That Butler, Guessing
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:
The ship crashed into the iceberg at full speed, resulting in an explosion of ice that rained down on the deck. The owner of the red shoe leaped from the iceberg as the ship continued to scrape against it.
VRRRM!
A chainsaw wailed in the night as the owner of the red shoe flew over the bow of the ship.
"A maiden voyage torn to shreds and smeared with blood. There's… no stopping it anymore!" The chainsaw slashed through the necks of the zombies waiting onboard. "There's no going back!" The chainsaw sliced off more heads. "It's too late to turn back now even if you try!" A dark silhouette flipped through the air. "Oooh, yes! This truly is—a luxury… cruise..." That silhouette landed in the light. Red high-heeled shoes skidded against the deck as their owner slid to a stop. Grell Sutcliff grinned, exposing his sharp teeth as his red hair and jacket fluttered in the wind. He made a rocker sign with his hand. "… To die for! "
CRAAASH!!
The ship crashed into the iceberg and two of the propeller blades snapped and broke off. The iceberg scraped the side of the ship, rattling the cargo hold as it tore open the hull. Water rushed in. Looking at the ship from the air, the damage appeared minimal.
"The jet-black seas sprinkled with twinkling stars..." Grell said, charging at the zombies on deck.
VREEE!
He fired up his death scythe to take part in the deadly dance. He twirled and swept his scythe in a circle, decapitating all four zombies surrounding him at once.
"… Are being dyed in shades of my beloved rosy red!" Grell finished with a grin as one of the heads flew overboard and landed in the cold sea. "It just begs for me to play the heroine! Tonight promises to be a fabulous evening!"
=†=†=†=†=†=
"Wh—What was that!?" Chêne asked when the whole ship shook. She suddenly remembered her dream. If the zombies were real, then... "Don't tell me—"
"If your guess is 'iceberg', you've got it in one," Lacey told her, holding up her own little book of death. "This ship is going down. According to this, the captain already bit the dust."
"Don't we need to do something, then?!" Chêne said urgently. "Where's the thing for the water-tight doors, or whatever they're called?!"
"I'm pretty sure it's in the same place as the ship's steering wheel… wherever that is..." Lacey replied. She thought she remembered seeing something like that in a movie.
"The wheelhouse? I know where that is!" Chêne said and grabbed her hand and started pulling her along. "Come on, then!" she said, trusting her sword through a zombie's head as she went, kicking another out of the way.
"You're a badass when you're in a hurry," Lacey remarked with an amused smirk. "All right. We might as well make sure there's time for the lifeboats to be boarded, since we'll be needing one."
=†=†=†=†=†=
{Elevator Hall…}
"Wh—What's going on!?" Francis said, alarmed when they felt the ship shake too, just as Sebastian was leaving. "What was that quaking just now!?"
"… It cannot be!!" Sebastian said, furrowing his brow. He rushed out onto the first-class deck and over to the side to look over the railing, followed by Edward. "!" He could see that the ship had been damaged and there were huge chunks of ice on the deck below. They had obviously hit an iceberg. Edward caught sight of the very one, a massive formation of ice. If it was that big above water, then the size of it below must be terrifyingly immense.
"Don't tell me we just ran afoul of that!?" Edward exclaimed. Sebastian quickly turned on his heel and ran. "Hey, Butler!?" Sebastian ran as fast as his feet would carry him and skidded to a halt outside the wheelhouse. He quickly entered it and found a diagram of the ship that showed him exactly what he needed to know. "To prevent the ship from taking on water… Ah, yes, water-tight doors… here we are," he said, locating the switch for it. He pulled it, and the lights that indicated they were closed lit up for every door except three. "There." He saw movement out the corner of his eye and turned to face it. His eyes widened in surprise when his wife threw her arms around him.
"Sebastian!" Chêne exclaimed, beyond relieved to see him. "I guess we had the same idea!"
"It would appear so," he said, returning her embrace, also relieved to see her. He was surprised she had found him first, but the most important thing was that she was indeed safe.
"Looks like you've already taken care of it," Lacey observed, checking the sign with the lights. "Wow, the body count is high in here." There appeared to be no survivors among the crew members stationed there.
"Yes, now we should be able to avoid taking on too much water for a while," Sebastian replied. "Still, I never imagined the crew would all be—" He did a double-take and stared at Lacey in blatant disbelief.
"Yeah, it's really her," Chêne said, a little amused by his expression. "Turns out Lacey is a Reaper..."
"A Reaper…?" Sebastian asked, taken aback. "I assume that is your death scythe?" he said, eying her pole saw. To him, it appeared to be something like a glaive with a smaller version of the blade of a certain red-haired Reaper's scythe.
"Yep and yep. I defied space-time to be here so I could protect Chêne," Lacey said, also amused. "Being a code 42 has its perks."
"We'll explain everything later," Chêne said. "Where's Ciel? And Snake?"
"Snake?" Lacey asked, perking up. She loved snakes.
"They are safe," Sebastian replied. "For now, we should verify the state of the ship."
"That's true. We're in danger from more than just the zombies," Chêne agreed.
"Zombies?" Sebastian asked.
