A/N: So, we've seen that Sieglinde is able to be serious, but we haven't seen it too often on her, but we know that she can be serious, right? Right. The thing is, she cannot walk around in this fic with eyes full of wonder at this marvellous new world because, hey, she knows it already. She didn't grow up in isolation. So this Sieglinde will be more serious than in the manga. I'll try to stay as true to the original as possible, but putting a character in different surroundings tends to make them different…

Anyway, I'm rambling. Sebastian's entering the scene, too. Enjoy!

CHAPTER 1

The funeral was a quiet and private affair. Ciel's friends, aunt and her family attended as well as the Phantomhive staff and Uncle Klaus, Vincent's friends (one of which called himself Undertaker of all things; the other one was a grumpy German named Diedrich), a friend of Rachel's who was an opera singer, and – lo and behold - the Viscount of Druitt also showed up. Ciel guessed it was because Aleister Chambers had to check if Ciel's parents really were dead. While he did burst out into crocodile tears upon seeing them, he didn't make much of a scene.

There was a Chinese man lurking around at the far back during the eulogy, but Ciel had never seen him. He looked like he had the right to be here, though, so he must have been a business partner of some sort.

But a girl around Ciel's age didn't look like she had any reason to be here. She couldn't sit still, eyes wide and alert, and whenever Ciel looked at her, she would catch his gaze without fail. She would then proceed to stare at him until he looked away.

Next to her sat a raven-haired man dressed in what Ciel thought to be an old-fashioned butler uniform. The Phantomhive butler, Tanaka, wore three-piece suits in that style, he even had a pocket watch, too. The raven-haired stranger didn't look at Ciel once. Instead he sat ramrod straight on the church bench, as if he didn't quite want to be here, and stared intently at the caskets that held Ciel's parents.

After they had lowered the caskets into the ground of the Phantomhive estate, Ciel waited by the front door to say goodbye to those that wouldn't stay at the manor with him. His aunt Frances stood next to him, smiling faintly when others smiled at her first. The Viscount practically stormed toward them, right into a confused Frances' arms, and heaved a great sob that united all of humanity's pain in it. Frances shot Ciel a discreet look, but Ciel was too busy being relieved that Chambers had not hugged him.

"I feel or you!" the Viscount said. He leaned back, keeping Frances at arm length. "First the wonderful Madame Red and now Rachel and Vincent. It must be horrible!"

"Indeed it is," Frances said, sounding tense. "Thank you for your condolences."

"Didn't you lose someone, too?" Diedrich came up to them, chewing rather noisily on a piece of chewing gum. "Your nephew, right? I was in India that time."

"Yes," Aleister said, heaving another sob. He took the handkerchief offered by Diedrich and patted his eyes. "Edgar and his friends went from us last month."

"That's…." Diedrich searched for the right word. "Recent."

Ciel remembered the funeral. It had been quite dramatic.

"Anyway," the Viscount said, "Vincent and I may had our differences, but knowing he's gone is still a painful thought."

Ciel was pretty sure that the Viscount had been on watch because he'd been up to shady activities. But his father had deemed him too young to know the specifics back then. Now Ciel might never find out. But he wasn't quite ready to believe Aleister when he claimed that he was actually mourning the Phantomhive family's loss. "Thank you," he said nevertheless and shook the Viscount's hand with a small smile.

"Weird guy," Diedrich murmured, hands in his pockets, watching as Aleister got into his car teary-eyed and urged the driver to start the car. Frances didn't acknowledge the comment, so neither did Ciel.

The sky was grey, but it wasn't raining yet.

"Excuse me," said a high voice, and Ciel turned to look at the black-haired girl that had been staring at him in the church. Her butler was right behind her. Ciel blinked several times but still the man's eyes remained wine red.

"My name is Sieglinde Sullivan," the girl said. Ciel realized she was talking to him, so he focused on her. "I believe we haven't met yet."

He shook the proffered hand. "We haven't. Nice to meet you."

"Sieglinde," Frances said. "I don't think I saw your parents around."

"One of them is in Asia at the moment," Sieglinde said, shuffling her tiny feet. "The other one is in the US. But my butler Sebastian keeps me company. To think one of my parents would have taken him with them!"

