I do not own Black Butler

Chapter 21: Crazy Begins Again

Helix- London, England 1889

I headed into the kitchen, thinking that being there would give me the quiet that I needed as well as a chance to take care of my wounds. Of course, when I walked into the room to find Bard holding a frying pan behind his head and talking about what he was going to make for dinner, I walked right back out. That was not what I was looking for. I was looking for quiet not an explosion that I would have to clean up.

The only annoying part was that not long after I entered the bedroom that I had slept in the night before and set the required materials needed to care for my wounds, Sebastian entered.

"Got something better to do than to annoy me?" I asked as I sat down on the bed and prepared to remove the bandage wrapped around my shoulder. "Cause I've gotten enough of that from our guests."

"The young master was worried that you had reopened your wounds during our match," he said as he watched me start to pull away the bandage to reveal angry, swollen skin near my minor wounds.

"I didn't, but getting thrown out of bed yesterday aggravated them," I said with a hiss as I noted how infected my major wound looked from what I could see of it. With a sigh, I opened the container of ointment only to have it be taken out of my hand by the butler.

"Allow me," The butler said as he began to carefully apply the cream to my tender skin.

"Ouch," I said with a hiss as some of the ointment got into the wound. "I can tend my wounds, thank you very much. Besides, I'm assuming Ciel needs your help to keep him busy so that Soma doesn't drag him out of the townhouse."

"Sorry," he said as he set the jar down and rewrapped the wound, before attending to the other areas that were covered with other bandages. "This will not due."

"Let me guess, the other wounds are infectected too…," I said with a sigh as I tried to figure out the reason behind Sebastian's gentle care of my wounds. He was a demon that could care about nothing, so why was he seemly trying to prevent me from crying out in pain? The only real explanation that I could come up with, besides the idea that he actually cared about another being, was that Ciel had ordered the butler to care for my wounds. There was no way that my sister was right about the demon actually liking me.

"Now," He said as he gathered up the used bandages. "You have the rest of the day off."

I chuckled.

"You really think that I'll actually have the day off with both the trio and guests here? You've got to be dreaming," I said causing him to glare at me.

"It wasn't a request," Sebastian said before exiting the room. Not even a second after the door closed, I heard the tell tale clicking sound of the door being locked from the outside.

"You know that won't work to keep me in here!" I shouted as I heard the butler walk away.

With a sigh at the butler's stupidity, I focused on my crystal and transported myself on the other side of the locked door.

"Morons," I muttered as I made my way to the kitchen since my headache had disappeared with the butler's antics. Someone needed to keep Bard from blowing up the manor, again.

I froze as I stepped in the kitchen to find Bard chopping up onions with goggles and not destroying the kitchen.

"Now this is a surprise," I said as I stepped into the kitchen to see Agni stirring a pot. "I figured this room would be trashed by now."

"Miss maid," Agni said with surprise as I began to wash carrots.

"It's Helix and I'm just here to help," I said with a smile. "Well I also decided to stop by to make sure that there was no accidents when it comes to getting dinner done."

Bard cringed as I cemented my threat with a glare at him. Time seemed to not exist in the room as everyone focused on their tasks in a way that was strange as much as it was soothing.

The creak of the door opening, broke the timeless feeling in the air.

"What's for supper?" I heard Finny ask through the crack of the door.

"Perfect timing, young man!" Agni said with a smile as he turned to face the door. "Would you like to help us prepare for the evening meal?"

"What? Me?" Finny asked slightly confused. "But I don't even know my own strength, so Sebastian says I can't touch the kitchen stuff. Even ask Helix."

I shrugged when Agni looked at me while he was taking a peeled potato out of the pot he had been stirring.

"So you're strong. Excellent!" He said as he showed Finny the potato. "We need to mash and then puree these potatoes, but it's a lot of work."

"Even I might be able to do that. I want to! Please let me!" Finny begged as he entered the kitchen.

"Why not? Come on." I smiled at his enthusiasm while encouraging to help. I handed him a bowl and a masher before letting him get to work it was nice to see FInny using his skills for something other than destroying the manor. Now if there was a way to have a three of them do that more often, was a better question.

I was so absorbed into my work, that I barely noted that Agni had stepped out of the room, at least until I heard a crash in the hallway. With a groan I ran towards the source of the sound knowing that I had forgotten about one servant, Meyrin. Why did she have to break the china now, with the obnoxious guests being there?

"Are you alright, Miss Maid?" I heard Agni ask Meyrin as I entered the hallway to see him holding bothe meyrin and the china she had dropped when she fell.

"Meyrin," I muttered with a sigh and completely missed her reply because she spoke so quietly.

"Perhaps it would be best if you took down the plates one at a time," Agni suggested as I rolled my eyes. That was exactly what I had been trying to tell her that she never seemed to hear.

"That's a great idea," I said, announcing my presence as Meyrin blushed scarlet. "Let's head back to the kitchen, Agni, and Meyrin can get the rest of the plates and then join us."

"Yes, Miss Helix," She said with a smile and a nod of her head as Agni helped her to stand.

It didn't take long before we all were absorbed in our different tasks. Everyone working in harmony without creating a mess. Meyrin had started to wash the dishes without me even having to suggest it.

"How is it going, Agni?" I heard Sebastian ask and I looked up to see him standing in the doorway looking stunned at what he saw.

