"Open your eyes, young master," a voice said to a sleeping Ciel. He stirred for a bit before he opened his eyes to see the summer sunlight. He got up slowly and soon realized that he was on a boat on a river. "You slept well," Lilliana said with a smile. Ciel looked around to see who was in the boat and was surprised to see Sebastian, Lilliana, and . . . Elizabeth? In another boat next to him, he saw the three servants with tarps over what appeared to be their cargo. How long was he asleep for?

"Young master, we are almost there. It's time to work," Sebastian said as the rowed further down the river as gently as he could. Eventually, they arrived to their destination: a little party for nobles celebrating the new flood-gate that the Funtom Company had built. Anyone who helped to either fund or build the gate was welcome with food and drinks provided. Everyone marveled at the young boy's latest accomplishment, even though some thought that this was another excuse to get more money.

"Ciel! Ciel, look at this," Elizabeth said as she hugged her fiancé and showed him a newspaper . . . and by show, she really just put the newspaper in his face.

"Come on, Elizabeth. I can't see it like this," he said as she tried to push the paper and her away from him.

"It's a deer," she said with glee as she pointed at the picture on the front page. "There is an ever so rare and elusive deer on a hill near here. It's a white stag that brings happiness."

"I've never heard of such thing," he said as he grabbed the paper to get a closer look at the picture.

"According to legend, the rare white stag has traditionally been considered as a messenger of the otherworld. Those who receive his message are supposedly blessed with good fortune," Sebastian said.

"You just know about everything, don't you?" Lilliana said teasingly, which only made Sebastian chuckle.

"If I didn't know pretty much everything, then what kind of butler would I be?"

"That's just a fairy tale," Ciel said skeptically.

"No, it's true! There are witnesses! Let's go look for it, Ciel. Please," Lizzie begged.

"I can't; I'm busy," he said, but saw her eyes filling up with tears. Damn, did she have to play the guilt card every time she wanted him to do something for her? It's getting annoying.

"You're so mean," she said before she started crying, making a scene in front of their guests. He tried to calm her down before people saw, but it was too late. People were whispering among themselves about how bad of a fiancé he is or possibly not even being a genuine fiancé to Elizabeth in the first place.

Out of defeat, Ciel said with a sigh, "Sebastian, Lilliana, prepare a boat."

"Certainly," they said in unison as they started to leave their side.

"Lady Elizabeth, I'd like to investigate another floodgate downstream. Would you favor me with your company on the river? I'm told that the elusive white stag lives on this land. Have you heard of it?" Ciel said in front of the crowd to regain his social standing. If everyone thought he was mean to her fiancé, then it could severely hurt his reputation. For now, this was the lesser of two evils.

"Yes, of course! I'd love to come with you," she said, playing along. She knew as well as him how important reputation is to nobility.

Soon, they prepared for the boat ride, but Lilliana was surprised to see that Lizzie needed to find the perfect dress . . . for boating? Do nobility really need to dress nicely for boating? What's the point? The only theory she could think of was that she wanted to impress her beloved fiancé, but she wasn't too sure about that. She was already wearing a nice dress. Couldn't she have worn that one? Regardless, she and Mey-Rin were having fun dress shopping while she helped Finnian and Baldroy load the servants' boat that had all the cargo they needed for this mini trip. However, when Ciel and Lizzie finally reached the boat, a crowd gathered to watch the couple, looking in awe of the adorable scene before them.

"Sebastian, what the devil are they doing? This isn't a circus," Baldroy said.

"I imagine they are trying to find fault with our young master. He has quite a few social enemies. For one thing, there are many who would stand to gain from those two breaking off their engagement," he said.

"Break it off?" the three servants asked in shock. Even though the two were an odd pairing, they have gotten used to the idea of having her around all the time, especially since one day they will get married. How could the two ever split up? He actually seems to smile more when she's around and she loves him with all her heart.

"I ask that you three behave yourselves and not get any ideas."

