10~ Those Servants, Loyal
•••(Third Person POV)•••
All of the guests as well as the servants continued to discuss the situation after everything had calmed down.
"Well Professor, what should we do?" The young earl of Phantomhive set down his tea while keeping a close eye on his fiancé.
"Would you mind taking us around the manor my lord?" Sir Arthur asked, glinting determination in his eyes.
"Of course not, although I don't quite understand why," Ciel replied steadily.
"I think it best if you took us to see the bodies down in the cellar, that way we will be able to check for the key to your chambers that the butler supposedly held," Arthur explained.
"I see~! So we need to check whether or not the butler or even the maid have the key on them. If they don't have it then we will have to think of another way to find the culprits," Earl Grey spoke.
Arthur nodded, "Right, also I think that it would be best if we stayed in groups from now on."
The others in the room nodded in consent. Siren sat still on her perch quietly sipping tea. Her eyes closed, she opened one to give a glance at Ciel. He smirked slightly before pulling her down to him. She landed onto his lap gracefully and, thanks to her reflexes, did not spill a drop of her drink.
Tuning in to the conversation once more, Siren overheard Arthur say that Miss Irene should stay behind since she was a lady. That had the young goddess slightly miffed. Arthur began to tell the other guests to stay put and soon looked at Siren about to do the same when she held up her hand, "I refuse."
"But my lady, I think it is improper for one such as yourself to see something like this," Arthur tried to tell her gently.
The beautiful girl narrowed her heterochromatic eyes, causing the man to gulp, "I refuse. I am making it clear now Professor, just because I am a lady does not mean that I need to be protected. I am accompanying you because I could add valuable insight to the case and also..." her look and voice darkened, "They made it personal the minute my maid was killed."
No one argued after that statement and the matter was quickly dropped. It was decided that Sir Arthur, Ciel, Siren, Earl Grey, Bard, and Finny would go look for the key. The rest would stay as a group in the lounge. They made their way down the damp and dark stone steps to the wine cellar. The only thing that lit their path was the gas lamp in Bard's hand.
"With the mood, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a ghost..." Arthur tried to make conversation with the thick atmosphere.
"Don't say something like that!" Earl Grey whined and latched himself onto Ciel, "I don't believe in anything that I can't cut with my sword!"
"In that case would you mind walking on your own?" Ciel replied in an irritated tone. He looked to Siren with slight worry in his single blue eye; She kept her face blank...but reached over and took his hand.
"I thought you were frightened, so I just-"
"Everyone, we are here," Bard spoke in a serious tone, Finny stood beside him at the bottom of the stairs. Bard opened the heavyset doors that lead to the dark wine cellar, revealing the four dead bodies shrouded in cloths.
Siren grimly lifted her dress and walked into the room, soon followed by Arthur, "Well then, let us be respectful..." he pulled on gloves and the group began their search.
Pulling back the white covering, Arthur revealed the peaceful looking Sebastian...but something was off, "He's wet!?"
"There must be a leak somewhere..." Bard mentioned.
"Poor Sebastian! We have to move them!" Finny exclaimed.
"That's true, plus at this rate the bodies will only decompose faster," Arthur spoke logically.
"De...compose?" Finny murmured in a heartbreaking way.
"Even if we move the bodies, rigor mortis has already set in...it will be difficult to undress them to search...I suppose we should turn them over-" Arthur was cut off by Finny.
"No! Stop! Don't treat Mister Sebastian like that! He was very important to us so-!"
"Finny," Ciel's cold and commanding tone stopped Finny's insistent prattle, "Control yourself or get out...you're in the way."
Finny drops to his knees in defeat before getting up to leave the room. Ciel, Arthur, and Earl Grey, continue to look for the key. Siren stands away from the group, near the shrouded body of her late maid Veronica. "It's not here," Ciel stood up and walked closer to Siren.
"We will have to check the maid next..." Arthur turned towards the young girl, seeming to ask permission.
"I'll search, you all wait outside...even if she is dead I'm sure Veronica wouldn't want anyone to see her in such a state," The young goddess' voice was monotone and solemn.
