That Butler, Setting Sail
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:
"And so, Sebastian," Ciel said, with a smile, readjusting his top hat. "From this day forth, you are my butler once more." Chêne watched as Sebastian kneeled before him.
"Yes, My Lord—I shall devote myself wholly to serving you… until the day when lies become truth comes to pass—" Sebastian said. The demon and his master smirked at each other.
"?" Chêne had the strange feeling they were sharing some kind of inside joke.
"Oh, yes," Sebastian said, standing up. "Lady Elizabeth. Excuse me for my impertinence, but please allow me to correct you on one small matter—"
"? Did I say something?" she asked.
"I… never tell lies," Sebastian said with a wink, holding a finger to his lips.
Horses's hooves stamped the ground as they ran down a road leading through woods, drawing the same carriage sent by Scotland Yard for Mister Woodley. Two men in police uniforms sat on top in the front, while Earl Grey sat on top in the back. The moon was high in the sky.
"I've been set up by him..." Woodley muttered. "Th-This wasn't meant to be… Th—"
"Shut it!" Grey said coldly, stabbing his blade through the top if the carriage so that it pierced through Woodley's head back to front at an angle. "Ugh, it really riles me up!" He withdrew his sword and slashed the air with it to fling off the blood. "I was so looking forward to knocking that little brat down a peg."
"It is all because you acted without thought for the consequences," Charles Phipps said, revealed to be the 'police officer' riding shotgun. The one driving was actually John Brown.
"Enough of your lectures, Phipps," Grey said, sheathing his blade. "But I suuure do wonder what Her Majesty's thinking!"
"Who can say?" said Phipps. "That is not for mere butlers like us to know. All is as Her Majesty the Queen wishes it to be—"
=†=†=†=†=†=
{Phantomhive Manor…}
It was a bright, beautiful morning, and Sebastian was just finishing up giving the servants their orders.
"That will be all by way of instructions for today, but..." Sebastian said. "… I have one final announcement. There will be a new servant joining us at the manor."
"Eh!?" Mei-Rin, Finni, and Bard said, surprised.
"Come in," Sebastian called, and the door behind him clicked open.
"!!?" they all gasped in alarm when several snakes slithered out into the kitchen.
"Yiiikes, snaaaaakes!" Bard yelled as he and Mei-Rin made a run for it.
"Gyaaah!" Mei-Rin cried.
"Wah!!" Finni exclaimed, flinching in surprise.
"Do pipe down," Sebastian told them.
"Don't worry, they're trained," Chêne said with a wry smile. "They won't bite unless he tells them to."
"He?" Bard asked nervously, hiding behind Finni.
"..." Snake peeked around the edge of the door meekly. Sebastian strode towards him and slapped him on the back. Snake flinched.
"Stand up straight now! Introduce yourself in a loud clear voice!" the butler told him. "Now that you are here, you must follow our Below-Stairs rules!"
"I-I'm Snake. W-We look forward to working with you. —says Oscar," Snake said.
"Umm… You're… Mister Oscar?" Finni asked.
"No!" Snake said firmly. He pointed at himself then the snake on his shoulder. "This is Snake, and I'm Oscar! —says Oscar." He pointed to the snake Mei-Rin was looking at. "That's Emily..." He pointed at the one hanging over Bard, who was freaking out because of it. "… And the one next to you is Bronte." He pointed at the one on Finni's shoulder. "And Wordsworth is over there."
"Nice to meet you! " Finni told the snake, while Mister Tanaka used a snake charming flute on the one on the floor in front of him.
"And the one by—"
CLAP.
"All right, that will do," Sebastian said, clapping his hands. "Let us leave the introduction of those servants for another time. Else it will be night before we know it. In any case, he is the Phantomhive footman as of today. Do try to work together, you lot." Snake was so nervous that his cowlick was trembling.
"Good. Now that that's out of the way… potatoes!" Chêne said with a smile, holding up a sack of them.
