Grell sprinted through the Phantomhive estate, the clacking of his favourite red heels on the marble floor could just be heard over the raging fire and collapsing rooms. Everything seemed out of place, and he still didn't understand why he was there. He halted in his tracks, taking out his black book one last time. Right there on the list, Ciel Phantomhive's name could be found. So he hadn't yet been taken from the demon. A large grin appeared on his porcelain face, revealing a set of pearly teeth that a shark would be terrified of. This was his last chance to upstage Sebastian, and maybe even get a bit of praise from William.
He searched every room in his path, looking for any sign of the boy who was too mature for his own good. Opening the double doors of the study, he found the young lord seated in his chair. It would have looked almost normal, if it weren't for the dancing flames and the demon that was slowly coaxing the soul out of the child's body.
Grell allowed an irritated hiss to pass his lips before turning his scythe towards the demon, racing across the room. He tore his death scythe so that it missed Sebastian, but so a few pieces fell to the floor, still not catching his attention away from his meal.
A dark chuckle filled the room, though it didn't sound as if it came from the demon. A mist rose around the dark butler, spinning up into a black aura that surrounded him. Grell watched in unfiltered shock as the darkness took a black form of Sebastian. The shadow seemed to stretch out its limbs, clothes turning more demonic as it took a more solid appearance. Curved horns grew from just above the hair line, black nails turning to claws. Pants tightened into leather, as jacket, vest and shirt were torn by massive, raven looking wings. Onyx feathers littered the ground as the shadow shook itself, a grin becoming apparent on its face.
Behind the dark creature, Sebastian seemed indifferent to the form escaping his body, if he even noticed it.
"Ah, it's incredible to be free, once again." It seemed to look over Grell, the mist finally settling until it was an actual being. It smirked, and took a few paces towards him. It stopped a few feet short, looking sceptical. "Yet, my view seems to be tainted. What are you, exactly?"
Grell narrowed his eyes, his teeth bared in a way resembling an angry dog, he was fuming. "I might ask you the same question."
The aura paced in a circle around the shinigami. "Hmm... You seem a bit too confident to be a human, yet too... Strange, to be an all orderly reaper... Perhaps a mix of both... Did someone take pity on you, and turn you into a shinigami? You certainly weren't born into the chore." It stopped behind Grell, closer than before.
"I'm afraid that information is restricted from the likes of you." He spat over his shoulder, lifting his gaze as if he were all that higher up than the demon, as if he didn't deserve his eyes.
"I see, so you doknow what I am..." Grell felt a single finger being pressed to the small of his back. He froze, hairs on the back of his neck bristling as the long nail ran up and down his spine through the red of his coat. "How do you feel about it?"
Grell turned his head to the shadow, smiling as sweet and innocent as he could. "I'm feeling, that if you don't stop touching me..." His lips shifted into a twisted grin, "I'm not going to be able to hold myself back."
Another dark chuckle and bright red eyes turned fuchsia. "Hmm... You're a feisty one, now aren't you?" A thin, forked tongue ran across its lips. "I like that."
"You won't in a minute." Grell turned around, swinging his scythe around himself with one hand, and sending it flying towards the demons chest. His smirk vanished as the shadow did, his scythe lodging itself in the wall.
A deep voice echoed behind him. "Now, now... Let's not get angry, I'd prefer if we didn't fight. Especially now, since the building should collapse any minute." There was a pause, and then Grell could hear the smirk in its voice as it spoke, "Tell me now, reaper. Exactly howindestructible are shinigami?"
A shiver ran through his body as the words seemed to freeze him to the spot. He felt the hand trail down his back again, only now it reached around to rest on his waist. Grell's head turned to the side, attempting to look at the demon through the edge of his sight, but his eyes widened when he only saw its inky black hair, and it was only a few centimetres from his face. The firm, yet somehow unreal body was pressed up against him, warm breath on the shell of his ear.
"Tell me your name, reaper..." He felt it's free hand travel down his forearm to settle over his own, curling it's fingers around his, and the handle of his scythe. Grell whimpered softly as the scythe was slowly wrenched from his grip, and soon thrown across the room. He was left to feel ultimately helpless while his charisma flowed quickly down the drain.
"Grell... Grell Sutcliff..."
"There we go..." Grell felt a warm breath against his neck, letting him know of the demon's silent laugh.
Not knowing what to do, he slowly moved his other hand into his pocket, trying to seem more confident. "What do you want from me, demon?"
"I'd like a favour, if you would be so kind."
"Well, I'd like it if you'd get away from me." He spat again at the shadow, frustrated.
"Then I suppose neither of us is getting what we want." It sounded almost like a cat's purr.
Grell looked away, noticing the shadow made no sign that he was moving away. He fumbled in his pockets, finding something that might be of use. "Is that so?"
