Author's note: For the purposes of this chapter, the start and end of the cinematic record happenings/memories will be labeled, and Madam Red's 'narration' of it will be [bracketed and italicized like this.]

I own nothing but my OC.


That Butler, Retrospective


'thoughts'

"speech"

"Demonic speech"

{setting/stage directions?}

SOUND EFFECTS

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

=†=†=†=†= scene shift/time shift


Previously:

"M-Madam. Th-There...!" The coachman said, horrified as he pointed ahead to the Phantomhive manor. Madam Red gasped, horrified by what she saw. She jumped down from the carriage and ran a little closer to the manor. She stared at it, her eyes wide with shock and dread. The manor entire manor was being engulfed in a flaming inferno.

[The color... that dyed that grey December sky... was that most hateful... RED—]


"Sister!! Brother!!!" Madam Red screamed in horror as she watched the manor be come devoured by flames.

[That day... each and every Phantomhive lost their lives at the hands of some unknown individual. The manor was burnt to the ground—
My sister and her husband were discovered in a terrible state.
A child's corpse was never recovered.
—I lost everything that was precious to me. Everything had flown somewhere out of my reach.]

Madam Red watched numbly with dull, emotionless eyes as her loved ones were buried.

[I was sad. So sad—
but even more so did I envy my elder sister... for being able to die with 'Him,' my beloved.
And I continued to live on... as the sole survivor.]

"Doctor!! Should you be back at work so soon?" One of the hospital nurses asked her, concerned.

"I'm all right! Work helps me take my mind off of other things... It's miles better than staying home, doing nothing." Madam Red reassured her, forcing a wry smile. "Besides, I'm due in surgery this afternoon."

[Yet...]

" 'Em brats jus' get in th' way. I dunno 'oo th' father is, and I can't raise th' thing on me own. An abortion ain't free neither, but I can't get no coves wi' a chavy round!" The low class woman, who was supposed to be her patient, said carelessly. Madam Red stared at her. It wasn't a 'thing' it was a baby...! Did this woman know what she was throwing away!?

[I hated them.
They had something I could never have, regardless of how much I desired it.]

SHAAA.

Madam Red was rinsing her hands off after the surgery.

[What I wanted. What I cherished. I, who had lost it all... and those whores who possessed what I wanted more than anything... but were throwing it away... What had I done to deserve that?]

The mirror hanging on the wall over the sink reflected the dark, deranged look in Madam Red's eyes. She had snapped.

[Why did God make me suffer so? I only... only—]

The prostitute that had come in for surgery bid goodnight to her customer, and started walking down the alleyway that led to her home. Just as she was about to open her door, she heard someone walk up behind her.

"... Oh? Yer the' one from afore..." The prostitute said when she saw who it was. Madam Red pulled out her knife and charged at the woman. "Wh—What d'you think yer doin'... No...Sto..." The woman screamed, terrified as Madam Red attacked her.

[HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE!!]

There was a crazed look in Madam Red's eyes as her victim's blood splattered onto her face.

[And so I cut them into little pieces, the prostitutes an whom I performed the abortions. I will do away with that which you do not desire, if you so wish... I will take away your womb, your happiness, your life—Everything.]

There were more scenes of Madam Red killing her victims.

[Then...]

Madam Red was in the middle of dismembering her latest victim when someone called out to her. She was covered in blood again...

"Oh... my, myyyyy~! You've done such a glamorous job~!" Madam Red turned to look in the direction the voice was coming from. Her eyes widened in shock. There was the silhouette of a long hair man standing casually on top of one of the church spires. "I've had my eye on you all this time~!"

[... A crimson-cloaked Grim Reaper smiled upon me.]

"Thanks to you, the list of the dead for this district is jam-packed! You've made me ever so busy, you see." His face was illuminated by the light of the moon... the mysterious figure was Grell. Madam Red stared at him, stunned, as Grell leaped from the Church's rooftop, and landed lightly on the ground beside her. "But I understand veeery well how you feel. Those hideous broads deserved to die." He said as he embraced her and stroked her red hair. "I want a baby of my own too, but it seems that my being male is a biiit of a problem. You and I, were like two peas in a pod. I... will lend you a hand." He told her, grinning deviously.

