That Butler, Eccentric


I own nothing but my OC.

≤speech in Indian language≥

'thoughts'

"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

—^—^—^— change of perspective/area of action within one specific time frame/location


Previously:

"Following the scenario upon which my master had decided… with timing my master had fixed…"

««« Rewind «««

Sebastian put together the shards to form a small glass bottle that still held traces of red dye and an ampoule.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"… By the one whom my master wished to have play the role of villain was I murdered. At the hands of one who had come to torment my master—"

««« Rewind «««

Behind Sebastian was a figure holding a fire poker.

"I should have known..." the butler said, gazing at the reflection on the reassembled bottle. "This is—"

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"By Earl Grey."


"I was killed that night," Sebastian said. "By the queen's butler—Earl Charles Grey—"

««« Rewind «««

Sebastian watched in the reflection on the small bottle in his hand as Grey snuck up on him from behind and swung the fire poker straight down on his head.

WHACK!

"!" Sebastian exclaimed. Grey whipped around and attacked again without wasting a second, driving the fire poker through his back, impaling him. "Gah!"

THUD.

Sebastian's body hit the floor, seemingly dead.

"How dull!" Grey said, disappointed. He squatted down and stared at the butler with his brow furrowed in annoyance. "I was so hoping to bully that bloody brat some more. I never thought I'd get found out so quickly." He reached out and recovered the shards of the bottle and ampoule from the floor by the butler's hand. "And all because a lousy servant got in my way..."

CHAK. SHAAA.

He opened the french windows and threw the evidence outside in the torrential rain.

"… Why, my plan is totally ruined!!" he shouted to the roaring downpour. He slammed the window shut again. "Moreover, Siemens is down below!?" he grumbled. "Urgggh! Having to go to the cellar alone… could it get any worse!?" Sebastian waited until he was sure Grey was gone before he picked himself up off the floor.

"He attacked me in rapid succession, quick as a flash," the butler observed. "One could expect no less from the butler to the queen."

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"I then proceeded to beat Earl Grey to the wine cellar… where Lord Siemens had been carried."

««« Rewind «««

"Dear me," Sebastian said, looking down at Siemens, who was asleep on the floor with a flushed face and a wine bottle in his hand. "He even got into the wine that was set aside to age… He truly is a hopeless man." Sebastian leaned down to remove the wine bottle, when he heard someone coming.

CREAK.

The door opened to reveal a nervous Earl Grey. Grey walked right into the cellar, never noticing that Sebastian was clinging to the ceiling.

"Nnoh?" Siemens said, stirring at the sound of Grey's footsteps. "Ohh! Earl Grey!" He lit up when he saw his partner in crime. "Our little prank seems to have gone well! Was everyone quite shocked? Upon my waking, I discovered some wine just here, and… was getting a bit of the hair of the dog in me, you see—"

SHNK.

Grey thrust his blade through the rambling man's chest, right at the center of the red stain on his shirt.

"Eh…?" Siemens said dumbly as blood spurted from the wound and rolled down his chin.

"Quiet, you! Don't talk so loud," Grey said coldly. He kneeled down a little to look Siemens in the eye, pushing his sword in deeper. "The very sight of you is frightfully offensive. Dim-witted Germany will catch up to Great Britain, you say?" He narrowed his eyes at Siemens. "It's ten years too soon for that."

FWAP.

"Well… it really will take only ten years, though," Grey said, laying the cloth that had been covering Siemens back on top of his corpse. He turned to leave. Sebastian was gone from his hiding spot. As soon as the door was shut, the butler landed lightly on the cellar's floor.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"N-No!!" Arthur gasped, knocking over his teacup as he stood up. "So you're saying you knew the identity of the culprit!?" he exclaimed. "And despite that, you still chose to throw away your own life!? Just because your master commanded you to do so…!?" Sebastian and Ciel smirked.