"The walking dead," Lacey answered with a smirk. "You're looking at the Zombie Queen."
"There isn't a zombie movie that Lacey hasn't seen," Chêne explained.
"I see..." Sebastian said. So they made movies of this in the future of Chêne's world. Lacey appeared to be enjoying herself. "We've been destroying the heads to defeat them, but if you know of any other methods..."
"Nope. That's pretty much the only way to kill a zombie and be sure it's properly dead," Lacey replied. "The good news is that I don't think this type's bite is contagious."
'How tedious…' Sebastian thought. "Tonight promises to be a ghastly evening."
"Um, Sebastian..." Chêne said as a zombie creeped up on him.
"Yes, dear?" he asked, turning and kicking it with such force, that it was sent flying out through a glass window.
"Never mind," she said with a wry smile. She suddenly looked sick and clapped both hands over her mouth, bending over a little.
"Here you go," Lacey said, sliding a random bucket over to her with her foot. Chêne fell to her knees and threw up in it. Sebastian kneeled down next to her and held her hair back. "You're having a rough night, huh?" Chêne nodded, and Sebastian handed her a handkerchief to wipe her mouth.
"She's been seasick ever since we boarded," Sebastian said, frowning with concern.
"Eh, she'll be fine," Lacey said, looking at her friend's sweaty face.
"Your sympathy is overwhelming..." Chêne said sarcastically as Sebastian helped her up.
=†=†=†=†=†=
"Nn?" Ronald said when he heard glass break. He turned his head in time to see the zombie Sebastian just defeated fall.
"No averting your eyes now!" Grell told him, blushing. "Come on… You need to feel it too!" He stood balanced with one knee on the railing and his arms spread wide, braced by Ronald, who was holding his waist. "This briny ocean air~! I feel like I'm being caressed aaaaaall over~! "
"Uh… Mister Sutcliff, sir..." Ronald said awkwardly.
"A sky full of stars! A luxury liner! There could never be a more perfect stage for a great diva to spread her wings onnn!" Grell said with his eyes closed, enjoying the wind flowing through his hair.
"Is this some new method of hazing an underling…?" Ronald asked, not enjoying himself at all.
"Ugh, really! What, you think I wanted you for this part!? I was hoping for a hunk, not a brat like you!" Grell snapped at him.
"By 'hunk,' you mean..." Ronald said, picturing Sebastian. 'Having him loaf on the job would be bad, so better to keep my mouth shut.'
"Hrmm?" Grell said.
"No, never mind," Ronald told him.
"Ugggh… This is so not doing it for me with you as my partner! Stop, stop, that's enough!" Gell said dismissively with a sigh, completely unsatisfied.
"Uuuwah!" Ronald said, royally annoyed. Why did he have to get dissed when he didn't even want to do it in the first place! He let it go. "Haah. Anyway, we totally don't have the time for this kinda thing." He opened his death list. "Tim Loomis. Born October 8th, 1868. Died April 20th, 1889 due to heart failure. Alan Foster. Born September 21st, 1817. Died April 20th, 1889 due to heart failure. Nick Beaton. Born June 24th, 1872. Died April 20th, 1889, same as above. Helen Ross. Born May 17th, 1835. Same as above. Same as above. As above," he said, flipping through the list. We've still got 1,034 souls… just like this to go! And they ordered us to investigate the moving corpses on top of our usual duties. Slave drivers, all of 'em!" he said with a pout as they walked across the bow.
"Hmph! Don't whine over something like that," Grell chided Ronald, looking over his shoulder at him. His red coat flapped in the night air. The stitches where the rip from when he stabbed Madam Red while she was wearing it were just visible in the light spilling through the open door in front of him. "To us Grim Reapers, reaping is absolute!"
"I'm amazed you can say that when you're just coming off of suspension," Ronald deadpanned. "So carefree..."
"Oh, do be quiet! Let's get this over with already so we can head back," Grell said, waving him off. "I can handle doing overtime when Will's got it in for me, but I've had quite enough of suspension, thank you very much!"
"Both options are the pits if you ask me," Ronald said.
=†=†=†=†=†=
{Second Boiler Room…}
"What was that tremor just now?" Ciel asked above the clamor surrounding them. "Nn?" He heard a rushing sound and turned to see the sea water burst through the hull. "!?" he gasped as he, Lizzie, and Snake stared at the gushing water and panicking engineers with wide eyes.
FWOOSH!
"Uwaaah!" Ciel cried as the water crashed into him and Snake and an engineer.
BLOOSH!
"Kyaah!" Lizzie cried as she was pushed away from them.
RRRING!
"Oh gosh, oh gosh..." Rian said nervously. His engineer friend flinched, startled when he heard the bell.
"This alarm, it means..." he said anxiously.
CLANK.
Gears turned and large metal door began sliding down over the opening to the next room.
"… The water-tight doors're closing!!" Rian's engineer friend shouted in alarm. "Hurry!!" He told Ciel, helping Rian duck under the door. The other engineers and Snake followed. "Else you'll get locked in!!" Ciel looked around for Lizzie and gasped when he saw how far away she was.
