Haricku didn't know when her fist had made contact with Blaire's face, but she knew that she hit the other woman hard- enough to cause a searing pain in her own knuckles that further fueled her anger. She also didn't remember when her right cheek was cut with something thin and metal, and she wouldn't have even noticed it, were it not for the thin trails of blood dripping down her right cheek. It seemed as though she was working off adrenaline, for when she looked over at Blaire, her vision became clearer and there was a small, child-sized mass between the two women, with blazing, wide green eyes, holding a small knife to her side.
The child, or being, or whatever it was, stared intently at Haricku, unmoving until it spoke, glancing back at Blaire.
"Are you okay, big sister? She didn't hurt you, did she?" the child asked, not letting her guard down.
Blaire was crouched low to the ground, one knee against her chest, with her head hung forward all the way, obscuring her face from everyone, but her body shook a little until a low laugh escaped, growing in increments. She stood slowly, swinging her body from side to side and flipped her hair back, eyes closed as she ran a hand through her hair, touching the red mark on her cheek tenderly.
"My, my, I knew you'd be upset, but I wasn't quite expecting that. I'm fine, Averice, don't worry about me. Thank you, though, for coming out."
"You're welcome, big sister," Averice said, jumping back to stand next to her older sister, grabbing hold of the pouch belt Blaire wore around her waist.
"Averice?" Sebastian repeated, walking forward, pushing Haricku behind him in order to provide some kind of protection. "Isn't that the name of your doll?"
"Yes, her name is Averice. My brother's name is Vyce," Blaire stated, smiling with a sinisterly sweet smile.
"But they are dolls?" Sebastian insisted, glaring at Blaire, ignoring the smile that he's growing to hate.
"Yes, they are my siblings."
"How are they-…"
"Mister Michaelis, one thing at time! Undoubtedly, you, if not, Haricku, want to know of the reason. I have many, so where should I start?" Blaire tapped her chin thoughtfully, walking back and forth behind Averice in case of any more attacks.
"Why not start from the beginning, like normal people do?!" Haricku yelled, eying the doll rather apprehensively, touching her cheek, glaring at the smears on her hand.
Sebastian looked down and grimaced, pulling out his kerchief and licked the tip of it, cleaning the gash gently. "Beginning would be best, before my master commands me that I dispose of you."
"You all are a really sodden lot," Blaire complained with a sigh, leaning against a cross-styled tomb stone, tapping her chin. "Let me just put this out here: Whatever I did to Katt was justified."
"Maybe in your own little world!" Haricku yelled.
"No, no, in my world, I'm better than anyone and everyone. In my world, people that are less significant than me don't deserve to live. People that are scum, that are the dregs of the barrel, the film of grease and fat on the bottom of a trash can. Those are the people I despise!" She giggled and smiled brightly. "But if they don't do anything to me, I leave them be. Katt Etluka wasn't such a case."
"And why is that?" Haricku interrupted, feeling rage build within her again. She'd probably have beaten Blaire's face in, had it not been for the stupid doll- or was it sibling, she said?
"Katt Etluka had a child, as you know. A baby. I came into London one late night to meet an old friend, but on the way to his house, a carriage almost ran me over and caused me to spill my contents. I cursed the driver and gathered my things."
"What does this have to do with the child?" Sebastian asked, holding onto Haricku's shoulders to hold her back, feeling the tension of a readied attack.
"I decided to play a prank on the coach, if you consider break apart the wheels and killing the driver a prank, but, I followed them to the Thames river," she paused, closing her eyes and for once, her face took on sorrow, looking almost human like in the low light of the sunset. "I wasn't expecting her to dump the baby."
"The baby was dropped into the river?" Ciel exclaimed, taking a step forward. "Do you have proof?"
"Of course. I document my journeys from time to time." She pulled out a small ledger, holding it to Averice who took it and delivered it to Ciel, its head focused on Haricku and Sebastian to be sure they wouldn't try anything.
Ciel took the ledger, flicking through and almost vomited at the sight of the badly mangled baby. Its head had split open and bruises and marks covered the entirety of its body.
