~Princess Of Red~
A new presence had been sensed and the group was already on it's trail, so imagine their surprise when they find a humongous stone tower right in the middle of the forest. It resembled the one from Rapunzel, as it only had one window at the very top. "What the-"
The group had known that the spirits were strange, but they had no idea that they were capable of building such structures. Anything was possible, they presumed. "Alright, so what are we supposed to do over here?" Ciel asked.
Sieglinde took a second to examine the tower. "I'm not sure. There doesn't seem to be anyone here."
"Well, maybe they're hiding up in the tower." Alois suggested.
The four of them looked up and waited to see if anyone would peak out of the window. When no one did, they were starting to wonder what they were doing there in the first place. "Maybe we have to go inside." Lizzie thought.
Alois stepped up to the tower. "Well, let's try it."
He was about to try climbing the tower. "HALT!"
Alois quickly backed away as some sort of sword was pointed at him, and he went back to the group. They could make out two people, both dressed up as knights. One of them had black, slicked back hair and was wearing black rimmed glasses with a stoic expression. The other had blonde hair with the same type of glasses, except he seemed more laid back than the other knight. The one with the stoic expression adjusted his glasses.
"We are the Silver Knights in charge of guarding the Princess of Red. No one is to free, eherm, her while we're here."
The group looked up to find a person with long red, spiky hair and glasses peaking out of the window, wearing a red dress and a golden princess tiara. "Has my prince finally come for me?"
Once he, judging by the Knight implying that she wasn't really female, looked down at the group of four, his smile turned into a grimace. "Ugh, it's just a bunch of kids. I was hoping for a handsome prince."
Ciel only rolled his eyes. "Alright then, if you don't want us to rescue you, then we'll all just leave!" He yelled.
He turned to the rest of the group. "Come on, let's go."
The rest of them followed. "W-W-Wait! Don't go anywhere! I-If you rescue me, you can have all the candy you want! We have lots of it!"
Ciel turned around and smirked. "Alright, we're listening."
The stoic one pointed his sword, which actually turned out to be hedge clippers. "We will have none of that! We have strict orders from the Queen of Red to not let her out until she finishes her paperwork."
"But I don't wanna do my paperwork!"
The stoic Knight turned to him. "Too bad! It is your job as Reaper Princess to get it done on time, and yet you still slack off!"
Just then, something occurred to Alois. "Reapers? Wait a second, would you lot happen to be Grim Reapers?"
The laid back one nodded. "Yup. We're the Reaper Royal Guard, and we've been put in charge tonight."
Now, it was Ciel's turn to ask a question. "Who is this Queen of Red that put you in charge of this?"
"Oh, her? She's not a Reaper, but she is in charge of the Princess. She can be a pretty strict most of the time."
Ciel nodded. "Interesting. I would like to meet this Queen of Red."
"And why exactly would you want to do that?" The stoic Reaper asked.
"Well, if we want to make arrangements to let the Princess free, then wouldn't it be best to talk to the one who created this scenario in the first place?"
"The Queen isn't here right now, and she won't be back until later."
"But, there are trick-or-treaters in this forest for the first time in many years, I believe. Wouldn't it make sense that she would be here to greet us?"
Both Reaper Knights knew that Ciel spoke the truth, but the stoic one stood his ground. "It does not matter what her intentions are. She is not here, so there will be no negotiations."
"Oh William, you're so cruel!" The Princess shouted from the tower. "You are too Ronald, for taking his side!"
"Hey, I didn't even say anything!" The laid back one, Ronald, yelled.
Ciel sighed. "Right, anyway, do you have any specific idea of when she might get back?"
"Our Queen may come back whenever she pleases."
"Oh my dear rescuers, you are no handsome prince, but you are my only hope for freedom! Please rescue me from the tower, I beg of you!"
Ciel had a plan brewing. "I apologize, but we cannot do so! These knights have already informed us of the situation and we can advance no further! We are sorry to have taken up your time!"
The red headed princess only slumped down with his arms hanging out of the castle window. However, Ciel turned back to him and winked, and suddenly, a new surge of hope went through him. He was about to shriek with joy, when Ciel put a finger over his mouth, reminding the princess to keep quiet, or else ruin the plan.
"Alright everyone, we need to think of a plan to free him from the tower." Ciel said, ready to get the meeting started.
"I could use my magic as a distraction." Sieglinde pointed out.
"And for a simple escape, we could use my cape for the Princess to jump on." Alois suggested.
"Are you sure that will be alright? He could probably get injured like that." Lizzie said.
Alois only laughed. "This entire costume is made from the most durable fabrics, so the cape and the Princess will both be just fine."
Ciel nodded. "Alright, if we can get the Princess to jump and get away quickly, then we have our escape plan."
The group looked in the direction they came and then they advanced towards the tower.
The group peaked out of the bushes and saw the two Reaper Knights guarding the tower as they were supposed to, not detecting anything strange at all. In fact, the laid back one, Ronald, yawned a little. "Alright, let's go. Sieglinde, you're up. The rest of us will head around, towards the tower."
The young witch saluted. "You've got it."
Ciel, Alois, and Lizzie made their way around, while Sieglinde stayed behind. She took a deep breath in and out. She started chanting a magical incantation under her breath and it only got louder and louder. Meanwhile, as the Knights were doing their job, they could see a huge shadow slinking out from inside the darkness. It looked to be the shadow of some sort of cat.
