That Butler, At the Helm
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:
"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!"
Lizzie, dressed in a cute sailor-style dress, was trembling with pink cheeks and tears in her eyes.
"I—I had hoped to surprise you," Ciel greeted her a little awkwardly as they stood facing each other on the first-class deck with her family behind her and his servants behind him.
"You said you couldn't come with us! I'm so very happy!!" Lizzie exclaimed joyfully, hugging him tight.
"Elizabeth! Stop behaving so indecently in public at once!!" Francis scolded her daughter.
"..." the Marquess of Midford, Alexis Leon Midford, was looking stern.
"Quite right, Lizzie," said her older brother, Edward. "Besides..." He looked at Ciel and how Lizzie had settled for linking arms with him. "… I have yet to acknowledge you as my future brother-in-law!! So hurry up and move away from her!!" he roared, pointing at the young earl.
"Haah…" Ciel said, sweat-dropping.
"Really! There you go saying those things again, Edward!" Lizzie huffed. Ciel noticed the Marquess was still staring hard at him.
"L-Lord Midford. It has been quite some time since we last met," Ciel greeted him politely, although the way he kept staring so intensely was a little unsettling to say the least. "Erm..." The Marquess's eyes widened in a glare, and the next thing Ciel knew, he was being hugged tight and nuzzled by the older man.
"You are adooorable as usual~! " Alexis told him brightly, very much resembling his daughter.
'So that's where she gets it from...' Chêne thought, suppressing a wry smile and sweat-dropping.
"Really, my lord! That's quite enough!!" Francis said sternly with a vein throbbing on her forehead.
"father, that's not fair! I want to do that, too!" Lizzie said.
"Stop that, you two!" Francis yelled with another vein throbbing on her head.
=†=†=†=†=†=
"So we'll get to be together for the whole three weeks?" Elizabeth asked once they were all seated for tea in the dining room. Sebastian and Snake stood at attention with their hair slicked back, courtesy of the marchioness, while Chêne saw to the rooms along with Paula, Lizzie's maid. It was probably for the best, as Chêne began to feel more seasick as time passed.
"Yes, that's right," Ciel replied.
"This will be our first time being together for so long!" Lizzie said, blushing, excited. "You must escort me to the dinner parties, Ciel!"
"I will, I will," he promised. He flinched a little in surprise when he was suddenly hit by a sharp glare from her brother, who had a vein throbbing on his forehead.
"I was going to be the one escorting her..." Edward grumbled darkly. Ciel sweat-dropped.
"What exactly have I gotten myself into…?" Ciel asked gloomily. He could sense a lot of headaches in his future.
"Heh! Is it not just as well?" Sebastian asked. "The meeting of which we spoke will be held on the eve of the nineteenth. Why not leisurely enjoy a rare holiday?" Ciel glanced at Lizzie.
"I must dress uppp! " she said happily to herself.
"… Well… I guess a break is called for every so often..." Ciel said with a sigh.
=†=†=†=†=†=
"We're back," Ciel announced as they entered his first-class cabin.
"Welcome... back..." Chêne said, looking and sounding exhausted. There was a sheen of sweat on her forehead, and she had a bad headache. "Ugh..."
"Are you all right?" Sebastian asked her, concerned.
"No. I have no idea why I'm reacting this way… I've never been seasick on a boat before..." she replied wearily. "I wonder if it's because—!" She suddenly turned green around the gills and dashed for the bathroom. They could hear her throwing up.
'Because of her condition…?' Sebastian wondered, furrowing his brow and holding his chin. He was aware that nausea and vomiting could be symptoms pregnant women experienced, but as she had never been seasick before, it concerned him. He hoped this wasn't a complication caused by her carrying cambions.
=†=†=†=†=†=
{Two days hence—the Campania first-class lounge}
The eve of the nineteenth, the lounge had been decorated even more splendidly than usual. The chandeliers shined brighter than ever, and there were several tables filled with magnificent dishes served buffet-style, so that everyone might move freely about the room to dance or chat.