"Yes," Sebastian said with a smile, placing a hand over his heart. "I do not lie. After all my master works his people… no, his butlers, so hard he nigh on deserves a royal warrant for it." Ciel furrowed his brow and pouted a little. What the deuce was he getting at? Chêne shook her head a little at them. "I then took care of preparing rations for three days' worth of meals… Gave the chef and gardener their orders for the next day… Entrusted the maid with the owl I had caught in the woods the day before and kept on reserve in case of an emergency… Visited my sleeping wife to set the alarm clock for her… And penned a report to Young Master on the results of my fireplace examination—"

««« Rewind «««

Sebastian was a lean, mean chopping machine in the kitchen despite still being covered in blood. Then he visited Finni and Bard. He had washed his face and the darkness made it difficult to see the stain on his shirt and vest. It was the same for Mei-Rin when he handed her the owl. He was actually glad Chêne was asleep, because he couldn't have fooled her. Then he wrote his report in the study by the light of a candelabra, slipped it into a pillow, and carried it down the hall to his master.

'Is my appearance perhaps a little too unsightly to be presenting myself before a guest and my master, I wonder?' he thought, pausing outside the door. He blew out the candelabra. Better not to take any chances.

"You're late, Sebastian," Ciel said, sitting up and holding out his hand. "Hurry up and hand over my pillow."

"I suppose you could say this is the young master's security blanket at present?" Sebastian said, swapping the pillows.

"Not hardly! I just happen to like this pillow!" Ciel huffed, flopping his head down on the new pillow. He felt the letter tucked into the pillow. The sound of the paper rustling was muffled enough so that Arthur didn't hear. "Get back to your quarters at once! I'm going to sleep!" Ciel told his butler, pretending to fall asleep.

"—Professor. Please, do take care of the young master,"Sebastian implored Arthur.

Sebastian shut the door behind him and sighed as he held up the pillow in his arms and looked at the sizable bloodstain that had rubbed off on it.

"Haah… I must see to it that this gets laundered at once," Sebastian said.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"Thereafter, I returned to work as the young master had commanded."

««« Rewind «««

Sebastian entered Lord Siemens's room and stopped in front of the fire.

"—Right, then," he said, kneeling down, preparing to stab himself in the back with the fire poker. "Even I feel the pain of being run through well enough, I will have you know." He paused. "..." The butler smirked. He turned around and stabbed himself from the front. He lay back down on the floor. 'Did it go something like this?' he wondered, making sure the blood splatter was accurate.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"And it was in that state that I had Finni, who arrived just as I had instructed, discover me."

"That was pretty harsh on Finni," Chêne commented.

"Well, I thought it would be easier on him to find me first than if it was you," Sebastian replied, smiling at her.

"I guess you have me there…" she admitted, frowning a little. It was only because the others were there with her when she saw him like that she didn't completely lose it.

««« Rewind «««

Chêne arrived with the rest of the servants after Finni fetched them, and Earl Grey led the other guests into the room. Grey seemed taken aback when he saw the butler's body.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"I had only intended it as a minor retaliation, but… Earl Grey's perplexed aspect… it rather begged a laugh, if I do say so myself," Sebastian said, amused. "And so—"

««« Rewind «««

"Young…! Master!"

Ciel staggered into the room.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"The young master's act was truly most compelling, but..."

««« Rewind «««

"I command you!" Ciel ordered Sebastian, grabbing him by his clothes. "Sebastian! Get up right now, you hear me!?"

'I am quite awake, thank you,' the butler thought, not twitching a muscle.

"Did you fail to hear my command!?"

SMACK!

"Are you… really dead?" Ciel asked, biting his lip. It wasn't grief he was shaking with but suppressed laughter. "Sebastian."

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"… Even I never expected him to go to such lengths as to strike me with his beringed hand! Furthermore, he did it such a time when I could not afford to move… I do admire that cunning of his."

'Why am I not surprised?' Chêne thought, sweat-dropping, glancing sideways at Ciel and then rolling her eyes at them.

««« Rewind «««

"You… and you alone, who—" Ciel said sadly, looming over Sebastian. "… Who promised you would stay by my side until the very end—" Ciel leaned down to whisper in his ear, making sure Chêne and the others wouldn't hear. "Wait for the right moment. Then put the bottle in the fireplace… You hear me?"

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"And thus having obtained an alibi as a corpse as well as my freedom—" Sebastian said. "—I was able to execute my duties at will and apace."

