Summary: Catherine has three earrings on her left ear which she refuses to take off. When Lizzie wonders why, Zanna tells her. Catherine interrupts and elaborates. This episode shows what happened to Catherine's past consorts and why she chose to contract Lizzie.

Elizabeth Middleford was curious. Extremely so. She discreetly glanced as her maid tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she tidied up the already clean room. Even her mother had asked Catherine about the piercings on her ear to which the maid politely and expertly deviated from the topic. There must be something special about those things. It was strange for any woman, much less a maid to have three earrings on one ear. Improper, even.

But she would not question her about it. That would be rude and unladylike of Lizzie. Besides, she might refuse and Lizzie didn't want to have to give her an order for this sort of thing. But she really wanted to know! So she did the next best thing. She called up Zanna for an unexpected afternoon tea. And here they were, chatting about something silly drivel…

'Catherine, prepare some tea and snacks for us, please.' Lizzie asked sweetly. Catherine smiled and bowed, leaving the room to do as her lady asked.

She frowned the moment she stepped out, displeased that Lizzie would not ask her queries directly. Catherine liked to think her relationship with Lizzie was an easier one than Sebastian's and Ciel's… which it was regardless. She sighed but planned out a menu as she headed for the kitchens. Lucky for her, Sebastian taught her how to cook. Meanwhile, Zanna pulled her feet up onto the chair excitedly.

'Go on, what's eating you?' the snake witch wondered, violet eyes sparkling.

'I wanted to ask you about Catherine's earrings. You always seem to know so much about her.' Lizzie said, cutting straight to the point lest her maid return too quickly.

Zanna grinned and tapped Lizzie's button nose playfully. 'I was with her for a long time, you'd know things if you had patience too… or if you have awesome spy skills, like me! Anyway, her earrings represent her consorts.' Zanna stated.

Lizzie's eyes widened. 'I thought Undertaker was her consort. She has more?!' The little girl asked disbelievingly.

'Of course not!' Zanna corrected hurriedly. 'She had previous consorts before him. When a consort dies, a witch can replace them with another, if she likes.' She told her.

Lizzie nodded her head in understanding and relief. So she wouldn't actually have to look around every corner of England like a paranoid fool searching for Catherine's consorts… 'So she had three before Undertaker?'

'Uh huh.' Zanna uttered with a smile. 'A little boy, a Japanese girl and a demon King.'

'I always find myself wondering how you manage to get your hands on these bits of information, Zanna.' Catherine spoke swiftly, entering the room.

Lizzie jumped at her voice. 'Catherine! I thought you were making tea!'

The demon maid chuckled. 'The other servants feel as if I might be monopolizing all the tasks you want completed so they forcefully took over for me. Sweet of them, now Zanna?' Catherine asked, a slightly demanding tone.

Zanna giggled nervously, toying with a lock of her lustrous hair. 'Sebastian tells me lots. I'm his kitty supplier.'

Catherine sighed with a certain tone. 'I knew that obsession was going to cost me something. Apparently it was my privacy.'

At this point, Lizzie felt guilty. 'Sorry, Catherine. I couldn't control my curiosity.'

Catherine blinked at her lady's apology, surprised. 'Then ask me, my lady.'

Lizzie stopped for a while, contemplating. Zanna sat comfortably, expecting a good story. 'Will you tell me about your past consorts, please?' Lizzie asked confidently, not a hint of hesitation.

Catherine smiled in approval. She always wished to see the strength of her apprentices for not one of her apprentices, previous or current, were weak. 'As my lady wishes.'

PART TWO(flashback)

A young demon witch ran through the woods. Her brother was on contract somewhere within the state, he chose to because she finally found a friend! It hadn't been very long since she left the village of her birth parents. Maybe a year. She was seven now. She was big enough to take care of herself during the day until her brother come back at night.

'Kara!' A little boy called to her. He had a shock of white hair but his eyes were as black as her midnight hair.

She never minded that name when he said it, he said her name so warmly. 'Wariea!' She called back happily, hugging him.

All the other kids in town avoided her, they heard rumours from the village. They thought she was a monster like her parents did. But Wariea lived in the forest, he had no parents to tell him she was a monster. When she found him she told him anyway but he didn't care. The kids didn't play with him either because he was an orphan boy. She loved him though.

