Chapter 24: Winds of Change

Hello my lovelies! I finally have a chance to write more to this story that I have been dying to do. Anywho, here is where the magic happens in the author's note.

Micky-Moo- Thank you and welcome back my lovley! I have to agree with you aabout Mina. I really don't like her because of how she treated Soma when he spent all that time and energy trying to find her. She could have been a lot more nice than she was.

L0n3W0lf36- Welcome back my lovely! Thank you for your praise. It's nice to know that I am able to keep the characters in character instead of having them be completely different than how they are portrayed.

jazica- Hello new lovely! I am so happy to see that you have joined us. I also agree with you. Soma can be such a cutie pie can't he?

TF fan-for-life- Hello new lovely! I thank you for your review. Please leave more in the future.

BarelyRamsey14503- Welcome back my lovely! Before I answer your review, I have to say that I love your profile picture. Now that that is out of the way, I cannot help but laugh at your review. I myself was singing this under my breath as I wrote this. Please send in more reviews.

spirit of the moon lilies- Hello new lovely! Calm yourself, the story will unfold more and more as time goes on. I'm pretty sure both Undertaker and Sebastian will fight more in the future. It's just in their nature.

belladu57- Hello new lovely! I thank you for your support and simply ask for more reviews in the next chapters.

Wow, I gained four new lovelies in this chapter. I feel so loved! Anyways, now that that is out of the way, on to the quotes. For this chapter I couldn't pick just one so I have two.

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.

~Anatole France

If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it.

~Mary Engelbreit

Well, that's about all I have for this author's note so I will leave it at that and get on with the story.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o An Earthbound Angel o0o0o0o0o0o

"It's time to wake up, Lady Ariel," spoke a deep voice that was somewhat familiar to me. Who was it that was waking me up? Sunlight then poured into my room that had my eyes twitching before they opened. From my window I could see that Agni was the one to wake me up. "Namaste ji."

"Namaste ji Agni," I yawned while rubbing sleep from my eyes, turning slightly to see that Prince Soma was standing beside my bed with a blush on his face. "Is something the matter Prince Soma?"

"I-I-I jus-just thought you were cu-cute," he stammered while fidgeting his hands behind his back. This caused a smile to appear on my lips.

"Why thank you Prince Soma," I giggled, giving him a hug. "I think you're cute too." I could feel him stiffen in my arms until he relaxed and wrapped his own arms around me.

"Ariel, it's time to wake-," came Malphas's voice when he came to my bedroom door, only to stop talking when he saw Agni and Prince Soma in my room. Namely me hugging Prince Soma.

"Sebastian! Good morning!" I greeted him as I let go of Prince Soma to skip out of bed to meet my mate by my door. Narrowed eyes landed on Prince Soma behind me before Malphas's eyes came back to me giving a flash of his demonic eyes in the process.

Really Malphas? Calm down.

He had his arms around you.

That's because I was giving him a hug. Malphas was going to say something else but was cut off by Agni.

"When do you wish to depart Lady Ariel?"

"How about after breakfast. We won't get very far on an empty stomach." Both of the Indian men agreed wholeheartedly as we all made to exit my bedroom. However, a cough from Malphas stopped me from setting foot out my door.

"Maybe you should be getting dressed?" he offered stiffly with his fake smile. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I looked down to see that I was still wearing my brother's button up shirt that was my nightgown. A blush grew on my cheeks when I saw this.

"Yeah. That sound's like a good idea. I'll meet you three down in the dining room in a few minutes." All three men left my room leaving me to myself to get dressed. The outfit I chose to wear for the day was a silver dress that hung off my shoulders across the tops of my arms in icicle like patterns which had a skin tight bodice down my torso and large sleeves that ran down my arms that reached down past my hands in a similar icicle like fashion at the hem of the sleeves. At my hips the silver material was bunched on either side that ended at my knees in an icicle like fashion that had a white under-skirt underneath the over-skirt. My simple silver slippers were slipped on to accompany my dress while I dusted some silver shadow on my eyelids, put my hair into a style that had some of my hair pulled back over the rest of my loose hair that fell down my back in its natural curls, and spritzed on some snowberry water. Once I deemed myself ready I swooped over to my desk to grab a some paper, a pencil, and some colored pencils. It might help our search if we had an accurate picture of this missing Mina person.

