**Author's Note: The first time I tried uploading this chapter, strange things happened. xD I don't know if it was a glitch or what but thanks to Streaking Shadows for letting me know about it! Anyway, thanks for reading! I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations! It's a bit longer than usual so please enjoy! And please review and let me know what you think!**
When Haven awoke the next morning, the curtains of the room had been drawn, signalling that Sebastian or another servant had been in already.
They hadn't woken her, so Haven sat up in the comfortable bed, feeling much more rested and quite better than the day before.
Her head no longer felt hot with fever, and her mind was clearer now than it had been in the entire last week.
As she thought back to last night, Haven could remember seeing Undertaker's lovely eyes in her dreams all night long. Maybe that was why she'd rested so well... Because it had felt as if Undertaker had been keeping watch over her as she slept.
As Haven sat up and stretched her arms out, blinking at the bright light of the room, there was suddenly a knock at the door.
"C- come in?" Haven called back, when nobody had entered after knocking.
As soon as she'd called, the door opened and Sebastian walked through, with a silver tray and a cup of tea resting upon it. He gracefully crossed the room until he stopped beside her bed, setting the tray on the little table.
"Good morning, miss Haven," Sebastian greeted, with a smile. "How are you feeling? It seems your fever has broken."
"Ah- yes," Haven replied, surprised that Sebastian had caught on to the fact that she'd been fevered last night. "I feel much better. Thank you for the tea."
"Of course," Sebastian smiled until his eyes closed, handing her the cup of tea he'd brought in. "The tea of last night had been steeped with a medicinal herb that helps break fevers. I'm glad to see it has helped you."
"An herb?" Haven gasped, surprised. She looked down suspiciously at the tea he'd just handed her, and Sebastian chuckled amusedly.
"The tea you have now has also been steeped with medicine," the butler informed her. "It will help stave away any future fevers you may have."
Haven almost decided not to drink it, but she'd taken last night's tea and lived... So she sipped at the drink warily.
"My master would like you to join him for breakfast before our carriage takes you home," Sebastian added, tucking the silver tray beneath his arm and quirky resuming his formal posture.
"Ah... Alright," Haven agreed reluctantly.
"I'll leave you to get dressed," Sebastian bowed quickly before leaving the room.
Haven was left alone again, so she dressed herself quickly, finally walking out into the hallway when she was finished.
Instead of Sebastian waiting there, though, there was a maid with large round glasses and brown hair pinned up. She'd been standing too close to the door, so Haven almost ran into her.
"Ah!" the maid gasped in a scratchy, nasally voice. "I'm so sorry, I am! I didn't mean to be standin' so close to the door! Please forgive me!"
Haven didn't know what to say and only managed to stare back at the maid, startled.
"Uh- it's alright," Haven finally stuttered. "Can you show me where Earl Phantomhive is having breakfast?"
"Of course I can!" the maid exclaimed, happily, seeming relieved that Haven hadn't gotten agitated at her clumsy mistake. "Right this way, if you please!"
Haven followed the strange maid down the stairs to a dining hall where Ciel was sitting in a large chair at a large table, Sebastian standing behind him formally.
"Good morning, Earl Phantomhive," Haven greeted, quietly, giving him a polite bow as she entered the room.
"Good morning," Ciel said in his usual monotonous voice as he looked up with a cerulean eye from his cup of breakfast tea. "And how are you feeling? Sebastian told me you were quite ill last night."
"I-I'm fine, thank you," Haven replied, approaching the table. Ciel stood up out of respect as she made toward the chair. "I'm so sorry for barging in on your estate so unexpectedly again."
Sebastian was suddenly to her right, holding her chair out so she could sit down. Surprised, Haven took a seat, Ciel reclaiming his own chair as she did so.
"Thank you," Haven mumbled to the butler as he fluidly made his way back toward his master.
"It's no bother," Ciel told her briskly. "I suppose it's good for the servants to have another person to tend to every once in a while."
"Oh..." Haven trailed off, unsure of what to say next.
After a few moments, Sebastian brought out their breakfast plates and set them on the silky white table linen.