'Let's go to our tree house!' He beamed at her brightly, pulling a giggling Kara with him.

She had made the tree house for them. She used her magic to untwist the tree trunk and make a room underground. She had thought he'd run away but he watched it like the other kids watched fireworks. He called her amazing. It had made her blush. He jumped into the hollow trunk and she jumped in after him. He was fearless. She loved that about him.

When they sat in the room on a bunch of blankets that made his bed, she turned to him with an anxious smile. 'Wariea, do you wanna be my consort?'

'What's that?' he asked, smiling though he was confused.

'A consort is like… a very important person to a witch like me. It means that we'll always be loyal to each other and protect each other forever…' She trailed, not sure how to explain it herself. In the next moment, she was tackled to the ground in a cosy hug.

'Sure! I'll always protect you, Kara! I wanna stay with you forever!' he promised childishly. But he meant every single word. The desires of a child are so pure… She hugged him back closely.

But everyone knows by now, a child's desires don't come true… they never do. So it was when one night, after sunset when they lost track of time, a common predator watched in the forest. Kara's scent was enticing it. And so taken in her joy of playing with Wariea, she didn't notice until, she strayed too close to its hiding spot.

The lynx roared as it leapt at her. But a rough impact made her fall to the left and Wariea took the beast's blow instead. She scrambled back and growled at the large cat, flashing her demon eyes dangerously. The predator fled, knowing this creature was a grave danger. The moment it left, she looked down at Wariea, smiling at her with his body torn up and blood splattered on his face, warm in the cold night.

'A good consort has to protect his witch.' He breathed slowly, his black eyes shining with tears. Kara's own tears fell on his cheek, mixing with his blood. Her magic was not strong enough to save him, not yet.

'I could've fought it!' she argued. And true, she very well could've but of course, she wouldn't have been unharmed.

'A good consort takes care of his witch first.' He said softly, ever innocent. Kara cried even harder.

'Don't go!' She begged him, her only friend, her first consort. She wished she hadn't filled his head and heart with all the stuff about being a consort.

'I'm sorry, Kara.' He smiled, twining his fingers with hers, wetting them with his blood. It was hurting him though to see her cry but he didn't have to energy to get up and hug her. He knew why and he cried too, quietly. 'I wanna stay with you forever.'

She stayed there and cried silently, only letting out quiet whimpers, audible only in the silence of the night. Her despair reached out and grabbed his soul as his fingers slackened their hold on her hand, storing it safely away. It wasn't long before Sebastian came, feeling his sister's deep distress. The demon stared at the mauled body of the little boy.

'Brother…' she looked up at him sadly. He held his arms out to her and she let him pick her up, carrying her back to their small home. That same night, he finished the contract and took her out of the country.

PART THREE(flashback)

Sebastian took her to Japan where he contracted another soul. This time, she changed her name. She couldn't bear if someone were to call her Kara after Wariea. Since she was in Japan, she called herself Kairi. She stayed like a hermit in the large feudal house Sebastian purchased, wandering its corridors or sitting at the edge of the garden, watching the cherry blossoms bloom and the carp in the pond swim peacefully.

She rarely went out. But she was adventurous by nature. She could not be tied down to one place. So she went to school. She looked about the right age. Just around thirteen or fourteen. She went to school. And she was picked on. She quickly decided she wasn't going to be the pitiful girl. She picked up her fists and sung them in rage. She wasn't much of a fighter without her magic though and she was reluctant to use that.

She didn't have to though, in a blur of skilled movement, her bullies were out cold on the ground and in the wake of destruction was a short red-haired girl, though you couldn't tell unless you had sharp eyes. She was quite the tomboy. She grinned like a fox and helped the demon witch from the ground. 'Hey, akuma.'

She froze instantly. 'What?'

'Demon. You were exactly like a demon the way you went at them. It was awesome.' The girl complimented. 'I'm Akane, your new school's resident ass-kicker.'

'My name's Kairi. I just moved here. My Japanese isn't very good.' She said apologetically, shy. She just got her ass saved by a human.

'That's okay. I can teach you! I'll teach you how to fight too, akuma!' Akane teased, blue eyes sparkling in mischief.

