…
Humans, such pathetic creatures;
Fated to rot, bound to betray.
I did not associate you with them;
You were above, and I was a fool
…
It was already late when Sebastian arrived at Undertaker's door, the sun had gone down several hours earlier and the road was pitch dark. However, his demonic eyes could catch any detail of the place as if it had been midday. His nostrils dilated just like his pupils when he inhaled the cold air, Ciel's scent still lingered around the area. A low growl resounded into the night as he strode towards the door.
Knock. Knock.
Ciel's heart skipped a beat, he knew it was Sebastian without needing to check. His blue eye frantically looked around the room landing on the Undertaker sleepy face. Was this joke of a Reaper going to protect him? Louder noises came from the door as the unwelcomed visitor slammed his fist against it again. Ciel jumped down from the coffin he had been sitting on top of and went to shake Undertaker out of his slumber.
'Who is it at this late hour…? Have you never heard the phrase "Let the dead rest in peace"?' he zombied to the door without bothering to clean that sleepy expression from his face nor his saliva-covered mouth. As he was about to open the door, Ciel's eye went wide with terror and he jumped in front of the doorway, closing it and shouting, 'What the heck are you doing?'
'My little Earl, as it is usual custom in this country, I am opening the door to welcome the visitor outside'.
'But it might be Sebastian…No, I am sure it is him,' the child insisted.
'Even so, I promised I will not let him take you. So be assured I'll protect you. Now, move out of the way,' Undertaker said, unceremoniously pushing Ciel aside.
The Earl went to hide in the darkest corner of the room such was the fear he held towards his former servant as he more than anyone else knew what Sebastian was capable of once angered. Meanwhile, the Reaper stepped outside saying, 'Good evening, Mr Demon. What can I do for you?'
*Smash*
'Do not play dumb with me, Reaper. I am well aware that my dinner is currently awaiting to be consumed right inside your…place,' Sebastian glanced at the building, eyes scanning the inside looking for Ciel.
'I am afraid the little Phantomhive Earl has sought my protection from you and rightfully earned it by paying a high price' Undertaker replied with a blank face, placing himself in between the butler and the door.
Sebastian clicked his tongue, 'Move aside Undertaker, that child's soul is mine to take, as stated by our contract. You are not to interfere as a Reaper'.
'Hihihihi, but you see Sebastian Michaelis, I am a retired Reaper. I don't need to follow rules anymore,' the Undertaker joyfully laughed in the face of the demon.
Sebastian gritted his teeth. A dark aura started spreading around him as his fingers arched and his black claws elongated.
'Oh…' Undertaker's eyes glowed a faint yellow light, while his tone lowered, 'I do not deem that to be wise idea, Sebastian Michaelis'. The shadow of a scythe appeared in his hand while he removed his hair from his face to reveal his scar.
'Oh my, it seems as if I will need to get serious then,' Sebastian darkly chuckled. Part of his dark cloak clung to his body creating a strange shape, his fangs sharpened and a sinister smile played on his lips. He could already sense the smell of blood that soon would have been flowing out of wounds….
'Sebby-chaan!' a scream above his head caught his attention. Grell and their motorised scythe came falling from the sky and Sebastian had to jump back in order to avoid them.
'Reaper,' the demon coldly replied without relaxing his tightened jaw.
'It appears that we have even more people to add to our private party…maybe I could have the Earl prepare us some tea,' the older Reaper said.
'As if he were able to…' Sebastian remarked. 'No need to bother him, Undertaker, this fanfare will be finished long before he can even get his hands on a teapot'. That said, he plunged into the fight, challenging Undertaker directly. The sound of nails clattering against silver metal reverberated into the air.
'So cruel, Sebby…ignoring me, your betrothed lover…' tears streamed on Grell's cheeks as they too joined the battle.
*Crash*
Ciel heard the sounds of a fight outside of the room. Silently, he stepped next to the window, peeking outside. A flash appeared before his eyes and when he finally focused he noticed how fiercely his butler was fighting against both Reapers. His heart sunk at the thought of how much Sebastian must have wanted to devour his soul. Sebastian…
At that time the demon smiled, and his red eyes seemed to turn in his direction. Gasping he let go of the windowsill, stumbling backwards. Had it been his imagination?
Shaking, he soon got angry at himself. Telling his body and mind to get a grip of themselves, he stepped out of the door and proudly stared at the scene before him. The fighters seemed to freeze at his appearance and six eyes zeroed on him.
