The Night Brings Violence

The door creaked shut behind the trio as Blaire desperately tried to calm her racing heart.

The store was decorated with olive green wallpaper and oak furnishings. The life-sized dolls peering out of the window were eerily still. Blaire kept her eyes on them, as if in anticipation of them suddenly attacking.

"Lizzie!" Ciel's boots clicked against the wooden floor as he rushed over to the counter.

Blaire watched on in unease as he gently picked up the lone doll from the shelf, examining it critically. There was no doubt it looked like Elizabeth with its frilly pink dress, bonnet and curly blonde hair. The only difference was: this doll fit in Ciel's palm – too tiny to be the real Lizzie.

"…is this her?" Ciel directed at Blaire, his one visible eye widened as if in concern.

"No that's not her…" She folded her arms across her chest. She couldn't help but internally note his hypocrisy. As if he hadn't come onto her but a few hours ago. She clicked her tongue and sighed.

A frigid draft made a shiver roll down her spine, and following the origin of the breeze, she quickly found the backdoor leading out into an open plot of land. What greeted her was a sight surely reserved for a gothic novel of the time. A mansion that was more reminiscent of a medieval castle, looked down upon by the crescent moon sat within a clear night sky. The trees which surrounded the gloomy structure cast ghastly shadows and despite herself, she stepped closer to the two males who had followed behind her.

"Lizzie must be somewhere in that mansion…" Ciel noted.

Blaire grimaced, knowing full well that Lizzie was in fact, in the tower behind the castle. However, they had to go through that house first – they needed to keep as close to the established events as possible. There was no telling what other changes Blaire's presence alone could cause – and that always spelt disaster. She had gotten remarkably lucky until now. She couldn't risk making any more changes to the timeline.

"Goodness. Not exactly the most welcoming of places, is it?" Came from Grell.

"Come along. We must be swift!" Ciel began marching forward.

Blaire reluctantly followed, having to swallow back the urge to run and hide somewhere safe. She scoffed to herself. Safe was relative in this world, apparently.

As they approached the castle in silence – save for the sound of the wind disturbing the tree branches all around - Blaire couldn't help but tremble. Knowing exactly what was going to happen truly was a curse as much as it was a blessing.

Grell eagerly threw open the large oak doors, as if they weighed nothing. "Alright! Here we go!"

The two males paused upon peering into the darkened entranceway. Blaire shrunk back upon seeing the singular, silhouette of a human female stood on a wooden pedestal in the centre of the checked floor. She was stood as still as a doll, watching through unseeing eyes which happened to be peering right at them.

The entrance was chilly and poorly lit – with amber gas lamps kindled around the stone walls providing little in the way of visual aid.

As they approached the doll – footsteps echoing amidst the concrete, Blaire's discomfort only grew as she caught sight of her violet eyes – which seemed to be emitting a slight glow. Just like Ash's – the malevolent angel who she knew was responsible for all of this. She kept her distance, quivering behind the two males. Like all of the dolls in the shop window, its porcelain face was remarkably realistic – truly looking like a human corpse.

That's because it is…

She shuddered as the doll's eyes peered over at her, before she cast her own dark eyes to the ground, keeping behind Ciel.

"Hey, look. That ring's a lot like yours isn't it?" Grell pointed out.

Blaire peered down at the sparkling blue hope diamond placed on the living doll's thumb – then over to the matching ring on Ciel's gloved finger.

Subtly, Ciel removed the doll's ring and placed it in his inner coat pocket. He stared for a moment, brow furrowed – before his eyes widened in realisation. He and Blaire met eyes and she silently nodded, confirming what he already knew.

That doll was one of the missing girls who Ciel had been investigating.

Suddenly, the dolls glassy eyes seemed to hone in on him. A stiff arm flew for the Earl and a frigid hand wrapped itself around his throat. Ciel flinched, his mouth turning down and his brow furrowing as he tried to pry the doll's hand away, to no avail. "H-help me!" He snapped, his voice strained and a sheen of sweat breaking out across his forehead.