When I arrived in the dining room, I saw that Prince Soma and Agni were already digging into their breakfast.

"Good morning all," I greeted the two foreign men, my brother, Malphas, and the other servants.

"Good morning Ariel," Ciel mumbled from around his scone.

"Good morning Lady Ariel," Agni, Mei, Bard, and Finni returned warmly.

"Good morning Ariel," Prince Soma blushed from his seat at the table. Malphas simply sent me a private good morning through our bond. I quickly yet gracefully ate my breakfast so that I could get started on the sketch.

"Alright Prince Soma. What does Mina look like?" I asked while I pushed my plate away in favor of pulling the paper closer to me.

"Well, she has black hair that frames her face down to below her chin along with a strand of hair that comes down between her eyes down to her nose, a bindi on her forehead, gray eyes, she wears gold hoop earrings and a gold choker, and she likes wearing pink." From there Agni gave me a more detailed description of Mina's face so that I could sketch her then color her in.

"This is marvelous Lady Ariel," Agni praised when he saw my finished project.

"I can hardly tell that you haven't seen her at all," Prince Soma commented while looking at the sketch. I giggled at his praise as I stood from my seat with the sketch.

"Are you ready gentleman?" I questioned while I folded the sketch and placed it in the bodice of my dress.

"Yes," both answered at once, rising from their seats.

"Splendid," I smiled rightly while clapping my hands. "Follow me you two and stay close. We can't have you getting lost." With that the three of us left the house and entered the early London streets. "Do you two mind if I stop somewhere first before we get searching?"

"No, I don't mind Ariel," Prince Soma assured me.

"Great. After I'm done, there is a person who I think will know where your Mina is."

"You know someone who has such vast amounts of knowledge?" Agni inquired skeptically.

"Yep. His name is Undertaker." Both of their eyes widened at the name.

"He's a mortician?" Prince Soma exclaimed in a whisper.

"Yep." They did not say anymore words as I led them into Miss. Nina's dress shop.

"Lady Ariel!" Miss. Nina shouted joyfully when she saw me at the entrance. She sped towards the front only to grab me and hug me while her hands threatened to grope. "You look as lovely as ever!"

"Thank you Miss. Nina," I answered awkwardly at her perverted tendencies in front of Prince Soma and Agni. "How are Sebastian's and my costumes coming along?"

"They are finished!" she announced proudly. "Once I saw the design that you came up with, I simply could not rest until it was finished. Why don't we try on your costume to see if it fits in all the right places."

"Do you two mind?" I sent to the two men who had come with me. Again they shook their heads which prompted Miss. Nina to whisk me away to the back so that I could dress in the costume that she had made for me. I quickly shed my dress in favor of the white and silver satin one that Miss. Nina slipped over my head and tightened the corset backing after she did so. Just like the sketch the silver ribbon at my chest floated down easily to my calfs while the skirt of the dress came up to mid thigh in the front and fell down to my ankles in the back. From there white stockings with silver lacing were tugged on my legs as well as my white and silver lacing gloves on my arms that went to the middle of my upper arm. My silver ballet slippers were then tied on and a silver ribbon was tied around my neck like a choker whose ends fell all the way to the floor.

"It fits perfectly!" Miss. Nina squealed in delight. "Why don't we go take a look in the mirror at the front of the store?" I vigorously nodded my head in agreement. I really wanted to see what my outfit looked like on me. When Prince Soma and Agni saw me in my costume, both of their mouths dropped open and their eyes widened in shock.

