Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/13437447.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
  Category:
      F/M
  Fandom:
      Kuroshitsuji_|_Black_Butler
  Relationship:
      Undertaker_(Kuroshitsuji)/Original_Female_Character(s), Sebastian
      Michaelis/Ciel_Phantomhive_(hinted)
  Character:
      Frederick_Abberline, Undertaker_(Kuroshitsuji), Sebastian_Michaelis, Ciel
      Phantomhive, Finnian_(Kuroshitsuji), Baldroy_(Kuroshitsuji), Mey-Rin_
      (Kuroshitsuji), Cedric_K._Ros, Original_Female_Character(s), Lucinda
      Quinton, Lau_(Kuroshitsuji), Grell_Sutcliff, William_T._Spears, Aleistor
      Chamber_|_Viscount_Druitt
  Additional Tags:
      child_trafficking, Unsolved_Murder, Backstory, Brutal_Murder, Separation,
      Separation_Anxiety, Slow_Build, Slow_Burn, Eventual_Romance, Eventual
      Smut, Hurts_So_Good, First_Love, Insanity, insane_asylum, Grim_Reapers,
      Personal_Lore_&_Headcanons, My_First_Smut, Getting_to_Know_Each_Other,
      I'm_Bad_At_Tagging, I'm_Bad_At_Summaries, I'm_Bad_At_Titles, no_update
      schedule, Other_Additional_Tags_to_Be_Added
  Stats:
      Published: 2018-01-21 Updated: 2018-03-07 Chapters: 4/? Words: 11905
****** Grim Delight ******
by OctoberCrow
Summary
     Lucinda Quinton has always seen life as a muddy ditch, that will pull
     you down no matter how hard you try to climb out. Spending most of
     her life in fear of what will throw her back down into the depths.
     That is until she met the Undertaker.
Notes
     5 years ago I wrote an Undertaker fanfiction on Quotev, which I now
     feel ashamed about. I think after posting that one story, I lost my
     writing groove. I felt depressed and had a near impossible time
     writing anything because I thought it was all terrible. In fact, I
     even started to hate my own characters, especially those I created in
     middle school. Lucinda was one of those characters, and I felt like
     there was no way that she was salvageable. Then one day I thought "If
     I hate her, why not redesign her and her backstory?" This brings us
     to this story, this is not a rewrite of Take Me *Undertaker Love
     Story*, it's a reboot.
See the end of the work for more notes
***** The Investigation *****
The bell above the door rang as Inspector Abberline walked into the small
Undertaker shop, looking for information about an old case. He was trying to
solve this completely cold case, with no leads, everyone told him he was a fool
for even trying. The shop was so eerily quiet, the silence brought his
attention to how cramped the small shop really was. Coffins were leaned against
all the walls, except the right wall where two different doorways were, with
heavy grey curtains drawn to hide what lay behind them, and a few bureaus full
of medical supplies. Various jars lined the top of the bureaus, their contents
unknown, but there was one with no lid that contained what looked like dog
biscuits. In the center of the room were two couches and a coffin-shaped coffee
table, perhaps to make discussion of burial easier. Abberline jumped at the
sound of heels coming from the back room of the shop heading toward where he
stood. A beautiful young woman stepped out from behind the curtain, in a simple
black dress. She smiled crookedly and headed to the other room. This was odd,
to say the least, everyone had told him a man owned this shop, had no
employees, and wouldn't accept payment in any form.
She returned to the main room holding a tray with two beakers full of tea, and
a plate with those biscuits. Setting it down on the coffee table, she looked at
Abberline “Hello sir, welcome to Undertaker’s shop. How may I help you today?”
Abberline watched with interest as she sat down on one of the couches, and
gestured to the one across from it. He sat at her request and picked up the
beaker with hot tea in it, before asking “Is Undertaker here?”
“Sadly he’s not feeling well today, so I’m handling all the business in the
shop” she explained taking a sip of her tea, not wincing from the heat.
Abberline stared into his beaker, there’s no way she would be able to give him
the information that he needed… then again, what’s the harm in asking? He
looked back to the woman and asked: “Can you give me information about a case?”
She smiled, clearly intrigued by his question “Well, of course, I can
inspector, but the information comes at a price here.”

 “I heard the Undertaker doesn’t take payment,” he said, quirking an eyebrow
questioningly.
“Of course we don’t take normal payment, we have no use for the Queens coins” a
sly grin spread on her face “we only accept compensation in the forms of jokes
and deals.”
Abberline was completely thrown for a loop, what did she mean they had no use
for currency? How could they live without any money? He sighed and set his
beaker down “Alright, what do you want?”
 “Usually I make deals, but…” she walked over to where Abberline still sat and
ran an impressively long nail along his cheek “I’ll make an exception for you,
inspector.”
The silence that followed was uncomfortable, she was making an exception him…
why? Was it because she thought he couldn’t handle whatever deal she proposed?
He steeled his gaze and pushed her hand away from his face “I’ll make a deal
with you for the information I need”
She chuckled, sitting on the table that had separated them before “You’re quite
bold, and here I thought you’d appreciate my politeness. Alright, tell me about
your case so I can give you a fair deal.”
“It’s a murder that happened 12 years ago, four men were found in an abandoned
laboratory. Three were stabbed to death with a scalpel, one of whom had an eye
removed, one had his guts ripped out, the third victim was just stabbed in the
neck. The fourth had very odd wounds, they weren’t identified as any kind of
blade we knew, but there were five wounds in his neck and his chest. The murder
weapon was found, but we couldn’t link it back to any suspects. The case has
been cold for 11 years now, but I’m determined to solve it.”
She tsked, her soft eyes, turned dark and cold as she listened to his
description of the crime scene. Her whole demeanor had changed, in fact, she
was tense now clearly bothered by something he’d mentioned. It was clear she
was contemplating whether or not to help him, her brows furrowed in thought
then she sighed heavily.
“I know this case” she looked down at the floor “I know who killed them… so
here’s our arrangement. I’ll tell you the whole story, and after I’m done
telling you everything, you will not arrest me or take me to the insane asylum.
Understood?”
This woman had basically just confessed to killing them, and she expected him
to just let her get away with it? Yet, if he didn’t listen to her story, he’d
never know what happened that night… was it worth it to let a murderer get away
again? He held out his hand, to her and said quickly “I agree to your deal”
She took his hand and shook it firmly, before sitting back on the couch “You’ll
be here awhile inspector so allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is
Lucinda Quinton.”
“My name is Fred Abberline” he responded, settling in his seat he prepared for
a long day.
***** The Confession *****
Chapter Summary
     Lucinda tells most of the story of her past to Inspector Abberline,
     in return he gives her some helpful information.
Chapter Notes
     I've had this chapter written since I published the last one, I was
     kinda waiting for a comment or some form of feedback. Well, I'll
     publish this one and hope this is okay... I tried. My writing still
     needs a lot of work.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
“My first memory is being forcibly dragged out of my home, and thrown into a
cart with other children. I didn’t understand it at the time, but now I know
that my parents sold me. I barely remember them, but I do know that they
couldn’t afford to take care of me, so they sold me, the same as livestock. We
traveled all night, huddled together for warmth as the night air chilled us to
the bone. We were taken to a remote location where all of us were dragged into
an abandoned house and put into the basement together. The doors were locked
unless one of the five men came downstairs to take someone up into the main
house. The house itself wasn’t much nicer than the basement. When I was taken
upstairs, they tied me to a chair and tattooed a special number on my arm. S-
007, it was so painful that even when it was over I couldn’t stop crying. I
couldn’t sleep that whole first night, and when the pain finally subsided, I
stared at the ceiling and hoped my parents would rescue me soon. How stupid I
was to think they ever cared about me, that I was anything more than a money
pit to them.
