Good morning, readers! Spring break's here, and you know what that means? I'll finally really finish writing this story! Wahoo! Oh, and there's the fact that I'll be in Japan in a day... yeah, I'm pumped. Oh, and did I mention my birthday was yesterday? It was super.
Long chapter this week! From here on out, I'm guesstimating the chapters will be about this long, maaaybe a tad shorter. Prepare yourselves, it's pretty epic!
The Undertaker's Apprentice
Ciel fidgeted uncomfortably on the floor as he watched Madame Red and Sebastian converse quietly on the other side of the room. They were discussing their means of escape, but the boy couldn't help but wonder if that was the only topic of conversation between them. Their expressions were so grim, their whispering so earnest, Ciel wished he could hear what they were saying. Maybe it could give him clues about the murderer? But Madame Red knew nothing about the case, because she had been surprised when Ciel and Finny had told her about it. there was no new information to be had here.
Ciel stood up and cleared his throat. "Uh-hm."
Sebastian's gaze swung over to Ciel. The boy resisted the urge to shrink away where he stood; had he upset him again? "Yes, Ciel?"
The boy took a deep breath, trying his hardest to get over his damned cant. "Sebastian, when're we getting out of here? You can't be here too long before they come ta—to—check on you an' we get caught."
"Right you are," Madame Red stood up again and smoothed her skirts out.
Sebastian merely smiled. "Will you look at that? The boy's getting some common sense."
"Always had more than you'd hope to," Ciel grumbled.
Sebastian was suddenly at his side, leaning over and whispering in his ear. "Oh, you would be pleasantly surprised," he hissed seductively.
Ciel caught his breath and stiffened at the quiet sound in his ear. But then he blinked, and it was as if the moment had never happened.
"Now how will we be finding Finnian?" Madame Red said, bringing a hazy-minded Ciel back to the present, "He disappeared just before we entered the area for condemned criminals, is that right Ciel?"
The boy's eyes lit up like an ambushed rabbit. He shook himself. "Wha? Oh, yeah," Ciel spluttered, "Right before we came up 'ere."
The woman waggled her finger in the air and paced around the cell. "Alright, so he is nearby. I'm assuming he is still near the cell he found, if not inside. We should be able to find it if Ciel here leads us to retrace our steps. Correct?" she finished, setting her arms akimbo and staring at Ciel expectantly.
Ciel shuffled around in a slow circle. "Yeah, I think I can tell ya where he went."
"Good. Now, let us begin," Madame Red led the way out the cell door with an extravagant swish of her blood red dress. Ciel made to exit next, but felt a hand at the small of his back gently pushing him out the door.
"A common boy must not block a duke's way," Sebastian teased, brushing past him. Ciel should have been irritated, but the malice he so often found in the duke's voice was barely there. Just a joking sarcasm.
Ciel led the nobles down the dank corridor towards the stairs. He was aware of every sound his shoes made on the dirty floor, every sound made him jump. If they were caught helping a condemned criminal break out of jail, it would be all hell to pay. He tried his hardest to remember where Finny had left them for whoever or whatever was in that jail cell. It was down this corridor, around that corner, and…
"I think this's it," Ciel stopped at the beginning of a corridor on the ground floor.
Madame Red looked around and nodded. "Good work, Ciel," she praised him, "If only I had children as intelligent as you. Now, we will have to check all the cells in this hallway until we find something of use."
"I do not think there will be a need for that," Sebastian said smoothly, raising a finger to point at a cell farther down the hall, "I think that answers all our questions."
Madame Red and Ciel followed Sebastian's finger to the cell he was referencing. Sure enough, the door was ajar. Ciel made to see what was inside, but Sebastian's dark figure swooped around him and beat him to it.
Sebastian leaned forward to look inside the cell, then stepped inside. Ciel and the Madame followed suit. The cell was abandoned, the lock broken. "Someone must have a similar idea to us," Madame Red mused, walking around the tiny cell.
"Apparently so," the duke watched over the scene. He turned to Ciel. "Ciel, how about you assist us in discovering how long ago these people left and how many there were."
Without a word, Ciel set to work. This was the kind of thing he was good at, the Undertaker had taught him well in the ways of basic forensics. He carefully looked at the floor for footprints in the dust, for marks where people had sat down. He searched for scraps of clothing and hair. At last, he turned to Sebastian with a smug look on his face. "I've got it."
Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Do tell."
Ciel held up a strand of long red hair. "This hair. It's red as blood."
"It's not mine, the stand is too long," Madame Red added, "Most likely the escaped prisoner's."
"Even better, I know who this is," Ciel continued, "'s Grell, 'e's a… good friend of the Undertaker."
Sebastian folded his arms and delicately tapped his fingers on his arm. "How do you know he was here?"
"Grell took Bard an' Merlyn to Newgate to try ta break you outta here," Ciel explained, keeping his tone even and matter-of-fact, "Must've gotten caught."
