Crossover Together ~クロスオーバ 一緒に~

Another morning at the Phantomhive manor. After the main morning practice of dressing, Ciel Phantomhive was about ready for the day as he'll ever be. All night, he'd been working his own investigative brain on that kid he saw at the market, and so had his close butler. His preparations for his visitors had begun to come to start after breakfast, and while Ciel was working his mind, Sebastian was busy with his own work on the visit. Ciel had given him the instructions during morning orientation, the list in his hand as he walked down the hall, but Sebastian had more than his own tasks to handle. His main objective was preparing the house itself in terms of cleaning, but other tasks were still in order: meal preparations, proper table setup, exceptional service, that sort of thing. Sebastian may be a good butler, but he wasn't going to tackle all of these himself. Not first and foremost anyway. In fact, his first task was actually re-assignment to the other persons in the manor, whom of which Sebastian was actually looking for. They should be up by now. ...

"AAHH!"

*crash*

"There they are," Sebastian thought. He stayed calm, and began his walk down the hall to the source of the noise. His walk stopped at one of the many manor doors, and he soon found the problem the second he opened it.

Looking in, the room itself was just one fancy room out of many. A nice study room with plenty of book shelves stacked high with many sorts of literary works. A few couches stood around a smaller table as well. However, there was one detail to accommodate it. One look, and Sebastian saw plenty of books that had accidentally toppled over, leaving nothing but a complete mess of a book pile on the floor. Standing nearby, another person stood in complete embarrassment nearby. This girl, with velvet hair to show, was in fact another worker at the Phantomhive manor, a maid as a matter of fact. The typical look of black and white maid attire signified her look and job placement, with a pair of large glasses over her eyes. Judging by the book still in her hand, she tried to get her book, only to have several follow with her.

"Mey-Rin," said Sebastian, making his appearance known to her. Bad enough she goofed, now it had to be in front of a crowd. Mey-Rin froze up, completely red in the face.

"I-I'm sorry, I tried to get a book and -"

"Now, now, there's no need for that. Where're the others?" Sebastian asked. Before Mey-Rin could answer ...

"AAAHHH, HELP!"

No need to. Sebastian and Mey-Rin looked out from the same room, only to find another worker in his own problems. While Mey-Rin and her issue was more understandable, this one's issue was a runaway server's cart, with him stuck on it as it sped out of control down the hall! Sebastian and Mey-Rin stood just out of the way as it sped by, only to see it and the worker crash at the end of the hall! Another problem for Sebastian to sort out.

As for this worker, he was a fellow butler like Sebastian, and the outfit also resembled the typical black attire, yet there was more of an overcoat in his outfit. His hair was long, dark brown and was tied back into a fairly long ponytail, tied together with some red ribbon to make a bow, and a smaller set of glasses also were on his face, though these were more formal than actual vision aid. ... Though the crash looked like he needed it. He was on the ground in a heap, broken glass, and tossed silverware around him, as a broken tea cup stayed stuck on his head. Unhurt for the most part, but still embarrassing.

"I told you to watch it, you eget!" Shouted another voice down the hall. This one, another butler of the Phantomhive house, was running down the hall to catch up to the trouble. This butler was not as formal as the others were: no black overcoat on him for one thing, and a stray cigarette in his mouth. He looked a bit scruffy in the face, with a sort of 5 o'clock thing going on with his face, with short blonde hair. Far as looks go, this one didn't seem to fit too well when compared to the others. As inconvenient as the accident was, it was still convenient to find the other butlers show up for Sebastian.

"How convenient you're all here."

"Oh dear, oh dear, I'm so sorry! How can I even cope with such sorrow?" The broken butler sobbed, very guilty for wrecking their set. Sebastian cleared his throat.

"Anyway. Everyone, we have a special guest coming this afternoon so I'm expecting you all to begin preparations," informed Sebastian, in a manor as if he too was a master amongst them. Quickly, they all got together to receive their instructions.

"Mey-Rin, you are supposed to set up the dining room for our guest," Sebastian began. The look on her face told him that it actually slipped her mind. Sebastian turned to the next worker.

"Grell, you and Mey-Rin are to help serve our guest during his stay. I also expect none of this kind of trouble in the meantime," Sebastian made clear, referring to the wrecked cart. Grell looked down to his feet in shame, but just nodded.

"Bardroy. Shouldn't you be preparing for today's meal?" questioned Sebastian. Bardroy was a bit more casual about it compared to the others, but Sebastian was a bit more firm than that. It did seem that much of the manor was kind of behind on things. As per expected far as Sebastian was concerned. Either way, Sebastian did his part in instructing the other butlers and maid in what needed to be done.

"Right. Well, our guest should be arriving soon, so get to work," Sebastian instructed, just before going off to handle his duty. Grell, Bardroy, and Meyrin waited a bit until Sebastian passed a corner in the hall.

"Alright, now'a our chance," said Bardroy. Grell and Mey-Rin looked to the confident Bardroy.

"Sebastian looks down on us all the time, but today'll be so perfect, he won't even know what hit him. ACK! ... YEAH, that's what he'll say!"

"ACK!" gasped Grell and Mey-Rin.

"That's for him to say, not you."

