History: A Touch of Colour in Grey

Book 1: Shading the black.

Date: 25 August 2019, corrected March 2022

Beta: Koneko has tentatively taken over ! (2019) and none (2022)

Fandom: D Gray Man

Disclaimer: No, I don't own D Gray Man and I'm not making any money on this story.

Summary: After landing in the 19th century, Estelle, taking the name Eve, becomes Tricia Kamelott's lady-in-waiting. Eve quickly becomes aware of the social and gender differences of the time and begins to fear for her future, especially when Road, the twins, Tyki and even Allen arrive. As she got to know them, Eve became more or less friends with them, which made her feel the wrath of the other employees of the manor. This is compounded when Tyki discovers that a maid was stealing Allen's mail from Eve and decides to send her away. As a backlash, Eve gets harassed even more and one employee ends up falling down the stairs (more or less because of Road)

Chapter Trigger: Description of a haunted mansion? But it's mostly Eve getting ahead of herself.

I thook about this chapter all day "i musn't forget, i musn't forget..." And so, of course, I forgot it.

Enjoy your reading!

Shading the Black chapter 23: Babysitting

"Are you sure you don't need anything else?" Tricia asked for the hundred and fiftieth time (and I was hardly exaggerating) with her hands nervously replacing one of the locks of... Devit? From the scowl on his face, I assumed so...

Indeed, freshly washed, hairs cut and already in uniform, it was difficult to tell the twins apart at a glance now. They looked the same in every way with their short black hair, which Tricia had arranged correctly. At least their characters didn't deceive and if Jasdero looked worried, Devit was positively murderous and it was nothing short of a miracle that he kept quiet under Tricia's affections.

Devit grunted something that must have sounded like an answer to the Marquise Kamelott because she started again with the list of things they absolutely had to have with them. Damn, I had a rotten memory and I had already memorised it! Fortunately, this was the moment Sheryl chose to push open the front door. Taking in the scene with a raised eyebrow, he glanced again at his pocket watch, then behind him at the carriage and back at his wife.

"Tricia, darling, the carriage is loaded, it's just waiting for us..." he said, tapping his watch again to subtly make us understand that it would be nice if we hurried up a bit.

My boss immediately put on a sad face and turned to the twins to pull them back into her arms. "Remember, there's a phone at school, if you ever need to talk to us for any reason, don't hesitate!" She said before kissing each of the twins and then standing up to join Sheryl who was still holding the door open, muttering in a low voice about the cost of a phone call.

And, yes, the telephone existed at least 20 years too early in this world. In fact, it had been five years since it had been democratised in high society. We hadn't yet reached the point where there were phone boxes in the streets, but even the middle class had access to them now, and the owners of public places like inns and theatres would surely not be slow to get some any longer. The telephone was an important selling point after all... Luckily I had never been very dependent on mine or it would have been a viciously painful reminder.

Giving me a meaningful look as she tapped his watch again, Sheryl closed the door behind them.

I might have been offended that Sheryl had shut the door in my face, but for once he hadn't done it against me but rather for me. Indeed, outside, near the carriage, there were not only bored employees waiting for their master to leave or Road and Tyki obliged to comfort Tricia, but also the Earl and, above all, representatives of the twins' school. For Sheryl, it was absolutely unthinkable that I would be as affectionate as usual with the twins in front of strangers. He was already generous enough to accept my "quirks" in the family for Tricia's sake, but he wasn't going to flaunt to the world how well integrated an employee was into the family dynamic. As for me, I couldn't care less so I had graciously agreed when he ordered me to say my goodbyes inside and not go outside. In fact, I was quite happy to show my feelings in private so I didn't waste any more time and grabbed them in a hug as soon as the door closed.

They had grown, I thought absently. Not only physically, as they now reached my shoulders, a size that malnourished little boys certainly didn't have when they arrived, but also mentally, as they immediately hugged me back without an ounce of tension in their bodies.

"Oh come on!" Devit immediately grumbled, pushing me away after a few seconds. "Tricia already crushed us for hours, don't do it too!"

