Disclaimer: Kuroshitsuji and its characters are the property of Yana Toboso. I do not own any of the characters, barring any OCs, in this story.

Author's Note: This story will begin with a twist on the final scene of the anime, and will continue where Black Butler II left off. I will warn you now, Sebastian will definitely be somewhat OOC in this fic, as will Ciel, but it will all make sense in later chapters. With that, please enjoy the beginning of this story.

August 26th, 1889. The night sky was black as jet, starless despite the fact that the new moon was still days away. The air was cool, unusual for a midsummer night, and the breeze softly tossed Ciel's blue-gray hair as Sebastian carried him across the field of black and white roses that adorned the seaside cliff. A few petals drifted up around them on the wind, and Ciel's eyes flashed red for a moment while he reached out to grab one in his outstretched hand. Sebastian watched with little interest as his master turned the petal around between his fingers; his face had remained stony, almost totally expressionless, since the moment he discovered Ciel had become a demon. He did not even offer his usual smirk when Ciel looked up at him, instead continuing toward the edge of the cliff with careful, measured steps and keeping his gaze straight ahead.

"It's strange," Ciel thought as he watched a few more stray petals dance up around his butler's feet. "I should feel afraid, I think, to have become one of the beings I feared for so long. But somehow this just feels… as if it is what I was always meant to be."

"My Lord," Sebastian began, his voice soft and toneless as they neared the edge of the cliff. "Where shall we go now?" Ciel looked downward into the blackness below, wondering what kinds of horrors might lurk just beyond his view, and shook his head.

"I don't care where we go. Wherever we end up, we'll both be treated the same way now." Sebastian's eyes flickered with what might have been pain, the corners of his mouth turning down ever so slightly. Ciel did not smirk outwardly, though he felt very much like doing so. "I'll remind you as many times as necessary, Sebastian," he thought as his butler recovered from his momentary loss of composure. "We are equals now. The mighty demon has lost to a human boy, and you are mine for eternity." Sebastian continued to the edge, standing just far back enough not to send them both into the chasm, and Ciel smiled, closing his eyes and laying against Sebastian's chest.

"It feels good somehow, Sebastian," he whispered. "As if I've been released from a curse that had me in its grip for a long time."

"Indeed. And I have been cursed in your place," the demon said bitterly, his grip on Ciel tightening almost imperceptibly.

The once-earl looked upward at Sebastian, flinching when he saw how much anger – perhaps even hatred? – was burning in those crimson eyes. Ciel had not been the one to create the contract with Hannah Annafellows that ultimately consumed his soul – that had been the work of Claude Faustus and Alois Trancy, and the entire lot of them were now thankfully dead. He had, however, learned of the trick Alois and Hannah were playing on Sebastian just before it happened. Even though he knew that it would take away everything Sebastian had lived for since beginning the contract, he had had no way to warn the demon. Did Sebastian – someone he once considered to be as close to a friend as he would ever get – truly regard him with contempt now?

"Sebastian."

"Yes, my lord?"

"You hate me quite a lot now, don't you?" Sebastian's eyes lost their smoldering intensity, but he did not turn his gaze toward Ciel when he spoke.

"My emotions, if they can be called that, have nothing to do with the situation at hand. I am your servant for eternity, and I will remain one hell of a butler until the end of time."

"You still haven't answered my question, Sebastian." Ciel stared hard at the other demon, waiting for any trace of the Sebastian he had known for so long, but all that greeted him was the same stony, defeated expression he had seen for days. "So that's it, then? You're just going to give up and suffer in silence? That isn't like you, Sebastian."

"And you claim to know what is and is not 'like me,' Bocchan?" There was a defiant edge to his voice now, one Ciel had never thought he would hear from Sebastian. Pushing himself out of the demon's arms, Ciel stood on the ground in the seemingly endless stretch of flowers, glaring up at the much taller man in a way he hoped would be intimidating.

"I do, and you'd do well to mind your tone around your master, Sebastian."

"I apologize, my lord," Sebastian said softly, kneeling before Ciel with his hand held over his heart, as he had always done. "That was out of line. I beg your forgiveness."

"Enough. You don't need to beg me for anything; it doesn't suit you."

"As you wish." Sebastian stood silently, taking his customary place behind Ciel to await further orders.

"So, where would be the best place to go next?" the boy asked himself aloud. "We can't return to London, at least not without some kind of disguise." He smiled bitterly. "I am supposed to be dead, after all. So perhaps the first place we should – unnh!" A sharp pain flared in Ciel's head, throbbing as it quickly spread through the rest of his body and began to intensify in his chest. He gasped and fell to his knees, one hand on his head while the other grabbed at a fistful of his coat, trying futilely to ease the pain that was quickly becoming unbearable.

"Master? What is the matter?" Sebastian asked, a touch of emotion returning to his voice as he knelt beside Ciel and placed a thin hand on the boy's back.

"Hurts… everything…" He swallowed hard, choking back a cry of pain when his body throbbed again, and tried to get to his feet. "Sebastian… I order you… to…" His vision immediately began to swim, and before he could alert Sebastian to his predicament he had pitched forward, his body hitting the ground hard before sliding toward the edge of the flower-covered rocks. He heard Sebastian call out his name and looked up, watching the edge of the cliff move away from him in slow motion as he began to fall. The butler's slitted red eyes were wide, his lips curled back to reveal his fangs as he shouted in surprise. Ciel saw Sebastian's hand extend toward him, trying to catch some part of him before he could fall into the chasm, and then all was darkness.

"MASTER!"