Cyn here with the second half of Loopholes! I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did while writing it. :) REVIEWS = LOVE!

The Loopholes of a Contract

Part Two – Confession

Ciel could hear music. A phonograph, perhaps? Or was it a violin? He wasn't sure, but it was a beautiful melody that reminded him of Sebastian. So either the demon was humoring him, or he was mocked by the darkness. Not that he minded either way. It was a bit better than pure silence. Silence was okay, but being conscious of the silence as it droned on and on…that was the part to make one go insane. He gave a slight smile as he listened, he could almost see the demon playing the instrument. Suddenly it was gone, as quickly as Ciel had become aware of it was as quickly as the song ended. He frowned slightly, unhappy as the silence returned. He then felt warmth on his lips and he realized he was in a bed. Just as he opened his eyes, Sebastian had stopped kissing him and was smiling down at the youth. "Good morning, master." The demon greeted. "Did you sleep well?" he inquired.

Ciel merely stared at the demon, and then his eyes moved to look at the ceiling. He couldn't answer at first. During the silence, Sebastian stood to pour a cup of tea and gather Ciel's clothes. At last, Ciel made himself sit up. Feeling no pain, he looked down and lifted his night shirt to reveal no wound. "Sebastian?"

"Yes, my young master?"

"Where…where are we?" Ciel asked, confused. He had been on an island when he'd last been conscious. He'd been dying…Sebastian had taken him there to kill him and eat his soul. So…where were they and why?

"Why, we are in the manor, sir." Sebastian explained. "Do you not recognize your own room?" he said as he began dressing the youth. "I know you had been shot, master, but I did not realize the wound caused brain trauma."

"That is not what I mean!" Ciel replied hurriedly. His mix-matched eyes watched Sebastian with a mix of confusion and adoration. The ever-present face looked up and the demon blinked as he watched him. "Why are we here at the manor? Why didn't you eat my soul?"

Sebastian quirked a brow. "I am not sure what you're implying, my lord."

"I'm not implying anything!" Ciel half-yelled as he pounded a fist on his bed in a futile attempt to make a point. "We had a contract, Sebastian. Fulfill my greatest desire and then you can have my soul. My desire was fulfilled, so why am I not dead?" The sincere calmness the demon showed as Ciel confronted him was almost nerve-wracking to the teen.

"Yes, my lord, we did indeed have a contract." Sebastian explained as he tied Ciel's shoes and righted himself. "But as with all contracts, there are loopholes." He said. He leaned over to tie the ribbon at Ciel's neck as the male tied his eye patch on.

"Loopholes?" Ciel inquired. "How was there a single loophole, let alone many?" he asked as he watched the ebony haired demon. "It was a simple agreement, Sebastian. You help me find my parents' killer, then you get my soul. Where was there a loophole in any way?"

"Uh, uh, uh," Sebastian said in a sing-song kind of voice, laying a finger to his lips. "That, my lord, I cannot say. You have to find it on your own." He gave a soft smile as he leaned over to lay a kiss on Ciel's forehead. "Breakfast is ready, sir." He explained.

Ciel watched the red-eyed male and stared in confusion. After a moment, he closed his eyes and nodded. "Yes, of course." He said. He slid from his bed and began walking from his room and down the hall. "What all is on the agenda today?"

"Lady Rebecca Avarez will be stopping by with the research you requested not too long ago." He said s followed Ciel obediently.

"Which means that Abigail will be here as well," Ciel said. He knew full well that he was not the only one in London with a demon as a servant. It seemed fitting that the little Viscountess, cousin to Viscount of Druitt, came from a family of the best researchers in Her Majesty's care, and far too observant for her young age of only 14. It also meant that she was as closely guarded as Ciel. The Queen's Feline she was called, and it suited the young girl's admiration for cats. At her side at all times for six years, was her maid Abigail. An apt little woman with ebony hair and ruby eyes accented by the pale skin, Abigail was as mysterious as her brother, Sebastian. Ciel walked into the dining hall and sat at the head of the table. His breakfast was oatmeal with cinnamon, and a few slices of toast lay on a plate beside the oatmeal. He ate quietly, glancing every so often at Sebastian, who was busy polishing silverware. His mind was trying to figure out what the demon had said about contracts, and at the same time, go over the facts that he had acquired concerning the case he had asked Rebecca to do research on. He sipped his tea in silence as he thought, focusing on the case at hand. The riddle from Sebastian could be postponed in its solving for a while. But another thought was beginning to make the youth wonder about something. "Tell me, Sebastian, how long have you and Abigail taken separate contracts?"

The red eyed man glanced at his master. "Always." He said. "It becomes quite tactless to fool oneself into thinking sharing a soul is possible. Abigail and I have always made sure to never become attached to the same human. It saves the hassle of a fight."

"So the two of you never work for the same family?"