"Does it not look alright?" I questioned the two in embarrassment at their staring.

"No, it looks wonderful Lady Ariel," Agni assured me. "I was merely surprised." Prince Soma had yet to say something, only staring at me with wide eyes and a blush.

"What about you Prince Soma?"

"Y-You lo-look beautiful," he admitted while adverting his eyes and fidgeting.

"Thank you." Miss. Nina apparently had enough paying attention to the males so she whirled me around to look at myself in the mirror. What I saw in the mirror took me pleasantly aback. Even without my angelic powers at the surface, it appeared like I had a silvery glow around my skin and my hair that made me look like the angel I was.

"This is one of your finest works Miss. Nina," I praised with a smile. "Could you package this and Sebastian's costume for me?"

"Of course." In a flash I was put back into the clothes I was wearing earlier with two packages that held the costumes held secure in my arms.

"Thank you again Miss. Nina. I can't stay any longer but I hope to see you soon."

"Bye Lady Ariel!" she called after me enthusiastically when I left the store.

"Who was that?" Prince Soma asked.

"That was Miss. Nina Hopkins. She has been the Phantomhive family dress maker for as long as I can remember." Of course I meant after Ciel and I had reunited and the mansion was rebuilt.

"Why didn't she talk to us," Prince Soma sulked.

"Don't take it the wrong way Prince Soma, Agni. Miss. Nina just doesn't like men. She ignores our male servants when she come to visit and only makes clothes for Ciel and Sebastian at Lizzie's or my request."

"Lizzie?"

"Oh, she's Ciel's fiancee." They looked shocked at my words as we continued down the street.

"Doesn't that mean this Lizzie is Lord Phantomhive's betrothed?" Agni ventured.

"Exactly."

"Do you have a betrothed?" Prince Soma spoke up. I put my finger to my lips as I thought about it. I guess you could say that both Pheobus and Malphas are my betrothed.

"Yes." I could see poor Soma's face fall at my words. He kind of resembled a kicked puppy. I didn't have long to dwell on his facial expression when I saw that we had reached Pheobus's parlor.

"Undertaker!" I called out as I opened the front door. "Are you here?!" As we entered the building Prince Soma clung to Agni when he saw all of the jars full of body parts and the poor lighting given off by the candles. I couldn't help but giggle slightly at his reaction. Seeing everyone's reaction to seeing the parlor for the first time always made me laugh.

"Weeellllll, what do we have here?~" Pheobus drawled, coming up behind Prince Soma and placing a hand on his shoulder. A loud scream shot past Prince Soma's lips as he jumped a foot into the air. Agni's body moved instantly to protect his prince but missed Pheobus when he danced over to me who was dying laughing over the scare Pheobus had given the Indian prince. Pheobus joined me in the laughter, his boisterous laugh making the whole building shake. Once Prince Soma had seen the newest edition in the room, he managed to calm down a little while Agni eyed Pheobus wearily. Minutes passed by with Pheobus and I still laughing but mine was lowering down to giggles while his turned to chuckles.

"Oh gosh," I sighed/giggled while I wiped the tears from my eyes and wrapped an arm around my waist. "I haven't laughed so hard in a while. Jeez, my ribs hurt." A few more chuckles escaped Pheobus as he wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on top of my head.

"Who are you?" Prince Soma asked as he eyed the scene before him.

"Prince Soma, Agni, this is Undertaker. Undertaker, this is Prince Soma Asman Kadar of India and his butler Agni."

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Agni bowed to him.

"The pleasure is all mine," he waved off easily. "Why don't you take a seat on one of my coffins and I'll go make some tea?" Prince Soma did as instructed and sat down with Agni right behind him while Pheobus sat me on his desk with the jar of his bone cookies placed in my grasp. Prince Soma looked terrified at the jar in my hands as a smile lit my lips as I opened the jar and began to munch on a cookie.

