Chapter 25
The figure stood watching the giant gates in front of him swing open.
Her breath hitched at the sight of buildings that were all too familiar behind the gates.
Estella shuddered. "I-It looks exactly the same…" Her hands shook uncontrollably at the realization. Her eyes wide with fear. "Impossible…"
This was the place she burned to the very ground, and it should have stayed as it was. Why? Why does it look like nothing of that sort happened? Those hateful building was the exactly the same as it was, from the doorsteps to the roofs. Not a sign of damage.
Memories she could remember too clearly sprang out. Memories of the laboratories, the children who were with her, the feel of the cold examination table she used to lay on, the evil glints in their eyes came haunting her once again.
"Sebastian," Ciel's firm voice interrupted, bringing her attention back and to him, "Get one of those boxes from that suitcase."
"Yes, my lord," Sebastian bowed before his eyes swiveled over to the gates. They locked onto the distant walking figure.
"But firstly, Sebastian," Ciel brought Sebastian's attention back to him, "Get us all in there first."
Sebastian glanced over at the gates which the figure was making its way through "Yes, my lord," The butler bend down to scoop up Ciel with ease. His eyes which were on the figure the whole time, flickered over to the shinigami, "Grell, you're with her."
"Oh~" Grell pouted, leaping to his feet. "Why don't you carry me? Why this brat?" He huffed, folding his arms across his chest childishly, straight away reminding her of a child throwing tantrum.
Sebastian was no patient demon. "Quit wasting time, Grell." His eyes flickered red at the shinigami.
Someone who was not a red-haired homosexual shinigami would have naturally cowered in fear from that.
"Oh my, Sebby!" The shinigami sighed exasperatedly, apparently oblivious to the impatience in Sebastian's eyes. His face was flushed red."Ahhh…. Don't look at me like that! I'm not ready…" He batted his eyelashes shyly at him.
Estella, who wasn't paying attention to the shinigami, had her eyes at the towering butler the whole time.
What was that? She rubbed her eyes in disbelief. Was it just my imagination or did his eyes glow red just now-
She jerked upright at the feeling of being picked up and looked up to see Grell glancing down with a glare. She soon found out why. "Stop staring at my Sebby or I'll drop you, stupid girl!" He snarled.
An eyebrow cocked at him. "I didn't ask to be carried, you know?"
Estella yelped in surprise when she felt herself plummeting downwards. "Stupid shinigami…" She cursed under her breath, rubbing her bottom. She glanced up with a deadly glare, "Why did you drop me!"
"You little…."
"Grell!" Sebastian's deep voice had them turning to him to see him starting towards the gates.
"Coming Sebby~" The shinigami turned back to Estella with a scowl, roughly heaving her up into his arms before rushing up to catch up with Sebastian and Ciel. "Wait for me!"
…..
"What are we doing?" Estella whispered to Ciel in front as they sneaked their way on their knees down a deserted hallway. She could hear Grell grumbling behind. "Quiet, will you?" She growled over her shoulder.
"Get as much information as possible on SIGMA."
Her head swiveled back to the front. "Huh?" She blinked in confusion at Ciel to see that they have stopped.
"To report to the Queen, of course," he murmured, glancing around with a frown, "Blancbaston…" Ciel glanced over his shoulder.
"What is it? " She jumped and glanced down at a touch around her wrist in surprise to see his hand encircled around it. Estella glanced up at Ciel with a confuse frown. "What are you doing, Phantomhive?"
"Get to the front." He yanked her forward without warning.
"EEEEKKK!" The poor girl shrieked in surprise, landing on the cold hard floor beside the kneeling male who quickly clamped a hand over her mouth to silence her.
"Oi, brat." Ciel glanced over his shoulder with a glare, absentmindedly pressing his hand harder against Estella's mouth. "Stop wasting my time, I'm still waiting for a passionate kiss from Sebby, you know." Grell haughtily threw his hair over a shoulder.
Ciel tsk-ed, turning back to Estella who forcefully yanked his hand off her face. "You…You were suffocating me…" She breathed hard, pushing herself off the floor and plopped back down, crossed legs.
His eyes swept over to the rest of the hallway ahead. "Like he said, stop wasting time. Lead us to the laboratories."