They were having what appeared to be eggs and sweet sausages, with toast cut into little triangles. It was very appealing to look at. Haven found herself wondering who had cooked the meal, because they seemed quite educated on plating the food.
It was quiet for a long moment, until Ciel suddenly cleared his throat.
"For a commoner, you have refined table manners," Ciel stated, sounding as if he were trying to tell her something. "It's quite rare to see."
"Eh... Thank you," Haven replied, nervously looking down at how she gripped the fork and knife, and hoping she'd been doing it correctly. At Undertaker's, they'd never really used utensils before.
"And the manner in which you speak is refined as well," Ciel stated, pausing in his meal to stare at her with his single piercing eye. "You apologise properly and your mannerisms are educated. Have you ever considered that maybe you were a noble before you lost your memories?"
"A- noble?!" Haven gasped, startled. Her mind seemed suddenly wiped blank, as if something was so obvious to her now that those words had been spoken, but she didn't quite know what she should be remembering. And besides... She just didn't SEEM like a noble... "I- I don't think that's possible."
"And why not?" Ciel demanded.
"B-because most of the nobles around here can recognise each other, and you didn't recognise me when we met," Haven explained, her mouth feeling suddenly dry.
Ciel started at her so intensely that Haven was uncomfortable.
Why was he looking at her like that? He didn't even continue eating his food, so Haven stared back at him, waiting for a response.
His gaze was so strong on her face that Haven suddenly wondered to herself if the earl wasn't hiding his own secrets from her...
After a good five long minutes of unabashedly staring at her, Ciel finally opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly the maid from before came bursting into the room.
The doors slammed open as she tripped into the dining hall, but then she caught her balance and wobbled over toward Sebastian, who looked quite annoyed at her ungraceful entrance.
She whispered something in his ear, before quickly running back out of the room.
"Well," Sebastian started politely. "It seems miss Haven's guardian has come to take her back with him."
"What?!" Haven gasped, dropping her fork against her china plate with a clatter. "Undertaker?!"
Sebastian gave a brisk nod, and Haven practically bolted up from her seat.
Yesterday, she'd wanted to leave Undertaker so she could pursue her memories, but after considering her circumstances, she'd decided that maybe staying with Undertaker would be for the best after all.
And... She'd missed him quite a bit.
"Please follow me, and I'll lead you to the front entrance," Sebastian told her, gesturing to the doors that the maid had slammed out of.
Haven practically ran to them, eager to see Undertaker again after what felt like an eternity.
The butler silently led her down the halls, and finally to the entrance, where the maid was standing in the doorway, talking to Undertaker.
"How'd ya know she'd be here?" the maid questioned him.
"Just a hunch, it was," came Undertaker's usual cackling laugh.
Haven couldn't breathe.
She stopped walking in the middle of the hall, and watched as the maid moved a bit out of the doorway.
"Undertaker!" Haven heard herself exclaim.
He turned in her direction, his black hat gone, his silvery hair damp from the previous rain. His two-toned eyes were still hidden, but Haven didn't care.
She was suddenly running to him, and her body slammed against his hard enough to knock her breath from her lungs. She hugged her arms around his waist, tightly, not really caring that the maid and Sebastian were both watching.
Undertaker's hands hesitated in the air as if he were surprised, but then he patted her back consolingly.
"Haven, dearie," Undertaker said, as his hands touched her shoulders gently. "Come back with me, now."
"Alright," Haven whispered, feeling tears prick the backs of her eyes so suddenly it was almost painful. Why was she so happy to be reunited with Undertaker?
Why was she so happy that she was practically crying? In the midst of her dreams about Undertaker, had she had another horrible nightmare last night that she couldn't remember?
"Young Earl Phantomhive, I thank ya for watchin' over me Haven last night," Undertaker said to the estate owners over her shoulder.
"Of course," Ciel's voice replied from just inside the doors. "I really can't take any credit. She was the one who came here last night. We simply gave her a room."
"I thank ya just the same," Undertaker added, cackling his laugh. Haven heard the clack of the butler's shoes as he approached the door.
"I must say, it's quite unlike you, Undertaker," came Sebastian's voice from beside Ciel's, "to worry about a... person so incessantly."