~~

Meanwhile, farther away from the manor, their guests were starting to near the Phantomhive estate. Nagisa and his friends had started going bright and early, though it was mainly because Pinkie Pie got them moving. The walk was an okay one, albeit a bit long, and Pinkie Pie was way in the lead of the others in her stride, excited to get to the estate for this supposed party. Any party will be met by the pink gal, no matter what! The wilderness and path they went through was a pretty nice bit of scenery during their walk.

"Come on, slowpokes!" Pinkie called.

"I know you're anxious about this visit ... are these outfits necessary?" Questioned Nagisa.

As for the outfits, Pinkie Pie did quite a makeover on what they should be wearing. Instead of their usual outfits, or at least the casual clothes they came to London, Pinkie had the courtesy to dress them in more formal outfits for London. Nagisa, Karma, and Aladdin had colored formal suits while Twilight, Blair, and Pinkie were in formal dresses. Each one had their own flair to it:
Karma Akabane had a rather radiant red suit, though as he would with his school attire, the main overcoat was unbuttoned to show the white undershirt.
Nagisa Shiota, and Aladdin, had on blue suits though there were some differences between the two. For Nagisa, his suit had a dark blue color throughout, accompanied with white gloves, and Pinkie had him add a Swanna feather to his hair.
Aladdin's was very close to Nagisa's but his was a lighter blue. He was allowed to keep the turban and headstone on him, though his scarab Pinkie gave him was pinned to the suit like a badge.
For Twilight, she had a violet dress, with lavender flairs along the bottom trim. She also had white gloves, though hers reached up to her elbows.
Blair also had a purple formal attire on her, though she altered it up so she could make it 'her own' per say - having it show more cleavage, and having it only reaching her knees, as much as she'll allow.

Quite a set.

"Of course, it's a party! And we're going to a fancy house, so it can work!" Pinkie cleared up.

"Well, at least these outfits fit us. Come on, we gotta be close," Aladdin said, going on ahead with Pinkie Pie. Least one of them didn't mind the outfits too much. Honestly, it really didn't take too long until they began to see a building come up from the wood. From where they were, the building may seem decent, but they quickly found out that this was no simple cabin in the woods. There was no doubt that this was the Phantomhive manor, according to directions given to them from the invitation. It took them all a while before they all start to near the manor, and some of them couldn't help but be impressed with the place of Phantomhive stay. This was it, and as Karma told them, they might as well go on for the ride and see what happens now. Soon, Nagisa found himself over right at the front door.

"Well, here goes nothing," he thought. They were here, and they might as well get things started whatever the case may be.

Nagisa stood right at the front door, and gave a good knock onto it. Once that was done, he took a few steps back and waited for something to happen. Nothing seemed to occur at first, leaving them all just standing there at the front of the Phantomhive manor. Eventually though, someone did end up answering the door, and soon the group got their first look at one of the house residents. However, this wasn't really Grell, Bardroy, or Mey Rin who answered. Instead, this butler look a lot older than they were, elderly even with his grey hair and mustache. The appearance of said man had a clear look of a aristocrat: a sophisticated suit, white gloves on his hands, and a monocle over his eye. Clearly this man had the look that screams that he owned the place. Genetically speaking, anyway.

"Ah. Nice of you to come," the man said, seeing Nagisa first. It took him a bit before noticing the rest of the crowd just behind him.

"I see you brought some company on your way?" He asked. Nagisa nodded.

"They're my friends, Mr. Phantomhive, uh, sir," Nagisa said. He still was a bit uneasy to how things were going, but this man seemed friendly enough. The man though felt a little bashful about the identity bit.

"Phantomhive? Oh, no, that's not me. The house's steward, perhaps. I'll go inform the young earl of your arrival," the man said, and soon he walked off on his way, as the rest walked in. The entrance room itself was enough to show how big the place was, a set of stairs going upward in front and splitting off the the left and right mid way to the other floors. The walls, rimming on the stairs and second floor, the floor under their feet, and practically everything else all looked very high-class. Still, the front room gave them a whole lot of room to walk around if they so wanted to. They were a bit curious over who the exact owner of the house actually was now, if not the man who invited them in at the front. However, as they were standing there, Nagisa's eyes began to wander a bit, looking around the manor. They all waited around the front for another minute, until they began to hear more footsteps coming their way, just to find the same man, and Ciel coming in. ...

That shiver began to creep back onto Nagisa once he saw him.

"Hello!" Pinkie said upon seeing him. Ciel didn't say hello straight away, and soon saw Nagisa standing nearby.

"So you're the earl of this place, huh? " Karma commented as Ciel walked over to them.

"I am. Tanaka informed me you had company with you," Ciel said, looking to Nagisa. Nagisa tried to keep himself relaxed.

"That'd be us, Mr. Phantomhive," Aladdin said. Ciel didn't look to amused though, which made Aladdin a little uneasy. Ciel looked over each one of them with his one eye, the young earl seemingly judging them straight away. Each one of them almost immediately noticed just how different this all looked. For one, Ciel was only a foot taller than Aladdin, but shorter than the rest of them were. This young kid not only had an eyepatch, but the apparent owner of this manor. Either he's really lucky, or matured a little too quickly in persona.

"Well, I suppose we can adapt to the situation. Sebastian!" Ciel called. It was then that Sebastian came in from upstairs, walking down with a small pocket watch in hand.

