Chapter 10

The few days that Mey-Rin claimed she would be gone turned into two weeks as the small illness her sister possessed was diagnosed as cancer. In those two weeks, it would be Sebastian and Ciel alone in that house, Sebastian only left to go buy groceries or to meet with his manager about new displays. Claude was at the Phantomhive house every day, staying the night in Alois's bedroom, leaving only when he went home to get clean clothes. Alois rarely left the house, not that Rachel and Vincent would let him.

Rachel was making the pancake batter for breakfast at the start of the two weeks, desperately resisting the urge to cry and sob at the loss of her son.


The night before…

"Alois, could you get the door, please?" Rachel asked from the kitchen as she cleaned up after dinner. He stood up and stretched from his place on the couch in Claude's arms and answered the door. Standing on the other side was Officer Abberline, the same officer that kept them updated on the investigation into the missing teenager.

"Are Rachel and Vincent Phantomhive home?" The officer asked as politely as he could, trying to hold back the desire to be anywhere but at this house.

"Yeah, just a moment." Alois went into the kitchen where Rachel was cleaning the last of the dirty dishes. He left the door open so that Abberline could come in and sit down in the living room. "Officer Abberline is in the living room. He asked for you and Vincent."

"Alright. Can you and Claude go to your room for a moment so we can talk to him?" Rachel asked as they returned to the living room.

"No! If it's about Ciel, I want to hear it. He's my brother, whether he likes it or not." Alois nearly shouted, worry for his non-blood brother shone through, as well as exhaustion from the past several weeks. Nobody in the Phantomhive has been getting enough sleep. It was obvious that Ciel's kidnapping hit him particularly hard, even though the two teenagers barely spoke to each other.

Rachel sighed and brushed a few stray strands of blonde hair out of her face. "Fine. But you and Claude are not a part of this conversation; you are only listening to it. Silently. Understand?" It sounded very clearly like a demand instead of a question. Alois nodded and made a motion as though zipping his lips before sitting back down with Claude.

Vincent had heard Alois answer the door and came downstairs to the living room, sitting down in his armchair when he saw it was Officer Abberline. "I assume you have news about Ciel?" He prompted the man to start talking after a few moments of silence in the room.

He cleared his throat nervously and pulled on his shirt collar as if it was choking him. "I received some news from my supervisor this morning, and as much as I hate to say this, it is not good news. We no longer have the man power or resources to actively search for Ciel. He is in the missing persons database, so if somebody sees him we can be contacted about it. On top of that, we have run out of leads. The grocery store video cameras only monitored the very front of the lot, and their car was out of the shot." It took a moment for that statement to sink into Rachel and Vincent.

"You can't be serious! Ciel is out there, tortured or even worse and you want to tell me that the police is just going to give up!?" Vincent's voice was almost a scream at this point. The only thing that kept him from standing was Rachel's hand on his shoulder.

"The most the department gives a missing person is a week. Ciel has been missing for seven to eight weeks." Abberline studied the hardwood floor beneath his feet to avoid looking at the family. Rachel was holding back tears and Vincent was fuming. Alois kept his promise to Rachel as he quietly cried into Claude's shirt.


The day following the announcement from Officer Abberline, Vincent Phantomhive went into work two hours early and left two hours late. Rachel scrubbed the house from top to bottom. Alois refused to say anything, despite whatever Claude signed to cheer him up. There wasn't a single word spoken within the family, and there wouldn't be for several more days.


It didn't take long for Ciel to fill the sketchpad that Sebastian gave him. Neither of the males failed to notice that a good portion of the drawings and sketches were of Sebastian. The last page of the sketchpad was ripped out and hidden in the dresser in Ciel's room. That page held a drawing of a scene from a dream he had the night of Sebastian's apology. It was him and Sebastian walking through the forest surrounding the house, just talking and joking around. The biggest problem Ciel had with the dream was the fact that it was the best dream he had in years.

Sebastian quickly developed the habit of knocking before entering Ciel's room, after accidentally walking in when Ciel had just left the shower and wasn't dressed yet. Ciel looked up from the book he was reading when he heard the familiar series of four knocks. "Come in, Sebastian."

"Lunch, Ciel. Also, I brought you another sketchpad and some of the books that were on the list you made." Sebastian set the things down on the desk and sat down in the swivel chair while Ciel stayed in his position on the bed. "I think you should have some more clothes. You can't keep wearing the same jeans and t-shirt every day." He told the teenager, playing with a grease pencil that was on the desk.

"Do something about it. You won't exactly let me leave." Ciel said bluntly, looking up from his book for a moment and then looking back down.

"I could get a catalogue the next time I'm in town, or I can order you things online. I have plenty of money for it." Ciel looked back up at him and sat up on his bed. He set the book aside and scratched idly at his cheek.

"Really? Whatever I ask for? You would order it." Sebastian nodded and stood up.

"I'll bring my laptop up here the next time I come up here. I'll try to order the books I couldn't find in the bookstore and fill up the shelves faster." Ciel took the food and placed it on the bed in front of him and took the books, checking which ones were from his list and reading the backs of the few that weren't. Sebastian made it to the door to the hallway before Ciel looked up at him. "Um…Sebastian?" He looked back at the slightly nervous teenager.

"Yes, Ciel?"

"Thank you, for the books and all of that." He looked down at the blanket and pulled the sleeves of the hoodie he was wearing over his hands.

"No problem." Sebastian left the room, closing the door behind him and smiled at the progress they made.


Words cannot describe how sorry I am for the long break. I was out of town again and I was also trying to make this chapter much longer, but I just can't do it. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter, I'm already working on the next one. It's just hard since this year I'll be a junior, and I have a lot of summer homework that must be done.

Song of the Chapter: Dirty Rotten Bastards by Green Day