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The captain watched the insane child row the boat to the docked boat in order to get to London. “ Crazy.” He whispered as he looked out the window. He milled about the port of London for several hours until he got the Morse code message that the flames had died down. He docked the boat and then tried on the ring. A perfect fit, he admired his new ring in the light of the worn docks. He admired the ring, that was, until he received a harsh blow on the head. He fell like bricks and hoped that the ring would be safe.
“ Nice work Ran-Mao.” Said Lau to Ran-Mao as she took the ring off the gentleman’s finger. They got into their carriage and rode back to Lau’s opium den. Lord Phantomhive actually believed that they'd leave such a huge profit bringing city behind? Lau had been merely faking him out. All he needed was to lay low for a while. When they got inside, Lau looked at the ring carefully (though as usual not paying too close attention) though the item seemed to puzzle him.. “ Now,” he said, “ where do I recognize this ring from?” Ran-Mao shrugged and slid back unto his lap. He gave the ring to a girl who sat by his feet.
“ Ming, will you put this somewhere safe?” He asked. Ming nodded and headed upstairs into the room where Lau kept the opium and tea for shipping. She wondered where to put it so Lau would find it, and decided to put it in a box of tea, but then decided why should she have Lau find it? He’d only forget about it. So, Ming went to the window and slid out into the streets of London which were crowded with efforts to fix the damages the fire the night before had done. Ming remembered looking out the window and seeing the flames enveloping the city. She’d been scared and ran to Ran-Mao, only to see that she and Lau were gone as they had been, though Lau had said he and Ran-Mao would return as soon as things were at ease with the Watchdog. She remembered that no one but the scared girls remained in the den which, given any other day, would have been full of men that Lau had “sold dreams” to. However, Lau and Ran-Mao returned after the fire as though they’d foreseen it.
Nonchalantly she walked into a jeweler‘s, which unlike the rest of London only suffered a slightly charred door. “ How much would you appraise this ring at?” She asked him, giving him the ring. He gasped.
“ Where did you-”
“ Pay me the money it’s worth.” Ming said simply in her best English. Lau would enjoy the money, she thought, more than the ring, perhaps he‘ll never leave us again. The man took the ring and gave her the money and she walked out.
Immediately the jeweler, Alexander Worthington, put the ring on and went home in a state of child-like glee. Alexander, who was a thin, tall young man of affluent descent, had recognized the ring immediately but did not care to wonder about the owner, the young Earl Ciel Phantomhive. Alexander and his wife were going to a socialite party at the Trancy Manor, so he decided to wear the ring. Alexander’s wife also had advised him to wear it in her wish for her husband to look as fashionable as any of the other royalty at the party. They did, after all, have something to prove; that they did not have to carry a royal title to enjoy and fit into the company of royalty. After getting dressed in his best suite, Alexander and his wife went into his carriage and rode off. He marveled at his wife, her elegant long brown hair spun into combs, her fine pink dress with pale yellow lining and ribbon with green embroidered work his wife, Marina, had done herself, and he somehow forgot the prized, large ring on his finger.
At the Trancy manor Alexander sat and talked to his friends, preoccupying himself and not even thinking a second thought about the ring until the young Earl Trancy came up to him. He remembered that the young Earl, Alois Trancy, had much like Earl Ciel Phantomhive earned his title after the former Earl was departed, though Earl Trancy was 1 year older than Earl Phantomhive. Though, through the lines and gossip circles it was being debated if he was truly the son of the former Earl Trancy. This was after it had also been rumored the former Earl might have had connections with pedophilia and child slavery. The story was to far fetched to believe, how could that Earl, no matter how creepy he was said to be in the prescence of young people, have possibly done such a thing? Alexander was one of those people who deemed the rumor “absolutely true,” because he’d always had a horrible feeling about the Former Earl and what really was on the rest of the property he did not show people. Ah yes, he remembered riding on horses with the elderly Earl, and when Alexander had wanted to take the beaten, more forsaken and woodsy path, the Earl had said no. He claimed it was nothing but a road to a water spout that hadn't been used in years. However, Alexander had seen foot-prints, and advised his wife to stay out of the company of the elderly Earl. He often brought this up in the debate, even in the presence of Arnold Trancy, the former Earl's brother whom had suspicions of the young Earl. It was said that Arnold Trancy did not have a good relationship with his brother, though Alexander did not care much for he liked neither of them.