"Is lunch ready just yet?" Ciel asked, as Sebastian stepped over towards them, stopping when he was next to his master. Nagisa only needed one look at the butler to feel the shiver creep up on him again, trying to keep it together.

"Not quite, but it will be shortly," informed Sebastian. Lunch did sound pretty good to a number of them, the walk from their hotel to the Phantomhive manor leaving them rather hungry.

"Oh goodie," Pinkie said, licking her lips. Ciel simply nodded..

"Looks like lunch will have to wait. Nevermind, If you'll follow me. Sebastian, be sure the others are on form," instructed Ciel.

"Yes, my lord," Sebastian said, starting to go off on his way to check on the rest. Officially invited now, the others started to follow Ciel, but Nagisa couldn't help but glance at Ciel and Sebastian as he went on with the others. Nagisa felt his skin crawl as he looks to both Ciel and Sebastian. Ciel may seem more physically troubling, but Sebastian ... something felt wrong. He took a few steps into the crowd, as if trying to hide from them, but Nagisa tried his absolute best to keep calm.

"Let's hope the others don't cause more confusion," Ciel thought.

~~

After a short, and quiet walk through the halls of the manor, they all were soon at the Phantomhive study. Lucky for some of the workers, Sebastian had cleaned up the previous mess in the study before the guests got there, all of the books placed back onto the shelf. Many of the guests got comfortable in the study, most of them sitting on the couches with only Karma and Pinkie standing close by.

"You know, you got it made here. How many kids grow up in a place like this?" Commented Twilight. Being a bit of a book worm herself, she was the most impressed with the study hall.

"It does get a bit dull after a while, but yes," said Ciel, as he took a sip of his tea. A rather typical response for any aristocrat when it came to this, but it was true. Nagisa, who was sitting furthest away from the earl, was still trying to handle himself as they continued talking.

"You got a good thing going here, Mr. Phantomhive. How'd you get all of this?"

"The Phantomhive manor has been in my family for generations, passed down from one earl to the next," explained Ciel.

"You must got your earl status rather early then. Your parents must've really trusted you."

Suddenly, Ciel was quiet. He was about to take another sip of his tea when Aladdin made the comment, the cup now just being held in mid air. The silence was quickly caught by Aladdin, who felt a bit more uneasy now than before. It was as if Ciel was taking in some rough memories, by the look on his face.

"... Did I say the wrong thing?" Aladdin asked meekly.

"No. Both my parents had been dead for three years now. Rather unfortunate, of course. Since I was the only remaining direct bloodline to the previous master earl, naturally it was passed down to me."

They all were taken aback on some level by this new information, and once more, how calm Ciel went on to just say it. It would possibly explain why he was the current earl of the Phantomhive house, and perhaps even the eyepatch now shown on Ciel's face. If this subject was a harsh one, Aladdin knew better than to continue on the details.

"I-I'm so sorry," Aladdin said.

"I suggest changing the subject," Ciel decided, taking a sip of his tea. He may have accepted the fact, but Ciel didn't want to continue on the matter any further. On the other hand, it was bound to be brought up sooner or later, and he was at least glad to get it out and over with.

"When is that lunch going to be ready?" Ciel thought.

.......

"How exactly did this happen?"

And unfortunately, some things amongst the preparations weren't going so smoothly. After going to check in on the other workers, Sebastian found himself in a heap of a mess in a number of spots. The main thing in this case was a broken set of dishes on the floor in one room, a burnt-up lunch in the kitchen, AND a messed-up dining hall decor.

"I-I was trying to reach for our tea set, but I tripped and the cabinet fell," Mey-Rin started, feeling rather meek about it.

"I thought things would go faster, but I tried tried to tidy up the floor and everything spilt," put in Grell.

"It was a lot for lunch to prepare, and it was gonna take a long time, so I used my flamethrower," finished Bardroy.

Well, so much for Bardroy's idea of 'impressing Sebastian'. In fact, Sebastian almost expected such from the three: Grell and Mey-Rin in a tizzy while Bardroy just turned away. At least Tanaka wasn't as much trouble as this trio. Regardless of the case, Sebastian simply started to clean up the mess of broken glass first as he informed the others.

"Well then, I suppose you can leave the rest to me and relax for a bit. But I need you to do well - very well - during lunch this afternoon."

"... He said it twice," noted Bardroy.

"Very serious," added Grell.

Far as things would go, they'd better get their acts together.

~~

After a short, and quiet walk through the halls of the manor, they all were soon at the Phantomhive dining hall. The room was pretty large, and rather long as well to accommodate the dining room table, which itself was large enough to easily fit in all of them with plenty of spare seats. While many of the chairs were nice, the master chair at the end of the table kinda dwarfed them with the large cushion headrest. It was clear that this was for the earl and only the earl. Nagisa, Blair, and Karma sat beside eachother on the left side, and Aladdin, Twilight, and Pinkie on the right. Not too much of a problem for them, and evened out one side of the long table. Ciel, of course, took his seat at the head of the table, putting himself next to Twilight and Nagisa. For the lunch that was prepared, they each had a good plate of roasted pheasant, mash potatoes and an Oran berry side salad, and cup of tea (naturally). Around the table, Sebastian, Mey-Rin, Bardroy, Tanaka, and Grell were there as well with the servers cart in case anyone needed any refills and/or any dishes to be put away. As far as casual eats go, this was a fairly decent one. The meal of pheasant was better than the Remoraid meat meal last night. Aladdin and Pinkie were digging right into their meals, but Nagisa was less hungry and more bothered. He could even feel a little sweat going down his face at this point, using a napkin to dot away the unsightly sweat. The others didn't really notice, and even if they did, they didn't question it.

