The calm morning finally arrived and everyone was more than happy to leave this manor, probably never to return again for their own safety. After having a final breakfast as a group, the carriages arrived one by one to take the guests back home and Ciel and the servants waited out with the guests and made sure that no further tragedy would ruin this happy moment. Charles kept Woodley close and in chains and eventually, the prison carriage came and he pushed Woodley inside. Despite claiming innocence before, he lost the will to fight it anymore. However, Charles seemed to have a disappointed face on him, which surprised the remaining party since he was usually the cocky one who would be more than happy to apprehend a criminal. Arthur was the last to leave, but despite everything finally being solved, he had to admit that something was still troubling him, like a piece of the puzzle was still missing. Before the carriage could pull away, Lilliana and Jeremy approached his door and knocked on it to get his attention. Once he saw them, he pushed down the window so he would be able to talk to them clearly. "Oh, hello, or should I say, farewell," Arthur said.

"I suppose you're right," Lilliana said with a smile. "Though, we couldn't help, but notice your troubled face. The case is closed, is it not?"

Arthur smiled back. "I'm all right. I don't know how we would have managed without your help, vicar. Thank you for everything you did here."

"My thanks to you," Jeremy said as he shook his hand. "Without you, I'm sure my dear niece would be in that carriage instead of Woodley."

"Oh, but we wouldn't have been able to clear her name without your help."

"No, but unlike the others, you thought logically and did not immediately try to put the fault on me and for that, I'm grateful," Lilliana said.

"I doubt we'll meet again, but I wish you well in all things," Jeremy said, before continuing, "Le Doctor, merci de prendre soin de notre jeune 'chien'." He soon knocked on the carriage, signaling the driver to pull away, but those French departing words left Arthur with more questions. No, it can't be. It's impossible! There's no way he's . . .

Once everyone had left, though, Ciel ordered the servants to attend to their morning duties, but Ciel gave Lilliana the exception to stay since she had to "say goodbye to her uncle". The four servants quickly left their side and the trio started walking toward Ciel's study. Though, Lilliana did say that she had to leave sometime during the day to complete one more task some miles away. "You don't think he'll come back, do you?" she asked.

"Who knows. You gave him enough attention during his stay that he could come back to marry you," Ciel teased.

"It was strictly platonic, my lord. Authors like him remind me of an exam I had to take to become a certified Reaper. Sadly, he died before his masterpiece could be published. It's sad in retrospect, but at the time, that was the least of my concerns."

"And I assume you passed?" Jeremy asked.

"Oh no, I failed that test. Well, only I did. My partners managed to collect the soul."

"How can only one person fail?" Ciel asked.

"It's complicated—," she said, but was interrupted when they heard the doors open behind them and in came Arthur, completely out of breath from running all the way back here.

"So we are meeting again. What brings you back?" Jeremy asked with little surprise. "Did you forget something?"

"I decided my investigation was not yet complete. I came for the truth, Jeremy the vicar, or is it, Sebastian the butler?" Arthur said with a breathy voice.

The trio were quiet, but they all eventually smirked. "Oh my, well done! It seems they, or rather, we underestimated you," Jeremy said in a voice that wasn't his own.

"Yes, we did indeed," Lilliana said before Jeremy ripped off his face, or really, his mask, to reveal it was Sebastian all along.

"No! It's incredible, unreal! No one could pull off such a deception so flawlessly!" Arthur exclaimed, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Still unsure? You came back here because you wanted answers, didn't you? Why return, if the truth makes you tremble?" Lilliana asked, losing her innocent demeanor finally.

"I-I had to know if my misgivings were correct so I could go after the Yard's carriage. If I'm right, then an innocent man is now in their custody!"

Ciel laughed, finally losing his innocent act as well. "My, you have quite a strong sense of justice, don't you? Did you even consider that if you revealed you knew the truth, we might not let you leave here again?" After seeing Arthur's fearful expression, Ciel chuckled. "A joke, of course. Your assumption is correct, though. Woodley was not, in fact, the murderer, at least, not in this instance. Don't let it trouble you. That carriage is where he belongs."

"Wait, I don't understand!"

"I'm happy to explain more thoroughly over some tea. Sebastian, Lilliana."

"Of course," they said with a bow. They looked back at Arthur, who was afraid to go near them.

"I think you should make the tea and dessert since you've been neglecting your duties for a bit. Unlike some people, we can't just get murdered and be free of our duties," Lilliana teased.

Sebastian smirked. "I suppose you're right, but you would have done the same if the roles were reversed." He left her side, making sure that he would not be seen by the other servants in the kitchen.

"Come with me, Dr. Arthur," she said with what would have been an innocent smile if they facade wasn't revealed. He was reluctant, but was more scared of what would happen if he said no. On their way to the greenhouse, she said, "I know you must be scared out of your mind, but believe me when I say that I'm glad you came back. I've had a fascination with authors for a long time and enjoy the works they put out, but sadly, I can only read whatever the young lord possesses. However, when I read your works, I was completely enthralled. I read your stories over and over again, but was saddened when you didn't write more. You really do have potential, Dr. Arthur, and I'd hate to see it wasted." Arthur was afraid to continue the conversation, which she wasn't shocked.