"What is that?" Ronald asked, seeming surprised for once.
William scowled at the creature. "I don't know, but we have do drive it away!"
Ronald nodded. "Right!"
Just then, the shadow of a giant bird swiftly appeared behind Ronald. He turned and his expression turned to one of shock and surprise. "WHAT THE-"
He managed to duck in time as the bird was about to take him out with it's claws. The two Reapers stood back to back, ready to fight the shadows off. As this was going on, the other three in the group were sneaking around and saw what was happening. They could see the illusions as clearly as the Reapers could, but they knew that the were only illusions created by Sieglinde and they couldn't actually hurt anyone. They just had to hurry before the Reapers figured that out.
They hurried around to the front of the tower, carrying Alois's cape with them. Once they were in front, they held onto the cape and made it like a trampoline. "Psst, Princess!" Lizzie whisper yelled.
The red head appeared at the window and saw the fighting going on. He also saw that he could now escape, plain and simple. He smiled wide, revealing teeth sharpened to a point, and eagerly jumped, landing safely on the cape. They quietly dragged the princess into the forest so he wouldn't be spotted. They made their way over to where Sieglinde was and pulled her along with them.
As the Reaper Knights were fighting the shadows, they were a bit surprised to watch them all suddenly disappear. They looked around to see if there was anymore if them, but they couldn't find any. "That was...strange." Ronald commented.
"WHAT WAS THAT!"
The two Reaper Knights turned to see a woman giving them cold, hard stares. William tensed a little, but nevertheless, kept his stoic demeanor. "Those were shadows who attacked us, so we merely fended them off."
"FOOLS!" The woman yelled. "Those were not shadows! Those were illusions meant to keep you at bay while the Princess escaped!"
Both of the Knight's eyes widened, and they immediately got on their hands and knees and bowed. "We apologize, your majesty. We will find them right away."
She scoffed. "I guess I had better go with you to make sure that you don't mess this up."
The Reaper Knights stood. "Of course, my lady."
"I'm free! I'm free! I can't believe it! I'm free! I can do anything now!"
The group of friends watched as the newly freed Reaper Princess kept dancing around with joy. "Yes, you are free now. So, about that candy you promised us." Ciel pointed out.
The Reaper froze and then turned to them. "Oh, well, about that, you see, I only said all that so I could be freed. Well, goodbye."
He was about to turn around and leave, but Ciel grabbed some of his long red hair, preventing him from doing so. "Oh, I don't think so. You are not going anywhere without the candy you promised us. Of course we could just return you to your tower if you wish."
"N-N-No, please don't do that!" The princess then sighed. "The truth is, I don't have any candy. The Queen took it all so that I couldn't have trick-or-treaters this year."
Ciel sighed, realizing he had no other choice. He let the princess's hair go. "Alright, candy or not, you are free to go."
The Princess turned to him with a huge, glowing smile. "Do you mean it?"
Ciel sighed and nodded. "Oh yay! I can't wait to go everywhere and do everything!"
"Not so fast, Grell!"
The red headed princess in question's expression turned to one of shock. The same Reaper Knights from before were standing with a woman, who had bright red, short hair and red lipstick, accompanied by a red dress and a golden crown. They assumed that she must be the Queen of Red. However, something about this woman struck some chords inside of Lizzie. She couldn't explain it, but something about this woman felt, well, she couldn't find the word.
"The Princess of Red has important work that she needs to be doing, so you trick-or-treaters can't just come along and remove her from it!"
Ciel blinked. "You do know that the princess is not female, right?"
The princess, Grell, scowled. "How dare you!"
The Queen sighed. "That is not relevant. We only need her back at the tower."
"But Your Majesty, it's Halloween! This is the one night of the year when we all want to celebrate! If I miss just one year, I think I might as well DIE!"
"He does have a point, you know." Ciel pointed out.
After a minute of silence and thought, the Queen of Red finally gave in. "Oh all right, but tomorrow, it's back to work."
The princess cheered. "Oh thank you, Your Majesty!"
The Queen turned to the group and smiled. "As for you four, isn't there something you would like to say?"
"Trick-or-Treat!" They held out their pillows and the Queen of Red gave out the candy.
As the group was walking, Lizzie felt uneasy. Now that she had time to think about it, she realized why the woman made her feel as if there was something different about her. The woman looked familiar, like someone she had known before. "Um, hey everyone?"
That got the attention of the others. "What is it?" Sieglinde asked, still feeling a little light headed from the spell earlier.
"Um, that Queen of Red...did she look...familiar to any of you?"
"Why would she? We've never met her before." Alois noted.
"Yes well...it's just that she looks a lot like, uh...Madame Red."
As soon as the name was uttered, the rest of the group stood in silence. "...Come to think of it..." Ciel muttered.
"...She actually did look a lot like her." Alois finished.
"She did look a lot like those pictures you showed me." Sieglinde added.
Madame Red was Ciel and Lizzie's aunt, and Alois also thought of her as such. Sieglinde had never actually met her, but she had heard the story of what happened. Madame Red turned out to have been killing prostitutes, much like Jack the Ripper, a famous villain from the Victorian Era. She had gotten killed by her own accomplice after refusing to kill Ciel and Lizzie.
"D-Do you think that maybe...Maybe that was Madame Red?"
A chill went down Ciel's spine, but nevertheless, the held his ground. "Who knows? Let's just keep going."
And so the fearless group kept on traveling into the night.