"If this happened before, when you came to London, obviously it was before your story of you being the entertainment for Etluka," Sebastian commented, crossing his arms over his chest, glaring. "So, what part of that really was the truth and what were the lies?"
"I wasn't lying when I said they got into a fight. I only lied that Katt took the baby out for a walk. I mean, if I told you about the baby already dead, wouldn't that be suspicious as hell on my part? I always think these things through!" Blaire declared, tapping the side of her head with a glare. "They were fighting over the baby. The bruises and most of those cuts you see are from previous encounters with the father, who hated it. From my assumption, and investigation, the father badly damaged the baby girl and wanted to have her killed, asking that someone do it for them. Katt didn't want to be found out to have baby, no less out of wedlock, and decided to throw it out into the Thames herself. It would have worked, but through my magical power of coincidence, I just happened to be present at the time of the dump."
"Katt… Katt wouldn't do that," Haricku mumbled, her eyes watering. "She was kind. She wouldn't do something like that! She loved children, she would have never done that!"
"She abandoned a baby. She threw it into the water to die and yet you sit there, clinging to a friend that told you nothing?!" Blaire loudly pointed out, starting to laugh again. "Oh dear, oh dear, dear, dear. You're really clueless, if you think of the good in everyone that gives you a handout. Wake up, kid, life isn't fun and games, nor is it any easier to trust people that just act kind. You have to see for yourself who the people around you really are, and only trust those that prove themselves."
"You think I don't know that?" Haricku whispered in a threatening tone, starting to walk to Blaire and Averice quickly went on attack mode, but Blaire stopped her, grinning at Haricku.
"Oh, I'm sure you do. I can see that ferocity in your eyes that I don't see in anyone else, much less someone like you."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing, nothing," Blaire waved her hand nonchalantly and chuckled once more, leaning towards Haricku. "Katt loved children so much she even enslaved them. According to child labor laws, no child under, oh, what was it. Ten? Twelve? Anyway, no child under either of those are able to work in textiles, farms, or factories, or even mining."
"Katt wouldn't-…"
"Katt wouldn't, Katt wouldn't!" Blaire mocked aggressively as she waved her hands around, glaring back at Haricku. "Open your eyes, you insolent brat! Katt isn't some goddess like you're making her out to be! She has children as young as five years old working under her factory! Don't you think that's cruel!? Do you have any idea how many died there!? Or is your stupid fascination with that piece of shit worth more than over a hundred lives of children?!"
"Stop!" Haricku screamed, raising her fist to aim it at Blaire, but the woman caught it with a surprising grip, pulling Haricku towards her, turning her body around and slammed the maid into the tomb stone, smirking widely.
"Stop? You want me to stop? Then open your eyes and see that Katt is no hero. She's even less to be called a human being, she is not worth it!" Blaire yelled, slamming Haricku once more against the tombstone.
Today, Haricku was glad to have chosen the boots, for as she lifted her foot, she slammed it into Blaire's stomach, knocking the wind from her body and Haricku advanced to Blaire, but saw the doll advancing to her left, its knife at the ready. Haricku moved to the side, darting around from the doll's reach, glad too for a shorter dress; the longer would have been in the way too often of the attacks and easy to grab to drag her down. As she moved, Haricku saw movement to her right and looking over, Blaire was running at Haricku, holding her own little knife. Without thinking, she ran at Blaire, sliding her palm against the edge of the blade, gripping it tightly and twisted her wrist around, pulling Blaire's arm painfully under her, successfully disarming the knife.
Blaire snarled, twisting around, rubbing her wrist that was covered in Haricku's blood, then smirked mockingly. "You're pretty good in avoiding, and to be so careless as to grab my knife... You don't really have much value for your life, do you?"
"I bleed like everyone, however I won't die as easily," Haricku stated, flicking her wrist to rid the extra blood that drenched her hand now. "I see how those marks and everything got on Katt. Your puppets killed her, didn't they?"
"Of course! They're my prized possessions, my family."
"Then where's the other?"
"Where indeed?" Blaire gave Haricku a coy smile, putting her hands into the pockets of the grey jacket, looking over to Ciel and Sebastian's area.
