Eyyy, new chapter! After this I'm going to go back to the anime. I'M GONNA DO IT! Although I am considering (considering) including the Greenwitch Arc because damn that looks like fun! But that's still just a thought.
I own nothing.
Hunting Games
My recovery was swift. Over the next week I began to feel better, and had also ingested more than three times own body weight in orange juice and soup.
On the morning of the seventh day however, I finally felt well enough to get up without feeling like I was going to throw up my organs. I rolled out of bed feeling less heavy-headed and dizzy, even though I still couldn't breathe through my nose entirely, but at least I wasn't sniffling and sneezing as much.
There was howling coming from outside my window, and I walked over to push the glass open. Pluto whined below me, and then got up on his hind legs to nose around my window frame. "Good morning Pluto," I cooed, kissing his large, wet black nose. "Wow I missed you." The dog panted, and I grimaced. His breath smelled like a corpse had died between his teeth, and I'd had more than enough of corpses. "Lemme see if I can get you a snack or something, okay?" I touched his nose to mine briefly, and then forced the window shut.
The manor seemed rather noisy that morning, but that could be attributed to Lady Elizabeth's visit. I'd found new respect for the girl, now based on talent rather than how cute she was. After all, there's nothing wrong with being heart-wrenchingly adorable, and also able to incapacitate another human being in less than five seconds.
I found Ciel and Sebastian in the dining room. The younger boy was immersed in a newspaper article, while Sebastian was preparing a cup of tea. There was a tray of pastries on the table, along with a platter of finely sliced ham. My mouth watered (consuming only orange juice and chicken soup for a week straight is terrible, no matter how good it tastes) but I schooled my features.
Sebastian was the first to spot me, naturally. "Good morning Thalia," he smiled over the teacup. "I trust you are feeling better?"
"Uh huh," I hummed blearily. "I no longer feel like sh-...like dirt." Right, language. Ciel arched an eyebrow and gave me a brief onceover, as though to determine my physical state. After apparently deciding that I looked healthy enough, he promptly went back to his newspaper. I leaned over the top of his chair to read.
Campania sinking, blah blah blah...over 1000 casualties...monsters appearing on deck...boat now gone so there's nothing left, blah blah bl-!
Wait a minute, I scowled at the article in disbelief. "He's alive?!" I threw my arms up in exasperation. "Oh that is just fantastic. We could have killed him, gotten rid of him, we could have saved London from this pervert,but no," I drew out the vowel sarcastically. "Someone had to choose that very moment to grow a conscience."
Ciel and I turned to glare at Sebastian. The demon paused and stared back at us with an innocent smirk. "Well, it was a rather terrible maiden voyage wasn't it?" He placed the teacup down. "However, it seems life is returning back to normal."
"Normal, huh?" Ciel took a sip of his tea. "Now that you mention it, exactly what about that is normal to you?"
He was, of course, referring to the white rabbit ears Sebastian had donned. "How did I not notice that?" I wondered to myself, before remembering that I had been distracted by the pastries and meat. Speaking of which, those were going to be snacks for Pluto. No sense wasting perfectly good food! "Why are you wearing those?"
If they could, I'm sure the ears would have twitched. "Since today is Easter, we were all ordered by lady Elizabeth to wear these," Sebastian lifted his shoulders in a shrug.
Easter? I blinked at him, quietly contemplating the irony of his words, and also wondering if he was going to burst into flames or something similar. Nothing of the sort happened, thank goodness. "Indeed she's been noisy all morning," Ciel said thoughtfully, lifting his chin slightly so he could glance at the ceiling.
"If you are finished with breakfast, I was instructed to take you to the second floor," Sebastian bowed. "Shall we go?"
As we made our way up the stairs, the noise that had pervaded the entire manor earlier had suddenly disappeared. Not only that, but I detected a distinct lack of servants. Presumably they were in on whatever Lady Elizabeth was planning. Sebastian directed us to one of the parlour rooms on the second floor, and pushed open the door.
Ah, there it was. This was where everyone was. And by everyone, I mean everyone. From Lady Elizabeth's brother (who was scowling, as always), to Ms. Nina, who had Mey-Rin in a tight hug and was trying to kiss/fondle her. All of them were wearing white bunny ears.
"You're late, Ciel!" Lady Elizabeth cried, attacking Ciel with a hug while he yelped and stammered out questions. "I thought we could all celebrate Easter together!"
Prince Soma and Agni nodded. "We have a different faith, but we can celebrate this with you!" Soma beamed cheerfully, his hands resting on his hips. "So, what is this Easter about?"
