Disclaimer: I do not own Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji or any of its characters. They belong to Yana Toboso.

A/N: Here we are, the longest chapter yet! There could be a delay between this chapter and the next, again for internet access reasons, and the business of this summer. So in the meantime, I hope this is an enjoyable chapter!

Again, thank you very much for your reviews! It's just wonderful to hear what you think, and everything you all say makes me smile. To the guest reviewer who said that this story inspired you to write your own story with these two: that makes me so happy to hear! I first wrote this story with the intention of putting some more SomAgni/Agma out there, so to hear that you're inspired to write is amazing. If you upload it here, be sure to let me know, I'd love to read it :)


Soma struggled to make sense of their encounter, whilst he followed Agni through the tunnel that now served as their new escape.

"Could we have been hallucinating, Agni? It just disappeared! Though – it felt so real… what could be happening?"

Agni looked over his shoulder with a grimace.

"It is a very strange situation, to put it mildly," he replied. "I did not want to believe in it either, but it was definitely real." He gave a bitter smile. "At least, these scratches don't feel like a figment of my imagination."

When his attendant turned his head to face forwards, Soma's eyes could only meet Agni's wounds once again. It was an awful sight, but one from which he couldn't avert his gaze. The prince felt queasy looking at the state of his servant's back. That dark green sherwani, which Agni always had kept in impeccable condition, was torn in four long, jagged stripes at the back. Blood seeped through the cloth and between the loose flaps of fabric, all that could be seen was a glistening red.

Soma was most of all sickened by the fact that Agni might not have received these wounds, had he not had to save Soma from his own foolishness.

So much for doing my best to be a worthy master.

"Did you really think you could just go without saying goodbye?" a voice from behind them called out.

They turned to see the man who had watched them narrowly avoid death as if he were watching a cricket match. Behind him, the mob in white gathered. Agni moved to stand closer to Soma. His arm made as if to cross in front of the prince, when Soma pushed himself forward.

"Why did you pit that creature against us?" he demanded.

"It was for the good of society," the man said stoutly.

Soma shook his head in disbelief.

"How could that possibly have been for the good of society?"

"My prince, it might be for the best if we don't ask," Agni whispered. "Some people will try to argue anything -"

"Simple, it's a win-win situation," came the proud answer. "We seek to level the gap between the rich and the poor, to make our society equal, as it should be."

"Yes, and that's an understandable goal, but -"

"While this creature was brought here by our righteous leader -"

"Who is your leader?"

"My prince, I really think we should go -"

"What does it matter to you who he is? You're not going to live to meet him."

Soma felt Agni's hand on his left shoulder. He pressed on.

"Just why? Please ask yourselves why you are doing this! You're going about this the wrong way!"

"Don't give me that! There is no 'right way' you can suggest to help us overthrow you, is there? Look, we were entrusted to feed the Devil's guard dog, and to kill two birds with one stone, we could feed it a morsel whose soul was tainted in injustice. And who better than Indian royalty?"

Soma felt as if his heart had slowed to a stop.

"Indian royalty?" He clenched his fists. "…Indian royalty?"

"Highness, please forgive me for being rough," Agni mumbled, before he slung his master over his shoulder and turned to run. Soma didn't struggle – the group had just indicated that they were going to kill them – but he was desperate for answers, especially following what they had declared a moment ago. The men quickened their pace to pursue the pair. Soma faced them from where Agni held him over his shoulder.

"Indians. You don't like Indians, is that it?"

The prince felt Agni move faster down the tunnel. His servant, despite his trance having clearly worn off, still kept up an impressive pace. However, Soma kept his unflinching focus on their pursuers.

"Tell me," he said, his voice stiff with the unusual mixture of fear and fury. "Did you kill a beautiful Indian woman and her husband?"

His body was suddenly jerked back when his attendant stopped without warning. He gasped in expectance of wrenching his neck, before Agni's hand caught the back of his head to steady him. The sight of Agni's worried face subdued him for a moment. The prince blinked at him gratefully and allowed his servant to carefully lower him to his feet.

"Another dead end?" Soma asked.