That was how it went. Kairi became close to Akane, after school, they'd go to Kairi's house and Akane would teach her the art of ass-kicking as she called it. And being a demon witch, Kairi learned fast. One day, they were trying on kimonos except Akane kept insisting on putting on Sebastian's. Kairi giggled as she hung up the kimonos, cutting her hand on the edge of the cupboard door.

She growled instinctively as her eyes flashed from her pitch black to her demon red. She stopped right then, realizing she wasn't alone. She looked up at a shocked Akane. Shit, she was never good at hiding her demonic tendencies. 'Yappari! I knew you were a demon!' Akane yelled triumphantly.

'Only half!' Kairi defended, trying to change her eyes back in her agitated state.

'Like I care!' The red head exclaimed, clasping Kairi's shocked face and crushing her lips to the demon witch's. After discussions and explanations, a week later, Akane became her new consort.

But everyone knows… young love never lasts long. But not in the way everyone assumes. On an autumn day, in a relatively peaceful Japan, Akane died of an undetectable virus. Kairi didn't even have a chance to save her consort. But she didn't give up. In her last moments, a shinigami appeared. 'Begone, you'll not devour this soul, demon.' A young man said, adjusting his glasses as he stared at her in disgust.

She growled at him. 'This is my consort, you bastard. I'm not going to let some shinigami prick reap my girl!' Her eyes flashed red as she protected a dying Akane from something the young girl couldn't see.

'Kairi, I'm dead anyway.' Akane muttered reassuringly.

'No!' Kairi denied, tossing a spell towards William. He was still a young shinigami. But his death scythe was just as dangerous as any other. She'd have to be careful. One little cut could reap Akane.

'You're obstructing me, abomination. Even the human has accepted her fate.' William said, irritated that he was being held up.

Kairi denied it over and over again as she fought off William. She knew she couldn't keep Akane alive forever. She wasn't trying to. She just needed to make sure the shinigami didn't get it. 'Hey, Akane, would you have stayed with me forever?' she asked, breathing heavily from fighting off William's attacks. He was young but talented.

'You know it, babe.' Akane breathed hoarsely, grinning just like she did when she first saved Kairi from those bullies. She closed her eyes.

That was permission right there. In just a quick moment, Kairi stole the soul and whisked it safely inside her for the time being. She flicked William on the forehead, grabbing away his glasses so that he was too blind to attack her. 'Sorry, shinigami. She's my consort. You can't have her.' Then she was gone.

PART THREE(I'm definitely not retyping the part I already wrote. Refer to previous chapter if you can't remember. I'm taking it as Catherine told them the whole thing.)

Catherine smiled gently as she tucked back her hair over her left ear and pointed to the silver studs and ring in turn, from the bottom to the top. 'Wariea. Akane. Dagon… Kara. Kairi. Kana. Their souls are contained inside my piercings along with the names I left behind. That's why I never take them off. My consorts stay with me forever, no matter the circumstance.'

'How do you even recover from losing so many consorts?' Lizzie asked quietly. The young Middleford knew if Ciel ever died, she'd never recover. Even Zanna was solemn.

'Very difficultly. Wariea died when I was seven, Akane when I was fourteen and Dagon… he was killed three days after I left hell, which was the same week I contracted to you Lizzie.' Catherine said honestly. She smiled at her apprentice then. 'But you know, you reminded me of Akane, the way you fought that night, so strong. In fact all my apprentices, including you, Zanna, remind me of Akane.'

'Is that why you contracted me?' Lizzie asked, eyes wide and glistening.

'Part of. But I can see Dagon in Ciel, the way he's gentle only with you. And I even saw Wariea in Finny who's so naïve and innocent and fearless. I see my consorts everywhere even when they're not alive.' The demon witch said dreamily but not wistfully.

'It sounds painful.' Zanna murmured, her violet eyes trained on her old teacher.

'It is, one learns to live with it. Pain is my constant companion. But I'll always have my consorts' souls. A small consolation so I can say that they really will be with me forever.' Catherine chuckled but there was no humour at all in her voice.

'Does Undertaker know?' Lizzie asked, thinking about the cheerful mortician.

'Oh, he knows. He placed his piercing just below my navel. If he dies, his soul will be contained in it forever.' Catherine said with a light voice but it turned hard swiftly. 'But I'm not keen on collecting another one of my consorts' souls. So fingers crossed, he doesn't die.'