I own nothing but my OC.


That Butler, Activated 3


'thoughts'

"speech"

"Demonic speech"

[speech heard over telephone]

{setting/stage directions?}

*sound effect*

An entire sentence like this, without quotes, is narration for dreams or stuff like written letters.

=†=†=†=†= scene shift/time shift


Previously:

Chêne hadn't realized just who they were going after until just now. She couldn't believe it. They were chasing after the Jack the Ripper!

'Wait... they better not have brought me along as bait...!' Chêne thought worriedly. She wouldn't put it past Sebastian to endanger her life just for kicks.

"I too hurried to London to verify the situation." Ciel said, finishing his explanation, unaware of Chêne's inner turmoil.

"Heh... and I too am very curious... to see what the queen's watchdog will sniff out." Lau said with an air of mystery.


"... However... have you the courage to gaze upon the scene of the crime?" Lau challenged Ciel. Chêne swallowed the lump that formed in her throat when she thought about what grotesque scene must be awaiting them. She used to watch CSI: Los Angeles all time before coming to the Victorian era, but there was a huge difference between seeing gore when you knew it was fake, and seeing the real thing.

"... What are you getting at?" Ciel asked, furrowing his brow slightly.

"The darkness and bestial odor that saturates the scene will eat away at those with the same karma." Lau said ominously as he approached Ciel, like a predator stalking towards its prey. "You may be trapped in madness would you set foot there. Are prepared... for that... Earl Phantomhive?" He asked as he caressed the side of Ciel's face with his hand. Sebastian watched the scene out the corner of his eye. He hadn't missed the disturbed recognition that had flashed briefly in Chêne's eyes when she heard the killer's nickname. This could prove to be interesting.

"I am here to eliminate the source of 'Her' distress. Do not waste my time with your worthless questions." Ciel said coldly as he gave Lau a steely glare.

"—Yes, lovely. Very lovely indeed, those eyes of yours." Lau said darkly, smirking as he took Ciel's hand. "Well, since that's now been decided, let's be off, Lord Earl~!!" Lau said cheerfully, suddenly doing a complete emotional 180°, and started pulling Ciel out the room. Chêne sweat dropped. Sometimes she wondered if Lau was bipolar.

"Now wait!!" Madam Red shouted indignantly, vein mark throbbing on her forehead, before Ciel even had a chance to protest being manhandled by Lau. "Really! Men have no patience! Right, Chêne?" Chêne smiled wryly and sweat dropped again. Why was Madam Red dragging her into this?

"Why don't you finish your tea and elevenses first, then we can all go together..." Chêne suggested. They all stared at her. As if they could enjoy eating with the prospect of seeing a bloody corpse in the near future...! Ciel sweat dropped, but Sebastian found it interesting that Chêne could still think about eating, despite how pale she had just been when Lau mentioned how graphic the crime scene was. She bounced back much quicker than most 'ladies' seemed capable of.

"So, where is this crime scene, Lau?" Madam Red asked, sweat dropping.

"Did you not know... Madam?" Lau asked, smiling knowingly at her, as Ciel sweat dropped. Lau was still holding his hand. "Well, I never! Then I suppose we'll have to ask someone around here." Lau said, sighing in disappointment.

"You were babbling on when you didn't even know yourself!?" Madam Red shouted incredulously, vein mark throbbing on her forehead.

'What was that long prologue for, then...?' Ciel and Chêne thought, sweat dropping.

"Quiet down." Ciel said, sighing in annoyance over Madam Red's ranting. "No one said we were going to the crime scene."

"Eh?" Madame red and Lau said, surprised.

"Why not?" Chêne asked, confused. "Isn't that the best place to look for clues?"

"We wouldn't be able to do much anyway because the place is already full of spectators, and the Yard won't take kindly to me going there either." Ciel explained.

"Oh, right... it's summer too, so they probably had to move the body clean up the crime scene already, before it started to rot, anyway..." Chêne said thoughtfully. They didn't have the technology to be able to analyze DNA yet either, so they didn't have a lot to go on. Madam Red paled slightly and Ciel sweat dropped. Chêne had just said that in the same tone of voice as someone would say 'I wonder if I should get the chocolate ice cream or the vanilla...' Sebastian looked like he was trying not to smirk too much.

"Then, what do you plan to do you plan to do?" Madam Red asked Ciel, sweat dropping. She didn't remember Chêne being such a blunt girl before. How could a lady say such morbid things with a straight face?

"My Lord... don't tell me..." Lau said dramatically.

"Yes, that's right." Ciel said, grimacing. "I'd like to avoid it myself, but that isn't an option. He is the most reliable source of information regarding crimes like this." He said, not bothering to hide how much he was dreading what was to come.

=†=†=†=†=

"—So..." Lau said, smiling brightly as they stood in front of a slightly dilapidated looking shop. There were a few cobwebs here and there on the store's front, and there were a few examples of different coffin styles and headstones lined up by the door. The shop's sign had a skull on it that read 'Undertaker.' "... Where are we?" Lau asked, still smiling innocently at them.

"Weren't you just acting like you knew all about it!?" Madam Red shouted incredulously as Grell nervously tried to calm her down.

"Please calm down, Madam Red. What matters is that we're here, right?" Chêne said, smiling wryly.

"The young master's acquaintance is an undertaker." Sebastian explained.

"An undertaker?" Madam Red asked, sounding a little skeptical.

"Are you in... Undertaker?" Ciel asked they all entered the suspicious looking shop. The interior of the shop was dimly lit; their only source of light was some candles that had been placed haphazardly around the room. There were more coffins and cobwebs inside... as well as a few miscellaneous jars of strange liquids. Some of the jars even had organs floating in them. The place smelled musty and stale—like death.