««« Rewind «««

SHAAA.

"—Now," Sebastian said, standing out in the pouring rain, adjusting his gloves. "Shall we get started?" He assumed a starting position and raced against he rain, sprinting down his chosen path with inhuman speed. "!" He spotted the very thing he was searching for. 'There it is!!' he thought, staring up at the snowy owl that Mei-Rin had released on his orders. Sebastian jumped high into the air and snatched the bird from the sky.

"GYAH!?" the owl squawked in surprise and alarm. It tried to break free from his grip, beating its wings frantically and squawking in his ear. "GYAH! GYAH!"

"Do please behave yourself for a spell," Sebastian told the bird, injecting it with a sedative to knock it out. "!" he twitched when he heard something unexpected.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"However—"

««« Rewind «««

"But now that Sebastian has been killed, can it not be said that if anyone does have the key, that person is the culprit?" Ciel said.

"Quite," Arthur agreed.

"Then we have to check whether or not the butler has the key. If he does have it, consider that theory squashed."

"You're right."

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"Accidents are part and parcel of a butler's work—"

««« Rewind «««

"This will never do!" Sebastian said, rushing back at top speed with the owl tucked under one arm. 'I must hurry to the wine cellar!'

"Meooow!"

Sebastian screeched to a halt.

"!?" he gasped. "That voice just now was—!?" He whipped his head around and found himself staring down at none other than Jasper II. The dear creature was soaking wet. "It truly is you!" he exclaimed as she continued to mew up at him. "You poor thing…" Something must be wrong with the shelter Chêne built for her. "Come, I will take you in…" More cats suddenly appeared behind her, all crying for his help. "… side—!" Sebastian blushed as he stared down at the lovely but pitiful beings.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"Was that moment the very epitome of the saying, 'every cloud has a silver lining'?" Sebastian said happily.

"I guess the saying 'raining cats and dogs' was partly true in this case," Chêne said wryly.

"Don't get side tracked, you cat lovers," Ciel chided them.

"Forgive us. We do but jest," Sebastian said, still looking amused.

««« Rewind «««

"In this setting, I half expect a ghost or the like to pop out at any moment," Arthur said as they descended the stars leading to the cellar, startling Grey.

"Hey, cut that ouuut!!" he yelled.

Meanwhile, Sebastian was in a mad scramble to hide all of the cats he had picked up outside in his wardrobe and dash back to the cellar before anyone else was the wiser.

"Gentlemen, we're here," Bard announced, reaching out to open the door.

Sebastian slid to a halt next to the sheet he was supposed to be lying on.

CREAK.

Bard pulled the door open. Sebastian had only just made it safely in his spot with the other sheet pulled back on top of him.

"Then, if I may beg your pardon, Sebastian..." Arthur said respectfully, removing the sheet. Sebastian was still soaked with rain. "He's wet!?"

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"And thus… I narrowly averted the most disastrous predicament I have ever faced in all my time as a butler—"

««« Rewind «««

"It… doesn't seem to be on his Albert chain," Ciel said after checking.

"Did he maybe wear it round his neck?" Grey suggested.

"Let's see," Arthur said, and they proceeded to search the butler's body, even going so far as to remove his clothing when they couldn't find the key.

"I ain't seein' hide nor hair of the darn thing," Bard announced, shaking out Sebastian's bloody shirt.

"Let's make sure we examine him from head to toe," Arthur said. Sebastian couldn't prevent a slightly uncomfortable expression of disapproval from creeping slowly onto his face as they continued to search.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"However… the awful plight of having my person exposed to human eyes in such a humiliating state… was a first for me despite my devilishly long life..." Sebastian said, chagrined thinking about it.

««« Rewind «««

"… It's not there either," Ciel said.

"Would it perhaps make sense to be in his private room?" Arthur asked.

