Chapter Forty-One
Terrorist Butler. Suspicious Bride
It was eight o'clock in the morning at the train station. People were milling about on the platforms as luggage was loaded into the carriages by the porters. Smoke billowed out of the trains' large funnels and wafted through the air in a thick smog. Already there were numerous passengers waiting to climb onto their trains, all of them eager to begin their journeys. The Phantomhive party was among the crowd.
"Goodbye, Young Master. I hope you have a nice trip." MeyRin said.
"Yes." Ciel answered monosyllably.
Marianne adjusted her wig beneath her black hat and looked up at Sebastian when he spoke to the servant trio.
"Now, I expect you lot to try and behave yourselves while we're away," he instructed.
Finny wasn't paying any attention, he was happy to simply take in the atmosphere of the train.
"The train sounds lovely!" he cried.
He stole a bite from an orange in one of the crates and ran around the platform while yelling at the top of his voice.
"Finny!" Bard shouted. "Would you quit runnin' around like a bloody loon?!"
Finny's exuberance was so much that his back bumped into one of the porters carrying a long crate. He fell to the floor, while the porter had his hands trapped beneath the crate.
"I'm so sorry!" he cried.
MeyRin and Bard immediately ran over.
"Is everything okay?" she asked.
She reached out to offer her assistance when a voice bellowed out of the carriage.
"Don't touch!"
A man with grey hair and a moustache stepped out onto the platform; a lit cigar was held between his teeth.
"That is a valuable scholarly acquisition. Do you have any idea what it's worth?" he asked.
The trio peeked inside the crate, and saw a mummy staring back at them out of its sarcophagus. The men jumped away in fright, but MeyRin was elated.
Ciel arched a brow.
"Hmph, it's a mummy," he said emotionlessly.
"Egyptian antiquities are popular these days." Sebastian explained. "The monied class have taken an interest in their value as collectors' items. A mummy would be prized indeed."
Marianne shook her head and frowned.
"I question people's sanity if they think the idea of displaying a mummified corpse in their home is a good idea. Those sorts of things should be in a museum," she said.
Bard was quick to agree with her.
"Who'd want to collect that thing?"
Just then, a man dressed in a priest's casack knelt down beside the crate.
"Dear Lord, please forgive your children."
The scholar clapped his hands together.
"Pack it up immediately!" he ordered.
"Right," said the porter.
"And you'd best be careful."
Ciel stared at the red marks covering the porter's hand as he moved the crate into the carriage. The priest bowed his head.
"I pray that no calamity befalls you for your actions."
The conductor blew his whistle. Everyone began loading themselves onto the trains.
Marianne stared through the glass window, watching the sheep grazing in the meadows as they passed them by. Sebastian stood up in the carriage and poured boiling water into a strainer filled with tea leaves.
"Would you like your tea, Ciel?" he asked. "I find the aroma of Williamson and Magor's summer Darjeeling perfectly suited to the sight of greenery through a train window."
Ciel glared at him and pointedly stared out of the window. The demon smirked.
"My dear boy, we're meant to seem as if we're on holiday. The criminal will spot us like this. Please, try to look a bit pleasanter."
Marianne chuckled under her breath.
"If we were on holiday, I would be wearing one of my summer dresses, rather than boiling inside this uniform with bindings and a wig on. I feel like a walking furnace!" she said.
Ciel winced at that reminder. He didn't want to think about how she was coping with the heat. Nodding his head, he turned back to look at Sebastian.
"I know, I know."
"Are you really that preoccupied with the Trancys, Ciel?" Sebastian asked.
The boy shook his head.
"No. I am curious, of course, but for the moment, that's all," he said, folding his arms across his chest. "Right now, the Queen's orders take priority."
He leant over and peered through the blinders of the door. Through the gap, he spotted a tall man clutching a briefcase close to his chest.
"That's Lord Ackroyd, then?" he asked. "And the boy kidnapped was his only son?"
Marianne nodded her head.
"Yes, and if the police find out, the boy will surely be killed," she explained.
