mother, Daisy's father, and toddler-age Daisy happily sitting together in their best clothes.
He choked up and then put his hand over his mouth. Stop that. Emotions are not for Shinigami. Lock them all away. Stop. You're better than this.
But apparently he wasn't.
William T. Spears sat down, shaking with grief and fighting back tears, clutching the photograph to his chest like it was the only thing he had left in the world. In a way, it was.
After that incident William returned to the Shinigami realm and attacked his work with determination. His absence (along with Grell, Ronald, and the others' absences) had caused quite a bit of trouble, and William was set on fixing it. He rarely exchanged words with anyone, and when he did, he was even more blunt than usual and had a short temper. A sort of unspoken rule spread around the nearby offices; Do Not Speak Of The Woman, Daisy Evenfall. William didn't mind. Not thinking about her helped numb the pain.
Some small part of him over the following months clung to the desperate hope that Daisy was still alive. There had been no bodies. They didn't have graves; the Phantomhive boy was too busy and Shinigami didn't do that kind of nonsense. William tried to squash that hope because all it did was make the loss hurt more. Over time, however, that hope seemed to be dwindling with no sign of Daisy. He shouldn't have bothered trying to squash it, it was killing itself for him.
William locked his metaphorical heart away in a box of ice and buried it deep inside walls of indifference. He reaped souls, filed paperwork, slept, and then repeated the pattern. Life was numb and dull.
Ciel Phantomhive entered the Undertaker's shop with feelings of disdain.
"Undertaker!" He called out. He couldn't hear the man anywhere in the building. "I need information. Where are you?"
"So the Earl hasn't come to try out a coffin? What a pity." Undertaker crawled out of the coffin immediately next to Ciel. Ciel took a quick step back and then recovered from the shock.
"What are the angels' movements? Sebastian says that they are, for the most part, back to their normal routine."
"Yes, Earl, they're almost not our problem anymore, but I think that Pretty should stay in hiding a little~ bit~ longer~!" Undertaker sat on a coffin and smiled creepily.
Ciel clenched his teeth. "Undertaker, if you're just keeping them here for your own amusement-"
"Oh, no, Earl, that's not it at all~! Well, maybe just a little. Pretty's domestic problems are so hilarious- But no, the real problem is what we're going to do now that the angels are focusing on other parts of the world. The moment Pretty tries to form a new life here on Earth, the angels will be on her like flies on a corpse~!" Another chuckle. Ciel was mildly disgusted at the analogy.
Then, Ciel thought of an idea. "You said, 'The moment'...she...'tries to form a new life here on Earth,'" Ciel paused.
"Yes."
"So what if she went to the Shinigami realm and lived there for the rest of her life? She tried to do so once, correct? The only reason it didn't work out was because she came back to Earth. If the angels don't know she's there, and the shinigami let her stay, then things all work out. She can even stay with the reaper she was so infatuated with- Which one was he again? Spears, wasn't it?" Ciel glanced over to Sebastian; his main source of information about the supernatural.
"Yes." Sebastian said smoothly, but he was scowling. Ciel wondered about that for a moment before turning back to Undertaker.
"That could work. The question is, Earl, how will you get her into the realm without accidentally tipping the angels off that she is so alive?" Undertaker looked at his fingernails (well, Ciel wasn't sure if he was actually looking, all Ciel knew was that Undertaker held his hand up in front of where his eyes probably were) and smiled.
"I don't know." Ciel gritted his teeth. "Ask the problems themselves. Maybe they can come up with something."
"Why don't you ask, Earl? They're right down here~!" Undertaker jumped off the coffin he was sitting on and pushed over another coffin lying on the floor to reveal a trapdoor.
Ciel and Sebastian paused a moment before allowing Undertaker to lead them down two flights of stairs into a dark, quiet basement. They saw a candle on a table where two figures were sitting and reading books.
