Sebastian heard the angel rise and traverse the room to his left, but he didn't bother to look up. The angel didn't seem likely to receive the sight of him well. He wondered, though, if the angel was strong enough to walk properly at all.

He thought of the angel's bluish hair, and frowned. The Encyclopedia of Angels Yet in Service was open in his lap, a book that was sent down from above and edited often. Sebastian had the last twenty-nine editions on a shelf, each slightly smaller than the last.

The book was supposed to serve as a guide of which angels still belonged to Heaven and served the other realms, with a small description as the humans described each individual under their name and the purpose to which they served, and under that an even smaller description of their aura. Sebastian hadn't spent nearly enough time around Ciel to glean much of anything from his personality except maybe standoffish or sarcastic, and none of the physical descriptions matched a small boy with pale wings, tobacco smoke hair, and blue eyes. His name wasn't going anywhere, either; Ciel meant literally heaven and the sky, and couldn't have been his given name.

Through the door, he heard the angel's dress shift as he sat down, and it occurred to him that the humans might have managed to actually change the angel's identity.

Not expecting to find anything but desperate for something, Sebastian turned to the section at the back of the book, the Fallen.

These pages did not seem to grow with the shrinking of the rest of the book; rather, the small Abandoned Angels pamphlet steadily gained pages. He had the most recent copy somewhere, he knew, but Ciel definitely wasn't an abandoned angel; he would've readily accepted whatever the humans had done to him, had he been.

He flipped through the fallen angels, who lacked written physical descriptions. In their place, an animal was written in Latin, and under that animal, before their personal descriptions, the occupation each had been assigned.

There were no new entries. There had not been for millennia.

The angel gasped suddenly, softly, and Sebastian heard him retreat further into the room. He must've realized where he was.

"I know you are awake, in there." He called quietly, just loud enough that he knew the angel would hear. There was silence from within the room. Sebastian closed the book and placed it on the table nearest his chair, standing. He pushed the door into the room a little wider, and closed it behind him.

The angel had barely disturbed the bed where he rested, though the comb seemed to have fallen out of his hair. It was laying on the pillow, pearls glinting dully in the scant firelight.

Slowly, Sebastian scanned the room, finding a single blue eye glaring out from the shadows of the corner behind the fireplace. The angel was leaning heavily against the wall (again), his now-freed hair loosely covering his damaged eye.

"How do you feel? Do you remember anything else?"

Sebastian lifted the comb from the bed and crossed the room to place it on the vanity. He passed very near to Ciel's hiding spot, testing the angel's patience. He let Sebastian come near without shying away, but Sebastian watched his gaze travel and lock onto his horns. Sebastian could almost feel the discomfort radiating from the small being. He kept his back to Ciel, glancing at him now and then through the mirror as he straightened the odds and ends before it.

"Where am I? This wasn't where we were before."

"This is my bedroom, in my own private chambers. I thought you would be..safest, here. This is a closed space."

"You put me in your bed?"

He didn't make it obvious, but Sebastian could feel the edge in his voice.

"Oh, come now. It's not as if I molested you; you needed rest where you would not be disturbed."

"How...how long was I asleep for?"'

Sebastian turned around and leaned against the vanity, looking down at the angel. He tried not to seem intimidating, but it was a difficult feat when he was nearly twice Ciel's height. He rolled his head back and forth, eyes closed.

"Oh...about seventeen human hours, I'd say. Time is not a necessary element to your new home, you'll find."

"'New home'?! I hardly think so; I'll not stay here-"

"-I'm afraid you don't have a choice! You cannot leave here unless someone comes to take you away, which would only happen if you had a duty elsewhere and that someone knew where you were, and I doubt even the humans that sent you here know where you are! I am sorry, I truly am, but you cannot leave. Nobody can."

"...Not even you?"

"Especially not me. I don't think you understand what us demons are, at least, not us demons in charge, anyway, which also tells me that you're a younger creature, I suppose."

"What?"

Sebastian looked down at the angel. He was wincing, and Sebastian could see that he had his hand pressed over his eye again.

"I shouldn't like to overwhelm you. Are you still in pain? I thought you should've rested for longer."

Sebastian knelt, and Ciel pulled further into the corner, looking at him unsurely. Sebastian bit back his impatience. "You need to rest."

"I want you to explain yourself, first. And I certainly won't rest in your space; it's horribly improper!"

Sebastian snarled, and Ciel dropped into a low, defensive crouch. His wings snapped to alignment down his spine, and his brow darkened dangerously.

This angel was capable of things he wasn't even aware of.

Sebastian rubbed his temple, and sighed.

"I'm trying my best to do right by you. You know that, don't you? Your case isn't very unique, you know; I happen to have quite a bit of experience with sacrifices from the humans. Well, mostly human sacrifices, but so far, you've been rather similar. Will you at least trust that I know how to handle a sacrifice?"

Ciel did not move. He only glared.

Sebastian stood, and moved to the other side of the room. "I promise you, I will explain what is going on, and what I can do to help you, and what your options will be. Believe it or not, though you probably will, I have even less interest in you than you do in me. And I know, you have very little interest in me. I don't want to be married any more than you do."

Ciel blinked, but that was the only indication that he had heard any of it. "I will answer any questions you have, but you're still very injured. In this place, the only way you can be healed is to regenerate the energy that takes. Please, rest, and I swear I'll still be here when you wake up."

"I don't know if I even trust you enough to want to wake up to knowing you're around."

"Ouch."

"I think you'll live." Ciel shot back.

Sebastian felt a twinge of some emotion he long since thought he had lost the ability to feel.

"If I lock you in, will you sleep? I'm not going to explain anything until you're at the least aware enough to remember it."

"You think my being locked into a room makes me feel safe? I'd rather be locked out."

"You are too stubborn. I would give you the key if I trusted you."

"You're dangerous. I would have run away if I knew where to go."

"I'm locking you in either way. Rest, if you even care to stay alive."

Sebastian grit his teeth, left the room, and slammed the door. He let out a deep, frustrated growl.

The emotion he had felt had settled into his stomach, and he was sure of the name of it, now.

Loathing. Utter loathing.

Inside, Ciel gave his own agitated cry and fell in a lump onto the floor. He didn't want to lay in the bed, but the stupid demon had been right on one account; he was still exhausted.

He dragged himself in front of the fireplace and curled up right on the floor, spreading his wings out to reflect the fire's heat.

He was lost. Completely lost.