"I can't help it if you're the perfect size for cuddling." I stuck my tongue out as I messed up Devit's hair with a vicious grin: no doubt Tricia would repair it as soon as they got out. "I'm sure the next time I see you, you'll be able to look down on me! Of course I'm enjoying it while it lasts." I laughed as I hugged Jasdero a little tighter, who unlike his brother hadn't taken care to move away from me. "You can send me letters if you like, I'll valiantly bear your complaints." I teased them by planting a kiss in Jasdero's hair before pulling away so I could look both boys in the eye. "And, I promise, if it's too difficult and you need to get out of there, I'll find a way." At their sceptical looks, I took on an air of mystery. "I'm sure Road can get Sheryl to sign just about anything, furlough included. And if the worst comes to worst, Tyki and I will come help you to escape."

Jasdero laughed and even Devit smiled a little before putting on his usual grumpy face.

"I think we'll be fine, Eve. Besides, the Earl promised to get tutors again if it doesn't work out for us, so there's no need to get you in more trouble with Sheryl." Jasdero said calmly, and that had to be one of the longest sentences I'd heard him say since they arrived.

"I promise I'll be careful. Just don't do too much foolishness on your end too or else don't get caught!" I replied before glancing at the door, easily imagining an impatient Sheryl behind it. "Come on, you better get going." I said softly. Without further hesitation, Devit nodded in my direction and walked towards the door. Jasdero pretended to follow him, but at the last moment, he slipped his hands around my waist for a furtive hug before running after his brother.

Wow. I blinked. It was the first time Jasdero had initiated anything, let alone a hug. Smiling softly, happy to have finally managed to break through their shell, I approached one of the large windows to observe what was going on below. Indeed, a row of servants stood obediently in front of the stairs, facing the carriage, the family and the school representatives talking near the carriage, waiting for the twins to come down the steps. And indeed, as soon as he got down, Devit was caught by Tricia who hurriedly put his hair back in place before taking him back into her arms again, much to his dismay.

Devit put up with it though and I suspected he was more affected than he wanted to let on. Then Jasdero was kissed again and Road came over to hug them too. Then Sheryl came up to exchange a handshake and I had to stop myself from laughing at the look of total disgust on Devit's face. Finally, the twins greeted Tyki and the school officials before they boarded the carriage, followed by the Earl.

It was with some melancholy that I watched the carriage drive away, wondering what I was going to do without those two little devils to distract me. I must admit that I secretly hoped that they would not like it at the school and that they would return to the manor. I may have had no problem with loneliness in my past life, but it was hard to live with it now that there was little to occupy my time.

Books were good, but after nine months of daily reading, I had already more or less skimmed the books that interested me at least a little. Also, art was nice, but I had to censor myself in case someone found my notebooks, and so was writing. There were no video games or internet here, I was barely allowed to touch the kitchen and only if I begged Berthe for hours, outings were limited and I couldn't play a musical instrument, trying to self-taught without youtube being much more difficult. In short, as someone who thrived on productivity, this lack of action would surely wear on my nerves before long. I had better find something to do, and soon.

In the meantime, I opened my arms wide to receive a package of crying Tricia and patted her on the shoulder with an air of understanding as the rest of the family streamed out the front door.

"They grow up so fast." Tricia moaned, dabbing her eyes with the handkerchief I'd handed her. "It won't be long before Road is the one leaving home to get married!" She said and I had to restrain myself from laughing at Sheryl's alarmed look and Road's disgusted one.

"Tricia, Honey, there's plenty of time before we have to deal with these things." Murmured the Noah of Desire in full denial.

Immediately, Tricia stood up with a watery smile. "Oh yes, you're right! Anyway, long before that happens, there will be Eve's first!" She said, the tears suspiciously disappearing from her eyes.

No. Luck. In. Hell.

"Oh, I don't know, I'm not sure I'm marriage material..." I replied evasively, hoping she would both ignore it and care. It wasn't the first time my innuendo about my lack of marital purpose had been totally ignored so I was trying a more frontal attack this time. But at the same time, I really didn't want to talk about it here in the lobby with three Noahs as witnesses.

"Come on Eve, you don't want to end up a spinster, do you?" said Tricia in such a way that it sounded like the worst insult in the world. It maybe was, actually, I did not know the world but I could guess what it was.