Eventually, the two arrived in the greenhouse, where Ciel was waiting for them by a patio table. Arthur took the seat opposite of him and not too long after their arrival, Sebastian rolled in a cart with a desert and tea. The two servants served them, though, the tension never went away despite the calmer setting. "Now, what made you suspect Sebastian was alive to begin with?" Ciel asked.

"Well, to be honest, I wasn't actually sure about that. I just had a vague sense that something was off, that's all. He was . . . too perfect, I guess. Sebastian and Jeremy were both unbelievable characters, yet they left no room for doubt. It was all orchestrated so well it was unnatural," Arthur explained. "For example, it's imposible to prepare everything so perfectly for your own unexpected murder. That is beyond anything that could be explained by simple 'foreboding'. Then there was Jeremy's timely arrival. It was spectacularly suspicious, yet he had a watertight alibi and even Lilliana showing animosity towards him made him seem like a real person. He could have easily asked her to act like they were a loving family, but having a bit of family drama is somewhat relatable to the rest of the party. The pieces fit perfectly, but it was very possible that one impossible reason could overturn all our careful deductions."

"Oh right, 'my uncle'," Lilliana said with crossed arms. "To be honest, he never ran that backstory by me. My shocked reaction was as genuine as yours."

"Wait?! You never organized that together?!"

"Not once, but I'm a pretty good liar and actor, and I guess he wanted to play a game and see how well I could improvise."

"And you did remarkably well," Sebastian said.

"You realize that an off-script moment like that could have cost your character's credibility, right?" Ciel asked with a bit of frustration in his tone as he took a bite out of his desert.

"I had full trust that she would be able to pull it off, but I had prepared her 'tragic backstory' in case more prying was needed."

"It still would have been nice to be told about it," she said. "But now back to the debriefing. What made you question that Sebastian could possibly be alive?"

"Well, I first noticed when Herr von Siemens was murdered. For someone as competent as he is, to do nothing when we first found the body and not defend the Earl when he was accused of his murder seemed unlike him. It seemed odd for a butler to not defend his master. You didn't speak because you knew what was going to happen, that there would be another murder and it would clear Lord Phantomhive's name," Arthur said.

"Very good. It's as you say, I knew. However, my knowledge of the impending murder isn't the reason why I didn't defend my master," Sebastian said.

"He probably wanted to see me taken down a peg or two," Ciel said.

"Well, to be honest, I was a bit peeved that you knew the murderer would make his next move and left the two of us to deal with it because you were sleepy."

"Wait, you knew this would happen, my lord?!" Arthur exclaimed.

"Indeed. We knew that somebody wished ill of me among the guests at the party. I'm not often caught flat-footed, you see," Ciel explained. "In fact, the one who provided this information is standing next to you."

Arthur was surprised, but looked at Lilliana. "It's true. It's my job to know the time, location, and method of death of humans. I collected the information prior to the party by my young lord's request. Of course, he cannot change a person's fate once they are set to die, but we can plan around it."

"That's impossible! Are you a psychic?" Arthur asked.

"Oh no, Doctor. I'm simply the maid of the household with the looming shadow of death over me," she said with an innocent smile that freaked him out more than comforted him. "We knew from the very beginning that Herr von Siemens was going to die and that Sebastian would be killed as well. I did offer to take the fall, but I suppose he wanted to see me taken down a peg or two as well by having me be the most suspicious."

"I'd assume that the fall would then be placed on me as long as I had the key in my possession," Sebastian said.

"Oh right, the key! Where was it this whole time?" Arthur asked.

"Simple," he said as he pounded his chest with one hand and then slowly spat out the key from his mouth. "I was afraid that if someone managed to gain possession of the key, they would use it to incriminate Lilliana further. If it was in her possession, then it might have been enough to prove her guilt until we found Phelps' real murderer."

"I suppose we should start from the very beginning, don't you think?" Ciel said as he sipped his tea.

"Of course," Sebastian said. He began to explain everything, starting with when the servants first appeared outside Siemens's room. At the time, Sebastian and Lilliana heard the sound of bottle breaking, but didn't say anything at the time, even scanning the room in search of the bottle. Since there were no shards in sight, they assumed it was thrown in the fire, but could not investigate it with the fire still on. Lilliana asked for the time, not because she wanted to report the time of death, but because she thought the time was off. He was scheduled to die later that night and he lacked the smell of blood, which was fortunate for them since her eyes would have changed color. Despite being able to easily expose the sham, Ciel decided to use the wait and see approach since he knew Siemens would die later that night. Instead, he told Sebastian and Lilliana to clean out the fireplace, even though there would be no one in the room so that they could recover the shards. He did as told and did find the bottle, but was soon stuck and "killed" by Charles Grey, not Woodley. Charles threw the shards out the window, hoping that was enough to cover his tracks.