No one argued as they left the room to stand outside. A few moments later, Siren came out with a shake of her head, "There was nothing but her uniform." she did not mention the fact that a ribbon, a dark plum ribbon with a small rose pendant attached, was missing from her maid's person.
"I suppose we will have to look elsewhere..." Arthur stated. "We might as well..." Ciel spoke.
(Short time skip brought to you by stairs! Arn't they great! ;p)
"Here it is, this is Sebastian's room," Ciel opened the door to his faithful butler's living quarters.
"This is rather large for a servant's room..." Arthur commented while surveying the area.
"He was an upper servant..." Bard stated.
The others filed into the room quietly. Siren stood close to Ciel while he asked his two servants if they knew where the key could be hidden.
"This is our first time being in here..." Bard admitted.
"I've only been in here twice since assigning the room..." Ciel sighed.
"Well in any case, let's just look for it in places where valuables and such would most likely be hidden," Grey suggested.
The others nodded in understanding while Siren stared blankly ahead. Minutes passed and the others had been searching the entirety of the room. Underneath the bed and other furnishings, inside the drawers, the desk, everything was searched but nothing came of it.
A small glint on the far corner of a desk caught the eye of the young goddess. Shifting near the spot without being noticed by the others, she found a small ribbon with a silver rose pendant. Her eyes widened slightly while a small relieved smile graced her pale features. She grasped the ribbon like a lifeline, Veronica left this here for a reason-
"A-AHHH!!!!!" Siren turned to the source of the noise.
"What happened- CATS!?!?!?!" Arthur exclaimed. At least twelve cats jumped out of the now opened wardrobe to roam the room.
"That bastard was keeping them behind my back!" Ciel shouted in outrage.
"How cute~!" Finny held a black cat with a bright smile.
"Finny no! Keep that cat away!" Ciel sneezed, "My allergies!"
"What?" Finny brought the cat closer to Ciel in question.
The chaos of the situation paired with her fiancé's adorable yet unfortunate sneezing, caused the young goddess to let out a small delicate laugh that sounded like twinkling bells. For the first time since the incident joy was seen on her face and the lovely sound slowly grew louder which caused the men to stop and stare at the beautiful girl in awe.
"Dear Ciel, thank you," she giggled again, "I believe you have cleared up my mood some!" a bright smile was given to the male in question, causing him to blush slightly. Siren handed Ciel a handkerchief.
Afterwards the search resumed. But still nothing of importance was recovered.
"There's nothing!" Earl Grey whined, "No personal effects or anything! Where is he from anyway?"
"Who knows? None of us know anything about his personal life. All we knew, was that he was an incredible butler who was exceedingly good at his job..." Bard explained.
"The young master may know-" Finny was interrupted by Ciel.
"I don't know either. What kind of master he served previously or for what purpose. None of that mattered. Back then I would have taken anyone as long as they were loyal and could grant my wish..." Ciel had a far off look as he remembered the day he formed his contract. Siren wrapped her arms around his shoulders as a form of comfort, leaning her face into his shoulders to rest.
"Back then?" Grey questioned skeptically.
"If we haven't found it after all this, then I doubt it's here," Arthur spoke calmly.
"Too bad, I guess we will have to search elsewhere," Grey didn't sound upset at all, causing Siren to narrow her eyes.
•••
Back in the lounge, Arthur addressed the group, "In order to search for the missing key, I must ask all of you to allow us to look through your rooms and luggage. Of corse we will had the ladies check each other's belongings."
They all agreed calmly. The men went to search their things while the ladies separated as well.
Siren giggled to herself as she watched Ran-Mao put a pair of bloomers onto her head.
After managing to fix the situation she stopped the ladies, "Would you all mind accompanying me to Veronica's room? I wish to search through her things..."
They all nodded. The ladies softly entered the empty room to find a single bag on the newly made bed.
"She's the same way at home, always tending to my needs before her own," Siren muttered with small tears in her eyes. She stepped closer to the bag, her long skirts dragging behind her while the other ladies stood watch in the doorway. Carefully sifting through the maid's belongings, Siren was about to give up...until she found a small journal bound in black leather.
