Chapter Text
It had been a long day again, and as we sometimes do, we—Fabian, Sara, Lukas, and I—decided to embark on a little night expedition through the woods. This isn't unusual; it's where the best deep talks happen, and it's fun to watch Lukas jump halfway into the bushes every time something rustles in the underbrush. Tonight's topic is Lukas's dating life, or rather his nonexistent dating life, since he's just too shy to finally step out of his comfort zone. Not that I can judge him; my love life is also interesting, to put it mildly. "Look at Marie, she has a date with a different woman every week and is still unhappy," Lukas defends himself. "First of all, I just have bad luck; secondly, the lesbian scene is a bit more complicated; and thirdly, you are every education major's dream guy if you would finally enter the dating scene."
Sara shot me a knowing glance, but before she could voice her opinion, Fabian interrupted, annoyed: "Does anyone even know where we are or how to get out of here?"
"Bro, I know these woods like the back of my hand; I was basically raised by the creatures of the forest," I confidently replied. "That would explain a lot," Fabian shot back. I rolled my eyes: "At least I had some kind of upbringing unlike you, but you can all chill; there’s a path up ahead to the left. We need to go straight, and then we'll be back in civilization." "Bold of you to call your town civilization," Lukas crossed his arms, seeming less than convinced. Meanwhile, Fabian was looking around paranoid again, not that he could see anything.
Now there was just one problem. Where the path should be, there was no path... and everything seemed less familiar than it should be...
Sara seemed to notice my unease: "Marie, is everything okay? Shouldn't the turnoff be coming up soon?" "Well... yes... actually, it should."
Lukas looked at me as if he might kill me: "So we've gotten lost?" He pulled out his phone only to frustratedly explain that he had no signal. I shook my head: "First of all, you can't get lost here. Either you end up in Mühldorf, or in Hausen, or at the highway; the forest isn’t that big. Secondly, Linus, you are by far the chillest person among us unless it’s about horror movies, and we’re not in one right now, so relax and maybe make yourself a sandwich. We're just going to keep walking this path, and sooner or later we’ll come out somewhere."
So our group started walking straight ahead in silence. I want to note that this is extremely unusual for us, but the atmosphere in the woods felt somehow threatening, and this hidden feeling of being watched wouldn’t leave me. A glance at the others confirmed that they felt the same way.
I tried to swallow my uneasy feeling and initially wanted to scare Lukas to lighten the mood. So I suddenly turned around with my arms raised, but before I could shout "BOO," it got stuck in my throat. Because there was something in the woods. With red eyes.
I screamed, spun around 180 degrees, and yelled at the others to run. Panicking, I sprinted through the dark forest, ignoring the stabbing pain in my lungs. About 50 meters away, I could see the edge of the forest. Light. Civilization. Safety. Or so I thought...
Just as we were about to leave the forest, a tall dark figure suddenly appeared in front of us. "THE SLENDERMAN," Lukas screamed in a panic and was about to run in the opposite direction. Motivated, considering he hasn't managed to beat "The 8 Pages" to this day. But before I could think further about that, the Slenderman spoke... and he sounded like Goethe: "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the estate of the Phantomhives. The young master does not usually receive guests at this late hour. May I ask what you are doing here?" The man, who was probably not Slenderman after all, looked directly into my eyes. What he said was polite, but I still felt like I was about to be torn apart... Wait a moment... Phantomhive? This has to be a bad joke. I opened my mouth, but Fabian spoke first: "We are very sorry; we didn’t mean to trespass, but we got lost in the woods. Could you please tell us how to get to Mühldorf?"
The man in the dark butler uniform smiled and shook his head: "No, I’m afraid that is not nearby."
"Do you perhaps know which direction the A94 is? We can orient ourselves at the highway," Sara tried. But the butler simply raised an eyebrow in surprise: "Highway? I’ve never heard of such a thing. You are currently in England, about a two-hour carriage ride from London." And finally, the veil fell from my brain. England? Phantomhive? Black Butler? Fuck.
