Sebastian was waiting for Ciel at the mansion. He had searched the place top to bottom and hadn't found any trace of Elizabeth.
Which meant, of course, just one thing: she was in the tower with Eleanora.
Ciel had been rather upset that Sebastian hadn't searched the tower immediately, but then again, he also would have been upset if he hadn't searched the mansion immediately either. Being a butler was a lose-lose situation more often than not.
They rendezvoused with Grell and Pluto at the base of the tower, and soon all four of them were running up the stairs, in search of the missing persons.
They found both of them in a workshop at the very top.
Elizabeth was sitting on a chair, her eyes strange and dead with her skin unnaturally smooth and cold to the touch. Eleanora was lying on a work table, wearing a white wedding dress, complete with veil and a bouquet of roses.
Ciel kneeled in front of Elizabeth and tried shaking her awake while Sebastian and Grell attempted to revive Eleanora.
Sebastian had a horrible growing sensation that made his heart feel weak and dead—fear. He had never seen Eleanora's soul so weak before…
"Eleanora…Eleanora! Wake up! ELEANORA!"
Eleanora mumbled an irritated swear word and turned her face away.
Sebastian almost collapsed from relief. At least she hadn't lost her attitude problems.
"Eleanora, wake up! Wake up! Look where you are! Look at what they've done to you!"
He didn't really know who "they" were, but he did know that someone had done something to her.
Eleanora's eyes weakly fluttered open. She stared first at Sebastian, then at Grell. She flung her arm over her face, as if to hide from the horrible sight, and then she stared at her hand—inhuman and wearing a lacy white wedding glove.
"Well," she said weakly, "shit."
She closed her eyes again and then she suddenly sat up and grabbed Sebastian's arm, making Grell yelp from surprise.
"Lady Elizabeth! You have to go and save her. You have to get her out of here…"
"We're getting both of you out of here," Sebastian assured her and was about to pick her up and carry her away when Elizabeth screamed and Ciel shouted.
Somehow, Elizabeth had gotten her hands on a halberd and was now flying through the air, trying to kill the Earl, while also screaming "NO! NO! NOOOO!"
Sebastian was forced to abandon his wife and save his young Master, which he couldn't do forever—the room was too cramped for that.
"Look sharp, Grell!"
"I would, but…"
"DAMMIT GRELL THIS ISN'T THE TIME!" Eleanora said, staggering to her feet and giving Grell such a first-class glare that she sprang into action.
She sliced the air above Elizabeth and she dropped the weapon and collapsed onto the floor. Sebastian and Ciel knelt down to investigate, and the butler found a puppet string.
"But who…" Ciel started, "who would do such a thing?"
"He would," Eleanora said, pointing upwards.
And at that moment, all three of them—Ciel, Sebastian, and Grell—were bound with puppet strings.
"So—then—I—thought—to—myself—" the rust-haired man said, standing above them, "I—have—two—more—dolls—at—my—disposal. What—materials—shall—I—use?"
"Who are you?" Ciel shouted up at him. "Why are you doing all this?!"
"Why is my wife in a wedding dress?!" Sebastian wanted to know.
"Oh, so now I'm his wife," Eleanora griped to no one.
"She's—mine—now," the man said. "My—master—gave—me—permission—to—marry—her. To—have—a—companion—and—a—helper—to—make—dolls—with…"
Sebastian scowled.
"What master?"
"But why do you want to marry her?" Grell asked. "I mean, there are so many other, far more beautiful ladies out there…"
"There—is—no—one—more—beautiful—than—my—fair—lady…"
Sebastian gave a look to Eleanora over his shoulder, as if to say, "can you believe this moron?" and was incredibly dismayed to discover that she was blushing.
"Enough of this!" he said, feeling a swell of something he had never felt before—something thick and bitter and unpleasant. The halberd was lying nearby; he kicked it upwards, straight into the rival's—that is, man's—face.
The man was knocked off-balance and the strings binding them loosened enough for Sebastian to go after him in earnest.
The man fell to the ground and Sebastian was just about to kill him when Eleanora fell down in front of him, shielding him.
"Eleanora! Move."
"No," she said, glaring up at him.
"Eleanora," Sebastian said through gritted teeth, "please move."
"Only if you don't kill him."
"And why shouldn't I kill him? Haven't you seen what he's done to you?"
"And when you tortured me—when you cut off my arm and my leg and took away my womanly parts, only to put them back in again because you're an idiot—did somebody kill you?"
