"This school is a respected institution that has produced elites who form the mainstay of Great Britain. Our generation cannot afford to defile the tradition that has been protected for hundreds of years since the founding of this school...for the history of Weston College is the history of England!" Bluewer explained in defense for him and his fellow prefects.
A razor thin line separates education and brainwashing. They act as if they're slaves to tradition., Ciel thought as he sighed. It's a waste of time to argue them to silence since they've been this way for six years.
"...Fine." Ciel said, causing his butler and Red to turn to him with raised eyebrows. "We were investigating this incident...under the orders of a certain distinguished personage. I can't keep silent now that I've uncovered the truth. However, I shall request measures which will take your circumstances into account. Now. That just leaves you. What are you after!?"
Ciel glared at the reaper that held a maniacal grin as he held his adopted daughter in a hug.
"You have just bestowed upon me plenty of laughter...hee hee! So I will explain for old times' sake." Undertaker responded as he began to eat one of the pastries on the table.
"It was only for a moment, but Derrick was conscious beyond a doubt." Ciel spoke as he glared more at the man before him. "He was clearly different from the previous reanimated corpses...no. He has evolved!"
"It pleases me to hear that. Quite so. Especially after all of Red's hard work."
Red's reaction was a mixture of denial and fear as she began to tremble more. She shook her head, not wanting to believe what Undertaker was saying as she thought back to all of the research both he and her had done as they both "fixed" countless corpses for funerals. She then looked at her adoptive father with a look of hurt.
"You used me...so it could progress the work on your creations..." she said, realizing every method she was taught was to help him.
The reaper only chuckled as he held out his arms and said, "The dead can also advance by way of episodes."
"Episodes...?" Sebastian questioned in confusion. "Do you mean the counterfeit memories you have created? Connecting them to the cinematic records of the dead was how the corpses began moving."
"Guess again. You're close though. Those memories were gibberish. The current corpses are being moved by their longing for the future. Humans recall their pasts in their final moments. That is their cinematic record. At the same time, they crave the futures they were to have had, although those futures are incomplete. The fragments of those futures comprise their episodes. What if those episodes could be extracted? What if several tens of thousands of cuts can be had? What if the total length of the linked episodes was longer than their cinematic records? It's akin to a future forecast. They are memories of the future...nothing like my counterfeit memories. If I connect such a thing to a cinematic record- Do you not agree that what will be perfected is a reanimated corpse infinitely approaching a living human!!? Well...the probability of success is still very low as it is dependent on the quantity and quality of the episodes."
Ciel was silent for a moment as the gun in his hand shook before he pointed it at Undertaker as he shouted, "I just don't understand. Why are you doing this!? Where is the sense in bringing back the dead!?"
"I simply want to look beyond the fated end."
"Beyond the end?"
"Has it never occurred to you that something exceedingly amusing may unfold beyond the roll of the credits?"
"I disagree with you on that point. 'Death' is a hopeless and absolute 'end.' That is why I find it most beautiful." Sebastian smirked as his eyes flashed fuchsia at the reaper before him.
"This is all I can tell you with the compensation I have received. Well, then." Undertaker moved away from Red as he grabbed his top hat and turned away from the group. "It would be a nuisance if certain bothersome individuals were to discover my whereabouts. So I shall be going now."
"I won't let you escape again!!" Ciel shouted. "Capture him, Sebastian!"
"As you wish!" Sebastian replied as he lunged to attack the old reaper, only to be stopped by Agares, who grabbed his fists. "So! You were a corpse as well, Vice Headmaster Agares! That must be why I felt a sense of discomfort then."
"That one is replete with episodes and is my crowning masterpiece for now." Undertaker commented as he jumped onto ledge of a wall that surrounded the garden. He then snapped his fingers, causing corpses to rise from the ground and Agares to grab a hold of Sebastian.
"These are Derrick's accomplices!" Ciel exclaimed as he gazed at the dead faces of the other missing students. "Run!!"
"Leave this garden now!" Edward shouted as he heaved Greenhill up on his shoulders. "Hurry!!"
Ciel raced to the door and held it open for the other students to escape but gasped at the sight of Harcourt unable to stand up from fear as a corpse came at him.
"I...I can't move..." Harcourt cried as he shook.
A corpse then loomed in his face with its mouth open wide, making the young boy squeak in fright. Suddenly, the creature was kicked away from him just as Ciel grabbed his arm and ran to the door to help him escape. Harcourt looked back to see Red glaring down at the monster she had kicked.