"And why not?" I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Really, I adored Tricia, but from time to time our differences in beliefs were hard to get past.

"But..." Said Tricia looking confused as she looked around as if to get support from the other three Noahs. It wasn't working very well... Tyki was looking suspiciously at his hand, Sheryl looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here, and Road had a little smirk on her face that didn't look good for me. "Don't you want a husband to take care of you? With a beautiful house? Kind kids?" Tyki coughed. He was laughing, I'm sure the idiot was laughing!

"That might change in the future..." I say as a compromise seeing her getting frantic. "But right now I'm not interested."

"But... but... you like children!" Tricia suddenly said triumphantly, putting a hand on Road's shoulder as if that one sentence would make me suddenly want to surrender to the rule of an overbearing husband.

Well, she's not wrong, I did like looking after children (even if we didn't count Road, I'd enjoyed babysitting in my other life... it was a good way to be able to play things deemed childish by my peers without piquant remarks about my mental age. No, but explain to me, why on earth cops and robbers* or marbles had to be age restricted...?) But I wasn't too keen on the childbirth part. My periods were already pretty painful (although, thank Merlin, usually less horrible than my firsts in this world) and they said the pain of the period was only a fraction of the pain of giving birth... So, yeah, well. In my day, with a good doctor, a hospital and the glorious epidural, I could have tried it... but here? In this pseudo 19th century where it could fairly mean death?

Ahahahahahah.

No way.

Anyway, if I ever really needed to work my maternal instincts full time one day, there were always other options... "Actually, I was thinking, maybe I could work in an orphanage afterwards and, eventually, adopt. There are, after all, plenty of orphans and I don't really need to have a child of my own anyway. "I replied to Tricia, barely keeping myself from shrugging since she hat...

Shit.

Tricia wants children.

But can't have any.

Merlin, Este...er...Eve, tact!

Looking at her uneasily from under my eyelashes, I sighed with relief when she didn't seem more depressed than that. In fact, she seemed pensive, if a little sad.

"Obviously adoption is u..." she started to say slowly as if she didn't want to admit something but just then Road pulled away from her hand to come and grab my wrists.

"You want to leave the manor, Vivi?" She asked with wide eyes and, maybe it was just my overactive imagination, but I felt her nails digging into my skin and her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Oh, no, there are no plans for now, but maybe later, I'm not going to be here all my life..." I replied evasively, my eyebrow twitching as I saw my blood beading on the carpet. No way I was the one to clean that up.

"Why not?" Road asked, finally releasing my wrists to cross her arms.

"Come on, Road darling, employees have a life too, you know they never stay more than a few years before leaving to start a family." Sheryl said softly as he moved closer to his daughter.

"Not all employees leave! Our former butler was very old! And the cook has been here for a while too." She replied, turning to her father with a big smile. "Eve could stay! She said, anyway, that she wasn't planning to start a family, so she has no reason to leave!"

Oh boy, I could think of a lot of reasons like, oh, I don't know? The fact that my employers were all Noahs for example? But hey, better not add fuel to the fire and as Sheryl and Tricia seemed to be searching for words (and Tyki was watching from the back, the bastard) I slipped back into the conversation.

"Anyway, let's not worry about that right now, we don't know what the future holds." I replied, drawing Road's attention back to me. Sheryl seemed relieved. And then, taking care to give a hard look at the big grandfather clock in the hall : "Oh, look, it's time for tea."

Luckily for me, Tricia left in a hurry without even giving Road time to send me a bland look. "Already! We'd better get to the small living room, we wouldn't want it to get cold!" She said, slipping her arm around Sheryl's as he was about to open his mouth, surely to announce his intention to go to work. Tricia raised an eyebrow and Sheryl pressed his lips together before kissing Tricia and leading her towards the small living room, Road on their heels.

"Oh no..." murmured Tyki as he lazily followed the other three to my side. "How unfortunate that would be."

Rolling my eyes, I hit him lightly on the forearm. In return, he pretended to hold his arm in great pain, causing me to place a hand over my lips to prevent a laugh from coming out.