"This pheasant is simply Devine!" Pinkie commented, tasting how delicious the pheasant meal was.

"So, why don't you live in town? I think it might be easier for you there rather than here," asked Blair, as she took a bite of the pheasant. It wasn't fish, but it was still delicious for a cat like her.

"There's no need for me to stay amongst the commoners. Besides, there's no room in the city for the manor," Ciel replied.

"Can I have some more please?" Twilight asked kindly, her cup empty. Ciel just needed to look over to the others nearby, and Grell immediately began to grab the kettle for their drink. Can't have any glasses unfilled, can you? Unfortunately, Karma glanced down at Grell's feet, and noticed that they were a little unsteady. Next thing you know ...

"AH! HOT, HOT, HOT!"

Spilt hot tea, and right onto Mey-Rin! One simple misstep on this clumsy butler and that was all it took to mess things up. Not that it wasn't anything new for this group. Grell began to freak out on seeing Mey-Rin like this, the others watching what was going on.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Uh, here, I'll wipe it off!" Grell said, reaching for a spare napkin on the table ... just for the rest of it to be pulled with it. A few plates, cups, and side dishes ended up knocked over, and some tumbling to the floor, much to Grell's dismay. The butler jumped to his feet, freaked out and failed in a simple task like this. The others in the group were kinda left a little speechless, Ciel bringing his hand to his forehead.

"Master, why'd you hire such a useless idiot?" questioned Bardroy.

"You're one to talk," commented Ciel.

"Eh ... maybe I'll get my own tea," Twilight said meekly. Guess this was a time to not open her mouth. Grell just stayed on the floor in crippling embarrassment. However, what happened next took everyone off guard.

"I'm so sorry for causing such trouble. I can't apologize enough ... Wait, that's it! The only thing I could do now is die! I SHALL ATONE WITH MY DEATH!" Suddenly Grell was on his knees, and a silver knife in his hands, the blade aimed down directly at his throat! That surely got the guests to jump, but before they could do anything, Sebastian was already on it, placing a hand on Grell's shoulder.

"Now, there's no need for that," Sebastian calmly stated. Grell stopped for a moment, and turned to him. The others were grateful someone talked Grell out of it. ...

"Just think of the mess you'd make. It would take hours to clean up all of the blood."

"... Thank you. such kindness," said Grell, now smiling and deeply grateful ... for whatever reason.

"That was kindness?" questioned Aladdin. Pinkie and Twilight shook their heads. Soon, Sebastian got himself the kettle.

"Perhaps you should go and relax for a bit before you should cause anymore trouble. I'll take care of it."

After that little drama shift, Sebastian was pouring tea to refill the cups, and it was during this that he caught Nagisa's attention. The way he moved from one guest to another just made it feel like he was just looming amongst them, sneaking by each and every one of them with his tea kettle and his gentle offer of tea to them as he went. Nagisa felt himself gulp, and more sweat and shivers go through him. The added information from Ciel did not make Nagisa feel any better.

"You care for some more tea, Ms. Kagayaki?" Asked Sebastian. Twilight nodded, and Sebastian went on to fill her cup. Nagisa watched this from afar, and it was like watching someone calmly pour poison into her drink, that sort of feeling washed over him. What was going on here?

"Nagisa ... Nagisa?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry, sorry, what's the question?" Nagisa said. He ended up lost in thought, and a few demands from Blair finally got him around.

"You alright? You got that look again," whispered Blair, referring to his troubled expression. Nagisa relaxed a little bit (as much as his state would let him).

"I-I don't know ..."

"More tea, Mr. Shiota?"

And there was Sebastian right behind him! Now, his body was starting to go completely off the beam: shivers all over him, his nerves reeved up, and left completely tense. Nagisa felt cold, and he didn't have a single clue why. Nagisa looked up to Sebastian, the mere sight of him was enough to leave Nagisa humbled at the very least. ...

"No thank you. Uh, excuse me, but where is, uh ..."

"Take a turn to your left down the hall, sixth door to your right," said Ciel. The rattled up kid then got up, and began to go off. Twilight though saw that something else was going on inside Nagisa's head. Nagisa was too overwhelmed to stay around here any longer, and soon as he stepped out of the dining hall, his walk turned into a run. The only one who got up was Twilight, just catching him go down the hall a few more feet. As for Nagisa himself, he continued running for a while longer until he managed to find where the front door was. He wasted no time in getting that door open, and going straight outside. The poor kid's nerves didn't calm down until he got himself there, and now was when Twilight came out of hiding.

"Nagisa, what happened back there? You feeling okay?" Twilight asked. Nagisa stayed quiet at first, but he knew Twilight's voice better than anyone. His close friend wasn't going to leave him hanging.

"Nagisa, come on it's me. What's wrong?" Twilight asked again. Nagisa finally turned to Twilight.

"I ... I don't know what happened. Twilight, listen to me. Something feels ... off about this place," Nagisa said, looking back to the manor.

"Know what you mean. Such a lonely place, too."