As Sebastian explained, I turned away from the completely ironic (and sacrilegious) image behind me, and went to go save Mey-Rin from being molested by Ms. Nina. As it turned out, I didn't need too, since at the mention of new clothes and hats she promptly dropped everything (that everything being us) and whirled around in a frenzy of excitement."That must be my cue! Let me unveil the new spring collection of Nina Hopkins, the tailor that makes the season!"
I'm not quite sure where she got the measurements, or how she even knew to craft these clothes (or where they even came from. Where did they come from? Was she just carrying a bag of clothes around in the hopes that she'd get to dress a bunch of people up like dolls? Actually, that sounds like it would be right) but in the next few minutes she had dressed Ciel, Prince Soma, Agni and Sir Edward up in suitably fashionable outfits in glorious shades of blue and pink and gold.
Not for the first time, I thanked my servant status for bailing me out of such situations. I still had to wear the bunny ears though, but that wasn't so bad. "Wear this too!" Lady Elizabeth placed a pair atop Ciel's head. "Since we're all here, we can start the Easter egg hunt right away! I brought father's special Easter eggs!" She dived behind one of the couches and returned with a large basket of beautifully painted eggs.
They were all decorated in lovely colours and patterns, with flowers and ribbons and all sorts adorning the smooth surfaces. In the basket, they looked picturesque and cute. Ciel stared at them silently for a moment, and then smiled awkwardly and looked away. "Ah, yes...well, I'll tell the servants to hide those..."
Her head tilted to the side thoughtfully, and then she suddenly gasped and clapped her hands together. "I just thought of something great!" Out of the bunch, she pulled out one of the eggs. "Look, Ciel, I made this one!" She held it up so we could all get a good look at it. It was the most extravagant of the bouquet. While most of the others were painted subtle hues of blue, pink and yellow – this egg was painted with red, and white, with gold borders. It was studded delicately with tiny pearl-like crystals, and tied up with red and white ribbons, and beaded string. "Let's have whoever finds it be the winner!"
Her suggestion was received favourably, especially by the foreigners, but not so much by Edward, especially when Lady Elizabeth embraced Ciel again and pronounced her hopes that he would be the first to find it.
It seemed that all would be fine, until someone suddenly whistled and called out. "Oh, doesn't this look interesting?"
A figure smashed in through the window, sending glass flying everywhere. My first reaction, of course, was shock, and then anger. Who the fuck does that?! And then I recognised exactly who it was. "Earl Grey?!"
Him. Him. The asshole who had tried to kill Sebastian, who had inadvertently put me through those nights of hell. The bastard I hadn't known to kill until he'd already left. Oh sure, I did feel better after realising that Sebastian wasn't dead, but now that I'd seen his smug little face, all that rage and poisonous hatred began to seep out from whatever box I'd placed them in and kicked out of sight.
Phipps came after him, and I considered whether or not my revenge extended to him as well. It probably did. Crime of association and all that. "I overheard that you have to get your fiancées Easter egg first, don't you earl?" Grey smiled, slinking closer. At Ciel's silence, he smirked and adopted a carefree pose. "Great!" He beamed. "Then I'm participating!"
"WHAT?!" Ciel yelled. I bit my tongue, working the muscle with my teeth so that I wouldn't snarl the way I wanted to.
The guard's grin only grew at the look on the younger boy's face. "There are no rules other than whoever gets the egg wins, right?" His smile widened even more to show a hint of teeth and tongue when Lady Elizabeth gave a hesitant nod. "This should be fun. And of course," he suddenly took my hand in his own and I fought the urge to recoil in disgust. "I wouldn't mind being on the same team as the maid~."
But I would. However, fun...yes, of course. Why not? "Wait a minute," Sebastian raised a hand, drawing his attention. I saw his eyes widen for a second, before returning to normal.
"Wow..." he released my hand – I stared down at the appendage thoughtfully – and came over to examine Sebastian curiously. "I'd heard the rumours, but you're really alive, huh? So what does the butler who managed to cheat death have to say?"
I hate you. I want to stab you through the chest the way you did to him, put you through the same amount of pain you put me. I want to hurt you and make you scream the way I did when I saw Sebastian's bleeding corpse. I kept my expression neutral while these thoughts bubbled like hot tar in my chest.
"I'd expect there will be injuries if we didn't have rules between the members," Sebastian reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an egg. "So I propose we use these."
Instead of running freely about and causing mass havoc around the manor, each team would be required to hold an egg in a ladle. If for any reason the egg broke, then the team was disqualified. That seemed simple enough to follow.
