Hello again, everybody! I apologize for the gap in between updates, and hope that this chapter makes up for it in part. Enjoy the story!

Dr. Aria Sinclair had a spring in her step as she hopped the last stairs up to the doors of the Royal London Hospital. The weather, which had been abnormally cold for this time in April, was just beginning to thaw, and the sun was seeing to it that some of its rays peeked out from behind the gray , life was returning to the city, and the people that would normally shut themselves up in the safety of their rooms were now venturing out into the streets to enjoy the pleasant day.

It had been a couple of days since Aria's meeting with her sister, and since then, they had both experienced the joys of a closer bond where trust and openness abounded. Her visits to Lynn's house were just as frequent as they were before, but now their topics of conversation were expanded to anything having to do with the supernatural, as long as it didn't require Lynn to break reaper laws. Her sister had even stopped wearing those atrocious contacts.

Why, just the other day their conversation had run from the Grim Reaper Association to the questionable practices of mental institutions such as the Bethlem Royal Hospital, otherwise known as Bedlam, and Stonehart Asylum.

Humming the tune of a song whose name she couldn't quite place, she made her way through the long corridors of the hospital to the morgue. She had to admit, her job was quite an interesting one. Not only did she get to solve medical conundrums, but sometimes murder mysteries as well. It was definitely never boring.

Slipping into her lab coat, she was about to grab her chart when her assistant, Dr. David Luther, rushed into the room from one of the adjacent doors. By the baffled expression he wore, she could tell he was disturbed.

"Dr. Sinclair," he started, catching sight of her, "thank God you're here!" He ran up to her and began ringing his hands, looking completely at a loss for what to do.

"Whatever is the matter, Dr. Luther?" Aria asked calmly, waiting for an explanation. She had never before seen her assistant so out of sorts.

"We just received a body."

Aria was drawing a blank. "We often receive bodies, Doctor. This is a morgue, after all."

He shook his head, as though frustrated that she wasn't understanding him.

"No, Doctor," he began again. "I mean we were left a body. I have no idea where it came from; it was just here when I arrived. I managed to take a quick look at it, but it seems as though it has already been operated on."

"I beg your pardon?" Aria asked, setting her chart back down. "Do you mean that it looks as though somebody has already performed an autopsy on the corpse?"

Dr. Luther nodded vigorously. "I thought it best to leave it to you."

"A wise decision, Doctor. I shall have a look at it. Please work on the names on that chart for me, if you would."

"Of course," Dr. Luther responded, picking the chart up from where it had been abandoned on the table. Meanwhile, Aria made her way to the back laboratory room from which Dr. Luther had run.

The man had not been lying; there was indeed a corpse on the table. She did not recognize this person, and all of the people on her chart had been accounted for. How strange. Stepping closer, she was able to see that the body had undoubtedly been operated on in the not too distant past. The sutures were fresh and tied off cleanly, almost professionally. This was becoming a little more than odd. If a professionally trained physician had already performed an autopsy on this body, then why leave it in her morgue? The entire thing pointed to something sinister.

Deciding to go ahead with the autopsy, she began gathering her tools whilst trying to get a better idea of whom she was about to operate on.

The corpse was that of a man, most probably in his late thirties or early forties. His skin was exceedingly pale, as though he hadn't seen the light of day for quite some time. His hair was a common shade of brown, as shown by this eyebrows, but his head had been shaved during his previous autopsy, leaving him completely bald. His eyes were a light blue, almost gray. He was very slight, possibly a sign of malnutrition, but his hands bore no callouses as those of most starving laborers did. Continuing with her external examination of the body, she saw on his arms, legs and throat several bruises and chaff marks, as though he had been bound against his will and had fought against his restraints in a futile effort to free himself. Any other marks that would have given her clues as to his occupation and such had been washed away during the man's previous autopsy.

Without further ado, Dr. Aria Sinclair lifted her scalpel and began cutting along the sutures, separating them neatly in order to see what lay beneath. It took her some time to complete this, but eventually, her efforts paid off, and she was able to peel back the skin. Just as she had surmised, an autopsy had indeed taken place on this corpse: the ribcage showed definite signs of such an intrusion. Strangely enough, everything else in the man's body seemed to be relatively untouched. None of the organs below the ribs showed any signs of having been handled in any way. Even the stomach had been left alone, it's contents ignored.

