I now have a beta! Her pen name is Dorminchu, and while it's her fault that this didn't get posted two days ago, she's the reason that this is so much better-written than the past five. To be honest, I'm completely hopeless when it comes to prose...

Disclaimer: Yo, I still don't own anything that you might recognise.

Ciel was complaining the about the cold, and Xaelijor was steadfastly ignoring him. She shivered, rubbing her bare arms in an attempt to warm them up. She was deeply regretting wearing the black shirt that she usually only wore underneath her military uniform. She coughed into her hand, before being startled into attention by a rather loud noise. She snapped into a salute before realising it was just Ciel.

"Are you even listening to me, Sebastian?" Ciel snapped. The butler reluctantly let go of the cat he was lavishing his attention upon.

"Ah yes, my apologies. He was just so charming, I couldn't help myself…"

Xaelijor stifled her laughter, momentarily forgetting that she was supposed to be angry at them for bringing her out into the cold. 'Just like Al…'

The three were shocked out of their thoughts by a shrill scream. "Wha-but nobody went inside!" Ciel told them unnecessarily.

"C'mon!" Xaelijor said urgently. Ciel threw open the door, only to freeze. He choked back bile at the sight of the viciously torn corpse, the full moon throwing the many cuts in the body into sharp relief. In the second or so that he stared, his mind processed the putrid smell, the iron tang of blood that reminded him so much of that year, of the cages, the children sacrificed before the cult's final summoning attempt. Sebastian covered the Earl's eyes, after allowing the child to stumble back and empty the contents of his stomach onto the worn, dingy cobblestones. Xaelijor looked into the room, but even with her enhanced night-vision, could only see the corpse. "Who is he?" Much to her chagrin, nobody answered her.

"That was rather over the top, it's even all over the floor," Sebastian muttered in disgust. "Wouldn't you agree, Grell Sutcliff?" Grell sidled into the dim light, shuddering, but there seemed something off about the butler. Maybe it was the fact that there was blood on his face-it would have needed to spray up from a wound to be splattered in such a way. Maybe it was the perfectly blank look he had. Ciel pushed his butler's fingers away from his eyes firmly. Xaelijor was rooted to the spot, eyes wide and shaking her head like a wet dog in a futile attempt to shake off what had to be a hallucination.

"N-no, this is..." Grell lied shakily. "I heard cries, but when I got here, she was already…"

"Already what?" Sebastian interrupted impatiently. "We were guarding the only route. So would you please explain how you managed to get into the room with the deceased? Do you still plan on pretending?" Sebastian was barely able to keep up a polite mask. "Though, I must say that it was the first time I encountered a 'human' like you. Didn't you act so very convincingly?"

Grell looked down, before a sharp-toothed grin snaked across "his" face. "Heh. Is that so?" The inhuman being pulled out the ribbon in his hair and removed the round glasses from his face. "That's correct! I'm an actress~! And a top-rate one, at that." As Grell ran a comb through her blood-soaked hair, turning it from a natural brown to a vibrant red, Xaelijor finally came to terms with what was going on.

"Wait. You mean...it…" Xaelijor cast a glance at Grell, before telling her stiffly, "I apologise for referring to you as a man. But...why?"

Grell ignored her, putting on false eyelashes. Ciel spared a glance at his bodyguard, who looked like a kicked-puppy, despite her even tone. "But aren't you the same, Sebastian?"

"That is the name the young master gave me."

"Oh, the role of a faithful dog! Even though the role of a handsome man as a loyal dog is rather nice..." Grell said seriously. Sebastian bridled at being compared to a canine. "Then allow me to reintroduce myself, Sebastian...no, Sebas-chan." There was a tone of excitement in her voice, a sort of lilt that hadn't been there before. "I am the butler of the Barnett family," Grell said with a flourish, "Grell Sutcliff. We're both butlers, so hullo~!" She blew a kiss at the demon. He shuddered in disgust. "Ah, I can finally appear before you in my true form! Because isn't it embarrassing to appear before a handsome man without makeup?" Grell winked at Xaelijor, who just glared, stepping closer to Ciel and his butler. "Though it was my first time seeing a demon as a butler, so I was rather surprised at first!"

