"Amaranth"

"Madam, I heard—"

Grell froze in the doorway, his eyes locking onto the same spot that held Elizabeth's attention: the place on the floor where Angelina Dalles' body lay.

And although Lizzy's eyes drifted up to find him, he didn't gain her focus.

"Wha-Madam?!" Grell quavered, as Lizzy heard again:

"What those women had—what I could never have again—!"

"You—" gasped Grell, as his eyes darted between her and the body, and Lizzy remembered,

"You're just a child, you couldn't possibly understand!"

(But she did, she did.)

"My Madam Red…" murmured the butler, stumbling forward to kneel before the baroness' still form. Heedless of the blood, he caressed her cheek.

"Even now," he whispered, "you are as beautiful as the night we first met, died crimson with your victim's blood. But this time…it seems I missed my queue."

Echoed in his tone, Lizzy heard her aunt's cry of,

"I lost everything!"

(As if she was the only one; as if she was alone.)

And as Grell gently pulled off Angelina's coat to tug it onto his larger form, she finally spoke.

"You were her accomplice, then, Mr. Grell?"

Grell eyed her from where he now stood with the red coat hanging low about his shoulders, and his lips twitched into a sneer.

"Of course I was!" he proclaimed, "For her, for the sake of the feelings we shared, I broke oh-so-many rules…and put on quite a show. It was the performance of a lifetime…and I didn't even reach the finale. And I just can't stand for that. To think, I thought that you were just a cute little girl, but really you're a disgusting little brat. And I'm already sure to get in trouble, so why not go all the way?" he shrugged, "At the very least I can do everyone a favor, and get rid of an annoyance like you."

There was a roar like thunder, and Elizabeth's hand clenched around the familiar hilt of her sword. Then Grell was surging forward, swinging an enormous, gleaming menace of metal teeth, and she had to dodge out of the way, sliding along the wall of what had once been Madam Red's tastefully decorated sitting room. The spinning blade bit into the wall with a howl, and Grell sliced through it as if it were gossamer, slinging the machine around to face her.

"What—what is that?" Lizzy gasped, her gaze flickering between Grell's luminescent green eyes and the sharp whirling metal.

"This," Grell purred, "Is a death scythe of my own design. Every death scythe can cut through anything, but mine is especially ferocious." His face split into a sharp grin, and he dashed across the room to where she'd edged away from the bizarre weapon. Lizzy's eyes widened, and she barely had time to take a breath, let alone bring up her blade to block—and the sword shattered, splinters of metal caught up in the rotation of Grell's scythe and spat out again. Lizzy staggered to the side as the shrapnel caught her cheek, and the scythe roared in her ears and swept ever downwards towards her. Her world narrowed down to only the screaming metal and the beat of her own heart and she allowed herself to fall to her knees as she grasped amongst her petticoats for another blade. Her hand found a hilt, and she drew before her the sword that Mr. Undertaker had given her. Metal met metal again only inches above of her face, and there was a terrible screech as sparks flew. Elizabeth stared up at the locked blades in grim determination as Grell blinked down, confounded.

"What?!"

The girl's eyes narrowed and she surged upwards, taking advantage of Grell's shock-slackened grip. She twisted her blade fiercely, forcing heavy metal of the scythe to follow the motion and wrench out of her opponent's hands.

"Wha-what?" Grell screeched, diving to scramble for his machine, only to find the tip of Elizabeth's sword at his throat.

"Grell Sutcliff," she said coldly, "In the name of the queen, you are hereby under arrest. You may—"

"Pardon the intrusion," a crisp voice interrupted.

And the world fell out of place, or she out of place within it.

a/n: …Man, when life hits you, it hits hard and it doesn't pull it's punches. *sighs*

So, y'all know I've been dealing with moving, right? And all that that entails…But in addition, my summer classes started, I've had work, I went to visit my cousin before she moved to Guam for a year…and I got selected for jury duty. It lasted over a week. And it was the most mentally and emotionally draining thing that I've ever experienced. I hope I never have to do that again in my entire life. So…sorry for the delay.
…In addition, I've rewritten this chapter multiple times, argh. I'm still not perfectly happy with it.

On another note, this story has reached its one year anniversary! And my birthday is on Monday. Leave a review in celebration?

"Amaranth:" a mythical undying flower; a shade of red