Vincent woke up late in the morning in his london townhouse. The sun was already shining through the red semitransparent silk curtains. Diederich was sleeping next to him. He looked much less grumpy when he was somewhere in dream world. It was a pleasant way to wake up. He liked the companionship, and the feeling of not being alone. Nights were always hardest for him, the dark the encased him and the stale night chill made him feel nervous. It brought back memories of less pleasant times. But knowing that someone was sleeping next to him, completely ignorant of the dark thoughts entertaining his mind made Vincent feel more at ease. Diederich was sleeping soundly on the pillow next to his, Vincent's arm had gone numb from him sleeping on it. Vincent took his free hand and ran his fingers through Diederich's hair, rustling it gently. He still had a knife stashed beneath his pillow. Diederich stirred, his eyes opened and he looked at Vincent with an expression of grogginess and confusion.
"What are you doing," Diederich asked. He was smiling, perhaps he wasn't entirely aware of it, and too tired to retain his perpetually grumpy exterior. Or perhaps the events of last night had managed to bring his mood back up from the abyss of malcontent.
"Good morning," Vincent said.
"You're an infuriating man," Diederich said and he got out from the bed. Vincent sighed and got out of bed, it was high time that they get to work for the day, any how.
The carriage approached the area that Vincent had tracked down. Tanaka drove the carriage to the area, which was a building encased entirely by large, brick walls topped with a spiked iron grid. The gate itself was a massive, iron behemoth of a gate with a huge lock on it. A brick building could be seen through the gate work, and little else. Tanaka pulled the carriage further up the road and parked it in a wooded area, so that it could be used as a get away. Vincent and Diederich exited the carriage and walked back towards the fenced in building. The brick walls were tall, tall enough that it would be nearly impossible for a small woman to jump over them by herself, or even with help. Even if she made it up the bricks there were sharp iron spikes at the top. A guy with athletic skills like Diederich could easily jump over them and land safely, Vincent could make it easily if he had some help, but these girls were part of the elite. They had no physical endurance, they were painters. If they tried to scale the brick wall and leap over the iron grid, they'd end up stabbed and have severely broken bones. There was no escape for them. They by the iron gate, the gate was locked. They stood by the gate until a young girl walked by them.
"Excuse me," Vincent yelled as he waved at the girl. She was carrying a large brown folder. She looked over at them with a look of surprise and approached the gate. She smiled and seemed to be happy and friendly.
"I'll go get Viera to unlock the gate for you, ok?" she asked them. Vincent nodded.
"Thank you very much," he said to the girl, who skipped off in the opposite direction from where she was going.
"That was easier than I expected it would be," Diederich said.
"Hi, I'm Viera," chimed a tiny girl. She held out a large, iron key and unlocked the iron gate. Viera was a tiny little pixie of a girl, with curly brown hair streaked auburn by the sun and bright green eyes. She wore a pale pink gown of a high waist, without a corset paired with brown riding boots that had flowers stuffed into the eyelets, and a brown top hat decorated with piles of butterfly wings and flowers. Around her neck were pearls and a ring of freshly picked flowers. She had freckles and a smile. Sometimes killers some in unconventional packaging, but Vincent had never seen one this cute before.
"My name is Vincent Phantomhive, and I am a detective here with my partner, Diederich Von Wolf," he explained. Viera tipped her tophat and curtsied in their direction. Diederich stared at her as if she was some sort of bizarre person from another planet.
"Viera, Co-Captain of this fabulous little ship," she said. Vincent shook her hand politely.
"How is that possible when you are inland?" Diederich asked.
"All things are possible with a blessing and hard work," Viera said.
"Alright then, Captain Viera," Vincent said. If she wanted to be the captain, then he'd play along. "I'll play it straight with you, you've attracted a lot of suspicion to your group of girls and I was sent here to investigate you."
"Am I in trouble?" she asked. She looked scared.
