That Butler, In the Fray
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:
"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."
SHHHHH.
The cold wind blew across the ocean. The sky was reflected in the water like a sea of stars. If only things were so peaceful inside…
=†=†=†=†=†=
{First-class Smoking Lounge…}
The corpse of Margaret Connor staggered forward, snarling and gnashing her bloodied teeth as she slowly stalked toward her next prey.
"What the devil is thi—" Ciel asked, alarmed.
"My knives ought to have pierced its heart..." Sebastian said, standing protectively in front of him. "This is a being I myself do not quite comprehend."
" 'Aurora Society's resurrection of the dead—occult it may not be!' I never for a moment thought what Lau said would turn out to be true!" Ciel said, a bead of nervous sweat sliding down his face.
"Dammit…! A failure, eh!?" Rian said, gritting his teeth in frustration.
"Aagh! Ugh!" the walking corpse groaned.
"What are you waiting for!? Kill it quickly," Rian ordered two of his assistants.
"Phoenix!!" they said, striking the phoenix pose. They pulled out their guns and started shooting at her.
BANG! BANG!
One of their bullets hit her in the shoulder, and the other grazed the side of her face, taking the skin and muscles on that side of her mouth with it.
"Ohh..." the corpse moaned and turned around to target them instead.
BANG! BANG!
They shot her in the neck and one of her shins. Still, she came, until she was looming over them.
CLICK! CLICK!
They were already out of bullets.
"Eep…!" one of the men cried as she tackled him to the ground. She attacked his neck with a sickening crunch, gnawing on his flesh. "GYAAAAAH!" His comrade in arms was too terrified to move.
"Kuh…!" Rian gritted his teeth and backed away. He made a run for it, leaving the others to their fate. "Useless, the lot of you!!"
"!!" Ciel gasped. "Wait..." He moved to chase after him, but Sebastian stopped him. That would have put him too close to that thing. The other gunman found his legs and dashed out the door.
"Uuhhhn..." the corpse groaned, raising its head to look at them. Her current victim was dead.
"!" Ciel furrowed his brow and frowned. "How in the world does one stop that!?"
"Perhaps it will do to dismember it into immobility for the time being?" Sebastian suggested, holding four silverware knives in one hand, preparing to attack.
"You can't kill these guys unless you smash in their heads!"
"!?" Ciel and Sebastian were surprised. Ronald Knox was flying through the air with his lawnmower death scythe aimed straight at the corpse's head.
"Liiiike so!" the Grim Reaper concluded, smashing its blades into her skull.
VREEKAKAKA!
He mowed her down, literally, until there was nothing left of her head.
"You gotta be efficient, see?" Ronald said.
WHREEE.
He rolled his death scythe away from the body as it finished falling.
"You are—" Sebastian said.
"Say what!? I knew it! This one's dead already!!" Ronald exclaimed, checking his list of the dead. "That's why I said I reaped her soul 'n' everythiiiing~! I can't freakin' believe this!"
"Who is that?" Ciel asked, sweat-dropping.
"You too should know his kind well, Young Master," Sebastian said.
"A-ha," Ronald hopped up on the platform in front of the organ, where the body of Margaret's mother was slumped over the coffin. "This one's still got a soul. Ups-a-daisy!" He moved his death scythe on top of her and let it rip.
VRRM!
Her cinematic record rose up, playing out her life from birth to death.
"Susannah Connor. Born July 23rd, 1841," Ronald said. "Died April 19th, 1889 of shock to to extensive hemorrhaging. Remarks—none in particular." He stamped her record in his book 'completed'. "Judgment complete."
"!!"Ciel gasped. "A Grim Reaper…!?"
"Nn?" Ronald said, looking at him and Sebastian. "That outfit. Would you happen to be the infamous 'Sebas-chan'?"
"I do very much loathe being addressed that way, but… I am indeed Sebastian Michaelis, butler to the house of Phantomhive," Sebastian replied. "And you are?"
"Ronald Knox. Grim Reaper dispatch, retrieval division," Ronald answered with a lopsided grin. "Thanks for lookin' out for my senior!"