"Come along, we'll all have a look," Ciel answered. Sebastian waited for the others to leave and sat up again as soon as he heard the door shut behind them.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"Later, I retrieved the ampoule shards that Earl Grey had thrown out into the garden…"

««« rewind «««

"He did it so we could protect the manor and the Young Master and Chêne… if the day ever came when he wasn't around anymore!" Bard told Finni and Mei-Rin as the servants had their emotional scene out in the rain not very far from where Sebastian himself was recovering the scattered glass shards and piecing them back together to make sure he had all the parts.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"… And tossed them into the fireplace of Mister Woodley's room, thereby carrying out the young master's orders in full."

««« Rewind «««

Sebastian threw the ampoule shards into Woodley's fireplace and brushed his hands clean.

"As there seems to have been another unforeseen development, perhaps it is best to return in haste?" he suggested to himself.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"I then proceeded to disguise myself..."

««« Rewind «««

Sebastian quickly but carefully applied the mask he had made ahead of time to become his new disguise.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"… And return to the manor, theatre ticket to prove my alibi and owl in hand. As Vicar Jeremy."

««« Rewind «««

The disguised butler knocked on the kitchen door. The door opened, and as soon as his eyes met Chêne's, he saw a look of recognition flash in hers. But, puzzled as she was by his sudden reappearance among the living, she didn't stop the other servants from pouncing on him. She stared at him with wide eyes, as if seeing a ghost.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"I believe you realized my true identity at once?" Sebastian asked Chêne.

"Yes, though I was too shocked to know how to react at first," she admitted. "I knew as soon as I saw your eyes." The name had also confirmed her suspicions when she heard it, as she had mentioned before to Ciel the names of two of the actors most famous for playing Sherlock Holmes on TV and in movies: Jeremy Brett and Basil Rathbone. She now suspected that may have been why they chose 'Jeremy Rathbone', as a clue for her.

"Hmm. As expected of my wife," he said, smirking slightly. He looked a little too happy for Chêne's liking considering the hell he had put her through, but she was flattered by the pride in his voice.

"Hold on—then that ticket was a sham!?" Arthur asked incredulously. He was also impressed that she had seen through such a thorough disguise so quickly, but the veracity of the butler's alibi seemed more important at the moment.

"No, it was the real thing, purchased in London," Sebastian replied. "I slipped out during the party and procured it before returning. … I was only able to take in two minutes of the performance, though..."

"Ah, so that's where you went," Chêne said, nodding. She had noticed his absence, but didn't say anything since he came back soon enough.

"But that is impossible!!" Arthur exclaimed in disbelief.

"You are welcome to doubt me, sir. Please have the ticket stub verified at the box office upon your return to London," Sebastian told the doctor, withdrawing the ticket from his vest pocket to offer it to him. "I have a receipt as well!"

"This and the owl too were all part of his efforts to make Jeremy convincing," Ciel explained with a shrug.

"Oh, that reminds me! Tell me, what was written in that letter?" Arthur asked.

"Aah, yes. That..." Ciel said.

««« Rewind «««

"Do please take a look at the letter around its leg," said 'Jeremy'.

"Young Master! What did Mister Sebastian write!?" [check who said this] The Paper rustled as Ciel unrolled the small scroll.

"..."Ciel didn't know what to say. The paper was completely blank. A vein popped up on Ciel's head and he furrowed his brow. He could feel Sebastian leering at him, smirking at his discomfort. The damn demon had done this on purpose. "It appears that he sent this letter to Jeremy anticipating that he himself would eventually be killed," Ciel said eventually, crumpling the blank piece of paper as he shoved it in his pocket.

"Oh no..." Mei-Rin gasped.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"… Was simply a prank of his," Ciel concluded.

"As the incidents had interrupted your studies, I thought you could do with a little mental exercise, Young Master," Sebastian said wryly. Chêne sweat-dropped. "Thence, I took on two roles, and..." the butler continued, only to be interrupted.

"Please! Just a minute!" Arthur said anxiously. "But I… examined your corpse alongside Mister Jeremy, you realize!?"

"About that..." Sebastian said, smirking a little.

««« Rewind «««

"I see… I find it very curious indeed. May I examine the corpses first?" Jeremy asked.

"Very well. Let us make for the wine cellar below," said Arthur.

"Stop!!" Jeremy said at once.

"Eh!?"

