Chapter Five

Butler, Chance Encounter. Bride, Bloodstained

Music played from a gramophone on an old wooden table, the candle beside it flickering as wax dripped down its length. A woman sat bound to a chair in the middle of the dimly lit room, the ropes binding her arms behind her back strained and tightened around her struggling limbs. Her mouth remained bound and gagged, tears trickling down her made-up face.

Someone stepped out of the shadows, a man dressed in black with pristine white gloves. He removed her gag, and left a smear of peach lipstick on her face. He shushed her and smirked. Outside, the autumn rain fell heavily from the sky, and drenched the newspaper with the day's headline blaring back at the innocent observer who may have been wandering through the alleys of the East End.


"Is this really the time for a game of chess?" Ciel asked, sitting in the parlour of his town house with a chessboard laid out in front of him.

Madame Red sat opposite him, her long nailed hand moved a white pawn on the board.

"Obsessing about it won't help you solve the case," she told him. "Why not just leave it all to Sebastian, dear? Edward can take care of you while he does."

Sebastian was behind his master, reading over some notes. But there was no doubt that he was listening to the conversation. Marianne was at the tea trolley in the room, serving the cups of the steaming hot brew with her eyes cast down, trying to look detached from the conversation even though she and Sebastian were at the heart of it.

"Because they are simply my chess pieces. I'm the one who moves them by giving orders," explained Ciel. "Edward is a piece with the ability to grow stronger with every move. But Sebastian is no ordinary piece. He can move as many squares as he needs to."

He used one of his black knights to take out Madame Red's white king.

"Like that."

Madame Red gasped indignantly.

"That was against the rules you know!"

The boy only chuckled.

"Indeed. This would be if this was a game." He spired his fingers and leant forward with his elbows on his knees. "But rules like that have no true meaning in the real world. There are always knights who break the rules and pawns who betray. If you let your guard down, it's checkmate."

He placed the black knight down on the square where the white king once was.


The woman watched the man swirl a brush in a red mixture, and begin to paint her lips with it. The thunder crashed outside the window, stopping him just as he finished her bottom lip. He gritted his shark-like teeth and gripped her face in his hand. A case of medical tools sat on the table nearby as thunder flashed again.


Madame Red stared at her nephew.

"You must have had other options in life besides policing England's Underworld," she sighed. "I'm sure my sister, your mother, wanted something else for you. And yet after their deaths, you returned to be the Queen's Guard Dog."

She then asked the question she had been wanting to ask.

"Is it because you are trying to avenge your parents' murders?"

Ciel took a sip of his tea, looked at her with his uncovered eye.

"The need for revenge is a funny thing. It won't bring back the dead, nor will it bring them happiness. But then, to answer your question I didn't come back to the house of Phantomhive for my parents…"


He remembered that night when Sebastian brought him and Marianne to the burned down remains of his manor. In the dirt and ashes, something sparkled on the ground. Ciel picked up the blue diamond ring that would sit on his finger…


Bringing himself out of his memories, he glared back at the woman resolutely.

"I did it for myself."

Madame Red could only look at him with sad eyes as he continued.

"I want to find the people responsible for what happened. And I want to make them feel the same pain and humiliation that I suffered."

Just then, she smiled. A sense of nostalgia filled her.

"I still remember when you were born, though it seems so long ago…" she got out of her chair and went to the boy's side. "You were so tiny and fragile. I remember thinking no matter what, I had to protect him."

Rain splattered against the window.

"You know I was never able to have children. But there was you, and I have come to think of you as my own son." She reached down and ruffled his hair. "Which is why I wish you would quit this."

Ciel brushed her hand away.

"This is a task I have freely chosen. It is still my choice to make. And no one else's." He glared up at her. "I don't regret my decision. And I won't be coddled. By anyone."

Madame Red stared back at him sadly.


Her visit came to an end. Sebastian stood outside in the corridor assisting her with her coat. Marianne was with them, the lady's gloves and hat in her hands.

"Thank you, I have it now." Madame Red assured as she turned to finish doing up her coat.

Sebastian bowed.

"My Lady."

Madame Red stared at the two butlers.

"Promise me, both of you, that you will never leave his side," she urged. "This is a dangerous world for a boy. Make sure he doesn't lose his way."

The demon knelt before her, bowed his head and smiled.

"Fear not. I swear. I shall stay by his side until the very end."

