Hey there, PineappleKoala here, just saying a few words real quick.

First off, this is my first Kuroshitsuji story, one I've had stuck in my head for a while. I use a combination of the Anime, Manga and OVA "The Tale of Will the Reaper" to form the character's personalities and will reference all of these things, so if you haven't seen or read one then I suggest you do so, cause some of it might confuse you.

This is rated M for a good reason, as there will be more graphic content later in the story.

Lastly, this is a GrellxWilliam fic, so don't like don't read. Oh yeah, and it's unBETA'd cause I don't have one anymore, so forgive any mistakes you find.

Enjoy!

-Pk

There was a steady click drip, click drip down the halls echoed as the young man walked, his normally shining, beautifully taken care of blood-red hair lank by his sides. His hands hung loosely as well, his right gripping the remains of what looked like a heavy silver and red chainsaw. The blade was shattered and one of the chains was dragging on the floor, adding a scraping rattle to the footsteps. His normally bright, acid green eyes were lifeless and dull as he swept the large library, not really taking in that all the others in the place were staring at him. It wasn't like he could see them anyway; his brilliant red glasses were shattered and only hung on still because they were tangled in his hair by the broken ornamental chain. Black streaks ran down his face, mixing with the red pouring from under his hairline. Finally, he fell forward, dropping onto his knees and startling the Shinigami around him. His young apprentice, Ronald Knox, called his name as he fell before turning and running up the stairs, toward the offices, intent on getting the bleeding man help.

London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down. London Bridge is falling down, my fair lady.

William T. Spears was sitting in his office, for once finishing his work on time. It was now almost five-thirty in the afternoon and he had not been interrupted by the nuisance Grell Sutcliff at all. William had given him an assignment and sent him out of the library early that day to make sure he wouldn't return until the end of the day. There was a mass death out in a small village that day because of a fire that was raging on the country side. It was the perfect excuse to send him away and get rid of him. He doubted that Grell would even be back before six. Stretching, William packed his files away in his desk, happy with the peaceful day. Reaching over he picked up his cup and took a sip of tea, jumping and slopping said tea when the door to his office slammed open. Ronald Knox burst in, flushed and panting. Disgruntled, he mopped the tea off his lap with a handkerchief.

"What, might I ask, is the rush Mr. Knox?" He asked, coldly. He was quite unhappy that someone had still barged into his office. Panting, Ronald looked up, white and pale everywhere that wasn't flushed. Concern furrowed William's brow as he stepped over to the young Shinigami. "Mr. Knox, what happened?" Ronald took several large, gulping breaths before wheezing out an answer.

"I…it's Grell!" He gasped, looking up at William with large, panicky eyes, starting to pull at his sleeve and trying to drag him down the hall. "He—he came back all hurt… bleeding… his death scythe is broken! He won't answer anyone. Please, come on!" With a mighty tug Ronald got William to move. William dashed ahead of him to the main hall in the library, a worried frown tugging his lips down and creasing his brow. What did that fool get into now? Did he go off assignment to pester those damn demons again? He wouldn't doubt it, but still. The fact that his scythe was broken was a bad sign; Grell loved that thing too much to let it get broken without one hell of a fight. They rounded a corner and what William saw devastated him.

Grell was standing inside a twenty-foot diameter circle of knocked out or semi-conscious Shinigami. What was left of his death scythe was embedded into the wall just to William's left, all the way up the stairs. The colour drained from William's face. The last time he had ever seen Grell display any fraction of how skilled and powerful he really was, was on their first assignment together and he had nearly taken William's life out of sheer annoyance. If he was unhinged enough now to be attacking his coworkers… One of them lunged for Grell again and William felt his cold demeanor fail.

"No, don't!" Too late. The man had his hands on Grell's neck from behind for just a moment before he was slammed forward in a whirl of red hair and tattered clothes. It was then that William saw how messed up Grell was. The normal red coat, a memento of Madame Red, was gone. So were his vest and the belts that normally adorned his upper arms. His hair was tangled and deep red, almost black, with his blood. His face was covered in gore and his glasses were tangled in his hair, his normally crisp white dress shirt red and tattered. Even his pants were damaged, ripped open to the thigh on one side and completely missing until just below his groin on the other; the belt that was normally synched around his waist was missing as well. Vicious claw marks adorned his legs and pretty much all the skin that was exposed in any way. The Shinigami that Grell had attacked was stirring, still too close for the deranged redhead's liking apparently as he swung out his right foot and connected it swiftly with the man's ribs, causing him to slide backward several feet before stopping amongst the others.