Agni nodded as he set his master down. Soma gave a grim half-smile. He beckoned Agni to come to him as he walked towards the men. The young prince raised his head and adopted the most proud posture he could muster.

"You saw for yourselves," he stated, "how my khansama defeated your leader's pet – the 'devil's guard dog', as you put it." His lips stretched into a confident smile. "That's surely testament enough that he can defeat anything. I can order him to fight all of you, and he will not lose. Right, Agni?"

Soma tried to not let his confidence waver when he addressed his attendant. By now, he had absolutely no idea how the power of Samadhi worked, but he had the feeling it wasn't a trance that his companion could turn on and off at will. Still, he could pray and hope that Kali was still watching out for them.

"Right," Agni confirmed. "With this hand, I shall -"

He froze when twenty guns suddenly pointed at him.

"…Ah."

The leader of the group smirked. His finger hovered over the trigger.

"Any last words? Are you not gonna declare your love for one another before I blow your brains ou -?"

He didn't even finish his sentence before he was shot dead.

"Down!" a voice called out.

Soma could barely process what he had just witnessed before Agni dived upon him and knocked him to the floor. The prince could only hear the sound of rapid gunshots echoing around them, until he felt a large hand cover his ear.

"Please stay completely still, Highness, and nothing will harm you."

"W-what's going on?" Soma's voice was nearly a squeak.

"Help is at hand, but it might be less scary if you try to blank out your surroundings for a moment."

Agni's arm encircled the back of his master's head and covered Soma's other ear with his bicep. Soma squeezed his eyes shut, but try as he may, he couldn't block out the fact that he was now somehow in the middle of a gunfight, trapped and unarmed, and all he had was his khansama, who was lying across him as a self-imposed human shield. It was becoming hard to think or breathe. His head tentatively turned in the direction of the shots and one eyelid peeled open.

A blur of blue, white and cherry-red flew about the tunnel like a swallow, turning and spinning through the air with impossible ease. None of the rounds fired at this blur seemed to hit, whilst every so often the shooters would find their guns had been shot out of their hands. The swallow that had come to their rescue landed and raised her pistols warningly.

Mey-Rin. Ciel's maid had come from seemingly nowhere to save them. Soma was only more surprised when he heard a clash of blades and a high-pitched voice declare, "You will never harm the Phantomhives!"

He looked over past Mey-Rin to see none other than Lizzie sword fighting against a man twice her size, who was armed with an axe. Soma felt faint on the sight of the young girl putting herself up against such a strong opponent, whilst a gunfight raged around them, yet Lizzie fought like there was no danger of being hit. The prince then concluded, as he watched Lizzie's swift thrusts and Mey-Rin's perfectly precise shots, that maybe there was no danger of them being hit after all.

Soon, all their opponents were unarmed, and promptly knocked out. With one final strike, Lizzie sliced her sword across her opponent's hand, disarming him, and backed him up against the wall. Her sword pointed a centimetre from the man's neck.

"My fiancé," she fumed, "went missing nearly four years ago. His parents were murdered and his house was burnt to ruins. To this day, he still cannot tell me about his ordeal."

Soma blinked. Ciel had still not told Lizzie about that month? Ciel had told him within a couple of days of meeting him. Lizzie glared at her hostage with more anger than Soma could have imagined could be conveyed by someone with huge, soft eyes.

"Arson. The aim to kill nobles. You must answer me. Did your organisation attack the Phantomhives all those years ago?"

"N-no! As far as I know, no!" her hostage stammered. "I'm not exactly one of the highers-up, so I can't give you answers!"

Lizzie gritted her teeth. Agni rose to his feet and held out his hand to help Soma up. Lizzie looked over at them, then turned her attention back to the man.

"Do you know if anyone from your society murdered an Indian woman?"

"That I can answer you: no. Those two over there have been our only Indian targets this year. Really, it's nothing to do with them being Indian; it's their social standing. Back-up are coming soon, you can ask them."

"Lady Elizabeth, we should leave," said Mey-Rin, as she reached for the discarded axe.

Lizzie wavered for a moment before taking a step back. The man let out a heavy breath once he had been released.

"Just a moment!"