"They say what's learned once for one is learned twice for another," Undertaker cackled again, his grip on Haven tightening a bit. "A good day to ya both." He finally released Haven and gripped her elbow lightly as if to lead her. "Ready to head back, now, lady?"
"Yes," Haven replied, wiping her face with her free hand.
"Goodbye," Ciel's voice said in farewell as the maid finally shut the door behind them.
Haven followed Undertaker silently down the road, but she had to wonder... Was that sorrow she'd heard in Ciel Phantomhive's voice as he'd bid them goodbye?
...
As they both walked along the slick cobblestones, Undertaker hooked his elbow through hers quickly.
"The road's slick, dearie, watch yer step now," he told her in a quiet voice.
Haven only nodded, not answering, trying to quickly come up with a way to beg Undertaker to tell her everything he knew.
The air around them grew silent as they walked, each thinking about the other. Haven wanted to break the tense silence but didn't know what words to say.
"Now, lady, I'm curious, I am... Why'd ya come back so effortlessly?" Undertaker suddenly inquired when the silence had become too loud. "I'd assumed I'd have to beg ya to return, I did. Surprised me when ya... suddenly ran back like ya did."
Undertaker seemed different somehow to Haven, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
The last couple of days had been such a blur because of her fever, but she hadn't allowed Undertaker to properly take care of her because she'd been so insistent to find her memories.
"When my fever started clearing up last night... I realised that I'd been rather brash about it all," Haven admitted, putting her free hand to her chest in thought. "And after I was able to think more clearly, I also realised that I missed you. I shouldn't have been so quick to run. I'll find my memories in due time, of course."
Undertaker was silent for a long moment, listening to her speak. And when she was finished speaking, he was still silent.
He drew his free hand to his chin, his long nails tapping against his skin.
Haven waited his response, nervously. Why she was nervous, she wasn't quite sure.
"It's a good thing yer fever's broke, it is," Undertaker finally replied. "Was worried ya'd die in the night. Taken away from me as silently as ya were given."
"Given?" Haven repeated, confusion shocking her down to the bone. "What do you mean by that?"
"Nothin', nothin', just forget I said anything at all, love," Undertaker backtracked quickly. "Just an expression- a figure o' speech."
Haven knew that if she was going to get anywhere, she'd have to convince Undertaker to tell his secrets.
How she'd go about doing that, she had no idea.
She took a deep breath and decided to try to beg him.
"Please, Undertaker," Haven said, looking down at the slick cobblestones as they walked. "I need to know everything that you do. Please tell me. I know you said that once I remembered, I wouldn't want anything to do with you, but I assure you that's not true."
Undertaker was silent once again, and his hand still gripped his chin thoughtfully. His dark nails contrasted with his hair like the shadows in a cloud against the moon, and Haven found herself eyeing the stitches on his face.
"Maybe I'll tell ya a bit at a time, love," Undertaker finally replied. "I think that'd be for the best, it would."
"You mean... You'll finally tell me something?!" Haven gasped in surprise, looking up at him as he continued to lead her down the road.
"If ya want to know, ya've got the right," Undertaker answered, sounding a bit down. "All I ask is that ya give me some time to think."
"Of course," Haven replied, quietly. "I appreciate that you'll tell me, but of course take your time."
Undertaker chuckled, and looked back down at Haven, his eyes still hidden behind his long hair.
"Yer quite a bit more lucid than ya were before, love," he chuckled. "The Phantomhive butler must've taken good care of ya."
"He gave me tea steeped with medicine," Haven replied, with a smile.
"I knew ya'd be headin' to the Phantomhive manor once ya left, I did," Undertaker added, amusedly. "Knew ya'd want to speak with the butler." Undertaker cocked his head at her as they walked, and Haven was surprised that he'd known her destination even before she had. Undertaker's grinning face suddenly became quite serious. "I'm more than a bit curious, love... What did he tell ya?"
Haven didn't know how to respond. Should she tell him the truth?
"Oh... Sebastian didn't know much about me," Haven finally answered, her chest feeling tight because of her pounding heart. "He only told me what you'd told him the first day I awoke at your building."
"What I'd told him?" Undertaker repeated, almost sounding a bit worried. "Now, love, I've forgotten what I said that day. Would ya care to remind me?"
