**Author's Note:: Hiiii! Thank you all sooo much for reading this far! I'm getting a lot of positive feedback so here's a chapter that's a bit longer than the rest! :-)
Please review and let me know what you think! I'm liking how this story's coming together in my mind, so I'm excited! Thanks for sticking with me!
((And sadly, no... Slender man will not be making an appearance that I'm aware of just yet... But you could always keep your eyes open! You never know! ;) ...))
disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any characters besides my own OCs! **
...
It was becoming quite clear to Haven that Undertaker was hiding secrets of his own in the dark recesses of his mind.
She had set out to find out what they were, but she wasn't certain how to go about doing that.
On top of her growing curiosity, Haven was also having strange flashes of what she assumed were memories, although she couldn't make sense of any of them.
The next day, Haven decided that she was going to find out what exactly was in the back room that Undertaker didn't want her to see.
It was late morning, and the sun was filtering into the front room from the streaky windows, and Haven walked out from the washroom where she had just finished readying herself for the day.
Somehow, Undertaker had plenty of clothing for her, and she wondered where he had got them. She hadn't seen him purchase the clothes, and he definitely didn't have a wife or daughter anywhere that she had seen.
Pushing her growing desire to understand aside, she walked into the front room and watched some children run down the streets outside the windows.
She leaned against the wooden frame and felt something curious tug at the back of her mind at the sight.
Haven hadn't seen Undertaker since she had woken up that morning, and she decided that maybe now would be a good time to sneak around the building a bit.
Maybe then she'd get some answers to her plentiful questions.
Haven turned around and faced the door to the back room that Undertaker worked in sometimes. She wasn't allowed to see inside, she knew that much, but her curiosity was much stronger than her fear of getting caught.
So she approached the door, nervousness building inside her stomach, and reached a hand out to turn the doorknob.
Haven rotated the knob and slowly opened the door, cringing as the rusty hinges creaked loudly along the way.
With a quick pause, she glanced around, but if Undertaker had heard, then he didn't come running out from wherever he'd hidden himself.
Haven sighed in relief and pushed the door completely open and stared into the darkness for a moment.
Her eyes started to adjust and she saw a lamp sitting on a table just to the right inside of the room.
She walked over and clicked the small lamp on, a weak light filtrating across the space, bringing shadows onto every surface.
The room was extremely cold, and Haven felt goosebumps rise up on her bare arms, so she hugged them against herself.
She took a wondering look around the room and saw..
She gasped and almost fell back against the wall directly behind her.
There was a table, and upon the table, there was a woman...
And, judging by the woman's pale body and weak flesh, she was most definitely dead.
But the dead woman wasn't what surprised Haven. She'd assumed Undertaker was an undertaker as he'd said.
But, the woman was face-down on the table, her cheek pressed against the metal, a white blanket of some sort covering her waist down, leaving her back bare.
On the small of the woman's back, there was a raised scar, where she had been burned...
No, not burned...
Branded.
A circle and an X...
And just above the branding mark, there was a large wound, and dried blood was crusted all along the edges.
Something about the wound made Haven's mind swim with déjà vu, and she grew dizzy...
Stumbling a bit, she propped herself up with a hand to the wall, taking deep breaths to try to keep her vision in line with the rest of the world.
She saw something...
She remembered maybe...?
She could see Undertaker leaning close to her, gripping her hands in his own, his lips grazing her cheek...
Haven stumbled again, in shock.
Had she and Undertaker known each other, before she'd lost her memories? Had they... had feelings for each other, because that was very well what it seemed like to Haven's chaotic mind.
Still trying to gather her thoughts, her eyes still trained on the dead girl's wound, Haven wrapped an arm around her stomach.
Her shock and revulsion seemed to spiral downward together, making her stomach churn with nausea, and she doubled over.
Suddenly, Undertaker walked into the room and stared at her pained form in silence for a moment.
"I'm so sorry," Haven gasped, and dashed out of the room, taking in one lungful of air after another, as if the oxygen in the previous room had been tainted by death.
Undertaker closed the door behind her and laughed loudly, as if he found her distress amusing.
"Don't apologise, lady," he chortled, practically falling over in laughter. "The look of your face is one enough, it is."
"Glad to know that death is so humorous," Haven replied sarcastically, crossing her arms against the chill that still lingered in her bones. "I could hardly contain myself as well, it was so amusing."
She rolled her eyes but Undertaker didn't seem to realise that she was being sarcastic in her manner.
"Were those... The victims of the killer that Earl Phantomhive and his butler were talking about?" Haven asked as Undertaker finally restrained his fits of laughter.
"Indeed, they were," Undertaker replied, wiping tears from his concealed eyes. "They've been brought to me for autopsies. To see what all the killer had done to them. Ya see, I think the killer is killing them more brutally, he is. Started off with stabbing only, but now it seems he's gone to stabbing and beating."
Haven listened closely to the information and felt her lips move of their own accord.
"As if he's growing angrier," she whispered, and Undertaker paused for a moment in surprise.