"Tyki, Eve?" Tricia asked from the small living room immediately causing us to smooth our faces in an expression far too innocent to be true "Is something wrong?"

"Everything's fine, Tricia," called Tyki as we pressed the pace towards the living room. "Eve only tripped" he added with a wry smile.

"Ho, that's mean," I complained softly to Tyki. "She's not going to leave me alone now. I swear, if she makes me take balancing lessons again I'll report you to Sheryl!" I mumbled as we already heard Tricia retrace her steps with a worried look on her face.

"Wouldn't you prefer a favour?" Tyki grimaced, and it spoke volumes about his questionable morals that he didn't even ask what I might be reporting to Sheryl.

"Deal" I replied immediately with a smile of contentment. I already knew when I was going to use it...

Wednesday 9, september 1885

"...Might be worried that we're not here so she can go a little past her bedtime." Tricia explained to me in the hall as Sheryl grew impatient by the door. "Don't play games that are too exciting and no candy either! God knows last time...!" she continued, concerned, my encouraging smile long frozen on my face. It's just that she'd already spent a long time giving me her orders. It wasn't as if it was my first time babysitting... well, not a Noah, but at 9 years old (or 42, we still don't know...) a normal child could already manage themselves very well on their own.

Seriously, what could go wrong?

Oops.

Famous last words...

"Tricia, honey, we're going to be late..." cut in Sheryl. It wasn't the first time he'd tried to peel her off of me, but this time I didn't have the patience for another round of well meaning advice.

"Don't worry Tricia, everything will be fine with Road, won't it?" I glanced at the little girl next to me, who looked so innocent. Wow, I don't know what that little devil was up to, but I was about to have a bad night, wasn't I?

"Of course, Vivi," she said with a big smile before walking over to her mother to give her a hug. "Don't worry, Mother, enjoy your evening and happy birthday again."

"Thank you darling," Tricia smiled as she stood up. "And if anything ever happens, Tyki can call the Opera House."

"Sure, Tricia. Have fun." Tyki added lazily from the other side of Road.

"Tricia, Honey..." said Sheryl, close to a whimper.

"Yes! Excuse me, let's go." She said and then kissed us all again before giving Sheryl her arm with a loving look so they could walk down the front steps to the carriage. With the coachman and the resplendent carriage, Tricia's big pale pink dress and Sheryl's tails suit, it felt like a Disney Princess' ending.

At least, I smiled, she was beaming. I don't think I'd ever seen her so happy. She had been a bit gloomy for the last three days after the twins left, but she had been smiling all day, giving hugs and little attention with such an aura of happiness that she had lit up the whole house and its inhabitants. At least until this evening, when she didn't seem to want to leave us alone.

I couldn't really blame her for all this going out ceremony. Apart from the days when she felt well enough to go to Mass, Road's birthday ball and our visit to the tailor, she hadn't been out of the house or seen others from outside the manor and mass in the almost nine months I'd been there.

"Well, that's all very well, but I'll leave you there. Ladies." Said Tyki, turning to Road and me with a mock bow.

"Oh no, you're staying with us tonight." I replied immediately, crossing my arms, ready to fight (linguistically speaking, eh, hand-to-hand with a Noah, no, thank you.)

"Why on earth would I do that?" asked Tyki, raising an eyebrow.

"You promised Tricia" I replied the first thing that came to mind.

"I didn't promise Tricia I'd be there tonight," he remarked with a sly smile.

"You promised you would call the Opera House if there was any trouble. How can you do that if you're not there?" I remarked, triumphantly, with a matching smile.

"I'll find a way," he said with a shrug. Seeing the situation slipping away, I sighed and pulled out my last card.

"It will be my favour then, stay here tonight and help me."

"A favour?" asked Road's little voice beside me. Wow, I had completely forgotten she was there...

"We said a favour of equal value!" practically groans Tyki.

"Well what, I'm just asking you to do what you would do most other nights, I don't see the problem." I immediately reply with a look that couldn't be more innocent and Tyki rolled his eyes.

"The problem is that Tricia and Sheryl aren't here," he pointed out patiently, as if he were explaining to a child that 2 + 2 = 4. Or rather how to read. Tyki really wasn't good at maths.