Both Twilight and Nagisa took a moment to look back at the manor. An old, yet well-maintained building placed so far away from everyone else in London. It just advertises that something was amidst. This odd feeling Nagisa kept getting in regard to this place didn't make things any better, but Twilight did have a theory in mind.

"Nagisa. You don't think ..."

"No, there can't be a demon in there. You see one in there, cuz I don't!" Nagisa insisted. His demons didn't look anything human, at least from his experience. Even if that was the case, why was his sense acting up still? He would've been calm and collective if that was true. Either way, Twilight didn't want to keep going with this if Nagisa was just going to be a nervous wreck the whole time here.

"Here, the others are still eating. We'll finish lunch, and then we'll head back to our hotel, and then enjoy the rest of our vacation. Deal?" Twilight offered. Nagisa felt like it would be simple enough, but he needed a little bit before he looked to Twilight in the eyes.

"Ok, deal. I think I can handle it until then," Nagisa decided.

Seemed fair enough.

~~

Sometime later, after Nagisa and Twilight returned to the rest, lunch was over and done. Ciel had separated from the others to check in on some other business, leaving the others to themselves inside the manor with the other servants. Nothing to worry about as far as Ciel was concerned. Ciel took the time to stop into his personal office for some needed work time, and some alone time to study on his guests. Ciel was in the middle of his thoughts when Sebastian stepped in.

"Sebastian?"

"My lord. I believe I got some entail about your guests. They're apparently well aware about the demons in our world," Sebastian informed. Ciel remained unfazed by this news, but still listened.

"Is that so? Aware how?"

"Seems Nagisa Shiota had sensed this presence ever since arriving to the manor, my lord," explained Sebastian. Apparently Nagisa and Twilight had a sort of shadow during their little excursion outside.

"I see. See to it that you get some more details," Ciel instructed. Sebastian simply nodded, and went back outside of the room to get the information. Well, this did seem to open a few options for this young earl, leaving the Phantomhive in more thought. This could give him some more insight, and might explain a thing or two. This was something that he needed to know more about.

"He knew about demons, huh? This could use some more looking into ..."

"Not on your life, codger."

Ciel did not recognize that voice, but before he could even react to anything, something ended up covering his mouth and nose, appearing to be a sort of cloth.

Then, it's lights out.

.......

"Young master? I-I do hope you're not upset at me, but I brought you your afternoon tea."

A short time later, there stood Grell with a good set of tea for his young earl. He stood at the door, wondering if the young earl was still cross with him or not. He did mess up pretty badly earlier, and while suicide may not seem like a viable option for Grell, he felt he was still at fault for this. As he was standing there though, no answer came from the door ...

"Master Ciel?" Grell repeated. But still no answer. Grell, humbled, and with a hint of curiousness, gently opened the door. ...

"AAAHHHH! MASTER!!"

The horror-filled scream was rather easy to catch by the rest of the manor's residents, along with Nagisa's group, and it didn't take them much longer to see what had happened within the room. One obvious, yet disturbing fact was that the room was, for a lack of a better word, ransacked! Papers, books, and chairs were left toppled down onto the ground. The back window was left wide open, a slight breeze gently swaying the curtains. Looking down onto the floor as they were examining and observing, other details of scratches were left on the floor. A struggle was clearly done here, but how long was it like this before Grell found it? Much of the workers were left surprised except for Sebastian (physical-wise anyway), and the guests were also left surprised to find their host being taken away.

"This is terrible. ... The fresh beverages will all be wasted now," Sebastian noted, glancing to the tea tray.

"Is that all your worried about?! Your damn master's been kidnapped!" Twilight snapped, not believing her ears. Some of them started to look around for some sort of clue. However, Karma suddenly began to casually walk away.

"Yeah, well, good luck with that. Think it's time for us to -"

"Karma, how can you just say that?" Pinkie snapped, overly shocked.

"Hey, it's not our problem," Karma shrugged. As this went on, Twilight went in to check by Ciel's desk. On his desk, claw marks stained the desk, but there was something else put down onto the desk that made Twilight shutter. The look on her face got Aladdin, Bardroy, Sebastian and Blair to investigate as well, and they too saw the same thing. On the table, stained in blood, a similar Ouroboros gleamed in the faint light.

"The Ouroboros insignia," Twilight stated.

"A Alchemic symbol of the everlasting cycle of life and death. Dating back to the 14th century, I believe," added Sebastian. Grell was frantically looking out the only known exit where Ciel would've been pulled out of, but he wasn't seeing much of anything. Least he can say that Ciel didn't kill himself jumping out the window, since he didn't see any body or blood in the ground and near shrubs. Karma overheard what they were saying, and tried to think up more on the exact symbol in question.

"That demon's still running around, huh? Whatever," Karma thought with a sigh, remembering the fight with one particular demon single-handedly before Korosensei made things easy. That Ouroboros symbol was on him. And seeing a blood-stained Ouroboros on Ciel's desk meant only he was the one who must've taken him.

"Oh dear. Grell, Mey-Rin, Bardroy, have this mess cleaned up by the time I get back," Sebastian instructed. Not his place to order, but Sebastian had Ciel Phantomhive to find, and they were on a tight schedule. After that order, Sebastian went right to the window, and started going up onto the window sill!

