A/N: This is so much later than it should be. Sumimasen!
The new school term started, so I hardly have the time or energy for something as tedious as proof-reading. T_T My new co-curricular schedule uses up four nights a week, not to mention homework (which I haven't actually done...)
So... updates will be slower, despite the fact that it's all written. I feel like such a failure D:
Anyway, enough of that, please try to forgive me and just enjoy the chapter! :]
Warning: High Voltage
Chapter Three – Answers
"Mr. Sebastian! We have caught the intruder! They've got her in the entrance hall!"
Sebastian looked up. He wasn't all that surprised at the capture, as whoever it was would have had to stay in one place for a while to hear Ciel's answer, then shatter the window and shoot the dart. But… 'her'? He didn't mean to be sexist, but it was surprising that the intruder was female. "That's wonderful," he replied pleasantly, not all that sure if the intruder was the one they were looking for, so he added; "If you don't mind, Mr. Agni, would you stay with the Young Master while I go see?"
A look of confusion crossed the Indian butler's face as he noticed Ciel, but thankfully he decided not to ask. "Of course!"
"You are most kind," Sebastian said sincerely, bowing before leaving the room and making his way down to the entrance hall. When he reached the last stair case, he found Mey-Rin at the top, scrubbing at what looked to be a fresh stain in the wood. How it got there, he didn't know, nor did he want to. However, he knew he would probably have to fix it himself sooner or later.
"Oh! Mr. Sebastian! We caught the intruder, yes we did!" she said, standing and rushing up to him.
"Yes, I heard. Thank you for your hard work," Sebastian answered, continuing down the stairs and leaving Mey-Rin blushing on the landing.
In the entrance hall, the first thing he saw was Prince Soma standing with his back turned to the stairs, his arms folded and his head high. Finny was standing nervously to the side, and even Bard had a look of apprehension on his face. As he neared them, he saw that Soma was standing in front of a chair, in which a young girl, probably not even in her twenties, was sitting, tied to it by thick ropes. She talked cheerfully up at what should have been an 'intimidating' figure.
"—And they taste a bit like raspberries. Or was it blueberries? I can never tell the difference between those two," she was saying.
Okay, this was certainly getting a bit… weird. She was relatively ordinary looking, with dark blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. However, despite being obviously female, she wore long black pants and a grey trench coat, which faintly reminded him of something.
"Ah! Sebastian!" Finny exclaimed, running over to him. "We caught the intruder, but…"
The girl looked over at the new arrival. "Oh, you're Sebastian. They kept mentioning your name, and I did wonder."
"…She keeps talking about stuff completely irrelevant," Bard finished Finny's sentence.
Sebastian gaze shifted to Prince Soma, who seemed to have an irritated expression frozen on his face. Suddenly, he snapped out of it, and looked around for Agni. Upon not seeing him anywhere, he turned to Sebastian. "Where is Agni?"
"I left him to protect the Young Master; this may not be the only intruder," Sebastian explained.
"It's rude to talk about someone who's sitting right in front of you, you know," the girl piped up. "And you needn't worry about any other intruders, I was the only one."
"Well, I don't wish to be rude and doubt you, but I have to make sure. Where did you put the two bodies?" Sebastian asked firmly.
Every head in the room looked at Sebastian, who was looking at the girl, who stared intently back at Sebastian.
"In the cellar and in the study," she answered, slowly and evenly.
Sebastian nodded. "So you're also the one who smashed the window a few minutes ago?"
The girl looked at her feet, as if ashamed. "Yes, I did. I was caught shortly after that."
His hand on his chin, Sebastian turned to the others. "Is this true?"
Finny answered. "Y-yeah! I saw a window smash from outside so I went to see what had happened, and I found her below it!"
"I see." Sebastian's eyes flicked back to the strange girl. "So do you work for the bishop? Or are you pretending to be the bishop?"
"Oh, I can't tell you that," she said, as if it were obvious. "I can only confirm what you already know, since it's pointless to deny the truth."