"Hmmph. Whatever, Master." She replied sardonically, turning away to lead them.
….
All eyes fell on Sebastian the moment he entered the room. Men suited up in hazmat suits all stood watching the butler casually strolled further into the room. The room illuminated by the hanging lights above, casted shadows across the watching men.
Sebastian, however, did not return the favor as his eyes continued scanning across the room. His gaze flickered to the metal table behind the men and stopped at the piles of boxes he recognized to be his targeted item. His gaze swept over to the sides of the room where suitcases similar to the one they'd seen, were stacked up on top of each other.
"Who are you?" A bespectacled bald man stepped out from the men.
His eyes swiveled to the men and raised an eyebrow as though he just noticed their presence. "A butler." He answered vaguely, crossing over to them.
"Hey! Answer me! Who are you and what's your business here?"
Sebastian had a serene smile on his face, "A butler who is here merely to collect an item, that's all."
….
Everything here was exactly the same like before. No doubt. Every turn and corner. Even the temperature was the same.
Coming back to this place was not something she thought she will ever do.
Estella willed the tingling chills that were traipsing up and down her spine away. "Alright…we're here," She glanced at Ciel and Grell over her shoulder, the moment they reached the top of the metal staircase. "We can watch them from here. We are perfectly safe from their eyes here."
Ciel nodded, stepping forward. He crouched down to the level of the window, placing a palm against its metal grill.
Looking through its tiny holes, Ciel's eye widened at a small figure.
In the centre of the huge laboratory below, a little boy looking about the age of six, laid quietly strapped to a long metal table. His face held nothing as his eyes continued boring into the ceiling above him. He looked almost…dead.
"Gr…ay…" He was not alone.
Ciel's eye flickered over to the corner where the sob emitted from, only to find a cage of children. Some were clinging onto the bars, sobbing for the boy while some sat slumped against bars, staring into space. He glanced over to the boy once more to notice a box on a small table by him, and quickly recognized it to be similar to the one he ordered Sebastian fetch. On it, a tag read: Fragile.
Approaching footsteps announced another presence, Ciel turned to find three men in white coats entering, tugging on their gloves as they marched in.
"They are experimenting again."
Ciel jerked away, startled to see Estella's face next to his. "What the…" He blinked at Estella who shot him a puzzled look. His gaze flickered to Grell who was looking through the next window before stopping at Estella once again. "Share with him instead."
Estella folded her arms stubbornly. "I would rather share with you than him." She turned back to the window, scowling at the activities below.
…..
The small figure squirmed in agony, struggling helplessly against the straps on him. The men in white coats standing around him, watched on with their gazes boring into the little body. One of them had a smirk on his face as he wiped the glasses of his spectacle with his coat. The whole laboratory was bathed in the boy's shrieks.
All eyes from the cage could only watch, sobbing softly and trembling.
Ciel's hands were clenched tightly into fists as he glowered at the scene below. Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.
"Stop…" Estella stared wide-eye at the whimpering boy, "Stop it…Damn those bastards…" Her hand shakily tugged a strand of hair behind her ear. Nostalgia struck her and sent a chill down her spine.
Someone please…stop them….
Estella stared at the struggling boy with tears in her eyes as her fingers clawed at her throat desperately for air. A choking sensation was taking over, she couldn't breathe.
She glanced over at the vials sitting on the table across her with a scowl before turning to the sound of approaching footsteps. Victor Blair's face was the first to come into her view.
"Get away from me!" Her legs struggled against the straps on her, in attempt to kick his face.
Victor stared at her with eyebrows raised in amusement at her antics. "Should be punished for bad behavior…" Her eyes widened instantly at the too familiar whip he took out, watching it being raised with fear.
The first contact with her skin sent a shocking and burning sensation ran through her body. A shriek left her mouth instantly.
Her skin was screaming. Every time the whip came down on her, a hot bolt of pain would shoot up her spine. "STOP! STOP!" She yelled, her eyes wet with tears.
To her relief, he withdrew the tool, coiling it up. "Bear this pain in mind. Don't you dare misbehave again."
She weakly nodded. Her skin felt raw and burnt. Her head was pounding and her lips were dry cracked. She was in no condition to speak.