"Just now, you mentioned that these creatures cannot be killed 'unless you smash in their heads'. Do Grim Reapers know something of these incidents where the dead are brought back to life?" Sebastian asked.
"Nah, we haven't got any real details," Ronald said. "But… we've had reports of corpses being active even after their souls were collected. Management's put in claims against us, treating the cases like the retrieval division screwed up, so… I came to look into things, but… turns out it's a soulless corpse through and through, this. I mean, I culled Margaret Connor's soul two weeks ago, no doubt about it."
"So the dead have not been returned to life," Ciel said. "It's just a moving corpse, hm..."
"Is it even possible for a body without a soul to move?" Sebastian asked.
"The 'brass' say that it's impossible too, but… the Grim Reaper dispatch is investigating in the first place 'cos the corpses really are moving, as you just saw," Ronald replied.
"So all we know for sure at present is 'destroy their heads to kill them'..." Sebastian said thoughtfully, holding his chin.
"To be exact, you're not 'killing' them, just 'incapacitating' them," Ronald clarified.
"Looks like we've got to force a confession out of Rian," Ciel said, heading for the door. "C'mon then!!"
VREEKAKAKA!
"!?" Sebastian and Ciel were startled when Ronald suddenly revved the engine on his death scythe and swung it at the demon.
VREENK.
Sebastian managed to catch it by the wheels, but it was difficult to maintain a firm grip on the moving parts. He furrowed his brow and gritted his teeth.
"If management gets wind of a devil being on board… it'll be a pain with them grousing on about how… 'perhaps you are concealing the fact that a noxious beast snatched souls from you?' and stuff," Ronald said. His glasses gleamed in the light. "I really don't wanna get stuck with overtime for a reason like that, so… How's about you disappear right here and now?"
"Tch!" Ciel clicked his tongue in annoyance, glancing at the door. The longer they waited, the further away Rian was getting. "I'm going on ahead!" he told Sebastian. "Once you've played with him a bit, come after me!"
"Very good, Sir," Sebastian said calmly.
"Uwah!! What a bad attitude," Ronald remarked. "Kids these days, urrrgh!"
"Are you sure this is the time to be looking elsewhere?" Sebastian asked him, aiming a swift kick at the Reaper's head so he was forced to withdraw his scythe and dodge.
"Whoa!" Ronald exclaimed as he leaned back. Sebastian's foot was only an inch away from his face. That sharp kick probably would have taken his head off if he hadn't ducked. Ronald flipped out of the way, rotating in small circles as he moved backwards across the floor to put some distance between them. Sebastian jumped and threw ten knives at the Reaper. Ronald countered by popping his death scythe up in the air and swinging it around in front of him to catch all the knives, slicing them to harmless bits. Ronald shook his death scythe to empty it of the knives' pieces as Sebastian landed.
"—The death scythe lives up to its reputation, I see," Sebastian said. He smirked with a touch of dark humor. "It's sharpness is guaranteed, hm?"
"You betcha!" Ronald said brightly. He hopped on top of his death scythe, riding it as he charged straight at Sebastian. Sebastian braced himself for another attack. Ronald leaped from his scythe, flipping through the air just in time to avoid another deadly kick from Sebastian.
"!" Sebastian was surprised when a cut appeared on his face. Ronald smirked. He landed back on his death scythe and spun it around, putting distance between them again.
VRREEEE!
"Focusing just on the death scythe 'cos I'm a Grim Reaper… That's the old way of doin' things!" Ronald said, holding up the knife he had used to cut him.
"Children these days really do have bad attitudes," Sebastian remarked, smirking and furrowing his brow as he wiped the blood from his face.
=†=†=†=†=†=
Ciel hurried down the flight of service stairs, but Rian eluded him.
"He's fast on his feet," Ciel remarked, holding his gun at the ready. He flinched in surprise when a hand reached out from the darkness behind him to touch his shoulder, so startled that he nearly shot the culprit.
"Uwah! Kyaah!?" Lizzie cried, almost tipping the plate of food she was holding too far.