This was most unusual. Why would someone go through the trouble of carrying out an autopsy without performing a thorough one?

Deciding to follow the surgical path the previous operator had taken, she got the ribs out of the way and carefully worked toward the heart. What she saw made her eyebrows shoot up in astonishment, for right where the heart should have been was a heavy black stone.

"What on earth?" she muttered, lifting the misplaced rock out of its resting place. "Why would someone replace this man's heart with a stone?"

The silence provided no answer, of course, so she had no choice but to proceed with the autopsy.

Nothing else inside of the victim's chest seemed to have been tampered with, so she turned her attentions to the shaved head. There was no denying that the head had been surgically opened, and she could only hope that the previous operator had at least spared his victim's brain.

Yes, she was thinking of this man as a victim of some heinous crime. He showed clear signs of being held against his will, and the butcher who had done this to him had not proceeded with the intention of performing a necessary medical procedure, but instead with some other dark purpose in mind.

Sudden anger burning in her bosom, she sliced open the sutures on the cranium and opened the skull along the previous surgical fractures. What she saw inside - or rather, what she didn't - made her blood run cold.

The man's brain was gone.

"Well," she stated to herself, "this is something you don't see every day."

Indeed, this was the first time she had come across something so grotesque. Had somebody opened this person up solely to replace their heart with a black rock and make off with their brain?

"No," she mumbled to herself, "that would be utterly pointless. There has to be some reason this was done to this man. He was left here to be found, after all."

And that's when it hit her like a ton of bricks.

"No..."

Who did she know that was able to perform an autopsy other than herself and her assistant?

"It can't be..."

Who knew full well where she specifically worked and had collaborated with her in the past?

"It's impossible..."

And who was currently on the run from the grim reapers due to unorthodox experiments on corpses?

"Damn..."

Undertaker. What was he trying to tell her? This was obviously a message of some kind. He couldn't simply come and talk to her, seeing as he was in hiding. Anyway, this was exactly the kind of sick thing he would do.

Feeling a wave of disgust wash over her, she closed her eyes for a second, refocused, and gazed down at the human telegram before her. Undertaker had obviously meant for her to decipher the meaning of this macabre message, but he wasn't giving her much to go on.

She felt the previous autopsy wasn't important in and of itself. It was just a means to get the message to her. Leaving a note inside of the corpse would have been too risky; anybody could have read it. Leaving such bizarre, cryptic clues, however, would have guaranteed that she be alerted. Taking all of this into account, what was she left with?

A stone heart and a missing brain.

A stone heart. A heart of stone? To be cold-hearted? She wasn't getting anywhere with this.

A missing brain. Empty headed. To be stupid? That seemed a bit vague, and how did one tie that into the stone heart? Maybe to have lost one's brain? To have lost one's mind? To be crazy? That definitely sounded more like Undertaker.

So, insanity and a stone heart.

A stone heart.

Stoneheart. Insanity.

Stonehart Asylum.

Her eyes widened as all of the pieces fell into place.

Undertaker was telling her of a location: Stonehart Asylum. Hadn't she and Lynn had a discussion regarding this and other asylums not too long ago?

Did this mean that Undertaker was at Stonehart Asylum? She would have to inform her sister about this.

With a shout to Dr. Luther that she had to head out on an errand, she was off to the telegraph office to inform her sister of her impending arrival. It wouldn't do to walk in on a session, now would it?

)*(

Dr. Lynn Sinclair was just handing a manila file folder over to a dark haired visitor when there was a rap on her door.

"One moment, Mr. Spears," she said to the visitor before heading to see who was so insistent on having her attention.

Upon opening her door, she saw it was a delivery boy with arm outstretched, telegram clutched in his eager grasp. Smiling, she tipped the boy and took the telegram, moving back into her sitting room. Without a word to the man standing next to the fireplace, she ripped open the envelope and quickly scanned over the message therein.

Her brow furrowed at its contents, causing Mr. Spears to inquire as to what was wrong.

"It's my sister," she explained. "She says she's coming over because she believes she has news about the Undertaker that requires looking in to."

Mr. Spears made an expression of vague interest. "The Undertaker? I thought you informed her not to meddle in reaper business."