Meanwhile, Lilliana headed to the cellar to collect Siemens's soul when he was eventually killed by Charles as well. She made sure to keep hidden in the shadows as she watched their final interaction. Once he was gone, she deemed him unworthy of a second chance and his soul was collected. She then went back to Phelps, who was already bitten by the black mamba and pleading for her help, but she casually watched as he died and collected his soul. Once she returned, she noticed the blood on Sebastian and they knew they had a lot of preparations to get to in order for things to run smoothly the following morning, from having Mey-Rin release the owl, unknowingly provided by the Reaper Association in cases of a storm, to having Finny clean out the fireplace so that Sebastian would be discovered. Sebastian wrote a report about the situation and put it in the pillow that they gave the young lord in the middle of the night, even blowing out the candle so that they wouldn't notice the blood or Lilliana's red eyes. Then, they discussed the creation of Jeremy the vicar, but he neglected to tell her their backstory or even the fact that they were related. After that, they returned to his murder scene and he asked Lilliana to stab him, though, he made sure to leave the weapon lodged in his chest rather than his back, as Charles left it, to mess with him. Despite being stabbed is still a slightly painful experience for demons, she had a little too much sadistic pleasure in stabbing him.

The next morning, when Finny discovered the body, he had the unfortunate task of telling the others. Lilliana had to act like she was taking it the hardest, not because Sebastian asked her to, but because she had to cover her laughs by acting like she was crying. Plus, if her eyes were puffy red due to tears, whether they were from crying or laughter, they could possibly mask the fact that her eyes changed color at the sight of blood. Luckily, Reapers do not to breathe as normally as humans do, so she could hold in her breath and not smell the blood to keep her eyes in check. Then, the young lord appeared and delivered the heart-wrenching performance. This is when Lilliana was laughing the hardest, but she had to pretend she was crying the entire time as Ciel kept slapping Sebastian, knowing full well that he still alive. It was quite the show. How cruel of him to strike him, fully knowing that Sebastian could not move. At that moment, he bent toward Sebastian's ear to tell him to retrieve the bottle when everyone else's attention was away. They then moved his body to the cellar, giving him the perfect alibi for what was about to come.

Keeping everyone distracted soon turned into Lilliana's job, who had to make sure that Sebastian would not be discovered without causing suspicion. Sadly, the only way to do that was to take the blame herself, which she anticipated, but did not approve of. This gave him time to prepare for Jeremy's entrance, but while retrieving the owl and the authentic ticket stub from the theater, he came into his first complication as he found a group of mewing cats soaked in the rain. His love of his cats could not stand to see these poor creatures begging for shelter and he quickly took them into his room, hiding them in the closet. Even Lilliana could not stall the group long when they wanted to investigate his body for the key, especially when Ciel gave the permission to do so, but Sebastian managed to return to the cellar and luckily, his wet face was thought to be caused by a leak rather than him going outside. Though, the stripping of his clothes was humiliating for him, especially since he couldn't move, it would have been fine if Lilliana was to do the honors, especially since she was eager to do so, but due to polite culture, she couldn't continue. However, Lilliana had to leave in the middle of the search to move all her things into another room and clean it so that if they searched the rooms, their relationship wouldn't be exposed. (This part, they did not say in front of Ciel for obvious reasons). Though, as she was getting her clothes from the closet, she was not prepared for the cats to come out. Lucifer dammit, Sebastian, she thought as she collected each cat and put them back in the closet.

Meanwhile, Sebastian collected the shards Charles threw out and placed them in Woodley's fireplace. At this point, he donned his costume and Jeremy the vicar was born with an airtight alibi that would free him from any suspicion despite his timing. As he presented each clue, he asked Ciel to look at the letter on the owl's leg, but it seems that Sebastian was in a teasing mood and he left it blank so the young lord would have to improvise it. To cement further that Sebastian and Jeremy were two separate people, he asked to take each body to a different room, but so he could return to the cellar, he asked for a change of clothes to give him an excuse to leave the group. Of course, Lilliana had to heckle him a bit because of the secret backstory. She even had to stay in the room as he rushed back to the cellar so it seemed like Jeremy was still away. Luckily, the servants moved his "body" first and once he was left alone in the room, he returned to the group with Lilliana. He was ready to examine the bodies with only Ciel, Lilliana, and Arthur, but Charles decided to join along, complicating things further.

However, despite that Jermey said that he wanted the two "most suspicious" people with him to observe their reactions, they were actually paying close attention to Charles and partly Arthur to keep things running smoothly. It was Ciel and Lilliana's job to avert attention if he did not want them to observe closely, as noted with Ciel's performance when they were looking at "Sebastian's body". However, it wasn't his body, but Phelps's that he carried into the room after examining it. Lilliana made sure to keep a close eye on Charles, who was noticeably agitated at not seeing the body, like they did with the other two corpses. When the "examination" was over, she whispered that he might want to quickly change in case Charles did something. She served as a distractor since if she was away from the door after supposedly leaving with Jeremy, they would assume he was down the hall if anyone looked back to check on them. As predicted, Charles did come back to check on Sebastian's body and Lilliana made sure to stay somewhat behind to make sure nothing went wrong. Through, seeing Sebastian get kicked in the face was hilarious to her as she covered her mouth once again to hide her laugh as Charles left the room.