"WHOA, hold it!" Aladdin gasped, but he couldn't catch Sebastian in time, the butler jumping right outside! However, rather than a true suicide upon landing, Sebastian was just fine upon landing. They looked to the Ouroboros, and then Karma began to think on it a bit more. He could just go off and just leave Ciel to his own issues, thus getting him and his friends out of trouble. ...

"Your class had to face up against an entire school in terms of grades, and while the highest ranking students put in their high grades to impress, you on the other hand have, nothing. Only fair: for that's what your non-profited, devil-care attitude has contributed towards your class, and to your cause. See where I'm going with this? ... Anyone who refuses to apply themselves, and let the chips fall where they may, are destined for disappointment! So is the blade of the lazy assassin."

He didn't consider it much at the time, too angry to think it over, but now looking at the situation, it seems like he was starting to figure things out. Here was the earl, now taken by an enemy only HE knew, and he's considering just letting these bag of chips fall where they will despite what was going on. ...

"Your one hell of a teacher." Karma quietly commented.

"Huh? You say something?" Questioned Bardroy. Suddenly, Karma was smirking, and cracking his knuckles.

"Come on, gang. We got an earl to bring home."

~~

He couldn't remotely grasp what had happened. He was just in his office thinking about his guests, just to get knocked out by the cloth method. He managed to get himself to, but when he did, he found himself in a bit of a predicament. His hands and legs were tied up, and left him laying down in some sort of cabin. Hardwood floors, very little furniture to speak of apart of a bed, a small furnace, and a seat and table by a window. The only door was rather crudely barricaded by a plank of wood with a dresser. Ciel himself was left over on the bed, and he tried to get himself moved around, even a little bit. It wasn't too much use though, and once more, his captor was sitting casually down over by the window, legs kicked up onto the table, and hands resting behind his head. It looked like a man, mid forties by the looks of it, with pale skin, and looking like the spitting image of Sebastian, except for different colored eyes and a small set of glasses.

"What do you think your doing?" Ciel demanded.

"Ah, I see your awake, sir Phantomhive. I'm just having you stay here for a while," the man said. Rather than get scared like any other, Ciel simply glared.

"You do realize how big of a mistake you've made," Ciel warned.

"I planned on it. An Ekens adder can't slither near this building without my patrols blasting it to bits. I'd be happy to release you once ransom is paid forward."

How typical. A rich child getting captured for ransom money. Honestly, it sounded VERY cliche and too textbook, but one that still seemed accurate when it comes to getting cash, and if this man was telling the truth, then it was going to be difficult for any help to get itself through to him. Still, Ciel simply laid down, and awaited for what surely will come. He was sure of it. For the man, he looked outside to the wilderness, the place of stay being pretty high elevated to see the landscape. They didn't appear to be near any sort of civilization, so help from officials was going to take a very long time. What WAS around though was what appeared to be plenty of guards on duty, roaming around the perimeter in patrols and lookout. Ciel was as good as kept by the looks of it.

Just outside of the cabin, about a good mile away, there was indeed one man willing to get his master out. Hidden off by some nearby foliage, Sebastian had just managed to get himself within distance of the kidnapper's base, the patrolling guards not noticing the intruder just yet as they continued their patrolling. Sebastian wasn't all too worried, but he still wasn't going to let his master be taken hostage like this. He took a glance at his pocket watch for a moment before shutting it, the notable click making some guards stop and do a check on the surrounding area. In their eyes, they saw nothing to be put on guard over, and silence kept up for another minute before they went back to patrolling. Sebastian was just about to get moving again, but he began to sense another presence moving in towards him.

"Hey, Sebastian. Found the earl yet?"

Sebastian glanced back, just to find Karma, Nagisa, and the rest right there with him. The others at the manor stayed to clean up the mess, leaving the rest to go off to here.

"Come to aid the humble butler, are you?" Sebastian questioned.

"That's why we're out here. We can't have our host getting captured on us, right?" Karma said. Sebastian was in no mood to look after these kids while trying to save his master.

"Perhaps it's best you just go back to the manor."

"Sebastian, we wanna help you, please? Just let us help you get Ciel back. We won't slow you down," Aladdin said. Sebastian could see that they were willing to help, but before he could decide, the guards seeming caught sight of them! The sound of commands and footsteps closed in on them, as a number of armed guards charged in. Sebastian didn't have time to really get a choice in word wise.

"Suppose there's no time for a choice."

"Good man. Just keep the guards at bay as much as you can, and we'll fetch your Phantomhive," Karma instructed. As circumstance goes, Sebastian went to it. So, as the others started to go on ahead, Sebastian confronted the other guards to give them time to pass. There wasn't much time to answer such questions. All they had to do was just keep moving. They both heard guns go off, but only for about twenty seconds before abruptly cutting short, just to have Sebastian rush past them, almost in a blur. He was on form, no doubt.

For the next minute, the forest was alive with guards! And this forest was filled up completely, from on the ground to even up in the treetops! Many a guard had at least one firearm locked and loaded, all aimed for these intruders. Lucky for the group, it seemed Sebastian was easily taking care of them as they went. The group stopped at one point in the forest, hidden just out of sight under some brush.