Marianne followed his example and joined him in a kneel on the floor.

"I swear as well. I will stay until the final breath is drawn."


A knock on the door indicated the arrival of Grell.

"I am here to take you home, My Lady."

He wore a large black coat and held a black umbrella against the rain. Thunder flashed and Madame Red's eyes stared blankly back at him.


That night, as Ciel lay tossing and turning in his bed, Sebastian and Marianne entered the room, the demon reviewing his notes again.

"Well then?" Ciel asked.

Marianne sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed beside him.

"It makes no sense! We've gone through every possibility and the answer is still Druitt!" she groaned. "The only good thing that seems to come out of our night at the ball is that the man is behind bars for his black market schemes."

"The Viscount didn't do it though." Ciel sighed, bringing himself up into a sitting position.

"Exactly." Sebastian agreed. "None of the people in his mansion could have done it either."

"No person could move that quickly," the boy added.

"No one human at least." Marianne considered.

A thought then struck Ciel.

"Sebastian… you did it!"

The demon smirked.

"Of course I didn't. I told you, I never lie."

"Besides," said Marianne. "He was with me the entire time we were at the mansion."

Sebastian nodded his head, deciding it was time to lead the suspected thoughts in the right direction.

"Now, involved in medicine, ties to secret societies or black magic, lacking alibis for the nights the bodies were found. The only human who fits our criteria is the Viscount Druitt."

"You know more about this than you're letting on, don't you?!" Ciel hissed.

Sebastian smiled.

"I am simply one hell of a butler. As you well know, I only carry out those orders my Master has directly given me."

The boy glared at him, gritting his teeth in fury. Marianne held his shaking shoulders and looked up at the demon as he tossed the papers into the air.

"You need only say the words, my Lord, and I either become your pawn, or your knight."

He smirked at them gleefully.

"Now, Master, move me to check."

Glancing at Marianne, he gave her a smile.

"You noticed something that night too, didn't you Marianne? Something you thought strange, but didn't bring up because you thought nothing more of it at the time?"

Shakily, the girl nodded her head.


One night, shadowed in the darkness of the streets of Whitechapel, Sebastian, Ciel and Marianne stood looking out in the flickering light of a streetlamp. Ciel was dressed in a common beggar boy's attire; brown trousers, brown shoes, beige shirt, brown vest and tattered baker boy cap, a medical patch was strapped over his eye. Marianne was similarly dressed in the clothes she had worn during her time on the streets two years ago, right down to the tattered brown hat and coat. Sebastian was wearing his long black coat over his butler's uniform.

"He'll show if we stake out this place, right?" Ciel asked.

"Yes." Sebastian replied.

Rain started to come down from the heavens, splashing loudly on the cobbled streets. Marianne moved closer to Sebastian and leant against him, his body seeming to exude heat like an open fire. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulled her close and held her dainty hands in his free hand, warming the trembling digits through his gloves.

Ciel glanced at them, surprised by the easy intimacy of touch they were able to exchange. He knew the only people Marianne touched freely were him and Sebastian. Anyone else and she always kept it at the strains of politeness. Although when Madame Red tried to pull a physical on her like she did with Sebastian, poor Marianne practically jumped out of her skin, her hand inching for her dagger. Sebastian had barely managed to stop her from getting it out. The three of them were the only ones to notice her behaviour; Madame Red just thought she was surprised.

Marianne didn't coddle him by any means, but she gave him the motherly affection he was starved of. Her and Sebastian though, he wouldn't call them friends, but they had a relationship that was teasing and affectionate. Also, in recent months, Sebastian seemed to have taken on the role of protector for her, at least even more seriously than usual. It was like he was protecting something that was his, staking his claim as it were… He didn't really know how to explain it.

He shook his head, realising he couldn't ponder their relationship while they were waiting for a murderer. Leaning against the wall behind him, he spoke.

"You know, I've noticed the murdered prostitutes have other things in common apart from their profession."

Sebastian however was distracted.

"The most beautiful glossy black hair…" he sighed.

"But I don't understand why he had to kill them all." Ciel pondered.

"So very loveable, it could almost be a sin," said Sebastian.

"What's more…"

"So soft…"

Ciel snapped.

"Listen to me when I'm talking to you!"

Sebastian looked up from the black cat in Marianne's arms. It had wandered over to them, and being the cat lovers that they were, couldn't resist the temptation of petting the adorable creature.