"Ciel, look! Look!" Lizzie said excitedly, pulling him along. "Those cakes are sooo cute! I'll go get some for us, Ciel! So wait for me, okay!?" Her eyes were sparkling.
"Ah..." Ciel said, surprised by the abrupt abandonment after being dragged around so enthusiastically. "Haa…" he sighed heavily, leaning against a table. "Aristocrats really do nothing but get together daily to talk nonsense about this family and that… and they do it with exactly the same conversation partners every single day!! I feel like a fool for having traded in my work for this..."
"Then how about you accept the marchioness's invitation for a fencing lesson tomorrow?" Sebastian suggested, approaching him with a plate of food. Snake accompanied him. "Here you are, Sir. Please help yourself."
"Do you really want to keep me from seeing the Statue of Liberty's face that badly?" Ciel asked, sweat-dropping. "How is Chêne, by the way?"
"About the same as before," Sebastian admitted with a sigh of regret. Poor thing. He would have to keep a closer eye on her to make sure it wasn't getting worse, once they had concluded tonight's business. "That aside, Young Master. Tonight is the night."
"I know," Ciel said, adopting a serious expression.
"It seems the convening of the 'Aurora Society' will be signaled by a waiter carrying glasses and walking the hall," Sebastian said. "Participants are to take a glass and then head for the meeting place."
"Don't miss that signal," Ciel ordered him.
"As you wish, Sir," Sebastian replied. Snake's attention was caught by the sound of someone whispering. He glanced in her direction.
"See there? Just look at his skin," a woman wearing an opulent evening dress said. "It's like that of a snake."
"My goodness. I wonder when this place became a vulgar freak show," the woman she was talking to said, glancing in his direction.
"Now, now. He will hear you, Madam," the first woman said, giggling. Snake clenched his fists at his sides.
"You're not used to crowds?" Ciel asked him.
"We look different from everyone else, so if we're together, Smile and Black will become laughingstocks as well. —Says Donne," Snake said sadly, looking down, translating for the tiny snake tucked behind his ear.
"What of it?" Ciel said calmly.
"Eh!?" Snake said, looking up at him in surprise.
"We're strangers, so of course we're different," Ciel stated. "What is there to be ashamed of?" He took a bite of the food Sebastian brought him. "In any case, I'm free to choose my companions. It's nobody else's business but mine."
"—says Young Master," Sebastian said, placing a hand on Snake's shoulder. "You are now the footman to a distinguished aristocrat. Carry yourself with confidence and hold your head up high." Snake blushed. They weren't ashamed to be seen with him. Moreover, they told him to hold his head high. They were the first people since Joker and the others to tell him something like that.
"May I have a glass?" a blonde man with a beard asked the waiter. Sebastian and Ciel saw the man take an empty glass from the tray.
"We're going after him!" Ciel said. "Here, you take care of that!" he told Snake, handing him his plate.
"….." Snake stared at the plate in his hand as they dashed off. It still had food on it. "….." He decided to try it rather than let it go to waste. "…..!" Snake gasped when he tasted the wonderful flavors. "Mm, tasty..."
=†=†=†=†=†=
{Third-class Dining Hall…}
It was lively down in third-class, with everyone drinking and dancing to colorful music.
"Ahhh! Sooo good!!" one man exclaimed. "Ale! Ale's the way to go! Much better than any fancy champagne! Y'think so too, don't ye, lad?"
"Still, if you're drinking with your lass, a real famous brand of champagne's the way to go!" Ronald Knox said.
"Oooh, 'ow nice! I envy your girlfriend!" said the young lady sitting at the table with them.
"If only I had one!" Ronald said with a wink, peeking at his watch. It was about 11:20 PM. "So! Even if I don't have a girl, I do have plenty of time! Cheers to our free time!!" He smiled and clinked his beer mug with the others'.
=†=†=†=†=†=
Outside the first-class smoking lounge, a waiter stood ready to serve the guests water from a sparkling crystal pitcher.