—^—^—^—
Chêne was watching the pot simmer while Mei-Rin and Finni watched Snake peel potatoes.
"Woooow!" Finni said.
"Got a knack for that, y'do!" Mei-Rin told him.
"Heyyy, Sebastian. My man," Bard said, lowering his voice. "Takin' on a guy like that… a fella not one of us knows a thing about… y'sure you know what yer doin'!?"
"Regardless of who or what he may be, if the young master has decided to hire him, we must simply obey," Sebastian replied calmly while he prepared the fish. "Besides… could the same not be said of you three as well?" Bard furrowed his brow and sweat-dropped. He had him there. "Who you are matters to me not one whit. However, if you bare fangs at my master, then I shall—" He chopped the head off the fish with one swift blow.
=†=†=†=†=†=
"Well? How is he doing?" Ciel asked after he finished breakfast.
"His snakes make Bard nervous, but I think he'll fit in fine once they have a chance to get used to each other," Chêne said, still amused by tough guy Bard's reaction to a bunch of widdle snakes, even if some of them were poisonous.
"I believe it will take some time to train him," Sebastian reported. "I do hope he is quick to learn."
"Well, you do excel at making someone quick to learn, don't you?" Ciel said, smirking. Chêne sweat-dropped, already feeling sorry for Snake.
"Yes," Sebastian said, also smirking a little. "… Is how I should like to reply, but… my teaching abilities are nothing much to speak if your dancing skills are anything to go by." Chêne bit back a smile while a vein throbbed on Ciel's head. The young earl turned his attention back to his newspaper. The title of one article in particular stood out: The Dead Return to Life!? The Karnstein Hospital Makes Miracles Happen! "…" Ciel looked from the article to his butler.
"Is something wrong?" Sebastian asked.
"No, not at all," Ciel said, looking back at the paper.
"Wait! No!! You can't just barge in… you can't!" they heard Mei-Rin cry.
BAM.
"Hiiiiiiii there, Lord Earl!" Lau said brightly, busting into the room. "I trust you've been well?"
"Lau!?" Ciel said, taken aback.
"I was hoping to help myself to breakfast, but you've already eaten?" Lau remarked.
"What in blazes are you doing here—"
"Oh?" Lau said, looking at Sebastian. "Didn't you die the other day?"
"You know, you miss one funeral, and..." Chêne said wryly, sweat-dropping.
"Ha ha ha," Sebastian laughed with a straight face.
"Listen when I'm talking to you!!" Ciel snapped with multiple veins throbbing on his head. "What business could you possibly have with me at this hour? Surely you didn't come all this way just for a handout of breakfast?" Lau smiled at him.
—^—^—^—
"A hospital that raises the dead? Is that the one mentioned in today's paper?" Ciel asked. As one of Lau's reasons for coming really had been for a handout breakfast, he had been seated across from Ciel and served.
"Yes, that's it!" Lau said.
"Sorry, but I haven't the least interest in the occult—"
"But occult it may not be!"
"Come again?" Ciel asked, furrowing his brow.
"Karnstein hospital. They seem to be doing quite a bit of shopping at the black market docks lord earl has left in my care," Lau said.
"For drugs?" Ciel asked. Lau took another bite of breakfast.
"No," the Chinese man answered. "People."
"Human trafficking?" Chêne asked, frowning and furrowing her brow with concern and disapproval.
"Yes. They're illegally purchasing slaves from overseas, but the numbers are quite extraordinary," Lau replied. "I wouldn't think for a minute that they could fit all of those people into the hospital."
"Might they be disposing of them once they've served their purpose?" Ciel suggested.
"Well, to be frank, I don't care about those details one way or another, but… a hospital like that really shouldn't be making such headlines in the average citizen's newspaper, don't you agree?" Lau said.
"So in other words… you mean to say that there is a possibility they are resurrecting the dead via illegal human experimentation?" Sebastian said.
"Exactly!" Lau replied brightly.