"No. It's just that some of the girls who are painting for you have not returned home in some time and their parents are very, very worried about them. So they sent me to check up on them," Vincent lied. Viera looked relieved. Diederich kept a straight face and said nothing. Vincent wondered what was going around in his head. Maybe he was mentally undressing Vincent. Or maybe Vincent was fantasizing about someone else fantasizing over him. He should ask Diederich that question, if only to see his reaction to it.
"Oh, well, they're working very hard right now, if you want you can see our work shop," Viera said.
"What is the layout of your building?" Diederich asked.
"Layout?" Viera asked.
"What is in the buildings?"
"Oh! Well, at the northern most building, we have the dormitories where everyone sleeps, along with the kitchen. But The Goddess and I share a suite in the church, which is waaaay over on the right. In the center most building we have our art studio where we make our paintings to sell. Does that help?" Viera said, pointing to each building. This girl was hyper and practically bounced with every word that she spoke.
"Yes, thank you. Can we have a tour?"
"I'm so excited, we never get guests here. I want to show you everything!"
"We're very interested in learning about your artwork," Vincent said.
"That makes me so happy! Let's hold hands!"
"What?"
"Haaaaands," Viera chimed. She held out her hands and wiggled her fingers. Vincent and Diederich looked at her. Vincent held her hand. It was weird and completely inappropriate, but whatever. If she wanted to hold his hand and profess herself as a pirate captain, then he'd put up with it. At least she smelled nice, like cinnamon and expensive floral perfume. A little too much of it, though. Diederich looked down at Viera's hand for a second. She waved it at him again, and slowly, he held it in his own. He looked very uncomfortable with this particular situation.
"He's scared because it's his first time holding hands with a girl," Vincent explained. Diederich frowned, but Vincent knew this to be true. Viera led them by the hands towards the central building where the art studio was. She was walking so much as nearly skipping backwards with each step. Did this girl ever stop smiling?
"Aw, but he's so handsome!" Viera said. Vincent felt a pang of jealousy. He knew he was being silly after all, any one with eyes could tell that Diederich's body was carefully crafted by a smiling god and years of trying to strangle the selfloathing inside of him with a rigorous exercise regimen.
"Am I not handsome?" Vincent asked.
"No offense meant, but you look like the kind of a man who prefers other men," Viera said. Diederich was laughing. Of course, he had no reason to be laughing because he too, was guilty of the same thing. Vincent glared at him but that only made him go into a fit of awkward laughter. Viera was left unsure of what the joke was, but she smiled at him, anyways, pretending like she did.
"Germans, they have no sense of humor," Vincent said.
"Not true! The Goddess is from Germany, she said she came from a clan of witches in a cursed forest, she was bestowed her magical powers and title from a werewolf!" Viera said. She spoke of her goddess with more love and fervor than most actual priests talked about god. At least she was happy and cheerful about her delusions.
"...I can tell you for sure that werewolves and witches do not exist in Germany," Diederich said.
"Is that a metaphor for something?" Vincent asked.
"No, it's the truth. She's a real witch, and she has magical powers," Viera said.
"How do you know that for sure?" Vincent asked her.
"Well, one night four years ago my parents dropped me off at a street corner in some city, and drove off. They abandoned me right there, and I had thought my life was hopeless. I had no friends, no beau, and no hope. But I had a blessing," Viera said. She did not seem sorrowful at her reminiscing of her previous trauma. They walked through the lawn, little wild violets were growing in the grass and small cluster of planted flowers accented the flowers that grew around the buildings. This was it. They had found the girliest place in England.
"I saw The Goddess extracting life force from a man, at first I was scared but then she told me that it was alright. She told me of her powers and of her tremendous gift. I felt this feeling hope, and of happiness when she embraced me. It was a spiritual blessing. Ever since I have dedicated my life to making this world a better, happier, place through her blessings," Viera said. Tears formed in the inner corners of her eyes as she smiled at them.
"You are very dedicated to your goddess," Vincent said. Something about this seemed suspicious. Lifeforce? He wanted so badly to speak with this goddess.
