Ciel ran through the woods.
He had no particular direction. He just ran. Reckless, legs pounding through the underbrush. Mind clear. Petrified.
Shapes zoomed by in the black, dark haze. Bushes, trees, scared animals. Ciel couldn't tell, and he didn't care. His heart thumping, he continued forward in a never-ending dead sprint. Sightless.
A root snagged at his foot and down he went. Pain shot through his body like bolts of electricity.
Get up idiot! Get up now.
Ciel scrambled forward on his hands and knees searching for a place to hide. Soon, he found a hollow below a tree. His breathing was deep and ragged. Just how long had he been running? A long time it seemed.
Ciel tilted his head back and gulped in as much air as he could. Where were the rest? Were they ok? Ciel had no way of knowing because in his frenzy he had lost the three people who meant so much to him.
Find them. You know where to go. Just get there…
Exhausted, but not ready to back down, Ciel got up and continued bolting through the endless forest that surrounded him like a cold blanket. Thorns and brambles cut into his arms but that did not stop him. Nothing could. He would only stop when he knew the people he loved were safe.
Suddenly the trees became thinner and Ciel hit an open area.
In the moonlight, Ciel could barely make out the shape of the shed. Running up beside it, Ciel looked at every starlit scratch and bump and knew he had never been happier to see it.
"Where could everyone be?" Ciel whispered, still trying to catch his breath. He was drenched in sweat and it felt like the world was spinning. He sat down and put his head in his hands, his emotions getting the best of him.
Everyone was still out there.
So Ciel sat, on edge, unmoving, and scared shitless. His fear poured out of him like smoke and his heart made the sound of a mighty drum. If he didn't know better, Ciel would assume the whole forest was alive with the fast but steady tempo of his throbbing organ.
A rustle in the bushes caught Ciel's attention and he turned his head.
A cool, dark voice seeped from the shadows.
"Phantomhive, we've been looking for you."