The butler – Sebastian – merely bowed a little, but said nothing.

"It is very nice of you to come," Frances said, actually looking touched.

Sieglinde curtsied prettily. "How could I not? You must all be in terrible grief."

"You're German?" was all that Diedrich had to interrupt with. Frances' expression grew closed in less than a second.

Sieglinde nodded as she looked up. "You too?"

Diedrich made an affirmative sound, narrowing his eyes at her a little. She narrowed them, too. Ciel wondered if that was a German thing.

"The mistress would like to speak to you," the butler finally said when Sieglinde and Diedrich appeared to have a staring contest going on, "in private."

Sieglinde looked away from Diedrich. "Yes. I apologise, but it is indeed rather urgent."

"If it has to do with business," Frances said, "then I should be the one you'll want to talk to. Ciel won't take his father's position until he comes of age."

"It's nothing of the sort." Sieglinde looked at Ciel expectantly.

Before he could lead her away, Aunt Frances grabbed him by the upper arm, startling him (even though he hoped nobody had seen that). "Whatever it is," she said in a low voice as she pulled him around the corner and bent down a little, "be nice to her. I heard she doesn't venture outside a lot. Her parents are successful business people and it can have repercussions if you mouth off to her."

Ciel blinked slowly. "You think little of me, dear aunt."

"I think you're grieving," Frances sniffed. "Many people do things they haven't quite thought through when they're in grief."

She let go of his arm and after not-so-subtly rubbing it (Frances had more strength than should be allowed), Ciel led Sieglinde and Sebastian into an empty room. It was his father's study, as he realized way too late. Not wanting to turn around and find another room, he took a seat behind the desk, motioning at the empty chair in front of it. Sieglinde sat down, kicking up her legs, and Sebastian remained behind her right shoulder.

"What is it you want to talk about?" Ciel asked when he felt that Sieglinde wasn't about to say anything – instead she looked at him contemplatively, as if trying to find the right words just for him.

"It is about the murder of your parents," her butler said, and Sieglinde narrowed her eyes.

"Sebastian," she hissed. Said man pursed his lips unhappily.

"You should keep your butler in check," Ciel drawled, trying to keep the unease from his voice. Sebastian shot him a faintly annoyed look. Now, that definitely wasn't polite.

"I apologise on Sebastian's behalf," Sieglinde said. "This is a personal matter for him, he's impatient."

Ciel's eyebrows shot up. "Personal? The death of my parents is personal to you?" He leaned back in his seat. "Pray tell, why would you say that?"

"He knows the -…"

"One moment, please." Sebastian stepped forward, around the desk and snuck his hand under the table where Ciel was sitting. The boy jumped back in surprise, but Sebastian retracted his hand quickly. He smelled of absolutely nothing, Ciel noticed with no small amount of bewilderment. A soft crushing noise came from the butler's closed fist. He then proceeded to walk to one of the potted plants by the door. Another crushing sound. The second bookshelf from the right out of a row that covered the whole left wall of the room. Another small potted plant by the windowsill.

"I had to take care of the bugs first," the butler said brightly upon returning to Sieglinde's side.

"Bugs," she repeated slowly. "That is very nice of you. But I don't recall ordering you to find them."

"I did it in your best interest, Mistress Sullivan," Sebastian said. "It is in my duty to serve you well."

Sieglinde raised her eyebrows suspiciously. "In your best interest, that's what you meant. Everything is."

Ciel was currently otherwise preoccupied. Why had his father kept bugs in this room? Surely he'd been aware of them? He'd think about it later. Right now Sieglinde and her butler needed his attention. He'd never seen anyone bicker with their butler with so much… ill-concealed hostility. "What is it you wanted to say before the interruption?"

The two of them turned their gazes to Ciel. The butler's was more piercing than the girl's, and Ciel found himself narrowing his eyes at the man. There was something about him that Ciel couldn't quite place.

"Sebastian knows the murderer," Sieglinde then said, and Ciel's eyes briefly snapped to her before they went back to the butler in alarm. "He's been trying to find him for a while now..."