Noticing the stare, Sebastian looked around, then widened his eyes, swiveling back to Ciel who was gone. "Young master?!"
"He's not here at the moment, would you like to leave a message?" Blaire said, trying to provoke Sebastian.
"Leave Ciel alone, this fight isn't even about you!" Haricku yelled, running at Blaire with the blade held to her side.
"Ahh, but it isn't in my rules to play fairly. I always have an extra card in my hand for surprises!" Blaire exclaimed, holding her arms out to the side with a loud cackle, Ciel dropping from a tree with a clinging Vyce hanging around him, constricting his limbs and movements, but it didn't stop Ciel from flailing.
"Sebastian!" Ciel yelled, kicking and flailing. "I want you to rescue me! Hurry it up!"
Conflicted, Sebastian looked over at Haricku worriedly, but his eyes brightened to the fusion of pink and magenta before running to the puppet, trying to not put on too much of a show.
Haricku ignored the butler and master mostly, at combat with the puppet and Blaire both, unable to keep up with the barrage of fast, quick attacks from two ends. It was astonishing how fast the grey haired woman moved, dealing attacks and blows so swiftly that Haricku barely had a chance to counter before another front from the doll stopped her.
This repeated for a while, until Blaire let out an ear splitting scream, staring at where Ciel and Sebastian were, the latter all smiles and happy, for in front of him was a dismantled pile of limbs and pieces of the puppet.
"Oops. I was trying to play with him, but he just broke," mocked Sebastian with false sorrow, eyebrows knitted to show discerning worry. "It's a rather cheap toy, isn't it?"
"Cheap?... Cheap?! You dare call my products cheap!? Humans are cheap! Flesh, blood, bone, that's all cheap shit! My puppets.. My brother was made with the finest of materials, you rotten turd! How dare you just take him apart like that?!" Blaire went into hysterical yelling, picking up each piece, cradling them with care before running to her messenger bag and pulled out a small box, flicking the latch open and ripped open the lid.
Inside, were various small tools and instruments to make and fix puppets or doll that had wooden structures and bodies, immediately getting to work once she had found the proper tools. Everyone else was non existent to her for the time being, her only focus on fixing what is precious and loved by her, not wanting to see Vyce in such pieces. It had been far too long since he had a check up anyway, but Blaire was certain in her skills of practice that he could have gone another month or two without needing one. Averice usually did most of the heavy work, so she needed a regular tune up every so often to make sure the gears and internals all worked.
"Come on… Come on… It's okay… I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it. I'm so sorry, Vyce, I didn't think this would happen," Blaire whined, holding the head tightly between her hands. Without knowing what really happened, Blaire just assumed that it was due to her neglect that this happened, blaming it all on herself. "Please be okay. It'll be okay."
Haricku looked to Averice, who slowly walked over, kneeling down next to Blaire to help assemble the body again, gathering the different pieces to fit them together. She didn't know what more she could do to help, but instead went over to the ledger that was dropped in the ground, picking it up into her hands. She turned the pages slowly, looking at each picture, her frown growing more grim with each page.
Horrific scenes were placed before her, mostly of Katt's adventure with the company. Many pictures depicted gruesome deaths of children that had become caught in between the gears and belts of the gun powder factories, others falling to their death or terribly emaciated. There was no mistake, the factories were Katt's, for Haricku visited the place herself many times. While her sister and brothers had their own factories to tend to elsewhere in Europe Katt decided to stay with her parents to run her own factory right here in London.
Throwing the book from her, Haricku felt a deep regret and devoted betrayal from Katt. How many lies did the woman tell her, to seem like such a good person? Haricku would never know now, but she didn't care. Everything Katt did for Haricku was null in her eyes, not caring about what Katt helped with or devoted herself to. The image of greatness she built for Katt was shattered as easily as she had constructed it. It was a queer feeling, when someone you thought you knew turns out to be different from what you expected, what they made you see. Sometimes those that say they would take a bullet to save you, are the same ones that hold the barrel of the gun to your head to fire the shot.
