Blood In The Water

~O~

The difference between my darkness and your darkness is that I can look at my own badness in the face and accept its existence while you are busy covering your mirror with a white linen sheet.

-C. Joybell C.-

~O~

The upper deck of the ship was much cleaner than Charlotte had expected although that might have been due to the large waves that occasionally crashed over the hull, sending anyone unlucky enough to not be clinging to something flying over the edge.

In addition to that, it seemed as though most of the corpses had been confined to the lower floors and the ones that had managed to claw their way out into the open air had been mercilessly cut down, leaving only a few squirming stragglers that were refusing to stop moving. Most of the commotion atop the ship was concentrated around the lifeboats as people scrambled to find space aboard the small and very limited vehicles.

The Midford family had appointed themselves as the unofficial mediators and guards, efficiently ferrying the women and children aboard and then the men. Edward shoved a frantic Englishman backwards with the butt of his rapier, winding him violently. There was enough fear and panic in the air, they didn't need any more. He turned to check on his mother and father and then he spotted a welcome flash of blonde curls. "Lizzy!"

"Edward!"

The siblings embraced, clinging to each other as hard as they could while the sea raged around them. Edward briefly wondered why she was only in her under-dress and Phantomhive's jacket but such questions were inconsequential at the moment and could come later. He pulled back and shot the aforementioned earl a dour look. "We'll save that lecture for later. Get in the boats before-"

"Edward, I have a favour to ask," Ciel interrupted and then he jerked a thumb at Snake. "Instead of me, let this guy on instead. I can't get on the boat just yet."

"...very well," he replied curtly.

Elizabeth darted out from behind her brother. "If Ciel's staying then so am I-!" The words were scarcely out of her mouth before she choked on them. Sebastian caught the now unconscious girl and apologised.

"It would have taken too long to explain," he said, handing her to her brother. "I'll face any consequences you may consider, however the ship is tilting heavily and it's only a matter of time before it sinks."

Edward sighed sadly. "No, I should be thanking you. I could never pull a move like that on her. What about her?"

He inclined his head in Charlotte's direction. The woman was holding Snake's hands tightly and they appeared to be exchanging heated but affectionate words.

Ciel snorted. "I couldn't get her to do anything even if I wanted to. Besides, for her this is personal. I'll leave Lizzy and Snake in your capable hands," Ciel nodded sharply and allowed Sebastian to pick him up.

"Feel free not to come back!" Edward yelled at his back. "I'll be fine not having you as a brother-in-law!"

Ciel tossed a smug smirk over his shoulder. "Then I'll be sure to come back!"

Charlotte whistled and pulled off one of her gloves, using the ruined fabric to tie the matted mass of her hair up into a bun. "Family, right? Come on, let's go deal with mine."

The ship's interior was empty although Charlotte was certain there were a few stragglers trapped or barricaded in the rooms; all were either unaware that the ship was sinking, or they were too afraid to brave the roiling horde to even attempt escape.

Well, almost all. The three of them were surprised to see a man with pale blond hair sipping red wine from a surprisingly non-shattered glass while four utterly unremarkable redshirts bore a very familiar-looking machine on their shoulders. Well the machine was the least of their problems, and Charlotte dismissed it in favour of asking, "What are you doing inside the ship? There are walking corpses everywhere."

He smirked and gestured with his glass. "There is something I want to protect, even if I have to risk my life for it. You know, these corpses are just like puppets to me. Oh!" He laughed coyly. "I suppose I've said too much."

Ciel and Sebastian shared a glance. It was one of the few times they'd ever been in agreement about anything. It was a shared moment of mutual mortification as they both lifted their arms and began to repeat the pretentiously dramatic slogan, "the complete flame in our chests..."

The Viscount paused and shot them a suspicious look over his shoulder. "...shall not be extinguished by anyone. We are..."

"The PHOENIX!"

The cry rang through the empty hallway. Beside them, Charlotte pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled a soft snicker. Oh this was not the time to dissolve into hysterics. At least the Viscount had stopped being so cryptic. "So you are comrades! I remember seeing your faces before!"

"That device!" Ciel snapped. "Can it stop the creatures?"

Druitt's eyes narrowed apprehensively. "Where did you get that information? Well no matter. Follow me and I shall show you the coming of a new age, a new society, thanks to this medicine. Fine?"

Seeing no other option, Ciel and Sebastian followed the man while Charlotte trailed after them. "This is utterly stupid," she muttered and then she stiffened at the sound of a very familiar giggle.

One of the men carrying the machine wasn't a disposable in a brown suit, but instead was a man in a black robe with long silver hair. "Undertaker?!" Ciel half-squeaked, half-whispered, "What are you doing here?"

"While I was escaping I was asked to help carry this~" he giggled. "And then you did that 'phoenix' thing again."

"Never mind that!" Ciel barked, his cheeks going red. Something about this niggled at him. He glanced behind him at Charlotte, who hadn't moved once to speak to the Undertaker. Every time he'd seen them they were always affectionate with each other but now Charlotte wasn't even looking at him. Instead she stared fixedly ahead, her lips pressed together so hard they'd gone white.

Sebastian noticed the Undertaker's mile-wide smile grew smaller when he looked at her. Charlotte stormed on ahead, bumping her shoulder hard against the Viscount when he didn't move out of the way quickly enough and causing his wine to slosh out of his glass. "Let's get this pointless quest over with," she muttered.

