1I was drifting, weightless, in a void. There had been so much pain, but now, it had deserted me, as well as my worries and cares. I felt pure, to put a cliche term on the feeling, but there is no better way to describe it. There was only myself.
Then, I felt someone's presence join me. Who would come at a time like this? I was so fragile, but I was unafraid. There were eyes, first red, then purple, that glowed with an ominous hunger. Something was approaching me.
"I have waited so long to eat..."
Then, the darkness vanished.
"I said, don't do it yet!"
Kayla Evans, a human teenager, opened her eyes. Everything was a blur, but she could make out two people standing over her. She was cold, and soaking wet, and there was a foul stench clinging to her clothes. Desperately, she tried to move, and could feel herself sinking into muddy soil. She wanted to groan, but could barely muster enough energy to grunt.
"Why shouldn't I? There's been a fatal accident, and this one was clearly involved. Look, you can see where she flew out of the car." The voice was agitated, and tutted. "Listen, I just want to get this over with so I can clock out and get to my audition, so this better be important!"
"But she's not on the list!"
"What? Impossible! Let me see that!"
Kayla blinked a raindrop out of her eyes, and tried to focus on the men. One was dressed in red, with long red hair. The other stood farther back, with bright orange hair, and was leaning against a lawnmower.
I must be going crazy.
The red one snatched what looked like a tablet out of his partner's hands, and scowled over the contents on the screen. He let out a sharp gasp. "What? But how can only one be listed? That's illogical!"
"That's the To-Die List, Grell. She's not on there." The other man shrugged. "We can't take their cinematic records if they aren't scheduled to die."
"But... but..." Grell sighed, clearly still not believing what he was hearing. "There's no way she was supposed to survive, just look at this mess!"
"Maybe it's a mistake, but we can't just reap her soul until we have proof."
"Fine, Ronald, but once we find out she's supposed to die, I call dibs on her cinematic records." Grell grinned, revealing a row of very sharp teeth. He was standing over Kayla now, who coughed.
"Who... are you?" Kayla groaned. "Mum..."
Grell scoffed, and flicked his wrist past one of his fringes. "No, no, dear, I'm not your darling mummy, but I can see how you might be confused by my womanly charms..."
Ronald looked a little agitated himself, now. "I think she's asking about her mum, Grell..."
Grell shot him a disdained look. "Well!" He turned back to Kayla. "Look, dear, I've got some bad news for you. I've had a look at your mum's cinematic record already. Quite a life she's had, and I saw you took a center stage to it, hm? But it's a bit too late now, because that was her final performance."
"Wha?"
"Uh... your mum's dead, kid." Ronald said, more bluntly than he would have liked. At least, he consoled himself, he wasn't as elusively melodramatic as Grell. "Sorry. There's still a bit of a problem about your soul, though. We're trying to sort it out now. Grell," He added, addressing the redhead, "Shoot a message to Will, he'll be able to check on the main computers to see if there's a Kayla Evans scheduled to die today."
Kayla was becoming more and more aware of her present situation.
"She's dead?" She croaked groggily, trying to sit up. "Ow... what's wrong with my soul? What's happening to me?"
"We're figuring that out right now, girly." Grell hummed as his fingers tapped away a text on his red phone. "We'll get a reply from Will soon enough, I'm pretty sure."
Kayla groaned, and clutched her sides. Worried, Ronald crouched down next to her, and moved her hand away to take a look.
"Ow!" She sucked in sharply when Ronald gently touched her.
"Sorry!" He exclaimed, retreating the hand quickly.
"Hmph. Broken ribs most likely. How can you not believe she's supposed to die?"
"It hurts so much!"
"Yes, dying does that to you..." There was a chiming sound from the phone. "Oh, looks like Will managed to find out for us after all..." He hunched over the little screen, reading the message carefully. "Wh...what? William can't find it either!"
"Then that means the girl can live, right?" Ronald asked. Grell trembled.
"It's more than that!" He looked absolutely bewildered. "William went to look up when she actually would die... and couldn't find that either! He said there's no trace of her being listed in our software at all!" Grell peered at Kayla, who was still sinking in the mud. "It's... unusual... but there's absolutely no proof that this girl even exists, besides her mortal body right here. No records of her or anything at HQ."
"Help... help me..." Kayla pleaded. She wasn't sure how she was going to make it.
Ronald looked at Grell pitifully.
"No, Ronald, we end people's lives, not prolong them!" Grell snapped.
"That's not true. We judge if they're worth living or not. I think, given the situation, we should really let her off the hook until we can figure out what happened to her information... We had to have had her listed at some point, and I think it's better to let her live just a little longer than to shave off years of her life. Besides, she's young..."
Grell crossed his arms. There was another chime from his phone, and Grell read it again, sighing.
"It looks like William has the same thoughts, Ronald. Guess it's her lucky day." Grell turned to Kayla again, grinning widely.
"Guess it's not your time yet, girl. Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit!" He laughed to himself.
They were gone, and so was my pain. I sat up in the mud, and surveyed the wreckage around me. My mom's car was almost unrecognizable, smashed into the ground after driving off a cliff. I looked down at myself, I was covered in mud. There was a knot in my stomach, as I realized everything I had in life was lost.