"Oh." Sebastian sighed. "I apologise Sir, but she is so beautiful and soft."

"You know we can never resist loving cats when they come to us. It would be a crime not to give them some affection when they want it." Marianne added, giving the cat one last rub behind the ears before putting it down.


A scream pierced the tranquillity of the night. The cat dashed off at the sound of the shriek.

"How could somebody have gotten past us?!" Ciel cried.

"Something not human, that's what!" Marianne shouted.

"Let's go, Sir, Marianne." Sebastian said.

They ran off towards the prostitute's home.


When Ciel was about to open the door, Marianne cried out, realising what the boy was about to open the door to.

"Wait, Ciel…!"

But it was too late. Marianne wrapped her body around him as he pushed the door open; a drop of blood splashed against his cheek. Quickly she forced him to look away, turning his face to her chest and holding him close as he drew breath after steadying breath.

What lay in the room was something out of a bloodstained nightmare; the girl lay in the middle of the floor, her body splattered in a gory masterpiece of blood red strokes and missing body parts. Her abdomen was gaping open, a void in her lower extremities were exposed, completely void of viscera; her arms were mutilated with jagged cuts and slashes, her face almost beyond recognition. Her breasts had been hacked off viciously, one lay under her head while the other rested by her right foot. Her kidneys were between her legs, her intestines on one side of her body, her spleen on the other. Her neck had been slashed down to the bone. Blood splattered everything, from the bedclothes, to the chair and the walls. Her uterus was nowhere to be seen.


Sebastian surprised them both by taking them in his arms and leaping away from the door, losing Ciel's hat in the process.

"Come away."

His hand went down to hold the back of the boy's head, to keep him in place against Marianne's bound breast.

"It's alright…" she whispered. "It's alright…"

She knew the situation they were in wasn't alright, but she needed to give him the reassurance that the three of them were in one piece, that it wasn't them in the room. The slump in Ciel's posture told her what he was going to do next.

"Come over here," she told him. "Lean forward. That's it."

Ciel emptied the contents of his stomach into the gutter.

"Well done."

Marianne wiped his mouth with a soaking handkerchief from her coat pocket, and moved them back into Sebastian's safe embrace.


There were footsteps coming out of the room. The demon smirked as he brought his mate and master closer to him.

"You seem to have made quite a mess in there, Jack the Ripper." As the man stepped into the moonlight, Sebastian's smirk only got wider. "Or rather, Grell Sutcliffe."

Grell came out of the room streaked with blood, drops raining down his clothes and glasses. He stared back at them with wide green eyes.

"No, no you're wrong. I-" he tried to protest. "I heard the scream and rushed to help… But…"

"You can drop the innocent act, Grell." Sebastian said. "It's over."

Blood dripped into the rain water on the ground.

"You know," the demon continued. "This is the first time I've met someone like you in the human world. You played the role of helpless butler well. Your act had almost everyone completely fooled."

Grell looked at him, a scarlet drop ran down his face, reminiscent of a tear.

"You think so…?" he asked.


The smirk that then spread across his face made Marianne gasp. His teeth were sharp and jagged, a shark's mouth on a human body. He was laughing at them with wild eyes, completely different from the meek man she had come to know.

"Sebastian… What is he…?" she whispered.

"You'll see…" he replied.

Grell laughed.

"How kind."

He removed the red ribbon tying back his hair.

"That's great to hear. After all, I am an actress."

He placed his glasses in his coat and produced a comb from his pocket.

"And a good one at that."

The comb went through his brown hair, and turned it scarlet red. He then placed fake eyelashes over his original ones.

"Of course, you're not really Sebastian either, are you?"

Grell slipped on a pair of black gloves. Meanwhile Sebastian merely smiled genially at him.

"Sebastian is the name my master gave me. And Michaelis is the surname Edward suggested. So Sebastian Michaelis is who I am. For now, of course."

Grell put on a pair of cat's eye glasses with skull decorated loops.

"Ah, so you're playing the faithful dog, are you? You are certainly handsome enough to get away with it," he complimented. "Anyway, here we are, Sebastian. No… I'll call you Bassy!"

Marianne wrinkled her nose at that.

"That's just wrong…" she muttered.

Sebastian couldn't agree more. He could feel the envy rolling off her body, so he silently reached down and rubbed his hand against the mark on her back. His calming influence went through her, causing her to tremble against him.

