|The Phantomhive Mansion, Noon|

Madeleine's eyes fluttered open. Instead of the crème – colored ceiling she was expecting, it was a light blue. She frowned for a second, before a thought crept in her mind. 'It's always been blue… it's normal…'

"I must be imagining things…" she mumbled to herself, getting up. The room she was in felt familiar, but at the same time it wasn't what she was expecting. She looked around, somehow feeling very fuzzy. The tall windows were open, revealing a garden filled with snow, turning it a pure monochrome color. Laundry was hung out to dry, line after line of white dazzling linen.
She walked towards the door, opening it with a soft click. For a moment she thought that she had to go left, but the corridor ended there. 'How strange… what's going on with me?' she thought. She had been sure that was the way to get to the main hall.

"Madeleine." A voice sounded behind her. She turned around, the cotton night robe swishing around her. A small boy, with dark hair and an eye patch stood behind her. His eyes were the same blue her own were. For a moment she had thought he had lighter hair, and his eyes a more greenish hue in them. The name Edward lay on her lips, before it faded away. "Ciel," She said instead, walking towards him and pulling him in her arms. "Good day, little brother. How are you today?"

The boy stiffened in her arms for a second, before he relaxed. "… Sister, I'm fine. How are you feeling?" he asked softly, almost as if he were unsure how to act now.

Madeleine still held him by the shoulders, but let him go a little bit so that she would be able to look at his face. She smiled at him, still having that uneasy feeling. "I'm okay… I'm just feeling… a little strange. I had the strangest dream."

"A dream, you say?" Ciel asked, looking at her attentively.

She nodded. "Yes. It's strange, but you were my nephew, and not my brother. There was also a man dressed in black, who liked scaring me. It was scary, and the dream made me a little sad."

Ciel forced a smile on his face, but ended up only being able to show a smirk. "Honestly Sister, the weird things you dream about… It must be because you fell of the horse when we went out a few days ago. The doctor said you might be feeling a little bit strange." Ciel lied, hoping that the Micheal's messing with Madeleine's memories would cause her to think he was speaking the truth.

She placed a hand to her forehead, frowning. "I fell? Now that you say it, my head does hurt a little bit. I hope it's nothing serious. Where is father? Has he been very worried?"

Her brother looked away, scratching his cheek. "Father is… on a business trip. He said he would return shortly, since it couldn't wait at all. He was confident that you would be fine, since you're a Phantomhive."

She smiled, letting go of Ciel while looking down. "Did he… say that?" Looking up, she smiled even brighter at Ciel. "How great! Father is finally starting to show some confidence in his daughter! Now I can really start giving it my all, to make Father and you proud, okay Ed … Ciel?"

Again, she felt confused. 'My brother's name isn't Edward… it's Ciel, isn't it? So… why do I keep thinking that…'

Ciel cleared his throat, looking at Madeleine. "I have good news for you, Sister. Your fiance has turned up, hearing that you had been hurt. He has been waiting rather impatiently for you to wake up. Why not go and bid him a good day?"

Madeleine at once started blushing. "Sheesh brother, why didn't you tell me before! If he's coming here I should be dressed, I can't possibly face him in my night gown!"

She spurted of in her room, hurrying into a dress. Ciel looked at her in an incredulous way. 'So… this is what she was like before she was an angel, huh?' he thought to himself. 'Can't say that there's really a difference.' He thought dejected when he heard her bumping into a closet in her room.

She rushed back out, wearing a pale red dress that Ciel had rush – ordered from Mina, who had been delighted to make another beautiful dress. Madeleine was still blushing. '"To think that Hen… Sebastian would come all the way from America just so he could check on me! Do you think that Father choose someone who actually likes me, brother?" she asked, seemingly fidgeting.

'Again… I thought of a different name… why can't I remember people's real names… Is it because I fell?' she thought, not letting Ciel see how worried she was.

Her brother gave a non – commitical jerk with his shoulders. "Who knows? But since he's been asking to see you, I thought that you should go and say hi. Have you seen him before?"

Madeleine shook her head. "No, I haven't. Father arranged it, don't you remember? He said that it wouldn't matter if we got along or not, since it was a good marriage, that would bring prosperity to the both sides. But… if he is asking for me… then that would mean…" she stopped talking and blushed again. 'It would mean that he at least cares about me.' She thought, happy that it was probably the case.

|The Dining Hall|

"B-b-b-but going in so suddenly, Ciel! That will be awkward for the both of us… what if he has buckteeth, or really big ears? What if he's actually very old – looking, even though he's supposed to be only a little bit older than me? What if –"

Madeleine's worries were cut off when Ciel pushed her inside the dining hall, where Sebastian was waiting. He didn't like having to give her over to the demon, but as things were now, he was probably the only one who would be able to make her wings appear. 'How troublesome… for the final ingredient to be her own feathers… and because of all of this…' He clenched his fist as he thought further. '… this is keeping Sebastian from doing his work and making sweets! If I get my hands on the demon that caused all this mess, I'll be sure to make him rue the day he messed with the Phantomhive family!'