And that was how Haricku felt. Shot, not through the head, but the heart. It was a wrenching feeling of sickness and detest, a feeling she had not felt in so long that she was repulsed by it. She stood up, looking over at Blaire, debating to strike her down now or let her go. The more she thought about it, the more she saw Blaire for the person she was. Whatever her reason for attaching to the dolls and calling them her siblings, Haricku didn't care. They put her on edge and unsettled her, but she made her way behind Blaire, reaching a hand out and suddenly Ciel grabbed her wrist, pulling her back and cleared his throat.
"Blaire," he stated quietly, holding himself formally.
She turned around a little, her eyes watered and pained, but had half of Vyce completed including his head and torso, as well as an arm. "What?" she said with attitude.
"I'd like to invite you to join my household as a servant."
"Ha! A servant? I 'm not as low to work for someone, let alone be a servant," she mumbled, turning back to her dolls. Ciel tried again.
"You'd be paid and would have housing as well as other people to keep you company. Your dolls can come with you if you choose, I won't ask that you abandon them."
"I don't know."
"Then we'll be taking our leave," Ciel said, tipping his hat with a bow, turning to Sebastian, walking away from Blaire. "Come, Sebastian, Haricku. We must be heading back before it gets too late."
Haricku didn't say anything, except stare at the back of Blaire's head, destitute of any feeling or emotion, giving a little nod and followed behind Ciel. Making sure that Haricku was fine before heading out, Sebastian followed behind. All three made their way to the carriage and Sebastian helped Ciel into the coach, then helped Haricku into the driver's seat. The sound of running foot steps came towards and Ciel opened the window with a barren stare at Blaire, who stopped next to the carriage.
"Wait," she said, a little out of breath, cradling Vyce in her arms, finished except for one leg which hung out of her messenger bag. "I'll accept it."
"Will you?" Ciel asked, putting a hand to his cheek. "I thought you didn't want to be a servant?"
"If I get paid, what does it matter?" she frowned and shuffled a foot against the dead leaves on the ground. "Besides, Vyce needs repairs and I don't have the money to pay for them right now. I already spent it on meals and resin for Averice."
"We'll work something out. Perhaps trade information for money," Ciel replied softly, closing the window and knocked from the inside to get it going.
"Hop aboard, Blaire," Sebastian said, scooting over. Haricku followed suit and gave a small, quick smile to Blaire before crossing one leg over the other.
Blaire gripped to the sides and pulled herself up to the driver's bench, hugging Vyce into her lap with a stare ahead, softly fondling the red head. The ride home was silent as well, for neither of the three on top could manage any words to say. What was there to even talk about, after a funeral? Even though it had ended before they even got there, Haricku was glad that they arrived at the same time as Blaire. She was even happier, as a whole, perhaps not at the moment, that the truth about Katt was revealed. Haricku would never allow herself a moment's peace if she figured this out further down the line. In fact, she'd have been thoroughly disgusted if she continued to portray Katt as a wonderful person in her head.
Once at the manor, Sebastian corralled the horses and put the carriage away, helping Ciel down and then Haricku, not bothering to give a lift to Blaire. She didn't mind and just jumped down from the top of the bench, staring up at the manor with a small smile, enjoying how big it really was from the grounds. Sebastian started to walk inside with Haricku and Blaire, not really knowing what more to do, followed after them.
"Do I have to wear the uniform or anything?" Blaire asked Sebastian, pouting a little.
"If you are to work here, yes. A maid uniform."
"I can't complain. At least that is cute. Can I get it above knee and below?" Blaire requested with a cute smile, trying to play it off.
"I'll see what I can do. Let's just do one thing at a time."
"Fine, but I still want both!"
"Haricku, can you show her the maid's quarter's?"
"When Mey-Rin gets back, we won't have too much room," Haricku voiced her concern about it.
"We'll try moving somethings around or move you all into a bigger room," Sebastian replied, bowing and smiled. "Just show her around if you must, since you are senior maid for the time being."
"Right, I'll be sure to do it," Haricku said with a nod, gesturing to Blaire to follow her, leaving the grand staircase area to head to their shared room.
