The only sound waving through the room was as faint as the wind streaming in from a nearby window. It was the sound of a girl holding onto every painful breath as if it were her last. Even as the world shook and colors merged with one another, one piece of the scene never waved for the girl.

The butler sitting patiently at the bedside of the girl never strayed far from her side.

The evergreen eyes staring towards the butler blinked slowly.

"Why... Why are you.. Still here?" It was so very obvious that she was clinging to a life that had long run out. The infection from her amputated leg made the girl susceptible to the illness without a name that had claimed so many others before her. Practically no children had survived the reddening illness, the adults escaping the cold rotten clutches with loss of hearing or sight.

In other words, the girl had been dead since the night her brother had been killed.

Almost funny if it weren't so sad.

The butler dipped a cloth into the nearby bucket of water. He placed the damp piece of clothing onto the girl's red forehead with no expression.

"You are still my mistress no matter the illness you may have. It is my duty as your butler to tend to you." The demon returned back to the wooden seat he had brought to the bedside.

Cecily glanced over to the only clear part of the room.

"Did you.. Bring what I asked you to..?" She asked weakly.

The demon nodded as he brought the slip of paper from his pocket. He unfolded it and smoothed the various creases now present. His mouth opened to recite the words, the girl closing her eyes to imagine the scene once more.

" 'The man drifted in darkness for so long that time itself began to fade. The overwhelming black that surrounded him seemed as though it could drive him crazy. Maybe it was his hell, he thought. It was payment back for the disappointment he had been to the family he had loved so dearly. He would be forever left alone in this swallowing darkness to recollect his misdeeds. But, just as the man had given up hope, a light cut through the darkness. He stared to this shimmering and warm light and saw two figures emerging from it. There was a medium sized silhouette as well as a small one. For a last time, smiling, the man thought, he was wrong. This must be his heaven.' There's a note at the bottom of this page." The butler brought the paper closer to his face to read the slightly smaller note.

Cecily listened with bated breath for the ending her brother had never fully read.

The butler cleared his throat.

Dear Cecily,

I know you had always loved this story dearly. Even through tears, you told me how beautiful it was, but I never thought you truly knew why I had read it to you.

All of us make choices throughout our long lives. They may not be the best or even the smartest, but it does not change the fact that we are the people who made these choices for ourselves. We were not directed by others or dictated into what they may think is right. That is why every choice anyone can make is always beautiful and free. Just as a bird. No matter the choices you make through your life, whether they be against me or against yourself, remember that the choice you made was by your own free will. That is why you always have the power to make it better than it was before. That is what I tried teaching you in this story. A choice towards a dead-end may not allows house a wall made of stone.

Derrick

Whether the liquid gathering in Cecily's eyes was tears or blood, she did not know. Perhaps the girl did not care. The words her brother had written in the letter meant more than she could express.

I wish I could have lived to read those words everyday of my life, Derrick. Truly, I wish you could have told me them yourself, but...

The demon folded the scrap of paper held in his hands. His eyes skidded over towards the girl.

"Free will is the very foundation of human history, is it not? Adam and Eve, the very inception of freedom began with a choice against a god requiring absolute submission from his subjects." The demon closed his eyes to reflect to the past.

"It is that very free will that makes all able to pursue any happiness or goal they may have in their life. The man's choice, though it may have been neglectful and lethargic, eventually led to his reunion with his family. Who is to say that a rash decision is truly harmful if it leads to a desired consequence?" The butler stood from his seat.

A figure stands in the distance. He's reaching out a hand to me. A numbing cold overcame Cecily's body as her dull evergreen eyes stared towards the distance. The incoming figure that seemed so familiar extended a large hand towards her.

Derrick? Is that..?

The demon kept his eyes pointed towards the fading life in Cecily's body. The light of her soul faded to a dull lifeless corpse, yet one fact remained the same throughout the decline.

The happy smile facing away from him never left her.

Perhaps I had given that girl far too much respect than she deserves. The curling of petals upon the silver rose bush reflected in the faded blue eyes the boy wore. He stared to the fleeting white for several seconds in silent reflection. His thin line of a mouth dared not to open even as a morning breeze whipped through his coat.

Ciel gripped his cane just a tad tighter as his eyes trailed down to the dirt just peeking through the thorns.

No doubt, that girl is smiling at the truly human way she had in escaping her fate. Does that make me abnormal? Does it make me a monster for looking down on her yearning for her mistreatment to go unpunished?

The boy closed his eyes.

"However, her escape is not something I could easily do." The Earl mumbled to himself. His eyes flickered towards his own shadow for just a moment. The Earl let a small smirk settle to his butler in a sort of barrier against his melancholy mood. He didn't need to let demon know just how much the story had distraught him.

Sebastian approached Ciel at a leisure pace reflecting the smirk held by the boy.

"Not that you would ever let me, though. Isn't that right, Sebastian?" Ciel dared to ask.

The only escape from a demon's contract can be death. Cecily knew this and accepted it with a whole heart. While her fate eluded the man, mine is no such walk into the pearly white gates. I will be taken into the demon as he had taken so many in before. There is no bargaining or begging. Only hell awaits those wishing to escape their humiliation or solitude. I am now one of those foolish few, yet I cannot say I regret my decision. A swift death after the humiliation I suffered would not have been enough. No, only blood and eternal burning is in my future. To be honest...

The sway of the butler's tail coat was seen as the man knelt before his master. He placed a single hand over his chest as homage to the Earl he served. The smirk on Sebastian's lips when paired with his purple glowing eyes truly made the butler seem like a demon in that moment.

"Yes, My Lord."

There could be no better end to the story.