Chapter Twenty-Seven

Butler, Fulfilling his Duty. Bride, Accepting

[Start of Cinematic Record of 'Joker']

The back streets of London were a place ridden with filth and disease. Dirty water leaked out of outdoor taps, food in sacks were rotting as they lay in the dirt and gathering flies.

We met in the gutters where all the world's filth was poured.

A dog, shrivelled to the bone, whimpered in anguish as it panted. Joker, lacking his right arm, walked towards Peter and Wendy with their joined hands.

We were all incomplete somehow.

A man dropped a few shillings in a bowl Beast was holding, her missing left leg clear to see. Dagger was doing the same, but without much success as he held his missing right leg at the knee.

We were all broken somewhere.

People were attacking Jumbo with stones and sticks. The giant man didn't attempt to defend himself.

And we'd all been abandoned in the gutter because of our deformities.

Doll was crying as people walked past her without a second glance. Her left eye was ruined and disfigured, but was still able to produce tears.

They were later gathered together in the shadows, leaning back against a brick wall, despondent, and feeling no one would save them.

On a crisp morning, Doll and Beast stared through the window of a bakery, smiling as the smell of fresh bread wafted up to their noses.

Of course, people like us couldn't get jobs in England.

Joker ran across the street and into the bakery. He ran out again with a baguette in his hand. The owner ran out after him.

"Get back here, you little brat!" he bellowed.

Even stealing was hard with bodies like these.

The owner grabbed onto the jacket sleeve where Joker's arm should be, causing the would-be thief to fall to the ground. While pinned down, the owner beat him with his rolling pin.

I can't even remember now how we survived…

The first-stringers got their bread though. Joker's eye was black and his jaw was swollen. The others were covered in cuts and bruises.

We stayed alive though, hiding in the gutters.

When it was raining, they sheltered under building tarp.

But one day…

A carriage pulled up in front of them. A man stepped out and stood before them, a smile on his kind face as it sheltered beneath a large brown umbrella. Joker and the others looked up at the man they would come to know as Father…

A crackpot who took in gutter rats came along.


At a nice, clean building named Renbourn Workhouse, children could be heard singing a nursery rhyme.

'Tom, he was a piper's son'

'He learnt to play when he was young'

'And all the tune that he could play'

'Was 'over the hills and far away''

'Over the hills and a great way off'

'The wind shall blow my top-knot off'

Dagger watched the children playing while he sat beside Beast on a bench.

"What's wrong?" Joker asked as he approached them. "What are you sulking for?"

Dagger pouted and looked away.

"Nothing."

Joker turned his violet gaze to the children playing in the field.

"People just always want more," he said. "This is heaven compared to that gutter… but we're still not satisfied."

When he saw the forlorn look on Dagger's face, he reached down at ruffled the boy's black hair.

"Oi, Jumbo!" he called. "This fellow says we wants to play with them!"

Jumbo looked up from what he was doing and slowly walked towards them. Dagger stared at Joker in surprise.

"What?"

Joker winked back at him.

Jumbo knelt down in front of Dagger.

"Alright, climb on my back," he said.

"I-It's fine!" Dagger protested.

Joker laughed.

"Why hold back? Go on."

Slowly, the one-legged boy wrapped his arms around Jumbo's shoulders, and allowed himself to be hoisted up onto the man's back. Jumbo then ran into the field with the children.

"Can we join you?" asked Jumbo.

"Sure!"

Joker then turned to Beast.

"Do you want to go, too?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"No, it's fine…"

He only smiled.

"If I had a right hand, I could carry you…" he sighed, taking a seat beside her. "Sorry."

She blushed prettily under his steady gaze.

"I-I don't care about playing."

He laughed.

"Fine."

Their hands rested side by side on the bench.

Things were quiet as they watched Jumbo and Dagger playing with the other children.

"This wind's nice," commented Joker.


William shook his head as he observed the record.

"Son of the prostitute Karen Taylor. No record of his name. Born April 2, 1863; bled to death on February 9, 1889."