"Alright, give her the blood," She heard Victor speak.
While Victor strolled out towards the door, two men dressed in white coats stepped up at that order.
Her gaze slowly flickered over to them to see the regular two who were responsible for the injections she was given every day.
One slipped out a vial from the box and popped it opened, another flipping through a file.
All at once, they stood around her.
She bit her lower lip at the bespectacled one held out a syringe, its long sharp needle gleamed dangerously at her.
The dark red liquid in the syringe started decreasing in level till there was no more. Once the syringe was completely emptied, the man pulled it out and carefully placed it down on the silver tray held by the other man.
Both stepped back and watched in anticipation.
She stared blankly at the ceiling above, waiting for that sensation to once again engulf her.
At first, there was nothing. Then suddenly, every muscle in her body was screaming, her joints were aching and she was hot. Painfully hot. It was like a current travelling up and down her body. The next thing she knew, she was shrieking and sobbing at the unbearable pain passing through her body. Her nails raked the table as she continued begging at the top of her voice for it to stop.
She turned to them with pleading eyes. "Please…I don't want this…No more of this…Please." She spoke through gritted teeth, squeezing out the words with all the strength she could muster.
The two turned to each other before turning back to her with cruel smirks. "You have no say in this, A174."
Her shoulders slumped lifelessly like the hope she harbored. She laid there, her ice blue eyes boring helplessly into them as she quietly succumbed to the pain.
Their cruel smirks and the pain were etched too deeply into her mind. She could never forget. Never.
Her eyes clamped shut. She shook her head in attempt to get rid the horrible images out of her mind. However, it was useless. The shrieks were causing her stupid brain to produce them. Fuck.
It was unbearable, she could watch no longer. She turned away and hastily wiped away the freely flowing tears from her eyes. Damn it, stop crying…!
Shrieks were growing louder by the minute.
Bastards. Her fingers curled up into fists.
"Shut up, brat!" A voice shouted from the laboratory below.
Fucking bastards.
A sharp sickening slap she knew too well to be from a whip came, followed by a child-like scream. She could hear that boy pleading…just like she did.
She slowly opened her eyes to only to close them again at another scream. "Stop…" Body shaking uncontrollably, she winced at every sickening slap caused by the whip.
Something cupped her ears. "You don't have to listen this."
Her eyes snapped opened in surprise and flickered upwards to see Ciel crouched down in front of her.
His gaze flickered to the tears she didn't seem notice flowing out from her eyes. Realizing how she was staring at him with watery eyes, his eye quickly flickered away to the side. "Enough crying, idiot. Tsk. Seriously when you're supposed to be tough being a bodyguard…"
Ciel was caught off guard when she suddenly threw her arms around his torso and pulled him into an embrace. "You…What the…" He glanced down at Estella in shock. He was about to push her away, stopped when he noticed that she was still trembling.
Awkwardly, his arms circled around her and rested on her back. He stared out at the laboratory with a scowl, failing to notice Grell who has decided that watching the laboratory was no longer interesting, was now watching them.
Phantomhive's so warm...Her fingers curled, clutching tighter onto his jacket.
….
"You bastard…" His eyes darkened with annoyance at the butler's vague answer. "He's obviously an intruder. Get him!" The man roared, glancing over his shoulders at his co-workers with a fierce look.
Like a cue, the men charged all at once.
Sebastian, stood unmoving, glanced around at the incomings calmly and sighed disappointedly. "It's too bad the young master didn't order me to kill…"
A second before the first arm swung at him, he leaped up over the sea of attackers and did a cartwheel before landing perfectly on the metal table, right before the piles of boxes.
"What…How…?" All heads turned back to gaze up at Sebastian in awe and disbelief.
"Is he from the circus?"
Sebastian looked amusingly at the gaping men upon picking up that comment, and bowed to them with amused smirk as though they were really in a circus.
"Hmm…" He turned back to the boxes, glancing down at them.
The men who were staring at the butler, mesmerized, broke out of their trance when they realized that Sebastian was already walking out with a box through the second door.
"Shit…stop him!"