The other three exclaimed in shock, "England?!" I remained silent for the moment, as my brain was currently entering overload mode. How the hell did my friends and I end up in the world of a manga? Or at least I hope it's the manga and not the anime. Otherwise, I’d rather be in a Victorian brothel getting syphilis, far away from that manipulative demon. Wait, where was I again? Oh right, we're screwed.
"Yes, in England, and as I said, on the estate of Earl Phantomhive. You all seem a bit confused; has something happened to you?" My brain finally managed to get a stable ping again, and before any of my fellow idiots could completely screw us over, I spoke up, even though my voice trembled. As tough as I might be in daily life, I know what this seemingly polite butler is capable of. I can’t mess this up: "We were actually supposed to arrive in London today, but our carriage had an accident, and since then, we’ve been wandering through the woods. Unfortunately, my traveling companions all bumped their heads and have memory gaps. I sincerely apologize."
"Hey, if anything, you hit your head on—OW," I kicked Lukas before he could ruin my cover story further and smiled at the butler. He looked at me suspiciously but seemed not to see us as a threat, so for now, we wouldn’t be pierced by butter knives. "My deepest condolences for your dramatic journey. On behalf of the house, it is my duty to offer you accommodation for the night. The young master will surely assist you with your further travel plans and welcome you."
"NO!... well, that's really generous, but we don't want to impose and can surely find our way," this has to be a goddamn fever dream; there’s no way I'm going into this murder mansion. My friends looked at me completely bewildered and wanted to object, but the man in black was quicker: "Not at all; there are no inconveniences. Besides, we could never leave two young ladies alone in the dark. The road to London is long, and there may be some creatures lurking in the dark woods," he grinned at me wolfishly. The bastard knows something... I just hope he doesn't know that I know he’s the most dangerous creature.
"So if it really isn't any trouble, we'll gladly accept your offer... it's getting cold," Lukas rubbed his arms.
"Very well. My name is Sebastian Michaelis, the head butler of the family. If you would please follow me," he turned around and began to walk out of the woods, where a beautiful gothic English mansion awaited us. Once the name was mentioned, at least Lukas, who had seen a few adaptations of the book series, seemed to have a lightbulb moment and looked at me worriedly. Silently, I put my finger to my lips, hoping he understands what a messed-up situation we're in.
Sebastian took us to the foyer first, where he asked the guys to wait so he could take the ladies to their rooms first (of course we can't all chill in the same corridor, that would be scandalous smh). So the butler leads us through the corridors of the manor (by the way, wtf is everything in here so fancy). He opens a door and asks Sara to come in. I wait briefly in the corridor until Mr. Handsome comes out again and takes me into a room next door. “In here please, Miss...?” Shit, does he want my first or last name now? Never mind. “Marie Stenz.” “Miss Stenz, I hope the room is enough for you for the night, there should be some fresh nightgowns in the dresser so you don't have to sleep in your... interesting clothes. If you need anything else, you can always ring for me. Otherwise you will be woken up by our
maid Mey-rin in the morning.” I nod my head and try to come across as fancy and classy as possible and not like a lunatic: “Thank you very much, that's very kind.” He stares at me briefly with his stupid grin and lets the awkward silence really scratch my already bare nerves before he asks: “Excuse me, but have I already made your acquaintance?” Huh, surely not, you didn't even officially exist until 3 years ago, bro? HÄÄÄÄÄ “ Personally, certainly not.” I reply as calm as possible.
He laughs, and everything inside me tightens as he bows and says in a playful tone, “Then I’m all the more pleased to make it now; I must have been mistaken in your earlier gaze. Good night, my lady.” Sebastian straightens up and leaves my room. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. I am soooooo screwed. I stand there like a complete idiot for a moment before deciding to put on my fancy Victorian nightgown, and damn, is it comfy. It’s nice here in the time before synthetic fibers.
With my new drip, I make my way to Sara’s room because I really need some mental support right now. I knock cautiously on her door and open it quietly, hoping the damn demon doesn’t notice we’re out. There’s only one candle burning in the room. “Sara? Hellooooooo, are you still awake?”
