"Lizzy..." The voice was matured, yet carried a familiar tone. An all too familiar tone. Unlike the previous voice to speak her nickname, Elizabeth wasn't being fooled. It wasn't trickery. It felt as if time had suddenly paused itself. Frozen.

"Ciel?" She responded. "Is that really you I'm hearing?" Though her eyes were open, she couldn't see a thing other than complete darkness. The only sign of light being a faint fuschia glow beside her.

"You understand how I'm here right now, don't you?" They hadn't directly answered the question, but the message was relayed while they remained strictly business. The Lady nodded to the best of her ability. "And you do realize that by my being here, you've rejected faith as I did not all that long ago, correct?" Ciel proceeded. Upon another weak nod from Elizabeth, he went on, "By doing so, is it understood that you have cripplied your ability to ever pass through the gates of heaven in death?"

"I read about it all, Ciel! I know what I've done! Even if I may not know how I did it, I did - and I know what it means!" Elizabeth snapped. There was an uncomfortable silence that fell within the dark abyss she'd been engulfed in.

The young demon was hardly able to maintain a firm composier in his voice as he finally spoke again, "I ask you but once, Elizabeth Middleford... Knowing what you know, is it your wish to form a contract?"

"Ciel, get rid of him!"

"...I simply ask you close your eyes, and not open them until I say so."

Elizabeth closed her eyes at once. To her surprise, relief was something she could not feel until the screams were heard. Her ears couldn't help but hear the tearing of flesh before the scream to follow each of the gang members in the surroundings of her room of confinement who were found by Ciel. When the screams stopped, she felt her bindings cut, and arms lift her from the reclined chair. It wasn't until the click of the door closing behind them was heard that the magical words were spoken, "You may open your eyes now... Lizzy," he said as he set her onto her feet. Five long years from hell had passed, but the instant she opened her eyes, she would see the allegedly dead Ciel. Her fiancee.

Slowly, Elizabeth opened her eyes. He'd grown and matured. He was still as pale as ever, but his eyes were still the vibrant blue she could remember them being. The patch over his eye was nowhere to be seen, revealing to her the mark he would eternally carry. The contract which bound him and Sebastian. The contract that would never be resolved. No one ever expected Ciel to get much taller, as it appeared his growth was stunted, but he'd grown rather tall. It was impossible to look away. Elizabeth couldn't wrap her mind around how drastically Ciel had changed over those five long years. She blinked and looked away. You didn't make a deal with Ciel. You made a deal with a demon, she reminded herself.

"Elizabeth, where shall your contract be placed. The more prominant-"

"The stronger the bond, I know," she finished the statement for Ciel.

She let herself fall onto her knees. Everything that was done to her before Ciel's arrival - the abuse, the violation - hit her. Her situation hadn't been like Ciel's and how he came to form a contract with Sebastian. Ciel had been kidnapped. His home had been burned to the ground. He was believed to be dead.

"I don't want to go back there, Ciel," she said suddenly.

When she looked up at him, it was clear her statement had taken Ciel completely offguard. She'd grown used to a Ciel without a genuine smile or happy demeanor. Other than being a demon, she was still used to him. However, Ciel had a certain image of Elizabeth set in his mind. The happy, bubbly, cute-obsessed Elizabeth he had left behind on that fateful day. But, on the ground beneath him sat a different Elizabeth. She'd grown up, but the way in which she grew up had a lot to do with where she'd been locked away. Because of him. Because he'd spread a lie about his being dead - something he couldn't take back. Yet, Ciel wasn't sure he understood why she wouldn't want to return home, if that's what she meant by 'there.'

"Why?" That was all he could think of to respond with.

"I always knew you were alive. I felt it in my gut. Everyone else was so willing to believe that you were really dead this time. Who could escape death twice in one lifetime? Certainly not a Phantomhive... But me," Elizabeth began to stand back up onto her feet. "I didn't believe it. At first, they dismissed it as grieving... But when I didn't stop insisting you were alive somewhere, then I became a crazy young lady... And I was locked away for it," rather than sound upset, or start to cry, her voice was a shaky sort of angry. An angry Elizabeth was not something Ciel had ever laid eyes on before. He simply bowed his head, knowing it was worthless to argue or defend his actions. "For me to go back there now, I would never last. Since my return home, they've watched me like hawks, questioning me at anything unusual - fearing that my supposed insanity hasn't been entirely cured, as if it's coming back."

"My Lord," Sebastian's voice asked for forgiveness for his sudden intrusion. His eyes drifted over to Elizabeth, "Lady Elizabeth." He bowed his head and stood straight at once. His expression was unreadable, but a hint of apology was already evident. His eyes were addressing Ciel, "I decided to check the Middleford's estate out of curiousity when you were summoned. I was almost certain it was Elizabeth, due to certain books she was reading as of late... But when I arrived there..." His voice trailed off.

"What happened?" Both Ciel and Elizabeth's eyes were wide in panic. Demon or not, the Middleford's were still Ciel's family. His only remaining family. Whether they'd sent Elizabeth away to an asylum of some sort was irrelevant to the Lady. They were her blood. Her mother, father, her siblings.