'Sebastian, I…' he started unsure what he was going to say, but was soon interrupted.
'How surprising Bocchan, that you would turn your back on me right at the end,' the demon's words were filled with venom as he spoke.
Ciel's tongue lay dead in his mouth and he couldn't form any words to defend his actions. In the end it was purely his survival instinct that had guided him.
'I would have never expected this from you, Bocchan, running like a coward, throwing your pride away,' Sebastian rubbed salt into the wound.
Ciel wanted to get back at him for belittling him so, but he could not deny the truthfulness of the words the demon had just spoken. It was true he had run away and he could not stop the word coward from forming into his mind whenever the memories of the past few hours resurfaced. Every time his prideful heart stung as if pierced by a burning rod but hearing it coming from Sebastian's lips made it all the more unbearable.
'How ungrateful, betraying the one you had promised to give yourself to after only you got what you wanted Earl. I can feel your heartbreak Sebby-chan, let me console yo…' Grell had been running towards Sebastian with open arms, scythe in hand and a grimy smile on their lips when the older male stopped them in their track by punching them right into the face.
'No need to bother yourself over this, filthy Reaper'. Sebastian jumped up as Undertaker swung his scythe in an attempt to cut him in two. Cutlery appeared in his hands and, as rain, it fell towards the ground at supersonic speed. Ciel backed inside in order to avoid getting caught up into the blast, while Undertaker happily brandished his weapon slicing through all of Sebastian's attacks.
'Hihihi, just give it up, demon. You are no match for me,' he said delivering a nearly fatal blow to his head. Sebastian made a back flip, avoiding just barely Undertaker's attack, a devilish smile cracking his lips.
'Oh, but I believe you are an obstacle to claiming my due prize. Therefore, I shall destroy you, even if it costs me my demonic life'. Twisting his torso, he spun on himself and, with the gained momentum, he landed a kick onto Undertaker's weapon. At the same time, Grell seemed to regain consciousness from the previous attack and attempted to slice through him. A cut appeared on Sebastian's cheek as he tilted his head to the side avoiding the reaper's scythe by a hair's width.
'Is that child's souls so important? If you just walked away, couldn't you make another contract with someone else and satisfy your hunger?' The grey haired reaper suggested with an unusually serious tone.
'You seem to be under the wrong impression, Undertaker, that a scratch or two will stop me from wanting Ciel's essence'. Sebastian replied grabbing Grell's ankle and using it as a pivot to send them flying into a nearby wall. 'I am not certain I can beat you, however, I am sure I cannot just walk away when my pride as a demon has been deeply wounded by a mere human. Besides, I worked hard for this soul and I deserve my reward, giving it up now would make everything I did meaningless'. He jumped up again, this time reaching towards Undertaker's neck with his right hand's elongated nails.
The Legendary Reaper giggled as Sebastian's fingers wrapped around his white skin. 'Like Master, like dog I would say in this case. Don't you find it humours, butler, that you would take after the Earl's own sin?' With a swift motion, Undertaker chopped off Sebastian's arm. Dark fumes together with dense blood poured out of the wound and the demon clutched at his elbow with a grinning look on his face. He no longer needed to care about the appearance of his human form as there was no Young Master to please. His grin only grew wider as more of his demonic essence flew out of his body expanding into the surrounding area, infecting the air with a vicious scent.
Inside Undertaker's shop, Ciel shivered as he felt the ominous presence growing closer second by second. He knew Sebastian's dark mist was trying to reach him; as poisonous smoky clouds appeared through the door he backed away, tripping onto an upturned coffin and falling right inside it. The lid, which was already in precarious balance, suddenly tumbled down threatening to close up the coffin and effectively imprison Ciel inside it. In a split second, Undertaker was above him, his hand holding the heavy lid while the mysterious fog quickly dissipated. 'Do you like my custom-made coffin, Earl?' he said with a grim smile.
'Tsk…I hired you to protect me, Undertaker, but you don't seem to be doing a great job so far. How long is it going to take you to take care of that filthy demon outside?' the Earl reprimanded him as he jumped out of the casket and wiped the dust off his clothes.
'I would appreciate if you avoided associating the word filthy with me, since the only one with a filthy conscience here it's you, Young Master'. Both Undertaker and Ciel turned towards the door to watch as Sebastian slowly stepped inside, his still bleeding arm leaving a trail of dark liquid along his path. His red eyes glowed as they fixed on Ciel's pale face.
