"Ball, ball, ball; tonight we are going to a costume ball," Finnian said cheerfully as the servants, excluding Lilliana and Sebastian, were driving the horse-drawn carriage to the Trancy Estate. The three of them were excited for this trip since for once, they were allowed to accompany the young master and enjoy the festivities.

"I'm looking forward to it, yes," Mey-Rin said

"Yeah, he's even letting us servants come as long as we wear costumes. Now, that's a nice fellow for you. Hmm . . . what was his name again," Baldroy asked. "Tr . . . Trumpet?"

"It's Lord Trancy," Mey-Rin corrected.

Meanwhile, inside the carriage, Ciel, Sebastian, and Lilliana were discussing their plan on investigating the possible threat. "Alois Trancy . . . you say that the previous Earl Trancy died three years ago," Ciel asked.

"Yes," Lilliana said.

"Three years ago . . . ," he said, as if he was remembering something, but didn't say anything about it to them. After all, they knew what he was thinking: the fire that killed his parents and the total humiliation and torture he suffered afterwards. "Alois went missing after he was kidnapped when he was very young, but he came back just before his father passed away along with a mysterious butler. Isn't that right?"

"Yes, my lord. The story seems familiar somehow," Sebastian said.

"It's a common one," Ciel said. Eventually, the carriage arrived to the all-too-familiar Trancy Estate. The servants admired the huge and elegant manor, but the trio had no time to admire it. They had other things to worry about.

"Right, then. We'll be coming in the back way. See you later, young master. Look forward to seeing our costumes," Finny said as they drove off to park the carriage. The trio walked up to the estate, taking one final look before entering. For some reason, though, Ciel felt as if . . . he was here before. That was impossible since he has never been here, but the feeling was still there. Sebastian was about to knock on the door, but before he could, the door opened and it soon revealed that stoic butler.

"The Right Honorable Ciel, Earl Phantomhive, I presume? We've been expecting you," Claude said with a bow as he greeted them at the door. "I am Claude Faustus, the butler of this house. Please, come in." Everyone didn't hide the fact that they were displeased to see each other . . . again, but they held their composure as they entered the estate, well, almost. Sebastian stopped at the doorway as he noticed something that should have been taken care of already. Claude looked up to what he was looking at and saw a spider web with a large spider on it. "Ah, yes. The Trancy coat of arms bears a spider, so it's our tradition not to kill them."

"That makes sense. If you try to force it away, it will cling to you for life," Sebastian said with a smirk. The three of them entered the manor, but Ciel seemed to be light-headed as he started to breathe harder and looked like he was going to faint at any moment.

"Young master, what's the matter," Lilliana said as he leaned against her for balance.

"It's nothing," Ciel said in his usual cold tone. He never liked being treated like a child, unless it was absolutely necessary. "Might my butler and maid come along?"

"Of course, but my master is currently away on business. He'll return in time for the ball," Claude said as he closed the door behind them. "I've laid out tea in the drawing room. Everyone else is already there."

"'Everybody else'," Ciel asked, but was left unanswered. The walked to the drawing room and were soon bombarded by two arms that were suffocating the poor young lord.

"Ciel," Lizzie said as she hugged her fiancé tightly.

"Elizabeth?!"

"Honestly! It's Lizzie!"

"You're late, my lord," Lau said with Ran-Mao on his lap. Seriously, how are they siblings? They look more like lovers!

"So you two were invited as well? Which means . . . ," Ciel said as he looked around.

"What is it," Lizzie asked with concern.

"Nothing, but I thought Madame Red might be here too, but I don't see her. I thought she wouldn't miss this for the world," he said, causing the people to start tearing up or give him curious looks.

"Oh, well, you see-," Lau tried to say, but someone distracted him before he could continue.

"Ciel," an Indian voice yelled. Soon, Ciel was wrapped in another person's arms, but they were those of a young man. Soma hugged his friend dearly as he started crying his eyes out. After all, he did view him as a little brother.

"Who in blazes are you?! Let me go," Ciel yelled, hoping someone would help him.

