~*~AVRIL'S POV~*~

I awoke sometime in the early hours of the morning. I assumed from the moon's position, that it was about 2 in the morning. Sebastian and I had been together for only four hours, if that was that assumption was correct. Suddenly my head felt like it was on fire. I closed my eyes. Master was calling.

'My dear Avril, you must have a death wish. Betray my once, shame on me, Betray me twice, shame on you. How could you Avril? Report to me at once,'he thought to me.

I frowned, and decided something that would most likely put me out of this world for another month.

'No my lord. You will wait until I am ready,'I thought back fiercely then blocked my master out.

I felt suddenly out of breath and it hurt to breath. I just disobeyed a direct order. Boy this is getting awfully dangerous, but I needed to warn Sebastian. I couldn't just leave.

I turned to the sleeping man next to me and weakly smiled. He looked at peace while asleep. It was fascinating to just watch. I regretted having to wake him up, but it needed to be done. I shook him a few times before he turned over, a little groggy.

"Hmm...nuh...What? Is something the matter Avril?"he asked me, still waking up.

"Yes, I'm afraid I couldn't keep my wall up the entire night, and my master knows of our time together. He asked me to return home at once, but I declined,"I explained.

Simply talking made me weaker. It was painful, but I was determined to stay and tell Sebastian the information I had.

"Avril...Why would you do that? You look extremely weak, love. Can I help?"He asked, worry written all over his face.

"No need. I did it because I couldn't leave you quite yet. I have some information. The maid, Hannah Anafeloz, is planning on reviving Alois Trancy's soul within Ciel. That's the time for you to strike. See...you orders we to steer clear of Ciel Phantomhive's sight. Not Alois Trancy's. So tomorrow night come to the manor and everything will work itself out. Also, His name is Alois Trancy. Not Jim Matkins. Trust me. It will get you farther along. Think about what Alois Trancy, or Ciel I suppose, thinks is correct; not what is right. Understood?"I told Sebastian with a straight face.

He frowned, digesting the information I had just given him.

"Alright, but why are you telling me this?"Sebastian asked me, confused.

"Because. I want you to win. I hope that maybe I can redeem myself for betraying you like I did. Also, I would rather you have Ciel, than my master,"I said then felt like my stomach had been ripped out.

I cringed, holding my sides, fighting back tears.

"Avril! What happened?"Sebastian said, shocked.

He held my shoulders firmly, though I could feel himself shaking slightly. I looked up to his face and gave a weak smile. He was worried terribly about me.

"Yes, my master caught that and didn't very much like it. It goes against one of his biggest order's. So it hurt slightly. Don't worry I'll be fine,"I said, trying to lessen his worry some.

Sebastian didn't seem convinced. In fact he looked...looked very sad.

"What's troubling you Sebastian?"I asked him, frowning.

I took his hand in my own and looked him in the eyes. His eyes were sad too.

"I know my brother. I have lived through his torture. Avril, what if I never see you again? How could I...I-I just want to keep you safe. But I can't and I hate myself for that. Avril he could kill you!"Sebastian said, looking at me, tears actually forming in his eyes.

I stared at him in shock. Tears. Real tears. Tears were falling down Sebastian's face. For me. I hugged him tightly.

"I'll be fine Sebastian. If I'm going to go down I'll go down fighting. Or by my own hand. Don't hate yourself, love. I lived through this time and time again. You don't have to keep me safe. The torture he brings upon me is dealt to me because of the mistakes I make, or the order's I've disobeyed. And don't you dare think I regret last night because I feel quiet the opposite. If I ever had a choice to redo anything in my life, that moment, last night, wouldn't have been anywhere on my list,"I told him, looking him directly in the eyes.

I took my hand and gently wiped away his tears and kissed him softly. He seemed just as surprised by his tears as I was. He rubbed at his face quickly and looked at me, smiling slightly. He then turned an pulled out of his chest pocket some..string.

"Avril, I am giving you this so no matter what happens, you have a reminder that I..I love you. And always will,"he said to me, hint of sadness in his voice.

He held up the string, turning out to be a necklace, and placed it over my head onto my neck. I looked at the pendent hanging from it and it was his Faustian mark. A pentagram. Only it was filled with a golden substance.

"What's inside it?"I asked him, looking at it curiously.

"A part of my soul. I'm giving you this much, since it was you who restored it to me. I hope it's enough to convince you-"he started to say before I kissed him.