Soma ran up to them. He removed one of his gold bangles and held it out to the man. The man looked taken aback.

"This is worth more than anything you've ever touched, isn't it?" Soma stated. "Listen to me. My former nursemaid, Mina, resented me with every bone in her body, but I didn't realise until she acted on it. If I had known, I would have changed my ways. Though I guess it was my responsibility to know, and now I am paying. Dearly."

His lip trembled.

"If Mina had been part of your group, I think I would have been long dead. Maybe that would have been justice; she went through far greater hardship than I. But not all nobles are like me, and karma hits us all eventually. So – take this and sell it, and leave this place. Make a life for yourself. Attacking richer people because they are rich is a hopeless and dangerous battle."

When the man didn't move, Soma placed the bangle on the floor and ran back to join his companions.

"We've been struggling to find a way out," he explained to Lizzie and Mey-Rin. "Do you know where to go?"

"Oh, right!" Mey-Rin simultaneously put on her enormous glasses and an equally enormous smile. "We know the way out, we do! Miss Paula thought of a helpful strategy, yes she did!"

Soma stared at Mey-Rin in confusion as she seemed to change in demeanour before his eyes, whilst he processed the notion of Lizzie's cheerful, nervous maid being a strategist. Agni chuckled.

"That was a good idea. I wasn't so careful, so I'm very glad Miss Paula thought of that!"

Mey-Rin reached down the side of her knee-high boots and pulled out a small ring of bells. She gave them three sharp shakes, the jingling echoing through the tunnel. Shortly, they heard a faint jingling from the direction that the men had come from.

"This way!" Mey-Rin declared, practically skipping as she merrily jangled the bells.

Lizzie giggled, in stark contrast to her fierceness a moment earlier – though even Soma could detect a slight nervousness in her voice.

"Paula's bell method always makes me smile! It's so cute!"

Soma considered his company as he walked alongside Lizzie. Ahead of him, Agni fell in step beside Mey-Rin and started a conversation with her. The prince turned to Lizzie.

"I'm still amazed you're here. How did you find us?"

"Oh," Lizzie paused. "Well – I think you might have noticed me listening in to the mission Ciel gave you," she admitted. "I was worried, so I asked for Paula and Mey-Rin's help to trace you. We found you quickly enough… we saw the light. Incredible," she added, half to herself.

"Heh, yes, that's one thing I've come to terms with since meeting Agni," Soma shook his head with a smile. "Human torches exist. Agni never likes discussing it, so you've just got to accept it as something weird and wonderful."

"Hmm."

"So, why were you worried?"

Lizzie rubbed her arm and cast her eyes to the floor.

"Ciel has to keep his missions confidential, and only discuss things with people who can be useful to him. That is never me. But this mission has to be among his worst. Ciel and Sebastian have been working harder than ever, but still need your help. It only began to make sense when I found out the nature of the crimes he is investigating. It must be so terrible for Ciel! I'm his fiancée, and I know he feels obliged to protect me, but – oh, I just want to be by his side! More than anything!"

Lizzie's hand gripped tightly around the handle of her sword. Soma looked at her sadly. He understood how tiring it was to keep up a carefree façade when underneath they cared so much, only Lizzie's feelings were his, but greatly amplified. The prince wondered how she could stand it.

Well, understandably, she couldn't for much longer.

"I just want answers," Lizzie said quietly.

Soma slowly smiled, reached over and squeezed her hand.

"And you deserve them. Go and seek your answers, and don't accept no for an answer!"

Lizzie went slightly pink in the cheeks, not used to such physical contact from a man who was not her father, brother or cousin, but she looked up at Soma and returned his smile.

"Thank you, Prince. It's nice to be encouraged once in a while."

The path became lighter as the jingling became clearer. Mey-Rin gave her bells two short shakes. In response, one of the sewer covers was pushed aside. Paula's beaming face suddenly appeared upside-down above them. Her long brown hair dangled down like jungle vines.

"Wonderful, you're all here!" she sang. "Come up, everyone!"

She sat on her heels, as she watched the four climb up to join her. Soma collapsed onto his back as soon as he was above ground. He spread his arms out with an uncontrollably wide grin.