He was emotionless as Kelvin's manor stood burning beneath his feet. Streams of Cinematic Records were flying through the air before him, but he remained focused on his task.

"Nothing of note."

He marked Joker's name as completed.

"There's one examination complete."


Inside, fire and blood filled the room. Flames ate away Joker's skeletal hand.


Spears sighed heavily.

"Honestly, I can't imagine what Personnel is thinking, waiting until now to send help when this clearly isn't a one-man's job…"

He looked off to the side and saw the Reaper who dealt with the records of the Scotland Yard officers in the alley.

"Ronald Knox."

Ronald smirked back at him from his perch on the chimney.

"Sorry, Senior Spears! I felt like I hurried, personally, but I guess you're angry, huh?" he apologised. "Oh, are you disappointed it's me?"

William wrinkled his nose and adjusted his glasses.

"No. I just had a sinking feeling I'd get him since he was given temporary release tonight." He shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the records. "Being wrong is an unexpected stroke of luck."

Ronald hopped down to join him on the roof.

"Now that you mention it, Senior Sutcliff ran off to do another job, and he was really excited…" He tried to remember the place in question. "Hmm, what was it?"

"The Phantomhive mansion?" William inquired.

"Right, that one!" Knox pulled out his own To-Die List. "That job looks easier…"

Spears shook his head.

"What a shame, for both of you."


Back at the Phantomhive manor, Grell sneezed loudly.

"Who's talking about me?" he asked.


William sighed heavily and continued to leaf through the pages of his list.

"For heaven's sake… Workers can cause unnecessary trouble when they get emotionally involved," he said. "Our job as grim reapers are to examine and collect souls according to the list distributed by the higher-ups. Nothing more."

He shook his head and continued, completely one name after another on his list.

"Even the examinations are merely formalities. Exceptions are only granted to those capable of being beneficial to the world. Yet humans of that value are practically unheard-of. Therefore, we are merely performing due diligence to prevent the worse. Without attachment… Without incident…"

Ronald yawned loudly.

"Well then, let's get this 'due diligence' over with!" he cried. "There's a party with the secretarial pool today. Plus, I'm a no-overtime man."

A vein throbbed on William's forehead at those words.

"Cause of death of most of the subjects was burning, but it was a demon that triggered the fire." Spears went on to explain.

"Gah! Seriously?!" gasped Knox.

William adjusted his glasses again.

"He doesn't seem the type to scavenge for food, but we mustn't be careless. If he makes off with one of the souls, there will be paperwork."

"Yessir, I'll put my back into it."

Ronald got his lawnmower of a Death Scythe up and running.

"I never work overtime, after all."

Spears looked at the scythe.

"Ronald Knox, is that Death Scythe approved?" he asked.

"The forms are all in order." Ronald laughed. "I have a lady friend in General Affairs."

William sighed and pulled out his pruning shears.

"Right then, let's get them all collected by the end of this shift."

"Roger! Every last one."

They leapt off the roof together and set to work.


Pounding hooves thumped loudly on the ground as they surged towards the blazing mansion. Doll gasped at the sight, her blue eye wide and dismayed.

"What is this?" she cried. "What the Hell is this?!"

Sliding off her horse, she ran towards the front door, crying out for her friend.

"Joker! Joker!"

Flames exploded from the doorway. She coughed loudly as the smoke and fumes entered her mouth and strangled her lungs.

Before her eyes, the fire parted. Untouched by the blazes, Sebastian walked out with Ciel in his arms and Marianne by his side with her arm looped through his. Ciel's contract eye glowed in the darkness. The flames licked at their heels as they passed over the threshold and walked down the stairway. Sebastian had a smirk on his face while Marianne rested her head against his shoulder as she smiled in a way that could only be described as acceptance.

"Black? Kitten? Smile? What are you doing here?" asked Doll. "What happened?! Where's Joker?!"

"He passed away, I'm afraid." Sebastian answered with a calm smile.