"I believe that the rest is familiar to you. I aided my young lord in the guise of Jeremy, Mr. Woodley was arrested for murder, and my lord and Ms. Kiliamo were neatly cleared of any wrongdoing," Sebastian finished.

"I'm so confused. Your explanations don't help. The case only makes less sense to me now. If what you're saying is true, then the Queen's butler was behind all of this and tried to frame the Earl for murder, yet you went through an elaborate plan to clear his name and framed someone else entirely," Arthur said, still trying to put together everything he heard so things could make sense.

"Quite so, but it couldn't be helped," Ciel explained. "We were only acting according to Her Majesty's wishes, you see. Her von Siemens was a prominent banker and a key figure in the development of Germany's heavy industry. By getting rid of him, that was her attempt to aim a blow at Germany's attempt to strengthen their military. She has a keen sense of observation and uses it to determine which small actions can change the world. As for Lord Grey, he seems to have some information about some mischief I got into some time ago. I knew I'd be punished, but I wasn't expecting to be framed for murder. Her Majesty has a somewhat perverse sense of humor, but I've always had a passion for playing games and that's where Woodley comes in—,"

"But why Mr. Woodley?! He did nothing wrong," Arthur defended.

"On the contrary, if anyone belongs in the Yard's custody, it's that man," Lilliana said as she pulled out a file. "He's what they call a 'merchant of death'. He uses his company's access to diamonds to purchase illegal arms and sell them for a profit in conflict zones. The president of the Rhodes diamond mining company was murdered by Mr. Woodley's hired assassins. If you makes you feel better, he won't be in their custody for much longer." She closed the file rather menacingly, hinting that he won't be proven innocent in his lifetime.

"Lord Phantomhive . . . who are you? You and your servants are more than they seem," Arthur said in fear.

"I police the underworld and rid it of those who displease Her Majesty. I am the Queen's guard dog. This case was her way of forcing me reaffirm my loyalty and prove my fitness for the role," Ciel said.

"Y-You're lying . . . You must be . . . If everything you three have been saying is true . . . that would mean the only explanation . . . ," Arthur said in utter fear, shock, and confusion. He was shaking and he could no longer form full sentences.

"There's nothing more deceptive than an obvious lie," Lilliana said as she brandished her Death Scythe so he could see it, scaring him even more. "It was in plain sight all along, Dr. Arthur. You had only to open your eyes to the possibility."

"Yes, you see it, don't you?" Sebastian said as a dark mist slowly started to surround the room. "We are not human, but something else entirely." Arthur tried to run, but his legs gave out and he fell on the floor instead, feeling helpless in this situation. "But now you must try to forget your hard-win knowledge."

At this point, Arthur tried to run, but with the dark mist engulfing the room, he didn't know where he was headed. Though, he did bump into Lilliana, who still held onto her Death Scythe. "You can well imagine what will happen should you tell anyone."

"I swear I won't," he begged. "Please believe me."

"I suspected as much. Take special care to remember that promise. You may not see us but I assure you we are always watching. As the Grim Reaper, I will be able to know every little secret you possess and which you release into the world. Even in death, I'll be there to collect your soul that shall remain shrouded in this secret." Soon, he ran off screaming, eventually finding his way out of the mist and away from the manor, never to return again.

"Well that was an odd decision to reveal yourselves to him," Ciel said as the mist finally disappeared in the room.

"To be honest, it was Ms. Kiliamo's idea," Sebastian admitted.

Ciel was surprised and looked at her. "You know how writers are. An experience such as this will inspire him to write once again. You're not the only one who enjoys a good story," she said with a smile. "I look forward to his next work."

"Well, now that our guest has departed, we shall make lunch preparations—," Sebastian said, but was soon interrupted.

"One moment. I kept quiet since you seemed to avoid the subject, but you still need to explain the murder of Mr. Phelps," Ciel said.

"Oh, I can help with that," she said as she hissed and from the surrounding plants, snakes started to slither out, including the black mamba. Ciel was shocked and Sebastian was on high alert in case they attacked. "Relax, these snakes are on my side. It took a bit of convincing, but I still have some of their respect even after the circus."

"The circus?" Ciel asked.

"Apparently, there was indeed a thirteenth man at our party. He failed to call ahead, so these were the only quarters I had available for him," Sebastian explained as he pulled out a large wooden crate from underneath the table, making Ciel jump up in concern.

"You tell me now? How long have you known?"

"Since I received Phelps's file," she said as she crouched on the floor so that some of the snakes could attach themselves on her body. "We've established at the circus that as long as I'm around, snakes should not be a problem for you."

"R-Right, but Phelps's murderer is in that box? Well, open it," Ciel demanded.

"Are you sure, my lord? I did say that I only had some of the snakes's respect, not all."