"All right, you bastards. I've had enough of this." Red growled out as she lifted her skirt above her midthigh and grabbed a couple daggers from their sheaths, then charged at the monsters.
"Miss Crevan!" Harcourt shouted in worry.
"She'll be fine! Just come with me!" Ciel shouted to him as he hurried him to the door.
Undertaker watched his adopted daughter dodge and duck from the corpses' grasps and stab them with her weapons as he said, "Just like her training...Hee! Hee!..He may have the Phantomhive blood, but he's quite unlike his predecessors...What a riot this is!"
"My, you are quite carefree about all this." Sebastian commented as Agares tried to squeeze the life out of him. "Do you believe you can stop me with something like this? How dare you underestimate me like that."
"I've never underestimated you. All that sets us apart are our goals." Undertaker grinned as he glanced at someone.
Is he-!, Sebastian thought of a plan, playing out the teacup crashing on the ground and flipping Agares over him, making him land headfirst. Along with Undertaker flicking his coat open to reveal multiple sotobas. Undertaker then threw three sotobas in Sebastian's direction, who jumped high into the air in response to dodging them. He then came down, trying to hit the reaper but he dodged him and moved to another wall's ledge. Sebastian then threw several knives at Undertaker, but he took out his scythe and sliced them as he moved away from his spot. Sebastian's eyes widened as he remembered the Campania incident where Undertaker had taken his master as a hostage.
This is not good!! At this distance, he is closer to the young master than I!, Sebastian thought again as he actually flipped Agares over him, making the corpse land headfirst like his plan just as the teacup crashed onto the ground. But unlike his former plan, Sebastian took off in a different direction to his master. My first priority is to protect my contractor!!
As Undertaker jumped away in opposite direction of Sebastian running to Ciel, he said, "Just what I'd expect from you, master butler."
Sebastian narrowed his eyes at the reaper just as he smirked back.
"Sebastian!?" Ciel exclaimed as his butler took a hold of him in a defensive stance.
"I do hope you'll continue to protect milord so loyally." Undertaker said as he landed on a wall's ledge that had the moon above it. Raising his arms, as if he was holding the moon, he shook his hips side to side with unnatural speed as he chuckled. "Hee! Hee! Fare! Thee! Well!"
And then he disappeared.
"Hey, Sebas-" Ciel started but was interrupted by Sebastian's hand.
"Stay behind me!" Sebastian shouted as a corpse came at them.
A pair of daggers stabbed into the sides of the head of the corpse, causing it to fall dead once again to reveal a furious Red, who had splatters of blood on her cheeks. She then looked around for the other two remaining corpses while Harcourt fainted.
"Sebastian! Why did you come to me!? I ordered you to seize-" Ciel began but was interrupted by his butler again.
"By the terms of our covenant, your life is my first priority. I have gone to great pains to cultivate you. I cannot afford to have him steal you away." Sebastian responded. Just as Ciel was about to check on Harcourt, the demon said, "You should let him sleep. There is still much cleaning to be done in the wake of this tea party."
Red ran at the two approaching corpses and sliced at them to slow down their movements more. She then kicked down one of the corpses and stabbed her daggers into its head. The other corpse came up behind her and grabbed her shoulder, causing her to grab its arm and flip the creature face first into the ground. She then yelled as she bashed its head into the ground. After minutes passed by and the corpse's body was still unresponsive, Ciel moved behind the red head, who was now covered in blood, and pulled her off of the body and into a hug. She thrashed around for a moment before stopping and resting her head on his shoulder as she cried. He stared down at her form and petted her hair as he recognized that she felt betrayal from the one man she trusted her life to ever since he raised her.
As Ciel held her, he sighed as he said, "Dear me. How am I going to explain all this to her majesty?"
"Why not give her all the facts as they are?" Sebastian suggested. "Tell her that 'a perverse, erstwhile grim reaper is reanimating the dead.'"
"She'll never believe-"
"Ciel!! Red!!" The sound of Edward's voice interrupted Ciel and brought Red back to her surroundings just as he barged through the door. "Everyone's escaped safely..."
Edward stopped in his tracks as he stared at the lifeless corpses that laid around the garden.
"We're done here too. Watch your step." Ciel informed.