Doll shook her head and hurried forward.

"What are you saying, Black?"

She reached out to touch Ciel.

"Smile, talk to me!"

He roughly shook her hands away.

"Don't presume to touch me!" he bellowed.

Doll backed away in fright. Marianne shook her head at his temper and stroked his head; her actions slowly calmed him down.

"We've been investigating a series of child abductions, on Her Majesty's orders," she explained.

The first-stringer backed away from them.

"You really are with the Yard?" she gasped. "You came to catch us?!"

Sebastian's smirk widened.

"No, not at all," he said, his eyes glowing demonically. "We came to erase you. In the name of Phantomhive, the Queen's Guard Dog."

Doll gulped loudly.

"The Queen's Guard Dog… Phantomhive…" she whispered. "Don't tell me… Smile? You're… Phantomhive? Then it was all a lie? All of it?!"

Ciel didn't look up when he gave his answer after several beats of silence.

"That's right. My name is Ciel Phantomhive. I have just one job: to dispel the Queen's worries." He ran his thumb over his blue ring and met Doll's eye with his own. "So, I killed them. Kelvin and Joker… I killed them both."

Doll could only stare at him.


The first-stringers were all sat on the grass at the workhouse.

"Us, a circus? Father's asking the impossible." Joker smiled.

Beast shook her head.

"No, we can do it! With the new leg Father gave me, I can do anything."

"I wanna be a bang-up knife thrower!" Dagger shouted.

"Let's do it!"

"Yeah!"

Peter and Wendy were swift to agree. Joker smiled and shook his hair out of his face. He flexed his prosthetic right hand, modelled like a mannequin's, and laughed.

"Alright! We'd better start picking stage names."

He pointed to everyone and gave them names.

"Jumbo, you stay 'Jumbo'."

Jumbo stared at him.

"Huh?"

Joker pointed to Beast.

"You'll be 'Beast'."

"What?!" cried Beast.

His finger moved to Dagger.

"And you'll be 'Dagger'!"

"Huh?!"

Joker smiled.

"Nice and simple, yeah?"

The others could only stare at him with their mouths agape.

Doll sprang to her feet with a brilliant smile.

"That's great!" she cheered. "Give me one, too!"

Joker put his hand to his chin for a moment.

"Hmm, let's see… Alright, you'll be 'Doll'!" he proclaimed.

The girl blushed.

"What?! No! A girly name like that doesn't fit me!"

Joker placed his hand on her head and ruffled her brown hair.

"'Course it does. Because you're our precious little sister."


Doll remembered when Joker gave her that name. Tears built up in her eyes and stuck to her lashes. She fell to her knees and gave a wail, a sound that was barely human. Her tears fell and splashed onto the cold ground, her grief pouring from her body with her aching sobs. As she wept, her hand clenched into a fist and slammed against the dirt.

"You'll pay…" she whimpered, her fist pounding against the ground again and again. "You'll pay. You'll pay!"

Doll clambered to her feet, pulled a knife out of her coat, and surged towards the trio.

"Smile!" she bellowed.

One of the Funtom candies fell from her pocket.

Ciel stared at her, his contract seal glowing.

"Sebastian."

Marianne bit her lip and closed her eyes.


Watching the smoke and ash flood the night sky, Undertaker sat silently, and took a bite of one of his urn biscuits.

"I told you to take care of your soul, that you only get one," he said, toying with the golden lockets he dangled around his waist. "Your great power means you stop feeling the weight of what can't be undone. You only notice it after you crumble under it. I wonder, how many times have I given you the same warning now?"

His hidden eyes glinted in the shadow of his silver hair.

"Do you know, Lord Phantomhive?"


Ash watched the flaming mansion from a distance. His violet eyes honed in on the forms of Sebastian, Ciel and Marianne.

"Oh dear… Such violent tendencies. It's a shame you couldn't save them, Earl Phantomhive, but no matter. The job is done. I shall report back to Her Majesty that you have completed your task, and dealt with the criminals as you saw fit. The children however… Let us leave that to interpretation, shall we?"