"We all are. Please, let me show you our gallery," Viera said. She opened the door which led to a long building, built like a massive art studio. The walls were painted pink and decorated with paintings. Girls all of ages sat at their stations and made art work. They wore colorful, loose clothing and copied Viera's use of fresh cut flowers. Many of them were clearly well to do, with their lavish clothes. They looked happy, well fed, and as though they were at a peaceful mind. They smiled as they painted in a calm, meditative silence. These girls could be like any of the young women Vincent cared about. This could be Rachel, an outcasted young lady with a health problem, and a personality not well liked. This could be Frances. A girl living alone with dishonorable parents while her older brother is too incapacitated in the basement with whips and torture to help save her from these liars. What if he had lost them to this cult? Vincent wondered of their brothers, of their fathers, of their fiances. Did not they not care? Did these girls not have a single person who would have been hurt to see them locked away here, forever exploited and deceived? They seemed happy but Vincent couldn't imagine happiness in being completely cut off from the rest of society and buying a really bad lie about witches.
"Are these paintings that you sell?" Vincent asked.
"Indeed. All the girls paint whatever they like, and then the goddess signs them into life. No painting is complete without the blessing of the goddess. With the money we make here we can afford to live together peacefully. We have a society without restrictions, without the oppression of the grim outside world. Alone, we could not be artists, but with the blessing of a goddess we come together."
"Where are your paintings?" Diederich asked.
"I'm a writer, I can't paint to save my life," Viera confessed.
"We have guests!" Viera cheered. All of the girls in the room, previously studying, now turned to face Vincent and Diederich. They looked as though they had just seen the queen of england. Or perhaps, more likely, they looked like a bunch of girls who were bursting with adolescent hormones who had not seen a member of male subspecies in quite some time. In either way, they were happy.
"They are interested in learning more about our beautiful art," Viera said. A few of the girls gasped loudly.
"I am Earl Vincent Phantomhive, and this is my assistant, Diederich Von Wolf," Vincent said. Viera gestured to Diederich, pointing to him and mouthing the words, 'total hottie'.
"He's single~!" she said. Alright, no. No. No. No. Vincent was seething on the inside and perfectly calm on the outside, even though his anger was boiling, Possessive? No... of course not. He won Diederich fair and square in a bet. A girl approached them. She was a blonde girl who wore ribbons braided into her long, wavy hair. She had garish, mismatched clothing and jewelry made out of wild flowers. Paint stained her hands, but she looked at peace. She greeted Viera with a quick hug and a bow, a bizarre combination of informal and overly formal communication.
"You need decoration," she said. She slipped a necklace of flowers onto Diederich's neck. This type of estrogen was not Diederich's strong suit. He was a man who was fueled primarily by repression and testosterone. Vincent, in the least, had a sister, and he had Rachel who was basically his best friend in the entire world. Diederich only had a brother, his mother did not care for him, and he spent most of his formative years in an all-male school where even if his offtime, he did not hang around women. Women were pretty much like aliens to him. Diederich had no idea how to handle them, and so he said nothing. He tried to pretend like the pink cosmo and daisy chain was not hanging around his neck, but it was of no use. It clashed with his drab suit.
"And you as well," she said, tucking a pink rose behind Vincent's ear. Vincent blinked in confusion but he decided to just go along with it. Pink was not his color. Red would have at least matched his jacket. Viera and the other girl smiled at them both. He grasped Diederich's hand. He may as well have, now that they were both bedecked by flowers. When in the cult of crazy girls, do as the crazy girls do.
"Well, if I didn't look gay before, I certainly do now," Vincent said.
I made a jewelry line based on this fanfic. It is in my online shop. It is called "Secret Letters". It consists of four necklaces, a few rings, and some brooches. I haven't gotten it all posted yet, but I've got some of it already posted on my shop and DA. Yes I am totally serious, this stuff actually exists and is a thing I made and it looks pretty damn neat. Please look at it. A lot of love goes into everything I make, and I've been making fashion stuff for much longer than I have been writing.
Viera as a name means "Faithful". It's not subtle.