“I spent my first year with those five men, other children that were given up
by their parents, every day more joined us. In a farming town, I saw them
kidnap my big brother Finnian from his family. He had been working in a very
large field on his own, so those men took him away from his family. No one saw
or heard as they were all acres away from the crime. He was tossed into the
cart with us, and he curled up in the corner crying as we left his home.
Although I’m sure his family did report him missing and did try to find him, we
were long gone. Finny never gave up hope, that we would be rescued or that
someone would report the kidnapping to the police… it never happened though, no
one saw us and the majority of us were sold willingly to these men. Every time
we left a location, it was in the dead of night, and the carts were covered,
that way no one could see what cargo they had. We were carted around all over
England, until one fateful day we had to leave a safe house early. Someone
passing by witnessed all of us being loaded into carts and covered with tarps,
so they reported it to the police. Giving detailed descriptions of what they
saw, so the police were sent to investigate the abandoned barn. Only to find a
few dead children, rotting in the middle of the floor. It looked as if they had
died of natural causes, but that was far from the case. Every child five or
older were experimented on, and that’s how those kids died.
“The men didn’t stop their pattern, and I felt nothing but despair every night
when all the older kids would stumble into the room, covered in blood, and
other stains I didn’t recognize. Finny somehow remained cheerful, no matter
what they did to him, he managed to keep up his constant hope. It was so
strange, how he was being tortured every night, but he never stopped smiling. I
expressed my misunderstanding to him and asked why he hadn’t given up, unlike
every other child that was taken by these men.
“He looked me dead in the eye and said the strangest thing I’d ever heard, “You
know, your despair makes me hope even more, that we’ll escape, or that someone
will find us, or that the men will be arrested for child trafficking… no matter
what we’ll get out, this isn’t a permanent situation” his voice was scratching
from screaming in pain, but he sounded so sure.
“How can you be so sure? Don’t you think that it’s foolish to think like that,
Finny?” I thought that might deter him, but it didn’t.
He sat up and put a gentle hand on my head saying “Maybe it is, but I believe
that if you let yourself feel helpless than you are.”
“That was the night I started looking up to him as if he were my big brother
because he remained strong no matter how bad things got. I even started calling
him big brother, because it kept him going when he was exhausted.
“My birthday started approaching fast and the only reason I was even aware of
it, was because I would then start being experimented on. I had to mentally
prepare myself for it when I could barely handle being tattooed. We left the
most recent safe house, and everyone was specifically sorted for some reason.
We were covered in tarps as usual, but I managed to find a peephole to look out
when I felt crowded. After a full week of traveling, we came to a new location
just outside of a very busy town, but there were four new men, in lab coats,
waiting to greet our captors. As soon as the carts stopped one of our captors
approached the men waiting.
“It’s been awhile doc” he greeted, not sounding very pleased with seeing this
doctor again.
“How many have you brought us?” the doctor asked, skipping over the
pleasantries.
“We always go over price first” was his gruff “kiddies ain't cheap, ya know.”
“How about £5 per child?”
“When’d ya get so tight?”
He sighed, clearly upset with his bluntness, “fine £10 per child, but that's my
final offer”
He nodded in agreement, taking his hand to shake on the arrangement, “always a
pleasure doing business with you. We brought you 300 more children. They're all
wonderful candidates for the new drugs.”
“You've been busy, how long did it take you to collect that many?” the doctor
sounded impressed with the number of kids being sold to him.
“Two years” he pulled out a cigarette “the brats that are old enough to be used
for your tests have been prepped. There are a few that will be turning five
within a couple days, they’ll need to be prepped. Best of luck to ya, doc.”
“I could barely believe what I was hearing, all the terrible things that had
been done to the older children was just in preparation for the real
experiments. I felt sick just listening to the conversation, knowing that all
the agony that Finny went through was for nothing. Everything was about to get
so much worse when I was convinced it absolutely couldn’t get worse. I watched
in pure shock as the tarps were removed to show the new test subjects to the
doctors. The one who’d made the negotiations peered down into our cart, and
smirked in satisfaction. We were all dragged out of the carts, into the large
laboratory. There were tons of other children, I saw someone dumping bodies
into a furnace to burn the evidence. As we were led up a level, I heard another
child screaming in pain. It was quickly silenced, but I'll always remember the
pure agony of the sound. We were sorted out and put into rooms, and as soon as
the heavy metal door closed I collapsed on the floor. There was no point in
crying, I knew that but it didn’t stop the tears from falling freely and they
wouldn’t stop. Finny knelt next to me and pulled me close, trying his best to
cheer his little sister up. Eventually, after crying for so long I exhausted
myself and fell asleep, in a pure white room being held.
“Things were different when I woke up… that’s an understatement, I wasn’t even
in the same room anymore. I was bound to a cold metal table, it was so bright
that it was hard to see, there were all sorts of tools on the counter nearby. I
knew what would happen in this room, that preparation for experimentation would
begin because that day was my fifth birthday. A man in a lab coat walked into
the room, reading something on a sheet of paper, he set it on a desk in the
corner of the room.
“S-007,” he said when he noticed that I was awake.
“My name is Lucinda” I kept my eyes on the ceiling, not wanting to show this
man any fear.
He chuckled “as far as your family is concerned you’re dead, so no you’re not
Lucinda. You are just S-007.”
I tensed at the mention of my parents, those heartless monsters that sold me,
then I laid back and said: “I don’t care what you call me, so long as I die in
the process.”
“Do you think death is the end of suffering?” he asked, “The pain you felt when
you die will never go away, and it will continue to torment you in hell.”
“He walked over to me, and put a scalpel to my throat, letting the blade slowly
sink into my skin. I didn’t react to the pain, just continued to stare at the
ceiling. I knew that he wanted me to scream, and he wanted me to understand
he’s in complete control over me. What he didn’t know was that the restraints
weren’t able to hold down my skinny arms, so I just grabbed his wrist. This
surprised him, and he dropped the scalpel, stumbling back. I used it to cut off
the restraints and got up, twirling the tool he’d just given me. I walked over
to him, and he threw some pliers, hitting me in the gut with them. I grabbed my
stomach, and he grabbed my neck, starting to choke me to death. I stabbed him
in the eye with the scalpel, being dropped abruptly onto the floor. I watched
as he pulled it out, along with his eye, screaming in pain the whole time. I
picked up a different scalpel and stabbed him in the neck with it.
“I removed it, watching the blood gush from his neck, and some erupted from his
mouth onto the floor, I stepped back to watch the light fade from his eye. I
had enough, these doctors have done more than enough experiments on other
children like me. Most of them had died, feeling helpless, and all of it ending
in complete agony. I started to walk out of the room, when another doctor
walked into the room, seeing his dead colleague, and I covered in blood holding
a scalpel. This was the one who’d made the negotiations with our previous
captors, he must’ve been in charge of this operation. He walked over to me,
remarkably calm, and grabbed a handful of my hair lifting me off the ground. I
struggled against his hold, only making it hurt more. He smirked, watching me
struggle, planning his next move, then he slapped me with his other hand.