'Fufufu…' a hysteric laugh rose from the child's throat. 'I can attach any epithet that I see fit to your name, demon,' he spat at Sebastian.
'How ungrateful, Bocchan, you are towards this loyal servant of yours. But worry not,' he added striding forwards with a feral look on his face. 'I shall relieve your mind of all guilty feelings plaguing it by taking your soul as my due prize'.
'You are mistaken Sebastian, I have no guilty feelings whatsoever. You should follow Undertaker's advice and give up on me…I don't think you're a match for him anyway'. Ciel tried to sound confident, but crystalline sweat covered his forehead and his heartbeat was quicker than normal. Undertaker did not miss any of those detail as he watched the former partners exchange glaring looks.
'Really, Bocchan? Had it been the reverse situation, you would have been more than confident in my ability to win' Sebastian retorted with an annoyed look
'On the contrary, I believe that the events on the Campania are more than enough as proof of the disparity in between your levels,' Ciel replied with as much disdain. Yellow eyes widened just slightly as the reaper observed the two with more than a little of interest. He seemed to have a deeper insight into the situation that the Earl and his demon had themselves.
'Your words hurt me, Bocchan. I never expected you to lose faith in me…still I never imagined you would betray me so either,' he sighed, 'You truly never cease to amaze me, little human'.
Ciel shuddered upon hearing the way his former butler had just referred to him. His eyes narrowed and he was going to give him a pungent reply when Undertaker stepped in between them and unexpectedly attacked Sebastian who retreated slightly, his right arm still missing.
'Shall I show you my true form, then?' His shadow grew larger, wrapping his human body into darkness; white fangs forming a wide grin were the only part of the demon which could be seen.
'I think your intrusion ends here,' Undertaker said in a low tone, a sad look appeared into his eyes.
A roaring sound reverberates into the small building forcing Ciel to cover his ears as both superhuman beings clashed. Part of the wall was blown away in the blast which flung Sebastian, in his shapeless form, outside; shortly followed by a silver shadow. At that time, in a swirl of red, Grell jumped from above. Black and red and silver melted into each other's as the fight reached a peak. Their movements too fast for his eye to follow them, Ciel stared at the scene before him with his heart throbbing in apprehension. When the dust finally settled, a bloodied Grell lay onto the ground in a red pool. The reaper's mouth was wide open as they grasped for air. 'Oh…oh…S-sebastian…please, do that to me again' he said in a masochistic fashion.
Ciel's eyes scanned the area where, looking for Sebastian. With a scream, he jumped back when said demon's face appeared before him, a mere inch from his own. Sebastian's bloodied eyes stared at him from upside down for a moment before he was thrown in the opposite direction by a seemingly unscathed Undertaker. Looking at him from above his shoulder, the reaper asked, 'Do you wish to continue?' His eyes seemed to imply that the battle was already decided.
Back in his human form, Sebastian heavy breaths came out as pants. He looked up at the Undertaker, his red eyes shining with anger. A low growl came from his side and Ciel wondered if he was going to launch an attack in that state. Unexpectedly, concern for his former servant appeared into his heart. As if perceiving his unrequited feelings, the demon's gaze turned on him. The two stared at each other for a full minute before Sebastian straightened his back and smirking he replied, 'I'll admit I have very little hope of besting you now, Undertaker'. His vermillion eyes turned to the reaper, 'Nevertheless, I will not give up,' he stated.
Undertaker sighed, 'You even went as far as destroying my shop and damaging my precious creations'. With a click of his tongue, he swung his dark cloak to the side and grabbed one of the sacred weapons he usually kept hidden below it. Without further warning, he materialised in front of a still viciously injured Sebastian and impaled him with a sotoba. The demon released what probably was his first "cry of pain" since the start of the battle. His red eyes rolled back into his head as he fell on his knees and then face-first onto the ground. His tailcoat flapped lightly onto his back and then everything went still.
With a grim look, Undertaker stared at him, immobile. Rain started falling as he turned his back to Sebastian and walked towards a shock stricken Ciel. 'It is done Earl,' he briefly said. The child absentmindedly nodded before turning inside the building himself. Undertaker sighed as he judged the extent of damage that the walls had suffered. He then went to brew hot tea and offered a cup to the Earl, who took it without a word. As the rain went on pouring over the two bodies outside, the child and the reaper slowly sipped onto their throat-burning teas, both too deeply immersed into their own thoughts to talk.