"Y-Yes sir," they all said with a salute. However, as Sebastian and Lilliana entered one of the boats, they could hear them murmuring about how to make sure that the young couple don't break off their engagement, but do they really need saving? This past year, Ciel has grown a lot closer to Lizzie since . . . wait, never mind.

Lizzie looked everywhere with her binoculars for the white stag, but seemed to find nothing. However, the three servants had a plan as they dived into the water. They knew that they were looking for a white stag . . . wait, what's a stag? None of them really knew for sure, so they gathered white animals, ranging from geese, rabbits, and even a horse, but none of them found what they were looking for.

"Do those look like a deer to you?" Ciel said in annoyance, but Lizzie smiled at the thought.

"Be a man and put all your money on the long shot," a voice said in the distance. They all looked in the direction and saw that someone was hosting a bet for their journey; one being if they find the white stag and the other being if they separate or not. With a closer inspection, they could see that a familiar face was hosting the bet: Lau. So, he has finally returned and Ciel has to confront the fact that he . . . wait, never mind.

"What does he think he's doing?" Ciel said under his breath as he watched the scene in front of him.

"I was sure we would find the stag by lunch," Lizzie said as she sat down on the blanket on the grass. Like she said, it was lunchtime and everyone knows how particular Ciel could be when any of his meals are late, or if, for that matter, if Sebastian denied him any sweets. Therefore, they docked the boat while the two of them could get something to eat.

"It's called 'elusive' because it is hard to find, isn't it?" Ciel said.

"I suppose you're right," she said with a tired tone, but it soon turned to glee as she said, "All right, we'll eat lunch and then get back to searching! What's today's lunch, Sebastian and Lilliana?" Elizabeth asked.

"Well, we have shrimp salad, salmon pie, and Cheshire cheese sandwiches," Lilliana said as Sebastian opened the box that was supposed to have their food, but to their surprise, there was a live pig inside. "Our apologies; there seems to have been a slight mistake."

"That's not like you two," Elizabeth said. Sebastian opened the next box, but four pigeons flew out of the box. However, the two servants quickly caught the birds before they could escape and put them back into the box.

"Honestly, what are you playing at?" Ciel said in annoyance

"One moment, my lord," Sebastian said with a smile, trying to hide the fact that he was mad at those idiot servants for packing the wrong things.

They walked a little ways to where the servants were eating their lunch, but they seemed awfully pleased with themselves. "Freshness of ingredients is critical. A premade pie isn't the done thing," Baldroy said.

"Will the pigeons I caught be useful, too?" Mey-Rin asked.

"Yes! We'll just lightly roast them with this beauty here," he said as he showed them his flamethrower. Honestly, does he ever leave the kitchen without one? "After that, the little lady will be all smiles!" However, Mey-Rin and Finny saw Sebastian and Lilliana smiling very eerily to them from behind Baldroy. They gasped at the sight, but before he could turn around, they bopped their heads, one from each deity, except Baldroy, who received two from Sebastian.

"Ow, that hurt," they said while covering their heads. Despite putting no effort, they can make quite a sting.

"Really, how many times do I have to tell you to behave yourselves?" Sebastian said as the two of them began to make one hell of a lunch for their master and his fiancé. Despite the short amount of time, they made a large amount of food, but they were right about one thing: the food is fresher than it would have been premade. Lilliana had to give Baldroy some credit for today. He really could be an exceptional chef if he really tried.

The three servants marveled at their achievement as Baldroy said, "I-Impressive as ever, you two!"

"If I couldn't make a simple lunch, then what kind of a butler would I be?" Sebastian said.

"Um, I helped too," Lilliana teased as she took the plate out of his hands. "But I guess if you're going to take all the credit, then I should be the one to serve them." She headed back to the young couple and Sebastian couldn't help, but smile as he followed her. "May I present freshwater fish and lobster soufflé with roast pigeon in the style of the Pyrenees," she said with a smile as she served the couple.