The teams were as follows: Soma and Agni, Ciel and Sebastian, Grey and Phipps, Bard and Mey-Rin, Finnian and Snake, and finally Edward and Ms. Nina. "Thalia, do you want to...?" I blinked and focused on Mey-Rin, and I shook my head with a smile.
"No, don't worry about me," I placed my hands behind my back and twisted the ribbon of my skirt between my fingers and over my palms. "I'll just make sure Pluto doesn't get excited and ruin anything." I maintained the sweet, natural upturn of my lips until Grey turned to look at me, and then I let it drop fast enough for him to see the venom in my gaze for just a second. Before he could get a second look, I had already turned to leave. "You know what? I'll go do that right now!"
Pluto was in the garden, right where he always was, lying in the shade of a tree. He perked up when I came into view, and even more when he picked up the sound of people. "Hey Pluto," I scratched behind his ears with one hand. With the other I held a bowl of leftover meat, some cooked and some not. These were enthusiastically gulped down, and I rubbed his sides.
I sat there in the shade for a few minutes, and then I snickered and patted Pluto sharply on the side. "Come on boy, time to help me with something. Up!" Pluto yawned widely, but began to rise obediently. Before he could, I hopped onto his back, gripping the thick fur for stability. "Good boy!"
I untied the ribbon from around my waist, the one I had rubbed Grey's scent on, and held it to his nose. The hellhound sniffed it obediently several times, and then he lifted his head and growled quietly, low in his throat.
Once I was certain he knew the scent, I tied the ribbon around my wrist and grinned. "Now..."
Where was that bastard?
I really was serious about keeping Pluto out of trouble, I didn't want to ruin the game for anyone else. All I really wanted to do was kill-hurt the Earl Grey. Badly. Maybe put him out of commission for a while, who knows. Now, some of you may be wondering Thalia, isn't it important to forgive? After all, Sebastian is still alive, so everything is alright isn't it?
And I would tell you to shut up, and then I would also apologise because you are clearly a lovely person and a saint, and I am none of those things whatsoever. Besides, it's more the principle of the matter.
An explosion from somewhere within the manor sent quiet tremors through the ground, and I turned my head in the direction. Pluto whined and strained in that direction, and I tugged him back. Another whine, but he turned and sniffed the air. His nose turned in the direction of the side-gardens, and he began to walk in that direction. I could hear Finny shouting, and Snake's quieter voice.
I pulled back slightly, so we were just out of sight, and watched Finny run ahead to scout out the eggs. Snake hung back, and then he gave a start and spun around. "Who's there? Says Wilde."
For a moment, I wondered if he had caught wind of me, but then someone else chuckled quietly and stepped out from behind another corner. "So you spotted me," he grinned. "I thought it would be more efficient if I just stole the eggs others had already found."
"I won't give you our eggs," Snake hissed, and snakes began to pour out from all corners of the garden, all rushing towards the earl. "Since you picked a fight with us, we'll just have your eggs! Says Wilde."
Before the reptiles could deal any damage, a peculiar tune rose up. It was high, lilting, and oddly calming. The snakes stopped moving, and Snake's head snapped up in shock. "Th-That flute-! Says Oscar."
Phipps, of course. He stood atop a low hedge, an oddly carved instrument between his lips. He removed it long enough to jump down and speak. "A first-rate butler should be able to play manipulating music." Snake began to stagger, one hand over his ears as he tried to block of the music, until he finally collapsed, shattering the egg.
It was at that time that I urged Pluto onto the scene, with as much of the element of surprise on my side as possible. This just meant that I tossed a dog treat right by Grey's feet, and let Pluto bound forward, barking happily and blowing excited flames from his nostrils.
They both screamed, one more than the other, and jumped back in shock (they both managed to keep their egg from breaking, but that wasn't important). "Oh, I'm so sorry," I apologised from my perch while Pluto nosed around for the treat. "Pluto is a very rare breed, and we're still trying to figure out how to train him," I cocked my head to the side and stared down at both men with blank eyes. "By any chance were you...hurt?"
"N-No," Grey recovered less quickly than his counterpart. "What k-kind of breed is he?"
I shrugged. "Who knows. I'm just the maid. You should ask the butler, he knows far more about these things. It's a good thing he's not dead, right?"
They both nodded, and beat a hasty retreat. A moment later, Finny returned. "I found lots of eggs!" He cheered. "Although one of them blew up at me and – Thalia?" I waved. "Wh-What happened to Snake?"
"The Queen's Guards attacked while you were gone," I replied. "Can I have your eggs?" I'm not sure why, but I just wanted them. Since they were both out, he consented and handed me the eggs he had found. "Thank you. Well, I'll be going now!"
