Summary: Ciel and Lizzie both were introduced to the Phantomhive underground contacts as children but both reacted rather differently…
When Ciel first went with his father to see the Undertaker, he had thought the man was definitely insane and creepy. He made a point to hide behind his father's legs while he told the joke, cowering even more as he watched the man laugh wildly. Undertaker noticed of course, the little boy with a pure soul. He leaned against one of his coffins and stuck a bone cookie into his mouth.
'So tell me, Earl, why would you bring your dear son to this place?' The shinigami asked.
'He'll be coming to you one day too, Undertaker. Best to introduce him.' Vincent said after the mortician recovered from his laughing fit. 'Say hello, Ciel.'
Undertaker giggled and bent down to the boy who froze instantly. He smelled like fear. It made the old shinigami rather pleased. He reached out his hand and stroked Ciel's face, his nails trailing on the soft skin before he grinned wildly. The boy stiffened but took a deep breath and almost glared at the Undertaker. 'Hello, Mr. Undertaker.'
Undertaker howled with laughter, making the child cringe. The shinigami leaned in again. 'Don't like me, eh?'
Emboldened by his feeble greeting, Ciel shook his head resolutely, indicating that no, he didn't like Undertaker. Not one bit. 'Undertaker.' Vincent groaned tiredly. Why must this man do that on purpose?
'Relax, earl! It's not like I'm going to dissect him…' Undertaker giggled, eating another cookie. Ciel frowned, not liking the sound of that word he clearly didn't know. But he didn't ask either, his eyes were fixated on the urn with the cookies. Suddenly, one of those cookies was thrust before his face. 'Want it?'
Ciel took the cookie and ate it messily. He beamed into a wide smile, enjoying it thoroughly. 'Thank you!' He chimed, getting over his fear instantly. After all, a bad man wouldn't have given him such a tasty cookie. Undertaker smirked and snatched at the boy suddenly. Ciel bolted with wide eyes into a coffin, so quickly, the lid shut on him, making him yelp. He didn't make any further fuss though.
Vincent glared at the Undertaker accusingly. 'Didn't you come for some information, earl?' He deviated instead, forcing Vincent to come with him to view the bodies of the victims.
Ten minutes later, Vincent came out and gestured to the coffin where Ciel was still in. Undertaker giggled happily and opened the heavy lid easily, only to reveal a boy, sleeping peacefully in the casket way too big for him. Vincent smiled and picked up his son, awakening the boy whose eyes opened all the way, seeing that grinning undertaker. Vincent didn't waste time, almost rushing out the door.
'Thanks for the information, Undertaker.' Vincent called back.
'Anything for the earl!' He laughed, his tone exceedingly high. 'Perhaps you'll bring your son back for a proper fitting!'
On the other hand, it was Lizzie who imposed into the Undertaker's shop. It was not her father's intention to bring her to meet the Undertaker so early but the little girl had been interested and the Marchioness had spoken in her favour. Which basically meant, forced her husband to take his daughter. It was Lizzie who set foot first into the shop, followed by her father. The man called out gingerly but no creepy laughter came.
Lizzie wandered, looking at the organs in the jars. They looked like pickles to her. But she knew better, her mother trained her to recognize all the vitals in the body, all the targets to kill someone. A haunting laughter came out at the front as she picked up a small sized skull in her hands. She walked out, her tiny fingers holding onto the cleaned bone.
'Hello, Undertaker, sir.' She greeted cheerily and the man spun around, shocked. His smile dominated his face soon after, crouching to her height.
'Hello there, dear. The Marquis was just telling me he brought someone to see me. Not many people can sneak up on me. And who might you be?' He asked, putting his hands over hers, holding the skull with her.
She smiled sweetly at the strange man, her bright eyes shining. 'I'm Elizabeth Middleford, Ciel's fiancée. One day, I'll be the wife of the Queen's Watchdog!' She cheered, thoroughly pleased by her statement. The shinigami laughed openly but she merely giggled.
'I see. Now… what's this you're holding?' he asked with a tremor of laughter in his voice. Her face became pleasantly confused.
'Can't you see?' she wondered, shifting the skull to one hand before slipping her own hand from beneath his and swept up his bangs, stunning him with her bold actions.
'Lizzie!' Her father called, stepping a step forward.
'You have pretty eyes! Can you see now?' She asked, holding up the skull between them, guiding his hands. 'It's the head of a child.'
'Indeed, my dear.' He said, watching as she stroked the bone tenderly. What an interesting little girl…
'We must be going now, Lizzie.' The knight said, hoping to avoid any more of his daughter's bold moves.
'Yes, Father.' She sang, slipping out her other hand to leave the skull in the shinigami's hands. She skipped past the mortician and took her father's hand while the man bade Undertaker farewell. She looked back at the silver-haired man and waved happily with the delighted thought of a new friend.
Ciel and Lizzie had actually met Lau and Ranmao together at a meeting in the Phantomhive Manor. Frances left Lizzie to mingle as she spoke with her brother. Ciel was much less timid, being in his own house and quickly walked over to the pair while Lizzie talked awhile with the also present Undertaker. Ciel didn't particularly feel like dealing with the frightening mortician.
'Hello, I'm Ciel!' He said happily, smiling at the two. Lau bent down to the young boy and released a slow breath of smoke to the boy's face. Ciel sniffed it gingerly before coughing a little. It smelled bad.
'Hello! You're the earl's son. Isn't he just adorable, Ranmao?' Lau drawled, smiling at the confused boy. Ranmao moved her blank golden eyes to the boy and without hesitation, she picked him up, hugging his gently to her chest.
It was… a highly embarrassing moment, seeing as she sort of nuzzled him close to her well-endowed breasts, her eyes slightly soft, filled with a longing no one but Lau could see. No one knew but Ranmao was a creature that was cursed to share Lau's immortality. The kind of immortality that caused her to be barren.
'Cute.' She said quietly. She didn't even notice Ciel's feeble struggle for air. Lizzie skipped over, hoping to at least free Ciel who was obviously uncomfortable. True enough, when Ranmao put him down, he fled back to his mother who was speaking to her red-haired sister about the latter's pregnancy.
'Well, if it isn't another cute child. A girl too!' Lau chimed, looking down at Elizabeth. The girl took a breath and in the best Chinese she could offer, she introduced herself. Lau opened his eyes slightly, the deep brown twinkling.
'Mei li de xiiao niu hai…' He spoke softly, seeing if she would understand. She blushed happily and beamed. He just referred to her as a pretty little girl.
'Xie xie.' She thanked him and Ranmao's still eyes gazed at the knowledgeable young Middleford.
'Ke ai.' She murmured, saying the exact same thing she said about Ciel. Children were so cute. She crouched down suddenly to Lizzie while the little girl spoke to Lau in her basic Chinese. The movement startled her so much she spun to face Ranmao and in doing so, scratched her with her ring.
'Sorry!' She blurted immediately, holding onto Ranmao's arm tightly in fear and panic. The woman blinked slowly, she hadn't even felt the scratch. Lau watched on, amused. Lizzie waited. Ten seconds passed. The poison in the ring should've killed her at five. She let go of the woman's arm and gave her a kiss on the cheek before talking with Lau again.
But she wouldn't forget how the quiet Asian woman survived a fatally toxic poison. Just like how Ranmao wouldn't forget the innocent, affectionate kiss Lizzie had bestowed upon her.