Chapter 2: That Butler and Maid, The Strongest.
Two Years Later (Present)
Maya snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the words 'Maylene' and 'Pour the wine into the glass'. It was not as if Maya did trust Maylene to pour the wine, but one way or another she knew that something was going to go wrong based off of Maylene's flushed face when Sebastian had gotten so close to her, Maya saw that that was not such a good move on Sebastian's part since they both knew that the clumsy maid had a little crush on the butler.
As Maylene held onto the wine bottle, her mind trembled along with her body. She tried to pour the liquid out as carefully as possible, but missed the glass completely, luckily Clause was distracted and had looked away. Maya's eyes flashed, hearing that Bard and Finny was screaming in panic as they watched the wine spread across the clean white table. Unfortunately Sebastian was also distracted by Ciel, so he had been too slow to do anything. Maya on the other hand had been near by, making her movements fast enough so that Clause would not see a thing, she grabbed onto the side of the table cloth and pulled it without disturbing the guest or making the things on the tables move an inch. Ciel watched this in astonishment, surprised that Maya could do such a thing, however he had expected that his maid was very skillful.
"Huh? Where'd the table cloth go?" Clause asked, looking down at the table astounded, while Maylene was being dragged away by Bard and Finny.
"The cloth got a little dirty, so it was removed. Don't let it worry you, Clause." Ciel smirked, continuing to eat his meal calmly. Maya folded the cloth in her arms, bowing lowly to show her sorry.
"Excuse the big interruption. Please continue to enjoy the meal at your leisure."
"AMAZING! THAT WAS AMAZING, MAYA!" Finny bounced up and down, tears of relief filling his eyes. Maya gave him a small smiled then set the table cloth down on a table. In the background, Bard was grinning and Tanaka was holding an ice pack on a faint Maylene's forehead.
"In my country, there's a woman like you called Wonder Woman!" Bard exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. Maya sweat dropped but smiled despite of his comment.
"I'm not Wonder Woman or anything…" She said to them, "I am just one hell of a maid." smirking at Sebastian when she said this.
A few weeks had now passed since Clause's visit to the manor and the servants were now going frantic over the current issue. Rats. They had been sighted in the mansion, the servants knowing that they were there when they saw the chewed wires. Maya and Sebastian had been too occupied to deal with the problem earlier, so they left it to the others which wasn't their best ideas.
Whilst Ciel played pool with the other nobles, Maya and Sebastian prepared some snacks and refreshments for the guests. Once Sebastian had finished serving Ciel, he found that the other servants were causing quite a racket.
"What are all of you doing?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing. Cats and rat traps filled the corridor where they all stood, some of the cats attacking Finny, who was dressed in a cat costume.
" 'What' you say… We've decided to capture the rats!" Bard exclaimed over Finny's cry of panic. Whilst Sebastian stood there torn between questioning their tactics and just walking away, ignoring the situation.
"Sebastian!" he heard his young master's voice from behind. He was surprised that Maya was not behind him, and found himself wondering where the young maid was.
"Young master."
"Tonight, escort Duke Randall by carriage to his mansion. You will be taking care of the carriage." Ciel ordered, studying a piece of paper in his hand. "Leave tonight's plans open." Sebastian grinned, placing his right hand behind his back and his left hand on his chest.
"Understood, Sir." he continued, "When I finish, I will then bring afternoon tea up to your study." he said this in a way that made a flowery background appear behind his which made Ciel wonder, Why do flowers suddenly appear when he does that? When Sebastian continued to tell him what would be his snack, he could only reply with a simple 'okay'. When Ciel walked away, Sebastian's smile slowly dropped, making his face look serious. The frustration he was feeling showed on his face as her listened to the servants behind him scream and yell at their failed attempts at catching the rats.
"Now then…" he trailed off, murmuring to himself. With a furious speed Sebastian leapt towards the rats, catching two of them in his one large hand. Bard, Finny and Maylene stood stunned at his action, tears beginning to well up in their eyes.
"Now, please do your work without playing around. We are having guests tonight." Sebastian said, unfazed by his successful capture of the rats. He tossed them in the air without effect and Tanaka caught them easily in his butterfly net. Sebastian then wondered off to prepare the carriage and to fetch the tea.
Meanwhile in the kitchen, Maya was preparing the ingredients that would go into the snack that Sebastian had mentioned to Ciel. It was apple and raisin dip pie. She put all the ingredients inside the pie base and carefully decorated the top with neatly chopped apples. Not long after she put the pie in the oven, Sebastian entered. Sebastian, expecting that she would be there, walked to tea set he had set out earlier. When Maya suddenly heard a soft thud coming from Ciel's study, she did not react, only making sure that Sebastian was distracted enough to not notice the sound.
"It seems the game has begun." she muttered to herself, smirking and removing the white apron from her waist.
"Pardon?" Sebastian asked, concentrating on the tea he was making. Although he was aware of the sound from his young master's room, he had only brushed it aside, assuming that it was jut Ciel pacing in his study.