"Now, let me introduce myself," smirked Grell. "The Burnett butler, Grell Sutcliffe. What do you say? Let's get along!"

He blew a kiss at Sebastian, causing a wave of revulsion to run through the demon.

"Oh it is so nice to talk to you in my true form. I must admit I was surprised when I first met you, I have never seen a demon playing a butler."

"I could say the same about you." Sebastian retorted, having regained his composure. "I never thought I'd find one of your kind playing a butler either. You are supposed to be an intermediary between man and God. A Grim Reaper."

Marianne held Ciel close, kept her eyes on the newly revealed Reaper.

"If he's a divine being like you say… why would he pose as a butler?" she asked.

Grell smirked at her.

"Clever little thing, aren't you?" He turned back to Sebastian. "Why indeed? Let's just say it was out of love for a certain woman."

Ciel shifted in the girl's grasp. She only pulled him closer.

"And that woman would be?" Sebastian asked.

"You don't really need to ask, do you?"


A woman's voice came out the room. Her red clad form stepped out into the light. It was a lady they all recognised well. Ciel removed himself from Marianne and Sebastian.

"Madame," he greeted emotionlessly.

"Well, I hadn't counted on this." Madame Red smiled. "I didn't think anyone would be able to tell what Grell truly is."

"Naturally you were on the suspect list from the very beginning," said Ciel. "But all of your alibis seemed flawless."

"You mean you actually suspected your own aunt?" she asked, feigning shock and sadness.

"I was looking for a murderer," he continued. "Relationship to me did not matter."

"It is very easy for family to betray one another for their own goals." Marianne added, her face darkening at her words.

Sebastian and Ciel noticed how her eyes deadened, like she was speaking from personal experience. The demon made a note to bring it out of her at a later date.

"None of the humans on the list could be responsible for all the murders. But if one of them had an inhuman accomplice, that would change the game completely." Ciel went on. "It had to be someone who could enter and leave a room without being noticed. Someone who could travel from the Viscount's home to the East End instantaneously. In the end, you two were the only ones who could be Jack the Ripper. You, Madame Red and Grell Sutcliffe."

Sebastian smirked.

"You two slipped up at the party. Edward noticed Grell's absence from the party around the time the murder was committed. And how you, Madame, kept most if not all the attention on yourself. An excellent tactic, as long as someone doesn't notice the absence of a single butler, which wouldn't have been out of place at a party. But if you take into account that Grell is also a Reaper, it makes perfect sense." Sebastian added.

Ciel went on with his deductions.

"I began to look into what else the women had in common besides prostitution. And then I noticed they had all undergone a certain surgery at the hospital where you work." He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "We made a list of all the patients. One, the only one who was still alive, was a woman by the name of Mary Jane Kelly. We knew if we waited around here, you would come for her eventually."

His face saddened.

"But we were too late…"

Madame Red sighed.

"My darling nephew… How unfortunate this turned out to be. If you could have let it go, we could have played chess again."

Her fist clenched, her face contorted with rage.

"But now…! You've taken everything!"


Grell brought out his weapon, which whirred to life in a blur of swirling blades. He leapt towards Ciel and Marianne, but Sebastian managed to block him by clapping the spinning blades between his hands. The demon pushed him away, but the Reaper landed on his feet.

"What is that?!" Ciel gasped, eyeing the weapon.

Sebastian's eyes narrowed.

"Grim Reapers use tools for harvesting souls. That is his Reaper's Scythe."

Those words only flared Grell's anger.

"How dare you call it that! This is so much more than a Scythe! I worked very hard to customise it!" he smirked at them, pointed teeth glinting in the light. "This is a very special Death Scythe of my own design. It can hack anyone into tiny pieces."

His whole demeanour seemed to change.

"I've been far too well behaved. I'm getting out of shape. I would really love to exercise my skills," he looked at the demon, hearts floating in his eyes. "So, shall we play?"

Sebastian merely glared at him.

"Perhaps you could be a little more respectful of my position? I'm on duty after all."

Marianne shook her head with a sigh while Grell continued to go on with Sebastian ever expanding list of virtues.

"He seems like the type who won't listen to a word you say when he's in a state like that. I'm questioning his sanity to be honest…" she shrugged.

Ciel nodded his head in agreement, sweatdropping at the sight of the Reaper's giddiness.

The atmosphere then became more serious.

