Chapter 38:
The same man from three nights ago appeared with a reel mower, an upgraded lawn mower that commoners use. He jumped over the corpse with his lawn mower and destroyed her head, the blades digging themselves into the corpse. Blood splattered around the corpse as it stopped moving. A grin plastered itself on his face accompanied with a gleam in his glasses.
"Ya really should pay attention to the important stuff!"
"You!" I pointed.
Sebastian looked over at the blond man, eyes holding slight surprise.
"You're..." he began, but stopped suddenly.
"Wait a sec... AAHHH! This chick is totally dead after all! No way! I told them that I had collected her properly!"
"What is he talking about? What does he mean he thought she was already dead?" I asked. I was too confused to notice the book that he was holding and the fact that he had ripped the corpses head to bits with a reel mower. I turned to Sebastian with my mouth agape.
"That, Celesta, is a grim reaper."
I stared at the man with the mower. It took a minute to realize that he was telling the complete truth. The strange man standing in front of us had this other worldly persona, something that I picked up from Sebastian when I first met him. It wasn't just his eyes that made me feel that way.
I watched as he went over towards the other dead bodies. He placed the reel mower over their heads and one by one the images of their lives played before us.
I was amazed. I knew grim reapers judged the souls they collected based off of fairytales and legends, but it was completely different seeing it in person. It looked too surreal to be the truth. The dead bodies lives played like motion pictures. My eyes hd trouble looking away from it.
"Shezana Connor, born on July 23, 1841." A little girl was shown crying on the strange material. "Died of shock due blood loss on April 19, 1889. Remarks... None."
The strange went back to his book, taking out what looked like a stamp. I watched him as I spoke to Sebastian.
"What was that?"
"A Cinematic Record. The grim reapers, also known as Shinigami, review and collect souls of the recently departed," Sebastian explained.
"That's..." I started. I stopped myself from speaking once the blonde looked over at the three of us. His eyes landed on Sebastian first, considering he was the most noticeable among the young master and I. His eyebrows rose and he turned completely to face us.
"That getup... don't tell me! You're the rumored 'Bassy'?" he pointed to the butler.
I looked between them, my neck becoming slightly sore seeing as how they were taller than me. Sebastian placed his right hand where his heart was and greeted the man.
"Although I have quite an aversion to that name, I am the Phantomhive Butler, Sebastian Michaelis."
"Bassy?" I asked, confused beyond belief.
He fixed his hair back while he spoke, bringing more attention to his green eyes as he spoke. "The Grim Reaper dispatch association, collection division, Ronald Knox. Thanks for taking care of my senior." He winked and finally noticed me standing next to the demonic butler. His brows furrowed and his mouth scrunched to the side in thought.
"Aren't you that woman from the deck the other night?"
My two colleagues looked at me. "Aren't you the one with the good memory..."
"Of course. Who wouldn't remember such a beautiful dame?" he winked and I scrunched my face. I moved closer to Sebastian, not wanting the reaper in front of me to see me anymore.
"You said," Sebastian said, interrupting the awkward moment, "you can't kill them unless you smash in their heads, but... do the grim reapers know about the revival of the dead?"
"Nope. We don't have any details of it either. We had reports of bodies whose souls were collected still moving around a bit. Someone needed to investigate the situation. Sure enough there's another one. This was a soulless corpse, 'cause I definitely collected her soul two weeks ago."
Ronald Knox placed his foot on the reel mower and leaned on it. The blood of the corpses head was still on it.
"So the dead didn't get revived... It was just the corpse moving..."
"Something must have tampered with body. Because no matter what, once death has you in its clutches, there's no way of escaping."
"The little missy is right. But the fact remains, the grim reaper dispatch is investigating it because they are up and about."
"So the only thing you know for sure 'If you want to kill it, smash it's head...'" Sebastian stated.
"It's not really 'killing' them, more like stopping their movement."
"That would only make sense. To stop them from moving would be to stop the only way they know how to move... the brain," I said.
"Looks like our only option is to force Ryan to spit out. Let's go!"
In the blink of an eye Sebastian was the holding the reel mower away from his face, the blades underneath moving menacingly in his face. I didn't know what to do seeing as how I had never faced a reaper in battle before. I held the young master away from the reaper to prevent any injury from him.
"If administration got wind that there was a demon on board, you betcha they'll blame me for all the souls missing. And I can get into a lot of trouble. And I don't want over time. So why don't you just vanish?" he smirked as he held the mower over the demon.
Ciel stuttered slightly behind me and grabbed my wrist.
