The plan was set. Ciel and Alois had a fool-proof plan where they would trap David Belmont in one of the FUNTOM buildings and killing him on sight. As soon as he was in range, the duo would fill him and his loyal underlings full of holes and that would be the end of it. No more Belmont Organisation. HELLING even agreed to reimburse Ciel for any and all damages inflicted on his property. They had the building picked out and cleared for the date they would invite their target to come. Everything was perfect. That is until, however, a hole was revealed in their plan with a single phone call.
Audrey called the duo when he saw the posters for Martyr in the window of the restaurant he and Miranda were eating at upon leaving. He thought that Skullface might see them and want to know who put them up, which would in turn cause the Warwick trio to be in danger.
It seemed trivial. There was no way he could want them, right? There was nothing he could use them for! What would be the point in pursuing Revy, Samantha, and Geraldine? Well, to answer that, one would have to ask oneself "what does David Belmont want most right now?" The answer is "Constance". In other words: "The girl on the poster." Surely, one can assume that these are close friends of hers, if they would go through the trouble of hanging up signs. The reality was that they were just nosy and had a taste for adventure. They really did want to find the girl for her well-being, of course, and David could use that. If her dear friends were so dedicated that they would put up posters, then surely, it could be assumed that Constance cared about them as well, right? Surely, she wouldn't want anything to happen to them, either.
Draw her out of hiding by using her dear little friends as bait. It was an obvious solution that Skullface was undoubtedly willing to resort to. What's worse: all three of them had connections to the Phantomhive family that could be traced. One would take looking at a family tree, another would take a quick glance in a yearbook, and the last one was right in his paperwork. His address was the same that Skullface had his personal private investigator find for him. The name "Phantomhive" was right in Revy's paperwork. With that, David Belmont had not only what he thought would be a way to draw out Constance, but also some very significant leverage on the Phantomhive family. Surely, they would pay quite a bit of ransom for three teenagers, right?
Right. There's no way in hell that they were going to let any of them stay in Skullface's clutches. They would even pay the ransom, if it came to that, but more likely than that, blood would be spilled. A lot of it. It was especially certain that the blonde Phantomhive would paint the whole building red while taking out Belmont's flunkies, if he had to. They had already lost too much family to lose any more. It wasn't happening.
"Revy!" Alois called, bursting into the lad's room before he went to school and desperately, the revenant tried to cover himself up.
"What the fuck?! Would it kill you to fucking knock?!" his brother replied.
"No, but it might kill you or your friends. You, Geraldine, and Samantha put up fliers yesterday, right?" the menace demanded. His speech was fast and his eyes were wide as tried to convey this.
"Yeah?"
"Where did you put them up?"
"I don't know?" Revy answered with a look of complete and utter confusion on his face. It wasn't like Alois to burst into his room. It wasn't like him to seem so frantic, either.
"You know that big bad guy that Ciel and I have been chasing for the past month?" the menace led with a question.
"Yeah? Why?"
"That girl on those fliers is the same person that he's looking for." Folding his arms, Alois sighed and took a seat on the bed. "She's safe where she is now. She got away from him, so he's trying to get her back."
"So what if he sees the posters? It's not like it's gonna bring him closer to her." Revy replied, but his older brother shook his head.
"It's not her I'm worried about. It's you." Alois stated, catching the other Macken off guard. All Revy could do was blink in response, allowing the other to continue. "He can ask who put up those fliers, since you went into stores to put them up. He can make them describe you. All they have to do is tell him what school you come from and he can go down there and demand the students that match your description."
"Why would they care?"
"I dunno. Maybe they'll think you're friends with the girl they're looking for and think you can help them draw her out. Maybe they'll try to use you to draw money out of us again." the blonde answered. "Point is: I need to know where you put those posters so we can take them down. Also: You're not going to school until this blows over."
"What about Sam and Gerry?" Revy questioned.
"They're not going, either."
"Sam's not gonna like that." the boy stated. "She's the top of the class and won't like missing."
"She'll call in sick. They'll send her assignments to her." Pausing, Alois shook his head upon realising another hole in that plan. "No! That won't work, either… The school has everyone's address, so Belmont could waltz right up to their front door… Fuck!"
He rubbed his chin and paced around while thinking, all the while Revy put his shirt on. He didn't know if he was or wasn't going to school that day and was also just not keen on walking around half naked. All he could really do was watch as his brother tried to walk himself through a mental plan right there in his room. With a sigh, Alois looked to him and asked:
"How do you feel about the idea of having a sleepover?"