"Again, I don't see the problem." I smiled wryly, looking at my nails, (wow, how did they grow so much?!) waiting for him to vocalise the problem himself. He was stuck, either admitting he didn't want to be there because Road scared him, or he had to stay and help me.

"Oh, really, then why do you absolutely want me here tonight?" he replied and I almost swore.

Damn.

"I would miss your company too much..." I began evasively.

"Of course, Ivy," Tyki said with amusement as Road let out an "Awwww" that we were both careful to ignore.

"...and it's no fun playing with just the two of us, is it Road?" I continued, sending a beaming smile to the little girl still clinging to my arm.

"Of course! It's more fun the three of us, come on Uncle Tyki!" She said as she reached out at light speed to grab Tyki's arm.

"...the employees can replace me" he said sadly as he tried to pull his arm out of the iron grip of the dream Noah. However, I could see that he felt he was not going to get away with it this time.

"Oh noooo, they're not funny at all! I want you to play with us!" practically shouted Road as she pulled on both our arms causing us to practically duck down to her level if we didn't want to get a limb torn off.

"The princess has spoken" I vocalized earnestly and Tyki only sighed, bringing a cry of joy from Road who immediately threw herself into her uncle's arms.

The dark look Tyki gave me behind Road's shoulder almost made me regret pushing him so hard. Almost. But not in the end: I was far too happy not to be the one responsible for the little monster.

With all the commotion, it was already nearly seven o'clock and we were quite late for dinner. Fortunately, none of us three were particularly concerned with propriety, so we simply sat down to dinner and ate quickly for once. Immediately afterwards, I pushed Tyki and Road into one of the small lounges with a warm fireplace. It had started to rain during dinner and it was getting worse by the hour so the fire was not too much. I was worried about Tricia (and Sheryl to a much lesser extent) and hoped that they had made it to the Opera House without too much trouble.

The evening passed quietly enough. Road seemed determined to prove to me that she could be good even away from Tricia's gaze and was happily content to play dolls with us (although Tyki made little effort to bring Teddy the bear to life. He would just shake him and lazily mumble a few sentences of answers when he had to. I was doing a much better job with Mr Fluffy, if I do say so myself). I couldn't be more relieved that she didn't seem to want to cause trouble. I, who had heard horror stories from the other employees who had had to babysit her... I had been convinced that the smile earlier was a warning, but now that everything was going smoothly I almost regretted using my favour. But only almost. I just had to pull out the Sheryl card again to get another one.

However, at some point I had to excuse myself from the room to go to the rest-room. Walking through the dark corridors took me much longer than usual. After eight months of walking through them daily, I usually knew my way around, but in the dark night, with only a few flashes of light to show me the way, the candles inexplicably extinguished, it took me a while to stumble upon the toilet and even longer to find the small lounge again.

In doing so, my toilet break had taken quite a while and I could only hope that nothing had happened in my absence...

Meh. As if.

As soon as I walked into the living room, I knew something was wrong. At the same time, it wasn't very hard to figure out with the fact that, you know, there was no one there.

No bored Tyki, no Road playing, nada, nobody.

No one... yeah, well, I was repeating myself a bit, but I was so sure they'd do something like this to me that I almost cursed myself for answering nature's call. It was bound to turn into a manhunt in the mansion or some shit like that and I just didn't have the faith.

So, yes: nobody.

Groaning at the top of my lungs, my cry of annoyance stopped short when I saw something flicker behind me. I hadn't realised it because of the lack of light in the hallway, but now, with the living room door open and the fireplace flickering, wet footprints were clearly visible on the expensive hallway carpet.

My irritation gone, I slowly approached the tracks before kneeling down. With all the mud, it was difficult to see in which direction the tracks were coming from, but what was certain was that they stopped before entering the living room. Frowning, I got up and sat down without thinking too much in one of the armchairs that allowed me to watch the door. Perhaps someone had come to look for Tyki and Road? But... What for?

Distinctly uncomfortable now, I stood up, unable to sit still. It was stupid wasn't it? There was no sign of a struggle and Tyki and Road were surely the most dangerous being in the world (and let's not think about the fact that I was around them daily by choice or I'd fall back into an existential crisis...) nothing could hurt them and certainly not a burglar!