"He was instructed to bring the ransom aboard the train." Sebastian continued. "And the ransom is five thousands pounds… I take it that's the price humans set for their own souls."
Ciel looked over at the couple.
"The kidnapper must be somewhere on this train," he said. "We'll find him, capture him, and safely rescue the hostage. That's the only way to dispel Her Majesty's distress."
Sebastian bowed his head.
"Very good."
The train travelled along past a glittering lake. Ciel, Sebastian and Marianne moved to the next carriage. They saw the scholar boasting to a collection of other passengers about his mummy.
"It's the find of the century! Because what yours truly discovered was the pharaoh Smenkhkare, hidden in the Valley of the Kings!"
Marianne shook her head.
"How crass can someone be? To be proud of robbing a grave?" she asked.
Sebastian smiled.
"I met him once during his lifetime. He was an affable man of great virtue." He then paused for a moment. "Still… Even taking the desiccation into account, his face really seems quite different."
Marianne sweatdropped at that.
"How old actually are you?" she asked.
Ciel moved back to the matter at hand.
"Then he's a fake?" he asked. "Do you mean that archaeologist is the kidnapper?"
"I couldn't say, my child."
Just then, they caught sight of a man with bloodshot eyes.
"The train that left St Pancras station at exactly 9:00 will cross the Cambridge-bound route at Bedford at 10:18!" the man cried. "This is thrilling! This is not to be missed!"
He leafed through the train schedule.
"We'll pull in to Derby at 1:05… Oh, we'll definitely have a time lag! Considering the weather, the porters will have a hard time of it! It'll be about seven minutes, I'd wager!"
The trio stared at him blankly.
"Is he reading the timetables?" Ciel inquired.
"Yes, he seems to have a bizarre obsession with railways." Sebastian answered.
"This is not going to be a peaceful journey…" Marianne sighed.
Ciel walked forward. His foot brushed against a wrapped bundle in the aisle.
"What do you think you're doing, you damned brat?!" an old man bellowed.
They stared at him, and how he seemed only a head taller than Tanaka in his chibi form.
"I see you're from Japan." Sebastian bowed respectfully. "The scrollwork on that furoshiki wrapping cloth is lovely."
He leant down to pick it up, but the man quickly snatched it away.
"Don't touch it! This is a precious family heirloom!"
Ciel arched a brow at how he held the bundle so protectively.
What's inside? Is he hiding something?
He was pulled out of his thoughts when an old woman approached them.
"I'm sorry, my boy," she said. "He's just so stubborn. Here, a token of our apologies."
She offered them a selection of rice balls. Marianne smiled gratefully.
"No thank you, Ma'am," she said.
The old woman shook her head.
"Oh, I see." She hurried off and started offering them to the other passengers. "Well then, would anyone else like one? I have plenty. There's some with bonito flakes and some with pickled plums!"
She stopped in front of a man wearing a dark brown suit.
"Here, please take one."
The man waved his hand dismissively.
"None of your bloody Oriental food. Everyone says cholera is rampant in Asia."
"Shoo, shoo!"
The old man leapt to the lady's defence.
"That's an outrageous falsehood!" he bellowed.
He made to stride over to them, but was interrupted when the priest rose to his feet.
"Stop," he said. "Don't you think it's rude for you to take that attitude with travellers who have come all this way? As the Holy Book tells us, those who travel will be blessed."
The passengers were soon speaking over one another, blending together until they couldn't be told apart. Ciel noticed the dark swirling lines that peeked out of the priest's casack and over the backs of his hands.
A tattoo on a priest? He thought to himself.
Sebastian smirked as he placed a hand on the small of Marianne's back.
"My, my."
"You're just revelling in the chaos, aren't you?" she said.
The door at the other end of the carriage slammed open. A man stepped inside and adjusted his hat.
"Everyone, please calm down!" he ordered. "Quiet down, and sit down!"
He removed his hat, and revealed himself to be Aberline.