"How marvelous! Wait, isn't this a bit different from the menu you listed before?" Lizzie asked.

"We made alterations to show the local ingredients to better advantage." Sebastian said.

"It looks scrumptious!" The two proceeded to eat their delicious lunch as the two servants began preparations for dessert. When they were done, Lilliana cleaned up as Sebastian served them an Eton mess with wild strawberries.

"Yet again, you made quite a delicious dessert," Ciel said, but his tone didn't seemed impressed.

"I imagine you're the only master in the entire world that hires me only for my baking skills," Sebastian said with a smile.

"Ah, you two are such good friends," Lizzie said with a smile.

"I-I'm not 'friends' with some blasted butl-," Ciel tried to say, but he saw her laughing and decided to say nothing more. He didn't want to upset her again.

Soon, everyone returned to their boats in hopes of finding the white stag, but surprise, surprise; they couldn't find it. "I hope she doesn't make him stay all day to find that damn deer. If this keeps going, I'll be late for work," Lilliana said under her breath, but Ciel heard her.

"Late for what job?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, um, Sebastian put me in charge of dusting the house when we return and if we don't return soon, I'm afraid it will take me all night," she lied. He eyed her suspiciously and looked at Sebastian, who only nodded. He turned to look at Lizzie and Lilliana sighed in relief. That was a close one.

"We're simply not finding it. How tiresome," Lizzie said.

"Want to head home," Ciel asked, tired from all the searching. What's the point in looking for something that most likely doesn't exist?

"No, not yet; just wait, we'll find it!" However, as time passed, it began to sprinkle, but soon turned to on onslaught of rain. Despite this, Lizzie was determined to find the white stag that not even rain, which would ruin her hair and outfit, would stop her. Eventually, she told Sebastian to dock the boat and she rushed out to look for the stag.

"Elizabeth, I'm telling you, wait," Ciel yelled as he rushed after her.

"I just saw it! It's further in the woods," she said.

"Even the stag will be hiding from this rain. Let's call it a day," Ciel said as he turned her around so they could see each other.

"No! I'm going to find the white stag!"

"Don't be unreasonable. We can look for it again anytime we like. We can just hire people and offer a reward," he said, but her smile soon faded.

"Ciel, you idiot! That wouldn't mean anything. You don't understand how I feel at all! Forget it," she said as she started running away from them with tears pouring down her cheeks.

"Ah, you made her angry with you. I wonder if that ends it," a voice said from behind them. The trio looked behind them and saw Lau and Ran-Mao looking at them. Sebastian and Lilliana expressed anger, but Ciel only looked at them with surprise.

"Lau, what are you doing here?" Ciel asked.

"I bet on you finding it. I wish you wouldn't disappoint me."

"Why should I care what you want?"

"A gentleman is charged with pleasing his lady, correct? Being an English nobleman is such a bother."

"I was born one; it doesn't bother me in the slightest, but I was born into a disgraced family. My duty is -,"

"Well then! I've finished collecting my money, so I'll just push off," Lau said rather suddenly as he started to leave.

"We're going to bring Elizabeth home, Sebastian and Lilliana," Ciel ordered, but they heard Finny yelling in the distance.

Soon, he reached them as he said out of breath, "Lady Elizabeth is in trouble!" They all looked worried as they ran to where she was. With more rain pouring down on them, it was clear that it wasn't safe to hide the river. If they don't save her as soon as possible, there was a strong chance that she would drown. Eventually, they arrived to the scene and they saw that Lizzie was in the boat, but the water was making it rather rocky and if a large wave appeared, she would fall overboard.

"We got to bring her up," Baldroy said as he tried tugging on the rope, which was her only salvation at this point.

"No, if you pull too hard, she'll capsize," Mey-Rin said as she stopped him.

Lizzie saw that her fiancé came and had a worried look on his face. She held on for dear life as she said, "I saw it . . . on the other side of the river."