Meanwhile, Madeleine looked to see the man standing on the other side of the room. She almost felt her heart skip a beat as his eyes connected with hers. They were such a deep brown they appeared to be red. 'Those eyes… just like the eyes in my dream… but… I only dreamt… surely there cannot be a way that my dream has anything to do with this man?'

"Hello." She said softly, as the man kept his gaze upon her as he looked at her. "I'm Madeleine. You must be Sebastian, no?" her voice grew softer with every step the man took. He showed a soft smile, showing perfectly white teeth as he stopped in front of her, looking down. He was over a head taller than her, imposing but not menacing.

"I have to admit, Lady Madeleine, that you are even more lovely than your father had told me," He took her hand, raising it to his lips. Madeleine's heart started to beat faster and faster, looking at the handsome stranger that was her betrothed. "I am indeed Sebastian. I am… very pleased to make your acquaintance." The small pause in his sentence, as his eyes seemed to glide over her body, made her heart stop for a second.

'Dangerous…' a small voice in her head said. Still, she didn't quite hear it, as she was being entranced by his eyes. "It's nice to meet you," She replied softly. She felt slightly on edge, not quite sure how to act. Still, this man seemed to be nothing less than a gentleman, the kind of person who would be kind to her.

"Tell me, Lady Madeleine, have you ever seen the gardens from a more splendid viewpoint than you had ever imagined?" he asked her, looking at her ever so intently. She swallowed under that fierce look.

"Splendid viewpoint?" she asked him. Feeling so nervous, it was nothing for her. Still, this man could have her heart pounding in a few seconds, reducing her to nothing else but a blubbering fool.

He nodded, taking a strand of hair and gliding it through his fingers. "I will show you, if you would like that?"

"Ah… yes."

|The Upper Balcony|

'How strange… even though I've lived here all my life, I cannot remember a thing about this balcony.' She thought to herself when she shielded her eyes from the pale winter sun. The snow reflected the sun, making the view almost painful to her eyes. She stared of in the distance, not paying any attention to Sebastian. 'I feel as if… there is something wrong. I keep forgetting names, and when I want to go somewhere in the mansion, I always take a wrong turn. It's as if my memory is confused. Somehow this all seems very, very wrong.'
Flashes of a castle near a lake flashed through her mind, along with a boy who looked like Ciel, but wasn't him. Visions of white – feathered wings, pure as snow, and wings that seemed to be made out of heavy dark gold all danced in her mind, confusing her. 'I feel as if I do not belong here. Somehow… I am not the Madeleine that I used to be…'

She put a hand to her heart, trying to figure out just what was making her feel that way. How could she think that she was any different than in the days before? Still, it felt as if something was inside her head, locked behind bars and safely hidden. Something important perhaps.
At the moment she let out a deep sigh, Sebastian shifted, bumping into her. She felt herself hit the edge of the balcony, before she toppled over. In that small instant that was a second, she caught herself thinking : 'well, this isn't a problem.'. That thought soon passed, and she felt herself fall lower. She closed her eyes, emitting a small cry.

Sebastian's gloved hand grabbed hers. She looked up, in those murky brown eyes of his as he showed her a smile. "Sebastian!"

He held out his other hand for her to take. She swung her hand up, too scared to look down. 'If I fall, I will certainly die! I don't want to die!' she thought, closing her eyes as her other hand connected with Sebastian's. He lifted her up, seemingly effortless. She could feel it, as she rose away from the ground. As he put her on the ground, she looked up at him.
'Wow… to think that the person I will be marrying is so strong.' She thought, looking in his eyes. He let out a soft smile, as if she had just done something funny. "I'm sorry, my Lady. It was not my intention to make you fall."

She shook her head. "Ah, it's not your fault. I'm just feeling a little bit dizzy, so I guess I haven't completely recovered yet. I'll be retiring to my room, but thank you, for the wonderful day. Let's spend some more time tomorrow… that is, if you don't mind…" her voice trailed off as she looked away. Sebastian took her by the chin, making her face him.

