That Lady, Explaining
Morning arrived, Woodley was carted away in a carriage and Ciel and I proceeded to say farewell to the guests. I smiled to Arthur before saying goodbye, "You have a strong mind Professor, it would be a waste to not utilize it." I noticed his soft smile before leaving him to his carriage. Jeremy had stepped up to the door as I moved inside.
Jeremy had come back inside to join us, it was time for some morning tea and preparations were necessary for reports to the queen. I turn suddenly, my hair flaring out as I turn at the sound of the main door being slammed open.
"My, why so flustered?" Jeremy gave Arthur a sly glance from our position on the staircase.
"Sweetheart, did you forget somethin'?" Christine placed a hand on her hip and tilted her head to the side.
Through panting breaths Arthur met their gaze with a look of grim determination, "I came here, to confirm the truth. Pastor Jeremy, Christine...no. Sebastian and Veronica..."
They both gave devilish smiles in response, "It seems we underestimated you Professor..." Veronica took of the brown wig revealing her long white tresses and placed her glasses into her pocket, her eyes already faded to their normal red. Sebastian had taken off his mask, hair falling to frame his face once more. I noticed the shocked expression on Arthur's face.
"Why so shocked?" I asked from my place at the stairs. I stood tall in my black and lavender tea dress, "Surely you came here because you were certain..."
"Indeed, you would have been able to return to your "reality" if you had just left things as they were," Sebastian addressed Arthur almost mockingly, "Why then did you return? Trembling even..."
"If my hunch was correct, that would mean that I would need to go after the Yard's carriage."
"Haha..." Ciel's laugh cut into the conversation sharply as eyes fell to him. "Your sense of justice is strong Professor, but didn't you realize that if you learned the truth you wouldn't be able to return home?"
"What!?"
"Ciel, you're frightening him..." I turn to start moving up the stairs once more with a small laugh.
"It was only a joke, even so," Ciel turned back to look at Arthur, "While Woodley wasn't the criminal in this case, he deserves to be in that carriage. Let's not stand and talk, we might as well have some tea, Sebastian."
"Yes my lord."
"Please follow me Professor, and do calm down...We won't eat you..." Veronica snickered a bit as she moved to lead Arthur to the greenhouse.
"You do wish to know the truth, correct?" Sebastian prompted.
Moments later we were all seated with tea and snacks for our liking, Arthur seemed hesitant while Ciel and I proceeded to drink and indulge in sweets like normal.
"Come now professor, we haven't poisoned anything. Please help yourself," I nodded towards his full teacup.
"So, how did you know that they were alive Professor?" Ciel got straight to the point after a sip of tea.
"I never had any real concrete proof, it was more of a feeling. Things didn't fit right, they were just too perfect. All of the stories and acts that followed were fabricated so perfectly there was no room for suspicion but that is what made it so strange..."
"And by stating this, what is it you are trying to say?" Sebastian tilted his head slightly.
"There was no way you could have prepared everything so perfectly, everything following your murder was too well thought out. There was no way one could have planned everything so flawlessly." Arthur explained his concerns thoroughly, "Furthermore, Jeremy and Christine's sudden appearance was suspicious no matter how you look at it, but the alibi was too perfect to deny. Not to mention your parting words...the moment I heard them I realised the reason for my discomfort! The possibility that something unreal would overthrow all of our reasoning."
"Something unreal?" Ciel asked.
"The possibility that Sebastian and Veronica had not died at all," Arthur clarified. "When I thought of that possibility, I couldn't contain myself."
"To think you would come back after such a revelation," Veronica smirked, "I would expect nothing less from someone whom Lord Ciel and my Mistress hold in high regard."
"Enough," I gave a side glance over the rim of my cup before Veronica gave a small nod and stepped back.
"I'm curious to hear what made you so suspicious," Sebastian stood behind Ciel's chair like always.
"The death of Lord Siemens, you and Veronica both simply stood by, even when your masters were accused. Did you know? That the suspicions would be lifted from the Earl and Lady as soon as the next murder occurred?"
"Of course I realised this, however, that was not the only reason I didn't protect the young master..."
"You probably thought I deserved it, didn't you?" Ciel glared up at the raven haired demon.
"Not at all young master, I was simply appalled that after all of the careful planning you were able to simply succumb to sleep, leaving Veronica and I to take care of the mess."
"Wait...Predicting!?" Arthur exclaimed.
I sighed before placing my cup down, "Ciel and Sebastian knew of the mishaps before hand. That is how we were able to plan so far ahead mister Arthur. That is also how we knew Veronica and Sebastian would be killed."
"What!?" Arthur jumped from his seat.
"Please calm yourself, it's not incomprehensible...I simply told them the outcome and we planned to accommodate our needs." I met his confused stare before further explaining. "You could say I have a special set of skills Professor, they allowed me to understand the meaning behind the letter Ciel and I received from the queen which started this whole endeavor. Knowing the meaning also allowed for us to determine Siemens would most likely be the one sacrificed, especially that night..."
(Flashback two days prior Sebastian POV)
The door was locked and while the other servants started to panic I was able to pick up the slight noise of glass breaking, judging by Veronica's expression she was able to detect it too. I kicked down the door to reveal the Lord. Nothing was broken as we surveyed the room and I don't smell any blood...it is just like the young mistress predicted. This means that there must be a vial that contained the poison hidden in here.
(Present)
"Wait, you say it was all a prediction!? But if you had voiced your thoughts the young lord and mistress wouldn't have had to undergo such scrutiny!" Arthur exclaimed.
