|Kelvin Mansion|
The rest of the ride was passed in an uncomfortable silence, being rendered a bit more tolerable when Star fell asleep. When they arrived at the mansion, Star was violently jolted awake by the sudden movements the coach made at the beginning of the drive way.
'Get out.' Ciel ordered her, inclining his head towards the coach door. The boy seemed to look fresh, as if he had just slept in a four-poster bed instead of being jostled around in a coach. Not a strand of hair was out of place, while Star had the uncomfortable feeling that she had been drooling in her sleep a little bit.
'What are you talking about? I'm going in there with you.' She said, giving the young boy a nasty look. As Smiles he had reminded her of her sweet brother, but now she found nothing of George's kindness at all in that piercing blue eye.
'The young Master would be quite inconvenienced by your presence, miss Star.' Black told her as he opened the coach door. He held his hand out to her, seemingly innocent but giving off the vibe that he would not see a single problem if he had to kick her out of the coach by force.
'We do not have the time nor reason to look out after you when we go inside. There is no telling as of yet what kind of man the Baron is, nor what he would do to you if we were to let our attention slip for a moment. Please wait outside while we go inside. If possible, we will return your brother to you.'
Star snorted as she descended from the coach, ignoring the gloved hand that was being offered to her. 'Fine then, if you will not take me with you, I have no choice but go in there alone to look for my brother. I came here to protect him and have a good talk with Joker and his 'Father', and I am not leaving before I do so.'
The butler cast a quick glance to the young boy. Ciel observed her in the moonlight, as if he were considering how much her life was worth in comparison to his mission. He slowly shook his head towards the man clad in black.
'Let her go, Sebastian. I doubt she will be getting in our way, and she may prove to be an added benefit as an element of surprise. If she manages to get in.'
Star made a sarcastic curtsy to the young man, making sure to put as much dismay in it as was physically possible. She had been a thief and small-time burglar for years before she had been picked up by Joker's troupe. If the boy thought she could not get into the mansion unseen, he would be rather sorely surprised.
'No need to worry about me, Master Ciel.' She replied sweetly, putting special emphasis on the boy's title, making clear that she did not consider him to be a master at all. 'I will get in, find my brother and do everything that needs to be done, before you and your butler make your way out of the house. Now, with your pardon.'
She straightened her back, turning towards the looming mansion in front of them. The world was still dark, dawn hours from breaking. It should not be that hard to get in. Most people were probably sleeping in there. Judging from how rundown the place looked, the staff would be minimal at worst. Piece of cake, she thought to herself.
The coach driven by the butler rattled past her, through the open gates. She could hear Devil whinnying behind her. Somehow that smug butler had found time to tie the stallion to a nearby tree for her convenience. She snuck past the gates, but instead of following up the road as the coach had done, she immediately headed into the thicket, creeping her way up towards the mansion. She could see the coach pulling up to the front of the house as she slowly approached, trying to steer to the sides of the house as much as possible.
The trees and bushes in the garden had been badly kept, growing wildly across the grounds. Though it made the moving hard, she doubted anybody looking from the house would be able to see her sneaking closer. When she had gotten as far as she wanted to, she looked at the mansion with a critical eye. Something which she judged to be the kitchen was built lower than the rest of the house. If she could get up that, she might be able to climb up higher on the adjacent tower. She was uncomfortable with having to guess about everything, but she couldn't really afford to spend a lot of time checking out everything little by little.
She made her way across the courtyard with her heart thumping in her throat, head bowed toward the ground in case anyone should be awake and looking out of the windows tonight. Nobody called her out, and when she got to the kitchen, she could see the windows were covered in cobwebs.
That was just plain strange. Who in their right mind would leave cobwebs spread around their home like this? She bit her lip, trying to decide if going in through the kitchen would be a smart idea or not. On the one hand, it would save her a harrowing, vertical trip. On the other hand… what if it wasn't so deserted as she thought it was?
Star touched her wrist, where the little knife was attached to her body. If necessary, she could stab whoever tried to stop her from going where she needed to go. At least, in theory. It would probably depend on the situation. But having the option to do so was quite nice in itself.
She took a deep breath, counted to three and placed her hand on the iron door latch. The door creaked open in the loudest, most obnoxious way anyone could imagine. It seemed to her it was crying out to the Baron that someone was breaking and entering into his home.
She waited for a few seconds, keeping the door open with one hand, taking shallow breaths. Nobody had reacted to the infernal noise the door had been making. She snuck inside, gently nudging the door back closed again. The hinges protested again, loudly enough almost to wake the dead.