"Oh, nothing." Maya said, her tone turning sickly sweet. Minutes passed and when Maya knew that the pie was ready, she took it out, placing on a cooling tray then set it on the cart that would be wheeled to Ciel's study. When Sebastian was ready with the tea, Maya followed beside him towards the study, a little grin tugging at the corners of her lips the whole time. She knew Sebastian was starting to become suspicious of her behaviour and yet she could not contain her excitement.
"Young master, I have brought the tea." Sebastian knocked softly on the study door, expecting to hear Ciel's voice from the other side but was met with silence instead. Maya placed her gloved hands behind her back waiting patiently for Sebastian to realise that their young master was not there. He poked his head through the door cautiously.
"Young master?" When the whole room was revealed, it seemed that Ciel was not there, leaving the room empty with it's paper's fluttering around, caused by the large opened window, which made a mess.
"This is…" said Sebastian, "Ah, how terrible. Now the tea I worked so hard to prepare will be meaningless." Maya sweat dropped, her eyes half lidded as she stared at Sebastian's thoughtful face.
Somewhere in a large mansion with guards standing at full alert Ciel was held captive. He stared blankly at his captor as he ranted about nonsense that Ciel could care less about. He was used to this type of thing. He had been kidnapped many times before, and it was all the same. So boring.
"Who would've thought that the president of the world's best toy factory would be a little boy? Right? Ciel Phantomhive" The man taunted, lighting up his cigar, "Looks can be deceiving. Well, it's oddly understandable that the king of a toy palace is a child."
"It really was you." Ciel growled lowly, a shadow casting over his eyes menacingly, "Ferro Family… Azzurro Vener." the name was a nasty taste in Ciel's mouth and the man himself was not so pleasant to look at. His thin black hair was licked back, he had many piercing on his, some on his face, some on his ears. But the most noticeable thing about this man was the jagged scar that ran across his face, in between his eyebrows, over the bridge of his nose then ending at his left cheek. And the way this kidnapper was dressed definitely signified that he was a foreigner.
"You know little Phantomhive, the Italian Mafia find this country bothersome." Azzurro said, scratching his head. "All of the English and their goddamn tea stained heads." Ciel looked to the growling guard dogs that were standing inside the room, staring intently at Ciel.
"Think about it. What's the most beneficial market for people like us?" the scarred man smirked smugly down at Ciel's beaten and bloody face. During Azzurro's speech, Ciel had wondered what his two demon servants were up to. He didn't bother to listen to his useless rant, what benefit did he get from listening to something so dull?
"We're already keeping your servants waiting…" he older man growled, pointing a gun at Ciel threateningly.
"Where are the goods? If you don't spill…" he trailed off, "I'll kill your servants one by one." The threat Ciel to look surprised for a second then he looked down, a shadow fell over his eyes and when he looked up again he grinned at the man before him.
"It would be nice if the cute little puppy could play 'fetch'" Azzurro smirked before lashing out his foot and kicking Ciel across the face, sending him to the ground. He picked up the phone and talked to someone on the phone before dropped his cigar on the floor by Ciel's head.
"Didn't you hear me? Negotiations are over." he sneered, then stomped on the cigar.
"Kill him."
Sebastian and Maya stood in the corridor in front of Ciel's study, both of them having blank expressions. And right when I finished the dip pie, Maya thought.
"Now then, where did he go out to 'visit'?" Sebastian mumbled. Suddenly rushed footsteps could be heard making its way towards them.
"M-Mr Sebastian! Miss Maya!" Maylene ran towards them holding a letter in her hand. "Just now in the entrance hall, a letter…"
"Who is it addressed to?" asked Sebastian.
"um.. It's addressed to 'Sir Ciel Phantomhive and valet'…" Maya heard a sudden click of a gun from outside, she looked out of the window, and just at the right time, Maylene tripped over her loose shoe lace and came tumbling forwards towards Sebastian knocking them both on the floor. The bullet that was fired had shattered the window, missing Sebastian's head only by inches, flying past his face and cutting a small amount of his fringe. The dip pie flew up into the air when Sebastian was knocked down. Maylene sat on top of Sebastian, stuttering out of embarrassment.
"Wh- wh- WHA!" Sebastian laid there, not uttering a word until the pie had fallen back down and landed on its tray again.
"Oh dear. Maylene is that letter-" Maylene looked up in surprise. Maya held back her laughter when they both sat up, Maylene still on top of the butler.
"RIGHT HERE!" she yelled. Sebastian took the letter from her hand, taking it out from the white envelope.
"What an undignified invitation." He said, his eyes moving over each word. Maya had moved behind him now, looking over his shoulder to read the letter.
"I'm sitting on your knees…" Maylene blushed. Sebastian did not pay any mind to, handing the letter to Maya so she could get a better look. They heard two more loud foot steps running towards them. Bard and Finny stopped when they saw the scene in front of them.
"What the hell happened?" Bard asked. Both of them looked frantic as they took in what happened.
"Their sitting on each other…" Finny muttered to himself, "Are you alright?"