"Would you care for some 'absolute purification water'?" the waiter asked the man in front of him. "It costs thirty pounds." That was roughly the same value as $7,600 to $9,500 in the modern era.
"I shall have a glass," the man said, and the waiter served him.
"What an outrageous price for water," Ciel commented, watching from around the corner with Sebastian. They had both disguised themselves. Ciel was wearing a platinum blonde wig and bandages over his right eye. Sebastian's hair was pulled back, and he was wearing a false ponytail. They were originally going to take Chêne with them, but as she was indisposed, it was probably for the best. They didn't want to get sick everywhere.
"So in other words… those who cannot pay do not have the right to enter," Sebastian concluded.
"All right. Let's go," Ciel said, starting forward, but Sebastian grabbed his shoulder and held him back.
"A moment, please," Sebastian said. "According to my information, the Aurora Society has a prescribed form of greeting, and those who do not know it are expelled."
"Tell me about these details sooner!!" Ciel said a little impatiently. "So? What sort of greeting is it?"
"You see..." Sebastian replied, leaning down to whisper in his ear.
"—Wha…!?" Ciel exclaimed, taken aback. "I can't believe this…!" He trembled slightly, his horrified face half cast in shadow. "We really have to do that…!?"
"If we cannot greet them as required, we will be regarded as outsiders and made to leave on the spot. Hesitation will not be tolerated..." Sebastian said gravely. "Now, then. Let us go." They stepped forth and bought a glass of water.
"This way, please," the waiter said and stepped aside to open the door for them, and they stepped into the lavish room. Inside were many people, all obviously upperclass by their manner of dress and the very fact that they were in there. An older man with a mustache stepped up to greet them.
"Is this your first time here?" he asked. Ciel glanced at Sebastian, who nodded.
"Th—'The eternal flame in this breast… cannot be quenched by anyone,'" Ciel said carefully. " 'We are—phoenix'!!" he declared as he and Sebastian struck a ridiculous bird-like pose with both hands in the air and one knee raised. Ciel turned bright red, beyond embarrassed. 'What kind of pose is this!? No one would believe them sane!! If we've got it wrong, all will be lost, Sebastian!' The mustached man stopped staring at them with a grave expression and struck the pose himself.
"Phoenix!! Welcome to the Aurora Society," he said and handed Sebastian two gold phoenix pins. "Here are your membership badges."
"Thank you," Sebastian said, accepting them.
'I'll never, ever do that again…!' Ciel thought, still red. His face was so hot you could fry an egg on it.
"Gguh! Hee! Hee! Hee..." a familiar voice laughed. Ciel's eyes widened in shock. "Eeee! Hee! Hee! Hee! I neeeever imagined you'd do such a thing!" Undertaker cackled, laughing so hard that he was red-faced and crying. "That was brilliant!"
"U-Undertaker!?" Ciel exclaimed.
"You looked so very earnest when you shouted 'Phoenix!!' Dah! Ha! Ha!" Undertaker laughed. "Heeeee! Heeee!"
"Why, you…!" Ciel snapped, vein throbbing on his forehead.
"Now, now, Young Master," Sebastian said calmly. "That said, why are you here?" he asked Undertaker.
"For work, you see! Hospitals are valued clients of mine!" Undertaker replied. "Where might Missus Maid be?"
"I'm afraid she's indisposed," Ciel said. "We're investigating illegal human experiments that are said to be conducted by this hospital. Would you happen to know anything about the dead being resurrected?"
"Dear, dear! If it's information you want, I must have 'compensation' (by which I mean 'laughs') for it!" Undertaker said, drooling a little at the prospect. "Gufufu… Yes, let me thiiink! How 'bout you do that pose for me one more time, hmm?"
"What do you take me fo—" Ciel began angrily, when another familiar voice sounded nearby.
"Phoenix!!!" an attractive man with platinum blonde hair said, striking a modified version of the pose that made him look like he was dancing. "Do excuse me for adapting the pose to suit my style."