"What was that, now?" he inquired.
Haven shook her head, confused as to why she had said such a thing out loud.
"Er... I don't know. Never mind," she replied, still shaking her head, but her counterpart still cocked his head at her suspiciously. "Undertaker?" she started, and he waited for her to speak, seeming a tad surprised by the turn of events. "Before I lost my memory... Did we know each other somehow?"
Haven posed the question in that manner, open-ended so he could answer in any form he pleased. A knot formed in her stomach as she waited.
Undertaker seemed very thrown off guard by her inquiry, and he even put a hand to his chin in thought.
"Did we know each other, you ask?" Undertaker repeated. "Not that I'm aware of, dearie. What makes ya ask that?"
"No reason, really," Haven replied, not looking in his direction. "I was only curious."
Undertaker did not seem pleased by this answer, but Haven didn't offer him any other information, and turned to quickly leave the room.
...
She and Undertaker were walking around the town, because he'd said he wanted to take a break from his work. Haven agreed only because she wanted to see more of the town. Maybe it would bring some other memory back to her, like a jewel resurfacing to the shallow depths of murky water after slowly sinking to the bottom.
The day was overcast, with thick grey clouds rolling through the sky more quickly than usual.
It always seemed that Undertaker was happier on days where it looked like it were going to rain. He adored the rain, and he adored the thunderstorms.
Haven knew this because earlier, when thunder had quietly rolled in the distance, Undertaker had giggled like an excited child about to receive a gift, and then suggested they go for a walk.
He was walking a bit ahead of her, as she glanced around the empty streets with interested eyes, but then he faced her suddenly and grabbed her arm, interlocking their elbows together as if he were going to lead her somewhere.
"Haven, my dear," Undertaker started, cocking his head away from her for a moment. "Tell me: ya haven't been having anymore memories return? Ya seem to be quite uneasy recently, ya have. As if somethin' were on your mind.""
Haven knew straight off that this was strange.
Undertaker just emanated suspicion, and Haven eyed him with an odd glance, wondering what sort of plot he was up to. He'd never outright asked about her memories before. Usually he was trying to get them away from her attention.
She quickly debated whether or not to tell him about her curious flashes, the ones that made her believe that she and Undertaker had known each other in the past.
If she did tell him, it would sound odd to him and probably make everything between them even more awkward than it already was.
She inhaled deeply as they continued to walk, arms interlocked.
"Not really," she replied. "I've been having these strange nightmares, but other than that..."
Undertaker listened as she answered and put a hand against his chin in thought.
"Nightmares?" he repeated in interest. "Of what?"
"I... I can't remember them," Haven said, only half-lying. "Usually when I wake up, they're gone."
Undertaker tilted his face toward her, with a slow-growing grin.
"Now, ya wouldn't be hiding anything from me, would ya, dearie?" he asked in suspicion, but grinning as if he thought it were humorous that she would try to pull the wool over his concealed eyes.
"Oh, no," Haven replied, trying to act as casual about the situation as was possible. "I wouldn't do that."
"If that's what ya say," Undertaker laughed, pulling her closer to his side, and wrapping his arm around her shoulders instead.
Haven heard the thunder rolling ominously in the distance and Undertaker's grin widened in excitement.
"Undertaker?" Haven asked and he hummed in question. "When you said that you found me, before, what did that mean? Where did I come from? Where did you find me?"
Undertaker chuckled quietly and turned his face so he was speaking directly into her ear.
When he chuckled, his breath blew across her cheek and goosebumps rose onto her exposed skin.
"I can't tell ya that," he replied quietly.
Haven struggled to find her voice for a moment, and finally cleared her throat.
"Why not? I know you're hiding secrets from me," she stated in return.
"Me? Hiding secrets? Wherever did ya get an idea like that?" he whispered, and laughed again, bringing his free hand up to her face, turning her head so she would be looking at him.
Haven gulped and studied his grin as it faltered a bit.
Raindrops suddenly sprinkled onto their heads, but Undertaker didn't move at all.
A particularly large drop of rain dripped onto Haven's cheek, and Undertaker quickly wiped it away with his thumb.
"We should be going now," he finally said. "We can be expecting guests, we can."
He turned away from her and released her face, interlocking their arms again and leading her down the road.
"Guests?" Haven asked, confusion making her voice break a bit. She was still trying to make her heart beat more evenly in her chest, although it was difficult.
"I expect there's been another murder," Undertaker added, as the rain continued to beat down upon their heads and shoulders, soaking them down to the bone.
Haven lifted her face into the weather, and felt the cold water pinprick her cheeks.
She could hear the sound of the rain as it pounded the cobblestones, and a group of children were running down the narrow road suddenly, scant coats raised to cover their dirty blond heads. Their laughter broke through the sound of the rain, like a beacon of light in the dark.
"Another murder," Haven whispered, feeling some peculiar emotion wrapping itself around her stomach.
Undertaker didn't respond and they made their way through the storm, their boots sloshing through the water as it gently streamed down the road.