"You know, red is my favourite colour." Grell smiled. "It's perfect for hair, clothes, lipstick… So I painted all those women with pretty, pretty red blood."

He extended his weapon between them.

"So Bassy, I'll make you even better looking than you are! I'll tear you up from the inside, and make sure you'll like it!"

With a playful wink, he continued happily.

"I'll make you as lovely as scattered rose petals!"

Sebastian scowled and turned away from him.

"You are a Grim Reaper. Your job is to quietly harvest the souls of the dying." He removed his coat and draped it over Ciel like a long cloak. "As a butler, it is your job to follow your master like a shadow."

When he turned back to face Grell, his expression was completely blasé.

"You have failed both of these expectations, and quite frankly, I find it sickening."

Grell smiled.

"Bassy, you wound me. I'm more deadly efficient than I seem."

Ciel lifted a hand to his medical patch, Marianne's arms wrapped around him in a protective embrace.

"In my name and in that of the Queen, I order you, Sebastian…" His patch fell away and his pentagram glowed in his eye. "Put an end to them."

Sebastian's eyes glowed pink, and his pupils became slits. A smirk spread across his sinfully handsome face.

"Indeed, my Young Lord."

He pulled at the edge of his right black glove with his teeth, locking eyes with his precious mate all the while.


Grell drew his Death Scythe along the cobbles and struck at Sebastian again and again. The demon dodged effortlessly, ignoring his attacker's taunts. Marianne kept Ciel close as they watched the Scythe slash through bricks and mortar. Sebastian's feet dragged against the floor, creating a dust cloud behind him. His eyes widened when he felt Grell's presence behind him, the Scythe high above his head. He spun quickly and caught the blade in his hands, redirecting it into the wall behind him, dangerously close to his shoulder.

"See what happens when you're not fast enough!" Grell laughed.

The blades sliced into the shoulder of Sebastian's tailcoat.

"It's more fun when it hurts a little bit more, doesn't it?"


Meanwhile, Marianne and Ciel watched Madame Red, the girl served as a barrier between him and the woman. The smirk on Madame Red's face made her blood run cold.

"So, you're still the Queen's Guard Dog, which means I am now your prey." She reached slowly into her sleeve, pulling out a long silver knife. "Whether it means hunt or be hunted, there is only one thing I can do."

She dashed forward and took a slash at them. Marianne barely managed to get Ciel out the way, but he got a cut on his arm for his troubles. She quickly wrapped his arm with her handkerchief, pressed him up against the wall and used her body to shield him.


Sebastian's eyes widened when he caught the scent of his master's blood…


"You're a doctor! How could you do it?!" Ciel shouted over Marianne's shoulder.

"You wouldn't understand if I told you!" Madame Red snapped. "You're just a child!"

Marianne couldn't hold back any longer.

"He's a child that you have cared about and protected for years!" she cried. "You made Sebastian and me promise to protect and take care of him! And we will do it now! We will protect him from you!"

The woman sneered at her.

"Foolish boy! You understand nothing! If you wish to sacrifice yourself as a human shield, I will grant you your desire!"

She surged forward and felt the knife bury into its target.


Marianne let out a cry. Felt the blade sink into the back of her shoulders…


Sebastian gasped as her sweet aroma of her blood came over him… His fangs pressed against his lower lip and his grip tightened on the blade…


The knife came out of her body and struck again and again. The onslaught only made her hold Ciel tighter. She lost count of the number of times the knife dived into her tender flesh. The blood soaked into the fabric of her shirt and coat. Her hat slipped from her head and her hair tumbled free from its confines. Madame Red, in her rage, completely dismissed the revelation of her gender and wrapped her hand around Ciel's throat. He gasped for breath desperately.

"No!" Marianne cried out, a line of blood trailing from her mouth. "Let him go! He's your nephew! Aren't you meant to protect him?!"

The woman ignored her, her attention completely focused on the boy.

"You…!" she hissed. "You brat…! You shouldn't have been born in the first place!"

She raised the knife high above her head, prepared to slam it down…


"NO!"

With a burst of adrenaline, Marianne managed to get up from her crumbled heap on the floor and shoved into Madame Red, wrapping her arms around Ciel and keeping him close. Their wide blue eyes stared back at the woman, who stared back at them and saw the face of her sister smiling back at her.

"Sister…!" she gasped.


"MARIANNE! MASTER!"