"Well, I might be more willing to leave, if you gave into my pressures..." The foul creature ran the tips of his fingers down his side. Grell had been justtolerating it, but this was getting ridiculous. In anger in frustration as the hand rested on his hip, he pulled his hand out of his pocket, along with his scissor death scythes that he had neglected to return. Spinning around to face the demon, he stabbed the scissors into its chest, opting to collect his larger, more dangerous weapon.
Practically throwing himself across the room, Grell took hold of the handle. He spun around to face the demon once again, ready for a battle, but saw it with a shocked glare on its features, and its hand hovering on the scissors. Its eyes were slowly filling with anger and hatred, which caused Grell to stand there, stunned for a few more moments before tearing his scythe through the demon's arm, severing it at the elbow. An inhuman shriek sounded before Grell was pelted with black feathers. They seemed to bury themselves into him, even through his clothes.
The flames around them were quickly growing more violent, flickering closer with every passing minute. If he didn't get out soon, he would surely be buried with the debris of the collapsed mansion.
Grell, now angered at the feathers buried in his skin, brought his scythe down on the shadow again, and then again. He soon found that it was tearing a large hole through the demon's chest. The demon was screaming eerily, a loud, shrill noise that pained anyone that heard it.
No cinematic record. No drama. No lovely, theatrical pain. Was this really not enough?
Bringing his attention back to the demon, Grell found the demon becoming a shadow once again, only the black silhouette of Sebastian. The shadow was disintegrating slowly, and it made Grell laugh condescendingly. "Who knew demons were so fragile while consumed with their own nature."
His gaze was brought to the man lying unconscious on the floor. Grell ran to him, shaking his shoulder gently. "Sebas~Chan?" The man's eye lashes flutters briefly before opening, revealing his eyes.
What scared Grell, though, was the fact that they weren't the brilliant crimson he so adored, but a plain, chocolate brown. The usual pale, unnaturally white complexion seemed tanner, too... And the jet black hair seemed dull and lifeless.
"Se... Sebas~Chan...?" Grell pressed his palm to the man's forehead, finding that the temperature had dropped significantly from the hellish temperatures of a demon. The body heat felt more like that of a...
"Fire..." The choked word brought him out of his thoughts. The fires were, in fact, getting hotter and brighter, and the room was crackling with sparks. Grell looked desperately around the room in an attempt to find an escape hatch, but quickly settled for the large window instead. Gripping the man in a firm embrace against his chest, the flamboyant reaper flew through the large sheet of glass, shards attempting to find homes in the skin and clothing of the two.
Sprinting farther and farther from the estate, Sebastian's position slowly changed into somewhat of a bridal carry, one of Grell's arms under the crook of his knees, with the other supporting his back. This went on for about an hour or so, until the shinigami deemed the area safe. Finding themselves in a small, dark forest clearing, Sebastian was laid gently on the cold ground.
Grell sat down near him, his elbows resting on his knees, and face finding its place in his palms. "What is causing all of this?"
They must have stayed there for hours, for dawn was approaching at an agonizingly slow pace. Just sitting there was beginning to irritate Grell, especially since he could do nothing about the current situation. All he could manage to do was stay awake. Watch the man in front of him with increasing frustration.
When night was upon them once again, Sebastian moved.
Grell lifted his gaze slowly from the dry earth, letting it rest on the, no longer still, being. First it was just slightly, but soon his entire body was sitting up, looking at Grell while judging him critically.
"Sebas~Chan..." Slowly moving to his knees, Grell knelt next to the other man.
"What have you done to me, Sutcliff?" Sebastian was looking at his gloved hand, turning it over before gripping the tip of the middle finger in his teeth, pulling it off gingerly. He must have seen Grell wince, for he looked at his hand quickly, eyes widening slightly. "What is this? I feel... Not myself... What have you done to me?"
"I... I didn't do anything..." Grell nearly cried out those words, wishing for an explanation. He was as confused as Sebastian, if not more.
The man looked at Grell again, eyes filled with disdain. "What do you know of the... current situation?" At this, Grell wasn't sure of much that had happened himself, but he recounted what his perspective to the best of his ability.
"I see..." Sebastian spoke almost solemnly as Grell concluded his retell, staring at something distant and unknown to the other. "Well, from what I've heard, I can only assume that you have destroyed my demon."
Grell felt horrified. He had no idea he had done something that bad, but that did not change his curiosity on the matter. "How are youalive then, though?"
Sebastian sighed, "You really don't know? You of all people?" When Grell's head shook slightly, he slowly raised two fingers to press against his temple. "I'm still alive, yes. However..." He looked up at Grell with the eye visible from underneath the cage of his fingers. "I'm becoming human."
Alternate ending is now published.