"I honestly thought I wouldn't see another night sky!"

"Mister Agni, you're bleeding so terribly!" Paula gasped, which made the prince bolt up.

"It's really not as bad as it looks," Agni tried to reassure her.

"How did you…?"

"I'm sure my prince will be happy to tell the three of you when we return. For now though, it might be for the best if we return to the house as soon as we can. We wouldn't want to run into any more trouble tonight."


When they returned to the townhouse, Agni suggested that Lizzie and the maids stay the night, as it had reached a late hour and everyone was hungry, so he would need to see to making dinner for them. Mey-Rin and Paula offered to help, but, unusually, he declined.

"I can manage," he assured them. "It has been a tiring day for all of us, and for tonight, you are our guests, so please just relax."

Soma couldn't relax for long, though. Whilst the women talked, his mind kept straying back to those scratches. The scene kept playing back in his mind. No matter how he looked at it, he could only conclude that he had put his servant in harm's way. He felt no sting of regret for trying to make peace with the creature, whose main feeling wasn't malice so much as extreme, mind-impending hunger, but choosing to take risks on someone else's behalf seemed very low.

"If you can't protect your people, then you're a sorry excuse for a leader."

Before too long, he couldn't take it anymore and excused himself from the living room. He padded down to the kitchen. He caught the scent of ground spices as soon as he pushed the kitchen door open.

His eyes once again met those bloody gashes. Agni was at the stove, a pan in his hand, faced away from Soma. The prince wandered quietly towards him, and mused over how lost in thought his usually sharp-eared servant must have been to not have heard him. Agni lightly tossed herbs around the pan with steady flicks of his wrist. His spare hand tightly clenched the edge of the counter.

"Agni," Soma called out softly.

Agni's shoulders jolted. He turned round to face his master, a surprised look on his face. His brow was deeply furrowed, and his forehead was slightly glossed with sweat.

"My prince, you're… not with the others?"

Soma licked his lips and took a step forward.

"No, I… wanted to check on you."

"Oh." Agni smiled. "Well, the meal will be ready shortly, I won't keep you -"

"I wanted to make sure that you are alright."

Agni hesitated before replying.

"That's very considerate of you, but please don't worry, I'm quite alright. I just…"

When he straightened up, the servant's upper lip rolled slightly above his teeth, like a dog supressing the urge to bark. Soma shook his head with exasperation. How could Ciel command people to try to not ever complain? Was it not frustrating for him, to watch people struggle on when they were barely able to lick their own wounds?

Soma walked up to Agni and reached out to pull aside one of the torn folds of his attendant's sherwani. Agni flinched, but didn't move away. Soma bit his lip when he unveiled one of the claw marks. He felt another burst of anger at himself. It was as if he had scratched this man, who he knew would do anything to protect him.

"You cannot just put up with these!"

"I – I promise you, I will treat them after I've seen to your needs first, my prince," said Agni, sounding a bit alarmed at his master's raised voice. "And cooking, it helps, to do something to take my mind off them -"

Soma stamped his foot on the floor, which made his servant jump.

"You have to stop doing things like this, Agni!" Soma yelled. "Putting me first without a second thought – do you think that's really what I want? Maybe you can take your mind off the pain, but I've been able to do nothing else but worry about your suffering. You want to be considerate to me? Then start being a bit more considerate towards yourself!"

"I'm sorry, my prince, I'm very sorry!" Agni whispered.

Soma panted for breath to try to calm himself, now that he had released his frustration. He looked up at his servant, who now trembled from where he had backed up against the stove, the pan abandoned on the surface. The prince sighed. He had felt angry that Agni had been hurt due to him, and now he was taking it out on Agni himself.

How very typical of me.

"No, I'm sorry," Soma muttered.

"Don't be, if it's how you feel. I'm sorry, I was foolish, and I didn't think you'd be so worried about me. But of course you are, and I should have realised."

Soma let out another sigh.

"Every day, you show how much you care for me. My happiness is yours. But don't you think it could work the other way too? I don't show it as much, but in the same way, your comfort is mine." His eyes had strayed to the floor. "So please let me put my mind at rest."

"Certainly – how may I do that?" asked Agni.