Sebastian bellowed, allowing the blade to come down on his shoulder. Blood splattered against the wall behind him. His eyes were completely red as his black hand reached for the woman's head.

"Sebastian, stop!" Ciel shouted. "Don't kill her!"

His hand came to a halt. Madame Red stepped back; the knife dropped to the floor with a faint clatter. The demon breathed heavily, pressed a hand to his shoulder to stem the bleeding. Marianne slumped against the wall, finally letting go of Ciel.

"Sebastian, you're hurt…" she whispered. A tear slid down her cheek at the sight of his blood.

He came forward and wiped the tear away with his free hand.

"So are you, my Marianne…" he smiled before turning to Ciel. "You are well, Master?"

Ciel nodded his head.

"But your arm…" he murmured.

Grell sneered at them.

"Oh, how sweet you are, Bassy. Really, what a prince you are!" he laughed. "Sacrificing your own poor limb to save that kid, and that girl! Who knew she was hiding such a thing behind a man's clothes? A very good job if you ask me."

He then stepped towards Madame Red.

"On the other hand, you're a disappointment, Madame. Hurry up and kill the brat already! The girl can live or die for all I care. She'll probably die from her wounds by the looks of it."

Marianne breathed heavily, coughed for a moment and saw the blood staining her hand.

Oh no… I don't want to die… Not now… Not anymore…


Sebastian heard her thoughts. What did she mean, not anymore? He was even more determined to ask about her past now.


Madame Red was in tears as she looked at her beloved nephew, and at the girl she had known as a boy all this time. She remembered Ciel and his parents, how much of a sweet family they were. She couldn't help comparing how Sebastian and Marianne seemed to have taken the roles of his parents now. And they were good at it.

"I loved my sister…" she wept. "I loved her husband… I love their child…"

She shook her head.

"I can't…! I can't kill him! I can't kill their beloved son!"

Grell couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Really? You're getting soft-hearted on me all of a sudden? After all those deaths?" he asked. "If you don't end him, he'll end you."

Ciel stared at his aunt.

"Madame…"

The woman continued to cry as she turned to her accomplice.

"This child… This child is my-!"

She never finished her sentence. Grell had stuck his Death Scythe into her chest. An explosion of blood rained down over the cobbles.

"Too late for that!" he laughed. "How disappointing!"

Madame Red fell back, blood spilling from her chest and mouth.

"What use do I have for you if you're just another woman?"


Before their eyes, cinematic records erupted from her chest. The picture of a young Madame Red and Rachael Phantomhive stared back at them.

"Is that…?" Sebastian asked.

"Part of a Reaper's job is to play and examine the memories of those on the To-Die List." Grell explained. "From that we determine what kind of person they were. We see from their own perspective what kind of life they've lived. And from that, we decide whether they should live or die."

The demon's eyes narrowed.

"Their lives flash right before their eyes," he said.

Grell waved his hand.

"Oh please! That's such a pedestrian term!" he lifted his Death Scythe with a smile. "It's so much more than that. This is the Reapers' true power."


[Start of Cinematic Record Angelina Durless Burnett.]

Two ladies stood before their father, who introduced them to a man with black hair and dark brown eyes.

"Rachael, Angelina, say hello to our guest, Lord Phantomhive."

The man smiled at them. Angelina blushed prettily, her red hair shrouding her face.

I had hated the red hair I inherited from my father.

"Your hair is very beautiful, Anne." Lord Phantomhive said. "The colour of spider lilies. Red suits you very well."

They were together overlooking a river as he said this, looking at the spider lilies that were a startling red against the sepia background.

But I came to love it after all. I came to love the colour red. I came to love him.

"Anne, I have wonderful news!" Rachael cried.

Rachael and Lord Phantomhive were sat together on a chaise, smiling at one another with all the love a couple could bestow.

The scene changed and Rachael was seen signing a marriage register in a white wedding dress adorned with white roses while Angelina sat in the background of the pews, dressed in a definitive red.

Once again, I hated the colour red. But… I could never bring myself to hate them.

The scene changed again to a party, where she was in a ballroom with a young man on her arm. He looked at her with such adoration, it was hard not to feel sorry for him in the knowledge that she could not give him the love he had for her.

Eventually, I too met a man and got married.

Later, they were sat together in the parlour of their home, her sitting in a chair while he kneeled before her with his hands on her stomach.

"What do you think? A boy, or a girl?" he asked.