"I can understand your unease. Yes, we're transporting an assassin on this train."
The room fell silent at those words. Aberline continued.
"However! He is being kept under strict armed guard, unable to move a muscle! So, there's no need to wor-!"
Every single one of the passengers leapt up and made a break for the exit. Sebastian deftly moved Ciel and Marianne out of the way, thus leaving Aberline to be trampled on by many hurrying feet.
"Aberline?" Ciel asked.
"Oh! Ciel."
The four of them made their way to the dining car, a piping hot meal set in front of them. Aberline sat opposite the trio and tucked in.
"Eel pie and mash brings back memories. Traditional English food, just like Mother used to make," he said with a smile.
"How is Maria?" Marianne asked. "Has she had the baby yet?"
"Oh yes, a little boy. We got married shortly after the fire as well." Aberline sighed. "Anyway, that was quite a fuss back there, wasn't it?"
"Whose fault was that?" Ciel retorted.
Aberline merely shrugged. The boy shook his head.
"At any rate, Sir Arthur will call you on the carpet for dining with me."
"It's of no consequence." Aberline assured him. "Besides, I have been wanting to thank you for the gifts you left after that case with Lau. We have only really seen each other in passing after that, so this really gives us the chance to talk."
Ciel arched a brow.
"About what?"
"What has happened since that day. That Hound of yours did set fire to London before your servants dealt with it."
"His original master took back control and set it on the poor souls of the city. Wanted to cleanse the world with fire as it were." Ciel explained.
"Using the Queen I take it? Her replacement is handling things for the moment. It's better she stays alive at least until the next century, so Scotland Yard says." Aberlina said.
It doesn't look like he knows about the kidnapping. Ciel thought.
Across the carriage, he caught sight of Claude, dressed in a black cloak with a high collar and top hat. He seemed to be quietly enjoying an afternoon tea. Sebastian's eyes narrowed at the sight of him. Their eyes met over the space. Marianne shuddered silently beside her husband.
"What is it?" Ciel asked.
"Nothing. Shall we go?" Sebastian replied, getting to his feet.
Ciel and Marianne followed suit. They bid their farewells to Aberline, and made their exit.
Meanwhile, in his compartment, Lord Ackroyd was trembling at the sight of a note pinned to one of the seats.
"Leave the suitcase with the ransom money in the very last lounge car." He read out loud.
Ciel, Sebastian and Marianne walked down the aisle of the train on the way back to their compartment.
"I must say, there are quite a few suspicious characters on this train," the demon commented.
"Yes…" Ciel agreed, pondering over the different people. "A priest with a tattoo, a sham archaeologist, a surly Japanese man, a man in a frenzy over timetables…"
"They all seem too much like obvious suspects." Marianne said. "You would think it would be someone hiding in plain sight, like one of the train's workers."
"And if there's an assassin on board as well…" Sebastian added.
A man dressed in a brown jacket brushed past them, his hand keeping his hat over his eyes. Ciel caught sight of the man's hand, and remembered the porter who loaded the mummy onto the train. When Finny bumped into him, the crate had fallen onto his hand, covering it in scratches and bruises. The same thing could be said fot the man's hand. The boy latched onto the man's arm.
"You're that porter from the station," he said. "What are you doing on this train dressed like a traveller?"
The man ripped his arm away and ran.
"Damn!"
The trio immediately gave chase.
"He's the kidnapper!" Ciel shouted.
Lord Ackroyd opened his suitcase and stared at the large amount of bank notes. He jolted when he heard someone outside.
Outside the carriage, the porter lifted the heavy metal grate from over the train coupling. He pulled out a crowbar from his jacket, and began to try and pry the coupling apart.
"Damn it," he muttered. "I can't get the bloody thing to…"
He pulled it so hard that he toppled over in the attempt. But he had managed to cause the carriage to release.
Ciel burst through the doors of the opposite carriage.
"Stop!" he cried out.
The porter only laughed as the gap between the carriages grew wider. He disappeared into the carriage. Marianne pressed her hands against Ciel's shoulders as he glared at the closed door moving further away from them.
