Morning broke, but Elizabeth hardly noticed, as she never went to sleep. Thank goodness, angels didn't require it. She had spent all night tearing through folder after folder. Since the room she was kept in had no windows, she had no idea that the sun was up until someone came through the door and informed her.
"Lady Elizabeth?" called Seras, holding a stack of neatly-folded clothes as she walked into the room. "I brought a change of clothes for you. They're nothing fancy. Just a standard-issue uniform. I'm sorry, but it's all we've got for now, I'm afraid." The Hellsing woman simply shook her head and smiled.
"No, that's alright." She said. "It's still better than this… whatever-it-is, I'm wearing." Seras returned the smile and set the clothes down on the desk.
"Your meeting is in a few hours..." informed the Draculina. "Oh! Do you want breakfast? We know that demons don't need to eat, but we really don't have any data on angels, so we didn't prepare anything… I'm sorry, that was really rude of us…"
"You're fine. Angels don't need to eat or sleep, either. Thank you for the offer, though!" With that, the vampire offered a salute before turning to make her exit. Once the door was closed, a small sigh escaped Elizabeth's lips.
"I should get ready, then, I suppose…" she said to herself.
She took a bath and then got dressed. It took her longer to put on the uniform than she thought it would. The new uniforms were very practical, but were hardly elegant. Elizabeth couldn't quite decide how it was to go on. She remembered the man who had given her the files, and had realised that the uniform was similar to his. After that, she simply tried to replicate what she remembered of it. Once that was done, she did what she could with her hair, and then simply waited. There was an effort to tidy up the mess she had made, but she soon got distracted again.
How on earth was she going to talk to this woman? Supposedly, the current head was her granddaughter, yet from the sounds of things, she couldn't exactly refer to her informally. They had never met after all. Elizabeth had died decades before Integra was born.
She didn't understand the "Sir" as Integra's title, either. According to Seras, no one really knew why she went by "Sir", but supposedly it was to sound intimidating. How incredibly unladylike! This impression of the head of the household would only solidify, once she was whisked away to Integra's office.
Elizabeth was completely taken aback by Integra's appearance. She wasn't anything that the angel expected—or rather, was everything, but only exaggerated. The woman wore a suit like a man and an eyepatch beneath her spectacles. She smoked a cigar while sitting behind her desk as she waited for Elizabeth's arrival. It was hard for Elizabeth to believe that her son raised such a daughter, despite Arthur's quirks. The rumours were true, however, as a chill ran down the angel's spine as Integra looked up at her. The family head casually put out her cigar on an ashtray on her desk before speaking.
"Have a seat." She instructed. Despite her appearance, Integra's voice was extremely womanly, albeit low in tone. Elizabeth did as instructed and took a seat on a sofa nearby.
"Did you read the files?" questioned Integra, leaning forward in her seat somewhat.
"Yes." The other replied with a nod. "They were quite shocking, I must say. So much has happened, and I missed all of it."
"That isn't your fault." The human stated. "You lived for as long as you could, didn't you? It's ridiculous to ask someone to put off dying."
"I suppose you're right…" Elizabeth said. Seras was right. Integra really was a lot like Ciel. "So, what is it that you wanted to speak with me about?"
"Well, that pertains to what exactly you want to do." Integra said. "You're free to leave, if you like, but if you don't have anywhere to go, you're welcome to stay here. That aside, jurisdiction over the Cerberus case has been handed over to H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G; and your further involvement would be of great assistance."
"I would be happy to help, Sir Hellsing." Elizabeth said. She flinched as she caught the other woman staring intently at her. Had she said something wrong?
"Integra." The head of the household corrected. "You may call me by name. You're of Hellsing blood, after all, aren't you?"
"I guess that's true." Elizabeth answered. "In that case, call me 'Elizabeth'." She figured that "Lizzie" or "Grandmother" would be too much for the woman, but Integra nodded in acknowledgment.
"Though, I am surprised that my legitimacy wasn't questioned." The angel admitted.
"There was no need to do so." Integra stated. "Someone vouched for you."
"Ciel?"
"Yes."
So it was Ciel who made things go so smoothly for her. Thank goodness. She would have to thank him for that. It was also nice to know that the man was looking out for her, somewhat, just like he used to. It seemed to make the possibility of seeing him again more likely.
"He should be arriving in a little bit, actually." Continued Integra. "I you'd like, you can meet with him then."
"O-oh, no! I mean, I don't really know if he wants to see me…" Elizabeth trailed off. She looked down at her hands as they sat in her lap, trying to think of something to say. She didn't have to, as the other woman spoke for her.
"I wouldn't be so certain." The family head stated. "From my knowledge, I do believe that he would like to apologise to you."
"Really?" asked the other. "For what?"
"I wouldn't know. You would have to ask—" suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
"…Him." Concluded Integra. With that, she raised her voice so that she could be heard on the other side of the door. "Come in."
Elizabeth's eyes widened as a man dressed in black cautiously stepped from behind it. He had sensed the girl's presence and had to prepare himself mentally for showing his face, but it still wasn't enough. Almost bashfully, he tried to overlook the angel's presence in favour of focusing on Sir Hellsing.
"You wanted to speak to me, Integra?" he asked, straightening himself and speaking in his usual, dignified manner. On the surface, it seemed as though the man hadn't changed a single bit.
"I'm taking jurisdiction over the Cerberus case." The woman stated. "I would like your full cooperation, and if possible, a report on what you already know sent to our intelligence division as soon as possible."
"That's what I thought you were going to say." Ciel replied. "Very well, then, I'll get on that."