"So this is the Undertaker you were talking about?" Prince Soma questioned while his eyes glanced wearily around the parlor probably thinking something else was going to come jumping out at him. I stifled another giggle with a cookie then swallowed.

"Yep. If someone was to know where Mina is, Undertaker would be the one." Just as I had uttered the words, Pheobus came back with four beakers of tea on a tray. Agni and Prince Soma took their tea, but didn't drink it while Pheobus and I sipped from ours after he had placed me in his lap.

"What information did you need love?" Pheobus inquired while he ran his hand through my hair. I fished out the sketch of Mina and handed him it then began to nibble on another cookie.

"Prince Soma is looking for a woman named Mina and this is what she looks like."

"Hmm, I was almost expecting the little earl coming to ask me about the men being hung upside down," Pheobus mused, his covered eyes moving up to glance at Agni. I gave a swift glance to see Agni slightly squirming at the reference. Why is he uncomfortable with the subject?

"Have you seen her?" Prince Soma spoke up which brought our attention back to the matter at hand.

"Yes, I have. She is married to a noble named Harold West. Though I do not know where he lives." Prince Soma's eyes lit up at the news while Agni looked torn. All of Agni's reaction were starting to concern me. Why is he acting like he has something to do with the strung up English men?

What was that look you gave Agni? I sent to Pheobus as I nibbled on another cookie.

I believe that Agni person you are talking about is responsible for the men.

What?!

I know it may seem a little far fetched to you, but I am positive. My eyebrows furrowed in concern for the Indian man across from me. Why would he be doing this? Surely he had a reason to be doing this to these poor people.

"Is that all you needed to know?" Pheobus asked out loud.

"Yes. Thank you Undertaker," Prince Soma beamed at the older mortician as he jumped up from his seat to bound over to me to take my hand. "C'mon Ariel! Let's go see if we can't find where this Harold West lives!" Pheobus showed some obvious dislike towards Prince Soma's behavior towards me when he held me fast to his chest.

Oh not you too, I huffed in irritation.

Are you aware that this man has a crush on you love? My eyes widened at his words. Prince Soma had a crush on me? Is that why he stammered and blushed all the time?

No, I wasn't. I could literally hear the eye roll I received.

Well you might want to let him know you're not interested before he gets his hope up.

I did tell him that I have a fiancee.

And yet he still wants you? I could only shrug my shoulders. I didn't even know he had a crush on me so I couldn't tell if he still wanted a chance with me. A heavy sigh left him but he relented his hold on me to set me on my feet myself. Be careful walking through the city.

I'm always careful Pheobus. This earned a disbelieving look from my mate as he showed me all the times I had gotten into trouble.

Oh really? he challenged.

Alright. I promise I'll be careful. I told him when my cheeks heated up in a blush.

That's better love, he smiled before he placed a kiss on my forehead. And this time be back home before it gets dark.

Yes, Pheobus. He chuckled at my eye roll then led the three of us to the entrance.

"Have a good day all," he called after us while shutting the door.

"Is that your betrothed?" Agni asked when we began walking again.

"Yes."

"He certainly is an odd character," Prince Soma admitted trying not to be rude. You have no idea, I thought to myself while I made a face.


For hours we wandered through the city, though we stopped at some point to grab some lunch, and we still could not find Harold West's house. Prince Soma made an aggravated noise beside me while Agni stayed quiet while he held my packages. At some point after we left Pheobus's parlor, he had insisted on carrying them for me. It was useless trying to argue with the man so I let him do as he wished.

"Where is this man?" Prince Soma sighed tiredly.