"But is it not the same for you?" said Sebastian. "I've lived long enough, and I've never heard of 'that kind of person' becoming a butler. You, who should have stayed neutral between God and humans-" Sebastian ignored Xaelijor's muttered, "I know God, and he is neutral..." and continued, "-Death God. On the other hand, you are more or less a god, so why did you choose to become a butler?"

Xaelijor repeated her own question to the death goddess, more confident this time. "Why did you murder those people?"

"Don't say it like that!" Grell complained. "Oh, alright...I guess you could say I've been captivated. I fell in love with a woman…"

Sebastian asked darkly, "And that woman is…?"

Grell giggled. "You really don't need to ask, do you?" Heels clacked against the grimy cobblestones. "Sebastian."

Ciel greeted the newcomer, trying-and failing-to suppress the shock that was leaking into his voice. "Madam Red." The crimson-clad woman smiled sadly.

"I miscalculated. Who would have thought that the person to uncover Grell's true identity would be someone by your side, Ciel…"

Ciel coughed, silently cursing his asthma. "Your name was on the list of subjects from the beginning, however, your alibi was truly perfect, Madam Red."

Madam Red smiled, raising her eyebrows. "How terrible, Ciel. You would suspect one of your own?"

"Blood doesn't matter." Xaelijor defended. "If there was a possibility of me being a murderer, my cousins wouldn't completely cross me off the suspects list without legitimate evidence."

Ciel continued as if she hadn't spoken. "In the list of suspects, no human could have done it. That includes you, of course. But if the co-criminal was 'not a human', then that's a different matter."

"You mean...ugh!" Xaelijor slapped her hand to her face. "I should have been paying more attention! You slipped out over the balcony when I was trying to gather intel on the Viscount, and then came back before your cover was blown, didn't you?"

She received a nod in return. "To be able to have been able to kill the victim without us noticing, you would have had to travel between the scene of the crime and the Viscount's mansion at an inhumanly speed." Ciel explained. "Grell slipped out of the party, and without being discovered, snuck back in to cement his alibi. The only persons capable of being Jack the Ripper would be the two of you."

VvvvrrrRRRRrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR-! The next thing Xaelijor knew, Sebastian was holding the flat blade of a chainsaw, stopping it from cutting Ciel in half. 'Damn! Focus, Elemental!' She leapt into action, narrowly missing Grell as the shinigami jumped back. "What the hell is that?" she shouted.

Grell explained, "This is my Death Scythe! It's a beauty, isn't it? I had it made entirely custom. After all, the traditional Scythe is just so dull." Grell bragged. "Of course, Death Scythes can cut through anything-and mine is truly first-rate!" She attacked again and increased her force, pressing Sebastian up against the alley wall, her eyes glinting with unsavory intentions. "You know, I've always been downright honest, to the point where my body's gotten slow…" She blew another kiss, grinning meaningfully at the demon. "I really would like to partake in some vigorous exercise with you!"

"Must you say such revolting things?" Sebastian asked coldly as Xaelijor's face contorted and she blushed furiously behind him. "And I'm working too…"

"Aww, you're so serious! I can't take this side of you anymore, Sebas-chan!" Grell complained. "I do love red the most. Hair, clothes, lipstick, red is always the best." She beamed at Xaelijor and Ciel, giving Sebastian another sultry look. "Fresh blood is the best makeup for those ugly women; after all, the more flamboyant a woman is, the more beautiful, like a poisonous flower, ne?"

Sebastian grabbed the chainsaw by the flat of the blade and pushed it away from his face so that it lodged into the brick with a grinding of stone and metal. "Death gods," he said blandly, "should quietly capture the souls that depart from this world. Butlers are supposed to follow their masters like a shadow. I find your blatant disregard for these two rules to be revolting."

"Hey, that's not fair! I really tried my best as a butler to serve my master!" Grell pouted. "I even worked without my makeup or dressing up!"

"How shocking. And you still call yourself a butler?"

Grell gave a shark-like grin. "Even if I'm like this...I'm still the butler of Death!"

Ciel chose that moment to intervene. "In the name of Her Majesty and my own wretched name, I command you, Sebastian! Capture them!" Sebastian pulled down the hem of his glove with his teeth.

"Yes, my Lord."