"Let's move out the way, shall we?" she said, drawing him to her side.
The boy nodded his head and looked up at Sebastian.
"Don't let him get away, Father!" he ordered.
Sebastian smirked.
"Very good."
He leapt across the gap and stepped onto the carriage.
The porter sneered at Lord Ackroyd as he extended his hand between them.
"Now, hand that over," he ordered.
Ackroyd backed away, trembling while he clutched the suitcase to his chest. The porter reached into his jacket with a smirk.
"If you don't make it quick, the boy's life is over."
He fumbled for a moment when he couldn't find what he was looking for.
The click of a gun echoed loudly in his ears. Sebastian stood smirking behind him, with the porter's gun aimed at the man's head.
"I'm more concerned about your life, frankly," he said.
The porter swiftly turned around and raised his hands into the air.
"Who are you?!" he cried.
The demon smiled.
"Where is your young hostage?" he retorted.
"Onboard that train." The porter replied. "But you can't save him now. What a shame!"
Sebastian's eyes narrowed.
"By which you mean…?"
The porter sneered at him.
"I rigged a bomb to explode as soon as the train stops. I thought I'd put on a nice big fireworks display after I got the ransom money!"
At those words, Lord Ackroyd let the suitcase slip through his fingers and fall to the floor with a loud thump. He fell to his knees and shuddered, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Sebastian pulled out his silver pocket watch and checked the time.
"We have ten minutes before the next stop," he said.
"Serves you right!" laughed the porter.
The demon used his foot to smack the man in the face, and sent him flying out of the train window. He landed in some bushes alongside the train track.
"There's not much time." Sebastian said as he clicked the watch's cover closed.
Without a word to Lord Ackroyd, who was staring up at him in fear, he leapt out of the carriage and ran after the moving train.
The train continued on its journey as though there was nothing amiss. But there were those inside that could feel trouble was already brewing. The guards outside the assassin's cage stood facing one another as they spoke of what had happened.
"A car's been decoupled?" one asked.
"What is going on here?!" the other cried.
They left the assassin alone. The assassin began to move about in his bondage, moving the cuffs around his ankles, struggling against his straitjacket, wiggling against the blindfold over his eyes and the gag in his mouth.
Meanwhile, Ciel and Marianne were running up the train. They burst through the carriage doors, Aberline following close behind them.
"Ciel, Edward, what do you mean, you're going to the goods wagon?!" he cried.
Ciel looked at him over his shoulder.
"We can leave the kidnapper to Sebastian. What's left is the child," he said.
Marianne nodded her head.
"The man must have disguised himself as a porter so he could hide the hostage in someone's luggage."
"And… The only piece of luggage big enough to hide a child is that mummy's coffin." Ciel concluded.
The archaeologist sprung to his feet at the accusation.
"What?!"
There was a thud behind them. They turned around to see that Aberline had collapsed in one of the seats.
"What happened?" Marianne asked.
The detective groaned.
"My stomach… My stomach hurts…" he said painfully.
The woman shook her head.
"I can only guess it was a bad batch of eels."
Ciel turned away from them and spotted the Japanese woman huddled on one of the benches and holding her stomach. Many of the passengers were staring at her.
"You don't suppose it's cholera, do you?!" one of them cried.
The screaming soon started.
"Get out of here!"
"Stay away!"
The woman's husband clambered up from his seat.
"How dare you bastards treat my wife that way?!" he bellowed.
Ciel turned back to Aberline.
"Did you eat one of those rice balls?" he asked.
Aberline shakily nodded his head.
"She offered it so nicely… I couldn't say no…"
Shaking their heads, Ciel and Marianne continued on to the luggage carriage.
Ciel slammed open the doors of the carriage, and stared at all the wooden crates scattered around.
"This is it?" he asked.
Marianne touched a hand to his shoulder.
"Don't worry, we're just looking for the biggest one, right? It should be easy enough to spot through all this."