"Huh!? Lizzie!?" Ciel exclaimed, equally surprised.
"Good gracious! Were you honestly going to shoot your fiancée!?" Lizzie asked him.
"Forget that! What are you doing here!?" Ciel countered.
"I saw you run off, so I followed you," Lizzie replied. "You suddenly disappeared when I'd asked you to wait, after all! I looked all over for you, too! She said with a pout, but then she smiled. "Oh! And, and! Ciel, here's your ca—mrgh!" Ciel put his hand over her mouth.
"Shhhh… I'm sorry, but I haven't got time for you right now," Ciel told her, a bead of sweat sliding down his face. "It's not safe here, so go back to where Auntie and the others are! All right!?" He dashed off and left her there.
"Ah! Ciel!?" Lizzie called, but he was already gone. She sat down on the stairs. It was silent as the grave. "Noooo…! Don't leave me behiiind…!" she cried, running after him. "Cieeel…!"
—^—^—^—
{Orlop Deck, Cargo Hold…}
"So this is the cargo hold..." Ciel said as he finished descending the stairs, looking around. He had acquired a lantern on the way. He heard movement. "Who's there!?" Ciel demanded, pointing his gun and the lantern at the culprit, only to encounter another familiar face. "Snake!?"
"T-Too bright… —says Wordsworth," Snake said, shielding his eyes.
"What on earth are you doing here of all places!?" Ciel asked.
"The food was so very delicious, I wanted to come and share it with everyone. —says Donne," Snake replied, and Ciel saw that he was indeed holding a plate that now only held the garnishes.
"The cakes were much yummier than the food, you know!" Lizzie said.
"Haah… Is that right…?" Ciel said with a sigh, furrowing his brow. Why was it that he kept running into everyone but the man he was looking for? "Nn?" Ciel's brow furrowed as he recognized her voice, and he spun around to face her. "Hey! Lizzie!?"
"Gosh! Don't just leave me all alone like thaaat!" Lizzie cried, looking a little scared.
"I told you to go back upstairs, didn't I!?" Ciel said. What he wouldn't give for Chêne to be there at the moment so he could have her take Lizzie back. Why did she have to be seasick?
"But I wanted you to eat the cake, so..." Lizzie said, blushing. "It's your favorite kind, with the strawberries on top! And I brought you the biggest piece! See!?" She held out an empty plate. "Oh?" she said, confused. She didn't notice that the cake was being eaten by the moving corpse behind her. Ciel gasped, horrified. Snake stared at the bizarre scene with wide eyes. Lizzie started to turn her head to look.
CHOMP!
"Kyah!" Lizzie cried as Ciel pulled her out of the way when it tried to bite her. Ciel fell backwards, slamming into a wooden crate. The lantern crashed to the floor and rolled over so that the light was aimed directly on the moving corpse like a spotlight.
"A… Agh..." It groaned, shuffling awkwardly towards them.
"This one's not the same as the last!" Ciel said. It was clearly male and dressed formally. "There were more of them!?" His eyes widened and he gasped. "!!" There was an open coffin behind it. "That's… the insignia of the Aurora Society!! So Rian brought another reanimated corpse along with him…? Snake!! Leave that one to me. You take care of Lizzie!" Snake didn't move. "Snake?"
"..." Again, Snake didn't move.
"Hey! Did you hear what I—" Ciel started to say when Snake and his snakes pointed at something.
"The mark of the bird..." Snake said.
"!?" Ciel said when he turned his head and saw it too.
"… There are lots more of them over there. —says… Oscar," Snake finished. There were rows and rows and rows of coffins hanging in the hold. They all stared at them with wide eyes.
"Aah… Uu..." the loose moving corpse groaned as it continued to make its way toward them.
'No… It can't be… Every last one of these is—!?' Ciel thought, disturbed, as the coffins began to rattle and creak, as if something was trying to break out of them.
RATTLE. RATTLE. RATTLE. RATTLE. RATTLE. RATTLE. RATTLE. RATTLE.