"Lizzie!!" he yelled.
"Ciel!" Lizzie cried, making her way towards him as quickly as she could with her dress dragging her down in the water. "Wait…!" But they couldn't wait. There was no way to stop the doors. Rian's engineer friend grabbed Ciel and pulled him under the door with him.
"It's too late, lad!!" he told Ciel as the young earl struggled against him.
"Lizzie!!" Ciel yelled, reaching out for her.
"Ci..." Lizzie said, also reaching out for him.
WHOOM.
The door shut. Ciel gritted his teeth as he waded through the cold water to get to Lizzie. He had ducked back under at the last second to go back for her.
"Ciel, why!?" Lizzie asked anxiously, worried that he would drown along with her.
"I promised I'd protect you without fail, didn't I!?" Ciel reminded her, closing the distance between him. Ciel clutched her hand in his. "Snake! You all go on ahead!"
"I can't possibly leave you here! —says Emily," Snake yelled through the door. Ciel looked around for another escape route. He noticed an air vent that was big enough for them to fit through.
"Don't worry about us. We'll use the duct to escape!" Ciel told him. "Your friends shouldn't be in cold water for too long, isn't that right!? Now go!"
"!" Snake gasped as his eyes widened in realization. He gritted his teeth and threw one of his snakes high into the air so it could wrap itself around the duct. "Smile! Keats will guide you through the duct! So let's meet later! —says Emily."
"Yes! Later! For sure!" Ciel yelled back, leading Lizzie up the stairs to the vent's level. "Quickly!" he told her. Ciel climbed the pipes on the wall to access the vent. He popped it off, opening the duct. "Lizzie!"
"Yes!" she said.
"First take those clothes off!" he said urgently.
"N-No!" Lizzie said, shaking her head.
"Don't be selfish!" Ciel told her. "You'll never get through here with that skirt o—"
"Absolutely not!" Lizzie yelled. Tears were in her eyes. "I want to stay cute in front of you until the very end, Ciel!!" Ciel glared at her. He climbed back down and made Lizzie turn around.
"!?" Lizzie gasped. He ripped the back of her dress open. "Ciel!?" she cried, alarmed. "What are you doing!? No—"
"If you die here, you'll never be able to wear your favorite clothes again!!" Ciel yelled at her sternly, getting angry. Lizzie flinched. "If you die, that really will be the end! The end of everything!!"
"…!" Lizzie gasped. She started crying. "I'm… sorry… hicc! Hngh!"
"I'll have Nina make you a new dress," Ciel promised, putting his jacket over her. "One that's even lovelier than what you're wearing today. So please..."
"No, Ciel," Lizzie said, calming down. "I'm sorry for being selfish."
"I'm sorry I was so rough with you," Ciel apologized. "Now let's hur—koff! Hrrk!"
"Ciel!?" Lizzie asked, concerned.
"Ahem! It's nothing," he replied, clearing his throat. "I just choked on some water. Now hurry up and start climbing!"
"..." Lizzie looked back at him as she started climbing, concerned.
=†=†=†=†=†=
{Third-Class Deck…}
Sebastian's wet hand hit the deck with a splat. He pulled himself up, gripping the railing as he climbed up. He paused for a moment, leaning on the top railing. He was dripping wet, and his shirt was clinging to his skin.
"Phew..." Sebastian said.
"How was it?" Chêne asked as he climbed over the railing, holding his coat and vest for him. Sebastian noticed that Lacey had sawed off three more zombie heads while they were waiting.
"I only took a glance but the cracks in the hull are extensive," Sebastian replied, taking his vest back as they moved back to the wheelhouse. "That means three… no… four compartments must be wholly flooded." He unrolled a diagram of the ship. "The volume of water that a ship can take on is equivalent to the mass of the vessel."
"In which case…?" Chêne asked as he destroyed the head of another zombie that wandered in with a back-handed punch.
"Oh dear. What have we here…?" Sebastian said.
=†=†=†=†=†=
{First-Class Suite...}
VREEE!
SPLAT!
"Ugh! There's just no end to them!" Grell complained, cutting down yet another zombie.
"How 'bout we stop doing this now?" Ronald suggested.
"Well… True enough. There's no point in battling these things one by one," Grell said.
"That's what I'm sayiiing!" Ronald said. " 'Cos this ship… is going to sink..."
=†=†=†=†=†=
"… In less than an hour," Sebastian concluded. Chêne stared at him with wide eyes. She turned to Lacey.
"Did you know about this!?" she asked, pointing at her book of death.
"I may have…" Lacey replied.
"Are you saying I did all that for nothing?" Sebastian asked, running a hand through his wet hair. "Could you not have said something sooner?"
"I could, but why deny Chêne the sight of you all soaked and sexy?" Lacey retorted, making Chêne blush. Sebastian smirked a little at that.
"The water temperature is roughly two degrees centigrade," Sebastian said, getting back on topic. He finished buttoning up his vest. "Being in the water overlong will affect our master's health." He tied his tie and pulled on his gloves. Chêne handed him his jacket. "We must go and collect him at once." He pulled on his jacket as they left the wheelhouse.
