Kuroshitsuji Fan Fiction ❯ Pep Talk ❯ One-Shot

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“Pep Talk”
by Viridian5
1/14/16

RATING: PG.
SPOILERS: volumes 8 and 9.
SUMMARY: A good mentor provides support for her trainee in every situation.
ARCHIVAL/DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere, as long as you ask me first.
FEEDBACK: can be sent to Viridian5@aol.com
DISCLAIMERS: All things Black Butler belong to Yana Toboso, Square Enix Co, Ltd., and Yen Press. No infringement intended.
NOTES: I hate that Yen Press spells Sutcliff's name as “Grelle,” but since they’re the translation I’m using that’s what I put in the text. Pre-reading by Esinde Nayrall.

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“Pep Talk”
By Viridian5
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Sitting in the hallway waiting for her hearing made her feel like a naughty student awaiting the headmaster’s judgment, fun in a way. But then they brought Ronald over and pushed him down onto the bench next to her, and she knew he wouldn’t be so blasé about it. She didn’t usually have someone facing this with her. He fidgeted in his obvious anxiety, while she sat serenely like a perfect lady, refusing to let anyone see her sweat.

“Don’t worry, Ronald darling,” she whispered to him. “We’ll be fine. I doubt most veteran reapers could have done any better in that situation. Just the two of us dealing with a sinking ocean liner full of over a thousand soon-to-be dead people needing to be reaped while facing attacks from zombies, a demon, and a long-lost quite veteran reaper who kept his own death scythe? That was far from a textbook reap. Besides, you’re a trainee; they can’t hold you responsible.”

“I don’t want you to take the fall for me, Mister Sutcliff, sir!”

Sweet boy. It put a little warm ache in her heart. Or maybe that was just the continuing pain from the scythe slash across her chest that Undertaker had dealt her. That hot old fossil played rough, and she often liked that. But she could not forgive him for the physical, emotional, and aesthetic pain she felt from that glass cut on her face.

Though at least she could cover it with makeup if it scarred. A girl’s face might be her treasure but getting out there in the thick of things with her chainsaw was priceless. She could take some scars and suffering for her art.

Ronald had taken a scythe slash himself, as well gotten his head beaten in by Sebastian, while both of them had been beaten on by Undertaker and been inside the ocean liner as it sank and broke apart. It might help them at the hearings if they mentioned injuries incurred in the line of duty; she’d have to get a read of the room first and find a way to notify Ronald. Then again, they might be more sympathetic to Ronald going that route than her, something to ponder.

“We’ll be fine. They need to hear the information we gathered about Undertaker and the blasphemous process he uses to create his ‘Bizarre Dolls’ so they can find and stop him. That gives us some leverage. When you face them, be respectful but don’t let them bully you too hard. While they enjoy cowing reapers, they’ll also never forget that they broke you and that’ll follow you the rest of your existence. Look them straight in the eyes, though not in a hostile way, and tell them what you saw and heard. No matter how much you’re tempted, don’t embroider the truth.”

“Is that what you’re going to do?”

“Not exactly.” She flashed him a shark’s smile, showing off her sharp teeth. “I have a reputation to live up to... and down to. But if you play this right it might even be a stepping stone to bigger things.”

She knew they’d put Ronald with her as much to have someone there to pull back on her reins sometimes as to get him a mentor to train him, but she liked him. He had a good balance of deference and snark, and he wasn’t too uptight. She wanted him to succeed, not just because he deserved it but also for her, to gain a hand in shaping the next generation of grim reapers and to stick it in her detractors’ faces and make them eat it. While she’d prefer a respectful “Miss Sutcliff, ma’am” from Ronald over his usual respectful “Mister Sutcliff, sir,” she didn’t correct him because it’d be better for his career if he toed the company line, at least for now. (A line partly set by William. If she hadn’t loved his cold meanness, withering disdain, and abuse...

(...well.

(But would she ever really do that?

(...mmmaybe. Someday. If he pushed her too far. And conservative, rule-bound Will would never see it coming, never think that a subordinate, not even the infamous Grelle Sutcliff, could refuse his rightful discipline and authority. He took her feelings for him too much for granted. The look on his face would be priceless, and he’d look gorgeous in red.)

“They’ll take us in separately to see if our stories match,” she continued. “They only left us out here together for a little while so we’ll know they brought both of us in and to make us worry about what the other might say. They’ll probably take me in first so you have a longer time to sweat.” She’d tell him that he had Dispatch’s foremost expert and veteran on facing the higher-ups advising him if she hadn’t decided he wouldn’t find it at all comforting.

“Brave heart, Ronnie. You went into a very dangerous situation full of surprises where nothing went the way it should, but you didn’t falter even once. You were a good partner who complemented my efforts, had my back, and made me proud. The next time talk at the pub goes to the hardest, most ridiculous reaps, you’ll have a story that’ll rank right up there, though you shouldn’t expect to beat the seniors’. When you’ve been reaping for centuries, you’ve seen everything.

“You don’t have to worry about me either. We did nothing wrong, and even if they want to punish me for some reason, Dispatch can’t afford to lose me.” If they hadn’t completely canned her over the Jack the Ripper thing, they certainly wouldn’t do it over this. But they better not bust her back down to using a pair of scissors instead of her chainsaw.

The higher-ups should be thrilled by how professionally and focused she’d behaved throughout the Campania situation despite the presence of two major hotties, the always yummy Sebastian and the surprising Undertaker.

Ronald sat a bit straighter and looked less nervous now. Good.

Will walked up to her. “Sutcliff.”

She stood. “Yes, darling?” she cooed, just to make his stern expression twitch and those cute veins stand out at his temples.

“They’ll hear your report now. Knox, they’ll talk to you afterward.”

She stealthily flashed Ronald a victory sign behind Will’s back. They’d ace this.

 

**********************THE END********************** *

 

 

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