"...I will...Ciel. It frightens me to no end that I might have ended up like those prefects too. That I might've become a man who deluded himself into thinking that the sin of murder is equal to justice." Edward spoke as the grip on his sword tightened while he shook.
"Don't worry." Ciel replied as he picked up Red and walked past Sebastian while throwing the flower on his suit to the ground. "Consider yourself normal if it scares you so. Unlike me."
"Will she...Will she be all right?" Edward asked as he stared at the red head in the young earl's arms.
Ciel was silent for a moment as his grip tightened on Red as he said, "...I'm not sure...But I know she would want you to be happy and to not worry about her. Heh...she worries more about everyone before herself."
"You really care for her, don't you?"
Ciel looked at Edward, who had a blank look, then looked back to the girl in his arms as he replied, "Yes."
Edward sighed before saying, "Just...Don't hurt Lizzie...That's all I ask of you."
The young teenager nodded as he walked away, his butler in tow, and said, "I'll try, but I can't make any promises."
As they had just closed the door to the garden, Edward looked at the sword in his hands before sighing again and looking up at the sky as he said to himself, "I know."
The next day...
In the aftermath...I gave her majesty a full account of what had come to pass. The punishment meted out to the P4 was expulsion, not imprisonment.
Just as the now former prefects were about to pass the gates of Weston College for the last time, a voice stopped them in their tracks.
"Redmond! Greenhill! Bluewer! Violet!" Red called as she raced to them as fast as she could.
"Miss Crevan...?" The four muttered to themselves before the red head came to a stop in front of them, bending over as she was out of breath.
"I...came...to...to say...goodbye."
"You..." Bluewer started in surprise before Redmond beat him to it.
"You wanted to say goodbye to us...even after all we've done...?"
"Of course!" Red responded, finally catching her breath as she smiled at the four. "I also bring gifts!"
She then made her way in front of Redmond as she took out a small velvet box and handed it to him. He then opened it and saw a red silk hair ribbon with a steel fox charm that had rubies for eyes.
"I know I've always been cold towards you a bit, but I've always found you amusing. It took my mentor and I some time to design and make the charm. But we hope you like it!" Red smiled at the prefect, who began to tear up.
"This truly is an amazing gift, Miss Crevan...I'll treasure it." Redmond responded as he patted her head.
Red then moved to Greenhill and pullet out a green cricket ball with a lion painted on it. She then placed it in his hands and looked up at him.
"I know how much you loved cricket and how you cared deeply for your house and I thought this would be a good memory for it."
"This..." Greenhill began as he tried his best to not tear up. "...This really is a great gift. Thank you, Miss Crevan."
Red moved to Bluewer and held up a blue picture frame that had a couple white owls on the corners and held a picture of him and the other prefects smiling happily.
"Even though you never mentioned it, I could tell how much these three meant to you as a friend and, even though you all might keep in touch with one another, it'll still serve as a good memory."
Bluewer said nothing as he began to cry and hugged the short red head in a tight embrace, who, in response, hugged him back.
"Th-...Thank you..." He muttered through his sniffling.
The two then pulled away and Red moved to Violet while Bluewer wiped his eyes with a handkerchief. She then took out a small painting of a black wolf that was near a bush of purple dahlias.
"I know it isn't much, but I know you like art and that purple dahlias are your favorite flower. I haven't learned much about what you personally like so-" Red was cut off from her rambling by a pair of cold lips placed on her cheek. She looked up in surprise with a tiny blush as Violet gave a small smile at her.
"Thank you...for everything, Miss Crevan." Violet responded as he held her painting in his hands.
Red smiled at the four, wiping at her eyes quickly as she said, "Geez, you all can stop calling me 'Miss Crevan' now, just 'Red' is fine...You should hurry before your carriages leave."
One after the other, acting like the proper gentlemen they were raised to be, the prefects went down the line and kissed the back of Red's hand before they left. First was Redmond, who waved back to her with a wink as he left the gates. Second was Greenhill, who was a blushing mess as he left the gates. Third was Bluewer, who smiled at the young teenager before leaving. Last was Violet, who stopped in his motion when he was about to kiss the red head's hand and confused her until he stood up and placed a short but sweet kiss against her lips, surprising her in that moment.
When he pulled away, he smiled down at her as he said, "You've always told me that I should have more courage...goodbye, Red."
As Violet walked through the gates, he looked back at the red head, who continued to stare at him in surprise, and sent her a real smile as the doors closed.