Soma raised his head with a small smile. His hand stretched out to take his servant's.

"For once, I command you to do the bare minimum." He led Agni to the kitchen table. His lips pursed slightly as he took in his servant's height, which was tall enough to cast a shadow over his back. "Clear these things from the table and lie on your front."

"Um, yes, as you wish."

A slight flush came to Agni's cheeks. His left hand rubbed his right nervously – the latter, Soma noticed, was still free from its bandages. Soma nodded and searched around for a clean cloth. There they were, on the cupboard shelf. When he jumped up to reach one, he dislodged a small box that tumbled down to the floor. He picked it up and prised the lid open to see its contents, which included plasters, bandages, splints and mysterious vials.

"I've conveniently found the first aid kit," he announced with a grin.

"That's like Mister Chef," Agni said warmly, whilst he moved various cooking utensils to the counter. "His experience as a soldier has likely prepared him for all manner of situations, which are probably especially common here, as Lord Ciel's staff are still – ah – they have an unfortunate tendency to get into accidents."

Soma darted to the sink to dampen the cloth he had caught.

"Hot or cold...? Hmm, we'll try warm."

He fiddled around with the handle and gave it a firm yank, then yelped as cold water poured from the tap with such force that it bounced up and soaked his sleeve. He heard Agni's light laughter and pretended to look unimpressed.

"Do you need any help, my prince?" Agni teased him gently.

"I think I can manage," Soma retorted.

He pulled the handle in a number of directions before he hit the temperature he was looking for. He slipped the cloth under the spout and left it for a moment whilst he approached his servant. Now that Soma had stopped messing around with the tap and was coming towards him, Agni watched him shyly from where he leant against the table. Soma took a deep breath and reached up to undo the top button of the sherwani. Agni's eyes widened.

"Prince…"

"I need to see what I'm doing," Soma replied, his voice low. "And – and anyway, we were down in a sewer, it isn't clean enough to wear whilst cooking."

Agni's face turned a deeper red, but he stayed quiet. Soma tried to make his slightly quivering fingers cooperate as he carefully unbuttoned the sherwani all the way down. He peeled the garment from Agni's shoulders and tried to fold it up, but the material was too long to behave itself and he resorted to just bundling it up and tossing it on the back of a chair.

When he caught sight of Agni's bare upper body, he felt a wave of pride sweep through him. Back when Agni had first came into Soma's service, the former Brahmin had been underweight from his time on death row and his lack of motivation to do anything, including eat, in the days leading up to his execution. Now, Soma was pleased to see he had put on weight since he had last properly seen his figure, and now had well-developed muscles, broad shoulders, clear skin and no protruding ribs.

His pride was replaced with shame when it dawned on him that he had been staring for perhaps a bit too long. Agni crossed his arms over his torso self-consciously and bowed his head. Soma shook himself out of his trance.

"Forgive me, I can't help but be curious," he apologised, then cringed at how that sounded even more awkward. "Well, anyway!" he said brightly, as he turned away to take the soaked cloth. "Let's sort you out. Come on!"

With his spare hand, Soma gave Agni a small push, to gesture for him to lie down on the table. The prince heard his servant mutter something as he turned onto his front.

"What was that?"

"My prince, it is very kind of you to want to help me," mumbled Agni, "but it doesn't have to be you who does this. It's not a pleasant task, and there are other people more accustomed to these things…"

He turned his head to look up at Soma. Soma's eyes took in the full extent of the claw marks – long, and an angry colour, but seemingly not seriously deep. Still, the prince felt another stab of guilt.

"No, it's my duty. I caused you these injuries, so it's only proper that I cure them. Or try to, at least. If I do this wrong, we can always call upon someone a bit more experienced." He shrugged and tried to smile away the tension. "Besides, how would you be able to serve me if you ended up permanently injured?"

"Right," Agni said weakly.

The prince sifted around through Bardroy's medical kit and pulled out a vial, with a scrawled note of 'DISINFECTS CUTS' stuck to it.

"Here we go."

Soma dabbed the vial's contents onto the damp cloth and pressed it against the top of the scratches. Agni winced and jerked away, smacking his cheek on the table.