“ Where did you get that marvelous ring?” Earl Alois Trancy asked the jeweler, grabbing his hand and examining it. The Trancy head butler stood behind the young Earl, eyeing the ring also with a glare that unnerved Alexander. The Trancy head butler was known for being in constant company with the young Earl, almost like a shadow.
“ A Chinese girl sold it to me.” He said. Alexander was an honest man and believed that the fact of who sold it to him, the Chinese girl, did not matter.
“ It’s the Earl Phantomhive’s ring, I wonder how on earth she could have gotten it.” Said the young Earl, “ but that doesn’t matter, I want it. I’ll pay you 550 pounds for it.” A few people around him gasped.
“ 666 and we have a deal.” Said Alexander, and Alois nodded and took the ring. The Trancy butler's eyes flickered in the mention of the number. Alexander had used that number purposely, because something about the butler made him cringe even worse than when he was in the company of the former Earl Trancy.
“ Claude.” He said, and he went with the butler to collect his earnings.
After the party was over, Claude dressed Alois is his night clothes and Alois laid in his bed. Alois marveled at the dazzling blue ring, looked out the window at the full moon, and listened to the howl of a wolf in the distance. Alois did not mind the wolves because he figured that Claude could and would protect him from them, Alois was his Master after all. “ Have you ever noticed, Claude, that even the moon is chipped? Nothing is perfect, even the moon. It seems to have a face almost. One that scorns at it’s every blemish and wants to hide from the world but cannot.” Seeing Claude was not in the talking mood that night, Alois decided to talk about that object that had caught Claude’s attention, the ring. “ What a trophy.” He said, looking at it in his hand and playing with it. He remembered seeing Ciel in the ring, it was one of his most prized possessions other than his butler. He wondered if Ciel was alright after the London fire and all. He hoped so, he still needed him. “ Good night Claude.” He said, putting the ring on his night stand.
“ Good night, your Highness.” He said and left. Alois looked at the ring and fell asleep looking at it, sparkling and shining in the light of a slightly chipped full moon.
When he was assured his Master was asleep, Claude slipped into the room and took the ring off the nightstand. He then put the soul of Ciel Phantomhive into the ring the Earl had once owned. He looked at the ring as the soul he’d tampered with floated around and then settled. He needed to hide the ring, but where would he put it so his Master would not find it? It wasn’t, after all, the right time to enact his plan. Claude thought about this for a while. He finally figured out that the cellar was the perfect place sense his Master barely went into it.
Claude walked into the cellar and opened a box of New Moon Drop tea; it was emptied purposely to hold the vessel which would hold the soul he’d longed for. He then put the ring into the box and put it among the other boxes of tea. “ Young Master will look for the ring.” Said Hannah, who Claude turned to face. “ Just what are you planning, Claude Faustus? Whatever you do is trouble.” She asked and he ran up before she could jump and he heard her hit the door as he locked it and put a few strands of spider thread to seal her in for a good long time, he did not need that troublesome demon bothering in his plans. He quickly ran into his Master’s room and put his fingers on his head, softly erasing the memory of seeing the ring, the jeweler, and looking at the ring later on in the evening. He replaced the memory effortlessly and then left the room, not even looking back at his Master.
Hannah nearly yelled in anger when she figured out Claude Faustus’s plan. “ The nerve of that bastard.” She said, then with her mind calling Thompson to unlock the cellar door. When Hannah tried to take the ring out of the box it burned her fingers, so she let it stay there. She grimaced for a month or two, thinking of another way to stifle Claude Faustus’s plan. She did not even thank Thompson as she passed. Instead, she got unto a horse and rode to the place where Sebastian Michaelis dwelled for the night.
