About two days after the incident with the tailor, a package arrived for Eleanora. She had wanted to go upstairs with it, but Madam Red had insisted that she try on the new clothes in front of all the women first. So Eleanora, Mey-Rin, and Grell had gotten some tea and snacks and were now camping out in the Madam's room, which was just fine with Sebastian. The young Master was calling him anyway.
He had a letter—from the Queen, of course; no one else liked him enough to send him anything, except for perhaps a bomb—which very politely asked him to look into some kind of cult that claimed to be able to resurrect the dead.
"Resurrect the dead?" Ciel frowned up at Sebastian. "Is that even possible?"
"It's possible," Sebastian said after thinking for a while. "I've known several people who have attempted it—but only a few; it's extremely difficult to bring someone back to life. I sincerely doubt that an ordinary human could pull it off."
"How do you do it?"
Sebastian gave him a look.
"First," he said finally, "you have to get the two parts of their soul—one part goes to Death, and the other part usually goes to the Reapers or a demon. If a demon gets the soul, then that's it. If the Reaper gets the soul, it's extremely difficult to get it back, and it's even harder to get the other part from Death than it is to get it from the Reapers. Then you need their original heart and brain, still in working order—meaning, they must not have rotted at all. If they've rotted, then it's harder for the process to work. And if a vampire has gotten the heart, then that's it. And if an undead has gotten the brain, then that's it also. And after you've gotten all these things—soul, heart, and brain—you need to put them in a body, preferably the body that the pieces have come from. If you don't have that body, you have to find another body that won't reject the organs. And then there's a lot of prayer and scientific things that have to be done. It's all very complicated and if the slightest thing goes wrong, the whole experiment is ruined. Most people don't attempt it—it's easier to just accept and allow for the dead to remain dead."
"I see…" Ciel said. "So, even if a human was somehow able to know how to do all those things…"
"…the possibility of them actually being able to do it all is incredibly, almost impossibly slim."
"So it's probably a hoax. They're probably not really bringing the dead back to life."
"As I said, the ritual has extremely low success rates, even for us unholy. The chances of a human pulling it off…"
"Hmm…" Ciel frowned at the letter. "It says here that the next meeting is purportedly on a ship…" He looked up at his butler. "Find that ship and get tickets."
"Certainly, my Lord. How many?"
"Two…No, three."
"Three, my Lord? May I ask what the third one is for?"
"Oh, for anyone else who wants to go. Someone useful. Actually…" Ciel looked up at Sebastian. "Give it to Eleanora."
The normally-impassive butler noticeably winced.
"What? Something wrong?"
"It's nothing, my Lord. It's just that…" Sebastian took a deep breath. "Eleanora and I do not get along, and I sincerely doubt that she would be of any use to me—us—during this…expedition. To put it bluntly, sir, she would only get in my way, should a situation arise."
"Nonsense, an extreme situation shouldn't occur if it truly is a hoax," Ciel said. "Besides, it's probably taking place on one of those luxury liners. It'll be like a pleasure cruise!"
"My Lord," Sebastian said, smiling thinly, "any trip with Eleanora will most certainly not be a pleasure cruise…"
"Tea, my Lord," Eleanora said, entering the room, carrying a tray and wearing her brand-new uniform.
It was black, with a white frilly apron. It looked like something a tasteful French maid would wear. It was professional, but was also rather tight, showing off her bust and her curves, which she seemed to suddenly have quite a lot of.
Sebastian's words died in his throat as she passed. He couldn't stop staring, and even after she had left, he kept on staring at the door.
Ciel cleared his throat. Sebastian slowly turned to look at him again.
"I take it that Eleanora won't be a problem anymore?"
Sebastian cleared his throat; his demonic eyes returned to normal.
"My Lord, she'll still be a problem—"
"—she'll just be less of one. Got it."
"My Lord—"
"SO it's settled!" Ciel said loudly. "Eleanora will be coming with us on this trip!"
Sebastian thought it wise not to argue anymore.