"If this turns out to be true, it's a case of underworld forces meddling with society at large," Ciel said with a sigh. "It's best to strip roses of their thorns before they cut one's hands. Sebastian, look into it at once."
"Please leave it to me, Sir," Sebastian said, bowing.
=†=†=†=†=†=
Ciel stared out a window, touching the cool glass pane with his hand. He could see Chêne and Finni were showing Snake around the grounds.
"Bringing the dead back to life… hm?" he said. "How absurd… Nn?" A carriage just pulled up in front of his home. Snake flinched in surprise, looking nervous, while Chêne waited for the coachman to open the door to welcome the unexpected guest. It was Lizzie, which meant his privacy would be invaded in three… two… one…
WHAM!
"Ciiiel~! Listen to this! Listen to this!" she exclaimed excitedly as she burst into the room with a huge smile on her face. "It's been decided that we're going on a family trip in April! A three-week excursion to New York on a luxury passenger liner, starting on the seventeenth!!" she grabbed his hands and held them in hers. "And! And! Father was wondering if you might like to join us!" She smiled happily at him.
"I think not," Ciel responded bluntly.
"Eeeeh!? But it's a ticket for the maiden voyage of the Campania, said to be the most opulent passenger liner in the world, you know!" Lizzie said, getting anxious. "Why, even Mother said Ciel should take some time off once in a while..."
"See? Even the Marchioness thinks you're overworking yourself," Chêne said. She had been trying to get Ciel to take a vacation since forever.
"I truly appreciate the thought, but I'm afraid I can't absent myself for such a length of time," Ciel said.
"Ohhh…" Lizzie said, visibly drooping. Tears welled up in her eyes. She sniffed. Chêne looked at him.
"..." Ciel sighed. "A place nearby would be all right, I suppose."
"Eh!?" Lizzie gasped, perking up.
"I can make the time to take a few days' leave… and accompany you wherever you want to go," Ciel said. "As long as it's close, okay? So… Wah!" He was surprised when Lizzie suddenly glomped him.
"Anywhere is fine if we're together!" Lizzie said brightly, radiating pure joy. "I'm so happy!"
"… That 'anywhere' causes me the most concern..." Ciel mumbled, blushing. The crease in his brow deepened and his blush darkened when he saw the approving smile on Chêne's face. He was so glad Sebastian wasn't there too.
=†=†=†=†=†=
"I'll buy you lots of souvenirs, okaaay!?" Lizzie called, leaning out the carriage to wave goodbye as it rolled away. Ciel sighed as he watched from a window, but he didn't look unhappy.
"What is making you grin so?" Sebastian asked with a knowing smirk as he suddenly popped up outside the window.
"UWAAH!" Ciel cried, flinching in shock. Chêne bit her lip to keep from smiling too much, while Sebastian opened the window and perched on the sill, wearing glasses and a doctor's white coat. "Don't scare me like that!! I wasn't grinning in the least!! Moreover, what is that you're wearing—and will you stop laughing!?" he asked Sebastian, shouting the last part at Chêne, who was shaking with silent laughter. Sebastian really made him jump!
"As they say… when in Rome, do as the Romans do," Sebastian replied, amused.
"It looks good on you," Chêne commented, giving his costume an appreciative smile. Ciel rolled his eyes.
"Why, thank you," Sebastian said with another smirk. Perhaps he should save it for later. "But to get to the matter at hand, I have discovered some rather intriguing tidbits of information! Insofar as the previously discussed Karnstein hospital is concerned, Rian Stoker, the hospital director, and other leading physicians from the hospital are holding meetings under the moniker of the 'Aurora Society'. I truth, this 'Aurora Society' is a secret society consisting solely of physicians… Its motto, 'absolute salvation of mankind through medical science'… I have confirmed that its members conduct unlawful human experiments daily within the hospital. According to one nurse's testimony, the Aurora Society periodically holds presentations of their experimental results, solicits contributions from aristocrats and so on… There were no slaves to be found inside the hospital. Whether or not the human experimentation and the resurrection of the dead are related remains unknown," Sebastian reported, reading from the papers on the clipboard he had borrowed from the hospital.