"Not always. But we are always near enough to find each other." Sebastian set down a fork and picked a knife up. He ran the rag over it and continued. "Before you ask, master, I was not aware that she had been summoned so close to you. I apologize for not saying so beforehand."

"The fact that you did not know where your sister was at is not something to feel apologetic about, Sebastian." Ciel said, lifting his cup to take another sip. He looked at Sebastian and set the now empty cup on the table. "Now then. I shall be in my study. When Rebecca arrives, send her there."

Sebastian turned to look at the boy and bow a little. "Yes, my young lord." He affirmed, smiling as Ciel left the room. He then returned to polishing the silver before clearing the dishes. As he brought the little cart into the kitchen, he quirked a brow. "Abigail, you are aware that you do not need to assist me, correct?" he asked the maid who was busying herself by washing some of the used dishes.

The woman turned, her ruby eyes a bit darker than his, her raven hair tied back in a ponytail. "Yes, I am aware, brother." She answered, chuckling. "But keeping myself busy is far more entertaining than standing around like a lump of sugar." She explained. "Don't you agree?"

The male chuckled and shook his head. When it came to his sister, Sebastian was hardly as scolding and patronizing as he was to Ciel or the other servants. Centuries of doing so had caused him nothing but grief from the slightly younger demon. As was the life of a sibling, he supposed. Even humans had to deal with similar problems. Over time, he had learned to only give his sister rhetorical questions and let her answer how she wanted. He moved swiftly, looking as if he glided over to help her and soon they were preparing lunch. Abigail was cutting vegetables while Sebastian worked on seasoning the meat, the two silent as they worked. Finally, after such a long silence, Abigail spoke up.

"Brother?"

Sebastian looked at the female from the corner of his eye, but did not stop in his preparations. "Yes, Abigail?"

"I can sense that Ciel's end of the contract has been fulfilled." Abigail explained. "So it puzzles me a great deal…"

"As to why I haven't eaten my master's soul?" Sebastian inquired, cutting another piece of meat. She didn't answer with words, just a simple nod that barely moved her head. He gave a chuckle as he stood beside her for the first time in a lifetime. "He managed to discover the loophole." A sharp intake of breath made him chuckle. "Come now, does that really surprise you, sister?"

"I suppose it shouldn't. No one speaks of the loophole when making the contract, so I suppose it is quite a bit more believable." Abigail said. "But even so, he's so young." She looked up. "Not that that has ever stopped you when you want something," she added drolly. She gained a slight chuckle from her brother. Rolling her eyes, she began cutting the carrots once more as she sighed quietly. "You do realize that you've tied yourself deep now, yes?"

"But such is the way of our contracts, Abigail." Sebastian said, as he so often had when they had first been summoned so many centuries before.

"And we must abide by the rules of each one; even the unspoken loophole." Abigail finished, her voice as droll as her head swaying from side to side in the slightest of manner. A sigh parted her lips. "I should be happy, I suppose. It's not often you find a soul that loves you."

"Time can do that, sister." Sebastian explained. "You know that as well as any demon."

The little raven haired female glowered at the food she cut. Of all people, her brother knew how testy that subject was for her. She'd been trapped more than once by the loophole, and had not been happy in the slightest each time. "So what do you plan to do?"

"I let him know there was a loophole," Sebastian answered. The knife beside him stopped as he looked over. Abigail had set the knife down and her ruby eyes were staring at him.

"Let him discover what he found on his own? How unlike you, Sebastian. What is the difference with Ciel from others before him?" she laughed softly. "Could it be you're as attached to him as he is to you?" The smirk from the male made her chuckle and return to her work with the vegetables.

-Meanwhile-

Ciel walked into his study and closed the door quietly. Going to his desk, he sat in the chair and began going over the case file he had gathered so far. But his mind kept wandering bak to Sebastian's impied riddle. Groaning quietly, he laid his face in one hand.

"You seem troubled, Ciel," a sudden voice said. It made Ciel jump and look up to see the pale girl in a navy gown smiling as she stood in the corner. A giggle escaped her. "Sorry. Abigail and I arrived early, and I know how often you brood up here, so I sent her to the kitchen." She gave a small smile and moved to walked over and stand beside Ciel. "I have the stuff I could find involving your disturbed graves." She said, setting a bok down.

Ciel looked up. "What is this, Rebecca?" he asked, watching her.

"A record book of deaths from the abandoned and deteriorating prison on the outskirts of London." Rebecca explained. "The part of the cemetery that our man is digging up corpses belonged to the prison. Every person dug up died in violent events in the prison."

"All forty-nine of them?" Ciel asked, looking down as he opened the yellowed pages to begin looking.

"Yes. Twelve of them were killed overnight by their prison roommates. Twenty died in a riot that also killed seven guards." Rebecca answered, shivering some as she thought of it. "Another seven were killed in the showers by gang-rape."

"Gang-rape?" Ciel asked, quirking abrow. Rebecca shrugged.