All this had taken place within the five minutes it had taken Ronald to get William and for the two to return.

"Grell!" Ronald called, the young man distraught. William knew that Ronald was quite fond of Grell, and often chose to work directly below him, despite being technically under William's command. Therefore, it was no surprise when he had to throw his arm out and knock the blonde down as he tried to get to the unstable Grell. "Stay here." William commanded. Ronald nodded as William started forward down the grand staircase. Immediately Grell's gaze snapped up to meet his and what he saw there made him freeze.

Grell was crying.

William had never seen Grell cry before, no matter what the circumstances.

There was an unspeakable pain deep in Grell's acid green eyes, leaking out in the physical representation of tears, making the make-up run off his face. The false lashes were long gone, so the clear tears cut through the grime and gore, making little clean streaks through it. It near broke William's heart to see Grell so broken. What did this to him? Did he run into trouble with the assignment William had assigned him? Guilt tore as his mind. He should have sent Ronald with Grell to take care of it. Now the man was so messed up he didn't even realize that he was attacking his fellow Shinigami. William couldn't believe himself as he slowly started down the stairs again, his hands raised in a show of peace.

"Grell… Calm down. What happened?" He asked, watching the redhead's fists clench. His gloves are missing too… William was truly uneasy. The man took good care of his clothes. For him to be missing so much of his normal, outrageously flamboyant outfit was unheard of. If he was a woman he would have suspected rape… but that was impossible. Who could possibly lay a hand on Grell without getting the chainsaw? But his scythe was broken. Whatever had attacked him was not human. William knew it wasn't a Shinigami. He was fairly certain that it wasn't an angel either, the brutality was too much to be an angel. So that meant…

William had reached the bottom of the stairs and breached Grell's twenty foot diameter ring.

The head Shinigami had just enough time to duck as Grell's left leg went sailing over his head. Rolling to the side, William narrowly escaped getting his glasses—and ultimately his eye—gouged off his face by Grell's perfectly sharpened ruby-red nails. Grell's eyes flashed dangerously again as he fell into a crouch and swung low with his right leg, causing William to jump up and out of the way. That turned out to be a mistake as the faster, much more skilled Grell sprang out of his crouch and smashed his head into William's stomach, winding the black haired man and knocking him to the ground in the middle of the ring where Grell had been seated before. His nose wrinkled as he looked at the puddle of blood he landed in as Grell landed approximately eight feet from him. William had to repress a hysterical laugh when the shattered remains of Grell's red glasses clattered to the floor, falling almost comically out of his hair. It was then he noticed that Grell wasn't coming towards him.

Laying perfectly still, William examined him, noting how Grell was cradling his left leg, keeping most of his weight on his right one. That made him stop and think; Grell hadn't used his left leg for anything strenuous at all. He swung once at Will's face with that leg, but other than that everything had been done with his arms or right leg. Grell had supported his weight while crouched on his hands and sprung up only once his right leg was back under him. He had even landed on his right foot before standing there. Hesitating only a second, William sprung from his prone position straight forward, barreling into Grell with his full weight, knocking the slighter man down and causing a horrifying shriek to tear through the redhead's throat. William rolled again, backwards this time and off Grell, ready to defend himself. A startled cry issued from the top of the stairs where Ronald stood, now clutching Grell's broken chainsaw.

"Sir, look!" Ronald was pointing at Grell. The redhead had curled into a fetal position, sobbing and shaking uncontrollably, causing the tattered dress shirt to rise up and expose his back. On the left side, from his hip down to his knee was a huge, torn gash in Grell's leg, reopened by the impact William had caused and now oozing blood. He recognized the jagged, horrible wound anywhere. That was a chainsaw gash. More accurately, that was a gash caused by Grell's chainsaw. Horrified, William stood, staring at the wound. Grell's chainsaw was heavy, hard to use and even harder to control when on. No mortal could have done that. No mortal could have been able to lift the scythe, let alone swing it. Even William himself had a hard time with it. Hell, it had taken all he had to catch it when that demon, Sebastian had thrown it at him. He knew Ronald had one of the heaviest scythes as well and even Ronald had serious trouble with Grell's chainsaw. The red reaper seemed to have given up his fight for cradling what he could of his leg, trying in vain to stop the bleeding. The adrenaline seemed to have run out and Grell slumped there, bleeding. The Shinigami surrounding him and playing dead saw this and cautiously got up, heaving knocked out friends up with them and scattered until there was only Will, Grell and Ronald left. The blonde came running down the stairs, what was left of the chainsaw dropping out of his hands and clattering on the floor.