Soma looked at Sebastian, the irritated look back again. "Alright then," Sebastian replied patiently, bringing a hand to his chin. "Is the bishop the murderer?"
The girl looked as if she wanted to laugh. "Of course not! Goodness, I can't imagine him doing something even remotely violent! And though I often pretend to be other people, he is someone I would never even attempt!"
Everyone else stayed quiet, but Sebastian could see them exchanging glances out of the corner of his eye. He knew it probably wasn't logical to be interrogating the girl in front of them, but he knew they would refuse to leave. Well, Soma would.
"Then, are the victims—"
Bang! SMASH!
Everyone spun around in the direction of the stairs, except for the girl, who muttered "Oops, my bad," in a tone that the others wouldn't have heard. The noises overlapped each other, as if the first had caused the second, which was highly plausible.
Sebastian's thoughts quickly reverted to his earlier theory of an inhuman being involved, but they hastily flicked back to whatever might be happening upstairs. He had also heard something else the others hadn't; a frightened yell.
Sighing, the butler turned to Prince Soma, Bard, and Finny. "Stay here. I will be back shortly," he said firmly, bowing quickly but politely before taking off up the stairs.
"Mr. Sebastian! I think that came from the Young Master's room, yes I do!" Mey-Rin called out as he reached where he was still unsuccessfully scrubbing the wood. Sebastian merely nodded at her, and kept going until he was out of sight, before putting on some… well, you could call it demon speed, and he reached his Master's bedroom door within seconds.
Upon opening it, the first thing he saw was the mass of glass on the floor. Oh dear, was Sebastian's first thought. More mess to clean up. The next thing was Ciel standing kneeling at the end of the bed, pistol clutched in his hands, his arms outstretched towards the window. He seemed unharmed other than the fact that he was once again panting and quivering. And finally, Agni was simply standing next to the bed, looking quite shocked.
"Ah, Young Master, I see you have risen," Sebastian said, as if nothing was wrong.
Ciel turned and glared at him as he lowered the gun.
"He just suddenly woke up and shot the window!" Agni explained in bewilderment, looking desperately at Sebastian.
"Oh, did he now? Young Master, please explain your actions," Sebastian requested sternly.
"Quit it, Sebastian," Ciel demanded, annoyed by the 'everything is normal' behaviour of his butler. He slid off the bed and replaced the gun to its home under his pillows. "There was someone there, alright? But they… disappeared."
Agni's head flicked to look at Ciel, then say to Sebastian, "I didn't see anyone..."
Sebastian looked carefully at his master, who was staring back intently, and it seemed as if they were both thinking the same thing.
"By the way, didn't I order you to stay by my side until the intruder was found?" Ciel reminded him.
Sebastian bowed. "Yes, you did, my Lord, but we have found them now."
Ciel's brow furrowed further, as he glanced back at the window. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, she knows about things only the intruder could know," Sebastian confirmed. Ciel's eyebrow raised at the pronoun 'she', but he nodded nonetheless, and Sebastian turned to Agni. "Mr. Agni, you may go downstairs now, me and the Young Master will be down shortly.
Agni looked uncertainly at Ciel. "Are you sure you need no more rest, Master Ciel?"
"I'm fine, now go," Ciel sighed rather rudely. Agni bowed, and left. Sebastian shut the door shut behind him, and Ciel continued. "What does she know?"
"She knew where the bodies were, and she was found underneath the window she shattered, though I'm certain she didn't shatter it that finely with just a dart," Sebastian reported as he straightened his master's hair and clothing. Ciel nodded in indication for him to continue. "She's refusing to answer outright questions, but apparently will confirm what we already know. She says it definitely isn't the bishop."
Ciel frowned. "Is that all?"
Sebastian smiled. "There was not much time between my arrival in the hall and you shooting the window. Rather loudly, might I add?"
Scowling, Ciel crossed to the door. "I wish to interrogate her myself."
"Yes, my Lord." Sebastian bowed.