"It doesn't get any more suspect than that," Ciel said.
"For sure," Chêne agreed.
"Indeed. We can safely assume that the 'Aurora Society' holds definitive clues regarding this matter," Sebastian said.
"When is the next meeting?" Ciel asked.
"It is to take place aboard a passenger liner sailing out from the port of Southampton on April seventeenth," Sebastian replied.
"Hmph. A gathering on a ship does rather scream aristocrats…" Ciel said, leaning his head on his hand. "hmm?"
"Did you say April seventeenth?" Chêne asked, furrowing her brow slightly.
"!" she and Ciel gasped. The earl's eyes widened as he recalled how Lizzie had said her family was taking a trip to New York on the seventeenth of April. He slammed his hands on the desk as he stood up.
"What is the name of that ship!?" Ciel demanded.
"The Blue Star Line's luxury passenger liner… the Campania," Sebastian said.
=†=†=†=†=†=
About a week or so before they set sail, something unexpected happened. One morning, as Sebastian and Chêne were getting ready for work, he noticed something very peculiar about her. She had more than one soul. The second soul was very weak, but it was there nonetheless. No—there were two new souls. His mouth opened slightly as he stared at her back, stunned. Chêne felt him staring and turned to look a him.
"What is it?" she asked with a wry smile, wondering what could possibly be so interesting. Sebastian closed his mouth. He kneeled on the bed and reached across to touch her lower abdomen. Before she could ask him what he was doing, his eyes widened, and all the questions were answered.
"I believe you're with child..." he said, shocked.
"Eh?" Chêne said, then her face turned red. "Ehhh!?" she was shocked as well. It's not that it hadn't occurred to them that this could happened, but that it was extremely rare. After William T. Spears reminded Chêne of the fact that any children she had with Sebastian would literally be devil's spawn, she had asked him what he knew about human-demon offspring and the process of bringing them into the world. He had told her they were extremely rare, and that they were known as 'cambions'. Cambions born to human women tended to take on a human appearance yet inherited their demon parent's powers. She had a feeling their 'terrible twos' were going to be horrific. Cambions were often born early, so the period of pregnancy was shorter. That part sounded good, apart from how to explain away premature babies that were completely formed and perfectly healthy. Despite the strangeness of it all, Chêne was excited. She was going to be a mother! "Hahaha~!!" she smiled and laughed and hugged him. Sebastian held her back. But he was less pleased. While the thought of her carrying his child made him proud, it also filled him with worry. What he had neglected to tell her was that Cambions sometimes killed their human mothers. He had thought he was being careful—obviously, not careful enough. He held her closer. Chêne obviously wanted these children. But he would not allow them to harm her. He was going to have to keep a close eye on her and the children growing inside her. Chêne laughed again.
"What is it?" he asked her. She smiled.
"Can't you just imagine the look on Ciel's face when we tell him?" she asked.
"Heh," Sebastian laughed a little at that. Indeed, the young master's reaction should prove to be priceless.
=†=†=†=†=†=
"So thiiiis is the Campania, huh!!?" Finni said, shielding his eyes from the sun as he and his fellow servants stared up at the great ship.
"Whoa, it's huuuge!" Bard said.
"Please deposit your baggage with the clerks in chaaarge!" someone shouted. "Second-class passengers over this way!"
"To first-class suite A-66," Sebastian said, making the proper arrangements with one of the ship's clerks while everyone else stared at the magnificent piece of modern engineering.
"You're awfully quiet," Ciel noted, looking at Chêne. For some reason, despite her excitement leading up that moment, she was staring warily at the ship. "You seem less than thrilled." Even though she had fought hard to convince him to let her come despite her 'condition'.
"Well, it's just that… I'm suddenly seeing flashes of Titanic for some reason..." she admitted, sweat-dropping. "But the Titanic had four smokestacks, not three, so I'm sure we'll be fine!"