Madame Red looked around the cell again from where she stood beside Ciel. "So was Finny here?"
Ciel nodded. "Yeah, that's his hairpin." He picked up a red barrette from the floor and held it up. Finny always wore five of them in his blond hair—he said it helped keep his bangs out of his eyes.
Sebastian took the barrette and examined it. He sniffed it once, and slid it into his pocket. Turning to leave, he said, "Come. I can lead you to them."
Madame Red was right behind him. "What? How could you possibly know where they are? You'll be caught and your trial will come even sooner—"
The duke turned his head to stare down the woman, crimson eyes flashing. "I will be quite alright, Madame," he said darkly, "Come, Ciel. We must find them. He tapped the lady on the forhead once, and she shook so violently Ciel was sure she was about to fall over in a seizure. But she did not fall; in fact, her feet stayed rooted to the spot. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out.
"That is more like it," Sebastian smiled. He grabbed Ciel by the hand and they flew down the hallway, the boy still dumbfounded at what had just happened.
When he came to his senses, Ciel spluttered, "D-didja jus' hex her?!"
Sebastian put a gloved finger to his lips. "My, my, such wicked words," he teased, "She was a nuisance and needed to be gotten rid of for now."
Ciel decided not to question the matter further, for fear of uncovering any more unpleasant quirks around the duke. The practice of black magic had never sat well with the boy. He allowed himself to be led through the prison and tugged down corridors at lightening speed, not making a sound. As a matter of fact, they did not make a sound at all as they sped along through the prison. Ciel wanted to believe his feet were on the ground, but had the sneaking suspicion that he was, indeed, being pulled along through the air. Whatever the duke had been hiding from him until this point, he was obviously not bothering to cover it up now.
The boy heard a voice up ahead, a man. "H-hey, what're ya doing outta your cell?! You—"
A squishing sound cut the voice short, and Ciel suddenly felt something warm dash across his cheek. He forced his hand against his speed and reached up to touch it. Drawing his fingers away, he could see that it was blood. His gut wrenched at the idea of what Sebastian had just done.
The hallways gradually became less and less of a blur as Sebastian finally began to slow down. He set Ciel on his feet and glanced around. "We are almost there," he said evenly.
Ciel made no comment, just rubbed the blood off his cheeks.
"Ciel? Is that you?"
Ciel looked around to see Merlyn running down the hallway towards them. She was waving, her figure switching from light to dark to light again as she passed the barred windows in the corridor.
"Merlyn! Are you okay?" Ciel returned as the maid swept him up in a hug.
She squeezed him close, saying, "Everyone's alright, they're not far behind me." She proceeded to recount the story of their attempt to break Sebastian out: "We snuck in here, but Grell got us captured rather fast. We tried to get out of there, but Grell couldn't get us out. Finny found us and broke the lock, and we've been on the run ever since. Grell led us here and said you'd be here. Now here you are!"
Ciel nodded to show he understood, but something about Merlyn's story didn't quite fit: why hadn't Grell simply used his death god powers in a way Bard and Merlyn wouldn't notice so they could break out? Grell was extremely flamboyant about his physical abilities, but when it came to actual powers he was quieter about using them. But even so, wouldn't he be able to use them in an emergency? The only reason for him to avoid using his powers would be that something stronger than him was in the area. What was that supposed to mean?
Bard, Finny, and Grell arrived soon after. Ciel noticed a quick glance in Sebastian's direction from Grell, but thought no more of it.
"If everyone is assembled, we will go," Sebastian said. He led the way out a door leading to the outside, effortlessly skewering the guard outside with a dinner knife. Ciel stepped over the fallen man without emotion; if he were to live on the run, he would have to grow used to seeing sights such as these again. He had been off the streets of East End far too long.
"We must make haste," Sebastian said over his shoulder, "I am suspicious that someone has been watching my actions ever since I stepped into this prison."
Ciel looked around, scanning the small exercise area they had exited into. There were groups of sad, hideous inmates clothed in rags and surrounded by flies, but no one seemed to be watching them. The group kept to the far wall, almost completely out of sight from the guard. Sebastian broke the lock of a heavy iron side door and they all filed out, keeping low to the ground.
They broke into a mad run as soon as the last person, Finny, was out. Grell kept up with Sebastian relatively easily. "Looks like you could've just walked out of there at any time you wanted."
Sebastian shook his head. "This is a risk, even for someone like me. I am powerful enough to get out of there, but it is what awaits me on this side of those walls that caused my hesitation."
"Could that hesitation be caused by me, perhaps?" Charles Grey asked, feigning curiosity as he stepped out into the late afternoon sun from around a corner.
And the tension builds, only to shatter next week...?! I'll be traveling next Friday, but I will still post the chapter! It's getting too good to skip a week ^_^ Next chapter on April 2!