"I love nothing more than to spend time with my future bride. Let's make this the beginning of our days together."

|Sebastian's Room|

"This is going nowhere." Michael commented as he sat on a chair. He glared at the butler who walked by, removing his tie.

Sebastian threw him a glare as he sat down on his bed. "It has only been the first day. I am quite confident that I will be able to make her show her wings."

"Throwing my beloved from a balcony isn't what I call helping!" Michael yelled, his wings clapping behind him in anger.

Sebastian showed him a sly smirk. "Even if you say that, I am currently the only person who can save that little angel, aren't I?"

Ciel opened his eye, his gaze steadily on his butler. "Even so, I remember you saying that you would have her cured after one day. Are you starting to lose your touch then, Sebastian?"

Sebastian let out a small, amused huff. "Hardly. This is merely taking a while to adapt to the rules of the game. It would seem that an emotion like embarrassment or fear isn't enough to make her show her wings. I will simply need to up my game, until they can no longer hide."

Michael frowned. "Even if you say that, the odds that she would even feel an emotion that is strong enough around you is as big as my robe catching spontaneously on fire. And besides… it would seem that she already starting to feel wary, and it has only been the first day."

Ciel let out a sigh, before turning away and walking through the demon's door, not bothering to look back.

Sebastian glanced away, thinking about that complication. Had there not been a time restriction, he would have been far better equipped to leisurely solve this and play with the girl's feelings a little more. On the other hand, as a human, she was just like all the others. Far too easily taken in with his charm, and too eager to please him. That obvious blush that he had enjoyed when she was an angel only became annoying to him once she no longer had a recollection of what he was.
For Madeleine to be so weak in front of him now, instead of putting on a tough show was beyond boring. Getting her cured would allow him to continue his favorite game, which was haunting and tormenting her. He still wanted to see her in pain, he wanted to see her blood dripping from his hands…

But he only wanted it when it was a challenge.

The problem was that it was too easy to win her over like this. She was the same in essence, she acted the same way, perhaps a little bit more composed. But, the important thing that made her such alluring prey was that she hated his kind. Or at least, used to hate.
"The odds of her feeling an emotion that is strong enough to show her wings is far greater than that." He replied to the archangel, crossing his legs over one another. "After all, I am one who she respects."

"What?" the archangel asked, not believing his ears.

"I believe that she wanted me to say that there is no demon, angel or other being that can best her. In a more liberal translation, you could say that she is starting to warm up to me. Perhaps, even starting to feel love for the creature that I am?"

Michael didn't believe what the demon was saying. "As if someone like you could talk about love! Demons only exist from the opportunistic souls of weak humans! There is no way that you can even understand what love is, what the thing is that makes Madeleine so special to me!"

"I can talk about love just as well as you can. After all, it is not because I do not feel it throbbing in my heart like humans do that I do not understand it. And in your case, I believe your love is very similar to my feelings for her." Sebastian continued, showing a malicious grin as he showing his slightly enlarged canines to the archangel. As he thought about that constantly back – talking, annoying angel his smile grew wider.

"Yes, the urge to possess." He said, looking at the archangel's face. It was as he had expected. The enlargement of the man's pupils already told him that he was right. "You long as much as I do to possess her, to shield her away from all things that are not ourselves. Like a priceless treasure that you would hoard away so that no other man would defile it."

Michael remained quiet while the demon spoke, though the clenching of his teeth and fists was enough to alert anyone that the demon had seen right through him. The demon smiled, looking at his rival in a way that would remind one of a cat who has seen prey.

"And yet, the most important difference between the two of us would be that while you would indeed keep her locked up in the Upper Realm, I have no qualm in bringing her here, where she may get in trouble. As for me, I prefer her to be free, because that gives me the chance to see her tear – stained face and hear her scared whimpers when there are things in the night that go bump. Giving her the freedom that she has been fighting for ever since she left your realm… is the thing that will ultimately bind her to me, forever."

"Forever…" Michael said, his eyes wide when he started to comprehend what the demon was saying. "She will never be yours, you vile, dirty creature. Your hand will not taint her!" Michael yelled, getting ready to punch the demon.

Sebastian grinned, walking towards his window and opening it. He waved a hand outside, gesturing the archangel to get out while he could still think.
"Attacking me here would only bring trouble for yourself. Not to mention the human Madeleine would be furious at anyone attacking her precious fiancé while the angel Madeleine would not be happy that you would be endangering her nephew should we turn this in a fight."

Michael bit his tongue to keep from strangling the demon. With a snarl he took off, through the window as he created a portal to the Upper Realm.

Sebastian smiled. "Let's not forget… the way things are now, I will be the one she chooses."