“I knew that you would be perfect for these experiments, S-007” he spoke,
sounding so calm and collected.
“He threw me against the table, making me drop my weapon. I lay there, my heart
and head pounding, and blood dribbled from the corner of my mouth. The doctor
walked over and picked up the scalpel from the floor, taking it to the sink and
washing off the blood. I lay there staring at the table, feeling helpless… then
I remembered what Finny told me. The doctor walked back over to the table and
put the scalpel just below my collar bone, using it to rip my dress in half.
“It’s a shame you woke up, now you’ll have to be awake through the whole
procedure” he muttered, “children are so annoying when they’re scared.”
“How silly you think that you’ll be continuing your procedure doctor” I spat
back, grabbing his wrist before he could begin cutting into my skin.
“I dug my nails into his flesh, slowly, watching the blood seep from the five
wounds. His eyes went wide, as I removed my nails from his arm he recoiled,
tripping over his colleague. I heard metal hit the ground, I sat up and walked
over to him, picking up the blade he’d dropped. The doctor grabbed my throat
with his uninjured hand, throwing me back again. I hit the side of the table,
this time I didn’t stay down, I got right back up. I walked over and drove it
into his stomach, aggressively cutting it open from deep inside. This time I
didn’t stay to watch his end trails fall from his body, walking out of the
room, heading to go free the other children. Yet, when I stepped out, I didn’t
know where I was or where to find the others. I started running, panicked that
someone else would find their bodies, and warn everyone in the facility.
“I finally found my way to the stairs and ran up them as fast as my legs could
carry me. When suddenly something pulled me back and I fell to the bottom of
the stairs again. I coughed up more blood and looked up the stairs to see
another doctor standing there. He walked down the steps slowly, and I shakily
stood up, not ready to let someone else get in my way and stop me from rescuing
Finny. He kicked me back down, and grabbed my arm, picking me up.
“I think you’re a little lost, sweetheart” the way he spoke that one word
sounded so vile, I nearly vomited in disgust.
“He reached out to grab my other arm when he noticed my weapon firmly grasped
in my hand. Which didn’t give me a chance to stab him, as he dropped me on the
floor. I got up, and looked up at him, ready to do whatever it took to get
everyone out of this place.
“Get out of my way… and I’ll let you live” my threat didn’t hold much weight,
as I sounded exhausted.
The man started laughing as he once again kicked me, across the floor “You
honestly think I’m afraid of you!?”
“I didn’t let him keep me down, once again getting up on shaky legs and looking
at him. He walked towards me and grabbed the wrist not holding the scalpel,
pulling me off the ground yet again.
I couldn’t help the smirk that spread across my face “Big mistake”
“He barely had a chance to look at me before I drove the blade into his
jugular, as he fell to the floor; I watched him bleed out, before starting up
the stairs again. I managed to reach the top, limping my way down the hall I
opened every single door. Realizing the thousands of children that were trapped
in this awful place, but I couldn’t find Finny. I made my way to the stairs
watching as all hell broke loose in the facility, the doctors overwhelmingly
outnumbered by their test subjects. Some kids opened the doors, and everyone
ran out of the laboratory, except me and Finny.
“I walked back to the testing rooms and looked in every one of them to see if
he was there, all I found was a doctor cleaning up after an experiment. A boy
with blond hair, laying in a heap on the floor, he looked like Finny… and he
looked dead. Rage and adrenaline filled me as I charged into the room, toward
the man cleaning his equipment, he moved out of the way. He grabbed my scalpel
with the pair of pliers he’d been cleaning, forcibly taking it from me.
“This is not something that a child should be playing with” he tossed it aside,
grabbing the remains of my dress, “I’ll have to take you back to your room now,
S-007.”
“I struggled against his hold as he started dragging me out of the room, away
from who I thought was Finny. Tears welled in my eyes, as I thought everything
that I had done was absolutely pointless, that my big brother was dead. The
doctor came to a halt when he realized the door was wide open, and the children
had all gotten out. He lifted me off the ground and slammed me against the
metal of the door. My head throbbed from the force, and I barely managed to
keep conscious, as he started talking.
“You managed to free all our subjects, except the boy I was working on. I
assume you went back for S-020, instead of escaping? That was very stupid of
you, now you two will be our only subjects until we manage to get everyone else
back.”
“My heart sank when I heard the number, that wasn’t Finny his number is S-012,
that meant I hadn’t escaped when I had the chance. I only hoped that my big
brother was safe if anyone deserved to get out it was him. I didn’t fight him,
as I normally would have, instead, I mentally prepared myself for death, my
body felt so weak and tired.
“Outside I heard someone yelling, calling out to me, and I recognized it as
Finny’s voice. He was trying to find me, so I had to go to him before it was
too late. I moved quickly, grabbing the doctors' throat and digging my nails
in. Choked screams sounded as he coughed up blood, but he still didn’t drop me,
so I used my other hand to dig my nails right into the center of his chest. I
didn’t know how deep they would go, but he fell back, finally letting go of me.
I ran outside as fast as my legs would carry me, listening to my big brother
calling out for me.
“When I got out to where I had heard him, I saw that some of the kids had been
caught, and thrown into a cart, Finny was one of them. I started running toward
the cart, quickly trying to catch up, but they were already leaving the now
compromised location, and I couldn’t keep up. I ran until my already exhausted
body gave out, falling to the ground in the middle of nowhere, completely and
utterly alone.”
Abberline set his beaker down on the coffin-shaped coffee table, clearly taking
in the whole story “After all that, you weren’t reunited with Finny?’
“No” Lucinda smiled sadly, picking up one of the bone biscuits “he may be dead,
and I would never even know.”
“I heard there’s a boy at the Phantomhive mansion named Finnian,” Fred told her
as he stood up, “well, thank you for your time miss Lucinda.” With that, the
inspector left.
Lucinda felt shocked just at the mention of Finny, that he might still be
alive, that he might even be in London. She dropped everything, closing the
shop to run to Phantomhive manor, and hopefully be reunited with her big
brother.
Chapter End Notes
     If you made it to the end, thank you for reading. Maybe leave me a
     comment or kudos, please? (I live for feedback).
***** Reunion *****
Chapter Summary
     A commotion in the garden leads Sebastian to meet Lucinda, and learn
     of her strange connection to Finnian.
Chapter Notes
     This is a really short chapter, mostly because I didn't want to have
     to go through the reunion and telling both their stories within the
     same chapter. It's a bit rushed, and there's like a micro-hint to
     SebaCiel... I'll consider writing a SebaCiel fic one day. When my
     middle school trauma wears off and I feel like I can actually write
     anything decent again.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Sebastian pushed the tea cart down the hallway, it was time for his masters
afternoon tea. Today had been relatively quiet, and there were no interesting
cases the queen had assigned to her guard dog yet. Knocking on the heavy wooden
door, he opened it and walked into the room once his master told him to enter.
There were a few stacks of paperwork evenly distributed among his large desk,
and Ciel was scribbling away with his favorite fountain pen. Sebastian pushed
the cart in, explaining what tea and cake he'd baked for him this afternoon,
black tea with milk and honey to reduce his stress. Ciel didn’t acknowledge
this comment but did give a wanting glance at the Victoria sandwich cake
sitting on the cart.
