Moonlit Meetings:
Chapter 9:
2 weeks later:
A number of plans later, they had their final plan and few essential back up plans with the last resort being to escape without stopping to collect any evidence. They were well equipped with some unique homemade items from Angelina who couldn't come in with them. Instead four members of the investigation team entered the house.
As promised the house was empty apart from the dog and the members of the private security firm employed by Ash. The head of the group was a Charles Grey who Sebastian found tiresome as he varied between being childish and then strangely serious.
"Who is your boss?" he demanded.
Sebastian pushed the shortest member of the team forward to let him take charge.
"You're a bit of a midget," Charles commented. "We aren't under any obligation to follow your orders."
"You may not be, however you could be arrested for obstructing the investigation if you don't follow instructions," the representative of the investigation team informed him snootily. "Just stay out of the way and I won't have to arrest anyone apart from the phantom thief."
Grey snorted and turned away, the winner of the argument clear and ordered the men to ask the midget or one of his minions for instructions.
Mey-Rin issued them their positions where they had to stand in two hours time which was when the heist was due to start. It was to ensure that it looked like they were trying to prevent the heist from occurring instead of being the people behind it. After that they regrouped in the library to recap their own plan.
"Half an hour before the heist, Mey-Rin is to issue the sedatives to the security firm in tea. For the moment, Tanaka needs to place to the explosives and timer in the fuse box, I will deal with Pluto and the "midget" can find a place to hide his costume," Sebastian summarised. "Is everyone clear?"
They all nodded and Tanaka, the phantom thief and Sebastian left to carry out their tasks. Sebastian placed a poisoned bone where Pluto would find it later on. The phantom thief costume was concealed in an oversized oriental vase in one of the spare bedrooms with the window left open on purpose.
Thirty minutes before the heist start time, Mey-Rin served everyone tea including herself. Sebastian and two other members of the investigation team picked teacups with the handles on the left side to drink out of, as this indicated undoctored tea whilst the remaining people drank the drugged tea.
Sebastian positioned himself on the first floor and waited for the appointed time. He had noticed that the back and front door of the house were unlocked which had not been commented on by the security firm meaning it was likely to be the way Ash was going to sneak back into the house.
He didn't like it, but they had to let Ash hide himself. He was concerned about Ciel although he had promised to rescue him in case everything went wrong. The moon was full tonight and when the lights went out it would add to an eerie atmosphere to the house and it was creepy enough in the first place.
At midnight a few clocks chimed and the lights went out, allowing the moon to bathe the house and create strange shadows that put the phantom thief on edge. He changed into the costume and went straight to the hallway that Sebastian had indicated earlier to find the secret recess. Due to the window he had left open, the air was cold and made him even more nervous. He passed an unconscious guard on the way and simply stepped over him.
He found the secret space easily enough and used a torch to check what was in there. There was only a knife which he pocketed. Tanaka was on the second floor looking in Ash's office for evidence whilst he had to go down to the ground floor to the library. He allowed himself to relax slightly once he had found one piece of evidence and paused for a moment to check his surroundings with the torch. The beam of light revealed that no one was hiding in the shadows and he was alone for the moment.
On his route there he encountered a passed out Mey-Rin sprawled across the stairs and found the dog dead in the hallway with foam around its mouth.
He crept into the library and quickly ran his torch along the walls and furniture to check for any hidden murderers and found none, although his heartbeat accelerated when the wind caused the curtain to billow and touch the back of his neck.
He scanned the bookshelves for the specific book that Sebastian had told him about and found it on the bottom shelf. The phantom thief straightened up and as he did so there was a sudden gust of wind that caused him to shiver. He cursed out loud in surprise and then he remembered that the wind meant the window was open and it had been locked an hour earlier when they had checked.
Someone else had opened it since.
He turned to look around and received a blow to the head with something heavy that knocked him out.
***
Tanaka placed the incriminating documents into a folder to pick up later and met Sebastian in the agreed place on the first floor.
"He's just gone down to the ground floor," Sebastian told him immediately. "There hasn't been any other sounds apart from his footsteps so he should be alone."
At that point they heard a heavy thud that sounded like it came from below them and they hurried down the stairs. Sebastian pushed open the door of the study to find no one was there and the window was wide open.
