The Feeling of Dread
Ciel hastily climbed into the carriage, followed by Blaire and Sebastian. Blaire slumped against the leather seat, clutching at her aching side where the corset was digging in. She was having some difficulty getting in enough air after practically falling down the stairs after Ciel.
"Where and when exactly will Elizabeth go missing? And sit up properly!" The earl demanded.
She shot him a glare. She reluctantly complied with his command, staring at his rugged face from where she sat across from him. Sebastian seated himself beside Ciel, still watching her carefully. He was curious to know how her visions worked and if perhaps he could sense some kind of shift in energy around her.
"Somewhere in the city. A toy shop...I'm not sure exactly when but I know it was - will be dark by the time she's taken. They're going to turn her into a doll." She said. Her heart was racing. This was the true test of her "abilities", she couldn't mess this up.
Sebastian's eyes flashed and the carriage immediately began to be pulled.
"A doll?" Ciel questioned, raising his hand to his chin and a frown creasing his brow. "So, whoever takes her can't be human..." He noted.
Blaire looked over at him, a realisation suddenly dawning on her. "Who's driving the carriage?"
Sebastian smirked at her. "The little psychic doesn't know?"
"I don't know everything." She huffed. "Only bits and pieces."
"Have you truly forgotten what I am already?" His head tilted to the side slightly, lips still curled up across his ghastly face, preening like a magpie fawning over something shiny.
"A demon. I know that, but what's-"
"Shall I make them stop?" His eyes again flashed and the carriage came to a halt.
Blaire's mouth slackened. She thought back to the show, at all the scenes with Ciel and Sebastian alone inside of a carriage - and yet it was never explained who was driving. Certainly, the Victorian equivalent of a taxi service existed but why would Ciel need to hire a cab when he could afford his own? And apparently, Sebastian could control the animals like marionettes. For some reason, she found the notion more disturbing than awe-inspiring.
"Enough of these games." Ciel snapped, glaring at the two of them. "We must get to Elizabeth before dark."
"Of course, my lord. My apologies." He said with an insincere smile and bow of the head.
As the carriage started again, Blaire asked, "Why doesn't Sebastian just run ahead and get her?"
"First of all, because people would question why my butler was approaching my fiancée. Secondly, you haven't exactly been precise. Perhaps you aren't so good after all." Ciel smirked as she shifted uncomfortably.
She pressed her lips together to suppress a sneer at his condescending tone. "Like I said. I don't know everything."
Ciel's arrogant smirk remained plastered to his face. "And pray tell, how much do you know?"
How do I even answer that? She wondered. Should she reveal what she knows about the future? Her eyes flickered to Sebastian. If she truly wanted to get revenge on Ciel for his conduct earlier, she could suggest the possibility that he might become a demon in the future. Sebastian would surely slaughter him on the spot to save himself time. But she couldn't do that. She couldn't have anyone's death on her shoulders - regardless of who they were. And she didn't know what would happen to her after the fact, so she opted to play it safe. "...most of what I know centres around you and the people in your life."
She took great satisfaction in watching as the smirk fell from his face. "...me?" She nodded.
Sebastian let out a thoughtful hum. "And... how is it that your abilities work? I believe you mentioned books?"
Blaire sighed internally. Another long carriage ride ahead - this time with two psychopaths interrogating her on her non-existent abilities. With no real way to tell the time, the seconds themselves seemed to last an astonishingly long while. "Well, I... I thought I had read the information in a book." She wasn't technically lying.
Sebastian smirked. "Which I disproved, yes."
Her eyes flickered towards the demon. "When did you do that?"
"This morning. I searched through every library in London, twice in fact. No such book that you described exists." He looked quite pleased with himself.
She gazed at him with unblinking eyes. Blaire didn't know if she should facepalm or burst into a fit of hysterical laughter as she imagined Sebastian searching tirelessly for the Black Butler manga - which obviously didn't exist here. She had said it was from the future, didn't she? Why would he bother looking?