"The young mistress and lord were observing the situation to see how things would play out, naturally we followed suit," Veronica smiled as she placed more sweets in front of me.
"Due to my understanding, it was childsplay seeing which scenario would ultimately play out in the end. A murder like that had to be a set up, whether Siemens was dead or alive at that point didn't matter, I accounted for either situation. Everything is as we have been saying this whole time Professor," I spoke calmly.
"That is why you had them collect the ashes..."
"Very good Professor..." I praised with a smile, "Not many would have been able to catch on to something minor like that."
"Such cruel masters we have, sending us to our deaths..." Sebastian smirked our way.
"Enough Sebastian, while Siren had accounted for many situations I didn't expect for them to follow so closely to what was already determined." Ciel sipped his tea.
"Quite right, I hadn't realized how well the planning had matched up to what had played out these past few nights..." I glanced into my tea cup, the liquid reflecting my melancholy gaze.
"You expected something like this would happen?"
"Naturally..."
(Flashback Sebastian's POV)
Veronica and I made our way to Lord Siemens' room to follow the orders of our masters. As we both began to busy ourselves with the task we uncovered the shards of the vial. Our deaths weren't because of a god or fate, it was deliberate and planned. The young mistress has a way with strategy, to have been able to predict something like this. With each shard I plucked from the hearth, Veronica began to piece them together until we were left with two vials. I felt Veronica shift next to me.
"Sebastian ack-!" my what an actress she is, Veronica sounded panicked before being impaled by Grey. As I turned to the noise feigning surprise I too was struck down.
(Present)
"Of course after that little bump in the road we followed Earl Grey to where Lord Siemens was being kept. We were able to beat him there only seconds before so we hid and watched everything, including the actual death of Lord Siemens." Veronica poor more tea as she explained further.
"You...You can't be serious!" Arthur stood from his seat and knocked over his tea in a rush, "You are telling me that you knew who the actual criminal was and threw away both of your lives, all because your masters ordered it!?"
"Indeed, I don't tell lies..." Sebastian gave a closed-eyed smile while placing his hand to his chest.
"Together Sebastian and I proceeded to prepare food rations and give the instructions to the other servants. I had gone to my brother and explained the situation immediately and met up with Sebastian before checking on the mistress and young lord." Veronica stood behind my chair waiting for any requests.
"I had written a report of our findings and given it to the young lord rather discreetly, and Miss Thorn was able to attend to the mistress afterwards we took our leave," Sebastian continued, "We made our way back to the room and proceeded to stage our deaths once more. I was quite pleased with the outcome, the confused look on Grey's face was entertaining and the young master's performance was striking."
"But miss Thorn, you looked like you were mauled, the cruelty of it all..." Arthur glanced in my direction.
"Yes that was quite the surprise, Veronica has a bit of a dramatic flare if you let her do as she pleases. My lack of control was my own mistake, I realized my error." My demeanor was cold as I spoke, "As much as I hate to admit it, I'm not even sure how much of that was an act..."
"But," Sebastian tried to direct the attention elsewhere with the rest of the explanation, "With the newfound freedom of our deaths we were able to help our masters behind the scenes."
"I had set up a journal in order to communicate with Siren and the master but not all plans are full proof. After capturing the owl, we had to rush back in order for the plan to get back on track." Veronica nodded in agreement.
"After finding and replanting the evidence, Veronica and I came back to you all as Viceroy Jeremy and Christine Moriarty."
"So you are saying it was all fake!?" Arthur interjected.
"The ticket stubs were real, they did actually slip away for a bit to watch the showing. Ever since my melt down my senses were dulled so I couldn't quite see what would happen next..." I explained.
"Then what about the letter?"
"Oh that?" Ciel lifted his head and rolled his eyes, "It was blank, another one of Sebastian's little tricks to make me seem foolish."
"Now young master with all of the excitement going on you haven't had time for your studies, so i felt it necessary to give you mind a bit of exercise. So under the role of Jeremy I was able to-"
"Then what about your corpse? I looked at it with Jeremy!"
"Oh that was a simple illusion Professor, we simply replaced him with mister Phelps."
"The rush of everything was quite comical." I added.
"Though we could have done without Grey and his constant snooping," Veronica muttered.
"Even with this explanation, nothing's making sense anymore!" Arthur looked at us with confusion.
"As we said before Professor, it was all according to plan. The queen wished for it and so it was done." Ciel smirked.
"The butterfly effect is a powerful force, and in the letter we were given our orders so we followed though." I continued.
"But why did Grey try to frame you both?"
I snickered, "He doesn't like me, and there was a mishap during Ciel's last mission that caused some punishment to be warranted."
"I have always been good at games, and Siren is a master at strategy, so we invited Woodley as a scapegoat."
"Together we police the underworld of England as the queen's Watchdog and Raven, and Woodley aside from being in the diamond polishing industry was also an illegal weapons dealer. He may not have been responsible for this crime but he deserved to be in that carriage."
"The truth has been apparent this entire time, right Professor?" Ciel smirked.
"The fact that we aren't human..." Veronica and Sebastian's eyes began to glow bright as shadows swept about the room in a menacing fashion.
"No one shall know of these occurrences, you shall take them to your grave or face the consequences of the broken promise, swear on the river Styx and pray no one hears of it," I circled his shaken form as he tried to escape.
"I swear!" and he ran, shadows trailing his form and thunder rumbling in the distance, the gods have heard his promise, he won't breathe a word.