Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji

The fresh scent of apples came to him.

Light poured through the crack in the wood, the rays gleamed into his eyes, causing them to clench tighter in disgust at the energy.

He tried to wave the whiteness away and rolled to his side, the bed creaked, along with the floorboards, his groan joined them. Slowly, once tucked into the safety of the shadows, he opened his eyes, slowly, to avoid the intensity from the light that threatened to blind him.

A voice called, a child's voice. In an instant, he was up and out of his bed, bare feet hitting the wood. His hands swept to the nightstand for his round glasses, he struggled to balance himself as he stood, rearranging his clothes. He went to bed without a shirt, for summer nights were dreadfully hot; he fumbled around his room for the nearest one and wore it without checking to see if it had a stench to it.

Oh, it was so long ago.

He reached around his nightstand and grabbed a pair of worn out, leather boots. He hopped a bit while going into the hallway, calling,"Wait!"

The day was so special to him, but he had long forgotten why it was. He passed by a small kitchen, his head barely missing the lamp that hung from the ceiling. He dove around, running out into a porch. So many things he had seen before, so many that he had missed, it felt as though he was looking back in a past life.

At first he was running on wooden planks, but now, he was running along a dirt path. He did not look back, he looked forward, running, searching for the source of that child's voice. It became clearer as he went further down the path and away from home, he strayed into the grass, leaping over fallen logs or stumps that were once great trees that were part of the landscape. The cries of the morning birds mixed in the distance with the girl's, he scent of the apples faded into a light breeze that picked up the freshness of pines.

But he kept going, faster, further, until he was lost within a forest; the girl was no longer heard of and he was alone, wandering aimlessly, trying to find anything that could lead him out of this labyrinth of trees. And then, in a clearing, a red object was spotted amongst the thicket of the ground. He immediately went after the shape and, upon closing in on it, he found it to be an apple. Huffing, he picked it up and examined it, curious as to where it came from.

He heard giggling. He looked up. A red orb was falling from the sky. He stared at it, perplexed as to why it suddenly came down. It missed him by an inch, and he smiled, relieved that it was all a game.

"Grell!"

Wait.

That was no sound of a girl, much less even a child's.

And the deepness of the voice came to him again. "Grell!"

As if he were falling, he was lunged back into reality. He found his sides burning and his head throbbing in pain. His clothes were gone and replaced with a white gown, he was under light covers with his torso and abdomen bound in gauze. He felt that his mouth was stinging the most, he swear he could feel it palpitate every few seconds. His mind, dazed, commanded him to open his eyes, slowly, so that the light of the nearest lamp wouldn't blind him.

He was laying on his back, hands folded over his stomach. He moved but he was incredibly sore.

"No, no, stay still for a bit. I just finished pressing your rib back in place!"

That annoying, accented German came to Grell. He turned his head to see Hiro standing at the bedside, washing his hands in a bowl with red water. Grell groaned and whined,"Da bell?"

"And please, don't speak unless you want the stitching to your lips to open up!"

The man was in black slacks and a dress shirt, black suspenders held his pants up. He dried off his hands with a bloodstained towel and began to walk towards a desk that was across from the bed. He went around it and sat down on a leather chair, he suddenly busied himself with reading documents and signing whatever that was there. It was a stiff ten minutes before Hiro looked up from his papers and said bluntly,"You were lucky I decided to check into the Record Warehouse to pick up some files. I heard you groaning and Faustus came by me, obviously, wherever Faustus is, a beaten man is somewhere nearby."

Grell rolled his eyes. He knew that Claude was responsible for this. Oh, that son of bitch will pay for this!

"Given your rank and position, you can't exactly press anything against him, it'll be ignored; Birkenau has other matters to care for." Hiro clicked his tongue.

Sebastian will take care of this.

The doctor toyed with the pen in hand. "Faustus is a dangerous man, you should be careful when you're alone with him. You aren't the only one that has been battered down so horribly but it has been a month since he had done it. The last one he harmed was a woman, a maid that takes care of the Barracks."

"But, if you keep on your feet and stay with another worker when he's around, you should be fine. Charges are taken seriously when there is a witness around. Please, you can stay the night. But, would it be alright to ask a question?" Grell's eyebrow twitched, he nodded and Hiro got up instantly, excited by something that seemed to be worth more than a thousand souls.

In a blink, the doctor was at Grell's bedside leaning a bit too close for comfort. He tried to edge away but then a dreaded inquiry made his heart almost stop. "Are you a Shinigami?"

Grell squealed, eyes glaring right at him. His hand immediately went to Hiro's collar to hold him and, despite the earlier warning, he spluttered,"I kill...kill yew! How yew bow `bout meh?"

Hiro, with terror stricken eyes, held his hands up in submission.

"P-please! I only wish to worship you, Sir! I...I practice Shintoism! A deity such as you, you're all powerful, I have to worship you, when I saw your eyes, they're the eyes of a god, not a human! D-don't kill, no kill, I have a family back home!"

It was dubious to hear that a sketchy man such as Hiro to suddenly spurt out some nonsense that Grell could be worshiped. He grew paranoid. Hiro could have been the ultimate answer for Harvey's insanity, for all he knew, Hiro could have used his surgical skills to paralyze him in some form so that a demon could come and finish him off. He was scared, he wanted to kill Hiro regardless of the religion he followed, it was for his own protection after all.

Grell wrapped the collar around his fist tighter but Hiro showed no signs of resistance. The man was bowing to him the best he could, head tucking into his chest and his chin touching the back of Grell's hand. He had no idea what to do, Sebastian was nowhere and may as well be clueless as to where Grell was if the demon were to return from his trip.

The window by the desk told Grell it was night time but the time was unknown. He eyed the window, then his gaze fell upon Hiro; the doctor was trembling, silently begging for mercy. Grell let out a sigh and released him as rough as he could, his hand went to his stomach and he stared up at the ceiling.

"Thank you, thank you, Sir, thank you." Grell guessed that Hiro was bowing numerous times. "I ask of nothing in return, only that you spare me. I will serve you if you need me! I even created a barrier for this room alone so that you could change your form without being detected by an akuma*1, a demon!"

Grell prayed to himself that anyone would come bursting into the office to save him from Hiro's babbling, but man went on and on for what felt like an eternity. He wanted to reach out and kill him personally but he violently snapped,"Get me Obersturmführer Sebastian Daemon right now unless you wan` to die!"

The sound of the command made Hiro bounce to his heels and rush out of the room in great haste. With a door left ajar, Grell closed his eyes, impatiently waiting for the odd foreigner to return with the man he needed the most. He needed to talk to someone with a calm mind, an erratic man such as Hiro was someone that can barely keep a straight conversation without going into acclamation for him. The beating he received from Claude tore a bit of his confidence from him; he thought it would be a safe mission but the newly discovered threat unnerved him.

Like the humans he had encountered in Birkenau, Grell himself sought comfort to escape the prison. Sebastian, as of late, had slowly began to reclaim a place in his heart that was locked away so many years ago.

Translation:

*1 Demon

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