I pressed my lips tight against his. Savoring every second of this last kiss. I heard a ringing in my head and pulled away, but kept my head near his, feeling his breath on me. It was warm and smelt like cinnamon.

"I have to go. I'm so sorry. Please don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Please remember what I told you. Goodbye, Stefan,"I whispered to him before I quickly got dressed and transported away.

I walked into the manor and was grabbed by the Thompson Triplets. Then I was taken downstairs into the cellar room. I was then chained up to the wall. Then I saw my master, who was radiating demonic energy.

"So Avril... Think you can just do whatever pleases you? Think that you are in charge here? We I hate to burst your bubble dear, but you're wrong. I'm the one who's in charge here. You obey me! Understand? Well obviously not. Looks like April Showers has to learn her lesson again,"my master said, anger not nearly the right word to describe what he was.

Next thing I knew I had knives jabbed into my stomach. It hurt, but not too much pain. I cringed. Then my master brought out the Holy Water. He poured it all inside my wounds. I fought back screams. I let a few whimpers escape my lips, however.

"Such a brave little fighter you are Avril. Let's see...Oh I know! Let's try some Dogwood and Holy Water! Mix them together and what have you got?" my master said coldly, while pulling out a bottle, wearing leather gloves.

He then carved his mark into my neck, over the one currently residing there, careful not to hit any major arteries, then poured the liquid directly onto the wound. It hurt so much. I screamed this time. He cut more wounds, deeper and more violent each time, and poured more liquid onto them until he was out. This took about 20 minutes. Then he grabbed his blade-tipped whip and lashed out on me for a good hour. He turned walked up to me and grabbed my jaw and made me look at him.

"Avril love, I'm surprised at you. Not once have you begged me to stop. Are you in a special need for pain love?"he asked me.

"No...Why would I beg when you will end it soon enough? Besides, no need to beg when I can think about you being the one to beg for your life," I said, smiling.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

"I'm a player on this chess board too, master," I said, spitting the word 'master,' "I have moved my pawns right where they need to be. You've wasted all your pawns on pointless moves. You need to see the bigger picture master. Maybe then you can get one step ahead of me. Until then though, at this rate, you'll be begging for your life to be spared by the end of everything,"

I smirked at him and he snarled, punching me with his demonic hand.

"You'll pay for this, damned whore! Why I ought to-"my master said, beginning to raise his hand at me then something caught his eye.

He turned to my clothes, which were stripped off me by the Triplets. I realized what he saw, the necklace, and I felt my heart stop. My master turned back to me, grinning from ear to ear.

"Pardon me, my dear. I have to go collect some more weapons. I have a very special torture in mind for you. It's to die for," he said then walked out.

I was shaking slightly. He saw the necklace. And he smiled. I had no idea what he was planning. I had no idea what he was going to do. I was very afraid.

Suddenly I heard fighting going on outside the cellar. I heard a loud thud and then foot steps headed my way. My cell door opened and I saw...

Sebastian.

"S-Sebastian? Wh-What are you doing here? I told you tomorrow night! You idiot!" I whispered at him.

He unchained me and set me down gently.

"I apologize, but I had to come and save you. Staying away was too hard to handle," Sebastian explained.

"Go! Ciel is still Ciel! Go before you really get into trouble! Now! Please! Before my master-"I said before Sebastian put a finger to my lips.

"I understand that. The young master is still asleep. Claude has been...knocked out, for the time being,"he said, with a grin on his face.

"But...how? You two are too evenly matched! It's impossible-"I froze, having a realization hit me," You're not Sebastian,"

"Avril! How could say that? Of course it's me! I came to save you didn't I?"

"No...This is a trick. It's not real!"I shouted at him, closing my eyes tightly.

"Avril this is really me. Before we departed, I gave you a necklace, with a pendent of my Faustian mark full of my soul. So you'd always have me with you. Remember?" he asked him, holding me firmly.

I looked at him. Yes my master knew about the necklace. But he couldn't know about what was said. Could he?It looked and smelt like Sebastian. But I wasn't sure. Something was off about him.

"Why did you come and try to save me you idiot?"I asked, still unsure if it was really him.

"Well because of order's, of course," he said, frowning," Why else would I?"

I looked at him in shock, feeling my heart tighten into a painful knot.

"O-Order's? From whom?"i said, hearing my own voice shake slightly.