Ciel cut in. "You can read?" He asked her incredulously, eyebrow raised.
Blaire scowled at him, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Of course, I can read." She was already sick of being talked down to.
"Who taught you?" Ciel tilted his head, genuinely curious. She shouldn't have been able to attend school and her parents surely couldn't have afforded a private tutor. Proletarians sent their children to work at young ages, it would make no sense for her to be educated at all.
Blaire looked at him for a moment, not quite believing she was having this conversation. "...my teacher. In school."
"You could afford school?" Ciel wondered if perhaps he had been deceived by her appearance. Then he thought back on her attire at the frost fair and decided against the idea. She had to be lying. He would be sure to test her later on.
"Well, where I'm from its compulsory to attend. And free."
Sebastian quirked an eyebrow at this. "And just where is it that you're from?"
Her breath caught in her throat and she cast her eyes to her hands where they rested on her knees. She hadn't thought that the question would hurt so much, and she now realised that she didn't have an appropriate reply which wouldn't result in her being mocked. She brought her hands together, beginning to fidget as she tried to think of an answer. Should she lie? What if Sebastian could sense lies? With a heavy heart, she eventually settled on, "Far away...really far away." Her voice was vacant as she brought her dull eyes to look out the window of the carriage.
"You know, it's most impolite not to look at those who you are talking to. Now answer Sebastian's question properly." Ciel chided, glaring at her.
Blaire promptly glared right back and swallowed the lump in her throat. Her anguish was swiftly replaced by anger. "What does it matter to you? I... I don't exactly belong here alright?"
Ciel was about to snap at her again, though Sebastian cut him off.
"You are still under the belief that you're from the future, aren't you?" He asked bluntly, taking sick satisfaction at how she squirmed in her seat under their scrutiny. He continued. "You truly are ridiculous. Perhaps you truly do belong in Bethlam. I should have left you there." He taunted.
She balled her hands into fists, her knuckles turning bone white under the strain. She felt undermined. She felt out of place and useless.
When she didn't respond after a moment, Ciel spoke up. "Don't ignore others when they address you, Blaire."
Making eye contact with the earl revealed he wore a smug expression, lighted by a mischievous glint in his eye. He was trying to get under her skin, to get her to lash out. Tears threatened to blind her but she refused to give in to her frustration, instead furiously blinking them away. She bit the inside of her mouth to the point where she could taste her own blood. It hurt but it didn't seem to matter in the grand scheme of things. What was more important currently was to refrain from showing them her weakness. "Maybe you should have." She bit out.
An uncomfortable silence fell between them and Blaire found herself fixated on the world outside as it passed, at a snail's pace. She began to daydream about her home as the world outside faded away and became white noise.
"Blaire!"
The woman in question gritted her teeth at the familiar sound of Ciel's scathing tone. As she opened her eyes, she noticed two shadowy faces firmly fixated on her, and realized that the carriage was now cloaked in darkness. Is it seriously getting dark already? she thought tiredly.
"Falling asleep in the carriage is most unladylike." Came from Ciel.
Blaire rubbed at her eyes, heavy fatigue still burdening her. "I didn't exactly get a good night's rest yesterday, did I?" She muttered, her voice still hoarse with fatigue.
Sebastian chuckled. "Was the floor of your padded cell not adequate?"
Blaire looked at him through dull, hooded eyes. Her lips pressed into a line and she decided that she wasn't even going to humour him with a response. "We there yet?"
"You tell us." Said Ciel.
She glanced out of the window, still being taken aback at how quickly the daylight had dissipated. The sky had turned from light to dim blue. They were clearly now moving through the dingy streets of London, still shrouded in the amber glow from the kindled gas lamps. Concrete had replaced countryside and Blaire came to realise that she must have been sleeping for a while.
"Where is Lizzie?" Ciel interrupted her train of thought.
She turned to look at the earl, raising a hand to rest against her cheek and bringing her brows together in a worried frown. "I said earlier, a toy shop. I don't know exactly where."