Another flash of lightning tore across the sky, startling me. This one was much closer and stronger than the ones before, and I couldn't help but increase my nervous steps, running up and down the room, not knowing what to do. Was I waiting for them there? Was I going to look for them? Merlin, it sounded like the plot of a B horror movie.

Running my fingers through my hair, which was loose for once (Road had been having fun styling it earlier), I tugged at it a little as if to get my head straight. The weather was working against me. If it wasn't dark, with a storm outside, suspicious footsteps, with the householders away, surely I wouldn't have cared about Tyki and Road's absence. However, it WAS night, with a storm outside, suspicious footsteps, and the householders absent so, obviously, my brain was starting to go into a total panic.

Making my decision when another flash of lightning illuminated the room, I hurried out of the small living room... before returning quickly to grab a candle. Fire made me uneasy, but I would have to live with it, because there was no way I could walk around this haunted mansion otherwise.

With wobbly legs and hands clutching the candle, I walked through the corridors with little purpose other than to meet a human soul. Or Noah. Even Akuma would do. As long as I didn't become it's meal, of course.

Merlin, how gloomy it was! The shadows danced on the walls and formed grotesque images, each one seeming to take the shape of a monster from which I could not take my eyes off. Raising the candle high, I tried to erase them with the light, but the flickering flame only seemed to provoke them further. And again, after minutes of walking the creaky floors, not a soul seemed to be present. Yet I should have passed at least one servant! The hallway lights were off, something unthinkable usually, why was there no one to turn them on?

My heart was pounding and I stopped for a second when a window slammed to my left. Jumping at the sudden downpour, I rushed to the wall to close the window securely. Unfortunately, in a few seconds I was already soaked and the candle extinguished. I found myself shivering, and no longer just afraid, in a dark corridor with no one around.

Now I was really starting to feel bad.

Fingers still clasped around the now extinguished candle, I reached out with my other hand to the wall to guide me towards the kitchens. If there was anyone left in this damn mansion, they'd be in the common area. Or at least I hoped so.

Stumbling down the main stairs, I was on the verge of hyperventilating when my hand finally found the familiar handle of the large kitchen. I'd never been so scared of the dark or a storm before, but I guess the mansion effect made it all the more frightening... I just wanted to curl up under the duvet with loud music and a reassuring presence by my side.

Drawing in a shaky breath, my brain alternating between calling me an idiot and crying hysterically, I pushed open the door and descended the narrow steps to the large kitchen.

No one.

Shit.

Now I was really worried. There was always, always someone in the kitchen at night! That's why I had such difficulty feeding myself during the weeks I was bullied.

Gritting my teeth, I stomped across the room, pushing a pan to the floor near a window when I heard tasting before making my way back to the storage cupboard in search of matches. I didn't want to continue my journey in the dark, you know.

Opening the door resolutely, I could not even take a step when I was already frozen in place, my eyes round.

Then a thunderclap sounded behind me, illuminating the creature that rose before my eyes from all the wrong angles. Screaming as the shapeless thing moved, I staggered backwards without the slightest grace and ran the other way like crazy.

Up the stairs, left, right, right, left, frontrightrightrightrightrightrighWAAALLL!

Stumbling on my own feet to avoid hitting the wall again (one day I'll tell you the story behind my forehead scar...) I fell backwards, eyes closed and hands outstretched, ready to take the impact with a grimace.

But...

"Oufff!"

Huge iron bars clamped down on my body, preventing my hands from moving. Frozen in fear, I stifled a half-disgusted, half-terrified squizz as I felt water seep into my clothes and something slimy rub against my arm. Coming to my senses, I automatically threw a foot back with all my strength and capsized forward, under the insults, freed.

"...Tyki?" I asked, hesitantly as the voice rang a bell in my mind.

"Well yes, who else?" Grunted the Noah of Pleasure as he rubbed his thigh, where my low-heeled shoe must have stuck. "That'll teach me to help you, Ivy," he grumbled as he straightened up, all sensation of pain seemingly forgotten. "Why on earth were you running into a wall?" He asked with raised eyebrows.

