A/N: Author's note in beginning...yay. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that Italics are a person's thoughts. Also, there is a manga spoiler in here somewhere. I will not put a notice thingy there cause...really. Who hasn't read the manga?

THE CASE l

Alex would admit, he did not think this through. Sure, his moral compass was pretty decent but he could admit a small part of him wished he had chosen the killer than the drug dealer. Lau was not kidding about the dress. Well, to be fair, it wasn't a dress but a shirt and skirt. The shirt was loose-fitting and hid his clearly unfeminine body, had a high neck with sleeves that fanned out towards the end and reached his elbows while the skirt went straight down to his ankles. The whole thing was covered in intricate patterns and a shit ton of flowers. Lau also decided that he needed some make-up and jewellery. So now his face felt oddly heavy and he got a matching set of jade earrings and necklace. Alex wouldn't lie though, Lau knew how to do make-up.

However, looking at himself in the mirror, Alex couldn't help but feel a strange pang of nostalgia. For a second, he missed the clothing that June would stuff him into. She really did make nice clothing that always looked frustratingly good on him. He even missed Caz's laughter at his miserable state. Damn it, he even missed the pervert.

Actually, Alex was supposed to be heading over to the pervert's house on his way from the grocery store before the floor decided to swallow him whole. Was he worried? That guy was always trying to get Alex out of the house for one reason or another. What that damn bastard refused to understand that staring at a screen 24/7 was the life for him and not socializing with...people.

"Wonder what he's doing?" Alex murmured as he played with the hem of his shirt.

"Who is?"

Alex screeched at the face popping up to his right. He jerked away from the person and ended up crashing to the floor in a pitiful heap. Once his heart relaxed itself, he could hear the poorly stifled laughter of his now-boss Lau. Had the man opened his eyes, Alex would no doubt see them filled with some sort of sadistic glee from his prank. The bastard.

Lau just continued to stare smugly down at him as Alex got up from the floor and dusted off any dirt that may have gotten on his new clothes. As much as he complained about the outfit, his old clothes were beginning to smell from sleeping on the ground last night. He was grateful for a chance for new clothes even though he was too nervous to ask for a bath since his skin felt grimy. Did servants in this time period even bathe regularly?

"My, you look absolutely perfect," Lau exclaimed."I must show you off to the earl!"

Alex was about to protest but Lau had begun to push him outside the room Ciel allowed them to use and down the stairs to the living room. An embarrassing squeal left his mouth as he was finally revealed to everyone. Madam Red smiled and complemented Lau on his choice of clothing.

'Okay...but where's my compliment?' Alex thought. He was really the one doing the work in making the clothes look good.

Ciel looked at him for a second before turning his head and giving an amused huff.

'If you're going to laugh at me, hide it better!'

Alex couldn't wait until Ciel was the one stuffed in a dress. He knew Lau would go to that party with the earl so that meant there would be a chance for Alex to go as well. When no one was looking, he'd be the one laughing at Ciel. With that comforting thought, Alex stood tall and attempted to radiate confidence despite wanting nothing more than to curl up in a bed and sleep until he woke up from this nightmare.

"I feel as if something is amiss in this appearance." Madam Red said, tilting her head and squinting her eyes as if the issue would somehow appear if she did so.

"You mean despite the fact he is dressed in women's apparel?" Ciel asked sarcastically.

"Hold on a moment. Did anyone ask the young man's name?" Lau questioned, grasping his chin and tilting his head.

"He's your servant now." Ciel grumbled before Sebastian could say his name. "Ask him yourself."

"M-my name is Alex." He stuttered out.

Lau clapped his hands happily, "Alex! What a wonderful name."

Alex leaned away as Madam Red began to come closer into his personal space. She circled him a couple times, mumbling words here and there but nothing Alex could interpret. He didn't think there was much else they could add.

"A wig!" Madam Red exclaimed.

...

Fu-!

Alex was definitely regretting many of his life choices at this point. Maybe the wig would be useful to him. At least hanging himself would always be an option. The worst of it probably was the fact that he looked amazing in the wig that Madam Red picked out. It really wasn't fair.

"We have arrived."

Alex snapped his attention back to the matter at hand. It seemed his dream was following the exact plot, whether from the manga or anime, he couldn't say. Currently, they were still investigating the Ripper case so they were going to pay the Undertaker a visit. It was a little nerve wracking not riding inside the carriage but behind it. Sebastian, being the lucky bastard he was, got to sit inside while Grell and him were forced to control the horses--who were up front--from the back of the carriage. Lau was such a dick.

As they all got off, Madam Red and Lau looked equal parts interested and disturbed at the crumbling, spider filled, low-key haunted building.

As much as he loved the Undertaker, Alex was allergic to dead people.

"Why are you familiar with such a place!?" Madam Red yelled at her nephew. Sebastian tried to calm the raging women as they entered the establishment.

