A/N: Soooo… this was supposed to be a collab with a friend, but unfortunately she hasn't responded in over three months. I found it to be a really good fic, so I decided to continue it and finish it myself ^^ Hope you enjoy~!

I'm keeping the friend's name confidential, but credit still goes to her until chapter 3, which was when she dropped the collab

Chapter One

Grell sighed softly, bored emerald eyes gazing down from the rooftop which he stood upon the highest point. It was his last soul to collect for the day and he just wanted to go home... It had been a long day, and every soul he went to collect seemed to be a fighter, and he was now exhausted. There, he thought, spotting his target. The man was scheduled to fall to the ground, and die of a heart attack of all things. Nothing terribly interesting. He waited before the man had collapsed onto the ground before leaping from the roof. However, he failed to notice a presence lurking in the shadows as he moved towards the body.

He was just about done collecting the soul, the cinematic strips just beginning to flow into his chainsaw scythe, when suddenly he was rammed into from the side with tremendous force that was enough to knock the breath from him. He lost his grip on his chainsaw as he landed on the ground, the scythe sputtering out with a low growling sound as it clattered noisily across the pavement. Grell groaned as he attempted to sit up, wondering what the hell had just hit him hard enough to do… that. Suddenly, there was a pressure on his chest and he looked up alarmed to see a demon with glowing pink cat's eyes standing above him. In one clawed hand he held the red head's beloved chainsaw; in the other was the glowing soul he was trying to collect. The bastard. The demon pressed his foot into the other's chest with a wicked grin and watched with what seemed to be humour Grell struggled to get loose from the demon.

Grell's emerald eyes widened as the demon raised the chainsaw upwards with a grating screech, before driving it downwards in a rather gleeful motion, right into Grell's gut. The red head let out an agonized scream as he felt the device tear skin and muscle. However, instead of just driving it right through him like Grell thought the demon would have done, he left it just cutting the flesh, slowly lowering it in a torturous way until the blade was heard grinding against bone, in which it was ripped back out from Grell's stomach and earning another shriek of pain from the red head. Suddenly the demon's head snapped to the side and he growled lowly before throwing the chainsaw off to the side and fleeing. The demon then left Grell lying on the freezing cobblestone, slowly bleeding out and in absolute agony.

The reaper attempted to draw in a breath, but could only tense in pain as a surging fire rippled through his body from the gaping wound. He'd heard of reapers dying from being stabbed with their own scythe, but never did he expect it would happen to him... He could only hope someone would find him soon. He managed to move one hand to rest over the wound, providing a small amount of comfort as the blood quickly flowed, staining his clothes with ease and beginning to seep onto the ground around him.

He continued to stare at the red liquid, the blood bringing none of its usual comfort. This time, he actually feared it; it could be the death of him... His thoughts worried at the fact no one would help him, he was going to die in this alley, cold and alone, as he had been his entire life. Would anyone care if he died…?

Though little did he know a familiar demon was on his way from the other side of town, and neither did the demon know of Grell's presence.

~x~

Sebastian leapt from rooftop to rooftop with ease, enjoying the quiet, cool night of London, amber eyes sharp and on the lookout for a cat, or even two if he was lucky... He was distracted from his plans though as a loud scream echoed through the night air, and the roar of a chainsaw along with yet another scream before deafening silence. The scream sounded all too familiar, he realized with a sigh- Grell Sutcliff's. Though the scent of a demon was heavy in the air as he continued on to investigate, now rather curious. Minutes passed before he spotted the red reaper knelt in the far, dark corner of an alleyway, panting and whimpering in pain, holding a hand tightly to his stomach.

"...Grell...?"

Green eye fogged with pain and fright raised to meet Sebastian's, a pleading expression overcoming Grell's features, he managed to give a small whimper, "Sebastian, please..." He whispered, in too much pain to even think about using the demon's ridiculous nickname.

He attempted to remove his hand from his stomach, but gave a groan of pain and pressed his bloodied hand against it again. The demon's eyes widened at the gruesome slash across Grell's stomach. It was ugly… ugly, bleeding, and deadly. Sebastian knew that this wound would be fatal if he cruelly chose not to help the red headed reaper... It was tempting, he would not have to deal with him anymore, but... Something in him would not let him leave the reaper to die in the alley in such an agonizing, slow death.

"Keep still Grell, I need to at least slow the bleeding down, and remove your hand from the wound... If you don't listen to what I say Grell, you might end up dead." His voice held a tone of utter serious as he ripped his beloved tailcoat up in strips to use as temporary bandages.

Grell nodded weakly, forcing himself to remove a shaking hand from covering the wound. As soon as it was out of the way, Sebastian quickly got to work on wrapping the pieces of his tailcoat around the wound and tying them tightly. He could sense the reaper slowly losing consciousness,

"Stay awake, Grell, pay attention to me and only me. Listen to my voice. Do. Not. Fall. Asleep." He said in a commanding tone as he scooped the other up in his arms, careful not to jostle him too much.