"Grab his arms." William said, trying to fix his cold façade back onto his face. In truth he was still utterly shaken, but he had to get Grell up to the infirmary before he went farther into shock. "I'll grab his legs." Walking over to Grell, he bent down, brushing, and in some cases pulling, the hurt man's hair off his face before bending down and speaking very low and calm into his ear. "Grell, I'm so sorry. It's going to hurt, but we have to lift you. Is that okay?" Grell nodded, casting those sad, acid toned eyes on William's face. He tried unsuccessfully to wipe the tears from his face, just smearing the makeup and blood on his face more. He muttered something quietly, carefully. Leaning closer, William tried to catch was he was saying.

"…sorry William. Was just trying to do a good job. Finished early… wanted to visit a grave… he was there… got attacked… 'M so sorry Will, he took all the souls I collected…" Grell sighed and his eyes drooped, tears still leaking from them. "'M so sorry…" The delicate form slumped and relaxed as Grell fell into unconsciousness. Looking at his long time companion, William felt the rage and bloodlust rise in his veins. Grell was a pain in the ass but he didn't deserve this, not by a long shot. Calling Ronald over, he maneuvered Grell into the blonde's arms without jostling him too much, before carefully grabbing his legs, high up on the thigh, letting one calf dangle on either side of his waist. Still pale, Ronald managed a quiet chuckle, earning a dark glare from William as they carefully worked their way up the stairs. Most of the Shinigami were gone for the day, including the nursing staff, so William would have to tend to Grell as best he could himself. It's not like he couldn't; Shinigami healed extraordinarily quick and all of them knew how to fix themselves up fairly well. Typically the nurses were just people on leave from reaping for one reason or another. Directing his gaze back to the blonde once they were up the stairs, William scoffed.

"What, by the love of god, is so funny?" He practically growled. Ronald clammed up and started sputtering, annoying William more. "Well?"

"I was just… I was thinking how much of a kick Grell will get out of you having wrapped his legs around your waist when he gets better." The blonde looked mortified for having to say it out loud and seemed to shrink before William. The black haired Shinigami scoffed and kept walking, a very nervous Ronald supporting the other half of Grell's deceptively heavy weight. Lady or no in his own mind, Grell was a man, and thusly was built like one. Finally, they reached the airy, spacious infirmary. Settling Grell first onto a metal examination table, William and Ronald turned the unconscious redhead onto his stomach. Ronald fetched a bowl of hot water and washcloths as William carefully cut away the remaining cloth from Grell's waist and body with a pair of scissors.

"Here, Sir. Is there anything else?" Ronald asked, nervously. William looked him over before nodding.

"Yes. Go collect his death scythe and put it in my office. After that, get someone to help you clean up the blood." Ronald nodded and went to leave, halfway out the door before William spoke up again. "Oh, and gather up the remains of his glasses and take them to be fixed by Father. The chain too." Ronald nodded again and with a hasty "yessir!" departed, leaving William to clean and patch Grell. Silently, he went to work.

Grell's wounds, for the most part were clean and easy to deal with, if somewhat disturbing. Most of them seemed to be claw marks, aside from the one on his skull (which looked like he went flying backwards into something big, stone and hard) and of course the chainsaw gash on his left side. Carefully, he washed, dried and covered each one in ointment before bandaging him up. Finally, the only thing that was left was Grell's blood sticky hair and scalp. Wrapping the man in a medical gown, William lifted him, settling him in a rolling chair and wheeling him in front of the sink before leaning him back so his head was under the faucet. He turned the water on so it was medium hot and proceeded to rinse the long red locks.

Huh, even this soaked, it's coming clean easy. He thought, running his gloveless hands through Grell's long hair. He watched as all the blood ran down the sink and examined the cut on Grell's scalp. It wasn't more than a split in the skin, not even truly needing bandages. It was already closed up. Taking a washcloth, he ran the hot water over it and cleaned the makeup, blood and tears off Grell's face. It had been a long time since William seen him without all the extra stuff on his face. In fact, he didn't think he had seen Grell be distinctly male like he used to since their first mission was done.