"Open it," Ciel repeated. Sebastian nodded and he removed the chain and lock surrounding the crate, soon revealing who the real killer was: the only remaining member of the circus troupe: Snake, along with some of his other snakes that stayed loyal to him, even as Lilliana hissed at them to remain calm. Apparently, since Lilliana could not interfere with deaths on the To-Die list, they had to wait until he died before they could apprehend Snake and subdue the snakes. It was tense, but Lilliana managed to convince some of the snakes that she was still on their side despite Snake believing that they were the enemy. With Sebastian's help, they managed to capture him and put him and some of the snakes in the crate while rewarding the snakes who stayed in her side, including the black mamba, who she convinced to be part of the capturing scheme with the promise of more food and no harm done unto it. "What are you doing here?"

"'Joker and the others were gone the day after Smile, Black, and Lily snuck into their tents'," Snake said in a husky voice meant to represent the anaconda around his neck.

"Even after I talked to you and fed you for helping out, one of you still ratted us out," Lilliana said in a feign betrayed tone.

"'It had to have been your fault! They disappeared because of you! So I followed you here using the scent from Smile's costume'. And an excellent idea that was, Wilde," Snake finished in his own voice.

"So you're under the impression that we are involved in the troupe's disappearance?" Ciel clarified.

"'Yes! It wasn't until after you two arrived that everyone began acting strangely.' Yes, I noticed the same, Wordsworth. 'We sensed Joker and the others had even hiding something from me all along, but it didn't matter. They didn't care that we were a freak! They said we were their friends, all of us! They treated us like family and you three stole them from us! We won't forgive you'!" For some reason, what he, or rather, his snakes said struck a chord with Lilliana. She too knew what it was like to be considered a freak by her own kind and yet she too found a family within the Phantomhive household. All the servants felt the same. Snake was justified to feel the way he did, which she didn't expect to realize. If the roles were reversed and she was human, she would probably feel the same.

"Would you like to know what they were hiding from you?" Ciel explained, "Your so-called family was kidnapping children in the towns you visited. That's why we joined the circus troupe. We were sent to determine what was happening.

"'Kidnapping children?'" Snake said in a concerned feminine voice, it it soon turned to aggressive masculine, "'You're lying! That's absolute rubbish!' Yes, you're right, Oscar."

"It may be rubbish but I am not lying. Unfortunately, they had uncovered our identities before we found proof of what they were doing. They went into hiding, I'd guess. Perhaps, in that sense, I am responsible for their disappearance, but Snake, children were being kidnapped from their families. I only wanted to help them. And I want to help you too," Ciel said. Sebastian and Lilliana looked at each other to make sure they were hearing things right, but felt that they had no right to speak up at this moment. Ciel stepped closer to Snake and eventually untied him, despite the few snakes hissing at him. "Snake, stay. Come and live at my manor," he said with his arm stretched with an open palm.

"'What are you suggesting?' I'm confused as well, Keats," Snake said as he scooted away from Ciel a bit.

"It's as I said. I want to help you. We're still looking for the other members of your troupe. We're doing it to solve the case, of course, but we both want the same thing. Staying here is probably the best chance you have of seeing them again. I know them; they're not evil. There must have been some reason for what they did, but now they need to atone for their crimes. You can be there when they do, like a family," Ciel lied. Snake was reluctant, but decided to shake his hand and agree to the terms. "Splendid. Lilliana, I want you go over the initiation with him and introduce him to the other servants."

"Of course, my lord," she said with a bow and he and Sebastian left the room. She had an inkling why Ciel did this: to make sure he doesn't attempt to kill him again. Even if they just killed him, his snakes would still try to avenge him and it's clear that not all the snakes can be controlled by her. If she was able to control them all, they would have only needed her, but at the moment, he was still needed, but to be honest, she was glad he was needed. "While you're here, I want you to view this household as your adopted family. Just like you, we were all a bunch of misfits who found each other and created a home. Once they get used to the snakes, I'm sure they'll see you as one of us."

Adrian had finished making another batch of biscuits and placed the tray on the stove to let them cool. This was going to be the last couple of days before he, Bastille, and Eris planned to return to their former base of operations to finalize the next phase of their plan. They recently booked tickets for a ship on its way to America, hoping to distract Katia from their scent for a little while. Knowing how the Association worked, there was a target on Bastille's back and probably now on Eris's too thanks to the circus incident. If she was as close to William as she has said, then he would probably try to find a way to silence her to prevent her from ever revealing his secret when in reality, she has been pretty secretive about the situation herself. Because of Bastille's protective nature, she didn't want to aggravate it further by admitting that William has feelings for Lilliana until she figured out the mystery behind the blurred memories. Lilliana surprisingly has this phenomena too and thanks to Bastille's clear memories, it was brought to her attention.

Speaking of which, Bastille slowly walked down the stairs with a tired expression on his face. "Care for a biscuit?" Adrian asked with a grin. "Fresh out of the oven."

"I don't have a better option,' he said as he walked into the back room and picked up a cooled-down biscuit. He took a bite and said, "You know that seasonings exist, right?"

"It's an age-old recipe," he said as he collected a couple for himself and sat at the table. Bastille did the same. "Has Eris been keeping you up lately? It's rare for a demon to look exhausted."

