Grell
Author's Note: My previous lack of updates on this is due to the fact that I moved this story to Wattpad, where you can vote for it in the Watty Awards: wattpad (dot)com /story/1342048-kuroshidrago-the-karrucci-affairs-kuroshitsuji
"To Your Majesty, Queen Cersei of the Dragon Kingdoms
The residents of the Phantomhive household will be on vacation. Our young master has fallen ill and we wish to get him outdoors before something terrible befalls him. Please take this as a mandatory leave of absence.
Sincerely,
Sebastian Michaelis."
Ronald ran his fingers through his blonde and black hair as he admired the letter. He smiled deviously as he kissed his copy of the forged documentation that was now in the queen's possession, "it's amazing, isn't it? I sound just like you!" he said happily.
Sebastian was rubbing his bruised hand and he muttered, "You sound nothing like me."
Out of the blue, an exuberant man with long red hair and square framed glasses jumped out shouting joyfully and twirling, "welcome aboard the SS Gravemind!"
He shook hands with Ashuton and Ciel and ruffled their hair.
"Thank you for giving us access to your ship, Master Grell," said Ciel.
"Ohhhhhhh, this is just another act of my kindness," Grell bared his wolf-like teeth in a crooked smile.
"He scares me," Ashuton uttered in fear.
"There's nothing to fear about Grell," Ronald appeared behind the dragonboy, "Gell is just…misunderstood."
"Why do you wear those weird purple spectacles?" Ashuton asked Ronald.
"Purple? I thought they were black."
Grell turned away and, with an exuberant smile, asked Sebastian, "how is your hand treating you?"
There was no reply from Sebastian except an irritated sigh. He certainly was one hell of a butler, and if it weren't for that, they would not be on Grell's ship. He had to pummel the Shinigami into a corner in the backstreets of Somerset just to get him to comply. Grell tried to weasel his way from Sebastian but resulted in his left arm being severed by his own chainsaw, and maiming Sebastian's hand in the process. Grell would heal easily due to his youth. Sebastian, on the other hand…let's just say he takes a little more time to heal.
Grell walked to his office quarters and examined the map of Vaes Dothrak. Being a Shinigami of Death and captain of the SS Gravemind was a special job he did not take lightly. He was serious in his work and the safety of his crew members.
He burst out of the room, waving the map and shouting, "DIVERT COURSE! DIVERT COURSE!"
"What is wrong?" asked the lady at the wheel, Madame Red.
"Shhhh!" Grell's anxiety began to build. He squeezed the map hard as the ship began to rock uneasily.
"What is it?" asked Ciel, "is there something in the water?"
Grell stood frozen and slowly nodded.
Words leaked from his mouth in an utterance that was barely audible, "…gr-gr-gr-gravemind…dwells here…"
Sebastian glared at the sky, watching intently.
Ronald felt a strong pang in his head, which made him fall to his knees.
"Aaarrghhh…do you feel that, Grell?" he asked through the pain, "it's a slipspace rupture!"
William T. Spears, a fair-haired man with black spectacles, rushed out of Grell's office. He ran towards the railing and peeked over. The sea looked calm but the ship kept rocking.
"What do you suppose is under there?" he asks Grell, whom is still frozen.
"Gravemind…Gravemind…Gravemind…" he keeps muttering, not believing he trespassed into such dangerous territory.
Ashuton walked to the railing, grasping the bars with his little hands. The seas call to him with words only he can hear, words that reverberate through his mind.
Do not be afraid. I am peace; I am salvation.
Ashuton repeated the words aloud, monotonously, "I am peace. I am salvation."
Side by side we march as one.
He repeated the words, "Side by side, we march as one."
Ronald, Grell and William quickly turned their heads towards the boy. They knew the words from an enemy they had once battled. Sebastian kept his eyes on the sky. He knew what would happen next.
Humans and Shinigami will die. Earth will fall swift and quick. And so forth shall all of life.
"Humans and Shinigami will die," Ashuton tightened his grip on the bars, "Earth will fall swift and quick. And so forth shall all of life."
"Ashuton?" Ciel, his face striken with horror and fear, stepped towards his friend.
Ashuton looked back, his eyes bright green and his expression full of anger.
"I am a monument to all of your sins!" He quickly went into defensive mode as silky tentacles began to slither up into the boat.
Grell screamed, "NOT THIS HORROR AGAIN!"
Sebastian acted fast. With blinding speed, he ran to Ciel and threw him out of the way as a large tentacle smashed its way onto the boat.
William withdrew his sword and sliced through the tentacle with horrifying force. Madame Red ran from her station and hid inside Grell's room. The ship was overtaken by the tentacles, seizing Grell, Sebastian, Ciel, Ronald and everyone else aboard. It held them upside down like playthings.
Ronald's glasses had fallen and shattered. He shouted through a barrage of stammered words, "H-h-h-h-ow the hell is the G-g-g-g-Gravemind in Westeros?"
"That slipspace rupture delivered more than just a few thousand dragons," Sebastian said seriously, "it seems we've hit another roadblock."
"Ashuton!" Ciel called to his friend, "stop this madness!"
"The Gravemind is not his to control," said Sebastian, "they are brothers in the same grave, forged into the lineage at the Installation of Cantebury."
"And how do you know this?" asked William.
"I'm getting dizzy!" whined Ronald.
The waters began to bubble from the extreme heat that this strange new foe was emitting. As a team of smaller tentacles began to wrap around Ashuton, he shouted to his captive friends, "I WILL NOT LET YOU LEAVE THIS ISLAND!"
He was whisked away, dragged into the sea.
"No!" Ciel struggled under the strength of the tentacles, and when Ashuton was long gone from his reach, everyone was released. They hit the deck of the ship, most of the crew suffering minor injuries.
Ronald sensed another slipspace rupture.
"Urrgghh…it's happening again…a portal opened on the coast." He said.
"I know how this plays out," said Sebastian. He turned to Ciel and said, "Young Master, our meeting with Narcissus will have to wait. That begrudging Gravemind has our key."
"He wants us to go after him, doesn't he?" asked Ciel, dreading such a dangerous mission.
Sebastian replied, "Yes, in the ruins of Old Dragosaeya, I believe."
Grell flustered, "what? That floating deathtrap?" he muttered to himself, "what have I been dragged into?"