Ciel continued to look stoically ahead but a look of dread appeared on his face when the raspy voice of the Undertaker welcomed him from inside one of his coffins. Alex guessed even Ciel had trouble dealing with the Undertaker.

"Do you want to see how it feels to sleep in my custom-made coffin?" Undertaker asked, his ear to ear grin in place.

Ciel sighed, "I'm not here to play-" Undertaker held a finger up to the boy's lip to silence him and giggled gleefully.

Alex couldn't believe he just now noticed that the Undertaker had long enough nails to be an acrylics model.

"I know why you came." Undertaker said, his smile getting even wider."I can read your mind with just a look! Since the earl went out of his way to visit me, I'll help in any way I can."

Ciel narrowed his eyes. "So you know something?"

The Undertaker giggled and began to weave his way towards a back room. "Please take a seat first, I'll go make some tea!"

Alex looked around, despite knowing all he would find were coffins, and sighed when not a single chair was found. Everyone else seemed to be having the same dilemma but ultimately decided to just sit atop of the coffins. There just was no way in hell he would be sitting on them so he opted to just stand beside Lau. The man teasingly asked if he would like to sit on his lap and, to be honest, he would have taken it--his feet hurt from the new shoes--but he couldn't remember, for the life of him, which coffin was the one that held Ciel's brother. Anime or not, it happened in the manga and he wasn't taking any chances. That shit was all sorts of messed up.

The Undertaker's laughter rang loudly as he entered the room with a tray balanced in one hand, full of beakers filled with tea.

"Uh, d-do y-you need h-help?" Alex managed to stutter out. While the Undertaker was probably fully capable of balancing a couple of beakers, it felt rude not to offer help.

"My! How kind of you! Here, have a cookie." The Undertaker set down his tray, grabbed a jar and offered it to Alex.

Figuring it may take more effort to deny him, Alex took the jar, pulled the lid open and took a bone shaped cookie before handing it back to the Undertaker, muttering a thanks. In return, he was handed a beaker of tea. Cringing a bit at the thought of what this beaker could have previously contained, Alex decided it was probably best to just eat the cookie.

"Now, you wanted to know about Jack the Ripper?" Undertaker asked, taking a bone shaped cookie from his jar and biting into it. "Everyone's been afraid because of the disturbance. However, this isn't the first time I've handled this kind of thing."

"Isn't this the first time?" Madam Red asked, a bit in shock." What do you mean exactly?"

Alex had to admit, Madam Red had good acting skills.

"It's happened before," Undertaker repeated. "A case where prostitutes were killed. In fact, the way they were killed was very similar too. But in the beginning, the police didn't think much of cases even though the murdered prostitutes all had something in common."

'Yeah, they were all chopped up and had their insides taken out.' Alex thought grimly.

"Something In common?" Ciel asked.

"What is it?" Sebastian chimed in.

The Undertaker giggled and tapped his long fingernails against his cookie jar. "Well now," He said joyfully. "I wonder what it is indeed."

"I see, so this is how it'll be." Beside Alex, Lau smiled knowingly and stood up from the coffin. "How much money do you want for your information?" He asked.

"How much money?" The Undertaker yelled, completely shocked that someone would offer money of all things.

He rushed up to Lau and stuck his face way too close for it to be comfortable. "I don't want any of the Queen's money." Undertaker said. "The earl knows I only have one requirement. Give me the gift of true laughter! If you do so, I will tell you anything you want!"

Drooling, the Undertaker collapsed on top of the coffins, waiting for someone to bestow upon him the gift of "true laughter". Ciel looked ready to just walk out the building.

"In that case-" Alex shook his head as Lau began to tell his horrible joke. He looked around the store since he didn't really get a good look when they had entered. A lot of the coffins were actually well-made but the thought that any of them holding a dead body at the moment made goose bumps appear on his skin. There were things in this world that he would rather not see in his lifetime.

"Okay! My turn then, so this woman she * * and then-"

Alex yelped as Madam Red began her very...very...graphic story and moved over to stand next to a taped-shut-mouth Lau, just a little bit traumatized. From the corner of his eye, he could see that Sebastian was covering Ciel's ears from the story his aunt was currently telling. A part of Madam Red's story caught his attention

'Can people even bend that far!?'

An hour later, Madam Red now had her mouth taped shut as well. Which was honestly a blessing. His ears and brain needed bleach. Alex wouldn't be able to recover from this.

"I wanna go home." Alex mumbled.

"Don't worry Alex, I'm sure the earl will figure this out" Lau said.

'When the hell did you take off the tape!?'

Alex couldn't wait to get out of here. Out of this dream really. This whole adventure, demonic, supernatural stuff just wasn't for him. Watching it was cool, living in it really wasn't. Also, Grell's constant worried nosies kept giving him anxiety.