Revy raised his brow, but that wasn't the strangest thing to happen that day. Ciel Phantomhive was in the middle of informing both Sir Midford and Daniel of the situation. Sir Midford understood immediately and suggested that he try and ask Integra if his family could stay at her estate. Meanwhile, Daniel proceeded to go into a near panic as he tried to wrap his head around everything.
"Daniel- Daniel! Calm down, everything is going to be alright." the bluenette stated as he held the phone to his ear. "You and your sister will be fine."
"What do you mean, 'fine'?!" Demanded the Westley. "You just told me that there's a chance some- some sociopathic murderer could come to my door and try to take Sam away!"
"We're going to find you somewhere safe to stay, alright?" informed Ciel. "You can even stay here, if you like."
On the other end of the line, he heard a deep, but shaky breath being taken. "Alright." Daniel said. "I would feel so much better if Sam and I could stay at your place."
"That can be arranged. Pack everything you need and head over here. I'll inform everyone on your arrival."
"Thanks again… But, uh… Ciel?"
"Yes?"
"Can you make sure you don't say anything in front of Sam that'll make her feel like this is her fault?" the Westley requested. "It was her idea to put up fliers, I know, but… She had good intentions, y'know? There's no way she could have known how big this is. She's not with HELLSING and, well, she's still just a kid..."
"I'll try to make sure that is taken into consideration." The Phantomhive spoke in a way that sounded very professional, rather than friendly, yet, Daniel understood that was just the way Ciel talks. He was also sure that he would do his best to follow through on that request. The Watchdog might seem cold at times, but he too had good intentions. "Everything should be ready by the time you arrive, but you should be quick. And if anyone seems to be following you, even if it's a police car, don't stop until you get here, alright?"
"Got it. We'll hurry."
"I'll let you go, then. I'll see you when you get here."
"Thanks, and bye."
Hanging up the phone, Ciel stood up from his desk and went off in search of the butler. In doing so, he accidentally ran into his husband while rounding the corner. It would seem that sixth sense only works when they are consciously aware of it, and not when they're strolling through their own home, not expecting anything to happen.
"I'm glad I caught you, actually." Alois began. "How do you feel about the others and their families staying here for the time being?"
"I just told Daniel he could." the bluenette replied. "I was going to go tell Sebastian. The Midfords are going to stay with Integra."
"Oh. Okay. You're going to have to tell him that we only need two rooms, then. He's in the guest room with the green wallpaper."
"Right. Thank you, darling." Ciel answered, giving his spouse a small peck on the cheek. "I'll go tell him. We'll talk more about the plan after we get everyone settled in."
Before he could move past the menace, Alois hooked an arm across his abdomen and hooked him into a hug. The blonde hummed as his husband humoured him and returned the favour. "It was a nice break while it lasted." Sighing, he added: "We should have had that picnic, first."
"I know, dear. Once this is over, we should do something together. Perhaps it's a bit cold for a picnic, but we'll think of something."
"Like roller skating?" Alois maintained a serious expression for as long as he could, watching as Ciel tried to formulate a way out of it. Before long, the menace could contain his laughter no longer and giggled at his husband's suffering. "I'm kidding. There's like, fifty museums around here, most of which we haven't seen. Kris says there's a few comedy clubs, too. How's that?"
"Sounds good. I'll look into it." smiled the Watchdog. With that, he pecked his husband's lips before parting ways. Before he disappeared down the hall, however, he was stopped one last time.
"And honey," the blonde began, catching the other's attention, "try not to have too much fun during a time of crisis, please?"
With a shrug, his beau answered: "It's just the way I am, I'm afraid."
As he turned to walk away again, Alois rolled his eyes. "Maybe sky diving is a better idea for mister adrenaline junkie, hm?"
A/N: It took me an HOUR to get this piece of shit to upload. FF is STILL giving me problems and I don't know how to fix it.
Anyway, uh, here's a quick chapter. It's not as long as the other ones, but hey, it's over a thousand words. It shouldn't be that bad.
Also, thank you to Blonde Sunflower Lover, by the way. Your review really cheered me up. I've been kind of down, lately.
I'll start working on the next chapter right after this, though. Hopefully, it FUCKING UPLOADS this time ~! :)
Also also, I'm sorry I've been kind of cranky, lately. I know it's not exactly fun to hear about, but I'm just not feeling too great...
Until the next chapter, my duckies~!