“Have you been getting your work done this afternoon, young lord?” Sebastian
asked casually, hoping to remind his master to stay on schedule.
Ciel sighed, setting his pen down “Yes, I’m nearly done with what needed to be
done today.”
The butler smiled brightly setting the teacup on his desk along with a tray of
letters, before slicing him a piece of cake, “Excellent, we won’t have to push
anything to tomorrow then.”
“Is tomorrow special?” he picks up the teacup, looking at his butler curiously.
The smirk on said butlers face read all kinds of mischief, “Not tomorrow, but
tonight is,”  he winked after saying that his red eyes glinting as he set the
plate next to the tea.
Ciel couldn’t exactly stop himself from blushing at the comment, but quickly
drank the tea to hide it. There were no further comments from Sebastian as he
left the room, intent on checking on the others and the simple chores he had
assigned them this morning. Even those four couldn’t mess up such simple tasks…
or so he’d hoped. Heading for the kitchen was delayed by a very loud crash in
the garden, so he abandoned checking on Bard to see what Finny had just done.
Swiftly going out the garden where the boy was helping someone up, asking if
they were okay.
A young woman, wearing a rather plain dress, had apparently been hit by a log
Finny had tossed in her direction. Sebastian sighed at his carelessness and
approached the two “Are you alright, ma’am?”
Taking one look at Sebastian she stood up on her own and rolled her shoulders
back, clearly trying to hide any weakness from before “I’m fine.”
“May I ask why you’re on the Phantomhive property? I didn’t think we’d
scheduled any visitors today” Sebastian had to be polite, as she was a lady and
the Phantomhives were known for hospitality.
“I’m here to find someone, Finnian,” she said confidently “I have no interest
in seeing Lord Phantomhive.”
Someone asking for Finnian was very odd, trespassing to see the gardener, when
he looked at the boy in question he looked lost. As if he were seeing a ghost,
he got up and stared directly at the girl, trying to collect his obviously
scattered thoughts.
“Lucinda?” he asked, quietly.
The young woman looked at him with a nearly identical expression, and tears
welled in her eyes as she threw her arms around Finny “big brother!”
Both of them stood there, hugging as if this wasn’t real and at any moment one
of them would just vanish into thin air. Sebastian had never heard Finny talk
about having a sister, and they didn’t even look alike. Things weren’t adding
up in his mind, he’d have to question them once they’d finished this little
reunion.
“I’m so glad you’re safe,” they said it at the same time as they let go and
laughed at the moment of unison thinking.
Lucinda looked at Sebastian “I’m assuming he’s the one who rescued you?”
“Yeah… it’s a long story…” the usually jovial gardener looked sad thinking
about his past.
She put a hand against his cheek giving a sad smile “mine is too.”
Sebastian cleared his throat to gain their attention “If you two would like
some time to catch up I can accommodate you in the kitchen.”
“Does that mean cake?” Finny asked, excitement replacing his sad look.
Lucinda smiled sweetly “that would be lovely.”
The three of them headed inside to the kitchen, where Bard was peeling potatoes
for lunch, he looked up scolding Finny for bringing his dirty gloves into the
kitchen. The gardener removed them and set them outside of the kitchen before
washing his hands. Lucinda sat down at the table, while Sebastian retrieved the
cart from earlier, preparing tea and cake for all of them. Mey-Rin wandered
into the kitchen to ask about the commotion in the garden and was very excited
to fawn over their guest.
All of them settled down at the table, and Lucinda looked to Finny “I assume
they want to know how we know each other?”
He nodded, looking to the other three occupants of the small table “Lucinda and
I were victims of child trafficking.”
It was so blunt, that even Sebastian was taken aback by the statement, he’d
known about the experiments done to Finny, but he had no idea about the
trafficking.
“Wait, really?” Bard asked his cigarette falling from his mouth in shock
Mey-Rin gasped “I’m so sorry Finny.”
“Ho ho ho…” Tanaka sounded less cheerful, but it was hard to tell what he
meant.
“Why does she call you big brother?” Sebastian asked casually.
Lucinda chuckled, stabbing her cake “It’s really stupid, but it’s because he
gave me hope when there was nothing but despair around us.”
“I did not,” Finny said modestly “I only said some kind things to you when you
were down.”
“Don’t diminish your actions,” she said “You were like a ray of sunlight in
pure darkness”
“That sure sounds like Fin” Bard commented, “always so happy.” Mey-Rin and
Tanaka nodded in agreement.
“How did you get separated?” Sebastian asked.
“I couldn’t escape fast enough after Lucinda freed us all” Finny said, “So I
was tossed into a cart with a few other kids to be taken to another lab.”
“I couldn’t catch up to the cart,” Lucinda said, “I was already tired, my body
had no more adrenaline or energy, so I passed out after trying to catch up to
him.”
“I didn’t know you chased the cart” Finny took her hand, clearly looking
concerned “did the other men find you? Did they hurt you?”
She pursed her lips, before looking down “... I killed them”
The statement lay heavy on the room, and even Finny looked shocked at her
confession.
“I was scared, and they attacked me so I just… reacted” she let go of his hand,
looking into the dark depths of the teacup “that’s why I was so tired. I’d
fought four different men and only won out of determination to escape with you.
It was all just an adrenaline high, which ended when I saw you being taken
away, again.”
“What happened after you passed out?” Finny persisted.
“As I said it’s a really long story, depending on how much you want to know”
she sighed heavily, looking at the others sitting at the table with them. All
of whom seemed awfully content to just watch and listen, especially Sebastian.
Looking back to Finny, she saw how genuinely happy he looked, it was clear that
he’s very comfortable with the people here.
“I’ll start from when I lost sight of the cart’ Lucinda said, and Finny took
her hand, nervous and excited at the same time, “if you tell me what happened
to you first.”
A deep sigh left him as he looked at the table “I’m pretty sure you know what
happened.”
“More experimenting?” she squeezed his hand in a comforting way.
He nodded “I was given inhuman strength with some new drug. That’s how I was
able to throw that big log earlier… it hurt. My muscles burned for days after
the serum was injected into me, after going outside, I could barely move.”
Not wanting to hear another word about the agony her big brother went through,
Lucinda just pulled him into a tight hug. They stayed that way for a few
minutes before Sebastian cleared his throat, to get their attention.
“Miss Lucinda, I believe it’s your turn to tell your story.”
Chapter End Notes
     Thank you for reading, if you made it to the end of the chapter.
     Leave a comment or kudos. Have a wonderful day you beautiful
     creature.
***** Dragged Through the Mud *****
Chapter Summary
     Lucinda shares the rest of her story, of all the terrible things
     she's been through.
Chapter Notes
     Hello there, I know there's no one reading this but I feel bad for
     not updating for awhile. This chapter took me forever to write, and
     for some reason both times I tried to post it, it wouldn't upload. It
     was really weird, but it's here now, and I hope you enjoy it.