"Please carry each body to a separate room," Jeremy requested. "Even the various scents of a case may yield clues. If the corpses are laid out together, their individual smells will mingle and be contaminated." He looked at the three stooges. "You lot, take each corpse to a room of its own."

"Yes, sir," they answered dutifully.

"My lord, would you permit me to change my clothing in the interim?"

"Oh… I think the previous earl's clothes would be too small for you. Let me lend you something from the late butler's wardrobe. You don't mind, do you, Chêne?" Ciel said.

"Not at all. We can't leave a guest soaking wet like this," she replied.

"All right. Lead the way, then," Ciel told her.

=†=†=†=†=†=

"You never told me you'd show up looking like that!!" Ciel reprimanded Sebastian.

"I had no time to inform you," Sebastian replied, as quickly and politely as he possibly could under the hurried circumstances.

"How about we talk about how you both let me think you were dead!!?" Chêne demanded indignantly, clearly very cross with them and torn between relief and wrath. Sebastian gave her a quick peck on the cheek and was gratified when she let him. She was clearly more happy that he survived than she was letting on at the moment.

"I shall explain the details leisurely erelong!" he said zooming out of the room at top speed. He rushed down to the cellar and skidded to a halt, quickly resuming his position between the other two corpses and sliding under the sheet. He got there just in time.

"If ya trust people so easily, you're gonna get burned, kid," Bard told Finni as he opened the door.

"I must agree," Mei-Rin said. They approached the butler's body and lifted the sheet covering him. "Mister Sebastian, sir… We will be moving you now, we will."

=†=†=†=†=†=

"Next up's that twiggy-lookin' fella," Bard said as they left the room they put Sebastian in.

"Right," Finni and Mei-Rin agreed. Inside the room, Sebastian sat up straight.

=†=†=†=†=†=

"Aah, so busy, so busy," Sebastian said as he rushed around his and Chêne's room, changing back into his Jeremy costume.

=†=†=†=†=†=

"Right, then! Shall we take a closer look at the corpses in the order they were murdered?"

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"I just continued to arrive in each place ahead of everyone else."

««« Rewind «««

"So it is to be Lord Siemens first, yes?" said Arthur.

"I'm coming with you toooo!" Grey volunteered.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"The real problem was Earl Grey," Sebastian said. "First, we examined Lord Siemens… And then Mister Phelps."

««« Rewind «««

"The manner of his death alone is different from that of the other two," Arthur said.

"I see… May I take a look at the room in which he met his end?"

"Aah, let me show you," Ciel said, leading the way. No one noticed Jeremy sneak back into the room and grab the corpse, tuck it under his arm, and exit through the window. He then hopped from balcony to balcony in the rain, and while Arthur was climbing the stairs with the other two and complimenting Jeremy's observation skills, Jeremy was dressing Phelps in Sebastian's bloody butler uniform.

^—^—^—

"Huh? That old man isn't with us!" Grey realized. Jeremy quickly and quietly dashed up the stairs to catch up, slowing his pace just before he came into their line of sight.

"Right behind you!" he said, pretending to be winded and that it was sweat and not rainwater he was wiping from his face.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"So that corpse was Mister Phelps!?" Arthur exclaimed.

"Yes," Sebastian confirmed. "Young Master's hideous acting and your character were our saving graces in that situation..." A vein popped up on Ciel's head at the 'hideous acting' part. Chêne smirked a little at that. Served him right after what he said about her.

««« Rewind «««

"I'm heading back first," Gray said.

"Well now, shall we return too?" Arthur suggested.

"I need to see to the evening's preparations, so do go on ahead," Jeremy told him. Grey turned the corner, and Jeremy quietly went back into the room. Sebastian ripped his Jeremy costume off, tossed them in a closet, and pulled his bloodied butler uniform back on. Grey turned around and dashed back towards the room. Sebastian shoved Phelps's body under the bed. Grey reached for the doorknob. Sebastian slid under the sheet on the floor.

WHAM!

Grey threw the door open and ran inside to whip the sheet off of Sebastian, making sure it was really him under there.