Blaire gasped, rushing to his side and trying to help him pull the hand from his neck. Her heart was pounding frantically against her chest – she cursed herself as she had completely forgotten that would happen. However, the doll's grip was just too tight – and when its other hand moved to shove Blaire away, she let out a sound of alarm as she landed on the cold tiles away from the struggling Earl.

"Grell, do something!" She shrieked. If Ciel died, it would surely spell the end for her as well.

A heavy object then slammed into the back of the doll's head, causing her to collapse to the ground with a thud and take Ciel with her. "I'll snip her into bits with my death scythe!" The reaper exclaimed.

The two brunettes looked up to see Grell stood over the human doll, a manic grin on his ivory face and two pairs of red scissors in his hands.

Wasn't he on the chandelier in the anime? Blaire pondered, before shaking her head.

"Aren't those just scissors?" Came from Ciel.

"What do you want me to do, Will took away my personally modified death scythe!" Lamented Grell.

Blaire only watched as the conversation unfolded – in person. She couldn't help but smirk.

I don't think I'll ever get used to this.

When Grell dived forward to cut into the doll-human hybrid, Blaire shrieked. "Stop! I think that's a real person!" At the same time, Ciel yelled in perfect unison:

"Wait! She isn't actually a doll!"

But it was too late, as her throat had already been slit and grotesque, blood-soaked stuffing had begun to ooze out.

Blaire gagged, averting her gaze. "Now that's just disgusting…" She muttered.

Ciel, on the other hand, didn't seem bothered at all. Having stood up, he wandered over, leaning down to inspect the corpse.

The woman who was still sat on the floor – to her embarrassment, was finding it quite difficult to stand on her own. She cleared her throat. "Little help here?"

The Earl rolled his eyes, reluctantly coming to offer his hand. "How unseemly."

"Oh, sorry I'll just let you be strangled next time." She snarked.

All three then paused as they heard disjointed singing coming from the other side of the door. All Blaire was able to make out was the unnervingly familiar tune – causing her to back away slightly.

The door then creaked open to reveal the silhouette of none other than Drossel Keinz, one gloved hand carrying a golden candelabra which cast his corpse-like face in enigmatic shadows. He walked with slow, rigid movements and had the same glowing purple eyes as every other doll. His paperwhite, waxy skin was like that of an embalmed corpse and his unruly ginger was reminiscent of a ragdoll. When he spoke, he did so with a wavering, though monotonous voice and it almost sounded as though he was in pain. Altogether, he was a peculiar figure.

"What a useless doll. She was an utter failure. So then I thought to myself, in order to succeed I must make them considerably stronger than this." He raised his hand in a dramatic gesture and began to sing "Build it up with iron and steel, iron and steel…"

Ciel grit his teeth as more dolls descended upon them from the shadows, marching in sync like an army – quickly dwarfing Keinz, who disappeared out of the doorway and further into the mansion.

The three moved closer together, each wearing equally perturbed expressions as they were encircled by a sea of vacant expressions. Their faces were like death itself which juxtaposed their otherwise dainty outfits and it was only then that Blaire noticed the pungent odour of death in the air.

Grell brandished his scissors in warning – however, even he knew that there were too many to reasonably manage.

A sudden realisation dawned on Blaire – something that she remembered from the show. Recalling how Sebastian had dealt with them, she began to sing as loud as she could muster: "Iron and steel will bend and bow, bend and bow, iron and steel will bend and bow, My fair lady…"

Everyone came to a still, the two males gazed at her in surprise as the dolls stopped marching and began to sway from side to side, their frilly skirts and bonnets swaying with them.

Taking the opportunity, Grell stepped forward and began haphazardly chopping into their necks, red-stained stuffing pouring onto the floor like thick sludge.