A lock with a similar indentation to that of the ribbon's pendant could be seen. "I think I have found something, let us head back to the others..." Siren spoke firmly before grabbing the journal and heading back to the room. The other ladies followed behind.
As they entered the room, they found that the men didn't have any luck finding the key either. "In that case, Sebastian must have hidden it somewhere else," Ciel sat in his chair while calmly analyzing the possibilities.
"Or it could have been thrown outside, in this storm no one would find it..." Lau pointed out.
"We can go find it!" Finny insisted. Mey-Rin nodded her consent.
"You don't have to-"
"I wish to solve the murders! I'm not smart so I can't help you logically but if it's something like this!" Finny exclaimed while cutting Ciel off.
"I wish to help too," Dani comes to stand by Finny, "If there is anyway we can help, I'm tired of standing by waiting!" And with that the three ran out the door and into the storm.
Please be gentle Lord Zeus, those servants truly are loyal if they go this far...The goddess prayed.
"Wait!" Bard shouted, "Excuse me." He chased after them, Rosalie gave a look to Siren before following.
Ciel gave a small fond smile as he watched them disappear out the door.
"You might as well go check on them Vincent, they will catch their deaths out in that storm..." Siren spoke with a kind tone, Vincent bowed before leaving to retrieve the others.
Outside
The rain poured down on the three as they searched, shouting orders to each other in hopes of finding the small key.
"Enough you lot!" Bard shouted to them.
"We don't even know if it's out here!" Rosalie called.
"But it could be!" Mey-Rin shouted back.
"Get back inside..." Bard demanded.
"But, it's because of Mister Sebastian that we are here!" Finny exclaimed, "We...didn't have anything... No place to call home," Mey-Rin recalled being brought to Ciel, "No friends," Bard remembered the loss of his comrades in battle, "Or freedom..." Finny remembered his escape, "But all of it was given to us by mister Sebastian and the young master!"
"Rosalie! Don't you think we owe Lady Siren this much?" Dani shouted, "She saved us, treated us like family, and now to lose Veronica..."
An image of a small girl with pointed ears and mint green hair being drowned by a large group of men flashed through the nymph's mind, then it switched scenes. The shivering girl looked up to see mismatched eyes and a kind smile, her outstretched hand welcomed her while a kind looking maid with snow colored hair wrapped a towel around her.
The witch froze, sucked into her own memory of a certain plum haired girl followed by a red eyed woman jumping into the crowd I order to prevent her fiery death.
"Even so-!" Finny broke down into tears.
"Finny! Don't start- start..." Mey-Rin dropped to her knees beside Finny as they started to cry. Danni dropped right after as the glistening years spilled from her eyes and looked like small stars falling.
"Listen..." Cries still drowned out Bard's voice, "LISTEN!" they stopped and looked at him, "What's our job? To protect this manor, to protect the young master, isn't that right? We can't afford to be rash at a time like this, what would he say if he saw us like this? Back then all we knew was how to kill, but then that superman who could do anything took us in and patiently taught us! It was so that if something ever happened to him, then we would still be able to do our jobs!"
"Exactly," Vincent held out an umbrella with Tanaka by his side while he spoke, "We have jobs to accomplish...what do you think they would tell us if they saw us moping about like this?"
"Right!" everyone chorused.
Inside
Ciel looked out into the storm with Siren by his side, their hands brushing slightly.
"Ciel..." She whispered only loud enough for his ears to hear, "I found a journal of Veronica's that may hold information..."
He turned slightly to meet her eyes, but then Sir Arthur pulled them towards the group's conversation.
"To avoid casualties we should stay in a group!" He insisted.
"That's true...if the guilty party is among us..." Lau spoke mysteriously.
While he others began to discuss the possibility of another uninvited guest, Siren sat quietly before pulling out the journal and ribbon. She placed the pendant into the lock, hearing a small click. The book opened to reveal the neat handwriting of Veronica. Small tears formed in her mismatched eyes as she read her maid's words...then swiftly darting her eyes to the nearby door she sensed two new presences.