My cheeks flushed, I straightened up as I rubbed my clothes, struggling to meet his gaze. "I saw something terrifying in the kitchens and... I didn't think too much about it afterwards."

"What? Road eating candy?" Tyki sniffed, blatant amusement in his voice.

"Go ahead, mock it, as if it could..." I began, rolling my eyes before stopping in mid-stream.

Now that he said it... the monster was pretty damn small.

And was in the sugar storage area.

And was pink.

Uh.

"Je suis stupiiiiiide" I insulted myself as I fell to the floor, rolling into a foetal position and pressing my palms into my eyes.

"No, seriously? You really ran away from Road?" Tyki asked as he crouched down to my level. One thing I loved about the Noahs was that they were very adaptable to all my quirks. "What's it going to be like when she's really scary..." he sneered as I raised my head miserably.

"I don't intend to be there when it happens." I grimaced as I laboriously got to my feet, all the adrenaline escaping at this revelation. "And I swear she was really scary! It was so dark and with the lightning... I thought I saw a dead body."

"Don't tell her that, she'll take it the wrong way," he teased as we all walked together towards the kitchen.

"Yes, let's change the subject." I grinned as I rubbed what little mud Tyki had put on my arm earlier out of my arm. "How come you're so wet? Why did you go outside?" I asked curiously as I watched his dripping form and the traces of mud staining the rugs behind us.

"Some horses got scared because of the storm and started running around. Kind of like you." He said with an amused smile as I rolled my eyes in supplication. No doubt this was going to drag on for a while..."John came to get me and I brought all the men back to help. The remaining maids are still sheltering the wood from the storm as the building is starting to leak. He said with a shrug, not seeming too annoyed by his condition. At the same time, surely he'd had worse on his begging trips.

"Which explains why I wasn't meeting anyone" I sighed, mentally calling myself an idiot. My stupid brain and the way it jumps to the worst conclusions... in my defense, a haunted mansion really didn't help logical reasoning.

"Apart from Road." nodded Tyki as we turned the corner.

"You called?" A small voice suddenly asked from just behind me and my heart missed a beat as I hiccupped weakly.

"Road," I whined as I turned to look at the little girl carrying a large basket of treats. "Please stop doing that, I'll end up having a heart attack!"

"You're too young for that." The little girl replied, handing us both a lollipop. Ah the beautiful picture we were to make with a wet and muddy man, a dishevelled and dirty woman and a little girl with sticky sugar cheeks.

"...Just...let's go to bed." I finally sighed as I turned back to the hallways leading to the rooms without even another glance at the Noahs to see if they were following. They might as well go polka dancing in the village for all I cared, personally, I was too tired for this shit.

And it was with dark ringed eyes and a strained smile that I listened to Tricia rave about her evening the next day. "How about you? Did you have fun?" she asked with a pleasant smile and I mentally checked the babysitting rules she had given me that I had failed to follow.

Don't play games that are too exciting? Nop

Don't give Road any candy? Ahahahahaha

Stick to the bedtime? ...I was screaming in the kitchen when it was time for her to go to bed so...

Yep. I'd managed to screw it aaaall up. But then again, the servants had never been there, Tyki was under oath of deal, and it certainly wasn't Road who was going to throw herself under the wheels of the figurative cart so...

"Oh yes!" I smile even wider. "Everything went wonderfully well." I say and mentally tap my shoulder for a job well done when Tricia beamed at me in answer.

At least, I consoled myself, if there really was this whole hell and heaven thing, I didn't have to wonder too much where I would go: it would be to hell for lying to an angel.

KnK: TN notes: *cops and robbers – originally 'poule-renard-vipere', or hen-fox-viper, a slightly more complicated French equivalent with three teams in a cycle of prey and predator. The aim is to strategically eat your prey while not decimating them so they can get rid of your predators for you.

Nel: Which are my best memories of sports class. With Teck (simpler Basball). Yeah, I know, I'm spoiling you, 7k is a lot... don't get used to it, eh! (Edit 2022: Tsss, little player, we did 9K several times afterwards) We even had some "action" this time! Wouhou X)

Think of the reviews and see you on the 25th of next month!