The swell of her stomach was held carefully, as she housed her greatest treasure.

"Men are so impatient!" Angelina laughed. "How would I know that yet?"

It didn't happen at all in the way I wanted it to. But still… I thought I had found happiness.

Everything darkened and a violent thud was heard. The scene lightened and showed the aftermath of a carriage accident.

"The carriage hit someone!" someone shouted. "Call a doctor quickly!"

Then it all slipped away…

Angelina was heavily bandaged in a hospital bed, a doctor stood before her and informed her of the news that would shatter everything.

"Your husband died instantly," said the doctor. "And in order to save your life, we were forced to remove your uterus… and your unborn child with it. I'm sorry, but we had no choice."

Her eyes were dead as she listened without expression.

Everything… Everything slipped away from me…

She was driven alone in her carriage, lost in her grief as she was.

I had lost the man I had grown to love… And the child I loved so dearly before it was born…

The carriage came to a violent halt. Angelina stepped out of the carriage and saw the red flames enveloping the home of her sister and the man she loved…

The stain spread… It covered everything. That colour I so hated.

The colour red.

The scene changed to the funeral of the Phantomhives. Dirt was tossed onto the joined coffin ready to lay to rest in the earth, topped with white lilies.

My sister was buried with the man she'd loved… If only… If only my heart had been buried in the ground along with them.

The scene changed once more to a hospital, where Angelina was consulting with a young woman with blonde hair.

"Honestly! A child would only be in the way!" the woman explained, tossing her hair as she did so. "I don't know who the father is, and customers wouldn't like a child hanging around."

Angelina's glasses gleamed in the light.

I had lost everything in my life. That woman had what I wanted most. What I would never have the chance to have again.

She washed her hands clean of blood from the operation.

And she threw it away without a second thought.

Her eyes were dead as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

The glass shattered at her dead-eyed stare.

Everything shifted to where she watched the woman on the street as she bid farewell to one of her paying customers.

I wanted to stain her too.

Angelina approached her, who recognised her instantly, and shrieked in terror as she was ripped apart in the fury of Angelina's scalpel.

Blood exploded from her body and stained everything in sight.

I decided to stain everything red.

Angelina knelt before the dead body and skilfully removed the uterus she had emptied of child. With her face splattered with blood, a voice cried out to her from a nearby roof.

"My, my! That was quite a little show!"

She looked up and saw Grell for the first time, smirking at her with his razor sharp teeth.

That was when I met my blood red Grim Reaper.

As she sliced her hair into a short bob, she remembered the reappearance of her nephew a few months after the fire.

A few months later, my missing nephew reappeared.

Angelina ran through the doors of the rebuilt Phantomhive manor, and found Ciel sat on a chair in the study, his right eye bandaged and his body slumped in its seat. Sebastian stood rampart straight at his side, and Marianne rested her hands on top of the boy's shoulders, her hair in its neatened boy cut thanks to the demon.

"Ciel!" she cried.

With him was a butler dressed in black, and a boy whose behaviour reminded me of my sister's love for her child.

For a moment, I thought I saw them all together. A mother, father and son, as it should be.

I knew it wasn't though.

"You're really safe?" she whispered, running to him and embracing him.

I at least got one thing back.

"Thank goodness! At least we still have you." Angelina held his face in her hands. "Now, let me have a look at your darling face."

The dead eye that stared back at her was slightly unnerving.

The child of the man I loved, and my sister…

Later, when the other members of staff had joined the household, she, Ciel and Elizabeth were having tea in the rose garden. Sebastian and Marianne stood at their master's side. As Angelina sipped her tea, she thought to herself.

If this child could come back, then why couldn't my beloved…?

She and Grell continued their killing spree as Jack the Ripper.

Why wasn't I the one he chose to marry?

Ciel's cold face stared back at her.

Finally, I decided to right all the wrongs I had been dealt.

"YOU'VE TAKEN EVERYTHING!"

[End of Cinematic Record of Angelina Durless Burnett. Date of death: September 1888.]


Madame Red's body landed on the floor with a thud, a single tear trailed from her eye. Grell sighed heavily.

"How beautiful you were, in crimson covered in your victims' blood. I loved you so…"

He tossed aside his black coat.

"What a disappointment you turned out to be in the end. You don't have what it takes to wear red!"

Lifting up her body and removing her red coat, he placed it on his own body with a smirk on his face.