"I'm sure we'll find him," I assured the plum haired prince. "We just need to have a little more patience." He let out a deep sigh which had me giggling softly. It must be so tough for the prince to not have results this quickly, but at least this way he can learn from the experience. While we continued on our way I began to sing softly which had Prince Soma and Agni relaxing. I felt a sense of peace settling over us until I could feel a disturbance to my left. What is going on? My instincts screamed at me to put up some form of protection around us so I switched to my angel form and sent up some of my angelic power to form a silver shield around us. When I looked to see what was trying to attack us, I saw reels of a cinematic record hurtling against my shield. Where is the reaper? I scanned my surroundings quickly to see a reaper dressed in the normal suit with blonde and black hair who had a lawn mower as a death scythe battling the cinematic record. It looks like he needs help.

"Prince Soma, Agni, I need you two to stay here and don't move," I ordered them as my wings tensed to launch myself into the air. "I'll be right back." Once I took off into the air I sent out attacks with my wind powers to try to keep the cinematic records contained.

"You need help reaper?" I asked the blonde as I landed beside him with my back to his.

"Yeah, th-," he said only to stop when he saw my wings. "You're an angel."

"Yep," I dismissed quickly. "Now how about a battle plan?"

"Right. Well, if you can contain the cinematic records that are hurtling around, I can attack the source and collect it."

"Sounds good." With that I launched myself into the air again and used the wind to form a sort of barrier around the struggling cinematic record. The longer I held the record I could feel the strain and sweat began to bead at my forehead. How can the reapers handle this all the time? I pushed the container for the record tighter to make sure they wouldn't escape when I saw that a stray film hurtling at Prince Soma and Agni.

"Agni! Get Prince Soma out of the way!" I shouted down at the two who looked frozen. I guess there is no avoiding this. To get them out of their daze, or at least Agni, I sent a ball of fire at their feet that startled Agni out of his trance. Once he saw the cinematic record coming for them, he scooped up Prince Soma and jumped out of the way. It was then when I felt the slack of the record as the blonde reaper collected the record. Thank the stars, I sighed to myself in my head as I released my hold on the record since there was no more struggle taking place. When the whole record was collected I landed on the ground and stretch out my limbs and wings. That was definitely some exercise.

"Thank you for you help Lady Angel," the blonde reaper knelled before me.

"Please, stand up. There is no need for you to do that," I said sheepishly at the action.

"But you are an angel. I need to show respect," he protested.

"How about we just exchange names. My name is Ariel. What is yours?"

"My name is Ronald Knox Lady Ariel."

"There is no getting past the Lady title is there?" I sighed. He firmly shook his head.

"All right. If you can't drop the title then I give you a request to act like your normal self around me. Sound fair?"

"Got it," he grinned more comfortably as he leaned against his death scythe versus his earlier action of standing straight. I wonder if he knows William, I asked myself offhandedly. I really need to have a talk with that man.

"Do you know William Spears?" I finally voiced.

"Yeah. He's kind of my boss."

"Okay, then can you tell him that Ariel Phantomhive wishes to speak with him. It is very important that you tell him this."

"Can do Lady Ariel."

"Oh, and can you tell Grell hi for me?"

"You know Miss. Sutcliff?"

"Of course I do. She's one of my best friends." He looked taken aback at my comment but made no further remarks.

"Is there anything else you need Lady Ariel?"

"Nope. thank you Ronald."

"No problem. I'll see you around."

"See you." At the end of our conversation he disappeared through a shadow like portal that appeared on the building to the side. All right, now that that's over, it's time to focus on Prince Soma and Agni. I pulled my wings into my back and suppressed my angelic power before turning to the Indian duo.

"Are you two alright?" I asked them carefully.

"You-You're an angel?" Prince Soma questioned in shock.

"Yes."

"And who was that that was just here?"

"That was a grim reaper, but I will tell you about it we return back to the town house. It is not suitable conversation to have in the street." All they could do was nod numbly and follow after me as I walked back towards the town house. We all need some warm tea when we get back.

o0o0o0o0o An Earthbound Angel o0o0o0o

Well there we have it my lovelies. So sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, but I hope that the chapter makes up for it. As always if you have any questions, comments, or concerns feel free to leave a review. Remember, reviews are magic.

~White Wolf