They reached the entrance hall, and the girl looked over Ciel once before smiling zanily. Ciel looked back at her, and was faintly surprised to see the same girl who had appeared at his window minutes previously. It didn't make any sense. Then again, having a demon as a butler didn't make much sense, either, really.
"Everyone," Sebastian announced. "The Young Master would like to interrogate our uninvited guest privately, so if you could help move her into a more suitable place, it would be a great help."
Finny instantly saluted and picked up the chair by its leg with one hand. "Yes sir! Where would you like it?"
"It? What am I, an object?" the girl said indignantly, suddenly looking quite wary.
Sebastian looked questioningly at Ciel, who thought about a good place to interrogate. Somewhere with no windows would be preferable, since the girl seemed to have either a twin or a duplicate – either was possible in this kind of scenario. His first thought was the cellar, before he remembered the mutilated corpse.
"The billiards room," he decided, since it was right in the middle of the manor, and therefore had no windows.
"Yes, sir!" Finny repeated, saluting again with his other hand, before taking off up the stairs. The girl still looked rather disgruntled.
Bard went back to the kitchen, and Sebastian managed to get Soma and Agni to wait for himself and Ciel in the parlour. They then followed Finny's path up the stairs to the billiards room.
"What do you think, Young Master?"
"It's strange. Her attire, her attitude, not to mention that it was her face I saw in the window. There's definitely something off," Ciel pondered.
"You're quite right, my Lord. There is something... off."
"Her clothes remind me of a Shinigami, are you sure she isn't one of them?"
It struck Sebastian that his master had made the connection quicker than he had himself. However, according to her eyes, which were hazel, rather than two rings of green. "I'm certain she isn't. If she was we'd have another Grell Sutcliff-like character on our hands..."
They both shuddered at the thought.
"...One is enough."
"Yes. One is definitely enough, my Lord."
They reached the billiards room to see Finny dutifully standing and waiting next to where he had placed the chair in the middle of the room, having moved the billiards table out of the way.
"Thank you, Finny, you can go now," Sebastian said to him.
"Not a problem!" Finny replied gleefully, saluting and bouncing out the door.
Sebastian shut and locked said door, while Ciel stood in front of and examined the girl, who examined Ciel with the same amount of interest. Silence ensued.
"You know, you recovered from that dart awfully quickly, for such a midget," the girl remarked, breaking the silence.
Now it was Ciel's turn to look indignant. "Don't call me that," he instructed. "It might affect your fate."
"Ooh," the girl replied, pretending to be intimidated. "I'd better not then. Your name is Ciel Phantomhive, isn't it? Or do you want me to call you 'Dear Earl Phantomhive'?"
Ciel didn't answer, nor did he respond in any kind of way. Instead, he turned to Sebastian. "Call the Yard. It'll take them a good couple of hours to get here, which is enough time for us."
Bowing, Sebastian crossed the room to the phone on the table, and promptly dialled the number for Scotland Yard.
"The Yard? As in the Scotland Yard? Oh, you're not calling the police on me, are you?" the girl asked diffidently.
Ciel smirked at the fact that she was finally showing a little submission. "We are, so if you have anything you need to say, you'd best say it now."
She let out a long gust of breath. "Alright, I guess I have no choice. I didn't count on being caught, so I didn't consider arrest. It would be pointless hassle..."
Ciel didn't bother telling her that she would probably be taken into custody for involvement, anyway.
"We'll start with my name, since I already know yours, Ciel Phantomhive. I'm Seven."
The statement sounded strange, as if she was telling him her age, not her name. He suspected an alias, before he remembered what he had said yesterday; "The first murder occurred on the eighth. Fifty-six divided by eight equals seven." He looked over at Sebastian, who had just put down the phone. His expression reflected Ciel's emotion.
"Young Master," he said. "Lord Randall and Mr. Abberline are on their way, despite how much they'd rather not have to visit."
"Good." Ciel turned back to the girl. "Seven, hmm? Tell me who you work for."
Seven sighed. "I'll tell you, but if you don't catch him things will probably end badly for me, so make sure you do."
Ciel smirked. "Oh, don't worry about that."