Sebastian turned around calmly once he was at the door to see them charging towards him. He sighed. "Now, now…Please get back to work." He grabbed the metal door beside him and stepped back. He smiled, "I hate slackers."
With that, the metal door slammed close with a ringing 'clang'.
...
Estella had a tiny smile on her face. Her eyes flickered over to Ciel. "Thanks."
Ciel blinked at her a few times and nodded before gazing out of the window. His eye narrowed at something down below.
Estella's eyes lingered on him before flickering away to her hand. She slowly reached up to her face that grew too warm from embarrassment.
"Oh my, oh my…" She glanced over at Grell and shot him a confuse frown. He sighed dreamily,"As a fellow woman, I totally understand." The shinigami threw her a wink.
An eyebrow rose. A woman…?
"Understand? Understand what?" She tilted her head at him.
However, Grell simply chuckled, and that earned him an irked look.
Weirdo…
"Intruder! There's an intruder!"
The booming voice had Estella gasping. As soon as the voice finished his sentence, a siren broke out.
We've been found out?
"Phantomhive!" Alarmed, she turned to Ciel with a harsh whisper.
Ciel calmly turned his head to her, to her surprise, with a smirk on his face. "That's our cue to go. Sebastian's done."
"Sebby!" Grell behind clapped his hands together in delight at the mention of the butler's name.
Estella gave the cheering shinigami a bored look before peeking out at the laboratory to see that there were only the children left.
"Quiet, Grell." A smooth deep voice cut in. It sounded annoyed. "You're giving us away."
She turned to the voice. "Sebastian!"
"Sebby!" Grell threw his arms around the butler but was only to be met with air. He fell on the floor with a heavy thud.
Ciel's eye flickered to the fallen shinigami then to Sebastian. "So you have retrieved it?" His gaze fell onto a box in the butler's arm. "Alright, let's get out of here."
A nod, Sebastian bend down and scooped Ciel up into his arms before passing him the box.
Ciel gazed down at the box in his hands and over to Estella. "Get on Sebastian's back. Hurry."
"R...Right! Coming." She scrambled to stand and ran over to them.
Sebastian immediately bend down to let her get on. Once she got on, he stood up again.
Estella peered past Sebastian's shoulder in amazement.
Wow…Everything looks so…short from here.
She glanced up at Sebastian. "Sebastian, do you know that you're freaking tall?"
The butler's eyes went over to her. Amusement could be seen in his eyes. "Yes, I do."
….
"SEBBY! WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME LIKE THAT?" The red-haired shinigami yelled on top of his voice. "I WANT MY KISSSSSS-"
"Shut up, intruder."
Grell's mouth snapped close. "Huh?" He glanced over to the voice in surprise.
He blinked in confusion at a bespectacled man. His gaze flickered to the crowd of people that followed behind him and back to the man himself once again. "You mean me?" He pointed at himself.
The man looked at him funny, as though trying to decide whether the shinigami really doesn't know or was just plain stupid. "Of course. Who else?"
A glower appeared on Grell's face. Annoyed at a certain Earl, his eyebrow twitched. "GAHH! DAMN THAT PHANTOMHIVE BRAT!" The bespectacled man and the others behind him jumped back in surprise at the shinigami's outburst. "I'm getting out of here!" Grell huffed irritably, completely ignoring them.
Not a word more, the shinigami disappeared, leaving the people staring blankly at the once occupied spot.
….
"He said something about a Phantomhive brat, sir…" Robert timidly glanced up at the man.
"Phantomhive, you say?" Victor Blair glanced over at Robert to confirm.
"Yes, sir!" Robert quickly nodded.
His eyes shone dark green. "Alright, continue with the experiments. You may take your leave." Victor waved dismissively at Robert who thanked him and jogged out of the dark room.
"That nosy watchdog, huh?" Victor snorted amusingly, gazing out at the thundering sky through the window behind him.
"Master," Victor turned around to the voice to see a young male emerged from the shadows. His amethyst eyes were shining brilliantly in the dark as he strolled up to Victor. "Do you need me to go after them?"
Victor burst out into chuckles.
"No need because soon it will be our turn to invade them. "A lopsided smirk crept across his face. "To prepare for it is all I want you to do, Brandon…"