She was right. It was laid out near the door. Together, they pushed the lid off the crate, and looked down at the gold burial mask that stared back at them with vacant white eyes.
"One… Two… Three!"
They opened the sarcophagus, and looked away when the mummy was revealed. Feeling along the seam inside, they lifted it up, and found the hidden bottom. Inside was a little boy with blond hair, bound with black cords.
"H-Help me…" he whimpered.
Ciel snapped to attention and began to pull away the boy's bindings.
"Hang on!"
As he worked, Marianne watched the door, and saw a man with blond hair enter the compartment. She placed a hand on her dagger, and eyed the loose straightjacket that shrouded his form.
"Who are you?!" she demanded.
The man pushed her out of the way, grabbed onto Ciel, and slapped a hand over his mouth. Marianne snarled as she stayed low, and pulled out her dagger, keeping her eyes trained on the tattooed hands holding her child.
Sebastian ran through the trees, leapt through the canopies and branches until he finally landed on one that peered over the tops of the leaves. He stared at the train as it continued on its journey and followed the tracks to see where the next station was going to be. It wouldn't have been long. Spotting the track switcher at the junction, he threw three forks at the levers, making them switch. The driver stared out of the locomotive in amazement. The demon leapt down onto the coal store behind him.
"Pardon me," he said. "There is a bomb on this train set to go off when we stop. Do not break under any circumstances."
He left before the man could answer.
He ran into the next carriage, immediately went past Aberline.
"Sebastian!" Aberline called out.
Sebastian backtracked to the inspector.
"Where have they gone?" he asked.
"They went to the goods wagon to save the child…" Aberline answered.
The conductor then stepped onto the carriage.
"I-I have an announcement to make! The points have just changed, and we're now bound for a different destination!"
The passengers all looked at him in surprise as he continued.
"We'll be passing over a railway bridge no longer in use. It won't bear the weight of this train, and therefore our final stop…" He wiped his brow. "…Will most likely be Heaven!"
The screaming soon began. Sebastian was the only one who was completely calm, and didn't react.
"Then we'd best stop this thing fast."
They all turned to see the escaped assassin, holding Ciel. The scar on his cheek was evident. His hand held a knife to the boy's throat while the other was wrapped around his neck.
"You're…!" Aberline gasped.
Sebastian sighed.
"A hostage again, Young Master?" he asked. "I do believe you enjoy being captured."
"What are you on about?" Ciel retorted.
The priest then spoke up, rising to his feet.
"So, it was you…" he said, looking at him with a twisted grin. "Bloodbath Johnny."
As he stepped forward, Johnny laughed.
"Well, if it isn't Jacknife Heyward!" he said. "You ought to know what'll happen to the kid if you don't stop the train."
Sebastian tapped a finger to his chin and smirked.
"I'd love to stop it myself, but I'm afraid there's a bomb on-board that will explode if we stop…"
The assassin stared at him dumbfounded. Aberline hauled himself out of his seat and spoke.
"Not to mention we have a cholera outbreak in this carriage. You may already be infected!"
Johnny gasped.
"You're saying a train with a bomb on-board is headed for a rundown bridge, and there's cholera?!"
Sebastian sighed.
"It's certainly a full-course menu of crises."
Ciel scowled.
"Enough of this farce. Sebastian, hurry up and do something about this. That's an order!"
The demon bowed.
"Yes, My Lord."
Johnny started to back out of the carriage, the knife still set against Ciel's throat.
"Forget it!" he bellowed. "To Hell with your cholera and your bombs! I'm getting out of here!"
He took the boy out of the carriage. Sebastian made to give chase when Aberline stopped him.
"Hold on!" he said. "I know you can handle this yourself, but perhaps we can be of assistance here."
The inspector turned to the crowd.
"Which of us will band together to take a stand against evil?"
The demon arched a brow.
"Sounds like wishful thinking to me."
Heyward removed his glasses.
"Not necessarily."
He dropped them to the floor and loosened the buttons of his casack, revealing the intricate tattoos splayed across his chest.