"Isn't that the Viscount of Druitt!?" Ciel asked, appalled. "What is he doing here…?"
"If memory serves, he did have a physician's license," Sebastian said sweat-dropping, also less than thrilled to see the man. "It had utterly slipped my mind."
"He's coming this way!" Ciel said nervously, feeling a sense of doom as the viscount approached them. He quickly hid behind Sebastian, dreading the possibility that he might be recognized from when he crossdressed during the Jack the Ripper case.
"Oh, I say! Are you two newcomers here?" the viscount asked, clinking his glass of water with the one Sebastian was holding.
"Indeed we are," Sebastian replied. "We chanced upon the newspaper article, you see..."
"Oh, Madam Samuel's loose lips will cause us no end of grief," the viscount said with a sigh. "To think she would reveal our secrets so readily!" He noticed Ciel. "Ohh, and who have we here?" Ciel paled as his heart pounded in his chest. "Have you and I had the pleasure of each other's company before?" Viscount Druitt asked him, leaning around Sebastian to get a better look.
"No, Sir!!" Ciel answered immediately with all earnest, sweating nervously. "We are meeting for the first time, I assure you!!"
"Quite right. I would never forget the face of a boy as beautiful as you," the viscount said, touching Ciel's chin to tilt his face up. Ciel was breaking out in goosebumps.
'His face is face too close!' Ciel thought, paling so much that his face was turning blue. His brow furrowed with disgust, but he was too terrified of the thought of being discovered to fight back. "F-F-F-F-F—Father said they would make me better if I came here."
"Father…?" Sebastian said. That wasn't referring to him, was he? Well, it was true that he was a father…
"Without a doubt! Rian will surely cure you!" the viscount told Ciel. "I shall be eagerly awaiting the day when I can gaze into both of your eyes." But then he looked to the side and shook his head. "No, hang on. The way he is now gives him a rather decadent air, which has its own charms..." he mused to himself.
"Nn?" Ciel said, looking around when he noticed someone was missing. "Where did Undertaker go?"
"I wonder what brought him here in the first place," Sebastian said.
"Hold it, you two!" the viscount said, grabbing both of them. "The show's about to begin!" The murmuring of the crowd fell quiet as four men came through a door beside the organ, carrying a coffin into the room. They placed it on the platform in front of the organ. "He is Rian Stoker, the founder," Viscount Druitt said, pointing out a man with light brown hair who was dressed like a doctor in a white coat.
"So that's..." Ciel said, but the whole room was silent now, so he stopped talking. Rian Stoker stood before his fellow society members with open arms.
"The eternal flame in this breast… cannot be quenched by anyone," Rian said calmly. "We are—!" He vigorously struck the phoenix pose. "Phoenix!!!" He slowly dropped the phoenix pose. "Esteemed friends and colleagues! I thank you for attending the Aurora Society's research presentation, 'absolute salvation of mankind through medical science,' on this fine day." He bowed to them. "What is absolute salvation, you might ask? Well, it's… perfect health!! A healthy body." He made a muscle with his arm. "Healthy teeth." He grinned at them. "A healthy mind residing in a healthy body." He smiled and waved. "And healthy weather." He clenched his fist. "Good health is indeed a many-splendored thing!!" he concluded excitedly.
'Ugh...' Ciel and Sebastian thought. This guy was sickeningly enthusiastic.
"However, there continues to exist a state of greatest, most profound unhealthiness that we are unable to conquer, try as we might," Rian continued, turning grim. "And what is that state?" He placed his hand on the coffin. "It is death!"
"!" Sebastian furrowed his brow slightly.