     There is underage rape in this chapter, so if that triggers you I
     strongly advise you don't read this chapter. Even though it is short
     and not very detailed I know it's important to warn people. If you do
     read the full chapter, enjoy, and let me know how to improve.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
“It all started when I woke up, I had no idea where I was, there was no one
around that I could go to for help. I got up, pulled the remains of my dress
closed, and started walking away from the laboratory. I didn’t care where I
ended up, as long as it was far away from that lab and the bodies rotting
there. After walking such a long distance all the way to the closest town I was
tired, cold, and hungry. I hadn’t eaten in over 24 hours, and my stomach
wouldn’t stop reminding me of this fact. I collapsed in an alleyway, vomiting
up nothing but stomach acid.
“People passing by on the busy street ignored me, as I tried to regain any
strength my body had. My clothing barely kept me warm, and in that alleyway, it
felt much colder than it actually was, especially when it rained. Sitting in
that one spot for days, I was convinced this would be my end, I would die
alone. That is until someone passing by dropped a roll in my lap, I was so
shocked that I ate it without any thought. That was the best bread I’d ever
tasted in my life, and whoever that kind stranger was saved my life.
“I became a bit more proactive in trying to find food and water, I even found a
better spot, with a box lid to keep me somewhat dry during rainstorms. People
in that area were a lot kinder, especially since I never begged for anything.
Everything was fine, I managed to live out there for six years. Until a man
approached me, he knelt down across from me clearly very well off. His white
suit now dirty from sitting down in the alley. He didn’t even introduce himself
to me, just asked what my name was and how old I was.
“My name is Lucinda” I didn’t tell him my age as he had no need to know “who
are you?”
He smiled so sweetly and introduced himself “My name is Aleistor Chamber. I’d
like to help you out, no child should have to be out here on the streets.”
“I’m hardly the only child on the streets” I responded calmly.
“My, my what venomous words” he reached out and brushed hair out of my face “I
try to help anyone I can, my dear.”
“You can help me by leaving me alone” I pushed his hand away “I won’t be used
for your personal gain.”
“Why do you assume I wish to use you? I simply want to help you.”
“He was so persistent, and even though I felt it was a bad idea, I finally
agreed to go with him. He took me to his large estate, having one of his many
maids lead me to a bedroom. I was given a new dress and then taken downstairs
to the dining room, where Aleistor was waiting for me.
“You look simply beautiful, like a raven,” he said, taking my hand and twirling
me in the all too fancy dress.
“Thank you, sir” I was clueless about what else to say “Although, this dress is
a bit much for a street rat like me.”
“Erase such horrid thoughts from your mind this instant, my raven. You are not
a street rat, and you will never have to see yourself that way again whilst
living with me” Aleistor was so dramatic, that I was rendered speechless.
“Living with you? I thought you were just helping me tonight” I pulled my arm
away from him.
“We can discuss the details over dinner, my sweet” he walked over to the
clearly oversized dining table and pulled a chair out for me, just to the right
of his seat.
“I took my seat, and stared at the beautiful silverware, shocked by how
spotless everything was. Then a man walked into the room carrying a tray with
something that smelled amazing. Aleistor seemed more intent on watching me eat
than eating his own food. It was strange, but I thought he was appalled by what
a slob I was. After dinner, he looked at me with that same sweet smile.
“Did you enjoy your meal, sweet raven?” he asked, politely.
I simply nodded, taking a sip of water.
“Shall we discuss your living here now?”
“I never agreed to living here, Aleistor” I looked at him “I don’t appreciate
being lied to”
I’ll never forget the smirk that spread across his face “Oh, but I didn’t lie
to you, Lucinda. I simply said that I would help you. I never went into
specifics of what helping you would mean. If you’re sure you’d rather continue
to live out on the streets never knowing when your next meal will come, I’ll
let you leave.”
“Why on earth would you let someone that you don’t even know live with you?”
“I’m lonely,” he said, trying to gain my sympathy.
“What about all your servants? Don’t they keep you company?”
“Hardly, they’re too busy to keep me company.”
“... what are your conditions for letting me live here?”
Again that smirk, that screamed danger “let me show you.”
“He stood and started walking, I waited for a moment before I followed him
upstairs. I was terrified thinking about where he could possibly be taking me.
Then he leads me into the bedroom his maid had taken me to earlier. Closing the
door behind me, he promptly pinned me to the wall, holding my wrists above my
head. I struggled to try to kick him, but the tight dress kept my legs from
lifting very high.
“There’s no need to be afraid, lovely raven” he leaned closer to me, whispering
against my lips “the only thing I require from you is your body as payment.”
“With that he pressed his lips to mine, not allowing me to respond to his
demand. I continued to struggle and when he tried to force his tongue into my
mouth I bit it. He moved back stunned but smirked and used one hand to start
unbuttoning the dress.
“You’re quite spirited” he commented, kissing my jaw and neck “I like it”
“Stop it! Get off me!” I kept struggling.
“He sighed and used the hand that was unbuttoning the dress to slap me, hard. I
looked at him, terrified, and only saw him smiling at the apparent fear in my
expression. He stroked my other cheek before pulling the skirt of the dress up
and getting even closer to me. I tried to kick him, but he stepped on my feet,
rendering me unable to move. Tears streamed down my face as he kissed them
away, saying how beautiful I looked, and how lucky he was to have found me.
“He dragged me to the bed and tied my wrists together before tossing me onto
the bed face down. He pulled my skirt up, and I heard his trousers being undone
and dropping to the floor, soon my underwear was removed.  I continued to
struggle, and I screamed when I felt him enter my unprepared body. He covered
my mouth with his still gloved hand, telling me to be quiet, or I might wake
his staff. I couldn’t stop crying, the pain was unbearable, and it didn’t get
better as he started to move. Thrusting at a relentless pace, I kept screaming
around his hand.
“You’re so tight,” he said smugly “here I thought you’d be another common
whore. What a lovely surprise, you just get better by the second, lovely
raven.”
“My response was muffled, so he didn’t hear me tell him to go to hell. He
didn’t slow down, just kept his brutal pace, until he pulled out, cumming on my
backside. Releasing me at last, he redressed, and cleaned me up, before untying
my wrists. I was too tired to try and fight back, and without another word,
Aleister started walking out of the room.
“Sleep well, lovely raven,” he said, before closing the door.
“I lay there, tired and in absolute agony, honestly wishing that I had died all
those years ago. That Aleister had never found me, and that I wasn’t stupid
enough to accept his help. I couldn’t stop myself from crying even more than I
had during the horrible ordeal. I fell asleep, as crying had taken what little
energy I had left.
“The next morning I awoke to find a note on the nightstand, and a dress laid
out on the dresser:  Good morning, lovely raven. I hope you slept well, I’ll be
gone most of the day so feel free to rest until I return. I look forward to
seeing you tonight, Aleisteor.
“Clearly he was stupid if he expected me to stay, so I got up ignoring my sore
bodies protests. I went to the closet where I took the closest thing to a
practical dress that I could find. After changing I made a hasty retreat, not
wanting to ever think about Aleistor ever again. I found a new spot, closer to
the docks, and was surprised by how different everyone in this area was. Most
of the hard-working fishermen were willing to give me food when they had enough
to spare. It was the best I could hope for living on the streets, despite the
storms being worse and harder to hide from and the overwhelming amount of drug
addicts in the area.
“One night while I was trying to find some kind of shelter from a wild storm
that had started when suddenly there was an umbrella placed over my head. A
Chinese man with a beautiful woman clinging to his side standing under a
different umbrella over their heads, they were waiting for me to take the
object. I took it from him, finally covered from the rain.