There was something in his voice that hinted at worry, or even fear, and Haven hesitated before answering.
"Well... Sebastian only told me that you'd found me in an alley, and that I'd been attacked," Haven answered, nervously, watching his expression closely.
Undertaker didn't reply, and Haven desperately wanted to know what he was thinking. He was always so mysterious and secretive.
Reacting mostly on instinct, Haven quickly reached up with her free hand and pushed some of the hair out of his face, revealing his eyes once again, desperate to see what emotions he was hiding within them.
Undertaker didn't seem to react much to this, and looked back down at her quickly as if he knew that stopping her wouldn't do any good.
Haven looked back into Undertaker's yellow and green eyes, for the first time while sober.
Dear god, maybe Haven had been foggy with fever before, but Undertaker's eyes weren't simply lovely.
Just looking up into them now made her skin prickle with goosebumps and chills race down her spine.
There was something deep within his gaze that was unexpected. Undertaker, at first glance, seemed a bit wacky and insane... But in his eyes now was a deep sanity and understanding that came off as incredibly attractive and almost sexy in a way.
Why ever would he bother hiding eyes like those?
Haven gulped past a sudden knot that had blocked off her throat, and tried to remove her hand from his face, but it was as if his gaze had frozen all of her muscles.
They'd even stopped walking, and the rain started to drizzle back down over them again from the heavy rain clouds.
"Undertaker..." Haven said quietly. "Goodness, your eyes are quite beautiful. You shouldn't hide them like you do."
Undertaker narrowed his eyes a bit, almost as if suspicious of her, and his grin reappeared on his face. His eyes practically smouldered as he smiled, making Haven's stomach burn with some foreign feeling.
That grin seemed entirely different now that he had eyes to give off a secondary emotion.
"Now... Whoever said I was hiding them?" Undertaker laughed, poking the tip of her nose with a long slender finger.
He grabbed her wrist and removed her hand from his face, allowing his hair to fall back into place to cover his eyes once again.
His fingers continued to grasp her wrist, and he cocked his head at her in an amused manner.
"That's the second time ya've done that, ya know, lady," Undertaker told her, releasing her wrist and continuing along the road at their usual pace. "It's quite rude, it is, to be touchin' a body so suddenly."
Haven followed closely behind him, because his arm was still linked with her own. She thought it was a bit hypocritical for him to call her rude for touching him when he'd done the same thing to her many times before, but Haven just let it pass.
"I can't help it," Haven replied, quietly. "I really do like your eyes, Undertaker. If you're not trying to hide them like you insist, then you should wear your hair back every now and again."
Undertaker burst into laughter, stopping in the middle of the road once again and bending over to hold his sides. Haven's arm was still being held by his, so she had to stop as well. He gasped for breath and wiped away hidden tears as he guffawed.
"And what exactly is so funny?" Haven demanded.
"Nothin', love, nothin' at all!" Undertaker replied, finally straightening back up. "Yer quite insistent today, ya are. Reminded me a bit o' myself."
"Yourself?" Haven repeated, interested.
Undertaker took a deep breath and cocked his head again, returning to walking.
"Later tonight, dearie, I'll tell ya a single fact about myself, I will," Undertaker told her as they walked together. "And then every once in a while, I'll tell ya another piece of the story until there's nothin' more to tell. Maybe by the end, ya'll have gotten used to the rest and ya won't feel the need to run away."
"I won't run away," Haven assured him. "I... quite enjoy staying with you, Undertaker. I don't really have any desire to be anywhere else."
"That's because ya don't remember anyplace else but here, ya don't," Undertaker told her, almost sadly.
"I've been to the Phantomhive estate as well, but I'd still rather be with you," Haven insisted. But then she felt her face enflame with heat as she realised what words she'd spoke aloud. "Eh..."
Undertaker laughed again, although not as exuberantly as before.
He stopped walking again and turned in her direction.
With another grin, he bent a bit forward and took her chin in his pale hand. He cocked his head at her, and Haven could see the stitches along his cheek, reminding her of those eyes that she knew were hiding just beneath his hair...
"I've always been one to experiment, love," Undertaker whispered. "But even so, there are some things I'd rather not push farther than I should."