With the door back closed, Star turned around again, looking around the kitchen. A single candle was burning, and the room smelled of food, as if someone had cooked not too long ago. She wondered who had been in need of a midnight snack. Where the surfaces were not covered in dust and soot, they were covered in greasy streaks. Remnants of food were scattered about, instead of having been swept up and deposited in the bin. Whoever the cleaning lady was around these part, she really was not putting any effort in her job.
Trying not to disturb the cutlery that had been discarded on the floor, she moved a few paces to the door leading inside the mansion, keeping her head low as she moved. As soon as she was near the door, she relaxed a bit, thinking one of the hardest parts was over and done with.
She stifled a scream.
Something had bumped into her when she entered the doorway, something small and warm and breathing. She managed to keep the scream inside, only breathing hard. An emaciated child stood in front of her, seemingly not surprised at all on bumping into a stranger this hour of the morning. Hollow eyes looked up at her, the voice sounding hoarse as the question was posed to her.
'Good morning. Are you a guest?'
Star's eyes widened, as she tried to stammer out yes. When she finally had managed to wrangle the word out of her throat, the child nodded slowly. Dark green eyes, seemingly glazed over, looked at her without really seeing her.
'Do you want to see your room?' the child asked again. Star decided it was a girl, though she couldn't be certain. The dirty blond hair was cut shaggily, and the make-shift maid outfit hung loosely around the skinny frame.
'Uhm… yes. Please, bring me to my room.'
The child turned around, walking through the corridors slowly. Star picked up a candle from a nearby table, but put it back down again when she noticed that there wasn't any lit one available to light her own with. Instead she had to follow the child in the near dark shadows, sometimes nearly tripping about something that had been discarded without care.
'What is your name?' she asked the child. The girl stopped walking in front of her, looking at the ground. The first ripple of emotion was noticeable as she crinkled her nose at the question. 'My name?' she repeated, hardly audible.
A few moments passed, though they seemed to be endless in the dark. Finally the girl started to move again, as if she had forgotten the question. Perhaps she had, Star couldn't be sure. Perhaps the girl was one of the children the Baron had kidnapped? That could mean George was walking around here too, looking ghastly as he wandered the dark halls, without knowing who he was. The girl did not look like she knew exactly what she was doing. If she was allowed to walk around without anyone supervising, that must mean that the Baron knew she would not run away.
'Why don't you run away?' Star asked again. This time the girl kept on walking, a hand against the wall as if she was unsure if this was the right way.
'I have no place to return to.' She replied, kicking a broken cup away with her dainty feet. There was no emotion in her voice, no pain or sadness at this notion. 'Everybody who was there is dead.'
'There are people who are looking for you.' Star told the girl. 'There are people who are worried about where you went.'
The girl ignored this comment as she stopped in front of a door. The door was dusty, except for the door knob which shone in the light. 'Wait here for a minute, please.' Star asked the girl.
The girl slackened her posture a tiny bit, which Star assumed was her way of showing that she would obey this order. Star opened up the door, letting it swing open to the inside.
The room was lit by a singly candle, though it had nearly burnt out. There was not as much dust in here as there had been in the rest of the mansion, as if the room saw more frequent use.
Two children, a boy and a girl were sitting on the bed, dressed up like dolls. Their hands were folded in their laps, their golden blond hair shining in the soft candle light. Their eyes were just as hollow as those from the girl that had brought her here.
Star walked up to the bed. Before she had reached the children, they got up. Star slowed her pace as she children came closer, taking one of her hands in theirs.
'Welcome, dear guest.' The boy whispered, as he pressed a kiss on her hand. He didn't look up, nor did the girl.
'Would you like to rest with us?' the girl asked, kneeling down towards Star's shoes. Before she could protest, she had already unlaced one, and moved towards the other. Star knelt down, taking the girl's hands into hers.
'No, no, I don't have time to rest.' Star said, trying to look into the girl's eyes. The girl surprised her by wrapping her bony arms around her neck, pressing her lips onto Star's.
Star fell back, shocked. 'What are you doing?'
'We are here to welcome the guests.' The girl answered. The boy nodded, walking closer to Star. He stopped near her, and tried to kiss her as well, bending over towards her. Star stopped him, standing back up. The boy looked up at her, his eyes still empty.
'We only want to please the honored guest.' The boy told her. He would have made such a beautiful child, if only there had been a smile in those eyes.
'Let us please you. Father will be angry with us, if we do not.' The girl pleaded to Star.
Star looked back to the open door, towards the girl in the maid outfit that was still patiently waiting outside for her. Then she looked back to the two children that were dressed up to look like dolls.
'You know… there is a way to please me. Come with me.' She said. The children took her hands, looking down at the ground while they walked.
'You too. I will be very pleased if you bring me to where the other children are.' Star said. The little maid looked up at her, almost dreamily. She made a mechanic curtsy.