“Thank you, sir,” I said a bit awkwardly, I didn’t even know if he spoke
English.
“You’ll catch a cold out in this weather, it’s the least I can do” the woman at
his side nodded in agreement, before she whispered something in his ear, “I
hadn’t even thought of that Ran-Mau. You could come spend the night with us.”
“I was very suspicious of his offer, considering what happened the last time
someone offered to help me. I turned them down thanked them, and went back to
my spot for the rest of the night, now a little better sheltered from the
storm. It rained all night, it was freezing cold I barely slept, usually waking
up from nightmares about Aleistor. Every crack of thunder reminded me of the
creaking mattress, and sitting there I felt helpless to the invasive memories.
I hadn’t thought about what happened since I left his home, but that man who’d
offered me a place to stay dug up what I had been suppressing. I couldn’t stop
the panic from taking over my mind, and I couldn’t keep my emotions buried
anymore. I pulled my knees to my chest and cried until it wore my body out.
“The bright daylight shone through the umbrella, the clouds cleared by the time
I had woken up. I was surprised that no one had stolen the umbrella, but I
pushed this thought aside and just closed it. Only to see the man who’d given
it to me, and the same woman in his lap, sitting across from me. I jumped back,
only hitting the wall and hurting my head.
The man laughed “Oh dear did we scare you? I’m sorry.”
“I’m assuming you want this back?” I held out the umbrella
“No, I just came to make sure you were alright, it was quite a storm last
night” the woman nodded in agreement.
“Oh…” this was odd, to say the least, I hadn’t expected him to ever give any
thought to me again “thanks to you I probably won’t get sick.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, you were soaked to the bone when we found
you”
“Right, well it won’t be as bad now” I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly
“I never introduced myself” he held out his hand “my name is Lau, and this
lovely lady is Ran-Mau.”
I took his hand and shook it “My name is Lucinda.”
“I’d imagine you’re starving by now, would you like to join us for lunch?”
“Again this made me wary of his potential intentions, he was right though and
my stomach growled in response. Ran-Mau clearly noticed this as she stood up
and held out her hand to me as if she knew I wouldn’t accept the offer from
Lau. I took her hand and she pulled me off the ground, with a genuine smile
that I felt was trustworthy. Lau stood up as well, and without any more
discussion, we walked off to a nearby restaurant.
“How did you end up on the streets, Lucinda?” Law asked once we were seated.
“I’ve never had a real home” I shrugged “my parents are most likely dead, and
they were so poor that they sold me for money.”
“I see” he sighed ‘it’s such a shame, I don’t know why anyone would sell a
child.”
“People do it all the time, children are money pits”
“Not if you love them enough”
“Love won’t buy things”
“I’ve never met such a young pessimist” he chuckled.
I took a sip of the water given to us before responding “When you’ve been
through what I have, it’s nearly impossible to find a reason to be optimistic.”
“How old are you?” he asked, resting his head on his arm.
“11” I crossed my arms “why do you want to know?”
“It’s sad to me that you’re so pessimistic at such a young age, you should be
enjoying your youth,” he sighed, Ran-Mau nodded in agreement.
“After our food came we ate in relative silence, it seemed as if he was
thinking, silently figuring out how to bring up the next point of conversation.
I didn’t expect much more than questions about how I had ended up in this place
and like Aleistor offering help.
“Would you like to get off the streets?” he asked, finally.
I looked at him a bit surprised at the directness of his question, “Of course I
would, but it’s nearly impossible to do that without money or a job. No one is
willing to hire a street rat, let alone a woman, and you can’t earn money
without one.”
“I could help you with the job,” he smiled once again resting his head on his
hand “, unlike other employers I don’t have many barriers to who I hire.”
It was easy enough to figure out what that meant, I leaned back in my seat and
simply asked “drugs or prostitution?”
This clearly shocked him, he most likely hadn’t expected me to pick up on what
he was saying so easily. Ran-Mau spoke while he remained silent, her calm
monotone voice not what I had expected from such a cute girl “Both. Our den is
one of pure pleasure.”
“I’m against the latter” I stated stiffly “what would you have me do?”
“I need someone who knows London better than I do, who knows where the street
rats seeking refuge hide,” Lau said, in an oddly calculating tone “and most
people would respond better to a cute face.”
I couldn’t help myself from prickling at this, but his offer of a job seemed…
stupid to refuse. I thought it over for a minute before asking “How much would
you pay me?”
“£2 a day,” he said, “as I’m sure you know it is quite a lucrative business.”
“I was absolutely floored by this, he was offering pounds, I didn’t think about
it as I most likely should have. I reached out my hand and told him it was a
deal, he took it and we agreed that I would start the next day. Over the next
week, I became more familiar with the back alleys of London, no longer
navigating to find the best possible begging spot. Instead to find those poor
souls addicted to opium, telling them that Lau had pure opium from China. It
was easy for me to convince them to spend their minuscule amount of money on
the promise of their best high since the first. Addicts were ripe for the
picking all over, and based on my success I started targeting more than just
the homeless. Those I knew could spend money on drugs and prostitutes, they
were the true challenge for me, most turned me down. Rumors spread through
their social circles, in a way I never expected it to, and eventually men
looking for debauchery came to find me.
“I was so happy to find something I could do, a way to get off the streets, and
Lau was kind enough to let me live in the den until I had enough money for my
own home. I worked for him for three years, luring men into Lau’s trap, and
then he asked me to do more than just bring people to the den.
“You know Lucinda you could make a lot more money serving the customers here,”
he’d mentioned before I went back out on the streets.
I looked at him “doing what?”
“Keeping the customer's company, like Ran-Mau” he explained “offer them more,
talk to them, sit next to them or even in their lap, maybe even offer them to
take one of the girls to the back. Make them feel comfortable.”
“I had to really think it over, and told him to give me some time to think
about it before I decided. I would be making more money now, but I worried that
he might push me to my breaking point. I just had to keep thinking of the end
goal, my own home, even if I still had to work for Lau. Saving money for a home
had proven to be a lot more difficult, as Lau had failed to tell me that
staying in the den would cut into my income. Along with buying food, clothes,
and other necessities I barely had enough money for a bed, nowhere near enough
for my own apartment. Three years of bringing in customers, was clearly not
getting me anywhere, so after considering things I agreed to the offer.
“The very next day I got into the dress the other girls wore, trimmed my nails
and let Ran-Mau style my hair. I didn’t feel like myself, but I carried on,
pulling on the black stockings and heading out into the den with the other
girls. Lau was bringing in a new shipment, humming to himself as he prepared
for the customers to come. When he saw me, I saw his smile widen that I was
going through with his request. It sent a chill up my spine, and I should’ve
taken the chance to change my mind then and there.
“I felt sick, sitting in the smoke-filled den, in the lap of a man I didn’t
know. He was particularly grabby, and I kept having to remind him to stop. Lau
was watching, I could tell, so I changed my approach, offering to find someone
else willing to accompany him to the back. I got up and let another girl take
over, sitting next to Lau until someone else needed me. I repressed any
potential bad thoughts, or even thoughts of leaving with the thought of my own
home. If I left I would be forced to live on the streets again with no other
opportunities to earn money. Except prostitution, but I quickly shoved that
thought out of my head that was completely out of the question.