"I have no idea what that has to do with anything..." Ciel said. "Did you have another vision?"
"Don't worry, it's just a movie I saw 'back home'," Chêne replied, shrugging off her bad feelings.
"Ah, I see," Ciel said. That explained the weirdness.
"Awww, I'm jealous that Mister Snake gets to go with the young master!" Finni said.
".." Snake wasn't so sure about that. They had to put his snakes in a crate that had the Funtom company logo on it for the journey.
"A footman's duties include accompanying his master on his travels," Sebastian reminded the other servants.
"Try not to overdo it," Bard told Chêne.
"You must take care of yourself, yes!" Mei-Rin agreed.
"I'm not an invalid..." Chêne said, sweat-dropping, though she appreciated their concern. They and their other fellow servants had all been super excited for her and Sebastian when they told them about her pregnancy.
"I am counting on each of you to carefully see to your duties while we are away," Sebastian said strictly.
"Yessir!!" Finni, Mei-Rin, Bard, and Mister Tanaka said, saluting him.
"We'll bring you back souvenirs!" Chêne said, giving them a smile and a wave.
"Well… We'll be off, then," Ciel said, leading the way up the gangplank. Sebastian, Chêne, and Snake followed.
"We will be setting sail in a moment," one of the ship's clerks called. "Ticket holding passengers, please embark at your earliest convenience."
"Ahoy there!! Would ya happen to know where I can find the second-class entrance?" a man asked Mei-Rin, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Eh!?" Mei-Rin said. She pointed in its direction. "O-Over that way, I think."
"Thank yooou! Lemme treat you to tea in the lounge later! Which class are you in?" he asked her.
"Eeeh!? I-I-I-I only came to see someone off, so..." she stammered nervously, blushing.
"We will soon be removing the boarding briiidge!" a crew member announced from the ship.
"Aw, drat!!" he said. "Yes, yes!! I'm getting on!!" he called to the ship. "I'll ask you out again if I make it back in one piece!" he told Mei-Rin, waving goodbye as he dashed off with his suitcase in hand. "See you!"
"That was the first time in my life a man tried to woo me..." Mei-Rin said, blushing and holding her face.
"What was with that flashy fella?" Bard said, furrowing his brow.
"He was sporting a curious pair of glasses!" Finni remarked. "Sooo huge!"
"Argh! They'll really have my head if I miss the boat!" Mei-Rin's admirer said anxiously as he ran for it, weaving his way through the crowd.
"It is nearly time for our departure," Sebastian noted after consulting his pocket watch while he walked along the upper deck with his wife, master, and the new footman.
"Oh, excuse me!" Chêne said when she bumped shoulders with a woman in widow's weeds, making her drop her handkerchief. Chêne leaned down and picked it up for her, handing it back. The woman's dress was black and purple, so she must be in half-mourning.
"Thank you," the veiled woman said, sounding oddly familiar.
"Wait… Did she sound li—?" Chêne started to ask only to be cut off by a light scolding from Sebastian.
"You should let me do that for you," he told her.
"Again, I'm not an invalid..." Chêne said, sweat-dropping. "Too much inactivity can cause problems too, you know."
HOOOONK!
The ship's horn blew, signaling the time to depart. There was a great cheer from the crowd on the docks and the passengers on the ship. Colorful confetti floated on the breeze as everyone farewelled their loved ones and friends. Sebastian smiled a little as he watched Chêne smile brightly and wave goodbye to the three stooges and Mister Tanaka.
"Young Masterrrrrr!! Chênnnne!! Taaake caaare!!" they called, returning her wave.
"Pheeew! Made it in the nick of time!" Mei-Rin's admirer said, holding onto his hat while he leaned on the ship's railing. "Having left port safe and sound just as planned… There's smooth sailing ahead! A bright future!" He removed his hat and looked up. It was none other than Ronald Knox, Grim Reaper. "For us, that it!"