"Oh, it was nothing much." Sebastian smiled, picking himself and Maylene up off the ground. Once Sebastian let go of Maylene, she feel back down, blood gushing out from her nose. Maya caught her just in time, without looking away from the letter, then handed her to Finny.
"My apologizes everyone, but can I entrust the cleaning and supper preparations to you?" Sebastian asked, brushing away some dust from his clothes.
"That's fine but…" Bard trailed off. Sebastian straightened out his tailcoat, still smiling pleasantly at the others.
"We have a bit of minor business to take care of. After you finish, clean this too, please." Maya said, taking the pie out of Sebastian hand and gave it to Bard.
"Oh, okay…" Bard was still confused but took the pie anyway. During all of this Finny was trying to wake up the still unconscious Maylene in his arms.
"We shall return before dinner…" Sebastian turned to walk away with Maya beside him.
"Hmm… you mean I have to clean thi-" Bard asked, then cut himself off.
"Hey, can I eat this? Huh?" behind Bard's back, Maylene was laid on her back, her soul floating out of her mouth, startling Finny who chased after the soul, grabbing it so that it would not get away.
"Maya? Sebastian?"
With speed that many would only believe it to be a blur of black, the two demons raced towards the mobile of the man who had attempted to shot Sebastian. The two heard the man speak to his employer from a phone, his employer yelling at him for his failure. When the two knew that they had been spotted by the man, they found joy in his panicked reaction. They continued to run with ease, smirking when they heard the shout of fright from the man. Maya chuckled darkly, nearing the back of the mobile with a rapid speed.
Azzurro shouted frantically into the phone, finding silence on the other end of the line.
"It seems that the little game of 'Go fetch' has failed." Ciel looked up from the ground, blood dribbling down his chin and nose, his face becoming menacing and cold. His smug attitude irked Azzurro, and Ciel earned another beating from him.
"SHUT UP, YOU STUPID BRAT." the man shrieked, stamping on Ciel with his foot, landing some blood on his white shoes. He held the phone back up and screeched,
"HEY, IF YOU DON'T ANSWER, I'LL KILL YOU MONGRELS! HEY!" the man was panicking, he was sweating a lot now, wondering what had happened on the other side.
"Hello?" he was met with a deep calm voice instead of the one he had spoken with before. Azzurro flinched.
"Hello? I am a member of the Phantomhive Household…" said the voice, "I hope our young master has not been troubling you."
Azzurro grinded his teeth, furious at the calm, mocking voice. He tightened his hand around the handle of the phone, his face contorting in rage.
"Hello? Is something the matter?"
One word (or sound) wasenough for Azzurro to stun him in place.
"Woof" Ciel said, his back towards the Italian man.
"Understood, right away, young master." said a new voice, this one was more smooth and musical, a woman's voice, which surprised the man and scared him slightly due to the darkness that the tone held.
"We'll come for you soon… so please wait just a little longer for our arrival." Maya hung up the phone, leaving the kidnapper dumbfounded.
Sebastian and Maya were kneeling down on the bonnet, the metal crushed in places beneath their feet. The mobile hung steadily over the edge of a cliff, the only thing holding it balanced was Sebastian's and Maya's weight combined on the front part of the mobile.
"Thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak with your employer." Maya said, holding out the phone to the man. It seemed that there were two men in the mobile instead of one.
"Incidentally, there are a few other things we'd like to hear from you." said Sebastian. "is that acceptable?" The men looked up at them, terrified.
"First, your owner's name, please, gentleman." Maya said, her voice low and soft. It seemed that by hearing Maya's voice, they calmed down a little but was still aware of the danger.
"Come now, we are not very patient people." Sebastian warned, making his weight a little lighter on the bonnet. "You don't want to end up… like humpty dumpty, do you?" The man in the passenger seat flinched at Sebastian subtle warning.
"The Ferro Family's Azzurro Vener!" the man in the passenger seat shouted, "He's setting up a hideout north of the east end." Maya and Sebastian glanced at each other before smiling.
"Is that so?"
"Yes…"
"We were…. O-o-only hired to do it!"
"Oh well, is that how it is?" said Maya, looking down on them with a curious expression.
"We apologize for detaining you, gentlemen. Please, enjoy your trip." both Maya and Sebastian stood up, which made the men look horrified. Sebastian bowed and grinned, then the both jumped back onto the ground. They looked down at the terrified faces of the two men who were plummeting to their deaths without any emotion.
"It seems, Miss Maya, that we are going to be late for dinner." said Sebastian, glancing at Maya. She sighed then looked at her leather bond on her wrist, feeling it burn against her skin, for she had been separated from Ciel and he was calling for her to retrieve him. This was how it worked. She was told to never leave her master's side, and if they were ever separated then her human soul would start to burn from the black flames that had consumed it and would then send a burning pain towards the leather bond. She never really understood how it worked but it was what she was told by the master who had sealed away her human soul.
"Hmm?… is it that late already?" Maya asked, walking away and off the cliff with Sebastian following her.