Ciel nearly held his breath as he slowly walked through the mansion as though it were filled with a toxic smog. The air inside was heavy enough for that to be the case. The bluenette could feel the unbearable sense of being trapped while in this wretched place. A foul smell seeped from the wallpaper, making the mansion smell like sickness and death. Ciel knew evil and knew it well. That was this place. Trancy manor. It was the home of one of the greatest foes he and his spouse had ever faced, if not from the scars he had inflicted on the former Macken in his past.

Quickly, the Watchdog needed to find a way out, lest he run out of air. The halls of the mansion were big and imposing. Even the furniture looked larger than it should be. It was as though the bluenette was looking at it through the eyes of a—no, he didn't want to complete that thought, so he shook it away. As long as the Phantomhive didn't think about how vile this place was, he could focus on finding the next door.

Rounding the corner, Ciel felt his foot start to slip on the hard floor, and made an attempt to steady himself, placing another foot in front of himself. That foot did the same, only he wasn't slipping. His whole body was being quickly propelled forward. It was so fast, that his feet left the ground all together! His toes skidded along the floor and he let out a sound of surprise as a supernatural force took its hold. Gritting his teeth, he braced for impact, putting his hands out in front of him as a barrier between himself and the wall opposite of where he started. His hips hit the small table at the end of the hall, knocking over the vase on top of it with a loud crash, causing him to wince.

His forearms stung for a moment, and so did his pelvic bone, but the pain soon faded. Ciel was more interested in turning around to find out what in blazes had just happened! His eye scanned the hallway, looking for anything out of the ordinary, only to find nothing. It was completely empty! It would appear that gravity just stopped working properly for a moment. This wasn't at all an outrageous thought, after what he had seen thus far.

Righting himself properly, the Watchdog decided to test this theory. Cautiously, he stepped forward again, preparing to catch himself once he was hurled backwards. The only problem was that this moment never came, as he was instead propelled forward once again. The violent force lifted him from the ground, but unfortunately, he couldn't get his hands out in front of him in time, so he turned, and hit the wall with his shoulder hard enough to leave a mark on both.

Grunting, he grasped at the injury and hissed in pain as it began to heal. The man took a moment to stretch the muscle again before returning his attention back to the hallway. There was something here. Ciel could not move on until he found out once.

Again, he moved forward, this time knowing that he was going to move in the direction he was facing and caught himself correctly. He could have explored the rest of the manor from here, but this was too interesting. What could possibly be here?

As he turned around, he glanced down the connecting hallway, only to jump. The smiling man was standing right there, staring at the Watchdog with a bored look in his eyes. Ciel tensed up and prepared for combat, only to recall the last time they met.

"Just what are you up to?" questioned the Watchdog. "Why did you help me?"

Looking closer, the attire of the smiling man was completely spotless. He didn't have the appearance of someone who had just fought toe to toe with the world's deadliest butler. The smiling man simply sighed though his nose and leaned on his umbrella. He pointed to his mouth before making a gesture with his hand like a mouth talking. Then he offered a shrug while shaking his head. Ciel watched him for a moment, blinking as he tried to understand.

"Oh, you can't speak…" he said, causing the other to nod. The man's eyes were smiling a bit now, matching his mouth a bit better. He seemed glad that the Watchdog was able to make this connection. Ciel, however, placed his hands on his hips and tilted his head.

"Yes or no questions are my best bet, hmm?" he asked aloud, rubbing his chin. "If only I knew sign language… Alright, so aren't with the creature that tried to force me into another door. He tried to stab me when I didn't, so I assume that he was a threat. Were you trying to help me?"

The other nodded at his question, prompting the Watchdog to ask: "But are you a threat? That's a more important question. Then again, if you were a threat, I doubt you'd tell me that." Shrugging, the smiling man nodded again.

"So there's no way for me to determine if I should kill you on the spot." Ciel sighed. "If you aren't a threat, maybe you can help me. You've led me on a semi-safe path thus far, after all. My problem is: this hallway is rather strange. You saw what it did. Every time I try to walk through it, I am propelled to the other end, completely bypassing it. Why?"

Silently, the smiling man peeked around the corner, inspecting the hallway. Then, there was an odd change. The excited look in his eyes died and was replaced with one that was more solemn—disgusted, even. Straightening his back, the smiling man faced his counterpart while rubbing his chin with a gloved finger. His eyebrows were knitted together as he thought; most likely about how to explain something.

"Sorry, I forgot." Ciel interrupted. "Yes or no ques—"

Suddenly, the Watchdog was cut off by his counterpart holding up a finger to his face. After a long pause, the man raised his eyebrows like he was onto something. His actions were strange as he let go of his weapon, carefully propping the umbrella up against the wall that it wouldn't fall over. He then held up his hands before putting them on his head.

He was running his fingers through his hair, to be more accurate. He shifted it one way, and then another, effectively styling it. He isolated strands and carefully placed them before taking his hands away. Ciel recognised the style, but needed another hint. The smiling man pointed down at the Phantomhive's left hand before raising his own. Then with his right, he pointed to the ring finger. It was then that the Watchdog pieced it together.

"Jim?" he asked, realizing that his counterpart was imitating his spouse's style. It looked ridiculous on him, but that was not his biggest concern at the moment, as the smiling man nodded. "Jim is involved? Is his memory affecting the hallway?"

