The Return of the Order: Act 31

An uneasy calm settled over the Birch household. Lord Birch had awoken in a sombre mood the previous day, having been informed of Margaret’s deteriorating health and the reasons for it. However, the news that greeted him this day was much more positive. Seeing the smiling faces of the twins and their reapers at breakfast gave him hope that maybe, just maybe, there would be a positive outcome in all of this, for Sebastian’s family at least.

Lord Birch was settled on his own fate, but knowing that Margaret would no longer share it, lightened his mood further. It seemed unfair that love had led her down a path where, until recently, her only reward was death. Lord Birch's mood, however, grew darker as he entered his study to find Undertaker sat among an array of books, two of which he recognised.

“What is this? Why are my wife’s stories here with these other books?”

"Ah, Lord Birch. My apologies for not asking first but time is of the essence, and as no one else has been able to identify your wife's true name, I was hoping that I may be able to assist."

"And the others?"

“These are cinematic records that I have been hiding for many years. They contain the lives of those I,” Undertaker brushed his hand across the covers in front of him, “of those who I knew may be in danger.”

Lord Birch’s eyes flitted over the covers, taking in the names clearly visible on them. He recognised those of Louisa and her children, and Margaret. Others meant nothing to him, then one caught his eye, Ciel Phantomhive. Undertaker caught his gaze and followed it down to the book.

“Hehehe, yes, even the little Lord remains in danger.”

“But he is dead.”

“No, only to the human world. Even the great Malphas could not bring himself to take the soul of one that had been so caring and kind to his beloved.”

“Then what happened?”

“He gave him a new life, one that saw him tainted by demon blood and elevated to a place of power beside Louisa’s father. It was meant to be a gift, but the boy considers it more of a curse, and may do so even more before this is ended.”

Lord Birch rubbed his temples. Ciel Phantomhive, the Queen’s Guard dog, once one of the most feared nobles in the empire was a demon, turned by the one that should have feasted on his soul. Seeing his distress Undertaker grinned, “do not worry Lord Birch, it is not a mistake I believe Malphas will make again, your end will come with the ending of your contract; however, the peace you seek in your afterlife is less certain."

Undertaker surveyed Lord Birch, watching his reaction to his words, confusion and fear swept across the lord’s face, his emotions in turmoil already, the riddles of Undertaker only adding to the foreboding he felt.

"Now if you wish to be helpful Lord, you can sit here and tell me about your wife, even the smallest thing may help me discover her story and her true face." Lord birch moved and sat close to Undertaker. He steadied himself, thinking back to when they first met, he opened his mouth to speak only for a crash and a shout in the hallway to leave him open-mouthed and silent.

Ronald stood sword in hand as Sebastian and Louisa joined him, both taking their demon forms without a word. Shouting for Lord Birch to remain in the study, Undertaker swept out of the room, calling his scythe as he ran. He joined the others, as the air rippled in front of them. The protections had provided warning that the portal was forming. Only the voice that boomed through the tear convinced those assembled to lower the protections if not their own defences.

Lord Birch watched from the crack in the door as the figure appeared. It stood a full head taller than Sebastian, its scaly skin shimmered green, dark claws flexed on the end of its muscular arms and legs, its head topped with horns. As it moved forward, its tail followed through, spines running down its length, ending in point that looked as if it could slice through reality itself. A smaller, humanlike figure followed, stopping at the edge of the portal as the larger figure swept forward and enfolded the demon form of Louisa in its arms and wings.

Sensing no danger following the figures through the portal, Sebastian returned to human form. Leaving Louisa to greet her father, he smiled and moved forward to embrace the smaller figure.

“Ciel, it is good to see you.”

“Sebastian, I am glad to see you too; I wish the circumstances were different though.”

“As do I.”

The two dragon figures returned to human form; the larger of the two roared with laughter as his form took shape. He remained taller than Sebastian, slightly larger in build, long black hair, his eyes remained black, the same colour as his demon form. “It has been a long time since I held this form.”

“And, yet, Lord Typhon, it remains normal procedure to wear clothes when in that form,” laughed Sebastian, pulling clothing from the air around him and passing them to the newly human form of Typhon.

“Father, we were not expecting you so soon.”

“As things are more settled in my realm, I wanted to check on you all and bring you a gift to help fortify your protections.”

He whistled into the still-open portal, there was a brief pause before two huge doglike shapes appeared and sat on either side of Typhon.

“I could not convince your favourites to journey to this realm Malphas; however, I believe these two should do the trick for now. They have no experience in this world, but they will learn quickly enough."

One of the creatures sniffed the air, growled and bounded for the door that Lord Birch sat behind. Leaping, it pushed it open, pushing Lord Birch over and landing, slobbering and growling above him its teeth inches away from his face.

Typhon laughed loudly, “the human must be your new master then Malphas.”

“Yes,” said Sebastian moving to his stricken master and calling off the beast. Helping Lord Birch to his feet, he continued, “may I present Lord Birch. Master, this is the demon Lord Typhon, Louisa’s father.”

Typhon studied Lord Birch, “not what I expected at all. You took a great risk binding a demon of Malphas' power, but you already know that, and the price."

Lord Birch nodded, still incapable of thought let alone speech, his wariness of the demon and the two beasts evident as his eyes flitted between them. Typhon grasped him by the shoulder, “that is a matter between you and them, I am here to aid with the greater matter.”

Gathering his senses, Lord Birch finally found his voice, “you are most welcome here, Lord Typhon, I have heard much about you.”

Sebastian guided Ciel over towards Typhon and Lord Birch, “and this is Ciel, formerly Lord Phantomhive, now apprentice to Lord Typhon.”

Lord Birch extended his hand, “Lord Phantomhive, I believe we met once before when we were younger and times were, at least superficially, much simpler.”

A smile spread across Ciel's face, "very true, Lord Birch, but it is just Ciel now, Lord Phantomhive is long dead, and it needs to remain that way to all outside this house."