"We'll go on ahead! After you're done playing with him follow me!"
"As you wish."
"The disrespect!"
The young master and I ran out through the doors that the doctor had previously exited through.
Outside the door was a long set of stairs. There had to have been more than three flights of stairs. I looked at the young master as he continued running, not giving one glance behind him to make sure I was keeping up.
"Ciel!" He stopped running and looked slightly disheveled. "Let me carry you. It'll much faster to catch him."
"No. I will not be degraded by being carried by a woman."
Sighing I brought out my wings and quickly grabbed the child. He slightly yelped from the sudden lack of floor and held on tightly as I jumped off the side of the railing. I landed at the end of the staircase and put my wings away as we started running through the hallways. The dress was too long and I almost tripped. I stopped and ripped the bottom half, exposing my cabs and I took off the heels that were killing my feet. I threw each of the items on the floor and continued following the young master down another set of stairs.
This time, however, it led to what looked like the storage of the ship. There was little to no light around the sides of the room. It was too dim for the normal human eye to see. The smell wasn't fresh but it wasn't moldy either. The smell of the suitcases brought an extra coating of wood to the nose. I smelled many things, one including death but I passed it off for the dead bodies that littered the meeting room for the Society.
The young master had taken out a gun and a flashlight and aimed both in front of him. We continued walking through the boxes until a felt a presence behind. It was nonthreatening but it was still weird that their was a person. The person drew closer as we continued walking with caution. I turned around and grabbed them by their wrist, hearing a girly yelp.
Ciel turned around and pointed the light at the voice. His eyes grew wide after realizing who it was.
"Lizzy! Celesta let go of her!"
"I'm sorry Lady Elizabeth!"
"Were you really going to hurt his fiancé?!"
"Why are you down here?" Ciel asked.
"I saw you run off so I followed you down here! I told you to wait while I got cakes but then you disappeared!"
I stopped listening as I sensed another person. The persona was all too familiar to me and I ran down the small set of stairs that led further into the freight storage, spotting my old friend crouched on the floor with his companions.
He looked up in surprise but relaxed after realizing who was standing in front of him.
"Snake!" I breathed out. "What are you doing down here! You should be trying to leave the ship about now!"
"'The food was too good, so I thought I'd share it with everyone', says Dan."
"You really shouldn't be down here..."
"Celesta!" I heard Ciel yell.
I turned to him, noticing the blonde that stuck to him while holding a cake. He looked irritated as she stood behind him, a semi-sad frown on her face.
"What is she still doing down here, young master!"
"I saved the cake for him! I even got the biggest piece too, see!"
She held the plate forward without realizing the lack of cake. She looked confusedly at it. Mine and the young master's eyes widened after seeing another dead corpse, eating the cake that Elizabeth had brought.
Ciel grabbed his fiance and I ran towards the monster. I grabbed its head and smashed it against the coffin that looked to have been thrown to the side. Blood splattered all over my hands and my feet as I continued smashing it, more for reassurance than sadism.
"It's dead." I looked over at its head and noticed the symbol on the coffin. I wiped a little blood smudge off of it and got a clearer look. The symbol was very noticeable and very familiar. The gold stood out against the brown wood.
"It looks like there was more than one corpse that the Aurora Society brought young master."
I turned towards Snake and noticed him pointing further down the line of the storage. There were many more coffins, each holding the same symbol that the Aurora Society was seen with. All of us looked in horror and in shock. There looked to be a hundred of the coffins lining the walls, each being poorly wrapped and closed shut.
One by one each of them began opening. Each creaked and caused fear to strike into us. I was fearful for the safety of the others. I placed my arm in front of the two children and stepped back from the coffins. One by one corpses stepped out of the coffins. They had the same blind fold tied around their eyes as the girl did. Their teeth were rotten and their skin pruned. The sound of ghoulish groaning sounding around the storage.
"Young master, run!"
I followed behind them and struck the corpses that got too close. There were too many for me to handle alone and I knew that if Sebastian didn't show up sooner than something bad would have happened.
"They're in front of the exit too!" Elizabeth yelled as we stopped.
I turned around grabbed the head of an old lady and smashed her head into the closest male that was around, causing their heads to explode as they were crushed.
"Young master, you and Lady Elizabeth need to get to higher ground! You as well, Snake!"
They ran to the closest stack of luggage. Ciel attempted to help with the corpses by shooting them as I smashed the heads of those who came too close.
"Hurry!" I yelled, impatient and worried that they wouldn't be safe.