"In the meantime, I would assume that you would like to catch up with Elizabeth?" questioned Integra. "It isn't polite to blatantly ignore a lady, you know."
"I wasn't ignoring her." The Phantomhive indignantly huffed, trying to cover his tracks. A blush formed on his face at being called out on the matter. "I was simply focused on business!"
"Right." Spoke Sir Hellsing with all skepticism, standing up and placing her cigar case in her pocket. Casually, she began making her way toward the door. "I'll be leaving you two to it, then. You're free to leave the mansion, but please inform me before doing so."
"Wait, Integra—" called the bluenette, but it was too late. The door had been shut and he was all alone with his cousin. Hesitantly, he looked behind him facing the woman before averting his eye again.
"E-Elizabeth." He forced out as greeting. Ciel had no time to react at all before a pair of arms were around his neck and he was being tightly squeezed.
"Ciel…" the angel began. "It's so good to see you again." She pulled back and cupped the man's cheeks, trying to get a better look at his face.
"You've grown up so much!" she pointed out. "You're even taller than me, now! I didn't know it was possible."
"Shape-shifting…" the bluenette sheepishly answered. "I'm sorry… I'm still not very good with people."
"That's perfectly alright." The woman said, releasing him and taking a step back. "I didn't really expect much. I'm just glad to see you alive again…"
With that, a pang of guilt shot through the bluenette's core. He remembered his objective for when he spoke to the woman, but wasn't quite sure how to bring it up. Unfortunately, he wasn't especially skilled at this sort of thing. Alois was, but he wasn't. So, Ciel opted to try and take the menace's approach, and simply dive right back in.
"I'm glad to see you too, Elizabeth." He said with a smile.
"Lizzie." The angel corrected.
"Huh?"
"I've told you time and time again to call me 'Lizzie'." The woman said, crossing her arms. She watched the dumbfounded look on her cousin's face with much amusement as he tried to think of something to say. She arched an eyebrow as his expression changed and he started laughing. Now it was Elizabeth's turn to be dumbfounded as Ciel began genuinely, heartily laughing.
The woman hadn't seen him laugh like that since they were children. This, by far, was the most surprising thing that she had witnessed thus far. Ciel laughed so hard that he clutched at his stomach, finally forcing her to ask:
"What's so funny?" It actually took Ciel a few tries to calm down enough to answer coherently.
"Y-you!" he said between chuckles. "All this time, I was so afraid of talking to you, and here you come out telling me to call you 'Lizzie'!"
The woman couldn't help but smile at this and let out a few giggles herself. "You're right. That is pretty silly, isn't it?"
Moments passed and their laughter died down. They were finally able to have a conversation again, while neither of them knew about what. No, that wasn't true. They both knew perfectly well what they wanted to talk about.
"It's good to see you laugh again." Elizabeth finally said. Her smile was still prominent on her face against her will as she grinned uncontrollably. "I haven't seen you laugh like that since we were little."
"A lot has changed." Ciel replied, wearing a smile, himself. "Things have been going very well. I got your letter, by the way. I'm glad to see that you've been doing well, too."
"Letter…" the woman mouthed. "Oh! That! I didn't know I would be coming back to tell you myself, so I thought I would leave you with that. It's a little embarrassing."
"No, I'm glad you wrote it." Stated the Phantomhive. "I feel like I needed that, so… thank you."
"You're welcome." Elizabeth answered, taking a seat on one of the sofas. "So, you know what all I've been up to." She began. "What about you? From what I've heard, you've been very busy."
"Depends on what you've heard." Ciel took a seat on the sofa across from her so that they could continue their chat.
"Well, I hear that you fought Nazis, solve murders, carry out assassins… You're a regular James Bond, aren't you?"
"Not especially. I just do my job."
"I also here that you've made a few friends and secured a little make-shift family, too." The Hellsing woman said, crossing her arms with a grin. She watched as her cousin's face went a little red at the statement.
"I have." He said bluntly. "My assistant and his brothers now live with us. Things have been very lively around the manor, lately."
"Yeah… I'm sorry I beheaded your butler, by the way…"
"Well, he isn't dead, and knowing him, he won't be out for long." The bluenette replied. "The problem is that he's out only staff member. We'll probably be eating out until he regenerates."
"Oh? But don't demons not have to eat?"
"No. It's the younger ones that have to. Luka hasn't become a 'full-fledged' demon yet, and Revy isn't a demon at all."
"I'm sorry…" the woman said again. "I didn't know…"
"We'll manage." The Phantomhive then looked at his watch. "Oh! I have to be going soon. I'm meeting the others for lunch…"
"That's alright. We can talk later." Elizabeth said. "Maybe I'll be able to meet them, someday." Ciel paused for a moment as he stood up again, lost in thought. It wasn't long before he turned to the woman again.
"You could come with me, if you'd like." He said. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind."
"A-are you certain?" the Hellsing woman asked. Thoughts circled through her mind of meeting the bluenette's lover and having to sit with them.
"I'm pretty certain. It was Jim—my assistant, who insisted that I talk to you and not run away."
This "Jim" fellow seemed friendly enough from what she had heard of him, but she wasn't entirely certain on how he would react to meeting Ciel's former-fiancée. After all, Elizabeth knew that she would be having mixed feelings if she were in his situation. Yet even still, she was very curious on what Ciel's "family" was like. She had made it an objective, after all.
"If it's not too much trouble." She said, finally. To that, the bluenette pulled out his cell phone.
"Not at all." He said. "I'll tell Integra that I'm taking you out."