So I stood up, and had to start walking.
"And how, exactly, is this supposed to involve us?"
Ciel Phantomhive narrowed his eyes, annoyed that he had been cornered down like this by faces of his past. He demanded a damn reasonable explanation.
"It is not our interest to ask for help, especially from scum like you," William T. Spears, one of the top Grim Reapers in the business, looked positively disgusted with himself. "However, we thought things might be easier for you to investigate on your end. It was suggested that you might help..." He cringed.
"Don't tell me it was Grell who thought to bother us?" Ciel scoffed. "We are not your allies, so I suggest that you kindly piss off, before I tell my butler to escort you out." His eyes flashed menacingly, revealing his true demonic intentions. The threat did not move William.
"We believe the cause of the problem is a demon, but that's not all." He adjusted his glasses. "Our security tapes have shown us the culprit."
Ciel scowled. "Then why would you need our help? Clearly you have everything sorted."
"Well, as you can imagine, the culprit would be punished most harshly. We do have methods of completely eradicating demons, and the cretin that destroyed our valuable data would be banished from both Heaven and Hell, in a void of nothingness, for all eternity. However," Will added, "It was highly insisted upon by another Grim Reaper that we spare this criminal. It would be most disastrous for you as well, Phantomhive."
"What? Are you implying that I caused your little mess? Don't you dare try to point a finger at me..."
"It wasn't you on the feed." William said gravely, "It was Sebastian Michaelis."
Ciel's eyes lit up again. "S-Sebastian?" He looked suspicious. "No, I know my butler, and he's hardly left my side for over a century. He'd have no time to come up with such a scheme, then break into your headquarters and tamper with your labs."
"Be that as it may, Phantomhive, we have evidence of his involvement, and he clearly has a motive. He's our prime suspect for this case."
"You're wrong!" Ciel snapped, "Sebastian works under my orders, his free will belongs to me!"
"Then are we to believe that it was under your order-"
"No! Weren't you listening to me? I told you not to blame this on me!" Ciel spat, rising in his anger. "We're being set up!"
"Might I ask, where is your butler now?"
"Preparing tea." Ciel sat back down, still nearly tipping over with wrath.
"How can you be so sure?"
Ciel remained quiet. He quietly contemplated the case in his head, while the troublesome Reaper waited for a reply.
"Show me the feeds." The young demon finally snapped. William produced a tablet from his bag, and offered the device to Ciel. Ciel took it in his grasp, and gently tapped the screen to play the footage.
There was a computer lab, full of Grim Reapers hunched over their keyboards with their eyes glued to the monitors in front of them. At first, nothing of interest seemed to happen. Then, to Ciel's surprise, Sebastian walked past a row of computers, completely unnoticed by the staff. He wasn't even trying to blend in, and he strolled to an empty cubicle with an idle computer. He watched as his butler took something out of his pocket, likely a memory stick, and plugged it into the computer's tower, before sitting down and doing something unseen. After a few short moments, Sebastian stood up, retrieved his memory stick, and slipped out of the lab, completely unchallenged. Almost as soon as the butler had left, the staff who must have normally sat in that station returned with a coffee, and went to work like nothing happened. The video ended.
"Sebastian..." Ciel muttered, still hardly believing it. His grip tightened, and the screen across the tablet cracked under pressure. "My butler wouldn't be so daft as to just waltz in like that, without concealing himself! This is obviously a sham!"
"If your involvement is as you say it is, nonexistent, then wouldn't it be best if you cooperated with us? We suspect that it is a demon culprit, and if they are indeed trying to frame you or Michaelis, there must be a reason why."
Ciel growled under his breath. "So you need us to get to them. I see." He folded his hands. "It doesn't look like we have a choice, anyway. Who did you say the victim was?"
"Her name was Kayla Evans. We have no information left about her, except that she was last seen in England, and we suspect that she is only one of many who have disappeared. Can we trust you to find the other Unlisted?"
"Unlisted?"
"That is what we're referring the victims of the data wipe as. Perhaps there is a link you could find that would lead us to the hacker. We, of course, would be obligated to share intel on the case for only as long as and concerning what is necessary."
Ciel chuckled. "Would you trust a demon and his butler?" He asked with a smirk.
"Unfortunately, I don't have a choice."
"Then yes, you may trust us."
"Good. Now, then..." William retrieved his cracked tablet, "I must be off, I've taken too much time off of my regular duties to make this trip. You'll excuse me..." He made haste to depart, and frowned deeply at the broken device in his hand. "It's a good thing I bought a warranty on this. Demons are most barbaric..." He muttered.
Ciel watched as William left his sight, which was just as Sebastian returned with a tray of tea.
"Oh dear, did our guest run off so soon?" He sighed. "I had just prepared the refreshments..."
"Sebastian," Ciel looked over at his tall servant, "Get my coat ready, and prepare to leave. I'm going to reclaim my old manor."
Sebastian blinked, surprised. "What for, master?" He asked, stepping away from the trolley that carried a very expensive set of china.
"We've got another case in the underworld to solve."