His gaze lingered on Marianne for a moment longer.

"Still, you remain a mystery. What is it about you that is so familiar…?"


Ciel's eyes stared blankly at the flames as Sebastian carried him away. Marianne remained close at their side, her arm looped through the demon's as they walked. She remained unfazed by the blood spattered across the front of her coat.


The morning broke over the circus grounds, cold and fog lurking in the crevices of the tents. Snake sat with his reptiles draped around him under his bulky black cloak as he listened to the other circus members.

"I wonder what happened to Mr Joker and the others?" one of them asked.

"They said they'd be back by today…"

Snake's eyes flickered between them as one little green snake poked out from around his neck.

"I don't smell them yet, so they're not nearby… says Oscar," he explained.

The circus members looked at one another.

"This is the first time this has happened, right?"

"I'm worried…"

Snake looked down at a red and black striped snake wrapped around his arm.

"They said they'd be back by morning! …says Emily."

Another circus member called out from behind them.

"Food's ready!"

"Got it!"

They smiled at the first-stringer.

"I'll bring you some, Mr Snake."

The two of them walked away and continued to talk.

"What do we do about tonight's show?"

"Guess we better get the understudies, just in case."

They didn't notice as Snake slithered away.

Snake explored the entirety of the first-stringers' tents, searching high and low for any sign of his friends. They were nowhere to be found. So, he walked to the entrance of the grounds, stared up at the sign with drooped eyelids. His breath came out in white puffs as he remembered their smiling faces beyond the gates… He walked away, his cloak swirling with every step he took.

"It's lonely by myself…" he whispered.


In London, life carried on as it did before. People moved about the streets, looking at the wares in the shop windows. Horse-drawn carriages trotted along the cobbled streets. The clouds above their heads were dark grey from the smoke that clogged the air. Marianne looked out of the window of the Phantomhive carriage as it pulled up at the pavement. Sebastian stepped out first with a suitcase in hand, followed by Ciel and then herself. They entered London Victoria train station and walked to their platform, their train already waiting for them. Ciel made to step onto the train when a young girl ran up to them.

"How about an orange, Sir?" she asked.

Ciel looked at her over his shoulder, at her scruffy brown hair and moss green eyes.

"Buy one," he said.

Marianne smiled as the boy got on the train and left her and Sebastian to the little girl.

"Thank you! God bless your journey!" smiled the little girl as she accepted the coin from the butler's hand.

Marianne gave her a small smile that was strained at the corners.


When the trio entered their compartment, Sebastian slid the suitcase up onto the luggage rack above them. Ciel sat down on the blue upholstered seat.

"I couldn't get any third-class tickets on such short notice. I apologise for us having to share your first-class compartment, Young Master," the demon said.

Ciel shook his head and handed his top hat to Sebastian.

"It's fine."

He patted the seat beside him and gestured for Marianne to sit down. She sat down quietly.


Soon enough, the train was off to their destination. Black smoke billowed out of the steel funnels and became long trails in the sky. Sebastian sat opposite Ciel and Marianne, the orange balanced on the windowsill; the three of them watched the scenery pass by through the glass. All of them were silent until Sebastian picked up the orange.

"Might I ask you something, My Lord?" asked the demon as he began to peel it with a small knife.

"What?" Ciel replied.

"Why visit their old workhouse?"

Marianne was also curious about the answer. Ciel looked at him in surprise, his lips parted slightly.

"Its patron is dead. It can't possibly stay open without one," he explained. "Lord Burton or his lot would probably be willing to donate, and I don't mind introducing them."

"Out of pity?" Sebastian inquired.

"The aftermath is part of a Phantomhive's job. There's no need to sacrifice those in regular society to underworld affairs."

The demon had sliced into the orange and made the segments rise out of the fruit like a crown.

"Then why did we burn those children?" he asked.