I left Pluto in the garden after feeding him some more treats for a job well done, and made my way into the manor. There was so much more I could do.
oOo
No One's POV
Earl Grey was nearly at his limit. He had only come to this godforsaken manor to check if the rumours were true. Had that butler really come back to life?
Apparently, they were. Unless they had switched him out with a doppelgänger, then the man he had run a sword through three weeks ago was still up and running. That was one problem.
The other was that maid. Pretty thing, average height, lean but curved. What was her name again? Ah yes, Thalia. She had been following him and Phipps around all day, he was certain of it. And every time she appeared, something bad happened, only for her to apologise with a smile and a completely dead look in those dark eyes.
The dog, whatever the hell it was, had been a surprise in itself. She had then appeared as they were making their way down some stairs, only for something thin, cold and hissing to fall down back of his neck. I'm sorry! She'd apologised from a higher flight of stairs. I was trying to gather them up and one must have gotten out!
They had walked into a room, and a dresser had almost crushed his foot. Oh dear, she'd wrung her hands from the other side. I was trying to clean underneath it! I must be extremely clumsy today!
The most terrifying had come in the form of a knife embedding itself into the wall next to a door he had just pushed open, only a few inches from his neck? Oh my goodness, she'd pouted, the other knife dangling loosely from her fingers. I was trying to sharpen my knives! I'm so sorry!
All these apologies ending with the same by any chance, are you hurt? As if she cared, but when she asked her eyes crinkled at the corners and her tone gained an amused lilt. She was enjoying this.
It was to be expected, this revenge. Well, actually he hadn't expected it, although he should have. It had been her screams that had brought everyone running to the scene of the butler's death that morning, but clearly she was an experienced liar because he'd never gotten a glimpse of the extent of her fury until that day.
She wanted him dead.
Or, at the very least, severely injured.
He kept these thoughts to himself. Would he still have carried out the deed if he'd known that she'd been in love with the butler? Yes, most likely. He had no love in his heart for the Phantomhives, and her emotions mattered naught. However, he might have rethought his actions had he realised that her revenge with simply take the form of terrifying near-death experiences that made him wary of his next step and had him jumping if he caught sight of anything red.
Thalia yanked the knife from the door with a self-satisfied smirk and stared at the reflective surface. "Thalia?" She jerked and spun around to see the butler staring at her. "What are you doing here? I thought you said wanted to watch Pluto."
"Pluto is asleep," she replied easily, sheathing the knife. "I just came inside to watch the proceedings. Maybe get some things done."
He hummed disbelievingly, and stepped closer to her. Her body thrummed restlessly, and her fingers fiddled relentlessly with the ribbon she had tied around her wrist. Yet, she held his gaze resolutely and even smiled. His Mate was an experienced liar, but she could not lie to him. Sebastian arched an eyebrow and his lips twitched upwards slightly. "Thalia, are you trying to kill the Earl Grey?"
"What, me?" She wasn't even trying. Her eyed went comically wide, and she waved a hand in a dismissive fashion. "No, of course not! Kill is such a strong word anyway. These were accidents! Completely," she tacked on. "Accidents," she repeated, keeping her face perfectly straight even as he tried not to snicker.
He nodded slowly, still grinning. "Of course. And how many times might these accidents occur?"
"How about you don't worry about that and go back to our young master?" She spun around to leave. "I saw Soma and Agni lurking around. You might want to watch out."
oOo
I made my way to the front garden where Lady Elizabeth and the other disqualified members were waiting, along with a plethora of sweet and savoury snacks, tea, and cakes. "Ah, Thalia!" Agni motioned for me to come over. "It's a pity you didn't participate! You know Ciel tricked me? He pretended to have a fit when I was about to break his egg!"
"I expect that from my young master," I smiled, while making a mental note to be wary if I should ever find myself competing against the young earl. Clearly he was a ruthless adversary, but I would assume nothing else from him.
"Ciel!" I turned and watched Lady Elizabeth attack Ciel with a hug, and then she beamed when he held out the egg. "You did it! You got it first after all!" I turned my gaze in the direction of the Double Charles, and bit my bottom lip to keep from giggling. Sitting on the top of Phipps's head was a tiny yellow chick.
"I'm flattered," a voice murmured as someone came to stand behind me. Sebastian. "You went through all that trouble for me, didn't you my dear?"
I huffed. "Don't be silly," I replied just as quietly, catching the wary glance Grey threw at Sebastian and me. "He threatened the Phantomhive family, I couldn't let him get away with something like that."