"Ash has got him," Tanaka stated the obvious and Sebastian climbed out of the window. "I'll check the back garden, you can check the front."
They split once they were outside and Sebastian combed the front garden desperately and even checked outside the gates for any sign of Ash and his victim. He encountered Tanaka around the side of the house who had also found nothing.
"Did you hear any noises?" Sebastian questioned.
"I heard something that sounded like a door closing, but-"
"That's it," Sebastian exclaimed. "Whilst I was at the front of the house and you were going around the side, he went through the back door into the house."
With that idea they re-entered the house and split again with Tanaka taking the ground floor in case Ash had doubled back and Sebastian searching the first floor.
***
The phantom thief cracked open an eyelid and saw a purple eyed man looking straight at him. He knew it was obvious that he was no longer unconscious so he opened his eyes fully and surveyed his surroundings. There was a desk and a number of filing cabinets and he recognised he was on the second floor in the office with a high powered torch illuminating the room with white light. Tentatively he felt the back of his head and found a lump that was bleeding and as he did he noticed he was no longer wearing a wig or mask. He tried to sit up, but the backlash of pain from his head made him reconsider.
"Hello, Ciel Phantomhive," Ash greeted with a smirk. "I'm glad to see that the blow didn't kill you."
The concussed man let out a stream of colourful language that only amused Ash further.
"You have certainly changed a lot since I last saw you. You are still extremely short though," he smirked. "Is your head hurting?"
"Just a little," was the reply.
Ash smiled and his teeth seemed to glow in the white light. "If you were wondering why I have left you alive for the minute, it is because I am waiting for someone."
"Is it Mrs. Landers?" the phantom thief teased, eager to keep him talking. The others had to find eventually, he was still in the house and a couple of them had to be looking around for him.
"No, I was referring to my son. I know he disowned us and changed his name, but I still refer to him as my son. Do you like him?" Ash enquired.
Keen that the conversation was still continuing and he was still alive, the thief answered the question.
"He's not too bad, I guess."
Ash looked pleased which was disconcerting for the one lying on the ground with a head injury. He would be less terrified if Ash was a villain with an alarming beard and a foul mouth. Well spoken and seemingly kind ones were worse than the alternative.
"I thought you two would look good together," he mused thoughtfully. "You both mutually hate me and want to get revenge on me. Those kinds of situations are good for bonding."
"I had no idea matchmaking was one of your hobbies."
"I am not saying that out of concern for your love life," Ash informed him condescendingly. "I am going to kill you in front of him. The more he likes you, the more it will hurt and the more guilt he will feel about not being able to save you."
"Is that so?"
He was desperately waiting for the sound of running footsteps and someone to come rushing in, but there wasn't any noise like that. He was still on his own with a psychopath.
"It might take him longer than expected to find us," Ash sighed disappointedly. "I underestimated him."
As he spoke the sound of footsteps became apparent and they stopped outside the door.
"Sebastian, you can come in," Ash called out.
The door opened and Sebastian rushed in and took stock of the situation.
"Ciel!" he shouted in concern and bent down next to him.
Ash simply stood there and smiled in satisfaction.
"Are you all right?" Sebastian asked and felt the back of his head.
There was the sound of a cry and something falling that sounded faraway that caused Ash's smirk to grow wider.
"Angela has just dealt with your accomplice. I think she was incensed by Pluto's death."
Sebastian half moved away from the prone thief on the floor, distracted by the attack on Tanaka and Ash took advantage of the situation to recapture the phantom thief and produced a fiendish looking knife from his jacket pocket.
"You can watch him bleed out first. Since you were my son I will give you a painless death afterwards. It's a shame you defied me."
He pressed the blade to the phantom thief's throat to prevent Sebastian from attacking him. There was another approaching noise that stopped just before the doorway that puzzled Ash.
"Did your female accomplice wake up? Never mind, I can take care of her after this."
He was about to pierce the phantom thief's neck when the person outside in the hallway came into view and confused Ash even further.
It was someone else dressed in the phantom thief outfit, holding something in his hand. His face was uncovered and he was easily recognisable as being the real Ciel Phantomhive. Before he could speak, Ciel dropped the object in his hand and the room was lit up in a blinding flash.
***
This update is fast because I prioritised this chapter over the next one for another fanfiction I am working on and it won't happen again so the next update will be after the usual period of time.