"... Hee! Hee..." I have been expecting you..." They heard a creepy, gravely voice cackle from some unseen part of the shop. Madam Red, Lau, and Grell were looking pretty nervous and creeped out now. Ciel sweat dropped he really didn't want to be here right now either, but in his case, Ciel was more annoyed than afraid. Sebastian noticed that Chêne was staring at the jar that had a heart in it, grimacing slightly.

"I bid ye wellllcome, Lord..." The undertaker said as a hand with long, black fingernails reached gripped the lid of one of the coffins that had been leaning upright, against the wall, from the inside, and it slowly creaked open, revealing a silver-haired man clothed in a black robe and hat. The undertaker's face was scared, and his hair hid his eyes, but the light reflecting off of them from beneath his shaggy fringe had an eerie effect that made it look like they were glowing in the dark. Madame red and Lau flinched, startled, as they turned blue with shock. Grell was so freaked out, that he actually fell to the floor when his legs gave out. "Has your Lordship finally decided to step into the coffin that I've made specially for you!?" The Undertaker asked excitedly. "I still have the one you 'tried out' the last time you were here, Miss Chêne... I think the rich oak wood suited you quite nicely! I've finished it, if you wish to have another look at it..." He added, turning to Chêne.

"Haha... is that so?" Chêne asked, laughing and smiling wryly as she rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

"I think not. Today, I am..." Ciel said, but the undertaker pressed a finger to the young earl's lips, silencing him.

"You don't need to put it into words. I understand veeery well... what Milord wishes to say." Undertaker said, grinning. "She wasn't a 'client' in the 'ordinary folk' sense of the word. See, I cleaned her up riiiight nice and pretty."

"... I want to hear about that." Ciel said.

"Then let's have a chat. I'll make some tea or something. Won't you just take a seat somewhere over there?" Undertaker said nonchalantly as he motioned to an area of the shop that had coffins littering the floor. There weren't any chairs in sight.

'Over where...?' They all wondered, paling slightly. The only place to sit was top of a coffin.

"..." Chêne said. She leaned down and tapped on the side of one of the coffins, testing its acoustics.

'She's not expecting someone to answer, is she...?' Ciel and Madam Red thought, sweat dropping. After a moment of silence, Chêne casually plopped down onto the coffin, like she was sitting on a picnic bench in a sunny park.

"... What?" Chêne asked, sweat dropping, when she realized that the other humans were staring at her, aghast. Sebastian looked like he was holding back a laugh. Well, at least somebody was enjoying this.

"Your eccentricities seem to be increasing by the day." Ciel said bluntly.

"Hey! This one sounded extra hollow, okay? So it's probably still 'unoccupied.' Do you want to sit on this one with me, Ciel?" Chêne asked, patting the empty space beside her.

"How can you even tell the difference? Aren't all coffins made to be 'hollow'?" Lau asked curiously.

"It would seem Chêne has been desensitized to coffins, since one of her childhood friends was the daughter of an undertaker (of sorts)." Sebastian said. Chêne had mentioned to him before that her best friend, a girl by the name of 'Lacey,' grew up in a funeral home, since it was part of her family's house, and Lacey's parents ran the business.

"Yep, we used to play 'hide and seek' in the coffins, and the quickest way to check if someone was in one, was to knock on the side and see what it sounded like. The coffin vibrates more if it's empty, since it's lighter, and not weighed down by anything." Chêne said, smiling. Madam Red paled slightly.

"Her parent's actually let you play in coffins!?" Madam Red asked, shocked.

"Well, they didn't mind... at first... as long, as we didn't get the inside of them dirty, they didn't really care, but then... One time, Lacey fell asleep in one, and Gary, their part-time worker at the time, grabbed the wrong coffin. Since it was a closed casket funeral, no one realized the mistake—until they started lowering the coffin into the grave, and Lacey suddenly threw the lid open, all energetic and refreshed from her nap. You can imagine how disturbed the poor mourners were, to not only see someone 'come back from the dead,' but they also had no idea what had happened to 'Grandpa Owen' until the whole mess was sorted out." Chêne explained. They all stared at her.

"Your friend must've been frightened..." Madam Red said sympathetically. Chêne looked slightly surprised at this, and shook her head.

"Oh, no! On the contrary, Lacey liked the coffin so much, that she convinced her parents to let her keep it as her bed, in exchange for us never setting foot in the other coffins again. It made sleep-overs at her house really interesting." Chêne said, smiling reassuringly. That didn't reassure them at all.

'Are all people insane in the future...?' Ciel wondered, sweat dropping. Ciel sighed and sat down next to Chêne on the 'unoccupied' coffin, deciding he'd rather not risk sitting on one that was... occupied. Sebastian smirked. Humans could be so entertaining.


Author's note: Since I left you guys hanging for a while, I decided to make a new pic of Chêne, since the old one is from when she was sixteen, and she's supposed to be older now. I realized that I made a mistake on my timeline, and it's only supposed to be about two years since Ciel made his contract with Sebastian, so I'll have to go back and fix that... (^_^;) But anyway, I've put a link of the eighteen-year-old Chêne on my profile, since every time I try to put a link down here, it never shows up right. I have one of Chêne in her outfit for when they sneak into the Viscount's party, and another of her in a golden dress, just because it's October! Yay for Halloween! \(^o^)/ I have an explanation for why the two versions look so different, but I don't want to give too much away! (;D)