Blaire looked around in awe, fascinated by the interior design and sheer volume of the inside. It was more grand than Etluka's house, that was for certain, and this house had a quaint, homely feel to it. Opening the door, Haricku turned to Blaire, inviting her in first and the woman stepped in cautiously, looking around the room with large eyes. She'd never really slept in a bed before, unless it was a temporary stay at an inn or residing in some quick residence she had taken shelter under.
"This is… Not what I was expecting."
"What? It's not good enough for you, goody two shoes?" Haricku said, sitting on her own bed, taking off the bonnet and let her black, silky hair drape down her back and shoulders.
"No, far from that. It's more than adequate and more than I thought it would be," she murmured, hugging Vyce's body to her chest before smiling and sitting in front of Haricku, appearing like a kid in a candy store. "Would I get my own bed too?"
"Of course, you'll just be using Mey-Rin's temporarily until young master can get you one," Haricku replied, giving a small smile back.
"It's so surreal," she chuckled, setting Vyce down on the bed, bouncing on the mattress a few times with a laugh. "It's quite comfortable!"
"Ciel always gets the best, no matter what," Haricku said with a small shrug, reaching down to take her boots off, placing them to the side of the bed.
"Gonna burn it?" Blaire asked, pointing at the dress.
"Why would I do that?"
"Duh, it's traditional to burn mourning clothes."
"I don't believe in fairy tales or superstitions, Blaire, sorry. Plus, I've barely worn it for half a day, I don't want to thrown away what master gave me. I'm rather fond of the dress."
"At least it isn't itchy!" Blaire giggled, then frowned lightly, clearing her throat a little. "So I want to talk to you about something."
"What is it?" Haricku asked, still boding no emotion in her voice or appearance as she changed into pajamas pulling her hair to the side and brushed it to make a braid, sitting back in front of Blaire while playing with the three strands, coiling them around one another.
"I'm sure you're wondering about my dolls," Blaire started, but paused to hear Haricku's reaction.
She only shrugged, looking upwards then back at Blaire. "I dunno, magic," she jested, picking up her pillows to fluff them.
"You're right."
"Huh?" Haricku stopped at pulling the pillow to stare at Blaire with a deadpan face, only blinking rapidly. "You want me to honestly think you can do magic?"
"Why not? You do it," Blaire teased with a smirk and in an instant, Haricku in her face, pointing a finger threateningly.
"What did you say?"
"I know you can do it, so just come clean. I promise I won't tell anyone if you want to keep it a secret."
"How… How do you know?" she whispered, still leaning towards Blaire, who returned her glare with a sweet smile.
"It's because I can sense your aura. I don't know how to fully explain it, but I can sense that you have something mystical about you."
"That means you have astral too," she murmured, leaning back to sit on her bed.
"Is what you call it? I just called it energy! Anyway, it's how I manipulate the dolls, of course, but since you couldn't sense it on me, you must have pretty low astral."
"Excuse me?" challenged Haricku, sitting straight up. "The only thing I've seen you do is manipulate little dolls to do your bidding. If anything, your powers are substantially weaker than my own. What I can do goes above and beyond that in the form of alchemy, transmutations, magic, wards, and binding sigils!" she stated loudly, pride coating her words like honey. It's exactly what Blaire wanted and she slowly clapped with a low chuckle.
"Thank for admitting that!" Blaire chimed with a smile and a closure of her eyes. "I was trying to figure out a way I would weasel it out of you, but you did all the work for me! Honestly, I didn't think you'd crack that quick with pride."
"I… Y-Yeah," she stammered, becoming pale at the realization she was out done so easily by another user.
"So then tell me more about! I'm sure you don't get to talk about it a lot."
"There's not much to say," she admitted with a shrug. "I've been able to do it since I was young. According to my father I was born with it."
"Oh, I wasn't born with mine. I had to learn everything that I know! Although, I'm probably never going to be able to use such advanced spells and my astral won't go beyond simple manipulation of thread and souls."
"What?" Haricku blurted out, staring at her.
"Thread manipulation," she said, holding up finger, counting off each of what she could do. "Soul linking, mind linking, and I can manipulate lesser demons to do my bidding if I have the right… Incentive."
Haricku stared at the woman and shook her head. "What do you mean by soul linking? How are you not attacked by the Grim Reapers?"