Marianne took one of the segments and popped it into her mouth. The juices burst on her tongue and her lips puckered at the acidic sweetness hitting the back of her throat. She continued to listen to Ciel speak.

"I've seen many like them. Once they end up like that, they can't go back to normal. Which means…"

"…They'd be better off dead? That's very arrogant." Sebastian smirked.

"Is there any human that isn't arrogant?" the boy retorted.

Marianne arched a brow at those words.

"I won't argue with that. Arrogance and pride are often so intertwined that you can't always tell them apart, and in the eyes of God, any form of pride is a sin, and yet he is the most arrogant of the lot," she said, popping another orange segment into her mouth.

Ciel hummed thoughtfully.

"How much strength do you think it takes for someone weak, let alone a child, to recover from a situation like that?" he asked.

"In my experience, they don't." Marianne answered.

The boy nodded his head and turned to Sebastian.

"That day… Moments before I'd have broken completely, I managed to summon you," he said. "You brought the necessary strength…"

He turned to Marianne.

"And you gave cared and loved me unconditionally, and that's the only reason I recovered," he continued.

To Sebastian, he said, "You were the only demon there, and you belong to me."

And to Marianne, "And you were the only human to try to save me, and became an irreplaceable part of my life."

Ciel rested his elbow against the windowsill.

"Yes, I'm arrogant. But not arrogant enough to make irresponsible boasts that I can save others."

Sebastian accepted his answer with a smile.

"I see."


When the train arrived at their destination, the trio stepped onto the open platform, the sky a clear blue in comparison to the dark smog of London. Marianne tugged on the peak of her cap and glanced around; little brick houses and gardens spread out in the distance, a horse cart at a stop while the animal was munching on hay. Not a person was in sight. Sebastian looked around and saw a man sat on a cart filled with metal barrels of milk. He asked about the workhouse.

"Renbourn Workhouse?" the man inquired.

The demon smiled.

"Yes. Would you be good enough to take us there?"

The man scratched his beard for a moment, but eventually nodded his head.

"I'll take ye, since it's on me way, but what's a noble want with that place?" he asked.

Sebastian gave him a handful of coins to tide him over.

"Just a trifling errand," he replied, continuing to smile.

The man accepted the money quietly.

"I won't promise ye a comfortable ride."

Ciel shrugged his shoulders and sat on the back of the cart. Marianne sat down beside him and held her hands in her lap.


Travelling up a road filled with potholes that sent you bouncing and covering you in bruises was never pleasant, even when there was a demon following behind. Marianne wrapped an arm around Ciel's shoulder. They turned their heads when they heard children singing.

Tom, he was a piper's son

He learnt to play when he was young

And all the tune that he could play

Was 'over the hills and far away'

Over the hills and a great way off

The wind shall blow my top-knot off

She smiled slightly.

"'Over the hills and far away…'" she whispered. "They all seemed to like that song."

Ciel looked away, remembering all the first-stringers in their happiness. Fate had dealt them a cruel hand, and they paid the price for something that was no fault of their own, not completely at least.


The cart ground to a halt at the bottom of a tall hill. The man pointed in the direction of the workhouse.

"Oughta be on the top o' this hill," he said.

Ciel and Marianne climbed off the back of the cart, the boy accepting his cane from Sebastian, and the three of them began the journey up the hill.


Strong winds ploughed over the grass. Ciel grabbed hold of his hat as it threatened to throw him to the ground. Marianne grabbed onto his shoulders and held him steady. Sebastian remained unaffected by the strength of the breeze. And when they reached the summit, a gasp caught in the girl's throat. Standing before them were the crumbling remains of the Renbourn Workhouse. They walked through the decrepit lot.

"It appears that Lord Kelvin was lying." Sebastian commented.

They continued walking until they stood in front of the field that held so many fond memories for the circus troupe.

"Judging from its state of disrepair, it's been empty for quite a while."

Marianne knelt down on the grass and picked up a teddy bear that had been left to rot; it was falling apart and had lost most of its stitching, and a few limbs.