"I did. I'm just as confused as you are, believe me."

Mr. Spears stayed silent for a moment, seemingly considering different alternatives, before looking back up at his subordinate and stating, "I shall remain here and see what she has to say."

Lynn froze. She wasn't exactly all for the idea of her boss, William T. Spears, staying in her home in order to meet her sister. Don't get her wrong, she didn't necessarily dislike Spears, she just knew how hard he could be. William was typically a stickler for the rules, so how would he react to his human sister sticking her nose in reaper business? Not well.

Then there was Aria to consider. Although she was also reserved, hard-working and strict in her ways, she didn't see the problem with bending the rules when the situation called for it. Lynn knew as well that Aria would not bow her head to Mr. William T. Spears, and she didn't need an argument breaking out in her consulting room.

She was just about to point this out to her superior when a short knock sounded out and her door opened.

It was too late to turn back now.

"I'm sorry to give you such short notice," she heard Aria's voice saying from the hall, "but this simply couldn't wait."

William's eyebrow raised slightly as he glanced over at his employee. Obviously he was becoming more interested in what Aria had to say.

"Aria," Lynn called out just before her sister reached the sitting room, "we have company."

The pathologist suddenly became quiet, and her demeanor as she entered the sitting room was calm and subdued.

"Oh," she stated upon seeing William. "I had no idea. I sent a telegram ahead of me. Did it arrive late?"

"Rather," Lynn said, lifting it for her sister's inspection. "You arrived minutes after I opened it."

"Telegram boys never run as quickly as they advertise," Aria muttered, smirking. "If I am interrupting something I can wait in the foyer."

"Actually," Lynn began, "this gentleman would like to hear what you have to say."

Here Aria glanced up at the dark, imposing man before her, giving him a discrete once over. He seemed professional enough and apparently wore a perpetual frown. Still, she had no earthly clue as to who he was, and was surprised that Lynn would allow one of her patients to listen to anything she had to say about Undertaker.

That's when it hit her. The eyes. Those vibrant green eyes. He was a reaper as well. Decidedly more interested now, Aria looked the man over again. She noticed he was holding a manila folder and seemed to have an air of authority. She concluded, therefore, that this individual was Lynn's superior, and the only superior Lynn had ever told her about was...

"Mr. William T. Spears, I presume," Aria directed toward the Grim Reaper manager, holding out her hand for a shake.

William seemed taken aback for a moment, but quickly caught himself and took her hand in his. "You presume correctly, Doctor, though I fail to see how."

Aria subdued the smirk playing at her lips and began to explain. "I'm afraid it was a rather simple deduction you will find unimpressive once I have given an explanation."

William cocked an eyebrow. "Then do please explain your reasoning, Dr. Sinclair."

"If you insist, Mr. Spears," Aria agreed.

Lynn, meanwhile, was off to the side rolling her eyes.

"It was your irises and the air of authority that gave it away. You are obviously a grim reaper and not a patient of my sister, which makes your visit work related. The only superior my sister has mentioned to me was a Mr. William T. Spears. Therefore I found it safe to conclude that that was your identity. I'm terribly glad I was right, for it would have been most embarrassing had I not been."

After the young brunette's swift justification of her accusation, William Spears adjusted his glasses. Though his facial expression didn't change, he seemed to look upon her in a new light, which Aria hoped was one of regard instead of annoyance. He seemed a man disinclined to let people get too close; a person that keeps his thoughts and emotions reined in. She found people like that spectacularly interesting.

"You were right, Doctor," he said after a time. "Absurdly simple."

Aria smiled. "See? I should never explain my reasoning; it shows just how much of a parlor trick my deductions actually are."

"I hate to interrupt the flirting," Lynn piped up from behind her boss, "but you said you had some information regarding Undertaker?"

At this Aria instantly sobered. "Yes, sadly. I'd rather had I not been dragged into this business again, but I have been given little choice."

Her sister looked interested. "Something has happened?"

"Something has, sister mine," the pathologist confirmed. "The Undertaker has sent me a message."

"A message?" Her sister looked alarmed.

"Do you have it with you?" William interjected, suddenly very interested in what the young woman had to say.

Aria looked up at him and shook her head. The expression she wore was quite grave, and William hardly wanted to dwell on what that entailed, but sadly, that was exactly what he had to do. Lord, he was not being paid enough for this.