Sebastian unbuttoned his coat and placed it on Ciel's head. "So you don't get cold. Stay with Xaelijor. I'll make some hot milk when we get home." He smiled. "I'll add some honey or brandy to sweeten it." At that, Xaelijor stepped directly next to Ciel, who was scanning the alleyway for his eyepatch. 'When did it fall off?' He kept a calm facade, even as he panicked at the thought of his aunt seeing the Contract imprinted on his eye.

"Oya~! Oh, my dear Sebas-chan, I won't let you go so easily!" Grell cackled. "My Scythe and I have been unsatisfied recently! Let us play hide and seek!"

"That's quite enough of that, Miss Sutcliff." Sebastian and Grell moved far away in their deadly dance of demon and chainsaw. Madam Red lunged for Ciel, Xaelijor jumped between them, though not quickly enough. She got knocked out of the way, though she did manage to deflect the knife, so it just barely grazed Ciel's arm.

The sight of his own blood made him dizzy.

"Why are you d-doing this? You-you're a doctor," Ciel mumbled, watching the blood ooze lazily from his wound.

"You wouldn't understand!" Madam Red snarled, slamming Ciel into the wall by his throat. "You could never understand!"

"Yeah? Try us." Xaelijor pushed herself off the ground, wincing.

As seemed to be the trend for that night, she was ignored. "If you had never been born, my sister would still be alive!" Madam Red screeched in hysterics. "So now you shall die!" She brought up the knife again.

"YOUNG MASTER!" yelled Sebastian, releasing the chainsaw. The blades screeched as they contacted his shoulder, but he ignored it and flew forward, traits of his true demonic form bleeding into his appearance. He leapt toward Madam Red with every intention to eliminate the threat to his master's life, when Ciel shouted his command, moments before his butler's clawed hands could come in contact with his aunt's neck.

"NO, Sebastian! Don't kill her!"

Xaelijor had finally gotten up, and had raced back to Ciel's side. "Are you okay, sir?"

"I'll be fine," Ciel wheezed. "Sebastian?"

"Sebas-chan's arm became useless, but he still had to go help the brat." Grell commented. "Compared to that, what do you have to say for yourself? Speaking of which, what are you waiting for, Madam Red? Kill the brat already!"

"Can't…" Angelina Durless sobbed. "I really can't...I can't kill him!"

"You're saying this now?" Grell complained. "After killing all those women, too! You have me on your side, so kill him or be killed! We don't have time for this!"

"But-you don't understand!" she choked out. "This child is my-!" Xaelijor saw it milliseconds before she did, and jumped in front of the flying chainsaw, which promptly impaled them both through their torsos, right next to their hearts. "How disappointing...Madam Red." Grell sighed as she tore her Scythe from the chests of the pair. "I am no longer interested in an ordinary woman like you." Cinematic records burst from the wounds, visible only to the Reaper. They intertwined to the point where only the people themselves would be able to tell whose was whose without a second glance. "You are not fit to wear red," Grell told the prostrate figure of Angelina Durless, taking the woman's scarlet coat and turning away. "The curtains of this cheap theatre act that is your life fall now! Goodbye, Madam!"

Pain lanced through Xaelijor's chest. Red electricity sparked, arcing across her body. She felt the soul of Azurro Vanel completely leave her body this time, bringing her back to life and sealing the gaping hole in her chest. She coughed up blood, though she was not aware of this. She saw the deaths of the homunculi, of Buccaneer and Fu, and now of Madam Red. She saw Lin, taken over by Greed, whose memory had been wiped. She saw and heard her friends and enemies from Amestris. She saw the intricately carved stone doors that were the Gate looming over her in an expansive void of white, engraved with writing in various languages. Xaelijor understood them all, of course, due to her time as Truth's messenger, even as limited as that period had been. Then she saw the Gate's blank, grinning silhouette of a guardian-Truth, or perhaps God, or maybe even Xaelijor herself.

Ciel, meanwhile, turned to his aunt, shivering in fury, and closed her eyes. It took some effort to keep his voice from shaking as he called out: "Sebastian, what are you doing? I told you to take down Jack the Ripper! It's not over yet!" The Earl positioned himself by the victims of the Death Scythe. "Don't hesitate-Finish him!"

"Yes, my Lord."

Whoo, cliffie! Sort of. I just really wanted to get this posted, so the Jack the Ripper Arc will be wrapped up in the next chapter rather than this one. Plus it would have gotten pretty long if I did the second half of this in this chapter.
Sjáumst seinna!

~Pride