"Look out! Don't take your hands off the boat," Ciel yelled.

"I'm going to find the white stag. I'll make sure you find happiness," she said as she tried to release the rope so that the boat could move. She is so determined to find that deer to the point that it could cost her life . . . just to make Ciel happy?

"What shall we do, young master?" Lilliana asked, but she looked further down the river toward the floodgate and saw an even worse fate. "She's not safe here. That old-fashioned floodgate is already leaking. When it bursts, the water it's holding back will wash upstream, making this whole area swamped."

"Sebastian, Lilliana, this is an order: stop the flood," Ciel ordered.

"And what about Lady Elizabeth?" Sebastian asked.

"Don't make me repeat myself. I will protect her. It's my duty, after all," he said as he removed his overcoat and his hat.

"Yes, my lord," the two said in unison. They left his side and ran to the old floodgate, but as they looked behind them, they saw that their young lord was holding on to the rope for dear life as he tried to reach the boat.

Soon, they reached the gate, but Sebastian said, "I'm going to stop the flood, but you need to make sure that our young couple is safe. Also, I will need your Death Scythe."

"Wait, what are you going to do?" she asked, but she received no response. Why the hell would he want her Death Scythe? Regardless, she gave it to him without another question. He took off his glove and punched the gate with his bare hand, causing the entire gate to break apart. Water started gushing in and it washed her away. "You son of a bitch!" she tried to yell, but was soon washed away by a sudden wave of water. She wasn't the only one; the young couple was underwater as well. She grabbed them and pulled them out of the water, but she saw that they were already unconscious. She laid them on the grassy ground up above as she tried hard to get the water out of their lungs. In the distance, she could see that Sebastian, the three servants, and Ran-Mao were making a makeshift floodgate out of fallen trees and large boulders. Sebastian was using her Death Scythe to help cut down trees since it could cut through anything with just one swing. Well, smart move, Mr. Sebastian.

Soon, the rain began to die down and everyone ran to see how the young couple was doing. Although Elizabeth woke up a quick time after they were rescued, Ciel did not. Once the rain completely died down, he finally awoke, relieving everyone. "Ciel, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I should have never done that," she said as she hugged him with all her might. She was afraid that she lost her beloved fiancé due to her stupidity, which was something she could not forgive herself for.

"Elizabeth, I'm glad you're all right," he said weakly.

"We're all glad that you're all right, young master," Sebastian said.

However, Ciel quickly got up from the ground and said angrily as he pulled on the two servant's shirts (er, dress for Lilliana since she was in her maid outfit), "Why did you open the gate?! I ordered you to stop the flood-,"

"And I followed your order," Sebastian said, which shocked Ciel. "I doubt it will flood here now, or ever again. In order to restore the proper flow of the river, it was necessary to release the damned-up water. I guided the current with a bit of help from everyone and had the river's shape altered to her safest and rightful form, the way she was several thousand years ago when the white stags were here."

"But we didn't find a stag," Ciel said in confusion.

"That's all right. I know we'll find it one day," Elizabeth said with a smile.

"Well, if you still want to look for it, he's right on that hill," Lilliana said. They were shocked, but started running to see that damn elusive white stag. However, as they reached the hill, they didn't find a white stag. Instead, they found a white stone image of a deer on the ground, which was good enough.

"It's a white stag," Lizzie yelled in joy.

"It's a hill figure; an ancient figure cut into the chalky rock of a hill. The torrent earlier washed away the surface of the hill and revealed the hidden art," Sebastian said.

"So this is the truth behind the legend," Ciel asked in shock. He was a bit disappointed since he expected to find a live deer, but wasn't upset at what they found.

"Thank goodness you found the white stag, Ciel," she said.

"You were the one looking for it."

"Ciel, are you having fun? I had fun because I got to spend the day frivolling with you. You see, you're always running off somewhere for work and each time you come back, you look upset. They say that people who are fortunate enough to find it are filled with happiness their whole lives long," she said as she held Ciel's hand.