He was so unruly then… thought of humans as such vile creatures… they were lower on the food chain to him than to the rest of us. What happened, Grell, to the classmate that was so confident? What happened to the young man with flame coloured hair and a smug face. William let his thoughts drift as he dried off Grell's face and hair as best he could, hefting the red reaper again and settling him into one of the beds. He brushed a damp lock off Grell's face, examining the bruise on his forehead. Without that silly grin plastered on his face, he really does just look… sad. What made you so sad all the time Grell? What made you lose the confidence I so admired in you? Your eyes are always set in a miserable way now… William was wrenched from his thoughts as Ronald walked through the door.

"Sir?" He asked. William turned his cold eyes towards Ronald, but not before Ronald caught the concerned expression on William, the faraway face. He cleared his throat and spoke nervously. "I have those who are on janitorial duty cleaning up the hall. The remains of the death scythe are on your desk and I took Father Grell's glasses. He said that they're not able to be repaired, so he's going to be making Grell a new pair." Looking down into his arms, he held the small bundle of clothes out to William. "And I brought new clothes for him for once he wakes up." William nodded and took the clothing, setting it gently on the bedside table. The silence thickened and Ronald shifted uncomfortably. "Is there anything else, sir?"

"That will be all." William stated with finality. "I will be staying here to monitor him and get a statement when he wakes." Pulling around a chair next to the bed, William sat and crossed his legs, producing a book to read out of nowhere. Ronald, recognizing the dismissal, turned and left the room, closing the door quietly. As soon as he was gone, William looked up; his book closed and held loosely on his lap. The stoic Shinigami gazed at his sleeping comrade again.

I wonder… do you still remember what you did for me that day, Grell? The day I nearly failed the exam, had you not come to save me? It was the smallest gesture, but it meant a great deal to me. I couldn't tell you, no matter what, because I had finally found a friend. You stopped, even thought you were better than me, and perched my glasses back upon my nose. I remember your smile. I miss that smile. It was calm and caring and soft. You didn't show off your teeth like you do now. Of course I was young then. I didn't know myself like I do now. I wish I hadn't have said the awful things I had back then. After the soul was collected…

"We did pretty good back there, Will. I've never had someone have the balls to stand up to me, let alone work with me for so long." Grell smiled. Not wide enough to show off his razor-teeth but just enough. He was happy. "We're quite a team, you and me. Like the brilliant actors in a play writ only for us to play, and the whole world is watching because it is both the stage and the audience."

"Idiot." I muttered. This guy was no more than a clown, I had thought. But I had known that it was nice to have someone to talk to that respected me.

"Such a cold man, Will!" Grell had laughed and stared at me with those acid-tone eyes. "A guy like me could really fall in love with a man like you, William."

"What an odd thing to say." I had scoffed at him, brushed him off, even though that was the first time I had heard anyone say they loved me. "You shouldn't say such things. Only a lady is supposed to tell a man they love him." There. That was the first time I had ever seen that face. The sad eyes and the flash of all those deadly teeth.

"A lady, huh?" He hadn't said anything after that to me for a while.

"Come to think of it…" William muttered to the prone form of Grell, "You didn't say anything to me until after we got our glasses from Father the next day. By then you were wearing heels and had started to call yourself a lady." William stared out the window on the other side of Grell's bed at the rising crescent moon. "Is it my fault that you're like this?" He pondered. Silently, William stared out the window, watching the moon rise long into the night, lost in his thoughts. Slowly, ever so slowly he fell forward, falling asleep where he sat, until he finally slumped onto Grell's bed.

London bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down. London bridge is falling down, my fair lady.

"Mmf." William tried to chase away the irksome tune bothering his sleep. He ached, everywhere and just wanted to fall back out so he wouldn't ache anymore. He didn't know why he did in the first place, but he did.

London Bridge is falling down…

Irritated, William buried himself farther into the warmth that he was laying on.

Falling down… falling down…

Wait. Something wasn't right and it was gnawing at the back of his brain. There was something important he was supposed to be doing.

London Bridge is falling down…

Wait. Wait a minute…

My fair lady…

Grell!

William jerked up, sending his book skidding across the infirmary floor and under Grell's bed. The redhead was awake, staring out the window at the rising sun, not even acknowledging that William had been sleeping on his belly. The stoic reaper collected himself and shoved his shock aside, turning professionally towards Grell like he hadn't just spent the entire night sitting up beside him then falling asleep on him. Only, Grell didn't even move. He just stared out the window, his face blank and empty. It was like the lights were on, but no one was home. Clearing his throat, William took a small notebook from his inside pocket, along with a pen, and tried to get Grell to pay attention.