He sighed, turning to Sebastian. "Begin going around every toy shop on the other side of London. Blaire and I will begin the search on this end."
Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that my Lord? I believe your concern for Lady Elizabeth is clouding your judgement. Would it not be more wise if-"
Ciel's expression hardened and he cut him off, spitting through gritted teeth. "I gave you an order. It's not your place to question me, butler."
Blaire glanced between them, feeling mildly awkward. She couldn't believe she would have to go with Ciel mere hours after he had tried to service her. But the alternative wasn't much better. She looked towards Sebastian who seemed positively murderious at having been talked down to by Ciel.
Not nice is it? She thought.
To Sebastian's credit, he held his own better than Blaire would have expected, sending the earl a tight lipped smile and his signature "yes, my Lord" before disappearing from the now still carriage.
Ciel motioned to Blaire with a nod of his head. "Come."
Fighting back the urge to sigh, she followed him from the carriage and began limping after him, immediately falling behind his hurried strides. She struggled to keep up as she weaved her way through the crowds of people and occasional carriage while keeping an eye on Ciel's top hat - the only part of him she could see - which quickly ended up away in the distance.
All kinds of expletives crossed her mind as she gritted her teeth and for a moment, she considered calling after him. However, the rest of the street was strangely quiet and she couldn't draw attention to herself. No doubt, Ciel would tell her off for that too. She truly had no idea where she was going, having never been to London in her life. Even if she had, there was no telling exactly how much had changed in the last hundred and fifty-odd years. She continued blindly following the bobbing top hat through the maze-like streets and Blaire wondered how anyone could possibly find their way.
Just as she thought she had lost him, he seemed to reappear, pausing to allow her to catch up while gazing at her with a disdainful expression. "You're proving to be more of a hindrance than a help. You're slowing me down."
She was breathing heavily, leaning on the building they had came to a still beside with aching arms. "I've hurt my leg. And the corset is making it difficult to keep up with you." She began to massage her side. "Can't you slow down?"
"No, I won't. We're in a hurry." He said sharply, before motioning to the building they were stood beside. "Now enough excuses. Do you think this is the right one?"
Pushing off of the looming structure and taking several steps forwards, giving the building a good scan, she shook her head. This couldn't have been it. "No, it's one with a large window displaying dolls." This one was nothing like what she could remember. It had a granite staircase leading up towards a painted red door, the display showing that it was, in fact, a toy shop. Just not the right one.
"We'll try this way." He sighed.
Several toy shops later and Blaire had begun to worry. They seemed to be wandering aimlessly and this wasn't what happened in the anime. She wracked her brain, trying to recall how they knew where to go when she froze, her posture went rigid and her eyes widened.
"What's the matter with you?" Ciel asked with a frown, having turned to see the woman stop dead in the narrow street they were wandering down. He wondered if she had seen something bad and her obvious worry quickly started to rub off on him.
Blaire only stared at him in distress, giant moths fluttering in her stomach. She realised what she had done. In the animation, they got a phone call telling them exactly where Lizzie was last seen, which allowed them to be in the general area to find her. Now because of Blaire they had left early and wouldn't be in the house to receive any phone calls. Try as she might, she just couldn't remember off hand what the call had said. A wave of nausea threatened to claw its way up her throat. Had her being here really changed so much? They left the house in a hurry and thus, there was no Pluto. And because there was no Pluto, Grell wouldn't be showing up either. Even if they found the right store, there was no way they could get passed the army of killer dolls without Grell.
Ciel came forward, peering at her intensely. He took her by the shoulders and gave her a shake, what was proper no longer being a concern. "I asked what the matter is! Blaire!" Was it Lizzie? Were they too late?
Blaire lifted a hand to cover her mouth, staring into the wide eye of Ciel. "What have I done...?"
all the early evening shadows couldn't disguise this unrest
and the nights in depth are infinite as always