The First Class Lounge was empty, unless you counted the few shambling walkers to be adequate company. The Viscount waved a hand and the machine was set down. "Be careful with that," he called carelessly, "it's worth more than your lives."

"Are you going to turn it on?" Ciel asked bluntly.

"Not yet," Druitt replied and lifted his head to peer up at the balconies overhead. "The cast is still incomplete. Ah!"

Stoker noticed them at the same time as the Viscount noticed him. "You bastard!"

"Stoker, I was waiting for you! Welcome! Tonight your empire will collapse like Pompeii and in its place my new realm will be born! With the power of this device, a new era will be born! The one who conquered eternity will rule over all with corruption and decadence! It shall be called," here he struck a pose that was similar to that of the Aurora Society but not quite, "The Aurora Empire!"

"Wow, that sounds kinda complex," a new voice chimed from overhead. The two Reapers watched the proceedings with differing levels of amusement. The one dressed entirely in scarlet revved up his scythe with a manic grin. "I'll paint him red right away!"

"What, don't you care about the device?" The Viscount held his glass above the complicated machine, stopping the Reapers in their tracks. He laughed. "Huh, so this is what real power feels like. I can win against all of you with one glass of wine!"

Sebastian grimaced. "I am growing quite irate. May I kill him?"

Ciel shook his head minutely, "No, although I do understand your feelings."

Suddenly there was a cacophonous crash of shattering glass and splintering wood as hordes of corpses suddenly poured into the lounge from every corner. Apparently there were more of them than they'd realised. Far more. "There's too many of them!"

"Viscount, turn on the machine!" Ciel yelled at the man.

"Don't call me Viscount," the man placed a hand on his chest, "instead call me Ceaser. I want to hear those words from that pretty mouth."

Oh no. He's crazy and a pedophile oh my goodness. Charlotte shuddered with disgust. "I'm going to murder him if that's alright with you."

"Yes."

"No."

Charlotte turned at show Sebastian a bemused look. "Demon I am literally less likely to do anything you say. Besides," she turned and sliced a corpse in half, "that machine's about as useful as he is. I should really just destroy it and then we can get to the real problem!"

"Don't," Ciel barked at her. "We don't know what it does yet!"

The woman laughed, loud and furious. "You don't believe me! After all this, even knowing what I am, you still don't believe what I say! Look at me!"

She dived into the fray, rushing at the Viscount before anyone could stop her. The blade of her scythe came to a stop right behind his neck. He stared down at her, high on his own arrogance and imagined power. "You can't kill me! You don't know how to work the machine!"

"Look into my eyes Viscount," Charlotte replied in sharply accented French. "Does it look like I give a fuck?"

Whatever he saw in her eyes, it made his widen and sweat bead on his forehead. He swallowed hard, hyper-aware of the curved metal resting on the back of his neck. "Fine! Simply pledge allegiance to me and I'll turn it on!"

The waves of homicidal hatred were almost palpable but everyone performed the salute. Charlotte wished she had an extra set of arms so she could cover her face. "Now turn it on!" Ciel screamed.

The Viscount turned and pressed a button. The machine flashed and whizzed. Light bulbs flickered once, twice, and then the whole thing shuddered to a stop. The corpses still came. In fact they seemed to move faster.

The woman huffed and straightened up. "Oh gosh, what a twist!" She spun the scythe, nicking Druitt in the throat before stabbing a creature in the head. "Who could have foreseen this?"

"Ryan, the machine you built isn't working!" Druitt screeched as he cowered behind Charlotte and the useless chunk of metal.

Stoker looked at shocked the Viscount; however his anger wasn't directed at a surprising target. "You fooled me?!"

"Ugh, enough!" The Red Reaper leapt down from the balcony, the rotating spikes of his weapon a blur as he aimed for the Viscount. Unfortunately Charlotte was in the way and it was likely the two would have died had someone not caught the blade as it came down.

The Undertaker giggled softly but it wasn't a nice sound. It was cold and eerie and as the man straightened, the men caught sight of a long cream-white sotōba."A Grim Reaper?!"

Charlotte stepped out from behind him, her eyes downcast as she attempted to shrug. "Surprise?"

"You knew about this?!" Ciel snarled at her.

She frowned at him. "Did I know he was a Reaper? Yes? Did you really think a normal human did this?" She replied, gesturing to herself. "I am literally a head on a doll's body did you think this was normal?!"

"That's fair."

The Undertaker shoved the red one away and swept his robe back to reveal many more blades, all inscribed with symbols none of them could read. He flung four at Grell, sending him crashing into the ceiling. "I haven't laughed this much in some time~! This has been an amusing production and I am loathe to see it end~. However," he pushed his hair back for the first time in Ciel's memory, revealing a pair of glinting yellow-green eyes narrowed in malice. "I won't have my Lottie-dearest coming to harm."

Title and scene inspired by the song Blood/Water by grandsons. It is also vaguely inspired by Papaoutai by Stromae.

In my headcanon (which is canon since I'm writing this) Undertaker does love Charlotte, he just loves his experiments as well and doesn't get why she's upset. To him, she and the Bizarre Dolls occupy entirely different spheres of thought but Charlotte views herself as an unwanted first attempt.