"Lizzie . . . ,"

"You finally called me that," she said with a smile. "Remember this sight, Ciel."

"Aw, that is such a cute story," Katia said in her room in the rehabilitation center. For a while now, Lilliana would visit her so they could talk about pretty much anything. Even though Bastille was gone, they haven't released her since they believed she needed to be rehabilitated anyway. Lucky for her, though, her year was almost up; only a couple of months left. "We need to visit the white stag once I get out of here."

"Seriously, you want to find it?" Lilliana asked.

"Of course; if it is said to bring people happiness, then we should find it together! Yeah, all five of us should go!"

"Five of us?" Lilliana asked in confusion.

"Yeah; you, me, Ronald, Grell, and William!"

"Since when did you and Will become 'friends'?"

"Well, we aren't the closest friends, but I'm sure you and him are. I can see it by the way he looks at you and it kind of makes me jealous."

"I'm not sure you know what you're implying."

"It's clear that you two were a thing."

Lilliana was silent, but said, "When I was a different person, I did, but we've grown out of those feelings."

"Ha, I was right! I asked him about it and he said that there was nothing there to begin with, but I knew deep down there was something."

"It's not important anyway."

"I'm not sure I can say that," Katia said as she reached under her pillow and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, but not just any paper. "I wish I could read the whole story, but all I could find was this page."

"Where did you get that?" she asked as she took the paper out of her hand. It was a page from the story some author wrote about Will, Grell, and Lilliana when they were taking their final exam. While the story was never published, she kept some pages, including this one.

"It fell out of William's pocket some days ago and curious me wanted to read what it said. Why would he have this in his pocket?"

"I gave it to him to read for shits and giggles."

"True, but why would he have it in his pocket? He could have put it in a drawer at home, but he had it in his pocket, which means that he wanted to keep it with him throughout the day."

"I don't know, but you do realize that I have to give this back to him, right?"

"Oh, please don't! I'll get into trouble if he found out," she said in a worried tone.

"I'm not going to tell him you stole it. I'm going to say that it fell out of his pocket and you wanted to return it," she said as she straightened the paper so there wouldn't be as many folds in the paper.

"Oh, ok, I guess, but could you at least tell me what happened in the story?"

"Sure, but another day; I've got work to do."

"You mean that maid job, right," she said with anger in her voice.

"Yes, I do."

"I can't understand why you still work for that brat. When I worked for him, he treated me so cruelly; especially after he found out I was a Grim Reaper."

"Well, he's not the same person anymore. In fact, he doesn't know who he is anymore."

"I know; you've told me about it already, but why must you stay with him?"

"Well, it's because . . . I'm under contract," she joked, but Katia didn't like that little joke.

"I already don't like him, so don't make it worse for me," she said sadly.

"I don't know what to tell you. He was first, but I don't love him."

"But I love you, Lily, and it breaks my heart to see you with someone else, especially him," she said as she hugged Lilliana, who was startled by the sudden gesture.

Lilliana sighed as she said, "Grim Reapers can't feel love, but I do admit that I find you attractive." She then gave her a sweet kiss as she continued, "It's nothing serious between Sebastian and me."

"Are you sure about that?"

"I'm sure," she said as she tried to leave the room, but was stopped.

"I still can't stop thinking about Bastille," Katia said. "I mean, he was my assignment, but he was your brother. I let him live, but he died anyway. How have you been handling it?"

"I've been okay, but it is . . . different now that he's not around," she said, trying to hold back tears.

"Now that I think about it, I have no real reason to stay in London, so once my rehabilitation is over, they just might ship me off back to America."

Lilliana looked at her sadly as she said, "Oh, I-I guess you're right."

"But before I go, you'll show me the white stag, right?"

"Sure."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

What is the relationship between Lilliana and William? Lilliana and Katia? Will there be any romantic conflicts? Reviews are appreciated.