"Oh, it's nothing. I just had a nightmare, that's all."

"A nightmare? I wasn't aware that demons can even dream."

"It's very rare, but then again, demons rarely sleep. In fact, Eris says she's been having the same dream lately. Something about encouraging someone to follow their lustful desires," Bastille said before taking another bite of the biscuit. Eris did tell Adrian about the shared dreams she was having with William, acting like a transcript of their conversations. He had to admit that he was curious how Eris's little experiment would play out, but was starting to worry for Will's coworkers due to the spice. Adrian hoped that he headed her words as well. "I guess it's a good dream since she keeps sleeping every night after her feeding."

"You don't bother to call it 'making love' or something like that?"

"Making love? That would apply we were mates and even then, mates usually 'breed'. For someone with unusual demonic connections, you aren't that educated in demon culture."

"Well, forgive me for being a Grim Reaper," he said as he finished his biscuit. "They aren't really open to the idea about learning about other deity culture and trying to develop amicable relationships."

"Tell me about it," Bastille said as he let out a sigh and put the unfinished treat on the table. "The nightmare . . . it was about my life as a human. I don't like to talk about it much, but it was scarring for both me and Lily, though worse for her. Eris knows the whole story without me having to tell her, but recently, she's been asking me questions about it and the more I remember, the more often these nightmares happen. I don't know why she's so interested in it, but I did tell her to not mention it for a while, at least until the nightmares stop. As a demon, I've seen horrific acts all the time, but for some reason, I can't shake this away."

"It may be more the emotions surrounding it than the memories themselves."

Bastille was quiet for a bit. "You're probably right. That whole time, I felt so guilty and helpless about Lily's tragedy. I should have protected her, but I feel like it may have been my fault that things happened as they did." Adrian could sense that Bastille was holding back tears or even anger, but decided not to say anything. "I've been meaning to ask you this for a while, but how come you're the only Reaper that tried to help Lily? I'm sure it was easier to just be like the others."

Adrian lost his usual grin and kept quiet for a moment. "Tell me, since you became a demon, have you agreed with everything you were taught?"

"Of course not. Some even called me soft because I was taught human morality before becoming a demon, but a lot of demons were once humans before. And the so-called rules don't even apply half the time. It's all a game of chance run by Lucifer."

"And that's how I felt with the Association. I may be one of the oldest living Reapers, but I wasn't so closed-minded that I didn't question everything being taught, especially to the younger Reapers. I understand why the rules were set in place, but everyone changes, both human and Reaper alike. Younger Reapers aren't taught this in their training, but there is a legend that there was a time many centuries ago when Reapers were among humans and even granted them favors regarding life or death. They could let a person live longer or kill them in an instant, but soon, humans became greedy and tried to take that power by force. After many Reapers were forced to massacre the people they once trusted to free themselves, that's when the Reaper Association was born. Now, Reapers are not to have any contacts with humans, emotions have to be put aside so they can collect the souls without attachment, and messing with life and death is strictly forbidden."

"Shit. I find it hard to imagine that such sociopathic people like them would invent a story like that, but it would explain a lot. Do you believe that?"

"I'd like to think it's true, otherwise, there wouldn't be so much brainwashing to follow these rules."

"But what does this have to do with Lily? Sure, you didn't agree with the rules, but you were still involved until now."

Adrain sighed. "They wanted to have your sister killed because they couldn't control her. They thought they had her under their grasp, but a single drop of blood was enough to revert everything she was taught. Instead of letting her live the rest of her immortal life with demons, they thought it was 'merciful' to end her 'corrupt' existence. If the roles were reversed, what would you do?"

"Save her, of course."

"Exactly. I had to pretend that she was nothing more than a distraction from my humdrum life of soul collection, but deep down, I couldn't let this happen. There were Rouge Reapers before her, all with different circumstances, but sadly, she and I are the only living ones today in the London sect. Only a few get to pass the test and the rest were terminated due to insubordination that was never proven."

"Even among their own people, they discriminate. But why are you considered a Rogue Reaper?"

"It first was solely because I was retiring. Reapers are distrustful of those who decide to leave the Association, mainly because they would still have power over life and death. If a human had the influence, they could create chaos, or at least, in the eyes of the Association. However, they somehow got word of my connections with demons and cemented the label. Luckily, this was after my intervention with Lily, so I was allowed to help her until her graduation. They almost reinstated her back into rehabilitation after learning that, but due to the success of my intervention, they decided to not interfere."

"I cannot thank you enough for saving her life. I may still be skeptical of this mission succeeding, but I'll happily contribute. I have full faith that you want the division to end," Bastille said as he picked up the biscuit from the table and continued to eat it.

"Of course. I want the unnecessary bloodshed to end," he said as he ate another biscuit and regained his smile.

"Bastille, mon amour, would you come upstairs please? I'm getting hungry," Eris said suggestively from upstairs.