"Your cheap melodrama is over, Madame Red." Grell looked at her almost in sorrow, the coat didn't fit so it remained partially on. "Goodbye."

He turned and begun to walk away.


Throughout the exchange, Sebastian, Ciel and Marianne watched in silence. The girl's breaths shuddered as she lost drop after drop on the stone ground. She felt the holes in her back writhing under her torn clothes. Why wasn't she healing more quickly? Were her insides more damaged than she thought? Another cough escaped her and splattered blood beneath her.

Ciel reached over and closed Madame Red's eyes.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked Sebastian.

Sebastian looked at him in amazement.

"I thought I ordered you to put an end to Jack the Ripper."

Listening to his words, Grell stopped walking.

"It's not over yet." Ciel said, looking up at the demon. "One is left. Stop standing there and kill him."

Sebastian smirked.

"Certainly."


Marianne watched it all in silence, willing her blood to stop oozing out of her body; she lay on the floor, holding herself as if compressing her ribs would stop the flow of fluid through her. She knew it wouldn't work, but she was desperate to live.


Grell smirked.

"Oh… I was going to spare you. Professional courtesy and all that. But if you insist!"

His Death Scythe whirred to life again. He spun around and swung his weapon in an arch, Sebastian ducking underneath with ease.

"I will you and the boy and girl to Heaven together!"

Marianne grit her teeth, pulled herself up from the floor, coughing up more blood as she did so, and glared at the Reaper.

"Heaven is a goddamned lie! I will happily allow my soul to reside in Hell than have it in that rotten place!" she snapped.

Grell looked at her and gasped.

"How dare you?! You know nothing of Heaven and Hell! You don't get to choose where you go!"

"I choose as I please! I refuse to allow anyone to make such decisions for me! Only I decide where I go!"

Sebastian almost laughed at the thought, feeling pleasure with the face Marianne would choose to reside in his home upon her death, not that it would ever come to pass, of course.

"Heaven? You must be joking." He sneered.

He leapt out the way and smirked down at him.

"I know nothing of Heaven."

Sebastian aimed a kick at Grell's face, barely missed as the Reaper bent his head back to avoid the blow. With his back turned to his opponent, he landed on his feet with all the grace of a predator. Grell looked at him with an appalled face.

"You would kick a lady in the face?! Where are your manners, Sir?!" he cried.

The demon smiled.

"Terribly sorry. You see, I'm simply one hell of a butler."

He stole a glance at Marianne, his eyes burned at the sight of her blood staining her clothes and body. He decided to deal with everything quickly so he could whisk her back to the town house so he could tend to her wounds… personally and privately.

"And to my knowledge, there is only one lady present. And I would never cause her injury. Anyone who does however, I shall see to their deaths with great pleasure."

Grell snarled at him.

"Ha! You think a demon like you can beat a Reaper?"

"Certainly," smiled Sebastian. "You see, if my Master tells me to win, then I shall win."

Hands on his hips and disgruntled, the Reaper sulked.

"You care an awful lot about that puny little brat, don't you? And that sharp-tongued girl. I'm jealous!"

He sighed before continuing.

"Demon or not, you will be destroyed when I Reap you with my Death Scythe. Aren't you frightened?"

Sebastian placed a hand to his chest with a smile.

"Not at all. I belong to my Master, my soul and my body down to the last hair are his. The contract remains. So I follow his every order. That's what it means to be a butler."

His eyes wandered to Marianne again, who stared back at him with beautifully wide blue eyes, dark and shining in the black alley. His next words were aimed at her.

"A demon's heart however is another matter for another time. But it is only placed with the one they choose to be worthy of it."

Marianne stared at him, uncertain by what he meant by mentioning such words. Did he know what was in her heart…?

Her thoughts cast to her bloodstained hands. It looked like she may not have the time to find out…


I think this chapter was a bit trickier to write. The information about the crime scene of Mary Jane Kelly is all from the notes taken by the police when her body was discovered. Despite many reservations on using it for reference purposes, Wikipedia is an excellent source for information. I do hope you can forgive the gory details, I just wanted the scene to be as authentic as possible. I feel I couldn't do justice to the scene without referring to the more gruesome details of the crime scene.

Also, I hope you can forgive the cliff-hanger ending to this chapter. Don't worry, I won't leave you waiting for the next chapter for too long. I shall have it updated within two weeks.

Should you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Please read and review!