"I used to be in the killing business myself. But after he killed someone precious to me, I went straight and became a priest," he explained. "As the Holy Book tells us, 'Ye are your own enemies.' It's time to settle the score."
Tattoed on his back was a large Chinese dragon wrapped around a skull.
"But right now, I don't have a weapon to face him with."
The Japanese man then spoke up.
"Use this!"
He offered Heyward his wrapped bundle, untied it, and revealed what was inside. It was an elegantly crafted Japanese katana.
"This is the family treasure passed down for generations: the Zantomaru!" he said, drawing the blade out slightly. "I brought it here to give to my son, an exchange student. But I'm sure this katana would be happier being useful here!"
The archaeologist got to his feet and smiled.
"In that case, leave the bomb to me!" he laughed. "I've used time bombs in my excavations!"
He stroked his moustache.
"They generally have two wires: a black one and a red one. One is a dummy. If you cut the right one, you can disable it, but if you pick the wrong one—boom!" he sighed. "Still, do we have enough time to find the bomb…?"
The man with the timetables soon put his point forward.
"We should be fine!" he cried. "This point up ahead is crucial! Change the point and enter the High Peak Railway! And if we change the next point too… We can gain twenty whole minutes of extra time!"
The passengers began cheering. Aberline smiled.
"Perfect. We'll join forces and find our way out of this."
Sebastian smirked.
"I do appreciate the thought, but I can handle this myself."
He swung himself out of the train window and disappeared upwards. Aberline pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. The Japanese man huffed.
"That man has no notion of the austere Japanese aesthetic!"
Johnny ran along the top of the train with Ciel under his arm. Sebastian calmly followed behind him.
"You're a right stubborn bastard!" Johnny snarled.
The demon extended his hand between them.
"Pass him to me."
Johnny stared at him, and then caught sight of the bridge in the distance, growing closer by the second. He smirked.
"Sure, you just wait there. I'll be right…"
He took a couple of steps forward and watched the bridge get closer to the back of Sebastian's head.
"I win!" he cried, and proceeded to duck down as they went under the bridge.
The back of the demon's head hit the stone, and it exploded into dust on impact. Johnny stared up at him wide-eyed.
"What?!"
It literally ploughed through the thick stone bricks and left an extra arch behind. Marianne, having been informed where Sebastian and Ciel had gone and followed after them, stared at the new hole.
"I knew you had a hard head, but that is just ridiculous…" she commented.
She scrambled onto the top of the train and kicked the back of Johnny's shin, causing him to drop Ciel. Sebastian extended his hand to the boy.
"Come, my child," he said.
Ciel accepted the hand and got to his feet. Johnny clambered away from them.
"Y-You're a monster!" he cried.
Sebastian picked him up by the throat with one hand. A shit-eating smile was spread across his face.
"Now then, Mr Assassin…" He threw him to the other end of the train, towards the smoke stack. "Have a nice trip!"
Once that was dealt with, he turned to look at Marianne and Ciel.
"Next, the bomb."
The woman gathered Ciel into her arms while the demon ran to the other end of the train. Sebastian steadied his hands against the edge of the carriage.
"There may be a red wire and a black wire…"
Without further ado, he tore the entire roof off the carriage. The bomb was in the centre of the ceiling. The demon adjusted his grip.
"But there's certainly no need for me to choose one," he said.
Throwing it into the air, it exploded.
"Hey! If there were passengers in that carriage…" Ciel cried out.
Sebastian turned back and gave him a shit-eating smile.
"Not to worry, Ciel. That was the roof of the dining car. And that passenger…" he explained. Marianne arched a brow at his words, but he continued. "And now…"
Sebastian leapt off the roof and ran onto the tracks in front of the train. Marianne sweatdropped.
"He seems to be really into using his demon powers today…" she sighed.