He started to release her chin, but Haven reached up and put her hand over top of his own, keeping his fingers on her face.
"What does that mean, you'd rather not push it farther than you should?" Haven asked.
Undertaker hesitated, his fingers still gripping her chin lightly.
"Never mind ya, dearie," he said, in return. "Forget I said anythin'..."
Haven huffed, agitated by the way his words went in circles, and suddenly stood up on her tiptoes, pressing her lips against his.
Undertaker's grip on her chin loosened in surprise, and he tried to back away, but Haven took a step closer to him in order to keep their lips sealed.
She reached up hesitantly and touched the stitches on his cheek, the ones that had reminded her so much of crow's footprints against the snow.
Maybe her touch on his skin changed his mind, because Undertaker was suddenly kissing her back, the angle of his head changing so their lips could be sealed even tighter than before.
Now it was Haven's turn to be surprised, and she felt her heart fluttering against her breastbone like leaves in the wind of a thunderstorm.
Undertaker gently pressed his hand to the back of her head, tilting her face up farther to meet his own, and the raindrops were cold against her flushed cheeks.
Haven lost track of time as they stood this way in the middle of the rain. They could've been there for minutes or even hours, but after some period of time, Undertaker broke off the kiss and ran a hand over his face as if he were tired or frightened.
Haven watched in interest as his black nails weaved through his hair and she reached a hand out to touch him somehow.
"Haven, dearie," Undertaker ended up whispering. He grasped her hand and removed it from his face. "I'd put everythin' in me into prevention' this from happenin'," he added. "But for once in me life, I think I've lost."
"I don't understand," Haven gasped, her breathing still erratic from their kiss. "Why would you-?"
Undertaker stopped her words by kissing her again, deeply.
Haven felt something like a groan escape her throat as he traced the hollow of her neck with a fingernail.
When he heard her groan, he quickly pulled away again, making sure they were no longer touching.
Haven's mind felt cloudy, as if she couldn't quite think straight, and all she knew for sure was that she wanted to see Undertaker's eyes again. She wanted to see what he was truly feeling, and his eyes seemed to be the best way to tell.
But Undertaker had put a bit of distance between them, and Haven didn't want to be pushy and look at his eyes three times in a row.
So she simply stood there on the cobblestones, the rain pinpricking coldly against her face as Undertaker let his hands drop to his sides. He cocked his head at her again, deep in thought.
"Well, now, love," he finally said. "Ya never cease to surprise me, ya don't."
Haven didn't know what to say to that. She felt her heartbeat finally regaining its natural rhythm, but as Undertaker continued to stare at her with his hidden eyes, her breathing started to become a bit shallow.
Why had she kissed him so suddenly like that?
Of course, when she'd been parted from Undertaker, she'd missed him. And when she'd first met him, his close proximity to her had given her butterflies. And when she dreamed, she had visions of his eyes.
But... But also when he laughed at her pain, it irritated her. And when he made the watery red tea that reminded her of blood. And when he kept secrets from her and wouldn't answer her questions it made her quite angry...
But in all honesty, did she want to kiss him?
Haven watched as Undertaker studied her expression from behind his hair, and she thought about his eyes. They contained so much emotion... Maybe that's why he preferred them to be hidden... So nobody would be able to read his true feelings.
She wasn't sure.
"Haven, dearie," Undertaker said, sounding confused as if he were wondering why she was staring at him for so long.
And Haven realised that yes, she did want to kiss Undertaker. It came as something as a shock to herself, and she gulped audibly.
Was there something wrong with her? The man lived in a shop surrounded by coffins and freezing cold rooms stuffed full of corpses.
He laughed at strange things such as pain and thunderstorms, and kept too many secrets from her...
Why in the world was she attracted to him?
"Haven?" Undertaker asked again, reaching a hand out to her. "It's time we be gettin' home now, it is. And on the way, tell me why ya look as if ya've just seen a ghost."
"Wh-what?!" Haven gasped, trying to play it off. She approached and took his hand. "I haven't seen a ghost!"
Undertaker laughed loudly and led her back down the road.
They made their way back to their home in silence, each wondering about themselves and each other.