"… No, it couldn't have been," Grey said, staring down at the butler's body. Grey stomped on his face for good measure. Nothing. Not even a twitch. "It's just not possible, huh..." Grey said, sighing as he left the room.

"..." Sebastian opened his eyes, which glowed scarlet with a slitted pupil. "That was a close call," the demon said with a frown and a vein throbbing on his forehead. There was a mark on his face from the shoe.

»»» Fast Forward »»»

"As you are already aware, I thereafter assisted the young master in the guise of Vicar Jeremy," Sebastian said. "Mister Woodley was apprehended, and… the unharmed young master redeemed."

"I don't get it..." Arthur said, holding his head. "Even after hearing you out, I still have not come to understand the incidents… No, I can't comprehend any of it. I mean, you understand my confusion, don't you?"

"Seems pretty straightforward to me," Chêne.

"Isn't that because your brain doesn't work like most people's?" Ciel teased with the hint of a smirk. Chêne gave him a sarcastic smile in return.

"If what you say is true, Earl Grey, Queen Victoria's butler, is the mastermind behind all of these doings," Arthur said. "Earl Grey forced Earl Phantomhive to set the stage upon which he would commit his murders and even attempted to cast the young earl as the culprit. Despite this, Earl Phantomhive, you went out of the way to make careful preparations with your butler, such that you alone would be cleared of suspicion… and framed the innocent Mister Woodley while knowing Earl Grey was the perpetrator—it isn't that the case itself is all that difficult to grasp… but rather that the circumstances are most extraordinary."

"That may indeed be so. But there was nothing to be done about it," Ciel said, sipping his tea. "For it was all… done according to her majesty's wishes."

"Eh!?" Arthur gasped, flinching in shock.

'Ah, I guessed as much,' Chêne thought. Why else would Ciel go to all this trouble.

"Siemens, our guest from Germany. His bank had made considerable investments in the domestic development of ships and vessels… and it would be no stretch to call him a central figure in the expansion and advancement of Germany's heavy industries. With Great Britain's position currently under threat from Germany and America… Her Majesty plotted to destroy Siemens in order to prevent the growth of Germany's military power," Ciel explained.

"By simply killing one man!?" Arthur asked.

"It is true that Siemens was no more than a banker. His influence might only have been equivalent to the flapping of a butterfly's wings… but it had the potential to give rise to a devastating tempest that we might've never seen coming. The theory is known as the butterfly effect," Ciel said. "Her Majesty Queen Victoria, who in just fifty years built the British empire that dominates the globe. It's almost as if she can somehow see all the butterflies whose wing flaps will change the world."

"But why did Earl Grey seek to have you take the blame?" Arthur asked.

"Though it shames me to admit it, a slight mischief of mine seems to have been discovered, you see," Ciel replied. Chêne raised an eyebrow at that and frowned. "I expected some measure of punishment when my deed was brought to light, but… I never thought I would be painted as a murderer… Her Majesty possesses quite the sense of humor. However, playing games has always been a particular talent of mine… and so I used Woodley, who I had invited to the party to be my scapegoat, as my pawn."

"Why would you do that to an innocent like Mister Wood—" Arthur started to ask.

"I told you, didn't I?" Ciel said. "He belongs in that carriage. Can you guess why?" he asked Chêne.

"Because he isn't an innocent," Chêne said, recalling a certain newspaper article she remembered reading.

"Quite. His public face is that of a man who runs a diamond polishing business. But behind the scenes, he is an arms dealer who sells illegal weapons obtained with his diamonds to war-torn regions on a grand scale," Ciel explained.

"And about two weeks ago, the president of the Roze company, which mines diamonds, was murdered," Sebastian said, holding up the newspaper article.

"Employing my own channels, I'd identified Woodley as the perpetrator of that crime," Ciel said.

'So that's what they were doing when they went to London without me,' Chêne thought, correctly guessing that they had gone to consult Undertaker.

"Someone of the underworld using his powers to endanger someone in outer society is a grave violation of the rules," Ciel continued. "As I'd planned to eliminate him anyway, he was just the man to be my scapegoat."

"The clouds hanging over Her Majesty have been cleared away, and the young master is safe and sound. Two birds with one stone, hm?" said Sebastian.