"And the wonderful, singular power that will save us from this calamity…? That is… the medical science of the Aurora Society!" Rian declared. He gestured to the coffin, which was being opened by two of the men who had carried it in. "Now I shall demonstrate to you the fruits of our research—the 'absolute salvation of mankind through medical science'." The coffin's lid was removed to reveal the body of a young woman. She was covered in stitches and there was a blindfold tied over her eyes. "Here lies Margaret Connor, age seventeen. She lost her young life in an unfortunate accident. Her death was truly tragic… the result of a catastrophe that should never have occurred. Her untimely end brought ill health not only upon her own heart… but also upon the hearts of her loved ones." An older couple, presumably the young woman's parents, stood near the coffin. The mother was crying into a handkerchief while the father tried to comfort her. "I wish to absolutely save this young lady and her family!"
"Is the corpse real?" Ciel whispered to Sebastian behind his hand, while they watched two assistants in lab coats attach electrodes to the young woman's body and a large machine was brought out.
"I believe so. There is the lingering scent of death causing my nose to wrinkle," Sebastian whispered back, holding a finger under his nose in a subtle attempt to block the smell.
"Allow me to show you, everyone! The power of medicine!" Rian said, spreading his arms wide as one of his assistants activated the machine. Electricity crackled around the device and flowed through the electrodes into Margaret Connor's body.
=†=†=†=†=†=
{Third-class Dining Hall...}
"Oh!" Ronald said, glancing at his watch. "It's nearly time." He stood up and removed his jacket from the back of his chair.
"Hm? Where're you goin'?" the young lady sitting with him asked.
"I've got a little work to do," he replied, pulling his jacket on.
"Awww! Leavin' so soon? Then 'ow 'bout we meet again 'ere t'morrow?" she asked.
"Okay! If we're both a live, that is," he replied mysteriously.
"A-ha-ha! What're you on 'bout!?" she laughed, thinking he was making a joke.
=†=†=†=†=†=
{First-class Smoking Lounge…}
"Now rise from the ashes, my dear!" Rian told Margaret. "Like a phoenix!!" Everyone was stunned and amazed when she lifted her hand and sat up in her coffin. "Please, take a good look! Our medical science can overcome even death!!" Ciel was shocked. Sebastian furrowed his brow.
"Maggie! Ohh, Maggie, my sweet child!!" her mother cried, throwing her arms around her.
"Thank you so much, doctor!!" her father said, overjoyed.
"This is 'absolute salvation'!!" Rian said. His audience exploded in cheers and applause.
"It's a miracle!" someone cried.
"I can't believe my eyes…!" someone else exclaimed.
"Exactly what is going on here!?" Ciel asked. "Did a corpse really just come back to life!?" Sebastian held his chin while he observed the bizarre scene before them, thinking. He recalled a discussion Chêne had with Bard where she explained that unlike in the Frankenstein novel, one could not bring the brain dead back to life. A human corpse could be manipulated into functioning on a limited level via electrical impulses, but it could not reverse the damage done by death and decay. She did not believe it could bring back their soul once it had departed. The crease in his brow deepened when Margaret's corpse opened her mouth unnaturally wide.
"As long as you are alive, your mothe—" her mother said, cut off when Margaret's teeth buried themselves in her neck with a sick crunching sound. "Kyaaaah!? M-Maggie—!? What is the—ow—GYAAH!" The audience stared in horror as she was mauled and mutilated by her revived daughter. The smoking lounge erupted in screams as everyone panicked and made a run for it. The room emptied in seconds. Sebastian and Ciel removed their hair pieces.
"Sebastian!" Ciel said.
"Yes, my lord!" Sebastian replied, drawing three silverware knives from his coat. He threw them at the corpse, piercing its neck, heart, and lung. It fell backwards and hit the floor with an unforgiving thud.
"Did you kill it?" Ciel asked, about to step forward, when Sebastian held an arm out to stop him.
"Step back, please," Sebastian told him.
"Wha—!?" Ciel gasped when the corpse started to move again.
"Ah!" it moaned as it slowly raised itself up off the floor, arching its back. "Auuuuuuh!" it groaned, rolling forward onto its feet.
"What the devil is that thi—" Ciel asked as it staggered forward again.
"My knife ought to have pierced its heart," Sebastian said, frowning. "This is a being I myself do not quite comprehend."