"If you say so, Ciel Phantomhive, then I won't. His name is Robert Coiler, and he's the head bishop's secret apprentice," she answered. Though Ciel couldn't be sure if she was lying or not, she seemed to be pretty serious, and it was all they had for new information
So, naturally, he clung to it.
"Secret apprentice?"
"Yep. No one really knew about him. The bishop is getting on in age, you see. He's also a proud man, so he doesn't want the church's members to know that he's training someone to take over for him," Seven explained, looking up calmly into Ciel's eyes.
"And so he knows about the murders?" Ciel enquired, his eyes narrowing and his brow furrowing more by the second.
"Oh, Lord no. If he knew, he'd probably drown poor Robert in holy water."
"...I see."
The interrogation continued for a while, and even though the information might have all been a lie, they gathered quite a lot of it.
For starters, they now knew the name of the killer (if 'Seven' was telling the truth, of course). They also found out that a lot of people had wanted 'purifying', so the head bishop had passed the workload onto Robert Coiler. Coiler, who had a grudge against the Queen for letting the East End become how it was – as he had grown up on the streets there – had decided to take the opportunity to get the attention of the rumoured 'Queen's Watchdog', and had successfully done so. He had apparently always been more into science than the concept of God, but had joined the church for the free lodgings. Seven didn't know how he killed, but she helped him move the bodies and did the dirty work for him, since he had saved her from over a decade of slavery three years ago.
"Pardon me asking, but if he saved you, why are you telling us all this? Shouldn't you be more loyal to your benefactor?" Sebastian questioned politely.
She eyed Sebastian, who was standing dutifully behind Ciel, who was now seated in a large, regal arm chair. The picture of loyalty. She chuckled under her breath. "I learnt not to care about anyone," she remarked, still grinning. "No matter what they do for me, no matter what care they give me, I cannot care for them. I literally can't, it's in my nature to be apathetic towards all human beings."
Ciel narrowed his eyes again, for he had only just opened them properly after listening to the answer from her last question. Instead of pursuing the current subject, he asked another question. "Do you know where Mr. Robert Coiler is now?"
Seven smiled. "Yes."
Sebastian looked down at Ciel, who looked up at him. The exchange of glances told them that if she was to lead them into a trap, this would be the time to do it. They were mutually interested in what she had planned.
"He's in the East End. He's been staying in a pub there ever since he killed the first person. We used the excuse that he was sick, so the stupid bishop gave the assignments to me. Of course, this was the plan, and I've just been passing them on."
The East End? It certainly sounded more than suspicious. "Do you know the name of the pub? What he looks like?"
"I'm not really one to pay attention to detail, but it's somewhere in the middle. Something to do with knives. As for appearance, he has red hair and a goatee. That's all you need to know, really, isn't it?"
Ciel and Sebastian looked at each other again. Ciel was about to say something else to Seven, but was interrupted by a sharp knock at the door.
"Young Master Ciel? Mr. Sebastian?" Mey-Rin's nervous voice called through the keyhole. "Some men from the Yard have arrived, yes they have!"
Sighing, Ciel stood. "Well, I suppose that's enough to go on for now," he said in a slightly bored tone, while Sebastian unlocked the door.
"What's with that! No 'thank you' or anything?" Seven complained.
Ciel ignored her, and walked past Mey-Rin into the hall.
Though the Yard wasn't very happy about having to come out to the Phantomhive manor, they were intrigued by Seven, and confirmed that Robert Coiler had been reported missing by several residents of the church, despite the fact that his existence was meant to be a secret. They were shocked by the bodies in the cellar and the study, but Seven reluctantly admitted to placing them there after a sharp look from Sebastian. Ciel could tell that Lord Randall was slightly disappointed that Ciel was innocent yet again.
After a small bit of discussion, Lord Randall decided to take Seven in for further questioning, so they untied her from the chair and put her into handcuffs. Which she didn't seem pleased about, though she did seem pleased being able to move her arms at least a little more. Then, without another word, they left, and seemed more than happy to be doing so.