'Yes. There are some children in Father's favorite place, but most are in the basement. Where would you like to go?'
'Bring me to where the most children are.' Star commanded. The children's hands were cold, almost frigid. The whole place seemed to be almost nightmarish. Every once in a while, a candle was placed on a low table, but for the most part she had to walk around in darkness. The children were quiet, not even flinching if they almost tripped on something in the shadows. Twice Star was the only thing keeping the boy from keeling over.
The corridors seemed endless, and Star imagined rats and other undesirables scurrying around in the dark. The children showed fear about just as much as other emotions, until Star felt as if she was the only one with a pulse, leading the ghosts of dead children by the hand.
Twice they went down wooden stairs, and now they stopped near a narrow, stone one.
'The children that are not yet perfect are here.' the maid announced.
Star assumed that with 'not yet perfect' the girl meant that the children in there were not yet fully deprived of any emotion. She took this as a good sign. When she prepared herself to go downstairs, the young maid grabbed her by the lower part of her shirt to stop her.
'The Big Man is down there too.' She said. 'He doesn't like visitors.'
Star looked down, towards the creeping shadows waiting to swallow her as she went down.
'I'll be fine.' She said, though she did not know why would try to tell these children that. They didn't show any concern for her. 'Just wait here, until I come for you.'
The two girls made a clumsy curtsy, while the boy bowed stiffly for her. Star moved down the stairs, not wasting any more time trying to talk to the children. She could not even hear them breathe behind her. At least they cast a shadow, or she would have indeed thought that she had been accompanied by ghosts. As she moved down, she could hear slight sobbing, sometimes with a high-pitched wail that was broken of rather quickly.
At the base of the stairs, she pressed her back against the stone wall. A large man was sitting with his feet on a flimsy wood table, peeling an apple with a knife. The fire behind his back was the only source of light in the room. The room was filled with iron cages, where she could see small bundles huddled with white arms around them. Sometimes the light caught the glint of an eye, or a stream of tears. Star did a quick count, and guessed there had to be a little less than fifteen children in here. She wondered how many more there were across the mansion.
'Will ya stop yer whinin', ya lil' runts!' the man yelled, before belching once loudly. 'Don't make me take of me belt.' The last part of the sentence was smothered in the apple he started to chew.
Star started breathing through her mouth, in order to make as little noise as possible. She didn't know what the man did to the children exactly, but the things she was guessing at were bad enough. Her eyes darted around the room, before stopping on a poker that had been left lying in the fire.
The man didn't seem to be paying a lot of attention, munching on his apple. He belched once, scratching his belly as he did so. Star slowly slid across the corner, her back loosely against the wall. There was no sound when she moved. Perhaps if the children had been less engrossed in their misery, they would have seen her sneaking across the wall, perhaps given her away. But no eyes locked on the figure that crossed between light and dark, towards the fire.
When one of the children started to sob more violently, the man raised himself from his chair. Star froze for a second, but when the man started to move towards the sobbing child, Star couldn't stop herself.
'Bastard!' she yelled out.
The man turned around, surprised at the sound of a woman's voice. He was met halfway his turn with a searing red poker, smacking him across the face. He fell back, screaming in pain. This caught the attention of some of the children, who started to look around to see what was happening to cause 'The Big Man' to make sounds of pain.
'Wott in the Seven 'Ells are ye doin'?' he yelled, trying to scramble back up.
Star shoved him back down with one of her feet, towering over him. The fire painted ghastly shadows over her grim face as she looked down on him in disgust and rage.
The sight and sounds of these children had been enough for her. Not only for George, but for every child that had been made to suffer, she would exact payment. The shadows in this house would no longer scare her.
'I believe they call this justice.' She announced, slamming down the poker into the man's pleading eye.
|To my dear readers : the next chapter will be the last chapter! Yes, that's right, soon this story will be finished. Soooo, in my announcements to make : So far, the happy ending is leading with one vote. That's right, just one vote. To the person who asked in the anonymous reviews, I will be counting votes you make there as well, because it would be rather unfair to force you to make an account just so you could vote on a poll.
And secondly : I want reviews! I hardly ever ask for reviews (be fair, how many times have I told you people to review me?) so take your chance and do it! Anonymous reviews are of course also welcome, since again, it would be unfair to force people to make an account just so they can review stuff.
Thirdly : I have an Archive Of Our Own account now as well! Nothing much is different about it, seeing as how I will upload the stories I write here there as well. But, you know, some extra views and kudos on there wouldn't kill me – I hope – so… hint hint, nudge nudge, and wink wink? My name there is Angelprincess01!
Have a lovely day!|