"Who am I?! You mean you . . . you . . . WAH," Soma cried as he held the young master close to him.

"Is that Prince Soma," Elizabeth asked.

"Yes and he'll ruin everything if he keeps acting like that," Lilliana said.

"Don't worry. We'll be fine as long as he has Agni," an American voice said. They all turned and saw that blonde haired Reaper, which shocked Lilliana. "Hi, Lily," she said with a smile.

"Katia?! Who, what, when, how," she said in succession. Out of all the people to show up, she was surprised to see her the most.

"I got an invitation. I didn't think you would be here too," she said as she hugged her. "We'll have a lot of fun tonight!"

"We mustn't do that, your Highness," Agni said as he rushed to help Ciel while also making sure that he didn't catch on to what was going on.

"No! Ciel," Soma kept yelling as if he were a little child. He looked so immature right now.

"Who is that man," Ciel asked.

"My apologies, my lord; this is the 26th child of the King of Bengal, Prince Soma Asman Kadar," Agni introduced.

"And why would a 'prince' start weeping the moment he saw me?"

"Ciel, I-I finally get to see you, but you're . . ."

"His Highness is deeply moved at meeting the founder of the Funtom Company. Funtom toys are considered very rare and wonderful where we come from."

"Our memories will never fade," Soma blurted.

"Those toys hold precious memories of the prince and his friend," Agni improvised.

"No matter what happens, the friendship between the two of us will-,"

"That friend was very dear to His Highness, but he . . . he . . . Oh, it's heartbreaking," Agni said as he sold his act by shedding a few tears. Soon, he hugged his dear prince and balled his out eyes on his shoulders.

"Agni," Soma said as he did the same. The two continued to cry for a while, making the people around them uncomfortable.

"I fear we can do nothing with them. Young master, let's retire to our rooms. We must prepare for the ball," Sebastian said.

Once they were a safe distance away from the group, Ciel ordered, "Search this mansion from top to bottom, understood?"

"Very good."

"I hope he has forgotten about me," Katia said as she held on to Lilliana's arm. "I had to go through a lot for you, you know."

"And I will pay you back someday," she said as she tried to shake her off her arm. "But now is not a good time to show your affection," she whispered in her ear.

"Oh, sorry," she said as she let go of her arm. "But maybe you can make it up to me with a dance tonight?"

It was finally time for the ball and more guests arrived. Most were strangers, but it was clear that they were people of wealth, whether through a business or career. People wore a variety of costumes, ranging from pirates to gods. Speaking of pirate, can you guess what costume Ciel wore? I'll give you a hint: the eye patch matches the costume.

"Ciel, you should wear one of these too," Lizzie said in her Indian outfit with a brown feather in her hand. For a girl who loved wearing lavish and beautiful dresses, this costume seemed . . . in a lack of a better term, plain. It was cute for her, but it was in a brown color that seemed out of her usual style. However, she seemed to like it, so everyone else just played along.

"Fine," Ciel said reluctantly in his pirate costume. Lizzie placed the feather in his hat and giggled.

"Now we match," she said with glee. Soon, Prince Soma walked by, but Lizzie was unimpressed by his costume. "You're not wearing a costume, Your Highness?"

"This is my Sherlock Holmes costume," he said as he "smoked" his pipe.

"Young master," the servants called. They all looked in the direction of the voices and saw the servants in their costumes. "We're the Three Musketeers of Chinese monster!"

"We have a costume made for you too, young master," Finny said as they all showed him the costume, including a bald cap.

"Rejected," he said rather coldly, making them very disappointed.

"At least wear this part!"

In another corner of the room, Sebastian watched the little scene before him. He wasn't wearing a costume, but since he is Ciel's butler, he had to look formal all the time. However, he was curious to see what Lilliana would wear. When she first told them about the invitation, she made it clear that she didn't want to wear a costume since she would most likely wear a dress, but Ciel ordered her to wear a costume. Though, she was known to find loopholes in his orders, so he was curious to see what she would wear. "So, you're allowed to not wear a costume, but I was ordered to. I don't think that's fair," Lilliana said. He turned and saw that she was wearing a costume . . . actually fitting her character. She was wearing dark slacks, like she would with her Reaper outfit, but was wearing a red and blouse that revealed her shoulders and cleavage. She was wearing a velvet black cape and her makeup was dark with very red lipstick. Her hair was curly compared to her usual straight hair, but one thing was the same: the hair covering her right eye.