"Shh, hey," Soma reached over and held onto Agni's shoulder, partly to comfort him, partly to pin him down. "You'll feel a lot better afterwards. Hopefully."

He dabbed more cautiously, applying feather-light presses down to his servant's mid back. His thumb rubbed in a circular motion around Agni's tightened shoulder blade. Slowly, he felt the tense muscles under his hand relax. He smiled as he watched Agni's eyes drift shut.

"Does that feel good?" he asked hopefully.

Agni smiled and nodded, his eyes still closed, like a person lost in a really good dream. Soma watched him thoughtfully for a moment. Was there anything better than making someone else feel good? Surely, nothing was better… in particular, nothing could be better than making someone, who always made him feel good, feel happy…

Can I have that effect on him, I wonder?

Soma drew one last circle on his servant's shoulder before he began to walk his fingers towards the base of Agni's neck. He slipped his hand upwards and threaded his fingers through the short, soft white hair around his turban. He leant against the table and smoothed down the stray locks with gentle strokes. The prince hummed absent-mindedly whilst he did so, until awareness caused the vibrations to catch in in his throat.

This was definitely beyond how a master was expected to treat his servant. Suspiciously close? No, this is close enough to have all their suspicions confirmed. If Ciel found out about this, he'd warn me that this is too… just too…

He lowered his head solemnly. Affectionate.

Ciel isn't here, he weakly consoled himself.

A glint of blue light caught his eye. He looked down to where Agni's right arm was draped over the side of the table, to see his companion's hand once again lit up like the moon.

Hmm, interesting.

Increasingly, his servant's blessed right hand illuminated without a single utterance of a command. Soma had assumed that it sometimes acted out of control when Agni was tired, but this seemed to happen at such random times that, unless his servant was exhausted all the time, he had to conclude that this was not the case. He cocked his head in thought as his fingers continued to stroke Agni's hair. While his attendant certainly looked tired, half-asleep on the table, it didn't seem like a loss of control from over-exertion.

Soma thought back to the most recent times this happened: when he told him he had faith in him, when he had embraced him out of gratitude for protecting him, when he… vowed he would protect him without fail.

"Ciel is not a butler, so it isn't his duty to say he'd protect me. It became his duty out of love. That's when you know…"

"Oh, goodness," Soma whimpered. Agni opened his eyes.

"Are you alright, my prince?" he asked, concerned.

"Absolutely fine," Soma assured him quickly.

He nervously chuckled when Agni continued to watch him, a patient request for an explanation. There was no honest explanation of what was on his mind that wouldn't make Agni uncomfortable, but he decided to go with the lesser of two evils.

"I was thinking about your hand, and the pattern of events by which it glows…"

Then the answer came to him, which made him grin and nearly forget everything else. Agni suddenly looked very much like a wallflower that had been shoved on a stage in a full auditorium. Soma laughed and ruffled his hair. If it really was due to the reason that had come to him… Soma couldn't help but find it very endearing.

"It happens when you're really happy!" he enthused.

Agni exhaled and rubbed his neck with his left hand.

"…Maybe, my prince."

"So, why do you think you need to keep this wrapped up in bandages?" Soma mused. "You say you have to keep it under control, but I don't understand why -"

Suddenly, Mey-Rin threw open the kitchen door with such force that it looked like it could have swung off its hinges.

"Mister Agni – oh!" Her hands covered the lower half of her face, whilst her eyes fixed on Agni's bare upper body. "S-sorry if I'm, um, intruding at all…"

Agni quickly fixed a smile to his face and climbed off the table.

"No, that's quite alright, Miss Maid. My prince very kindly offered to clean these cuts I received earlier. Now, how may I help you?" He titled his head in concern. "You look very worried – is everything alright?"

"M-Mister Snake just called upon us. He - he says – he said…"

She trembled whilst her words spilled over each other. Agni took a hold of her shoulders to steady her.

"Miss Maid?"

"The Phantomhive manor has been set on fire!"

These words took Soma's breath away. The news rang out so loudly in his ears, again and again, crashing through his mind like a tide against the shore in a storm, to the point where he could barely register Mey-Rin frantically relaying to Agni how Bard, Finny and Tanaka were still fighting, and had told Snake to send for help as quickly as he could.