[I... cut my red hair, which was caked with blood.
—A few months later, my missing nephew suddenly returned...]

"Ciel! Is it really you, Ciel!?" Madam Red asked anxiously as she burst into the room. "So you were alive all along!!" She cried in relief when she saw Ciel. He was battered and bruised, and he was wearing a bandage over his eye, but he was alive... however... he wasn't alone. Standing beside the chair Ciel was seated in, was a handsome butler with raven hair and eyes that seemed to be crimson in the warm sunlight. Beside him was a cute brunette girl, who had light green eyes, and a few light freckles scattered across her nose. It was Chêne and Sebastian. The girl seemed to take notice of her surprise and apprehension at seeing the two of them with Ciel, and she smiled kindly at Madam Red. Madam Red's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

[He returned... with a black-clad butler... and a maid with a warm and gentle smile that so resembled my deceased sister's at his side. No matter how many times I asked my nephew about what had happened while he was missing, he would not tell me a thing. But that was all right because Ciel had returned.]

"I'm so glad...! At least you survived... Come, let me get a better look at you." Madam Red said, relieved. She reached out and gently cradled Ciel's face in her hands.

[The only one who had returned... my beloved—

'He,' my beloved... and my sister's child... The child who looks so very much like her.]

Madam Red felt like she'd been stabbed in the heart again.

[I should have been happy that Ciel returned to me... but a sense of unease weighed on my heart. Why did this child return, when 'He' did not? Why did this child live, while 'He' died? 'His Child' was not 'Him.' That boy was the son of the elder sister who took 'him' away from me— ... Why had I not been the one to marry 'Him'? And... Ciel who had succeeded 'Him,' Finally came to capture 'Jack the Ripper'... With that face that so resembled that of my sister.
Sister... what more are you going to take away from me?]

Madam Red now stood beside Grell as they faced Ciel, Sebastian, and Chêne in front of Mary Kelly's tenement... just like they had been a few minutes ago...

[This time... I will not yield a thing to you...]

"I will not yield anything!!" Madam Red Screamed as tears streamed down her face.

∞—End Madam Red's Cinematic Record—∞

"I loved you dyed in the deepest crimson of spattered blood... Madam Red!!" Grell said with distaste as they all watched Madam Red's lifeless and bloody body fall to the ground. "I haven't the least interest in someone... who gets carried away by silly emotions. I helped you set up your alibi too. And I even broke the rules that govern us Reapers, killing women not on the list, all for your sake... What a let down~!" He said, his voice full of contempt as he approached the Madam's corpse. "You were just the same as all those other women. You don't deserve to wear red at all... No ma'am!"

FLAP.

Grell removed her red coat and pulled it on, letting it slouch down around his shoulders in a sassy (?) fashion.

"The curtain has closed on your cheap performance of 'life.' Farewell... Madam." Grell sneered as he turned and started to walk away. Chêne collapsed onto the ground in a sitting position, sighing in relief. It looked like Grell had lost all interest in fighting them now, however... She watched sadly as Ciel kneeled down beside Madam Red's body. Sebastian exhaled as he watched the two humans.

"I'm sorry, Ciel..." Chêne said as she stared sadly at the Madam's corpse.

Ciel said nothing. His eyes were hidden by his bangs as he closed Madam Red's dull, lifeless eyes. Sebastian noticed that Chêne's eyes were glazing over, and she was shaking slightly. She would most likely have a cold now from being so cold and wet this whole time, on top of being wounded. It was time to get her to a hospital so the other humans could heal her.

"Sebastian. What are you doing?" Ciel asked emotionlessly when Sebastian reached out with his uninjured arm, about to pick Chêne up.

"...?" Sebastian said, slightly confused. Did Ciel not see just how badly injured Chêne was...?

"I... ordered you to 'hunt Jack the Ripper'... It's not over yet." Ciel said coldly as he gazed up emotionlessly at his demon butler. Grell twitched when he heard that, and paused in making his exit to listen. "So don't stand about twiddling your thumbs, man. Hunt down the last one." Ciel commanded.