"What are you suppose to be," he asked.

"I'm a vampire," she said coyly. "Minus the fangs, though."

"Don't you think you are revealing too much skin?"

"I'm revealing too much skin? Have you seen what everyone else is wearing," she said as she pointed at Paula and Ran-Mao. Paula was wearing an Egyptian goddess costume, but she was showing a lot of her legs, stomach, and cleavage, but no one seemed to bat an eye. Also, Ran-Mao, no surprise, was wearing a very revealing kimono that was barely hiding her body at all. There was more than just cleavage showing, but not enough to expose nipples.

"There is a difference between them showing off skin . . . and you showing off skin," he teased. She chuckled at the comment, but they soon saw Katia heading their way in her costume . . . which looked awfully familiar to them.

"You look beautiful, Lilliana," she said in her red dress . . . very red dress.

"Um, is that . . . Grell's costume from Hamlet," Lilliana asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I'm Ophelia," Katia said as she twirled around in the dress. "She let me borrow it after I told her about the ball. It was either this or something from Undertaker. He may be a colorful character, but I can't say the same for his clothes."

"And you didn't buy a costume because . . . ,"

"I tried to buy one, but nothing caught my eye. Besides, I like this dress."

"How were you able to fit in that dress?"

"Oh, Grell wanted to look as feminine as possible, so she wore a corset and padding on her chest. She only asks that I don't rip it."

"Huh, you learn something new every day. I can't tell what's more embarrassing: the fact that he wore a corset to fit a dress or the fact that we both fit the same size dress." She looked at Sebastian, who seemed to be either embarrassed or disgusted by the conversation they have been discussing and left their side quickly. "Oh, that's right. He has a corset and lingerie fetish."

"How do I look," she asked in a worried tone. If she didn't look beautiful in front of her love, then she would have been very embarrassed, especially after she learned that it was Grell's dress.

"Honestly . . . you look very pretty; probably more beautiful than Grell."

"Oh, you," Katia said as she hugged Lilliana, but instead of feeling a soft blouse, she felt something hard around her stomach. She pulled back quickly, but luckily for Lilliana, the servants were making a mess of things and distracted her. Apparently, they wanted to help out with the party, but it didn't work out so well. Baldroy tried to cut some meat, but accidently chopped the table in two with a very large sword, Finny tried to carry a heavy box of wine, but dropped it and spilled on the very long rug, and Mey-Rin tried to move a tall pile of dishes and nearly dropped them, but the triplets were there to clean everything up in a jiffy. Everyone applauded at their quick and very impressive work and even the servants were impressed. They were almost as good as Sebastian.

"Honestly, there's just nothing to be done with you," Soma said to the servants.

"S-Sorry," the servants said in genuine regret.

"My prince, they are done," Agni, dressed as Watson, said as he rejoined the group with a silver tray of freshly-made curry buns in his hand. "I borrowed the house's kitchen to make these."

"Ciel's memory might come back if he eats some of these. That was my though," Soma said.

"Oh, we'll help, too," Finny said.

"We want to show him lots of fun and get him to remember old times, yes," Mey-Rin said.

"Wait, the earl has amnesia? Since when," Lau said, either surprising or annoying the people around him.

"Speaking of him, I wonder where Ciel went," Lizzie said.

"I'll go look for him, my lady," Lilliana said as she walked off to find the young master.

"I'll go too-," Katia said as she tried to follow her, but was stopped by Soma.

"Not so fast, my lady. You didn't think I forgot you, did you? How could I forget a face as beautiful as yours," he said as he put his arm around her.

"I was kind of hoping you did," she said as she tried to get out of his grip.