Sebastian's eyes flashed.
"…That's different. These are two entirely different circumstances!"
"He's a butler, just like you. And he's a damned good butler, too!"
"You're just saying that because he thinks you're pretty."
"I'm saying that," she said calmly, "he doesn't deserve to die. He was just following orders, just like you. You did something horrible to me because your Master ordered you to, right? And he did the same thing."
Sebastian did not look convinced.
"He's a good butler," Eleanora said. "He'd be an asset to Phantomhive. How many butlers do you know who can make practically indestructible dolls?"
"…She's right," Ciel sighed. "Sebastian, don't kill him."
"But…But he…!"
"That's an order."
Sebastian "tch!"ed but he dropped the halberd. Eleanora smiled and rose up, just to collapse again. Sebastian caught her just in time—she was very, very weak.
"So—then—I—thought—to—myself—" the man said, standing up slowly. "I—must—report—this—to—my—master…"
He staggered over to a set of double doors and pushed them open. But before he could open his mouth, Sebastian gave Grell a quick head movement and she leapt inside, overturning the lone chair and pinning the man to the floor.
"Don't—" the man gasped, crawling away from her and her scissors, "Don't kill me! Please don't kill me!"
The doll-man cocked his head.
"Master…?"
"Drocell! Save me! Save me right now!" the man screamed.
"You're—not—my—master."
"Of course I am! Save me now! NOW you stupid doll!"
"Doll…?" the man named Drocell said in mechanical confusion. "I'm—not—a—doll. I'm—a—human…"
He looked at Eleanora for clarification. She gave him a comforting smile and shook her head.
"But—I—always—thought—that—I—was—a—human…"
"He's cute," Eleanora whispered to Sebastian, "but he's as sharp as a circle, if you know what I mean."
Sebastian stared at her, which indicated to her that he, too, was a few couplets short of a sonnet, but he was mostly wondering why she said that he was 'cute.' Wasn't he 'cute' too? Was being 'cute' a good thing? Why wasn't he 'cute' as well?
"You're—not—my—master," Drocell continued, pointing at the cowering man. "You're—not—Lord—Mandalay…"
"Well, then, if he's not your master…who is he then?" Ciel asked, and Grell pointed her scissors at the man's neck, causing him to scream.
"I-I'm just some toymaker!" he shouted. "I heard this place was abandoned and I had no home to go to, so I figured that I'd stay here for a bit…And then I found the butler...and I fixed him all up again! And then he came back to life…"
Ciel, Grell, and Eleanora looked at Sebastian, who shrugged.
"His soul must not have been collected properly," he said, "and when it thought that its body had come back, it came back as well."
"Where's—my—master?" Drocell asked. "Where's—Lord—Mandalay?"
"And then I thought that I'd have some fun," the man continued to babble, "and I thought that I might have some revenge on those horrible people who drove me out of business…so I ordered Drocell to kidnap the girls and turn them into dolls! But I'm so sorry! I won't do it again! Never, never, ever!"
Ciel rolled his eyes at this.
"Grell, could you kindly escort this man and this…butler to Scotland Yard? I think that the police will be very interested in their stories…"
"But—what—about—my—master? And—my—fair—lady…I—won't—leave—her—behind." Drocell tried grabbing Eleanora's hand, but Sebastian moved her out of his reach, scowling at him.
"I can come with you to the Yard," she said, smiling tiredly. "I don't mind…"
"No. You're not going anywhere. In fact, no one's going anywhere until we get these two back to normal again…"
"Look…" Ciel gasped and everybody looked. He had been cradling Elizabeth in his arms, and her skin had suddenly turned back to normal—she was human again.
"I—did—not—finish—making—them," Drocell said. "When—they're—unfinished—for—too—long—they—change—back…"
Sebastian was relieved to feel Eleanora's cold, metallic body slowly turning back to her warm, soft, human one in his arms.
"Well, then!" Ciel sighed. "I suppose that's the end of this mystery. Now let's get Elizabeth home and these two to the Yard."
"What about Eleanora? I don't want her to go to the Yard in this state…"
"But I'm fine," she said, moving away from him and wobbling a bit. "I'll be just fine…"
She staggered and Drocell steadied her again.
"I—can—take—care—of—you…"
Eleanora smiled up at him and Sebastian looked as if he was going to explode with rage.
"Enough of all this," Ciel said, rubbing his eyes. "All of you, let's go."