Ciel turned to stare down at the woman, who continued to sing despite her quivering voice. "How did you…"

"They seemed to be controlled by the singing." She remarked, copying Sebastian's line and covering her mouth to let out a yawn. The two restless hours of sleep were catching up to her. She was aching all over and her eyelids felt increasingly heavy.

The Earl glanced back at Grell, who was merrily chopping away. "I'm going to go after that Keinz fellow. You stay with Grell."

She nodded, watching as he ran through the double doors after the corpse-like ragdoll.

It only took about five minutes for Grell to have completely finished off everyone. She only stood and stared, before she knew it, she was surrounded by corpses and crimson red sludge.

The same colour as Sebastian's eyes…

"Are you alright?"

She jumped, turning to find Grell stood behind her, trying to clean off his scissors. "Y…yeah." She hadn't noticed that she had been staring at – what she guessed was blood. Clearing her throat, she drew her eyes away from the floor.

"You seem quite pale."

"I don't feel too great. Can we go outside for a bit?" She tried.

"Perhaps we should follow after Ciel…" he suggested.

Her eyes widened. If they did, they would encounter Sebastian sooner than she was ready to. No, they had to get to the tower where Lizzie was being kept. She knew that Ciel and his butler should make their way there eventually. "Actually, I… I know Lizzie isn't here."

Green eyes darkened and an uncharacteristically serious expression was now on his face. "Oh? And you just let us saunter on in here for nothing, did you? Some fortune teller you are."

"I'm trying to keep things right! We were supposed to come here. What happened to all of those missing girls would still be a mystery if we hadn't!" She let out a breath. She thought it would be best if she left out the part about her unintentionally interfering with events. When word of her meddling got back to the Reapers Society she would be in even more of a mess than she currently was.

"Well, where is she then?"

"The tower – just through the woods. We should go now and wait for Ciel and uh…Sebastian too I suppose."

That seemed to win him over. "Bassy, you say? He'll be there too?" He bristled, intrigue dancing behind his red spectacles.

"Yeah." She rolled her eyes when she was grabbed by the wrist and tugged forward, out of the castle and into the woods.

As she stumbled forward, all she could think about was her bed.

Sebastian placed the young Earl on the darkened bridge following their escape from the castle. "There we are. You're safe."

Mustering all of the strength he could, Ciel drew back his hand and struck the demon hard across the face. To his annoyance, he barely reacted. "What about Lizzie!" He bellowed. "She's still in there! Saving Lizzie is our first priority!"

Sebastian's red eyes widened, before he interrupted his masters fuming, his voice perfectly calm. "If the order negates the contract, I cannot obey it. Your first priority is taking orders from the queen. Similarly, my first priority is your life." There was a pause, where Ciel gazed over the bridge and into the still waters. The demon went on: "I've devoted myself to your service and protection. It's been more than two years now. I can't very well let someone steal you away after all this time now, can I?" Though the demon was smiling, his pupils were narrowed into serpent-like slits and his irises adopted an otherworldly glow – in warning.

Not one for letting his servants intimidate him, Ciel only smirked and produced the second hope diamond from his inner pocket, slipping it on his thumb.

"Master?"

"Apparently the hope piece is what marks the masters next target. And I have two. Protecting me will be a difficult task." He said smugly.

His demon responded in kind, his own smirk ghosting his gaunt features. "I'm not afraid of hard work. Although… things should be easier with our new asset… how has she been behaving herself?"

The earl rose an eyebrow. "Fairly well… She got me to the right place eventually. Actually, she did the same thing as you, now that I think about it."

Sebastian tilted his head to the side. "Oh?"

"Singing to defeat the dolls. It was peculiar… as if she just...knew what to do." The earl cast his mind back, reluctantly admitting to himself that yes, she was quite useful to have on hand.

"And where is she now?" Came from Sebastian.

Ciel shrugged. "I left her with Grell."

A displeased frown came upon the demon's face. "Grell? Does he know what she is?"

