Chapter 5

Watching as Estella spun to face the flight of stair at the right, he followed behind her as she gingerly took each step after step up the stairs. Giving a last glance at the late owner of the manor in the portrait, Ciel sighed before turning back to Estella in front of them. He watched her sucked in large handful of air as her shoulders rose in a big heave and then drooped down. Raising an eyebrow, Ciel watched the girl gave a curt nod to no one and quickened her pace up the stairs into quick strides, marching up the remaining steps of the stair.

When they finally reached the top of it, Ciel spun around to Sebastian behind him.

"Sebastian, go ahead to make sure it's safe, leave everything untouched for investigation."

With a curt nod, the butler uttered a 'Yes, my lord.' before brushing past the girl to get down to his task.

Eyeing the figure of his butler, it grew smaller and smaller as Sebastian disappeared down the hallway. Snapping his head down to the girl in front, he saw that she was too staring after his butler. Ciel stepped forward to stand beside the girl to study the hallway. The floor of the hallway was carpeted with a worn out-looking lavender carpet and the either walls of it were stretches of golden-ish yellow.

"Phantomhive."

Ciel looked down at the girl beside him. "What?"

"Let's get going..."

Staring back at her for a moment, he grunted in response before starting forward to move down the hallway. Glancing from photo frame to photo frame which hung on the either side of the hallway, Ciel briefly studied their content. Eye widened when it landed on a faint red patch on a bare portion of the wall, his eye narrowed itself to a frown at the patch. He jumped when a 'thump' sounded from behind him.

Spinning around, his eye widened again. The girl who was following behind was now kneeling on the floor with hands gripping tightly at the either side of her head. Lips were trembling as she whimpered some unrecognizable things under her ragged breath. Her ice blue pupils were moving about wildly as her face was distorted with a very familiar expression that he could instantly recognize. It was utterly...clearly... Fear. Fear about what? He could not tell. However, he noticed the faraway look in her eyes. He gazed down at her sadly when he realised the reason for it.

Moving towards the kneeling girl, Ciel hunched down on one knee while his eye continued to study the expression on her face. Frowning at her with a glint of concern in his eye, his hand reached out to rest itself on her trembling shoulder.

"Blancbaston..." He called out to her softly. When the girl was still caught up in her trance, he softly called out to her again. His eye snapped wide opened when he felt some liquid dripped onto his hand which was still resting on her shoulder. Ciel grew rigid as he watched tears leaking out of her eyes which still held the faraway look – she was crying. Then he heard it. The whimpering growing louder, making the unrecognizable things said under her breath, recognizable.

"N-No...Please...No..." Her ragged breath hitched as her head shook frantically from side to side at some unknown source of her fear.

His eye on her softened as the hand on her shoulder tightened its grip reassuringly. He called out to her, this time more forcefully, hoping to break her out of her nightmare.

…..

Watching as the boy started forward to move after he grunted in response; Estella gulped in one deep breath before gingerly taking a step forward to follow him. But actually, she wished that she really could just call off this whole thing and obligingly takes up his offer to work under him. In fact, she had already made up her mind to work for him earlier in the carriage. However, Estella felt that it was her duty to take revenge as a Blancbaston, for the victims of that night. Frowning at the retreating back of the Phantomhive, she sighed.

Her eyes widened when it landed on a faint patch of red on the wall. She could recognize it straight away. It was blood. Blood that was splattered on the wall on that night and it remained a stained memory of that night on the wall.

She gasped under her breath as her hands shot up to tightly clutch onto her head. Flashes of memories came springing out from the depth of her mind. Her legs under her buckled as having her crashed down hard on the floor in a kneeling position. Caught up in her memories, she was numbed from the pain in her knees when she crashed down hard on the floor.

Muffled sound of shattering glass... –flash- ...Fresh crimson blood splattered on the walls...-flash-...Bodies sprawled across the hallway...-flash- ...Limbs of her mother twisted in weird angles...-flash- ...Frozen shock stared through the wide opened eyes of her dead mother...-flash- ...Bloodied face of her mother...-flash- ..."I'll always love you, my daughter..."...-flash- ...Sound of-

Then she heard it. A voice that sounded very faraway, calling out to her.

"Blancbaston...Blancbaston...Snap it out..."

She gave a slight jerk when those haunted flashes of memories disappeared in a snap. Estella blinked in bewilderment, snapping herself out of her trance. Her vision cleared up to see the familiar face of the Phantomhive boy. Crying out in relief, she lunged herself at the boy and embraced him into a tight hug, without a second thought. She could hear the boy gave out a soft cry of surprise and felt him grew rigid. She sighed, too relief to be able to see and touch a real living person, her fingers curled up, gathering the fabric of his jacket into tight fists. Closing her eyes, she sighed again in relief when she confirmed that this was not another one of those memories. This boy was real and she was now in the safe present with him.

It took a few moments when realization dawned upon her. Snapping her eyes opened in realization, she gasped and immediately pulled back to release them from the embrace.

Oh my god. What the hell am I doing? Did I just hug him? Oh god. This is so embarrassing!...

Raising her head up to look at the kneeling boy in front, Estella watched him blinked at her, once, then twice, before clearing his throat.