"Then where is this message, Doctor?" he questioned, needing to know but dreading the answer.

"Lying on a slab in my morgue." She watched as the realization hit her audience.

"The message is a body?" Both reapers shouted this in unison, making it quite a loud inquiry.

"Indeed. Perhaps we'd better sit down?"

"Perhaps we'd better," Lynn concurred, gesturing to the chairs behind her.

As the psychiatrist sat in her accustomed spot, Aria sat across from her, and William pulled out a wooden chair from beside Lynn's writing desk. The elder of the Sinclair sisters noticed his move toward the most uncomfortable seat in the room even before she herself sat down. Amazing, she thought, how gentlemanly the face of death was.

"Pray continue your intriguing story, Dr. Sinclair," William requested once they had all been seated.

"Of course," Aria continued, crossing her ankles and leaning one elbow on an arm of the chair. She then proceeded to tell the company all about her strange morning, leaving out not a single detail. After she had finished, her listeners were stunned.

"Stonehart Asylum?" her sister asked again. "You're sure he was referring to Stonehart Asylum?"

"What else could he possibly be referring to, Lynn?" Aria parried. "There are not many things a missing heart and brain could mean."

"And you're sure this so called message was from the Undertaker?" William asked. "Not from some organ harvester who happened to leave a corpse at your door?"

"If that man were the victim of an organ harvester then more organs than that of his heart and brain would have been missing. Also, his predator hardly would have taken the time out of his or her day to stitch up his gaping wounds, sneak him into a hospital morgue and leave him there for me to find and alert the authorities." The look in her eye was anything but humorous, and Mr. Spears had to concede to her logic.

"We are dealing with a vicious and skilled individual," Aria continued. "Not only was this man cruelly used, he was inhumanely incapacitated before his death. His body showed signs of being restrained, and the marks were bruised enough to conclude that he had not consented to his captivity. Now, it is well known that I am the head of that morgue, seeing as there aren't very many female doctors flooding the capital these days, so whoever laid the body out meant for me to see it. The only individual I know who is unable to send me a proper telegram, has the skill to do this, and the questionable mental state required for such a macabre sense of humor is the Undertaker."

Silence permeated the room as the tension grew to a palpable level. They had to do something about the Undertaker, that much was certain. If this corpse was anything to go by, as seemed to be the case, then Undertaker's crimes were escalating from Frankenstein tinkering to monstrously barbaric. No longer was he simply playing with the cinematic records of the dead to lengthen the body's life span, he was tormenting living humans and forcing them to serve as his guinea pigs. The very idea was revolting.

"There is one thing that puzzles me, however," William voiced, breaking the stifling quiet. "After successfully hiding away from both human and reaper law, why run the risk of contacting you, Doctor? Surely he couldn't believe that you would willingly give your assistance?"

Aria's eyes met those of the reaper supervisor, and in those emerald depths she divined the real question he was asking.

"I am not in collusion with the Undertaker, Mr. Spears, though I understand your suspicion. Quite frankly, I have no idea why he has decided to contact me. The only thing I can think of is that he wants my assistance with his experiments. As far as I know, the man wasn't particularly close to anyone, and I may be the only person of medical standing that he is on friendly terms with. Perhaps he thought he could entice me to Stonehart Asylum with the mystery of the corpse and convince me to join him in his undertakings."

The straight face she gave to her own pun almost cracked William's stony façade. Almost.

"It would make sense," William continued in her stead. "As far as we are aware, he has no reason to suspect that you have been informed of the true nature of his absence and experiments. He must still assume that you are ignorant of grim reapers and his own crimes. Taking this into account, there would be no reason for you to be afraid of making contact with him, though he must know the corpse he sent would make you suspicious."

"Then there only remains one question," Aria announced, the corners of her mouth dipping into a frown. "Do I go to him or not?"

Oddly, no one seemed keen to answer that question just yet.

So, we've finally met William T. Spears. Being as he's my favorite Black Butler character, let's hope I do him justice in my writing. On another note, Undertaker has finally been in contact, and now the main plot of the story begins! Our lovely characters have no idea what he's up to, of course, but they can be sure it's nothing good.

Please let me know what you think. I love hearing from all of you!