"From the way, the doctor talked, would this place have been where he got his 'resources'…?" she asked.

Ciel ignored them both, and found himself remembering Joker's pleas as he lay dying at their feet.

"Please, don't kill him! Whatever else he may be, he's our saviour!" Joker cried, his eyes wide and desperate. "We have lots of brothers and sisters back at the workhouse who are still young!"

He then drifted to Doll in her final moments.

"You'll pay!" she screamed, surging towards them with a knife in her hand.

He stared out at the endless expanse of grass and blue sky. Not another living soul in sight.


Marianne heard him make a sound, a sort of slow laughter that only continued to build.

"Ciel?" she called out.

"Young Master?" Sebastian asked.

Ciel's laughter grew into hysterics. The couple could only stare at him with wide eyes.

"There was nothing!" Ciel cackled. "Everything they had to protect was long gone! And they didn't even know! They were so desperate to do it… they all died!"

He held onto his hat as the wind continued to blow.

"We mock their desperate wishes, and trample them like insects!" he laughed. "Cowardly, base- we're more demonic than demons are!"

Marianne looked between Sebastian and Ciel, knowing full well the truth of those words. Sebastian, a powerful demon, was nothing but good to her, while the humans in her life before him and Ciel were the equivalent of monsters. Ciel finally stopped laughing after a while.

"I'm just like them," he said. "I'm full of the same ugliness they were. This is how humans are. This is how we are, Sebastian, Marianne!"

Sebastian didn't resist taking a gasp of air, before a smile spread across his lips, just as pride spread through his body.

"Yes, indeed," the demon answered.

Marianne gave a sad smile.

"The world is full of good and bad things. And it is the same with all humans, and those who can't accept the bad, they are setting themselves up for a life of foolishness and ignorance. You can't appreciate the good things in life if you don't experience the bad. We have to accept all we are, and continue moving forward."


The wind grew so strong that it took not only the black ribbon tied around Ciel's hat, but Marianne's baker's boy cap as well. Sebastian managed to catch the hat before it blew away, but was unable to save the ribbon. As the demon slipped the cap back onto his mate's head, she watched the ribbon fly off into the sky. A smile touched her lips. It was like she could almost see the first-stringers laughing and performing before her eyes, finally at peace and free from the masquerade that was their old lives.

She then heard Sebastian's voice in her head.

Unlike demons, you're base, you harbour a complicated malice, you lie… You struggle desperately, knocking down others on your way… You steal and are stolen from, you make endless excuses… And still you strive to get over the hill and far away.

Marianne felt him smile.

I suppose that's why humans are so interesting.

Sebastian looked down at her and held her hand in his.

And why I cherish you so, my precious mate.

She blushed under his intense gaze, and responded to his words.

And our dear boy.

Ciel looked back over his shoulder and saw Sebastian and Marianne holding hands and sharing smiles. For a brief moment, he thought he saw his parents standing side by side. The image faded and Sebastian and Marianne stood in their place.

You can't appreciate the good if you don't experience the bad… He thought to himself.

He smiled slightly, and wondered when the three of them had really become a family…


And so, this brings the Circus Arc to an end.

I know many of you have been asking me about whether I am going to do the Murder Arc, and the Atlantic Arc, but I felt that because my main source of inspiration for writing this fanfiction has been the first series of the anime, I couldn't continue to drift away from what got me started in the first place.

So, I should like to inform you all now, on the next update, I shall be back to series one, and back at where we left off in the episodes.

Another reviewer also asked about the fate of Doll. You may feel sad that I decided to keep as close to the original as possible, but I felt that she would be happier with the rest of her family, because I thought if she lived, she would be resentful of Ciel for killing everyone else, even with the full knowledge of what crimes they had committed.

In Marianne's eyes, she knows death can sometimes be considered a mercy, so that's why she's so accepting of what Ciel chooses when he starts the fire.

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

Please read and review!