"Where is he?" asked Nagisa. Far as he knew, he was the only protection they got against these guards, and bullets were scraping the trees during each shot. When they heard the bullets of these guards stop, they continued forward. Most of the group were getting a bit frazzled by some of the noises being made: gunfire, blades, and loud grunts and yells of pain time and time again. At one point, Nagisa looked over to his right, and he saw about five guards up in alarm. Sebastian came into frame, and he was suddenly (and disturbingly casually) roasting them with a portable flamethrower! The sight of this made Nagisa skid to a halt, looking on in horror.

"Nagisa, move it!" Blair said, grabbing his arm and pulling him along. Nothing worse than to just stand in the middle of a firing zone. Sebastian did see them, and after his roasting, rushed over alongside them.

"See you're doing well," Sebastian said as they ran.

"Told you we'd stay outta trouble," Karma said, unfazed by this craziness they were in. Nagisa looked over to Sebastian during this. He was troubled, yes, but now was no time for that. They had Ciel to get, and he'll have to figure them out later.

Finally, after what felt like a marathon of running, they all began to catch sight of the cabin where Ciel was being held captive, and then did they slow down. Sebastian took care of the guards, so they only had their boss to handle inside. However, twilight, Nagisa, and Blair were a bit winded from their dash. At least they didn't have to avoid getting shot at anymore. They looked out to the cabin, Sebastian looking deeply through the window. It was hard to see, and while he could see the face of the boss through the window just fine, he only just caught sight of a body on the bed still. And he knew that body better than anyone else.

"That's my lord alright. And so is our one thieving rat," Sebastian noted, seeing the man look back out.

"K, now how're we going to do this? Any ideas?" Nagisa asked. They took a lot of effort just to get here, and they knew this kidnapper wasn't gonna give him up just because they were there. Karma already had his idea though.

"I got this. You wait here, I'll get him out," Karma decided.

"What? Karma, your unarmed!" Twilight pointed out.

"Tell me something I don't know. One of you just be ready to get in there while I keep the boss busy," Karma said. Before anyone could stop him, he went right on out of hiding, into sight of the boss in the cabin. Karma was not just going to mess around and one thing go along, he's gonna make this happen! So, Karma got himself in position in plain sight just outside the cabin, right in the opening. The boss in the cabin smiled deviously, and started to head for the window rather than the door. In a agile jump, the man leaped out of the window, armed and ready. Time to start this dance.

"I knew someone would show up. So, where's that ransom?"

"Sorry, don't have any of your queen's coins. By a knock-off at the gift shop."

The man armed up, and aimed his weapons at Karma, who while a little humbled, was ready to get his legs running.

"I dunno how you're got pass my guards, but this is where you stop."

"So cliche."

And just like that, the shots start to fire. Karma quickly started to move, trying to get the boss to run off. The boss stayed firm, but as more shots keep missing him, he started to get even more upset and began to close in. Just what the others wanted.

"Sebastian, think you can go with Karma? We'll get Mr. Phantomhive out and meet with you later," Twilight asked. Sebastian took a look towards the cabin, and sensed that things were alright before he went off after Karma. The group, now free, went right for the door of the cabin. However, the door was locked up tight here, and they couldn't get the door open.

"Damnit, door's locked."

"Ahead of ya," Blair said, going right for the window. It was fairly easy for her to handle getting in, and she was quick to find little Ciel tied up on the bed. So, Blair got busy, and pulled the cabinet out of the way to let the others in before going for Ciel.

"Come on, earl, it's time for a rescue," Blair said, as the others came in. Aladdin and Twilight begun to untie Ciel, but the young earl was looking over the rest of the crowd here, seeing that something was missing.

"Isn't there supposed to be six of you?" Ciel asked, now freed from the rope.

"Yeah, but Karma's handling business. He and Sebastian will pop back around," said Pinkie.

.......

Farther away, Karma was still running amok with the boss on his tail. His dodgy movements made him a hard target to hit for the boss. Each bullet narrowly missed Karma, showing this guy wasn't too good of a shot. Still, Karma knew what he was doing, and he stopped when the only sound he heard was clicking of an unloaded gun. Well, so much for that.

"Run out of bullets there?" Karma mocked. The man, angry, just threw the gun at Karma, just to miss.

"Damnit, why can't you just stand still?!" The boss yelled.

"And why can't you show your face? Come on, we both know why you really did that," Karma said.

It was time to get to business. They were alone, again, and back at even stevens, with no weapon for either of them. For the man, it was no point in hiding anymore.

"I Thought I killed you back in Tokyo."

"You think you can kill me that easily? Ha! And looks like you ditched that fancy stick back in Japan," mocked Envy. Karma could really use that sword right about now, and Envy looked ready to rumble and finish what he started.

"And look at that, you're all alone again. There's no 'Korosensei' to save you now!" Envy said, starting to close the gap between Karma and himself. No way he was going to let this one get away from him this time! As he was running -

"Perhaps."

AND bam, something lands right on Envy's back. Karma stood still at the sudden launch, and soon the Homunculus was on the ground, Sebastian suddenly standing tall on top of him!

"DAMN IT! GET OFF!" Envy yelled, teeth grinding, and glaring at the butler.

"Don't be too hasty now, only following instructions. I assume your fair, Karma?" Sebastian said.

"Yeah, I'm cool. Keep him around though," Karma simply replied. Now that someone else was here, Envy got back to acting off his own character.

"Ok, you got me. Go on, kill me. Least it's been -"

"Nah. I'm not that kind of person. Besides, we're not done," Karma suddenly said, cutting Envy off and pulling something out of his own pockets. ...