"Pretty, I brought guests!" Undertaker said happily. The female figure looked up, and Ciel could now vaguely make out Daisy Evenfall's face. She looked sad and tired, but brightened at the sight of two new(ish) faces.
"Hello, Earl, hello, Mr. Michaelis, how can I help you today?" She asked in a quiet but happy voice.
Ciel blinked. "Well, we have decided that we will be moving you to the shinigami realm, where you will live for the rest of your life. The only problem is how we'll move you there without accidentally tipping off the angels that you're, as Undertaker put it, 'so alive'."
Daisy looked ecstatic and frightened at the same time, which Ciel considered to be impressive.
"We could inform Ronald, maybe? You know, he had the death scythe called a 'lawn mower'-"
"I am aware of his identity." Ciel interrupted.
Daisy cleared her throat and blushed. "Right. Sorry. Well, um, he definitely wouldn't rat us out, and he could smuggle us into the Shinigami realm before anyone knew we were out and about."
"It would require speed and finesse, something that I believe Ronald Knox lacks." Sebastian murmured.
Daisy stiffened. "He's not that bad."
Sebastian watched her for a moment, and then inclined his head stiffly. "My apologies."
Ciel watched this exchange with some amusement, then turned back to the real discussion. "Alright, so, we tip off Ronald Knox somehow without alerting everyone else, he smuggles you two into the shinigami realm, and I finally get all of this mess out of my hair."
"I don't see anything in your hair, young master." Said Sebastian blandly.
Ciel flushed. "It was a figure of speech, you idiot. Shut up."
"Yes, my lord."
Ronald Knox sighed as he stepped into the heart of London. He hated city jobs. Too many people. Daisy's grandfather had been a city job, though, and that had turned out well, so maybe-
It had turned out well until she disappeared, you moron.
Because Ronald hadn't accepted [death] still. He hoped. Maybe the hope would fade over time, but he wouldn't give up.
Ronald reaped the souls without emotion and only stopped in between to get a drink at a bar and flirt with some pretty brunettes (never blondes, he couldn't handle blondes anymore, not since his sisterly relationship with Daisy). He was just finishing his rounds when he was yanked into an alley by a demon (he could tell by the aura).
Ronald swung his death scythe lawn mower around rapidly, but the demon dodged before he had even gotten a look at it, and his death scythe smashed a brick wall.
"Calm yourself, reaper, I merely wish to talk." Said a familiar voice behind him, and Ronald spun around to see none other than Sebastian Michaelis standing there, not a hair out of place.
"Was it necessary to assault me?" Ronald asked with irritation in his voice. The vermin merely smirked.
"You'll forgive me in due time. Follow," He said cryptically, and Ronald raised an eyebrow, but he did as he was told. They went to a place called "Undertaker's", and it was filled with coffins. Ronald found it eerie and creepy. He jumped when Sebastian roughly shifted a coffin to reveal a trapdoor. They went down many stairs and ended up in a dark room. Ronald blinked and waited for his eyes to adjust. He was startled when what looked like a young boy lit a candle.
"Took you long enough, Sebastian," complained the boy (Phantomhive, Ronald's mind distantly told him), and Ronald's eyes locked on a blonde he had known in his heart was still alive.
"I'm sorry, Ronald," Daisy Evenfall murmured, and she hugged him tightly.
"I knew you'd be back," he whispered in a choked voice. "I knew it. I knew it." There was silence for a moment, and then he drew back. "Mr. Evenfall." He offered his hand to the blonde man formally. "Good to see you again."
"Good to be seen." The man replied with a tired grin.
"We need your help," Daisy interrupted.
"I'll do it." Ronald said immediately. There was a pause.
"You don't even know what we need yet." Ciel Phantomhive said.
"I'll do it anyway. Anything you need, I'll get it done." And he would. Even if he had to charge the gates of Heaven himself, Ronald would do it.
Daisy's father's grin became more genuine. "It's great to have such conviction. Now, here's the plan."