"What Mister Woodley said back then—" Arthur said, recalling how Woodley had refereed to Ciel as a 'dog of the queen'. "What in the world are you?"

"I am he who sniffs out those who violate the commandments of the British underworld and disposes of them. The watchdog of the queen," Ciel answered seriously. "The latest affair was a game organized by Her Majesty to reconfirm whether or not I still possess the qualifications for that role."

"Y-You must be lying..." Arthur said, sweating nervously and trembling. "To begin with, if all I've heard is true, he is… that butler is…"

" 'There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact,' Professor," Ciel said, smirking. "That was always right before your eyes."

"Yes," Sebastian said, looming over the doctor from behind. His eyes glowed crimson and his pupils turned to slits. "The fact… that I am not human, you see."

CLATTER!

Arthur fell out of his chair.

"Ah…!" he gasped, trembling with fear as the shadows grew around him.

" 'Now that I know, I must do my best to put it from my mind.' What do you say, Professor?" Sebastian asked, showing a bit of fang.

"U… UWAAAAAAH!!" Arthur cried shakily, turning pale as a ghost as he made a run for it. The whole room seemed to darken.

BAM.

"OW!" Arthur exclaimed when he ran into something solid. It was Sebastian. Once again the demon loomed over his prey with an eerie smile, placing his hands on his neck and behind his head. Arthur was dripping with cold sweat, his expression one of pure terror.

"You do understand what will become of you if you divulge this secret… Do you not?" Sebastian said darkly.

"I-I'll never tell anyone!" Arthur swore, running away again. "I won't say a word, so—!" The darkness rose up around him.

"The words that have just passed your lips. I urge you to never, ever forget them..." Sebastian told him with a fanged smile. "We shall always be watching..." Arthur ran with all his might, just barely managing to stay ahead of the impenetrable darkness that threatened to devour him.

=†=†=†=†=†=

"!!" Arthur gasped, waking with a start.

"A-Are you all right, sir?" the coachman asked him. He was in a carriage parked on a familiar street. "We have arrived at your residence."

=†=†=†=†=†=

"Why did you act in a way that would reveal your true identity to him?" Ciel asked Sebastian back in the Phantomhive conservatory.

"I was a little surprised too," Chêne admitted. "Even if he had figured you out, I didn't expect you to actually reveal yourself to him."

"He is a writer. If he experiences the bizarre, he will not be able to avoid picking up his pen. That is just the sort of creatures writers are," Sebastian explained with a smile. "You two adored his story, did you not? Young Master, you refused to discard that magazine and read the piece over and over… And why, when you learned there was no continuation, you were both terribly chagrined.

"Hmph. It was simply a middling diversion," Ciel said, leaning his head on his hand and swirling his tea around in his cup.

"Uh-huh," Chêne said, not buying it for a moment.

"Heh," Sebastian said, smiling. "I look forward to reading what he writes next."

"I just hope it's not going to turn into something Lovecraft would write..." Chêne said with a sigh.

=†=†=†=†=†=

In his home, Arthur was in a writing frenzy. His pen flew across the paper, and pages of his next story littered the floor.

[Thereafter, I continued moving my pen across paper as if possessed by something, writing the 'aforementioned story' to which I thought I'd never return—and however many times I attempted to escape that 'aforementioned story' by trying my hand at writing other works, 'that protagonist' kept haunting me like a curse. On those occasions, my memories of them returned in tow—good and evil, reason and madness, the world of the living and the realm of the dead… they who ruled with such grace over the spaces in between. As if to remind me of my vow—]

=†=†=†=†=†=

A much older Arthur gasped, startled back to his senses by the sound of a door opening. Many years had passed since those incidents.

[There certainly exists 'something' out there that goes beyond anything we can possibly imagine.]

The culprit behind the door opening was a little girl. She came into the room with a book that she wanted him to read to her. He smiled at her.

[But I shall conceal that 'fact' in the depths of my fireplace for as long as I live.]

Arthur got up from his desk and put the story he had been working on into the fire to burn. He walked away and left the room with the little girl.

[Just as do the secrets of that stormy night.]