"Yes. He took note of her name as well." The earl stopped when he looked at Sebastian's face. His eyes were narrowed in irritation, once again adopting their chilling fuchsia hue.

Ciel scoffed. "What? Does it matter?"

A sudden breeze swirled around them, and Sebastian caught the woman in question's familiar scent – as well as the ginger reaper's. "I can sense where they are. Shall we?"

Sighing, the earl nodded and followed after his demon butler.

"You both made it then?" Blaire and Grell turned to see the familiar figures coming across the stone bridge.

The two were by the door to the tower – with Blaire sat on the wall with her chin resting in her palm.

"This one insisted we come here. Practically dragged me." Grell rolled his eyes.

"I did not!" Blaire exclaimed from where she was sat. "You only came because I said Sebastian would show up!"

Sebastian narrowed his eyes at her and the red-haired reaper, before sniffing the air and striding towards them. Placing himself between the seer and the reaper, he remarked: "That door has been sealed with unnatural power."

Blaire groaned inwardly. "I knew we needed Pluto..." She whispered, wishing to kick herself for all the interference she had caused.

Sebastian turned to her. "Indeed. A demon hound is precisely what we need."

Ciel clenches his fist. "So that means we cannot proceed any further?"

"Can't you just break it down?" Blaire groaned.

"You're a very violent young woman." Mused Grell.

"I'm serious! We can't open it but what about smashing it?"

Sebastian raised a hand to his chin. "Breaking the door is impossible. The wall on the other hand…"

"Well do it then, will you!" Snapped Ciel.

"Very good, my Lord." And with that, the butler charged forward. Blaire watched with a grimace as, with strength which simply shouldn't have been possible – the concrete wall was reduced to rubble via his bare hands. She shuddered as she was reminded of the brute strength hidden within such a lanky frame.

Grell seemed utterly enamoured by the demon's display of strength, his green eyes glazing over as he watched.

Blaire rolled her eyes.

"Come along." Sebastian offered his hand to the young Earl, aiding him over the mess which had subsequently been created. He was stood on the edge of the bridge, the hole in the wall being situated above nothing but the icy water.

When Ciel was safely inside, he turned to Blaire and held out his hand expectantly. However, she refused to budge from her seat on the bridge. She stared at him through hooded eyes, her cheek still rested on the palm of her hand. "I'd rather wait here."

"Certainly not. The young master told me all about your little stunt with the dolls. You may come in handy."

"Look, my leg is killing me and I just need to sleep. I won't move from this spot."

"Just let the wench stay out here, Bassy. What harm could that do?" Grell sauntered passed, making his way into the hole in the wall.

The demon ignored him, narrowing his eyes at the infuriating woman - before Ciel poked his head out of the building. "What's the holdup?!" He snapped.

"I'm staying here. Can you get your butler to leave me alone for five fucking minutes?" She said, returning Sebastian's glare.

"We don't have time for dawdling. Sebastian, carry her. We might need her."

"Don't you come near me!" She snapped, struggling to stand and sending the demon a scowl in warning. She didn't want him anywhere near her – he could easily crush her if he wanted to, and she was all too aware of that fact.

The demon didn't care to listen to her protests, easily slinging her over his shoulder as if she were a sack of potatoes. He smirked in the satisfaction that Ciel finally seemed to understand just how much of an asset she was.

As she was carried into the tower and up the – seemingly infinite, spiralling staircase she hammered her fists down on the butler's back as hard as she, him out. However, her arms were so weak and fatigued, she had to give in and let herself be carried in the dark.

She shut her eyes, the speed at which the demon was sprinting upstairs made her feel quite sick.

She had to struggle to remain upright when she was abruptly placed back on her feet and within an instant, she was being pushed into what she could only describe as some kind of dungeon.