Ciel…

"…Right, we need to go and help them." Agni slung his sherwani over his arm and ran to the door. "Would Miss Paula be able to guard this house, assuming she fulfils a similar role as the Midford's servant? Perhaps it would be best for Lady Elizabeth to come with us, as she must be very worried about Lord Ciel."

"Agni," Soma called, "I will come with you as well!"

Agni paused before he nodded.

"Alright, my prince."

Soma grabbed the first aid kit and pelted to the hall, where Lizzie waited, her face so pale that she looked close to swooning. The prince's eyes scanned around for what could be helpful for what would be their toughest mission yet. He dashed to retrieve his new cricket bat, and fumbled around for his charm bracelet. His eye caught the shiny four-leaf clover charm when he enclosed it in his hand.

They would need luck tonight.


Soma burst out of the carriage door before Snake had even pulled up on the edge of the drive. The structure of Ciel's mansion could barely be seen under the smoke and fire. The mass of red flames blended into the pitch black sky to create the appearance of Hell on Earth. It was as if the manor had been besieged by an invisible dragon. The prince looked around to see his companions were also staring up at the mansion in terror.

"CIEL!" Lizzie screamed.

The fourteen-year-old started to run towards the fire, when a gloved hand reached out to grab her arm.

"Smile wouldn't be in there! – says Oscar."

Soma bit the inside of his cheek. The situation was such that even Ciel's painfully shy footman was making contact with people to protect them. Lizzie turned round to face Snake. Fast-flowing tears sprang from her eyes.

"Then where is he? Where are Ciel and Sebastian right now?"

"Mister Sebastian would never let Lord Ciel get hurt," Agni tried to persuade her. "If he isn't here, they likely don't yet know what has happened."

"We did not know of their whereabouts, so we went to alert you lot instead – says Emily."

Agni nodded.

"Lady Elizabeth, we shall find Lord Ciel, I can understand how worrying this must be for you. He will be safe, I can promise you. We will bring them here and think of a plan with Mister Sebastian's help." He looked around. "Miss Maid, Mister Footman, see if you can locate your fellow staff. We will hopefully join you very shortly."

"Right, sir!"

Soma's eyes were fixed on the mansion, on a shadowed figure that he glimpsed through one of the upstairs windows, when he felt Agni's hands on his shoulders. He turned round to meet his servant's gaze.

"My prince… I don't usually ask things of you. I am your servant, and I know it isn't in my place. But this… I can't, just… promise me you'll stay here until we return. I know you want to help Lord Ciel, but it's far too dangerous for anyone to face this without help. Stay away from the flames, and stay away from the smoke."

Soma smiled sadly.

"Don't worry about me."

Agni drew him into his arms. Soma closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around Agni's waist. He felt one of his servant's hands brush through his hair.

"You're so brave and kind," Agni breathed in his deep, quiet voice. "Just please, don't try to be a hero. Don't try to prove anything, not to Lord Ciel, not to me, not even to yourself. No one needs you to do so. You are highly important, just as a person." He slipped out of Soma's arms. "Wait for us. I promise everything will be fine."

Soma watched him lift Lizzie into his arms and take off in the direction in which she pointed him. Despite the fire before him, Soma felt chilled to the bone. Again, his eyes honed in on the figure he saw, which swept from room to room like a ghost.

Who is that?

He turned back to the carriage and drew out his cricket bat. When he turned, he surveyed the grounds before him. Snake had the first aid kit next to him as he knelt beside an unmoving soot-covered Finny, whilst Mey-Rin was dragging Bard limply away from the remains of the courtyard. No one else seemed to have noticed the figure, nor would they have time to when caring for their comrades. It would surely get away. Ciel's tormentor would get away. Soma couldn't let that happen.

Sorry, Agni, but you are not the only one who has trouble following orders.

Soma slid his bracelet down his hand to let it wrap around his knuckles. His grip on the handle of his cricket bat tightened. With one final breath of clear air, he ran into the manor, while the flames of Hell raged all around him.