Author's Note: I like Alois and Claude, even if they're both part of an anime series that totally lost the plot and has no place in the manga. To that end, like Ciel and Sebastian, I'm going to have them solve a mystery of their own just to see the difference in their approaches. Since my last chapter is set just before Alois dies, we're going to say this happens before he even meets Ciel. Alois finds someone's corpse in the woods on the estate. Despite Claude's insistence they do not interfere with the investigation, Alois is bored and insists harder they pursue it. See how you like it. If it's not well-received, I'll shorten it to four chapters and sack it. Enjoy.

Alois and Claude Continued: Trancy Murder Arc

Alois Trancy had wandered into the woods again. The fourteen-year-old often drifted into the darkest parts of the estate's wilderness to observe the spiders weave their intricate and beautiful webs. Sometimes he sat and watched them craft their silken masterpieces for hours. Then he would destroy them. He never killed their artisans though. He admired their perseverance and refusal to quit. He thought the way they quietly began again, without fuss or melancholy, whenever he imposed his dominion was wonderful. Today, the boy ignored his subjects and continued deeper into the trees, where light had no escape and only the brave dared tread. Long nights spent brooding in the darkness of basements and prison cells had left Alois with excellent night vision and the boy had no trouble negotiating even the most warped of tree roots and thorn-covered foliage in reaching a small clearing he came to sit in and contemplate his future or the lack of it.

It had been almost a week since he had come this far into the woods, but the boy had no expectations of any change in the clearing's appearance. Discovering some sort of mass on the ground, one that smelt strongly of mould and mildew, perked Alois' interest enough to dispense with his normal plans. He crouched down on his haunches and freely examined the mass by feel. Within moments, the boy had identified a nose, empty eye sockets and an open mouth that was the focal point of a large head, largely covered by damp and clumped hair. Alois smiled. It was a human corpse.

"Who were you?" The boy asked his new friend softly, "Where did you come from?" He said gently stroking what he assumed was the corpse's hair. The body was silent and unyielding. Alois nodded in understanding. "I hope you can't speak because your mouth is crammed with maggots." The boy began to drag the corpse by its ears, only to find one fell away and he lacked the strength to move the heavy body it was attached to. Alois sighed whilst tossing the pulpy, swollen ear in his hand into the brush behind him. "Claude, I need you now." The boy said sticking out his tongue and waiting.

"What are your orders, Highness?" A voice inquired from the darkness behind him. Alois glanced over his shoulder and was met with two golden eyes seeming to hover ominously in the air. The boy smiled.

"I order you to carry my new friend to the edge of the woods so I can see them better."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Once they had light to shed on the corpse, Alois was intrigued to see his friend was both grossly bloated, lacking both eyes and his tongue. Fat maggots crawled out of the empty socket and nostrils, but sadly nothing came out of the open mouth, a product of a dislocated lower jaw that appeared attached by nothing but a fraying beard like a Rhododendron bush. Moss covered his clothes, consisting of a dark suit and open-throated shirt that had once been white but was now a dirty yellow. The boy threw back his head and laughed.

"He's absolutely disgusting! Look at the maggots coming out of his eyes! How ugly!" Alois crowed whilst gleefully pointing out the corpse's standout feature to his butler whose face remained impassive.

"Interesting. I wonder where he originated from. He seems…affluent." Claude said before adjusting his spectacles and studying the body's gold pocket chain, discovering the watch itself was missing. Alois peered down in curiosity.

"Do you think maybe he's important?" The boy inquired leaning down to where the demon was crouched and resting his chin on Claude's shoulder. "Do you think there might be a reward?"

"I believe even if there were, it is immaterial, Highness. You already have a fortune that is only rivalled by a select few in this country. We should leave this to the authorities." Claude said before gently sliding the boy's chin off his shoulder and standing up. Alois considered the matter briefly.