The brick walls were cast in sinister orange lighting and the cold seemed to blow right through from outside. Clutter was everywhere, including the ramshackle floor. Blaire tensed, wrapping her arms around herself as the feeling of nausea continued to build within her. The room reminded her of the same place she'd had her first-ever seizure.

She unconsciously took a step away from Sebastian.

Ciel's eyes quickly scanned their surroundings, locking on the head of blonde curls sat slumped over on a wooden chair in the darkened corner. "Lizzie!" He rushed over and crouched down before her, taking her head into his hands in an unnatural display of concern.

Blaire watched with wide eyes, her top lip curling in disgust. "…that's…Lizzie…?"

Sebastian glanced at her. "Of course. Didn't you know already?"

Her eyes gazed over her tiny form. She looked young. Her round face was still and a pale shade of porcelain. Freckles dotted her full cheeks and her full lips reminded Blaire of a doll.

Ironic...

"Lizzie…?" Ciel whispered, giving a gentle shake.

The younger girl remained still. "Lizzie!" His gentle shaking became more frantic when she didn't move, which only made her slump forward. Limp and seemingly lifeless.

"Oh my, it looks like we're too late." Grell placed a gloved hand to his hip, expression unsympathetic.

"We shouldn't be…" Blaire responded.

Encouraged by Blaire's words, Ciel continued to shake her "Wake up…Lizzie, wake up! Lizzie!"

Eventually, her dull green eyes peered open and locked onto Ciel, her pale face remaining ever vacant.

Ciel sighed in relief. "Lizzie… you're okay."

"That's the ring…" She muttered; her voice just as high pitched as it was in the animation – though it only made Blaire ponder how old she was even more. Seeing Ciel – a nearly grown man fawn over, essentially a child, in such a way made Blaire incredibly uncomfortable.

A ghost of a smile befell Elizabeth's ghastly white, sunken in face. Though it didn't reach her eyes. "So, did you like it? That makes me happy…so happy."

She's a child! Blaire screamed internally.

"It's just as Blaire said. That was her gift for you." Sebastian remarked.

"How foolish… she didn't have to." The Earl returned.

Suddenly, as if pulled upon by some unseen force, Lizzie's arms rose up and to the side, a familiar monotone voice sounding from above them. "Then why did she?"

And with that, the little girl was tugged up into the air. Tears filled her eyes as an increasingly troubled expression brought her brows together in a pinch.

Keinz's disembodied voice continued. "And why is her body moving without her control?"

Everyone except Blaire glanced around furiously as a heavy axe flew towards Elizabeth – who easily caught it in her hands.

"And why… why is she going to hurt the one who she loves most in the world?"

Blaire began to back out of the room, knowing what was coming and that she would only get in the way. She knew that Sebastian could take care of this – and she really needed to sit down.

She just caught sight of Lizzie raising the axe and preparing to strike at Ciel, before she slammed the door shut as she heard Elizabeth's desperate screeching: "No!"

Tears streamed down Blaire's face as she heard the commotion from inside of the room. She slid down the stone wall, relishing in the coolness it provided. Burying her face in her hands and beginning to audibly sob as Lizzie cried out again – followed by Ciel's shouting and tumultuous crashing.

They're just kids! She's just a little kid! – Was the last coherent thought she had before her body finally gave in to its exhaustion and the darkness stole over her.

When she next awoke, all she could see was the pale twilight sky. A cool wind brushed against her face as quiet murmurs phased in and out of earshot and black dots orbited her vision. It felt as though she was floating through the air.

Blinking, she turned her head to the side, seeing Ciel carrying an unconscious Elizabeth.

Catching Ciel's eye, she allowed herself a small smile.

"She's alright…" She whispered, before her eyes closed once more, completely oblivious to the crimson gaze seated on her unconscious form.

"So, what do you think, young master? Can we keep her?" He sounded like a child asking to keep a stray cat.

Equally, Ciel's response was akin to the parent of said child. "Fine. But you will be responsible for her."

The colours will all fade

Flooded forests and undergrowth