"Easy, the British Branch is always understaffed. They have more important things to do than run after someone who stuffs souls into another body," she said with a giggle, then grinned lugubriously. "As for the soul linking, my brother and sister are in the puppets I created. I didn't want to run away and travel alone, so I transferred the souls into the puppets. At first, they protested and cried, but then they saw how bad the world was. How much better it would be if they were in a body that would stay young, forever and ever, until the end of time!"
"Blaire, as… Nice as that is, what happens when you die? They won't have anyone else to take care of them or look after them. They will be alone too."
"I'll figure that out when I cross that road," Blaire quickly said, the grin twitching as her eyes diverted down to her lap, wiggling uncomfortably. "They'll be fine. I won't die just yet, so I can take care of them until then."
"If you're certain."
"They're happy, so what does it matter anyway? They listen to their big sister and love me, just like I love them."
"Alright, I get it. Don't get so uptight," Haricku sighed, leaning back into the bed and closed her eyes. "You should get some rest. I'll be showing you around tomorrow."
"Aww, our girl-talk is already over?" Blaire whined, flopping back lazily. "And here I thought we were getting along!"
"We are, in a way. I'm tolerating you for now because you helped settle the matter on Katt."
"Are you still upset over that?" Blaire scoffed, sneering and closed her eyes. "It's better you forget shit like that."
"I'm not upset anymore. I know, I'll forget it sooner or later, but for now, I'd like to thank you for opening my eyes. Even from what you told me and regarding how Katt acted, I can see that it was a mistake on my part to have trusted her so easily. There was something wrong about Katt and I pushed that feeling down for so long that I built a beautiful tower of her in my mind, thinking she could do no wrong. I was wrong, and blamed you for killing someone innocent and nice. So, thank you, for your help, even if you didn't mean to."
Blaire slowly sat up during Haricku's talk, staring at the woman like she had just seen a ghost. It was rare that she got thanked, let alone being thanked for killing someone. She couldn't really respond, how could you, to being thanked for murder of your own best friend? The feeling that hit Blaire was a strange one, debating between taunting Haricku or giving her a sincere answer, combined with admiration that Haricku put the incident behind which allowed the maid to see the truth.
"You… I mean, it was no problem. S-So, you're welcome, Haricku. Don't worry about thanking me, there's no need for that."
"Okay. Well, if you want to change your clothes, there's an extra pair in my wardrobe for bed."
"You're… Letting me use your clothes?"
"Of course. They may be a little loose since my body isn't as paper thin as yours."
"I gotta keep myself thin, it's how I move so fast!"
"Just be careful. It's not a healthy weight."
"Awwh, are you showing worry?"
"Yes. Someone has to."
"I-..." Blaire was rendered speechless at her words and she said nothing more as she moved to the wardrobe, taking out the pajamas and quietly changed, settling herself onto the bed and turned over, her back to Haricku.
Pretty soon the soft breathing of Haricku could be heard by Blaire and she carefully looked over, scoffing at the woman and pulled the pillow over her face, trying to sleep. It didn't come easy for Blaire since her mind was awake, drilling in the new feeling that trounced her, picking at her brain with worry and concern. These people didn't even know much about her and already she was hired to be a servant here, with no questions, no interview, nothing.
It wasn't like she didn't like being interviewed, but the fact that Ciel would open his arms to a total stranger that even attacked him was foreign to Blaire. Most of the people that Blaire met in her past always found her attitude and behavior unsettling, so finding someone that wasn't bothered by that was a nice treat, although she didn't know how to react to it. Nicety was a long forgotten feeling of Blaire's, so long that she rightly thought everyone has an underlying bad side that is simply suppressed by the populace. After all, she didn't care much for herself, acting in whatever way she thought would fit best for situations. It didn't mean she was rude or mean publicly, oh no, by all means she was the nicest person you'd encounter. Underlying her own appearance to the people was a little flame that flickered with malice and spite, covering the little, beaten girl within. It was the kind of flame that showed brighter with Haricku, a flame Blaire knew all too well, what attracted the grey-haired woman to Haricku in the first place.
A flame of rotten evil.