"Hn. Well, at least you're back...Now, let's go." The boy rose up to stand before extending an arm down towards her. Eyes widened slightly at the waiting hand, she gingerly reached out to grasp it. The hand helping her to rise up to stand, Estella rose with slightly trembling legs. The grip of the hand on her hand tightened when her knees under her slightly buckled. She muttered a 'Thank you' under her breath before snapping her head up to see a white handkerchief offered to her, clutched in the hand which supported her.

Looking up to see his visible eye flicking away from her, the boy spoke nonchalantly.

"Wipe those tears away."

Staring up at him for a while, she nodded and obligingly accepted the small fabric from his outreached hand. Hastily wiping at the remaining flowing tears from her eyes, she looked up to see him staring at the red patch on the wall.

"Phantomhive..."

When the boy turned his attention to her, she extended the handkerchief out towards him to return it back. The boy shook his head instead and spoke.

"Keep it. Now that you're done, let's go. You lead the way...Go...go, find out who's that culprit. Avenge your family..." He jutted his chin towards the rest of the hallway and continued. "Go on."

Staring down at the fabric clutched in her hand, she took a deep breath before snapping her head to look ahead with a glint of fierce determination in her eyes.

"You're right. Let's get going...And...Phantomhive, sorry about just now, I shouldn't have just hugged and cried on you...Forget about that, alright..."

Ciel stared at her for a moment before giving her a curt nod. "It's fine. Now let's go."

Estella returned the gesture and started forward to lead their way further down the hallway.

….

His eye on the girl's retreating back softened as he watched her moved down the hallway. Eyeing the girl, a smirk cracked across his face when he saw her quickened her pace into a determined march. His smirk then slipped off into an emotionless face as he stepped forward to follow. Quickening his pace to follow closely behind her, he continued glancing from photo frames to photo frames as they make their way down the hallway. Walking towards a corner to move around it, the girl stumbled back a little, colliding into him when his butler suddenly appeared from around the corner.

Resting a hand on her shoulder to steady her, he looked expectantly at Sebastian for his report.

"I apologize for frightening you, Lady Blancbaston..." Sebastian flicked to his eyes over to his master behind her and continued. "...Young Master, this place is safe."

Giving a curt nod, Ciel glanced down at the girl and spoke. "Let's get down to investigation."

Returning the gesture, she darted around the butler to continue to lead their way. Ciel jutted his chin towards the girl and uttered a 'Let's go' before starting forward to follow with his butler trailing behind.

….

He's right. I have to be strong for the Blancbaston...

Walking down the hallway, Estella turned to make sure the duo was following; she definitely does not want to be walking around in the manor alone. Turning back when she was sure they were doing so, she quickened her pace.

Moving past a few doors, she slowed down and paused outside one. Snapping her head over to see the duo approaching, she spoke.

"First...my bedroom." Turning back to the door, she stared at it for a moment before reaching out to yank the handle down.

….

His eye went wide when the door swung opened to reveal a ransacked-looking room. His pupil flicked about the room to take in the details. The white curtains hung at the large window were blown by the breeze from the outside through the wide opened window. Books were scattered on the floor and cracked photo frames on the walls were all hung crooked. The queen sized bed that stood in the middle of the room, had all its cover lumped on the floor, leaving the bed bare. Some of its pillows have gashes on them, leaving the feathers from them to be all scattered all over the room.

Strolling into the room after the girl, he watched as she straight away moved across the room to a small desk at a corner and started pulling out the drawers. Raising an eyebrow as the girl busily dug around them, he questioned.

"What are you searching for...?"

Her eyes lit up and pulled out a silver necklace before turning to Ciel. "This. My mother's last gift to me..."

Watching as the girl struggled to clasp the each end of the chain together, he sighed and strolled over. "Give it to me."

The girl gave him a look of puzzlement before turning. "Thanks."

Sebastian who were examining photo frames hung on the wall, looked over to the adolescents and watched them with interest.

With the ends successfully clasped together, Ciel uttered a 'Done.' before strolling away to investigate the room. Pausing at the pile of books scattered on the floor, he kneeled down to get a better look. Just when he was kneeling down, a sound of crack sounded from underneath his boots. Eye widening at it, he hastily stood up and looked down at the source of the sound. It was a ring. A ring with a symbol on it. Squinting to see past the cracks, his eye widened again, this time in recognition, when he finally managed to identify the symbol. It was the third time that he has spotted that symbol.

It was that symbol again...the symbol of SIGMA.

Calling out to his other two companions, he gestured them over.

When they gathered around him, he gestured to the girl at his discovery. "Look..."

Then he heard a gasp from her.

…..

Glancing down at the object Ciel wanted her to look at, Estella gasped. She did not need to squint her eyes to read the symbol, she already knew who that ring belongs too. It was the ring she saw everyday worn by her captors.

SIGMA.

Shaking her head at the ring in bewilderment, Estella glared murderously at it.

It was them, afterall...How dare they do this! Imprisoned me for almost two long years, experimented on me, beaten me...AND they were the one who...MURDERED MY FAMILY? They are...going to pay, seriously PAY for ruining my everything! Pay...pay...pay!...Now….Now, all I need to do is to survive for my revenge...

She spun to face the duo, which was now staring down at the ring. When their heads snapped up over at her, Estella strolled over to the boy and extended her hand towards him.

She then spoke to answer his raised eyebrow which was now shot at her.

"Deal. Let me work under you as your new maid, Phantomhive..."

…..

-End of Chapter-