“Oh, it’s you.” I turn to the side and nearly have a heart attack because my best friend is standing there, ready to stab me with a hairpin. “Bro, chill,” I whisper.
“Sorry, but I’m a little on edge right now. What’s going on?”
“Well, I don’t really know, but I have a suspicion.”
“AND THAT WOULD BE?”
“SHHHH, are you crazy? Silence! He’ll hear that!”
“Who?” Sara looks at me, confused.
“The butler. Do you remember the movie I showed you and Fabian last month?” She raises an eyebrow. “The zombie Titanic movie from Black Butler? Are you serious… ohhhhhh. Shit.”
I nod. “Yeah, we’ve gotten ourselves into a bit of trouble, so we need to be as quiet as possible; the demon hears everything that’s going on here.”
Sara sighs. “Then I guess I’d better not go looking for Fabian’s room.”
“No, you’ll have to manage without your boyfriend tonight, unless you want a demon to give you a talk about no sex before marriage.”
“Mhm, no thanks. But how the hell did we end up here? Are you sure this isn’t a fever dream?”
I shrug my shoulders: “I am 98% sure this is a fever dream, but for now we should take it as real. Because if we're stupid about it and it is real, then we're cooked.” “Do what stupidly? Do you have a plan yet?” “Well Plaan might be a bit of an exaggeration, but we'll probably talk to Ciel tomorrow and then we'll have to A convince him not to kill us and B get him to let us keep crashing at is place. Honestly, our best option is probably just to tell the truth and hope for the best, because there's no way we can pretend to be from this time. Oh and Sebastian is already hella suspicious of me....” “Marie..... Don't ultra shitty things happen here all the time?” “Yes, yes they do.” “Then why should we stay here, genius?” “Because the rest of victorian London is similarly fucked up, and as long as we stick to the main story we have a chance of surviving.... I hope it's the manga story... otherwise I'll jump right out the window” ”Yeah okay let's see, I don't like it...” I sigh: “I don't either, but I think as long as we present ourselves as friendly, competent and useful, it'll work. Oh, and we shouldn't give away the fact that I know their future, otherwise Sebastian will take us from behind and in front at the same time to get the information.”
"That's an excellent point, but you're forgetting one little thing."
"And that would be?"
"We're neither friendly, nor competent, nor useful."
"Ouch, well, let's see what happens. I'm going to take my grandma drip back to my room before the mop-haired guy catches on. Adios."
I turn around and sneak out the door, just barely catching a frustrated, depressed "bye-bye" from Sara. The hallway holds no more surprises for me, and back in my room, I collapse onto the incredibly cozy down bed.
Meanwhile, Sebastian is preparing the young master in another part of the manor for the night: "My Lord, I should inform you that we have guests this evening." Ciel looks at his butler, annoyed: "Shouldn't you have taken care of them by now?" Sebastian chuckles briefly and explains, "Well, they are not those kinds of guests, I assume at least. They are lost travelers."
"I don’t see why you’re bothering me with this then. Just give them breakfast tomorrow and see them off." Sebastian folds the clothes while Ciel sits on his bed and removes his eye patch. "You see, my lord, they are not your average travelers, and I think you might want to speak to them." The young Earl, clearly at the end of his patience, replies, "Enough with your enigmas. Just tell me what is so special about them."
Sebastian smiles and calmly says, "They seem to be from Germany yet have no recollection of how they ended up in England. This, combined with their strange clothing, leads me to believe they are not from this time. I myself have never encountered such a phenomenon, and it is merely a theory, though I thought the young master might like to hear about it." Ciel's eyes widen, absolutely flabbergasted: "Time travelers?! You must be joking!"
"I am afraid not, my lord. One of them even seemed to... recognize me, or at least she reacted strangely to me. I suspect she knows of my true nature somehow. However, nothing is confirmed as of yet. I am sure tomorrow will bring clarity to this mystery. For now, you should get some rest, my lord."
The young boy leans back into his pillow as Sebastian covers him. "This is absolute madness; you will stay vigilant tonight. This is an order."
The butler grins. "Yes, my lord." He blows out the candle and leaves the room.