"May the future princess like a curry bun," Agni said as he tried serving her one, but it was clear she did not want any.

"Let the poor girl go," a voice said. They all looked in the direction of the voice and saw a woman in a large blue dress with a flamboyant hat and long gloves to match. She had long blue hair that almost touched the floor and sapphire blue eyes that seemed to look into their very souls. For some reason, Katia looked entranced at the sight of her. "Can't you see that she is not interested?"

"And who are you," Soma asked.

"Nobody important," she said as she pulled Katia from Soma's arm and take her away.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing," Soma said as he tried following her, but before he knew it, the two seemed to vanish in thin air.

In a secluded hallway, the two women caught their breaths. They could see Soma try to look for them, but he couldn't see them, much to their relief. "Thank you, miss," Katia said.

"A woman as pretty as you should be careful around here. Any man with a lust will happily take the first girl he seems to be a perfect match," the woman said.

"I try, but he doesn't take the hint."

"I can see, but you need to be able to fight back when he does that to you."

"I would, but I'm afraid I might hurt him in the process."

"A little pain might be needed if he keeps acting like this. You can only rely on others for so long."

"I-I didn't catch your name, by the way," Katia said rather nervously. The woman smiled as she took off her hat to reveal her blemish-free face with pearly white skin that complimented her eyes well. The sight took Katia's breath away.

"I'm Lucy. What would your name be?"

"K-K-Katia Vendoa," she said more nervously than she did before. Her beauty seemed to be otherworldly, almost like Lilliana's, but she was arguable . . . more beautiful than her.

"Oh, that's a cute name. It suits you," Lucy said with a smirk.

"Enough of this farce, Alois Trancy!"

"So you were on to me. What a drag," Alois said as he removed the wig off his head, revealing his short, boy hair.

"I thought if I let you get me alone, you'd make a move," Ciel said. He separated himself from the party after Alois, dressed as a maid, spilled wine on him. After a little game of tag, Ciel managed to follow Alois out in the woods outside of the manor and now, they were alone, for the most part.

"So, you followed me on purpose? But . . . ," Alois said as Claude and the triplets appeared from the shadows of the forest

"I can't have you underestimate me," Ciel said as Sebastian and Lilliana too appeared from the shadows.

"Oh, we just wanted to chat somewhere quiet?"

"What could you possibly want from me enough to hold a costume ball and dress yourself up that way," Ciel asked.

"I want you," Alois said rather frankly.

"What do you mean?"

"That's what I mean, Ciel Phantomhive. If you refuse me, I'll have everyone in there be killed. I've arranged for a little performance and if it begins, everyone dies, including people you care about. See, Lily, I made your job easier, you filthy Reaper," Alois said. The comment could have made her angry, but she was worried about Katia to be angry. Though, Ciel wondered how they knew she was a Grim Reaper. "Well?"

"Do as you like."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Of course . . . if you can. I have something I'd like to ask you, too."

"What is it? I'll tell you . . . if you bow down and kiss my ass," Alois said as he lifted his butt in the air.

"I wonder which of us will kiss ass in the end."

"Well, aren't you confident," Alois said coyly. "Don't get cocky just because your butler and maid have a bit of talent. My Claude is even more amazing," he said as he stuck out his tongue, revealing the mark of the covenant.

"Yes, I thought you'd have one. You understand our contract, Sebastian. You'll serve me, you'll protect me, and you will not kill me until my goal is achieved."

"I've been your loyal servant ever since that day. I'll grant you any wish you like until the day our contract if fulfilled and I take your soul," Sebastian said.

"Good answer," Lilliana said teasingly.

"Claude, get me Ciel," Alois ordered.

"This is an order, Sebastian and Lilliana: do whatever it takes to protect me. Do not fail me," Ciel said.

"Yes, my lord," the two deities said in union as Lilliana took out her Death Scythe.

"Yes, Your Highness," Claude said.

What is Lucille planning with Katia? How will this costume ball play out? How will the battle between demon butlers commence? Reviews are appreciated.