His counterpart continued to nod before raising his arm. The man's eyes were dead-set on a certain door as he pointed. Following his gaze, the Phantomhive became only more confused.

"That room? What is it with that room?" questioned Ciel before turning to see that his counterpart now had his thumb pointed downward, facing the floor. It was a negative gesture. That door was bad.

"Jim has a bad memory in this hallway…" the Phantomhive pondered aloud. "And it has to do with… that… room…"

With that thought, all of the colour drained from Ciel's face as it occurred to him what lied beyond that door. Instinctively, his hand raised to cup his agape mouth as horror was written across his visage. He wanted to vomit. He could taste sickness on his tongue as his blood ran cold. His mind buzzed as he processed it all.

"O-oh god…" he shuddered, his gaze falling to the ground.

This was the mansion before Jim assumed the role as family head. This was when that beast poorly masquerading as a human was mortal. Araneus Trancy. That monster. Disgusting. Repugnant. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile. Vile.

VILE.

What had been done here was unforgivable, and it was the place that Alois did not want his husband to see above all others. Regardless, Ciel still loved Alois like nothing else in this world, and the thought of this sparked such sorrow in the Watchdog's heart that it was too much for him to bear. That horror and despair, however, quickly turned to anger and hatred. The Phantomhive wanted to destroy every inch of this place and erase it completely from this earth.

With a roar, the Phantomhive swung his arm backwards, striking the wall behind him and creating a large hole and knocking over his counterpart's umbrella. The Smiling man simply looked on as the Watchdog snarled with his eye dead-set on that door. He simply let the man fume for a few moments as he picked up his umbrella. Then, he tapped the man on the shoulder, prompting his attention.

"What?" Ciel snapped, watching as the smiling man pointed down the connecting hallway. "We need to go that way?" questioned the Watchdog, earning a nod.

Now was not the time to be angry about the past, although the Phantomhive would love nothing more than to rampage. The man on whose behalf he was angry was looking for him. Reuniting with Jim took the priority. Thus, Ciel was able to take in a deep breath and sigh in an attempt to calm himself.

"Fine." He said. "Take me to Jim."

His counterpart offered a playful salute before turning and walking down the hallway, keeping his pace slow for the Watchdog to follow. When Ciel caught up, his pace quickened. Both of them swiftly made their way down the corridor, even though the Watchdog was skeptical in collaborating with his counterpart. In his experience, fakes were never good, but this one didn't even pretend to be like the original. In fact, the smiling man seemed to have his own consciousness, while it did seem to stem from Ciel somewhat. How else could he had known about Jim? In addition, he knew about Ciel's time during the war, as the music in the bathroom indicated. He defied what appeared to be one of this world's authorities, and he aided the Phantomhive. The smiling man was not clearly an ally, but he was not entirely an "enemy" yet.

Silently, the smiling man led him through hallways. Ciel couldn't wrap his head around how fast the man was able to maneuver everything. All at once, however, he stopped, holding out his arm to the side in order to stop the other from moving past. Blinking, the Watchdog looked to his counterpart confusedly. They stood at the end of the hallway, facing a large room with stairs on the wall opposite to them, just a tad to the left. Stepping forward, the smiling man crouched down and examined the floor. Black and white tiles covered the expanse of the ground, but they seemed to give the man a bad feeling.

"Is it a puzzle?" Ciel questioned, causing the other to look back at him from over his shoulder. With a shrug, the smiling man seemed to answer "maybe."

Taking out his umbrella, he tapped a black tile. Then, when nothing happened, he tapped the white one next to it. Lo and behold, the large tile vanished, revealing a deep pit.

"Step on the black ones, then." The Watchdog said, as his counterpart stood upright again. "Easy."

Too soon. Way too soon. As the Phantomhive said this, the tiles began to change. Some tiles began to switch colour in some spots, and in others, they remained static one moment, and changed the next. The smiling man's grin remained, while his eyes looked to the Watchdog impatiently.

"I didn't know, okay?" Ciel answered defensively. Looking back to the room, he continued. "Surely there's a pattern. We just need to figure it out. Unless you can use that umbrella of yours and Mary Poppins us to the other side."

Rolling his eyes, the smiling man jumped, landing on a black tile. He then waited a moment before stepping to the next. He was making good time and the Watchdog needed to catch up. Now Ciel had wished he paid more attention to the Macken brother's videogames.

After much hesitance, the Phantomhive jumped, landing on a black tile, and continued to jump again and again without thinking. A title gave way as he was jumping, but he was able to save himself. It only made him increase his pace. His heart was beating rapidly as he was nearly panicking. He didn't know how exactly the puzzle worked, and was going based on dumb luck. Eventually, he was able to catch up to his counterpart a bit more, increasing his confidence, but then a tile he had jumped toward had turned white before he landed. Once he did, it vanished, and the changing halted. All tiles that were black stayed black, and all tiles that were white disappeared.

The smiling man looked back to the Watchdog, only to see him fall into the pit. Eyes widening, he leapt into action and dived in after him. In that moment, however, the tiles returned in a solid black pattern, blocking him. As the Watchdog continued to fall beneath him, the smiling man heard a laugh echo throughout the room, causing him to furrow his brow.

Ciel fell and fell and fell, plunging into pitch blackness once again. This time, there didn't seem to be a bottom. Holding his breath, he must have closed his eyes despite not remembering it, because with that, he woke up.