"I'll be there in a second," Bastille said as he finished his biscuit and stood up. "I didn't think I'd have these kind of conversations with you, but I'm glad. You're the only one who understand my plight without having to find out through my eyes." He walked out of the room and up the stairs, where Eris was waiting for him at the top. He was ready to embrace her, but she quickly pushed him against the wall. "Oh, you're frisky today aren't you—," he tried to say, but she covered his mouth.

"Shhh, be quiet. They're going to enter soon," she said in a serious tone, which surprised him.

"They? Who's they?" Bastille asked in concern.

However, his question was answered as they both heard the bell ring from downstairs and three pairs of feet walked in. "Undertaker, I have a request to ask of you," Ciel said as he, Sebastian, and Lilliana walked in.

"My, my, if it isn't the young Earl. Is it finally time to fit you for your coffin?" Undertaker said with the usual creepy grin. It was hard to believe that this was the man who just had a serious conversation with Bastille a few moments ago.

"Not exactly. We do need a coffin, but for my butler."

Undertaker let out a laugh. "I beg your pardon, my lord? Coffins are reserved for the dead and he is far from it. I'll be surprised if anything can kill him."

"Well somebody tried, or at least, that's what we want them to believe for the time being," Lilliana said with a grin. "They literally stabbed him in the back and it took a lot out of me to not die laughing myself."

"You carelessness nearly cost us the investigation," Ciel said sternly, but she only shrugged. "However, since the Phantomhive household believes that he is dead, we need to find a way to 'bring him back to life'."

"I heard you had something called a 'safety coffin' that people used during the plague to prevent burying people alive," she said.

"Yes, I do, but that still won't help explain why a butler that was stabbed to death miraculously survived," Undertaker said as he took a bite out his biscuit. They didn't realize he had a couple in his hand the whole time.

"My servants are reliable when needed and loyal to the very end, but they are still not the brightest. I'm sure they will be more happy to have Sebastian alive than ask the obvious question," Ciel explained.

"Hmm, I suppose. Well, master butler, if you'll kindly follow me, I'll take you to the back room to properly measure you. Though, I may need your help in building the coffin for such a sudden funeral."

"Of course," Sebastian said as the two men walked into the back room. Undertaker did try to have him lay down on the table like his usual customers would, but he respectfully declined. Ciel sat on one of the empty coffins while Lilliana walked around the shop, noticing how clean it was. He's usually not the stickler on keeping his residence clean, but she wouldn't call him a slob either. He was very organized, even if it didn't seem like it, but the fact there was no dust anywhere surprised her. She remembered that a girl did ask to repay his services by cleaning the shop; she must have done a good job. Maybe she had a whole crew since, with a better look at the floor, everything was clean.

"What do we do?" Bastille whispered in Eris's ear, trying to make as little sound as possible. Deities have strong senses, so they would be able to hear the smallest creak upstairs if they moved.

"I don't know. If they're only asking for a coffin, then they'll leave as soon as one is made," she said just as quietly as he did. The last thing she wanted to do was interact with the former circus trio and possibly jeopardize their mission. It wouldn't have been that bad if it was just Bastille since he could have lied and said that Adrian wanted to connect with him, but it would be more complicated to explain why she was there. On top of that, if Bastille was the jealous type, imagine how Lilliana would react knowing that a succubus who she has animosity with was fucking her brother regularly. Not only that, but they would also have to deal with Sebastian, who has animosity toward Bastille and vice versa.

"All the materials are downstairs, right? There is no reason to come upstairs, right?"

"Let's hope. We can't exactly move without these creaky floors giving us away."

"And that should do it," Undertaker said from downstairs. "And we're in luck, I already have a coffin for your size. All I need is to make adjustments for the string which are easy to do."

"Thank you," he said as pulled out a bag of coins and tried to pull some out, but Undertaker stopped him.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about payment. Tomorrow's entertainment will be enough, I assure you."

"That is generous of you," Lilliana said with a smile.

"If that's all that is needed, then we shall be off. We can't leave those grieving servants alone for long. Sebastian, Lilliana, come," Ciel said as he got up from the coffin and headed out. "Sebastian will see you in the morning before the funeral to get ready."

"I look forward to it, my lord," Undertaker said with a wave before the trio left his shop and he and the demons sighed in relief. They had to wait until the carriage pulled away before they could talk normally. "That was close."

"You're telling us," Eris said as she and Bastille walked downstairs, still cautious in case they needed to hide again.

"I'm glad you called me up when you did. You really are a psychic," Bastille said with a playful laugh.

"You know better than most that succubus can't actually see the future. I just happened to see their carriage coming to the shop."

"I was kidding," he said as he quickly kissed her cheek. "So there's a funeral tomorrow?"

"Yep and it's gonna be quite the show," Adrian said with a smile. "Though, we have a small issue. We actually don't have the coffin ready and will need to build one from scratch."

"Wait, but you said—,"

"I figured it was best if I didn't keep them in here longer than they should. Wouldn't you agree?" Adrian said with a tired grin. Bastille held his tongue. "So I'm going to require both of your assistance for a bit. Making a coffin is such taxing work for one old man."

"You're literally a Grim Reaper!" Bastille exclaimed, but Eris tugged at his arm to shut him up.