"That's what it reads in the book," she said in her own defense. "My best bet is they were ambushed and raped by a group of inmates." She theorized. She didn't really care about whether it was correct or not, so she continued. "Five committed suicide after being stabbed and not helped. The wounds became infected and rather than die by fever, they killed themselves; hangings." She then shook her head. "As for the other five, they vanished from their cells during the night, and then appeared in their cells with mass hemorrhaging."

"Remind again what that is, Rebecca."

"When the blood vessels burst, the blood has no direction, so it pools beneath the skin." She answered, fiddling with the little ruby on her velvet choker that covered where her brand for her contract with Abigail was. The shape was very similar to the mark Sebastian had, with a few differences in the way the inner writing of the circle were situated and phrased. She frowned as a thought hit her. 'I haven't been able to find a spell that requires so many bodies," she mused.

Ciel looked up from the pages. "What do you mean you can't find one?"

"Exactly what I said; I can't find one. I've looked through every book my parents had in the library and I couldn't find anything that would require that many bodies. I'm beginning to think we have a necromancer on our hands. But I don't understand why they would need almost fifty corpses."

Ciel looked down at the pages, not taken back by the mention of spells. The Avarex family's history in magic was kept in the dark in exchange for their mass record keeping. "Perhaps the prison?"

"The prison? What of it?"

"Did the Queen not just say they were going to rebuild the prison in the next few years?"

Rebecca tilted her head. "So either our necromancer wants to keep it run down, or they're using the corpses to build it to lower the cost to them." She picked up the second book she had and flipped through. "There are three men in charge of rebuilding the prison. And as far as I can tell, only one has a family accused of magic in their bloodline." She closed the book and gave a smile. "So what has you so troubled?"

"I have no idea what you're rambling about, Rebecca."

"Oh, honestly, Ciel. I'm not dumb. I could see you were stressed. What's bothering you?"

Ciel's blue eye looked at her and he sighed. "Sebastian said I found a loophole in something but I can't figure it out."

"A loophole about what?"

"About him."

Rebecca became thoughtful. "Well, did you ask him?"

"He won't tell me, Rebecca. I already asked him." He closed his eyes and shook his head with a sigh.

"Who said you had to actually ask?" Rebecca said, a grin in her voice. This caught the other noble's attention and he looked up at her.

"What are you saying?"

"Order him to tell you. He's still under contract with you, yes?" When Ciel nodded, she nodded back. "Alright, so he has to follow any order. If he won't answer when you ask, order him to tell you." She gave a smile. Ciel looked down, obviously in a state of enlightenment.

"I suppose I didn't think of it in that way," Ciel replied. At that time, a knock sounded on the door and Sebastian looked inside. "Excuse me sir, Lady Rebecca. Lunch is ready now."

"We will be down momentarily, Sebastian," Ciel said dismissively. Sebastian bowed and left, leaving the door open a tad for the two. Ciel looked back at Rebecca, he gave a smirk. "Do you really think that will work?"

"It has to. Otherwise he breaches the contract." Rebecca said. "Now come on, before lunch gets cold." She urged. She waited for him to stand and they began towards the dining hall. Lunch went by without incident, and afterwards, Ciel took his tea in the study while he and Rebecca covered the case file with the new information. When they'd figured it out enough to act, Rebecca insisted she do the brunt of the work and that Ciel stay in.

"Because you're not familiar with the magic, I'd have to keep you safe as well. Even with Sebastian there, it's too dangerous." She explained. She waved through the window as the carriage left the grounds.

Sebastian looked at Ciel. "I would have thought you would have gone with Lady Rebecca, master."

"A necromancer can keep even you from saving me, Sebastian. Rebecca and I thought is best to keep me out of the battle this time." He explained. "It can be expected that she won't lose. Her knowledge of magic is far greater than someone dabbling in such weak spells." He turned and started into the manor again. Later that night, as Ciel sat playing himself in chess, Sebastian walked into the room with his evening tea.

"I have prepared Earl Grey for you tonight, sir." The demon said. He poured a cup and set it before Ciel.

"Sebastian," the Earl said simply.

"Yes, my lord?"

"Tell me something," the navy haired boy said simply.

"Of course, my lord." The demon asked.

"What did you mean by a loophole this morning?" he asked. "I demand that you tell me." He added as Sebastian went to speak. He watched the demon give a faint smirk and move closer. Ciel looked up as the taller leaned over him to whisper in his ear.

"Your affections for me, my lord. Because you confessed them, you are safe for quite some time." The raven whispered as he gave a grin. He righted himself. "Now that you know what you discovered, my lord. What would you like me to do?" he inquired. Ciel looked down at his tea, then set it down calmly.

"Kiss me," the youth said, the order standing tense. He wasn't sure what would happen. And then Sebastian leaned back in, laying his lips against Ciel's gently.

"Your affections are not alone, my lord." the demon whispered again, looking at Ciel directly in his eyes. "They never were."