“I had worked for Lau for I’m not sure how long it took, but I eventually got
used to being in the smokey den all day with customers unwanted groping. I
learned to keep my emotions hidden, focusing solely on earning money, and
getting away from this place. Even after another year and a half of working, my
goal still seemed out of my reach. Why was saving money so difficult? Could
someone be stealing it, and delaying the already lengthy process. I tried to
think of who could be stealing my money, trying to go through each girl and
their potential motive for doing so. It didn’t make any sense, all of us were
in similar situations, why would they take my money?
“The other girls would often talk and compare customers, something I couldn’t
understand as I’d never had to take anyone to the back room. I did, however,
have to clean it, since I was the only girl not having sex with customers.
While cleaning up one particular day, I noticed Lau watching me from the
doorway. I jumped back, ready to throw the dirty sheets at him.
“Did I startle you?” he chuckled.
I sighed “Yes, why were you watching me clean up?”
“I was just appreciating the view” he smirked.
“What do you mean?” I looked around the room, trying to figure out what he was
talking about.
“Even now you’re still so innocent, sweet Lucinda” he walked over to me and
lifted my head “although I’m positive it’s just an act, I can see through such
things.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well in all your time here you’ve never taken a man back here, clearly that’s
intentional. No matter how comfortable you are sitting in their lap, letting
them feel you, you never offer yourself up to them” he smirked, “I believe
that’s because you’re saving yourself for a specific man to notice you.”
I shook my head “You’re way off the mark, Lau.”
“If that’s the case wouldn’t it be easier to just start taking them to the
back? Wouldn’t it be nice to not be as degraded as you are out in the den?”
“I’ve told you before, I’m against prostitution” I set the dirty linens in the
basket “It’s dehumanizing and indecent.”
“You’re missing out though” he came up close to me “don’t you wonder what
pleasures you’ll miss?”
I shook my head “Not for a second.”
“What if I asked you to start working back here? To take just one customer,
just to try it. See what you’re missing out on” he asked, still a little too
close for comfort “You’d be compensated fairly for it, of course.”
I stepped away from him “I’ve already told you I’m not interested. It doesn’t
matter how much you’re offering me, I will not prostitute myself out.”
“Why are you so firm on this?” he asked, his calculating eyes focused on me.
I sighed, hugging myself in a comforting way, all of my composure flew out the
window when I had to talk about it “... Well, I just feel that… I’ve seen… I
just… I… I… I was raped…”
He was silent after my admission, thinking of how to respond “Do you know the
best way to overcome fear?”
“No” I looked up at him confused.
“To do it again,” he said, “if you fall down, you get right back up.”
“Yet my leg broke from the fall. Having sex again won’t erase my fear” I was
very curt with my response, Lau was stepping over the one line I asked him not
to cross.
“Are you sure about that?” he started walking towards me, I stepped back trying
to keep my space. My back hit a wall, and Lau was all too comfortable to get
into my face, as he grabbed my hips. He leaned in close and kissed me, I didn’t
return it, instead of struggling against his hold. Memories flashed through my
mind, and then on instinct, I kicked him in the gut and ran as fast as I could
out of that den. I didn’t know where I would end up, and at that point, I
didn’t care.
“Panic racked through me as I tripped, I got up as fast as I could and kept
going. I could barely see through the tears rushing down my face, eventually
the panic eased as I leaned against the wall in front of me. It was so quiet in
this area, that the sounds of my dry heaving echoed, I took a few deep breaths
before I started walking. I had left everything behind, and all the hard work
was now completely worthless… but it didn’t matter, money had turned me into a
terrible person willing to do almost anything. I fell to my knees, adrenaline
replaced with exhaustion as I passed out in whatever dark alley I was in.
“I woke up, expecting to be in that alley, but I was in a completely different
place. When I got up I realized it was a coffin, I looked around to see tons of
coffins all around the room. I didn’t know what to think, I started to walk
around, and pushed back a curtain that lead to an almost office space. There
was no one there, so I went through the other curtain to find a small home, so
I walked around trying to find someone. A man walked out of what I presumed to
be a bedroom, carrying a book reading over it carefully. I’m not sure how he
was able to see with such a long silver fringe covering his eyes, his head
lifted and he saw me standing in the middle of his kitchen.
“Oh hello there’ he smiled and waved “I didn’t expect you to be awake already,
then again I don’t know how long you were asleep.”
“Where am I?” I asked, curtly.
He snickered “my shop, the Undertaker’s shop.”
“I guess you’re the Undertaker?”
“That’s my name” he grinned.
I nodded and started to walk out “well thank you for letting me sleep here last
night, I’ll be on my way.”
“Leaving so soon?” he sounded disappointed.
I looked back at him “I’m invading your home, and shop sir. Besides I’m fine on
my own.”
“If you insist on leaving, at least let me give you some food” he walked over
to me.
The last two times someone had given me food, it had ended badly so I moved
away from him “No. I don’t need your charity.”
“You’ve really been through the mud, haven’t you?” he politely stepped away
“don’t think I’ve ever met a street rat that wouldn’t jump at the opportunity
of a meal.”
I sighed heavily “while I would appreciate it… it’s complicated.”
“Let me guess, someone lured you with food and abused your trust?” he’d clearly
seen this happen before “it was Aleitor Chamber, wasn’t it?”
I tensed at his name, and that seemed to be all the confirmation that
Undertaker needed.
“He does that to any poor young girl out on the street” he sighs “actually does
it to upper-class girls too. It’s so terrible, I wish he could be arrested for
his crimes.”
I stared at him, not knowing exactly what to say “Why did you even bring me
into your shop?”
“Well I was going out for supplies, and when I opened the door you fell into my
shop. I figured there was no harm in letting you sleep for a bit in one of me
coffins.”
“My stomach growled and Undertaker started walking back into the kitchen. I
waited for a moment, contemplating my options before I followed and sat down at
his small table. He hummed to himself as he cooked, but I felt anxious just
sitting there so I got up and offered to help. He was pleased to be offered
help and gave me some potatoes and a knife.
“I never got your name,” he said after a moment.
“Oh right, my name is Lucinda” I responded casually while continuing to peel
potatoes.
He nodded “Light.” I looked at him confused, and he smiled “Your name means
light.”
“I guess my parents got that wrong,” I said going back to my task.
“He didn’t say anything about that, just continued cooking, I’m sure he could
hear the resentment in my tone. The bitter way I referred to them as one entity
instead of with the titles of mother and father made my feelings clear enough.
Once the food was done we sat down and ate together at that tiny table, in a
strangely comfortable silence. I ate, thanked him for the food and letting me
rest in his shop, and then I left. He didn’t try to stop me as the other two
helping hands would have, just told me I was welcome to come back if I ever
needed anything. With that I set out to find a new spot, not going near the
docks, or Aliestors’ hunting ground. I sat down once I found a new place, and
watched the people pass by, a few men tried to proposition me, so I moved
locations yet again. My clothes had to be why every man looking for a fix
(which seemed to be, every man), kept asking me, I was still wearing the den
uniform.
“Then, I found myself outside of Undertaker’s shop a few days later, he said to
come back if I needed anything. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door, to see
him working on a body. He looked up and grinned widely, closing the casket and
going to wash his hands.
“Hello, Lucinda” he greeted as if I were an old friend.