"Thanks to everyone's help, I believe it will be delicious," Agni said without looking up as he stirred a pot.

"Kind of strange isn't it," I said with a laugh. "Though it is kind of nice."

Sebastian walked past me in daze and didn't say anything as he got out the supplies to fillet the fish.

"Aren't you supposed to be resting," Sebastian muttered as he set up his supplies next to my work area.

I chuckled. "You really are distracted. You forgot I can easily get past a locked door if i don't want to spend the rest of my day laying around with nothing to do."

The butler was smart enough to drop the subject as I turned my attention to dicing up the celery with a practiced ease that came from years of experience of yielding knifes against actual people. Agni had moved to rolling dough on the same table that Sebastian and I were working at.

"I'm amazed that you got them to help," Sebastian said to Agni as they both focused on their tasks.

"He means that he's surprised that you didn't kick them out of the kitchen due to making more of a mess than actually helping with the preparations," I said as felt Sebastian glare at me.

"Everyone is born with their own talents. They have a path and a duty revealed by the gods. We children of the divine mother need only to follow her will and do our appointed tasks," Agni said like he was explaining himself to a group of children.

"You are a man of fine character," Sebastian said as I nearly dropped my knife.

What did Sebastian actually just compliment someone? I sighed. Count on a demon to use underhanded tactics to get more information out of the bodyguard.

"Not at all. I was a hopeless fool before the I met the prince. I owe him more than I can ever repay. I hurt people, blasphemed against the gods, committed crime after crime," Agni said as I saw him mentally slip into the memories of his past. "And the day finally came for be to be punished. I had no particular attachment to this world. I didn't believe in the gods, I had forsaken everything and yet… a god appeared before me! That day, I plainly say the divine in him, in all its sublime radiance!"

I rolled my eyes. The idiot was so lost in the past that he couldn't even notice anything happening in the real world.

"Your pot is boiling over," Sebastian said calmly as he went to take care of the pot. He clearly could care less about Agni's story.

"The prince is my sovereign and my god. He gave me new life. I want to protect him with my life and make as many of his wishes as I can come true," Agni said as he began to come back to reality.

"You'll still do that even when the cost of fulfilling those wishes is your life?" I asked, but received no answer from the still out of it Indian.

"The actual gods are a bunch of good for nothings if you ask me," Sebastian muttered as Agni finally found himself back in the real world.

"Pardon," Agni said as he blankly looked at me and the butler as if just realizing that we had been talking to him.

"Never mind," I said with a sigh.

"Oh, nothing," Sebastian said as we finished the final preparations for dinner.

Luckily, I did not have to serve dinner, due to Sebastian's insistence that I rest. I did end up having to help wash dishes, under Sebastian's scrutinizing watch. He really didn't want me to over do it for some strange reason. Though I did get to hear about what happened at dinner, when Sebastian muttered under of his breath about the idiot prince.

I finally escaped about two hours after dinner had ended and went to see if I could locate Ciel. I was hoping I would get permission to kick Soma's butt and throw him out of the townhouse. However, I found him in one of the sitting rooms playing cards with Lau in front of a roaring fireplace.

"Interesting," I said with a smirk. "Mind dealing me in?"

"Don't you have something to so, Miss Maid?" Lau asked causing me to glare at him.

"I can join in on a game of cards if I want. Besides, I finished my chores for the evening," I said with a glare as I pulled up a chair. "After all life without a little entertainment is very dull."

Ciel shuffled the cards before dealing me into the next hand without saying a word to me.

"I have to say those two are very suspicious," Lau said as we could hear the prince and servant return.

"That depends on your definition of suspicious," I said as I kept my eyes on my hand."To me they seem like fools. After all, they can't even figure out a good way to try to locate someone."

"Indeed," Ciel said. "I don't see how they'd benefit from those crimes. they don't seem to bear a grudge over colonial rule. And, if they were doing it, would they waltz right by me on their way to commit these crimes? It's like they are begging me to suspect them."

"True," Lau said. "Then maybe, they are just looking for someone."

"Or maybe only one of them is committing the crimes and the other is unaware," I said as I threw a wrench into their theories. "That way the culprit can protect the one who doesn't know."

"It's still too soon to say," Ciel said with a sigh as everyone's focus returned to the card game. We played several more hands before our game was interrupted.

"Young master," Sebastian said as he hung upside down outside the large, open window. "He has made his move."

I glared at Sebastian. Was he that stupid enough to give what he was away to everyone? I sighed as I turned to Lau. Was the chinese idiot that bind to what was occurring around here or did he not react to anything?

"Good," Ciel said as he got up from his chair. "Let's follow him."

As everyone stood, I double checked the knives that I had hidden on my person to make sure not one was out of place.

"Take me with you," Soma said from the door causing me to freeze and my eyes went wide in horror.

"You," Ciel asked, clearly thinking along the same lines that I was. "Why?"

"I know that Agni has been sneaking out after I fall asleep. I want to know what he has been up to. That is my right." Soma said as we all stared at him.

"How mature. Though what if the answer isn't want you want to hear?" I asked as I mentally started to go through battle strategies, especially what to do if the idiot tagged along and caused trouble. "What will you do then?"

"I can take it," the prince insisted.

"Brave words," I said with a smirk. "Because if you break your word, I will make you regret it."

With no other words, we left the townhouse and began to follow Agni's trail as a light snow fell from the sky.