"He's on our land, Claude, our property. He did not arrive here by accident. Perhaps he's involved in shady business related to the old loon. Aren't you curious?"

"No." The demon answered without any hesitation. The boy sighed before placing his hands on his hips.

"Well, I am. Plus, I'm dreadfully bored with things at the moment. Contact the authorities, but say we want to help with the investigation."

"What about Ciel Phantomhive?" The demon inquired prompting Alois to roll his eyes. Always Phantomhive. Always business, never play. He found Claude to be dreadfully narrow-minded like a butterfly, beautiful but so dull. He gave his butler a sharp glance.

"Unless he appears in the next ten seconds, I really don't care. I'm sick of waiting for him to show his face. All I do is sit in that stuffy, old house and sign contracts. Sit and sign, sign and sit, all day long until my arse goes numb. I want to have some kind of fun." Alois said, gaining more bitterness and spite as his sentences gathered pace. The demon was unmoved.

"You must be patient, Master. Your time will come soon enough." Claude offered only to sour the boy further. The demon left him with little choice. Alois sighed.

"Hoheo Taralna, Rondero Tarel. Understand?" The boy muttered, knowing that saying such words left no room for argument or alternative, just as he wished it. Claude's expression remained perfectly blank in replying.

"Yes, Highness. It will be done."

It was an hour later. The corpse was now under the scrutiny of Scotland Yard's finest coroner whilst detectives armed with oil and gas lamps trawled the woods and clearing for further clues and evidence. Even though Claude seemed indifferent to their presence, Alois was delighted he could tell the demon was annoyed by their intrusion in the Trancy household. It was the way his gold eyes flickered from one officer to the next with alarming regularity, as if trying to determine how quickly he could make them disappear into the ether. The boy thought it very impressive. He was less impressed by the police commissioner's tone once the corpse's identity had been established.

The moustachioed man, who Alois thought looked ridiculous in his stovepipe hat, was apparently a lord, but acted like a thug from the East-End. He accused the boy of being behind the murder despite a complete lack of evidence, basing his entire theory on the fact the corpse had been found on Trancy property.

"Daniel Cantwell was in business with your father, the previous Earl Trancy. He had been reported missing by his wife six days ago after he left to come to the Trancy estate to settle matters of finance. It would appear he was not welcome here and you, to avoid possible scandal, had him killed and hidden in the woods." Lord Randall said viciously as the trio stood on the cusp of the treeline. Alois laughed aloud for almost a minute.

"Are you really in charge of Scotland Yard, or are you simply a mad old loon they felt like humouring? Listen to yourself! I had him killed and hidden in the woods? Why didn't I bury him? Why did I call you about his body in the first place? Why are your men looking for clues if you've already decided I'm guilty? This man's a moron! Claude, have you ever heard such drivel?" The boy asked, looking up at his butler who regarded Lord Randall with the same interest a man would show in observing a blank wall.

"I must admit to expecting more intelligent theories from such an organisation as Scotland Yard. I find your lack of proof, most disappointing, Lord Randall." The demon said in a cool, even tone that so projected apathy that it rendered the older man momentarily speechless. Alois smirked at him.

"I'd probably spit in your face if you were worth the trouble. Your men have another hour to search for clues. Then they can sod off unless you would like to be publicly humiliated. I doubt the Queen would be too happy to discover they had given the job of police commissioner to an Egyptian mummy whose brain had so obviously been yanked out through its nose millennia ago." Lord Randall's face turned crimson with indignation and fury.

"How dare you! I don't need to contend with another Ciel Phantomhive during my work!" He bellowed. Alois could smell his acrid breath. The boy's smirk disappeared instantly. His face darkened. Then he cut loose his tongue.