“Hello,” I said a bit awkwardly
“Have a seat, I’ll make some tea” he grinned heading toward the back. I walked
over and sat on one of the coffins. He looked back at me, clearly confused,
“are you coming?”
“I looked up and proceeded to stand and follow him into the kitchen. I sat at
the table just as I had the night he helped me. He stood by the stove as the
water heated, preparing the teapot and two beakers.
“How do you usually drink yours?” He asked while putting things together
“I'm not sure I've only ever had it plain” I shrugged, trying to figure out how
to ask for clothes.
“He came over with the beakers, setting them down before pouring the tea in
them. He set down a bowl of sugar and a bottle of milk. Then proceeded to dump
a handful of sugar into the tea. I stared in abject horror at the sheer amount
and how thick the liquid became. I took a cube and poured a little bit of milk
in mine. To each, their own I thought, after taking a sip of perfection.
“So what brought you here today?” He asked, still stirring his abomination.
I sighed heavily, muttering “clothes.”
“It is gettin’ real cold out there. I'll bet that skirt of yours hasn't done
anything as far as warmth” he sounded so genuinely concerned it was…
astonishing. Here, I was worried that he’d be upset that’s why I came to see
him. I know he said anything, but he couldn’t have possibly meant anything. I
tried to take in his kindness and admitted the real reason I needed clothes.
“And every man with a pulse keeps propositioning me,” I said with a deadpan
expression and tone. That made him start laughing, with no barriers. It was so
infectious I started laughing right along with him. We probably sounded like a
couple of loons in an asylum. That didn't matter though, I hadn’t laughed in
ages. There was never any reason to, not even with Lau, despite his best
efforts.
“Brilliant,” he wiped a tear away from under his fringe “that delivery was
perfect.”
“I couldn't help but smile at the compliment, I didn't think my face was
capable of smiling this much. He stood up and walked off, I could hear
rummaging from another room. I simply waited with piqued curiosity, when
Undertaker returned.
“I found it!” He said victoriously, “after you've finished your tea you can
change. We could even burn your current dress if you like.”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” I watched him come back to the table,
finally feeling courageous enough to ask him something that’s been on my mind
since we met, “Undertaker, why have you been so kind to me? You barely know me,
I’m just a street rat after all.”
He took a sip of the sludge he called tea, before answering “I believe that we
all have a duty to be kind to others.”
“Isn’t being too kind a bad thing?”
“Not when they deserve it” he smiled “Good people often end up in bad places.
We can’t fault them for that, can we?”
I sighed and finished my tea contemplating this “It’s nearly impossible to
distinguish the bad people from the good.”
“Not so, dearie” he rested his head on his hand “if you’re trying to tell me
you are a bad person.”
I shook my head “I’ve made too many bad decisions. There’s no way I can be a
good person.”
“It’s only human to make mistakes, but you have to learn from them. Moping and
wallowing in your misery certainly won’t fix anything” he said, “I had to learn
that the hard way.”
“Undertaker, I can’t just change my life” I stood up “Although, I do appreciate
your kind words.”
“With that, I went into the bedroom to change into the dress he’d found for me.
I closed the door and finally changed out of the den uniform. I stared at the
skimpy dress for a long time, thinking about all the other girls who have to
sell themselves to customers. Setting the uniform down I change into the thick
dress he’d found for me, and felt so warm. I also noticed there was a pair of
shoes to go with it, apparently, he had seen that I only had the stockings to
cover my feet, but I felt too ashamed to ask for more than a dress. When I was
dressed I saw in the mirror that I looked like a lady. Not some street rat or
even a prostitute, but a real lady… it felt odd. Not seeing a helpless little
girl looking back at me, I suppose growing up had indeed changed me.
I walked back out to Undertaker, who upon seeing me fell silent, then he
grinned “I’m glad it fits you so well… do you think you’ll be warm enough? Will
you need a coat? My guests often leave their belongings behind so I could find
one for you if you need.”
“There’s no need to trouble yourself” I walked over “I’d hate to take more from
you than I already have.”
“It’s no trouble at all, besides it’s not at any expense to me. Families often
leave the clothes their loved one died in here, I wash them, mend them and give
them to those who need them” he stood up “stay here I’ll go get a coat for
you.”
“I did listen to him, cleaning up the tea while he looked as a way of thanking
him. It took awhile, long enough for me to have finished scrubbing the sludge
out of his beaker. Then he came out of the bedroom with two coats draped over
his arm.
“Try them both, I don’t know which will fit better” he offered them out to me.
“I took them and did try them both, one of them was clearly a winters coat, it
was a bit big on me, but it was better than it being too small. The other was
thinner, and while it fit perfectly, I prefer the warm winters coat. I again
thanked Undertaker for his extensive kindness, and left the shop, feeling warm.
Not just physically, but deep within I felt warm after spending time with the
Undertaker. The chilled air didn’t bother me now, and the ominous grey clouds
stretched across the sky didn’t concern me as much as it would have before, it
felt as if Undertaker had managed to warm my very soul. As I roamed the streets
today I felt less out of place among the crowd, even though I was the only one
looking for a spot to rest that would have reasonable shelter from the storm
coming. A cold white spec landed on my nose, and I stepped out of the large
crowd to look up as even more snow started to fall. The noise of the city
started to die down as everyone else hurried to get inside, away from the snow,
while I was finally seeing it for the first time.
“I was snapped from my trance when I heard a boy calling out to strangers on
the street, his mother following close behind and apologizing for him. His
excitement over his birthday was very sweet, I felt envious of him, it was just
a fleeting thought. Out of curiosity I followed the family, it was clear this
was where upper class people shopped, so I was watching for Aleitor
subconsciously. I followed the small family to a large manor, which I couldn’t
enter, but I could see the estate from where I stood. It was like a perfect
portrait, or a model in a snowglobe, either way it was a surreal beauty. The
little boy would be celebrating with his mother and father, eating cake,
opening presents, and reading stories. I thought of my parents, and what my
life would be like if they hadn’t sold me. I stayed in that spot for far too
long, before a bright light caught my attention.
“The manor, it was on fire, the whole thing was in the process of burning up.
The boy! His parents! They’d all be dead within minutes. Then I saw it, a group
of men, who I assumed to be firemen going into the manor. I watched intensely
as they came back out carrying the boy, who was passed out, but the fire was
still roaring. They weren’t there to stop the fire, they were there to kidnap
the boy, what should I do? What could I do? I ran to the nearest police
station, and told them what I saw, they came with me to the manor. By the time
the fire was out, the estate was unrecognizable, and they told me there was no
way any of the residents had survived the fire. They left, and I was left in
that spot once again, I knew the boy was alive. There was no way I had imagined
those men, or them carrying the poor boy off. Yet, at that point there was
nothing I could do, so I went to the alley near Undertakers shop again, and
thought about everything I had seen.
Chapter End Notes
     Thank you for reading. The next chapter won't be so intense I
     swear... remember how in the first chapter I said Undertaker wasn't
     feeling well? I'll be going into that. I hope you stick around to
     read it and have a lovely day, or night.
     I'd appreciate some feedback, so if you feel so inclined to leave me
     a kudos or a comment. Thank you so much.
End Notes
     If you managed to survive to the end of the chapter I'd love some
     feedback.
     If for some reason you want to read the original story here's the
     link: https://www.quotev.com/story/3519677/Take-me-Undertaker-love-
     story
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