"No, I'm just getting started."

"... What the hell are those supposed to be?"

"Mustard and wasabi. Never know when you need them to shove up a nose."

"YOU WHAT?!"

~(4 hours later)~

"Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!"

Just about sunset. After Karma's little game, Envy was once again back at square one. Out in the woods again, the homunculus was releasing his inner rage out on a tree, banging his head on it over and over again. Bad enough taking the first strike being stuck in plastic, but now Deja Vu happened on him, and he got humiliated AGAIN! Talk about a sour taste. His banging and rambling were caught by two other homunculus, who were quick to find him.

"Hey, Envy. I was wondering where you'd run off to," Lust said. Envy was in no mood, his back to them, as he gripped the tree in fuming anger. Envy didn't turn around to face them right away, but Gluttony took a few sniffs in the air, smelling a different sort of scent floating in the air.

"Something smells tasty," gluttony said, licking his lips in anticipation. However, it was then that Envy turned around to face them. His expression and face said it all: a red spot on his forehead from banging against the tree, but his nose showed what he had to endure as well. The left nostril showing a dry yellow substance while the right one had a dried green substance, both mixed together on the way down to his mouth. Gluttony looked to the substance, and one whiff of that stuff gave Gluttony an idea on what might've happened to him. Even if it was hours ago, both mustard and wasabi still hold a strong scent, and one that won't be going away a while yet.

"Not a word about this from any of you," Envy hissed, as curious Gluttony got a tiny bit of it on his finger and tasting the mustard and wasabi mix, much to Envy's annoyance.

"Come on, we're here to recruit remember? Be a little patient," Lust advised, as Envy rubbed some of the mustard and wasabi out his nose onto his arm. He knew EXACTLY where his vengeance will be get at this time.

"He'll be nothing but a mutilated pile of bones when I'm through with him. You know what, no, I'll keep him as my own slave. Yeah, then he can watch all his friends die before I'm done with him! Yes," Envy growled, loving the idea. Killing him would be easy if given the right chance, but watching him die emotionally would make it even more enjoyable.

"Look Envy -"

"You know you can't pick your own slave, Homunculus."

Gluttony, Lust, and Envy began to look around on the voice. They were the only three there last time they checked, but after a bit, a fourth started to talk a casual stroll down towards them, confident and pretty chill. They'd be aggressive, but one look was all it took for immediate identification. For a start, their visitor wasn't humanoid at all, but an animal. This creature stood on all fours, about as tall as a large dog. In fact, it looked a lot like a dog overall, but with many major details to separate it from any regular pooch. His body was covered in black fur, with an orange muzzle and underbelly. His tail, fairly long and thin, ended in a triangular shape, like the head of an arrow. Speaking of the head, he had no ears, but instead had a set of sharp, curved horns. Four bone-like ridges grew down his back, and a cuff-like silver rings were around all four paws. This demon hound was suited up in a sort of rustic brown armor, with a flank plate, helmet, and chest plate with a skull on it. Around his neck was also a gold, spiked collar. Even if he appeared just smaller than Envy if one excluded the horns, his appearance still impressed a few.

"Hellgar. You again?" Envy groaned.

"Yeah. Boss wanted me to come up here and take care of a few miscreants. Just as well I did come up by the looks of it," Hellgar said, glancing over to Envy and his stains just under his nostrils. Envy glared at the demon dog as Hellgar looked over to Lust.

"So that's why I'm up here, what's your excuse?" Hellgar asked, as he started to scratch his head with his back leg.

"The boss wants us to get some more members to our side," Lust informed.

"Well, he put ya in the right place. London's a regular hotshot - a demon getaway especially in recent years. Surprised you didn't find even one candidate yet."

"Oh, not like you're any better, demon hound. Where's that pack of yours, anyway? Thought they'd revive by now. Or did boss get tired of those little bitches screwing up on him?" Envy hissed, a evil grin on his face.

"Takes a bitch to know a bitch," Hellgar simply said, unfazed by Envy's mockery. Envy's brief moment of joy was dashed on the spot, a glare returning again as Hellgar casually strolled past them all.

"Anyway, you stick to your job, I'll stick to mine. I'll have this part of the world into hell by the end of the month," Hellgar stated, almost business-like, licking his muzzle at the idea. After a bit though, Hellgar took a glance over at Gluttony, who was sucking on his finger again. Looking at him seemed to remind the demon hound of something.

"Oh, by the way Gluttony. Boss wants you to come back to the underworld for a minute. Says he's got a disposal unit for you, and they're getting rather feisty," Hellgar informed. Gluttony grew excited, much like a small child after hearing great news, his mouth immediately drooling after the mention of it, his tongue licking his lips like Hellgar did.

"Can I?" Gluttony asked Lust.

"Go ahead. We'll meet up later. I'm sure your nose will find us when you come back," Lust said. Gluttony grew almost giddy, and he immediately took off, leaving Hellgar, Envy, and Lust alone.

"There he goes," Envy commented, as Hellgar strolled on his way.

"And off we go. If I were you, I'd try the London outskirts. I be blessed if there's not at least one person who might be worth your while," Hellgar suggested. And with that, the demon hound went off on his way.

He knew what he had to do, and he knew just how to do it.