As soon as he was certain Grell was set firmly in his arms, he took to the roofs, moving far faster than normal. If he did not act quickly, Grell would die, and as much as the demon disliked the red head... He knew he would regret letting him die one way or another. "Stay with me Grell, try to stay conscious." Just as he uttered the words, he entered the Phantomhive manor with purpose, heading towards his own bedroom since he did not want to bloody any of the sheets on the guest beds in the mansion.

Grell winced as he was gently set on the bed, tears streaking down his cheeks at the unbearable pain. His dull eyes widened as he spotted Sebastian turning to leave the room and his breathing quickened.

"P-please! D-don't leave m-me!" He pleaded, growing more terror-stricken and panicked by the second until Sebastian's hand met his hand,

"Grell, please calm down lest you worsen your condition. I'll need bandages and some other items to dress the wound, I'll return momentarily," Sebastian attempted to calm the shaking reaper, who looked doubtful as his eyes held the fright of a newborn fawn. Sebastian sighed once more, "I promise..."

Grell seemed to relax at this and simply lay quietly on the bed, allowing Sebastian to leave and return quickly with the supplies he needed. Moving to begin unbuttoning the reaper's torn waist coat and shirt, he slipped the clothing from Grell form and splashed a small amount of peroxide onto the cloth. The redhead seemed to tense slightly as Sebastian's hand moved to where the wound was on his stomach.

"P-Please, be g-gentle," He asked quietly with a shaking voice, the demon's eyes rose to meet the other's and Sebastian gave a nod, moving to wipe carefully at the blood that had thankfully slowed to a light bleeding instead of pouring from the wound like before. Grell flinched and bit his lip, but remained silent as Sebastian worked quickly.

Though seeming to concentrate on the wound, Sebastian was deep in thought, Grell looked so pitiful, lying there like that, but more importantly... Why did he care? Why had he rescued the reaper when Sebastian had hated him so much before. Why...? Grell interrupted his thoughts with a whimper, and the demon noticed he had been pushing a little too hard.

"Sorry..." He mumbled.

Halting his thoughts about why he was doing this, he concentrated on the task at hand. Soon enough, Grell was properly bandaged and the wounds were treated. Sighing softly, Sebastian wiped his hands on a rag to clean the blood off of them. He noted the blood on his white gloves from when he had been carrying Grell, disposing of them as well as his now tattered and bloodied tailcoat. That would have to be fixed as well.

"Grell, get some rest. You've lost a lot of blood and you're weak. I'll stay here and watch... I have my tailcoat to repair anyways." He said with a small sigh, taking out a sewing kit.

The redhead nodded weakly, watching as Sebastian sat down in the chair by the bedside. He too was curious as to why Sebastian decided to save him, why he did not let him die back there, or worked so tenderly and carefully on his wounds. It puzzled him, but he sighed knowing that the thoughts would not help ease his mind into sleep. "I-I'll try..." He murmured under his breath, shifting as he got more comfortable in the bed.

Forcing his eyes closed, Grell forced his beating heart to calm itself, forced himself to calm down and push away the irrational fear that the demon would come back... After all, he was only after the soul... Right...? Once again clearing his mind, he slipped into sleep, but it was hardly peaceful, and haunted by the one who drove his own chainsaw through his gut.

Sebastian watched the sleeping reaper with newfound curiousness as he worked at repairing his tailcoat, continuing to think about the attack. How a demon had managed to defeat Grell was beyond him, but he was still worried about the redhead. But he halted those thoughts and shook his head, Grell was nothing more than an annoyance, and he knew the reaper owed them a favor for Sebastian helping him now- that was easily decided, call off the 'date' Ciel had promised Grell... However, it was still rather alarming to see the reaper in such a state, the usually happy, excitable reaper so worn down and terrified at every shadow and small noise.

He paused at a sudden snap outside and was shaken from his thoughts once more, the needle and thread halting abruptly as he glanced up to the darkened window. He then turned his gaze to Grell, who seemed to have awoken and was staring with wide eyes at the window, his breath quickening and hands tightly gripping the comforter of the bed.

"Grell, go back to sleep, it's just a branch," The flinch from Grell didn't go unnoticed as he looked to Sebastian,

"W-What...?"

"It was just a branch, calm down and go back to sleep,"

Grell slowly settled down from his panicked seeming state and lay back down under the warm covers, forcing himself into slumber once more. Sebastian sighed and continued on with repairing his tailcoat when a sudden weight on his sleeve caused him to look down. Grell had managed in his sleep to find Sebastian's dress shirt cuff and was now clinging weakly onto it, however the butler was quickly distracted again when another snap came from the Phantomhive gardens-

And a whiff of demon scent.

The same scent from the alley where Grell was attacked.