The demon extended his arm and moved into a halt position. The train ploughed into him at top speed, and Sebastian's grounded feet broke through the numerous metal tracks one after the other. With the amount of force he was putting against the train, it slowly ground to a halt, only a few tracks away from falling off the end of the bridge and into the rushing water far below.
Ciel and Marianne peered over the top of the train once it had stopped.
"That was a close shave." Ciel said. "But you managed."
Sebastian smirked.
"A Phantomhive butler who can't handle this little full-course menu of crises isn't worth his salt."
He assisted his family down, and held Marianne in his arms like the bride she was to him. They walked along the side of the train to see the many passengers had climbed out. Aberline saw them approaching.
"That was magnificent, Sebastian," he said, gripping his stomach.
Ciel's eye widened.
"That's right! What about the cholera?" he asked. "The whole train might be infected by now."
Marianne pinched the bridge of her nose, and silently asked to be placed on her feet.
"Sebastian, if you would be so kind?" she asked.
The demon reached into his tailcoat and pulled out a small glass vial.
"Those whose stomachs ail them should take this," he said, handing it to Marianne.
Ciel looked at them in confusion.
"I don't recall there being an instant cure for cholera," he said.
"No." Marianne agreed. "This is just a digestive tonic."
"Digestive tonic?"
"Japanese tradition has always held certain food pairings to be harmful." Sebastian explained. "Watermelon and tempura, eel and pickled plum…"
Marianne gave the vial to Aberline to drink down.
"I imagine his stomach-ache is from eating a rice ball with pickled plum, despite having been served eel pie in the dining car. Not to mention that the eels were slightly off."
The woman smiled.
"This is why I avoid eels. I never acquired a taste for them."
Aberline laughed.
"I'm cured!"
Ciel shook his head.
"It shouldn't work that fast."
The inspector then turned to the group.
"You are definitely no ordinary butler," he said.
Sebastian smiled.
"Indeed, I am simply one Hell of a butler."
Claude sat in the open-topped dining car, sipping a cup of tea while birds pecked at the remains of the afternoon tea. His eyes glinted behind his glasses as he looked up.
As the sun was setting, the conductors and passengers of the train were being moved to a new one. Sebastian stood in the queue, suitcase in hand and wrapped up in his black coat. Claude was walking past him when he offered the tablecloth from the dining car.
"Here," he said. "My tea spilled in all the commotion. A true butler should have been able to sort that out without the slightest rocking of the train."
Sebastian was nonplussed by the accusation.
"Yes, I see you took some damage as well," he replied.
The bespectacled man stared down at the dollop of cream across the bridge of his nose. His tongue reached up and licked it off. Claude took out an envelope from his coat and presented it to Sebastian. Sebastian watched him out of the corner of his eye.
"What is that?" he asked.
"If you wish to investigate my master, march into the Trancy mansion right through the front gate." Claude responded. "You want to help young master Ciel take his revenge, don't you?"
The following day, Ciel sat in the dining room, sipping a steaming hot cup of tea. He leant back in his chair and sighed.
"Yesterday was tiring even for me," he said.
Marianne was sat beside him and reading quietly. Sebastian came up behind them and presented a silver tray to the boy.
"What's this?" Ciel asked.
Sitting on top of the day's newspaper was an envelope with his name on it.
"An invitation to a ball at the Trancy estate." Sebastian replied.
"What?!"
Marianne's head bolted upright when she heard those words. Her hands snapped her book closed. A gulp ran down the length of her throat as she met her mate's eyes, her stomach rolling at the sight of the spider on the red wax seal. Ciel stared at the envelope.
"Trancy…"
To answer one of the most likely questions I think I will be receiving when I update this chapter, no, Claude is unaware of Marianne's presence. I'm already looking forward to working on the next chapter, but I am struggling to find the English dubbed episodes for this series at the moment. If anyone could give me a website with the dubbed episodes, as I am being forced to use the subbed ones, I would be very grateful.
I also wanted to give my thanks to mew mew 124 for her artwork on deviantart, and showing what Marianne looks like in her drawings. They are truly lovely.
Should you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
Please read and review!