Sebastian had been looking doggedly on finding his Master’s soul. He sat in Kingston Gardens and looked up to face the demon woman who stood before him. He could feel the energy of the demon sword pulsing through her. “ What do you want?” He said, what would the sheath of the infamous demon sword want with him? She was holding something behind her back, he could not see what it was, so he stood but she turned at his every effort to see what she had behind her back. He sighed, he was too tired and angered beyond words to be playing a game with the Sheath of the Demon Sword.“ If it is that I started the fire, you are sadly mistaken.”
“ No, I knew that already. I am here to tell you that your Master’s soul is at the Trancy Manor in a tea box in the cellar.” Said the demon woman. Sebastian remembered her name, Hannah, Hannah Anafeloz, she was a servant at the Trancy Manor.
“ And, why are you telling me this?” He asked, though he was more curious as to whom had taken the soul of his Master, the soul he had worked for tirelessly. He would destroy them ruthlessly.
“ My Master has been lost in the darkness for a long time. He has failed to see the evil intent of the demon Claude Faustus, whom had him caught deep in his web of lies and deceit. Because of this, I strive to at least put off his plot for a while longer until I figure out what to do.” Said Hannah, “ no doubt you will put a halt on his plans. Nothing halts plans better than a angered demon.”
“ I will kill Claude Faustus.” Sebastian said, angered. His eyes turned a demonic red and the gleam in them showed he could have killed anyone who stood in his path. Hannah could almost make out the faint grinding of his teeth.
Hannah laughed, somehow amused by his display of anger. “ No,” she said, “ you will not, at least not for a while.” She looked at the box that sat near Sebastian’s feet, she sensed the body of Ciel Phantomhive inside. Sebastian put his hand on the box protectively, kneeling slightly and turning his head slightly in doing so. She then, seeing the opportunity, hit Sebastian in the head with a brick she’d gotten from the fire. The tired demon did not have enough enegry to put up the quick reflexes to block the quick attack. And with that, Hannah wiped the memory but left the trace of where to go and what to do. She also made sure he was not damaged and was asleep rather than knocked out cold sense he had not gotten sleep in nearly a month or two and was not in the position to admit he needed it, though he did need it. Then she rode off, back to the Trancy Manor, hoping her plan would work.
Sebastian awoke with the sense of where to look for his Master’s soul. The strangely acquired throbbing pain in his head did not help, though he decided the anger was getting him to the point where it was affecting him physically. He examined his pocket watch to see it was 3:00 noon, he’d been out for nearly 15 hours. He noticed the box had a brick near it, and noticed the lock had been damaged from it but did not care, even though it could be opened without the key. Besides, where in the area would he get another box large enough for his Master without suspicion? Even though the luggage was broken it was easier for him to carry that boy‘s body. Plus,all that would arouse suspicion; he didn’t want attention. He got up, took the trunk and hailed a carriage. He ate the soul of the driver, his appetite had suddenly became unstable after he failed to obtain his Master’s soul. He put the trunk in the back, pulled the reins and went as fast as the horses could go.
At 7 o’clock he left the carriage, took the trunk and began to run to the Trancy manor. He couldn’t help but think about the driver’s body, and that, without his Master being there to help the case would go cold. Rain began to fall and soon it was a down-pour, and because of this Sebastian was soaked because of the force he was running, but only stopped a minute on the way to put on a hat and pull up the flaps on the sides of the coat so at least his hair and the sides of his faced were not so greatly affected. He finally arrived at the Trancy Manor around 8 o’clock. He knocked on the door, composing himself so not to arouse suspicion, ready to get back his Master’s soul with his articulated plan. Once the door opened, there would be no turning back. It was the beginning of the end.