As Adalina was outside tending to the flowerbeds that Finnian had once again murdered, she could just barely make out quiet footsteps approaching the manor. She looked up and saw someone who was unsuccessfully trying to hide from her amongst the many trees surrounding the manor. The more she scanned the grounds, the more people she could see. She counted five, but she had no doubt that there were more of them hiding out of her sight.
She pretended she didn't see them so she could go back inside and inform Ciel that he had intruders. She was sure she could not fight them on her own.
As soon as she turned her back, she felt someone grab her shoulder from behind. On complete instinct, Adalina grabbed the hand of her assailant and twisted him around so she was free. With his arm twisted in such a painful position that he couldn't move, she kicked him hard in the gut. More intruders came out of hiding and ran to attack her. There were indeed more than she had initially seen.
Adalina fought all of them with her own bare hands, dodging each and every attack and inflicting many of her own. She managed to incapacitate a couple of her attackers and was beginning to lose stamina when gunshots were fired from above her.
She spun around and looked up towards the roof of the manor to find Mey-Rin and Baldroy. Baldroy held a large shotgun and Mey-Rin held two handguns that they were aiming from two different look-out posts. They both sent her small nods.
Her eyes widened in surprise. The useless servants were expert snipers?!
Another intruder Adalina hadn't yet seen aimed his gun at the head maid.
"ADALINAAAAA!"
Finnian came in front of her and tossed a huge marble statue they kept in the back gardens at the assailant. The intruder couldn't run away fast enough, and the statue came crashing down on both legs, undoubtedly breaking at least one of them.
How in the world had someone as young as Finnian been able to lift a huge statue?!
"Are you okay?" the young boy asked her.
Adalina looked at the gardener with wide eyes, stunned at the realization that no one working in this manor was normal.
"It's okay! I know I'm strong, but I would never hurt you!" He lightly touched the thin sandy-colored scarf around his neck. "I could never hurt you. You made this for me…It helped me to hide something important…"
She took a step back from him and from the dead intruders and looked at her hands in disbelief.
…How had she just done all of that fighting? She had never learned any of those moves she had just performed. And yet, the injured intruders in front of her proved otherwise.
"Finny, go inside," a familiar voice announced.
"Yes, sir," Finnian said quickly as he bounded back inside the manor.
Sebastian approached a wary Adalina. She was still breathing heavily and was not taking her eyes off her hands or the intruders she had taken down.
He lightly touched her shoulder, and she nearly jumped a foot in the air as she turned around. She tensed up and backed away from him a little.
"I trained you to do all of those techniques," he told her. "We spent hours nearly every day together so I could teach you how to defend yourself. It appears that though you've lost your memory, your muscles have not forgotten what you learned."
This was far too overwhelming for the young woman. In her time at the manor, she had served alongside a demon, two expert snipers, and a kid with more strength than an army, and then learned self-defense from said demon? What was this life she lived?
Another headache came crashing down on her, and she bent over in pain as she pressed her fingers to her temple.
"Adalina!" Sebastian exclaimed, lightly holding her elbows before she toppled over.
Adalina tightly gripped his arms, the pain making her forget that she was afraid of him. Another set of images flashed before her eyes.
She remembered these servants and their abilities…She remembered helping them when they had intruders…
"Alright, we've got people coming up to the manor," Baldroy announced to the other servants. "Here's the plan. Mey-Rin, load up and head to the roof."
"Yes, sir!" Mey-Rin answered as she pushed her glasses on top of her head.
"Finny, go around back in case any of them come that way."
"Right!" Finnian saluted.
"I'll take the front of the house. Adalina, you and Tanaka go guard Lady Elizabeth."
Adalina nodded once.
All of the servants quickly headed to their appropriate positions.
Adalina headed upstairs with Tanaka towards the room where Lady Elizabeth was sleeping.
Just as they got there, the body of a small boy crashed through the window with a bullet wound in his head and his body covered in the resulting spray of blood.
Upon closer inspection, Adalina realized it wasn't a boy at all, but an older teenager who had simply stopped growing.
It was sad that he had been killed, but the protection of the manor came first. If these people were coming here in the middle of the night, she had no doubt their intentions were anything but good.
And it was the servants' job to take care of them.
Adalina and Tanaka quietly opened the door halfway to Lady Elizabeth's room, using the door to shield the body of the intruder.