"Well, Sutcliff, since you're awake now, I'd like a detailed report of what happened." He said in his best authoritative tone. Grell didn't even flinch. Taken aback, William frowned, trying again. "Come on Sutcliff, I don't have time for your games. We have to go deal with whoever did this to you, before even more of us get attacked." Again, Grell ignored him, staring blindly out the window. William was just about to start yelling when the door to the infirmary opened.

"Mr. Spears? Sir?" It was Ronald. William looked back and was startled, just for a moment to see Ronald standing before a very solemn looking retired Shinigami. The Undertaker was standing with his arms crossed behind the nervous apprentice. "He says he witnessed something that may be relevant to what happened to Grell." The blonde stepped back, allowing the older man to pass by him, the long silver hair sweeping behind him. William cocked on eyebrow at the respectable retiree.

"You saw something?" He asked, his pen readied. The Undertaker nodded, settling himself down on the bed on the other side of William, opposite of Grell. The redhead didn't even react, worrying William even more, as he knew that Grell was quite fond of the eccentric man. The Undertaker nodded quietly.

"Yes," He started, folding his hands together and crossing his legs. "I was working last night in one of the graveyards, preparing a grave, you see, for one of my customers, when what do I see other than young Grell Sutcliff, walking through it with a bouquet of red roses." He glanced (or seemed to as William could not be sure he could see through all that hair) over at Grell, looking troubled, before starting again. "Poor thing. He was bringing roses to a certain Madame it turned out, you see, to Miss Angelina Durless. He stayed their quite a while, just talking to her. It seemed he was quite filled with remorse at killing her. I heard him say several times that he missed her, the poor dear, that no one understood him like she did. Hours he stayed there, the whole afternoon. Of course, that turned out to be a mistake." He paused, glancing at the non-responsive Grell again. "I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw who the next visitor to the cemetery was. It had been near on five years since I have seen the late Earl Phantomhive or his butler. But there they were. And when they got to the Madame's grave, they started shouting, arguing with dear Grell. I saw the Earl and his butler both attack Grell and tried to go help, but you see, the priest came out and started asking me about the screaming. I tried to get away but he was having none of it and I didn't want my cover blown. I told them that a former lover of Madame Red was visiting her grave and ran into a family member that didn't like him, so they started arguing. Which was, of course, true." The Undertaker shrugged, taking a glass of water from the table behind William and drinking it. William blinked, trying to absorb the information.

"Former lover? You mean Sutcliff? But he's-"

"There's an exception to every rule and a rule to every exception, m'dear, and the Madame was Grell's exception. I know he was with her for a long time. He was with her, after all, for the entire two and a half years he was gone*. Came in with her to make sure I took good care of the Phantomhive bodies, after all. But that's not the point, now is it?" William shook his head, feeling foolish.

"I apologize. Please continue."

"Very well. It was like I said, the Earl Phantomhive showed up with his butler and they were both chasing the dear down. By the time I had dodged the priest, they were gone. I was quite worried though, so once I got everything taken care of, I came here. After all," He paused, looking concerned. "The Earl wasn't a little boy anymore." It dawned on William, then, just what the Undertaker was implying.

"Ciel Phantomhive is a full-fledged demon." He muttered, his cold façade threatening to break as the rage and bloodlust burned deep in him. "Those damn demons attacked Grell. Made him like this!" His face fell to the rage and both Ronald and the Undertaker shivered with fear at the dark, deadly look. Grell, oblivious, just stared out of the window. It was horrible to see him like this and the last of William's cold facade fell away, and a horrible snarl ripped from his throat.

"I'm going to kill them. I'm going to fucking kill them!"

There was no hope for either demon now, and both Shinigami present knew it. It was only a matter of time before William got to them.

They just prayed Grell didn't get any worse before he did.

*Okay, so I bet everyone is like, wtf are you talking about? Well, it's simple: I did the math based on what Madame Red remembers as she's dying and took creative initiative from there. If you remember, she meets Grell shortly after Ciel's parents die, and that she says that it's months after that that Ciel is found again, then that Sebastian has been with Ciel for 2 years. So add it up and that's 2 years and some odd months that Grell was playing serial killer with her.

ALSO, Grell himself said he loved Madame Red, so I thought it worked well into the story. If you don't like it, too bad, cause I think she's the only woman that could ever be with Grell and make sense. But she's dead now so it doesn't matter anyway.

Remember to review lovies! I love hearing feedback.

Ta~

-Pk