It was not a show of mercy. Rather, the expulsion was to suppress a scandal involving a blood relative of the queen, who lost his life due to his own troubles. Their comeuppance may indeed have been crueler than death to the P4, as they chose the traditions of the school over human lives. The disappearances of Derrick and his friends were explained away as accidental deaths from a boating mishap and their corpses were buried in secret. The parties involved were strictly forbidden from discussing the matter and life went on as always at Weston College, at least on the outside.
"Ah!" McMillan exclaimed at the sight of Edward, Cheslock, Clayton, and some other random dude from red house. "Look. It's the new P4! I do so admire them!"
Edward and the other new prefects lifted up their foot and placed it on the grass, confirming them as the new prefects of Weston College. He grimaced from the thought of everything that occurred in only that couple of months.
Meanwhile, over at Buckingham Palace, Ciel Phantomhive and Queen Victoria were having a discussion over tea.
"Reanimating the dead?" Queen Victoria questioned.
"I understand it is difficult to ask your majesty to believe such a thing..." Ciel quickly responded but was cut off by the older woman smiling in front of him.
"I would never doubt your words, my boy. Reanimating the dead and then manipulating them...what horrifying technology. One that may someday prove a threat to Great Britain. My boy. I do hope you will continue sniffing around with that adorable little nose of yours."
"You may count on it, your majesty. I shall report back as soon as I discover anything."
Once their discussion had come to an end, Ciel bid the queen farewell and left the palace, joining his butler in the carriage.
"You must be exhausted." Sebastian commented as the carriage traveled through London.
"Quite. I'd like to get home on the double and relax with some sweets." Ciel responded tiredly.
"I will prepare something as soon as we return...Ah, yes." Sebastian said in realization as he took out a small envelope and a large one. "I received this from the postman as we were about to leave. It should keep you busy until we reach the manor."
"Hm?" Ciel mumbled as he took the envelopes from the demon. He held onto the large envelope but handed back the smaller one. "I don't want it. Throw it away."
"Oh? You do not mind discarding a letter from your former schoolmate without so much as a glance?"
"I don't mind. I have no plans to return to that stuffy miniature garden."
"Is that so?" Sebastian smirked to his master as the carriage finally arrived at the Phantomhive manor.
Upon exiting the carriage, the duo stared in surprise at the sight of a flock of sheep that surrounded the entrance to the manor.
"What the heavens...is this?" Sebastian wondered in bewilderment.
"Oh! Young master. Mister Sebastian." Finnian acknowledged as he held onto one of the sheep. "Welcome back!"
"Welcome back!...says Emily." Snake said in a feminine voice before returning to his normal voice.
"Old man Sam's farm fence seems to have collapsed." Baldroy explained as he struggled holding onto a sheep.
"Gyah! Don't eat my skirt. Don't, I say!" Mey-Rin exclaimed in surprise as she tried to tug her dress away from a sheep trying to chew on it.
"Ah! That chap's headed for the herb garden!...says Wilde." Snake pointed out.
"Waah! No, no!" Finnian exclaimed as he and the other servants took off after the sheep. "Wait!!"
"Heh!" Ciel chuckled in amusement for a moment before clearing his throat.
"Is something the matter?" Sebastian asked.
"No, it's nothing...a lawn is simply a lawn. Tidy up quickly and prepare my afternoon tea."
"Yes, my lord."
After Sebastian helped the other servants return the sheep to where they belong, he headed into the kitchen to prepare his master's tea.
"Now, what shall I make today?" the demon asked himself as he took off his coat and fixed it before hanging up, taking out the small envelope from McMillan in the process. Upon opening it, he ignored the letter and took out the picture of Ciel standing among his fellow blue house cricket team. "My. This photograph came out quite nicely."
Before he crumpled it, he thought better and decided to deliver it to a certain red-haired female. He set the picture to the side and crumpled up McMillan's letter, lighting it on fire with a match, and tossed it into small furnace for the stove.
"Now then. Time to bake the young master an extra-sweet cake."
Meanwhile, back at Buckingham Palace...
"Tell me, John." Queen Victoria addressed her butler as she sipped her tea. "Reanimated corpses with no feelings of pain or dread...The very thought terrifies me. What should we do if such monsters attack us?"
"I shall protect you in place of Prince Albert without fail." John responded.
"Heh, thank you. But...would you not agree that if such monsters were to become our allies...it would be quite splendid?"