"Ciel of course. He ordered me, a while back, to protect his sister, you. I'm fulfilling my order, protecting you now. Wait a moment..."he paused, smiling slightly," Did you honestly think I loved you? Honestly? Oh my you are so cute, my dear,"

I sucked in a deep breath and looked away from him.

'Lies...It has to be lies...But then again...There was no real reasoning behind our love. It just happened. Could he be telling the truth?'

"So why did you say you loved me? All those things about how you wanted to keep me safe...How you wanted to make the moment last forever...We're they all just lies? And the necklace?" I said, my voice shaking.

"I said all of that because I wanted to take something from my brother. Claude always takes my play things so I decided for once, I would take his. It took some effort, a few fake doe eyes, and tons of lies to get you to believe I was good. Oh but boy was it worth it. And your necklace well, it does have a soul in it. Just not mine. It's from some small country boy I killed. You my dear have an acquired skill. Claude has good reason for being so controlling over you. A whore like yourself, with your talents, could definitely make any man happy,"he said, smiling cruelly.

'A whore like yourself...'

Those words kept replaying in my head over and over.

"All that mush about loving you, and not your body, well I have to be honest now don't I? It was just to get you to sleep with me. Once you slowed down and played a little fairly, it was a grand time. You most certainly do live up to your title of a harlot,"

It felt like everything was coming down around me. His words were worse than the whip.

"So that's all you wanted? To have my body and make my master angry?"i said, fighting out any pain that dare creep into my voice.

"Of course. What else is there?" Sebastian said, confused.

I nodded.

"Well then go to hell. I don't need you to save me or my brother. All of you can go rot in hell for all I care,"i said, my voice shaking.

Sebastian laughed and took my hands, which were in fists and shaking, and pinned them to the wall. Using one hand to hold my wrists up, he took his other hand and lifted my face up, forcing me to look at him.

"You do look cute and I'd like to play with you one last time. With that attitude of yours, so feisty, i won't save you, but I will take advantage of you,"he said, his demon eyes glowing.

My eyes widened and i struggled to get out of his grip. He forced kisses upon me. He undressed himself and then had his way with me.

As soon as Sebastian let go of me I grabbed my slip and put it on quickly. He was buttoning up his shirt and was grinning.

"Get's better every time. We'll have to do this again some other time, love. Well do you still want me to save you?"he asked, hold his hand out to me.

I stared at his hand in disgust and spit at it.

"Go to hell,"I told him, feeling the tears fall down my face.

"Not if you don't go down their first, my little concubine," he said then darted out of my cell.

I sat there for a minute, shivering, replaying everything that had just happened. Every word he said. Tears were running down my face and I let them. I felt like the world was collapsing. And it was landing right on top of me. I couldn't breath and my heart felt like it went missing. I looked around, for something to hopefully warm myself up with. I saw my clothes were still here. My body hurt too much though to wear my corset and dress. So I grabbed my cloak and wrapped it around me, holding it with my trembling hands. I continued to shiver and just stared off, letting everything he said replay in my head.

'And your necklace well, it does have a soul in it. Just not mine. Its from some small country boy I killed.'

I looked at the necklace and grabbed it. I held the pendent tightly in my hand until it cut my skin and made me bleed. Then I tried to throw the damn thing, but I couldn't. I couldn't let go of it. Every time I tried, I just felt like someone was stabbing me in the heart. I looked at the pentagram and closed my eyes tightly. I place the necklace around my neck and hugged my knees to my chest, repeated everything that happened in my head.

Suddenly I heard the cell door creak and my head shot up. It was my master. I looked away from him.

"I see my brother revealed his true intentions to you. There is a reason he isn't aloud to have anything. Because when he's broken his toy, he simply throws it away or leaves it with me. I think the remaining torture can wait for another day. I can already tell what happened, its swimming all in your thoughts. That was brutal. Go bathe and get changed. We want to make a good impression for your brother," he said, helping me up.

I shook him off, and walked up the stairs and through the house, in a numbed state. I got to my room, after my bath, and whilst bandaging my wounds, I let the tears fall down my face. Then I put my hair up into a braid, smoothed out my dress, wiped away all my tears, and walked out of my room.

'I should I know better. I was the fool to believe. Today was the day when dreaming ends. Trusting a demon to be capable of any emotion, was stupid on my behalf. They can all rot now, for all I care. They can be damned to hell, the whole lot of them. Now it's time to play perfect maid. Time to lock up all these emotions and save them for another day,'