"I don't want to hear it from you," Ciel cut in harshly. "I want to hear it from your butler. And you better give me a reason not to call the police on you."

After a nod from Sieglinde, Sebastian straightened his jacket and took a step forward so that he was standing right next to the girl. "The murderer is possibly named Claude Faustus. I say possibly because he changes names and his face. He may not even be in England anymore."

"How do you know this for certain?" Ciel asked. He would call detective inspector Abberline after this talk in case anything useful came out of the butler's mouth. The police had found nothing so far, only that the white eyes and the veins have been on other victims in the last month, too. They assumed this to be the making of a serial killer, or a group working together. If they found one, they'd find the rest. The only problem here was that this group was very good at hiding. They also were very good at getting into places they should never have gotten into, like the Phantomhive estate. In any case, even the slightest bit of a hint could help, so Ciel was obliged to listen to what Sebastian had to say. It was the least he could do.

"The victims of his kind look similar in death, for one," Sebastian said. Ciel could already tell that this man was someone who chose his words carefully. He didn't know either of these two, so how could he trust them? What if they were more involved than they let on? It was nice and well that Aunt Frances had a good relationship with Sieglinde's parents, but that didn't mean the girl was in any way trustworthy. To be honest, the level of trustworthiness was sinking with every word that came out of her butler's mouth.

"His kind?" Ciel questioned.

"They leave tracks that can be seen by people powerful enough," Sebastian went on. "We managed to find Claude's location the day before your parents died. He was in this noble establishment of yours."

Ciel snorted. Faintly. "And how would you find out something like that?"

"Well…" Sieglinde and Sebastian shared a long look. She seemed a little worried but his expression was unreadable. "I am a rather powerful witch. I can track demons in ways that they cannot."

Already his patience had been worn short. But Ciel remembered his aunt's words and counted to ten in his head. "A witch, you say," he muttered. "If I had known you were going to waste my time, I wouldn't have agreed to talk to you in private. I have family waiting for me."

"We are serious," Sebastian said quietly. Ciel could tell that he was faintly annoyed. Who'd given him the right? "The young lady is a witch. I am a demon as is Claude Faustus. We exist."

"Demons usually form contracts with humans," Sieglinde said. "Both of us bear signs of those contracts." She turned so that Ciel could see the skin behind her left ear. Indeed there was a black circle that looked riddled with many occultist signs. Sebastian took off one white glove in order to show Ciel the same tattoo in a larger scale on the back of his hand.

"Two similar tattoos are not going to make me believe you," Ciel said, noticing the sharpness in his voice. "I will no longer tolerate this farce. Please leave my house. Do not contact me again. I don't want to hear about your delusions."

Sieglinde, looking scandalized, opened her mouth to say something, but Sebastian touched her shoulder and led her to the door. "We apologize for upsetting you, Lord Phantomhive. We understand that it is a hard time for you, but there was no other way to approach you about this." He took a card from the inside pocket of his jacket and crossed the room to place it on Ciel's desk. The boy followed every single controlled movement up to where the butler not-so-subtly slid the card closer to Ciel. All that Ciel did in reply was to lean back in his seat, his gaze cold and his mouth a hard line. The butler didn't look any happier than him.

"While you may not wish for us to contact you, you may always contact us," Sebastian said. "I understand that our confession might have come sudden, but if you are willing to believe us, I am sure we can help you find the murderer."

"Leave," Ciel said tersely, "before I call the police."

Sebastian bowed, Sieglinde curtsied, and they left. Ciel remained in his father's study – which was now his, he assumed – and stared after them until they were long gone. He then put his head in his hands and put his elbows on the table, leaning over the smooth wooden surface. His gaze touched the rectangular card lying underneath him. Ciel studied the number on it for a long time. Despite the tension in their interactions, those two were friends when it came to their madness. Who had infested the other with it first, Ciel wondered.

After what must have been several minutes Ciel got up from his chair. His relatives were waiting for him, and he didn't want to disappoint.

Thanks for the comments on the prologue. This time you get a proper chapter! Don't forget to tell me what you think!

Also, updates should come Mondays or Tuesdays starting not tomorrow, but next week. See you in the next chapter.