"Then you shouldn't keep accusing noblemen of murder on such a regular basis, you stupid, ugly git! You've now only got thirty minutes before I get word to the press and sink you lower than a sewer rat in society's pecking order!" Alois screamed before turning on his heel and storming off in the direction of the manor. Randall shouted something back, but the boy chose not to hear it. It made no difference anyway. Less than thirty minutes later, the entire contingent had left the grounds and taken the body with them. Alois sat brooding in his office before a knock and Claude's presence threatened to cheer him up.

"Did they find anything useful?" The boy asked before slumping his head on the desktop.

"No. They all seem quite inept at such work."

"Well?" Alois said it as a question, eyeing the demon accusatively. Claude gave no indication of either understanding or misunderstanding the question. His face was like a ceramic mask.

"Your Highness?"

"Did you kill him, Claude? I don't mind if you did, only you could have told me so I might get in on the fun."

"No, Master, I did not kill this gentleman. I was not even aware he was planning to meet with you six days ago."

"Did you know who he was, what his connection to the old loon was?"

"There is vague mention of his name in some of the files kept here, but nothing to suggest he was significant to Tracy's operations or…vices." Claude said whilst glancing out the window at the grounds. Alois sighed at the demon's complete apathy to what was going on.

"Well he wasn't killed for no reason, Claude. What was the cause of death anyway? With him blown up like a balloon, it was hard to tell."

"Asphyxiation, Highness. He was strangled with something, possibly his own belt since it was not found at the crime scene and he wore no braces. The ligature marks were difficult to place." Claude responded turning his gaze back on the youth as he began to speak. Alois slouched back in his chair and brought a single finger to his chin.

"What do you suppose happened to his eyes? It couldn't have been the birds: they've got no way into the clearing from the sky."

"They look to have been gouged out, Sir, likely in the same struggle that dislocated his jaw."

"Are you sure you didn't kill him, Claude? Gouging someone's eyes out seems like something you'd do. You're wonderfully violent you know." Alois said with an admiring grin. Claude adjusted his spectacles.

"No, Highness. I did not kill this man. What are your orders?"

"His old lady's probably a good place to start digging. Let's go pay her a visit."

"Do you intend to do the Yard's work for them?" The demon inquired with a whisper of irritation that delighted Alois to no end. The blond boy smirked.

"Do you want them to come back and trample more of the grounds, Claude? You want them to rip up the rose garden and wade through the lake and get their muddy boot prints over the whole house searching for evidence on that old moron Randall's say-so?" Claude's eyes flickered briefly. He closed his eyes, removed his spectacles and produced a cloth to clean the lenses.

"No, Highness. I would prefer they never darkened our door again."

"It's alright to be annoyed with them, Claude. The house and garden are beautiful and you should be proud of them. They are your aesthetic after all." Alois offered genially. Claude's eyelids lifted. His gold eyes regarded the boy with another flicker of emotion lurking beneath the flawless veneer.

"Thank you, Master. I suppose our investigating this matter would see it concluded swiftly and without fuss." The demon said replacing his spectacles and slipping the cloth back into his morning suit. "I cannot envision Lord Randall solving this crime without divine intervention."

"Then it's settled!" Alois said clapping his hands together and giggling as he got to his feet. Tell those other morons that we're leaving for London and shan't be back until tomorrow!" The youth declared throwing on his jacket. Claude did not move or speak to acknowledge this command. The demon stared at him, not blinking. Alois frowned at this behaviour but said nothing. He was curious what would happen next.

"I will not wait forever. Once this matter is concluded, I expect you to take your revenge against Ciel Phantomhive so I may take your soul." Claude said without any sense of urgency or anger. Alois knew he would have liked to show them both in his voice. But the demon was cool, unflappable in nature and thought and deed. He supposed Claude was past hungry now and was already starving. Good, Alois thought, I hope he's suffering inside. The boy narrowed his eyes and added bite to his voice in issuing a short and sharp response.

"Don't get prickly with me. You'll get what you want. Now go pack me a bag, tell that tart and three retards the good news and get the carriage ready before I lose my temper. Understand?"

"Yes, Your Highness."