"Sure, we're willing to help you out since we are guests in your home," she emphasized. "And I agreed if the three of us work on it together, it'll be done quicker."

"Excellent," Adrian said with clapped hands. "Here are his measurements. Make sure to leave enough room for him to rest comfortably and be able to move his hand."

"Interesting. He's about the same height as you," Eris said as she grabbed the paper. She looked at Bastille with a mischievous grin.

"Don't even think about it. We're not putting me inside a coffin."

The next morning, the sound of cries and sniffles filled the church where they held Sebastian's funeral. Although it went against his nature, they had no choice since people would feel like they did not properly put him to rest if they just lowered his body. Though, it was interesting for them to go through this religious bullshit, even if a good chunk of the gathering did not explicitly believe in the Christian God, including Agni and Soma. They kept the ceremony short for the deities's sake and soon, it was time to move Sebastian's body to the grave. Baldroy, Finny, Agni, and Lilliana carried his coffin, but it was surprising to see them able to keep their strength despite tears falling down their faces. Even Lilliana was crying, but not because of sadness. It took all the strength of her face muscles to keep a sad face even though she wanted to laugh. Mey-Rin, Tanaka, Soma, Elizabeth, and Ciel walked close to the coffin, with Ciel not showing any tears, which the group expected. In fact, Elizabeth may have produced enough tears to make up for him. Undertaker, as eccentric as he is, kept his macabre grin as he led the group to the open grave.

After a few last words, they started to bury the coffin, but Elizabeth exclaimed as she hugged her fiancé, "He promised he would never leave you alone! How dare Sebastian lie like that? It's too cruel!"

"You mustn't cry Ciel," Soma said with tears in his eyes as he hugged him as well. "We'll stay with you forever. I swear it!" Now with the coffin out her hands, Lilliana could finally cover her laugh with her hand like she did before. Something about a demon pretending to be dead was one most hilarious things she's witnessed in a long time. Undertaker couldn't help, but snicker as he saw her.

Ciel let out a little sigh. "He and I are lucky indeed. To be so well-loved by people such as you. Come, he wouldn't want us to linger here like this." They nodded and the group, while staying close to Ciel despite his discomfort, started to walk away from the grave, but Lilliana tapped on the ground with her heel a couple of times before following. Not long after, a sound of a little bell faintly rang. They looked back and saw that the bell attached to the headstone was moving gently, but there was no wind to make it move.

After Undertaker noticed their confused faces, he said, "Perhaps you ought to take a closer look. The bell isn't there for show. It's built in as a safety mechanism. There's only one reason for it to ring."

The group gasped collectively at the realization and Baldroy yelled as he, Finny, and Agni ran back to the grave, "Get him outta there!" They quickly used the shovel to dig up the grave, but the closer they got to reaching it, everyone, except for Ciel, Elizabeth, and Undertaker, pitched in to pick up handfuls of dirt. Soon, they were able to remove the lid and, miraculously, they saw Sebastian slowly get up as if he were in a deep sleep.

"Ah, it was getting quite cramped inside that box. I assume you're all—," Sebastian tired to say, but before he could explain himself, he was bombarded by crying souls in desperate needs for a hug.

"I thought I'd lost another comrade! How could you do that to me!" Baldroy exclaimed with tears running down his face.

"You're alive!" Finny said with the strongest hug out of everyone.

"Sebastian! You came back!" Mey-Rin said with her tears fogging up her glasses.

"It's a miracle! Thank you, O gods!" Agni exclaimed with prayer hands.

"Everyone please calm yourself," Sebastian said to try and deescalate the situation, but Lilliana couldn't hold in her laughter anymore. Some looked at her, surprised by her reaction, but at this point, they were more relieved that he was alive than to question her.

"And to think, we aren't allowed to play with life and death," Undertaker said as he approached her. Luckily, she was somewhat alone so he could speak about this candidly.

"Well, he never died to begin with. It's not really playing with life if he doesn't have one to play with."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Even if a soul is recycled, immortal life can still be finite," he said with a giggle.

"I guess. But humans don't need to know that. They only get the once chance, despite what Agni and Soma believe. Once their souls are collected, they cannot be returned."

"Do you really believe that, though?" She looked at him with confusion. "Hypothetically speaking, of course. When you live as long as I have, you start to question these things. What would happen if a Cinematic Record was never collected or even was recycled?"

"Well, an unaccounted for soul would most likely get devoured by demons if it isn't deemed holy enough for the angels, and let's face it, a holy soul is rare. The Reaper Association is very aware of the souls they are missing, whether they were contracted by angles or demons or they were killed by them. They get their own little section of the Library. As for recycling human souls, I doubt that's possible. A human body is already so fragile. I don't think it can handle being reborn without many defects."

Undertaker was surprised by her last statement and let out a big grin. He thought about telling her about their mission now, but he figured now was not the time, especially with all these people around. He would have to wait another time. "You're probably more right than you know."

How will Snake fit in with the rest of the servants? What is the next phase of the trio's plan? Now that her work is done, how will the conversation between William and Lilliana play out? Reviews are appreciated!