"What about you?" Alex shrieked as the Undertaker shoved his face into his personal space. "Are you Master Lau's new servant? Could you grant me the wish of true laughter?" The Undertaker wheezed at the, no doubt, terrified look he had. It was a little funny to be honest. Alex remembered saying that if he were to ever meet the Undertaker, he'd shower the man with praises and say he was willing to do anything for him.

Clearly, his past self was deranged and needed a couple smacks to the head.

Alex took a deep breath and tried to calm his heart, which felt like it would burst out of his chest at any moment. He wasn't funny, at least not in the "hey good joke" sense but more of the "you're a dumbass" kind. A lot of his jokes were self-deprecating and depressing so it might not do well in this type of crowd.

"Y-you know who w-would probably tell a good joke? The earl's butler!" Sebastian was giving him a look and Alex was just about ready to run out of this store. The butler was going to make a joke anyways. Sebastian couldn't say shit.

"It can't be helped then." Sebastian said. "Everyone please step outside for a moment."

"S-sebastian?"

The butler looked behind him.

"You must absolutely not peek inside…"

Damn it, now he wanted to peek inside.

After the whole Sebastian joke fiasco, the Undertaker began to talk about the missing internal organs from all the "guests" he had. Apparently, he noticed this when he was taking out some of the organs for research--making everyone weary about the beakers they drank from--and noticed the wombs of the prostitutes were missing. They had been cut out with an accuracy only someone experienced could have achieved since one would have to know where to cut in the stomach to take the uterus out without making such a mess with the intestines.

"It is very likely that the murderer is an expert." Undertaker said."He will keep committing crimes unless someone stops him. Can you stop him, Earl of Phantomhive? He wound't murder random people for no reason so there must be someone influencing him from behind."

Ciel stood from his place on a coffin, Sebastian readily putting on his coat as the young earl walked out of the store.

He stopped by the door and turned towards the Undertaker and said with the utmost confidence, "I won't be scared, no matter what tricks the Queen's lackeys want to use, I will solve them all."

'What a dramatic little shit..' Alex thought, despite being in awe of the moment.

"Sorry for intruding, Undertaker." Ciel said before finally existing the establishment.

Lau, Madam Red and Grell were quick to scurry after him. Alex was not too far behind when a hand grabbed at his shoulder. He turned, expecting to find the Undertaker's large grin but instead, found a smirk and--for a second--he caught the glimpse of a glowing green eye under his shaggy bangs.

"You are not what you seem, are you?" He whispered.

A pulse of shock ran through his whole body. Could the Undertaker really…?

Alex swallowed nervously, "Well I-"

"You're no lady! It took me a bit but I knew you were a bloke!" The Undertaker laughed hysterically and hugged his sides as he jerked around. Alex could only stare at the display before silently shuffling out the store and climbing into the back of the carriage in a daze.

"A-are you alright?" Grell asked worriedly.

"Just drive."

Later that evening, everyone decided that tonight would be the night they infiltrated the Viscount's party. After Sebastain made a long ass list about some people that might fit their description, they had narrowed it down--SEBASTIAN narrowed it down--to the Viscount Druitt, Lord Aleister Chamber. Apparently the man actually went into medical school and GRADUATED. With all the partying the man does, he was surprised the Viscount got a certification. Although he never worked in a hospital before so there was that.

Also, the guy was into black magic and even though Alex knew that the Viscount wasn't to blame for these murders, the guy was a scumbag so he wasn't about to correct anybody about him using these women as altar sacrifices. Call his moral compass out of wack, but the guy deserved everything that was coming to him.

Since Madam Red was high in the social hierarchy, all she had to do was say a few things here and there so they could successfully enter the party, which the Viscount had every Season.

"Alright, it's done. Now, we do have one more issue." Madam Red said, the beginnings of a smile growing on her face .

Alex couldn't help but notice how evil it looked though.

"What is it?" Ciel asked.

"It would be a shame if someone recognized you." Madam Red said, dramatically swinging her arms around her nephew. "We would need some sort of disguise so we won't be found out. A dress perhaps…"

"Wait! What? No-STOP! Unhand me-ack!"

Alex laughed quietly as Sebastian and Madam Red dragged Ciel out of the living room. The earl looked ready to scream bloody murder.

"No worries earl! I'll have Alex dress up as well so you won't feel alone" Lau shouted.

...

Fu-!

A/N: So the outfit Alex is wearing is what Ran-Mao wears but an older version of it. Ran-Mao wears a cheongsam (or qipao) that looks like the ones worn around the 1920s-40s, made popular by celebrities since its tight fitting. The one Alex wears is loose and is suppose to hide his body shape which was worn during the Qing Dynasty by the ethnic minority group, the Manchus.

Anyone who knows more on the subject, feel free to correct me.