Elizabeth was already out of bed and halfway towards the door, clutching a Funtom bunny in her arms.
"Oh, you're awake, Lady Elizabeth," Tanaka said kindly. "Whatever is the matter?"
"I guess I was just startled," Elizabeth answered quietly. "Did you hear a loud noise just a moment ago?"
"Ho, ho, ho, I haven't heard a peep all night. You must've dreamed it, Lady."
"It seemed so real though. But I suppose if you didn't hear anything…"
"Now, please, my Lady, get back into bed before you catch cold. There's nothing to worry about, I can assure you. Adalina will be right outside the door if you need anything."
Adalina gave her a small smile and a curtsey.
"Alright," Elizabeth answered as she returned to bed. "Thank you, Adalina."
Tanaka closed the door again. "I'll patrol the halls and take care of this one. Stay on guard here and clean up the mess."
Adalina nodded again and positioned herself outside the Lady's room. The intruders would get in here over her dead body.
Tanaka removed the body of the green-clad stranger from the hallway.
When he was gone, Adalina quickly mopped up all the blood so that if Lady Elizabeth ended up leaving the room again, she wouldn't know that someone had just been killed.
The shattered window might be a bit difficult to explain, but it was easier to explain that away than a huge puddle of blood.
Once her task was complete, Adalina continued to keep watch. Every few seconds or so, a loud crash sounded out in various places of the manor. She winced with each noise, hoping Lady Elizabeth was sleeping deep enough that she didn't hear it.
She removed her apron and shoved it in the small crack underneath the door to the room. It wouldn't do much to muffle the noises, but it would help a little bit.
Suddenly, there was a loud boom in the direction of the kitchen.
Baldroy must've started using his explosives again. As helpful as they were in these situations, couldn't he have been a bit quieter with their unexpected guest in the house?
Finally, all of the noises ceased, and Adalina breathed a sigh of relief. Not a peep from Lady Elizabeth.
The manor was safe.
Books. There was something about books…
Adalina walked along the large bookshelves in the Phantomhive library. Her fingers lightly skimmed across the titles, not really looking for one in particular.
"Do you enjoy reading?"
Adalina jumped a little at Sebastian's voice behind her. How he always managed to sneak up on her so well eluded her.
She slowly nodded her head.
"Is there a particular genre you prefer?"
Adalina looked at the books in front of her for a moment. Then she pulled one of them off the shelf.
Sebastian looked at the cover of the book she handed him: The Leavenworth Case.
"So you enjoy reading mysteries?" he asked with a smirk.
Adalina nodded a little and looked back at the shelves.
Sebastian reached up behind her and grabbed a book off one of the taller shelves. "You might enjoy this one then."
Adalina looked at the cover: A Study in Scarlet.
"The young master enjoys reading mysteries as well. Mr. Arthur Doyle is a favorite of his."
Adalina gave the smallest smile Sebastian had ever seen on a human.
But it was more than she had yet to give during her employment at the manor. At least she was finally warming up to her new life.
"The library is free for you to use. When you are not working, the young master will allow you to choose a book to read at your leisure."
Adalina hugged the book close to her as if it was her greatest treasure.
No…that wasn't the most recent thing about books…
There was something else…
Adalina could remember Ciel asking her to retrieve books from the bookstore. She remembered getting captured by two men on the street. She remembered getting put into an auction to be sold into prostitution.
She remembered Sebastian coming to save her.
The images stopped, and Adalina gasped a little to recover from the onslaught of memories.
She looked up at Sebastian who was holding her to make sure she was steady.
"Did you remember something else?"
Adalina slowly nodded her head.
Sebastian smiled a little. She was clearly much more at ease than she had been before which had to mean she at least wasn't terrified of him anymore.
"How much?"
The young woman held up her thumb and index finger with only a bit of space between them.
"You recall me saving you from a cage?"
Adalina nodded again.
"I told you…you do not have to fear. I do not wish to harm you, and the master has sworn that he will never order me to do so. No one at the manor wishes to you any harm."
Adalina nodded once more and took a deep breath. While she wished she could remember more, that was certainly something to go on. At least now she knew Sebastian didn't have it out for her.
She felt a little guilty that for the past several weeks, she had purposefully avoided him when he had actually been telling the truth about not wanting to hurt her.
"Since we now know that you haven't exactly forgotten your training, I believe we can resume."