A corpse slipped passed me and reached its hand out towards Ciel. I turned around, too fast for even my own limbs and grabbed its throat. I threw it on the ground and stomped my foot through its skull, causing its blood to completely coat my foot. I turned towards Ciel and checked to see if he was alright as well as the others. Ciel looked at me, his eyes widened.
"Celesta... your eyes..."
"You need to go up with them, young master."
"What about you?"
"Me? Just close Lady Elizabeths eyes when you're up there, young master..."
His eyes narrowed and he grabbed Snakes hand. He was hoisted up as the corpses still grew closer. As instructed he turned Elizabeth away from the bodies. He and Snake watched as I brought my wings out. They were pitch black as I'm sure my eyes were still red.
I flew myself in the air, out of the way of the cold hands and watched as they began eating the boxes that the others were standing on. I flew down and grabbed two of the corpses around their necks, smashing them into two other corpses that were eating the wood.
"I'll protect you, Lizzy! Just keep your eyes closed!"
"How admirable, young master."
I stood still for a moment, two new limp bodies being held in my hand. I grabbed and smashed and kicked some as I watched Sebastian stand on the stairway out of the storage, a smirk playing on his face.
"That's how an English gentleman is supposed to be." He held his silverware in his hands, poised and ready to attack.
I grew irritated over the lack of help and snapped at him, causing him to raise a brow. "Will you stop standing there and help me with this mess!"
"It's not stylish but I guess if this," Sebastian grabbed one of their heads and smashed it, his eyes showing no mercy and only malice as he did so, "is the only way of destroying them then so be it."
Together we destroyed the corpses. I grabbed a few and stomped on them while Sebastian slammed their heads into the floor more brutally than I ever could. I used my wings to blow wind onto them, causing them to stumble over. It gave Sebastian an opportunity to grab multiple of them and smash their heads in an instant. As we continued, blood splattered all over our faces and our hands and my feet. The bodies fell in couples by Sebastian and I. I grabbed the last two, slamming their heads into each other and letting their bodies fall limply on the floor. My hands were soaked in blood, worse than Sebastian's gloves.
He smiled at me, his eyes glowing for a split second. He walked over to me and leaned into my ear, breathing softly before speaking."
"No matter how wonderful you look bathed in blood your eyes sparkling, I would recommend getting yourself under control. Your demon is showing."
"That's very ironic, Sebastian. Considering the fact that you basically scared the young master and Snake with your lack of elegance."
He chuckled and stood tall next to me. He tapped my wings and I disapparated them, the blood also disappearing from the bottom of my wings.
I turned to face the others that were still sitting at the top of the boxes. Sebastian smiled, the blood on his face moving along his cheeks.
"You all can look now, young master." I said softly, not wanting to scare the little lady.
Ciel looked over at us. He was panting with a crazed look in his eyes. He looked hateful and scared, a look that I hadn't seen on the child's face yet.
"What's wrong," Sebastian asked, "Please, come over."
He held out his hand but the young master smacked it away, a disgusted look on his face.
"Don't touch me with those hands! They're filthy."
I looked to the master apologetically. My hands were far beyond repair as I wasn't wearing any gloves. The blood would have been too difficult to take off, seeing as how it was drying faster than anticipated.
Sebastian changed his gloves and helped them down the boxes into the puddle of blood that surrounded the area. The young master stepped foot into the puddle, a scoff escaping his lips.
"You both couldn't have done it more elegantly?"
"I'm sorry, young master," I began, "but seeing as how there were too many of them, elegance was the last thing on my mind."
He side-eyed Sebastian, hatred showing even more through the glance.
"Beast."
"I'm sorry. It was an emergency," Sebastian stated, no hint of guilt present.
"Also, their bodies were quite weak..."
"What do you mean?"
"Their bodies were quite easy to break... soft even..."
"But are there so many on this ship?" the lord questioned.
"Well..."
Sebastians hand flung out to the left him, knives landing around the person scavenging the walls.
"It would be good to ask him."
Ok, that is it for this chapter everyone! I am so happy to finally be doing this chapter because this was so confusing for me. When I first decided to continue writing with this arc I didn't know whether or not to have Celesta go with Ciel or stay with Sebastian. But then I thought it wouldn't have made sense to keep her with two otherworldly beings. She would basically just be a nuisance instead of help. Also, lawn mowers were invented in the early 1800's so I am right. And, motion picture wasn't completely created until about 1902 but since pictures were created before that it makes somewhat sense to Celesta. Either way, I did my research so I could be more historically correct and not just throw random information in here. Other than that, thank you for reading and until next time. BYE ^_^